Random Panels of Comic Book Weirdness # 62

Remember when super heroes were dignified defenders of the meek? Here's HURRICANE from an early CAPTAIN AMERICA issue. Note the dignified costume consisting entirely of short shorts, a headband and fetish boots. Note also the dignified stance and the dignified way he blows a rasberry at an evil lion. Note especially the dignified trash talking he's giving the king of beasts. Dignity. Always dignity.

Robert Plant

I enjoy Robert Plant's music but I don't own a lot of it. I have had the LED ZEPPELIN box set for ages and I still have a few cassettes of Zep albums but I also enjoy his eighties solo hits and some of his more recent work with Alison Krauss. Being the geek that I am I always thought he would have made a hip and cool DR. WHO back in the late seventies if the music thing hadn't worked out. Thus I find myself surprised to find the picture here in the latest ROLLING STONE (the last of my free one year subscription!). With Paul McCartney aging nicely, Mick still lookin' pretty good and dozens of other dinosaur rockers looking perfectly appropriate for their age, I just find it hard to believe that Robert Plant, the absolute image of the sleek young rock god, looks like nothing less than a homeless person here as he receives a Commander of the British Empire award from the greying but still classy-looking Prince Charles. No disrespect meant. Just an observation.

My Interview With Kip King, Part 2

B-You did a lot of the major sitcoms from the fifties through the seventies and then you were a regular on CHARLIE AND CO..

K-AH! Thirteen episodes (IMDB says eighteen-B)

B-The thing I remember most about that show--sadly--is all the negative publicity about it being just a clone of THE COSBY SHOW. I mean, did that have an effect? Was it a happy set?

K-Oh, it had a terrible effect. It was a terrible effect on Flip (Wilson). He was smoking a lot of hash on the show and just very unhappy. He'd sleep in his car. They did want him to be Cosby but...the stupid, stupid thing is trying to get him to fit into something he's not. They gave him a show...the thing he did well...you know this guy could be in his office whatever job he had and then dressing as Geraldine at home. I mean it is so STUPID! It just never worked. You know the group the Groundlings?

B-Sure.

K-I was just gonna tell you something Phil Hartman said about me. I'm one of the original Groundlings, my son, Chris Kattan, is a second generation Groundling. In the beginning it was really hard for me to fit in. What happens is it just does not work to take somebody who does something in one and then put them into a group. I tried to fit, tried to do what they wanted me to do, and then we had a split in the group and a bunch of us left. The original director and myself in that bunch and then a bunch stayed. Now we're all amiable again. Phil Hartman when he was alive was a dear friend of mine, he said, "Y'know Kip, if you wanna fit in a group scene, it's like tryin' to put the wind in a box." I remember him saying that. It has to be that. Unless you find someone who lets you do what you do and enhances what you do... I teach, you know. I'm a teacher and that's what I teach.

B-As far as the Groundlings, how and when did you get involved with them during a successful TV career?

K-Well, I saw the show. I was getting divorced and had not worked so much in TV during the marriage. I did LOVE AMERICAN STYLE and Bill Cosby's old show, a couple of those. Everything was fine. I was working in marketing. I went on an interview with a friend of mine, Tracy Newman. She's now producing THE WORLD ACCORDING TO JIM, she did CHEERS, she won an Emmy for ELLEN. She said, "Hey, Kip!" 'cause she used to see me do stand-up at the Troubadour. She said, "Come on down, be my guest this weekend, they have this new group, the Groundlings that I'm in, come see the show. Maybe you'll wanna join the group." Well, my heart just burst when I saw the group. I've never seen anything like it in my life. People improvising. Taking an audience suggestion and doing something with it.

B-Who was in the group at that point?

K-Well, Larraine Newman, Tracy was her sister...maybe Jack Soo had just left. I know he was in it early, even before me. Anyway, I started going to classes and doing the show. You went to classes and did the show. It took awhile to apprentice and get through, to find my way onstage. I had a way of improvising where something would be fantastic and then I couldn't follow through. It's taken a long time and this is what I teach now! To get a handle on how to teach a technique of spontaneity is a most difficult thing. To understand what that is and understand how to teach people to do that is really an amazing thing to me. I invite your readers, anyone who's gonna be in L.A., I have an incredible class that I teach at the casting service in Santa Monica. It's currently running and I do privates as well. So anyway, I got involved with them and started doing shows at the old Oxford theater on Western. Then we moved and created the Groundling Theater literally on Melrose where it is now. As a matter of fact, I'm going back in a new show next week.

B-Very cool! IMDB says you were in PATTON around that same time. Where were you in...

K- I did looping. That and THE SAND PEBBLES. They sent me down to work for Robert Wise. All I remembered him from at the time was that he was editor on Orson Welles films and then I talked to him about Orson Welles and he wasn't interested. I said, "Did you do...MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS!!??" and he said, "Yes, I did but what we want from you now is play this lieutenant in the field." So I was this lieutenant in the field. I put it in my resume. It looks good.

B-How did you move into animation voice acting? What led you to that? Commercials?

K-Yes! On camera first, then I would do some voice-overs for the spot itself. Then what I was doing to get all the work from Hanna-Barbera and animation...I'd do spots for voice-overs here and there for one thing and another. What happened was, I was in an acting class...Actually, I had an improv class and in the improv class were some non-actors such as Gordon Hunt, who is Helen Hunt's father. Helen was in the class, too. I've known her since she was a kid.

B-Now that's new information to me! I know who Gordon Hunt is from Hanna Barbera but I had no idea he was Helen Hunt's dad.

K-Ah! Well, he was and is. I've known Helen since she was...as a matter of fact, she and I went to Disneyland once on NewYear's Eve, just as friends, and I remember at twelve we danced to, "Oh Mickey, you're so fine..." (laughter) Anyway, this class was amazing. Helen was in it and this girl Melanie Chartoff who was on a show called FRIDAYS and Chris was in it! I'd be taking care of him and he'd come with me to class when he was nine years old. Amazing class. Amazing! Sometimes there were 32 people in it, 40 people. You never knew what was gonna happen. One time, he had me get up. I do a character that's a combination of Jessel and Jolson. He's an old-time comic. "And he tawks like dis" So I taught Gordon Hunt how to tell a joke and it was so hysterical 'cause every time he'd come out and say, "Good evening ladies and gentlemen, " I'd find something wrong with that. Took him six minutes to get "ladies and gentlemen" right. And then the joke--the whole thing ran ten seconds but it took him about an hour to get it right! It was just beyond belief funny. So anyway, I get a call from my commercial agency, "You're gonna do a voice on CAPTAIN CAVEMAN." I never heard of CAPTAIN CAVEMAN so I go around to Hanna Barbera and there's Mel Blanc and I'm the guest villain. That's all. They put me in it and I started doing that. Then they put me in one thing or another and I started doing THE SMURFS. They never tell you if you've got something, you know? So I show up, they say, "Yeah, you're gonna play a smurf." So I go down and they like my character who (in character) "talked like THIS!" Originally, Tailor was the closest thing to a Jewish smurf they could have. They speed up the voice. It has to be higher so (in character) "instead of talking like this," he talked like THIS" and then they speed it up just a bit. "So he became a little precious." They said he was a little too Jewish, then a little too fey, so they toned it down and it became Tailor. By the way, they had a lot of smurfs be a smurf just for one show So I did that one show and from that show came nine years of work. So that's amazing. My son got me for my birthday an original cel of Tailor with all the original background, too.

B-Oh, really? Very cool!

K-Plus, I went to a party for (SMURFS creator) Peyo when I was doing THE SMURFS and he autographed one (sketch) of my character and he wrote, "For Kip, the voice of my Smurf."

B-Oh, that's great!

K-I was so honored.

B-When you did it, did you work with the other voice actors? I know June Foray said she was sometimes recorded separately.

K-June was a dear friend of mine. She's still alive, isn't she?

B-Oh, yeah!

K-How old is she now?

B-92 next month.

K-She was a guest at my class so many times! When they came to sessions (for SMURFS), June was always prim and proper... Paul Winchell was always a hero of mine and I hung out with him alot.

B-He got a lot of bad press when he died.

K-What for?

B-A lot of people didn't like him. Bad personality, they said, bad temper.

K-He had a mental breakdown, too.

B-Yeah.

K-Back in the forties. He told me. He had a very big...did he have a radio show?

B-I think so but he was much bigger on television.

K-Well, anyway he was extremely hot at one point and he had a date with Hedy Lamarr and he told me he just forgot and started roaming the streets. Did you ever read his book about the Bible?

