From 1975, celebrity panelists try to pick out the real Bill Hanna (of Hanna-Barbera) on the TV game show, To Tell the Truth. You will not hear a lot of correct answers from any of the possibe Bill Hannas but you will hear Daws Butler dubbing new dialogue into old clips…
Monthly Archives: February 2011
Crook Cashes In His Chips
Police caught that guy who stole all those chips from the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas. The guy doesn't sound like the brightest thief in the world, does he?
Recommended Reading
Fred Kaplan on what's happening in Egypt. Starting up a democracy is apparently a lot harder than some think.
Ooh! Ooh!
Here's a point I need to make to my fellow comic book historians. The rest of you can look away.
We spend a great deal of time 'n' energy trying to identify the writers and artists and other folks who worked on the many comics that have been published, sans credits. We become familiar with their styles and we do other detective-type work, doing interviews and digging up old records. We are usually quite successful at this.
However, sometimes we hit brick walls and blind alleys. For example, in the sixties Dell Comics published several issues of a comic book based on the TV show, Car 54, Where Are You? It's easy enough to identify the artist. It's Tony Tallarico and we know that because the art style is recognizable and matches up to known work by Mr. Tallarico, some of which he signed. But who wrote the story? If you consult The Grand Comics Database, they'll tell you it was "?" They don't know. Lots of people have tried to discern it and lots of people have failed…but I'll tell you who wrote at least some of them. Paul C. Ignizio.
Which of course prompts many of you to ask, "Who?"
Paul C. Ignizio. You wouldn't have guessed him for a good reason. You never heard of him before. Neither had I until the other day.
I recently got a great book on the history of the Car 54 TV show. It's written by Martin Grams, Jr. and by the way, if you'd like a copy, you can order it here. Among the many other miracles of research managed by Mr. Grams, he got his mitts on the files of Howard Epstein, an executive who was involved with the TV series. In those files was a letter from this man, Paul C. Ignizio, who was looking for writing work on the show. He sent as a sample, a copy of a Car 54 comic book he wrote for Dell and also stated that he'd written comics for them of Laurel & Hardy, Diver Dan and The Twist.
As far as I can tell, the name of Paul C. Ignizio has never appeared in any article, database, interview or anything of the sort relating to comic book history. It's not in The Who's Who of American Comic Books. It's not anywhere in The Grand Comics Database, either.
This is, maddeningly, the answer to a lot of questions we have about who wrote or drew what. Sometimes, the answer is, "Someone we never heard of." For a long period, Bob Kane was allegedly drawing Batman stories but actually having them ghosted by Sheldon Moldoff. Around 1966, there were a couple that were not by Moldoff or anyone else whose work can be recognized. I asked Kane once about those and he said, "Oh, those were done for me by some kid I met at an art show…I don't recall his name." It's likely that person never drew anything else for the comic book industry and their identity is lost forever. I'll bet no one at DC Comics ever knew it.
I am impressed with a lot of comic book scholarship. Some folks are just amazing at digging up information that the folks who published or created old comic books didn't think to record or preserve way back when. But even scholarship has its limits. We can't identify people until we find a name somewhere.
Snappy Wishes For Stupid Birthdays
The editors of MAD have asked me to pass this on…but I would have announced it here even if they hadn't asked. We all want to deluge Al Jaffee with birthday wishes on his upcoming 90th birthday…and none of this crappy "takes you 60 seconds" e-mail stuff. That man has been slaving night and day for decades to bring you his fine cartooning. It's the least you can do to actually write out or draw something on actual paper and go buy a friggin' stamp. Here's the announcement that will run in the next issue of that publication…
AL JAFFEE IS TURNING 90!
On March 13, long-time MAD writer/artist, creator of the Fold-In and Snappy Answers, and accused (but never convicted!) shoplifter Al Jaffee is going to be 90 freakin' years old! To celebrate, we're asking all fans (and enemies) to send in letters, cards, poems, drawings, paintings, sculptures, operettas, WHATEVER — so we can pass the love straight to Al! The sky's the limit!
You can send your birthday wishes to:
The Big Jaffee
c/o MAD Magazine
1700 Broadway
New York, NY 10019The deadline is March 1st…so get crackin'!
Do it or you'll hate yourself when it's too late. And if you already hate yourself, you'll hate yourself more. Just send Al something…but don't send a note that says FUN SEEKERS KNOW TO PICK YOU with the letters positioned so when you fold it over, the N SEEKERS KNOW TO PI disappears.
