On this week’s ‘Not My Job’ segment of the NPR quiz show Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me!, the guest is singer/actress Mandy Moore. She tells stories about how she got started as a teen pop star and also her six years on the TV series, This is Us – all with an exceedingly cheery persona.
 
This the full Wait, Wait… broadcast, but you can jump directly to the “Not My Job” segment, it starts around the 18:00 mark.

These below are excerpts from a long article in the Wall Street Journal by Alistair MacDonald and Maryna Dubyna.  It’s the moving story of refugees from Ukraine, focusing in part on a woman Liana Rohozhyna and her 19-year-old son Misha with Down syndrome. 

Bear with me, read it all.  It will not be what you think.  And it will be worth it, trust me.  No, really, trust me.  I never use those words lightly.
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"As Russian missiles fell on the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol, 19-year-old Misha Rohozhyn, who has Down syndrome, had a panic attack in a bomb shelter. He screamed so loudly that everyone else in the basement, which had more than 1,000 people crammed into it, fell silent.

"Misha’s breakdown persuaded his mother, Liana Rohozhyna, to forgo safety underground. They moved into a day center that he had attended in peacetime. The center, unprotected against bombardment, soon became a refuge for people with disabilities such as Down syndrome and autism who were unable to cope in basements and other shelters.

"…From Mariupol, the family and others who sought refuge in the center called Povir v Sebe, or “Believe in Yourself,” escaped westward across Ukraine, navigating minefields, air raids and the extra difficulties that disabilities can bring. As they moved from town to town, Ms. Rohozhyna calmed Misha by telling him their constant movement had a purpose, which was to track down his hero, U.S. pro wrestler John Cena.

"Usual life has been destroyed, you have to adapt to new circumstances, and that is very hard” for people with certain disabilities, said Ms. Rohozhyna.

"When missiles exploded nearby on Feb. 24, the first day of the war, Misha, who is unable to speak, froze, as he does under stress, Ms. Rohozhyna said. She dragged him by the hand out of the house. Fearing they would be too slow to reach shelters during future attacks, the two moved into the basement of a local gym. After a week, the shelter’s electricity failed, plunging the basement into darkness, triggering his panic and the move into the familiar surroundings of the day center.

"…Arriving at the center, Misha immediately went to a workshop to try to melt wax to make candles, his last activity before the war began. But the electricity had gone. There was no light or heat and they cooked over an open fire using dirty water from a nearby stream and melted snow. They could hear Russian jets overhead, and waited for the inevitable explosions that followed.

"They are just fireworks, she assured Misha, it will be fine.

"…Ms. Rohozhyna and her son Misha left the Mariupol center after two weeks, in a convoy of 15 vehicles. Anticipating searches, those in her car deleted anything dangerous from their phones, such as messages indicating loyalty to Ukraine.
And there was always the promise of Mr. Cena, the wrestler whose posters had covered an entire wall of Misha’s room in the family apartment now destroyed by bombing.

"At checkpoints, Russian soldiers tried to force them back. At one, they grabbed Misha’s tablet. It was full of photos and videos of Mr. Cena.

"Mines littered a stretch of road heading out of Mariupol, which the convoy avoided with the help of stones that other Ukrainians used to highlight them.

"Misha had retreated into his own world, and Ms. Rohozhyna was glad, because the car passed burned-out vehicles and corpses.

"…Ms. Rohozhyna remembers acts of kindness. As they waited, a man from one of the cars moved down the convoy handing out candy and telling jokes to kids and then to Misha, cheering him up.

"…The burned bodies of a family with two blind people were found in their bombed apartment in Mariupol. Ms. Rohozhyna has yet to tell Misha, who had gone on vacation with them.

"…Last month, the center was hit and damaged in a missile attack, leading to one injury, she said. It was looted of its remaining food while those left in the center buried an elderly woman, who had been staying there, in its garden.

"With no more food, most of those remaining left.

"In accommodation just outside Amsterdam, Ms. Kravchenko continues to try to contact the families who attended the center before the war. At present, she can account for only 35 of the 210 families.

"In the same building, Misha has barely left his room, Ms. Rohozhyna said. Earlier this month, he buried his head in a pillow and cried because Mr. Cena hasn’t yet shown up.

“'I tell him, we’re not finished with our journey, but we need to stop here and save up a little for a ticket to America, to find him there,' she said."

                                                    *     *     *

That’s the article.

But it’s not the full story.

That’s because the article was brought to John Cena's attention.  And as it happened, he was working in Europe at the time.  And it turned out that he had three days off.  So…he flew to Amsterdam.

​I told you it was worth it.

