Devin Stone — the "Legal Eagle" of YouTube — looks at some cartoons about lawyers and reacts…

When Richard Nixon was in free-fall during Watergate, I was an avid watcher and reader of the news. Even if you didn't hate Nixon — and I'd like to think I didn't; that I just thought he was a bad man — it was a fascinating story. Alas, I missed seeing in real-time what may have been the most interesting moment of that sordid story. I was off at a convention during the infamous Saturday Night Massacre.

I am now facing the possibility that I will be at WonderCon when Donald Trump is arrested and/or indicted for the first — but probably not last — time. That timing is a slim possibility but I might have to tear myself away from coverage on TV and my laptop to go moderate panels and do interviews and meetings. It could be a most entertaining week if it happens in the next few days, what with Al Franken hosting The Daily Show this week.

As with the Nixon matter, it's intriguing that it's all so unprecedented and therefore so unpredictable. I'm kinda curious, as well as a little scared, about the calls for protests. The insurrectionists on January 6 more or less had a stated goal: To stop the confirmation of Biden's victory so that some sort of legal miracle, including but not limited to Mike Pence exercising powers he didn't really have, could reinstall Trump. If I were a Trump supporter who was equally outraged now, I'm not sure where I would demonstrate or what I'm really asking for…to have a prosecution dropped because of mob rule?

But then I wouldn't pretend to understand what these people want beyond a vote that makes our 45th President also our 47th. I'm not even sure how many of them think Trump is a good man and good Chief Exec and all the charges are Fake News and we'd all be better off with him in the White House…

…and which ones think, "Even if he did everything they accuse him of, I still want him as My President." The few Trumpers I know well enough to engage in civil conversation have all abandoned him. They want right-wing policies in our government but they fear that running Trump in the next election will lead to a Democratic landslide. I have no idea how prevalent these various attitudes are or how the current prosecutions will affect them. I just think they'll affect them.

Here's a spot from CBS Sunday Morning on the new production of Sweeney Todd on Broadway. The title role is played by Josh Groban, who has the voice for it but I wonder if he has the crazy for it…

In 2017, I took my lovely friend Amber back to New York and we saw four shows. One was the "immersive" production of Sweeney Todd staged in a small Greenwich Village theater that had been converted into a pie shop. The production had eight actors, three musicians, no microphones and a stunning impact. I had seen many productions of the musical but this one may have been my favorite.

Amber had seen zero productions of Sweeney Todd and the next night, we went to see Prince of Broadway, an amalgam of scenes from shows produced and/or directed by Hal Prince. It included a number from Sweeney Todd and between the two shows, she fell in love with the work and I promised to one day take her to a fully-staged production.

So I hope this new production runs long enough for me to feel like getting on a plane again and taking her east. But I really don't so I hope it has a healthy run in New York and then comes out here on tour. That way, we can attend the tale and I can keep my promise.

Sorry for not posting. Very busy day around here. I'll put something up here by Midnight even if it's just a video link. Oh — and I've decided to take the "over" on Trump being arrested Tuesday.

From a long, long time ago on Sesame Street, here's one of those songs that burrowed its way into my brain and never left…

And here's an updated, modern version of it which I also kinda like, though not as much as the previous version…

Like I said, I think Donald Trump's going to be arrested and/or indicted but I don't think it will be this week. Here's a piece by Hannah Docter-Loeb that explains why

Donald Trump is telling his supporters that he will be arrested on Tuesday and that they should demonstrate on his behalf and send him money. I think he will be arrested at some point, or at least indicted, and it may be this Tuesday but I wouldn't assume that. I think Donald Trump loves nothing more in this world than for his fans to demonstrate on his behalf and to send him money and that he wouldn't miss an opportunity to get some of that going.

And if he isn't arrested on Tuesday, he can say, "They backed down because of the enormous wave of support shown for me by true Americans who want me back in the Oval Office!" The guy is real good at this kind of thing.

