Tuesday, April 17, 2007

From the E-Mailbag...

Someone who signs himself "JonesR" writes to ask...

Do you know any history of the collaboration of Parker and Hart (I'm checking the obit as I write this). Because I was always curious as to, well, at least, who wrote and who drew, and if they may have both at times done either.

I figured that Hart did the character designs, then pretty much let Parker run with it. Parker may have had a history of providing gags to B.C. Or Hart may have given gags to Wizard of Id in the same sense that the Mort Walker crew might work out the gags on three different strips running, or the way some of the Simon/Kirby work seemed to leave the casual reader with a sense of not really being quite sure who may have been doing what.

My understanding is that Parker did no writing. Hart had a team of helpers — friends, assistants, gag writers, whatever you want to call them. Hart acted as Head Writer for a squadron that wrote both strips. The gags for Wizard of Id were sent to Parker and it was his job to get them drawn, which he did with increasing help over the years. The gags for B.C. were drawn by Hart with a little assistance.

Initially, the characters for Wizard were designed by Hart, Parker and a few others all sitting around a hotel room with ample drawing paper and liquor. Thereafter, sketches were exchanged by mail, fax or occasionally in person.

As anyone who's worked in a collaborative situation will tell you, there are times when contributions blur and even the guys who did the work aren't sure who contributed what. In gag-writing, it's not at all uncommon for Mutt to come up with a joke and Jeff to rephrase it and both guys to think they wrote it. I'll bet a lot of the jokes in both strips fall into that category.

The Hogan's Alley site has up a good interview with Hart in which he talks about his work, including much about the team that aided him with the writing. This chat is about thirteen years old and my understanding is that some of the aides changed in that time, plus Parker handed off more and more of the drawing duties on The Wizard of Id to others. But the modus operandi remained pretty much the same.

• Posted at 12:14 PM · LINK

Recommended Reading

You might want to take a look at this extensive Washington Post poll about what the people of this nation (or at least the ones polled) think about Bush and Congress and the war and all the major issues that concern most people and don't involve American Idol. The numbers aren't so good for Bush or Congress, but it's the Congressional numbers that have me a bit puzzled. I think there's a key question that isn't being asked here.

If someone says that they disapprove of the way Democrats in Congress are doing their job with regard to Iraq, what does that mean? Does it mean they think the Democrats have been too aggressive in stopping the war or not aggressive enough? That's a big difference and it's the most important issue facing Congress (and maybe the country) today. But for some reason, those who feel the Democrats in Congress should do more in this regard are being lumped in with those who feel they should do less. I'm guessing, based on the other answers, that most of the disapproval is because they aren't doing more...but that's just a guess. It would be nice if the pollsters broke it down for us.

• Posted at 11:58 AM · LINK

me on your computer

Last Friday, I was a guest on the Time Travel radio show. Today, you can download an MP3 file of it (it's inside a ZIP file for some reason) from this page. Beware if you go there to get it. The site plays creepy music.

• Posted at 3:06 AM · LINK

Today's Video Link

This runs two and a half minutes and may be of interest only to folks who live in or around Los Angeles.

One of the last surviving "chains" of the old style coffee shop is Du-Par's. There are three of them left, down from a one-time peak of, I believe, eight or so around the Southland. The original one was in the famed Farmer's Market at Third and Fairfax in L.A., and that one's still there, having recently reopened after a two year closure for remodelling. From the outside, it doesn't look all that different. (An observation: You can sometimes spot a long time Angeleno when they refer to the place as "Du-Par's Farmhouse." But it hasn't had that name since the early sixties.)

We used to say that at a Du-Par's, you could get excellent breakfasts, okay lunches, pretty awful dinners and, for dessert, some of the best pies in town. The pies were — and I guess still are — baked right on the premises. I have to guess here because even though I live within walking distance of one, I haven't been to a Du-Par's in years; not since the chain was taken over by new owners. Interestingly, the new proprietors are of the family that used to operate two other great L.A. coffee shop chains — Tiny Naylor's and Biff's. I'll have to get to a Du-Par's soon and report back on if the breakfasts are still great and the dinners are still poor.

Someone — I have no idea who — put together this little montage of stills from Du-Par's history. I believe most of the images are from the Farmer's Market location. It's our thing for you to click on for today.

• Posted at 1:06 AM · LINK