Eric Idle discusses plans for a Broadway show based on Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

In 1964, Producer David Merrick collected a Tony award for the musical, Hello, Dolly. If we are to believe this listing on eBay, here is what happened to the medallion presented that year: Someone got hold of it and had it re-engraved, obliterating the inscription that said "David Merrick" and "Hello, Dolly" and inscribing a bogus one that read, "G. William Marshall, The Literary Award for "The Deal." The date on the medallion has also been changed to 1969. One would assume Merrick did not do this to his own Tony award, but Merrick did some pretty bizarre things during his career. I mean, one would also assume he would never let loose of the medallion and that if it had been stolen, we'd have heard about it.

A bit of Internet Sleuthing tells us that there actually was a paperback novel called The Deal, written by G. William Marshall and published in 1969 by Dell Books. It does not appear to ever have been a play, nor did G. William Marshall ever write anything that might have warranted a real Tony award.

The person who sold this item for $810 says they obtained it at a flea market in Paris in 1982 and that they had it authenticated at the time by Merrick's former press agent, Harvey Sabinson. Mr. Sabinson is still with us. Perhaps someone can ask him if he did indeed authenticate this thing and if so, does he have any idea wha' happened.

As reported the other day, longtime comic book inker Rudy LaPick has passed away. As I said, I didn't know the man but I now really wish I had. I just received the following from his son, Rudy LaPick, Jr. and we both thought it should be read by a wider audience…

How does one put into words a lifetime they shared with someone in just a paragraph or two? You see, this was not only my father but my best friend. My father was a warm, sharing, sensitive, loving person who helped provide and care for his family since the age of 9. You see, he lost his father at that age and watched over his younger sister and brother while their mother was out earning a living. His family had nothing and it was very difficult trying to make ends meet. Even at such an early age, he had a sense of humor, telling his younger siblings jokes about the area neighbors and making them laugh while they lay in bed together. My father had learned at that early age that in order to get through the difficult times in life that we all encounter, one must learn how to look at the humorous aspect of things. My father had many friends. Even the store clerks and cashiers in the stores that my father frequented knew him on a first name basis. Some of whom called him "Archie" being that he worked on the comic strip. Between his telling jokes and doing his impressions, everyone looked forward to seeing him in order to have their day brightened up. My father had a knack for making a total stranger feel very comfortable in his presence. I remember while growing up at home, that when friends came by to visit me, my dad would join right in and have them all in an uproar of laughter.

My dad loved his work and took much pride in it, I'm sure his co-workers would agree. In fact, he was sitting at his drawing desk when he passed away.

My mother Mary was the love of his life. Right up until my mother's death, 18 years ago, they were the honeymoon couple holding hands and kissing like teenagers in love. There was not a day that had gone by since her death that he didn't mention her in some loving memory. I'm sure that my brother and sister would agree that dad was the ultimate father and friend who was always more concerned with our troubles rather than his own. I know that dad is with mom now and already has Saint Peter laughing at his jokes and impressions.

In closing I would like to say that anyone here that knew dad would know what I mean when I say, "Alright pilgrims. I want you to all put your wagons in a circle." God bless you, dad.

Jim Keegan writes in response to my saying that Sean Penn's "WMD" line seemed a bit gratutious…

You know, Mark, I read your blog each day, but sometimes you really disappoint me. Penn earned his 90 seconds. It was his to do with whatever he chose. He wasn't a presenter abusing the privilege. He wasn't the host hired to do a job (Crystal made a few political comments too — where's the outrage?). Penn didn't rush the stage, he won the time fair and square.

Since the actual news media (and I use the term lightly) will barely mention the fact that there are no WMDs, I was proud of Penn for reminding viewers that THOUSANDS of people are dead and America's credibility has been squandered over those phantom WMDs.

You mention WMDs on your blog. Isn't that "gratuitous?" I guess the addition of the word "politics" on the header makes it okay, as opposed to Penn's hard-earned 90 seconds? Maybe you're planning on joining Bush on the missing WMDs, "What's the difference?"