B-No.

K-Said there's no such thing as God or something like that.

B-Definitely an eclectic, eccentric person.

K-Plus he created this artificial heart and how to feed starving people--he had a solution for feeding these nations that were starving and...

B-On top of all that, he was the best ventriloquist, too! I never could see his lips move.

K-I knew his wife, too. Well, he'd go back and forth, married, not married, living alone, living seperately...anyway, he was a great, great friend. You know, Stan Laurel again--he had four marriages, two of which were to the same person--he just was the sweetest man and he would say to me, "You know I'm watching these premieres, lad, and everyone's saying the movie they worked on was a lot of fun. I've been in this business eighty years and not one minute was FUN!" (laughter) "They're not FUN! None of this is FUN!" (laughter) But he wrote all the gags and directed the films, you know?

B-I've read that the reason that he and Ollie never had a falling out was that Ollie left all that to Stan while he just happily went to the races. Worked for both of 'em.

K-They also had overlapping contracts so they couldn't get out of contracts. Did you know that Stan Laurel had been Charlie Chaplin's understudy?

B-Yes.

K-And that Chaplin dissed him? You know that story? When he was Chaplin's understudy with (Fred) Karno, before he left England he said, "Stan, come over and see me. I'll do it for you. I'll put you in the movies." So later he goes--Stan Laurel alone--and he finds where Chaplin is after a long search. He's having lunch with a young nymphet at a restaurant in downtown L. A., which was terrible now but it was great then. So anyway, he passes a note to the maître de. It says, "Hello, Charlie. Remember me? Stan." What happened was the maître de gives Chaplin the note, he looks at the note, looks at the girl, tears up the note and continues the conversation. That's it. That was it for Charlie. Then thirteen years later he sees Stan and he goes up and says, "I'm the greatest fan you ever had. Love your movies!"

B-(laughter) Wow.

K- I was very, very fortunate to meet these other people who gave me advice. Stan Laurel and I used to talk with each other on the phone and I'd tape him. He called me one day and I have it still--transferred it to CD--and he's talking about twenty minutes. He's giving me advice on my act and I'm contradicting him! I'm saying, "No, you don't understand. What I'm doing is I'm trying for a new type of comedy here." Stan says, "That's fine for a little theater but I wouldn't sit there on a little stool."--this was during Shelly Berman when everybody was sitting on a little stool. I said, "Yeah, but you don't know what I'm trying to convey." He says, "It doesn't matter what you're trying to convey." I played all this for my son before he got on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE and he said, "How can you be talking to Stan Laurel like THAT?"

B-(laughter) That's certainly what I was thinking!

K-Well, I was 22. Chris said, "But you're talking to STAN LAUREL!" The other reason is I don't listen.

B-(laughter) You've done a lot of things in show biz and you obviously still are. What is your favorite thing that you've done?

K-Well, I liked the SMURFS because it was for kids and had a good moral. I don't know if it's my favorite thing I've ever done. When I got that part in PLAYHOUSE 90...a thirteen minute live scene on the top-rated dramatic show in television was unbelievable! That was an enormous coup. STUDIO ONE, too. Those were highly rated dramatic shows where they were like plays--you had to go in, never miss a cue, take your mark, say your lines, finish and leave. It just was astonishing and there's been nothing like it. The first major thing I did was called THE WALTER WINCHELL FILE (March 21, 1958). I was seventeen or eighteen and I had the starring role. I was in every shot. It was supposedly the story of a cub reporter who came to the big city to be like Walter Winchell. Every reporter wanted to be like Walter Winchell, of course. He saw a murder committed by...Dan Blocker was the murderer...and Dan Blocker started to chase him around the city. The kid would hide her and there...go to a party and some woman tried to make love to him and this guy gets tossed and turned and beaten up and the killer's still chasing him and he gets him cornered in a phone booth with Walter Winchell! This to me at such an early age--this was at Paramount--3 day shoot without a breath and that, where there wasn't a moment off, was oddly fitting. I did a lot better when I had starring roles than I did when I sat around and waited for my line.

B-I can imagine.

K-I'll leave you with this. I'll tell you something about this business. You wanna know what it is? It's selling water by the river. You know what that is? Here I am at a river and you're selling me water. "How much is that water?" "Well, I can give you a good deal. It's much better than the water right here." And he just got it from the river. You know what I'm saying? It's not BAD! NOT A BAD THING!! It's bullshit but that doesn't make it something better or worse than anything else. It's water by the river! I also came up with this phrase--"Nobody knows what they're doing and don't take it personally."

Some photos here in part 2 are from Kip's site and the Groundlings site as well as from his appearances on BARNEY MILLER and DICK DIETRICK'S NIGHT STAND. Kip King's website can be found at http://www.kipking.actorsite.com/ If you taped any episodes of CHARLIE AND CO. contact me through this site as Kip would really like to get copies. Below is the trailer for BOLLYWOOD HERO, a 3 night musical mini-series event debuting on IFC on August 6,7 and 8. Kip's son Chris stars and Kip himself also appears.

My Interview With Kip King-7/23/09

I'm on record as being a big fan of character actors. Recently I had the opportunity to speak with Kip King, a man who has been working in show business since the mid-fifties, often in small but memorable roles in television and film. As I've noted, my son and I have been watching episodes of the Adam West BATMAN series. Last week, we watched an atypical episode in which one of the Joker's henchmen was actually given a character, a personality and even scenes away from his "boss." And he made the most of the role, creating a well-acted, funny and memorable minion for the clown prince of crime. It got my attention. I looked him up. Kip King. Hey, I knew that name! He was Tailor Smurf on THE SMURFS! He also appeared on many TV series episodes, both classics and completely forgotten ones. Oh, and he's also the father of currently popular actor Chris Kattan. I took the chance of contacting him for a brief interview about BATMAN and THE SMURFS but before I knew it, I was in the middle of a long, rambling and wonderful conversation with this man who knew and worked with nearly everybody from Jack Benny and Stan Laurel to Tom Hanks and Keanu Reaves. Here's part one in which we discuss, amongst other things, old time radio, Stan Laurel, Red Skelton and Cesar Romero's mustache. Let me know what you think and if you'd be interested in seeing more character actor interviews here at the Library.

BOOKSTEVE-Okay, since we have to start somewhere, how did you get involved in show business in the first place?

KIP KING-Oh my God. This is gonna be a seven hour interview! (laughter) Well, I came out here from Chicago. I was an amateur magician and ventriloquist and came out here in 1952 when I was...my parents got divorced and I was fifteen. We moved to Hollywood. I'd always dreamt of being in the movies and within one year of moving in, I had a television series at CBS called THE ALDRICH FAMILY. At the age of sixteen. Co-STARRING and under contract to CBS.

B-Who did you play on it?

K-Homer. Homer Brown.

B-You're not gonna believe this! I played Homer Brown on stage with Ezra Stone who played the original Henry Aldrich!

K-Where was this?

B-Radio re-creation in Cincinnati about sixteen years ago, the year before his death.

K-Ezra directed me in MY LIVING DOLL.

B-He was marvelous!

K-My friend Ronnie Schell kept saying, "Visit Ezra Stone. Visit Ezra Stone." He wrote me a letter after I did LIVING DOLL complimenting me on the part. Very few directors do that.

B-I thought Ezra was one of the most nurturing people as far as acting goes. I've done a lot of the radio re-creations in the past twenty years and usually you get a script, you get up there and you read but Ezra sat down with me beforehand and told me to always play off the other actors even if you're reading from a script.

K-Jackie Kelk. Did you ever meet him?

B-Did not. I know he was doing the re-creations around that same time but he never came to the convention.

K-Well, he was very self-defeating. He lived in the Valley. You know SPERDVAC?

B-Sure.

K-I've been a member of SPERDVAC for ages 'cause I'm a big fan. Jackie Kelk was going to one of the conventions and he was in AA and...he's dead now but he kept referring to it. Very self-defeating. He was not proud of himself. I think he had a slip--not at the time but I mean, he slipped off. He had some bad years and he was very self-defeating. A lot of the people in old-time radio had their GOOD time and then they lost it. They didn't as human beings grow out of that.

B-Yeah.

K-You know what I'm saying? They didn't know what to do with their lives without the gig. I talked to John Milton Kennedy, LUX RADIO THEATRE host (announcer) and he just had nothing to say except anecdotes about LUX--about working. To me they're very sad because I think work is a means to an end and it's not the end in itself. This was quite sad for me.

B-Bob Hastings, whom I've worked with over the years at Cincinnati, isn't like that.

