Howser Ever Enthusiastic Livened up the Most Unispiring Day

Huell Howser – One More Golden

Era Icon is Gone

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-huell-howser-20130108,0,1021100.story

‘California’s Gold’ was a Secret Pleasure I enjoyed watching whenever I could. Not a program the average American today would watch, or even pay attention to I found it perhaps my favorite program on TV. It was not only because of the subject matter which dealt with exploring the unusual, often overlooked or forgotten backroads of California, but the host was such a genial , enthusiasm throwback to another era.

How could you help gut enjoy Howell , for example, watching his disbelief that a dog would eat avocados or the huge, amazing flies at Mono Lake. There were so many episodes where Howell seemed perhaps more intrigued that his own viewers. Howell was once questioned, in 2009, whether he really was so in awe of many of the people and places he would visit. He said he thought it ‘sad’ that today people would even question that. And I agree. We’ve become a nation of conformists with fewer and fewer people like Howser left with everyone else trying to be ‘cooler’ than the next guy. So, it was with great sadness yet another icon, for me, passed away, January 7 in Palm Springs, CA. Howser , 67, born in Tenessee was an ex-Marine seemed in such good shape, yet he had just retired, perhaps knowing of a serious illness; not mentioning what it was s, news reports said that he had been in hospice care.

However, they said, Howser was a very private person, never married, who lived in his ‘dream home in Palm Springs ; he also had an apartment in Los Angeles, where he was based at KCET, local PBS anchor for the network that broadcast his shows that have been shown weekly and even daily of late. I had had six epiosdes recorded and only just noticed that they were filmed earlier. Howser apparently stopped broadcasting in November. Howser seemed to espcially like the rural and offbeat folks, people who would have an usual profession or business. And they seemed to like him, too, with his friendly, enthusiastic way. I sure did. He is said to be the only one who was allowed in Frank Sinatra’s estate to offer coverage. Hopefully, his hundreds or thousands of old programs will be aired indeifnitely, since he donated them all to a film library for just that purpose.

Here is one bit of the many memorable shows, one which I remember with Hoswer in the remote, Eastern California Mono Lake area , learning about the unusual flies on the lake.

Huell Howser Truly Relished California’s Gold

We’re not talking about real gold as in the 49ers but the ‘gold’ that Howswer would discover in the many unique backroads, people and places of California. The show may not have gone back to the Golden Era 50s and early 60s but it’s host certainly did and visited mostly places that seemed to have that richness of an earlier era.

<h1>Huell Howser – One More Golden</h1>

<a href=”http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-huell-howser-20130108,0,1021100.story”> http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-huell-howser-20130108,0,1021100.story</a>

Here is one bit of the many memorable shows, one which I remember with Hoswer in the remote, Eastern California Mono Lake area , learning about the unusual flies on the lake.

<h3>Huell Howser Truly Relished California’s Gold</h3>

SWAMI X LIVES – Now 83,

World’s Best Sidewalk Comedian

Brings Memories

By admin on January 3, 2013 | Edit

From, 2006 Swami makes one last stand…A little bit of Mort Saul, Dennis Miller, Professor Irwin Corey but mostly himself, Swami is one of a kind. Unfortunately, home videos weren’t around in the ’70s like they are now…so we have only this at least and a tribute from the mayor of Los Angeles, below… It’s not vintage Swami – and hard to hear – but at least one gets a glimpse of the man they call the ‘wrold’s best sidewalk comedian’ with which we agree.

SWAMI X Lives

from Wikapedia:

Swami X is an American boardwalk performer and stand-up comedian. Active from the 1970s to 1985, he performed in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Berkeley, and New York. He was known for bawdy sexual humor and political invective.^[1]^[2]

Swami X’s act was a monologue mixing pithy sociopolitical observations with poetry, sarcasm and humor, which typically included blasphemy, profanity, and attacking “sacred cows”—producing “pleased shock and delighted outrage” in observers.^[2] His notable lines include:

“Sex is not the answer. Sex is the question. ‘Yes’ is the answer.”^[3]
“How do we know Jesus Christ was Jewish? Because he went into His Father’s business.”^[2]
“If I had known I would live this long, I would have taken better care of myself”.

