Monthly Archives: September 2014

In a speech the other day, Sarah Palin referred to the White House as "1400 Pennsylvania Avenue" and way too much is being made of it. This is one of my beefs with political discourse these days. It's the folks who lie in wait for The Opposition to misspeak or have a momentary brain fart, and then try to sell it as proof that the person is stupid, addled or otherwise not to be taken seriously. Ms. Palin says plenty of things intentionally I believe are wrong or disingenuous. This kind of "gaffe" is like a writer hitting the wrong keys on a keyboard and spelling a word wrong.

I felt the same way about some of George W. Bush's clumsier phrasing or Barack Obama saying he'd visited 57 states or the time Jimmy Carter referred to Hubert Horatio Humphrey as Hubert Horatio Hornblower or…

Well, they all do it at one time or another and to exploit it as more than an amusing blooper is real schoolyard. How about if we hold people responsible for what they meant, rather than their verbal slip-ups?

Shelly Goldstein, Beatles fan/expert supreme, found this: How to make Beatles pancakes. For some reason, I feel like Ringo should be a waffle…

The last few days, the crevices of the Internet that deal with comic books have seen a flurry of essays on the question, "Is it worth it for professionals to attend comic book conventions?" The flurry seems to have been kicked off by this essay by Denise Dorman, who's the wife of artist Dave Dorman.

She says that balancing what it costs them to attend a con against what they gross in sales, it doesn't pay. Her piece spawned many replies including those from Corey Blake, Ryan L. Schrodt and Thom Zahler. There are others if you want to search.

Obviously, anyone's experience is valid to some extent for them. If you go to make money and you don't make money…well, maybe you shouldn't go. Whether it's because of some specific trend like the incursion of media stars and/or the cosplayers is more arguable…though at the Phoenix Comic Con, I did hear one dealer loudly cursing out the cosplayers. There were an awful lot of them there and his complaints were (a) they constitute a large part of the attendance but they don't buy stuff and (b) they were always blocking the aisles, limiting others' access to his display.

I do have a problem with cosplayers at conventions and it's not that they're there. Most are quite ingenious with their costuming and they add to the overall fun and color of cons. No, my problem is that when you dress up as a super-hero or a Wookie or a Conan wanna-be and someone asks, "Can I take your picture?", it too often makes you oblivious to the discourtesies and dangers of blocking aisles or swinging your plastic sword in the vicinity of someone's face. (And no, it's not everyone…but it's enough to create some genuine problems. Any con now, someone's going to be genuinely injured in a way that will demand serious regulation of cosplayers.)

But let's leave that aside now. I don't know the Dormans at all, except to admire Dave's work from afar, so let's leave them out of this, too. Let's just ask, "Is something wrong with a comic convention where professional guests can't make enough dough to make it worth their time to go?" My answer: I don't think so. Is there something wrong with a strip-mall where every store can't turn a profit?

All a convention can do for exhibitors is to bring in a crowd that has some money on them. If they're not interested in what you're offering or if they are and don't like the price you've placed on it, you won't sell anything. The long waiting list to get a table at the Comic-Con in San Diego is proof that someone is making money down there. Not everyone can.

I'll tell you who really can't make money selling at conventions: Me. But then, I've never tried; not once in my 44 (!) years of going to comic book conventions and a few science-fiction ones, have I set up a table and tried to sell anything. I mean no criticism of anyone who enjoys it or depends on it when I say I personally choose not to do that. At most, if a publisher or merchant is selling my new book, I'll sit at their table for an hour or so and sign to help them move some product.

I have begun turning down most invites to guest at cons because, basically, they offer me nothing but the chance to sell stuff I bring. I do go to WonderCon and Comic-Con International because I usually enjoy every minute I spend at those cons. Apart from the eighty quadrillion panels I do at each, there are tons of people to see and other programming to enjoy. There are also business-type meetings relating to my work.

