Monthly Archives: September 2001

Okay, what you see at left is the cover of the latest collection of old Groo stories we have out.  The Groo Library reprints in glorious color four tales from back in the days when we were busy sinking Marvel's Epic line.  It took us ten years but, by God, we did it.  The Epic line is history.  Gone.  Finito.  Past-Tense.  As defunct as the first and second companies that published our silly barbarian.  And if you'd like to read the kind of stories that accomplished that, you can pick this thing up at your local comic shop.  Of course, if you want to earn this site a couple of nickels, you will order it from the Amazon folks (whose stock is sinking like Epic did — from carrying Groo books, no doubt) by clicking here.  We get a teensy-tiny cut of any orders placed by folks who go there via our link, not just this one book.  Go through our site, buy stuff, make us happy.  Gracias.

For those of you interested in the aspect of the Gary Condit mess that interests me: Bob Somerby, over at The Daily Howler, is running some of his terrific-as-always commentaries on the press coverage.  Pay special attention to the quotes from the police that Mr. Condit was cooperative and did not in any way impede their search for Chandra Levy.  These may or may not reflect the true situation but I'll betcha more Americans have heard that Chandra was pregnant — apparently, not true — than have heard that a cop said Condit told them everything they wanted to know.

And just to remind you: I don't know if Mr. Condit did something foul (beyond cheating on the missus) or didn't, nor do I much care.  But an awful lot of folks seem to have made up their minds based on some pretty questionable news reports.  And that's a bad way for the public dialogue to be conducted, even if it turns out that Condit did some or all of the bad things of which he's been accused.

I'm watching the Jerry Lewis Telethon and Mr. Lewis just said — and I quote:

I just looked in the front row and I realize that my nine-year-old daughter is here, and my six grandchildren, and each and every one of them are so healthy, they would make Vic Tanny look sick.

That's pretty healthy, to be able to make a guy who died in 1984 look like he's only sick.  Somebody, anybody — get Jerry a list of this century's topical references!

Terrific article about Nathan Lane in last Sunday's New York Times Magazine.  Here's a link that oughta be good for at least a few more days.  (You have to register for access to their site but it's free and well worth the time 'n' trouble.)

One of the essentials to the production of a good cartoon show is a good recording studio and a good sound engineer.  The studio where I've always preferred recording shows I produced or directed is Buzzy's, which is located on Melrose Avenue in Hollywood.  They have a great crew that really knows its business.

Unfortunately, that crew is one person smaller today.  Larry Lantz, who was at the console for thousands of cartoon shows, radio commercials and promos, died yesterday due to complications of Diabetes.  He was also a producer, a casting director and one of the truly nice men in our business.  You've heard many, many programs and ads that were as good as they were because Larry was as good as he was.  Which was pretty damned good.

Speaking of addictive games: Game Show Network has started running old episodes of Press Your Luck — a program I found almost impossible to not watch during the few years it graced CBS's daytime schedule.  The game is a bit complicated and, if you're coming to it fresh, you might want to brush up on the rules, which you can do at the website of one of its many fans.  What you'll find, not every day but quite often, is that the rules yield an amazing cliffhanger of an ending.  Someone did a real clever job of configuring this one.

By the way: If they keep running 'em two-a-day from where they started, Game Show Network will get to the infamous Michael Larsen episodes some time in mid-October.  Those are the ones where an unemployed ice cream truck driver from Ohio figured out a "pattern" in the game show and walked off with more than $110,000.  It made for one of the most amazing moments I've ever witnessed on teevee — one that so embarrassed CBS that they refused to allow the two half-hours to be rerun.  Just in case they're in the package GSN is airing, I'll alert you when we get closer to when they might pop up.

I've been kinda disappointed in myself for having any interest at all in the big Gary Condit brouhaha but I do, and I've recently decided why…

About Mr. Condit's sex life, I could care less and I wouldn't know Chandra Levy from Sandra Dee.  But I've grown increasingly disgusted with how this nation forms its opinions on public issues, and the role the media plays in that bizarre, tabloid ritual.  A large chunk of the U.S. has decided that Mr. Condit is a sleaze.  Some think he may be a murderer; others have decided he definitely is, and no further unfolding of facts is likely to convince them otherwise.  At the very least, they've decided, he lied to the Levy family about the affair and was not forthcoming to the police with information that might have helped locate the missing girl friend.

