Who's Going To Hell This Week
Helen A. Handbasket
Reader Recommendation
More Liberal Radio
I was delighted to find my old friend Michael Jackson, who got me through the 70's and 80's during Reagan the Gov, Reagan-Bush the Prez on KABC.
He is now on KLAC (570 AM in LA) from 9 to noon, counter-programming a certain deaf pigboy who has proliferated all over the unbiased airwaves for lo, these many years.
You can even listen live on 570klac.com.
Dittoes, indeed!!!
~~ Lar
Thanks, Larry...will check it out! If you know of a liberal radio show, send me a link, and
I'll start a page (and try to keep it up to date).
Reader Recommendation
Deficit Dubya
www.mind.net/basile/DeficitDubya13.html
Thanks, Marc!
Seasonal, Reasonable Reader Rant
'Grandma' & The WB
Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer(Or is it Redneck?)
This coming friday at 8:30 PM (ET), the WB will air a Christmas special
based around the novelty song ''Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer''. If
this doesn't prove that the WB is controlled by ignorant people, then I
don't know what the hell will.
I live in the Knoxville, Tennessee radio market, which is mostly dominated by a country music station (which shall remain nameless), better known for having a frog for a mascot. This station foists this damn song on us every year about this time, and the song is as authentic as a total piece of fabricated ignorant redneck
bullshit can get. As a result, 80% of the people in this market think of this song when the words 'novelty song' are mentioned. If this station should blow any more smoke up my ass, I might criticize Phillip Morris.
Anyone who would even conceive of a song by the title ''Grandma Got Run Over
By A Reindeer'' is DERANGED! Somebody tell me where the nearest station
that carries the Dr. Demento Show can be found, please! The only reason
for this special is the almighty dollar, and we all know it!
~~ George M.
Thanks, George....Funny you should mention Dr. Demento....
''...There are now just a handful of stations that continue to broadcast "Dr. D".
Fortunately, some of them are broadcasting throughout the 'Net! ''
This link will
take you to a site that lists & links to those stations.
And, there is always drdemento.com.
Reader Response
Helly's Opinion
Rosie's conversion to chimp sucker had nothing to do with 9/11.
She's a lesbian with four kids and a live in lover. She's got her name
on a magazine that requires mainstream acceptance and a show about to end.
When she babbled her non-chimpian political views, she had to hire
armed guards for her kids and flee a couple o wealthy communities.
Rosie is one more in an endless line of beaten, bloodied, terrorized
Dems who have found the joys of abject surrender.
Dems in Congress are pissing themselves with fear that they aren't
licking fast enough to please their masters.
Remove BartCop and there isn't a
single Dem left to call a psychotic wingnut an evildoing asshole.
Helly
Damn! You don't pull any punches...not that there's anything there to be disagreed with,
(in my opinion)...
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
New! Updated!
(10 Dec., 2001)
The official BartCop Astrologer, Geneva, has done good, again!
Currently, look at the charts of George Harrison.
Very interesting reading!
Divorce News
Barrymore - Green
After less than a year of marriage, actor Tom Green filed for divorce in Los Angeles on Monday from ''Charlie's
Angels'' star Drew Barrymore, his publicist said.
In a statement, Green said: ``Drew is a wonderful woman. I love her very much. I wish our marriage could have
worked out. I wish her much happiness.''
Court papers filed by Green in Los Angeles County Court cited irreconcilable differences.
A spokesman for Barrymore was not immediately available for comment.
Green's new film this year, ``Freddy Got Fingered,'' was a major flop at the box office and was assailed
for its bad taste by film critics, many of whom placed it on their lists of the ''worst'' movies of the year.
Barrymore stood by Green during a fight with testicular cancer last year. The couples' Hollywood Hills
home was damaged in a fire earlier this year from which they escaped after their dog alerted them to the danger.
Drew & Tom
Changes In 'Lord Of The Rings'
No Tom Bombadil
Not all fans are eager to see Tolkien's work on the big screen. Although film critics have given the movie
generally high marks, previews clearly show scenes that were not in the book, and fans in Internet chat rooms,
such as Tolkienonline.com, have been merciless in their criticism of those changes.
``The Lord of the Rings'' draws comparisons to the recent movie adaptation of ``Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's
Stone'' in its ardent following - not to mention its fantasy themes of wizards and mythical beings. The decision
by ``Harry Potter'' filmmakers to adhere closely to the book delighted many fans but drew some critics' barbs.
