RetroFan #1 by TwoMorrows Publishing

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Hulk TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. The Phantom © - Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.

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GROOVY: When Flower Power Bloomed In Pop Culture

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All characters TM & © their respective owners.

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Columns and Special Features

Retro Interview Lou Ferrigno – The Incredible Hulk Speaks!

Martin Pasko’s Pesky Perspective The Phantom: The Ghost Who Stumbles

Andy Mangels’ Retro Saturday Mornings Filmation’s Star Trek: The Animated Series

Ernest Farino’s Retro Fantasmagoria I Met the Wolf Man! (and lived to tell about it)

Retro Interview Betty Lynn – Mayberry’s Thelma Lou

The Oddball World of Scott Shaw! Zody, the Mod Rob

Departments

CONTENTS Issue #1 | Summer 2018

Retrotorial

Retro Collectibles Mego’s Elastic Hulk

Too Much TV Quiz Sitcom Quotes

RetroFad Mr. Microphone

Retro Travel Mount Airy, NC, hometown of Andy Griffith

Retro Collectibles Andy Griffith Show Collectibles

Super Collector Collecting Collections, by Tom Stewart

ReJECTED RetroFan fantasy cover

RetroFan™ (ISSN 2576-7224), #1, Summer 2018. Published quarterly by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614. Michael Eury, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Office: RetroFan, c/o Michael Eury, Editor, 118 Edgewood Avenue NE, Concord, NC 28025. Email: euryman@gmail.com. Four-issue subscriptions: $38 Economy US, $63 International, $16 Digital Only. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Cover photo courtesy of Lou and Carla Ferrigno. Hulk ™ & © Marvel Characters, Inc. The Phantom © - Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc. Star Trek ™ & © CBS Studios Inc. Wolf Man ™ & © Universal Studios. The Andy Griffith Show ™ & © Mayberry Enterprises Inc. All Rights Reserved. All characters are ™ & © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2018 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING.

Summer 2018

RetroFan

by Michael Eury Remember when Saturday morning television was our domain and ours alone? When our tattoos came from bubble gum packs, our Slurpees came in superhero cups, and our TV heroes taught us to be nice to each other? Those were the happy days of the Sixties, Seventies, and Eighties—and that is the era of RetroFan magazine, where we celebrate the Crazy, Cool Culture We Grew Up With! RetroFan is the newest addition to TwoMorrows Publishing's lauded line of periodicals and books. This quarterly magazine will explore pop-culture history through insightful, nostalgic, and fun articles and interviews that provide the stories behind the stories of the stuff that made our childhoods so special. We’re honored to feature four regular columnists whose contributions will appear in every issue: ØØ MARTIN PASKO (Martin Pasko’s Pesky Perspective) ØØ ANDY MANGELS (Andy Mangels’ Retro Saturday Morning) ØØ ERNEST FARINO (Ernest Farino’s Retro Fantasmagoria) ØØ SCOTT SHAW! (The Oddball World of Scott Shaw!) Most of you are aware of their accomplishments, which include Emmy® Awards, bestselling books, and Hollywood credits, but if not, they’ll introduce themselves in this issue. Other features in the magazine include celebrity interviews, Retro Travel, Retro Toys, Retro Collectibles, and RetroFad segments, plus a Super Collector feature where a guest collector takes us on a private tour of his or her stash of stuff! These departments will be produced by guest contributors known for their expertise in and enthusiasm for their subject matter. But wait… there’s more! Behind the scenes of each issue are: 2

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Summer 2018

ØØ SCOTT SAAVEDRA (designer) Scott is a noted comic-book creator (It’s Science with Dr. Radium, Chip ’n’ Dale Rescue Rangers), comics historian (Comic Book Heaven), graphic designer, writer, illustrator, and storyboard artist. In 2017 he collaborated with RetroFan’s editor as the book designer of Hero-A-Go-Go: Campy Comic Books, Crimefighters, and Culture of the Swinging Sixties. He’s also producing the ReJECTED department, fantasy RetroFan covers that will bust your gut each issue. ØØ MICHAEL EURY (editor and contributing writer) I’m the editor-in-chief of TwoMorrows’ Eisner Award-nominated, long-running BACK ISSUE magazine and the author of over a dozen pop-culture and regional-history books including Hero-A-Go-Go and Captain Action: The Original Super-Hero Action Figure. A former editor for Comico the Comic Company, DC Comics, and Dark Horse Comics, as a writer my clients have included DC, Marvel, Dark Horse, Nike, Toys R Us, Cracked Magazine, and the Microsoft Network. That’s the most impressive team assembled since Jim Phelps last rifled through his IMF dossiers, if I may say so myself. Or since the Trouble Alert bleated its clarion call throughout the cavernous Hall of Justice. We’re dedicated to packing each page of RetroFan with more info, trivia, and enjoyment than you’ll find in any other mag. One note about our target demographic: While RetroFan will mainly spotlight pop culture of the Sixties, Seventies, and Eighties, we won’t be anchored exclusively to those decades. In this issue, for example, you’ll read about the Phantom movie serial from the Forties and monster movies of the Forties and Fifties—but let’s not forget that lots of pre-Sixties cinema was the stuff we grew up on, in reruns, in weekly matinees on our local television stations. Thanks for joining us for our premiere issue— and be sure to tell your friends about RetroFan! Coming soon: RetroFanmail, our letters column! We’d love your feedback on this issue. Write to ye ed at euryman@gmail.com.

www.RetroFan.org EDITOR Michael Eury PUBLISHER John Morrow CONTRIBUTORS John Cimino Michael Eury Ernest Farino Andy Mangels Martin Pasko Scott Saavedra Scott Shaw! Tom Stewart DESIGNER Scott Saavedra PROOFREADER John Morrow SPECIAL THANKS The Andy Griffith Museum Kenyettta Carter Michael Chaudhuri Jim Clark Terry Collins Jay Duncan Heather Elliott Carla Ferrigno Aaron Harvey Heritage Comics Auctions Tanya B. Jones Kathleen Karcher King Features Alan Light Marvel Comics Darrell McNeil The Honorable David Rowe Rose Rummel-Eury William Whitehurst VERY SPECIAL THANKS Lou Ferrigno Betty Lynn

RetroFan editor Michael Eury interviews Lou Ferrigno at the Fayetteville Comic Con, October 2017. Rose Rummel-Eury.

INTERVIEW

An Interview with Lou Ferrigno by Michael Eury

Hulk TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. TV Hulk © Universal Studios.

“Who’s your favorite Hulk?” may be a fair question to ask of a fan of Marvel Studios’ movies, but for us RetroFans, there’s only one answer: Lou Ferrigno. Giant in both muscle and spirit, the Brooklyn-born Louis “Lou” Ferrigno took a childhood disability—a profound hearing loss—and turned it into a catalyst to become a bodybuilder, partially in response to his fascination with muscle-bound heroes including screen Hercules Steve Reeves and comic books’ own Incredible Hulk. After graduating high school he earned an International Federation of BodyBuilding & Fitness (IFBB) Mr. America title, followed by two consecutive IFBB Mr. Universe titles. Before he flexed his way into the popular culture as Marvel Comics’ “creature driven by rage,” Ferrigno caught the attention of moviegoers as the ambitious competitor of Arnold Schwarzenegger in Pumping Iron, a 1977 documentary directed by George Butler and Robert Fiore that spotlighted the 1975 Mr. Universe and Mr. Olympia bodybuilding competitions. Soon he was cast to replace the quickly ousted Richard Kiel (best known as the toothy Bond movie menace Jaws) as the mean, green alter ego of Bill Bixby’s Dr. David Bruce Banner on television’s popular drama The Incredible Hulk, which ran on CBS for five seasons from 1977–1982. From that point on, Ferrigno has been no stranger to audiences. He’s starred as mighty man-gods in the movies Hercules (1983), The Adventures of Hercules (1985), and Sinbad of the Seven Seas (1989), co-starred in television series, and even shown a flair for comedy, playing himself as a semi-regular (along with his wife Carla) on TV’s The King of Queens and in the 2009 buddy comedy I Love You, Man. To date he’s appeared in over 40 films in a variety of roles. Today, Lou heads “The First Family of Bodybuilding” as a bodybuilding consultant and private trainer, joined by his adult children (www.louferrigno.com). He’s also an in-demand motivational speaker, frequently appearing at fitness events and comic-cons. And he’s still a part-time crimefighter—in real life—occasionally volunteering as a sheriff’s deputy in San Luis Obispo County in southern California. Summer 2018

RetroFan

Retro Interview: Lou Ferrigno

about me, because back in those days, nobody had ever heard about weight training. My father would tell people, “My son works out with weights”; “he’s doing weight training, he doesn’t talk about school”; or, “he’s obsessed with weights.” That really changed my life, because it connected my mind and my body. RF: Who were your comic-book heroes when you were a kid? LF: I read Superman comics and The Hulk comics. You know, it’s funny, I traded my comic books as a kid for bodybuilding magazines. If I’d stayed with collecting comics, I would have made more money than bodybuilding, ten times over! [laughter]

Lou Ferrigno first caught the eye of audiences as the impressive young bodybuilder in George Butler’s 1977 docu-drama Pumping Iron. Lobby card from the Italian version of the film, courtesy of Heritage Auctions (www.ha.com). Pumping Iron © 1977 White Mountain Films.

Despite his remarkably versatile résumé, Lou Ferrigno remains best known as the Incredible Hulk, a role he has continued to play in recent years as a voice actor. I got to meet Lou in person on Sunday, October 22, 2017, at the Fayetteville (North Carolina) Comic Con, where I interviewed him on stage before a boisterous crowd of fans. What follows is an edited transcription of that panel. RetroFan: Lou, we share something in common other than our giant biceps [both Lou and Michael flex for audience, to laughter and applause]. We both have a hearing loss. I understand that was a motivating factor in your life. Could you tell us about that? Lou Ferrigno: Yeah, by the age of three, I had an ear infection and had lost about 75% of my base hearing, and I was very introverted as a child and had a speech impediment. So, as a kid, I was bullied a lot. They called me “deaf Louie,” “deaf kid.” Children do not have the psychological maturity to defend themselves, so I became obsessed with reading comic books like The Hulk because I wanted to escape the pain. The more I read about it, the more I became obsessed with the power of the heroes, and that made me discover bodybuilding. Working out—that was 4

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Summer 2018

my platform to survive, and it changed my whole life. I had a lot of hardships like learning how to speak properly, and was ridiculed a lot. Some 50 years ago I felt like a freak, but I never, ever felt sorry for myself. [to audience] I say, everybody in this room is handicapped in one way or another, but you have to go about being the best you can be. Sometimes you’ll have naysayers saying, “You can’t, you can’t, you can’t.” Every dream I’ve had, I’ve achieved because of my confidence and my drive. I’m saying to you, if you have a passion about something, embrace it, because if you have passion, you’re unbeatable, you’re unstoppable. [applause] RF: Great advice! When did you start weight training? LF: I started at the age of 12 or 13. It’s funny, I didn’t have weights. I couldn’t afford them. So I would go to the junkyard and get cement pails—like, six cement pails. I’d filled some halfway with cement and some all the way and put in a broomstick. [demonstrates curls for audience] The first time I stood up and started to do a curl, I thought, “This feels good.” Because I was able to work out with makeshift barbells, I did something for the first time in my life that I felt good about. People laughed

RF: So, Steve Reeves was one of your childhood heroes? LF: Yes, Steve Reeves was Hercules and I went to the movies when I was a kid. I saw him pulling two gigantic pillars, and that changed my life. It was the first time I had seen a bodybuilder on screen. He was about 31 years old and had a beautiful woman whose life he saved. In those days, I couldn’t talk to girls and I always wanted a girlfriend. To see Reeves was the beginning of my era. RF: When did you win your first bodybuilding competition? LF: I decided to compete for the first time in the Open Mr. New Jersey Hercules. I came in 23rd place! I remember being on stage and people were taking pictures, with flash bulbs going off. My friends, they laughed at me, but I said to myself, “This is my path.” This is funny, but I went home to my father and said, “I’ll never do worse than third place again,” and from that point on, I started to win all the major competitions. But you have to understand, I trained very, very hard, harder than the average person, because to be the world champion, you’ll have a lot of pain. I built my body. At first I was skinny—I was about 220 pounds at 19 and competed on and off for about 27 years. RF: The first time I ever saw you was in the Pumping Iron documentary. LF: [mimicking Arnold Schwarzenegger] With your favorite governor? Ahnald Schwarzenaga. [laughter] [normal voice] Yes, we did Pumping Iron,

Retro Interview: Lou Ferrigno

which was a great docu-drama. We went to South Africa to compete. That was the only film that took pumping into the mainstream. The public didn’t know about bodybuilding, so when the film came out, everybody found out about bodybuilding. Fast forward 40 years, and you have women competing, men competing, you have kids working out at gyms. In my time, you only had one gym, like the YMCA—it was a guy’s thing. Now, everybody’s into fitness and bodybuilding. RF: 1977 is when most of the world got to know you as the Incredible Hulk. How did you get cast in that role? LF: I was training for the 1977 Olympic competition. They were filming The Hulk with another actor, Richard Kiel, who played Jaws in James Bond. He’s seven feet tall. One day, the director came on set with his son and the kid said, “Dad, this is not the Incredible Hulk—he doesn’t look anything like the character.” They realized they had a problem and began a nationwide search for the character. They found me, because they wanted the biggest bodybuilder they could find. I went out for the screen test and they said, “Okay, we’re going to paint you green.” I said, “What?!” Then I looked at my watch and said, “I’ve got a plane to catch,” so they compensated me for my time and painted me green. I’m standing in front of the camera [getting up to show the crowd] and they told me to “be like the Hulk,” so I was the Hulk [moving his body around on stage like the Hulk]… and they hired me that day! The next day, I was in makeup for, like, 12 to 14 hours, and I looked in the mirror at myself and thought, “What am I doing here?” I saw the white eyes and green teeth. The rest is history. When I first began filming, people didn’t know who I was, but once the show was out, everything changed. It was a big decision for me because I wanted to win the 1977 Mr. Olympia, but I chose the Hulk. I guess I made the best decision. RF: You wore the makeup for 12 to 14 hours for the shoot, but how long did it take to get into the Hulk makeup? LF: It took about three-and-a-half to four hours to put on because back then, we didn’t have the spray-on method. They had a ball of clay that they would run on. The face took about an hour-and-a-half.

