Just watched the new DVD of one of the most cynical movies ever made…The Fortune Cookie, which was written by Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond, and directed by Wilder.  If one is in the right mood for it though, it's brilliantly funny and darn near impossible to turn off.  Walter Matthau was never better, and Jack Lemmon was never more Jack Lemmony.  The scenes of Matthau, playing an ambulance-chasing attorney, negotiating with a high-priced law firm are about as perfect an example of character comedy as anyone has ever put on celluloid anywhere.  The whole film is actually a superb festival of casting.  Some of the small supporting roles are especially wonderful.

I've received a few e-mails asking what I think of Johnny Hart's allegedly anti-Semitic Easter installment of his newspaper strip, B.C..  My view is that, given Mr. Hart's tendency to tell interviewers that Jews are destined to all rot in Hell, I doubt it was intended as innocently as claimed in his recent "I regret being misunderstood" press release.  On the other hand, I also think that to make this a big issue is to vastly overreact.  I mean, on a list of rotten things that bigots have done to my people, a clumsy joke in a faltering newspaper strip doesn't even make the Top 10,000.

If you want to protest something, try this: Many of the newspapers covering this ginned-up controversy have picked up his syndicate's claim that Johnny Hart is — and I quote from the syndicate's website — "…the most widely read writer on earth."  I cannot fathom on what basis they make that claim but I'm guessing they're combining the total paid circulations of all the newspapers that carry B.C. and Hart's other strip, Wizard of Id and presuming that everyone who buys one of those papers reads him.  Even if all that's true, it still wouldn't make Hart the most widely-read cartoonist, let alone the most widely-read writer.  (One might also note that it's now been something like 20 years since any American publisher put out a B.C. or Wizard of Id collection in book form.  You'd think the most widely-read writer in the world could sell a few measly paperbacks…)

Everybody's setting up a website these days, even comedians and other interesting star-type folks.  And I'm not talking about fan sites…not even "official" fan sites.  I'm talking about sites that the biggie actually arranged to have on-line, usually for commercial reasons.  In a few cases, they even generate original content for it or answer mail.  For example, you might want to go take a look at the new site, www.johnnycarson.com.  That's right: Herrrre's Johnny's website!  On it, you can order tapes of old Tonight Shows — so far, alas, the same ones that have been commercially available for some time.  There are also some video clips and fun facts over there so it's worth a visit…though I think it would be funnier if they had a guest website on Monday nights.

Here are a few more that I've come across…

• www.georgecarlin.com — This is a wonderful site, crammed full of Carlinesque humor, much of it apparently written just for the web.  Mr. Carlin has been doing comedy for a long time but he's still very, very funny.  (He's also one of the folks behind www.laugh.com, which is selling comedy CDs and such.)
• www.shelleyberman.com — And, speaking of doing it a long time and still being very funny: This site will tell you where Shelley Berman is performing.  If it's anywhere near you, go.  He's still brilliant.  (He did a poorly-released, hard-to-find CD about five years ago called Live at the Improv that's as funny as any comedy album ever done.  One of those voices howling with laughter in the audience is mine.)
• www.colortini.com — This is the site of Tom Snyder, former host of The Tomorrow Show and The Late Late Show.  About once a week, he posts an essay in the style of the little "editorials" he used to do at the outset of those programs.  Always nice to hear what Ol' Tom has on his mind.
• www.sincity.com — Here's a site that will tell you where Penn and Teller are performing, and allow you to read diary-type listings that they post often about what's been happening in their lives.  Loads o' fun.
• www.bobhope.com — Bob Hope's site: "Hey, how about those websites where they sell books and posters, and give you some bio stuff on the star?  They're wild.  No, but I wanna tell ya…"
• www.thehockeypuck.com — Don Rickles' site: "You big dummy.  Why don't you tie a bell to the back of your leg and play 'Wagon train, comin' through the pass?'  Here, I'll make you feel at home: 'You've got mail!'  You dumb computer geek!"
• www.rodney.com — Rodney Dangerfield's site: "I'm all right now but last week, I tell ya, I was in rough shape.  I went to my doctor and he told me I was overweight.  I said, 'If you don't mind, I'd like to get a second opinion.'  He said, 'Okay.  Your website stinks!'"
• www.stevemartin.net — Very funny man, very funny website.
• www.lilytomlin.com — Very funny woman, pretty funny website.

