Pee-Wee Herman, Death by Fruitcake & San Diego Comic-Con

June 3rd, 2025 by Max Allan Collins

The two-part HBO documentary, Pee-Wee as Himself (directed by Matt Wolf) hit me hard. It was, in many respects, delightful; but to revisit the unfair attacks on Paul Reubens, due to one ill-judged moment and a subsequent witch hunt, was a painful experience.

The Paul Reubens interviewed by Wolf (a great job by Wolf on this) was the Paul I knew – a pleasant, quietly witty soul who could be frank and guarded, all at once. He’s very funny in the doc, but Wolf wisely included Paul struggling with how deep to dive into himself. He dove pretty damn deep, actually.

The one thing that struck me most was how Paul and Pee-Wee had, on some level – again, a deep level – merged into one for these final trips in front of the camera. The playful Paul, and the private one, seemed to struggle with each other throughout – but the very sweetly funny man he was prevailed.

He made some enemies in his time here on earth. He was driven and that drive at times left people behind. I’ve spoken to several Groundlings (the Second City-style comedy troupe of which Paul was a part in L.A. at the start of Pee-Wee) who resented his success. You don’t reach the heights of show business without a certain coldness – asked about this in the doc, Paul shrugs and says, “It is show business.”

It’s tough to have the kind of large ego that leads to success without alienating some of those you meet along the way. I can only say that Paul’s generous, sweet nature that I encountered reminds me we were all lucky to know Pee-Wee Herman.

This is what I wrote about Paul and Pee-Wee before Christmas 2013. I’ve reprinted this before, but it seemed appropriate – even necessary – to share it again.

For me, Christmas begins when I receive my yearly Christmas card from Paul Reubens. Sometimes Paul writes a personal note. The cards are always charming and even hilarious, and we have easily two dozen of them. This year Barb made a wreath out of some our favorites.

I went crazy over Pee-Wee with his HBO Special, The Pee-Wee Herman Show in 1981. I was doing the DICK TRACY strip at the time, and I put Pee-Wee in the strip – he was on television saying, “My name’s Pee-Wee – what’s yours?” And a TV-obsessed villain of mine replied, “Splitscreen!”

Paul Reubens phoned me shortly after that, delighted by the TRACY appearance, and we chatted. Shortly after that, taking time out from a San Diego con, Terry Beatty and I visited Paul in LA – he was in a small one-story brick house filled with funky toys and oddball memorabilia. We watched a version of The Pee-Wee Herman Show that the cast had looped with blue improv material. The Pee-Wee Herman suit was on a coat tree. I asked Paul how many of those he had, and he said, “Just the one.” Then, noting my surprised reaction, he added, “Sometimes Pee-Wee doesn’t smell so good up close.”

Paul knew that I was a movie buff, and he was working on getting a Pee-Wee film going. Late at night, we would talk on the phone and (at his request) I would send him Betamax copies of offbeat films like Eddie Cantor’s Roman Scandals and Russ Meyer’s Faster Pussycat, Kill Kill! He called once every month or two for a couple of years, sometimes when he was off shooting a movie. (One was a Meatballs sequel, and I asked him what it was about. He said, “A virgin sees her first dick.” I thought he was kidding till I saw the movie.) Barb and I (and sometimes Terry) would go to live shows of Paul’s, and we’d see him after – we did this in New York and Chicago.

When the Pee-Wee movies and TV show kicked in, Paul changed his phone number and I haven’t heard from him since…except at Christmas. Always a wonderful card, and sometimes a warm personal note. I still love Pee-Wee Herman, and it’s been a nice perk of my minor celebrity that I got to know Paul Reubens a little. It’s very thoughtful and generous of him to send me these fantastic cards every year.

After this blog entry of mine appeared, I heard from Paul, as follows:

Max, is this you?! I recently ran across this (the above Update): I’d love to catch up with you. I now (maybe, if this is indeed you) have an email address but don’t have a phone for you anymore. It sure has been a long time!

I hope you’re reading this!

Paul

I was obviously thrilled by this re-communication, and on occasion would hear from him via e-mail, though we never spoke on the phone or in person again. Those Christmas cards kept coming. That’s stopped now, of course.

The last time I heard from Paul was when he thanked me for writing a tribute (here at the Update) about his friend and collaborator John Paragon, Jambi on Pee-Wee’s Playhouse and in the original HBO The Pee-Wee Herman Show. John had just passed away and Paul liked what I had to say about the man who’d perhaps been his most important collaborator. Here’s that tribute.