K-I worked with Bob on some re-creations of early television shows that somebody wanted to market. I would play, like, Dean Martin and he would be some sort of announcer and...yes, and ARCHIE ANDREWS...the other guy who did Jughead...

B-Hal Stone.

K-Yes, he also did re-creations but Bob Hastings always had a lot to do. He was in McHALE'S NAVY wasn't he?

B-Yeah. I always say I've learned more about acting from sitting next to Bob at these re-creations! This year's guest was Eddie Carroll.

K-Oh! Eddie is a DEAR friend!

B-He was marvelous! Very enjoyable.

K-We did "Dueling Benny's." Bob Lynnes had Hal Goldman on one time and I call on the phone and I say, (as Jack Benny), "Hello, Hal. This's Jack Benny and I...didn't like the script today...and I'll tell you why. It's not your fault and it's not mine...or these damn GLASSES!" And you know, I play these things back and it's a dead ringer. A dead Ring-er! So Eddie and I would be out doing interviews for a commercial and I'd say, (as Jack), "Well, I'm first!" and he'd say, "Well, I signed in!" and I'd say, "Well you signed in with another name!" "Don't let him get the part!" (laughter) Go ahead with your questions or this is gonna take six years!

B-Okay, then, what were some of your favorite experiences in early television?

K-Well, I tell ya, it was absolutely amazing to be thrust into this stuff. One of the weirdest things was I ad-libbed on PLAYHOUSE 90. And almost killed the show! The director, Buzz Kulik, said, "I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe what you did. Later on--years later--I happened to see this PLAYHOUSE 90 and it actually worked! It was called "A Trip to Paradise." (March 26, 1959) Burt Brinckerhoff and myself and supporting us were Robert Blake, Dyan Cannon...they were all teenagers! Anyway, In the beginning we had this thirteen minute scene--LIVE--he's talking about this girl he met, Ellie, and how beautiful she was and there's this whole thing...there's a murder and Ellie this and...after that I'm out of the whole show until the end of the show, right? So I see him again and he's been through...they've beaten him up. He's walking with a limp. He's got a hat on and I see him on the boardwalk and I say, "Ray! Ray!" and he turns around...They'd never rehearsed with bandages! I never even saw...So I say, "Oh, you got cut up there." (laughter) I ad-libbed that! I said "You got cut up..." when I saw the tape--but what I had thought I said was, "Oh, you got a little cut there." So, the guy had been really beaten up and I thought I'd said, "Oh, you got a little cut there." But when I saw it all those years later, it worked. Plus, I ad-libbed on THE JACK BENNY SHOW, too! Now this was never, ever, ever done! Benny Rubin came over to me after and said, "I don't know what you just did but no one's ever done this." and luckily Jack says, "All right, keep it in!" Now this was Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner as guests. (March 6, 1960) I was supposed to deliver them a telegram and Jack Benny was teaching them Method acting. So they were all very deeply involved in whatever their dialogue was in this rehearsal for a television show that Jack was directing as a Method director. They were dressed as beatniks, right?

B-Okay.

K-So he said, "Action" and Wagner says, "I wish that you would get some notice of what's going to happen." She says, "I'm waiting, I'm waiting." and I'm supposed to ring the bell and say "Telegram."

B-Okay...

K-So I ring the bell, they open the door and I go, "Tele-GRAM!" And it absolutely worked. You know, I thought, I would be Method acting, too! No one had ever ad-libbed on THE JACK BENNY SHOW.

B-That's what I had always thought. (laughter)Speaking of great comedians, I read somewhere that you worked with Stan Laurel. Where was that?

K-Oh, Stan Laurel was my mentor!

B-Really!?

K-I met him through Jerry Lewis. I was in the Jerry Lewis comedy workshop before I went in the Army and he said "You know, I just talked to Stan Laurel today." I said, "Really?" He said, "Yeah. He's in the phone book. Why don't you call him?" And he was! He was in the phone book in Santa Monica.

B-I heard Dick Van Dyke did that, too.

K-Yeah. Every star visited Stan but a lot of them, all they did was they brought their shit. Stuff to show him. But Chuck McCann and I became good friends of his. He left me his bow tie and cigarette case and we were very close. When I went to England, he opened the doors for me and went to the Command Performance. He was really the first movie star that I ever knew that was emotionally fit. Everybody else was fucked up to be honest with you. I was with Red Skelton for thirteen shows. He had me fired on the last show.

B-I've never heard much good about Red.

K-Really? I'm glad. He was a real son of a bitch. One day I was in the hall during rehearsal and I was humming a song. And Red says, "What's that?" I said, "I'm making up this song." He had me hum it and he said, "That was really nice." That night, David Rose premiered a new composition by Red Skelton...MY song!

B-Sadly, I believe it.

K- He stole it. Absolutely true. Dave O'Brien was one of his writers...from the Pete Smith shorts. And Seymour Burns directed him and he directed THE ALDRICH FAMILY. The first pilot. We made two pilots. The first was live on kinescope and I'd love to get it. No one has it. The second I'd also love to get was made for Desilu, Lucy and Desi bought the rights. We made the pilot and we did three camera--with an audience and it was ready to go on slate with CBS in the fall and instead they put on GUNSMOKE...which I understand did pretty well.

B-Wow. Well, let's move up to 1966. What about BATMAN?

K-HAH!

B-Were you familiar with the show at all? Had it already become the phenomenon that it became?

K-It was JUST hitting its peak. A friend of mine, Stanley Ralph Ross, had written some of the scripts. I don't know if you know who he is?

B-Oh, of course!

K-He was a good friend and he just called Larry Stewart who I knew from before and he was casting it and Larry called me in for this BATMAN show and I had seen it. I liked it and I read for this and...you know it just fit like a glove. It just was one of those things! I've done several shows that just fit! MY FAVORITE MARTIAN and a lot of work on the Desilu lot after I did a lot of live TV. I did all the live shows for seven years. Then I started doing filmed stuff like BEN CASEY...well, anyway, let's stick with Desilu. Well this wasn't Desilu, this was...

B-Fox

K-Yeah. Where I did TWELVE O'CLOCK HIGH. So....I got the part and it just turned out to be enormously supportive. The rest of the cast except for Cesar Romero who was pretty much of an asshole.

B-Really??

K-Well, okay, I won't call him an asshole. He wasn't a bad guy. He just was removed. Didn't want to participate with anyone else. "AH, yah! This make-up hurts. I'll do it and get outa here!" He didn't visit. So strike "asshole." Sorry, folks. Cesar Romero was not an asshole! I had written a show for Betty Hutton with him! I wrote THE BETTY HUTTON SHOW...I'm sorry to keep digressing but I was hired as an actor, became her lover and wrote the show so that's an interesting story in itself.

B-I was going to ask how you got involved in writing and why you never did more of it.

K-(laughter) Well, because I wrote during the writers' strike! Wasn't a member of the union!

B-Thaaaat would explain that.

K-Well, I wrote this show for her and Cesar Romero and (on BATMAN) I said, "I wrote that show for you, remember?" and he said, (in Cesar Romero's voice), "I do so many." The Joker worked very well for him, though, didn't it?

B-That's very true but according to some sources, that role was originally meant for Jose Ferrer!

K-Was it?? (laughter)

B-That's what I've read.

K-Quite possibly true. He didn't do any of those though, did he?

B-No, which is too bad because his son, Miguel, went on to be a big comics fan. Imagine if his dad had been the Joker! Up close could you see Cesar's mustache?

K-Oh, of course.

B-Maybe it's because I was a kid but I never did and now that's all I see when I look at him in that makeup! My son and I have been watching a lot of old episodes lately.

K-How old's your son?

B-Twelve.

K-Oh my God, cool!

B-The whole thing is that some of them were just ridiculous and silly but the early ones especially were really entertaining and good! Most of the humor in them came from everybody being serious. You, on the other hand, actually managed to be funny in it on purpose.

K-This was an ideal situation, to play a character who was...well, to play a character! Literally, a character. I WAS serious but I was able to do it in and out of the box at the same time.

B-Well, it stands out because so many of the other episodes those henchmen are just there. Sometimes two, sometimes four.You never know anything about them but their names and that's often only because they wear them on their shirts! But you actually got in a characterization.

K-Yeah, it really worked. I mean, I had a crush on Donna Loren....my character did. Everything was working. Also, we all got along very well. Would you know who that other guy was...the big guy who played the oaf with me? I can't remember his name.

B-(Greg Benedict)

K-Very nice. Quite removed and I know very much into psychedelics I think.

B-Well, it was that time, wasn't it?