By the way, the person who posted the video noted in another tweet that John Cena has fulfilled over 700 Make-a-Wish requests -- more than anyone in the world.

Remarkable.  This story and video alone would have been remarkable enough.

(You can read the full Wall Street Journal article here.)

The story particularly resonated with me for two reasons.  One is that in the years when I did unit publicity on movie sets, I worked on the movie The Seventh Sign with Demi Moore, and in a small, but very important role, the part was played by a young kid with Down syndrome, John Taylor, a nice fellow who was there for a few weeks with his mother and two sisters.  And the other is that years back when working on Naked Gun 33-1/3 as unit publicist, I participated in a Make-a-Wish request.    And to put John Cena’s effort in perspective, it helps to briefly tell the tale. 

A 12-year-old boy from England wanted a poster and to meet the actors of his favorite movie series.  He, his parents and younger sister showed up.  It was one of the more memorable events of my life, because the production team, actors and crew went far above and beyond what he asked.  When I went to the Make-a-Wish office a few days later to follow-up, the office lit up to my surprise and explained why what everyone had done wasn’t normal.  Short version:  they said that usually people come by, get a picture, and leave after about 15 minutes.  The family was our guests for over six hours, and stayed for a barbecue dinner.

Meanwhile, John Cena himself went to the family.  And has fulfilled 700 requests.

Remarkable.

I was originally had a different title for this piece.  But then I thought for a couple reasons that might give away a sense of the twist surprise.  But in my mind, that’s its real title.  So, if I didn’t start with it, it’s how I’ll properly end.

“When You Wish Upon a Star.”

We’re going to go a little out of order this week (not that it really matters, of course…), but for the NPR quiz show Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me!, it’s the first time back with a live audience in their new location at the Studebaker Theater in Chicago.  And on this week’s ‘Not My Job’ segment, the guest is Kenan Thompson.  For whatever reason, the sound quality is weird, not just like his head is in a bucket, but worse, as if there is a party going on inside the bucket with him.  Though it’s clear enough to hear, just distracting.  With host Peter Sagal, they have an amusing talk about his early years as a 13-year-old movie reviewer on CNN and Samuel L. Jackson’s odd, now-settled beef with him on SNL.
 
This the full Wait, Wait… broadcast, but you can jump directly to the “Not My Job” segment, it starts around the 18:45 mark.

A few weeks back, I had a few posts about Mike Nichols and Elaine May, so this is sort of an addendum to that.  It's a hour-long appearance from 2006 that's mainly him interviewing her, but there's a great deal of cross-talk between them, so it almost more a conversation.

What's so enjoyable about this is seeing them together, and their clear affection for each other from a very long friendship.  What's less enjoyable is that there is  a huge amount whining about What’s Wrong with Movies Today and Society.  She does at least acknowledge being dark compared to Nichols (though he has his share of complaining. 

At its best, though, the biggest pleasure is the last 15-20 minutes talking about her films Mikey and Nicky and A New Leaf.  The beginning is enjoyable, as well, before they get into heavy complaining, but this final section was the best for me.

By the way, I had never seen Mikey and Nicky, which stars John Cassavetes and Peter Falk.  It was made in 1976, wasn't successful, didn't interest me at the time, and it pretty much fell through the cracks.  But I finally got around to checking it out just before getting to their discussion here about it.

It's brilliant.  Tremendous.  I guess I can see why it flopped -- it's not anything even close to what you expect from Elaine May.  If you didn't know who wrote and directed the movie and were given 25 guesses, I don't think that most anyone would have put "Elaine May" among those guesses, as either writer or director. The expectation, of course, is that it's a comedy -- since pretty much everything she did in her career was a comedy.  And was a wonderful comedy.  This...is...not...a...comedy.  Not at all.  The problem is that the first few scenes are maniacally frenetic, neurotic, and so, given that it's Elaine May, can seem sort of funny, which prepares to audience into thinking it's a comedy -- in fact, she says in the interview that at the early screenings of the film, people were laughing through it, thinking it's a comedy.

Make no mistake, if you check out the movie (and you should), this is not my personal interpretation of it being "dark" under the funny surface.  It's not a comedy, not intended to be a comedy. It's a dark, serious, fascinating story about two lifelong friends who are low-level mobsters, one of whom (Cassevetes) is caught in a serious problem and calls his friend for help.  It has a few light moments (very few), but is not funny.  It's just wonderful.

Anyway, back to the main topic at hand, here's the interview between Nichols and May.

I think the first time I brought up the Jim Henson memorial service, that took place in 1990 was when I posted a video of the Muppeteers singing a deeply-moving version of the song “Just One Person,” which I posted here.
 
