Episode 123

Fritz Coleman (00:00:03):

Welcome to Media Path. I'm Fritz Coleman.

Louise Palanker (00:00:05):

And I'm Louise Palanker

Fritz Coleman (00:00:06):

These days with streamers and cable and broadcast and print and podcasts, the entertainment universe is like one giant Amazon fulfillment center. Ha, <laugh> ha and Louisiana. And I go through there with a forklift and Oh yeah. Pick out things that are worth your attention. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> Plus, the best part of our show, honestly, is getting to talk to people who are groundbreaking in their field, that are known and loved far and wide. And in today's case, they also happen to be a very close friend and former coworker of mine for 30 years. She is a pioneer anchor lady on both local and national newscast. She's an author, she's had an astonishing wife. She's the one and only Kelly Lang, and she's gonna be with us in just a few minutes. Easy. It's exciting. What do you have for us,

Louise Palanker (00:00:49):

Fritz? I've read Spare by Prince Harry because I am a normal human American girl. <laugh>, mildly obsessed with great Britain's ruling class. And I think the Yanks especially identify with Harry because we too went to great pains and lengths to shake the yoke of British royalty. <laugh>. It's an institution which entraps those born into it enmeshed in a hierarchical dance of dominance. They are cloistered from those, they rule pitted against one another, jockeying for standing and learning early. That survival within the splendor and scrutiny often means stepping on a neck to save your own. Yes, it's a life of service, but at what cost to the soul, Harry's thesis is that the palace is locked in an unholy embrace with the press, feeding them stories and lies that harm another in an effort to improve one's own public standing. Now, you, like me, may have friends who say, oh, boohoo Harry, cry into your crown.

(00:01:41):

Take the carriage for elope around the gardens and have your footman fetch you a totty in pudding. <laugh>. But Harry, as we all know, lost his mother at the age of 12 to an accident incited by the very press who are now hounding his wife in all new lows of monstrously, racist, and dangerously shameful proportions. As the torment persisted Harry's royal family offered him no comfort, no guidance, and no assistance. This book is not a leak to the press credited to palace sources. It's Harry telling his own story in his own, often funny and very poignant words. Spare is Harry's team eats harbor moment. His efforts to free and protect his family are valoris, monarchies are not safe for children and other things. Bravo. Harry.

Fritz Coleman (00:02:27):

That's exactly the way I feel. I haven't read the book, but I saw the Netflix series and I am firmly in Harry's camp. The amount of guts it took for him to blow off his whole root system and, uh, protect his family and have premonitions about repeating what, uh, happened to his mother, happening with his wife. I give him a lot of credit. I can't believe how polarized people are about this. People,

Louise Palanker (00:02:49):

People have strong opinions. They really do. Let's see if Kelly can wait. Do you have an opinion about the royal family? Well,

Kelly Lange (00:02:55):

I think Harry's terrific and Megan, I'm very proud of both of them.

Fritz Coleman (00:02:58):

Yeah, good for you. That's exactly the way I feel. That's how we feel. All right, let me give my offering. I want to do all quiet on the Western front, which is a feature film on Netflix. It's a remake of a film from 1930 and a slightly different treatment of a novel. Now it's a war film, but it's an anti-war film. A German teenager, Paul Bowman and his friends get caught up in the nationalistic fervor in Germany three years into World War I, with a combination of testosterone and youthful ideals. He and his friends enlisted the German army. And as the film goes along, we see the idealism begin to disappear and the realization that they really isn't a lot of heroism in actual battle. And your main mission is just to stay alive. Now, there's a parallel thread that follows the Germans trying to negotiate peace with the French and the allies leading up to an Armas.

(00:03:50):

And this, which was not in the book, but it was really from a historical standpoint, really interesting. It's a German production directed by Edward Berger. The German viewpoint makes it ironic because what happened to Germany in World War I ultimately led to the resentment in hatred, which led to the rise of Hitler in World War ii. So it's a great piece of history. It's a commentary in the bloody realities of war. Also, it looks at the danger of virulent nationalism. Sound familiar, beautifully shot, dark, realistic, and often disturbing battle scenes Great German actors. A really interesting commentary on war. I loved it. I thought it was great. It's, it's hard to watch, but it's real and honest, and the acting was spectacular. Wow. I'm so happy to be able to introduce my very close friend. There's nobody I love more than this lady. We worked together at N B C four Los Angeles for 30 years.

(00:04:42):

She was the first female N b NBC news anchor in any market in the United States. She's been a helicopter traffic reporter, a weather caster, a news anchor, a host of the Rose Parade, a co-host of the Sunday Show, which was a seminal local show produced at NBC four. She'd co-hosted the Kelly and Gale show with her best friend, Gail Parent, who was a writer and producer on Golden Girls and the Carol Burnett Show. And created Mary Hartman. Mary Hartman, a groundbreaking TV show. The two ladies were hysterical together. We'll talk about that in her most recent chapter of her life. She's an author of five books. Pick one out and read all the interesting notes that you'll see on the screen in front of you. We call her the Queen of News. Kelly Lang.

Kelly Lange (00:05:27):

Oh, I'm exhausted just hearing you say all that. That

Fritz Coleman (00:05:29):

Was a lot. Yeah. I'm so happy to have you here to talk. I hope we have enough tape in this machine to record <laugh> your interesting life. Uh, I'm gonna start where we need to start with your career. Who is Dawn Oude?

Kelly Lange (00:05:41):

Oh, my Don Oday was, when I first got here from Boston. Um, I, I didn't know what I was going to do. I thought I was gonna be a teacher cuz I had teachers credentials from Massachusetts, which in California don't do you a whole lot of good, as you probably probably know. So, um, I saw in the LA Times that K A B C radio was looking for what they called a lady bird. Lady bird was in the White House at the time. It was, you know, oh, right around the year one. It was, was very early, clever. And, um, so I thought, wow, they're looking for a lady bird. I had no idea what that was. So I went down there, uh, to where they said they will be meeting. And this was in the valley, um, on Riverside Drive, where there's a shopping mall, <laugh>, and there was a trailer and it said K a b C radio.

(00:06:32):

And I stood in a long line of women, and when it was my turn to get into the trailer, they put a headset on my ears and pinned a number on me. And they said, when you hear the voice in your ears, say, begin then read this. And they handed me a sheet of paper like that. And I looked at it and I heard him say, begin. And I read this, and this was a very boring, uh, traffic report on the freeway, you know? And, um, so I, I read it and then when I got finished, I said, um, you know what, now that I know what this is about, I could do a better job. So can I do it again? And the lady who was running this contest said, no, everybody gets one turn. So, you know, no, she said next. And threw me outta the trailer.

(00:07:18):

And she must have seen that gleam in my eye, Louise, because she said, and you pointing at me, she said, don't you try going to one of our other locations, <laugh>, because that's also against the rules. So thank you. I waited about three weeks at reasonable time, and I changed my, instead of wearing pants, I wore skirt. And I put all my hair up under a hat and I, I changed the location. I went to Downey Buena Park down by Downey and, um, changed my name to Kelly Lang because my boyfriend at the time was Jim Lang, who did the dating game. Any of you old people will remember all of us back in the dating game. But anyway, and um, so I went as Kelly Lang. My, my name was Kelly Snyder, which never would've worked later with Tom Snyder. So, but it worked all time well, kind of would've worked.

(00:08:05):

And I wrote my own copy, you know, I wrote a very funny, I thought it was funny, uh, sheet of, and, and then on my way, driving down to Buena Park, I memorized it so that when I got there, same thing. A shopping mall with the same trailer, big long line of women when I got in, same woman. And, you know, being a, a Catholic, my heart was, I thought I was gonna get caught cheating. Um, and same thing, the headset, my, and now when you hear it begin, uh, say your name and, you know, begin. So I said my phony name, Kelly Lang. And, uh, I said, you know, do you mind if I do this in my own words? I might be more comfortable. She said, I don't care what you do, <laugh>. So I did, and I was terrific. I said, good morning, Los, this is Kelly Lang tra It turns out that of the hunt, thousands, like something like 56,000 women entered this contest in, um, God, this is a long story, isn't it? In, um, traffic in, uh, shopping malls in the coverage area, which is from, um, Santa Barbara to the Mexican border. So 56,000 women. And nobody said anything else except what was on the paper. So of course I was gonna win. And I did. Yeah. Wow. So, and they called me, they decided to call me Dawn O'Day. They gave me that name. I know it sounds like a stripper, right?

Fritz Coleman (00:09:31):

Because you were on in the morning and the evening girl was called what

Kelly Lange (00:09:34):

Evil Day? Yeah. Yeah.

Fritz Coleman (00:09:35):

And, and she dressed in a silver lame jumpsuit. It was very Jetsons.

Louise Palanker (00:09:39):

I mean, it just shows you that the women were considered a novelty. Absolutely

Kelly Lange (00:09:43):

Not. Yeah. Oh,

Louise Palanker (00:09:43):

Absolutely. Not anything serious. Just something, a distraction or, you know, something to look at. Oh yeah. That was interesting. Rather than someone that was actually capable of doing something. Providing Yes. Yeah.

Fritz Coleman (00:09:54):

And today we'll go, we'll go out to dinner together and we won't know where we are. And Kelly says, I have no damn idea where I am. And I was a traffic board. I didn't know where I was. Never. I was what I was

Kelly Lange (00:10:03):

Doing. The traffic. Well, I had just got there from Boston and I didn't know, you know, I looked down and what I'd see is, um, you know, uh, somebody's swimming pool. I didn't know LA No, I never do. Still don't know

Fritz Coleman (00:10:15):

<laugh>. It was very funny.

Kelly Lange (00:10:16):

Yeah. Didn't need to.

Louise Palanker (00:10:18):

Well, now we have, uh, my GPS is, is dressed in, uh, gold lame. You can get the Don oday app and it will take you in gold. Lame. Wherever you need to go.

Kelly Lange (00:10:28):

Oh, good. I still have the suit.

