One point I may not have made clear in yesterday's post about the Screen Actors Guild is that SAG will be asking its members for a Strike Authorization Vote, not a Strike Vote. The difference may turn out to be moot but maybe not. Essentially, the authorization is a show of solidarity, a way of saying, "If you keep refusing to negotiate, we will strike." In theory, if the Strike Authorization Vote is high enough, it will intimidate the AMPTP into improving the offer that's been on the table, largely unchanged, since July.

So before the ballots are due, SAG will make the following argument to its members: If enough of you vote to authorize a strike, that will scare the studios into bettering the deal…and a strike will not be necessary. Friends of mine in SAG seem unsure as to how effective that argument will be. Certainly, the AMPTP will presume that not everyone who votes for the Strike Authorization is willing to carry a picket sign for months or even weeks in lieu of working. But the AMPTP is also aware that any sort of labor stoppage by actors is going to cost the industry an awful lot of money.

The Strike Authorization Vote empowers the negotiators. It gives the SAG Board the ability to call a strike if the bargaining committee recommends it as necessary. Usually, alas, it is.

The AMPTP will, of course, say "This is a bad time to strike." During the '88 Writers Guild strike, I was present when the producers' chief negotiator, the aptly-named Nick Counter, said that. I couldn't help asking aloud, "Say, when would be a good time to strike?" Because to the bosses, any time is a terrible time for a strike. They're like Republicans saying, "This is a bad time to raise taxes." When I said what I said, Mr. Counter chuckled. A lot of what these guys say and do is to them, merely a matter of how the game is played and everyone knows it.

The studios will make the point that actors will lose X million dollars a week every week that they strike…and that's usually true to some extent. Strikes are generally only cost-effective when you factor in the loss you suffer if you lose the ability to say no to a really rotten deal. In this case though, SAG is being offered a really rotten deal. There's no way to really crunch the numbers because there's no way of knowing how many weeks of striking will equal what kind of better deal. The stakes are such that even leaving aside future rollbacks if the union collapses, this particular strike may well be cost-effective and to many, necessary.

I hope it doesn't come to a strike because we've had enough economic chaos in this town — blame for which I lay wholly at the feet of Mr. Counter and his minions — but it might. And if it does, I hope SAG has the fellowship and unity of purpose to not inflict a half-assed, half-hearted effort on itself and the industry. That union turned out in droves for the writers when we were out there with the cardboard signs, and I expect we'll all be out there for them. But I still don't have a good feeling about how all this is going to end.

Forrest J Ackerman is the gent who edited Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine. He's a lifelong authority and devotee in the area of horror movies and science-fiction, and is credited with coining the term, "sci-fi." He's been an agent, a writer, an editor, an actor, a lecturer and a professional fan. And for much of the last decade, friends of his have been telling everyone he's about to die.

That has never seemed unlikely. Forry was born a long time ago in 1916 (you do the math) and he's been in and out of hospitals a lot the last ten years. In May of 2002, for example, Locus — the preeminent news source for the science-fiction community — reported he'd had a heart attack and was not expected to recover. He recovered. Seriously, I've lost track of the number of times I've been told or emailed to get my Forry obit ready because the ol' Ackermonster, as some call him, couldn't possibly last out the month. I think he's now outlived at least one person who told me that.

About three weeks ago, an email was circulated that told us all that this was it…it was a matter of days…any minute now. He couldn't possibly make it until his 92nd birthday.

Well, guess what. Today is Forry Ackerman's 92nd birthday and as far as I know, he's still with us. So we wish him a happy one and at the same time, I've decided I'm not falling for this any longer. As far as I'm concerned, he's not going.

A lot of us have wondered for many years just what it was that George W. Bush and his crew thought they were going to accomplish in Iraq. What would be achieved that would make it worth all the deaths, all the shattered lives and limbs, all the money?

In an interview recorded for Japanese TV today, Bush said the Iraq War was a "success" and that he was "very pleased" with what's happening there. So apparently, that's the answer. We did it all to get what we're going to get.

It's just been announced that Young Frankenstein will close on Broadway as of the January 4th performance. There had been rumors that its producers were negotiating with Cloris Leachman to come in and recreate her film role as Frau Blücher (click here for horse whinny) but either those rumors were false or they couldn't come to terms…or maybe grosses are so low that the producers decided it wouldn't be cost effective.

