Next weekend is the 2022 San Diego Comic Fest, a low-key convention quite unlike the city-sprawling monster that is Comic-Con International. In fact, Comic Fest was founded — and in many ways, has succeeded — in recapturing the wonderment of the early comic conventions in San Diego that grew and grew and grew into Comic-Con International. Small attendance, small dealers room, small panel rooms…focus mainly on comic books, especially older ones.
I've been to several Comic Fests and always had a good time so I agreed to be at this one but now, before it convenes next Thursday, I have to announce my non-appearance. It's not COVID keeping me away. It's knee problems and a few other things and…well, I'm sure it'll be just great with the fine lineup of guests who will be there. My apologies for the no-show. I still plan to be at Comic-Con International this July.
Millions of years ago when I started this website, I had a whole section of it devoted to tips about Las Vegas — where to go, what to see, where to eat, where not to go, what not to see, what not to eat, etc. At the time, I was spending about an eighth of every month in that city owing to an interest in Blackjack, an interest in the history of "Old" Vegas and an interest in a showgirl there. The interest in Blackjack soon abated, the last remnants of "Old" Vegas disappeared and the showgirl now has a husband and kids, plus the huge hotel where she did her showgirling was imploded and replaced, of course, by a huger hotel.
So my recommendations all went outta-date and I removed them. If you might he headed to that town now, I suggest you check out the website for The Las Vegas Advisor, a newsletter I've subscribed to since it came in the mail printed on paper. A gent named Anthony Curtis runs it and what he doesn't know about that city ain't worth knowing. More important is that LVA is one of the few places where hotels, restaurants and shows get reviewed in a venue not supported by advertising bucks from the casinos. There's plenty of good, unbribed information on their site even if you don't spring for a subscription.
Also, among the thriving industries in Vegas is making YouTube videos wherein the host — usually, a local — takes you around the city and shows you where to go, what to see, where to eat, where not to go, what not to see, what not to eat, etc. There are a lot of people making these but my favorite is Norma Geli.
I do not know Ms. Geli but I find her a delightful and adventurous guide to the city in which she dwells. It still amazes me that in this era of cameraphones and computers and video editing software, someone can produce something as professional as she does.
She seems to post every week and she has close to a hundred videos on her channel. Below, I've embedded her most recent report for which she actually steels her courage and jumps off the top of the tallest hotel in the city just for us, her loyal viewers. At least, I'm a loyal viewer. Watch and you may become one too…
Not that the world needs another podcast but I find myself enjoying The Adam Ragusea Podcast, which has just been a "thing" for a couple of weeks. I have previously linked to some of Mr. Ragusea's twice-weekly videos which are either about food science or they're cooking videos. I find the former interesting and the latter — even though I will probably never attempt any of them — fun to watch. A few of you (just a few) have written to say you find Adam pedantic or haughty but I don't. I find him to be a smart guy and I like watching the way his mind works.
His podcast is mostly about food and the one that dropped this morning leads off with a discussion of GMO food that gives a different view on a subject about which I've heard plenty. I don't know quite what to believe but I'm glad I heard what he believes. And I was even gladder at what he said when he changed subjects and answered some questions not about food but about life and dealing with its problems. Not all of you will find this valuable but those who do may find it very valuable. Here's the link…and you might want to find your way to earlier ones and later.
Sorry for the sparseness of posts the last few days. I've had more important things to do. "More important than blogging?" "Yes, amazingly, some things are." The sparseness may continue through the weekend.
I'm wondering aloud if Comedy Central or someone is considering staging a big, two-hour (or longer) memorial/tribute to Gilbert Gottfried, inviting all his comedian friends to come in and roast the deceased, vying to outdo one another for tastelessness. It would have to be long because dozens of comics would demand to be part of it…and we'd repeatedly hear the phrase, "Gilbert would have loved it." Which he would have, assuming his family wasn't discomforted by the enterprise. I saw a little of the actual funeral online but this would be different. This would be for the mass audience and not done in a place of worship with a rabbi present. Someone's gotta be considering that.
Just because I don't mention Ukraine on this blog doesn't mean I'm not continually horrified at what's going on there.
If you haven't caught last Sunday night's Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, do so while HBO is still rerunning it. The main segment about Data Mining was extraordinary, what Oliver and his staff did to try and help the situation was brilliant…and it wouldn't surprise me if it actually had an impact. If you don't get HBO, you can watch that main segment here.