One of the great burlesque comedians (a straight man, actually) was a gent named Dexter Maitland.  He appeared in the original Minsky's revues and subsequent nostalgia-type revivals for more than 70 years — that is not a typo — but is probably best known for his role in the movie, The Night They Raided Minsky's.  (He's the handsome gent who sings, "Take Ten Terrific Girls, But Only Nine Costumes…")  I had the pleasure years ago of meeting and talking with Mr. Maitland and would love to do an article about him but I cannot find a photo of him, either from that movie or his on-stage career, anywhere.  If you know where I can procure one, short of shooting it off the TV, please drop me a note.  Thenk yew.

Frank Ferrante, who did such a good job playing Groucho on the PBS Special that aired recently, has teamed up with Groucho's son, Arthur, to open www.grouchoworld.com.  They're selling a CD of Ferrante singing Groucho's songs and a book that Arthur has compiled of photographs of his father.  I just ordered mine and will report when they arrive.

Here's your chance: Sergio Aragonés and I are appearing, together and apart, at the Wondercon, which takes place April 20-22 at the Oakland Convention Center in Oakland, California.  We're both on a "Humor in Comics" panel on Saturday afternoon at 3:00, and I'm on one that was inspired by a recent column I wrote about how sick I am of classic super-heroes being made ugly or psychotic.  That one's on Sunday afternoon at 1:00.  And if neither of those interest you, there are other panels and guests aplenty, including Murphy Anderson, Russ Heath, Jim Warren, Dave Stevens and the awesome and ageless Julie Newmar.  Here's a link to the convention website for more info…and if you're a frequenter of this site, please seek me out and say howdy.

By the way: I am currently pencilled-in to moderate ten (count 'em — 10!) panels at this year's Comic-Con International in San Diego.  If you're interested in Marvel Comics of the sixties, you'll want to attend around half of them.  (A tip: If you don't book a hotel room soon, you'll be staying in Nevada.  You can get reservations through the convention's website at www.comic-con.org.)

As mentioned a week or so ago, I just wrote the foreword for DC's forthcoming hardcover Archives collection of Blackhawk, which will include the first 17 episodes of that strip from Military Comics, featuring the artwork of Chuck Cuidera.  In doing this, I received invaluable aid from the Unofficial Blackhawk Comics website.  This is a splendid assembly of history and data collected by a wise and knowing (i.e., he liked the issues I wrote) Blackhawk buff named Dan Thompson.  Well worth a visit.  And the book will probably be a must-buy.  That's wonderful…and rare material.  Keep your eye out for it in a few months.  I'll be mentioning it here from time to time, despite the fact that I don't make any more money off its sales.

The Miami Herald did a partial recount of ballots in Florida which many are spinning as (a) a full recount and (b) firm proof that their boy "won."  It was actually neither and if it proved anything, it was how sloppy the entire election and vote-counting were…a point made in a recent editorial in that paper.  Here's a link to that editorial — and, by the way, I think the quote from the movie Key Largo is spurious, but the rest of the article seems to make great sense.  I suggest that anyone who's really interested in the issue of who won Florida ignore the spinmeisters, read all the articles in the Herald's special section on the topic — taking careful note of all the caveats about arguable or missing ballots — and then regard it all as only one part of the story.

The biggest, closest-to-definitive press recount — by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and others — is still a few weeks from release.  I doubt it'll convince one loyal Republican that Bush didn't win, nor one die-hard Democrat that Gore wasn't cheated.  But maybe whatever it shows will get someone angry enough to get some repair work done to a slipshod voting system that is insulting and detrimental to democracy.

Nat Hiken was the creator-producer-head writer and sometimes director of You'll Never Get Rich, which was later retitled everyone refers to as Sgt. Bilko.  A few years later, he followed it with the short-lived (two seasons) Car 54, Where Are You? and before either of those, he was one of radio's top writers.  That's an amazing one-two punch of terrific comedy programs.  So it's about time someone wrote a biography of one of the all-time great comedy writers, and an author named David Everitt has.  It's called King of the Half Hour : Nat Hiken and the Golden Age of TV Comedy and I enjoyed it tremendously.  It's really amazing how much material Mr. Everitt was able to dig up on someone whose life has gone sadly unchronicled until now.  Since it's probably the only book anyone will ever write on Hiken, I'm glad it's so thorough.

