Dukes Cruise: Don Schisler

Part 3 of a full week's worth of coverage of the 2007 Hillbilly Woodstick 2 Dukes of Hazzard Cruise, which culminated this past weekend in Covington, Georgia ...

"This all started with a phone call," Don Schisler said as he took the floor at the Super 8 Motel this past weekend to relate his experiences with the hit TV show "The Dukes of Hazzard."

"The film commissioner of the State of Georgia had recommended me to do the picture cars. I'd done picture cars for years on commercials and other features. The phone rang and it was John Marenda, and he said, 'Can you meet at the Holiday Inn tomorrow morning?' This was about six weeks before the first day of principal photography."

So did Schisler bite? You betcha. This Dearborn, Michigan, native, who attended Wayne State University in Detroit and even worked for Ford Motor Co. for a time, became the transportation director for our beloved show. "I'm sort of a Georgia redneck version of a casting director for cars. The General hadn't even been chosen as a Dodge Charger. The art director and the director have the big say-so. For the General, I put up three cars: I put a Firebird, a Mustang and a Charger as a he-man sort of thing. The Charger was the best choice because it was a little bigger and it's about as macho as they come. In retrospect, they don't come any better."

Schisler told the group gathered in the meeting room of the motel in Covington last Friday that his wife read the script for "The Dukes of Hazzard" back then and said it would never reach the screen. "She said, 'There's no story here. There's no meat here.' It was very vanilla. But when you put the whole thing together -- the right people, the right location -- everything went together magically, to end up being something that went to No. 1 on the charts."

And Schisler's own role was so crucial, since this was to be a show that was as much about a car as it was about people. But for the action to start, models of that "he-man" 1969 Dodge Charger had to be secured. "These were cars that had been flailed for all those years. The first thing we had to do was get them to the shop. And it was safety, safety, safey. ... It changed my whole life when Rodney Mitchell was killed." (Just a day away from leaving the set for another production, Mitchell died on June 18, 1980, when a camera car rolled over as it hit a soft side of the shoulder of the road in Lake Sherwood, California.)

"The cars arrived here to the Holiday Inn," Schisler continued. "I don't think any of them was a good start. They had to have new batteries. One of the worst things we had to do was get the rear brakes to work. So the first thing we did is we went to the parts store ... I went down to the drag race shop and bought all the line locks, and I put the line locks in the circuit going to the front wheels. They were originally hydraulic locks for wreckers. My dad was service manager for Hudson in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and all the Hudson's would buy line locks. I had a liberal education when I was 12 years old with line locks in Pittsburgh. The Baxleys were hitting me over the head, why couldn't you make these rear brakes lock up? So that worked out. I carried one of those in my camera car."

Appropriately enough, Schisler's work sped by as fast as the General on one of them back roads!

"The whole thing went through in a flash. In retrospect, it was like one week. I think it was actually a month and a half. It was just pandemonium, 24-7. ... The body shop had it even worse." (Yea, they did! See yesterday's post of this blog!)

But it's par for the course, Schisler said. "Episodic TV always suffers from major problems. A lot of crazy unplanned things. There's some real wild stuff that goes on."

Sounds like Schisler, who still lives in Metro Atlanta, loved every minute of his work on "The Dukes."

"It's been a great ride," he said. "I never thought it would do what it's done today. The magnitude."


Photo above, of Schisler, right, looking over Jon Holland's new "Dukes" book, "The Roads to Early Hazzard," by Billie Rae Bates. See last week's post of this blog for more on Jon's book.

Dukes Cruise: Tony Kelley

Part 2 of a full week's worth of coverage of the 2007 Hillbilly Woodstick 2 Dukes of Hazzard Cruise, which culminated this past weekend in Covington, Georgia ...

Tony Kelley was just a young-un when he began his role in the "Dukes of Hazzard" world. As a tender 18-year-old working at H&H Body Shop in Metro Atlanta, he was called into service to keep a small fleet of blazin'-orange 1969 Dodge Chargers in fine running (and filming) form for the first five episodes of the show.

"When our first General Lee hit the yard, we'd been waiting on it for a week," Kelley told the standing-room only crowd at the meeting room of the Super 8 Motel in Covington this past Friday. "That was the first jump car. We thought, who in the world would paint a car orange, put a flag on it and call it General Lee? It's just unbelievable how it took off and was done."





Kelley's job was to take a wrecked car and overnight turn it into a gleaming car ready for filming the next day. "There was only three of us in the body shop. People would come by in the afternoon just to see what kind of wreck was coming into the body shop. They'd be hanging out, and then the stunt man comes in because he left his stunt gear in the Charger one time. He said, 'I'm glad to see there's more than three of you'all, because we wreck 'em just as fast as we need 'em.' "

Indeed. We know just how often we saw that General Lee in the air! And everytime you saw a General Lee in the air, show creator Gy Waldron has said, that was another General Lee wrecked. In the case of the very first General Lee ever jumped, however, the path to film-readiness was a bit different. The car that's affectionately labeled Lee 1 may have arrived at the shop as a wrecked orange Lee, but it was put back into commission as the even-more-wrecked blue Petty car for the episode "Repo Men." Kelley, who assisted in the search for the car that ended in a Metro Atlanta junkyard a few years ago, reminisced with BRBTV just before the meeting-room talk. He said that he and the guys at H&H Body Shop had a little fun with putting the shop's name on the car before it was sent back for filming. Alas and alack .. the production team removed the name before shooting!

