Monday, December 24, 2012

12/24 Robert Blake


Blake was born Michael James Vincenzo Gubitosi in Nutley, New Jersey, to Giacomo (James) Gubitosi (1906–1956) and Elizabeth Cafone (b. 1910). His brother was James Gubitosi (1930–1995) and his sister was Giovanna Gubitosi (1932–1985).

His father was born in Italy, arriving in the United States in 1907, and his mother was an Italian-American born in New Jersey. They married in 1929. In 1930, James worked as a die setter for a can manufacturer. Eventually, James and Elizabeth began a song-and-dance act. In 1936, the three children began performing, billed as "The Three Little Hillbillies." They moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1938, where the children began working as movie extras.
[edit] Child actor
Robert Blake in 1944

Then known as Mickey Gubitosi, Blake began his acting career when he appeared as Toto in the MGM movie Bridal Suite (1939) starring Annabella and Robert Young. Gubitosi then began appearing in MGM's Our Gang short subjects under his real name, replacing Eugene "Porky" Lee. He appeared in 40 of the shorts between 1939 and 1944, eventually becoming the series' final lead character. James and Jovanni Gubitosi also made appearances in the series as extras.

During his early Our Gang period, Gubitosi's character, Mickey, was often called upon to cry, and the young actor has been criticized for being unsubtle and unconvincing. He was also criticized for being obnoxious and whiny.[1] In 1942, he acquired the stage name Bobby Blake and his character in the series was renamed "Mickey Blake." In 1944, MGM discontinued Our Gang, releasing the final short in the series Dancing Romeo on April 29.

To date, Gubitosi is one of the few living Our Gang actors from the original series. Other notable surviving members are Dickie Moore, Jean Darling, Sidney Kibrick, Jerry Tucker, and Jackie Lynn Taylor.
Blake as Little Beaver.

In 1944, Blake began playing an Indian boy, "Little Beaver," in the Red Ryder Western series at Republic Pictures, appearing in twenty-three of the movies until 1947. He also had roles in one of Laurel and Hardy's later films The Big Noise (1944), and the Warner Bros. movies Humoresque (1946), playing John Garfield's character as a child, and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), playing the Mexican boy who sells Humphrey Bogart a winning lottery ticket and getting a glass of water thrown in his face in the process.

According to Blake, he had an unhappy childhood with a miserable home life and was abused by his alcoholic father. When he entered public school at age ten, he could not understand why the other children were hostile to him. He had fights, which led to his expulsion. When he was fourteen, he ran away from home. The next few years were a reportedly difficult period in his life.

In 1950, Blake joined the Army. After returning to Southern California, he entered Jeff Corey's acting class and began working on improving both his personal and professional lives. He eventually became a seasoned Hollywood actor, playing notable dramatic roles in movies and on television. In 1956, he was billed as Robert Blake for the first time.

In 1959, he turned down the role of Little Joe Cartwright, a character ultimately portrayed by Michael Landon, in NBC's western television series Bonanza. Blake did appear that year as Tobe Hackett in the episode "Trade Me Deadly" of the syndicated western series 26 Men, which dramatized true stories of the Arizona Rangers. Blake also appeared twice as "Alfredo" in the syndicated western The Cisco Kid and starred in "The White Hat" episode of Men of Annapolis, another syndicated series. Blake appeared in various roles in the series Have Gun Will Travel and also guest starred on John Payne's NBC western The Restless Gun.

Blake performed in numerous motion pictures as an adult, including the starring role in The Purple Gang (1960), a gangster movie, and featured roles in Pork Chop Hill in 1959 and Town Without Pity in 1961 as well as Ensign Pulver (1964), The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) and other films. In 1967, he played real-life murderer Perry Smith in In Cold Blood; Richard Brooks directed, adapting Truman Capote's non-fiction book for the film.
As Baretta with Fred.

Blake played an Indian fugitive in Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here (1969), a TV movie adaptation of Of Mice and Men (1981), and a motorcycle highway patrolman in Electra Glide in Blue (1973). He played a small-town stock car driver with ambitions to join the NASCAR circuit in Corky, which MGM produced in 1972. The film featured real NASCAR drivers, including Richard Petty and Cale Yarborough.

Blake may be best known for his Emmy Award-winning role of Tony Baretta in the popular television series Baretta (1975 to 1978), playing an undercover police detective who specialized in disguises. The show's trademarks included Baretta's pet cockatoo "Fred," his signature phrases — notably "That's the name of that tune" and "You can take that to the bank" — and a memorable theme song, "Keep Your Eye on the Sparrow," written by Dave Grusin and Morgan Ames and performed by Sammy Davis, Jr.

