RetroFan #15 by TwoMorrows Publishing

July 2021 No. 15 $9.95

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THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.

My Dad, the Teen Idol

Ricky Nelson

EVEL KNIEVEL

TOYS OF THE

SEVENTIES

Somebody’s gotta play the bad guy

Daniel ‘Rolf’ Truhitte

The Fabulous Furry FREAK BROTHERS

Rural Sitcom Purge • The Muppet Show • Super 7 • Sixties Movie Sets & more! 1

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FEATURING Ernest Farino • Andy Mangels • Will Murray • Scott Saavedra • Scott Shaw! • Michael Eury

RetroFan:

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!

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Holy backstage pass! See rare, behind-thescenes photos of many of your favorite Sixties TV shows! Plus: an unpublished interview with Green Hornet VAN WILLIAMS, Bigfoot on Saturday morning television, TV’s Zoorama and the San Diego Zoo, The Saint, the lean years of Star Trek fandom, the WrestleFest video game, TV tie-in toys no kid would want, and more fun, fab features!

An exclusive interview with Logan’s Run star MICHAEL YORK, plus Logan’s Run novelist WILLIAM F. NOLAN and vehicle customizer DEAN JEFFRIES. Plus: the Marvel Super Heroes cartoons of 1966, H. R. Pufnstuf, Leave It to Beaver’s SUE “Miss Landers” RANDALL, WOLFMAN JACK, drive-in theaters, My Weekly Reader, DAVID MANDEL’s super collection of comic book art, and more!

Dark Shadows’ Angelique, LARA PARKER, sinks her fangs into an exclusive interview. Plus: Rankin-Bass’ Mad Monster Party, Aurora Monster model kits, a chat with Aurora painter JAMES BAMA, George of the Jungle, The Haunting, Jawsmania, Drak Pack, TV dads’ jobs, and more fun, fab features! Featuring columns by FARINO, MANGELS, MURRAY, SAAVEDRA, SHAW, and MICHAEL EURY.

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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!

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!

HALLOWEEN ISSUE! Interviews with DARK SHADOWS’ 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!

CHRIS MANN goes behind the scenes of TV’s sexy sitcom THREE’S COMPANY— and NANCY MORGAN RITTER, first wife of JOHN RITTER, shares stories about the TV funnyman. Plus: RICK GOLDSCHMIDT’s making of RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER, RONNIE SCHELL interview, Sheena Queen of the TV Jungle, Dr. Seuss toys, Popeye cartoons, DOCTOR WHO’s 1960s U.S. invasion, and more!

Exclusive interviews with Lost in Space’s MARK GODDARD and MARTA KRISTEN, Dynomutt and Blue Falcon, Hogan’s Heroes’ BOB CRANE, a history of WhamO’s Frisbee, Twilight Zone and other TV sci-fi anthologies, Who Created Archie Andrews?, oddities from the San Diego Zoo, lava lamps, and more with FARINO, MANGELS, MURRAY, SAAVEDRA, SHAW, and MICHAEL EURY!

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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!

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!

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The Crazy Cool Culture We Grew Up With

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CONTENTS Issue #15 July 2021 Columns and Special Features

Retrotorial

Retro Television Goober and the Truckers’ Paradise

Retro Brit The Muppet Show

Scott Saavedra’s Secret Sanctum The Rural Sitcom Purge

Retro Interview The Sound of Music’s Daniel “Rolf” Truhitte

Andy Mangels’ Retro Saturday Morning Filmation’s Super 7

Ernest Farino’s Retro Fantasmagoria On the Set… Movies in the Sixties

Will Murray’s 20th Century Panopticon The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Retro Music “Ricky Nelson Remembered” with Matthew Nelson

Departments

Oddball World of Scott Shaw! Gilbert Shelton’s Wonder Wart-Hog and Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers

23 25 34

Too Much TV Quiz Batman TV villains’ henchmen

Retro Toys Evel Knievel Diecast Miniatures

Celebrity Crushes

RetroFad Killer Cars

RetroFanmail

ReJECTED RetroFan fantasy cover by Scott Saavedra

RetroFan™ #15, July 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: $68 Economy US, $103 International, $27 Digital. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. © Turner Entertainment Co. & Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. Freak Brothers © Gilbert Shelton. All Rights Reserved. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2021 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING. ISSN 2576-7224

by Michael Eury EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michael Eury PUBLISHER John Morrow CONTRIBUTORS Michael Eury Ernest Farino Rena Konar Andy Mangels Ian Millsted Breanna Mona Will Murray Mike Pigott Rose Rummel-Eury Scott Saavedra Scott Shaw! DESIGNER Scott Saavedra PROOFREADER Rob Smentek SPECIAL THANKS Hake’s Auctions Heritage Auctions Bob Ingersoll Michael Lovitz Manfred Mroczkowski Jeff Rovin Gilbert Shelton Jim Shooter Kathe Todd VERY SPECIAL THANKS Matthew Nelson Daniel Truhitte

Don’t STEAL our Digital Editions! C’mon citizen, DO THE RIGHT THING! A Mom & Pop publisher like us needs every sale just to survive! DON’T DOWNLOAD OR READ ILLEGAL COPIES ONLINE! Buy affordable, legal downloads only at

When we started RetroFan back in mid-2018, I’ll admit, I was a little worried that our eclectic contents might not catch on. Since the other magazine I edit for TwoMorrows Publishing, the long-running comics-history title Back Issue, features a theme each issue (the current issue spotlights TV Tie-in Comic Books, which should excite fans of Lost in Space, Primus, The Bionic Woman, Emergency!, and other classic shows), I didn’t want RetroFan to parrot that concept. Also, I hoped that by throwing all sorts of stuff into each issue—classic television, toys, comic books, food, bubblegum music, cartoons, movies, monsters, politics, fads, roadside attractions, you name it—that there would be something for everyone in each issue… and there would be new discoveries as well, even for the most knowledgeable pop-culture fan. With this issue, we’re winding down our third year of publication, and the response from readers has been overwhelmingly positive to our hodgepodge approach! Thank you, loyal readers and newcomers, for supporting this mag! Wait’ll you see what’s in store during year four! This issue we run the gamut of subjects, from the original teen idol, the wholesome, handsome, Ricky Nelson, to the anything-but-wholesome (or handsome) Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers (and Wonder Wart-Hog, too!), Gilbert Shelton’s counterculture comix hit that premiered in the late Sixties and is now finding a new audience in animation (with superstar voice talent). Where else other than RetroFan will you find The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Muppet Show, Evel Knievel toys, and a behind-the-scenes photo gallery of Sixties War and Western movies in the same issue? You’ll meet the charming Dan Truhitte, whose “Sixteen Going on Seventeen” duet with Charmian Carr in The Sound of Music still makes ladies swoon, and discover a Saturday morning super-hero cartoon that spent more time fighting lawsuits than super-villains. Following Scott Saavedra’s Secret Sanctum column about the Great Rural Purge, where country-based sitcoms were axed in one fell swoop, there’s a one-pager I wrote featuring a topic that ignites my nostalgic flames into a raging inferno: Goober and the Trucker’s Paradise, a Retro TV column about a little-known, kinda-sorta spin-off of The Andy Griffith Show (TAGS), starring George Lindsey as Goober Pyle. Like an oldie that earworms itself into your brain, I can’t stop thinking about what it would have been like if TAGS had never been cancelled (its continuation, Mayberry R.F.D., was a top-rated show when CBS pulled the plug on it) and if other denizens of North Carolina’s most famous fictional small town received their own shows. Maybe Don Knotts wouldn’t have strayed to do movies if they had offered him the weekly series Barney Fife, Man Undercover (then again, we wouldn’t have had The Ghost and Mr. Chicken). Imagine an Opie on Campus dramedy, where Ron Howard, as UNC-Chapel Hill journalism student Opie Taylor, brought small-town sensibilities to Seventies’ social issues such as women’s lib, civil rights, student drug use, and war protests. Denver Pyle as Briscoe Darling could have headlined The Darlings, a Hee Haw-like comedy/variety show featuring the Darling Family (bluegrass band the Dillards) and different guest stars each week. Okay, I’ll shut up now and attempt to douse my fandom inferno by watching an Andy Griffith rerun. As I write this editorial on January 7, 2021, the United States is in political turmoil and COVID-19 continues to storm through our communities. And that’s only the beginning of the list of things going wrong. That’s one reason we’re proud to bring you RetroFan every other month. In our pages, chaos is spelled KAOS and is sworn to Get Smart, and the only virus you need to worry about is Boogie Fever. We’re a safe haven from harsh realities, and we’re happy you’re with us for another groovy grab-bag of the crazy, cool culture we grew up with!

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RETROFAN

Department of Corrections: In issue #13’s retrospective of Bob Crane’s radio career, Crane’s start date at station KNX was September 10, 1956, not September 13.

July 2021

WILL MURRAY’S 20TH CENTURY PANOPTICON

by Will Murray

Growing up, I lived through several great crazes. First came the Monster Craze, which ran from the late Fifties through the Sixties. TV showings of Universal and other movie monsters triggered monster mania in Baby Boomers like myself. While that fad was still in full cry, the Spy Craze kicked in. It started with the publication of a list of President Kennedy’s favorite books. One was Ian Fleming’s From Russia, With Love, a James Bond novel. Bond books sold like crazy and Dr. No was optioned for the first in a long and still-running line of James Bond franchise films. Espionage thrillers became hot. Soon, spies were everywhere. It didn’t take television long to latch onto the fad. I won’t enumerate all the spy shows that careened through the Sixties [Actually, fellow columnist Ernest Farino did that back in RetroFan #6!—ed.]. Suffice it to say that The Man from U.N.C.L.E. was the first, biggest and best of them all. It started with Ian Fleming himself, by way of producer Norman Felton, who had just scored a TV hit with Dr. Kildare. Felton had an idea for a TV series with the sophisticated tone of Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest, which he shared with a pair of advertising executives in 1962. “They were intrigued by the idea of something that was mystery on a high plane,” Felton recalled, quoting one executive as saying, “You know it’s a bit like the Bond things, the way you told that. If you want to go with Ian Fleming, I’ll bet the two of you could come up with a series.” “As Norman told the story to me,” revealed producer-writer Sam Rolfe of Have Gun, Will Travel fame, “he and Ian had been having lunch with an NBC executive. Previously, there had been a conversation in which Ian had agreed to invent a series for Norman. At the lunch, the NBC exec panted for info on

Ian Fleming.

Norman Felton.

NBC promised explosive action in this 1964 promotional poster for The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Art by Gerald Allison. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. © Turner Entertainment Co. & Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. Courtesy of Heritage.

what the two were up to… what was the series to be about. Ian’s Bond sagas were just getting very hot. “Ian casually mentioned that he was thinking about a hero named ‘Solo,’ a name he came up with on the spur of the moment… a name he had given a minor villain in earlier Bond novel. Norman tacked on the first name of ‘Napoleon,’ equally spontaneously. And that was just about all they had.” Felton remembered the meeting differently. “Ian said, ‘I like your character because the way you told it, it was so different from a character I have, James Bond. Because James Bond wouldn’t have a background like you suggested. Why don’t we call him Napoleon Solo.’ I asked, Why Napoleon? ‘Well, it’s a good name, you know. It goes well with Solo.’” RETROFAN

July 2021

Will Murray’s 20th Century Panopticon

Rolfe resumed: “Napoleon Solo… and Norman subsequently knocked out a couple of pages about a man who belonged to something like the C.I.A. and went to take his orders from the President of the U.S.A. On the basis of this meeting, NBC made a blind commitment for 26 hour shows. “And now the trouble developed. Ian really was in no position to create a series. Norman was no writer. Everything hung on the premise promised by the name of ‘Ian Fleming’… and he couldn’t do it. Norman came to me with this problem… I was there, and he knew of my work.” It was a tricky legal situation. Anything that smacked of James Bond was subject to expensive litigation. And it would be difficult in that Cold War era not to come across as Bondian. Fortunately, Rolfe had a perfect solution, as well as a bulletproof shield against lawyers. “Now—some years previously I had invented a series concept called The Dragons and St. George,” he explained. “This was a couple years before Bond erupted on the world, and made the genre popular—even financially rewarding. At the time of St. George, the networks were afraid of the

much, apparently giving me the highest form of flattery by offering to buy some my story ideas and scenes for his own Bond series of books—but he could not, legally, be involved in any way. “Now Norman returned home—went to NBC, and told them that Ian was out and that I had developed the U.N.C.L.E. concept. I was told at the time to keep saying ‘Developed,’ not ‘Created,’ because there would still be a feeling that Ian was involved that way, and might help sell the series. NBC liked my concept—ordered a script from me. I wrote it––and the rest is, as they say, history.” But a complicated history. For legal reasons, the show title changed from Ian Fleming’s Solo to simply Solo,

(TOP LEFT) We Spy: U.N.C.L.E. agents Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin, as played by actors Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, on TV’s The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (TOP RIGHT) Robert Culp, seen in a 1965 publicity photo, passed on the role of Solo. (BOTTOM) Front and back covers to issue #1 of the tie-in comic. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. © Turner Entertainment Co. & Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc.

concept—it didn’t seem to fall into any category they could show a precedent for… not comedy… not too straight… what to make of it? They passed. “With Norm’s problem in hand, I went back to St. George and culled out much of my original concepts. I wrote a prospectus for a new series that called the organization U.N.C.L.E., invented in minute details all its workings and departments, made it international in scope so that it didn’t become US versus the Reds every week, etc. I also invented THRUSH as a backup villain of some size, meaning to have it used only when we failed to come up with some fresh, suitable opponent every week. I created a suitable family of characters for U.N.C.L.E., fleshing out Solo, Mr. Waverley, and others—started developing the gimmickry of the gadgets, and voila—the series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. was born.”

‘A New Type of Hero’

But the fleshed-out concept still had to pass muster with NBC executives. “Now it became tricky,” Rolfe revealed. “NBC was buying Ian Fleming—they didn’t know I was behind the scenes bailing out a non-existent series. First, Norman flew back to England to see Ian and show him the prospectus, trying to get some sort of commitment from him. Ian read the material… liked it all very 4

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July 2021

then morphed into The Man from U.N.C.L.E. A heavy named Solo had appeared in Goldfinger, then being filmed. Felton wanted agents more realistic than the stereotyped Hollywood hero. He envisioned Solo as a suave Canadian and imagined his Russian counterpart, Illya Kuryakin, of average stature. Rolfe, on the other hand, saw Illya as a husky giant. Since Felton did the casting, he won that argument when he chose Scottish actor David McCallum to play the cerebral Slav. He cast Robert Vaughn as Solo after future I Spy star Robert Culp declined the role. “McCallum and Vaughn were not cut in the pattern of the typical all-American hero,” Felton observed. “They were small,

Will Murray’s 20th Century Panopticon

intelligent, unique, not particularly muscular, and the fans seemed to go for heroes of all nationalities. We offered a new type of hero.” From Rolfe’s script, Felton produced a pilot, which was shot in color for potential theatrical release. In this pilot, the head of U.N.C.L.E. was Mr. Allison, played by Will Kuluva. When NBC executives screened it, one of them ordered Felton to recast the actor with the K name. He meant Kuryakin, but the producer took him to mean Kaluva. Leo G. Carroll was brought in to play

choice. Thus was born THRUSH, a supra-nation bend upon world domination. THRUSH was meant to be an apolitical foe, and only an occasional one. But the shadowy group soon dominated the series as an ongoing global threat. Neither producer had given any thought to the meanings of THRUSH nor U.N.C.L.E. They were winging it. Years later, neither was completely clear on who contributed some elements. “Well, it just emerged,” Felton recalled. “It’s hard to know who did what. It’s very difficult to unwind the mechanics of it.” Yet

When the world cried U.N.C.L.E.! Just some of the merchandise available in the mid-Sixties. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. © Turner Entertainment Co. & Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. Courtesy of Heritage.

Alexander Waverly. Felton wanted to replace Kaluva, anyway. Thus, the career of McCallum and possibly the future of the show was saved by that miscommunication.

The Doc Savage Affair

Rolfe took over production for the regular episodes, with Felton staying on as executive producer. Aside from Mr. Waverly, another change was to rename the series’ primary opponent organization. It had been WASP, but legal issues once again quashed that

he gave most of the credit to Rolfe. “The work Sam Rolfe did in writing the extensive background for U.N.C.L.E. and in producing the first season was superb. Without it, we would never have made the series.” From the first episode, “The Vulcan Affair,” to the last, every episode was titled “The (Something) Affair.” Each act was given a number and an on-screen chapter title, as if these were filmed pulp novels. Which they were, at least in spirit. RETROFAN

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Will Murray’s 20th Century Panopticon

“I lived for the monthly issues of Doc Savage,” Rolfe revealed. adventure. I guess I was putting into the plays my old ‘Doc Savage’ “I saved every penny I could lay hands on to save up the dime–– daydreams.” then haunted the magazine stand every day for the week before Felton’s recollection was that this conceit was inspired by it arrived. No one today could ever understand the delight that his first inspiration, Hitchcock’s North by Northwest, whose kids like myself drew from those pulps... they were the only protagonist was an ordinary person mistaken for a spy. dreams, the only escape from drabness Again, it was a Doc Savage device. As and poverty.” author Lester Dent had done with Doc 30 A giveaway was the dramatic opening years before, Rolfe took a mock serious sequence of “The Vulcan Affair” where a approach dubbed “tongue in cheek.” At bad guy infiltrates U.N.C.L.E. HQ, breaches the time of the show’s debut, he described The Man from U.N.C.L.E. a door using thermite to melt the lock, and it this way: “U.N.C.L.E. has one foot in the ` No. of seasons: Four then takes aim at an unafraid Napoleon. probable, one foot in the possible, and one ` No. of episodes: 105 The assassin’s shots strike a previously foot in the impossible. There aren’t any ` Original run: September 22, 1964– unseen bulletproof glass shield, leaving people who are casual about it: they either January 15, 1968 Solo unharmed. love it or hate it.” ` Primary cast: Robert Vaughn, It was a famous scene lifted from David McCallum, Leo G. Carroll an early Doc Savage novel. Doc had an Ruffled Peacock Feathers ` Created by: Sam Rolfe and identical shield in his office. Likewise, all Among the latter were the NBC brass. Norman Felton of the ingenious U.N.C.L.E. gadgets that After screening the first episodes, ` Network: NBC viewers assumed were borrowed from they started second-guessing Rolfe’s Bond were actually updated Doc Savage unconventional approach. Spin-offs and remakes: devices, such as gas pellets, homing “We really didn’t know quite what we ` The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. (1966–1967 devices, pocket communicators, hollow had on our hands,” Felton later admitted. TV spin-off, 29 episodes; starring teeth containing various gimmicks, and “Nor did the network. The network saw Stefanie Powers, Noel Harrison, chemically treated articles of clothing. our black-and-white shows before they and Leo G. Carroll) This was particularly true of the U.N.C.L.E. went on the air, and they came in and ` Theatrical releases: Eight The Special, a convertible pistol capable they said they felt it would be a total Man from U.N.C.L.E. movies, of shooting lethal rounds as well as disaster, because a lot of the things were featuring TV episodes with bonus anesthetic darts. Doc’s equally versatile funny. And they said you can’t do humor footage, were released: To Trap a supermachine pistols were usually loaded with suspense, because then people will Spy (1964), The Spy with My Face with “mercy” bullets, but fired other types laugh and break the suspense. Sam Rolfe (1965), One Spy Too Many (1966), of rounds. and I sat and thought, and we weren’t One of Our Spies is Missing (1966), sure ourselves. So we thought maybe The first episode debuted on Tuesday, The Spy in the Green Hat (1966), The they were right. So Sam began cutting September 22, 1964, only days af ter Karate Killers (1967), The Helicopter out some of the humor, and trying to the blockbuster third James Bond film, Spies (1968), and How to Steal the build the suspense. When we went on the Goldfinger, premiered in the United World (1968) air, we went with the shows that didn’t Kingdom. Six days later, Bantam Books ` The Return of the Man from have much humor. But eventually there simultaneously released three Doc U.N.C.L.E.: The Fifteen Years comes a time late in the year when you Savage reprints—which went on to sell Later Affair: (reunion telemovie have to use the ones you shot earlier. millions of copies. The Bond franchise originally aired April 5, 1983 on And it surprised everyone––people liked didn’t explode with gadgets until CBS; starring Robert Vaughn and them better.” Goldfinger. Doc Savage stories had been David McCallum, with George The humor, combined with the reprinted in Great Britain during the early Lazenby) outlandish Bondian (or Doc Savage-esque) Fif ties, when Ian Fleming wrote his first ` The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015 plots, as well as the natural chemistry Bond novels. Coincidence? theatrical release starring Henry between Vaughn and MCallum, became Another trope of the TV series, present Cavill as Napoleon Solo, Armie ratings gold. from the first episode to the last, was Hammer as Illya Kuryakin, and But the balance between filming the ordinary citizen being drawn into Hugh Grant as Mr. Waverly. an espionage thriller and a semithe fantastic world of spy vs. spy. Felton sophisticated spy romp was a difficult one and Rolfe cited separate sources for that to maintain. innovation. “We floundered badly at first,” McCallum explained. “The “U.N.C.L.E. always depended upon a very delicate balance writers didn’t really know what the show was about and it lacked between the absurd and the real,” Rolfe observed. “I insisted style. But I think our last six or seven began to catch the spirit. upon sticking a ‘Normal’ character into every episode, up early, As for the playing, my theory is that we must play everything in who kept looking around at the things happening to himself, deadly earnest in the style of the [T]hirties. The producers do not and remarking that he didn’t believe any of it––a person who necessarily reflect the opinions of the actors.” always returned to his normal life at the end, having had a great

FA ST FAC TS

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Will Murray’s 20th Century Panopticon

Rolfe had his side of it. “Talking about what you expect and you don’t get, there was one show where I wanted to kill the director,” he recalled. “I thought he did such a bad job of directing it. I had to bury it. What you did when you buried a show, you usually made it your Christmas or Thanksgiving show, in other words, no exposure. And I threw this show out. It turned out to be one of the most popular shows we ever did. I’ve never forgotten that. That was with Elsa Lancaster. And dummies. Which was an absurd one. And we got more letters and reaction from people who loved that show. Sometimes made me wonder if I knew my show.” Rolfe’s vision did have its dark side, which was never explored. “The original concept of U.N.C.L.E. was very one-worldish.

Initially, Felton and Rolfe had no intention of unmasking the cryptic acronym. It was meant to suggest both Uncle Sam and the United Nations. But another legal issue came up. Legally, the U.N. could not be commercialized. Pressed for an answer, they coined the Unified Network Command for Law and Enforcement, soon changing Unified with United. This led to one of the great put-ons of television. “I got a real brainwave,” Felton remembered. “I called the legal department. I said, ‘What I’m gonna do is like I do on the end of the Dr. Kildare series. I’m going to say We thank the United Network without whose assistance this could not have been made.’ And he said, ‘That’s wonderful!’”

He’s a living doll! Dreamy David McCallum, the mop-topped “blond Beatle,” became the breakout star— and teen heartthrob—of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. © Turner Entertainment Co. & Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc.

I said, wouldn’t it be great if we were all together in one organization. Now, whether I really believed all this or not, it sounded good. So I said, okay, every nation will have to throw agents into this pot, like you would money into a central pot. They will all work for that organization, but underneath it all they are all really spies for their own countries. So Illya Kuryakin––and this was really my concept––worked with the American agent, and they‘d be great pals until somebody in Moscow pushed the button and said okay, now you’ve got to go knock him off and go on to the next job. Or vice versa; the C.I.A. might say that Solo should go take care of him and go on to something else. Of course, that never arose. That was just one of my own little concepts in the back of my head.”

Solo and the Blond Beatle

Robert Vaughn managed to infuse his character with a distinct personality that set him apart from Felton’s idea of a young Cary Grant, and Sean Connery’s cruel Agent 007. “I haven’t patterned Solo on Bond,” insisted. “I’ve seen the Bond movies, but I haven’t read any of the novels. I don’t play it broad. What happens around me—international holocausts!—is broad enough. All I have to do is stand there. It requires tricky acting.” “In our case,” McCallum observed, “we have vicarious connotations. We gamble with all kinds of things that are supposed to be dangerous––beautiful women, fast cars, EVIL. We play with brinksmanship.” RETROFAN

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Will Murray’s 20th Century Panopticon

While the urbane and unflappable Solo remained the star, the intense Illya gained co-star status. To everyone’s astonishment, the blond actor in the black turtleneck clicked with teenage girls. His shaggy hair led to him being dubbed “the blond Beatle.” In 1964, the Beatles were first charting in the U.S. The Beatlemania craze was upon us. But McCallum claimed no Beatles influence. “Well, there’s nothing new about the way I wear my hair,” he stated. “It was not designed specifically as a characteristic for Illya. I’ve combed my hair this way since 1956. It is not unusual in England. It is just because I became rather obvious on TV that it has become a fad these days with young men.” McCallum remembered that there was little to the character at the beginning. “There were a couple of lines for Illya in the first episode. He had some jazz records under his bed. I think that was all that was known about him. So we got rid of the jazz records, added a few more lines, and took it from there.” Deciding that less would be more, the actor kept Illya remote and mysterious, and the fan mail flooded in, the size of which remains an MGM record to this day. “Illya is a walking enigma who occasionally runs and jumps,” McCallum quipped. “He’s a very passionate man, but he’s never really happy.” Waverly assigned his agents to spy missions that increasingly grew in scope and magnitude, until the fate of the world was at stake almost every week. THRUSH was a faceless organization, controlled by the Ultimate Computer. No recurring THRUSH leader ever appeared. Other than an occasional running THRUSH femme fatale such as Anne Francis’ Gervaise Ravel and Lee Meriwether’s Dr. Egret, or incidental U.N.C.L.E. girls like Heather McNabb’s May Heatherly and Sharyn Hillyer’s Wanda, the focus stayed on the central cast. A first-season stab at adding a female field agent––Leigh Chapman’s Sarah Johnson––lasted only six episodes. “Her main duties will be to serve as Solo’s secretory and his link with headquarters when he’s on assignment,” Rolfe explained. “Occasionally she’ll be called upon to remove the pistol from her waist holster and join Solo in his adventures.” The show struggled during its first year. A mid-season switch to 10 p.m. convinced McCallum that the show was doomed. He and Vaughn went on promotional tours to salvage it. It worked. Ratings rose. Yet a second season renewal looked doubtful until after filming had concluded. “They played Russian roulette with us before they finally picked us up for next season,” McCallum remarked. “But they finally pulled the right trigger.”

U.N.C.L.E. Goes to Camp

When the men from U.N.C.L.E. returned, they were in color. Sam Rolfe chose to move on after the first season, which proved to 8

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The Girls from U.N.C.L.E.: (TOP LEFT) Leigh Chapman played Sarah Johnson in six Season One episodes. (TOP RIGHT) From The Man from U.N.C.L.E.’s “The Moonglow Affair,” Norman Fell as Mark Slate, Leo G. Carroll as U.N.C.L.E. boss Mr. Waverly, and Mary Ann Mobley as April Dancer. (BOTTOM) The recast Slate and Dancer, Noel Harrison and Stefanie Powers, in the one-season wonder The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. © Turner Entertainment Co. & Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc.

be unfortunate. “I sort of like inventing a series,” he explained, “writing the pilot and then producing it for the first year. You learn your strengths and weaknesses, and you’re changing things and altering and really building the basic foundations that make the thing last. But then after you get that set, it becomes like laying brick. It’s kind of dull.” Other producers stepped in, and the series—influenced by another gadget-happy TV superstar, Batman––steadily

Will Murray’s 20th Century Panopticon

descended into self-parody. This last was especially acute in Season Three, which was influenced by a new TV pop craze: Batmania. Ratings plunged. “Well, that’s what ruined the show,” recalled Vaughn, “because it went from being an action-adventure, James Bond kind of show to, in much of the third year, being kind of a baggy-pants farce. I mean, it was guns shooting cupcakes out of the sides of cars, and it all became very slapstick-y.” “I don’t know what they did,” Rolfe reflected. “I can only tell you, I’ve always felt U.N.C.L.E. was a show that needed a particular kind of a mind to direct it. You needed somebody that could do drama and then also lay humor into it but could sense when the humor had to be stopped and when you had to make the drama take over. And you could talk forever about it, but unless you walk in with that instinct, you’re not going to get it. And I think that some of the people that followed me didn’t have an instinct for it. So they got silly with it. They’d be saying, ‘Oh, I know what it is–– just winking at the audience, and being comical. We’ve got the gadgets, let’s set the gadgets at ’em.’ They… didn’t really grasp… that you had to have the dramatic spine.” Not helping the deteriorating situation was the arrival of a dizzy spin-off, The Girl from U.N.C.L.E., starring Stefanie Powers and singer Noel Harrison as agents April Dancer and Mark Slate. April Dancer was another name coined by Ian Fleming, who had

McCallum and Vaughn reunited for the 1983 telemovie, The Return of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.: The Fifteen Years Later Affair. (INSET) The film featured a cameo by one-time movie Bond George Lazenby, as “J.B.” The Man from U.N.C.L.E. © Turner Entertainment Co. & Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc.

passed away a month before the first U.N.C.L.E. episode aired. The duo was first introduced in a Man from U.N.C.L.E. story, “The Moonglow Affair,” but the original actors, Mary Ann Mobley and Norman Fell, were replaced for the series. “I think we play it more for laughs with Girl,” Powers remarked at the time. “While Bob Vaughn and David McCallum have their light spots, I think we’re a bit more like Batman, if you know what I mean.” The campy Girl from U.N.C.L.E. tanked, in part because it mirrored the growing Batmania absurdities of its parent show. It was a omen of what was to come. “After I left,” opined Rolfe, “this delicate balance got out of hand––and the series became totally absurd. With the addition of Girl from U.N.C.L.E., the whole concept slid into pure cartoonery, and wiped itself out.”

