Cali

Longtime readers will recall my photoblog with the delightful Brittany Rose. Well, here's what's been keeping Brittany busy since she moved to Iowa a few years back now. 

We end 2014 with this wonderful vision of hope for our future.

Happy New Year Cali...and Brittany...and all of you as well!

R.I.P. Christine Cavanaugh

Not a lot of info out there but we've lost one of the great voice actors of the 1990s. Christine Cavanaugh's two best-known characters were Chuckie on RUGRATS and Dexter of DEXTER'S LABORATORY. She left the business at the height of her popularity for what were termed private reasons.

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/latimes/obituary.aspx?n=christine-josephine-cavanaugh&pid=173657726

Tom Sutton on Facebook

Up next from Yoe Books, edited and compiled by Michael Ambrose and Donnie Pitchford and with a behind the scenes assist from yours truly, is this nifty collection of works by the late Tom Sutton. Earlier today, a great new Facebook page went up in tribute to Sutton and the new book. Check it out here:

https://www.facebook.com/TomSuttonsCreepyThings

The Flintstones Around the World

Monkees Soft Drink Niteclub Ad-1967

Backgrounds By Mortellaro

Seen below are some seemingly random SPIDER-MAN panels, drawn by Gil Kane and/or John Romita, Sr. and mostly from the early seventies. The one thing they have in common is that the man in the photo above, one Tony Mortellaro, did the backgrounds. How do we know? Because he often signed his work! My friend and I started noticing it but couldn't piece together what it might actually have said until a letters column or Bullpen Bulletin gave it away. "Backgrounds by Mortellaro" is what is ALMOST said in signs in quite a few panels from this period. Tony had been a penciller at Atlas in the 1950s and had remained on-staffat Marvel as a production artist. He was brought in as Romita's workload increased to pick up some of the slack on the backgrounds--mostly cityscapes, where he could hide his almost signature! Here's a handful. I'm sure there were probably more.

MeRrY ChRiStMaS!

Indexed at GCD!

I'm indexed! I feel special.

Drat the Cat-1965

Expected to do much better than it did, DRAT! THE CAT! was a 1965 Broadway play funded in part by its star Elliott Gould and his then-wife Barbra Streisand. It was written by Ira Levin whose stage work includes NO TIME FOR SERGEANTS and DEATHTRAP and whose novels include ROSEMARY'S BABY and THE STEPFORD WIVES. The female lead was Lesley Ann Warren, TV's Cinderella, appearing here as a bored heiress turned cat burglar in the 1890s. The hapless cop pursuing her, played by Gould, falls in love with her even as she attempts to frame him for her crimes. 

In spite of a plug from Gordon and Sheila MacRae on TV's WHAT'S MY LINE? and some positive reviews from all but the NEW YORK TIMES, DRAT! THE CAT! didn't survive two weeks. 

Gould floundered for a few years before ending up the # 1 male movie star at the beginning of the next decade. Ms. Warren entered the movies with Disney's THE HAPPIEST MILLIONAIRE and continued on to a long and varied career in TV and films, taking time out for another stage flop, the musical version of GONE WITH THE WIND. 

The sole legacy of DRAT! THE CAT! would seem to be one of Gould's musical numbers, "She Touched Me," which was retooled as "HE Touched me" and recorded by Barbra Streisand where it became one of her best known songs. 

Still...I would have loved to have seen DRAT! THE CAT!

Bob Wood Ads

Here we have two early 1940s ads from Lev Gleason comics, both drawn by the ill-fated (look him up) Bob Wood. As a  comic book artist, Wood's style was very much influenced by Chester Gould by way of "Bob Kane's" Batman. 

Kurtzman? Mole?

Here's a 1981 Batman story by Conway and Thomas and Colan in which a Dr. Kurtzmann (sic) has created MOLE. And here's a 1950s story in which a Mr. Kurtzman created Mole! 33 years ago and I just now GOT this little homage.

Mickey Mouse and the Movie Stars

Spotted these on eBay. Look to have been parts of a collectible card set. Seems like there were at least 112 of them. Based on the personalities here, I'd date these most likely to the mid-1930s. William Powell, Jimmy Durante, Harpo Marx and Edward G. Robinson. Why they have Harpo--of all people--talking is a more difficult question!

Swamp Men

As near as I can tell, I didn't actually contribute anything to this latest issue of COMIC BOOK CREATOR but they sent it to me anyway and I want to highly recommend it! 

At 197 pages, this is the long delayed BOOK, basically, detailing the histories of all of comics' various swamp monsters. The Heap, The Glob, Swamp Thing, Man-Thing and a surprising selection of similar mucky mucks are all highlighted and given the spotlight treatment from guest editor George Khoury and regular editor Jon B. Cooke.

With lots of rare art and photos in color and black and white, this was clearly a labor of love and well worth the steeper than normal cover price if you've ever enjoyed some of these often excellent comic books. 

In fact, the issue is ON SALE now for 15% off that regular price if you order at this link:

http://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1134