Obama’s SOTU speech is on TV, and every so often I turn off muting, but every time I do that I’m not too excited by what I hear. So, instead, I’m going to watch Stephen Colbert absorbing Keith Olbermann’s power, only to find it too much, even for him.
| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Stephen Rejects Keith Olbermann’s Power | ||||
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I’ve been reading an excellent book, The Horror! The Horror!, by Jim Tombetta, about the short-lived horror genre of comic books, in the first half of the 1950’s. In response to public pressure, resulting from Senate Subcommittee hearings led by Estes Kefauver (D-Tenn), the industry censored itself with a regulatory agency called The Comics Code Authority — which, as of last week, seems to finally be at an end. I’ve always felt the weakness in the defense of the comic book industry, in testimony by E.C. publisher William M. Gaines, was his failure to cite radio shows like Suspense and Inner Sanctum as inspirations for the horror stories. Those programs were very popular with both kids and their parents.
That same period of time saw one of the all-time greatest comic book creators, Carl Barks, hit his stride, working in the funny animal genre. Superheroes, the formerly dominant genre, had fallen on hard times after WWII, and had yet to recover in the mid-50’s. One thing that helped bring it back was the success of The Adventures of Superman on TV, which had previously been a radio series, and a movie serial.
Watching the DVD set of the series, it started out as a surprisingly hard-hitting, and often spooky, drama, but like comic books it lost its edge and lightened up. Throughout the show’s run, Jimmy Olsen was played with great spirit by Jack Larson. Some years ago, Denro and I saw Larson in Boston, introducing a collection of Superman shows, and talking about the series and his life since then. One of the screenings that evening was the pinnacle, or nadir, of Superman silliness, a pilot for a proposed Superpup series. This brief bit of video was taken from a 2006 TV special, narrated by Kevin Spacey, who played Lex Luthor in Superman Returns; a movie that did nothing wrong, yet failed to spark imaginations.
Now THAT’s what I call horrible! Here’s Jack Larson in an interesting recent interview. He’s slowed down from his “golly gee” youth, but Jack’s still as personable and engaging as ever.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjV9H35Hu5w
A more extensive video interview with Larson, from the Archive of American Television, can be found at this link. I would have embedded it here, but it’s an unlisted YouTube video.
When Elvis Presley got out of the Army in 1960, he must have been surprised to hear himself singing on a record, released by Sam Phillips, that he didn’t record. It was Charlie Rich doing a spot-on impersonation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kynNu2RzsZM
Cable news shocker! Keith Olbermann leaves Countdown. He was putting on a lot of weight. Maybe that had something to do with it. 😉
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
A tip o’ the Dograt toupee to tastewar, for this video, with the true origin of the venerable video game… Pong.
A long time ago, in a piece of e-mail I sent to cartoonist Jimmy (“Arlo and Janis”) Johnson, who lives in Mississippi and attended college in Alabama, I made a crack about my being a confirmed Yankee. I don’t think Jimmy appreciated it, and I regret making the comment, because I enjoy and admire Jimmy’s work so much, and I have tremendous respect for him. Yet I have to admit that I can’t help but feel my Massachusetts mindset kicking in when I read something like this statement from Alabama’s new governor.
“Anybody here today who has not accepted Jesus Christ as their savior, I’m telling you, you’re not my brother and you’re not my sister, and I want to be your brother.”
At least he’s being up front and open about his prejudice. I would be surprised if a majority of Alabamans have a problem with this, but maybe that’s just my own prejudice coming through.
