A380 era is underway

"New Rule: I don't want to fly on a bus. That's why people pay more money to fly! So they don't have to take a bus. And I don't care that it's huge, because I've never once gotten on a flight and thought, 'Boy, I wish there were more people on this plane.'"

That was Bill Maher on HBO Friday night. Today, the A380 airbus (seen above in its LAX debut) made its first commercial flight. The Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 , the world's largest jetliner, left Singapore for Sydney at 8:16 am on a 7 1/2-hour flight that launches a new era in air travel. The A380 boasts luxurious suites enclosed by sliding doors, double beds, a bar and the quietest interior of any plane. Four hundred and fifty five passengers bought their seats at a charity auction. Top bidder Julian Hayward, 38, a Brit who lives in Sydney, paid more than 100,000 US dollars "to be a part of history." He's flying in seat 1A. Austrian Georg Burdicek paid 560 dollars for the cheapest seat. Georg flies economy. Also on board Flight SQ380 are a crew of about 30 including four pilots.

Britney's pap rats return to Malibu

On the first day of the Malibu fire, as tragedy lurked in the hills, we had a bitter laugh reading the corporate porn-pushing gossip site TMZ.com's updates on whether Britney Spears' house had been evacuated. And as fire consumed homes and smoke covered the area, our pal who lives on the Pacific Coast Highway called to say that one bright side of the disaster was the disappearance of the cavalcade of paparazzi in SUVs that follow his neighbor Britney back and forth from her driveway, day after day (above).

A few weeks ago, he'd told us he was heading home from work when traffic slammed to a stop not far from his house. "Britney Spears was pulling into her driveway," he said. "And all of a sudden, these two SUVs crash over the center divider, with paparazzi holding cameras out of the sunroof! And one of them is speeding right at me!" Our pal was forced to maneuver into someone's bushes. He got out to kick some ass, but after one youth with a camera squeaked, "We're only doing our jobs," he was convinced to settle for tag numbers. Our pal filed a report at the Lost Hills Sheriff's station. "When someone gets killed," he announced, "I want it on the record that you've been warned."

On that first fire day, we linked to the Here in Malibu site for updates, and found an earlier entry in which writer Veronique de Turrene complained about the ever-present Spears caravan on the PCH and swarms of "pap rats" in the local coffee shops whenever Britney heads out for a latte. She posted that photo of their constant stakeout.

Today, the New York Observer reports that now that the PCH has been reopened, the paps are back on the side of the road, ready to play Baby Diana with a mentally ill former pop star.

We didn't expect one of the locals to pick up the story. They're lining up to buy the photos.

Fires rage, soldiers die, candidates line up, scandals bubble under the entertainment industry, and the powerful, Botoxed grownups who run the celebutainment industry play hide-and-seek with little girls.

After Elli: Israel Baseball League stars make good

Yes, there was good that came from the first season of the Israel Baseball League. What's not good about the crack of the bat and the roar of the crowd in a place where war, conflict and the threat of terror are the main order of the day? Ask folks in the Bronx. Of course an outing at a ballpark will be memorable for any family-- including the Mansons. But as the facts in Our Man Elli's extraordinary article bear out, the league's founder, Boston-based Larry Baras and his cronies cocked up when it came to running-- or not running-- a league consisting of players from around the world. So our suggestion is that Larry take a lesson from his missteps and keep the players' safety and audience's needs in mind if he's serious about the league's longevity. Slandering the journalist who investigated the league and brought forward a Pulitzer-worthy report that's yet to have one punctuation mark refuted is not such a good idea-- and will only lead other reporters to snoop even deeper than Our Man Elli did.

And today, more good news from the IBL. Two of the league's top players has been signed by the New York Yankees.

Modi’in Miracle catcher Eladio Rodriguez (above left) was the league's slugging champ and winner of the Hank Greenberg Most Valuable Player Award, having hit .461 with 16 home runs in 34 game-- with a slugging percentage of 1.000. And Jason Rees, an Aussie outfielder and Fred Savage lookalike who was the league's home run champion playing for the pennant-winning Bet Shemesh Blue Sox, will also report to the Yankees minor league complex in Tampa for spring training.

The Hudson Brothers revival gains momentum: Their TV series Bonkers! is #1 on DVD wish list

The Hudson Brothers revival take another unlikely step forward today as the international tastemaking website PopMatters calls to bring back their great lost sketch comedy series, Bonkers!

