Actor-Writer Gene Moss was remembered last evening with a lovely memorial service out at the Sportsmens Lodge in Studio City. Family, friends and even a few devoted Shrimpenstein fans turned out in force to recall and tell stories about a very funny, creative man. Gary Owens told of the halcyon days of Roger Ramjet recording (Gary had the title role; Moss and his then-partner Jim Thurman wrote 'em all) when Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin were recording next door, and one of them would pop by to play some one-line role, sans credit. Thurman told of the days they wrote and performed together, noting that he was omitting incidents for which the Statute of Limitations had not expired. Even our own Scott Shaw! got up and spoke as a representative of all of us who were inspired by/warped by (pick one) the hip humor that Moss and Thurman brought to television in the sixties. It all made for a lovely remembrance of a man who, everyone agreed, would have loved one more chance to be around all those people.
David Letterman and the Emmy Awards
Two tiny controversies seem to be erupting with regard to The Late Show With David Letterman and its Emmy nominations this year, or lack thereof. Both relate to Letterman's moving 9/17 broadcast, his first following the tragedies of 9/11, the one on which Dan Rather broke into tears. The Late Show was nominated in the category of "Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series." The way the process works, the nominated entries must submit a tape of an episode for the judges to view so they can determine who gets the Emmy. As recounted here in The New York Observer, Letterman's show submitted the 9/17 broadcast and some folks think that's tacky or perhaps exploitive. The other controversy appeared in a column by David Bianculli in The New York Daily News which I won't link to because they charge money to read it. Basically, it complains that…
In the category of Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program, for the period June 1, 2001, to May 31, 2002, David Letterman was not nominated. This is the man who gave television one of its most important entertainment hours of the entire season: his Sept. 17 "Late Show With David Letterman" on CBS, six days after the terrorist attacks on his adopted city and home base.
I think both issues are pretty frivolous and I wonder if everyone really understands the procedure by which Emmy Awards are nominated and awarded. Basically, there are three stages to receiving an Emmy…
One is the submission. The show or individual submits whatever they believe qualifies in a given category. So if it's a category for Outstanding Performance By An Individual, David Letterman's people submit his name, in effect saying, "We think David should be considered in this category." If it's a category for a series (i.e., "Outstanding Series"), they submit the name of the show. If it's a category for an individual episode, they submit the episode number and the date. A screening committee then rules on whether each submission qualifies in its category, eliminates those that don't, then compiles the nominating ballots.
That brings us to the second stage: The nomination. Ballots go out. Ads are purchased. A lot of us get tons of tapes and DVDs in the mail. (This year, Everyone Loves Raymond sent every voter both a tape and a DVD of two episodes and F/X sent us a box of tapes that lit up with a ring of battery-powered lights when you opened it.) Voters throughout the Academy vote on the list of all eligible entrants, checking off their choices. The ballots are returned and tabulated, and the top vote-getters in each categories become the nominees. So if someone or some show doesn't get a nomination, it means either that (a) it wasn't submitted or (b) it didn't get enough votes from members of the Academy. I would guess that (b) is the case in well more than 99% of the glaring omissions.
The third stage is the final voting: The nominees are asked to submit tapes that can be screened by the Blue Ribbon judging committees. If the nomination is for an individual, they're asked to send over tapes of what they consider their best performances. If it's for a show, they send over a couple of their best episodes. If it's for a specific episode, they send over tapes of that episode.
The judges vote and the Emmy gets awarded. End of story.
Letterman's show was nominated in four categories: Writing, direction, technical direction and "Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series." As mentioned, they've reportedly submitted Dave's September 17 show as an example in the last category and it's bothering some folks, who consider it the exploitation of something that shouldn't be exploited. I don't know that I have an opinion on that but I'm guessing that it will work and it's not a big deal.
(By the way, because folks always wonder about this: Except when the Emmy is for a specific episode, the clips that are shown on the Emmy broadcast are not necessarily from the submitted episode. So they may or may not show a clip from that episode on the awards show.)
