• There's something oddly comforting when I think that no matter how bad my day may go, it's still a lot better than any day in the recent life of Harvey Weinstein.

• And my spell-checker converted "tariffs" to "taxes," which suggests it was programmed by a Democrat.

• Apparently, someone told Trump he could raise tariffs on other countries but didn't tell him that they could raise taxes on us.

Reprise is a company here in Los Angeles that stages short-term musicals, reviving old and well-remembered shows for brief glimpses.  They mount them with minimal sets, minimal costumes and minimal rehearsals…and all of their productions are amazing just for being thrown together in so little time and for so little money.  To see one, you have to act quickly because there are only around fifteen performances of each show.

Reprise went away for a while due to financial problems but it's back now.  Last night was the final performance of their season-opener, Sweet Charity and later in the year, they're doing Victor/Victoria and Grand Hotel.  Fortunately, all that minimalism does not include minimal talent.  I had a real good time. If I hadn't, I would have titled this review, "There's Gotta Be Something Better That This" but I didn't.

I wish I'd been able to tell you sooner about this so some of you could have gone on my recommendation.  I'm an opening-night subscriber but their opening night coincided with the Sherman Brothers Tribute at the Motion Picture Academy so I moved my tickets to a later performance.  Then that later performance was canceled when one of the lead performers had a death in the family — there are no understudies when you only do fifteen performances — so I wound up on closing night. If I'd gone earlier, I'd have suggested you rush to see it.

Kathleen Marshall directed and Laura Bell Bundy performed the hell out of the title role. This is the kind of show where if you don't have someone incredible in the lead, you might as well not do the show at all. Ms. Bundy — who got super-famous in the lead in the musical of Legally Blonde — was utterly electric, supplying a lot of personality and humanity that was maybe not all there in the play as written. Sweet Charity does not have the greatest book. Neil Simon wrote it and even when the original show was a hit on Broadway, he wasn't all that proud of his contribution. It has not aged well and I suspect that one of these days, someone's going to "update" it because the score by Dorothy Fields and Cy Coleman is just too good.

As is not surprising with Reprise shows, the whole cast is great. I was especially impressed with Barrett Foa as Oscar Lindquist, Krystal Joy Brown as Helene and Yvette Gonzales Nacer as Nickie. Mr. Foa is a regular on an NCIS show I don't watch and whenever he's done with that, someone's going to star him in a comedy series and have a very big hit. The guy is funny.

I could go on but what's the point? It closed last night. You can't go see it. If you live anywhere near Los Angeles, you might consider a two-show subscription to the rest of the Reprise season. In speeches before and after the show, they made it clear they're kinda desperate for money. A lot of good theater is these days and this enterprise is highly deserving of support. Here's a link.

Unless I need to post a sudden obit, there might not be new content here for a day or two. Lots of things I've got to get done.  When I do return, I have some other tales about Harlan Ellison and some info and further clips of That Was the Week That Was.

Comic-Con International convenes in seventeen days.

The classic "We Are the World" video is re-created by a bunch of talented folks from Broadway…

By actual count, there are 8,448,329 anecdotes about Harlan Ellison, 7,609,224 of which are actually true. This is one that fits into both categories and it involves a man named Julius Schwartz who was an important editor for DC Comics and a semi-important figure in the science-fiction community. Julie and Harlan had an extremely close relationship that some would describe as "father-son." Some would also tell you that at times, Julie — though he was nineteen years older than Harlan — was in the "son" role.

Most of the time though, Julie was the obstreperous adult and Harlan, the even-more-obstreperous child. Every Wednesday morning for a very long time, Julie (in the DC offices in New York) would phone Harlan (in his home in Southern California) and they'd talk about anything and everything. One day around 1971, the topic somehow ventured to the notion of Harlan, who had done very little writing for comic books, writing a Batman story. Julie Schwartz was the editor of Batman and Detective Comics at the time. Harlan did not want to do it with any sort of deadline but he said he would come up with something in the near future.

This was in 1971.

Now with Harlan's passing, the Internet is filled with remembrances and honors and cyber-mourning and tributes, and in lot of them you'll see some version of the phrase, "He inspired me to become a writer." Harlan did a lot of that. He inspired people in other ways, as well. He occasionally inspired someone to hate Harlan Ellison but we won't go into that here. Here, I'm celebrating him for inspiring so many people in a good way. Like I said, he was a writer who made other writers proud to be writers.

So many of us learned good, valuable things from him but a few writers I can think of learned to yell and scream about every rewrite, every note, every alteration. I can't guarantee the following but supposedly, someone once asked Ray Bradbury if it was a wise idea for a writer to fight about each bit of interference the way Harlan did. Bradbury reportedly replied — and this sure sounds like an answer he'd give — "I don't know if that's okay but if you try it, check first and make sure you have the talents of a Harlan Ellison."