Well, first off, I think the fact that we went to war based on an enormous false premise is and deserves to be the all-time great political scandal. And even if I were convinced that Bush and his men acted in good faith and didn't gin up the evidence, I'd think it was the all-time great political scandal that no one has been fired or, insofar as I can tell, even slapped on the wrist for what was, at best, a colossal screw-up. So obviously, "What's the difference?" does not begin to summarize my view on the matter. I also think it has gotten more attention in the press than you do. Polls do say that a majority of Americans think there were no Weapons of Mass Destruction, and I think that accounts for a large chunk of Bush's currently-dropping approval ratings.

That said, I still think what Penn said was gratuitous. You're right: He earned the time and had the right to say anything he wanted up there. I just thought he trivialized the statement by making it so off-hand and non sequitur. I would have preferred he say nothing rather than to say so little. It's not that I disagree with his message. I just think he picked a poor time and way to express it.

Never mind arguing over the birthdays of Superman and Captain Marvel. Today is the verifiable birthday of a real hero. When I was reading DC Comics in the sixties, the books didn't carry writer credits so I had no idea who'd dreamed up my favorite stories. Years later, as I started to learn who wrote what, I discovered that I had favorite writers; that many of the tales I'd enjoyed most had come from certain men who had, despite their utter anonymity, had the creativity and pride to work above the norm. That was when I learned of Arnold Drake, the man who co-created The Doom Patrol, co-created Deadman, wrote those great issues of Tommy Tomorrow in Showcase, wrote the Bob Hope and Jerry Lewis comics and some of the better Blackhawk tales and Challengers of the Unknown and…hey, let's not forget Stanley and His Monster and many more. In many venues, Drake showed himself to be a writer who brought a lot more imagination to comic books than the job required. Later, I was pleased to get to know Arnold and found him to be a bright, articulate and lovely gentleman. It is therefore a joy to tell you all that today is his 80th birthday and I wish him at least eighty more.

LIVE OSCAR BLOGGING! — Best Picture, Lord of the Rings. Eleven wins…and not one for acting.

Well, I hope you enjoyed Live Oscar Blogging of what turned out to be an infomercial for New Zealand. Thanks to all of you who filled my e-mailbox with running comments and questions, and thanks to my wonderful friend Carolyn for putting up with me neglecting her for so much of the evening as I moved my typing fingers faster than Ann Miller tap-dancing on hot coals. And I'd like to thank my agent and thank the Academy and…

Good night, everybody!

LIVE OSCAR BLOGGING! — I always wince when people try to "explain" an Oscar with one simple reason. No one knows how the Academy votes. We don't even know if a given winner made it by one vote or if it was unanimous. Somehow though, you hear these pat rationales that presume everyone who voted had the same thing on their mind…and that it wasn't a matter of voting for what they thought was the best work. Going into this ceremony, we heard that Sean Penn would win because he had a body of fine work behind him so it was "his turn." We also heard that Bill Murray would win because Penn's politics or personal style had alienated some voters. Those are wonderful theories and of course, no one can ever prove them right or wrong. But isn't it possible that the guy who won just had more voters who thought he gave the best performance? And it could have been only one more than the second-place finisher.

Best Actor, Sean Penn. Okay, I'll be fifteen out of nineteen. I predicted Murray almost as a whim. And I can't help remember years ago when I heard an NBC exec saying how foolish it was to put the guy on Saturday Night Live because he had such bad skin, and you can't be a TV star (never mind, a movie star) with bad skin.

Penn's line about "no WMDs" seemed a bit gratuitous but he otherwise gave a good speech if only because it didn't sound written and wasn't a list of agents and lawyers.

LIVE OSCAR BLOGGING! — They must be giving up and going to bed all across the Eastern time zone and again, I don't think there was much the producers could have done. It's not their fault that the winners aren't huge shocks and no one's bursting into tears. Those are the moments we remember from the Oscars, like Halle Berry getting hysterical or Roman Polanski defying all odds. We haven't had a one of those.

Best Actress, Charlize Theron. Oh, well. At least no one knows the next one…

LIVE OSCAR BLOGGING! — Best Adapted Screenplay, Lord of the Rings. I missed this one but I think most did.

