Within the Gates

Jill and I were discussing the events in St. Louis over the weekend, in which the two wealthy lawyers "defended their home" from protesters moving through their gated community, by pointing firearms at them. Jill--while acknowledging that the use of firearms was inappropriate--tried to see it from the "defenders" point of view. They had spent a literal fortune to restore their home--a mansion that once belonged to the Busch family of brewery fame--to its former glory; they felt they had much to protect. And then we got into the whole question of gated communities...and especially the idea that the mayor of St. Louis (whose home was the eventual destination of the protest) lives in that same gated community.

I had to think about why gated communities offend me....and I've finally come up with an answer. Those who live in a gated community want all the advantages of living in a municipal environment--police and fire protection, museums and theaters nearby, paved streets, sewer and water utilities, etc.--but none of the disadvantages--people you don't know walking on your street, for example. If you want to live that way, move out to a rural area and build yourself an estate surrounded by acres of open land--but don't expect to be able to wall yourself off from the rest of humanity in the middle of a densely populated urban area.

And the mayor living there? I can see that the mayor may need added protection...but that's why many cities have "executive mansions" (like Gracie Mansion in NYC) for the mayor to occupy while he/she is in office. But to live in a neighborhood that the vast majority of her constituents have no access to? Is she afraid of her fellow citizens?

Your thoughts?

You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry

What was the first Marvel Comics character adapted to live-action on the screen? I suppose you could argue it was Captain America, in the Republic serial of the 1940s...but Marvel wasn't Marvel then, so I'd say it doesn't count.

The first, then, surprisingly, is The Incredible Hulk, in the TV series of that name that ran on the CBS network and starred Bill Bixby as David Banner and Lou Ferrigno as his big, verdant alter ego. It ran for five seasons and was a surprising hit. Producer Kenneth Johnson used a variation of The Fugitive motif, as Banner moves from town to town, on the run from tabloid reporter Jack McGee (played by Jack Colvin) and always seeking a cure for his "condition."

The series introduced what became a tag line for the character in all his subsequent appearances, even moving to the comics: "Don't make me angry--you wouldn't like me when I'm angry."

Anyway, here's a recent piece of art I did with the two stars, in character:

What Do the Simple Folk Do?

As I was thinking this morning about the past three months, contemplating all the things I have tried to do to keep myself occupied and not bored to tears (including starting this blog), I was reminded of a song from Camelot:

What do the simple folk do
To help them escape when they're blue?
The shepherd who is ailing, the milkmaid who is glum
The cobbler who is wailing from nailing his thumb
When they're beset and besieged
The folk not noblessly obliged
However do they manage to shed their weary lot?
Oh, what do simple folk do we do not?

So many of the things I would do have simply not been available: try out for a play, go see a play, go see a movie, browse a store (especially a bookstore), eat out.

Never mind what the simple folk do....what does anybody do?

Breakfast Out

Pre-pandemic, Jill and I had a Saturday morning routine. We'd get up, Jill would have her first cup of coffee, and then we'd go to the local Panera for a light breakfast. We haven't done that since the last weekend before Pennsylvania went to lockdown.

Today, we returned to Panera. Business was light, but we saw a few of the people we used to see every Saturday, including our favorite staff member. It seemed they were still limiting the available menu (scones were absent, for instance), but there was assurance they would be ramping up as they saw what the demand was going forward.

Basically, every other table was marked as being unusable. They handed you your cups for beverages, with stirrers and caps and straws, but you could self-serve coffee, soda, etc. Masks are required for entry (and all the staff had them on), but obviously you can remove them once you're seated. I didn't see how quickly they moved to disinfect our table when we left. We also didn't hang quite as long as we were used to doing.

All in all, it was a good experience and I think we'll be back every Saturday.

Fan Art: Modern Western

I can't say I'm a big fan of Western movies and TV series, but there are a few that I watch whenever they're on: Dodge City and Virginia City with Errol Flynn, Red River with John Wayne and Montgomery Clift, and the one I'm celebrating here: Silverado.

Silverado was written and directed by Lawrence Kasdan. It is clearly an homage to the classic Westerns of the past, but with a more modern sensibility about race and gender. The cast has tremendous chemistry--but what else can you expect from a group that includes Scott Glenn, Kevin Kline, Kevin Costner, Danny Glover, Brian Dennehy, Jeff Goldblum and Linda Hunt?

