MovieChat Forums > Laugh-In (1967) Discussion > Face blurred out

Face blurred out

posted 13 years ago by iboughtliquid
5 replies | jump to latest

I was watching "The Best of the Laugh-In" and at the end they showed the joke wall and someone's face was blurred out. Does anyone know who it was?

[–] millerdsplaydzign 13 years ago

It might be Teresa Graves. It seems that I have that joke wall sequence from a tape of Nick at Night broadcasts, and she's the missing face.

Also, for the reunion shows, during one of the panel discussions taped in the 1990s, there was also a noticeably blurred out panelist. The panelists were all composed of "Laugh-In" regulars, and she was the most obviously absent person.

Plus, ever since she adopted the Jehaovah's Witness faith back in the seventies, she had been a little....weird about things, and not overly friendly about show business. So maybe she was convinced to show up and tape some spots, then wouldn't sign a release for her face to be used in any footage. That would explain her being blurred in the joke wall during the same compilation show.

It sucks exponentially now, considering that she died relatively young and forgotten.

[–] urgeking 12 years ago

I'm watching the joke wall from the 25th-anniversary compilation right now, and Teresa Graves is most definitely NOT blurred out in this one-- she tells a joke shortly after we see Lily Tomlin (who looks so fine, it makes me want to travel back in time to 1969 and ask her out, except it turns out she preferred women anyway, dammit).

However, there IS one person blurred near the end of the sequence, up near the top-- it appears to be a blonde-haired woman wearing a white sweater. I'm a little puzzled: You would think that the standard contract for cast members in a TV comedy series would have a clause to the effect of, "If you appeared in an episode, you WILL appear in that episode, because you were part of the cast and there's no such thing as going back later and tinkering with it, so get over it." Perhaps there's some sort of loophole where that doesn't necessarily apply to syndicated reruns or repackaging on tapes, discs, etc.-- but why would anyone go to the trouble of having the producers go back to the archives and blank their face out? Is it legal revenge for not having been paid their proper residuals? Or is it the producers who are getting revenge on the cast member? Whatever the answer, it seems like there must be some pettiness involved...

[–] soncoman 12 years ago

This has bugged me for years! The local PBS channel just showed this again and I'm still stumped... anyone heard anything since these original posts?

[–] millerdsplaydzign 12 years ago

Unfortunately I can't find my copies of the Nick at Night broadcasts, or the 25th anniversary special to review them.

The only person who comes to mind from the "blonde" description would be Carol Channing, who did the Joke Wall while sporting a great big platinum blonde afro wig. No idea how many times she was on the show, or if she wore that wig every time.

[–] urgeking 11 years ago

Hey, you may be on to something there. I just watched the 25th-anniversary special again and didn't see Channing at all.

Also, near the end, in the "Cuckoo Laugh-In World" montage, there were two very quick visual snippets where some male actor's face was blurred out. One was a 'hung jury'-- three jurors hanging from nooses in a courtroom-- and the other was from some sort of skit where people were falling over each other in the studio while a bunch of dogs were running around.

Maybe some performers try to cash in by having their lawyers go after a production company to demand extra money from latter-day rebroadcasts and 'best-of' specials-- even if they aren't legally entitled to do so-- and instead of going through the time and expense of fighting it in court, the producers decide to just blank-out those performers from the reruns, as their way of saying, "Nice try, pal." But as I said before, there must be someone out there who knows for sure.