Spies Like Us

Norman Felton steered the show back to its original tone for Season Four. Af ter reviewing past seasons, he explained, “We learned that our audience did not want us to be flip or make a joke of danger. Viewers objected to levity when our heroes were in grave situations. They wanted to believe us at these moments. Af ter a crisis had passed, however, the tongue-incheek approach was acceptable. We’ve discovered that we cannot retain humor at the expense of suspense. Therefore, this season we’re emphasizing suspense and adventure with integrated humor.” Clarity came too late. The audience had drifted away. Ignominiously, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. was cancelled in midseason, the final episode airing on January 15, 1968. While McCallum pointed to the show’s ever-shifting time slots, Robert Vaughn blamed the cancellation on the inevitable winding down of the Sixties spy craze. “The last Bond pictures haven’t done well,” he noted at the time. “The spoof fantasy has fallen off. By overdoing the format with The Girl from U.N.C.L.E., NBC accelerated the demise.” Norman Felton agreed. “What killed us off more than anything else is the host of imitators U.N.C.L.E. attracted, shows like Honey West, Amos Burke, I Spy, Get Smart. In truth, we even Episodes of The Man from U.N.C.L.E., often with extra footage added, were coupled into several theatrical releases, both in the U.S. and abroad. Italian poster for that nation’s 1968 release of the U.N.C.L.E. film The Karate Killers (1967). The Man from U.N.C.L.E. © Turner Entertainment Co. & Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. Courtesy of Heritage.

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Will Murray’s 20th Century Panopticon

(LEFT) Robert Vaughn at a 2009 nostalgia show (Vaughn died in 2016). The Yeti. (RIGHT) David McCallum in 2015. U.S. Marine Corps.

stole from ourselves when we put The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. on. The public can take only so much of that stuff.” Yet the men from U.N.C.L.E. refused to die. Such was the momentum of the franchise, a paperback series persisted until 1971. I was sad when the TV series ended, but happy that Solo and Kuryakin continued. And I was captivated by the familiar mock-serious U.N.C.L.E. tone when I started reading Doc Savage. Solo and Kuryakin returned for a 1983 TV movie, Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E., and were revived in a 2015 theatrical

disappointment. Neither led to sequels. Perhaps the rare chemistry of Robert Vaughn and David McCallum can never be equaled. Except that it was. While The Man from U.N.C.L.E. was airing, two seasoned actors who had appeared together in one 1964 episode teamed up to be the next hot male duo on a new television phenomenon called… Star Trek. Yet another TV craze was upon us Baby Boomers…. WILL MURRAY is the writer of the Wild Adventures (www.adventuresinbronze. com) series of novels, which stars Doc Savage, The Shadow, King Kong, The Spider, and Tarzan of the Apes. He also created the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl with legendary artist Steve Ditko.

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July 2021

RETRO MUSIC

Ricky

Nelson

Remembered

by Breanna Mona

Imagine being a third generation hitmaker. Your grandparents had a beloved sitcom, your Rock and Roll Hall of Famer dad was Life Magazine’s first “teen idol,” and growing up, your neighbor was “Uncle” George Harrison. Could you manage remaining humble or even sane? Somehow, Matthew Nelson manages just fine. Remarkably down-to-earth, Nelson, 53, has no shortage of endearing stories about his late father, Ricky Nelson, who he describes as his “best friend” in a recent phone interview. Last year, Matthew and his twin brother Gunnar celebrated the 80th anniversary of their father’s birthday. They toured their beloved multimedia “Ricky Nelson Remembered” show—which featured Stone Canyon band members Denny Sarokin and Jay Dewitt White—around the country and slaved away in the studio, creating new country music to bless their loyal fans with. Ricky Nelson was, of course, the notoriously handsome son of Ozzie and Harriet Nelson—from ABC’s Fifties sitcom series The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. Ricky quickly became a Fifties teen heartthrob and the only artist to have a number one song, number one movie, and (ABOVE) Matthew and Gunnar Nelson continue to make music in (LEFT INSET) the tradition of their grandparents, radio/TV/ movie stars Ozzie and Harriet Nelson, and (RIGHT INSET) in remembrance of their late father, Ricky Nelson. Photo: Pucker Productions.

number one TV show in the same week. He landed a staggering 53 singles in the Hot 100, with hits like “Hello Mary Lou,” “Poor Little Fool,” “Travelin’ Man,” and “Garden Party.” Nelson died tragically in a plane crash in 1985 at the age of 45 and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame a few years later, in 1987. Determined to earn their stripes in music, Ricky’s twin sons, Matthew and Gunnar—sporting long, Barbie-like golden locks— tore up the Nineties music scene as the band Nelson. Their glam-metal hits “(Can’t Live Without Your) Love and Affection” and “After the Rain” cemented the Nelsons as the only family in history to have three successive generations of number one hitmakers. They have since trimmed their hair, but they haven’t put down their mics. Nelson has put out 14 albums and celebrated the band’s 30th anniversary, with country music plans afoot under the name First Born Sons. “We’re calling it something different so people kind of understand that it’s different,” Matthew Nelson says. “Kind of like how my dad had the Stone Canyon Band.” Nelson is quick to sing his father’s praises. “He was a sweetheart,” Nelson says. “Impossibly beautiful, I do have to say. The women loved him. He was great looking, but he was also just a really sweet man. He deserves to stick around a little bit.” The brothers do all they can to keep their father’s music playing and legend alive. “Our dad was our best friend,” Nelson says. “I miss him. It’s been a long time since this accident, but I RETROFAN

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retro music

In the late Fifties through the early Sixties, Ricky emerged as the Nelson family’s breakout star, becoming America’s first teen idol and conquering various media… and young girls’ hearts. Wackiest Ship in the Army © Columbia Pictures. Poster courtesy of Heritage.

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retro music

knew him well and I’d give anything to have him back. In lieu of that, the best thing that I can do is what I’m doing with my twin brother. When we have the opportunity, we show up and we celebrate him. That’s really what we do.” At these shows, Nelson hears slews of endearing stories about his dad. One that sticks out was about how one woman met him at a lively show in the Seventies. “She said she was five years old and the front row was kind of crushing her, so my dad stopped the show and pulled her out himself and put her on a chair on the side of the stage. He kind of played to her the whole night. He was just so kind to her. I’ve never forgotten that.” Stories like these point to Ricky’s compassionate nature, which Nelson focused on in the shows. “Yeah, he was beautiful. Yeah, he had great songs. But what people get from our shows is that he really was just a kind person.” Matthew says the multimedia tribute show has never been a kitschy tribute, but more of a biographical celebration of his family’s legacy. “You have this huge gamut of people out there who do tribute shows, ranging from AC/DC to Ozzy Osborne to Elvis, especially the Elvis thing.” It was important to the brothers Nelson, however, that their work honoring their father doesn’t dabble into cheesy territory. “I’ve never really wanted my dad to be kitschy,” Matthew insists. That means no attempts at impersonations. “I don’t go on stage and imitate him, because you can’t,” Nelson says. “We just do our own version of what we remember our father as.” Other well-known voices have spoken out about the late legend during the tour, in some on-screen interviews. “There’s nothing like having somebody like Paul McCartney say, ‘I was a fan and this is why…’ I love seeing some of these people talk.” Some of these celebs were, of course, no strangers to Ricky Nelson. “Paul McCartney was a friend of our father's,” Nelson says. “He was supposed to produce his record when our dad died. I had a chance to meet him about two years ago. We had such a nice visit. He grabbed my face and said, ‘Don’t you look like your daddy.’ “Our dad was always connected to the Beatles. The last song he ever recorded that was never released, I gave to Paul, and he teared up over it. It was ‘One after 909.’” That’s only half of the Beatle connections in the Nelson legacy. “George Harrison was a neighbor,” Matthew Nelson says. “Harrison rented a house next to us for a year and I didn’t know he was George Harrison of the Beatles because, I think, I was only three years old.” Casual Harrison hangouts were the norm at the Nelson house. “He used to come over and have breakfast with us. He would hang out with our father in the den, listening to old records he had made, because he had a fabulous guitar player named James Burton who wound up being Elvis’ music director. Anyway, George was around—we knew him as Uncle George.” “Garden Party” was Nelson’s last number one hit before his untimely death. He wrote it shortly after being booed on stage in 1971 at Madison Square Garden—after he and the Stone Canyon

(TOP) Concert poster from an April 1961 performance. Courtesy of Heritage. (LEFT) Ricky on stage at an unspecific concert, c. early Sixties. Courtesy of Pucker Productions. (BELOW) Ricky stands between his sons.

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retro music

Matthew and Gunnar Nelson keeping their father’s musical legacy alive at a “Ricky Nelson Remembered” show. Photo: Pucker Productions.

Band started playing their new stuff instead of his hits from the Fifties. Matthew Nelson shares a little-known story about the song. The legend goes that Ricky Nelson was supposed to be on the bill that night with surprise guests Elvis and John Lennon at the Richard Nader Oldies show. Elvis didn’t show, and it’s largely assumed John and Yoko Ono showed up since Ricky hints at it lyrically. “With the ‘Garden Party’ story,” Nelson says, “there’s a line in the song that says, ‘Yoko brought her walrus, there was magic in the air.’ I had known that John actually didn’t attend the show— George did.” The reason Lennon was a no-show did not come as a surprise to Nelson. “A few years ago, we were doing an autograph signing after a show and May Pang was in line—she was John’s girlfriend when Yoko sent him on his ‘lost weekend.’ She said, ‘I just wanted to tell you, I don’t know if you know that John wasn’t at the show.’ I said, ‘I know that, Ms. Pang.’ She said, ‘I just want to tell you, he really wanted to go. Yoko wouldn’t let him. He really was upset about it, but Yoko wouldn’t allow him to go.’ I laughed and said, ‘First of all, I heard that, [and] second of all, isn’t that about typical?’ [laughs]” In a full-circle moment, Matthew Nelson says his four-year-old son Ozzie is a total “Beatles freak.” Unbeknownst to little Ozzie, his favorite Beatles song “Here Comes the Sun” wasn’t just written 14

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by the late “Uncle George,” but it was also the tune Ricky Nelson and his wife walked down the aisle to. “It [the Beatles connection] keeps coming up, all these little Easter eggs in our lives, like, ‘Hey, we’re all connected and there’s magic here.’ It’s somebody on the other side. To me, music is the voice of God. It’s bigger than we all are. I think about the truest joys I’ve ever had, and they’ve been related to music.” “Ricky Nelson Remembered” is the brothers’ way of feeling close to their father since his passing. “It’s just really a wonderful visit with people that appreciated him, grew up with him, and loved the music,” Nelson says. “Gunnar and I always say this show is bigger than we are. We are willing to go through whatever it takes to do it because, in a sense, it’s keeping our father alive.” Nelson’s “Ricky Nelson Remembered” performances are resuming after COVID-19 event cancellations. For upcoming tour dates, visit www. matthewandgunnarnelson.com/ricky-nelson-remembered/. BREANNA MONA is an entertainment journalist in Cleveland, Ohio, who finds joy in the minutiae of all things pop culture (more than she cares to admit).

SCOTT SAAVEDRA'S SECRET SANCTUM

The

Great Rural Purge Don't that beat all

What It Was and What It Wuzn’t by Scott Saavedra

Howdy. This is the tale of the great Rural Purge. You may have heard of it. And if you haven’t, well, what it was, was the end of a mess of fine television programing. Plus a whole lot of good, decent television characters that got themselves knocked off the air without so much as a “hey” from the broadcast networks they called home. The most repeated comment about the Rural Purge was made by Maxwell Emmett Buttram (a name with more double consonants than a cross-eyed optometrist’s office—that’s city humor), who famously said, “CBS cancelled everything with a tree—including Lassie.” Maxwell—better known as Pat— Buttram was a performer fondly recalled as the persistent salesman Mr. Haney on Green Acres, a notable victim of the Purge. Even if you add Buttram’s years as a voice actor and as a later sidekick to Gene Autry, it is this quote that seems his greatest legacy. It is in nearly every single commentary about the Rural Purge that I’ve read (including this one).

Buddy Ebsen as Jed Clampett from The Beverly Hillbillies is seen here in better days before the Rural Purge (in fact, he's just discovered “Texas Tea” and is about to get rich in this screen capture from the serie’s opening). The Beverly Hillbillies © Viacom.

In Buttram’s quote you can sense the pain mixed in with the humor. Nobody likes losing a job. The thing about the Rural Purge is the unfairness of it all. Popular shows like The Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres chopped down while still vital and sturdy… well, that’s just wrong. But it’s not quite so straightforward as that. The tale of the Purge, both the truth and the wily bits, begins with an amiable rural story… about a sporting event.

The Deacon Makes His Debut

In 1952, Andy Griffith, born June 1, 1926 on the “wrong side of the tracks” of Mount Airy, North Carolina, was not a household name. However, by the next year a recording of his monologue, “What it Was, Was Football,” reached #9 on the Billboard charts. The record told the story of an inexperienced preacher carried along by an eager crowd funneling into an arena to see a college football game, an event he was unfamiliar with. The short routine was full of the kindly preacher’s wonderment at the spectacle told in “Deacon” Andy Griffith’s—that’s how he’s credited—appealing Southern drawl. What it was, was a hit.

A version of Andy Griffith’s “What it Was, Was Football” was adapted into a four-page feature illustrated by George Woodbridge for MAD #40 (July 1958). It does not appear to have ever been reprinted. © EC Publications, Inc.

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Scott Saavedra's secret sanctum

From there, stage, motion picture, and TV work followed. But it was Griffith’s appearance on a popular television program that planted a small seed that would grow into a whole passel of rural comedy shows in the years that followed. The show was Make Room for Daddy (a.k.a. The Danny Thomas Show) and starred Danny Thomas (father of That Girl’s Marlo Thomas, most seen these days as National Outreach Director for St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, which the elder Thomas founded). It was an urbanbased sitcom, and in the episode “Danny Meets Andy Griffith,” Thomas’ character Danny Williams and wife Kathy (Marjorie Lord) find themselves in the quiet Southern town of Mayberry, and in a peck of trouble. As the episode begins, Williams has been pulled over by the town’s sheriff, Andy Taylor, for running a stop sign. Danny correctly points out that since he wasn’t driving on a street, how could he possibly run a stop sign? Well, Sheriff Taylor, with his wonderful syrupy drawl and wide-as-all-outdoors smile, tells Danny that the town didn’t have the money to pay for a street and all they could afford was a stop sign, so they put that up. Hyuk. Danny demands to see the Justice of the Peace. Why, sure, Andy says. C’mon inside

Mayberry Enterprises. Courtesy of Heritage.

The Andy Griffith Show © Mayberry Enterprises.

Danny Thomas Productions.

the courthouse. Andy is also the Justice of the Peace. And Danny is so outraged that, well, he gets himself locked up. This episode was a “back door” pilot (a test episode grafted into another program) for The Andy Griffith Show. Setting aside the stop sign parody of the notorious “speed trap” (itself an illegal act), if you watch this episode hoping to see the Andy Taylor we know and love, you will be mighty disappointed. I did not like this Sheriff Taylor. Not one bit. No, sir. In fairness, Danny Williams is a jerk in this episode, too… he just smiles less. But I get his outrage at the injustice. Other familiar faces appear. Ron Howard as Opie, Frances Bavier as… Henrietta Perkins (she’ll play Aunt Bee in the regular series), and Susanville, California’s favorite son (for real), Frank Cady as Will, the town drunk (later, in other shows, he’s shop owner Sam Drucker of Hooterville). The back door pilot is a success, and The Andy Griffith Show debuted on October 3, 1960, a week later than planned.

A Bountiful Harvest

The first episode of Andy Griffith’s new show was bumped from its initial broadcast due to the airing of the first live Presidential Debate on Monday, September 26, 1960. In total, there were four debates but this initial one, with Richard Nixon looking wan and almost sickly from campaigning all day (even his mother was 16

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Background photo: manfredrichter/pixbay

The Andy Griffith Show had the best characters: Don Knotts as overeager Deputy Sherriff Barney Fife and lovably naive Gomer Pyle, played by Jim Nabors. The Andy Griffith Show ©

Danny Thomas’ TV character, Danny, meets Andy Griffith’s TV character, Andy. It doesn’t begin well. Screen capture from the Make Room for Daddy episode, “Danny Meets Andy Griffith.” Make Room for Daddy ©

Scott Saavedra's secret sanctum

concerned for his health), and John F. Kennedy, looking rested (because he was) and tanned (ditto), made history. Kennedy was born into wealth and Nixon was born in 1913 into the then-very small town (pop. around 300) of Yorba Linda, California. The community got their first street four years later (no word on when they got their first stop sign). It would be hard to find a more stark illustration of the rural/urban divide in modern politics and the country. Even though both men had risen high in politics, it was Nixon who had the chip on his shoulder, in part because of his modest upbringing—he had to work hard, while everything was handed to that Ivy League son of privilege. It was not an unusual sentiment between the rural and urban divisions in America. The Andy Griffith Show made its debut a week later and was in the top ten shows for each of its eight years in original broadcast. It was the number one for its final season, which ended April 1, 1968. It was a wonderful, humane show. Andy Griffith told stories that were ultimately more focused on what we share as people than the things that divide us. That and the wonderful characters. How could anyone not like the people and the stories from Mayberry, USA? The first rural television series was actually not The Andy Griffith Show, but rather The Real McCoys (1957–1963), about a rural West Virginian family moving to an inherited ranch in California, that has that honor. But the success of the The Andy Griffith Show was the root of the tree of rural shows that followed.

When Did the Rural Purge Happen?

The year of the Rural Purge is generally given as the 1970–1971 season. Not all sources agree, suggesting instead a range of years from 1968–1975 for the purge, presumably to include the king rooster of rural programing, The Andy Griffith Show, and final season of Gunsmoke, which did have trees but took place in a city, specifically Dodge City, Kansas. A purge, however, is defined as an “abrupt or violent removal.” So I’ll stick with the shorter time span of 1970–1971.

This Norman Rockwell painting or print of “local cowboy actor” Walter Brennen (The Real McCoys) is seen at the Pleasant Valley Historical Society and Museum in Camarillo, CA. Photo by author.

The Victims

There are various lists of shows considered part of the Rural Purge. I’m basing this list of nine shows from a MeTV’s October 12, 2016 blog post, because it’s organized from first cancelled to last and because I disagree with it a bit.

Petticoat Junction © Paramount Television.

Victim #1: Petticoat Junction (premiered Sept. 24, 1963) was the first rural sitcom to be cancelled in 1970. The show was related to Green Acres and both took place near the fictional rural town of Hooterville. As a result, some characters appeared on both shows, such as mobile salesman Mr. Eustace Haney and shop owner Sam Drucker. The widow Kate Bradley (Bea Benaderet), along with her three daughters (who all appear to be the same age), run the Shady Rest Hotel, along with Uncle Joe. I can’t recall a single episode of this show beyond the familiar opening. And while, even as little kid, I could appreciate the young Bradley sisters (Billie Jo, Bobbie Jo, and Betty Jo, originally played by Jeannine Riley, Pat Woodell, and Linda Kaye Henning, respectively), my favorite character was Uncle Joe (assayed by Edgar Buchanan), who, according to the theme song, “was movin’ kinda slow at the Junction, Petticoat Junction.” I could respect that. He was someone who did his own thing. But it was not a must-watch program for me, and I didn’t even know June Lockhart became part of the cast following the demise of the popular Californiaborn Bea Benaderet (who passed in 1968) until I read about it in RetroFan #8. Ratings: The show debuted at number four, slid a bit in the ratings, and the final two seasons were not in the top 30. Victim # 2: Green Acres (premiered Sept. 15, 1965) was a deeply weird comedy, and I loved it. Oliver Wendell Douglas, a New York lawyer, wanted to leave the city and move to the country for “fresh air,” while Lisa, his glamorous wife, wanted “Times Square.” In the process they met a series of whimsical and odd local characters like the aforementioned Mr. Haney (the great Pat Buttram). (Hey, while I’m thinking of it, I would give a lot to be present to a conversation between Pat Buttram, Sterling Holloway [Winnie the Pooh] ,and Frank Morgan [the Wizard of Oz]—three great character voices of my youth. Just FYI.) RETROFAN

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Scott Saavedra's secret sanctum

because she was tiny and feisty. I also liked Ellie May (Donna Douglas), but in ways I didn’t completely understand seeing as how I was just a mite of a boy. Buddy Ebsen played the patriarch of the family, Jed Clampett, in a genial manner. Showing up a number of times as Jethro’s mother was… wait for it… Bea Benaderet. Even though the actress ran the Shady Rest near Hooterville as Kate Bradley it would be other characters from that community to made appearances on the show. Also, are you humming the show’s theme right now? I am. The Beverly Hillbillies was taken out to the shed in 1971 after nine seasons. Ratings: The Beverly Hillbillies was the number one show its first two years, but by season nine it had dropped out of the top 30.

Eddie Albert played Oliver, and though he didn’t think much of television, he the saw the appeal of the premise of getting away from the hustle and bustle of life. In an interview with TV Guide, he noted that folks had been drawn to such a concept since “Aristophanes wrote about the plebs and the city folk.” Yeah, he said that. Eva Gabor played Lisa, who had the remarkable ability to imitate Zsa Zsa Gabor (Lisa’s claim) and see the show’s credits in the air in front of her. Occasionally breaking the “fourth wall” was a neat touch and very unusual for the time. The series is said to have been a favorite of former president Dwight D. Eisenhower. Even the seal of approval from the most-liked Chief Executive in all of American history couldn’t save Green Acres, which got the axe in 1971. The creator of Green Acres, Jay Sommers, also developed a 1951 eight-episode radio show called Granby’s Green Acres, about a family moving from the big city to a dilapidated farm. It starred Gale Gordon and, well, look at that, Bea Benaderet. Ratings: Green Acres was a top 20 show for its first four years, with a sixth place ranking in its second season. The final two seasons it didn’t make the top 30. Victim #3: The Beverly Hillbillies (premiered Sept. 26, 1962) was a hugely popular sitcom about a poor family of the Ozarks who strike oil on their humble property and get rich. Blessed with one of the great pun titles of any television comedy, The Beverly Hillbillies also had a mostly appealing set of characters. Granny, played with dangerous energy by Irene Ryan, was a delight

The Beverly Hillbillies © Viacom.

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Mayberry R.F.D. © Mayberry Enterprises.

Green Acres © Filmways Television.

Victim #4: Mayberry R.F.D. (premiered Sept. 23, 1968) is a bit of an odd fish on this list. It was both a spin-off from The Andy Griffith Show and a continuation of same. Two of the leads of Mayberry R.F.D., Sam and Mike Jones (Ken Berry and Buddy Foster), were introduced as new characters in the final season of Andy Griffith to create a smoother transition from the end of one series and its continuation under a new title. To further ease the changeover, Andy Taylor and his new wife Helen Crump (Aneta Corsaut) stick around Mayberry for a bit, before moving to Charlotte, North Carolina. Several familiar characters stayed on such as Goober Pyle (George Lindsey) and Aunt Bee (for two seasons). Our

invitation to visit Mayberry was revoked in 1971. R.F.D., by the way, stands for Rural Free Delivery (a once controversial program to deliver mail directly to homes in rural areas instead of making folks go to a faraway post office to pick it up themselves). Ratings: Mayberry R.F.D. was a top ten show in years one and two and ranked a very respectable #15 rating its final year. Victim #5: Lassie (premiered Sept. 12, 1954) and ran so long that there were a number of epochs. There were the shows with Jeff, then Timmy, the Cloris Leachman shows, the June Lockhart episodes, the Forest Service shows with one guy, and the Forest Service episodes with two guys. And amazingly, in Season Seventeen, Lassie sorta just wanders around meeting other animals and stuff. We all love Lassie, but the series was not, strictly speaking, a part of the Rural Purge even though there

Lassie © Classic Media.

Scott Saavedra's secret sanctum

Hee Haw’s Gordie Tapp (LEFT) and Archie Campbell (RIGHT) singing the popular, ever-changing, and spitty “PFFT! You Was Gone.” Hee Haw © Gaylord Program Services, Inc.

were, in fact, plenty of trees on view (not all of them real, but you take my point). If we remember that a proper purge passes promptly, Lassie was cancelled in 1973, two years after the actual Rural Purge. Ratings: Lassie spent its latter network seasons out of the top 30.

Hogan’s Heroes © Viacom.

Victim #6: Hogan’s Heroes (premiered Sept. 17, 1965). No. I enjoyed this show, but this sitcom about an international group of Allied

Where, oh where, are you tonight? Why did you leave me here all alone? I searched the world over and thought I’d found true love, You met another and PFFT! You was gone! Some familiar rural show faces turned up on Hee Haw like Gunilla Hutton (a former Billie Jo Bradley on Petticoat Junction), Jack Burns (who briefly played Barney Fife's replacement on The

Hee Haw © Gaylord Program Services, Inc.

prisoners of war in a Nazi prison camp doesn’t qualify as rural just because it was cancelled in 1971. Ratings: Hogan’s Heroes was the number nine show its first season, but its last four years didn’t break the top 30. Victim #7: Hee Haw (premiered June 15, 1969), a rural version of Laugh-In created by Canadians with regular features and popular country guest stars. One regular segment, “Pickin’ and Grinnin’,” would showcase Buck Owens on guitar and Roy Clark on banjo making music and telling jokes. Another popular feature with a tune that is now stuck in my head (honestly, writing these articles with theme music seriously distracts the brain while working), “PFFT! You Was Gone,” was a song with changing verses and a distinctive chorus. The chorus (it’s important to note that the PFFT! represents a classic comedy wet raspberry sound) was thus:

Andy Griffith Show), and George Lindsey as himself and as Goober Pyle (another Griffith alum). CBS cancelled the program in, you guessed it, 1971, but the show would end up having the last haw. Hang on to your sitter, we’ll get to that in a bit. Ratings: Hee Haw was a top 20 show after being picked as a summer replacement for the controversial (but fondly remembered) Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. Victims #8 and #9: Bonanza (premiered Sept. 12, 1959) and Gunsmoke (premiered Sept. 10, 1955). That’s two in the “no” pocket. These shows are categorized as Westerns. Plus, and this is the important bit, they were not part of the Rural Purge’s very specific timing: the 1970–1971 television broadcasting season. I’m sticking hard on that. They were great shows, though, and two of the longest-running programs in television history, with NBC’s RETROFAN

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Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. © Paramount Television.

Scott Saavedra's secret sanctum

(LEFT) Bonanza promo art and (RIGHT) signed photo of James Arness, star of Gunsmoke. Both were two of the longest-running shows in the U.S. market. Bonanza © NBCUniversal. Gunsmoke © Viacom.

Bonanza at 14 seasons (and an amazing 431 episodes) and Gunsmoke at 20 seasons (and a jaw-dropping 635 episodes). Bonanza was cancelled in 1973, Gunsmoke in 1975. They earned their rest. Fun Fact: Gunsmoke began as a radio show in 1952 (ending in 1961, so, yeah, Gunsmoke existed on both radio and TV for a time), with William Conrad as Marshall Matt Dillon and Howard McNear (Floyd the Barber! Floyd the Barber!) as Doc Charles Adams.

It featured Nabors singing and acting in skits with regulars from Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., Ronnie Schell [interviewed in RetroFan #12] and Frank Sutton, Sgt. Carter himself. Guests of the show included Andy Griffith, Minnie Pearl, and Tennessee Ernie Ford. The show was cancelled in 1971 (no, not due to the Rural Purge but part of a variety show purge—there was one but it doesn’t have its own name, so sometimes these shows are added to the Rural Purge—I am not kidding, and it chaps my hide). The Victim Everybody Forgets: The New Andy Griffith Show (premiered Jan. 8, 1971). Griffith plays Andy Sawyer, the mayor of fictional Greenwood, North Carolina. This time he has a wife, played by Lee Meriwether. The show had some of the feel of the not-new Andy Griffith Show, which worked against it. Cancellation came just a few months later, on May 21, 1971. It was actually Griffith’s second failed show in as many years. The other, Headmaster, was a dramatic series quickly given the axe.

Counting Our Chickens

Even removing the Westerns, Nazi prison camp, and a dog show not cancelled in the 1970–1971 season, we end up with five rural programs broadcast on the CBS network that were abruptly

Mr. Ed © Viacom.

Two last “victims”: Some sources list Mister Ed (1961–1966) as part of the purge since it had a horse, I guess. It was also broadcast by CBS (sometimes called the “Country Broadcasting System” by bullies) like Green Acres and all the rest, after debuting in syndication, which was highly unusual. It was cancelled in 1966, way ahead of the purge. Another program, a spin-off of The Andy Griffith Show, was Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., not specifically rural but featuring a very good-natured, rural-born character played by the equally goodnatured performer, Jim Nabors. But Gomer Pyle was cancelled in 1969 despite being a top ten show for its entire run. At the time the Vietnam War was increasingly contentious, making a military-set show awkward, but Nabors wanted to move on to other challenges, so, goodbye U.S.M.C. That other challenge turned out to be The Jim Nabors Hour, a variety program on CBS. 20

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Jim Nabors (RIGHT) sings "Blowin' in the Wind" in a 1969 episode of Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. Rob Reiner plays Moondog (LEFT), with Leigh French as Michele (CENTER). Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. © Paramount Television.

Scott Saavedra's secret sanctum

cancelled and cast aside and one that was a honest-to-gosh failure. So yes, there was Rural Purge of actual rural-themed shows, just fewer than most believe. However… where I diverge from the common wisdom on the purge is that it was due to the to the rural nature of the shows. There were other factors as well. But first, let’s have a look at those responsible for the purge, our villains.

The Good for Nuthin’ Snakes in the Hen House

Fred Silverman (the Hitman). He’s the main bad guy because we know his name and know he was directly associated with the purge. He was actually a high-level henchman. It was CBS President Robert Wood who promoted Silverman to Vice President, Programs, with the job of sweeping out all of the shows that attracted audiences that weren’t responding to advertiser’s commercials. Who decided who the undesirable viewers were?

(LEFT) Fred Silverman made the cover of Time a few years (and at a different network) after the Rural Purge. © TIME USA, LLC. All Rights Reserved. (RIGHT) A. C. Nielsen, creator of the Nielsen Rating System, as he appeared on CBS's What's My Line? game show in 1964. The urbane, erudite What's My Line ended its network run in 1967. © Goodson-Todman Productions.

