BAG TIME

Monday evening my friend and I braved an apocalyptic-looking haboob to attend the memorial service in Chandler for the powerhouse actor-director-playwright Ben Tyler, who departed earlier this month.

I only appeared with Ben once, in The Comedy of Errors at Southwest Shakespeare Company in the mid-‘90s, but he was a pleasure to work with.

I arrived in the Valley in the early '90s, and was baffled when I would hear Zonies complaining, sometimes bitterly, that they "never got a Ladmo Bag." The Wallace and Ladmo Show--for which Ben had written, and which he later adapted into a successful stage show--had ended its long, beloved run on KPHO (1954-1989) a few years before I got here. It wasn't until I later saw some reruns on Channel 8 that I realized how good, how genuinely funny and creative the show was. It's quite probable that it was the best local kids' show in TV history.

So it was an unexpected honor, as I was leaving Ben's service, to receive, at the age of 63, my very own Ladmo Bag. My friend, a lifelong Zonie, told me that the Ladmo Bag he got was his NINTH.

The contents of mine:

One Wallace and Ladmo postcard
One bag of Jelly Bellies
One Tootsie Pop (orange)
One Moon Pie
One Twinkie
Crackerjack (in old-school box)
Bazooka Bubble Gum (one piece)
Pixie Stix (2)
One can Mug Root Beer
One "Official State of Arizona Commemorative Folio celebrating Arizona's Quarter issued as part of the United States Mint's 50 State Quarter Program"

An awesome haul; greatly appreciated Ben!