Monthly Archives: January 2004

It is now against the law to take a camcorder into a movie theater to record what's on the screen. I absolutely sympathize with those trying to stop piracy of copyrighted materials but I wonder if this is as big a problem as the studios make it out to be. I'm sure it happens somewhere but, knowing that an authorized, quality DVD or tape of a new movie will be out in a month or three for under twenty bucks, do people really rush out to buy a bootleg shot from a hand-held camcorder in the balcony? Really? I can't think of a movie I've ever wanted to watch so badly that I couldn't wait a few months until it's on DirecTV or the DVD is released.

Like I said, I'm sure it happens…but my spider-sense suspects that it doesn't happen as often as the studios claim; that they're groping to make film piracy look like an "outside job" when in fact, a lot of it emanates from sources much closer to home. Back when the Betamax was new and studio execs were swearing under oath that they could not have their movies available on tape (even authorized releases) without it destroying the motion picture industry, there was a lot of denial. They spun stories that Film Piracy was mainly achieved by larcenous individuals breaking into vaults, sneaking out prints and surreptitiously transferring films to tape for bootlegging purposes. In truth, most of those same execs were having the movies in question transferred to tape so they could watch them in their homes or offices, and those transfers were getting duped on the sly and traded for other movies.

I have no first-hand knowledge that this is what's happening here. But if I were in charge of security at a big motion picture studio and someone yelled at me that their just-released movie was being sold illegally on tape, I might not want to investigate that one too closely. It might be easier for me to say, "Gee, someone must have snuck a camcorder into a screening," than to start rooting around, exposing someone in my company who was possibly involved. Of course, this is just speculation on my part.

I also wonder if anyone is going to make one of those "citizen's arrests" mentioned in the article. Wouldn't it make more sense for the studios to ask patrons merely to report if they see anyone taping the movie, and then contractually require the theater to prosecute, or at least eject anyone who commits this heinous crime? I'm sure the contracts between distributor and exhibitor already require that the latter not permit the film to be copied in any way, and that's how this should be handled. If I were in a theater and I spotted someone lifting wallets or beating up a nun, I'd rush to stop them. But if I witnessed a copyright violation in progress, assuming it wasn't my copyright being violated, I think the most I'd do is go out and tell an usher. And then if they didn't do anything, I'd figure the exhibitor doesn't feel it's worth stopping so why should I? Maybe if theft-by-camcorder is a genuine problem, the movie studios need to crack down on the theaters that aren't stopping it, rather than expect the public to play Kojak and arrest people.

The revival of Cabaret just closed in New York after 2378 performances. One suspects it might have closed a little sooner but that its producers kept it running just long enough to rob Annie of its stature as the eighteenth longest-running show in Broadway history. The top twenty now shapes up as follows…

1. Cats (7485 performances)
2. Les Misérables (6680, closed 5/18/03)
3. The Phantom of the Opera (6650, still running)
4. A Chorus Line (6137)
5. Oh! Calcutta! – revival (5959)
6. Miss Saigon (4097)
7. Beauty and the Beast (3971, still running)
8. 42nd Street (3486)
9. Grease (3388)
10. Fiddler on the Roof (3242)
11. Life With Father (3224)
12. Rent (3191, still running)
13. Tobacco Road (3182)
14. Chicago – revival (2976, still running)
15. Hello, Dolly! (2844)
16. My Fair Lady (2717)
17. The Lion King (2598, still running)
18. Cabaret – revival (2378, closed 1/4/04)
19. Annie (2377)
20. Man of La Mancha (2328)

There are a lot of interesting things about this list, such as the fact that contrary to what you might expect, there's nothing by Neil Simon on it. His longest-running shows to date are Barefoot in the Park and Brighton Beach Memoirs, both tied for 43rd place with 1,530 performances each. (Everyone assumes it's The Odd Couple, which is actually in 97th place with 974 performances. Several other Simon works are ahead of it…Promises Promises with 1291 performances, Plaza Suite with 1097 and They're Playing Our Song with 1081.) There's also no Stephen Sondheim. His longest-running show is the original production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, which is tied with The Odd Couple. Mr. Sondheim is presumably a good sport about the fact that Rent, the one and only show of Jonathan Larson (who was something of a protege) will probably wind up in the top ten.

