Monthly Archives: June 2012

Number two hundred and sixty-seven in a series…

Devlin Thompson sent me this link which is to a form letter that the Monty Python folks sent out when there were advance protests about their film, Life of Brian. The protests were quite ridiculous and they struck me, as so many of these things do, as a case of so-called "leaders" pouncing happily on a topic they thought could whip up donations and some show of power.

I mean, you just know that when Jerry Falwell saw that tasteless parody Larry Flynt published about him [Falwell] having sex with his mother in an outhouse, the Right Reverend was not horrified and mortified as he later swore in court. No, he was all, "Hey, we can use this to get our flock mad enough to give us money!" The Life of Brian protests were of the same stripe and I was pleased to hear the Pythons say later that it had all been good for their box office.

I'll take issue with one thing in their form letter, though…

It [the film] does not ridicule Christ, nor does it show Christ in any way that could offend anyone, nor is belief in God or Christ a subject dealt with in the film.

No, it doesn't ridicule Christ but I don't think it's possible to show Christ without offending someone. And saying that the movie didn't deal with belief in God or Christ is like Russ Meyer claiming his films didn't deal with large bosoms.

That's a panel from an issue of Superman drawn by Curt Swan but neither of those things matter to this post. What matters is the lettering in the panel. This was one of several trillion pages of comic art lettered by the late Ben Oda. I don't think Ben was the most prolific letterer ever in comics — I'd probably wager, if I had to wager, on John Costanza. But I also wouldn't bet against Ben on that because he might have been, especially if you counted newspaper strips. At one point, he was lettering twelve different daily strips — and not obscure ones; major features like Dondi and On Stage and Flash Gordon. I admired his calligraphy and I also admired Ben, if not for whom a lot of comic books would not have come out on time and a lot of artists would have had their incomes harmed as they waited for their lettering to get done. Ben always got it done.

What prompted me to write about Ben was that Brian Hayes did a nice post about the man and it made me feel guilty that I hadn't done a nice post about the man. I don't want to duplicate all the absolutely-true things Brian said about Ben so I'll just add a few things I know about him…

Ben loved his fellow comic book artisans. When I interviewed him and mentioned my connection to Jack Kirby, Ben practically threw his arms around me. He wanted to give me a hug to pass on to Jack, his one-time employer and one of the people who'd really treated him right, he said. Ben also had a standing offer that I thought was wonderful. About once a week (I am not exaggerating), Ben would be contacted by some comic book or strip artist who was trying to sell a new newspaper strip and was doing up samples and wanted to pay Ben to letter them. Ben's response was simple and consistent: Yes, I will letter them. No, I will not take your money. If you sell the strip, then you can pay me. He told me that since most strips did not sell, he felt guilty taking money out of the pocket of a fellow artist.

Ben was never late, especially if told that some artist (and it didn't even have to be a friend of his) needed work. Editors learned to tell Ben, "These pages need to be lettered overnight or Harry Splotchman, who's going to be inking them, won't have work tomorrow." Ben would get the pages done and personally drive them into New York City to deliver them. In fact, the one time he and I talked at length, it was at a comic convention in Manhattan on a Saturday. Ben made the trip in to deliver seven pages to an artist who was there and wanted to work on them over the weekend.

When Ben passed, DC Comics (and other clients) missed him in many ways but one was the sudden crisis in production. Ben was a vital component in the assembly line of comics and now he was missing. DC editor Joe Orlando told me this story.

Everyone had always assumed that Ben had a staff of folks working with him. I don't know where it came from but the assumption was that Ben had trained his wife and kids and maybe even the family dog to letter just like him. Given his awesome output, that seemed logical.

At Ben's funeral, Orlando decided he should approach Ben's family and let them know that DC wanted them to keep lettering for the firm. Joe knew that the production schedule would be devastated by the loss of Ben…but Joe was also concerned that the family had just lost its main source of income. So he told Ben's widow that she should send someone around to pick up lettering work.

She looked at him funny and asked, "Who would do the lettering?"

Joe stammered, "Don't you all letter? Haven't you all been doing a lot of that work?"

She shook her head. "We helped with erasing pages and ruling pencil guidelines but Ben was the only letterer." This was kind of like finding out that Walt Disney had animated Snow White all by himself. It eventually took about six people to replace Ben Oda at DC. But of course in a sense, no one ever replaced Ben Oda.

During camera tests for The Muppet Movie (1979), Jim Henson, Frank Oz and a few of their associates got to improvising…

[NOTE: When I originally posted this, I said these were done during the filming of the movie. Corey Klemow and Andrew Smith both wrote to tell me no, these were tests made to see how the Muppets would look on the big screen. I have adjusted the text here accordingly. Thanks, guys!]

This piece by Jason Brennan argues that everyone's theory of what's "constitutional" is pretty much whatever they want to have be "constitutional." Key quote:

It seems that almost everybody does the following:

1. Start with a political philosophy – a view of what you want the government to be able to do and what you want to the government to be forbidden from doing.

