Category Archives: Real Life

ADDICTION RE-LEAF

This past week, I had the privilege of being invited to the Flourishing Leadership Institute’s “LEAF” workshop. LEAF is a new approach used by change agents (coaches, speakers, trainers, facilitators, consultants, and leaders) to lead groups of all sizes to shape their future or solve specific problems better, faster and more naturally than thought possible with other methods.  I was there to premiere a video I shot and edited about Jesse Harless. Jesse is using the LEAF method to help people who are recovering from addiction – and his results are getting glowing reviews.  This video is the media marketing he needed to move his program to a national scale. Continue reading ADDICTION RE-LEAF

YOU’LL GO DOWN IN HISTORY

Betcha didn’t know that Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer isn’t part of Christmas-past for very long. – certainly not as long as Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen… Rudolph is the creation of a department store, Montgomery Ward. He started out as a character in a coloring book in 1939, created to be given away to shoppers at Christmastime. 2.4 million copies of that coloring book were handed out. It wasn’t until 1948 that Rudolph’s story was told on film.  Max Fleischer produced a theatrical cartoon short which I’ve included below for your viewing enjoyment. This was the first Rudolph cartoon! Continue reading YOU’LL GO DOWN IN HISTORY

HE LEFT ME FLUSHED!

This one time… I was in the men’s room during a commercial break on The KTLA Morning News.  At the time, this bathroom was undergoing a facelift so there were rolls of wallpaper and tiles and tools scattered around. As I was washing my hands, in walks our guest star for that day’s show – Little Richard!  THE Little Richard.  I fumbled with a paper towel, said “hello” and shook his hand. He was as gracious as ever. I asked if I could grab a quick autograph.  “Sure” was his reply, but darn, I had nothing for him to sign. Oh. Wait. Little Richard had an idea. He grabbed a bathroom tile! End of story!

OTHER KTLA MORNING NEWS POSTS

The Elephant In The Air

This Guy’s A Real Player

Your Left-Brain Boss Is Killing Your Creativity

A Priceless Portrait of TV’s Past!

I Woke Up On 5 This Morning!

29 Years Later

Jennifer Belongs To The Sky!

S-P-E-L-L-I-N-G Success

The Underdog Card

Your Left-Brain Boss Is Killing Your Creativity!

Thump (For My Love)

Richard Simmons Comes Out…

They’re All Gonna Laugh At You

Break A Leg – Seriously

My Mayoral Mishap

Hysterical Press Junket Hijinks

grATITUDE GOULASH

I’d like to thank Mr. Walt Disney for introducing me to my life-long dual obsessions, in the forms of Miss Hayley Mills (Sharon) and her identical twin sister Miss Hayley Mills (Susan) from The Parent Trap,  (who, strangely, each had British accents although one was raised in Boston and the other in Monterey), neither of whom I have yet to meet, and to that guy in Grease II who, by the way, is aging very badly, but married Miss Hayley’s sister, Miss Juliet Mills of Nanny & The Professor fame for allowing me to meet his spouse and my obsession’s sibling at a gathering I and Miss Stephanie Glenn refer to as the “celebrity zoo”. Continue reading grATITUDE GOULASH

RAISING THE BAR

As you move through your TV career – or any career for that matter, it’s important to determine where you set the bar for yourself – despite where the bar is set for the place you work – which will always be lower. I’ve compiled this list of “rules” that I’ve sort of adopted through the years and made my own. Take what works for you and throw the rest aside.

1 – KNOW WHAT YOU STAND FOR

Continue reading RAISING THE BAR

GrATITUDE GOULASH

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Joan and Melissa for the years of laughter and friendship. My prayers are with you both.

