"While we're young" Was All Rodney

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Gary Mihoces talks to Rodney Dangerfield's bride, Joan, who thinks Rodney would be doing cartwheels over the new USGA ad campaign using his ad-libbed "while we're young line," even if they aren't doing anything about slow play in their men's and women's Open championships. Okay I threw in that last part.

As she prepares to laungh a new website, www.rodney.com, she puts into context what Caddyshack meant to Rodney's career:

She says Dangerfield "forfeited a high-paying Vegas gig to do Caddyshack — and for peanuts," she said. "He actually lost money making the movie. But it did open doors for him and helped him kind of live the movie star life, which you know was fun for him."

Caddyshack was her husband's "biggest break in film." It helped launch him into starring roles in films such as Easy Money and Back to School.

She said she contacted Jon Peters, executive producer of Caddyshack, to confirm Rodney had come up with the "while we're young" line.

"He assured me that Rodney did," she said. "And it sounds like a line Rodney would come up with anyway because of his comments just in general life ... born out of impatience and frustration.''

There was also this about Tiger:

"Rodney was aware that Tiger Woods had mentioned that Caddyshack was his favorite movie," she said. "... He was especially proud of that because, again, he always wondered, 'Does the golf crowd really look down on the movie?' "

Alex Myers talked to Paula Creamer about how her "while we're young" spot came about and she acknowledged that while there's a long way to go, the timing of the launch might not have helped matters.

"I think it's coming around," said Creamer, who has a 10-year-old cousin that came to see her play, but isn't interested in picking up the game because 'it takes too long.' "That whole service announcement might not have had the best timing, but now that the two hardest venues are out of the way. Who knows?"

A.V. Club Returns To Bushwood: "It's like going to ruins…only for 80s snob versus slob comedy."

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Thanks to Shane Bacon for finding Kyle Ryan's A.V. Club story and short film from Grande Oaks Golf Club, home to much of Caddyshack's filming.

Included are some great shots of the foundation remnants of the caddyshack and other photos of the Caddyshack merchandise sold at Grande Oaks where the logo features a gopher.

The video:


The golf club that hosted Caddyshack’s raucous production

Film Review: A Journey To Golf's Past: Creating Old Macdonald

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In this week's Arts Issue of Golf World, I review Michael Robin's film on the making of Bandon Dunes' Old Macdonald.

The film sets a new bar for storytelling in the design world. It also proves that when professionals like Robin--a prominent television producer and director who is also a fine golfer--and his team conveyed the many dimensions of a golf course, it shows just how mediocre network television has been at bringing courses alive.

And don't be fooled by the title, this is more than just a "making of" film about Old Macdonald. Some of the best moments come when the team travels to the world's most famous holes and dissect their attributes, including the Redan, Road and Macdonald's template holes at The National Golf Links.

The extras-loaded DVD is a must for anyone who loves architecture or Bandon Dunes.

You can order the film for all of $10 (!) via the Bandon Dunes shop site.

"It will be interesting to see which, if any, may be formidable films."

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In Golf World's classy looking new Arts Issue featuring a Mike Miller painting on the cover, Bill Fields looks at the mixed bag of golf films and concludes that for most of the failed movies, it comes down to the golfers not making convincing golfers. He also notes a few possible film topics and what's on the way...
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