Defacing an American Classic?
In the late ’90s when I was still adjusting to life in sunny, exciting Los Angeles, Rod Lurie used to have a weekend movie show on KABC radio. This was when he was still a film critic and journalist, before he made TV shows and directed movies.
One morning, his guest was a man who had purchased the home video rights to The Wizard of Oz. This wasn’t really news, but then the guy announced that he’d decided to colorize the beginning and the ending of the movie. Excuse me? Did he just say he was colorizing the Kansas scenes in Wizard of Oz?? How dare this guy crap all over an American classic like that? Didn’t he understand there was a reason for the black and white?
Now, I’m not a guy who generally calls into radio programs, but I was pissed so I dialed. And I waited. And I waited some more. Finally I got through and I spewed out all of my pent up disgust, distilled into what I thought at the time was a cleverly snarky remark. “Why don’t you buy Christmas and move it to July when the weather is better?” I asked sarcastically for the entire city of Los Angeles to hear.
In retrospect it wasn’t such a hot retort, but I was pretty pleased with myself for about five minutes. Then, in the sixth minute, Mr. Lurie revealed that the whole thing was made up. The guy wasn’t real. He wasn’t really buying The Wizard of Oz and he most certainly wasn’t colorizing it. I’d been fooled in the worst way.
I felt like an idiot, of course. I still do every year when April 1st rolls around and I’m reminded of the Oz prank. I’ve never called another radio show since.
Happy April Fools Day everyone!
Filed under: Miscellaneous
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That is hilarious. That’s definitely one of the best “I’ve been had!” moments I’ve heard in a while.
I can’t remember the specific stories, but I know I’ve been had by these things before. Now I’m pretty aware of April Fool’s Day and I actively look for the good joke stories out there.
Haha, way to stick it to him!
I hate being made to look a fool, and it’s even worse when I’m the one doing the making!
Haha… That’s a great story, Craig and thanks for sharing it. :-)
April Fool’s is always fun.
Ahahaha!
Thanks for sharing that story, Craig. That is one hell of an April Fool’s joke that Lurie pulled.
Now I get it. Every time I meet someone from LA and mention Craig’s name they say ‘wasn’t he the guy on the radio that time…’?
Yeah, laugh it up fuckos!
Well, Lurie eventually made “The Last Castle.”
So who’s laughing now, eh? Who’s laughing now? I think it should be you.
My entire life is Aprils Fool’s, but never like that one Craig! LOL, that put a smile on my face!
Don’t worry Craig, I would have been royally pissed if I had heard that too!
Craig, I do adore you. I’m NOT laughing either. But you are an extremely intelligent, perceptive person. Surely you can comprehend (with the formidable intellect you possess) that no one could comment on this story - or heap any kind of abuse on you - if you didn’t tell us about it?
But you can’t move Christmas to July. I like it just where it is. Birthday week is so special. Love that double shot of adoration…and all the wonderful presents. So, as Amy Winehouse so eloquently stated, “No, no, NO…”
Though they may torture you and torment you, perhaps you shouldn’t refer to your beloved readership as “fuckos”. I’m sure that’s just their way of showing affection.
They could get the wrong idea. Even if they were deserving…
Waddaya think of
Craig Kennedy - Apr 2 '08, 7:59 am
Miranda, hopefully by now they all know I was kidding and use ‘fucko’ in the best possible way.
Hedwig…what do I think of what?
I guess Hedwig was interrupted suddenly?
Hopefully she was sidetracked by something enjoyable…
I think we should give it another hour or so. Then if we still hear nothing from Hedwig, Craig should jump on the next plane to Holland and rescue her. Not to imply that Hedwig ever needs rescuing, or to assume that women need to be rescued by men, err, just forget it.
Mmmmm…
Well, occasionally women do rescue men. So, if Hedwig can’t get herself out of that jam (assuming she is in one) Craig could find her and help her out. Then she could reciprocate at any point in time.
Just as long as Hedwig is all right. It’s so unlike her to fade out in mid sentence.
I’ve long suspected she has a superhero alter-ego, so perhaps her Bat Signal went off and she had to go fight crime.
This thread is hysterical, I must say!!!
I think I read on the Drudge Report that they discovered some evil alien egg thingies in Holland today, so I think it’s obvious Hedwig had to run off to grab some weaponry.
What’s Dutch for “Get away from her, you b****!!!”?
Hedwig will soon return. Only something won’t be quite right. A certain flatness in her affect and sudden tendency to address us as feeble-minded earthlings.
Haha, I made a mistake not checking out this thread again after getting exasperated with posting problems. In fact, I wanted to include a link, to a very nice april fool’s joke. I won’t try the link again (that got me into trouble the first time), just paste it: http://www.slashfilm.com/2008/04/01/breaking-daniel-day-lewis-in-talks-to-star-in-remake-of-fitzcarraldo/
Thank you all for being concerned, in any case ;-) And just for further reference, that would be “Blijf bij haar uit de buurt, b****” (the b word is also quite popular here)