Back then, in late 1978, Kelley didn't get to see the results of his work. "All the stuff we did was prior to the TV series ever starting," he said. "When they got out to California, it had aired and the General Lee had actually been seen by then."




Kelley shared a funny story with BRBTV, then later with the group during the talk, about a case of "mistaken identity" during the transport of one of the Hazzard County Sheriff's cars for filming.

"We were taking a police car back to Conyers, on the back roads," he said. "We started out on Norcross, got onto Beaver Ruin Road, and these police detectives came. They followed us for a little while, and we got to this cutoff road. And pretty soon here comes this police car behind us, and a helicopter above us, and they pulled us over."

In the Hazzard County car was Kelley, camera man Doug Smith and fellow mechanic Henry Holman. (Yikes! Where's Rosco when you need him?)

"They had Henry and Doug get out, and I couldn't get out of the back seat. They kept hollering at us, 'Get out! Get out!' And I couldn't get out." (Dad-gum safety mechanisms!)

"Doug had all of the paperwork in the front seat in a briefcase, and as soon as he had his hand on the handle to get it, they had their guns pulled and said, 'Don't make another move!'"

It took an hour and a half, including calls to the Holiday Inn in Conyers where the cast and crew had been staying, to sort the mess out and convince the local constables that these kind young fellows were no threat. What really was happening, Kelley told BRBTV, was that someone had been driving around Metro Atlanta with a fake police car, pulling over women.

And that wasn't even the only ... er, hazard ... that Kelley encountered in his line of work for "The Dukes." Remember, a large portion of the work involved fresh paint.

"The dark blue and the red took a long time to dry," he said of the (in)famous Confederate flag on the roof of the General Lee. "Sometimes they would be wet the next morning when they'd come to get the car. I had to run between three of them. Henry, he did most of the paint work, and Danny (Hobbs) did the body work, and I'd stay there and help Danny until we got it ready to prime. At times, both of them would go."

Sound exhausting? Listen on ...

"It'd get to be that I'd sleep in the corner every now and then, or find a car to sleep in. One of the worst things was Boss Hogg's Cadillac. It was actually a gold car. We had to paint it white. I stayed in Boss Hogg's Cadillac, and the next thing you know, I was outside at the side of the building wondering where I was at! We were bad about wearing masks."

Thankfully, Tony Kelley lived to tell the tales. And he doesn't mind being part of a phenomenon that lives on so strongly.

"It's unbelievable that an orange car can be as popular as it is."

Photos by Billie Rae Bates / BRBTV

Dukes Cruise: An overview

What a great weekend it was in Covington, Georgia, and what a wonderful weeklong event, by all accounts, was the Hillbilly Woodstick 2 Dukes of Hazzard Cruise.

Wayne Wooten and his wife, Donna, put together an enjoyable, free, safe, fun and peaceful event for not only "Dukes of Hazzard" fans but for Wayne's Dodge Charger Registry members, as well. There were beautiful Chargers of various years and colors on display at the antiques mall on Elm Street in Covington on Saturday. They came from all over: Indiana, Michigan, Tennesee -- even Australia -- to do the cruise, which began on October 5 in North Carolina and ended right here in Georgia, in the birthplace of "The Dukes."

Wayne says he plans to do this event for five years. "It'll always be free of charge," he told the attendees at the close of the event this past Saturday evening in Covington's Square. "It'll always be this kind of event."

All this week on the BRBTV News Blog, we're going to give you a glimpse of the Georgia portion of the Hillbilly Woodstick 2 Dukes of Hazzard Cruise, both in photos and in great stories that were shared by the event's special guests: Byron (Coy Duke) Cherry, James (Rosco P. Coltrane) Best, Don Schisler, Tom Sarmento and Tony Kelley. (Jerry Rushing, the man who started it all for "The Dukes," joined up with the group in North Carolina but was unfortunately unable to travel to the Georgia leg of the event.)

BRBTV would like to thank Wayne and Donna and everyone who made this event a nice one.




The mayor of Covington, Sam Ramsey, stopped by the Super 8 Motel around lunchtime on Friday with a special welcome for all of the event's guests and attendees. He asked everyone in the motel's conference room to introduce themselves and tell where they were from, to see how many states were represented.



Tom Sarmento, left, and James Best during the group introductions and the mayor's visit. After this, guests and attendees reconvened upstairs in the hotel's meeting room for a special time of stories and questions for the cast and crew.



It was standing-room-only as the crowd packed into the meeting room of the Super 8 Motel in Covington, to hear stories from the event's guests. Here, Tony Kelley speaks, while Don Schisler, on the right, looks on. (You'll be hearing more about those guys, along with Tom Sarmento, later this week!)


Judy Bruce, shown here with her daughter, Brooke, on Saturday, has her own "Dukes" claim to fame. She was one of the children of the orphanage featured in the show's pilot episode. She was that cute little girl who climbed into the back of Boss Hogg's Cadillac and fiddled with his hat. Judy still lives in Metro Atlanta.


This blazin'-orange-beauty-in-progress belongs to Billy, who also attended the Hair Dare Dukes Days in Canada a couple months back (see the August 13, 2007 post of this blog to catch Billy and his T-shirt with a special message). Billy told us that he bought this Charger from a friend who'd gotten it on eBay, and he drove 12 hours nonstop with a trailer to pick it up. "I put a fuel pump in it, and it's been runnin' ever since," he said. But it wasn't a General Lee back then. "I hand-painted everything on it." Billy says he drives it to all the shows he does. "I never trailer it."

