I've been meaning to recommend the weblog of my friend Buzz Dixon, and when we had lunch last week, I kicked myself for not getting around to it. This may or may not be the best time to do this because Buzz has just posted a touching and probably perceptive obituary for his father. I never met Dick Dixon but he sure had a lot to be proud of in his son. Check out Buzz's blog from time to time. He's one of the good guys.
Monthly Archives: October 2010
Recommended Reading
Marty Kaplan has a great article up about the forthcoming Jon Stewart "Rally to Restore Sanity" and about the dual-nature of the host of The Daily Show. I actually think Mr. Stewart has dual dual-natures. At times, he's the guy who went on Crossfire and wrecked the place, arguing that his own shortcomings as a journalist didn't matter because he was a comedian, not a journalist. And at times, he functions very much as a journalist and it would be hard to argue that he shouldn't be held to at least some of the prevailing standards of one. (This isn't difficult because these days, the prevailing standards to be a journalist are pretty low. Even the blonde lady on Fox and Friends clears the bar.)
Anyway, it'll be fascinating to see what happens with this rally. I suspect he and Colbert will get a much bigger turnout than most folks expect…and that no matter how big it is, Stewart's foes (they are many) will insist it was a tenth of what neutral parties assess. And they'll say Stewart cheated because Huffington Post bussed people in and Comedy Central gave out prizes and so on. Filling the National Mall has now become the worst kind of sport, devoid of rules or of referees who get final say. I can stage a rally that draws ten people and I can claim it was a thousand…and you can say I had three and that they don't count because I paid them to be there. And somehow, we think we win something if our fibs prevail.
Flying Away
Several of you have written to me to second (or third or fourth or…) my endorsement of Southwest Airlines and most mentioned another nice thing I omitted: No baggage fees for your first two suitcases.
I was thinking the other day about how much simpler air travel used to be. I don't know how much of this was due to deregulation…which, by the way, people credit or blame Reagan for, though the idea of letting airlines do pretty much whatever they want started under Jimmy Carter. Reagan may just have allowed it to go too far. My sense is that deregulation helped in the short run and hurt in the long run. There was a time in eighties when it was a lot easier and cheaper to fly. My main route then was LAX-Las Vegas and it was like taking a taxi to and from Pasadena.
There had been a time — recent enough to impact my comings and goings — when one could not leave Las Vegas after about 10 PM at night. I think the airport there even closed around then…and the rumor was that the hotels insisted on it; that they didn't want you leaving town late. They wanted you to stay and pay for a hotel room and gamble all night. I think the last advertised flight left around 10 and for a brief time, there was one later, unadvertised flight.
This is a vague memory. I remember a casino host at the old Maxim telling me of a flight on one the airlines, Western I think, that left around Midnight or a bit later for Los Angeles but they weren't allowed to advertise it or list it on their schedule. Casino hosts could get you on it if it served the casino's interest to do that…say, if an entertainer was playing their showroom and had to be back in L.A. Or if some high-rolling whale could only squeeze in a Vegas jaunt if he could get back that night. And you could or I could call up and if we specifically asked for the flight by its number, the airline could book us on it. But if you called up and asked, "When's the last flight to Los Angeles?" they would say "10:10." I remember this and I think I even took it at least once.
Then in the mid-eighties, thanks (I guess) to all that deregulation, there were suddenly flights at all hours. My friend Paul Dini and I once went to Vegas for the day. We left my car at the airport, took a 10 AM flight there, lunched at Caesars Palace, gambled and sight-saw all afternoon, dined at the Riviera, went to see shows in the evening, hung out after with a friend of mine who was performing at the Tropicana…and we took a 1 AM flight back to L.A. and my car. You can't do that today. The last direct flight each night from LAS to LAX now leaves at 9:25.
Between that and the time it now takes to get through an airport, you can't even do what I did once — and I swear to you, I actually did this…
Shortly after my father passed away, I took my mother to Las Vegas for a three-night trip — going on Monday, coming back on Thursday afternoon. This would have been June or so of '91. After I'd booked the trip and Mom's heart was set, I was commanded to appear at a network meeting on Wednesday morning at 10 AM and couldn't get out of it. There was no solution but for me to commute.
