RetroFan #12 Preview by TwoMorrows Publishing

January 2021 No. 12 $9.95

WHAT IS… The GREATEST Christmas movie of all time??

The answer will blow-ho-ho your mind!

SHEENA

Come and knock on their door…

Three’s Company

Pin-up Queen of the TV Jungle

The Making of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Popeye’s Long, Strange TV History Behind the scenes of the sexy Seventies sitcom Did you own these

retro Dr. Seuss toys?

Good Morning World with Ronnie Schell • Doctor Who • CB Radios & more! 1

82658 00429

FEATURING Ernest Farino • Andy Mangels • Will Murray • Scott Saavedra • Scott Shaw! • Rick Goldschmidt

Three’s Company © DLT Entertainment. Sheena © Galaxy Publishing and Valdoro Entertainment. Rudolph © 2012 Miser Bros. Press/Rick Goldschmidt. Popeye © King Features Syndicate, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

RetroFan: The Pop Culture You Grew Up With! If you love Pop Culture of the Sixties, Seventies, and Eighties, editor MICHAEL EURY’s latest magazine is just for you!

RETROFAN #11 (Now Bi-Monthly!)

Just in time for Halloween, RETROFAN #11 features interviews with Dark Shadows’ Quentin Collins, DAVID SELBY, and the niece of movie Frankenstein Glenn Strange, JULIE ANN REAMS. Plus: KOLCHAK THE NIGHT STALKER, ROD SERLING retrospective, CASPER THE FRIENDLY GHOST, TV’s Adventures of Superman, Superman’s pal Jimmy Olsen, QUISP and QUAKE cereals, the Drak Pak and the Monster Squad, scratch model customs, and more fun, fab features! Featuring columns by ERNEST FARINO, ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, and SCOTT SHAW! Edited by MICHAEL EURY. (84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $9.95 • (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Now shipping!

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Interviews with MeTV’s crazy creepster SVENGOOLIE and Eddie Munster himself, BUTCH PATRICK! Call on the original Saturday Morning GHOST BUSTERS, with BOB BURNS! Uncover the nutty NAUGAS! Plus: “My Life in the Twilight Zone,” “I Was a Teenage James Bond,” “My Letters to Famous People,” the ARCHIE-DOBIE GILLIS connection, Pinball Hall of Fame, Alien action figures, Rubik’s Cube & more!

With a JACLYN SMITH interview, as we reopen the Charlie’s Angels Casebook, and visit the Guinness World Records’ largest Charlie’s Angels collection. Plus: interview with LARRY STORCH, The Lone Ranger in Hollywood, The Dick Van Dyke Show, a vintage interview with Jonny Quest creator DOUG WILDEY, a visit to the Land of Oz, the ultra-rare Marvel World superhero playset, and more!

NOW BI-MONTHLY! Interviews with the ’60s grooviest family band THE COWSILLS, and TV’s coolest mom JUNE LOCKHART! Mars Attacks!, MAD Magazine in the ’70s, Flintstones turn 60, Electra Woman & Dyna Girl, Honey West, Max Headroom, Popeye Picnic, the Smiley Face fad, & more! With MICHAEL EURY, ERNEST FARINO, ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, and SCOTT SHAW!

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $9.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99

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(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $9.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99

RETROFAN #10

NOW BI-MONTHLY! Celebrating fifty years of SHAFT, interviews with FAMILY AFFAIR’s KATHY GARVER and The Brady Bunch Variety Hour’s GERI “FAKE JAN” REISCHL, ED “BIG DADDY” ROTH, rare GODZILLA merchandise, Spaghetti Westerns, Saturday morning cartoon preview specials, fake presidential candidates, Spider-Man/The Spider parallels, Stuckey’s, and more fun, fab features! (84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $9.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99

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NOW BI-MONTHLY! Interviews with ’70s’ Captain America REB BROWN, and Captain Nice (and Knight Rider’s KITT) WILLIAM DANIELS with wife BONNIE BARTLETT! Plus: Coloring Books, Fall Previews for Saturday morning cartoons, The Cyclops movie, actors behind your favorite TV commercial characters, BENNY HILL, the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention, 8-track tapes, and more!

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LOU FERRIGNO interview, The Phantom in Hollywood, Filmation’s STAR TREK CARTOON, “How I Met LON CHANEY, JR.”, goofy comic Zody the Mod Rob, Mego’s rare ELASTIC HULK toy, RetroTravel to Mount Airy, NC (the real-life Mayberry), interview with BETTY LYNN (“Thelma Lou” of THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW), TOM STEWART’s eclectic House of Collectibles, and MR. MICROPHONE!

Horror-hosts ZACHERLEY, VAMPIRA, SEYMOUR, MARVIN, and an interview with our cover-featured ELVIRA! THE GROOVIE GOOLIES, BEWITCHED, THE ADDAMS FAMILY, and THE MUNSTERS! The long-buried Dinosaur Land amusement park! History of BEN COOPER HALLOWEEN COSTUMES, character lunchboxes, superhero VIEW-MASTERS, SINDY (the British Barbie), and more!

Interview with SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE director RICHARD DONNER, IRWIN ALLEN’s sci-fi universe, Saturday morning’s undersea adventures of Aquaman, horror and sci-fi zines of the Sixties and Seventies, Spider-Man and Hulk toilet paper, RetroTravel to METROPOLIS, IL (home of the Superman Celebration), SEAMONKEYS®, FUNNY FACE beverages, Superman/Batman memorabilia, & more!

Interviews with SHAZAM! TV show’s JOHN (Captain Marvel) DAVEY and MICHAEL (Billy Batson) Gray, the GREEN HORNET in Hollywood, remembering monster maker RAY HARRYHAUSEN, the way-out Santa Monica Pacific Ocean Amusement Park, a Star Trek Set Tour, SAM J. JONES on the Spirit movie pilot, British sci-fi TV classic THUNDERBIRDS, Casper & Richie Rich museum, the KING TUT fad, and more!

Interviews with MARK HAMILL & Greatest American Hero’s WILLIAM KATT! Blast off with JASON OF STAR COMMAND! Stop by the MUSEUM OF POPULAR CULTURE! Plus: “The First Time I Met Tarzan,” MAJOR MATT MASON, MOON LANDING MANIA, SNUFFY SMITH AT 100 with cartoonist JOHN ROSE, TV Dinners, Celebrity Crushes, and more fun, fab features!

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99

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The Crazy Cool Culture We Grew Up With

CONTENTS Columns and Special Features

Retro Television Three’s Company

Retro Interview Nancy Morgan Ritter

Retro Cartoons The Weird, Wonderful History of Popeye Cartoons on Television

57 3

Retro Animation Rankin/Bass’ Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Andy Mangels’ Retro Saturday Mornings Christmas cards from animation companies

Ernest Farino’s Retro Fantasmagoria What is the Greatest Christmas Movie (with Martians) of All Time?

Oddball World of Scott Shaw! The Fantastic, Plastic Zoo of Dr. Seuss

Will Murray’s 20th Century Panopticon Sheena, Pin-up Queen of the TV Jungle

Retro Interview Good Morning World star Ronnie Schell

Departments

Retrotorial

RetroFad CB Radios

Too Much TV Quiz

Retro Brit Doctor Who’s Sixties U.S. Invasion

RetroFanmail

19 RetroFan™ #12, January 2021. Published bimonthly by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614. Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief. John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Office: RetroFan, c/o Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief, 112 Fairmount Way, New Bern, NC 28562. Email: euryman@gmail.com. Six-issue subscriptions: $67 Economy US, $101 International, $27 Digital.

