Happy 100th Birthday, Friz Freleng

On August 21, 1906, Isadore Freleng was born. In an era when the greats of animation are slowly slipping into obscurity, the name and works of Friz Freleng endure. As one of the very few men whose tenure with Warner Bros. Animation spanned from the beginning to the end of the studio (except for a brief respite at M-G-M), Freleng adapted to the style of the day, whether it was dancing and singing rubber-hose characters designed to be as much like Mickey Mouse as the law allowed, or the sophisticated character comedy of later years. Of course, after WB closed down, Freleng formed his own studio and his own stable of characters, and even kept ties to the WB characters, producing a brace of "gee-we-should-never-have-closed-the-studio" theatricals in the mid-1960's, and then producing works for a revival of the characters in the 1980's. Freleng remained the studio's elder statesman well into the 1990's, when ill health eventually curtailed his activities, until his death attributed to natural causes on May 26, 1995.

We join the blogoverse in celebrating the man in his works, and our contribution is an in-depth look at what Freleng termed one of the most "dangerous" cartoons he ever made.




Released in the Looney Tunes series on April 30, 1949, it is important to first put this cartoon in proper historical perspective. Across the hall, Chuck Jones had been plotting the first Road Runner cartoon, "Fast and Furry-ous" concurrent with the production of this picture. The reason Freleng termed this picture "dangerous" (in an interview with Greg Ford) was that the cartoon essentially had one gag: Yosemite Sam wants to see a high diving act, so instead of the advertised talent, he shoves his sixguns at Bugs Bunny and tries to make him go off the deep end. However there is some turnabout and Sam winds up taking the dive. This is much like the structure of the Road Runner pictures: you know the Road Runner's never going to get caught and the Coyote is going to be somehow impaled, immolated, or destroyed in some fashion. However, in Freleng's picture, Bugs is a much more active participant in Sam's dives; things just happen to the Coyote because they do.

It does take Freleng some footage to get to the meat of the situation: a traveling carnival, with Bugs as carny barker, advertising Fearless Freep, the high diving sensation. Yosemite Sam takes more tickets than he needs (paying in cash, unbelievably) and takes a seat inside. The background painting of Paul Julian deserves mention for always appropriately setting the scene.






Through some quirk, Fearless Freep is delayed getting into town and so Bugs must reluctantly announce the cancellation, which ires Sam. He aims to see some high diving, so it's up to the platform for Bugs.








Bugs craftily pivots the diving board and feigns a dive, having changed into turn-of-the-century swimwear. But it's Sam who's off the deep end has he makes his first descent, with Bugs taking a seat in the audience to watch the action.











Bugs' trickery is now aided by liberal application of our old friend, Cartoon Physics, in the two gags that follow. First, Bugs manages to catapult Sam off the platform end of the diving board, but Bugs can't let poor old Sam dive into an empty tank. He throws down a bucket of water, which manages to pass Sam on the way down and settle into the tub. In spite of Bugs' best efforts to provide a safe landing, Sam misses the mark...







Then Bugs, hanging upside down on the underside of the diving board, manages to successfully convince Sam that he's actually upside down, and he takes the plunge once more...







From this point in the picture, now that Freleng has established the basic premise - that Bugs is never going to take the dive - he can be a little faster and wilder with the gags. There's the "I dare you to step over this line" bit, which I believe was taken from Bob Clampett's "Buckaroo Bugs", an "Open The Door, Richard" bit, and a fake "they went thataway" bit with Bugs in Indian dress.









Eventually, all Freleng needs to do from this point on is show that whatever Bugs does, Sam will dive and ascend the ladder once more for more medicine. This gag shows Freleng's sense of timing, his major asset as an animation director, as Freleng repeats the gag faster each time (with the same musical cues) until there's a delay in Sam's fall...






...because Bugs is now tied to the diving board, with Sam sawing it off. But with Cartoon Physics dictating the order of the universe here, Sam's entire platform falls. Bugs ends the cartoon with the classic line, "I know dat dis defies the law of gravity...but, I never studied law!" That's All, Folks!




All of Freleng's animators (including swing animator Pete Burness, a recent addition to the crew) rise to the occasion here and submit great action scenes. This is rightly one of Freleng's greatest moments in the Sam-Bugs battles, with Sam being a relatively recent discovery (having first appeared in 1944's "Hare Trigger"). More were to come (cartoons like "Mutiny On The Bunny", "Big House Bunny", "Sahara Hare" and "Bunker Hill Bunny"), but this boiled everything down to essentials.

Go to the "Hell On Frisco Bay" blog for more links to Friz fans on this, his 100th birthday.

7116: Greetings From Section 309!

I wasn't able to more instantly post the update to the ever-increasing string of Mets games without a no-hitter today, because I had the pleasure of actually watching the Mets game in person today at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, a very nice ball park, but a bitch to get out of the parking lot of.

It makes me more anxious to experience the Mets' new ballpark, which is scheduled to open in 2009 and replace the soon-to-be-demolished Shea Stadium. I like the more angular, more square-ish design of these new stadiums, with crazy angles in the outfields that long balls can just carom around in like pinballs, and think the old round-style, symmetrical ball parks are so dull and passe. Citizens Bank Park, which I have never attended before, has very nice sight lines throughout, a neat center-field concourse named for the late Richie Ashburn, a beloved Phillies figure even though he spent time with the Mets early on, and a restaurant honoring sportscaster Harry Kalas. Even though the Phillies aren't my team (especially in the last week, where they took three of four from the Mets), I can appreciate the contributions of the great Phils over the years including Steve Carlton, Mike Schmidt and Greg Luzinski. It was great to soak in their history for a day, but I couldn't show up wearing anything but a Mets shirt - and thankfully, I had lots of company.

