Why I love W.C. Fields




Fields was perhaps the only American comic who had a sequence in a major studio film gags centered around a blind person

I spent a good part of my recent vacation at the Cape finished the best book – and I think I've read them all – on the life and career of W.C. Fields.

Thankfully many of his films have made it onto video, although in collections, rather than single releases. I hope younger film fans take to time to discover this true American original.

James Curtis's book explodes many of the myths surrounding Fields, such as his hatred of kids, his drinking habits and his general reputation as a curmudgeon. Instead through many interviews and his own letters a far more complex portrait emerged of a hard-working self-made man who understood his comic gift and fought very hard to bring his vision forward.

Go out and find this book if you're a Fields fan.

I've always been attracted to people who are individuals. They don't follow trends. They don't make themselves over into something widely accepted. They stand and fall on their own merits.

Fields certainly falls into that description. He could employ slapstick, but it never seemed stereotypical. His drinking jokes were unique and his views on American families were not like any other. There was no other comic with a point of view such as his.

Like Keaton, I think Fields would find a pretty wide contemporary audience if his films were given a chance. The two were very popular among the college crowd in the 1960s and '70s and I think a revival would be successful.

The first film star I ever interviewed was Buster Crabbe, who was quite gracious to me. I remember being so nervous I could barely stop my leg was bouncing as I spoke to him on the phone. Crabbe worked with Fields on "You're Telling Me" and said he was just like his screen image in real life. At the time, I thought what Crabbe meant is that he was a guy who drank too much and disliked children and dogs – the short-hand image Fields grew to have. Yet if you watch the film – one of his best – he plays a well-meaning family man who eventually triumphs despite his many short-comings.

After reading this book, I prefer my latter interpretation.

I spoke this week to students at the Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction, Vermont on public relations, marketing and media relations issues. I offered my services because what I have seen is the average person involved in some sort of creative pursuit is more than likely at the mercy of someone else when it comes to getting the word out on a product.

Today one can create comics, a prose book, movies or music much much more easily with the advent of the new digital technology. While some futurists would like people to believe the Web and the social networking sites now allow greater exposure for alternative or independent efforts – they do – the playing field is still not even.

Having a Web site and a Twitter feed is not enough.

It takes a multi-tiered concerted effort to find an audience for a product and to create a brand. Using everything from personal selling at conventions to considering ad buys to support a product or appearance is all part of the mix. What I have seen and experienced, each creator needs to have a very active part in this process.

The following is an outline I used for the class. I'm happy to answer questions from people as this was a two-hour class. Post here or e-mail me at mdobbs at crocker.com.

Why make a concerted pr/marketing effort? Competition for entertainment dollar and justified paranoia: don’t trust your publisher to take care of you.

1. Who are you? What is your product?

Can you describe it in 30 seconds – elevator pitch?

2. Secret of success is in knowing your product and yourself. Where does your product fit in?

For example, I discovered my animation magazine did not sell particularly well in comics shops, for example. Although one might think this was a legit market, I discovered comics fans are not necessarily cartoon fans. I fared better with regular bookstores.

Where would your product best fit in? Who is your audience? You must do research to make sure that where and to whom you present your product

Essentials: Prepare yourself for personal marketing. If after your pitch, if someone expresses interest. Be prepared. Have a business card. Can you put your book as a PDF on a CD? A CD is easier to have in pocket or purse than your book.

Importance of having a blog and a web site with your name in the URL. Naturally be on Facebook and Twitter. The easier it is to find you, the better.

Remember: You are the brand. Properties come and go, but you need to be known.

3. You must fit your product with the right audience. To do so, you must do research.
Example: My experience with my project with Steve Bissette, "The Year in Fear Calendar" was a failure on EVERY level because I trusted the publishing staff and their premises and because I didn't do my research. We found out comic book shops in 1991 weren't interested in something like a calendar. We sold 125 of a 2,000 press run. Next I discovered our calendar came out too late for regular stores to consider buying. Its huge size and lack of a hole – and of course it was laid out not as an effective calendar with the days of the week – would have made it a challenge for any retailer to display.

Much of this pain could have been avoided if I had done my research.

4. Let’s talk about the first level of pr/marketing – conventions.
Research is important. Is the convention the right one? What is the price point range of the audience? Don't waste your time trying to sell comics at a Star trek convention for example, or have really expensive items at a small regional show.

Have a range of items and price points. Can you have a $2 or $3 item on the table as well as a $12?

Conventions teach how to sell. Improper way: sitting at table not paying attention to potential customers – drawing, writing, yakking. Right way is to engage customers and to have right price points at right prices.

5. Next step: spreading the word.
Again research is important. Where do you publicize your product?

What is the news significance of your product? New book from acclaimed artist? First book? Good reviews?

Reviews: how to you get them? Do you know someone whose name would help sell your book? Seriously, use them! Think about handing out copies at cons to well known types. Always include business cards.

Check out the following web sites for their submission requirements:

http://weeklycomicbookreview.com/

http://www.comicsbulletin.com/

http://comics.ign.com/

http://www.bonafidecomics.com/

http://www.tcj.com/

http://www.csnsider.com/

http://www.cbgxtra.com/

Podcasts

www.comicspodcasts.com

http://www.comicgeekspeak.com/


http://www.ifanboy.com/

Do your own podcast and videos to promote appearances, conventions, etc.

To get stories in the mainstream press, you need a hook or a reason for the story: local artist, first book, second book, won award, lauded by critics, etc. This is where a good review can come in handy to sell an editor on doing a story.

First, find out the right editor to send material and what they want and how they want it. Look at web site or call.
Prepare materials according to instructions.

What’s the best press release? A one-page document that answers the questions of who, what, when, how and why and spells out the hook of the story.

Send materials and follow up several days later with phone call. Be polite.

6. Advertising
It’s important to realize that even the best free marketing campaign should be supplemented by advertising.

Put an advertising page in your books that lists other publications of yours and how to buy them. Consider trading ads with other creators.

Consider forming advertising and distribution collectives with other like-minded creators. Create a pool of money and look for logical ad buys to promote books and appearances.

Remember basic rule of advertising: smaller ads that appear regularly have more impact than big one-shot ads.