Advertisers (the Client). You can’t have “free” television without them and their dang commercials. They had new ideas about who they wanted network shows to be targeted to, and it wasn’t the folks watching The Beverly Hillbillies and their backwoods ken (rude). These people didn’t even like boys because they had no money (I found no mention of their lack of interest in girls). How did they know who was watching the shows? Nielsen TV ratings (the Weapon). A measuring system that had improved considerably since its early days as a data collector of radio audiences. Nielsen had separated information about who was watching what into better-defined demographic groups than it had been able to previously achieve. This improvement, combined with advertisers’ own research, led to more targeted information that brought demands for shows that provided the most loose-with-money audiences for broadcasters. The Big Round-Up So that’s the Rural Purge. CBS had six rural programs that didn’t fit in with its advertisers’ desires for programming that would

attract non-old people who wanted to be told what things to buy. Seems straightforward, right? Ratings didn’t matter—most of the rural shows were doing well enough. It was mostly about making more money. If advertisers sell more product, they’re happy. If television networks can sell advertising for more money because it’s more effective, they’re happy too. And if audiences lose rural shows, then they’re happy too! Wait, what?

Land of Milk and Automobiles

Growing up, I lived in a valley. Not one of those beautiful green valleys you might see in a movie or, more to the point, a rural-set television show. My family lived in the San Fernando Valley, which the residents of the sprawling adjacent city of Los Angeles (where I was born) referred to dismissively as “The Valley” as if we lived far away from where all the cool action was (we did). The Valley

The Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc. (CBS) was a ratings leader and often referred to as the Tiffany Network. Prior to the purge it was also mocked as the Country Broadcasting System. The CBS Eyemark, a design classic, is based in part on a Pennsylvania Dutch Hex Sign. © CBS.

was primarily composed of asphalt and cement and cars. I lived in the Encino section of The Valley. It wasn’t a city or town but rather a vague—to me—area that bumped up against another vague area such as Tarzana (where Tarzan’s creator Edgar Rice Burroughs had a ranch back when The Valley had ranches). In the last 176 years, Encino’s greatest contribution to popular culture was in being the home to the “Valley Girl,” a type that actually existed (totally), and as the home of Bud Abbott, Edward Everett Horton (when I was very young he lived just down the street with the 101 freeway running through his backyard—true), and David Hasselhoff, among others. It’s true that the RKO Encino Ranch used to be about a block away from my parents’ rental home in Encino, but movies filmed there like It’s A Wonderful Life were not reflections of an Encino existence but of other, lovelier places. Besides, the studio was torn down and replaced by houses long before my family came to the area. My point, and I’ve got it here somewhere, is that I didn’t live the rural life. We were so far removed from rural that a farm exhibition trailer came to our grade school with a chicken and a cow and a cat once every year. My school was named after the RETROFAN

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wife of a dairy-farm owner whose operation had moved out of The Valley years before. But if I’m being honest (and I am), I rather enjoyed playing on asphalt and concrete and watching the cars drive by. And yet… man, did I love those rural television comedies. But I didn’t miss them after they were cancelled.

The Aftermath

The Rural Purge was part of a larger shift in television broadcasting. Around the same time, primetime game shows like What’s My Line? and To Tell the Truth were cancelled (there is no known term for this purge). Variety shows were getting kicked off the stage too. In addition to The Jim Nabors Hour, The Red Skelton Show got cancelled by CBS, despite being a top ten show. It moved to NBC and was cancelled too. ABC cancelled the unhip Lawrence Welk Show in 1971 after an 11-year run (in the 1968–1969 season Lawrence Welk tied with the Mod Squad in the ratings—make of that what you will). So, you see, it wasn’t all about the rural. The real name for all of the programming upheaval should be “The

Mary Tyler Moore Show/Bob Newhart Show © M-T-M Productions.

Networks Change Their Target Demographics Purge.” It’s not catchy, but it’s more accurate. Other pressures were forming. One was social. There was just a general change of mood among the public. The good-natured shows still had appeal, but the audience being courted had a different itch to scratch and the networks obliged them. And even though I was one of those boys with no money sitting in front of the television, I responded very well to the new shows that replaced the great rural shows. The Mary Tyler Moore Show replaced Petticoat Junction. All in the Family soon followed. The Bob Newhart Show, M.A.S.H., and many other new classics filled the void. In time I loved those shows just as much as the programs they replaced. The other thing was a change in broadcasting rules. The first hour of what had been primetime (7pm–11pm) was taken from the national networks and given to the local broadcasters to

The Lawrence Welk Show © The Welk Group, Inc.

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They live on in reruns. (LEFT TO RIGHT) Sam Drucker (Frank Cady), Floyd Smoot (Rufe Davis), and Mr. Haney (Pat Buttram) occasionally crossed paths on Green Acres and Petticoat Junction. Green Acres © Filmways Television. Petticoat Junction © Paramount Television.

use. The downside of this is that the networks had to cut back on programming, which didn’t work out well for rural shows, but on the upside the extra hour each day allowed a couple of cancelled shows to return. The Lawrence Welk Show and Hee Haw had good, long runs in syndication (prompting Roy Clark to write a song, “The Lawrence Welk–Hee Haw Counter-Revolution Polka”). The rest of the old rural shows went into reruns with the best, like The Andy Griffith Show, practically never leaving the air. In fact, variety shows didn’t all immediately disappear. The Carol Burnett Show began in 1967 and ran until 1978. Game shows eventually came back, and even rural shows returned successfully with The Waltons, Little House on the Prairie, and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, which were hits. Non-traditional Westerns were popular too, such as McCloud (starring Dennis Weaver, formerly of Gunsmoke), part of the NBC Mystery Movies with a rotating line-up, and continue to this day, as fans of The Mandalorian can confirm. Even mean ol’ Fred Silverman, after being an executive at each of the three networks, eventually had a later-in-life career as a producer of TV shows. One was Matlock, a dramatic, Southernbased mystery series that was Andy Griffith’s final hit show. Ultimately, can you hate a guy who, while at CBS, green-lit Scooby-Doo? And that’s my tale of the Rural Purge. When you get right down to the nut of it, what it was, was that shows we loved were replaced with shows we would love. Thanks for stopping by the Secret Sanctum. I’ve still got more tales to tell. Y’all come back now, hear! SCOTT SAAVEDRA is a Retro Explorer operating from his Southern California-based Secret Sanctum. He is a writer (more or less), artist (occasionally), and graphic designer (you’re soaking in it). Check out his Instagram thing, won’t you, at instagram/scottsaav/ Scott is seen here c.1968 not watching television for some reason and listening to his oven mitt.

RETRO TELEVISION

Goober and the Truckers’ Paradise by Michael Eury

“looks good enough to bury” in his brown pin-striped suit he wore on several Griffith and R.F.D. episodes (the suit is currently in the Andy Griffith Museum in Mount Airy, North Carolina; see RetroFan #1). Goob attempts to make friends with the surly truckers who don’t seem to cotton to this stranger in town. Kentucky-gal-madegood Leigh French, who boasts numerous credits in front of and behind the camera including sound work for Oscar-nominated movies, had recently acted in another redneck fable, the 1977 movie The Great Smokey Roadblock, before donning a ceiling-scraping beehive wig for the role of Pearl. The pilot’s cast also reveals that there’s a pile of Pyles: another sister (who’s also a mechanic!), Toni Pyle (Lindsay Bloom), and Goober’s niece, Becky Pyle (Audrey Landers). Plus there’s a not-too-bright deputy, actor John Chappel as Eagle Keyes, and a waitress, Sandie Newton as Charlene. The show’s main set is fun, reminiscent of Alice’s Mel’s Diner with… well, a little less class, as a CB radio and a couple of pinball machines are on view. Goober and the Truckers’ Paradise was promoted with Lindsey as Goober alongside his three lovely co-starring actresses—sort of “Goober and the Hee Haw Honeys.” It’s probably unfair to judge a pilot by only three and a half minutes, but from what I saw of the limited footage available, Goober and the Truckers’ Paradise borrows from the then-popular Hee Haw, Alice, and Smokey and the Bandit, forgetting to transplant the heart from The Andy Griffith Show: character-based, not joke-based, situational humor. The good ol’ boys hangin’ out at the truck stop in these first few minutes are unlikeable stereotypes with mean-spirited one-liners that should’ve sent ol’ Goob packin’. I reckon they did, since the pilot flopped and Goober—along with Gomer— made his Return to Mayberry in the Griffith Show’s ratings-smash 1986 reunion telefilm. Still, if you’ve got a few minutes for a curiosity, watch the Goober and the Truckers’ Paradise segment on YouTube. It’ll make ya “thank” (to borrow from cousin Gomer) about a missed opportunity. And if you do, tell ol’ Goob that Michael says “Hey!” © CBS.

Maybe you remember Goober and the Ghost Chasers, one of HannaBarbera’s attempts to clone its own cartoon hit, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! But you’re forgiven if you don’t recall Goober and the Truckers’ Paradise, one of TV’s most obscure spin-offs. This series pilot aired only once, on May 17, 1978, in primetime on CBS. The Goober in question here is not a blue-furred paranormal pooch from Saturday morning television but instead the erstwhile operator of a “fillin’ station” in Mayberry, North Carolina—Goober Pyle (actor George Lindsey), the add-on cast member of The Andy Griffith Show and mainstay of its continuation, Mayberry R.F.D. (as well as random appearances as Goober on Hee Haw). As Andy Griffith rerun watchers know, Goober Pyle was originally an unseen character, mentioned by his cousin, Gomer Pyle (Jim Nabors)—but as Nabors was transitioning out of Griffith into his own spin-off, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., Goober finally made his first appearance in a 1964 Griffith episode, the only time the Griffith series featured the Pyle cousins together (they charmed the Fun Girls, by the way). With his crumpled beany cap and rubbery smile, Goober, the dimwitted gas jockey, replaced Gomer, the dimwitted gas jockey-turned-Marine. The Rural Sitcom Purge of 1970 might’ve put TV’s country comedies out to pasture, but no matter how big for their britches CBS and the other networks got in the Seventies, movin’ on up to the East Side and making it after all, cornpone humor refused to die. As explored in RetroFan #12’s RetroFad column, the CB Radio craze of the Seventies and early Eighties made country cool again—and gave the Alabama-born George Lindsey and his collaborators, including producer/co-writer Rich Eustus and cowriter April Kelly, the notion to spin off good ol’ Goob into a show all his own. I don’t recall seeing Goober and the Truckers’ Paradise back in the day. I was in college in ’78 and not watching a lot of primetime. And as of this writing only its theme song (by this issue’s Celebrity Crush, Ray Stevens) and the first few minutes of the 30-minute pilot can be viewed, on YouTube. The premise: Goober has left Mayberry at the invitation of his sister, Pearl Pyle, to help run a roadside diner outside of Atlanta. It’s not a “country boy in the big city” concept, though, as the rough-edged truckers hanging out at the truck stop—with handles like Catfish, T-Bone, and Troll—make ol’ Goob seem sophisticated by comparison. In the opening scene, Lindsey as Goober hangs up his oil-stained mechanic’s gear and cap and

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July 2021

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RETRO BRIT

… s r ta S t s e u G l ia c e p S y With Our Ver

s t e p p u The M by Ian Millsted

Ian Millsted continues his occasional Retro Brit series exploring the crossover zone of the Venn diagram of British and American retro culture. This time the focus is on a classic hit on both sides of the Atlantic. Yes, folks, it’s The Muppet Show.

Really, you’ll never be too old for these fuzzy guys. © Disney.

My friend Danny saw The Muppet Show before I did. It was the fall of 1976 and I was ten years old. Prime age for a comedy puppet show, perhaps, although I don’t think I need to convince RetroFan readers that The Muppet Show works for a prime age anywhere from five to a hundred. In any case, I took the hint from Danny and started watching whenever I could. We both got the humor from the start and were not alone, as the series went on to become a huge success. What makes The Muppet Show of special interest to this column is that it was, despite appearances, a British television program. How did that happen? The story really starts with two remarkable people, Jim Henson and Lew Grade. Jim Henson had been making television programs and appearances with various puppets, under his brand name of Muppets, since the late Fifties, but with a profile raised by regular usage on Sesame Street from 1969 onwards. He was looking for ways of reaching a more adult or primetime audience for some years, but by the mid-Seventies this had mostly been limited to various specials and the late-night appearances on the first season of Saturday Night Live. However, his approaches to the three U.S. networks for a regular series had not been met with favorable responses. Fortunately, there were other options. Lew Grade was born Louis Winogradsky in Russia in 1906 but moved, with his family, to London five years later. His earliest forays into RETROFAN

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retro brit

the world of show business were as a dancer. He was the World Charleston Champion in 1926, and although he retired from dancing due to injury he was still capable of performing a decent Charleston decades later when appearing on TV chat shows despite being in his 80s. After that, Grade became an agent, specializing in booking U.S. talent for U.K. theater performances. In that capacity, his contacts book soon built up to include just about anyone who was anybody. In 1955 he formed ATV, which was part of the ITV network in the U.K., as well as a subsidiary company, ITC, which was designed to promote and sell programs into the American market. An early success was The Adventures of Robin Hood (1955–1959), which starred Richard Greene and covertly made use of several scriptwriters who had been blacklisted from work in America for allegedly having communist sympathies. More hits, and a few misses, followed. Grade was an old-schoolstyle producer, cigar in mouth and handshake deals to the fore. He combined a good sense of what the public wanted with an ability to spot talent put his trust in others abilities. He funded Gerry Anderson in making Thunderbirds and the other puppet action shows (see RetroFan #5) and gave Patrick McGoohan a free hand to create The Prisoner. Jim Henson’s working relationship with Lew Grade started when the Muppets appeared as guests on the TV special Julie: My Favorite Things with Julie Andrews. This was produced in England for broadcast by ITV in the U.K. and ABC in the U.S. (in April 1975). Grade saw the potential in the Muppets, liked Henson’s proposals based on a variety-theater format (the very background in which Grade himself had both performed and booked talent for in his former careers), and commissioned a first series of 26 episodes. Jim Henson assembled the brilliant puppeteers and writers to make the shows. Many of these worked on the show and subsequent movies for years afterwards. Finding guest stars initially proved more difficult. Why would established stars choose to appear on such a program whose success was not yet known and in a format in which they could well be out of their comfort zones? I confess that as a ten-year-old watching the 1976–1977 series, I was occasionally bemused by the sequence of guest stars that I’d never heard of. Still, if Kermit the Frog told me someone was a star of Broadway or of country music, well, I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. The guests all

Muppet master Jim Henson, (ABOVE) shown with his puppet creations early in their careers, (RIGHT) and in the Eighties. Muppets © Disney. Signed Christmas photo courtesy of Heritage.

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Henson’s “Land of Gorch” Muppet characters, from Season One of NBC’s Saturday Night Live. Muppets © Disney. SNL © NBC.

entered into the spirit of what they were doing. I did, however, know Peter Ustinov and Vincent Price and that first series also included Bruce Forsyth who was one of the biggest stars of British television at the time, but probably less well known to viewers of CBS Television, which aired The Muppet Show in America. By the end of 1976, only halfway through the first series, The Muppet Show was getting 14 million viewers in Britain and being sold all around the world (it would be shown in over a hundred different countries in the years it was being made, and has probably added a few since then). Muppet merchandise started to appear from Christmas 1976 onwards. Danny, the friend mentioned earlier, became the proud owner of The Muppet Show album, and he wasn’t alone as the LP went to number one in the

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Can you name these celebrity guest stars hobnobbing with Kermit, Miss Piggy, and friends in these screencaps from The Muppet Show? © Disney.

album charts in the U.K., while a single featuring “Halfway Up the Stairs” and the all-too catchy “Mah Na Mah Na” reached number eight. Neither charted highly in the U.S., perhaps reflecting the different ways the charts were calculated. The U.K. music charts were based purely on sales, with no element of radio plays. My favorite track at the time was Gonzo eating a tire to the tune of “The Flight of the Bumblebee.” Meanwhile, my brother bought me a poster of Miss Piggy. (Time to start my entry for the Celebrity Crushes section of this magazine, perhaps?). Miss Piggy—what a woman… well, pig… well, you know what I mean. One of the Muppets appearances outside of their own series became legendary when Kermit and Miss Piggy guested on Parkinson, the top talk show in Britain. This is easily found on YouTube and well worth a watch for some “Pigs in Space,” one of the series’ most popular segments (at least here in RetroFan Land). © Disney.

outrageous flirting by both Michael Parkinson and Miss Piggy as well as being an opportunity to see how brilliant both Jim Henson and Frank Oz were as puppeteers. By the second season, the quest for guest stars had completely reversed, with stars now eager to appear. The combination of wide exposure and the opportunity to comedy or musical turns they wouldn’t otherwise be offered was attractive indeed. Even before Rudolph Nureyev offered his services (“Swine Lake,” anyone?) there had been appearances by Julie Andrews, Peter Sellers, and Elton John in consecutive weeks. How can you not like Elton performing “Crocodile Rock” with a backing group of Muppet crocodiles? John Cleese tried to enforce a “no pigs” clause. Steve Martin had the crew laughing so much they used some of it for the actual soundtrack. Bob Hope may have recorded his show while in Britain for the golf, but he looked like he was enjoying it. Season Two also introduced one of my favorite strands of the program in “Pigs in Space,” with the aforementioned Miss Piggy joined by Link Hogthrop and Dr. Julius Strangepork. The guests for Season Three were, if anything, even more diverse. One week, Raquel Welch and the next, Alice Cooper. That Cooper fit right in what was a family show indicated just how anarchically creative The Muppet Show was. He could be outrageous and still have his scenes stolen by Muppet monsters. RetroFan favorite Cheryl Ladd The Muppet Show used her appearance ` No. of seasons: Five to show there was ` No. of episodes: 120 more to her as a ` Original run: September 5, 1976– performer than she May 23, 1981 had the opportunity ` Production companies: to display on Associated Television, Henson Charlie’s Angels. It is Associates, ITV interesting to note ` Production location: ATV Elstree, that, while some Borehamwood, England stars filmed their guest spots while in Spin-offs: England for other Far too many to list, including eight film or stage work, (as of this writing) theatrical movies. many were coming Muppets forever! just to do The Muppet Show. My father

FA ST FAC TS

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was impressed to see Western stars Roy Rogers and Dale Evans appear, reminding him of the films he’d watched when they were all younger. Of more recent vintage was Sylvester Stallone, very much on the upward curve of his career as a film star, and possibly also using the show to broaden his audience. Spike Milligan, a household name in the U.K. but possibly less well known in the U.S., was exactly the type of zany comedian who fitted in with the Muppets like a glove. Indeed, Milligan appeared in almost every item in that particular episode. Victor Borge managed a similar high percentage of screen time when he appeared in Season Four. A neat bit of serendipity occurred when John Denver guested in December 1979, just a couple of weeks before rival channel BBC showed Denver’s own U.S.-made special on which the Muppets guested. If you like the Muppets, or John Denver for that matter, they were never far away. Fans of screen super-heroes were spoiled for choice with consecutive appearances first by Christopher Reeve and then Lynda Carter. Reeve was in London filming Superman II at Pinewood Studios, not far from the Elstree (Borehamwood) Studios, where The Muppet Show was made. An even shorter journey was required for guest star Mark Hamill as The Empire Strikes Back was being made on other stages at Borehamwood. One episode that is unlikely to be rerun on any U.K. channel is one of the last to appear. When planned guest Richard Pryor was unable to make the recording of his episode, the scripts were rapidly rewritten to allow Chris Langham, one of the scriptwriting team, to step up. Langham was an experienced performer in front of camera and had been one of the main cast in the first series of Not the Nine O’Clock News, with Rowan Atkinson and others. Langham’s career subsequently went on an upward trend before crashing down when he was convicted of downloading pedophilic images to his computer. More happily, the Muppets, Jim Henson and his team, and Lew Grade had all made the jump to the movies. Lew Grade had made some tentative steps into the film world from the late Sixties onwards by editing episodes of The Saint (see RetroFan #14) and Danger Man into film format for international cinema release. From the mid-Seventies onwards, he entered into the medium wholeheartedly. Initially, this was very successful, with films such as The Return of the Pink Panther seeing good box-office business. The received wisdom is that Grade, and his production company ITC, failed, but the facts don’t fully bear that out. Although there 28

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A beautiful painting by Dick Walz produced for a Muppet Show book. (INSET) Kermit and company become box office stars in 1979’s The Muppet Movie! © Disney. Both, courtesy of Heritage.

were commercial failures such as The Legend of the Lone Ranger and Raise the Titanic, he also produced, or executive-produced, films such as On Golden Pond and Sophie’s Choice. I greatly enjoyed the Grade-produced Capricorn One and The Dark Crystal, among others. The Muppet Movie is a great movie by any standards. It manages the tricky transition from small screen success to legitimate movie with a strong script, good pacing, and fun songs. Grade is affectionately parodied on screen as the character Lew Lord, portrayed by none other than Orson Welles. The Muppet Show ended in 1981. By then I was approaching 15, but would still have watched new episodes if they had been made. The Muppets’ future appeared to be in movies, but as it turned out they have flourished across the range of media, probably hitting a high point with A Muppet Christmas Carol. My aim has been to provide a personal response to the initial period of Muppet success. However, it has been a pleasure to pass on my love of the Muppets to my daughter, who has in turn found Muppet gems I wasn’t aware of such as the advertisement for giant crumpets (search for Warburtons Giant Crumpets—it’s worth two minutes of anyone’s time. Other crumpets are available). Whichever side of the Atlantic takes ownership of The Muppet Show, in reality it is something that brings people together. The talent that Jim Henson assembled displayed brilliance in all they did. Credit is due to them and to Brian Henson and all the others that followed on. At this point I turn to Mr. Stadtler and Mr. Waldorf for a final quote. Erm, gentlemen? Sorry, not sure we can print that. IAN MILLSTED is a teacher and writer based in Bristol, England. He is pleased that he learned at an early age that pigs can be stars and that eating a tyre to “The Flight of the Bumblebee” is a perfectly valid thing to do, but only if you’re the Great Gonzo.

RETRO INTERVIEW

Somebody’s Gotta Play the Bad Guy An Interview with

Daniel “Rolf” Truhitte by Rose Rummel-Eury

Within four weeks of its premiere in 1965, The Sound of Music became the #1 box office movie in America. By 1968, while my dad was concerned about the burgeoning drug culture in our northern California town, I was twirling around in the backyard, singing, “The Hills Are Alive.” This movie lives in my heart. It has everything! Beauty! Danger! Nuns! Children just like me, except they can sing! And… romance. I’m not talking about the boring romance between the Captain and Maria. No, no, no. The stirrings in my heart originated from the looks that Liesl and Rolf shared in the gazebo.

(ABOVE) The hills are alive… with amore! The Italian poster for The Sound of Music promoted the Rolf/Liesl romance. Poster art by Enzo Niestri. © 20th Century Studios. Poster courtesy of Heritage. (RIGHT) Dan Truhitte today.

Fifty years after the movie opened, the editor of this magazine held a local-history fundraiser in Concord, North Carolina, and Daniel Truhitte—happily relocated to the South by that time—volunteered his time and talents to help. Michael and I got to know Dan and his wife TJ. I am very happy to report that Dan is not a Nazi in real life, but he is one of the nicest guys around. RetroFan: Dan, you were an unknown when cast as “Rolf” in The Sound of Music, yet you obviously had acting, singing, and dancing talent. What’s your background? Dan Truhitte: My maternal grandfather was a Pentecostal minister and my mother and her three sisters sang at church—so music was always a part of my family’s life from pretty early on. When I was little, my mother took my sisters to dance class at the Crockett Dance Studio and I went with her. The head of the studio, Dean Crockett, offered me a scholarship—which I didn’t

A Hollywood Reporter announcement of Daniel Truhitte’s hire as “Rolf” in the screen version of The Sound of Music. All images accompanying this article, with the exception of the movie poster, are courtesy of Dan Truhitte.

even ask for! Mr. Crockett was the father of two little girls—Leslie and Allison—who later became professional dancers. He said he would give me lessons and I would partner with his daughters. He said I could take tap, I could take tumbling—but I would also have to take some ballet. My mother and family agreed and I agreed, so I started taking classes when I was six years old. I loved it! There were many fine song-and-dance men: Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Dan Daily, Gene Nelson, Danny Kaye—I got to see it all and be a part of. It was what I wanted to do and so I stayed with it. RF: When did you add singing? DT: The voice part didn’t start until I was about ten years old. I had begun competing in talent contests. I’d tap dance and do tricks and practically wipe myself out and then some girl would come along and sing some song and would always win! RETROFAN

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My mother bought one of the first record cutters and recorded me from the get-go. I won a scholarship to the Sacramento Ballet when I was 15 and another scholarship was offered for me to study ballet in San Francisco that I didn’t accept. I knew at that young age that I really wanted to be a song-and-dance man.

I decided, “Okay, that’s that. I’m going to start taking voice lessons.” I think I had a naturally good voice, but had just never paid much attention to it since I was working on dancing. I started lessons at ten with Grace Ziegler, and then with Dr. Harry Pearson, who was really my main voice teacher and the one who taught me how to sing. I had a nice soprano voice and loved singing. Harry was very kind, well educated, and so nice. He was also a devout Adventist and he took me to churches where I would sing “The Last Rose of Summer” to little old ladies: “‘Tis the last rose of summer left blooming alone. All her lovely companions are faded and gone…” Years later, I understood why he had me sing that song as it was referring to elderly people who lost all their loved ones and were all alone. Harry has passed on and I look forward to seeing him again in heaven. I was very successful. I was a lead in a Menotti opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors. They had another opera for me, but by the time I was 14, my voice was jumping all over the place, so I couldn’t do it. It took a while to get my voice settled, but I just worked at it with Harry Pearson. I am lucky to have something not many in the industry likely have: recordings of my singing from the time I was ten years old.

RF: What did you do after high school? DT: I attended a special program at the Pasadena Playhouse and won their summer competition for a scholarship to attend the Pasadena Playhouse as an actor. After that, I was offered a chance to participate in dinner theater musicals at the Sheridan Palace in San Francisco like Bells Are Ringing with Celeste Holm. I spent three or four months there. Then I went back to college at Sacramento State. I found an agent—Dick Pinner—and worked at the Hollywood Palace, where I performed with people like Eleanor Powell and Tony Bennett. I was also featured in multiple theater productions at the California Musical Theater’s Music Circus in 1961 or 1962. RF: How were you cast in the role of Rolf Gruber in The Sound of Music? DT: I was rehearsing for a play at the Hollywood Palace and somebody said, “They are casting for this one movie part, ‘Rolf Gruber,’ who sings and dances.” At the time, I was studying voice in L.A. with a teacher—Dr. Hedley, whom I must give credit. I told my agent about the part and he got me an audition—but it wasn’t much of an audition. I was in a long line of about 500 young men—all blonds— and they were running about 15 to 20 seconds of film footage and sending it off to Richard Rodgers, the music composer. So, I did it and mine was sent off… and I never heard anything. I was a little disappointed because I never got a chance to show them I could sing. I never had a chance to show them I could dance. Serendipitously, Dick Pinner went to a party also attended by the dialogue coach for the movie, Pamela

(ABOVE) Dan at seven years old, performing in a ballet for the Dean Crockett Dance Studio. (RIGHT) Promotional still of Truhitte as Rolf, in his Nazi uniform. The Sound of Music © 20th Century Studios. 30

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Danova. (They needed a speech coach for the movie because the kids had a slight English accent. They wanted a little bit of an accent, but not a typical Germanic sound.) Dick told her, “I’ve got this wonderful Liesl.” She said, “Well, this film is actually cast; it’s done. We have a Liesl, we don’t have a Rolf.” He said, “I have somebody.” He sent her my photo and she said, “I’ll set up a meeting with him.” I think I went in to meet Pamela the very next day because they were desperate to find a Rolf. She liked me and took me over to Argyle Productions, which was [director] Bob Wise’s Production Company—just a little home on the lot. I met Bob and also Saul Chaplin, the associate producer. I didn’t

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realize what a great man Saul Chaplin was then—he had a great background in musical theater. Years later, I learned that Saul helped write a song by the singer I remember most of all from my childhood—Al Jolson—“Anniversary Song.” [singing] “Oh, how we danced the night that we wed….” Anyway, they had me read the last scene in the picture. They were having trouble with the idea that someone who sings and dances could portray a Nazi! After I did that scene, they sent me to the choreographers Marc Breaux and Dee Dee Wood, where I performed a dance audition. (Julie Andrews brought over that married couple and many others from Mary Poppins.) By then, I was a very well trained dancer in tap, jazz, and ballet. My audition was simple: They didn’t want me and Charmian [Carr, who played Liesl] to look like two dancers, they wanted us to look like two young people in love, just having a lot of fun. They sent me back to Bob Wise with an “A” in dancing. Then they sent me to make-up, where they sprayed my hair blond. Bob said, “Dan, we’re going to give you a personality test because we don’t have time for a screen test. We’ve already started the movie.” I went into the studio and it was full of very important people. He put me in front of the camera and said, “Just start talking—be normal.” I said, “Bob, do you mind if I sing?” He said, “I didn’t know you sang. What do you want to sing?” I said, “Sixteen, Going on Seventeen.” So I sang it and at the end, they were all smiling. The next day, I had a contract! Incredible! I was a complete unknown. RF: I was heartbroken when Rolf chose to stay with the Nazis instead of escaping with the Von Trapp family. That scene resulted in a collective sorrowful gasp heard

around the world! Rolf had seemed like such a nice guy—handsome, sweet, he sang and danced beautifully. How did you prepare for playing a character that transitioned from romantic love interest to traitor? DT: There aren’t many song-anddance man movie roles where the character ends up being the heavy. The last scene I filmed was actually the gazebo scene and the first scene I filmed was the The first rehearsal with Charmian Carr as Liesl and Dan Nazi scene. I had a Truhitte as Rolf. To the left of Liesl is Sound of Music producer complete character Saul Chaplin; to her right is star Christopher Plummer. change. I didn’t have to study my character in terms of an actor because of pulling off to figure out how to go from nice to bad. that scene. The director had the character change Also, looking at the progression from done in reverse. I shot backwards. When I the moviegoer’s angle, the costuming was cast, the first scene they set up for me helped guide the transition from good to shoot was the last scene of the picture. to bad. I’ve never really talked about this That scene was a complete rewrite— with anybody else, but the costuming for Ernest Lehman had rewritten the script Rolf was very interesting. When I started because it was so Saccharine sweet and out, I had on the typical-for-that-period worked on the part of Rolf because Rolf did not turn on the family in the stage play. telegraph boy uniform. The next time you So, they shot the scene where I was coming see me—the scene where the family is at the theater rehearsing to perform—I’m across the crypt area and heard a sound and hid behind a tomb. Then, they shot the in a brown shirt—which is what the Hitler youth wore. The Hitler youth spanned ages scene where I came out and pulled a luger 14 to 18, and although Rolf is not quite 18, on Christopher Plummer. We did that in my last scene in the graveyard, I am scene together. I had studied the Hitler in a full German uniform. I guess they youth, but there’s only so much studying you can do when you don’t have that many promoted me! lines. My line was, “Stay where you are, RF: The gazebo scene is a beautiful or I’ll shoot,” and then I blew the whistle. fantasy love scene and one of the all-time They didn’t know quite how to transfer timeless classics in movies. You and the the shot from me being afraid when Von late Charmian Carr (Liesl Von Trapp) Trapp first takes the gun from me, and of course, I look down in defeat. He then said, nailed it as you sang the iconic “Sixteen Going on Seventeen.” Tell the RetroFan “You’ll never be one of them.” I looked at readers about that experience. him with great contempt, stepped back, DT: There was a certain chemistry between and then blew the whistle. They were Charmian and myself that worked well. so pleased. Reggie Callow, the assistant It just sort of flowed. First we worked in a director, said, “Dan, you have nothing to wonderfully believable set. Then, Marc worry about. That was incredible.” That Breaux and Dee Dee Wood set up how was an important scene and an important to move and where to go, “stick out your role to be able to play. I got a lot of respect RETROFAN

