RetroFan #15 Preview by TwoMorrows Publishing

July 2021 No. 15 $9.95

Open Channel D.

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

82658 00436

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

The Crazy Cool Culture We Grew Up With

53 25

CONTENTS Columns and Special Features

Retro Television Goober and the Truckers’ Paradise

Retro Brit The Muppet Show

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

Retrotorial

Scott Saavedra’s Secret Sanctum The Rural Sitcom Purge

Departments

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

Issue #15 July 2021

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

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

RETROFAN

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

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

July 2021

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.

RETROFAN

July 2021

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.

RETROFAN

July 2021

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

RETROFAN

July 2021

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

July 2021

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

July 2021

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.

RETROFAN

July 2021

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

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

July 2021

retro interview

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

RETROFAN

July 2021

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

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.

RETROFAN

July 2021

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

RETROFAN

July 2021

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

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

RETROFAN

July 2021

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

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.

H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H

H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H TOYS HRETRO

H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H RETROFAN

July 2021

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

July 2021

ernest farino’s retro fantasmagoria

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.

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

Ca rs

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

RETROFAN

July 2021

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.

IF YOU ENJOYED THIS PREVIEW, CLICK THEofLINK ORDERwhere THIS he received a and finally, the University TexasTO at Austin, ISSUE IN PRINT OR DIGITAL FORMAT! 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, RETROFAN #15 idol RICKY remembered by his son MAThe’s a refugeeSixties alienteenfrom theNELSON planet Squootpeep. His alter ego is THEW NELSON, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., rural sitcom purge, Philbert Desanex, a reporter working for The Muthalode EVEL KNIEVEL toys, the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, Saturday Mungpie, Super 7, The Muppet Show, behind-the-scenes phoan indifferentmorning’s and corrupt daily newspaper. Unlike most supertos of Sixties movies, an interview with The Sound of Music’s guyshortcut DANIEL “Rolf” TRUHITTE, and the day, heroes, WWHheartthrob-turned-bad would take any when saving more fun, fab features! including pinching the bad guys’ heads like they were grapes. (84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $9.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 His gallery of villains included the Merciless Menacing Masked https://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=133&products_id=1606 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

July 2021