Mark Evanier's Blog, page 220

Today's Video Link

"Don't Kill Your Friends" is a 1943 Navy training film starring Huntz Hall. Not killing your friends can be very good advice depending, of course, on who your friends are.

In 1943, Huntz Hall had stopped appearing in Dead End Kids comedies and had begun appearing in East Side Kids comedies. He was a pretty reliable comedy talent who appeared in an awful lot of films and TV shows during a career that stretched from 1937 to 1993.

The Internet Movie Database and the fellow who uploaded this video to YouTube identify the uncredited narrator of this film as Daws Butler, the great cartoon voice actor and one of the nicest men it was ever my pleasure to know. They're wrong. I dunno who the narrator was but it ain't Daws, who didn't really get started in voiceover until he moved to Hollywood in 1948.

In '43 when this film was made, Daws was in the Navy but like I said, that ain't him. I've had very little luck correcting the IMDB over the years but if some reader of this site is better at it than I am, please let them know…

Good Book Review

Here is the problem I have with so many people who quote The Bible in support of some political cause: They often aren't quoting The Bible. At best, they're finding some phrase they can spin as inarguable support of their beliefs and if you disagree with that spin…why, you're arguing with God, for God's sake!

And sometimes, they just fabricate the line they wish was in The Bible. The book says nothing about abortion and there are no lines that can be quoted to say it's forbidden. That, however, doesn't stop men like Mike Pence from making one up.

Today's Trump-Related Comment

I'm fascinated by how the phrase "fake electors" is even being used by those who are claiming no laws were broken. This is from the Fox News website…

Fake electors met in Wisconsin and six other battleground states where Trump was defeated in 2020, attempting to cast ballots for the former president even though he lost. Republicans who participated in Wisconsin said they were trying to preserve Trump's legal standing in case courts overturned his defeat.

How could someone be a "fake elector" without breaking some law? You could be an "alternate elector," I suppose though in this case, there doesn't seem to have been any formal, official way of becoming one. Each of the seven states designated a slate of real electors. A "fake elector" is by definition "fake."

Arleen Sorkin, R.I.P.

By now, you've no doubt heard of the passing of actress Arleen Sorkin at the age of 67. She was best known as the first voice — and in a way, model — for the popular character Harley Quinn who debuted in Batman: The Animated Series in 1992, the creation of my pals Paul Dini and Bruce Timm. Arleen was also known for her role on the daytime drama Days of Our Lives and for her work as a writer and comedy improv performer. Her closest friends seem to have all been aware of her recent struggles with the lung cancer that took her life.

"Her closest friends" did not include me. I met and talked with Arleen on several occasions but never for very long and not in recent years. She seemed charming and funny and witty and that, I'm afraid, is the extent of my in-person observations. Those closest friends of hers all loved her dearly and, like all her many fans, are saddened by the loss.

Bob Barker, R.I.P.

I'll get my one Bob Barker story out of the way first: It was I-don't-know-how-long-ago-it-was…maybe not even in this century. It was after January of 1983. I was at a car wash that is no longer on Highland Avenue in Hollywood, a few blocks south of Sunset. My car had just gone through the gantlet of sudsers and sprayers and it was now out in the area where a bunch of sweaty, underpaid men dried it off with blue cloths.

Bob Barker's car — which was bigger and more expensive than mine, of course — had gone through the same process and was next to mine, being dried off by other sweaty, unpaid men with blue cloths. Bob Barker in casual sportswear was standing next to me, watching them dry his car, waiting for them to be done with it. I recognized him and felt I oughta say something to him. So I said, "You know, they don't like it when you tip them with Plinko chips."

I was hoping for a laugh…or at least a smile. Instead, I got a look that clearly said, "Why are you talking to me?" And without uttering a syllable in my direction, he turned away, waited until they signaled his car was done and then he walked over, handed a sweaty, underpaid man a buck or two and drove off.

That's my Bob Barker story and it had to be after January of '83 because that's when they introduced Plinko to America's longest-running and still-on-the-air game show. I was kind of a fan of The Price is Right for a while, not so much of its host but I sometimes enjoyed watching that well-oiled machine operate. As I wrote here once before, "If that show had never existed and you walked into a network today and pitched it, describing what they are able to accomplish taping two a day, you'd be told it was utterly impossible to mount a show that gives away so many prizes and that it would take three days to tape one hour of what you're describing."

As you may have heard, The Price is Right has left Stage 33 (aka "The Bob Barker Stage") at CBS Television City in Hollywood and is presently relocating to a new facility in Glendale. It was amazing that they could do it at all at CBS but especially in a studio that was not built for that kind of show and where there was little room to house all the cars and living room sets and boats they had on display each tape date. A few times, I got to prowl around backstage and was impressed by how terrific the stage crew was. I also couldn't help but note how terrified they seemed to be of doing even the teensiest thing that might upset Mr. Barker.

