The e-mails from Trump's minions continue to arrive. They've probably sent something like two hundred of them to an e-mail address that has never given them a dime and many of those messages tell me that President Trump considers me a True Patriot and is grateful for my support. Alternately, a few of them scold me for not sending anything and some of them address me as "Gary," plus I've gotten two for "Rick." All at the same address.
They all take for granted that I believe that Trump won by a landslide and that fraud is denying him his rightful second term. Sometimes, they claim that Democrats all know that too and we're all in on the scam. I'm waiting to see some sort of explanation for why, as state after state certifies the Biden win, Trump's forces don't show some of this undeniable mountain of evidence to a judge or even to Tucker Carlson. I can't imagine why. Can you?
Our pal John Ficarra was an editor at MAD for thirty-eight years. Do you know how many funny ideas and articles he dealt with in those years? More than ten! Read how some of them came about.
This just might be my all-time favorite YouTube video and I'm thinking of watching it every morning when I first sit down at the computer, just to get my day started properly. Take this video full screen on your computer and cue The Overture of Overtures…
Once upon a time, they made movie musicals out of Broadway shows. At some point, someone got the idea to reverse the process and a lot of great movie musicals were converted for the stage …in this case, twice. There was a stage version of the great movie musical An American in Paris in 2008 and another, different adaptation in 2016 — why not? The script for the movie was by Alan Jay Lerner and it was pretty sound. The pretty sound of the music consisted of tunes from the Gershwin catalog. Can't do better than that.
This video of the 2016 version was recorded in London in May 2017 and it stars Robert Fairchild, who won a Tony Award when the show played in New York for the thankless job of making people forget Gene Kelly. Also featured are Leanne Cope, Haydn Oakley, Zoë Rainey and a lot of really good dancers.
It's quite good but if you want to see it, you'd better watch it now. They only put it online for 48 hours and as I post this, about five of them have already passed. Do not delay.
I have a question concerning your recent anecdote about visiting Larry Fine at the Motion Picture Country Home/Hospital. How exactly did you get in there? Did you know Mr. Fine previously? Was it just a matter of knowing who was in residence at the time and asking if they were willing to see you? Or did you just walk in like you had business there and see who was around? I think that was your successful strategy for infiltrating the sets of Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In and The Dean Martin Show.
A friend of mine had gone out to visit Larry Fine. I'm a bit fuzzy on how he arranged that but I think he heard Larry was out there and wrote a letter to him c/o the place, then got a callback either from Larry or some nurse there inviting him out. He told me he'd gone out there, told the desk, "I'm here to see Larry Fine" and they sent him back without checking…so I just drove out there and told the person at the desk, "I'm here to see Larry Fine" and they directed me to his room.
I poked my head in, saw him sitting there watching TV and said, "Excuse me, Mr. Fine. Could I meet you?" He immediately invited me in, had me turn off the TV and directed me to his guest chair. He was very happy to have a visitor.
I don't know how it works out there these days. The last time I visited the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital (that's the full name of it) was 1992. Security just about everywhere has tightened since then and of course, they're now dealing with the coronavirus out there so it's probably not a good place to visit.
The NBC Studios in Burbank are no longer the NBC Studios in Burbank but even before the building changed hands, it was a lot more difficult to get inside. In fact, I would say — and this is not a joke — in the seventies when I went there, it was easier to get in without a pass than it was the last time I went and I had a pass. All the TV studios and movie lots I've visited since 9/11 have drastically tightened security and I don't think all of that was because of 9/11. (One lesser but significant reason was people just sneaking onto sets and walking away with props or costumes.)
The first time I visited NBC Burbank was in 1969. I was a writer for Laugh-In magazine and actually, the magazine had stopped publication at the time but there was still a deal in place for the publishing company to do something further involving the show. It was arranged for me to go over and visit the set a few times and I did…and while in the building, I visited a few other stages and no one stopped me, no one said, "What are you doing in here?" So thereafter, I felt free to wander.
To get in that first time, I went in the Artists' Entrance and, as instructed, asked one of the guards there to call a certain person in the Publicity Department who cleared me to get in. The next time I went, I asked the same guard to place the same call to the same person. He didn't get an answer but he remembered me from the previous visit and I did know the name of someone on the inside…so he just waved me in. The next time, he just waved me in. The next time, another guard waved me in and that was how it was after that. I'm not sure to what extent it was because I looked familiar and to what extent it was because I looked like I belonged there and knew where I was going.