Tomorrow, it's back to watching the game on TV...

It's Back!

We figure you've waited long enough to see the Public Service Buses on this site again.

We've also updated the Music page to reflect the current performance schedule. Parades, concerts, plays, I got em coming out of my ears (or my horn) over the next couple of months.

Something To Think About While You're Going Through Airport Security

From Mark Evanier:

You can't bring a bottle of Arrowhead Mountain Spring Water onto an airplane in this country. But you can bring a Dell Laptop with a battery that can explode and burst into flame. Fill in your own snide remark.

Think Before You Send!

The incredible shrinking Mark Evanier on e-mail hoaxes. This past year, I got one from a well-meaning teacher friend that she was sending around our entire school system. I had to politely rebuke her and tell everyone that it was a scam.

Mark recommends the use of snopes.com to see if that e-mail you received about cell phone numbers being released to telemarketers is truly legit (which in most cases, it isn't). That site's kept me from sending a lot of get well cards to alleged "kids with incurable diseases" as well.

If You're Not Going To See "West Side Story" At The Stafford Performing Arts Center Tonight At 7:30 P.M., May I Recommend...

The Newark Bears "Britney Spears Baby Safety Night."

I'm not making this up.

See blog item below for more info on WSS. We opened last night and boy howdy is this a fine production.

On August 21, It's All About Friz

We have been reminded by this blog that August 21 will be the centennial of the birth of esteemed Warner Bros. cartoon director Friz Freleng (1906-1995). (Some references actually cite 1905 as being his birth year, but I've long stuck by the 1906 date, particularly in light of a fall 1964 profile that gave his age at the time as 58.)

We will indeed be participating in the blogathon on that date. I haven't decided on what aspect of Friz Freleng's career we'll touch on - something he did at his own studio, or one of his Warner Bros. classics, or perhaps one of the obscure cartoons he did on a brief flirtation at MGM in 1938.

Nothing's Sacred... Not Even Monopoly!

First they decided to give the board a makeover by redoing all the place names so it isn't so Atlantic City, now Hasbro wants to do away with paper money.

Back On The "West Side"

A year and a half ago, I worked with the Our Gang Players on a little show called "The Music Man", and swore up and down that if I ever had the chance to work with this company again, I would.

I had done "West Side Story" almost a decade ago to the day for a group called Dream Street Productions, and swore up and down that if I ever had the chance to play WSS again, I would.

The conclusion: Our Gang is doing "West Side Story". So, I'm the "old man" of a pit of mostly college age players under the direction of the remarkably talented Steve Strouse, with whom I worked a couple of winters ago on "The Music Man". And we have a terrific cast of dancers and actors and singers who will wow you with their talent and tightly choreographed street fighting.

"West Side Story", in all its Leonard Bernstein-Stephen Sondheim glory, will play August 3, 4, 5 and 6 at the Ocean First Theatre at the Stafford Township Arts Center.

Now THAT'S Hot!

Get ready... something approaching intellgience has emerged from the mouth of Paris Hilton. She recently was interviewed about her reality show, "The Simple Life", and told the interviewer at one point, "All reality shows are fake, basically."

Thank you.

"Go Get 'Em, Billy!"

Nice to hear Bobby Darin's swingtime version of "I'm Sitting On Top of The World" - complete with Mr. Darin's acknowledgement of arranger/conductor Billy May - in promos for Fox's coverage of the baseball All Star Game, which is guaranteed to be Soaking With Mets this year! Go get em, Carlos, Paul, Jose, etc.!

I Get One Of My Gifts from Comcast...

A while back (maybe a year and a half ago) I asked a couple of pretty coy questions about channels that Comcast could add to its cable, including "What do you do when you like to go places?" And the answer to that is Channel 188... The Travel Channel, now on our Toms River system.

Perhaps I'll be watching just the one show I'm interested in on that channel (the one that starts with "World" and ends in "Tour" and has a whole lot of "Poker" in the middle), but at least it's another viewing option.

Probably less viewed will be some other channels being added... Oxygen, CSPAN-2 and TNT HD. Hey, it's more choices... and hopefully more will be added so I can finally justify my $141 cable bill....

Lennie Weinrib 1935-2006

Actor/director/writer Lennie Weinrib, an ubiquituous presence in cartoons of the 1970's (including many DePatie-Freleng productions) and a featured actor on several Krofft television shows, has died at a hospital near his home in Chile at the age of 71. Mark Evanier has more details and stories about this remarkable performer on his blog.

My Computer Nightmares Are Over!

No, I didn't toss them all out the window, but, eerily parallelling my recent weight loss (about 19 lbs. and counting), I have reduced the number of computers in my house by one - but not in the way I wanted to do it. And along the way, I had to wrestle with a nasty adware virus on my primary machine.

Since Nancy passed away, I have been doing the bulk of my computer work on her machine, which is conveniently located off the living room. A few days ago I noticed the computer powering down on its own quite often. I purchased a new mouse, thinking that was the culprit. However, last night, while I was away from the machine, something else happened. I think the power supply or the motherboard might have said "no mas" in its own electronic way and turned what I had been working to into toast. (Between problems that Robair and I have both had with this brand, it's obvious that the "e" stands for EVIL.) Therefore, it was time to bring the computer I had been using as my primary computer upstairs.

But first, I had to rid it of a persistent adware virus I picked up from somewhere. God knows where I picked it up, but my computer was insisting that I had a bunch of spyware on this machine and I needed to get this wonderful program called Spyware Sheriff that would get rid of my woes once and for all. I knew something was up when my computer would not let me change my start page from an obvious ad for Spyware Sheriff, and the fake security alerts which were popping up. Sure enough, through some research I had to do on my notebook (which thankfully is in tip-top shape), I confirmed what I had suspected: not only is Spyware Sheriff no good at removing spyware from your computer, but it IS spyware in and of itself!

