Top 100 Must-See Movie: It's a Gift (1934)

If I had to make a list of the 100 movies you must see before you die, It’s a Gift (1934) starring W.C. Fields would be on that list. The film concerns the trials and tribulations of a grocer as he battles a shrewish wife, an incompetent assistant, and assorted annoying children, customers, and salesmen. The film reprises routines honed by Fields from his stage career over the years (1915 to 1925 to be specific). Fields often tried to recapture sketches that led to his stage success onto film; skits such as “The Picnic,” “A Joy Ride,” and most famously, “The Back Porch” are all featured in It’s a Gift.

Having seen this wonderful delight the other week, I discovered many share the same sentiment. In 2010, the movie was added to the National Film Registry by the United States Library of Congress. It’s a Gift is included among the American Film Institute’s list of the “Top 100 Funniest American Movies.” When a compilation LP of W.C. Fields' best material was released in the 1970s, much of the material on that album came from this film.

 

Lesser known than some of Fields’ later works such as the hilarious The Bank Dick (1940), the film is perhaps the best example of the recurring theme of the Everyman battling against his domestic entrapment. 

Fields plays the owner of a general store who is hounded by his status-anxious wife. To get some sleep, he goes out on the porch where he is tormented by a little boy from the floor above and an insurance salesman down below. He uses an inheritance to buy an orange ranch through the mail, then drives off with his family for California. The orange grove consists of a withered tree, the ranch house is but a shack, and the car falls to pieces. At his lowest ebb, something wonderful happens and to provide more would be an injustice. 

 

Do yourself a favor and seek this movie out – you can thank me later.

 

 

I LED THREE LIVES (The Television Series)

One of my favorite TV series is a product of the Red Scare of the 1950s, I Led Three Lives, based on the book by Herbert A. Philbrick. The program aired for three seasons from 1953 to 1956 and starred Richard Carlson in the lead as a family man who worked for an advertising agency. After learning that Communist agents had infiltrated the local YMCA, he contacted the FBI. For seven years Philbrick served as a card-carrying member of the Communist Party, secretly leaking information to the Feds. He somehow balanced a family life, his nine-to-five job, and volunteering for projects with the Communist Party. Hence, he led three lives. The series is truly phenomenal and a byproduct of the 1950s which is truly dated and probably the reason why it has not aired on network television over the past few decades. A number of episodes have fallen into the public domain, suggesting the series is falling into orphaned stage.

The story gets a tad more amusing, however. Prior to the television program, from 1952 to 1954, Frederick Ziv produced a radio program titled I Was a Communist for the FBI, based on a Saturday Evening Post short story by Matt Cvetic. The radio program is equally as entertaining as the later TV series. But after two years, Cvetic turned out to be a nut case and was demanding his millions in royalties. There were royalties and Ziv was honest, but there was no millions. It was also at this time that ZIV was making the transition to television. Rather than revisit a new contract with Cvetic, Ziv contacted Herbert A. Philbrick to license the television rights from his novel, I Led Three Lives. 

The television program was tremendously successful and turned out to be lucrative for star Richard Carlson. Ironic when you consider had Cvetic not been over-demanding, riches were just around the corner.

About a decade ago I wrote a book documenting the history of the television program and was pleased with the way it turned out. But like all authors, after the book was published I came into possession of a number of photographs that, today, I wish I had at the time the book went to press. Here are those photos.

Invisible Scarlet O'Neil: The 1943 Russell Stamm Novel

In 1943, Russell Stamm wrote a 248 page novel based on the comic strip character, Invisible Scarlet O’Neil, published by Whitman Publishing. The novel had the same title and because I was familiar with the comic strip, I wanted to read the adventure. As a fan of radio’s The Shadow, I always felt the comic strip was a deliberate intent to cash in on the success of an invisible superhero, and making her a woman (whereas Lamont Cranston was a man) made me suspect they wanted to replicate from the opposite end of the spectrum. 

