ZTAMS BLOG

When I stepped out into the bright sunlight, from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman, and a ride home.

The Outsiders was a movie released in 1983 that starred a bunch of hot guys. The movie was based on the novel of the same name that many (not me) read in middle school. It’s kind of a West Side Story in that there are two gangs who fight a lot over stupid stuff. The Greasers are the poor kids and The Socs are the rich snobs. They fight, a Socs is killed, Ponyboy and Johnny hide, Johnny saves some kids in a burning building, Johnny dies, Dallas dies. The end. I may have left out a FEW parts, but that’s basically the story.

THE CAST

• C. Thomas Howell as Ponyboy Curtis
• Rob Lowe as Sodapop Curtis
• Patrick Swayze as Darrel Curtis
• Ralph Macchio as Johnny Cade
• Matt Dillon as Dallas Winston
• Emilio Estevez as Two Bit Matthews
• Tom Cruise as Steve Randle
• Leif Garrett as Bob Sheldon
• Darren Dalton as Randy Anderson
• Diane Lane as Cherry Valance
• There was a short-lived television series in 1990 which picked up where the movie left off. The TV show starred Jay Ferguson, Rodney Harvey, Boyd Kestner, Harold Pruett, and David Arquette (his first role).

OUTSIDERS MOVIE TRIVIA

• The reason for the actors laughing in the poster is because Leif Garrett was eating the food from the banquet and one of assistant directors yelled, “Hey, Leif. Don’t dig in yet. Save that for the actors.” Then Ralph Macchio chimed in, “Yeah Leif, save that for the actors.” Then everyone broke out into laughter, and that was the poster. Cool. Yeah, everyone knows that Leif is a singer.
• While filming the movie, Tom Cruise teased Tommy Howell about being in a stupid movie he had just finished called E.T. After seeing the movie, Cruise called to apologize for being a dick.
• All actors were pretty close in age to the character they were portraying except for Ralph Macchio and Patrick Swayze. Ralph was 20 and playing a 16 year old. Patrick was 30 and playing a 20 year old.
• Nicolas Cage has a cameo in the rumble scene. He was a young 19 year old with not a lot of acting experience at the time. I guess it’s nice that his uncle is Francis Ford Coppola (director of the movie).
• During filming, the actors playing the rich gang kids were given nice leather bound scripts and were put up in luxury hotel. The poor gang kids were given beat up paperback scripts and had to stay on the ground floor of the hotel. The director wanted to create tension between the two gangs.
• When Dallas falls out of his chair at the drive-in, it was completely accidental and Ponyboy looks briefly at the camera because he was expecting the director to yell cut.
• Tom Cruise had a cap in his tooth removed in order to further show the damage he got in the rumble.
• The hat that Two-Bit finds in Johnny’s yard belonged to a crew member behind the camera who lost the hat when a large fan accidentally blew it off his head.
• Anthony Michael Hall read for the part of Ponyboy. He ended up playing Rusty Griswold in Vacation which came out just a few months after The Outsiders.
• Sarah Jessica Parker turned down the role of Cherry.
• Brooke Shields turned down the role of Cherry in order to play Dale in Sahara.
• After Matt Dillon auditioned for the part of Dallas, the director went up to him and told him, “You can go home now.” Dillon thought he didn’t get the part and called his agent and told him. It turned out that the director sent him home early because he already knew he was going to cast him as Dallas.
• Matt Dillon’s character is shot and killed by police after pointing an unloaded gun at them. The same thing happened to his character in Over the Edge.
• During the scene with Cherry and Ponyboy talking before the rumble, Diane Lane said that Tommy Howell was making funny faces at her when the camera was only showing her face which made it hard for her to concentrate and not laugh. During the commentary almost 20 years later, she reminded him of that and he said the director told him to do it.

I love the song at the end of the movie as the credits roll. Stay Gold by Stevie Wonder is one of my most favorite songs of all time.

Seize upon that moment long ago
One breath away and there you will be
So young and carefree
Again you will see
That place in time…so gold

Steal away into that way back when
You thought that all would last forever
But like the weather
Nothing can ever…and be in time
Stay gold

When I stepped out into the bright sunlight, from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman, and a ride home.

Check out my website at www.ztams.com for hundreds of pinups of the stars of The Outsiders. I currently have over 15,000 pinups and posters at my site. It’s groovy. Check it out! You can also join me on Facebook by clicking the link below. I post a fact once or twice a day about a celebrity and include a pinup. It’s cool. You should join and tell your friends. I’ll be back in three days!

