Wednesday, September 27, 2017

Hope You Liked Our Show

I was glancing through Sheldon Leonard's memoir And The Show Goes On.  He was an actor, and then a director and producer, so I figured he'd have some good stories to tell.  It was published around 20 years ago, and two things stuck out today that might not have back then.

Back when Leonard was starting out as an actor on Broadway, Jed Harris, one of the top producers around, wanted to meet with him. Leonard was excited, but it turned out Harris just wanted a bunch of tough actors to go out and beat up people marching in favor of the Nazis.

Leonard had no love for Nazis, but understandably declined the illegal activity.  But hey, it sounds like the beginning of the Antifa movement.

A lot of the book is taken up with stories of shooting the TV series I Spy, since they traveled the world.  But the weird thing about it today is all the fond stories Leonard has about Bill Cosby.

I'm sure Cosby was fun to be around (and Leonard helped make him what he is--Cosby was already big in comedy, but Leonard turned him into an Emmy-winning actor).  Still, all that stuff seems weird today.

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