(I do not, by the way, recommend going to any con — except just maybe one in your own zip code — in the belief that the time and expense are a good investment because you'll score a great, well-paying job. That usually doesn't happen and it's a good way to eliminate any possible other enjoyment or benefits you might derive from that trip. But if you want to work in comics or animation or gaming or any other industry that a particular con embraces, there may be some value to mingling with and listening to folks actively working in that area. If nothing else, it could be educational. I'm a big believer in trying to really understand the business in which you want to be.)

So is going to conventions to sell things a bad investment for professionals? For some, certainly…just as opening a sushi bar down at the corner may be a terrible investment. I'm just going to suggest that some of my friends and colleagues consider that there might be other reasons, besides sitting at a table hawking your output, to attend certain conventions. And in some cases, there might well be no reason whatsoever.

It was announced this morning that the family of Jack Kirby has settled with Marvel Comics (i.e., Disney) ending a very long dispute. The Supreme Court was only days from considering whether to take on the case and obviously, the timing of this settlement has much to do with both sides' concern with what would get decided there.

If you're coming to this page in search of details and commentary, you've come to the wrong place. I will be saying nothing about it other that I am real, real happy. And I'm sure Jack and his wife Roz, if they're watching this from wherever they are, are real, real, real happy.

Regular posting — on other topics — will resume here shortly.

Well, I guess I can finally finish that big biography on Jack Kirby…

A lack of proofreading. Enjoy.

So much stuff to do today so I'm posting the traditional can of Campbell's to let you all know I don't expect to post a lot here 'til tomorrow morning.

I am having lunch today with a friend I haven't seen in a while, a fine screenwriter named Adam Rodman. Adam's father was a fine writer, as well…and the creator of the TV series, Harry O, which I've been watching lately. That's not why Adam and I are lunching — we were just way overdue. But I may hit him up with some questions.

Before and after, I'll be here at the computer writing stuff that I expect to pay. I'm also way behind in answering e-mails. I have a "to be answered" folder containing entries that somehow seem to date back to before there was e-mail. I have no idea how that's possible but there they are. Back soon.

Molly Fitzpatrick does not believe in psychic powers or the paranormal or E.S.P. or anything of the sort. For the record, neither do I. She went to five psychics for palm readings and she reports on her experiences.

Fred Kaplan thinks the airstrikes we're conducting in Syria may be more effective than most people think. As one who suspects most people are right that they won't be, I sure hope we're wrong and Fred's right.

The other day here, I linked to some photos of actors auditioning for roles on the 1964-1966 TV series, The Addams Family. The article, which was from photos shot then for Life magazine, did not identify the auditioners so some of us have been trying to. This message from John Glenn Taylor covers all the answers that sound credible to me…

I did a little research into the Addams Family matter. The photos have been circulating a while, at least since 2009. Someone found them in the online Life archive and started a speculation thread at this forum.

Several sharp-eyed commenters on that thread positively identified several of the actors, although the Morticias proved more difficult. I've arranged their findings to match the numbering of the photos in the current slideshow.

The Uncle Fester in Photos #2 and #15 is probably Stanley Adams, the character actor probably best known for playing Cyrano Jones in the Star Trek episode, "The Trouble With Tribbles."

The Morticia on the far right of Photo #3 seems to be Eileen O'Neill, known for her work on the series, Burke's Law.

Photo #5 is almost definitely Paul Wexler, the longtime character actor.

Tracy Stratford is the Wednesday on the far right of Photo #6. Tracy appeared on The Loretta Young Show, the "Living Doll" episode of The Twilight Zone, and was Lucy Van Pelt's voice for A Charlie Brown Christmas.

The older gentleman playing lurch in Photo #9 is none other than John Dierkes, who can also be seen in the films The Alamo and Shane.

In photo #10, we have three Lurches. From left to right, it's John Dierkes, Paul Wexler, and Josip Elic, who would go on to play the part of Bancini in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.