Now then. The piece in the Daily News makes what I consider a very silly statement about the fact that Letterman wasn't nominated as a performer…
The executive committee of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences should rethink the unfairness of the competition in this particular category. But before that, they should look at themselves in the mirror and accept the guilt and shame that ought to come from allowing such a pivotal TV performance to go unrecognized.
This is silly because, even as the category is defined, Jon Stewart got a nomination. Does anyone think that there's something wrong with a process that puts Jon Stewart and David Letterman in the same category? No? Well, that's the only thing that the executive committee can control…the way the categories are defined. If the voters didn't vote for Letterman in sufficient number, it's hardly a sign of "guilt and shame" on behalf of the administrators of the awards. (Or there's another possibility — that Letterman wasn't submitted — which wouldn't be the exec committee's fault, either.)
It is the perhaps-unfortunate nature of any kind of competition in which human beings vote that, sometimes, they don't vote the way you think they should. This applies to award competitions but also to things like electing presidents, senators and governors…all of which involve a vastly more mature selection process and one which most voters probably approach with more consideration. When someone moans that the Oscar or Emmy or Grammy went to the wrong person, I always want to ask, "Do you think the right person is always elected to public office? If not, why would you expect that something as inconsequential as an entertainment award be decided by a flawless procedure?"
Yes, the Academy could have reconfigured the category rules in a manner that would have made it more likely…perhaps even guaranteed that Letterman would have been nominated. But that would almost certainly have meant breaking two categories — male and female — into four, creating two more Emmy awards.
This is one of the problems that the Emmy Awards face: There are too damn many of them. Every time someone doesn't get a nomination they think they deserve, they petition the Academy to break out some job description and lower the bar. It's like if I don't get nominated so I run in and lobby to create a new category for "Outstanding script by a 6'3" half-Jewish kid who previously wrote Porky Pig comic books." The funny thing is that, in the past, the Academy has occasionally given in and configured a new award that seems slanted to favor one potential winner…and when they've done this, someone else has popped up to win the first one.
None of this is very important. Nothing about entertainment awards is very important. But if we're going to have them, let's just play by the rules and not get bothered when that doesn't yield the result we think it should. David Letterman has a shelf full of Emmy statuettes and will probably pick up another for Outstanding Series. Somehow…call me reckless…I think the world can survive him not winning this year for Individual Performance.
Coming to a Newsstand Near You…
Next week's TV Guide features a list of the "50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time." Their top five are, in this order: Bugs Bunny, Homer Simpson, Rocky & Bullwinkle, Beavis & Butt-Head and the Grinch. Although I am quoted as an authority in the article, I never place much stock in this kind of list. It is, after all, just the opinion of some small group of folks, whose levels of expertise and taste — and perhaps even, their identities — are unknown to us. You and I could get three friends together and cobble up a list that would be just as valid or invalid. The only difference would be that ours wouldn't be in TV Guide.
Their list is odd. It includes Gerald McBoing-Boing, Wonder Woman, Angelica Pickles and the bill from Schoolhouse Rock…but omits Droopy, Huckleberry Hound, Casper the Friendly Ghost, Yosemite Sam, Goofy, Super Chicken, Crusader Rabbit, Elmer Fudd, The Tasmanian Devil, The Pink Panther, Foghorn Leghorn and many others. There are no Jetsons or Smurfs, and there are a lot of odd rankings (Josie and the Pussycats are #24, Porky Pig is #47) and strange groupings (Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble are one listing, whereas Homer Simpson is one, Bart and Lisa Simpson comprise another).
But it's just a list, just someone's opinion…and I wonder why anyone takes something like this seriously, as I'm sure folks will across the Internet in the coming week. Watch the fighting begin.