Now, some or all of the charges may be true.  And if it turns out he offed her, don't claim I ever thought he was innocent.  But given how many of the press reports have proven faulty, and how ambiguous or fourth-hand some of the "facts" are, I think it's too soon to be as sure as some people seem to be.  It's like: Condit comes across like a putz and he cheated on his wife…so any negative info about him must be true, no matter how flimsy its origin.  I'm also uncomfortable with how many of those denouncing Condit on TV seem to be saying, "Bill Clinton slipped away from us but this one won't!"  They seem to feel that proving you can drive someone from public life, without even waiting for a charge to be filed, is vital to some preservation of "values" in America.  I suspect that some of those demanding Condit's immediate resignation are, deep down, afraid that he future revelations might swing his way, so they have to get him out before that happens.

Here's a link to an article that Andrew Sullivan published in The New Republic.  Now, I rarely agree with much of what Mr. Sullivan has written and I think, in this piece, he goes too far in defending Condit and ignores a couple of key points.  But read it, not as a suggestion that Condit may be a total innocent, but as an argument that a lot of what's been said and printed about him is too shaky for anyone to have already handed down a final or near-final verdict…

…which, of course, doesn't mean that he didn't break some law.

I mentioned Edward Everett Horton in this space the other day and a couple of e-mails arrived asking who he was, or why I didn't mention that he was the narrator of Fractured Fairy Tales for Jay Ward.  Guess I figured that anyone who would waste even a second on this website would already know the latter fact.  As for who he was, he was a distinguished thespian, and here's a link to a website with a good bio of the man.  And if you want to look him up in the highly-fallible Internet Movie Database — which you can do by clicking here — you'll see that he had a pretty impressive list of films to his credit when he passed away.  Since then, a number of voiceover artists have done subtle rip-offs of his voice and style.

By the way: Amid Amidi reminds me that there's actually a street named for Mr. Horton.  Somewhere out in Encino — and only a block or so long — lies Edward Everett Horton Lane.  You can see it on Mapquest by clicking here.  (And while you're surfing: Amid is the publisher-editor of the splendid publication, Animation Blast, which you can sample and order over at www.AnimationBlast.com.)

I also mentioned that, with the announced closing of its Shubert Theatre in September of 2002, Los Angeles will really have a shortage of venues to house large theatrical productions, especially musicals.  As several e-mails reminded me, the muses have a way of balancing these things: We will soon have the Kodak Theatre, which is part of the huge complex currently being erected at the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue.  (They apparently said, "Hey, let's pick an intersection that's already impossible to get through and put a huge attraction there!")

The theatre is said to be adjustable and in one configuration will seat 2100 people, which is what the Shubert holds.  The Kodak can also, they say, be expanded to 3500 seats for special events, such as the Academy Awards.  (Construction is supposed to be completed in time to house a production of Nutcracker Suite in November but theatrical events are also anticipated.  The Oscars will be there in April of next year.)

Actually, there's another reason why we might not be seeing a lot of big theatre in Los Angeles in the future.  That reason is Las Vegas.  As more and more mega-resorts are being announced for Vegas, one hears more and more talk of trying to bring theatre — live and legit — to the town.

Broadway-style shows are not unknown in Nevada but, in the past, they've usually been lower-class touring companies and/or stripped-down "tab" versions.  They reduce the size of the cast, cut a few numbers and skip the intermission…all to get the budget down and to get patrons back out into the casino quicker.  That is changing.  The recent run of Chicago at Mandalay Bay was a star-cast clone of what was playing on Broadway, and Forever Plaid ran several years at the Flamingo Hilton without a moment cut.  As Vegas goes increasingly upscale, and with $100+ ticket prices becoming more common, it's only a matter of time before we see more of this.  Almost all the new, large hotels (and those being planned) have showrooms that could accommodate almost any show currently playing the Great White Way and most were built with something of the sort in mind.

The moguls who control Vegas all fantasize about it becoming the most important place in the world for every conceivable kind of entertainment.  A few harbor fantasies of making the town as important for theatre as New York, if not surpassing it.  In the past, this has been mostly talk but, one of these days, it won't be.  Some show is going to be a smash hit on Broadway and then, instead of announcing its next production for L.A., Chicago or London, they'll accept some mega-offer — as only Vegas can generate when it wants to — to assemble a company to play Sin City.  Right now, if Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick (or even any other two big names) wanted to commit to a year of The Producers in another city, I'd bet some Vegas hotel could and maybe would offer twice as much as any other facility on this planet.

At the same time, we'll see a few hotels arranging deals to get shows heading for Broadway to try-out in Las Vegas.  The math makes too much sense for this not to happen and, in a way, it already has.  (A musical based on Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus recently shuttered, apparently unsuccessfully, at the Flamingo Hilton…and Jerry Herman is said to be writing his next show to debut in Vegas.)  At some point in the not-too-far-off future, this kind of thing will be made to work and, when it does, a lot of productions that might have played Los Angeles will instead detour to The Strip.  I predict.