Monthly Archives: January 2016

With the total (or partial) retirement of Mort Drucker, Jack Davis and Angelo Torres, Tom Richmond has become the star caricaturist of MAD magazine — which may be the highest-possible achievement for a person who draws funny likenesses of real people. Tom is more than worthy of that honor and he's a real great guy, too. His website has oodles of tips for anyone interested in what he does for a living.

Recently, a show called MN Original which airs on the PBS station in his hometown in Minnesota did a profile on him and that segment is below.

One of the interesting business ventures with which Tom is involved — and you'll see this in the video — is the drawing of caricatures in malls and theme parks. He does some of the drawings himself and manages concessions in different venues.

You've probably seen kids doing this in places that attract crowds. Whenever I've been to one of them with my friend Sergio Aragonés, Sergio always make a point of stopping and introducing himself to the (usually) beginning professional cartoonists. Anyone who draws caricatures knows MAD so they know of Sergio and they're always thrilled to meet him. He makes a point to offer whatever kind of encouragement he can to them…and he usually turns a blind eye to one occasional bit of deceit in this profession.

Almost all of the booths or set-ups display sample caricatures of celebrities. The idea is that you'll see the drawings of Clint Eastwood or Scarlett Johansson and you'll think, "Gee, I'd like that guy to draw me the way he drew them." But more often than not, the samples on display were not drawn by the artist currently on duty…and a large percentage of time, they're swipes of caricatures done by top magazine and advertising cartoonists.

When I first started going to Las Vegas in the eighties, I saw caricaturists everywhere, though mainly on Fremont Street downtown. Most of the sample drawings on display were copied from Mort Drucker (or sometimes Jack Davis) work in MAD. A few years ago, I told Tom that I'd seen proof of his ascendance to the top of his profession. Most of the caricaturists I see in Vegas now are displaying Tom Richmond swipes.

Have you been following the scandal about the miserable water in Flint, Michigan? Michael Moore has some interesting facts about it.

I don't know if Mr. Moore has all his facts right but he's sorta wrong when he writes that in the Watergate scandal, Deep Throat told Woodward and Bernstein to "Follow the money." To get way too fussy about this, in William Goldman's screenplay for the film All the President's Men, Deep Throat said that to Woodward. It was not said in reality…though when you're covering corruption anywhere and especially in government, it's always good advice.

Tomorrow, the Iowa Caucases will bestow their approval on Donald, Ted or Marco, and then Bernie or Hillary. A dispassionate look at this ritual — often won in the past by candidates whose campaigns went nowhere — would suggest that it's all pretty meaningless. But all of us, no matter what party we favor, are so eager to get this mutant election over with, we're going to attach way too much significance to the results.

I don't particularly care who wins. I guess I'd like to see Martin O'Malley get the Democratic win and Rick Santorum win on the Republican side. Just to shake things up.

I'm still enjoying the Johnny Carson reruns on Antenna TV, though almost every monologue includes at least one then-topical joke that sends me scurrying to the Google. I did remember the oft-mentioned Euell Gibbons who was seen frequently in commercials for Post Grape Nuts cereal in the early seventies and referenced incessantly in Johnny quips. Mr. Gibbons was a naturalist and an author who advocated the eating of plants found in the wild. Johnny had him on a few times (when he brought along twigs and berries for the host to sample) and noted his passing in 1975…then gave him a sort of short-term immortality by continuing the Euell Gibbons jokes well into the eighties.

It's interesting to see some of Johnny's guests in these shows they're running. The other night, there was one with the Amazing Kreskin, who was (and I guess still is) a competent magician who was (and I guess still is) real good at making his tricks sound like they just might be actual psychic feats. He always loaded his presentations with disclaimers — "I'm not saying this is an example of actual mind-reading…" — but he probably convinced a lot of people that that's exactly what it was. He certainly didn't tell them he was using marked cards or anything of the sort.

I am a longtime believer that claims of psychic powers — and contacting the dead and psychic healing and any of that stuff — are pure hokum that often rise to the level of defrauding the desperate and gullible for money. Johnny also believed this and donated heavily to James Randi's foundation that debunked and exposed such chicanery. He once had Uri Geller on and with Randi's help, prevented him from using tricks to demonstrate his alleged powers.

Presumably, Johnny still felt as I did back then that Kreskin's "demonstrations" were harmless entertainment. The last decade or so that Mr. Carson did The Tonight Show though, he rarely (if ever) invited Kreskin or anyone like him to his stage and I'm wondering if that was because the rise of mega-powered charlatans like Sylvia Browne, Peter Popoff and John Edward made acts like Kreskin's seem like contributors to the chicanery.

Tonight, they're airing a 90 minute episode from 1974 with Lawrence Welk, David Brenner, writer Ashley Montagu and from the San Diego Zoo, Joan Embery with animals. I seem to remember on that episode that Mr. Welk led the Tonight Show band in a number and I suppose it will be edited out. Tomorrow night, there's a 1983 show with Bob Newhart. Tuesday night, it's Jay Leno, Fred Savage and Brian Gillis, who is still one of the best magicians working these days. If you get Antenna TV where you are, try one. If you don't, complain to someone.

