Here's an article about Paul Winchell's life. And here's another and here's another and here's another. And while we're at it, here's one more.

We are edging towards the day when many of us will be wishing aloud that the Comic-Con International in San Diego could be postponed a week or two. But it's coming, it's coming. The Thursday Programming Schedule is now posted but you don't need to read it since you'll only be going to my panels.

In a few days, I'll post a list here of tips to help you enjoy/survive the convention but in the meantime, you can start by reviewing this.

In the meantime, the AccuWeather people are forecasting partly sunny conditions with a high of 72 degrees and a low of 64 for the convention weekend. Sounds like a pretty typical San Diego climate.

They had a problem at DC Comics in the mid-sixties: Sales on everything except the Batman books were inching downwards…and Batman was only doing well because of the TV show. At the same time, sales on the new Marvel line were going up. In fact, the Marvel books were gaining at almost the exact same rate the DC books were losing. DC's head honchos began to study the Marvel books, trying to figure out the reason for this aberration of the marketplace.

In later years, some of them would deny it but others say it was true; that the DC execs thought the Marvel books were horrible — bad art, bad stories, bad characters, bad everything. DC artist Mike Sekowsky used to do an impression of the company's publisher throwing down a Marvel book and gasping, "This is garbage! The readers have no taste!" At some point, an explanation began to emerge for the ghastly sales trends. Obviously, it went, readers were getting confused and were buying non-DC books thinking they were DCs. It was decided that something had to be done to make their covers more distinctive and identifiable. Editorial Director Irwin Donenfeld would later receive the credit/blame (pick one) for adorning DC's covers with a hideous checkerboard pattern across the top. They called them, I'm afraid, "go-go checks" and it was the ugliest thing anyone had done to comics since Dr. Wertham called them "blueprints for delinquency."

No, they didn't help sales. Matter of fact, DC's slide hastened…and while there were certainly other reasons for that, it was suggested that the go-go checks had made things worse. "Readers could now spot the DC books much quicker, making it easier to avoid purchasing them," was how Sekowsky put it. After eighteen months, they got rid of the checks and not long after, they got rid of Irwin Donenfeld, which was quite a firing since his father had founded the company. So I guess you could say that "go-go checks" across the top of a cover was a pretty awful idea…

…which is why I was amazed to see TV Guide try it recently. One wonders if someone there did it as a kind of inside joke for those who remember the DC experiment. Yeah, maybe the Nascar theme suggested a checkered flag motif but the reference there to "Dynamic Duos" also invokes the 1966-1968 Batman comics. Either way, they're lucky that they only did it for one week. If they'd put go-go checks on their covers regularly, they'd be out of business in a year.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if George W. Bush could and would nominate a Supreme Court Justice who'd win confirmation 100-0? It's been done many times before. But Bush and his more rabid supporters aren't interested in that person. They want the justice who'd be confirmed 51 to 49 or 55 to 45.

A short preview of Bob Woodward's new book on his relationship with Mark "Deep Throat" Felt.

Back in the sixties in the pages of Marvel Comics, Stan Lee would occasionally award some lucky (?) reader what he called a "no prize." It might be in a letter column or it might be in the house ad section called the Bullpen Bulletins. The reader might have made some extraordinary contribution to the cause of Marvel, or he might just have found some dumb error in an issue and called it to Stan's attention. Whatever the location, whatever the meritorious conduct, it warranted the same reward: A "no prize," as in, "You get no prize." I gather this was kind of a running joke on the old Jean Shepherd radio programs and Stan kept it going, but I never heard enough of Mr. Shepherd to know the derivation for certain.

Anyway, some readers were gleeful that Stan had awarded them a "no prize," and some didn't understand and they'd write in and say, "I haven't received it." Around 1967, I'm guessing, Stan took the joke to the next level and began actually sending out…well, I'm not sure if you could say he sent out "no prizes" because there was no such thing. But he sent out empty envelopes that said they contained your no prizes. Above is a pic of one of these envelopes — a later version, judging from the return address — which sported lettering by Marvel's ace letterer at the time, Sam Rosen. Someone wrote and asked me about them so I thought I'd post this for all the world to see. There was something very charming and clever about the whole concept, and it was part of what made Marvel Comics feel like a company run by your buddies.

