Website Reaches 100,000 Visits!

Today February 27th 2006 we reach another milestone here on the internet. "Uncle Odie's" Collectibles hit the big 100,000 number. Since 2001 we have been the home to thousands of collectors and fans of Irwin Allen. May it be new collectibles, news/information, or just plain trivia, we have kept fandom alive within the Irwin Allen community. The 100,000 number is according to our Webmaster, Kirk Roderick is unique visits, and not page hits to our site. We indeed receive thousands of hits on many individual pages each day, depending on the item of interest.

We are very proud of our ongoing, and changing website. We have listen to you our many friends all over the globe we call Earth. We will continue to strive forward in making this the best website possible.

Best,

Robert - "Uncle Odie"

In Loving Memory Don Knotts & Darren McGavin

New Irwin Allen Music Released

Recently, Intrada Records released a double CD soundtrack album for two classic Irwin Allen films:

The Lost World and Five Weeks in a Balloon. The music by Irwin's composer of choice in those days, Paul Sawtell (with help from Bert Shefter, Howard Jackson and Sid Cutner) is of the same variety and quality as with Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea filmscore. It's quite good stuff and an important part of your Irwin Allen music collection.

It's limited to 1200 units and goes for about $30 for the 2 CDs. Order now at www.intrada.com

(*) Many thanks to Scott McIntyre for this update!

Jonathan Harris Update

The Bolt Who Screwed Christmas is a short animated film inspired by (and a parody of) the classic story of How the Grinch Stole Christmas.


Scheduled to be released in late 2006 this may very well be the last film featuring Jonathan Harris. Harris passed away in late 2002 a little more than a year after recording has part for the film. "Sadly Mr. Harris never even got to see character designs for the part he was to portray as we were still looking for artists and animators" Wardlaw stated when he heard that Harris had passed away.


"I grew up watching Harris play Dr. Smith on Lost in Space as well as hearing his voice on shows like the original Battlestar Galactica. When I heard his voice in A Bugs Life I knew I had found my voice for the character of The Bolt. Mr. Harris was a pleasure to work with, and I am sad he never got to see the finished product."


The film also stars the voice of Tress MacNeille as Cindi Loose Screw. Tress MacNeille has a voice credit list that is way to long to go into on this web site (check IMDB) but appears regularly on the Simpsons.

As of February 2006 this film is in production. To be more specific it is being animated with more info coming soon to this page.

Info on http://www.topographicproductions.com/Bolt/default.htm

In Memory of Al Lewis

NEW YORK - Al Lewis, the cigar-chomping patriarch of "The Munsters" whose work as a basketball scout, restaurateur and political candidate never eclipsed his role as Grandpa from the television sitcom, died after years of failing health. He was 95.

Lewis, with his wife at his bedside, passed away Friday night, said Bernard White, program director at WBAI-FM, where the actor hosted a weekly radio program. White made the announcement on the air during the Saturday slot where Lewis usually appeared.

"To say that we will miss his generous, cantankerous, engaging spirit is a profound understatement," White said.

Lewis, sporting a somewhat cheesy Dracula outfit, became a pop culture icon playing the irascible father-in-law to Fred Gwynne's ever-bumbling Herman Munster on the 1964-66 television show. He was also one of the stars of another classic TV comedy, playing Officer Leo Schnauzer on "Car 54, Where Are You?"But Lewis' life off the small screen ranged far beyond his acting antics. A former ballplayer at Thomas Jefferson High School, he achieved notoriety as a basketball talent scout familiar to coaching greats like Jerry Tarkanian and Red Auerbach.

He operated a successful Greenwich Village restaurant, Grandpa's, where he was a regular presence — chatting with customers, posing for pictures, signing autographs.

Just two years short of his 90th birthday, a ponytailed Lewis ran as the Green Party candidate against incumbent Gov. George Pataki. Lewis campaigned against draconian drug laws and the death penalty, while going to court in a losing battle to have his name appear on the ballot as "Grandpa Al Lewis."He didn't defeat Pataki, but managed to collect more 52,000 votes.Lewis was born Alexander Meister in upstate New York before his family moved to Brooklyn, where the 6-foot-1 teen began a lifelong love affair with basketball. He later became a vaudeville and circus performer, but his career didn't take off until television did the same.

Lewis, as Officer Schnauzer, played opposite Gwynne's Officer Francis Muldoon in "Car 54, Where Are You?" — a comedy about a Bronx police precinct that aired from 1961-63. One year later, the duo appeared together in "The Munsters,"taking up residence at the fictional 1313 Mockingbird Lane.The series, about a family of clueless creatures plunked down in middle America, was a success and ran through 1966. It forever locked Lewis in as the memorably twisted character; decades later, strangers would greet him on the street with shouts of "Grandpa!"

Unlike some television stars, Lewis never complained about getting typecast and made appearances in character for decades.

"Why would I mind?" he asked in a 1997 interview. "It pays my mortgage."Lewis rarely slowed down, opening his restaurant and hosting his WBAI radio program. At one point during the '90s, he was a frequent guest on the Howard Stern radio show, once sending the shock jock diving for the delay button by leading an undeniably obscene chant against the Federal Communications Commission.

He also popped up in a number of movies, including the acclaimed "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" and "Married to the Mob." Lewis reprised his role of Schnauzer in the movie remake of "Car 54," and appeared as a guest star on television shows such as "Taxi," "Green Acres" and "Lost in Space."But in 2003, Lewis was hospitalized for an angioplasty. Complications during surgery led to an emergency bypass and the amputation of his right leg below the knee and all the toes on his left foot. Lewis spent the next month in a coma. A year later, he was back offering his recollections of a seminal punk band on the DVD "Ramones Raw."

He is survived by his wife, Karen Ingenthron-Lewis, three sons and four grandchildren.

Uncle Odie's Award Winners for January 2006

Congratulations to the Pendercraft Crew for winning our January 2006 award contest! This is there second win in our contest. Yet another deserving honor, for there terrific job with there awesome graphic art and videos. They also recently won our annual award, so these guys are tough to beat.

Congratulations Guys!