Tolkien devotees - even those who haven't seen the movie - can reel off a list of differences between
the books and the film, from changes in the story's structure to the elimination of scenes and characters.
Purists are most vocal about changes to the character Arwen (played by Liv Tyler), who in the first book does little more
than sit at her father's side during a banquet. She is absent in the second book, returning only in the third book and appendices.
In the movie, Arwen helps protect protagonist Frodo Baggins from spirit-warriors who are searching for him and the magical ring he carries.
Verlyn Flieger, an English professor at the University of Maryland who has written two books on Tolkien, shares those concerns.
``This is the alteration of a scene, but also of a character,'' Flieger said. ``In the book, she is not a warrior woman. There
is a warrior woman, Eowyn, but of course she won't come in until the second film, so I think there is a marketing dimension to this.''
Unlike fans of ``Harry Potter,'' a relatively recent book series, many Tolkien devotees have developed their attachment over
decades of reading and rereading.
Changes In 'LOTR'
Counterprogramming The 'Super Bowl'
'Fear Factor' With Bunnies!
NBC will pit Playboy Playmates against pigskin with a special Super Bowl Sunday edition of the network's
red-hot reality series ``Fear Factor.''
In a bid to steal away some of Fox's Super thunder, NBC plans to broadcast a two-part, 80-minute edition of
``Fear Factor'' during halftime and immediately after Fox's Feb. 4 Super Bowl broadcast. The episode will
feature six Playboy Playmates competing for coin in the controversial game show's usual assortment of gross-out
stunts and dares. Past stunts have had people eating buffalo testicles or being dropped in a rat pit.
The first 20 minutes will be timed to coincide with the beginning of halftime festivities, which will include
a live performance by U2. The remainder of the show will be seen at 10 p.m. EST -- about the same time Fox plans
to air a special star-packed, hourlong edition of Emmy-winning comedy ``Malcolm in the Middle.''
NBC is also expected to air several repeat editions of ``Fear Factor'' opposite the big game itself.
While NBC's pigskin plans represent the most aggressive Super Bowl counterprogramming by a broadcast network
in several years, it's not the first time a competing network has tried to capitalize on the enormous audience
of couch spuds available on Super Bowl Sunday.
Fox pioneered such cheeky stunts in 1992, with a special live edition of sketch comedy ``In Living Color,'' which
aired during halftime of CBS' coverage of the Super Bowl. The ``ILC'' special stole away a huge chunk of CBS' half-time viewers.
NBC To Outfaux Faux
New!
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
First Annual AFI Awards
Film & TV
The American Film Institute Monday announced nominations for the first annual AFI Awards in 19 film and television categories.
The AFI, which is dedicated to advancing and preserving the art of film and television, will present its awards Jan. 5 at the Beverly Hills Hotel in a live television broadcast after balloting by a 100-member jury of industry experts.
MOTION PICTURE NOMINATIONS:
Movie:
``A Beautiful Mind''
``Black Hawk Down''
``In the Bedroom''
``The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring''
``The Man who Wasn't There''
``Memento''
``Monster's Ball''
``Moulin Rouge''
``Mulholland Drive''
``Shrek''
Actor
Russell Crowe (''A Beautiful Mind'')
Billy Bob Thornton (''The Man who Wasn't There'')
Denzel Washington (''Training Day'')
Tom Wilkinson (''In the Bedroom'')
Actress
Halle Berry (''Monster's Ball'')
Stockard Channing (''The Business of Strangers'')
Sissy Spacek (''In the Bedroom'')
Naomi Watts (''Mulholland Drive'')
Featured Actor
Steve Buscemi (''Ghost World'')
Brian Cox (''L.I.E.'')
