Tom Lehrer performs the classic "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park"…
Monthly Archives: April 2008
Briefly Noted…
I'm still fixing my main computer but in the meantime, I fixed something else. A bunch of you wrote me that the video link to Craig Ferguson's speech at the White House Correspondents' Dinner that I posted here no longer worked. Well, I found a new link and installed it in place of the old link. So it works now.
By the way: Do you folks all know how to capture a YouTube or other embedded video to your harddrives for later viewing? It's not difficult. If you're using Mozilla Firefox as your browser, there are several plug-ins that will do it for you. If you're using something else, there are several websites where you enter the address and it does the work for you. KeepVid is probably the simplest of the bunch and it will work for many sites. There are also free software programs like YouTube Downloader, as well as software you can pay for if you absolutely insist. However you get them, you'll then need an FLV Player to play the clips and there are plenty of free ones on the 'net…this one, for instance.
Anyway, if you see a clip you like, you might want to grab it while you can.
Computer in Ill Health
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! It's been far too long since I got a %@*#! virus on my computer. I don't think I lost any data this time but I'm losing much of my evening doing a cleanup and reinstall of Windows and please, Mac users, don't write me to extol the glories of your never-get-a-virus format. I've spent too much time and cash setting up and learning a system that usually works jes' fine for me. Switching over would take me more time than recovering from a dozen viruses. I have nothing against Macs. It's just too late for me to go that route.
I'm on my backup computer while I run various correctives on the primary. In the meantime, I can't get to recent e-mail and I'm too far behind on stuff to post here at a normal pace. This will change but probably not tonight, maybe not 'til tomorrow. If you don't like it, go form an angry mob to track down and lynch the guy who sent me a worm that was too fresh for my virus checker to intercept.
Back soon.
Jack Hanrahan, R.I.P.
A sad end to a sad story. Emmy-winning comedy writer Jack Hanrahan died Monday at a nursing home in Cleveland. Jack is the guy we wrote about here…the man who somehow went from writing for shows like Laugh-In, Get Smart and Sonny & Cher in Hollywood to being homeless in the streets of Ohio. He was 75 and, as a friend of his e-mailed me this morning, "had been suffering from just about everything."
The saga of Hanrahan is recounted here so I'll just add what I can: I knew Jack briefly in the early eighties. The word "jolly" comes to mind. He was a very funny man, the kind of person who created a party atmosphere wherever he went…always glad to see everyone, always prepped with the latest joke. He was a great joke writer but he was also a great joke teller, and those skills don't always go together.
When he was teamed with his friend Phil Hahn, he was half of the hottest comedy-writing team in town. They went very rapidly from writing greeting cards to writing for MAD Magazine to writing cartoon shows for Hanna-Barbera to writing top, prime-time TV shows. I didn't know Phil or Jack then but got to know them later, after they'd gone their separate ways, and could easily believe something I heard back when I was starting out in TV. When I started out, I was teamed with a clever gent named Dennis Palumbo.
Our agent one day mentioned the names of Hahn and Hanrahan and warned us, as he warned all teams, that when partners split, they don't automatically each get 50% of the team's career. Producers worry that the sum is greater than the parts, especially when one guy is loud and gregarious and the other is relatively quiet. Sometimes, they fear that the loud guy has all the ideas and the quiet guy is just the one who knows how to type. Or sometimes, they fear that the loud guy is the one who's good at selling and the quiet guy is the one who really does the writing.
I don't know what it was like when Jack and Phil were alone in the room working on a script — each spoke well of the other — but Jack was the loud one and Phil was the quiet one. After they parted, they both had trouble establishing new lives in Hollywood. Phil did pretty well, working on top variety shows, often as head writer. Jack…well, Jack had problems.
Like I said, he was a great guy to be around. When you hear how it all ended, you just have to shake your head and sigh.
Today's Video Link
I linked to this a few years ago here but the link went away…so here it is anew. It's the famous sketch from The Soupy Sales Show featuring Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Trini Lopez and a lot of pie shells full of shaving cream. Guess what happens.
