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Tag Archives: Dick Van Dyke

Writing Lessons Learned from Garry Marshall’s “Happy Days in Hollywood”

28 Monday Oct 2013

Posted by Elizabeth Fais in Autobiography, Film, Humor, Writing

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Bing Cosby, Danny Thomas, Dick Van Dyke, Elizabeth Fais, Film, Garry Marshall, Gomer Pyle, Happy Days, I Love Lucy, I Spy, Laverne and Shirley, Mork and Mindy, My Happy Days in Hollywood, Pretty Woman, The Odd Couple, The Princess Diaries, Wake Me When It's Funny, Writing

Garry Marshall headshotGarry Marshall is an entertainer, storyteller, but first and foremost a writer. I didn’t realize the extent of his talents until the day I listened to his Director’s Commentary on The Princess Diaries DVD.

Afterward, I immediately ran out and bought his first book, Wake Me When It’s Funny. A delight, with its real-world insider info on what it takes to be a successful writer … in any biz. It’s all about story … whether it’s a screenplay, a novel, or a comedy skit. [image: Wikipedia]

My Happy Days in Hollywood

A few weeks ago I saw a Twitter post about Garry Marshall’s new book, My Happy Days In Hollywood. I immediately went online and ordered it, except this time I opted for the unabridged audio book version that is read by Garry Marshall himself. A real treat. It’s like sitting in a living room with Garry, while he personally tells you his story.

The Writer

Garry Marshall was one of the sickly kids ever, because he was (and still is) allergic to almost everything. As a boy, his main goal was to get out of bed. But all that time in bed forced him to develop his talent for crafting stories. While all the other kids were outside playing, he’d lay in bed and made up stories to entertain himself. Scary stories made him scared, and depressing stories just made him depressed. So he quickly learned that amusing stories worked the best. He looked at life as comedy, and it stuck with him.

Garry Marshall started as a professional writer for stand-up comedians on the New York City nightclub circuit. From there he went to Hollywood, first writing for Bing Crosby, and then for television shows such as The Danny Thomas Show, The Dick Van Dyke Show, I Love Lucy, The Odd Couple, Gomer Pyle, I Spy, and Love American Style. His time in the writing trenches eventually lead to producing and directing, fist television and later movies.

The Producer, Director, & Actor
Garry Marshall was the creator and producer of some of the most popular television shows from the 1970’s, including The Odd Couple, Happy Days, Mork and Mindy and Laverne & Shirley.

HappyDays

Today, most people know Garry Marshall for his more recent work as a director (the The Princess Diaries movies, 1 & 2) and actor. What you might not realize, is that his writing skills helped shape (and in some instances make) successes through the rewrites he contributed to a script. One of his script-transformation successes was Pretty Woman (1990).

The original screenplay was named Three Thousand, and was a dark story about a thirty-something hooker who falls in love with a wealthy businessman who leaves her, and then she kills herself. Disney execs didn’t think that story would do too well at the box office (duh), so they hired Garry Marshall to direct and “lighten the story up.” The rest is history.

I could go on and on about his other successes as a director, producer and actor, but I don’t want to ruin your experience of reading, or listening to, Garry Marshall’s My Happy Days In Hollywood. Instead, I’ll cut to the chase, with the practical lessons I learned from his autobiography. These are lessons that any writer/actor/artist can use to set their career on the success track. Because as one person so aptly stated…

Garry is allergic to everything but success.

Ten Valuable Lessons

Garry Marshall’s books offer a wealth of life experiences that writers, actors, and artists of all kinds can apply to their careers. Here are ten of my favorite:

  1. Go to school (take classes and seminars), learn and improve your craft.
  2. To succeed in Hollywood (or as a writer) you must be prepared for failure and rejection.  You have to feel it’s noble to fail and learn to rationalize, because you are going to get rejected.
  3. Allow yourself 30 minutes a day for self-pity. Then get back to your writing.
  4. You’ve got to try different things (write different types of stories), hit or miss.
  5. Developing friendships in the industry is important. It’s not always who you know, but you never know when it will help. Besides, it makes everything so much more fun.
  6. Pain + time = humor
  7. The key to directing (or writing) is don’t take it too seriously.
  8. Life is more important than show business (writing).
  9. Spend your money going to film festivals (writing conferences). You might meet someone who will further your career.
  10. The real power in Hollywood (publishing industry) is to have passion for your project. That passion radiates and convinces others to believe in it (and you!) too.

The Purpose of Our Craft

Garry Marshall said he wants to be remembered
“for making films that make you feel good … even if you don’t want to.”

How about you?
How do you want to be remembered as a writer?


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Moonwalk Mastery … Before Michael Jackson

19 Thursday Sep 2013

Posted by Elizabeth Fais in Dancing, Fun Facts, Moon

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Apollo Theater, Bill Bailey, Billie Jean, Cab Calloway, Dancing, Dick Van Dyke, Elizabeth Fais, Marcel Marceau, Michael Jackson, Moon, Moonwalk, MTV, New York City, tap dancing, The Buzz

There’s a glorious full moon tonight … a marvelous night for a moonwalk. No, not on the surface of the moon … the dance move Michael Jackson made famous in Moonwalk steps1983.

For anyone who’s too young to remember Michael Jackson, or is just unfamiliar with the illusive dance technique, the moonwalk — when done well — creates the illusion of the dancer sliding backwards while attempting to walk forward.

But just like the moon in tonight’s sky, the moonwalk was around long before Michael Jackson…

Who invented the Moonwalk?

