Monthly Archives: November 2007

One of my favorite political-type publications, The New Republic, has a nice piece up about the Writers Guild Strike. And they really found a wise and perceptive expert to write it for them.

The first thing I should tell you about Xanadu, the musical I saw last Saturday night on Broadway, is that the curtain speech was worth the price of admission. Many shows have these fund-raising speeches in which a cast member asks you to donate as you exit, the money going to a worthy charity called Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. At Xanadu, the pitch was delivered by a lady named Jackie Hoffman, who plays two roles in the show. Bookmark my words: Any day now, someone's going to star this lady in a sitcom or maybe even a talk show and make an indecent amount of money. She was pretty funny in the show, too.

I never saw the movie of the same name but the creators of the stage version apparently decided to take its best part (the songs, mostly) and mock its worst elements, and the whole thing is done with such an infectious energy that you kinda, sorta, have to love it. I did, anyway. There's a ten member cast and here, I'll list them all: Cheyenne Jackson, Curtis Holbrook, Anika Larsen, Kenita Miller, Annie Golden (subbing for Mary Testa), Jackie Hoffman, André Ward, Kerry Butler, Peter Samuel (understudy in for Tony Roberts) and Marty Thomas. Butler and Jackson are the stars, with the former filling the Olivia Newton-John role. One of the biggest laughs I've ever heard in a theater erupted at a point when Ms. Butler was singing at the edge of the stage in her roller skates — there's a lot of skating in the show — and she suddenly looked for all the world like the key art from the movie poster — windswept hair and all. Then you noticed a stagehand at the edge of the stage, deliberately visible and holding a large electric fan on her to produce that effect.

The plot is…oh, heck. The plot's the plot of the movie. You can look it up in Leonard's book — something to do with muses from ancient mythology and one muse falling in love with a guy who wants to open a roller disco. This is set in the early eighties and at one point, the muses bemoan that America is entering a period of bad art where even the theater will flounder with shows based on bad movies and vapid pop tunes. How can you not love a movie that says that about its own bloodline?

It all breezes along quickly…it's a short, intermissionless show that seems to be catching on, partly because almost everything else on Broadway is closed due to the strike, but also because it's just a great fun show. I can't help but note that with its lower budget and small cast, it's a nice counterpoint to Young Frankenstein. I liked that a lot, too but I think I have more admiration for Xanadu. It was just as entertaining but in terms of budget, they did just as much with so much less. Plus, unlike the Mel Brooks extravaganza, they started out with a movie that nobody really liked very much.

Hello…and sorry about the frantic game of Beat the Clock in the last posting. You'd think that in midtown Manhattan, you could get a decent Internet connection…and you can at all the local Burger Kings. But in the Hotel Pennsylvania, it's a bit more difficult.

Let me back up and go into more detail about some parts of my trip. This is my first time in New York since…well, I think since the last Mel Brooks musical opened. I'd forgotten the bustling foot traffic, the ubiquitous smell of honey-roasted nuts and chicken skewers on every corner, and the impossibly narrow and steep stairways one must occasionally handle. Apart from those things and wet weather, I like everything about the town. And even the bustling foot traffic can be enjoyable if you actually know where you're going and can bustle along with the rest of 'em.

I told you about Young Frankenstein and am about to tell you about Xanadu. Not much to add about Christine Pedi's wonderful cabaret act other than to lament there aren't more good rooms for folks like her. We could certainly use a few more of them in Los Angeles.

