Sunday, September 3, 2006

Watching Jer

I'm a few hours behind the rest of the world but thanks to TiVo, I'm watching the Jerry Lewis Telethon. Jerry looks good but Ed McMahon is a far cry from the guy who used to sit next to Carson and go "Hi-yo!" He starts the festivities by introducing the mayor of Las Vegas, Oscar Goodman as "the mayor of Los Angeles."

I'm a bit confused, too. Jerry begins by announcing this is his 56th telethon and that it's "officially" the fortieth MDA telethon. I'm not sure what that means but the MDA website says "The 2006 Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon is the 41st annual Labor Day show."

I'll report back if I notice anything else interesting.

• Posted at 10:11 PM · LINK

Today's Bonus Video Link

The Batman TV show (the one starring Adam West) went out of production in early 1968. In 1972 or 1974 (accounts vary), Burt Ward got back into the Robin suit and Yvonne Craig redonned her Batgirl tights to film this ad for...well, you'll see what it's an ad for when you watch it. That's Batman producer William Dozier — who narrated the original show — reprising his role, too.

But that is not (repeat: not) Mr. West playing Batman. At the time, he had decided those days were behind him and that he would never again wear the costume or do the Batusi, the better to establish that he could play other parts. So the guy in the bat suit is Dick Gautier, who may be best known to you for playing Hymie the Robot on Get Smart, Robin Hood on When Things Were Rotten and about eight thousand other appearances. Dick, with whom I've had the pleasure of working a few times, is one of the funniest human beings on this planet and also, as you can see on his website, a gifted cartoonist. I always thought that if they'd made a TV series of Will Eisner's The Spirit when Gautier was younger and if James Garner wasn't available — or maybe even if he was — Dick would be the guy.

The clip runs one minute. The person who prepped it for uploading to the Internet has an odd way of spelling the word "commercial" but there's nothing I can do about that so don't complain to me.

• Posted at 11:12 AM · LINK

Today's Political Comment

A certain segment of the population is always talking about "supporting our troops" and I'm often baffled by what they mean by that. At times, it seems to mean not suggesting their leaders are fallible or that the war is not being fought properly or even not challenging incumbents.

I would think that "supporting our troops" meant — at an absolute minimum — making certain that they have the best possible equipment...to, you know, kinda minimize as much as possible the chance of them being killed. I would also think it would involve paying them a good wage and guaranteeing them the best possible medical care, both during and after their military service.

I would also think it would include doing something about predatory lenders. As recounted in this article, a lot of soldiers are simultaneously trying to serve while struggling with personal debt...and there are people out there who are exploiting this dire situation. It also, of course, suggests that while we might honor the soldiers' service and pray for their speedy and safe return, we sure ain't paying them enough.

One of the reasons this is a problem for our soldiers is that last year, in what many claimed was a bill bought and paid for by the credit card industry, our federal lawmakers made it much more difficult to declare personal bankruptcy. There was an amendment offered to that bill by Illinois Senator Dick Durbin to exempt our servicemen and servicewomen from that vulnerability, at least while they were fighting overseas. The amendment was soundly defeated. Someone ought to ask the senators who voted that way if they think "supporting our troops" includes forcing many of them into the hands of loan sharks.

• Posted at 10:08 AM · LINK

Today's Video Link

In 1929, MGM began shooting a big, expensive color musical starring Lawrence Tibbett, a performer of grand, operatic presence. The film was entitled The Rogue Song and it was well into production when the studio's ranking genius, Irving Thalberg, decided it was in dire need of corrective surgery. Lionel Barrymore was directing and doing a fine job of proving that a great actor could also be a leaden, uninspired director. The movie lacked many things but what it really lacked was comedy. At the same time, the marketing folks were fretting its commercial appeal, especially overseas where Tibbet was largely unknown. Thalberg decided that both problems could be solved with two additions to the cast — one named Laurel and the other named Hardy.

Not long before, MGM had borrowed Laurel and Hardy from their native habitat — the Hal Roach Studios — to appear in an all-star feature, The Hollywood Revue of 1929. Their presence in that had enlivened the proceedings and been singled out by critics. In light of that, a deal was brokered whereby Roach would again loan their services to Metro...and this time, Hal Roach himself would come along to direct and consult. New scenes were scripted to add the additional characters to the continuity and others were deleted to make room. In one interview years later, Laurel said that Tibbett had actually completed his scenes and returned home to New York when he was summoned to return to Hollywood for additional shooting.

The Rogue Song was released in early 1930 to decent reviews (Tibbett got an Oscar nomination for Best Actor) and a decent box office response, especially overseas. It was not a smash hit but the consensus seems to be that it did a lot better with Laurel and Hardy than it would have without. In some cities, they were billed as its stars even though their total footage count did not warrant that.

How was the film? I dunno. I haven't seen it and neither has anyone else for more than half a century. It is a lost film.

A few pieces of it have turned up here and its sound track exists there but there are no complete prints. Laurel and Hardy fans have fantasized about locating one, not because they expect a masterpiece but because, well, it's a lost film...one of the few gaps in the Stan and Ollie library. Also, apart from one public service short they made in the forties, it was their only appearance before a movie camera loaded with color film. It's hard to remember this since some of their movies have been colorized...but they were all in black-and-white. All except for Tree in a Test Tube (the public service film) and The Rogue Song.

Our clip today is of a bit less than three minutes of The Rogue Song. This may whet your appetite to wish the rest would someday be located or it may make you say "eh" and decide that nothing wonderful has been lost. There isn't much of Laurel and Hardy in these three minutes and one suspects their scenes were shot some time after the surrounding footage. But as we say here at news from me, a little Laurel and Hardy is better than no Laurel and Hardy.

• Posted at 1:11 AM · LINK

Today's Political Thought

A lot of people say they want to know what's going on in Iraq. I'm not convinced some of them do. I think a lot of people (the loud ones, mainly) want to know just enough to support their pre-existing view of the Bush administration. That which does not must be ignored or written off as propaganda or bad/biased reporting.

There are times I think the best way to know what's going on — assuming you really do — is to ignore all the pundits. Ignore the guys on the left who tell you what you should think. Ignore the folks on the right who tell you what you should think. Even — gasp, choke — ignore me. Just look at official documents and give them whatever weight common logic tells you they're worth.

A few days ago, the Department of Defense issued a 63-page report on how things are going in Iraq. I think it's reasonable to assume that the Pentagon is not going to make things sound worse than they are over there. If anything, they will err on the side of spinning events to make things look rosier.

Here is a link to an Adobe PDF of the report. I just went through the whole thing — and while I won't claim I understood every nuance and detail, large chunks of it are perfectly clear...and most of them are not encouraging. Civilian deaths are increasing and spreading over a wider area. Increasingly, citizens are giving their support to insurgent and militia groups that are providing security where the national police forces have failed, and homelessness and displacement have taken a sharp rise. Economic conditions are bad and confidence is low. And this is not some critic of the Bush administration saying all this. This is the Pentagon.

But like I said: Don't listen to me. Read it for yourself. And don't ignore the good news that's in there, either.

• Posted at 12:55 AM · LINK

September 4, 2006 • Current • September 2, 2006