Gold Key/Whitman House Ads

Well, it's Election Day and I'm off work, prepared to just catch up on my blogging when all of a sudden...well, actually it's been a couple days now that my scanner has been flashing "ERROR" at me in big, red, scary letters. Not sure what that's all about yet so I've been having to post from things already on the computer. Cool things, mind you! Just NOT the things I necessarily want to blog about at this time. Today, here's a series of cool house ads from Gold Key and Whitman comics involving the Looney Tunes, Disney and Popeye franchises as well as perennial GK super guy, DOCTOR SOLAR-MAN OF THE ATOM!

DC's Comic Sidekicks

Sidekicks. You gotta love ‘em. I presume the original dramatic intent of the sidekick was to enable the hero to have someone to whom he could extrapolate on the plot without talking to himself. As early as DON QUIXOTE we had the introduction of the COMIC sidekick whose additional duty was to add a moment or two of levity to an otherwise serious story. As comic books developed as a unique art form, it was probably inevitable that the sidekick would turn up. The most notable early example is, of course, Robin, the Boy Wonder. Robin’s introduction to the BATMAN mythos changed the tone of the series considerably, lightening it up even as he gave Batman someone to converse with. Child sidekicks became the order of the day with Bucky, Toro, Sandy and even Roy the Super Boy. All but forgotten today, however are the more traditional, theatrically influenced comic sidekicks favored by DC (and its companion company All-American) throughout the 1940’s.
One of the most famous would be WONDER WOMAN’s sidekick Etta Candy, the short, plump, chocolate-loving sorority girl who teamed up with the amazing Amazon almost from the beginning. Much has been written about the sexual overtones (and undertones) of Dr. Marston’s early WONDER WOMAN stories and Etta figures prominently in that controversy. She’s constantly tying people up (often Diana) and quoting the Amazons’ talk of "loving submission" even as she seems more loyal and loving to Diana than that sexist, bull-headed Steve Trevor (what did she EVER see in him?). The character changed little over the years and eventually was pretty much phased out after Marston’s death. Later writer Bob Kanigher used her a few times in the sixties but the weird vibe was gone.
WILDCAT, who shared SENSATION COMICS with the awesome Amazon, had a country bumpkin manager/sidekick named Stretch. Hillbilly humor was big in those days on radio and in Vaudeville and would culminate in the sixties with THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES. By that point, WILDCAT was appearing only occassionally in JLA and THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD and Stretch was forgotten.
Meanwhile, THE FLASH had the 3 Stooges…sorta. Winky, Blinky and Noddy were omnipresent in FLASH stories both in FLASH COMICS and ALL-FLASH. Apparently, the short comic trio were popular enough to merit their own series in COMIC CAVALCADE! One appearance with the Barry Allen FLASH was enough to convince writer Gardner Fox to leave them in the past.
VIGILANTE had Stuff, the Chinatown Kid. JOHNNY QUICK had Tubby. THE CRIMSON AVENGER had Wing who didn’t even get counted as one of the SEVEN SOLDIERS OF VICTORY in spite of appearing in every single adventure in LEADING COMICS. GREEN ARROW’s non-comic sidekick, Speedy, got counted. So did THE STAR-SPANGLED KID’s adult comic sidekick, Stripesy. Not Wing, though. This would, of course, lead to a memorable JLA mystery decades later.
One of the more famous comic sidekicks was "Doiby" Dickles who appeared regularly with GREEN LANTERN (at least until he was replaced by a dog in very late stories) in the forties and even in some of his sixties revivals. Seemingly patterned on actor Edward Brophy who often played Brooklyn-accented cabbies just like Doiby, the resiliant Dickles was, with the possible exception of the similar Woozy Winks in Quality Comics’ PLASTIC MAN (himself later a DC character) the most popular of these bit players.
The most unlikely hero to have a comic sidekick, however, was Jerry Siegel’s avenging ghost, THE SPECTRE. There he was though, appearing regularly once he made his debut—Percival Popp, the Super Cop! I first heard of Percy in a DC text page Fact File circa 1970. An Arnold Stang kind of nebbish, Popp arguably fit in MORE FUN COMICS better than THE SPECTRE himself but WTF!!?? The character was usually the impetus for trouble by trying to prove his worth as a detective and the ghostly hero known for turning people into candles and watching them melt away was often reduced to being a guardian angel. The stories were kinda fun but still…THE SPECTRE??!!! Sigh. Oddly, to the best of my recollection, Percival Popp has never, in any revival of that series, been seen nor heard of again. Note the plug for the undoubtedly comic sidekick Fatman appearing with MISTER AMERICA, too!
In these days of dark, grim and gritty characters and equally morose storytelling. Maybe someone ought to consider some sort of Crisis that revives the comic sidekicks. Say! That’s it! Hey, Mr. Levitz! I got yer next big crossover right here! Call me!

