Just finished reading Henry Winkler’s excellent memoir/autobiography, “Being Henry: The Fonz… and Beyond” (2023). Highly recommended.
My one quibble isJust finished reading Henry Winkler’s excellent memoir/autobiography, “Being Henry: The Fonz… and Beyond” (2023). Highly recommended.
My one quibble is that while he hits the key points and does tell quite a few personal anecdotes, he doesn’t go as much into the making of “Happy Days” and his relationships with his co-stars (aside from Ron Howard) as much as I would have liked. Then, again, I understand that this is his own personal life’s story, not a “Happy Days behind the scenes” book.
I gave the book four out of five stars on GoodReads....more
Last night I finished reading “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan: The Making of the Classic Film” by John Tenuto and Maria Jose Tenuto (2023, Titan BookLast night I finished reading “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan: The Making of the Classic Film” by John Tenuto and Maria Jose Tenuto (2023, Titan Books). An excellent behind the scenes book about what many consider to be the best of all of the Star Trek films (and planned to have come out in 2022 to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the film’s release in 1982).
There are many books out there already about both the making of the Star Trek films in general and about Star Trek II specifically already. This being a “coffee table” style book, it’s not as text heavy as some of the other books because of all of the wonderful pictures, but it still covers all of the basics in terms of how the film got made. Especially nice are its numerous profiles on not just the more well known figures behind the film (like writer/director Nicholas Meyer and producer Harve Bennett) but also seldom covered people who were just as important to the making of the film like production designers, costume designers, hair and make up supervisors, stunt performers, camera operators, film editors, sound and visual effects artists, etc.
They also give detailed descriptions of all of the script drafts that had been written prior to Nicholas Meyer coming aboard as director. And scenes that were shot and then not included in the final picture, or were reshot (like the initial “fight scene” between Kirk and David).
I also was very happy to see a full page sidebar about the Star Trek II movie novelization written by Vonda N. McIntyre, which was one of the very first Star Trek novels I ever read, launching me into a being a lifelong Star Trek reader (it and the Star Trek comic books from DC Comics that started just after Star Trek II’s release).
“Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan: The Making of the Classic Film” is a good standalone book for more casual fans of the film and of Star Trek in general. I think it’s even better as a compliment to the already existing books on the subject, like Nicholas Meyer’s “The View From the Bridge: Memories of Star Trek and a Life in Hollywood” (2009), Edward Gross and Mark Altman’s “The Fifty-Year Mission: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Star Trek” (2016), William Shatner’s “Star Trek Movie Memories” (1994), and Leonard Nimoy’s “I Am Spock” (1995).
(I should also point out that there was already another “The Making of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” nonfiction book released in 1982 by Pocket Books as a tie-in to the release of the film, written by Allan Asherman. I’ve had a copy of that book for many years now but have not read it yet.)
Again, I highly recommend this new book by the Tenutos. I gave it five out of five stars on GoodReads.
(Titan Books also released another book, “Star Trek: First Contact: The Making of the Classic Film” (2022) by Joe Fordham in the same size and general format. I highly recommend that book, also.)...more
Finished reading this one last night. Not much I really need to say about other than that it’s a really good book about one of my top favorite tv showFinished reading this one last night. Not much I really need to say about other than that it’s a really good book about one of my top favorite tv shows growing up, “The Greatest American Hero” (1981-1983). The book is “The Greatest American Hero Companion” by Patrick Jankiewicz (BearManor Media, 2023).
Jankiewicz has written several books about shows like this from the late 1970 and 80s (my particular “golden age” of all things pop culture), including “You Wouldn’t Like Me When I’m Angry!: A Hulk Companion” (which I am also in the process of reading) and “Buck Rodgers in the 25th Century: A TV Companion”, as well as “Just When You Thought It Was Safe: A Jaws Companion”.
Jankiewicz really does his homework, not only detailing the creation of the show by Stephan J. Cannell and the casting of series leads William Katt, Robert Culp, and Connie Sellecca, plus the obligatory complement episodes guide. He also has loads of interviews with everything, some conducted by him specifically for this book, others conducted earlier (for Cannell, the actors, and other significant people who had died).
This is a pretty definitive book resource about the making of this short lived but still widely remembered television series, one which came out in a lull period in terms of superhero pn TV (“The Incredible Hulk” was just finishing it’s run at the time that “Hero” was beginning). But it was a sign of things to come. I highly recommend “The Greatest American Hero Companion” to all fans of the series. I gave it five out of five stars on GoodReads. (Copy read checked out from the Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library.) ...more
Just finished reading volume two (“April Through June”) of Adam Nedeff’s massive “This Day in Game Show History: 365 Commemorations and Celebrations” Just finished reading volume two (“April Through June”) of Adam Nedeff’s massive “This Day in Game Show History: 365 Commemorations and Celebrations” four-volume series (Bear Manor, 2014), checked out from my local public library, Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library, who added them to their circulating collection upon my request (although they are also available on Kindle from Amazon and I’m assuming also eBook format from the other usual retailer sites).
(Note: My review here for Volume 2 is the same as what I wrote for Volume 1: January Through March with only the few necessary changes to make it about Volume 2.)
I first heard about “This Day in Game Show History” while recently listening to old episodes of Stu Shostak’s “Stu Show” podcast.
This is a treasure trove of tv history for aficionados like myself. Since it’s one entry per day of the month for three months, the bill entires (or chapters) are almost all very short. Most are two to three pages, some a bit longer.
The entry are generally of two basic types: dates on which a notable game show first aired, last aired, or had some other significant moment like changing its name, format, or network it was airing on, or a significant change in its host or announcer. And the other being significant game show figures’ “born on this day” (or “died on this day”) entries (some clearly to round out the days of the month not already filled).