Issue #12 January 2021

ReJECTED RetroFan fantasy cover by Scott Saavedra

Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Three’s Company © DLT Entertainment. Sheena © Galaxy Publishing and Valdoro Entertainment. Rudolph © 2012 Miser Bros. Press/Rick Goldschmidt. Popeye © King Features Syndicate, Inc. All Rights Reserved. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2020 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING. ISSN 2576-7224

RETRO TELEVISION

Come and Knock on Our Door — An Author’s Journey

by Chris Mann And we continued to invite the show’s cast, led by John, Joyce DeWitt, and Suzanne Somers (and later Jenilee Harrison and Priscilla Barnes), into our homes long af ter Suzanne was fired during a historic and friendship-ending contract dispute in 1980–81 and Joyce lef t Hollywood for more than a

“Come and knock on our door,” their iconic sitcom theme song enchantingly calls. “We’ve been waiting for you.” Since March 15, 1977, the melodious Three’s Company opening tune has invited us to join TV’s most beloved, breeziest, and—cue the controversy—

once bawdiest mixedsex, cohabitating trio, who helped us escape reality with their zany hers-and-hers-andhis misunderstandings, titillating (and then-taboo) sexual double entendres, giggly and (for one) jiggly antics, and falloff-your-couch-funny pratfalls. All of which could elicit from the ABC hit’s top star, the late, legendary John Ritter, as the aptly named Jack Tripper, a hilariously quick and cheeky “Hurt me!” Hurt me, indeed—with from-the-gut guffaws. Critics scoffed at the silly series and its risqué premise: Two girls live with a girl-crazy guy who pretends to be gay to convince their prudish landlord to permit what otherwise couldn’t possibly be

Publicity photo of the original Three’s Company cast, (LEFT TO RIGHT) Joyce DeWitt (Janet Wood), John Ritter (Jack Tripper), and Suzanne Somers (Chrissy Snow). Three’s Company © DLT Entertainment. Courtesy of Ernest Farino.

anything but a tawdry ménage à trois. À la French farce, wild innuendos and wacky hijinks ensue. Most U.S. critics didn’t get it. But audiences gladly welcomed funloving—and platonic—roommates Jack, Janet, and Chrissy (and then Cindy, then Terri) into our families and our hearts, just as these caring friends did with each other.

decade when John moved on alone in a secretly devised spin-of f in 1984. For these once-close actors, these hurts were unmistakably, profoundly real. And this sitcom-loving, eager-to-escape Oklahoma misfit—who since age five faithfully tuned in to tune out serious family strife (when he wasn’t mediating it) and oppressive school drama (when he wasn’t making light of it as a Jack Tripperinspired class cut-up) and to boisterously laugh away the pain—got that to his core. (My dear mom forbade me from watching ABC’s racy 1977–1981 sitcom Soap—which she saw as too adult—but sweetly allowed Company’s family fun. Love ya, Mom.) Jack, Janet, and company’s “loveable space that needs your face” became my RETROFAN

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retro television

happy place where, for a half hour a week (or day, thank you, Eighties syndication), my spirit and outlook expanded well beyond life’s oft-dismal confines. Their silliness became my soothing balm, their sunniness my California-dreaming optimism. In this social media age, I know I’m not alone. This extended TV family gave me—gave us—something to look forward to. For many in these socially isolating times, it still does. Little did I know how potent looking forward could be when, as a University of Tulsa journalism and mass media studies freshman in 1990, I set my 18-year-old mind and heart on meeting and interviewing my comic-relief idols, celebrating their merrymaking magic, and breaking my favorite comedy’s untold, of ten dramatic, thoroughly human—and, as fate would one day have it, E! True Hollywood—story. Come and Knock on Our Door was my future tell-all book, and it was waiting for me.

The Door Knocking Begins

Forever seeking the real story, I read and watched anything Company I could get my hands on. I’d perused media-savvy and Hollywood-comeback-minded Suzanne Somers’ 1986 TV Guide cover article “The Rise and Fall of a TV Sex Symbol,” in which she said she was “mortally wounded” by an angry letter that John Ritter wrote her during her contract fight. (In response, at age 14 I submitted to TV Guide’s letters section an impassioned note calling for Company peace and its return to ABC. Not shockingly, it didn’t make the cut.) And I’d recorded a rare 1987 Evening Magazine TV interview in which media-shy and retreat-from-Hollywood-minded Joyce DeWitt revealed how Three’s Company’s conversion to Three’s a Crowd—or rather, the disrespectful way her producers handled it—launched her on a life-changing spiritual quest. These pieces deeply resonated, but so much more was lef t unsaid, especially by Joyce and John, who maintained their silence about falling out with Suzanne and each other. Hey, I thought, if anyone can get these three on the same page, if not the same stage, why not this roommate-lovin’ communication major? I asked, and the Three’s Company universe began to answer. In November 1990, I got the chance to meet and interview Suzanne for my college newspaper. A year away from her decade-in-the-works network primetime return, she was in town to discuss her bestselling 1988 memoir Keeping Secrets and in-development ABC movie based on this truly relatable story of growing up the child of an emotionally abusive and violent father (in her case, a raging alcoholic) and the resulting life of self-created chaos she led virtually into Secrets’ 1974 ending. She was also writing her next tome. “Will this book,” I asked, af ter finessing a question about Company’s familial themes, “pick up where Keeping Secrets lef t of f?” “I’m not ready to write that book yet,” she replied. 4

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Early ad for TV’s hottest new comedy. Three’s Company © DLT Entertainment. Courtesy of Ernest Farino.

Days later I saw John Ritter, fresh from his big-screen comedy hits Skin Deep and Problem Child, promote his lead role in ABC’s upcoming miniseries spooker Stephen King’s IT on Joan Rivers’ daytime talk show. When Joan asked about “scary things happening in dark places,” John quipped if she was inquiring “about the breakup of Three’s Company.” Like so many, I cracked up yet again at his masterful comic timing. But few knew how much he wasn’t joking. My book, I instinctively knew, was increasingly ready for me to write it. In summer 1991, while interning in Burbank, California, and intent on manifesting my dreams, I spent my off hours at Kinko’s repackaging my Suzanne interview with updates on the entire gang (from John’s Problem Child sequel to Joyce’s self-imposed Hollywood exile and return to theater to Suzanne’s sitcom comeback in ABC’s Step by Step), a Three’s retrospective, cheeky ThighMaster jokes, and a potpourri of other tenant tales in the first issue of my Company fanzine/newsletter, The Roomie Report. “Sharing is healing,” Suzanne said in her now-republished interview, noting that Three’s Company’s on-screen family gave her a chance to live out her childhood. But the one-time behindthe-scenes family still needed resolution. So, I thought, let’s see if sharing this little tribute can start a dialogue on the long road to roomie healing. I sent copies to all ten cast members, with letters stating my desire to one day write a book about their show. Only one initially responded—but it was a huge one.