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hand,” “look at your hand when she pulls it away,” etc. A lot of it wasn’t even really directed. It was almost spontaneously done. Then it started to rain and we had to go into the gazebo. That whole scene was set up and directed by Marc and Dee Dee. We just had a lot of fun and that really came through to the moviegoers. We did 20 or so takes, but not because something didn’t come through correctly. They just had to shoot a lot of different angles: We had dialogue and reaction shots and they had to move the camera to the right places for different shots while we danced. (One reason why Bob Wise was a brilliant director is that he started out as a film editor, so he knew exactly what to do and what to put together. So, when it all came together, it became the magic that is a part of American theater classic film.) RF: When the movie premiered, what was the reaction from the public? DT: I arrived—in terms of my career. However, I didn’t go to the opening. About two months after the movie wrapped up, I joined the U.S. Marine Corps. You want to talk about a transition! While everyone else was going to a premiere, I was in Marine boot camp. I tell everybody, “As if playing a Nazi wasn’t punishment enough—then I joined the Marines!” [chuckles] I joined as a reservist and had regular duty for six months. I was offered a commission as an officer. I was offered a chance to get into flight school, which I turned down. My final training was in intelligence in Norfolk, Virginia. After I got out, I just went to my regular monthly reservist meetings. RF: What made you decide to miss the opening? DT: I didn’t know that I would miss it! My agent, who was a retired U.S. Army captain, said, “They should’ve let you out. You could’ve come in uniform and gone to the premiere.” But it didn’t work out. That’s one of those things that’s somewhat of a disappointment, but I’m still here, I’ve got the wonderful movie, and I’ve had a wonderful life, so I’m not complaining too much. RF: What was your fan base like then and now? DT: I got lots of fan mail. When I was in boot camp, I got called to the drill instructor’s office and my agent—that 32

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retired captain—had sent him a bunch of photos of me from the movie. They teased me a little, but not too much because I was in top physical shape before I got there and was a rifle expert—a qualified expert in ITR [Infantry Training Regiment]—and I was squad leader and head of my platoon; they knew I wasn’t looking for Truhitte as “Birdie” in the Sacramento Music Circus Summer any special treatment. Stock performance of Bye Bye Birdie, 1977. Dan tells RetroFan, “I’ll It went around the always remember the date because Elvis Presley died that week.” base, and all the other DIs knew about it. the Hollywood Palladium, the Rose Bowl, When they saw me, they called me “Private the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, and on Big Hollywood.” [chuckles] I got tons of fan mail Bands Alive in Los Angeles. I also helped from a lot of girls and some fan mail from entertain people who came for dinner and some boys, so it went both ways. I still get a dance aboard the Queen Mary, which fan mail from all over the world. I just sent was docked, I think, in Long Beach. some pictures off to a girl in Japan. I get them from Russia, China, all over Europe, and all around the U.S. It has never stopped. RF: I understand you have been a voice teacher for many years. How did that It’s The Sound of Music! Rolf is Rolf. start? DT: Somewhere in the mid-Seventies, RF: What was your professional life like I was lead singer/dancer at Hallelujah after the military? DT: I got very busy performing throughout Hollywood, which was a big revue. It was a difficult show. Even though I was lead the Sixties and Seventies. I got an agent singer/dancer, that show had a lot going and I was told about Juliet Prowse’s on—including semi-nudity! I’m looking nightclub act. She was doing regular out into the audience thinking, “Who’s musicals. I met her and she liked me. She going to be looking at me?!” That was put me in her show as lead singer/dancer a great, big, successful show. I and we toured was there for six months. They the country. I also got rid of the American Guild of remember going to Variety Arts (AGVA), and they some parties with worked us seven days a week liked her and meeting slaves—three shows a night, no Sammy Davis, Jr. We time of f. I had a wife and family. sort of went together That was enough. I went back and for a while. started my studio, Dan Truhitte Later on, I did a Entertainment Productions, and lot of musicals and taught from there. shows and then I worked with the Daniel Truhitte and RF: What made you leave southern Worldwide Church Juliet Prowse. California? of God for Herbert DT: My wife and I had broken up. California W. Armstrong and became one big traffic jam and was so Garner Ted Armstrong as their soloist. stressful. I was looking for relief. I settled I was also the featured dancer at the in beautiful North Carolina and opened Flamingo and Nugget nightclubs in Las another Dan Truhitte Entertainment Vegas in 1973 or 1974, and I performed at

retro interview

From A&E’s 1996 The Sound of Music party, in Los Angeles, hosted by Shirley Jones. (LEFT TO RIGHT) Robert Wise, director; Kym Karath (Gretl), Jones, Truhitte (Rolf), Charmian Carr (Liesl), and Debbie Turner (Marta).

Productions studio in the Matthews area. That’s where I met a lovely woman named TJ. She brought her youngest, Alia, to me to take lessons. She was married and about three months later, her husband died of a massive heart attack. I got so I was able to date and the first opportunity I had, I asked her out. That led to being together for the last 30 years and being a father to three wonderful girls, and of course, I have three sons doing great as well… and 12 grandchildren. RF: I’m sure you have continued to devote some time to The Sound of Music over the years. Tell me about some, and do you have regular cast reunions? DT: While I was performing in a production of The Sound of Music at the Old Courthouse Theatre in Concord, North Carolina—I think 1993—Entertainment Tonight did a special on me. There was the “Sounds of Movies,” where I got together with some of the cast and Shirley Jones, and we were honored movies made during the same time frame as The Sound of Music. In 2013, I participated in a fundraiser at Carnegie Hall. It was a production of The Sound of Music in concert style where we had some dialogue and sang the music, but didn’t act out any scenes. I don’t think we’ll have any more reunions—too many people have passed away. Now that I’m in my seventies, I don’t even know how I got here! I’m thankful. I’m glad I have things that will stay here when I’m gone. I’m not jumping around

doing shows like I used to, though. I still do performances if people request them. The only dancing I usually do is a soft shoe, with some of the old-style dancing

there’s not a more beautiful country in the world. You’ve got one of the finest directors and executive producers and the music of Rodgers and Hammerstein, and you’ve got all these elements coming together in one place—a tremendous cast with Andrews and Plummer, who were brilliant. The kids were incredible and Dan Truhitte was okay. [chuckles] You had something like that and at the time, state of the art color—you had all the elements. The storyline had family. It had conflict, it had religion—God was in it. It had morality and principles and wonderful music. It had everything you could possibly want and an audience as wide as the ages in that movie. That’s why it has endured. I feel very blessed to have been a part of it. RF: Well, it certainly spoiled me. It was the first movie I ever saw. It is tough to watch other movies just try to keep up. DT: It was the first!? I’ll be a son of a gun. I’m really proud. Thank you, Rose. A few other movies like Singing in the Rain and the Wizard of Oz do a good job, but there are none quite like The Sound of Music in terms of “family.”

RF: I need to know if you find yourself mysteriously drawn to gazebos… DT: [laughs] YES! Of course, how could I not?! Gazebos, gazebos, gazebos… Gazebo Love is the name of my CD! It’s just such a part of my life; absolutely. I’m They outnumber the Von Trapps! A gathering of the Truhitte surprised I don’t have extended family, with Dan and his wife TJ in the center row. one in the back yard! to, “I don’t care, because I’m a high-falutin’ dancin’ man named Dapper Dan.” I still sing at church and other venues. I still have my voice! I don’t take very many students now, but I do take those who I feel have some potential.

RF: This has been such a pleasure, Dan. Tell me, where can fans buy your music? DT: I’ve enjoyed every minute. Fans can find Christmas is Busting Out Again and Gazebo Love at https://www.danieltruhitte. com/music.

RF: What is it about this movie that keeps people interested? DT: It’s a whole package! The Library of Congress now has The Sound of Music in their library. The Sound of Music had some of the most beautiful cinematography—Ted McCord did a beautiful job. The landscaping of Austria is absolutely breathtaking—

ROSE RUMMELEURY, retired from her careers in highereducation textbooks and as a memoirist, lives in the top-secret RetroFan Bunker with her husband, the magazine’s editor. RETROFAN

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Too Much TV If your old man used to gripe that you’d never learn anything with your nose glued to the boob tube, here’s your chance to prove him wrong. (Father doesn’t always know best.) Each Batman villain henchman or assistant in Column One corresponds to a dastardly criminal in Column Two. Match ’em up, then see how you rate! COLUMN ONE

1) Cleo Patrick 2) Benedict 3) Doe, Rae, and Mimi 4) Leo 5) Finella 6) Bass 7) Legs 8) Nippy 9) Moth 10) Lydia Limpet 34

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July 2021

RetroFan Ratings

7–9 correct: Rabbit-Eared RetroFan Dy-no-mite! You wasted your childhood with the rest of us! 4–6 correct: Fuzzy-Receptioned RetroFan Up your nose with a rubber hose ’til you spend more tube time! 0–3 correct: Tuned-Out RetroFan Ya big dummy! Put down that book and go watch some classic TV! COLUMN TWO

A) Egghead B) Ma Parker C) The Penguin D) Chandell E) The Bookworm F) The Riddler G) Mister Freeze H) King Tut I) The Minstrel J) Catwoman Holy fine print! Batman and villains TM & © DC Comics/20th Century Television/Greenway Productions. All rights reserved. ANSWERS: 1–H, 2–A, 3–D, 4–J, 5–C, 6–I, 7–B, 8–G, 9–F, 10–E

“Those poor, deluded souls…”

10 correct: Fine-Tuned RetroFan Sock it to me, baby! I bet you know theme song lyrics too!

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NEW BOOKS FROM TWOMORROWS

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The 1990s

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KEITH DALLAS & JASON SACKS detail the decade X-MEN #1 sold 8.1 million copies, IMAGE COMICS formed, Superman died, Batman broke his back, Neil Gaiman’s SANDMAN led to the VERTIGO line of adult comics, and gimmicky covers, skimpy costumes, and mega-crossovers ruled!

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ANDY MANGELS’ RETRO SATURDAY MORNING

THE BATTLE OF

THE SUPER SEVEN by Andy Mangels 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 crosslegged leaning against the couch, and dig in to Retro Saturday Morning! They say that politics makes strange bedfellows, but animated super-heroes on television can get just as wild. From 1976–1981, a behind-the-scenes battle between Filmation Associates, DC Comics, and Marvel Comics resulted in multiple television series, a new comic character, a game-changing copyright lawsuit, a second lawsuit that everyone knows about but which never existed, and team-ups and takedowns! This is the indepth story of how the saga of the Super 7 changed comic-book and animation history…

Filmation and DC Comics Are Super Best Friends

In the fall of 1965, Filmation Associates, a relatively new animation company, swung a deal with National Periodical Publications (the name for DC Comics from the Sixties to 1977) to create The New Adventures of Superman cartoons. The studio was founded by animators Lou Scheimer and Hal Sutherland, and disc-jockeyturned-producer Norm Prescott. Filmation was a scrappy young company, and they got the Superman job by tricking National

editors Mort Weisinger and Whitney Ellsworth into thinking they were far bigger a company than they were. The New Adventures of Superman premiered on September 10, 1966 on CBS, running two Superman shorts and one Superboy short. The show was an immediate hit, and helped change the emerging Saturday morning television culture by being both an adventure show and by featuring licensed characters. By the time Superman was a hit in Fall 1966, Filmation had already made a deal with National to develop even more of their heroes for animation. “DC actually asked us to do Aquaman, but I wasn’t convinced the network would buy it without seeing a pilot,” said Scheimer in my interviews with him for the 2012 TwoMorrows book, Lou Lou Scheimer, c. 1975. Scheimer: Creating the Filmation Generation. “He wasn’t as famous as Superman or Batman.” The pilot got the notice of CBS executive Fred Silverman, and in September 1967, CBS debuted a new show called The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure (covered extensively in RetroFan #3). Each hour included two Superman, two Aquaman, one Superboy, and one “guest hero” segment, with three shorts apiece: The Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, The Atom, Teen Titans, and Justice League of America. For that last segment, DC heroes such as Green Arrow, Doom Patrol, B’wana Beast, Metamorpho, Metal Men, Challengers of the Unknown, Plastic Man, the Blackhawks, and (TOP) (LEFT TO RIGHT) Superstretch, Microwoman, Manta, Moray, Isis, Web Woman, and Merlin. © DreamWorks. (INSET) Seventies-era Aquaman promotional art. Aquaman TM & © DC Comics. Courtesy of Heritage.

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Andy Mangels’ Retro Saturday Morning

Wonder Woman were all considered and designed for animation. The following year, however, the show became The Batman/ Superman Hour, and reruns of Aquaman spun off on their own. Licensing being a different ballpark in the Sixties through the Seventies than it is today, Filmation kept a rein of sorts on all the National/DC characters. They used Superman and Wonder Woman in an episode each of The Brady Kids, and tried to sell other projects. Due to some kind of licensing contract loophole, rival company Hanna-Barbera was able to use many of the DC characters in their new Super Friends series on ABC (which aired in various forms from 1973–1986). Hanna-Barbera used a few guestheroes in the first Super Friends season, including Green Arrow, Flash, and Plastic Man, though the latter hero was never used by H-B again. Since most of the DC characters were at Hanna-Barbera, but CBS wanted a super-hero show from National in 1974, Filmation licensed the Captain Marvel character from DC… well, sublicensed, more specifically. Captain Marvel was still owned by original publishers Fawcett Comics, though they had ceased publishing his adventures in 1953 due to a copyright infringement lawsuit that they lost to National. In 1972, Fawcett licensed the Captain Marvel family to National, with a “per use” fee every time they appeared. National, in turn, reintroduced Captain Marvel to readers in a new comicbook series called Shazam!, because, by that time, Marvel Comics had introduced and copyrighted their own title character, also named Captain Marvel! So, Filmation licensed Shazam! from Concept art for Isis and the National, who, in turn, was Fantastics, which would later licensing it from Fawcett… the evolve into The Freedom Force. company they had sued. © DreamWorks. In 1974, the Shazam! liveaction series was instantly was a hit (it was covered extensively in RetroFan #4). When CBS asked Filmation for a female companion super-hero the following year, Filmation created their own heroine named Isis, rather than using Fawcett’s Mary Marvel, sister to Captain Marvel. The Shazam!/Isis Hour was an even larger hit, beginning in Fall 1975. National even licensed The Secrets of Isis from Filmation, for her own comic-book series. In primetime television, Wonder Woman and The Bionic Woman were soon on the air, complementing The Six Million Dollar Man; other live-action super-heroes would follow, including Marvel’s The Incredible Hulk and The Amazing Spider-Man, and new characters like The Man from Atlantis. Filmation announced an animated The New Adventures of Batman for the February 1977 mid-season schedule, again working with National (now renamed DC Comics). Filmation also announced a 90-minute live-action Plastic Man movie licensed 38

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from DC; this stretchable character had debuted in 1941 for Quality Comics, and had been bought by National in the midFifties. Filmation intended to pitch Plastic Man to whichever networks would want it, but found themselves unable to sell him… for a second time, following the late-Sixties plans. So, by this point, Filmation had already animated DC’s Aquaman, Green Lantern, and Atom, had tried twice to sell Plastic Man, and worked with DC Comics in series for Superman, Aquaman, Batman, Shazam!, and various guest heroes, and had licensed Isis for DC to publish. And Hanna-Barbera had used Plastic Man in one episode of Super Friends. All of the details above will be important for what follows…

The Development of the Super 7

At a company like Filmation, concepts for new animated or liveaction series were being worked on all the time. If one concept on the air looked popular or promising, more concepts in that realm were created. Often these were loose character pitches combined with concept art boards (oversize full-color images painted/mounted on cardboard that could be shown to network executives). With The Shazam!/Isis Hour a hit, Filmation asked its writers and artists to come up with some other superhero pitches in 1976. One of these became an NBC series called Young Sentinels (and later, Space Sentinels) in 1977; it starred a multicultural cast of male Hercules (Caucasian), female Astrea (the first black heroine on TV), and male Mercury (Chinese). Some discussion of a female space super-hero was planned— female empowerment was in the cultural zeitgeist—with a bluered-yellow-clad heroine that some staffers have said was named Spider-Woman, and a pair called Sunlight and Starbright. As you’ll read later, Marvel Comics got wind of Filmation’s Spider-Woman, and immediately threw their own character together with that name to establish copyright. By Fall 1977, CBS already had two hit hero shows on the schedule with The Batman/Tarzan Adventure Hour, which combined the previous season’s Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle with The New Adventures of Batman. But by the time new shows aired in September, Filmation staffers were already prepping to pitch the network on new shows for 1978! CBS was watching ABC get strong ratings on their anthology series The Krofft Supershow and Scooby’s All-Star Laff-A-Lympics, and they asked Filmation for a similar multi-show anthology. Reported by industry trade papers on Tuesday, March 28, 1978, CBS would be offering a new 90-minute anthology series from Filmation called The Super Seven. The show would feature reruns of Batman, new Tarzan segments, a live-action science-fiction serial called Jason of Star Command, and the animated adventures

Andy Mangels’ Retro Saturday Morning

Super 7 promotional photo. © DreamWorks. Batman TM & © DC Comics. Tarzan TM & © ERB, Inc.

of Isis and the Fantastics, Web Woman, and Super Duos. It was unclear immediately who the “Super Duos” were, or how these six segments added up to the seven of the title. By the summer, the series had been renamed Tarzan and the Super 7—with a numeral — and the animated segments were coming together. “All of the segments had naturalistic superhero designs—not overly muscular—really diverse casts, well-thought-out stories, and well-conceived and well-produced animation,” said Scheimer in my interviews with him for the 2012 TwoMorrows Lou Scheimer book. A Sunlight and Starbright “Super Duo” segment was gone completely. “After we had done model sheets and started developing that segment, CBS told us to kill it,” Scheimer said, joking that including it “would have made the Super 7 title make sense.” The animated components were as follows: The Freedom Force was originally titled “Isis and the Fantastics.” It contained an animated version of Isis, Hercules from Space Sentinels (now riding the winged Pegasus), master magician Merlin, superadventurer Sinbad, and the giant, shape-changing Super Samurai. They operated out of their mystic pyramid in the Valley of Time and faced all sorts of mythical villains. “We had a lot of different ethnic groups in that show, including the first Middle Eastern superheroes on television, and what may have been the first Japanese superhero created in America, with Super Samurai and his alter ego, the young Toshi,” said Scheimer. “The reason for

that was very simply our commitment to diversity; out there in that audience, not everybody is a white guy or gal. It was a very imaginative and worthwhile show.” Web Woman was the adventures of a galactic super-heroine named Kelly Webster, who was a redheaded NASA scientist who rescued an alien creature named Scarab from drowning. Scarab then endowed her with the strength and powers of insects throughout the world, as well as a utility belt and some technology. She had a Web Ring that could create forcefields and shoot solidifying webs and sleeping gas, and she could communicate with insects to help her. She also flew a spider-shaped ship called the Web Track that was equipped with a powerful Web Computer and a grappling towline Web Anchor. She was aided by Spinner, a furry alien creature who had big, bat-like ears, and was sent on missions on Earth and throughout the galaxy by Scarab, speaking from his headquarters, Citadel Seven, who would summon her to an underground lair with the Web Call. To transform into Web Woman, Kelly would hold out her arms like Isis and chant “Insects of the world, small creatures of the cosmos, lend me your powers now!” Her villains included Tsetse, Dr. Abyss, Madame Macabre, the alien Rax, Dr. Jack Frankenstein, and Doctor Despair. About the comparisons to Marvel’s Spider-Woman, Scheimer said, “Our Web Woman had almost no similarities to Spider-Woman other than superficial ones.” Indeed, her origin seemed to be a mash-up of Hal Jordan becoming Green Lantern, and Lana Lang’s alter ego of Insect Queen… both DC characters! Superstretch and Microwoman contained a first for Saturday mornings: the couple were a pair of married African-American crimefighters (married crimefighters were a first for any color, and Superstretch was the first black super-hero on TV)! They were Chris Cross, who could stretch his body into any shape, and Christy Cross, who could shrink down to tiny sizes. Aiding them on their adventures in fighting villains was their plucky puppy, Trouble. Ty Henderson, who was on Filmation’s Space Academy show, voiced Superstretch, while Kim Hamilton, who had been in The Fat Albert Christmas Special, voiced Microwoman. In addition to the characters they played, both Ty and Kim were African American. They fought villains such as Felonious Whip, a.k.a. the Ringmaster, Sugar Spice, Granny Candy, the Toymaker, Polaris and his robot Toe-D, and evil doppelgangers Superstarch and Magnawoman. Manta and Moray starred two humanoid “Monarchs of the Deep,” who protected the world’s sea creatures alongside their friendly sea lion named Whiskers. Manta was the green-skinner semi-reptilian last survivor of the water-breathing civilization of Mu, while Moray was a blonde female human who had been rescued RETROFAN

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Andy Mangels’ Retro Saturday Morning

Freedom Force. © DreamWorks.

from a plane crash. While Manta could communicate with sea life, Moray could hold her breath for incredibly long periods of time, and often rode atop the female gray whale Guppy. Like Superstretch and Microwoman, Manta and Moray were married. Villains they fought included a radiation-mutated kelp monster, evil whale-hunters, treasure hunters, amphibious fish-men, and others. According to Scheimer, “Manta and Moray could probably be called the world’s first eco-friendly superhero show, as many of the stories revolved around people abusing the oceans and environment.” Tarzan and the Super 7 was put together very intricately. Each 90-minute episode had a half-hour of The New Adventures of Batman—reruns from the previous season—and an hour featuring the other components. There were six new Tarzans produced, with two 17-minute shows and four 11-minute shows. There were 16 Jason of Star Command episodes at 11 minutes each (covered extensively in RetroFan #5). The other animated segments had either 11-minute or 17-minute episodes. One week the shows would air as follows: Web Woman, Tarzan, Jason of Star Command, Freedom Force, and Batman. The following week, the shows would air as follows: Superstretch and Microwoman, Tarzan, Jason of Star Command, Manta and Moray, and Batman. Some shows obviously repeated more than others, with Jason repeating the least, as it had the most episodes.

The new CBS Saturday morning season debuted on September 9, 1978. Tarzan and the Super 7 was at 10:30 a.m. on CBS, followed by Filmation’s Space Academy at noon. Production on new episodes of Super 7 was completed in November 1978, and the crews all moved to different projects to see if CBS would pick up the show for more. Spoiler Alert: CBS did pick up Tarzan and the Super 7 for the Fall 1979 season, shortened to a one-hour block, but only Tarzan got new episodes and the rest aired in reruns (while Jason of Star Command spun off into his own series). They were, ironically— and importantly—competing against Ruby-Spears’ animated The Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show, which that company had licensed from DC and sold to ABC for a two-season run! For Fall 1980, reruns of the segments (minus Tarzan) were paired with Batman reruns and shuttled over to NBC for Batman and the Super 7, which aired from Fall 1980–Fall 1981. But let’s back up just a moment, because at the end of 1978, when The Super 7 was new on the air, DC Comics, partner to Filmation for a decade—and still partner to them for the Batman series—dropped the legal hammer down… hard.

DC v. Filmation Round 1

In late 1978, DC filed a lawsuit against Filmation in New York, alleging that the animators had infringed on various rights in Aquaman, Mera, and Tusky when they created Manta, Moray, and Whiskers, and that they had infringed on Plastic Man when they created Superstretch. Specifically, DC claimed trademark infringement, unfair competition, and breach of contract—for not selling a Filmation-planned Plastic Man series—and a breach of confidential relationship. They sought damages and equitable relief, among other things. Specific points were as follows: ` DC charged that they had been marketing comic books with Aquaman since 1941, aided by his wife Mera, and their walrus Tusky (added in 1946), that they had utilized him in cartoons since 1967, and that they marketed toys and games based on him. ` DC charged that they had marketed Plastic Man since 1967 in comics. They licensed Filmation an option to produce a live or animated Plastic Man show in 1976, but Filmation never exercised the option.

(LEFT) Action-filled ads for CBS's Tarzan and the Super Seven and (RIGHT) for NBC's version headed up by Batman. Batman TM & © DC Comics. Tarzan TM & © ERB, Inc. Filmation characters © DreamWorks.

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Andy Mangels’ Retro Saturday Morning

(LEFT) Aquaman character sheet art. (CENTER) Manta and (RIGHT) Moray sketches. (BELOW LEFT) Aquaman's underwater pal, Tusky. (BELOW) Manta's underwater pal, Whiskers. Aquaman TM & © DC Comics. Filmation characters © DreamWorks.

` Filmation had two cartoons as part of The Super 7—Manta and Moray and Superstretch [sic: and Microwoman]—that were airing on CBS, and being licensed for toys and games. ` DC charged that Manta was an underwater hero, like Aquaman. Moray was his female companion, like Mera. Whiskers was their “walrus-like companion” (nee sea lion), like Tusky. ` DC charged that Superstretch “has essentially the same abilities as Plastic Man.” They did note that he had a wife who could shrink—without comparing her to their shrinking hero, the Atom—and a dog. ` DC’s lawsuit was an action “for damages and equitable relief, claiming that defendant’s series violate various rights under state and federal law.” DC was to present four theories of liability for each of defendant’s two series: (claims 1–2) trademark infringement under § 43(a) of the Lanham act; (claims 3–4) unfair competition under New York law; (claims 5–6) breach of contract; (claims 7–8) and breach of confidential relationship. This was four claims in total for each show. One important note to make is that DC wasn’t claiming that the characters visually represented their characters, but that their powers were based on the powers of the DC characters. Ironically, Tusky was resurrected by Filmation for their cartoon; he had made only one single-page comic-book appearance in 1946 before reappearing in the comics in Aquaman #36 (Nov. 1967), in an issue that cover-blurbed the cartoon on TV! The case took a year to schedule and get to the courtroom, and the first season of Tarzan and the Super 7 aired as planned,

and its second season debuted on September 15, 1979. The DC COMICS, INC. v. FILMATION ASSOCIATES lawsuit finally went to a federal jury trial in New York on October 17–19, 22, and 30th, 1979, and Scheimer flew in to testify there. Chief Judge Lloyd Francis McMahon presided. On November 1st, the jury found in favor of DC on seven of the eight claims brought by DC against Filmation, and the jury awarded DC compensatory damages of $389,091.75 for the Aquaman claims and $817,765.50 for the Plastic Man claims, for an immense total of $1,206,857.25! DC issued a public statement which read: “DC Comics believes the verdict is significant because the suit sought protection for the unique and distinctive composition of the characters under the federal laws of unfair competition rather than for the characters’ graphic or sculptural depiction under the copyright law.” DC also requested a permanent injunction against Filmation, an accounting, destruction of the Filmation films and underlying materials, and attorney fees. After the jury rendered its verdict, Filmation filed motions seeking to have the judge overrule the decision of the jury and reverse their verdict, or alternatively grant a new trial. What Filmation asked for was a JNOV (from the Latin judgement non obstante verdict) or Judgment Not Withstanding the Verdict. Despite this verdict, CBS continued to air the second season of Tarzan and the Super 7. And Filmation had already licensed the characters for puffy stickers, bubble toys, and kids’ tool sets through Imperial Corporation (all released in 1979); a Web Woman costume had already been released through Ben Cooper for Halloween 1978. Imperial paid a whopping $1300 for the licenses. RETROFAN

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Andy Mangels’ Retro Saturday Morning

Manta (RIGHT) and Moray (LEFT) in action. (BELOW) Moray faces a possible threat on her own. Filmation characters © DreamWorks.