* * *

The important news this week is that I will be a Guest of Honor at the San Diego Comic-con.

I have attended many times, and of course I performed with my bandmates in Seduction of the Innocent on numerous occasions at the con. I have only attended once since my 2016 heart surgery; the con that time around was an experience that was hard enough to have me staying home after that, reluctantly. That was 2018.

So this return visit is going to be somewhat physically tough, but I am delighted to be making this one-stop farewell tour. As it stands now, Andrew Sumner will be interviewing me about all my Titan/Hard Case Crime projects (over the last twenty years!) and Robert Meyer Burnett will interview me about Nate Heller (among other things) with an emphasis on True Noir: The Assassination of Mayor Anton Cermak.

When I say “farewell tour,” don’t panic (I’m not). I generally feel fine, but a-fib has its travails. Nonetheless, please know I will be writing novels and screenplays until they carry me out in a body bag. And they better zip it, or I’ll crawl the hell out.

* * *
Death by Fruitcake poster

We haven’t taken Death By Fruitcake out on the festival circuit, concentrating on getting it on a streamer(s). Right now there’s no DVD or Blu-ray scheduled, as that market has (except for some niche stuff) pretty much dried up.

But we did enter the Iowa Motion Picture Awards. We were nominated in five categories and won five awards. Barb and I did not attend the event, because we’d decided instead to be in Des Moines for an evening screening of Death By Fruitcake (as part of the festival). Two trips to Des Moines from Muscatine in four days was a little much. So our leading man, Rob Merritt, attended for us and picked up the hardware after.

We received awards in all five categories in which we’d been nominated – Director: Award of Excellence: Max Allan Collins; Award of Achievement Long-form Narrative: Death By Fruitcake; Actor: Award of Achievement: Rob Merritt; Actress: Award of Achievement: Paula Sands; and Supporting Actress: Award of Achievement: Alisabeth Von Presley.

We are obviously pleased.

And I will tip my cap to all of those mentioned above, and the rest of my cast and crew, who pulled off something special in a limited amount of time and budget. Particularly I will salute my buddy Chad Bishop, who shot the film, edited it and co-produced it.

Death by Fruitcake IMPA Awards
* * *

At the suggestion of a potential distributer, we have added a subtitle to Death By Fruitcake. Now it’s DEATH BY FRUITCAKE: An Antiques Christmas Mystery. We think this was a good suggestion, because “Christmas” is a helpful thing as is tying the movie to its source, namely the Antiques series of cozy/crazy mysteries by Barb and me, writing as “Barbara Allan.” A novella of ours, Antiques Fruitcake, is the specific source.

* * *

I got a big kick out of being part of the 200th episode of Let’s Get PHYSICAL MEDIA on YouTube this past Sunday.

Most Sunday afternoons, new episodes of this fun show with Robert Meyer Burnett and Dieter Bastian will air with segments from me talking about film noir and crime/mystery movies in general, specifically titles that have recently appeared on physical media. I’ll also be talking about True Noir, which Rob Burnett directed and I wrote from my first Nathan Heller novel, True Detective. True Noir: The Assassination of Anton Cermak is available now at truenoir.co.

M.A.C.

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If Ms. Tree Falls in the Forest, Does Anybody Hear?

May 27th, 2025 by Max Allan Collins

My novel Girl Most Likely will be promoted via Monthly Deals: starting 6/1/2025 and running through 6/30/2025, the first of the two (thus far) Krista Larson novels, offered as a Kindle book at $2.49 USD.

I love the two Krista Larson novels, but they (this one and Girl Can’t Help It) are the only two of my books that haven’t earned back their advance. This stands in the way of Amazon’s Thomas & Mercer ever doing business with me again, despite the fact that I’ve sold over a million books for them in other series.

So if you are a Kindle reader, and a M.A.C. reader, now’s the time.

* * *

Back before e-mail and social media, Terry Beatty and I ran a lively letter column at the back of each issue of our Ms. Tree (the comic book that ran from 1981 to 1993). Terry, of course did the art and I wrote the scripts, although he and I had story conferences frequently, so it was a co-creation in its purist sense. Actually, the feature began as a serial in Eclipse magazine in 1981 and began as a comic book in 1982, shortly after the original – surprisingly successful – serial ended its six-issue run. I also wrote several Ms. Tree prose short stories, one of which (“Inconvenience Store,” the basis of my film (Real Time: Siege at Lucas Street Market) was published in 1994. And my Hard Case crime Ms. Tree novel, Deadly Beloved, appeared in 2007.

