Sunday, January 4, 2004

Animal Follies

Since I know you've all been wondering, here's what's going on in My Backyard...

As you may recall, we had families of raccoons showing up out there, plus possums and a couple of cats. The most beloved and territorial cat was Jackie, who sadly passed away last April. Her position has recently been assumed by a new feline that has been showing up out there since just before Christmas. Here's a picture of the new cat...

The new cat does not have a name yet but we think she was an "indoors" cat. She certainly seems to want to be one. Her every waking moment is devoted to trying to get into my house and at times, she will stand up right outside the glass patio door and pound on it with her front paws as if she's yelling, "Let me in, let me in!" Unfortunately, due to allergies and other problems, it will not work to have a cat in this abode, so we're actively looking for either her previous owner or someone else who wants an amazingly-affectionate pussycat. (If you're in the Los Angeles area and that's you, drop me a note.)

I'd like to get her indoors somewhere on a permanent basis soon because she wants it so, and also because raccoons have started coming around during daylight hours. Yeah, I didn't think they did that either, but here's a pic I took at 4:00 in the afternoon today. It's not a great photo but that's definitely a raccoon who either likes to eat between meals or doesn't know how to stick to a schedule.

I'm a little worried about the traffic out there. In any case, we need to find a home for the cat. Yesterday, my friend Carolyn and I put flyers in every mailbox for a block or two around, asking if anyone was missing a cat or wanted to adopt one. I'm thinking how great it would be if neighborhoods had their own little Internet discussion boards. You could log in and just chat with your neighbors about lost pets, road construction, where to find a decent gardener and other vital topics. There probably aren't enough folks on my block who are actually on the 'net but wouldn't that be a great idea? Almost as good as adopting a little homeless cat, eh?

• Posted at 6:24 PM · LINK

Books 2 Buy

How could a whole book on Murphy Anderson, filled with his life story and examples of his art, not be terrific? Well, if you're looking for controversy or negative tales, you might be disappointed. Murphy is much-loved throughout the industry and by the readers. The worst thing I've ever heard about him is that some of the artists whose pencil art he inked didn't like how much his style dominated the finished product. As a fan of everything he's ever worked on, I have mixed feelings there. On the one hand, I think artists ought to have their work look the way they want it. On the other hand, that Gil Kane art inked by Murphy sure looked great. On yet a third hand, I kind of wish no one had ever wanted Murphy to ink their work because then he might have done more drawing all by himself. His solo work on The Spectre, Hawkman and The Atomic Knights (to name three faves) was wonderful. R.C. Harvey, who wrote this book, did a fine job of selecting good samples of Murphy's work (not that there are a lot of bad ones) and presenting and annotating them in a way that presents a pretty solid portrait of a fine craftsman. Many of Murphy's associates are quoted, all raving about the man and his work, and there's a nice section devoted to his rarely-seen (by fans) work for Will Eisner and the Army. If you're at all a fan of Murphy's work (i.e., you are sighted) then hustle over to the TwoMorrows website and order a copy of The Life and Art of Murphy Anderson. Or wait until I recommend one more TwoMorrows book twomorrow. Then order them all at once.

• Posted at 6:03 PM · LINK

Movie Misdemeanors

It is now against the law to take a camcorder into a movie theater to record what's on the screen. I absolutely sympathize with those trying to stop piracy of copyrighted materials but I wonder if this is as big a problem as the studios make it out to be. I'm sure it happens somewhere but, knowing that an authorized, quality DVD or tape of a new movie will be out in a month or three for under twenty bucks, do people really rush out to buy a bootleg shot from a hand-held camcorder in the balcony? Really? I can't think of a movie I've ever wanted to watch so badly that I couldn't wait a few months until it's on DirecTV or the DVD is released.

Like I said, I'm sure it happens...but my spider-sense suspects that it doesn't happen as often as the studios claim; that they're groping to make film piracy look like an "outside job" when in fact, a lot of it emanates from sources much closer to home. Back when the Betamax was new and studio execs were swearing under oath that they could not have their movies available on tape (even authorized releases) without it destroying the motion picture industry, there was a lot of denial. They spun stories that Film Piracy was mainly achieved by larcenous individuals breaking into vaults, sneaking out prints and surreptitiously transferring films to tape for bootlegging purposes. In truth, most of those same execs were having the movies in question transferred to tape so they could watch them in their homes or offices, and those transfers were getting duped on the sly and traded for other movies.

I have no first-hand knowledge that this is what's happening here. But if I were in charge of security at a big motion picture studio and someone yelled at me that their just-released movie was being sold illegally on tape, I might not want to investigate that one too closely. It might be easier for me to say, "Gee, someone must have snuck a camcorder into a screening," than to start rooting around, exposing someone in my company who was possibly involved. Of course, this is just speculation on my part.

