Diff'rent Strokes Co-Star Recalls Gary Coleman was "A Joy to Work With"

If you're a Diff'rent Strokes fan, you'll remember actress Mary Jo Catlett as Drummond houseekeeper Pearl Gallagher. This morning, Catlett sent Just My Show the following thoughts about Gary Coleman:

"If his stature were measured in talent, he would have been the tallest man in the world. He gave so much happiness to his fans and was a joy to work with. When I was first starting on "Diff'rent Strokes" they had been doing the show for four years and each of them knew their roles backwards and forwards so I was nervous. Gary saw this and came over to me and said 'don't worry, that's the good thing about television, we can do it over.' And he was funny, about three weeks ago he did an interview and was asked 'Do you think there's a curse connected with the cast of Diff'rent Strokes?' He said 'No, unless Mary Jo Catlett goes to jail for a drug overdose'. Now that's funny, and I was glad he had me on his mind, a very fine mind it was."

Ralphie's House Rocks Cleveland

Put this in the blog category of "ideas I wish I'd come up with."

Five years ago, Brian Jones was selling leg lamps like the one seen in the modern holiday classic A Christmas Story. "Leg lamps were selling much better than I thought they ever wood, Jones told Just My Show earlier this month. "I thought it was just gonna be like a side business little hobby." So when he saw the Cleveland location used as Ralphie's house in the 1983 film go up for sale on eBay, he did what any good fan of the movie would do. He bought it.

"There were obviously times where I thought to myself, 'what have I gotten myself into?' halfway through the project," said Jones. But he stuck with it, restoring the house to A Christmas Story form, and opening it up to the public in November of 2006. His visitors have increased each year since, as has the operation. He now owns another home on the street, which houses a museum and gift shop. This year, you can stop by and see Ralphie's costumes from the movie, which Jones recently purchased.

Several members of the film's cast have stopped by including Just My Show guest Scott Schwartz who played Flick. "I got Ian Patrella, who played Randy-the little brother, to get back underneath the sink and we got a picture of him there," recalls Jones. "I thought that was pretty funny."

This year, Jones is paying tribute to another modern classic by lighting up Ralphie's house like the Griswold's in honor of the 20th anniversary of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. To hear his comments on that, listen to Just My Show's new holiday podcast, which features an interview with Christmas Vacation's Beverly D'Angelo.