DC v. Filmation Round 2

Once the judge considered the Filmation JNOV motions and analyzed the facts and the jury verdict, DC Comics lost substantial ground. On March 21, 1980, the U.S. District Court in New York issued a written decision in the matter of DC COMICS, INC. v. FILMATION ASSOCIATES after considering Filmation’s JNOV motions, motions that could be granted if the judge determined that no reasonable jury could have reached the verdict that this jury had just reached. The judge rejected and upheld claims on both sides, agreeing that DC’s broad argument was too broad, but Filmation’s argument was too narrow. Filmation argued an insufficiency of evidence that any of DC’s confidential information or materials were used to create Manta and Moray, which resulted in the 7th claim, for Aquaman, being thrown out first. “Basically, the court said that DC didn’t prove that we had used any of their Aquaman materials to create Manta and Moray,” Scheimer said in his book interviews. As to damages, the judge found that despite the jury’s damages verdict regarding Aquaman versus Manta and Moray, DC Comics did not prove Filmation’s actions prevented any potential 42

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sales of Aquaman programming or caused decreases in the character’s licensing, nor was there sufficient evidence that Filmation had caused any actual confusion among licensors, viewers, or the general public. Let’s take a look at some of the specifics: Regarding the two charges of trademark infringement under § 43(a) of the Lanham act: The Lanham Act had been enacted by Congress in 1946, and protected trademarks from copying and imitation, and was also intended to stop false advertising and packaging similarities. The judge agreed with Filmation, and noted that DC’s claims more properly should have been filed under Copyright law claims instead of Trademark. The court explained that the Second Circuit recognized names, nicknames, physical appearances, and costumes as protectable “ingredients” of entertainment “products” under the Lanham Act, because those elements “can come to symbolize the plaintiff or its product in the public mind”; however, that list did not include physical abilities (i.e., super-powers) or personality traits since those are intangible elements that have “an infinite number of possible visible and audible manifestations.” Filmation contended that, as to the seven findings of liability and the two verdicts on damages, the evidence was so meager they were entitled to judgment, or at least to a new trial. The judge’s findings were mixed, but the end result was nevertheless ultimately favorable to Filmation. While finding that six of the seven liability verdicts were supported by sufficient evidence, the judge did grant Filmation’s motion challenging the seventh claim of liability, namely breach of a confidential relationship. DC had claimed that, due to their confidential relationship with Filmation on 1967’s Aquaman series, Filmation had improperly traded on “secret scripts and music” and that DC employee Allen “Duke” Ducovny had imparted special knowledge on how to maintain the integrity of DC’s characters in an animated show, and that all of that had led to the creation of Manta and Moray in 1977! The judge stated that “There was no evidence, however, that Ducovny imparted any secret know-how or expertise to defendant, or indeed that he had any expertise in the craft of animation.” He also noted that none of DC’s evidence, nor the testimony of their experts, including DC president Sol Harrison, were proof of wrongdoing. “In short, the evidence suggests only that defendant [Filmation] relied solely upon its own expertise and plaintiff’s [DC’s] comic books. Such copying, though actionable as unfair competition, does not amount to that abuse of a confidential relationship that is necessary to support the verdict of liability,” wrote the judge. As for damages, the judge found that the evidence did not support the jury’s findings. In short, although DC demonstrated the potential for consumer confusion, there was no evidence of any actual confusion of the viewing public, or among licensees of toys, games or animation, or among consumers of toys or games, or among buyers or readers of comic books. In a funny turn, he even noted that “it may well be that interested youngsters watch

Andy Mangels’ Retro Saturday Morning

cartoons with a more discriminating eye than their parents.” The judge also chided DC for having no evidence to support its assertion that Aquaman had no TV show because of Manta and Moray, noting that the character was appearing weekly on Super Friends. And he noted that Aquaman licensing had actually risen during the time Manta and Moray were on the air, and that declining comic sales had to do with other factors than the TV series. As a result, the judge found that DC failed to make out a case for suffering any actual damage from Filmation’s activities. The Plastic Man versus Superstretch portions of the case were a bit trickier. While the judge sustained the infringement verdicts as described previously, he wrote that “there was evidence to support a finding of damages, but that this amount [$817,765.50] is seriously excessive.” First, the judge found there was insufficient evidence to provide a basis for damages under claim 2 or claim 4 because DC failed to prove there was any actual public confusion of the characters for each other. The judge then focused on the remaining claims, actual damages in the form of lost profits suffered by DC. “Because we had licensed and tried to sell a Plastic Man show prior to creating Superstretch and Microwoman, and had not succeeded, our actions became suspect,” said Scheimer. “We had sold Superstretch to CBS during the time we had an option on Plastic Man, and then DC had sold—through Ruby-Spears— their own 1979 Plastic Man series to ABC. The jury and judge found that DC might have sold their show earlier had we not done Superstretch. This meant that we were found to owe damages in two claims: breach of contract and breach of confidential

relationship. Damages were based on lost television profits and potential negative effects on licensing revenue; no damages were incurred by the declining sales of the Plastic Man comic-book series, though.” In his findings, the judge chided the jury about the absence of any logical basis in how they could have reasonably attributed the amount of damages to lost television and licensing profits. For example, the jury could have considered what profits DC would have enjoyed with the potential one-year-earlier sale they might conceivably have made of Plastic Man to ABC (1978 instead of 1979), noting that DC had received about $188,000 for the 1979– 1980 season. “The jury thus could have concluded that absent defendant’s misconduct, plaintiff could have made a similar arrangement for 1978–1979. Though plaintiff failed to show its costs in obtaining this deal, the costs were probably negligible since plaintiff was merely procuring the sale of intangible rights.” Another alternative would have been to consider Filmation’s profits from its sale of Superstretch to CBS for 1978–1979, given there had been evidence presented that defendant’s revenues for two seasons of Superstretch were $1,087,000. “Half of this, or $543,500, is logically attributable to the 1978–1979 season.” The judge then chided the jury for not considering this evidence in calculating damages. However, the judge noted that DC would only be entitled to recover Filmation’s profits, and that defendant’s total revenue wasn’t an appropriate award, particularly as there would have been substantial costs incurred by Filmation to produce the show. The judge was quick to criticize DC for not introducing any evidence of Filmation’s costs: “Plaintiff

(CLOCKWISE, LEFT TO RIGHT) Who is the real stretchy hero? s from 1968. Superstretch, Micro Woman, Superstretch and Micro Woman's dog, and a screen capture of Superstretch's abilities which resemble (INSET) Plastic Man's first apperance (Police Comics #1, Aug. 1941). Plastic Man TM & © DC Comics. Filmation characters © DreamWorks.

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Andy Mangels’ Retro Saturday Morning

could have discovered this evidence, and we do not think that it should profit from its own sloth.” Thus, taking into account what DC would have earned for an earlier season on ABC, and adding a premium to reflect the diminished license fee resulting from Filmation unlawfully gaining the market a year earlier, the judge capped the maximum charge for potential television profits at $200,000. He also judged that the most amount of potential licensing profits lost from the potential 1978 year were $21,339 (merchandising at $1,339 and ten licensees at $2,000 each). In the end, the damages of $389,091.75 for the Aquaman claims were thrown out completely, and only two for Plastic Man versus Superstretch were upheld. The damage awards issued by the jury for eight counts were trimmed to two counts. The total damages awarded to DC went from $1,206,857.25 to $221,339. The judge refused Filmation’s motion to grant a new trial, though they did agree that the DC lawyer had repeatedly stressed “wrong law” to the jury in his assertions about the physical similarities between DC’s characters and Filmation’s, which was not a part of the law he could argue. DC was not given attorney’s fees, an accounting, or destruction of the Filmation films and underlying materials. DC was granted an injunction, that Filmation would not make any further Manta and Moray or Superstretch and Microwoman cartoons. DC and Filmation were directed to “settle a form of judgment and decree within ten (10) days,” or by March 31, 1980. A Warner lawyer told the press that they considered the much smaller amount and injunction a victory, and saw no need for any further appeal. And that would seem to be the end of the problems for The Super 7 series… except… it wasn’t.

Marvel v. Filmation: Was It Real or a What If?

Internet sources and fans alike broadcast that Filmation was also sued by Marvel, that Marvel won, that Spider-Woman was based on Web Woman, that Web Woman was based on SpiderWoman… The conflict about exactly what happened between Filmation and Marvel remains one of pop culture’s more obscure mysteries… until now. In TwoMorrows’ Back Issue magazine #17, ex-Filmation artist Darrell McNeil wrote: “In Web Woman’s case, though, I saw the presentation artwork/conceptual ‘think’ for the Super 7 elements not involving Tarzan, Batman, or Space Academy, and the drawings labelled were of a blue-and-red-suited insect-powered babe who was called ‘Spider-Woman.’ Now, Marvel didn’t have a ‘SpiderWoman’ in the works as I recall… which is what gave the thenFilmation creative braintrust the idea of using the Spider-Man archetype.” As noted earlier, due to the nature of selling animated projects to networks, Filmation had Super 7 concepts being worked on in 1976, as they would have to pitch the networks in the fall or winter. Shown with this article is an early, undated design for Web Woman and Spinner, with Kelly in a dark blue costume with red and yellow trim… but it bears no “Spider-Woman” name as McNeil 44

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(RIGHT) Model drawing for Web Woman and Spinner. (BELOW) Concept art for Web Woman. (BELOW RIGHT) The trademark-protecting Spider-Woman #1 (Apr. 1978). Spider-Woman TM & © Marvel. Filmation characters © DreamWorks.

wrote. The costume design was later seen widely in CBS ads that ran in Fall 1978 comic books; produced by Neal Adams’ Continuity Studios, the ads featured several “early” versions of characters, costumes, and names. When CBS announced the 90-minute anthology series The Super Seven to the press in late March 1978, actual creative work—beyond early concept/pitch designs—had not yet begun on the Web Woman series, but by summer 1978, all ten scripts had been written. One storyboard sequence is dated as August 1978. But what about Spider-Woman? Three official sources confirm that she was indeed created—incredibly quickly, by Archie Goodwin and designer Marie Severin—due to Marvel’s finding out about Filmation’s planned heroine. First up, Stan Lee said at a March 1978 appearance at Virginia’s James Madison University that “I suddenly realized that some other company may quickly put out a book like [Spider-Woman] and claim they have the right to use the name, and I thought we’d better do it real fast to copyright the name. So, we just batted one out quickly…”

Andy Mangels’ Retro Saturday Morning

In July 1978, Spider-Woman comic editor Marv Web Woman prepares to unleash her webbing. (BELOW) Her Wolfman gave an interview to The Comics Journal sharp-looking vehicle. © DreamWorks. (#44, Jan. 1979), in which he said, “Spider-Woman was created simply and totally to protect a copyright. Some animated cartoon feature was going to come out with a character called Spider-Woman, obviously to take off on the fact that Spider-Man was very popular. There’s no doubt about it. If you look at the current issues of Gold Key that just came out this week, you’ll notice the Fall television season has a TV character called Web Woman.” Finally, in the letters page of Spider-Woman #14 (May 1979), editor Roger Stern wrote, “It was not a movie producer that was going to do Spider-Woman, but an animated cartoon producer. As a matter of fact, that producer did do a Spider-Woman character, albeit under a different name, that can be seen on Saturday morning TV if you happen to flip channels during a commercial during our own Fantastic Four show.” Spider-Woman made her comic debut in Marvel Spotlight #32 (Feb. lasted four months, disappearing off of the network in January 1977), and after numerous guest appearances, began headlining 1980 after airing its 16 episodes. During those four months, both her own series, Spider-Woman, in April 1978. Spider-Woman and Web Woman aired on Saturday mornings, on different networks! The “common knowledge” of a lawsuit between Filmation and Marvel is unsustainable. Unlike the DC lawsuits, no records of a literal suit exist on the internet, or in legal case searches. When working on this article, I found one citation where pop-culture writer Jeff Rovin had given testimony “for Defendant” to Shea/ Gold in the case of “Marvel Comics (“Spider-Man”) v. Filmation (“Web Woman”) in 1980. Shea/Gold closed in 1994, and could thus not be of help. I contacted Rovin by email, and though he had few memories of the event, he did have some calendar notes. “Looking back in my datebooks, I see that Filmation called me on December 22, 1980. On January 7, (1981), I went to the Shea offices in New York. It looks like the address was 555 W. 57th on the 12th floor… I remember the deposition with Jim Shooter in the room… and As the prep date to create the first Spider-Woman story would Lou Scheimer, of course. Web was settled before trial. It was kind have had to be late 1976, but no public mention—or substantive of a pile-on era for Filmation. They had just been sued by DC— work beyond designs—was done by Filmation until 1978, it is and I recall—for Superstretch and Microwoman. I was Lou’s expert.” thus very likely that someone in the industry tipped Marvel off Coincidentally, at about the same time I was querying Rovin, to Filmation’s early plans and designs. But as noted earlier, other comic writer J. M. DeMatteis posted on Facebook that “Early in my than the possible early use of the name Spider-Woman, nothing career, Marvel’s editor-in-chief Jim Shooter hired me to help with about Web Woman had anything remotely to do with Marvel, or a lawsuit. My job? Sitting in Stan Lee’s office (while Stan was off Spider-Man. in California), watching Web Woman cartoons, noting similarities So, what then about the supposed lawsuit? between WW and Spider-Man. That’s right: I was being PAID to In the aforementioned Back Issue article, McNeil asserted hang out in Stan Lee’s office and watch cartoons! I did it for two that “a court settlement Filmation reached with DC and Marvel entire weeks and I remember that Stan had a stack of live-action expressly forbade them from ever using the characters again… Japanese Spider-Man shows that I would watch between the even when it came to future syndication/rerun usage.” Except the toons. Absolute nerd heaven!” facts don’t add up. DC’s lawsuit against Filmation ended in March Jim Shooter had not publicly addressed the issue in interviews 1980. The Super 7 series were run on CBS from Fall 1978–Fall 1980. or writing, beyond calling Lou Scheimer a “great guy,” so I reached After that, the shows were later rerun as part of NBC’s Batman out to him through his blog, jimshooter.com, to see if he could and the Super 7 from Fall 1980–Fall 1981, and even later, in foreign explain the timeline: syndication. “In late May or early June 1976, Archie Goodwin became Making matters squirrellier, in September 1979, Marvel fired its the [editor-in-chief] of Marvel Comics,” Shooter wrote in an own animated shot across the networks, debuting a Spider-Woman email exchange. “I served as associate editor, Archie’s second in series on ABC, animated by DePatie-Freleng. The series only command, more or less. As such, I was not privy to all the behindRETROFAN

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Andy Mangels’ Retro Saturday Morning

the-scenes goings on, however, I was the editor of color comics or more uses constitutes infringement… you must defend your and was kept aware of most things affecting them. Stan Lee was trademarks. We offered and Sim accepted a retroactive license, nominally publisher, but by that time, his job mainly consisted of which protected us and allowed him to use Wolveroach. We selling Marvel properties for film, TV, and other media… charged him one dollar.” “Although Stan had no official involvement and no day-to-day As to the meetings with Scheimer and his lawyers in New duties regarding publishing, he liked to go over the comics with York, Shooter writes, “I don’t remember much detail about the me. We did this pretty much every week when the make-readies meetings, and the negotiations regarding remedies were done (printer’s proofs) came in. Sometimes we’d also talk a little about by the lawyers in private. No need for me or Rovin to be there for what was going on with his work. Marvel had a Hollywood rep that. What I remember is meeting Jeff Rovin for the first time. whose name escapes me. Stan would make mention of the guy We chatted in the hallway during breaks. He’s smart and honest. occasionally. He was apparently savvy and tuned in to the goings- We got along fine. Each of us made our arguments regarding the on out on the coast. I can’t say for certain, but I believe he was intellectual property in the meetings, but there was no hostility. the person who informed Marvel’s upstairs execs and Stan about We’re still friends.” Filmation and others’ growing interest in super-heroes, and the Finally, Shooter writes that Filmation’s “Lou Scheimer was a dangers that might pose.” gentleman. As with Rovin, I never sensed rancor. A couple years Shooter couldn’t recall a specific conversation about the after the Marvel/Filmation kerfuffle, Alice Donenfeld left Marvel concern to create a Spider-Woman to block Filmation, but notes and wound up going to work for Filmation. She and Lou once tried that “Stan and other Marvel execs were suddenly, obviously to recruit me to work there. I spent a day with Lou. Though the worried about it… Archie began work on opportunity was excellent, I ended up turning it down for many Spider-Woman in July or early August of reasons. Jim 1976. The character’s first appearance “Lou was terrific. He told me about the early days when he and Shooter. would have been in November of his animators were struggling to get started. They were working 1976. Comics were cover-dated four in his garage. He was cashing his unemployment checks and months ahead back in those days.” dividing up the money to keep everyone alive till success came Shooter mentions that this was also along. [Now,] Lou drove us to lunch and back in his Cadillac. He the reason for creating She-Hulk and said he always owned Cadillacs. He didn’t seem to be a flag-waver the comedic Teen Hulk, the latter or anything, but he believed in buying American. I think he saw it appearing in Marvel’s Crazy magazine. as supporting guys like the ones who had worked so hard to help He unequivocally confirms the above him build Filmation. My impression was that he was a good and stories about the female characters’ honorable man, smart, capable, hard-working, and dedicated. A creations. “Spider-Woman, She-Hulk, great guy.” the new Captain Marvel, and other characters were absolutely Legacy of the Lawsuit created and rushed into publication to block others from I consulted with two attorneys for this article—both with obtaining those trademarks and copyrights. We tried to make strong ties to the world of comics—to make sure my layperson them good, of course. Did our best.” understanding of the lawsuit and its verdict were as correct As to why it took Marvel three years of Web Woman being on TV before they made any kind of move against Filmation, he said, as possible. Bob Ingersoll was an attorney in Cleveland, Ohio, who began writing comic-book stories in 1975 with Charlton. He “If you do not actively defend your trademark, your property can eventually wrote for DC, Marvel, and other companies, as well become public domain. As I previously mentioned, I was not yet VP [editor-in-chief], and therefore not privy to the discussions between Marvel top execs and KKRC&O Manta and Moray go their separate (Kenyon, Kenyon, Riley, Carr and Odom) lawyers, ways… forever? © DreamWorks. nor was I in the loop about the remedies discussed. One can speculate about negotiations dragging out, promises broken, agreements not signed or kept, whatever. Marvel and its lawyers obviously felt that the threat to their intellectual property rights was still there. Action had to be taken.” Which begs the big question: Was there a lawsuit? Shooter writes, “To my knowledge, no lawsuit was ever filed. There were depositions, discussions, and an out-of-court settlement. I was not given details.” Shooter also brings up a comparison to Marvel’s opposition to Dave Sim’s parody character of Wolveroach in the Cerebus comic series. “As I understand it, one use can be parody, and that’s fine unless it is tortious and causes injury or damages. Two, maybe you can get away with. Three 46

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as co-writing two novels. His “The Law Is A Ass” column was carried regularly in Comics Buyer’s Guide newspaper, and appears at www.comicmix.com/author/bob-ingersoll/. Michael L. Lovitz is a renowned intellectual property lawyer, whose firm handles the business of comic creators and comic companies. He teaches the Comic Book Law School series every year at Comic-Con International and other conventions, and wrote the Trademark & Copyright Book for comic creators in 2001. His firm can be reached at www.lovitziplaw.com. Ingersoll notes that the above-discussed lawsuit had predecessors. He wrote, “I am not an intellectual property lawyer and never have been, so I don’t claim I understand this complex body of law with any certainty. However, like the trial court, I was puzzled why DC chose to pursue only trademark actions against (LEFT TO RIGHT) Character sketches of Freedom Force members Filmation under the Lanham Act and didn’t pursue copyright Merlin, Super Samurai, and Hercules. © DreamWorks. infringement causes of action at the same time. “Back in the [Forties], DC successfully sued first Bruns Publishing over Will Eisner’s Wonder Man—and then Fawcett Publications So, with the facts all finally in place, what is the legacy of The over Captain Marvel—on copyright infringement. In both cases Super 7 and its opponents? the evidence of copyright infringement frequently consisted of DC Filmation continued an ongoing relationship with DC Comics showing examples of Wonder Man or Captain Marvel performing post-lawsuit, utilizing Shazam!-related characters in the 1981–1982 super-feats that were substantially and NBC series The Kid Super Power Hour with visually similar to feats Superman had Shazam!, which had a partial DVD release performed earlier. One would think that DC from BCI Eclipse in 2007. might have been able to use those cases The Plastic Man cartoon lasted two as precedent to prove that Manta and seasons on ABC, and later went into Superstretch violated the copyrights on syndication, where a live-action Plastic The Super 7 Aquaman and Plastic Man and successfully Man-introduced segments. The cartoon is ` No. of seasons: Three sued for copyright infringement.” available on DVD. ` Original run: Tarzan and Ingersoll brings up the fact that “three Spider-Woman continues to appear in the Super 7, September 9, years after the Filmation suit was over, comics, toys, and occasionally, guest-stars 1978–September 6, 1980 (CBS, Warner [Bros.] lost a similar suit against in animation. Her abbreviated first season Saturdays, 90 minutes) ABC, the American Broadcasting Company, is not available in the U.S. on DVD, but ` Second Run: Batman and over the TV show The Greatest American was released in the UK on DVD in 2009. the Super 7, September 12, Hero. In that suit, Warners was trying to It is currently available to view on Disney+. 1980–September 18, 1981 (NBC, keep Hero from ever being broadcast, so Warner has released one volume of Saturdays, 60 minutes) sued preemptively, rather than waiting for Filmation’s Tarzan and The New Adventures Hero to appear and the compare feats. So of Batman and Aquaman on DVD. In 2006 Voice Cast Warners sued under the theory that Hero and 2007, BCI Eclipse released DVD sets of ` Ty Henderson: Chris/ was conceptually a copyright infringement Jason of Star Command and Space Sentinels/ Superstretch and that its very concept would ‘inevitably Freedom Force: The Complete Series. Those ` Kim Hamilton: Christy/ call Superman to mind.’” sets are now out of print and collectors Microwoman In that suit, Ingersoll says that, “Warner grab them when they come up on eBay. ` Howard Morris: Lt. Buzz Tucker [Bros.] lost because the court ruled in Your humble author actually produced ` Linda Gary: Kelly Webster/Web order to prove conceptual copyright those latter sets, and all the Special Woman infringement, Warner [Bros.] had to show Features on them. ` Joe Stern: Manta more than similarities in powers and The other Super 7 elements are locked ` Joan van Ark: Moray exploits of the two characters, it had to up, in the vaults of DreamWorks, the ` Michael Bell: Merlin, Toshi/Super show the concepts of the two properties current rights-holders to the FilmationSamurai, Sinbad were substantially similar. As Superman owned properties. Although they were ` Diane Pershing: Isis was played straight and Hero was played syndicated worldwide for years after ` Bob Denison: Hercules as a satire of super-heroes, so the concepts the DC lawsuit and Marvel deposition— ` Bob Holt: various voices were not similar. Or, as the court put it, though not in the United States—Web ` Allen Oppenheimer: various ‘Hero is to Superman as Inspector Clouseu Woman, Manta and Moray, and Superstretch voices is to Sherlock Holmes.’” Ingersoll wrote and Microwoman have been deemed ` Lou Scheimer: Scarab, Spinner, about those three lawsuits online, at www. “unreleaseable” since Filmation closed in various voices worldfamouscomics.com/law/back20001024. February 1989. None of the rights-holders shtml. since—which have included L’Oreal, RETROFAN

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Hallmark, Entertainment Rights, Boomerang Media, and Classic Media—have explored whether or not these properties could now be released or exploited in any form. The DC COMICS, INC. v. FILMATION ASSOCIATES suit is often cited in copyright law discussions today, as it established that in dealing with super-heroes, trademark protection can be applied to character names, nicknames, physical appearance and costumes, but not for physical abilities (i.e., super-powers) or personality traits. This affected DC and Marvel negatively, as no longer could they bring about the kind of lawsuits that put Captain Marvel and other characters under in the Forties or Fifties. Attorney Michael Lovitz cautions that “while this is the law under the Second Circuit, it’s not necessarily true in every state or federal jurisdiction.” It’s ironic that this lawsuit is also one of the things that have allowed DC and Warner to “appropriate” a Filmation-created character, without any blowback from Filmation rights-holders. A version of Isis was reintroduced in DC Comics in 2006, was made into a toy, appeared on one episode of Smallville, and has starred in several seasons of Legends of Tomorrow. Reportedly, Isis will also appear in Warner’s Black Adam feature film, as of this writing set to be released in December 2021.

THE SUPER � SEGMENTS

Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle (36 episodes, varying lengths) The New Adventures of Batman (16 half-hour episodes) Jason of Star Command (live-action, 28 episodes, varying lengths) The Freedom Force (five 11-minute episodes) Manta and Moray (seven 11-minute episodes) Superstretch and Microwoman (11 episodes, four @ 17 minutes, seven @ 11 minutes) Web Woman (ten episodes, three @ 17 minutes, seven @ 11 minutes)

When being interviewed for his autobiography, Scheimer said that The Super 7 “are some of the shows I get the most questions about, especially as most of the Filmation library has come to DVD. Could they get a release now? Hard to tell, as the copyright laws have changed so much since that time, but I hope they’ll one day be seen again.” Artwork and photos are courtesy the collection of Andy Mangels, unless otherwise credited. Quotes from Lou Scheimer are from the autobiography he wrote with Andy Mangels, Lou Scheimer: Creating the Filmation Generation. Quotes from Jim Shooter, Jeff Rovin, Bob Ingersoll, and Michael Lovitz are from email interviews in 2020 and 2021. Many thanks to all for their invaluable time and help!

An electric moment with Isis in this screen capture. (ABOVE) Isis character sketches. © DreamWorks.

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ANDY MANGELS is the USA Today bestselling author and co-author of 20 books, including the TwoMorrows book Lou Scheimer: Creating the Filmation Generation, as well as Star Trek and Star Wars tomes, Iron Man: Beneath the Armor, and a lot of comic books. He recently wrote the bestselling Wonder Woman ’77 Meets the Bionic Woman series for Dynamite and DC Comics, and has written six Fractured Fairy Tales graphic novels for Junior High audiences, for Abdo Books in 2021. He is currently working on a book about the stage productions of Stephen King and other projects. Additionally, he has scripted, directed, and produced Special Features and documentaries for over 40 DVD releases. His moustache is infamous. www.AndyMangels.com and www. WonderWomanMuseum.com

Evel Knievel Diecast Miniatures

by Mike Pigott

Evel Knievel, the “King of the Stuntmen,” is probably the best-known stunt performer of all time. Born Robert Knievel in Butte, Montana, in 1938, he picked up the nickname “Evel” during his days as a juvenile delinquent. He worked around the country in various jobs, but his main interest was motocross racing.

Jumping into the Limelight

Knievel was very good at self-promotion. There were two feature films made about him, and a large amount of merchandise was produced using his likeness and trademarks. His best-known logo was a thick number “1” finished in the colors of the American flag. He wore white leather jumpsuits with blue stripes and white stars, and most of his vehicles were finished in red, white, and blue with patriotic stars and stripes. Evel Knievel retired from jumping in 1977 and passed away in 2007.

Unable to support his young family in racing, Knievel hit upon the idea of doing stunt jumping on a motorbike. He went around small towns in the American Ideal Toys Northwest performing a one-man daredevil show, doing In 1972, Evel Knievel signed a licensing deal with Ideal Toys. all sorts of stunts on his bike, culminating in a large rampThe Ideal Toy Company was founded in 1903 in New York, and to-ramp jump over cars or flames. He became a popular its first products were teddy bears. This was later extended to attraction at county fairs, jumping progressively over more dolls—including the Captain Action super-hero action figure obstacles. However, he occasionally mistimed his jumps, line, covered in RetroFan #7—and Ideal became the world’s which led to crash-landings and long hospital stays. biggest doll manufacturer through the Seventies. In the Sixties, In 1967, Knievel attempted to jump the massive Ideal began producing board games, and made some of the fountains outside Caesar’s Palace Casino in Las Vegas. He era’s best, including Mouse Trap, Ker-Plunk, and Battling Tops. completed the jump, but landed badly and The first Evel Knievel toys produced by skidded, incurring six bone fractures and a Ideal were “bendy” action figures, followed month-long stay in the hospital. by the famous gyro-powered stunt bikes Having attracted national and and other vehicles (see sidebar). international attention, Knievel began A set of six diecast miniature vehicles performing his stunts in stadiums, which was released in 1976, followed by another were often packed with fans. In 1971 he made six in 1977; one additional model was the world record by jumping over 19 cars. released later. The range included six Always dreaming of more spectacular motorcycles, the Skycycle, and six different jumps, in 1974 he announced his intention types of racing cars. Many of the vehicles to jump the Grand Canyon. The National upon which the miniatures were based had Parks Service wouldn’t allow this, so instead never actually been driven by Evel himself. he settled on the privately owned Snake Although a fan of auto racing, Knievel never River Canyon in Idaho. For this stunt he actually participated in it. had a specially designed, steam-powered The cars in the set were around 1/43 motorbike that was shaped like a rocket, scale, and the motorcycles were more like called the “Skycycle X-2.” Unfortunately, the 1/24 scale, but weren’t to a consistent size. Most items had one or more metal parts jump was unsuccessful as the machine’s plus a number of plastic parts. All had a parachute deployed early. model of Evel fitted; the motorbikes had In 1975, Knievel visited the U.K. and attempted to jump over 13 London buses a removable figure in soft plastic. The at Wembley Stadium, but again he hit the (TOP) Evel Knievel. (ABOVE) Ideal’s cars and Skycycle had small part-figures ramp and was injured. Back in the U.S.A., Evel Knievel diecast miniatures were in hard plastic that couldn’t be removed. Evel Knievel toys were heavily advertised in he successfully jumped over 14 Greyhound a common sight in 1976-era comic comics of the era. coaches in Cincinnati, Ohio. books.

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Stunt Cycle

The bike Knievel used most frequently was a Harley-Davidson XR-750, which was designed for dirt racing. It was perfect for Evel, fast and powerful with strong suspension and a short tail. The model had a black diecast frame, metal forks, and wheels and a working kickstand. The bodywork was white plastic with a black seat and decorated with colorful stickers.

Chopper

The second motorbike model was a chopper, a very popular type of custom bike in the Seventies. It was based on a Harley-Davidson with a custom, streamlined frame and large sissy bar [the rear bar also called a “sister bar” or “passenger backrest”—ed.]. The metal two-part frame was painted white, and was fitted with an angled black plastic seat. The forks, handlebars, engine, and four huge, curved exhaust pipes were in chrome plastic. The frame was decorated with red stripes and “1” logos, plus stars and stripes labels on the top of the fuel tank.

Sky Cycle

Ideal’s version of the Skycycle was a very accurate replica. The upper fuselage was white diecast metal, incorporating the tail fin and rear wings. The lower fuselage was red plastic, with two narrow rear wheels at the back, and a single front wheel. At the tip of the nose was a pointed prong in soft black plastic, presumably for child-safety reasons. There were paper stickers on each side reading “EVEL KNIEVEL X-2” in large gold letters. The wings and fuselage were decorated with stars and stripes. A small Evel Knievel figure was seated in the cockpit behind a clear windscreen.

Funny Car

Ideal produced a large model of a funny car in its Evel Knievel actionfigure line. Inevitably, a similar model was introduced into the Precision Miniatures line, in approximately 1/43 scale. The body shell was made of diecast metal, and was quite typical of a funny car of the era, although did not appear to be based on any particular car. It was decorated with flaming “EVEL” stickers on each side, a “33” racing number on the roof, plus stripes along the bonnet. The body could lif t up to reveal Evel seated in the driver’s cage behind the massive chrome engine.

