Our times are fading.

In the past twenty-four hours we have lost two personalities who gave me so much enjoyment and entertainment in my younger years, and it makes me sad at the same time that it makes me appreciate my mortality more than ever.

Firstly it was hearing the news that the girl next door, one of many targets of my adolescent affection, Doris Day, had died.

I cannot ever forget two wonderful movies in which Miss Day starred - "The Man Who Knew Too Much", directed by Alfred Hitchcock and which has become a classic. She shared the billing with another icon, James Stewart.

Of course, the featured song from "The Man Who Knew Too Much" became a hit, not only for Doris Day but also, many years later here in Australia, for Normie Rowe.
Interesting is the fact that neither Doris nor Normie wanted to do the song but were both convinced to do so.

The other movie to which I am referring is "Midnight Lace", which also starred Rex Harrison and John Gavin.
(You would be forgiven for thinking that it too was directed by Hitchcock but no, it wasn't. )

The other sad piece of news was to read only today that Tim Conway had died at the age of 85.
My first memories of seeing Tim go back to the very early 1960s and the TV show, "McHale's Navy".
Then Tim featured, for many years, on the Carol Burnett Show and that is where he arguably had his funniest years.
The chemistry between he and Harvey Korman was magical and Carol once said that Tim's aim in each sketch was to get Harvey to break into laughter. He succeeded on every occasion.

Here are three clips from the Carol Burnett Show which have become You Tube classics.
In all cases Harvey just cannot keep a straight face!
(Note that if you click on the You Tube info in the right corner you can view the clips in a larger format).

The first is The Dentist.
(This is the full sketch and the crack-ups start about five minutes in.)

It was rumoured that Harvey actually had a slight case of supressed-laughter-induced incontinence because he was trying so hard to not break up!
Tim ad-libbed parts of it, including using the chair as a crutch and the needle in the forehead.

This second is The Fireman.
Harvey just cannot hold the laughter.

And the third is The Airline Check-in.
Watch Harvey's face as Tim goes on a stamping frenzy!

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But the one sketch which sits apart from all the others didn't feature Harvey; it had Carol, Vicki Lawrence and Dick van Dyke.
Tim was telling a story about a Circus Elephant and kept adding to it, ad-libbing, as he went.
It was Vicki who brought the house down at the end.

God bless both Tim and Doris for providing so much enjoyment to all we oldies.