A couple of people have sent me this link to a musical spot from an episode of Charlie's Angels back in the eighties. It's not photographed well and it's not supposed to be a good number…but there's something oddly appealing about it. Most of those who sent it wanted to know if I could identify the ladies in it and, sorry to say, I can only identify two…
One is the lead performer — the one in the middle — Eileen Barnett, who was in a whole lot of musicals I saw in L.A. back then and since. Just a wonderful talent. One show that I recall as especially terrific was a revue called Movie Star that ran for a while at the Westwood Playhouse back in 1982. It was the creation of Billy Barnes, Ray Aghayan and Bob Mackie.
Aghayan and Mackie were, of course, the most celebrated costume designers in variety shows of the day and the many outfits created for Movie Star were stunning. I believe Mackie did most of them because Aghayan was busy directing the show…and it was the kind of show which, if the songs hadn't been as good as they were, you'd say that the audience left humming the wardrobe.
But the songs, which were by Billy Barnes, were all gems. Billy, who I once had the pleasure of working with, was the foremost writer of what they called Special Musical Material back then. He composed clever songs for revues, TV shows and other presentations. He did all the songs on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, for instance. Earlier, he had done a number of revues that played in local theaters and in New York.
The cast of Movie Star — at least when I saw it — consisted of Gale Baker, Eileen Barnett, Christopher Callan, Larry Cedar, Daniel Fortis, Katie Labourdette, Brad Maule, Henry Polic II, Leigh Scarritt, Kathryn Skatula and Barry Williams. Yes, that's the Barry Williams from The Brady Bunch.
Sadly, Movie Star did not have much of a life after the Westwood Playhouse. I believe there were one or two productions elsewhere, including one in La Mirada. Like the several revues created by Howard Crabtree (another designer of outrageous, colorful costuming) or like Beach Blanket Babylon, it was very expensive to duplicate what the performers wore on stage. And you might even have to cast the performers to fit the costumes…and worry about those costumes wearing out.
There was no real cast album of Movie Star but a record was released many years later of Billy singing its songs at the piano. Ms. Barnett accompanied him on a few but the album did not, in my opinion, do justice to the fine score he wrote. It used to be downloadable on iTunes but it doesn't seem to be now. Billy, when I ran into him, used to promise me a tape of the original production but I somehow never got it. I hope one exists somewhere…and my, I have gotten way off the subject, haven't I?
Apart from Ms. Barnett, the other performer I can identify in the Charlie's Angels number is my old friend, Nancy Fox. I haven't seen her in many years but I'm pretty sure that's her. Some of you may remember Nancy from a short-lived sitcom, Temperature's Rising, but she was all over television for a while, including several other episodes of Charlie's Angels.
In this video, Eileen Barnett is the lead singer in the middle and Nancy Fox is the blonde on the far left in a blue top and white boots. I believe in this episode, she got killed soon after this scene. If anyone can identify anyone else, let me know…
Gilbert, of course. This is what purports to be his first appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien early in the show's run. They were doing a Halloween theme I believe and the premise of the first part is that Dick Cavett is pretending to be Gilbert in a Dick Cavett costume. Gilbert is off-stage live-dubbing the voice and one gets the feeling that Mr. Cavett was not thrilled with some of the words coming out of "his" mouth.
I believe the previous guest seated on the couch is Maureen McCormick of The Brady Bunch. She does not seem to know what to make of the crazy person who comes out and sits to her left.
Gilbert was hysterical on a lot of shows like this and I once asked a writer for one of them why they didn't have him on more often. The answer was roughly, "He upstages the host and doesn't give that host a chance to be funny." A host, of course, wants his comedy guests to get laughs but some of them don't like the idea of not getting plenty of laughs themselves during a segment. They don't like when this happens…
Still reeling a bit from the news about Gilbert. Here's one interesting thing about him. When he first came upon the stand-up scene, his act consisted of clever bits that he (I assume) wrote. Some of them were brilliant and quite unlike anything anyone had ever done…but his performance of that material was at least as funny as the material itself. At some point, he did a one-eighty and switched to just telling dirty jokes…material that he didn't write and that others had done. And again, because of the performance, he was just as funny. He wrote new stuff for those Comedy Central Roasts and other special occasions but if you went to see Gilbert at a comedy club, you heard — and enjoyed the hell of — a lot of old dirty jokes with some embellishment. Most comics couldn't get away with that.
