Monthly Archives: May 2009

And this one's from David Anthony…

I hope you will indulge a response to your critique of beauty pageants in general and Miss America in particular. I have found your posts to be thought-provoking and welcoming of criticism, so you will forgive me for feeling the need to dispute your characterization of Miss America, but one might say you asked for it with your kindness.

I spent the better part of a year accompanying a Miss America local title holder (someone who is eligible to compete for a state title but does not win) as she made presentations and attended events throughout a major metro area (I am purposely being vague so as not to appear as though I am writing to inflate my own importance or promote one local pageant over another). While the ribbon cuttings and celebrity events were a great time, the other 75% of the appearances were visits to hospitals and schools where children and adults would light up when they interacted with the title holder. I will never forget many of the reactions and expressions of gratitude for acts as small as singing a song or reading a children's book. Particularly poignant in a time where much celebrity is based on a sex tape or topless photoshoot, the Miss America program offers hundreds of girls the chance to go out into their communities and make a difference (albeit limited) in other people's lives.

It's true that many of these girls fail to realize the value of truly interactive appearances and instead book only the ribbon-cuttings and other celeb events. Fortunately, the majority choose to spend their time making other people happy, and having seen what I've seen and met so many of these truly exceptional women, I will happily defend the Miss America program against any charges of obsolescence or shallowness.

Please note, I have no experience with Miss USA (the Trump pageant system), and do not wish my comments to reflect on that organization in a positive or negative light. Thank you for your time and your blog.

You know, I'm glad you sent that, David. It's easy to forget that some folks are genuinely thrilled to meet Miss America or Miss North Dakota or Miss Lansing, Michigan or whatever. It's also easy to forget that some of those crownings represent golden moments in some woman's life and great joy for their families and friends. I wouldn't dismiss any of that.

I do think however that Miss America and similar pageants aren't as meaningful as they once were…and you can look at the low ratings and see proof of that. Perhaps that didn't have to happen if the pageant operators had allowed their contests to evolve with time. Or perhaps it was inevitable in a time when females are taken a lot more seriously for reasons other than their looks. But hey, where and when it still makes people happy, that's great.

Personally, I never liked those contests. It always struck me as cruel in a way that at the Miss America pageant, one stunning woman was going to be almost arbitrarily crowned and 49 stunning women were going to go home as "losers." Later, when I was writing a lot of variety shows on TV, I was asked twice to write beauty pageants (neither time, the Miss America one) and met with their producers. Both times, the show they wanted didn't sound like something I wanted to do so I passed. Both sets of producers made it clear they were out to promote a product — a temporary celebrity they could "own" for a year and rent out to christen the new Olive Garden at the mall or something. But you're right that within the context of that job, a lady could do a fair amount of good. Thanks for reminding me of that.

The other day here, in a kind of negative defense of the Miss California who came out against gay marriage, I said "Carrie Prejean may be a right-wing bigot." I was basing that as much on some of her recent interviews as what she said at the pageant. Apparently now, she's telling interviewers that when she was asked about the topic at the beauty contest, that was Satan tempting her.

In the last twenty-four hours, I've received a dozen nearly-identical messages. In fact, five were verbatim, including the same typo, and were apparently cut-and-pasted from the same source. Here, from Gary Sobel, is one of the messages that at least put the argument slightly into his own words…

You called Carrie Prejean a "right-wing bigot" for her statement in the beauty pageant that said, "In my country, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there, but that's how I was raised."

The President you voted for said, "I'm a Christian. And so, although I try not to have my religious beliefs dominate or determine my political views on this issue…my religious beliefs say that marriage is something sanctified between a man and a woman."

So in your view, is Barack Obama a right-wing bigot?

Obviously not…since just about everything about him seems to enrage people even you'd agree were right-wing bigots. But no, I don't think just opposing gay marriage makes someone a right-wing bigot.

