Monday, June 12, 2006

Tongue in Chic

Did I ever mention here that after a slow start, I've warmed to The Colbert Report? Never miss an episode. It and The Daily Show form the strongest back-to-back comedy bloc I've ever seen on television. In fact, I find myself reading the news now and sometimes thinking, "Boy, what Colbert's going to do with that." He oughta have a field day with this story.

• Posted at 10:44 PM · LINK

Dubious Claims Dept.

These people say the world's funniest joke was written by Spike Milligan. I'm not dubious that it was written by Spike Milligan...only that it's the world's funniest joke.

• Posted at 10:02 AM · LINK

Whitney

Okay, I'm satisfied that the gent in the photo (in this post) was not Whitney Ellsworth and that it's almost certainly Harry Gerstad. The above pic shows Mr. Ellsworth on the set with George Reeves and as you can see, it's a different guy. In fact, it's a different guy who looks a lot more like Whitney Ellsworth did when I met him in 1968.

Whitney Ellsworth was an interesting figure in comic book history. He was a cartoonist and a pulp writer in the thirties and when those two forms merged to form the great American comic book, Ellsworth became the chief editor at DC Comics. As such, he spent most of his time not editing comics. That was done by underlings while Ellsworth watched over the company's licensing and their deals for movies and radio shows based on their characters. In the fifties, he relocated from New York to Los Angeles to supervise the George Reeves Superman TV show and never left. He stayed in L.A. trying to sell other shows and to represent the company's interests on programs that did get sold.

He was the first person in comics I ever interviewed and I got absolutely nothing out of him. I don't think that was because I was new at interviewing. It was because he was horribly nervous, even facing a 16 year old kid with a tape recorder. He didn't want to talk about Superman in the forties because that might have meant mentioning Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, and he didn't want to talk about them. He didn't want to talk about Batman because...well, I'm not sure but I think it was because he was afraid we'd get near the topic of what Bob Kane actually did and why didn't Bill Finger get credit? He didn't want to talk about Wonder Woman because he was afraid of angering the estate of William Marston, who created the character. I think the big scoop I got out of our chat was that Aquaman sometimes talks to fish...and even that, he briefly tried to put off-the-record. DC was then going through major upheavals and I think he was terrified he'd say something impolitic, I'd print it in my little 300-circulation fanzine...and someone at DC would read it and use it as an excuse to terminate his position.

I didn't think that was him in the other photo but it's nice to know for certain. Thanks to everyone who wrote in, especially Brad Ferguson, who sent the above pic.

• Posted at 1:49 AM · LINK

Today's Video Link(s)

We have a triple feature for you today. In 1977, Three's Company debuted on ABC. I was never a fan of the show but every so often, I'd catch an episode or part of one and note some fine comedic acting, especially by John Ritter. What a lot of people don't know is that Three's Company was a thrice-made pilot. All three versions had Mr. Ritter playing the not-gay roommate (though his character's name changed) and all three had Audra Lindley and Norman Fell as the Ropers, but the first had two different ladies playing Ritter's cohabitants. It also had a very different script — reportedly a much more adult approach.

You may be surprised to learn that Larry Gelbart wrote the script for that first pilot. He's credited with the words, "Developed by..." in this clip, which is the opening of that version...

ABC — which at the time meant Fred Silverman — liked some things about the pilot but not that writer's approach and not the two ladies. So they got new producers and a new script and they recast the ladies. Here's the opening of the second pilot...

Close but no, as they say, cigar. It's rare for a pilot to be filmed or taped three times. All in the Family was but those attempts spanned two networks. In the case of Three's Company, Silverman liked one of the new stars but not the other so the producers went hunting for a new Chrissy. When they found Suzanne Somers, they taped the pilot yet again and it was deemed buyable. It debuted with a short order (six episodes) in March of '77, became a hit and didn't leave the air until September of 1984. Even then, there was an attempt to spin off Ritter's character and keep things going. Like I said, I was not a fan but there were times — especially when Don Knotts joined the cast — when I couldn't resist tuning in. Here's the opening from the first season...

• Posted at 12:15 AM · LINK

June 13, 2006 • Current • June 11, 2006