Through a variety of products including the excellent Spyware Doctor and the wonderful free Bazooka utility from kephyr.com, all traces of Spyware Sheriff were removed. Spyware Doctor additionally found bits and pieces of many other spyware-adware "products" picked up in my surfing.

Nancy's old computer is in bits and pieces in the living room, with most of the surviving pieces destined for Robair's use with my old notebook (the one I did the $38 patch on a while back). But now I feel more at home using my own computer on a regular basis once again.

Red Sox Radio Station To Bastardize History

Per this page regarding the 1986 World Series (which, of course, was won by the New York Mets),

The 10th inning of Game 6 will forever be remembered as a low point in Boston sports history. But what if you could re-write history? WEEI wants to know what "Your Dream Ending to '86" would be.

Now you all remember game 6, right? Bottom of the 10th at Shea, score tied 5-5. Red Sox have a 3-2 series lead. With two outs, the Red Sox have blown a 5-3 lead thanks to Gary Carter and Kevin Mitchell. Now Ray Knight is on second, and Mookie Wilson at the plate. Wilson hits a slow dribbler to first base, which (in the immortal words of the late Bob Murphy) GETS BY BUCKNER! Knight scores from second and the Mets win, 6-5, evening the series 3-3.

Now, WEEI, in their own twisted way, wants to celebrate the 20th anniversary of one of the greatest seasons that the Mets have ever had and give the Boston fans one chance to get their jollies as if they had won the Series that year. WHICH THEY DIDN'T. The station will select a winning entry from those e-mailed to the station and will re-create the final inning of the broadcast as if the ball had not gone by Buckner's legs.

Actually, there's a lot more to it than that.... the winner would have to craft a complete eleventh inning with Red Sox scoring and Mets failing to score to create a Sox win in the inning. So someone is going to have to do a lot of work to make the Sox win, if you are using Buckner's error as a launch pad.

So, in that spirit, we present the play to you, as it really happened. Vin Scully with the call. (But here's Murphy's call if you like that one instead.)

And screw you, WEEI, and your attempts at revisionist history.

Website Update

At the urging of one of our longtime readers, we've reestablished our archives for this blog, now going all the way back to 2001. That was about three or four service providers ago.

Bear in mind that because of the way Blogger archives, some site areas referenced may be unavailable, some links may be out of date, and some other material may now be all together wrong. Tread with caution!

Update: We have fixed some of the broken images.

More Brookers

Wanted to share two more incredible YouTube videos from the talented Brooke Brodack (see below).

The first one, "The Invention of Mr. Buckett" (sic) is Brooke's tribute to the 80's-90's game Mr. Bucket, by Milton Bradley. Brooke makes a number of attempts to sink a ball in the bucket, then finally gives up.




And in "Everything Changes", we see a little of the real Brooke as she discusses her bright future, peppered with clips from some of her earlier work.

A Very Special Edition Of YouTube

You may have heard the news last week that one of the more popular contributors of original content for YouTube, Brooke Brodack, has been signed by Carson Daly to a talent and development deal.

Brookers' videos have been noted for their professionalism, with multiple camera cuts and very good use of archival clips and music. Brookers herself is an amazingly good performer. Skimming through her oeuvre, I'm most struck by this video, which combines a fake commercial for Herbal Essences and a audition tape for "America's Next Top Model", which is inexplicably played back at twice regular speed and is frequently interrupted by her dog. Is this intentional? With Brookers, who at the age of 20 already has the skill of a filmmaker twice her age, you can never tell....

Welcome To Summer Vacation

Monday, June 19. In a less than perfect world, I would be in school today. However, due to the total lack of snow days this year, we got out one day early. (The administration has since wised up and has now built no snow days into future calendars.)

I have a busy summer planned. Lots to do around this house, and a few other commitments. We'll keep you posted on some of the more interesting things that I've done this summer.

Equal Time For NBC

And now, a flock of peacocks. The original NBC Peacock from the late 50's lives somewhere on Kris Trexler's website, but here are two others from YouTube.

This one is called the "Laramie Peacock" because the first program it was ever used on was the NBC western "Laramie". The music is a little different here, I believe it was used until 1968.


How about this oddity: a clip of the NBC peacock, with the later (1968?) music, and a custom voiceover by none other than the late Bill Wendell that the following SPORTS program is in Living Color?

People Magazine Names Taylor Hicks Hottest Bachelor Of 2006

Hey, I've got pretty much the same hair as him, girls.

Psychedelic, man!

And this clip is from the 1950's. It was the old CBS TV end of show ID that ran at the end of most of their shows in the mid-late 1950's. Sometimes GSN will screw up and you can see it at the end of "What's My Line" just before 4 a.m. That's probably where this clip came from, in fact.

7057: Oh, So Close

Two lousy freaking hits to deep center field were all that kept rookie pitcher Alay Soler, in just his fourth major league start, from becoming the first ever Mets pitcher to record a no-hitter and erase 45 years of frustration for fans of the Blue and Orange (and sometimes Black).

The last time I felt this good about a Mets season was exactly twenty years ago. This year the annual Old Timers Day (which I think is now called something more PC) will honor those World Series winners of 20 years ago and gather as many of them that they can (those that aren't in prison, anyway). And, refreshingly, this surge by the Mets may spell an end to the Braves' dominance of the division.

Do Some Research, WENN

There was a riotous post from the World Entertainment News Network (WENN), London-based provider of news and innuendo to IMDb. It was in response to the announcement that Warner Home Video would be bringing forth the first authorized DVD release of Popeye cartoons.

WENN decided to challenge the statement that there were 220 Popeye cartoons made for TV between 1960 and 1962. Guess what, Wenn? This is correct and is an irrefutable fact.