The Hudson Brothers were pop stars of the Seventies-- up there with David Cassidy, the Brady Bunch, Sonny & Cher and The Bay City Rollers, but lost to time as the three brothers, Mark, Bill & Brett, refused to cash in on 25 years of nostalgia action as they moved forward with new lives, projects and innovations-- Mark as producer and writer for the likes of Aerosmith, Ozzie Osbourne and Ringo Starr, Bill with movies like Father of The Bride and children like Kate Hudson, Brett as writer and producer of TV and films like The Seventh Python and the hilarious influential sports comedy (and Bollywood hit) Cloud 9.

Brett wasn't yet a teen when the trio of Beatles- and Marx Brothers-obsessed rock 'n' rollers came out of Portland, Oregon in the midsixties and played alongside the likes of The Who, Traffic and Herman's Hermits. They were show business veterans by the time they landed in Los Angeles and winding up with the own network TV variety series. And though they were part of the crowd that included John Lennon, Harry Nilsson and various Beach Boys (they wrote their hit Rendezvous with Bruce Johnston at Chez Jay's in Santa Monica), their mainstream TV fame that began with their summer replacement for Sonny & Cher killed their rock 'n' roll credibility, and they rolled into the Eighties on state fairs, Las Vegas and The Love Boat.

And in 1979 they went to England and starred in a series for ITV called Bonkers! Along with Brit comic Bob Monkhouse, the show featured sketches, guest stars and musical numbers, but appeared to be snakebit, for after the airing of four episodes, the rest of the 13-week run was scrapped by a long ITV strike.

But they carried on in international syndication with 24 episodes, were compared to Saturday Night Live and became a cult hit.

And today the website PopMatters ("an international magazine of cultural criticism") ranks Bonkers! as the #1 show on its list of TV that should be on DVD:

"The Hudson Brothers remains the most intangible of ‘70s entertainment entities. Obviously styled after the burgeoning media managed acts that began with The Monkees and ended with The Partridges, the trio of genial musical siblings was pushed into the variety format initially. Yet neither the primetime or Saturday morning kid vid version of their AOR appeal worked. It wasn’t until they traveled to the UK and hooked up with beloved British comedian Bob Monkhouse that they found some smattering of artistic merit. Combining sketches, blackouts, and the mandatory song and dance, this fast paced ITV farce— styled after The Muppet Show— had a short life in US syndication. It deserves a revisit. "

The Hudsons' show ranks above The Equalizer, Designing Women, A Cook's Tour, LA Law, and The Prisoner: Cell Block H. Not bad. The Hudson Brother Comedy Hour is already set to be released o DVD. And the surprise new Hudson Brothers MySpace page is running strong.

The next step is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Jann Wenner's fiefdom is under severe criticism for its bizarre choices and rejections. (Madonna may be a lot of things, but she ain't rock 'n' roll. Uh, Lou Reed is. And so are The Monkees.) The campaign to vote The Hudson Brothers into the Hall begins here.


Show your support by cutting out this Chuckie Margolis badge and wearing it proudly!

...and a tip of the Tabloid Baby hat to Luis for the tip...

Day 4 dawns

Hey! The New York Post picks up our Lohan story

Our exclusive report that NBC lawyers nixed Donald Trump's desire to cast Michael Lohan as one of his "celebrity" Apprentice candidates has spread, if not as wildly as those Malibu fires a canyon or two away from the Tabloid Baby offices, but at least across the country. In wake of the pickup yesterday by the essential Reality Blurred, our pals at The New York Post went with the big news in the TV section today.

But of course, here's how it works: Star magazine also ran the story today-- but credited the Post, not us! Anyway, thanks to Col Allan and company. Two minor corrections, though: "Gossip blog?" Sheesh.

TRUMP WANTED LINDSAY'S DAD

By DON KAPLAN

October 23, 2007 -- DONALD Trump's plan to cast Lindsay Lohan's troubled father, Michael, in the celebrity version of "The Apprentice" has been shot down by network lawyers.

NBC officials decided that Michael Lohan's criminal record and current parole status were probably a bad idea for the show, according to gossip blog tabloidbaby.com.

In his place, producers reportedly cast Lohan's pal, Stephen Baldwin.

"NBC has no comment on the cast or casting of the show," an NBC spokeswoman said yesterday.