He continued to act through the 1980s and 1990s, mostly in television, in such roles as Jimmy Hoffa in the miniseries Blood Feud (1983) and as John List in the murder drama Judgment Day: The John List Story (1993), which earned him a third Emmy nomination. He also had character parts in the theatrical movies Money Train (1995) and Lost Highway (1997). In addition, Blake starred in the television series Hell Town, playing a priest working in a tough neighborhood.

Friday, December 21, 2012

12/21 David Hull, Jimmy Mac, Football Handicapping

Dave Hull, aka "The Hullabalooer", is a Los Angeles radio personality voted one of the top ten LA radio personalities of all time. Born Jan. 20, 1934, he admits to being 77 with his personal addition herewith dated Mar. 3, 2011.

Hull began his radio career in Armed Forces Radio in Casablanca, Morocco and in commercial radio in 1955 at KGFL in Roswell, New Mexico. He reached Los Angeles' KRLA in 1963 as weekend relief and fulltime there on Jun. 6, 1964. By the end of 1964, Hull's increasing popularity prompted one young female fan, Suzie Cappetta, to write and record a song entitled "Dave Hull The Hullabalooer", which quickly reached the local top 40 charts by early 1965. Hull became close with The Beatles during their 1965 and 1966 American tours. During that time, Hull taped approximately fourteen interviews with the band. He, along with Bob Eubanks, planned The Beatles' 1966 concert at the Chavez Ravine-Dodger Stadium. His work with the band earned him the honorary title of "fifth Beatle." Hull worked closely with The Beach Boys, The Dave Clark Five and The Rolling Stones during that period. In December 1965, Hull opened his "Hullabaloo" teen club on Sunset in Hollywood.

He got his nickname while working at WONE in Dayton, Ohio. Los Angeles radio historian Don Barrett quotes Hull as saying: "A woman wrote me from a hotel outside Dayton to say she couldn't stand all that hullabaloo. Well, Webster's defined it as a 'tumultuous outroar,' so I used it."
Dave appeared (using the name David Hull) as a talent contest manager in an October, 1966 episode of "The Monkees".

Dave Hull was the first guest host on the nationally syndicated American Top 40 program, week ending November 6, 1971. He was heard in Los Angeles at the time on KGBS.

Hull hosted the nationally syndicated TV show "Matchmaker" in the late 1980s, reportedly seen in over 100 markets, a video version of his late 1970s "Lovelines" program heard on KMPC.

Today, Hull lives in Palm Springs, California and is now retired. He held the 6-midnight slot on one of the country's few remaining beautiful music stations, KWXY, from 1994 until his announced retirement in 2010. He also remains active as a voiceover for national radio and television commercials. Hull's book, Hullabaloo!: the (Mis)Adventures of L.A. Radio Legend Dave Hull is scheduled to be available in mid-2011.  

Then Jimmy Mac, The Fabulous Tomas and Eric Horn join in for some football handicapping!
Former bookie Jimmy Mac is a native of Jersey (“The only state which you don’t have to say the ‘New!’” as he’s fond of saying) and grew up with the real Sopranos. He even dated at least one of their daughters. His father owned a horsemeat slaughterhouse, so Jimmy is an expert with the ponies – though is still awaiting an endorsement deal from PETA. An accomplished wordsmith, he was excited to get into the publishing world but then found out what “bookmaking” really means. Nevertheless, it was a fateful miscommunication as he quickly discovered that his true talent was predicting the outcomes of sporting events. He is both feared and revered in Las Vegas, where he still receives comps from some of the best casinos in town. Though now retired from the bookmaking business, he runs a very successful light bulb distribution company and every week watches more college and professional football games than are actually played.

Friday, December 7, 2012

12/07 BOB CRANE, C CRANE, TIM MOORE, CRUSHIQ, JIMMY MAC, FOOTBALL HANDICAPPING

Join MIKE HORN on the 
WEEKEND EDITION of THE PM SHOW...


Bob Crane  - OWNER OF C CRANE


C. Crane Company, Inc. is an American electronics retailer based in Fortuna, California. The company mainly deals in specialty radio and lighting equipment and is best known for its GeoBulb line of LED light bulbs.

C. Crane was founded in 1976 in San Francisco, California by Bob and Susan Crane. The company was initially a furniture design and manufacturing company and only switched to being an electronics distributor in 1983, upon the Cranes' relocation to Fortuna. C. Crane's first electronics product was the "Select-A-Tenna", an antenna manufactured by Intensitronics Corp. of Hales Corners, Wisconsin, for long-distance reception of AM radio broadcasts. The company advertised on late-night radio shows, which served to increase business from AM listeners looking for a better antenna. Later in the 1980s, C. Crane began to distribute radios, such as the GE Superadio, to go along with their antennas. Following the 1992 Cape Mendocino earthquakes, the company expanded their catalog to include emergency radios and other disaster equipment, such as flashlights. Eventually, C. Crane began to produce its own radios in collaboration with Sangean.



