Category Archives: Uncategorized

There's late breaking news in the mystery surrounding the death of the chimpanzee alleged to be Cheetah from the Tarzan movies. Film at eleven.

A lot of guys my age were influenced to get involved in cars and/or cartooning by the work of the late Ed "Big Daddy" Roth. I wasn't one of them but there was a time back in school when I was asked by about half the campus to draw Roth's signature character, Rat Fink, on their book covers. Now that I think of it, I'm surprised no one has really merchandised the heck out of that weird-looking rodent. Anyway, it's been ten years since "Big Daddy" left us and his son has some nice remembrances.

Speaking of skepticism: As an old Nixon watcher, I'm inclined to disbelieve a forthcoming book that claims our resigned-in-disgrace president had a gay relationship with his friend, Bebe Rebozo. If the best evidence of this is what's in the articles so far, then there is no evidence and no reason to believe it. Someone tweeted John Dean to ask his opinion and he wrote, "I'll look at the evidence when the book is published." I'll be shocked if he thinks there's anything to it and if he doesn't, I don't think I need to ponder the matter for another second.

And I'm sorry about the subject line but sometimes they just write themselves.

Cheetah, the chimp from the Tarzan movies, has passed away at the age of eighty…or so some say. Me, I'm skeptical. First off, there was more than one simian in the role and at least one or two have died before. Secondly, eighty is really, really old for a chimpanzee. It's old for a person too unless you're Abe Vigoda but it's really old for a chimp. Thirdly and by no means lastly, if you had an old chimp in captivity, might there not be a strong temptation to increase its value or attention by claiming it was Cheetah as opposed to some no-name ape?

Not to compare animals to child actors — though W.C. Fields often did — but there was once a widespread practice of folks lying and saying they had been kid players in the old Our Gang comedies. Until there was a book in print that documented who the players in those films actually were, this country was littered with frauds who claimed to have been Buckwheat or Porky or some character no one ever heard of. How could there not be some Cheetah impersonators out there? This article expounds on the suspicions.

Meanwhile, Paul Castiglia writes…

What do you think – will Cheetah make it into the "those we lost in 2011" Oscar montage?

Personally I think Cheetah is worthy of making it into the montage but I understand that by doing so the Academy opens themselves up to more criticism than usual for the (human) folks they'll inevitably leave out (as they do annually).

Yeah, that's it. Every year, the Academy receives angry or tearful letters and phone calls from folks whose recently-departed loved ones didn't get into the montage. In fact, I'm told some have proposed dumping the "In Memoriam" reel altogether because of that, though it'll probably remain. Still, how would you like to be the person who has to explain to some crying widow on the phone why a chimpanzee got in but her late husband didn't?

And they really don't want to get calls from people saying, "That's not the real Cheetah! I own [or more likely, owned] the real Cheetah!" I would think that controversy plus the other concern would freeze this alleged Cheetah out of the running.

Still, it would not surprise me if Oscar host Billy Crystal got some mileage out of this premise. He and his writers will probably play with it after the nominations are out and after they get finished writing the TEN song parodies he's going to have to do if he continues his tradition of singing about each film that's up for Best Picture. Remember that when he hosted in the past, there were only five nominees in that category and now there are ten. We could be there for some time.

Robert Reich predicts Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden will swap jobs. She'll be Obama's running mate in 2012 and Biden will become Secretary of State in their cabinet if they win. It makes sense, I guess, but so do a lot of things that don't happen.

Earlier this year, actor Robert Lesser spent a lot of time and energy trying to convince the Internet Movie Database that he was born in 1942, not 1938 like they said. He got nowhere so in September he wrote this open letter in the Hollywood Reporter, explaining that the IMDB had even rebuffed his offers to send copies of his birth certificate. Apparently in the age of Obama, even birth certificates aren't proof of anything. Anyway, I just came across his open letter and naturally I had to go look…and was pleased to see that IMDB now says he was born October 22, 1942. Now if we could just get them to change that page that says that Pauly Shore is a comedian…

Some time in the late seventies, I wandered into a tiny comic book shop on Melrose Avenue here in Los Angeles. The sole employee was its owner, a large and friendly guy named Bill who had opened the place less than a month earlier. We got to talking and he wondered why I knew so much about comics but wasn't buying any of them. I explained that I had all the old ones he had in the store and the new ones were shipped to me each month by their respective publishers — for free. He said, "How do you arrange that deal?" I told him I wrote comics and he was startled. I was, he said, the first "pro" to come into his shop. I told him I wouldn't be the last and to prove it, the next day I brought Steve Gerber by.

Bill Liebowitz and I became friends. Later, we got into a little money dispute which ended that friendship and my visits to his store but I still liked the guy and I admired his skill as a retailer. He understood how to run a comic book store which was not the case with most folks who ran comic book stores in the early eighties. Golden Apple quickly moved from its small location on Melrose to a larger one a block away…and has since moved to yet another store on Melrose where it now resides. There was a time when it stood out as probably the best-run comic store in the country and I'm told it's continued that way since Bill passed away in 2004.

