Pinewood Dialogues

Chuck Jones:

At Warner Brothers, we were very fortunate in that we had terrible men we worked for... Leon Schlesinger and Eddie Selzer were two of the most abysmal human beings that I could possibly get, outside of a decadent zoo. We had an advantage of Leon because Leon... he was lazy. And that's really what got us starting doing good pictures.

For on-line listening or MP3 downloading:

Interviews not only with with Chuck Jones, but also Brad Bird, Buck Henry, Tim Burton, Terry Gilliam, Michael Powell, Marty Scorsese, Thelma Schoonmaker and quite a few others.

The latest - with Laura Linney, Tamara Jenkins, and Philip Bosco - was taped a few weeks ago. The earliest - with Sidney Poitier - dates from March of 1989.

Link.

"Mice Had Been Used, But Never Featured"

Here's a nine-minute interview with Walt Disney from the late 1950's that was first released on LP decades ago. You won't learn much that's new, but it's always interesting to hear Walt tell the stories himself. (9m)

Link

Tom Snyder interviews Jay Leno - 1990

According to Wikipedia, Tom Snyder now lives up in northern California, retired from show business. Justly famous for his television work, he was equally great fun on radio. I saved some of his radio shows on cassette, and I'm working my way through "TS and the comedians."

The hour with Jay Leno (33m) is especially entertaining - mostly stories from Jay's youth and his days as a struggling comedian. This show was recorded at the time when Jay was "permanent guest host" for The Tonight Show on Monday nights. I remember at the time - and this is sacrilege, I know - avidly looking forward to the Monday night shows, because Carson had been coasting and Jay Leno was actually funny.

GS on TS

More from the Tom Snyder Radio Show archives: Gary Shandling (36m) describes the 'living hell' of portraying Gary Shandling - and discusses his comeback. Not in his own voice, of course. We learn, among other things, the reason they stopped making new episodes of "It's Gary Shandling's Show," and which flowers sell well in hot weather. Gary enjoys the experience, so he doesn't implement the early-escape plan he set up with Tom's staff.

Stan Freberg with TS

Stan Freberg spends an hour with Tom Snyder. (36m) This dates from November 1991 - the time of Stan's one-shot NPR special. The feed for the interview came from WICC-AM, and they had the "D" team running the board this particular night, as you'll hear during those moments when the program is drowned out by extraneous material. And speaking of extraneous material...

The interview includes clips from the special, including one that would have been much more funny had Freberg simply performed it without introduction. Instead, fearing that his audience had no familiarity with Stephen Foster song titles, he carefully and painfully sets up the sketch with background material the audience 'needs' to get the jokes. Not only is this condescending - it's annoying. This is my gripe with later Freberg material - he started talking down to his audience, became more concerned with his 'message' (usually quite obvious) and lost track of what was funny. It's almost as if he came to believe than anything he said was funny, so long as he said it with a sneer and dragged the pronunciation out.

The interview is far more fun than the NPR Special (59m) itself.

Imagine if Stan's great record, "Wun'erful, Wun'erful!" [Side Uh-1 (4m), Side Uh-2 (3m)] had started with a detailed explanation of who Lawrence Welk was, what kinds of music he featured on his show, that he always thanked his audience for the cards and letters they sent, and the manner in which Welk created the sound of a champagne cork popping by using a finger in his cheek.

Why did Soupy look DOWN when the naked lady came to the door?

I've had a few remarkable experiences in my life. One was somehow getting onto the set of The Soupy Sales Show at WNEW-TV in New York in 1965. Another was finding the pictures I took on that occasion nearly forty years later (that's one of them above). I've posted Soupy videos here and here on YouTube, and to the available Soupy on the 'net, I now add Soupy Sales on The Tom Snyder Radio Show (36m) - an old hour-long interview (minus commercials) in which Soupy reveals why, in that famous NSFW outtake, he was looking down when he opened the door.