Opportunity Knocks Back

After a note from his assistant requesting my phone number, John Ritter himself called me (!), saying, “I really dig the newsletter.” A Beatles fan who totally got how entertainment and art could transform hearts and minds, he was “touched and flattered” by my appreciation, and would gladly give me an interview, first for The Roomie Report. I couldn’t believe it— this internationally loved, Emmy-winning actor known for making each of the many sets he worked on a happy place was taking the time to respond so personally to my dream project. How lucky was I! (Clearly, the Heartland values instilled by his late father, legendary country singer and actor Tex Ritter, were not lost on John.) He was out of town at the time, so his assistant arranged for a phone interview when I met her at his production An example of Topps’ Three’s Company stickers, distributed with a stick of gum in a wax pack, retailing for 20 cents in 1978. Three’s Company © DLT Entertainment. Courtesy of Heritage.

retro television

talk for my book; she later told E! that her Company years were— the inexperienced and pliable Suzanne—with whom he formed despite being mostly big hits in the Nielsen ratings—“the three a “father-daughter bond”—while trying to force Joyce (an worst years” of her life, due in large part to Mickey Ross’ treatment actor/director since her teenage years in community theater) of her. On a happier note, I did get a great interview from Jenilee to give line readings, exerted what he and Don Nicholl called Harrison, Suzanne’s temporary fill-in who played Chrissy’s cousin, “a benevolent dictatorship” to showrunning. Knowing how to Cindy Snow, from 1980–1982. “That first year, I was the most read and lighten up a room, the joy-bringing John (the show’s scrutinized, recognized top star of the year because I replaced star, in NRW’s eyes) went for laughs, even falling over the back Suzanne Somers,” the former L.A. Rams of the couch during rehearsals if tensions cheerleader and future Dallas costar said. flared, associate producer Mimi Seawell “Because John Ritter and Joyce DeWitt were told me. Suzanne grew deeply fond of him. not speaking to the press, I had to go and “I defended Suzanne for a long time,” John speak around the country that ‘everything’s said, “until it really became clear… uh-oh.” He fine, keep watching.’ So I was the PR gal. added, “Celebritydom can kill you; being an It was extremely exciting and extremely actor or an artist can feed you.” tiring.” Stepping into Suzanne’s shoes at age Flash forward to Fall 1980, when Suzanne 21, Jenilee added, “was a tough gig.” She did and her new manager, husband Alan Hamel, great physical comedy bits with John.) requested—many say demanded—a salary Suzanne secured the role of Christmas increase from $30,000 a week to $150,000 “Chrissy” Snow around Christmas 1976, and plus ten percent of the show’s profits. NRW on January 28, 1977, the winning series pilot and executives in charge of production Ted taped. The new trio found instant success— Bergmann and Donald Taffner, Sr. balked. especially when episode two catapulted the Alan and Mickey Ross blew up at each other six-episode midseason replacement to the in an attempted re-negotiation meeting, Nielsen ratings’ Top Ten, where it stayed and soon Suzanne started missing work on (usually in the top three spots) virtually every multiple tape and rehearsal dates, blaming week for the next four seasons. Suzanne an alleged rib injury for which X-rays were immediately used her six-week, $2,500-pernever produced as evidence. NRW then episode earnings to pay Farrah Fawcett’s reduced Suzanne to insignificant tag scenes manager-publicist, legendary “starmaker” Jay taped separately from the rest of the cast, Bernstein, to, well, make her a star. Swimsuit who reportedly refused to work with her. A posters, Chrissy dolls, and other merchandise vicious and lengthy media battle ensued in bearing Suzanne’s likeness followed, as did which NRW (Mickey in particular) blasted more than 50 magazine covers featuring Suzanne as a greedy show-wrecker and cast her face in the show’s first year alone. One her husband as the villain, while Suzanne of those, a February 1978 Newsweek cover called Joyce jealous and threatened to sue about “Sex and TV,” splintered the new the producers for restraint of trade and sue Three’s Company family when a lingerie-clad John and Joyce for collusion. By April 1981, Suzanne, seemingly in the know about the after six months of humiliating, brief scenes magazine’s plans to push her front and in which Suzanne phoned in her part, her center, was superimposed over an awkward producers, with ABC’s blessing, fired her. shot of the trio. “They kept trying to get us The moment-by-moment details—buoyed to pose in ways that felt demeaning,” Joyce by my extensive interviews and exclusive said, “and John and I kept refusing. We were access to fact-heavy arbitration documents both innocent about the angle of the story.” that I uncovered—are laid out carefully and Suzanne said she, too, was innocent, and completely in Come and Knock on Our Door. blamed the late Don Nicholl for the secret Despite the magic they created—and agenda. “What screwed up Three’s Company the fun all three had together behind the was our producers,” Suzanne told me. “They scenes—the original Three’s Company trio Three’s Company’s various casts created it and they f****d it up. They f****d perhaps was doomed from the get-go. appeared on numerous TV Guide it up with the constant secrets and the other Was it more of a family, or was it more of covers, including (TOP) the May agendas. And it turned us [stars] against each a business—and, given the stars’ vastly 20–26, 1978 edition, cover art by other. Because from that shoot on, nothing different takes on celebrity and showbiz, Richard Amsel, and (BOTTOM) was ever really the same between the three could these realities co-exist with these three the November 20–26, 1982 edition, of us.” personalities? The answer, sadly, would be cover art by Joseph Cellini. Three’s Suzanne’s focus on becoming a celebrity no. “[T]hey were teachers, they were friends,” Company © DLT Entertainment. TV Guide clashed with Joyce’s focus on bringing a Suzanne told me of John and Joyce in 1997. © TV Guide. Courtesy of Ernest Farino. theater actress’ sensibilities to a hit network “We loved each other. We laughed. We cried. cash cow. NRW’s Mickey Ross, who trained We hugged… I think the tragedy is because 10

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Nancy Morgan Ritter by Chris Mann

Nancy Morgan Ritter and John Ritter in 1979. Courtesy of Nancy Morgan Ritter.

Ten years after his network television debut as a 19-year-old comical bachelor on a 1967 episode of The Dating Game, actor John Ritter achieved superstardom with his starring role in the ABC hit sitcom Three’s Company. But his true brass ring was actress Nancy Morgan (star of the 1977 film Fraternity Row and “Julie” on the 1977 series The San Pedro Beach Bums), whom he wed on October 16, 1977. “If ABC said ‘Goodbye’ and everybody else said ‘Hello, hasbeen,’ it would be totally fine with me as long as we had each other,” John said of his new wife in a 1978 People magazine cover story about their marriage. Happy Days star Ron Howard—with whom Nancy starred in the 1977 comedy film Grand Theft Auto—called her “a rock” who had a “steady cut-through-nonsense attitude without being super-serious.” This strength helped build the foundation of John and Nancy’s 19-year marriage, which saw the births of their three children: actor Jason Ritter in 1980, country and folk singer-songwriter Carly Ritter in 1982, and actor Tyler Ritter in 1985. The couple also worked together in numerous projects, including the 1979 feature Americathon, the 1990 telefilm Dreamer of Oz, and an episode of John’s 1987–1989 ABC dramedy Hooperman. And their solid friendship, buoyed in part by their dedicated roles as co-parents, continued until John’s untimely passing on September 11, 2003. Even in the 17 years that have followed, the Lucky Luke actress—who has returned to acting in recent years in indie films, the acclaimed web series Break a Hip, and the 2020 comedy film Life’s a Bit—continues to feel connected to John in large part through their children and, in the last few years, their grandchildren. In this exclusive interview, Nancy Morgan Ritter, 71, shares some of her personal insights into John’s comic talents, his joyous and not-so-joyous Three’s Company years, his connection to Robin Williams, and his deep-rooted need to bring laughter.

TM & © Meredith Corporation. Courtesy of Nancy Morgan Ritter.

