Sounds Like a Plot

By Laura Lonshein Ludwig and Robert Dunn

The pure essence of any revelation can be obtained not only in the core of the examination, but the rigorous application of these principles that we do so cherish even though we go our separate ways.

Professor Irwin Corey
www.IrwinCorey.com

Lenny Bruce said, Irwin Corey is one of the most brilliant comedians of all times. Kenneth Tynan wrote in The New Yorker Magazine, Irwin Corey is a cultural clown, a parody of Literacy, a travesty of all that our civilization holds dear, and one of the funniest grotesques in America. He is Chaplins tramp with a college education.

Professor Irwin Corey worked with Ernie Kovacs, and starred in the television series, Doc. Irwin Corey acted in films: How to Commit Marriage, with Bob Hope, Jackie Gleason. Jane Wyman, Leslie Nielsen; Thieves, with Marlo Thomas and Charles Grodin; Crackers, by director Louis Malle, starring Donald Sutherland; Jack, with Robin Williams and Bill Cosby; Im Not Rappaport, with Ossie Davis and Walter Matthau; Curse Of The Jade Scorpion, by Woody Allen; Fairy Tales, by Harry Horowitz; Chatterbox, Car Wash, and Lips.

He has guest starred on numerous television programs: The Tonight Show, The Merv Griffin Show, The Mike Douglas Show, Hollywood Squares; and on the Broadway stage in New Faces, Flahooley, Happy as Larry and Mrs. McThing.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Oct 14, 2002
• ISBN: 9781465320063

Laura Lonshein Ludwig

Ms. Ludwig attended Franconia College and the Gene Frankel Theatre and studied acting, Since that time Ms. Ludwig has performed thousands of times on television, radio and stage. Ms. Ludwig has worked with and televised Joe Franklin the legend in talk radio, The Joe Franklin Memory Lane show, WOR AM radio, Al Lewis, Grandpa Al Lewis star of the TV series the Munsters and Car 54 Where Are You, and Karen Lewis are on WBAI radio, producing and hosting, Al Lewis Live. Professor Irwin Corey, the legendary comic, recently he was in SLY FOX on Broadway. Bianca Jagger appeared on Ms. Ludwig’s TV, show, Earth Is Not On Tape as well as many other stars

Book preview

Copyright © 2002 by Laura Lonshein Ludwig.

Library of Congress Number:       2002093914

ISBN:      Hardcover     1-4010-7094-9

Softcover     1-4010-7093-0

ISBN:     ebk     978-1-4653-2006-3

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or

transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,

including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage

and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the

copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents

either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used

fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or

dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

16011

Contents

i.

NOTES AROUND AND ABOUT THE AUTHOR

TRAIN RIDE IN AN

OUTSIDE INSANE ASYLUM

I AM WRITING

THIS SATIRE SO THAT I WON’T CRASH IN THE YEAR 2000 A.D.

MR. BOBBY PIN AND HIS REPUTATION IN THE FBI

ALIENS

ON SHOWBOATS OR THE CIA?

BUBBY BELLA

MY FATHER:

HOWARD LONSHEIN

LEIGH HARRISON

THE POET

PAST DAYS

OF THE DINOSAUR

STUDYING JOE FRANKLIN’S ENCYCLOPEDIA OF COMEDIANS

CAT ON A

HOT TIN ROOF: OUR PAST AND PRESENT

ABOUT THE

AUTHOR

i.

NOTES AROUND AND ABOUT THE AUTHOR

To enjoy the comic screenplays in my first book, Robo-

Sapiens, published by Xlibris, Inc., and available on all major

web-sites and better book stores one must desire comedy.

Poetry is included in both Robo-Sapiens and this current book.

The reviews have been inspiring.

I dedicate this book, Sounds Like a Plot, to my father,

Howard Lonshein, who respected and loved me always and

gave me the encouragement to create, my paternal

grandmother, Martha Lonshein, who loved me and dedicated

a good deal of her life to me. The hosts on the poetry circuit

that I also see as family, providing love, encouragement, and

shared ideas, Robert Dunn, Tony Bellizzi, Evie Ivy, and Leigh

Harrison. I particularly would like to thank Jose Lugo, the

camera operator for Earth Is Not On Tape. His great art and

reliability made the television productions possible, as did

the financial support of my husband, Ray Ludwig, the true

Executive Producer of The Earth Is Not On Tape television

show.

I am a Jewish-American writer, born in Brooklyn. This

provided most of the experience I needed for writing satire.

The line that states the complex life of the Jewish-American

satirist can be found in The De-Activated Activist, a short

play which originally appeared in the chapbook in What Do

You Think, You’re Smart Or Something?—"My mother divorced

my father and moved back to the society, where they tortured

me by forcing me not to think deeply about any subject but

to act the part of the interested party. The De-Activated

Activist" was later collected in my first book, Robo-Sapiens.

