Monthly Archives: June 2019

We love a cappella singing on this site and Will Hamblet told me about this one. It's the theme from the 1967 Spider-Man cartoon show as rendered by a vocal quartet called Midtown. The snazzy video was, they say, shot entirely on an iPhone using the iMessage comic filter.

The original song was written by Paul Francis Webster and Robert "Bob" Harris. Webster wrote the lyrics for three songs that won the Academy Award for Best Song and for one that won a Grammy, along with hundreds of others that were successful. Harris had less impressive credits but I doubt either man imagined the little tune they created for a low-budget Saturday morning cartoon show would have the kind of life it's had…

I just read Kevin Drum writing about the latest allegation of rape by Donald Trump. I think Kevin's "righter" about this matter than I was a couple of hours ago…

This episode hasn't gotten an awful lot of attention. This is the first I've written about it, for example. Why? I don't think it has anything to do with media outlets not taking rape allegations seriously. The real answer is almost worse: (a) everybody just assumes the story is true and (b) everybody knows that it will have no effect on either Trump's fans or his Republican Party colleagues. Trump will issue a pro forma denial; nobody will take it seriously; and that will be that. Just like the other 15 times.

What a shame that, in politics, something like this is only thought of as a crime when it can be used against your opponent and you look the other way when it's your guy. I don't think the Democrats quite did that with Clinton — I also thought Paula Jones was lying more and more, each time she changed her story — but there was some of that then.

Georgi Mihailov — who seems to come up with more questions in a day than all the Jeopardy! contestants in a month — wrote to ask this simple one…

What is your opinion on Donald Trump attempting to rape E. Jean Carroll?

My opinion is that we don't know that he did. I'm obviously no fan of Trump's and any guy who brags about forcing himself on women and grabbing them by the you-know-what has sacrificed a certain amount of trust in his denials of this kind of accusation. Still, Donald Trump could not possibly be guilty of every evil, scummy thing he's accused of doing. And it is possible to make a bogus charge against even someone who's very, very guilty of other misdeeds.

I was going to write that Ms. Carroll should be heard…but I guess she is being heard in the press. She should also have her charges examined by the proper investigative bodies. I have no idea how much evidence there is but those investigative bodies should investigate and the matter should not be driven by those who hope Trump is never cleared and that it hurts him politically, if not legally.

You probably remember Juanita Broaddrick, who claimed she was raped by Bill Clinton. If you didn't remember her from then, Trump enlisted her in attacks against Hillary. George Conway, who must have a wonderful fun life at home, says that Carroll's story is "at least as compelling as Broaddrick's — if not more so." Conway was a lawyer who aided Paula Jones in her claims against Bill Clinton so he has some credibility on this topic.

A number of women have accused Trump of inappropriate sexual conduct, if not outright rape. Some of their stories sound a bit hinky but many do not. They should all be given some official scrutiny by law enforcement. I'm not saying Trump is guilty in all or any of these matters but I agree with Conway that it would be hypocritical for anyone who believed Broaddrick deserved to be taken seriously to not take the same stance with Carroll.

And just as there are Trump supporters who wouldn't become non-supporters if he shot someone on Fifth Avenue, there are Trump supporters who won't care if he did rape someone.

We recently had Gay Pride Weekend or Gay Pride Week or something of the sort. Whatever they called it, that seemed like a good time to watch this interview Barbara Walters did with playwright-actor Harvey Fierstein back in 1983. I meant to post it then and plumb forgot.

1983 wasn't that long ago but it feels like ages since this was the way mainstream television talked about human beings who are drawn to other humans of the same gender. Ms. Walters' obsolete questions remind us how much some people didn't know about the topic just as some recent events remind us how much some still don't.

Fierstein was and is a pretty good spokesperson for his cause and his play, Torch Song Trilogy, did a lot to promote understanding. I remember seeing him do it at the old Huntington Hartford here in L.A. a few years after this interview. It was a very moving work, especially the third act. And I couldn't help but notice that the audience was full of older people who reacted exactly as they would have reacted to an equally-emotional piece of theater about heterosexuals.

