Lang Jeffries Jr., noted scenarist and CEO of entertainment empire LangFilms announced today that he has completed his latest script entitled “Lemon Grove Kids Screw Around With a Branch Chipping Machine”. The short will begin production late November.In this hilarious installment, Gene Rayburn plays Bernie McGuffin, a local candy shop owner who dies of a heart attack in his store. The twist here is that Rayburn is really dead (1999). The kids drag the Match Game corpse all around Los Angeles and place him in all sorts of crazy, outrageous situations (restaurant, hardware store, etc.). Gene accidentally ends up being shredded to pieces in a branch chipping machine when the boys forget to remove him from the front lawn.
It’s a laff riot from start to finish! Ray Dennis Steckler has been signed to star as “Old Gopher”. A special song called “Pieces of Gene” has been written especially for this Oscar-worthy picture.
Gene Facts:
Name Change: Gene Rayburn’s real name is Eugene Rubessa; his father was an immigrant from Croatia
Paging Gene! Gene was one of the first NBC TV Studio pages (as was Dave Garroway!)
Pre-Rock Era: Gene was the original announcer on the Tonight Show (with Steve Allen)
Got a light? The first version of Match Game debuted in 1962 and ran until 1969
De Plane, De Boat! Gene starred in one episode of Fantasy Island and three episodes of The Love Boat.
Let’s Get Hitched: Gene was married for 56 years. His wife died in 1992
2 comments:
Lang,
Refreshing to view a blog that doesn't feel the pressure to add to the glut of political coverage. While most on-line pundits are covering the post-election stories today, you have once again kept things fresh by not going mainstream. Dare I say, Lang, that you are a bit of a maverick?
The Match Game reference, however, is a little bittersweet. It's was only last year when both Charles Nelson Riley and Brett Somers left us for that big game show in the sky. It was also the year we lost Alice Ghostly. Though never a Match Game celebrity player, there is a not-so-well-known connection. When Charles Nelson Reilly was asked where he got his trademark “huh-huh” noise. He said, “I stole it from Paul Lynde, who stole it from Alice Ghostley.” (True Fact - this came from director Danny Miller's blog, who, by the way, wrote about the election today).
But, Lang, you're coyness has us wondering. . . could it be: "Lang's Swell in 2012"?
Or, as only (or so we thought)CNR could say, "huh-huh".
LCdB
LCdeB
Believe it or not, I had an election article queued up, but it wasn't really very funny -- like all of the other political humor. It's a cheap laugh.
I do recall the huh-huh noise, so thank you for digging up the origins. I hadn't seen that on the History Channel yet.
And thanks for the heavenly honor roll. Let's thank our lucky stars that Richard Dawson, Fannie Flagg, Marcia Wallace and Bill Daily are still with us.
Only one guy could have said it better:
I sit like a chiken, ready to hatch,
Watchin' contestants and tryin' to match
Too bad Gene Rayburn's no longer alive,
But I died too, in 2005
Nipsey Russell
Ciao, L. Jr.
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