These days, comic shops have taken a serious hit because so many people sell comics on eBay. So that's why it's ironic — and sad in a way — to see that Golden Apple Comics is for sale on eBay. I like that the terms of sale specify "local pick-up only."

Each year on December 28, this blog notes the birthday of Stan "the Man" Lee, lord high guru of the Marvel Universe. I have had my differences with Stan over the years but last I looked, we were still friends and every time someone does a major bio on him, he asks the biographers to include me as a source and/or Talking Head. As anyone who has met him knows, he is a charming and witty man. I first met him in July of 1970 and if I'd been asked to create the ideal future for him — the life he would most enjoy — it would be a lot like what's happened to him the last decade or so. He's truly become a celebrity and a superstar. He couldn't be happier and those who love him couldn't be happier.

The other night, I was talking with Scott Shaw! (he spells it with the exclamation point) and I got to musing whether upon the passing of Joe Simon and Jerry Robinson, Stan now has seniority as the living person who's been in comics the longest. Scott reminded me of Sam Glanzman, who was drawing comics for Funnies, Inc. in late 1939. Then I reminded me of Sheldon Moldoff, who actually had work in Action Comics #1 (1938) and there are a few others from that era still kicking and kicking around. But only a few.

Stan, who turns 89 today, went to work for Timely Comics — the company now known as Marvel — in…well, that's a darned good question. In one of the many interviews I did with him, he said he went to work at Timely in 1939 and he's told others that so it's what's often reported. But he also told me in that same conversation that he read the first issue of Captain America before he started there. The first issue of Captain America was cover-dated March of 1941 and came out in December of 1940. I didn't catch the contradiction at the time but when I asked him about it later, all I got was "Oh, hell, I don't remember that far back." His first published work was a text story in Captain America #3 which would have been assembled around February of 1941 and I find it hard to believe that Stan went to work at the firm in '39 and didn't write anything for publication for more than a year. So I'm guessing around January of '41 — or around 71 years ago.

I love seeing how active he still is, scurrying around to meetings and appearances and signings and half a hundred projects. It's not that I want to be like that when I'm 89. I want to be like that now. So Happy Today, Stan. Hope you're enjoying middle age.

Dick Clark explains why he still does a live broadcast on New Year's Eve. I know there are some who find it depressing (and a bad way to ring in a new year) to see him struggling to speak after his stroke but my attitude is more like "Hey, if it helps him in any way, I can endure it." There are people like that in this world and they shouldn't hide away just because they make others uncomfortable. I also don't really watch Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve, though I somehow always wind up seeing a clip of his participation.

There are a couple of job offers in my past I turned down or had to turn down and now sorta regret. One was to write on the Jerry Lewis Telethon. I was busy that year, figured it would probably be offered again…and it wasn't. Another was to go to Vegas on New Year's Eve and help produce a live telecast, competitive with Mr. Clark's, that would emanate from there.

That particular setup just sounded like a nightmare of crowds and logistic problems…and when I later talked to the guy who accepted the job I passed on, I learned I was right. That one I don't regret skipping but one year, Dick (with whom I'd worked, both as a writer for his shows and as a producer on a show where we hired him) asked me to get involved with his New Year's broadcast.

It meant working on the music segments that were all pre-taped in October — when the acts were available and not charging what they charge to perform on New Year's Eve — with the hosts saying, "And now, let's cut to Dick Clark in Times Square and see what's happening there. Dick, what's the mood like in New York tonight?" And while this was being taped in L.A., Dick was just off-camera. Then 12/31, Dick and I would fly to New York at the last possible minute, do the live remote from the rooftop, then fly back almost immediately.

I remember being amazed at how close he cut it, given that he had to be on the air live at a specific time…and it was not a time when travel in and out of the Times Square area was likely to be a breeze. If I absolutely had to be on a rooftop there at the moment the new year commenced, I think I'd have flown to New York a few days before, checked into that hotel and not left it until the telecast…then flown home a few days later.

Dick's itinerary that year called for getting to his N.Y. hotel (a few blocks from where the chosen rooftop was located) around 4 PM on the last day of the year, making his way to the building somewhat later, then getting back to his hotel after the broadcast and flying home first thing the morning of January 1. I think it was like an 8 AM flight. Thinking back, it now sounds like it might have been a fun adventure but when it was offered, I somehow didn't imagine it that way.

Again, I was busy at the time and I figured (wrongly), "They'll ask me again some other year." No, sometimes they don't. Always a good thing to remember.

Anyway, I really liked Dick Clark. I didn't like his idea of how to pay people but I liked him. If going to New York each year to do those few minutes on the air cheers him up or gives him an incentive to stick with his physical therapy, I'm all for it. I'd be very happy to tune in live and see him if it looked like he was making good progress and was sounding more like Dick Clark.

Well, let's recap. The TiVo people have been promising for some time they'd release a new model of TiVo that would handle HD signals from a DirecTV satellite, which is what I got. They promised and they promised and after so many delays, no one took them seriously. When they recently promised it by the end of 2011, no one believed it would happen…but they made it, almost. The THR22 is not out in the sense that you can actually get your claws on one but you can place an order with delivery promised in January.