Exactly what the show has grossed is a mystery because in a break with Broadway precedent, the backers of Young Frankenstein are keeping that information a secret. Given the show's constant availability at the TKTS booth and reports of empty seats, the run has to be disappointing, especially when one remembers the huge budget, the advance hype and how they once asked sky-high fees for "premium" tickets.

When Young Frankenstein closes, it will have run 484 performances. By contrast, the previous Mel Brooks musical — The Producers — ran 2502 performances.

I enjoyed Young Frankenstein when I saw it a little more than a year ago but it did strike me as a flawed product, especially the ending. Had it not come in with so much advance hype, as well as the expectation of matching The Producers, I think it would have done better. A national tour is supposed to launch in September of '09 and that presumably means a simpler production with less grandiose sets and special effects. Oddly enough, that might help.

January's going to be a big month for shows closing in New York. Hairspray and 13 close the same day, Spamalot ends a week later and the week after that, Spring Awakening goes to sleep. Three of those four shows won the Tony for Best New Musical in the years they opened.

Are you watching the late night black-and-white game show reruns on GSN? On the What's My Line? that runs tonight (or tomorrow morning, actually), they're running one from September 29 of 1957 — the only episode of that show's original run with a guest host. John Daly was away on a news assignment so panelist Bennett Cerf filled in for him…and didn't do a very good job, I'm afraid. (There are two mystery guests…singer Julie London and industrialist Henry Kaiser.)

Meanwhile, right after What's My Line? each night/morning, GSN has been running an episode of The Name's the Same. They recently completed the short run where Bob and Ray served as hosts and they're now into a series of shows hosted by Clifton Fadiman. Of special interest is the episode that will run Tuesday night or Wednesday morning. The special guest is Chico Marx.

Thursday night, they're running a Thanksgiving-themed I've Got a Secret from 1964 in that second time slot. Then next Monday night, they run the last episode of The Name's the Same and on Tuesday, December 2, they begin again with reruns of To Tell the Truth, starting way back in 1957.

This is another one of those books I'm recommending to anyone who has the slightest interest in the subject matter. In this case, the subject matter is Joe Kubert, one of the most respected and popular comic book artists of all time. That's Joe you see in the photo at above right, posing with someone named Sergio Aragonés.

Joe got into comics when he was barely a teenager and he was soon hailed as a wunderkind — a guy whose drawing ability left his alleged peers openmouthed with amazement. Alex Toth, on whom many of the same things were said, once remarked, "It was impressive for an artist to be that fast or that good. To be both at the same time just made others red with jealousy." For a long time, Kubert was typed as a "war comics artist," mainly for his work on strips like Sgt. Rock and Enemy Ace, but over the years he drew every kind of adventure comic…with an emphasis on heavy testosterone. He also founded a very successful school for comic artists which can boast a high number of graduates who currently work in the industry.

I enjoyed interviewing Joe a few months ago at Mid-Ohio Con but we only had an hour and many questions went unasked or answered. Fortunately, they're all addressed in a new biography of Joe…Man of Rock by Bill Schelly. Bill, a fine artist himself, is a historian of comics and comic fandom and he has assembled a book worthy of its subject. Above and beyond the factual recital of Joe's long, impressive career, there's a keen understanding of the challenges and changes of the form. It's really an excellent portrait not just of Joe Kubert but of that generation of comic creator and what it took to produce excellent, innovative work over so many decades.

This is one of the best books of its kind and, like I said, if you have the slightest interest in what it's about, you need a copy. You can order one from Amazon by clicking right here.

The Screen Actors Guild has announced it will ask its 120,000 members to authorize a strike vote.

Here, in a nutshell, is what brought us to this moment: The AMPTP, which represents TV and motion picture producers, has been trying to not pay much, if anything, for the reuse of old shows and film as well as the production of new material for "new media." In this case, that term applies primarily to distribution via Internet but can and will encompass a number of other forms. This is more than a matter of not wanting to share newly-found revenues. Actors make a large part of their incomes from residuals when their work is reused in so-called "traditional" venues, like when a TV network reruns a show. The studios are trying to take the position that as they shift such reruns from the traditional venues to new ones, the old residual payments will be replaced by little or nothing.

