Hendrik Hertzberg on the proposal to build a "mosque" (it really isn't) at Ground Zero (it's really a few blocks away). I don't think there's anything wrong with it but then I have this nutty idea that we have Freedom of Religion in this country.
Matthew Yglesias makes a good, probably inarguable point about plans like Congressman Paul Ryan's that claim they'll eliminate the national debt "by 2080." My guess is Ryan can't predict what would happen under his plan within the first ten days.
One of the 73,000 panels I hosted at the Comic-Con International a few weeks ago was called "Taking Back the Knight" — not my pun but a good one. It was about how Batman was rebirthed and reupholstered in the seventies, primarily by writer Denny O'Neil and artist Neal Adams. They were on the panel along with Paul Levitz, who later edited and wrote the Batman comics. Over at Comic Book Resources, Andrew Wahl has a good report on what was said.
I am pleased to be able to plug a new mystery novel by my former writing partner, Dennis Palumbo. Dennis and I wrote teevee shows in the seventies for a few years, then went our separate ways. His way included writing screenplays, becoming a prominent psychotherapist and penning novels, of which this is the latest. We haven't had time lately to have lunch so he hasn't presented me with my personally-autographed copy, which means I haven't read it yet. But Dennis is a very good writer...and I suspect that's not unrelated to his success in psychotherapy, where he mainly helps folks in show biz cope with the overpowering lack of logic in our field. He sure understands people well and in his past books, he's shown he knows how to craft a solid, engrossing mystery. So order a copy, which is what I'd do if I couldn't get Dennis to give me one over lunch and (I'm so lucky) also pick up the check.
Or if you're near Huntington Beach, CA tomorrow (Saturday), Dennis will be signing copies at the Mystery Ink Bookstore at 1 PM. And later that evening, he's appearing on the PBS series, Between the Lines, to discuss the book. Consult, as they say, your local listings.
Okay, let's beat this one right into the ground. Here and here, we discussed (and watched) the famous/infamous 1961 game show debacle, You're in the Picture starring Jackie Gleason. Our clip today is from Mr. Gleason's one and only appearance on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. In it, Carson speaks of having been part of the panel of You're in the Picture along with Arthur Treacher and Milt Kamen, and then Gleason adds the name of Jan Sterling. But the show only aired once and as the extant video shows, the panel consisted of Ms. Sterling, Arthur Treacher, Patricia Carroll and Pat Harrington Jr. No Carson...and while we're at it, no Milt Kamen, either.
So what's the deal here? The way I heard the story — and I can't recall how I heard it — Gleason, the producers and the network both wanted to do the show live, which was not unusual for a program like this at the time. But they also thought it might take a few episodes to get the bugs out. The solution? Tape one or more episodes before the debut episode, do the debut live, then run the taped episodes later in the season. Somewhere — again, I don't recall where — I heard or read they only taped one...so I'm guessing Carson was on a pre-taped episode, and Milt Kamen was probably on it, as well. Of course, the live debut telecast was such a bomb that they wound up abandoning the show then and there, and the one or more pre-taped episode(s) never aired.
So there's my theory and unless someone comes up with some hard evidence, I'm sticking with it.
Of course, it helps to remember that a chat on a talk show is not always solid proof of anything. In the clip below, Gleason makes it sounds like the classic 39 episodes of The Honeymooners were shot in 1951. He actually started doing The Honeymooners as a recurring sketch on his variety shows, commencing in '51 with Cavalcade of Stars on the Dumont network and continuing onto The Jackie Gleason Show on CBS. He did the 39 as a separate show in 1955.
But apart from things like that, it's a great conversation, especially because you can sense how much Gleason and Carson like and respect each other. And why not? Carson got a number of his recurring characters from Gleason, just as Gleason got them from Jack Oakie and Lloyd Hamilton. My thanks to Lou Wainwright for suggesting I link you all to this...
My friend Bob Elisberg continues to write witty, perceptive columns for Huffington Post. I could link to any of them but I'm linking to this one because he mentions me.
I have no idea what's going on with Iran and Israel...and it worries me that certain folks in Washington don't seem to have any idea, either. An article by Jeffrey Goldberg has a lot of folks discussing what could result and how difficult it may be to prevent the bad scenarios. Among those talking are Fred Kaplan, James Fallows, Robert D. Kaplan and Glenn Greenwald. If you can figure it all out, you're a better man or woman than I am. Even if you can't, you probably are.
August 12, 2010
