Monthly Archives: March 2010

The Funniest Newspaper Corrections Ever. Here they are.

Frank Rich says the rage about Health Care is not really about Health Care. I think he's right.

About two hours ago, the fourth of Molly the Owl's five eggs hatched. The new infant is named Wesley, though I don't know that anyone has any idea yet if it's a boy or a girl. You can see Wesley come into the world in the video I've embedded below.

A slight correction on my Dick Giordano obit. I said that Dick was hired his first time at DC by Carmine Infantino. Dick always said he was the last editor hired by Irwin Donenfeld. There was a murky period there where Donenfeld was being forcibly retired as DC's editorial director and Infantino was stepping into the role and it was hard to tell who was in charge for a while. But Dick said he was hired by Irwin.

I didn't post an obit here recently for Fess Parker because…well, no disrespect to Mr. Parker but I'm not sure I ever saw an episode of either Davy Crockett or Daniel Boone. He was wildly popular in both but there are some things in this world that your radar just plain misses and mine missed his greatest triumphs. Obviously, he had enough fans that he didn't miss me.

To those who wrote wondering where my Fess Parker obit was, my apologies. I can though direct you to a couple of fine pieces by Disney expert Michael Barrier. He knew Parker and he posted this insightful piece about the man. Mike also has up a long interview with Mr. Parker done in 2003 and 2004, mostly about his working relationship with Mr. Disney. Well worth your attention.

Don't throw that Polaroid camera away just because the Polaroid people have stopped making film for them. Someone else is starting.

So…how's Al Franken making out as a Senator? Bob Elisberg sent me this link to an article that says he's maintaining a (mostly) low profile while managing to move some (mostly) non-controversial bills forward in a (mostly) bipartisan way.

If someone hasn't e-mailed you this one yet, don't worry. Someone will.

• A vulture boards an airplane, carrying two dead raccoons. The stewardess looks at him and says, "I'm sorry, sir, only one carrion allowed per passenger."
• Two fish swim into a concrete wall. The one turns to the other and says "Dam!"
• Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, so they proving once again that you can't have your kayak and heat it too.
• Two hydrogen atoms meet. One says "I've lost my electron," The other says, "Are you sure?" The first replies "Yes, I'm positive."
• Did you hear about the Buddhist who refused Novocain during a root canal? His goal: transcend dental medication.
• A group of chess enthusiasts checked into a hotel and were standing in the lobby discussing their recent tournament victories. After about an hour, the manager came out of the office and asked them to disperse. "But why?" they asked, as they moved off. "Because", he said, "I can't stand chess-nuts boasting in an open foyer."
• A woman has twins and gives them up for adoption. One of them goes to a family in Egypt and is named "Ahmal." The other goes to a family in Spain; they name him "Juan." Years later, Juan sends a picture of himself to his birth mother. Upon receiving the picture, she tells her husband that she wishes she also had a picture of Ahmal. Her husband responds, "They're twins! If you've seen Juan, you've seen Ahmal."
• These friars were behind on their belfry payments, so they opened up a small florist shop to raise funds. Since everyone liked to buy flowers from the men of God, a rival florist across town thought the competition was unfair. He asked the good fathers to close down, but they would not. He went back and begged the friars to close. They ignored him. So, the rival florist hired Hugh MacTaggart, the roughest and most vicious thug in town to "persuade" them to close. Hugh beat up the friars and trashed their store, saying he'd be back if they didn't close up shop. Terrified, they did so, thereby proving that only Hugh can prevent florist friars.
• Mahatma Gandhi, as you know, walked barefoot most of the time, which produced an impressive set of callouses on his feet. He also ate every little, which made him rather frail and with his odd diet, he suffered from bad breath. This made him ..(Oh, man, this is so bad, it's good)….. A super calloused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis.
• And finally, there was the person who sent ten different puns to his friends, with the hope that at least one of the puns would make them laugh. No pun in ten did.

Fred Kaplan (that's right…another Fred Kaplan link) explains what this U.S.-Russia Arms Reduction Treaty is all about. He thinks it's a good thing but not as significant as it may sound in a quick summary.

I won't embed the video link again because it does odd things to this page…but we're presently keeping about half an eye on Molly the Owl, who has hatched a couple of owl babes and may have hatched one or two more by the time you read this. It's a fascinating show and don't click over there and start watching unless you're prepared to get hooked and spend hours staring at this lovely owl in her habitat sitting (live!) on eggs.

At this moment, 8726 people are tuned in. That includes my computer and the one on the other side of my office that Carolyn is watching. This is about twice the viewership that Jimmy Kimmel has…which is no surprise because Molly's funnier.

I misspoke/mistyped (whatever the correct verb is) while writing about "The Echo Song" in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. My pal Bob Claster sends the following quote from Mr. Sondheim…

"Echo Song" was cut in New Haven during the tryout because the whole show wasn't working properly and this number (among many others) didn't make enough impact on the audience. It was replaced by "That'll Show Him," which was transferred from Act I to Act II. Burt Shevelove and I decided to resuscitate "Echo Song" for the 1971 revival, where once again it didn't work. It did seem, however, to be more effective than "That'll Show Him" if for no other reason than that it offered some funny staging opportunities.

As I recall the staging from the '71 production, they had Hero up on the balcony of the House of Senex and he was doing a kind of Harold Lloyd number, dangling from it and an overhang — actually more scary than funny — as he sang his part. For what it's worth, I think that song is more appropriate for the storyline but "That'll Show Him" is funnier.

Obviously, shortly after I posted that I didn't have sufficient confirmation of Dick Giordano's passing, I received it. A friend wrote to ask why the hesitation: "You knew he was in the hospital and not expected to leave. Why did it seem so impossible to you that he'd died?" Not impossible. It's just that you want to reach a certain level of sourcing on these things before you treat them as fact.

It has been my experience, over the many years I've been doing this, that when someone is known to be terminal, that's a particular time for caution. It's very easy for someone to accidentally make the jump from "Dick is in the hospital and likely to die any day now" to "Dick has died." So we err, if we err, in the direction of waiting better information. For what it's worth, since I started this blog, I've been told at least three dozen times — often by someone you'd think would know — that So-and-So had expired when So-and-So was quite alive. Someday, I will make the mistake of passing one of those on but I'm in no hurry to do so.

The comic industry is mourning Dick…and if you surf about, you may notice that they're all talking about the same guy: Friendly, courageous, willing to give New Talent a break, etc. It's expected that when someone who was that important leaves us, people will say nice things. I'm just impressed, though not surprised, that everyone who knew Dick is saying pretty much the same nice things.

Several folks have written to ask me if I have an address for condolences. I do not but will attempt to come up with one. I will also add that Dick was on the Board of Directors of The Hero Initiative, a charity that aids comic book creators who are in need. If you're the kind of person who likes to send flowers or something of the sort, I would think a donation there would be utterly appropriate.