I won't go too deep into the plot, except to say it involves four strangers who meet and become not just friends, but a team in cleaning up a corrupt town.

Mandatory Shots?

Earlier this week, Dr. Anthony Fauci said he thought we would likely have a COVID-19 vaccine by the end of the year. Whenever we have it, here's the question: Should it be mandatory?

I believe it should be. And how would that mandate be enforced? How about this: If you do not have documentation that you have received the C-19 vaccine, you cannot renew your driver's license or other state ID or your passport; you cannot enroll in any school, from pre-school straight through grad school; you cannot board a plane or a train in interstate travel.

Obviously, there would have to be exceptions for medical and religious reasons...but they would have to be real and documented with statements from doctors or religious leaders. None of this, "my private beliefs prevent me from getting a vaccination" nonsense. Christian Scientists can be exempt, maybe Jehovah's Witnesses (I'm not sure where they stand on that issue), people who are truly immuno-compromised are exempt.

And it has to be national. A state-by-state decision is useless, unless states are going to close their borders to travelers from states that don't abide by the mandate (and I'm pretty sure that's unconstitutional).

What do you think?

Stripes

Something a little light-hearted today:

On a set of striped sheets, which way should the stripes be aligned--vertically, from the foot to the head of the bed? Or horizontally, from side-to-side?

This morning I was putting a brand new set of sheets on our bed and, like every other set with stripes I have ever had, I started out putting the fitted sheet on "vertically". And discovered I couldn't make it fit, despite being the right size for the bed. So I called in Jill.

She discovered that the manufacturer had actually attached labels to the sheet, indicating the sides. I have never run across that before, so I didn't even think to look for them...and it turned out the stripes are intended to run "horizontally".

I can only think that they had to label the sides because they were going against the standard alignment.

Isolation

Granted that, in the modern world, with phones, the internet, Zoom, and a myriad of other ways of connecting, a prolonged period without face-to-face contact with friends and family is nowhere near as difficult as it would have been even 30 years ago, let alone 100 years ago in the time of the Spanish Flu pandemic. Still, there comes a point when screen-time is simply not as gratifying as physical time together.

I'm not suggesting we all start shaking hands, high-fiving, and hugging right now (though, as an inveterate hugger, I miss that), but the ability to hear a human voice without the electronic filter of a speaker, to see human eyes light up without a camera and a screen distorting the image, to feel the warmth of human interaction, even at a six-foot distance, is something I long to experience again.

I know we're all going to awkward when we meet face-to-face again. In some ways, it might feel like a first date: What is this person comfortable doing right now? But I'd prefer that very human awkwardness to the isolation I've been feeling in the past few weeks.

How about you?

Fan Art: Hi-Yo Silver!

A fiery horse with the speed of light, a cloud of dust and a hearty, "Hi Yo Silver!" The Lone Ranger! With his faithful Indian companion Tonto, the daring and resourceful masked rider of the plains led the fight for law and order in the early west. Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear. The Lone Ranger rides again!

I never saw The Lone Ranger in its original network run on ABC, at least not that I remember. I saw it in the Saturday reruns on CBS in the late 1950s and '60s. In my memory, it ran at noon, followed by Sky King. I also don't remember seeing the episodes from the one season that Clayton Moore didn't play the Ranger (he was replaced by John Hart in a salary dispute); my guess is that those episodes were dropped from the rotation. I finally saw them when the series returned to the air in the 1970s in afternoon syndication.

At any rate, here's my take on the masked man and Tonto, as played by Jay Silverheels.

Father's Day

I became a father for the first time 35 years ago this coming August. The second time was three years later in October. I can honestly say that helping raise two successful sons is my proudest achievement. There were struggles along the way, of course. Money was tight at times. While my elder son was always a remarkably good student, the younger had problems...mostly due to some minor motor skill issues. (His handwriting is still atrocious.)

But as parents, we learned that every child is different. One boy was a scholar, the other an artist. One made friends easily, the other had difficulty finding his place, until college. Oddly, the one who hated public speaking is now a college professor, lecturing and teaching on a daily basis...and the one who reveled in being on stage now spends his days on a computer, aiding in on-line communication.

