Mark Evanier's Blog, page 44

Today's Video Link

Nathan Lane receives the 2024 Sondheim Award which honors those who have made important contributions to the performance and preservation of the works of Mr. S. Sondheim…

Bob Morris, R.I.P.

My favorite Southern California restaurateur, Robert J. "Bob" Morris died peacefully at his home on April 13, 2025. Morris was kind of a "Johnny Appleseed" of restaurants, opening them and then moving on to open others. The places he left behind him — which included the original Gladstone's, The Jetty, RJ's the Rib Joint (in Beverly Hills) and the Malibu Sea Lion were always great when he was managing them…not as great when he was no longer the guy in charge. Several of them closed once he was no longer involved.

A Bob Morris restaurant was usually one of the most comfortable places you could dine — with sawdust on the floors, barrels of free peanuts, the widest-imaginable selection of beers, huge portions of everything and the best damned clam chowder you ever ate in your life. Usually for dessert, there were sundaes and slices of cake which could serve six. At RJ's — my favorite of his many businesses — my date and I would order one slice of his addictive chocolate cake, stuff ourselves, then pass the remainder around to strangers at adjoining tables to enjoy.

His official obit says "Throughout his storied career, Morris developed and operated over 25 restaurants, redefining the California beach dining experience and mentoring countless restaurateurs along the way." That is quite true. His last restaurant, which survives him just as it survived the recent too-damn-close fires in Malibu, is the Paradise Cove Beach Cafe. It is nearly impossible for me to get to it now because of road closures but once Pacific Coast Highway is back the way it was, I'm going there and I'll toast Bob with a bowl of his clam chowder. I only knew the man a little but I could see he did everything first-rate.

Today's Bonus Video Link

Here's Tony Nominee Jasmine Amy Rogers, who has the title role in Boop! The Musical. She's recording a song from the show…well, probably pretending to record a song from the show for this video.

The way they usually make these is to record the song and then have the performer(s) lip-sync to the track a few different times as a camera crew shoots from a few different angles. The gent you see at the console there is David Foster, who wrote the score for the show and in this video, he might even be pretending to be supervising the recording.

I think this is a pretty snappy showtune, especially the lyrics by Susan Birkenhead…

FACT CHECK: The Blame Game

Trump has bragged to having made "200 deals" on trade and tariffs in a recent interview but as notes, when pressed for details, two members of his cabinet couldn't name a single country that has agreed to one.

And Steve Benen of The Maddow Blog explains the basic lameness of Trump's attempts to blame the Biden Administration for every bit of bad financial news.

Today's Video Link

The Tony nominations were announced yesterday and as someone who hasn't sent foot in New York since 2018, I don't have any particular faves or rooting interest. But — my lower extremities permitting — I expect to be back there before 2025 is out and among the shows I'm curious to see is Boop! The Musical. It got mixed reviews from official-type critics but, so far, unanimous raves from everyone I know who's seen it. Admittedly, that sampling may include people a bit more cartoon-oriented than most…

…but what I'm saying it that I hope it's still running late this year if/when I get back there. Looking at online reports on its grosses, it doesn't seem to be doing huge numbers — a fact which may be attributable to the sudden flurry of new musicals that have recently opened. Its producers were probably hoping/praying for a Tony nomination for Best Musical but it wasn't among the five so designated.

Betty's show was nominated for costumes and choreography but those aren't the categories that typically drive patrons to the box office. One that does though is Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical and there, they scored. Jasmine Amy Rogers, who plays Ms. Boop, was nominated. That's the good news. The bad news is that also nominated is Audra McDonald in Gypsy and there are those who will scream "Fix!" louder than Donald Trump if Audra doesn't receive her seven millionth Tony — or however many she has.

I'm not saying who should win. I haven't been in a Broadway theater since '18, remember? This just bolsters my feelings of how flawed this kind of award competition is. Theoretically, they're to recognize excellence but if there's a lot of excellence one year, one instance gets recognized…and if there's none, one will probably be recognized anyway. I think the Tonys do have a provision for "No Award" if the nominators feel nothing is worthy but they don't allow for multiple honorees. Maybe they need a category called "Best Performance by Someone Who Isn't Audra McDonald."

Some folks who were at Boop! The Musical yesterday after the nominations were announced shot this video of the Curtain Calls. Stay until the end…

FACT CHECK: Trump Saves Most of Us

Attorney General Pam Bondi is claiming that in the first hundred days of this new Trump regime, agents have seized so many illegal fentanyl shipments that they've saved more than 75% of the U.S. population from a fentanyl-related death. I dunno about you but if any fentanyl came anywhere near me, I'd certainly be a dead man by now. Snopes explains.

More About Wednesday Evening

I woke up this morning wanting to write more about the gala opening night of the new Jack Kirby Exhibit at the Skirball Cultural Center here in Los Angeles. I'm still feeling a warm glow from just setting foot in the place…being surrounded by all that Jack Kirby artwork, all those memories of that wonderful man, all those people who had some connection to him or at least his work. After spending so much of the previous few weeks in a hospital, it was an exciting contrast…and maybe the best medicine I could have had.

I can't guarantee it will have the same effect on you that it had on me…but it should enrich you in some way. As I've mentioned, the exhibition will be there until March 1 of next year and you can get all the info on it you need on this page.

