BOOK REVIEWS: Rod Taylor, Virginia O'Brien, Rondo Hatton

Bear Manor Media recently sent me a huge box of books to review and I spent the good part of the last month reading a few. I have a mantra not to review books that I feel could have been done better, so the brief book reviews below are not only superb for the subjects they extensively cover, but are highly recommended if you are seeking something to read when you get cozy in your lazy-boy in the coming winter months. 

 

THE MISFITS: THE FILM THAT ENDED A MARRIAGE

John Huston’s ‘eastern Western’ signaled the end of the careers of three major Hollywood figures. It was Marilyn Monroe’s last completed film. Clark Gable died a fortnight after shooting ended. Montgomery Clift rumbled on for a few years but without doing much of note.

 

It also signaled the end of Monroe’s marriage to Arthur Miller. Miller wrote the screenplay as a ‘gift’ to his troubled wife, but their marriage was already on the rocks by the time the cameras started rolling. Matters deteriorated further on the set, culminating in Monroe suffering a nervous breakdown in mid-shoot which led to the set being temporarily closed while she recuperated.

 

Aubrey Malone’s book chronicles the background production of this iconic film which changed the way people saw the old West. It also chronicles the on-set tensions, the squabbling and feuds and divided loyalties. Huston tried to hold everything together as he struggled with a gambling addiction that was too great a temptation to resist in the casinos of Reno. The dramas that took place behind the scenes were arguably as engrossing as anything that appeared in the film itself. Sample both sets of scenarios in this detailed study of a valentine to a bygone era. 

 

This is a superb behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of the movie and I can think of a large number of movies that I wish would receive this same kind of treatment. 

 

 

VIRGINIA O'BRIEN: MGM'S DEADPAN DIVA 

I first saw her on a couple of those MGM movies on Turner Classic Movies and knew there had to be a story behind her appearance. It was August and the station decided to devote an entire day to movies she played a role in. Yet, her screen career was short-lived.

 

Virginia O’Brien was one of the more unique talents under contract to Metro Goldwyn Mayer. The California native was discovered by MGM’s mogul, Louis B. Mayer when he attended a performance of the musical revue Meet the People. It was here that Virginia stopped the show with the deadpan delivery of her solo number. Her appearances in more than a dozen of MGM’s musicals were always a highlight. While one can’t “stop” a film, Virginia’s singular performances are etched in the memory of the fans of MGM’s lavish musicals. This is the story of the comedic actress-singer who was fondly known as “Miss Frozen Face.”

 

Author Robert Strom was able to track down O’Brien’s family and assemble a book documenting her personal life and screen career, as most people should do when assembling a biography – go directly to the family. Thank you, Mr. Strom.

 

 

ROD TAYLOR: AN AUSSIE IN HOLLYWOOD

Before Sam Worthington, Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, and Mel Gibson, there was Rod Taylor. For over twenty years, Taylor was the biggest Australian movie name in Hollywood, starring in such films as The Time Machine, Hitchcock’s The Birds, and The Vips. Best known for his action roles, he was equally adept at romantic comedies and dramas, working with top stars, such as Doris Day, John Wayne, Elizabeth Taylor, Jane Fonda, and with major directors, such as Alfred Hitchcock, Walt Disney, and Michelangelo Antonioni. 

 

At a time when Australians could rarely see or hear themselves on screen, Rod Taylor helped keep his country in the public eye, and he paved the way for the "Aussie" actors that followed him.

 

Rod Taylor: An Aussie in Hollywood is his  full-length biography, a thrilling story of a working-class Sydney boy, who went to Hollywood, took on the Americans at their own game on their own turf in one of the toughest industries there is, and won. It's also the story of a talented actor, who was almost brought down by the demons of alcohol and ego, but who ultimately overcame them to triumph. Best of all are the numerous quotes from Taylor himself about his career including the short-lived cult classic, Hong Kong. This is a must for all Rod Taylor fans.

 

 

BEFORE I FORGET: DIRECTING TELEVISION, 1948-1988

James Sheldon directed many of the radio and television shows that shaped the American consciousness. He directed the original radio version of We, The People when it became the first commercial CBS network program to telecast nationally on June 1, 1948. Since then, he experienced technological changes from live to electronic tape to film, from black and white to color, and from a few hundred thousand to multi-millions of television sets that in use today.

His early live credits include dramatic series, such as Robert Montgomery Presents and Studio One; comedies, such as Mister Peepers; musicals, such as Don Ameche's Holiday Hotel. He was also part of the move from New York to Los Angeles as television production shifted west in the mid-1950s, directing The Johnny Carson Show, West Point Story, Harbor Command, and Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater.

