Saturday, December 23, 2006

Today's Bonus Video Link

I'm not sure I have this story 100% right but here goes: When they made the James Bond film Thunderball in 1965, the opening song was originally going to be a tune called "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" that was written by John Barry and Leslie Bricusse, and sung by Dionne Warwick. Its title was a popular nickname for Mr. Bond, especially in the foreign press.

The main titles were filmed and edited to that track and then the producers, Albert Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, got to worrying that it was the wrong song. Reportedly, they felt that a vital part of their films' promotion involved having a hit song out there that endlessly repeated the name of the movie...and of course, "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" didn't reference the title, didn't yell at people to go out and see Thunderball. So Mr. Barry got together with lyricist Don Black and they came up with a song called "Thunderball," which was recorded for them by Tom Jones and it was substituted for the Warwick track. (Also reportedly, Johnny Cash took a crack at writing and recording a song called "Thunderball" but his submission wasn't used, either. It was probably all about 007 riding trains, drinking coffee and being in prison.)

This clip consists of the opening titles of Thunderball with the original track reinstated. I don't think it's a better song but I think it fits better with the visuals. I guess that's only to be expected since they were calibrated to this tune instead of the one recorded by Mr. Jones.

• Posted at 6:38 PM · LINK

Something to Watch

A funny Christmas video. Except that those of you who do voiceovers for a living may not find it all that funny.

• Posted at 1:34 PM · LINK

Stan the Man

Thursday night, they ran the episode of Identity with Stan Lee as one of the "strangers" whose identity a contestant had to guess. It wasn't a toughie. By the time they'd gotten around to him, they'd eliminated Break Dancer, Opera Singer and Sushi Chef as options, and somehow, I can't see Stan doing any of those things. Well, maybe the break dancing. The other choices were that he was the Youngest person up there (nope), an Alligator Wrestler (also nope), a Bouncer (ha), a Fitness Model (double ha), a CSI Investigator (slight maybe), a Kidney Donor (possible), a Vegas Showgirl (well, he does have great legs) or the World's Fastest Man (likewise).

And...oh, yeah: Created Spider-Man. I think I'd go with that. None of the other strangers looked anything like Steve Ditko.

Stan's appearance got me to thinking: The late Harvey Kurtzman used to speak of his "reward" and how the financial and employment situation in comics, back when he launched Mad, did not allow him to claim it. He had created something of enormous value...but in a system that compensated him as if he hadn't. In books, movies, television or practically any other entertainment medium, if you created something lucrative — or even if someone else created it but you were a major contributor — you could share in the gold mine. But not then in comics. Not for most of the great creative talents of comics' first forty years.

Now, in some cases — and Kurtzman was arguably one — the creators may have mishandled the business/contractual side of their working arrangements and made it easier or even quite legal for the publishers to stiff them. And there were folks like Bob Kane who did a lot better than others.

Still, the general dynamic was just what Harvey lamented; that you could create something worth millions...and the next day, they could pay you the same as someone who'd created zip, or even fire you and take your name off your creation. There are some pretty ugly stories of this kind of thing occurring and they're a source of great discomfort and sadness for so many of us who follow the history of the business. There are also, happily, stories of some who got their "rewards" in other ways. These include doing cover re-creations (if they're artists), signing collectors' prints or editions, and getting other, better-paying projects due to the reputations they achieved from their poor-paying comic book creations.

Stan Lee did not do badly at Marvel. He worked his way up to a salary of a million dollars a year from them plus a nice percentage of current film revenues. He is also receiving other "rewards" via other means because he is famous as the creator (or more correctly, co-creator) of Spider-Man, The Hulk, The X-Men and so many more.

It's fascinating how far-famed Stan has become. Last week, GSN ran a 1970 episode of To Tell the Truth. Marvel Comics were pretty popular in '70 but Stan himself was still "unknown" enough that he could appear on that show, along with two impostors, under the presumption that none of the four panelists would know which one was the real Stan Lee. As the kids of that era have become the adults of today, that anonymity has gone away. A few years ago, he appeared in the same capacity on a revival of To Tell the Truth. This time, Stan and the two impostors had to all wear masks or there wouldn't have been any game.

