Today's Video Link

Here's an amazing TV relic…one you might actually want to watch all or most of, even though it's a two-hour show, albeit with most of the commercials removed…

In 1963, back when it was the "try anything" network, ABC offered Jerry Lewis what was at the time, one of the richest deals in the history of television. The result was The Jerry Lewis Show, a live (LIVE!) two-hour Saturday night series that was founded on the following premise: Jerry, being so talented, could work all week on his movies for Paramount…then Saturday evening, he could show up at a theater in Hollywood and host a two-hour talk/variety show with almost no prep, ad-libbing his way through the program.

It was a "firm" two-year commitment but it wound up lasting thirteen very painful weeks. The above premise proved to be faulty but there were other problems. ABC bought and completely refurbished a theater for the project but by opening night (September 21, 1963), the building wasn't ready and there were tech problems galore. Years later, I got to know John Dorsey, who directed it. Mr. Dorsey was a fine, experienced pro who still had nightmares of the broadcast you'll see if you click below.

Cameras went out. Cues were missed. Radio communication between the director and the crew went out. A big screen TV that was supposed to act as a monitor for the audience went out…and half the audience left because the sound system failed and they couldn't hear the show. Steve Allen, who was a "surprise" guest, went home that night and wrote a parody of the program and did it on his own show the following week…a whole sketch of every conceivable thing that could go wrong going wrong.

I previously linked to a video of a later episode and wrote about all this to introduce it. Now, if you're yearning to see almost two hours of Jerry Lewis Flop Sweat, you can witness it for yourself. It's in ten parts which should play sequentially in the viewer I've skillfully embedded below. As you'll see, in the early part of the show, they thought it would be funny to make intentional mistakes…getting Jerry's name wrong in the opening announce, having the crew (which he insisted all be in tuxedos) crowd around him, etc. At some point, the unintentional mistakes crowded out the planned ones…

VIDEO MISSING

Peace Pipeline

Glenn Greenwald writes about a deal that seems to have been brokered 'twixt Fox News and MSNBC to tone down the attacks some on each channel have hurled at the other. In particular, says Greenwald, Keith Olbermann has toned down his mentions of Bill O'Reilly in light of this new understanding.

That might not sound improper and if it had been done for the sake of civility, it might even be admirable. But Greenwald says it was done because the invective seemed to be harming the corporate interests of the respective parent companies. One wonders if when he returns from vacation — this Monday, I believe — Mr. Olbermann will feel the need to prove he is not a signatory to this deal.

Today's Video Link

This is my buddy Marv Wolfman on a local TV show in San Diego during the Comic-Con. Marv was up way too early and faced with not-the-most-relevant questions but he did a good job.

What I really wish I could embed was a clip of the time Marv was on The Joe Franklin Show in New York. Marv had written a special Teen Titans comic book on the subject of teen drug use. As I recall, he was against it. Anyway, the issue got a lot of publicity and Marv was asked to do many talk shows because of it. I have no idea how he wound up on Mr. Franklin's program, which dealt mainly with nostalgia and old show biz.

Now, you have to picture this. Marv is about 33 years old (I'm guessing) and Joe Franklin is his usual age, which is a hundred and twenty-seven. Mr. Franklin has zero interest in comic books, drugs, titans or even teens…but being an old pro, he fires a few questions at Marv, then a few at this other guests, then a few more at Marv, then a few more at the other guests…

And it's finally getting down near the end of the show, which is live. Someone signals Franklin that he has time for one more question so he turns to his young comic book writer guest. "Marv Wolfman," he says. "Eddie Cantor…any anecdotes?"

He actually said that. Here's an appearance by Marv that went a little better than that one…

VIDEO MISSING

Go Read It!

This is from last November but I just now saw it. It's a profile of Teller (of Penn &…) by Richard Abowitz.

Vocal Boys Make Good

Several news sources (like this one) are reporting that the voice cast of Futurama has signed on for the new series. Congrats to the actors…and to everyone involved with the show, since they now have a good shot at making it a success. For reasons I explained here, it was always extremely unlikely that they wouldn't make a deal with the talent…but it's always nice to get these things resolved.

Semi-Colan

Here's a report on two panels that I did at Comic-Con…two panels which miraculously turned into one long one.

Recommended Reading

A lot of folks seem to have forgotten but we still have a war going in Iraq, albeit one we're on the verge of ending. Fred Kaplan tells us what's going on there.

Recommended Reading

Joe Conason on the strategy some are employing to try and block health care reform in this country. It's called Lying…and hey, it worked the last time.