We've made a few time changes in the schedule, mostly a matter of shifting a couple things up a half-hour…

GSN, the former Game Show Network, is airing a tribute to Paul Winchell tomorrow and Friday morn — four episodes, two each morning, of What's My Line? in which Paul was on the panel. The most interesting is probably the first, in which the Mystery Guest was Mortimer Snerd…or more correctly, Edgar Bergen working Mortimer Snerd. This one reran on GSN just two months ago.

The press release from GSN is confusing because of that old convention, which is to refer to shows that air before around 6 AM as being part of the previous night's programming. The first two episodes, they say, run at 3:00 AM and 3:30 AM on Wednesday, June 29. But if you set your TiVo or VCR to that date and those times, you won't get the show in question. In the reality-based world, they're airing early the morning of Thursday, June 30. You'd think they'd give the real date since most people are probably recording the shows and not watching them live, and even the folks who are watching live can figure out when Thursday morning begins.

The What's My Line? episodes that were supposed to air the next two days were ones from July of '57 — one with Julius LaRosa as Mystery Guest and the other with Robert Sterling and Anne Jeffreys. If GSN does what they usually do, they'll just skip rerunning these and not bump them later. Assuming that's how they operate, the rerun early Saturday morning will have Jayne Mansfield, the one Sunday morning will have Edie Adams and Jane Russell, and the one on Monday will have Zsa Zsa Gabor.

Here's the best article I've come across about Bush's speech last night and our current dilemma in Iraq. It's by William Saletan, and he likens the U.S. position of open-ended support of Iraq to domestic welfare programs that promise ongoing support to those who won't help themselves.

By the way, there's a very good reason why, as Saletan notes, members of the new Iraqi government are not "standing up." It's because when they do, they tend to get assassinated.

Canadian cartoonist and puzzle master Owen McCarron died on Monday at the age of 76. He was a longtime employee of the Halifax Herald Limited, which featured his cartoons and games in several newspapers published in Nova Scotia. He also published on his own, countless commercial giveaway comics and puzzle collections that featured his work.

American comic fans will know McCarron best for a flurry of puzzle comics and books he did for Marvel in the late seventies and early eighties featuring their characters. They included a monthly comic — Fun and Games Magazine, which lasted for 13 issues commencing in 1979 — a short-lived Sunday newspaper strip and several dozen activity books. McCarron wrote, drew and designed most of this material, and also did a few ink jobs for Marvel's superhero comics. His work was clever and well-drawn, and I recall being very impressed with his puzzle-making ability.

There's a short article over on Slate about what they do when the voice of a cartoon character passes away. I was among those interviewed for the piece.

Somewhere down this page, April Winchell writes about her complex, contentious relationship with her father, Paul. I obviously don't want to get in the middle of a family matter but people are writing me to ask if what she says is true or exaggerated or wacko or what. I'll just say that I don't think anyone who knew Paul well will think that any of her comments are out of line, and some might be surprised at the amount of compassion shown.

This might be worth noting. Friday evening, I attended a party for June Foray and when I came home, I had an e-mail from a friend with the rumor that Paul Winchell had died. I was skeptical since I'd just come from a gathering of folks who knew Paul and it had not been mentioned. In fact, I had a chat with Paul's agent there and he obviously hadn't heard any such thing. I couldn't check the truth of the rumor that evening since everyone I would have called was still at the party. It took me until around 5:00 the next afternoon to get in touch with someone who confirmed it and I posted my announcement here at 5:36.

By this point, the rumor was making its way through newsgroups and, as nothing had hit the mainstream news outlets, folks were wondering if it was true. After I made my post, some there began arguing as to whether I was a reliable enough source that my report could be believed. (And by the way, that does not bother me at all. I don't think you should even believe every word on the New York Times website, let alone my silly little offering here. A healthy skepticism about anything posted to Ye Olde Internet is not a bad idea.)

A little after 7:00 Saturday evening, April posted on her site that she had just received a call from someone telling her that her father had died. So I heard about it around 21 hours before she did, and I posted it on my site more than an hour before anyone thought to call and inform the man's daughter. That ought to tell you something.