Tim Moore - CO-FOUNDER OF CRUSHIQ

Tim is the co-founder and CEO at CrushIQ and he provides strategic counsel, marketing guidance, and digital relationship best practices to several of CrushIQ's top global accounts as well as maintaining CrushIQ's strong partner relationships with the likes of Google and Facebook. Taught business leaders through our events how to engage and use conversational media properly to win mindshare and build brand loyalty: A few of our recent events: Wilmington, NC   Columbia, SC   Washington, D.C.   Charlotte, NC

Current clients include NOS Energy Drink, Coca-Cola, NASCAR’s Roush Fenway Racing, and others.

Previously, Tim was with The New York Times Company in a digital business solutions leadership role, and prior to that was the founder of numerous technology startups. Tim believes in transparency and thus invites all to keep in touch with on Google+, Twitter, or to call him directly on his mobile at 910-233-6228.

Tim was on of the authors of the 2009 Mindshare Report, which exposed vulnerabilities and opportunities in the enterprise. Helped develop nationally accepted social listening methodologies and models that are accepted as the standard and used globally today as best practice.

Tim is regularly contacted as a leader is social business by the likes of ABC News, PR Newswire, FOX TV, AT&T, CNN, The New York Times, Washington Times, SODA, and others.

Tim speaks nationwide and can be seen just about everywhere there sharing his vision for new media marketing, from major industry conferences like SMX, Social Media World Forum, AZIMA, CrushIQ, to national industry specific marketing conferences for Real Estate - Annual Home Selling Summit 2010, and Recruiting – NCASP, RecruiterECO, just to name a few.  


   
Then Jimmy Mac, The Fabulous Tomas and Eric Horn join in for some football handicapping!

Former bookie Jimmy Mac is a native of Jersey (“The only state which you don’t have to say the ‘New!’” as he’s fond of saying) and grew up with the real Sopranos. He even dated at least one of their daughters. His father owned a horsemeat slaughterhouse, so Jimmy is an expert with the ponies – though is still awaiting an endorsement deal from PETA. An accomplished wordsmith, he was excited to get into the publishing world but then found out what “bookmaking” really means. Nevertheless, it was a fateful miscommunication as he quickly discovered that his true talent was predicting the outcomes of sporting events. He is both feared and revered in Las Vegas, where he still receives comps from some of the best casinos in town. Though now retired from the bookmaking business, he runs a very successful light bulb distribution company and every week watches more college and professional football games than are actually played.

Monday, December 3, 2012

12/03 David Hull, Hullabaloo

Dave Hull, aka "The Hullabalooer", is a Los Angeles radio personality voted one of the top ten LA radio personalities of all time. Born Jan. 20, 1934, he admits to being 77 with his personal addition herewith dated Mar. 3, 2011.

Hull began his radio career in Armed Forces Radio in Casablanca, Morocco and in commercial radio in 1955 at KGFL in Roswell, New Mexico. He reached Los Angeles' KRLA in 1963 as weekend relief and fulltime there on Jun. 6, 1964. By the end of 1964, Hull's increasing popularity prompted one young female fan, Suzie Cappetta, to write and record a song entitled "Dave Hull The Hullabalooer", which quickly reached the local top 40 charts by early 1965. Hull became close with The Beatles during their 1965 and 1966 American tours. During that time, Hull taped approximately fourteen interviews with the band. He, along with Bob Eubanks, planned The Beatles' 1966 concert at the Chavez Ravine-Dodger Stadium. His work with the band earned him the honorary title of "fifth Beatle." Hull worked closely with The Beach Boys, The Dave Clark Five and The Rolling Stones during that period. In December 1965, Hull opened his "Hullabaloo" teen club on Sunset in Hollywood.

He got his nickname while working at WONE in Dayton, Ohio. Los Angeles radio historian Don Barrett quotes Hull as saying: "A woman wrote me from a hotel outside Dayton to say she couldn't stand all that hullabaloo. Well, Webster's defined it as a 'tumultuous outroar,' so I used it."
Dave appeared (using the name David Hull) as a talent contest manager in an October, 1966 episode of "The Monkees".

Dave Hull was the first guest host on the nationally syndicated American Top 40 program, week ending November 6, 1971. He was heard in Los Angeles at the time on KGBS.

Hull hosted the nationally syndicated TV show "Matchmaker" in the late 1980s, reportedly seen in over 100 markets, a video version of his late 1970s "Lovelines" program heard on KMPC.

Today, Hull lives in Palm Springs, California and is now retired. He held the 6-midnight slot on one of the country's few remaining beautiful music stations, KWXY, from 1994 until his announced retirement in 2010. He also remains active as a voiceover for national radio and television commercials. Hull's book, Hullabaloo!: the (Mis)Adventures of L.A. Radio Legend Dave Hull is scheduled to be available in mid-2011.