Mark Evanier's Blog, page 141

Conventional Disagreement

I've received a number of e-mails disagreeing with me on the year that the San Diego Comic Con moved from the old San Diego Convention Center to the new San Diego Convention Center. And it sure would be a lot easier if all these correspondents agreed with each other but they don't.

So I may have the year wrong, in which case I will make the correction. But it'll be a little while before I have time to do the digging necessary to arrive at an unquestionable answer. If any of you have solid proof and could send it my way, you could save me a lot of time.

Conventional Counting

The other day in this post, I said that this year's Comic-Con International would be the 56th one and therefore my 56th one. It no longer says that in that post because I received a flurry of e-mails from folks who said my count was off.

This prompted me to try to recall how I'd arrived at the number I cited and I realized how: Someone — an acquaintance of mine — told me that number and I just assumed it was correct.  I forgot that I have acquaintances who don't know what the hell they're talking about.

I decided to do some research and my own math and in so doing, I realized why there's a confusion.  Here is my list…

1970 – Golden State Comic Con – U.S. Grant Hotel1971 – Golden State Comic Con – Muir College, U.C.S.D. Campus1972 – San Diego's West Coast Comic Convention – El Cortez Hotel1973 – San Diego Comic-Con – Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina1974 – San Diego Comic-Con – El Cortez Hotel1975 – San Diego Comic-Con – El Cortez Hotel1976 – San Diego Comic-Con – El Cortez Hotel1977 – San Diego Comic-Con – El Cortez Hotel1978 – San Diego Comic-Con – El Cortez Hotel1979 – San Diego Comic-Con – (Old) San Diego Convention Center1980 – San Diego Comic-Con – (Old) San Diego Convention Center1981 – San Diego Comic-Con – El Cortez Hotel1982 – San Diego Comic-Con – (Old) San Diego Convention Center1983 – San Diego Comic-Con – (Old) San Diego Convention Center1984 – San Diego Comic-Con – (Old) San Diego Convention Center1985 – San Diego Comic-Con – (Old) San Diego Convention Center1986 – San Diego Comic-Con – (Old) San Diego Convention Center1987 – San Diego Comic-Con – (Old) San Diego Convention Center1988 – San Diego Comic-Con – (Old) San Diego Convention Center1989 – San Diego Comic-Con – (Old) San Diego Convention Center1990 – San Diego Comic-Con – (Old) San Diego Convention Center1991 – San Diego Comic-Con – (Old) San Diego Convention Center1992 – San Diego Comic-Con – (Old) San Diego Convention Center1993 – San Diego Comic-Con – (Old) San Diego Convention Center1994 – San Diego Comic-Con – (Old) San Diego Convention Center

In 1995, the convention moved into the spanking new San Diego Convention Center and the con also underwent a name change…

1995 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center1996 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center1997 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center1998 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center1999 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center2000 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center2001 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center2002 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center2003 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center2004 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center2005 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center2006 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center2007 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center2008 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center2009 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center2010 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center2011 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center2012 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center2013 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center2014 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center2015 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center2016 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center2017 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center2018 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center2019 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center2022 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center2023 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center

So what's the confusion?  I can explain.  My list does not include the one-day "test" con they held in 1970 before the first "real," multi-day convention, the three-day bonus con they held in November of 1975, the two "at home" cons in 2020 and 2021 or the "back from COVID" event they held in November of 2021. If you want to count any or all of them, you can say there have been 52, 53, 54, 55, 56 or 57 of these gatherings.

Take your pick.  The convention operators ignored the test con and the bonus con when they celebrated the 2019 event as Comic-Con #50 so I didn't count the test con or the bonus con either.  I didn't count the two "at home" ones because we were all "at home" and I didn't count the November 2021 one because it was labeled as a Special Edition.  Unless someone finds fault with the above list, I'm sticking with this year's being #53.

Today's Video Link

One of the routines that took Bob Newhart to stardom…

Today's Trump Dump

Jonathan Chait explains why Donald Trump's latest economic proposals are just another part of the G.O.P. crusade to make sure that the richest people pay less tax and the poor and middle class pay more. 'Twas ever thus.

Steve Benen says that Trump wants business leaders who fail to support him to be fired. How does Benen know this? Because Trump wrote on Truth Social, "Business Executives and Shareholder Representatives should be 100% behind Donald Trump! Anybody that's not should be FIRED for incompetence!"