Dodge Chargers from all over the place went along on the cruise (we were rather partial to the red-and-black beauty there on the right). This was part of the display on Saturday at the antiques mall on Elm Street in Covington, before we all relocated to the Lions' BBQ cookoff in Covington, eventually ending up on the Square later on in the afternoon.

At the Lions' BBQ cookoff, one of the authentic screen-used General Lees was on display.

All roads lead to the Square, don't they, now? They sure do, when you're talkin' Covington! On Saturday afternoon and evening, General Lees and other Chargers were wound all around the Square, with lots of folks checkin' out the scene.

"This hobby is for us," Wayne Wooten told the crowd at the event's close near the monument on the Square. "This hobby is not for crooks." Wayne also had a raffle drawing for a snazzy General Lee model car, signed by all the event's special guests, as well as some other cool prizes.

Photos by Billie Rae Bates / BRBTV

Our policy: Free to copy, with credit, pleeeeeez, and if you'd like higher-resolution copies, just email us and we'd be happy to send 'em ...

"Dukes of Hazzard" Cruise -- an update from the field!

OK, BRBTV is having so much fun at the Hillbilly Woodstick 2 Dukes of Hazzard Cruise, and getting so much good content (photos and stories!), that you're going to see a whole week's worth of coverage of the event, beginning Monday. (That IS what we do for these great "Dukes" events, after all! Guess we'll even have to choose one of the special guests for the Most Congenial in Show Award, too! Hmmm ....) So stay tuned ...

"Dukes" Cruise arrives in Covington

The Cruise has arrived in Covington, and the fun here at the birthplace of "The Dukes" has begun. The Hillbilly Woodstick 2 Dukes of Hazzard Cruise, organized by Wayne Wooten, rolled into town yesterday afternoon after a week of seein' the sites around North Carolina, Tennessee and northern Georgia. And last night, the group settled into the Super 8 Motel on Archovy Road in Covington (exit 92 off Interstate 20, in case you can make it!) to relax, view some video footage of what's happened so far, and chat.





Above, Wayne gives cruisers a glimpse of some of the goodies they'll see this weekend at the Covington arm of the trip. He's got all kinds of stuff he's accumulated over the years -- Jerry Rushing's boots, Uncle Jesse's hat, an original General Lee license plate and more.

Here, Scott, a "Dukes" fan from Pennyslvania, showed BRB one of his treasures: Sorrell Booke photos and autographs. Booke, of course, has passed on (and really would've loved events like this, us fans surmise!), but while the show was still airing, round about 1981 or so, Scott guesses, he got the opportunity to meet our own Boss Hogg at an appearance. Rosco's "fat little buddy" was only too happy to oblige with not only one autograph but two. And what is that paper he was signin'? Well, glad you asked -- Booke flipped over two pages from the script for the October 1982 episode "Big Daddy"! Wow! Is that like givin' a fan the shirt off your back, or what?

Watch for more photos of the event this weekend, because it's all just startin' up .... And if you can make it out to Covington, remember you'll meet not only James (Rosco) Best and Byron (Coy Duke) Cherry), but some of the mechanics and stunt guys who helped make the show great.

Photos by Billie Rae Bates / BRBTV

Our policy: Free to copy, with credit, pleeeeeez, and if you'd like higher-resolution copies, just email us and we'd be happy to send 'em ...

Crime doesn't pay -- but does watching "Dynasty" pay?

L.B., is that you??????????

No, it's not our lovable Carrington-Colby progeny of "Dynasty"; it's just some two-bit criminal scammin' on his name! Randall Smith, who at 34 is a few years older than Little Blake would be right now, stole the identity of an elderly couple, actually, and used it to scam some cash out of various banks in England. About 36,000 pounds worth, actually.

Blake Carrington Colby is just one of 12 aliases Smith used in his crime spree. Geesh ...

Read more about this crazy stuff at the Blackpool Gazette:
http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/blackpool-news/Fantasy-life-conman-jailed.3362281.jp

OK, that's all for today, and BRB is heading over to the scene of the Hillbilly Woodstock 2 Cruise, which landed in Covington, Georgia, this afternoon .... catch photos right here on this very blog tomorrow ....

Barry Corbin, "House of Terror" and more

Barry Corbin is another one of those actors who's been in just about anything you can name on TV and in movies. His career began in the 1970s and hasn't shown any signs of slowing down since then. For us "Dallas" fans, he was Sheriff Fenton Washburn. For "Dukes of Hazzard" fans, he played Mr. Pullman in the 2005 movie. Now, Corbin has some new projects in the works ...

"The House of Terror" is a thriller scheduled for release a year from now. In it, Corbin portrays the president of Hungary. The plotline, from the IMDb: "A journalist is constantly haunted by images of the initial: C.F. The mysterious sign leads her to a strange building, where thousands of people were brutally tortured 50 years ago. The identities of these victims are yet to be revealed." Filming in Budapest, it also stars Talia Shire and Clint Howard.

"The Hill" is a a romantic drama about a tight-knit group of college friends who graduated from NYU the year of 9/11 and reunite seven years later for a weekend wedding in Athens, Georgia. The film, from Wonder Entertainment, films right here in Athens, Georgia. Corbin plays Uncle Dennis.

And in "Lake City," which just completed, Corbin is George. This one is also set in the South, the IMDb says: "In this searing Southern drama, a mother and son reunite under desperate circumstances years after a family tragedy drove them far apart." Sissy Spacek (where's she been?), Rebecca Romijn and Keith Carradine are also on board. The drama filmed in Virginia and is scheduled for release this year.

