Monday, March 29, 2004

Superman's Pal, Jerry Seinfeld

If you haven't seen it yet, go watch the new adventure of Jerry Seinfeld and Superman. Yeah, it's an American Express commercial and, yes, Superman is a little silly. But it's clever enough to make you overlook those little things. Go to this page and click on the can that says "uniform." (The other cans are also worth your attention.)

• Posted at 9:13 PM · LINK

The Animation Biz

Recently, the Los Angeles Times ran a gloomy assessment of work prospects in the Hollywood animation community. Here's a slightly-abridged version of that article, which I believe to be frighteningly correct.

• Posted at 5:14 PM · LINK

Today

Yes, I know this site has been down a few times today. Not my fault.

• Posted at 5:01 PM · LINK

Pooh on Pooh...

A Superior Court judge has thrown out the lawsuit against the Disney organization regarding unpaid royalties on Winnie the Pooh. The ruling states that the plaintiffs (the company that controls licensing rights) had unlawfully obtained certain documents. I have no idea if that's so but I did wince when I read this quote from Daniel Petrocelli, the lead lawyer for Disney...

After 13 years in the courts, the Winnie the Pooh case is finally over. Disney's position has been vindicated in its entirety. We're obviously extremely pleased with the outcome and we think it was the only appropriate one.

Uh, no. First off, the case may not be over because it will be appealed and may be reinstated. No case is over until appeals are exhausted.

But more to the point, this case was about one party, Stephen Slesinger Inc., claiming that it was owed certain royalties. The Disney position was that under the terms of the contract, they did not owe these royalties. Today's ruling doesn't go anywhere near that area of the dispute, so how could Disney's position be "vindicated in its entirety?" If this decision does hold up, they'll have won because the Slesinger folks did something unlawful in obtaining some papers, not because the claim of royalties was without merit.

I find this disappointing because I really admired Petrocelli for his work on the second O.J. Simpson trial. What a shame to find out that underneath all that heroism, he's just another lawyer.

• Posted at 12:12 PM · LINK

Peter Ustinov

Last night, writing about the witty guests who frequented The Dick Cavett Show, I wrote but deleted a partial list which started with Peter Ustinov. I never got to see as much of Sir Peter as I would have liked, but every time I saw him on anything, he made me laugh, almost always by saying or doing something that no one else would have said or done. He was, of course, a playwright and an actor and an author of books and a director and an educator and a humanitarian and he even, on occasion, displayed an uncanny flair for impersonations. Most of all, he was a funny man. Here's a link to one of hundreds of obits that are on the web today.

• Posted at 10:21 AM · LINK

A News Item to Piss You Off

John Ashcroft isn't the only one feeding the Bill of Rights into a shredder these days. There goes that nonsense about the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.

• Posted at 1:16 AM · LINK

Maddox Memories

A couple of folks wrote to ask about the famous incident where Georgia governor Lester Maddox walked off The Dick Cavett Show. Here's what I recall about it: It was a night when the other two guests were author Truman Capote and football player Jim Brown. Cavett asked Maddox a question that suggested that some of the famed segregationist's political support had come from bigots. The conversation veered off and wasn't answered, then Cavett threw to a commercial. When they returned, Maddox demanded an apology for "calling all the people of Georgia bigots" and said, "You've got one minute to apologize or I walk out of here." Cavett responded he'd said no such thing but then said, "If I called anyone a bigot who isn't a bigot, I apologize." (I'm writing this from memory so the exact words may have been a bit different.)

"That's not good enough," Maddox announced and bolted from the stage. The audience gasped and then Capote said, "You know, I went to his restaurant [in Georgia] and the fried chicken wasn't finger-licking good."

Cavett then said, "I'm sorry the governor left before we had a chance to talk about the beauty of the South." Someone in the audience yelled out, "Don't back down" and Cavett responded, "Shut up! I'll tell you when I'm backing down." He then pointed out that Maddox was a canny politician who knew the value of TV air time, choosing to walk off a scant 88 minutes into a 90 minute show.

The show got a huge rating that night, especially in the South, apparently due to Maddox's people alerting the media. A few weeks later, Maddox returned to the show, came out onto the stage and then Cavett walked off. Maddox picked up a hand mike and, as planned, began singing "Georgia on My Mind" or "Stars Fell on Alabama" or some other Southern-themed song. Cavett came back out and joined him for a chorus, and that was the end of the feud.

The whole event felt to me like Maddox decided it would get attention and garner support in Georgia to do what he did, but that he went a bit out of his way to be offended on behalf of the people of his state. A lot of folks though thought he'd "evened the score" for a time not long before when Jerry Lewis was guest-hosting Mr. Carson's show and announced that whenever he flew cross-country, he enjoyed "going to the bathroom over Mississippi." The telethon didn't get a lot of donations from the South that year.

• Posted at 12:34 AM · LINK

March 30, 2004 • Current • March 28, 2004