Monthly Archives: February 2020

Later this year, Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster are starring in a Broadway revival of The Music Man. I am looking forward to seeing this.

Beginning February 28, they're holding Equity Auditions in New York for other members of the cast. Would someone I know please go in, audition and get a part in this show so you can arrange House Seats for me? Thank you.

I botched up a few of the issue numbers and dates in the piece I wrote last night on Dick DeBartolo. I have corrected them thanks to the wise info of Mr. Steve Bacher. Thanks, Steve.

Yes, it's Randy Rainbow doing his little Randy Rainbow thing…

Lots of people warned that Trump's big tax cut would be a tremendous giveaway to rich people and would do nothing for the middle class. Kevin Drum looks at the numbers and concludes that Trump's big tax cut was a tremendous giveaway to rich people and did nothing for the middle class.

Harold Meyerson on why Democrats would be foolish to nominate Mike Bloomberg.

Emily Stewart on why Democrats would be foolish to not nominate Mike Bloomberg.

Daniel Larison on the essential cruelty of Trump's travel ban.

Have you read what's happened to the Boy Scouts of America?  In a nutshell, the cost of defending against sexual abuse lawsuits has driven the organization into bankruptcy.  And as with many institutions, it's revealed how much the leadership knew about the abusers and tried to protect its reputation by covering up.  I was never a scout but the guys I knew who were were pretty decent fellows who honestly felt they were helping to make the world a better, more humane place.  What a shame that the leaders let them down.

That guy there is Dick DeBartolo, known to many of us as MAD's Maddest Writer. In the past, we've written on this blog of his amazing streak of appearances in the magazine known as MAD. Dick had his first article in MAD #69, the issue dated March of 1962. To put that date in perspective, MAD was ten years old in March of 1962 and so was I.

He did other scripts for the magazine and then began an uninterrupted streak of appearances in MAD #103, cover-dated June of '66. He had a piece in #104 and #105 and #106 and #107 and #108 and #109 and #110 and #111 and #112 and I have to stop listing these or I'll break the Internet. Dick had a piece in every issue after these of the old MAD, the one that ended recently with #550. There were a few scares along the way where an issue would come out and Dick's credit was nowhere to be seen but upon closer inspection, it always turned out that he'd written something uncredited…or in one issue, that someone else's credit had accidentally been affixed to a piece Dick authored.

#550 was the last issue to be produced out of New York. MAD then began to emanate from Burbank, California where numbering began anew. Dick had a piece in #1 and in #2 and #3 and #4 and #5 and #6 and #7 and #8 and #9 and #10 and #11 and…well, I don't know how to break this to you so I'll just come right out and say it:

MAD #12 comes out next week. There is no new material by Dick DeBartolo in it.

As you may know, MAD has had a lot of trouble lately. Not long ago, there was an announcement that the magazine was going all-reprint. That has not happened. The issues now are mostly reprint. There's a new cover and a new articles…but not enough new material that one of them could be by Dick. As the great Stan Laurel once said, "I am housebroken about this."

So who, I hear you wondering, now holds the record for the most consecutive issues of MAD to contain something by them? Well, it's still Dick but it may soon be Sergio Aragonés.

Sergio did his first work in MAD in #76 and thereafter contributed mightily. Alas, due to a problem with mail delivery, he was absent from #111 so his streak started again with #112. He has had new material in every issue since then so Sergio has been in 451 consecutive issues. Dick's streak ended with 459 issues…so assuming MAD continues to publish and that MAD continues buying new material each month, Sergio will surpass Dick's record soon. Will he make it? You still have time to get a bet down.

A new production of the musical Mack and Mabel is opening in a few days for a quick run at New York City Center. In case you don't know, it's about a love affair between the famous producer of silent comedies, Mack Sennett, and his best leading lady, Mabel Normand.

The original production was produced by the infamous David Merrick in 1974 and starred Robert Preston and Bernadette Peters. It had a book by Mike Stewart, a score by Jerry Herman and direction by Gower Champion, thus reuniting the team that had a few years earlier created Hello, Dolly! The original production of Dolly ran for 2,844 performances. Mack and Mabel was around for a few less: It closed after 66.

Mack and Mabel received eight Tony Award nominations including Best Musical and won a total of zero. Oddly enough, none of the nominations were for Mr. Herman's score. And what's odd about that is that most theater experts will tell you the score was the best thing about the show and the main reason that it keeps being revived way more often than any other non-Sondheim show that was considered a flop.

