Monthly Archives: May 2009

In 1995, we did a set of Groo Trading Cards that folks still avidly collect. It's not hard to amass a complete set but it is tough to find these things called "sketch cards." There were fifty of them, I think, inserted randomly into the little packets of cards.

One side of each sketch card was printed. You can see what that looked like above at the far left. Then on the other side of the card, Groo creator Sergio Aragonés drew anything he felt like drawing. The other image above shows you an example.

A couple of avid Groo collectors (there are such people) are attempting to locate the whereabouts of as many sketch cards as possible. Do you perhaps have one? If you do, dropan e-mail and tell him all about it. You'll make the man so happy.

Every time I mention torture on this weblog, I get an e-mail from someone saying, in effect, "We can't fault the Republicans because some Democrats knew about it and gave at least tacit approval." Okay, fine. I think torture is illegal, immoral, destructive to our standing in the world and probably of little use except to extract false confessions. Its supporters seem to think it's useful for gaining information — or at least, it might occasionally be useful. And since it might be, we need to ignore that it might be illegal, immoral or destructive to our standing in the world.

That certain Democrats may have signed off on it does not change anything except that we have an even longer list of people who are ethically and judgmentally unfit to be in government. I dunno how true it is that Nancy Pelosi was briefed on waterboarding and such and then nodded her head in compliance. But if she did, she oughta be outta there along with everyone else who knew about the practices and didn't raise a cuticle to stop them. Nowhere in our system of government is it written that breaking the law can be overlooked if it's bi-partisan.

Here at newsfromme.com, we're huge fans of Frank Ferrante. This is only logical since we're huge fans of Julius "Groucho" Marx and Mr. Ferrante is an uncanny replicator of the late Mr. Marx…and in a way that goes a few notches beyond mere impersonation. He tours the country with a show called An Evening With Groucho and that's what it really is. He enters as himself, paints on the mustache, fluffs up the hair and about eight seconds later, you've completely forgotten about Frank Ferrante. It's just Groucho up there on the stage for a little under two hours…as remarkable a transformation as if the guy had come out and turned himself into a bengal tiger or something. Except that he really does it. He really turns into Groucho.

For years now, I've been hard-selling visitors to this site to go see Frank. It's led to loads of thank-you notes, along with some irate mail — folks pleading with me to get him to tour in their neck of the woods, or they're annoyed with me that he isn't coming near them. Well, listen up, Nebraska! This weekend, for the first time ever, Ferrante's coming to your state. May 9 and 10, he'll be at the Holland Performing Arts Center in Omaha, Nebraska for two riotous (I'm sure) shows.

He'll be singing. He'll be dancing. He may even be walking around in a familiar crouched position. There will be a performance of the immortal tune Groucho wrote with Harry Ruby called "Omaha, Nebraska," which really oughta be your state song. And in honor of Mother's Day, he'll be singing another song Ruby wrote called "Father's Day."

Trust me. Go see this guy…and here's a tip. Take along your camera. After the show, Frank's usually out in the lobby in his Groucho suit. If you go up to him and say the secret words ("I heard about this on Evanier's blog"), he'll pose for a photo with you. No, it's not the real Groucho but it's a lot closer than you could possibly imagine. You can view his future schedule on this page.

Geoff Boucher chats with our friend Jerry Robinson. Recently, I heard someone who'd begun working in comics in 1997, and who had created nothing that had yet shown any staying power, as a "legend." And I had to wonder: If you call that guy a "legend," what noun could you possibly apply to someone who's done all that Jerry's done?

By the way, I'll be interviewing Jerry, and a few other guys worthy of that word, at the Comic-Con International this July. I'm not sure which day yet but it might just be one of the few that isn't already sold out.

The Moulin Rouge in Las Vegas can't catch a break. Opened in 1955, it was the first hotel-casino in the town to cater to blacks. Back when people of color were unwelcome at the Stardust or Tropicana, they were welcome to lose everything at the Moulin Rouge. The place was also notable for, some said, the best entertainment in the city. Headliners at the "white" hotels were said to finish their shows, then scurry over to the Moulin Rouge and hear Nat King Cole, Pearl Bailey or Louis Armstrong…

…for five months. That's how long the place was open. No one has ever explained exactly why it closed — "poor management" is an oft-mentioned reason — but its owners filed for bankruptcy before '55 was over and that's when the legend got interesting. The stylish building was largely vacant for decades after, reopening partially and occasionally for special events or location shooting. Its most interesting use was in 1960 when Vegas was torn by protests over racial discrimination. A meeting was convened between the N.A.A.C.P. and major hotel owners and it was held, appropriately, at the Moulin Rouge. There, the desegregation of Las Vegas was negotiated and announced.

