Mark Evanier's Blog, page 206

Today's Political Thought

In Woody Allen's movie Bananas, there's a scene where the dictator of the South American country San Marcos gives a speech to the masses. In it, he declares that from now on, the official language of San Marcos will be Swedish, everyone is to change their underwear every half-hour and all children under sixteen years old are now sixteen years old. He is so incoherent that even many of his staunch supporters realize that the man is completely out of his mind.

I'm getting the feeling we are only weeks from Donald Trump giving his version of that speech.

Today's Video Links

Tim Conway made the first of many appearances with Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show on September 15th, 1977. This was shortly after Mr. Conway had won the second of his three Emmys as a supporting player on The Carol Burnett Show. He later won two more — one for guesting on Coach and one for guesting on 30 Rock. He was also nominated a great many times as both a performer and a writer.

Before you watch the clip of him on with Carson, you might want to watch this short video with includes some footage (not all) of the 1977 Emmy win he talks about with Johnny…

Okay. Then now you can watch that first appearance with Mr. Carson. I had the pleasure of talking with or being around Tim Conway a number of times and he was very much like this and, of course, always funny…

Today's Video Link

Dave Garroway was a popular TV host in the early days of television. He was best known as the host of The Today Show on NBC from 1952 to 1961 but before that, he hosted a live variety half-hour called Garroway at Large. It came out of Chicago from June of '49 until June of '51. As you'll see if you watch the entirety of this episode from November 19, 1950, the show had a nice troupe of singers and comedians as well as the then-typical array of on-air bloopers and mistakes.

The member of his cast that you're most likely to have heard of was Cliff Norton, who had a pretty good career as a supporting player and comic actor. I wrote about him here. He had the distinction of being edited out of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World shortly before its release so his name is in the opening credits but he'd not in the film.

The special guest on this episode of Garroway at Large was Al Capp, a very awful man who wrote and drew the very wonderful comic strip, Li'l Abner. Before we had the recent debates about whether you could still admire Bill Cosby's work despite his personal transgressions, I heard professional cartoonists having the same argument about the work of Mr. Capp. He appears in the last third of the show mainly to segue into a sketch with the Garroway supporting players dressed up very badly as the characters from Lil Abner. It's…odd.

I've set the video embed below to begin playing at the point in the program when Capp is introduced but if you want to watch the whole show, you can click here. You can also just watch in the window below by moving the little slider back to the beginning…

About Frank Robbins – Part 1 of Three

I spend less and less time these days reading online forums — on Facebook or elsewhere — about old comic books. It's a topic dear to my heart but discussions there are too often hijacked by the occasional participant who's lacking in knowledge about the field and/or an ability to cope with someone having different tastes. It's especially bad in debates over super-hero comics and especially especially (two especiallies) over super-hero comic book artists of the past.

The most debated-over of the seventies is probably Frank Robbins and after reading the eighty-seven quadrillionth thread abut him, I feel the need to write something here about the man and his work…and by extension, about creative talents of his generation. In some cases, though the work is long since done and the folks who did it have passed from this mortal coil, some people are still hating on them…to what purpose, I have no idea.

I mean, it's not like there's a chance of Frank Robbins, who died in 1994, coming back and drawing more Captain America stories. Some of us loved what he did but there are folks who I think worry about that happening again. And he didn't even do that many.

Mr. Robbins was mainly a writer-artist for newspaper comic strips…and one of the best. Like about 50% of the artists who drew adventure newspaper strips at the time, he was heavily influenced by two men — Noel Sickles and Milton Caniff — who were in turn heavily-influenced by each other. Caniff in particular was regarded as the supreme role model by most in the adventure strip field and Robbins was hardly the only guy who drew a lot like him.

Robbins was such a natural at the Caniff/Sickles style that he not only got a job producing a nationally-syndicated strip at the age of 19 but the strip he was handed was the popular Scorchy Smith and he took it over from his hero, Noel Sickles. That's how good he was. At the age of 19.

A few years later, Robbins decided to create his own strip and his Johnny Hazard ran in papers from 1944 until 1977…a most impressive run. It was also in the Caniff/Sickles style but what a lot of his fellow artists believed but rarely spoke aloud was that Robbins "did" Caniff better than Caniff. Among his peers, that was a widely-held opinion — if not in the forties then certainly later on. The late Alex Toth used to rant on and on about how as Caniff's work declined over the years, Frank Robbins just got better and better.

Robbins was also, as an artist, lightning-fast. Caniff sometimes spent 60 hours a week producing the daily and Sunday Steve Canyon strip — and that was with one or more art assistants plus a letterer. Robbins, drawing a strip with similar density and detail, would write and draw Johnny Hazard in three days a week — two for the dailies, one for the Sunday page — unassisted except (sometimes) by a letterer. With the rest of his week, he would paint and do what some would call "fine art" and his creations wound up in some pretty prestigious galleries.