RETRO INTERVIEW

RetroFan: You met John in March 1975 while he was recurring on The Waltons and proving his comedy chops on the MTM sitcoms. What drew you two together? RETROFAN

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RETRO CARTOONS

The

Weird, Wonderful History of

Popeye

Cartoons on Television by Tom Speelman What can be said about Popeye the Sailor at this point? Having turned 90 this past year, the ol’ mononymous sailor is now as indisputable a titan in cartoons as Bugs Bunny or Mickey Mouse (who Popeye famously became more popular than in the Thirties). King Features Syndicates’ Popeye and Friends official YouTube channel has been running the manic webseries Popeye’s Island Adventures since 2018. And, of course, Popeye-brand spinach is still sold all over the world, and there’s the Wimpy restaurant chain. But there’s one—or, rather, three—parts of Popeye history that tend to get downplayed, if not ignored. From the Sixties to the Eighties, besides the legendary Popeye theatrical cartoons being on TV, there were actually original Popeye cartoons made for TV! And if you grew up in those decades, you probably saw them! Let’s dig into how these came about, who made them and why, and whether they hold up. But first, where can you watch them? Well, that’s easy: As mentioned, King Features Syndicate—who’ve owned Popeye since E. C. Segar launched Thimble Theatre in 1919—maintain an official Popeye and Friends YouTube channel that regularly uploads every episode (complete with ad breaks and PSAs). It’s not surprising, of course, given the whole reason King Features made original Popeye cartoons for TV in the first place wasn’t so much to bring the character to new generations but to get some sweet cartoon money for themselves. How so? Well, the answer stretches back to the dawn of TV itself.

A Full Half-Hour of Cartoons

See, when television began in earnest again in the late Forties and early Fifties (we’re sticking with America here for simplicity’s sake), original programming was in short supply. So broadcast syndicators (like print ones before them) would buy up the broadcasting rights to old movies or shorts and sell them to TV stations for a tidy sum. One of the biggest, if not the biggest, was Associated Artist Productions. Founded in 1954 by film executive Eliot Hyman, the company initially syndicated programs like the original Candid Camera and the Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce Sherlock Holmes films. But in 1956, they hit a one-two punch of acquisitions. In February of that year, a.a.p. (as the company’s logo was styled) purchased every Warner Bros. film made before 1950 as well as every Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoon. Then, five

months later, they acquired from Popeye (the scrawny fella, at Paramount every Popeye cartoon left) and Brutus (no, not Bluto) made by Fleischer Studios and its are chummy in this 1961 cel for successor, Famous Studios, for a a made-for-TV Popeye ’toon… total of 234 cartoons. Per the June but don’t worry, the one-eyed 11, 1956 issue of the industry journal sailor would be squarin’ off Broadcasting * Telecasting, “the cost against the big galoot before of the library is estimated at $1.5 the episode’s end. © King million.” Features Syndicate, Inc. Courtesy of As they’d been in theatres, the Heritage. new-to-TV Paramount Popeyes were a big hit for all the same reasons: the expressive animation, the energetic violence, and the great gags. But King Features didn’t see a dime from it; they’d licensed the character to Paramount, after all, and it was Paramount and a.a.p who reaped the financial windfall. RETROFAN

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retro Cartoons

So a plan was hatched. King Features, through their TV division and in association with Paramount Cartoon Studios (as Famous Studios was now called), would make original Popeye the Sailor cartoons themselves. To produce as many shorts as possible—220 were made from 1960–1963—Paramount Cartoon made some themselves, overseen by legendary Fleischer/Famous animator Seymour Kneitel (who’d been animating Popeye since the beginning), but also farmed them out to Jack Kinney Productions—helmed by the legendary Disney animator and director—Larry Harmon Pictures and director Paul Fennell, and British-Hungarian animation form Halas and Batchelor and famed director Gene Deitch (who at this writing recently passed away at 95). For some shorts, animation was farmed out to the Italian studio Corona Cinematografica. “In many markets,” notes animation historian and former Nickelodeon executive Jerry Beck, “a Popeye cartoon show might be on two competing channels every afternoon. Popeye on TV in the early Sixties was a pop-culture phenomenon!”

To watch these cartoons today, whether on their own or in the half-hour chunks on the Popeye and Friends YouTube channel, is to remember just how limited Sixties TV animation was. While Hanna-Barbera was already top of the heap at this point with The Flintstones and so on, not everybody could pull off the “maximum effect for minimum investment” ethos like them. So it is with Sixties Popeye. While there’s an admirable sense of continuity with the Famous Studios shorts—Popeye still has his fully visible eye and Navy uniform from that era and the main voice cast of Jack Mercer (Popeye, Wimpy), Mae Questel (Olive Oyl), and Jackson Beck (Brutus, many others) came back—the limited animation sinks all the effort. Some directors rise to the challenge, of course; Gene Deitch (no stranger to lowered budgets and time constraints) makes “Seeing Double,” where Popeye fights a robot döppelganger of himself, a goofy exercise in mistaken identity hijinks. But some can’t hack it; Kinney Productions’ Eddie Rehberg, despite some fun gags, can’t enliven “Popeye’s Corn-Certo,” a music competition gagfest, beyond the occasional chuckle.

Samples from King Feature Syndicate’s publicity kit promoting the 1960 Popeye television cartoon. © King Features Syndicate, Inc. Courtesy of Heritage.

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RETRO ANIMATION

Enchanted World of Rankin/Bass’

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer TV Special

On December 6th, 1964, Arthur Rankin, Jr. (1924–2014) and Jules Bass (b. 1935) launched Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, the longest-running, highest-rated television special of all time, on NBC-TV during The General Electric Fantasy Hour. In 2001, I wrote a book entitled The Making of the Rankin/Bass Holiday Classic: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, with participation from Arthur Rankin, Jr., Jules Bass, and the entire Rankin/Bass staff. Since that time I have learned more and gathered lots more in the way of materials. I will present some of this information here in RetroFan magazine and set straight much of the misinformation that has been circulating in recent years both on the internet and some very substandard Bluray and DVD releases.

The Voice Actors

In my book I covered Bill Giles, who was the engineer at the RCA Victor Studios in Canada on all of the Rudolph voice-actor sessions. Now retired, Bill today splits his time between Canada and spending winters in Florida. Bill and I have had some long recent conversations and I learned some things that I find very interesting. First of all, I learned that Bill worked at RCA in the States during his career with some of my favorite recording artists such as Elvis Presley, Perry Como, and even The Beatles, for whom he prepared their music for U.S. releases. One of his best stories had to do with Janis Orenstein, the voice

by Rick Goldschmidt

of Rudolph’s Clarice, who later became an operatic singer in Europe. “She came into the studio with her mother after school,” Giles said. “I believe it was just me and Bernard Cowan there. We gave her the song ‘There’s Always Tomorrow,’ and she absolutely nailed it on the first take! We recorded a second take, but we ended up using the first take in the TV special. I worked with many singers, and this was a rare occurrence for sure!” Larry Roemer was given credit as the director on Rankin/Bass’ Rudolph the RedNosed Reindeer, but he did not direct the special. Arthur gave him that honorary credit because Roemer got the special on the air at NBC. My book, The Arthur Rankin, Jr. Scrapbook: The Birth of Animagic, covers this and includes a picture of Roemer. It took me years to locate a photo of him, because after leaving Rankin/Bass Productions, he went to Magno Productions, the facility that was run by Ralph Friedman, who was given credit for sound on Rudolph. All of the Rankin/Bass films were housed at Magno for many years. The late Antony Peters, who was the designer of the Rudolph TV’s holliest, jolliest hero and his red-nosed guide, from Rankin/Bass’ beloved 1964 special, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. © 2012 Miser Bros. Press/ Rick Goldschmidt Archives.

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retro Animation Arthur Rankin, Jr. (CENTER) reviews the Rudolph script as he directs the voice actor cast in Canada. The recording/vocal supervisor, Bernard Cowan, is in the foreground. © 2012 Miser Bros. Press/Rick Goldschmidt Archives.