Some websites are making much of the near-simultaneous deaths of two members of the Disney Winnie the Pooh cast: Paul Winchell, the voice of Tigger, on Friday…John Fiedler, who voiced Piglet, on Saturday. It's actually worse than that. They're forgetting that Howard Morris, who provided the voice of Gopher in the first few Pooh featurettes, passed away only a little over a month ago.

John Fiedler had a great career apart from his brief moments as Piglet. He was wonderful in one of my favorite movies, the film version of The Odd Couple, re-creating a role he'd originated on the Broadway stage. He was even better in his recurring role on The Bob Newhart Show. Here's a link to the New York Times obit, which appears this morning right under the one for Paul Winchell. This is not fun.

Ray Arthur sends this message…

I too was in awe of Winchell as a kid, and had growing respect for his inventions as I got older and understood his contributions on a whole 'nother level. I remember as a young child (with a limited understanding of ventriloquism) having my father explain how great Edgar Bergen was on the radio. And questioning, even at 7 or 8, "but Dad, ventriloquism on the radio? Now, there's no question that Bergen routines were hysterical, but I saw the quality only from the comedic standpoint not the ventriliqual (if that's a word) standpoint. (Later, near the end of his career I saw Bergen on TV…"but Dad, his lips are moving. Paul Winchell's lips don't move." Did I just miss Bergen when he was great, as a younger performer? Or was Winchell that much better?

Well, I preferred Winchell but that may have been because I was a child of television and he was doing my kind of shows when I was growing up. Also, Charlie McCarthy with his top hat, monocle and snooty attitude always struck me as really being of another era.

Winchell was much better from a technical standpoint, and I believe Mr. Bergen even admitted as much. But not moving your lips is only one part of being a great ventriloquist. There are plenty of guys around who, thanks to diligent practice, can recite Peter Piper over and over without the slightest lip-quiver. What too many of them lack is the ability to amuse, and some even fall short in the skill of misdirection. As with a good magician, part of the art is to make unnatural actions seem natural and to get you to look where he wants you to look. Bergen was very funny and a good actor. The only part he didn't have down were the lip movements which, of course, didn't matter on radio.

There's a great old episode of I've Got a Secret where he came on with Mortimer Snerd and answered the panel's questions…only the secret was that Bergen wasn't doing the Snerd voice. Actor-comedian Chuck McCann was hidden under the desk and he did Mortimer's voice while Bergen moved the puppet and his own lips. You read that right: To make the bit work, Bergen had to act like he was speaking for Mr. Snerd so he moved his own lips and did all the usual mannerisms that he did to throw attention on the dummy. What's more, Chuck says that it was Bergen's idea to do it that way, meaning that Edgar acknowledged that he wasn't very good at not moving the old lips. I don't think it mattered to him and I suspect it didn't matter to most of the audience. It's like being able to see the wire when Peter Pan is flying on stage. It's more fun to pretend you don't see it.

By the way: The best ventriloquist I know of who's working these days is Ronn Lucas, who's currently appearing in an afternoon show at the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas. You can see a five minute video of him over on this page of his website. He has all the skills I mentioned, including being very funny. He bills himself as "the man who can make anything talk" and he really can. One night, we were in the coffee shop at the Flamingo Hilton in Laughlin, and he convinced the waitress that there had to be hidden speakers in the salt and pepper shakers, the sugar bowl, the napkin holder, the Heinz Ketchup…everything on the table. In fact, I just moved my mouth and let him order for me. If you get to Vegas, go see him…and go early so you can get a seat up front and judge how good he really is.

For the last few years, the best CDs of recorded Broadway-type material and show tunes have been produced by a pal of mine named Bruce Kimmel. He worked for a time for Varese Sarabande and was responsible for some excellent material there. Now, he's launched his own label and it's called Kritzerland. You can hear cuts from his first two releases at this website and you can even order the CDs themselves. Pay special attention to the new collection of songs by the mysterious Guy Haines, who appears on a lot of Bruce's albums but who is rarely seen in public.