And now, here he was the other night on Identity...and when the live audience realized who he was (a bit ahead of the contestant), there was a decided "ooh" and a murmur of excitement. He's a superstar, as famous as any of his second-string characters. The other day, I had an electrician in here and when he found out I did comic books, he immediately asked me, "Have you ever met Stan Lee?"

There are a number of reasons he's receiving all this when others haven't and one, of course, is that others made the mistake of dying. Someone said to me the other day that if Jack Kirby had lived to see how wealthy and celebrated Stan has become, it would have killed him. I think not...because if Jack were alive today, he'd be getting his share in both categories. Or at least, he'd have the chance to exploit his credits the way Stan has wisely exploited his stature as the co-creator of those properties. (This is another way of saying Jack would not have done what Ditko has done, becoming a near-hermit, refusing all offers and opportunities.)

Stan will be (mumble, mumble) years of age next Thursday. I'll post some more thoughts on this topic then when we wish him a Happy Stan Lee Day. I just think it's interesting that the comic book industry has so rarely made its giants rich or famous...and that the fans have had to assume that responsibility.

• Posted at 12:30 PM · LINK

Take a Look

Cartoonist Bob Foster is living and working up in Portland for I-don't-know-how-long. He's taken the opportunity to take a lot of great photos which you might enjoy.

• Posted at 11:36 AM · LINK

Today's Video Link

Here's a short video with a long explanation. In 1982, Joe Barbera asked me to write a prime-time Yogi Bear Christmas special for CBS. One of these days, I'll have to publish the whole, amazing story of how this one came to be but basically, it was an impossible job for All Concerned. The show had to be written in about four days, storyboarded in about a third of the time these things usually take and animated in less than half the time the animators needed. To further complicate an impossible task, there was (1) a huge negotiation battle with the agent representing Daws Butler, the voice of Yogi and nine other characters, (2) a storyboard artist whose work had to be tossed and redone, thereby wasting three of the four weeks allotted on the schedule for that task...and (3) a strike by the Animation Union.

But somehow, they got it on the air. It was delivered to CBS two days before the broadcast date and the guys at the network found (correctly) all sorts of mistakes in it...animation errors, missing footage, etc. The animation folks in Australia actually did a pretty good job under the circumstances. A couple of editors did a last minute patch job and the show was telecast to all of America with the errors reduced (but not totally eliminated) and with two key scenes absent. I like parts of it, cringe at other sections...and am not unhappy it hasn't been rerun anywhere lately or put out on DVD.

I mentioned it the other day when I appeared on Shokus Internet Radio. In particular, I mentioned that Snagglepuss had been bleeped when he mentioned Chanukah. I was not kidding. I wrote a line where the lion said, "Merry Christmas! Seasons Greetings! Happy Chanukah even!" Everyone who had to approve the script — which was a whole lot of people — approved it and it was recorded that way and the animation was done accordingly.

In December, when the last minute edits were being done, someone at CBS decided that the reference to Chanukah had to go. I do not know precisely why. At the time, and later when I wrote one article about this, I didn't know even if it had been done at CBS or if someone at Hanna-Barbera had been responsible...but then a friend at the network showed me a memo he'd dug out of the files. It merely said that CBS was insisting on the deletion, no explanation given.

In all my years of cartoon watching, this is the only time I've ever heard of a cartoon getting bleeped. Dialogue is often edited out or redone for reasons of taste or "standards" but in every other case, it's done in an undetectable manner. They redub the words or chop out a whole line or something. In this case, presumably because the show was edited (literally) the day before it aired, they just cut the word out and there was an obvious jump where "Chanukah" should have been. The edit was apparently made on the one-inch master tape because it was that way when the show came out a few years ago on VHS.

As I said, I mentioned this on the radio show. Some listener took it upon him- or herself to locate the video, edit a ten-second clip and to upload it to an online video site. So here it is as today's link...and I remain as stunned and mystified as you will probably be as to why this was done. I thought my people were supposed to run Hollywood but I guess I was wrong.

• Posted at 12:19 AM · LINK

December 24, 2006 • Current • December 22, 2006