Scarlet got the power of invisibility from a ray her father, a scientist, was experimenting with. She curiously put her finger in the ray, and she suddenly disappeared, clothes and all. Fortunately, she discovered that a certain nerve in her left wrist could work as a means of toggling the power, turning her invisibility on and off. Along the way she met with a number of colorful villains.

 

Russell Stamm, who was an assistant to Chester Gould on the comic strip Dick Tracy, created this series in 1940 and was syndicated after it premiered in the Chicago Daily Times. Nine years later, the strip took a drastic turn as her ability to turn invisible was dropped (slowly fazed out, to be specific) and the title of the comic strip changed to Scarlet O’Neil. In 1954, Emery Clarke began drawing the comic strip while Stamm continued to write the stories/scripts. Under Clarke’s auspice, he changed the title to Stainless Steel but that revision of the strip only lasted two years. Alas, dear Scarlet was dropped from the newspapers in 1956 and never heard from again.

 

Scarlet O’Neil made the transition to comic books, courtesy of reprints from the newspaper strips, which are collectible today. Sadly, no one has collected a partial or entire run of the newspaper strip and reprinted them. So, with the exception of the handful of comic books, the only thing we have today is the 1943 novel. 

 

Comics historian Don Markstein remarked how the series was light (compared to the raw violence portrayed on Dick Tracy) so her combats with Nazi spies, Japanese saboteurs and master criminals were more cat and mouse with her ruining their schemes. The violence, it would seem, be reserved for the Dick Tracy strip.

 

In the novel concerned a hit and run, a ransom note, the kidnapping of a little boy, a stolen puppy, arson and a boxing match. What might sound like a lot of excitement was simply an amusing read for someone like myself who was curious to enjoy an adventure of the Invisible Scarlet O’Neil… until someone one day publishes the newspaper strip.

 

 

Christopher Lee at Monster Rally 1999

One of the earliest conventions I ever set up as a vendor was at the Monster Rally in 1999. Formerly known as Fanex, an annual fan gathering in and outside of Baltimore, Maryland, focusing on classic horror and science-fiction films, the event changed its name and relocated to Crystal City, Virginia. There is a lengthy history to why and how Monster Rally came to be, but the long gist of it was that the convention promoters had an opportunity to get Christopher Lee among the celebrity guests. 

The event was hosted by Gary and Susan Svehla, owners of a publishing company known as Midnight Marquee, who secured the publishing rights to Christopher Lee's autobiography. Lee was willing to travel to the United States to autograph copies of his book, and the event was as large and ambitious as the turnout. After all, who wouldn't want to meet Christopher Lee in person? Well, I did.

Not being old enough to drive a car yet, my father proposed I pay for a vendor table and set up at the convention. This would allow me the opportunity to recover the costs involved to attend. My first two books were published by that time and it made sense to set up as a vendor and sign copies of my own books. The turnout was impressive and the book sales were equally -- if not more -- impressive. Before the end of the three days I sold over 130 copies of my Suspense book and over 50 copies of my Cavalcade of America book, along with other collectibles. In the end, I not only paid for the expenses (hotel, food, gas, tolls, vendor table, etc.) but I went home with enough to buy my first computer. Who remembers Gateway computers?

But the highlight of the weekend was not just selling books. It was meeting Christopher Lee in person, buying the autobiography, and having Lee sign the inside title page. There was a rule that the actor could not pose for photos with fans because they wanted to get the autograph line moving as fast as they could. It was autograph only. 

Just last week I found my book and the photograph inside where the man who stood behind me in line was kind enough to take my photo with Christopher Lee. In return I used his camera and took a photo of him with Lee, which he asked me to do. And that kind individual (thank you, whoever you are) sent me the photo in the mail afterwards. Few people that weekend had their photo with Christopher Lee so this is one of the few times I can brag about my brush with fame.

(Left to Right) Martin Grams, Gary Svehla and Christopher Lee.

Michael Ripper and Christopher Lee at Monster Rally in 1999.