You Scream, We All Scream…
I don't eat ice cream any more but if you do, you might like to know that tomorrow (Tuesday) is Free Cone Day at participating Ben and Jerry's shops. Check out their website to see where a store is near you and whether or not it's participating.
From the E-Mailbag…
A reader of this site named John Parrett wrote me the following last week after one of my political comments…
I am sure you know of Ralph Nader. He says people should not pick the "least worst" candidate. "I know this one is bad, but have you seen the other guy?" does not result in good leaders. Third party candidates almost never win, but they do bring attention to issues the major parties will not touch for fear of losing voters. (Anti-slavery and women's right to vote are just two examples from the past.) If you haven't already, please look at his website. Voters need to know there is another choice and a mention from you would help a great deal.
Sure, I know of Ralph Nader and there was a time when I admired the heck out of him. I might even vote for that Ralph Nader if I'd seen him lately. Unfortunately, it's been a long time since I thought his eternal candidacy was about anything besides getting attention for Ralph Nader…and even that wouldn't be so bad if he used that attention to talk about issues. But all he ever seems to talk about is why Ralph Nader is a viable candidate. I'm not even sure he deserves to be called a "third party" candidate any more since there never seems to be a party putting up a candidate. It's only about Ralph.
I agree that voting for the "least worst" candidate does not result in good leaders. Neither has voting for Ralph Nader. In fact, despite his tortured explanations of why it is not so, I'm unconvinced that Nader didn't cost Gore the 2000 election…so voting for Nader may well have given us the "most worst" guy that year.
Believe me, I'd like more choices. I'd love it if I could look at my presidential ballot and see a half-dozen names who all had even a distant shot at winning. That would triple the chances of me finding someone I like. But that's not going to happen until a couple of genuine alternative parties get established that are about something more than one guy's vanity campaign for the presidency. Nader should take himself out of the game and spearhead a move to locate and support the next generation of Ralph Naders for Congressional and local races, building an infrastructure that can someday make a serious bid for the White House. But he won't do that because it's only about Ralph.
A Horrifying Economic Indicator
In 1959, the Golden Gate hotel in downtown Las Vegas began offering a shrimp cocktail for a paltry fifty cents. That was a tremendous bargain. Fifteen years ago, they raised its price to a buck and it was still a tremendous bargain…a loss leader, of course. Like anything free or cheap in Vegas, you have to walk to the back of the casino to claim it, passing hundreds of slot machines and table games. They may lose a few quarters on the freebee or bargain but they know enough people will be enticed to play a little — which means enticed to lose some money — on the way in or out. They'll more than make back whatever they lose on the shrimp.
But oddly enough, it's never been the best bargain at the Golden Gate. The shrimp cocktail of which I write comes in a tulip-style dish and they stick a little shredded lettuce in the bottom, then fill the glass with tiny bay shrimp. Then the server ladles a big glump of cocktail sauce onto it unless, like me, you ask them not to. I find theirs too spicy so I ask for just a tiny amount. Actually, more often, I order their other shrimp cocktail, the one few people ever buy. They call it the Big Shrimp Cocktail and it has much larger, tastier prawns. An approximation of it in a good seafood house would set you back at least ten, maybe fifteen bucks. Last time I was at the Golden Gate, it was $2.95.
And like I said, very few people buy it. Because the whole point of going in there is not to get good shrimp. It's to get shrimp for a dollar. The outrageous bargain is the appeal, not the shellfish. This is why Vegas visitors around the world are being shocked to hear that the cheapo shrimp cocktail at the Golden Gate has just doubled its price.
That's right. It's now $1.99. You want proof the economy is in trouble? Look no further.
In truth, it's not quite that bad. If you sign up for the Golden Gate's slot card club, you can still get your shrimp for a dollar…but how long do we think that will last? It's obviously a way to ease the new price tag into place. A few months from now, the members' price will be $1.49 and it'll still seem like a deal. Then, one chilling day, it'll be two bucks for everyone. (No word yet on the Big Shrimp Cocktail but I'm guessing it's four bucks now or soon will be.)