I had a difficult relationship with my own father. He didn't understand a boy who preferred books, a drawing board, and a stage to playing sports. He was also, I know now, a functioning alcoholic...though I understood enough even as a teenager to decide that drinking was not something I had any interest in. He died in 1976 (oddly enough, on Mother's Day) after several years battling cancer.

I hope my problems as a son did not affect my actions as a father. I don't think they did, at least not negatively...but I'll probably never know for sure.

Sacrifice

I've come to the conclusion that Donald Trump not only doesn't believe in sacrifice, he has no idea what it really means. The whole concept of "taking one for the team" eludes him. If he were playing baseball and the manager told him to sacrifice bunt, he'd swing for the fences instead. The only win that counts is his win...so he costs the team the game by not letting the other runner score, what does that matter? He got on base.

That's what makes him a bad Christian; shoot, he's not a Christian at all, no matter what he says. The whole religion is based on a great sacrifice...and if it wouldn't get him in trouble with his base, he'd probably call Jesus a "loser." "Why didn't he fight back?" Trump probably asks in his heart of hearts. "Why did he give in?"

At some point in every hero story, the protagonist has to make a sacrifice. Trump is no hero.

How Hot Is It?

It's so hot, I finally put in the upstairs air conditioners; one for the bedroom, one for the spare room where my computer is. We're expecting seven to ten days of temps in the 90s, and humidity the same.

How hot is it where you are?

You've Got to Be Taught

In a recent Facebook posting, I objected to the idea that all white people are inherently racist, because of the privilege they have had in not being immediately subjected to prejudice because of their appearance. To me, that is just as bad as saying that all black people are inherently lazy, all Asians inherently hard-working, or any other claim made about the inherent characteristics of any entire group of people.

In 1949, Richard Rodgers wrote the following lyrics for South Pacific:

You've got to be taught to hate and fear
You've got to be taught from year to year
It's got to be drummed in your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught 

You've got to be taught to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made
Or people whose skin is a different shade
You've got to be carefully taught 

You've got to be taught before it's too late
Before you are six or seven or eight
To hate all the people your relatives hate
You've got to be carefully taught
You've got to be carefully taught

I firmly believe that....and I believe it because I was not so taught; despite relatives who held such beliefs, my parents--especially my mother--impressed upon me that  every single person I met was to be judged on his own merits and not by what group he was part of.

We lived in a neighborhood that was primarily white, but bordered on others that were mixed and even primarily black. My elementary school was probably about five percent black; my junior high school and high school more likely 50 percent black, Latino (we called them Hispanic back then), and other non-white ethnic groups. I was beaten up more than once in those 12 years--but it was never by a non-white kid...it was always by kids who looked a lot like me.

So, I was taught to be afraid, but not of people who looked differently, but of people who thought differently.

Fan Art: Caped Crusaders

In January 1966, a new TV series debuted on ABC. Aired two nights a week, it was an instant hit...but the bloom was off by the end of its second season. The third season ran only one night a week...and then the series was not renewed.

The program, of course, was Batman.

Immediate reaction among comics fans was split; some loved it for its sense of fun, others reviled it for the same reason. Batman became the premiere character at DC Comics, outshining his sometimes partner, Superman. They found a way to put Batman on every cover they could think of. He became the permanent star of the team-up book The Brave and the Bold.

But when the show ended, even Batman's hold on the print audience faded. A re-modeling was in order from the camp, humorous style of the show, and he became not the Caped Crusader, but the Dark Knight. By the time of the 1989 movie starring Michael Keaton, the change was complete...and the more recent movies have taken it even farther.

But the influence of the TV series remains, even more than 50 years later. The series revived a number of otherwise forgotten Batman foes, most notably the Riddler and Mister Freeze (who, until the TV show, was known as Mister Zero in the comics). Julie Newmar's version of Catwoman is the model for every depiction since. And those, like me, who have grown tired of the unrelenting pessimism and grim style of the current Batman, point back to the TV series as a way to lighten the mood, to have a Batman who at least smiles some of the time.

So, here's my tribute to the show that helped bring comic books into the public consciousness once more.

Where Do You Feel Safe?