My pal Stu Shostak and I have an occasional (but friendly) argument based on my belief that what Bob Barker did hosting that show forever (it felt) was impressive but nowhere near as impressive as what, say, Johnny Carson or even Jay Leno or David Letterman did. Talk show hosts have to do all-new shows with mostly-new material on a daily basis. Game show hosts go out and do essentially the same show over and over and over. Even that's not the easiest thing in the world but being on so long is a matter of endurance, not creativity. In a sense, Barker's job was to not "keep it fresh," just reliable.

And yes, I think Drew Carey is just as good in the job…maybe a little better because he understands that the games and the contestants are the stars of the show, not the guy with the microphone. Barker, especially in his later years, had a little too much self-adoration for me. There was also the fact that my favorite models on the show all went away suing Bob and/or the program.

I respected the endurance. It takes a certain talent to do anything for that long…and I also admired him for his stands on Animal Rights. But I guess I never really liked him that much. Then again, I may be projecting from his previous long-running game show, Truth or Consequences, which I thought was one of the more detestable shows ever on TV. It was all about bringing contestants on stage to be embarrassed and have the audience laugh at (not with) them. I thought Barker, who acted as the ringleader of all that, was a pretty slimy on-screen presence.

Yeah, I think I may be blaming him unfairly for that because to then do a hit show as long as he did is, no matter what you think of the guy, an astounding achievement. Or maybe I'm still pissed that he didn't laugh at my Plinko chip joke.

Today's Video Link

Devin "Legal Eagle" Stone weighs in on the question of what things D. Trump is saying or might say that are protected by the First Amendment and which ones can be restricted by court order. A lot of people in this country seems to think that the First Amendment gives them the right to say absolutely anything they want at any time in any venue. Some even go so far as to think their First Amendment rights include forcing us to listen to them. This is one of the more interesting discussions The Eagle has posted…

Today's Video Link

I love photos and video of old Los Angeles and here we have a few minutes of uncolorized, silent footage of a drive down Wilshire Boulevard around 1935. According to the description on the post, this starts at Canon Drive in Beverly Hills and goes east. I do slightly recognize a few things but not enough to be sure that that's what we're looking at…and I have no idea what the last minute of this film is all about. But if nothing else, enjoy looking at all those beautiful cars…

The Debate

I surprised myself — because I believed me when I said on this blog I wouldn't do this — by watching some of the G.O.P. Presidential Debate. I didn't see every minute but I saw enough to have a clear opinion of who won it: Donald Trump.

Trump's consistently high polling among Republicans is, I believe, a result in large part of the members of his party not seeing any viable alternative — a belief that no one else has a chance of winning and putting the presidency back under their party's control. The debate, I think, reaffirmed the idea that there's no alternative. None of those folks on stage looked like they could win a game of hopscotch, let alone the highest office in the land. So by not showing up, Trump won.

Chris Christie looked like he was struggling hard to find a "take charge" moment that never came and they all looked befuddled. And I was befuddled as to what that party stands for these days.

Is it the Pro-Life Party? Apparently not because Mike Pence, who once was for banning every abortion everywhere at any time, is now saying "A 15-week ban is an idea whose time has come." Since about 91% of all abortions occur in the first trimester, I guess a lot of those abortions are now okay with Pence and others.

Is it the Law and Order Party? Apparently it's not that either since most of those candidates would support a candidate who'd been convicted of a felony.

Is it the Straight Talk Party? Apparently not since so many questions were dodged with Ron DeSantis as the leading dodger…and the fact-checkers have been pretty busy. See here and here and here and here and probably many other places tomorrow morning.

In fairness, I really think this debate format is a great way to fill the air with words, most of them pandering to the live audience, without really saying anything…but I don't think anyone who participated "won." If I had to pick the candidate on that stage who was the most impressive, it would probably be Nikki Haley but that's kind of like being the most dignified of The Three Stooges…or in this case, eight.

Mugging

I hope Donald Trump takes a good mug shot tomorrow…because we're going to be seeing that photo everywhere and forever. He and people who love him will put it on banners, posters, t-shirts and anywhere else they can make money off it. People who dislike him will put it on banners, posters, t-shirts and anywhere else they can make money off it.

Within twelve hours of its release, there will be thousands of doctored versions online making him look like a god, a clown, an angel, a devil, a convict, a saint, a woman, a vampire, a zombie, a movie star, Alfred E. Neuman, Nick Nolte in his famous mug shot…anything you can think of. I'm already sick of that photo and they haven't even taken it yet.

Today's Video Link

In 1966, there was an off-Broadway show called The MAD Show written by Larry Siegel and Stan Hart — two of the main writers for MAD magazine. It featured material that either had appeared in that publication or could have and its cast consisted initially of Linda Lavin, Jo Anne Worley, Paul Sand, Richard Libertini, and MacIntyre Dixon. In Act One, Ms. Lavin sang a song called "The Boy From…" which was kind of a soundalike/parody of the then-recent hit, "The Girl From Ipanema."

The music for this song was written by Mary Rodgers, daughter of the well-known composer Richard Rodgers. The lyrics were credited to "Esteban Río Nido" which, as everyone came to know, was corrupt Spanish for Stephen Sondheim. Not long after Mr. Sondheim passed, Ms. Lavin performed the tune for an online tribute to its lyricist…