Category Archives: Uncategorized

I said in this message that the movie Going My Way was released for Christmas, 1944. B. Baker informs me that it came out in May of '44. A small point but it's worth getting right.

This kind of thing mystifies me. This is Michael Isikoff writing about Attorney General Alberto Gonzales prepping to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee…

…even his own closest advisers are nervous about whether he is up to the task. At a recent "prep" for a prospective Sunday talk-show interview, Gonzales's performance was so poor that top aides scrapped any live appearances. During the March 23 session in the A.G.'s conference room, Gonzales was grilled by a team of top aides and advisers — including former Republican National Committee chair Ed Gillespie and former White House lawyer Tim Flanigan — about what he knew about the plan to fire seven U.S. attorneys last fall. But Gonzales kept contradicting himself and "getting his timeline confused," said one participant who asked not to be identified talking about a private meeting. His advisers finally got "exasperated" with him, the source added. "He's not ready," Tasia Scolinos, Gonzales's public-affairs chief, told the A.G.'s top aides after the session was over, said the source. Asked for comment, Scolinos told NEWSWEEK: "This was the first session of this kind that we'd done."

What mystifies me is not how could Gonzales be so bad. What mystifies me is how does he bring in people to prep him who then turn around and tell Newsweek how bad he was? Shouldn't the Attorney General of the United States of America be able to surround himself with aides who can keep a secret and won't go off and make him look bad in the press for no obvious reason? I suppose it's possible Isikoff made it up but I doubt that since Gonzales's public-affairs chief seems to have been asked to comment and didn't deny anything. I suppose it's also possible that Gonzales did great in the sessions and this is a lie to try and lower expectations for his appearance…but then why isn't he making any live appearances before that?

Seriously. Can't the Attorney General of the U.S. control leaks from his own private rehearsals?

Johnny Hart, who created the comic strips B.C. and The Wizard of Id, and who drew the former has died at the age of 76. This press obit does not cite a cause, nor does it tell much about his two highly successful newspaper strips.

For the record, B.C. started on February 17, 1958 and was a slow but steady success. Later, he launched The Wizard of Id, which was drawn by Brant Parker. That strip started on November 9, 1964. They were both very clever strips that attained high circulation figures…though I always took issue with some of Hart's loftier claims in that regard. He and his syndicate took to claiming at one point that the two strips' combined circulations made him the most widely-read author on the planet. That's a ridiculous claim, though he got some reporters to believe it…and then later cited them as authorities who confirmed it to be so.

Having said all that, I must say that I have a shelf full of B.C. and Wizard of Id paperback collections and they're strips that often made me laugh out loud. I also have two originals of the latter on my wall, not so much for the drawing but because there was something enormously fun about the feature and the characters in it.  There were times when his religious-themed strips seemed to suggest contempt and intolerance for those who did not share his views.  But when he was funny, which was often, he was funnier than just about anyone.

Some women don't want anyone to know their age. Not my mother. For months now, she's practically been stopping strangers on the street to tell them she's going to be 85 years old on April 8. And if they try to correct her to "85 years young," as many of them do, she corrects them right back and tells them 85 is old. Since no one who tries to convince her otherwise is that age, she speaks with authority on the subject.

This evening, the celebration will include taking her to dinner at the restaurant of her choice. I won't attempt to influence her decision except maybe to note that that new Angus Burger at McDonald's sure looks tempting. In honor of the day, I may even let her Super-Size her fries.

Happy 85, Mrs. Evanier. I hope when I'm that age, I'm as happy about it.

Next time you're in McCarran Airport in Las Vegas and you decide to rent a car, you're in for a surprise. All the rental counters at the airport are gone. All that action has been moved to a new building about three miles away. Now, those seeking to rent cars will instead pile on one of the constantly-running shuttle buses that take them to the McCarran Rent-A-Car Center. There, eleven auto rental agencies are up and operating in a 1.7 million-square-foot structure that includes parking for 6,000 vehicles. That's about the same amount of enclosed space as the Empire State Building. The facility also boasts one of the world's largest gas stations with no less than 125 pumps.

The eleven car rental companies there are Advantage/US, Alamo, Avis, Budget, Dollar, Enterprise, Hertz, National, Payless, Savmor and Thrifty.

When you return your rental car, of course, it works in reverse. You go to the Rent-A-Car Center, turn it in and ride one of the forty shuttle buses back to the air terminal. You can also check your baggage at the Rent-A-Car Center for some airlines.