We accomplished quite a bit, except for the making a living part. We were the longest-running PI comic book in history, at least up to that date (I haven’t kept track of those who came after). We slightly pre-date the craze for female private eyes initiated by Sara Paretsky and Sue Grafton. We survived despite changing publishers four times, winding up respectable (after our indie run) at DC itself.

The letters column, SWAK!, was lively and popular. Mostly I answered the letters myself, and Terry answered art-specific stuff. Just as the comic book covered controversial subjects, so did the letters column. When we moved to DC, editor Mike Gold insisted we bring SWAK! along.

A lot of people got mad at us and at each other, but nobody reading SWAK! got bored.

Last week we heard from a SWAK! correspondent, whose letter was both a surprise and quite interesting. Here it is.

Dear Max & Terry,

Max, it was so nice to hear from you. I was struck by your response when I suggested that you and Terry might do a MS. TREE special for Hard Case.

(This is what I told him: I doubt we’ll ever do another MS. TREE, as the character now seems so rooted in the ’80s and ’90s, that going forward, or for that matter backward, doesn’t hold much appeal.)

After 60+ years of collecting and 60+ boxes in my garage, I have stopped collecting comics for the most part, attempting to confine myself to rereading my favorite series, meandering from one part of my collection to another through free association.

One thing I really enjoy is getting a better understanding of the influences that guided the creators of some of the wonderful series in my collection. So, for instance, I recently reread one of my favorites, Mark Schultz’ XENOZOIC TALES. Besides seeing the obvious Wally Wood influence, I learned of Schultz’ admiration and later friendship with Al Williamson. I did pick up Williamson’s FLASH GORDON issues and learned how he in turn was influenced by Alex Raymond.

In a way, what Schultz was doing with XENOZOIC TALES was very similar to what you guys were doing with MS. TREE and your “experiment in coherence” (as you put it). You both took inspiration from pre-code, pre-Wertham EC and modernized it with an unwavering commitment to writing and artwork at the service of storytelling. Form follows function. You guys were swimming against the tide at the time where books like Alan Moore & Steve Bisette’s SWAMP THING, with heavy prose and dizzying page layouts, were the rage. I love those types of books too, but undeniably the test of time has shone very favorable on your “experiment” proving beyond any doubt to the nay-sayers that there was method to your madness.

A foray into my favorite BATMAN series led me to reread the Englehart/Rogers run recently, where I made the startling discovery of the Collins/Rogers newspaper dailies. This, in turn, lead me to reaching out to you, Max, and subsequently rereading the entire MS. TREE run, turning your words over in my head as I did.

I must say, it all holds up extremely well. It is astonishing that the treatment of contemporary subjects of the ‘80s still seems fresh even though major changes have occurred like the overturning of Roe vs Wade and the widespread legalization of gay marriage. It just goes to prove that the French got it right when they say “the more things change, the more they stay the same.”

One of my favorite moments in the series was when Mr. Hand reveals to Mike Jr, that he had a gay lover when he was a mercenary. Mike Jr’s world view is imbued with a certain macho homophobia, presumably inherited from his father through hardboiled osmosis. Unable to express the cataclysmic shifting going on in his head in words, Mike Jr simple says to Mr Hand, “hey why don’t you stick around, we ordered pizza.”

Of course, readers of SWAK would remember how savagely you were criticized for casting the serial killer Billy Bob a “homosexual” predator. Of course, you could have worked Mr. Hand’s reveal into the series much earlier if you were solely concerned about being politically correct, but instead you waited for the right story and the right moment. As a result the moment has a lingering sweetness to it.

I watched a couple of the Youtube interviews you did to promote the Hard Case collections with much interest. However, it pains me a little bit, Terry, that you still have some reservations about your early work in Eclipse Magazine. I think it is stunningly gorgeous. I can understand from a technical point of view that it is not as polished as the later DC work. But there is an infectious energy. The fact that the series starts out cartoony, then, little by little, adopts a more realistic style is entirely fitting for a character who bursts forth on the scene straight out of the newspaper dailies of DICK TRACY and MIKE HAMMER. If Alan Moore or Ed Brubaker thought of that, the critics would have said it’s brilliant and shoved an Eisner award in their hands. By the way, I love how fast things moved in the Eclipse Magazine strip. In one panel Mike Tree is getting married and then two panels later he is shot dead. What economy of premise!