I would be the first one on the set. I had a custom shower built in my motor home because every time I would take a shower, the motor home would be covered with green paint. I had two makeup guys who would scrub the makeup off my back. Sometimes I’d leave the set at 2 a.m., because I’d be filming 12–14 hours a day and then have to endure pain because I would have to be re-touched during the day. It was extremely uncomfortable. One time, when I was filming, it was about 4:00 in the morning, so we had a big catering truck. In the mornings, for breakfast I’d have a 12-egg omelet. So I told the caterer I wanted a 12-egg omelet, and to just put it on the step outside the motor home because it was kind of hot. Then they had to leave to go to another location. I said, “Okay, no problem.” So the truck takes off. It’s pitch black outside my motor home and it was just me and my makeup guy. About 15 minutes later, I was hungry, so I asked my makeup guy to go open the door of the motor home and retrieve the omelet. It was gone—a coyote ate my breakfast! I said, “Damn, no breakfast! And you wonder why the Hulk is so pissed?” It was a lack of breakfast. [laughter] RF: It wasn’t just the green paint on your body, didn’t you also have an application on your forehead and fake teeth? LF: Yeah, I had a fake forehead and nosepiece and teeth. I also had contact lenses that I could only wear for 15 minutes at a time. These were not like contacts today— they were hard, and were very uncomfortable. Now you can wear contacts for ten hours.

(ABOVE) The Incredible Hulk stars Lou Ferrigno and Bill Bixby, on the cover of the July 28–Aug. 3, 1979 edition of TV Guide. (BELOW) Even though Marvel Comics published no adaptation of the TV version of The Incredible Hulk, Lou’s Hulk co- star and screen mentor, Bill Bixby, was no stranger to comic-book covers. Two of his earlier series, My Favorite Martian and The Courtship of Eddie’s Father, were once found on comics spin racks. Hulk TM & © Marvel. TV Hulk © Universal Studios. TV Guide © CBS Interactive Inc. My Favorite Martian © Jack Chertof Television/CBS. The Courtship of Eddie’s Father © MGM.

RF: Any adverse reactions to the makeup? LF: No, except my toenails were green for six months afterwards. Summer 2018

RetroFan

Retro Interview: Lou Ferrigno

FAST FACTS

The Incredible Hulk hh No. of seasons: five hh No. of episodes: 82 hh Original run: November 4, 1977–June 2, 1982 hh Network: CBS hh Creator/Executive Producer: Kenneth Johnson hh Three made-for-TV movies were produced several years after the original series’ cancellation and shown on NBC: The Incredible Hulk Returns (1988, guest-starring Thor), The Trial of the Incredible Hulk (1989, guest-starring Daredevil), and The Death of the Incredible Hulk (1990).

(BELOW LEFT) The closest Marvel Comics came to a TV Hulk photo cover was this Joe Jusko painted cover for The Hulk! Magazine #24 (Dec. 1980). The issue included a photo feature about Lou Ferrigno. (BELOW RIGHT) Beginning with issue #227 (Sept. 1978), Marvel Comics’ Incredible Hulk monthly featured a cover blurb trumpeting the Green Goliath’s television stardom. Cover art by Herb Trimpe and Josef Rubenstein. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

RF: Tell me about Bill Bixby. We see him on TV and he seems like the nicest guy in the world. I guess you didn’t really work with him in front of the camera, though, because you both played the same guy. LF: We did have a dream sequence together. Bill was a wonderful actor and producer. I grew up watching him on My Favorite Martian and The Courtship of Eddie’s Father. I learned a lot from him, watching how he filmed, watching his dialogue. He was a great mentor. RF: What’s the weirdest thing that happened to you when you were doing The Incredible Hulk? LF: I was in my motor home, all made up, and there was a knock on the door [knocking on table]. “Come in.” He knocked again. “Come in.” A guy comes in and I can kind of see him out of the corner of my eye—he has gray hair and glasses. I turn around and see a famous movie actor—Cary Grant. He asked if he could take a picture with me. I was so surprised I couldn’t say a word… I just looked at him and nodded. That was a great moment, because I realized that the Hulk was so beloved by everyone. Let’s take some audience questions. Let’s have some fun! RF: All right, let’s do it! Who’s got a question for Lou Ferrigno? Fan 1: Would you ever become the

Incredible Hulk again in any future movies? LF: I don’t think you’d see me be the Hulk again because now it’s all CGI. Since I’ve done the Hulk, I’ve done over 40 films and five different TV series. I wouldn’t mind being involved in a film, but I’d rather leave the series as it was since the Hulk is done with CGI now. RF: Let me jump in with one quick question: Are you the voice of the Hulk in the current Marvel movies, uncredited? LF: Yes. Fan 2: Since you are the voice, do you watch the current movies? Who is your favorite Hulk? Eric Bana, Ed Norton, or Mark Ruffalo? LF: They change over time, but I still like Bill Bixby, because he was a wonderful actor. Mark Ruffalo is volatile and a wonderful actor, and they were all wonderful actors, but I still like Bill. Fan 3: How many hours a day did you work out to be Mr. Olympia? LF: Three hours a day… posing took part of that time. One-and-a-half hours in the morning and another one-and-a-half hours in the evening. Bodybuilding today is one of the hardest sports because on that one day, you have to be in your best shape. If you get sick, or you’re off 10%, you will lose. When I came back to competition in 1992, I weighed 325 pounds. After The Hulk, I decided I still hadn’t had a chance to be the best I could be, so I came back at 42 years old, 18 years later. Fan 4: What was your calorie intake when you worked out? LF: About 5000 calories. When I was training for competition, I’d have 400 grams of protein, 450 grams of carbohydrates. You have to eat four or five times a day. When I was competing, one day, I was sitting down to eat with my family. There was an extra tomato and my daughter wanted it. I took it from her and said, “This is my food; I’m starving!” [laughter] (OPPOSITE) How many of you had this on your wall? Late-Seventies’ Incredible Hulk poster signed by Lou Ferrigno. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions. Hulk TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. TV Hulk © Universal Studios.

RetroFan

Summer 2018

Retro Interview: Lou Ferrigno

Summer 2018

RetroFan

Retro Interview: Lou Ferrigno

on his new show [Kevin Can Wait]? LF: Kevin Can Wait—I would love to be on that show. He is a wonderful actor. You know, most comedians in real life are fairly quiet individuals. Kevin is like that… quiet guy. Everybody expects comedians to be funny 24/7.

Fan 5: How attached to the character of the Hulk were you? LF: It was a perfect fit. I’d been reading the comic all those years and knew the character well. With all the acting by pantomime, without speaking, I was able to show emotion. That came naturally to me. I was already living the life of the Hulk. Fan 6: Do you have any funny Pumping Iron stories? Arnold saw you as the new kid. I could tell he was inspired by you. LF: I do have a funny story. When I was competing, there was a guy competing named Paul Grant. He was walking around and Arnold and I were lying around on the floor, waiting for our turn to go in. He said that he didn’t have any baby oil—you rub oil on you to show the muscles—so Arnold handed him a tube and said, [doing Schwarzenegger impression] “Use this, it gives your body a good shine and makes you look fantastic.” So the guy rubbed it all over his body. Arnold looked at me and winked his eye… and I realized it was Ben Gay he gave the guy! The guy said, “I feel really hot and sick.” It was really bad. Think about rubbing Ben Gay on your entire body! [laughter] Fan 7: How was it like working with Stan Lee? LF: I’ve had a chance to do a couple of films with him. He did an episode of the Hulk cartoon where I did the voice. [Editor’s note: Lee and Ferrigno’s most famous collaboration was a scene in director Ang Lee’s The Hulk (2003), where both play security guards.] Fan 8: How fun was it making I Love You, Man? LF: A lot of fun! One day I received a script from John Hamburg. He wrote the movie I Love You, Man and directed Zoolander. Once, I put one of the movie’s stars, Jason Segel, in a chokehold, and now, every time I see the people from the movie they ask, “Would you put my boyfriend in a chokehold?” That has become a signature for me. Fan 9: There’ve been so many different versions of the Hulk, and Mark Ruffalo said that to him, the Hulk was like an angry kid. But who was the Hulk to you as you played him? What was the character to you? 8

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Fan 11: What do you do for fun? LF: I like shooting guns. I like to shoot guns in competitions. I also like woodworking, which is very therapeutic for me. I like anything that has self-competition. Fan 12 (a child): Are you strong enough to pick me up? [laughter] LF: I don’t know. We can try later. [laughter]

LF: What was inside of me? A very angry guy. RF: Did it psych you up to remember the pain you experienced as a kid? LF: Yes. And I would look at Bill Bixby’s scene and see where he was coming from. Fan 10: On The King of Queens, you and Kevin James had a good chemistry. Are you going to be making any appearances

That Sad Closing Credits Tune The haunting melody played at the end of each episode of The Incredible Hulk was “The Lonely Man,” composed by Joe Harnell. The son of a vaudeville performer, Harnell became a professional musician in his early teens. He also composed music for television’s The Bionic Woman and Alien Nation.

Fan 13 (another child): Was the Hulk born green or born peach? [laughter] LF: When he became the Hulk, he became green. Fan 14: Do you have any Hulk action figures? LF: Yes, I do. I have the best Hulk collection in the world. Soap… chewing gum, everything. I should put it up for auction. Fan 15: On the TV show, was it dangerous dealing with the props you had to smash? LF: When you had to break through fake glass or anything, you had to keep moving to keep from injuring yourself. But they made sure they had the best props so I wouldn’t injure myself—or they’d have to shut down production. Fortunately, I also had great stunt people working with me. Fan 16: Who do you believe would win between Thor and the Hulk? LF: Of course, the Hulk! But Thor is a great character, too. Fan 17: Have you met Thor from the Marvel movies [actor Chris Hemsworth]? LF: Yes… I love Thor… [laughter] I think it’s wonderful now that there are so many superheroes and so many actors wanting to play superheroes. Back in the day, all we had was the Superman series [TV’s Adventures of Superman, with George Reeves] and I was fascinated with him because he could fly. Then, fast forward years later, every one of us, we connect with superheroes and their power. We want to be a superhero. It’s beautiful to see.

RETRO COLLECTIBLES

The Legends and Lore of the Incredible Hulk, Stretch Armstrong, and the Mego Elastic Superheroes by John “The Mego Stretch Hulk” Cimino Stealing An Idea for Survival

In 1979, toy manufacturer Mego Corporation was enjoying its 25th anniversary. But despite reaching such a milestone, the time for celebrating was not on the company’s radar. Earlier, in 1978, Star Wars toys came along and dominated the entire industry like never before. It was bad enough that Mego passed on the Star Wars license in 1976, because now, along with every other toy company, it was playing catch-up. But it went a little further for Mego. Besides making some bad business decisions, they were in major debt due to a new state-ofthe-art factory that had a bunch of internal problems, and sales were rapidly declining. The success that Mego once had in the earlier part of the decade was becoming a thing of the past. Mego was now in desperate need of a new toy idea to help get their company back on track. For the last three years competitor Kenner, which had the Star Wars toy license, was also doing well with another toy called Stretch Armstrong. Stretch Armstrong was a 12-inch, corn-syrup-filled latex figure that could stretch into many different positions. By 1979, the toy proved to be so popular that Kenner introduced a variety of new figures into the line including the Stretch Monster and Stretch X-Ray. All the Stretch Armstrong figures remained unchallenged on the toy shelves because no other toy did what they did. Mego recognized this and wanted to do something similar. Having obtained the licenses for the Marvel Comics and DC Comics characters since 1972 and ruling the superhero toy market with its 8-inch “World’s Greatest Super-Heroes” action-figure line,

Mego’s Elastic Hulk figure. Hulk product photos in this article courtesy of John Cimino.

Mego yanked a good idea away from Kenner— Stretch Armstrong!

Incredible Hulk TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Stretch Armstrong © Hasbro.

Summer 2018

RetroFan

Retro Collectibles: Elastic Hulk

Front and back views of the salesman’s prototype for Elastic Hulk, in the white box. Incredible Hulk TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Mego knew it could challenge Stretch Armstrong’s market share with more wellknown properties possessing a stretching gimmick. I mean, what kid wouldn’t want a stretching Superman or Batman figure, even though stretching had nothing to do with their superpowers? I know I would! With Mego gaining “insider information” (remember those two words because you’ll see them again before this article is through) on how to make these figures, the company went about creating a “stretch” toy line of its own. Basically, all Mego did was substitute the wording of “elastic” for “stretch” on the product box, designed a similar type of latex figure (but made it about an inch taller), and used world famous comic-book superheroes instead of generic characters. Thus, in April of 1979, Mego introduced the “Elastic Super Heroes” toy line to the world. SpiderMan, Superman, Batman, the Incredible Hulk, and Plastic Man (the first-ever toy of the character, which came along later that year) became new, chunky, cornsyrup-filled latex super-figures—and for the youngsters, elastic versions of Mickey Mouse, Casper the Friendly Ghost, and Donald Duck were added in the spring of 1980. Each figure was placed in a Styrofoam “coffin” with a clear plastic cover and put in a white window box that fully displayed it, so every kid walking down the toy aisle could see that there was a new stretch toy in town.

RetroFan

The Success of The Incredible Hulk

The superhero characters Mego used for its Elastic line were immensely popular at the time (yes, even Plastic Man, who had a cartoon on Saturday mornings back then), especially the Hulk. The character gained a meteoric rise in worldwide fame from 1977–1982, with the highly successful live-action TV series The Incredible Hulk starring Bill Bixby, Lou Ferrigno, and Jack Colvin. The show was about Dr. David Banner (played by Bixby), a widowed physician and scientist, who is presumed dead. He travels across America and finds himself in positions where he helps others in need despite his terrible secret… that in times of extreme anger or stress, he transforms into a huge, incredibly strong green creature that has been dubbed “the Hulk” (played by Ferrigno). In his travels, Banner earns money by working temporary jobs while searching for a way to either control or cure his condition. All the while, he is obsessively pursued by a tabloid newspaper reporter named Jack McGee (played by Colvin) from the National Register. Jack is convinced that the Hulk is a deadly menace whose exposure will enhance his career. It was a perfect formula that kept families tuning in on Friday nights and little boys running around their neighborhoods screaming like the Hulk with nothing on but ripped “toughskin” jeans

Mego’s Elastic Hulk in front (opened, with instructions), back, and side box views. Incredible Hulk TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Besides showcasing the Elastic line in toy catalogs, Mego spared no expense in promoting them (especially during the Christmas season). There were full-page ads in every DC and Marvel comic book that came out in December 1979, an ad in the Heroes World Catalog #2 that was released during that fall, and ads in various magazines, newspapers, and department store catalogs like Sears, JC Penney, and Montgomery Ward. There were also a total of four TV commercials produced for Mego’s Elastic figures: three included the superheroes while one showcased the cartoon characters.

