Hello from WonderCon. Here's what I'm doing today…

Saturday, March 28 – 1:30 PM in Room 213AB
WRITING FOR ANIMATION
Who writes cartoons, and how do they do that? Writers who create stories and gags for some of your favorite shows, will do their best to enlighten attendees. Panelists Brooks Wachtel (X-Men), Cynthia Harrison (Spider-Man: The Animated Series), Robert Skir (Batman: The Animated Series), and Mark Evanier (The Garfield Show) discuss their work and experiences, and maybe attendees will learn something valuable for their lives or careers.

Saturday, March 28 – 3:00 PM in Room 209
TALES FROM MY SPINNER RACK – LIVE!
March 30th marks the 87th anniversary of the premiere of Batman in the pages of Detective Comics #27. That first story, "The Bat-Man: The Case of the Chemical Syndicate" — just six pages long !— introduced one of the most iconic comic book characters of all time, created by artist Bob Kane with writer Bill Finger. Tales From My Spinner Rack LIVE! returns to WonderCon with Gary Sassaman (former director of programming and publications, San Diego Comic-Con) and special guest Mark Evanier (comics historian, Kirby: King of Comics) to discuss the artistic history of the character, looking back at some of the incredible artists who illustrated the adventures of the Caped Crusader over the years. The first 100 attendees receive a limited-edition set of three Tales from My Spinner Rack Collector's Cards!

Saturday, March 28 – 4:00 PM in Room 207
CARTOON VOICES
For the 64th time at WonderCon, Comic-Con, or online, Mark Evanier assembles a panel of folks who supply the voices, grunts, and groans for many fan-favorite cartoon characters. They’ll demonstrate what they do, explain how they got to do it, and then massacre a fairy tale for the audience's edification. Featuring Brian Hull (Hotel Transylvania), Cheryl Chase (Rugrats), Kamali Minter (Shark Tale), Piotr Michael (Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures) and David Errigo Jr. (Phineas and Ferb).

I've always eaten a lot of what they call "baby carrots" but I must admit: For years, I didn't give much thought to what they were. They were carrots that were easier to eat because they didn't require peeling and you didn't have the scraggly tip or the difficult-to-bite-through top end. Here's what they are and how they get that way…

Spending the day at WonderCon in Anaheim. If you're doing that and you see me, say hello. And come to these panels…

Friday, March 27 – 2:30 PM in Room 213AB
CHARLES M. SCHULZ AND PEANUTS
Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and their friends have been part of the American family for 75 years. Peanuts experts Mark Evanier and Nat Gertler attempt to explain why this is, and if they cannot, they will at least try to answer audience questions about the most widely read newspaper strip in the history of mankind.

Friday, March 27 – 3:30 PM in Room 213AB
THE GROO PANEL
The all-time dumbest warrior in comics — the creation of cartoonist Sergio Aragonés — has been captivating audiences for decades. What is it about this stupid character and his stupid dog and their stupid adventures in a stupid world that causes smart people to follow them? Sergio's collaborators, Mark Evanier and Carrie Strachan, try to make sense out of all that stupidity, and if they need help, they will phone Sergio and see what he makes of it.

Friday, March 27 – 4:30 PM in Room 213AB
ANIMATION HISTORY
Is there anything about cartoons or animation that audiences have always wondered about? Animation experts Jerry Beck and Mark Evanier do their best to explain things, whether the questions involve how Wile E. Coyote pays all those bills from the Acme Company or how the kids who drive around with Scooby-Doo can be so bright but not recognize that one of the suspects in their current case is wearing a rubber mask. Jerry and Mark will do their best to enlighten the audience.

Here's a nice overview of the career of one of the great silent movie comedians — and one who's never gotten his due. Roscoe Arbuckle was way ahead of most of his contemporaries but for obvious (and tragic) reasons, his work has never been as available as Chaplin's, Lloyd's, Keaton's or that of many others. Enjoy this little portrait of Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle…

This runs almost an hour but you'll probably want to watch at least some of it. It's The First Annual All-Star Celebrity Baseball (actually, softball) Game. This was done for Aurora Models in 1967 and the teams are as follows…

The Celebrities Team consists of Don Adams, Steve Allen, Max Baer Jr., Woody Allen, James Garner, Peter Falk, John Cassavetes, Bobby Darin, Bill Dana (as Jose Jiminez), Robert Loggia, Robert Morse, Ryan O'Neal, Dale Robertson, Dick Shawn, Larry Storch and some other guys, with Leo Durocher as Manager.