Charles in Charge was a fun show I used to watch in the 80′s. I didn’t watch it religiously and was confused when the families changed after the first season. It didn’t really matter since I was only watching it to look at Scott Baio and Willie Aames.

Charles in Charge first aired in 1984 with the Pembroke family. The show starred Scott Baio as Charles, who played a young college student. He lived with the Pembroke family as a live-in babysitter in exchange for room and board. His college buddy, Buddy, was played by Willie Aames and was also part of the first season. The show was on CBS and did poorly in the ratings. It was pulled after the first season.

The show came back two years later in syndication with a completely different family. It was explained that the Pembroke family moved to Seattle and sold the house to the Powell family. I guess Charles was part of the sale. I wish Scott Baio came with my house. Anyway, the Powell family was made up of three cute kids. Nicole Eggert of Baywatch fame and Celebrity Fit Club fatty played oldest daughter Jamie Powell. Beautiful Josie Davis portrayed younger daughter Sarah Powell. Josie went on to play Grace Turner in my soap opera, The Young and the Restless. She was also a main character for a while on Beverly Hills, 90210. Alexander Polinsky played youngest child Adam Powell. He grew up to be a weirdo.

There were some fun appearances throughout the years. Jonathan Ward (Douglas Pembroke in the first season), Justin Whalin, Erika Eleniak, Denise Miller, Robert Jayne, Matthew Perry, Christina Applegate, Jerry O’Connell, and Donny Most were all on Charles in Charge at some point.

The Happy Days Connection

• Scott Baio portrayed Charles on both shows.
• Ellen Travolta played Scott Baio’s mom on both shows. (Ellen is John Travolta‘s sister.)
• Chachi is referenced on one episode when Charles mentions “that kid from Happy Days”.
• Donny Most (Ralph Malph) was on an episode.

FYI, it’s been rumored that the role of Charles was written for Michael J. Fox. I wonder if that’s true since he was in the middle of filming Family Ties during the time Charles in Charge began. Anyway, he declined and went on to make a little movie called Back to the Future.

Charles in Charge is now out on DVD for all to enjoy. It was a cute show. Yay. The end.

Please take a gander at my website at www.ztams.com for lots of Scott Baio, Willie Aames, and all those cute Charles in Charge kids. I currently have over 15,000 pinups and posters at my site. It’s groovy. Check it out! You can also join me on Facebook by clicking the link below. I post a fact once or twice a day about a celebrity and include a pinup. It’s cool. You should join and tell your friends. I’ll be back in three days!

Welcome to my Brady world! Why isn’t this show on in reruns anymore? I own every DVD ever made, but it would be nice to see it while channel surfing. Anyway, this is my expert critique of episode number 11. This episode is called “Vote for Brady” and originally aired on December 12, 1969. Greg and Marcia both compete for class president at their school. It’s boys against the girls again in the Brady household!

The show opens with Carol and Alice gardening in the fake backyard. Marcia runs in yelling “Mother, Mother!” Who the hell calls their mom “Mother”? Can you please pass the grey poupon? Marcia is all excited because she’s been nominated for president of the student body. Greg then runs in with his big ole alien eyes and says the same thing. Both Brady kids have been nominated to run against each other for president. Uh oh!

The fighting starts almost immediately with Greg and Marcia. They start screaming at each other over the use of the phone. Maybe it’s time for the pay phone again. Marcia gets pissed at Greg and slams the phone down. Mike bitch slaps her. And when I say bitch slap, I mean he lectures her.

The next scene is in the boys’ bedroom and shows Peter and Bobby fighting with Jan and Cindy over who will make the better president. There’s a hippity hop there. I loved those as a kid. I just saw an adult one for sale on eBay. I think I’ll get one and hop around my house and scare my dog. Anyhoo……

Mike and Carol decide to let Greg and Marcia know they’re not taking sides and that they’ll be there if they need them. Mike shows Greg how to use a tape recorder. That seems funny. Weren’t tape recorders common in 1969? Greg goes to show off his groovy cassette player at school the next day but realizes the tape has been erased. That dastardly Marcia! Of course he blames Marcia, but he probably screwed it up himself.

Marcia and Greg are all pissy at each other again. Marcia thinks Greg took the plans for her campaign slogans and Greg thinks Marcia erased his tapes. Mike and Carol come in to save the day. Lecture number three thousand.