Linda Lovelace for President

Linda Lovelace was and remains a fascinating subject for a number of reasons. We are NOT writing about her today, however. Instaed, we're here to discuss LINDA LOVELACE FOR PRESIDENT, the cinematic skeleton in the closet of a number of pop culture icons! LINDA LOVELACE FOR PRESIDENT was made in 1975 in a certainly shameless attempt to extend the legendary porn star's fifteen minutes of mainstream fame. No actual sex here for he former DEEP THROAT star, just tons of junior high school innuendo. What's always intrigued me, however, is the sheer number of talented pop folks who got themselves tangled up in this badly made mess!
Here are just a few:

Mickey Dolenz-Several years past the Monkees and not yet safely ensconced as a successful TV director in England, the sadly neglected singer was at a personal low when he appeared in a running gag as a bus driver.
Scatman Crothers-Musician, actor and cartoon voice of HONG KONG PHOOEY, the ingratiating Scatman was still a few years away from big budget films like TWILIGHT ZONE-THE MOVIE.
Robbie Lee-What, you’ve never heard of her? She was one of the two violent (and usually naked) daughters of Angie Dickinson’s character in the cult classic BIG BAD MAMA!
Chuck McCann-Legendary nice guy kids’ show host and character actor known for his impression of Oliver Hardy and his classic sixties Right Guard commercials ("Hi, guy!") with Joey Forman.
Joe E. Ross-"Ooo! Ooo!" Ross was a former burlesque comic who became beloved on TV as Gunther Toody on CAR 54 WHERE ARE YOU? And later as Gronk on the sadly forgotten (except for the theme song) IT’S ABOUT TIME.
Vaughn Meader-a charismatic man with the worst timing in show biz history. Meader was absolutely hilarious on the legendary FIRST FAMILY album spoofing the Kennedys in the early Camelot years. After November of 1963, of course, he was out on the streets. His attempts at non-political humor fell on deaf ears and according to some accounts, he went a little nuts. Except for some "Whatever happened to…?" pieces, this was his last pathetic attempt.
Claudio Guzman-the director helmed episodes of most of the great TV series of the sixties, perhaps most notably, I DREAM OF JEANNIE.
Marty Ingels- a storied eccentric, cartoon voice and character actor who was the voice of Pac-Man to a generation (and was improbably married to Shirley Jones during that same period). These people are the kind of folks who are enjoyable even in terrible movies. They're enjoyable here, also...for the most part...and even as an exploitation movie, you don't get much more terrible than LINDA LOVELACE FOR PRESIDENT.