Summer 2018

Retro Collectibles:Elastic Hulk

(like I did). [Editor’s note: College boys did this, too, in their Courtesy of John Cimino, a dorm rooms or apartments. I should know. I was was one screen capture of them.] of Mexico’s Mego went all-out trying to capitalize on the Hulk’s Elastico Hulk popularity and the Stretch Armstrong gimmick by distribfrom the uting the Elastic Hulk before the other superheroes, giving television it a different box. While all the other figures had a white special Ensueno box, the Hulk’s was red (initially, Mego had the Hulk in a Juguetes Elastico white box like the others but it was changed last minute Christmas with before distribution). And the 13-inch Elastic Hulk figure Chabelo. looked absolutely fantastic! He was big, bulky, and stuffed to the max with corn syrup, making him the heaviest Incredible Hulk stretch figure ever. TM & © Marvel With his green latex skin, ripped purple pants, and Characters, Inc. menacing scowl, he was the perfect representation of the Green Goliath in all his gamma glory (as a child, I thought he looked just like a Jack Kirby drawing). There wasn’t any doubt from kids that the Mego Elastic Hulk could smash any character from the Stretch Armstrong line. It was an instant were similar to the American boxes Mego used in design, but they hit. came without instructions or the Styrofoam coffin to hold the But children in America weren’t the only ones interested in the figure in place. Ensueno advertised these figures with the comIncredible Hulk TV series and Stretch Armstrong. Other countries mercials Mego produced in the US, dubbed in Spanish and saying were eating up those properties as well, and Mego knew it could “from Ensueno” with a melody at the end. The line also got heavily count on them to maximize their profits on the Elastic line. promoted on the Ensueno Juguetes Elastico Christmas with Chabelo TV special that aired just before the holidays, where they were given Ensueno and Denys Fisher Get into away to kids as prizes. the Mego Mix While many American superheroes were known in Europe, Ensueno was a toy company that picked up the superhero toy lines Marvel and DC toys and comic books sold there (usually anthology from Mego and made and distributed them in Mexico. While its reprints) weren’t as profitable as they were in the States. But when weaker quality and craftsmanship was always in question among the Incredible Hulk TV series debuted, Europeans fell in love with collectors, Ensueno still produced solid Superman, Batman, Plastic it and couldn’t get enough of the Green Goliath. Kenner was also Man, Spider-Man, Hulk, Mickey Mouse, Casper the Friendly Ghost, raking in huge profits with its Stretch Armstrong toys there. Mego and Donald Duck “Elastico” figures for the masses. They were all knew the other characters it was using for the Elastic line might be packed in white boxes (the Hulk didn’t have a red box here) that a financial risk, but not the Hulk. Denys Fisher was a toy company in Europe that had a licensing deal with Mego (Denys Fisher had a similar license with Kenner, producing its Stretch Armstrong line overseas). Mego used its Marvel license to have Denys Fisher make (LEFT) Elastic Hulk and Spider-Man, as promoted in a comicbook ad. (RIGHT) Elastic Hulk as seen in a 1979 Mego catalog. Incredible Hulk and Spider-Man TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Summer 2018

RetroFan

Retro Collectibles: Elastic Hulk

The European Stretch Hulk from Denys Fisher, with box and instructions. Incredible Hulk TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

just a stretch Hulk figure. This Hulk figure was much different than the character’s Mego and Ensueno counterparts… and a lot more controversial. While Ensueno used Mego’s molds and graphics to produce its figures, Denys Fisher used Kenner’s (Ooops!). Yup, although this Hulk figure had a new head sculpt, the body was exactly the same as Stretch Armstrong’s, so he was leaner and a little more muscular. He also came in a yellow box that had the same graphic designs as the Kenner Stretch Armstrong boxes. It even showcased side pictures of this Hulk figure locking up against Stretch Armstrong’s arch-enemy—the Stretch Monster! And if all that wasn’t bad enough, the name itself was changed on the packaging from “Elastic Hulk” to “The Incredible Stretch Hulk.” This was a quick way for Mego to make money on the Hulk license and get a piece of the profits on the back end. Not supplying Denys Fisher with molds and graphics made them produce the Stretch Hulk figure just like they did with Kenner’s Stretch Armstrong figures. Mego’s plan was simple: if it wasn’t going to go all-out on the entire Elastic line, then why not save a few bucks in the process? You can bet your gamma-irradiated corn syrup that Kenner wasn’t too pleased with all this.

Kenner Responds… and the End of the Line

While the Hulk and the rest of the Elastic figures in America, Mexico, and Europe enjoyed success when they debuted, by the spring of 1980, Mego was already thinking of discontinuing the line. Sales for its recently released Elastic Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Casper fell flat. Plus, making the Elastic line in general 12

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was costing Mego a fortune. The figures would burst open or rupture while in production, causing corn syrup to go everywhere. This became an even bigger problem when the warehouse became infested with rats. But the biggest problem of all for Mego was in the making once the “Elastic Super Heroes” first hit toy shelves almost a year earlier—a “little” toy company named Kenner. In July of 1980, Kenner went to court against Mego for its blatant copy of their stretch figures, in a case titled CPG Products v. Mego Corporation. Kenner claimed that Mego “knowingly and willfully misappropriated” trade secrets regarding the manufacture of the stretch figures. Looks like that “insider information” (did you remember those two words?) they initially got was illegal. As a result, Mego, along with Ensueno, stopped producing the Elastic figures; Denys Fisher continued to produce Stretch Armstrong figures for Kenner, but the Stretch Hulk figure was dropped. All in all, the Elastic line lasted a little over a year and eventually fell into toy obscurity. It wasn’t the final nail in the coffin for Mego, but the company fell deeper into the financial hole and closed its doors forever in 1983.

Classics Never Go Out of Style

When a new website called eBay started in 1995, toys and collectibles became easier to acquire. And when the generation that grew up with toys from the Seventies went looking for collectibles to help reclaim their youth, it was no surprise that Mego toys were at the top of many want lists. Prices would now skyrocket due to demand. Figures and accessories that were mint in the box were going for big money. Even the long-dormant Elastic Super Heroes were no exception. Toy experts became more knowledgeable about them and discovered that being around for such a limited time (and with many of them bursting apart throughout the

Retro Collectibles:Elastic Hulk The ultra-rare shipping box for Elastic Hulks. Incredible Hulk TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Kids love the Elastic Hulk! The author’s daughter Bryn, then age three, with a pair of big green playmates. Incredible Hulk TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

years), the Elastic figures are incredibly rare. Only a little over a hundred of them are still in existence and just a small handful are in mint condition. In the summer of 2006, crazed collectors battled it out for a perfect mint-in-box Elastic Batman that was being auctioned on eBay for the first time. The final price ended at an astonishing $15,100, making it one of the highest-selling Mego pieces ever. Then a restored Elastic Hulk figure in the box was put up for auction a few weeks later and eventually sold for a whopping $7,400. In 2014, I (yes, me, the author of this article) was featured on the Comic Book Men reality show (Season 3, Episode 16) and brought in the most perfect Elastic Hulk figure in the world (no hyperbole).

Just How Valuable is My Stretch Hulk? Prices compiled by John Cimino.

MEGO ELASTIC HULK Empty Red Box: $400 Empty White Box (prototype): $700 Loose Figure: $1,000 Mint-in-Box (white or red box): $8,000 Shipping Box: $1,000 DENYS FISHER STRETCH HULK Empty Box: $200 Loose Figure: $800 Mint-in-Box: $3,000 ENSUENO ELASTICO HULK Empty Box: $600 Loose Figure: $1,000 Mint-in-Box: $8,000

The guys on the show could only afford to offer me $11,100 for it, but I had to turn them down because I was offered so much more from private collectors (sorry, everyone, I’m never selling). Today, even with all the reproduced and restored figures out there, the Mego Elastic Super Heroes still command a ton of money. Even the imports like the Denys Fisher Stretch Hulk and the Ensueno Elastico Super Heroes will cost you a small fortune if you can find them. Mego Corporation itself is still regarded as one of the greatest and most beloved toy manufacturers of all time. There are many books and articles that are routinely written about them (including TwoMorrows’ 2007 tome Mego 8” Super-Heroes: World’s Greatest Toys! by Benjamin Holcomb) and fans and collectors alike still can’t get enough (hey, kinda like me). In 1991, Kenner was bought out by Hasbro and still produces Stretch Armstrong figures in all types of variations—it looks like they’ll never stop. I guess it’s something about the classics that never go out of style for any generation. And what about the ever-incredible Hulk? The character is more popular than ever and has appeared in a bunch of blockbuster films. In 2009, Disney acquired Marvel, so you can make a sure bet that the Greenskinned Goliath isn’t going anywhere. He’s one of the most enduring comic-book characters ever created and his merchandise will always be desired on the secondary market—especially the Mego Elastic Hulk figure, which is widely considered one of the supreme “Holy Grails” of all Hulk collectibles and is the stuff of toy legend. BOOM!! JOHN CIMINO is a Silver and Bronze Age comic, cartoon, and memorabilia expert who runs a business called Saturday Morning Collectibles. He buys, sells, appraises, and gives seminars on everything pop culture. He contributes articles to Alter Ego, The Jack Kirby Collector, and BACK ISSUE from TwoMorrows Publishing and represents comics legend Roy Thomas, bringing him to a comic-con near you. Despite all this, John loves to wake up every morning and give kisses to his daughter Bryn (and when no one’s looking, to his “minty” Mego Elastic Hulk). Check out his blog at Hero-Envy.blogspot.com, listen to him on The Power Cosmic Podcast, or contact him at johnstretch@ live.com. Summer 2018

RetroFan

RetroFan's

Too Much TV Quiz

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 of the sitcom quotes in Column One were said by one of the characters in Column Two. Match ’em up, then see how you rate!

1) “I can’t hear you!” 2) “We’re proud of our crazy people. We don’t hide them up in the attic. We bring ’em right down to the living room and show ’em off.”

3) “Whatchoo talkin’ ’bout, Willis?” 4) “God don’t make no mistakes. That’s how He got to be God.” 5) “Look at me when you lie.” 6) “Don’t expect your mother to be gracious. She doesn’t do imitations.”

7) “You’re a midget in a kid suit.” 8) “Something suddenly came up.” 9) “I hate spunk.”

10) “Call the man!”

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A) Sheriff Andy Taylor–The Andy Griffith Show B) Darrin Stephens–Bewitched C) Sgt. Vince Carter–Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. D) Marcia Brady–The Brady Bunch E) Lou Grant–The Mary Tyler Moore Show F) Arnold Jackson–Diff’rent Strokes G) Reuben Kincaid–The Partridge Family H) Dr. Cliff Huxtable–The Cosby Show I) Archie Bunker–All in the Family J) Julia Sugarbaker–Designing Women ANSWERS: 1–C, 2–J, 3–F, 4–I, 5–H, 6–B, 7–G, 8–D, 9–E, 10–A.

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

Summer 2018

RetroFan

COMICS MAGAZINES FROM TWOMORROWS BACK ISSUE

BACK ISSUE celebrates comic books of the 1970s, 1980s, and today through a variety of recurring (and rotating) departments, including Pro2Pro interviews (between two top creators), “Greatest Stories Never Told”, retrospective articles, and more. Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

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JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR

JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR celebrates the life and career of the “King” of comics through interviews with Kirby and his contemporaries, feature articles, and rare & unseen Kirby artwork, showcased in dynamic full-color! Edited by JOHN MORROW.

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ALLEN BELLMAN (1940s Timely artist) interviewed by DR. MICHAEL J. VASSALLO, with art by SHORES, BURGOS, BRODSKY, SEKOWSKY, EVERETT, & JAFFEE. Plus Marvel’s ’70s heroines: LINDA FITE & PATY COCKRUM on The Cat, CAROLE SEULING on Shanna the She-Devil, & ROY THOMAS on Night Nurse—with art by SEVERIN, FRADON, ANDRU, and more! With FCA, MR. MONSTER, BILL SCHELLY, and more!

Career-spanning discussion with STEVE “THE DUDE” RUDE, as he shares his reallife psychological struggles, the challenges of freelance subsistence, and his creative aspirations. Also: The jungle art of NEAL ADAMS, MARY FLEENER on her forthcoming graphic novel Billie the Bee and her comix career, RICH BUCKLER interview Part Three, Golden Age artist FRANK BORTH, HEMBECK and more!

Fantasy/sci-fi illustrator DONATO GIANCOLA (Game of Thrones) demos his artistic process, GEORGE PRATT (Enemy Ace: War Idyll, Batman: Harvest Breed) discusses his work as comic book artist, illustrator, fine artist, and teacher, Crusty Critic JAMAR NICHOLAS, JERRY ORDWAY’S regular column, and MIKE MANLEY and BRET BLEVINS’ “Comic Art Bootcamp.” Mature Readers Only.

FUTUREPAST! Kirby’s “World That Was” from Caveman days to the Wild West, and his “World That’s Here” of Jack’s visions of the future that became reality! TWO COVERS: Bullseye inked by BILL WRAY, and Jack’s unseen Tiger 21 concept art! Plus: interview with ROY THOMAS about Jack, rare Kirby interview, MARK EVANIER moderating the biggest Kirby Tribute Panel of all time, pencil art galleries, and more!