Al Brodax and King Features contracted with Paramount Cartoon Studios (then being run by Seymour Kneitel) for an impossible 370 cartoons to be released to television, including 220 Popeyes and 50 each of Krazy Kat, Beetle Bailey, and Snuffy Smith.

The cartoons were jobbed out to several studios around the world. There were three different production units in Los Angeles alone, headed by producers Jack Kinney, Gerry Ray and Larry Harmon, all doing Popeyes (Kinney's first Popeye, "Barbecue For Two", just may be the worst cartoon ever made). Gene Deitch's studio in Prague did some Popeyes and farmed others out to Halas and Batchelor in Great Britain. Deitch also did all but two Krazy Kats. H&B also did about half of the Beetle Bailey series.

For their part, Paramount did the balance of the Popeyes and Beetle Baileys, the two Krazy Kats that Deitch did not do ("Mouse Blanche" and "Keeping Up With Krazy") and all the Snuffy Smith cartoons - all the while maintaining a theatrical release schedule. And every single one of those cartoons was directed by Seymour Kneitel.

The whole project was finished by 1963.

The next year, Seymour Kneitel dropped dead of a heart attack.

Coincidence?

A Couple of Goodbyes...

Some people who helped define the cartoon-filled Saturday mornings of old have passed away.

Mark Evanier has come out from behind his can of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup (which, as we all know, is the symbol of being too busy to update your blog (he was actually having gastric bypass surgery - good luck with that, Mark!)) to tell us that Alex Toth died on Saturday at the age of 78. Toth was an extrememly prolific animation designer and comics artist who designed things like "Herculoids" and "Space Ghost" and the "Hot Wheels" comic book and animated series.

Also, puppeteer Mary Ritts died on May 14 at the age of 95, reports the LA Times. The Ritts puppets were featured in the first TV incarnation of Pink Panther cartoons for NBC (1969) and their only child, Mark Ritts, played Lester the lab rat on "Beakman's World" for CBS.

We also lost ska artist Desmond Dekker over the last week; he recorded the hit song "The Israelites" in 1968 with his group The Aces. He was 63-ish and had a heart attack in London.

Gwen Stefani Baby News!

The kid's already hooked on Red Bulls.

Thanks be to Robair for the tip

Drink Up, You Losers

From MediaWeek:

Bravo will belly up to the bar for the eighth season of Celebrity Poker Showdown, signing a deal with Brown-Forman that will see its Southern Comfort brand integrated into the fabric of the show.

As part of the deal, departing contestants will be interviewed in a specially branded area called the SoCo Lime Lounge immediately following their elimination. The Southern Comfort logo also will be featured prominently throughout the show as well as on the Celebrity Poker Showdown Web site.

I guess the tacit message here is that when you're a losing gambler, you drink to excess.

Great attitude, Bravo.

Stella's Out Of "Jeopardy!"

Well, Stella Daily's stint on "Jeopardy!" has come and gone. Our favorite pajama-wearing crossword solver finished third with an answer of "Who is Maragaret Mitchell?" on a question that practially screamed "Who is Harper Lee?" (rare interview, Alabama).

Memorandum

To: The NBC Graphic Arts Department
From: Dave Mackey
Re: The Capital Letter "A"

It is not an upside down "V".

Thank you very much.

NASCAR Leaving XM? You Can't Be Sirius!

Sirius Satellite Radio announced today that radio coverage of NASCAR races is moving to its service after several years on rival XM Radio.

As someone who has invested rather heavily in XM (in more ways than one - I bought a car with the XM already installed), I feel that my XM subscription has been sadly devalued. If you feel the same way, drop a line to nascar@xmradio.com and let em know you'll be contacting their customer service department seeking redress. (Like I did - I'll let you know if it worked!)

EDIT: We had to change this post. It came to my attention that Sirius and NASCAR made this big announcement during Speedweeks at Daytona back in February. And where were we?

A Sure Sign of Late Spring

FOX Network is already running promos for its Fall programming. There was one last night during the finale of "That '70s Show". As a teacher, I can only say, knock it the hell off, Fox. Let us enjoy our summer.

And What Of The "That '70s Show" Finale?

Great finale. Tied up all the loose ends and brought some stasis back to Point Place. It ended just as I thought it was going to, with the countdown to midnight. And it was really odd seeing those license plates at the very end of the show with an "80" sticker on them! Thanks to the Turners and Mark Brazill and the skilled direction of David Trainer for bringing these people to life for the last eight years!

Tommy Oliver 1932-2006

Bandleader Tommy Oliver, who was perhaps best known for being the musical director of "Name That Tune" during the 70's and 80's, died yesterday in California at the age of 73.

Tommy was a noted record producer and bandleader in the 1960's, working with such acts as Joannie Sommers ("Johnny Get Angry"), and later branched into television. He was the musical director for the late 70's "Laugh-In" revival that featured, among others, Robin Williams. He also became musical director of "Name That Tune" later in the 1970's, succeeding Bob Alberti, sharing the stage with a young singer named Kathie Lee Johnson (Gifford). Among the players in his band were the lead trombonist from the Tonight Show orchestra, Gil Falco, pianist Bill Mays, and drummer Frank Capp.

After his replacement on "Name That Tune" by the late Stan Worth, Oliver joined Sandy Frank Productions for a pale carbon of "Name That Tune" called "Face The Music", hosted by Ron Ely. But when Frank finally acquired the rights to "Name That Tune" and successfully mounted a revival in 1984, Oliver was again at the podium. That, however, was Oliver's last TV gig.

Survivors include five children and two grandchildren.