There are other issues but that's the biggie. It was a biggie in the lengthy Writers Guild strike of not that many months ago, and we wound up with an okay deal, as did the Directors Guild. The AMPTP has offered what they claim is a similar concession to actors…but the SAG leadership feels it's not comparable and not enough.

Most years, SAG negotiates its contracts in lockstep with a sister union, AFTRA — The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. This year, that alliance splintered and AFTRA leadership, which was much more reticent to strike, went in on its own and made what SAG's leadership and many onlookers consider a tepid and insufficient deal. The Producers then said, in effect, "SAG can have the exact same deal or they can go to hell. We're not negotiating any more." And while the two sides have met repeatedly since AFTRA settled in May, the AMPTP hasn't notably improved the offer. Which is why SAG is now asking its members to authorize a strike.

In my opinion, SAG is correct that they're being forced to accept a crummy deal. In an ordinary year, it would be all-out war, and an actors' strike would be so thorough and militant that the AMPTP would scurry to make a better offer. But this is no ordinary year; not with the AFTRA split and undercut and not with the economy turning rancid on everyone. I hope I'm wrong but SAG seems divided, dispirited and full of internal strife with competing factions blaming one another for the mess they're in. The studios probably feel they can sit on their "final offer" and wait for the union to crawl back and accept it.

At the moment, the timetable for a strike is unknown. SAG's intention to take a strike vote was announced yesterday. That can take 30-40 days and in this case, the ballots will probably not go out until the union has a chance to prepare an extensive informational campaign to rally its membership. So we could be looking at some time in late January for a walkout, which means we may once again see awards shows like the Golden Globes and the Oscars held hostage.

That's if they vote to strike. SAG's bylaws require a 75% strike authorization from its members in order to go out. In the current climate, that may not be attainable. If they do get it and do walk, they will not shut down all production because some TV shows are covered by AFTRA and can therefore continue.

As you may be able to tell, I don't have a good feeling about this. Stay tuned.

The comic art world has been mucho impressed with the paintings of Alex Ross…and I guess it's no secret that Alex often uses live models in his work. One of them is his friend, Frank Kasy. Here's an article about how Frank gets transformed into Superman. Thanks to Bruce Reznick for the link.

I don't do book reviews here. I just recommend books written by friends and I'm way behind in doing this.

Most of these are easy because they fall into the category of "If you have any interest in the topic, you should buy this book." That's the case with Monty Python's Tunisian Holiday, a new volume by Kim "Howard" Johnson, who's easily the world's foremost authority on all things Python. During the making of Life of Brian, Kim went over to be a part of the filming as a stand-in, aide and diarist. He kept detailed notes on everything that happened on the set and this new book is based on those notes.

Kim is an excellent reporter and that's darn near all you need to know. It means you get an intimate and fascinating account of how that wonderful movie was made, with insights into all the Pythons and their supporting players. So what are you waiting for? Order a copy from Amazon by clicking here.

Can you name anyone alive who's better at their job than Vin Scully is at his? As we near sixty years of "The Ol' Redhead" doing play-by-play for the Dodgers, I'm still stunned by this perfect match of man and mission. My interest in the team (in baseball at all) plunged when my local team no longer consisted of Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Maury Wills and others of that era. To this day, when I tune in a game, it's not because of whoever's currently wearing the Dodger uniforms. It's to enjoy the sheer beauty of Vin Scully describing whatever the hell those guys out there pretending to be Dodgers are doing.

Yesterday afternoon, I attended a luncheon in Mr. Scully's honor. Most of it consisted of colleagues heaping praise on the man and him turning the color of his hair in humble embarrassment. The first speaker was Jonathan Winters who, I'm happy to report, looked to be in pretty good health. The last before the honoree was Tommy Lasorda, who was nice enough to leave some food for the rest of us. Vin told a hilarious story about Dodger history which I can in no way recreate here…and anyway, you'd have to hear him tell it.

This was a function of the Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters, a group which among its other activities, honors three "legends" of TV or radio each year with these luncheons. Sometimes, the criteria for honorees seems a bit thin and you can tell that some in the hall are pondering, "Why are we toasting that guy?" Not this time. This time, everyone was asking why they're only now getting around to Vin Scully. The sheer unanimity of respect was something to behold.

In this post, I typoed the date when Turner Classic Movies is running the movie, The Runaway. I've corrected the post so it has the correct date, which is Sunday, November 30.