Friday, May 3, 2024
UNUSED TARZAN RADIO PLOTS
Thursday, April 25, 2024
Batman '66: The Lost Episode with Two-Face
Beginning in 2013, DC Comics began publishing a series of comics titled Batman '66, based on the television program starring Adam West and Burt Ward. Fans of the television series can enjoy additional adventures and -- on rare occasion -- some fun such as a Man from U.N.C.L.E. crossover. In 2015, DC Comics produced a one-shot comic based on a story proposal that was a lost produced.
During the first season of the Batman television series, producer William Dozier had a roster of villains from the funny pages to choose from. Some criminals such as The Scarecrow and Two-Face were deemed too scary for the campy style they sought. During the first few weeks of the third season, it was discovered that the ratings were dropping and new criminals would be needed to keep the series fresh. Instead of a District Attorney who fell victim to a jar of acid thrown at The Joker, it was decided to make Harvey Dent a news anchor and his accident was the result of a stage light explosion.
Hired to write a story treatment was Harlan Ellison, who was also known for writing such classics as The Outer Limits and Star Trek. The treatment was green lighted and a television script was drafted. According to the front page of the television script, actor Clint Eastwood was going to play the role of Two-Face. Some production files suggest Eli Wallach was going to play a supporting role. The third and final season was cancelled prematurely and the Two-Face episode never went into production.
In 2015, Ellison's story treatment was adapted into the comic special Batman ’66: The Lost Episode by DC Comics. They never adapted from the teleplay, just the story treatment. The art never depicts Clint Eastwood as Two-Face, but fans of the television series who want to see what the visuals would have looked like can enjoy this comic.
Friday, April 19, 2024
MAD DADDY: Myers, Mintz and the Moondog and How Cleveland, Ohio, Changed Rock Radio
Television in post war America hit local radio hard so the success of staying in business was from local legends including Alan Freed, Carl Reese, and Bill Randle. This book primarily focuses on the life and career of Pete Myers, also known as “Mad Daddy.” But the book also crosses paths with Leo Mintz, a record store owner who knew what people wanted to listen to – and made an exceptional living doing what he did best.
Not only is this book well-written and highly researched, but highly entertaining. No dead drool or encyclopedic jargon found here. If Mike and Janice were delivering a fascinating slide show presentation, this would be that type of transcript. Fans of rock n’ roll radio of the 1950s and 1960s will find this book a treat. I could sit here and type up a few of the great stories inside to wet your appetite, but that would ruin the fun of reading this book. Why give it away? Do not delay grabbing your copy today.
Friday, April 5, 2024
The RED RYDER Book You Will Probably Never Read
Red Ryder Paint Book (circa 1952) |
Extremely few copies were printed and sold before the book was pulled from distribution, so if you are reading this take note: buy your copy today at the lowest price you can find. Five years from now you can brag that what you have on your bookshelf is extremely rare and value. It will certainly continue going up in price over the years. Someone is already offering one for $1,000; thankfully I paid a lot less than that! As for the author, his efforts were not in vain. Authors find amusement witnessing hefty price tags of their own books, after they go out of print. For Bernard Drew, this just happened a lot sooner than expected.
Thursday, March 21, 2024
The Return of DICK TRACY
DICK TRACY is making a return in a six-issue series of new comics this April, and with a new take. Prior comics reprinted the newspaper strip which had a style and format of its own. This time a group of talented artists and writers are involved with a completely new rendition, darker and more adult in tone. To be fair, Chester Gould wanted to make the character and his adventures hard-boiled and raw… but over the years the primary focus was on the colorful characters. So it comes as no surprise that new writers wanted to do their own rendition in a format that Chester Gould would have approved.
"The world of Dick Tracy is rife with complex characters, twisted motives, and dangerous corners - and we really want to lean into the essence of what Chester Gould created without trying to imitate Dick Tracy's creator," said Alex Segura in a statement. "What Michael, Geraldo, Chantelle, and I are cooking up uses all the ingredients fans are familiar with - hopefully creating something that feels fresh and vibrant while honoring what's come before. We don't just want to tell a fun Dick Tracy story - we want to craft a great crime saga, too."
