Catwomen I Have Known

Text and photos © Robert Barry Francos

The recent passing of Eartha Mae Keith, better known as Eartha Kitt, reminds me that, to date, I have met quite a number of Catwomen in my life.

The first one was in May of 1997, at a toy promotion convention called the Syndicate Promotions Toy, Music & Horror Expo, held at the Garden State Exhibit Center, in Somerset, NJ. At the time, Bernie Kugel, his wife Tink, and then very young son Ben (now graduating college, fer krissake), would go to many of these kinds of gathering to check out the merchandise (comics, records, memorabilia), meet the actors of either grade-B-thru-Z films or those on their way up or down, and maybe run into people who were also attending like Johnny Ramone (who we often saw at these jamborees of the bizarre).

Along with a bunch of wrestlers (Taz, Kimberly, and Diamond Dallas Page), actors (the angry Candy Clark, whose career rightfully should have been bigger than this), and generally cool merch, we met a number of the participants in the ‘60s version of television’s Batman.

[Julie Newmar]
One of the people I was most excited to meet there was Julie Newmar (Julia Chalene Newmeyer), the original Catwoman on the show. Hell, I had quite a memory of her growing up, in films like Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (one of my mom’s favorite film, which we’d watch it on TV), Ii’l Abner (in one of her defining roles as Stupefyin’ Jones), and Mackenna’s Gold, but especially in television appearances on just about everything, like Get Smart, Star Trek, The Monkees, F-Troop and The Beverly Hillbillies. However, it was Catwoman that was the defining role for us at PS 128. She was a stunning woman with a voice like syrup. Statuesque, a strong intellect and a very sharp timing for comedy that was overlooked due to her appearance, many of us pre-pubescent boys put her up there with the likes of Inger Stevens, Elizabeth Montgomery, Barbara Eden, Yvonne Craig, and Marta Kristen. By the time of this Syndicate Promotions show, she was in the range of nearing Social Security. She seemed to have had a number of “procedures,” and possessed what we now know as a “Cher” face. I must say, she was very sweet to all who came to say hello, and there were plenty of people on line to meet her, especially us men.

[Burt Ward]
At the next table was Robin, himself, Burt Ward (Bert John Gervis, Jr). He came across as totally cool in his Hawaiian shirt and easy manner. While the role of Robin both made and broke his career, he seemed kind of breezy, and was definitely more attentive to the women who were dropping by (and there were many middle aged giggly women there on line to get him to sign something). From what I know of his autobiography, Boy Wonder: My Life In Tights getting women excited was not something he either had a problem with or turned away from. Still, his multiple charity work and convention signings seems to have worked out for him. Mostly, he seemed to be having a lot of fun, and I totally respect that.

[Frank Gorshin]
The last Batman-related star at this convention (no, the future mayor of Quahog was not present) was Frank Gorshin. I think I was more excited to meet him any the other two. While his Joker was one of the characters most associated with him, I was a fan of his other projects, as well, especially his comic mimic work on The Kopycats, part of the ABC Comedy Hour in the early ‘70s. Along with the likes of powerhouses Rich Little, Charlie Callas, and the lovely Marilyn Michaels (I still have her LP), Frank stood out for his pure manic energy. People like Jim Carey owe him a huge debt, much as Robin Williams does (and acknowledges so) Jonathan Winters. Every week the players would do comedy sketches while mimicking famous actors (Frank would often do, for example, Kirk Douglas). But he was also strong as a dramatic actor, such as on the classic “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield” episode of Star Trek, which focused on race relations. He was one the humanoid black & white cookies, Bele, giving that great, memorable line “It is obvious to the most simpleminded that Lokai is of an inferior breed…I am black on the right side…Lokai is white on the right side. All of his people are white on the right side. “ But even before that, he had appeared in a bunch of grade D films that I remember watching on television growing up, like Hot Rod Girl, Dragstrip Girl, The Delicate Delinquent (Jerry Lewis’s first post-Dean solo endeavor) and especially, Invasion of the Saucer Men. He had a pretty lively career until his death in 2005. In 1997, he was totally accessible, and looked more like a family uncle than a movie star. I took a picture, and then he looked at me and smiled as I snapped the second. I was nervous and my hand was shaky, so the picture is a bit blurry.