You can score a copy of the Hiken book via all the usual on-line sources (Amazon,
Barnes & Noble, Borders, etc.) but you may have to hunt if you want a copy of another new book — one that's only about the Bilko program.  It's called Bilko: Behind The Lines With Phil Silvers and it's by Mickey Freeman, who played Private Zimmerman on the series.  It's a small hardback of anecdotes — not too penetrating or exhaustive but pleasant — from a minor publisher.  Between the two books, one gets a pretty unflattering portrait of Joe E. Ross, who played Rupert Ritzik on Bilko and Gunther Toody on Car 54.  Freeman's book talks about Ross's constant patronage of hookers.  Everitt's discusses that, plus his unprofessional behavior on Car 54 which almost got him fired.  Maurice "Doberman" Gosfield doesn't come off too well, either…

Mark highly recommends (and — full disclosure — has an article in) the new, 31st issue of John and Pam Morrow's splendid Jack Kirby Collector.  The Morrows have gone to a larger, 10" by 14" page format which will be a bitch to store but which shows off Jack's art to great advantage and which he would have loved.  (If Jack had had his way, the average comic book would have been around the size of the Jumbotron in Times Square.  He was excited when the industry started experimenting with "tabloid" sized comics in the seventies but disappointed that they used them primarily to reprint material drawn for the conventional page size.)  Anyway, if you're at all interested in Jack's work, it's a must-have.  Here's a link to the TwoMorrows' site, which also handles other fine publications of comic book history, such as Comic Book Artist and Alter Ego.

One of the things that always fascinated me about Bill Clinton is that he's always been willing to voice respect for certain critics and pundits who, at times, rake him over the briquets.  If you don't think this is rare, show me where any other public political figure of the last decade — Democrat or Republican — has had a kind word for anyone who wasn't 100% supportive of them.  But Clinton has and one of the columnists he has praised is Ronald Brownstein of the Los Angeles Times.  A look back at Brownstein's archived columns showed me that (a) he has been deeply critical of many, including Clinton, but always with good reason, and (b) he may have the best track record of anyone in his field insofar as predictions are concerned.  These things set him apart from so many columnists who exist to tell some group what they want to hear, and how to spin the latest news accordingly.  He just published a news analysis about George W. Bush and partisanship which probably describes the "Big Picture" of American politics for the next few years.  Read it here if you want a preview of Coming Attractions.

And while you're at it, you might also want to read Doris Kearns Goodwin's piece about how a bogus "news item" instantly spread via the Internet — and Matt Drudge, especially — saying that she and Steven Spielberg were planning a movie that would depict Abraham Lincoln as a racist.  It wasn't true, and the original source has since retracted…but somehow, the retraction has not circled the globe quite as extensively.  (You have to hurry if you want to read this for free.  The L.A. Times charges to read articles more than two weeks old and this was one was published on April Fool's Day.  Here's the link.)

Also, The Standard, which covers the biz end of the Internet, has an article about my buddy Harlan Ellison and his legal battle against America On-Line and certain other nefarious parties.  Here's the link to that.

For some reason, I've recently been receiving three or four e-mails a day from folks asking me where they can purchase all the episodes of the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon show on VHS or DVD.  The answer is a little awkward but it goes like this: Only one episode — In Search of the Dungeon Master, which I had nothing to do with — has ever been officially released for home video, and only on VHS.  It's out-of-print but is probably still findable if one searches far and wide.  (When it was discontinued, the Sam Goody chain apparently bought up the remaining stock.)  Nothing else has been issued and, if the show's current owners are planning to put them out, they haven't told me.  In the meantime though, an awful lot of bootleggers are openly hawking videocassettes of dubious quality, sometimes even pirating one another's copies.  I don't like to encourage copyright infringement, especially on a show where, if it's released on tape, I'm supposed to get money.  But if you don't care about such matters and you do a little Internet searching or go to almost any comic convention, you oughta be able to find someone selling unauthorized copies.  Just don't ask me where they are since I'm among those getting ripped-off by this practice.

