Monthly Archives: December 2006

According to a new study, skyrocketing prices on prescription drugs do not mean we're all subsidizing the development of newer, better drugs for the future. We're just plain getting gouged.

I can't resist linking to more of that Evening at the Pops show with Nathan Lane singing songs that were made famous by Danny Kaye. This is "Lullaby in Ragtime," which Mr. Kaye introduced in the movie, The Five Pennies.

Danny Kaye was wonderful in everything he did on a stage but he was, from all reports, a truly awful person off-stage. Howie Morris, who frequently appeared on Kaye's 1963-1967 CBS variety show, used to practically froth when he told tales of working with the guy. Nevertheless, I fondly remember a night of my childhood — I'm guessing this was around 1960 when I was eight — when my parents and I went to see Mr. Kaye at the Hollywood Bowl. There was this magical man up there who held the rapt attention of 15,000 people…and he just went on and on, topping himself, apparently going way over his scheduled end time and daring Management to come drag him off.

I remember one thing he did. This was a nighttime performance, remember. Out in the audience, it was very dark. He asked everyone to take out a match or a cigarette lighter — this was back when most people carried them — and to light them at the count of three, Then he counted the numbers off and when maybe 10,000 flames suddenly appeared throughout the amphitheater, he began singing, "Happy birthday to you…happy birthday to you…" It got one of the biggest laughs in which I ever participated.

So I always liked Danny Kaye and I was sorry to hear so many unflattering stories about him. I don't doubt they're all valid. I was just sorry to hear them.

On the other hand, I always liked what Gene Wilder says every time I've seen him interviewed about his early career. Someone asks him what he wanted to be when he grew up, long before he grew up. The answer he gives is always, "I wanted to be whatever Danny Kaye was." I heard him say that and then a few days later, I watched Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and I realized he'd made it. I mean, if they'd made that movie twenty years earlier, who would they have cast in the role Wilder played? Danny Kaye, right?

Anyway, here's Nathan Lane singing another one of Danny Kaye's songs even better than Danny Kaye…

Sgt. Bryan Anderson lost three limbs in the Iraq War. Take a moment to read this piece, if not for inspiration then for (perhaps) a more vivid understanding of what that kind of loss can mean.

Here's Jimmy Breslin with a rosy memory of Gerald Ford. Recalling (vaguely) Breslin's book about Watergate which I can't find at the moment, it seems like a rosier portrait than he had of the man then. But that doesn't mean it's not sincere or accurate.

And while you're over there, you might want to read this piece by Breslin about the night Bobby Kennedy was shot. Chilling.

Today is the birthday of Stan Lee…and I don't think I have to throw in any explanation of who Stan Lee is. He's Stan Lee, that's who he is.

I first met Stan in July of 1970. By that, I mean I met him in person, in the offices of Marvel Comics. But of course, I'd met him years earlier in the pages of Marvel Comics and had been so impacted by his cheery editorial style that it didn't feel like meeting someone new. It was like seeing your old pal Stan again, only for the first time.

I'm not sure how you categorize Stan…writer, creator, editor, spokesperson, media legend. Whatever he is, he's the only one of its kind. It's a pleasure to wish him a joyful birthday day and many more.

Incidentally, I said in an item here the other day that Stan receives a nice percentage of revenues from the current spate of Marvel movies. Stan himself dropped me an e-mail to say this isn't so — "I wish," he wrote. But he should. He should also receive royalties every time one of us rips off some element of his style or manner. If he did, it would make the combined revenues of all the Spider-Man and X-Men movies look like chump change.

Anyway, a Happy Stan Lee Day to you all. Take a moment to face front and hang loose. 'Nuff said.

The NBC website has a page called NBC Rewind where they stream full episodes of many of their shows. Usually, they only have one up at a time but at the moment, there are several episodes up of each of several series. The site doesn't seem to run smoothly (neither does NBC) but I did get a couple of the videos to play on my computer, especially when I gave up on Internet Explorer and tried accessing it via Firefox.

This link will take you to the menu where you can pick something to watch if you're so inclined. A couple of folks have written to ask me where they could see Stan Lee's appearance last week on the game show, Identity. Well, you can see it here. Look for Thursday and then look for the second part of the show. The portion with Stan commences a few minutes in.

