Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

It's not unusual to hear about performers attempting to make the most out of a film rerelease or TV show anniversary, using the opportunity to piggyback promotion for a new book, play, clothing line or some other project. But Charles Fleischer, who is busy tub-thumping on behalf of the 25th anniversary of his beloved "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" and its Blu-ray release, gives us something entirely different: "Can Sequentially Linked Gamma-Ray Bursts Nullify Randomness?" — his scientific paper on gamma-ray bursts, which can be checked out on the Cornell University website, no less.

Yes, the man who voiced Jessica Rabbit's hubby, that sputtering, baggy-pants wearing wig-wag, Roger Rabbit, plays patty-cake with quantum physics in his off hours.

"I'm really trying to draw attention to my paper on gamma-ray bursts because if my hypothesis is correct, that will be an important moment in science," Fleischer lets us know. "It's not just gamma rays, but gamma-ray bursts, the largest display of energy in the universe. And I started looking into them. There was no consensus as to their origin, there were a hundred different theories, and they're supposed to be random. And I began to explore the patterns that were left by these bursts and look at them sequentially, because of other mathematical projects I had worked on, with something called moleeds, I had familiarized myself with certain patterns, and by examining the angles that were created by linking sequential bursts, I began to determine that these events are not random at all."

How can his life as a standup comic co-exist with his scientific avocation? According to Fleischer, "They are actually quite compatible. I read a book by Arthur Koestler once called, 'The Act of Creation.' And in it he compares the scientist and the comedian, because they are both forming what he calls a by-associative act, whereby you're putting two things together that weren't formerly together. In science, an example would be Maxwell, who came up with the electromagnetic spectrum, combining previously known fields of electricity and magnetism.

And for myself, an example would be I do my impression of a Japanese Bob Dylan. So that merging of two unrelated concepts is applicable to both science and comedy."

This is not a put on?

"You can't get onto the Cornell website unless it's endorsed by published scientists who also have established themselves in this field. It's very real and, to me, important and significant."

Did he have trouble getting the scientific community to take him seriously? "Well, I didn't tell them that I was a standup comedian," he responds. "When my paper was first read, they made some suggestions to me on certain aspects of two-dimensional and three-dimensional projections, and then I revised it and then submitted it again, and they endorsed it."

Now Fleischer is about to set off on a comedy tour attached to "Roger Rabbit's" silver anniversary — with stops ahead in Vegas, Lake Tahoe and the Flappers comedy club outside L.A. He looks back on "Roger" with great affection. "I feel proud, I feel honored, I feel privileged to be part of such an incredible piece of movie-making, working with Bob Zemeckis, and having played not only Roger, but Eddie the Cab and two of the weasels," says Fleischer, who went on to do a variety of other film parts, including some in Zemeckis' "Polar Express."

There has been talk of a "Roger Rabbit" sequel periodically, but nothing concrete. If such an opportunity did present itself, Fleischer would welcome it. "Of all the characters I've played in films, from the crazy guy in 'Night Shift' to the crazy guy in 'Zodiac,' Roger Rabbit is closer to the essence of my being," he says, "because his essence was about making people laugh. As a standup comedian, you know, it's something that is part of my being. So I have a definite affinity for Roger and the movie."

How about Roger and his beloved wife, Jessica? Did they make it as a couple? Have they been happy in intervening years?

"No question about it," says Fleischer with a smile. "I know he wouldn't leave her, and I don't think she could find anybody better."

To find out more about Stacy Jenel Smith and read her past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2013 STACY JENEL SMITH

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