That's another photo of Lydia, the animal formerly known as The Kitten. Want to know what's special about it? I took it in my backyard about twenty minutes ago. Lydia is home from the vet and back in her natural habitat. She seems a bit skinnier — and not just because she's no longer preggo — but in pretty good shape. I had assumed it might be several days before she got back in her regular routines...if she ever got back to them. But ten minutes after I released her from the cage, she was back in her old favorite location: Right outside the patio door, waiting for me to come out and pet her and feed her. Which I did.
I spoke today to my actor friend — the one who fielded my initial call about what to do about the feral one in my yard. He rattled off some statistics that I didn't catch but the exact numbers don't matter. The quick summary is that a staggering number of cats (more than you imagine) are put to death each week in this country because no one will adopt them, no one will feed them, no one will take them in...and to let them roam free and unspayed is to just ask for more.
One of the many "stray" experts I spoke to the other day said the following; that while it was commendable that Bob Barker spread the word to "spay or neuter your pet," that counsel was missing the bigger problem, which are cats and dogs that are nobody's pet. A pet cat that is kept indoors is not as likely to have kittens as a stray roaming through yards and living under houses. The kittens of a pet cat are more likely to be cared for and adopted than the offspring of a feral feline. More people need to take care of critters like Lydia.
It's another Fred Kaplan article, this one about how John McCain seems to be deferring to General Petraeus on an important matter that he oughta be handling himself.
The New York Times has a nice piece up about Joe Simon. Joe is one of the folks I'm looking forward to seeing this weekend at the New York Comic Con. In fact, he'll be signing with me from 1 PM to 2 PM on Saturday at the Harry N. Abrams booth, Harry N. Abrams being the company that published my book on Joe's longtime partner, Jack Kirby. It's booth #1825 if you want to come by and meet the iconic Mr. Simon.
I'll be there all three days. This message I posted last week is still accurate as a "where I'll be and when" guide. As if you care where I'll be or when.
A great thing about blogging: You ask questions, you get answers. My old pal Bruce Simon assures me that the clip of John Daly and Harpo was indeed from The Today Show — or as it was sometimes called then, The Dave Garroway Today Show. Bruce has the longer clip and, says he, it has identifying bumpers. He notes that Daly left ABC in 1960 over a flap about ABC News procuring documentaries from outside the news division. He was replaced by Eisenhower's former press secretary, Jim Haggerty.
Meanwhile, Jason Togyer got curious about the clip and here's what he sent me...
A little dinking around with an online newspaper database turns up a Nov. 17, 1960 Washington Post story, "John Daly Quits ABC In Dispute Over Policy." Daly was then ABC vice president in charge of news, special events and public affairs. His resignation was over a decision by ABC to contract production of four documentaries out to Time-Life. The same story noted that Daly "would continue in his role as host of CBS-TV's What's My Line?"
A story in the May 4, 1961 Los Angeles Times ("Daly by Dawn's Early Light") notes that John Charles Daly was asked to fill in for Dave Garroway as host of NBC's Today for several weeks after the death of Garroway's wife, Pamela. Incidentally, the Harpo Marx interview was taped Tuesday, May 2, for broadcast on May 3.
A July 6, 1961 Washington Post story ("Chancellor Inherits Vexing Problems of Today") reports that John Chancellor had been named permanent host of Today to replace Garroway, who had resigned. The same story mentions that "there have been reports that John Charles Daly was certain to get the job."
Too much information? Probably. But I thought if anyone would care, you would. Well, and possibly Lydia.
Lydia doesn't care about that stuff. No one does except you, me and Bruce Simon.
John Daly occupied an odd position in the annals of television. It wasn't so much an issue in radio but once television news was established, its most prominent practitioners had to wrestle with that capricious dividing line between News and Entertainment. They all had their occasional forays into the latter category, hosting game shows and celebrity-laden talk shows and even playing themselves in movies and sitcoms. They all had moments when they asserted that they were Journalists (with a capital "J") and not entertainers...but there was always more money, fame and probably fun to be the latter. Daly's career arc seems to define the way the industry came to grips with that distinction as he incrementally — and quite deliberately, it would seem — blurred the line.
Anyway, thanks to Jason and Bruce for humoring my curiosity.
Here's a clip of John Daly interviewing Harpo Marx, who's promoting his autobiography, Harpo Speaks. This is supposed to be from The Today Show for May 3, 1961 but I wonder if it really is. Mr. Daly hosted What's My Line? on CBS and throughout the late fifties, was otherwise employed as one of ABC's star newsmen. So what would he have been doing hosting the morning show on NBC in 1961?
It's possible, of course. But the full, longer clip is making the rounds of film collectors and I wonder if anything in it confirms that it's from The Today Show. In any case, here's a little more than a minute of it. Always nice to see a little Harpo...
April 17, 2008