Okay…it's down now to a 10% chance of showers this afternoon out in Burbank at around the time they'll be doing that live telecast of Grease. Looks like it won't be raining on prom night of Grease night. I'll bet the folks behind this show had written lines to deal with rain during the outdoor scenes and are probably disappointed that they won't get to use them.

It's raining in Los Angeles but the big storm is turning out to be much more scattered than the advance computer models had indicated. Some areas are getting the heavy amounts that were predicted but some aren't, and the storm is moving through more swiftly than expected. Yesterday, they were calling for a 70% chance of rain later today out in Burbank where the live, sometimes-outdoor telecast of Grease is being done later today. Right now, it's more like 30%. I wonder what the producers are hoping will happen, precipitation-wise.

I said the other day here that I had once believed the American people would never elect as president a person who hadn't previously been a governor, a senator or a congressperson. I should have added "vice-president" into that list and made clearer that I meant that was in the future because we have had chief execs who were none of the above. But I no longer think it's impossible even if I still don't think that Trump guy will be the first.

We are still fixing some tech problems involved in the migration of this website to a new server. All should be normal shortly.

And speaking of normalization: My knee continues to heal from replacement surgery and a recent blood test has my doctors about 95% confident that the infection I had last Halloween will not be returning. That's comforting to know. I am walking fairly normally now, sometimes for a mile or two a day. The knee does not feel exactly natural but it works for that and only hurts (briefly) when I get up from a seated position. I am not though yet able to resume driving a car. I tried it the other night, late when there was little traffic around. My problem is operating the brake properly. I'm not able to master the control one needs to brake gently. I either don't brake or I brake too suddenly. My physical therapist is working on this and another few weeks should solve that.

Am I glad I had my knee replaced? Even on those days when it feels like they accidentally put in an elbow? Absolutely. It's a lot better than it was in the months before I had the surgery. I hate to think how bad it would have gotten if I hadn't.

A drawing lesson from our buddy, Tom Gammill…

Several of you have asked me to say something about the controversy that has resulted from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences nominating a total of zero non-white actors for its coveted Oscars this year. I haven't said anything before because I didn't see very many movies in 2015 so I'm not in a position to say that any particular non-nominated performance was more deserving than any particular nominated performance. And even if I did, it's not like the Academy always agrees with me…

Also, as racist affronts go, it does not strike me as the most serious one. An unarmed black guy getting killed during an arrest or a qualified job applicant getting turned away because of skin color…that's the kind of thing that should yield protests and outrage. I'm afraid I don't have a lot of coinfidence that the selection process for the Academy Awards ever involves a lot of logic or proper consideration so it's tough for me to get incensed at anyone being omitted. (Hey, didn't everyone say Steve Carell was an absolute shoo-in?)

The problem as I see it is not that the stars of Straight Outta Compton didn't get nominated. It's that there aren't enough people who look like them in the hierarchy of the motion picture business. Read this editorial in Variety.

The Academy has taken some swift steps to get a more diverse membership participating in the future. That may be a step in the right direction, though it seems to involve using a bit of ageism to combat racism. When you get a moment, read this letter from my longtime pal Bill Mumy who has been dismissed as an Oscar voter to make room for voters of more ethnic diversity.

But the problem really isn't the Academy. It's the industry. And I don't see anything happening that's going to change that.

Taken recently in a medical building I was passing through…

David Roberts tells why he believes Donald Trump will never be president. He makes some good points, though he seems to concede Trump getting the G.O.P. nomination. If I were forced to predict now, I'd still predict Trump won't win but it's not something on which I'd bet actual cash. Too much that couldn't possibly happen has already happened.

Somewhere on this site, I'm sure I stated a firm belief that this nation would never elect as president, someone who hadn't already been a senator, governor or important congressperson. I used to think that but Trump's success-to-date has convinced me that's not true. Even if he doesn't win, he's proven that's not as impossible as I thought. A different prominent public figure — one with similar strengths but not certain weaknesses — could do it.

The transition of this site from our old server to our new server is almost complete but for the next day or so, you may find some graphics missing or some internal links not working. All will be functional soon.

Tomorrow night on Fox, there's a live presentation of the musical, Grease, which sounds like it's got a pretty good cast. Aaron Tveit, who is terrific, has the male lead. Tveit, by the way, is 32 years old and the other actors are all, as is customary with this show, close to twice the age of the characters they're playing.

I'm not a huge fan of Grease. I think it's a lightweight piece of work with a few good songs…and when I've seen it on stage, which I have four or five times, I've always had the feeling the cast was having a better time than the audience. It's had an active history of revivals and restagings because it's easy to cast and cheap to stage. Sets and costumes are pretty simple and it doesn't hurt the show much if they look cheap and amateurish.

It also doesn't need a big orchestra and the nature of the show makes it attractive to folks who aren't hardcore playgoers, especially since the movie. In fact, since the movie came out, most groups that stage the show try to make their stage versions more closely resemble the movie, adding in songs written for the film and casting leads who resemble John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John.