The celebrity edition of "The Apprentice" is currently filming in and around New York and reportedly features "Sopranos" star Vincent Pastore, Omarosa, Kiss-frontman Gene Simmons, boxer Lennox Lewis, former model Carol Alt and Marilu Henner.

The cast of the show has been a tightly-guarded secret, although following a press conference last week details have been leaking out.

Late morning: 'The sky looks like CSI Miami'

The Preppie Killer is back in the news

The Robert Chambers Preppie Murder Case was a lurid mix of sex, crime, kink and class that not only inspired the first tabloid television news re-enactment and a TV movie, but launched the tabloid television genre. We were working New York City local news the summer of 1986 when Jennifer Levin's battered body was found in Central Park; after sociopathic striver Chambers was charged in the killing, were there when legendary newswriter Bob Campbell couldn't get away with the line: "His mother thought she was raising the next John F. Kennedy, but he turned out to be Teddy."

A version of the line wound up in the book Tabloid Baby.

Over at A Current Affair, Rafael Abramovitz (who, like Steve Dunleavy, played himself in that TV movie) procured a videotape that showed Chambers doing a Joey Ramone imitation at a party with four Upper East Side girls in their pajamas, twisting the head off a doll and saying, "Oops, I think I killed it." (In the TV movie, for some reason they changed the line to "I think I killed her.") Shades of Phil Spector. And today, 20 years later, as Chambers and one of the little witches from the videotape face many years in prison on cocaine charges, shades of OJ.

(The last time we saw Chambers was during the ill-fated revival of A Current Affair two years ago, when producer Jerry Wagshal made his bones and a fascinating tabloid news segment by following Chambers through New York City streets and peppering him with questions after a court appearance on a minor drug charges.)

Fires Day 3: After sunrise

Day 2 of the fires: Santa Monica Bay at dusk

The column of smoke spreads. The fires are moving closer. And the winds are kicking up again.

Smoke on the water II

Dawn over Los Angeles and Santa Monica Bay on Day 2 of the fires.

Smoke on the water

The Malibu fires continue to burn though fewer homes and landmarks appear to be in danger. Tabloid Baby pal Michael Linder has contributed vivid reports from various locations in the eye of the firestorm, from the Pepperdine University student shelter to an "Imax view" high in the burning hills. While corporate porn-pushing gossip site TMZ.com listed names of celebrities who until now have lived anonymously on Carbon Beach.

Malibu burning

The winds have been whipping here since last night. The fire's been blamed on downed power lines. It began hours after Barack Obama left a Malibu fundraiser. Our pal Patrick Healey is on the ground in the center of the firestorm reporting for KNBC TV, while other pals from Frozen Pictures are trapped at home. The heartless inconsequentialists at the corporate porn-pushing gossip site TMZ.com have followed up yesterday's sublime "Douchebag of The Week" feature and photo of Tara Reid's "saggy crapper" with reports that "Britney Spears' house has NOT been evacuated-- yet" and "The CVS pharmacy located on Pacific Coast Highway is also on fire. It is located less than a mile from Paris Hilton's home." And the winds are only getting stronger.

Good updates can be found at Veronique de Turenne's Here in Malibu.

Exclusive! Michael Lohan was set to be one of Donald Trump's "Celebrity" Apprentices

Donald Trump's Celebrity Apprentice is revealing less promise now that public filming has revealed that "celebrities" like Tito Ortiz, John Cena, Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth and Carol Alt (remember in the old days when Howard Stern* sidekick Fred Norris used to argue that she didn't have the qualifications to be a supermodel?) joining bonafide stars like our pal Gene Simmons, and, well, Gene Simmons.

But the series could have been a lot more edgy and controversial if Trump had his way with the contestant selection. Tabloid Baby can report exclusively that Michael Lohan-- Lindsay's father, born-again minister, drug counselor and soon-to-be reality television star-- was Trump's choice to be one of the Celebrity Apprentices. And Lohan was set to take the gig-- until the NBC lawyers rejected him because of his criminal past and current parole.

When Lohan was knocked out, his born-again buddy (and partner in a proposed celeb rehab center in Southampton) Stephen Baldwin (at right, with Lohan) skateboarded in to take his place.