"Our goal in making a new Dick Tracy comic isn't to be kitsch or try to recapture what Chester Gould did so masterfully - I can't even presume to have that gift," added Michael Moreci. "Instead, we want to take the essence of what makes it work and recalibrate it for both new and old audiences alike."
"Dick Tracy is definitely one of the most iconic comic book characters of all time with a unique rogues' gallery," said artist Geraldo Borges. "The story written by Alex, Michael and Chantelle allowed me to play with Chiaroscuro, a strong black and white contrast. And talking about contrast, it will be awesome seeing the yellow and bright Dick Tracy coat and his cartoonish villains, side by side, with dark streets and a grounded book."
Dick Tracy #1 is published by Mad Cave Studios, in partnership with Tribune Content Agency and New Wave Comics, on April 24.
Thursday, March 14, 2024
WORLD OF GIANTS: The 1959 TV Series
World of Giants was a short-lived TV series that lasted a mere 13 half-hour episodes, too few to warrant reruns on television. As a result, the series fell into obscurity except from fans of science-fiction TV programs that made this program – over a period of time – a Holy Grail. Finding 16mm prints of this series was few and far between. Some collectors of vintage television will confess that over the decades they could only come across one or two episodes.
All of which makes this new DVD release something to jump for joy. Thanks to a company called ClassicFlix, all 13 episodes have been restored from archival prints and now available in gorgeous quality. I just spent the last two weeks watching these episodes, rediscovering how much fun it is to watch standard 1950s television production for syndicated series like World of Giants.
Touting a $4,000,000 budget (according to Variety), CBS tapped prolific production company Ziv-TV to produce World of Giants, which started shooting in early 1958—with an expected fall network debut. Production was later halted when CBS was unable to obtain sponsorship for World of Giants, causing the network to delay the series premiere by a full year. But when shooting wrapped in 1959, World of Giants was still without a sponsor and CBS scrapped the idea of network distribution entirely which allowed the program to go into first-run syndication starting in 1961.
With production halted at one point in time, the format of the series went through an overhaul – and somewhat better than the earlier entries in the series. The initial four episodes followed the same formula week in and week out. Bill Winters, six-feet tall, would usually be knocked out by the criminal and subjected to some danger – such as the building caught on fire. Mel Hunter, six inches tall, would have to phone in to the department to fetch a rescue party, but often found himself defending against a wild animal. In one episode it was a cat, in another a dog, in another a possum… you get the idea.
After production resumed, an overhaul was devised to the program. Actress Marcia Henderson was added to the weekly cast as Miss Brown, a secretary for both secret agents, who maintained a doll house for Mel, fetching him coffee and food three times a day, and adding a comedic-romantic element to the series.
World of Giants might have promoted high production values, but the average cost of each episode was $27,000. The episodes were directed by such luminaries as Nathan Juran (20 Million Miles to Earth), Jack Arnold (Creature from the Black Lagoon) and Byron Haskin (The War of the Worlds), even though they directed episodes of other TV programs. Production designer and art director Robert Kinoshita was involved. He was known for his creation of iconic sci-fi robots such as “Robby the Robot” (Forbidden Planet) and for art direction on Lost in Space.
Like many programs of the 1950s, supporting cast included the occasional surprise: Peggie Castle, Gavin MacLeod, Tom Brown, Berry Kroeger, Bill Walker, Pamela Duncan, Ziva Rodann, Douglas Dick, Maria Palmer, Narda Onyx, Edgar Barrier, Nestor Paiva, Gregg Palmer and Allison Hayes all make appearances. The episode with Allison Hayes was perhaps my favorite of the bunch.
ClassicFlix went to considerable expense to gain possession of the 13 archival prints and then restore them to gorgeous quality and pay the licensing fees. For that reason, they deserve a boost in sales. Looking for a birthday gift to give a friend this year? Grab a couple of these from Amazon and help get those sales numbers up.