See, I know that's what you were thinking and now that I've posted it, you can't do it. You'll have to think of something else. Preferably, something sincere.
Today's Video Link
This is, for me, the most important moment in baseball in years…
Bobby the Plumber, R.I.P.
I have occasionally mentioned here that I had the best plumber in the world. I did and now, sadly, I don't…though I may again. Let me tell you about my friend, Bobby the Plumber…
Thirty-some-odd years ago, I had plumbing needs. A new house means new emergencies. I went eenie-meenie-minie-mo with the Yellow Pages and called a big company. They sent out someone who fixed the problem and charged me a lot of money. A few weeks later, I had another problem. I called a different company at random and they sent out someone who fixed the problem and charged me a lot of money. And so on it went for a few years. The plumbing in the house I'd purchased needed a heckuva lot of plumbing.
The fifth or sixth plumber I got from a big company via the rear of my phone book was named Bobby. Nice guy. He fixed the problem and charged me a lot…but while he was here, he fixed a number of other things and didn't charge me. He was the first one of those guys I felt really gave me my money's worth. Naturally, I made a special point of writing down his name and telling him I'd not only henceforth ask for him but that I'd send friends his way. And while he was here, I asked him for an estimate of what it would cost to put a new sprinkler system in my front yard.
He did the measurements and math, then told me the following: "Well…if I do it or any other plumber the company sends out does it, it'll cost around $2500. If my brother-in-law and I come out and do it on the weekend and you pay us directly, it'll be a thousand." Guess which option I chose. The following Saturday, Bobby and a couple of guys came out and put in a new sprinkler system. And while he was here, he repaired a perennially-gurgling toilet and a leaky spigot and a few other problems at no charge. In fact, some of what he did involved undoing what earlier plumbers had done and fixing those problems the right way.
Three weeks later, he called and asked me if he could come by and see me. I couldn't imagine why but I told him to come on over.
That day, he sat in my office here and said, "I've been thinking of leaving this company and going off on my own. I don't feel right about the way they insist we do business." He ticked off a list of practices that if they weren't illegal were at least a bit sleazy — like charging customers $75 for a part that cost two bucks or telling them they needed an expensive drilling-out of roots in their sewer lines when it wasn't necessary or when the problem could be handled another way for a lot less. He said he felt like an accomplice to a crime when he did that kind of thing.
Since he'd worked for me, my referrals to friends had generated several work calls…all from writers. One of them had told him that I'd posted a message on the then-active, since-defunct Writers Guild Bulletin Board System that I was then operating. That had gotten him some business and each job had led to other calls to his company and requests for Bobby. He was wondering: If he did go off and start his own company, could I spread the word? He wasn't sure but he thought it might be possible that he could make a go of it just through one satisfied customer telling another.
And he did. For around thirty years.
He rarely advertised. He was so good and so honest that one customer told two others and each of them told two others and so on. He said that two-thirds of his calls came from writers or folks in the animation business, and that he could usually trace the referral through one or more referrals back to me. I take zero credit for that. Obviously, it had everything to do with the satisfaction — in some cases, the delight — of his clients.
This is not to say he pleased every one of them. I heard from a few who felt he'd overcharged them or not fixed something properly. Several even yelled at me or at least complained because the guy I'd recommended hadn't lived up to his billing, they felt, as The Best Plumber in the World. In two of those cases, I heard enough to know the customer was in the wrong. In one or two others, I called Bobby and he immediately went back and made things right.
I'll tell you how much I trusted this guy. When something was broken here, I'd call him and he'd hurry over and fix it and I didn't even ask for an estimate or a price in advance. If it was a small thing, he'd sometimes do it for nothing or just for the cost of materials. If it took some time, he'd charge me about a third of what any other plumber would charge. Once, I tried to pay him more than the amount on his bill and he refused to take the check. He tore it up and said he would only accept one for the proper amount.
Here's an even better story. One time during a Garfield recording session, I overheard Gregg Berger (voice of Odie and others) telling his wife on the phone, "Well, I guess we have no choice. Tell the plumbers to go ahead." I asked him what was up. He said his new home needed a new sewer line installed from the house to the street and it had to be done before Christmas Day when large masses of relatives were arriving. That was about 90 hours away. The best estimate he'd received was $6000 and he'd been warned it could run higher than that…and they might not finish on time.
I said, "Trust me. Cancel them and hire my guy. You don't even need to get an estimate. If it's anything over six grand, I'll pay the difference."