Sheldon helped many actors begin their careers, including James Dean, Paul Newman, Dustin Hoffman, Gene Hackman, Carroll O'Connor, Clint Eastwood, Burt Reynolds, Lee Remick, Tony Randall, and Tyne Daly.

In the 1960s, he directed episodes of Naked City, Route 66, The Millionaire, My Three Sons, and The Twilight Zone. In the 1970s, he directed episodes of M*A*S*H, The Virginian, Sanford & Son, and Raymond Burr's Ironside. In the 1980s, he directed episodes of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Cagney & Lacey, and The Equalizer. Thanks to author James Rosin, I was put in touch with Sheldon to chat about his work on The Twilight Zone for my book about the television series, so naturally I wanted to read Sheldon’s book. I was not disappointed. Rarely do we get a chance to read the memoirs of someone who was so instrumental.

RONDO HATTON: BEAUTY WITHIN THE BRUTE 

In the horror movie heyday of Universal Pictures, he made the studio back lot his own personal preyground: Rondo Hatton, star of the company’s “Creeper” series. The victim of a disfiguring disease, Hatton needed no makeup to play the Creeper, a night-prowling vertebreaker, in The Pearl of Death (1944), House of Horrors (1946) and The Brute Man (1946).

 

A lot of misery and physical pain were packed into Rondo Hatton’s 51 years on Earth and he met his challenges with courage. This book (co-authored by four extremely knowledgeable and awesome historians) tells Hatton’s full story and pays tribute with a full biography, the production histories of his five horror movies, artist George Chastain’s tribute to other “Brute Men” of the movies, artwork (and an afterword) by celebrated pop culture cartoonist Drew Friedman and more. Also: Rondo’s miraculous 21st-century “rebirth” as a coveted award for the finest in Monster Kid achievement. Hatton received his due with this one.

 

Waging the War of the Worlds (Book Review)

Perhaps no other old-time radio program is more fascinating than the Mercury Theater's production of H.G. Wells' novel, War of the Worlds. Known as the 1938 panic broadcast, the subject fascinates even youngsters to this day. While it is universally agreed among historians that the broadcast sparked public hysteria, it has also been proven that the newspapers were quick to run with any story of people running through the streets with wet towels over their faces to protect themselves from the poison gas that was supposedly in the air. Truth be told, the mass hysteria was so minor that the newspaper journalists found more stories to set to print than there were. The "fog of war" anxieties that were underlying of the times helped boost fears that war overseas would soon approach our homeland.

Numerous magazine articles and books have been written on the subject but none can be truly as extensive or accurate than John Gosling's book titled Waging the War of the Worlds: A History of the 1938 Radio Broadcast and Resulting Panic. From the facts behind the week's rehearsal and re-writes, smoke and mirrors, the obvious bloopers that can be heard during the broadcast that should have tipped off the listeners, to a reprint of the radio script... it is all here. Gosling even covers similar incidents of panic resulting from similar radio broadcasts in Latin America, Brazil, Portugal and other countries.

The book also includes scans and reprints of historic documents and archival photographs from various libraries. 

If you wanted to read up on the history of the 1938 War of the Worlds panic broadcast, this is the one book you want to grab this Halloween. 

Arch Oboler's THE SKEPTIC'S CLUB (1937)

Just as Arch Oboler was walking away from the NBC weekly half-hour horror program, Lights Out!, to devote time writing brief sketches for The Chase and Sunburn Hour and Rudy Vallee's program, he made multiple attempts to produce, direct and script his own horror anthology, as evident with a number of radio scripts which he recycled from Lights Out!

In this case, in September of 1937, he write a script for The Sceptics Club (that is how it is spelled on the front cover) as a pilot proposal for such a series. He recycled his "Black Zombie" radio script from Lights Out! for use on this new series. Since even the Lights Out! rendition does not exist in recorded form, and because Oboler would have used what he felt was his best script from the horror program for use in this proposal, it seemed prudent to san a copy into PDF and provide this on my blog in time for Halloween.

Enjoy!

Link for download:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/kkrllrfth5vurcd/THE%20SCEPTICS%20CLUB%20%28Black%20Zombie%29%20%231%20Arch%20Oboler%20%281937%29.pdf?dl=0 

Dying of Fright from The Creeping Unknown (1956)

One of the ten best horror movies I ever saw was The Creeping Unknown (1956), also known to many as The Quatermass Experiment. The film concerns three astronauts who have been launched into space aboard a single stage to orbit in a rocket designed by Professor Quatermass. It crash lands with only one of its original crew, Victor Carroon, still aboard. No one knows whatever became of the rest of the crew, so Professor Quatermass begins investigating. The survivor, however, has a strange fungus under his fingernails, which slowly spreads on his hand, then his arm. It does not take long for the good professor to figure out the survivor is mutating into an alien organism, which, if it spawns, will engulf the Earth and destroy humanity. The survivor, driven mad from the ordeal, escapes the hospital and flees the British countryside where the manhunt involved Inspector Lomax of Scotland Yard. The finale, obviously, involves a fully-developed creature of true horror and an ending that ranks up there in popularity as the destruction of the Washington Monument (Earth vs. the Flying Saucers) and the destruction of the San Francisco Bridge (It Came From Beneath the Sea).

