Tyrone Power

If I were Tyrone Power, I'd be dead this year, as Power died at age 44, but in his short life, he made a lot of great swashbuckler-type pictures; pictures the studios don't tend to make anymore with leading men that they don't employ anymore.

While I love the Antonio Banderas and Guy Williams versions of Zorro, Power's "The Mark of Zorro" (1940) is the one to see and it is playing tonight at the good ol' Stanford Theater in Palo Alto.

Another great film he did which I saw recently on DVD is "Prince of Foxes" from 1949 and "The Razor's Edge" from 1946. His last great role was in "Witness for the Prosecution" (1957) before he died in 1958.

Give Power a try. Who cares if he made films in black and white and before you were born. These are great movies and better than most of the crap being issued today...

Missing Comedy Albums

I have been on a quest for years to get some comedy albums released to CD. I have contacted Laugh.com, Collectables, and Collector's Choice among other labels to get these released, since the majors don't seem interested. Originally, my list was over 100 albums, but thanks to these smaller labels, many of them have now been released.

These are some of my favorite comedy albums that have yet to appear on an official release on CD, although some tracks from these albums have appeared elsewhere:

Don Adams - Live
Woody Allen - Woody Allen
Woody Allen - Volume 2
Woody Allen - Three
Victor Borge - Borge's Back
Albert Brooks - A Star is Bought
Bill Cosby - 8:15 12:15
Bill Cosby - Sports
Bill Cosby - Live at Madison Square Garden
Bill Cosby - For Adults Only
Bill Cosby - To Those of You With or Without Children
Credibility Gap - Woodshtick
Rodney Dangerfield - Rappin' Rodney
Phyllis Diller - Wet Toe in a Hot Socket
Phyllis Diller - Laughs
Phyllis Diller - Are You Ready?
Stan Freberg - Pay Radio
Gallagher - Gallagher
George Gobel - At the Sands
Eric Idle - Rutland Weekend Songbook
Will Jordan - Ill Will
Gabriel Kaplan - Holes and Mellow Rolls
Sam Kinison - Louder than Hell
Paul Lynde - Recently Released
Mad Magazine - Fink Along With Mad
Mad Magazine - Mad Twists Rock and Roll
Pat McCormick - Tells it Like it is
Bob and Doug McKenzie - Strange Brew
Vaughn Meader - Have Some Nuts
Vaughn Meader - If the Shoe Fits
Vaughn Meader - Take That
Vaughn Meader - Second Coming
Martin Mull - Martin Mull
Martin Mull - Normal
Martin Mull - Days of Wine and Neurosis
Martin Mull - Sex and Violins
National Lampoon - Radio Dinner
National Lampoon - White House Tapes
National Lampoon - Goodbye Pop
Pat Paulsen - Live at the Ice House
Joan Rivers - Mr. Phyllis
Joan Rivers - Next to Last Album
Rowan and Martin - At Work
Soupy Sales - Still Soupy After All of These Years
Smothers Brothers - Tour De Farce
Smothers Brothers - Comedy Hour
Smothers Brothers - Play it Straight
Smothers Brothers - Golden Hits, Vol. 2
Judy Tenuta - Buy This, Pigs
Three Stooges - Madcap Musical Nonsense
Three Stooges - Christmas Time
Flip Wilson - Flippin'
Flip Wilson - Cowboys and Colored People
Flip Wilson - You Devil You
Flip Wilson - The Devil Made Me Buy This Dress
Flip Wilson - The Flip Wilson Show
Flip Wilson - Geraldine
Jonathan Winters - Down to Earth
Jonathan Winters - Here's Jonathan
Jonathan Winters - Another Day Another World
Jonathan Winters - Humor Seen Through the Eyes
Jonathan Winters - Whistle Stopping

Richard Fleischer

Since I mentioned "Fantastic Voyage" in my last blog entry, I might as well comment on that movie's director, another one of my favorites, Richard Fleischer.

Richard was the son of Max Fleischer, the man behind Betty Boop and all those other wonderful Fleischer cartoons of the 1910s through the 1940s. Fleischer was the main competitor to Walt Disney, so it is kind of amusing that later Walt allowed Richard to direct one of his best-loved pictures, "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea".

