With Hillary Clinton presently running way ahead of all her currently-possible G.O.P. opponents for 2016, the Republican Attack Machine is revving up to shift the mantle of Despotic Nazi Anti-Christ from Obama to her. We'll be soon be hearing that she was born in Kenya and that her birth certificate is an obvious forgery…and they may even try some Swiftboating, telling us that she phonied up her military record in Vietnam. They're also talking — and this is real — about resurrecting "The Clinton Scandals," meaning the mess with Ms. Lewinsky, Whitewater, Travelgate and Filegate.
They'll get nowhere with the Lewinsky matter since Hillary was a victim, not a victimizer, and it was all none of our business in the first place. And as Joe Conason reminds us, there was nothing to charges against Ms. Clinton in the others. Even Ken Starr, who was appointed by the Republican Party to find some teensy crime on which to indict her couldn't find anything. Not a thing.
Matthew C. Klein explains what's at stake in the takeover of Time-Warner Cable by Comcast. I have Time-Warner Cable and to me, it just seems like we'd be trading one all-powerful, does-whatever-it-wants-to-us corporation for another.
Jackie Estrada has more than hit her Kickstarter goal so her book, Comic Book People, will become a reality. However, the campaign still has a week to go which means you still have a week to pony up some money to make sure you get a copy. There are special perks and bonuses that come to getting it this way…so go pledge and get one. It'll be a terrific book of photos Jackie has taken over the years of folks who work (or worked) in comics. Most, I assume, were taken at the Comic-Con International and many are from before it was called that.
The photo above is of the late Russ Manning, famous for his work on Tarzan and Magnus, Robot Fighter…to mention but two of his many credits. Russ was a great artist and a great guy and this shot of him signing autographs for a young admirer was taken at the El Cortez Hotel at the 1975 San Diego Con. This photo will not be in Jackie's book because she didn't take it. I did. She's a much better photographer than this.
Last time I counted, there were 72,526 different interpretations of Batman out there. What's the most popular one? Well, it might just be the one configured by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm. Read all about it.
Our buddy Floyd Norman writes about his experiences this week appearing on The View.
By the way: Floyd was the first black animator hired by Disney but he wasn't the only black animator to work in theatrical animation. In this other post, he writes about Frank Braxton. Read that one, too.
One other thing about the passing of Sid Caesar. Neil Simon, as we all know, wrote on Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour, plus he supplied the book for Little Me, which was Mr. Caesar's greatest Broadway triumph. So he had a lot of history with the man.
A few years ago, Simon published two books — Rewrites and The Play Goes On — which were Volume 1 and Volume 2 of his autobiography. There has been no rumbling of a Volume 3, nor has Simon had a new play produced for some time. That and a notable sparsity of public appearances and interviews has led to rumors that Mr. Simon is not in the greatest of health. He's 86, by the way.
Rewrites, which covers his earliest days as a writer, has an odd gap in it. There's almost nothing about his days in television, working for Caesar and other greats of the era. You'd think that would be one of the most colorful, fertile areas to write about…and indeed, when interviewed, Simon always had a truckload of anecdotes and stories about those days, plus he thought them interesting enough to fictionalize (somewhat) into his play, Laughter on the 23rd Floor. But in his autobiography, they pretty much get mentioned briefly in passing.
This has led some to speculate the following: That in the writing process, Simon wrote about or at least began writing about those days but soon realized that (a) that phase of his life was a book in itself and (b) that some of what he wrote, if he was being honest, might hurt Mr. Caesar. So, the theory goes, he decided to save all that for another book to be published upon Sid's passing. As I mentioned, everyone around Sid has thought for about the last fifteen years that would be occurring "any day now."
Is such a book sitting, completed or otherwise, in Neil Simon's filing cabinet? Will we see it soon? If not, does that mean he wasn't up to finishing it or he never started it? I'd sure like to see such a thing.
Posted on Wednesday, February 12, 2014 at 10:58 PM
This was released today…
Comic-Con International, the largest comic book and popular arts event of its kind in the world, has announced that the Eisner Awards judges have selected three individuals to automatically be inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Awards Hall of Fame for 2014. These inductees are Golden Age artists Irwin Hasen (The Flash, Wildcat, Green Lantern for DC; Dondi syndicated strip), Sheldon Moldoff (Batman artist), and African American comics pioneer Orrin C. Evans (All-Negro Comics). In the past, the judges have chosen two automatic inductees, both deceased. This year's judges decided to add one more inductee, a deserving still-living comics creator.
