Where In The World Is Scott Baio?

[Anonymouse]

Jasper, I hope you get mauled by a tiger.

[TomServo]

Scott Baio is dead.

[jasper]

As loyal fans patiently wait for more news about Scott Baio's current film and television projects in 2005, let us happily revisit several informational articles or interviews concerning him after 2000 during the past few years.

Here's an eighth one from THE TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT, courtesy of THE AKRON BEACON JOURNAL, dated August 16, 2002:

SCOTT BAIO'S SENSE OF HUMOR MOST WICKED AGAINST HIMSELF
by Mark Hinson

In the independent film "The Bread, My Sweet", Scott Baio plays a hard-nose hatchet man whose real love in life is working in a small Italian bakery with his two brothers.

The cramped but cozy Pittsburgh bakery is famous for its tasty biscotti. Baio even learned to make bread before playing the lead role.

Did anyone on the set quip "Chachi bakes biscotti"? Did the film crew and cast make jokes about Baio's famous TV past from "Happy Days" and "Joanie Loves Chachi"?

"No, actually that's the first time I heard that one with the biscotti," Baio said during a recent phone interview. "But we did have a lot of fun on the set."

Baio, 40, said he is proud of his work in "The Bread, My Sweet" and the finished product.

"I'm being as objective as I can be, but I like this movie." Baio said. "There are things I was in that I hated - and I can give you a long list - but I really like this one."

Baio speaks quickly with his distinct New Yorker accent and is an easy conversationalist.

"Depending on your age depends how you recognize me," Baio said. "If you're below 27, you'll remember me from 'Charles in Charge'. If you're a little older, you remember 'Happy Days' during its original run. And if you're 80 or really old, you know me from 'Diagnosis Murder'. That's the one the grandmothers like to stop me on the street to talk about."

Because Baio grew up on TV and made a career out of playing nice guys, he's become a target for stand-up comedians and late-night chat show hosts.

For example, on the first episode of "South Park", the chunky little Cartman claimed that "Scott Baio gave me pinkeye." The screaming comedian Bobcat Goldthwait once called Baio the antichrist.

"It's because I'm easily identified. It makes me an easy target," Baio said. "I really don't care; I make more fun of myself than 10 people can. All I care about is that they pronounce my name right."

Baio also likes taking sweet revenge on those who mock him.

When he bumped into "South Park" creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker at a club one night, he stared at them while they tried to avoid him. He finally went over and told them he thought the Cartman joke was hilarious. They were so relieved.

His chance to repay Goldthwait arrived one night at a banquet dinner honoring Richard Pryor. Baio checked the seating chart and discovered he was seated directly across from Goldthwait.

"I decided I was going to mess with this guy," Baio said. "I sat down and just glared at him as hard as I could. The poor guy wouldn't even make eye contact. He kept looking anywhere but at me. After about 10 minutes of this, I finally broke out laughing and said, 'Man, the antichrist? What the xxxx was that about? I laughed my xxx off that one.' We had a good time that night."

While Baio was in such a good mood, it was time to ask him a truly ridiculous question: Has he ever met fellow TV actor Scott Wolf and why didn't they....

Baio quickly interrupted.

"Yeah, yeah, we met and the first thing we talked about was forming a company and calling it Baio-Wolf," he said. "You know, we're not that dumb. Did you think we're (blankity-blank) ignorant or something?"

Then Baio laughed out loud.

Don't mess with Chachi; he's much smarter than you think.

[Anonymouse]

Do you ever stop?

[TomServo]

Sit On It!

[jasper]

As loyal fans patiently wait for more news about Scott Baio's current film and television projects in 2005, let us gleefully revisit several informational articles or interviews concerning him after 2000 during the past few years.

Here's a ninth one from THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES dated around
November 2002:

HAPPY DAYS HERE AGAIN FOR BAIO ON, OFF SCREEN
by Cindy Pearlman

Before he gets to his new movie, Scott Baio answers the question you really want to know: Where is Chachi now?

"In an odd parallel universe, I think Joanie and Chachi probably divorced," says the man who played Fonzie's cousin on "Happy Days" from 1977 to 1984. "But they're still seeing each other from time to time -- if you know what I mean."

Baio can't dwell on their problems. He's busy these days with his new romantic film, "The Bread, My Sweet" (now playing at local theaters), an indie hit that charmed audiences on the film festival circuit. He was in Chicago recently to accept an award from the Italian American Police Association. Why did he win? "My name ends in three vowels?" he offers.
(Most likely, Scott possibly earned this accolade as a guest performer for his moving portrayal of a conflicted policeman who unintentionally shoots an innocent child during a special episode of "Touched By An Angel". - jasper)

Q: Since you're here to accept an award for being Italian, we must ask - "The Sopranos" - pro or con?

