Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Recommended Reading

Conan O'Brien on the future of television.

• Posted at 11:02 PM · LINK

More Morris

Here's the New York Times obit of Howard Morris. In it, you'll note, Mel Brooks tells the story of how he went along when Howie went down to the Hudson River to scatter the ashes of his recently-cremated father. It was a very funny tale when either of them told it...but the Times doesn't mention that Mel used the situation in his movie, Life Stinks, in which Howie had a nice role. In the film, it was the ashes of Howie's character that were being scattered. I have a feeling we're going to hear this anecdote at the funeral on Friday.

Howie, by the way, was in the just-mentioned "Ann-Margrock" episode of The Flintstones. He provided the voice of her agent.

• Posted at 10:52 PM · LINK

How I Spent This Afternoon

Later this year — in time for Christmas, I believe — Warner Home Video will be bringing out the fourth season of The Flintstones on DVD. Today, my friends and fellow writers Earl Kress and Paul Dini recorded a commentary track for two of the episodes on it — "Ann-Margrock Presents" and "Little Bamm-Bamm." The second of these was the one that introduced the Rubbles' very strong adopted son into the series. The first of these was the season opener, guest-starring Ann-Margret, who was then quite a hot movie star, Bye Bye Birdie having come out a few months before. In case you're interested in the chronology here, Bye Bye Birdie came out in April of '63. The voice track for that Flintstones episode was recorded June 28 and then it aired September 19, which is a stunning lack of lead time — less than three months for a job that usually would have taken four or five.

It doesn't look it. By the standards of TV animation of the day, it looks pretty good, with some rather ambitious animation in the musical numbers.

So how did Ann-Margret wind up in a Hanna-Barbera cartoon? One assumes it had something to do with the fine film director, George Sidney. Mr. Sidney had a long history with H-B, going back to when Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera were directing Tom & Jerry cartoons for MGM. Sidney was directing the film Anchors Aweigh for that studio and someone came up with the idea of having its star, Gene Kelly, dance with an animated Mickey Mouse. Mr. Disney wasn't interested in the project so Sidney wound up going to MGM's division and having Bill and Joe and their unit supply the animation. Legend has it that after they thought they were finished, someone noticed that Kelly had done his part of the dancing on a shiny floor so when the images were composited, he had a reflection and his dance partner, Jerry, did not....so the animators had to go back and animate Jerry's reflection, too.

Sidney stayed in touch with Hanna and Barbera. When they started their own studio in the late fifties in partnership with Columbia Pictures, he was an investor and later a company officer. At the same time, he was directing movies for Columbia...like Bye Bye Birdie. If you watch the film some time, see how many "product placements" there are for Hanna-Barbera merchandise.

He was also interested in the career of Ann-Margret. He didn't exactly discover her — several others could claim that honor, including George Burns — but he got much of the credit for promoting her stardom. When Bye Bye Birdie was first previewed, it did not have the opening and closing in which A-M sang the title song. In fact, there was no title song. Sidney decided the movie needed more Ann-Margret so he put up his own money to have the composers of the Broadway show write a title song, and to film his new star performing it. Later, he directed two of her bigger films — Viva Las Vegas (with Elvis) and The Swinger.

He had a pretty good career with loads of acclaimed hit films. But for some of us, his greatest achievement will be that he was almost certainly responsible for Ann-Margrock. If you've never seen the episode, pick up the DVD set later this year. And make sure you enjoy the scintillating commentary tracks.

• Posted at 10:30 PM · LINK

An Essay for Kirby Fans

Michael Chabon writes about one of Jack Kirby's greatest creations, the beautiful but very strong Big Barda. And he's right that Jack modelled her fighting spirit (and protective qualities) on Mrs. Jack Kirby, better known as Rosalind. But the visual was inspired by the 1970 Playboy appearance of singer-actress Lainie Kazan.

• Posted at 12:17 PM · LINK

Today's (Brief) Political Rant

Yesterday, a group of Senators assembled what everyone is describing as a "compromise" regarding the filibustering of judicial nominees. I have no particular opinion about this compromise, or about what might have happened if they hadn't reached this compromise.

What amuses me is browsing websites of various political stripes. Some on both sides are angry, some are doing victory dances...and almost none of them seem to grasp the concept that in a "compromise," neither side gets everything it wants.

• Posted at 9:14 AM · LINK

More Morris

The Los Angeles Times [gotta register] has a good obit on Howie Morris. As it says in there, the funeral is Friday morning at 11 AM over at Hillside Memorial Park in Culver City.

• Posted at 8:45 AM · LINK

Another Flawed Howie Obit

The Associated Press has moved another obit of Howard Morris, this one by veteran entertainment writer, Bob Thomas. It's much better than the others but I am amazed Thomas made the following mistake...

He joined the cast of "Your Show of Shows" a year after it debuted in 1950, often playing the ambitious little guy whose grandiose plans go awry. The 90-minute show, with scripts written by such luminaries as Mel Brooks, Neil Simon and Woody Allen, was one of the most heralded of television's Golden Era.

Woody Allen did not write for Your Show of Shows. Neither did Larry Gelbart, who is often credited with that program by people who should know better. Your Show of Shows was written by Mel Tolkin, Mel Brooks, Lucille Kallen, Neil Simon and Danny Simon, with Sid Caesar, Carl Reiner and sometimes Howie as unofficial, uncredited writers.

After Your Show of Shows, Mr. Caesar starred in a show called Caesar's Hour, which was followed by one called Sid Caesar Invites You, which was followed by a raft of specials. Gelbart started on Caesar's Hour. Allen didn't start until the specials. I have heard that Mr. Allen is embarrassed to be wrongly credited in this regard since his contribution to the Caesar oeuvre was pretty minor and in no way comparable to the work of the Mels, the Simons and Ms. Kallen.

• Posted at 1:55 AM · LINK

GSN Watch

This is for those of you who tape or TiVo the Black and White Overnight bloc on Game Show Network. This morning, they bumped their usual parlay of To Tell the Truth and What's My Line? for a one-night Frank Gorshin tribute, consisting of one Password and one I've Got a Secret. Tomorrow, I am told, they go back to To Tell the Truth and What's My Line?

However, for some reason, most of the online guides have Password and Secret replacing those two shows for the whole week, or even for two weeks. My TiVo's program listings have Password and Secret every night and I think that's wrong. So I've set it to record whatever's on in that time slot.

GSN has an odd policy on pre-emptions. They've been running the primetime What's My Line? in sequence but Saturday, they dropped in an episode of the syndicated What's My Line? as a part of a rather limp "Salute to Star Wars." (The mystery guest was James Earl Jones.) You would assume that the next day, they would run the primetime episode they otherwise would have run on Saturday but no. They just skipped it. They're presumably skipping another rerun (an episode with Charlton Heston) to run the Frank Gorshin tribute. This means that the early Wednesday morning rerun should be one with Bea Lillie, and the Thursday A.M. entry will still be the one with Jerry Lewis and Walt Disney. I don't understand why they do this but they do this.

• Posted at 12:48 AM · LINK