Alice, Jan, and Cindy decide to help out Marcia by creating campaign posters for her. Cindy (Thindy) makes one that says “Vtoe fro Mriaca”. Why am I not surprised? Stupid.

Greg and Marcia give their speeches to the family for practice. What family owns their own podium? While Marcia is giving her speech, the boys are giving her death looks. Marcia can’t take it and starts her fake crying again. Thindy doesn’t get it and starts clapping. That part always made me laugh. Brady lecture number three thousand and one. “We’re going to be a family for a lot longer than either Marcia or Greg would be in office.”

Greg is out in the backyard with his campaign people when one of them suggests they start a rumor about Marcia. That’ll be a sure way for Greg to win! “Marcia was seen in the balcony at the movies last Saturday afternoon with that creep, Felix Brown!” Yeah…….that should make her lose the election. Stupid. Marcia overhears everything as she hides behind a twig in the backyard. Greg threatens to “knock your head in” if those rumors get started. He then fires his campaign manager. What a sweet brother.

During the speeches at school, Marcia reconsiders her candidacy because she thinks Greg is “real groovy”. Alice bakes a cake for Greg and Marcia and everyone is happy. Mike says he wants a rose. Thuper!

The tag is Thindy excitedly yelling for her mommy. She’s very happy that she was voted crossing guard for a whole week. The down side is that she beat out Bobby for the position. Uhhh…..what school has a six year old crossing guard?

Check back next month for another review of The Brady Bunch. You can also check out my website at www.ztams.com for over 15,000 pinups and posters. Join me on Facebook by clicking the link below. I post a fact once or twice a day about a celebrity and include a pinup. It’s cool. You should join and tell your friends. See you in three days for my next blog!

I guess he wasn’t ugly or anything, but I never had a thing for Richard Grieco. I think it bothered me that he always seemed to try so hard to look sexy. If you have to try to look sexy, it’s so not sexy.

Richard Grieco was a brief teen idol in the late 80′s. He was born on March 23, 1965 in Watertown, New York. He first became known to many on the TV show 21 Jump Street. I guess he was so popular on that show that they gave him his own show called Booker. That spin-off only lasted one season.

GRIECO TRIVIA

• Dated actress Yasmine Bleeth.
• Has a black panther tattoo on his shoulder and a clover tattoo on his calf.
• Owns over 3,000 DVD movies.
• Was a model for Calvin Klein, Armani, and Chanel.
• His first acting audition was for the soap opera One Life to Live.
• Majored in Political Science and played football in college.
• His college (Central Connecticut) entered him in a modeling competition and he was named one of the “Best Faces of the 80′s”.
• Had acting parts in Who’s the Boss and The Facts of Life.
• Has his own website that seems pretty up to date: www.thergweb.com

It seems that Richard Grieco is now single and living in Los Angeles. He is currently recording a new album. (Yes, he sings too.) Yay. I wonder if he and David Hasselhoff will ever hook up and do a duets album.

Check out my website at www.ztams.com for more “trying to look sexy” pinups of Richard Grieco. I currently have over 15,000 pinups and posters at my site. It’s groovy. Check it out! You can also join me on Facebook by clicking the link below. I post a fact once or twice a day about a celebrity and include a pinup. It’s cool. You should join and tell your friends. I’ll be back in three days!

Please enjoy my review of The Partridge Family episode number eight. This episode originally aired on November 13, 1970 and is called “But the Memory Lingers On”. It’s about the Partridge Family smelling. Awesome.

The show opens with the song I Think I Love You which hit number one on the charts two days after this show originally aired. The Partridges have a rare day off and are having a lovely picnic. Tracy is picking flowers, Danny and Chris are running, and the rest of the clan are pretending to listen to music on the stereo they have on the table. There’s no electricity nearby and it wasn’t battery operated. Nice prop.

While the Partridges are picnicking, the family dog Simone (who looks a lot like the Brady Bunch‘s Tiger) finds a playmate in Pepe Lapue. Simone chases the skunk around and then it ends up getting on the bus. Oh no! If you look closely, the poor skunk didn’t voluntarily get on the bus. It was pulled up by wires. Animal cruelty! The Partridges all board the bus. Laurie picks up Simone, who I’m sure weighs more than her, and is the last to board the bus.