Another interesting thing is that in the top 20, there are only two non-musicals…one comedy and one drama. If you go down the whole list of long runs, that's not atypical. Also, only five or six of the top twenty are shows that you might call "star-driven," in that their appeal is dependent on having some Big Name on the marquee.

Some people feel the 1976-1989 revival of Oh! Calcutta! should not be on this list. It was done in a small theater…the Edison, which was torn down shortly after it closed. And it was done on an extremely low budget that enabled it to keep running with rather minimal attendance. I once heard an actress who was in it for several years explain that because of the nudity, the producers were able to book a lot of tour groups, few of whom spoke English, to fill the seats. Even then, they sometimes played to off-Broadway numbers of forty or fifty people a night. I don't have an opinion on this but if you want to just pretend it isn't there and mentally renumber everything after, that's fine with me.

It's also interesting to note that The Phantom of the Opera is about to claim the #2 slot, though no one expects it to stick around long enough to topple Cats from its perch. Beauty and the Beast will soon grab the #6 position and probably close before it can move up any higher. Rent will probably move up a notch or two before it closes, as will Chicago. But the lofty status of Cats is likely to remain for a long time. After six and a half years on Broadway, The Lion King is only about a third of the way there, and the next contender (Aida with 1577 performances) may not last out the year.

When The Producers opened, some folks in a burst of enthusiasm suggested it was destined to become the longest-running musical on Broadway. At present, it's at 1128, so it's got a long way to go. At eight performances a week, it will have to run until May of the year 2019 to top Cats. Even if Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick stick around for the next ten years, I don't think it'll make it.

Who created Spider-Man? Well, according to Sid Caesar, it may have been Larry Gelbart and Woody Allen.

Ray Gotto, who passed away last week, was a top sports cartoonist who dabbled in two newspaper strips, both with sporting themes. He did Ozark Ike from 1945 to 1953, then abandoned it to others and drew Cotton Woods from 1955-1958. Ozark Ike was to baseball what Joe Palooka was to boxing, but with more than a few elements of Li'l Abner tossed into the mix…though when baseball was out of season, Ike McBatt was not above going off and playing a little football or basketball. The property was "discovered" and managed by Stephen Slesinger, whose estate is now locked in that infamous battle with the Disney folks over another Slesinger-marketed franchise, Winnie the Pooh.

Gotto's later entry in the funny pages, Cotton Woods, was a slightly more realistic version of the same thing and a better strip but it didn't last as long, probably due to being with a weaker syndicate. (One suspects Gotto created it because of the success of Bernard Malamud's 1952 novel, The Natural, which it slightly resembled. Then again, that was true of Ozark Ike, which came out before Malamud's book.) In any case, after his second strip ended, Gotto returned to his first love, sports cartooning, primarily for The Sporting News. Here, thanks to Merlin Haas who sent me the link, is an obit.

I'm having trouble with a cell phone so I just tried calling my provider, which is Cingular Wireless. I got a recorded announcement telling me they were experiencing problems with their phones.

A lot of folks never see the books but there is a thriving community out there for what are loosely referred to as Christian Comics. A few are so preachy and/or strident that they offend even the makers of other Christian Comics. But most are artfully and expertly done, and with great passion and inspiration. You don't have to wholly or even partially buy their worldview to respect the effort involved, so I'm glad my pal Nate Butler (himself, a darn good cartoonist) has set up this website to salute some of the major creators in this area. Go on over and take a look.

I guess it's been there for a while but I just discovered the online Walt Disney Family Museum, which is kind of an introduction to the man himself. It's run by his family and is filled with rare photos and memorabilia, and you'll want to check out the page of video clips. The ones from the movies are all stuff you've seen before but you might enjoy the clips of Walt himself talking about Disneyland, the Disney TV show and especially the one about Epcot. And while we're at it, a website has been set up at SaveDisney to try and rally support for, I guess, some sort of hostile or benign takeover (however one looks at it) that would unseat the person and business practices of Michael Eisner and install Roy E. Disney in the catbird seat. I suspect Mr. Eisner's continuance with the company is based wholly on how the stock performs for its stockholders, but appeals to tradition and company pride are never out of line.