Trump made headlines when the show was announced by saying he wanted Lindsay Lohan (and Britney Spears and Paris Hilton) on the series. But with Lennox Lewis and girlfriend-abusing Sopranos actor Vincent Pastore rounding out the reported cast (funny that Pastore's criminal past wasn't a factor), it's shocking to see how low the bar was set (even worse that Dancing with The Stars-- and below Celebrity Fat Club), not to mention the weak network star-pulling power of new NBC honcho Ben Silverman.

*Howard is a former radio personality who once had a popular morning show.

We are members of the Writers Guild

More than 5,000 members of the Writers Guild of America cast ballots, with 90.3 percent voting in favor of authorizing a strike against film studios and production companies represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.


A walkout could happen November 1st.

Exclusive! Dr. Ruehl on his London premiere

As promised, Tabloid Baby pal and contributor Dr. Franklin Ruehl checks in with this exclusive account of his trip to London earlier this week for the premiere of the Nike skateboarding movie, Nothing But The Truth, in which he has a featured role:

BEHIND THE SCENES REVELATIONS
OF “NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH”
by DR. FRANKLIN RUEHL, Ph.D.

Here are some behind-the-scenes revelations regarding my participa-tion as an actor portraying a producer in the Nike skateboarding film, "Nothing But The Truth," as follows:

I had submitted for this role when it was posted on an acting website, Actors Access, last October. I also e-mailed my submission directly to the casting director, James Levine, who had cast me in the USA Networks "Characters" campaign (2005), where I was flown to Dallas, TX to discuss ETs at a UFO-shaped museum.

On a Friday, about a week later, I sent out my weekly schedule of the airing of my cable TV program, "Mysteries From Beyond the Other Dominion." Levine, who is on my mailing list, replied a few minutes later, asking if I was coming to the afternoon's audition, which I did not know was scheduled. I immediately changed into the suit I wore in the film and went down to the audition. Amazingly, I was selected. I'd play a movie producer!

I was highly honored to be 1 of 10 participants in the film invited to attend the Hollywood premiere at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood on Tuesday, October 2. However, this did not turn out to be any sort of media event, as the press did not show up and we did little more than shake a few hands and pose for some photographs. Then, a week later, I was invited to the London premiere along with Dave Vescio, the actor portraying my producing partner. But since I was without a passport, I did not think that there was even the remotest possibility of attending.

The best beef I've ever eaten!

However, they agreed to underwrite the cost of an expedited passport ($352). I applied for it on Wednesday, received it on Friday, and flew into London on Monday afternoon. On the flight, I had a beef dinner that was absolutely tender and delicious, ranking up there with the best I have ever eaten!

We had no trouble whatsoever finding the driver waiting to drive us to the hotel.

Some time later, we were comfortably ensconced in the Cumberland Marble Arch Hotel at $280 a night.

While the hotel room was beautiful, including a plasma screen TV, neither the microwave nor the iron worked, and my electric shaver was inoperative, even with an adapter the concierge gave me.

The pulse of London

I had hoped to take in a tour that would include the Tower of London, but because it was late in the day, the tour facilitator indicated that it too late in the day. I spoke to an underground ticket clerk, but she said I would have to take two or three connections to reach the Tower from there and I was concerned about getting lost on my 1st day in London.

However, I did take an extensive walking tour down to Bond Street. What impressed me most was the pulse of the city, where everyone was moving along speedily, even an old woman with a cane. I enjoy walking at a fast pace and I love the fact that the pedestrians barrel right through red lights and stop signs, very much like New York.

You feel this energy of the city, which is stimulating and motivates you to work harder to succeed, totally different from laid-back towns like L.A. and Chicago where folks are just moseying along, dutifully obeying the traffic signals.

Indeed, one cabbie summarized it perfectly, saying that the pedestrian is king in London!

What impressed me most about London was the pulse of the city, where everyone was moving along speedily, even an old woman with a cane. I enjoy walking at a fast pace and I love the fact that the pedestrians barrel right through red lights and stop signs, very much like New York.

While the hotel business center closed at 8PM, I found an internet cafe nearby and went online at $3 per hour (I had converted some American money into English currency at the outrageous rate of 1 pound for $2.10.

Although I had been up since 9 AM (L.A. time) on Sunday, I was not the least bit sleepy, but forced myself to retire at 2 AM (London Time), some 33 hours later. However, apparently due to some degree of jet lag as I awoke around 6 AM, could not get back to sleep, and got up and turned on TV.

The big event: "Yes! Yes! Yes!"