 

The Quatermass Experiment was originally a six-part TV serial telecast live over the BBC in 1953. Regrettably, preservation was not applied over the years and only the first two chapters of the television serial exist in recorded form. Written by Nigel Kneale, the television serial was an enormous success with critics and audiences alike, later described by film historian Robert Simpson as “event television, emptying the streets and pubs.” Among its viewers was Hammer Films producer Anthony Hinds, who was immediately keen to buy the rights for a film version. Incorporated in 1934, Hammer had developed a niche for itself making second features, many of which were adaptations of successful BBC Radio productions. Hammer contacted the BBC on August 24, 1953, two days after the transmission of the final episode, to inquire about the film rights and a motion-picture was produced with American actor Brian Donlevy playing Professor Quatermass.

 

Timed to coincide with the broadcast of the television sequel, Quatermass II, the motion-picture went on general release in movie theaters in the United Kingdom on November 20, 1955. In the United States, Robert L. Lippert attempted to interest Columbia Pictures in distributing the film but they felt it would be competition for their own production, It Came from Beneath the Sea, which was on release at the time. Because The Quatermass Experiment was unknown in the United States, Lippert renamed the motion-picture Shock!  

 

Unable to secure a sale, Lippert retitled it again, this time to The Creeping Unknown. United Artists eventually acquired the distribution rights in March of 1956 for a fee of $125,000, and the movie was packaged in a double bill with another horror movie called The Black Sleep, starring Basil Rathbone, Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney, Jr. Four minutes, mainly of expository material, were cut from the runtime of the film, which means there are two versions of the movie, each with a different title and four minutes difference in length. Whichever version you watch today, however, does not affect the impact of the film’s emotional pull. 

 

The Creeping Unknown opened in theatres in the United States in June of 1956 and was so successful that United Artists offered to part-fund a sequel based on the second television series. Ultimately the Quartermass series became a franchise with additional sequels (including a big screen movie starring Barbara Shelley titled Quatermass and the Pit). 

 

This film easily ranks as one of my top ten favorite horror/science fiction classics and is a must-see. The film also includes a bit of trivia: The Guinness Book of World Records subsequently recorded this movie as the only known case of an audience member dying of fright while watching a horror film.

 

Variety magazine, November 7, 1956

 

John W. Campbell's Frozen Hell

Few science fiction tales have left as lasting an imprint as the 1938 novella that later inspired the films collectively known as The Thing. Though the original title may not be familiar to everyone, the story’s cinematic legacy has endured through three major adaptations: the 1951 The Thing from Another World directed by Howard Hawks with James Arness, John Carpenter’s 1982 version starring Kurt Russell, and the 2011 prequel directed by Matthijs van Heijningen.

The tale originated from one of early sci-fi’s most influential figures, a writer-turned-editor who, after 1938, shifted from authorship to shaping the future of the genre through his magazine Astounding Stories—later retitled Astounding Science Fiction and finally Analog. Under his guidance, rising talents such as Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, L. Sprague de Camp, Lester del Rey, and Theodore Sturgeon found their voices. They say a magazine is only as good as the editor and Campbell was among the best of the editors for science-fiction magazines.

For decades, readers assumed they knew the complete story—until a longer, forgotten version surfaced in the archives of Harvard University. This expanded manuscript, running nearly forty-five pages beyond the published novella, was finally released in 2019 under its original name, Frozen Hell, by Wildside Press. The edition features a preface by Alec Nevala-Lee, an introduction by Robert Silverberg, illustrations by Bob Eggleton, and editing by John Gregory Betancourt. Nevala-Lee and Silverberg recount the discovery of the manuscript, its relation to an earlier tale titled “The Brain-Stealers of Mars,” and the editorial decisions that streamlined the shorter version for faster pacing.

In Frozen Hell, the isolation and tension unfold more gradually. A team of scientists working in the Antarctic unearths a buried spacecraft composed of an unknown alloy. Within the wreckage lies a grotesque life form locked in ice—an ancient being unlike anything on Earth. When the researchers bring the specimen back to camp, intending to thaw and examine it, the situation spirals into horror. The creature revives—and worse, it possesses the terrifying ability to imitate any living organism it touches.

At its core, Frozen Hell is a cautionary meditation on curiosity and consequence: a stark reminder that some discoveries are better left entombed beneath the ice. If you are a fan of the story, this extended version is worth reading.

