Friday Fragments

This week flew by, maybe because it was short, work-day wise- maybe because we’ve been busy. With the weekend right “next door”, let’s pick up some bits and pieces of information that we have in the Sven memory banks… I heard a rumor that the Lake Claremont Press ,headquartered here in Chicago, is possibly going to do another printing of the currently out-of-print “Chicago TV Horror Movie Shows: from Shock Theatre to Svengoolie” book by Ted Okuda and Mark Yurkiw. This would be really great news, since people have been asking me where they can get the book for a long time now, and – it’s been sold out for just as long. Whenever someone brings their copy of the book to an appearance for me to sign, those who see it immediately want to own one! Now that we’re on all over the country, it would certainly make sense for the publisher to bring it back into the marketplace- a lot of the new Sven fans would enjoy reading the history! If we get definite confirmation, we’ll pass it along to you! I’m still smiling about the definite confirmation that Mark Hamill is a Sven fan. The talented actor told me a great story after I mentioned to him that his old friend, Robert “Freddy Krueger” Englund was also an avowed Svengoolie fan. He said they had known each other for a very long time, and one day, Robert mentioned to Mark that he really should go audition for a movie that George Lucas was going to make- some kind of “Flash Gordon” thing, he said. Mark made me laugh when he explained, “like a typical actor- Robert encouraged me to audition- after HE had already auditioned and didn’t get the part!” I’m sure I don’t even have to continue this story, and tell you what movie it was… How did I not know about this? In yesterday’s “Blondie” daily comic strip, Dagwood is walking around with- a rubber chicken! He tells a co-worker that September is National Chicken Month- and he’s going to go try to cheer up his boss, the surly Mr. Dithers, using said chicken- stating that “it’s the gold standard for highbrow comedy hijinks and guaranteed laughs!” The last panel has a somewhat- miffed Dagwood walking down the hall with the chicken stuffed over the top of his head, and the co-worker mentioning that the boss obviously isn’t a big fan of highbrow comedy. How was I not informed that this month is National Chicken Month? As most Sven viewers will attest, if there’s anyone who has added support to Dagwood’s claim of the “gold standard for highbrow comedy hijinks”- er- well, let’s just say for “comedy hijinks”- it would have to be me. Maybe it’s just because it’s the blanket National CHICKEN Month, and not specifically National RUBBER Chicken Month, that I wasn’t given the information- after all, no actual living chickens, frozen chickens, fried chickens, or “counted-before- they’re –hatched “ chickens have been flung at me on the show, thankfully… I’m sorry that one of the two final U Too 3 pm Saturday showings of vintage Sven shows has indeed been pre-empted. Tomorrow’s U Too show will not be seen due to a last-minute scheduled college football game. I appreciate the messages of disappointment I’ve received from viewers, and urge you to tune in the final U Too broadcast next week. Many have asked if the vintage shows are gone for good- I honestly don’t know, but I do know they will be gone for now. Over the years, we’ve had them show up at various times on our various channels- so- you never know when they’ll be back again- but I’ll make sure, if they are, to let you know!