K-Adam I knew from THE DETECTIVES and he was one of the nicest people I know. He had a sense of humor about his lack of ability all the time. Ever since he started. I mean, he has made a living NOT doing it well! BATMAN worked out so well for him it just was a miracle. It's wonderful. He's the sweetest guy in the world. He'll do anything Cesar Romero didn't do!

B-I remember at the time we all believed in Batman. All of us kids took him seriously when he said, "Make sure you buckle your seat belts, citizens," and all that. Wasn't like he was being silly at all or being ironic about it.

K- It was good stuff. Worked on so many levels.

B-During the fight scenes, how much of that was you and how much stuntmen?

K-I would say, almost 50-50. Obviously the close-ups were me. The heavy stuff was the stuntmen. I took the last few punches and fell but the medium and long-shots were them.

B-When they did the two episodes that were on Wednesday and Thursday, did they shoot them as one and just cut them into two?

K-No, each part was shot...part one first, then part two. It was directed by Oscar Rudolph who directed me in MY FAVORITE MARTIAN.

The illustrations of Kip in this piece come from episodes of the television series LONGSTREET (with Bruce Lee), MAN WITH A CAMERA (with Charles Bronson), BOSOM BUDDIES (with Tom Hanks) and BATMAN. The lovely late in life triptych of Stanley was borrowed from a wonderful site called http://lettersfromstan.com/stan_history.html . The photo of Eddie Carroll and Bob Hastings (with booksteve himself in the background!) was snapped by my lovely wife, Rene earlier this year.

Coming tomorrow, the second and final part of my interview with Kip King in which we discuss SMURFS, the Groundlings, looping and more on Stan Laurel! While you wait, check out Kip's website at http://www.kipking.actorsite.com/ .

Mighty Crusaders Action Figures

Somehow I missed these. Looks like this would have been tied to the ambitious but ultimately self-destructive 1980's revival that featured work by Rich Buckler, Robert Kanigher, Trevor Von Eeden, and Dick Ayers along with some pretty nifty Steranko covers!

Wednesday Comics

I wanted to wait a few weeks to get a handle on WEDNESDAY COMICS before I made my judgement. At this point, since this is only a 12 issue series, we are exactly a quarter of the way through and here's what I think.

First of all, the format. It's a novelty, pure and simple. When it comes right down to it, only a couple of the strips are even using it to their advantage. What matters here is the art and the stories. Here's my take:

BATMAN by Robins and Mulvihill. I don't know these guys at all and they're not doing much to convince me that I should. This is moving at a snail's pace and outside of a terrific new Bat-logo I find little reason to recommend this strip. *

KAMANDI by Dave Gibbons and Ryan Sook. In my opinion, this is the best this title has to offer. Structured like an old-fashioned FLASH GORDON or PRINCE VALIANT page, the colors are vibrant, the plot interesting and the pacing enough to keep one interested from week to week. The art itself is quite detailed. ****

SUPERMAN by Arcudi and Bermejo. Interestingly drawn in a near photographic style, I don't have a clue what's been going on here these past three weeks. *

DEADMAN by Bullock, Heuck and Stewart. More of a plot than most but still little movement. Highly stylized page design and crisp art make this one enjoyable and the writing seems to maintain the traditional version of the character. ***

GREEN LANTERN by Busiek and Quinones. A bit disappointing so far but at least it's advancing fairly quickly. Seems to be almost a spinoff of NEW FRONTIER as it's clearly set in the past well beyond current DCU continuity. Dialogue is good, art just okay. **

METAMORPHO by Gaiman and Allred. Great looking art here from the MADMAN creator but each page is a splash. Can we expect even Neil to tell a real story in a dozen splash pages (with unfunny little fanboy jokes as a bottom strip)? Knowing him, it's possible...but he should start soon if he really plans on pulling it off. **

TEEN TITANS by Berganza and Galloway. At least something's actually happening here but not enough to make me recall the plot from week to week. The dull, pseudo-anime art doesn't help either. ----

STRANGE ADVENTURES by Pope and Villarrubia. A truly ugly strip with art that reminds me of Brendan McCarthy (except that I LIKE Brendan McCarthy). This is like no version of Adam Strange you've ever seen. That said, this is one of the more memorable strips from week to week with constant action. *

SUPERGIRL by Palmiotti and Conner. The art is ultra-cute and the story's also cute but we're going on four weeks now with our heroine simply chasing the super pets. **

METAL MEN by Didio, Garcia-Lopez and Nowlan. The most traditional strip here and also the best paced plot. The characterizations are spot-on and the combination of artists is an absolute joy! ****

WONDER WOMAN by Caldwell. A frickin' mess! An ugly logo, hard to read lettering and a nearly impossible to follow layout make this strip a chore to get through every week and when you do you can't be sure what--if anything--happened. The only good thing is that Caldwell gives you no reason to care either. What a waste. ----

SGT. ROCK by the Kuberts. At least while Rock's been beaten up for three weeks in a row, the plot is moving a long a little. Kubert's style, although simplified with age as is the case with most of the great comics illustrators, still leads to an amazing bit of work that one can appreciate for both its storytelling and its art. ***

FLASH by Kerschl, Fletcher, Leigh and McCaig. This one looks like a real Sunday strip, complete with a bottom strip that ties in to it. It's the Barry Allen Flash and the story thus far, while a tad slower than you might expect from the fastest man alive, is a fun bit with both Flash and his real identity--together and separately! ***

CATWOMAN AND THE DEMON-by Simonson, Stelfreeze and Wands. A seemingly pointless combination of characters here but an intriguing, quickly moving plot and unusual art from Stelfreeze add to the fact that these creators may yet make this one a real winner. **

HAWKMAN by Baker. A new look for the character, some very interesting coloring and a lot of action right out of the gate on this one. ****

Okay, then. What's good is real good and a few others still have potential. With relatively few strips, however, I'd have to say the lesser strips are making me think twice about whether to bother sticking with WEDNESDAY COMICS. Even though the choice of strips would seem in part at least aimed at the older fan I just don't care about most of these characters. Perhaps more sadly, all of the creators, as I stated above, seem at a loss to figure out how to get me to do so.

The 1st Cincinnati Comic and Nostalgia Convention

I had read about them for several years in fanzines but I 16 year old me had never been to a convention. By 1974 there were several comic book shops in the Cincinnati area including Steve Conner's various attempts at sustaining one in Northern Kentucky, one in Cincy's Losantiville area and the Yellow Kid Comic Shoppe run by Andy Voris and his 10 year old son, Cy. We ran a clipping about Cy a couple of years ago ( http://booksteveslibrary.blogspot.com/2006/06/cy-voris.html ). He went on to be a comics creator and filmmaker. In January of 1975 however, right after he had turned 11, Cy Voris put on the first ever comic book convention in Cincinnati. Now this wasn't some cheap little mall con or motel con, this was a big downtown to-do at one of the city's major hotels! I nervously entered the cavernous, ostentatiously decorated lobby of the Netherland Hilton early that Sunday afternoon and asked where the comic book show was. I was told to follow the crowds so I did and entered my very first dealers room. At 16, I had already been a comics collector for a decade but I had NEVER imagined anything like this. There had to be a hundred dealers there, each displaying comics, magazines, posters and/or original art. This was the very first original art I had ever seen anywhere! And guests! The first real cartoonist I ever met was that day also--Richard Lynn ( http://parwell.hypermart.net/richardlynn.html ) Over the next two years there were a number of smaller cons as well as one in Louisville and one in Cleveland that I attended. It would still be 13 years before my first and to date only excursion to San Diego.

Not sure how I ended up with one of the posters from that 1st Cincinnati con but here it is...sort of. Because of it's size, I've had to scan it in sections. Sorry. Still, cool pop art looking Human Torch. No earthly idea the artist.

Castle of Frankenstein Goes to a Super Hero Convention

Probably a goodly portion of my regular readers are in San Diego this weekend. For those of you who, like me, couldn't make it, here are three pages from 1967's CASTLE OF FRANKENSTEIN "Annual" (there was only one) celebrating one of the earliest New York comic book conventions. Written by now-respected comics historian John Benson (whose annotations fill the Russ Cochran EC volumes), you'll note that Carol Seuling won the costume contest as Mary Marvel. Carol was the wife of Phil Seuling whose name would eventually be the one most associated with NYC conventions (and who is generally credited with the invention of the direct market). Note, also, that ACTION COMICS # 1 sold for the then-remarkable price of forty dollars at auction!! FOR A TEN CENT COMIC BOOK!!!! Zowie! What a mark-up! Guests included Gardner Fox, Roy Thomas, Otto Binder and Bill Finger! One wonders if Finger spoke publicly or even privately about his involvement with the creation of BATMAN that day!