Tuesday evening, fulfilling a wish of hers, I took my mother to see George Carlin perform at Bally's. Got us great seats, too. The opening act, Dennis Blair, started around 8:05 PM. Carlin took stage around 8:30 and at 9:30, he was still talking. I kissed my mother goodbye. I ran out and hopped in a cab to the airport. It took a bit of running (I mean actual running) but I managed to get on a 10:10 flight to Los Angeles which got in at 11 PM. I grabbed a cab for home and was at this desk, so help me, in time to see the opening of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson at 11:30: Two hours from ringside at Bally's in Vegas to my home in Los Angeles.
I slept here, got up in the morning, went to CBS and had the meeting — which of course was a complete waste of time. Then I took a cab to LAX and just got on the next flight (there was one every 30 minutes or so) to Vegas. I was back in my hotel room at the Rio — from which I had not checked out — by 2 PM and the trip resumed as if I'd never left.
Like I said, you couldn't do that today…not with fewer flights and having to get to the airport 90+ minutes in advance, plus it was then possible to get a cheap flight at the last minute. I also don't seem to be able to go to San Francisco for the day as I sometimes did back then.
I used to fly up for business and/or pleasure, and I could spend the evening dining with friends or seeing a show, then leave for the airport around 11 and easily get on a Midnight flight back to Los Angeles…or if I missed that one, there was another around 1 AM. Now, the last direct flight from SFO to LAX leaves at 10:35 and you need to be there 90 minutes early so I'd have to head out around 8:15. Which means I can't have much of an evening in S.F. and then fly back to Los Angeles.
I was going to write that with so many airlines losing money, you'd think they'd experiment with more late flights but I guess they've tried that or done marketing research and it's not cost-feasible. I also guess that due to 9/11, it's going to be a while before you can routinely go to an airport and just hop on a plane…so I guess I'm lamenting the passage of something that won't be coming back soon. But one of these days, someone will make it work. Someday.
Warners Goes To Eleven
It has apparently been announced that Warner Archive — the folks who put out those simple, special-featureless DVDs of treasures from the Time-Warner vaults — will soon release a DVD of the so-called "Censored Eleven." These are eleven cartoons that WB has withheld from circulation due to racist or otherwise offensive content. These are, for the record, Hittin' the Trail for Hallelujah Land, Sunday Go to Meetin' Time, Clean Pastures, Uncle Tom's Bungalow, Jungle Jitters, The Isle of Pingo Pongo, All This and Rabbit Stew, Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs, Tin Pan Alley Cats, Angel Puss and Goldilocks and the Jivin' Bears.
About half of these are pretty crummy and a couple are okay…but Coal Black and Tin Pan Alley Cats are masterpieces and they deserve even wider exposure than they'll get from this release. Both were directed by Bob Clampett and I once horrified a Clampett devotee by suggesting that while it was good, Coal Black was not, in my humblest of opinions, Clampett's best cartoon. I think several, including The Great Piggy Bank Robbery and Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid, are better if only because they shape and define more interesting characters. But why quibble? It's nice that these cartoons will finally be available. Let's wait and see if anyone tries to get attention by ginning up fake outrage against them. I doubt anyone will but these days, you can build a pretty good career on fake outrage.
Today's Video Link
Mark's on a game show kick here. This is the pilot for The Match Game from 1962 starring your genial host, Gene Rayburn and celeb guests Peggy Cass and Peter Lind Hayes. It's a bit difficult to see why this inspired the network to order the series but it did…and the show went on the air December 31, 1962.
If you stick it out until the end credits (or as I finally did, fast forward) you'll see the name Dick DeBartolo in there as the guy who wrote the questions. You may recognize that name as Mr. DeBartolo has been a mainstay writer for Mad for an awfully long time. He holds the record for the longest continuous streak by any writer. There's been something he wrote in every issue of Mad since 1966. He also is an expert on "gadgets" and turns up often on TV shows showing off some of the latest.