I’ve gotten to the point where I can spot Gary Kato’s handiwork pretty easily since his figures and backgrounds are clearly influenced by Ditko. Back in the ‘80s, I was always scouring the back issue bins for Ditko’s early Charlton & Marvel work. Terry, when you ink your own figures and backgrounds like you did on the DC run, I don’t see a Ditko influence the way I now see the Johnny Craig influence. Of course, I preferred when you were doing your own full pencils and inks. Gary did a fine job and it was fascinating seeing how you worked with him to keep on schedule while maintaining your look and feel for the book. I assume you met Gary back in your underground days, perhaps on MOD (NOTE: Terry’s underground comic for Kitchen Sink). It must have been complicated and nerve-racking sending the artwork back and forth to Hawaii.

By the way, Terry, in the end, I really started appreciating and enjoying what you did with the duotone. I noticed you picked different color separation strategies for each color such as the subtle facial shading for the blues. And now I get it that it gives the book a kind of Japanese newsprint feel.

In rereading my MS. TREE collection, I am struck by what a strong body of work was completed. I see it as a three act play with a beginning (Eclipse), middle (Aardvark/Renegade) and end (DC). Each run is done with love, enthusiasm and craftsmanship. The characters mature and develop in a grand arc. Ms. Tree begins almost naively as a meter maid and she ends as a giver of life, the mother of Melody.

So in this sense, Max, I think you are right, there is no need for a new chapter in that the work is really perfect in itself. It’s really a monument to the ambition you had and achieved really against all odds. What is particularly endearing about MS. TREE is how completely faithful you guys were to your vision while at same time completely prepared to make any compromises necessary to keep the book on some sort of workable production schedule. Terry, I can’t help imagining while you were hunched over your drawing board, that you had Frank Sinatra blaring “My Way” in the background. I hope you guys have forgiven us so-called “gentle readers” for our constant whining and second-guessing in SWAK because really what made MS. TREE so great was your vision and your willingness to carve it out of the block of marble despite the overwhelming odds against you.

If you ever do decide to revisit MS. TREE one day, as a kind of coda, of course, I’ll be along for the ride. However, upon mature reflection, I have come to realize that MS. TREE is a wonderfully complete body of work unto itself. After completing my MS. TREE read-through, I took a spin through SIN CITY. Although also a wonderful and seminal work, it can’t be denied that the last couple story arcs were comparatively mediocre in both writing and art. Miller seemed to run out of ideas and enthusiasm [or perhaps he was simply consumed by some other project]. How much better to end on a high note as you guys ended MS. TREE, at the top of your game.

And where could you go, if you brought MS. TREE back for an encore performance? Terry, as you pointed out on Lonely Planet, MS. TREE would be a grandmother by now. Following the logic of consequences, would it not be likely that Ms. Tree who lived by the sword must die by the sword leaving Melody Tree to pick up the mantle (or trench coat) to avenge the death of her mother?

That would be a fine story, but perhaps a bit predictable. After all, long before Batman, Superman and Captain America “died,” you guys had already done the “Death of Ms Tree” in the Renegade run. It would be far more interesting to hear what you have in mind, in rooting Ms. Tree in the 1980s. I really like what Hard Case did with NORMANDY GOLD (‘70s) and PEEPLAND in that 1980s space. I’m a big fan of period pieces and I know you guys are experts in that. Max, your effort to slightly update Ms Tree in the Hard Case novel were reasonable, but, for my money, it didn’t add anything. Ms Tree doesn’t need cell phones or the internet to properly deliver a 9mm bullet.

If one day you do decide it’s time for Ms Tree to dust off her trench coat the only thing I ask is you do it with the same uncompromising relish and enthusiasm that you’ve put into the other 60+ issues. But if you don’t, the work is perfect as it is.

The only thing remaining to say, gentlemen, is, as the French say, “Chapeaux”: “Hats Off”. You guys really pulled it off. “Chapeaux” to you and “Chapeaux” to Gary Kato and Barb and Dean Mullaney and Dave Sims and Leni Loubert and Mike Gold and Charles Ardai and all the other people who believed in you.

Regards,
Paul Linhardt
Monterey

This was my response to this fine missive:

Paul, I would say in the past that the only gratification came from doing the work itself. And speaking of gratification, Titan finally collecting the “complete” run is what I always wanted. Like you, I thought it was a body of work with a beginning, middle and end. I can take little credit, though, for how nice those volumes are — Terry did an enormous amount of unpaid work on it despite his comic strip workload.