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MARTIN PASKO’S PESKY PERSPECTIVE

Ghost Who Stumbles The Phantom Phollies of Philmland by Martin Pasko Welcome to the first installment of what is planned as a regular feature in each issue of RetroFan. It will be a quarterly tour of the outrageously memorable; the kitschy and the campy in the fantasyoriented (and usually comics-based) film and television we all devoured in the Sixties, Seventies, Eighties, and Nineties, whether straight-facedly or not. Your guide on this decidedly subjective, highly opinionated trip down that memory lane haunted by our most hilarious screen nightmares is yours truly, Martin “Pesky” Pasko. I got my start in the comics business by becoming known for my letters of comment that were published in the books. (You might recall that comic books had letter columns from c. 1958 to c. 1998.) My comments were more often than not what DC Comics’ Julius Schwartz, who was the editor who most frequently ran my “LoCs,” called “brickbats rather than bouquets.” He later told me he was always relieved to see a letter from me: he needed my sourness to cut the saccharin of the other, more adoring comments. So much so that if I actually liked something, he wouldn’t run my letter. I had been typecast. Julie dubbed me “Pesky Pasko,” and the nickname stuck. I’ve reached that point in life where I prefer to try being mellower, perhaps even praise something for a change, or at least be temperate rather than scathingly critical. Nevertheless, for this column, I intend to don ol’ Pesky’s comical-curmudgeon cape once more, in a quest to provide you with amusement and entertainment. This, as well as a raft of useless facts that are less important to you than knowing how wide Kim Kardashian’s hips currently are, and which we’d much prefer to give you with hyperlinks; besides, nobody’s figured out how to do that on paper yet. Of course, with the long lead-times RetroFan works on, by the time you read this, somebody probably will have. Herewith, then, the first in a series of (very sharp) tongue-in(very large) cheek columns that will attempt to prove that, as the old saying goes, “no stalgia is good stalgia,” and that reminiscence can sometimes comically traumatize as well as idealize. Along the way, I’ll be interpolating anecdotes of personal experiences with some of my subjects, fictional or flesh-and-blood. (In this first outing, however, I’ll stipulate that I’ve had no experience with writing

The Ghost Who Walks’ best cinematic adaptation—1996’s The Phantom, from Paramount Pictures—failed to connect with moviegoers. Poster courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions. The Phantom © - Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc. Phantom movie © 1996 Paramount Pictures.

Summer 2018

RetroFan

Martin Pasko’s Pesky Perspective

Neither spy nor flabby native could intimidate Tom Tyler’s Phantom of the serials. Courtesy of Heritage. The Phantom © - Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc. Phantom serial © 1943 Columbia Pictures.

the adventures of a masked man who rides through the jungle in bright purple Spandex.) But why shouldn’t I indulge in the auctorial voice? This is essay and opinion, not hard news reporting, and the use of “I”—unaccustomed as I am to it because, as you can see here, I have no ego—is done in the hope that the personal touch will make these observations more entertaining. And, maybe, if I’m lucky, I’ll even make a point or two. Besides, as my editor, Mr. Eury, will no doubt love to read: my voice is very unique, needless to say. (Sorry. In-joke. Maybe I’ll explain it sometime.) Back in the late Thirties, way before everyone in the world was as familiar with the word “superhero” as they are with the word “dog,” costumed comic-strip or comic-book heroes were derisively called, uhm, comic-strip or comic-book heroes. And already radio comedians were describing them as “those guys who wear their underwear on the outside.” By that limited definition, radio’s the Green Hornet was not what would later be called a superhero, because he went around taking down the baddies in a jacket and tie. So, also by that definition—although the Phantom, like Batman, has no special powers—it’s the Phantom, not Superman, who was the first superhero. He was the first character to fight crime in a skin-tight body stocking, and the first to establish the bizarre convention of wearing what looks like bathing trunks over tights. Comics historians are quick to point out, too, that the Phantom’s eyeballs disappeared when he pulled on his mask, a trick he mastered three years before Bruce Wayne did. The character’s creator, writer Lee Falk—who also designed the costume and drew a sample which became the strip’s first two weeks of dailies—later told the cable network A&E, for its Biography segment entitled “The Phantom: Comic Strip Crusader,” that he got the idea for the eyeless eye-holes from Greek busts, which have no sculpted pupils. (They were painted on, but on the surviving busts they have faded away over the centuries.) This was his inspiration, and not Little Orphan Annie, as some have jokingly suggested over the years. Falk said he thought the “eyeless” look gave the busts an “inhuman, aweinspiring appearance.” The Phantom was a follow-up creation, also for King Features, to the successful comic strip that writer Falk had begun two years before, Mandrake the Magician. Phantom was 18

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Summer 2018

wildly successful, quickly outstripping Mandrake in popularity. It is still being syndicated by King, some 19 years after its creator’s death, prior to which the indefatigable Falk continued to write it, without ghosts and only with the occasional assistance of his wife, for an astonishing 62 years. As many of his obituaries observed, Falk was dictating the conclusion of the Phantom storyline he was working on from his hospital bed—despite having to remove his oxygen mask to do so—at the time of his death. But unlike the wave of superheroes introduced after the Phantom daily syndicated strip debuted on February 17, 1936, the Phantom didn’t work in a major American metropolis modeled on New York. He didn’t ply his crimefighting trade in a metaphorical concrete jungle; the Phantom’s jungle was real. It’s tempting to dismiss The Phantom as Tarzan in Spandex. Like John Clayton, Viscount Greystoke, the first Phantom was marooned on a jungle beach as a child and rescued by natives who raised him in the jungle, as one of their own. But the similarities end there. Unlike Tarzan, the first Phantom’s benefactors were one of the local tribes, the Bandar, not apes; and the jungle was not in Africa—at least, not at first—but in a fictitious Asian country called Bangalla. And the reader was not often reminded that that’s where Bangalla was. You may have noticed that I said “the first Phantom.” The most distinctive aspect of the mythology further attests to Lee Falk’s inventiveness and originality (or, at least his talent for recombining “borrowed” ideas in ways that seemed fresh and original): he not only created the first costumed superhero but also anticipated a trend that wouldn’t become a trend in superhero comics for another 50 years: he created the first so-called “legacy hero.” The Phantom has been regarded in Bangalla and environs as a fearsome local legend since the 16th Century. Kit Walker, the present-day Phantom of the comic strip—who has usually borne little resemblance to his screen incarnations—is, in fact, the 21st man to assume the identity of the mysterious “ghost who walks.” The fact that for 400 years, every adult male of the Walker family has been assuming the costumed identity has reinforced the myth that he is either the ghost of a man long dead, or an immortal. This, plus the

Martin Pasko’s Pesky Perspective

Phantom’s tendency to work by night, and the strip’s extensive use of skull imagery, both in the Phantom’s costume and in the decor of his lair, the Skull Cave, made him what Bill Finger would later call, in describing Batman, a “creature of the night—dark, terrifying” who would be feared by criminals who, as we all know, are a cowardly and superstitious lot. Aside from his home base being a cave, Falk’s creation anticipated Batman in many other ways. For example, Falk’s costume design gives the Phantom high boots and a wide belt which doubles as a holster, not unlike the utility belt, which was, in turn, stolen from Doc Savage. And, in Falk’s original concept, the Phantom was secretly a rich playboy and prominent New York socialite. But, while fleshing out the concept at King Features’ invitation, Falk felt that what he was developing was too derivative of too many inspirations from his childhood. For example, in interviews late in life, he freely admitted he was conscious of the similarities to Tarzan, and acknowledged the costumes worn by the Robin Hoods of the movies as the source of his character’s distinctive garb. So, at the last minute, he tried to freshen the concept by shifting the locale to a jungle, a setting supposedly mysterious and uncharted. From there, Falk evolved the elaborate backstory

of the multiple Walker generations fueling the myth of immortality, and the legend of The Phantom was born. So maybe the better way to “shorthand” The Phantom is “Batman in the jungle.” But if the two properties’ basic appeal is essentially the same, why has Batman, unlike the Phantom, had widespread and enduring success in media other than comics—indeed, becoming a media craze at least twice? Perhaps the jungle element played a bigger role in why their “career paths” did not parallel each other than might be apparent. On the other hand, that’s counter-intuitive considering the enduring popularity in film and television of such characters as (there’s that name again) Tarzan. In the Fifties, while Jungle Jim and Superman were hits on TV, and in the late Sixties, as Batman was causing that first national craze, the Phantom never had a live-action TV series of his own. (Although the 1943 serial did show up on TV during the late-Sixties nostalgia fad.) In fact, to date the Phantom’s live-action TV activity has been limited to failed pilots and miniseries. As we’ll soon see, however, it may have been King Features’ ill-advised attempts to produce many of these shows themselves that have thus far stymied the Phantom’s chances for small-screen stardom.

No, jungle fever doesn’t have you seeing double! Columbia followed The Phantom with its Captain Africa knock-off serial of 1955. Posters courtesy of Heritage. The Phantom © - Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc. Movie serials © Columbia Pictures.

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Still, the Phantom strip as originally conceived can seem breathtakingly offensive to contemporary audiences, to whom it can appear flabbergastingly racist. By the Fifties, Falk had made a few tweaks to the character’s origin story, in the course of which it was unambiguously established that Bangalla is in Africa. But even then, the strip was becoming difficult to engage with for audiences who, after World War II, began to think of the various African nations as what we know them to be today: industrialized and totally connected to the rest of the world. And, after the postmodern, “politically correct” cultural revolution of the early Nineties in the U.S., the character was even easier to dismiss as a relic of a bygone era. Essentially, the term “Tarzan in Spandex” would come to be used as shorthand for the idea that The Phantom reeked of the same white imperialism and condescension toward indigenous people that had characterized “jungle films” from the Thirties to the early Sixties. So maybe it really was that fateful decision to set The Phantom in the jungle that explains why the character has not yet hit the big time in TV or movies: what was once its unique, core creative selling proposition—a great white father-figure hero for those poor, downtrodden jungle natives who didn’t FAST FACTS

The Phantom hh Host medium: syndicated newspaper comic strip hh Premiere date: February 17, 1936 hh Syndicate: King Features Syndicate hh Creator: Lee Falk hh Former Phantom artists include: Ray Moore, Wilson McCoy, Bill Lignante, Sy Barry, George Oleson, Keith Williams, Fred Fredericks, Graham Nolan, Eduardo Barreto, Paul Ryan hh Current Phantom creative team: Tony DePaul (writer), Mike Manley (artist, Monday– Saturday), Jeff Weigel (artist, Sunday) 20

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know how to protect themselves from the duplicitousness and murderousness of other white men—had become a liability and a potential embarrassment. Alas, to see how all this has played out on American screens since 1936, and gain some insight into why The Phantom may be damaged cinematic goods, Phantom phans must force themselves to actually watch the films and TV shows to see how Hollywood transformed their hero into the Ghost Who Stumbles. Unlike Superman, who had his own radio show two years after his debut, and a series of theatrical animated shorts from Paramount’s Fleischer Studios a year later, the Phantom had to wait seven years before King Features could sell him to Hollywood. Finally, in 1943, Columbia short subjects department head Rudolph C. Flothow produced a 15-chapter Phantom serial. This was the same producer who, in the same year, produced the first Batman serial. While budgetary limitations restricted Columbia’s ability to be more faithful to the source material—for example, Batman drove a nondescript gray sedan rather than a tricked-out Batmobile—Batman at least bore more than a passing resemblance to the comics. The Phantom, by contrast, seems to veer away from the strip in ways which today make it seem as contemptuous of its source as, say, Republic’s Captain America serial did: the good Captain was not even named Steve Rogers, and instead of a shield, he brandished a gun. Similarly, in the Phantom serial, the protagonist’s real name is Geoffrey Prescott, not Kit Walker. But this was only because, at the time the serial was written, the hero’s real name hadn’t yet been revealed. Many of the other familiar elements, however, such as Devil (who is, here, unabashedly a large German Shepherd, with no pretense to being a domesticated wolf); Hero the horse; and soon-to-be bride Diana Palmer (played by Jeanne Bates) are here, in some form or another. The Phantom has all the problems most serials—Columbia’s in particular—did: an implausible script riddled with inane, unplayable dialogue; wretchedly wooden acting; and a budget that rendered ludicrous any attempt to stage believable, much less spectacular, action by today’s standards. For example, the Hollywood Hills doubled for the jungle here. And, just as Columbia’s wardrobe department had done on Batman, they found it difficult to recreate the look of the hero’s costume in real, three-dimensional fabrics. They couldn’t make the ears on Batman’s cowl look right: they’re just two cones stuck on the sides of the head, making Batman look like a Halloween trick-or-treater in a devil costume. In like incompetent fashion, the Phantom’s headpiece has a seam running over the top of the actor’s head, and it doesn’t fit snugly. This causes a little peak of turned-up fabric that, in