Gene Hackman (''The Royal Tenenbaums'')
Tony Shalhoub (''The Man Who Wasn't There'')
Featured Actress
Cate Blanchett (''Bandits'')
Jennifer Connelly (''A Beautiful Mind'')
Cameron Diaz (''Vanilla Sky'')
Frances O'Connor (''A.I. Artificial Intelligence'')
Director
Robert Altman (''Gosford Park'')
Todd Field (''In the Bedroom'')
David Lynch (''Mulholland Drive'')
Ridley Scott (''Black Hawk Down'')
Screenwriter
Rob Festinger, Todd Field (''In the Bedroom'')
Christopher Nolan (''Memento'')
Akiva Goldsman (''A Beautiful Mind'')
Daniel Clowes, Terry Zwigoff (''Ghost World'')
Cinematographer
Ericson Core (''The Fast and the Furious'')
Roger Deakins (''The Man who Wasn't There'')
Slawomir Idziak (''Black Hawk Down'')
Janusz Kaminski (''A.I. Artificial Intelligence'')
Editor
Jill Bilcock (''Moulin Rouge'')
Dody Dorn (''Memento'')
Pietro Scalia (''Black Hawk Down'')
Tim Squyres (''Gosford Park'')
Production Designer
Stephen Altman (''Gosford Park'')
Rick Carter (''A.I. Artificial Intelligence'')
Grant Major (''The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring'')
Arthur Max (''Black Hawk Down'')
Digital Artist
Robert Legato, Nick Davis, Roger Guyett (''Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone'')
Jim Rygiel (''The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring'')
Scott Farrar, Dennis Muren (''A.I. Artificial Intelligence'')
Bob Sabiston (''Waking Life'')
Composer
Craig Armstrong (''Moulin Rouge'')
Angelo Badalementi (''Mulholland Drive'')
Patrick Doyle (''Gosford Park'')
Howard Shore (''The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring'')
TELEVISION NOMINATIONS:
Drama Series
``Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' (UPN)
``Six Feet Under'' (HBO)
``The Sopranos'' (HBO)
``The West Wing'' (NBC)
Comedy
``Curb Your Enthusiasm'' (HBO)
``Everybody Loves Raymond'' (CBS)
``Malcolm in the Middle'' (FOX)
``Sex and the City'' (HBO)
Movie or Mini-Series
``Anne Frank'' (ABC)
``Band of Brothers'' (HBO)
``Boycott'' (HBO)
``Conspiracy'' (HBO)
Actor, Series
James Gandolfini (''The Sopranos'')
Michael C. Hall (''Six Feet Under'')
Chi McBride (''Boston Public'')
Ray Romano (''Everybody Loves Raymond'')
Actress, Series
Edie Falco (''The Sopranos'')
Allison Janney (''The West Wing'')
Jane Kaczmarek (''Malcolm in the Middle'')
Doris Roberts (''Everybody Loves Raymond'')
Actor, Movie or Mini-Series
Kenneth Branagh (''Conspiracy'')
Ben Kingsley (''Anne Frank'')
Giovanni Ribisi (''Shot in the Heart'')
Jeffrey Wright (''Boycott'')
Actress, Movie or Mini-Series
Tammy Blanchard (''Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows'')
Judy Davis (''Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows'')
Hannah Taylor Gordon (''Anne Frank'')
Phylicia Rashad (''The Old Settler'')
First Annual AFI Awards
Christmas Parties From Hell
Corporate Grinches
New York isn't the only city feeling the pinch of the corporate grinch this holiday party season.
At ABC News' party at the Mayflower hotel in Washington, D.C., last week, employees were charged $10 to bring their spouses
along - and everyone was charged $6.75 for a glass of wine. To compensate, parent Disney sent everyone two "passports" to its theme parks.
Sure hope that isn't 'wine in a box'...
Back To Work After 6 Months In Rehab
Paula Poundstone
Self-deprecating humor seemed to suit comic Paula Poundstone, who is engineering a comeback after legal
troubles landed her in jail and drug rehabilitation.
She told the audience at the Rio Theatre in Santa Cruz, "It's kind of strange to see this many seats
not in a circle," referring to her stay at the Promises rehab facility in Malibu.
Poundstone was performing for the first time since she pleaded no contest to felony child endangerment
and a misdemeanor charge of inflicting injury upon a child. She completed court-ordered drug rehab and
was placed on five years' probation.
"This is my first night performing since I've been a criminal," the 41-year-old comic said during the
two-hour performance detailed Monday by the Los Angeles Times.
Paula Gets Back To Work
Monday, In Hollywood....Finally!
Martin Landau
Oscar-winner Martin Landau has a permanent home in front of Hollywood's new Kodak Theatre.
The 70-year-old star of "Ed Wood" and "Crimes and Misdemeanors" received a Walk of Fame star
Monday in honor of his new film "The Majestic."
Landau plays an aging theater owner who mistakes a wounded man, played by Jim Carrey, for a
long lost son he thought died in World War II. Carrey's character is really a blacklisted
screenwriter who lost his memory in a car accident.