THE WITCH'S TALE (1933 - 1938) Clipping File

One of my favorite radio programs is The Witch’s Tale, a weekly horror program that aired from May 21, 1931, to June 13, 1938. The program was created, written, and directed by Alonzo Deen Cole, who also wrote for such programs as The Shadow and Casey, Crime Photographer. Cole's spooky show was hosted by Old Nancy, the Witch of Salem, who introduced a different terror tale each week. She was among the earliest of radio horror hosts and, ironically, for a time played by a 13-year-old actress names Miriam Wolfe.

 

The majority of the scripts were original stories, but there were literary adaptations as well, such as adaptations of Dracula and Frankenstein. But the best of them are some of Cole’s originals such as “The Devil’s Mask,” which featured a flaming skeleton running around screaming maniacally, and “The Entomologist,” about a mad scientist who planned to rule the world with giant vampire spiders. What I enjoy even more are the productions -- even the music is similar to the type you hear on Universal Studios monster movies.

 

In November 1936, Alonzo Deen Cole edited The Witch’s Tales (plural, not singular), a pulp magazine with short stories which were adaptations of his radio scripts. There were a total of two issues published. Those two issues go for huge prices when available for sale.

 

In the ongoing process of scanning newspaper clippings and magazine articles, enclosed is a clipping file in PDF for The Witch’s Tale, with a surprise included.

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/i3z1964q112qd6d/Witch%27s%20Tale%20%28clipping%20file%29%20%231.pdf?dl=0

More TV Guide Trivia from 1959

During the 1950s and 1960s, TV Guide featured a minimum of two pages of news blurbs related to television programming and television personalities. Many of these blurbs were word through the Hollywood grapevine, some reprinted from Variety and Broadcasting magazine. While these items are of historical note, sometimes providing the reasoning for programming changes or unusual casting, a number of blurbs provide us with fascinating trivia.

Reprinted below are a number of those news blurbs from 1959, for programming decisions that never happened. Information in Italics is from me, clarifying what did happen during the course of events.

 

July 4, 1959

Sherry Jackson will be in Japan making the test film for an around-the-world series, ADVENTURES OF SHERRY.

 

June 13, 1959

MGM and Peter Lawford are planning a feature picture, The Thin Man, based on Lawford’s television series of the same name, which is based on the old MGM feature, The Thin Man.

 

June 6, 1959

CBS Films still trying to sell the Clare Boothe Luce series, THE DIPLOMAT, even though Mrs. Luce has resigned as ambassador to Brazil. (April 11) Clare Boothe Luce set as hostess and narrator for THE DIPLOMAT, new CBS Films adventure series about foreign service officers. If Mrs. Luce is confirmed as ambassador to Brazil, her introductions will be filmed there. Sponsor must be approved by her and the State Department.

 

May 9, 1959

Actors Arthur Kennedy and Nick Adams have plans to produce, but not appear in, an anthology series, Conquerors on Horseback, with a theme: horsemen.

 

October 3, 1959

Andy Devine, long-time Jingles in the WILD BILL HICKOK series, has plans for a new show of his own, BIG JAKE.

 

April 4, 1959

Series based on the Beetle Bailey comic strip being submitted to comedian Mort Sahl.

 

October 3, 1959

NBC has financed the test tape for a planned hour-long series, THE WITNESS, based on characters brought before various investigating committees in these and other times.

 

October 3, 1959

Another hour-long series, based on the 1947 British movie, GREEN FOR DANGER, is in preparation.

Assorted Trivia from TV GUIDE

While cleaning out digital files this week, I came across a bunch I snapped with my digital camera from the pages of TV Guide. Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, there were yellow pages for Dan Jenkins's TV Teletype column, which provided the inside scoop on television programs and television personalities. Today, many of those nuggets of trivia are gold for historians. I am sure you will find some of these fascinating, too. But unlike similar postings I have shared in the past, these come from pages that I failed to note the date. These could be from 1957, 1958, 1959, or other years. Please excuse my oversight. I doubt the unknown date for these nuggets will take away from your pleasure in reading these.

(circa November 1957) Claudette Colbert has incorporated herself, now plans to produce TV films.    

(circa November 1957) A ghost-story series, One Step Beyond, is in preparation at Screen Gems, with Boris Karloff, one of Hollywood's kindlier ghosts, pencilled in as the ghost-host.

(circa November 1957) Following her something-less-than sensational appearance on the opening Frank Sinatra Show, Kim Novak has been banned from further TV appearances by her studio.

(circa early 1959) Brigitte Bardot is coming to the United States for television guest appearances. The Steve Allen Show is one that wants her. 

(MG Trivia: Dave Garroway at The Today Show was able to secure her instead) 

(summer 1961) The long-time radio show, Johnny Dollar, is to be turned into an hour TV film series by producer Blake Edwards. 