Sounds like a nice idea…and I'm betting that if they don't have slot machines in the place now, they will soon. And someplace to eat. And then maybe they can get some Elvis impersonators and showgirls and pretty soon, you won't have to rent the car. You can just stay there for your entire vacation.

One of our favorite comedians, Lewis Black, just completed a pilot for a new TV series. Our friends at TV Squad were there to cover it.

Today and tomorrow, we feature a two-part video link that will detail the amazing displacement of Little Lulu with Little Audrey. I know most of you have been wondering about this since you were small toddlers and we're delighted to give you the answer. In Part One, we feature a Little Lulu cartoon entitled Bout With a Trout, which I only saw on TV about eight thousand times when my age was in the single digits. This cartoon came out on October 10, 1947 and the main non-singing voice work was reportedly done by Cecil Roy, about whom I know nothing.

Little Lulu was created by cartoonist Marjorie Henderson Buell, aka "Marge," and first appeared in a single panel cartoon in The Saturday Evening Post on February 23, 1935. A series of cartoons followed and Lulu also began appearing in advertising cartoons for Pepsi-Cola and Kleenex paper products. For a long time, she was in all the ads for Q-Tips and numerous promotional items that you could get by mail if you sent in the coupons from a couple of boxes of those cotton swabs. In 1943, looking to replicate the success of its Popeye cartoon series, Paramount Pictures obtained the rights and had its cartoon division, Famous Studios, produce a string of Little Lulu shorts like the one we feature today.

The cartoon features the song, "Swinging on a Star," which was written by Johnny Burke and Jimmy Van Heusen for the 1944 Paramount movie, Going My Way, where it was sung by Bing Crosby. As was not uncommon back then, the song came out as a record well before the film…in this case, in February of 1944. By the time the movie was released, which was in December Correction: May], Crosby's recording was a big, familiar hit. The tune later won the Academy Award for Best Song of its year. Paramount kept flogging it in other films and on the radio shows it controlled and in '47, they had it used in this Little Lulu cartoon. You may note that one of the singers is trying to sound a little like Mr. Crosby.

This was one of the last Little Lulu cartoons made by Famous Studios. The films were successful but when the contract expired, Paramount decided not to offer Marge more money to continue them. I'll tell you all about that tomorrow, plus I'll explain why the title cards on this print are so bland and don't mention Paramount Pictures. For now, here's the Little Lulu cartoon, starting with her theme song, which I always liked…

As we all know, there's nothing on this planet cuter than a baby panda. Here's an entire website full of photos and links to videos of pandas, many of them babies. Thanks to Gordon Kent, who's pretty cute but not as cute as a baby panda.

Several people have written me about this so I guess there's sufficient interest to warrant this posting. A large hunk of land in Hollywood is for sale and it's the parcel that includes the Magic Castle as well as a famous Japanese restaurant called Yamashiro. The ten acres of choice ground have been owned forever by a family called the Glovers. There's also a motel there as well as a lot of undeveloped land which someone may be able to put to profitable use. All eyes though are focused on an old mansion, the former Rollin B. Lane estate, which was built in 1908 and which was later, with many add-ons and modifications, turned into the Magic Castle. I'm a longtime member of the Castle and no, if I don't know you, don't bother writing me and asking if I'll give you a guest pass because I won't.

The Magic Castle, in case you live in a hole, is a private club for magicians or anyone who wants to pay the membership fee. It's an old house full of exhibits and wonderful furnishings and architecture, and there are showrooms in which some very talented people perform the Linking Rings and occasionally other tricks. There's also a restaurant which used to be kinda so-so and mediocre but which has been upgraded to the point where some folks think it's pretty good. You get dressed up (jackets and ties for men at night) and go up there and see great magic and eat and wander around and look at things and no, like I said, I won't give you a guest pass if I don't know you. It's enormous fun.

The articles about the possible sale (like this one) are a little vague on the relationship but here's all you need to know: The Castle is operated by a group called The Academy of Magical Arts and for years, it has leased the structure from the Glovers. Not long ago, there was a crisis period during which it looked like the future of the Castle, at least in that precious building, was threatened. That all got settled and a lot of members rejoiced in the news that the continued presence of the Magic Castle seemed assured. I would imagine they're not happy to have this new uncertainty arise, especially so soon after.

As far as I can tell, no one knows if there'll be a buyer and if so, what that party might want to do about the Magic Castle. The buyer(s) may even be the Magic Castle folks, themselves. This is all a little new and fuzzy.