The game show program specific entries give details of how that show got on the air, who the notable people working on that show were, the rules of the game, how long it ran for, and any subsequent revivals of that show. The “born/died on this date” entries generally give a broad overview of that person’s entire career (focusing on the game shows if that person was also an actor or had some other field he or she is just as well known for), although some of the figures entries are very short because their time in game shows was likewise short.
If you are into game shows, or television history of the 1950s to today (but especially 1950s-1980s), I highly recommend this book and its other three volumes. (There is quite a bit also about the infamous game show fixing scandals of the 1950s that nearly killed the genre.)
The only caveat is that it probably is a bit better to have all four volumes at the same time rather than one at a time like I am from the library because Nedeff often has notes within or at the end of an entry saying “See November 11” (or some other date) for a related other entry.
Also, due to the format, the entries jump all of the place in terms of what decades the events happened in. One entry 1950s, the next entry 2000s, the next 1960s, the next about someone born in the 1920s, and so on. That’s just the nature of these calendar style “what happened on this day” books. Which is fine, especially for reading only one or two entries a day. Me, I’m a very chronological thinker. So, if I had one suggestion it would have been for Nedeff to have included among the works cited and index sections in the back also an entries in chronological order guide so that a reader could read all of the 1950s entries, then the 1960s, etc. Of course, that would still be just for the entries in this one particular volume, not all four, so maybe not very many other people would find that all that useful.
Anyway, I gave “This Day in Game Show History: 365 Commemorations and Celebrations” Volume 2: “April Through June” four out of five stars on GoodReads, just as I did for Volume 1: “January Through March”....more
Finished reading this one last night: “Manga in Libraries: A Guide for Teen Librarians” by Jillian Rudes (ALA Editions, 2023). This one checks off duaFinished reading this one last night: “Manga in Libraries: A Guide for Teen Librarians” by Jillian Rudes (ALA Editions, 2023). This one checks off dual boxes, both “work related” and “personal interest”.
A nice brief overview—only 136 pages, and I didn’t even read the two appendices in the back, the longer of which is a guide to conducting webinars on manga in libraries, the shorter being additional manga book lists—of the Japanese form of graphic literature (or comics) called “manga” (pronounced as mahn-gah, not main-gah, although I must admit I still have trouble with that sometimes) specifically in relation to its place in library collections and library programming.
Me giving here the table of contents chapter names is probably the best way of summarizing it: Chapter 1 “Manga 101”, Chapter 2 “Manga Collection Development”, Chapter 3 “Representation in Manga”, Chapter 4 “Social-Emotional Learning and Manga”, Chapter 5 “Manga Programming”, Chapter 6 “Teaching With Manga”, and the two aforementioned Appendices (both under the heading, “Manga Sparks Joy”), “Manga in Libraries Webinars” and “Manga Book Lists”.
As a high school media specialist who is also a life long comic book reader, I have put a lot of emphasis on building and maintaining a large comics/graphic novels and manga section ever since I started at my current school twelve years ago. My background is in the American comic books (superheroes, media tie-ins like Star Wars and Star Trek comics, and general fiction and nonfiction graphic novels). My personal knowledge and experience with manga was (and still is) virtually nil. However, it was immediately apparent that the manga volumes already in the library collection when I arrived were pretty much the most popular books in the place. Some kids would come in multiple times in the same day to swap them out.
Not being knowledgeable of that various titles beyond what we already had (and cognizant that there are manga titles for all ages, including ones for adults that are not appropriate for a public high school library media center; one of the things this book goes into are manga publisher generated suggested audience age and content ratings and where to find those), I have generally taken a pretty conservative approach by mostly just replacing lost copies and buying the next newer volumes of the titles we already have. Occasionally I would order one or two volumes of a title we didn’t already have upon requests from students.
However, beyond the really good explanations given in “Manga in Libraries” of *why* so many young people enjoy reading manga (especially young girls but boys too), how manga characters are written and drawn so that boys and girls can empathize with those characters, their emotions, situations, etc., the next most valuable thing to me is its section on the very wide range of fictional genres available in manga, including samples of each. This is something that I will definitely look into doing better with resources like this, to try to diversify my school library media center’s manga collection to be more than the mostly boys and girls fantasy warrior/superhero type of stories that currently make up the bulk of what we have.
There are chapters that give detailed descriptions of manga programming the author has done with the students at her school, including manga related clubs, classes, volunteers/assistants groups, and even how to put on a manga comics convention. (Her school is in or nearby New York City so she also has field trip suggestions but obviously not all of those would be available or practical in all locations.)
She also spends an entire chapter, as can be seen in the listing of chapters, on social-emotional learning and how manga is a good place for young people to be able to identify positive traits in relation to one’s own social-emotional health and well being. And she also goes into the natural side interest in Japanese culture in general that oftentimes also becomes appealing to readers of manga.
While I can’t promise that I will personally use every suggestion the author makes in her book, I do value the wealth of examples she gives and will indeed be checking this book out again a bit later, after the start of the school year, to be able to at the very least review her book title and genre suggestions, and her additional resources lists.
Which brings me to one other thing I should probably mention. I already had this book last year on buying lists I’d put together but kept moving it to a “buy later” list because of its price. It’s actually a pretty expensive book (generally $50 or higher). I assume this is because it is published by ALA (American Library Association) Editions, and is therefore considered to be a professional/scholarly publication.
I could never justify spending that much on a professional development book that only I would read instead of using the money on more books for the students. But then one day when I was in my local public library branch of the Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library (Florida), there it was. A copy of “Manga in Libraries: A Guide for Teen Librarians” sitting on their “NEW BOOKS” shelf. (And for once I hadn’t even been the person to request for them to buy a copy!)
So, I immediately checked it out. The moment I saw it and how small a book it is, page count wise and also just physically small, I was glad that I’d never bought a copy. But I highly recommend this book to any and all librarians interested in providing manga as part of their library’s books collection and programming, to try to do as I did and check out a copy from somewhere. After reading it, they might decide to buy their own copy if funds allow.