Promotional items – "freebies" – ideally should not be free. One of the CCSers prepared a sampler that sold for a $1. They gave it away to key people but sold the rest at a price point that allowed people to take a risk without much risk – great idea.

© 2010 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

Scenes from the Cape



Sitting on the beach of our timeshare, enjoying a book, a seegar and an adult beverage, the Fat Man forgets about deadlines, advertisers and politicians.





At Jack's Outback 2 in Yarmouth Port, I encounter a mind-boggling breakfast, stuffed french toast. We go to the eatery because Rachael Ray featured it in her book "$40 a Day." We later find out this isn't the original restaurant nor owner, who lost his lease, and the subsequent owners have used his name. The food was good, though and affordable.



The Edward Gorey House is a great museum dedicated to the life and work of the acclaimed late artist. He lived in this house in Yarmouth Port from 1986 until his death in 2000. If you're a fan of his work, this is a must see. For more info go here.





Mary always takes a wade at the Cape regardless of weather. Here, her toes take a dip near the Cape Cod Canal.

Kane Richmond is behind the mask – something the Shadow of air and print never wore

At last, the Monogram Shadow films

I'm not sure how many people today have actually realized at the enormous shift in popular culture that has happened since the success of the Christopher Reeve Superman film and the first Star Wars movie.

In the case of "Superman," the success showed there is an adult audience for material once viewed as just for kids. My friend, veteran movie producer Richard Gordon, once observed how the major studios shifted their feature films to the subject matter once reserved for B-movie and independent films:science fiction, action, horror and adaptations from comic books, pulp novels and radio shows.

"Star Wars" showed the power of the modern merchandising and the enduring ability of a "cult" film to grow a loyal audience.

One would think given today's producing standards, movie makers would have jumped at the chance to bring the successful Shadow character to the screen. The Shadow novels were very popular and the weekly radio show endured over two decades.

A property such as that was not considered "serious," by the big studios then and The Shadow was relegated to an unsuccessful feature made by Grand National, a Columbia serial and then three features produced by Pathe and released through Monogram.

I have several stills from the films (which I will post once I return from vacation) and as I'm a big fan of Kane Richmond, I have been wanting to see them for a long time.

Thanks to a dealer at Cinefest, I now am the proud owner of the three films and they are amazing – in the wrong way.

The casting is fine as Richmond was a veteran B movie hero. If the screenplays had called for it I'm sure he would have made a great Shadow. Instead he was called on to spend most of his time as Lamont Cranston, the meddling nephew of the police commissioner, who insists in solving mysteries before the police can. He and his girlfriend Margo Lane were transformed into a B movie version of Nick and Nora Charles – squabbling and cracking wise.

Although Burbank is a minor character in the first film, "The Shadow Returns," he is the only Shadow associate except for Shreveport the taxi driver who is carried over from the novels or radio show. There is no mention of The Shadow "clouding the minds of men" nor does Richmond ever look like The Shadow with the piercing eyes, red scarf and hawk-like nose.

When he is The Shadow, he is sometimes seen as a shadow, implying some sort of transformation and super power, although it is never clear just what is being presented.

The intent in all three films was to present a generic mystery with comic/romantic overtones that could capitalize on The Shadow without actually having to make an authentic adaptation.

That's not to say there aren't some interesting moments in all three movies ( released in 1946). There's a nasty reporter in a very film noir story element in the second film "Behind the Mask" and the overly complicated plot of "The Missing Lady," the third and last film has some very good photography that any big budget film noir would have been proud to have.

But overall they are disappointing, but in my mind they are not as disappointing as the big budget Shadow film with Alac Baldwin. Now those folks should have known better.

© 2010 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

Mary and Mike at Bass River Beach, S. Yarmouth, Mass.


Caution Reminder Publications readers. Dobbs uses some blunt language here. Read at your own risk.

On vacation!

Now there is a guy at work who razzes me every time I take time off. He is apparently offended that I have been able to negotiate four weeks vacation time from management.

But I don't actually take vacation very often.

I do take time off, but there is a difference. Usually, I take time off because I need to use it (or lose it) or to accomplish things I can't get done through the weekends.

Right now though I'm actually on a for real vacation – an extended period of time in which I have no work commitments. Well sort of, kind of. I still must write two pieces for the paper this week while on I'm on vacation,

The last time I took a real vacation was in 2006 when we went to Scotland. This year, we're at our time share at Cape Cod and I'm doing basically nothing.

I've got an excellent book on W.C. Fields I'm reading and have a bunch of DVDs to watch. So far I've furnished the three Shadow movies made in 1946 by Monogram starring Kane Richmond as Lamont Cranston. I've wanted to see these for years and will write about them later this week.

We've walked on the beach, ate a couple of nice restaurants and poked around.

I know the odds are when I return to work there will be unnecessary issues I will have to resolve as well as now a backlog of e-mail, etc.

Until then, frankly Scarlet, I don't give a shit!

And yes, this is serious commentary from the most listened to man in talk radio. Hate is indeed easy and clearly profitable for Rush.

Here's another one:




Didn't George W. Bush use executive orders? Go here to check out his bunch

Cinefest Confidential



The truly appealing Colleen Moore in "Orchids and Ermine"


Since 1987, I’ve been making an annual trip (I know I missed a couple of years) to Syracuse NY for Cinefest, a festival of American, primarily, films from the teens to about 1950.

I just got back from this year’s festival, which was its 30th time and it seemed appropriate to think back especially during the four hour drive to and fro on my experiences with the show.

Now Cinefest is perhaps one of the most laid back and non-glamorous film festivals one could ever attend. First, one has to understand the films are from archives and collectors and sometimes are the only 16mm print of a particular movie in existence. The average age of the attendees has got to be about 60 and to keep it running for the future there has been a concerted effort to bring in young film students into the audience mix.

There are some well-known people who attend the show on a regular basis and there have been a number of special guests, but this is not a show for the paparazzi. This ain’t Sundance, folks.

Unlike many of the people I encountered at Sundance when I went in 2004 – never again! – The people who come to Cinefest are here to see movies. Yes, there are deals being made – collectors buying prints from one another – but that’s about it.

