Peter's on the Fritz

(Props to Monty)

Or
Holy Crap
(An epitaphany shared with Monty and Mark)

Or
Boyled Over
(Kudo’s to Monty’s colleague Mark)

Or
Everybody Loves Raymond’s Dead Father
(Another cap tip to Monty)

Or
Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose
(A shared epitaphany for Mark and Craig, who wonders if he saw it coming)
Peter Boyle, crazy G.I. turned monk turned big, tall and bald actor, died Tuesday at the age of 71. Boyle first gained notice as the bigoted, hippie-beating sociopath Joe in the film of the same name. Put off by the reaction to the violent scenes, Pete declined to become Popeye Boyle and turned down the lead in The French Connection. Gene Hackman showed his gratitude for the career-making role by torching, drenching and scalding Boyle’s monster in Young Frankenstein, a role that broadened Boyle’s screen image from angry man to angry man and mute tap dance man. He may be best known as Frank Barone, Ray’s loud, obnoxious, gluttonous, abusive father on Everybody Loves Raymond, for which he earned 6 Emmy nominations in 10 years. Other roles included Robert Redford’s cynical campaign manager in The Candidate; Joe Bash, a lonely beat cop with a hooker girlfriend in a short-lived ’80s series; Wizard, Travis Bickle’s cabbie sensei in Taxi Driver; Andy Sipowicz’ AA sponsor on NYPD Blue; a mental patient with a God complex in The Dream Team and Clyde Bruckman, a psychic insurance salesman in an Emmy winning guest spot on The X-Files.

Rookie Cathy was the only Pooligan to make the Frank assessment and scores the solo hit to take over first place.

Harvey-derci
Sid Raymond, a prolific character actor best remembered for voicing two of Harvey Comics most durable characters, has died at the age of 97. Raymond’s career spanned from Beany and Cecil to The O.C., but he’s best remembered for the British and Brooklynese accents of Heckle and Jeckle and the oafish man/duck(?)child Baby Huey. He also voiced Katnip, a cat outfoxed by Herman the mouse in an early cartoon series.

In Darkest Night…
(Additional accolades for Craig)
The Grim Reaper apparently waves a yellow wood and aluminum scythe. Martin Nodell, the creator of Green Lantern has died at the age of 91. Nodell saw a train operator waving a green lantern to signal a train in 1940 and developed the story of Alan Scott, a train crash survivor who discovers a lantern forged from a green meteor. The ring Scott fashions from the lantern gives him super powers allowing him to fight crime, including zombie Solomon Grundy. Nodell left comics for advertising and was part of the team that developed the Pillsbury Doughboy in the 1960s.

No Va
Paul Arizin, named one of the 50 greatest players in basketball history, died last night at the age of 78. Ironically, the asthmatic Arizin wasn’t good enough to make his own high school team but starting at Villanova University and continuing to the old Philadelphia Warriors, Arizin was one of the first players to popularize the jump shot, first adopted because wet gym floors kept him from getting good footing on his hook shots. Arizin took Villanova to the NCAA Tournament and has the second highest scoring game in Division I history with 85. In his 11-year NBA career, he made 10 All-Star Teams, won the 1952 MVP, led the Warriors to the 1956 championship, won two scoring titles and was the fastest scorer to reach 10,000 points. When the Warriors left Philadelphia in 1962, Arizin didn’t, retiring rather than leaving his hoops home.