I gave “Manga in Libraries: A Guide for Teen Librarians” a four out of five stars on GoodReads....more
Just finished reading volume one (“January Through March”) of Adam Nedeff’s massive “This Day in Game Show History: 365 Commemorations and CelebrationJust finished reading volume one (“January Through March”) of Adam Nedeff’s massive “This Day in Game Show History: 365 Commemorations and Celebrations” four-volume series (Bear Manor, 2014), checked out from my local public library, Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library, who added them to their circulating collection upon my request (although they are also available on Kindle from Amazon and I’m assuming also eBook format from the other usual retailer sites).
I first heard about “This Day in Game Show History” while recently listening to old episodes of Stu Shostak’s “Stu Show” podcast.
This is a treasure trove of tv history for aficionados like myself. Since it’s one entry per day of the month for three months, the bill entires (or chapters) are almost all very short. Most are two to three pages, some a bit longer.
The entry are generally of two basic types: dates on which a notable game show first aired, last aired, or had some other significant moment like changing its name, format, or network it was airing on, or a significant change in its host or announcer. And the other being significant game show figures’ “born on this day” (or “died on this day”) entries (some clearly to round out the days of the month not already filled).
The game show program specific entries give details of how that show got on the air, who the notable people working on that show were, the rules of the game, how long it ran for, and any subsequent revivals of that show. The “born/died on this date” entries generally give a broad overview of that person’s entire career (focusing on the game shows if that person was also an actor or had some other field he or she is just as well known for), although some of the figures entries are very short because their time in game shows was likewise short.
There are a few entries that don’t fit either of those two types like an entry on game shows that won Emmy awards, game shows and their hosts who showed up on scripted television shows (like “Let’s Make a Deal” on “The Odd Couple”, “Family Feud” and memorable episodes of “Mama’s Family”, “The Golden Girls”, and “Cheers” where characters appeared on “Jeopardy!” (“Mama’s Family” also on “Family Feud”, in one of my favorite episodes.)
If you are into game shows, or television history of the 1950s to today (but especially 1950s-1980s), I highly recommend this book and its other three volumes. (There is quite a bit also about the infamous game show fixing scandals of the 1950s that nearly killed the genre.)
The only caveat is that it probably is a bit better to have all four volumes at the same time rather than one at a time like I am from the library because Nedeff often has notes within or at the end of an entry saying “See November 11” (or some other date) for a related other entry.
Also, due to the format, the entries jump all of the place in terms of what decades the events happened in. One entry 1950s, the next entry 2000s, the next 1960s, the next about someone born in the 1920s, and so on. That’s just the nature of these calendar style “what happened on this day” books. Which is fine, especially for reading only one or two entries a day. Me, I’m a very chronological thinker. So, if I had one suggestion it would have been for Nedeff to have included among the works cited and index sections in the back also an entries in chronological order guide so that a reader could read all of the 1950s entries, then the 1960s, etc. Of course, that would still be just for the entries in this one particular volume, not all four, so maybe not very many other people would find that all that useful.
Anyway, I gave “This Day in Game Show History: 365 Commemorations and Celebrations” Volume 1: “January Through March” four out of five stars on GoodReads, and have Volume 2 “April Through June” already waiting among those in my “to read next” pile....more
I last night finished reading Matthew Coniam and Nick Santa Maria’s “The Annotated Abbott and Costello: A Complete Viewer’s Guide to Their 38 Films” (I last night finished reading Matthew Coniam and Nick Santa Maria’s “The Annotated Abbott and Costello: A Complete Viewer’s Guide to Their 38 Films” (2023, McFarland & Co.).
Prior to this book, there was essentially just one “Abbott and Costello must have book” for fans, that being Bob Furmanek and Ron Palumbo’s “Abbott and Costello in Hollywood” (1991, Pedigree Trade) (which I read back in 2017-2018 as I was watching the films for the first time on DVD). Well, there are now *two* “must have” books.
Like Furmanek and Palumbo, Coniam and Santa Maria look at each Abbott and Costello film, from 1940’s “One Night in the Tropics” all the way to 1956’s “Dance With Me, Henry”, plus solo Lou Costello “The Thirty-Foot Bride of Candy Rock” (1959) and the later “The World of Abbott and Costello” (1965) compilation film (released six years after Lou Costello’s death).
They also include an appendix section titles “The Ultimate Abbott and Costello Top Ten”, in which they surveyed thirty-three “Abbott and Costello experts, fans, comedy buffs, film historians, and the authors of previous books about Bud and Lou” as to their personal top ten favorite A&C films, out of which they derived their “ultimate top ten list”. Among those surveyed were Coniam and Santa Maria themselves, Furmanek and Palumbo, Lou Costello’s daugher Chris Costello, filmmakers Joe Dante, John Landis (who also write the Foreword), and Michael Schlesinger, and noted film historian Leonard Maltin.
One thing I really enjoyed about “The Annotated Abbott and Costello” was that the two authors, Coniam and Santa Maria, split the thirty-eight films up, Coniam covering nineteen and Santa Maria the other nineteen. So instead of a single reference book co-written by two writers (like the previous Furmanek and Palumbo book), you get to experience two distinctly different voices as you make your way chronologically through the films.
The two decided on who would write about which films largely simply by personal preference, each choosing the ones they preferred to write about. And the two authors, while united in their love of Abbott and Costello, definitely have differing opinions in some cases (Coniam, for instance, is not as wild about “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein” as Santa Maria, and seemingly most other fans, are. Coniam much more prefers the more down to Earth 1940s A&C films with their truer to life situations and abundance of humorous talking routines from A&C’s burlesque shows.)