Richard isn't a household name even today, five years after his death, but he directed a lot of pictures that you've heard of, some of them very good, and admittedly, some of them lousy.

Apart from the aforementioned "Fantastic" and "Leagues", Richard directed "The Vikings", "Doctor Dolittle" (1967 version), "Tora! Tora! Tora!", "Soylent Green", "Mr. Majestyk", "Mandingo", "The Jazz Singer" (1980 version), "Conan the Destroyer", "Red Sonja" and many others.

So, here's "Hee-Haw" salute to Richard Fleischer.

Irwin Allen

Man is Irwin Allen's stuff cheesy, but I love it!!! As I type this, I am currently re-watching the movie version of "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea", one of my favorite Allen productions.

I am also a fan of "Five Weeks in a Balloon", "The Poseidon Adventure", "The Towering Inferno", "The Lost World" and the TV shows "Lost in Space", "Land of the Giants", "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" and "The Time Tunnel".

Of course, Allen did much more than that. I even like "The Story of Mankind" which is often hailed as one of the worst films ever made.

Part of the charm of an Irwin Allen production IS the over the top and campy way of presentation, with sometimes cheesy dialogue. I also like it that he liked to cast aging veteran actors such as Peter Lorre and Red Buttons in all his productions. Allen had a knack of making Disney movies of the time seem realistic!

I also liked Allen's frugality. Although he had no problem in constructing an elaborate set for "Voyage", when it came time to do the TV show, he just hauled the old sets out again and used them.

Allen died in 1991, and I still miss his type of work. People try to imitate him, but they get caught up into too much CGI and not much story or suspense. Even when his stories didn't make a lick of sense, you still could be guaranteed of being entertained.

I highly recommend the 4-DVD set from 20th Century Fox which contains "Voyage", "Lost World", "Towering Inferno" and "Fantastic Voyage" (not an Allen production, but good nonetheless). I got mine at Target for $10!

Comic Book Numbering

Why, oh, why do these comic book companies STILL start comics over at #1?...such a 90s thing to do. Recently, "Fantastic Four" #587 was issued with the death of one of the Four. #588 is now going to be the final issue, as the series will restart with #1.

I was happy when Marvel came to their senses and corrected their numbering back to the high numbers and now this. DC still has problems with some of their number like on "Justice League of America", but they corrected "Wonder Woman" and thankfully didn't start "Adventure Comics" over with #1 (even though there never really was a #1 with that title).

Also, "Betty and Veronica" and "Archie's Pal, Jughead" are getting fairly high up there on numbers. If they hadn't renumbered, they'd both be over 500 issues at least. As it stands they are still in the 200 level.

Even Harvey got into the act (back in the 90s) and pushed it into the ridiculous, where they would issue a title three times in a row as #1, and of course, restarted all of their series with #1.

I could see DC nearing #900 with "Action" and "Detective" doing some sort of thing like this, too. Better watch them...

I just hope I survive through to "Action Comics" #1355, then they will be the highest numbered comic book series ever, finally surpassing "Four Color"!!

As an aside, and I thought this would be a dirty trick by Marvel, since "FF" #587 was/is sealed in plastic, they should have had four different endings...

Stuff I'm Working On

In February, I pledge to get the following completed:

1) Scooby-Doo article for "Back Issue"

2) My Beatles book

3) THFT! #75 final edits

4) Taxes...

We shall see....

191!

191 blog readers yesterday. Another record day!

The End of the Comics Code Authority

These comments by me appeared on Jim Engel's page on Facebook, but I felt that they were so good, I'm going to repost them here. On it, people were lamenting the death of the CCA. I wasn't. Here's what I said:

I'm not lamenting at all. I always thought (perhaps since I grew up in the 70s long after the furor was over) that the CCA code was an unnecessary nuisance from another time. There were plenty of non-code comic books by that time and even Gold Key/Whitman never had that silly code, so I always thought it was in the way.

I've always been against coding in any form be it film ratings, video game ratings, CD warning labels, TV show ratings. The only one I ever liked was the one in "Mad's" "Starchie" that rated it "Another Mad Mind Warper". That's my kind of rating!

