Category: Life with Pratts

June Lockhart’s TV Sons

Today, in Springfield MA, I met Jon Provost and Bill Mumy. They were separated by the Connecticut River — Jon was on the west side and Bill on the east, at two very different events. Jon was appearing at the World of Pets, and Bill was at the United Fan Con. What they have in common is June Lockhart was their mother on TV — Jon as Timmy Martin on ‘Lassie’, and Bill as Will Robinson on ‘Lost In Space’.

Jon Provost and June LockhartBill Mumy and June Lockhart

Bill Mumy shares a distinction with another former child actor — Jerry Mathers, from ‘Leave It To Beaver’. They were both directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Bill was in ‘Bang! You’re Dead’, one of the most famous installments of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and one of the few that the master himself directed. Mathers was in Hitchcock’s film ‘The Trouble With Harry’.

I can honestly say that I liked all of these guys when I watched them on TV as a kid. I’ve never had a chance to see Mathers in person, but I was thoroughly impressed by Provost and Mumy. They’re both very smart guys, as nice as anybody could ever be, and as good at listening as they are at speaking; but, then, I guess that makes sense, given their training and experience, starting at such an early age. Or maybe it comes from having June Lockhart as their TV mom!

Timmy's In The WellA while ago I posted an item about Jon Provost, whose autobiography, Timmy’s In The Well, will be out soon. Timmy was never in the well on TV, so I was pleased to show Jon the one piece of physical evidence I know of that Timmy, in cartoon form, was briefly in a well, and he was nice enough to sign it for me. Here I am today, with Jon Provost.

Jon Provost and DOuG pRATt

Bill Mumy has always been very much into music, and is a musician himself. He’s very, very good. Hear for yourself by playing the Mumy Jukebox. For a while he was in the band America. Mumy has a wide selection of great music available, and I bought his latest CD.

Bill Mumy - The Landlord or the Guest

It was a fun day! Eric got to see somebody as well, and I’m hoping to post something about that later.

Shields MRI’s World Class Service?

Way back last November, I posted an MRI of my right ankle. That MRI was taken by Shields MRI, which has a large presence in New England. As I’ve pointed out before, whoever the idiot was at Shields who looked at the MRI said I had an “intrinsically normal posterior tibial tendon,” when it was far from normal. I’m doing vastly better than I was a year ago, and my running schedule is almost back to what it had been, but I definitely still have chronic PTT inflammation and weakness in my ankle.

NOVA: Marathon Challenge

October 30, the evening after American Masters shows the Charles Schulz program, NOVA on PBS will present Marathon Challenge.

NOVA wanted to investigate these questions through the “Marathon Challenge,” and with the help of a dozen enthusiastic recruits, we set out to see if “ordinary people” could transform themselves into marathoners in just a matter of months. The results were extraordinary.

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/OCT07/NovaMarathon.flv 400 300]

The timing of this program is interesting, because a runner died in the Chicago Marathon this past Sunday; not from the 84° heat, but from a pre-existing heart condition. I have completed six Boston Marathons, under a wide variety of weather conditions, including a day when the temperature hovered around 90°F. And take it from me, it’s not something you want to try unless you’re totally in love with the idea of doing it and are prepared to do the work to get ready.

Does the idea of heading out the door to run 16 miles, even when it’s raining, because that’s what the training schedule says to do, appeal to you? No? Then forget marathon running.

The NOVA participants benefited from expert guidance throughout their 40-week training — hmm… the same number of weeks it takes to have a baby. The idea that anybody can run a marathon is simply wrong. Jon Krakauer is a favorite author of mine, and in his book Into Thin Air he is critical of people who want to believe that anybody can conquer climbing Mt. Everest with proper training and adequate equipment.

WALKING the Boston Marathon course is do-able, with proper preparation. A good friend of mine did exactly that recently. But if you aren’t already a runner, and you’re more than ten pounds overweight, and you’ve never jogged more than three miles, I strongly suggest that you not get it in your head that 26.2 miles is nothing more than 13.1 miles times two, because doubling the effort it takes to do 13.1 miles occurs at about 19 miles. And you still have another 7 miles to go.