The comic convention was jammed. It sprawled over several floors of a once-proud hotel with the longest lines being for Hayden Panettiere and Kristen Bell, and you'll have to excuse me for being more excited at the presence of Soupy Sales and Larry Storch. Among those I talked with: Alan Kupperberg, Darwyn Cooke, Jimmy Palmiotti, Alan Weiss, Irwin Hasen, Kyle Baker, Robin and Elayne Riggs, Heidi MacDonald, Michael Netzer, Danny Fingeroth, Jim Salicrup, Ken Gale, Peter David, Peter Sanderson, Rich Johnston, Steve Saffel and Dave Shelton, plus we had a last minute surprise appearance from Don McGregor and some fine conversations with the folks who operate the online Jack Kirby Museum, Rand Hoppe and Richard Bensam. Forgive me, all those I omitted. It was especially great to see Dick Ayers, Joe Sinnott, Herb Trimpe and Gary Friedrich again.

A lot of folks asked me about my Jack Kirby book so here's the deal: It's done and I hope to see some proofs tomorrow morning before I get on a plane for Ohio. The official release date is now March of '08 but we may see copies before February is out.

Oh, you'll like this. Everyone who stays at the Hotel Pennsylvania receives a little pocket-size fold-out map of New York that also contains a big ad for the Broadway show, Hairspray. Here's what it looks like folded out, and you'll notice there's a pull quote from critic Clive Barnes that says, "A great big fat gorgeous hit!"

That's a great quote until you fold up the map. I noticed that when you fold it along the pre-existing creases (in other words, exactly the way you're supposed to fold it), it looks like this…

Someone owes Al Jaffee a royalty.

I think that's about everything for now. As I think of more things, you'll see them up here.

Good A.M. to you all and my apologies for not posting for a while. As I think I mentioned, I'm in a hotel with the kind of Internet connectivity you find in Amish country. I've also been more than a little busy. Here's a brief rundown on what I've been up to, and some of these warrant elaboration at a later date…

Thursday morning, it was raining. Sergio Aragonés and I hiked over to the offices of MAD magazine and DC Comics with H2O pelting us all the way. Later, I went out and did some rain-drenched bi-coastal picketing of the Viacom Building in Times Square. The WGAe members with whom I chatted were happy to have a West Coast guy in their midst and the mood on the line was upbeat and determined despite the weather.

A nice time at MAD, a nice time at DC Comics (more to come about both stops) and then Carolyn and I dined at one of our favorite restaurants, the Oyster Bar in Grand Central Station, and then it was off to Young Frankenstein.

Friday, we had dry but very cold weather in New York. I spent the day at the offices of Harry N. Abrams, Inc., the folks publishing my upcoming book on one Jack Kirby. Everything looks to be on schedule for a release in February, 2008. Again, more of this to come when I have a better 'net connection. Then I checked in at the National/Big Apple Convention for a few hours. In the evening, Carolyn and I dined with her friend Sue at Keen's Chop House, a venerable and fine institution. (Turned out, we missed running into the fine writer-artist Darwyn Cooke by about five minutes. He got there just after we left, as I found out chatting with him the next day.)

Later, we went to see my friend Christine Pedi (this person) doing her wonderful act at The Metropolitan Room. I'll have to tell you more about Christine soon, too. (I'm rushing through all this because I lose this Internet connection in six minutes.)

Saturday, I spent the day at the comic convention, including a fine panel with Joe Sinnott, Dick Ayers, Herb Trimpe, Gary Friedrich and a surprise e-mail appearance by Stan Lee. Stan chanced to e-mail me during the panel. I got it on my Blackberry and e-mailed him back to get a statement and…well, I'll tell you all about it when I have more than four minutes left. I'll tell you about all the other folks I talked to and things I saw and did.

Evening: Carolyn, Richard Howell and I had a fine time at a musical based on the movie, Xanadu. Leonard Maltin recommended it to me and once more, I've learned to trust Leonard.

I'm down to two minutes so will have to flesh this out with the next report. Sorry for the fast typing and any typos you see. I have one minute left so I'd better post this. Bye.

I haven't posted one of these for a while so here goes. This is another one of those great Superman cartoons that were produced by the Max Fleischer cartoon studio. Did I ever mention that when Paramount went to the Fleischer Brothers and asked them to whip up some animated cartoons of the then-new comic book character, the brothers weren't interested? That they quoted a high price tag so as to discourage Paramount? And then Paramount agreed to pay it? The money sure wound up showing on the screen.

