Category Archives: Uncategorized

Back in the days of theatrical short comedies, there was a very popular series of one-reelers starring George O'Hanlon as a luckless gent named Joe McDoakes. Mr. O'Hanlon is now probably best known as the voice of George Jetson, and before that, he was one of the busiest character actors in film and early television. And between 1942 and 1956, he made 63 Joe McDoakes shorts with titles like So You Want To Give Up Smoking and So You Want To Be A Detective. Whatever it was the title said you wanted to have happen, you could bet that Joe McDoakes would show you why he couldn't do it.

Now's your chance to own all of them…all 63 on six DVDs for forty bucks. It's part of the Warner Archive program whereby they sell plain vanilla DVDs (no fancy menus, no special features) of rarities from the vaults. Here's the link. I don't make anything off these but if you're a big Joe McDoakes fan, don't let that stop you. I have a hunch it'll be a long time before we see these get a fancier release.

Also of possible interest: Warner Archive has brought out a set of the last 52 Our Gang comedies — the ones made at MGM after the Hal Roach Studio sold the franchise. During the run, familiar faces like Spanky, Alfalfa and Darla exited the series as they outgrew it and new kids came along…to generally diminishing results. Still, there's some fun in these rarely-seen films…which also will probably not be available in any other way for a long time.

That's my pal Randy West on the left. Randy is a professional announcer and warm-up wizard specializing in game shows. He recently lent his talents to the new Newlywed Game for episodes yet to air, then returned to his regular gig in Las Vegas. There, he announces for the live version of The Price is Right (the one I wrote about here) and follows in the footsteps of the King of Game Show Announcers, the late Johnny Olson.

Somehow, Randy also found the time to write a book about his friend and idol — Johnny Olson, A Voice in Time. It's the story of a pioneer of early television. Johnny did zillions of hours of shows, good and bad, sometimes hosting but usually announcing. He was so facile at audience warm-ups that Jackie Gleason insisted on having his every show preceded by a Johnny Olson warm-up. That was relatively simple when Mr. Gleason did his shows from New York since that was where Johnny was then based. But then Gleason relocated to Miami Beach, Florida…and the show paid to fly Olson down each week to do the honors.

I've yet to read Randy's book on Johnny but he's an expert on the topic with a good understanding of how the job goes, so I'm eager to get a copy. If you're similarly eager, Randy's selling them over on this page of his website. You can also order your copy from the publisher or from Amazon. I get a little commission if you order from Amazon but if you order from Randy, you can get your copy autographed by him. Randy's site accepts PayPal or Plinko chips.

My initial reaction to Barack Obama's Nobel Prize was probably a lot like yours: "Uh, isn't this a little premature?" And I do think on some level, it was bestowed because the Nobel committee wasn't allowed to give out a negative award to the Bush administration for achieving the precise opposite of what this award was intended to honor.

But as I read all the different op-eds and viewpoints, I'm drifting to the view of folks like Joan Walsh and Juan Cole who think it makes sense. I also don't think it's a huge deal if the Nobel Prize is given to the undeserving. The world didn't end when Kissinger got one and that was like giving a humanitarian award to Hannibal Lector. The Nobel Prize is just the opinion of a bunch of people whose names we don't know and whose actions we don't care about the other 364 days of the year.

A couple of e-mails this morn remind me that I never mentioned here that Kirby: King of Comics also received an Eisner Award in San Diego in the category, "Best Comics-Related Book." But I was present at that convention and made the awkward, overlong acceptance speech there.

My book Kirby: King of Comics won two Harvey Awards last evening in a ceremony held at the Baltimore Comic-Con. One was in the category, "Best biographical, historical or journalistic presentation." The other was the "Special Award for Excellence in Presentation." Had I been present, I would have made two awkward, overlong acceptance speeches, much like the one I made in San Diego, thanking the family and many friends of Jack Kirby, Charlie Kochman and his fine crew at Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Neil Gaiman and all the folks who voted. And I would have added that it's pretty damn easy to put together a good-looking book of Jack Kirby art.

Police in San Diego have so far been unable to apprehend a serial bank robber. He's described as a man in his seventies who sometimes has an oxygen tank strapped to his back.

Steve Worth, over at the ASIFA Animation Archives, has posted a nice history of Alvin and the Chipmunks. He makes it sound like their maker, Ross Bagdasarian, started his recording career with "The Witch Doctor," then came up with the Chipmunks and never did anything else for records, which isn't so. But apart from that, it's a nice little summary of an impressive career, and there's some splendid artwork from The Alvin Show. I keep hearing that a complete DVD set of that fine series is coming out but it has yet to materialize. Someone oughta speed that process up the way David Seville sped up his voice.

So Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize for…what? The beer summit between that cop and the guy he hassled? I dunno. I'd probably say the prez deserves it just for not being George W. Bush and for putting at least a temporary end to so many (but alas, not all) of the destructive international policies we had for eight years. But really, I don't know why anyone has taken the Nobel Peace Prize seriously since they gave one to Henry Kissinger.

Happy birthday to the most Liberal cartoonist I know…Mike Peters, creator of Mother Goose & Grimm. And happy birthday to the most Conservative cartoonist I know…Russell Myers, creator of Broom Hilda. We've scheduled cake for 6 PM and the steel cage death match for 7. The weapon of choice will be India Ink at ten paces.

