Glitches

The good news is that my previous post was my 1600th one! Wow! The bad news is that I've noticed that quite a number of my earlier pre-revamp postings now have format glitches that I had not anticipated. These are generally around the pictures and lead to single words sometimes being spread over three or four lines! Ugh! This is easily fixable. However, I have chosen NOT to fix it because...well...there's 1600 posts!! There's also a glitch which causes an ad to pop up sometimes in the middle of a photo!! I don't know what the hell that one's all about! Still, I trust my readers to be able to work around those issues. Besides...like I said...1600 posts!!! Wow.

Movies That Fell Through the Cracks # 48

Made in 1975 but timely again due to the country's current economic woes, BROTHER, CAN YOU SPARE A DIME is a documentary of sorts. I say "of sorts" because, unlike traditional documentaries, this picture has no narration whatsoever. It is, in fact, completely made up of old movie scenes, public domain newsreel footage and music from the 1930's as it chronicles the Great Depression. Directed (or should one say compiled?) by Phillipe Mora, an Australian of French heritage, it nevertheless manages to give a fairly good and accurate portrait of how things were and how folks escaped from how things were. The Marx Brothers, Clark Gable, W.C. Fields and dozens more stars appear in both classic footage and newsreel images. The still alive then Jimmy Cagney appears practically enough to have demanded compensation for this picture! Locally, at least, it got a lot of hype with TV ads and--as you can see--a special popcorn promotion! It's out there on DVD but still pretty unknown. Director Mora had previously done the same thing exactly with a history of the Nazis entitled SWASTIKA (1973) Soon enough, though, he was doing things like the superhero musical, THE RETURN OF CAPTAIN INVINCIBLE and THE HOWLING sequels. He's still working today.

Overstreet Ads # 4/ Bat-Mite Meets Flaming Carrot

Bob Hope Meets Superman

Here's a rare real-life still of two DC comics characters meeting! In this case, we have legendary comedian (and star of DC's long-running ADVENTURES OF BOB HOPE comic) and the Man of Steel himself, SUPERMAN (star of...well...you know.) In this case the Metropolis marvel is portrayed by serial star Kirk Alyn, the very first live-action Superman. The event is a charity baseball game in the late 1940's. Note that Bob's wearing a Cleveland Indians uniform. For those unaware, Bob actually BOUGHT his hometown baseball team around that time and owned it for many years.

ACG Ad

If you had told me ten-twenty-years ago that here in the new century one could purchase hardcover reprints of the American Comics Group characters Nemesis, Magicman and Herbie (two of which are seen in this vintage ad) I would have called the guys with the butterfly nets. All three were written by Richard Hughes under various pseudonyms and they were all a little over the top. In the case of Herbie, of course, that's putting it mildly. Still with art by, respectively, Chic Stone, Pete Costanza and Ogden Whitney--talented veterans all--these series were a cut or two above similar fare from other companies in the mid-sixties. There's a quirky charm to them that could only have come from the quirky ACG company. I've always enjoyed them myself. That said, I STILL can't believe they're reprinting them in hardback editions!

Bazooka

Still sweeping up around the Library here after yesterday's big revamp so no time for a post right now! Sorry. Here! Take B Western cowboy star Johnny Mack Brown's advice and have some Bazooka bubble gum while you wait. Be with you shortly.

Pardon Our Dust

Been doing some long overdue sprucing up here at the Library. Sometime today or early tomorrow, we're expecting our 200,000th visitor and I wanted the place to look nice. How do you like it so far? Probably going to continue tweaking it off and on over the next week or so. Anyone have any suggestions? Anything you think doesn't work? If so, that doesn't mean I'll change it but hey, I would like to know, y'know?

Oh, and if you DO like what you see contentwise, my continuing unemployment (just put in for two big jobs but haven't heard a thing yet) makes this a perfect time to consider pressing the DONATE button on the right and helping the upkeep around here. Thanks!