Over on Pico Boulevard in West Los Angeles, there's a McDonald's just a few blocks east of Overland. It was built on an interesting piece of land…the former location of Heyler Automotive, which was a terrific place to take your car to be fixed. Heyler Automotive was opened in 1937 by John and Emilie Heyler and in the fifties, they turned the operation over to their son, John Junior, more commonly known as Jack. As a mechanic, Jack Heyler was too good to be true. He was nice, he was honest, and he knew his business. When I took my old Buick in to be fixed, if it wasn't something major, he'd do it for nothing or almost nothing. If it was something major, the job was done on-time and correct, and for far less money than someone else might have charged. You didn't even need to ask for an estimate; you just knew you'd get the cheapest price that was humanly possible.

Most of all, Jack was accessible. At any given moment, he had cars all over the place needing immediate repair and at least a dozen employees to supervise. Still, if you needed to talk to him for car-related advice, he would always make the time. At first, I figured I was getting special treatment because I was a neighbor. He and his lovely family lived three doors down the street from me and my parents. But after I sent a few friends to him and they received excellent service without even dropping my name, I was really impressed. Jack Heyler proved it was possible to run a good, benevolent, efficient business and still make money.

Unfortunately, Jack's health began to misfire, most of the woes falling under the category of Progressive Pulmonary Illness. Some of that was almost certainly related to a lifetime of breathing exhaust fumes and handling old motor oil and other toxicities. At about the same time, the McDonald's people decided they really, really wanted to open an outlet in that area, and Heyler Automotive seemed to rest on the only hunk of land that would work. After turning down huge offers for years, Jack finally took one. In 1983, the garage was torn down, the Golden Arches went up, and Jack Heyler retired from the automotive business. Sort of.

He did not sit idle. Oh, he devoted some time to his boat and to his study of old trains and planes. Mainly though, he became a full-time volunteer for many groups, state and national, that sought to regulate automotive safety and emission standards. Even when his respiratory problems became acute and all recreational activities had to be curtailed, Jack dragged himself to meetings (or later, rolled in via wheelchair) to do what he could to lobby for safer, cleaner-burning vehicles and improved handling of chemical waste relating to cars. He was a very effective witness, testifying before various city councils and state legislatures around the country, as well as Congress, and some called him the Father of Onboard Diagnostic Technology II, which is standard on all new cars and which allows emissions (and other) problems to be quickly located and corrected.

John "Jack" Heyler died the day after Christmas at the age of 74. The Los Angeles Times, in a piece that unfortunately cannot be accessed online, said that his efforts resulted "in major improvements in national and international standardization and vehicle emission control." Even before we lost him, the California Automotive Service Councils of California made him the first inductee into their Hall of Fame and the Service Technicians Society established the Jack Heyler Award which encourages leadership in that field. In 2001, he received the prestigious Outstanding Achievement Award from the Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association.

The last time I saw Jack was maybe a year ago. I was visiting my mother and he was being brought home from a medical treatment, gaunt and frail in a wheelchair and with oxygen lines plugged into his nostrils. As they lowered him from the van on a little elevator, he saw me down the block and waved, and I ran down to shake his hand and say hello. He immediately asked me, "How's that Lexus running for you?" I told him, "Great. Almost as good as that old Buick Skylark you used to keep running," and that was about all I had the opportunity to say. If I'd had another moment, I'd have added something like, "I can't tell you how much I admire what you've done, devoting so much time and energy to helping clean up the automotive business. You are as wonderful and decent a human being as I have ever met."

Since I didn't get to tell him, I thought I'd tell you.

Game Show Network is slowly going away on us. In an attempt to get a more contemporary, youth-based image, they'll be changing their name (to what, they haven't yet announced) and programming with a broader definition of gaming. Sooner or later, this will probably be the end of our beloved Black and White Overnight block, but that's changing, anyway. Not long ago, it collapsed from two hours to one. Next week, they stopping rerunning old episodes of To Tell the Truth. The episodes of What's My Line? which fill the second half of the hour will continue for now, but the first half will change. Starting January 9, they'll run Make the Connection for three days in that slot. Therafter, it'll be old installments of Password on weekdays, with Beat the Clock on the weekends. Since I find Password slow-paced and dull, and since I think Beat the Clock (all versions) was the worst game show in the history of mankind, this does not thrill me.