Congratulations to Jon Holland, newest "Dukes" author

We've gotta tell ya a story ... A couple-a years ago, while BRB was still researching her "Dukes of Hazzard" reference guide, "Them Dukes! Them Dukes!", she happened upon a friendly Bo Duke-lookalike in the sweet little town of Covington, Georgia -- birthplace of "The Dukes"! As they got to chatting, she realized just how much this guy knew about "The Dukes," particularly the original filming sites in Georgia. Well, Jon told her about his own "Dukes" book that he'd been working on for quite a few years already, at the time, and he even helped BRB out on some of her own "Dukes" research for "Them Dukes! Them Dukes!"

BRB knows what a mountain of work Jon has put into his own final product -- just released through BookSurge Publishing and its parent company, Amazon.com. So with that sentiment, BRBTV offers its congratulations to Jon Holland, proprietor of the Hazzard County Car Club and the DukesofHazzard01 site, for authoring "The Roads Back to Early Hazzard."

Jon calls this "A history of the people, the cars and the area that brought Hazzard County to life," and BRBTV has gotten an idea, over the past couple years, at the massive amount of photos and information Jon was packing into this compendium focusing on the first five "Dukes" episodes. With multiple trips to Covington and the surrounds and lots of phone calls and visits, Jon has compiled all kinds of exclusive photos and tidbits. For the casual "Dukes" fans, it's great. For the hard-core "Dukes" fan, this book is drillin' down deep. If ever there was a "Dukes historian" (as CMT labeled him on its "Inside Fame" special on "The Dukes") it would definitely have to be Jon Holland.

"The Roads Back to Early Hazzard" is 170 pages softcover and sells for $14.95 on Amazon.

Patrick Duffy returns to "The Bold and the Beautiful"

Last year, Patrick Duffy, our own handsome Bobby Ewing of "Dallas" did a several-week stint as Stephen Logan Sr. on CBS' "The Bold and the Beautiful." This was a rare foray into the daytime soaps world for the actor. Well, he's about to revisit that. Soaps.com is reporting that Duffy will return to the role on Friday, November 5.

"The Bold and the Beautiful" seems to be a refuge for "Dallas" stars. Linda Gray, our own Sue Ellen Ewing, played Priscilla Kelly on "B&B" in 2004-2005. Lesley Anne-Down, who showed up on "Dallas" for a season as PR guru Stephanie Rogers, has been Jackie Payne Marone on the show since 2003. Then there's Susan Flannery, the platinum-tressed Leslie Stewart on "Dallas," who has played Stephanie Douglas Forrester on the soap for a full 20 years, since the show's beginning! Yowza. In fact, it's the latter (the former Leslie Stewart!) whom Duffy's character is going to be going head-to-head with when he returns to "B&B." Bobby vs. Leslie ... hmmm ... works!

And while we're talking soap associations, Jack Wagner, who was the second Warren Lockridge on our beloved "Santa Barbara," has been Nick Payne Marone on "B&B" since 2003. Sydney Penny, his on-screen wife B.J., played Sam Kelly on "B&B." Joseph Campanella, who was Hutch Corrigan on "The Colbys" and Joseph Lombardi on "Dallas," played Jonathan Young on "B&B" for nearly 10 years. Henry Darrow, who was Rafael Castillo on "SB," played Dr. Carlos Nunez. And Eileen Davidson, who was the final Kelly Capwell on "SB," has crossed over as Ashley Suzanne Abbott from sister show "The Young and the Restless."

Kids WB! goes away at the end of this season

A couple of tidbits from the "Batman: The Animated Series" realm ...

The network that once aired the original episodes is gone. The Kids WB!, a popular Saturday-morning outlet for children's programming for the WB network, has gone the way of the WB network, actually.

Since the WB merged with CBS / UPN last year and became the CW network, now the Kids WB! is also going away. Variety has reported that children's programming for the CW will be handled by 4Kids, and it will be geared more toward preschoolers. The Kids WB!, which was on the air for 12 years, will officially end at the close of the current 2007-2008 season. We don't know what that means for the current "B: TAS" heir, "The Batman," however.

And, in the "spotted around the Web" department ... this YouTube user has a brief collection of cringe-worthy moments from our beloved Bat-series. Click on over to http://youtube.com/watch?v=EJm-N2rbENs and behold some lines and animation maneuvers that were slightly less than par, in this viewer's opinion, on the 1990s Warner Bros. series.

Don't miss the "Dukes" cruise, beginning tomorrow!

Are you ready to cruise through multiple states, have great fun with friends old and new, and celebrate "The Dukes of Hazzard" at the same time? As reported earlier on the BRBTV News Blog, Wayne Wooten's Hillbilly Woodstick 2 Dukes of Hazzard Cruise begins tomorrow, October 5, in North Carolina, and continues for one big week, ending up in Covington, Georgia -- birthplace of "The Dukes."

The fun news for today, though, is the fact that Mr. James Best -- known as Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane to us -- has signed on to appear, as well. He's in good company: Byron (Coy Duke) Cherry, Jerry Rushing, and a whole host of mechanics, stuntmen and other guys who worked behind the scenes to make the show great.