Many of these revivals tinker with the book, which was regarded as too "dark" when it debuted on Broadway. Many of those revivals lighten it. Some darken it. None of their storylines really have that much to do with what actually happened between the real Mack and the real Mabel…but there are those songs. Here's a little video previewing one of the better tunes as performed by the stars of this revival, Douglas Sills and Alexandra Socha…

Got here at 12:41.  Not bad, Amazon.

I don't know if this is new or not but I just got a text message from Amazon telling me that I'm the next stop.  A package I ordered is supposed to arrive today and the text shows me a map of where the delivery person is at this moment.  He or she is out in Montebello either on the Santa Ana Freeway near Atlantic or on surface streets near where they cross.  The app says that truck's next stop is my house.

A quick bit of map-consulting yields the info that that's 38 miles from me.  Traffic is heavy so if they do indeed come to me next, that would take 38-41 minutes.  I got the text message at 12:20 so they should be here right about 1:00.  Let's see when it gets here.

If you've been reading this blog for a long time and the poll below looks familiar to you, you're right. It was posted here on February 21, 2007. I didn't think much of it then as an accurate gauge of the electorate but let's look at it with an awful lot of hindsight…

Back then the number of people who were okay with a presidential candidate being Donald Trump's age was only a smidge higher than of that presidential candidate being gay.  The latter was still a majority and I'm going to guess that today, when folks are a lot more accepting of gay marriage than they were in 2007, it would matter a lot less.

But there are two main points I want to make about polls like this, one being that there's really only one correct answer to the question, "If your party nominated a generally well-qualified person for president who happened to be [see below], would you vote for that person?"  That answer is "It would depend on who the person was,  who would win if they didn't, and how those two folks stand on certain issues that matter to me."

We don't vote for a Hispanic or a 72-year-old person or a thrice-married person.  We vote for a specific person who happens to be Hispanic, happens to be 72 or older, etc.  For each "see below" above, there are candidates for whom I'd vote and others for whom I wouldn't.  And of course, the alternative would matter because in many cases, we don't vote for someone as we vote against their opponent.

I dunno who the Democratic nominee will be but I'm sure there are voters who'll vote for him or her largely because he or she is not Donald Trump.  The more I read about Mike Bloomberg, the less I like the idea of him as President of These United States.  But I'm starting to think he'd be the hardest of the current contenders for Trump to beat and that might turn out to be the silver lining in his getting the nomination if that were to happen.  (Note to Mike, who I'm sure devours this blog every day: Start answering every question about Trump with the phrase, "Well, speaking as an actual billionaire…")

As I've stated, I don't know whether to mark my ballot for the person I think would make the best president or for the person who is most likely to oust our worst.  I was hoping that by the time I had to decide, I'd be convinced they were the same person and I wouldn't have to make that decision.  Doesn't look that way…

And then there's also the other point I want to make.  I haven't seen a current poll on how many people wouldn't vote for a homosexual but if someone conducts one, I hope they also ask this relevant question of those who answer that they wouldn't: Would you vote for Pete Buttigieg if he had the exact same qualifications and platform but he was straight? I'm guessing that most voters who wouldn't vote for a gay man or woman are voters who also wouldn't vote for a Democrat. Mayor Pete's sexual orientation might not cost him many actual votes. I'm curious as to how many.

Before I go: This actually came to me in a dream the other night. It was Trump debating his rival, Buttigieg…and I'm not predicting Buttigieg will be the nominee or that Trump will even debate whoever is. Hell, I'm still reminding folks that it's not impossible that before August when the Republican Convention convenes at the Spectrum Center — named like so many convention centers for some company that can't get our Internet connections to work right — a scandal or criminal charge will drive Donald from the ticket. That's not a prediction. I don't think it'll happen. It's just fun to remember that it's not impossible.

Anyway, in the dream, the two men are debating and Donald makes some crack about his opponent not being a real man or a moral man or someone whose lifestyle God would approves of. And when it's Mayor Pete's turn to talk, assuming Trump lets him have one, he says, "I know you don't understand this, Mr. President, but I am devoted to my mate in every way. For instance, if he were to take ill, I would be at his side to take care of him instead of…oh, say, going out and banging a porn star!"

I don't think it will happen but, again, it's just fun to remember that it's not impossible.

I will still buy their product by the gallon(s) but I no longer have the same good feeling that I had about Crystal Geyser brand water.

Here's behind-the-scenes footage from The Andy Griffith Show with Andy, Ron Howard, Don Knotts, Frances Bavier and all the rest, including my beloved neighbor, Betty Lynn. This is home movie footage taken by Ron Howard's family, which would explain why the camera lingers so much on Ron and his younger brother, Clint. Hey, there's something I have in common with Ron: I have home movies with Betty Lynn in them, too. Thanks to Edward Fields, who told me about this video…

If you're starting to think that Michael Bloomberg might be the best candidate the Democrats could nominate, wait a little bit.  And read Kevin Drum as to why you should wait a little bit before expending any of your rooting interest on the guy.  Most candidates look good before they reach the stage where the press is digging into their backgrounds and so is whoever's running against them.  We're just reaching the point where Bloomberg is being subjected to a lot of that.