The sad part is, the reason no one cares whether comic books are rated anymore is that no one really cares about comic books anymore. Imagine if they dropped the ratings on any of the other media that I mentioned, there'd be a HUGE public outcry!!

Now, if we can get rid of that damned UPC symbol, we'd be in business...

My Final "THFT!" As Editor Almost Ready

Look for it soon, or contact me at funideas.mark@gmail.com for your copy. $10+ $5 Priority Mail shipping...

Andy Samberg as "Groo the Wanderer"

I am going to be the first to say it here and say it now. If Sergio Aragones does get a green light to do a live-action "Groo" feature, my choice for the role of Groo would be "Saturday Night Live's" Andy Samberg.

If this was a few years ago, I'd probably say Brendan Fraser, but Samberg looks the part and could most certainly ACT the part.

People have suggested to Sergio, Will Farrell for the role, for which Sergio has vetoed vehemently, so at least Sergio has some taste (Actually he has a lot, being one of my favorite artists of all time).

As far as I know, no live-action film is being planned and a CGI animated version is, but as far as who is playing Groo, I don't know...

172!

Here I go again. Another peak day on my blog!!! Also, January 2011 is now the highest read month ever on my blog. Thank you again!

Apparently 172A.D. was a Leap Year for those who didn't know. I didn't.

Now back to your regularly scheduled blog entries...

Pee-Wee Herman

On yesterday's post, I mentioned my dislike for Milton Berle. A couple of people mentioned Pee-Wee Herman (aka Paul Reubens). I have always been a fan of Reubens even when he isn't Pee-Wee. I would never class him in the same league as Milton Berle.

If you want to know why, just take a look at his non-Pee-Wee work for "Murphy Brown" or "Mystery Men". He's just a funny guy.

Too bad he got arrested for playing with himself in a porno theater in Florida that one time. I think it's because everyone thinks Pee-Wee is just for kids. WRONG!!! People forget that Pee-Wee appeared in Cheech and Chong's "Next Movie" (1980) and "Nice Dreams" (1981). In the latter one, he's even snorting cocaine!!! And, "The Pee-Wee Herman Show" (1980) was quite adult in nature, before it was tamed down to become "Pee-Wee's Playhouse" (1986-1990).

The only really lame Pee-Wee project has got to be "Big Top Pee-Wee" (1988), but even that movie has it's moments. It's not really Pee-Wee's fault; just a bad script. It also failed because "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure" (1985) was soooo good!

Most recently Pee-Wee appeared in a video with Andy Samberg on "Saturday Night Live" on January 15, 2011. Although he looked a bit older, it was the same old Pee-Wee as far as I'm concerned and I'm glad.

Milton Berle

Does anyone really like Milton Berle? I tend to have an aversion to comedians that pretty much say, "Look at me! I'm funny! Why aren't you laughing already?"

The funny thing is I can kind of stand Jerry Lewis, yet he has a tendency to overdo it as well.

Recent comedians that do this and I don't care much for, yet are really popular, include Will Farrell and sometimes Jim Carrey.

Anyway, here's a salute to Uncle Milty for no better reason that he is surprisingly good in "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" and "Evil Roy Slade".

Prime Rib for $15.95

And now time for a quick commercial as Alfred Hitchcock used to say. I am going to eat at Mike's Cafe in Menlo Park where tonight they are having a prime rib dinner for only $15.95. What a deal!

Anyway, see ya later...

I should write more soon.

In the meantime...drool...

Alex Ross

If you don't think Alex Ross is an excellent artist...TAKE THAT!!!

Hammer Films

I love Hammer Films. I actually got addicted to them prior to seeing most of them. I picked up issue #2 and 3 of Dick Klemensen's long-running fanzine "Little Shoppe of Horrors" back in the early 80s and fell in love with the films. Turns out I had seen numerous of them before as many Hammer Films became mainstays of "Creature Features".

Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing star in many of these, and many feature classic Universal monsters in color updatings such as Dracula, Frankenstein and many others. I was watching "The Two Faces of Dr. Jeckyl" late last night but fell asleep before the end. That's not to say that Hammer Films are necessarily bad, but a lot of them are quite campy. They are the horror equivalent of a Disney film, but they sometimes do contains ample supplies of blood and nudity, especially the films made in the 1970s.