Martin Pasko’s Pesky Perspective

close shots, makes Tom Tyler, the hapless actor charged with the eponymous role, look like his head comes to a point. Indeed, the serial is ill-served by the casting of Tyler who, at age 40, seems old beyond his years, and not at all the vigorous young man who could plausibly do what the script demands of him. And the way director B. Reeves Eason—a great name in the silent era now reduced to shooting on minuscule budgets—lights his star is so unflattering, Tyler’s jowls throw shadows across his profile. The plot is some God-awful nonsense about an expedition to find a “lost city” with a name that sounds like a pharmaceutical product: Zoloz. There, priceless ivory artifacts are being sought by a good scientist and an evil one, and the evil scientist’s attempts to sabotage the expedition result in the latter killing the Phantom— the 20th one, Geoffrey Prescott’s father—whom Geoffrey must now avenge by becoming the 21st Phantom. In so doing, the new Phantom must deal with the leader of the Zoloz people, whose army, which is played by Caucasian actors who deliver their lines as if they’re playing Brooklyn cab drivers, overrun all that Hollywood Hills shrubbery, unconvincingly trying to pass itself off as a tropical rainforest, wearing hilariously silly costumes which include helmets in the shape of bathroom plungers. No detailed records survive that can tell us whether The Phantom was a commercial success, nor how it was received critically, because respectable film critics never bothered with serials; all one got was a speculation by Daily Variety as to whether the serial would be “boffo with the kiddies” or a turkey. But there are some suggestions that, whether Columbia was satisfied with the results or not, all was not joy in comicstripland. Lee Falk went on record saying how much he hated it, quipping that “It looks like it was shot in a phone booth.” And in 1955, Columbia started shooting a sequel to be called The Return of the Phantom, this time with John Hart (the only other actor to play the Lone Ranger on television besides Clayton Moore) replacing the late Tom Tyler. The serial was well into production when it came a-cropper of the notorious lack of due diligence on the part of Columbia’s then-legal department. The lawyers were famously sloppy when it came to serials, especially those based on licensed properties. For example, in 1951,

after the release of the two Superman serials—and possibly in a fit of pique over the fact that National Comics (DC) elected to coproduce, with an independent company, a Superman feature rather than pitching the project to Columbia—the studio maintained that it owned the sole rights to those serials and that there was no rights-reversion provision in the agreement that would allow National to exploit them. This led to a dispute which kept those serials out of the public eye for almost 40 years, until Warner Bros. Home Video successfully negotiated the terms that would allow them to be released to the public. Now Columbia discovered that their rights to The Phantom had expired, and King Features presumably expressed its displeasure with the 1943 serial by refusing to renew the license. Columbia quickly turned The Return of the Phantom into The Adventures of Captain Africa, presumably with the result of a lot of moppets across the country crying, “That Captain Africa sure does look a lot like the Phantom!” The Phantom continued to be a successful strip—if not necessarily increasingly so—throughout the Forties and Fifties. So, no matter how much the serial may have been reviled by anyone involved in its production—or anyone who saw it, for that matter— that still doesn’t explain why King Features seems to have given up on it, and made no greater efforts to exploit it over the next 16 years. Unless, of course, there were, for some reason, no takers. Why, for example, is there no record of at least an “audition disk” for a Phantom radio show, when so many other popular King Features, such as Flash Gordon and Blondie, found success on radio? And why would it take another 16 years before a “mass media” Phantom project was attempted? Unfortunately, when that project was attempted, it resulted in something that makes the 1943 serial look like an Oscar contender. Presumably, King had been as dissatisfied as National Comics with how Columbia had treated their For the generation that came after the Phantom movie serial, Warren Publications’ On the Scene presents Super Heroes (1966) introduced them to the Ghost Who Walks’ screen debut. The Phantom and Flash Gordon © - Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc. Superman, Captain Marvel, and Batman and related characters © DC Comics. Captain America © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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IP. National responded, when the time was right to take Superman to TV, by deciding to produce the films themselves and eliminate the middle man, and they did it to great success. King Features evidently took a page from National’s book in 1961—especially considering that, since George Reeves’ death two years before, there had been an “opening” for a new costumed hero for the kiddies— and produced their own pilot for a half-hour series, presumPhantom TV pilot producer ably to be syndicated as The Al Brodax. Adventures of Superman had been. Mistermaxharris / Unfortunately, one of the men Wikimedia Commons. tapped to oversee the production of this thing was Al Brodax, who had spent ten years as an executive in the program development department of the William Morris Agency, and who had just become the head of King Features’ newly created film and television development department. The other was an executive named Bob Duncan. Brodax was the man who supervised the production of 200 new Popeye shorts: crude, limited-animation things that make Popeye fans and animation experts in general hold their noses. He Screenshots from the Phantom TV pilot. Courtesy of Martin Pasko. The Phantom © - Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.

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also created syndication packages for original cartoons based on King strips like Beetle Bailey, Snuffy Smith, and Krazy Kat, before moving on to do the work he’s best known for: producing the Beatles ABC animated cartoon series in 1965, and the band’s animated feature, Yellow Submarine, in 1968. Al Brodax may have ultimately found his niche as a shrewd producer of low-budget animation, but as the producer of a live-action pilot, he was clearly out of his depth. The uninvolving and largely incoherent teleplay is the first credited work of a writer named John Carr, who didn’t work again for another five years, and the director is an equally obscure character named Harold Daniels, whose credits include films no one has ever seen, such as 1965’s House of the Black Death, starring Lon Chaney, Jr. and John Carradine. Especially odd is the fact that, for a film produced directly by King Features, the story and implicit series format are even further afield from the source material than the serial was. The action takes place in what appears to be a plantation of some kind which is also a penal institution: a work farm. The prisoners are there to be put to hard labor, building a road through the jungle. It’s never made clear what growing things, which is presumably what one does on a plantation, has to do with road construction. And we have no idea where any of this is located; there is no reference to Bangalla. The Phantom’s civilian identity—a character identified only as “Walker”—seems to be some sort of undercover agent working for an R. J. Mallory, who, we are helpfully informed by signage, is a “Commissioner” of something-or-other at the “Territorial Head-

Martin Pasko’s Pesky Perspective

quarters” in where, we haven’t a frickin’ clue. Nor do we much care. While the Phantom relies heavily on Devil, once again a German Shepherd with no pretense to the contrary, the dog is the only other character from the strip in the pilot. There is no Diana, no Walker’s loyal aide; no nobody. Which wouldn’t be quite so baffling were it not for the fact that the whole thing was produced by the rights-holders. Ostensibly following the model of the Superman series, this pilot “teases” us by giving the costumed Phantom scant screen time. Most of whatever heroics he performs in the muddled plot are done as “Walker.” Which is probably just as well, as the actor who plays him, the then-46-year-old Roger Creed, was even more miscast than Tom Tyler. Mr. Creed was apparently too vain to bother with a corset to rein in the paunch overhanging the Phantom’s distinctive belt. When he overcomes the villains with his prowess at hand-to-hand combat, his success is laughable in its implausibility. The producers seem proud of their two “name” guest-stars, and are careful to provide them with ample screen time, even if it means that we occasionally lose track of where the star of our show, who is presumably the Phantom, is in all this. This is unfortunate, because those guest-stars are even less pleasant to look at than the wooden, inexpressive, unhandsome, and unconvincing Mr. Creed. Lon Chaney, Jr. is, here, at the point in his middle age where the ravages of alcoholism have taken their toll on his appearance. He has by now managed the extraordinary feat of evolving to the level of being grotesque without need of monster makeup. The other “name” is Paulette Goddard, of all people—the former Mrs. Charles Chaplin and once one of the biggest stars in Hollywood, now reduced to working for “scale” or close to it?! Matters are not helped by the possibility that Goddard chose to play her role as the dastardly plantation owner with all the subtlety of Gloria Swanson playing Norma Desmond into a megaphone. She plays her every scene at one pitch—over-the-top—and with only one emotion: hateful rage. One can’t but assume that some of her anger is her frustration that all her scenes are on location and in the wide-open air. There’s not a piece of scenery to chew anywhere in sight.

Not only did the pilot not “sell in” as a series, most Phantom fans believe it has never, ever been aired anywhere in the world, though it now can be found on the Internet. It might be assuming too much to conclude that this disaster left King Features executives with a bitter taste in their mouths when it came to trying to exploit The Phantom in what the comics industry once referred to as “mass media,” and that the property had become a “third rail”: touch it and you die. But it’s hard not to wonder otherwise when one realizes that, abortive, unannounced projects aside, the Phantom would not have a “mass media presence” again for another 33 years. Phantom 2040 was a syndicated animation series produced by the recently formed Hearst Entertainment in 1994. It circumvented the entire question of Africa and the changing world that was obsoleting the original concept by leaping ahead to a world free of such tensions, linking its star to the branding by making him a Kit Walker who is the 24th Phantom. It lasted two seasons. [Editor’s note: Prior to that, the Phantom fought injustice alongside King Features’ stars Flash Gordon, Mandrake the Magician, and Mandrake’s aide Lothar in Defenders of the Earth, a 1985 syndicated cartoon produced by Marvel Productions.] The most faithful screen adaptation of all was produced two years later, in 1996—the big-budget Paramount feature that was supposed to make a star out of Billy Zane. It played the material as a period piece, set in 1938, arguably falling into a trap. A few years earlier, Universal’s big-budget version of The Shadow, that was likewise set in the late Thirtites and demonstrated a certain respect for the source material, died at the box office. The big-budget Phantom did likewise. Matters were probably not helped by too much fidelity to the source material: the opening action sequence, which takes place in broad daylight and is shot in lush Technicolor, makes one wonder how you use stealth and the element of surprise when you’re wearing bright purple that can be seen, against the green of jungle vegetation, for miles away? And even this attempt at adapting the property seemed to want to repudiate the jungle stuff as quickly as possible: the story takes the Phantom to New York City. Subsequent attempts to make the property viable for more Summer 2018

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“Honey, I’m home!” Before he became known worldwide as Crocodile Dundee, Paul Hogan headlined a self-titled Australian comedy TV show from 1973 through 1984 and appeared as the Phantom in a sketch about the hero’s domestic life. The Phantom © - Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc. The Paul Hogan Show © 7 Network.

The animated Phantom 2040 offered a futuristic take on the character. DVD box art. The Phantom © - Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.

During production of the ill-fated Phantom TV pilot, the Ghost Who Walks appeared in random issues of the Harvey Comics anthology, Harvey Hits. Issue #48’s (Sept. 1961) cover by Joe Simon. A year later, Gold Key Comics launched a Phantom ongoing series. The Phantom © - Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.

contemporary audiences have had only lukewarm success, such as the 2009 TV movie, whose high-tech take on the character moves it so far away from its roots that it’s just a brand-name with which King Features is scrambling to find a product to pair it. Is it just that Hollywood has been dropping the ball when it comes to knowing how to make the very first superhero property take its place among the characters of its vintage that are still making money for their owners? Or is it possible that The Phantom really is perceived as something that has outlived its time? Meanwhile, the newspaper strip continues on, and, as long as it does, there’s always a chance that we may yet see a mass-medium Phantom that sticks around for a while, too. MARTIN PASKO writes and has, for over 40 years been writing, professionally, comics, animation, television, prose fiction, and non-fiction. If you’re into comics—DC’s in particular—and you’ve never heard of him, you’re probably not the kind of reader who will be interested in what he has to say in the first place. 24

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ANDY MANGELS’ RETRO SATURDAY MORNING

Star Trek The Animated Series by Andy Mangels

Welcome to Andy Mangels’ Retro Saturday Morning. Since 1989, I have been writing columns for magazines in the US 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… nearly 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. Which leads to this new column for RetroFan, which will examine shows that thrilled us from yesteryear, exciting our imaginations and capturing our memories. Grab some milk and cereal, sit cross-legged leaning against the couch, and dig in to Retro Saturday Morning!

The Animated Frontier

No matter how knowledgeable about Star Trek or television animation one is, chances are that the origins of Star Trek: The Animated Series occurred much earlier than most fans realize. Founded in the early 1960s by Lou Scheimer, Norm Prescott, and Hal Sutherland, Filmation Studios was a scrappy young company that was changing the face of the nascent Saturday morning culture only a few years after they had broken out of studio animation jobs and formed their own company. Although they were working on Journey Back to Oz, the first animated feature film to have an all-star voice cast, Filmation was best known as the studio behind popular animated superheroic television exploits for Superman, Aquaman, and Batman, as well as the musical adventures of The Archies. That latter series was the first of its kind; aimed at preteens and featuring pop music and dancing, several songs from the series—including “Sugar, Sugar”—earned gold records! Filmation had already worked with several veterans of the primetime live-action Star Trek, which debuted on NBC on September 8, 1966. They had done animated film titles for special effects artist Joe Westheimer, whose Westheimer Company worked on Trek, and several Trek writers also wrote for Filmation. Recognizing the value in working with licensed pre-existing characters and shows—a built-in audience was a plus for Batman and Journey to the Center of the Earth—Filmation had talked with multiple networks about animated spin-offs, including Bewitched, Godzilla, Fantastic Voyage, and Star Trek.

Boldly going—to Saturday mornings! Licensed cel sold through Starlog of the Star Trek cartoon’s title, courtesy of Heritage Auctions. Star Trek © CBS Studios Inc.

Scheimer was already in talks with Paramount and NBC about an animated spin-off during Star Trek’s third season (1968–1969) when the axe came down on the parent series, and it was canceled as of the fall season. “We saw the opportunity to do something cool with it,” said Scheimer in my interviews with him for the 2012 TwoMorrows book, Lou Scheimer: Creating the Filmation Generation. “We had gotten in touch with them while the show was still on the air, but I remember that Paramount and Gene Roddenberry, the creator, weren’t really getting along.” The Filmation team worked with Philip Mayer, the director of special programming for Paramount shows, and a company writer/animator named Don Christensen to create a proposed Summer 2018

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Andy Mangels’ Retro Saturday Morning

do any series without Gene,” said Scheimer. “There had been a schism that had developed between Roddenberry and Paramount. So, I would talk to the guy at Paramount and then go talk to Gene and his attorney, and they wouldn’t all talk to each other. It took a lot of doing to get the deal finalized, and I had to get them talking to each other first. I think the way that we worked it out is that Paramount had a third, Gene had a third, and we had a third. Paramount would do the selling internationally, but not domestically. We sold it domestically, to the network. And Roddenberry had total creative control, which made him happy." Once Roddenberry had complete creative control, he made his deal with Filmation. At Roddenberry’s suggestion, Scheimer hired original series script editor D. C. Fontana to be the series’ story editor and associate producer. Fontana would tell the crowd at the New York Star Trek Convention on February 19, 1973 that the date she was told about the deal was five days earlier… on February 14th.

