R.I.P. --Neal Adams

 

I never met Neal Adams but I saw him in person at cons twice, about 20 years apart. I transcribed three separate late-in-life interviews with him that were recorded by others, and I worked on a book Craig Yoe did with him. I wasn't the biggest fan of his work since about 1980 but I am the first to admit that he was the best in the business from about 1967-1979, both on paper and behind the scenes in his staunch desire to wield his industry power to champion lost causes. 

 Here's a 1973 Chicago Tribune Magazine piece on Neal. Rest in peace.

 

 

 

 

R.I.P.--Justin Green

 

The great underground cartoonist Justin Green passed this weekend. Here's an expanded version of the piece I wrote about my 2004 encounter with him in the early days of this blog. This one’s adapted from a blog post from 2005.

In 2004, at the Barnes and Noble where I was an Assistant Manager, my Manager, Jennifer, got a call from a "Justin Green" asking us to stock his latest book. He said he’d like to do a booksigning. She handed me a note with his phone number telling me to deal with him and set up a signing or not as I pleased but that she had more important things to do. I was, like, “Is this THE Justin Green?” She was clueless and told me to ask him when I called him back. 

Do you know Justin Green? Along with R. Crumb, Gilbert Shelton, Vaughn Bode, S. Clay Wilson, Spain, Trina, Jaxon, Jay Lynch, Skip Williamson, Frank Stack, and Dan O'Neill, (among many others) Green was one of the pioneering writer/artists of "Underground Comix." If you're under a certain age, you've probably never even seen an Underground. Birthed in the early sixties, they flourished briefly a decade later, not just pushing the envelope on controversial subject matter but tearing that envelope open, chewing it up, and setting the leftover bits on fire! The sex probably shocked Larry Flynt, the violence perhaps curdled the stomach of Charles Manson, and the political sentiments were decidedly left-wing, much to the chagrin of the Republicans in power at the time! 

 

The undergrounds also invented the autobiographical comic. You know, the type that wins all the awards these days and gets reviewed in TIME. Justin Green's BINKY BROWN MEETS THE HOLY VIRGIN MARY was easily the most prominent and influential of these. Based on his Catholic upbringing, it remained in print from Last Gasp for many years, more recently collected as a graphic novel itself along with some of the artist's other works.

It turned out that yes, it was indeed THE Justin Green I called, a spectacularly modest, soft-spoken white-haired man who now lived in Cincinnati and made his living doing freelance design work and signs for businesses. 

This was a man whose work I had discovered in THE BEST OF BIJOU FUNNIES back when I was still too young to be reading Undergrounds. He is a living legend, featured in 2004’s NEW SMITHSONIAN BOOK OF COMICS (along with his wife, Carol Tyler!) and even cited by reluctant media darling Robert Crumb in interviews as a major influence! 

 

Needless to say, I arranged the autographing for his book, MUSICAL LEGENDS, for an upcoming Saturday afternoon. He arrived on time and I had a table all set up for him in a prominent storefront area but, sadly, few people stopped to chat with him, let alone buy his book. Thus, I hung out as much as possible with him myself, talking comics and getting him to sign a copy for me at least. He seemed very surprised that I was so familiar with his work for some reason. He invited me to come see his studio here in town but I was too awed to take him up on that.  

Justin Green deserves to be celebrated because he started something new and he did it better than just about anyone, directly or indirectly inspiring hundreds or thousands of others over the years. Thank you, Mr. Green! And thanks for allowing me to spend a memorable afternoon with you at B&N that day.

Rest in Peace.

  

Dean and Jerry--Together Again

Someone on Facebook was talking about the fact that Dean and Jerry only ever saw each other once after they broke up their act in 1956 and that was two decades later when Sinatra snuck Dean unexpectedly onto Jerry's MDA telethon. Even the two of them said live on the air that they hadn't seen each other in 20 years.

But that wasn't true. Let's face it, if nothing else, they had all the same friends. They were bound to run into each other from time to time.

Above is a screen grab from a 1958 Eddie Fisher television show where Jerry was the guest and Dean came out from backstage just long enough for a quick gag. Fisher obviously didn't expect it but Jerry had just stepped out from behind that same curtain minutes before so it may have been planned.

Above are stills from newsreel footage of Dean and Jerry running into each other at another Eddie Fisher event, this time a spectacular club opening. 

 

Frank brought them together in the Bicentennial year only to kick Jer off his own stage after just a few awkward minutes so Frank and Dean could sing a duet.

Below is from 1989, as seen on ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT. Jerry brought Dino a giant birthday cake onstage in Vegas.

In his book about Dean after Martin passed, Jerry writes that the two old partners spoke on the phone a lot in later years.

