Phil Geiger writes…
Jay Thomas just passed away (R.I.P.). Got and stories or anecdotes about him?
Nope. One time when I embedded one of his famous Letterman appearances and the Lone Ranger story here, I got a nice note from someone who seemed to be him thanking me and telling me he enjoyed the blog. Mr. Thomas was a highly-popular radio personality and he did a number of highly-praised acting jobs but I'm sorry to say I neither heard nor saw much of him and so have nothing to say about him than he sure was funny telling that story almost every year in Dave's guest chair. If you want remembrances from someone who knew the man, check out Ken Levine. (I am sending you clicks, Ken, because I know I've been too busy to eat lunch with you lately.)
Recently, I wrote here about The Hollywood Show, where stars sit and sell autographs and photos. Jeff Gehringer wrote me to ask…
Just wondering if you knew the mechanics of these autograph shows. Are the stars compensated by the organizers? Are they guaranteed a minimum amount? I enjoy attending these events, and most of the stars are very nice with fans. Recently Dick Van Dyke attended the show. He was charging $80.00 for an autographed picture. At the end of the day, imagine his take home. But I was curious if you knew how the money worked? Just a curious fan, no connection to the IRS.
The money works all different ways at different shows and with different stars since different stars have different clout and value. A William Shatner or a Dick Van Dyke brings people in the door, whereas one of the replacement daughters on Petticoat Junction probably does not. The deals also vary due to geography. A star who lives in Hollywood and goes to a convention in another city is going to incur travel expenses and lodging, whereas someone who just has to take the 405 freeway to the show does not.
I can't tell you much about the Hollywood Show other than that they have to make an attractive offer to get the biggest stars to show up. In cases where the star has never done this before, they sometimes even have to get photos printed for them.
At most autograph shows, a Big Star may get an up-front payment on top of what they make at their table or as an advance guarantee. A Lesser Star might get travel and hotel expenses if necessary or they may just get a table. Sometimes, the "price" of that table is that they have to give X number of signed photos to the convention to sell at another time or place. I've never heard of the convention taking a percentage on the photos sold but I assume that's been done somewhere. Any sort of deal is possible.
By the way: If what a star charges for signing an autograph seems high, remember that it's usually the buyers who are setting those prices. If Dick Van Dyke charges $80, that means that some of those folks waiting in line to pay it are dealers who believe that it's a good investment; that they will soon be able to sell that photo for way more than $80. If the star drops his or her price for the average, "I love your work" fan, he or she drops it for the investors too.
We'll close with this one from Ben Varkentine…
It's been asserted on Twitter that in the '70s, women writers were forced into using male pseudonyms to write comics; that DC actually had a policy against women writers. To your knowledge, is this true?
Not the way you phrase it. There were some editors who thought women were only good for writing love comics or anything thought of as a "girl" comic and that it took a man to write adventure stories. But no firm policy was necessary because so few women applied.
The assertion probably was inspired by Mary Skrenes, a fine writer who wrote some comics for DC in the seventies that were credited to "Virgil North." That was not a pseudonym to fool editors into thinking a guy had written those scripts. The editors — who included a lady named Dorothy Woolfolk — knew Mary well and knew she was the author. Perhaps some editor had the lunkheaded notion that a female name in the credits on adventure or ghost comics would scare away male readers…but then again, they did love getting Ramona Fradon to draw for the company. In any case, if Mary or anyone was forced to use a pen name in the credits, that was wrong and short-lived.
So no, there was no policy against hiring women. There were editors who were skeptical women could write anything but love comics and since there was a limited number of assignments there, that may have translated into a kind of discrimination. Those days seem to be long past and I would guess that ageism is more prevalent than sexism nowadays.