TV special, explained to me, “Roemer’s relationship really soured with Arthur and Jules. His picture on the wall was turned around and they didn’t speak of him. I ran into Larry in New York years later and he didn’t say much.” Engineer Bill Giles has an interesting story on Roemer and his participation in the sessions. “Roemer wasn’t at the RCA recording sessions in Canada,” according to Giles. “Arthur Rankin, Jr., Jules Bass, and Bernard Cowan were, as pictured in the photos in your books. Bernard Cowan rounded up this great group of actors and actresses and was given credit as vocal supervisor, but it was Arthur Rankin who called the shots and made some very smart decisions. Jules sort of stayed in the background and didn’t say

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WHO’S WHO IN RUDOLPH

1. Janis Orenstein (Clarice). 2. Stan Francis (Santa Claus, King Moonracer). 3. Corinne Conley (Doll). 4. Alfie Scopp (Charlie-in-the-Box). 5. Peg Dixon (Mrs. Claus, Mrs. Donner). 6. Paul Kligman (Donner, Clarice’s father, Comet the Coach). 7. Larry Mann (Yukon Cornelius). 8. Carl Banas (Head Elf, Spotted Elephant). 9. Billie Mae (Billy) Richards (Rudolph). 10. Bernard Cowan (recording supervisor). 11. Paul Soles (Hermey). © 2012 Miser Bros. Press/Rick Goldschmidt Archives.

1964 publicity photo of the Rudolph voice cast, at Toronto’s RCA Victor Studios. (LEFT TO RIGHT) Bernard Cowan, Arthur Rankin, Jr., Paul Kligman, Paul Soles, Corinne Conley, Alfie Scopp, Larry D. Mann, Billie Mae Richards. See sidebar for additional actors and their roles. © 2012 Miser Bros. Press/Rick Goldschmidt Archives. 28

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ANDY MANGELS’ RETRO SATURDAY MORNINGS

SATURDAY MORNING by Andy Mangels

The 1965 Christmas card from Hanna-Barbera Productions featured almost every character they were animating for television, except the primetime Jonny Quest and The Jetsons. Shows represented included The Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel Show, The Atom Ant/ Secret Squirrel Show, The Magilla Gorilla Show, Top Cat, The Yogi Bear Show, The Flintstones, The Quick Draw McGraw Show, and The Huckleberry Hound Show. © Hanna-Barbera Productions.

Welcome back to Andy Mangels’ Retro Saturday Morning. Since 1989, I have been writing columns for magazines in the U.S. and foreign countries, all examining the intersection of comic books and Hollywood, whether animation or live-action. Andy Mangels Backstage, Andy Mangels’ Reel Marvel, Andy Mangels’ Hollywood Heroes, Andy Mangels Behind the Camera… three decades of reporting on animation and live-action—in addition to writing many books and producing around 40 DVD sets—and I’m still enthusiastic. In this RetroFan column, I will examine shows that thrilled us from yesteryear, exciting our imaginations and capturing our memories. Grab some milk and cereal, sit cross34

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legged leaning against the couch, and dig in to Retro Saturday Morning! Saturday morning television was appointment viewing for anyone growing up from the Sixties to the Nineties. From 8am to noon, while their parents slept in from the workweek, kids could sit in front of the television and enjoy a time just for them. Cartoons—and later, live-action series—were produced by studios like Filmation Associates, DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, Total Television, Jay Ward Productions, Hanna-Barbera Productions, Sid and Marty Krofft, D’Angelo Productions, Marvel

ERNEST FARINO’S RETRO FANTASMAGORIA

What is the Greatest Christmas Movie (with Martians)

of All Time?*(*You get only one guess...) by Ernest Farino

Regular readers of RetroFan will know that My Favorite Year (to pinch the title of a great movie) was 1964. Kellogg’s came out with Pop-Tarts. The “British Invasion” had us Meet the Beatles; Ford introduced the brand-new, revolutionary, moderately priced sports car the Mustang (also featured for the first time on screen in the James Bond film Goldfinger that same year); and New York was the site of the spectacular 1964 World’s Fair. The slogan of the 1964 World’s Fair was “Peace Through Understanding”—as relevant today as it was then. I patiently built my Aurora monster models and Ed “Big Daddy” Roth hot-rod show-car models and studied every issue of Famous Monsters magazine with laser-like intensity (who needs fractions homework when you can have Frankenstein, for cryin’ out loud...?). In addition to must-see-TV favorites The Munsters, The Outer Limits, Bewitched, and The Twilight Zone, Sunday nights (the last gasp before—blecch—school the next day) enthralled us with Wagon Train, My Favorite Martian, My Living Doll (Julie Newmar!), Candid Camera, Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color, and Bonanza. And no shoebox multiplex theaters for us, thank you very much. What was playing in those grand movie palaces of yore? Fuggedaboutit—on the big 60-foot screen we had no less than Seven Days in May, Becket, The Fall of the Roman Empire, From Russia With Love, A Shot in the Dark, Mary Poppins, A Hard Day’s Night, Topkapi, and My Fair Lady. Okay, some of those were “above my pay grade” as a 12-year-old, and no self-respecting kid would be caught dead singing along with Eliza Doolittle, but you get the idea. In those films and others in 1964 we caught our first glimpse of future stars: Jenny Agutter, Ellen Burstyn, David Carradine, Dom DeLuise, Judi Dench, Olympia Dukakis, Morgan Freeman, Elliott Gould, James Earl Jones, Charlotte Rampling, Roy Scheider, and Raquel Welch.

Yet for all of that—an embarrassment of riches, a veritable cornucopia of culture, pop and otherwise—1964 stands alone for inflicting upon an unsuspecting public deluded into complacency by the otherwise high-octane menu of entertainment and diversion, a film that single-handedly possessed the power to turn anyone’s unsuspecting brain into watery oatmeal. Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.

TV News Announcer: “Here’s another UFO Bulletin: The Defense Department has just announced that the unidentified flying object suddenly disappeared from our radar screen. They believe the object has either disintegrated in space, or it may be a spaceship from another planet which has the ability to nullify all radar beams.” RETROFAN

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ernest farino’s retro fantasmagoria

In 1897, when Francis Pharcellus Church, an editor of New York’s The Sun newspaper, replied to eight-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon’s question by writing, “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus,” he almost certainly did not have this in mind… RetroFan editor Michael Eury’s assignment to write about this movie here hit me so hard that a Batman-like description of the POW! BIFF! BANG! impact popped up in mid-air in a word balloon. So, okay, I’m going to have fun with it. Because—will wonders never cease—a lot of people actually like this movie. But even fortified by a sufficient number of vodka martinis, some films still leave you shaken, not stirred. When my own instinctive go-to films range from Double Indemnity to Casablanca to 2001: A Space Odyssey, I can only take solace in the fact that Santa Claus Conquers the Martians is included in The Fifty Worst Films of All Time (and How They Got That Way) by Harry Medved, Michael Medved, and Randy Lowell (Popular Library, 1978). And it’s in good company: From the decade of the Sixties alone it proudly stands shoulder-to-shoulder with an unprecedented gaggle of gag-inducing bottom-feeders that include The Beast of Yucca Flats, Eegah, The Creeping Terror, The Horror of Party Beach, The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies, Monster a Go-Go!, Manos: The Hands of Fate, and They Saved Hitler’s Brain. (Okay, take a breath, splash some cold water on your face, and take a walk. Just reading that list of film titles is enough to trigger a mini-stroke.) Santa Claus…? Martians…? But how could—? All right, you asked. So here we go. “srm12@ksu.edu” has gone above and beyond the call of duty for us on the IMDb by watching the film and providing the following synopsis (I have it on good authority that he’s been successfully revived by electroshock therapy). “Martians, upset that their children have become obsessed with TV shows from Earth which extol the virtues of Santa Claus, start an expedition to Earth to kidnap the one and only Santa. While on Earth, they kidnap two lively children that lead the group of Martians to the North Pole and Santa. The Martians then take Santa and the two children back to Mars with them. Voldar, a particularly grumpy

