Sept. 4, 1988
So what do you do when you work nights and your VCR is all set to time-shift the Emmys and a brief lightning-caused power blink shuts off the timer control so nothing is recorded?
You thank the merciful gods of weather for saving you three hours of your miserably short life, and you write about a show that is worth six hours of Emmys in entertainment.
Once a month, WMHT treats us to the Mark Russell Comedy Special, an uneven but worthwhile 30 minutes of political satire and musical ridicule of Washington's most visible. Appearing on a raised dais with a piano decorated in patriotic colors, and surrounded by an appreciative audience, Russell becomes the quintessential stand-up comic, even to playing that piano on his feet.
No question, his gags, especially during the first half of this show, are right close to the mark.
In his show of Aug. 24 he starts in on Dan Quayle, admittedly an easy target, early. Imitating a head delegate's response to the roll call at the Republican convention, he intones: "Madame secretary, ...Indiana, not one square foot of which fell to the Viet Cong when Dan Quayle was in the National Guard...," and later he adds that the Republican ticket consists of two combat veterans, George Bush who was shot down in the Pacific, and Dan Quayle who was bombed in New Orleans.
Like cartoonist Pat Oliphant, Russell seems to hate everybody, pointing out that the Democrats are the party that would continue aid only to contras with dependent children, and that the Miracle of Massachusetts is that Michael Dukakis was able to come up with a running mate who generates less electricity than he does. I'd love to say that his musical burlesques are a high point, but they are not. Though not a singer, Russell can carry a decent tune, and some of his ditties are cute (especially one about how Democrats never use the T-word, T for taxes of course). But he never achieves the impact of the early satires by Tom Leher, of whom Russell is the spiritual descendant. His piano playing is workmanlike and energetic, and energy is what carries his show, energy and the force of his personality.
Russell, who has done comedy for some three decades, does have two failings. One, he gives each gag, each quip, each song the same amount of stridency, and not all material rates it. And second, he uses all his big artillery at the start, and has only BB gun material at the finish. The studio audience, caught up in his live presence, feeling his punch at close range, laughs heartily at everything, but we, the TV audience, are glad the show doesn't struggle on for more than a half hour. The first 15 minutes has the meat.
And when he is good, he's outstanding! During the height of the Iran-contra affair, he asked, in response to Reagan's assertion that the administration was trying to create ties with moderate Iranians, "What is a moderate Iranian? Is that an Iranian who takes hostages but doesn't eat them?" The Mark Russell Comedy Special plays on the forth Wednesday of every month at 9 p.m. on WMHT, Channel 17.
*****
Consumer alert
The worst thing you can do to your VCR is to play off-brand tapes through it. Cheaply made videotape will clog and scratch the heads that pick up the magnetic signal, and the heads will have to be replaced, at a cost that will flatten your wallet. And some technicians say that to replace the heads of a machine more than four or five years old is just not worth it.
First, make certain that the tape you buy has the VHS or Beta logo on the spine of the box. If it does not, then the manufacturer has not been licensed by JVC (in the case of VHS), or Sony (the originator of Beta).
Though the absence of a logo is a certain warning, apparently the presence of one is not a sure sign that the tape is OK. Video Review magazine's September issue has test of cheap tapes all of which carry the VHS logo, and find that Chandi, HMC, Keystone, Monexe, Nippon, Silver Shadow Spectrum, and Swire are well below JVC's standards, and that some of these tapes are so bad they leave magnetic coating on the heads and other parts of the test VCR. Whether JVC is not enforcing it's standards, or whether some makers are using VHS logo without authorization, the author of the article couldn't say because JVC would not furnish a list of licensees.
So what is a customer to do? I would buy only the following brands, tested by Consumer Reports in the September issue. Listed alphabetically, they are: BASF, Certron, FUGI, GE, JC Penney, JVC, Kodak Konica, Maxell, Memorex, Panasonic, Poaroid, RCA, Radio Shack, SKC, Scotch, Sony, TDK, and Zenith. Though these manufacturers make many grades of tape at many prices, no tape made by them should damage your machine.
Watch out for names that look like the familiar: Monexe looks a lot like Memorex to the hasty shopper. And, finally, if a tape is a lot cheaper than the others on the rack, be suspicious.
Mac Rush works in the Banner's composing room.
Just a quick note that as far as my dad was concerned, consumer reports was the final word on quality.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Watching 'Twelve O'Clock High'
Aug. 28, 1988
Last January I was saddened and amazed to see CBS stoop to broadcasting one of the most baldfaced examples of plot and dialogue plagiarism I've seen on network television. "Alone in the Neon Jungle" was a flimsy made-for-TV movie that was so cheaply put together that apparently the producers decided to save money by stealing huge chunks of dialogue and plot, without even changing their sequence from the rousing 1949 film, "Twelve O'Clock High."
I pointed out in a letter to CBS that although the movies have different settings, one a wartime air base and the other a police station, "Twelve O'Clock High" is no more about a bombing wing than is "Alone in the Neon Jungle" about a cop house. Both movies are about the problem of leadership, and in every instance of plot concerning the key theme of leadership, the movies are the same.
CBS never replied.
So why am I bringing up seven-month-old history? Because the original "Twelve O'Clock High" is on Cinemax this month and it should appeal to every thinking adult whose taste extends beyond beefcake, cheesecake and car chases.
From the gorgeous black-and-white cinematography to the lovely Alfred Newman music, this one is a treat for the eyes and ears. The movie opens with Major Stovall (Dean Jagger in a much deserved Academy Award winning performance) returning to his old bomber base in England. As he stands looking at the abandoned buildings and the overgrown runways, the camera moves toward his face and , in one of the most moving transitions in all films, pans slowly to the grass and , as we hear motors cough into life, the grass ripples with the wash of powerful propellers and we are in the past.