(early 1958) Dragnet will use an actual case witness in an upcoming episode, a Los Angeles nurse's aide who identified a killer by the appearance of his eyes. She will play herself.

(early 1958) Still another new Western series, this one to star Michael Rennie, is not in the test-film stage. Title is The Tall Man. 

(early 1958) Warner Brothers has a new Western series in mind for John Russell, will have him test the character in an upcoming Cheyenne episode. Probable series title: Lone Star.

(early 1958) Cy Howard may produce and write a series for MGM based on the studio's 1950 hit, Father of the Bride. 

(early 1958) Orson Welles will receive $7,500 for tomorrow's Steve Allen Show, but Gale Storm keeps her asking price at $15,000 per guest shot.

(early 1958) Bette Davis, whose Suspicion show was postponed when she suffered a fall in her home, is now set for April 21 in "Fraction of a Second."

(early 1958) There will be no private-eye series for Mickey Rooney at CBS, as previously thought, and the network show is looking around for a new format for him. 

(early 1958) The new Warner Brothers Western series for star John Russell will be titled Laramie. Peter Brown will be co-star.

(early 1958) Charles Bronson and Angie Dickinson will be regulars in a planned new series, Man with a Camera, based on the experiences of newsreel cameramen. 

(MG Trivia: Angie Dickinson co-starred with Bronson on the pilot episode, which was sold to the network, but she was never a series regular and never appeared on the program beyond the pilot, which consequently aired as the fourth episode of the series.)

(early 1958) Plans fell through for June Lockhart to become the permanent romantic interest on Have Gun-Will Travel, but she'll do one more episode, now scheduled for May.

(early 1958) Tales of Frankenstein, new series of telefilms, takes on ABC's Saturday night ay 10 period in the fall. The show, produced by Screen Gems, has no permanent cast.

(early 1958) Frankie Laine has registered the title and format for a series called Dressing Room "A", a behind-the-scenes story of a singer. He would star.

(circa early 1959) Danny Thomas is trying to sell CBS a new program idea titled "Variety Workshop," to develop new comedians for television.

(autumn of 1957) Warner brothers next season will do a 39-episode, hour-long film series called The House of Wax, with a mystery-intrigue format. No star as yet selected.

(early 1961) The Defenders, written by Reginald Rose as a two-part Studio One presentation, is planned as a weekly hour-long series, with Lloyd Nolan penciled in for the role. 

(MG Trivia: E.G. Marshall was the lead for the series, not Lloyd Nolan.)

(early 1958) Marilyn Monroe, who has shrugged off television, now reportedly saying :maybe" to producer Robert Saudek for an Omnibus appearance in the fall. Perhaps in something written by her husband, Arthur Miller?

(early 1958) NBC already has scheduled Gunn for Hire, starring Craig Stevens, for Mondays at 9 p.m. next season. He plays Pete Gunn, a private eye. 

(early 1958) Jack Wrather (Lassie, Lone Ranger, Sergeant Preston) is making a test film for a series based on the files of "Tom Swift."

(early 1958) Nellie Lutcher has a featured role in Jack Webb's test film for Pete Kelly's Blues.

(early 1958) Helen Humes has replaced Nellie Lutcher in the Pete Kelly's Blues test film. Meanwhile, Jack webb is set to shoot a second test film this month, The D.A.'s Man, to be turned out by the Medic producer-writer team of Frank La Tourette and Jim Moser.

(early 1958) Jack Webb will soon start production on a test film for the Pete Kelly's Blues series he's been planning for four years, possible with Bob Crosby starred. Only hitch: Crosby is still under exclusive contract to CBS.

(early 1958) The Adventures of McGraw got a little too adventurous for Frank Lovejoy. The script called for him to dive through a window, but didn't say anything about breaking his leg -- which he did. The cast comes off next week.

(early 1958) One Man's Family may return to TV, turning up in its new format as an episode on The Loretta Young Show. If the audition is successful, a new series would probably be produced by Miss Young's Lewislor Productions.

(early 1958) Gerald Mohr, once of Foreign Intrigue, who has played the notorious "Doc Holiday" for the Maverick series, may now play the character in a projected Warner Brothers series to be titled Doc Holiday. 

(early 1958) Singer Frankie Laine will do a straight dramatic role in an upcoming Cheyenne episode.

(MG Trivia: He never appeared on the show.)

(summer 1958) Preston Foster of Waterfront has completed a test film for his planned new series, Iron Trail, a Western dealing with trains rather than horses. 

(summer 1958) Warner Brothers, adding a ninth series to its TV schedule, will make Public Enemy, based on the 1931 James Cagney movie.

(early 1958) All plans for a Tarzan TV film series, starring Gordon Scott, now have been dropped in favor of continuing the property as a once-a-year motion picture schedule. Scott will continued in the lead.