Louise Palanker (00:10:30):

Do you have the

Kelly Lange (00:10:31):

Suit? Oh, sure. And I still

Louise Palanker (00:10:32):

Fit. Well, let me, is it, I should

Kelly Lange (00:10:34):

Have brought it <laugh>.

Louise Palanker (00:10:35):

Yeah. Is it available for a rental for costume

Kelly Lange (00:10:38):

Parties? It's, um, it's skintight stretch. Lame. And do you remember, does anybody remember, um, the Playtex Living Girdles. <laugh>? You're not that old. I don't think she's old.

Louise Palanker (00:10:48):

The girdle lived and the woman died. That was what? She

Kelly Lange (00:10:51):

Didn't know that. Yeah. Yeah. Right. And well, this was a living girdle all over your entire body. You couldn't breathe, you couldn't think, you couldn't talk, you couldn't walk. And

Louise Palanker (00:10:59):

You had to wear

Kelly Lange (00:11:00):

That. Yeah. Well, because the station hired the helicopter and put me up in it every day. And they would give prizes to people, which would give you a ride around the LA Basin with Don o Day. Oh, okay. And give you a donut and a cup of coffee and that, you know.

Louise Palanker (00:11:15):

Okay. Cuz I was thinking it's radio. Can't you just get yourself comfortable? No. Right.

Kelly Lange (00:11:20):

All right. No, it didn't happen. That wasn't like, as you said, Louise, it was a gimmick. Um, a novelty. But

Louise Palanker (00:11:26):

You were always tenacious. And when you got your news job as well, you did not go the route of everyone else that was auditioning. You always kind of were crafting some sort of way to give yourself an edge. More preparation, more opportunity.

Kelly Lange (00:11:40):

Well, yeah. Well, the way I got that job is I cheated too. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And, um, you know, one time, I, I was kidding. I said, I cheated my way to the top. And LA Times had a, some put that and she cheated, clawed her way and ch Well, anyway,

Louise Palanker (00:11:56):

I don't think it's cheating. I just think it's No,

Kelly Lange (00:11:58):

It's sticking outta the box's.

Louise Palanker (00:11:59):

It's a way, it's like a workaround. It's, it's how we solve problems. Yeah. So go ahead and tell

Kelly Lange (00:12:04):

Us. Well, because there were no women right at the time doing television news. And everybody told me, and in fact, I mentioned that my boyfriend at the time was Jim Lang. And he, uh, besides doing the dating game, uh, he also was a radio disc jockey, a morning disc jockey. And he said, honey, don't bother with this. They already have who they picked out. And I didn't listen. And I, I still went to every callback and I did get that job. And the way I got the news job was, um, somebody told me that K N B C, our channel was looking for a weather girl. They had Gordon Weir, who was a guy and a meteorologist, and had done it forever. And, um, so, uh, I called them and she said, oh, that's terrific. She said, we hear you on the radio. The girl who, lady who answered the phone, she said, yes, you're Don O' Day. I told her that. And she said, terrific. And I said, great, when do I start? And she said, no, no, you'll have to come in and audition with other women. And, uh, so I showed up for the audition and they were, they were all models and these actresses and great looking women and me. Right. So, uh, I thought, wow. Again, they were looking for something else, you know? Uh, but that's all right. You

Fritz Coleman (00:13:21):

Were gorgeous. What are you talking about? Why are you

Kelly Lange (00:13:23):

Separating? You told me. You know what he told me, Louise the other day, he said, I never thought of myself as good looking. I said, Fritz Coleman, every woman in LA wants to get fixed up with you, and half of em call me. That's

Louise Palanker (00:13:34):

Right. That,

Fritz Coleman (00:13:35):

That's just irresponsible. And

Kelly Lange (00:13:36):

He's the only one who doesn't know how good looking

Louise Palanker (00:13:37):

He is. That line outside of, uh, yeah. That line outside of the mall, all women to, uh, audition. Yeah. It's now to date Fritz. It is. Oh yeah. You go down there and you, uh, you line up outside of the fashion square and that you read copy and then Fritz might take you

Kelly Lange (00:13:52):

Out on a may or may not. Yeah. And when any woman always said, you know, can you fix me up with Fitz Coleman? They know how close we are. And I say, mm, no, I'm not finished with 'em yet. <laugh> ah. And he's very

Fritz Coleman (00:14:03):

Grateful. So you went on to have a weather career and you and I had parallel paths because neither you nor I know a damn thing about weather.

Kelly Lange (00:14:11):

No.

Fritz Coleman (00:14:12):

And we had a career doing it. Well, it worked

Louise Palanker (00:14:13):

For

Fritz Coleman (00:14:14):

Traffic. It worked for

Kelly Lange (00:14:15):

Traffic, yeah, it worked. Yeah. And, and also, how many years

Fritz Coleman (00:14:18):

Did you do in

Kelly Lange (00:14:18):

The weather? We worked hard too, didn't

Fritz Coleman (00:14:20):

We? Oh, no, we did long hours.

Kelly Lange (00:14:21):

We call the, the Weather Service every morning and find out what it's doing. And as you have said, well, you know, they could go look out the window. Right. <laugh>. But

Fritz Coleman (00:14:28):

Yeah. How many years did you do the weather?

Kelly Lange (00:14:31):

Um, I think four or five.

Fritz Coleman (00:14:33):

Yeah. And then how did you transition to being an anchor? Um, and you were the first in the NBC chain and the owned and operated stations, the first female anchor in the

Kelly Lange (00:14:43):

Oh yeah. There were no women. And they all told me that no women, we don't have women do this. It's not a, it's just like, Louise, where could we, you know, well, you're much younger, but they didn't want women doing anything. We could be a secretary. Uh, we could be, uh, a telephone operator or something like that, you know?

Louise Palanker (00:15:00):

Do you think though, that it's, they considered it to be too distracting? People will be distracted because a woman is saying things? Or do they think that, do men think that like, I get to walk into parties and be like, Hey, you know, I do this manly thing and as soon as women can do it as well, it's not such, you know, it's not such,

Fritz Coleman (00:15:18):

And then they realized what they're realizing now, which is people watch. If you have an attractive woman doing anything on tv, you can watch with a sound turn down and a rock, modern off music playing in the background. And they don't care. Cuz people watch. They're beautiful people and people like to watch attracted people on tv.

Kelly Lange (00:15:33):

Well, who knew the answer to your question, Louise. But even the guys and Jess Marlow turned out to be a dear friend of mine, even Jess, Tom Snyder. None of the guys wanted me there. And it took me a couple of years to get to the point where anybody had any respect for me. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> as, as a broadcaster. And

Louise Palanker (00:15:52):

You're wondering, is that because they want to have locker room talk or because they're going to be attracted to you and that will make it hard to concentrate? Like what, what is, what is the resistance? I guess? There's a lot of factors,

Kelly Lange (00:16:06):

Right? Just new. I don't know. I mean, there was a guy's domain. Maybe, you know, you're a guy. No,

Fritz Coleman (00:16:10):

I don't know. I, I, uh, but, but, uh, I I think it was a guy's domain. It was changed. There's inertia. It's the, the old boys network mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And, but then you worked your way in and you survived as many as have had to survive, which is just on the strength and the warmth of your personality. And people love to watch. You

Kelly Lange (00:16:29):

Have to, no, God bless you. Use Silver Tongue Devil, my

Fritz Coleman (00:16:31):

Brother. No, it's true. It's, it's absolutely true. And you came up as an anchor in an era when personalities were huge. I mean, you had Tom Snyder, you had Tom Broka, you had Bryant Gumball

Kelly Lange (00:16:44):

Was our sports guy. Bryant Gumble. You

Fritz Coleman (00:16:46):

Had Ross Porter. I mean, these are some of the biggest names.

Kelly Lange (00:16:47):

And Pat SJ was our weather guy.

Louise Palanker (00:16:49):

Pat Sack and Keith Morrison.

Kelly Lange (00:16:51):

Oh, Keith. Yeah.

Louise Palanker (00:16:52):

Yeah. Yeah. He's pretty dreamy.

Kelly Lange (00:16:55):

Yeah. Mm. <laugh>. I didn't get along with him. So we have nothing

Louise Palanker (00:16:58):

Talk well Dish. Okay. So when, how did, how and why did he get on your nerves? And we love him, but like, I'm

Kelly Lange (00:17:04):

Sure how, how and why did,

Louise Palanker (00:17:05):

What did Keith get on your nerves?

Kelly Lange (00:17:08):

Oh, I'm not going into that. Keep on Louise. All right.

Louise Palanker (00:17:10):

I'll, I'll Google it. So I wanna know about live tv because there's just not a lot that people do anymore. That's so, that's so live. And other than sports, usually you can say pick up and do and do the read again. But like you guys were doing live TV every day. I wanna hear some horror stories.

Kelly Lange (00:17:31):

Well, how about I fell, I'm the only person I know who fell asleep on the air.

Louise Palanker (00:17:35):

Oh my goodness.

Kelly Lange (00:17:36):

Yeah. That was not good. Um, I was going with my soon-to-be husband at the time, who was Billy Friedkin, the Exorcist, uh, the French Connection director. Right. So I was working all day, and so was he. We were up all night and I was tired. So David Horowitz, rest in peace, God bless David Horowitz. Um, he came on the set and he, it was before Prompters and he had a big, uh, he, he, it was a long thing he was gonna read this time. And, um, and it was about, uh, how the electric company was ripping us off. And what we should do is we should put a pad of paper and a pencil by every, uh, light switch and write down when we put it on and write down, we put it off. And when the, when the bill comes at it, it was so boring that, you know, I <laugh> I fell asleep. I, you know, and,

Louise Palanker (00:18:29):

Um, I, I get it. I almost fought,

Kelly Lange (00:18:30):

Fell asleep. I'm like this asleep. While you told it. The first thing that, the next thing I knew was, um, Horowitz finish, he always, he was like this, you know, he'd put his hands on the, and he'd say, and so fight back Kelly <laugh>. And the camera shot came to me, and I'm

Louise Palanker (00:18:46):

<laugh>.

Kelly Lange (00:18:48):

So, and that tape got out of the station and to the whole circuit in the country before we were off the air, because it was funny. Oh. You know, and they didn't fire me. You know, they could have fired me for so many reasons over those 35 years, and they never did. This always amazed me.