Robbins was proud of his "fine art" but there was a problem with it: It didn't pay all that well. And in the sixties, the kind of newspaper strip he drew was going out of fashion so his income from it was dropping slowly but certainly. He was concerned about that one evening around 1967 when at a gathering of the National Cartoonists Society, he met Carmine Infantino. Infantino was then transitioning from drawing for DC Comics to running DC Comics.

Infantino's mission right then was the reinvention/revitalization of the entire line and a lot of longtime freelancers were dismissed — some because they demanded health insurance, some because Carmine thought their work was old-fashioned and dull. There were also some personal animosities in play. One of the people he brought into the DC Talent Pool was Robbins, who decided that it would be more lucrative to spend the days he wasn't working on Johnny Hazard working for DC Comics.

He started as a writer and his first efforts were awful. There's a 1968 issue of The Flash where you can even find a letter from me saying as much. I am now embarrassed by some of those letters and I also now understand the problem that I didn't fully understand then. It wasn't all Mr. Robbins' fault. Marvel was gaining dangerously on DC in sales and several DC writers were ordered to emulate Stan Lee. They all did a pretty poor job of it, picking up on Stan's worst habits and missing even the point of them.

When Robbins stopped trying to do that, he turned out to be a pretty good writer. In fact, he became my favorite Batman writer of the period and I was pretty fussy about Batman writers. He also wrote Superboy for about four years producing what I think were the best Superboy stories ever done.

Eventually, Robbins also drew the occasional story for DC and on Batman, his artwork was instantly controversial…to say the least.

TO BE CONTINUED TOMORROW

Today's Video Links

Here's a Legal Eagle Double Feature for you: Two videos by Devin Stone, the YouTube attorney who talks a bit too fast but seems to know his stuff. In the first, he evaluates the many past and present lawyers who've represented Donald J. Trump in his many recent investigations, indictments and lawsuits. Some of these folks will probably write books and I wonder how many of them are going to say that the reason they lost was that the client insisted on doing things his way despite sound advice to the contrary…

And here's Counselor Stone talking about a legal issue regarding online videos in which someone shows someone else's video so they can "react" to it and when that does and does not qualify as "Fair Use." Stone used to do such videos. He and a lawyer friend would show some law-oriented movie and comment on how much what was in the movie resembled actual courtroom procedures and how much the legal content resembled the actual laws…

Last Night at the Palladium

Last night, the Writers Guild held a meeting at the Hollywood Palladium. The last time I was in that building up on Sunset Boulevard was for the meeting at which we voted to end the 1988 strike. It's hard to believe that the Palladium has not been torn down and replaced by a Walmart…or just plain fallen down on its own accord.

Anyway, I didn't attend last night but my great friend Shelly Goldstein did. In the wee hours of this A.M., she wrote and posted a report on Facebook and I just got her permission to share it with you here…

My thoughts on last night's WGA meeting at the Palladium. Bear with me:

The room was absolutely packed. The energy was unlike any industry or guild event I've ever seen. I'm going to describe it with some simple adjectives:

"Happy"

"Positive"

"Engaged"

"Unified"

Not a single person in the room thought it was a perfect deal that would revolutionize the industry and end all our creative and financial problems.

It wasn't a roomful of wild abandonment, 1,000 people looking to party. Although there was palpable joy oozing from every inch of the room.

It was a roomful of focused, celebratory word-nerds justifiably proud — showing absolute respect to our board and negotiators…and reveling in the joy of a word that gets way too little respect in this country and perfectly describes what we need a hell of a lot more of:

"Union."

People were — ok, this sounds silly, but it's all too rare in 2023 — "nice." The room was engaged, everyone wanted to hear from others' experiences on the line. People showed care and concern for each other. If you bumped into somebody, they apologized before you could. People showed genuine joy for what we did over 146 days.

What "we" did — thousands of people in the WGA, thousands more who supported us in countless ways. Not — as in the past — a single Kingmaker or Exec or Agent or Politician who swooped in to save the day. It was all of us, together.

The leadership spoke beautifully – notably our President, Meredith Stiehm and co-chief negotiator, Chris Keyser.

If Chris' speech was video'd, please watch it. It was articulate, factual, heartfelt and invigorating. We all bought the pitch in the room.

Our chief negotiator, Ellen Stutzman, went through the deal point-by-point — with pride and intelligence, never overselling it. She explained what was asked for, what was possible, what was accomplished, how it was different from similar asks during these negotiations (and during past decades.) She told us what they'd said and how the negotiators moved the line as best they could.

And moved it, they did. Not 100%, but no one in the room was silly enough to believe that was possible.

Still, the gains in the deal run the gamut from good to strong to spectacular.

How long has it been since a "rally" offered its attendees simple "facts?"

Ellen also made it clear the WGA's future intention is not merely to rest on this contract, but to work more closely with the members to make sure provisions are adhered to by our employers.

Cheers and standing ovations were plentiful. My two favorites went to Drew Carey & "Fake Carol."

There was clear support for SAG, IATSE, UAW and other union workers.

I have been in this guild for a long time and I've never seen anything like it. I don't know if I ever will again.

We all know there will be problems. We're screenwriters.

But sometimes we're blessed with a moment of clarity and actual joy.