He was known for appearing on the Venice Boardwalk, at the UCLA and U.C. Berkeley campuses, in San Francisco, and at Washington Park in New York City. He retired in 1985.^[1] In 2009 the mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa, presented him with an official proclamation.^[4]

Swami X appears as a character in Roger L. Simon‘s mystery novel, The Straight Man^[5] and is referenced in Pat Hartman’s volume of Venice vignettes, Call Someplace Paradise.^[6]

While attending UCLA I was lucky enough to see the Swami dozens of times between 1971-1975 at Meyerhoff Park at UCLA. No, it wasn’t a formal thing. He didn’t get paid and we never knew when he was ‘performing.’ But, if you were lucky you’d catch him a couple times a week, at least. He’d usually show up in his unique apparel – tie die one day, tshirt another, his long beard , sunglasses all adding to a mystique. After five or ten minutes of ‘getting settled in the batters box’ (which was a little lecturn right in the park) , Swami X would take off.

A lot of the material was somewhat juvenile and sexist but most of the stuff was just so funny you had to overlook the garbage. Compared to Howard Stern he was an angel – and a heck of a lot funnier – AND FREE! You’d hear a lot of the same lines repeated time and again -afterall, if you see the same guy 2-3 times a week you can’t expect him to have new material every time- but it didn’t matter. With Swami it was just as funny, or moreso, the second or thrid or fourth time around.

He’d usually open with something like,

“I could be living in the lap of luxury at any mental institution in the country and I’m here working for peanuts in Meyerhoff Park.’ Then he might make a sexist reference about Patty Hearst, who was in the news at the time, having been kidnapped by the SLA. Or maybe he’d tell us for the umteenth time why people become Jesus Freaks (‘Because they can’t get laid and their semen backs up to their penial gland in their brain, causing a mental fog and worse.)

He would go after the cops, ‘You can tell the captains from the sergeants because the captains have a quarter inch neck. The sergeants have no necks.’ One of his most popular lines was , while introducing himself, ‘ I come from Uranus (pronounced ‘Your Anus,’ where women’s heads only move one way, up and down (as in ‘Yes”) and their asses move sideways.’ He then demonstrates the movements, as he does a little hop-skip; Swami was in good shape and his physicality is an essentiall part of the show. One could actually hearn history and current events form Swami. He was well read and would drop names at the drop of his hat…from Patty Hearst to Henry Kissinger.

After a couple years Swami became so popular he did appear in a couple commercial shows, but it wasn’t him and the next thing you know he’s back at Meyerhoff UCLA. He lives in Venice but would occassionally go north to UC Berkeley, where his politics were , of course, a big hit. I remember seeing him there a time or two, but UCLA and Venice Beach were his home where he is beloved to this day. SEE BELOW HONOR

**************************************

July 17, 2009

The Beachhead and Mayor Villaraigosa Honor Swami X at Beyond Baroque

By Karl Abrams

In an emotional ceremony at Venice’s Beyond Baroque on Sunday June 21, 83-year old Swami X, famed 1970’s and 80’s boardwalk comic, writer and muse, was presented with a Los Angeles City Council Resolution by Councilmember Bill Rosendahl and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa “proclaiming” the city-wide recognition of his life’s work. The award followed a rare public appearance of Swami X, produced by the Free Venice Beachhead, to a large crowd of fans who seemed to delight in every one of his words, insights, jokes and observations. At times, Swami was a little choked-up.

Suzy Williams, “Venice Songbird,” sang a great song dedicated to Swami with beautifully appropriate lyrics like, “Swami X left us what is true” and “Swami X examines life with awe”. Swami transformed from choked-up to soak-it-up.

An informal Q and A followed as raised hands showed how much Swami’s fans wanted to know delicious details of his life. Yes, he was a merchant seamen, he actually did spend 20 years in an east-coast Ashram and he really did perform on the Venice Boardwalk, at UCLA and Berkeley campuses, and Hyde Park in London, Greenwich Village in New York and anywhere else Swami’s dharma took him.