The Complete Frankie Howerd

Today's book off the shelf here at the Library is THE COMPLETE FRANKIE HOWERD by Robert Ross from 2001. When Howerd was cast as Mean Mister Mustard in the now-notorious mid-seventies flop, SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND, I couldn't believe they had cast an unknown in such an all-star film. Ah, little did I know. Seems Frankie had been a star in the UK for two decades by that point and was, in fact, at a career high point after his hit television series, UP POMPEII! He had actually been in the Beatles' HELP, also, but his part ended up on the cutting room floor. He appeared only twice in CARRY ON films (and in one of the CARRY ON CHRISTMAS specials) but is also revered amongst fans of those naughty comedies.

Robert Ross, perhaps the greatest fan/defender/historian of teh CARRY ON franchise, chooses to deal in this book strictly with Frankie's career rather than his sometimes controversial and less than happy personal life. As such, it is a well done, chronological look at the various radio series, TV series, stage shows and films the beloved comedian appeared in. Living in the US, I, of course, have seen or heard very little of these other than by this point some of the movies. Nonetheless, Ross makes them interesting and one can easily chart the rise of his career as well as the various peaks and valleys. It's like reading a book on how wonderfully funny Groucho Marx is when you've only barely ever even heard of him! Afterwards, I was most definitely a fan of Frankie Howerd. Ross also did a similar book (which we have here also) on the career of Sid James and, in fact, will soon be releasing in the UK an in-depth biography of that beloved comedian whose reputation has become somewhat tarnished in retrospect. Ross promises to clear up all the confusion. We'll see.

Stan Lee at Comic Con

Here's fresh video of Stan the Man Lee from this year's San Diego Comic Con Not so much an interview as a testimonial about Activision's new Marvel video games but always a treat to see the reigning king of heroic hyperbole!

Thunderclap Newman

Surely the song "Something in the Air" by the group Thunderclap Newman holds some sort of record for being on the most movie and television soundtracks beginning with 1969's THE MAGIC CHRISTIAN with Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr. The group, originally consisting of only three members, was handpicked by the Who's Pete Townshend as a vehicle for his friend Speedy Keen. Keyboards were done by a Jazz drummer named Andy Newman while later Wings member Jimmy McCulloch, then age 15, took guitar. Townshend himself produced their debut album and played various instruments on this and other tracks. The group, augmented with a couple other musicians, played a very few live gigs before self-destructing but here's their original promo film (ie: music video) for what has been called the greatest one-hit wonder of them all!

Deadly Sweet

VIDEO WATCHDOG's Tim Lucas posted this 1967 film trailer on FACEBOOK yesterday and it has become my new favorite thing. It's an Italian film shot in swinging London with a French leading man and a Swedish leading lady (CANDY's Ewa Aulin). So stylish as to be a world unto itself, this is a type of filmmaking that was much more prevalent then than now and I for one miss the artsy and genuine artistic feel of films like this. Now I have to see the movie itself!

Random Panels of Comic Book Weirdness # 61

Trash talkin' in the 1940's courtesy of this Gill Fox KID PATROL panel from an issue of Quality's NATIONAL COMICS. (Wouldn't it have been confusing if National had put out a QUALITY COMICS title?) "Ugly, pugly, hugly hoe" indeed! Look who's talkin', sister! (Okay, I know it's obviously a magic spell she's reading but the line made me chuckle and it's been a weird day, okay?)

Avengers # 3 Ad

A rarely seen poster-style next issue ad from AVENGERS # 2! Note that Iron Man is depicted in his golden armor even though it would change in both TALES OF SUSPENSE and AVENGERS by the time issue 3 actually came out. The main art here is by Jack Kirby and I'm going to say Paul Reinman. I'm pretty sure the insert shots are from other sources but also all appear to be Kirby.

Atoma by Bob Powell

Normally I shy away from full story reprints but I'm assured from at least two folks that this story, originally published in Harvey's JOE PALOOKA # 15 in late 1947, is in the public domain so... JOE PALOOKA was a perhaps surprisingly long-running comic book that mostly reprinted the newspaper exploits of the title boxer. The back-up strips were usually Palooka-related also but in the mid-forties, artist Bob Powell who had done THE SHADOW strip and, for awhile, MISTER MYSTIC in Will Eisner's SPIRIT sections, began doing a strip entitled CHICKIE RICKS THE FLYING FOOL. The first page of ATOMA tells us that it was Powell who wanted to see if a sci-fi strip would go over. Apparently it didn't. In spite of the innovative number layouts on each page (to cover up for the more sparse than normal backgrounds perhaps?)and the fact that the whole thing is clearly setting up a series, GCD lists this as the only appearance of ATOMA. Powell would do some impressive work at Harvey on THE MAN IN BLACK as well as in some crime and horror comics. In the sixties, he, along with Wallace Wood, designed the infamous MARS ATTACKS cards. He ended up doing some unusual work on secondary features at Marvel, then moved on to SICK, one of the many imitation MAD magazines. He died in 1967.

Filler-Linda Blair

I'm in the middle of what looks to be at least three days to get my unemployment cleared up due largely to a computer glitch on THEIR part for which I'm having to suffer. So while you wait, here's a few new pictures of Linda Blair I grabbed off the "Net! Enjoy!

One Small Step

It's easy to talk about the moon landing of APOLLO 11 forty years ago this very day and forget that in a way, the entirety of the sixties led us up to that exact moment. The science fiction films of the fifties such as DESTINATION MOON became a reality when Sputnik was launched into orbit and the space race between the US and the Soviet Union began. When president Kennedy made his famous speech about landing on the moon, it was impossible for some older Americans to believe. Simply impossible. It was beyond their scope of understanding that it could ever actually be accomplished. A lot of younger Americans, however, took it to heart and throughout the sixties as the real-life space program hit its stride, pop-culture representations of astronauts and space ships were at an all-time high. There were toys such as BILLY BLASTOFF and MAJOR MATT MASON. TV astronauts were on I DREAM OF JEANNIE, IT'S ABOUT TIME and LOST IN SPACE while STAR TREK began its deep infiltration of popular consciousness. Movies such as THE ASTRONAUT and MOON ZERO TWO competed with more fanciful depictions of astronauts such as in PLANET OF THE APES and 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. Science Fiction novels became mainstream for the first time and in comics, THE FANTASTIC FOUR gained their powers in an attempt to be the first astronauts to land on the moon.

In real life, we were watching all the countdowns and splashdowns and ticker tape parades for Gemini and Mercury space heroes such as Col. John Glenn. The first book report I ever did in school (5th grade) was on a book entitled WHAT COL. GLENN DID ALL DAY (or something like that). When Apollo 8 actually orbited the moon at Christmas of 1968 the world seemed to just stop for a few moments when the astronauts read passages from GENESIS. If you were there you know what I mean and if not, you could never fully understand. Just for a brief few seconds in that turbulent decade, there seemed to be hope.

Then came Apollo 11. From liftoff, we watched every almost unbelievable moment. Walter Cronkite on CBS and Frank Reynolds on ABC were both equally fascinated as they reported it all to us in long uninterrupted news coverage that pre-empted regular TV schedules. I remember thinking it seemed like an absolutely endless amount of time before they landed and then again before Neil Armstrong stepped off the LEM and took that "giant leap for mankind." But I saw it. I SAW the first human ever step on the moon and I saw a million fantasies become reality in that moment.

After that it was all Nixon and moon rocks and space pens and Tang and the moon landings became, if you can believe it, routine. Jack Kirby and Stan Lee revisited the concept in FANTASTIC FOUR # 98 some months after the lunar landing. The issue found the FF actually going to the moon (where they had been several times before by that point) in order to fight a menace that threatened to prevent Apollo 11's landing! Even as a child, that made no sense. When the Red Ghost and the Human Torch had already been on the moon, what difference did it make for Neil Armstrong to go. Reality and fantasy had become one and comics would learn to steer clear of too many real world developments after that. It just didn't work.

Later still came the questioning, the conspiracy theories, the politics that kept us from returning to the moon or beyond, the admission by NASA of just how close the landing module came to crashing, astronaut Buzz Aldrin's admissions of alcoholism, Col. Armstrong's refusal to discuss the most historic moment of the century. Reality again. Maybe we've backslid. Maybe we haven't progressed as well as we'd expected. Maybe, as some say, we don't even have the technology to get to the moon today if we wanted to. None of that matters in the end because those of us who were there that day know that it happened! Those of us who were there had the best head trip the sixties ever offered!