Louise Palanker (00:19:03):

Well, I mean, I think that when you have warm relationships with folks, that's not the the go-to position. But if you're looking for a reason to get rid of someone who

Kelly Lange (00:19:14):

You'll find it

Louise Palanker (00:19:15):

Right. Then the one infraction, unlike this person has to go, and now they can put it in your file. And here's the reason. Oh, yeah.

Fritz Coleman (00:19:21):

But like, we had great bosses back then, too. Her list prone who got

Kelly Lange (00:19:24):

The joke, we had Tom Caper was our news director.

Fritz Coleman (00:19:27):

You know, Frank Capra's son was our boss. He

Kelly Lange (00:19:29):

Was so much fun. Yeah.

Fritz Coleman (00:19:31):

Yeah. He was a very funny man.

Louise Palanker (00:19:32):

Well, I wanna know who wasn't fun that you're willing to talk about <laugh>,

Kelly Lange (00:19:37):

Fritz

Louise Palanker (00:19:39):

<laugh>.

Fritz Coleman (00:19:40):

You have a different perspective.

Kelly Lange (00:19:41):

Who's willing you or me? I'm not.

Fritz Coleman (00:19:44):

Uh, I don't know. You

Kelly Lange (00:19:45):

Know, it's like any situation. There are people you're gonna be crazy about. And there are people, by the way, I heard Fred Rogan is retiring on

Fritz Coleman (00:19:51):

Thursday. Thursday at five o'clock. That's,

Kelly Lange (00:19:53):

He's a terrific broadcaster. Wow. And,

Fritz Coleman (00:19:56):

Um,

Kelly Lange (00:19:57):

<laugh>. See, you won't go there. Neither will I.

Louise Palanker (00:19:59):

No, I understand. You have, we have friends who listened to podcasts, so we don't wanna, uh, very, very

Kelly Lange (00:20:04):

Good broadcaster.

Fritz Coleman (00:20:05):

Very just think, I mean, there was some wacky people. We had a, I won't mention this, then we had an doctor who has, uh, gone outside the legal limitations in the United States on several levels. We won't talk about him, but

Louise Palanker (00:20:17):

There was some law breaking, I mean, essential <laugh>, I mean, it rhymes with that. But that's, but there were some lawbreaking people. There were some people that were, you know, that or maybe in prison currently. I, I mean, there's a lot that went on within those walls over the years,

Fritz Coleman (00:20:34):

And that's why it was more fun.

Kelly Lange (00:20:36):

Well, you know, I always say Fritz and I were in the foxhole together. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, but it was fun. It was really fun.

Fritz Coleman (00:20:42):

It was, yeah. It was really fun. And I think you, when it was you and Snyder, oh, Tommy and then John Beard Broka had already gone to the Today Show. I think those were the housing and days of local news. I do too. And because after that, the importance of the local anchor has sort of dissipated over time. And now there are millions stations and everybody's news doing news at the same time. You can't even identify who you're watching. So I think you were

Kelly Lange (00:21:10):

There. I think you're right. Yeah. And Tom Snyder was a visionary. He was incredible. He was my best friend over there. And he told me, Kelly, this is the best it's ever gonna be, and we're having it now, so enjoy it. And he knew somehow he knew

Louise Palanker (00:21:26):

Some. That's prescient. Yeah. Because that was a wave that you were riding. And I wrote a similar wave in radio where you couldn't have Premier Radio today launching, because everyone's attention is so scattered. Right? Yeah. But back then, people were watching one or two or three things, and you were one of them. Another thing about doing the news at NBC during the time period that you did it, was that you were neighbors with Johnny Carson and Jay Leno. And so all kinds of fascinating, uh, movie stars and, uh, heads of Stay.

Kelly Lange (00:22:00):

It was incredible. And, and I've mentioned before, um, if I had come up in any other city, like long bony Fingers, Nebraska or somewhere else, <laugh>, it would've been different. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> here in the heart of Hollywood, really. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and Jay Leno, I had the parking spot next to Jay's. He brought a different car in every night. He had one car that he had to, um, it, the headlights were gas lights. And he had to, with his lighter, he had to light the gas lights. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> the headlights on. And it was fun. And we'd go down and they'd always grab one of us to go and interview whoever was on The Tonight Show. You know, one time, um, Jim Lang was on The Tonight Show, and they sent me down. Of course, he and I had this very early, but it was just a good time.

Fritz Coleman (00:22:45):

Talk about Orson Wells Killer.

Kelly Lange (00:22:47):

Ooh, Orson Wells. <laugh> Orson one time, um, I was on the news. I was doing the news, and, um, Bryant Gumbel was doing sports. And, um, a guy came Dr. Into the set driving a golf cart. And he said to, uh, the producer, he said, Orson Wells is, um, wants to meet Kelly Lang. He's

Fritz Coleman (00:23:11):

On the Johnny Carson

Kelly Lange (00:23:12):

Show. He's on the Johnny Carson show right now. And we were doing the shows at the same time. And we'd like Kelly to come, come over and shake his hand. And, um, icepick was our news director. And he said, no, she's working. She's on the air. She can't come. So he went away. And then, um, in a little bit, he came back and he said, please, Johnny is begging. And, uh, so Irwin said, okay, you can go during sports, but you have to be back in your seat when sports is finished. And that was like four minutes. Right. So, um, I introduced Bryant Gumball. He said, blah, blah, blah, big trade in Dodgertown today. Here's the sports, here's Bryant. And then I jumped in the golf cart, ran up there, and I didn't have any time. I knew I had to be back, uh, when, and, um, so I, I jumped onto the set. They grabbed me and they pulled me up into Shake hands with Orson Wells live on

Fritz Coleman (00:24:06):

The show.

Kelly Lange (00:24:07):

Let me, let me live on the Giant Show.

Fritz Coleman (00:24:08):

Let me tell the setup to this. Okay. Oh, Johnny was having a conversation with Orson Wells, and, you know, he's one of the most powerful people in Hollywood. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And Johnny said to Orson, well, who was the one person you'd love to meet that you've never met? And he thought about, he said, Kelly Lang

Kelly Lange (00:24:25):

<laugh>.

Fritz Coleman (00:24:25):

I know <laugh>. So they, so that's when the whole thing happened and happened spontaneously.

Kelly Lange (00:24:29):

And I didn't even know that until I watched the show that night. And if

Louise Palanker (00:24:33):

It was that tone of voice, then I'm worried about her <laugh>. Like, was she, was she okay?

Kelly Lange (00:24:38):

Oh yeah, none of that. We became sort of friends. I saw Oron a lot after that. You know, we'd go grab lunch or something and, uh, yeah. Well it was so much fun being there at that time.

Fritz Coleman (00:24:48):

Oh yeah. It was really loose. And then the world started getting crazy. There was terrorism. We used to be able, when Johnny was on the show, and you were over there too, cuz you had friends on the show, you could go backstage and watch The Tonight Show from Backstage while the, while the guests were being staged. Sure. And I went back there and I'm having a beer with Clint Eastwood one time, and, and Jean Hackman and all these people are just standing around waiting to go on and you could walk back there. Oh, yeah. And then things got weird and there was stalking and all that, and they stopped doing that. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. But it was really interesting. So I wanna mention some people that you worked with, and I'll say their name and just gimme your fondest memory or an interesting memory. Uh oh. Ooh. Tom Roka

Kelly Lange (00:25:25):

Tom is terrific. Tom is really a wonderful guy. And we, we've always been friends. Um, what's to say about him? He did his homework. He was not like Tom Snyder. Tom Snyder never did his homework, but he always was such a good broadcaster that he was riveting. Right. Broka worked very hard and he was a political genius, you know? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Yeah. And, uh, and then when I did the, the Today Show, he was the, uh, the co-host, you know, so I've always thought very highly of Tom who couldn't, you know, who wouldn't. Yeah. Wonderful guy,

Fritz Coleman (00:25:57):

Wonderful guy. Bryant Gumbo.

Kelly Lange (00:26:00):

Bryant

Fritz Coleman (00:26:01):

<laugh>.

Kelly Lange (00:26:02):

Oh my. Look at that. Look in your eye. Fred Stoneman,

Fritz Coleman (00:26:04):

I want you to be whatever you're comfortable in saying.

Kelly Lange (00:26:07):

Bryant was the best broadcaster I have ever seen. The first time he ever went on the air, I was doing the show, and they brought him in from some, uh, print he was doing. He had never been on television. His very first time on television, he was brilliant. He was a great, great broadcaster. Um,

Fritz Coleman (00:26:26):

I don't know

Kelly Lange (00:26:26):

If you're, and there's a butt, right? Yeah.

Fritz Coleman (00:26:28):

What I didn't know if you, you're the one that told me this story, uhoh, but sometimes one, one time you were on with him and the teleprompter broke, or there there was, he was missing the copy for the sports. And he brilliantly adlibbed, four minute sportscast, flawlessly, great syntax, all the right words. And he was brilliant. He was a brilliant guy. No, he had like a

Kelly Lange (00:26:49):

Photographic number and he still is mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you know, and Steve Friedman picked him to co-host the Today Show back in the day. And who would ever pick, you know, I mean, they said, well, come on, he's a black guy. He's, uh, a local sportscaster. And he was brilliant on that show for all those years. Yeah.

Fritz Coleman (00:27:07):

Your close friend Tom Snyder.

Kelly Lange (00:27:09):

Tom Snyder, I could go on forever. <laugh> uh, Tom was great fun. And he was so, he had a photogenic mind. He had one of those minds. He never forgot anything, you know, and he had these eyes and he could stare right into the camera and everybody, you know, how we're taught to, uh, to feel that we're talking to one person, not a crowd. And Tom could do that. And everybody thought he was talking to them. And funny, I remember one time there was a bomb scare in the building, and, um, he came running down to my office and he grabbed me. And this was just before the six o'clock news was to go on. So we're all killing ourselves, you know, doing our pieces for the show. And Tom said, there's a bomb scare. We're getting outta here. Come on. And he grabbed me by the arm and, and took me.