The show has dealers’ rooms that routinely have closed tables. You see, the dealers go to the movies as well. The dealers’ room is one of the best of any show or convention I’ve seen. Routinely I’ve found great stuff there.

This year, I walked away with DVDs of Kane Richmond’s Shadow movies from Monogram, some silent cartoons, a biography of W.C. Fields I didn’t have and a poster of one of Richard Gordon’s films I didn’t have.

The movies are always a crapshoot. You never quite know what you’re going to find.

The folks who run Cinefest don’t care much for horror or science fiction. Animation is something they must despise. They run plenty of shorts subjects, but never a cartoon. I once volunteered to do my Fleischer slideshow for them and was politely told the Cinefest audience wouldn’t care for it.

You’re not apt to see exploitation films, although I did see once a real corker of a film about how Mormons were hypnotizing English girls to be their wives!

Some years the movies are truly memorable and you walk out of the auditorium saying, “Damn! I want that movie.” Of course it’s unlikely you’ll ever see it again.

For instance, several years back I was able to see a print of a Conrad Veidt film called “The Last Performance.” It was an incredible film and it was probably one of the few prints in existence. Of course, it is highly unlikely it will ever be on home video.



The cast and crew of "The Last Performance."

That’s why I go to Cinefest – to see something that I can’t see anywhere else.

My first trip to Cinefest was a day trip. I was then a friend with a guy who corresponded with producer and archivist Alex Gordon. Alex was at Cinefest – he was a loyal attendee – and my then-buddy Ray wanted to see him. So Ray and I and two other guys drove the four hours. I was immediately mortified when one member of our party looked at Alex – who knew Bela Lugosi well and his brother Richard produced two films with Boris Karloff – and asked him who was the better actor. He was a Lugosi fan and thankfully Alex dodged his idiot fan boy question.

I remembered buying a ticket for the day and watching at least one film before we piled back into the car for another four-hour haul back to Springfield.

I was impressed with what I had seen and kept coming back.

The best thing, though, to come out of Cinefest has been my friendship with Richard Gordon, who has been an influential mentor to me, whether he knows it or not!

My wife has gone once and we had one of the best dinner parties of our lives there with Richard Gordon and two of the directors with whom he worked: Radley Metzger and Norman J. Warren. These guys were hilarious and treated my wife like a princess.

I was very happy when my pal Steve Bissette started going. I remember the first year he went simply raiding the dealer’s room for all sort of esoteric Japanese monster movie stuff. Then his wife Marge started going and she would watch for films than either of us!

While this year didn’t have one of those films that proved to be a revelation, I was happy to finally see a Joe E. Brown comedy – “Earthworm Tractor” – Colleen Moore’s delightful romantic comedy “Orchids and Ermine” and a genuine train wreck of a movie, “Peacock Alley,” starring Mae Murray in a failed effort to regain some of her popularity.

I also suffered through a hideous but rare comedy short starring Bert Wheeler of Wheeler and Woolsey fame. They’ll show this crap, but not a Fleischer cartoon?

Ah well, that’s the nature of Cinefest.

© 2010 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

Here's the second installment of my report on the New Media Seminar:

First installment of my coverage of the 2010 New Media Seminar



Michael Harrison, publisher of Talkers Magazine – a man ahead of his time


Former CNN anchor and now syndicated talk host Lou Dobbs, who delivered the annual First Amendment speech and urged people not to succumb to political correctness and not to tone down their remarks. Would he have approved then of my telling him I think he's full of crap?




Hosts from my 'hood – Bax and O'Brien of WAQY Rock 102



During the talk host rumble, Steve Malzberg of WOR (appropriately on the right) and syndicated host and actor Phil Hendrie frequently found themselves shouting over and at one another. Malzberg repeatedly called the president a "communist."



I really think liberal talk show shots liberal Randi Rhodes and Bill Preiss were genuinely appalled at times at what they heard from the conservatives on the panel.

Once again at the invitation of Michael Harrison I got to be the only local reporter, perhaps the only print reporter who attended his New Media Seminar, his 13th convention for the talk radio industry.

I love the medium and look back on my five years as a talk host – 1982- 1987 – very fondly, despite the low pay – $5 an hour and $1.75 per endorsed live spot. I was the house liberal and as it was during the Reagan years, I received the best hate mail.

My favorite endorsed commercial was for "Cold Stick," a plastic tube that you kept in the freezer filled with anti-freeze. When you had an attack of hemorrhoids you lubed it up and placed it for all natural drug-free relief. Really. I ain't making this up.

When done right local talk is a powerful and entertainment medium. The problem is the large corporations that have bought talk stations over the past 20 years jettisoned local talk for far less expensive syndicated programming. It was great to hear that stations with local talk are making money.

I'm putting together a video of the annual talk rumble, but now here is what I wrote for our newspapers:


NEW YORK, N.Y. – At the 13th annual New Media Seminar, conducted March 19 and 20, radio show hosts and programming executives debated whether or not the local talk show host was a dying breed.

According to William Handel, the talk host who dominates the ratings in the Los Angeles, Calif. market, the era of local radio personalities discussing the local issues that affects audiences is at an end.

Every speaker didn’t embrace Handel’s assertions, though, as many of the attendees believe the survival of the medium is embracing locally originated programming.

Talkers Magazine, the trade magazine for the talk show industry, which is published by Longmeadow resident Michael Harrison in Springfield, presented the two-day convention.

In the greater Springfield area, the stations follow a national model of having local morning host followed by syndicated programming. Bill Dwight at WHMP has the only area weekday standalone talk show from 9 to 10 a.m.

Handel said, “It’s sort of rough to see an exciting medium disappear before our eyes.”

Handel said it is too expensive to operate a station with all local programming.

“To have all local programs is simply an impossibility,” he added.

The practice of stations accepting paid infomercials – something many speakers said was becoming more and more common – marks the “death knell” of radio, Handel said. Handel called the doctors, lawyers and others who buy a half-hour or hour of time to tout their businesses as “egomaniacs” who leave radio when they find the lengthy commercials are not making money for them.

Part of the problem is that radio stations no longer have local or regional ownership as they once did, he explained.
“The mom and pops chose good radio as long as they were making a good living,” he said.