Seen here is ONE SMALL STEP, a book put out ten years ago for the 30th anniversary of Apollo 11. Unlike most books on the moon landing, this one swaps detail for perspective and presents a lot of the pop culture influence on the space program as well as the space program's influence on pop culture. Check your local library.

Casper at Sixty

Like many folks my age it seems, I have always counted BATMAN # 180 ("Death Knocks Three Times") as the first book of my official comic book collection. Long before that, however, my dad would bring me a handful of CASPER THE FRIENDLY GHOST comics every time he would happen to see them on sale anywhere. Maybe it was because CASPER was also one of my favorite cartoon series but I've always had a special affection for the little guy. Turns out he turns sixty this year and Dark Horse will be celebrating later in the year with this special reprint. In the meantime, head over to Jon's Random Acts of Geekery at http://waffyjon.blogspot.com/2009/07/by-10s-friendly-ghost-casper-part-1.html to catch some CASPER by the tens! While you're there, congratulate Jon on his newly adopted daughter! Seen here is my own son about ten years ago at approximately age three proudly absconding with a couple favorite titles from my background longboxes!

Prey of the Jaguar

Not sure how they managed to get a superhero movie with Linda Blair past me but I had never heard of this flick until this week! 1996's PREY OF THE JAGUAR is hardly a high spot in Linda Blair's career but it is a mildly entertaining--if not the least bit original--superhero picture. Maxwell Caulfield, 1982's "next big thing" that never was, stars a s a former government agent now in the witness protection program after a drug dealer threatened to kill him if he ever got out of prison. Drug dealer escapes, kills Max's family and Max becomes the super-heroic Jaguar (so named for no apparent reason) in order to exact revenge. There's a little more to it than that, of course. Also cliches, mind you. There's also the aged oriental sensei, the mysterious government organization, the guy playing both sides of the fence, the sympathetic cop (Linda) and the curmudgeonly old guy who makes the hero's weapons. All of this is presented in a rather straightforward manner with the exception of the action scenes which are nicely handled. If only the cameraman hadn't been obviously tipsy during the whole thing as the images are constantly wiggling, shaking, shifting and spinning. It was enough to give me a headache by the halfway point!

The surprisingly good cast includes the late boxer/actor Trevor Goddard (MORTAL KOMBAT) as the bad guy and he's suitably evil and slimy. Stacy Keach gives the best line delivery as the supposedly dead government agent who turns up at the beginning and the end. The equally late director/actor/cult figure Paul Bartel does well with his little more than a cameo as the toymaker. The also late Paul Regina, the straight actor who starred in Showtime's BROTHERS in the eighties, the first openly gay character in a sitcom, is miscast as the turncoat agent but seems to be having fun with it. Maxwell, while never living up to expectations after the flop of GREASE 2, is suitably tight-lipped and square-jawed throughout. His suit is undefined mish-mash of high tech and war paint with a crossbow as weapon. As a superhero, he is definitely an also-ran. Linda Blair looks and acts her age and except for a few thrown away lines gives a nice, sympathetic performance as a police detective who ends up helping our hero. Again, an okay way to kill 93 minutes but don't go counting the merchandising revenue on the Jaguar.

Jimminy and the Magic Book

MORE FUN COMICS was incongruously one of DC's bloodiest and most violent comics during the peak World War II years. The sometimes almost sadistic adventures of Jerry Siegel's SPECTRE could be found here along with those of DOCTOR FATE and later JOHNNY QUICK, AQUAMAN and GREEN ARROW. After the war, however, trends changed and these features all faded away or moved into other titles leaving MORE FUN COMICS once again...fun!

In 1947, beginning in issue 121 of the long-running title, we find the first appearance of JIMMINY AND THE MAGIC BOOK. A forgotten traesure of a series, it chronicles the whimsical adventures of a little boy named Jimminy Crockett and a book of fairy tales, myths and legends he finds in his attic. The book, you see, can bring things in it to life! Unfortunately, real-life fairy tale characters are not always a good thing and Jimminy is warned by his father--who had enjoyed the book before him--to always keep his wits about him.

For seven issues--the final seven issues of the title--Jimminy has adventures with pirates, polar bears, talking animals, trolls, kangaroos and even discreetly topless mermaids(!). All of this is presented in beautifully drawn and colored pages by artist Howie Post. To say that Post's work is reminiscent of Walt Kelly would be an understatement. Although his own developing style shows through at times, for much of the run even a reader very familiar with Kelly might swear this was him. In fact, in a COMIC BOOK ARTIST interview a few years ago, Post tells the story of how Kelly and Dell comics honchos picked him to ghost the successful POGO comic book after Walt had moved on to the syndicated daily POGO strip. Unfortunately, he found he could make more money continuing to work for DC so that never happened. After Jimminy, Howie Post continued to work under the radar in comics, returning to a bit of prominence in the late sixties with the short-lived but well-remembered ANTHRO. After that he moved into newspaper strips himself with THE DROPOUTS.

According to GCD, all of the appearances of JIMMINY AND THE MAGIC BOOK were written by Jack Mendelsohn, a writer/artist who later created the bizarre syndicated strip JACKY'S DIARY and even later was one of the credited writers on the Beatles' animated feature YELLOW SUBMARINE.

If one is mining for undiscovered gems in DC's back catalog, I'd put this one up with SCRIBBLY as one that deserves a trade paper reprinting. Unfortunately, I'd also put this up with SCRIBBLY as something we're not likely to have see the light of day in the current comics market. Sigh. Look for cheap back issues of MORE FUN #'s 121-127 at your local comic shop. Since there are no costumed heroes in them, you might be able to find good deals.

The covers seen here are from the entire run and come from GCD. Note Superman's cameo on one issue!

Marvel Mystery House Ad-1942

RIP-Dallas McKennon

These days I sometimes wonder why Filmation didn't get actor Bob Hastings to recreate his ARCHIE radio role for their cartoons. It can't be because he was too old. Just a couple years earlier he was the voice of SUPERBOY for them and he was younger than the guy they eventually DID get to do that squeaky voice. Most people who care about such things are fairly familiar today with the fact that Ron Dante was the singing voice of ARCHIE on the records and in the old Filmation cartoons that began in the late sixties. Since his is the only name ever mentioned, I've heard of some who still think that he also did Archie's speaking voice! But no. I remember the first time I figured out that Archie's voice was, in fact, done by the old Gabby Hayes type guy who played on the DANIEL BOONE TV series! Cincinnatus! Looking back, that "old guy", actor Dallas McKennon, was younger then than I am now! As usual, Mark Evanier has a nice tribute/obit today at http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2009_07_14.html#017432

Superman Belt and Buckle

Here's a 1956 Kellogg's Corn Flakes tie-in ad from DC. Show everyone you're a SUPERMAN fan, it says. I don't know...why do I think the more likely scenario would be that some bully sees your belt buckle and says, "So you think you're as tough as Superman, huh?" and it all goes to hell from there? Oh and did no one notice that Superman's belt is actually yellow...not red? Or would a yellow belt have looked even wimpier?

Random Panels of Comic Book Weirdness # 60

Here's Blackhawk pilot Andre, the cliched French member of the Magnificent Seven. Often pictured as believing himself to be a great lover, he is seen here with one of his latter-day lovers who turns out to be NOT quite the lady he expected! From DC yet! Under the comics code yet! Actually, of course, the transvestite was a villain who was, in fact, holding a shirtless Andre hostage. Again...no gay subtext whatsoever. It's all in our dirty minds!

Movies That Fell Through the Cracks # 53

British director Michael Winner's biggest film was probably the surprise international hit (and sire of multiple terrible sequels!) DEATH WISH. His most interesting choice as a director may well have been WON TON TON-THE DOG THAT SAVED HOLLYWOOD, the all-star flop about the classic days of old Tinseltown. By 1979, however, he found himself with a mess. FIREPOWER had, according to IMDB, originally been written as a DIRTY HARRY script for Clint Eastwood, then retooled for Winner regular Charles Bronson, then on a downslide from his own international stardom. Bronson backed out and the film was almost canceled until James Coburn stepped in and the whole thing was retooled as a vehicle for his uniquely stylish film personality.