In Photo #14, one of the Pugsleys is Jimmy Garrett from The Lucy Show. Another may or may not be Kim Tyler, who was one of the kids in the television series, Please Don't Eat The Daisies.

The Grandmama in Photo #19 is almost certainly Minerva Urecal.

There were several guesses as to the identities of the actresses trying out for the role of Morticia. Some of the names mentioned were Debra Paget, Charlene Holt and Jan Harrison.

Curiously, this new Life article does not present all the photos that exist in the Life archives of the Addams Family alternates. There are other photos, including some showing actor Percy Helton as Lurch, and others showing actress Joan Huntington as Morticia.

Hope this info is helpful.

Very helpful…though I think you meant Percy Helton as Uncle Fester.

I decided to just list the other guesses made by two or more people who wrote in. Two of them guessed Carol Lynley as one of the Morticias and quite a few thought one of the men trying out for Lurch was James Cromwell. I'm not saying they're right or wrong. Among those who sent in guesses, many of whom agreed with the above were John Nelson, Suzanne Stone, Bob Casinelli, David Simmons, Anthony Tollin, Roger Green, Ed O'Toole, Kevin Blackford, Bruce Hannum, Brad Ferguson, Sid Friedfertig, Michael Kirby, Jack Lechner, John Graham, Gary Rafferty and Lee Spilberg. Thank you all.

Sarah Larson on how Sesame Street has changed over the years.

There's little mention in it of Elmo. The last few times I tried watching Sesame Street — a few years ago, before the puppeteer who played Elmo got into serious legal and moral trouble — it had basically turned into The Elmo Show. I guess it's not that these days but I sure didn't see much of The People In His Neighborhood.

Here's ten minutes of Skip E. Lowe interviewing Milton Berle. In it, Mr. Berle claims to have been the original model for Buster Brown for Buster Brown shoes, and to have played the newsboy opposite Charlie Chaplin in the movie, Tillie's Punctured Romance. Historians doubt both claims. (Berle also gets the Chaplin filmography wrong. Chaplin made The Rink and Easy Street after Tillie's Punctured Romance.) I've never heard anyone dispute Berle's claim to have been in silent pictures with Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks but I wonder about them, too.

Anyway, this'll give you a little taste of what Skip E. Lowe did. He did an awful lot of these interviews…

Skip E. Lowe has died and Hollywood seems a bit less glamorous because of it. Once upon a time, Mr. Lowe was an actor in a few movies. At some point though, he became one of the movies' greatest fans and his claim to stardom was as the host of a public access cable show in which he interviewed the Great, the Near-Great and the Never-Close-To-Great. He treated them all pretty much the same. Lowe was one of the first people to do that kind of show and he somehow managed to get just about everyone to be on it, from Orson Welles to Bette Davis.

The most engrossing shows I saw though were the ones where he didn't have someone like that on; where his guest was Tab Hunter's makeup man or some bit player whose career peak was three lines on a Petticoat Junction. He fawned over them all, much the same way he fawned over Mr. Welles or Ms. Davis, emphasizing their importance and somehow managing to eke out a decent interview. It is said that Martin Short based his Jiminy Glick character on Skip E. to some extent and I can sure see that.

Lowe wrote books about the early days of Hollywood — emphasis on first-person accounts — and for a time, his main endeavor seemed to be the Skip E. Lowe Talent Showcases that were always popping up at local restaurants. He'd make a deal with some eatery whereby he'd provide live entertainment on one of their slow nights. I suppose he got a cut of sales those evenings, or maybe he made his money off the modest cover charges.

Carolyn and I went once to one at Caffé Roma, a rather nice Italian place in Beverly Hills. It was on a Monday night as I recall, and we were going because Carolyn had a friend who was performing in an act around 9 PM. We got there at 8:30 and when we walked in — I swear this is true — Skip E. Lowe was on stage, telling some meandering Show Biz anecdote from long ago — kind of what I do here and we call it "blogging." He was filling time between acts.