[Lee Meri-weather]
In November that same year, at the Halloween edition of the Chiller Theatre gathering in Secaucus, NJ, I had the chance to run into the third woman to play Catwoman, Lee Ann Meriweather. I remembered her as much for playing the film (1966) version of Catwoman, as I had for her cinematic roles like in 4D Man, and in multitude of television shows like Star Trek. Even before that, she had been one of the original members of the Today Show and elected Miss America the year I was born. Later, should would become popular again for roles in the likes of Barnaby Jones, All My Children, and for reprising the character of Lily in the mind-numbing The Munsters Today. While I always found her to be the blandest of the Catwomen (until Michelle Pfeiffer – despite the leather outfit – whom I have not met), my opinion of her changed when our paths crossed. Anyone who has been to these kinds of shows knows that most of the artists attending are there, basically, to sell their signatures or photos, to the point of greed (I believe stemming from the anger that their career was at the point where they needed to be doing this rather being able to get jobs acting). I have had many people glare at me for taking photos of them. Not Lee; rather she put on the biggest, sincerest smile and melted my heart. She came off as incredibly genuine. After I took the picture, someone walked over and started talking to her about earlier roles. Her complete attention was directed at this individual, and she answered openly and in a non-rushed manner. From that moment on, she had and has my total respect.

The last Catwoman I came across was by sheer accident, and I did not get a photo, even though I had my camera in my hand. Thanks to connections, in May 1998, Bernie managed to wrangle two tickets to see Ringo Starr and his All Star Band play at the Bottom Line in a pre-tour tryout. It was, of course, a great show. We sat over to the right side (at a table next to Michael Moore). When I had the chance, with camera in hand, I went over to the center of the room to squat in front of one of the pillars to get a picture of the band. Between shots, I looked at the table to my left, and there was someone who looked familiar, despite the darkness through the red lights. At first, I thought, “Is that Eartha Kitt?” as I squinted. She saw me looking (pretty sure not seeing me squinting, and thinking I was staring), and gave a small smile and did a cat claw motion with her hand at me. Smiling, I took some more pictures of Ringo, and went off back to my seat, and to tell Bernie. The reason I didn’t take the picture is because it was too dark, even for 400 ASA; there announced that taking flash pictures was forbidden, and cameras would be confiscated if a flash was exploded. Eartha Kitt was a legend beyond the Catwoman role (which I’m sure she got because more because of her famous growl), but having someone of color in that role at that time broke more barriers than she (or the producers) is given credit. After all, the sexual tension with the very lily white Adam West was even more palpable than between Uhura and Kirk. Kitt was the natural progression starting from Josephine Baker, and fitting somewhere between Lena Horne and Diahann Carroll as the African-American woman white men fantasized about.

There were two other Batman related actors I have seen that I can think of, but am only mentioning them in passing due to the circumstances in which I met them. Vincent Price played the villain Egghead in the television series, but I saw him portray Oscar Wilde on Broadway in his one-man show, Diversions and Delights, in 1977. Similarly, I actually got to shake hands with the second Joker, Jack Nicholson, at a press screening of the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest in 1975. His Joker, which was meant to be so much more like Heath Ledger’s, came out closer to Frank Gorshin’s, and to date, I feel his was the worst because so much more was expected. We got a load of him, indeed.

Book Review: "From Krakow to Krypton: Jews and Comic Books" by Arie Kaplan

Text by Robert Barry Francos
Images from the Internet

As Arie Kaplan clearly shows in his book, From Krakow to Krypton: Jews and Comic Books (The Jewish Publication Society, 2008, $25; more information below), one cannot tell the story of the Jews’ role in comic books without telling the history of comics.

From the start, Kaplan illustrates how Jews, being excluded from the general graphics design business due to their heritage, created not created a means in, but fashioned an entire industry along the way.