Thrillers, Chillers and Killers by Frank Krutnik (Book Review)

Frank Krutnik’s "Thrillers, Chillers and Killers: Radio and Film Noir" is an absorbing exploration of how noir sensibilities seeped across mediums, particularly from Hollywood films to the golden age of radio. What struck me most is how Krutnik dismantles the idea of noir as just a cinematic style, showing instead how it functioned as a broader cultural mood of paranoia, desire, and fatalism. His comparisons between hard-boiled detective fiction, shadow-soaked film aesthetics, and radio thrillers like "Suspense" and "The Whistler" really help illustrate how noir adapted to the intimacy of sound—where voices, music cues, and silence itself could achieve the same dread that chiaroscuro lighting did on screen.

I have always believed certain crime programs for radio such as "Broadway Is My Beat" is pure noir. I enjoy watching film noir and have said many programs (not just adaptations of film noir movies on "Lux Radio Theater") are enough to wet the appetite of those who cannot get enough of film noir but feel they have seen it all. Radio drama from the 1940s and 1950s explores that alternative. Krutnik proves an academic feel but connects the dots between the various aspects that make up film noir to remind us how much fun these radio dramas are. 

While some sections veer into academic theory, the book never loses sight of the pulpy entertainment value that drew audiences in the first place. Krutnik does a fine job of balancing cultural analysis with detailed case studies—whether tracing Barbara Stanwyck’s archetypal femme fatale across both visual and audio storytelling or noting how wartime anxieties shaped the narratives. For anyone fascinated by how noir became a shared language of mid-century America, this book delivers both scholarship and readability. It’s a rewarding read for cinephiles, radio buffs, and anyone curious about how popular culture built and recycled the darker corners of its imagination.

INTERVIEW WITH MICKEY MOUSE

Amidst the two decades of research at various archives across the country, I would frequent across an obscurity from time to time. Normally I would be at a specific archive for a specific subject, but those obscurities raised my curiosity and prompted me to make a quick copy. The thought often crossed my mind that another historian may be interested in this factoid, but more often than not the curiosity fell into my filing cabinet. 

As I now clean through my research files to scan and digitize those obscurities, I realize that those bizarre unexplainable curiosities would be best suited for my blog. So allow me to share this one for your amusement.  

In March of 1935, Julius Selig wrote a brief stage play titled "Interview with Mickey Mouse." It appears to be a stage play of sorts. This only spans a few pages so if you are a Disney fanatic, enjoy this historical amusement.

Link to download:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/c98ovx9s1gzj3pm/Interviewing%20Mickey%20Mouse%20%28March%201935%29.pdf?dl=0

LIGHTS OUT: Radio Horror "The Phantom Meteor"

In the summer of 1942, Sterling Products bought Lights Out to replace its current series, Board of Missing Heirs, for Ironized Yeast. CBS at that time had always banned horror stories, being more stricter than NBC in that regard, but the network decided to relax their position because playwright Arch Oboler was involved. Having made a name for himself as one of the top ten playwrights on network television, his stock in trade as a "stream on consciousness" style often first person singular applied. Oboler was scripting for weekly patriotic programs and wanted to return to his favorite genre -- horror. And because Oboler was already providing scripts for Everyman's Theater over NBC for Procter & Gamble, and just signed with NBC Blue for To the President, CBS wanted to compete.

 

The Continuity Department (the official name for the censorship department) at CBS looked at a handful of the radio scripts proposed and stamped them “acceptable” before the premiere on the evening of October 6, 1942. The series was contracted with the sponsor and the network for a total of 52 weeks. Many of the radio broadcasts that exist in recorded form originate from this 1942-43 series, which is one of the reasons why the playwright has been unjustly labeled as the creator of Lights Out. 

 

Lights Out premiered over NBC Chicago in January of 1934, created and scripted by Wyllis Cooper. NBC, under a specific term in the contract, owned the program and when it was decided to take the late-night horror series coast-to-coast in 1936, Cooper lost control of his own program. A number of authors began submitting radio scripts, including Arch Oboler, who was at that time writing brief sketches for such prestigious programs as Rudy Vallee and Edgar Bergen. Cooper had no objections; he still owned the rights to his own scripts and he was being lured to Hollywood. But with Cooper leaving in 1936, new writers were necessary. Enter stage left: Arch Oboler. 

 

For Arch Oboler to broadcast a weekly primetime horror series of the same name, he had to secure permission from NBC. Executives at NBC had no objection, considering they did not want horror programs and they wanted to retain first option on Oboler for future patriotic programs. CBS was delighted to have their first weekly program written and directed by Arch Oboler, described in the trades as “experimental drama.” The price tag was a reported $1,325 a week. Arch Oboler was able to get by with that figure by not only writing and directing, but hosting as emcee and confining himself to small casts and covering the absence of any music by elaborate sound effects. For many of the episodes, the cast consisted of only two people. 