The other thing I really like about this book is how each of the chapters is laid out. First (roughly half of the chapter) there is an overview of the film (its production background, its cast, a plot summary, etc.) written by Coniam or Santa Maria, along with two or three black and white photos including the official film poster and usually a film still or promotional photo from the production of that film.
Then the second half of the chapter is a break down of the key Abbott and Costello routines and any other notable scenes in that film complete with DVD time stamps so that readers can find them easily. The authors also note where else the same routines can be found, in other Abbott and Costello films and also in what episodes of the comedy team’s two-season “Abbott and Costello Show” television series and their episodes of “The Colgate Comedy Hour” tv series.
(I must add here that I found the information about the “Colgate Comedy Hour” programs especially interesting as I can’t recall Furmanek and Palumbo’s book going into very much detail on those. While their tv series don’t get separate chapters of their own, they definitely are covered at the points in the timeline where they intersect with A&C’s film work, and it is described as work the two comedians evidently enjoyed much more than the films they were making at the time, largely because the “Colgate Comedy Hour” was done before a live audience, and their own syndicated series was something they had complete control over and, again, consisted largely of their tried and true old burlesque routines.)
Finally, each chapter ends with a single paragraph by the other author (the one who didn’t write the bulk of the chapter) giving his personal opinion of that film (so both authors do say at least a bit about every one of the thirty-eight films).
In addition to the thirty-eight, they also include a few “Abbott and Costello adjacent” films, like 1944’s “A Wave, a WAC, and a Marine”, “Mail Call” (also 1944), “10,000 Kids and a Cop” (1948), and “Fireman Save Our Child” (1954). (Some of these are short films produced by Lou Costello’s production company. “Fireman” is a film that had been written and planned for Abbott and Costello to act in but then Lou Costello came down again with rheumatic fever and was sidelined for a year, something which happened several times over the course of those years. The film was shot with Hugh O’Brian and Buddy Hackett instead.)
As in the cases of Lou Costello’s serious health ailments and the impact it had on the two comedians working schedules (longer than usual gaps between films), Coniam and Santa Maria do cover that and other personal events, including a couple times when Budd Abbott and Lou Costello were not getting along with each other, but only as those things impacted upon their films (for instance, one particularly bad spat between them seems to have led to a couple of their films featuring the two actors almost entirely separate from each other, although apparently by the time they were actually shooting those films they had mostly put their animosity behind them). And, of course, certain major events are also covered like the tragic drowning death of Lou Costello’s infant son, Lou Jr. (called “Butch”), an event that understandably had a great impact upon Lou Costello going forward after that (but also bringing Costello and Abbott together again, off screen, in the founding of the Lou Costello Jr. Youth Center in Costello’s hometown of Patterson, New Jersey (which still exists today).
Anyway, yes, I highly recommend “The Annotated Abbott and Costello” by Matthew Coniam and Nick Santa Maria to all Abbott and Costello fans. And also to fans of other classic film comedians like Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, or the Marx Brothers. (Matthew Coniam also wrote “The Annotated Marx Brothers”, which I’m sure is also a great book.) I gave “The Annotated Abbott and Costello” five out of five stars on GoodReads....more
I finished reading Joe Fordham's "Star Trek: First Contact: The Making of the Classic Film" (2022) a few days ago. A very entertaining behind the scenI finished reading Joe Fordham's "Star Trek: First Contact: The Making of the Classic Film" (2022) a few days ago. A very entertaining behind the scenes look at what is (I think) pretty much universally regarded as the best of the four Star Trek films based on the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" tv series cast. (Although, I have to say that referring to it as "the classic film" doesn’t feel quite right to me because, even though this book was intended to be released in 2021 in time for "First Contact's" twenty-fifty anniversary, it still doesn't seem that "First Contact" (1996) is quite old enough yet to be called a "classic film". Then, again, it could just be that it makes *me* feel very OLD to see it put that way.)
The book is divided into chapters based on the development and major elements of the movie: the development of the script, the design of the new Enterprise-E, the casting of the major new characters, designing the Montana of 2061 locations as well as redesigning the Borg for the big screen, etc. Much of the information will already be familiar to the diehard Star Trek fans who read lots of behind the scenes Star Trek books, magazines, websites, etc., but there are still many interesting quotes from the actors, writers, producers, and director Jonathan Frakes to make it still worth while reading for them, and the book is written in such as way as not to overwhelm the casual Star Trek fan.
My one slight complaint is that while there are loads of pictures in this book from the film and also of behind the scenes development art--indeed, there are pictures on pretty much every page--a lot of the pictures from the actual film (and even some of the promotional stills) have a blurry look to them, as if taken from film screenshots or stills that have been enlarged. The reaction is often one of, "that's a great picture, I just wish it was in better focus". And since the pictures often dominate each two page spread, it can overtime detract a bit from what one is reading.
Still, even with that small complaint, I really enjoyed the book and highly recommend it for fans of the Star Trek movies, "Next Generation", and "Star Trek: First Contact" in particular. I gave it four out of five stars on GoodReads. (Copy read was checked out from the Tampa/Hillsborough County Public Library which added it to their collection upon my request.)...more
Wonderful book! “Direct Conversations: Talks With Fellow DC Comics Bronze Age Creators” by Paul Kupperberg (Crazy 8 Press, 2023). A sort of follow up Wonderful book! “Direct Conversations: Talks With Fellow DC Comics Bronze Age Creators” by Paul Kupperberg (Crazy 8 Press, 2023). A sort of follow up to his “Directs Comments: Comic Book Creators in Their Own Words” book also self-published by the author through Crazy 8 Press in 2021).
Kupperberg joined DC Comics in 1975 as a freelance writer and then went on staff there (the first of a couple times) two years later in 1977. But he was already a familiar name and face for many working at DC’s New York City offices because of his many visits there for the DC weekly office tours open to the public, his activity in the very active comics “fandom” (those who not only read the comic books but also created amateur “fanzines” and who attended the early comic book conventions), and because of his older brother, Alan Kupperberg, who was hired onto DC’s production staff in 1971 straight out of high school.
