DICK TRACY GOES TO WAR

When the Warren Beatty Dick Tracy movie was released in movie theaters in 1990, Bantam Books published a novelization of the screenplay. Max Allan Collins, who wrote the newspaper strip (following Chester Gould’s five-decade run), was commissioned to write three paperback novels – the first an adaptation of the 1990 screenplay. Collins added bits of background and motivation to improve the story, so if you are a fan of the 1990 movie, I recommend you seek out the paperback and enjoy reading a better rendition.

 

Collins’ second and third novels were Dick Tracy Goes to War (1991) and Dick Tracy Meets His Match (1992). Where the film novelization was set vaguely in the Depression-era 1930's, and Goes to War took place in late 1942 and Meets His Match was set late 1949. Over the past week I read Dick Tracy Goes to War and essentially an original novel, it utilized plot elements and characters from several different wartime storylines in the newspaper strip. Like the previous novel and the film from which it derived, Goes to War pits Dick Tracy against a coalition of many different foes, rather than just one or two.

 

Dick Tracy is eager to serve his country in any way he can. But Lieutenant Commander Tracy of Naval Intelligence was needed on the home front, where a wave of wartime racketeering had the city in a deadly grip. As gangsters B-B Eyes, The Mole and the quivering confidence man Shaky try to bleed the city dry, Dick Tracy rushes into battle with his tommy gun blazing. Yet between the town’s toughest gangsters and a slinky seductress named Black Pearl, the crime-stopping hero found himself distracted from the real danger: foreign agents who were zeroing in on a top-secret weapon that could destroy the country. 

 

Max Allan Collins has said that he considers this book his best Dick Tracy work in any medium, and one of his best novels overall. Because it was not a novelization of a pre-existing screenplay and had nothing directly to do with the strip itself, Collins received little editorial interference from Disney Studios and Tribune Media Services, giving him a level of freedom he did not have on any previous Dick Tracy project.

 

As a fan of the Dick Tracy comic strip, I found this novel to be above average and highly recommended. Worth seeking out if you want a good read. 

 

The Lost Radio Adventures of "THE SHADOW" (1953)

As many fans of the radio program know, not every broadcast of The Shadow exists in recorded form. The radio episodes were melodramatic, with The Shadow often tracking down mass murderers and psychotic killers who were carrying out bizarre crimes. In one episode, a modern-day pirate uses a privately-owned submarine to wreak havoc on the high seas, and in another a mad scientist rips airplanes out of the sky with a giant magnet. Using his invisibility to cloud men’s minds so they cannot see him, he appeared more like an avenging conscience that plagued the guilty culprits until the criminals fell victim to their own demise. Less than fifty percent of the radio broadcasts exist in recorded form, which is a darn pity considering the cult fanbase that exists for this series. Thankfully we have the radio scripts to consult. Enclosed are five plot summaries for radio episodes that do not exist in recorded form.

 

Episode #613 “THE CRYING KITTEN KILLER”

Broadcast March 29, 1953

Copyright Registered in U.S. Copyright Office, #DU33868, April 24, 1953.

Renewal Copyright Registration #RE97-144, July 27, 1981.

Script written by Jerry McGill.

Plot: Commissioner Weston is baffled. There have been two muggings and one murder in three nights. The mugger uses hungry kittens to lure victims into dark alleys and vacant lots to rob them. When the body of a half-starved Siamese kitten, too sick to move, is found next to the recent victim, Lamont and Margot question all the veterinarians and pet shop owners in the neighborhood. A pet store owner named Squires gives Lamont and Margot a tip, leading to an old brownstone occupied by a man named West and his landlady, Hilda. After questioning the suspects, Lamont discovers that Hilda is the Crying Kitten Killer. She stole West’s kittens and starved them so they would meow when someone passed by. Having knocked West unconscious, she attempts to rout through his room for the money he supposedly hoarded in a mattress. Squires discovers Hilda’s scheme and attempts to blackmail her, becoming another victim. It turns out that West never had a fortune stashed away and the police arrive to take control of the situation. In a desperate attempt to escape, Hilda trips over the kitten she used to trap her victims, breaking her neck in the fall down the rickety stairs.