The Mission Continued… Filmation’s Norm Prescott, Hal Sutherland, and Lou Scheimer, c. late 1960s.

animated series. “It was quite different from the TV series,” said Scheimer, “targeting a younger audience. His concept was that the main Star Trek cast would help out on a new training ship called ‘Excalibur,’ on which they would train a group of teenagers about space exploration. NBC wanted the show to be broken up into specific teaching and story segments, but Mayer talked them out of it. Still, they wanted a heavy emphasis on education. The characters and their counterparts were: Spock and young Vulcan Steve, McCoy and a young African-American boy named Bob, Sulu and his Chinese counterpart Stick, Chekov and Chris, and others I’ve since forgotten. According to memos and art that I have, Kirk was in the series with a young protégé, Scotty was to have a moustache, Uhura had a cute girl counterpart, and there were characters named Tun-Tun, Stormy, and Ploof.” Christensen turned in a “Concept Paper” with multiple plot synopses including one with Klingons involved, and rough character-art sketches. In a three-page response memo dated October 15th, 1969, Paramount’s Mayer noted that he wanted more emphasis on education, and suggested that Chekov and Chris be dropped. Sometime following, the project as it existed faded away for several years. Scheimer remained friends with Gene Roddenberry, and continued discussions about an animated Trek over the next few years. “I had been talking to Paramount, but they could not 26

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The series was publicly announced by co-founder Norm Prescott in the press in early March 1973, and by NBC for their fall schedule later that month. Under Joe Taritero, NBC guaranteed a minimum of a two-season show, with 22 episodes planned over two seasons, under a limited budget of $75,000 per episode (still a $5–10K jump above the average price for an animated series). “The network had absolutely zero creative control for Star Trek,” said Scheimer. “They had to accept the show or not accept the show, and I believe that was the first time that happened in the history of Saturday morning animation. I actually don’t think it ever happened again either. NBC wanted Star Trek so desperately that they gave us that creative control. It was so wonderful. If they’d say, ‘Well, gee, Lou, we’ve got a problem here,’ I’d respond with, ‘Well, Gene likes it that way.’ I loved having Gene involved with the show!” Despite hearing from the studio and Paramount about how difficult and demanding Roddenberry could be to work with, Scheimer found him “an easy man to talk to… Our relationship was easy. Despite the direction of our earlier proposal, we didn’t want to do a children’s version of Star Trek, and neither did Gene.” Those sentiments were echoed publicly by the Filmation co-founders. In June 1973, Norm Prescott was interviewed for a Newspaper Enterprise Association story about Star Trek, in which he said, “This is the first attempt to do an adult show in animation. Never before has an adult audience been challenged to watch a Saturday morning show. We feel it is a bold experiment.” Hal Concept art from the 1969 proposed Star Trek cartoon. Star Trek © CBS Studios Inc.

Andy Mangels’ Retro Saturday Morning

Early Star Trek animated conceptual art, from 1969. Star Trek © CBS Studios Inc.

Sutherland added, “The problem is that kids have not had a choice on Saturday morning. We’re going to find out if they’ll go for more sophistication.” The story was carried nationwide, showing pictures of Filmation’s animated Spock and Kirk next to their live-action counterparts. An eight-month writer’s strike was devastating for the television industry, but its timing helped Filmation, because animation writing was exempt. Story editor Fontana was able to bring many original series writers on to the new show, for $1300 per script, with no residuals. The opportunity to write more Trek was one plus, and to do so without the budgetary restraints of live-action—almost anything that was written could be drawn instead of realized by expensive special effects or makeup—meant the writers could invent new alien races, fantastic vistas, and expansive stories. Quickly onboard was David Gerrold, who already had a sequel to his award-winning “The Trouble With Tribbles” script. Samuel A. Peeples, who had done the original Trek pilot, also committed to more, as did Stephen Kandel and Margaret Armen. Popular science-fiction novelist Larry Niven also signed on. In an interview for a Star Trek Animated Fan Club Newsletter fanzine (1973–1974), Roddenberry explained that “we know we will lose some of the subtlety of real acting performances. The most we can do is have a few steps, head movements, and that sort of thing. On the other hand, there are things you gain in animation which help balance that out. If you want a Mr. Spock fifty feet tall, as we have in one of our stories, it’s easy to draw him fifty feet tall as six feet tall. If we want to go to a planet where there is an intelligent life form that is derived from plants, we can do that... If we want an exotic space ship fifty miles across, it’s as easy to draw that as it is to do one the size of the Enterprise. So as a result, you gain some things and you lose other things. When you do

live television you just can’t talk in terms of three-legged or three-armed creatures and cat-women. The costs of applying makeup and special appliances is just phenomenal in an evening show. Just Mr. Spock’s ears was a major thing to get that done every day. In animation, however, obviously if you want a two-headed man, a three-legged man or a cat-woman, you can draw it as easily as you can a human being—so I think this is one of the pluses of animation. The fans will see a greater variety of alien life all the way through the show… Our hope is that by having the original writers and some of the original staff involved, they will keep it on as high a level as is possible in animation.” “We told Gene and Dorothy and the writers that they could do almost anything,” said Scheimer. “If they wanted a volcano to blow up, we’d do it. Painting backgrounds was not the tough part! About the only thing we couldn’t do that the live action show did, was the sexy stuff. The way that some of those ladies looked on the original shows, and the implications that Kirk was constantly having sex with them… well, that wouldn’t have flown with the network, creative control or not!” Fontana gave a few other reasons for the lack of sexytime in a 2009 interview for EmmyTVLegends.org, in which she said, “We did not have as much of a love story type stuff between Kirk and the ladies as we did on the original show, definitely. Not enough time. Also, kids wouldn’t be interested. We did have to keep in mind what the kids would watch, and what the kids would watch would be the adventure and the alien and the weird planets and the interesting environments that we brought our characters into. So we were thinking that much about the young viewers, but older viewers could watch it, too, and get just as much fun out of it.” From the beginning, Filmation planned to use the liveaction cast to voice their animated counterparts, even though almost none of them had done voiceovers for animation at that time, and hiring the actors would take an immense bite out of the budget. Once William Shatner, who had already worked with Filmation on several unsold live-action projects,

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FAST FACTS agreed to reprise his voice as Captain James T. The Animated Series Kirk, Filmation had hh No. of seasons: two a bargaining chip in dealing with the hh No. of episodes: 22 other actors and hh Original run: September 8, the sure-to-be1973–October 12, 1974 vocal Star Trek fans. Leonard hh Network: NBC Nimoy was initially hh Emmy® nominations: two resistant to sign on because Uhura hh Emmy® Awards won: one and Sulu—played by Nichelle Nichols and George Takei—were possibly going to be cut due to budgetary constraints. In a 2012 interview for EmmyTVLegends.org, Takei said that James Doohan was originally going to do Sulu’s voice before Filmation changed their minds. “Leonard said, ‘This is not right. This is not Star Trek. What Star Trek stood for was diversity working in concert, and the two people that most represent that diversity are Nichelle and George. And if they’re not going to be a part of this, I’m not going to be a part of it.’ It’s extraordinary that an actor would give up his job for a principle, for the idea of diversity, and for Nichelle and me to be a part of that animated series.” “Nimoy brought it to our attention that we would be cutting the two minority actors from the series,” said Scheimer. “We were horrified at our unintended slight, made all the worse because we were the one studio who had been championing diversity in its output. So, although their characters weren’t in every episode, we did use them.” Nimoy also objected to cutting Walter Koenig’s Chekov, but Filmation bought a script by Koenig for the series as a consolation. “I was really upset,” Koenig said in 2013 interview for EmmyTVLegends.org. “My only involvement was the script that I wrote, which I culled from the topical news about cloning.” Koenig asked Roddenberry to allow him to play one of the new characters he had created for his episode, Doctor Stavos Keniclius 5.

Star Trek:

Composite image of all the main Star Trek Animated Series characters created for the CBS website, with corrections by Aaron Harvey. Star Trek © CBS Studios Inc.

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“They said, ‘Yeah, yeah, you can play that.’ But it wasn’t up to Dorothy or Gene, it was up to the guys who were running the cartoon production. They let me come in and read, but I had the very distinct feeling that it was a very token gesture; they had no intention of having me play the part. And they didn’t. They ended up having Jimmy do it! They didn’t want to pay the extra money. They were just pacifying me.” Actor James “Jimmy” Doohan, who portrayed Scotty, had a versatile voice, and was given multiple secondary characters (though per union rules, he could legally only do three voices per episode). Nichelle Nichols and Majel Barrett often voiced other female characters, while Scheimer himself voiced minor characters, aliens, and guards. Even writer David Gerrold pinch-hit behind the microphone, for several characters. Voice recording commenced in June 1973, with the first three episodes recorded as an ensemble under the direction of Sutherland. Due to schedules, later shows had to be recorded as the stars’ schedules permitted. Nimoy and Shatner were both touring the country doing plays; Nimoy recorded some of his lines at a studio in Arlington, Massachusetts, while on tour with a production of Camelot. William Shatner recorded his lines while touring with another show, in a Warren, Ohio, studio. Scheimer said about DeForest Kelley, who played Doctor McCoy, that he “was a saint. He was a gentle soul; what you saw on screen there as Bones… he was that character. He didn’t have to act; he was that guy. He was considerate, and never said a bad word about anyone.” Kelley had begun his career in radio, so voice acting was not a stretch for him. About Nichols, Scheimer noted that she “was prettier in person than she looked on screen. And she was sweeter than she was on screen too! During the table read of the script for one episode where Uhura got to take command of the Enterprise, Nichelle yelled happily, ‘What, you’re kidding? I actually get to run the Enterprise? Really?’ It broke the whole room up. I thought there was going to be all sorts of problems with the giant egos, but there really weren’t any. About the only problem was that Shatner and Nimoy counted their

Andy Mangels’ Retro Saturday Morning

Star Trek storyboards by artist Brooks Wachtel. Star Trek © CBS Studios Inc.

lines. If one got too many more than the other one, we’d hear about it!”

To Explore Strange New Worlds…

Having been with the series since its conception, art director Don Christensen oversaw the series, working with a young Bob Kline who did design work alongside Herb Hazleton, George Goode, and others. Kline had walked into Filmation’s offices in Reseda, California, as he would later tell this author, and was immediately given a job. “A good friend of mine, Mark Evanier, told me they were doing an animated version of Star Trek, and that I should get myself and my portfolio over there to be involved, if I could,” said Kline. “I packed up all my fan art of spaceships and aliens, and took them over to show Don Christensen, who was the art director, and he hired me on the spot. I started right away!” Talking about the designs for the show, Scheimer said, “We kept the outfits the same, though we had to make the chevrons on their tunics bigger to make them easier to animate… And to make sure that the likenesses were strong, our animators cut apart 35 millimeter film of the episodes so that we could trace the characters for stock footage, a process known as ‘rotoscoping.’ This gave us both realistic characters and a version of the starship U.S.S. Enterprise that was almost as realistic as the models they filmed for the TV show.” Special effects artist Reuben Timmins oversaw all the shots involving the Enterprise. As the budget had shrunk after paying the voice actors, Filmation had to cut costs somehow, so they used their “stock system,” which consisted of well-drawn and well-animated stock footage and actions for the characters. Walking, running, close-ups, bridge scenes, and shots of the Enterprise in space were all accomplished cleanly with stock footage. An image of Kirk speaking or looking to the side or running could be placed over any background to give it a “new” look. “We came up with a few more ways to save some animation

time,” said Scheimer. “What they did was that sometimes the character would put their hand up to their mouth or chin while speaking, and we wouldn’t have to animate their lips moving. We also developed shortcuts such as silhouetting characters in action, a process that went all the way back to the early days of The Archie Show. But within the limitations, the Filmation crew created some gorgeous planets and some weird aliens. Those things just could not have been done in live action.” As noted, diversity was important to Filmation—they were the first company to put African-American characters on Saturday morning—and characters of various ethnicities and different sizes and ages were drawn into the show. In order to also make the show seem a bit more alien or exotic, two new bridge members were introduced. Instead of Chekov, Lieutenant Arex, a three-armed, multi-legged Edosian helped helm the ship. And on the days when Uhura needed some time off, Lieutenant M’Ress, a feline member of the Caitian species (voiced by Majel Barrett, with a purr), would take on the role of communications officer. Other crewmembers were occasionally given a spotlight, including the Comanche helmsman Ensign Walking Bear, the first Native-American crew person shown on Star Trek (predating Star Trek: Voyager’s Chakotay by decades). The animated series did not use the live-action main musical theme by Alexander Courage; instead, it used music credited to Filmation composers Yvette Blais and Jeff Michael. What wasn’t revealed publicly until the publication of Creating the Filmation Generation was exactly who Blais and Michael were. In reality, the music was mostly composed by jazz legend Ray Ellis, who had been the musical director for Billie Holiday! Ellis did background music for most Filmation series, but didn’t want to use his own name due to complications with royalties and various music publishing companies. Although Ellis had multiple pseudonyms, for Star Trek he used Yvette Blais, the maiden name of his wife. As for the Summer 2018

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other name in the credits, “Jeff Michael” was a mix of the brought mixed reactions from fans, many of whom were first names of Filmation founder Norm Prescott’s two sons. afraid that the new show would be dumbed down to be a Filmation controlled the publishing rights to the music “kiddie show.” David Gerrold put out an open letter to fans under their company, and Prescott got a pseudonymous in June–July 1973’s Star Trek Action Group newsletter, writing, credit and a cut on all of the music, a pretty standard deal “The storyboards for the first episodes are exciting, intellifor music rights producers. gent and adult—just like the Star Trek we used to know. The The process of creating the animated show itself was the animation of the Enterprise itself is fantastic. This is not a same as any other, but for those not “in the know,” here’s a kiddy show.” Gerrold also urged fans to write to NBC to have primer. The script was written first, and a 36–42-page script the show moved to primetime, and not have it on Saturday would clock in for a 22-minute show. Once the script was mornings. Dorothy Fontana took the opening credit seapproved for its final draft, it went to recording by the actors quence to the 1973 World Science Fiction Convention in (usually several were done each day), and also to storyboard Toronto, and garnered cheers. artists, who began creating storyboards of how the show Scheimer attended another Star Trek convention with would look. Many Trek storyboards called out for stock Dorothy Fontana to promote the series. He recalled, “The footage of Kirk or Spock or McCoy, but the recording of the Trekkies were very skeptical about the show initially. I got up dialogue concurrently was necessary to time out how long and I started to talk about what we were going to do. And I each scene would take, and inform animators on when to hear a girl’s voice and she says, ‘I hope it doesn’t turn out like move mouths or facial expressions. all the rest of that Filmation sh-t!’ Well, I didn’t know what to Once storyboards were say. I thought they were all going finished (sometimes roughed to kill me. Because I was going to by Sutherland, and cleaned mess with that which they worup by Dawn Huntley), producshiped. And I see all these people, tion switched to layout, where and some of them are dressed Hazleton, Kline, and Jenson like Spock or something… I didn’t created the look of characters, know what the hell was going on. aliens, props, ships, background Luckily, Dorothy had my back. settings, and more. The storyShe was always supportive of the boards and designs were then show because we were trying so sent to animators, who drew hard to put out something good. each frame of art. The animation Wherever she went, she begged art was then copied onto acetate the fans not to hate the show becels, which were then painted cause it was animated, or it might on the back of the cel, so as not kill the chances of Star Trek ever to ruin the black line art on the becoming another TV show or a front. The painted cels were movie. And once the fans heard then overlaid onto large painted how faithful we were being, and backgrounds; if something was how much care we were taking to moving, such as an arm or lips or respect the intent of the original eyes, that part was on a sepaseries, they soon came over to our side. Word began buzzing to the rate cel. Up to seven cels could NBC network presentation art by Bob Kline 3,000 or so Star Trek fan clubs that be photographed over a backfor Saturday morning’s Star Trek. Star Trek was coming back!” ground, including special effects. Star Trek © CBS Studios Inc. Roddenberry, Fontana, and The Camera Department then Gerrold all gave regular intershot each individual cel set-up to views about the Star Trek series, and eventually, so did the 35mm film, creating the final animation frame-by-frame. The film was then edited or corrected (mistakes reactors. Leonard Nimoy mentioned the show as he travelled quired “retakes”), and combined with the dialogue track, a the country, and even did a walk-on promo on the game music track, and a sound effects track. The final product, show Jeopardy! Roddenberry gave an interview to Burbank’s The Daily Review (August 1, 1973), extolling the series. “We are an “answer print,” was then ready to deliver to the network. not playing Star Trek down… We have the same writers and From start to finish, one episode of Star Trek took about fourthe shows will deal with complex things… I think if it works and-a-half months! like we hope it works and the level of Saturday morning intelNew Civilizations ligence is as high as we think it is, Star Trek could change the Star Trek fans were a very vocal lot, and organized fandom whole direction of animation and children’s shows.” had led to letter-writing campaigns to bring the show back, As the debut of the show loomed, the project began hitas well as to a number of Trek-specific conventions, such as ting time crunches. Director Hal Sutherland worked closely 1973’s Los Angeles Equicon. The news of Star Trek’s return with Roddenberry and Fontana, which helped immensely 30