(00:27:57):

And we went into the elevator and went downstairs and stood outside the building. Nobody else came out. They were putting the show on. And Tom and I were looking up, and Tom, I swear to God, he was hoping that the building would blow up <laugh> because we were the only ones that went out, you know, show how smart we were. But anyway, he was fun and funny things we did on the, um, we did a show called Sunday for years. And, and, um, he, he, like one time he didn't wanna do something, he didn't want to interview somebody. And this was a show that was live in different locations all over our coverage area. It was like a Santa

Fritz Coleman (00:28:35):

Barbara Park show. It was really

Kelly Lange (00:28:36):

Sophisticated. Yeah. 90 Minute from Santa Barbara to the Mexican border. And, uh, we went everywhere. And, um, one time he didn't wanna do an interview about something, I don't know what, and he climbed a tree and he sat up in the tree and he wouldn't do the interview. And, and we had a producer who was damned he was gonna do that interview. And so she had, you know, we've got Thomas shooting us here. She had, um, she had the cameramen shooting him up in the tree, you know. Wow. And another time, Tom and I, three

Louise Palanker (00:29:06):

Before Michael Jackson ever pulled back,

Fritz Coleman (00:29:08):

<laugh>,

Kelly Lange (00:29:09):

Oh

Louise Palanker (00:29:10):

No. Another time. Go ahead.

Kelly Lange (00:29:11):

He did,

Louise Palanker (00:29:12):

Uh, well in a, in a documentary. He's in a tree.

Kelly Lange (00:29:17):

He was in a tree. Okay. Yeah. So Tom was in a tree another time. We were in a park, um, in a, a big, I can't remember whether it was Griffith Parks, I think it was, was Griffith Park, big big park. And, um, we were live, of course. And we had, um, the, a guy, a great, um, Italian director, Franco Zar was our guest. And Frank Franklin Zari was sitting here. And, um, Tom was here and I was on the other side of him. And he set it up. Tom always set it up. He said, oh, we have, we can introduce, you know, we're very pleased and honored to have, you know, Mr. Franco Zar. And his new movie is Brother, son and Sister Moon. And, uh, he asked the first question. And then I went into, then I asked a question and I'm looking, and I can see Tom where you're sitting, Louise.

(00:30:11):

And he eased off the chair. We sat in high back chairs and he let himself down to the ground. The camera is on Mrs. Zar Alley. And he start running through the park, you know, and he had on a red sweater. And I thought, where the hell is he going? And I watched him and he ran. And so I kept asking questions and Mr. Zal, and it went on and on and, and my producer was out there going Mm. Stretch. Right? Right. Um, cuz nobody has mentioned that Tom has left the building. And um, and I got to where I was asking, well, in Italy, you know, they shred the mail. Why is that, sir, you know, <laugh>. And finally I see Tom running back, the sweaters coming, red sweaters coming back, uh, in between trees and trailers and what have you. And he pulls them up on the chair and he turns to Mrs.

(00:31:02):

Gelli. And he says, that was fascinating, sir. <laugh>, thank you so much. Go see his movie Brother Moon, sister son. And um, you know, we'll take a break. And, and he, and we go to commercial and I said to Tom, I said, what the, you know, and he said, I had a Pee Cal. I mean, we were li a live show, you know, and he found Tom Bradley's trailer to go and do his business. Wow. Yeah. Cuz everybody turned out when we were doing the Today Show, the, um, the Sunday show somewhere, everybody turned out. Cuz it was a lot of fun.

Fritz Coleman (00:31:36):

Tell the story about Paul Moyer. But, and, and this is not awful, I'm wondering ahead time I, but, but, but, uh, uh, about you were interviewing one of the great authors of all time and his wife had written the book. Yeah. Do am I, am I helping your memory?

Kelly Lange (00:31:53):

You're helping, yeah. But course my mind, you know, my mind is going, my body's still

Fritz Coleman (00:31:56):

Good. So, so, so anyway, yeah. You were interviewing his wife who had written the book,

Kelly Lange (00:32:00):

Laura Hus Huxley.

Fritz Coleman (00:32:01):

Yes. And Alda Huxley was her

Kelly Lange (00:32:03):

Husband. ALDs was

Fritz Coleman (00:32:04):

Her husband. One of the most celebrated records of all time. Tell tell

Kelly Lange (00:32:06):

That story. Well, um, again, um, Moyer sitting over here, we have Laura Huxley in the middle, and then there's me. And, um, we were cel we were doing the opening of, uh, the Museum of Art on Wilshire Boulevard. It was the opening day of that. That's the kind of show we went to everywhere where something was happening. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And she had this book she had just written, and Moyer never read the book. Okay. He read the Fly Leaf and it said that she helped her husband on such and such a book. And so we're doing the questions. And Moyer said to her, well, and your husband wrote a book too. <laugh> <laugh>. And my job was when he would say things like that, I just started laughing so that everybody would get it. Like it was a joke. <laugh>. And I went, ah, <laugh> and Laura Hosley said, oh yes, he wrote 43 books,

Fritz Coleman (00:32:58):

<laugh>

Kelly Lange (00:32:59):

Well, and we're live, you know? Yeah. You can't,

Louise Palanker (00:33:02):

Well, one time I'm working with Fritz, uh, at n NBC on something that never happened, but I'm walking down that long, you know, that long corridor. Oh,

Kelly Lange (00:33:08):

Sure.

Louise Palanker (00:33:09):

And, uh, and Paul and Palm War is walking towards me. He looks directly at me and says, I just met Hootie. So, you know, you don't wanna say, you know, his name is Darius. You just like, Hey, he's excited, I'm excited. Good for you. But that to me was,

Fritz Coleman (00:33:26):

It's an interesting dude that said it all. He worked with people for 25

Louise Palanker (00:33:29):

Years. Did you not catch his name?

Fritz Coleman (00:33:31):

We worked with a woman for 25 years who was one of Kelly and my favorites Lori, who was the makeup artist. Oh, yeah. And he worked with her for 20 years and never knew her name.

Louise Palanker (00:33:41):

Okay. That tracks.

Fritz Coleman (00:33:42):

Yeah. See what I'm saying?

Kelly Lange (00:33:44):

Crazy.

Fritz Coleman (00:33:44):

Oh boy. So I I, I would imagine that one of the scariest moments in the life of an anchor person would be the day when you get the call to do a cut in, a national cut in, or a national newscast. And you had never anchored the national news before. And you, and, and how does that work? Some, somebody calls you up and said, we want you to fill in and do the, do the the

Kelly Lange (00:34:07):

Work news. Well, you know, I mean, I filled in on the Today Show. I was Jane Polly's regular fill-in, I filled in on The Tomorrow Show. I was Tom Snyder's when he moved the show to New York. Of course I was Tom's fill in mm-hmm. <affirmative>, uh, I mean, I don't know. I just was always doing it. And then I filled in for Jessica Savage, who did the Weekend Nightly News. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So I, when she was away or then they would fly me to New York and first class. Thank you very much. Nbc. You know, so I don't remember ever, you know, what was it like, was it scary or anything? It's just what, what

Fritz Coleman (00:34:38):

We did, it's just live TV and I talking,

Kelly Lange (00:34:40):

It's a job, tv, all that's all I've ever done is live tv. You know, that's all we ever done did. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Yeah. So I can't remember, I mean, in that job for all those years, I mean, there were times when I was a little nervous or anxious or, uh, whatever. I was never bored. Oh,

Fritz Coleman (00:34:55):

No. Oh no. Phil, during the Today Show, that was like a, that was, uh, like flying first class in the broadcast airline. They would bring you back there. And I, it was in my contract for two weeks a year to fill in for Al Roker. Yeah. When he was on vacation. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And they would put you up at the Essex Park South, which is in south, um, uh, uh, central Park. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, they would pick you up at four o'clock in the morning at a limousine 4:00 AM Yep. You would walk into the Today's Show and they would ask for your coat because as you were preparing your presentation, they would steam your coat, steam all the wrinkles outta your coat. Oh yes. And then you'd go in and the meteorologist who had been up all night preparing the weather, told you what you were gonna say. It was unbelievable. It was so much

Kelly Lange (00:35:36):

Fun. It was a great job. Um, and the very first time they were pick, and it was hard for us to get up at, uh, two 30 or three mm-hmm. <affirmative> because we worked late nights all the time, you know mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And so we weren't early morning people. You are now mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I never have been. But, uh, the first time the limousine picked you up in front of the hotel and I went down, got in the limo and I'm half asleep. And guy sitting next to me is Willard Scott, the weather guy. Oh yeah. Funny guy. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And, um, I said, hi, I'm Kelly. And he said, yeah, yeah, I'm Willard. He said, hold this. And he gave me a box. Oh. And I, a puppy. I took the box and I put the box on my lap and the limousine took off to go to, uh, 30 Rock. And, um, we hit a bump or something and the box fell off my lap. And Willard said, be careful with that. That's my hair. <laugh>

Fritz Coleman (00:36:26):

<laugh>.

Kelly Lange (00:36:27):

Yeah. But it was always something.

Fritz Coleman (00:36:29):

He was a lovely man. And you Oh yeah. You, you emceed the Seattle Rose Parade with Willard, right? Mm-hmm.

Kelly Lange (00:36:34):

<affirmative>. And what happened? Tempe, Arizona. Rose Tap here. Seattle Roast Parade with somebody else. I did everybody's roast parade because I was the roast parade chick.

Fritz Coleman (00:36:42):

You did the, the national one for N B NBC with Michael

Kelly Lange (00:36:45):

Landon. Oh, they were all national.

Fritz Coleman (00:36:46):

Yeah. Michael Landon.