I was a fan of the Legion of Super-Heroes up until about the time everyone became a fan of the Legion of Super-Heroes. That was when the strip got a little too complex for my tastes. I'm sure it was fine for what it was but I could never quite keep track of who was who…a problem I later learned I shared with several folks who wrote or drew the strip. When I was offered the chance to become one of the former, I surveyed the high volume of unread issues in my collection and realized that since Legion fans demanded tight continuity, I'd have to read and absorb every one of those comics just to write my first story. And that, dear friend, explains why I never wrote the Legion of Super-Heroes. Still, I enjoyed most of The Legion Companion, a good, new book that primarily consists of interviews with darn near everyone who ever worked on the comic and is still around to interview…plus there are some posthumous interviews, as well. If you're at all interested in the Legion, you'll want this book, end of review.

Well, I should add one thing since I suspect we'll hear more about this. One of the interviews is with the gent who drew the first Legion story, Al Plastino. Mr. Plastino was a long-time artist for the Superman comics. He was generally the second-string artist and he did a lot of swiping and emulation of whoever was then the first-string guy. When he signed on in the late forties, it was Wayne Boring but by the sixties, it was Curt Swan, and in-between, Plastino did a long, slow morph from aping one to the other. Around '71, he got out of comics and applied his flair for mimicry to newspaper strips, carrying on several by replicating the style of a departed artist. At one point, the list almost included Peanuts.

It is common knowledge that Charles Schulz never used ghosts or assistants during his (almost) half-century drawing Charlie Brown and Snoopy. Less well known is that at one point, someone at the syndicate commissioned Plastino, who was replicating other strips for them, to ghost a couple weeks of Peanuts. They never saw print in newspapers, and rumor has it that Schulz was furious that they were even done. In the interview, Plastino says they were done when Schulz had his heart bypass operation, just in case he took longer to recover than anticipated. I'm not sure this is so. Schulz had that operation in '81 and I'm pretty sure I heard about Plastino doing the pages well before then. Anyway, the Legion Companion has small reproductions of a couple of them and they look like pretty close replicas, closer than most of the MAD Magazine simulations. And as I said, we may hear more about this.

One other thing about the Legion. Neither this book nor Bill Schelly's fine book on Otto Binder (discussed here) tells the story of how that strip came to be, quite the way I heard it. I'm not saying they're wrong but in the next week or so, when I get the time, I'll write up the version that was related to me by someone in a unique position to investigate the matter. Watch this space. And in the meantime, you can order The Legion Companion and most of the other books I'm recommending these days over at the TwoMorrows website…where soon, they will be taking advance orders for my next book from them, Superheroes In My Pants. Can't wait.

One of the many things which amaze me about politics is the unerring capacity for self-delusion evident in some folks. I'm speaking now of the flurry of articles we're now seeing that suggest the next presidential election is pretty much over. They come from all sides. You have your Bush bashers who are staking out their seats at the inauguration of President Dean. You have your Bush supporters explaining how the Democrats have no chance, no how. I think all of these folks are seriously full of bovine excrement.

You'd think that after last time, when we didn't know who was going to be prez for weeks after the election, they'd be a little reticent to decide it's over before one primary vote has been cast. And in truth, I think a lot of folks know it's wide open, and they're just saying what they're saying to (a) boost their guy a little, (b) torture the other side and (c) maybe try to convince themselves.

A lot can happen between now and Election Day. Osama could be captured. There could be another terrorist attack. Someone in the Halliburton or Enron scandals could roll over and testify against someone powerful. The economy could rebound beyond anyone's dreams or plunge to unforeseen depths. We could find those elusive Weapons of Mass Destruction that, as hard as Bush's guys try to pretend otherwise, are the reason much of America got behind the war. If and when Saddam Hussein goes on trial, God only knows what he's going to say. Today, the political sites seem to be buzzing with rumors that the prosecutor in the Valerie Plame scandal is going to indict Karl Rove. If that happens, who can say how that will affect the election? And we can all sit here and name another hundred maybes, any of which could change the dynamic of the election.

