This is the Halloween broadcast of Kukla, Fran & Ollie I mentioned the other day that aired 73 years ago tonight, on October 31, 1949.
 
It follows up on the episode a few nights earlier, when Beulah Witch was preparing for her fellow alums and teachers from Witch Normal college coming to town for a Halloween convention – but a small crisis comes up that she has to avert.  As things develop, the other Kuklapolitans excitedly prepare for trick-or-treating, and sing a bunch of songs along the way – my favorite being Beulah Witch’s rendition of “That Old Black Magic.”
 
The episode also shows off Burr Tillstrom’s artistry well – though it’s subtle because he does it with such ease. 
 
The first is the opening of the show when music director Jack Fascianato plays the KF&O theme “Here We Are Again,” and he’s joined by two Kuklapolitans accompanying him on toy pianos.  It’s amusing and generally just plunking on the keys, except if you listen closely he actually is getting some of the theme music correct.  (And made all the better because one of the two is my fave, the lunatic Cecil Bill.)  And the other comes later in the episode when Kukla, Fran and Ollie sing a trio – with Tillstrom going back and forth with the two voices.  As I said, it’s comes across with such natural ease, but it’s no small trick singing a duet with yourself.
 
By the way, I noticed a bit of information posted with this video.  Over 700 episodes of the show were transferred to digital thanks to funding from the Burr Tillstrom Copyright Trust and fans of the show – as well as, most interestingly, the Jane Henson Foundation.  As I’ve written in the past, Jim Henson always said that Burr Tillstrom and Kukla, Fran and Ollie were one of his big inspirations to get into puppetry and ultimately create The Muppets.  And his wife’s helping to fund this clearly supports that.  Special thanks were given, as well, to the Chicago History Museum for its invaluable help in the process.
 
And now – trick or treat!

​​I tend not to go up to celebrities.  And Ray Bradbury was clearly not in the best of health, helped by a caregiver.  But...this was Ray Bradbury.  And it was Halloween, for goodness sake.  You don't ignore that and expect to have any self-respect.  It would almost like avoiding Santa leaving an Ace Hardware on Christmas.  Sure, he's busy because he's the patron saint of the holiday, but he more than almost anyone in the world is celebrating the day to its fullest.  And wants the day celebrated to the fullest.

So, I walked over, simply said how much I enjoyed his writing and expected to leave it at that.  But he was charming, and engaged me in conversation, helped in part by him finding out that I grew up near where he did, in Waukegan, Illinois.  (Glencoe, where I'm from, is about 25 miles directly south.)  I don't recall a great many specifics about the conversation, though I do remember his saying how Halloween was his favorite holiday.  (Gee, no kidding!) 

Which is why it came as a thrill -- and is my favorite Halloween memory -- when, as we parted, Ray Bradbury wished me, "Happy Halloween."

And just as a bonus, here is that poster I have of the movie, Something Wicked This Way Comes, based on his novel -- which as I said was the first story by him that I ever read.  (And which, as it turns out, is about Halloween.)

As I mentioned, the movie was released by Disney Studios, and at the time I was in my dark days doing PR, and knew a few of the PR folks over there.  One of them, Arlene Ludwig, was aware of my love of Bradbury and this book in particular (made clear when I expressed my great pleasure that her studio had made it into a film) -- and to ever-great and appreciated credit, she got a signed poster for me.
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​And for good measure, here's the signed copy of the screenplay that he wrote, which she, bless her heart, asked him for.
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Hosts Phil Rosenthal and David Wild’ welcome their guests Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan.  Together, they discuss the new film Everything Everywhere All At Once and a lot more.  There are a few spoilers about the film, but since the engrossing, totally weird movie is so hard to describe, they don’t affect much.  When I saw the movie, I had avoided knowing absolutely anything about it – and so, I was unaware (until listening to this podcast) that Ke Huy Quan came out of retirement after 20 years, having playing the little kid ‘Short Round’ in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (as well as starred in The Goonies.  He discusses that start of his career (where he wasn’t even supposed to be auditioning but only went to help his brother) and his return to acting after two decades away, while Michelle talks about her origins in Hong Kong cinema.  It’s a freewheeling conversation over bagels and thoroughly enjoyable, even if you haven’t seen Everything Everywhere All At Once.
 
I can’t embed the audio, but if you click on the link here, it will take you to the website, where you just click on the “Play” arrow underneath the photo.

​On this week’s Al Franken podcast, his guest is Sarah Silverman.  This is a second visit, so all that Al has to say about it is that she’s on “Again!!!” and “She’s great!”

​From the archives.  The contestant is Stephen Farrand from Freeport, Maine.  It’s a tough one. I didn’t get the composer style, in large part because it’s one I’m not terribly well-versed in…and also because, while well-known, his music is not terribly familiar to people.  Including me.  And I couldn’t get the hidden song either – the first time through.  But when composer Bruce Adolphe played it through a second time, I did get it. 

I’ll also give myself a bonus point for having been in Freeport, Maine.  I went several times, in fact, when working on the Stephen King movie, Pet Sematary.  It’s a town of outlet stores (quite literally, they proliferate everywhere), the centerpiece of which is the home of L.L. Bean.

This week, the podcast looks at U.K. chaos and the U.S. Mid-terms.  As the site writes, “The midterms are two weeks out and chaos just keeps building. The UK is cycling through prime ministers faster than James Bonds as their economic crisis continues. Meanwhile, election deniers in the U.S. are whipping themselves into a frenzy. Jon is joined by British journalist Gabriel Gatehouse to break down what’s happening in the UK, plus what his QAnon and election-conspiracy reporting might tell us about our democracy’s post-election fate—if this election ever ends. Writers Tocarra Mallard and Robby Slowik are also here talking Ye and Adidas, antisemitism, and the conspiracy earworms that have infected us all.”
 
I can’t embed the audio, but if you click on the link here, it will take you to the website, where you just click on the “Play” arrow underneath the photo.

As it turns out, after posting this, they have a video version of the same podcast, so you can watch the Zoom feed of it.  The only difference is that the video seems to start about four minutes in.  So, for those of you diehards who want to hear the first four minutes, I've left the audio podcast version link up.​