Burt Baxharach R.I.P.

Len Korobkin R.I.P.

Sad news, I got word from Len Korobkin's son Daniel, that my friend Len passed away Monday afternoon (April 26th, 2021). He was a writer on all of the early Rankin/Bass Productions including The New Adventures of Pinocchio and Tales of the Wizard of Oz. Then he moved on to their 1965 feature film Willy McBean and His Magic Machine and was given screen credit for additional dialogue. The most famous Production he is known for, is writing the Rankin/Bass feature film Mad Monster Party? (The only writing credit IMDB gives him credit for? Always incomplete). Len was the one who told me that Forest Ackerman did not participate in the writing and Harvey Kurtzman was brought in at the end, to punch up the humor and add a few gags. When I appeared at The Shag Stores a few years back, I tried to arrange for Len to be there, but the timing did not work out. He was always very nice to me and I made sure he had copies of his work over the years. Daniel says: My dads primary career was as an entertainment lawyer. He had a successful 60+ year career representing artists in the music and film industry. Great husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather. Pillar of his community in Los Angeles. #Leonardkorobkin #Rankinbassproductions #madmonsterparty
 

Don Sandburg R.I.P.

 

"A Clown is the type of a guy, who gets hit in the face with a pie"  

I always admired Don's talent.  It seemed like he could do anything and had all the right ideas about things concerning Bozo's Circus, which I believe was at it's heights under his guidance.  He wrote songs, skits, scripts and wanted to keep Bob Bell's suit Red.  We have him to Thank for the surviving shows from fifty years ago.  Those tapes prove that they had magic in a bottle for a period.