It's a long time 'til November. Today, a number of political sites are making that point by linking to this article which appeared much closer to the '92 election than we are now to the '04 one. It basically explains how unlikely it was that Bill Clinton could possibly beat George Bush. More to the point, I recall a Saturday Night Live sketch that appeared in November of '91. It had SNL cast members playing the various Democratic candidates debating over which of them should be the guy to lose to Bush. The skit was built on the premise that no Democrat could possibly win and, of course, one did. (The sketch was so premature, they didn't even have Clinton in it. Phil Hartman played Mario Cuomo, instead.)

Today, a Time/CNN poll says that if the election were held today, Bush would beat Dean by 5%, Lieberman by 6%, Kerry or Gephardt by 9%. That's not much of a margin, given that the poll has a 3 point margin of error, and all those Democrats could still enhance the ticket with a good choice of running mate. If you go state by state, figuring who's likely to get which electoral votes, there are an awful lot that are too close to call.

I may not pay much attention to the election for the next few months. It's going to be too much of a roller coaster ride, and I have the feeling that something is going to happen later this year which will make it a brand new ball game. But I know I'm not going to pay any attention to those who tell me that the election result is predestined, even if…make that especially if they tell me what I want to hear.

Former Congressman Pete McCloskey writes about how Republican attitudes have changed towards environmental issues.

Among the many things I liked about this new book on Dick Giordano was its sub-title: "Changing Comics, One Day at a Time." Michael Eury, who authored the book, said a lot of perceptive things about Dick but that may have been the wisest. Since the late sixties when he ascended to the top editorial position at Charlton, Dick has been changing comics, almost always for the better and almost always without sufficient notice. Charlton was a company that paid its writers and artists abominably and then printed their works on a glorified ditto machine. That Giordano was able to elevate the quality of their wares at all was a stunning achievement.

He then moved to DC where as an editor, he was uncommonly "creator-friendly." He didn't last long in that niche but he definitely had an impact, helping to redefine the editor/talent relationship, again for the better. For a while after, he worked mainly as an artist, often in a partnership with Neal Adams, and gave inspiration and first jobs to a pretty vast array of new talents. (For a time, half the artists in the business were trying to ink like Joe Sinnott and the other half were trying to ink like Dick Giordano.) Eventually, he moved back to the DC offices, at a point where the company had evolved closer to his style of editorial management.

It was all for the better but it was never abrupt. Dick just did what he did and waited for the industry to catch up to him. Michael Eury does a fine job of telling that story and giving us good insight into the man, so I am pleased to recommend Dick Giordano: Changing Comics One Day at a Time, published by my friends at TwoMorrows Publishing. Go to their site to buy a copy…or wait a day or three until I finish recommending several of their new releases.

Every year at the Comic-Con International in San Diego, I get to interview the greats and the near-greats of comic book history. It's always fun but it's never been more fun than a few years ago when I got to chat with Nick Cardy, a wonderful artist best known for Teen Titans, Bat Lash and Aquaman. Nick had never been interviewed in public and was afraid he wouldn't have enough to say, so I added three of his friends to the dais. As you can see, I didn't need 'em. I just asked Nick a question and off he went, delighting the crowd with tales of heroism in World War II and working for DC Comics. Guess which was more dangerous. Anyway, I have just posted two columns made up of highlights from that interview. Click here. You'll be teleported to Part One, and you can find your way from there.

As you may have heard, Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick are back in the Broadway edition of The Producers for a few months. Tickets are just about impossible to get but those who get them should have a very good time.

There have been, we hear, a few alterations in the show, including a change in what may be my favorite line. In the old version, there's a moment where Leo (Broderick) mutters something about them investing in the show they're about to produce, Springtime for Hitler. Max (Lane) gasps in horror and then lectures him, "There are two rules in the theater. Number one, never put your own money in the show! And number two, NEVER PUT YOUR OWN MONEY IN THE SHOW!"

After he yells the second part, Lane now adds, "That's taboo!"

(Explanation for those who don't get it: One of the bigger stories around Broadway is that the Boy George show, Taboo, is fighting for survival. It was completely financed by Rosie O'Donnell.)

My friend Brad Oscar is back as Nathan's stand-by, though he is not playing Franz Liebkind as he did before when Mr. Lane was in the show. Presumably (I haven't talked to him), Brad is lounging around his apartment, taking it easy and being very well-paid to be in town and available, just in case. I hope he resumes a regular lead slot soon because I only got to see him play the Nazi, and would love to see him play Max.