The picture above is of Bob Newhart.  Because of his success in situation comedies, we forget that this man was once one of the all-time great stand-up comedians.  As a refresher, let's all purchase Something Like This…, a 2-CD collection from Rhino Records which includes darn near every great Newhart monologue that ever made it onto records including my favorite — the one about Sir Walter Raleigh trying to explain to his employers what he has found in The New World.  And while you're at it, Rhino has just released a DVD of The Rutles: All You Need is Cash, complete with commentary by Eric Idle, alternate scenes, photos, the works.  Good stuff.

Anyone here see David Copperfield's special last Tuesday evening? The "sexy," much-advertised feat — and the only part of the show done live — involved Mr. Copperfield standing in the center of a tornado of fire. It was, to me, the least-interesting segment of what was otherwise a superb hour of magic. (In some other countries, the show ran two hours. I'm hoping that's the version they'll put out on tape and DVD here.) Copperfield is a terrific showman. Some of his routines are, at heart, fairly elementary magic…but he dresses them up with new contexts, state-of-the-art misdirection and a superb command of the stage, and makes them seem fresh and exciting.

At the same time, many of his tricks are essentially new inventions, the result of an ingenuity (and budget) that few other magicians have. I'm a bit uncomfy with a few things he does…like, there's no trick photography, they tell us, but there are a number of moments where it looks to me like judicious tape editing made a good trick even more spectacular than it was in person. And, while almost all purveyors of "big" stage magic employ an audience plant or two, I think Copperfield's exceeded his lifetime quota. But these quibbles did not prevent me from loving his show, and I hope you saw it. (You probably didn't. Apparently, the tornado of fire didn't entice the kind of audience a show like this deserves.)

Speaking of low ratings: Last Saturday's XFL broadcast got a 1.5, which was even lower than their previous all-time low. My friend at NBC — the guy who, when they had a 2.9, said they couldn't get any lower — e-mails me that it's "common knowledge" around the building that the network is getting out as soon as humanly possible. Anyone surprised? I didn't think so.

One thing you can say for World War II: A lot of great comics came out of it.  One was Blackhawk and, after I update my website, I have to finish the foreword for DC Comics' upcoming Blackhawk Archives, which will reprint the first 17 episodes of that superb strip from Military Comics.  Another great strip — this one, appearing first in army papers but later in comic books — was George Baker's Sad Sack, who managed to worm his way into the national consciousness and stay there, long after the war was over.  If you're not familiar with its heritage, my pal Alan Harvey, who now owns said Sack, has set up a website which includes samples of Baker's whimsical work.  It's at www.sadsack.net and it's well worth a visit.

Congress is currently discussing abolishing — or, at least, reducing — the so-called "Death Tax."  It's actually an Estate Tax but its foes find it's easier to drum up opposition if they call it a "Death Tax."  They also argue, apparently wrongly, that it amounts to double-taxation.  If you've been led to believe it does, you need to read this piece by Michael Kinsley…which I suspect will be largely ignored by folks who don't want to deal with what it says and don't want to forego the "double-taxation" argument against the Death/Estate Tax.

While you're over at Slate, Jacob Weisberg — who shares with Mickey Kaus the record for the most correct predictions about what the Florida recounts would yield — has a nice "what we know, as of now" piece.  Since all parties are determined to spin every bit of data to their purpose, it's vital for us to keep track of what we really know, as opposed to what we want to know and — more importantly, what we don't.  Here's a link to that article.

Yesterday marked one year since my longtime chum, Scott Shaw!, began his Oddball Comics page over at Comic Book Resources.  For 52 weeks, Monday through Friday, he has favored us with examples of some of the most bizarre comics ever published — like that Rifleman one above — accompanied by witty and informative annotation, which in turn has sparked interesting chatter on the allied Message Board.

In celebration of this grand achievement, he's invited a batch of friends, commencing with the proprietor of this here website, to pen guest entries.  If you'd like to read what I handed in — a discussion of the funnybook seen above right, which was drawn by the great Curt Swan, perhaps under duress, and which is as oddball as any comic ever published — click on this link.  And the latest edition of Oddball Comics (which, today only, is the same page) can be accessed by clicking here.  Go there even when I don't have a guest column up.