Monthly Archives: November 2012

I'm surprised and a bit saddened to hear that the Stage Delicatessen in New York is closing down. I haven't been in that city for a while but I never went into that place without it being crowded, generally with a line outside.

Often, there were two lines — one for customers seeking tables, one for homeless folks seeking handouts. A sandwich at the Stage is too large for most folks to finish in one sitting so what you usually do there is eat one half and take one half home…but what do you do if you're not going home for a while? Or if you're staying in a hotel room with no refrigerator? A lot of patrons chose to take the other half "to go" and offer it to someone outside who was looking sadly for money or a meal.

At some point, the staff at the Stage made it simpler. Last time I was there, I had a brisket sandwich on a Kaiser roll and barely made it through half. The server offered to wrap the balance for me to take along but I was heading off to a meeting and then to another meeting and then to dinner and then to the theater so I said no. "Okay if I give to the homeless?" he asked. I said, "Fine."

Outside the door as we left, there was a line of unfortunates and the server came out with my half-a-brisket-sandwich nicely wrapped in foil and then bagged. He offered it to a shabby-dressed man who was first in that line: "Brisket sandwich?"

The man said, "Haven't you got corned beef?"

I'll miss the Stage.

Back in this message, I wondered if the Romney campaign really had internal polls that showed them winning handily. Apparently, they did.

Pat Robertson has made a career (and a damned nice living) insisting that the Bible decrees whatever he wants it to decree. But even he doesn't think the world is 6,000 years old.

And he oughta know. He was around then.

It would take me three minutes to explain what this video is about and the video is only two minutes. So how's about you just watch it and we'll both save a lot of time?

I remember where I was when I discovered Mr. Mum. In the summer of 1959, my mother took me east for a trip to — in this order — New York City, Hartford and Boston. New York was because she thought I ought to see New York and some of its landmarks. Hartford was because we had family there. Boston was the same reason as New York.

Going from New York to Hartford involved a train ride from Penn Station where we spotted a vending machine that sold little paperback books. There were two with comic strips in them and she bought me one of each. One was a collection of Jimmy Hatlo's They'll Do It Every Time, a strip I never found particularly interesting. The other was The Strange World of Mr. Mum by someone named Phillips.

I had never heard of Mr. Mum. He wasn't then in either of the big Los Angeles newspapers. But I wished he was because he was very funny…funny enough that in a drawing tablet I hauled around on the trip, I drew not the sights I was seeing but my own Mr. Mum cartoons. Later, I renamed the character so he could be mine, all mine. When I get around to really cleaning out my mother's place, I expect to find some of those drawings and I'll see if any of them are funny. Given how many I did, I'm figuring a couple must be.

Mr. Mum later turned up in the Los Angeles Times for a while. I don't think they ever had him on the page with all the other comics. He was stuck away amongst the classified ads so I had to go look for him. It was usually worth the trip. I also bought and still have other paperbacks.

As I got more interested in comic strips, I tried to research Mssrs. Mum and Phillips. Very little was written about either. Our video today told me more about them than I'd ever known before. So isn't it about time someone arranged for a big Mr. Mum reprint collection?

So let's see if I understand this…

Obama and the Republican leadership need to negotiate a financial package that will involve increased revenues — i.e., tax hikes in some manner. Republicans have grudgingly accepted that there will have to be some but as a trade-off, they want some cuts in entitlements. Obama has agreed that there will be some.

So far, this sounds like something that can get settled.

But Republicans also don't want to take the blame for cutting Medicare or Social Security or Pell Grants or anything like that. They want Obama to "own" those cuts so he has to propose them. Which he is not doing. He says he's willing to cut some entitlements but wants the Republicans to come forward with a proposal on which ones. Thus, the impasse is one of those negotiating roadblocks. Each side wants the other to go first so it can react to their proposal instead of coming up with their own.

Years ago, a TV show I was going to do collapsed under such a roadblock. It was for syndication and the syndication company said to the producer, "We want this depending on the cost. How much do you need to do an episode?" The producer responded by asking, "How much will you give us?"

The syndicator asked, "How much do you want?" The producer asked, "How much will you give us?"

The syndicator asked, "How much do you want?" The producer asked, "How much will you give us?"

The syndicator asked, "How much do you want?" The producer asked, "How much will you give us?"

On and on it went until both sides just kind of forgot about it. I don't think the president and Congress have that option.

Fred Kaplan on the Republican campaign (John McCain, mostly) against Susan Rice. Once upon a time, I admired McCain and cited him as a Republican I could vote for. By the one time his name was ever on my ballot…well, let's just say he'd changed.

We often plug Stu's Show on this site. Stu's Show is a weekly program heard right here on the World Wide Web, as no one seems to call it anymore. It's a weekly Wednesday ritual for many of you to tune in and hear your genial-but-excitable host Stu Shostak interview either (a) some great from the world of television or (b) me. I was his first guest back on December 7 — a day that will live in infamy — 2006. How long ago is that? Long enough that later this afternoon, you can listen in and hear him do Show #300!