If you want to make an offer — no price has yet been mentioned — here's a link to the realtor's listing, which includes lots of photos and history. If the photos of the Castle make you yearn to visit, just remember what I said about guest passes.

I haven't put one of these up in a while. It's another one of the Superman cartoons produced by the Max Fleischer cartoon studio. This is The Bulleteers, which was released on March 27, 1942.

I don't have much to say about this one except that back when I was a kid, there was an extended period when you couldn't turn on Engineer Bill's Cartoon Express on Channel 9 without seeing The Bulleteers. It got so he'd introduce it by saying, "And now, it's time for another Superman cartoon, which means we're probably showing The Bulleteers again." I'm not even sure Channel 9 had any other cartoons.

Also, you may note the name of Orestes Calpini in the credits. Mr. Calpini was one of the better animators at the Fleischer Studio, responsible for some of the most memorable scenes of Popeye. He also had a nice career drawing comic books, particularly the Punch & Judy comic published by Hillman.

And now here, as Engineer Bill would say, is The Bulleteers…

Here's a nice article about some of the new features that us TiVo people have or will soon have to enrich our TiVoing experiences. I had one of the first TiVos sold in this country and I'll have one of the last.

I dunno how it is where you shop but in the market where I go, all the food seems to be migrating into 100 calorie packs. I fully expect to go in there next time and see a box containing 100 calorie packets of Peanut M&M's. Each packet would contain about half a Peanut M.

This afternoon, I spotted 100 calories packs of Hostess Cupcakes. Hostess Cupcakes! I thought it was a joke but there they were in a big display at the end of an aisle, available in three varieties — chocolate cake, golden cake and carrot cake. They look like traditional Hostess Cupcakes but they're smaller and the company, obviously trying to keep the calories down, omits the famous squiggle. I always knew that the squiggle was where all the calories were.

Yes, of course, I bought a box…of the chocolate kind. Each box contains six packets and each packet contains three small cakes that collectively will put a mere hundred calories into your system. How were they? They were Hostess Cupcakes. How good or bad is that? The bakers (I'm using that noun loosely) apparently reconfigured the recipe a bit to lessen the unhealthy content — and of course, they got rid of the fattening squiggle. And then they made the cupcakes smaller. Each is about two bites. I think the question becomes whether the six bites you get in one of these packages would satisfy your craving for something sugary or if it would just make you hornier for a real Hostess Cupcake…or something better.

I'm in the former camp. Since my Gastric Bypass Surgery, I have much less of a sweet tooth. My sugar consumption is way, way down. In fact, I'll tell you a story about that, about how my intake of sugar actually plunged well before the surgery. I used to be one of those people who downed 3-6 cans of non-diet carbonated something per day — usually Pepsi during daylight hours and something non-caffeinated, like 7-Up or Canada Dry Ginger Ale, after dark.

February of 2006, as you may recall, I was briefly hospitalized. This had nothing to do with the Gastric Bypass I would have a few months later but at the time, I was on the waitlist and studying up on my impending stomach surgery…and one thing I'd learned was that after the procedure, I would need to eliminate all carbonated beverages and to lower my sugar intake. A nutritionist I'd met with emphasized that to me and said, "Do you think you can give up sodas?" And I replied, at least half-seriously, "If I could give up sodas, I wouldn't need the Gastric Bypass."

It turned out I could give them up. While I was in Cedars-Sinai for those four days, I had no Pepsi or anything of the sort, nor did I miss it. I'm not sure if it was because I was just lying there the whole time, not exerting myself and therefore not needing any energy boost. Or it may have been because nurses kept taking my blood sugar and bringing me either snacks or insulin depending on whether it was too low or too high. In any case, I had no soft drinks and when I got out, I decided to see how long I could refrain. It turned out that breaking that addiction was much easier than I'd imagined. CO2 bubbles have not crossed my lips since, nor have I missed them. It also turned out that I still needed the Gastric Bypass, which I had three months later. Lowering my sugar intake (or at least, the levels of High Fructose Corn Syrup) caused me to lose some weight but not enough.

I can still eat sugar but I consume and want a lot less of it. Cakes and candy just don't taste as wonderful as they once did and that's not a bad thing. In a way, the joy of them now is that the taste reminds me of earlier, better experiences. So the six bites of Hostess 100 Calorie Cupcakes are just fine, insofar as I'm concerned. They may work the same way for you.

