I didn't see this because it was over in the Sports section, where I have never before ventured. It's an article about a new online serialized graphic bio by Trevor Von Eeden. It's a portrait of John Arthur Johnson, the first black heavyweight champ. And if reading the article makes you want to read the comic, here's a link to the first chapter.
Today's Video Link
Wish I'd known about this before 12/25 so I could have had it up here for Christmas but better late than you-know-what. This is another one of my appallingly-talented friends…singer-impressionist Christine Pedi with moments from her recent holiday cabaret show in New Yawk. Showing guts of steel, Christine invited members of the audience to call out names of celebs and she performed "The 12 Days of Christmas" as those folks. The video ain't great but she is.
Ribs Reborn
At least three people I could name, all of whom routinely attend the Comic-Con International in San Diego each year, will be happy to know that the Kansas City Barbecue Company has rebuilt and reopened. According to this article, they've considerably upgraded the place, which scares me a little. But I sure intend to try it again, next time I'm down there.
Recommended Reading
I read the New York Times so you don't have to…
- David Hadju remembers Will Elder.
- Adrian Nicole LeBlanc remembers George Carlin.
- George Burns remembers his favorite New Year's Eve.
- And Leslie Berlin remembers when there was a newspaper strip business.
Like most of the N.Y. Times links I post here, these have been configured such that you shouldn't have to register for the Times site to read them. But sometimes, the workaround doesn't work. If they do ask you to register, don't be horrified. It's not all that awful.
Milhous Movie
I recently watched a "screener" DVD of Frost/Nixon (that's a DVD they send out free to folks in the industry who can vote for awards) and I wish I knew what I thought of it. I enjoyed the film. It held my attention all the way through and I thought the performances and direction were excellent. I will probably watch it again.
But a lot of things bothered me about it, starting with the fact that I thought it overinflated the importance of the legendary Frost-Nixon interviews. They were a nice bit of entertainment to those of us who were waiting to see Richard M. Nixon squirm a little and put on the defensive…but in the end, I think that's all they were. Nixon got a lot of money and from some quarters, some much-craved sympathy. Beyond that, things remained largely status quo. Those who insisted he'd been railroaded from office still insisted it. Those who disliked him still disliked him. "The system" did not change much except that those in it were reminded that it's possible to get caught.
I am a bit surprised that Sir David Frost is making the rounds, talking up a movie that makes him look like such a weak, shallow figure. Frost was a much better interviewer than the one portrayed by Michael Sheen in this movie, and less the underdog. I don't recall his reputation and career at that stage being so fragile that he desperately needed the success of the interviews the way the Frost on screen does. Making him a true David to Nixon's Goliath was probably wise from a dramatic standpoint but I couldn't help but think that while a more accurate weighting would have lacked a certain punch, it might have gotten at more truth about its subjects.
One interesting bit of simplification is that in the movie, Frost contracts for four hours of interviewing Nixon, and Nixon proceeds to dominate the first three hours with tangents and trivia, making for naught but self-serving froth. And so it all comes down to the last hour, the one devoted to Watergate, in which Frost must land some sort of punch that will legitimize the whole project…and by cramming like a college student the night before an exam, he manages to do this. That's not what happened. For one thing, Frost scored points aplenty in the earlier sessions. (Nixon's defenses of the bombing of Cambodia were probably more damning admissions than anything he said with regard to Watergate.)
Also, in reality, Frost went into the tapings well aware that Nixon could and would stonewall, deviate, double talk and generally control any conversation. The original contract called for a four-to-one ratio — Nixon would sit for twenty-four hours of interviewing which would be pared down to four 90-minute shows. (Eventually, an additional hour-long show was added.) About halfway through the tapings, when Nixon's ramblings were consuming too much of the time, Frost requested additional taping time. Nixon refused…so Frost responded with a pretty clever threat: If Nixon wouldn't grant more hours of interrogation, Frost would merely leave out a number of topics, like normalization of relations with China, that Nixon regarded as his legacy and triumphs. Nixon gave in and four more hours of taping were added. So the questioning went on for 28 hours, not four.
Another departure from reality: In the climax, at the critical last taping session, Frost gets Nixon to blurt out his famous and incriminating line, "When the president does it, it's not illegal!" But Nixon actually said that in an earlier conversation, not the final one.
The movie treats that line as the moment of Frost's victory and vindication and maybe, in terms of making the interviews a media success, it was. But in reality, when it was all over, Nixon was still Nixon. In the early part of the film, one of Frost's associates speaks of giving Nixon "the trial he never had." I sure didn't think that's what happened. Frost got Nixon to tear up and admit he'd let his country down and — in the passive voice — that mistakes were made. He arguably went a little farther than that but, inarguably, not very far.
