With the death of Jerry Van Dyke I'm reminded that he starred in My Mother the Car, the show that TV Guide called the second-worst of all time, after The Jerry Springer Show. I guess my family (or maybe just my dad) had a corny sense of humor, because I remember us watching it with some amusement, although it's highly possible that my memory is suspect. (Not a general admission!)
Almost the first conversation I had with Johnny Stanton was about that show's title. I was outraged at his claim that it was My Mother-in-Law the Car (on the grounds that "my mother the car" was too oedipal for Hollywood). Those writers' ears are better than that! I screamed. Just SAY it & you'll know which it is.
We bet $20, which I won & which he instantly paid off. I think now, nearly 40 years later, that he was setting me up for a lifetime of making (over-)confident bets. I have never won another, nor have I so much as won at evens-odds or scissors-paper-rock. I continue to declare with absolute certainty & even though we agree that I'm never wrong, I'm never right. How does that work? I'm in his debt to over (way over) a quarter million dollars (there were a few unsuccessful double-or-nothings in there).
While there was no such 1928 Porter such as the star of the show (it was a Model T with a V8 engine), there was in fact a Porter Motor Company, based in Boston & maker of the steam-powered Porter Stanhope (1900-01) that they advertised as "The Only Perfect Automobile"
Almost the first conversation I had with Johnny Stanton was about that show's title. I was outraged at his claim that it was My Mother-in-Law the Car (on the grounds that "my mother the car" was too oedipal for Hollywood). Those writers' ears are better than that! I screamed. Just SAY it & you'll know which it is.
We bet $20, which I won & which he instantly paid off. I think now, nearly 40 years later, that he was setting me up for a lifetime of making (over-)confident bets. I have never won another, nor have I so much as won at evens-odds or scissors-paper-rock. I continue to declare with absolute certainty & even though we agree that I'm never wrong, I'm never right. How does that work? I'm in his debt to over (way over) a quarter million dollars (there were a few unsuccessful double-or-nothings in there).
While there was no such 1928 Porter such as the star of the show (it was a Model T with a V8 engine), there was in fact a Porter Motor Company, based in Boston & maker of the steam-powered Porter Stanhope (1900-01) that they advertised as "The Only Perfect Automobile"