A: Oh, I watch it and I think it's good. I can understand both sides of the issue. If someone did a show about black people or Jewish people with stereotypes, well, I don't think that show would ever even get on the air. But it seems like it's OK to do this to Italians. I think most Italian Americans don't want to be associated with the Mafia.

Q: So this means if you got offered a job on "The Sopranos", you'd turn it down?

A: Are you kidding me? I've been trying to get on there for years. I've sent them tons of tapes of myself acting. Come on!

Q: On "Happy Days", did Mrs. C have the hots for Chachi?

A: That's so gross. I never got that Mrs. C and Chachi had any kind of sexual vibe going. I could see Mrs. C and Fonz, but that's another story.

Q: And was it fair of you to drive all old ladies wild with your sexy turn on "Diagnosis Murder"?

A: I did drive a lot of 70-year old gals wild. A lot of old ladies see me and still give me the eye. They're actually very sweet. A few days ago, I was out at a restaurant and this really old lady looked at me slowly and then leaned into me to whisper, "When you quit 'Diagnosis Murder', I stopped watching."

Q: During your teen-babe years, what was the funniest encounter with a female fan?

A: Oh, God, girls would sneak onto the "Happy Days" set to meet me. Girls even used to sneak into the building where I lived. That was before E! Entertainment Television and 50,000 rag magazines. Those were the simple days of "Tiger Beat" when life was only supposed to revolve around me divulging my favorite color. But still, I got lots of Tom Jones treatment -- girls sending used underwear, clumps of hair, you name it.

Q: So let's just assume that your new fiance didn't send a clump of hair or well-worn undies?

A: Oh, no! I actually got engaged in July to an MBA student named Janette from Sweden. The great thing is we met at a party and she had absolutely no clue who I was. She didn't even want to go out with me. But we talked and we went out to lunch a week later. A four-hour lunch.

Seriously, if she knew I was the guy from "Happy Days" or "Diagnosis Murder", she would have thought I was just a player. When I finally told her I was an actor, she really thought I was really just a waiter. Then she finally came to my house and I had some memorabilia around like photos of myself on sets and she slowly got it. Not that she gives a crap about it, and that's one of the reasons why I love her.

[jasper]

As loyal fans patiently wait for more news about Scott Baio's current film and television projects in 2005, let us revisit several informational articles or interviews concerning him after 2000 during the past few years.

Here's one interesting article about "The Bread, My Sweet" in
THE TRIBUNE-REVIEW dated January 18, 2002:

HOMEMADE IN THE 'BURGH, "THE BREAD, MY SWEET" OFFERS LOVE, WARMTH - AND BISCOTTI DREAMS
by Jolie Williamson

Listening to Melissa Martin describe the making of "The Bread, My Sweet" is a little like listening to an older sister spill all the details of her first month in college.

She's making good grades and earning accolades in her chosen field, there's no doubt. But you wonder how she managed all that after she lets fly with tales of the odd and endearing characters who've become her new best friends, all the times she's pulled all-nighters, and, oh yeah, the requisite food fights.

"I had the most amazing group of actors and crew any first-time director ever had," Martin says. "I am so happy to be me."

Martin, of Mt. Lebanon, who refuses to divulge her age - "don't you print how old I am!" - is best known in Pittsburgh as a writer and director of plays. "The Bread, My Sweet", opening today at Regent Square Theater, is her first foray into filmmaking - one she leapt into despite "not knowing which end of a camera to look through".

Her decision to make the transition from stage to screen directing was the result of her friendship with an Italian immigrant named Gemma, who died four years ago. Gemma lived above Enrico Biscotti, the Strip District bakery and cafe owned by Martin's husband, Larry Lagattuta.

"She was the inspiration for this story," Martin says. "Now, none of this story is true, nothing in this actually happened, but when she died, I wanted to celebrate that Italian-American culture that's disappearing."

The story centers on an elderly Italian couple, Massimo (John Seitz) and Bella (Rosemary Prinz) and the brothers who run the bakery below their apartment - Dominic (SCOTT BAIO), Eddie (Pittsburgh native Billy Mott) and Pino (Shuler Hensley). When Dominic finds out Bella's dying, he sets out to find and marry her daughter, Lucca (Kristen Minter), to fulfill Bella's wish to see her daughter's American wedding.