Bruce Bartlett, who was one of the architects of "supply-side economics," says that the theory is being cited — wrongly — to justify a lot of tax cuts that aren't good for the economy.

I've linked before to clips of the late and lovely George Carl. Here's another. Mr. Carl spent around 65 years doing his act all around this and a few other continents. He could do it anywhere since it was all in mime and there was no human alive who couldn't laugh at it. This is Carl from one of his appearances on The Tonight Show and as you'll see at the end, Mr. Johnny Carson was a huge fan of his.

Here's a list of names. Guess what these people have in common. No, on second thought. Don't bother. You won't be able to guess. I'll tell you what they have in common after you scan the list.

• Johnny Carson
• Bob Hope
• Frank Sinatra
• Dean Martin
• Mel Blanc
• Jim Backus
• Stan Laurel
• Bud Abbott
• Buster Keaton
• Oliver Hardy
• Lou Costello
• Buddy Hackett

Okay, yes, they're all dead but that's not the answer I'm looking for. Here's the answer: They all apparently have money being held for them by the Screen Actors Guild department that collects residuals. Their names all turn up on this database on the SAG website. The union collects this money and is supposed to forward it to the performer or if said performer is deceased, to the appropriate heirs. But sometimes they don't have an address and that's where the database comes in. If you're a member of SAG or you know a member of SAG or you know someone who's a relative of a deceased member of SAG, go to the database, enter their name and if it's in there, let someone know.

This does not just apply to biggies like Carson and Sinatra. My friend Earl Kress and I just entered the names of every cartoon voice actor we could think of. In addition to Mel Blanc and Jim Backus, the database says they're holding cash for Daws Butler, Don Messick, Alan Reed, Paul Winchell, Bill Scott, Jackson Beck, Jack Mercer, Mae Questel, Syd Raymond, Jean Vander Pyl, Vance Colvig, Thurl Ravenscroft, Paul Frees, Lennie Weinrib, Walker Edmiston, Howard Morris and Sterling Holloway. Earl and I are going to alert the heirs of some of those folks but if you're in contact with any of them, by all means, be our guest.

You might caution them, by the way: It could be a lot of money or it could be almost nothing. Some people are going to go to the trouble of calling SAG and/or downloading and filling out forms in order to receive a check for three dollars or thereabouts. But I'll bet some of them have tidy sums waiting.

The problem may puzzle some of you. Why can't SAG find Bob Hope's family? The Hopes operate a website. There's still a Bob Hope estate that produces projects and controls the rights to what he owned. Okay, so the current address they have for Frank Sinatra is no good. Don't they have one for Frank Jr. or Nancy? And the answer is that it's probably a drawback to the age of computers. Back when human beings handled all this stuff, someone could figure that out. SAG needs to do what some other unions, including the Writers Guild, have sometimes done, which is to hire a few people to just work the phones and play Detective. It's probably a pretty formidable task however, given the size of the SAG membership, past and present.

It may also puzzle some of you that so many addresses would be no good. The widow of Daws Butler still lives in the same home where she and Daws lived since the sixties. Why doesn't SAG have that address? I'm just speculating here but I'd guess that near the end of his life, Daws had his agent's or business manager's address listed with the union. That address is now invalid — Daws's last agent died years ago — and no one at SAG has done any legwork to find the Butler home address, which they could get from any number of sources. That is, if they had anyone or even enough people assigned to do that.

And let me emphasize that though I'm talking here so far about deceased actors, the database is full of people who are alive. I'm going to call some of the ones I know over the next few days but, to quote Regis Philbin (who does not seem to have any money due him), I'm only one man. In particular, we oughta try to notify the performers who could really use it.

I'm thinking of one particular veteran character actor who I believe is now homeless and on the streets. Or at least he was a few years ago when I used to occasionally see him in my neighborhood. I tried once to slip him some cash but he refused it because I made the mistake of greeting him by name before offering. At least, I think that was his reason. I sure got the feeling that if he hadn't known I knew who he was, he would have grabbed the loot. Anyway, I haven't seem him in some time but his name is in the database. I'm not sure what can be done to get him whatever money they have for him — that is, assuming he's still around. But if he is, I'll bet he could sure use it.

Thanks to James H. Burns who wrote to remind me about this database. I'd been meaning to link to it and also to the much smaller Writers Guild Undeliverable Funds database to see if we could help get some of these bucks to the right people. If you're in or around what they call "The Industry," take a look and see if you can help a friend.