2. Take the Constitution as a given.

3. Reverse engineer a theory of constitutional interpretation such that it turns out – happily! – that the Constitution forbids what you want it to forbid and allows what you want it to allow.

I think Mr. Brennan overstates his case. I know lotsa Liberals who believe gun ownership should be seriously restricted but concede that the Second Amendment says what it says. I know lotsa Conservatives who believe pornography should be seriously restricted but concede that the First Amendment says what it says.

On the other hand, one could argue that those examples are also cases of conceding lost causes. Liberals know they're never going to get a serious restriction on gun ownership and Conservatives know they're never going to rid the land of porn. What Brennan says is kinda true for matters where people think they have a fighting chance.

Number two hundred and sixty-six in a series…

Go watch this commercial.

See those two people? One of them is noted animation historian Jerry Beck. The other is Emmy-winning voice actress June Foray. I'll leave it to you to figure out which is which but both of them will be guesting tomorrow with your amiable host Stuart Shostak on Stu's Show, the oft-plugged-here internet radio extravaganza. June will be talking about what it was like to win her first-ever Emmy at the age of 94. Jerry will be talking about the history of the Terrytoons animation studio — the folks who brought you Mighty Mouse, Heckle & Jeckle and Gandy Goose. This is a must-hear for the legions of Gandy Goose fans out there. If you're a lover of June Foray or Gandy Goose, here's how you can hear this thing…

THE FREE WAY: Tune in tomorrow (Wednesday) and listen at the Stu's Show website when the show is first broadcast. It starts at 4 PM Pacific (7 PM Eastern) and runs for at least two hours, maybe more.

THE PAY WAY: Shortly after the show is first transmitted, it becomes a podcast you can download at the Stu's Show website for a measly 99 cents. But while you're there, grab a bargain and grab four episodes for the price of three. If you missed Stu's recent chat with noted comedy writer and sportscaster Ken Levine, make that one of your picks.

But either way, listen. These shows are always fun and this one promises to be one of Stu's best. Even if you don't give a damn about Gandy Goose.

Here's a newspaper report about the hit-and-run accident that's put our friend Roger Slifer into the hospital. Very disturbing. Not that it wouldn't be a tragedy for that to happen to anyone but Roger is such a decent, friendly guy that it's horrible to think of something like this happening to him.

A couple o' folks have written in lately to ask if I'm still consuming Jay Robb protein shakes or if I've found something better. Easy answer: I've been so contented with that product that I haven't gone looking for anything better.

I have modified my "recipe" a bit: I used to make 'em with ice-cold water and now I make 'em with half ice-cold water and half fat free milk. I'm also largely abandoning their vanilla flavor (soon as I use up what I have left) for all chocolate, all the time. I still make them in my Magic Bullet — the only product I've ever encountered via TV infomercial that worked exactly as advertised and proved actually useful. The result is a pretty good-tasting chocolate drink, sweetened with Stevia instead of something artificial, that I consume about once a day, sometimes twice. It may be the healthiest thing that goes into my body not counting my urologist's finger.

The Jay Robb folks have made a few changes, mainly in their packaging. They used to sell their powder in plastic canisters like the one at above left. They've switched for environmental reasons to a reclosable bag that I find somewhat awkward to scoop powder outta. Fortunately, I still had some plastic canisters about so I buy the new bags and refill the old canisters. The Whole Foods Markets I've been in lately still have the plastic canisters on their shelves but when those are gone, they'll have the bags in their stead.

Also, when I've mentioned Jay Robb products in the past, I've noted that while I like their Egg Protein and their Whey Protein, I thought their line of Rice Protein powders was pretty awful. I can't be alone in this opinion because the Jay Robb company has quietly dropped Rice Protein from its offerings.

So there you have it: My update. If you're looking for a good protein drink, give it a try. You don't have to start with the reclosable bags or the plastic canisters because they sell little one-drink packets which you can sample. If you're only going to sample one, try the Chocolate Whey. One friend who started drinking this stuff on my recommendation adds in about half a teaspoon of Nestle's Quik or somesuch product but I don't think it needs it. And sorry about the urologist joke but it's early.

Stephen Schwartz has written a number of fine musicals including Godspell, Pippin and Wicked. Here he is singing what may be my favorite of all his tunes..

Before we say goodbye to some or all of it, let's review some of what's actually in the Affordable Care Act.

But I'm not sure I trust this article. Where's the part about how a panel of evil government bureaucrats will vote that certain people aren't worth saving and will put them to death?

My friend Marc Wielage alerted me to this one. Barnes & Noble is selling Simpsons World – The Ultimate Episode Guide: Seasons 1-20, a hardcover book that lists for $150 for fifteen bucks. That's right…a tenth of the usual price. You can order a copy here.

I don't make any commission on this so if you're grateful for the link, send a few bucks to my fave doing-good outfit, Operation USA. Matter of fact, you should send them a few bucks even if you don't buy the Simpsons book. Operation USA does real good work and I never saw a charity that put my money to better use.

Number two hundred and sixty-five in a series…