Sunday, May 18, 2003

Long Live the King!

My friend/mentor Jack Kirby created or co-created dozens of classic comic book characters, as well as a whole approach to comic art that has extended well beyond the confines of the super-hero comic book. I don't know if it surprises you that his influence has been so vast, but it didn't surprise Jack. With more modesty than seemed humanly possible, he was quietly certain that what he did in his career — especially in the Marvel Comics of the sixties and his early-seventies work for DC — would bleed into other media, especially film. At the time of his death in 1994, he had seen this happen often enough to know that his prediction was coming true, and that it would only grow and continue.

It wasn't just that Jack knew that major feature films would be made of The Fantastic Four, The X-Men and other comic books he helped launch. He knew that his dynamic style of storytelling would spread beyond the properties on which he'd worked. He would therefore be utterly unamazed to read some of the reviews currently being written of The Matrix Reloaded. I just did a very simple search and found these quotes online, all from folks writing about that film...

...what are these images but elaborate homages to the balletic slugfests, property-damage free-for-alls and urban apocalypses created by Jack Kirby, Gil Kane and other Marvel Comics artists? [Full review]

Comic book fans were quick to notice the influence of "Captain America" illustrator Jack Kirby in several action sequences. [Full review]

Cybernerds, proliferating like the film's men-in-black computer Agents, studied the Wachowskis' host of referents — to the Bible and Buddha, to novelist William Gibson (Neuromancer) and comic-book artist Jack Kirby (Captain America), to cybernetics and higher mathematics... [Full review]

And there are others. In fact, based on my admittedly-inexhaustive search, I'd say Jack's getting mentioned more often in reviews of The Matrix Reloaded than he is in pieces about the new X-Men movie. I'm pleased to see this. But I still hope that Marvel doesn't forget him in the credits and publicity materials for the films based on comics he co-created.

• Posted at 7:57 PM · LINK

Robert Stack

None of the obits I've seen for Robert Stack has detailed the fascinating (to me) way in which he landed his signature role of Eliot Ness on The Untouchables. So here's the story as I always heard it...

The Untouchables started life as a two-part episode/pilot on an anthology series being produced for CBS by Desilu (i.e., Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball. Arnaz cast Van Johnson in the role of Ness, in part because he figured he owed Van a favor. Van had been a co-star in Desi's one and only Broadway show, Too Many Girls. (He was also, oddly, Desi's understudy in the role of a Cuban football player. Was there ever an actor who looked less Cuban than Van Johnson?) Anyway, Johnson had done many favors for Desi, including just teaching him the ropes of performing in a stage musical, and Desi figured he owed him and that Van would make a good Ness.

The first of the two episodes was to start filming Monday morning. Saturday evening, Desi gets a call from Van's wife, who was that deadliest of show business creatures — the spouse-manager. They have a long history of mucking up careers, ranging all the way from the aforementioned Marty Melcher on through Alan Hamel and many, many other examples. Mrs. Johnson had decided on a last-minute power play renegotiation. Though Van was receiving very good pay for the job, she suddenly announced that she wanted it doubled, claiming that when they'd agreed to the fee they thought it was for one episode, not two. If Van doesn't get twice as much, she says, Van isn't showing up on Monday morning. Desi's Latin temper gets fired up. He knows it's a squeeze based on the assumption that he can't recast in one day, nor can he cancel the filming. Nevertheless, he tells her — in both Spanish and English — what he thinks of her, and sets out to find a new Ness. He flips through the Academy Players Directory, which is like a mug book for everyone in the Screen Actors Guild. He settles on Robert Stack and begins calling around town trying to locate him.

By now, it's well past midnight. Around 1:00 AM, he locates Stack's home number, phones there and gets the maid, who informs him that Stack is at a certain night club. Arnaz phones the night club, has Stack paged and asks him to go home and read some scripts that are being messengered to his doorstep. Stack, who barely knows Desi, is puzzled but he does as he's told. Around 3 AM, he phones Desi and tells him he's read the two scripts and thinks they're terrific. Arnaz offers him the same price Van Johnson was getting for the two episodes. Stack accepts and — 30 hours later — is on the set, shooting his first scene as Eliot Ness.

CBS doesn't much like the two episodes so they decline to order a series based on them. But the day after the first one airs, ABC calls up and buys the show, which runs for four years and makes Robert Stack very wealthy and very famous. And all because Van Johnson's wife tried to squeeze an extra ten grand out of Ricky Ricardo.

• Posted at 4:52 PM · LINK

Upcoming Thrill

Speaking of Carl Reiner — as I was, not long ago — American Movie Classics is running The Thrill of It All on Thursday morning. 'Tis a pretty funny movie, written by Larry Gelbart and Mr. Reiner; starring Doris Day, James Garner, Edward Andrews, Zasu Pitts, an array of other wonderful character actors...and Mr. Reiner. It was directed by Norman Jewison, who helmed an amazing number of successful movies. It was produced by Marty Melcher, who was married to Ms. Day and who embezzled every cent she ever made. It's about as good as any of those fluffy sixties comedies.

• Posted at 12:17 PM · LINK

Waiting For the Chirp, Chirp, Chirp...

A week from today, the American Cinematheque in Hollywood is screening a print of the movie, 1776. This will be followed by a panel discussion with the director and members of the cast. Those of us who really, really like this movie will be in attendance. And if you don't really, really like that movie, there are other fine musicals being shown, many of them followed by discussions with the filmmakers.

• Posted at 10:52 AM · LINK

Comic Artist Website of the Day

The late Basil Wolverton was one of the most imaginative comic artists of all time, creating a style that came out of nowhere but a wonderfully warped imagination. His son Monte inherited the imagination and occasionally even draws in much the same style, though he also has his own wicked way of looking at the world. Over at The Monte Wolverton Website, you can see the work of father and son on display.

• Posted at 10:47 AM · LINK