My friend/employer Jack Kirby created or co-created dozens of classic comic book characters, as well as a whole approach to comic art that has extended well beyond the confines of the super-hero comic book. I don't know if it surprises you that his influence has been so vast, but it didn't surprise Jack. With more modesty than seemed humanly possible, he was quietly certain that what he did in his career — especially in the Marvel Comics of the sixties and his early-seventies work for DC — would bleed into other media, especially film. At the time of his death in 1994, he had seen this happen often enough to know that his prediction was coming true, and that it would only grow and continue.

It wasn't just that Jack knew that major feature films would be made of The Fantastic Four, The X-Men and other comic books he helped launch. He knew that his dynamic style of storytelling would spread beyond the properties on which he'd worked. He would therefore be utterly unamazed to read some of the reviews currently being written of The Matrix Reloaded. I just did a very simple search and found these quotes online, all from folks writing about that film…

…what are these images but elaborate homages to the balletic slugfests, property-damage free-for-alls and urban apocalypses created by Jack Kirby, Gil Kane and other Marvel Comics artists? [Full review]

Comic book fans were quick to notice the influence of "Captain America" illustrator Jack Kirby in several action sequences. [Full review]

Cybernerds, proliferating like the film's men-in-black computer Agents, studied the Wachowskis' host of referents — to the Bible and Buddha, to novelist William Gibson (Neuromancer) and comic-book artist Jack Kirby (Captain America), to cybernetics and higher mathematics… [Full review]

And there are others. In fact, based on my admittedly-inexhaustive search, I'd say Jack's getting mentioned more often in reviews of The Matrix Reloaded than he is in pieces about the new X-Men movie. I'm pleased to see this. But I still hope that Marvel doesn't forget him in the credits and publicity materials for the films based on comics he co-created.

None of the obits I've seen for Robert Stack has detailed the fascinating (to me) way in which he landed his signature role of Eliot Ness on The Untouchables. So here's the story as I always heard it…

The Untouchables started life as a two-part episode/pilot on an anthology series being produced for CBS by Desilu (i.e., Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball). Arnaz cast Van Johnson in the role of Ness, in part because he figured he owed Van a favor. Van had been a co-star in Desi's one and only Broadway show, Too Many Girls. (He was also, oddly, Desi's understudy in the role of a Cuban football player. Was there ever an actor who looked less Cuban than Van Johnson?) Anyway, Johnson had done many favors for Desi, including just teaching him the ropes of performing in a stage musical, and Desi figured he owed him and that Van would make a good Ness.

The first of the two episodes was to start filming Monday morning. Saturday evening, Desi gets a call from Van's wife. Though Van was receiving very good pay for the job, she suddenly announced that she wanted it doubled, claiming that when they'd agreed to the fee they thought it was for one episode, not two. If Van doesn't get twice as much, she says, Van isn't showing up on Monday morning. Desi's Latin temper gets fired up. He knows it's a squeeze based on the assumption that he can't recast in one day, nor can he cancel the filming. Nevertheless, he tells her — in both Spanish and English — what he thinks of her, and sets out to find a new Ness. He flips through the Academy Players Directory, which is like a mug book for everyone in the Screen Actors Guild. He settles on Robert Stack and begins calling around town trying to locate him.

By now, it's well past midnight. Around 1:00 AM, he locates Stack's home number, phones there and gets the maid, who informs him that Stack is at a certain night club. Arnaz phones the night club, has Stack paged and asks him to go home and read some scripts that are being messengered to his doorstep. Stack, who barely knows Desi, is puzzled but he does as he's told. Around 3 AM, he phones Desi and tells him he's read the two scripts and thinks they're terrific. Arnaz offers him the same price Van Johnson was getting for the two episodes. Stack accepts and — 30 hours later — is on the set, shooting his first scene as Eliot Ness.

CBS doesn't much like the two episodes so they decline to order a series based on them. But the day after the first one airs, ABC calls up and buys the show, which runs for four years and makes Robert Stack very wealthy and very famous. And all because the Johnsons tried to squeeze an extra ten grand out of Ricky Ricardo.

Speaking of Carl Reiner — as I was, not long ago — American Movie Classics is running The Thrill of It All on Thursday morning. 'Tis a pretty funny movie, written by Larry Gelbart and Mr. Reiner; starring Doris Day, James Garner, Edward Andrews, Zasu Pitts, an array of other wonderful character actors…and Mr. Reiner. It was directed by Norman Jewison, who helmed an amazing number of successful movies. It was produced by Marty Melcher, who was married to Ms. Day and who embezzled every cent she ever made. It's about as good as any of those fluffy sixties comedies.

A week from today, the American Cinematheque in Hollywood is screening a print of the movie, 1776. This will be followed by a panel discussion with the director and members of the cast. Those of us who really, really like this movie will be in attendance. And if you don't really, really like that movie, there are other fine musicals being shown, many of them followed by discussions with the filmmakers.

The late Basil Wolverton was one of the most imaginative comic artists of all time, creating a style that came out of nowhere but a wonderfully warped imagination. His son Monte inherited the imagination and occasionally even draws in much the same style, though he also has his own wicked way of looking at the world. Over at The Monte Wolverton Website, you can see the work of father and son on display.