Today's Video Link

An excerpt from this year's Quick Draw! at the Comic-Con International…

At the Comic-Con…

Post-con Recovery seems to have sapped my blogging muscles, making it hard to get back to a normal routine here. Spending the better part of a day trying to install Adobe Creative Suite 4 on my computer didn't help, either. So my apologies that things have been slow. I do have some tales from the Comic-Con International to tell, starting (in non-chronological sequence) with what I did, first thing Saturday morn…

That was when we filled the largest hall upstairs, as usual, for the annual Quick Draw! This is the event I do where three speedy cartoonists create drawings right in front of a live audience, based on challenges hurled at them by Yours Truly. Among the "games" I've invented for this is one called Secret Words. I enlist some friend in the audience to be the contestant, occasionally against his will. I have these prepared cards, each of which contain three words that I think will be difficult to convey via drawings. One of the cards is shown to the cartoonists and to the audience. Only the contestant does not know what the three words are. He must guess them, one at a time, based on wordless sketches that the cartoonists create.

I hauled my buddy Len Wein up to play. Len had a devil of a time guessing the first one, which was BLANK. The cartoonists sketched their hearts out: Floyd Norman (this year's special guest Quick Draw! artist) drew a gun firing a question mark. Scott Shaw! (a regular) drew Mel Blanc. Sergio Aragonés (arguably the star of the show) drew a blank check and that's how Len finally got it. His other two words — HUMIDITY and FLOAT — went down a bit smoother.

Another frequent contestant is another buddy of mine, Peter David. Peter was sitting up front and to my surprise, Sergio announced that he had a one word challenge for Peter. He had a word that he wanted to try to convey to Peter via a drawing. Okay, fine. I got Peter up and had him turn his back to the screen as Sergio displayed the word. It turned out to be AVUNCULAR which, by the way, he did not spell correctly. The audience laughed at the notion that such an obscure word could be transmitted by a drawing.

The challenge began. Sergio drew a tiny leaf. Peter instantly guessed, "Avuncular!" And everyone howled at the fact that I had been hoaxed. They'd set it up in advance.

Fortunately, I was prepared for revenge. It had dawned on me a few days earlier that it might be funny, should the mood be apropos, to play a trick on one of our contestants. One of the word lists I'd prepped was no list at all. It just said, "THERE IS NO LIST. DRAW ANYTHING." I announced that we would now have Peter play the game and I showed the audience the "list" he would have to guess. The audience enjoyed that and they really enjoyed the look on Peter's face as the cartoonists drew random images with no connection to each other. To his credit, he figured out what was going on after a bit of stark horror, then expertly knocked off a "real" list that consisted of CHILI, INVISIBLE and SECRET.

Later on, we tried something new for Quick Draw! I got three cartoonists up from the audience — Bobby London, Stan Sakai and Dougie McCoy — and I had them…well, wait. I'll show you how it went in Today's Video Link, which oughta be the next thing posted here.

Today's Video Link

My friend/partner Sergio Aragonés is interviewed at that thing we all just went to…

The Con

I won't tell you what a great time I had because if you weren't there, you don't need to hear that and if you were there, you had your own great time. But I'll serialize some memories and anecdotes over the next few days.

Please, folks: I am not the Complaint Department for the Comic-Con, nor has anyone sent me a complaint with which I agree, let alone one I could do anything about. Yeah, it's crowded…and you know what? It's going to be crowded next year, too. If that's going to bother you, go somewhere else where it isn't crowded — like a Rob Schneider Film Festival or something.

That said, I do think there are a couple of things that could be done to unclog the aisles. There are always a couple of booths that stage giveaway games that seem calculated to gather a mob in the rows. Those exhibitors oughta be forced to either buy larger displays (so the fans can be within) or to stop doing that. And you could fit another thousand people in that hall if you limited the size of the giveaway bags some exhibitors give out.

We seem to have a new round of rumors that the con is moving to Las Vegas. I still do not believe that will ever happen but I'll spare you the ninety reasons why. Here's one, though: Yesterday, the National Weather Service issued an excessive heat warning for the city, announcing that temperatures were expected to reach 113°. Meanwhile, it was 73 in San Diego.

I'm behind on all sorts of stuff so posting will be light for a while. But we'll get back to normal around here, soon. Just as soon as I figure out what "normal" is.

Where I'll Be…and Where I Won't

Tomorrow night (Wednesday), the Aero Theater in Santa Monica will be screening a new documentary, The Legends Behind the Comic Books, directed by Chip Cronkite. It's a collection of interviews with writers and artists who labored in the so-called Golden and Silver Ages of Comics.

The Aero is located at 1328 Montana Avenue in Santa Monica, and the film starts at 7:30. Following it, there will be a live panel discussing the film and the era, and I will be part of that panel. After that, the Aero will conclude its double feature by screening the animated feature, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm.

Earlier in the evening, there's a signing at a bookstore across the street from the Aero. I had been announced as participating in that but for personal reasons, I have withdrawn. So don't blame the store for my non-appearance. It was my decision.