The Birth of Groo
Gordon Kent liked what I posted about him but suggested I explain to folks why he didn't get paid for coloring the first Groo story. It's because it appeared in a benefit comic for which no one got paid. Back in 1982, our friend Steve Gerber was locked in a battle with Marvel Comics over his creation, Howard the Duck. Marvel's admitted strategy was to make the battle so expensive that Steve would just give up. That he didn't…that he was able to continue it until a satisfactory settlement was reached…had a lot to do with Destroyer Duck #1. A whole batch of us — including Jack Kirby, Alfredo Alcala, Neal Adams, Shary Flenniken, Marty Pasko, Joe Staton, Scott Shaw!, Dan Spiegle and a couple of other folks, including Steve — donated our time and talents to put out this comic, all proceeds going towards Gerber's legal bills. Sergio contributed the first-completed Groo tale. I was very proud to be involved in this project and glad to have Gordon and all the others participating.
Briefly Noted…
R.C. Harvey has posted a great bio of cartooning great Roy Crane. Crane was one of the best "storytellers" to ever work in the medium and anyone attempting to draw comics (books or strips) would do well to seek out and devour his work. Here's the link to Bob's fine article.
A few days ago, in this item, I mentioned a man who claims to have psychic powers when he fondles a person's buttocks. I pinned the looniness on Florida, which was not quite correct. The ass-reader is based in Germany. The link was to a story about him disseminated by a Florida news outlet. You can all readily understand, however, how I could have made such a mistake.
Our Boy James!
Well, he didn't disappoint. We all expected James Traficant's address to Congress to be rambling and incoherent and full of wild-eyed conspiracy theories…and he even managed to get to an anal joke in his first five minutes. Aside from donning women's clothing or biting off part of somebody's ear, there wasn't much he could have done to make it more embarrassing. Maybe if he'd dropped his pants and fired a rocket.
The thing I find especially funny is that Traficant received one vote and it wasn't his own. He abstained, or perhaps he wasn't allowed to vote. No, he got one vote and if you didn't hear who cast it, think for a second. Who would it be? If you were trying to think of the perfect way to cap this thing off and create fodder for Mr. Leno's monologue, who would have be the one member of Congress to vote against Traficant's expulsion from the House?
Yeah, it was him…a little present to say, "Thank you for making me no longer the biggest sleaze in Congress." (If you still haven't figured out who it was, click here to consult an article about the vote.)
I'd like to think we haven't heard the last of James A. Traficant. He's probably going to prison but when he gets out, he'll be back…maybe as a radio talk show host…maybe as the commercial spokesperson for Preparation H. He'll turn up somewhere. Heck, if the rules allow it, he could even run again and probably win. By that time, with all the indictments and convictions were likely to see in the financial scandals, he'll look positively honest by comparison. Beam me up!
Can't Wait…
Debate on Mr. Traficant is scheduled to start at 6 PM Eastern time and to be covered in full on C-Span. I can't wait. I hope they don't spoil it with one of those annoying laugh tracks.
Legally Brief
Comic book superstar Todd McFarlane has won, at least for now, his battle with hockey player Tony Twist. Todd modeled a character in his Spawn comic on Twist, who turned around and sued over the unauthorized use of his name. Two years ago this month, a Missouri jury awarded Twist $24.5 million. (Do you realize how many baseballs you could buy for $24.5 million?) Later that year, an appeals court overturned the decision. Twist filed an appeal but the Missouri Supreme Court has now decided to side with the appellate guys. Here's a link to the text of the 35-page decision if you'd like to plow through it. Basically, it comes down to this line:
The use of a public figure's name and persona in a work of fiction is protected by the First Amendment when no reasonable person could believe that the things described in the fictional work are "of and concerning" the plaintiff.
Congrats to Todd…and my admiration for not settling this outta court for a million or three, which is probably what Mr. Twist and his lawyers figured you'd do. That kind of settlement chips away at the First Amendment as effectively as any censor or book-burner. And I must say I was disappointed in a couple of folks in the comic book field who subordinated an important principle to their schadenfreude-type hope that Todd would lose big.
