From: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Subject: Re: Spaghetti trees
Reply-To: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Organization: Columbia University
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 07:14:11 GMT

In article <1992Aug29.172345.16290@midway.uchicago.edu> thf2@midway.uchicago.edu writes:
>In article <1992Aug28.220253.27951@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> PAPAI@kcgl1.eng.ohio-state.edu (Jonathan Papai) writes:
>>bogart@sabre.larc.nasa.gov (Ed Bogart) writes in
>>Message-ID: <Btp1Mq.4Kr@news.larc.nasa.gov>  :
>>>
>>>No, realy, this was a send up or put on done by Ernie Covacs on his show
>>>in the early 50's.  He did a lot of this stuff and I supose that some
>>>people believed it.
>>>
>>>Ed "If you don't know who Covacs is, don't talk to me" Bogart
>>
>>ObUL:  People old enough to remember Kovack have early stage
>>Alzhaimer's (sp?) and have forgotten how to spell his name.
>>
>>Jon "I may not know Alzeheimers spelling, but do know Kovack's" Papai
>
>I hate to be gulible (sp?), but it's Kovacs.  Best known for his refusal
>to pitch on Yom Kippur during the World Series.
>-- 
>             ......................................................
>             ted frank | thf2@midway.uchicago.edu | std disclaimers
>             the university of chicago law skool, chicago, illinois
>             it's log!  log!  log!  it's big, it's heavy, it's wood

No, it's Covacs, the barbarian as played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, as opposed
to Arnold Stang, who was associated with Milton Berle, a different TV comic
in the '50's from Ernie Kovacs.

Also, Sandy Koufax played for the Dodgers along with Don Drysdale, not to be
confused with the character of the same name in the Beverly Hillbillies, also
in the same era (not to be confused with Beverly Hills Cop I or II, or Down
and Out in Beverly Hills).

ObTVfactoid: The not-very-well-known actor Warren Berlinger, who appeared in
such movies as The Girl Most Likely (starring Stockard Channing of Grease, 
among other things) used his real name, unlike his uncle Milty.  In this
particular case, Berle really *is* his uncle Milty.

additional factoid: Stang never sang with the Police and never appeared in Dune
with Jean Luc Picard.  However, Don Drysdale did appear as himself in the
movie Experiment in Terror starring Glenn Ford and Stephanie Powers.  Other
than Drysdale and Koufax, none of the other people mentioned here ever played
for the Dodgers, although Chuck Connors who appeared in TV westerns such as
The Rifleman, actually did.  Former Dodger Wes Parker had a brief acting
career as a featured player in a short-lived Norman Lear series about a
female-dominated society (the name of which has escaped me; I believe it
came after Mary Hartman, and may be more contemporary to Fernwood 2night or
more likely America 2night with Martin Mull, Fred Willard and Frank DeVol,
who is also known as the writer of the theme music for other shows, such as
My Three Sons, sometimes dropping his first name entirely.)  Jimmy Piersall,
who briefly played for the Dodgers, is the subject of the movie Fear Strikes
Out, starring Anthony Perkins and Karl Malden.  Perkins (of Psycho and
sequels fame as Norman Bates and his mother) plays Piersall, and Karl Malden
(of The Steets of San Francisco with Michael Douglas, and American Express
fame for not leaving home without it) plays Piersall's father.  Tommy La Sorda,
the current Dodger manager, was Sandy Koufax's teammate at the Dodger farm
team in Montreal.  Today, Tommy LaSorda is a frequent talk-show guest and
celebrity spokesman for Ultra Slimfast.  Stephanie Powers is known for playing
in Hart to Hart with Robert Wagner, who in turn starred in Prince Valiant,
with Janet Leigh, former wife of Tony Curtis (they are Jamie Leigh Curtis's
parents).  Tony Curtis in turn starred in the Vikings with Michael Douglas's
father Kirk Douglas.

cjl

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