Sunday, October 2, 2005

For Lehrer Completists

If you are a fan of the great writer-performer of silly songs, Professor Tom Lehrer, you might be interested in hearing some of his earliest work that never made it to any record. You can do this at this site.

• Posted at 9:00 PM · LINK

Happy Birthday (this Friday) to June Allyson!

One of my regular correspondents, Ray Arthur, sends the following note...

Actress June Allyson will be celebrating her 88th birthday on Friday. June is not in the best health and I'm sure she would enjoy any birthday greetings from fans. If you feel so inclined, please e-mail them through me at , and I will forward them to her.

• Posted at 6:47 PM · LINK

O.J. Con I

I've heard from three different folks who went to the NecroComicon yesterday — one as a guest, two as attendees — that the thing kind of turned into The O.J. Simpson Convention. Simultaneously this weekend, there's a Hollywood Collectors Show in progress at the Burbank Hilton and at least two guests advertised for the NecroComicon (Kevin McCarthy and Priscilla Barnes) are now listed for the H.C.S. As one of the attendees wrote me...

I guess if he was supposed to bring in crowds, he accomplished that. But I'm not sure how many of those people were paying attendees and how many were reporters. I don't think very many of them were interested in horror movies and memorabilia, which is what the convention was supposed to be all about. I guess the fires kept some people away, too. A lot of the guests seemed pretty uncomfortable with the whole situation and some either left early or never showed up at all.

Incidentally, a gent named Michael Kilgore who reads this site pointed out something that I hadn't realized even though I read just about everything one could read about the various Simpson trials. In the civil trial, O.J. was not found liable in the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. That's how it was generally reported and even folks who should have known better said that. Technically, he was found liable in the battery of Nicole Brown Simpson and in the death and battery of Ronald Goldman. This very old section of the CNN website details the precise verdicts.

The distinction is, of course, minor and I still have no problem with referring to the guy as a murderer of two human beings. And let's note that it has now been ten years since the first verdict and not only has O.J. not found (or even conspicuously tried to find) "the real killers" as he once vowed...but not a single piece of credible evidence has popped up to point to anyone else as the culprit. I would have thought that one of those guys on his Dream Team — Cochran, Bailey or even an associate — would have written a major book purporting to prove that those Colombian Drug Lords did it or that Mark Fuhrman was the mastermind..but nope. Lots of other damning evidence, including the infamous photos of O.J. in the Bruno Magli shoes, turned up after the trial...but not one bit of exculpatory (to Simpson) data.

• Posted at 1:15 PM · LINK

We Do Not Belong Together

A week ago, a panel discussion at the Juilliard School of Music featured, among its participants, the odd match-up of Stephen Sondheim and Antonin Scalia debating government funding of the arts. What I find even odder is that I think I agree with Scalia. Here's a quote — I think this constitutes "fair use" — of an article that may have now disappeared into the "pay" section of The New York Times...

"The First Amendment has not repealed the basic rule of life, that he who pays the piper calls the tune," Justice Scalia said. "When you place the government in charge of funding art, just as when you place the government in charge of providing education, somebody has to pick the content of what art is going to be funded, what subjects are going to be taught. The only way to eliminate any government choice on what art is worthwhile, what art isn't worthwhile, is to get the government totally out of the business of funding," he said.

I disagree with the implied message there that the government ought to get out of providing education...and actually, I don't think Scalia is against government paying for education, just with controlling its content. But I do think the government has no business deciding what art is worthwhile. (Before you write me the same angry e-mails I got the last time I said this: I am not in favor of yanking all PBS funding tomorrow. I think there might even be ways that tax incentives could encourage private individuals and corporations to donate more to the arts. But I don't think Senators and Congresspeople should be deciding to spend our tax money on some works of art and not others, and of course they can't fund any of it without making those decisions.)

I also disagree with one other thing Scalia is quoted as saying in the Times coverage, and this is a good day to disagree with it...