The questions for this version of The Match Game were pretty sedate up until 1963 when the show was cancelled by NBC. There were six more weeks to do and, as the story goes, Dick asked producer Mark Goodson if it would be okay for him to experiment with an idea he'd had about how to liven up the show. Goodson, noting they had nothing to lose, gave him the go-ahead and Dick began writing sillier questions…even some that were a bit naughty like, "Dick told Jane to put jam on his _____." It did indeed liven up the show and caused the network to "uncancel" it and keep it on the air until September of '69 — a pretty healthy run. Goodson then waited a decent interval then launched Match Game '73, which was later retitled Match Game '74 and then Match Game '75 and so on, all thriving on the questions of Dick DeBartolo. That's the version you probably remember but here's where it all started…
Shorter, Not Necessarily Sweeter
Recently, it was announced that the annual Muscular Dystrophy Telethon will be scaled back to six hours next year. That's news but the bigger news is that the press releases didn't refer to it, as they usually do, as the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon. Indeed, there was little to no mention of Mr. Lewis in the various handouts.
The rumor has been around town for some time now that the MDA folks were looking to rebrand their telethon as a tradition that could continue without Jerry. Part of this was because the man is 84 and in not the best health. Part of this, the grapevine says, is that they've not been happy with Jerry's participation the last few years. One might have noted one subtle change in this last telethon. Usually, the corporate donors line up to present their huge checks to Jerry and to be photographed with Jerry and to banter with Jerry. This year, he was nowhere near the corporate donors, at least on camera.
Columnist Phil Rosenthal wonders aloud if Jerry's being eased out. My guess is the MDA people would like to break in a new host but they're wondering how the public will take to it…and if Jerry will go along with being an elder statesman making limited appearances on the program that used to be an all-day, all-night Jerry Lewis Show. Betcha someone there has cautioned about how the Miss America pageant was wounded a bit when its proprietors dumped host Bert Parks for a younger man.
You can tell Jerry wasn't consulted and that no one's sure what, if anything, he'll have to do with the telethon next year. The press releases pretty much say that. And I figure that if they were really eager to keep him in the host chair or even just up front, that would have been nailed down before they announced the new length and the articles would say Jerry's on board with it. Will he go quietly? I don't know. Does he ever do anything quietly?
Go Read It!
Dick Cavett writes not so much about the late Eddie Fisher but about the later George S. Kaufman. He offers up a medley of some of the great Kaufman witticisms.
One is the story of what was said when Kaufman was allegedly called in to play-doctor a play underwritten by the folks who owned the Bloomingdale's Department Store. Cavett acknowleges that the quip has been attributed to others than Kaufman. Many years ago, I came to the conclusion that it wasn't Kaufman. It was comedy writer Cy Howard, who had no known Broadway credits but apparently did a bit of uncredited repair work. I forget exactly what led me to that determination but it was back when I was going to U.C.L.A. and using its library to read old, never-reprinted reviews and articles by Kaufman. I believe I stumbled across a Walter Winchell column that mentioned Kaufman in one paragraph and then in another said that Alfred Bloomingdale was hiring Cy Howard to rewrite a play they had in out-of-town tryouts. But I didn't get a copy of it and my memory of the item — last seen by me in '71 — isn't so vivid that I'd get demanding about it.
Today's Video Link
Hey, how about another game show? Carl Reiner hosted the weekly, prime-time one, The Celebrity Game. (He was also briefly the star of another one called Keep Talking, which changed hosts a number of times.) The Celebrity Game was a weekly CBS prime-timer that originally replaced half of The Judy Garland Show when it was cancelled in 1964. That placed it opposite Bonanza at that show's peak of popularity and led to its demise. But it was a cheap show to produce so CBS brought it back a year later for a few months to replace something else they had to cancel.
The format may remind you a bit of Hollywood Squares and there's a reason for that. It came from the same producers — Merrill Heatter and Bob Quigley — as well as the same announcer, Kenny Williams. Once they were sure Celebrity Game wouldn't be resurrected for a third go-round, Heatter and Quigley retooled the idea with a tic-tac-toe motif and wound up with one of the biggest hits ever in the game show world. They credited what they'd learned doing Celebrity Game for much of the success of Hollywood Squares.