Hammer started out making all types of films, but usually what people now deem as "film noir" in the 30s and 40s and then branched into horror and suspense from the 50s to the 70s.

165!

I know it sounds silly to toot my own horn every time my readership goes up on my blog, but I am happy because it means people are finding me and enjoying what I write. So a sincere thank you to all who read and comment on my work.

I know sometimes I write things that aren't always favorable in everyone's eyes, especially when I get a bug up my butt and have to write something political, so I'll mention my political leanings, here.

Although, I am still registered a Republican, except for in one case, I have never voted Republican for President, because usually I vote for whom I consider the best candidate.

I've always claimed to be "middle of the road", but I have to admit as I get older, my political leanings keep going further and further to the left, which is opposite the norm. Usually, people get more conservative as they get older.

I think mainly because I've felt that the Republican party has failed me time and time again and that the Democrat party has shifted to the right, the way the Republican party was when I was a kid, and the Republican party has gone right off the deep end. I'm sorry if other readers don't feel that way, but it is my opinion.

If I changed my registration, however, I'd probably change it to "non-partisan" rather than "Democrat" or "Independent" or "Green" or "Bull Moose" or "Whig" or whatever, because those parties aren't much good, either.

Anyway, off of soapbox. I'm glad people read my blog, even if they don't always agree...

More Bad Guys I Love

Ok, now let's hear it for Iron Tail, another favorite villain of mine. Not only is it voiced by one of my favorite actors, Vincent Price, he is also in one of my favorite TV specials, "Here Comes Peter Cottontail" (1971).

I especially like the part when Iron Tail takes over April Valley and proclaims that chocolate eggs are out and they will produce "chocolate-covered spiders and octopusses" instead.

The special is on DVD, and is usually aired somewhere during Easter time.

Boris and Natasha

Let's hear it for the bad guys! Whoo-whoop!! I think Boris and Natasha are two of the best villains ever conceived. Of course, I may be impartial because I love Jay Ward stuff.

Ok, there may be a lot meaner villains, etc. but this is just a great team. I don't know where I'm going with this, but I just wanted to write a quick blog and honor 50+ years of Boris and Natasha!

Dr. Don Rose

I've been getting nostalgic lately for Dr. Don Rose, whom I listened to regularly on KFRC radio from about 1976-1984. He was at the station from 1973-1986, and passed away in 2005.

He also did short announcements on KBHK-TV from 1977-1983. I actually have a photocopy of Rose's termination letter in my possession from when I worked there from 1989-1994.

I still have a few Rose broadcasts on tape from 1977 and 1978 when I taped them off the air onto a cassette. The quality varies but it is possibly the only copies in existence of some of this stuff.

For complete Rose shows, there are several Dr. Don broadcasts at http://www.bayarearadio.org/audio/kfrc/dr-don-rose.shtml
which also has much more biographical information than I'm telling here.

Planetarium Shows

I was getting nostalgic for the old planetarium shows they used to show at my old college, De Anza. Well, I am in luck as this Saturday they are going to resume the laser light shows there. Happy day!

I loved this stuff when I was a teenager with Pink Floyd, Beatles, Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and one of my favorites called "I See the Light Show" .

Anyway, it's back with either a "Sgt. Pepper" show or a "Dark Side of the Moon" show.

Hmmmmm, which to choose?

Schedule is here if you're local. Let me know if you want to go see with me...

Planetarium Show Schedule

Best Live Album Ever?

I am relistening to The Who's "Live at Leeds" CD and am convinced that this may be the best live album ever. Now, I am listening to the "Deluxe Edition" mind you that contains many more tracks including the full presentation of "Tommy".

The CD kicks ass! The commentary between the songs is fun especially where Pete Townshend takes a full three minutes to explain the backstory of "A Quick One (While He's Away)". Keith Moon chimes in with some funny comments here and there and the audience seems to eat it all up with relish.

Is this the best live album ever? Let me know what you think. A close contender would be "James Brown Live at the Apollo" for me. Now admittedly, I haven't heard EVERY live album produced but I have heard many, and many really suck. INXS' "Live Baby Live" comes to mind as one that really sucks. The recording is awful and the playing is kinda sorta bad!

