Fess Parker's Frontier World

 

To the kids of the 1950s, Fess Parker was Walt Disney's Davy Crockett. In the '60s, though, when I was around, Fess Parker was Daniel Boone. Similarly attired, yet very real-life different historical persons.

In 1968, Fess lent his name and millions of dollars to a proposed theme park in BOONE County, Kentucky, the very next county over from where we lived. It got a LOT of publicity. It seemed like it was on the local TV news and in the papers almost daily for long months. As a kid, I couldn't wait until the proposed amusement park was opened, supposedly in 1970!

The basic story is in the articles seen here, although like so many business deals, it was pretty complicated and went pretty sour in the long run.

Another tie to me was that the realtor involved with all this was one C.B. Deters. Deters was a former newspaper reporter and editor and also at that time, I believe, the Chairman of the Board of the Cincinnati Airport.

C.B. Deters was also my landlord.

When I was 7 years old, my dad talked Deters into renting to us even though he had a "no children" rule for the apartment building he owned in Covington, KY. With no grandfathers of my own, I came to think of him as a grandfather figure. I ended up living there until I was 33 years old, outlasting both parents and C.B. Deters himself.

I was disappointed that Fess Parker's Boone County project was never realized. Wonder if ol' C.B. could've gotten me in free? 

 

Meta and Jeff

Sorry I haven't updated lately. No real change in my health situation but lots of other stuff going on, some of which I can tell you about soon...hopefully soon. 

In the meantime, enjoy this odd MUTT & JEFF strip. Someone said they weren't sure if the artist (Al Smith) was being very creative or very lazy. 

 

Oliver Hardy 1931/1934

 

The Four Marx Bros-1925-1933

 

Bobby Clark-1947

One of the great but now-forgotten comedians was Bobby Clark, with his painted on glasses and his fast-talking, Groucho-like patter. Many people seem to have discovered Clark--myself included--from Leonard Maltin's 1970s book on great comedy teams. He was part of a double act, Clark and McCullough, with his childhood friend Paul McCullough, who tragically committed suicide in 1936. Many of the team's once buried films have popped up on YouTube in recent years. 

What people don't realize is that Clark, although he never made another film, continued on as a stage comic, and even did quite a bit of early, live television. 

 

My First Drive-In

 

In November of 1970, I talked (as in begged) my parents into taking me to see HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS at the Dixie Gardens Drive-In. Unlike many families in that era, we simply didn't do drive-ins. Ever. But the movie, based on my then-favorite TV show, had opened in September and never came to our neighborhood theaters so what else were we gonna do? Drive-ins usually offered triple features (or more!) but after the main picture, we left. I have long wondered what the movies were we missed that night. Now, I know. Ya gotta love the Internet!

EYE OF THE DEVIL was a 1966 film re-released in 1970 to exploit the then-recent death of its star Sharon Tate.

KELLY'S HEROES is the all-star Clint Eastwood anti-war war comedy which I had already seen at the Madison Theater in Covington.

Baby Bear Comes Back by Merrie Spaeth--Review/Promotion

 

Baby Bear Comes Back is the new illustrated children’s book written by my friend Merrie Spaeth. Merrie, as some of you may recall, has done everything from acting in hit movies, writing comic books, advising a US president, and running her own consulting business. One thing she had NOT done was writing a children’s book. That has now been rectified.

 

Although it has undeniable echoes of some of the timeless themes of Toy Story, The Velveteen Rabbit, The Giving Tree, and even Calvin and Hobbes, Baby Bear Comes Back most definitely presents its own unique take on them. It’s about the importance of imaginary friends in our lives, of stability, something familiar to hold on to as you slowly become aware that everything else constantly changes.

  

I teared up reading it. I really did. Yes, Baby Bear Comes Back is a book for children, and Merrie does a really good job channeling the feelings of very young children, but I consider it a book for adults, too. It reminds us of feelings we forget as we grow up, deep feelings that meant so much to us that we knew we couldn’t live without them…and yet in time they’re lost. 

 

It also comes with a coloring book and a beginner’s comic book!

 

Booksteve recommends, for your kids, your grandkids, and for yourself. To remember. 

 

You can order copies of Baby Bear Comes Back here: https://www.amazon.com/-/es/Merrie-Spaeth/dp/B0C7S44KLZ

 

And Merrie has stated that a portion of any books sold in the next two weeks will go toward my medical fundraiser. I had two stress tests this week and now we’re looking at an angiogram.  

 

If you’ll be in San Diego next month at Comic Con, Merrie Spaeth will be a special guest and will have copies of Baby Bear Comes Back on hand. Tell her Booksteve sent you!