That same performance also showed up here the other day when I posted a long medley of favorite Henson songs at that memorial, which ended with that performance of “Just One Person.”
 
What I noted in that original post back in 2013 was that while most people probably think that “Just One Person” is a Muppet song, written for them – when in fact it’s from the stage musical Snoopy!!!!” with a score by Larry Grossman and Hal Hackady.
 
I had mentioned this the other day when I sent the memorial video to my friend Carla Winnie who I got to know a little over three years when she was my realtor.  Why I sent the video specifically to Carla is that (as I’ve noted here) it turns out that earlier in her career, Carla was an actress in musicals and was actually in that original production of Snoopy!!! and can be heard on the original cast album.  To be great surprise, when she watched the video (and loved it), she had absolutely no idea that “Just One Person” was no associated with The Muppets.  But was thrilled to know that the song had been given such a wonderful afterlife.  I liked, too, what she said, as well –
 
“That is my favorite song from Snoopy. I just love that song, and taught it to my son's class when he was in the 5th grade. Thank you so much for thinking of me. I had not realized the Muppets adopted it. How perfect. I know that Charles Schultz loved that song.”
 
And what a wonderful coda to know how much Charles Schultz loved the song, from its original incarnation.
 
The Muppets first sang it on The Muppet Show when Bernadette Peters was the host that week.  And perhaps other times, as well, I can’t recall offhand.  I bring all that up because for all the other performances they’ve done of the song, I have a feeling that this video below may be what solidified the song with The Muppets for them and in the public’s mind. 

It requires a bit of an explanation for the full impact.  After he died, The Muppets did a tribute special on Jim Henson.  The premise of the special was that The Muppets had heard about this guy Jim Henson who seemed pretty great, and so they wanted to honor him – though to the viewers it’s clear they’re unaware he’s passed away.  Also, for some reason that The Muppets can’t understand during this broadcast, Kermit is not there backstage with them to help put the tribute together.  In fact, he’s not there for the entire show.  The subtext, of course, for the TV audience is the question:  without Kermit’s voice will the Muppets be able to go on without him? 

This clip is from the end of the tribute special – it’s very good, but all the more impactful when you understand, to reiterate, that there’s been no Kermit for the full hour.  Not a word from him, no sight of him.  Only all the other Muppets.  So…what will they do?  Note, too, that at the very end, they bring in Big Bird, Bert, Ernie, Elmo and some others from Sesame Street – I think it’s the first time characters from Sesame Street (other than Kermit) were on TV with those from The Muppet Show.  So, it sort of unites all the Muppets together without Kermit, and the question of how they can go on not just without Kermit, but importantly, without Kermit’s voice.
 
Which brings us to this clip --

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And a bonus comment to this all --

I don’t know if this was intentional (I suspect not, though it could have been), but the Muppet character who was so sad about being ignored and then Bernadette Peters sings "Just One Person" to in the aforementioned first performance of this song The Muppet Show is Kermit’s nephew Robin.  And in that Jim Henson tribute video above, I noticed that the Muppet character who cheers up Fozzie Bear and starts to sing “Just One Person” is…Kermit’s nephew Robin!  If that was intentional, it was very clever.  And if it was just chance, what a fascinating bit of kismet.

After yesterday’s slight diversion to Paul Williams, we head back to the 1990 Memorial Service for Jim Henson.  While I recognize seeing at least part of this video (though there’s no particular reason I’d see part of it and not the whole thing) and may have posted it long ago, I can’t recall – and so if I don’t remember posting it, it’s well-worth posting today.  This is a medley of Jim Henson’s favorite songs from a wide range of recording sessions the Muppets did.

What stands out, beyond even the fun and sometimes goofiness of the songs is the  great affection the Muppet performers clearly have for each other.  This was sung by toward the end of the memorial – and in fact turns out to be the medley when ends with the singing of “Just One Person” that I’ve previously posted as a standalone song, and had thought was just performed standalone.   It may even be better in this medley video coming as it does in full context.  Though in some ways it’s brilliant when standalone, as well.
 
One note:  at the 5:30 mark, they sing two songs -- “Halfway Down the Stairs” and “Cottleston Pie” which caught my attention.  These are actually poems by A.A. Milne, the first from his collection When We Were Very Young and the second from Winnie the Pooh.  Both were put to music by Harold Fraser-Simson, and originally recorded on an album sung by a fellow named Frank Luther.  It had a long life as a very successful children’s album, and we had an old copy in our house.  And I remember it (and even these two songs) with immense affection.  But then, I also still have a copy of When We Were Very Young (and Milne’s other poetry collection, Now We are Six) as well as the two Pooh books, so I’m well-covered.