Kelly Lange (00:36:47):

Michael Landon. What a guy. How was Michael

Louise Palanker (00:36:49):

Landon? Talk about

Kelly Lange (00:36:50):

That wonderful guy. Wonderful, fun, funny, so handsome. Oh, he was great. Yeah. And we did that for 10 years. Mm-hmm. And, uh, I remember he and I stayed, you know, friends for a long time after that. And one night he was on The Tonight Show, and I le I went down onto the, the, uh, into the makeup room where he was getting makeup. And it shocked me. He was yellow, his skin was yellow. And, um, I said, and he was preparing for a new sh NBC show. And, um, and I said, oh my God, Michael, are you okay? And he said, no, not really. He said, no, I've got this cancer. And I said, but this new show, he said, yeah, if I don't make it, then it's gonna be NBC's biggest mistakes since baseball <laugh>. I mean, he always was fun and funny, you know.

Fritz Coleman (00:37:34):

Yeah. Maybe that was Highway to Heaven. He was just gonna start because he had little house in there. Or what, what was the one He did? What, what is

Louise Palanker (00:37:42):

Highway? Hi. He was touched by an angel or I get all those mixed up. Yeah. Yeah.

Fritz Coleman (00:37:46):

All

Kelly Lange (00:37:46):

Those little house. Was it Little,

Louise Palanker (00:37:48):

Uh, little house in the

Kelly Lange (00:37:49):

Prairie Might Little House on

Fritz Coleman (00:37:50):

The Prairie and then Highway to Heaven.

Louise Palanker (00:37:51):

Highway to Heaven. Oh, you cry every episode, you just

Fritz Coleman (00:37:54):

Cry. Okay. So Kelly's on her way up to Seattle to do their Rose Parade Parade. The Rose Theater Rose Parade compared to ours. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And what happened on your way up in the

Kelly Lange (00:38:02):

Airplane? Um, Mount Saint Helens blew up. Whoa. And the whole airplane, all the, it was during the day, you know, everything got black outside. Wow. And they had to make an emergency. We couldn't land in Seattle. We had to go to Canada cuz it was so widespread. And so we did, we went to Canada. We didn't know what was going on. It was Mount St. Helen's spent the night in Canada and then the next day I was bused back into Seattle to do the show. Yeah. But never a dull. Right. Fritzie

Fritz Coleman (00:38:33):

Great, great experiences. Oh,

Louise Palanker (00:38:35):

Always

Kelly Lange (00:38:35):

Excited. And we survived

Fritz Coleman (00:38:37):

<laugh>. Right. How, I don't

Louise Palanker (00:38:39):

Know. Now you were on, and this is on YouTube folks if you wanna Oh, look at Thomas. He's found Mount St. Helen's. And I can see your plane there, you guys. Thomas, you're making a quick left. Uh, you, this is on YouTube. You were on What's My Line?

Kelly Lange (00:38:54):

Oh,

Louise Palanker (00:38:54):

Yes, yes.

Kelly Lange (00:38:55):

Yeah. Early on. That was my very first time on television because that was when I was on radio.

Louise Palanker (00:38:59):

Right. And so I guess they figured out, they're always looking for interesting folks. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And they figured how

Kelly Lange (00:39:05):

To, you also guess what they did for a living there.

Louise Palanker (00:39:07):

Is there we Oh good. John Thomas.

Kelly Lange (00:39:09):

Oh, my first time on television. Oh my.

Louise Palanker (00:39:11):

Now were you, now you're very composed. I've watched this. Were you nervous or were you just trying to accurately answer their questions but not give too much information?

Kelly Lange (00:39:22):

Oh, I was probably a nervous wreck. But you don't show it Louise. Mm-hmm. You know that. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Kris knows that.

Louise Palanker (00:39:26):

Mm-hmm. I'm terrified right now, <laugh>.

Fritz Coleman (00:39:29):

Right. You know, I look at these things and, and you know, it's amazing. Anybody, uh, any like a person of color or a lower middle class person watched this cuz this was some snooty ass Upper West Side people. Oh yeah. They had Arlene Francis and Dorothy Kal. Oh

Kelly Lange (00:39:42):

Yes.

Fritz Coleman (00:39:42):

And Bennett Surf and people South Central Lalo.

Louise Palanker (00:39:46):

Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Yes.

Fritz Coleman (00:39:48):

He was he was a publisher. Right. He was Bennetts. Oh

Kelly Lange (00:39:50):

Yes.

Fritz Coleman (00:39:50):

Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And who the hell was Arlene Francis? He was somebody's wife. She

Kelly Lange (00:39:53):

Was

Louise Palanker (00:39:54):

Well stage at

Kelly Lange (00:39:56):

What Jim knows. Jim

Louise Palanker (00:39:57):

Knows. Yeah. Well we need a microphone for

Fritz Coleman (00:39:58):

Jim. Well we want Jim to have a microphone

Louise Palanker (00:39:59):

Talking Yeah. Jim a microphone. But yeah, it was always, even if it was Orson Bean or somebody, it was always that somebody was smarter than you <laugh>. Right. And that's what we liked about it. We weren't intimidated by people who were smarter than us. We were like, as a child, I was like, why not have the smartest people sitting here making me feel like I'll never be smart enough to ask an intelligent question.

Fritz Coleman (00:40:22):

Right. You look so beautiful, Kelly.

Kelly Lange (00:40:25):

Oh God bless you, you silver tongue devil.

Fritz Coleman (00:40:27):

And, and, and so Kelly's getting ready to leave after her triumphant performance. And what did Arlene Francis say to you?

Kelly Lange (00:40:34):

Oh, she said, what a great outfit cuz we were wearing hot pants back then. You were too young. Yeah. Hot pants. And uh, uh, well that's what she

Fritz Coleman (00:40:43):

Said. Well, she said it was a beautiful dressing. You said its not dress.

Kelly Lange (00:40:45):

She said it's a great outfit. And

Fritz Coleman (00:40:46):

I just And you walked out.

Kelly Lange (00:40:47):

Well, I pulled it out to show her that it was pants <laugh>. I don't know if you see that on there. I think maybe.

Louise Palanker (00:40:53):

Yeah. Maybe at the end. But they, but tell us what happens, cuz I don't wanna give it away, but what happened?

Kelly Lange (00:40:58):

Oh, well they had to guess that I was a traffic reporter and they never did because there weren't no women doing it. No, they hadn't. Now here's where Yeah. Shaking hands. Thank you. She was adorable.

Louise Palanker (00:41:08):

Uh, they had no frame of reference. Is that Barbara Feldon?

Kelly Lange (00:41:11):

Barbara Feldon. Right. Okay. And we were,

Louise Palanker (00:41:13):

Yeah, they had no frame of reference. So they were, and they were asking questions that, that sounded mildly sexual because they were saying, do you move in a certain type of way? Right. Can you perform this task? Like no one could conceive of a female doing a thing with her

Kelly Lange (00:41:28):

Mind. Even said, did you, do you take your clothes off any of your clothes? I said, no. You know,

Louise Palanker (00:41:34):

The questions were so sexist. They were, they were based on that current mindset.

Kelly Lange (00:41:41):

She must be looking like this and being this age, she must be some, a model or dancer.

Louise Palanker (00:41:46):

Yeah. Doing something,

Kelly Lange (00:41:47):

Girl,

Louise Palanker (00:41:48):

Something, something arousing very

Fritz Coleman (00:41:49):

Less girl.

Louise Palanker (00:41:50):

So so you lean over and say to Mr. Daley, uh, well, cuz you were in a helicopter, which was moving in an interesting fashion. And you, I think you were asking him like, do I say yes or no? Because you have to give yes or no. The person gets so many questions and if they get a no, it goes to the next person. Right?

Kelly Lange (00:42:07):

Yeah, I think so. It's a long time ago. This was, you know, in the twenties, I think,

Louise Palanker (00:42:12):

What's my life?

Kelly Lange (00:42:12):

What year was it? I don't know.

Louise Palanker (00:42:14):

Uh, 67.

Kelly Lange (00:42:15):

67. Wow.

Fritz Coleman (00:42:17):

So you have, I have so much respect for you because you and our good friend John Beard

Kelly Lange (00:42:25):

Oh John,

Fritz Coleman (00:42:26):

Have great relations with your exes, which I've always respected. Yeah. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, there's no acrimony. And you were married to what I think is one of the most, uh, brilliant directors. Brilliant. Of all

Kelly Lange (00:42:37):

Time. William

Fritz Coleman (00:42:37):

Friedkin. Yeah. And I, it's a fascinating story about how, how he almost missed the opportunity to do The Exorcist after William Peter Bladder, blatty Bladder, William Peter Bladder. No, that's my urologist. <laugh>. Uh, William Peter Blatty gave him the manuscript and he sort of talk about that.

Kelly Lange (00:42:56):

Oh my goodness. That that is, uh, such a obscure story. Um,

Fritz Coleman (00:43:01):

No, but it's interesting though. He

Kelly Lange (00:43:03):

You mean the one where he threw it on the back of the toilet?

Fritz Coleman (00:43:06):

Yeah. He said, no, this isn't gonna go anywhere. You

Kelly Lange (00:43:08):

Well, he had just won for the French connection, he'd won a Best Picture Academy Award. Right. Everybody was giving him scripts and, and books and uh, projects and suggestions. And so yeah, he, and um, the Exorcist was a big bestseller. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And so Bill Blatty, who became a very, very dear friend of his and mine, um, he sent him the book The Exorcist and Billy just threw it on the back of the toilet. Oh please. Yeah. And he said one day he just picked it up and started reading it. He said, oh wow, I gotta do this movie. And he did. I mean,

Fritz Coleman (00:43:47):

But, but Billy Billy really pushed the envelope in films Yes he did. With, uh, you know, frightening things and dark things and real Oh yeah. You know, the lower side of human nature. But he was also very funny and a very entertaining guy.

