You Know Him As Van Johnson
Van Johnson has died. Made a ton of films, mostly in the 40s and 50s. He was a genial enough presence on screen, and reasonably versatile, but not really my kind of movie star.
Actually, what I remember him best for was an appearance back in the 80s on David Letterman's old show. The interview was contentious. Johnson was using old references and Dave either didn't understand or didn't want to play along, and Van started treated him like an idiot. A few shows later, the show mocked Johnson, claiming he was actually a Soviet spy sent to cause trouble.
posted by LAGuy @ 12:11 AM
8 Comments:
He personified a tough guy obnoxiousness in his characters(i.e. a non-tough guy using obnoxiousness to seem tough)- probably a product of his era.
As the Minstrel, he was proably one of Batman's weirder arch-villians.
Sign-in word "hostata"- information obtained from a hostage?
Sounds more like a hot pocket tostata.
I've got "mente" which sounds like a single mento.
Got "andes" and thats a real word, damnit. Evokes both tasty little mints and soccer cannibals
When I read that Van Johnson died, that appearance on "Letterman" was the first thing I thought of. I remember that when Van Johnson first came on stage, he looked upset, and angrily looked at the band and seemed to say "too loud" !! Letterman tried to engage him in conversation, but Van Johnson refused to play along. After he left the stage, didn't Dave say something like "Something has gone terribly wrong" ??
I also recall that the following night (at least I think it was the following night) - when the show broke for a commercial, they showed a photo of Van Johnson's "Star" on Hollywood Boulevard !!
I have a patchy memory of his appearance at best, because I only saw it once, but I recall Van Johnson making some reference to 30 Seconds Over Tokyo (one of his big movies) as a gag, and when he got nothing, sort of doing a "that was a joke, son" routine with Dave. It wasn't quite the meltdown of Crispin Gover or Nastassja Kinksi or Sam Phillips, but it was still pretty memorable.
Later, the bit they did (and what gives my post its cryptic title), which may have been part of "viewer mail," was some routine where they showed a photo and called him something with "red" in the title. It was like "He's secret KGB agent Soviet Red, but you know him as Van Johnson...."
I remember the Van Johnson appearance on Letterman. It was the most uncomfortable interview I ever saw Dave do. I never thought of that Van guy, again, as anything more than one enormous a hole.
I remember the Van Johnson appearance on Letterman also now many years later on. Now that David Letterman is retiring soon it is oddly enough one of the things I remember from David Letterman. It was in my view... the old Hollywood of VAN JOHNSONS time meeting the new Hollywood of David Lettermans time.
Thanks for the late comments. I may not respond right away, but we at Pajama Guy are always happy to get them.
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