And Eileen Sullivan brings us the latest on Rudy Giuliani's crusade to see how much legal and financial trouble a man can be in at one time. Go, Rudy!

Least Surprising News Item of the Week

Comic-Con International has announced me as a Special Guest for this year's event which convenes in a little over a month. I'm not sure what's so special about me being a guest there because it's, like, the fiftieth time.

Actually, if you're interested in the stats, this will be the 56th of these conventions. That's not counting the one-day "test" con they held in 1970 before the first "real," multi-day convention. It's also not counting the three-day bonus con they held in November of 1975 and the "back from COVID" event they held in November of 2021.

It will be my 56th convention and I will be hosting fourteen panels over the four days. Before someone asks: My record was hosting sixteen and appearing on one other at the 2008 Comic-Con. As you can see, I've cut back in my old age.

America's Doctor

Dr. Anthony Fauci is making the rounds promoting his autobiography which I intend to read. I think the man is a genuine hero who has been accused and attacked by politicians who "are angry at him for being a doctor instead of a politician." What I just surrounded with quote marks is not my phrase. It's what one of my doctors said to me when this country was in the depths of the novel coronavirus. He likened the situation to when patients get mad at him for telling them what the test results say as opposed to what those patients want to hear.

He went on: "Politicians are like spoiled children when someone outranks them on something. Well, doctors usually outrank non-doctors when it comes to matters about medicine." I was reminded of that when I read this piece about Dr. Fauci's recent interview with MSNBC host Ari Melber…

According to Fauci, Trump got the idea that COVID could be treated with hydroxychloroquine — an off-patent antimalarial used for autoimmune diseases — from Fox News' Laura Ingraham. This was despite warnings to the contrary from global health officials; eventually, according to Mediaite, the drug was linked to nearly 17,000 deaths across six countries during the pandemic.

"But I had to continue to tell the truth," Fauci told Melbar. "And he said, 'Why do you keep doing this to me?' Because it's the truth. I'm telling the American public the facts. Hydroxychloroquine doesn't work."

I have doctors I trust and I don't mean that they're infallible. They're just right way more often than, say, a layperson no matter how many online articles he or she has read. And they're right way more often than Laura Ingraham or Donald Trump. If you'd like to join me in Dr. Fauci's memoirs, here's an Amazon link.

Cartoons A'Comin'!

The new all-cartoons/all-the-time channel MeTV Toons launches next Tuesday with what is truly an all-star lineup. If they were programming for me, I'd hope to see fewer cartoons I own on DVD, fewer recent ones and some more obscure programs. But (wisely) they aren't programming for me and I expect to see some of the less-seen, non-superstar cartoons hidden on shows on their schedule like Cartoon All-Stars.

And you also have shows like Popeye and Pals that, along with the spinach-devouring sailor, will be showing non-Popeye Max Fleischer cartoons. Or The Woody Woodpecker Show running non-Woody Walter Lantz cartoons or Casper and Company running vintage Paramount cartoons with or without that friendliest of ghosts. Also, check the schedule for Totally Tuned In, which has cartoons from the Columbia studio like Mister Magoo and The Fox and the Crow. You haven't seen those often, have you?

That oughta please everyone…well, everyone who can get the channel, that is. Here's a place to search and see where it might be available in your market and if that fails you, try this list. If no local station carries it, it's on at least two streaming networks — Frndly TV and Philo — and I'll be watching it on Frndly. Oughta be a treat.

Willie Mays, R.I.P.

I have, you may be surprised to learn, a Willie Mays story. It's one of the many, many things in my life I owe to a wonderful man I worked for named Lee Mendelson. You can read all about Lee here but if you don't have time to click, just know that for many, many years, he was the producer of the Peanuts and Garfield cartoons.

Years ago when I was still working for him, Lee's production company hit some nice, round number anniversary and Lee decided to have a big celebration. He made up a list of people who had contributed to its success and he flew us all to Sebastopol, California for a big party and paid for everything. I mean, he paid our meals, our airfare, our transportation from the airport to a hotel, suites at that hotel, everything. Saturday night, there were buses to take us from the hotel to a local country club for the party itself.

Mike Peters, who draws the comic strip Mother Goose and Grimm, and I rode the bus together to the club. When we walked in, we saw two man standing at a bar talking: Charles Schulz and Jim Davis. Mike said, "Wow! The two richest cartoonists in history!" I think Lee had even paid their ways there…although Schulz probably just drove or took a taxi over from his ice rink.

