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By Rich Heldenfels
Beacon Journal popular culture writer

Published on Thursday, Jul 09, 2009

If it's Thursday, this must be the mailbag . . .

Q: The woman star of ''Burn Notice,'' Gabrielle Anwar, made an earlier movie my kids loved. In it she was in an old-time circus. She rode a horse up a high ramp and then jumped off into a tank of water. She went blind. What was the name? Can this be gotten on DVD?

A: You are thinking of 1991's Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken. It is on DVD.

Q: I have a question about an episode of ''House.'' On one of the programs, the man playing Dr. Kutner committed suicide. At the end of the program, I thought I caught a glimpse of an ''In memory of'' with his name and dates of birth and death. My question is, did he really commit suicide?

A: After Dr. Kutner, the character, killed himself on House, the show treated the death of the fictional character as if it were real, even setting up online memorials. But Kal Penn, the actor who played Kutner, is very much alive. He left the show to work in the Obama administration; by the way, he is working under his given name, Kalpen Modi. Penn is his acting name.

Q: Howdy from Tulsa, OK! I recently read the book ''The Ghost of Flight 401.'' It's about an Eastern Airlines L-1011 that crashed in the Everglades in the early 1970s. I seem to remember a movie about the same crash, maybe William Shatner? What's the name of the movie?

A: The made-for-TV movie was called The Ghost of Flight 401. It originally aired in 1978 with a cast including Ernest Borgine, Gary Lockwood, Kim Basinger and Howard Hesseman. Shatner was in several productions involving airplanes, but not this one.

Q: OK, here's a good one. In the early 1970s (1972-1973) I remember a show about a Japanese boy and a giant robot. I think the boy's name was Johnny Soko? Am I remembering this or is it a figment of my imagination?

A: You are not imagining. There was a show called Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot, re-edited from a Japanese program. It originally aired in the U.S. in 1969 and continued in syndication for years after that. You can find old episodes online at Hulu.com.

Q: In the late 1970s I watched a TV movie starring Ralph Waite. Waite played the part of a widowed professional educator, who had retired or resigned from his position after his wife died. Then he sold his home and traveled the U.S. The movie was about his experiences in menial jobs in which he engaged in his travels. I do not remember the name of the movie, but it was one of the best shows I have ever watched, and I would like to see it again.

A: You are most likely remembering The Secret Life of John Chapman, a 1976 TV-movie based on the real-life story of a college president who took a sabbatical to work as a laborer. (The real-life inspiration was John Royston Coleman, who wrote about his experiences in the book Blue-Collar Journal.) Waite starred along with Susan Anspach, Pat Hingle and Brad Davis. Unfortunately, I do not know of any planned telecasts or an authorized video release.

Q: I'd like to view a made-for-TV movie from the mid-1970s starring Ed Asner and I believe the actress who played Rhoda's sister in the TV show ''Rhoda.'' It's about a lady who gets deadly revenge against her former abusers. Asner plays a cop. Please help.

A: I do not know of a movie like the one you describe with Asner and Julie Kavner, who played Rhoda's sister. I suspect you are remembering 1973's The Girl Most Likely To , which starred Stockard Channing as an ugly woman who becomes beautiful after plastic surgery and then takes revenge on people from her past. Asner does play a police detective in that one. It was released on DVD in 2005.

Do you have a question or comment about movies, TV and other popular culture? Write to rheldenfels@thebeaconjournal.com or the Akron Beacon Journal, 44 E. Exchange St., Akron, OH 44309. Please mark the note for Mailbag and do not phone in questions.

Letters may be edited. Individual replies cannot be guaranteed.

 

Rich Heldenfels writes about popular culture for the Beacon Journal, in the HeldenFiles Online blog at http://heldenfels.ohio.com and on Twitter.

 

If it's Thursday, this must be the mailbag . . .

Get the full article here.


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