To the editor: I found the KTLA statement after the death of Sam Rubin to be very true of him: “His laugh, his charm, and his caring personality touched everyone who knew him.”
In the 1990s, he was a copywriter at Walt Disney Home Video. After the sad news of Rubin's passing, another editor who knew of my friendship with him sent me an email. He mentioned that he had seen the Jerry Seinfeld movie “Unfrosted” and that he was disappointed.
I responded that after his analysis, I looked up the reviews of “Unfrosted” on Rotten Tomatoes and that I could sympathize with the writers who had to find two positive words here, three words there, and put them together. to make them look like a favorable review.
He replied, “Those were the days when you had to find some words to make a horrible movie profitable!” He also reminded me that I had made the appointment for the VHS release of “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes”:
“'…it's…it's UNFORGETTABLE, that's what it is!' – Sam Rubin, KTLA Morning News, Los Angeles.”
I replied, “Oh my God, I forgot about that! That's probably the movie that inspired the creation of Rotten Tomatoes! I called Sam and told him I wanted to use that quote on the packaging, if he would mind. He laughed and said, 'No, go ahead!' I sent him the video when he came out and he called me and said, 'Bob, thank you! But you shouldn't have done it, you really, really, really shouldn't have done it!
Sam's warm laugh still resonates in my memory.
Bob Canning, Petaluma, California.
