Saturday, January 3, 2004

Ray Gotto, R.I.P.

Ray Gotto, who passed away last week, was a top sports cartoonist who dabbled in two newspaper strips, both with sporting themes. He did Ozark Ike from 1945 to 1953, then abandoned it to others and drew Cotton Woods from 1955-1958. Ozark Ike was to baseball what Joe Palooka was to boxing, but with more than a few elements of Li'l Abner tossed into the mix...though when baseball was out of season, Ike McBatt was not above going off and playing a little football or basketball. The property was "discovered" and managed by Stephen Slesinger, whose estate is now locked in that infamous battle with the Disney folks over another Slesinger-marketed franchise, Winnie the Pooh.

Gotto's later entry in the funny pages, Cotton Woods, was a slightly more realistic version of the same thing and a better strip but it didn't last as long, probably due to being with a weaker syndicate. (One suspects Gotto created it because of the success of Bernard Malamud's 1952 novel, The Natural, which it slightly resembled. Then again, that was true of Ozark Ike, which came out before Malamud's book.) In any case, after his second strip ended, Gotto returned to his first love, sports cartooning, primarily for The Sporting News. Here, thanks to Merlin Haas who sent me the link, is an obit.

• Posted at 5:34 PM · LINK

Bad Sign

I'm having trouble with a cell phone so I just tried calling my provider, which is Cingular Wireless. I got a recorded announcement telling me they were experiencing problems with their phones.

• Posted at 4:08 PM · LINK

Holy Comic Books!

A lot of folks never see the books but there is a thriving community out there for what are loosely referred to as Christian Comics. A few are so preachy and/or strident that they offend even the makers of other Christian Comics. But most are artfully and expertly done, and with great passion and inspiration. You don't have to wholly or even partially buy their worldview to respect the effort involved, so I'm glad my pal Nate Butler (himself, a darn good cartoonist) has set up this website to salute some of the major creators in this area. Go on over and take a look.

• Posted at 3:42 PM · LINK

Walt's Website

I guess it's been there for a while but I just discovered the online Walt Disney Family Museum, which is kind of an introduction to the man himself. It's run by his family and is filled with rare photos and memorabilia, and you'll want to check out the page of video clips. The ones from the movies are all stuff you've seen before but you might enjoy the clips of Walt himself talking about Disneyland, the Disney TV show and especially the one about Epcot. And while we're at it, a website has been set up at SaveDisney to try and rally support for, I guess, some sort of hostile or benign takeover (however one looks at it) that would unseat the person and business practices of Michael Eisner and install Roy E. Disney in the catbird seat. I suspect Mr. Eisner's continuance with the company is based wholly on how the stock performs for its stockholders, but appeals to tradition and company pride are never out of line.

• Posted at 2:17 PM · LINK

We Can All Breathe Easier...

Over on Pico Boulevard in West Los Angeles, there's a McDonald's just a few blocks east of Overland. It was built on an interesting piece of land...the former location of Heyler Automotive, which was a terrific place to take your car to be fixed. Heyler Automotive was opened in 1937 by John and Emilie Heyler and in the fifties, they turned the operation over to their son, John Junior, more commonly known as Jack. As a mechanic, Jack Heyler was too good to be true. He was nice, he was honest, and he knew his business. When I took my old Buick in to be fixed, if it wasn't something major, he'd do it for nothing or almost nothing. If it was something major, the job was done on-time and correct, and for far less money than someone else might have charged. You didn't even need to ask for an estimate; you just knew you'd get the cheapest price that was humanly possible.

Most of all, Jack was accessible. At any given moment, he had cars all over the place needing immediate repair and at least a dozen employees to supervise. Still, if you needed to talk to him for car-related advice, he would always make the time. At first, I figured I was getting special treatment because I was a neighbor. He and his lovely family lived three doors down the street from me and my parents. But after I sent a few friends to him and they received excellent service without even dropping my name, I was really impressed. Jack Heyler proved it was possible to run a good, benevolent, efficient business and still make money.

Unfortunately, Jack's health began to misfire, most of the woes falling under the category of Progressive Pulmonary Illness. Some of that was almost certainly related to a lifetime of breathing exhaust fumes and handling old motor oil and other toxicities. At about the same time, the McDonald's people decided they really, really wanted to open an outlet in that area, and Heyler Automotive seemed to rest on the only hunk of land that would work. After turning down huge offers for years, Jack finally took one. In 1983, the garage was torn down, the Golden Arches went up, and Jack Heyler retired from the automotive business. Sort of.

He did not sit idle. Oh, he devoted some time to his boat and to his study of old trains and planes. Mainly though, he became a full-time volunteer for many groups, state and national, that sought to regulate automotive safety and emission standards. Even when his respiratory problems became acute and all recreational activities had to be curtailed, Jack dragged himself to meetings (or later, rolled in via wheelchair) to do what he could to lobby for safer, cleaner-burning vehicles and improved handling of chemical waste relating to cars. He was a very effective witness, testifying before various city councils and state legislatures around the country, as well as Congress, and some called him the Father of Onboard Diagnostic Technology II, which is standard on all new cars and which allows emissions (and other) problems to be quickly located and corrected.

John "Jack" Heyler died the day after Christmas at the age of 74. The Los Angeles Times, in a piece that unfortunately cannot be accessed online, said that his efforts resulted "in major improvements in national and international standardization and vehicle emission control." Even before we lost him, the California Automotive Service Councils of California made him the first inductee into their Hall of Fame and the Service Technicians Society established the Jack Heyler Award which encourages leadership in that field. In 2001, he received the prestigious Outstanding Achievement Award from the Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association.

The last time I saw Jack was maybe a year ago. I was visiting my mother and he was being brought home from a medical treatment, gaunt and frail in a wheelchair and with oxygen lines plugged into his nostrils. As they lowered him from the van on a little elevator, he saw me down the block and waved, and I ran down to shake his hand and say hello. He immediately asked me, "How's that Lexus running for you?" I told him, "Great. Almost as good as that old Buick Skylark you used to keep running," and that was about all I had the opportunity to say. If I'd had another moment, I'd have added something like, "I can't tell you how much I admire what you've done, devoting so much time and energy to helping clean up the automotive business. You are as wonderful and decent a human being as I have ever met."

Since I didn't get to tell him, I thought I'd tell you.

• Posted at 2:09 AM · LINK

Games People Play

Game Show Network is slowly going away on us. In an attempt to get a more contemporary, youth-based image, they'll be changing their name (to what, they haven't yet announced) and programming with a broader definition of gaming. Sooner or later, this will probably be the end of our beloved Black and White Overnight block, but that's changing, anyway. Not long ago, it collapsed from two hours to one. Next week, they stopping rerunning old episodes of To Tell the Truth. The episodes of What's My Line? which fill the second half of the hour will continue for now, but the first half will change. Starting January 9, they'll run Make the Connection for three days in that slot. Therafter, it'll be old installments of Password on weekdays, with Beat the Clock on the weekends. Since I find Password slow-paced and dull, and since I think Beat the Clock (all versions) was the worst game show in the history of mankind, this does not thrill me.

• Posted at 12:28 AM · LINK