The first official comic, published by Max “Charlie” Gains (Ginsburg), and titled Famous Funnies, was a pasted together book of newspaper comic strips that sold independently in 1933. The depression was in full swing, and people were looking for inventive ways to make a living, which was made all the harder by prejudice, be it racial or religious. As this new idea started out, as often follows, there were imitators.

Just a few short years later as the market for reprints was waning, National Comics (which would change it’s name to DC), published the first Superman story in 1938, created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, two childhood friends who had been percolating the idea since they were 12 (in their youth they were members of a Science Fiction club whose fellow clubmember and friend was the late Forrest J. Ackermann, the Jewish creator of Famous Monsters of Filmland, as Kaplan notes). It was then that comics started booming, and the era of the superhero started.

In typical Jewish fashion of the ‘30s, a time of social reform, Superman represents that idea of being a “man of the people,” and protector of the under-represented. As Kaplan also correctly points out, as his popularity rose, he became more of a symbol of the “protector of everyman,” in which he became more of a “leader of men.” [I want to acknowledge here and now that I am aware of my masculine use of the word “man” for humanity; simply, I am trying to speak in terms of the book, and the period of which I am discussing.]

In other words, if I may use the allegory of which this book is informed, Superman basically went from Golem, a symbol of protection of the weak, to rabbi, who is a representative of the entire congregation (i.e., humanity). However, due to the time period and the approaching war in Europe, Superman came across as very “Protestant,” despite his Jewish origins (such as his escape from Krypton in a Moses-like rocket/basket by a family that hoped he would be safe at the other end). This is especially true during World War II, when Superman became a symbol of Americana, to a grander purpose to protect the United States, the Allies, and the world from Nazi aggression. Despite some codified Jewish signatures, he became the icon of a (mostly) Christian nation, and the books reflected that.

The next big addition to the comics universe was by Bob Kane (Kahn) and the under-appreciated Bill Finger, the Jewish creators of my personal favorite comics character, the Bat-man (later shortened to just Batman, of course). Will Eisner’s The Spirit, and Jack Kirby (Kurtzberg) and Joe Simon’s Captain America, shortly followed. From there, it just kept exploding, including stalwarts such as Stan Lee (Leiber) and Gil Kane (Eli Katz). In fact, the field becomes so crowded with artists and writers, most of whom are from Jewish backgrounds (though excellent comic book people like Joe Orlando, obviously, are not), it is hard to tell who is Jewish and who is not, especially since so many names were changed as Jews in many fields often did up until the ‘50s. Even though there were some who sported their own birth names, such as Will Eisner, Al Jaffee, Chris Claremont (that was easy), and Joe Kubert, it was more common to have an assimilated name. By the time of the underground comix, however, it was ordinary to see names like Harvey Pekar, Trina Robbins, and Art Spiegelman.

Before the rise of comix in the late 60s, most of the “Jewishness” of the characters, Kaplan points out, are codified, such as the Superman/Moses motif mentioned earlier, or the use of the Golem, which Kaplan connects to both Superman (protector) and the Hulk (uncontrollable beast created by man), but oddly, not to Ben Grimm (Fantastic Four’s The Thing), which seems quite obvious to me (clay/stone), especially since Grimm has been “outed” as being Jewish.

One of the ironies of the whole history of the role of Jews in comics is that while the industry was essentially built by this group, it was also almost taken down by one of its own in the ‘50s, thanks to the book Seduction of the Innocent by Frederic Wertham. His was a McCarthy-istic level of attack of seeing sex in the shadows and lines of the comics (especially those put out by EC). This led to a gatekeeping intra-industry self-governance organization (similar to the Hay’s Office in film started 20 years earlier) called the Comics Code Authority, which help stifle originality and a level of social justice, turning the books more into romance and common-denominator superheroes stories. [As a sidebar: censorship is an outside influence, gatekeeping is a inter-industry watchgroup.]