I share your love of his initial Eclipse work. It indicates what a MS. TREE comic strip would have looked like, at least for a while.

We have a new edition of our JOHNNY DYNAMITE mini series coming out, a nice collection that should be an improvement on the slightly compromised one before.

I would say only about the MS. TREE novel (Deadly Beloved) that it is a rather typical example of me recycling material and not letting it die in a drawer. It’s a novelization of the unproduced script I did for Oxygen when they optioned and had the rights to MS. TREE for a while. Here’s the reality — I insisted in the contract that they had to let me take a pass at the screenplay, and that I had to be paid for doing so. They did that. In meetings with Oxygen folks later, I learned they had never read my script. I was a box that was checked off. Their script was better than the horrendous one Dick Wolf’s writer did when Wolf had the option. I’ve tried to forget it, but I think maybe Ms. Tree had a pet monkey. Or maybe that was a Johnny Dynamite option and Johnny had the pet monkey. Terry is the partner with the good memory. My imagination remains pretty good, though.

The other function of the novel was to reach out to my mystery novel audience. Terry and I always had readers who loved the comics but never got near my novels. I was trying to get them to cross over, and it worked. A little.

I asked Paul’s permission to publish his fine letter here. MS. TREE has become something of a footnote in both my career and Terry’s, as Terry graduated to BATMAN and syndicated comic strips THE PHANTOM and REX MORGAN, M.D. But the truth is, we always thought of MS. TREE as the comic strip we wished we’d been hired to do. (Prior to MS. TREE, we did THE COMICS PAGE, a weekly page of comics syndicated to a handful of “shoppers,” and attempted to sell my DICK TRACY bosses at the Trib updates of both HAROLD TEEN and LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE. They loved the latter, but didn’t hire us to do it.)

Both Terry and I are very grateful to Charles Ardai, the editor of Hard Case Crime, and my Titan editor Andrew Sumner, as well as publishers Nick Landau and Vivian Cheung, for bringing out the “complete” Ms. Tree. (I put “complete” in quotes because a few odds and ends, in particular THE P.I.’s, our crossover at First Comics with the Mike Mauser character, were not included in the six MS. TREE volumes from Titan.)


(image from https://popculturesquad.com/)

I guess I’ve given somewhat short shrift here to those six volumes, and I shouldn’t have – for decades, actually, I’ve dreamed of having archival editions published of the work Terry and did on the feature, and now all six have. If you’re a fan of mine, and came in the Nate Heller door (or maybe through a window with Quarry, or by dropping into the Trash ‘n’ Treasures antiques shop) (among other entries), you may never have encountered Ms. Tree.

It’s one of my proudest achievements and I hope that statement will be enough to encourage you to pick up all six volumes.

M.A.C.

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Thank You, J. Pierpont Finch…Here’s to You, John Shaft

May 20th, 2025 by Max Allan Collins

A 1999 Broadway play and a 2024 movie that my wife Barb and I watched last week resonated deeply with both of us. Warning: I am probably going to cry a couple of times during the writing of this. That’s a side effect of open heart surgery, which I had in 2017 – emotional reactions. But I think I might have cried, if not quite wept, in any case, considering these two men who passed recently.

Both Robert Morse and Richard Roundtree deserved more from their respective careers, and we deserved more from them, though that we didn’t wasn’t their fault, and what they did give us is to their eternal credit. At least I hope it will be, in this amnesiac culture.

I’ve spoken about Robert Morse before. Like here. And here.

Few actors, few performers, have enjoyed better first acts – Robert Morse appeared on Broadway in major roles in The Matchmaker (1955), Say, Darling (1958, written by Iowa author Richard Bissell), Take Me Along (1959) and finally as J. Pierpont Finch in How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying (1961). His movie career seemed to be taking off in a big way as the lead in Honeymoon Hotel (1964), Quick, Before It Melts (1964), and significantly the controversial funeral business satire, The Loved One (1965) from then-hot director Tony Richardson. This latter film was the only one that at all captured the Morse who’d made such a splash on Broadway.

It’s hard to overstate the impact Morse made in the Broadway version of How to Succeed. The two revivals of the play find leading men/boys (Matthew Broderick, Daniel Radcliffe) desperately trying to recapture Morse’s magic. The film version of How to Succeed certainly captures Morse at his best, but on its first release coming a bit too late – post-JFK assassination, Beatles era – to be more than a minor hit…and today a cult one.