Unlike the recent live musicals on NBC, this version will have a live audience, though reportedly a lot of the audience members will be watching much of the show on monitors. There are many sets and apparently what they're doing is placing a portion of the audience in front of each set (or sometimes in it like extras) and letting them watch the scenes on other sets on TV. So if you're there, you'll see some of the show right in front of you and much of it the same way folks at home will be watching.

More interesting is that several scenes are being staged outside. They're saying these scenes will be done "rain or shine." At the moment, there's a 100% chance of rain in the afternoon in Los Angeles (where the production is being done) and about a 70% chance during the broadcast. But as they say, the show must go on. There's a song in the show called "It's Raining on Prom Night." Let's see if it does. There could even be actual "Greased Lightning."

I'm fascinated by these folks who create music videos — many a cappella, some with accompaniment — for YouTube via computer-connected collaborations. Here's a jazz number uniting four such folks who probably don't all live on the same continent. The three vocalists along the top row are Meg Contini, Evan Sanders and Simon Åkesson. The fellow with the glasses is Danny Fong, who seems to have organized and produced this one. All these singers do a lot of these, and Danny has quite a few online that are just him singing harmony with himself. I would love to see some of these online singers build YouTube videos into a more mainstream career…

Daniel Klos wrote to ask…

Regarding your recent posting about Mel Brooks claiming to be broke prior to taking on the Blazing Saddles assignment: Whether he got the chronology right or wrong, when show business figures (particularly high profile show business figures like Mr. Brooks) claim to be "broke," are they simply being hyperbolic in their language? Or do they actually mean that they're living-paycheck-to-paycheck broke or on-the-verge-of-being-evicted broke? Since you are in show business yourself and may have more of a first-hand awareness of this than someone like me, how common is it for celebrities to actually be on the verge of being destitute once they've achieved their celebrity?

Not that uncommon…and I'm sure it happens in every industry where your take-home pay can go from low to high and then drop. We hear more about it happening with celebrities because we hear more about everything that happens to celebrities.

But it may be more common in show business because incomes can be more roller-coastery and less predictable. You know…you get hired on a new TV series. Your income goes way up. Will that series be on for ten years or ten weeks?

I'm thinking now of a friend who was on a sitcom. While it was on, his income was around $600,000 a year. The year after it was canceled, he made closer to $50,000 and the year after, less. He wound up selling the house and a lot of luxuries he'd purchased when he thought the money would be steadier and there'd be more of it.

Yeah, big stars do go broke and it's sometimes almost comical to hear that Willie Nelson or Wayne Newton or even folks with different initials have had to declare bankruptcy, sell their assets, etc. Something I've never quite understood is how someone with $30 million winds up broke. I mean, if you lose $30 million, it doesn't all evaporate one morning. It probably means that one week, you have $29 million and a few weeks later, you have $28 million and then you have $27 million…

When you get down to around $18 million, don't you say, "Hmm…maybe I'm doing something wrong here"?

From what I hear, Wayne lived on the presumption that he'd be packing them in at Vegas showrooms forever and then — not necessarily in this order — his voice went away and his audience went away. (Willie, I can't begin to explain. No one can do that much cocaine and he sure didn't spend it all on clothes.) I think what happens is that sometimes the money comes so easily and endlessly that you get reckless with living well and start gambling on new business ventures, figuring there's plenty more where that came from. And then there isn't.

I can't say exactly what it was with Mel Brooks. The Producers was not a very lucrative success for him at the time — more of a "cult hit" than we now remember. To get another movie made, he had to take a very low-paying deal on The Twelve Chairs and that did little business.

On the other hand, I remember that he got up at Howard Morris's last wedding and as part of a toast, he said, "I am so happy for Howie that he's discovered the same joy I once found…a wife who works!" Before Blazing Saddles changed his fortune, Mel's big problem may have been not that he and Anne Bancroft were in financial jeopardy but that she seemed to be the breadwinner. That mattered a lot to men of his generation.

Just speaking for myself, I have rarely been able to look very far ahead and estimate how much cash would be coming in or when it might arrive. I've been pretty conservative in my spending and I've never had a period when if everything suddenly stopped, I'd be worried about how to afford groceries next Tuesday or the next rent or mortgage payment. But I can sure understand the temptations involved or the cockiness or how sometimes what looks like an absolutely-certain project can suddenly fall through. It's hard to live within your means when you have no idea what those means will be in six months.

My man Fred Kaplan lists some of the ridiculous things said in last night's G.O.P. debate about U.S. foreign policy. There were an amazing number of them given that you-know-who wasn't on the premises.

Much is being written about the way Mr. Trump's success so far has changed the nature of political campaigns. The biggest impact I see is that people running for public office used to be at least a little afraid of saying something that was so untrue and ridiculous that it would change their public profile in an undoable way…like Al Gore getting typed as a liar for saying he'd created the Internet, which of course was not what he said or meant. Nowadays though, they all seem to think nothing like that can hurt them; that they're free to say whatever seems to work well in the speech or debate line today, and they aren't harmed if it's total Bandini. It's like the country has resigned itself to the concept that even the person they'll choose to support and cheer on is going to have to tell a lot of lies to get the job.