(In truth, Harlan did not turn every single bit of producer or editor or network input into a battle. It's just that when he did, we who admired his work all heard about it.  And heard about it.  And heard about it.)

So there might have been a few wrong lessons to learn from the man. More serious was his occasional inability to meet deadlines. He turned his chronic tardiness in everyday life into one of his better stories, "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman." It's a fascinating work because he seems to have tried to take every rule of Good Writing he could think of, violate it and still wind up with Good Writing. I know some disagree but I kind of think he made it.

But he was late with so much of what he wrote, and I suspect…well, I know there are writers who think, "If Harlan Ellison can be weeks/months/years late, so can I." To quote Ray Bradbury again, assuming he even said it, "I don't know if that's okay but if you try it, check first and make sure you have the talents of a Harlan Ellison."

One might argue that he was not late with the Batman story he promised in 1971 to write for Julie Schwartz since he never had a firm deadline. But it finally saw print in the October, 1986 issue of Detective Comics, fifteen years later…and eight years after Julie had stepped down as the editor of Detective Comics. Deadline or no deadline, that's late.

But let us step back to the ten-year anniversary of the promise to write this story. Imagine yourself back at the Comic-Con International in San Diego in 1981. It was at the El Cortez Hotel in that city and it wasn't even the Comic-Con International yet. It was the San Diego Comic Con and attendance was a whopping — brace yourself — 5000 people. Now, there's 5000 people in the hall dressed as Harley Quinn, many of them even women.

We're at the awards ceremony where they're presenting not the Eisner Awards like they do nowadays but the Inkpot Awards. They still give out Inkpot Awards but at panels and other programming, not at the big awards ceremony. One of them is to be presented to Julius Schwartz and there to watch him receive it is his friend (and former client back when Julie was an agent), Ray Bradbury.

I am seated at a table in the hall awaiting that impending moment when someone comes up to me and whispers that there's a man outside who needs to talk to me. "He says it's urgent," says the whisperer so I get up and go out to the hall and there is Harlan, who had not otherwise made an appearance at the con. He is clutching a manila envelope which he informs me contains his Batman script. He drove down to the con to surprise Julie with it and he wants me to help him sneak into the ballroom so he can make an effective entrance. At the proper moment — which may be only seconds away — he will spring up onto the stage and turn in the script in front of what seems like the entire professional comic book community.

Just then, we hear from inside the hall that the next Inkpot recipient is Julius Schwartz. There's a burst of applause and Harlan urges, "Quick! Get me in there while he's still on the stage!"

I say, "Relax! If Julie's making an acceptance speech, we have plenty of time." I tell Harlan to follow me and I will be his shield. I am 6'3" and somewhat wide. You could have hidden Lawrence Welk and his entire orchestra behind me. Harlan is 5'5" and somewhat narrow so as I make my way through the ballroom, few people notice that he is shadowing me. When I get to a pillar near the stage, I motion that he should hide behind it and he does as I continue on back to my seat.

Julie Schwartz is on the stage and so are Ray Bradbury and few other folks. Julie is thanking everyone and talking about how in his career, he was worked with so many talented writers and artists. Utterly unaware Harlan is even in the same area code let alone twelve feet away, he says something like, "Everyone helped me by getting their work in on time. Well, except for one person but I probably shouldn't mention his name."

Someone yells out, "Mention his name!" Once when Harlan told this story, he said it was me but I'm pretty sure it wasn't. I sorta recalled it was him but he would have remembered if it had been him. Whoever yells it out causes Julie to say, "It was Harlan Ellison!" There is a big laugh from the audience…and I don't think any of them had spotted Harlan behind that pillar. Julie adds, "He promised me a script ten years ago and I'll probably never see it. If I do, I'll probably reject it!"

Suddenly, Harlan leaps from behind the pillar and, making his way to the stage, he proudly waves the envelope. The audience is hysterical and Julie is gasping in amazement and laughing and having some sort of editorial seizure all at the same time. I doubt anyone who was there will forget that moment.

Once on stage, Harlan whispers something to Julie who laughs, then Harlan grabs the microphone and makes a wonderful speech about the honor of writing a Batman script for the great Julius Schwartz. Jackie Estrada, who now runs the big awards event at Comic-Con International, was there at that moment with her camera. Here with her permission is a photo she took. If you click it on it, it will fill your screen…but then come back and I will describe a few things to you.

The gent at the left is Ray Bradbury. In the back is Sergio Aragonés who was onstage during the ceremony to draw cartoons of the winners. You may notice that Sergio never gets older although his mustache does. You can only see a little of the man next to him but it's almost certainly Shel Dorf, one of the founders of Comic-Con. And then you have Harlan and Julie.

There is more talk and thanks and hugging and then Ray, Harlan and Julie depart the stage and the next award is presented. I am curious as to what it was that Harlan whispered to Julie when he got up there so as soon as the festivities end, I scoot over to Julie's table and I ask.