LA Times death notice

Back to Battleground, and Holy Spirit Ringers

The Manalapan Battleground Symphony will be presenting its Spring Concert next Saturday, May 13, at 7:30 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church in Freehold. I have been performing on and off with this group for the past six years and I'm thrilled to be back to join an expanded brass section for the Gershwin Concerto in F. More information here.

Also, I will once again be performing with the Holy Spirit Ringers handbell choir at the Manahawkin United Methodist Church. I had taken some time off from this group after Nancy passed away, and I'm thrilled to be back there as well. I will be performing at a service on June 25 which will end their season.

They Might Be Tiny Toons

For your viewing pleasure, here is "Particle Man". In case you've never seen this clip or heard the song, it's basically a music video from "Tiny Toon Adventures" of the They Might Be Giants song of the same name, with Plucky Duck as the title character. The video was directed by Art Vitello, one of the top "TTA" directors. It originally aired on February 1, 1991.

Calling All Good Guys!

Tipping you all off that XM Radio's Channel 6 is doing a salute to WMCA this Friday from 4-9 p.m. Eastern. WMCA was sort of the weak sister to WABC in New York radio in the 60's, but the station did have its charms and I daresay I listened as much to WMCA as I did to WABC back then. They had the "Good Guy" airstaff that included Harry Harrison (before he jumped ship to WABC), Dan Daniel, B. Mitchell Reed, Gary Stevens, Jack Spector, Joe O'Brien, etc. The station had an incredible soundscape featuring jingles that were created by Johnny Mann, shortly before he helped create the "Boss Radio" sound with his jingles for KHJ in Los Angeles. The Good Guys were noted for their Noo Yawk attitude (since the signal of WMCA didn't have the reach of WABC, they could afford to be local) and the coveted Good Guys Sweatshirt.

Unfortunately for radio fans, WMCA went talk in the early 1970's (with the likes of Barry Gray and Long John Nebel) and is now a religious station (under the same ownership as Bwana Johnny's old stomping grounds, 970 WWDJ) - but reportedly they've gone back to using some of the old Johnny Mann jingles for kitsch value!

Memories Of Hela

Earl Kress, in his relatively new blog, reveals that he used to be an engineer and puppeteer with The New Jersey Network, and discusses a puppet show he used to work on with Hela Young (who was then known as Hela Yungst). Hela, of course, was best known to NJN viewers as the lottery hostess for 25 years, from 1976-2001, who passed away on February 24, 2002.

There's other neat items on his blog about Hanna-Barbera cartoon history so go check it out. Now. I'll wait.

6992 + 8 = 7000

We have changed our No No-Hitter number. Mets broadcaster Gary Cohen mentioned that tonight's game was the 7000th in Mets history, and upon further research, we discovered that the Mets had played eight games that ended in ties, and thus would not show up in the won/loss record. Therefore, it is now 7000 games without a no-hitter. That's enough of those kind of games, don't you think?

#6998: Bannister No-Hitter Broken Up...

Almost immediately after Gary Cohen, on SNY, said the Mets have never had a no-hitter in 44 years plus one game.

Thank you. Not.

Jinx.

Wilford Brimley, Rap Star?

Those of use who have to sit through his almost-every-break spots for Liberty Medical on "The Price is Right" every day - and especially those of us who are diabetics and don't have to get our supplies from them - will appreciate this one. It's called "The Beetis."

Six Months Goes By Too Fast

Today is the six-month anniversary of the passing of Nancy. The reason I mention this is because we still need to keep up the breast cancer fight on her behalf. The most heartening moments during those emotional early weeks of October and November were the periodic notices I'd receive from the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation that some kind soul thought enough of Nancy to give some money to the cause. Thank you.

That Time Of Year Again

As the calendar turns to April, we turn our attentions to a brand new baseball season, specifically, that of the New York Mets.

I may polarize a lot of my friends, but I really cannot abide the Yankees. From the fake jerseys marketed to kids with names on the back to their haughty TV and radio announcers, there's a lot to despise before you even get to the holier-than-thou attitude of most Yankees fans.

However, my true friends bleed Mets blue, black and orange. You all know who you are.

What continues to rankle us is that the New York Mets have still not pitched a no-hit game in their existence. The little sidebar denoting games without a no-hitter will be hopefully done away with this season. The Mets have had a great spring training and there is a lot to be optimistic about, including the prospects of that no-hitter. However, we will continue to maintain the counter as long as Mets pitchers cough up at least one hit per game. Enjoy the season and maybe we'll see you at some games this summer.

Bob-Bob-Bobbing Along

You don't see this happening at PC Magazine, ever. That's because only the editor of PC World, Harry McCracken, would have the nerve to actually get Microsoft Bob to run in the WinXP world. I don't even remember Bob, and here comes Harry to jog my memory.

To put this into practical terms, Bob is to computer software as Bucky and Pepito are to television animation.

Thanks, Harry.

Read Harry's post here.

It's "Electric" (Boogie Woogie Woogie)

Shout! Factory did us all a favor with its recent DVD reissue of The Electric Company. Even though I watched the show religiously in my youth (strictly for entertainment value, since I already knew how to read), over time I had forgotten how good both the adult and youth casts were. This DVD set brought back lots of good memories of what was an otherwise turbulent period in my life.

The menacing set of eyes in the image above belong to Mr. Morgan Freeman, then just part of the Company, but now an Academy Award-winning actor with a long resume of great roles to his credit. The other performers in the picture, members of the youth cast, are June Angela, the late Gregg Burge, Steven Gustafson and Bayn Johnson - four fifths of the "Short Circus" lineup from 1973-1975 (to me, its golden era).

Except for a few cast fine-tweaks after the first couple of years - including the departure of Bill Cosby - the adult cast became a finely tuned repertory company that could hold its own with the "Saturday Night Live" gang in the comedy department. Judy Graubart, in particular, is a very funny lady. In all, I like to think of "The Electric Company" as the hipper, smarter younger sibling to "Sesame Street" - and its bastard child as well, since it didn't have the longevity or fundraising oomph as "Sesame".