“Direct Conversations” is a book of ten newly conducted interviews by Kupperberg with his fellow comics creators (writers, artists, letterers, colorists, and editors) who were not only all but one co-workers with him at one point or another at DC, but who all were part of that first great influx of new comic book creators and editors to come in at the start of the 1970s who had all started out as comic book readers and collectors. The older artists, writers, and editors already there at DC that they would be joining (and learning from) had basically been the same ones from the start of the American comic book industry in the late 1930s and 1940s on up to the beginning of the 1970s. There were a few exceptions, like artist Neal Adams, and writer, Roy Thomas, but for the most part DC Comics was a “closed shop” (very difficult for anyone new to come into it) throughout the 1950s and 1960s. But the changing nature of the industry—including the drying up of the traditional newsstand distribution system in favor of what would become the direct market system selling most comic books through dedicated comic book shops, which resulted in expanded line ups and the short term return of anthology type titles requiring as many as four to six additional “back-up stories” per issue—as well as the inevitable aging out of the older generation opened the doors to many young new faces like Kupperberg and those he interviews here.
His interview subject’s (following an introduction by Robert Greenberger, who also came to work at DC but just a bit too late to qualify as one of the ten subjects interviewed) are, in the order they appear, Paul Levitz, Anthony Tollin, Steve Mitchell, Joe Staton, Bob Rozakis, Jack C. Harris, Howard V. Chaykin, Bob Toomey, Tony Isabella, and Michael Uslan. I’m not going to go into who all of these people are here but for anyone who regularly read DC Comics in the 1970s and 1980s, many if not most of these names are very familiar. As are the legendary figures they reminisce about working with and for back in those early years: Julius Schwartz, Sol Harrison, Carmine Infantino, Jack Adler, Murray Boltinoff, Joe Kubert, plus many many less familiar names and those that only they who worked there would have any reason to know, like the various secretaries, proofreaders, reprints editors, etc.
Some of the ones interviewed here were unofficially known at the time as “the Junior Woodchucks” (after Disney’s Huey, Dewey, and Louie comic books). Others, including Kupperberg, escaped that particular label, but they all share a very interesting bond in the shared experiences at DC during what later became known as comics “Bronze Age”.
(I was born in 1972 and was reading comic books by the end of the 1970s, so this was my own personal entry point into comic books, the later part of the Bronze Age, late 1970s/early 1980s. And at that time, older issues from the early 1970s were still quite plentiful and easy to acquire.)
I give “Direct Conversations: Talks With Fellow DC Comics Bronze Age Creators” my highest recommendation for all of the Bronze Age DC Comics fans out there, plus anyone in general who likes to read about comic books “behind the scenes”/history. I gave it five out of five stars on GoodReads. (Checked out from my local public library, Tampa/Hillsborough Public Library, which added it to their collection upon my request.)...more
Just finished my first book of 2023, “The Kick-A** Book of Cobra Kai: An Official Behind-the-Scenes Companion Book” by Rachel Bertsche (2022). This isJust finished my first book of 2023, “The Kick-A** Book of Cobra Kai: An Official Behind-the-Scenes Companion Book” by Rachel Bertsche (2022). This is a really fun behind-the-scenes book on the Netflix series with lots of cool photos and interviews with all involved (the showrunners, actors, writers, directors, stunt coordinators, production designers, etc. Traces the genesis of the project from the early love of the original 1980s “Karate Kid” movies by the three men who who go on to create and produce “Cobra Kai”, Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg, through their convincing Ralph Macchio (Daniel LaRusso) and William Zabka (Johnny Lawrence) to step back into their famous roles.
The selling of the series concept to YouTube (who carried the series on their YouTube Red the first two seasons), the casting of the other roles, the shooting the series, the series popularity especially after it moved to Netflix, the biggest fan moments like the returns of various other characters from the original “Karate Kid” movies and how many of the themes of the series transcend the generations, the young teenage characters going through many of the same experiences that Daniel and Johnny’s generation did back in the 80s.
And perhaps the most fun element of “Cobra Kai”, the unexpected development and redemption of quintessential 80s bad boy, Johnny Lawrence (while at the same time keeping him a man firmly stuck in the 80s thinking wise, to often humorous effect).
Daniel LaRusso’s journey from where we last saw him in “The Karate Kid: Part III” to being a family man with a wife, two children, and a successful businessman, seemingly the opposite of the perennially down on his luck Johnny, is also explored, and how the sudden return of Johnny and Cobra Kai dojo (re-opened by Johnny) brings Daniel to the realization that he has become out of touch with his kids and with his own life’s focus (his beloved mentor, Mr. Miyagi, having passed away seven years prior to the start of the series. It makes Daniel decide to resume his karate and to train his daughter and other teens in the Miyagi style of karate.
As I said, a very fun, well written book for fans of “The Karate Kid” films and “Cobra Kai” series (and a great companion to Ralph Macchio’s recently released “Waxing On: The Karate Kid and Me” memoir book). I gave “The Kick-A** Book of Cobra Kai: An Official Behind-the-Scenes Companion Book” four out of five stars on GoodReads....more
Today I finished reading Ralph Macchio’s recently released memoir, “Waxing On: The Karate Kid and Me” (2022).
I really enjoyed this book. A relatively Today I finished reading Ralph Macchio’s recently released memoir, “Waxing On: The Karate Kid and Me” (2022).
I really enjoyed this book. A relatively short book (241 pages), I think this is one of the quickest reads I’ve had in awhile (twelve days of off and reading, alternating with another book I am also still reading, which for me is quick).