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when Roddenberry wanted last-minute changes. “He and Gene were friends, and worked very closely together,” said Scheimer. “Truthfully, the series would not have been as successful as it was without the hard work of Hal. But I remember that one day, Roddenberry wanted to change something. Hal said, ‘We can change that, but we are not going to make the air date.’ And Gene knew how important that was, so he told us not to change whatever it was.” Roddenberry so liked the Filmation crew that he invited some of them to the christening of his son with Majel Barrett. While it didn’t get a primetime airing, the first footage of Star Trek did air in primetime. On Friday, September 7th at 8:30 p.m., NBC aired the NBC Starship Rescue special, hosted by Emergency!’s Randolph Mantooth and Kevin Tighe and the cast of Sigmund and the Sea Monsters. As one could glean from the title, the gem in the crown was a preview of Star Trek, showcasing its footage. The fall season began the next morning, on September 8, 1973. Star Trek aired on NBC at 10:30 a.m. The same morning saw the debuts of two other animated series that sprang from live-action series: Hanna-Barbera’s The Addams Family cartoon and Fred Calvert’s Emergency + 4 show. Like Star Trek, they used most of the same voices as the original series, though Emergency! was the only show not in reruns. Oddly, not everyone in the country saw the same debut episode of Star Trek! George Takei was running for the 10th District Councilman seat in Los Angeles, and FCC television rules said that for any local candidate that got airtime, the station had to give equal airtime for other candidates. Because Sulu appeared in the pilot episode “Beyond the Farthest Star” with about 30 seconds of dialogue—thus giving him some kind of unfair advantage in the election

Images from multiple process—L.A. audiences saw episodes of Star Trek. “Yesteryear” instead! The debut episode of Star Star Trek © CBS Studios Inc. Trek had two other elements that made it historically important. “Beyond the Farthest Star” was written by Samuel A. Peeples, who had written the first-aired Star Trek, “Where No Man Has Gone Before” (Peeples later wrote for Filmation’s live-action Space Academy and Jason of Star Command series). More importantly was that the debut date, September 8, 1973, was exactly seven years to the day that the original Star Trek series had debuted in primetime! The reviews for Star Trek were terrific. The L.A. Times (September 10, 1973) wrote that “Star Trek is as out of place in the Saturday morning kiddie ghetto as a Mercedes in a soapbox derby… It is fascinating fare, written, produced and executed with all the imaginative skill, the intellectual flare and the literary level that made Gene Roddenberry’s famous old science-fiction epic the most avidly followed program in TV history, particularly in high IQ circles.” A Variety columnist (September 12, 1973), meanwhile, said that Filmation’s Trek was “superior enough in animation, scoring and narrative to create an atmosphere of reality against the frenzied product all around it.” Star Trek had an auspicious beginning, and the five-year mission was underway once again.

Mission Highlights of Season One

Past the debut, the second episode of the series was “Yesteryear,” written by Dorothy Fontana. The story dealt with Spock’s childhood and the death of his pet sehlat, which was groundbreaking for children’s programming; few Summer 2018

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Andy Mangels’ Retro Saturday Morning

Hollywood projects since Old Yeller (1957) had dealt with the death of a pet, and certainly no Saturday morning show had ever broached the subject. Scheimer noted that NBC was concerned with the death sequence, “but we had creative control, so they had to allow it. Dorothy handled it touchingly and provocatively. As it turns out, not only did the network not get any complaints, but when we submitted that episode to the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for A tremendous honor during the show’s second season. the First Annual Emmy® Awards for Daytime Emmy® Statue property of National Programming, it scored Academy of Television Arts & Sciences a nomination in the category of ‘Outstanding Entertainment Children’s Series’! ‘Yesteryear’ was also probably my favorite episode. It sent a message to kids to be positive in the face of death.” Discussing the pet sehlat’s death by euthanasia in a 2009 interview for EmmyTVLegends.org, Fontana said, “That was never a problem. It was always in the story. It was always how the sehlat dies, that he is given a shot by the Healer and he quietly dies with dignity. NBC was a little nervous about that, but Gene wisely, nicely said, ‘Let Dorothy handle it. It’s OK.’ We did not get one letter of complaint. Not one. Nobody ever said a word after the show was on the air. So, I think we handled that well. In the context of science-fiction, it’s just one more thing we got away with, if you will. On the other hand, it was also a message that you should treat your pets with the same dignity and caring for their pain and their suffering that you do for your relatives, your loved ones.” Marc Daniels, who had directed almost a fourth of the Star Trek live-action episodes, wrote the third animated show, “One of Our Planets is Missing.” In it, he introduced Lieutenant Arex, the three-armed, three-legged alien navigator that showcased the fact that non-humanoid aliens and humans could co-exist onboard the Enterprise. A later episode by Margaret Armen, who had written some of the original series, was “The Lorelei Signal.” It was a relatively sexy episode for a Saturday morning series, featuring a planet dominated by women, and giving Nichelle Nichols’ Uhura a more important role; she took command of the Enterprise for the first time ever! The aforementioned David Gerrold had originally scripted the “Trouble With Tribbles” episode of the primetime series, delivering one of its most memorable—and merchandisable—stories. Gerrold had scripted a sequel for the third 32

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season of the live-action series, but it was never produced. Now, he repurposed the script into “More Tribbles, More Troubles,” a funny story with both Tribbles and Klingons. Introduced in the show was a creature called a “glommer,” which was a predator that fed on Tribbles! The Caitian feline Communications Officer M’Ress was introduced in “The Survivor,” with Gene Roddenberry’s wife, Majel Barrett, purring the dialogue. Following that was “The Infinite Vulcan,” which was written by Walter Koenig (Chekov on the original Star Trek). Koenig threw an in-joke into the script: the “Retlaw plant” was “Walter” spelled backwards. In a 2013 interview for EmmyTVLegends.org, Koenig said that the story “got more and more bizarre as I wrote it because Gene decided that since this was animation, we could do anything we wanted. We didn’t have to worry about money or the intricacies of building creatures. So we had a lot of talking vegetables… I wasn’t too pleased with that. I think it was taking the point too far and damaging its credibility.” NBC was very nervous about the episode “The Magicks of Megas-tu.” Writer Larry Brody had originally wanted the crew to encounter God, but when NBC balked at that, Brody flipped the script and changed the deity to a satanic character named Lucien! In one scene in the episode, Sulu almost embraces a woman before she transforms into Lucien, who was a shirtless male demon. This was almost four decades before actor George Takei came out as gay, lending the scene a retroactive irony. NBC’s network censor Ted Cordes did put his foot down once: the Filmation animators had jokingly put in a sequence where Doctor McCoy turned his back to the audience and appeared to urinate. Watching the edited footage on the studio Moviola, Cordes caught the moment, and the joke was excised. The tenth episode of the first season saw the return of shyster Harcourt “Harry” Fenton Mudd in “Mudd’s Passion.” The original creator of the character for the live show, Stephen Kandel, provided the script, and actor Roger C. Carmel was brought in to reprise his role via voice. The following episode, “The Terratin Incident,” was written by original series writer Paul Schneider, from a plot by Roddenberry. The show included an exploding volcano — something Roddenberry desperately wanted to see on the show — and Filmation staff artists Herb Hazleton, Bob Kline, and George Jenson appeared briefly at the episode’s end as crewmen alongside Gabler! As mentioned, science-fiction author Larry Niven wrote the 14th episode, “The Slaver Weapon.” The story actually adapted his original short story “The Soft Weapon,” which featured the aggressive catlike Kzinti. The episode stands alone in Star Trek history as the only produced show featuring creator-owned characters from outside of the franchise; Niven’s Kzinti have appeared in multiple novels and short stories. Filmation again pushed NBC to allow them to have characters killed on the show, and the episode featured one more shocker: neither Captain Kirk nor the Enterprise were in it at all! The episode’s other shocking element — the ferocious Kzintis’ spaceship was pink — came about due to

Andy Mangels’ Retro Saturday Morning

Presentation art. Star Trek © CBS Studios Inc.

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director Sutherland being colorblind, and nobody catching the pink ship until it was too late; Fontana later called Niven to apologize for the gaffe. The final show of the first season, “The Jihad,” was also written by Steven Kandel. It featured some racy dialogue, and the introduction of multiple alien species, including the pillbug-like Nasat, who were developed three decades later for Pocket Books’ line of Star Trek: Starfleet Core of Engineers line. David Gerrold returned to voice the Nasat, Em/3/Green, while Filmation vocal mainstay Jane Webb came in to substitute for Majel Barrett on the women’s voices, due to Barrett fighting bouts of pregnancy sickness.

One to Beam Away…

Star Trek quickly became an anomaly on Saturday mornings. The ratings were excellent, but they were with the wrong market! Tracking showed that more adults and older kids were watching the show than children. This may not seem a problem, but because Saturday morning advertisers targeted young viewers, the network and the advertisers were unhappy. Still, nobody could argue with success, and NBC had already committed to six more episodes for a second season, so 1974 saw further production underway. On April 25, 1974, the Daytime Emmy® Awards nominations were announced, and Filmation garnered two nominations in the category of “Outstanding Entertainment Childrens Series”: Star Trek—submitted was Fontana’s “Yesteryear” episode—and Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids. The other nominees were Captain Kangaroo, and PBS’s Zoom. On May 28th, the First Annual Daytime Emmy® Awards were held at Rockefeller Plaza in New York City, hosted by Peter Marshall. Sadly for Filmation, Zoom won in the category, but the nominations showed that the show was being taken a bit more seriously than others. A second blow hit the company—and impacted Star Trek—when co-founder Hal Sutherland retired. Significantly, Sutherland had directed all 16 of the first-season Star Trek shows, and had worked closely with Roddenberry. Sutherland moved to Bothell, Washington,

though he would return to his Filmation stomping grounds occasionally for some contract work. Scheimer noted that “Hal had been with me, literally, from Day One of Filmation. It was tough to see him go. We stayed in touch, and he came down to visit a lot. And in future days, whenever I got in trouble at Filmation—and it was real trouble—he would come back. But he did it strictly as an employee. He got paid as handsomely as he deserved and maybe even more. But he came back down to be a friend, not a Hollywood animation guy.” With Hal gone from the company, director Bill Reed stepped in to direct the final six Star Trek episodes. Dorothy Fontana also left for the second season, to write for The Streets of San Francisco, which paid better and had writers’ residuals. In her stead, Filmation staffers did their best to make certain that the quality didn’t suffer. Stories that had been developed for the first season but not used were dusted off, and production was underway. The new season officially started on September 7th, 1974, with Star Trek on NBC at 11:30 a.m.

Mission Highlights of Season Two

Despite the departure of Fontana, several elements of Star Trek’s second season became more important to canon than the first season, as did one other major historical event. Oddly, however, in their television airings and video/laserdisc releases, Sutherland was credited as director for the first four of the six shows; Bill Reed’s proper directing credit wouldn’t be corrected until the DVD release in 2006. Howard Weinstein wrote the debut story of the season, “The Pirates of Orion.” He had submitted it for Season One, but it was caught in a mail loop, so he resubmitted it for Season Two and sold it. Only 19 at the time, this sale made him the youngest Star Trek TV writer ever. Weinstein would later go on to write many issues of DC Comics and Marvel’s Star Trek series, as well as Star Trek novels for Pocket Books. The second episode, “Bem,” was another David Gerrold offering. In it, he wrote that James Kirk’s middle initial “T” was for Tiberius. That element became a part of Star Trek lore thereafter, but according to Gerrold, had started out as an I, Claudius-inspired joke he told at a Trek convention in 1973 before he decided to put it into a script. As with others of this season, the show had been developed for the first season, but was delayed; according to Gerrold, it was also condensed from a script developed for the live-action show’s third season. “The Practical Joker” introduced the first holodeck aboard the Enterprise; the conceit would be used on Star Trek: The Next Generation and later series. Returning writer Chuck Menville was a Filmation staple, often writing comedy shows, which could explain the more comedic bent for the episode… including, incredulously, a life-size inflatable Filmation staff artists Herb Hazelton, Bob Kline, and George Jenson literally put themselves into their Star Trek work. From the episode “The Terratin Incident.” Star Trek © CBS Studios Inc.