“When done right local radio works,” Handel added.

Handel’s conclusions were refuted by a panel of local talk show hosts from around the country in a spirited discussion led by former Springfield talk radio host Dan Yorke, now a fixture at WPRO in Providence, R.I.

Yorke went down the line of hosts quizzing them about the effectiveness as “revenue agents” who actively work to bring revenue into their stations.

“You should not get before the radio [microphone] if you can’t sell,” Curtis Sliwa, the founder of the Guardian Angels and a long-time New York City talk show host, said. Sliwa is currently heard over WNYM.

Michelle Jerson, who has a relationship advice show on WKXW in Trenton, N.J., spoke of not only meeting with sponsors to help close ad deals but also arranging for special events such as cruises that bring money into the station.

Yorke and the panel noted their local shows actually sell more local ads for their stations than nationally syndicated programming such as superstar Rush Limbaugh.

The hosts also attested to the strength of local radio hosts. Larry Young of WOLB in Baltimore, Md. noted his station has the reputation of being the audience’s watchdog in city hall.

Heidi Harris of KDWN in Las Vegas, Nev. recounted how she effectively questioned claims made in ads for Sen. Harry Reid’s recent reelection bid. Harris, and other hosts at the seminar, said news sources come to local radio talk show hosts because of the decline in the reporting of local news by daily newspapers and television stations.

Throughout the two days, speakers urged seminar attendees to embrace the new technological tools the Internet offers them. Holland Cooke, an East Longmeadow, Mass., native and a radio consultant for McVay Media, presented a list of opportunities for radio hosts from podcasting to blogging to using services such as YouTube and creating products to sell from CafePress.com with no inventory to buy.

Vic Capone, a spokesperson for Apple, noted he doesn’t listen or watch anything in “real time.” He uses iTunes to download movies, music, television shows and radio podcasts and said the millions of iTunes downloads attest he is not the only person with this habit.

Other high tech services the broadcasters heard about included Paltalk that allows hosts to stream video from their studios and manage text and chat rooms with members of their audience for immediate feedback and the Tricaster, a mini-television control board, that radio hosts are using for the easy production of video.

With the opportunities offered by Web services, such as BlogTalkRadio.com – where 10,000 people currently have their own talk radio program with only a computer, some kind of microphone and an Internet connection – the question is how to attract listeners to a show or host.

As many of the speakers said ultimately it all comes down to the broadcasting talent of the host, understanding his or her subject and more importantly, the needs of the audience.

Laurie Cantillo, the program director for WABC in New York, said for a station to succeed it “must be great all the day.”

© 2010 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

I'm assembling as many of the celebrity interviews I've done since my first one in high school with Flash Gordon himself Buster Crabbe for a book titled "Fifteen Minutes With ..."

The gold standard for interviews is of course the intense and in-depth pieces that have graced Playboy's pages for decades. Most of us though are seldom given the days on which those interviews are conducted. Instead once an interview is confirmed, the next question is "How much time do I have?"

The simple fact is most celebs have something to sell and to sell it efficiently their publicists will set up interviews in 10 or 15 minute blocks. Two interviews that had no time limit, which was in a way frightening as I didn't want to over-stay my welcome, was with Bill Cosby – whose P.R. guy said, "You'll know when you're done." – and Ray Bradbury, whose PR guy said, "Call at noon eastern. That's when he likes to talk."

As a working journalist you have to make the most of your time. An interview with Alice Cooper was exactly 10 minutes. Cooper was on message, on time and I would have loved to have been able to speak with him longer, but he had to go to the next reporter.

I've a satisfying career when viewed from a fanboy perspective as I've been able to talk, although all too briefly, with many of the people whose work I've long admired. I think that will be the angle of the book.

In any case here is a piece that saw publication in 2003 in one of our now dead products, the hapless Journal/Bravo, a failed effort at creating a family friendly alternative entertainment bi-weekly. This was the cover story and I had to fight various people at work who had never heard of the Toxic Avenger and believed no one else had either.

Is Lloyd Kaufman feeding me a line? He tells me that if I hold the DVD of The Toxic Avenger IV: Citizen Toxie up to a light, I can see the image of Jesus on one disc of the two disc set and Satan on the other.

He must be smiling on the other end of this telephone interview.

The patter is typical Kaufman, who is a movie director who has taken lessons on promoting himself from masters such as William Castle and Alfred Hitchcock and racheted up the hype to meet these jaded times.

You haven't heard of Kaufman and his company Troma Entertainment? Well, the studio's flagship franchise, The Toxic Avenger, just made the top 50 cult films of all times list published recently by Entertainment Weekly. In fact, Toxic Avenger - or "Toxie" as he is affectionately known - has not only appeared in four films, but has been the star of an animated television show and several comic book series as well.

Besides heading the independent company with his partner Michael Herz, Kaufman has directed a number of the key Troma releases, and has written two books about the tribulations of the independent filmmaking. In the grand tradition of the classic Hollywood studios, Kaufman and Herz has established a highly recognizable style. Warner Brothers was known for its films "torn from the headlines," while Paramount's films boasted an European elegance and MGM had "more stars than there are in heaven."

Troma has brought gratuitous violence, gore and sex to levels that are almost surreal. In fact, Troma's films have captured the attention of mainstream critics because of their no-survivors satire that is in the tradition of Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal." In fact, some film writers have stated that without Troma paving the way, bad taste and mainstream comedies such as There's Something About Mary may never have existed.

Troma titles include films such as Class of Nuke Em High, Fat Guy Goes Nutzoid, Sgt. Kabukiman NYPD and Terror Firmer. Its latest film, which is now being produced, is Tales From The Crapper.

There's no doubt about it that Troma is not for everyone, but Troma fans are highly dedicated to the company. The studio's web site (ww.troma.com) features a gallery of photos from fans who have pledged their loyalty with a tattoo of the Toxic Avenger. When was the last time you heard of someone putting Julia Roberts or Harrison Ford on their forearm?