Essentially, the book is broken up into three appropriate sections: The Golden Age (1933-55), The Silver Age (1956-78) and The Bronze Age (1979-present). My personal history of comics (though geek-lite; I was not as much a “collector” as a reader – and re-reader – who kept his comics) started in the Silver Age of the early ‘60s, and went through until around 2003, when my comic collecting sort of curtailed. Kaplan has pointed out much about this period that I had not only been unaware, but also not had the insight to realize. Happily, Kaplan is quite thorough on the “hidden” Jewishness of the character and plots, and about the artists who drew them. Especially enjoyable is the deeper focus on specific creators (such as Siegel and Schuster, Kane and Finger, Eisner, Kirby, Pekar, and Spiegelman).

It was quite nice to see a nod (albeit brief) to Phil Seuling, who created both the comic con, and the comic book specialty shop (the first, opened by Seuling, was in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, on the corner of 20th Avenue and 85th Street, by the way…it’s a liquor store now). He was also my high school teacher who took us to DC Comics to watch them be created, and brought some guests into the classroom like Gray Morrow and Jim Steranko. But I digress…

Another of the aspects I appreciate about From Krakow to Krypton is how Kaplan deconstructs some of the codified information about its subjects (and authors), such as the Golem connections I mentioned previously. Sometimes it felt a bit like a stretch (e.g., Spiderman having “Jewish stereotypes” of being “bespectacled, slight of build, studious, awkward”), but more often it was more of “Ohhhhhh, I get it” and “Ah-ha!” moments.

Two posits of Kaplan that I truly appreciate especially are the degree of “Jewishness” the early artists were trying to express (e.g., social justice), and how after the rise of the independent comics, mainstream characters were not only more overtly Jewish (Rory Regan in Ragman, Kitty Pryde in X-Men), but also how older characters were later revealed to be of the faith (Magneto in X-Men, Ben Grimm in The Fantastic Four). Of course, in the independents, there was more of a connection right from the start, with books like Maus, the works of Harvey Pekar, and important contributors like Will Eisner, such as the amazing A Contract With God. What I would like to see more of by Kaplan, in possible future books (or editions) is more about the writers’ and artists’ background. For example, Kaplan notes that Bill Gaines (publisher of MAD is to have been atheistic, and Eisner was secular, but I’m also interested in the religious history of the others, like Kirby, Kane, and Lee.

I do have two points of contention with the book that I must add. First, on page 107, Kaplan states that, “Stan Lee’s Marvel Comics of the 1960s were also distinct because they were written for a wider audience demographic than most comic books.” I totally disagree, in a friendly, debating kind of way. I believe that these comics were designed for a more specific and knowledgeable readership. Kaplan even states in the same paragraph that “for the first time comic books went out of their way to court high school and college students as well as young kids. Teenagers racked with adolescent neuroses and identity issues identified heavily with characters like Spider-Man and the X-Men…” Earlier comics were broad-based stories that anyone of any age could read, not just kids (this is, in my opinion, the result of the CCA, trying to make sure that everyone can be happy). The second half of the ‘60s brought back cultural relevance and social justice story lines that had been gone for a while. It had to become more focused on a specific demographic that started to be too old and too savvy, and brought them back into the fold.

My second contention is the lack of mention of one of my favorite series, Shaloman, an independent comic from the early 1990s written, drawn and produced by Al Weisner (Mark 1 Comics). It’s mostly tongue-in-cheek, but the comic also deals with the futility of in-fighting between Jewish sects (portrayed, for example, by a war between the planets Chasidiak Four and Grivenus Seven), anti-Semitism, and cultural food, all wrapped in a sharp sense of Yiddishe humor. As far as I have seen, though, the first Jewish comic book series produced by, for, and about Jews is Mendy and the Golem, created in 1982 by writer Leibel Estrin, artist Dovid Sears, and colorist Barry Grossman. Issued by publisher Yankel Pinson's Mendy Enterprises in New York City, it deals with a Chasidic family and their Golem, Sholem (whose face you never see because he's taller than the comic's frame), and tells of Ashkinaszi Jewish traditions, historical stories and scholars, and ways to live one's life. It is geared towards older children, but has a funny and corny sense of humor with liberal use of puns, and with lots of Hebrew and Yiddish thrown in (with translations, 'natch).