 

Trivia, etc. The crying sound of the hungry kitten was pre-recorded and not performed by an actor.

 

Episode #615 “THE DEATH MASTER”

Broadcast April 12, 1953

Copyright Registered in U.S. Copyright Office, #DU33870, April 24, 1953.

Renewal Copyright Registration #RE97-142, July 27, 1981.

Script written by J.G. Leighton (a pseudonym of John Cole).

Plot: The vicious insurance racket of Hugo Guttman and his accomplice, Snapper, remains unobserved by the law until an underworld informant named Charlie tips off Lamont and Margot. Arranging with an unscrupulous doctor to sign a death certificate testifying that the body of a vagrant was actually that of the insured, they employ a mortician named Latisse to work with the bodies and to make them bear a resemblance to the deceased. The deceased’s wife would then hold a formal funeral and later join her actual husband in another part of the country. Latisse applied his skills as an artist to help with the crimes, unaware that he was being duped into participating in a racket. Margot investigates Latisse while The Shadow searches Guttman’s office. Guttman arrives and attempts to eliminate Margot, accidentally shooting Latisse instead. Before Margot takes the next bullet, The Shadow knocks the gun out of the crook’s hand and holds him until the police arrive.

 

Episode #616 “THE TORCH”

Recorded April 14, 1953. Broadcast April 19, 1953

Copyright Registered in U.S. Copyright Office, #DU34351, June 15, 1953.

Renewal Copyright Registration #RE97-141, July 27, 1981.

Script written by Max Ehrlich.

Plot: Professor Landry of the local observatory has perfected a new celestial telescope capable of reversing the science of the lens. A notorious arsonist known as The Torch and his two henchmen murder the professor and use the machine for evil. Hidden in the telescopic tube is a special howitzer that fires Thermite shells. When the tube is sighted accurately using precision machinery, the arsonist commits his crime while staying a good distance from the scene. As Carl Brand, the owner of a fur company is about to file bankruptcy, The Torch makes him an offer to collect fire insurance that would clear his debts and handsomely pay The Torch. Brand, however, switched furs with imitations in the warehouse before the scheduled fire, giving Lamont and Margot a clue to suspect foul play. Angry, The Torch uses his machine to burn a hole through Brand’s chest. Realizing the power of the sun and a telescope would be needed to commit such a crime, Lamont investigates the nearby observatory. As The Shadow, he discovers that The Torch is none other than John Stearns, an employee of the insurance company, who was using his inside information for personal profit. Stealing The Torch’s gun, The Shadow holds the criminals at bay while Margot fetches Commissioner Weston.

 

Trivia, etc. This episode was a rewrite of a former Shadow broadcast titled “Death from the Sky” (November 29, 1942). The plot and dialogue remained the same but the names of the fictional characters were changed.

 

Episode #618 “WHITE ANGEL OF DEATH”

Recorded April 28, 1953. Broadcast May 3, 1953

Copyright Registered in U.S. Copyright Office, #DU34353, June 15, 1953.

Renewal Copyright Registration #RE97-139, July 27, 1981.

Script written by Judith and David Bublick.

Plot: After witnessing a hit and run in the streets, Lamont follows the dying man’s last words to the White Angel, a nightclub known in police circles as a hangout for big time gamblers with many criminal operations in the city. Lamont goes undercover as a singer to learn what goes on behind the scenes but when his cover is exposed he flees into the night. Margot attends as a respectable customer and together with what they learn the truth becomes known. Prominent out-of-state customers are blackmailed after the club photographer takes incriminating photos. If the victims choose to face the consequences of malicious gossip, they are silenced for their efforts. Learning the name of the hotel where the most recent victim resides, The Shadow observes the blackmail attempt followed by efforts to push the victim from a sixteenth story window to give the appearance of suicide. The Shadow tricks Angelo, the owner of the White Angel, into shooting about the room, emptying his gun and alerting the police who respond to his wild shooting.

