The Top Ten words that did not appear anywhere in George W. Bush's State of the Union address tonight…
And when he condemned "Activist judges [who] have begun redefining marriage by court order, without regard for the will of the people and their elected representatives," he was lucky no one jumped up and asked, "How do you feel when they stop votes from being recounted?"
The first Moon landing occurred July 20, 1969. The Potato Crisps and the Prisoner finale both pre-dated it. I should have realized that because Nixon did his famous split-screen phone call with Neil Armstrong, and Nixon didn't take office until the beginning of 1969. I am shamed.
I ate the one and only box of General Mills Potato Crisps I ever ate on a Saturday evening in 1968. I know this because for some reason, I remember trying them out and not liking them as I watched the final episode of The Prisoner. General Mills Potato Crisps were advertised as having "a taste like french fries" and their commercials even suggested you dip them in ketchup to get that full, wondrous french fry flavor. So I had my mother get a box and then I emptied a glump of ketchup into a little dish and took both out into the living room to watch the grand finale to Patrick McGoohan's odd spy series. I knew that if things went anything like they usually did, it would be Monday's hot topic of discussion at my high school, and everyone (myself, included) would be pretending we understood precisely what had happened in the episode.
And sure enough, the following Monday, I did a decent job of bluffing and double-talking…enough to have a semi-intelligent conversation about the show with friends who weren't entirely sure what they'd seen, either. (Only months earlier, we'd all practiced by feigning some comprehension of the ending of 2001.)
Oddly enough, I recall more about the Potato Crisps than I do about The Prisoner. Though made from an odd array of ingredients including a smidgen of potato flour, they did taste vaguely like french fries. Or at least, they did in the sense that almost anything that's edible, salted and crunchy tastes a little like french fries if you dip it in enough ketchup. Overall though, I was disappointed…enough to never again try them. And my mother, sensing my disappointment from the next room, came in and lovingly offered to make me real french fries if that's what I wanted. I told her no. What I wanted was a ready-made snack food that tasted like french fries…and obviously, the package before me proved that this was still and perhaps forever beyond the reach of Science. Not long before, they'd put a couple of men on the Moon but the important stuff still eluded them. Ever since that evening, when friends mention The Prisoner, I think of General Mills Potato Crisps. There's some sort of metaphor there between show and snack but I've never quite figured it out. Or, for that matter, the end of The Prisoner.
A couple of folks wrote to say I was being slightly unfair to the Zogby poll since, after all, it's a caucus vote not a popular vote. The rules are different. For example, once a candidate is adjudged non-viable, meaning he has under 15% of the vote in a given caucus, his supporters can move on to someone else. This is all true but it still doesn't change the fact that the polls, whatever they were estimating, did not gauge how well Kerry and Edwards would do, nor how poorly Dean and Gephardt would fare.
I actually do not believe polls are entirely worthless. I just think we take them way too seriously and are too quick to forget the big "misses." We're now paying an undeserved amount of attention to how the candidates look to be faring in New Hampshire…as estimated by the same people who were so far off in Iowa. If Clark's numbers start going up, everyone will say, "He's gaining support," whereas it could just be that his support is steady or even declining…but the poll is disconnected from that reality. These things need more Warning Labels on them.
What I believe was the last Zogby poll on the Iowa caucuses had Kerry receiving 25%, Dean at 22%, Edwards at 21% and Gephardt with 18%. Allowing for the margin of error, that's pretty much a tie. Now, for reasons explained back in this article, the final totals are not exact but they're going to be (give or take a point) Kerry with 38%, Edwards with 32%, Dean with 18% and Gephardt at 11%. Even with all the caveats, the polling was pretty far off.
The Zogby poll is the one that, back in 2000, predicted the New York Senate race was coming down to a dead heat. Here's a quote from the day before that vote…
The Colgate/Zogby International Poll also paid carefully attention to the equally close senatorial race between Lazio and Clinton. "I think we're looking at a one point race," Zogby said. "I have no idea what's going to happen on Tuesday." Zogby observed that even although Lazio leads in the polls, it is not the lead that he would like to have over Clinton.
The next day, Hillary Clinton beat Rick Lazio 56%-44%. And yet the media still subscribes to the Zogby poll and pundits still discuss its projections as if we can learn important data from them.
Here's the first part of an interview with the great Joe Kubert over at Comic World News.