Watching the film version of How to Succeed, though, it’s difficult to understand how Morse could, well, not have succeeded further. I once described him as “Jerry Lewis goes to graduate school.” He is charming, casually manic, and plays the camera like a kazoo. I know of no other film, for whatever minor flaws, that better captures a great Broadway star performance.

What happened?

The movie roles Morse landed around that time were either underwhelming – Guide for the Married Man (1967), unworthy of him (the aforementioned Honeymoon Hotel and Quick, Before It Melts) or disliked – the uncomfortably dark comedy of The Loved One and the disastrous Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma’s Hung You in the Closet and I’m Feelin’ So Sad, made the same year as the film version of How to Succeed. Oh, Dad co-stars the great Rosalind Russell and yet this hardcore Morse fan has never made it all the way through. It’s a trip to the dentist minus the Novocaine.

The second act of Morse’s career begins dismally with leads in Where Were You When the Lights Went Out (1968, a flop Doris Day picture) and the toothless Disney comedy, The Boatniks (1970). That’s Life (1968), an ambitious TV series trying to mount a Broadway musical on a weekly basis (!) was a noble failure and the last look at the vital young Bobby Morse. Ahead were a lot of TV guest star work and such indignities as playing Grandpa Munster in a TV movie. He worked in nearly 80 TV episodes and movies, sometimes as a voice actor in cartoons.

On Broadway, in 1972, Morse made something of a comeback in Sugar, a musical version of Some Like It Hot that might have been a bigger deal had the music been better. Nonetheless it ran over 500 performances. Morse played his role as Jerry/Geraldine in the national touring company as well – a bright spot in his dismal second act.

The other bright spot in this dreary middle act was, however, very bright indeed. His astonishing portrayal of Truman Capote in Tru ran almost 300 performances and won Morse his second Tony. It’s very difficult to see Morse in his funny, moving, spot-on performance as Capone, and when he emerges for a last curtain call with his Capone make-up pulled off to reveal his still youthful, tousled-hair persona intact, it’s almost a gut punch.

His third act had, of course, a delightful finish as he became Bert Cooper, the boss on Mad Men – a sizeable and important supporting role in this TV classic, with a memorable, wonderful finale. As Vanity Fair put it, “Not a bad way for Morse to go…as series creator Matt Weiner gave him a final song-and-dance number, ‘The Best Things in Life Are Free’ — a touching and characteristically ironic song choice.”

What can be said of Morse’s career with its sky-rocketing first act, its sad second one (Tru aside), and a third act that finds him on one of the great television series of all time (and with a sweet send-off to boot)? What lessons are to be learned, if any?

Let’s reserve trying to answer that until we’ve talked about Richard Roundtree.

Roundtree’s John Shaft is a major pop cultural touchstone, and one hell of a performance, particularly as seen in the three Shaft movies (Shaft, 1971; Shaft’s Big Score, 1972), and Shaft in Africa, 1973) and even in his laundered but better-than-remembered series of seven TV movies (1973-1974).

For a short span, Roundtree and his charismatic presence could be seen in major Hollywood productions, both movie (Earthquake, 1974; Man Friday, 1975) and TV (Roots, 1977); but by 1980 he was taking a guest star role on The Love Boat. Jesus. Years of TV guest shots and B (and C and D) movies lay ahead.

He was capable and deserving of so much more. Occasionally he got the chance to show it – movies like Brick (2005) and Wild Seven (2007), his appearances in the two updated Shaft movies with Samuel Jackson (including stealing the show in the 2019 Shaft, despite a relatively late entry into the proceedings). Mostly, however, it was a little of this and a little of that.

He died in 2023. Barb and I looked at a couple of the Shaft movies by way of tribute. And I wrote about him here.

The other day at the Davenport Barnes & Noble I saw, on a 50% off sale, Roundtree’s last film, Thelma (no Louise). I’d heard about this movie and its premise, and that it starred June Squibb, the elderly actress who was nominated for an Academy Award for Nebraska in 2013. So that was a little on my radar, though not the fact that her co-star was Richard Roundtree, in his last role. Anyway, I got the Blu-Ray and Barb and I watched it.