I guess at two bucks, the basic shrimp cocktail is still an outrageous bargain. Still, there's something sad about the increase…sad, the same way it's sad when they tear down an old, classic hotel. The Golden Gate, by the way, is not an old, classic hotel, just an old one. It evolved out of the Hotel Nevada, which was built on that location in 1906. The Hotel Nevada actually had the first phone number in the state. The number was 1.
In 1931, when gambling was legalized in the state, the Hotel Nevada expanded and was renamed Sal Sagev, which someone thought was a cute name, it being "Las Vegas" spelled backwards. I don't know why anyone would want to stay at someplace called the Sal Sagev but people did…until 1955 when a change of ownership brought in a San Francisco-based company and the new name. I gather the building has not changed an awful lot since those days. It's a rather dreary place with nothing to recommend it but the shrimp. If they closed it down tomorrow, that's the only thing people would miss.
Which is probably why they've kept it so long and why, until someone gets the "bright" idea to gut and rebuild the place, they'll always have a shrimp cocktail at an astonishingly low price. It's just sad that it's not quite as astonishing as it used to be. Almost nothing in Vegas is, these days.
Today's Video Link
And here's Craig Ferguson's speech to the White House Correspondents' Dinner last night. This runs a little more than 23 minutes but it's well worth your time.
Briefly Noted…
Peter Sanderson with another report on the Steve Gerber Memorial we had at the New York Comic Con last weekend.
At the Bookfest
I was wrong. It wasn't 185 degrees today at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books up at UCLA. In fact, it was barely over the 175 mark. It was educational, though. I learned that it's hard to sign autographs when the gel ink in your pen is boiling.
The place was packed with book publishers, booksellers, authors and folks to buy items from the first three groups. Still, I think the ones who really made money today were the vendors with the $5.00 lemonade. Should ice, water and a spoonful of Country Time cost more than a comparable volume of Super Unleaded? Especially these days?
I attended two panel discussions. The first was entitled "State of Crisis: Can Government Work?" and the dais consisted of Nancy Snow, John W. Dean and moderator John Powers. (Michael Gerson, who'd been announced, did not show. No explanation was given.) Much of it consisted of Dean warning what he thinks may happen if John McCain is elected and, to appease the extreme right-wing of his party, has to appoint one or more right-wingers to the Supreme Court. The portrait he painted sounded pretty scary, even for Conservatives who don't think the president, whoever it is, should operate without checks and balances. After the panel, I got Mr. Dean to sign a copy of his new book on Barry Goldwater.
Later in the day, my friends Donna, Gordon and I went to hear a panel on the current presidential campaign moderated by Scott Kraft of the L.A. Times and featuring David Frum, Garrett M. Graff, Hugh Hewitt and Robert Scheer. It basically consisted of Hewitt predicting doom for the Democrats if they nominate Barack Obama and Scheer predicting doom for the Democrats if they listen to Hugh Hewitt.
I like and follow some Conservative pundits — in fact, I occasionally think Frum makes a surprising amount of sense — but Hugh Hewitt is not among them. He's always struck me as a guy who knows that there's a decent living to be made by telling a certain, narrow audience what they want to hear, and denying any facts that go counter to it. His new line is that Obama is too radical for America so to nominate him would be like — this is the analogy he used — the end scene of Thelma and Louise, driving off the cliff. He cited polls that say a hefty number of Hillary supporters say they will vote for McCain if she doesn't get the nomination.
I don't believe that. Not long ago, there was a moment when Republicans who didn't want McCain — Hewitt is one — thought there was still a slim chance he could be denied the nomination. "We'll vote for Hillary before we'll vote for McCain," said people like Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter. And of course, once McCain locked up the nomination, they all fell in line and said not another syllable about voting for Hillary. In exactly the same way, most Democrats who back Hillary and now say they'll vote for McCain if she isn't the nominee will decide to back the nominee of their party.
Robert Scheer was quite interesting as he talked about why he, a former Hillary backer, is now rooting for Obama and somewhat confident of victory. The short version is that he believes a country that so overwhelmingly believes the country is on the wrong course — 81% in one poll — is not going to install a president whose policies and pledges so closely mirror George W. Bush's.