A light rain fell until about noon, at which time I took another walking tour around Hyde Park and points beyond. We had been slated for rehearsal at 4 PM, but that was scotched at the last minute. If I had known, I definitely would have taken the Tower of London tour. But I did take another walking tour and spent a lot of time browsing in Sainsbury's.

Around 6:30 PM, we arrived at the Royal Festival Hall where we were positioned along the red carpet with a TV crew, where we were interviewing attendees. Dave held a mike while I was covered by the camera microphone... they liked my energy and felt a mike might limit me.

Basically, we kept in character as movie producers, asking individuals what their hobby or area of expertise was in, offering to make a film about with the condition that they post $50,000 upfront as a show of good faith which would be returned with a healthy profit once the production was completed. We had a wide spectrum of reactions, from skepticism to belief, and it made for good television.

We then got on stage and made a few introductory comments. I stressed that this film proves that skateboarders are as athletic as anyone who plays soccer, American football, baseball or tennis, that they are indeed genuine athletes!

I ended by delivering my signature parting remark, "Now... May the Power of the Cosmos be with You! Yes! Yes! Yes!" I then proceeded to jump off the stage, shouting, "Who needs a skateboard?"

Apparently, this went over well with the audience as I received a solid round of applause at my first appearance in the film.

Starving to death!

After the film, we went to another venue around 10:30 PM for the post-premiere party where we were interviewed by various reporters from publications and TV stations, such as from Denmark and Spain in addition to the UK. And we shook hands and posed for photos with many of the guests.

One frustration involved food. I was literally starving to death! Although we were the first to arrive, we were told food would be available in a few minutes. But in that interim, the site was suddenly packed with guests and I was not able to get anywhere near the food line. However, a beautiful blonde, Suzanne, heard my complaint and stood in line to secure some scrumptious fried chicken for me!

Taxi trouble

Around 12:30 AM, the interviews had concluded and I decided to leave, not really being a party animal. Dave wished to stay, so the project coordinator gave me English money for a cab. But there were no cabs outside and a staffer told me to go around the corner and up the street to find one. Along the way, I even rapped on a hotel door, shouting to the security guard inside to call me a cab, but he adamantly refused. I did spot a few cabs as I walked, and ran toward them, trying to hail them. But one after another zoomed by, perhaps having passengers already.

This continued for several blocks as I walked along the Thames, shouting and waving my arms in anger. Suddenly, a police car pulled up alongside of me and an officer asked what my problem was. When I requested a ride, back to the hotel, one cop instead suggested that I wait at a nearby corner for a passing taxi (at least, I wasn't arrested). But ultimately, after about an hour, when none materialized, I walked back to the party and fortunately, at 2 AM, caught a shuttle back to the hotel.

Even then, I was concerned that the driver might quit midstream, as there were several inebriates aboard who were getting pretty wild-- even yelling at him.

The produce-sniffing dog

The flight home, taking off around 11 AM, was basically uneventful except for the fact that the plane was freezing. It made London feel like it was the Sahara! Indeed, the gal beside me asked for the blanket I was not using.

Finally arriving at LAX about 2 PM, I was waiting in the customs processing line when a female officer arrived with a Bassett hound who was sniffing everyone's luggage. But instead of drugs, he hunted for produce. He detected food in a few piece of luggage including one man who had a beef jerky wrapper in his suitcase! But the pooch passed right by my case, which contained a candy bar.

Overall, I enjoyed the experience thoroughly and am ready for my next premiere!

--Longtime Tabloid Baby contributor and TV legend Dr. Franklin Ruehl holds a Ph.D. in theoretical nuclear physics, writes the weekly Weird Science column in the Sun supermarket tabloid, has published some 1,786 technical papers and popular articles, appeared on Tom Green's Internet show and is famed for, among other things, his 'straw in the potato' experiment.

Harvey meets vagina II? It's Steven Tyler's throat.

And it's another example of the disgusting, crass, vulgar material being oozed out on an hourly basis on the corporate porn-pushing gossip site TMZ.com, which ran the picture this morning to give the impression it was a gynaecological closup of a celebrity vagina. The headline, "Whose Body Part is This?" came with the hint: "Someone was a little too revealing on this morning's Today show... Hint: It's not Britney."

