Hello Again Everybody and Other Stuff
So I was watching the Harry Carey documentary, Hello Again Everybody: The Harry Carey Story, this afternoon and I think to call it a documentary is a misnomer. It’s more of an endearing tribute, clearly done with the cooperation and participation of his family and friends. There were few bits of an objective inkling to the project, except for acknowledging that he was not strongly connected to his family until the last 10 years of his life.
But for the most part, like Carey’s life, the film’s a romp. For instance, in recounting a stroke he had late in life, rather than recounting the struggle of recovery, the documentary shares how the White House (Clinton era) placed a call to Carey only to be accidentally hung up on. As an Atlanta native and Braves fan, I grewup listening to his son, Skip. Skip is a gruff guy, so to see Skip start tearing up in recounting the reaction on the street to Harry’s funeral procession–businessmen put down their briefcases to salute or otherwise acknowledge Carey–was touching. If you’re a baseball fan or a fan of classic radio broadcasters–this is a fun documentary to watch. Go into it expecting to have fun, not to see a Ken Burns-type of product. It’s hard to believe this, but this February 18 will mark 10 years since Harry died in 1998.
Bully, from Bully Says: Comics Oughta Be Fun!, is a stuffed bull with tastes that appeal to me. While I don’t agree with every pick, I was amazed at his five-part series of posts, Fun Fifty of 2007, which can be found here, here, here, here and here.
I’m normally a fan of most anything Alec Baldwin does, but Running with Scissors was not as engaging as I hoped it would be. One positive thing about watching the movie. It made me curious to find out more about the memoir of the same name, which the movie was based upon, by Augusten Burroughs. It turns out Burroughs has an older brother, John Elder Robison, who has written his own memoir (about his struggles with Asperger’s syndrome — a high functioning form of autism) called Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger’s. In addition to the book, Robison has a blog that covers some interesting and diverse ground. So while I started out with a movie that I did not enjoy, it led me to other items of interest and general enrichment.
Thanks to my old pals at Blog@Newsarama for letting me fill in for Tom Bondurant on his column, Grumpy Old Fan. I was pleased to see that I clearly was not the only person missing Archie Goodwin.