Best Original Screenplay, Lost in Translation.

The telecast is feeling very long and I suspect that despite what I think is a fine hosting job, the reviews of this Oscar show are going to be pretty negative. It isn't that there's anything wrong with the broadcast besides its length, and I certainly can't imagine what they might have cut to gain much time. But there's a certain lack of energy this evening…no real emotional moments, no real surprises. I haven't seen one thing Leno can do a joke about tomorrow night apart from the usual ones about "Is it over yet?" and watching the child stars go through puberty.

They're just presenting Best Director. Looks like they decided to hold Best Actor for next-to-last, figuring that was the big suspense.

And Best Director is Peter Jackson. See? No surprises.

LIVE OSCAR BLOGGING! — Best Foreign Film, The Barbarian Invasions. Funny line: "We're so thankful that Lord of the Rings did not qualify in this category." I'm ten for thirteen.

Best Cinematography, Master and Commander. And having had the wisdom to not predict this one, I'm still ten for thirteen. At this rate, it looks like I also made a good prediction setting the TiVo for an extra hour. We have at least six major awards to go.

LIVE OSCAR BLOGGING! — Nice number from The Triplets of Belleville but it looked like all or some of the track was prerecorded and the folks on stage were just miming.

Before it, the number from A Mighty Wind didn't sound too good. And since the movie wasn't a blockbuster, I wonder how many people knew who the performers really were and/or that it was a spoof.

As several e-mails are noting, the odd framing of the clips is apparently due to someone being more interested in making it look right for the HDTV transmission than for the normal sets being watched by 99% of us.

Funny bit by Jack Black and Will Ferrell, singing the unknown lyrics to the song they play when a winner has gone on too long.

Best Song, "Into the West" from The Lord of the Rings. Several of you have e-mailed to ask if this movie has lost one of the awards for which it's been nominated. I don't think so. If Peter Jackson doesn't win for Best Director, it can only mean that Katherine Harris is working for Price-Waterhouse. We're nine for twelve here.

LIVE OSCAR BLOGGING! — Best Editing, Lord of the Rings. I didn't predict in this category. Actually, I was originally just going to put Lord of the Rings down for all the ones I wound up not predicting. If I had, I'd now have called twelve out of fifteen.

Crystal says, "Do you know that people are now moving to New Zealand just to be thanked?" He's doing a good job keeping it moving. I like him better than any other host since Johnny Carson.

LIVE OSCAR BLOGGING! — Harold Wheeler is the conductor? Then what was that shot of Marc Shaiman earlier? Oh, I get it: He was Billy Crystal's conductor. Okay, they didn't make that clear.

Best Score, Lord of the Rings. Evanier is nine for eleven. I'll probably lose another one on Best Song but I took a hopeful guess because I know and like Michael McKean.

LIVE OSCAR BLOGGING! — Rick Scheckman, who knows his stuff in this department, has been e-mailing me to note that the clips being shown are often misframed such that the actors and/or film titles are off the screen. He's right. That last shot of Donald O'Connor in the "In Memoriam" package gave as much attention to Francis the Talking Mule as to Donald. He also notes that the Bringing Up Baby clip in the Hepburn spot was mostly her stunt double.

LIVE OSCAR BLOGGING! — Documentary Short, The Chernobyl Heart. Great, memorable speech. I'm seven for nine.

Best Documentary Feature, The Fog of War. Great line: "I'd like to thank the Academy for finally recognizing my films." That's the kind of thing people think but it's nice to hear someone with the guts to say it aloud. But then he has to thank Robert McNamara…"if he hadn't done it, there wouldn't have been a film." Yeah, and if he hadn't done some other things, a lot of people wouldn't have died in Vietnam.

The tribute to Katharine Hepburn a few minutes ago was nice. This one to Gregory Peck was nice. But is anyone else a little uncomfy with the Academy deciding that certain actors get singled out and others get lumped into a quick montage? And of course, someone also decides that certain folks are omitted altogether because there isn't time. I guess it has to be this way but we don't have to pretend it's all copacetic.