Laurie is the first to notice the skunk as they’re driving away from the park. Shirley slams on the brakes and the skunk literally gets kicked off the bus. More animal cruelty!

Shirley asks if everyone is okay. Tracy asks what the funny smell is and Danny says “Don’t look at me”. Funny. My husband actually likes the smell of skunk.

The family tries to cover up the smell of skunk with perfume. Smort. They decide to rent a crappy hotel room just so they can take a bath and smell nicer when they arrive at their elegant snobby hotel. When they arrive at the crappy hotel, Shirley does the most awesome parking job with the bus. Not. She then decides to call the crapbag hotel from a phone outside instead of going inside the lobby. She thought that would be better because of the smell. How considerate of Shirley! When the hotel clerk looks outside, he’s terrified to see a group of robbers! The Partridges had put handkerchiefs over their noses to help avoid the smell of the skunky bus but end up looking like hoodlums. Oh no! The gay hotel clerk calls the cops who arrive in seconds to harass the poor Partridge kids. Shirley gets her big dick on and protects her children by saying they did nothing wrong. The cops ask why they were wearing “holdup masks”. Funny. The crapbag hotel didn’t even let them rent a room. Lame.

The Partridges arrive at the snooty high class hotel still smelling like skunk. They walk through the lobby while all the rich snobs give them dirty looks. Shirley is trying to explain to the hotel clerk that they’ve had a very unfortunate accident. When he becomes confused, Danny yells out “We don’t smell very good!” There’s a message from Reuben stating that he booked a benefit concert at a children’s hospital that night.

They walk into their hotel suite and Shirley immediately tells the kids which bathrooms to use. How did she know where the bathrooms were? Had they stayed at this hotel before?

They all take a shower and are sitting in the front room in towels when Reuben arrives. (FYI, David Cassidy looks pretty yummy in only a towel.) Reuben walks in and smells the skunk. The Partridges are devastated because they scrubbed so hard they almost scrubbed their skin off and they STILL smell. Reuben remembers that there’s something in tomato juice that kills the smell, so he orders 40 large cans of tomato juice from room service. That would make a lot of bloody mary’s. Yum.

The family get their bodies clean but then realize they have nothing to wear since their clothes are contaminated with the skunk smell. Reuben and Danny troll around the hotel looking for clothes. This is comical for many reasons, but especially because Danny is wearing Reuben’s suit. They round up enough clothes for the whole family. Shirley looks absolutely gorgeous in the prostitute outfit. Chris looks adorable in the bellhop uniform. Laurie is cute in her marching band uniform.

The family gets in a cab while Reuben plans to drive the smelly bus with the equipment. The family has been clean for a few minutes and are about to leave for the gig when a cute boy puts Simone in the cab. Oops. The boy saw Simone on the bus and said he looked lonely. You shouldn’t leave animals locked up in cars, peoples. Yay to the boy for rescuing him. He had a bad cold so he wasn’t aware that Simone smelled like skunk. So, the family is once again polluted.

The Partridges end up performing the benefit concert in a sterile operating room while the kids look on behind glass from above. That reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where Kramer drops a Junior Mint inside someone that was being operated on. Anyway, the Partridges perform “A Brand New Me”. I like the individual scenes of the family while the sax and brass line is happening. (Where are the sax, trumpet, and trombone players? Is Reuben playing from off in the corner?) Danny looks happy and adorable with his big mouth open singing. Tracy looks all retarded. Does she not know to hit the tambourine on the beat? She’s just kind of whacking it here and there. Shirley is beautiful as always. There’s a really cute profile shot of Chris. A lot of drum action is happening while they show him but he’s just kind of sitting there. Oops. But he looks just adorable.

The show ends with the family on the elevator heading up to their hotel suite. They hold the door for Reuben who comes running up. He’s been in the bus and now smells. Everyone vacates the elevator and Reuben leaves us with some crack about being abandoned. The end.

I’ll be back in three days with my next blog about some celebrity, movie, or TV show. Please check back next month for another exciting review of The Partridge Family! My website at www.ztams.com has over 500 Partridge Family, David Cassidy, Susan Dey, Danny Bonaduce, Jeremy Gelbwaks, Brian Forster, Suzanne Crough, Shirley Jones, and Dave Madden pinups and posters.

Join me on Facebook by clicking the link below. I post a fact once or twice a day about a celebrity and include a pinup. It’s cool. You should join and tell your friends. See you in three days!