Thursday, March 7, 2024
THE LIFE OF RILEY (1949 movie)
Irving Brecher, who co-created the radio program in the early forties, and wrote most of the scripts, also directed this movie for Universal-International. The story concerns a well-meaning factory employee who is struggling financially and finding himself in scenarios that is embarrassing to his close friends. His career gets a lift when he receives a promotion, but this causes resentment among his fellow workers who believe it is due to the fact his daughter is engaged to the factory owner's son. When Junior, Riley’s son, discovers that the daughter’s happiness is at risk to the jerk of a wealthy son, Riley comes to the rescue.
The Life of Riley radio program was originally conceived by Irving Brecher and Groucho Marx, a situation comedy originally conceived for Groucho to play the lead. The comedian went another direction, however, leaving Brecher to find another actor – William Bendix – to play the lead.
The 1949 motion-picture has yet to be released commercially on DVD and this is a darn shame. The script is top-notch, not the type of story you expect from an adaptation of a radio situation comedy, with an ending that almost brings a tear to your eye. And, along the way, some radio in-jokes such as Howard Duff reprising his role as Sam Spade as Junior listens to a non-referenced radio detective program adds to the fun. If you can find this movie to watch, I recommend you make the effort. Your will be rewarded.
Interesting trivia: The screenplay was adapted into a hardcover novel, released in the same year as the movie, and is now a pricey collectible.
Thursday, February 29, 2024
BOOK REVIEWS: Ray Danton, Herbert Marshall, Robert Horton, Arthur Penn
From time to time I receive a box of books from a publishing company for book reviews and the recent box from Bear Manor Media provided some entertaining reading in the past month. Biographies about Hollywood actors who cemented a legacy on celluloid on both the silver screen and small screen. I am pleased to say they are all great (the books that were not great I chose not to do a book review at all), so take a moment and check these out.
RAY DANTON: THE EPITOME OF COOL
By Joseph Fusco
I know Ray Danton more for his guest appearances on Warner Brothers TV programs such as Hawaiian Eye and Maverick, not from his LP records. But for others, he was a songbird of huge proportion. Ray Danton was an actor who exemplified a particular Hollywood period even though he was not famous. He was a contract player during the demise of the studio system, a precarious time for the grooming of stars. Like the big stars of his time, Ray Danton earned his share of press and publicity puff pieces announcing business deals, vacation plans, personal appearances, industry parties and movie and television contract signings. His name had its time in bold tintype, especially in the late 50‘s through the mid-60‘s: the Eisenhower-Camelot eras.
Danton’s heyday was the Hollywood of slick hair, cigarette smoking, hard drinking and two-fisted negotiations. His sharp-edged baritone matched dark chiseled features, making him a natural for his roles as suave heroes or venal hustlers. He had the look of a sly fox and the smooth moves of a dancing thief. Ray Danton’s confident attitude, serpentine movements, switchblade stare, and silver-tongued voice gave his characters a touch of menace and panache. This book documents his career both in front of – and behind – the camera.
IN SEARCH OF FLINT McCULLOUGH AND ROBERT HORTON
By Aileen J. Elliott
Robert Horton was born in Los Angeles, in July 1924. He came from a family peopled by professional men; lawyers, doctors and churchmen. His father was a highly successful insurance agent. The family was a large Mormon clan on both his paternal and maternal side, and Robert Horton never felt at home in it. From an early age he knew he was as unlike his relatives as chalk is to cheese. He rebelled against all its conformities and he only found his true vocation when he turned to the stage and decided to become an actor. Blessed with incredible looks, as well as a wonderful baritone singing voice, he pursued his dream with dedication and determination. His passionate drive was rewarded when he won the role of scout Flint McCullough on NBC’s fabulously successful Western series, Wagon Train. His portrayal of McCullough lasted for five years and brought international fame, making him one of the most famous stars on television.
When he walked away from Wagon Train to fashion a career for himself in musical theater, his fame gradually dwindled. There were many reasons for that, in and out of his control, but he subsequently claimed that the twenty or so years he spent treading the boards were as rewarding to him as he needed or wanted them to be. His marriage (fourth) to singer Marilynn Bradley lasted fifty-five years, until his death, and much was written in its early stages about their love and commitment to one another. After he retired in his mid-sixties, however, that changed, and though living comfortably in the suburbs of Los Angeles, the last years of his life were full of sadness, bitterness and remorse. Nevertheless, he continues to have a following of devoted fans and admirers and this book will help to inform them of his rich legacy, his life and his talents.