It's a question that keeps coming up in conversation. As various venues re-open, even with restrictions, where do you feel safe going?

Would you be OK with going to a restaurant for outdoor dining? How about indoors? Barber shops and salons aren't open near me yet...but when they are, would you go? (That might depend on how badly you need a haircut, of course.) When theaters open--movie or live performance--will you be ready to buy a ticket?

I'm really interested in your thoughts and opinions.

What's Open?

My county went from Pennsylvania's "red" phase to "yellow" ten days ago. It's interesting trying to determine what exactly that means, in terms of businesses re-opening.

Technically, any restaurant can re-open for outside dining; problem is, most of the ones in my area don't have the space for that. Panera does, but it only has three tables outside. Iron Hill Brewery does, but it's taking reservations, and they seem to fill up pretty quickly. The local Applebee's, Ruby Tuesday, Longhorn, etc. were never designed for outdoor seating and have no space to put it together ad hoc, as it were.

Clothing stores, as long as you don't need to enter a mall to get in, have re-opened. I saw pretty brisk business at Mandee this weekend, and last weekend we were in a Kohl's that seemed to be doing well. Other stores are operating with restrictions: You can get into Best Buy, but you have to make an appointment.

The local library is, as of today, doing curbside pickup: Order a book through the website and come get it. Returns can be made through a drop-off box.

What's the status where you are?

Who Was That Un-Masked Man?

I've recently gotten some gentle pushback from friends when I mentioned I don't wear a mask when simply out walking in my (generally uncrowded) neighborhood or running on the (generally uncrowded) local school track.

I've based my activities on advice culled from articles like these two:

https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2020/4/24/21233226/coronavirus-runners-cyclists-airborne-infectious-dose

https://www.businessinsider.com/risk-of-coronavirus-transmission-lower-outdoors-evidence-2020-5

that seem to indicate the likelihood of either catching or spreading infection in these instances is very small. Put simply, the virus does not survive long or maintain its infectious potential in open air. As the first article puts it, it's a question of relative risk:

Asked if she could offer a way to assess the risk of various activities in terms we can easily wrap our minds around, Kasten said to consider the difference in the risk between taking a stroll through the park on an even path versus climbing up a steep cliff face.

“Sure, you could slip, fall, strike your head, and die on that path in the park. Likewise, you could free-solo successfully to the top of El Capitan. But most of us would accept the risk of the stroll and not accept [the risk of] dangling from the cliff,” she said. “Breathing in someone’s sneeze cloud, close by, without a mask — that’s the cliff face. Jogging several feet away, or getting the mail — that’s the park.”

Let me note, just to be clear, if I'm in a crowd, or go into a store or other enclosed situation, I put on a mask.

In Memoriam: Denny O'Neil

Denny O'Neil, comic-book writer and editor, famed for his work on Green Lantern/Green Arrow, Batman and a host of other titles, died on Thursday at the age of 81, reportedly from natural causes.

 Despite the similarity of our names, Denny and I were not related and, as far as I can recall, met only once. In fact, Denny was the very first comics professional I ever interviewed, a decade or so before my career in comics journalism (or any journalism) had even started. I was working in the news department of the radio station at my college, City College of New York. We were what is called a "carrier station," that is, we could be heard only on campus, by sending our signal through the electrical system of the buildings. Still, we tried to run a professional operation, including a weekly interview program.

 One week in 1971, I decided to try to do something about comics and I was able to convince Denny to make the trip from midtown to our campus in Harlem. We did a very successful one-hour interview that was even later aired on one of the city's FM stations, with which we had an agreement to provide programming. (Quite frankly, I forget which one it was.) It was probably my ability to hold my own on that platform that gave me the courage to start doing print interviews with comics pros in about 1983.

 I can't do justice to Denny's career, at least not better than the overview my friend Glenn Hauman did at ComicMix.

Theater Art: Inherit the Wind

Two years ago, I directed one of my favorite plays of all time, a play based on real events. I had the good fortune of having a marvelous cast, made up of actors I had never met before and some I had worked with before--including a man who I first met as my son's drama teacher in high school. Here's the art I did for the cast of Inherit the Wind.

Just thinking about this makes me eager to get back to working in theater!