Another 1940's DC/All-American House Ad

Bud Collyer

In pop culture terms, Clayton "Bud" Collyer had four different identities. I first discovered him as the genial, rather straight-laced host of my favorite game show as a kid, TO TELL THE TRUTH. For those of you too young to remember (and those who didn’t catch its overnight reruns on the Game Show Network in recent years), this was an intellectual game show. It was a panel show in which four celebrities using limited questioning and instincts attempted to determine which of three contestants, all of whom claimed to be a certain person, was the real McCoy. My mother watched it nightly and I became addicted, too. Bud seemed like a nice guy!
Unbeknownst to me at that time was that Bud Collyer was also…SUPERMAN! In fact, even as I was enjoying his game show, he was voicing the Man of Steel on the mid-sixties cartoon revival from Filmation. He had previously voiced the character in the classic Fleischer cartoons of the early forties, a gig he got due to the fact that he was SUPERMAN on the long-running Mutual network radio serial! According to legend, he had won that role by virtue of just how far he could instantly drop his voice from Clark Kent to Superman! Using that voice, it was he who made famous the catchphrases, "Up, up and away!" and "This looks like a job...for Superman!."
A lesser-known aspect of Bud Collyer was that he was a very devout Christian and, in fact, author of two religious books! The book here, WITH THE WHOLE HEART, was published in that same, busy year of 1966. It was about twenty years later when I found this particular autographed copy on the shelf of a musty used bookstore. Bud Collyer-Game Show Host, Mild Mannered Reporter, Super Hero and Christian Author, died in 1969.

Hollywood Tragedy

I had to take my wife to the ER today (She’s okay. Don’t worry) so I grabbed a book from my Library to read during the expected long wait…which came. The book I grabbed was HOLLYWOOD TRAGEDY by William H. A. Carr from 1976 (although there’s an additional copyright for 1962 so some of this may have been reprints). Sort of a HOLLYWOOD BABYLON light, this book offers detailed sections on the usual suspects—Monroe, Dean, Arbuckle, Lupe Velez and Garland—but also covers Bruce Lee, Ingrid Bergman, Lana Turner (whom you’ll recall changed my life. See SEARCH THIS BLOG above), Errol Flynn, Mary Astor, Chaplin and Sharon Tate. Even celebrity footnotes like Paul Bern get a whole chapter. Not nearly as exploitative as Kenneth Anger’s legendary book (which had then just had its first US publication) the author gets in a few digs at Anger in discussing his vague Manson family connection. Although it seems factual for the most part, the chapter on Velez offers a different view of her suicide than the more well-known version exploited in BABYLON (and the underground comic SLEAZY SCANDALS OF THE SILVER SCREEN). In discussing Sharon Tate, she’s described as being a consistently emotionless actress despite one of her final roles being the sexy, hilarious, klutzy spy girl in Dean Martin’s Matt Helm movie, THE WRECKING CREW. Still, there are more details than usual in many of the chapters, sensationalized only a bit. A quick and interesting read for a true film buff and you don’t feel like having to wash your hands the way you do after Anger’s books (and yes, I have them here in the Library, too!).

David Bowie's Space Oddity

In 1973, I was a 14 year old comic book geek and straight A student in ninth grade with bad skin and no girlfriend. I liked the already defunct Beatles, Elvis, Ray Stevens and AM Top 40 radio. Then I discovered David Bowie. I heard the re-release of Bowie's SPACE ODDITY a few times on the air and I had no idea it wasn't brand new. It was the story of hapless astronaut Major Tom and "something" that happened to him in space.It sounded like nothing I had ever heard on the radio before. I bought the record (89 cents at JC Penny) but I almost felt guilty, as if I was getting involved in something illicit. On the picture sleeve, Bowie certainly didn't look like David Cassidy or Bobby Sherman or even Dean Martin. He looked...well, not really alien just...freakin' weird! His hair, his eyes, everything. I kinda hid the record from my parents. I played it a lot, though, revelling in the unusual, nontraditional story song and its flip side, THE MAN WHO SOLD THE WORLD with its cool building guitar sound (Mick Ronson?) later covered almost note for note by Nirvana. I didn't know a thing about Bowie's androgeny or Ziggy or drugs or anything at all except the record...but that was enough. Bowie's uniqueness exuded from that record even without the background knowledge. It didn't change my skin condition or my lack of girlfriend but, from there, little by little and right along with the pop mainstream, I discovered a different type of music: Elton, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop,, Ramones, Costello, Blondie. I returned to Bowie over and over as I watched him chameleon to the times as others fell on the fickle battlefields of pop success. For years, I still felt a weird sort of feeling when I saw that picture sleeve, nestled neatly in with everything from Lawrence Welk to Simon and Garfunkel but now it holds a special place here in the Library as the beginning of my appreciation of diversity in music. Thanks, David.