tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7823625636675642409.post8532643924859415922..comments2024-03-14T04:07:39.792-07:00Comments on Earl Pomerantz: Just Thinking...: "London Times - Part Eight"Earl Pomerantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16963705121297866334noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7823625636675642409.post-78128644950764303462009-03-11T20:56:00.000-07:002009-03-11T20:56:00.000-07:00Not to further dampen your tub experience so belat...Not to further dampen your tub experience so belatedly, but it is my understanding the name of the facility was a pun on the exclamation, “Oh, a siss!” That may have been only to discourage the vandals known to break in under the cover of darkness and unlawfully freshen up.<BR/><BR/>Observing as how your London Times seem to have leaned far more to the Dickensian than the Lerner and Loewe, you may be happy to learn that in the early 80’s Boston I had the sometime acquaintance of the novelist Monica Dickens, great granddaughter of the man himself. Your reference reminded me how that happened, and also unfortunately that I have no one else I’d be interested in sharing that with. Tag.<BR/><BR/>A friend from Wellesley was producing a “Not Necessarily the News” type spoof benefit for the Cancer Society at Brandeis University, to be performed by 1) the news anchor at the TV station where I was working, 2) the entertainment reporter, and 3) for no reason I could fathom, Jose Greco. Arthur brought some rough material into the newsroom, and it was horrible. The man was a concert pianist, but no Victor Borge, and certainly no Shecky Borge. Our on air personalities weren’t doing that well on TV already; we didn’t need them to take the show on the road and die with Jose Greco. <BR/><BR/>I wrote an entirely new, fairly well received fake newscast, finishing about noon before the “performance.” The real news was abuzz with the imminent prospect of Skylab crashing to earth God knew where, with ominous potential. As I recall, every other story, we had Sklyab landing on something else, ultimately striking Boston Pops conductor Arthur Fiedler, who was the other big recurring news story, spending what turned out to be his final days at Massachusetts General hospital. As I recall, during the rehearsal, my anchor, who like many, could have been the prototype for Ted Knight, actually asked, “Didn’t we already do a Skylab Story?” The commercials all involved Jose Greco and roach removal.<BR/><BR/>As the result of that stomping success, I was asked to serve on the board of the local chapter of the Cancer Society, where I met Ms. Dickens, the founder of another United Way agency, appropriately, The Samaritans suicide prevention hotline, among other Dickensian pursuits for the betterment of children and animals. I had great fun going around town claiming the woman would never return my phone calls. (My wife and I also once had dinner with another novelist who was Freud's great grandaughter -- then saying she kept telling me she didn't care what I thought or felt about anything.)<BR/><BR/>That’s about it, but do you know how hard it is to try to work Skylab into somebody else’s blog? Thank you for another encroachment opportunity. As you can see, I have no other life.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7823625636675642409.post-20875680758257060192009-03-11T12:16:00.000-07:002009-03-11T12:16:00.000-07:00All this just to get your readers to picture you n...All this just to get your readers to picture you naked. There are more efficient uses of technology, Earl. Like digital pictures. Jeesch!growingupartistshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12399714569663568902noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7823625636675642409.post-77336571933953745992009-03-11T07:28:00.000-07:002009-03-11T07:28:00.000-07:00Earl, thanks for these London stories. I used to w...Earl, thanks for these London stories. I used to work on Grape Street which is almost directly opposite Oasis (now a swimming pool/gym) and it's great to hear what the area was like back when. I'm not so far from Euston Station as I type this either. Keep 'em coming.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com