This is one of those tribute books that is worth reading if you are a fan of the actor, or a fan of Wagon Train.
HERBERT MARSHALL: A BIOGRAPHY
By Scott O’Brien
What better compliment can bestow a book than a foreword by Kevin Brownlow? Scott O’Brien wrote a great biography about Herbert Marshall, the character actor who rarely received top billing but certainly deserves more attention than he has received. Whether embracing the silky essence of Kay Francis in Trouble in Paradise (1932), or enduring the machinations of Bette Davis in The Little Foxes (1941), Herbert Marshall was the essence of smooth, masculine sensitivity. Dietrich, Garbo, Shearer, Stanwyck, and Hepburn eagerly awaited to be, as Shearer put it, “so thoroughly and convincingly loved” on screen by Marshall. While many knew that the actor had lost a leg in WWI, he preferred audiences to concentrate on his acting. Even so, he volunteered hundreds of hours to hospitals encouraging amputees during WWII.
His legacy as a versatile actor, and morale booster is as compelling, as it is complicated. “Marshall’s personal story,” noted the late Robert Osborne, “is a fascinating one.” Herbert Marshall is Scott O'Brien's seventh biography of classic cinema legends and he continues with his high-quality and thorough research.
ARTHUR PENN: American Director
By Nat Segaloff
First published to acclaim in 2011, Arthur Penn: American Director was the first biography of the acclaimed director of The Miracle Worker, Little Big Man, Alice’s Restaurant, The Chase, Mickey One, The Missouri Breaks, and, of course, the motion picture that fired the first shot in the film revolution, Bonnie and Clyde.
Born in Philadelphia to immigrant parents in 1922 and raised in Dickensian circumstances, Penn (and his older brother, Irving, who became the innovative fashion photographer) found himself behind the German lines at the Battle of the Bulge, a student in the formative years of Black Mountain College, in the director’s seat at the beginning of the Golden Age of television, and at the blossoming of the Actors Studio, all of which influenced his filmmaking.
Arthur Penn: American Director charts his personal and artistic odyssey. Written with Penn’s intimate participation, it was completed days before his death in 2010. The book features interviews with dozens of his collaborators and is brought back into print by Bear Manor Media with an all-new Afterword containing tributes by his peers and a stunning revelation about the mysterious woman who educated young Arthur in the arts. As a fan of live television drama, this is one of those books that I personally thank the author for assembling.
Thursday, February 22, 2024
DICK TRACY ZOOMS IN (2023)
In 1990, Warren Beatty made a movie based on the comic strip of Dick Tracy. In general, fans of the comic strip love the film. There are so many ways one could make a live action film based on a newspaper strip but with so many colorful villains, it was difficult to get all of the popular villains into one movie. The 1990 movie was spectacular on many levels. (If anything, the film’s publicity was overshadowed by the fact that singer Madonna was playing a role.) The movie also accomplished something of a grand feat – it reintroduced the newspaper strip, 1960s cartoons and 1940s movies to a generation that never grew up with the character and became lifelong fans afterwards. (Full disclosure: I was one of them.)
Sadly, the studio heads and copyright holder would not let Warren Beatty make a sequel, and the copyright holders even tried to do create a television show without him. Beatty took this personal and with the assistance of his lawyers, found a loophole in his contract by locking up the screen rights so the rights holder cannot produce additional movies.
Under the contractual stipulation, every couple of decades, Beatty makes a no-budget 20+ minute television special where he plays the role of Tracy, in costume. The terms of the contract is that if he did not produce another film with himself as Dick Tracy (in costume), the rights would revert back to the Chicago Tribune. So, once again, Beatty made another television special where he complains to Leonard Maltin about making movies today, the new tastes of youngsters watching movies on their smart phones… and criticizes his 1990 movie.
Last week, at 85 years old, Beatty premiered his new one, called Dick Tracy Zooms In. Beatty had himself filmed from his office and the editors assembled all the footage. And, yes, these productions were ruled in a court of law as sequels. Beatty does this solely so that no other studio can use the character for another movie.