But right in mid-anecdote, he saw two new people (us) walk in and he stopped, jumped down from the stage — actually, just a wide step that led into this room — came up to me and said, "That'll be eight dollars apiece, cover charge." I gave him a twenty dollar bill. He put it into his wallet, took out four ones, handed them to me, pointed us to an empty table and then got back up on the stage/step and finished the anecdote.

Then before he brought on the next act, he paused to introduce a wonderful celebrity in the audience — "Mrs. Howard Hughes herself, Terry Moore." And sure enough, there was Ms. Moore seated at a table not far from us. I couldn't help but wonder how she felt about being introduced that way. She had some pretty good roles as an actress…too good to be remembered only for her alleged (disputed by some historians) marriage to Howard Hughes.

I later found out that Skip E. had introduced her several times that evening before we arrived. He introduced her anew any time anyone joined the audience because she was the person in the room with the most impressive career. When she finally got up to leave, I believe that honor passed to me…and I do not say that to brag; just to give you some idea of what the crowd was like.

I also soon realized that Ms. Moore, Carolyn, the staff of Caffé Roma and I were the only people on the premises who either were not there to get up on the stage at some point and perform…or had not come with someone who was there to get up on stage and perform.

The show was the audience and the audience was the show, and what drove the enterprise was people coming in to perform and bringing their friends, and all of them ordering pasta and drinks and all the non-performers paying the cover charge. I'm guessing Skip E. Lowe might have cleared a hundred bucks (tops) for the evening.

Carolyn and I ate some very good food and we sat through about four pretty awful acts — with Skip E. Lowe telling stories between them — before we got to the one we'd come to see. It was a pretty good comedy magician…a gent who billed himself as The Great Tostada. Carolyn's friend was working as his assistant. They got laughter and applause from us and a grudging, polite response from the other performers and their parties. Soon after, I saw The Great Tostada up at the Magic Castle and he got a much better reaction in front of an audience that wasn't full of people waiting to go on and sing Billy Joel tunes.

After he and Carolyn's friend performed in Mr. Lowe's little show, we got up to go and there was murmuring from the other performers seated around us. The "real" audience was leaving. Instead of introducing the next act or telling another story about Olivia DeHaviland, Skip E. came over to urge us to stay a bit longer. When we told him we couldn't, he thanked us graciously for coming and urged us to come back soon. And a week or two later, the Skip E. Lowe Talent Showcase was no longer at Caffé Romma, not that we would have been back for it. Before long, it popped up at another restaurant and then another. I don't know when he gave it up but at some point, he did.

I got to talk to Skip E. at a few autograph shows. He was a charming, fascinating man and I guess I admire how, when then there was no place for him in Show Business, he invented one for himself.

I asked him about all those Public Access shows he did. His press releases said he did 6,000+ of them and I can't believe that, especially since whenever I tuned in, it was always Mickey Rooney or Mamie Van Doren. But I'm sure he did more than a few hundred and there were some wonderful, important conversations there with Big Stars and also with people who didn't get interviewed much, if at all. I asked him if he had them all and if he was entertaining offers from some cable channel to put them on the air.

He said he had most of them. He also said he'd had some offers but the money was never right, which is Hollywood Talk for "I haven't had any offers." I hope someone preserves those shows and finds a place to broadcast them. You'd hear a lot of Skip E. going on and on about his own life but you'd hear a lot of great Show Biz stories. And his own life may have been the most interesting one of all.

This Friday evening on most PBS Stations, you can watch a concert-style performance of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street starring Emma Thompson and Bryn Terfel with the New York Philharmonic. The two stars are said to be terrific so I've set my TiVo. You might want to set your recording device because unlike most other shows you get on your TV these days, this one may not be repeated.

This is an episode of Live From Lincoln Center and most of those are broadcast once and that's it. They don't usually come out on home video, either. Sometimes, (note the italics for emphasis) they are viewable later on the PBS website for a while. Sometimes, not.