This is Superman and the Magnetic Telescope, which was released on April 24, 1942. It still seems to be Bud Collyer doing the voice of Superman and Clark, with Joan Alexander as Lois…and I don't recognize any of the other players. Here you go…

Carolyn and I had a very good time at Young Frankenstein. As much as at the previous Mel Brooks musical, The Producers? No, but if I spend my life expecting that, I'm going to be disappointed a lot. Just as you'll be disappointed by the stage version of Young Frankenstein if you go in expecting the movie. The film's best joke was for me, the slavish imitation of the look 'n' feel of an old Universal horror film. That, of course, isn't even attempted here. In fact, quite the opposite. The musical version is lavish and colorful and I don't know what they spent on the sets and special effects but they wouldn't have spent it if they hadn't thought this thing was going to run for many years on Broadway.

They could be right. There are moments that are disappointing and a few musical numbers that fall surprisingly flat. But there are also enough moments when the show is as good as you want it to be — the number that closes the first act, for instance. (I'll bet that's the one they do on the Tonys next year.) Or the "Puttin' on the Ritz" number where the Monster goes the full Fred Astaire route. Shuler Hensley's portrayal of the Monster is surprisingly affecting, given how he's burdened with the clunky makeup and costume, and has to grunt most of his role.

I really liked Roger Bart in what we might call the Gene Wilder role…and by the way, could Mr. Wilder's name be any smaller on the posters? The buzz in the theatrical community was that Bart was electric during the show's Seattle tryouts but owing to back problems, not quite as fabulous in New York. If that's so, he seems to have gotten over it. The "stealing the show" award though is probably evenly split between Christopher Fitzgerald in the role originated by Marty Feldman, and Andrea Martin playing Frau Blücher (horse whinny), the role played by Cloris Leachman in the film. Fred Applegate plays two roles — the local constabulary (the Ken Mars part) and the hermit (Gene Hackman in the film). In the latter, he has a short but effective number that stops the show.

Of course, there's no stopping this show. The musical numbers aren't up to the standards of Broadway's best — or even Mel Brooks's previous. But the story is fun and the energy is there and the sets and staging are incredible, and the whole thing managed to surprise me (in a good way) often enough that I'll probably go see it again some time when it isn't like docking the Space Shuttle to get tickets. On the other hand, I don't think I'll be playing the cast album a lot. This is one where you kinda have to be there.

Missed a whole day of weblogging whilst travelling. American Airlines did an acceptable job of getting us to JFK Airport, which is to say the flight took off 45 minutes late but only arrived 15 minutes after the scheduled hour. We have, however, the worst hotel room I've ever had in New York…and if you remember the one I had in '85, you can imagine how horrible this one is.

Well, some of you may not remember the one I had in 1985 but I'll never forget it. I spent my whole stay searching for the prize because I believed that every Crackerjacks box came with a prize in it. This year's room is smaller…and stickier. It's in the same hotel I stayed in when I attended my first comic book convention, which was back in 1970. The place has not been cleaned since.

Among the room's other deficiencies, the High Speed Internet Connection is a Dixie Cup and a string…which explains why I'm way behind on e-mail, my friends.

Dinner was at a Ruby Tuesday in Times Square where I had an overdone hamburger and, after I informed the manager, an underdone apology. You know, I believe saying "I'm sorry" is among the most important things a person must say in this world from time to time but you have to mean it and not just lip-sync the words to get rid of someone who's been wronged. I wasn't expecting a refund or even one of those coupons they give you for a free dessert next time you come in and buy something. I was just expecting some interest in my burger and maybe some inkling that she was going to have a word with the chef about not cooking the meat until it could pass for a rice cake.

That all happened yesterday. Today's anecdotes will have to wait until later. We're off to see Young Frankenstein tonight. I'll report on that, too.