Many of the ideas concerning the two activist characters in

the play were inspired by Kathryn Fazio, a great poet. I must

also mention Betty Maron, who has always been strongly

encouraging towards my work.

I graduated from The Gene Frankel Theatre School in

Manhattan, and attended Franconia College on a work-study

scholarship. Franconia College was a private institution of

higher learning that excelled in supporting the creative mind,

through dedication to truth, scholarship and creativity.

The Marx Brothers, Mel Brooks, and Woody Allen are

the guides; the Three Stooges are the spirit; and Bette Midler,

the actress, is the soul of the humor that inspired me. Radio

hosts Joe Franklin and Richard Ornstein provided the range

in art. All these creative artists have cultivated in me the

desire to present cinema magic that includes the appreciation

of American art that inspires audiences and to create

memorable films that excite both the art cinema and

mainstream audience to return to the films I write and to

compare the work to the book.

My work has appeared in over 50 literary periodicals,

including Second Glance (Ignatius Graffeo, the publisher of

Second Glance, nominated me for a Pushcart Prize after placing

my poem Subway Ride on the magazine’s cover), Soul

Fountain, Nomad’s Choir, Wings, Downtown, and The Moroccan

Star Poetry Broadside (published by Evie Ivy, a great friend

and inspiration). I have served as a Staff Assistant on two

literary journals: first on The New Press Literary Quarterly, and

currently on Medicinal Purposes Literary Review.

A special mention is in order for Tone Bellizzi, publisher

of Soul Fountain, also the founder of the Hope For The

Children Foundation, and the proprietor of The Vault, a

performance space in Queens, New York. Mr. Bellizzi’s

Foundation has honored me with two awards: The Vault

Guardian Angel Award (2000), acknowledging my work in

supporting and providing opportunities for the artistic

community in New York; and The Vault: Best Female Poet

(2001).

Another special mention is in order for Robert Dunn, the

Executive Editor of Medicinal Purposes Literary Review

provided the support needed. He edited all my previous books

and chapbooks and is the cartoonist as well as the editor of

Sounds Like a Plot. Robert Dunn also frequently co-hosted

my top-rated television program, Earth Is Not On Tape, which

ran from 1994 to 2002. His humor and talent as a comic actor

created an outstanding response by the viewers, and we work

as a team today as well.

I have performed on stage over one hundred times,

reciting poetry, hosting television programs, and appearing

as an actress in both my own plays and those of my colleagues.

Rabbi Harold Swiss gave me several of my most memorable

poetry features at the Little Synagogue in Manhattan.

I was honored to have book parties thrown for me at the

Back Fence Bar in Greenwich Village, courtesy of the

renowned Beat poet and creator of the Back Fence’s poetry

programming, Brigid Murnaghan, and hosted by Leigh

Harrison And Bob Perfetto; and at the Orange Bear Bar,

courtesy of Medicinal Purposes Literary Review Managing Editor

Thomas M. Catterson. The Orange Bear is a haven for artists

of all descriptions, and continues to struggle for its survival

just three blocks from Ground Zero, the site of the September

11th, 2001 World Trade Center atrocity.

These poets comprise the family I needed (and still need)

to develop my work.

Speaking of television—after having devoted the bulk of

my husband’s funds to creating a well-loved program, Laura

Ludwig’s The Earth Is Not on Tape, we moved to upstate New

York once his early retirement package came. Sheltered by

Catskill forests, I can pursue work on The Desk, a police

comedy screenplay to be produced by Joe Franklin and the

team of writers that is co-writing the work. We hope this will

bring co-writer Richard Ornstein the further job of a television

series.

The important job of being a writer and producer for the

community is a responsibility that must be taken seriously.

The poetry presented on The Earth Is Not On Tape television

show brought studied, crafted poets to the public, they often

served as actors for my plays. This author enjoys good

comedy, poetry, and productions in the arts, and that was the

focus of the program. ballet, opera, jazz, classical concerts,

and a Christmas concert performed at the Trinity Church by

The All Male Glee Club were among the favorites for the

audience.

The following programs were prepared by other producers

and aired on The Earth Is Not On Tape at their request:

* An Interview with Floryence Kennedy, the lawyer and

activist; taped at her apartment and party for poets

and other well-loved artists; produced by Floryence

Kennedy.

* Reach Out and Touch Kosova Kids, produced at the

St. Paul and St. Andrew church in Manhattan, starring

Bianca Jagger, activist and writer on her experience

in Kosova. I was proud to recite a poem as well as

air this work that alerted the public to the rise in

fascism and starvation and the need for attention on

the