Dragster

This diecast miniature was a very accurate representation of a dragster of the era, in around 1/50 scale. It had a diecast upper body that included the front spoiler, parachute pack, and a very finely cast roll bar. It was painted white with “stars and stripes” decals on the spoiler and in front of the cockpit, plus long decals on each side with red and blue stripes and “1” logos. A separate metal spoiler was fitted to the rear with a “stars and stripes” label. A small Evel half-figure was seated in the cockpit, complete with chromed steering wheel and wing mirrors, plus a clear plastic windshield. The wheels were something of a contrast, with narrow bicycle-spoke wheels up front and massive thick slicks at rear.

Formula 5000

Formula 5000 racing was a type of motor racing popular in the Seventies. It used open-wheel cars that looked like Formula 1 racers, but without the strict rules and high costs of F1. The Formula 5000 name came from the maximum engine size allowed, which was anything up to and including a five-liter engine. Like some of the other cars in the line, this car was never driven by Evel Knievel; however, this one had some truth behind it. Evel was a huge fan of IndyCar racing, and in the mid-Seventies he sponsored a car driven by Gary Bettenhausen, which had a passing resemblance to the Ideal model. There was not a lot of metal in its construction; only the upper body was diecast up to the roll bar.

Stratocycle

The second series of Evel Knievel diecast miniatures was not on sale for as long as the first series models, and as a result they are much harder to find. The only one of these to be based on a real vehicle was the Stratocycle. This was used solely in the 1977 feature film Viva Knievel!, in which Evel—playing himself—performed a range of stunts while taking on a fictitious gang of drug smugglers. The Stratocycle was mainly a show bike and was not used for any of the dangerous stunts. Based on a Harley-Davidson XLCH, it was heavily customized, fitted with a racing-style fairing at the front and an airplane-style tail behind the seat! Ideal’s model of the Stratocycle was largely faithful to the real thing. The most eye-catching feature of the bike was the fairing, which was molded in blue and adorned with a large American bald eagle motif, represented by a large paper label. A clear plastic windshield was glued to the top of the fairing.

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REV UP YOUR GYROPOWERED ENERGIZER!

Probably the best-remembered Ideal product line based on Evel Knievel was a range of miniature stunt motorcycles and other vehicles. Initially action figures were released, followed by the famous gyro-powered Stunt Cycle. The bike could be placed on a stand and “revved up” using a crank; the bike would take off with a miniature Evel seated on top. In addition to the Stunt Cycle, there were a number of other vehicles that were compatible with the launching ramp, including a Chopper, Trail Bike, Jet Cycle, Stratocycle, Skycycle, Stunt Car, Funny Car, and a combination Formula 1 Racer and Dragster. Compatible with the action figures were several nonpowered accessory vehicles, including a camper van, pick-up truck, and a custom van with working CB radio. There were a number of related action sets including a stunt stadium and a “Danger Canyon” playset. Also, a number of costumes for the action figures were released, allowing kids to dress up their Evel figure as a big game hunter or an Arctic explorer. A colorful ad appearing in comic books brought Ideal’s Evel Knievel line to the attention of many boys in the Seventies. In 1974, Marvel Comics even produced an Evel Knievel giveaway comic book to promote Ideal’s line. Clearly, realism wasn’t an important factor for Ideal, which was more interested in getting as much mileage out of the franchise as possible. In fact, the Evel Knievel line was the company’s bestselling line for much of the Seventies. Evel himself was probably not too bothered either, as he actually made more from Ideal Toys royalties than he did from performing stunts.

The Stratocycle is one of the rarest and most desirable diecasts, and can change hands for several hundred dollars.

Super Jet Cycle

The Super Jet Cycle does not appear to be based on any real motorbike, and looks to be a scaled-down version of the larger jet cycle from the Knievel action-figure line. The only difference is that it had solid, chrome-jet engines rather than translucent red ones, with sparking action! The angular body was diecast and cast in two halves, with very wide foot-rests. A bizarre-looking chrome engine was fitted underneath, while two big jet engines in chrome plastic were attached to the rear.

Drag Bike

Unlike the Super Jet Cycle, the Drag Bike is based on a real type of racing motorcycle, although it wasn’t a sport that Knievel participated in. It was a very accurate model in about 1/30 scale. It had a white diecast frame with a pair of chrome plastic V-Twin engines mounted in tandem. The front forks were unpainted metal, with diecast handlebars bolted on top. The front wheel was the same as on most other bikes in the line, although the rear wheel was a solid disc. A red plastic fuel tank was attached to the top, with a blue plastic part representing the seat and rear mudguard. The Evel Knievel figurine was much smaller than on the other bikes, and is in a semi-prostrate position.

Formula J

The name of this model is a mystery, as there was no type of motor racing called “Formula J.” It appears to be based on the Ford J-Car, a flattopped development of the Ford GT40 from the mid-Sixties. The car’s upper body was painted red, and had an opening engine cover. The base was made of blue plastic, extending up to the sills. The chrome V-8 engine was very detailed and could be seen clearly when the cover was raised. In the cockpit was a painted Evel half-figurine and a black plastic steering wheel.

Super Stock Just a few examples the brief but explosive life of Evel Knievel merchandise.

This car generally resembled a Chevrolet Camaro in a stock car racing livery. It had a white diecast body with a red plastic bonnet

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scoop and thick “stars and stripes” decals on the bonnet roof and boot. There were “77” racing numbers on each door. The base was blue plastic, with a black grille and chrome plastic bumpers at front and rear. The interior was blue with a red roll cage and window netting, black steering wheel, and a truncated Evel figure.

Rat Trap

Rat Trap appears to be based on a modified stock car, the type seen in oval dirt-track racing that used very heavily altered road cars. The Ideal version was accurate looking, but had very little diecast metal in it. Only the coupe body from the windscreen back was metal, and was painted red. The base and interior were blue plastic, with a half-figure of Evel behind the steering wheel. There was no bonnet, with only a sloping, riveted panel over the engine.

Café Racer

The Café Racer was the 13th and last model in the series, although it was not mentioned in any advertising. Originating in Britain in the Fifties, Café Racers were low-powered bikes, but highly tuned and dressed up like racers. The name came about because the riders congregated around highway diners. The model had a black diecast frame, with a chrome plastic engine and metal kickstand. The front forks were bare metal and included a front mudguard. The front fairing was actually made from three parts: a clear windscreen, a white center section, and a blue lower portion, which were glued together and decorated with a red stripe label. Café Racer is a very rare model, with many collectors unaware of its existence. Mint and boxed examples can fetch up to $400.

Packaging

The diecasts were packaged in colorful window boxes, with a picture of Evel on the header card. There were three sizes of boxes: the cars came in standard box, the motorbikes came in tall boxes, while the two long vehicles—the Dragster and the Skycycle—came in low, wide boxes. Affixed to the cellophane window was an oval-shaped red sticker with the name of the enclosed model. There were also two gift sets released: one containing the first six models, and another with four motorcycles.

End of the Road

Unfortunately, in late 1977, things began to go downhill for Evel Knievel. After he assaulted a promoter, he was arrested and sentenced to a prison term. At this point Knievel’s sponsors, including Ideal and Harley-Davidson, ended their associations

The diecast miniature packaging reflected the Evel Knievel's patriotiotic color scheme.

with him. The Ideal diecast line was discontinued, while the Knievel action figure and stunt bike lines were later reissued with new, generic characters. Knievel soon fell out of favor with the public, and without income from royalties, or sponsors for his stunts, subsequently went bankrupt. The Evel Knievel diecasts soon disappeared from toy shop shelves, but began to be seen as extremely collectible during the Nineties. The first series of diecasts is reasonably easy to find at affordable prices, but the second wave is hard to find. The Stratocycle and little-known Café Racer are particularly sought after by collectors. Product photos of vehicles are courtesy of Mike Pigott. Toy photos in the sidebar are courtesy of Hake’s Auctions. Evel Knievel comic book in the sidebar is courtesy of Heritage Comic Auctions. MIKE PIGOTT is an Australian writer based in London who specializes in diecast models and pop culture. His work appears in every issue of Diecast Collector Magazine, and he has also featured in Collector’s Gazette and Diecast Model World.

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ERNEST FARINO’S RETRO FANTASMAGORIA

HOW THEY DID IT! Compiled and captioned by Ernest Farino

Continuing our collection of behind-the-scenes photos, we present a selection from movies of the Sixties. We hope we’ve included one or two of your favorites. Some feel that photos of this nature “spoil the fun,” but, partly because of my own interest in filmmaking and later involvement professionally, I’ve always enjoyed that glimpse “behind the curtain” that conveys… well, How They Did It! So… Roll camera… mark it… annnnd… Action!

On the Set… Movies in the Sixties This issue: War and Westerns RETROFAN

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Director Sergio Leone (seated, legs crossed) awaits the final set-up for a shot in the Western town set for Fistful of Dollars.

Preparing to shoot the dramatic entrance of “Joe” (Clint Eastwood) as he steps out of the smoke from an explosion of dynamite.

Clint Eastwood seems to enjoy the moment as another shot is slated. Barely visible behind the slate is Gian Maria Volontè as the bad guy, Ramón Rojo (his name “Americanized” in the original main titles as “Johnny Wels”).

Clint Eastwood gets the drop on director Sergio Leone.

It’s all about the details… Director Leone shows Eastwood exactly how to light his stub of a cigar. In the background Guillermo Méndez (as the sheriff of the town of White Rocks) looks on.

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Clint Eastwood takes a look through the Arriflex/Techniscope camera.

Eli Wallach as Tuco waits for the train to cut the chains of his handcuffs, freeing him from the dead Corporal Wallace (Mario Brega). That is, of course, a dummy of Wallace lying on the tracks.

Eastwood and Wallach agree to tell each other their half of the secret to the buried treasure as they plant explosives under the bridge.

(ABOVE) Sergio Leone (in white shirt) films a scene with Eastwood and Wallach just after the explosion of Branson Bridge. (LEFT) Preparing to film the shot of Tuco lifting up the coffin lid, mistakenly thinking that the grave of “Arch Stanton” holds the gold.

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(RIGHT) One for the scrapbook: (LEFT TO RIGHT) Henry Fonda, Claudia Cardinale, Sergio Leone, Charles Bronson, and Jason Robards. Leone grew his beard during the making of the film, so production photos show him with and without the beard. (BELOW) Leone (in white shirt) closely observes the opening shot of Brett McBain (Frank Wolff) as his shotgun takes down a couple of quail.

No hard feelings— Timmy (Enzo Santaniello) frolics with his killer, Frank (Henry Fonda), between set-ups. Enzo and Simonetta Santaniello (brother and sister Timmy and Maureen McBain) were siblings in real life.

Special effects supervisor Eros Bacciucchi rigs the blood on Simonetta Santaniello (as Maureen McBain) while costumer Antonella Pompei makes final adjustments.

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While raw exterior was filmed in Arizona, the interior of the “stagecoach way station” was built on a soundstage in Rome. Here Leone frames up Claudia Cardinale’s entrance.

ernest farino’s retro fantasmagoria

Sergio Leone (behind the camera) gets a horse-riding tracking shot close-up of Henry Fonda.

It’s a tough job, but somebody’s got to do it… Director Sergio Leone personally touches up Claudia Cardinale’s make-up.

While seemingly the exterior of the hotel room window in broad daylight, the close-up of Charles Bronson shooting the man atop the clock tower across the street was actually filmed in the studio.

The climactic f lashback—Sergio Leone (in white hat) watches intently as Harmonica’s brother (production manager Claudio Mancini) struggles to stay upright on the shoulders of the younger Harmonica (Dino Mele). While the film was principally shot in Spain, this scene and a few others were filmed in the U.S. in Monument Valley, Arizona, and Moab, Utah.

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Director John Ford (CENTER) stages a scene between (LEFT TO RIGHT) Andy Devine, Carroll Baker, George Peppard, and Stanley Livingston. The large, odd-looking camera between Andy and Carroll is the 3-strip Cinerama camera. The actors had to stand in strange positions to one another, often not in the same eyeline, in order to accommodate the extreme wide-angle Cinerama image that would be projected onto a deeply curved screen. Cinerama was the “hot ticket” in those days, and soon “-rama” (derived from “panorama”) became part of the name for everything from Foodarama to launderama and trailerama, including other film techniques such as Technirama and even Aroma-Rama in 1959 (followed by Smell-O-Vision a year later). Even as late as 1974, Ray Harryhausen’s Dynamation process was renamed Dynarama for The Golden Voyage of Sinbad.

Director Henry Hathaway sets up the arrival of Debbie Reynolds at the train station, greeted by George Peppard and Carolyn Jones (LEFT, in white hat). This epic film employed three directors: John Ford (“The Civil War”), Henry Hathaway (“The Rivers,” “The Plains,” and “The Outlaws”), and George Marshall (“The Railroad”), as well as Richard Thorpe (uncredited), who handled transitional historical sequences.

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Richard Brooks (lying prone on dolly) takes a look at the shot that introduces Lee Marvin at the beginning of the film. One of my favorite Westerns, directed by Brooks, with superb widescreen photography by Conrad Hall (must see in “letterbox” if on TV or video), a rousing score by Maurice Jarre, and a great cast: Lee Marvin, Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan, Woody Strode, Ralph Bellamy, Jack Palance, and Claudia Cardinale.

Director Sam Peckinpah on the set with Austrian actress Senta Berger. Peckinpah was known as a brute and a screamer. His abusiveness to his actors apparently got so bad that Charlton Heston once threatened him with a saber, later saying that it was the only time he had ever threatened anybody on a movie set. When production concluded there was no traditional wrap party and no fond farewells—everyone just scattered without looking back. As he left, James Coburn said to Sam Peckinpah, “Goodbye, you rotten motherf****r.” However, they must have patched things up because both Coburn and Senta Berger worked for Peckinpah again 12 years later on Cross of Iron.

Cinematographer Conrad Hall (directly behind camera) and Burt Lancaster to the right.

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(LEFT) Getting a tight closeup of John Wayne as “Lt. Col. Benjamin Vandervoort” (“Van”). (BELOW) Interior of the German high command, a detailed set on stage.

(LEFT) Filming the assault on Utah Beach. Standing at left, with cigar, is producer Darryl F. Zanuck, head of 20th Century Fox. Filming the recreation of the Normandy landing. Organized very much like an actual military operation, numerous assistant directors and other crew were dressed in fatigues and military gear so they could be down “in the thick of it” with their platoons of extras. Long before the advent of CGI and digital crowd replication, these scenes are notable for being all “real”—no opticals or camera tricks are used to enhance the action or extend the crowd.

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(ABOVE) Gregory Peck pulls Anthony Quinn aboard during the filming in the huge water tank on Stage H at Shepperton Studios, England. (LEFT) Anthony Quinn and Gregory Peck pass the time waiting for the next set-up.

(ABOVE) Lovely 27-year-old Gia Scala (née Josefina Grazia Scoglio) arrives in London for her role as the duplicitous “Anna.” Sadly, Gia suffered from debilitating depression and 11 years later committed suicide at age 38. (LEFT) Gregory Peck discusses upcoming scenes with director J. Lee Thompson as work continues on the massive guns in the background.

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(RIGHT) LEFT TO RIGHT: James Coburn (“Sedgwick, the Manufacturer”), director John Sturges, Steve McQueen (“Virgil Hilts, the Cooler King”), and Charles Bronson (“Danny, the Tunnel King”). Something of a reunion: Everyone pictured here had previously worked together on Sturges’ classic Western The Magnificent Seven. (LEFT) Director Sturges and star McQueen go over the motorcycle sequence. The bike, one of four used Director John in the production, was a 1962 650cc Sturges touchTriumph TR6R modified to look like a es up Steve WWII-era side-valve BMW. Veteran McQueen’s stuntman Bud Ekins did only one make-up. The shot: the actual jump. In Ekins’ 2007 tunnel set was obituary in the Los Angeles Times, open all along fellow stuntman and friend Bob Hoy one side for said, “Steve did the lead-up to it but camera access. Bud did the jump. It was a tough jump. You only can do that kind of thing once—you either make it or you don’t.” Bud’s daughter, Susan Ekins, said That’s all for now. A future issue of RetroFan will feature more her father and McQueen dug behind-the-scenes photos from films of the Sixties: drama, out a ramp in the dirt and comedy, adventure films, Alfred Hitchcock, David Lean, Hammer practiced jumping the motorFilms, Stanley Kubrick and James Bond! cycle over a rope to see if it would clear the barbed-wire All pictorial matter reproduced herein derives from the voluntary, fence. She added, “Steve was non-compensated contributions of pictorial or other memorabilia from a very capable rider, but [the the private collections of the author, and from the select private archives production] couldn’t afford to of individual contributors. have Steve get hurt.” Steve McQueen has just popped up out of the tunnel and is about to scramble to the nearby woods.

ERNEST FARINO recently directed an episode of the SyFy/Netflix series Superstition starring Mario Van Peebles, as well as serving as Visual Effects Consultant.

WAR AND WESTERNS. BUT ON THE SET WILL BE BACK IN A FUTURE ISSUE OF RETROFAN. 62

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CELEBRITY CRUSHES

Ray Stevens by Rena Konar It was the cheesiest of times. Everyone and his baby brother had their own variety show (The Osmonds?). With little to do before bedtime in small-town North Carolina, my only entertainment was from two television stations (three, when the sky was overcast). And in 1970, Ray Stevens had six-year-old me at summer-replacement-series. Already over 30 (!), with a long history as a producer, composer, studio musician, A&R man, and recording artist, Ray’s 1969 hit, “Gitarzan” (the first song any male Baby Boomer references when I mention my love for Ray), rocketed Stevens from Nashville to Hollywood. I became aware of Stevens’ goofy sketches and his ridiculous comedic songs when he was a semi-regular on The Andy Williams Show. Bonus: he could screw up his face, jam a shapeless felt hat on his head, and imitate an elderly redneck. Sexy! It seemed like Ray was a guest on every variety show of the era. Indeed, it was almost incestuous the way a handful of talent circulated from show to show (Charo anyone? Ray Jay Johnson?). With Williams’ help, the NBC executives’ arms were twisted, and Stevens had his show from June 20th to August 8th. But NBC had the upper hand… the show was produced in Canada. The thing that kept me coming back for more Ray was his sincere moon face and children (like me!) singing on his big hit, “Everything Is Beautiful.” In my foggy memory, “EIB” is a love-yourself-anthem. I recently looked up the lyrics and was surprised to find “EIB” has a Christian message. At six years old, I only noted the catchy chorus. And my parents never made any objection. Which is weird. Because we’re Jewish. I was surprised on our Thanksgiving trip to New York. My citified, younger cousin not only had a Glenn Campbell album, but her own record player too! It never occurred to me that I could actually own a copy of my crush’s album. A shallower girl would have switched allegiances to Glenn, who’d also had his own

summer variety show. But I made the right choice in Ray—Glenn had creepy sideburns. 1972, Ray grew a beard. Trouble in paradise. And it was around that time my head was turned by the angular, smooth good looks of Randolph Mantooth of Emergency! Squad 51! Send mouth-to-mouth resuscitation! But you never forget your first show-biz crush (or Robbie Humphries, but you wouldn’t know him… I hope). And despite my everchanging tastes, Ray Stevens still pops up on my radar from time to time. In 1974, my sister went to college and regaled us with tales of Streakers in the quad. Sure enough, Ray’s brand of goofy commentary on American popular culture produced his number one hit “The Streak,” complete with beat up hats and rustic characters. [See RetroFan #7 for the skinny on Streaking.—ed.] Then a year later, in another departure from countrified novelty songs, Ray released the Grammy-winning, upbeat remake of the jazz standard “Misty” just in time for preteen me to lock myself in my room and listen to AM radio all day. In the ensuing years, Ray Stevens has had his own theater in Branson, and I’ve seen him hawking his comedy videos on late night TV. And I’m sure he has a lot to say about this past election, maybe using a dilapidated felt hat and a wacky character. With Ray having turned 82 years old as of January 2021, I pray (in English and Hebrew) that my crush will keep going strong. And just remember this: In the great tradition of clever and comical country music, Ray Stevens may be a poor man’s Roger Miller. But Jim Stafford is a poor man’s Ray Stevens. RENA KONAR lives in Silver Spring, Maryland, with her husband (goatee), two sons (beard; clean shaven), and daughter (no facial hair). Prior to Maryland, Rena lived in Los Angeles for many years, where she was kicked around by show business and dabbled in many lowpaying jobs. She wishes she were better at math.

Hey, lovelorn, quit sobbing into your pillow and writing diary entries—instead, share your Sixties/Seventies/Eighties Celebrity Crush with RetroFan readers! You can become famous, get three free copies of the magazine, and earn a whopping $10 as well. Submit your 600-word-maximum Celebrity Crush column to the editor for consideration at euryman@gmail.com. RETROFAN

July 2021

RETROFAD

Killer

that would follow, the car in “You Drive” was the hero that forced a confession out of the story’s villain, its driver. The real world provided a supposedly cursed car nearly a decade before this The Twilight Zone episode. Screen legend James Dean tragically perished in an automobile crash on September 30, 1955, while zipping about in his beloved new sports car, a Porsche Spyder customized for him by none other than George Barris, the man who converted many autos into Hollywood wheels including his remarkable transformation of the Lincoln Futura concept car into TV’s Batmobile. Dean’s hotrod, which he nicknamed “The Little Bastard,” was a hotbed of accidents, with several mechanics that worked on the vehicle injuring themselves while doing so, including one whose thumb was fractured after being stuck in the car’s door. It was after Dean’s death that “The Little Bastard” really began to live up to its name. Parts salvaged from its wreckage were used in other racing vehicles—each of which crashed, causing serious injuries to their drivers. It almost sounds like a Stephen King story. It was a different Stephen—or Steven, as in Spielberg, then an up-and-coming film director— who unleashed the killer car craze upon pop culture. Spielberg’s Duel, a made-for-TV movie first seen on November 13, 1971, starred Dennis Weaver as a harried motorist in the ultimate road rage saga, as a barreling Scene from semi pursued Weaver’s sedan down treacherous The Twilight roadways. Was there a driver behind the blackened Zone’s “You windshields of the truck, or was the vehicle possessed? Drive.” © CBS. I’m not telling, for those of you who have never seen Duel (really, you must!), but this ABC Movie of the Week was such a ratings smash that it was later released theatrically. Credit for the story itself must go to one of the by Michael Eury masters of suspense, Richard Matheson, who first wrote Duel as a short story, originally published in 1971, then also wrote It’s not as if we weren’t warned. While the airwaves were the screenplay for the movie. Its premiere was perfectly timed. congested with commercials encouraging us to “see the U.S.A. in Audiences had been primed for man-versus-intelligent-machine our Chevrolet” and “put a tiger in our tank,” consumer advocate battles thanks to the success of 2001: A Space Odyssey, released in and future presidential candidate Ralph Nader cautioned us that 1968 as both Arthur C. Clarke’s sci-fi novel and director Stanley automobiles were Unsafe At Any Speed in his 1965 book of the same Kubrick’s film adaptation of the same, where a spaceship’s name. Too bad the producers of television’s My Mother the Car, the onboard computer, HAL, becomes sentient… and sinister. After 1965–1966 sitcom about a deceased woman’s reincarnation as Duel scored with audiences, we were off to the races, with more an old jalopy, didn’t consult Nader’s book when developing this wicked wheels to follow. one-season clunker which nearly junkheaped Hoping to once again roar star Jerry Van Dyke’s career. Nonetheless, in across the ratings finish line, the Seventies and Eighties, an entertainment ABC premiered Killdozer as the fad revved forth featuring vehicular homicides Movie of the Week on February 2, committed by the vehicles themselves! (Drivers 1974. Based upon a 1944 novella need not apply.) by Theodore Sturgeon, Killdozer Prior to My Mother the Car, an early example of delivered exactly what its title a possessed car on television first aired on January promised—an unmanned 3, 1964, in the Twilight Zone episode entitled “You murderous bulldozer—with Drive” (Season Five/Episode 14). Here, Edward familiar faces Clint Walker and Andrews—one of those grandfatherly actors Carl Betz and then-newcomer you saw a million times in random TV shows and Robert Urich among the movies but could never remember by name— construction workers on an played Oliver Pope, a jittery man whose guilty conscience over his hit-and-run killing of a child Theatrical poster for Duel. Courtesy manifested itself in his car haunting him, then of Heritage. © Universal. chasing him down. Unlike the shows and movies

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island building site who are terrorized after a demonic spirit inhabits the machine and mows over the crew, one by one. Where as Spielberg’s Duel was genuinely creepy, director Jerry London’s Killdozer was harder to swallow, as the dozer’s sluggish pace weakened its menace and was at times laughable. The Killdozer as a threat worked better in print, in both Sturgeon’s John Romita, Sr. redrew Killdozer story and Gerry Conway’s to make the dozer more menaccomic adaptation, published ing on this Gil Kane/Ernie Chua by Marvel Comics in Worlds cover. © Marvel. Unknown #6 (Apr. 1974). Schlockmaster Roger Corman produced the 1975 cult hit Death Race 2000, a theatrical release directed by Paul Bartel of Eating Raoul fame, starring David Carradine. Here, the cars weren’t under the thrall of demons but instead by deadly drivers in the perverse Transcontinental Road Race, where points were scored when plowing over pedestrians. The movie poster for 1977’s The Car asked, “Is it a phantom, a demon, or the devil himself?” behind its fearsome four-wheeled star. It was up to actor James Brolin, rocking a Pornstache and cooler hair than he had on Marcus Welby, M.D., to find out in the role of a small-town lawman in hot pursuit of a driverless auto wreaking havoc in his community.

this whole thing rolling, and now this limp Duel retread proved that the killer car craze needed a tune-up, and fast. Enter Stephen King. The 1983 publication of his novel, Christine, about the bond between a boy and his (killer) car, revitalized the concept… but would you expect anything less from King? Devilishly delightful was director John Carpenter’s movie version of the tale, released on December 9, 1983, starring a greasy, sleazy Keith Gordon as Arnie Cunningham, the misfit teen whose behavior transforms once he gives a makeover to a ’58 Plymouth Fury that just happens to be possessed… or “Bad to the Bone,” as the score’s George Thorogood hit told us. Classic—both the car and the movie. King directed the 1986 movie adaptation of another of his stories, Maximum Overdrive, where a comet turns machines into monsters, leaving Emilio Estevez to play action hero as bloodthirsty big rigs wreak havoc at a truck stop. But even King, the maestro of the macabre, knew better than to take this one too seriously… unlike the makers of the cheesy 1990 telefilm Wheels

Then came the era of the slasher movie, and The Hearse was rolled out into theaters in 1980, a by-the-numbers, low-budget shocker that was one of the last film roles of the once-great Joseph Cotten. In early September 1983, the horror anthology Nightmares was released to theaters, a collection of four short features that were originally produced for the TV series Darkroom (1981–1982) but deemed too frightening for television. One of its stories, “The Benediction,” starring Lance Henricksen, involved a priest in need of a spiritual booster shot who encounters—well, a truck with darkened windows that has it out for him. Duel started

of Terror, promoted with the tagline “Evil waits. With the motor running.” That copy and an accompanying image of sinisterly glowing headlights may have suggested this was about a killer car, but instead it featured a child abductor who used his wheels of terror for his horrific kidnappings. The killer car craze had definitely spun out of fresh ideas and the trend had motored away, outside of an occasional retro road trip like 2019’s The Car: Road to Revenge. It’s not as if cars as stars drove off the Hollywood lot in the Eighties, though. In that decade, hero cars were now the thing, with The Dukes of Hazzard’s General Lee, Magnum, P.I.’s Ferrari 308 GTS, and The A-Team’s GMC Vandura being almost as beloved as their shows’ human casts. And let’s not forget Knight Rider’s KITT, a vehicle that could vocalize! But like other fads, that eventually spun out as well. And today, here in the real world, manufacturers are doing their best to unleash the A.V. (autonomous vehicle)—or selfdriving car—upon us. What are they thinking? Ralph Nader, where are you when we need you? RETROFAN

July 2021

THE ODDBALL WORLD OF SCOTT SHAW!

Hogs, Hippies, and Humor, Oh My!

Gilbert Shelton’s Wonder Wart-Hog and the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers by Scott Shaw!

“Gilbert Shelton is as near as comics have come to producing a natural comedic genius of the same stature as a Chaplin or a Tati.”

– Alan Moore

When I was in junior high school, my allowance, newspaper route, and commissioned artwork on my classmates’ paper-bag textbook covers added up to allow me to expand the amount of print media that I could afford. One that I was sneak-reading at the magazine rack in the supermarket my mom shopped at was CARtoons. Although I had no interest in automotive know-how, I’d been assembling a lot of plastic model kits of hot rods. I was also a huge fan of Ed “Big Daddy” Roth and Stanly “Mouse!” Miller (the man I stole my exclamation point from), both outrageous outlaw cartoonists who placed insanely cool advertisements in Car Craft magazine. Unlike that publication, CARtoons’ was aimed at boys my age who were yearning to drive rather than to become an automotive “gearhead,” so its humorous stories and gags didn’t worry about mechanics. I was particularly enthralled by its contributors, almost all West Coast cartoonists, many with long careers in animation. Tarzan and Magnus, Robot Fighter’s Russ Manning wrote and drew some stories, too! “Big Daddy” Roth even showed up once in awhile. CARtoons was so successful that Petersen Publishing— which produced dozens of automotive magazines—added the mags Hot Rod Cartoons, SURFtoons, and CYCLEtoons, each with a fad-related specialty theme. I dug ’em all. Pete Millar, one of the early editors of CARtoons, started publishing his own automotive humor magazine, Drag Cartoons, 66

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Gilbert Shelton’s far-out creations! (ABOVE LEFT) Detail from the cover of Rip Off Press’ Underground Classics #5 (1987), featuring Wonder Wart-Hog. (ABOVE RIGHT) The Freak Brothers Peace Sign limited edition print of 1983. © Gilbert Shelton.

also in black and white. It had an older readership and a significant presence in the drag-racing scene. Millar even owned a dragster, and often included caricatures of many racers and parts manufacturers in his stories, most of which were entirely over my head. But I was delighted to notice the return of a hilariously bizarre character I’d seen before, in Harvey Kurtzman’s Help! magazine, a porcine super-hero named “Wonder Wart-Hog,” written and drawn by a cartoonist that really got my attention, Gilbert Shelton. By this time, I was drawing comics for my junior high school’s newspaper and very serious about improving my cartooning skills, so Shelton’s strips were like textbooks to me. I taught myself to draw Wonder Wart-Hog and left his image on book covers, desktops, and party walls throughout high school. I even created a character named “Coltman,” a super-hero with a buff body and a horse’s head very much like Shelton’s WWH, that had his own comic strip in Crawford High’s Pacer newspaper. Between Drag Cartoons’ spin-off, Wonder Wart-Hog magazine, and Marvel’s Not Brand Echh, full of funny super-hero parodies by otherwise “straight” cartoonists like Jack Kirby and Ross Andru, I was exposed to the humor of two of my most inspirational cartoonists who were working at opposite ends of the professional spectrum—Jack Kirby and Gilbert Shelton. WWH’s humor was a weird blend of awful puns, shaggy dog plots, and sophisticated news references. The combination of that frenetic, crosshatched madness and pun-ridden, slapstick social commentary made a lasting impression on me.