The company's most recent film, Citizen Toxie - now out in a double disc DVD edition crammed with extras - boasts of scenes with such over-the-top material this writer barely can start describing them in a family publication. The plot revolves around our hero The Toxic Avenger, the hero of Tromaville, who finds himself transported into an evil dimension. The hero of that dimension, the Noxious Offender, is now in Tromaville killing at will and turning the town into his own criminal municipality.

Where else than in a Troma film could the hero be a former health club janitor who thanks to being dropped into a vat of toxic waste has been transformed into a superhero? In what other movie could porn star Ron Jeremy be cast as the mayor of a town or the late Hank the Angry Drunken Dwarf play God?

And this DVD version is unrated. You've been warned.

If nothing else, the film takes the "what if" story formula so popular in many of today's mainstream films and shows it for the lazy storytelling device that it is.

***

Troma is celebrating its 30th year in business, something of which Kaufman is proud, especially considering that there are few other independent companies around with that kind of staying power.

It has been an interesting journey for the Yale student majoring in Chinese Studies, who decided after graduation to pursue a career in film. Kaufman told The Journal/Bravo that rather than going to film school, he decided to "attach" himself to a director and learn by doing.

As an aside, Kaufman said that the pleasure and pain of film making fit right into the Taoist philosophy he had studied.

In his case, kaufman's instructor was John G. Avildsen, the director of such films as Rocky, Joe and Slow Dancing in the Big City. Kaufman began work with Avildsen on Joe, a low budget politically charged film produced in 1970 that starred Peter Boyle. Boyle played a working class conservative who reacted violently to the social changes of the Vietnam War era.

Kaufman said that on his first day as a production assistant, he realized that "this guy [Avildsen] is talented. I worked for free on that movie in order to learn." The film was a surprise hit and Kaufman continued his association with Avildsen with his next film, Cry Uncle, a detective comedy which earned an X rating for its sexual content. Kaufman said, on that film, he "jumped a few rungs" up the career ladder from production assistant because he helped raised money for the production.

Kaufman and his Yale friend Michael Herz had formed a partnership that that slowly but surely began producing their own films while working on other productions. For instance, the Troma Team - as Kaufman calls his crew - shot the exteriors in Philadelphia for Rocky and he recalled zipping around the city in eight days making sure his non-union crew wasn't spotted by union representatives. At a Los Angeles screening of Rocky, Kaufman said, "union guys were trying to remember when they shot that footage."

Another acclaimed director used Kaufman's services, on the arthouse classic My Dinner With André. Actor André Gregory was so impressed with the economical shooting of a comedy titled Waitress! Kaufman and Herz made that the late Louis Malle hired Kaufman as his production manager for that shoot.

Although Kaufman worked on a mainstream film such as Saturday Night Fever - he scouted the New York locations for the film - he is not a Hollywood type of guy, and has a lot to say about establishment filmmaking. Guerrilla movie making seems to be the basis for the Troma style. Kaufman said that Troma tries "to have total freedom" and that the company is "anti-elite." Kaufman believes in the idea that "the purpose of art is to reflect the spirit of the artist. "Troma has a loyal fan base. Some people may hate or love our films, but they never forget them," he added. Kaufman dismisses many mainstream Hollywood films as "baby food," and said that Troma's success shows that people want "half pepperoni on their cultural pizza."

The indifference expressed by corporate media conglomorates over Troma products hasn't helped the company. Kaufman explained that Blockbuster Video would not stock Troma movies, even in R-rated cuts. He charged that attitudes such as this one have "totally marginalized independents."

Kaufman believes there have been "a conscious effort to economically blacklist" that studio. He said that The New York Times refused to run a review of one of his books despite the advocacy of the Times' own film critic, Janet Maslin.

Kaufman's style is blatantly New York, and his promotion of Troma is definitely of the "in your face" variety.

Warner Brothers may have its signature water tower on its Hollywood lot, but Troma's 9th Avenue building in Manhattan has the Toxic Avenger painted on its exterior.

***

Kaufman's two books detail his adventures in filmmaking, and have encouraged people to become filmmakers themselves. In fact, the most recent book, Make Your Own Damn Movie, takes people step by step through the process from financing to distribution. In the book's press release, Kaufman said "I want to give young filmmakers takes people step by step through the process from financing to distribution.

In the book's press release, Kaufman said, "I want to give young filmmakers a step-by-step guide to making low-budget independent movies so that they can use what works for us and learn from our mistakes... although in Tromaville, we don't call them mistakes. They're impromptu script deviations." Troma films have relied on free labor provided by people who are seeking an education or simply a break into the industry. On the Troma website right now are notices calling for interns and volunteers to help further the Troma cause.

That's right, you may only be a mouse click away from schlepping coffee or holding a light for a Troma film crew or appearing at a comic book store as Toxie.

***
Although he is definitely a showman, Kaufman doesn't take himself very seriously. The second disc of the Citizen Toxie DVD has a feature-length "making of documentary which I found just as - if not more amusing - than the film itself. The documentary shows Kaufman directing the film and many of the cast and crew complaining about him.

Kaufman doesn't mind though. He said nice things about his crew on the movie's audio commentary and explains their criticism as "the truth as they see it."

For him the documentary is "a window into what it's really like to make an independent movie."

Like his movies or not, one has to give the devil his due. In this era of media giants, Kaufman and Troma Entertainment keep getting away with thumbing their nose at the big boys.

And, by the way, you can't see Jesus or Satan on the Citizen Toxie discs.

Kaufman made me look.

© 2010 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

Here's an animation mystery – at least for me. My buddy Steve gave me a fist full of these odd pocket sized magazines from the 1950s, and one of them, the Sept. 24, 1955 edition of "Picture Week," had this spread about a cartoon short based on the Kinsey Report.

I've never heard of the studio that produced it, Kingsley-International Productions.

I was intrigued. When I did a little researching, I discovered there wasn't much info on it except for a notation on the BFI site stating it had a running time of a 13 minutes.

The artwork certainly has a UPA/ Jules Feiffer look to it, but again I ran up against a dead end.

Has anyone see this short?

It's Dr. Seuss' birthday today – perhaps Springfield's most famous son. I had the pleasure of reading "McElligot's Pool" to a class at Trinity Methodist Nursery School today – in the same neighborhood as Seuss grew up in. The kids looked a little goggled-eyes when I told them Dr. Seuss was from Springfield. They were a class of four-year-olds and clearly it was difficult for them to understand that someone they had heard of came from the same city as they did.

