Friday, May 13, 2011

Doomed Book Club Update

My friend the Hollywood producer who really exists is in town, so we were able to have an in-person meeting of part of the Doomed Book Club. So far the most exciting part of STUNTMAN! for me is when Hal Needham sees a salad for the first time. It blows his mind! He is 23 and just out of the army. "Do I eat it, throw it on the floor, or just look at it stupidly?" he wonders. Eventually the waitress comes and takes it away. So far that salad is the only thing in the book that has gotten him down, including a parachute that never opens. But don't worry! Within a chapter, Hal Needham is having a T-bone, some oysters, and a salad with blue cheese with TV western star Richard Boone (pictured). "For a country boy, you catch on fast," Richard Boone observes. I was poking around in the index, as is my wont, and I came across this intriguing entry: "Kellogg's Corn Flakes, 155-57." That seems to be a lot of space to spend on corn flakes in your autobiography! I haven't peeked, so I don't know what's up with the corn flakes. Stay tuned. My friend ended our meeting by singing this song ("click" here) from the animated version of THE HOBBIT starring the voice talent of Orson Bean. I don't know why he did that, but I'm glad he did.