That being said, I want to say I also admire the format of the book. The layout is superb, with many color and black-and-white illustrations, including some full pages of stories that relate to what Kaplan has described. Even the forward, by Harvey Pekar (text) and JT Waldman (art), presented in comic form, feels right.

Russell Wolinsky, ex-singer of the seminal New York band the Sic F*cks, asked me how this book compared to Danny Fingeroth’s Disguised as Clark Kent: Jews, Comics, and the Creation of the Superhero. The answer is simple: I don’t know, as I haven’t yet read Fingeroth. Maybe another blog at another time?

An aspect about Arie Kaplan’s From Krakow to Krypton that is appealing is that while it respects the comic nerd and never talks down to him/her, this is also a cultural study that is non-exclusive, so even if one is just interested in Jewish cultural history, they can read this and not feel lost, or like an outsider. Kaplan treats all his readers equally, being that he is a mensch.

About the author (from the book jacket): Arie Kaplan is a comedian, MAD Magazine writer, and author of the new comic book miniseries Speed Racer: Chronicles of the Racer. His other comic book credits include the DC title Cartoon Network Action Pack and the Papercutz series Tales From the Crypt. Arie lectures all over the country about comic books, comedians, and popular culture. He is the author of Masters of the Comic Book Universe Revealed! And he’s also written for MTV, Cartoon Network, and PBS Kids.
www.ariekaplan.com

About the publisher: The Jewish Publication Society is a nonprofit educational organization formed to enhance the Jewish culture by promoting the dissemination of religious and secular works, in the United States and abroad, to all individuals and institutions interested in past and contemporary Jewish life.
www.jewishpub.org

On Comic Book Collecting

All photos are from the Internet

Text by Robert Barry Francos/FFanzeen

Comic books have moved in and out of my life for nearly as long as I remember.

It started in the early ‘60s when my grandfather was in a nursing home in the Bronx. The family would go and visit him, but we kids were not allowed up to the room. As this home was also a hospital and he was bedridden with a bad heart (something that would have been solved easily today with a pacemaker), no one under the age of 12 was allowed up (though I remember going a couple of times). While my parents visited him, my older (and only) brother Richie and I would stay in the lobby-level waiting area by ourselves, or run around the block (something that would be considered practically criminal these days, letting two preteen kids out on the street alone in a strange neighborhood…but I digress). Before we drove up there, my father would give us both a dollar, and we were to spend it on comic books. They were 10 cents each then, so we could each buy 10 of them. We’d sit in the waiting area and after we finished our own, we’d read each other’s (of course, we’d coordinate so we didn’t buy the same ones).

We had lots of them, including some I clearly remember, like the first Hulk, the first Spiderman, original Classics Illustrated, Charlton’s Konga movie adaptation, the first Fantastic Four, and many others of the Silver Age. We read them over and over and over again, at any chance we could. This included after “lights out.” As punishment for getting caught, my dad would rip up the comics. That’s what happened to all those I just mentioned, by the way. I’ll wait while the collective gasps settle.



The next bit of comics I clearly recall is when I went to sleepaway camp, for three weeks each summer from ages 8-15. Comics were 12-15 cents each, so my dad would give me $2-3, and I bought a stack to last me the duration. Usually, there were other kids who did the same, and we’d trade ‘em back and forth. We usually wrote our names in them, so we’d get them back at some point. Invariably, we’d come home with most of ours, and some of others.

One day at Lafayette High School, in Brooklyn, I was sitting in a class across an aisle from someone I didn’t like while reading a DC comic, and looked up and he was reading a Marvel. I’ve been brother-from-another-mother with Bernie Kugel since. I enjoyed narrative stories that were short (single or double issue at most) with the clear artwork of the likes of Wally Wood and Jack Davis (hence, the DC); Bernie was more into the genre as a whole. He appreciated the experimental artwork of Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, and the expansive arcs of stories (hence, the Marvel). It was easier for him though, as his father owned a stationary store, so he had a better chance to seeing stories from beginning to end.