Sweeney Todd is a dark, chilling musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by Hugh Wheeler. It's a tale of madness and obsession and Sondheim lyrics. If you've never seen it, this might be a good time to see it.

A tip of the hat to my friend Bob Claster, who posted on Facebook about this and reminded me to remind you that these don't get repeated over and over. Here's a preview…

In addition to old Harry O episodes on DVD, I've lately been catching vintage episodes of WKRP in Cincinnati on one of the eight hundred trillion cable channels I get. I keep forgetting what a fine, fine show that was.

I was a fan of this program even before it went on the air. Back when I was writing some show or other for Sid and Marty Krofft, we were working on the KTLA lot in Hollywood. Another writer, Lorne Frohman, and I would sometimes sit on a porch there and talk out ideas. One day, we began to notice…

No, let me rephrase that: One day, we couldn't help but notice a stunning blonde lady walking around in what they then called "hot pants." She was obviously an actress and obviously one who wanted to be noticed. Somewhere in some shoebox somewhere, Lorne probably has the negatives of photos we took of each of us with her.

She was Loni Anderson and she told us about this show she was doing on the lot…a new CBS situation comedy set in a radio station. I took special interest in that because my former partner Dennis and I had tried to sell a sitcom idea we had that was set in a radio station. Absolutely no one wanted it. They all said, "No one will watch a TV show set in a radio station." Dennis and I wound up recycling parts of our idea into an episode of Welcome Back, Kotter — the one in which George Carlin played a disc jockey and ABC had some interest in doing it as a Kotter spin-off if (a) Carlin would commit to a series and (b) Larry Hilton-Jacobs of the Kotter cast would commit to a new show. Neither gent would do it so that ended those discussions.

I never thought for a second that anyone behind WKRP had stolen our idea — and I'm sure we weren't the first or even the hundredth writers to come up with something in such a setting. No, when I heard about WKRP, I instantly wanted it to succeed just because of all the folks who'd told us, "No one will watch a TV show set in a radio station."

Loni invited us to come watch a taping or even just rehearsals so one day, we played hooky from our show and took in a dress rehearsal of theirs. It was the one in which Howard Hesseman's character did a live remote from a stereo store and there was a robbery during the broadcast. Whether the public would think the series was funny or not, I had no idea…but I sure did. (If we'd gone over two weeks later, we could have seen the infamous "Turkeys Away" episode. It's amazing that a show would do its most popular episode as Show 7, I think before they were even on the air.)

When WKRP in Cincinnati finally did get on CBS's airwaves, it was a modest success and wound up being on for four seasons…though neither CBS nor the production company ever really treated it as a hit. The network kept moving its time slot and not giving it a lot of promotion. It was an MTM show but when I later did some work for MTM and mentioned how much I liked it, the attitude I got back was, "Oh, yeah. That's one of ours." In the executive office, there were big posters of The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rhoda and The Bob Newhart Show and some others that lasted one or two seasons (or less than one)…but no love at all for WKRP, which was then in its third or fourth year on the air.

Well, at least some of us appreciated it and I still do, though I've decided to stop watching reruns until I get the new, soon-to-be-released DVD set. As you may know, there has been a problem with its after(network)life. The show often used actual, famous rock recordings on its soundtrack and frequently made reference to specific songs. There were some large expenses involved in retaining that music in off-network reruns and home video releases. To save dough, much of it was cut and replaced with "sound-alike" or alternate recordings. That also meant some major editing and even redubbing of dialogue in some episodes.

The good people at Shout Factory have announced that their forthcoming set will include "most" of the original music. Here's an article telling what stays and what goes. I'm guessing this is as "complete" a release of WKRP as we're ever going to get, at least via the non-bootleg trade. So I've advance-ordered it. If you're interested, here's the link. I find a lot of the shows from that era do not withstand the passage of time well. This one does.