Gregg did as he was advised. Bobby and his crew went out and worked day and night, sometimes digging by lantern-light until the wee, small hours. They finished up Christmas morning an hour or two before the family arrived.
Total cost? $3,000 and he apologized it was that high. Gregg tried to write the check for more but as with me, Bobby wouldn't take it.
I have a dozen more stories like that. I also had him do work on my mother's house and one time he called me and said, "I'm in her neighborhood. Does she need anything done?" I said no, her plumbing was fine. He said, "No, I mean does she need anything? Light bulbs changed? Trash cans taken out?" When was the last time your plumber volunteered that kind of service and for free?
That man, Robert Gomez Jaramillo, died the other day. Funeral services are on Tuesday.
I can't tell you how sad this makes me and not because I no longer have The Best Plumber in the World. I might still. Bobby's son has taken over the family business. In fact, he did one job recently for me because his father had been hospitalized with a stroke, and the work was done with same efficiency, skill and honesty. The son is named Robert (Junior) so I may still have a Bobby the Plumber and so far, he looks to be living up to his father's example in every way. (For those of you who live in Los Angeles and might need a great plumber: I'll post contact info in a few days.)
I just liked Bobby. I liked his integrity. I liked his attitude. I loved the fact that he was able to stay busy just because one customer told another. He was a great guy and I'm not the only person who feels that way. While I was writing this, Marv Wolfman called and I told him the sad news. He recalled that Bobby recently performed a major rescue on the Wolfmanor out in the Valley when a pipe broke. Marv had raved to me at the time at how Bobby (Senior) rode to the rescue and saved a lot of the property and got everything working again. Marv's neighbor saw the skill and dedication and immediately hired The Best Plumber in the World to work for him, as well. That was how Bobby made a living. One satisfied customer always led to another. I wish more businesses were good enough to operate like that…and that everyone I ever hired was as nice as Bobby Jaramillo.
Future Schlock: The Sequel
Yesterday here, I was discussing the general worthlessness of weather forecasts that predict 10-15 days ahead. I noted that AccuWeather, surveying the future of Los Angeles, had said there'd be a big rainstorm on February 8…then the following day, they decided it would be sunny that day but it would rain on the 11th and 12th.
Well, today they still have sun on February 8 but now they're saying it'll be sunny on the 11th and 12th.
I don't mean to belabor this point though I probably will. If you track weather forecasts that go beyond a week in advance and jot down what they say, you'll discover that they're no more accurate than if you just said, "The weather ten days from now will be the same as it is today." Assuming that, you'd be wrong an awful lot of the time…but no more than the 10-15 day forecasts we get.
The National Weather Service predictions which cover the coming week are usually pretty reliable, especially if you allow for the fact that the closer we get to a given date the more accurate their forecast will be. But once you get past seven days, all that's possible is a general trend for the coming weeks. If you try to get into calling specific days, you might as well be lobbing darts at a big corkboard.
Two Quick Updates
A number of news sites didn't understand that Keith Olbermann did not go in and do that cameo on David Letterman's show the other night. This afternoon, Olbermann tweeted, "Attention challenged bloggers @TVNewser: I was not backstage at Letterman last night. As everybody else seems to know, clip was from 2008." To a questioner, he wrote, "I was not there. Seeing it on tv was a bigger surprise to me than it was to anybody else."
And Robert Blake is back on the guest list of the Hollywood Show in Burbank, February 12-13. I still haven't decided how I feel about this.
Today's Video Link
Here we have eight minutes from Shenanigans, a game show for kids that ran on ABC on Saturday mornings in 1964 and 1965. The host was Stubby Kaye, the announcer was Kenny Williams and the whole show was an indirect commercial for Milton-Bradley games, interrupted occasionally by direct commercials for Milton-Bradley games.
The series had a long genesis that started on local TV in New York with a much-less-elaborate kids' game show called Shenanigans, hosted and produced by a man named Bob Quigley. Mr. Quigley later moved from in front of the camera to behind, partnering with a gent named Merrill Heatter to produce game shows. One of their first successes was with a show for CBS called Video Village which had contestants running around on a giant game board. Kenny Williams was its announcer, as well. It aired from 1960 to 1962. For part of that time, there was a Saturday morning version called either Video Village Jr. or Kideo Village. As I recall, TV Guide consistently started with one name and changed to the other.