Folks are writing to ask me what I think of the "punishment" the Academy has decreed for Will Smith — banning him from the Oscars ceremony for ten years. The fact that I put the word in quotes should tell you what I think of it. It will be interesting to see if/when he gets nominated again if they make an exception that time. Otherwise, I think I'm past discussing that matter.
Some also asked me why I wasn't complaining about the omission of certain people from the "In Memoriam" reel. I'm already past that. It happens every year and it will continue to happen and no matter who they put in, someone will be mad they left someone out. What's interesting — and it might be maddening if I took that segment more seriously — is that when people bitch about So-and-So being "snubbed," they're only talking about actors and performers. They can leave out all the directors, producers, writers, cinematographers, set designers, composers, costumers, film editors, animators, studio heads, agents, etc., they like. No one even lists those omissions. But it's an outrage when they omit someone who was ever on a movie screen.
Lastly: Here's something I recently learned. I buy a lot of things from Amazon and sometimes, something has to be returned…like I bought some sweat pants and they sent me the wrong size. Amazon has always been good about taking things back but they've gotten really good about it as follows. If you have a return, you no longer have to wrap it up, find a suitable mailing bag or box or anything of the sort and maybe get some bubble wrap or padding. Instead, you can have them send you a QR code and then you take the item(s) to any Whole Foods Market, find the Customer Service desk and someone there will take the merchandise, scan the QR code on your phone and they'll wrap up the return and ship it back. I sent my assistant over to do it today and she said it couldn't have been easier. Good to know.
Gee, I wish I could think of a joke in the worst possible taste to make at the moment. It would be highly appropriate and Gilbert would have loved it.
Though I met and talked with him on a few occasions and guested on his podcast, I can't say I knew Gilbert Gottfried all that well. Others will doubtlessly write longer and better about him than I could, along with wondering what it is that seems to be causing comedians in a certain age group to be passing at a frightening rate.
But Gilbert sure seemed to be a sweet guy, a decent family man, a great audience for other comedians (many good comics are not) and as you surely already know, one of those guys who could make anything funny…even tragedy. Oh — and I left out "brave." He was unafraid to face any audience and say anything he thought would make them laugh. I never saw him be unsuccessful in his mission.
There was a very fine documentary made about him a few years ago called, simply, Gilbert. If you want to know what he was like…or if you thought he was just a guy who squinted and yelled out rude things…I suggest you seek it out.
Tomorrow afternoon at 5 PM, TCM is showing Harold Lloyd's 1923 silent masterpiece, Safety Last. You've all seen the photos from it of Harold dangling from the clockface but how many of you have seen the movie? Well, you can tomorrow. 5 PM is when it turns up on my TV. Due to time zone differences, it may be different where you are.
It's a fine film, though one I'd prefer to see on a big screen with an audience. You will instantly understand why Lloyd's name is often mentioned in the same sentence as Charlie Chaplin's or Buster Keaton's when folks talk of the great movie comedians of the pre-talkie era. Lloyd did not seem to have the same comic instincts of either man but he was willing to work as hard as Keaton and he was a better businessman, producer and marketer of his work than any of them. He made a number of fine films where he didn't hang from clocks.
It is impossible to discuss this film without noting that Lloyd did those amazing physical feats with a severely-compromised right hand. Years ago here, I wrote about that and about meeting him in the unlikeliest of circumstances…
It was around 1964 and I was attending Emerson Junior High School in West Los Angeles. I didn't know it at the time but Emerson was apparently built on land that Mr. Lloyd had once owned and he was visiting the campus for some reason connected to that. The principal, Mr. Campbell, had Harold Lloyd in his office and it dawned on him that there was one person on campus who would know who that was and would be thrilled to meet him. That one person was 12-year-old me.
I was sitting in Mr. Cline's English class when someone came in and gave Mr. Cline a "summons slip" (that's what they called them): Mark Evanier to the principal's office, A.S.A.P. I knew I wasn't in any kind of trouble because I was never in any kind of trouble but I couldn't imagine what this was about.
I reported to Mr. Campbell's office where he introduced me to his visitor and my immediate thought was, "Oh, this man has the same name as the great comedian." I mean, he didn't look like the Harold Lloyd I knew from the films, nor was he hanging off a big clock. There was an awkward moment because I didn't immediately go, "Oh my God! The greatest comedian in the world!" Mr. Campbell looked disappointed and Mr. Lloyd looked disappointed. I'm guessing the principal had assured his guest that, yes, there was a 12-year-old kid on campus who knew who he was and now they both thought I didn't.