 

Oboler always felt his Lights Out series was never horror, but was instead a “psychological chiller.” Wyllis Cooper, who created the program, always described his stories as “fantasy” (with a slight touch of horror). 

Cooper’s 1934-1936 concepts, incidentally, would be expanded from the 15-minute format to 30 minutes and a number of them repeated for some of the 1936-39 national run, then recycled for use on the 1945, 1946 and 1947 summer revivals of Lights Out on NBC, then again under a new format, Quiet, Please, from 1947-1949.

 

As for Cooper's Hollywood career... that was short-lived. After arriving in Hollywood in 1937, he found work at 20^th Century Fox and Universal Studios, contributing for such classics as Think Fast, Mr. Moto (1937), Thank You, Mr. Moto (1937), Mr. Moto Takes a Chance (1938), The Phantom Creeps (1939) and Son of Frankenstein (1939). His experience with brutal last-minute re-writes at Universal for Son of Frankenstein gave Cooper sour grapes – he promptly left Hollywood after production concluded and returned to script writing for radio. (He expressed his displeasure for Universal and production of that movie very specifically, including references to Boris Karloff, in the Quiet, Please episode, "Rain on New Year's Eve.")

 

Beginning in 1946, some of his Lights Out and Quiet, Please radio scripts were adapted for television for such programs as Quiet Please: Volume One, Lights Out, and Escape.

 

Thankfully, the 1936-1939 radio scripts for the NBC national run of Lights Out was recently scanned into PDF. This allows us to enjoy such dramas as “The Blood of the Gorilla,” “Satan’s Orchid,” “Queen Cobra,” “The Legion of the Dead,” “Black Zombie” and “One Day it Rained Blood.”

Enclosed below is a link for you to download a copy of the April 19, 1939, broadcast titled “The Phantom Meteor.”

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5dj9fvsmqgbmo64/Lights%20Out%20%28April%2019%2C%201939%29%20The%20Phantom%20Meteor.pdf?dl=0

The Phil Harris and Alice Faye Digital Collection

The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show, was a comedy radio program which ran on NBC from 1948 to 1954 starring Alice Faye and Phil Harris. Harris had previously become known to radio audiences as the band-leader-turned-cast-member of the same name on The Jack Benny Program  while Faye had been a frequent guest on programs such as Rudy Vallee’s variety shows. After becoming the breakout stars of the music and comedy variety program The Fitch Bandwagon, the show was retooled into a full situation comedy, with Harris and Faye playing fictionalized versions of themselves as a working show business couple raising two daughters in a madcap home. But what few do not know is that the comic adventures were – in some aspect – based on their real-life family adventures. The season opener of 1952-1953 had the narrator open with an explanation that Phil Harris had just returned from England with his new automobile and was working on the engine in the drive-way. Turns out Harris really was in England that summer and he did buy a roadster.

 

A few years ago over 2,000 photographs were scanned from an archive containing Phil Harris and Alice Faye’s family and publicity photos, including awards and achievements. We have been digitally restoring the images for a future book project. Below, for your amusement, are a few of those photos chosen at random. (Almost random. I did select the one with the roadster so you can see what it looked like.) The photos, by the way, were the initial scan and not the digitally restored renditions.

Thelma Lou: Betty Lynn, Joi Lansing, Grant Williams, Virginia Gregg (Book Reviews)

Not a month goes by that I do not received a package at my front doorstep containing a book that the author or the publisher asked me to review. Somehow I feel obligated because they went to all the time and expense to ship it to me, and write the customized letter requesting the favor. The most recent box came from Bear Manor Media and contained four biographies about actors and actresses that are long overdue. 

GRANT WILLIAMS

By Giancarlo Stampalia

An accomplished actor in film, theater, television, and old-time radio, Grant Williams, best-known for playing the title role in The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957), gradually shrank away from the world. His film work reads like a Who’s Who of Hollywood’s Golden Years, with such famous filmmakers as director Jack Arnold, writer Richard Matheson, and producer Walt Disney. 

 

After gaining experience in theater and studying with Lee Strasberg, Grant graduated to live American television, and then to small roles in film, such as Written on the Wind (1956) and dozens of television series, such as Gunsmoke (1959), Hawaiian Eye (1960-1963), The Outer Limits (1965), Bonanza (1960-1965), and Perry Mason (1964-1965), among many others. A melancholy loner despite being surrounded by Hollywood hullabaloo, his gradual fade from films and fame left him as an enigma . . . until now. 

