David Bruce: Create, Then Take a Break — Sermons, Television, Theater

Sermons

• The Maggid of Kelm repeated his sermons, giving the same few sermons over and over. Once, a sinner asked him, “Why do you keep repeating your sermons over and over?” The Maggid replied, “Why do you keep repeating your sins over and over?”

Television

• In 2003, Juan Catalan, a 24-year-old machinist, was accused of murder. He protested that he had been attending a Los Angeles Dodgers game at Dodger Stadium at the time of the murder. He had the ticket stubs, but he needed more evidence to show that he was at the game. As it happened, the TV show Curb Your Enthusiasmhad filmed an episode in Dodger Stadium on the day that Mr. Catalan had attended the game. The show was contacted, and a viewing of the footage shot that day showed Mr. Catalan and his daughter eating hot dogs in the stands. Mr. Catalan, who had spent five months in prison, escaped the death penalty. Larry David, the main man behind Curb Your Enthusiasm, says now, “I tell people that I’ve done one decent thing in my life, albeit inadvertently.”

• Lots of fans of The Avengers think that Mrs. Emma Peel and Mr. John Steed should have gotten romantically involved. In a way, they did. When Diana Rigg, who played Mrs. Peel, decided to leave the series, the writers brought back her supposedly dead husband, test pilot Peter Peel, by having him found alive in the Amazon jungle. In the episode “The Forget-Me-Knot,” Mrs. Peel and Steed say goodbye (this is the only time Steed ever calls her “Emma”) then she leaves with Peter Peel. However, Peter Peel was played by actor Patrick Macnee, who also played John Steed.

• Aaron Ruben was the producer of The Andy Griffith Show, which featured Mr. Griffith as Sheriff Andy Taylor and Don Knotts as his incompetent deputy, Barney Fife. Once, someone told Mr. Knotts that Aaron Ruben thought there was a lot of Don Knotts in Barney Fife. Mr. Knotts replied, “Gee, I hope not too much!” By the way, Mr. Griffith was a well-liked man. One of the writers for the series, Harvey Bullock, named his only son “Andy.”

• A 1990s TV commercial for a Norwegian life insurance company showed two men meeting, then taking off in a glider. Seconds after they are in the air, two more men arrive—they are the instructors for the first two men.

Theater

• Actor-manager Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree (1853-1917) was a perfectionist. During a rehearsal of a thunderstorm on stage, a real thunderstorm blew up outside the theater. Sir Herbert listened to the thunder, then said that it would not do. On being informed that the thunder was real, he said, “That may satisfy the people outside, but we must do better.” By the way, the term “steal one’s thunder” comes from John Dennis (1657-1734), who invented a new way of producing thunder for the stage, but who was incensed when other theatrical managers stole his new method of producing thunder.

• In his old age, Sir Ralph Richardson began to lose his memory—a major problem for an actor. He was determined to learn a particular script by David Storey, so he kept telephoning Mr. Storey to report his progress on learning the script—“I’ve got to page 17” … “I’ve got to page 23” … “I’ve got to page 27.” Once, he called Mr. Storey to report, “I’m on page 17.” Mr. Storey, surprised, said, “But you were on page 27 last week.” Sir Ralph, also surprised, asked if he was sure, then said, “Oh, God, I’m going backwards. It’s hopeless.” Eventually, he learned the script.

• Diana Rigg once was present at a performance of Shakespeare’s Two Gentlemen of Verona in Stratford when the stagehands operating the revolving stage were intoxicated. They accelerated the revolving stage to such a speed that anyone who tried to get on the stage was promptly thrown off. By the way, Ms. Rigg once performed as Lady Macbeth in a matinee given for schoolchildren. Apparently, they had all been studying Macbeth, because they joined in and recited the “I have given suck” speech along with her.

David Bruce: Create, Then Take a Break — Sermons, Television, Theater

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