Seuss should provide inspiration to any writer. His first children's book "And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street" – the real Mulberry Street is a ten minute walk from my house – was rejected dozens of times. He kept going, though.

I'd like to write an in-depth look at Seuss' career in animation. He worked with George Pall on two Puppetoon adaptations of his works and was one of the guys behind the great Private SNAFU series. He also created Gerald McBoing Boing and collaborated with Chuck Jones.





© 2010 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

The late leslie Glass is the brunette in the center

From my archives, here's a piece I wrote and NEVER GOT PAID FOR! Got to love the life of a writer! It was published in 1996 but appeared only in a magazine on the West Coast.

The long dark hair. The finely shaped features. The creamy complexion. Acclaimed Penthouse model Leslie Glass has got what she describes as "the Anne Rice look"

"Don't you think I'd make a good vampire?" she asks with a laugh.

Well, at least Leslie makes a fine vampire vixen from Venus. Leslie stars with Michelle Bauer, Theresa Lynn, and J.J. North in the Ted Bohus horror spoof Vampire Vixens from Venus which is now available on home video.

"I really wanted to get into acting," explains Leslie on why she made her acting debut in the low-budget romp.

The tall brunette model who has graced the cover and interior pages of the acclaimed men's magazine many times, and has been in several of the Penthouse videos, has long harbored an interest in acting. She hadn't acted on her ambitions until Bohus' production company called Penthouse looking for talent.

"They called Penthouse, and told them they needed some models with good bodies," recalled Leslie, who fits that casting call as any reader of the magazine certainly would agree.

Don't ever make the mistake of thinking that Leslie is just another centerfold star and would-be "scream queen." Leslie is bright, articulate, and uses her much of her earnings for the passion of her life of helping animals.

Leslie has founded a non-profit center in her native Baltimore, MD to care and treat strayed and abused dogs and cats. This center is the dream of her lifetime, as over the years she had helped 600 animals get the medical treatment and the homes they need. Still under construction, the [name] center will open this year, and will feature the world's second cancer treatment center for dogs and cats. Penthouse publisher Bob Guccione has helped by allowing Leslie to use the trademarked "Penthouse Pets" name in her fundraising "Pets for Pets" campaign.

Get into a conversation with Leslie, and it's easy to understand why Penthouse has often asked her to represent the magazine in various public appearances around the world. Besides being a knock-out, she's a smart and savvy spokesperson. Her recent promotional trips have included Russia and Hong Kong. So popular is Leslie that she holds the title 1994 International Pet of the Year. But, does she ever have problems with people who think of a centerfold model as a "bimbo?"

"Sure, but if you talk with me for any more than a minute, you'd know I'm not a bimbo," Leslie says emphatically.

Describing Leslie as goal-oriented is something of an understatement. She has worked hard to achieve her fame at Penthouse, and to reach her personal goal of building her animal shelter and clinic. There is a new world for her to conquer, though, and that is acting.

Although she's had plenty of experience in front of a camera with her appearances in Penthouse videos, Leslie realized she needed more experience, and gladly accepted the role in Vampire Vixens from Venus.

The film was shot in two weeks in July 1994, and features Leslie as one of the three title characters. Leslie admits she had some doubts about the movie during production.

"I thought it was cheesy," she says candidly. "But when I saw the film I was pretty impressed. The special effects were great, and it's was really comical."

The film does feature several topless scenes, and although Leslie has appeared nude in print and on video before, she'd rather do roles in which nudity is not included.

Leslie, Theresa Lynn, and J.J. North star as the titular vampire vixens. Their mission on Earth is to extract the liquid part of human bodies, and to do that they transform themselves from their hideous natural state to forms more pleasing to horny men. Once a guy is interested, they waste little time strapping a helmet to his head extracting his precious body fluids and leaving him resembling a pitted prune.

As they leave a trail of dried remains around New Jersey, the police begin to investigate under the barely competent leadership of one Detective Lieutenant Oakenshield, played by Peter Grimes. His efforts to get to the bottom of the mysterious deaths is sidetracked by a not-so-chance meeting with a lovely woman played by scream queen favorite Michelle Bauer who just happens to be the ugliest Venusian of them all.

The emphasis on comedy rather that t-and-a or gore is refreshing to see in a low-budget genre film, and that's what director, writer and special effects artist Ted Bohus had in mind. Bohus, who has made a name for himself with films such as The Regenerated Man and The Deadly Spawn, wanted to do something "light" instead of horrific, and wrote the script for the science fiction comedy.

Bohus is a big fan of Michelle Bauer and he was impressed with Theresa Lynn, and J.J. North. For the last alien, Bohus had decided on actress Stacey Warfel, but she had an untimely motorcycle accident which sent him looking for a replacement.

After sending out casting notices, Leslie auditioned for the part, and Bohus knew he had his fourth alien. "She was very enthusiastic, looked great, and carried some weight with her title of 1994 International Pet of the Year," he recalls.

Although she lacked acting experience, she did impress Bohus in front of the camera. "She came prepared," Bohus says. "With a low budget film, actors have to come prepared and know their lines."

The production of the film went smoothly, according to Bohus, except for a scheduling mix-up which prevented Leslie from being on the set the night the opening scene was shot. This scene introduces the three aliens who transform themselves into beautiful women. Without Leslie there, the scene couldn't work, and on a low-budget film, time is most definitely money.

"I went through the roof," Bohus admits. " I told everyone to leave me alone for a while and I thought of a way to work this out." Bohus' solution? The transformation device for the third alien isn't working correctly. When Leslie was able to join the production, Bohus shot a scene in which the vixens manage to get the device to transform one ugly Venusian into the beautiful Leslie.

Bohus was impressed enough with the newcomer that he would certainly consider Leslie for another role.

For the time being, Leslie is taking her new acting career one day at a time, and is very grounded about her future.

"I've got to start at the bottom, and work my way to where I want to go," she states. Yet, Leslie is going to tackle acting the same way she has worked in modeling...on her own terms.
By living in Baltimore, she believes she "misses a lot of roles," but yet she doesn't want to live in Los Angeles.