This, of course, reflects my viewpoint…and also those of most in the audience today. Hewitt kept saying that we were not typical of America and he alluded to other audiences he's addressed. It's true, I'm sure, that he speaks to groups that cheer where we booed and vice-versa…but in a country where more than 60% of the country thinks George W. Bush has been a terrible president (as opposed to 28% who like him) and where more than 80% say things are bad and getting worse, I tend to think we were more typical of the country than he'd like to believe or at least admit.
Later, I got one other autographed book. Stan Chambers was there signing his autobiography. If you grew up in L.A. when I grew up in L.A., I don't have to tell you who Stan Chambers is. For those who need an explanation, I'll quote something I wrote here a little while ago when I linked to a video clip of newspeople on KTLA, Channel 5 in this town…
…KTLA had some fine news reporters, especially a gent named Stan Chambers, who is unmentioned in today's clip but who did remarkable work. When there was trouble anywhere in L.A., Stan Chambers would be there covering it sooner than anyone else and from some amazing vantage point. When we had the famous police shootout with the Symbionese Liberation Front, the joke was that every other reporter was covering it from outside while Chambers was in the house with the suspects.
I told that to Mr. Chambers while he was signing my book and he laughed.
Then I spent the rest of my afternoon sitting at a table, signing Kirby: King of Comics for folks, some of whom knew of Kirby, a few of whom did not. Oddly, I occasionally have to explain to someone that it is not a book of my artwork. One lady who otherwise seemed rather normal couldn't quite understand how I could be the author of a book that I didn't draw. She seemed so baffled that she got me to wondering if maybe I had it wrong.
I had a good time today. I need to remember to clear my schedule enough next April to spend both days at the Book Festival. I missed a lot of good stuff yesterday because I had to work on a script. Then again, yesterday was hotter so maybe I'm glad I wasn't there.
Later Sunday Morning
I'm off to the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books today. If you're there (or even if you aren't), I'll be signing copies of Kirby: King of Comics at Booth #318 beginning at 2 PM. Which I guess means they'll be selling 'em there since I ain't bringing any copies. My apologies for not mentioning this earlier but, as I'll be addressing in a post here maybe later today, I've gotten a little sloppy about announcing such things.
The festival is enormous fun, by the way, and buying a book of mine is way, way down low on the list of reasons to attend. If you do though, wear a hat and summer clothing because it'll be 185 degrees there. And that's Celsius.
Today's Video Link
Well, how about a Flip the Frog cartoon? One dark day in the life of Walt Disney, his friend and lead animator, Ub Iwerks, was lured away with an offer to front his own studio. Iwerks produced a number of cartoons which were generally well-animated and largely devoid of memorable characters. He did 37 Flip cartoons despite a general lack of clamor among moviegoers. This one, "Funny Face," was released December 24, 1932 and it was the 31st in the series. I remember seeing it on TV when I was a small lad and being scared by the whole idea of having a mad scientist give you someone else's face. Today, it's a cute cartoon but I think you can see why Flip never caught on.
Early Sunday Morning
I'm watching the White House Correspondents' Dinner that was held last night…the entertainment by Craig Ferguson, in particular. Boy, he's good. The audience is howling at some lines and taking offense at others, which is how it should be.
Make sure you catch it. In theory, you can watch a video on the C-Span website but I've never been able to get their video links over there to work. The whole dinner reruns tomorrow morning on C-Span (around 10:39 AM Eastern) and I imagine it'll be on again later in the week, plus it'll turn up elsewhere on the web. Let me know if you see a good link I can post here.
It's an odd thing. Every time I see Craig Ferguson, I like him…but I rarely think to TiVo his show and when I do, I never get around to watching it. Maybe I'll try again because I thought he did a good job.
Happy George Tuska Day!
He doesn't have Internet access but I don't care: I'm going to wish a happy 92nd birthday to George Tuska, a great comic book artist who's been in the business since 1939 when he began assisting on the Scorchy Smith newspaper strip and working in the studio of the aforementioned Will Eisner. Over the years, Tuska worked for most of the major publishers with long, notable stints as the keystone artist on Crime Does Not Pay, and work at Marvel, particularly on Iron Man. A fine gentleman and a fine talent…and I just had to say it even if he'll never see it.