News from me - August 1, 2001

August 1, 2001

THIS IS YOUR last reminder that this Sunday, August 5, PBS is debuting an episode of Great Performances subtitled Recording The Producers: A Musical Romp with Mel Brooks. What it is is a documentary about the recording of the cast album/CD, filled with generous excerpts from the score and (I'm told) a lot of kibbitzing from the sidelines by Mr. Brooks. Oughta be worth a tune-in or tape. But be aware that Sunday is just when PBS is distributing the show to its affiliates. When your local channel airs it is another matter. KCET in Los Angeles, for instance, is running it the following night, Monday at 8 PM.

ONE OF THE all-time great comic book writers, Bill Finger, passed away in 1974. Among his many achievements was that he wrote the first Batman story and most of the early ones that established the character and his supporting cast. Some have argued that Finger should be billed as co-creator of Batman but, for contractual reasons, the late Bob Kane received sole credit...and still does.

It may be a slight exaggeration to say that Finger died in poverty but, clearly, he never received just compensation for his role in making Batman perhaps the most lucrative property ever in comics. To this day, he is spoken of on convention panels — by those who know his work as well as those who knew the man — as one who was extremely wronged. Alas, his tenure in comics was at a time when publishers were too-often successful in avoiding the payment of royalties or reprint fees. If Finger had received the same kind of minimum deal that new writers in the field now get without even asking, he would have been a very wealthy man. (He also was ousted from the company for a time for his role in a brief, unsuccessful attempt by some writers to form a union. Maddeningly, Finger's employment was terminated shortly after Kane had received a buyout on Batman worth more than a million dollars.)

The comic book business has always been somewhat behind other fields in treating its creative talent with decency. The Writers Guild, for example, has long policed residuals for its members' efforts in film and television. In fact, even after a member passes away, the WGA collects such cash and forwards it to the member's heirs. If no heirs can be located, the Guild searches for them. The Writers Guild of America, East (the New York outlet) has posted a web page listing missing or deceased members for whom they are holding bucks. You can see it by clicking here and, if they haven't updated it yet, you will see the name of "William Finger" on it. He has unclaimed moola from episodes he wrote of the Batman TV show, as well as 77 Sunset Strip. Thanks to the fine folks at DC Comics, the WGAe has been notified of the particulars of the Finger estate, and it will receive whatever bucks he was due.

I'm not entirely sure why I'm showing/telling you this. I just thought it was interesting and that someone might find a moral somewhere. His estate now receives money when his comics are reprinted but, while he was alive, the one episode that Finger wrote of the Batman TV show paid him more residuals than all the Batman comic book stories he authored, combined.

By the way: At the moment, the list also includes the name of Gerard Allesandrini. Gerry is the brilliant creator of the revue, Forbidden Broadway, which I have long touted. I called Gerard and he'll be picking up his money. You may also spot the name of Charlie Rogers, who was the main writer for Laurel and Hardy in their glory days. Rogers, who passed away in 1956, is owed some cash for his work on A Chump at Oxford, which was released in 1940. If you know of any of his heirs, either drop me a line or call the Writers Guild of America, East and ask for the Residuals Department.

CAROLYN AND I spent last evening listening to one of the world's great jazz artists, Chick Corea. There's a certain beauty in watching someone do something — anything — about as well as it can be done. When the skill is playing great jazz piano, so much the better. His new trio includes bassist Avishai Cohen and drummer Jeff Ballard, both of whom are equally magnificent. They're at the Catalina Bar and Grill in Hollywood for a few more nights. If you're in the vicinity or if they wander near you, you'll find that there ain't nobody better.

AND THE Animation World Network website is currently serializing online, the autobiography of the prolific cartoon producer-director, Gene Deitch. They've recently put up several chapters having to do with the years wherein he ran the Terrytoons studio, which included the creation and supervision of Tom Terrific. To say it was probably the best thing that operation ever produced is a pretty feeble compliment...so let's say that it was one of the cleverest cartoons produced for TV at a time when there were a number of clever cartoons being produced for television. It was cheaply produced — transparent characters, one voice actor, and the entire musical score was provided by one harmonica — but it worked. Deitch doesn't tell as much about the production of the series as I'd have hoped but what's there is fascinating. It's especially worth a visit just to see Jules Feiffer's quickly-sketched storyboard for a never-produced sequence showing Tom T. as a bitter old man. (Feiffer worked on Tom Terrific and a few other Terrytoons projects of the day.) Here's a link to that chapter...or you can click here to read the whole book.

SOME GOOD may yet come of the whole Gary Condit/Chandra Levy potboiler. While many journalists have run amok with saturation coverage and "facts" of dubious accuracy, a few have demurred. This, of course, has given them less to write about...so they're writing about the press reporting and how sloppy it's been. Bob Somerby over at The Daily Howler continues to quote the journalists and pundits and point out how what they're reporting doesn't make sense and/or check out. At Salon, Joshua Micah Marshall is citing conflicting press reports (here's a direct link to his piece) and noting out how The New York Post is now standing by its story that Ms. Levy left a series of messages with Condit's private answering service in the last days before her disappearance...while Newsweek is standing by its story that she didn't. And at Slate, William Saletan is keeping a scorecard on how thoroughly — if, at all — various journalists retract a now-discredited story about Condit having an affair with a minister's daughter. Here's a direct link to Mr. Saletan's play-by-play account. Would that the more mainstream press engaged in more of this about themselves.

Those Wacky Websites: Well, someone has finally come up with a good and valuable use for the Internet. Check out...

www.menwholooklikekennyrogers.com.

NICE ARTICLE on our pal Stan Sakai and his creation, Usagi Yojimbo, in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Click here to go there. Aloha!

Click here to read the previous NEWS FROM ME