The only negatives for me that evening had to do with how crowded it was and how many people there I knew but didn't get to talk to…or didn't get to talk to long enough. The grandson of Jack's one-time partner Joe Simon was there but we didn't have nearly enough time. Fortunately, Jesse Simon came by to visit yesterday for several hours…and though we still didn't have enough time, we had a few hours and there was no music playing to talk over.

(This is not particularly a criticism of the Skirball Center — I now love that place even more than I did before — but as I edge up on living for three-quarters of a century, I have still not been at any party or public gathering where the playing of records accomplished anything besides making it more difficult for people who wanted to talk with each other to talk with each other.)

At the opening, I also talked with some of Jack's grandkids but not nearly enough with Jillian Kirby, who among the many things she has done to tell the world about her grandpappy has been to run the Kirby for Heroes campaign. It's raised awesome amounts of dough for good causes. Jillian, if you're reading this, let's get together one of these days so I can tell you more about what a great man your grandfather was…and your father is, as well.

But didn't get to talk to my longtime pal William Stout. Barely got to talk to my longertime pal Scott Shaw! Didn't get to talk to lots of folks who I heard were there but didn't see them. And didn't get enough time to stare at all that magnificent Jack Kirby artwork. Fortunately, it will still he there when I return.

Ruth Buzzi, R.I.P.

There was a time in this world when Ruth Buzzi was on everything…and I'll spell that word out for you: E-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g. Because she was funny on everything. But I don't have to tell you that. What I have to tell you is that I had the pleasure of knowing and working with her a little and she was one of the nicest people I ever met in a business where not everyone is as nice as you wish they could be.

She was. I think I first saw her in the years I was occasionally hanging around on the set of Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, watching them tape. Bewildered cameo guest stars would wander onto that set, not quite sure why their agent had booked them into what seemed like an environment of madness. Ruth was often the welcoming committee, greeting them, making them feel welcome and getting them acclimated to that odd world.

I saw her at just about every fundraiser for every good cause, helping raise cash. One thing I will never forget, I wrote about back in a post about autograph shows, which were not as prevalent as they are these days…

It involved the late comedian Pat Paulsen who, at the time of course, was not a late comedian.  Alas, he then knew he was about to become one.  He'd been diagnosed with something terminal — the big "C," I believe — and was out on a crusade to accrue cash to leave his family.  Pat was a very sweet, very funny man who had managed to not rack up much of a fortune during his years on television — though I suspect his last minute putsch for dollars was less a matter of needing cash than of needing something constructive to do.  Whatever, for his last few months, he was appearing everywhere he could, performing and signing, making whatever money he could make.

Colleagues were abetting him.  Ruth Buzzi was sitting with him that day, dolled up in the Gladys Ormphby outfit she wore on Laugh-In, signing and posing for photos, with and without him, all proceeds going to Pat.

She did a lot of things like that. A very nice woman and, as I can't say often enough here, a very funny one. I got to voice-direct her once for an animated feature that I'm not sure was ever released but she was very, very good in it. She was very, very good in everything. Sorry to hear this morning that she left us at the age of 88. Here's a good overview of her amazing career.

Today's Video Link

From The Jack Paar Show for December 18th, 1964 — a big break for a new act…

What I Did Last Night

John Morrow and me. Click to enlarge the pic.
Photo by Gabriella Muttone

Despite just being released from the hospital, I knew I couldn't miss the gala event this evening at the Skirball Cultural Center here in Los Angeles. It was the opening of two new exhibitions — Jack Kirby: Heroes and Humanities and Away in the Catskills: Summers, Sour Cream, and Dirty Dancing. Guess which one I was there to see.

John Morrow — who publishes The Jack Kirby Collector and the other fine publications from TwoMorrows Publishing — flew in from North Carolina just for the event. He was nice enough to pick me up along with my lovely friend Gabrielle Muttone and drive us to the Skirball Center. I was using my Rollator because my balance is not great, my legs get tired when I stand too long and a Rollator gives you the opportunity to sit whenever you like, regardless if there's an empty chair nearby. Actually, there were quite a few folks there on Rollators.

It's a terrific exhibit and I need to go back at least once to enjoy all its terrificness and yes, I know that's not a word. Call DOGE and have me fired for not doing my job properly.

me, Gabriella and Mike Royer. I dunno who took the photo.

The halls at the Skirball have many original pages and covers from Jack's long, amazing career and there are photos and a running next in the captions and…well, it will not disappoint anyone interested in the man's work. The exhibit will be there for another year and you can find out everything about visiting it on this page.

The place was mobbed and, interestingly, a lot of folks there came not knowing much or anything about Jack Kirby. They were loyal Skirball members who attend everything there and seek to broaden their knowledge by exposing themselves to whatever the Skirball thinks is worth hanging on its walls. I found myself in a fascinating conversation with a couple who didn't really know who Jack was when they walked in. They were mightily impressed with what they saw and had become on-the-spot Kirby fans. They also seemed unable to grasp the concept that I or anyone could have possibly known someone who created such mind-boggling artwork.

Tom Kenny and me. Photo by Gabriella Muttone.

But of course there were people there who knew Jack — or knew of him — or knew each other. Among the many I encountered were Mike Royer, Rand Hoppe, Tom Kraft, Lisa Kirby, Jeremy Kirby, Tracy Kirby, Tom Kenny, Jerry Beck, Scott Shaw!, Paul S. Levine, Dave Schwartz, Paul Power, Frank Balkin and many more. It was really a lovely evening and if you can get yourself to the Skirball in the next year, you'll have a very good time. You may even see me there again having another very good time.