Cartoon conspiracy theories? Well, there’s a first time for everything. Here’s an article for you to read that appeared in about a dozen Canadian papers today. Just like me to pour cold water on it in the end.

Tomorrow, Mark Evanier and myself are back on Shokus Internet Radio to talk about TV cartoons and all sorts of fun things.

I have a favor to ask. A few weeks ago, Jerry Beck and Keith Scott were on and got the highest number of listeners to date, breaking Mark’s record, which was just above the number that he and I got together. Tomorrow, whether you’re at work or at home, click over to Shokus Radio, even if you don’t have time to listen to the whole program. Just leave your browser connected and we’ll see if we can’t beat the pants off Jerry and Keith. And if you do have time to listen, I’m sure you’ll enjoy the show!

It airs at 4 PM Pacific Time, so adjust accordingly. You can click on the logo above to take you there, then just select your choice of player. One more thing, if you get bumped off when the live show starts, it’s not you, it’s a glitch in the Live 365 software that they are still working on. Just reconnect right after 4 and you’ll be all set.

Remember, any time between 4 and 6, click on over and join the fun… and get us a high rating!!

“Little Go Beep”, a theatrical Looney Tune that I wrote, which you can read about in detail beginning here, is finally available for viewing. Unfortunately, it’s very small and they chose the letterboxed version, which is not framed as pleasingly as the full screen, but after all these years, you can finally see it. Click on the title card below:

There is a button for “full screen” (I assume that’s still full screen letterbox), but I ran out of patience waiting for it to load… and I have a fast connection. If anyone else has better luck with that, let me know.

And a special thanks to Jerry Beck for telling me about this!

Addendum: May 10 - Apparently, AOL’s In2TV, which is hosting “Little Go Beep”, is only available in the United States. I apologize to my readers in other countries. One more thing, the original has a really nice stereo mix on the soundtrack, which they either can’t or didn’t include. Personally, I wanted them to premiere the cartoon on the next Looney Tunes Golden Collection, which technically, they can still do in the rest of the world.

This past weekend, the Hollywood Collectors Show, now officially called the Hollywood Collectors & Celebrities Show, was once again held at the Marriott Hotel in Burbank.

The picture above is me with two of the attendees. On the right is Mallory Tarcher, going by the name “Mally Lewis” so the fans would know that she is, in fact, the daughter of ventriloquist Shari Lewis. Resting comfortably atop my dome is Shari’s more famous daughter, Lamb Chop. Mallory is very talented in her own right, but she sounds so much like Shari, it’s almost spooky. None of Daws Butler’s four sons sound like him and Noel Blanc was able to master a few of Mel’s characters, but was nowhere near as versatile or as good of an actor. In the case of Shari and Mallory, the performing gene definitely got passed down.

I first met Mallory on the stairs from the restroom at Radio City Music Hall in New York. Both of us were carrying Emmys. She had picked one up for her mother, who had just passed away that year and I had my second one for “Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain”. We talked for a few minutes, complimenting each other. I was gushing, having been blown away by how much like Shari she sounded. She gave me her contact information and I called her when I got back to L.A.

We’ve gotten together a few times over the years, but I hadn’t seen her in a long time, so it was nice to reconnect. Besides being so talented, she’s a lovely person.

Unfortunately, Shari’s characters are owned by another company, so Mallory only has live performance rights. You won’t be seeing another Lamb Chop show on television any time soon. And that is a shame.