When someone has been that much a part of your life--whether it be an old partner, a former spouse, an ex-boss, etc.-- time brings you to a point when you appreciate what they've meant in your story. You may not have a desire to hang out with them anymore, but seeing them from time to time can really make your day.  

The Booksteve Film Festival 2022--March

 

 

March proved to be an unusually busy month around here, sadly leaving little time for watching films. Down considerably from the past two months there were only 11 for me in March! Much of my time was spent on a paid editing project but a couple weeks was spent bring my new computer up to speed, as well. Rather than wait until my old computer died, as usual, my wife suggested I use our tax refund to go ahead and get a new one…so I did! 

 

Anyway, here’s a rundown of what movies I DID catch in March of 2022, some good, some great, and one absolutely terrible!.

 

This was one of the good ones--a long and tense Japanese bomb-on-a-train railroad thriller from the mid-1970s, said to be the basis for the later American-made SPEED. Both actors who played anime assassin Golgo 13 star, although Sonny Chiba is virtually unrecognizable from his more over-the-top roles.

 

 

Why, here's one of Sonny Chiba's over-the-top roles now. In fact, outside of Japan, this was his most popular film. I caught it in the theater when it first came out but really disliked it. I'm a lot more jaded now but it remains an ugly, violent picture and Sonny's charismatic appearance only helps it so far.

I passed this one up back in the day, probably the gay theme making 17-year-old me uncomfortable. That or just the fact that outside of A HARD DAY'S NIGHT and HELP! I never cared for Richard Lester films. In 2022, though, I found it absolutely side-splittingly hilarious and oh-so politically incorrect. Rita Moreno steals every scene she's in but early performances from Treat Williams and particularly F. Murray Abraham really make this farce of a straight man who hides out in a gay bathhouse in NYC when he's on the run from a would-be assassin. 

I watched this one from a screener and my FoG review can be found here: https://forcesofgeek.com/2022/03/the-automat-review.html

This one is my new choice for absolute worst film ever made! As a bad film buff, I've seen a lot of candidates, too! This was a vanity production from the lawyer who badly plays the lead, wrote, produced, and sings country songs. He also wrote himself several explicit sex scenes with an aging Playboy model-turned-actress. What passes for a plot doesn't begin to tell you the wonders of this one but I'll try. Our hero and his partner (Wings Hauser) are cops who are double-crossed by a third officer (William Smith in his worst performance ever). They're kicked off the Force while he goes on to become a Judge. Oh, but he's also the leader of a satanic, baby-sacrificing cult!

A surprisingly taut TV-movie from the Golden Age of TV movies back in the 1970s. TV cops Mike Conners (MANNIX), Michael Cole (THE MOD SQUAD) and Kent McCord (ADAM-12) play three handicapped friends who plot and carry out a complex jewel robbery. A good ending!

Ah, a classic! I first discovered this on PBS in the 1970s. In the '80s, I caught M. HULOT'S HOLIDAY and a couple of later Tati films on the big screen n revival. A unique and talented filmmaker, like most of Tati's pictures, this is a gentle, almost-silent  comedy made up of various set pieces about dealing with the modern world.

I have long considered Pat Boone to be a fairly miserable human being but there's no denying he was a personable leading man in his day. Far from APRIL LOVE, though, this one is pretty much a standard old dark house thriller that seems to think it's a comedy. Andreé Melly's goth seductress is easily the best thing about the picture.

 

Based on a book called A MAIDEN'S GRAVE--and I don't know why as there are no dead maidens and no grave--this is another tense TV movie with a latter-day James Garner as a hostage negotiator in charge of freeing a kidnapped busload of deaf students and their teacher (Marlee Matlin) being held by three escaped killers in an abandoned slaughterhouse. It's good all the way through but has a cool and completely unexpected twist I NEVER would have seen coming...well, if looking up the cast list on IMDB hadn't spilled the beans to me.

I know, I know. I call myself a film buff and yet I had never seen the original WEST SIDE STORY? Well, that's been remedied now and I have to say I found it brilliantly directed, artistically photographed, well-cast and just overall as impressive as all get out (and we all know how impressive all get out can be!). Once again, Rita Moreno steals her scenes. Did anyone ever look cooler than Russ Tamblyn at the beginning snapping his fingers? Chakiris--whom I've never cared for--impressed the heck out of me here! Never been a Natalie fan either but here, she just glows, and her dubbed singing (from my wife's late FB friend, Marni Nixon) was well-handled. Good to see David Winters, with whom I had some contact regarding the Christa Helm case (and who published a wonderful autobiography before he passed). A tad too long and a bit of a downer when all was said and done but still merits all the accolades it gets. Afraid to watch the remake now.

Finally, this was another screener for review, a magnificent 5-hour documentary on 1980s science fiction movies. Here's my published review: https://forcesofgeek.com/2022/03/in-search-of-tomorrow-review.html