Coburn's hits were ten years behind him at that point but he had continued churning out forgettable features such as HARRY IN YOUR POCKET, THE INTERNICINE PROJECT and SKYRIDERS. While FIREPOWER certainly wasn't a better film, it was more enjoyable. Sophia Loren is out to get the ex-lover who murdered her husband. She teams with cool hitman Coburn and his sidekick (O.J. Simpson!). From there, the expected shootings, chases and explosions begin. The familiar cast includes Tony Franciosa as the "bad guy" (not that any of these characters are "good guys!") along with veterans Eli Wallach, George Grizzard, Vincent Gardenia (so good in Winner's DEATH WISH), Billy Barty and real old-timer Victor Mature (for less than a minute!). Real-life RAGING BULL boxer Jake LaMotta appears also.

Reviews were bad and it rarely turns up anywhere anymore. If one does grab it, it might most likely be to see OJ as a killer. Sigh. No one's career was really hurt but neither was anyone's career helped. Sophia was and continues to be a legend, Coburn moved into character parts and if you don't know what happened to OJ Simpson, I'll let you Google that yourself.

My Own LOL Cat

My well-named three year old cat Mischief claimed the dog's food at one point today and would NOT be moved!

Lily Allen-the Fear

I'm having a really, really bad day but I did just discover a new(ish) song that I really like on a rerun of Jonathan Ross's show from January--Lily Allen with "The Fear." Then I found this version I like even better online from Jimmy Kimmel's show, also about six months or so back.

The Invisible Man-A Marvel Hero That Never Was

If it hadn't been for the fact that this story, "I Was the Invisible Man" appeared in a late 1958 issue of STRANGE TALES, the character might well have gone on to become yet another Marvel superhero! Yes, it's a self-contained story with a downbeat ending but hey, Ant Man started out under similar circumstances! The story deals with a scientist who finds a way of making himself...no, not invisible...super FAST! That's right. THIS guy could have been Marvel's answer to DC's Silver Age Flash! He's so super-fast that he comes across as invisible to everyone! At first, like the later Spider-Man, he decided to cash in on it. Then he realizes he can use his powers for good...and still make money with them! This being a post-comics code Atlas/Marvel short story, the inevitable twist comes in the fact that his use of speed (like Tower Comics' later character Lightning) uses up his life energy, ultimately leaving him an old man. Of course a few years later, after the Fantastic Four became publicly known, he could have gone to Reed Richards for help in reversing the process and controlling it, thus leaving the Invisible Man as a unique counterpart to the FF's Invisible Girl! Possibly he would've joined the Avengers. "Sorry, Quicksilver. We'll take your sister but we already have a speedster." Maybe even the retconned Agents of Atlas.

This story was reprinted in STRANGE TALES ANNUAL # 2 and apparently in the wonderfully named GIANT-SIZE MAN-THING # 1. GCD credits both art and script to Jack Kirby. Not sure about that last part as Kirby's scripting is usually recognizable as such.

Women of Seventies TV # 2-Michael Learned

Okay, follow me. Earl Hamner, Jr. was a TV scriptwriter who, amongst other things, had written a number of generally well-received episodes of THE TWILIGHT ZONE. He had been working in Hollywood since 1953 and somewhere along the way, he wrote a novel entitled SPENCER'S MOUNTAIN which was based loosely on his own family when he was growing up. While all of this was going on, a young woman with the unlikely name of Michael Learned had returned from the European boarding schools where she had been raised while her diplomat father was stationed in Austria. She had fallen in love with the theater and, at age 17, married actor Peter Donat, nephew of actor Robert Donat (GOODBYE MISTER CHIPS, THE 39 STEPS) and the two began a successful stage career, often performing together. In 1963, Delmer Daves (A SUMMER PLACE, DESTINATION TOKYO) adapted/produced and directed the feature film SPENCER'S MOUNTAIN based on Hamner's book and starring Henry Fonda and Maureen O'Hara as the hearty couple raising a brood of kids in the mountains of Wyoming. Around the time this film was shooting, Michael Learned went virtually unnoticed in her television debut before returning to the stage she loved. Hamner had mixed feelings about the movie ostensibly inspired by his life and went on to script episodes of THE INVADERS, GENTLE BEN and NANNY AND THE PROFESSOR. In 1970 or 1971, someone had the idea to revisit SPENCER'S MOUNTAIN as a TV project. As it developed, the Spencer family of Wyoming eventually became the Walton family of Virginia and the idea was to do a special TV Christmas movie. During this period, made for TV movies were often higher quality productions than theatrical releases. Thus it was that THE HOMECOMING-A CHRISTMAS STORY, shown late in 1971, was loaded down with accolades and awards. Academy Award winning actress Patricia Neal (HUD, THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL), recovering from a highly publicized series of strokes a few years earlier gave a bravura performance as the tough country mother looking out for her small army of kids while her husband is missing in a blizzard. When CBS wanted more of the family and the kids and their depression-era struggles, the parents were recast and THE WALTONS was born. Stage actress Michael Learned, age 32, was cast as mother, Olivia.

Billed initially as MISS Michael Learned to avoid the inevitable confusion about her name, she quickly managed to nearly erase the memory of the much older Neal's standard-setting performance by establishing Olivia as a tough, strong-willed but loving mother with human frailties and issues. While many looked at THE WALTONS as a throwback to simpler TV times, it was actually as cutting edge as ALL IN THE FAMILY or THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW in its own way.

Ms. Learned became a popular guest star on everything from talk shows and game shows to TV movies and specials, often explaining her seemingly male name, sometimes with varying explanations. She would win multiple Emmys and other awards for her role as Olivia and the popularity of THE WALTONS barely faltered season after season. While this is good for the fans it can, of course, be stifling to an actor. Thus Richard Thomas, the Hamner character in the series, left to pursue other roles. At first said to be away, his character was later re-cast until Thomas himself ultimately returned. Michael Learned also felt the squeeze and cut back her participation, eventually leaving the series. It was said that Olivia had contracted a medical condition that required her to be hospitalized elsewhere in the state. Like Thomas, however, she could not resist returning to the strong role she had created from time to time, particularly in later TV movie reunions. In the meantime, she went on to play a more contemporary role in the short-lived 1981 drama, NURSE, for which she won another Emmy. Since then, she has continued to work steadily, often in character roles as authority figures such as doctors or judges. Seen here is a lovely mid-seventies portrait of Miss Michael Learned in a way one might never think of her if one had only seen her as the dowdy matriarch of the Walton family.

This is Your Life-Justin Hayward

Here's the first of four parts of the UK edition of THIS IS YOUR LIFE from 1997 that featured MOODY BLUES guitarist and singer Justin Hayward. I saw the Moodies in concert twice some years after their supposed prime and they were magnificent. Hayward actually managed to sustain that looooong note in "Tuesday Afternoon" with only one quick gulp of breath! There should be links to the remaining three parts at the end of this clip. If you're a Moody Blues fan, it's well worth taking the time to get to know Justin and his family (including his delightfully named daughter, Doremi!) a little better.

Torchwood Parody

For those of you who think BBC's TORCHWOOD takes itself a tad too seriously, here's a brief parody that's spot on in a number of ways.

Trailer-A Little Romance

Call me sentimental but this 1979 comedy-drama has been a favorite ever since I first saw it in the theater. Directed by the man who brought you the two Newman/Redford pictures, THE STING and BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID, the stars here are a very young and endearing Diane Lane in her very first film, Thelonious Bernard as the charismatic French boy she meets and Lord Laurence Olivier chewing up the scenery and spitting it out as only a true master can. It's fun, it's smart, it's surprisingly adult and yet perhaps surprisingly chaste. It's also much more romantic than any sex-filled on-screen romp could ever hope to be.

Sony Betamax Commercial

Here from 1979 is a TV commercial that was probably recorded on a Sony Betamax, one of the first affordable home VTR (Video Tape Recorder) systems. Mine cost $999.99 a year later. The ad in the paper siad, "Prices will NEVER be lower." When it broke a couple years later, however, I replaced it with a smaller, better model for about $300.00. I...uhh...did eventually get the Sony fixed though and I DO still have it today! (For those of you who've visited the library before, this doesn't really surprise you, does it?)

Brian Epstein on What's My Line?

Here we have Beatles manager--and true fifth Beatle according to Macca--Brian Epstein in an appearance as "Mister X" on a mid-sixties episode of US TV's long-running WHAT'S MY LINE? panel game show. While Mr. Epstein's relatively rare sound bites are always interesting to catch, you'll learn little here about anything from him as he barely gets to speak even after they guess him. Bennett Cerf, on the other hand, although well-known as a progressive in the area of literature, comes across as a pompous jerk when he asks after the revelation, "Are there any moments when you feel a little sorry about the whole thing?" Ah, the Generation Gap.