As someone on Facebook remarked: “This is art. This is some A+ Andy Kaufman-level trolling. I will never watch either of these specials, because the whole point is that they are unwatchable, low effort, and awful enough to be a middle finger to some bean-counting whipper snapper who made Warren Beatty mad in the 90s. But I am so happy they exist. I'd rather know these bird flips by an old man taking a grudge to the grave are in the world [compared to] a Dick Tracy Disney+ show starring Chris Pratt.”
I am providing a link for this new 25-minute television special for you to view and judge for yourself. Take it for what it is worth.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwKncYwtec4&t=477s
And if you want to see the prior television special, the link for that one is below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdFbiRK-UaY
Friday, February 16, 2024
The Adventures of Oscar the Whale (1938)
Neither did I.
But oftentimes, when browsing archives across the country, I stumble upon some oddity that was never documented and virtually unknown. Such discoveries generate mysteries that radio historians find themselves determined to unearth. But this one may remain a mystery.
Obviously written in late 1937, and submitted for copyright in January of 1938, two radio scripts were produced with "M.A. Bross" listed as the author. To date, we have yet to figure out who M.A. Bross is. There are no references in the trades (Variety, Broadcasting, newspaper archives) about this radio program or the author.
The general consensus among historians is that no such radio program was ever produced. More importantly, the theory now goes that someone heard the Christmas radio serial, The Cinnamon Bear, broadcast from November to December 1937, and decided to create their own radio program of similar nature. This would not be the first time historians found proposed children's serials that more than likely were inspired by The Cinnamon Bear radio program.
Enclosed is a link for two radio scripts, episode #1 and episode #7 for your entertainment.
Friday, February 9, 2024
PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET (1953) Movie Review
On a crowded subway, Skip McCoy picks the purse of Candy. Among his take, although he does not know it at the time, is a piece of top-secret microfilm that was being passed by Candy's consort, a Communist agent. Candy discovers the whereabouts of the film through Moe Williams, a police informer. She attempts to seduce McCoy to recover the film. She fails to get back the film and falls in love with him. The desperate agent exterminates Moe and savagely beats Candy. McCoy, now goaded into action, confronts the agent in a particularly brutal fight in a subway.
Shot in 20 days, Pickup on South Street makes it a point that there is nothing really wrong with pickpockets, even when they are given to violence, as long as they don’t side with Communist spies. The film’s assets are partly the photography, which creates an occasional tense atmosphere, and partly the performance of Thelma Ritter.
The screenplay was initially rejected twice by the Production Code Office for “excessive brutality and sadistic beatings” of both male and female characters, and one scene had to be reshot to minimize what could have been mistaken as adult groping.
After seeing a preview of the film, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover demanded a meeting with studio boss Darryl Zanuck and the film’s director/writer Samuel Fuller. He objected to the unpatriotic nature of Skip, even when he realizes he’s dealing with communists. Zanuck refused to make any changes to the film, backing Fuller. This ended the studio's close relationship with the FBI and all references to the agency were removed from the film's advertising, posters, and lobby cards.
Culturally significant? Yes. Entertaining film noir? A must-see.
Thursday, February 1, 2024
The Columbus Moving Picture Show
Alan K. Rode was among the celebrated authors throughout the weekend signing copies of their books. |
Jason Edgerly was among the vendors selling movie memorabilia throughout the weekend. |
The different types of merchandise and collectibles you can find in the vendor room. |
Friday, January 26, 2024
DIRTY MARY, CRAZY LARRY (1974) Movie Review
Susan George and Peter Fonda |
Friday, January 19, 2024
Radio's LIGHTS OUT: "Bark of a Dead Dog" (1939)
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,
As for Cooper's Hollywood career... that was short-lived. After arriving in Hollywood in 1937, he found work at 20th 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 February 1, 1939, broadcast titled “Bark of a Dead Dog.”
https://www.dropbox.com/s/304j2e3axuv47aq/LightsOut_BarkofaDeadDog2.pdf?dl=0