Monthly Archives: April 2009

Around 6:30 this evening, I was in an indoor parking lot in a fancy building in Beverly Hills. I was waiting for the valet to fetch my car, which they'd apparently parked in Gallup, New Mexico. It took a while.

As I was waiting, I witnessed the following. In a prime parking space about 20 feet from me, there was a very new, very shiny, very expensive Lamborghini. I do not know enough about such vehicles to tell you the model or year but I have a sense it was the top of the line, whatever that is. Admiring it from nearby were two rather attractive young ladies in their early twenties. We shall call them, for the purpose of this anecdote, Thelma and Louise.

After staring at the car, Thelma and Louise had a hurried and whispered discussion and then they went over to the man in charge of the valet parking area. They whispered some things to him, he grinned and nodded in agreement, then he went over to his podium and fetched the key to the Lamborghini. He unlocked it, opened the door and allowed Thelma to get inside.

Thelma promptly removed her shirt, under which there was only Thelma. Louise had pulled out a little digital camera and as Thelma posed behind the wheel, Louise took about six photos. Then Thelma untoplessed herself, hopped out of the car and the valet guy relocked it. The ladies thanked him and scampered off as the attendant returned the key to the rack in his podium.

I was thinking of asking him if I could do that too but then my car arrived.

This one's about what's up with Pakistan. I'm glad Fred understands this stuff because I sure don't.

Got an e-mail this AM from Shane Shellenbarger, who follows this blog and writes me from time to time…

Holy Moley! Imagine my surprise when I went to your blog this morning and saw a photo of Don Newton, Tony Newton (Don's son), David Lee (as The Phantom) and myself as Captain Marvel.

I believe that was the same costume contest at the El Cortez in which John Clark (Another Rainbow/Gladstone and Gemstone) appeared as The Shadow.

It was also the same costume competition in which the actress now known as Brinke Stevens made her convention "debut" in a Vampirella outfit. I took about twenty photos of her then because every guy I knew — some then working on the Vampirella magazine, some not — wanted a pic with her.

Jim Van Hise also wrote me to confirm, as I think I now remember, that the other young man with an "S" on his chest is Don's son. And several folks wrote to mention how much they missed Don. He looks so right in that Superman suit because he was truly one of the good guys.

Digging once again into my horde of newly-rediscovered photos, we have this one from an early San Diego Comic Con…from back before they called it Comic-Con International. The year is 1973 and we have four folks who entered that year's masquerade. I have no idea who three of these people are but the larger of the two Supermen is a gent who'd been teaching high school art and also doing some drawings for amateur magazines about comics and science-fiction.

A few attempts to crack DC and Marvel to work as a comic illustrator had yielded naught but rejection so he'd set his sights a bit lower. At the time of this con and photo, he'd just sold his first professional work to the smaller, lower-paying Charlton Comics Group. His hope, he told me, was that he'd learn his craft with the Charlton work and become noticed enough to step up to big pay at one of the majors. It took about three years but that's exactly what happened.

He had a pretty good career drawing Batman, Aquaman, Captain Marvel and other popular comics until his untimely death in 1984 at the age of 50. He was a great guy and a great talent and I'm sorry I only got to work once with him. His name was Don Newton. If you'd like to know more about him, there's a whole website devoted to the man and his work.

I'm beginning to get the feeling that this country is finally going to arrive at some form of Universal Health Care…and all because (a) Arlen Specter got cancer, (b) he couldn't win as a Republican, and (c) Al Franken got 312 votes more than the other guy in a recount.

Ken Tucker writes with the following question…

You write about the late night talk shows a lot, so I thought you might be the one who could answer a question I have about them, which I don't remember you ever talking about in your blog (though maybe I missed it).

The question is, why are all the musical acts for both Letterman and Leno now relegated to the very end of the show, in the 12:30-12:37 slot? It was never this way in Johnny's day — there were a variety of acts at all times through the show.

Yes, a lot of the acts are bands that the hosts aren't going to sit down and talk to, so maybe it makes sense to have them at the end, but last night Letterman had Dolly Parton on, and talked to her early in the show, but then had her come back at the very end (after he had talked to a different guest in the meantime) to perform her song.

You'd almost think there was some rule that they could pay the musicians less if they don't come on until after 12:30!

It makes me wonder what will happen with Jay's show when he's on at 10:00. I can't image him waiting until 10:55 to put on a musical guest, unless they think somehow that will be a good lead-in to the news on the local stations!

Anyway, if you have any inside scoop on why they do this, I'd love to read about it in your blog.

It's not all that mysterious. Research, including the kind where they measure the ratings many times within the hour, has yielded the following belief: That when the musical guest starts performing, a large chunk of the audience decides to either go to bed or switch channels and see what else is on, mainly the former. There apparently is a chunk of viewers out there who will tune in for the musical guest…so you book one most nights to get those viewers. But there's also a sizeable chunk who'll decide it's time to turn in…so you book them at the end of the show.

This has been "learned" over the years. In fact, back when some at NBC wanted to dump Leno, one of the arguments advanced was that Jay and his crew hadn't heeded network research that proved this principle. One night, he had Garth Brooks perform in the middle of the show, and this was cited as not knowing how to program a talk show. Nowadays, when Brooks does the show, he talks first and — as was the case with Ms. Parton — comes back later to perform.