And if you're worried that Trump can't be beaten, read Josh Marshall.  This is not the time to panic.  The time to panic will be when Josh Marshall panics.

No, I still haven't figured out who I'm going to vote for in the California Primary, perhaps because I still haven't decided if I should vote for the person I think would be the best President or the person I think would be the best candidate. If it's the latter, I'm concerned Mike Bloomberg can't attract the black vote and I'm wondering what the black vote for him is like in those polls that show him nine points ahead of Trump.

Bernie seems to be running strong but as others have noted, the Trump Attack Machine really hasn't turned its guns of him to tell us that if America elects Bernie, it will go Communist within two years and they'll take away everyone's freedom, chocolate, puppy dogs, Christianity and Netflix. I also think someone has to ask the question of what happens if Sanders becomes the candidate and experiences another heart attack like he did last October. Trump got a lot of mileage out of insisting Hillary was on the verge of death.

It's times like this I have to remember that my vote is not going to determine the outcome. As hard as it may be to believe, it might not even be one of the major factors.

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Several of you are now sending me long essays recalling the first comic book you recall buying. If you want to, fine. I'll read 'em but please remember that I rarely post articles by anyone else on this blog — maybe one out every 500 I receive. Don't waste your time if you think I'm going to turn the floor over to you.

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The transfer of my Randy Rainbow tickets last week went through the good offices of Ticketmaster. They are now sending me e-mails that tell me if I enjoyed Randy, I'm sure to enjoy tickets to see the Kings play the Clippers and/or the Celtics play the Lakers. Unless those teams are now made up of gay guys singing song parodies about Rudy Giuliani, I fail to see the connection.

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I said earlier that the first Jay Ward show was Rocky and His Friends in 1959. Several of you wrote to ask, "What about Crusader Rabbit?" Yes, well, what about Crusader Rabbit? Jay was one of the producers but it wasn't his studio, his name wasn't on it, no one thinks of it in the same way as the real Jay Ward shows…

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Lastly: The Ahmanson Theater in Downtown Los Angeles is mounting a new production of one of my favorite musicals, 1776, this summer and cheapo tickets are now on sale. Before you rush to scoop up any of them, you should know two things, one being that some of the dates overlap with Comic-Con in San Diego. So if you're going to that, as a good many readers of this blog are, that will impact which dates you can go see 1776.

Second thing: This new production is rumored to involve "non-traditional casting," which I guess means black and/or female performers playing the white guys who founded this country. I am all for casting the best actors available, regardless of race or gender, but maybe that doesn't work for every single show. It seems to me that the fact that anyone who wasn't male or white didn't have a seat at the table is one of the important parts of this play.

I am absolutely not condemning a production I haven't seen yet — which may not even have been fully cast yet — but I'm a bit skeptical. Since it's only a bit, I bought tickets but not expensive ones. At this link, you can procure seats for the clever price of $17.76 or slightly better ones, also at well below usual Ahmanson tariffs. They also have $17.76 tickets at Goldstar. Purchase at your own risk. I hope "non-traditional casting" doesn't give us a John Adams who is not the least bit obnoxious or disliked.

Joe Petchik wrote me to inquire…

I've seen you joke that you started reading comic books right out of the womb and that when the doctor spanked you, you dropped a copy of Mickey Mouse. But really, do you remember your first comic book? And when you began working in comics, did you work with any of the people who'd worked on that comic?

No to remembering my first but it was probably a Dell and it probably featured some cartoon character I already knew from TV. Might have been a Disney, might have been a Warner Brothers. I remember as a kid buying (or having my parents buy me) every comic book I saw with Hanna-Barbera characters or Jay Ward characters but I'm sure I was reading comics before 1957 when Ruff & Reddy (the first H-B show) debuted. The first Jay Ward show was Rocky and His Friends in 1959.

At one point, my folks gave me the money to send away for a year's subscription to the Dell Comic of my choosing, which cost an entire buck for twelve issues. I sent off the coupon for Looney Tunes and for some reason, they proceeded to send me the next dozen issues of Tom & Jerry. The error, which I guess is what it was, didn't bother me that much because I collected that comic, too. What did bother me was that subscription copies came folded.

