For the next few days, I'm going to link to some clips of musical numbers from past Tony Awards telecasts. This one, from the 1990 awards, is a medley of three numbers from City of Angels, a fine show written by Larry Gelbart with songs by David Zippel and Cy Coleman.
For those of you who don't know the show: It's the story of a mystery novelist turned screenwriter who's trying to cope with what Hollywood does to people in his line of work. The stage is bisected and some scenes take place on the left side in full color as the screenwriter battles a crazed producer as well as his own conscience, trying to write the script. Other scenes take place on the right side in muted colors (to approximate black-and-white) and these are moments from the screenplay in progress. Most actors in the show play dual roles — one in the story on the left and one in the story on the right. In this medley, the first number is a duet for two women — the screenwriter's wife (Kay McClelland) is on your left, whereas the scene at right takes place in the office of the detective hero of the novel and movie, with his secretary (Randy Graff) lamenting the boss's propensity for ignoring her. The second number in the medley is an argument between the screenwriter (Gregg Edelman) and the private eye character he invented (James Naughton)…and this segues into an abbreviated version of the show's finale. It's a wonderful musical and if you ever get a chance to see more of it than this, do.
The L.A. Times has a good obit on Lennie Weinrib. It has a few mistakes in it — these things always do — but it's nice that he made it into the papers.
Amazingly, it is but nineteen days until this year's Comic-Con International commences in San Diego…eighteen days if you're attending Preview Night. Where does my year go?
In a day or three, I'll be posting a list of the program items I'll be moderating. They include two Cartoon Voice panels, the traditional Quick Draw! and Jack Kirby Tribute panels, a panel with Sergio, the Golden/Silver Age Panel, spotlights on several great veteran comic book creators and several others you'll want to attend. Check back here for all the details of where you'll want to be.
I have a Convention Guide that I wrote that's full of tips…but mine is bupkis compared to what Tom Spurgeon has come up with. You can read mine but make sure you read his. I agree with just about everything he says.
If you need more info on the con — and you probably do — click on the banner above. The con website is well-designed and very useful. I often find myself answering questions from folks who could have found out what they wanted to know by spending a few minutes over there.
As a special favor to you all, I'll forgo my usual joke about how if you want to get a parking space there, you'd better leave now. But it's true.
Sorry to read this morning of the death of Ross Tompkins, a great piano player and a fixture of The Tonight Show (Carson version) for over twenty years. Ross was a frequent performer in Los Angeles jazz clubs, often working in tandem with his pal, Jack Sheldon. He was much admired by his fellow musicians and after you heard him play, you knew why.
Over in The Washington Post, they have a nice overview of the war. No, not that unimportant one in Iraq. This is an article about the war between DC Comics and Marvel.
A number of things that might make you want to set the old TiVo or, if you're still living in the Stone Age, your VCR…
The SciFi Network is running a Twilight Zone marathon this weekend. Sunday morn at 9 AM (6 AM on some systems), they're running "The Miniature," which is the one with Robert Duvall and a nice performance by our pal, Lennie Weinrib.
Turner Classic Movies sometimes goes through periods when its programming favors the same well-known (and quite available) features over and over. Then for a time, they veer into true and rare classics. July seems to be one of the latter times. Early Monday morning, for instance, they're running The Better 'Ole, a 1926 silent starring Sydney Chaplin that I've always wanted to see. Right after, they're running an early talkie — The Chief starring Ed Wynn, followed by Alibi Ike with Joe E. Brown.
And still later that day, here's a clever bit of scheduling by TCM: The Wizard of Oz (starring Judy Garland) followed by The Wiz (starring Diana Ross) followed by The Wizard of Oz (the 1925 version starring Larry Semon and Oliver Hardy) followed by The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (the 1910 version starring Bebe Daniels). All of this is preceded by that "Making of…" documentary on the Garland version, hosted by Angela Lansbury.
TCM has also acquired another nice library of short subjects to add to their already huge one, and they're dropping a lot of rare films in to fill gaps between features. Unfortunately, their online schedules don't tell you when some of these treasures will be appearing. The next week or so, they'll be running a number of entries in a series called "The Boy Friends" that was produced on the Hal Roach lot between 1930 and 1932, starring a couple of kids who'd grown too old to still be appearing in Roach's "Our Gang" comedies. One of these shorts — The Knockout — will reportedly run on Monday morning at 10:35 AM (Eastern) but there's nowhere on the TCM website that gives you that information, or tells you when the others are scheduled. Happy hunting.