Mr. Wooten, who chatted via phone with BRBTV last night, says he plans to make an annual event out of the cruise. "I want to get one under my belt," he says of this first one, for which he's now getting down to the wire in working out a ton of details. He's had phone calls right and left, he told us from his job on a tugboat (a business his dad did before him, by the way; he proudly tells BRBTV that his son is taking another career route, serving our country overseas).

Wayne ran down some of the details of the Covington end of the event for us: Friday, October 12 will be spent at the Super 8 Motel conference room, where from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. the aforementioned special guests will be signing autographs and answering fan questions about their roles on our favorite show. That's the best part, isn't it? The reminiscing? Later in the afternoon, we'll all be breaking into groups and visiting "Dukes" filming sites around the area.

On Saturday, the event will move to the antique mall on Elm Street in Covington in the morning and early afternoon, then to the Historic Town Square for the rest of the day, where we'll all park our cars and have a nice get-together.

Catch more details at Wayne's official page for the event:
http://www.dohgltruth.com/2007%20conover.htm

From Kid Rock and his Lee to "Swellen" ...

Straight outta BRB's hometown, Kid Rock's own General Lee car is featured in an exhibit at the arena at the Henry Ford. The Rock Stars' Cars & Guitars show in Metro Detroit (where Kid is also from, by the way) allows visitors to listen to Kid Rock talk about his blazin'-orange beauty, which he admits to pullin' a few "Dukes"-style stunts with:
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070929/FEATURES01/709290311/1025/FEATURES

Our favorite "Dukes" songstress, Ms. Stella Parton, will appear at the Jenny Wiley Pioneer Festival in Prestonsburg, Kentucky, on October 11. Keep up with her at http://www.stellaparton.com/.

From "The Dukes" to "Dallas" ... the lovely Linda Gray, our own Sue Ellen Ewing, is touring with "Terms of Endearment," and she's doing an interview or two along the way. This one, in the Nottingham Evening Post, quotes "Swellen" as being surprised by the success of "Dallas" way back when:
http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=188961&command=displayContent&sourceNode=188959&contentPK=18517310&folderPk=92237&pNodeId=188970

Archie's got some spoooooooky stuff planned this month

We don't know about you, but BRBTV is in the mood for Halloween. Creepy monsters and pumpkins and candy -- that's what we're talkin' about. In that (friendly!) spirit, we offer you this fun preview from Archie Comics ...

Ever since the silent movie days of the 1920s, film comedians have gotten mixed up with monsters. The popularity of the classic movie monsters continued into the 1960s, when many of the vintage films started being shown on TV on a regular basis. Simultaneously, horror fare was still doing well at drive-in theaters and movie matinees.

It’s no surprise, then, that Archie Comics, ever conscious of trends, made monsters a staple of Archie stories in the late 1950s through the 1960s, with a gaggle of ghouls guest-starring on both the covers and interior tales of many an Archie title. The kooky combination of teenage humor with spooky chills proved to be such a winning formula that Archie was inspired to spin several series off in that direction, including ARCHIE’S MADHOUSE, BATS! and SABRINA THE TEENAGE WITCH.

Throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s, the Archie teens periodically found themselves involved in mysterious tales in such titles as ARCHIE’S TV LAUGH-OUT, LIFE WITH ARCHIE and THE WORLD OF ARCHIE. The ‘90s and new millennium continued the trend with the acclaimed “House of Riverdale” epic crossover tale that spanned several titles, and ARCHIE’S WEIRD MYSTERIES, adapted from the animated TV series of the same name. Now, just in time for Halloween, Archie offers up a cauldron of comedy and creepiness that we dare you to read with nothing but the night light on!

BETTY #168
32-page, full-color comic

$2.25 U.S.

“Drawing on Experience”: When Betty enters a teen horror story contest, she reaches into her memory bank for a terrifying tale of a foreboding mansion and eerie tiki keychain! SCRIPT: Kathleen Webb. ART: Stan Goldberg.

BETTY & VERONICA DOUBLE DIGEST #155

Full-color digest format

$3.69 U.S.

“Lodge of Terror”: Mr. Lodge buys a run-down ski lodge in hopes of renovating it … but not before Veronica can hold a mega-Halloween party there! But is it possible that the spooky old building is haunted for real? The gang’s all here for a horrifically fun time – and don’t miss the special pin-up pages with all their creepy, creative costumes! SCRIPT AND ART: Dan Parent.

PALS-N-GALS DOUBLE DIGEST #115

Full-color digest format

$3.69 U.S.

“Fright Sight”: It’s frightful fun when the Archies play a benefit gig for the town’s orphans … decked out in festive Halloween garb. Mr. Lodge can’t decide what’s scarier – the band’s costumes or their music! SCRIPT: George Gladir. ART: Pat Kennedy.

SABRINA THE TEENAGE WITCH #88

32-page, full-color comic

$2.25 U.S.

“A Frightful Night”: It’s Halloween once again, the one night of the year that magical beings are allowed to use their powers in public. Gathering for a party at the same “Haunted House” as last year, the mortals are amazed at all the “special effects” that are really magic! Before the night is through, Sabrina will be betrayed in a way that will affect her relationships with those she loves the most… including Harvey, Shinji, and perhaps most shocking of all, Aunt Hilda! You simply cannot miss the stunning conclusion to this tale, the ramifications of which will be felt for issues to come! SCRIPT AND ART: Tania del Rio.