 

Episode #619 “MURDER WILL SPEAK”

Recorded April 29, 1953. Broadcast May 10, 1953

Copyright Registered in U.S. Copyright Office, #DU35507, November 13, 1953.

Renewal Copyright Registration #RE97-124, July 27, 1981.

Script written by Bret Morrison.

Plot: Accepting an invitation to Seacliff Mansion, Lamont and Margot investigate a mysterious death during a rehearsal of “Hamlet” that lends suspicion to a rare poison as the cause. In the dark, they soon find themselves confronted by a horrible glowing face and a voice with a puzzling message. During the confusion, and protected by the darkness, an unknown assailant attacks Lamont. After questioning all the suspects on the premises, Lamont finally solves the mystery. Pop Worth, the caretaker and theatre custodian, wanted to thwart a massive buy-out of real estate on the island because of the fond memories he had of the past. Using a Medici poison ring which he brought back from Africa, Pop committed the murder in hopes of exacting revenge on the man who not only stole his only love but now tried to steal the theater. Attempting to evade The Shadow, Pop races up the

stairs to the stage and puts the noose meant for the ghost of Hamlet’s father around his own neck.

 

NOTES: The plot summaries above were reprinted with permission from The Shadow: The History and Mystery of the Radio Program, 1930-1954 by Martin Grams, Jr.

The Lone Ranger and the War Horse

For fans of The Lone Ranger, here is a PDF of a children's book featuring the character, one of thousands of premiums sold in the stores during the 1950s. This retro classic will only be available for a few weeks so be sure to grab this today. Enjoy!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1aygovrji1193ul/Lone%20Ranger%20and%20the%20War%20Horse.pdf?dl=0

Calling DICK TRACY! Six Decades of Dick Tracy

Back in the 1980s, before the days of the Internet, there were books published about retro pop culture that were a feast for folks like myself. Often with historical documentation, these books were heavily illustrated and covered all of the topics they could from collectibles to comic books. As as child in the 1980s, I found them to be a treasure trove of information. Our local library had a couple about The Three Stooges and I digested every piece of trivia from them.

Earlier this week I came across one of those books while wandering a comic con. This one, written by James Van Hise, focuses on the character of Dick Tracy. The book covers the history of the newspaper strip, comic books, television series, Republic Pictures serials, RKO movies, and collectibles. Even more intriguing is an interview with Chester Gould that was never in print until the publication of this book. 

While many books exhaust their tomes with lengthy plot summaries, this one covers all the basics. A great starting point for knowing the facts about Dick Tracy and his incarnations. I spent the past day or two enjoying the content in the pages of this book. Perhaps this post bring up memories of those same types of publications you had way back when: The Marx Brothers, John Wayne, Batman, and so on. Perhaps you still have one or two of them in your collection?

The Wine Lover's Daughter: A Memoir (Book Review)

 

In The Wine Lover’s Daughter, Anne Fadiman examines – with all her characteristic wit and feeling – her relationship with her father, Clifton Fadiman, a renowned literary critic, editor, and radio host whose greatest love was wine. An intellectual and public personality, Clifton Fadiman was perhaps best known as a literary critic for The New Yorker magazine. Pop culture enthusiasts know him as the weekly host of Information, Please, which later spawned an annual Almanac. Fadiman's witticisms and sayings were frequently printed in newspapers and magazines. "When you reread a classic, you do not see more in the book than you did before, you see more in you than there was before," was one of the better known. Fadiman became a prime example of the "witty intellectual" and if you remember those “Book of the Month” mail order clubs… you can thank Fadiman for establishing that good ol’ pastime.