TV Theme Songs

One of the things that has largely disappeared from television in the past two decades is memorable theme songs. Today, most shows don't even have a real theme and credit sequence. The standard (for an hour-long show) is a seven- to ten-minute first act, followed by a title card and some kind of quick musical sting, and then the credits are superimposed over the opening scenes of the second act. For a half-hour show, there's a three- to five-minute prologue, a very fast music and title sequence and, again, the credits roll over the opening of the first act.

The last show I can remember with a memorable theme is The Big Bang Theory...and before that, probably Friends.

I bring this up because last night, just before bed, an old theme song popped into my head...and it was for a show that I rarely watched when it was on (and it was only on for one season)--Gidget. It may have popped up because Turner Classic Movies was running the original movie with Sandra Dee last night. In case you're interested, the theme sequence is linked to below:


What TV themes are still stuck in your head?

Fan Art...and A Look at a Certain Kind of TV

Over the years, there have been a number of movie and TV series that attempted to play with the format of the very successful "Thin Man" series about the adventures of Nick and Nora Charles, as played by William Powell and Myrna Loy. There was even a TV series of that name in the 1950s, with Peter Lawford and Phyllis Kirk. More recent examples include Hart to Hart with Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers or McMillan & Wife, with Rock Hudson and Susan St. James.

All of those match the pattern of a professional male detective with an amateur female partner, usually his wife. Since the 1980s, there have been a number of similar series with the roles reversed: a pro female detective and an amateur male partner--usually not married. The most important element in these series has been the sexual tension between the partners, as in Remington Steele, Moonlighting, and the example I illustrated here, Castle.

All of these shows eventually decided they had to resolve that tension, either by having the protagonists admit their attraction and fall into bed together or, in some cases, actually get married. The problem? Once that happened, there was little to differentiate this series from any other detective/police procedural on the air. The fun was gone. (Of course, with both Castle and Moonlighting, there was the additional problem of animosity between the two leads and/or the producers.)

It's happened with other sorts of shows as well: I present The Nanny and Who's the Boss? as prime examples. Maybe relying on this sort of relationship simply isn't conducive to a long run?

Missing at the Doctor's

I had a quick appointment at the doctor's office this morning for blood work and I noticed something that's not there anymore: magazines. I mentioned it to the receptionist and she answered, "Yeah, you can't disinfect them."

So just a quick note to anyone else who will be visiting the doctor in the next few months: Bring a book!

Defund the Police?

It's a common suggestion in the past week or so: "Defund the police". Some have even gone so far as to say "Disband/abolish the police." The plan seems to be to apply the money used to operate the police departments to increase the staffing and training of social workers...even to the point of having social workers take over the role of police officers entirely.

While I agree that there needs to be a great deal more done in the area of social work, I sincerely doubt a social worker can replace a police officer in all respects. The argument seems to be the social workers would be able to de-escalate situations that the police only exacerbate. That may be true in some cases--but if I were a wife being beaten by my husband, I would want more than someone who will try to "talk him down" when I dial 911. I would want someone with the power to restrain him physically and to arrest him. That's a police officer.

If my child is missing, I want someone trained to investigate and find the child, not just someone who will console me and promise to assist me in dealing with the trauma. That's a police officer.

And, yes, if I am confronted with a violent situation that threatens my life and/or property, I want someone with the power to protect me physically, not just psychologically. That's a police officer.

Without an organized police force, we would return to the days of the "thief catchers" and "vigilante committees," groups of citizens who choose what crimes and what people to pursue, often based on their own interests and concerns, including monetary rewards.

Is that truly what these demonstrators want?

Fan Art: A Different Fandom

Mystery fans don't do fanfic and fan art quite the same way or to the same extent that science-fiction fans do, but they do exist. And fandoms have arisen around some mystery and detective TV series.

Spenser for Hire, based on Robert B. Parker's series of novels, only lasted 3 seasons and 66 episodes, but it is well remembered, especially for Avery Brooks' portrayal of Hawk, the title character's friend and occasional partner. There were later TV movies with a different cast, but this is the one I still think is the best. Robert Urich caught the attitude of Parker's character for me, especially in his voice-over narration.

So here's my look at the cast, including Barbara Stock as Spenser's one-and-only, Susan Silverman.

