Monday, October 12, 2009

My Favorite Conversation of the Year So Far...

A little while ago, I called Stan Freberg about something and I happened to ask him if he'd sold a lot of autographed books at the Hollywood Collectors Show over the weekend. He said yes, he had. Then the following exchange ensued...

ME: Too bad you can't go deposit all that money. Banks closed.

FREBERG: Oh? Why?

ME: Columbus Day!

FREBERG: Oh, yeah. We going out on that joke?

ME: No, we do reprise of song. That help but...

BOTH OF US: ...not much!

If you don't get the reference, don't worry about it. But if you do, you know why I feel like Woody Allen's character at the end of Play It Again, Sam. I've waited my whole life to say it.

• Posted at 8:42 PM · LINK

Fair Warning

The next Comic-Con International in San Diego will be held Thursday, July 22, 2010 through Sunday, July 25, 2010. As usual, the Wednesday evening before is a Preview Night with most of the convention open as of 6 PM.

This time, the con is selling two different kinds of four-day passes — one with and one without Preview Night. The passes that include Preview Night are already sold out.

I shall repeat that: The passes that include Preview Night are already sold out. Some of us still haven't finished unpacking from the last Comic-Con International but Preview Night at the next one is sold out.

I have no inside info as to how fast the four-day passes without Preview Night are selling but their unavailability will surely come sooner than it usually does. If you're thinking of attending and you figure you can wait until next April to order a four-day pass, I suspect you're in for a surprise.

Consider yourself warned.

• Posted at 7:39 PM · LINK

Chief Exec Approval

Interested in the rise and fall of presidential popularity? Here's your one-stop website for such data.

• Posted at 6:51 PM · LINK

Legends in Concert

Photo by Christopher Bay

Here's a photo of two men who, between them, were responsible for about half the comedy records sold in this country before Vaughn Meader and many, many after Mr. Meader's career ended near a grassy knoll. That's Shelley Berman and Stan Freberg at the Hollywood Collectors Show in Burbank this past weekend.

My pal Earl Kress and I went out there on Saturday and had a fine time, walking around and talking to folks. The longest lines were for the two men above and for Jackie Cooper, who seemed to be autographing every single still, poster and DVD ever issued for any of the Superman movies he was in. I'm not sure some of the people in that line knew he'd ever done anything else.

Mickey Rooney and Debbie Reynolds were there. So were Sean Astin, Hank Garrett, Sally Kellerman, June Foray, Eddie Carroll, William Schallert, Alan Sues, Bill Mumy, Margot Kidder, Helen Slater, the ladies of Petticoat Junction, Jane Withers, Earl Holliman, Linda Gray, Patrick Duffy, Richard Anderson, Corbin Bernsen, Angela and Veronica Cartwright, Stephen Furst, Peter Mayhew, Skip E. Lowe and a lot of other famous folks. And there were at least as many celebs wandering the aisles as customers.

I don't have anything particularly interesting to report. I just wanted to say I was there and to run that great photo that Christopher Bay took.

• Posted at 5:38 PM · LINK

More Dave Thoughts

Of course, there are other differences between David Letterman's "sex scandal" and most politicians' transgressions. Letterman is a comedian...not someone we expect to be making laws that define what's right and wrong. Also — and I suspect this was on his mind when he decided to go public with his situation — Dave comes off to a great extent like a victim in his case. This may or may not be how it all plays out but at the moment, the other guy looks like a sleazeball extortionist. Which, of course, makes Dave look better...makes you even feel sorry for him in a way.

The smart thing Dave accomplished by breaking the news himself was that he made it about David Letterman being blackmailed, rather than about Dave having sex with women on his staff. He even told the story that way on his show, telling the world that he was being shaken down for having done "creepy things" and then, at the end, finally revealing what those alleged creepy things were.

How it will all develop will depend, of course, on what else comes out. If some female Worldwide Pants employee comes forward with a tale that makes Dave sound like an aging Roman Polanski, that may do Letterman's rep some damage. The lawyer for the alleged blackmailer has been making it sound like he wants to put Dave on trial and to fill the courtroom with damaging revelations if his client doesn't get a generous plea bargain. Frankly, in the absence of some genuine crime on Letterman's part, I don't think America cares who's on his personal Top Ten list.

• Posted at 2:24 PM · LINK

Okay, Okay...

Not every movie produced by Albert Zugsmith was terrible. Touch of Evil was pretty good...though one suspects that the producer was largely irrelevant on a movie directed and written by Orson Welles. Other than that...

• Posted at 2:00 PM · LINK

Today's Video Link

How can you resist a movie called Sex Kittens Go To College? It was a terrible movie. Every movie ever produced by Albert Zugsmith was a terrible movie. (He was also a terrible lawyer. He was the guy who represented Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in the forties when they sued DC Comics over Superman.) But this film had Mamie Van Doren, who in her prime was only the sexiest movie star of her day, and there was a scenery-devouring performance by Louis Nye that every actor should study to see what it's possible to do with dreadful material. At least, take a look at the trailer and note that the opening voiceover, which I guess is supposed to be the chimp talking, is by Mel Blanc. (There are three other announcers in there and I think the male voice after Mel's is William Woodson.)

• Posted at 11:35 AM · LINK

Recommended Reading

Bruce Kluger argues — and in a way, I agree — that David Letterman is successfully handling his sex scandal via sheer candor, as opposed to certain politicians who made things worse by lying or stonewalling. True...but then again, what happens with a politician's sex scandal is that the faces of his opposition light up and say, "Ah, we can use this to our advantage!" And suddenly, he's given them a weapon by which to perhaps drive him from office or tar his party or causes or whatever. Letterman doesn't have Conan O'Brien looking to exploit this matter, nor could Conan likely gain any yardage because of it. If anything, talking about it drives viewers to Dave's show. The Mark Sanfords of the world didn't see their ratings go up.

• Posted at 11:33 AM · LINK

So You Want To Buy DVDs Of Obscure Old Movies

Back in the days of theatrical short comedies, there was a very popular series of one-reelers starring George O'Hanlon as a luckless gent named Joe McDoakes. Mr. O'Hanlon is now probably best known as the voice of George Jetson, and before that, he was one of the busiest character actors in film and early television. And between 1942 and 1956, he made 63 Joe McDoakes shorts with titles like So You Want To Give Up Smoking and So You Want To Be A Detective. Whatever it was the title said you wanted to have happen, you could bet that Joe McDoakes would show you why he couldn't do it.

Now's your chance to own all of them...all 63 on six DVDs for forty bucks. It's part of the Warner Archive program whereby they sell plain vanilla DVDs (no fancy menus, no special features) of rarities from the vaults. Here's the link. I don't make anything off these but if you're a big Joe McDoakes fan, don't let that stop you. I have a hunch it'll be a long time before we see these get a fancier release.

Also of possible interest: Warner Archive has brought out a set of the last 52 Our Gang comedies — the ones made at MGM after the Hal Roach Studio sold the franchise. During the run, familiar faces like Spanky, Alfalfa and Darla exited the series as they outgrew it and new kids came along...to generally diminishing results. Still, there's some fun in these rarely-seen films...which also will probably not be available in any other way for a long time.

• Posted at 1:30 AM · LINK