If you click on the link above, you too can relive those 5:30 weekday afternoons where the Blue Beetle tried to make things right, Fargo North decoded, Jennifer of the Jungle hung out with Paul the Gorilla, and the air was filled with piercing screams of "HEY YOU GUYS!"

2006 Winter Olympics

As the dust clears from Torino, time to assess the Winter Games just ended.

I usually love watching the Winter Games - I got really hooked in '76 - but I wasn't as engaged this year as I was the last time around, the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City. The difference was perhaps due to the changes in my life this year, because watching the Olympics was one of Nancy's favorite things to do too. While I did have a week at home to watch due to winter break at school, I really didn't care much about the last week's events. I even skipped the closing ceremonies - but then, so did most of the athletes. (I watched instead the "Dancing With The Stars" finale. Glad to see Cheryl Burke and that what's-his-name she was dancing with win the thing.)

Back to Torino...

What I liked: The women's curling team. Love those Johnson sisters! The curling coverage (anchored by Don Chevrier and Don Duguid) was like an island of honest television amidst all of NBC's other rah-rah hype. Also, happy to see Apolo Anton Ohno finally hit the gold, and Julia Mancuso with her tiara was a refreshing presence during the games - and she got a gold medal, too.

What I didn't like: Bode Miller. What a jake. Pocket the Nike money, then underperform for your country. Two also-rans, 3 DQ's - the Olympic Spirit, 2006 style. And the "should have stayed home" award goes to Michelle Kwan, hanging on to the last thread of her talent as a figure skater. It's time for the Emily Hughes generation to take over, and you should have known that, Michelle.

There was no one moment that defined the 2006 Games for me, unlike 2002, where Emily Hughes' older sister Sarah turned a lot of heads and won a lot of hearts with her great night of skating in Salt Lake City. 2002 was the Year of Sarah Hughes. I can't find anyone to hang that sobriquet on this year. Hopefully 2010 will be better.

2/17 LA Times Crossword

Select February 17 from the 30-day free archive, and have fun!

Do You Believe In Cartoon Rabbits? YES!

Among the reparations ABC received for letting Al Michaels move over to NBC for their new Sunday Night Football franchise (where John Madden will also be in residence, making him one of the few men who's worked for all four major networks doing football - first CBS, then Fox, then ABC, now NBC):

NBC/Universal has given back The Walt Disney Company the rights to Oswald, The Lucky Rabbit.

WHAT? An eighty-year old cartoon character? Yes. Disney lost the rights to Oswald in the late 1920's when Universal installed Walter Lantz as the series' producer. Lantz continued to make Oswald films for years afterward, while Disney created another character - Mickey Mouse.

Now Disney's got Oswald back in its camp. What's Disney gonna do with Oswald? Stay tuned.

The First Annual davemackey.com Super Bowl Ad Review

Having worked with advertising for nineteen years and watched various commercials, good and bad, for over 40 years, I feel qualified to give this once-over to last evening's Super Bowl XL advertising efforts.

Burger King "The Whopperettes" - Yes, it's the old Burger King song, and the "Have it your way" tag line is back in force. Unfortunately, the creepy plastic-faced Burger King is in this ad, and the "Whopperettes" are this Busby Berkeley-esque dance squad all dressed as various burger toppings and condiments who literally (and painfully) fall into place on a giant Whopper. It's a girl on girl on girl sandwich, eventually. The narrator at either end of the commercial is immediately identifiable as Alan Kalter, the announcer on David Letterman's show. But what ultimately troubles me about this ad is the plastic-faced King character, and the fear that if "Have It Your Way" is back, can HERB be far behind?

Update: I've been told that the girl representing the top of the bun, whose face the camera lingers on for several minutes, is the lovely Brooke Burke, who was last seen as host of "Rock Star: INXS" last summer. Hopefully I'm not getting her mixed up with Brooke Burns, who hosted the USA version of "Dog Eat Dog".

Pepsi/Sierra Mist - Jay Mohr, who just announced his engagement to Nikki Cox over the weekend (why do guys like him get all the babes?), is the agent, which is reminiscent of that TV show "Action" he did a few years ago. Sean Puffy P Daddy Diddy Combs (or whatever he's calling himself this week) is reluctant to record with the Diet Pepsi can, but he does, and the usual forced hilarity ensues (such as in the spots last year where Diddy traded in his wheels for a Pepsi truck). Pepsi mounted a similar spot with Jackie Chan where the "stunt double" for the Diet Pepsi can is a Diet Coke can, which immediately gets crushed. (Coke is making so much out of its association with "American Idol", so they feel no need to associate themselves with the S.B.)

Much funnier was the spot for Pepsi subsidiary Sierra Mist, where the ubiquitous Michael Ian Black plays an air traveler stopped by security guard Kathy Griffin, who makes fake beeping noises while wanding Black so she can get his Sierra Mist. Griffin is just so naturally funny, the spot works. This one deserved its first quarter placement.

Degree "Stunt City" - All ads which feature "DO NOT ATTEMPT" disclaimers are immediately disqualified from further discussion. Likely we'll see this during the 2006 World Series of Poker, which Degree was all over like stink on Mike Matusow last year.

Nationwide "Gondola" - Taking a page out of Geico's book, it's a fake ad for shampoo featuring what-the-heck-does-he-do-anyway? guy Fabio. But we see the reality that Fabio is actually old and wrinkled, driving home the sponsor's message "life comes at you fast". So do birds, right Fabio?

Toyota "Camry Hybrid" - I'm sympathetic here, because I just bought a Camry convertible. It's a little boy asking his dad why the 2007 Camry Hybrid is such a great car. Simple and effective. Too bad you have to wait for the '07 Camry.