Thoughts Just Before Bedtime
They're saying a vote on James Traficant could come as soon as this evening, which would mean his 30 minute defense would occur sometime today. I'm so worried he won't be able to outdo his previous levels of embarrassing behavior, especially since he'll only have a half-hour. I keep telling myself James won't let us down but…I don't know. He's going to really have to go some. Maybe he could just come out and do Rip Taylor's old act…throw some confetti around…
Conan O'Brien hosting the Emmys. Excellent idea. Might even get me to watch.
The last few days every "talking head" show I've caught on CNN, Fox or MSNBC has had little to offer but Democrats and Republicans arguing over which is to blame for the current stock market meltdown. What I don't think some of these guys get is that the American public thinks they're both responsible…and that even if one party took more direct action to cause these financial disasters, we expect the other party to stop them. This is, after all, why we have opposition parties, isn't it?
For those attending the Comic-Con International next week in San Diego: AccuWeather is predicting mostly clear, with daytime highs between 72 and 80 and evening lows not much cooler. Here's a link to their forecast. While we're at it, here's a link to this site's list of convention tips.
And here's that link again to the list of panels and events I'm moderating. Every one a gem! The entire schedule is now up at www.comic-con.org if you have the slightest interest in the stuff I'm not hosting.
Like a Phoenix Rising…
Some time ago, we reported rumors that the long-running Mad knock-off, Cracked Magazine, had bitten the dust…and, indeed, they've gone through some changes in proprietorship, were off the stands for a time and endured a lot of hardship, including a reported Anthrax scare in their building. But as Dan Fiorella — a very funny writer who can occasionally be found in its pages — reminds me, Cracked has returned in all its wacky glory to newsracks. Issue #358 has just gone to press (including some work by Dick Ayers) and will be out on August 6. If you can't wait, you can rummage around on the Cracked website.
Typo Blood
I love typos. Here's one I just found over on the front page of The Washington Post website and "captured" so I could post it here for you all. This just proves that if you want to reform the accounting practices of this or any other country, you have to start by getting yourself a pair of real shoes.
Con Men
Veteran Mad Magazine artist George Woodbridge has suffered a small foot injury…just serious enough to force him to cancel his appearance at this year's Comic-Con International. Drat.
In the meantime, we've added Maurice LaMarche to our panel of Cartoon Voice Artists on Saturday afternoon. Maurice is one of the best, as viewers of Futurama, Pinky and the Brain, The Critic and dozens of other shows can attest, and we're glad to have him aboard.
A Site to See!
My longtime buddy Leonard Maltin has just unveiled his own website. Those of you who spend a lot of time browsing the articles on this site can now divide your time. Waste half as much of your life here and waste the other half over reading his informative comments on www.leonardmaltin.com. Leonard has been providing important film history and commentary for years and it's nice to have him here in the vast wasteland of Cyberspace.
Briefly Noted…
And right here we have another one of those news stories that's worth at least a week of Leno monologues: A blind psychic who "reads" people by fondling their buttocks. And wouldn't you just know, the guy's in Florida? (Thanks, Carolyn)
More on Gene Moss
Obituary for Gene Moss in the L.A. Times. Here's the link to it. And David M. Lynch writes to remind me that I omitted a very important credit from the man's résumé…
During the onset of the British invasion, there was a top-40 parody of the Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand," entitled "I Want to Bite Your Hand." It came from an RCA album called "Dracula's Greatest Hits." Said album featured several drawings (front and back cover, and a set of "monster cards" enclosed within the jacket) by the great Jack Davis. Every song on the LP was "sung" by a guy named Gene Moss, doing a Bela Lugosi impression. This LP was one of my cherished childhood possessions, and one of the first things I began looking for when I first started visiting eBay.
Thanks, David. I also forgot (because this, I didn't know) that Moss was the voice of Smokey the Bear for commercials. He was an amazing talent.