BRBTV birthdays for October

- Alan Rachins, memorable as the wound-up Temple Fugate / Clock King on "Batman: The Animated Series," turns 65 on October 3.
- Jack Wagner, who was our final Warren Lockridge on "Santa Barbara," along with a host of other soap opera roles in the '80s and '90s, turns 48 on October 3.
- Christopher Stone, who was Dave Stratton on "Dallas," was born on October 4, 1942, and died on October 20, 1995.
- Charlton Heston, our giant Jason Colby on "Dynasty" and "The Colbys," turns 84 on October 4.
- Christopher Norris, who was the demented Laura Asher on "SB," will turn 54 on October 7.
- John O’Hurley, who was the second Stephen Slade on "Santa Barbara" and so many other things over the years, including a fabulous "Seinfeld" role and that "Dancing With the Stars" gig, turns 51 on October 9.
- J. Eddie Peck, who's a BRBTV double-shot with his roles on our two primetime biggies, Tommy McKay on "Dallas" and Roger Grimes on "Dynasty," turns 49 on October 10.
- Jim McMullan, who was Sen. Andrew Dowling on "Dallas," turns 71 on October 13.
- Greg Evigan, who was Willie Gust on "Dallas" but is better known for "B.J. and the Bear" (and sorry, IMDb, his first name was spelled like BRB's own -- Billie -- on the side of his big rig on-screen, but hey, we're quite used to having that name mispelled!), turns 54 on October 14.
- Arleen Sorkin, the unforgettable voice of Harley Quinn on "Batman: The Animated Series," as well as the person who inspired the character, turns 51 on October 14.
- Barry Corbin, who was the stalwart Sheriff Fenton Washburn on "Dallas," turns 67 on October 16.
- John Anderson, who was Kimberly Cryder's father Dr. Styles on "Dallas," was born on October 20, 1922, and died on August 7, 1992.
- John Zaremba, who played Dr. Harlan Danvers on "Dallas," was born on October 22, 1908, and died on December 15, 1986.
- Wolf Muser, who was the sinister Marcello Armonti on "Santa Barbara," terrorizing C.C. Capwell for his supposed wrongs in the second World War, turned 57 on October 23.
- Scott Jaeck, another "SB" alum as Cain Garver who was spotted more recently as a hired gun on Fox's "Prison Boys" (er, we mean "Prison Break"), turns 53 on October 29.
- The talented and well-regarded (and ever patient) Barbara Bel Geddes, who for so many years portrayed Miss Ellie Ewing on "Dallas," was born on Halloween in 1922 in New York City. She died last year, on August 8, of lung cancer.


Happy birthday to all!

See My .... Batmobile!

It's Photo Friday here at the BRBTV News Blog! Last Friday, we showed you some shots of a 1969 Dodge Charger -- a General Lee -- used in the 2005 "Dukes of Hazzard" movie and recently purchased by an avid car collector in Michigan. Today, we show you some of this same collector's other beauties.

And in honor of the fact that the BRBTV family does include Batman (at least in his animated series form of the '90s), we're showing you not one but two Batmobiles -- from the 1960s Adam West series and from the 1989 and 1992 Michael Keaton movies.

Thanks to Dustin, once again, for sharing these photos with us. (That's him in these shots, by the way!) His friend Jim also owns some screen-used cars from "The Fast and the Furious" movie series, as well as an E.T.! Crazy, we're tellin' ya!

Photos courtesy of Dustin Edsall

A look at our new "Dallas" and "Dynasty"-type shows this season

As we mentioned earlier on the BRBTV News Blog, comparisons are flying for the new fall TV season between our beloved classic soaps "Dallas" and "Dynasty" and a couple shows just hitting the airwaves. "Cane" is a CBS drama centering around a wealthy South Florida Cuban family in the sugar-cane business and stars Jimmy Smits, as well as Ken Howard, our own Garrett Boydston of "Dynasty" and "The Colbys." "Dirty Sexy Money" is an ABC soap focusing on a lawyer who succeeds his father as the attorney for a wealthy but really troubled family.

Here's a look at what everybody's saying about these two shows, and how they relate to the our classic soaps ...

The San Jose Mercury News says "It's like 'Dynasty' all over again, but much edgier."
http://www.mercurynews.com/tv/ci_6992294

The Palm Beach (Fla.) Post notes that "Cane" raised some Cain locally when a high-powered real-life family wondered if the story was based on them.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/accent/content/accent/epaper/2007/09/25/a1e_cane_0925.html

Ain't It Cool News doesn't care for "Cane" very much.
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/34169

The Deseret Morning (Utah) News talks about the different tones of the two shows.
http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695212842,00.html

The Chicago Sun-Times says "Sleazy 'Money' will make you feel dirty."
http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/elfman/572689,CST-FTR-elf25.article

Join BRB's Yahoo discussion group!

It's a fine Wednesday, midweek and all, and since it's such a fine Wednesday, it's a fine day to tell you about a brand-new Yahoo group that's out there in cyberspace. It was set up for BRB by Paul Harrington of the Canadian Dukes of Hazzard Fan Club, who has a lot of great discussion groups on a variety of topics and people:
http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/Billie_Rae_Bates/

Feel free to sign up and join in! The fun is just getting started from the group's inception a week and a half ago. There are some polls to weigh in on, some goofy photos to view of BRB and others at the recent Hair Dare Dukes Days in Ontario, Canada (and more photos will be added in the following weeks), and there's all kinds of opportunity to post your own videos, photos, fave links, polls and more. The discussion group is about anything, really, not just "The Dukes of Hazzard" and not just BRB! (Though this is probably where you'll hear first about BRB's latest projects, including the upcoming print edition of the reference book "Destination: Dallas.")