Two years later, Heatter-Quigley retooled the kids' version into the show you see before you which used Quigley's old title. I liked Mr. Kaye a lot and the way he sang the title song. This was one of the last game shows ever produced with live music on stage. (I wonder why, in the age of synthesizers, no one has tried that again.) I thought the game itself was kinda silly and at times, condescending to children. Still, it's sad to hear that most of the episodes of this program are forever lost. There are two fuzzy copies that make the rounds of the collectors' market and that may be all that survives. Here's a little sampler edited from one of them…
Future Schlock
Michael Kinsley says never mind this nonsense about who's going to win the 2012 Presidential race. The media should be out there covering 2016…and beyond.
On a slightly different topic: I can't believe how many articles I'm seeing these days that attempt to predict 2012 as if, really, nothing is likely to happen between now and then that could change the outcome — no war, no change in the economy, no scandal, no disaster or terrorist attack…it doesn't even apparently matter who the Republicans nominate or what happens in the debates. We now have a clear enough picture of 2012 to assess Obama's chances. Never mind that this far before the last few presidential elections, the predictions were all either wildly wrong or lucky hunches.
I also feel that way about weather predictions more than about a week in advance. The National Weather Service does not announce projections beyond about a week ahead because…well, the accuracy rate that far off is pretty low. Some of the commercial services — I guess, to act like they can do something the N.W.S. can't — offer a 10-15 day forecast that is pretty useless past Day Seven. Yesterday, AccuWeather was projecting a big rainstorm in L.A. for February 8. Today, they're saying it'll be sunny that day but it'll rain on the 11th and 12th. Will it? Hey, even wild guesses are sometimes right.
Some of the ones about the 2012 election are probably right in the same way…and it's not irrelevant that Obama's approval ratings are where they are or that his possible opponents poll as they do. But none of that means the election is even close to over. I suspect the 2012 election will be largely about an issue or two that aren't even on our radar yet. Two weeks ago, who was thinking about U.S. policy towards Egypt? Other topics will emerge. But as the reporter Jack Germond has said, "We [in the news business] aren't paid to say, 'I don't know.'" So they have to say something else…
In Passing…
Condolences to our pal Bob Elisberg who just lost his mother. Judging by the touching tribute he wrote to her, she must have been quite a lady.
Buzz Dixon has written a remembrance of our mutual friend John Dorman, a fine artist and as unlikely a character as any he ever drew.
Surprise, Surprise!
I generally like (and subscribe) to Salon but their coverage of television — especially late night — often demonstrates a lack of understanding the business and what the reporter is watching. This morning, they have a story up about how Keith Olbermann made a surprise return to TV with a silent cameo on Letterman's show the other night. That might be news if Olbermann had done any such thing. It says there "The former MSNBC shows his face to American viewers." I think the word "host" is missing from that line but even with that in there, it's wrong. The more correct line would be, "Letterman's show reuses old footage of Olbermann from 2008."
Remember when John McCain "suspended" his campaign for the White House and bailed at the last minute on an appearance with Dave? Olbermann was brought in to be the replacement guest. While K.O. was there, they recorded a couple of little bits with him and the show's stage manager Biff Henderson and used them on subsequent programs. Letterman would allude to the fact that they had someone standing by in case another guest didn't show…and then they'd cut to the tape of Olbermann backstage, waiting for an opening. That was the same piece of video.
The article quotes a Tweet that Olbermann put up afterwards referring to his "cameo" (he put it in quotes) and mentioning how it looked surprisingly like a cameo from 2008. But they still headlined the piece to suggest Olbermann had decided to show his face on TV again by showing his face on Letterman's show. The fact is that Mr. Olbermann didn't go anywhere or lift a finger to make that happen. CBS might have asked his permission to reuse the old footage but I doubt they even did that.
The Ross Report
Kliph Nesteroff has whipped up a very impressive and interesting profile of the late comedian Joe E. Ross, who was featured on Sgt. Bilko and who starred on Car 54, Where Are You? and It's About Time. Ross was a very amusing man on those rare occasions when he managed to actually do what Nat Hiken (producer and creator of those first two shows) told him what to do. But his friends still tell stories about how he seemed cluelessly intent on sabotaging his own career by not learning his lines or by doing things that folks around him found grossly offensive. Read the sad/funny story.
Today's Video Link
Marlene Dietrich singing a song from Dreamgirls. That's the premise. Here, at the suggestion of Tim Dunleavy, is the video which stars Christianne Tisdale…