Stovall relives, in the extended flashback, the early history of the 918th Bomber Group, it's hard luck reputation, it's change of command, with Gregory Peck's General Savage whipping the 918th into shape, the loss of hundreds of men and the problems of leadership Savage has to solve.
This is not your typical flag-waver like John Wayne and Randolph Scott used to make during the that war, or John Wayne and Clint Eastwood made more recently. Rather it is more in the tradition of "The Bridges at Toko Ri" or "Full Metal Jacket," a thinking person's action film. As involving as are the airplanes, the spectacular crash-landing at the start of the film, and the more spectacular combat footage towards the end, the important stuff happens inside people's heads, and it is this that the movie succeeds so well in portraying.
The movie does have it's detractions. By 1949 it was well realized that daylight precision bombing with no fighter escort was simply not as effective as its proponents hoped it would be. The losses of machines and crews would get worse until the Mustang fighter with it's long-range drop-tank could escort the bombers to their targets in 1944. But from the perspective of 1942-43 which this movie takes, one can hardly fault the commanders for their hopes that Germany could be beaten into submission without the dreadful losses a landing on Europe would entail.
Enormously popular when released the movie was remade in 1962 as "A Gathering of Eagles" starring Rock Hudson with the Cold War as a backdrop, and was made into a TV series from 1964 until 1967.
"Twelve O'Clock High" plays on Cinemax on Tuesday at 1 p.m.
*****
Convention Comment
During the Republican Convention I switched back and forth between C-Span (gavel-to-gavel) and the three networks (we'll show what we like if it doesn't cut into our profits). At one point during Jack Kemp's speech, CBS was focused on Kemp, NBC was interviewing Barry Goldwater and ABC was showing a commercial, and throughout the convention all networks failed to show us, which is what TV is about, what was going on.
All the big events, Reagan's speech, Bush's acceptance, were covered by all, but it is often the lesser lights of a party who show where it is going and I think that those of us not lucky enough to have cable or a satellite dish should be able to hear what these people are saying to the convention.
Surely public affairs shouldn't be treated the same as a lighter fare, and certainly reporters who try to make news where there is none do not serve the public.
Mac Rush works in the Banner composing room
Last January I was saddened and amazed to see CBS stoop to broadcasting one of the most baldfaced examples of plot and dialogue plagiarism I've seen on network television. "Alone in the Neon Jungle" was a flimsy made-for-TV movie that was so cheaply put together that apparently the producers decided to save money by stealing huge chunks of dialogue and plot, without even changing their sequence from the rousing 1949 film, "Twelve O'Clock High."
I pointed out in a letter to CBS that although the movies have different settings, one a wartime air base and the other a police station, "Twelve O'Clock High" is no more about a bombing wing than is "Alone in the Neon Jungle" about a cop house. Both movies are about the problem of leadership, and in every instance of plot concerning the key theme of leadership, the movies are the same.
CBS never replied.
So why am I bringing up seven-month-old history? Because the original "Twelve O'Clock High" is on Cinemax this month and it should appeal to every thinking adult whose taste extends beyond beefcake, cheesecake and car chases.
From the gorgeous black-and-white cinematography to the lovely Alfred Newman music, this one is a treat for the eyes and ears. The movie opens with Major Stovall (Dean Jagger in a much deserved Academy Award winning performance) returning to his old bomber base in England. As he stands looking at the abandoned buildings and the overgrown runways, the camera moves toward his face and , in one of the most moving transitions in all films, pans slowly to the grass and , as we hear motors cough into life, the grass ripples with the wash of powerful propellers and we are in the past.
Stovall relives, in the extended flashback, the early history of the 918th Bomber Group, it's hard luck reputation, it's change of command, with Gregory Peck's General Savage whipping the 918th into shape, the loss of hundreds of men and the problems of leadership Savage has to solve.
This is not your typical flag-waver like John Wayne and Randolph Scott used to make during the that war, or John Wayne and Clint Eastwood made more recently. Rather it is more in the tradition of "The Bridges at Toko Ri" or "Full Metal Jacket," a thinking person's action film. As involving as are the airplanes, the spectacular crash-landing at the start of the film, and the more spectacular combat footage towards the end, the important stuff happens inside people's heads, and it is this that the movie succeeds so well in portraying.
The movie does have it's detractions. By 1949 it was well realized that daylight precision bombing with no fighter escort was simply not as effective as its proponents hoped it would be. The losses of machines and crews would get worse until the Mustang fighter with it's long-range drop-tank could escort the bombers to their targets in 1944. But from the perspective of 1942-43 which this movie takes, one can hardly fault the commanders for their hopes that Germany could be beaten into submission without the dreadful losses a landing on Europe would entail.
Enormously popular when released the movie was remade in 1962 as "A Gathering of Eagles" starring Rock Hudson with the Cold War as a backdrop, and was made into a TV series from 1964 until 1967.
"Twelve O'Clock High" plays on Cinemax on Tuesday at 1 p.m.
*****
Convention Comment
During the Republican Convention I switched back and forth between C-Span (gavel-to-gavel) and the three networks (we'll show what we like if it doesn't cut into our profits). At one point during Jack Kemp's speech, CBS was focused on Kemp, NBC was interviewing Barry Goldwater and ABC was showing a commercial, and throughout the convention all networks failed to show us, which is what TV is about, what was going on.
All the big events, Reagan's speech, Bush's acceptance, were covered by all, but it is often the lesser lights of a party who show where it is going and I think that those of us not lucky enough to have cable or a satellite dish should be able to hear what these people are saying to the convention.
Surely public affairs shouldn't be treated the same as a lighter fare, and certainly reporters who try to make news where there is none do not serve the public.
Mac Rush works in the Banner composing room
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