Remembering Mom

I should be on Staten Island today, attending a memorial and celebration of my mother's life. When she died in mid-January, we planned for such an event on this day, which would have been her 93d birthday. But the pandemic has prevented it.

We still intend to have the memorial someday...maybe later this summer, maybe in a year on her next birthday. It depends on what the church and the cemetery (we are going to inter her ashes at that time) can arrange. It depends on when her now far-flung family (three children, six grandchildren, three great-grandchildren in six states from New York to California) can make arrangements to attend.

But it will happen, Mom! I promise!

Uniformed Brutality

Let me preface this by saying I have relatives who are members of the police and the military, and I understand the difficult situations they often face.

But nothing can justify the actions we have seen from police and military in the past week or so. Nothing can justify the use of mounted officers, tear gas, and flash-bang grenades to clear a park and plaza of peaceful citizens, most of whom were there to offer rest, water, and first-aid to equally peaceful protesters. Nothing can justify the scene I just saw from Buffalo, NY, yesterday, of a riot-geared cop knocking a 75-year-old man to the ground, and his fellow officers just walking by as the man lay bleeding.

Yes, we have seen police and military act in exemplary fashion--protecting protesters from those who would attack them, linking arms with them as they march, taking a knee during moments of silence. But we still have to deal with those--both in the streets and in command--who view their jobs as only having to do with the latter half of  "law and order"; who see maintaining control as their most important function; who see "protect" as applying only to themselves and not to the civilians they meet.

There's a reason we have always maintained a distance between the military and police in this country....because the military are taught to consider those they confront as the "enemy" and police should be taught to consider them as fellow citizens. It's time to once again insist on that distinction.

Fan Art: The Captains

A few days ago, I posted the initial work on this piece, two different versions of the Captain Kirk portrait. As you can see, I decided to go with the line-shaded version, as the version using a dot matrix tended to get distorted when the images were resized. At any rate, here are "The Captains". I thought about including Trisha O'Neill as Captain Rachel Garrett of the Enterprise-C, but I couldn't find a suitable image to work from. And, if someday there's a live-action version of Robert April, perhaps I'll rework this to include him. As yet, the only image of him is from the animated series.

WWSD?

A common trope among liberal Christians is the acronym "WWJD?"--"What would Jesus do?" For comics fans, I'm going to suggest a new one: "WWSD"--"What would Superman do?"

I don't know about anyone else, but my Superman would walk at the head of the protesters and, if necessary, use his body as a shield against rubber bullets and his super-breath to inhale tear gas. He would immediately turn anyone throwing rocks, or looting over to the authorities and speak strongly about the need to keep the demonstration peaceful.

My Superman would make public comments about the injustice in this society and work with anyone--public officials and private citizens--to improve things. He would denounce anyone--public official or private citizen--who inflamed the situation with wild rhetoric.

My Superman would be what we expect our political leaders to be--a model, an example of how to be just, compassionate, and strong, without being violent or destructive.

What would Superman do?

A Church Is Not a Stage Set

I was raised Catholic, but became an Episcopalian about 35 years ago. And today I have never been prouder to be a member of the Episcopal Church.

Donald Trump used an historic Episcopal church in Washington, DC--St. John's, located on the other side of Lafayette Park from the White House--as little more than a backdrop for a photo op, something that will undoubtedly turn up in a campaign ad in short order. To do so, police and Secret Service stormed a peaceful gathering in the park and on the plaza between the park and the church with tear gas and "flash-bang" grenades. What was happening in that gathering? For the most part, protestors were being given first-aid and water.

Trump didn't ask permission or even inform the rector of St. John's that he was coming; nor did he inform the Episcopal Bishop of Washington, Mariann Budde. They and the Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church, Michael Curry, issued statements opposing Trump's actions.

That anyone who calls themselves "Christian" can defend these actions of the President is appalling.

Theater Art: Brighton Beach Memoirs

On one level, I suppose I should be posting about all the events that occurred all over the nation this weekend, even just a few miles from me, but I think I need time to contemplate what to say.

So, instead, I'll post one of the first things I did for a cast. I assistant directed this show about ten years ago. I think my major contribution, other than this art, was to teach a bunch of suburban Philadelphians how to sound like Jewish Brooklynites...including that "pecan" is pronounced "pee-can".