Lorenzo Music obit

[blusilva]

I'm really glad the news staff linked to the NY Times obit on Lorenzo Music. I'd read about his death on Monday on USENET, but hadn't seen any formal obit and would likely have missed it if it weren't for the link here.

Thanks guys for recognizing that Lorenzo Music was indeed an important person in animation and entertainment.

[Andrew]

Originally posted by blusilva
I'm really glad the news staff linked to the NY Times obit on Lorenzo Music. I'd read about his death on Monday on USENET, but hadn't seen any formal obit and would likely have missed it if it weren't for the link here.

Thanks guys for recognizing that Lorenzo Music was indeed an important person in animation and entertainment.

Yes, the voice of Garfield (and Carlton the doorman) has passed into history. I was hoping today's Garfield strip would say something about him but it didn't. I suppose the strips are planned out and sent to the publishers weeks or months in advance, though.

[Alex S.]

I know the voice work for Garfield came first, but it didn't for me.

Whenever I saw a Garfield cartoon my thought was always "Hey! Garfield swallowed Venkman from The Real Ghostbusters!"

[Andrew]

Originally posted by Alex Stroup
I know the voice work for Garfield came first, but it didn't for me.

Whenever I saw a Garfield cartoon my thought was always "Hey! Garfield swallowed Venkman from The Real Ghostbusters!"

I didn't remember that one! Here's a LINK (http://us.imdb.com/Name?Music,+Lorenzo) to his IMDb page. It shows that, among other things, he was the voice of "Super-Pac" on the short-lived Pac Man tv series...

[adriennek]

OK, I know I'm older than Alex, but I'm not that much older.

Lorenzo Music will always be Rhoda's doorman Carlton in my memory....

"Hello, this is Carlton your doorman"

(and of course, Garfield, but he was Carlton first....)

Adrienne K

[Lani]

Hmmmm.... Lorenzo Music's filmography at IMDB (http://us.imdb.com/Name?Music,+Lorenzo) doesn't list his own variety show. Does anybody remember "The Lorenzo Music Show"?

ABC couldn't have aired but five episodes of it back in 1976, but it was a cheesy cornball variety show of the '70s kind (think Sonny and Cher, Donny and Marie, Shields and Yarnell, Lorenzo and Henrietta), but I REMEMBER!!

[Andrew]

Originally posted by lani
Hmmmm.... Lorenzo Music's filmography at IMDB (http://us.imdb.com/Name?Music,+Lorenzo) doesn't list his own variety show. Does anybody remember "The Lorenzo Music Show"?

ABC couldn't have aired but five episodes of it back in 1976, but it was a cheesy cornball variety show of the '70s kind (think Sonny and Cher, Donny and Marie, Shields and Yarnell, Lorenzo and Henrietta), but I REMEMBER!!

I'd never heard of it, but Mary Tyler Moore's production company (http://www.mtmshow.com/mtmenterprisesshows.shtml) keeps good records:


The Lorenzo and Henrietta Music Show
9/13/76 - 10/15/76. Film, 60 minutes.
Executive Producers: Lorenzo Music, Lewis Arquette.
Producer: Albert J. Simon.
Director: Bob Lally.
Cast: Lorenzo and Henrietta Music, Bella Bruck, Sandy Helberg, Bob Gibson, Samantha Harper, Erik Darling, Dave Willock.
The Series: The networks rejected this show, a spinoff from "The New Lorenzo Music Show"/"The Lorenzo
Music Show". It was a reasonably workable comedic variety program that featured Lorenzo Music (co-creator of "The Bob Newhart Show", co-producer of "Rhoda", later the voice of Garfield the Cat), who had a witty personality. For the first two years of MTMS, Music was the audience warm-up man, who came out and interacted with the studio audience each Friday night, and introduced the cast members. In 1972, he and David Davis created "The Bob Newhart Show", which became their new pet project.

and


The New Lorenzo Music Show
Aired on ABC 8/10/76.
Writers: Carl Gottlieb, Lorenzo Music, James L. Brooks, Jerry Davis, Allan Burns.
Director: Tony Mordente.
Cast: Lorenzo Music, Henrietta Music, David Ogden Stiers, Jack Eagle, Steve Anderson, Lewis Arquette, The Bandini Brothers.
Summary: Details about the short-lived series are muddy at this late date, but the pilot was evidently funny. It concerned Lorenzo Music auditioning for a talk show of his own, or something of that ilk. The writing and acting were solid, but the networks and audiences weren't interested in it at all. Music then resumed his chores on "Rhoda" as Carlton, Your Doorman.

Carlton the doorman even had his own animated spin-off:



Carlton Your Doorman
Aired 5/21/80 on CBS.
Producers: Lorenzo Music, Barton Dean.
Writers: Lorenzo Music and Barton Dean, based on the character created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns.
Directors: Charles Swenson and Fred Wolf.
Featuring the voices of Lorenzo Music, Jack Somack, Lucille Meredith, Kay Cole, Lurene Tuttle, Paul Lichtman, and other actors.
Summary: "Carlton" was an animated special about Carlton, the inebriated doorman from Rhoda's apartment building. This was the only production that MTME did that was fully animated, and it is uncertain whether it was intended to be a full series or just a small number of cartoons. At the time, there was a Carlton Fan Club, and the special was probably done for the members. At any rate, Carlton was a drunk who played well off of Rhoda's temperament...it's unlikely he would have worked well on his own. Lorenzo Music's description of Carlton: "He's in his 20's, blond, skinny with sloping shoulders, messy hair and droopy eyelids. Carlton is lazy, Carlton is slovenly, Carlton is a moocher and a lush." But he did have his admirers.

PS. Google rocks.