Kelly Lange (00:44:02):

Hilarious and wonderful guy. Brilliant. And you should get him on this podcast sometime. Oh, that would be unbelievable. He'll, he'll have a good time. Yeah. And then he can tell those, um, bathroom stories about me, I suppose, but <laugh>. Yeah. Mm. Anyway,

Louise Palanker (00:44:17):

So I wanna hear about, uh, competition. You know, we talked about Palace intrigue with Prince Harry. Was there any kind of like newsroom intrigue where uh, people were jockeying for more airtime or, you know, better makeup or lighting or, you know, what have you, cuz you guys were sort of in the trenches night after night after night together. W did. Was everyone supportive or was there

Kelly Lange (00:44:41):

Kirsty Wild and Yeah. And ski gate? Oh

Fritz Coleman (00:44:44):

God. You want tell this story or you, you

Kelly Lange (00:44:45):

Okay. You tell it. I don't even

Fritz Coleman (00:44:46):

Want, so, you know, we, we had, uh, Kelly was the main anchor when we had an overzealous sub-main anchor. And, um,

Kelly Lange (00:44:55):

She Kirsty

Fritz Coleman (00:44:55):

Wild. Kirsty Wild. Right. <laugh>. Anyway, um, we were on this wave of doing big investigative reports. So we're gonna uncover them, find the truth. So, uh, she got word that, uh, people from the media in particular N B c uh, anchor people were skiing at, uh, local ski areas, gratis. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, they were getting their equipment and

Kelly Lange (00:45:18):

They gold ski gratis. Yeah.

Fritz Coleman (00:45:19):

Shame. And, you know,

Kelly Lange (00:45:20):

It was a fun thing that he did every year. Yeah. To have all the anchors and all the news

Fritz Coleman (00:45:25):

People and none

Kelly Lange (00:45:26):

Ski race

Fritz Coleman (00:45:27):

These days, they probably wouldn't allow you to do it cuz there's so much human resources. Crap. But any, back in those days, everybody did it. There, there was nothing nefarious about it at all, was cast. But Kirsty Wild said, I think we've got a real situation here where people are taking advantage and getting free things. Uh, and they're newscasters and they're supposed to stay objective and not do anything untoward like that. So she decided to do an investigative report about Kelly getting a free ski trip. So it's like, it was a circular firing squad. Oh my goodness. And she was doing an investigative report, my, and trying to drive down. And then that was obviously personal jealousy of

Kelly Lange (00:46:02):

What? And Capra and, and Warbeck, the boss said, oh God, you gotta fill out this thing and you gotta tell me what you took. And I said, well, what did I take? I said, well, we had, they gave us a hamburger. And he said, and french fries. And he said, did you eat the french fries? Kelly <laugh>? Of course,

Fritz Coleman (00:46:18):

Not really. It was horrible.

Kelly Lange (00:46:19):

Well, it was all a joke. We knew it. And you know, she finally got, uh, escorted out the door. But, um,

Fritz Coleman (00:46:25):

Well, Kelly, Kelly, uh, Kelly la or I mean, uh, Colleen Williams, who was still the Anchorage Channel four worked with Paul Moyer and there was a real, a real electrical friction between them. And they would get so competitive that they would have their spouses time the number of stories and length of the stories that each person had on the air. And if one was in arrears of the other, they would complain about it to the newscast. He had a 35 second reader that I didn't have, what the hell's going

Kelly Lange (00:46:57):

On here? Yeah. I never did that. We never did that. No Uhuh. No. We were just glad to go do the job, go home and get the paycheck, you know, it was always very nice. Right. And get a good table at a restaurant and all the great perks that went with it.

Louise Palanker (00:47:09):

Yeah. And get to meet Marlon Brando and or

Kelly Lange (00:47:13):

Marlon Brando. Marlon Brando used to call me up. Yeah.

Louise Palanker (00:47:16):

He called up Fritz too. He called you too. Yeah.

Kelly Lange (00:47:19):

Did you go out with him too? <laugh>? No, no, I'm just kidding. All right, so

Louise Palanker (00:47:22):

What happened?

Kelly Lange (00:47:23):

Well, he would call me and say he wanted a, a story on the air and it was always about an Indian, some Indian story, you know? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Yeah. And, um, remember Sally Lynch, our, our, um, secretary and she would say on the loud speaker, Kelly Lang, Marlon Brando on the phone, and everybody would pick up the phone, <laugh>. But, um, but that's

Louise Palanker (00:47:44):

The thing is like every celebrity is watching you. You, you're, you're aware of that,

Kelly Lange (00:47:49):

Right. They knew us. Yeah. Because we were their broadcasters. Right. That's why I said if I, if I was in or n you, if we were in any other city in this country, we wouldn't have had the, uh, opportunities that we fell into. Really a

Fritz Coleman (00:48:02):

Co a a couple of stories like that. Betty Davis, God rest her soul used to call him, want to talk to John Beard, knew he and John would never talk to her. She was a little older and a little frail, but she would always call is John Beard? This is Betty Davis can. And and John was afraid. I didn't know that. Didn't. Yeah. And here's another great story about that. Being in the, you sometimes forget you're in the second largest market in the world. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And you're in Hollywood land out here. Yeah. We were in our, our favorite boss that we worked for, John Roback rest his soul, uh, who is just a visionary broadcaster guy used to take us to er, which is mm-hmm. <affirmative> at the corner of Coldwater and Ventura in the San Fernando Valley. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And we're in there. And Roach's favorite table was the gazebo. Did you, did you ever eat there? Oh, sure. Every time. Yeah. Gazebo. They're only

Kelly Lange (00:48:46):

Four tables. Yeah.

Fritz Coleman (00:48:48):

Gazebo. And so we're in there one night and my chair, because I guess I was lowest in seniority, was facing the wall <laugh>. And so, um,

Kelly Lange (00:48:57):

I got the good chair.

Fritz Coleman (00:48:58):

Suddenly I'm looking at, it was Beard and Kevin O'Connell and, and John rok. And I'm watching the look on their faces. I'm looking at the wall and all the blood drained from all their faces and they're going, and then I hear this voice. Well, look, it's my channel four buddies. I feel like you're family. And standing right in back of me was Jimmy Stewart saying that he was a big viewer of Channel four. And you, you forget that those people are home watching you. It was mind blowing. Wow. Yeah. It

Kelly Lange (00:49:25):

Was great. Well, you know, telling the story about Kirsty Wild and the ski Gate, and she, excuse

Louise Palanker (00:49:30):

Me, gate

Kelly Lange (00:49:30):

He took me to lunch at Laer and he was being very, well, I have to, you know, tell me what else you had. You had a hamburger and I, it was so ridiculous. I said, you're being ridiculous, John. And I started to cry. There's little tears going down and in the door at Laer walks Joan Collins. Wow. And she walks into the gazebo and she walks our, at our table and she looks at me and she says, she says, Kelly hi. And I said, hello, Joan <laugh>, you know, was Yeah. But that was the kinda life we led. And you're talking about, was there, um, any, uh, any com competitiveness? Mm-hmm. <affirmative> John Beard, whom we love, you and John and I, so

Fritz Coleman (00:50:13):

Sweet. Best friends.

Kelly Lange (00:50:14):

We were three amigos over there. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and, um, John and I anchored together for 13 years. Oh wow. And we had, during that time, only one fight. Okay. We had one argument. Yeah. And, um, they were setting up a whole set and usually they told you where to stand, where to sit, and all this. At that point, they just said, okay, you guys sit down on the new set. And we both wanted one chair because for some reason John Beard and I both thought that was the power chair. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, which is ridiculous. Of course. They were two chairs like you and me are sitting in. Yeah. And, um, we argued over the chair. Oh. And Beard told that story for years after. And he says, but he said, now it doesn't matter. Moyer's in it.

Louise Palanker (00:50:56):

<laugh>. Right. So, who got custody of Fritz

Kelly Lange (00:50:59):

<laugh>? Oh, I have custody of Fritz. Oh, you know what? No, we all, we both do. Cuz Did you, does Louise know about our, our thread and our Zoom meetings? It was Fritz and John Beard and I all during the pandemic. Really? And Mark Thompson. Ah, he's so great. And we just kept up on everything. And it was, got us through the pandemic. Really?

Louise Palanker (00:51:18):

Did you do your own little mini newscasts?

Kelly Lange (00:51:20):

Yeah. Well we just talked to each other and we

Fritz Coleman (00:51:22):

Talked about, we were all like political mind and it would be great. We thought this would make a great podcast. So you and your best friend Gail Parent? Yes. Who was the head writer and producer on, uh, golden Girls. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> also wrote on the Carol Burnett Show, as did your fantastic, significant other Jim ever ringing. And we're gonna bring him in here. You

Louise Palanker (00:51:41):

Should interview Jim Kelly. Okay. Go ask Jim.

Fritz Coleman (00:51:44):

Okay. Wait, I just ran. Yeah, well he's, he's ready to go. Just let me ask you this question and then we'll do it. Yeah. But, um, she's so funny. And when you two are together, you are so funny. And somebody was forward thinking enough to give you your own show called The Kelly and Gale Show and show. That was John Eck. Yeah. Yeah. Talk about that show. I

Louise Palanker (00:52:00):

Think every Diva needs a best friend named Gail <laugh>.

Kelly Lange (00:52:04):

Right. Well, Gail and I, and she wanted to call the show Making It. And I said, no, no, no, no, no. We're gonna call it Kelly and Gail cuz then they can't fire, you know.

Louise Palanker (00:52:12):

I

Kelly Lange (00:52:12):

Got it. I got it. Yeah. So, so we did that show and it was a morning show and it went on, uh, it was live, it went on right after the Today Show, so nine o'clock. And so we had to be there at seven. And, um, all day long I was up doing three news shows upstairs in the news, in the news set mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And she was writing Golden Girls at the time. Oh my gosh. So she had to go over to Golden Girls. And very often we never got home from the, from the news until, you know, midnight. 12 1, 2, 3 in the morning. And she never got home from Golden Girls till that time. And we would talk to each other on the phone because we did a live skit every morning and we wrote it on the phone at like two, three in the morning. Oh my God. And we'd just make, we never had time to practice it cuz it was the next morning. And, um, we'd write it together and then memorize it and then go to sleep and be on the set at 7:00 AM So we got maybe two or three hours sleep a night. Ugh. And didn't we all, during those days, we never got any sleep. I could stand against a wall and close my eyes and take a nap mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you know, back in those days. But

Fritz Coleman (00:53:17):

I, you know, you look at the Sunday show and you look at Kelly and Gale, there was a period of time up until about 15 years ago when Local did some great local programming. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. I had my show after Saturday Night Live for Oh yes. Spritz that had bigger ratings than the 11 o'clock news. I know. It was great. They don't do that anymore. They don't spend that kind of money. No. But anyway, I wanna bring in your significant other and I'm so happy to say my

Kelly Lange (00:53:39):

Yes.