Martian, attempts to do away with the children and Santa before they get to Mars, but their leader, Lomas, stops him. When they arrive on Mars, Santa, with the help of the two Earth children and a rather

simple-minded Martian lackey, overcomes the Martians by bringing fun, happiness and Christmas cheer to the children of Mars.” Not since Citizen Kane has a film… (just kidding). In 2019, the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention (www. midatlanticnostalgiaconvention.com) screened an archival 35mm print of Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. Yes, “archived.” No doubt right alongside a first edition hand-illustrated Gutenberg Bible and fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Convention organizer Martin Grams wrote an excellent production history of the film for his program booklet. He has kindly given RetroFan permission to quote from that essay: “In July, 1964, news first broke that Jalor Productions was about to film a low-budget science-fiction film titled—we kid you not—Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. Despite warnings from producers and others along New York’s film row that ‘it couldn’t be done,’ Paul L. Jacobson (president of Jalor) pulled off a minor miracle by completing a ten-day lensing schedule, requiring 14 sets and 100% union crews under a budget of S200,000 [approximately $1.6 million today]. What developed was a holiday movie for the kiddies that has since built a cult following. “Filmed at Michael Myerberg’s Long Island Studios (an abandoned aircraft hangar from WWII where such productions as A Thousand Clowns and A Carol for Another Christmas were also produced) with Nicholas Webster as director. Embassy Pictures quickly picked up the distribution rights, premiering the movie in an estimated 100 theaters in Chicago and Milwaukee, beginning November 21 and 22. As part of a national promo push, a music campaign tied to RCA Victor’s new Al Hirt record, Hooray for Santa Claus, was sent out across the country throughout

continued on pg. 44

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THE ODDBALL WORLD OF SCOTT SHAW!

The

Like fads, popular children’s books come Hears a Who! (1954), On Beyond Zebra (1955), One of Geisel’s friends, Alexander Liang, and go... except for those written and drawn and If I Ran the Circus (1956). I’d read ’em even wrote this little poem about how by the cartoonist known as “Dr. Seuss”... in school, I’d check them out of the public people pronounced “Seuss”: except that Theodor Geisel, a.k.a. “Dr. Seuss” library, and I’d beg my parents and relatives (correctly pronounced “soice”—see sidebar), to gift me with copies. Since I was already “You’re wrong as the deuce did not consider himself to be a cartoonist... a dinosaur nut, I was especially drawn to And you shouldn’t rejoice except this young-but-budding cartoonist the good doctor’s endless excess of weird certainly did. and wonderful creatures, everything from If you’re calling him Seuss. I seemed to know that I wanted to fish to birds to beasts of non-specific, nonHe pronounces it Soice (or be a cartoonist at a very early age. I was existent phylum. I even taught myself how Zoice).” fascinated by comic books, the funnies in to draw crude Seuss-ish creatures using the newspaper, and the animated cartoons certain of his signature shapes and visual on television and in theaters. But other than tropes I’d identified, copied, and practiced: animated educational films, my public elementary school was the crescent pupils, stacked feather-clusters, arms without elbows, one place that none of the other forms of cartoons were allowed. legs without knees, wispy fingers, extra limbs, etc. Like many fans, I taught myself how to read by examining In 1957, Random House introduced the first of Dr. Seuss’ the relationships and configurations of letters and images in “Beginner Books,” The Cat in the Hat. It was a big hit with everyone funny animal and kiddie comic books long before I attended but me. I thought that the Cat was irritating and that the limited kindergarten. Therefore, when I was finally a fledgling student vocabulary was for babies. (I was a geezer all of six years old.) No I hit the ground running when it came to books. I remember my wonder I avoided 2003’s live-action feature film adaptation of first favorite books were Curious George by Margret and H. A. Rey, The Cat in the Hat starring Mike Myers like it was ooblick. The year The Sailor Dog by Margaret Wise Brown and Garth Williams... 1957 was also when Dr. Seuss was creating his first-ever and stilland anything by Random House’s children’s author known as “Dr. memorable line of toys and model kits. Seuss.” By that time, his oeuvre consisted of: And to Think That I Saw But I’m getting ahead of myself. It on Mulberry Street (1937), The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins Let’s take a quick look at the career and legacy of the man (1938), The King’s Stilts (1939 whose nom de plume rhymes and still my favorite), with “choice,” not “Zeus.” Horton Hatches the Egg (1940, adapted as a tenWho Was Dr. Seuss? minute animated cartoon Theodor Geisel, a.k.a. “Dr. short in 1942, directed Seuss,” was born March by Beany and Cecil creator 2, 1904 in Springfield, Bob Clampett for Warner Missouri. While in college, he began signing his Bros.), McElligot’s Pool (1947), drawings as “Dr. Seuss” Thidwick the Big-Hearted for the school’s magazine. Moose (1948), Bartholomew Dropping out of Oxford and the Ooblick (1949), If I and returning to America Ran the Zoo (1950), Scrambled in 1927, “Ted” immediately Eggs Super! (1953), Horton 48

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by Scott Shaw!

Fantastic, Plastic Zoo of Dr. Seuss!

Ted Geisel (Dr. Seuss) at his desk in 1957, the year The Cat in the Hat was published. (INSET) Seuss later in life. 1957 photo by Al Ravenna. Courtesy of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

The May 1934 issue of Life magazine (then a humor publication). Its Dr. Suess cover makes this one quite collectible.

control her husband’s vast realm of intellectual properties, for better, but often, for worse. Although he claimed to have little chemistry with children, he continued to create books and animated TV cartoons for kids until his death in his La Jolla home on September 24, 1991.