Speaking of experimental, Lafayette, was trying to keep kids from dropping out in the early ‘70s, so they tested different ways by switching out the usual English classes. We took one course in Science Fiction, and another in Comic Books. This latter class was astounding. Phil Seuiling, who opened up the very first comic book retail store ever four short blocks from my house, taught it (it is a Russian liquor store now). Phil also was instrumental in starting the comic cons. He brought famous artists like Gray Morrow and Jim Steranko into the classroom. We went to DC Comics on 53 Street and watched books being drawn and created. At his home, we saw lots of Golden and Silver Age original artwork boards framed on his wall. He got angry, though, when someone knocked one of them off the wall and the frame broke, throwing us out of his apartment. Around that same time, Phil did the voice of one of the police officers (portrayed by a pig) in the Ralph Bakshi film Fritz the Cat (1972), which was rated X, so we could not yet see it. He was fired the next year or the year after for selling a underground comix to someone in the class who was legally underage (the student’s mother turned him in).

While I read comics sporadically after high school and through college, I was not as much into them as I was into the whole nascent CBGB/Max’s Kansas City scene, and spent my money on either buying vinyl, seeing shows, or on putting out my fanzine, FFanzeen.

In 1990, I started working for a Fortune 500 company on 53 Street and Lexington. Bernie, who had moved back from Buffalo with his family four years earlier, was working a couple of blocks away. Once a week, we’d meet at lunch, and rather than eat, we’d go to a comic store a few blocks away. We’d hit the store and get our fix. We even saw David Carradine and his wife there buying books once. It was a heady time for comics, and I had re-discovered my love for Richard Corben, who I had enjoyed in Creepy and Eerie and now his work in such books as Den, and for the crisp, bloodletting of Tim Vigil, especially his Faust series. There was also Batman’s Killing Joke, the Dark Knight series, Concrete, and of course, Watchmen.

On weekends, I would make excursions with the Kugel family to Staten Island where we would hit the mall, and then Jim Hanley’s Universe on New Dorp Lane. When the Universe opened at the Staten Island Mall, we would go to both. (As a sidebar, odds are we were coming in contact with Staten Island author, musician, comic lover, and Hanley Universe employee JD Glass without even knowing it!) When Hanley closed the store at the Mall, they had a massive sale there, and we went crazy buying comics and graphic novels for 90% off. I probably spent $50 that day and came home with a trunkful.

[Faust]
Other than superhero and horror short stories, some of my favorite comics were non-fiction, either serious ones like the original Classics Illustrated series, the Lower East Side tales by Will Eisner, Keiji Kakazawa’s autobiographical Barefoot Gen, Art Spiegelman’s two-part graphic novel, Maus, and the comical look at our past in Larry Gonick’s History of the Universe

These days, I don’t buy comics much anymore, but they remain close to my heart. Due to lack of room, I’m starting to liquidate some of my collection. Many of them are worthless other than enjoyment (i.e., 10 or more copies on sale on eBay for a dime each), and I’ve given quite a bunch away, and still am sorting through. By the end, I’ll probably get rid of a more than a third of them. The fun part is that I am re-reading many from the early ‘70s that I bought during the Phil Seuling years (he would get us discounts). For those who are shocked at this, note that I am not dissolving any of the ones that I keep close to my heart, like Batman, Superman, Faust, Shaloman, comix (Zap! , etc.), EC reprints, and many others. However, I am ditching some of my indie ones, like those by Innovation, Dark Horse, and some one-offs. What I’m saying is that I’ll keep the ones that mean something to me.

Though comic books may be passé to some, so many people I know still are strongly into it. We get together and see the latest film based on the comics, and then discuss. Our big recent debate is whether The Dark Knight or Iron Man (we all gave a collective whoop at the end, after the credits) is better, though it seems as though it is still a DC vs. Marvel issue. For me, they were both great films, and though I remain a Batmaner, I am fond of both cinematic extensions. And I look forward to the Watchman movie with both anticipation and the dread that they may ruin it, like they did 300. I’m keeping my cape and cowl crossed.