Other good ones are "Judy Garland Live at the Carnegie Hall", "Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out" by The Rolling Stones, and even The Who's "Live at the Isle of White" and portions of "Monterey Pop" and "Woodstock" are really, really good.

The funny thing is that typically I hate live albums, because usually they are poorly recorded or poorly played or the group or singer performing has no connection with the audience and seems to be sleep-walking through the material.

So, what are your favorite live albums?

Simpsons Comics

Bongo has published over 175 issues of "Simpsons Comics" and I still get a treat reading everyone of them. A recent issue (#169) had yet another story that was so good that it should have been turned into an animated episode of the series.

In it a new kid named Brad comes to town and decides to impersonate Bart by donning a blonde wig. The feeble disguise literally fools everyone including Homer. Eventually, the ruse is discovered and Bart is reinstated to his rightful position in Springfield. The closing gag features Millhouse with a Bart wig with Homer throwing him out.

One of the frustrating things about reading comic books as much as I have is that after a while it all becomes a blur and you feel that there actually WAS an episode on TV of that story. Then you remember it was only in a comic book and it depresses you because you can't talk to any normal "Simpsons" fan about it because they only watch the TV show, and have never read the comic book.

What other comic book stories have you read that you wish would be made into a TV show or movie? Let me know...

Paul Mooney

Ok, I'm going to do a risky blog today, so if words like "nigger" and "fuck" offend you, just skip this.

Anyway, I LOVE Paul Mooney!!! The more I find out about him, the more I think he's a fantastic comedian. He was a primary writer and friend of Richard Pryor, but has since branched out into his own comedy which is very hardcore, especially if you are a sensitive white person.

The first time I heard or heard of Paul Mooney (no, it's not the late actor Paul Muni), was on a cassette tape of his first album "Race" that was sent to KBHK-TV 44 with a press release. My manager at the time didn't think much of it and gave me the tape saying, "Here, you like comedy".

I played the tape and was fascinated. Here was a black man telling it like it is. The CD is now quite collectible, but Mooney lets nigger freely fly and points out why. It's an uncomfortable word for most people nowadays. What's interesting is that if George Carlin did his "Seven Words You Can't Say On Television" bit, he could probably remove "piss" and "tits" from the list, but you would have to add "nigger" to it, as some people deem it a worse word to say or use than "fuck", nowadays.

Interestingly, they have recently removed "nigger" to some copies of "Huckleberry Finn" in order to make the book more palatable for high schools. They replaced the word with "slave". Will the same fate befall on Mooney's comedy? God, I hope not!

One of my favorite segments is when Mooney complains about The California Raisins and how they started making commercials with Ray Charles and with Michael Jackson. "They've gone nigger fuckin' raisin crazy!" Then he goes on and says about white people, "If they took some marshmallows and put some arms and legs on them and had them sing "Surfin' USA", you wouldn't think it was so goddamned funny!"

It's all harsh, but as Mooney says repeatedly, "It's real".

Mooney did a sequel CD called "Master Piece". While it too is funny, I don't like it as much, but not because of Mooney's comedy per se, it's just that there's a little too much about O.J. Simpson, which makes it very dated today. I think over half the album was on O.J., which admittedly was the biggest news at the time of the albums original release in 1994. He does, however do some great material about Howard Stern and Oprah Winfrey.

Mooney has since switched to DVDs. I haven't seen all of these, admittedly. The most recent item I have seen of Mooney was his "Ask a Black Man" and "Negrodomus" segments on the late, great "Dave Chappelle Show". Though not as funny as his typical material, it's still quite poignant.

Anyway, if you are not squeamish about hearing a different point of view, and can handle vulgar words, check Mooney out.

161!

Another record day on my blog. 161 viewers! Maybe I should write about The Beatles more often.

The Kinks

Another favorite of the might fab four of rock (Beatles, Rolling Stones and The Who being the others) are The Kinks. Similar to the other groups mentioned there have been members that have died and members that have quit.

It's a shame because Ray Davies was recently trying to reform the four original Kinks members, when Peter Quaife died suddenly last June. It was not going to be a true reunion as apparently Peter was going to "phone it in", but it would have been a reunion on disc had it occurred. They did reunite physically (I think in 2007) as the picture above proves, but now, no more.