First, it’s a delightful movie. I would say it’s the best movie I’ve seen in a very long time, but for the excellent Sinners. Supporting Squibb are indie legend Parker Posey (Waiting for Guffman), Clark Gregg (Agent Phil Coulson in the Marvel Cinematic Universe), and Fred Hechlinger (Gladiator II). This collection of characters portrays and represents three generations – the grandmother whose daughter and son-in-law are considering putting her in a retirement home, and whose socially awkward (perhaps mildly on the spectrum) grandson loves and helps his grandma with amused love. The patronizing if well-meaning treatment by the middle generation of the older and younger ones are key here.

The basic premise is simple: Thelma falls victim to a phone scammer who, pretending to be her grandson, gets $10,000 out of her; and Thelma sets out on a probably ill-advised trek across Los Angeles to get her money back. It’s kind of a goofy revenge plot that is used to sweetly explore the foibles of each of the three generations. It never gets sentimental or cloying, and is often very funny and frequently touching. The icing on the cake is Malcolm McDowell (who acted in radio plays I wrote!) turning up.

Where does Richard Roundtree come in? He’s Ben, an old friend of Thelma’s, but fairly far down the list of those, as Thelma finds out through a series of phone calls that most of her old friends have passed away or are infirm. Ben is in assisted living and, after Thelma hijacks his scooter, joins her on her quest with the proviso that he get back to the retirement home in time for opening night of an in-house production of Annie, in which he is playing Daddy Warbucks.

Eccentric enough for you? I promise, it’s a hoot and a (scooter) ride and a delight.

And it’s a lovely send-off for Roundtree, who even gets one nice Shaft action moment but mostly shows off his acting chops as a quietly dignified elderly man happy in assisted living, but reluctantly ready for one more rumble. The humor and the depth of his performance, which is nimble and at times heart-breaking and others heart-warming, demonstrates what a waste his career, post-Shaft, really was.

Look. I don’t exactly feel sorry for Robert Morse and Richard Roundtree. They had been big enough early on to carve out a career thereafter – they always seemed to work, and made the lives of their fans better when either Bobby or Richard turned up on a TV show or movie and a fan could say,
“Shit! Look! It’s Richard Roundtree!” “Omigod – that’s Robert Morse!”

For a creative person, an artist, sometimes a great artist, it’s enough to be able to keep working. I understand that. I understand that choices I made, that breaks I got, that breaks I didn’t get, ended up in a career that allowed me to make a living doing something I loved. In my case, I had opportunities to write things that I was urged to take on by smart people, like my agent, but that I turned away from because I preferred to write about Nathan Heller, Quarry and Ms. Tree (among other mental children of mine). I stayed with Dick Tracy longer than some smart people thought I should. I spent more time rehabilitating Mickey Spillane’s reputation than nurturing my own.

I have no regrets.

Other than maybe I wish the likes of Robert Morse and Richard Roundtree had been blessed with the careers they deserved. That alone would have improved life on this planet.

This is the complete Tru on YouTube. This is a Chicago production, but Tru ran on Broadway for around 300 performances.

Thanks, Richard.

Bye, Bobby.

* * *

I would appreciate it if you’d buy the Nathan Heller audio drama, True Noir: The Assassination of Anton Cermak at Truenoir.co. Ten episodes, under thirty bucks for all of ‘em.

M.A.C.

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Fruitcake at the Last Picture House, Plus Nate Heller

May 13th, 2025 by Max Allan Collins

We had a terrific Quad Cities premiere for our film Death By Fruitcake, starring Paula Sands, Alisabeth Von Presley and Rob Merritt. It was a packed house at Davenport’s stellar The Last Picture House, the theater that’s the brainchild of our bigtime local filmmakers Scott Beck and Bryan Woods (who brought you A Quiet Place, Heretic and more).

We had a number of cast and crew members on hand, including Paula and Rob, and I led (with producer/d.p./editor) Chad Bishop a Q and A after. I took a spill off the riser onto my back but (with help) got onto my feet to helm the Q and A. Definitely a “show-must-go-on” moment, because I am still (it’s Sunday as I write this) recuperating from my own impromptu stunt-man feat.

Despite this, it was a wonderful evening, thanks to Last Picture House manager Jameson Ritter. Our two Muscatine screenings late last year were marred by sound problems (far too soft, something we weren’t able to rectify on site), but we were nicely loud and pretty impressive on the big screen. For a little movie designed to find a home (or homes) on a streaming service(s), this kind of theatrical exhibition was a rare treat for us (and, I think, the audience).