Once Martin decided she was making the movie, she needed a producer, cast and crew. She says she begged Adrienne Wehr "whom I had vaguely known for some years" to produce it, although the Pittsburgher and producer of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" had sworn off that part of the creative life. She also took her pleadings to Pittsburgh cinematographer Mark Knobil, who has filmed documentaries for PBS, National Geographic and Discovery Channel, "who immediately made 10 phone calls to make sure I wasn't deranged," Martin says.

They both ultimately agreed.

"She really didn't have to beg me," Wehr says. "She even wrote me a small part - but that's not why I decided to produce it. I liked the script."

GETTING SCOTT BAIO ON BOARD WAS NEARLY AS SEAMLESS.

AFTER READING THE SCRIPT, AND LIKING IT, BAIO SAYS HE MADE THE DECISION TO DO THE FILM MOSTLY BECAUSE HE LIKED MARTIN.

"I REALLY DIDN'T WANT TO GO TO PITTSBURGH FOR FIVE WEEKS TO SHOOT THIS, TO BE HONEST," HE SAYS. "BUT I TALKED TO MELISSA, AND SHE WAS VERY HONEST AND OPEN. SHE SAID SHE'D NEVER DONE THIS BEFORE, BUT SHE EXPLAINED WHAT SHE WAS TRYING TO DO, AND I JUST LIKED IT. AND I LIKED HER OVER THE PHONE - I JUST LIKED HER AS A PERSON."

Rosemary Prinz, a veteran stage actress who began her career in 1947, and spent 12 years on the small screen as Penny in "As The World Turns" in the '50s and '60s, says her decision to jump into feature films was an easy one.

"I read the script and thought, 'That's me!' I get to play this old Italian lady and use an accent, too," she says, although she adds this technically isn't her first feature film: "My only other one was when I was 18 years old, and there was a VD film I did for the Navy - an 'it-could-happen-to-your-kid-sister' kind of thing. I had to cry a lot in it. I really wish I had a print of that," she says.

Billy Mott, who grew up in Carnegie and graduated from Point Park College's theater department, met Martin while he was working for Martin's husband at Enrico Biscotti to supplement his acting career. He acted in one of her plays, and she told him she had a role for him in "The Bread, My Sweet".

"She said, 'I'm writing this movie, and you're going to do this," Mott says. "I was kind of like, well, OK. Because things like this never come to fruition, because it's so hard to do. It's a huge task."

"It wasn't because I didn't think she could do it, but so many people say they're going to, and it just never comes together. But I told her, 'OK, but the part better be just like me because that's the only thing I do.' "

"But when she got the money together, it was the smoothest thing I've ever worked on."

BAIO SAYS MARTIN SEEMED TO WALK THE LINE EFFORTLESSLY BETWEEN GETTING WHAT SHE WANTED OUT OF HER ACTORS WHILE STILL LISTENING TO THEIR INPUT.

"SHE WAS VERY OPEN AND VERY LOOSE," HE SAYS. "A LOT OF FIRST-TIME DIRECTORS THINK THEY HAVE SOMETHING TO PROVE. BUT SHE WASN'T LIKE THAT. I WOULD DO ANYTHING WITH HER IN THE FUTURE."

Stuart Strutin, president of Panorama Entertainment, the small New York distributor handling "The Bread, My Sweet", says he first saw the film at the Worldfest-Houston film festival where it won the Grand Jury Prize - Best of Show. The film also has won the best dramatic feature award at the Santa Monica International Film Festival and the Marco Island Film Festival, and BAIO WON BEST ACTOR AT THE ATLANTIC CITY FILM FESTIVAL.

"I've seen enough at festivals to know what audiences like," Strutin says. "It had a good cast and SCOTT BAIO DID A TERRIFIC JOB IN A DRAMATIC ROLE. The story of a younger guy befriending an older couple is something you don't see in many feature films. And the story - it was based on Melissa's heart. And the biscotti - well, that's a great marketing tool. This is gettting a lot of articles on food pages, too."

And Pittsburgh audiences, in particular, will find much to love about "The Bread, My Sweet". For once, the city - often used as a generic backdrop in movies - gets to play itself. And the Strip District is as much of a character in the film as any of the people.

"IT'S JUST ONE OF THOSE THINGS," SCOTT BAIO SAYS. "IT SOUNDS KIND OF LAME WHEN I SAY IT, BUT I JUST GOT IT. I GOT THAT WHOLE TOWN. I COMPLETELY FELT COMFORTABLE. THE PEOPLE IN PITTSBURGH ARE VERY NICE - THERE WERE ALWAYS PEOPLE COMING UP AND WATCHING US. AND I GOT TO WORK IN A BAKERY. THAT WAS WORTH THE WHOLE RIDE TO ME."