In those first 299 shows, he's had some amazing guests and you can hear excerpts from their longer conversations today as Stu presents some of the moments of which he is the proudest. It's like one of Johnny Carson's old retrospective shows except you don't have to watch the Copper Clapper Caper or Ed Ames throwing his tomahawk. If you're never heard a Stu's Show before, this might be a great place to start. If you have, just remember: He may not include your favorite moments. He has, after all, more than 600 hours of programs to excerpt and today's show will only run (I'm guessing) around two-and-a-half hours.

There are two ways to listen to Stu's Show: Live and as a podcast. You can hear a live feed via many apps including TuneIn Radio and Shoutcast! You can also just go to his website and click on a player there. The show starts at 4 PM West Coast time which is 7 PM East Coast time and other times in other climes. It always runs at least two hours but usually goes over. Listening to it live is free.

Listening to it later costs a buck…well, actually less than a buck. Its ninety-nine cents or you can receive four different MP3s of past Stu's Shows for the price of three. Today's broadcast will be up there for purchase about a half-hour after the live webcast concludes so that could be one of your four. Go to that same website and click on "Archives."

I really like Stu's Show. I like Stu and I like his show…so I congratulate him on his 300th broadcast. And as a gift, I want to get him some new listeners. Go see if you want to be one.

My pal Chuck McCann has a joke for you.  It's the one about the guy carrying the crate…

Ramesh Ponnuru has another one those "Here's how the Republican party needs to change" articles that won't be heeded by enough people to make a difference. In fact, I wonder if these pieces just cause certain folks to "double down" and charge farther in the wrong direction.

Hey, everyone's pal Ken Plume recently spent an hour talking with one of the cleverest comedy talents around, Dave Thomas. If you're so inclined, click below to listen in…

Conan O'Brien welcomes Mel Brooks to his show tonight and then on Thursday, it's Dick Van Dyke. Must be some kind of theme week involving people who know Carl Reiner.

Last week here, I wrote a long post about a screening I attended Tuesday evening at the New Beverly Cinema here in Los Angeles. Some who were there cheered what I wrote. Some who weren't there but love the place thought I'd been way too hard on them. (Some in the latter group complained that I'd called it the "Beverly Cinema" when its actual name is the "New Beverly Cinema." I'm not sure why that matters but the name on its marquee is "Beverly Cinema." So if they can get it wrong up there, I can get it wrong here.) I also heard from the proprietor of the theater who understandably thought I'd been unfair to them. Upon reflection and after talking with my friend Josh Olson — an acclaimed screenwriter and champion of the New Beverly, I'm willing to admit I was. On some points.

For instance, I took issue with those who argue as if a 35mm print is always preferable to digital projection. I think I'm right about that but it was irrelevant to my report on that event because the print they screened of The Comic was quite decent. I should have mentioned that. I've seen some pretty terrible 35mm prints in revival houses but not the (New) Beverly Cinema.

I said that the three guests — Carl Reiner, Dick Van Dyke and Michele Lee — walked out before the film was over. I was misinformed by someone there that night. Only Mr. Van Dyke and his wife left early. Mr. Reiner and Ms. Lee apparently stayed until just before the end credits, then departed…I'm guessing to avoid being inundated again by autograph-seekers. (I've made some changes in the original post to reflect these things.)

Something I should mention here: Most celebrities do not mind and are sometimes quite flattered to sign autographs. The only exceptions I've seen lately are those who because of the Collector Show circuit make some much-desired bucks selling their John Hancocks. Those folks usually do mind doing it for free. For the rest, like the guests that evening, it's a matter of when and how many. There are moments when it's awkward, moments when they feel claustrophobic and under assault. Also, they're all aware that the guy with twenty photos he wants signed might be a devout fan but is more likely just demanding merchandise he can sell on eBay. Even if you're willing to sign for him, he's usually muscling aside real fans who want but one or seek to say hello. So suddenly, you're dealing with crowd control and twenty people trying to get your attention all at once and it can be quite overwhelming. I once saw a rather big star run literally screaming out of an event because he couldn't deal with a chaotic autograph situation…and he was charging for his signature.

Also, I said the guests at the New Beverly that night weren't even offered refreshments and I was misinformed on that…so consider that retracted with my apology. And I did not mean to suggest that a theater that wasn't built with space for a green room should make one magically appear. But when you have limitations to your facilities, someone needs to figure out a way around them. I've hosted hundreds of panels and public events. There are often problems with getting the guests there and on stage and off and making sure they can be heard, etc. You need to prepare and improvise and find workarounds…and there usually are some.

The owner of the theater informs me that contrary to what is often reported and what I said, Quentin Tarantino has no proprietary interest in the New Beverly Cinema itself. He's their landlord. When the theater faced the prospect of eviction, Mr. Tarantino purchased the real estate there so they wouldn't be evicted. Good for him, good for them.

I stand by my characterization of last Tuesday evening there but I should have noted that it was surely an exception to the norm, one the theater must regret. The New Beverly Cinema is much-loved by local film buffs and with good reason. The experience of sitting in a theater, watching a classic motion picture on a bigger-than-your-Samsung-at-home screen is a fading experience in this Blu-ray era and I should be championing any place that even attempts it. We should all be.  I'm not going to hold one unfortunate incident against them…especially because the movie they showed that night was so darned good.