Late tonight in the overnight slot, NBC is rerunning the episode of Saturday Night Live originally broadcast October 9, 1982 with host Ron Howard, musical guest The Clash and special variety-type performer Harry Anderson. This is from the season where the cast included Eddie Murphy, Mary Gross, Tim Kazurinsky, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, Brad Hall, Joe Piscopo, Robin Duke and Gary Kroeger. Not, as I recall, a great episode but it has its historical value.
GSN is bringing reruns of Beat the Clock back to its late night black-and-white hour which, if it weren't the worst game show ever done, would be good news. Fortunately, we still have the vintage What's My Line? episodes. The one that should air tonight (i.e., early tomorrow morning) has Steve Allen making his nine millionth appearance as a Mystery Guest. Sunday night, it's Phyllis Diller. Monday night's show, the first of two Mystery Guests is Brian Epstein, the man who "managed" The Beatles, and the second Mystery Guest is Tony Bennett. Tuesday night, one of the contestants is Craig Breedlove, who then held the world's land speed record, and the big Mystery Guest is James Garner.
Lastly: Today and tomorrow, C-Span 2 is running a number of panels that were taped at the recent L.A. Times Festival of Books. Consult this schedule for more info but I'm told by Gordon Kent (who was there for it) that the interview with Gore Vidal is especially good. It airs tonight at 8:05 PM West Coast time.
Last August, I wrote this item here about Joe Pyne, who was kind of like what Saddam Hussein would be like if he had a radio show and less charm. Pyne's radio and TV programs were festivals of insults, and his producers often kept them that way by trotting out looney guests and people who couldn't help but annoy the host. Pyne's shows were disguised as forums where important issues of the day could be discussed but it was pretty much all wrestling, with audiences tuning in to watch the anger and occasional bloodshed. I happen to think there's a certain amount of that in most of what passes for our punditry today. Anyway, here's three minutes of one of Mr. Pyne's TV shows. For those of you who never got to see him, this is just about all you have to experience…
Animation World News has a nice obit on Lennie Weinrib that lists some (just some) of his career highlights.
Tiny points: They picked up a small error I made here when I said Lennie died at his home in Chile. His daughter Linda informs me that he actually died in a nearby hospital, apparently from a stroke. The obit also should have said that Lennie is also survived by his wife Sonia and the two daughters he had with her, Heidi and Grace.
Linda and I, by the way, are talking about organizing a public memorial event in Los Angeles, probably not for at least a month. I'll post details here when there are some.
Here's a stunner: Theodore Olson, who I believe was a thoroughly dishonest, partisan Solicitor General of the U.S., writes a wise and cogent explanation of why reporters need to be able to protect their sources. It pretty well summarizes the way I feel…which since it's Olson makes me wonder if maybe I'm wrong.
In the meantime, a lot of Conservative columnists (like Charles Krauthammer here) are arguing for an amnesty for Iraq insurgents. I have no opinion if this is a good idea or a bad one. But I do think that if this had first been proposed by Democrats, all the same right-wingers — including Krauthammer — would be arguing that it was disgraceful and dangerous to be coddling, forgiving or doing anything but trying to wipe out a band of people who'd murdered American soldiers.
And here's Glenn Greenwald with what seems to me a good analysis of today's Supreme Court decision.
Out today is the new issue of Solo, a DC Comic which spotlights a different artist each time. This one features my longtime collaborator Sergio Aragonés with silly stories. Some — the more realistic ones — are wholly from his imagination. Others — the unbelievable ones — are true stories from his life, including the tale (which I forced him to include) of how he killed comedian Marty Feldman. Way in the back is a weird Batman tale which I wrote but don't let that stop you. Pick up a copy.
A delightful, unexpected surprise from the Supreme Court saying that the Bush administration has overstepped its authority with regards to "enemy combatants." But why do I think the reaction from the White House will be that they're still going to do what they think is right, no matter who tells them it's wrong?
On the matter of the New York Times revealing the government's finance-monitoring program, Keith Olbermann did an interesting report the other day. It can be viewed here…but if you don't have the seven minutes to watch, I'll summarize. Basically, Olbermann claims that everything the Times revealed has been talked about before, including by George W. Bush, and offers clips to prove much of this assertion. I don't think the people calling for Times editors to be strung up will care. With the war going as badly as it is, they need someone to blame besides themselves and their chosen administration…and the press is always handy for that.
