Today's episode of the comic strip Funky Winkerbean (you can view it here) featured a Superman-Supergirl spoof drawn by Jim Mooney, the man who drew Supergirl's strip in Action Comics from 1959 to 1968. Jim, as we noted here, passed away on March 30.
A few days ago, Tom Batiuk — the creator of Funky — issued the following statement...
I was saddened to hear about Jim Mooney's passing. About a year ago, Tony Isabella wrote a sweet little Funky Winkerbean Sunday featuring my characters as Superman and Supergirl. He suggested I contact Jim to actually draw the Superman characters. I did and found him to be one of the nicest and genuine individuals you'd want to encounter. He agreed to do the Sunday and did a wonderful job. The strip will run Sunday April 13th and quite possibly could be Jim's last published work. If so, I feel privileged to have been a small part of it.
It probably was his final work. Nice to note that it was seen by perhaps the largest readership Jim's work ever had, and that it reunited him (more or less) with one of his most famous characters.
Finally, a "top ten" list about something that's really and truly important...The Top Ten Underappreciated Cuts of Meat. Personally, if I were Ribeye, I'd demand a recount.
It's not as true as it used to be but when I broke into TV writing, comedy writers always came in pairs. If one aspiring comedy writer went to almost anyone for advice, he or she was told, "Find a partner." There were exceptions but not many and I was not among them. My co-conspirator for a couple of years was a clever gent from Pittsburgh named Dennis Palumbo. We worked well together for a while, then we decided to see if we could work well in separate directions...and I'm happy to say we've remained friends.
On his own, Dennis went off and wrote other shows and novels and movies. My Favorite Year is probably his best-known work in those categories but a lot of folks also know him from another career he embarked on after we parted ways. Dennis is an oft-quoted psychotherapist who specializes in show business folks and in the special problems of writers. He has written books and articles on those subjects, and he often lectures...plus, of course, he spends all day at his office in the valley, offering advice and aid to people in need of advice and aid. From what I can tell from afar, he has a pretty good success record in that field, as well.
He has so many patients that we've spent the last few years trying to find a free lunch hour on his schedule so we could see each other again. Recently, someone cancelled and we were able to get together...and at that meal, he presented me with an advance copy of his new book, From Crime to Crime. It's a collection of short, brain-stretching mystery stories that manage to echo the classic traditions of that genre while still being fresh, modern and witty. I have been known to finish a whodunnit by flinging it across the room if the author has cheated or otherwise led us, the readers, down a primrose path. Having finished Dennis's book, I'm delighted to report that it was totally unflung. In fact, it's a nice demonstration of how this kinda thing oughta be written.
You can pre-order a copy of it here. You can also read Dennis's new weblog over here. I suggest you do both. He's a good storyteller and unlike some, he really understands what it means to be a professional writer.
I want to thank the 200+ of you who sent in suggestions about how to trap The Kitten and/or messages of interest and concern. At one point when it was looking hopeless and I momentarily thought of giving up, I was emboldened by the thought, "No, no...I have a story going on the weblog. It needs a better ending than me throwing in the towel."
I would also like to thank several of you who surprised me with donations to help pay for The Kitten's spaying and the cost of the trap and such. If anyone else would like to surprise me, here's the donation link. I thank you and Lydia thanks you.
Actually, Lydia can't thank you in person because she's still sitting in a cage out at the vet's office awaiting surgery. As we all know, there is a health care crisis in this country and it apparently extends to the neutering of feral cats. The vet had an emergency yesterday and couldn't get around to her then. I'm assured she'll be going under the knife later today and that I'll probably be bringing her home tomorrow. Also, she can't thank you because she's a cat and she doesn't have Internet access.
This is another one of those playlist embeds where the little window plays part one of a multi-part video and then it plays part two and part three and so on. This one runs about 47 minutes but you may find it worth that much of your life.
The original production of A Chorus Line closed on Broadway in April of 1990. Shortly before then, Phil Donahue somehow got members of the original cast to come on his show, talk about their experiences and perform a couple of numbers from it. Here's an amazing bit of theatrical history...
April 12, 2008