We promoted the event with an appearance on Quad Cities Live, the afternoon show that followed Paula Sands Live on her retirement from broadcasting. It was fun seeing Paula return to the site of her huge regional success. And what a Vivian Borne she makes! Alisabeth Von Presley, our equally impressive Brandy Borne, couldn’t make it to the event (she was choreographer on a high school production in Cedar Rapids that evening). But what a thrill for Barb and me to see our Barbara Allan/Antiques characters come to such wonderful comic life.

Max Allan Collins and Paula Sands on Quad Cities Live
L to R: Kyle Keil (host), Morgan Ottier (host), M.A.C., Paula Sands

Whither Death by Fruitcake? We are talking to various distributors now. I fully expect us to be streaming for this year’s holiday season. Getting on physical media is a trickier proposition as that market has just about vanished except for blockbuster films and the boutique labels, which specialize in horror and cult items, where we don’t fit. That doesn’t mean I won’t try.

If you want to help us in our filmmaking efforts, take a look at Blue Christmas on Tubi right now. Don’t wait for an invitation from Santa.

photos courtesy of The Last Picture House
Rob Merritt, M.A.C., Tommy Ratkiewicz-Stierwalt at The Last Picture House for Death by Fruitcake
L to r: Rob Merritt, M.A.C., Tommy Ratkiewicz-Stierwalt
Tommy Ratkiewicz-Stierwalt and Paula Sands at The Last Picture House for Death by Fruitcake
Tommy Ratkiewicz-Stierwalt and Paula Sands
Q and A post-QC premiere at the Last Picture House
Q and A post-QC premiere at the Last Picture House. L to R: Tracy Peltzer-Timm, Chris Causey, Tommy Ratkiewicz-Stierwalt, Cassidy Ptacek, Rob Merritt, M.A.C., Paula Sands, Chad Bishop
L to R: Paula Sands, Chris Causey, Rob Merritt, Barbara Collins, M.A.C., Chad Bishop at The Last Picture House for Death by Fruitcake
L to R: Paula Sands, Chris Causey, Rob Merritt, Barbara Collins, M.A.C., Chad Bishop

L to r: Tommy Ratkiewicz-Stierwalt, Rob Merritt, Tracy Peltzer-Timm, M.A.C., Lucy Collins, Nathan Collins, Abby Collins, Sam Collins

This link will take you to Paula Sands and me appearing on Quad Cities Live, the show that took the place of her Paula Sands Live, from which she retired after decades of Emmy-winning broadcasting. For longtime fans of my work, you should recall Paula’s wonderful appearance, spoofing herself and her show, in Mommy’s Day (1997).

* * *

Here’s an unexpected but welcome review of my 1983 novel, True Detective, which introduced Nathan Heller and my format of weaving a detective story in with actual events/crimes.

It’s interesting to me that a review of a novel I wrote in 1981 and was published in 1983 would appear in 2024 (!).

Two things should be noted, however: the reviewer uses True Detective to recommend the entire series; and it’s appearing just as True Noir: The Assassination of Anton Cermak is getting some nice notice, which may have sparked this review.

True Noir is, as those of you who drop by here regularly know, a ten-episode audio drama with a full cast, sound effects, and score. I consider it the best adaptation of my work done to date (but then why wouldn’t I, having written all ten episodes myself). The cast is incredibly stellar, and our Nathan Heller – Michael Rosenbaum – just effing nails it. The score by Alexander Bornstein is mesmerizingly terrific, and the whole thing has been expertly directed and edited by Robert Meyer Burnett.

You may know Rob from his several YouTube shows (Robservations, Let’s Get Physical Media, regular guest on The John Campea Show), but he is much more than that – an accomplished film director (Free Enterprise), documentarian (Star Trek; The Next Generation), editor (Femme Fatales) and producer (Tango Shalom, aka Forbidden Tango).

All ten episodes of True Noir: The Assassination of Anton Cermak are available at truenoir.co, $29.95 for the complete audio drama – four-and-a-half-hours worth. If you are a member of the Nathan Heller Fan Club (well, there isn’t one, but you know what I mean), you will lose your non-membership in good standing if you haven’t ordered yet.

And I would welcome comments/reviews here from those of you who have enjoyed it thus far.

We will be available on other platforms eventually, but for now it’s truenoir.co. And there’s stuff to look at there, including links to episodes of my History Behind the Mystery video series (directed by my longtime collaborator, Phil Dingeldein) that looks at the real events depicted in each episode.

M.A.C.

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