They're playing against a pretty formidable All-Star Team: Roberto Clemente, Don Drysdale, Ron Hunt, Harmon Killebrew, Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Jim Piersall, Brooks Robinson, Maury Wills and some other guys with Milton Berle (!) as Manager.

And calling the game in the booth: Vin Scully and Jerry Lewis. Thanks to my friend/assistant Jane Plunkett for letting me know this was online…

It's amazing that this man still has supporters…

In February of 1960, Jack Paar was the host of The Tonight Show and on one night, he stunned his audience by announcing he was leaving the program and then getting up from the desk and actually leaving the program. Here's a brief rundown of the story…

I'd long heard this story and seen the brief excerpt they showed of his farewell speech but I'd never seen the complete segment. Well, here it is. It's Paar telling why he's leaving and turning the proceedings over to his sidekick, Hugh Downs…

A few weeks later, he returned. Here's the video of that moment…

Paar was a very popular TV personality for a while and I think a lot of that had to do with his volatility and the fact that he always seemed to be involved in some controversy or feud or other battle that made (often) the front page of newspapers. The fights never seemed phony or done just to attract viewers but, in hindsight, they also seemed pretty trivial. Paar had a bit of a mean streak towards politicians and celebrities he didn't like but he was awfully thin-skinned when he was criticized.

I was too young to watch his Tonight Show when it happened. I did watch a later prime-time show that he did for NBC that was basically the same format in an hour and I liked a lot of his guests and conversations there. But when I later got to see kinescopes of some of his Tonight Shows, I was mostly disappointed.

I consider it one of those shows that had its reputation because of its unavailability. You couldn't see enough of it to discern that memories of it were overrating it. An awful lot of the clips that survive are of certain of his guests just being snotty towards other celebs and quite a bit of what I've seen was Paar bringing on female guests who were either dumb or didn't speak English well as a second language and making fun of them.

I also saw him speak once at the Paley Center. This was, of course, late in his life but he seemed awfully neurotic and very, very defensive about how he and his legacy would be judged. The thin skin had gotten thinner and it was somewhat uncomfortable hearing him defend his work against some unknown person somewhere who said something he couldn't or wouldn't quote. I suspect that one of the reasons Johnny Carson had the success he enjoyed almost immediately upon taking over for Paar was that he made viewers a lot more comfy just before bedtime.

Paar could be very witty, no doubt, but I think people just had enough of him being so paranoid and obsessed about his image. Maybe if I saw more of those old shows, I'd reach a different conclusion but I don't think so.

Another version of that song we keep talking about here…

I know Bill Cosby News is so 2018 now but a woman named Donna Motsinger just won a lawsuit against the man for drugging and raping her. And Justice came swiftly for Ms. Motsinger who only waited fifty-four years for that to happen.

She claimed that Cosby invited her to the taping of one of his record albums, then later gave her wine and two pills she thought were aspirin. Whatever they really were, they knocked her out and she awoke to find much of her clothing off and there was the realization that she'd been raped. This happened in 1972 but, hey, these things take time. She's only 84 years old now.

They jury awarded her $19.25 million in compensatory damages — I have no idea how such a thing is calculated — and an additional $40 million in punitive damages. Cosby's attorneys have announced they will appeal…which is what they have to say even if, as is likely, this will end with her accepting some lower amount in a settlement. One hopes that will take less than another fifty-four years.

This reminds me that back in 2022, Cosby's people announced he'd be making a performing tour in Spring and Summer of the following year to once again amuse and thrill his many fans and to give his version of the little matter that landed him in prison. I haven't seen him coming to a theater or auditorium near me. Have you seen him coming to a theater or auditorium near you?

Maybe he just didn't feel like performing again…or maybe, at age mid-eighties, he just decided to take it easy. Or just maybe the reaction to his tour announcement triggered too much revulsion and too few venues willing to have him appear on their stages. Haven't seen him on any talk shows or comedy specials, either.

I'm not asking for that to happen but I must admit to a curiosity. Does he realize what a horrible thing it was he did to all those women and, by extension, to everyone who once loved and admired him? Or does he think he's the victim in all this? I'm guessing the latter option.