He leans in confidentially to me and says, "He said, 'It's just the first page but I promise I'll finish it in the next week.'" Julie then opens the envelope to show me and, sure enough, it's a title page and about fourteen sheets of blank paper.

Here's a find. From January of '64 until May of '65, NBC had a show in prime time called That Was the Week That Was. It was a half-hour of topical comedy done live out of New York and it was the Americanized version of a popular British show which also involved David Frost in a producing and hosting capacity. The show was a critical favorite but not hugely popular and during the '64 presidential election, it was sabotaged.

Like most good political humor, it had a liberal bent and during that election, the Republican National Committee didn't like the jokes about its candidate, Barry Goldwater. So week after week, the R.N.C. or allied organizations would buy the half-hour to air paid political ads, keeping TW3 (the show's nickname) off the air. You can't do that today but you could then. The show literally did not air for weeks.

I remember it was a great show filled with New York (and Broadway) talent including at times along with Mr. Frost, Henry Morgan, Buck Henry, Alan Alda, Elliot Reid, some amazing guest stars and the "TW3 Girl," Nancy Ames, who sang the theme each week with sharp, topical lyrics. Tom Lehrer wrote and occasionally performed songs and puppeteer Burr Tillstrom, who'd been responsible for Kukla, Fran and Ollie, did these odd "hand ballets" which were like puppet shows with no puppets on mostly-serious topics.

If you're thinking, "Hey, I'd like to see a couple of episodes of that"…well, you can't. They don't seem to exist. In the early eighties when a pilot was made to try and bring it back on ABC, I was asked to write on it and while I ended up opting for another project, I did get to meet David Frost and heard him cursing — as he apparently did often — the geniuses who'd bulk-erased all the old tapes.

But we have here a video made from a recording of the audio track from one episode, the one from June 19. 1964. The cast includes Frost, Alda, Reid, Tillstrom, Phyllis Newman, Tom Bosley and the singer you'll hear at the opening is Nancy Ames. Lacking the visual, you won't get all the jokes but you'll get a feeling for the energy of the show and the tone…and remember it was done live. Give a listen…

• Trump says journalists "should be free from the fear of being violently attacked." Well, that's a start. I wonder who else he feels should be free from the fear of being violently attacked.

As if any of us needs more bad news these days, now comes word that ventriloquist Jerry Layne passed away yesterday, most unexpectedly. No word yet on what happened.

There's an entire community out there of folks who practice and study the Art of Ventriloquism, and Jerry was at the nexus of it. He was not only a fine performer and voice-thrower himself but he was a historian and an expert builder of what his fellow vents call "figures" and what most folks call "dummies."

In fact, there are two Layne-built figures at this very moment in my living room — exact, working replicas of Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead Smif — and each week, their very presence scares the hell out of my cleaning lady. Jerry built a limited number of these figures as part of a deal with his idol (and one of mine) Paul Winchell. Paul was, of course, a superstar of early television and he just might have been the best ever at bringing "dummies" to life and entertaining millions.

Details on Jerry's life are a bit sketchy but it is said he was born in 1938, grew up in Brooklyn and became fascinated with ventriloquism as a child and by age 14, had won many talent contests and established what would be a long mentor/student relationship with Winchell. Jerry entertained with his figures everywhere he could, including in college and in the service. He never stopped doing it though for a time, he made most of his living in TV production, mostly working for the Goodson-Todman game show factory.

In the mid-seventies, he turned to full-time ventriloquism and worked everywhere: Stage shows, casinos, cruise ships, theme parks, benefits, corporate events, etc. He appeared often on television and some of you may recall a particularly memorable role he had on one episode of the short-lived but well-remembered series with Leslie Nielsen, Police Squad. Jerry played a crazed ventriloquist. In reality, he was a very sane, funny man who loved what he did and did what he loved. I very much enjoyed the times I was around him.

As noted, he was a central player any time ventriloquists gathered anywhere to discuss and promote their art, and he is very much being mourned today in that community. On the applicable message boards, I see post after post from performers whose careers were helped by this man and who are proud to practice their craft with a figure designed and built by Jerry Layne. And in my living room, Jerry and Knucklehead are looking kinda sad. That is, when they aren't scaring the cleaning lady.

• Harlan Ellison may have hated the Internet but the Internet sure loves him.

Writer Harlan Ellison died in his sleep this morning at the age of 84. For what feels like forever but was probably more like ten years, we who knew him had been hearing that he was dying. It seemed impossible that he could go away but more believable when we also heard that he was not writing.