I also wonder if anyone is going to make one of those "citizen's arrests" mentioned in the article. Wouldn't it make more sense for the studios to ask patrons merely to report if they see anyone taping the movie, and then contractually require the theater to prosecute, or at least eject anyone who commits this heinous crime? I'm sure the contracts between distributor and exhibitor already require that the latter not permit the film to be copied in any way, and that's how this should be handled. If I were in a theater and I spotted someone lifting wallets or beating up a nun, I'd rush to stop them. But if I witnessed a copyright violation in progress, assuming it wasn't my copyright being violated, I think the most I'd do is go out and tell an usher. And then if they didn't do anything, I'd figure the exhibitor doesn't feel it's worth stopping so why should I? Maybe if theft-by-camcorder is a genuine problem, the movie studios need to crack down on the theaters that aren't stopping it, rather than expect the public to play Kojak and arrest people.

• Posted at 1:11 PM · LINK

Broadway Scorekeeping

The revival of Cabaret just closed in New York after 2378 performances. One suspects it might have closed a little sooner but that its producers kept it running just long enough to rob Annie of its stature as the eighteenth longest-running show in Broadway history. The top twenty now shapes up as follows...

1. Cats (7485 performances)
2. Les Misérables (6680, closed 5/18/03)
3. The Phantom of the Opera (6650, still running)
4. A Chorus Line (6137)
5. Oh! Calcutta! - revival (5959)
6. Miss Saigon (4097)
7. Beauty and the Beast (3971, still running)
8. 42nd Street (3486)
9. Grease (3388)
10. Fiddler on the Roof (3242)
11. Life With Father (3224)
12. Rent (3191, still running)
13. Tobacco Road (3182)
14. Chicago - revival (2976, still running)
15. Hello, Dolly! (2844)
16. My Fair Lady (2717)
17. The Lion King (2598, still running)
18. Cabaret - revival (2378, closed 1/4/04)
19. Annie (2377)
20. Man of La Mancha (2328)

There are a lot of interesting things about this list, such as the fact that contrary to what you might expect, there's nothing by Neil Simon on it. His longest-running shows to date are Barefoot in the Park and Brighton Beach Memoirs, both tied for 43rd place with 1,530 performances each. (Everyone assumes it's The Odd Couple, which is actually in 97th place with 974 performances. Several other Simon works are ahead of it...Promises Promises with 1291 performances, Plaza Suite with 1097 and They're Playing Our Song with 1081.) There's also no Stephen Sondheim. His longest-running show is the original production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, which is tied with The Odd Couple. Mr. Sondheim is presumably a good sport about the fact that Rent, the one and only show of Jonathan Larson (who was something of a protege) will probably wind up in the top ten.

Another interesting thing is that in the top 20, there are only two non-musicals...one comedy and one drama. If you go down the whole list of long runs, that's not atypical. Also, only five or six of the top twenty are shows that you might call "star-driven," in that their appeal is dependent on having some Big Name on the marquee.

Some people feel the 1976-1989 revival of Oh! Calcutta! should not be on this list. It was done in a small theater...the Edison, which was torn down shortly after it closed. And it was done on an extremely low budget that enabled it to keep running with rather minimal attendance. I once heard an actress who was in it for several years explain that because of the nudity, the producers were able to book a lot of tour groups, few of whom spoke English, to fill the seats. Even then, they sometimes played to off-Broadway numbers of forty or fifty people a night. I don't have an opinion on this but if you want to just pretend it isn't there and mentally renumber everything after, that's fine with me.

It's also interesting to note that The Phantom of the Opera is about to claim the #2 slot, though no one expects it to stick around long enough to topple Cats from its perch. Beauty and the Beast will soon grab the #6 position and probably close before it can move up any higher. Rent will probably move up a notch or two before it closes, as will Chicago. But the lofty status of Cats is likely to remain for a long time. After six and a half years on Broadway, The Lion King is only about a third of the way there, and the next contender (Aida with 1577 performances) may not last out the year.

When The Producers opened, some folks in a burst of enthusiasm suggested it was destined to become the longest-running musical on Broadway. At present, it's at 1128, so it's got a long way to go. At eight performances a week, it will have to run until May of the year 2019 to top Cats. Even if Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick stick around for the next ten years, I don't think it'll make it.

• Posted at 1:37 AM · LINK

Caesar Sez

Who created Spider-Man? Well, according to Sid Caesar, it may have been Larry Gelbart and Woody Allen.

• Posted at 12:07 AM · LINK