Among the Democratic candidates for prez, I have no favorites. Kerry, Clark, Dean, Gephardt, Kucinich, Edwards…it doesn't matter to me just as long as it isn't Lieberman. I'd like to see Al Sharpton do well enough in the primaries to keep him in the race until the convention, but only because he's the only one of those guys I really enjoy hearing speak. (There's nothing racial about this but I felt that way about Alan Keyes in the last election. Since I knew he had no chance to win, I could enjoy hearing an articulate, passionate speaker. I didn't agree with much of what he had to say but it was more fun to listen to him than some boring, pandering guy who mouthed all the right, poll-tested buzzwords.)
The best thing about putting the Iowa Caucuses behind us is that we no longer have to listen to reporters trying to convince us the Iowa Caucuses are that important. The worst thing is that from here on, when someone says that either Bush or the Democrat can't possibly win, we can't remind them how silly it is to project a winner before one single vote has been cast. Now, some people have actually voted. I guess that's a step in the right direction but let's not pretend this part really matters much. Unless you're Dick Gephardt.
Jonathan Cohn argues that Howard Dean's idea of eliminating all the Bush tax cuts, including those for the middle class, will do more for the middle class than keeping the tax cuts.
Every year, the Tony Awards fare poorly in the ratings. Nevertheless, to its credit, CBS sticks with the event. They'll run this year's on June 6 and they've extended their commitment through the year 2010.
By June, Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick will have exited The Producers. Rumor has it that Martin Short will follow Broderick in the Leo role and that the producers of The Producers are talking with Kelsey Grammer about a tour of duty as Max. I would think any two of these four people would make dandy hosts for this year's telecast.
The historic comic book seen above left introduced the new version of The X-Men, as revamped and refurbished by Len Wein and Dave Cockrum. Dave, who designed many of them (and many of the rival Legion of Super-Heroes) is a terrific artist I've known since we were both contributing to the same fanzines in the sixties. His work in them was so good that absolutely no one was surprised when he went on to become a top artist for DC and Marvel. A nice guy, too. We labored together on a few projects and it was always a joy to see what Dave did with my silly scripts. So it was quite a wrench to hear that Dave's been ill lately, hospitalized for a severe case of double pneumonia, plus a bacterial infection in his lungs and blood. He is on the mend (they just took him off the respirator) but he has a ways to go before he'll be off the disabled list and able to draw again. So send good thoughts but it may help even more if you send some money.
A veritable Legion of Dave's Friends is contributing to The Uncanny Dave Cockrum Tribute, an art portfolio celebrating the talents of Guess Who. So far, the roster includes Murphy Anderson, Dick Ayers, Mark Bagley, Chris Claremont, Gene Colan, Peter David, Harlan Ellison, Neil Gaiman, Ron Garney, Tony Isabella, Stan Lee, Mike Pascale, Johnny Romita, Marie Severin, Dave Sim, Walt Simonson, Mark Texeira, Roy Thomas, Lee Weeks, Len Wein, Marv Wolfman and Yours Truly. The book is being edited and coordinated by Clifford Meth, and he's also holding an auction of original art. All proceeds, natch, go to help out Dave and his lovely spouse, Paty. You can get yours here…and do take a moment and place your order. If you've been reading comics in the last thirty years, Dave's probably given you more than a few hours of enjoyment. You'll want a copy of the tribute book just to have one, but it's also a nice way of saying thanks.
This article by Dana Milbank and David S. Broder says it all in its title: "Hopes for Civility in Washington Are Dashed." And then the rest of it is each side blaming the nastiness on the other.
You wouldn't expect economist James K. Galbraith to be a big fan of the current administration but I was surprised by how vehement he is in this attack in Salon. Here's a key paragraph…
What does Bush want? He wants a growth rate high enough to get him through the election. That's obvious. After that, he doesn't care. His clientele — the military contractors, oil companies, pharmaceutical firms and big media that control this government — make their money on patents, contracts and the exercise of monopoly power. (Case in point: Bush is pressuring impoverished Central Americans, in trade negotiations, to add 10 years to the length of drug patents.) These people have no interest in full employment. They like unemployment, weak labor, low wages and a government that bullies on their behalf. And after the election, if Bush wins, that is what they will get for four more years.
The whole article is full of pretty strong stuff like that. I don't know that it's true…but I do know we're going to hear this kind of thing a lot between now and Election Day. Get used to it.
Mary Lou Wallace comes through with most of the answers to the Sandpipers matter…
I spoke with my friend Walt Mitchell, who collects old records, and he agrees that the Sandpipers were not the same people who recorded the "adult" records but he says that the Golden Records Sandpipers were consistently the same four singers — Mike Stewart, Ralph Nyland, Dick Byron and Bob Miller (as far as we know, no relation to Mitch). According to Walt, it seems highly doubtful that Mike Stewart was the same fellow who wrote the books for Broadway musicals. The Sportsmen Quartet recorded some tracks with Mel Blanc for Golden Records — these were Happy Birthday tracks recorded for each month.