The second and final issue of Wonder Wart-Hog magazine was cover-dated Spring 1967. The first printing of Feds ’n’ Heads Comics was published in 1968. So it didn’t take long for Gilbert to become one of the very first underground cartoonists. “Underground”? Yes, as in “underground comix.” Around 1966 or so, some Texas cartoonists started drawing comic-book stories that were a welcome alternative to mainstream, spinner-rack funnybooks. The themes of most of these newcomer comics dealt with relevant, comedic, and/or psychedelic approaches to themes of sex, drugs, and political resistance. These radical and risqué tales first appeared in college humor magazines and fanzines, then avant-garde magazines like Help! and Evergreen, and finally in their own relatively low-print-run (usually 10,000 copies per printing) titles. Along with Robert Crumb, Gilbert remains one of the earliest, most influential, most relatable, best known, and most popular underground cartoonists.

Fearless, Fighting, Foul-Mouthed Wonder Wart-Hog

Gilbert Shelton was born on May 31, 1940 in Bryan, Texas (where his dad owned a tire store), and raised in Houston. Like most of those in the business of creating-something-funny-withpencil-lines-on-paper, Gilbert’s cartoonist DNA was evident as a youngster. Funnybooks like Carl Barks’ Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge, Bob Montana’s Archie, John Stanley’s Little Lulu, and comic strips like Bud Sagendorf’s Popeye, Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy, and Al Capp’s Li’l Abner were not only his favorites, they would heavily influence his approach to cartooning. He read and studied them to learn about storytelling, structure, gags, and character appeal. As he grew, Gilbert developed interest in other influential cartoonists, including Virgil “VIP” Partch, and Harvey Kurtzman’s and Jack Davis’ work on EC’S four-color MAD comic books. He graduated from Lamar High School and went on to attend Washington and Lee University in Virginia, Texas A&M University,

Then and now: (TOP) Artist Gilbert Shelton with original art from Freak Brothers #2. Photo by Clay Geerdes. Courtesy of Scott Shaw! (RIGHT)

Shelton holdoing a copy of Zap Comix #15, at the London Film and Comic Con in July 2013. Photo by BennyOnTheLoose.

and finally, the University of Texas at Austin, where he received a bachelor’s degree in the social sciences. In 1961, Gilbert moved to Ohio and then on to New York City, with his girlfriend Pat Brown, to work on automotive magazines. The concept of “fearless, fighting, foul-mouthed Wonder Wart-Hog,” a porcine parody of super-heroes, had the vibe of the most outlandish Jay Ward cartoon show never made. With a hairy pig as its star character, WWH was hip, silly, and satirical all at once. Shelton’s stories also had more than a touch of the subversive and taboo, an element that over time would increase enough to send WWH from mainstream publications to the “underground.” WWH has somewhat non-specific super-powers: he’s super-strong, can fly, and perform whatever add-on powers are called for by specific storylines. In different WWH stories, he’s a refugee alien from the planet Squootpeep. His alter ego is Philbert Desanex, a reporter working for The Muthalode Mungpie, an indifferent and corrupt daily newspaper. Unlike most superheroes, WWH would take any shortcut when saving the day, including pinching the bad guys’ heads like they were grapes. His gallery of villains included the Merciless Menacing Masked Meanie, Super-Patriot, Super-Hypnotist, Supercop, Super Fool, Super Granny, the pie-fighting Merangsters, the Comet Insurance Man, and the International Order of Bomb-Flinging Fiends, among other funny foes. He also once convinced an automobile corporation to name its latest car “The Cannabis,” and that was in Drag Cartoons’ January 1968 issue. In 1962, Shelton moved back to Texas to enroll in graduate school and get student a deferment from the draft. The first two Wonder Wart-Hog stories appeared in both issues of Bacchanal, a short-lived college humor magazine produced and published by Bill Killeen and other former University of Texas humor magazine staffers at the Texas Ranger in the winter/spring of 1962. (The University of Texas has an illustrious tradition of satirical magazines, as well as of producing noteworthy cartoonists including Shelton, Frank Stack, Berke Breathed, etc.) Gilbert Shelton quickly became the editor of the University of Texas Student’s Association’s Texas Ranger (where he had first published work in 1959) and published more Wonder Wart-Hog stories. The outrageous character attracted the attention of Mademoiselle, a slick women’s magazine that wrote about Wonder WartHog in its August 1962 “College” issue. WWH went on to regularly appear in the Texas Ranger later from 1962–1963. Bill Killeen wrote the three-part WWH story “Wonder Wart-Hog Meets the Mob” for the Texas Ranger. WWH went on to regularly appear in Charlatan magazine from 1963–1966. Harvey Kurtzman (1924–1993) was the genius behind MAD magazine and the long-running Playboy feature “Little Annie Fanny,” as well as several lesser-known magazines. Among those, Help! was the longest-lived, running from 1960 to 1965. Kurtzman was a mentor to developing RETROFAN

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artists like Terry Gilliam and R. Crumb, and ran cartoons from college mags around the U.S. He recognized Shelton’s potential, not surprising since Harvey’s MAD was a subversive influence on adolescent Gilbert’s ironic worldview. The first issue that his work appeared in was the November 1962 issue; his contribution was a reprint of “Wonder Wart-Hog Meets Super-Fool.” Thus, Wonder WartHog made his first nationally distributed appearance in the pages of Help! After that, WWH regularly appeared in Help! magazine for a while. That same year, Shelton published (in fanzine form) The Adventures of Jesus by “Foolbert Sturgeon,” a.k.a Frank Stack. After Make the Society Great switching from graduate school to Again! Shelton’s snoutart school (where he befriended nosed hero is ready to singer Janis Joplin for two years), serve LBJ on the cover Gilbert was drafted. Army doctors of Wonder Wart-Hog #1 declared him medically unfit after (Winter 1967). © Gilbert he admitted to taking psychedelic Shelton. drugs. After this, in 1964 and 1965, he spent some time in Cleveland, where Pat Brown was attending the Cleveland Institute of Art. Gilbert applied for a job at the American Greeting Card Company, where Robert Crumb had worked, but was turned down. In 1965, Gilbert moved to New York to work for the underground newspaper the East Village Other, then on to Los Angeles to work for the Los Angeles Free Press. In 1966, Wonder Wart-Hog was added as a regular feature to the pages of Pete Millar’s Drag Cartoons. Millar was an incredibly prolific cartoonist and publisher, churning out much of the artwork for Petersen’s CARtoons and other automotive humor magazines during the Sixties. As long as Wonder WartHog’s adventures involved cars, Millar granted Gilbert a lot of creative freedom. The stories in Drag Cartoons represent the largest number of WWH stories from one publisher and also demonstrate the maturing of Gilbert’s storytelling skills. In 1966 and 1967, Gilbert wrote and penciled new WWH stories for the monthly magazine, so now more than ever, he needed Tony Bell to handle the inking. Tony’s textured inking wasn’t as tight as Gilbert’s, but it did give his pencil art volume and weight. The two of them also created another short feature for Drag Cartoons, “Bull

Marijuana jokes weren’t just the domain of the Freak Brothers. Page from Shelton’s Wonder Wart-Hog story “The Name Game,” published in Pete Millar’s Drag Cartoons #47 (Jan. 1968). © Gilbert Shelton.

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O’Fuzz,” a bumbling motorcycle cop, but he only appeared in a handful of issues. Pete Millar struck me as a conservative man, but I think it’s clear that he believed in and understood the appeal of “outlaw” personalities, car culture, and the approaching counterculture. In addition to Drag Cartoons, he added to his line-up Ed “Big Daddy” Roth and in 1967, Wonder Wart-Hog, a B&W magazine comprising new WWH material and a few choice reprints. Each issue featured an installment of “Battle of the Titans,” a five-part serialized epic that introduced Piltdown Pig and Paranoid Punk Pig and took a decade-anda-half for Shelton, Lieuen Adkins, and Bell to finish. There were only two issues of Wonder Wart-Hog, because publishing lead times meant that he didn’t discover it was a flop until the second issue was already printed. Millar took a huge loss on the magazine, as well as on Big Daddy Roth, which lasted four issues. These experimental comics—now proven to have been ahead of their time—almost bankrupted him and caused Millar to sell the rights to Drag Cartoons to his printer and leave the country for a time with his family. 140,000 copies of each issue of WWH were printed, but magazine distributors did not pick it up due to it being difficult to categorize, and only 40,000 copies of each issue were sold. The rest were pulped. After returning to work on Petersen’s CARtoons once again, Pete Millar left cartooning to be a professional

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modeler who built miniature accident recreations for courtroom trials. However, Millar’s magazines weren’t the only form of national media exposure that the Hog of Steel was receiving at the time. In 1961, Fawcett Gold Medal mass-market paperback books published Fast Acting Help!, an anthology of reprints from Kurtzman’s magazine that featured “WW Meets Super Hypnotist.” But now, WWH was getting a title mention in Wonder Wart-Hog, Captain Crud & Other Super Stuff, Fawcett Gold Medal’s anthology of college comics which included Gilbert’s “Wonder Wart-Hog Meets Super Patriot” and “Wonder Wart-Hog Meets the Mob,” as well as Vaughn Bodé’s “The Masked Lizard,” a strip by Monty Python’s Terry Gilliam (!), and a “sideword” by Harvey Kurtzman. Considering that WWH got his start in college humor magazines, how appropriate. Pete Millar’s misfortune left Gilbert Shelton looking for a new outlet. Fortunately, he had other avenues of income from the world of rock and roll, which would soon work its way back to the funny stuff. He already had Wonder Wart-Hog, but the super-swine’s popularity would turn out to be surprisingly obscure when compared to what Gilbert Shelton’s Freak Brothers would achieve. Around this time Shelton became art the director for the Vulcan Gas Company, a rock music venue in Austin, Texas, where he worked with Jim Franklin. He created a number of posters in the style of contemporary California poster artists such as Victor Moscoso and Rick Griffin. Shelton was generally regarded as Austin’s first “modern poster artist” because of his extensive work with Vulcan Gas Company, including the logo and the grand opening poster. After a year of this, he moved to San Francisco in 1968, hopeful that being closer to the action would enable him to do more poster work. As it turned out, he finally got his break in the world of underground comix. Two of the friends who worked with Gilbert at the Vulcan Gas Company and would go on to work

Courtesy of Scott Shaw!, Gilbert Shelton’s wizardry is on display in this “Battle of the Titans!” original art page from Wonder Wart-Hog magazine. © Gilbert Shelton.

on Gilbert’s comic stories were writer Joe E. Brown and Tony Bell. They also formed an Austin head shop that went through a number of names until they settled on Oat Willie’s, named after one of Gilbert’s nuttier characters.

The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers

The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers made their first public appearance in 1967 in the Austin Rag, a local Texas underground newspaper, and were soon appearing in alternative press publications all over America through the Underground Press Syndicate, essentially a file exchange network of over 100 RETROFAN

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underground publications, which included the Austin Rag itself as its sixth member. The vibe was definitely in the air for underground comix. Mainstream comic readers were growing up and were eager to read more than the standard genres that had been in play since the Thirties. Comix were in their earliest phase but the oncoming of the underground press—written by and for a liberal, recreationally medicated readership and distributed by syndicates in major media markets—solidified their popularity… and notoriety. Ironically, Gilbert’s comic stories were the perfect “gateway drug” to underground comix.

In 1968, flush with the sudden success of the Freak Brothers but still living in Austin, Shelton bought and read the first issue of Zap Comix, at that time written and drawn entirely by R. Crumb. Before reading it, Gilbert had very little interest in returning to comic books, thinking that the most natural format for underground comic strips was in tabloid newspapers. But reading Zap Comix #1 inspired Shelton to produce his own comic book that would star the Freak Brothers, Feds ’n’ Heads Comics. In the spring of 1968 Shelton published 5,000 copies of Feds ’n’ Heads Comics, a 24-page collection of his strips, some of which were first published in the Austin underground paper The Rag. He gathered existing strips, added some new work, and collated, 70

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folded, and stapled them himself in his Austin garage on the same type of press used by Don Donahue for Zap Comix. Feds ’n’ Heads Comics was an instant success and Shelton shifted the second printing of the book over to the Print Mint in February 1969. Thirteen more printings—also from Print Mint—would follow over the next decade, selling in excess of 200,000 total copies by 1980. Poor ol’ Pete Millar really was ahead of his time! The Wonder Wart-Hog story, co-written by Lieuen Adkins, featured Philbert Desanex—the Hog of Steel’s alter ego—on assignment to cover San Francisco’s Human Be-In festival. There, he encounters Gilbert’s old friend Janis Joplin, as well as a diabolical super-villain known as “the Chameleon.” Wonder Wart-Hog’s presence in Feds ’n’ Heads Comics is the only time a mainstream comic character has changed paths to become an underground comix character… although these days, it’s hard to tell the difference. Gilbert’s long-snouted super-hero continues to appear in print publications no longer considered “underground” but still “comix.” Meanwhile, cartoonist Bill Griffith’s Zippy the Pinhead has managed that same “genre-flip” but opposite, Bizarro-style, going from guest starring in Griffith’s Tales of the Toad underground comix to a daily newspaper comic strip from the King Features syndicate! Feds ’n’ Heads Comics featured a variety of strips about generic hippies, freaks, and above all, recreational drugs. Other stories in the issue included a couple of psychedelic interpretations of folk and blues songs and a parody of the novelty ads frequently found in mainstream comic books of that era. Most importantly, it introduced the trio that would become Shelton’s most famous creation, the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers. Many of the Freak Brother stories were originally drawn for the tabloid format of underground newspapers—social, political, and intentionally outrageous, written, printed, and published by a wide variety of hippies, racial groups, and radicals—that were popping up all over the country faster than magic mushrooms. Every city and large town seemed to have one. (My high school even had one in 1969, the year after I graduated, dammit.) In May of 1968, the Freak Brothers first appeared in Austin weekly underground newspaper, The Rag. When Gilbert moved to New York City, the Freak Brothers had a slot in the East Village Other and Gothic Blimp Works. Then he moved to Los Angeles, and they ran in the Los Angeles Free Press. Then on to San Francisco in the Mendicino Grape Vine, and so on… On January 17, 1969, Gilbert Shelton co-founded Rip Off Press with three fellow expatriate Texans: Fred Todd, Dave Moriarty, and cartoonist Jack “Jaxon” Jackson. It was created to print promotional posters for San Francisco’s then-thriving rock music scene… and a few underground comix on the side. The newly formed business—actually, more like a cartoonists’ cooperative—purchased a used Davidson 233 offset printing press and set up shop in the same space as Don Donahue’s Apex Novelties, located in the third floor’s ballroom in a former opera house. Soon after, a fire almost destroyed the place, so Rip Off moved to where the Family Dog psychedelic music collective was formerly located. By that time, they were publishing The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers and other smart and memorable comix. Those publications sold so well that by 1972, Rip Off Press was no long a poster printer but a publishing house. So, who are the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers? First off, they are not brothers, just three stereotypical San Francisco hippie-

The Oddball World of Scott Shaw!

types (“freaks,” not actual hippies) whose last names are similar and who are “brothers” in the same way the Doobie Brothers— not really brothers—are “brothers” (the Freak Brothers might be the original “Doobie” Brothers!). And if that’s not confusing enough, at one point, the FFFB briefly got a fourth “brother”! Here’s the cast of regular characters in Gilbert Shelton’s Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers stories: Phineas Phreakears is the brains of the trio, and a skillful amateur chemist, very useful to this team of lovable dope fiends. He’s also very political and one to embrace causes such as social change, environmental issues, and even nutty cults. He’s also a bit of an elitist intellectual when he gains control of a situation. It should come as no surprise that although Phineas is a devout Texan, he looks like a stereotypical NYC lef t-wing radical of the day, similar to then-current protest leaders Abbie Hof fman and Jerry Rubin: thick bush of black hair, matching beard, skinny frame, John Lennon-style glasses… and a long, pointy nose that resembles a fat joint! (It’s genuinely surprising that Fat Freddy’s never tried to smoke it.) Like many families at the time, Phineas’ parents are always at odds, with a mother who’s relaxed, open-minded, and liberal and a father who’s a card-carrying member of the John Birch Society. Freewheelin’ Franklin (last name unknown), always laid-back, softspoken, and unobtrusive, is the street-smartest of the trio. His rational judgment (and slightly older age) makes him the only adult in the Freak Brothers’ rundown apartment. He’s an orphan who grew up on the streets, therefore he doesn’t know his real name. Tall and skinny, Franklin has a bulbous nose, a droopy mustache, and a ponytail of varying colors. He usually sports a floppy gunfighter hat and boots. Although Freewheelin’ Franklin is a man of mystery, we’ve seen that he’s got an unacknowledged child, an unacknowledged father, and occasional impotence issues. Hmm, not so freewheelin’ after all. Fat Freddy Freekowtski is the trio’s equivalent of Curly Howard: rude, crude, stupid, impulsive, piggy, naive, utterly without an internal editor… and lovable as hell. He’s got curly blond hair and sideburns that wrap around his face to meet on his upper lip. Freddy grew up in a huge everyday family in Cleveland. He’s a gullible slob who’s known for his poor judgment during dope deals, getting “burned” or somehow losing the drugs before they can be used recreationally. Like Sergio Aragonés’ Groo the Wanderer, the name “Freekowtski” is internationally notorious. In “The Idiots Abroad,” Freddy visits the Polish village of Gfatsk, where everybody happens to look like him, but an angry mob of locals drive him out of town upon hearing the name “Freekowtski.”

Fat Freddy’s Cat is in the tradition of comic strips starring felines; his first solo strips were like the “toppers” on vintage Sunday strips, but located at the bottoms of the one-page Freak Brothers strips originally drawn for tabloid underground newspapers. His actual name is “Fat Freddy’s Cat,” although he’s gone by the monikers of “Fat Freddy Scat,” “F. Frederic Skitty,” and “Uncle F.” This scruffy, bignosed alley cat became known as the “realest” cartoon cat of all time—pooping in headphones and such—and Gilbert started creating new stories to meet the demand. Fat Freddy is usually the only Freak Brother who ever interacts with him, making it absolutely clear that Fat Freddy’s Cat is a genius when compared to his owner, a.k.a. “The Obese One.” The cat regards them with amused contempt at best and sees all humans as animated stick figures. His rivals are an army of cockroaches and a tribe of mice,

all sharing the apartment with Fat Freddy’s Cat and those pesky bipeds who pay the rent. Notorious Norbert the Nark is a squeaky-clean DEA agent who sees himself as the Freak Brothers’ #1 nemesis, despite the fact that he’s never been competent enough to arrest them even once. Hiram “Country” Cowfreak is a hippie “cousin” of all three Freak Brothers. He grows and sells vast quantities of marijuana at his isolated farm outside of town. Dealer McDope, often heard of but rarely seen in the pages of The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, is the trio’s primary dealer/friend. Dealer McDope was initially created by Dave Sheridan for Rip Off Press’ Mother’s Oats Comix. Sheridan would eventually become Gilbert Shelton’s partner-in-crime in creating new The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers stories. RETROFAN

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Tricky Prickears is a blind and deaf police detective, a parody of Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy. He’s often billed as “The Freak Brothers’ favorite law enforcement officer.” Governor Rodney Richpigge is a typical rich, corrupt politician whose son is a cocaine dealer. By 1970, the Freak Brothers were a national media phenomenon, and Shelton was contributing Freak Brothers strips to the L.A. Free Press on a weekly basis. Within a few months, he had enough strips to combine with older stories for Rip Off Press to print the debut issue of “The Collected Adventures of” The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers. The first issue was enormously popular, selling about half a million copies over ten printings, which were printed so closely together they all had 50-cent cover prices. It is estimated that the Freak Brothers have sold over 40 million total books worldwide. In March 1972, Shelton once again had accumulated enough new Freak Brothers strips to publish the second issue, “Further Adventures of Those...” Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers. Its fifth printing in 1973 is called the “Pink Page edition,” highly collectible because there was a paper shortage and to keep the presses rolling, the folks at Rip Off Press had to use whatever paper they could find. In 1973, Gilbert scraped together the last of the “acceptable” stories he’d written and drawn for The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers #3: “A Year Passes Like Nothing.” Having run out of old material, he had to draw an all-new set of strips for the issue #4, and he recruited cartoonist Dave Sheridan to help him. Sheridan continued assisting Shelton with the comics until he died in 1982. The fifth issue of The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers (May 1977) featured Gilbert’s first feature-length story, “Grass Roots.” In 1978, Gilbert and Paul Mavrides began to work on a three-part international epic, so the theme of the next issue (June 1980) was First and second issue covers of The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers and the first issue of the Fat Freddy’s Cat spin-off, all of which have been reprinted multiple times. © Gilbert Shelton.

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short stories, so the theme of “Six Snappy Sockeroos” seemed appropriate. In 1982, The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers # 7—“Several Short Stories”—combined reprints from Rip Off Comix with a few new Freak Brothers adventures. That same year, Gilbert Shelton and Lora Fountain temporarily moved back to San Francisco so that Shelton could start working with his new partner-in-crime, Paul Mavrides, to develop a full-color international adventure for the Freak Brothers entitled “The Idiots Abroad.” The first 16 pages of the story appeared in two eight-page chapters in the 11th and 12th issues of Rip Off Comix in 1982 and 1983, but the anthology series took a four-year hiatus due to financial issues. But Shelton and Mavrides continued to build “The Idiots Abroad” into a 96-page epic, which was published in The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers #8 (1984), 9 (1985), and 10 (1989). To some degree, “The Idiots Abroad” represents the peak of the Freak Brothers’ commercial success, but its comic-book enterprise remained healthy for another decade. In 1985, Rip Off Press launched a new title, Underground Classics. Its first issue was “Freak Brothers #0” (Jan. 1985). It featured older strips that had appeared in various publications but previously were not considered worth reprinting. The theme of 1990’s Underground Classics #12 was “Gilbert Shelton in 3D,” with more reprints and 3-D effects by Roger May. Publication of new issues of TFFFB slowed to a crawl, as the 12th issue of The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers (the last one with new material) came out in 1992. The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers #13 (1997) featured black-and-white reprints of stories from Thoroughly Ripped plus a new cover and one story never before printed in the U.S.: “The Plant.” There was also two issues of Fat Freddy’s Comics & Stories from Rip Off Press in 1983 and 1985. There have also been numerous reprints featuring some very clever re-packaging of Freak Brothers material: Thoroughly Ripped with the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers and Fat Freddy’s Cat! (1978); The Collected Adventures of Fat Freddy’s Cat and his Friends (Gilbert Shelton, 1975); The Adventures of Fat Freddy’s Cat (Knockabout

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Comics, 1977); six compilations of The Adventures of Fat Freddy’s Cat (Knockabout Comics, 1977); The Complete Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, Volume One (Knockabout Comics, 2001); The Complete Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, Volume Two (Knockabout Comics, 2003); The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers Omnibus (Knockabout Comics, 2008); and The Fat Freddy’s Cat Omnibus (Knockabout Comics, 2009). Fifty Freakin’ Years with the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers (Knockabout Comics, 2017) featured new strips by Gilbert Shelton, as well as a written introduction.

The Artistry of Gilbert Shelton

Gilbert Shelton is considered one of the world’s funniest cartoonists. He’s a master of plotting, character designs, expressions, poses… and appeal, one of the most important elements of cartooning, and the Freak Brothers certainly are appealing. So appealing, in fact, that there are thousands of people out there who are convinced that the trio was based on themselves and their friends. The characters aren’t based on anyone in particular, but almost every reader of The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers finds themselves thinking, “Hey, I’ve known these guys!” Very few cartoonists successfully draw “funny,” not the gags but the character designs, expressions, and poses. Milt Gross, Bob Weber, Keith Knight, Marie Severin, Don Martin, Sergio Aragonés, Virgil Partch, and Leo Baxendale are all members of this exclusive unofficial cartoonist club. But in my opinion, no one draws “funny” better than Gilbert Shelton. And like most pro cartoonists, we taught ourselves to draw by studying comic strips and comic books. Whatever it is in our DNA that impels us to draw, we’re always drawn to good drawings. Stories, too. Gilbert’s writing is outstanding and it’s this aspect of the creative process with which he spends the most time and effort. His WWH stories and FFFB one-pagers have always been great, but his epics, particularly Wonder Wart-Hog and the Battle of the Titans and The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers in The Idiots Abroad, are masterpieces of humorous writing, combining uniquebut-familiar characterizations, funny names, brilliantly absurd logic, and intersecting coincidences—both complex comedyadventures that retain Gilbert’s clarity of thinking in words and pictures. He also has one of the best senses of pacing and timing of any print cartoonist in the business of telling stories with funny pictures. Like Carl Barks’ Donald Duck story about the bull in the china shop, he knows how to pace from quiet tranquility to the utter chaos of hilarity. The famous scene in which Fat Freddy destroys and plunders a liquor store is the first and most obvious example of Gilbert’s laugh-inducing timing. In the tradition of many comic-strip creators, Gilbert Shelton has worked with assistants for most of his six-decade-long career as a cartoonist, mostly artists but a few writers as well. He’s not lazy, he’s just slow, but Gilbert does all of the poses, with askew limbs caught at the perfect moment to provoke a snort of laughter. Appropriately, “The Button” is the final attribute of Gilbert Shelton worth noting (and I’m not referring to one of the myriad licensed and otherwise Freak Brothers pinback buttons

“The Idiots Abroad” was a threepart tale told over three issues (and a handful of years) of The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers. It was later collected into a graphic novel. © Gilbert Shelton.

that are floating out there). Entertainment writers often use “the button,” a short and funny final gag/joke/bit that somehow not only references an element from the preceding story but also “buttons” the story closed. Funny ones leave you smiling, and both Carl Barks and Gilbert are both terrific buttoners. The Freak Brothers have sampled just about every recreational drug known to man (except heroin) and maybe a few that aren’t known yet, but as various forms of intoxicants began to prove themselves deadly or at least detrimental to their users, the Three Idiots confined their intake to marijuana and psychedelics. This may sound strange, but it was a responsible choice on Gilbert’s part, to concentrate on the “safer” drugs’ “recreational” aspect. The results of abusing certain popular drugs are tragic, not funny. It may have been the influence of comic strips, but almost all of Shelton’s work in underground comix is more clever than shocking, more goofy than savage, and more ironic than angry. The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers are particularly devoid of the disturbing visual situations that appeared in the majority of comix. Sure, there’s occasional “dirty” language and nudity, but outside of the copious references, depictions, and schemes involving drugs, the stories are surprisingly free of the intentionally offensive trappings of what made underground comix notoriously popular. When he was invited to contribute to Zap Comix, Gilbert outdid himself in the worst way possible. While trying to match the brazenly taboo subject matter that included a family orgy, gay and lesbian pirates, and other intentionally outrageous topics, “Wonder Wart-Hog Breaks Up the Muthalode Smut Ring” in Zap Comix went far too far. It even shocked the other Zap contributors and their reaction shocked and embarrassed Gilbert. Despite this misfire in judgment, as mainstream society’s view of marijuana softened, I expected to see Gilbert Shelton make the leap to mainstream syndication in the funnies of America’s newspapers. But exactly does it warrant such red carpet treatment? The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers is the Rosetta Stone (no pun intended) of “stoner” humor as we now understand the genre, predating Cheech & Chong’s THC-based antics by a few years. Unlike many of its underground contemporaries that wallowed in explicit sex, ultra-violence, and sometimes outright misogyny, the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers strips concentrated on solid laughs and earned them and their creator an enduring following among RETROFAN

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Everything you need to know about the Freak Brothers, you’ll find on this one-pager from issue #1. Original art courtesy of Heritage. © Gilbert Shelton.

the underground comix crowd and beyond. Another surprising aspect of The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers is that their stories can be enjoyed by the opposite ends of the legal spectrum: potheads and police. That was an intentional creative choice by Shelton, who regards the Freak Brothers as lovable idiots. Whether you love hippies and marijuana or If you hate hippies and marijuana, The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers still manages to be very funny—idiots on both sides!

The Gilbert Shelton Legacy

Aside from Wonder Wart-Hog, The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, Fat Freddy’s Cat, and the WWH/ FFFB-related titles Fat Freddy’s Comics and Stories, The Adventures of Oat Willie, and Philbert Desanex’ Dreams, Gilbert Shelton has also worked on such underground comix, magazines, and tabloid newspapers as Zap Comix, Rip Off Comix, Bijou Funnies, San Francisco Comic Book, Hydrogen Bomb and Biochemical Warfare Funnies, Georgia Straight, Give Me Liberty, The Miller’s Tale, Yellow Dog, Arcade, OZ Magazines, Radical America Komiks, Skull, Nasty Tales, Funnybook, Okay Comics, The Free Press, The Rag, The Fox River Patriot, The East Village Other, The Gothic Blimp, The Mendicino Grapevine, Cascade, Slow Death Funnies, Knockabout Comics, Blab!, The Rip Off Review of Western Culture, and Anarchy Comics. In 1979, Shelton and his wife, literary agent Lora Fountain, now flush with money from selling the movie rights to Universal Studios for the Freak Brothers to star in a live-action feature film—more on that later—decided to move to Europe and take up residence in Barcelona, Spain. Then in 1985, Gilbert and Lora moved to France, spent a short time back in San Francisco, then back to Europe where they permanently settled down in Paris. Shelton completed the “Idiots Abroad” trilogy with Paul Mavrides by collaborating from opposite sides of the world, which was rather appropriate when you consider its international storyline. 74

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In 2008, in association with Spain’s annual Barcelona International Comic Fair, Casal Solleric published Freak Out: Gilbert Shelton’s Comics, a thick and beautifully designed art book—a detailed overview of his career—was published, with an extremely exclusive print run for the attendees of the event. Gilbert also created a new series, with the French cartoonist known as “Pic.” Not Quite Dead is about the adventures of a ridiculously skilled but somewhat bumbling rock band. They appeared in six issues from Rip Off Press from 1993 to 1996 and Knockabout Comics from 2005 to 2010. In 2014, Gilbert Shelton was inducted into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame. In 2017, Knockabout Comice published Fifty Freakin’ Years with the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, containing new strips by Shelton, as well as his written introduction.