I doubt this will be the format when Leno hits 10:00. What I'm hearing is that they plan a show that will be mostly comedy, especially at the end. With an 11:30 show, you don't waste your strong comedy bits near the closing because your audience is inevitably going to be smaller then. But that rule doesn't apply to a 10:00 show so Jay will probably try to close strong, and whatever music they have will come earlier in the proceedings.

That, by the way, may be key to whether the Leno experiment will be judged a success. Traditionally, of course, the measure of a prime time show is how its ratings are in relation to the programs on opposite. That will matter for Jay, natch, but because the programming concept is so new and potentially dangerous for the 11:00 local newscasts across the country, he really needs to deliver audience to them. If the ratings for those shows go up, Jay's show may be judged a hit even if it never wins its own time slot.

I've posted this here before and someone should remind me to post it more often…

There is forged original artwork out there. Fake. Bogus. Fraud. Not actually by the person they say it's by.

Phony art is usually not in the form of something that was published. It's an alleged rough sketch by some famous artist or a drawing that was supposedly done for a fan. Lately, I've seen a number of these. Someone traces an obscure Jack Kirby drawing and claims the tracing is by Kirby. Or they copy a panel out of a Peanuts strip and say it's an original sketch by Charles Schulz. (Not long ago, eBay had one up that was signed by "Schultz.") Occasionally, one sells for an awful lot of money.

Kirby and Schulz seem to be the most oft-faked but I've seen others…and an awful lot of fake animation cels. I've stopped authenticating artwork but there are reliable art dealers who can tell you if that Jack Kirby sketch you purchased of Obama's inauguration is legit. Be on the lookout.

The Mel Brooks Musical, The Producers, is opening in yet another city. You'll never guess which one.

So Arlen Specter's switching from the Republican party to the Democratic side. Figures. If he moved far enough to the right to have a prayer of getting the G.O.P. nomination in Pennsylvania again, he'd be too far right to have a prayer of winning the general election. This way, I guess, he's at least got a shot.

But don't go celebrating that this plus the seemingly-inevitable seating of Al Franken will give the Democrats a filibuster-proof majority. There's no telling how Specter will vote…a fact I warned you of on this site in Februrary of '06 when I explained my Double Arlen Specter Theory.

An auction later this week will sell off the final remnants of the collection of the late Forrest J Ackerman, horror and s-f fan supreme.

I note that one of the beneficiaries of his final testament is a waitress from the House of Pies restaurant in Los Feliz. That's a very nice gesture…but I've eaten in that House of Pies. I barely wanted to tip, let alone name anyone there in my will.

Tomorrow on Stu's Show! A return visit by the greatest storyteller I know, the legendary Chuck McCann! Chuck is an actor, a writer, a director, a producer, voiceover artist, a puppeteer, an Oliver Hardy impersonator, a kid show host, a suitcase, a banana cream pie, a picture of Whistler's Mother, a flagpole, a…all right, I'm getting carried away here. He's just one of the funniest creatures on this planet and I'll sure be listening as Stu Shostak interviews the guy. And what's more, Stu has promised to ask him to tell the tale of his role on Turn-On, a legendary TV series of the sixties that was cancelled after its one and only telecast. Best show biz anecdote I ever heard.

We love Mr. Chuckles and you will too if you listen. And this is where I remind you that this is not a podcast you can listen to any old time you please. This is "Appointment Radio." You tune in when it's on…which is from 4 PM to 6 PM Pacific Time, 7 PM to 9 PM Eastern. Hear it live on your very own computer by going to the website of Shokus Internet Radio then and clicking where you're told to click. The show reruns on other days, usually in the same time slot, but it's more fun to listen live…and you can even call in and participate. Check out the site for a full schedule…and while you're there, take note of some of the other fine, free programming.

Mark is back from Calgary and the Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo, a huge and highly successful (it seemed to me) affair. I did some panels, signed some books, talked to some friends, watched it snow outside my hotel room balcony and saw a lot of people enjoy themselves. Not a lot to report beyond that. As is too often the case with these convention jaunts, I was in a city but didn't see enough of the town to form much of an opinion on it. If someone says to me, "Have you ever been to Detroit?," I'm never sure how to answer them. The accurate answer is, "Yes, twice…but all I saw of it was the airport, the road between the airport and one hotel, a convention center and a couple of restaurants near the hotel. It could have been almost anywhere."

Carolyn and I saw a little more of Calgary than that but not a lot more. We managed to find a number of restaurants where I thought the food was terrible…but that's just luck o' the draw, no reflection on Calgary. You can find bad places to eat anywhere. I was impressed with the airport up there, as well as the lovely scenery…and the people sure seemed friendly. Just wish there'd been more time to do and see more. The convention organizers offered to spirit us off to a post-con holiday at a nearby ski resort but I couldn't spare the time from my work schedule.

Nor can I spare much time for blogging the next day or so. As you can see, I've posted a picture of a can of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup, which of course means that new items here will be sparse to non-existent for the next 36 hours or so. I know other bloggers go away and just don't say anything but when I'm absent here for any great length of time, I get concerned e-mails asking, "Are you okay? Did you injure yourself?" I'm not hurt…just busy.