Fritz Coleman (00:53:39):

O yeah. Uh, Jim Eing, who is a talented comedy writer, he wrote on the Carol Burnett show. He wrote on Mama's family. He wrote, I think you did some specials for, uh, Dolly Partum. Am I

Kelly Lange (00:53:51):

Right? Yeah. Dolly and, and

(00:53:52):

Carol. And he wrote Major Dad and Punky Brewster Punk and all these shows back in the day.

(00:53:58):

Lot of, lot

(00:53:59):

Of shows. Yeah. And we met in church, Jim and I,

Louise Palanker (00:54:01):

No, can we move the one of slide one of the cameras just to get Jim?

Fritz Coleman (00:54:06):

Yeah, there we go. We'll cut in a really attractive younger man when

Kelly Lange (00:54:10):

It's time <laugh>. Oh good. Okay. Get somebody, somebody really has in there. Got a

Fritz Coleman (00:54:14):

Really, I'll tell you some of the fun times I have is when we're having dinner with Gail and Rob and then Kelly and, and Jim. And they talk about, you know, all the webbing on working on these shows and the anecdotes are just unbelievable.

Louise Palanker (00:54:28):

Well, I wanna know if you have like a, a newsworthy probing question for Jim. Tell all Go ahead interview Jim. Me? Yes.

Kelly Lange (00:54:36):

Just ask Jim. You want me to ask my honey? Yes. I met him in church. Oh, okay. And, um, well, I, he could tell the story. I had not been with a, a guy mm-hmm. For 10 years. And his, he had been married for 35 years and his wife passed away. He had not been with, in a romantic situation for 10 years either. So neither of us were looking. We were

(00:54:56):

All, we were desperate. <laugh>

(00:54:58):

No, we, we didn't care. Just like Fritz right now, you know, he's not in a relationship and, and is not out there.

Fritz Coleman (00:55:04):

It's a better place

Kelly Lange (00:55:05):

Looking, you know. And, um, and so I kind of had chemistry with Jim and, um, tell Jim,

Jim (00:55:14):

Well, we went, we, we did this. We, we came from church. We went to the church together. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, then we, and I, and I thought, and I'd known Kelly just to say hello and stuff like that. And, and I thought, you know, she's fun. She's fun. We went to Cherry's Deli after church and we weren't hungry. So we decided to eat off the children's menu. <laugh>,

Kelly Lange (00:55:40):

Which was also

Jim (00:55:41):

Right. The

Kelly Lange (00:55:42):

Senior, it was the same menu.

Jim (00:55:44):

It was the senior menu too. Interesting. Crayons. So it was a senior at a at adult. So we are carrying on about this and we're laughing and, and going crazy. And she wants to have a a, an egg.

Kelly Lange (00:55:58):

They give you one

Jim (00:55:59):

Egg. Yes. They give you one egg, but does it come with cranes? They'll give you one egg because you know, you're course she came with takes all that time for your digestion to work mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And, uh, but she had to have it poached. And the girl says, we don't poach

Kelly Lange (00:56:11):

The one

Jim (00:56:12):

Egg <laugh>, but uh, we give it just Kelly scrambled. Kelly gets what she wants. So she got a poached egg and we are carrying on about the, the breakfast and just going nuts. And afterwards, uh, we were leaving there and I said to my friend, to Karen, I said, I think she's hot for me, <laugh>. She said, no, come on, come on. So

Kelly Lange (00:56:35):

She said, she always acts like that. Yeah,

Jim (00:56:37):

No, I said, no, no, there's something happening here. So then we went to some, we went to a Peach Peace march out in the valley and it's like 110 degrees and we're going from church to church. And we did, we did about one of those. And then you couldn't hear anything that was going on. And I said, what are we doing here? It's hot. So we got on, we had

Kelly Lange (00:56:59):

A, we saw a bus

Jim (00:57:00):

There. Yeah. There was a bus

Kelly Lange (00:57:02):

There and the door was open. So I said, I'm getting on that bus. Yes.

Jim (00:57:06):

<laugh>. So then we got on the bus and from there on we went out that night, we went over to her friend Gail's, you know,

Kelly Lange (00:57:12):

And they said, we, they said, well, honey, he said, we don't, where's the bus go? We don't know where this bus is going. And I said, I don't give a damn. We don't know. I just can't walk anymore. We were, we,

Jim (00:57:22):

We, we had had it.

Louise Palanker (00:57:23):

I think it's a metaphor. You got on a bus with Kelly and off you go.

Jim (00:57:28):

That's right. What was it like she to write on the Carol Burnett show?

Louise Palanker (00:57:30):

Yeah. We wanna hear about Carol Carol's cuz we we're obsessed.

Jim (00:57:33):

Well, Carol is a fan, fantastic person. She's the most amazing person cuz she knows the name of every person on the show. Every crew member of the show, she would, I would say something to her about, you know, some, some little incident and then the next year you'd come back and she had, and she'd bring up that incident. You know? So you really felt like you're an important person. Her. Yeah. She's so, because she's so smart.

Louise Palanker (00:58:07):

She's so smart.

Jim (00:58:08):

Was she harder, easy to write for? She said, I want to have fun. She said, you know, I'm gonna have fun. Whatever I do once, um, well, I won't tell that story. <laugh>. Um, you know, no, there was, uh, the person on the show was giving a, giving her a lot of trouble. And, uh, you know, he was not happy. And so she just took him in the, in the dressing room and said, you know, if you're not happy here, uh, you know, we'd be glad to have you go if, you know, if you want to, you know, you want to go somewhere. He said, no, no, no. I love it here. Just, oh, well, I was under the impression that you were not happy here, so great diplomacy. So, so it was just always a pleasure to be all the, with those people.

Kelly Lange (00:58:56):

Tell who it was. He was very famous.

Jim (00:58:58):

Yes. Well, that's my point. Of course, I can't remember his name. <laugh>.

Kelly Lange (00:59:03):

No, it was either Tim Conway or Harvey Corman over, it was

Jim (00:59:06):

Har it

Louise Palanker (00:59:06):

Was Harvey. I think. I I was thinking Harvey. It was Harvey just because of Harvey's personality. So, yes. But he, Harvey got in his own head a lot. So that's,

Kelly Lange (00:59:13):

But you know what, one time, here's a great story that involved Jim. They were an, Jim was an actor before he became a comedy writer. Yeah. Did comedy. So they were, they were doing a skit. And Harvey Corman was supposed to be kissing a woman, and he slipped. Tell honey

Jim (00:59:27):

I was, well, I was the minister at their, was their wedding and they were supposed to kiss each other and instead he kissed me. So afterwards, he said, you're a great kisser <laugh>. Wow. He said, your lips are. So, I said, well, I was, I'm an actor, so I was not expecting you to kiss me. So naturally my lips were not so, I I was being, I was being method <laugh>. He said, oh, he said, I like that. I like that <laugh>. That is a adorable. All right,

Fritz Coleman (00:59:59):

I, before we run out of time, I want to talk about the, the, the great successful last, um, episode of Kelly's Life. And that is being your, oh

Kelly Lange (01:00:10):

My goodness. Are we, are we there?

Jim (01:00:12):

God, you're

Kelly Lange (01:00:13):

Doing the great last episode. She was,

Jim (01:00:15):

She was

Fritz Coleman (01:00:16):

Last is the one

Jim (01:00:17):

Word. Always a lot of fun. Most bless her

Fritz Coleman (01:00:20):

Most recent episode in, is what I meant to say. Most current. I, I chose the wrong way. But you're just a successful author <laugh>. And if you look at the, uh, catalog of, uh, literature, you pick a book Graveyard Shift the reporter, I think, um, trophy Wife is the first one, right?

Kelly Lange (01:00:36):

Yes. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And if you read my books, uh, you will learn nothing. I write mysteries, it's mine candy. And they're just fun.

Fritz Coleman (01:00:45):

But you do a lot of research. I mean, for some of these murder things, you get down to the coroner's office and the police

Kelly Lange (01:00:51):

Detective. Oh yeah. We have to, you've gotta call, you've gotta call the police department and say, how do you handle this? And how do you, you learn, you know, learn how to do, you know, blood spatters and, and all that. But they're fun. In fact, the one, um, in the middle, uh, is the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Um, the reporter, it's got blood all over it, right? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Yeah. Oh

Jim (01:01:14):

Yeah. That's a mess someone's

Kelly Lange (01:01:15):

Gonna have to play. It's the only Hollywood book I've written. Yeah. But it's so much fun. And I used to get, we used to get home so late, you know, after the 11 o'clock news, we'd go upstairs and not you, you did the weather and you were out the door. But, uh, I was there and Wendy Harris, our producer, we would have a little meeting to talk about what went wrong with the show, because the meeting was always longer than the show, you know? Sure. Of course. And then we'd talk about this and that and assignments for the next day. And then Wendy would break out the wine and would have a little wine. And, uh, we never got home till, you know, two, three in the morning. You

Fritz Coleman (01:01:50):

Were a night writer though, right?

Kelly Lange (01:01:52):

That's when I wrote, because nobody was there. The phone wasn't ringing. And Yeah. And, and I used to come home and read I loved Mysteries. The Who, what, why wa I loved Mysteries. And I would read until I finally got sleepy when the light was coming in the windows and the book would fall on the floor and I'd go to sleep. And then one night I said, I have read so many of these damn mysteries. I bet I could write one. And that's when I started writing.

Fritz Coleman (01:02:17):

And, and that, that talent brought you in contact with some really gifted writers. One of your close friends was Sue Grafton.

Kelly Lange (01:02:24):

Oh, my best. Yeah. She was one of my best friends. Sue. Yeah,

Fritz Coleman (01:02:27):

She was. And Michael Conley, you know, from

Kelly Lange (01:02:29):

Oh, sure. Yeah. Well, we all would show up at the same, you know, event events. Yeah, right. Book signings and, uh, what have you. Yeah.