The Oddball World of Scott Shaw!

When creating, experienced cartoonists enjoy writing the script and laying out the visuals. After those, we kinda know what it’s gonna look like when it’s done. Gilbert’s no different and therefore, he’s worked with a number of creative partners, assistants, and co-conspirators. Bill Killeen (b. 1940) was one of Gilbert Shelton’s creative circle during his days at the University of Texas. He wrote the very first Wonder Wart-Hog story, published it in his magazine, Bacchanal, and wrote the three-part story “Wonder Wart-Hog versus the Mafia.” Bill has been a breeder of racehorses and is still an excellent writer. He lives on a tiny little farm in Fairfield, Florida. Lieuen Adkins (1941–1991) was a clever writer, a punster extraordinaire, a superior poet, a merry man of mirth, and a prodigious drinker. Lieuen physically resembled Charles Martin Smith’s character “Toad” in in American Graffiti, although Gilbert nicknamed him “Sparrow.” On a good day he a little under fivefoot-ten, bespectacled, with short brown hair and “a singular effervescence.” Within their circle of friends, the selfnamed “Rangeroos,” Lieuen was cast as its Class Clown. He co-wrote a number of Fat Freddy’s Cat stories and translated Chaucer’s The Miller’s Tale for the coloring book of the same name. Tony Bell (1950–1993) was an artist, model builder, cartoonist, designer, and sculptor, and creator of the Sixties cartoon character Wonder Wart-Hog. He and Gilbert Shelton shared editing duties on the Texas Ranger from 1962 to 1963. Bell graduated with honors and joined the Peace Corps in 1964, but quit one year later after being stationed in Lagos, Nigeria. He moved to California in 1965, but soon returned to Austin ink Shelton’s pencil art for Pete Millar’s Drag Cartoons and Wonder Wart-Hog. In 1981, Shelton, Bell, and Joe E. Brown completed the 50page WWH story “Battle of the Titans,” which they’d started 14 years earlier. Joe E. Brown (1942–1981) was another member of Gilbert Shelton’s unofficial “inner circle” in his early days. He co-wrote a number of Wonder Wart-Hog stories, including the epic “Battle of the Titans.” He once climbed the tallest building in Austin and with yellow spray paint wrote “F**K YOU, SKY KING!” (Please don’t tell Sky King’s niece Penny!) Dave Sheridan (1943–1982) was an American cartoonist and underground comix writer/artist. He created Dealer McDope and Tales of the Leather Nun. Born and raised in the Cleveland, Ohio, area, Sheridan arrived in San Francisco after serving time in

the military. Once in California he collaborated with cartoonist Fred Schrier as the “Overland Vegetable Stagecoach” on Mother’s Oats Comix, Meef Comix, and The Balloon Vendor. His solo comix work can be seen in Slow Death, Skull Comix, Hydrogen Bomb and Biochemical Warfare Funnies, San Francisco Comic Book, and more. The “Black Death Malt Liquor” shirt regularly worn on WKRP in Cincinnati by Dr. Johnny Fever (Howard Hesseman) was designed and drawn by Sheridan. He also worked closely with comedian Don Novello, a.k.a. Father Guido Sarducci. In 1974, Sheridan began collaborating on Gilbert Shelton’s The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers strips. His first issue of The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers was #4, with “The Seventh Voyage of the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers.” Paul Mavrides (b. 1952) is an artist known for his cartoons, paintings, graphics, writing, and live performances. In 1978, Mavrides joined Gilbert Shelton and Dave Sheridan to co-produce The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers comics stories. Together the three of them produced the comix that were later collected into The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers #6 and 7. Following Sheridan’s death in 1982, Mavrides became Shelton’s partner in all further The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers material. The two of them embarked on an ambitious project (begun in 1982 and not published until 1984), a full color, three-volume story arc entitled “The Idiots Abroad.” His participation in creating new stories for the Freak Brothers kept the strip up to date, bringing in new forms of the evolving counterculture, from Punk to New Wave and beyond. Paul is also well known for his contributions to the pseudo-religion known as the “Church of the SubGenius.” Denis Lelièvre (b. 1961), known as “Pic,” was born in Paris, France, during a hurricane. He is an author of comic strips, an illustrator and sculptor, and a wellknown “street art” performer. He studied printing in Paris Before and after! Shelton’s and after graduating built a “DOPE” appeared as the comics group called Mix-Mix. back cover of Freak BrothHis work has been published in ers #2, but enjoyed a much the magazines Métal Hurlant, wider viewing (through Harakiri, Pilote, and Spiro. narrow eyes) as this poster Magazines that have that was displayed in many prominently featured the head shops. © Gilbert Shelton. fabulous furry Freak Brothers include High Times (multiple issues) and Playboy (Sept. 1971’s Feds ’n’ Heads board game and Jan. 1975’s The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers in “The Winter of ’59”). In 1977, Rip Off Press RETROFAN

July 2021

The Oddball World of Scott Shaw!

(LEFT) Freak Brothers limited edition statues, produced in 1999 by Attakus. Courtesy of Heritage. (BELOW) The cast to the animated Freak Brothers toon. © Gilbert Shelton.

launched Rip Off Comix, an anthology magazine series, and Shelton produced several new Freak Brothers stories to get that title up and running. Fabulous furry freak products, spin-offs, and licensees include rolling papers, “It’s a Bust!” board game, T-shirts, buttons, magnets, coffee mugs, head-shop posters (black light and otherwise: “Dope will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no dope”; “Keed spills!”; and “Drugs: Before and After”), limited edition prints, embroidered patches, collectible figures from the Bombyx Company near Paris, tattoos, pewter coke-straw holder, inkstamps, phone cases, and anti-virus masks. If imitation is the finest form of compliment, Gilbert Shelton should have been delighted to read Jay Lynch’s intentionally Kurtzman-esque parody, “Those Furshlugginer Fuzzy Geek Brothers!,” in Kitchen Sink’s Bijou Funnies #8, which featured both a MAD theme and a cover by Harvey himself. In 1973, without permission from Gilbert Shelton, the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers appeared in the full-length pornographic film titled Up in Flames. The story involved the brothers’ attempts to raise cash to make their rent deadline (the trio being in danger of being evicted from their apartment). Fat Freddy gains employment at a local food store run by graphic artist Robert Crumb’s character Mr. Natural (also used without permission). In 1979, Universal Studios bought an option on the Freak Brothers with supposed plans to make a live-action feature film starring Gilbert’s creations in The Freak Brothers Go International. Nothing came of it, but it’s highly possible that the studio paid 76

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for controlling rights on the characters so that no other production company could make a Freak Brothers movie, one that would doubtlessly perform so well that no selfrespecting stoner would get caught dead watching one of Universal’s bland “head films” starring Cheech & Chong. In 2006, the enduring popularity of The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers led to the production of Grass Roots, a stop-motion animated feature. But lightning struck hard—twice. In 2013, work on the film stopped. After Grass Roots imploded, it was even reported that the Freak Brothers’ antics were being turned into a Broadway musical! For better or worse, The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers are finally appearing on the screen (albeit the smaller screen): The Freak Brothers from Starburns Industries (one of the cartoon studios that animated Rick & Morty), Pure Imagination Studios (The Simpsons), and WTG Enterprises. The series features Woody Harrelson as Freewheelin’ Franklin, John Goodman as Fat Freddy, Pete Davidson as Phineas, and Tiffany Haddish as Fat Freddy’s Cat. Many of the folks behind Comedy Central’s Workaholics are also involved. The first season, consisting of eight 22-minute episodes, debuted in 2020. So far, three “mini-episodes” are available for viewing online but the series itself as yet to appear as of this writing… and there has been no announcement on where it will be available. I’ve heard many rumors around town that WTG Enterprises is owned by a legal marijuana company and that the cartoons are extended commercials for their products. So maybe they just… forgot? For 48 years (and counting), SCOTT SHAW! has written and drawn underground comix, mainstream comic books, comic strips, graphic novels, TV cartoons, toys, advertising, and video games. He has worked on such characters as Captain Carrot and his Amazing Zoo Crew (which he co-created with Roy Thomas), Sonic the Hedgehog, the Flintstones, the Jetsons, the Simpsons, the Futurama gang, the Muppet Babies, Garfield, the Garbage Pail Kids, and yes, even Annoying Orange. His career has garnered him four Emmy Awards, an Eisner Award, and a Humanities Award. Scott is also known for his “Oddball Comics Live!” visual presentation of “the craziest comic books ever published” and for his regular participation in “Quick Draw!” with Mark Evanier and Sergio Aragonés. He was also one of the teenagers who co-created what is currently known as Comic-Con International: San Diego, America’s biggest annual fan event. He can be reached at shawcartoons.com.

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Salute to Golden & Silver Age artist SYD SHORES as he’s remembered by daughter NANCY SHORES KARLEBACH, fellow artist ALLEN BELLMAN, DR. MICHAEL J. VASSALLO, and interviewer RICHARD ARNDT. Plus: mid-1940s “Green Turtle” artist/creator CHU HING profiled by ALEX JAY, JOHN BROOME, MICHAEL T. GILBERT and Mr. Monster on MORT WEISINGER Part Two, and more!

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WENDY PINI discusses her days as Red Sonja cosplayer, & 40+ years of ELFQUEST! Plus RICHARD PINI on their 48-year marriage and creative partnership! Plus: We have the final installment of our CRAIG YOE interview! GIL KANE’s business partner LARRY KOSTER talks about their adventures together! PABLO MARCOS on his Marvel horror work, HEMBECK, and more! Cover by WENDY PINI.

TIMOTHY TRUMAN discusses his start at the Kubert School, Grimjack with writer JOHN OSTRANDER, and current collaborations with son Benjamin. SCOTT SHAW! talks about early San Diego Comic-Cons and friendship with JACK KIRBY, Captain Carrot, and Flintstones work! Also PATRICK McDONNELL’s favorite MUTTS comic book pastiches, letterer JANICE CHIANG profiled, HEMBECK, and more! TIM TRUMAN cover.

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I am finally doing this. It is the first time that I have written to a magazine. I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoy reading RetroFan. For a nostalgia freak like me, your magazine is a feast for the eyes. The quality is outstanding. The articles are always interesting and informative. I started buying your magazine at Barnes & Noble, but when Covid-19 started I subscribed so I would not miss an issue. Thank you for your efforts. It is truly appreciated. Keep up the good work. KENT UNSWORTH

A surprisingly pleasing issue [#11], as it didn’t have any obvious favorites under scrutiny. However, so many were remembered, if vaguely, after so long, it was actually pretty fun. I recall watching Dark Shadows, occasionally, as a kid. The trouble was I only saw it during summer break from school and, even there, not every day. Hardly the ideal way to watch a serial. But with a werewolf and a vampire, plus spooky music, it was a soap opera I could enjoy without apology. It’s nice that David Selby looks back with great affection to those days and, in turn, fans of the show still interact fondly with him.

Greatly amused that the Mole Men used an Electrolux vacuum as a weapon. My Mom had one but, thankfully, only used it for housecleaning. Loved the poster from Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein in the Glenn Strange article. That movie was on TV all the time when I was a kid. Enjoyed that Glenn opted not to play the Creature from the Black Lagoon later. Never knew that. Makes sense, though. It’d be bad enough to be in a heavy costume without having to swim in it. The Jimmy Olsen article frequently had me laughing aloud. What a bizarre premise for a comic: convoluted plots where he’s always changing into something outrageous. I’m sure, like most DC Comics of that era, it was aimed at providing an astounding cover hook for young readers. At the barbershop, back then, I read the Jimmy Olsen issue you had pictured where he’s about to marry a lady gorilla with a veil. Like always, when I encountered an awful comic, I’d think, “Come on! Who’d pay 12 cents for this?” Saturday Morning Preview Specials made me grateful that, about the time the heroes got the heave-ho because of violence concerns, I pretty much stopped watching. Shook my head here that so many felt obligated to include stars of the day, in embarrassing scenarios, to entice kids to watch. Why not just show more clips—the whole point of the show—and let them decide based on that? Fun to read, regardless. Hopefully, Andy Mangels can look behind-the-scenes at the 1967 Hanna-Barbera Fantastic Four cartoon. Loved the voices and music on that. The article that I found most amusing was the extensive coverage, over 50 years later, of Quisp and Quake cereals. The fact they’re remembered with any sort of fondness is a testimonial of how clever the ads were. Delighted to have my memory confirmed that they tasted just like Cap’n Crunch, only in different shapes. Liked the character of Quisp better, but preferred the thicker texture of Quake’s cereal. Orange Quangaroos? Not a favorite. Of course, like any cereal, the host character only got it so far into our shopping cart. The key factor was the prize inside. Second, barring that, was the amount of sugar and food coloring. That’s why Froot Loops and Trix had the big advantage. Finally, you mentioned in your editorial, Michael, that you watched episodes of Leave It to Beaver during the pandemic. So did I. Still very enjoyable and upbeat. Liked that it wasn’t any one side—parents or kids—that was always right. They learned from one another; showed kindness and understanding towards each other. Comic books turned up on the show but seemed either obscured or with invented covers. Fun to occasionally spot a familiar star: Ryan O’Neal, Lee Meriwether, and a super-young Marta Kristen. Eagerly looking forward to seeing your interview with her in #13. JOE FRANK

I’m sure I saw all the episodes of The Twilight Zone, in syndication, in earlier years. Now, if I were to watch, it would be with an eye towards the cooler guest stars of that era. Always fun for me to spot Jonathan Harris and Bill Mumy. Plus, I vividly recall one episode of Rod Serling’s Night Gallery with John Carradine, who had a surprise for some kids at the end. That one cracked me up. Adventures of Superman? Great fun. Loved the music when he flew. So dramatic. Also, whenever I see classic cars from the Forties or Fifties at an auto show, I always think of the getaway cars with Lois and Jimmy hogtied in the back. George Reeves was perfect, playing Clark with dignity but also a good sense of humor. 78

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Not since Dynamite magazine back in the day (in middle school!) have I looked so forward to receiving a magazine in the mail. RetroFan has become an all-time favorite. The November 2020 issue, #11, with stories on both Kolchak: The Night Stalker and Rod Serling, ranks up there with the best you’ve done, in my opinion. (Although the double-tandem of Shazam! and Ray Harryhausen back in issue #4 may never be topped!) I also enjoyed the story about Quisp and Quake cereals and the

Joe, in our next issue, columnist Ernest Farino writes about actress Sue Randall, best known as Beaver’s teacher Miss Landers in Leave It to Beaver. And I’m hoping that one day, Beaver and Wally themselves, Jerry Mathers and Tony Dow, will be featured in our pages.

MARK BISHOP

Make the cookies gluten- and sugar-free, Mark, and you’ve got a deal! Evel Knievel blazes into this issue—in toy form—but one of these days we hope to spin back to him for a retrospective of his career and look at his legacy. Most comic book-related material will remain the domain of our sister mag, Back Issue, and its fellow TwoMorrows titles, Alter Ego, The Jack Kirby Collector, and Comic Book Creator. Scott Shaw! will continue to occasionally feature Oddball Comics in his Oddball World column, however, as well as non-mainstream ones like this issue’s Gilbert Shelton two-for-one, Wonder Wart-Hog and The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers.

RetroFan #11 was your best issue since… well, #10. I always find a ton of fun in each issue, but this one seemed packed with fascinating stuff. In my opinion, the Top Ten Articles Countdown (because I love countdown lists) goes like this: #10: The Kolchak article. It was interesting, in spite of the fact that I wasn’t much of a fan of the show. #9: The David Selby interview. I remember buying the 45 of the haunting “Quentin’s Theme.” Mr. Selby sounds like a genuine gentleman, appreciative of his fan base. #8: Gary Dahl and his Pet Rock. It brought back a memory of a toocool-for-all-of-you guy I knew who dismissed the idea with a derisive laugh. “It’s a rock in a box!”, he’d mock anyone who owned one. A month later, guess who had his own Pet Rock? I guess he couldn’t resist the lure of being in on the latest fad. #7: The Adventures of Superman article, particularly the debunking of the numerous urban legends dogging his memory. #6: The Too Much TV Quiz! It was the most challenging one yet; sadly, I scored a piddling 3 out of 10. How about a quiz centering on the relatives of the main characters—those aunts and uncles and cousins who popped up every so often? #5: The Casper article, mostly because it featured one of my favorite trivia quiz stumpers: what is Casper’s last name and how did he die? That one ranks right up there with “What Sixties TV show’s name was a Swahili word?” #4: Dan Johnson’s interview with “The Niece of Frankenstein” was terrific. I didn’t know a lot about Glenn Strange, and it was fun to discover his legacy. #3: The Quisp and Quake article. It gave me a whole new perspective on my favorite childhood cereal. I was on Team Quisp, so it surprised me

connections to the Bullwinkle cartoons. Since you’re doing cereals, how about that staple of my Saturday mornings, Freakies cereal, and the premiums found inside? I agree with letter writer James Smith that I get little out of the “Too Much TV Quiz” feature, although I disagree with him about the ”Celebrity Crushes” feature. I think that’s a keeper. I think you should feature someone’s “collection” in every issue, be it old toys, comic books, Aurora models, black light posters, pinback buttons… whatever! A few more things I’d like to see and read about would be Saturday morning’s Land of the Lost, Disney’s “first Star Wars” The Black Hole, the Evel Knievel craze, and how about a regular feature about a certain segment of comic fandom, like the old EC Comics or get even more specific, like the Seventies’ Jim Aparo run on “The Spectre” in DC’s Adventure Comics. Okay… I’ll stop now… this is starting to feel like a letter to Santa Claus as I am giving you my wish list. But if you manage any of the above, I will leave some milk and cookies under the mailbox for you!

to learn that both cereals were essentially the same. I didn’t know the series of commercials were so well thought out, and went on for so long. #2: Scott Saavedra’s RETROspective (see what I did there?) on Jimmy Olsen. I laughed out loud at his observations. I loved JO comics when I was a kid because of their outrageousness. Now, looking at them through adult eyes, I see them in a different way (wow, Jimmy really was a jerk), but I still love them. That seems to be the case for many of the things of our youth; beloved TV shows and movies maybe weren’t as good as we remember them, but we still treasure them for the memories they made. And coming in at #1: The highlight of the issue was the article on Rod Serling. Mr. Serling has always been a personal hero to me, and Nicholas Parisi did well in paying homage to this NEXT ISSUE fascinating man. Thanks for another Good morning, great issue! As a huge students! Lost in Space fan, I’m looking forward to issue #13. But then, I look forward to every issue. Keep up the good work. MARVEL SUPER HEROES Oh, re: #5: it’s TV CARTOONS OF 1966 “Daktari.” As if you didn’t know. MICHAL JACOT September 2021 No. 16 $9.95

LEAVE IT TO BEAVER’S MISS LANDERS, SUE RANDALL

Tell your friends about us, and share your comments about this issue by writing me at euryman@gmail.com. MICHAEL EURY Editor-in-Chief

AN INTERVIEW

Who’s your friend when things get rough?

H. R. Pufnstuf

IN THE PALM OF YOUR HAND

LOGAN’S RUN’S MICHAEL YORK

Wolfman Jack • My Weekly Reader • Drive-in Theaters • Collecting Comic Art & more! FEATURING Ernest Farino • Andy Mangels • Will Murray • Scott Saavedra • Scott Shaw! • Michael Eury

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July 2021

ReJECTED! Just keep telling yourself, "This isn’t a real cover... this isn’t real a real cover..."

by Scott Saavedra

Well, Doggies! Hanna-Barbera's secret effort to rescue cancelled rural shows: The Beverly Hillbillies' Hounds, Petticoat Puppy Junction, and Mayberry, R.F.D. (Revenuers For Dogs).

That Time Evel Knievel Attempted to Jump Over the Von Trapp Family ...like a doe, a dear, a female dear. Photograph by Conrad Poirier.

I am afraid...

Unnamed Muppet has affair with Furry Freak Brother creating an adorable fuzzy orange ne'er-do-well with a penchant for antic drug-related mischief telling jokes that appeal to both adults and kids (Disney's marketing plans inside!)

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Man from U.N.C.L.E. Rarities

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THE WORLD OF TWOMORROWS

JACK KIRBY’S DINGBAT LOVE

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MAC RABOY

25th anniversary retrospective by publisher JOHN MORROW and COMIC BOOK CREATOR magazine’s JON B. COOKE! Go behind-the-scenes with MICHAEL EURY, ROY THOMAS, GEORGE KHOURY, and a host of other TwoMorrows contributors!

The final complete, unpublished Jack Kirby stories in existence, presented here for the first time, in cooperation with DC Comics! Two unused 1970s DINGBATS OF DANGER STREET tales, plus unseen TRUE-LIFE DIVORCE and SOUL LOVE magazines!

Examines the complicated relationship of Marvel Universe creators JACK KIRBY and STAN LEE through their own words (and Ditko’s, Wood’s, Romita Sr.’s and others), in chronological order, from fanzine, magazine, radio, and TV interviews!

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COMIC BOOK IMPLOSION

AL PLASTINO LAST SUPERMAN STANDING (112-page paperback) $17.95 Only $7

ROGER HILL documents the life and career of the artist of BULLETMAN, SPY SMASHER, GREEN LAMA, and his crowning achievement, CAPTAIN MARVEL JR., with never-before-seen photos, a wealth of rare and unpublished artwork, and the first definitive biography of a true Master of the Comics! (160-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $39.95 (Digital Edition) $14.99 • ISBN: 978-1-60549-090-8

MIKE GRELL

Documents “The DC Implosion”, one of the most notorious events in comics, with an exhaustive oral history from the creators involved! (136-page trade paperback with COLOR) $21.95 (Digital Edition) $10.99 ISBN: 978-1-60549-085-4

Master of the Comics

LIFE IS DRAWING WITHOUT AN ERASER

Career-spanning tribute to a legend! (160-page FULL-COLOR trade paperback) $27.95 (Digital Edition) $12.99 ISBN: 978-1-60549-088-5

THE MLJ COMPANION

Complete history of ARCHIE COMICS’ “Mighty Crusaders” super-heroes, with in-depth examinations of each era of the characters’ history!

(176-page LIMITED EDITION HARDCOVER) $37.95 ISBN: 978-1-60549-087-8

STAR*REACH COMPANION (192-page paperback with COLOR) $27.95 Only $10

TITANS COMPANION VOLUME 2 (224-page paperback) $26.95 Only $10

(288-page FULL-COLOR trade paperback) $34.95 (Digital Edition) $14.99 ISBN: 978-1-60549-067-0

BEST OF ALTER EGO VOLUME 2 (160-page paperback) $19.95 Only $8

All MODERN MASTERS books: $8 each!

ALTER EGO: CENTENNIAL (160-page trade paperback with COLOR) $19.95 Only $10

BEST OF DRAW VOLUME 3 (256-page trade paperback with COLOR) $29.95 Only $12

SAL BUSCEMA: COMICS’ FAST & FURIOUS ARTIST (176-page paperback with COLOR) $26.95 Only $15

Alan Davis • John Byrne • Charles Vess • Michael Golden • Jerry Ordway • Mike Allred Lee Weeks • John Romita Jr. • Mike Ploog • Kyle Baker • Chris Sprouse • Mark Buckingham • Guy Davis Jeff Smith • Frazer Irving • Ron Garney • Eric Powell • Cliff Chiang • Paolo Rivera

Download our Free Catalog of all our available books and back issues! https://www.twomorrows.com/media/TwoMorrowsCatalog.pdf

New Comics Magazines!

ALTER EGO #168

ALTER EGO #169

ALTER EGO #170

ALTER EGO #171

ALTER EGO #172

Spotlight on Groovy GARY FRIEDRICH— co-creator of Marvel’s Ghost Rider! ROY THOMAS on their six-decade friendship, wife JEAN FRIEDRICH and nephew ROBERT HIGGERSON on his later years, PETER NORMANTON on GF’s horror/ mystery comics, art by PLOOG, TRIMPE, ROMITA, THE SEVERINS, AYERS, et al.! FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT and Mr. Monster, and more! MIKE PLOOG cover!

JACK KIRBY is showcased cover-to-cover behind a never-before-printed Kirby cover! WILL MURRAY on Kirby’s contributions to the creation of Iron Man—FCA on his Captain Marvel/Mr. Scarlet Fawcett work—Kirby sections by MICHAEL T. GILBERT & PETER NORMANTON—Kirby in 1960s fanzines—STAN LEE’s colorful quotes about “The King”, and ROY THOMAS on being a Kirby fan (and foil)!

PAUL GUSTAVSON—Golden Age artist of The Angel, Fantom of the Fair, Arrow, Human Bomb, Jester, Plastic Man, Alias the Spider, Quicksilver, Rusty Ryan, Midnight, and others—is remembered by son TERRY GUSTAFSON, who talks in-depth to RICHARD ARNDT. Lots of lush comic art from Centaur, Timely, and (especially) Quality! Plus—FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT, JOHN BROOME, and more!

ALFREDO ALCALA is celebrated for his dreamscape work on Savage Sword of Conan and other work for Marvel, DC, and Warren, as well as his own barbarian creation Voltar, as RICH ARNDT interviews his sons Alfred and Christian! Also: FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America), MICHAEL T. GILBERT in Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, PETER NORMANTON’s horror history From The Tomb, JOHN BROOME, and more!

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $9.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Now shipping!

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $9.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Ships June 2021

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $9.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Ships August 2021

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $9.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Ships Oct. 2021

Two RICHARD ARNDT interviews revealing the wartime life of Aquaman artist/ co-creator PAUL NORRIS (with a Golden/ Silver Age art gallery)—plus the story of WILLIE ITO, who endured the WWII Japanese-American relocation centers to become a Disney & Warner Bros. animator and comics artist. Plus FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT, JOHN BROOME, and more, behind a NORRIS cover!

BACK ISSUE #128

BACK ISSUE #129

BACK ISSUE #130

BACK ISSUE #131

TV TOON TIE-INS! Bronze Age HannaBarbera Comics, Underdog, Mighty Mouse, Rocky & Bullwinkle, Pink Panther, Battle of the Planets, and Smokey Bear and Woodsy Owl. Bonus: SCOTT SHAW! digs up Captain Carrot’s roots! Featuring the work of BYRNE, COLON, ENGEL, EVANIER, FIELDS, MICHAEL GALLAGHER, WIN MORTIMER, NORRIS, SEVERIN, SKEATES, STATON, TALLARICO, TOTH, and more!

BRONZE AGE PROMOS, ADS, AND GIMMICKS! The aborted DC Super-Stars Society fan club, Hostess Comic Ads, DC 16-page Preview Comics, rare Marvel custom comics, DC Hotline, Popeye Career Comics, early variant covers, and more. Featuring BARR, HERDLING, LEVITZ, MAGUIRE, MORGAN, PACELLA, PALMIOTTI, SHAW!, TERRY STEWART, THOMAS, WOLFMAN, and more!

THE KIRBY LEGACY AT DC! Explores Jack Kirby’s post-Fourth World Bronze Age DC characters! Demon, Kamandi, OMAC, Sandman, and Kirby’s Odd Jobs (Atlas, Manhunter, and more). Plus: the SIMON & KIRBY Reunion That Wasn’t! Featuring BISSETTE, BYRNE, CONWAY, GIBBONS, GOLDEN, GRANT, RUCKA, SEMEIKS, THOMAS, TIMM, WAGNER, and more. Demon cover by KIRBY and MIKE ROYER!

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $9.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Ships May 2021

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $9.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Ships June 2021

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $9.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Ships July 2021

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $9.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Ships Aug. 2021

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $9.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Ships Sept. 2021

2021

BRONZE AGE TV TIE-INS! TV-to-comic adaptations of the ’70s to ’90s, including Bionic Woman, Dark Shadows, Emergency, H. R. Pufnstuf, Hee Haw, Lost in Space (with BILL MUMY), Primus (with ROBERT BROWN), Sledge Hammer, Superboy, V, and others! Featuring BALD, BATES, CAMPITI, EVANIER, JOHN FRANCIS MOORE, SALICRUP, SAVIUK, SPARLING, STATON, WOLFMAN, and more!

SUBSCRIPTION RATES Alter Ego (Six issues) Back Issue (Eight issues) BrickJournal (Six issues) Comic Book Creator (Four issues) Jack Kirby Collector (Four issues) RetroFan (Six issues)

ECONOMY US $68 $90 $68 $46 $49 $68

EXPEDITED US $80 $103 $80 $56 $59 $80

PREMIUM US $87 $113 $87 $60 $63 $87

TwoMorrows. The Future of Comics History. TwoMorrows Publishing • 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 USA

INTERNATIONAL $103 $137 $103 $69 $72 $103

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Download our Free Catalog of all our available books and back issues! https://www.twomorrows.com/media/TwoMorrowsCatalog.pdf

PRINTED IN CHINA

BACK ISSUE #127

SOLDIERS ISSUE! Sgt. Rock revivals, General Thunderbolt Ross, Beetle Bailey in comics, DC’s Blitzkrieg, War is Hell’s John Kowalski, Atlas’ savage soldiers, The ’Nam, Nth the Ultimate Ninja, and CONWAY and GARCIA-LOPEZ’s Cinder and Ashe. Featuring CLAREMONT, DAVID, DIXON, GOLDEN, HAMA, KUBERT, LOEB, DON LOMAX, DOUG MURRAY, TUCCI, and more. BRIAN BOLLAND cover!