This is TMZ's second clumsy vagina come-on in a month. C'mon, Tonio! Even you have to admit that a person doesn't have to "have it out for TMZ" to be offended by this misogynistic smut-- it's cheap, and not very good tabloid. And we can't help but write about this fascinating phenomenon: this is marketed by a corporate monolith (AOL, Time Warner, Telepictures) as mainstream entertainment!

Anyway, it's not the only time today that TMZ used Britney to make up a story.

One of the TMZ amateurs with a camera let his foot get run over by her car-- all so TMZ could promote a phony story for the TV show ("Tune in tonight to TMZ TV to see how it all went down -- and Britney's reaction!"). And the lazy "mainstream" news media followed in formation, pimping for TMZ by shooting video off the website for their shows this morning.

Meanwhile, as the kids with cameras cause real danger, swarming and chasing unstable young women driving out of parking garages, and Harvey and company pay some asshole to stick his foot under a wheel for a show tease (and you can bet they would have sued had he not been stupid enough to turn to another pap's camera to say he was "fine"), there are real, compelling-- even important-- grown-up tabloid show biz stories taking place every day in the Twink Male Zone.

Never mind the bollocks, the Spice Girls were great

The Spice Girls are making a new video, preparing for their reunion tour and have updated their website. We don't have time for the Becks-Posh ridiculousness and erased the new season of Dancing with The Stars from the TiVo after Wayne Newton got voted off, but back in the Nineties, the Spice Girls were one of the best pop acts in the world. Their singles were perfect, their cartoon image very cool, their message positive and their videos really watchable.

The Spice Girls not only were tops of Britpop and helped lead the Cool Britannia movement that made London fun for about eighteen months, but alongside Oasis and Blur made the best music the decade had to offer, with a first album (left) that certainly ranks among the Top 100 in pop history (though their second CD disappointed).

Check out their revamped website (and check out their individual solo work, which you probably haven't heard if you're in the States).

Our Man Elli remembers Joey Bishop

Back in February, Our Man Elli in Israel emailed to remind us that it was Joey Bishop's birthday. He checks in from Jerusalem today, to share his memories of the late comic and Rat Packer-- and to respond to the Associated Press' description of his early years:

I interviewed him 20 years ago for the Jewish Oral History Library, now housed in the New York Public Library's Judaica Division.

The Associated Press writes: "...Born in New York's borough of the Bronx, Bishop was the youngest of five children of two immigrants from Eastern Europe..."

Why not say they were Jews? He was such a Jewish comedian-- the only Jew in the Rat Pack, and proud of it. (Hey, what about Sammy? --ed.)

"When he was 3 months old, the family moved to South Philadelphia..."

He was very very poor as a kid. His father owned and operated a bicycle repair shop on a small street near 4th and Snyder Avenue in South Philly-- and slept in the same bed with one of his brothers till he was 10 or 12, or maybe even later, I forget. I remember asking him what his ambition was when he was growing up.

He answered seriously: "To have my own bed."

I also asked him what period in history he would like to go back to visit. He said Jesus's time, to see exactly what happened, to figure out where the Christ-killing anti-semitism came from.

A great guy.

Here's a nice link.

A tribute to Joey Bishop

Joey Bishop drinks with Frank, Dean, Sam & Peter

We marked his birthday on February 3rd. Sadly, today we announce the passing of the last of the Rat Pack.

A toast to Joey Bishop!


"Theoretically, Joey has bottom billing-- fifth man after the show's four stars. But happily as soon as he starts talking he's recognized as the top banana in the newly assembled comedy act that is breaking up Vegas."
--Time magazine, 1960


"The meetings could not have come off without the speaker of the house, Joey Bishop, the hub of the big wheel."
--Frank Sinatra


"Bishop is the only member of Sinatra's gang who can tell the leader what to do with himself and not only get away with it, but actually and incredibly enough become more firmly entrenched in favor."
--Richard Gehman's book, 'Frank Sinatra & The Rat Pack'

He was the reason we bought the Sunday LA Times

We have no cross words for Barry Tunick, who died this week in Culver City. Barry and his partner Sylvia Bursztyn wrote the Sunday crossword puzzles for the Los Angeles Times, which we'd mastered (we'd once managed a daily NY Times puzzle or two each week), and for years were the only reason we bought the Times on Sundays.

Then they started offering the puzzle for free online. Barry, to you we say, _ _ _ _ _ _ (a six-letter "expression of gratitude").