Speaking of speakers: Lee Hester, who runs a couple of fine comic book shops in California, was at the CAPS Banquet the other night when Stan Lee was honored for…well, partly for his work and partly for just being Stan. Mr. Hester shot some video of Stan's acceptance speech and an excerpt from that speech is our video link for today. The gentleman standing to the left in the frame is CAPS President Bill Morrison and you can catch glimpses of me standing at the right.

In the midst of the current labor unrest in the business I sometimes like to call Show Business, some of you might be interested in a little background on the Writers Guild and how tough it was to get it started. Pat Sierchio wrote an article for the Guild's magazine that lays it out pretty well.

And I'll even toss in my favorite anecdote about the formation of the Writers Guild, which involved Louis B. Mayer. A lot of people still think the legendary Mayer was the president of M.G.M., the movie studio he ran. Actually, during that era, a man named Nick Schenck was president. Mayer was just the guy who ran the studio.

Okay, so the Screenwriters Guild has just been formed and several other unions are springing up on the lot. This is shortly after the bombing at Pearl Harbor and a wave of patriotism and a willingness to sacrifice has swept the nation. Mayer calls all the studio employees to a big meeting, which is held at lunch hour so it's on the employees' time, not his. He gets up in front of them and makes an impassioned speech about how the U.S. is in trouble and there are menaces that must be fought and how since God blesses America, it will win but cannot take that for granted. Everyone must give maximum effort in everything they do and that includes the making of movies to entertain the country and the troops. It would be unreasonable and even treasonous if the unions — especially that new Screenwriters' one — did anything to impeded production or cost the studio money. Not in time of war.

It's a very convincing speech and some people in the room even buy it. And then, confident he's closed the deal, Mayer proposes a toast. Everyone in the hall picks up a glass of something liquid and raises it as Mayer proclaims…

"Ladies and gentlemen, I offer you a toast to our great president…Nicholas M. Schenck."

The other day here, we were discussing this video clip which ends with Judy Garland singing one note for an amazingly (but not impossible) long time. I wondered if it was an audio trick and if anyone had inside info to say for sure. Well, no one did…but about eighty people, some of them audio engineers, wrote to say that it looked pretty phony to them. No one wrote to say they thought she really sang that last note live. The majority isn't always right but I think, in this case, I go with them.

I don't think I've mentioned it lately but I have a book coming out in February. It was supposed to be out this Christmas but doing it right (or as "right" as any book by me is likely to ever be) took a little longer than expected. Everything is presently on track for a February release.

The book is called Kirby: King of Comics. It is not (repeat: NOT) my long-awaited exhaustive biography of comic book legend Jack Kirby that will tell you what he had for lunch on the first Tuesday in August of 1953 — which, by the way, was a chicken salad sandwich on whole wheat toast with a side of macaroni salad and a cup of coffee, black. That book is still a few years off.

This book is a celebratory art book and bio of Jack that covers his entire career but not in microscopic detail. I tracked down the original art to many of my favorite Kirby covers and pages and we shot right off the originals and it's from the Harry N. Abrams company, so that should give you some idea of the quality and prestige of the whole thing. We always knew Jack deserved to be hailed as one of the great American illustrators of all time and now there's a volume that treats him as such.

I'll be talking more about the book here in the months to come. The only reason I'm mentioning it right now is to point you to this interview that Peter Sanderson did with me for Publishers Weekly. And if it motivates you to order the thing, here's a link by which you can do that.

John Edwards keeps being asked if he'll back Hillary Clinton if, as does not seem impossible, she is the Democratic Presidential Nominee. He keeps avoiding direct answers saying (at most), things like "I fully expect to support the Democratic nominee, and I fully expect to be the Democratic nominee."