Now, first off, this is one of those kinds of books that goes like this: “if you really like X, then you’ll really like this book about X”. In other words, if you are the right age to have grown up with (as I am) or just generally love (even if you are older or younger than that demographic group) the Ralph Macchio-Pat Morita “Karate Kid” movies (1984-1989), then you will probably also really enjoy reading “Waxing On”. Likewise, if you are a fan of the current “Karate Kid” universe sequel series, “Cobra Kai”, you will probably also enjoy it.
If you’re not into either of those, I don’t know. You might still enjoy it for Macchio’s friendly and engaging writing style. And also as another perspective on Hollywood filmmaking of the 1980s and 90s.
The thing I like best about this is that Macchio starts off right with his attending a “sneak preview” screening of the first “Karate Kid” movie (the very first time he saw it; no advance screenings for him) at a local New York movie theater on May 19, 1984 (the official full U.S. release was on June 22). He was very anxious going into seeing the movie with an audience (his only prior big movie he had been in at that point being Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Outsiders” (1983)).
That experience of the audience’s complete embrace of the film and its characters (especially his young Daniel LaRusso and Pat Morita’s Mr. Miyagi), became one he would never forget. The audience cheered at moments like when the big payoff of all of those chores Miyagi had been putting Daniel through (“Show me wax on, wax off. Show me sand the floor. Show me paint the fence.” Etc.) And, of course, the big climactic moment in the tournament when the “crane kick” became a universally recognizable thing (one he saw the audience members emulating as the left the theater).
Macchio then moves back to how he got the part (including his recollections of scriptwriter/creator Robert Mark Kamen, director John Avildsen, and producer Jerry Weintraub). Then separate chapters on meeting and working with Pat Morita (Miyagi), Elizabeth (“Lisa”) Shue (“Ali with an I”), and William (“Billy”) Zabka (Johnny Lawrence).
Then a chapter on the famous “crane kick” (and how it was impossible for anyone, even professional martial artists brought in to train Macchio, Morita, Zabka, and the others, to actually *do* the kick as described by Kamen in his screenplay. (Kamen had Daniel kicking up on his plant leg as seen in the film—his other leg, the lifted one, being his injured leg—striking Johnny with the plant leg and then landing back on the same leg. No one could do it. Eventually, they had to “cheat” a bit and have Daniel (Macchio) land briefly on his injured leg and quickly shift back over to the good leg.
There are subsequent chapters about the two Macchio-Morita “Karate Kid” sequels and other work he did during the rest of the 1980s. (Why did he do the much less well regarded “Part III”? Because he had to. They insisted he sign a three-picture deal to do the first one. And it ended up costing him the River Phoenix part in Sidney Lumet’s “Running on Empty” (1988). Although, he does say that while he himself has always had issues with “Karate Kid: Part III”, it did eventually provide them with a wealth of backstory to mine later on in “Cobra Kai”.)
One thing I didn’t know about was that he did a Broadway show with Robert De Niro called “Cuba and His Teddy Bear” in 1986 (the same time that “Karate Kid: Part II” was in theaters).
He talks about getting typecast in the Daniel LaRusso part, and being cast in 1991 in the Joe Pesci comedy, “My Cousin Vinny”. (Words of a studio exec to the filmmakers when they inquired as to Macchio’s availability: “You don’t want him, he’s the Karate Kid”.
He discusses his reactions to learning of both of the “Karate Kid” films that he was not a part of: Pat Morita and Hillary Swank’s “The Next Karate Kid” (1994) and the Will Smith produced, Jaden Smith-Jackie Chan “The Karate Kid” remake (2010).
He goes into how he resisted suggestions and half-baked ideas to return to the Daniel LaRusso part, and then how eventually he began to consider it, especially after a memorable guest appearance on “How I Met Your Mother” (the comedy series in which Neil Patrick Harris’s character insists that Johnny Lawrence is the true hero in the original “Karate Kid” movie and that Daniel LaRusso was the villain who moved to town, stole Johnny’s girl, and beat Johnny with an “illegal” kick in the tournament). Macchio and Zabka would go on to guest star on the series.
He goes into how, after resisting it for so long, the creators of “Cobra Kai” were able to sell him on being part of their “Karate Kid” follow-up series. (He was the last one they approached after every one else had agreed because they had heard that he had always been hesitant.)
He talks about reconnecting with Zabka (who he really wasn’t close with at the time of shooting the first film or for decades after, not until just a few years prior to “Cobra Kai”).
He talks about enjoying working with both the “OG” original actors like Zabka, Martin Kove (Kreece), Elizabeth Shue (in a noteworthy guest-appearance by her), Yugi Okukoto (Chosen, from “Karate Kid: Part II”, and Thomas Ian Griffith (from “Karate Kid: Part III”) again as well as with all of the younger teenage and twenty something actors. How he would find himself now playing a version of the Mr. Miyagi character now to the younger actors, some scenes and situations very similar to the ones Pat Morita played with him back in 1983.
He talks about some things he wishes he could get a “do over” on, the biggest one being turning down being a presenter along with Morita at the 1984 Academy Awards. He said no, but later greatly regretted it because Morita was one of the actors nominated for best supporting actor for his part as Mr. Miyagi in “The Karate Kid”. He realized, sitting and watching it at home with his girlfriend (later to be his wife, who he is still married to today) and his parents that he should have been there in support of Morita.
He later got a chance to make up for it, though, decades later, when he got to introduce Morita at the Asian Excellence Awards in New York City where Morita received a lifetime achievement award in 2006. They had a great time, he says, reconnecting after having not seen each other in a couple years (and not together at a public event in around a decade or more). One year later (almost exactly to the day, Macchio says), Pat Morita passed away.
There is more I could go into, but I shouldn’t spoil everything. Again, I highly recommend “Waxing On: The Karate Kid and Me” to all fans of “The Karate Kid” films and “Cobra Kai” Netflix streaming television series. I gave it five out of five stars on GoodReads.
