Friday, April 20, 2007

Justice Leak of America

Take the old Hanna-Barbera Super Friends cartoon show. Recast with Democrats as the super-heroes and Republicans as the super-villains and what do you have? You have The Challenge of the Super-Duper Friends.

• Posted at 9:01 PM · LINK

From the E-Mailbag...

Reader Bill Sinkins writes...

Thanks for sharing the e-mail from Dick DeBartolo. It reminded me of the 60 Minutes feature on Mad that aired many years ago. At that time, the parent company that owned Mad (I forget who it was) had a policy that required all senior management to get an annual physical. Supposedly, Gaines hated going to the doctor, so he sent a much younger staffer as a body double. They also related the story of Gaines flying to some remote place (Guam, perhaps?) along with several senior staff members to personally entreat their one subscriber there to renew his subscription. I haven't picked up Mad in years, maybe I should, for old time's sake...

It wasn't Guam. It was Haiti. And Gaines didn't fly there to get the one subscriber to renew. He'd decided to take the entire staff on a vacation — it was the first of the legendary Mad trips — and out of curiosity, he had someone look and see if Mad had any subscribers there. When it turned out they had one and his subscription had just expired, Gaines decided to pay the guy a visit. He loaded his entourage in five jeeps, drove over to the address and presented the fellow with a renewal card.

The funniest part of the story is probably that in spite of that, the reader didn't want to renew. But he agreed to accept a free subscription.

Gaines was a colorful guy. I think though that Mad has actually survived the loss of him. In my opinion as a Mad completist, the magazine is now better than it's been in a long time. It's gone up and down over the years but I think it's clearly on an "up" and you oughta pick up a copy, not for old time's sake — you won't recognize a lot of the credits — but because it's a pretty funny publication.

• Posted at 7:54 PM · LINK

Silent Alert

The Silent Movie Theatre over on Fairfax was an important part of my childhood. As I explained here, I spent many a Friday evening in its hard seats watching Laurel and Hardy or Chaplin or Douglas Fairbanks or some other star of legendary status, and I developed a casual friendship with the man who ran the place.

Recently, I was interviewed for a forthcoming documentary on the Silent Movie Theatre. A gentleman named Iain Kennedy just sent me the following brief summary of his project...

The documentary will look at the history of the theater through the personal recollections of those people who have worked there or who went there as members of the audience. Particular focus will be given to the owners of theater who made it an L.A. landmark and kept silent films running for audiences to re-discover and enjoy. We're very interested in hearing from people who went to the theater during the John and Dorothy Hampton "era" (approximately 1942 to 1979) and Lawrence Austin's tenure (1991 to 1997), as well as more recent years (Charlie Lustman's revival of the theater, 1999-2006).

If you are such a person, drop me a note and I'll forward it to Iain.

• Posted at 5:21 PM · LINK

Today's Video Link

Ah, what has Mark found for us this morning on YouTube? Mark has found the title number of one of his favorite musicals, On the Twentieth Century, a show which had book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and music by Cy Coleman. The show opened in early 1978 and the original cast was toplined by John Cullum, Madeline Kahn, Imogene Coca, and Kevin Kline. Ms. Kahn left after just a few months, allegedly due to illness and with lots of other reasons rumored. Many years later when I worked with Ms. Coca, I asked her about the reason for Kahn's sudden departure and she just shook her head and said, "Poor girl...so talented and so many problems." Make of that what you will.

This number is from that year's Tony Awards broadcast in May, by which time Madeline Kahn was long gone and Judy Kaye, who you'll see in the clip, was in her place and being hailed as a major find. The show — briefly — is about a train ride from Chicago to New York, during which many things happen but most of them center around the attempts of an unscrupulous producer (the part played by Cullum) to woo back his greatest discovery, Lily Garland, who has gone on to stardom since she left him. Lily Garland is the role originated by Ms. Kahn and handed off to Ms. Kaye. And of course, you'll see Coca and Kline in there, as well. Apparently, you weren't allowed to be in this show unless your last name started with a "K" sound.

Here's that number, which includes a lot of lyrics that somehow didn't make it onto the cast album...

• Posted at 2:33 AM · LINK