As all of us that are obsessed with Mad Men already know, in Season 2 Episode 1, Don was reading “Meditations in an Emergency” by Frank O’Hara.

The episode ends with….
“Now I am quietly waiting for the catastrophe of my personality to seem beautiful again and interesting and modern…,
Jesus, Don… it is and it does.

So for Matt Weiner, the genius who breathes life into Don, Peter (known in my house as “Warren” due to his eerie resemblance to the he/she villain in “Homicidal”), Peggy, Betty and all the rest, I submit another poem, from the same book.  One that expresses how I have always felt about the movies… and great tv and most of all great writers.

Roll on Don Draper, you tortured soul… you fucking rock.

To the film industry in crisis

Frank O’hara

Not you, lean quarterlies and swarthy periodicals
with your studious incursions toward the pomposity of ants,
nor you, experimental theatre in which Emotive Fruition
is wedding Poetic Insight perpetually, nor you,
Promenading Grand Opera, obvious as an ear (though you
are close to my heart), but you, Motion Picture Industry,
it’s you I love!In times of crisis, we must all decide again and again whom we love.
And give credit where it’s due: not to my starched nurse, who taught me
how to be bad and not bad rather than good (and has lately availed
herself of this information), not to the Catholic Church
which is at best an oversolemn introduction to cosmic entertainment,
not to the American Legion, which hates everybody, but to you
glorious Silver Screen, tragic Technicolor, amorous Cinemascope,
stretching Vistavision and startling Stereophonic Sound, with all
your heavenly dimensions and reverberations and iconoclams! To
Richard Barthelmess as the “tol’able” boy barefoot and in pants,
Jeanette MacDonald of the flaming hair and lips and long, long neck,
Sue Carroll as she sits for eternity on the damaged fender of a car
and smiles, Ginger Rogers with her pageboy bob like a sausage
on her shuffling shoulders, peach-melba-voiced Fred Astaire of the feet,
Eric von Strohnheim, the seducer of mountain-climbers’ gasping spouses,
the Tarzans, each and every one of you (I cannot bring myself to prefer
Johnny Weissmuller to Lex Baxter, I cannot!), Mae West in furry sled
her bordello radiance and bland remarks, Rudolph Valentino of the moon,
its crushing passions, and moonlike, too, the gentle Norma Shearer,
Miriam Hopkins dropping her champagne glass off Joel MacCrea’s yatch
and crying in the dappled-sea, Clark Gable rescuing Gene Tierney
from Russia and Allan Jones rescuing Kitty Carlisle from Harpo Marx,
Cornel Wilde coughing blood on the piano keys while Merle Oberon berates,
Marilyn Monroe in her little spike heels reeling through Niagara Falls,
Joseph Cotten puzzling and Orson Wells puzzled and Dolores del Rio
eating orchids for lunch and breaking mirros, Gloria Swanson reclining,
Jean Harlow reclining and wiggling, and Alice Faye reclining
and wiggling and singing, Myrna Loy being calm and wise, William Powell
in his stuning urbanity, Elizabeth Taylor blossoming, yes, to you
and all you others, the great, the near-great, the featured, the extras
who pass quickly and return in dreams saying you one or two lines,
my love!Long may you illumine space with your marvelous appearances, delays
and ennunciations, and may the money of the world glittering cover you
as you rest after a long day under the kleigh lights with your faces
in packs for our edification, the way the clouds come often at night
but the heavens operate on the star system. It is a divine precedent
you perpetuate! Roll on, reels of celluloid, as the great earth rolls on!

Six weeks ago,  actor/comedian Kevin Pollak threw his hat into the ring as a talk show host.  Going right passed the television networks, Pollak who is a Must Follow on Twitter, was so impressed by the social networking community, he decided to produce a show for his “followers” and air it on the internet.  It’s a mix of Charlie Rose and Dinner For Five,  with a lot more humor,  a bit less production value, and no pesky waiter (actor?) interrupting the talk.  It’s a roaring sucess. Pollak is relaxed, funny and genuine and the show is intimate and engaging in a way that exceeds any talk show on traditional television.

The Kevin Pollak Chat Show has a couple of mottos… The first is  “We’re not ready” and while there have been a few techinal issues, they only add to the show’s charm.  The second and more significant motto is “This is Your Show” and more than anything else I’ve seen online,  KPCS (as it’s referred to on Twitter) is fan-centric and interactive . Viewers can comment and ask questions to Kevin and his guests in a live chatroom or by posting on Twitter.  Fans can submit their original music to be used as the show’s theme music. Every week Kevin plays the game, “Three Degrees of Kevin Pollak” (because Kevin Bacon is a pussy if he needs 6).  The live audience throws out any actor’s name and regardless of how obscure,  so far nobody has stumped Kevin and his crack staff.

Another fan favorite is the weekly Larry King Game.  At the end of each interview,  Kevin asks his guest to do a bad impersonation of Larry King, reveal something personal and throw to the phones using a hopefully funny city name.  This has spawned the Larry King Game on YouTube (see below).

Previous guests have included actors Joe Mantegna and  LaVar Burton, and comedians Doug Benson and Jim Gaffigan.  Last week Kevin hosted Christopher McQuarrie, the writer of The Ususal Suspects and actress Paget Brewster.  The McQuarrie segment alone ran over two hours, but I’d be surprised if anybody watching even took a bathroom break.  Pollak really is that good at this.

The Kevin Pollak Chat Show airs live on Sundays at 5pm PDT from Maholo Studios in Santa Monica.  You can view the show live at Stickam or for more info go to KevinPollakChatShow.com.  Follow Kevin @kevinpollak on Twitter.   This weeks guests are Alex Albrecht,  host of Diggnation and The Totally Rad Show and… yes I’m gonna say it, be still my heart, Golden Globe Winner for his role as Don Draper on AMC’s Madmen… Jon Hamm!

If you’ve missed the first five shows, they are available on itunes.  If you want to post your best (or worst) Larry King impression to the Larry King Game click here.

Here’s our entry… I was behind the camera, as usual.