WonderCon 2023 starts one week from today…

Friday, March 24 — 4:30 PM to 5:30 PM in Room 213AB
HOW TO WRITE FOR ANIMATION
Did you ever dream of writing cartoon shows? Well, here's your chance to find out how to do it from three guys who have written hundreds and hundreds of them. The secrets of animation writing will be divulged by WonderCon special guests Tom Ruegger (Pinky and the Brain, Disney's The 7D), Paul Rugg (Animaniacs, Freakazoid!), and moderator Mark Evanier (The Garfield Show, Dungeons & Dragons).

Saturday, March 25 — Noon to 1:00 PM in Room 207
THE ANNUAL JACK KIRBY TRIBUTE PANEL
Like we do at almost every convention, we remember the man some called The King of the Comics — the man who created or co-created many of the most popular characters ever in the medium. Discussing Jack Kirby are Marv Wolfman (writer/editor), John Morrow (publisher of The Jack Kirby Collector), Paul S. Levine (lawyers for the Kirby Trust), and moderator Mark Evanier (former assistant to Jack Kirby).

Saturday, March 25 — 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM in Room 207
CARTOON VOICES
It's another one of Evanier's popular panels where he gathers a bunch of top animation voice actors to demonstrate their craft, tell how they got into the business, and destroy the script for a beloved fairy tale. Appearing this time are Joe Ochman (current voice of Jiminy Cricket), Kaitlyn Robrock (current voice of Minnie Mouse), Neil Ross (Transformers, G.I. Joe), Cynthia McWilliams (What If?), and Brian Hull (Hotel Transylvania). Mark Evanier (of course) is your host.

As always, times, rooms, panelists and just about everything is subject to change so check your Program Guide and this site to make sure. And as always, I refuse to sit behind a table at a convention for very long so I'll be wandering the hall. If you see me, say howdy. The entire programming schedule can be found online here and remember to consult the COVID policy here.

Read the following excerpt from this news item and then I'll tell you what amuses and interests me about it…

Trump attorney Joe Tacopina may be violating ethics rules by representing the former president in a case involving adult film star Stormy Daniels, according to a legal expert. Tacopina made the rounds on television this week to accuse Daniels of "extortion" in the $130,000 hush money payment during the 2016 campaign and argued that Trump was the real "victim" in the case.

But New York University Law Prof. Ryan Goodman discovered that Tacopina "has had an attorney-client relationship" with Daniels because she once reached out to him about representation, and his representation of Trump in the case may violate American Bar Association and New York state ethics rules.

If this case was about someone else, I'd pay it zero attention and have no reason to care much about which fake blonde who screws people for a living emerged triumphant. But the whole Stormy Daniels case exposes the emptiness of those who claim their support for D.J.T. is based on morals or character or even Christianity. I'll bet most of them felt Bill Clinton disqualified himself from public office because of Monica or other dalliances. But to them, Trump paying off a porn star and other admissions can be easily overlooked or dismissed as Fake News.

But what this particular news item does is to remind me that lawyers make passionate, personal arguments on behalf of their clients. They may earnestly believe what they say but that's not mandatory. Joe Tacopina has been all over the news, loudly trying to deal with all the contradictory statements uttered by his client. He was clearly hired as much for his skills on-camera as for his skills in-court. And he'd totally be on the other side, pushing narratives he now denounces, if Ms. Daniels was his client.

As you may recall, I was a big fan of a restaurant chain that was called Souplantation in some areas and Sweet Tomatoes in others. It was a soup-and-salad (and a few other things) buffet…and like many a buffet, it was put outta business by The Pandemic. 97 locations shut down, seemingly forever.

Is it coming back? Someone's trying to make it happen. This article tells us about a new Sweet Tomatoes that has been announced to open later this year in Tucson. It says "ST Three LLC purchased the intellectual property rights and chose to reopen the Tucson location because it was the most popular location in the state."

Meanwhile, another group has been announcing and delaying a reopening of Souplantation in La Mesa, California, which is not far from where the old Souplantation had its corporate headquarters. I dunno its current status but I'm rooting for anyone who might someday open something like Souplantation near me…even if they don't have my favorite, the tomato soup. Out of necessity when Souplantation closed, I figured out a way to make a pretty decent one on my own.