That made me think I might indeed live to see a time of full acceptance of gays and gay rights. I must admit I did not think we'd get as far in that campaign as we have so far. There's still a long way to go and I suspect Trump will be responsible, directly or indirectly, for some setbacks but what has happened has happened sooner than I ever imagined. I think Mr. Fierstein's play and interviews like this one may have had a little to do with that, though not as much as old people dying off, young ones being tolerant of all kinds of differences, and some folks of all ages just plain coming to their senses…

This is another not-paying-much-attention-to-Trump weekend for me. At almost the last minute, he called off a plan to begin bombing Iran. Is it a good thing that he listened to someone (probably many someones) who told him that was an awful idea or is it a bad thing that he even planned to do it? Third and fourth possibilities: He always planned to call it off but thought it would scare Iran into some sort of desirable (for us) position and/or just thought it would thrill his supporters. It's very important to this man to be perceived as "tough." I just wish it was important to him to be viewed as "smart."

I'd like to see the Democratic Debates run a little like Survivor. After every question, someone gets voted off the list of candidates.

If and when I have the patience to deal with an airline again — and I'm not saying that will happen — I think I'll take Amber to New York again, this time with a stopover to visit Mt. Airy and see Betty Lynn again. And maybe I'll teach Amber (she's a quick learner) how to be the cameraperson for an interview I'll do with Betty and get her to tell some of the great stories she's told me over the years. This is all a big "Maybe."

Comic-Con starts in 24 days. This means that the schedule of events (panels, presentations, etc.) will be posted on the Comic-Con website going day by day, starting in ten days. I'll also post a list of my panels then. I urge attendees to study both lists and make up a list of things they want to see there…and their second choices in case they can't get into their first choices. I also urge non-attendees to not nag me to get them into the con somehow so they can become attendees.

I especially urge everyone not to call or write me to ask if I can help them get a panel on the convention schedule. The convention schedule is full. I will be doing most of my usual ones in approximately the same rooms and time slots as always, plus there will be a number that are unique to this year and the celebration of the 50th Comic-Con in San Diego.

Later this week, I will be celebrating a special 50th anniversary on this blog. Don't try to guess what it is. You won't.

Last Monday, as I explained here, I drove a rental car to Mt. Airy, North Carolina to see my friend (more like my unofficial aunt) Betty Lynn. When I was a year and a half old, my parents bought and moved into a house next door to the home where Betty and her folks lived. My mother lived in that home the rest of her life. Betty lived in her home until a few years before my mother passed. That was when she moved to Mt. Airy where she is the biggest celebrity in the city.

Mr. Griffith spent his childhood in Mr. Airy and so they worship The Andy Griffith Show there. Other worshipers come from all across the U.S. — and other countries, I imagine — to get a little closer to their favorite program. Years ago, someone told me that fans of the original Star Trek not only loved the series but often applied the morals of its episodes to their own lives. I dunno how true that is of Star Trek but it's certainly true of fans of The Andy Griffith Show. To many of them, it's a lot more than a situation comedy.

Betty, as you know, played Thelma Lou (girl friend of Barney Fife) on the series. I said in my earlier post that apart from occasional visits from Ron Howard, she's the only cast member you'll ever see there. I was wrong. Several Mt. Airy residents, including folks involved in their tourism department, informed me Ron has never been there. A few others visited before they passed away and a few living actors who were in one or two episodes — like Jackie Joseph and Ronnie Schell — have visited and may again. But Betty is the only actual cast member around and as I witnessed, meeting her is a big thrill for many people.

While I was there, she took me over to The Andy Griffith Museum for a private tour. I'll tell you about it but first, let's all watch this video about Mt. Airy and the museum. You'll see Betty in it along with a charming lady named Abigail Linville who works at the museum and showed me around the place last Monday…

As you can see, a nice place to visit. Intermittent rain in the "deluge" category prevented me from seeing as much of Mayberry Mt. Airy as I might have liked…but then, I was really there to see Betty more than the town. We spent some time at the museum, which is very pleasant and very well arranged and maintained. It's not as large as I was expecting but I doubt any fan of the TV show wouldn't love seeing the memorabilia they have there. You just saw some of this in the video but here are some photos I took, starting with one of Sheriff Andy Taylor's shirts…

At right in the picture, you also see a mock-up of the doors to the Mayberry Courthouse where Sheriff Taylor and Deputy Fife worked.  There's one other replica of that sacred place in Mt. Airy but I didn't get to it.  Here are two of Barney's famous "salt-and-pepper" suits…

And as you can see, they're surrounded by still photos.  One of the other folks touring the museum at the moment overheard Betty say, "You worked with Don, didn't you, Mark?" and they reacted like she'd said, "You used to hang out with the Easter Bunny, didn't you?"  Or some other mythological creature.  This man really seemed amazed…and then I think he and his family recognized the redheaded lady I was pushing around in the wheelchair and couldn't believe they were in the same room with Thelma Lou.

Here's an outfit worn by Hal Smith in his role as Otis Campbell, the town drunk.  It's funny that Hal is probably best remembered for that role because he did so many in his long, busy career.  He worked all the time, both on-camera and as a voiceover artist.  For a time, he was the voice of Elmer Fudd for Warner Brothers and re-created many other actors' voices for Disney.

Lastly, here's a photo that should be of interest to comic book fans.  Andy's whole career is covered in the museum and there's a section on No Time for Sergeants, which was a vital part of his life.  The novel by Mac Hyman was adapted into a television play in 1955, a hit Broadway play later that year, and a movie in 1958.  Griffith starred in all three and it was in the movie that he first worked with Don Knotts.  An adaptation of the movie as a one-shot Dell comic book also put him into a fourth medium and they have a copy on display in the museum…

In case you can't read the card, it says "This comic book, issued by Dell, features artwork by the legendary comic book artist, Alex Toth."  A few display cases away, there's a copy of the Dell comic book of The Andy Griffith Show and the accompanying card acknowledges the artwork by Henry Scarpelli.  I doubt either artist ever imagined that work (or anything they did) would get them into a museum.

There's also a very nice section of the museum devoted to Betty with posters and stills from her many movies, including Sitting Pretty (with Robert Young, Maureen O'Hara and Clifton Webb), June Bride (with Bette Davis and Robert Montgomery), Father Was a Fullback (Fred MacMurray, Maureen O'Hara and Natalie Wood), the 1950 film of Cheaper by the Dozen (Clifton Webb and Myrna Loy) and Meet Me in Las Vegas (Dan Dailey, Cyd Charisse and Jim Backus).  Betty appears at the museum to meet her fans and sign autographs every third Friday…and occasionally when someone she's known all his life comes to town to see her.

The museum is lovely…heck, the whole town is lovely. It rained a lot while I was there but it was a courteous rain. It poured while Betty and I were inside the museum. Then it stopped when we left and I drove her to a restaurant for dinner. Then it started up again while we ate and stopped just as we were ready to leave. I got Betty back to her home, hugged her a lot, then headed for the hotel where I was staying for the night. About two minutes after I got back to my room, it poured and the hotel parking lot and street outside looked like The Mighty Mississippi. And it accommodated me by ending before I had to head for the airport the next morning, resuming only again after my flight home took off. Thank you, rain.

By the way: If you ever visit Mt. Airy, this is a very nice place to stay. Betty recommended it to me and I now recommend it to you. It's about a five-minute drive from the museum.

This whole trip was a mess with the airlines screwing up and it was hot with ghastly humidity and I hated the idea of (but fortunately avoided) driving a strange rental car through a monsoon…but Heroes Con, which I attended as part of the trip, turned out to be a well-run convention. It was worth all the humidity and hassle to see my lovely ex-neighbor again. Certain people are important to our lives and we shouldn't let a little thing like being 2,461 miles apart stop us from hugging them and telling them how much they matter to us. I should have made this expedition years ago and I shouldn't let that much time pass before I do it again.

And the museum was a lot of fun, too…though now that I think of it, I don't think they had Barney's bullet on display. Maybe it was there and I missed it.

Actress Racquel Bailey spent a few thousand dollars to take out billboards where she thought director Tyler Perry might see them and hire her. In reply, Perry posted this on the 'net. The punctuation is his…

Auhhh…. soooooo…… here's the deal. This is not the way to get my attention if you're looking for a role in one of my shows. Please DON'T DO THIS, SAVE YOUR MONEY!! This is the third time that someone has done this. PLEASE STOP! To audition is FREE!! I'm sure you can use that money for a better purpose.

I love that you want to work with me, and I love that you invest in yourself. But when you do things like this it puts my team on high alert and makes me look at you sideways. I know the message that you want to send is a positive one, but this comes across as the opposite.

Again, the best way to work for me is to AUDITION and it;s FREE! We post breakdowns all the time for actors. JUST COME AND AUDITION. And by the way, you were great in THE NIGHT OF! It was my favorite show a couple years ago. I ALREADY SAW YOU!! So just audition and keep your money!!

Again, I appreciate your effort, but that's not the way to work for me. God bless you dreamer. I have no doubt you will make it one day!!

Actors occasionally try stunts like this and while I'm sure there's some example somewhere of them working, I think they do more harm than good to careers. The folks in hiring positions are more often going to think, "Gee, if you have to resort to tricks like this, you must not be very good."

I knew an actress once who looked an awful lot like Goldie Hawn. When they were casting the Private Benjamin TV series, based on the movie which starred Ms. Hawn, my friend went to enormous (for her) expense to try and get an audition. She paid a photographer to snap a great photo of her wearing an army helmet, looking very much like a key poster art of Goldie in the film. Then she paid even more money to Variety and Hollywood Reporter to run it as a full page ad. Under the pic, it said, "Casting Private Benjamin?  Why not me?"

She got zero response from the show. Nothing. Not a call. Not an inquiry. A few weeks later, it was announced that Lorna Patterson would play the lead.

A few years later, my friend was up for a part in a movie. The casting director looked at her and asked, "You weren't the girl who took that ad out trying to get seen for Private Benjamin?" My friend admitted she was.

The casting director said, "Well, you blew it. We had you on the list to come in and read for the part and then the producers or someone saw that ad and said, 'Let's skip her.'" It just seemed like something a real amateur would do."

My friend probably would not have gotten the part if they had had her in. She had experience but probably not enough to star in a network sitcom. But the point is that that ad turned a long shot into a longer shot. A friend told her, "To get a job, you need talent and a good agent. What you did was pay a lot of money to make show business think you had neither."

I thought this was a valuable lesson…for writers and a lot of other professions, as well. Let your work speak for you. It was Racquel Bailey's talent that impressed Tyler Perry, not her billboard. Because anyone who can scrape up the money can buy a billboard.

James Corden did an amazing stunt the other night with David Blaine. What Blaine did was, of course, amazing…but Corden pulled off his end of it with equal skill. Steve Allen aside, I'm trying to think of a late night host who would even have gone along with the routine and so far, I'm blank. (At one point, he said, "Jimmy Fallon literally just stands there when you do this." They all would have just stood there. Actually, none of them would have let themselves get into that situation.)

Corden also managed to pretend very well that he didn't know exactly how things were going to go and what he was supposed to do. Obviously, he was briefed on what to do, what not to say, where to run, etc. That was no ordinary bottle of wine he brought back. (What if he'd brought one that didn't have an easy twist-off cap?) But he did it well…and so did the audio guys who apparently had waterproof microphones of some sort…and hand-held booms nearby.)

As you may know, I am one of the editors of Pogo: The Complete Syndicated Comic Strips, a series from Fantagraphics reprinting my favorite of all newspaper strips. We are close to sending Volume 6 off to press for release later this year but we have a problem. We are missing good copies of four of Walt Kelly's Sunday Pogo comics, all from 1959. We need to find someone who has either the original artwork to them or printed images from the newspapers.

The dates are August 2, August 23, October 4 and November 1. From '59. And we need either the tall 4-tiered versions or the complete 3-tiered versions. If you have them, please get in touch with me. You will be rewarded in some way.

Most of us are aware of first-year Congressperson Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who seems to upset a lot of Republicans partly because of things she says and partly — it seems to me — because they're being said by someone who is female and Puerto Rican. She certainly enraged a lot of them when she recently referred to the detention facilities for immigrants as "concentration camps" — and maybe, since we associate that term with Nazis, it's too inflammatory. Okay. I might agree with that.