"I don't want to get caught up in the politics of it all," she explains, alluding to the competitive pressures of getting a role. "I know a lot of the women out there are clawing each other on the way to the top."

How does she evaluate herself in her first acting job? "I was impressed with myself," she says with a laugh. "I memorized everything in the script."

Hard work doesn't bother Leslie, nor does paying her dues, and this writer is willing to bet Vampire Vixens from Venus is the start of her new career.

Postscript: Leslie died in 2000 at the age of 36 after a two-year bout with cancer. Vampire Vixens from Venus was her only non-adult film.


© 2010 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

"


Here are some photos of things I saw at the Toy Fair. The last image is for a line of plush animals called "Tushems." The front of the toy is a fairly standard stuffed animal while the backside was a disturbing detailed and large ass. I told the guy he was at the wrong kind of toy fair.

© 2010 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

TV HAT!

© 2010 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

Being a stripper has changed greatly since the days of Gypsy Rose Lee, seen here in her writer mode.

I’ve been very hesitant about posting anything about the labor relations issue at the Mardi Gras strip club in Springfield as some readers might say something along the lines of “How dare he! He represents The Reminder! etc.”

When one writer at The Reminder did a story about the de-criminalization of prostitution, I received an angry letter from a reader that her young son reads every word in the paper and that we had ruined that pleasure for him by printing an article on such a subject.

I wondered how this woman must shelter her son from stuff on television and in other newspapers and magazines. Can you imagine five years in the future when American history classes are discussing Clinton’s presidency how a teacher will deal with his indiscretion? Will they discuss how Monica proved their affair happened with the physical evidence of her blue dress with a stain?

So allow me to once more say, “This blog is my words alone and does not reflect the opinions of my employers, my staff or the advertisers of the newspaper that employs me.”


Go back now. You’ve been warned. Potential brain damage.

If you’ve not heard, a group of dancers, bartenders and deejays have brought a class action suit against the owners of the Mardi Gras for illegally treating them as independent contractors. Dancers were required to give part of their earnings to the deejays and bartenders as well as pay a shift fee to work at the club.

The thing that bothers me the most about the issue of a strip club illegally categorizing its dancers as independent contractors when they, by law, fit the description of employees is how people have reacted to it.

Instead of having some shred of human understanding, the all-too common reaction is “So what? They’re little better than prostitutes.”

So, because what they do for a job that crosses a comfort threshold for some people, they shouldn’t have legal rights?

I’ve gone to strip clubs. I’ve written about strips clubs. I’ve interviewed dancers and club owners. I’ve become friends with some dancers.

I would never recommend this line of work to any woman. It is amazingly difficult. While the financial rewards might be great, it takes a strong person to stay away from the numerous pitfalls presented to dancers.

Could you imagine being in a line of work in which your income solely derives from someone making a snap judgment on your appearance? How about having to push drinks on customers who want to get you drunk? Being in a constant party mode with sexual overtones can take a toll on a person.

I’ve known women who worked toward a goal, then left the field and never looked back. I’ve known women who have stayed in too long. I also know women who used dancing as a way to pay for college and returned because they couldn’t find work or enough work to pay their bills.

Most of us wind up doing something that makes us feel bad during our work careers. When I was a sales rep at the Daily Hampshire Gazette – I took the job thinking I would be in a position to get a reporter’s gig; I was wrong – one of the reporters came over to me and asked if it was true I had a degree in journalism.

I affirmed that was true.

“How does it feel being a prostitute?” she replied and marched across the room to her desk.

I was too stunned – and too green – to tell her my efforts were what paid her salary. If I could remember her name I’d Google her and tell what I think now.

Certainly there were other times when employers made sure to put people in their places, such as the Christmas when I worked at the Holyoke Transcript-Telegram and all of us had to buy a Christmas present for the publisher and then frickin’ sing him a Christmas carol.

The scene was straight out of Charles Dickens. We received no bonus, no party and no gift in return.

Please bend over and say with me, “Thank you sir. May I have another?”

By the way, I can honestly say my present employers are the best I’ve had in my career in media.

In the realm of human feelings and morale, I, like most people, have felt at times exploited and abused by employers. But perhaps some people believe they are superior because no matter how degraded their boss may make them feel what they are doing is somehow more legitimate than taking off their clothes for money for the amusement of strangers.

I guess I believe that if you know what it is to work for a lunatic, shouldn’t you feel some sympathy for people whose job presents an even greater challenge than yours?

© 2010 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

Okay, those who know me very well, know I'm a big Fritz Lang fan and that I'm postively goofy about "Metropolis." Like the complete "Greed," a complete version of the film has been one of the cinema's Holy Grails. UFA made cuts to the film after it ran for two weeks in Germany in 1927. Paramount made additional cuts for the American release.



I first saw the version assembled with a rock score by Giorgio Moroder in 1984 and was blown away. The scope of Lang's imagery of the future married to the story that as technology advances so must the human condition made the film instantly one of the my favorites.

Despite the criticisms of the Moroder version – purists didn't care much for the rock score – the film was able to bring "Metropolis" to a new generation.

One of my best moments as a film fan was being invited to a screening of the restored version of the film released in 2001. I saw the movie in the former Columbia Pictures screening room in New York City and again was blown away.

Now here is great news.

Anyone out there wants to finance my trip to Berlin?
© 2010 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Podcamp UnConference Western Mass. 2

So I’m back ahead of schedule from the second Podcamp UnConference Western Mass. I really like the idea of the UnConference – people getting together to share their expertise and questions on new media and social networking topics – and the first one taught me a lot.

This time the UnConference was presented at Westfield State College and the facility was quite good for the workshops.

I attended two very good sessions in the morning – one that proved to be a good Twitter refresher course by Jason Turcotte – while the other was an eye-opener about posting video on your blog. Author Steve Garfield did a great job and I’ve got a lot of ideas I’d like to do.

The lunch was excellent and the company around the table was good. How could I go wrong sitting next to the Springfield Intruder himself, Bill Dusty?