The party was filled with people you never heard of and I'd never heard of. At one point, Lee took me around and introduced me to some of them. I only remember the name of one of those people so I'm going to make up names for the others. You'll recognize the one real name in what follows.

Lee said, "Mark, this is Harvey Fenstermacher. Harry was the cameraman on the first documentary I made in 1962…"

I said, "Nice to meet you, Harvey."

Lee said, "And Mark, this is Sam Shlabotnik. Sam was the lawyer who helped me arrange financing to open my first office…"

I said, "A pleasure to meet you, Sam."

Lee said, "And Mark, this is Murray Whatshisname. Murray was the liaison to Coca-Cola when I sold A Charlie Brown Christmas to CBS…"

I said, "The pleasure is all mine, Murray."

Lee said, "And Mark, this is Willie Mays."

I said, "Homina-homina-homina…"

It was Willie Mays. Willie Freakin' Mays — and Lee introduced him to me in the same matter-of-fact tone as he'd introduced his cameraman, his lawyer, his liaison to Coca-Cola. Okay but this was Willie Mays. I am not an expert in any sense about baseball. The last time I really followed it was when I collected the trading card that illustrates this post. But even I know that if you were in a room full of baseball history obsessives and you said Willie Mays was the greatest player of all time, no one would give you much of an argument.

And there he was in person, tolerating me shaking his hand for an abnormal length of time while I tried to think of something coherent to say to him. I gathered he was used to reactions like mine.

Lee went on to introduce me to his barber and his insurance man and his dentist and to Tommy Smothers and a few more folks who'd been important to him in his life but I made a point of later getting back to Willie Mays. I apologized for my stammering reaction and he couldn't have been nicer. I told him that when my father once took me to a Dodgers-Giants game at Dodger Stadium when I was ten, we and everyone in our section of the bleachers was, of course, hating on the Giants…

…but we couldn't hate on him. I think I said, "…though we were all disappointed that you caught every one of those long flies to center without slamming into any walls."

He chuckled politely and said, "Well, I had my off days…"

And that was about all he said. Mr. Mays was not a great conversationalist. I guess when you're the greatest baseball player of all time, you don't have to be.

Bye Bye Beef

The Arby's up on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood has closed or is about to close. I was never wild about their food there but for about two years, I was often on the KTLA lot a block away, writing (mostly) variety shows for Sid and Marty Krofft. When in need of a fast lunch, that Arby's was the best option. The other eateries within walking distance of the lot either did not meet my food-allergy-driven needs or were not the kind of places one could dash in and dash out quickly with something edible.

So I went to that Arby's often — once with two of the Bay City Rollers. Thus, I had the full experience of hanging out with two rock stars, the Rollers being rock stars in the same sense that what Arby's sold us were roast beef sandwiches.

Arby's has a scant presence in Southern California. I've been in other cities where they seem to exist at every freeway off-ramp. Near me, not so much. With the Hollywood one shuttering, the nearest Arby's to me is eight miles off — not far from LAX. I've driven-thru a few times in the past few years and I dunno if the chain has improved its chow or the one in Hollywood was just not one of the best ones but I liked what I got at the eight-miles-away one a lot more.

I also developed a fondness for the company because of the way they handled the Jon Stewart matter. During his first hitch on The Daily Show, Mr. Stewart often made out like an Arby's was the worst-possible place one could get alleged food. Someone at Arby's corporate level was wise enough to go along with the joke. They sent free meals to the Daily Show office, named a sandwich in his honor and in 2015 when he stepped down from that program, went to the expense of making a special one-time commercial to air during his final broadcast…

How can you not feel at least a little friendly towards a company like that? They may not have the meats but they have a sense of humor.

I haven't had an Arby's sandwich in years. For some reason, none of the ones in L.A. have any sort of delivery option, not even via a third-party service like Doordash or Grubhub. Even while the Hollywood one was open, I could get delivery from McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King, Chick-Fil-A, Subway, Five Guys, Ono Hawaiian and hundreds of other restaurants — some a lot farther away than that Arby's on Sunset — but not Arby's. Jon Stewart, telling all of America their food might make you ill, got free delivery but I can't even pay for it. It's just not right.

Today's Video Links

From The Ed Sullivan Show for April 25, 1965: Two numbers by Freddie and the Dreamers — the British group that your parents were supposed to like…