Peter Graves’ White Hair not Related to Scranton, Pennsylvania
Of course I know about Isaac Hayes and “South Park.”
South Park is a town in Colorado, in the Front Range. There’s a big mountain pass around there somewhere.
Back then there was a country song about a trucker who starts down the other side of the pass with a load of live chickens and the truck runs away. Back when country was country.
Or maybe it was a Harry Chapin song. That was potatoes, wasn’t it? Truck runs away on that steep hill that goes down into Scranton, Pennsylvania and covers Scranton with potatoes. Ever been to Scranton, you can see why that’s a funny song.
I don’t think there’s a South Park in Pennsylvania, although New Jersey has a Long Beach.
Who doesn’t know about Isaac Hayes. Lying in bed at dawn in a Big City on the Atlantic Seaboard, drifting in out of sleep. Clock radio comes on. “Shaft,” the chirpy chorus sings. “This cat Shaft is a bad motha,” Ol’ Isaac says. Course, it was a young Isaac, not the old dude now. Men still walked on the moon.
This thing, this “South Park.” Apparently, it’s an animated cartoon. Maybe I saw a commercial for it once while channel surfing. Creepy little round creatures. Pretty sure it’s not the one about the red neck that delivers propane. That one’s called “South Fork,” I’m pretty sure. Reminds me of Weatherford, Texas.
To tell you the truth, I don’t watch animated cartoons. Too many cats chasing mice. Too much violence. I can sit in my living room and have the real thing if I want to watch cats chasing mice.
Scientology I know about. They believe God was , or perhaps still is, a scientist. Aren’t they the ones who put a rattlesnake in someone’s mailbox when they wanted to leave the church? Or maybe I’m confusing that with one of the de-programmers who rescued people from the Moonies.
But here’s what puzzles me: Where does “Mission Impossible” come in?
Tom Cruise is a scientologist. He doesn’t like “South Park” to make fun of his religion. And Ol’ Isaac is a scientologist, but he wasn’t the one they put the rattlesnake in the mailbox, which might be just an urban legend anyway.
I watched every episode of “Mission Impossible.” Every single one. Loved, just loved the way Peter Graves would get his instructions and then the telephone booth would burn down. Walking down the Santa Monica pier one day, THERE HE WAS!! Peter Graves with a film crew. A defining moment for me, Peter’s white hair and all. I’ll never forget it.
After Peter got into his limo and the film crew packed up, I walked up and down the pier looking for Graves’ phone booth, but I never found it.