This is tonight's "A Closer Look" by Seth Meyers and it's really sharp. Meyers records his shows at 2 PM (but occasionally a bit later) in New York and his staff does an incredible job of presenting the latest news — sometimes with complicated graphics — in time to be part of the show. Jimmy Fallon, who doesn't do as much topical material, usually "tapes" at 3:45, Colbert usually starts at 4:15 and The Daily Show usually starta at 4:30. Kimmel and Maher, being on the West Coast, have more time because of the time difference.

I'm usually very impressed with what Seth Meyers puts on the air and more impressed that he does it as early in the day as he does. Most of this "A Closer Look" could gave been written and prepped a day or two before but he still manages at times to get into something that just happened that morning. But enjoy this one…

This is the episode of This is Your Life for March 10, 1954 in which Ralph Edwards surprised (maybe) Mack Sennett. I stuck in the parenthetical because a lot of the "surprises" on that show looked kinda phony to me. I doubt the show ever told a subject what was planned but the star's agent and family knew and I find it hard to believe that no one in that category told the star in advance.

At some point in film history, Mack Sennett probably deserved the title of "King of Comedy" due to sheer volume but it wasn't for long. If you made up a list of the 100 greatest silent comedies, very few would be films that were produced on the Sennett lot but a lot of them involved talent that Sennett "discovered," then lost. And the folks who worked for him never spoke that highly of his ability to know what was funny.

Nevertheless, he was an important figure in movie history and it's nice to see him and some of the comedians who worked for him during those years that he was the King…

For years on this blog, right around this time of year, I did a joke that went roughly like this: Comic-Con International will be in San Diego in late July. If you're going to need a parking space, leave now.

I stopped offering that piece of advice but I have a new one: Comic-Con International will be in San Diego in late July. If you're going to be taking a plane there, leave now.

Yes, I'm busy but this might be important to someone. The lovely Irish McCalla played the comic book character Sheena, Queen of the Jungle in a 1956 motion picture called Queen of the Jungle and in a 26-episode TV series. Episodes of the TV show are pretty easy to find but the movie is not so easy. Depending on who you believe, it was either never released in the U.S. or barely released in the U.S.

Well, Sheena expert Frank Bonilla wanted me to let you know that the movie will be seen on themonsterchannel.com on Saturday morning, March 28 at Midnight (Eastern Standard Time) and it'll be run a couple more times the following week. If you consider Sheena a superheroine, then this was the first motion picture to ever feature a comic book superheroine. (We should discuss the definition of a "superhero" someday here.)

Anyway, if you're a Sheena fan or an Irish McCalla fan, this should be welcome news. Don't thank me. Thank Frank Bonilla.

Super-busy today: Two doctor appointments (nothing serious), recording a podcast (I'll let you know when it's online), prepping for WonderCon, a bunch of business-type calls…all of it should amount to very little posting here today.

But I'll do what I can and make it up to you when I can and here's the link to see what panels I'll be doing at WonderCon. I've added David Errigo, Jr. — who recently won an Emmy for his voicing of Hampton Pig and Plucky Duck on Tiny Toons Looniversity — to the Cartoon Voices panel on Saturday…

As I've mentioned often here, my all-time favorite, actually-seen-on-a-stage musical is A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. And if you'd seen the production starring Phil Silvers that I saw in 1970, it might well be your favorite, too. I have since seen quite a few productions of it — some wonderful, some awful — and the awful ones have not diminished my fondness for it.

Something you may not know is when the original production was in outta-town tryouts, it wasn't doing well. Audiences did not warm to the show and its producers were thinking of abandoning it. That was before they brought the great director Jerome Robbins in and he decreed that the problem was that the opening number did not set the show up properly. They tossed it out, Stephen Sondheim wrote "Comedy Tonight" to replace it, Robbins staged it…and the show was a hit.

Robbins directed a lot of hits and in 1989, there was a show made up of excerpts from most of them. It was called Jerome Robbins' Broadway and among its scenes was the opening (only) of Forum. This is a video of it with Jason Alexander in the role that Zero Mostel played in the original. It's a rare chance to see Robbins' actual staging of the number because every director stages it differently with different physical gags. Watching it only makes me wish I could see another good production of it…