The Mayor explained to the audience how he first met the iconoclastic comic while studying at UCLA. When Villaraigosa was searching for words to describe Swami’s early influence on him, a distinguished member of the audience, donning a dress as well as a beard caught the mayor temporarily off guard. Some remember the Mayor exclaiming “Jesus Christ! What is that?” Others say the Mayor simply shouted “Whoa.” You’re in Venice now Mr. Mayor, lighten up.

After the awards ceremony and before heading home, Swami probably posed for pictures with almost everybody. It was an unforgettable afternoon for the audience as well as for the performing genius himself. Swami, once called the “world’s greatest sidewalk comic”, was on again like a vintage firecracker who had caught the audience in the palm of his hand.

Swami X continues to write for the Free Venice Beachhead. His articles are not to be missed. Check your Beachhead Calendar for more Beachhead-sponsored events at Beyond Baroque.

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Swami X is hard to put into words . Maybe he is an acquired taste. Most of his audience were men , to be expected. But, there was nobody like him – and never will be. Perhaps MICHAEL SAVAGE, on the right side of the dial, would be sort of akin to Swami with his wordsmanship, stories and offbeat humour. Professor Irwin Corey would be another great one in the same vein, now 97 and now panhandling in New York(see his story elsewhere int hese pages.) So, politics aside, funny can be funny. And I was lucky to be going to school at UCLA just about the time when Swami got started on his independent , off the cuff ‘comedy tours.’ There were guys like Holy Hubert, s religous nut, who was funny only because of the way he delivered his Jesus sermons, of which people made fun. But Swami was and is loved and it’s so good to find he is still with us. I’m sure if Swami went commercial it wouldn’t be the same. But he seemed happy to just make enough money to get by and live his free lifestyle. Ah the memories. Would love to hear from any others who were lucky enough to see and hear Swami during his prime. And, now, for a rare, YouTube glimse of the Swami in action (not like being there but a sample nonetheless)…

SWAMI X LIVES

PROFESSOR IRWIN COREY

PANHANDLING AT 97!

You may have never heard of or forgotten the name
but you might recognize him , an
Albert Einstein lookalike.
Perhaps the original ‘absented minded professor,’ he may not have been in the top tier of Borscht Belt comedians because of hiseccentric style-and not leaving the stage on time – but he was always a favorite, appearingmany times on Ed Sullivan, Johnny Carson, etc. I actually met himat a small venue about 20 years ago.
Corey is now 97 (same age as Dad ) and still very sharp. He was recently in the news
on Smothers Brothers 1966
because he now ambles through traffic on his walker, in New York, selling
discarded newspapers, yes, at 97- not because he
needs the money but because his wife recently died and it keeps his mind off
the loneliness
(something only Corey would say and do)….Too bad few clubs hire him today.

97-YEAR-OLD COMEDIAN PROFESSOR IRWIN COREY PANHANDLES FOR LAUGHS

At 97, I think his wacky humour is still better than most of what passes as ‘comedy’ now.
Click on the below picture
for a recent interview with this forgotten legend from the Golden Age of comedy.
I just wish somebody would hire him, perhaps for a large senior center, and get him
out of the streets!
http://youtu.be/dHlOFcV_Pos

Professor Irwin Corey, Legendary Comedian, Panhandles For Change On 35th Street (VIDEO)

97 year-old standup comedian Irwin Corey, aka Professor Irwin Corey,The World’s Foremost Authority, spends his day at a red light on East 35th street, navigating his walker through traffic asking drivers for spare change and selling discarded newspapers.

But the Professor isn’t poor. In fact, around the corner he owns an apartment he tells The New York Times is worth $3.5 million.

All the money he gathers panhandling (about $100 a day) goes to a charity that sends medical supplies to children in Cuba.

And although the Professor claims he does it because he wants to help people, it also seems like he’s not ready to stop performing.

His illustrious film career included performances with Jackie Gleason and Woody Allen, and he once famously accepted the National Book Award on behalf of the reclusive Thomas Pynchon.

The Professor’s wife of 70 years passed away this spring and he tells The Times that selling newspapers helps him take his mind off the loneliness.

For a fuller portrait, The New York Times recently caught up with this New York City legend for its Street Takes video series: