I have dozens of things to do today in preparation for that…that thing that's taking place in San Diego the rest of this week. It sure would help me do most of them if I had electricity.
It went out last night. Actually, it went out and it came back on and it went out and it came back on and it went out and it came back on and it went out and it came back on and after a few more times going out and coming back on, it decided it liked "out" best and has stayed that way 'til now…since about 10 PM last night. If I look stupider than usual at the convention, just remember I may have packed in the dark.
Hey, those of you who live in or near the Los Angeles area may be spending money by the time you finish reading this. Saturday night, August 3, the one/only Dick Van Dyke is making one of his too-too rare live appearances. This time, he's back at the Catalina Jazz Club in Hollywood. I don't know exactly what he's going to do there but they have a stage and Dick Van Dyke will be on it. How can that not be a wonderful evening?
I just bought my tickets. You can buy yours here. And I'll tell you how magical it is when Dick Van Dyke performs. In the midst of writing the above paragraph on my iPhone, my power came back on and I'm finishing this message on my regular, plugged-into-the-wall computer. Honest. Thank you, Dick!
The photo of Al Jaffee I posted earlier today is all over the Internet, apparently from various sources. Some people are saying I took it. As I thought the text made clear, I did not. I don't know who did. If the person who did will step forward, let's do what we can to give him or her credit.
Andre's was (and happily, still is for now) a little Italian cafeteria in Los Angeles that I love very much. I have been to many famous restaurants where you could pay two to three times as much for a plate of pasta and get one that was one-half to one-third as good. It's a friendly neighborhood joint situated in a shopping mall…no fancy decor but the food's good and they do such a brisk business that it's always fresh. Saturday or Sunday evenings, there's a line out the door and once you eat there for the first time, you're quite willing to wait in it every time.
Around a year ago, it was announced that the proprietors of the mall had big expansion plans. When the lease on a KMart there expired, as it would soon, they were going to tear down half the mall and replace it with a massive structure, variously described as between 19 and 26 floors and full of new retailers and housing units. It looked unlikely that there would be room in the massive structure for a little Italian cafeteria that was much-loved by many.
Photo by me
Protests began, most of them at least in part about the possible loss of Andre's. But neighbors also felt the proposed development was too big and too disruptive to the area, including a public school that was adjacent to the land in question. Some of the protesters appeared before the Mid City West Community Council in August to argue that the development should not be permitted. I was one of them.
I felt that evening that we had made a strong case but that it probably would not make a difference. People who want to spend a lot of money usually get what they want. I figured what they wanted was to build 13-15 stories and so had proposed the bigger monstrosity so they could scale it back and get it approved.
The owners 'n' operators of Andre's did not seem to think their little shrine to red sauce would survive. They pressed ahead with a plan to open a new restaurant — essentially Andre's under a new name — in the city of Canoga Park. Canoga Park is a great town but, alas, it's too far away for me to visit even a tenth as often as I visit Andre's. There, they would open that new place and in the meantime, they'd operate and we'd enjoy Andre's as long as it was there to enjoy.
That's still the plan but a few things have changed since I last reported on the situation there…
In September, it was announced the KMart was definitely closing, as so many KMarts (and their sister stores, Sears) have done. One interesting element of this whole matter is that some of us stare in stark amazement at how two once-mighty retail chains have merged, crashed and burned so thoroughly. If you and I had been put in charge of them and, knowing absolutely nothing about running department stores, had made every decision by flipping a coin, we could not have done a worse job. Hopefully though, we would have collected the huge salaries that corporate management has pocketed for doing essentially nothing right.
Just before Thanksgiving, the KMart was emptied and all its employees got the wonderful holiday gift of unemployment. The store remains empty to this day. Some of the other businesses in the mall, like a big Payless Shoe Store, are also now vacant. But Andre's is still serving up spaghetti and meatballs and ravioli and lasagna and other fine, sloppy meals…
Ah, but for how long? The last time I reported on all this was last October and Andre's seemed to be safe through the end of 2019, at which time the developers would probably start tearing down the east half of the mall and Andre's with it. We're hearing now that that will not happen until at least June of 2020.
Earlier this year, there was what seems to have been a final ruling on whether they could build their proposed 19-26 story tower of apartments and retail outlets…and as expected, the answer was no. But they didn't get 13-15 stories either.
Instead of a 26-story tower with 381 apartments and 81,000 square feet of commercial ventures, what was approved was an eight (8!) story structure, no more than 100 feet in height, containing 331 residential units and just under 84,000 square feet of business tenants. Don't ask me how you can lose eighteen stories from your proposed plans and still have that close to the same number of apartments and stores. But that's where we are right now.
Current plans call for it to be all completed by 2023 so that probably means 2025 or 2026. It may be quite some time before we know whether Andre's will be a part of it…and of course, plans may change again and again and again.
In the meantime after many delays, the Andre's clone in Canoga Park has finally opened! It's the Grandi Italiani, located out there at 21730 Sherman Way. I haven't been yet but since it has pretty much the exact same menu and cuisine and management as Andre's, it's already one of my favorite restaurants.
And hey, if you're anywhere near CBS Television City (which is undergoing a similar scenario) or Farmers Market, check out Andre's. It's in the shopping center at 3rd and Fairfax, just to the left of the Whole Foods Market there. The place just might wind up outliving all of us…except, of course, Al Jaffee.
Over at that bastion of Liberalism, the National Review, David French writes that when Donald Trump says something divisive and racist, Republican leaders will not so much as give an "ahem" to express slight disapproval…
There are many GOP leaders who, quite frankly, understand that they criticize even the president's racist speech at their own peril. The grassroots have spoken. Loyalty to the president must be absolute, or one risks a primary challenge. Yet individual voters have responsibilities as well, and they must understand that extraordinary loyalty to a malicious man broadcasts their own disdain for their fellow citizens.
I still kinda think that Donald Trump's loyalty to Donald Trump is so total that there's no room in there for racism; that he says "these things" because they thrill his base and he knows that nothing good will happen to his political career if he doesn't keep that base enthusiastic. But I've given up trying to explain the difference between (a) being racist and (b) saying racist things because you want the support of racists. And I don't even think that Republicans who are up for election next year are going to be able to back away a bit from him once it's too late for a primary challenge. They're going to have to ride his train all the way to Election Day.
[UPDATE, a bit later: Since Mr. French wrote the above article, a number of Republican politicians have stepped up to denounce Trump's rhetoric. But not nearly enough and some couldn't do it without condemning Democrats even more.]
Several folks have sent me this photo which is making the rounds of the Internet and it obviously belongs on this blog. It's cartoonist Al Jaffee, who at age 98 has actually managed to outlive MAD Magazine, to which he has been contributing since 1955.
I have this thought that when someone in the vast Time-Warner hierarchy, probably in the Really Bad Ideas division, decided MAD should go all-reprint, someone else said, "Hmm…how about if we wait to do that until Al Jaffee retires?" And the first person said, "But what if he keeps working for another twenty years?"
Look at that photo. Could you be the person who would decide to put that man out of a job? I'll bet if you folded-in the sign he's holding, it would read "Will Give Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions for Food."
I still have the feeling MAD will be back before anyone expects…maybe before the folks currently controlling it at Time-Warner suspect.
A new study from Pew Research found that 64 percent of U.S. military veterans do not think the Iraq War was worth fighting. In addition, 58 percent think the war in Afghanistan was not worth fighting, and 55 percent say the same about U.S. involvement in Syria. The numbers are almost identical among the general public.
…and what I thought when I read it was this: It wasn't so long ago that if you said any war that this country fought was not worth fighting, you were accused of being anti-military, hating the troops, wishing they'd be killed, being against a strong America, being a "French surrender monkey," wanting to see America fail, etc., you treasonous coward. Quite a change.
If you read this blog regularly, you're sick of me of telling you about my pal Frank Ferrante, who tours the U.S. with his unbelievable simulation of Groucho Marx. Well, for the next few months, you can be sick of me telling you about him in his other identity — that of Caesar, the outlandish host from time to time of Teatro ZinZanni.
Teatro ZinZanni is…well, it's more than a show. It's an experience. You enter a beautiful tent or room staffed by beautiful people, one of whom shows you and your party to your table. You eat superb food and you experience a live performance singers, clowns, acrobats, dancers and often-unclassifiable entertainers, all accompanied by live musicians. I guess some would call it a dinner show but that's selling it way too short. Maybe this will give you a brief sense of it…
There is a Teatro ZinZanni in Seattle. There was one in San Francisco and there will be one again. They had to close in one location and the new one isn't quite ready yet. And before the week is out, the new one in Chicago is opening with a show hosted by Caesar, aka Frank.
I believe he's scheduled to be there through the end of September and I'm going to try to get back to see him. The evening I spent at Teatro ZinZanni in San Francisco years ago is still vivid and warm in my memory. If you're anywhere near a Teatro ZinZanni, go. You'll like it. And take someone you like because they'll like you more for taking them.
Another article on the upcoming 50th Comic-Con in San Diego. I've been interviewed for a whole bunch o' these and I have six interviews scheduled at the con. I hope it always comes across that I enjoy the convention tremendously and think the folks who run it do the best job humanly possible.
"How do you think it's changed?" is the inevitable question. I think it's changed as the world has changed, as the comic book industry has changed, as we all have changed. Yes, there are elements of cons past that I miss but some of them — like sitting by the pool and talking comics with Will Eisner or Jack Kirby — were not endless and were going to disappear on us, no matter what. And some of the smaller, intimate experiences can be had simply by getting one's self to smaller conventions, of which there are plenty.
A friend unloaded on me the other day why he's not going to the con this year, just as he hasn't done for many years, past and future. He had a golden time at them in the eighties and it's not going to be like that again, in large part because he's not going to be 27 again.
At one con back then, he got an exciting job offer and he met Joe Kubert, who was his all-time favorite maker of comics. Not only that but he struck up a conversation with one of several attractive ladies then cosplaying (we didn't use that word then) as Red Sonja and that led to them sharing a mattress and each other that night. "You can't tell me all that's going to happen again if I go this year," he said…and he's right. I can't, especially since we lost Joe Kubert and since the Red Sonja ladies all started dressing like Harley Quinn.
But good things always happen at that convention. That's why I never miss it.
As you know, I'm a big fan of the 1963 movie It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World…though really only when it's on a big screen in an actual movie theater with a lively, packed audience. As far as I'm concerned, if you haven't seen it that way, you haven't seen it. I still recommend the superb Criterion DVD/Blu Ray release of the film with me and two pals on the commentary track…but please experience the film as God and Stanley Kramer intended it before you watch it in your den.
I am informed that between now and Halloween, there will be a chance for those in the Los Angeles area to see the picture on a big screen in an actual movie theater with a lively, packed audience. The details will be announced here as soon as I get them.
Actually, it's an audio link disguised as a video link. Yesterday here, I told you a lot about the late, great Walker Edmiston, voice guy and kid show host supreme, and I embedded the theme song from his short-lived kid show. Records have two sides so here he is as his character Barky the Dog singing, "I Dreamt I Saw Khruschev (In a Pink Cadillac)." I don't care about this song anywhere near as much as I cared about the flip side…
I've never set foot in Louisiana but I find myself very concerned for the folks down there who will be dealing with Hurricane Barry over the next day or three. There seems to be some optimism that the various walls and pumps that have been installed since Katrina will minimize the damage and loss of life…but there will be damage. And this is only the start of the hurricane season so Barry may be followed by others.
This is an awful way for human beings to live. We all have different priorities and we can argue about where government should expend or not expend its resources. Wherever "preparing for disasters" is on your list, it oughta be higher. Even if you don't believe the dire predictions about how Climate Change will increase weather-related disasters, we should be doing more about the ones that are already happening! Do it out of concern for people or do it because it makes economic sense not to allow towns to be devastated…but do it.
Much of next week in this country will probably be about the Mueller Report. It will be discussed a lot in the media and in our lives, even in some cases by people who've actually read it.
There are many places on the 'net where you can download a PDF copy of the whole thing but some of them are not searchable. It is said — I don't know if this is true — that the non-searchable version is the one released by the Trump administration. It is further said — again, might be true, might not be — that they did this deliberately to make it harder to read and to quote from…or something.
In any case, if you'd like a searchable PDF of it, you can download one on this page. Even with that feature, it ain't the easiest thing in the world to read. I may wait for the graphic novel version.
[UPDATE, TWENTY MINUTES LATER: Apparently, now there's talk that Robert Mueller's testimony on Capitol Hill may be delayed and not occur next week. Even if that happens, the link may be useful.]
This will probably not matter to you anywhere near as much as it matters to me but this is my blog so up it goes…
One of my all-time favorite performers was a gent named Walker Edmiston who in his day, probably worked as much as any actor who ever lived. He did a fair amount of voiceover work but rarely on famous characters. If he'd focused on just that, I honestly believe we'd now mention his name in the same breath as Paul Frees, Don Messick or a dozen other top thespians of that field. He was that good.
But he also did an awful lot of straight announcing work and he also did a lot of on-camera acting and he frequently dubbed other actors' voices for film and television. He was a master of the "voice match," filling in for other actors who for some reason were unavailable to dub their own voices into scenes that required audio replacement. Here's some of what I wrote here when he passed away in 2007…
You heard him constantly without knowing it was him. He did dozens and dozens of movies where they brought him in to imitate and redub another actor. For example, he looped Orson Welles in Start the Revolution Without Me. Once, when one of Mel Brooks's movies was being released, the studio wanted Mel to do the radio commercials but Mel was out of town so Walker went in and did an imitation, and everyone thought it was Mel Brooks. He was the announcer for years for the Stater Brothers market chain in Southern California. He was several of the Keebler Elves.
He did cartoons — Top Cat, Spider-Man, Plastic Man, The Flintstones, The Transformers and many more. Walker took over the role of Ludwig Von Drake after Paul Frees retired from it…and being an ethical person, he only agreed to take it on after talking to Paul and getting his blessing.
I knew Walker, though not as well as I would have liked. One of the many interesting things about him to me is that he did not care at all about stardom. There are actors who care about nothing but…but Walker was fine with anonymous jobs — which is what most dubbing and announcing is. He just wanted to work…and work, he did. His IMDB page lists 158 credits and I'd guess that's like 15% of everything he did.
There was only one time I know of when he really tried pushing his name to the public. In the early sixties, he was all over local Los Angeles television kid shows. He and his puppets (he made and operated puppets) guested on the shows of every local kids show host and for a period — I'm guessing 26 weeks or so — he did a program called The Walker Edmiston Show on KTLA, Channel 5. It was one of those shows done live and largely ad-libbed and the entire cast consisted of Walker and his puppets.
I have not seen an episode of this show since 1962 or 1963 at best. It was widely believed that all the episodes were lost forever but I'm on the trail of one episode that apparently survived. Anyway, in what follows, keep in mind that I have not seen an episode at least since the Kennedy Assassination.
I remember it as brilliantly funny and clever. Walker had various characters who took turns hosting it but the most frequent was a buzzard (I guess) named R. Crag Ravenswood who sounded a lot like Hans Conried. That's Ravenswood with Walker in the photo above. Sometimes, he'd be spelled by Kingsley the Lion, Barky the Dog or one of the others.
Okay now. In 1976, I was hired as a writer on The Krofft Superstar Hour, a Saturday morning series for NBC starring the Bay City Rollers and a plethora of characters from previous shows produced by Sid and Marty Krofft. Walker Edmiston had voiced many of those characters like Sigmund the Sea Monster and Dr. Blinky and most of the supporting cast of H.R. Pufnstuf so he was engaged to play those roles again. He also voiced the Slee Staks on the Krofft's series, Land of the Lost, and when I found out we had the Slee Stak costumes in the Krofft warehouse, plus we had the voice, I began writing them into the show.
Walker was never in any of these costumes, by the way. Other actors were and Walker — and on this show, Lennie Weinrib — did the voices live from a booth on the stage. On Krofft shows, the voices were almost never added later, which was a bit more expensive but Sid and Marty had learned it made for better synchronicity between character and voice.
The first day Walker was on the set, I walked up and introduced myself. Then I told him how much I'd loved that show he'd done on Channel 5. He said, "You can't possibly remember that show." I said I did…and to prove it, I sang as much of the theme song as they used on the show each week.
He was stunned. He said, "You must have gotten a copy of the record we issued of it. You couldn't have remembered it all this time." I told him I didn't know there even was a record. I had indeed had that song running through my head for well over a decade. Walker promised to dig through his garage and find me a copy of the record but he never got around to it.
If I had written this article two months ago, I would have told you (truthfully!) that though I had not seen even a second of that show for over half a century, I still remembered the part of that theme song they used on that show. But about two months ago, my pal Stu Shostak came up with a ten second video clip of the opening of The Walker Edmiston Show. So I got to hear a bit of it again.
And just within the last week, lo and behold, I found that someone — thank you, whoever did this — had a copy of the record and had put it up on YouTube. That not only gave me a chance to once more hear the first part which they'd used on the show but to hear the entire theme song which I'd never heard before and it is, of course, embedded below. That's Walker doing the vocal as three of his many characters — Kingsley, Barky and Ravenswood. It's a real catchy tune and if it runs around in your head as long as it's been in mine, you'll never get rid of it. Proceed with caution…
No matter who's President, everyone likes to say "The President is not above the law." It feels like Trump is determined that soon, he will win at least one victory that will establish that he is.