But then, as Jonathan Chait points out, the folks criticizing Ocasio-Cortez seem able to ignore or dismiss any inflammatory thing Donald Trump says. Doesn't matter how nasty or inaccurate it is, that's just Donald. That's the way he is. Don't take that stuff he says seriously. As Chait writes…

What is interesting is the way conservatives have used the largely rhetorical nature of Trump's fascistic politics as a defense. Trump can call the media "enemies of the people" all day long, and we should shrug because it's just words. Fascist rhetoric is meaningless, but anti-fascist rhetoric is an outrageous slander. What reasonable case is there to hold the president of the United States to the lowest standard of any public official?

There's a current kerfuffle — to use a word I've never used before in this blog in the 18 years, 6 months and 2 days of its existence — about Joe Biden and some positions he's taken to not bruise the tender feelings of segregationists. If you want to know what it's about, this will tell you.

But of course, what it's really about is that Joe Biden is the front-runner and there are a number of polls out that indicate he's the guy to knock Donald Trump outta office and send him back to Howard Stern's show to resume bragging about women he's abused. And I'll bet he would if you could somehow arrange for the election to be held…oh, maybe sometime between now and Comic-Con 2019.

It won't be. I'll be relieved if Trump doesn't try to delay it from being held in November, 2020.

When you're the front-runner, everyone is gunning for you — Republicans getting an early start at hammering the guy they have to beat, Democrats who see you as the guy they have to shove aside in order to get the nomination.

One reason I don't think it's a "given" that Biden will be the nominee is that it's something like 390 days until the nominee will be selected. Can any human being endure 390 days of being the front-runner? I'm skeptical. Hillary C. was the presumptive nominee for a long time in 2008 and again in 2016. The first time, people got weary enough of her to nominate someone else instead. The second time, they didn't but the battle to beat Bernie Sanders left her bruised and a bit less electable. And she only had to be a bit more electable to be elected.

We're going to hear every possibly-disqualifying thing there is about Biden, including many that may actually be true…and we'll hear a lot of them from Democrats who are desperate to beat Trump before we hear them from Republicans — although Trump is, of course, already starting, using pretty much the same rhetoric I would use if I was running against someone for Hall Monitor in the second grade.

The lesson I would draw from all of this is that it's damned rough to be the front-runner for more than a year and that things can come out of nowhere. Two weeks ago, no one was talking about Biden speaking at Strom Thurmond's funeral. Two weeks from now, someone may be claiming Biden shot a man in Yuma just to watch him die. At some point, they'll probably even start attacking his current positions on the issues.

It's terrible that he — or any aspirant to the Presidency — has to put up with this for 390+ days…but we have to, as well. The way I'm going to cope with it is to not presume that anyone is the likely nominee until the podium is being erected at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. That's where they're holding the Democratic Convention. That's where they're picking the nominee for real. And that's where the real battle will start.

Joe Maneely was a superb comic book artist who was pretty much the "star" of the line of comics that Martin Goodman published and Stan Lee edited in the late fifties. This was the line that soon morphed into what we now know as the Marvel Comics Group. Maneely was not around to see it morph, however. On June 7, 1958, he stumbled or somehow fell to his death between the cars of a fast-moving commuter train. He was 32 years old. Here's a question about him that Johnny Achziger just sent me…

Here's a purely speculative question I've occasionally pondered over. Joe Maneely was a terrific artist and did a lot of stuff for Stan in the '50's. My question is, if Joe had lived through the '60's how do you think the Marvel Universe would have been different? I can certainly see him doing Thor, maybe something like Agents of SHIELD. Do you think he would have been a superstar like Kirby and Ditko?

Johnny did not originate this question. It's a discussion topic about once a year somewhere on Facebook or some comic forum. I even tackled it before on this blog back in 2007. But I've had some new thoughts about it so here's my new, improved answer, starting with the easy part of it…

The Easy Part of It: I think Maneely would have been a superstar in comics no matter where he worked or what he worked on. He was very good and very versatile.

