Monthly Archives: May 2009

A superb comic actor has left us. Dominick "Dom" DeLuise died last night for reasons that have not been announced but which presumably have something to do with his weight. The last few times I saw him, it was always a bittersweet experience. You loved Dom, because he was so funny and so friendly and in that sense, there was just a joy to be in his presence. But because you loved him, it was so sad to see him struggling to walk, straining to get up, sweating at the slightest effort. One of the reasons I lost all that weight was because of the chilling example he set.

The obits are just starting to hit the wire services and I'll let them tell his story and list all the funny movies and TV shows he was in. I'm just going to use this occasion to tell an anecdote about Dom…

Around 15 years ago, maybe a bit longer, I was asked to write an animated feature based on an idea Dom had…a pretty good idea, too. The company that was going to make it got into trouble when another film of theirs bombed so Dom's project never got made or even written…but at the time of this story, it was darn near a "go" project. Also at the time of this story, Dom was (a) recovering from hip replacement surgery and (b) rehearsing for a production of the musical of Little Shop of Horrors, which he was to do at the Long Beach Civic Auditorium for a couple of weeks.

Also involved in the movie project was a brilliant, Oscar-winning composer named Al Kasha. Dom invited us to see him in the show so I drove down to Long Beach one evening with Al and his wife. We'd planned to dine first at a world-class restaurant not far from the auditorium but traffic on the 405 was fender-to-bumper-to-fender and by the time we hit Long Beach, there wasn't time enough to do that. Instead, we ducked into a little coffee shop for a fast bite. The food was awful and I recall my spider-sense telling me that if I was smart, I wouldn't finish the entree before me. I also recall thinking, "Hey, I gotta eat," and that overruling my spider-sense. I would regret that overruling.

Dom had arranged great seats for us — second row center, I think. He was playing Mushnick in the show…not a huge role but if you came to see Dom DeLuise, you would not be disappointed. What might mitigate the thrill was that because of his hip surgery, he was doing the show on crutches. It didn't seem to bother him but it seemed to bother, or at least unnerve the audience.

The show started…a very fine production, I must say. The lady playing Audrey was especially good. Her name was Eydie Alison and as these things go in my life, we later became good friends. Soon after, I began writing songs with a gifted musician named Brad Ellis and when he introduced me to the lady in his life, she turned out to be Eydie. I forget who else was in the show but they were all terrific. Or at least they were in the portions of the show I saw.

About halfway through the number, "Da-Doo," I realized my stomach was going all Mt. St. Helens on me. I whispered assurances to the Kashas that though my car keys and I might disappear for a while, I was not going to abandon them in Long Beach. Then I bee-lined it to the men's room where I spent, literally, the next hour making roughly the same noises Felix Unger used to open his ears. I returned shakily to my seat just as "Suddenly Seymour" was starting and I enjoyed the rest of what I saw.

After the show, we went backstage to see Dom. We walked into his dressing room and the first thing he said to me was, in an accusatory tone, "Where'd you go?"

I said, "Huh?" Or something equally witty.

He said, "You left during 'Da-Doo' and you came back just before 'Suddenly Seymour.'" What happened?" I explained, and of course he accepted my explanation and felt sorry for me. But I was stunned. With all that man had to do on stage, he was that conscious of his guests in the audience. He wasn't even in either of those scenes. He'd been in the wings or someplace, peeking out to see if we were enjoying the proceedings. He was actually upset at the thought that I'd been so displeased that I walked out on it.

Naturally, we had to give him a detailed critique of everything, including his performance. Without fibbing or exaggerating, we praised everything but I added, "The only negative was those crutches, Dom. The audience loves you so much, they don't want to see you on them. It's a little uncomfortable to see you moving about on the stage that way…especially the scene where you toss them aside and get into the plant. We were all worried you were going to fall or something."

He said, "I know, I know. I don't know what to do about that. I need them for another month or so and then I'm going to have the other hip done so I'll be on crutches again for a while. But I want to work. In fact, I just got a great offer from a theater…any play I choose, the director of my choice…"

I had a quick thought. "Why don't you do The Man Who Came to Dinner? The Kaufman and Hart play?" Dom said he'd never read it so I explained to him that for 98% of the play, the role he'd play, Sheridan Whiteside, is in a wheelchair. The Kashas agreed that was a great idea and Dom said, "I'll get a copy of it tomorrow."

The next time we had a meeting, I asked him about it. He said, "I read it and I don't think I want to do it. The guy's a son-of-a-bitch." We debated that a bit and I pointed out that the character he was playing in Little Shop of Horrors was pretty mean, more so than Whiteside. But Dom had made up his mind.

At the time, I thought he was just intimidated by how much dialogue the character has. More likely though, he was just following his comic instincts — the instincts on which his long, successful career was based. Dom usually knew what he was doing and did it very, very well. It wasn't just the public that loved him. Directors and other performers did, too. Mel Brooks was always trying to get Dom into his movies. Burt Reynolds, too. There was a reason.

The guy was just funny. It was hard to be the funniest thing in Blazing Saddles but he was. I used to go over and watch him rehearse for The Dean Martin Show. Dean wasn't at these rehearsals so it was hard to say if a sketch was any good…but no one worried if Dom was in it. How could something not be amusing with Dom DeLuise in it? He was also a great chef and a large-hearted man who loved to feed those around him. He served me his lasagna once. It was superb and it explained a lot about why he got as large as he did. If you could cook like that, you'd have trouble not eating that food every day.