In the race for SUV superiority, Cadillac "Escalade" is as ostentatious as Toyota is practical, and we don't understand what supermodels have to do with marketing an obnoxious truck that gets about 4 MPG and will probably someday run over the kid whose dad drives the Camry. Ditto Hummer "Monsters" with its two Japanese horror-movie monsters who fall in love. Ford "Escape Hybrid" splits the difference with its ad for its SUV hybrid with Kermit The Frog (where's the puppeteer?).

Honda "Ridgeline Mudflap" - That naked lady you see on the mudflaps of trucks hops into the new Ridgeline and sees that other mudflap icon, Yosemite "BACK OFF!" Sam, behind the wheel. (Don't worry, Warner Bros. sanctioned it.)

Pizza Hut "Jessica Simpson" - That's HUT with an "H", Mrs. Lachey. And get out of here with your bastardized Nancy Sinatra song. You too, Latifaht.

Emerald Nuts - This company, which made its first big marketing splash with the Bowl a few years ago, gives us a contrived spot that spells out its name with some sentence about eagle-eyed druids under the stairs. Geez, like that sentence we remember the planets with...

Bud Light "On The Roof" - DQ'd, "Do Not Attempt" sitting in a lawn chair on your roof. I won't even GO on my roof, much less put a lawn chair up there. None of the other Bud Light spots were noteworthy. In fact, none of the beer spots were any good this year. Even Budweiser's Clydesdale spots had a "been there, done that" quality.

Warner Bros. "Poseidon" - Since when is May 12 SUMMER? By the time the real summer starts, your movie will probably have made its $20 million and moved on.

PS "Best Defense" - A genre of spot which seems to have begun with Supes ads is the WHAT THE HELL ARE THESE PEOPLE DOING spot. It shows people doing everyday things like swimming, taking out the garbage, and even giving a good night kiss. But they're all wearing biohazard suits! WHY? Of course, this is because people would be better protected by cleaning with the sponsor's products. Duh.

Myron Waldman 1908-2006

Myron Waldman was an animator of extreme durability throughout the classic era of cartoons and well into the television era. He has died in a Long Island hospital months short of his 98th birthday.

Waldman was one of the last living links to the Fleischer Studios, with many credits on Betty Boop and Color Classic cartoons. He was one of the few men who believed in that era that women could animate as well as men and promoted Lillian Friedman to an animator's position in his unit, at the parallel time that Walter Lantz was opening the same sort of door for La Verne Harding on the West Coast.

G. Michael Dobbs has more information on his blog.

"Your Glasses Are Ready, Mr. Teeson - er, Mr. Six"

Mr. Six Exposed?

Buses Are Back, And A New Mackey Blog

We are pleased to reopen the NJ Transit Bus Fan Page after an absence of about, gee, a year and a half? New pix and roster info forthcoming.

And I am pleased to announce the official blog of The Puzzle Brothers. We are going to be discussing our puzzle related activities in excruciating detail on this blog and hopefully be self-publishing our own pathetic creations that no editor dares touch. Enjoy!

Norm McCabe, Last Living WB Director, Dies

We are sorry to report that Norm McCabe died on Wednesday at the age of 94. He was the last living man to direct during the Warner Bros. cartoon stuido's golden era.

Born on February 10, 1911 in England, he soon moved to the United Staes and joined Leon Schlesinger Productions in 1934 as an assistant animator. He became a full animator with a 1936 Porky Pig cartoon called "Porky In The Northwoods" and soon was a key member of Bob Clampett's crew. In 1939 he took co-director credits with Bob Clampett during Clampett's brief leave from the studio, but later took over Tex Avery's unit in 1941 when Avery was fired.

McCabe's tenure (working exclusively on the black-and-white Looney Tunes) was marred by some unfortunate racial and ethnic caricatures in his pictures; acceptable at the time, these characterizations made some of his films undistributable in syndication. By the time of his final WB cartoon, "Tokio Jokio", McCabe concentrated on making pictures for the military and education and advertising concerns.

McCabe later surfaced as an animator for DePatie-Freleng Productions, and even later as an animator for the resurrected Warner Bros. cartoon studio, working on such productions as "The Duxorcist", "Tiny Toon Adventures" and "Animaniacs". He was an amazing man, working full days well into his eighties, and a valuable resource to the newer generation of Warner Bros. artists.

Dennis Marks dies

Mark Evanier reports the death of Dennis Marks. He was a veteran animation writer who with Heywood Kling wrote the majority of the Batfink cartoons.

Another Man Of Letters

I've been informed that the March 2006 Games Magazine is now available on newsstands, and one of the puzzles therein (as you can doubtless tell by the sidebar) is a 17x authored by the owner of this website called "Double Depression". I've run into a major construction dry spell, so this might be it for a while. Happy solving!

A Man Of Letters

What better person to help endorse the new word game from uclick.com than Pat Sajak? The "Wheel of Fortune" host of the last (can it be?) 25 years has lent his considerable cachet to a game called "Lucky Letters" that is now featured on his latest website venture, Pat Sajak Games. You have the opportunity to win lots of (fake) money by systematically solving crossword puzzles; along the way there are some game-show style features like the opportunity to bet all or part of your bankroll on solving a word. If you can solve the entire puzzle during the Lightning Round, then you win.

The game is available in online format (the puzzle changes daily), or a downloadable version (trial version is free; full version is $19.95) with hundreds of different puzzles. Give it a try!

He Was Gr-r-r-r-eat!

