Longtime comic book artist John "Jon" D'Agostino died this morning at his home in Ansonia. Jon was born in Italy on June 13, 1929 but his family moved to America when he was a lad and Jon attended the Industrial School of Art. He broke into comics as a colorist for Timely Comics, which is now known as Marvel, and soon became head of their coloring department for several years. He was skilled in a wide range of crafts and worked over the years as a penciller, a letterer and an inker, primarily on humor material. The bulk of his pencil and ink work was done for Charlton Comics in the fifties and sixties, and for Archie Comics in the years since. He also worked intermittently for Marvel on their Star (children's) line of comics but occasionally on super-hero and adventure books including G.I. Joe and Marvel Two-in-One. He also did many uncredited assists of other artists. He and his friend Joe Sinnott, for example, often assisted each other.
One of Jon's most notable credits was the lettering for Amazing Spider-Man #1 in 1963 and he lettered several other stories for Stan Lee during this period, some of which were credited to "Johnny Dee." At the same time, a letterer named John Duffy lettered a few stories for Marvel. This has led many to assume John Duffy was another pseudonym for Jon D'Agostino. This is not so. Jon D'Agostino was not John Duffy. He also was not Tony D'Agostino, a prominent Italian cartoonist who was no relation.
As mentioned, the bulk of Jon's work in recent years was for Archie Comics, primarily as an inker. He had a slick, organic style that made Betty and Veronica cute and human. I only knew Jon via an occasional phone call but I followed decades of diligent hard work that went too often unnoticed. He was a quiet, dedicated professional who did fine work for well over half a century.
One of the times I chatted with Milton Berle, someone (not me) brought up the subject of him stealing material from other comics. He semi-exploded on the topic, saying it was just an act, a fictional flaw he'd milked for laughs the way Jack Benny had allowed the world to think he was cheap. He stole jokes when he started out, Berle said, but everyone did, and they stole them from each other. ("The guy I stole a gag from stole it from someone else and he stole it from someone else...") Once he became an established pro, he claimed, he never knowingly stole anything from anyone. This view does not seem to have been shared by any of his friends and peers, but let's leave that aside for now.
That day we spoke, he denounced the charge as a smear on the part of jealous, less successful comedians and noted that, when you're Mr. Television, the number one comic on TV, every other comedian is, by definition, a "less successful comedian." The one he singled out as most often spreading the slur was Bert Lahr and he said approximately the following to me. (This is my memory; not a recorded quote.)
I did a movie called Always Leave Them Laughing and it was my movie. It was at the peak of my stardom so I owned a hunk of it and I had every kind of script and cast approval you could possibly have. I had final cut and I even directed part of the movie because the director took ill. It was about a younger comic, played by me, who steals an older comedian's act and his wife. You see, I wasn't afraid to play a joke stealer because I knew it was just a character. It wasn't me. Anyway, it was my idea to cast Lahr as the older comic. I thought he'd be great in the part and he was. He was a terrific comedian and actor. However, after the film came out, Lahr was suddenly telling everyone that I tried to cut him out of the picture, that I ruined his best scenes. Bert's son wrote a book about him [Notes on a Cowardly Lion] in which he repeated these charges. They're bull but don't take my word for it. Read the book. See what Lahr said about the movie and what he says I did. Then watch the movie. It's on The Late, Late Show every ten minutes. You'll see that Lahr is terrific in that movie. Yeah, one or two of his scenes hit the cutting room floor. Ten or fifteen of mine got cut. Scenes get cut out of every movie. But you watch the movie and see if Lahr isn't great and if I'm not supporting him in every scene we have together, letting him be great. He's got this great dying scene and I could have horned in on it, had them cut away to my reactions more and stuck in a lot of dialogue for my character but I didn't. Because it was Bert's scene and it worked best to let it be his scene. But like I said, don't take my word for it. Read the book, watch the movie and if you believe I tried to hurt his performance, then all the things they say about me must be true. I will stake my reputation on that.
That's almost exactly what Mr. Berle said, and "I will stake my reputation on that" is verbatim. But he was wrong that Always Leave Them Laughing is on TV every ten minutes. It airs almost never...but guess what. It's on Turner Classic Movies tomorrow morning...at 6:45 AM on my satellite dish, which probably means 9:45 on most systems.
The last time it was on was a few years ago. I posted much of the above on this site, then TiVoed and watched the film. Berle was right that Lahr was terrific in it...a great chance to see that fine performer not dressed as an animal. So I think I tend to side with Uncle Miltie on this one.
What's weird though is the role Berle chose for himself in this, really his only starring movie role. He's right that he was at (or at least near) the peak of his stardom at the time. Texaco Star Theater went on TV in June of 1948 with Berle as one of four rotating hosts. In the fall, he was named its sole host and the ratings skyrocketed. During the show's summer hiatus, he made Always Leave Them Laughing and it was released on November 26, 1949. He probably could have done any kind of movie he wanted and what did he choose? This man, who was so sensitive about people thinking he was a pushy and unethical guy who stole gags and girl friends decided to play a pushy and unethical guy who stole gags and girl friends. True, the character in the movie reforms at the end but even with that, it's odd to decide to play the kind of person you're afraid people think you are. Isn't it?
According to this, the first preview of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark did take place last night. The show was stopped five times for technical adjustments and wound up running three hours and 20 minutes. No word on how long the show actually is...that is, how long it would have run without the unplanned stops. Just for the sake of comparison, Wicked runs two hours and 30 minutes plus a 15 minute intermission while The Lion King runs two hours and 40 minutes and that includes the intermission. The folks seeing Spider-Man now are probably seeing a lot of things that won't be in the show by the time it officially opens on January 11.
As I mentioned below, Leslie Nielsen used to always wield this little rubber device called a Handi-Gas that emitted fart sounds. In fact, he bought them by the gross and gave them out to people. I got one...and then later was schooled in its usage by my pal Bob Logan, who directed Leslie in his movie, Repossessed and was tutored on the set. (I never employed mine in public and when I went to lunch with Logan, I had to disarm him and make him leave his in the car.)
Anyway, I wanted to post a photo here of the Handi-Gas but I couldn't find one. They must have sold millions of these things...and that's just to Leslie Nielsen. But I can't find any real trace of them on the 'net and I have no idea where mine is. Maybe in some box in storage. Anyway, if you have a photo, let me know. It just strikes me as interesting that digital technology obviously made the Handi-Gas obsolete. There are dozens of little battery-powered fart machines one can buy...and now there are apps for the iPhone and other such devices. I hope that when Nielsen is buried, someone has the bad taste to get one of those devices, set it to make its noise every minute or so — and put it in the coffin. Leslie would have wanted it like that.
November 28, 2010