I want to thank every one of you on Facebook for not challenging me to that dumping water over my head thing. While I support the disease and all, my camera is in the shop and because of the California drought, I’m trying to save every drop for my hot tub. I’m sure you understand. Continue reading GrATITUDE GOULASH

A FATEFUL STEP

We were about ten minute out from shooting the premiere episode of our new game show. Thanks to Kenny Lindner, I had Ty Treadway as host. Most of the crew were getting into place, behind their cameras, testing the jib, the lights, sound effects, etc. The contestants were being shown their positions and how to “buzz in”. Tyrus, as I call him, was hanging out at his podium on the set. I walked up the thre e glistening clear-glass steps to Ty at the podium. Rather softly, I said, Continue reading A FATEFUL STEP

THE STRANGER BEFORE ME

I accidentally came across one of my favorite movies the other day airing on TCMStrangers on a Train. It’s a brilliant Hitchcock suspense thriller from 1951. Seeing the film again reminded me of an odd series of events that happened involving one of the film’s stars – Laura Elliot and TV star Kasey Rogers. Continue reading THE STRANGER BEFORE ME

grATITUDE GOULASH

It is with immense pleasure that I gratefully acknowledge Miss Deidre Anne Lopian for laughing hysterically at the TV Academy in NoHo as I tripped over a stand hidden under fake foliage that was holding up a fake amazonian tree (it was a jungle theme) right behind Mr. Esai Morales who was being interviewed “live” on TV,  the branches swaying back and forth as if in a tsunami, directly above him and his interviewer and his cameraman as I grabbed the tree to keep it from tipping over onto them, yet Mr. Morales had the presence of mind to interrupt the interview to ask if I was alright (which I was, “gracias Senor”) before resuming his interview about whatever D-list project the has-been is promoting. Continue reading grATITUDE GOULASH

THEY’RE ALL GONNA LAUGH AT YOU

This one time…. I left the control to walk into the studio to make sure everything was set up for a kids segment we were doing on The KTLA Morning News. It was some kind of promotion to get kids to read books. All the kids were in place on set and all the proud parents were hanging out up against the wall. As I turned from the set to return to the control room, bam! I ran right into Carrie White. Well, that’s who I saw. It was actually Cissy Spacek there to cheer on her kid. Scared the living crap out of me for a second there!

OTHER KTLA MORNING NEWS POSTS

The Elephant In The Air

This Guy’s A Real Player

A Priceless Portrait of TV’s Past!

I Woke Up On 5 This Morning!

29 Years Later

Jennifer Belongs To The Sky!

He Left Me Flushed!

S-P-E-L-L-I-N-G Success

The Underdog Card

Your Left-Brain Boss Is Killing Your Creativity!

Thump (For My Love)

Richard Simmons Comes Out…

Break A Leg – Seriously

My Mayoral Mishap

Hysterical Press Junket Hijinks

DOUBLE-BOXED IN

Preparing for the 11pm news one night in the WBNS newsroom, in Columbus, I looked up as Dana Tyler, the 11PM co-anchor, was returning to her desk.

“Dana”, I said.

“Yes Raymond?” she replied.

With a deep sigh, I asked, “What are we going to do with our lives?

Without a second thought, she said, “Well, I guess we start with a double box, then take the live remote full, and end again on a double box.”

“Noooooo!”, I said befuddled. “Not our live shots!  Our lives?”

EXECUTION OF A BULLY

Thanks to news anchors like Anderson Cooper, the issue of bullying is finally front and center in the media. Laws are being passed, programs are being put into place and bullies are actually being held accountable for their actions. As someone who was bullied, day in and day out, from the third grade until my high school graduation, I can tell you that being the target of bullies at every turn is a terrifying and miserable existence. I vividly remember riding home on the bus from high school in my freshman year. Every afternoon we would drive past this huge graveyard on the west side of Cincinnati. I would stare at the thousands of tombstones and envy those people for being dead. I would have written a book about my experiences ages ago but I would have to go into events that occurred in my sophomore year – and I’m not yet ready to commit them to paper. My junior and senior years are a complete blur. I remember nothing. But a bully I encountered as a freshman would come back to haunt me early on in my news career. Continue reading EXECUTION OF A BULLY