pursued a career as a humorous writer and illustrator for national magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post, Judge, Life, Liberty, and Vanity Fair. That led to work in advertising, including the famous “Quick, Henry – the FLIT!” ad campaign for an insecticide spray from Standard Oil (opposite page) and ads for Holly Sugar featuring a “proto-Grinch.” He also had the Ford Motor Company, NBC Radio, and Narragansett Lager & Ale for clients. Dr. Seuss Toys of 1959 He also illustrated a series of popular joke books. This It’s been rumored that Geisel was against merchandising his eventually led to creating storybooks for children, his first one stories and characters, and that only entertainment such as published in 1937. Three more followed, but as World War II The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T and animated cartoon adaptations for began Geisel turned his attention to editorial cartooning, and television were his only acceptable exceptions to that... but that in 1942 began creating artwork for projects benefiting the war isn’t true. Geisel had worked in advertising, a business that’s not effort, especially informational posters. In 1943, he joined the artistically sensitive in the slightest, and he was not averse to U.S. Army as a Captain and was commander of the Animation increasing his income flow in honest and creative ways. What Department of the First Motion Picture Unit of the United States upset him was the fact that many manufacturers in the past— Army Air Forces, where he wrote propaganda in the form of liveagain, using images that he’d mostly created for corporate action films and animated cartoons. In addition to WB’s Horton clients—were far from the high quality he desired (although short, George Pal produced and directed stopthere were a few good-looking results, too). To motion short theatrical film adaptations of The achieve that quality he sought, Seuss was more 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins (1943) and And to than willing to get involved with the production of Think That I Saw It Happen on Mulberry Street (1944). his books for Random House. In 1950, UPA produced the Oscar-winning cartoon In 1954, it became known to the public that short Gerald McBoing-Boing, based on a story when he wasn’t writing or drawing, Geisel also written by Ted. After the war, he and his first wife enjoyed painting and sculpting. He created Helen moved to La Jolla, California, just north up dozens of three-dimensional creature-characters the coast from San Diego, where he resumed his quite similar to the denizens of his kids’ books, career as a creator of children’s picture books. He and many of them were designed be hung on also wrote the film The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T (1953) walls. Decades later, many have been reproduced and are available for sale to collectors with deep and in 1966, Chuck Jones directed an animated pockets, but in the mid-Fifties, there was no Dr. half-hour special for CBS adapting How the Grinch Seuss merchandise for sale. However, thanks to Stole Christmas! a manufacturer called the Kreiss Company, there Unfortunately, in 1967, after dealing with soon appeared products that were, shall we say, cancer and Ted’s affair with Audrey Stone “Seuss-y.” Diamond, Helen Geisel committed suicide. In a Moon Beings ceramic figure. Basing designs directly from based on sordid chain of events, Seuss married Diamond, Courtesy of Hake's. characters from what were then his most recent the woman who would eventually own and RETROFAN

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WILL MURRAY’S 20TH CENTURY PANOPTICON

Sheena Pin-up Queen of the TV Jungle

by Will Murray During my long association with Starlog magazine, I accepted hundreds of assignments. Some brought me to shooting locations around the world to interview the cast and crew of Hollywood films. I remember declining an assignment only once—a telephone interview with an actress playing Sheena, Queen of the Jungle. Looking back, I wondered if my subconscious was talking to me. Because when I think of jungle queens, there’s only one Sheena. And her name was Irish Elizabeth McCalla. The star of the oneseason wonder that ran back in 1955–1956, she was the first actor to bring the popular comicbook character to life on TV.

Leopard skin image by skeeze/Pixabay.

I Am Sheena, Hear Me Roar

Sheena was the creation of packager Jerry Iger and artist Will Eisner of The Spirit fame. She debuted in Great Britain in 1937, and was soon appearing in Jumbo Comics, and then her own title in the U.S. Orphaned when her father was poisoned by a witch doctor, young Sheena was left to fend for herself in the Congo. Growing up to be a blonde Amazon, she was befriended by Chim the chimpanzee and a conventional great white hunter named Bob. Attired in an abbreviated leopard-skin outfit that left little to the imagination, Sheena became a comics vehicle for Cheesecake—today called Good Girl Art. Sheena sold like crazy. It was just a matter of time before Hollywood came calling. The search for a female Tarzan commenced in August 1952. TV producer Edward Nassour announced that he sought an

(ABOVE) Irish McCalla as Sheena, Queen of the Jungle. © Galaxy Publishing and Valdoro Entertainment. Courtesy of Ernest Farino.

The jungle queen originated in Golden Age comic books. Sheena #1 (Spring 1942) cover art by Dan Zolnerowich. © Galaxy Publishing and Valdoro Entertainment. Courtesy of Heritage.

Amazonian actress who could “move like a leopard, swim like a fish, hug like a bear, and have an eyepopping figure. It’ll help if she could act, too.” It was a tougher search than anticipated. Two years passed. In the meantime, the Sheena comic book was cancelled under pressure from reformers for being too sexy. Finally, pin-up queen and showgirl Irish McCalla was announced for the role in August 1954, thanks to glamour photographer Tom Kelly, who told McCalla about a producer casting for Sheena, Queen of the Jungle. “I know you used to read these comic books,” Kelly told her. “He asked me if I knew any girls that were perfect for Sheena. I said, ‘There’s only one! That’s Irish McCalla!’” Asked how she got the part, McCalla demurred, “Why, I tried out just like everyone else did when I heard the part was open.” RETROFAN

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Will Murray’s 20th Century Panopticon

Actress Anita Ekberg’s (LEFT) inability to swim cost her the Sheena gig. But when the curvaceous Irish McCalla (RIGHT) showed up, producers knew they had their jungle queen. Ekberg photo courtesy of Heritage. McCalla photo courtesy of Ernest Farino.

But the backstory was more complicated, as she later admitted. “I was the first and last person of 200 tested for the part. They almost signed Anita Ekberg—but she couldn’t swim.” The truth was more complicated, as McCalla later revealed to Scarlet Street. “Anita got a better job with Batjac Productions and didn’t show up for work, so they called me in a panic and I got the job. I told Anita later, ‘You’d hated it!’” McCalla was no stranger to the character, having doodled her as a child and play-acted as Sheena opposite her brother, who pretended to be Tarzan. “I wish I still had my Sheena comics,” she lamented to Starlog, “but my mother burned them all. When I told her I got the part, she couldn’t believe it. She said: ‘You used to play Sheena all the time when you were a kid. Now somebody’s going to pay you to do it? That’s ridiculous!’” At 24, McCalla was an expert swimmer and diver. “I physically looked like the Sheena comic book, more than anyone else,” she boasted. And who better to play a busty jungle queen than a pinup queen? There was only one problem. 58

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McCalla explained, “When the producers called, I said, ‘Are you kidding? I don’t act.’ They said it didn’t matter much—I only had to be athletic enough to chase a chimp through a jungle.” Cast in the role of hunter Bob Reynolds was Christian Drake, a Marine who had fought at Guadalcanal as one of Carlson’s Raiders. Drake’s rugged good looks convinced Hollywood that he was good box office. “Irish was absolutely perfect for the role,” he told Filmfax. “She was stunningly beautiful, and she epitomized Sheena from the start.” Drake’s account of the project’s beginnings differed from McCalla’s understanding. “Sheena was originally going to be a feature film,” he said. “When I was first cast, I was told that Anita Ekberg was going to play Sheena. They also told me they had another actress in mind—Irish McCalla—who could step in.” Perhaps McCalla was first envisioned as Ekberg’s stand-in stunt double. Both screen-tested on the same day. McCalla got busy preparing for the strenuous role. Since Sheena carried a hunting spear, she practiced throwing a javelin

RETRO INTERVIEW

Good Morning World

Ronnie Schell’s Custom-Made Shot in the Spotlight by Jason Hofius

Dubbed “America’s slowest-rising comedian” by radio DJ Don Sherwood in the mid-Sixties, Ronnie Schell began his show-business career in a rather roundabout manner. His first love was baseball, but despite his ambitions to become a player, he was simply never any good at it. However, his on-field antics kept his teammates laughing and the crowds coming back for more. It was that energy and excitement he felt from the public that eventually led to his second love—stand-up comedy. Schell was born in 1931 in Richmond, California, just to the northeast of San Francisco. After graduating high school he joined the United States Air Force, where he did his first performances in various skits and shows. After his return to civilian life, Schell took a dare from a college classmate to audition as a comic at the Purple Onion nightclub in San Francisco. He was accepted, much to his surprise, and stayed on for months honing his comedic skills. After some disastrous starts, Schell kept at it and landed a job as the opener for the Kingston Trio music act around 1958. Then he never looked back. His stand-up act earned him early slots on televised variety programs and his first national television appearance as a contestant on You Bet Your Life in 1959. The show, which was hosted by the lightningfast Groucho Marx, gave Schell a chance to trade quips with one of entertainment’s best. The debut helped jump-start Schell’s six-decade career. Schell’s easygoing yet earnest attitude toward his work contributed to his career’s longevity just as much as his talent and technique. When anyone hired Ronnie

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retro interview

Larry Clarke (Ronnie Schell) and David Lewis (Joby Baker) on the air. (BELOW) S’More Entertainment’s complete Good Morning World series DVD set, released in 2007. © CBS.