Landau said the star was "proof that dreams do come true" and said he was honored to be
immortalized in the same walkway as Charlie Chaplin and Clark Gable.
Landau knelt by the star and kissed it several times while waving to the crowd.
The landmark was dedicated in front of the Kodak Theatre, the newly opened home of the
Academy Awards, adjacent to the historic Chinese Theatre. The marker was the 2,187th star on the Walk of Fame.
Martin Landau Finally Gets A Star
The Nominees For The 13th Annual Concert Industry Awards
Another Poll
Pollstar is pleased to announce the nominees for the 13th Annual Concert Industry Awards.
The gala awards ceremony takes place February 9 at the swank new Kodak Theatre in Hollywood.
The awards recognize those who represent the best the concert business has to offer.
Pollstar.com is highlighting the four artist-related categories: Major Tour Of The Year,
Most Creative Tour Package, Most Creative Stage Production, and Best New Artist Tour.
Madonna, Radiohead and U2 battle it out for the Major Tour Of The Year prize.
The unifying feature among the three acts is that each had an entirely sold-out
international tour, playing to arena-sized crowds.
U2 were the biggest money-maker but Madonna's spectacular production and ariel stunts,
and Radiohead's fan appeal will give the Irish rockers a run for their money.
The Most Creative Tour Package nominees are the Brooks & Dunn Neon Circus, Elton
John/Billy Joel, Tony Bennett/k.d. Lang, and the Warped Tour.
The Most Creative Stage Production choice could be a close one. In the running are the fan-friendly
stage design of U2's Elevation Tour; Madonna's elaborate crouching tiger - hidden superstar
theatrics; Janet Jackson's steamy choreography; Tool's ominous acrobats and digital images;
and *NSYNC's 80-foot-high flying stunts, levitating platforms and moving sidewalks.
Finally, in the Best New Artist Tour slot, Alicia Keys, Dido, Linkin Park, Pete Yorn, and
The Strokes contend for the award.
Another Poll
Confrontation In Berlin
Billy Joel
Rock superstar Billy Joel had a tense confrontation with the family of a Nazi supporter who forced the
superstar's grandfather out of business, according to a documentary airing on German TV this week.
"The Joel File" chronicles how Nazi racial laws forced Karl Anson Joel to sell his textile firm at a
fire-sale price to the politically connected Josef Neckermann.
Joel lost his cool after his brother Alexander, director of the Vienna State Opera, asked Neckermann's
grandchildren if their grandfather was sorry for what he did.
They answered with a pause and a whispered "yes."
"Yes? That's it? Well, that's interesting!" Joel barked.
The Neckermann empire, which used slave labor to make uniforms for the Third Reich, has grown into a
multibillion-dollar retailing and leisure company.
The film relates how Karl Joel asked Neckermann, who also wound up with the Joel family villa in the
beautiful Charlottenburg district of Berlin, if the sale would bring him safety.
"Find your own safety," Neckermann told him.
Joel's grandfather escaped to Switzerland, but the piano man's father, Helmuth was held by the Nazis
at the Dachau concentration camp until it was liberated by American troops in 1945.
Joel said he regretted his outburst at the Neckermann heirs.
History Comes Knocking
New TV Documentary
Marilyn Monroe
Recently unearthed secret interviews with Marilyn Monroe reveal that the sex siren saw posing nude as
her only escape from poverty.
A British TV documentary - "Marilyn on Marilyn" - contains interviews with the blonde bombshell toward the
end of her tragic life that have never been made public.
The star of "Some Like it Hot," "The Seven Year Itch" and scores of other movies confesses that her movie
career was stalled until she posed for the famous photos in the 1940s.
"I was behind in the rent and I was hungry," Monroe says of her decision to pose nude. "We just spread
out some red velvet. It was very simple and drafty."
The superstar said she realized that posing for the raunchy pix were the only way to change her desperate life.
In the series of interviews, Monroe also discusses her marriage to Yankee great Joe DiMaggio. She candidly
admits the two shared unique insight into each other's complex psyches.
"He understood some things about me, and I understood some things about him, and we based our marriage
on it," the actress said.
But the Yankee Clipper soon became distraught over Marilyn's overt screen sexuality. She remained unrepentant.
"If I am going to be a symbol of something, I'd rather have it for sex than some other thing," she said.
"We are all born sexual creatures."
After her marriage to DiMaggio crashed in 1956, she wedded playwright Arthur Miller. Monroe attributed
the unlikely coupling to the pair's similar personalities.