 

Through archival and personal documents, the author now divulges details never known by the public and dispels the myths about the man that were created by columnists of the 1950s and 1960s, such as Rual Askew, Emily Belser, Harrison Carroll, Mel Heimer, Hedda Hopper, and Bob Thomas. 

 

I recall his role in The Monolith Monsters (1957) when I grew up, not The Incredible Shrinking Man, but I do hear his name credited on Suspense and Johnny Dollar radio shows from time to time. Grant Williams may be known today only as the Incredible Shrinking Man, but his legacy now finally enlarges again through this titanic tribute to a tallest of talents. Illustrated with 122 photos, many never before seen, including portraits, candid or personal photos, behind-the-scenes photos, publicity and production stills, and frame captures from films and television shows. Bibliography, a List of Film and Television Credits, and an Index. 

 

Giancarlo Stampalia did an excellent job with this book, helping to preserve the life and career of Grant Williams, who might otherwise have fallen into obscurity by now. 

 

 

UNCREDITED: THE LIFE AND CAREER OF ACTRES VIRGINIA GREGG

By Lona Bailey

She had one of the most recognizable faces and voices in American media for over 40 years. On the Have Gun - Will Travel radio program, she was Missy Wong. On I Led Three Lives, she was a villainous Comrade of the Communist Party who kept close eyes on Herbert A. Philbrick. But her voice remains largely uncredited and it seems unlikely all of her radio work will ever be fully documented. Consider her legendary performance as the voice of "Norma Bates" from Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 classic Psycho, who provides the closing narration of the movie but is never credited on screen. 

 

In radio she was a semi-regular on classics like Dragnet, Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, and Richard Diamond, Private Detective. On television she made guest appearances on Gunsmoke and The Twilight Zone. In film she gave her most memorable performances in productions including Operation Petticoat, and Spencer's Mountain.

The character actress was well-loved by those who worked with her and I was pleased to see someone went to the trouble of documenting her career in a book.

 

GONE TOO SOON: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF RISING STAR STEVE IHNAT

By Linda Alexander

In 1967, Steve Ihnat was on top of the world in Hollywood, an actor on the precipice of true stardom. He was seen as both a heavy and a leading-man type, an actor who could fit into any role that came his way. He was making excellent money as a guest star on virtually every episodic show on television, seen on the screen most every night. Star Trek, The Virginian, The Outer Limits, and many other shows were already part of his resume. He’d branched off into movies, finding himself up against heavy-hitting superstars. Casting directors rang his phone constantly, and he never wanted for work. He was moving into writing and directing movies, and his personal life was turning the page into a deeper, more meaningful story. He was just beginning to live the life he’d always wanted for himself. 

 

Five years later, Steve Ihnat was dead. He was a man of international mystery, from the country of his birth, Czechoslovakia, to his home country, Canada, to his adopted country, the United States. His existence proved to be one of intrigue, not only in a great many of the roles he played, but in some of the underlying tones of his personal life. This was the late ‘60s and into the early 1970s. The world was in great turmoil with much change going on. Certain things were happening behind the scenes that would alter the direction of Steve Ihnat’s story, one which became a tale not even Steve could have imagined. Not even he could have written such a script if he had been trying to put together a movie with him in the starring role ... and that’s exactly what he had been doing. To this day, Steve Ihnat stars in a mystery which continues to develop.

 

Linda Alexander contacted his family and thus scored what is always essential for writing a biography: going directly to the source. She also interviewed people who worked with him. Through exclusive never-before-published photographs to exclusive recollections from colleagues, her biography about Steve Ihnat will be the quintessential book you ever need.

 

WHEN A GIRL’S BEAUTIFUL: THE LIFE AND CAREER OF JOI LANSING

By Richard Koper

Joi Lansing made a career in Hollywood at a time when being blonde and curvy was much appreciated. Although she never became as successful as Jayne Mansfield or Mamie Van Doren, let alone Marilyn Monroe, she carved out a path for herself, appearing in several iconic television shows. In the 1960s, she took a new route by becoming a singer, earning praise for her newfound talents.

 

Insecurity about her looks and talent plagued her all her life. In growing older, she did everything to stay young and beautiful. Nevertheless, Joi was also acute enough to know that it had taken more than good looks to become famous. In 1965 she stated that, “Looks are important, of course. But after the looks go, what does a girl have? What I mean is, a girl has to have more than just looks to succeed in Hollywood.” 

 

“When a Girl’s Beautiful” — The Life and Career of Joi Lansing tells the story of a vulnerable, sweet and talented woman, who gave her all to become famous and struggled to survive in the harsh world of show business. With an overview of Joi Lansing’s film and television appearances, it also contains rare pictures and many never-before-seen photographs from family albums. It’s enlivened with quotes and anecdotes of people who knew and worked with her. If you wanted to know anything about the actress, this book covers her entire life and career and is illustrated heavily with lots of photographs.