And while you're out in cyberspace, be sure to catch the continuation of a special two-week fall TV preview at Congoo -- today's it's ABC and the Cavemen ...

"Batman" writer gets a new movie gig, and Batman gets a new candy!

Paul Dini, known to us as one of the masterminds behind "Batman: The Animated Series" and "Batman Beyond," as well as the other recent animated stuff in the Warner Bros. realm, has gotten a new writing gig. He'll be collaborating on the screenplay for Animation Studios’ upcoming CG-animated motion picture, “Gatchaman.”

“Gatchaman” is based on the successful Japanese franchise created in the early 1970s by anime pioneer Tatsuo Yoshida, according to TheMovieScorecard.com. The show aired in the U.S. as “Battle of the Planets” and “G-Force.”

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the Batworld, hold onto your cape and cowl, because next year one of the treats you'll be seeing in the candy aisle is bat-shaped chocolate and peanut butter pieces by Reese's! Hershey has signed on to license some special candy for the release of the next Batfilm, "The Dark Knight" (a continuation of the most recent franchise featuring Christian Bale, releasing July 2008). You'll also see Kit Kat wafers bars stamped with the Batsignal! Holy Cocoa Bean, we are sooooo there!

Read more about the interesting new candy that will be popping off the shelves at the BrandWeek.com coverage of the National Confectioners Association All Candy Expo held in Chicago a week or two ago. There'll be all kinds of great new stuff -- even sugar-free Peeps!

Some bits and pieces from around the web ...

Jack Coleman compares his role on NBC's hot "Heroes," which has its season premiere tonight, to his role as the second Steven Carrington on our beloved "Dynasty":
http://www.buffalonews.com/entertainment/story/166753.html

Did "The Colbys" kill off the beloved aforementioned "Dynasty"? One blogger speculates, and he offers some nice, lush photos of the spinoff and some fun videos:
http://televisionista.blogspot.com/2007/09/how-colbys-killed-dynasty.html

(Of course, "Dynasty" is coming up in conversation a great deal right now around the web, with the launch of soaps "Dirty Sexy Money" and "Cane" this month. The comparisons are inevitable.)

Lesley-Anne Down, our own Stephanie Rogers of "Dallas," who also appeared on "Dynasty" as Nurse Ellena Corey, is highlighted in a special feature on The Soap Dispenser:
http://www.thesoapdispenser.com/2007/09/in-the-soap-opera-spotlight-lesley-anne-down/

By the way, be sure to catch the two-week series of fall TV previews in BRB's entertainment blog at Congoo:
http://www.congoo.com/Entertainment
Today the topic is CBS.

See My Lee -- the 2005 movie edition!

Looks like it's yet another first for our occasional See My Lee feature. We've highlighted Lees from England, a Lee on two wheels, the restored Lee 1, some dual Lees for one particular owner, even a Chick Lee! But this is the first time we've featured a Lee from the 2005 "Dukes of Hazzard" movie.

Thanks to Dustin Edsall of Muskegon, Michigan, who sent in the photos for this baby. His buddy Jim just acquired it about three weeks ago.

Now, Jim, you'll understand, is an avid car collector. He's already got a Batmobile from the '60s TV show, a Batmobile from the Michael Keaton movies, a "2 Fast 2 Furious" movie car, one of Al Capone's cars, a personal car of Mary Kay of Mary Kay Cosmetics, Evel Knievel's bike, and more. Dustin said he even owned John Lennon's Bentley -- before he sold it to Sean "Puffy" Combs, that is.

But back to the Lee at hand, because that is what this post is about, after all! This baby has a 360 engine. It is the real deal from the movie, Dustin says. "The VIN number matches up." (Dustin also sent BRBTV a copy of the sales receipt, with notations on its movie role.) He says it was used in the scene where Seann William Scott (who played Bo Duke) was blindfolded, and it was also used at the Duke farm.

Jim is going to start restoring it in a few months. "It's gonna take a lot of work," Dustin says. "It's going to be a winter project."


He continues, "It needs taillights; it needs a push guard. I just hooked him up with the rims. ... He can't drive it. It doesn't have any brakes in it right now."

(But hey, it's so cool!)

Photos courtesy of Dustin Edsall

That green Charger in the photo above, by the way, is for sale at $18,000! Jim's car lot and business is called the Trading Post Car Co. and is located in Muskegon. His business line is (231) 773-4106.

We'll do a second part of this post next week, with photos of Jim's other movie cars, including one of his Batmobiles ...

Camille Marchetta releases third novel

Camille Marchetta's name should sound familiar to "Dallas" fans -- even "Dynasty" fans. Not only is her last name the same as the last name of one of the "Dallas" characters (remember Jenna's evil ex, Naldo?), but she's one of the talented writers who created the "Dallas" action in the earlier years. She did the same for "Dynasty" a few years later.

These days, Camille Marchetta is still writing -- but novels instead of TV scenes. She just published her third novel, "The River, By Moonlight."

In New York City in 1917, the wealthy and beautiful Lily Canning is only 25 years old and is a promising artist. But when she ends up dead in the Hudson River, suicide seems an unlikely possibility. In "The River, By Moonlight," Marchetta reveals Lily's intriguing life in layers. It's "a deeply moving study of grief and despair, of the resilience of human nature, and the triumph of determination and hope," the book's description says.

The book joins 1998's "The Wives of Frankie Ferraro" and 1991's "Lovers and Friends" in Marchetta's collection.