I'm probably overthinking the movie, which is fine for what it is. The performances are excellent. The story is gripping, even though you pretty much know exactly where it's going and how long it's going to take to get there. Like I said, I'll probably watch Frost/Nixon at least one more time because I enjoyed it very much. What I guess I didn't enjoy was after, when I thought about how much Nixon got away with. Yeah, he had to resign in disgrace but he also never had to answer for what he'd done. The worst that happened was that David Frost made him cry a little.
Today's Video Link
Five minutes of baby pandas playing in a crib. Don't say I never gave you anything.
Remembering Eartha Kitt
The straight skinny from Bruce Vilanch, who is neither.
Go Listen (Maybe)
Hey, here's something you'll enjoy…if (big IF) you can hear it. BBC Radio 2 has broadcast a holiday concert of music from Disney movies. It's performed by a bevy of Broadway and West End stars, backed by a 70-piece orchestra, and hosted by Josh Groban, who closes the proceedings with an amazing rendition of "When You Wish Upon a Star."
The show runs about an hour and 45 minutes and can be heard at this link until January 2. That is, if you can get the Real Player interface to work, which is probably a 50-50 shot. Give it a try because if you can hear it, you'll probably enjoy it a lot.
Today's Video Link
Here's another commercial from the Jay Ward studio for Quisp and Quake, two breakfast foods that didn't taste all that different from one another. Paul Frees narrates, William Conrad is Quake, Daws Butler is Quisp and Bill Scott is the referee at the end.
From the E-Mailbag…
In case you were disappointed that I didn't have anything to say about Eartha Kitt, here are two e-mails I've received in the last few hours. This first one's from Dave Sikula…
Just want to share my own Eartha memory. I saw the Broadway version of the Wild Party musical (there were two competing versions in New York at that time), and it was a pretty high-powered affair: Toni Collette, Mandy Patinkin, Marc Kudish, Tonya Pinkins, Norm Lewis. Collette was fabulous; one of the greatest performances I've ever seen (especially since the show itself was pretty dismal). But in Act Two, Kitt had an eleven o'clock number that blew everyone else off the stage. Even when not in that number, there was no doubt who was a Broadway star and who wasn't. You couldn't take your eyes off of her.
She was one of a kind and will be missed.
No disagreement. And here's James H. Burns with another memory of just how good she could be in front of an audience, big or small…
I saw Eartha Kitt in an Off-Broadway musical just a couple of years ago. At what must have been the age of seventy-eight, she was still absolutely sensational. But my favorite Eartha Kitt story goes back five years, when she helped a friend out, playing a key role in the presentation of a new musical.
This type of thing happens all the time, in New York: Full cast "readings" of what amounts to the first draft of a musical, hoping to make its way to Broadway. What's neat about these performances is often you see top notch Broadway performers acting/singing in these presentations.
But Eartha Kitt was a big star.
And what knocked out the folks presenting the musical reading was how nice, and professional she was, from first contact, through rehearsals.
And her performance?
With only a few hours of rehearsal, Kitt KNOCKED THE AUDIENCE OUT!
The other fun part of this brief tale, is that at a small party afterwards, a bunch of us were hanging out. Kitt still looked fantastic. And I say this in only the best, classic, gentlemen and ladies, version of this phrase —
She still knew how to flirt!
A wonderful performer, and certainly a fascinating woman.
Nothing to add except that I don't recall that I ever had the pleasure — and I'm sure it would have been one — of seeing Eartha Kitt perform in person. My loss…and I envy those of you who did.
Eartha Kitt, R.I.P.
Nothing to add, no anecdotes. Just wanted to say I always liked her.
Today's Video Link
The fine website Cartoon Brew has been featuring some excellent Christmas animations but they've left out my favorite short one. This was a promo done for CBS in 1966 by a great cartoonist named R.O. Blechman…
…And Kids Dressed Up Like Eskimos
Every year around this time, a mess o' blogs link to my Mel Tormé article…and this morning, it's reprinted (slightly abridged but with my permission) in The Rocky Mountain News. So I might as well link to it here.
Recommended Reading
Dahlia Lithwick on how Dick Cheney is smugly confessing to all sorts of crimes for which he will never be prosecuted. One would like to think that the Obama administration is just waiting until the day when George W. Bush can no longer issue pardons…and then we'll start hearing about investigations of war crimes and profiteering. But I don't expect that to happen. The "rule of law" only gets enforced in Washington when someone wants to use it to get someone who's in power.
Go Listen!
Over at The TV Time Machine, Jim Benson has a good interview with Lee Mendelson. It's all about the making of A Charlie Brown Christmas and other Peanuts specials that Lee produced.