Just finished reading last night Randy West's very entertaining tome, "TV Inside-Out - Flukes, Flakes, Feuds and Felonies: The backstage blunders, bloJust finished reading last night Randy West's very entertaining tome, "TV Inside-Out - Flukes, Flakes, Feuds and Felonies: The backstage blunders, bloopers and blasphemy of celebrities in search of success" (BearManor Media, 2022). Randy West has spent his entire adult life working in the entertainment industry, first on radio and then, after being mentored by the famous Johnny Olson (the original "Price Is Right" "COME ON DOOWWWWN" announcer), began his long career in 1988 as a game show announcer, audience warm-up personality, and voice performer.
West has worked with or at least interacted with many of the television and motion picture celebrities, and has had the ear of even more actors, writers, producers, directors, and other figures who have worked in television going all the way back to the 1950s who could share with West stories that West himself could not have personally witnessed himself.
After a lengthy introduction in which West expounds upon the nature of being a celebrity and how some people react to the pressures of fame and success (and stresses to continue to succeed) differently than others, West begins telling his stories of television game show hosts and producers, actors who off screen couldn't stand each other, morning show and late night show hosts, news announcers, talk show hosts, etc. How deals were agreed upon and then broken. Personality clashes. Hosts who were warm and friendly--accept when the cameras weren't rolling. Friendships and professional partnerships that splintered apart over sometimes real, sometimes only perceived, betrayals. Tales of personal life travails that derailed successful television careers. And, likewise, stories of others who overcame great obstacles.
I read this book very slowly over several months, just a chapter or two at a time (sometimes even only part of a chapter) as West's style of jumping from one anecdote to another encouraged me to read it this way. His chapters are short and most of them discuss two of three different celebrity tales or stories from different television shows, although a few chapters do focus on one particular celebrity like Johnny Carson and Betty White.
I learned of this book by Randy West's appearing on Ed Robertson's "TV Confidential" radio show/podcast and immediately asked my local public library to get a copy, which they did. I recommend if for anyone who loves reading about old tv shows and celebrities "behind the scenes" stories (although it's not just "classic TV" figures and events West shares about, he also includes tales of celebrities, as well, right up to the year this book came out). Many of the stories are ones that have been told before, but that's okay. There are most likely just as many if not more that most readers have not heard before. And it's a book that some can read as I did, the entire thing, cover to cover, while others jump around in, reading about only the celebrities or genres of television that they personally are interested in.
I gave "TV Inside-Out" four out of five stars on GoodReads....more
Finished reading Michael Eury's "The Team-Up Companion" (TwoMorrows, 2022) around a week ago. I absolutely loved this book.
Now, this is another one ofFinished reading Michael Eury's "The Team-Up Companion" (TwoMorrows, 2022) around a week ago. I absolutely loved this book.
Now, this is another one of those types of books that I call an "If you like X, then you will really like this book about X" type of book.
If you love the "team-up" comic books of the 1960s, 1970s, and/or 1980s, then you will most enjoy this issue-by-issue breakdown of those wonderful late Silver Age and Bronze Age comics. If those types of comic books weren't among your favorites (or if you have no idea what I'm talking about), then this book is probably not for you.
Eury begins with clearly differentiating a "team-up" comic book (or comic book series) from a "crossover" comic, a "buddy book", and a "super-team" book. For the purposes of this companion, a team-up book is whenever you have an issue (or an entire series) which features "two different heroes join[ing] forces, with their logos appearing together on the cover". (A crossover is when a hero guest-stars in another hero's series, such as the Flash or Batman guest-starring in an issue of "Superman". A buddy book is similar to a team-up but the two lead characters don't ever change, such as the Superman and Batman that appeared in just about every issue of "World's Finest Comics", or when "Captain America" became "Captain America and the Falcon" for a stretch of issues, same with "Green Lantern" becoming "Green Lantern/Green Arrow" and "Daredevil" temporarily becoming "Daredevil and Black Widow". A super-team book/series is "a collective, a club of heroes that gathers routinely to tackle dangers generally too intimidating for a single superhero".
The Team-Up Companion is broken up into the following chapters: "The Brave and the Bold" (begun in 1955, the series that became comics' very first regular team-up comic with issue #50 (1963); at first featured two different characters each issue but became a "Batman and another character" team-up series with #59 (1965) and remained a Batman team-up book throughout the rest of its 200 issue run which ended in 1983), "World's Finest Comics" (focusing on the brief period from 1970 to 1972 when it became a "Superman-and-someone-not-necessarily-Batman team-up series), "Marvel Team-Up" (the long-running Spider-Man team-up series (except for a few issue headlined by the Human Torch or the Hulk instead of Spidey) that ran for 150 issues from 1972 to 1985), "The New Scooby-Doo Movies" (the 1972-1973 season of "Scooby-Doo" Saturday morning cartoons that featured guest-stars like Batman and Robin, Don Knotts, Josie and the Pussycats, the Three Stooges, Sonny and Cher, and the Harlem Globetrotters), "Marvel Two-In-One" (the long-running Ben Grimm/"The Thing" team-up series that ran for 100 issues from 1974 to 1983), "Western Team-Up" (1973), "Super-Villain Team-Up" (1975-1980), "Super-Team Family" (1975-1978), "DC-Marvel Team-Ups' (covering "Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man" (1976), "Superman/Spider-Man" (1981), "Batman vs. the Incredible Hulk" (1981), and "The Uncanny X-Men and the New Teen Titans" (1982)), "Harvey Team-Ups" (various Harvey Comics character team-ups like Richie Rich and Casper the Friendly Ghost), "DC Super-Stars" (1976-1978), "DC Comics Presents" (the long-running Superman team-up series that ran for 97 issues from 1978 to 1986), and "The 'Superman vs.' Team-Ups" (covering the "Superman vs. Wonder Woman", "Superman vs. Muhammad Ali", and "Superman vs. Shazam!" specials, all in 1978), followed by an extensive "Team-Up Companion Index".
