Monday, June 23, 2003

Smaller Ain't Better

Back in the sixties, Western Publishing Company (perhaps better known to you as Gold Key Comics) began to have increasing problems getting their comics distributed. All the publishers of comic books back then were having this problem but it was most acute for Western. DC and Charlton owned their own distribution companies so they were able to push a little harder and at least they were paying their distribution fees to themselves but Western didn't have that luxury. We'll discuss a little of the history of these digest comics — sold by the tons but largely overlooked by comic fans — over in the section of this website we like to call NOTES from me.

• Posted at 4:40 PM · LINK

What's in a Name?

Vince Waldron (who was, by the way, the first person to respond to my fishing for donations so I'll plug his website) writes to ask...

Nice of you to note that the powers that be in the big apple finally got around to renaming the martin beck to honor the recently departed Al Hirschfeld. But this begs the question, who was Martin Beck, anyway? By the way, didn't Broadway just displace some other guy to make way for the Neil Simon moniker on one of their other marquees a few years back? Sheesh, but they're fickle.

Martin Beck was a vaudeville promoter and businessman. The theater was built in 1924 and he died in 1940 so he had 16 years of seeing his name on the place. But he was a pretty obscure theatrical figure so it's kind of amazing they didn't decide to rename the place long ago. The Neil Simon Theater was originally the Alvin, named for two producers — Alex Aarons and Vinton Freedley.

Maybe I'm sensitive to this point because I have a last name few can pronounce...but it seems to me that getting a business named after you is partly a function of having a simple name. "Martin Beck" is a simple name. It sounds like it belongs to someone of great importance. "Neil Simon" is a name everyone can remember and pronounce — "Driver, drop me off at the Neil Simon."

"Al Hirschfeld" is a good name. Anyone who could possibly have any interest in going to the theater can remember "Al Hirschfeld." But supposing that instead of international relations, Zbigniew Brzezinski had gone into the theater and been just as important as Martin Beck or Mark Hellinger or John Golden or any other person who got their name on a theater. Do you think anyone would have ever named a theater for Zbigniew Brzezinski? Would you tell a taxi to take you to the Zbigniew Brzezinski? Could you call Directory Assistance and get the number of the Zbigniew Brzezinski?

Just a thought.

• Posted at 2:57 PM · LINK

Shades of Gray

Here's a long, interesting discussion on what it could mean if the drive to recall Gray Davis succeeds. There are more pro-and-con arguments on both sides than you might think.

• Posted at 10:45 AM · LINK