Want to see a lot of covers from great old horror, romance and super-hero comics? Visit Ben Samuels' Classic Golden Age Comic Book Cover Gallery.

Just when I thought everything worth writing about William Bennett's gambling had been written, along comes Frank Rich with the best essay yet. (This is another one of those New York Times pieces you have to have registered to read. But it's free and well worth the few moments required to sign up.)

I skipped a few days this week so I'm playing catch-up on these. Over at Rick Veitch's website, you can find out what this fine artist is up to. You can also read some corrections he's announcing to his recently-released DC Comics work. Apparently, there were production/editing errors that rendered some story points less than lucid.

Two articles of possible interest over on Backstage.com, which is a service for actors looking for work. This article is about opportunities for performers at science-fiction conventions, including the chance to make money by being painted blue. And this article is about the "bevertainers" that are being installed at the Rio Hotel in Vegas. The premise here is that instead of just bringing you a watery drink while you're throwing money into the slots, the waitress will wear a skimpy outfit and perform a song and dance.

My old friend Garfield may be getting his own line of slot machines in Las Vegas. Guess I'll have to get in line behind Bill Bennett to play them.

We often recommend Spinsanity, which is about as close as the Internet comes to a non-partisan Truth Squad. They're so good about cutting through the murk and lies that partisans of both sides generally ignore them, lest they spoil the game and force everyone to abide by the unspun facts. Here's their latest posting which points out how even Bush's own economic advisers are contradicting many of the administration's claims.

I really like Comic Book Resources, a nifty site full of comic book news and discussion. It includes a few of my favorite columns and columnists, and loads of fun things to read and enjoy.

That said, I'm not going back to that site until they get rid of an extremely annoying ad for something — I'm not sure what — involving Wolverine that turns up on your screen while you're en route from one page to another. I don't know what the product is because the ad grates so that I have to kill it as quickly as I can. Will somebody please let me know when that thing is gone so I can go back to visiting the site?

My buddy Leonard Maltin has posted some interesting thoughts about being quoted, as he sometimes is, in ads for movies.

I really like the way Jerry Bingham draws. When he was drawing things like Batman graphic novels for DC, he was one of those too-rare artists who seemed like he learned illustration from the real world and then tried to apply it to comics, instead of the other way around. He now does a lot of different things, as you can see over on his website.

Okay, here's the other thing I did Friday: Went down to the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center to see a production of Smokey Joe's Cafe. As I've written here a number of times, some of the best theater in Southern California comes out of a company called the Civic Light Opera of South Bay Cities. Each year, they have a 4-show subscription that gives folks down there — and those of us wise enough to make the short trek — a chance to see four musicals of surprising professionalism. The shows are all in for short runs (around 21 performances) but the company is usually able to secure sets and costumes from major productions, as well as the services of actors who've appeared before in them. Their production a couple years ago of Peter Pan was basically the Cathy Rigby production, which played Broadway and toured, with Cathy Rigby's understudy instead of Cathy Rigby. Their mounting of Smokey Joe's Cafe (which closes Sunday) features singers who've played the show elsewhere including — in the case of DeLee Lively — in the original Broadway company.

Smokey Joe's Cafe is not a play. It's a revue of songs written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, plus a few other collaborators. Leiber and Stoller had their hands in more hit rock-'n'-roll singles than you could imagine, and you sit there for much of an evening going, "They wrote that, too?" The numbers have been arranged and staged to give the members of the troupe — nine, in this case — a lot to play with, and some of the renditions are outstanding. I usually get bored by musicals that lack a storyline, but this one is just so infectious, it sucks you in and drags you along. If you've never seen it, the final performance of the Broadway company — it ran 2037 performances in New York — was well-preserved on video. Here — I'll give you a link to order it from Amazon. No, don't thank me…

For years, I've been a huge cheerleader on the web for the Civic Light Opera of South Bay Cities, urging Angelenos to drive the modest distance to their very comfortable auditorium. I'm afraid I'm not able to cheerlead much at the moment, though. The rest of their 2003 season consists of Forever Plaid and The Music Man. The latter will probably be fine, and I'm eager to see who they'll get to play Harold Hill — a fact that will probably remain unknown until the production opens and get reviewed. (They seem to have a strict "don't advertise the cast" policy. I called up once to ask who was starring in the current production and they reacted like I was Geraldo, looking to broadcast troop locations again.) But Forever Plaid, though a wonderful show, has been seen way too often, and is way too small for their huge stage. When we all subscribed, the third show of the season was supposed to be Funny Girl, but the rumor is that they went too far overbudget on their splendid season opener, which was Ragtime, and had to skimp somewhere. So that's disappointing, and so is their entire announced 2004 season: Swing, Jekyll & Hyde, Ain't Misbehavin', and Neil Goldberg's Cirque. That's three musicals, only one of which has a plot, plus a travelling circus, and none of these interest me. If they interest you, visit their website. You might get the seats I'm releasing by not reupping my subscription.