Okay, fine. We all understand you're running against the lady and don't want to say, "Of course, she'd be a great president." But John, you're really running against all the things Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney and most of the guys on that side of the ballot want to do, which is continue a lot of the "disastrous" (your adjective) policies of George W. Bush while making it seem like there's a new attitude in the White House. If you really believe that any of those policies and G.O.P. objectives would be as bad as you say, then Hillary by even the worst measure would be preferable. By not saying strongly you'd support her, you're trivializing your own criticisms of all the things Republicans stand for and you say you don't.

I'm not wild about Hillary Clinton in the White House. Or Edwards or Barack Obama. Once upon a time, I might even have favored Giuliani or McCain over a couple of those folks. But now with Rudy and John M. pandering to the ultra-right and pledging to out-tough (but apparently not out-think) Bush on Iran, I don't see any possible Democratic/Republican match-ups that would leave me a choice but to vote for the Democrat. Does Edwards? If he does, I wish he'd cue me in. If not, he shouldn't make it sound like he'd throw his support that way only because he had to.

Patrick Goldstein writes one of the sharpest pieces I've read yet on the WGA strike. That's what this fight is all about, people.

If you ever lost money at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas and dreamed of seeing someone blow the place up, now's your chance. This site has all sorts of footage of this morning's explosion/implosion.

The Frontier was the first hotel I ever stayed in during a visit to that town. This was back in the eighties. It was a dump then and it never got any better. Despite a great location and cheap rooms, a lot of people shunned it as a place to stay and once Siegfried and Roy moved over to the Mirage and the Frontier closed its showroom, most folks saw no reason to even venture inside. The few times I did, I never found one. It's sad seeing yet another part of Vegas history disappear but it was sadder to see this one rotting away there the last few decades.

In its place will go a multimillion dollar mega-resort…which is much-needed since they haven't built a new multimillion dollar mega-resort in Vegas for almost a month now and the nearest one is all the way across the street. The developers are promising "one of the most beautiful, luxurious hotels in the world" and that's fine. But I can't help think that they would do just fine if they built a place that looked like the Frontier or the Sands in their heydays, called it "Old Vegas" and had the dealers in tuxedos and the spirit of Frank, Dean and Sammy hovering over it all.

Someone at NBC is being awfully stubborn about admitting there's a Writers Guild strike on. I'm on a list that brings me press releases from the network and, for example, I just got this one with a "schedule update" for Late Night With Conan O'Brien. The asterisks denote a change from the previous release…

DAILY UPDATED LISTINGS FOR NBC'S LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O'BRIEN

UPDATED NOVEMBER 13

(Mondays – Fridays, 12:35 a.m. ET – 1:35 a.m. ET)

**(REPEAT) Tuesday, November 13 – Actress Glenn Close, actor Michael Cera, musical guest Modest Mouse

Wednesday, November 14 – Actor Jason Bateman, actor Brian Posehn, musical guest Plain White T's

Thursday, November 15 – Actor Benjamin Bratt, tennis player Venus Williams

Friday, November 16 – Actor Jonah Hill, actor Timothy Olyphant, and entertainer Fonzworth Bentley

In other words, now that it's Tuesday morning, we're grudgingly announcing that tonight's show will be a rerun but we're still pretending that tomorrow night's may actually be a new episode with guests Jason Bateman, Brian Posehn and Plain White T's. No writers are working on that episode and Conan may not even be in town. There are no talks going on at the moment that could conceivably settle the WGA strike before the day is out and I kinda doubt Jason, Brian and the T's are keeping the time open to tape Conan tomorrow. Still, we're not ruling out the possibility that everything could still come together and the show could go on.

By the way: I may be the only person in the world who gets annoyed by this but the press release is wrong in another way. Late Night With Conan O'Brien is not on Mondays through Fridays. It's on Tuesdays through Saturdays. I know that a show that starts shortly after Midnight feels like it's part of the preceding day but it isn't and in a world where people set VCRs or TiVos, this matters a little, perhaps only to me.