But the Moulin Rouge was never again a hotel-casino. Every year or two, someone would announce plans to refurbish and reopen. Every year or two, plans would fall through. And every few years, some portion of the building would catch fire. In 1992, it was listed in the National Register of Historic Places but deals continued to fall through and fires continued to erupt. Recently, some pretty firm plans were announced to renovate the existing structure and add on a new 700-room hotel, casino, concert venue and jazz center. And then yesterday afternoon, most of the existing structure was consumed in a new fire.

On the one hand, it's a shame. It was a beautiful building and the place had an important sense of history. On the other hand, it's kinda nice when a hotel's as unlucky as most of us are in Vegas.

This coming Saturday is the annual White House Correspondents Dinner…and of course, it's Barack Obama's first. The entertainer this year will be Wanda Sykes. Find out what time it starts on C-SPAN, set your TiVo and post the information here for everyone.

Quick! Take a look at the time. It may be down there in the taskbar of your computer or maybe you have a watch. Wherever you find it, find it…and if it's between 4 PM and 6 PM Pacific (7 PM and 9 PM Eastern) then I'm currently guesting on Stu's Show over on Shokus Internet Radio. You can listen live to a discussion of the comic book field with my friend Marv Wolfman and me if you click on that link right now. It's not like you could possibly have anything better to do at the moment.

Well, actually, this isn't so much about Dom DeLuise as it is about me. A friend e-mailed last night to ask why I hadn't put up the photo I have of myself with Dom DeLuise and his grand wife Carol. Excellent reason: I forgot I had it. It's from my pre-Gastric Bypass days and it kinda shows you why I had me reduced. It was taken at a party where, as I usually did in any room, I made a point of staking out the sturdiest chair. A bit later, when Dom arrived, I gave it up for him…and took pity on how much trouble he had walking or standing or even getting up from the seat when it was time to go.

I felt skinny around the guy that night because I didn't have trouble walking or standing or anything, and of course I wasn't as wide as he was. But later when I looked at this photo, I thought, "Hmm…I'm not that much smaller than Dom." Factor in that he was nineteen years older than me and it was hard not to think, "Hey, that's me in two decades if I don't do something." Also, Buddy Hackett was just off-camera when this shot was taken…and he passed away six months after that party. There were other people and incidents that convinced me I had to get serious about the problem but Dom and Buddy were two biggies…and I do mean "big."

And I have to stick in one more namedrop about a recently-deceased show biz friend. The late Howie Morris was like a crazy uncle to me. Once, we were in a lunch group when someone asked him to name the scariest thing he'd ever seen and he said, without hesitation, "Dom DeLuise naked. We shared a dressing room for that Mel Brooks film, History of the World, Part One." Howie was always nagging me, long past the constructive stage, about my weight and I think he gave that response for my benefit. It worked, at least to kill my appetite for that meal…as the mental picture may have killed yours for the rest of the day.

Dom DeLuise had a long list of accomplishments of far greater importance than serving as a reverse role model for me. He was in a lot of great movies and TV shows and everyone else is itemizing those. I just thought I'd mention this one other thing about him that mattered in my life. It's great when you can learn from your mistakes but it's even better when you can learn from other folks' mistakes.

This is the spot where I usually plug the fabulous guest that Stu Shostak has lined up for his Internet Radio program, Stu's Show tomorrow. Stu always seems to snag someone important in the world of entertainment and I'm going to go take a look and see who his guest is for this Wednesday. Bet it'll be a great one!

Well, if that don't beat all! It's me! Wow, I haven't been on Stu's Show for…must be hours. But this time is different from my last 3,502 appearances. This time, we're talking about comic books — my career, such as it is, and things like the upcoming Comic-Con International. Stu asked me to bring along someone prominent in the field of comics to serve as co-guest but since I couldn't find anyone like that, I'm bringing Marv Wolfman. Marv claims to have written dozens of important comics, including long runs on Superman and Tomb of Dracula and books he co-created like Teen Titans. We'll be answering Stu's questions and if you deign to phone in during the show, yours as well.

This is not (repeat: not) a podcast. You can't download it at your leisure and listen at your further leisure. This is a live broadcast tomorrow (Wednesday) from 4 PM to 6 PM Pacific Time, which is 7 PM to 9 PM on the East Coast. If you live somewhere else, you can figure out the times from that information. To listen, go to Shokus Internet Radio at the appointed hour. That link will get you there, as will the banner above and the one in my right-hand margin. Try to "tune in" live but if you miss us, the show reruns for a week, usually in the same time slot.

Stu has a lot of great shows on his schedule. This week in the morning hours, he's rerunning his very first Stu's Show from a couple years ago. I forget who his guest was….oh, right! It was me! I'm not on every week. It just seems that way.