A dozen or more of you have told me about Paul Kelly, who killed a man in a fight in 1927. He was convicted of manslaughter, served two years in prison, then returned to acting with some success.

Tom Neal, the actor who starred in the film noir classic Detour, shot and killed his third wife in 1965. He was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and served six years of a ten-year sentence before he was paroled.

There's also Christian Brando, if you want to call him a celebrity. I'm not sure any of these men quite live up to that title. I guess it depends how you to define it. I don't think it's just a matter of having appeared on stage or screen. I think it has something to do with being famous and successful. The fact that these are all we've been able to identify makes the point that "celebrities" (by the successful/famous definition) do not get convicted of murder.

So now I guess the question is: Is it that such people are way less likely than the average joe to commit capital crimes? Or less likely to get caught or convicted if they do?

Don Murphy reminds me that John Wilkes Booth wasn't put on trial for shooting Abe Lincoln. Booth was tracked down and killed by Union soldiers twelve days after his foul deed.

So we're left with Spade Cooley and Phil Spector as the only two known celebrities to be convicted of murder. I suppose one could argue that neither was that much of a celebrity at the moment of their respective killings. Then again, neither was O.J.

You'll want to tune in Stu's Show this coming Wednesday. Stu's guest will be Marc McClure, who played Jimmy Olsen in all the Superman movies that featured Christopher Reeve. But that's hardly all he's done. He was in several Back to the Future movies. He was in I Wanna Hold Your Hand and Used Cars and Freaky Friday and he's been on Smallville and Happy Days and The Shield and Cold Case and…well, you get the concept. He's been in a lot of things…and now he's appearing with my pal Stu Shostak for a live two-hour conversation, and he'll even be taking your phone calls.

A broadcast of Stu's Show is, as I keep telling you, not a podcast. You can't download it and listen to it whenever you want. You have to "tune in" when it's on…which in this case is from 4 PM to 6 PM Pacific Time, 7 PM to 9 PM Eastern. It's live on Wednesday and that's the best time to listen because, among other reasons, you can call in and ask questions. You can hear the show on your own little computer by appearing at the website of Shokus Internet Radio at the proper hour and clicking where you're told to click. The show reruns on other days, usually in the same time slot. Check out the site for a full schedule.

From the L.A. Times report on the verdict in the Spector case…

Asked to recall the last celebrity convicted of murder, district attorney's office spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said, "I know there has not been one in the last 40 years and beyond that, I cannot say."

A friend wrote to say he was looking forward to seeing what I had to say about the Phil Spector verdict. Well, how about that it's nice when the system seems to work like it's supposed to? Spector was not a man who should have been allowed to roam about free and probably hasn't been one for a long time. One audio engineer I know who had worked with him said, just after Lana Clarkson was murdered, "I'm very surprised."

All of us who heard him say that were surprised that he was surprised…until he added, "I'm surprised it took him this long to kill somebody."

I met Lana Clarkson a few times. She occasionally came to comic-type conventions and she'd briefly dated a friend of mine. She seemed like a lovely, lively individual. I didn't know her well but folks who did say that the notion she'd committed suicide was an outrageous fabrication on the part of Spector's lawyers.

It was slimy but probably to be expected. What else could they say? If Spector had been poorer, he probably would have had to settle for a quick plea bargain and — who knows? — he might have wound up with a lighter sentence. But he had the bucks to mount an all-out defense so he got one. His attorneys couldn't very well argue that someone else had slipped into the house and shot her. Not with that limo driver waiting outside. So by the process of elimination, they had to argue that Lana killed Lana…and they worked backwards from there, spinning madly and trashing the victim. I wonder if they ever considered trying to pin it on the limo driver.

Sentencing is set for late May. I can't imagine how the lawyers can argue that the maximum sentence is inappropriate but I'm sure they'll come up with something.

Dick Cavett has posted another remembrance of the great magician Slydini, as well as another video of a show in which the master manipulator demonstrated his skill. You don't know what sleight-of-hand is 'til you see this man at work.

Looks like I'm not going on that killing spree.

Rats. I was kinda looking forward to it.

To all those who've asked: We're preparing our little campaign to help our pal Len Wein, who lost much of what he owns in a fire one week ago. In a day or three, I'll be opening a web page to try and collect copies of Len's work for him…extra copies you may have of comics he wrote. A lot of you have already written with generous offers and they're appreciated. The page will tell you how to follow through on those offers.

By the way: I spoke to Len about an hour ago and he and Chris seem to be doing okay. They're kinda overwhelmed by the sheer volume of things that have to be done but they're moving forward. In a day or three, they'll be moving into a rental home not far from their once and future dwelling. They might be in these temporary quarters for a year. Len says he appreciates the outpouring of sympathy and friendship and I'm sure you'll be hearing that directly from him once things get a little more settled.