Poseidon Pit Stop

Hello, friends! This is an unusual post in that there is no particular subject or honoree, just a few random notes/elaborations from your host... a brief pit stop before we head on to the next round of babbling.

You may have noticed a new segment on the right called "Food From the Gods," which has a pair of notable notes that have come to me here in The Underworld. I was so thrilled to hear from folks whose work I've admired that I had to share (okay... brag, then!) Ms. Liz Smith, a long (long!) time journalist and gossip maven who has met or written about practically everybody of note in the free world, had offered up that thoughtful blurb in her guest column on the New York Social Diary website. Later, I was able to get in contact with her personally and receive the most gracious, complimentary and supportive remarks back, which meant a lot. She is ninety years of age now and sharp as ever.

One of her desires was for me to include more of one of her own personal favorites, Miss Elizabeth Taylor. I certainly find Miss Taylor captivating, just as most of the world has over the years, but as a rule tend to focus on less famous and written about celebrities. Nevertheless, Miss T has appeared in enough movies I enjoy that I ought to be able to include more of her soon!

The other message found underneath in the "Food of the Gods" area was an e-mail I received from Mark Goddard. There are no words for how agog I was to get an endorsement like that from one of the people I had taken the time to profile. I instantly contacted him back and within two business days had an autographed copy of his book in my hands! You cannot beat that sort of generosity and consideration from someone to whom I am a total stranger, no matter how much I might think I know him from all those episodes of Lost in Space, etc...

What I wanted to do in his case was conduct the very first Poseidon's Underworld celebrity interview in which I posed such probing questions as "Did June Lockhart have a secret potty mouth or was she as "good" as she acts on shows and in interviews?," "How did you find working with Linda Blair and others on the hooty Roller Boogie (1979)?" or "Did you ever consider following the lead of your friend Jim Brown or some of your contemporaries or near-contemporaries such as Peter Brown, Don Stroud, Christopher George, Peter Lupus, George Maharis and others by posing nude or semi-nude in a magazine?," among quite a few others, giving him the option to answer whichever ones he wanted. This was going to be my big 400th post surprise.

Ultimately, Mr. Goddard decided not to take part in the exchange and, while I would be lying if I said that didn't disappoint me a little, it in no way changes how utterly grateful I was for his unsolicited kindness in writing to me and sending me a complimentary signed book. I mean, I have less than zero journalistic credentials apart from helming some theatre newsletters! (I've peppered this post with several of the photos that would have appeared along with the interview.) I probably shouldn't have pasted his e-mail to me on the site the way I did as it was not necessarily "public," but I wanted to share how friendly he was to me with my readers and let them know how considerate some stars can be.

I hope that these won't wind up being the only times I hear from someone out there who appears on the site, so I started that gadget as a place to display them should they come (and be positive in nature, God willing! I did once hear from a profile subject who, while not at all upset with me necessarily -- who could be?!!  I tend to be very complimentary as a rule! -- demonstrated such incoherent and incendiary ramblings about liberty and firearms and was so forceful and off-kilter, I had no real choice but to delete the comment.)

Now don't think for a moment that just because a respectable dame like Ms. Smith occasionally reads this blog that I am planning to class up the joint. Ha! One of my upcoming posts is going to be a return to the always-celebrated "bulge" photos. I've been amassing a new and tumescent collection that is nearly ready for, um, exhibit!

A while back, buried somewhere in the site, I shared some examples of my singing (how brave was THAT?!) via a few corny youtube.com videos I made for them.  The songs were "I Who Have Nothing," "Hair" and "Luck Be a Lady."  Since I recently put forth one more, this time a duet with my best friend of over twenty-five years, I now give you "Mockingbird," for those who may be interested.

Oh, also, if you happen to appreciate nostalgic photos and my warped sense of humor, don't forget to visit my other site Krazy Kaptions, which updates every Monday, Wednesday and Friday with more nutty vintage photographs!

Okay, I'm off now to work on more stuff for this blog.  Till next time, Poseidon!