I suspect his skills in comedy and food preparation came from much the same place — that relentless, fastidious desire to please those around him, to make people happy. He sure did. My pal Ken Plume did a great, long interview with him in 2004 and there's some of that in there.

I should close this with Dom in action. Here he is in his svelter days, showing Johnny Carson a trick. They'd obviously planned to turn the whole thing into an egg fight but I don't think they planned a lot of what happened. It's Johnny and Dom winging it, and it shows how naturally hilarious they both could be…

I don't think there's anything wrong with a cartoonist merchandising his work in any legal way. I never thought less of Peanuts because Snoopy appeared on every single commercial product ever invented except for condoms, diarrhea medicine and lima beans. I therefore have no snide remarks about the fact that it will soon be possible to purchase Hi-Top sneakers decorated with images on Robert Crumb's Mr. Natural. But some who remember the underground comics movement of the sixties will take it as a reminder that things have changed since then.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi proclaimed on Friday that he was the world's most popular leader.

Sounds like someone else is going to have to apologize to Rush Limbaugh.

The L.A. Times looks at an aspect of the comedy writing biz that doesn't get much attention: Freelancers who sell jokes to TV shows on a piecework basis. Above and beyond their staff writers, some shows get material that way…and it kinda/sorta violates the Writers Guild contract in a way that's rarely enforced. One problem — and the Times piece mentions this but I think understates the dilemma it presents — is this: A writer who faxes or e-mails jokes in to Jay Leno might be writing for Jay's Tonight Show monologue…or he might be writing for the stand-up act that Jay does for live audiences. The latter is not covered by the Writers Guild while the former is. So if Jay buys it for his act and later uses it on the show…?

I used to do a little of this, starting way back when Dean Martin's head writer, Harry Crane, bought a couple of lines from me that were used on one of Dino's roasts. Later, I sent some jokes — mostly topical stuff for which I had no other outlet before it got stale — in to late night shows via friends who were on staff. I got paid for the Dean Martin lines but not for the other stuff, which I thought of more like doing a favor for a pal. I'm pretty militant that professional writers should always get paid for their work…but there was a certain thrill to writing a joke and hearing it on the air less than 24 hours later. Also, of course, jokes are sometimes political…and to the extent a monologue on a TV show influences popular opinion, it's nice to nudge things in the direction of your beliefs. But I haven't done it in quite a while and doubt I ever will again.

I generally side with my pal Dawna Kaufmann, who's quoted in the article. It's hardly the biggest injustice my guild oughta be rectifying but that doesn't mean they should do nothing.

I spent some time yesterday afternoon opening boxes of comics that folks have sent in for Len Wein. I was doing this with the aid of my trusty assistant…who I am sadly losing to a TV writing job. Why would she want to do something like that when she can help me open crates of Brother Voodoo comics?

Two quick observations. One is that a lot of folks are shipping me comics they'd never told me (via e-mail) that they were sending…so Len is going to wind up with some duplicates because other people have also sent those comics. We're going to figure out something fair to do with duplicates because it's darn near impossible to just return them. (You should see the filing system we've got going on my office floor.) I think we'll attempt to trade them to dealers for other comics we need and if we can't manage that, they'll be sold off for or donated to some worthy charity. Nothing will go to waste.

Other quick observation: I don't know if everyone loved the Legends mini-series Len did in 1986-1987 or hated it but everyone wants to send a set. I wrote to one person and told him we already had one but we'd like some of the other comics he offered. He wrote back that we couldn't have the other comics unless we also took his collection of Legends.

Anyway, I've uploaded an updated list to the "Let's Restore Len Wein's Comic Book Collection" Project website. As you can see, we've made great progress…way more than I was expecting. I was thinking about some major promotion/collection at this year's Comic-Con International but I suspect we'll have restored the collection before then. At this rate, we might do it by June. Thanks to all of you for proving that a diet of super-hero comics creates heroic, generous people.

Some bloggers are upset because on a morning news show today, Arlen Specter said, "I did not say I would be a loyal Democrat." Well, when has Arlen Specter ever been a loyal Anything? I mean, apart from loyalty to himself, which kind of goes without saying. For a long time, Specter was a Republican who sometimes voted with the Democrats and before that, he was a Democrat who sometimes voted with the Republicans. He's probably back to that again…and you know what? I don't think that's the worst thing in the world. The problem isn't that Specter breaks party ranks. It's that almost no one else ever does. I think Specter's a frequent weasel but I'm not sure that's worse than mindlessly following your party's line.

As you probably know, I've organized the "Let's Restore Len Wein's Comic Book Collection" Project. My buddies Len Wein and Chris Valada lost their home in a recent fire — the remnants of the structure are being demolished tomorrow — and among the losses were Len's stash of comics he's written. Through the good graces of friends and fans donating copies, we're attempting to amass one of everything for him.

Len has written a lot of comics…and I think he did this just to make my task more difficult. Anyway, we're off to a grand start. Yesterday, for the first time since we started this, I sent my assistant to my mail drop to bring home the first wave of packages. There were about two dozen there…some containing a comic or two, some containing hundreds. It'll be a few days before we can catalog them all and update our online list of what we have and what we still need…but know that the response has been magnificent. I never again will be able to make my little jokes about how comic fans are the cheapest people in the world.