The judges have also chosen 14 nominees from which voters will select 4 to be inducted in the Hall of Fame this summer. These nominees are Gus Arriola, Howard Cruse, Philippe Druillet, Rube Goldberg, Fred Kida, Hayao Miyazaki, Tarpé Mills, Alan Moore, Francoise Mouly, Dennis O'Neil, Antonio Prohias, Rumiko Takahashi, George Tuska, and Bernie Wrightson.
Hmm…all deserving folks and we have to pick no more than four. Okay, I'll pick Arriola, Goldberg, Kida and Prohias. And I can go here to read more about them and here to cast my votes.
Stay tuned because in a week or three, we'll be announcing the recipients of this year's Bill Finger Excellence in Comic Book Writing Award. Some of you will be very happy with the judges' selections.
In May of 2005, I was at the funeral of a dear friend of mine — Howie Morris, who'd co-starred with the great Sid Caesar on Your Show of Shows and other programs. Sid was not there…and no one who knew how poor his health had been faulted him for not being there. At one point, I found myself standing with Andy Griffith and Aaron Ruben, and Aaron said wistfully, "You know we're going to be doing this for Sid any day now." Andy nodded and said, "Poor Sid."
Aaron Ruben, who'd been a writer for Sid and who'd produced The Andy Griffith Show, died in 2010 and Andy died in 2012. Sid outlived both of them. He died this morning at the age of 91.
Here's an obit that, as so many will, makes the mistake of thinking Larry Gelbart and Woody Allen wrote for Your Show of Shows. Since there will be so many others documenting his amazing career and achievements, I'll just write about my experiences with Sid. In the early eighties, when I was Head Writer on the infamous variety show Pink Lady, we were desperate for guests. Even before anyone had seen the show or its stars, no one who mattered wanted to be on it. But Sid Caesar was available so we had him on half the episodes. (That's where the above photo is from.)
He was a strange man…distant and distrusting. It didn't take long to realize a big reason why that was.
Everywhere we went — to lunch, to meetings, just walking together through the studio lot — he was approached by people who said the same thing: "You are the greatest comedian who ever lived." Compliment after compliment. Praise upon praise. And Sid would wince a bit and squeeze his eyebrows (he always squeezed his eyebrows when he was uncomfortable) and prepare himself because he knew the Painful Question was coming. It usually went something like this…
"Why don't you have your own TV show? You're so much funnier than [name of big current comedy star]!" Sid didn't have an answer for that.
He was polite to people who touched that raw nerve. He'd mumble something about idiot network executives, which is kind of an all-purpose excuse — often a valid one — for the odd things that transpire in television.
But the truth was he didn't know. He had once been the King of TV Comedy, dubbed "The Chaplin of Television" by none less than Steve Allen, who knew a little something about funny people. Too often though, he found himself unemployed or appearing in shows and movies that were, well, not worthy of him. Not many shows or movies were. Howie Morris used to say, with real sympathy, "Sid goes wandering through life wondering where his series went and when it's coming back."
Another thing Howie said. He took me once to a lunch group — a bunch of out-of-work actors gathering every Thursday afternoon at Cafe Roma in Beverly Hills. The "cast" was mainly folks who'd worked on Hogan's Heroes, which Howie had directed. As we got there, Robert Clary said, "Sid will be joining us today."
Howie said, "Really? Who are we going to talk to?" Because — and this was one of the big reasons Sid wasn't on TV more — there was no Sid Caesar when he wasn't in character. Give him a role to don, especially a role with a dialect, and no one was funnier. But Sid playing Sid? Nothing.
The best example I can give you of this came a few years ago at another funeral of a colleague that Sid outlived. It was at the memorial for Larry Gelbart and here's how I described it here at the time…
Perhaps the most touching moment came from Sid Caesar. I'll say this as delicately as I can: The great Caesar is not in great shape. He is frail and largely confined to a wheelchair. Unable to get up on stage, he delivered his speech from the front row of the audience, helped to his feet by an aide.
Now, in the best of health, Sid Caesar was never good at speaking as Sid Caesar. In fact, earlier in a clip that was shown, we'd seen Gelbart talking about how uncomfortable Sid was when not enveloped in some sort of character. Now, he tried…but the words just wouldn't come. He started a sentence, lost his way in the middle of it and just froze up. The audience squirmed uncomfortably…
…and then a smart person in the front row – someone said it was Mel Brooks but I don't think it was – called out, "Sid, try it in Italian!"