Now, foolishly thinking I had something to offer, I spent time this week preparing a Powerpoint presentation titled “Citizen Journalism 101.” Traditional media has slashed its content and as a result people working with the new media tools have taken up a little of the slack.

As a Jeffersonian kind of guy I applaud people deciding they are going to report on a local topic or create a beat for themselves. The issue facing them is establishing the professional chops – if they are not professionals to begin with – and to gain the credibility they need to do their job.

I was going to address these issues in my nuts and bolts presentation. Unknown to me until about five minutes before the show was to go on, I saw my time and space was to be shared with someone who would be speaking on the “The Future of Journalism.”

Ah, huh.

The guy, who never introduced himself, seemed friendly enough and said we could split the time. He took it all but ten minutes. He didn’t offer an apology, but said I could take the rest of the time – how large. I said thanks to the group, packed my stuff and got the hell out of there.

I don’t need this crap at this stage of my life. With my schedule at work every free minute is precious. As far as I could see on the workshop board I was the only person they did this to. If the goal of Podcamp is to help build a community of people, it failed with me today.

There were two guys who actually chased after me because they were interested. I told them I would post my notes on my blog and I gave them my card. Thanks for the interest guys. I appreciate it.

Citizen Journalism 101
What the hell do you want to do?

What kind of blog are you planning? Do you want to cover a town, a neighborhood, and a beat? Written, video, audio?

There are generally two kinds of blogs out there – those that cover a topic and those that reflect the interests of the writer. Granted the one that cover a topic exist because they are an interest to a writer, but other approach tends to present a more personalized view.

Someone interested in become a reporter is better served by the first approach and by developing a beat. What is going under-reported in your community? What do you see as a need? The answers to these questions should guide you in determining what you want to do.

A beat can be covered through photos, videos and audio as well. The freedom of the Web is the ability to present the same information on multiple platforms at the same time.

Do you want to stick to professional standards?

If you want to be taken seriously by members of governments, businesses and other institutions, you have to have a level of professionalism in your writing. The attribution of sources and quotes demonstrates professionalism.

I’m old school. I believe in making the newsmakers tell their story and stand by their statements.

Check out this site for a great discussion about on and off record rules.

Libel is another issue. There are some people who think somehow the standards governing what you say about a person may not apply to the Web. Think again.

Here is a great site for guidelines.

Here’s a solid definition about who is a public figure. Remember public figures are not as protected as much by libel laws as those who private.

Who is a public figure? A public figure is someone who has actively sought, in a given matter of public interest, to influence the resolution of the matter. In addition to the obvious public figures, government employee, a senator, a presidential candidate, someone may be a limited-purpose public figure. A limited-purpose public figure is one who (a) voluntarily participates in a discussion about a public controversy, and (b) has access to the media to get his or her own view across. One can also be an involuntary limited-purpose public figure or example, an air traffic controller on duty at time of fatal crash was held to be an involuntary, limited-purpose public figure, due to his role in a major public occurrence. Examples of public figures:
• A former city attorney and an attorney for a corporation organized to recall members of city counsel
• A psychologist who conducted "nude marathon" group therapy
• A land developer seeking public approval for housing near a toxic chemical plant
• Members of an activist group who spoke with reporters at public events
• Corporations are not always public figures. They are judged by the same standards as individuals.

A citizen journalist also needs to know his and her rights concerning the Open Meeting laws.


The Open Meeting Law gives "any person" the right to attend the meetings of governmental bodies, with exceptions for closed sessions discussed below. Massachusetts law does not limit access to meetings to a specific category of people or a profession, such as "the traditional press." Anyone may attend, including non-residents and non-voters. The Open Meeting Law does not give the public a right to participate or comment during open meetings. As a matter of practice, however, governmental bodies often allow members of the public to comment during public meetings. No one may address a public meeting of a governmental body without permission of the presiding officer, and all persons must be silent upon request of the presiding officer. See Mass Gen. Laws. ch. 39, ｧ 23C.
Go here for more detail

Tools of the trade

These are things I carry. You might want to arm yourself with them as well:
• Mp3 audio recorder
• Flip video camera/ tripod
• Decent still camera

A tripod is vital as it allows you to have a free hand to take notes while you are shooting video or photos. I know it sound pretty obvious, but many reporters I know try to juggle all of this technology at the same time. You don;t want to drop your camera while fiddling with your notebook.

How do be taken seriously

Okay this is a huge issue as there are millions blogs out and bloggers have to prove themselves with people and organizations used to dealing with traditional media.

So here is what I suggest: Call the newsmakers on your beat and ask to be put on their media lists. If they do, then show up if you can at their events. When you go to an event, make sure you say hello to the PR person and hand them your card.

The more events you attend the more stories you write and the more times you follow up a story with an email to the newsmaker containing a link to the story, your credibility will grow.

So these were the topics I was going to present if given the chance. There is much more to be discussed to prepare someone who wants to undertake this role and I hope to do so in a book I’ve been thinking about.

© 2010 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

Boy am I freaked out! This guy works at the McDonald's on Allen Street and has served me many meals over the past few years. He always punched the register with a little too much enthusiasm. This is the first time I recognized someone from a mug shot sent to me!


SPRINGFIELD – At 10:20 a.m. Wednesday, the Springfield police were dispatched to an “armed robbery in progress” at the Citizens Bank located at 950 Main St.

Charles L. Watts, age 42 of 536 North Main St., East Longmeadow was arrested on charges of attempted unarmed robbery.

According to the report release by Police Sgt. John Delany, “A description was given by the caller that the bank robber was a large white male wearing a red coat. The caller stated that the male was still in the bank.

“Officer David Standen was very close by and first on the scene within seconds of the dispatch. Officer Standen was the ‘walking patrol officer’ assigned to that beat. Officer Standen walked into the bank in full uniform and observed right away a large white male wearing a red jacket in front of a teller talking with her.

“He also observed all the other tellers and the bank manager huddled in a far off corner away from the bank robber. The bank manager observed Officer Standen and pointed out the bank robber as the one robbing the bank. Officer Standen quickly placed the suspect into custody. The robber passed a note to the teller demanding all the money. No weapon was shown, only implied and no weapon was recovered.”

Watts will be held arraigned in Springfield District Court.