Dave Davies had a stroke in recent years, but seems to be doing fine, but for some reason really despises brother Dave. I don't know the current status of Mick Avory.

So, at this point, you either have to enjoy the old music or buy Ray's occasional new albums, which are usually surprisingly good, despite the fact that no one buys them in the quantities of old Kinks music.

I suppose The Kinks are the biggest "also rans" in rock history, but they actually have quite a good body of work that stretched out about 30 years. Nothing to sneeze at.

Some Beatles Stuff I Want

Here is a list of some officially unreleased Beatles stuff I would like to see released on CD or DVD:

The Complete Decca Auditions (1962)
The Complete Shea Stadium (1965-1966)
The White Album demos from George's house in Esher (1968)
The Beatles Christmas Album (1970)
A good compilation of Beatles live (1963-1966)
More Anthology Stuff
An Anthology greatest hits
Beatles videos (1962-1970)
Let it Be (film)(1970)
The Beatles cartoons (1965-1969)
Beatles Capitol Versions Vol. 3 with Yesterday and Today (with Butcher cover), Hey Jude, Rarities, A Hard Day's Night
Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl (1977)
Rock 'n' Roll Music (1976)
Love Songs (1977)
A good compilation of Wings live (1972-1979)
James Paul McCartney (1973)
A good compilation of George's Dark Horse Tour (1974-1975)
Ringo (TV Special) (1978)
McCartney's Cold Cuts (1980)
Rock Show (1981)
Paul's Phil Ramone Album (1986)
Ringo's Chips Moman Album (1987)
George's A Portrait of a Leg End (2001)
A comprehensive box set for Paul, George and/or Ringo with outtakes and rarities
John's Live in New York City OR a good compilation of John live (1968-1975)

Cracked.com Zombie Book

I keep promoting the Cracked.com zombie book called "You Might be a Zombie and Other Bad News" since my history of "Cracked" book keeps getting delayed.

What do I think of the Cracked.com book now that it is finally out? It's actually not too bad and quite humorous, but it doesn't remind me of "Cracked" of the past. I suppose that was their intention. It reminds me kind of a cleaned-up "National Lampoon" book.

I would recommend it based on the fact that the writing is quite funny, but if you are just buying it because it says "Cracked" on it, you might be sorely disappointed.

In any case, my two-volume book set "If You're Cracked, You're Happy" is still due out in February or March, unless there are further delays.

Scooby-Doo

I'm currently writing an article on "Scooby-Doo" in the comics for "Back Issue" magazine. It promises to be a good article due to the fact that I got an excellent interview with writer Mark Evanier and plan to do the same with artist Dan Spiegle.

It's always a bit nerve-wracking to do these articles because you aren't always sure how the interview is going to come out or if you are going to get an interview at all. I can now breathe a deep sigh of relief that I will have a good article to turn in in March for a Summer release.

What's amazing is that I have always been able to cobble together something when I have a "Back Issue" article. Probably the hardest article for me was the recent "Korg: 20,000 B.C." article, as I was not a big fan of the show and everyone who worked on the comic book had died.

Fortunately, Pat Boyette's fans came through and they "spoke" for Pat, making it another good article that I have received compliments on. Thanks, everyone!

Jerry Brown

In some sort of bizarre form of time warp, Jerry Brown is to be sworn in as Governor of California again. I suppose it's not as strange as the previous guy actually BEING Governor for almost two terms.

What's interesting is that my mom passed away in 2008. At the time, I threw away a TON of her junk, but I also set aside a lot of stuff to look at again at a later date. Because of working on my "Cracked" and "Beatles" books, I haven't looked at this stuff until very recently, and am still going through it. Some I'm tossing, some I'm keeping and some I'm selling.

Anyway, one of the things I'm keeping and it's ironic that I found it yesterday was an envelope containing an autographed photo of Jerry Brown from the first time he was Governor. The date is 1982, so it was around the time of his end.

Beatles Book Update

Almost done with my Beatles book. I am just finishing the final touches on my editing and then I have to do the index and formatting. No target date specifically since this is my own pet project, but I want to get it done so I can start working on other projects, including another pet project on Disney.