Yearly Archives: 2003

On Monday, TV Land is rerunning one of my favorite episodes of The Dick Van Dyke Show (as you know, is one of my favorite TV shows). The episode in question is "The Masterpiece," which is the one where Rob and Laura accidentally purchase a painting by the great artist, Artanis, at an auction. It's a funny tale but interest is enhanced by the presence of two great comic actors, both of whom also distinguised themselves in the world of cartoon voicing. The auctioneer is played by Alan Reed, better known to all as the voice of Fred Flintstone. And the art expert who comes to examine the Artanis is the wonderful Howie Morris. In 1963 when he filmed this guest appearance, he was also directing episodes of the Van Dyke program, guesting occasionally on The Andy Griffith Show — as the uneducated Ernest T. Bass) — and doing many other on-camera roles. (The same year, he appeared in an episode of The Twilight Zone, and in the immortal Jerry Lewis film, The Nutty Professor.) In addition to all that, he was doing voices for Hanna-Barbera on The Flintstones and Magilla Gorilla. He claims his first job for H-B was the episode of The Jetsons where he played rock star Jet Screamer and sang, "Eep Op Ork." A lovely man.

Also: On Wednesday, TV Land is rerunning an episode of Fantasy Island with Phil Silvers as a has-been vaudevillian. I barely remember the episode from when it first aired in '78 but I recall feeling both sorry for his obviously-diminished energy, and pleased to see he was still able to deliver a performance. You may or may not want to watch. If you don't, I'll understand.

Yeah, I know I'm running way behind on these. So call a lawyer and sue me, sue me, what can you do me? Today, in honor of what day it is, I thought I'd link to a page over at the Washington Post that's full of drawings by and tributes to the late, great Herblock. I never quite "got" him on an individual basis; not until I studied the body of work and viewed it as the 50+ year chronicle of the American scene. He was a reporter first and a cartoonist second, and that's just fine. Here's the link.

How come no TV station on my DirecTV satellite dish is running the movie 1776 today? Not only does this mean I have to go downstairs and get the DVD but I can't recommend you tune in and watch one of my favorite movies. It's positively unAmerican.

Oh, well. Turner Classic Movies is running Yankee Doodle Dandy this evening, but that's really not about America. It's about watching Jimmy Cagney.

This article in the Los Angeles Times is headlined, "Slim Majority of Voters Backs Davis Recall." But aren't these polls pretty close to meaningless until such time as people see who else is going to be on the ballot? It's one thing to say you don't like the guy; another to say you'd prefer Candidate X. Once we know who we might be able to pick from to replace Davis, might he not look a lot better or worse to most voters? I don't think you can ever unseat an incumbent just by drumming up dislike of him. There has to be an alternative who could be a distinct improvement.

This is why I don't put much stock in these polls that tell us how much of the country would back Bush if the election were held tomorrow. They might be meaningful if the election were being held tomorrow but it isn't. By the time it is, the whole dynamic of the race will be different…including the possibility that some Democrat will have gained some real name recognition and made his case to the American people. I know that's looking increasingly unlikely but it just might happen. And if it does, it'll drive support for G.W.B. up or down depending on who that Democrat is and what that case is…and maybe even on where the economy and the war on terrorism stand at that moment.

But people love to read polls. So let's not let the fact that one whole side of the ballot is still a big Question Mark stop us from having a poll.

The other day, I posted a link to a column in which rabid left-winger Robert Scheer explained why Gray Davis should not be recalled. Here's a column from rabid right-winger Jonah Goldberg on why Gray Davis should not be recalled. Admittedly, their reasoning is a little different but they get to the same place, which happens to be where I'm at.

Go ahead. Find me another weblog that would link to both those guys. Can't be done.

Here's an interview with the CEO of the TiVo company.

Remember not long ago, we told you that the Journal American had removed Bill Bennett's name (and therefore, the punchline) from a Doonesbury strip? Well, over on The Doonesbury FAQ Page, Mr. Trudeau says it seems to have just been a printer's error. Who, apart from Bill Bennett, would have bet money on such a thing?

The Comic-Con International in San Diego is, as you know, July 17-20. If you're going, you might also like to know that the AccuWeather people are predicting clear and sunny skies for that period, with highs in the low eighties and lows in the high sixties.

Want to know where the Weapons of Mass Destruction are? Click here.

The great figure model Bettie Page has avoided public appearances for the last few decades, largely because she felt her many fans would prefer to remember her as she was. If you'd like to maintain that fantasy, don't peek at the issue of Playboy that's currently on-sale. On page 11, there's a batch of photos from one of Hef's near-daily birthday parties. The pictures aren't very large but one of them does have a recent, clothed shot of Ms. Page, who looks damn good for eighty. (If you'd like to see her in her prime, www.bettiepage.com has a load of them, plus merchandise one can purchase of the lady. Over the years, she's been ruthlessly exploited and ripped-off by an awful lot of sleazy publishers and entrepreneurs, so it's nice that she has the website where the cash goes to her.)

Have you got about a half-hour of your life that you want to throw away? I don't, but I got hooked on this anyway. Over on the Garfield website, you can wander around a haunted house and try to conquer Garfield's Scary Scavenger Hunt. But don't even click on that link unless you have the time to spare. You have been warned.

I'm not sure if it's morbid or a sad reminder or a nice bit of immortality but a lot of folks die and their website remains up and active. The website of my old pal Lorenzo Music is still operational almost two years after we lost him. The website of Buddy Hackett is of course still there — we only lost him a few days ago — and it provides us a chance to see some neat photos of him and to hear him sing "Shipoopi." (Though it's a little odd to see the pages that tell us he's fine, that he's retired and that he's taking a nap.) And I will also mention the website of Buddy's son, Sandy Hackett. Sandy's a popular comedian in Las Vegas and there's an e-mail link on his page if you want to send a condolence e-mail.

Every so often, a cartoonist comes along and something about his work "connects" with you. You don't know the guy but you know you're on the same wavelength; that you find the same kinds of things funny. I felt that way the first time I saw the work of Gahan Wilson. If you did too, here's a link to his website.

Recently, the Rio Suites Hotel in Las Vegas introduced a gimmick involving its cocktail waitresses. In one of those moves that makes you wonder if someone understands the concept, the Rio got rid of all the servers who'd been hired because of their cleavage and/or buttocks, and now hires based on singing and dancing. Every so often, these "bevertainers" (as they're called) stop bringing you watery scotch and instead hop up to perform on little platforms situated throughout the casino. I haven't seen it yet but reports do not make this sound like a fabulous idea. "Bevertainers," by the way, is a term derived from the word "beverage" and I'm told most people pronounce it by inserting an extra "a," guess where.

Not to be outdone, the Imperial Palace now has "The Legends Pit," which features Blackjack dealers who are celebrity imitators. Thursday through Sunday evenings, a grouping of seven tables is manned by Elvis look-alikes, Madonna clones, Cher doppelgangers, etc. This sounds like the set-up to about three weeks of Leno monologue jokes. The first one that comes to mind is that they had to fire the Michael Jackson impersonator because he wouldn't hit on anything over twelve.

See? I told you there'd be updates about the panels I'm hosting at the Comic-Con International in San Diego. We've just added another guest to the Seduction of the Innocent panel, which takes place on Thursday afternoon, July 17 at 1:00 in room 9. In addition to the previously-announced panelists and rare video footage of Dr. Fredric Wertham, we'll be welcoming Al Feldstein, the writer-editor of EC's horror, crime and science-fiction comics, as well as (later on) MAD Magazine. No one alive knows more about what Wertham's book meant to the comic book industry. Here's how the schedule looks now with Al's name added.