Terry Porter

Regular readers are familiar with my oft-mentioned sixties/seventies crushes on Linda Blair, Hayley Mills, Stefanie Powers and Cisse Cameron. I believe I've even mentioned my interest in Yvonne Craig, Diana Canova, Marlo Thomas and Diana Rigg. I might even have hinted at more recent infatuations with Helen Mirren and...AHEM!...Bree Olsen. Someone I have NOT mentioned however is Ms. Terry Porter. In the late 1970's and early 1980's, Terry Porter was a familiar face in American TV commercials. The fact that I remember her smile, her big, expressive eyes and her uniquely ditzy but smart delivery and can't recall one single product she advertised says a lot for her personal appeal. According to IMDB, her only acting credit around that time was an episode of HAPPY DAYS but that's incorrect. She also appeared in an episode of...CAPTAIN KANGAROO! I was flipping the TV channels very early one morning (being way too old at around 21 to actually watch the Captain's show anymore) when I saw her and ended up watching the whole thing. Her delightful performance as a friend of the dear old Captain was not only fun but, if I recall correctly, she used her real name! This--as well as the show's closing credits no doubt--finally gave me a name to put to that super-cute face. That very morning I decided to write to her in care of CAPTAIN KANGAROO. This was a trick that had worked for me several times. Write to a celeb in care of a place they don't usually get mail and you're more likely to have someone make sure they DO get it. It worked again. A few weeks later, I received a large envelope with the enclosed pictures from her modeling portfolio. The envelope had little puppy dogs rubber-stamped all over it as did the accompanying letter. Her response (which, of course, I still have but which is misplaced at the moment) stated that my fan letter had reached her on a particularly down day and that I completely cheered her up! She went on to answer some of my questions and tell me some generic stuff about how much fun she had making the TV commercials. I got the impression she hadn't received much--if any--fan mail.

According to IMDB, Terry Porter and her husband both appeared in commercials and industrial films around that time. Her only feature film credit is HACKERS, the 1995 picture now noted as an early appearance of Angelina Jolie. In HACKERS, she plays the mother of young actor Jesse Bradford, a role with which she was intimately familiar as he is her real-life son! Bradford, although not yet a Hollywood superstar, has carved out an impressive film career and has a major role in the upcoming big-screen adaptation of Tucker Max's drunken fratboy memoirs, I HOPE THEY SERVE BEER IN HELL (which, by the way, was THE biggest selling book at the Airport Borders I managed for nearly the entire three years I was there!)

Ms. Porter, wherever you are today, thank you for being such a friendly face and thank you for writing me back that day so long ago. I've never forgotten you. I hope you have had and continue to have a happy life because just thinking about you even now makes me smile!

June Foray's Auotobiography

Getting a lot of press this week on all the cool pop culture blogs is the impending autobiography of cartoon voice legend June Foray. I am proud to say I did some behind the scenes work on this book and, as such, have been priviliged to have already read the final version. It's a fun, breezy, anecdotal look at the life and career of a most delightful lady whom I had the pleasure to meet at San Diego back in 1988. Because of my participation in the book, I wouldn't feel right reviewing it so I'll just tell you that if you like cartoons or just a good biography, you should order this book now at http://bearmanormedia.bizland.com/id417.html . It's due out in time for Comic Con later this month.

William Friedkin's Spirit

Here's an article from 1976 about EXORCIST director William "Billy" Friedkin's planned TV movie version of Will Eisner's THE SPIRIT. If anybody could do the classic strip--then enjoying its great re-discovery via Warren's reprint magazine--justice, it was presumed to be Friedkin. The director's own Oscar-winning THE FRENCH CONNECTION had shown scenes almost literally lifted off of Eisner's pages. Speculation in the fan press of the time is that James Garner would be ideal (if a tad too old in retrospect) in the lead with possibly commercial kid Rodney Allen Rippy or later Gary Coleman as Ebony. One reason we never saw this fanboy dream pic is mentioned right at the end of the article. SORCERER. Although critically acclaimed in some quarters, it was a long, tough shoot and the box office did not indicate that it was worth the wait. Throw into the mix the fact that STAR WARS debuted the following summer and suddenly everyone wanted sci-fi films or nothing. THE SPIRIT would have to wait ten years before finally turning up as a forgettable TV pilot starring FLASH GORDON's Sam Jones. More recently, of course, we've had the almost universally panned Frank Miller version which seems nonetheless to have done reasonably well for its makers. Maybe they can get Friedkin to direct a sequel?

Random Panels of Comic Book Weirdness # 59

This one looks like it might be more at home over in the "Subtext? What subtext?" department of a site like the always enjoyable http://www.postmodernbarney.com/.

Neal Adams' Tarzan

Once again back to the old CBG clipping archives and we find this absolutely lovely Neal Adams TARZAN image that I estimate to be circa 1980.

Movies That Fell Through the Cracks # 52

Back to 1979 again for THE PASSAGE, an under-the-radar blip of a movie that's largely forgotten even by those who saw it except for Malcolm McDowell's performance as a "Nazi Caligula." Made the same year as his performance of the real thing in Penthouse Magazine's infamous X-rated CALIGULA, the actor's performance in this one is described as brutal and nasty but also camp and over-the-top. In fact, his performance is pretty much all anyone DOES talk about when discussing THE PASSAGE. Never mind that top billing went to veterans Anthony Quinn and James Mason. It had been more than 40 years since Quinn and Mason had made their first appearances on film--a much rarer feat then than now!--and here they were still getting above the title billing! Legendary actress Patricia Neal had one of her final big screen roles here, also and Christopher Lee appeared in a change of pace as a nice guy gypsy. Don't ask me how she got involved in this but David Cassidy's wife at the time, Kay Lenz (so good in Clint Eastwood's BREEZY) appears also. The plot had something to do with Quinn trying to rescue Mason's scientist from McDowell's sadistic Nazi. The direction was by A Minus director (or maybe he should be termed B Plus) J. Lee Thompson (no relation). Thompson's earlier triumphs had included THE GUNS OF NAVARONE and two of the PLANET OF THE APES pictures but after this he descended into the hell of bad Charles Bronson vehicles.

Happy 4th of July

Okay, so today is only the 3rd of July but that doesn't prevent gazillions of Americans from starting their celebrations early. For you, we offer this vintage early 1940's fireworks ad and, from the early 1960's, proof that some things DO change. According to this recipe card from Covington, Kentucky's Parkview Market--where we used to shop when I was a wee lad and which was torn down circa 1964--the appetizing red and yellow concoction you see here...is a CHEESEBURGER! I dunno...Lolcats probably wouldn't go so gaga over 'em if this was still considered a cheeseburger! So cook out, blow things up and get wasted to show your patriotism. Me, I think I'm gonna pull all the curtains and just hope the North Koreans don't attack in the next couple days. If my car gets hit by an ICBM, I'm more likely to blame it on my neighbor. You should SEE the fireworks this guy gets!

Telephone Numbers-1962

Telephones have long had a place in pop culture. Since Don Ameche invented the telephone, we've had Hitchcock's DIAL M FOR MURDER, Charles Bronson's TELEFON, the 1980 horror movie DON'T ANSWER THE PHONE right up to Miley Cyrus's supposedly racy cell phone pictures. Sometimes we forget, however, that telephone NUMBERS weren't always all number! In fact, up until the early 1960's, American telephone numbers all began with letters! The very first phone number my parents drilled into my head was HEmlock-0479. There was, for some reason, a presumed "1" after the H and the E. What you see here is part of the telephone company's marketing efforts to ease the transition. There's no year date on the flyer but 1962 was the only year that actually had May 20th fall on a Sunday during that decade so that must be correct for it. I don't know. In these days of pre-programmed numbers, automatic one touch dialing and all of the other conveniences this still looks complicated! No wonder my parents continued to use the letters until we finally got a new phone toward the end of the seventies that didn't have letters anymore !

Craig Yoe Reads and Discusses Joe Shuster's Kinky Work

What's that? You don't have your copy of comics historian Craig Yoe's recent book, SECRET IDENTITY-THE FETISH ART OF SUPERMAN'S CO-CREATOR JOE SHUSTER! Maybe it's because it was a little hard to find in stores. Not to worry, fanboys! Amazon has it reasonably priced at http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Identity-Supermans-Co-creator-Shuster/dp/0810996340/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1246466150&sr=1-1 so your despair is over. Whilst you're waiting for your copy to arrive, enjoy this recent clip of Craig reading/discussing and showing art from the book. Great Caesar's Ghost, indeed!