This episode is from '65 and the most interesting of the celebs on the panel is probably Oscar Levant, the famous pianist-hypochondriac. Reiner seems a bit unable to properly play straight man to Levant and the others but I think this episode was a bad example. I remember enjoying The Celebrity Game greatly, in part because Reiner did such a fine job of setting up the panelists to be funny and then asking humor-eliciting follow-ups. This one is still worth a look…
Caveat You-Know-What
Supposing I took a drawing by Jack Kirby and I traced it onto another piece of paper and inked it on that paper and signed "Kirby and Evanier" to it. Would this be original Jack Kirby artwork? Never mind that it would not be very good. Let's just deal with what it is. Would it be original Jack Kirby artwork?
Of course not. I could no more create original Jack Kirby artwork than I could create a new Van Gogh…even if I signed it "Van Gogh & Evanier." Only one human being was ever able to create original Jack Kirby artwork…and he died in 1994.
(Well, to be technically accurate, there have been other human beings named Jack Kirby and if one of them drew, I suppose he could have created original Jack Kirby artwork. But I'm talking about artwork by the guy who co-created Captain America, The Hulk and The X-Men. That Jack Kirby.)
One of the prominent/frequent artists who inked that Jack's pencil art, Mike Royer, often does re-creations of old Kirby art on commission. He will trace an old cover or drawing of Jack's and ink it…and he'll sign it "Kirby and Royer." Mike, however, is always scrupulous about adding the date and some little line like "re-creation" so that no present or future buyer of the art will wrongly think they're purchasing a piece of paper on which Jack "King" Kirby drew.
Some other folks aren't as scrupulous. Keep this in mind if you're ever purchasing Jack Kirby artwork, especially on eBay lately. eBay, by the way, is a great place to shop if you want to pay thousands of dollars for a "certified and authenticated Charles Schulz sketch" that looks like it was done by a nine-year-old with a busted Crayola. Not long ago, you could have even purchased an original, certified and guaranteed Charles Schultz sketch done during the period when the creator of Peanuts forgot how to spell his own last name.
Recommended Reading
Bruce Bartlett on those folks who want to cut spending but not in the Defense budget. Frankly, I think "We need to cut spending" has become one of the most meaningless, empty phrases in our national dialogue. This is due to its never being accompanied by realistic proposals for what should be cut. (When people do make suggestions, they rarely amount to much…and they usually amount to "Get rid of things that benefit others but not me.")
The Only Way to Fly…
I have come to regard Southwest Airlines as my preferred carrier. This may not amaze you but it amazes me as I've had a history of them losing my luggage. My last trip, they didn't lose my suitcase…just damaged it to the point where I had to throw it out and buy another. So I oughta be shunning them, right?
Nope. Lately, every time I've had to figure out how to fly from here to there, my first stop has reflexively been the Southwest site. When I realized this, I stopped and asked me why. My answer to me? Every airline can and will make mistakes. When I've had them occur on American Airlines or Delta, I encountered a general indifference to making things right…and once on United, the people there were so totally uninterested (to the point of rudeness) that I will never voluntarily fly that airline again. But when things have gone awry for me on Southwest — when my luggage somehow heads for New Zealand…and I'm not going to New Zealand…and Southwest doesn't even fly to New Zealand…there's always some helpful Southwest employee eager to undo the damage. Plus, there's a simplicity to flying Southwest that I somehow like. It just feels so easy.
They have one kind of plane. It's real easy to get the lowest available fare. You just go to their site and pick from the three kinds. The website is simple and if you have their free iPhone app, it's a breeze to check flight status or change your reservation. Then you just go and get on the plane and they have a pretty decent on-time record. Okay, so they lose my luggage. If I excluded every airline that's done that, I'd have to travel by blimp. Mostly though, I'm impressed by their customer service. It gives me the same good feeling I get at Costco: These people want to be working here and they want to help me.
At a time when most of the airlines are racking up huge losses due to inept management, Southwest has managed to turn a profit for the last 37 years. I found this old article by my friend Joe Brancatelli that explains how they've done it. And I also found this new article by my friend Joe Brancatelli about Southwest's recent acquisition of AirTran and what it may mean. I hope it means more Southwest flights and no price increases.