Aside from Mike Stewart and Anne Lloyd, other semi-regular singers included Sally Sweetland, Mary Jane Sutherland and Peter Hanley. Aside from Mel Blanc, the Sportsmen and the baseball quartet I mentioned in my previous email, other "guest stars" who made Golden Records were Jimmy Durante, Bert Parks, Jack Mercer (as Popeye) and Mae Questel (as Olive Oyl and a one-shot as Little Audrey). We can't help you with the Man on the Moon soundtrack but I hope that we did provide some interesting info for you!
You did, you did. And Ed Golick writes that he has the original 78 recording of the Mighty Mouse theme and that the label says it's by "The Terrytooners, Mitch Miller and Orchestra." It was reissued many times in many formats and I suspect that there are some that credit it to the Sandpipers. In any case, I'm sure it's some or all of the same male voices on the Golden Records by the Sandpipers. (I'm a bit skeptical the Sandpipers were always the exact same four guys but odder things have happened, I suppose.)
One thing we can agree on is that the sixties musical group called The Sandpipers was another group altogether. Ed Coyote writes to tell me that that group was comprised of Michael Piano, Jim Brady, and Richard Shoff, so at least that's settled, though not everyone knows it. I checked for info in the ASCAP online database, and it has credits for both Sandpipers groups intermingled.
I have the Mel Blanc "Happy Birthday" records, though not where I can get to them right this minute. I could've sworn they said "The Sandpipers" on them but maybe not. In any case, there were a lot of New York actors and cartoon voice people on Golden Records. There was also some false advertising. The Bugs Bunny record at left says on it features "Mitch Miller and Orchestra," "The Sandpipers" and "Original Cartoon Voices." The last of these would presumably mean Mr. Blanc…but the guy doing Bugs and most of Mel's characters on this record is definitely not Mel. He didn't even fool me when I was seven years old.
I recall getting a couple records like this during my literal childhood and feeling enormously cheated…but I also felt sorry for the poor actor who was brought in to do twenty impressions. There were Golden Records of Hanna-Barbera's early shows that feature an actor named Gil Mack trying to almost single-handedly do all of Daws Butler's and Don Messick's roles. He's not bad at a couple of them but no one is that good…nor could anyone walk into a recording studio and in what was probably just one or two sessions, do all of Mel's key roles.
Now then: If we can only get to the bottom of this thing about the soundtrack for Man on the Moon, I'll be satisfied. Thanks to all who are helping solve this little baffler for me.
112 years ago today in Harlem, Georgia, a baby was born who was destined to grow up to be one of the world's greatest comic actors. Norvell Hardy got into movies when he was 21 and quickly became one of those actors who worked constantly. He was versatile (he played comic roles and villains with equal facility) and he was nice and professional. Most of all, he was naturally funny. There were comics who needed gag writers and funny props and situations to get a laugh, and then there were those who could be funny opening a door or crossing their legs. Babe Hardy could be funny standing still, which is why his career took off.
For a time, he turned a nickname into a professional name and was billed as Babe Hardy. Later, when his father Oliver passed away, Norvell/Babe adopted his name. In 1926, he teamed up with a slim British comic and soon the whole world knew the names of Stan Laurel and Oliver Norvell Hardy. Nobody better.
Twenty different people (thank you, twenty different people) have sent me one or both of two links that fill in a few pieces of the Sandpipers riddle I posted last night.
At this site, we learn about the Sandpipers group that recorded "Guantanamera" and other non-kiddie records. They do not seem to be the same Sandpipers heard on the Little Golden Records.
This link goes to a page on a Gilbert and Sullivan discography referencing a Golden Record. It would seem to establish that the Mitchell Miller in question was the same bearded gent who fronted Sing Along With Mitch. The Sandpipers, it says, was the name of a chorus that he used on his records and TV show. The reference to "reliable studio union New York Singers" suggests to me what I'd suspected, which was that there was no permanent roster; that Miller (or whoever) hired three or four guys each time, and that while they presumably tried to hire the same crew for each session, if one wasn't available they probably plugged in another vocalist.
Okay, that answers some questions. I'm curious as to whether Miller owned the name of the group and I'm really curious about the version of their song that turns up on the Man on the Moon soundtrack, but maybe some of that will get answered in the next day or two. Several of the twenty said they think they can locate additional info. Check back later.