Beyond that, it gets a bit tougher. At the time of his death, Maneely was drawing for Stan Lee, who loved his work…but Maneely was also beginning to get work from DC. Atlas/Marvel (whatever you want to call Stan's company) was then a very shaky enterprise. No one would have been too surprised if they'd just closed down as so many other companies did around then. Several folks I interviewed who were around then believed Goodman did decide to discontinue his comic book line — several times. He'd decide on Monday to get out and then change his mind on Wednesday.

He also paid low rates. DC paid way better and was on solid ground.

My speculation is that Maneely would have become a full-time freelancer for DC. He had a wife, young daughters and a lot of expenses due to a new house he'd just purchased. I also think he'd have fit in well at DC — way better than either Kirby or Ditko would have. The DC editors and production folks had some pretty firm ideas of how a DC book should look and some of them spent the sixties dismissing what Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko did for Marvel as quite inferior to anything seen in a DC title.

But Maneely drew the way DC liked its artists to draw. I think they would have found more and more work for him and soon, he would not be working for Stan anymore. Why would any man, who presumably wanted to do right by his family, have stuck with a company that paid less and which might be outta business any day? George Klein was doing some inking for Marvel up until the moment when he was able to get steady work inking Superman for DC, whereupon he fled.

So Maneely would not have been around Marvel during the years that Fantastic Four, Hulk, Thor, The Avengers, The X-Men (etc.) were launched. Later on, when Marvel was not on the verge of closure and was paying about the same as DC, he might have come back as John Romita Sr. and Gene Colan and a few others did. At that point, he might have been assigned to any book in the place. He could have drawn just about any one of them.

If he had for some reason been at Marvel in the early sixties when they started creating super-hero books, I'm sure he'd have been tapped for them. What he would have done is hard to say because I don't know the answer to this question: Was he one of those artists, like Kirby or Ditko, who could not only draw but contribute mightily to the writing? Some very fine comic artists couldn't do that.

If Maneely was really good at coming up with new ideas for stories and characters, and at fleshing out whatever plots and concepts Stan Lee came up with, then "Stan and Joe" might have created some of the early Marvel super-heroes. I've very certain though that he would not have worked on the first issues of the strips we know; he would not have been the co-creator of Fantastic Four or Thor or Spider-Man or any of those.

Why? Because he was not Jack Kirby, nor was he Steve Ditko. I don't believe Stan Lee came up with any of those wholly on his own and then selected an artist from his stable to draw his creations. Even Stan only claimed that some of the time.

If Maneely wasn't great at plotting and new concepts, he still would have had a place at Marvel but one more like Don Heck or Dick Ayers. I'm not talking here about quality of artwork — just his usefulness to Stan as an artist. In writing about those early days, one must keep in mind that Stan had a hard time finding good artists to work for the money that Goodman paid. He certainly wouldn't have not kept a guy who drew as well as Maneely around.

So that's my speculation. If you have your own, fine. No one can ever prove us right or wrong except, of course, that yours is wrong and mine is right. Or vice-versa.

The Orlando Sentinel, which is most definitely not a Democratic newspaper, is already out with its endorsement for the next presidential election: Not Donald Trump.

And here are the Voctave folks with another a cappella rendition of a Disney classic tune. One does suspect that they recorded this song, edited and mixed it to their satisfaction and then went back into a recording studio (possibly the same one) and lip-synced it for this video…but we don't mind, do we?

And now, through the miracle of modern air travel, I'm coming to you from my computer chair at home, 2,504 miles from where I was sitting when I wrote the previous post. American Airlines did what they were supposed to do.

The first flight sat on the runway for twenty minutes before taking off but still managed to get me to my interim destination only three minutes late. I had enough time (but not too much of it) to get to the gate where the connecting flight left from. By the way: I don't know why I'm mentioning it but Ron Perlman was on that flight. I guess that's of interest to those of you who track his every move.

I liked driving in North Carolina — roads that were never empty but never so crowded as to impede one's ability to drive at 15 miles over the speed limit. I did not like the humidity but I think I complained about it less than any local I heard mention it. The whole thing was a little rough but I'm very glad I went to see my dear friend Betty.

And that's about it for now. I'll tell you all about the Andy Griffith Museum in the next few days and about some of the panels we had at Heroes Con. I gotta go unpack and collapse, not necessarily in that order.