I was disappointed in Obama when he said that, even though his phrasing left a fair amount of wiggle room. I was disappointed because I don't think he believes that…though in an encouraging sign, I saw an awful lot of Conservative pundits (here's one) try to argue that he was lying about his position or "flip-flopping" to get votes. So one difference between Ms. Prejean and Mr. Obama is that the latter does have some history of supporting gay rights, opposing Proposition 8 and pledging to repeal "Don't ask, don't tell." And of course, that means a lot coming from him since unlike Miss California, he's in a position to actually change laws and policies. Barack Obama might do a lot for those folks, in spite of that statement. Miss California won't.

Sadly perhaps, I am cynical enough about politics to not believe everything said or promised by any politician, including the ones for whom I wind up voting. The only possible exceptions are guys who are never going to get within twenty furlongs of getting elected…like, I suppose Alan Keyes believes every word he utters. The fact that he has about the same shot at the presidency as I do may suggest why we don't have more candid candidates. You can't get elected that way. I wish you could.

Yes, I know there's at least one other record that had as its B side, the same song from its A side played backwards. It's "They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha Ha," a modest but splendid hit by a gent named Jerry Samuels who went under the name of Napoleon XIV. And there may be others.

And Michael Frank informs me that the video of the Cathy Rigby Peter Pan is available as a streaming video (not a DVD rental) from Netflix. If you have a kid who needs to be introduced to musical theater, I can't think of a better way, apart from taking them to see this in person.

Broadway will soon see an Addams Family musical based on…well, they'll probably make a big deal of it being based on the classic cartoons of Charles Addams. But when you call it The Addams Family and you have characters named Gomez and Morticia and Uncle Fester, as they will, you're really doing the TV show based on the classic cartoons of Charles Addams. I dunno if the proprietors have merged them but a few years ago, those were two separate properties. You could buy the rights to the work of Mr. Addams, as some did for some project, only to discover you couldn't use all the characters and situations and running gags invented for teevee. The folks doing this musical seem to have the whole package to draw upon.

And they have a great cast, starting with Nathan Lane as Gomez and Bebe Neuwirth as Morticia. Can't do better than that…though one wonders if the legs and dance skills of Ms. Neuwirth will be going to waste since Morticia just isn't that kind of girl. The most interesting casting to me is hearing that Jackie Hoffman, the funniest woman I've ever seen on a Broadway stage, will be playing Grandmama.

You can find out more about it at the show's website. Right now, they're planning on previewing in Chicago in November, moving to New York the following March and opening on Broadway on April 8. I'm going to keep an eye on this one because it sounds like a good idea with good people.

You may very well be buying the Disney Treasures DVD sets which feature some of the less famous (but still wonderful) classics from the House of Mouse. If you are, it might be worth your time to prowl around the website of the online Disney Store. They have some of them available for the lowest prices we've seen, including a few that are nearing out-of-print status. Just a tip.

Lotsa messages this morning taking me to task for jesting that Johnny Rivers only had one hit. Many folks (Randy Skretvedt, to name one) itemized the many successes of Mr. Rivers for me, citing — here's Randy's list — "Memphis," "Maybellene," "Mountain of Love," "Midnight Special," "Seventh Son," "Poor Side of Town," "Baby, I Need Your Lovin'," "Tracks of My Tears," "Summer Rain," "Swayin' to the Music," "Rockin' Pneumonia (and the Boogie Woogie Flu)." He quotes Wikipedia as saying Rivers had nine Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 and 17 in the Top 40 from 1964 to 1977, and notes that the singer had his own record label, Soul City, which gave us The Fifth Dimension.

So, joke retracted. And I hereby reapply it to Yellow Balloon.

In case you don't remember Yellow Balloon, that was a group in '67 or so that really did only have one hit. You know what it was called? "Yellow Balloon." That's right. The one hit of Yellow Balloon, a group founded by Don Grady of the My Three Sons TV show, was called "Yellow Balloon." And you know what was on the flip side of "Yellow Balloon?" A song called "Noollab Wolley," which was "Yellow Balloon" spelled backwards. They named it that because all it was was the same recording played in reverse. I always thought that was funny. Most "one-hit wonder" performers technically had two hits because the A side of the record sold a zillion copies and then the flip got a free ride because even though nobody ever cared about it, it also sold a zillion. But Yellow Balloon actually was a one-hit wonder with one hit. Let's listen to Yellow Balloon playing a medley of that hit, shall we?