In 1983, I wrote for a TV show that taped there on Stage 3. The first time I walked in for that show, I was with Dick Clark and of course, no one asked either of us for a pass or our names or anything. For the run of that series, I walked through that door at least once a day alone and no one ever asked me for I.D. or where I was headed. There may have been a rule that once you'd been seen with Dick Clark, you could get in anywhere…and I mean anywhere: Any studio, any lot, anywhere in Show Business. If there was such a rule, I kinda doubt it's still operative.
Broadway star Brad Oscar — who was so good in The Producers and Something Rotten and everything else he's done — performs a song parody by Joe Keenan. Every single person who writes song parodies, myself included, wishes or will wish they'd thought of this first…
Those of you who are interested in the history of comic books will be thrilled by this. The rest of you, just skip to the next post…
Between 1993 and 2005, an annual fixture at the Comic-Con International in San Diego was the Golden Age Panel featuring folks who'd worked in the industry in the 1940s. Gary Carter was the moderator of the first one, Joe Desris hosted the second, Ron Goulart hosted the third and I hosted the rest of 'em…but the prime mover behind these panels was a gent named David Siegel. Dave rounded up the panelists and was often responsible for them being at the convention at all. For many of them, that was a life-changing experience…being at a comic convention, being honored for their careers and meeting their fans.
The last few of these events were actually called the Golden and Silver Age panels because, sadly, we ran out of folks who'd worked in the field in the forties. The name change allowed us to sneak in some writers and artists from the fifties. Alas, even with the name change, we soon couldn't people a dais so the panels ended and now I do one each year — when there is a con — that focuses on the seventies.
I loved all these panels while they lasted and so did a lot of attendees. At each of the last few cons after we stopped them, someone would complain to me that there was no Golden Age Panel and I'd reply, "You find me four or more people at this con who'd qualify for such a panel and I'll host it."
Stan Lee would have qualified while he was attending the con but he repeatedly declined. He'd say to me, "Mark, I'll be on any panel you want me on as long as it's about what I"m doing currently."
Our video here is a not-quite-complete record of the first Golden Age Panel in '93. Here were the panelists along with the year each first worked in comics: Sheldon Moldoff (1938), Vince Sullivan (1938), Murphy Anderson (1944), Julius Schwartz (1944), Gil Kane (1941), Russ Heath (1942), Dan Barry (1941), Paul Norris (1940), Martin Nodell (1940) and Dick Sprang (1940). If you start watching the video, that's the order they're seated on the stage, left to right, though Kane doesn't join the panel until partway into it.
There's also a cameo appearance by Harlan Ellison and in the crowd shots before and after, you'll see me, Dave Siegel, Mike Catron and many other folks I recognize, including the late Don Thompson.
The person who uploaded this to YouTube cut it into thirteen separate videos and I've taken a guess at what I think is the right order. There are some jumps in there where material is missing and you may need to crank up your volume to catch all the history…and there is history there.
Dick Sprang and Shelly Moldoff were two of the main ghosts for Bob Kane on Batman….and Shelly drew the original Hawkman and many landmark covers. Vince Sullivan was the editor of the first Superman and Batman comics and Julius Schwartz was a later editor of both. Paul Norris was co-creator of Aquaman, Marty Nodell co-created Green Lantern, Dan Barry set a lot of the house art style at DC, and Gil, Russ and Murphy were three of the most prolific and important artists of their day. I miss all these men and I miss panels like this one…
And that's just the first part. If you enjoyed that and want to see them all, go over to this page and skip the first one because you just watched it here.
Happy T-Day to all. Turkey is one of my favorite foods and I eat it often. I have no relatives this side of the Mississippi River. I don't watch sports. I gave up watching Thanksgiving Parades long ago when they stopped being parades and started being infomercials. And I'm not thinking in the least about Christmas shopping. Ergo, the only special thing about this day is that there's no mail delivery and the phone isn't ringing…much.
Oh — and there isn't much news of a political variety. That's a good thing.
I'm thankful for friends…and that most if not all of mine are wise enough not to defy common sense warnings about The Disease. I'm concerned that we won't all be rid of it until more people take it seriously.
The other day I stumbled onto an online forum of folks who were trying to top each other, bragging about how little they were worried about getting COVID-19 and/or passing it on to others. It reminded me of those Four Yorkshiremen — you know the ones — boasting about having to live in a lake or a rolled-up newspaper.
Some still thought it was a myth and that all those folks who've allegedly died or been hospitalized for it are either non-existent or people who died or were hospitalized for other causes. It was a pretty scary forum and I hurriedly clicked elsewhere.
I continue to get more and more e-mails from the Trump campaign promising that any day now, they'll be filing the most massive lawsuit ever. It will be backed by tons of undeniable evidence that Trump not only beat Biden but beat him by the largest margin in any election ever for anything. But they need at least five dollars from me to make it happen. You wonder how many who buy into all this have considered Chris Christie's statement the other day: "Trump's legal team discusses fraud outside the courtroom but when they go inside the courtroom, they don't plead fraud and they don't argue fraud."