Trying to salvage the moment, Mr. Campbell said, "I thought you'd enjoy meeting him because you're such a fan of silent movies." I then did a double-take worthy of anyone who ever worked for Hal Roach and I said, "Harold Lloyd from Safety Last?" and Lloyd broke into a big grin. The principal continued, "And I thought you might like to ask him some things about his films."
If I'd had that opportunity a few years later, I'd have deluged the man with curiosity. At that moment, I couldn't think of a thing. I was unprepared, I was scared to be in the presence of Harold Lloyd…and I really didn't know that much about him. He owned most of his major films and rigidly controlled their exhibition so I hadn't seen most of them. There were then few books about him, either. When we shook hands, he grasped my right hand in his left and I didn't know why he did that. A few years later, I obtained a biography that explained. An accident during a photo shoot — a prop bomb turning out to be real — had cost Lloyd a couple of fingers on his right hand so he wore a flesh-colored glove with prosthetic fingers and he hid the hand as much as possible. (The physical feats he did in his films are even more impressive once you know that, along with the fact that he was right-handed.)
The only major Lloyd film I had then seen, I'd only seen in part. A company called Atlas Films sold 8mm versions and, almost certainly with no legal right to do so, they'd released Safety Last in a one-reel, 12-minute abridgement. The entire movie was 70 minutes but the Atlas folks got it down to twelve…and it played fine at that length. You wouldn't have sensed there was ever more to it than that. So I asked him a few obvious questions about that movie without mentioning that I'd only seen (and had purchased) an unauthorized and seriously-trimmed print of it. About all he said was that he'd worked real hard on that film and was very proud of it, which is pretty much what you'd assume.
At Mr. Campbell's suggestion, I walked Mr. Lloyd to his car and we chatted a bit about how Hollywood had changed and he asked me what I wanted to do with my life…and that was about it. I'm sorry, as much for my sake as yours, that the conversation yielded no quotable tidbits. He shook hands with me left-handed again, then got into a big Cadillac (I think) and drove off. Later that day, I told some of my classmates that I'd met Harold Lloyd and they didn't know who that was. So I tried telling a few teachers that I'd met Harold Lloyd and they didn't know who that was, either. No, wait. I believe Mr. Cline said, "Is he still alive?"
So enjoy the film if you care to. If you aren't aware how they did the trick photography that showed Mr. Lloyd apparently many stories up climbing a building, the folks at Criterion Collection made a video explaining it when they released the film — which you can still order here. Here's an excerpt from that video…
As some of you may know, I am a longtime member of the Academy of Magical Arts, which few people ever refer to as the Academy of Magical Arts. They instead talk about the organization's clubhouse, The Magic Castle, an Edwardian manor up in Hollywood built in 1908 but now serving as our clubhouse. It's a magnificent place to tour, dine in and see some of the world's greatest magicians demonstrating their artistry.
For as long as I have been a member — more than four decades now — there have been concerns about the future of the Castle and controversies over its management and finances. I don't know how many times in those 40+ years, members who should have known better have told me the Castle might not be around in X years…and X was always a frighteningly low number. The number was also dead wrong because the Castle is still here, better than ever in some ways, and its future may at last be stable.
In a move to preserve the historic Magic Castle in Hollywood, video game mogul Randy Pitchford is buying the famous home to the Academy of Magical Arts. The purchase, which is expected to close by the end of the month, will ensure the prime property in the heart of the tourist district remains the academy's clubhouse and performance venue, Pitchford said. The price has yet to be disclosed.
If you read the piece, you'll know as much about this as I do but it sure sounds like happy news. And the folks who told me about it recently, requesting I keep it secret which I now don't have to do, all seemed to think it was a good thing. I sure hope so.
We're 101 days from this year's Comic-Con International in San Diego. For the purposes of this post, I'm being optimistic and assuming some unexpected variant of you-know-what won't force a cancellation of this year's event which I sure hope to attend.
And yes, I know that could mean battling crowds…and not just crowds of people dressed like Klingons and The Joker and characters out of the summer's big "tentpole" movies. According to many reports from San Diego, it could mean navigating around or otherwise dealing with a rising homeless population.
Here's a report on them with emphasis on the folks with nowhere to go who've elected to camp out near Petco Park. And let me remind you that Petco Park is right next to the convention center where Comic-Con takes place. I really hope someone does something for homeless people — not just in San Diego but everywhere…
