Numerical Perspective

I’m just some guy who’s blogging as a hobby, so it’s interesting to check the month-end numbers. Excluding all traffic from home, and rounding down to be conservative, in October there were 92,000 hits on DogRat.com from 4900 unique addresses.

Time For Beany, 1949

Mr. BCL commented that he loves the ‘Time For Beany’ puppet show. Here’s episode 50, from November, 1949.
[flv:/Video/NOV07/TimeForBeany.flv 400 300]

Mark Evanier has some excellent background on Bob Clampett and ‘Time For Beany,’ that you can read by clicking here.

Daw Butler and Stan Freberg Perform 'TimeFor Beany'

The picture shows two legendary talents — Daws Butler and Stan Freberg — performing in ‘Time For Beany’. Note the excellent drawings of feminine figures on plywood, in the lower left corner. These were, I assume, done by Bob Clampett, who was a fine draftsman.

Robert Ghoulet

No offense to the recently deceased intended, but it’s Halloween, and I couldn’t resist that bit of wordplay. And further, I admit that I didn’t come up with it; my buddy Dennis did, so blame him!

To read a story Mark Evanier has about the time he met Robert Goulet, click here. It seems there’s almost nobody, in showbiz anyway, who Evanier hasn’t met at least once. In this instance, there’s a punchline coming to the story that he won’t tell until somebody else passes away.

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/OCT07/TheImpossibleDream.mp3]

Alfred Hitchcock’s First Anthology Show

Happy Halloween! I first became aware of master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock from a parody of him on The Flintstones. I knew they were making fun of somebody, but I didn’t know who.

Alvin BrickrockAlfred Hitchcock

In this droll dual takeoff of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and the Hitchcock feature film Rear Window, Fred is unnerved by his new neighbor Alvin Brickrock, a short, squat Britisher who can be heard arguing with his harridan of a wife. Then, one night, the arguing stops suddenly–and not long afterward, Mrs. Brickrock disappears. These and several other ominous incidents lead Fred and Barney to conclude that Alvin Brickrock is actually the notorious wife slayer Albert Bonehart. The satire is played to the hilt, concluding with Mr. Brickrock bidding the audience a fond “Good ev-e-ning.” ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hitchcock was a unique personality, being equal parts artist, craftsman, impresario, and businessman. In 1940, long before his anthology TV show of suspenseful stories began in 1955, Hitchcock directed a radio adaptation of his British film ‘The Lodger,’ which is available for your listening pleasure on the audio player.

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/OCT07/TheLodger.mp3]

Showcased on a program called ‘Forecast,’ Hitchcock was helping audition what would later become the premier radio anthology series of suspenseful stories. It was called, aptly, ‘Suspense’, and it ran for 20 years, ending in 1962 as one of the very last radio drama programs.