Tag Cloud
"Flagler's Folly" "Good Lovin" "It's a beautiful morning" "Lilies of the Field" "Living in the Moment" "Lonely Too Long" "The Bells are Ringing" "The Eighth Wonder of the World" Academy Awards Actors Equity Association Alice's Restaurant all in the family American Federation of Television and Radio Artists Ann Corio Archie Bunker Arsenic and Old Lace Assignment Desk banana split Basin Street Blues Bill Cosby Bill Putch Boston University Buddy Hackett Carol Burnett Cary Grant Casa Portagioia CBS Colin Firth convertible Coral Sky Amphitheatre Cortona Cortona Mix Festival Frances Mayes Dean Martin Diahann Carroll Dingbat Dixie Cups Dixieland Dr. Herman Einstein Drunken Porter Eddie Brigati Edith Bunker Esther Cohen Flagler Museum flea market Fred Astaire Ginger Rogers Glen Campbell Gloria Leroy Gypsy Rose Lee Hamlet Hard Rock Hardy Mintzer Harvey Edelman Harvey Korman Henry Flagler hollywood Jason Mraz jazz Jean Stapleton Jeremy Irons Jim Nabors Joey Bishop John Ritter Judy Holiday Key West Kim Zimmer Kravis Center Las Vegas Latin Casino Lena Prima Lenny Kravitz London Louis Prima Lucille Ball MacBeth Martha Raye Milton Berle music Neil Fishman new orleans News Anchor No Strings Once Upon A Dream Othello Over-Sea Railroad Palm Beach Shakespeare Festival Peter Lorre Phyllis Diller Phyllis McGuire Pincus Zuckerman Republic Airport Richard Burton Rod Stewart Roxie Roker sam butera Sammy Davis Jr. Sandy Hackett School for Scandal Screen Actors Guild Shady Grove Music Fair Shakespeare Sidney Poitier Sinead Cusack Sir John Gielgud Sir Toby Belch sitcom Smothers Brothers soap opera Solara Sonja Henie Storrowton Music Fair streaming Surprise Susan Lovell-Brigati Sy Kravitz Television City The Beaux' Strategem The Doctors The Rascals This Was Burlesque Tim Conway To Bed A Fortune Totem Pole Playhouse toussaint Toyota Trudy Styler Tuscan Sun Festival Twelfth Night Vacation Valley Forge Music Fair Vietnam walk of fame Wedding youtube
Reviews and News

The latest review of SWING is by Yahoo! Contributor Mary Beth Magee.

If you have Amazon Prime you can now 'borrow' the Kindle version of SWING for FREE!

Here's another book review, by Scott Eyman of the Palm Beach Post.  

The list of positive reviews for SWING continues:

I highly recommend this book. I usually listen to audio books, but this is one book in print that I couldn't put down. Don't even think about it. Just read it! This is a good one.  

"SWING" is a great read, and a more than impressive, heartfelt, first novel from this author. Bravo!  

A great read about perseverance and acceptance and a trip to the world of Swing.

Here is my recommendation...buy it for your IPad or eReader, download some Louis Prima songs, put your earphones in, turn up the volume and enjoy it.

Alan Gerstel's Blog
headshot of Alan Gerstel, author

         

Click here to buy the book on Amazon.

It is also available as an ebook.


 

Entries in Dingbat (1)

Friday
Jun152012

All In The Family

 

As I mentioned in a previous post, I worked at CBS Television City in Los Angeles as a young man.  The years were 1969 through 1972.  During that time, many very popular shows taped there, including Carol Burnett, Glenn Campbell, Jim Nabors, Merv Griffin… and All in the Family.

I remember the buzz surrounding All in the Family when it was in rehearsal.  We heard that it was ground-breaking television and it would keep the censors busy.

At first, it seemed unlikely that CBS would air it, as CBS had canceled The Smother Brothers Show just a few years before because they were too “edgy.”  Now came All in the Family.

I sat in the studio and watched some of the rehearsals for All in the Family and became friendly with Jean Stapleton who played the “dingbat”, Edith Bunker.  She told me privately that CBS had only ordered three episodes of the show and she didn’t think the network would dare to actually put it on the air.

The day of taping, CBS staff members had to go to The Farmer’s Market next door to recruit audience members.  No one had ever heard of Jean or Carol O’Connor, who played her husband, Archie.  And the network was trying to keep the show under the radar until it decided if it would actually air it.

I stood through the taping of the first episode, and heard the audience laugh in disbelief.  NO ONE had ever heard any language like that on network television and people were absolutely incredulous.

I too was incredulous.  But to CBS’s credit… the show DID air… and it made television history.

 

Do you think any network would attempt a show like that today?  Don’t you wish they would?