Meanwhile, I am also informed by the other half of the people who read this blog that it isn't quite accurate to say this is the 30th anniversary of Fawlty Towers, even though John Cleese apparently says it is. There were two seasons of the show, the first of which aired in the Fall of 1975 and the second of which aired in Spring of '79. So it's the 30th anniversary of the second batch. My thanks to Jon Delfin, Bob Claster, Nigel Parkinson and a lot of folks whose names I don't feel like retyping.

Back in 2005, after touring in the part for a little over thirty years, Cathy Rigby played her farewell performance in the title role of Peter Pan. I saw her do it a couple times in those 30+ years, plus I have the DVD of the show, which is a pretty good replica of what they did on stage. (It's out of print but not hard to come by.) The show always had a little of that "bus-and-truck" ambiance that most touring shows have…that feeling that they could pack up all the scenery and be in the next county within an hour. But I thought it was a great presentation, superior — this will come as sacrilege to some but I don't care — to the legendary Mary Martin version.

To me, Mary Martin, as good as she was, never quite became Peter Pan — no youth, no boyishness. She was just somebody's grandmother on a wire, and Cyril Ritchard's Captain Hook was so gay, his feet touched the stage less than Peter's. By contrast, it was possible to pretend for a little while that Ms. Rigby was a boy, and her Hook was suitably villainous.

It was sad when she packed it in and hung up the green tights. In this newspaper interview, she talked about the sense of loss. But after all, she was 51 years old and that's a bit old to be playing a young boy, right? Well, guess where this is headed…

At age 57 (she was born the same year I was), Cathy Rigby is flying again. May 23, she opens a six-month engagement in Branson, Missouri as Peter Pan. At the Mansion Entertainment and Media Center. Eight shows a week.

I don't have a lot else to say about it. I just think it's amazing. She's probably in great shape but heck, even if she's not able to do as many backflips as she used to, big deal. Peter Pan has the secret of eternal youth and so, apparently, does the performer who's played him more than anyone. If I were anywhere near Branson, I'd go. I don't believe in fairies but I do believe in Cathy Rigby.

John Cleese reflects on Fawlty Towers, which went on the air an amazing thirty years ago. There's a short video on there with a moment from the show and a recent line or two by Mr. Cleese. Thanks to Phil De Croocq, who sent the link.

We run so many obits on this site that it's nice when I can report that someone is healthy…

In May of '08, this site and many others reported that the great veteran comic book illustrator Gene Colan was pretty darn sick. A lot of folks rallied to his support with good wishes and even with fund-raising efforts to make some expensive medical treatments available to him. I am happy to report that Gene is now well enough to be back on the convention circuit. He'll be a guest at the Big Apple Con in New York on June 13 and he's a Guest of Honor at the Comic-Con International this July in San Diego. Yay.

Also getting better is the legendary Al Feldstein, who was the writer-editor of Tales from the Crypt and other classic EC Comics, and the editor of MAD magazine for 29 years. Al underwent double-bypass aortic valve replacement (i.e., heart surgery) on April 17 at the world famous Mayo Clinic. He's home now and recovering, and we're happy about that, too.

Contary to popular opinion, comic book editors do have hearts. They don't always use them but they have them.

I'm having a little e-mail problem. Anything sent me in the last 18 hours or so is trapped in an odd void where I can read it but not respond. This should correct itself soon.

I know I've written a lot about Dom DeLuise here but I can't resist sending you to two more links…

Deborah Friedman, who runs a blog called Plus Size Plum, talks about her experiences with the man.

And you've seen me rave about Zero Hour, a play in which my ol' pal Jim Brochu portrays the late Zero Mostel. Well, Dom went to see the play and wrote Jim the nicest letter anyone ever wrote an actor about his performance. Jim's companion Steve Schalchlin (Hi, Steve!) posted it on his blog.

Everything you need to know about Dom is pretty much in these two postings.

The University of Nebraska – Lincoln has a great comic book collection. It's completely made up of educational and government-commissioned comics but it's full of goodies and oddments, including some by some pretty important cartoonists and creators. You can view it online here and download PDFs of the books in question.