They [Scalia and Sondheim] even parted ways in a discussion of the definition of art. Mr. Sondheim said one element was a work's ability to endure. Justice Scalia said that the Abbott and Costello routine "Who's on First?" would certainly last a long time. But "it will never be art!" he said. The composer took issue with the example, saying it was not that old and that half the people in the theater probably did not even know it. Justice Scalia called for a show of hands, and many shot up. "Ask anybody under 30," Mr. Sondheim said. "They won't know."

I'm not sure Sondheim is correct that no one under thirty knows the routine or that, if they don't, funding for the arts would do anything to change that. But I'm sure Scalia is wrong that it will never be art. It already is...plus, it makes a lot more sense than George W. Bush, et al., Petitioners v. Albert Gore, Jr., et al.

• Posted at 12:39 PM · LINK

Also Born On This Day (Maybe)

October 2 may also have been the birthdate of the greatest "straight man" of them all, William Alexander "Bud" Abbott. His official bio always gave October 2, 1895 as the date but a website operated by his family (and Lou Costello's) says on its opening page that it was October 2, 1897 and on their biography page that it was October 6, 1897. If you don't like any of those dates, browse some other sources and you'll find more choices.

There was a time, around age 11, when I liked everything Abbott and Costello did. Even then, I knew they weren't quite in the same league as the other old-time comedians I liked — Laurel and Hardy, Keaton, the Marxes, etc. — but I still liked them. As I got older, I found it increasingly difficult to sit through their lesser films and I decided that more and more of what they'd done were lesser films. I still love Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein and a half-dozen others, and I especially like the TV series they did from 1952 to 1953. The TV shows were done on a shoestring budget but they're crammed full of vintage Abbott and Costello routines and, happily, nothing else. No contrived storylines, no romantic subplots...just Bud and Lou being Bud and Lou.

Costello was the majority stockholder in the act, demanding more money than his partner, clearly believing the popular line that Bud was expendable. I don't think so. Without Abbott to rein him in and give him something to bounce off of, Lou would have been repetitive and untethered. His screen character, when it worked, was defined by his relationship to Bud. In their live appearances, especially on radio, you can spot the moments when Abbott decides Costello's going on too long, taking a bit too far and chopping him off. Lou was more adorable and endearing but Bud was the one who knew how to work an audience.

Comedy Straight Man is one of those job descriptions that you just don't see much anymore. But it was a vital, if often unnoticed, show business skill and no one did it better than Bud Abbott. So happy birthday, Bud...unless, of course, this isn't your birthday.

• Posted at 10:27 AM · LINK

115 Years Ago Today

Well, at least most scholars of such matters think it was 115 years ago today that a woman named Minnie Marx gave birth to a son named Julius. Julius tended to give out different birthdates from time to time but 10/2/1890 seems like the right one.

It was years later, after Julius and some of his brothers had gotten into the hardscrabble end of show business, that they met a man named Art Fisher. Mr. Fisher was a monologist — what we would now call a stand-up comedian — and he also drew a newspaper strip filled with characters whose names ended in "o," like Knocko the Monk or Sherlocko the Great. During a poker game with the Brothers Marx, he gave them nicknames in his fashion. Adolph Marx became Harpo because he played the harp. Leonard Marx became Chico (pronounced "chicko," not "cheeko") because he liked the chicks. Milton Marx became Gummo because he wore gum-soled shoes. And Julius Marx became Groucho because...

Well, isn't it obvious?

Groucho Marx went on to become one of the world's greatest comedians and I thought it was important to note this day. I couldn't decide whether to put up a picture of the Movie Groucho, the Radio/TV Groucho or the Older Groucho, so I'm giving you all three. And now I'll point you to this article I wrote about Guess Who and then I'll go to bed. I have seen all the Marx Brothers movies so many times I can see them in my sleep and tonight, I'll probably dream one. My luck, it'll be Love Happy.

• Posted at 1:34 AM · LINK

October 3, 2005 • Current • October 1, 2005