Instantly, Sid began speaking in the double-talk Italian for which he's so famous. It was utter gibberish but it was wonderful, eloquent gibberish that was somehow infused with love for his friend, Larry. The audience went crazy.
That day at Cafe Roma, Sid was seated to my right. He had only a vague recollection of working with me on Pink Lady, inviting me to his home a few times, seeing him on other occasions. Straining to make conversation, I asked him a couple of things about It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. I'd discussed it with him in his more lucid days but at that lunch, he didn't remember anything that he'd remembered before. Plus, we were constantly interrupted by people who stopped at the table to tell him he was the greatest comedian ever and to ask why he wasn't on television every week.
(By the way: I had the exact same experience — minus the failing memory — whenever I was around Jonathan Winters. Everyone told him he was the funniest man who was ever on television and asked why he wasn't on all the time. Once, I heard Jonathan answer someone, "I will be the next time they revive Hollywood Squares.")
The problem with Sid, of course, was that he wasn't much of a TV star when he was Sid Caesar, sans outrageous character. Another problem was that no matter what anyone hired him for, he tried to turn it into a Your Show of Shows sketch. He was frozen in that era and that kind of comedy. On Pink Lady, we had a sketch where Sid had a line about Bo Derek, who was at the time the person you referenced in a joke to denote a beautiful movie star. Every time Sid said the line, it turned into Marilyn Monroe.
Patiently — and nervously, because Sid was a powerful man with hair-trigger anger — the director would explain to him that the name "Marilyn Monroe" no longer suggested someone men lusted after for her great beauty. Marilyn had been dead for close to twenty years. Sid would nod, say he understood…
…and the next take, it would still be "Marilyn Monroe." At some point, you just plain give up.
There are actors of his generation who work. Dick Van Dyke still works. Shelley Berman still works. Sid's sidekick Carl Reiner still works…a lot. In fact, all three of those men and others I could name turn down more parts than they accept. They've all learned that in the 21st Century, they can't insist on doing things the way they did in 1959 so they grow, they learn, they adapt. Sid just couldn't. He didn't work the last fifteen years or so due to failing health but he didn't work much for years before that due to failing evolution.
It was such a shame. I didn't start writing this to be such a downer. I should be writing about what a funny, clever man he was and celebrate the fine, innovative comedy he gave us. The trouble is that I couldn't look at him without thinking what a waste it was of one of the most brilliant comedians who ever lived. When that man was at his best, there was nobody better. Nobody.
Today (Wednesday), the guest on Stu's Show is Paul Petersen, an author and actor who has also taken an activist role in protecting the rights of child performers. Paul was one, having worked at the age of ten as a Mouseketeer on the original Mickey Mouse Club. Soon after, he became a cast member of The Donna Reed Show and was featured in an impressive list of motion pictures and TV programs. So he's a guy who understands what young actors go through and the kinds of protection they need but too often have not had. Paul will be chatting with your host Stu Shostak about a range of topics including the passing of Shirley Temple, the legal problems of David Cassidy and Justin Bieber and, most likely, the Woody Allen case.
Stu's Show can be heard live (almost) every Wednesday at the Stu's Show website and you can listen for free there. Webcasts start at 4 PM Pacific Time, 7 PM Eastern and other times in other climes. They run a minimum of two hours and sometimes go to three or beyond.
Shortly after a show ends, it's available for downloading from the Archives on that site. Downloads are a paltry 99 cents each and you can get four for the price of three.
Well, actually what I've embedded below is an audio link. It's the audio of a 46-minute lecture that Charles Schulz gave on the U.C.L.A. campus on May 24, 1971. I was present for this and I thought it was a good insight into the man and his work. Here, 43 years later, it stands up…though without video, you won't get to see the drawings Mr. Schulz did. As I recall, they were pretty good…
So now here's a Peanuts-related video to watch. This is a 16-minute video on the making of A Charlie Brown Christmas. I'm in it — and you'll notice my hair going through its Larry Fine stage. It would later go all Joe Besser on me and now it's getting rather Shempish.
But forget about me. I call your attention to a man named Lee Mendelson, with whom I have worked for close to thirty years. Look closely because it's not often you get to see a breed of animal that is on the verge of extinction. In this case, the breed is "A smart, honest TV producer."