In addition, Eury also features "Creator Spotlights" on "Brave and the Bold" writer Bob Haney, artist Jim Aparo, and writer Charlie Boatner, "Marvel Team-Up" writer Mike W. Barr and cover designer Eliot R. Brown, and a "Fan Spotlight" on "DC Comics Presents" fan contest winner Mark Teichman, whose prize was to be an actual guest-star in an issue of "DC Comics Presents". And also loads of cool little sidebar blurbs of notable team-ups from both comics and also various other mediums besides comic books, like the "Six Million Dollar Man" and "Bionic Woman" team-up episodes, "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein", Saturday morning's "Shazam!" and "The Secrets of Isis" team-ups, "Godzilla vs. Megalon", and Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny meeting in "Who Framed Roger Rabbitt?".
Much of the interview quotes throughout "The Team-Up Companion" are taken from the long run of "Back Issue Magazine", a comics nostalgia magazine that Eury edits that has been published since 2003 and that is now at issue #140 as of the time I'm writing this review plus other magazines published by TwoMorrows like "Alter Ego" and the first "Comic Book Artist" magazine series. But Eury did also conduct new interviews via phone and email specially for this book, too.
Again, I highly recommend "The Team-Up Companion" to anyone who, like me, grew up reading and loving the team-up comic books of the 1960s through 1980s. I gave this five out of five stars on GoodReads....more
Finished reading the massive (512 pages) two-volume hardcover slipcased “The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe” (20Finished reading the massive (512 pages) two-volume hardcover slipcased “The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe” (2021) by Tara Bennett and Paul Terry.
This is a wonderful book for the die-hard Marvel movies fans (although at times perhaps a bit too dense for the non die hards). It takes you year by year from the formation of Marvel Studios through the end of their “Phase 3” slate of films (ending with “Avengers: Endgame” (2019) and “Spider-Man: Far From Home” (2019).
It goes incredibly in depth into the behind the scenes personnel who oversaw the creation of these movies in addition to studio president, Kevin Feige. It goes into just how important it was that their first self produced movie, “Iron Man”(2008), succeed. It takes us through what it took to get “Iron Man” made (a brand new studio and an at that time little known comic book character to the non comic reader).
It takes us through the promotions, including the regular unveilings at San Diego Comic Con. The rapid expansion (other solo characters getting their own films like Thor and Captain America, and the can-we-really-pull-this-off Avengers movie combining multiple headliner superheroes in the same film).
It talks about the producers, the directors, the special effects producers, the editors, the composers, etc. It, by its very nature, doesn’t have the room to go into great detail about the behind the scenes of shooting each and every film but it does spend time on each, discussing the preproduction, shooting, and postproduction phases. And, before long multiple movies are at various stages of production at the same time and shooting in several different continents.
The importance of the casting of the lead characters is a repeated theme, as is getting the script right. And early on it was decided not to treat additional shooting after wrapping principle photography as a case by case basis (as the rest of Hollywood studios traditionally have done) but instead to have it written into the contracts right from the start, giving them the freedom to make necessary story changes at pretty much any stage of production and postproduction.
The book goes into the headaches Feige and his other producers, directors, and scriptwriters had with the Marvel “Creative Committee” back in New York, a group of Marvel executives and editors that had creative control until finally Disney, who the book also details as buying Marvel, put a stop to the Creative Committee soon after “Captain America: Civil War” (2016), which was a major subject of disagreement between the Marvel Studios heads and the Committee. Thereafter, Kevin Feige reported directly instead to Disney, not Marvel.
The book goes into how the partnership between Marvel Studios and Sony over Spider-Man came about, and how (at the end of the book) it almost ended after the release of “Spider-Man: Far From Home”.
“Guardians of the Galaxy” (2014), “Ant-Man” (2015), “Doctor Strange” (2016), “Black Panther” (2018), “Captain Marvel” (2019). They are all reported on. Of especially heavy emphasis are “Black Panther”* (the first Marvel Studios film to win multiple Academy Awards) and the back-to-back “Avengers: Infinity War” (2018) and “Avengers: Endgame”, each massive undertakings due to their very large casts (pretty much every major character and lead actor to have appeared in the various films up to that point), heavy amount of special visual effects, and just the importance these films would have in ending the many key characters’ story arcs. (* Chadwick Boseman’s untimely death occurred after the majority of the book was done so there is an afterword dedicated to him at the end.)
If there is any real weakness of this book it’s one that is pretty common to officially authorized behind-the-scenes books in general: a general skimming over of many of the more contentious or negative moments that inevitably happen. Such as, we get a very brief addressing of the recasting of “Rhodey” from Terrence Howard to Don Cheadle but not really enough to know why. Likewise, we find out about the decision to not bring back Edward Norton after “The Incredible Hulk” (2008), casting Mark Ruffalo instead the next time we see the character in “The Avengers” (2012), but the reasons why Norton wasn’t considered to be asked back and the disagreements had while filming “Incredible Hulk” are kept brief (although it is made quite clear that that film did have a much rougher shooting period than “Iron Man”, which was largely shot at the same time, did).
It also feels at the end like there is a bit too much of the affirmation quotes from those involved as to how proud they are of the accomplishments, what it meant to them when they came to the end of the ten year journey, how it’s not the films or the accolades, it’s the people who came together with a common goal, etc, etc.
But those are minor quibbles, really. Again, “The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe” is a must have for all really big fans of the franchise. The oodles of awesome pictures is worth getting the book by themselves. Although, I must admit, this book carries a hefty price: $150 original suggested retail price, although I just checked and right now it can still be bought various places online for around $80 to $85. More casual fans will most likely want to see if their local public library might have a copy (which is how I got my hands on a copy).
I gave this book four out of five stars on GoodReads....more
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