In the wake of Kellogg's news that Frosted Flakes (or, as it's called, "Frosted Flakes (Of Corn)") will be served to our Winter Olympians in Torino this February, comes this appreciation of the man who gave Tony The Tiger his unique voice, the late Thurl Ravenscroft. It's written by novelist, essayist, and all around good person Elizabeth McCracken. It's also illustrated with a pic of Tony that looks like early 60's production art.

Happy Christmas To All

Christmas 2005. Yes, as you can guess, a much different Christmas (as my sister in law put it: "a new kind of normal"). But one still filled with the joy and wonder of the birth of the Christ Child, and all the reminisces of Christmases past and the hope of Christmases yet to be.

As for the heroine of Nancy's two books, "Melissa" will have a wonderful season filled with presents, music and fun.

I hope yours is as merry.

Congrats, again, Robair

Now he's making them as well as solving them: Robair has sold his first crossword puzzle to The Los Angeles Times. It is a themeless, meaning it will be appearing on a Saturday. Exact date to follow.

Thinking Pink

Merchandise tied into the release of the new Steve Martin version of "The Pink Panther" is now heading into the stores, ahead of the film's planned February 10, 2006 release date.


Animation fans will get a kick out of Jerry Beck's latest paean to the animated Panther, Pink Panther: The Ultimate Guide To The Coolest Cat In Town. You'll be pleased to know that the book carries a Filmography of the Panther and friends that originated years ago on this website in our Animation department. It's been added to by Beck and our friend from Japan, Charles Brubaker. And let's give a plug to Jerry's fine websites, Cartoon Research and Cartoon Brew (with Amid Amidi).


There is another interesting book due out from the daughters of the man who helped create the animated Panther. Meet The Pink Panther, targeted to children, was written by Friz Freleng's daughters Hope and Sybil (that's Sybil pictured above).

If you click on the links to the merchandise, you can buy those and other related products and give this website a few cents in return.

December 8, 1980...

...two college sophomores, riding in a beatup old 1965 Chevrolet Malibu, northbound on the Garden State Parkway heading back from what is now Richard Stockton University, are flabbergasted to find out that somebody had the utter balls to shoot and kill one of the Beatles. We later learn that Howard Cosell broke the news to most of the rest of the world during a Monday Night Football game.

It, of course, is twenty-five years later, and I don't know if we're any closer to the sort of world that John Lennon "imagined". But he did leave us some great tunes, both with the Fab Four and as a solo act. (We even forgive him the whole Yoko thing.)

Plenty of reminders of the day, especially if you listened to Jay Sorensen's morning show on WJRZ this morning. There's no bigger Beatlemaniac on our airewaves, and you know Jay's got the goods. I believe if you go to Allan Sniffen's fine WABC tribute site, you'll find sound files of what we listened to on 770 AM that evening.

Spookiest thing: before she died, Nancy rigged up this computer to play Beatles MIDIs at random on bootup. It played a MIDI of "Imagine" this afternoon. Of all days.

Apocalypse Soon

From the AP wire:

Meanwhile, syndicator King World Prods. has also given the go-ahead for a fall 2006 launch to its one-hour daytime show featuring Food Network personality Rachael Ray. The tentatively titled "The Rachael Ray Show" has been cleared in more than 70% of the country.

Robair Wins A Crossword Tournament

At least he didn't have to wait as long as Ellen Ripstein.

Yesterday was the annual Community Blood Services Crossword Tournament in Ridgewood, New Jersey (just over the border from Paramus). At left, a picture of the winner, the one and only Robair. He won the trophy you see and a $500 check and the thrill of being North Jersey's crossword king.

The finals were a nailbiter. It was basically a two-person race, Robair, and a woman by the name of Elaine who is better known in the National Puzzler's League as "tyger". Robair had a rocky road to his finish, with 31-Down entered as ALOT rather than ATON which screwed up his crossers. But eventually he figured out one of the hardest answers, 36-Across, COTEDOR (Cote d'Or). He walked over to tyger, who finished first, to congratulate her on her win! But he saw that the F in square 24 was entered as an L on her grid, giving Robair the victory. Tough luck for tyger, a smart lady and a great competitor.

On hand to run the tournament was Nancy Schuster, a veteran crossword editor known for her many years working on the Dell magazines. Other guests in the house included New York Times crossword editor Will Shortz (who entertained with some great word games and a selection of bad clues from published NYT puzzles), Washington Post puzzle editor Fred Piscop, and constructors Paula Gamache, Michael Shteyman, and David J. Kahn.

Robair's laid down the gauntlet that he's going to be a force this year at Stamford.

The First Month...

It is now one month to the day that my wife Nancy has left us, and it feels like in some ways she's still here. Her spirit is still a large part of me. In other ways she seems to be guiding me through this journey I'm supposed to be flying solo through. My house taxes were due this week, and they hadn't been paid yet, mostly because I couldn't find the tax bill that had an exact amount. In frustration I grabbed a handful of random papers off Nancy's desk (where I do most of my work these days), and raised them above my head as if to throw them down on the ground in frustration - and there was, written in maroon lettering, 3RD & 4TH QUARTER TAX BILL - DOVER TOWNSHIP.

Whew. As if Nancy had willed it.

There have been trying moments, but we are doing fine. I want to publicly thank everyone who's given support, advice, prayers, and good wishes over the past month and change that we've been in this transition. I also want to thank everyone who went to lulu.com and supported Nancy's publishing projects based on her homeschooling of our foster daughter (who is also doing fine). In a few days when the final numbers come in I will be proud to write a nice check for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, who will benefit from all lulu.com transactions of Nancy's books in October.

There are, however, a few that I wish NOT to thank, and that is the handful of death-industry companies that have nothing better to do than to scan obituaries and identify widows and widowers to market monument stones and burial plots to. As we mentioned on this blog a few years ago, Nancy and I had purchased our final resting place already, so there was no need for these vultures to insensitively prey on me.