You can learn more about Camille Marchetta at her official website, and you'll catch a special BRBTV interview with her in the upcoming print edition of the BRBTV fact book "Destination: Dallas."

More on Tilton's Tammy Faye Bakker movie

We reported last year on the BRBTV News Blog (May 23 post) that Charlene Tilton's latest project was the story of Tammy Faye Bakker. She told us she was producing and starring in it, and she told us that rather happily! Our own Lucy Ewing of "Dallas" evidently lobbied for the right to do the movie, as she had became close friends with the former wife of televangelist Jim Bakker before Tammy Faye's death in July.

Read a little more about it here: http://janetcharltonshollywood.com/gossip/charlene_tilton/charlene_tilton_to_play_tammy_faye_bakker_20070828.php http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_6791624 http://au.blogs.yahoo.com/nelsonaspen/116/perfect-casting

Also in the "Dallas" realm ... We don't normally keep up with Brad Pitt's busy Hollywood life, even though he had a role on "Dallas" in his younger years, as Randy, the hayloft boy-pal of Charlie Wade. But we'll make an exception this time, as we happened to come across this item, and just happened to have the space to share it ... Pitt has nabbed himself an interesting new role as Jesse James:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/17/AR2007091701454.html?nav=rss_artsandliving/entertainmentnews?hpid=entnews

Stephanie Beacham takes to dancing

Our stunning Sable Colby of "Dynasty" and "The Colbys" has gotten herself a new gig -- dancing the jig, or maybe something a lot like it! Beacham has signed on to the BBC 1 dance series "Strictly Come Dancing." With professional partner Vincent Simone, she'll be up against a host of U.K. celebrities, including TV presenter Gabby Logan and her husband, rugby star Kenny Logan.

Read more, including Beacham talking about sensible footwear (!), here:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/09/14/ndance114.xml

http://www.myparkmag.co.uk/articles/celebs/tv-news/strictly-come-dancing-announces-14-new-contestants.jsp

And speaking of "Dynasty," check out this gem of a find. It's a vintage TV book cover from back in the day, featuring our own Linda Evans, a "dynamic 'Dynasty' darling," indeed. And it also promos a feature on Larry Hagman from competitor show "Dallas." Thanks to BRB's buddy Paul for sending it in ...

By the way, did you catch our own "D&D" couple -- "Dynasty" and "Dallas" -- at Sunday night's Emmy Awards? Jack Coleman (our own second Steven Carrington of "Dynasty") and wife Beth Toussaint (Tracy Lawton of "Dallas"), the epitome of cute, her with her sparkly mini number!

How's-about a "Dukes" cruise?

If you know Mr. Wayne Wooten, then you know that he's the man who was able to secure the 17 screen-used General Lee cars from Warner Bros. a few years after "The Dukes of Hazzard" went off the airwaves in the '80s. He's also the man behind the Dodge Charger Registry. Well, Wayne is putting together a fun "Dukes" event for next month. It's a cruise that begins in North Carolina and ends in Georgia, in the birthplace of the "The Dukes," the fair town of Covington.

Check out all the info at Wayne's Dukes of Hazzard General Lee Truth website. The Hillbilly Woodstick 2 Dukes of Hazzard Cruise begins on Friday, October 5 in Conover, North Carolina. The sites you'll see along the way include Dollywood, Biltmore Estate in Asheville, the Hickory Motor Speedway and more, all ending, appropriately enough, at the Town Square in Covington on Saturday, October 13. See the full itinerary for the 470 miles at Wayne's website.

Special guests for the event will include Byron (Coy Duke) Cherry and Jerry Rushing, the man whose moonshinin' life the TV series was originally based on. Joining them will be some guys who helped out behind the scenes on the original show: Tony Kelly, Don Schisler, Henry Holman, Tom Sarmento, Cliff Shaw, Bob Shelley.

If you'd like to attend, email Wayne to let him know, so he can get a count for the event. The event is free (now, isn't that cool?) and sure to be a great gathering of "Dukes" fans!

Bojangles' spins "The Dukes," Morgan gets a new role, and more

Some bits and pieces of fun stuff found here and there ...

- The Bojangles' Famous Chicken 'n' Biscuits restaurant chain has spun out their own take on "The Dukes of Hazzard" with some local North Carolina talent. WCNC and the Charlotte Observer offer a sneak peek at the new TV spot, which will be released on October 1, featuring Panthers players Jake Delhomme and Steve Smith in a Bo and Luke Duke takeoff, complete with chicken details on the hood and trunk of the General Lee-type car. Check it out here:
http://www.wcnc.com/news/local/stories/wcnc-091207-krg-bojangles.ca4724cb.html

- Morgan Fairchild is known to us for her one-episode stint as Jenna Wade early on in the "Dallas" run, but she's certainly well-known in the rest of the soaps world for her roles on numerous other things over the years. TV Guide reports that she's nabbed a new role on "Men in Trees" in an episode that will air in February.

- And another note from "Dukes" land: Las Vegas-based performer and avid "Dukes" fan Paul Casey will appear in a free concert in Henderson, Nevada, today and tomorrow. The fun is at 7 p.m. on Water Street in downtown, and it's the Super Run Car Show that also will feature "Dukes" stunt expert Tom Sarmento. (Yes, the General Lee will be there, too!) Find a map at http://maps.google.com/maps?q=200+S+Water+St,+Henderson,+NV+89015,+USA&sa=X&oi=map&ct=image.