"He was a very sensitive human being and I am a sensitive person also," she said.
But in the 1962 interviews, it's clear that her glamorous career was beginning to take a toll on the petite blonde.
"Sometimes they take, like, pieces out of you and I don't think they realize it," she said of overbearing
directors upset with her tardiness. "Maybe it is just because I can't go as fast as other people."
New Marilyn Monroe Documentary
Will Smith Plays The Champ
Ali Is The Champ
Will Smith claims he was so afraid of a critical TKO he delayed signing on to play boxing legend Muhammad Ali.
It took some convincing on the part of the film's director, Michael Mann, to get Smith to make a decision. But
the actor said the two made the journey into Ali's complex psyche together.
But at least one fight fan is in Smith's corner: the Champ himself. The 59-year-old Ali, who suffers from Parkinson's
disease, delighted in the young actor's performance.
"He did a good job," Ali said.
The three-time heavyweight champ's wife, Lonnie, added that Smith "has the same kind of personality as Muhammad."
Ali said that Smith was the first and only choice for the role.
"He's the only guy in the world who could look like me and act like me," Ali said, adding that he also approved of Mann, who is white.
"The people that made the movie, I know they're qualified. I don't care what color they are."
''Ali''
Updated!
BartCop TV!
Visit the site at BC TV
The 'Vidiot' never seems to rest - and doesn't let little things like laundry or
housekeeping get in the way!
Damn near every show on TV must is listed - days & days worth of great reading.
If you have any questions about nearly any tv program, check out
BC TV!
Not Off The Hook, Yet
Peter Buck
R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck will be retried in March for an alleged air rage incident earlier this year
on a London-bound jet, a British judge ruled Monday.
Buck's first trial at London's Isleworth Crown Court collapsed Nov. 13 after the judge discharged the jury
on the second day of the proceeding without explanation.
A spokesman for Britain's Crown Prosecution Service said the new trial was set for March 4 in London.
Buck, 45, was accused of being drunk and assaulting two crew members on a British Airways flight from
Seattle to London's Heathrow Airport.
He faced three more charges of criminal damage, using threatening behavior and disobeying an aircraft commander.
Buck was flying to London April 21 for a concert to celebrate South African democracy in London's
Trafalgar Square before launching a world tour with R.E.M.
Air Rage & Peter Buck, Part 2
New Quiz Show
''The Chair''
ABC has committed to 13 episodes of a new quiz show requiring contestants to control their heart rate while
they answer general knowledge questions for money.
The series, tentatively titled ``The Chair,'' is targeted to bow in primetime sometime in 2002. Eight contestants
will compete in a qualifying round to win the chance of sitting in the special seat rigged up to a heart monitor.
Up to five players can make it to the chair per episode.
Once in the chair, players earn money each time they answer questions correctly. But if their heart rate exceeds a
certain limit -- decided before the show during a three-hour resting period -- they start to lose their winnings.
They must wait until their heart rate returns to normal before they can answer another question.
Players -- who'll be screened for drug use and other factors -- leave the chair once their money runs out or they
get a question wrong. Surprises will add to the self-control challenge. ABC has yet to decide how much money a contestant can win.
The first versions of ``The Chair'' likely will be rolled out early next year in New Zealand, Australia, Germany
and the United States.
Talk About Self-Control
Film In Production
Eminem
Eminem and director Curtis Hanson had a lot of goals in mind when they decided to film the rapper's movie
in the Motor City.
Moviegoers will find out whether Hanson and Eminem achieve another goal: making a serious drama about a young
white man's search for identity in a predominantly black culture.
``The Eminem we're putting on screen is so not the Eminem the public thinks they know,'' said Hanson, who previously
directed ``L.A. Confidential'' and ``Wonder Boys.''
The film, scheduled for release in summer 2002, so-stars Kim Basinger and Brittany Murphy.
Curtis Hanson & Eminem Make A Movie
BC Entertainment Favorite Link
Moose & Squirrel Information One-Stop
http://geocities.com/mooseandsquirrel1
What a great site! Information and reference materials of the first order!
Between 'Moose & Squirrel' and 'Google', who needs 'refdesk'!
Off To Join The Army
Stuart Wells
An actor from the hit film Billy Elliot has turned his back on Hollywood fame to enlist in the British
military, the army has said.
Stuart Wells played Billy Elliot's gay best friend in the film about a boy who struggles to become a
ballet dancer against his father's wishes.
