I remember that one of his claims was that the fellow who did the Pathmark supermarket ads also played Patty Duke's father on the 'Paddy Duke Show.' I always said this wasn't so. It was William Schallert who played Patty's father. I have no idea who that guy on the Pathmak ads is.
We never bet who was right. But we were both insistent that we were each right. In some circles this is probably known as an impasse.
This would have been the late 60s, early 70s, when we might have been in a bar on Broadway, or watching TV at his apartment when a Pathmark ad would come on and he'd insist that it was Patty Duke's father who was pitching groceries. And the guy came on often. There were a lot of Pathmark ads on TV in those days.
I don't know when, but at some point he came to admit that I was right, the guy in the ads was not Patty Duke's father, and therefore was not William Schallert. I have no idea what finally brought him around. I took some satisfaction in this because he seldom ever admitted he might be wrong.
I certainly never made an attempt to find out who the guy in the Pathmark ads was, and I suspect my friend didn't either. There certainly was no Internet to lean on then. The one thing we could now both agree on it was not William Schallert doing the ads.
I don't consider it a mystery solved, but now these 45 or so years later there is documented proof who the guy in the ads was: James Karen. He just died. At 94 his obituary was in Friday's NYT.
James Karen apparently was a familiar face, but not from the 'Patty Duke Show,' although he did lots of TV and movies as a character actor, some 200 according to the obit. He was considered a classic character actor who paid a lot of bills pitching Pathmark, a Northeast supermarket chain, despite the fact he lived on the West Coast.
In the obit he is quoted as having said, "I go to New York every two weeks and run off 20 30-second commercials at a time. This is the best job an actor can have. It pays very well, and it's steady."
He certainly came to New York often, because those Pathmark ads ran from the late 60s into the 80s. The supermarket chain is no longer in business, going belly-up in 2015. It is doubtful that Jimmy had anything to do with that.
There are times I've given thought to wondering if it will be possible to observe whoever shows up for my funeral and listen to what they might say. This part of the afterlife especially intrigues me. Apparently I'm not alone.
At the end of Mr. Karen's obit we learn that George Clooney, at his own American Film Institute lifetime-achievement ceremony this year, told the story of years ago being contacted by Jimmy's wife and being asked to write Jim's obituary. She explained he's not doing well and he requested that he write his obituary. This George did that very evening and sent it off to Jimmy's wife Alba Francesca.
Some time rolled on, and George Clooney realizes he hasn't heard anything about the demise of Jimmy. Finally, after four years he worked up enough courage to call Alba and ask, "how is Jimmy doing?"
"He's doing fine. He says hello. He asked several people to write his obituary to see what they might say about him." Thus, Jimmy got to read his obits before his demise. A neat trick without illegally pretending that you're dead.
It is a good thing James Karen knew George Clooney and not my friend. Otherwise, he would learn he was William Schallert and that he played Patty Duke's father on the 'Patty Duke Show.'
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