Over on Twitter, I came across this from Glenn Kessler, who fact-checks for The Washington Post…
It's amazing how the US election infrastructure was working just fine in 2016, when Trump won the presidency, but now in 2020 it's like a "third-world country" when he lost. Who was president during that period of decline?
Answer: It was that guy who won so much, he must have, like he said, just gotten tired of winning. Happy Rest of Today, everyone!
Trump's getting confused. He pardoned a turkey for lying to the F.B.I. and announced that no one is going to eat Michael Flynn with stuffing and gravy.
Posted on Wednesday, November 25, 2020 at 12:42 PM
I featured this song a long time ago on this blog but with different video links which have since expired…
In the late seventies, there was a hit song in Israel called "Hallelujah," written by composer Kobi Oshrat. It was written for and entered into something called the Eurovision Song Contest 1978, where it was rejected by the judging committee but accepted a year later for Eurovision Song Contest 1979. There, it was performed by singer Gail Atari and a group called Milk & Honey and it won a major award. Soon, it was released as a record that sold many, many copies in many, many countries in many, many languages. Here's Ms. Atari and the group singing it in, I think, Hebrew…
And here they are singing it in English…
And it was recorded in many other languages. Here they are doing it in German…
In America, it came to the attention of the singing married couple, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme. I know that for a lot of people, Steve and Eydie were too 'middle of the road" and way outta sync with the music of the sixties, seventies and beyond. They were on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson a lot, though in Johnny's later years, the network folks would complain that a lot of the musical acts being booked were "too Steve and Eydie." That meant a certain style of music, not specifically those two performers, but I liked them. I thought there was something very comforting about the way they handled a tune.
Steve and Eydie thought "Hallelujah" had a good shot at becoming a hit in this country so they recorded a single record of it under the names "Parker and Penny." Why the fake names? Well, I heard two stories, the less interesting of which is that they were under contract to one record company and wanted to do this one for another.
The more interesting reason — and it might even be true for all we know — is that they thought they might reach an audience that would automatically pass up a record by Steve and Eydie. At least, it might get played on radio stations that would pass on playing a record with their names on it.
The secret did not stay secret for long. Mr. Carson had them on a couple of times to sing it. I think they did it three times in about two months on his show. The first time, Steve came on solo, started to perform it and then Eydie popped in as surprise to join him in it. The second time, Eydie came on alone but Steve suddenly turned up in the middle of the song. The third time, they came on as a duo.
I may have the order wrong but I remember the unsurprising surprises. Each time, the number started on stage and then the two of them went out into the audience — Steve up one aisle, Eydie up the other — to sing as they shook hands with audience members. The song made it as high as #46 on the charts, probably because of The Tonight Show exposure. If you can stand it one more time, here they are performing it at a concert in France but in English. And I apologize if you're never able to get it out of your head…
I am unable to put myself in the frame-of-mind of those who are proudly hosting or attending large gatherings tomorrow. I kinda half-understand people who think COVID-19 is not as great a risk — especially to the young and healthy — as authorities say. To me though, "I'll never get COVID" or "If I get it, I'll beat it with ease" are gambles you'd be nuts to take, especially since if you lose, you could also cause a lot of pain and grief for others.
I do understand the eagerness some have to "normalize" their worlds but I don't think eating turkey with a big group would make my life feel very pre-pandemic. And of course, I don't understand those who think the disease was a hoax all along, particularly a hoax invented to embarrass and unseat Donald Trump. When politicians like Ted Cruz who said it was are up for re-election, I hope their opponents remind the voting public of some of the stupidest, most irresponsible statements ever made by folks holding public office.
Then again, that's right up there with "We have to go to war because Saddam definitely has those Weapons of Mass Destruction." Those claims didn't bother as many people as they should have.
Trump is about to release evidence proving the election was rigged. It'll be in a package with his tax forms, his health plan, the explanation of how Mexico will pay for the wall and all that devastating info his detectives dug up in Hawaii about Obama's birth certificate.
Tomorrow into Thursday, Turner Classic Movies is running a bunch of movies starring Sean Connery: Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, Marnie, The Hill and The Man Who Would Be King. Then Thursday into Friday, they go all Hitchcock on us: Rear Window, The Man Who Knew Too Much, The Birds, Psycho, Rope, The Lady Vanishes, Strangers on a Train, Saboteur, Torn Curtain, Marnie again, The Trouble with Harry and Shadow of a Doubt. There's gotta be something in there you want to watch.