Harlan was a writer who made other writers proud to be writers. He celebrated and exalted the profession…and would have winced at the inevitable obits that are already describing him as "science-fiction writer Harlan Ellison" or, worse, "sci-fi writer Harlan Ellison." He was a writer who wrote many things, some of which belonged on the same shelves as unabashed science-fiction writers. One time I startled him when I, perhaps insensitively, told him I wished he'd write more that in no way belonged on those shelves — and his instant reaction made me think for a sec that I was in for a scolding and tirade from which I might never recover. To my relief, he sighed and said he wished that too.

I'm having real trouble writing this because I knew Harlan from 1969 on and was proud to be among his many, many friends…but in the last couple decades, I came to feel that the friendship was best served by maintaining distance. I admired the man greatly for most of what he did and most of what he stood for. I saw him perform many warm, human acts of kindness and benevolence. Most of the time when he mounted one of his many campaigns against injustice and/or insanity, I was with him all the way. But…

Well, having written and deleted and rewritten this paragraph ten times now, I'm thinking this is not the time or place to sort out my mixed feelings. That discussion would be as much about me as it would be about him and this is a time to remember him and to bond with others whose lives were changed by knowing this extraordinary man. I'm looking at that ominous "but…" I typed a half-hour ago and thinking, "Not now."

He was a great writer. He was, at times, a great human being…and if the "at times" seems like faint praise, think of all the people on this planet who never seize the opportunity to be great human beings at any time. I will miss him…but I guess I already have for about ten years. So have a lot of other folks even if some of them didn't know it 'til today.

I said here the other day that I would, like Charles Schulz, feel genuinely flattered if I ever created something that people wanted to wear. This brought way more e-mails than the comment deserved, including one from Brian Olson who wrote, "I'd gladly wear your Kirby bio around my neck on a chain ala Flavor Flav." Well, that's nice of you, Brian, but I have a new, longer Jack Kirby bio in the works which I expect will be out for Christmas of 2019. It's so big that if you wear it on a chain, you'll be walking like Groucho within a day and Quasimodo for the rest of your life.

Ed Waters and Jo Bristow were the first of several others who wrote to ask (basically), "Haven't there been t-shirts of Groo or The DNAgents?" Well, first off: I did not create Groo. I have worked on the feature since the second story but any time you see me credited as the creator of Groo the Wanderer, politely inform the appropriate person that Groo the Wanderer was created by Sergio Aragonés.

I think writers and artists look absolutely terrible when they are credited with someone else's work and they do nothing about it.  I do not buy the excuse — and yes, I have heard this from folks who have been wrongly credited with something they wish they could claim as their invention — that if you yourself didn't make the claim, you have no responsibility to correct it. To me, that's like if someone found Sergio's wallet, returned it to me and I said, "Well, since I didn't steal this, I can keep it!" And really, you have to nip misassignments of credit in their proverbial buds because everyone gets their info from what's posted online so faulty "facts" keep getting repeated.

But yes, there have been Groo t-shirts and we'll probably do more one of these days. Here's a quick story which for some odd reason amuses the heck outta me…

I was in Vegas one day and I ducked into a little convenience market to get a beverage. I took my selection up to the counter and the clerk there was wearing a Groo t-shirt. I said, "Oh! A Groo fan!"

He said, "Yes, I think it's the greatest comic book ever…and get this! I actually met the man who does the comic! I met Sergio Aragonés! He was so nice and he's so wonderful that it was one of the greatest moments of my life…to meet the man who does my favorite comic book!"

I said, "Have you ever met Mark Evanier, the fellow who works with Sergio on Groo?"

He said, "No, I haven't."

I extended my hand and said, "Well, here's your chance. I'm Mark Evanier!"

And he said, "Nice. That'll be $1.75 for the water!"

Back in the eighties, I did co-create (note the "co-" there) the comic book The DNAgents with the talented artist Will Meugniot. We thought what the industry needed was a super-hero team done by two guys whose surnames no one could pronounce. The book was successful enough for a time and I loved doing it and somewhere on my unofficial "to do someday" list is to find the right time and place to bring it back. I also need to make a real "to do someday" list.

There were, it's true, DNAgents t-shirts.  I was going to go photograph one but I have no idea where I stored mine, none of which ever fit me.  Fortunately, I have this photo which I took in 1985.  I would love to pretend I just happened to spot the lady somewhere proudly wearing the shirt to celebrate her favorite comic book…but the truth is that she was a friend named Angela Aames who put it on because I asked her to, just for this shot which we never got around to using in an ad.  This is just about the kinkiest thing I have ever asked a woman to do which did not involve a hockey mask and a mango.

Anyway, Will did the drawing and I did the logo, just in case you were wondering why the drawing is better than the logo.  This may be the high point of my career in terms of creating (co-creating, in this case) something that someone wears.  If so, well, it's better than nothing.

• The 2018 election will be The Most Important Election Ever until, of course, the 2020 election which will be The Most Important Election Ever until the 2022 election. For the rest of our lives, every major election will be The Most Important Election Ever.