Speaking Of Grodin....

Thinking about "Clifford", the movie I referred to last time, that I walked out on, after paying good money to see it, in which Charles Grodin disappointed me, it reminded me of another recent incident in which Charles Grodin disappointed me.
Now, don't get me completely wrong.
I have, for the most part, always admired Grodin's work, and admired him as a person, and as a talk-show guest.
But I recently listened to him on an internet podcast, where he was the solo guest for about an hour and a half.
He was his usual interesting self.
I found myself being very sympatico with his outlook on the world.
He discussed among other things, how, even at his stage of his career, he found it difficult to get meetings for people to consider producing his plays.
This is a problem that I have encountered on occasion, and it was somewhat comforting to know that I was not alone.
As he described it, he had a play running in New York that completely sold out it's run.
So he was baffled that he couldn't even get a hearing on his next play.
He then spent some time plugging his latest book.
I found the Kindle version on Amazon, and ordered it.
And I read it.
And it turned out to be an entire regurgitation of what he said on the podcast.
Practically word for word.
Either that, or the podcast was an entire regurgitation of what he wrote in his book.
In any case, I felt I should have been warned.
And I felt completely ripped off.
Even if it was only to the tune of $3.99.
The podcast and the book also consisted of a ton of name-dropping.
Almost every sentence began with "My good friend Robert Diniro", or "My good friend Candice Bergen" and like that.
Now, I know that he worked with these people, and may indeed even be good friends with them.
But I did feel rather clobbered on my head with all of this.
The capper was when he talked about "My good friend Paul Simon".
And he related the following exchange of dialogue between him and his good friend Paul Simon.
According to Grodin, his good friend Paul Simon said to him, "D'jever notice that when you're on the phone with somebody and they say, 'I've got another call. I'll get right back to you', that that's the new version of 'no' ? "
I hear him relate this anecdote, and my immediate reaction is "This is complete bullshit".
I mean who on earth is going to put Paul Simon on hold to take another call?
Who on earth is going to say "no" to Paul Simon about anything?!
Grodin was probably talking about his own experience, and decided to dress it up by having it come out of Paul Simon's mouth.
And I looked up Grodin's play that had a "sold out" run in New York.
It had mixed reviews.
This didn't surprise me.
For years, he had been trying to get a movie that he had written made.
It was called "Movers and Shakers".
He managed to rope Walter Matthau into playing the lead.
The first half of it was a total fiasco.
Once again, I didn't make it to the second half.
But I didn't have to leave the theater.
I just had to turn off the TV.
The "sold out run" for his play was in one of those Off-Broadway theaters with very limited seating capacity.
And a very limited run.
Not that difficult to sell out.
With it all, I still have a lot of positive feelings about Grodin.
But now, with his book, and "Movers and Shakers", and "Clifford", forewarned is forearmed.

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My books ,"Show Runner" and it's sequel, "Show Runner Two", can be found at the Amazon Kindle Store.
Along with the newer ones, "The Man Is Dead", and "Report Cards".
You can search by typing in my name, Cindy Williams, Laverne and Shirley, The Odd Couple, or Happy Days.
Check them out.
You don't need a Kindle machine to download them.
Just get the free app from Kindle, and they can be downloaded to an IPhone, IPad, or Blackberry.
The paperbacks, "Mark Rothman's Essays" and my new novel, "I'm Not Garbo" are not
e-books. But they are available for people without Kindle.
I have many readings and signings lined up for those, and the thing about Kindle is you can't sign one. If you'd like one of the paperbacks, personally autographed, contact me at macchus999@aol.com.
And now, we've got my reading of my "Laverne and Shirley Movie" screenplay on YouTube, and my 4-hour interview at the Television Academy's Emmy TV Legends Website.
Here's the link://www.emmytvlegends.org/interviews/people/mark-rothman"

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