You may have received this. It's one of those "phishing" e-mails that tries to look official and to get you to disclose personal data that they can use to hijack your accounts. This one, which came to me the other day, struck me as setting some high achievement in presuming that there are computer users out there who are brain-dead stupid. Take a quick read…

Dear WEBMAIL ONLINE Owner,

This message is from the WEBMAIL TEAM users messaging center to all WEBMAIL ONLINE TEAM account owners. We are currently upgrading our web/data base and carrying out maintenances of all our e-mail accounts in order to reduce the rate of spam/scam mails. We are also deleting all unused WEBMAIL ONLINE TEAM account to create more space for new accounts.

To prevent your account from being closed unnecessarily, you will have to update us with the following informations below in order to know that it's a present used account and to also facilitate maintenance operation.

CONFIRM YOUR EMAIL IDENTITY BELOW
1.Full Email Address:________ 2.Password:________ 3.Country:_______4.Age:________5.Date of birth:______6.First name/Last name:____7.Security Question/Answer:______

Warning: Account owner that refuses to update his or her account within Seven days of receiving this warning will lose his or her account permanently.

Thank you for using WEBMAIL ONLINE TEAM.
Best Regard,
WEBMAIL ONLINE TEAM®.

Seriously: Are there people out there who'll fall for this? They'd have to start by not knowing the name of the service via which they get their e-mail, which is almost certainly not named Webmail Online. They'd have to overlook the typos and stilted grammar which suggest that this was not written by someone who speaks English as their primary language. They'd have to miss the fact that the sender is telling you that there's something wrong with your e-mail but needs you to supply your e-mail address. And of course, the premise here is that your e-mail account hasn't been used lately so you have to give them your password and security info to prove to the company that hosts that account that you still use it.

Oh, yeah…and a bit of Googling reveals that the return address is not someone at this Webmail Online company. It's the e-mail of a professor at the University of Dhaka in Bangla Desh. If you replied, you'd think your message was going to him but it would actually go to another address.

As a reminder: Not all phishing schemes are this obvious. Don't expect they'll all scream "fraud" as blatantly as this one does.

The man at right in the above photo is Warren Beatty in the title role of the movie, Dick Tracy. The man at left is Shel Dorf, who is usually referred to as the founder of the annual event now known as Comic-Con International. And he was, though nods should go to several other folks who helped invent that wonderful gathering. I met Shel in early 1970, months before the first convention, when it was not more than a dream he spoke of with great enthusiasm. We became instant friends and apart from a year there when a silly squabble drove us apart, we remained friends. Shel loved comics and it's easy to be friends with someone like that.

Alas, my friend is not well. For months now, he's been in a hospital in San Diego with a pretty long list of ailments including kidney failure and intermittent heart attacks. I don't like to write someone off while their heart is still beating but his condition is pretty bad. I visited him a few months ago and he was unable to speak or recognize me. The nurse on duty said he occasionally has better days.

Several of the folks who worked with Shel to start the convention have set up a website to honor his achivements. There's not a lot yet on the Shel Dorf Tribute website but there will be more, including a piece I'm preparing. But take a peek at what Mike Towry, Richard Alf and Barry Alfonso have to say so far. Those three guys were there at the beginning and they know the magnitude of Shel's contribution.

As I mentioned, I spent Monday and part of Tuesday in Muncie, Indiana, meeting with Jim "Garfield" Davis and his fine staff. When I got home, I found a message from Paul Stadinger, a reader of this site, alerting me to a recent interview with Jim. It'll tell you where I was and a little about what it was like. I even got to watch Jim and his mother play their little game with the salt shaker. She won.

If you want to see what a bunch of angry Pee-wee Herman fans can be like, read the comments posted to this newspaper item.

We changed planes in Chicago and with limited time, I had the choice of eating or blogging. You lost out, folks. Sorry. I am now back home in my comfy computer chair in Los Angeles.

Great trip. Mid-Ohio-Con is one of the friendliest conventions I've attended the last few years…big enough that there's plenty to see and do, not so big that you feel overwhelmed by it. It reminds me in many ways of the early San Diego Cons. Those of you who lament the current size of Comic-Con International and wish it were as it used to be would do well to consider a trip next year to Mid-Ohio-Con. I liked the con. I liked the hotel. I liked the meals — B.D.'s Mongolian Barbecue and Five Guys, especially. I liked the side trip to Muncie while Carolyn and her friend Maggie Thompson plumbed the vaults of the comic collection at Ohio State University. I even liked my rental car with the Hertz NeverLost™ system.

There will be much catching-up in the days to come.

We're coming to you via the free wi-fi at the airport in Columbus, Ohio. Why? Because we have a half-hour and because we can. Mid-Ohio-Con was great…but then it always is, for reasons I'll try to articulate later. That ended Sunday and on Monday, my fellow convention guest Gregg Berger and I drove to Muncie, Indiana…the Garfield capitol of the world. For many years now, I've been writing and voice-directing Garfield cartoons and Gregg has been providing the voice of Odie, Squeak the Mouse and other bizarre denizens of the cat's world. I'd been to the offices before (many times) but it was the first time Odie Gregg had visited. Jim Davis is a gracious employer/host and we had a fine time, meeting and dining…and even hearing tales of Jim's old college buddy at Ball State University, David Letterman. A lot of folks think Jim made his fortune by creating the world's most successful newspaper strip but that was small change compared to what he's made blackmailing Dave.

Carolyn, Gregg and I are flying back to L.A. by way of Chicago. We change planes at Midway Airport and you'll hear from me then if (a) we have sufficient time betwixt flights and (b) they have free wi-fi and I can get it working.