Monday, November 9, 2009

Josh Alan Friedman's Old Jews

Jack and Nellie came to Florida to live out their days, craving sun and warmth, needing to be near the sea and palms. Yet Southern Florida was no glue factory for the elderly. It was being vigorously reclaimed by Americans born at the turn of the century who had just reached retirement. They fled cold Northern cities. Active “senior citizens,” a generation of sexy, young, freshly retired couples in their 60s ready to cha-cha. They were hungry for those tans, golf courses, to let their career-worn bodies soak up wholesome entertainment at the Diplomat and Fountainbleau...

"Come to Papa" by Josh Alan Friedman.

Click here to read it at Black Cracker Online.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Antiques of Capistrano


copyright © 2009 Wyatt Doyle

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Vanina Marsot in Berlin

(click image to enlarge)

view from the Berliner Dom

copyright © 2009 Vanina Marsot

Click here to order your copy of Vanina Marsot's new book, Foreign Tongue: A Novel of Life and Love in Paris.

Birthdays Worth Remembering

Art Garfunkel
Gram Parsons
Roy Rogers
Sam Shepard
Elke Sommer
Ike Turner

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Deep Water



copyright © 2009 Wyatt Doyle

Birthdays Worth Remembering

Martin Balsam
Art Carney
Walter Cronkite
Will Rogers
Loretta Swit

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Carl Ballantine, R.I.P.

reprinted from 21 April 2008:

The Amazing Mr. Ballantine


Carl Ballantine, late of The Ed Sullivan Show, McHale’s Navy and at least one episode of every television show ever made, recently made the latest in a long line of special guest appearances, this time at Skylight Books in Los Feliz. The occasion was a book signing to promote Drew Friedman's new collection, More Old Jewish Comedians, which features a fantastic Friedman portrait of Ballantine, among others.

After a Q&A with Friedman, moderator Ben Schwartz asked the crowd if there were any additional questions.

“Yeah,” called Ballantine from his folding chair in the audience. “When is this gonna be over so I can get something to eat?”

Carl Ballantine turns a page.


copyright © 2008, 2009 Wyatt Doyle

Monday, November 2, 2009

Josh Alan Friedman's Hot Type


...Thomas felt it his civic duty to embarrass the culprits of his crime-infested ghetto across the river in Illinois, even devoting headline coverage to beer guzzlers busted for urinating on the sidewalk. Also among the East St. Louis demimonde were model citizen advertisers, like Dr. H.B. Woolcock, a spiritual healer (that’s Voodoo, of course) from the West Indies, who got rid of the “jinks” and cured women’s “lost nature”... Another weekly ad was for Garo’s fish restaurant—where the honeycomb tripe was so soft, you could “leave your teeth at home.”

"The Evening Whirl" - an appreciation by Josh Alan Friedman.

Click here to read it at Black Cracker Online.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Halloween at the 99


copyright © 2009 Wyatt Doyle