Proof-positive recordings only go as far back as recording technology. I, however, wouldn’t be surprised if the moonwalk originated centuries before the first film recording. Anyway…

Here’s what we know for sure:

Cab Calloway, the famous jazz singer and bandleader, was recorded moonwalking back as 1932. Calloway is noted to have said that back in the 1930s, the dance move was called “The Buzz”.

Bill Bailey moonwalkingDick Van Dyke performed a moonwalk move in the 1950’s, in his “Mailing A Letter On A Windy Corner” comedy skit. Then in 1955, Bill Bailey, a well-known tap dancer, was recorded moonwalking in a performance at the Apollo Theater in New York. [image: Bill Bailey moonwalking, at the Apollo Theater, NYC, 1955]

Americans weren’t the only ones to incorporate the enigmatic dance move into their routines. The famous French mime, Marcel Marceau, used the moonwalk throughout his career, starting in the 1940s. In Marceau’s famous “Walking Against the Wind” routine, he moonwalked as he pretended to be pushed backwards by a gust of wind, as he tried to walk forward.

There were more contemporary performers, such as David Bowie, who performed the moonwalk before Michael Jackson busted the move on MTV in 1983. Still, there’s no question that Michael Jackson was the one who made the moonwalk famous for our generation, and a few more to come.

Michael Jackson Moonwalk: In Slow-Mo (MTV)


Pretty awesome. The first time I saw that move I thought, “I want to learn how do that!” And now, with the help of YouTube, we CAN!

Here’s How to Moonwalk Like Michael Jackson


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The Story Behind Mary Poppins ~ “Saving Mr. Banks”

25 Thursday Jul 2013

Posted by Elizabeth Fais in Disney, Disneyland, Movies, Walt Disney

≈ 13 Comments

Tags

Dancing Penguins, Dick Van Dyke, Elizabeth Fais, Emma Thompson, Julie Andrews, Mary Poppins, Movies, P.L. Traverse, Saving Mr. Banks, Tom Hanks, Walt Disney, Walt Disney Family Museum, Walt Disney Studios, WDFM

The Trailer That Stormed the Twitterverse

Mary Poppins book coverA couple of weeks ago, news of the just-released trailer for a new movie about Walt Disney stormed the Twitterverse. That’s how I first heard about “Saving Mr. Banks”, the untold story behind Walt Disney’s acquisition of the rights for “Mary Poppins” — the much-loved children’s book by P.L. Traverse.

P.L. Traverse’s Mary Poppins books were loved by many, well before Walt Disney turned the first book in the series into a major motion picture in 1963.

But the whole world fell in love with Mary Poppins,Mary Poppins movie poster when Julie Andrews starred in the leading role opposite Dick Van Dyke. The Sherman Brothers’ musical score had everyone singing the hit songs Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, Spoon Full of Sugar, Step in Time, and Feed the Birds, to name a few.

Maybe it’s because so many of us grew up loving this story and its characters (even the dancing penguins!), that the trailer about the untold story behind the personalities that brought this story and film to life sparked a reaction similar “the tweet heard round the world.”

Characters Need To Be Larger Than Life

Anyone who’s seen Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color on TV (or Tom Hanks as Walt Disneybecame addicted to the reruns), is familiar with Walt Disney, the man: his voice, his mannerisms, and demeanor.  So, it would be a hard-sell for any actor to fill those shoes. The same could be said for P.L. Traverse, if we were as familiar with her as we are with “Uncle Walt.”

Emma Thompson as P.L. TraverseI admit, that at first I was taken aback by Tom Hanks‘ impersonation of Walt Disney. My internal editor said things like, “Walt Disney didn’t talk like that” and “Walt Disney wasn’t that demonstrative.”

Then I took a step back and realized that P.L. Traverse probably wasn’t as pinched and twitchy as Emma Thompson‘s impersonation either. I finally realized that, much like the characters in the stories we write, the characters in movies have to be larger than life to be interesting.

Along with the characterizations of Walt Disney and P.L. Traverse … I’m sure embellishments were added and (or left out), to make the “story” screen-worthy. I’m OK with that, for the sake of an engaging (based-on a true) “story”. How about you?

A Sneak Peak at “Saving Mr. Banks”


To Learn More About the REAL Walt Disney…

If you are captivated by Walt Disney (the man) and all he accomplished, you should most definitely visit the Walt Disney Family Museum (WDFM) in the San Francisco Presidio. Trust me. It’s not like any museum you’ve ever been to. You will be amazed. You can find out more on my blog post about the WDFM here.


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Dancing Penguins ~ Jolly Holiday Style

22 Friday Jun 2012

Posted by Elizabeth Fais in Animation, Dancing, Funny Videos, Tap Dancing

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Dancing Penguins, Dick Van Dyke, Happy Dance, Jolly Holiday, Julie Andrews, Mary Poppins, Walt Disney

Because Fridays are always better with a Happy Dance!

Or … maybe … because my previous post on Animated Storytelling is the perfect excuse set up for posting a dance sequence that ALWAYS makes me laugh ... The dancing penguins sequence from Walt Disney’s “Mary Poppins”!

I especially love the penguin who toboggans off-screen, and then – try as he might – can never get back in sync with the group. I think that’s because I frequently feel like I’ve gone barreling off the map and am forever out of step with everyone else!

What movie always makes you laugh, and why?

Inquiring minds want to know!


Walt Disney’s “Mary Poppins” ~ Jolly Holiday

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