Anne’s book arrived in my mail box this week and like many of those 250-page memoirs that are overshadowed by the tens of thousands of books available on library shelves, this one is worthy of your time and attention. In full disclosure, I was partly responsible for the contents of this book. When Anne’s daughter contacted me, assisting her mother with this book, seeking information about her grandfather’s professional career, I mailed complimentary copies of my book on Information, Please, published many years ago by Bear Manor Media in Oklahoma. Hence the reason why the complimentary, autographed copy arriving at my door.

This book documents the personal side of Clifton Fadiman, his appreciation of wine – along with a plummy upper-crust accent, expensive suits, and an encyclopedic knowledge of Western literature – which was an essential element of his escape from lower-middle-class Brooklyn to swanky Manhattan. But wine was not just a class-vaulting accessory; it was an object of ardent desire. The Wine Lover’s Daughter traces the arc of a man’s infatuation from the glass of cheap Graves he drank in Paris in 1927; through the Château Lafite-Rothschild 1904 he drank to celebrate his eightieth birthday, when he and the bottle were exactly the same age; to the wines that sustained him in his last years, when he was blind but still buoyed, as always, by hedonism.

Clifton Radioman

Along the way, this book educates you with the basic appreciation of fine wine. After Fadiman sampled a glass, he once remarked how wine lived “a triple life: one in the mouth, another in the course of slipping down the gullet, still another, a beautiful ghost, the moment afterward.” As Anne revealed, her father was a lousy driver and a two-finger typist, but he could open a wine bottle as deftly as any swain ever undressed his lover.

Along the way this book provides us with the reminder that not all greats are destined to perfection of the basic tasks that we take for granted and assume everyone is capable of performing. After all, we ourselves generate fallacy and live within its shadows. Whether we discover something new about ourselves or a gentle reminder to forgive and forget the fallacies of others, perfection is rarely a word to brand about… and the true reason why memoirs are a full-course meal for the wise. Wine is the spine of this touching memoir; the life and character of Anne Fadiman’s father, along with her relationship with him and her own less ardent relationship with wine, are the flesh. The Wine Lover’s Daughter is a poignant exploration of love, ambition, class, family, and the pleasures of the palate by one of the finest essayists. Anne may not have inherited her father's love of wine, but she most definitely has his gift for writing and love of all things literacy. 

Hopalong Cassidy and the Abandoned Mine

For fans of Hopalong Cassidy, here is a PDF of a children's coloring book featuring the character, one of thousands of premiums sold in the stores during the 1950s. This retro classic will only be available for a few weeks so be sure to grab this today. Enjoy!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/eedjonuz895hcqb/Hopalong%20Cassidy%2C%20Abandoned%20Mine.pdf?dl=0

The Lone Ranger Adventure Stories No. 2 (1958, UK)

Beginning in 1958, a total of four annual publications premiered on the bookshelves, known as The Lone Ranger Adventure Stories. Printed in England, these books contained prose stories adapted from the television and radio program, with original illustrations. Published in hardcover format, the prices for these four books wavers between $5 and $160, depending on their condition and where you buy them. While collectible condition means top dollar, reading condition can be found from $5 to $10 at conventions and fan gatherings where vendors sell collectibles.

Recently I was able to acquire Adventure Stories No. 2, from 1958, which featured illustrations by Don Lawrence, and six prose stories adapted by Richard Lewis, from television episodes. (It was easy to figure out which episodes since the titles of the short stories matched those of their television counterparts.) Reprinted below are some of the cool illustrations, along with a link for you to download a PDF of that book, which I scanned.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/uc0t1lv3udxzsxp/Lone%20Ranger%20Adventure%20Stories%20No.%202%20%281958%2C%20UK%29.pdf?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/uc0t1lv3udxzsxp/Lone%20Ranger%20Adventure%20Stories%20No.%202%20%281958%2C%20UK%29.pdf?dl=0

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.