A year or two ago, there was a wonderful episode of Evening at the Pops on PBS which featured Nathan Lane doing a "Tribute to Danny Kaye." I put that in quotes because I don't think it's much of a tribute to go out there and do most of Kaye's best material (which he didn't write so there's nothing of him on the stage) and to do it, for the most part, better than he did. But it was a fine program and Lane was very, very good. It's one of the shows I've kept on my TiVo for a long time so I could watch it every now and then with just the push of a button. Here's the opening number…

Apart from discussing the wisdom of the Nixon pardon, I don't see a lot of interesting chatter on the web today about former President Gerald Ford, who passed away yesterday. Everyone seems to be using the occasion to advance their particular political cause: Whatever you believe in, his successes or failures were proof of it. I almost suspect this is the last time anyone will have any reason to talk about Gerald Ford.

Most historians say that pardoning Richard M. Nixon (a) cost Ford the 1976 election and (b) was a decision made strictly on the basis of what he believed was right and proper for America. I think I agree with the first one, though I suspect that greater damage was done by the popular media image of Ford — inflamed by Chevy Chase's impressions on Saturday Night Live — of the man as a stumbling idiot. I thought the characterization was unfair but as so often happens with these things, the "victim" sure didn't do a lot to counteract the caricature. And I'm skeptical about the second point. Maybe it was a matter of pure conscience but maybe it was just an attempt to contain the ongoing embarrassment to the Republican party and some of Ford's crony pals, as well. It could even have been both.

Bob Woodward is out today with this article, based on an interview with Ford that was conducted in July of '04. In it, the former Chief Exec says that "very strongly disagreed" with Bush's handling of Iraq, including the fact that we invaded at all. That would be a courageous stance for Ford to take if he'd said it for publication two and half years ago…but what was the point of embargoing it until after his death? Especially since that death could have occurred next year or the year after? It's like Ford was saying, "I feel strongly about this but not strongly enough to have to listen to the criticisms of me for criticizing a current Republican president." If there was any reason for Ford to say it, he should have said it then.

Hey, I've seen It's a Wonderful Life at least a dozen times and I never realized the film was subversive Communist propaganda.

Stan Lee is interviewed on National Public Radio about "realism" in super-hero comics. It runs seven and a half minutes. This will get you in the mood for tomorrow's Stan Lee Day festivities.

I keep getting e-mails asking me to post a photo of myself since the weight reduction surgery. Here's a shot of me at a post-Christmas party last evening surrounded by three very talented men. I'm the tall one. The man on the far left is Ian Whitcomb, the eminent musician and musicologist. Second from the left is Richard Sherman, who (with his brother Robert) wrote most of the great Disney songs, including the tunes for Mary Poppins. At far right is the great satirist and cartoon voice actor, Stan Freberg.

But the most talented person at this party was none of the guys around me. There was a gentleman there making balloon animals out of ordinary skinny balloons, and guests were challenging him to replicate classic cartoon characters. Here we see Jerry Beck — one of the Brewmasters of the fine website, Cartoon Brew — showing us what he got when he asked the balloon artist to whip up a Droopy. And this wasn't even the most amazing balloon creation of the evening. The brilliant glamour artist Olivia De Berardinis, whose stunningly beautiful women appear regularly in Playboy in the old Vargas slot, went home with a balloon likeness of Bettie Page.

The artisan who rose to these challenges was Buster Balloon and here's his website. If you have a party in Southern California and you want an entertainer who'll delight your guests, hire this man. And invite me so I can see him work his magic again. (He also created a Balloon Elvis for someone. If you ferret around on his site, you'll find a photo of him with a similar balloon sculpture.)

Back in my early teen years, I used to make balloon animals at birthday parties for younger kids. I'd make a horsie and then have to tell everyone which of the five possibilities was the head. So I'm in awe of someone who can do it well and Buster is the best I've ever seen. Just had to share that with you all.

I'm not going to embed this because it's an hour and ten minutes long…but some of you might be interested in the video of Stephen Colbert's appearance before the Institute of Politics at Harvard. It's a very good interview and conversation and you can watch it on Google Video on this page.

This is the "Sue Me" number from the 1992 Broadway revival of Guys and Dolls, which I saw and which was quite a wonderful production. Playing Miss Adelaide is Faith Prince. Playing Nathan Detroit is Nathan Lane. This was before most people knew who Nathan Lane was…and you can see why that situation didn't last long.

The New Yorker resurrects a 2002 profile of The Hardest Working Man in Show Business, Mr. James Brown.

Ezra Klein on the intolerable health care system in this country. This is going to be a big issue in the next few years and we will eventually see almost everyone who ever opposed Universal Health Care not only not opposing it but taking credit for whatever progress is made in that area.