We've been talking a lot here lately about Phil Silvers so my pal Bob Elisberg suggested I feature this video here. In 1967 — on a budget that looks like it was around $19.67 — a TV version of the musical Damn Yankees was produced for NBC. It starred Mr. Silvers as Mr. Applegate (aka The Devil) and Lee Remick as Lola, and the rest of the cast included Jerry Lanning, Jim Backus, Fran Allison, Ray Middleton, Fran Allison, Bob Dishy, Linda Lavin and not enough other actors.

Ray Middleton was a seasoned Broadway actor and he may have been the first person to ever dress up in a Superman costume. See here, here, here and here.

The original 1955 Broadway production of Damn Yankees had a cast of 40. This TV version had, by my count, fifteen. To make up for the shortfall, a lot of it was done with a technique some call "kinestasis" — a mix of still photos and limited animation that I don't think ever works in anything longer than a sixty-second commercial for chewing gum. What kinda/sorta makes this video kinda/sorta worth watching is that you have good orchestrations, Lee Remick being sexy and Phil Silvers being Phil Silvers. And of course, Jim Backus was never bad in anything.

Plus there's also a cameo appearance by Joe Garagiola. Can your heart take the excitement?

This aired as an episode of G.E. Theater on NBC on April 8, 1967. It was shot in New York and since there are no credits on this video, I'll tell you that it was directed by Kirk Browning with choreography by Ernie Flatt. No one was credited for adapting the Broadway script for television even though some fiddling was obviously done. I'm not recommending this; just putting it here in case you want to click and watch some of it. Some scenes with Phil Silvers will remind you of how good he could be…

This is one of those posts where I assume 99% of the people who'd come to this blog will agree with my position. If you don't, you might be happier reading some other blog. My position is that the current move to restrict drag shows and people dressed unlike the norm for their gender — whatever that is these days — is ridiculous.

I grew up loving comedians and, at one time or another, I think I saw just about every male one in a dress…and a few of the ladies passing for men. A man dressed as a woman is usually funnier than a woman dressed like a man.

A guy on TV the other night was touting a proposed drag ban by saying, "We've got to protect our children," a line that ought to always make you suspicious. It is, after all, the exact thing Professor Harold Hill said when he was trying to bilk the parents of River City out of money for band instruments. The scam started by panicking them into thinking their kids were in terrible, terrible Trouble — with a capital "T" and that rhymes with "P" and that stands for "Pool." The sales pitch started like this…

Protecting the kids is a noble cause but there oughta be even a smidgen of evidence that they're in any way threatened by what the seller is selling.

And here's another problem that Kaleigh Rogers points out: How do you define "drag?" Think of all the movies and TV shows and Bugs Bunny cartoons that might have to be restricted under some definitions.

Chaplin. Laurel and Hardy. Milton Berle. Corporal Klinger, Mrs. Doubtfire. Milton Berle. Some Like It Hot. Dame Edna. Tootsie. Milton Berle. Johnny Carson. Jonathan Winters. Buster Keaton. Charley's Aunt. Flip Wilson. Jack Benny. Bob Hope. Rudy Giuliani. Milton Berle. Milton Berle. Milton Berle. You can keep the list going just as well as I can. Even Miss Piggy is a female played by a male.

Need I go on? Of course not. No one who's even vaguely rational thinks that, after centuries of tradition, a man in a dress has suddenly become an actual problem in need of a solution. There are just some people out there who think it has some political value for them. Maybe some of them think it's a way of taking a swipe at trans people who aren't hurting anyone in any way by course-correcting their lives.

Still, the folks who like to spread fear are out there, reaping whatever benefits they can with this scam. They're telling parents that their kids are in terrible, terrible Trouble — with a capital "T" and that rhymes with "D" and that stands for "Drag."

I think I linked to this years ago but it got deleted. This is a clip from, I'm fairly sure, the Hollywood Palace TV show. The host is Arthur Godfrey and he introduces Shelley Berman who comes out and does my favorite of all his wonderful routines…

I wish everyone understood that when I say "How are you?" or "What's up?" as a greeting, the proper response should probably be under thirty seconds, sixty tops. It is not an invitation to tell me every single thing that's happened to you since we last spoke, especially if we last spoke more than a year ago.