Schell, they knew they’d be getting a professional who could lead a production as easily as he could keep pace with anyone else. His incredible history in entertainment includes stage, feature films, and

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extensive commercial work. But he found a home on television starting in the Sixties, where he appeared on just about every major network series one can conceive of. From his most recognizable role of Private First Class Gilbert “Duke” Slater on Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. (1964–1969), to appearances in series like The Patty Duke Show, The Andy Griffith Show, Emergency!, Happy Days, Battle of the Planets, Down to Earth, Mr. Belvedere, The Wayans Bros., and countless others, Schell’s appearances were always a guarantee for fun. His early feature film roles include the Disney outings Gus (1976), The Shaggy D.A. (1976), and The Cat from Outer Space (1978). But he also performed roles in comedies like Love at First Bite (1979), The Devil & Mr. Devlin (1981), and animated theatrical features like Jetsons: The Movie (1990) and Rover Dangerfield (1991). In 1967, creators and producers Carl Reiner, Sheldon Leonard, Bill Persky, and Sam Denoff, the team behind The Dick Van Dyke Show [see RetroFan #7—ed.], brought Good Morning World to the screen. It premiered on CBS on September 5, at 9:30 p.m. A prototype to shows like WKRP in Cincinnati and NewsRadio, Good Morning

World focused on the morning radio DJ team of Lewis and Clarke, played by Joby Baker and Schell. The pair’s experiences were loosely based on Persky and Denoff’s own radio careers, and the lead character of Larry Clarke was written specifically for Ronnie Schell. After the premature cancellation of Good Morning World, Schell immediately transitioned back into his role of “Duke” Slater through Gomer Pyle’s final season (1969). His busiest period followed, with decades of television guest-starring roles, commercials, and variety shows. No matter how busy he was, Schell always made time to return to his roots entertaining audiences in person at comedy clubs all over North America. Having recently turned 88, the “slowest-rising comedian” (a nickname he still wears proudly) finally decided to retire from his favorite annual standup gigs in Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe. He continues to work in radio and television whenever he gets the chance. He also does numerous public appearances each year, where he promotes his work and spends as much time as he can with adoring fans. I caught up with Schell a couple days

RETRO BRIT

Doctor Who and the

Failed Invasion by Ian Millsted

The Retro Brit column continues its investigation of the nexus points where British and American pop culture have met, merged, or clashed. After our look at the example of Benny Hill finding success in America (in RetroFan #9), this issue we explore the tentative, and largely unsuccessful, attempts to launch Doctor Who, that great British institution of television science fiction, in the U.S.A. Ian Millsted brings his expert eye to the times the good Doctor failed to win the day. When I was working in Illinois in 1996, I visited a great science-fiction and comic-book store in Rockford (Yesterday is Tomorrow—get in touch if you read this, guys). They had a petition on the counter for people to sign to ask Fox TV to commission a series follow-up to the recently aired Doctor Who TV movie. Although I was due to return to England in a few weeks, I signed the petition. One of their customers had asked if they could have it there for folks to sign. I doubt the Fox TV people gave it more than a cursory glance, as the ratings for that movie had been quite poor. Another false start for Doctor Who in America, but far from the first.

You’ve probably heard of Doctor Who, although you may not have seen it. Something of a cult success in syndication from the late Seventies onwards, the Pinnacle paperbacks from the same era and Marvel comics on the newsstands in the early Eighties may all have passed before your eye at some point. More recently, the more iteration shown on BBC America has raised the profile of the show higher yet. Less well known are the attempts to sell the character in America in the Sixties. Doctor Who was launched on the BBC in November 1963 as a new science-fiction/adventure series of 25-minute episodes. The original brief was to mix in doses of scientific and historical education to the storytelling, but it soon became clear that the audience wanted excitement. The first episode started ten minutes late due to an extended news broadcast following the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy the day before. The series started with two London schoolteachers who, curious about the odd behavior of one of their students, follow her home to find she lives with Screenwriter Terry Nation. Photo courtesy of Ian Millsted.

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rETrO BrIT

her grandfather in a junkyard. The grandfather, known as The Doctor, and his granddaughter, Susan, turn out to be aliens who whisk the two teachers off in their spaceship, which is disguised as a London police phone box [booth]. In the following months, the series follows a format of the group of four arriving randomly somewhere in time and space for an adventure which usually lasts four to six episodes, before flying off somewhere new. The first story was a reasonable success, but the show really took off with the second adventure, wherein they encounter the Daleks, of which more below. The format of the show was brilliantly flexible. With a machine that can travel in time and space, any story can be told. When the producers came up with the wheeze that the residents of The Doctor’s planet can regenerate, to change their appearance, allowing the main role to be recast every few years, there was little stopping the possibility of this thing running forever. The series was successful enough for the BBC to produce every season until early 1985. After a one-season hiatus it continued for another four seasons before being cancelled. There was an unsuccessful attempt to relaunch it with a TV movie in 1996 and a far more successful return in 2005, which continues to this day. The 253 episodes of the series shown on the BBC in the Sixties were all black and white, which may have hindered interest from potential buyers in the U.S. at that time. However, it was sold and

Kids in the U.K. went Dalek krazy over these and other merchandised items. Courtesy of Hake’s Auctions.

shown in countries and cities as diverse as Canada (from 1965), Zambia, Barbados, Singapore, Aden—in fact, at least 24 nations were showing the program in the Sixties—but not America. British television series that enjoy success in America tend IF YOU ENJOYED to fall into two main categories. Either they are madeTHIS to bePREVIEW, CLICK THE LINK TO ORDER THIS indistinguishable from American shows (for example, The ISSUE IN PRINT OR DIGITAL FORMAT! Muppet Show) or they are archetypally British (Benny Hill, Downton Abbey, Monty Python’s Flying Circus). Doctor Who is very much the latter. As well as being in black and white, the episodes from the Sixties also tended to be quite slow paced and showed their low budget. Viewed now, it is easy to see why TV stations might choose to show reruns of Sgt. Bilko instead. A few early stories were set in the U.S., with one episode supposedly taking place at the top of the Empire State Building, but very much filmed in a BBC studio. Another charming curiosity was the six-part serial, “The Gunfighters,” in which The Doctor and his companions arrive in Tombstone in time for the famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral. This one was also filmed in a studio but actually looks quite impressive for what it is. At least some of the cast #12 were RETROFAN interviewer CHRISthen MANNresident goes behind the drawn from the small colony ofHollywood American actors in scenes of TV’s sexy sitcom THREE’S COMPANY—and NANCY MORGAN London. Many aficionados of Doctor the story, but Iabout the TV RITTER, Who first wifedislike of JOHN RITTER, shares stories funnyman. Plus: RICK GOLDSCHMIDT’s making of RUDOLPH found it a fun watch. THE RED-NOSED REINDEER, RONNIE SCHELL interview, Sheena Queen of the TV Jungle, Dr.first Seuss toys, Popeye carIt was, though, two American film producers who toons, DOCTOR WHO’s 1960s U.S. invasion, and more fun, achieved the first sighting of Doctor Who in the U.S. Max fab features! (84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $9.95 Rosenberg and Milton Subotsky had achieved some success with (Digital Edition) $4.99

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January 2021

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