Lone Ranger Secret Code Pen Set

Reminding us that the Cincinnati Old-Time Radio and Nostalgia Convention takes place this coming Friday and Saturday, here's a vintage ad for a Lone Ranger (and Tonto!) Secret Code Pen Set. My blood pressure is up, I've got work issues, friend issues, my wife was off sick today, my face is swollen, the fridge is virtually empty, and now my frickin' car broke down today for the second time in the last six months!!!!!!!! Still, wouldn't miss the OTR Con for the world. If you're gonna be anywhere nearby, email me for details.

Any PayPal tips for this blog would, as always, (but especially now!) be greatly appreciated!

Charlton Heston

It’s hard for me to write about Charlton Heston who died yesterday. You see, at one time, I considered him my favorite actor. Oh, he was pretentious, posturing and somewhat larger-than-life (to use a line from several obits) but he was a powerful and enjoyable performer when cast in roles that fit his particular abilities and eccentricities. One of my all-time favorite actor biographies was Heston’s collection of journal entries entitled THE ACTOR’S LIFE from the late seventies. My problem with him came when he was cast in the role of the head of the National Rifle Association. Now this is NOT a political blog so I am NOT going to get into any gun debates with readers but, in my opinion, the political lobbying forces behind the once valuable NRA organization cast Heston just as DeMille or any Hollywood producer, director or casting director had ever done. He played his role well, but the character he played eventually turned my stomach.
I first saw Charlton Heston in the second PLANET OF THE APES movie where his Taylor character turns up only in brief bits in the beginning and at the apocalyptic ending. By the time I saw the first movie a year or so later, I had become a fan of him through television runs of THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH and THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. I saw SOYLENT GREEN on Good Friday of 1973 at the International 70 theater in downtown Cincinnati. School got out at noon that day and I walked a block to a bus stop and headed straight across the river to the theater. I enjoyed it so much that I sat through it twice that day (you could DO that then.)! Never cared for BEN-HUR but his sly portrayal of Cardinal Richelieu in Richard Lester’s Musketeers films is another favorite. Going backwards, Heston was great as the Mexican cop in Welles’ TOUCH OF EVIL (Okay, so his accent wavered and he didn’t really look Mexican in any way but it’s all about the illusion isn’t it?). WILL PENNY, EL CID, AIRPORT 1975 (with Linda Blair!)
I sold my copy of THE ACTOR’S LIFE at one point but remembering how good it was, I was pleased when cousin Rick (from Mail It To Team-Up) got me a signed copy of Heston’s later autobiography. It wasn’t the same, though. He wasn’t the same. With my permission (and for the deliberate irony), I later let my wife auction off the signed volume on E-bay specifically to get enough money to send one more Mom to the Million Mom March for Safer Gun Laws in 2000. When C-Span covered the March live, you could see Rosie O’Donnell giving my wife a high five after she had just told that story to her.
Various websites have gone with the obvious joke about Heston’s passing so I will just offer condolences to his family and add thanks for the enjoyable performances over the years.

48 Hours With Christa Helm

Keep your Saturday nights open. No definite date just yet but CBS TV's 48 HOURS MYSTERY will soon be covering the Christa Helm story that we've been following and researching here at the Library for the past two years. Keep watching this space for more info! In the meantime, here are a couple of new snapshots from Christa's WONDER WOMAN episode.

The Essential Pussycat

I would be remiss if I did not note the recent passing of comic book artist Jim Mooney. Although best known for his work on ROBIN, TOMMY TOMORROW and SUPERGIRL from the late forties through the late sixties and then a very successful switch to inking SPIDER-MAN at Marvel through the seventies, I will always associate Mooney with PUSSYCAT. Longtime readers may recall that my very first published article was an AMAZING HEROES piece on this obscure semi-Marvel character. We wrote about it (as well as reprinted the original article) here:BOOKSTEVE'S LIBRARY. The first page of the original AH article was illustrated with a gorgeous Jim Mooney rendition of our heroine. The piece here at the Library also prints the rest of that Mooney story which was NOT one in the legendary PUSSYCAT magazine collection. Above is yet another Jim Mooney splash from a thus-far uncollected PUSSYCAT story. Hey, Marvel! Are ya listening? have you not noticed that large-breasted women tend to sell comics these days? You are sitting on a potential gold mine. All you have to do is gather up the rest of the 5 page PUSSYCAT strips and reprint them along with the rare magazine. THE ESSENTIAL PUSSYCAT! Heck, they're alraedy in black and white! I can see it now under that fantastic Bill Everett cover! See what you can do, okay?

Wonder Woman and the Riddler

Here's one I had completely forgotten until I saw it again this morning! Just how popular was that ol' BATMAN TV show in 1966? Popular enough that the Riddler, a relatively unimportant Bat-villain given street cred by appearing in the TV series pilot two-parter (they were, of course, ALL two-parters initially!) was put to work advertising NON-Bat comics such as WONDER WOMAN!

Lane Bradbury

Lane Bradbury is an actress that I recall seeing on many seventies TV shows including ALIAS SMITH AND JONES, THE PARTRIDGE FAMILY, BANACEK and THE WALTONS. She had a unique look and a distinctive Southern accent which, along with a last name shared with my favorite author at the time, made her memorable. She was also in one of the important early TV movies, MAYBE I'LL COME HOME IN THE SPRING with Sally Field.

Recently, Ms. Bradbury sat down with my sometime collaborator John O'Dowd for what turned out to be a marvelous mini-memoir. That piece is now available online here: Lane Bradbury: A Life of Meaning and Purpose. You may not recognize the name but if you grew up in the seventies, you undoubtedly enjoyed some of her work. Go. Read. Thanks for sharing this lovely piece with us, John!

Atom Ad

Here's an ad for when the Atom first recieved his own title. One of the very first comic books I remember buying for myself in that magical year of 1966 was THE ATOM. Although the character of Doll Man had mined some of the same shrinking schtick years earlier at Quality, editor Julius Schwartz and writer Gardner Fox pulled out all the stops in this Silver Age series. While the pseudo science sometimes confused the issue, there was enough real science in this series that many kids--myself included--managed to ace our school science tests on a regular basis!