The 19-year-old said he was persuaded by his younger brother, who is a fusilier in Germany, to ditch the cameras for the cannons.
The Tyneside youngster is currently starring in ITV's hit drama ``Peak Practice'' and has returned from
Spain with Hollywood stars Willem Dafoe and Brian Cox after filming ``The Reckoning,'' released this month.
``I'd always wanted to join the army, but got sidetracked from this goal when 'Billy Elliot' became a big hit,'' Wells said.
A Soldier, Not An Actor
Peculiar Story Of The Day
Holy Smoke
When Jeffery Keith Powell's mother walked into the Muscogee County Jail on Aug. 4, she was carrying a
large-print Bible for her son.
But jailers, tipped to a scheme to smuggle marijuana into the jail, found rolling papers and marijuana
sealed in the bulging binding of the Bible Jeffery Powell's mama was toting.
The jailers also knew that Powell's mother didn't know she was carrying contraband. Assistant District
Attorney Crawford Seals told Muscogee Superior Court Judge John Allen that was the work of Powell's
girlfriend and Michael A. Teasley.
Seals said Powell wrote a letter to his girlfriend, telling her in street language that he needed more
marijuana. The girlfriend arranged for Powell's mother to pick up the Bible from Teasley. The print was
too small on the Bible she had earlier provided, Powell had complained. The mother paid Teasley $80 for
the large-print book, after the marijuana had been hidden in its binding, he said.
But jailers, who had been tipped that marijuana was making its way into the jail area where Powell was
held, read that letter from Powell to his girlfriend and were waiting for his mother's visit, Seals said.
Teasley, 31, of 2421 17th Ave., pleaded guilty Thursday to attempting to cross guard lines with drugs and
was sentenced to two years on probation, fined $300 and ordered to participate in a drug rehabilitation
program. Teasley had no prior criminal conviction, having had his record cleared upon completion of a
First Offender Act sentence in 1997 for possessing marijuana. Powell's girlfriend was not charged.
Powell, 31, was sentenced to four years in prison and six years in probation on Sept. 13 after pleading
guilty to first-degree forgery of a check stolen from Teasley's father.
His poor mother!
In Memory
Stuart Adamson
Stuart Adamson, lead singer and guitarist for the Scottish rock band Big Country, was found dead Sunday
in a hotel room of an apparent suicide. He was 43.
Adamson's estranged wife, Melanie Shelley, reported the singer missing from his Nashville home Nov. 26.
Vogel said he suspected marital troubles prompted his disappearance.
An autopsy determined the cause of death was asphyxia by hanging.
Adamson formed Big Country in 1981, scoring hits in the 1980s with "In a Big Country" and "Fields of Fire."
He played guitar and sang lead; fellow guitarist Bruce Watson, bassist Tony Butler and drummer Mark Brzezicki
completed the quartet.
The group was nominated for two Grammys, best new artist and best song, in 1984. Their guitar sound was
inspired in part by folk music and was described by some critics as mimicking bagpipes.
Stuart Adamson
In Memory
Seymour Reit
Seymour Reit, an author and illustrator who helped create Casper the Friendly Ghost, died Nov. 21. He was 83.
Casper, a young ghost who tries to make friends and does not want to scare people, was depicted in 55 animated
shorts, dozens of comic books, a television show and a 1995 movie produced by Steven Spielberg.
The character's origin was disputed by Reit and Casper's illustrator, Joe Oriolo, but according to Reit, he developed
the idea for a friendly ghost in a short story in 1940, and Oriolo then drew up a sketch featuring Casper in various poses.
All rights to Casper were sold to Famous Studios at Paramount in the early 1940s for $200, but Reit said he did
not mourn what he might have lost in the deal.
Reit was born in New York City on Nov. 11, 1918 - Armistice Day. He used his artistic talent during World War II
working in a camouflage unit. He then served with the Army Air Forces in Europe after D-Day.
After the war, Reit wrote for the comic books ``Archie,'' and ``Little Lulu,'' contributed to Casper shorts, and
penned more than 60 humor pieces for Mad magazine.
He also wrote several nonfiction books for adults and more than 80 children's books on subjects ranging from Balto, the
hero dog, to the Confederate ironclad the Merrimack.
Seymour Reit
"Boondocks" (9 Oct 01)
Still MISSING
Marc Chagall's "Study for 'Over Vitebsk'"