Today's Video Link
Here's a golden oldie…blast from the past…call it whatever you like. It's a full episode of the daytime game show Treasure Hunt from March of 1958. This was a little more than a year before the events I described in this posting when I, a tender lad of seven, got to meet its host Jan Murray in the corridor outside the studio. As I think back, I'm not sure that encounter didn't have a larger impact on my burgeoning psyche than I'd previously realized. I never longed to go into his line of work but I thought Jan Murray was the coolest guy in the world and that he had a magic power. He could make everyone around him smile and even laugh. He was by no means the only person I saw on TV who could do that but he was the first one I met in person. Ergo, it was the first time I could verify that the folks who had that power were actual human beings.
Here he is in an episode of this game show he did that wasn't, when you got right down to it, much of a game show. It worked because of the sheer force of his charm and showmanship. I didn't like everything he did on it. Most days, there was a point where he had to torture a contestant a little, making her think she'd picked the wrong box when in fact, she had a lovely and thrilling gift awaiting her. As he went through that routine, I practically yelled at the set, "Get on with it!" But I liked him most of the time and so did America, which watched this show for quite a while. When it went off, they watched the next Jan Murray-hosted game show, too.
Here ya go…and remember this is live TV and that Jan is operating with almost no cue cards — probably just a few to help him introduce the contestants and to tell him when to throw to commercial. He did this every day, Monday through Friday, for many years…
Recommended Reading
Todd S. Purdum profiles the man who disappointed so many of us, John McCain. It took me a while to come to terms with the fact that I was deceived by all that talk of being a maverick and reaching across the aisle. The man has always lived by the credo of "I'll say or do whatever it takes to get what I want." No wonder he fits in so well with the Senate.
Thursday Evening
You've probably heard about the Westboro Baptist Church and its founder, Fred Phelps. These are the "people" who go to military funerals and picket with really offensive signs. What they believe is a little muddy because they hate in so many different directions but it has something to do with believing that gays are responsible for all the evils in the world except, of course, for those caused by Jews. The Supreme Court recently heard arguments in a lawsuit brought against the "church" by a man named Albert Snyder whose son died in the service of this country. Phelps sent his "flock" to picket the funeral. Is standing outside the funeral for Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder with signs that say "God hates fags" protected speech?
I'm almost sorry to say I think it is. The Westboro protestors may have intended to inflict pain and suffering on the attendees of the Snyder services but from all reports, they obeyed the laws about where to stand and how to not interfere with those inside. (In some areas, those laws have since been made stricter.) Indeed, most of the attendees apparently did not even see the nasty signs until they watched the news later. I think they're assholes. Not only that, I think they're managing that all-too-rare hat trick of offending all three significant religious groups in this country: Those who believe in God, those who don't and those who don't know or care. That's not easy.
Every article I've read about the debate at the Supreme Court suggests the Justices made clear that they found Phelps and his mob loathesome and were trying to find some way to spank them without issuing a ruling that would restrict Free Speech. I don't think they're going to find it.
A Rude Gesture
One of my favorite people in comics (or anywhere) is my occasional collaborator, artist Steve Rude. When I say I like him, I'm not just talking about the way he draws…though that would be reason enough. Yeah, I like Steve Rude art but that's not a startling revelation. As far as I've been able to tell, everyone who's seen Steve Rude art likes Steve Rude art.
I like the guy it comes from. I like working with him and talking with him and being around him. And if being sincere in your work and life translated directly to dollars, there'd be no need for what I'm about to write here. This is a pitch for you to go buy or bid on Steve Rude art because he and his family need some patronage right now. Several years ago, Steve made a decision to, in essence, become his own publisher and entrepreneur. He has turned down an awful lot of lucrative offers from DC, Marvel and other publishers to work only on projects he deeply cared about and over which he felt he had more control than he could have had if he'd said yea to those offers. It was a decision made out of pure artistic integrity and it has forced him to work very hard and to pull way back on personal spending.
I don't doubt at all that Steve will make it work in the long run. The passion this man has for his work — the sheer caring about doing it right and bettering himself with each drawing or painting — is admirable. But at the moment, the Rude family could use a financial assist. A week or so ago, it looked like they were in danger of losing their home. Many have rallied to purchase items he's selling and eviction looks less likely now…but they could still use money and you can still pick up some splendid bargains on Steve Rude art. Go to his Facebook page. Go to his eBay auctions. Go to his website.
The painting above is not available but take a look at it. How could you not want a piece done by the guy who produced that? How could you not want him as your friend?