When I began writing for Western Publishing on their Gold Key Comics in 1971 and later in the seventies when I ran the Hanna-Barbera comic book department, I worked with lots of people who'd produced Dell Comics in the fifties. That list would include Pete Alvarado, Karran "Kay" Wright, Dan Spiegle, Tom McKimson, Phil DeLara, Tony Strobl, Don R. Christensen, Del Connell, John Carey and Chase Craig.

I also became good friends for a time (and collaborated) with Alex Toth, and I know I read some of the Zorro comics he did under the Dell logo in the late fifties. (If you are baffled, as so many are, about the relationship between Dell Comics and Gold Key Comics, perhaps my greatest contribution to comic book fandom is to have explained it here.)

However, I can identify the first super-hero comic book I read. It was Action Comics #250, cover-dated March of 1959 although the copy I first read did not have a cover on it. It appeared on newsstands in January of '59 but I didn't buy or read the comic then. A year or so later, there was a charity-type bazaar at Westwood Elementary School, the place where you could then find me most weekdays. There were games and a big bake sale and in one room, an array of stuff for sale that looked not unlike a swap meet. There, I found for sale, bundles of comic books missing all or a third of their covers.

Comic book fans of my age or older will know what this was. They sold comic books in those days on newsstands which took them on a returnable basis. A newsstand got, say, twenty copies of the new World's Finest Comics and put them out for sale. At any point, though usually when the next issue of World's Finest came in, the newsstand could send back the unsold copies — including any that got damaged by kids pawing through the racks — for full credit. They only paid for what they sold.

The returns went back to the regional distributor. In a few cities, those distributors would yank out the damaged books and ship the still-sellable ones overseas to certain distributors there to sell. In all cities, books that would remain officially unsold would be made unsellable by having crews — and this was done mainly by hand — tear the covers off the comics. In some cases, they'd just tear off the top third of the cover containing the title logo and issue number. The covers or partial covers would go to the national distributor to prove the books were not sold; ergo, the distributor didn't have to pay for them either.

The remainder of each comic was supposed to be pulped but in truth, a lot of them were sold unscrupulously through various outlets either coverless or with the partial covers. Some newsstands and second-hand bookstores had them. People sold them at swap meets. In San Diego, there was a used book shop where at any given time, you could go in and select from thousands of recent coverless comics for a nickel each or 25 for a dollar. And in various shops that were not unlike today's Dollar Tree or 99-Cents-Only shops, you could buy bundles of these comics — sealed in plastic bags or tied-up with twine — for similar cut rates.

The problem with those bundles of course is that you could usually only see the top comic in each bundle and you didn't know what else you were purchasing. If you bought ten bundles, you might get them home and find out that they all had the exact same books with a different one in first position. Or you might get a bundle with a lot of comics that you already had or didn't want to read no matter how cheap they were.

That day at the Westwood Elementary School Bazaar, I bought one bundle because it had a Woody Woodpecker comic or a Daffy Duck or something like that showing. And that's how I got my first super-hero comic book — that Action Comics #250.

I knew Superman from the George Reeves TV show and also from the old Paramount cartoons on local TV. I liked Superman and I can't really tell you why I hadn't bought his comic books before then. But I read that comic, liked it and soon was buying super-hero comics to the point of crowding out the "funny" comics that had previously made up my collection.

I even went to the extreme of hauling my boxes of Bugs Bunny and Donald Duck to a local second-hand bookstore where you could trade them in on a two-for-one deal. For every 100 Disney comics, I could take home 50 Batman or Superman books. I even found a copy of Action Comics #250 with a cover. Many years later, I would start buying replacement copies of the books I'd traded-in.

In the meantime, I bought super-hero comics from the used book stores and new ones off the comic book rack. I'm fairly sure the first one I bought new was Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #45 with a cover date of June 1960. It came out in April of that year.

So that Action #250 was my first. As for working with the folks who worked on it: Curt Swan drew the cover. I got to spend time with Curt and get to know him but several times when he was about to draw something I'd written, he got yanked away for another assignment so that never happened. The Superman story in that issue was written by Bill Finger (I met him briefly) and drawn by Wayne Boring (Never worked with him but we exchanged mail).

In the back of the comic was a story of Congorilla, written by Robert Bernstein and drawn by Howard Sherman, neither of whom I ever knew. There was also a Tommy Tomorrow story written by Otto Binder and drawn by Jim Mooney. I never met Otto but I'm proud that I got to know Jim Mooney and work with him on a few things. He was a terrific guy, a terrific artist and very, very prolific. Every so often when we were talking or having dinner together, I would say to myself, "This is the guy who drew that Tommy Tomorrow story you read when you were eight years old." It's still a little hard for me to accept that that was humanly possible.