When you work in theatre in Los Angeles, you sometimes get to meet people you grew up watching on TV. Betty Garrett, who died yesterday at the age of 91, was someone I saw on “All in the Family” and “Laverne & Shirley” when I was a kid. Before that, she was better known as a leading lady starring alongside the likes of Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly. I didn’t know Betty well, but she was such a visible part of the Los Angeles theatre community for so long that I think some of us assumed she would always be here; at least, I made that assumption. I remember once going to some bizarre theatre thing outdoors at Griffith Park and sitting on the lawn — near Betty Garrett and near Marion Ross. She was one of the presenters and an awardee for an awards show I did (and now I find I’m sadly fuzzy on the details), and I saw her many times at Theatre West, where she was a founder and a performer, and elsewhere around town. What I remember most about her is her sense of fun and optimism. Ninety-one years is a good long time to live, and it seems she lived it well, but I’m sad that we won’t get to run into her any more in our theatres.

Here’s a montage that the fine people at Theatre West put together last year, in honor of Betty Garrett’s 90th birthday.

To quote my friend Terence Anthony, “Imagine how shitty life under Mubarak must’ve been for people to get this hyped over a military coup.” Precisely. It’s hard to get thrilled when the military assumes power. On the other hand, if Dick Cheney goes out of his way to praise you as an ally, as he did with Mubarak, I need you to go.

According to a new poll put out by the Onion, 1 in 5 Americans believe Barack Obama is a cactus.

Think about it:  Has he ever proved that he isn’t one? He certainly seems to needle some people.

The monkey is earnest. The pig is passive-aggressive. The music makes me think of They Might Be Giants.

For one day only, Saturday March 5th, my esteemed playwright pal Trey Nichols and I are offering “The One-Day New Play Playwriting Workshop” at a theatre in Hollywood. It’s a fundraiser for Moving Arts, the theatre we’ve been associated with since… well, almost since before the dawn of the modern age of drama. (Which in our case would be the early 1990’s.) Here’s more info.

In just one day, we’ll cover a lot of ground about writing plays that scintillate, you’ll get to do plenty of loose and fun playwriting on the spot, and you’ll leave with the makings of a short play — which will be read by really good actors we’re going to personally shanghai into doing this.

Should you sign up to come do this? Hell yes. We’re serving breakfast and lunch, you’ll hear your pages read by professional actors,  we’ve got 20 years’ experience teaching playwriting, and we’ll do our best not to be boring. (And it’s for a good cause:  the event benefits a theatre donated 100% to doing new plays by emerging playwrights.) Never written a play before? Give us the day, and we’ll change that for you. Written plenty of plays, but ready for something different? We can handle that too. Just bring your laptop. And yes, Angelenos:  There is plenty of free parking. Here’s everything you need to know.

We’d love to have you, and we’ve got only 20 slots.  Here’s where to sign up.

As part of cost-cutting measures, the BBC announced last month that they would cease 172 websites — not just allowing them to go dormant, but deleting them. Now an outraged online citizen has revealed how little the BBC is saving in deleting those sites by archiving them all himself — at a cost of about $3.99.

I just heard that Christopher Lee resigned from Congress. It’s a sad day when Dracula is reduced to trolling for women on Craigslist.

You may recall that almost a year ago, I appeared on a panel where I debated some Republicans about their election prospects here in California. Hm. Let’s see how I did as Nostradamus, versus how they did. Right. Thought so.

One of my observations back then, re Meg Whitman:  “If you can’t work your own press event, how well are you going to do when Jerry Brown shows up and asks you real questions? That’s a debate I’m looking forward to watching.” I think we’ve seen how well Whitman handled all of that, and yes, the debates were thoroughly enjoyable.

This Sunday at the much-loved (and rightly so) Steve Allen Theatre:  The Club Foot Orchestra plays live accompaniment to two silent-film masterpieces:  Buster Keaton’s “Sherlock, Jr.” and the classic German Expressionist tale “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.”

About 15 years ago, I saw The Club Foot Orchestra perform their own score to that very same Keaton film — my favorite Keaton film, the one of which I have a framed poster facing me right this very minute — and they were fantastic. It was great, enormous fun, and I bought their CD. They also played alongside some “Felix the Cat” shorts — just as they promise to do this Sunday. I haven’t heard their score to “Caligari” — but I will on Sunday. I snapped up four tickets the moment this was announced. If you’d like to do the same, here’s the link.

If you hurry over to the Los Angeles Times homepage right now, you’ll see a link for the story   “Cynthia Nixon, Christine Marinoni welcome son.” Check out where it takes you (at least until they catch it and fix it).