Lastly, and still on the topic of Olbermann: His ratings are up and Bill O'Reilly's are down. Yesterday on Countdown, Olbermann did a very funny but childish nyah-nyah-nyah speech. Haven't seen an online link to a clip but if you do, you might get a chuckle out of it.
Back in the seventies, networks loaded down their Saturday morning schedules with public service spots. This one's from a series of them on ABC where a little guy named Timer taught nutrition tips. The voice of Timer in these was performed by our departed pal, Lennie Weinrib…
That's Lennie Weinrib on the left, playing insult comic Jackie Brew-Brew in an episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show. You remember that one. In this shot, he's asking Mel Cooley (Richard Deacon), "Do you pluck your scalp?"
It was a remarkable performance, all the more so because the show filmed at 7:00 on a Friday evening and Lennie was hired at 2:00 that afternoon. The role of the insult comic was written for (and rehearsed all week by) Shecky Greene who somehow ran afoul of the law and had to go off with some nice policemen. Suddenly, producer Carl Reiner found himself without the guest star in the episode they were filming that evening — a nice cause for panic — but he knew what to do: Call Lennie. And Lennie came in, learned the role and played it to perfection. He did a couple of other episodes of The Dick Van Dyke Show, as well…and of just about every situation comedy that was on the air in the sixties.
Lennie was an actor, a writer, a producer, a director and — most lucratively — a voiceover specialist. He originally came to prominence working with Spike Jones and later in the Billy Barnes revues that launched many a career in the early sixties. There was a time there when everyone wanted to hire him for everything but especially voiceover work. In fact, he made so much money doing commercials and cartoons that he neglected all his other skills…to his occasional regret. One of the last times he was seen on camera to any extent was in the 1977 kid show, Magic Mongo, which was a segment on the Krofft Supershow. Here, let me show you the opening of an episode…
That series was another "last minute fill-in" by Lennie. The producers, Sid and Marty Krofft, wanted Lennie for the role but the network wanted someone else. I think it was Alex Karras. Anyway, shortly before taping was to start, there were contractual disputes with whoever ABC favored and Lennie got the part. He was wonderful in it. He was wonderful in everything he did. The Kroffts knew that, which is why they wanted him. Lennie had been the main writer of their first TV series, H.R. Pufnstuf, along with providing the role of the title character and many others.
I worked with Lennie on another of the Kroffts' shows and we became instant friends. He was just a funny man to be around…although he had one habit I must admit I didn't like. He was the master of practical joke phone calls. You may remember another episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show he was in. He played Buddy Sorrell's accountant who, for a gag, called up Rob Petrie and got him to dismantle his telephone…then told him to put all the parts in a brown paper bag, go out on his lawn, swing it over his head and "Scream like a chicken!" One of the reasons Lennie was so convincing in the role was that the script was based on a trick he'd actually pulled on people. And believe me. If Lennie had called you and tried the same trick, you'd have been out on your lawn, waving pieces of your phone and screaming like a chicken.
He was brilliant at putting people on. One time, we were driving somewhere in his lime green Rolls Royce (I told you he made a lot of money) and he said, "Listen to this" and phoned Gucci's on Rodeo Drive. Without even taking his hands off the wheel, Lennie — adopting an accent from no known country — convinced some General Manager to open the store an hour early the next morning so that the Ambassador of Frammistram could shop undisturbed and select a gift for the upcoming coronation. We arrived at the restaurant before he could take the prank to its logical conclusion, which probably would have involved the entire staff standing out on Rodeo, swinging Gucci bags over their heads and screaming like chickens.
I don't like tricks like that. But I had to admire the skill and, of course, I liked Lennie.
At some point in the eighties, Lennie got bored and unhappy with the industry. A close, trusted associate cheated him out of more money than some of us will ever see. His mother became very ill and then died, and the stress got to him. He married a lovely woman from Chile named Sonia and suddenly, almost overnight, decided he'd be happier there in retirement than here in show business. He quickly sold his magnificent home and that green Rolls, moved to Chile and purchased what I suspect was an even nicer home. There, he and Sonia were very happy and had two daughters — "the goils," Lennie called the three of them — and he spent an awful lot of time on the Internet, e-mailing jokes to everyone he knew.
When he departed L.A. and Show Biz, his friends were stunned and even his agent called me and asked, "Is this a joke?" No, it wasn't. Lennie spent the last few decades in Chile, staying in touch with his old friends by phone and Internet. We either spoke or e-mailed almost every day. I'm going to miss that a lot.