This was one of them.

For years I've sung "It Goes Like It Goes," the Oscar-winning song written by David Shire & Norman Gimble from the 1979 film Norma Rae. It ends with this lyric, that played through my head throughout the evening:

It goes like it goes, like the river flows
And time, it rolls right on.
And maybe what's good gets a little bit better.
And maybe what's bad, gets gone.

Last night, thanks to our membership, our leaders and our allies, things got a little bit better.

May it continue.

The Return of Late Night

As you may have heard, all the late night comedy shows are returning to the air: Bill Maher this Friday, John Oliver on Sunday and Colbert, Kimmel, Fallon and Meyers on Monday. Seth Meyers won't be having any guests that night. He's doing a one-hour catch-up "A Closer Look," and I have high expectations for it.

At the moment, Mr. Oliver and Mr. Meyers are my favorites followed closely by Mr. Colbert. My TiVo is set to snare their shows but I figure anything that might interest me on Kimmel's or Fallon's shows will be easily catchable on YouTube. Over the last year or so, I've found that the occasional smart observations from Mr. Maher aren't worth sitting through the many things that seem to be said just to prove he's unafraid to say things that might be unpopular…and I feel like that's the reason he's saying them.

The Daily Show will return on October 16 with more of its on-air auditioning guest hosts. I would guess that Hasan Minhaj is no longer as high as he once was on the list of those who might get the job permanently. Mr. Minhaj, who I liked the few times I saw him perform stand-up, has been accused and has more or less confessed to telling stories from his life that were exaggerated to the point of being…well, if not lies then the next-closest thing.

True, most comedians do exaggerate or simplify true tales to make them shorter or clearer or more pointed or, most often, funnier. I think most audiences understand that but there's a line one can cross and Minhaj seems to have crossed it too far too many times. To his credit, he's confessed to his "crime" but that doesn't give him back all or even enough of his credibility.

Someone will probably write in to ask why, if SAG-AFTRA is still on strike — and it is — the hosts can appear on television again. It has to do with how the role of talk show host falls outside the category of what the current strike is against. I'd explain it in greater detail but that's about all I know. Actors, however, are not supposed to be promoting product from the companies they're striking so the guest lists may be…uh, interesting.

Today's Video Link

I'm trying to limit the amount of attention I pay to the guy who insists he won the last presidential election even though he can't persuade one judge in this country — including the ones he appointed — that this is so. Still, with the very, very bad news he's gotten lately, it's hard to look away.

If you're puzzled about the adverse ruling he received the other day — or arguing with MAGAfied friends who say D.J.T. was wronged — you might want to watch Ben Meiselas, a civil rights attorney and a partner in the Meidas Touch Network, explaining what it is that Trump and his associates did wrong. Skip past the annoying ad in this video. I like the Meidas Touch Network but I question their integrity in some of the sponsors from which they accept advertising.

In a non-hysterial, non-theatrical way, Mr. Meiselas explains the situation and, unlike so many who discuss this kind of thing these days, cites actual evidence. Too many people think that "facts" are things you establish by saying them louder and more often…

A Minute After Midnight

The Writers Guild has declared its strike officially over…with the slight caveat that it could resume if the membership rejects the offer. I said earlier that they won't and now that I've studied it a bit, I'm even more certain than that. It really is an impressive list of gains, maybe the best I've seen in my five (5!) Writers Guild strikes.

And of not-nearly-as-much importance, I've declared my little telethon fund-raiser over…which is not to say you can't continue to donate via the clickable box in the right margin. I'm just going to stop being a nag about it and interrupting the posts here with banners. Thanks to all who gave whatever you gave. You've helped fund this blog for another year during which it will only cost me an awful lot of my time.

The WGA Has A New Contract…Almost!

The leadership of the Writers Guild of America has announced that the strike will end at 12:01 AM tonight Pacific Time…which is actually tomorrow morning.

In the past, strikes didn't end until the membership had voted to accept the contract but the way it's done now (I guess) is that we go back to work while we vote and if by some chance the membership votes to reject the deal — which won't happen — then we go on strike again. Or something. I'm not entirely certain how that would work but like I said, it won't happen. Voting will be October 2nd through October 9th and I'll go out on a shaky limb here and predict 94% acceptance.

Here is the deal. Here is a comparison of what we asked for and what we got. I gave both a quick read and this is by no means a serious analysis but it reads like a damn good deal. It's certainly an improvement on the final offer we got back on May 1. I would like to hear what people with legal training and more business acumen than I have think of it. I can already hear some people yelling "It's not good enough" but we hear that on every contract, especially from those who wouldn't be losing anything if we stayed out a few more months.

I'll also be interested to hear how our new terms could benefit SAG-AFTRA in their negotiations, which I presume will be resuming shortly. On some level, this kind of thing is like parents with a lot of kids: If you give one child a bicycle, you have to give every child a bicycle. But studio lawyers are sometimes very crafty at giving one union a gain in terms that don't easily translate to another union. I hope they haven't managed to do that in this instance and that our gains become actors' gains.