Louise Palanker (01:02:38):

Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So do, do mystery writers tend to write a part of what they know, but mostly like, oh, it's like, it's like if all my friends were murdered, but it's, you know, it's based on my friends, but then something grizzly or ghastly happens. Right.

Kelly Lange (01:02:53):

Well, Louise, I think, uh, we all write autobiographically. Yeah. And obviously, uh, the first two I wrote, uh, the first one was in the Garment District in la, downtown la. The second one was in the art world, the third one was in the newsroom. And then my editor said, we're gonna do all of them in the newsroom now. Cuz you really know the newsroom Well, yeah. <laugh>, you know, and so then, yeah, and Maxi Pool, who is my sleuth, she's a news anchor and she's me. Exactly. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, except she's taller, thinner, younger, sexier and blonder, you know? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>.

Fritz Coleman (01:03:27):

And you named a character after my dog in one of your books.

Kelly Lange (01:03:30):

Oh, no. Put your dog. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> Your dog was in one of my books. Yeah. Max mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Yeah. Because one time Fritz and I were out to dinner after the show, or between shows, or between the six and the 11. Yeah. And we went back and he had to pick something up and Max, his dog had chewed up everything. His, his entire house. The couches were all chewed

Fritz Coleman (01:03:51):

Up. He chewed up my brand new leather furniture definitely coming out thousand dollars to repair.

Kelly Lange (01:03:55):

Oh my gosh. Yeah. Yeah. He, he was pissed off that you were gone. I guess it

Louise Palanker (01:03:59):

Was a, it was a couch murder.

Kelly Lange (01:04:01):

<laugh>. Yeah. He made a, he was taking, making a statement. Yeah. So Max was in one of my books. Yeah. I forget which one, but what

Louise Palanker (01:04:07):

About Fritz? Is he in your books at all?

Kelly Lange (01:04:09):

No. No. Hell

Fritz Coleman (01:04:10):

No.

Louise Palanker (01:04:10):

No. <laugh>, no. There's nothing mysterious about

Kelly Lange (01:04:13):

Fritz. But I asked Tom Snyder if, did you mind if I put you in one of my books? And he said, yeah, I do mind. He said, I'm very private.

Louise Palanker (01:04:19):

I do mind, I, well, you know, he's direct. If he needs to pee, he just goes,

Kelly Lange (01:04:23):

Oh, he was direct. All right.

Fritz Coleman (01:04:24):

Say what you want, uh, to prepare herself to be a reporter on the China syndrome. You let around Jane Fonda.

Louise Palanker (01:04:32):

Oh, yes. Oh,

Kelly Lange (01:04:32):

What? Yeah. Uh, Michael Douglas was producing it, and he called me and asked me. I knew him because, you know, Kirk Douglas was a dear friend of mine. And I took Kirk Douglas to one of Fritz's shows, remember that?

Louise Palanker (01:04:44):

Oh,

Kelly Lange (01:04:44):

There's a picture show. Kirk and Anne came in a limousine. We all went to see Fritz. Yeah. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. But anyway, I, I dive, I, I'm, what were we talking about?

Fritz Coleman (01:04:52):

Talking about

Kelly Lange (01:04:53):

Jane Fond, Jane Fond how to be a rep. Right. So Michael called me Michael Douglas and said, could you, uh, teach Jane, you know how to be an anchor? I said, sure. So she came and she followed us for a week, followed me, and I lit up the whole set for her and sat her in the chair and let her read off the prompter and get used to it. And I even took her down to, um, a shop to buy her some cor keys, which were the high field flat, flat bottom shoes that I always wore to run around and still be tall. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and thin, and not fall down. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you know, and she bought the shoes. But yeah, she was with me for a week. What now Fris is looking at me saying, go on, go on. I'm not going to do

Fritz Coleman (01:05:38):

That. No, I, I'm, I'm glad

Kelly Lange (01:05:39):

You're not gonna do that. She's not

Fritz Coleman (01:05:40):

Easy. No. And plus she's still alive. Oh. So

Kelly Lange (01:05:43):

Yeah. Well, exactly.

Fritz Coleman (01:05:44):

<laugh>. She's

Kelly Lange (01:05:45):

Not easy. And by the way, have you seen her lately? She looks fabulous. She's cool. She's

Fritz Coleman (01:05:49):

In the new 80 80 at, uh, the Super Bowl. We

Kelly Lange (01:05:52):

Wanna see that one, uh, 80,

Fritz Coleman (01:05:54):

Uh, what's it, what's it called? And that's a, it's based on a true story.

Kelly Lange (01:05:57):

Tom. Tom, uh,

Fritz Coleman (01:05:58):

80 for Brady. 80

Kelly Lange (01:05:59):

Brady 80 for Brady. We gotta see if the four ladies are in it.

Fritz Coleman (01:06:02):

Oh, now let me ask you this writing news copy. Yes, sir. Is, uh, uh, simple spoken English. Mm-hmm. It's like five or six words. It's a noun, it's a verb. It's you, no adjectives. Right. So did, did covering news stories and learning to write quickly stories that involved crime, did that make you a better mystery writer?

Kelly Lange (01:06:20):

Oh, sure. I'm sure it did. I'm sure that everything builds upon everything else, you know, and you stand on the shoulders of who you used to be. God <laugh>, because I wrote your story word I ever said, I rewrote it. I love that. And put in my own words. Yeah.

Louise Palanker (01:06:32):

I mean, I, and I think that's something important for young people to understand, is that life comes in chapters. Yes. And everything we do is informed by everything we've done. So never feel like you're, you're stuck or you know, you're not moving forward because whatever you're doing now is teaching you what you need to know for whatever you're about to do. So dig in and do, do your best. And I love the, the Kelly Lang principle of being inventive, being creative and, and being plucky and, and, and always thinking of a solution or what would give you an advantage. And it's, and one of your other principles is just work your ass off. Because there's really no shortcut no for that. Is there you'll

Fritz Coleman (01:07:13):

Never be another human being with more guts than this woman. It's so fun to be around him. Cuz if things aren't going your way, she will re orchestrate things. So they go your way. You have to. She's so good.

Louise Palanker (01:07:24):

Right? Yeah, yeah. Survival. Like if there's no sugar at your table, she'll be, she'll find a table sugar <laugh>, and she'll go over there and get the sugar, God damn it. Right? Yeah. No, but that, but it, it is, we all have to be sort of like the inventors of our own future. It it, it hasn't, it doesn't exist because we haven't created it. And you can't always expect someone else to create it for you. You can just present who you are in the best possible light, which was, which is what you were always able to do.

Kelly Lange (01:07:52):

Yeah. And of course, our teaching, where I met Jim ing in church is called Science of Mind. It's not a religion, it's a teaching. And the tenant is the main tenant is your mind creates your experience. Just like visualizing. If you're gonna ski down a hill, you've, if you're gonna play in golf, you visualize your shots. And, um, the point is believe it. You have to believe it. If you're going, going for a job, you don't worry about, oh, I'm too old, I'm too fat, I'm too this, I'm too that. You just believe it and you go in with the they're lucky to have me.

Louise Palanker (01:08:23):

Absolutely. You know, and not just that in, in an arrogant kind of way, but, but that you're an asset. And that, and like e even in friendships, you know, you think, oh, I need a friend. I need a friend. Well, someone needs you as their friend. Someone else needs you. It's, we're all in a collaboration. Life is a collaboration. Yes. Someone needs

Fritz Coleman (01:08:42):

You. It's a great point. And I've said this to her personally and I believe it, I think one of her most beautiful attributes is this something that I've learned over the 30 years that I've known her. And that is, once you are Kelly's friend, you are her friend and you will always be. And nobody gives you more love and support than Kelly as your friend. It's a gift. And now we live in the same building. And there there's love for everybody.

Louise Palanker (01:09:05):

Oh, there's a sitcom there. You guys are gonna find some free ski trips. I just know it. <laugh>. All right. Fritzi, who are we helping help?

Fritz Coleman (01:09:14):

Okay. This is a nonprofit. We're every week we're supporting a new nonprofit. This week is Shelter Partnership. This is an organization that is on the forefront of fighting homelessness in Los Angeles. They operate the S Mark Taper Foundation Resource Bank, which solicits large scale donations of merchandise, like clothing and toiletries and non-perishable goods. And it delivers those products, the people in agencies that serve the homeless, like homeless shelters. And we give them the goods for free. We provide technical assistance to community-based organizations. In other words, we help these agencies receive more than a billion dollars in federal funds. We conduct research and publish analytical studies to inform public policy about homelessness. We promote public education about the homeless crisis. There is no bigger quality of life issue in Southern California right now than the homeless crisis. Here is a tangible way you can be part of the solution. Learn more, make a donation@shelterpartnership.org.

Louise Palanker (01:10:13):

Wow.

Fritz Coleman (01:10:13):

I put my stamp of approval

Louise Palanker (01:10:14):

On this. No, that was really well done, Fritz. Good. And I'm gonna read our closing credits. Okay. Thank you so much for joining us. We would love to continue this conversation with you on Instagram and Twitter, where we are at Media Path Pod and on Facebook where our show page is Media Path Podcast. And our Facebook group is called Media Path with Fritz and Weezy podcast community. You can find full video podcast episodes just loaded with bonus visual content on our YouTube channel Media Path podcast. You can write to us at media path podcast gmail.com. And if you enjoy the show, please give us a nice rating and review on Apple Podcast, using words like illuminating and magnificent <laugh> and talk about us kindly, if you would be so kind on your social media, take a photo of yourself listening to us post it, and we will give you a shout out on the show. You can sign up for our saucy rag of a newsletter@mediapathpodcast.com. We wanna thank our wonderful guest, the glorious Kelly Lang. Our team includes Dina Friedman, John Maddox, Sharon Beo, bill Fiac, Thomas Hubble, Mason Brown, Garrett Arch, and you. Our theme music is by me and John Maddox. I'm Louise Lanker here with Fritz Coleman and Kelly Lang. Be well and wise and we will see you along the media path.