Whether you'd want to or not is another question. Many features we've seen on recent non-satellite TiVos are absent, including several that seem like deal-killers to me. This comparison chart from the folks at WeaKnees (a great place to buy TiVos or get yours repaired) shows what it does and what it doesn't do. I won't be ordering one and given how long it will likely be before another model emerges, I'm seriously considering a switchover from DirecTV to Time-Warner Cable. This is not a decision to be made lightly but that's how I'm leaning at the moment.

Some of the best times I've spent in Las Vegas have involved one of my favorite comedians, Pete Barbutti. I haven't seen Pete lately, onstage or backstage, but many years ago, I used to visit him both places. He's a great storyteller and a very funny man. One evening, I sat in his dressing room at the old Paddlewheel and heard anecdote after anecdote up to the moment when he had to go out and perform. I followed him and watched from the wings.

It was a terrible night — a rainy Sunday during one of those weeks when the town was dead. The Paddlewheel wasn't doing so well even on good nights which is why it ain't there no mo. It was sold and renamed, sold and renamed, sold and renamed, etc. Last time I looked, the building was called the Clarion but give it a few months. It'll be something else before long. Anyway, Pete went out and there were about ten people in the house and they weren't laughing at anything. I mean, nothing.

After about the tenth joke was greeted with the faint sound of slot machines out in the casino, Pete turned to the audience and said, "Excuse me for one moment." He turned, walked over to me in the wings and whispered, "I'd tell Security to throw them out but I have the feeling Security threw them in here." Then he went back out and worked a little harder…and by God, he finally got most of them laughing. An amazing comedic feat.

I've linked before to Kliph Nesteroff's interviews. He goes around and talks with comedians — some you've heard of, some you haven't — and posts these wonderful conversations. They're all worth your time but I wanted to note that he's just completed a four-parter with Mr. Barbutti. Here's a link to Part One and after you devour that, go on to Part Two, Part Three and Part Four. Then check out some of Kliph's other interrogations which you can see listed in the margins of his pages. Great stuff.

Here's a review of a movie you may be glad Santa did not bring you for Christmas. It's the starring vehicle for Morey Amsterdam and Rose Marie that we've discussed on this blog in days of yore.

Justin Alexander joins in the discussion of how rows are numbered in theaters…

I have never encountered all three of those features in the same venue, but I have encountered them separately while working as an usher. Or, more commonly, what happens when the venue doesn't do it.

Z -> NN: People see "AA" on their ticket and they think "A = 1 = I'm sitting in the front row." Then, when they get to the theater and discover that this is not the case, they argue about it. You'd think the NN thing would cause the same problem if they thought they were sitting in row 14 only to discover they're in row 27, but apparently people don't get that emotionally invested in the idea of being "14 rows back."

I haven't actually seen a venue that skipped I or O, but I have had patrons tell me they can't find row I. Instead they'll say, "Here's H1, here's J1, and between them is seat 11." So while I think it would be exciting to sit in seat OO7, I suspect this is why they eliminated those rows.

With that being said, it probably backfires more often than not. When I worked in a venue which skipped a row letter in one section for completely unrelated reasons (because of how the seats were laid out), it would frequently result in people sitting in the wrong row because they predicted their row from a distance ("this is H, so four rows up should be L") and would end up one row off.

I often find it hard to find my row in a theater because the rows are so poorly labelled — microscopic placards that have sometimes been there for 50+ years and have faded over time. So if I'm heading for (let's say) Row "G" and I can read the label on row "M," I start counting from there. It occasionally gets me into the wrong row but only because the label on my row is illegible or the person in the aisle seat has his coat over it or something.

This is the time of year when carolers carol, sidewalk Santas go "ho ho ho" and folks on the 'net link to my Mel Tormé article.

Some actually don't link. Last year, quite a few just stole it, reposting it in full on their blogs or pages, sometimes without even crediting it to me. Over the years, at least a dozen sites have reposted it in a way that made it seem like the webmaster was telling a story that has happened to him. Most have seemed like innocent errors but last year, a right-wing blogger — on an "Impeach the Kenyan Socialist in the White House" blog that now seems to be defunct — posted it in full and claimed he was its author. I wrote to the guy and got back a message that basically said that since my site was so full of Godless Commie "hate America" propaganda and I was going to spend all eternity in Hell anyway, he had no qualms about stealing from me. Peace on Earth, Goodwill to Man.

It's the most-read piece of writing I have on the Internet and it even brought me nice messages from two of Mr. Tormé's kids, one telling me they'd heard him excitedly tell his side of the story and were glad to read my account. That alone makes me happier about it than all the other hits and links.

Are you following what Stephen Colbert's been up to in South Carolina? It's a bit complicated but this article explains a little about his offer to have his Super PAC underwrite the Republican presidential primary there. All he wants in return is naming rights (i.e., his name on it) and the inclusion of a certain non-binding referendum question. The battle goes on with this Guest Editorial that appeared with Colbert's byline in a leading South Carolina newspaper yesterday.