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Enterprise! The segment also marked the final time Majel Star Trek was up against two other nominees in its cateBarrett would record voices for the series, ironically voicing gory: Captain Kangaroo and The Pink Panther Show. The second the Enterprise computer as she had done in the original series Daytime Emmy® Awards were held on May 15, 1975, on the and the later-developed Trek spin-offs. Other voices to listen Hudson River Dayliner in the New York harbor. CBS broadfor are the two Romulans, who were vocalized by Filmation cast the event live, hosted by Monty Hall and Stephanie co-founders Lou Scheimer and Norm Prescott. Edwards. Scheimer attended the ceremony with his family, “How Sharper Than a Serpent’s Tooth” was the penulwife Jay, and preteen children Erika and Lane. Of the event, timate Star Trek, written by Russell Bates and David Wise. Scheimer recalled that “there was a lot of wine and stuff The two had met at the Clarion Science Fiction Writers being served on the boat, and initially I said, ‘No wine.’ What Workshop, a six-week intensive workshop. Bates had been if I had to get in front of that audience? I really hated the idea a member of the Writers Guild’s minority writers program of having to talk in front of a lot of people I didn’t know. And in the late Sixties, and had apprenticed with Gene L. Coon, that was a lot of people, because they’re out there watchthe producer of the original first two seasons of Star Trek. ing. And I knew that everybody would be back at the studio “Through that, Russell knew Dorothy Fontana,” Wise said. watching too. “Dorothy had told him during the course of the summer that “At one point, Laney went downstairs and he came back they were going to be doing an animated version of the Star out then he said, ‘Dad, don’t worry. You didn’t win.’ I said, Trek series, and would he be ‘How do you know?’ They were interested in writing somerehearsing down below, and Primary Voice Cast thing for it?” A Kiowa American they were going over someCaptain James T. Kirk: William Shatner Indian, Bates had pitched thing, and he heard them. They Mr. Spock: Leonard Nimoy stories for the first season, but said Captain Kangaroo won. Doctor Leonard “Bones” McCoy: DeForest Kelley none of the plots had worked Well, to me that was perfectly Chief Engineer Montgomery “Scotty” Scott: out. “I had a background in legitimate and reasonable, and James Doohan knowing what animation was so I started drinking the wine. I Lieutenant Uhura: Nichelle Nichols about, and I also had a backwas so relieved that there was Lieutenant Sulu: George Takei ground in science-fiction,” said no chance that I would have to Lieutenant Arex: James Doohan Wise. “So I said to Russell, ‘Why get up. Lieutenant M’Ress: Majel Barrett don’t we team up, and when we “Then they get to our categet back to Los Angeles, after gory, and the English stage acGuest Voice Cast the workshop’s over, see if we tor, Cyril Richard, was up there can sell Dorothy something?’ ” giving the names and he said Cyrano Jones: Stanley Adams It was this paired episode that ‘for Best Childrens Program... Harcourt Fenton Mudd: Roger C. Carmel would be the breakthrough Lou Shimmer.’ He misproSarek: Mark Lenard for both of them at Filmation. nounced my name. But I was Korax, Nephro, Em/3/Green: David Gerrold The resulting Star Trek story thinking, ‘Oh, my God! Oh, no, Multiple Voices: James Doohan, Majel Barrett, featured Native-American eleno, no, it can’t be!’ And he conNichelle Nichols, Lou Scheimer ments, including the debut of tinued with, ‘Filmation for Star Guest Voices: Jane Webb, Ed Bishop, Ted Knight Ensign Dawson Walking Bear, Trek.’ And Lane jumped over the first Native American for Erika and hugged me, and Jay the series. The episode would prove invaluable for everyone kissed me from the other side. And I stumbled out into the involved less than a year after it was created… audience, in between the seats, and out of nowhere comes The final episode of Star Trek, “The Counter-Clock Friz Freleng. He was a sweet, sweet man. He hugged me, and Incident,” was written by Fred Bronson, who was NBC’s publiI actually think he kept me from falling. And I got up there cist. Concerned that it would look improper to get a screen and I made a speech and I had no idea what I was saying or credit, Bronson used the pseudonym “John Culver.” As the sewhat I was doing. But for the record, here’s what I said: ries came to an end, it made one last enduring contribution to the Trek mythos; established here was that the Enterprise’s “My son overheard the rehearsals and he heard it was first captain was Robert April, a fact that stuck in canon. Captain Kangaroo, so I don’t know what to say… except a Months after Star Trek had wrapped production, very, very special thanks to my very, very special friend and Filmation submitted “How Sharper Than a Serpent’s Tooth” co-producer, Norm Prescott, and my lovely family, my wife, to the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for Jay... my son and my daughter, Lane and Erika, and to all a Daytime Emmy® Award. It garnered a nomination, but those great, great people who produced for us—in the art of Scheimer was mildly surprised. “It didn’t seem right in some animation, at Filmation—those wonderful shows. Thank ways to get a Daytime Emmy® nomination, because we didn’t you very, very much. think of it as a daytime show,” said Scheimer. “We thought of “It wasn’t a bad speech, except for one terrible thing: I it as an adult show that was animated. It made more sense didn’t mention Hal Sutherland’s name, and he had been such for Fat Albert to be nominated, but it wasn’t that year.” Summer 2018

RetroFan

Andy Mangels’ Retro Saturday Morning

A Question of Canon Star Trek: The Animated Series has always been controversial when it came to canonical history. Reportedly, following production on the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1987, word came down from Gene Roddenberry’s office that the animated adventures were officially “decanonized.” This decree had a ripple effect for all licensing, resulting in the removal of some animated characters and references from DC’s Star Trek comics and Pocket Books’ novels. Following Roddenberry’s death in 1991, as well as internal personnel changes at Paramount (gone was Richard H. Arnold, who reportedly hated the animated show), Star Trek: The Animated Series came back into favor. References to the series popped up in the feature films and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, then become commonplace on the more recent Star Trek: Enterprise. Paramount also allowed animated references back into the novels and comics, and Skorr, Catians, Nasats, Edosians, and others that had once been a part of animated history were given life again. Here are some important moments of canon from Star Trek: The Animated Series: ØØ References to elements of “Yesteryear” have appeared on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Enterprise, and Star Trek: Discovery, as well as numerous Star Trek novels and comics. Even the rebooted Star Trek movie of 2009, set in an alternate timeline, has a scene evolved from “Yesteryear”! ØØ A Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode features references to Klingon commander Kor’s command of the battlecruiser Klothos in the animated episode “The Time Trap.” ØØ The concept of holodecks, introduced in “The Practical Joker,” was used in Star Trek: The Next Generation and every show iteration since. ØØ James T. Kirk’s middle name, revealed in “Bem” as Tiberius, has been used multiple times onscreen. ØØ Commodore Robert April, the first commander of the Constitution-class Enterprise, has been referenced on numerous episodes of various Trek series. ØØ Captain Kirk’s oft-quoted “Beam me up, Scotty!” was never uttered in any Trek show. The closest was in the animated episodes “The Lorelei Signal” and “The Infinite Vulcan” where Kirk said, “Beam us up, Scotty!” ØØ Peter David used Arex and M’Ress in his Star Trek: New Frontier novels, and other authors—including the author of this article—worked references into their own novels. ØØ The third episode of 2017’s Star Trek: Discovery has direct references to Spock’s mother, Amanda, and her fondness for Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. This is a direct nod to the animated episode “Once Upon a Planet.” 36

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a major part of developing Star Trek. I found out later that he had been watching the ceremony with his family, and he was mortified. He had told all of his friends about it. And I forgot to mention him. It was one of the most shameful things I had ever done, and my only excuse was that I was drunk. I felt awful. And I didn’t have the guts to call him and tell him after the whole thing was over. “I went back down into the crowd and saw Bob Keeshan, who was Captain Kangaroo. I said, ‘I’m really sorry, because I think that you should win. But you’ve probably got so many of these.’ He said, in a very sad voice, ‘Lou, I’ve never won an Emmy®.’ So I felt terrible again. Thankfully, he won three Emmys a few years later.” The win was historic for the series not only as Filmation’s first Emmy®, but also as the first-ever win for the Star Trek franchise. The live-action series had garnered multiple nominations, but never a statue. In fact, Star Trek never again won an Emmy® Award in a non-technical category; with over 150 nominations for the five live Trek shows, the franchise did garner over 30 Emmy® Awards, but they were all in technical categories including visual effects, makeup, art direction, costumes, musical score, and sound editing. For years, Scheimer kept his Emmy® statue displayed on a bar in his living room. A week after the Emmy® Awards, on May 24–26, 1975, there was a Star Trek and science-fiction convention called Equicon/ Filmcon in San Diego, and the main cast of Star Trek were there as guests. Filmation sent writer Russell Bates to attend the Awards Banquet at the event, ostensibly to accept an award for writers Len Janson and Chuck Menville for their episode “Once Upon a Planet.” As Russell was to find out, the feint was really a way for Dorothy Fontana—dressed in a belly-dancing outfit— to publicly recognize Russell for co-writing the Emmy® Awardwinning Star Trek episode. Filmation later did a special showing of the episode at the studio for a special crowd, including famed genre director John Landis, who had requested to see it. Despite the Emmy® accolades, Scheimer recalled with much emotion the aftermath. “The situation with me forgetting to thank Hal Sutherland at the Star Trek Emmy® ceremony gnawed at me for years… Unbeknownst to me, it had gnawed at Hal as well. We remained the best of friends, and finally talked to each other about it privately in 2007.” In January 2007, a Warner Bros. crew shot a documentary interview with Scheimer for their August 2008 DC Super-Heroes DVD release, which collected all of the “Guest Hero” segments from the Aquaman cartoon series. Interviewed were Scheimer’s daughter Erika, Hal Sutherland, Bob Kline, Paul Dini, Darrell McNeil, Tom Tataranowicz, Joe Gall, Rick Gehr, and Andy Mangels. Director Michael Brosnan shot the scenes with both Sutherland and Scheimer in a vintage movie theater. “It was a very emotional time,” Scheimer said about the moment in the interview when the 1975 Emmy® Awards win for Star Trek was broached. “All the shame I had felt for 29 years finally came to the surface. I was able to apologize to him publicly, and thank him for how much he had meant. We were both crying, but it was such a healing moment… Hal is a unique human being in the sense that ‘unique’ means ‘very few are that way.’ He’s one-of-a-kind and had it not been for Hal,

Andy Mangels’ Retro Saturday Morning

my life would have been very different and Filmation never would have existed… Hal had tears in his eyes as he talked about it, and I was choked up myself. But at one point, I turned to the camera and said, ‘Thank you, Hal.’ ”

Influences of Star Trek: The Animated Series

Despite its good ratings, the animated Star Trek left the airwaves at NBC in the fall of 1975, and the famed franchise once again lay fallow in Hollywood until 1979’s Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The series wasn’t heavily syndicated, but fans read about it often in Star Trek publications, and they could always revisit the stories in prose form. From 1974–1978, Ballantine Books published the Star Trek Logs book series, written by Alan Dean Foster. The first six of them adapted three episodes of the animated series per volume, while the final four books saw Foster expanding the scripts into short standalone novels. Over the years, as further Star Trek series were developed— Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, and Star Trek: Enterprise—the original series was rechristened in merchandising as Star Trek: The Original Series or “TOS” and the Filmation show became Star Trek: The Animated Series or “TAS.” Some minor merchandising was produced capitalizing on the animated project, though the main collectables sold were reprinted cels that reproduced key art and scenes. Eventually, videotapes and laserdiscs were released. Fans would argue regularly over whether or not The Animated Series was canon or not. Even Roddenberry waffled on the subject, sometimes pushing it away as non-canon, even though his original support had been behind it all the way… and he talked with Filmation about developing a new animated spin-off. “Gene Roddenberry became a good friend, and we stayed in touch with each other,” said Scheimer. “Although some sources have said that he disavowed the show, we talked with him about doing it again; possibly a version of Star Trek: The Next Generation that would have been animated. Then he went on a trip with his attorney, and he went back to one of the islands, and shortly after that, he died.” The writers and producers of the later Trek spin-offs, many of whom had watched the animated series in their formative years— or who had viewed it on video—began putting more and more elements from the Filmation show into episodes. So too did authors of the comics and novels; the very writer of this column put quite a number of animated references in the Star Trek novels he co-wrote from 2001–2008 for Pocket Books. Eventually, nostalgia—and likely, profitability—changed enough minds at Paramount, who owned Star Trek: The Animated Series outright (Filmation, which dissolved in 1989, had no rights to the show once production finished). On November 21, 2006, 33 years after its television debut, Paramount released Star Trek: The Animated Series as a complete DVD package. Included in the set were commentary tracks, storyboards, documentary featurettes, a booklet, and more. This deluxe set, treated with the same care and attention paid to the live-action Star Trek releases, was perhaps the best example that Star Trek: The Animated Series was once again a part of the family. A Blu-Ray set was released on November 15, 2016. In a Filmfax interview (issue #112, Oct.–Dec. 1996), Fontana said of the series that “it was darn good animation, and we told darn

Box art for the British release of Star Trek episodes on VHS. Star Trek © CBS Studios Inc.

good stories. I wish the series would get more recognition, and I think the show is finally starting to get a little more attention. Animation itself opened up the kind of stories we could tell. Some of the stories really were very good, and right up there with the work we did on the original series.” Reflecting on Star Trek: The Animated Series, Scheimer said that “we did some really good stories, and the press was unlike anything else that had ever been done on Saturday morning. It was something that the audience, the older audience, was interested in. The show could have continued if NBC had played their cards right. If it aired today with the same ratings as it had back then, it would be considered a whopping hit. I always hoped it would air at night. It was not a child’s program; it was a young adult program… It’s been amazing that the show has still kept its impact up all these years!” Unless otherwise credited, the quotes from Lou Scheimer are from the 2012 autobiography written with Andy Mangels, for Lou Scheimer: Creating the Filmation Generation. Mangels’ interview with David Wise was conducted in 2005, and with Bob Kline in 2006. Artwork and photos are courtesy the collection of Andy Mangels and Aaron Harvey, unless otherwise noted. Special thanks to Darrell McNeil. 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. Additionally, he has scripted, directed, and produced Special Features for over 40 DVD releases. He recently wrote the Wonder Woman ’77 Meets the Bionic Woman series for Dynamite and DC Comics. His moustache is infamous. www.AndyMangels.com and www. WonderWomanMuseum.com

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PULPFEST.COM PulpFest THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION, May 1960 Artwork by MEL HUNTER

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ERNEST FARINO’S RETRO FANTASMAGORIA

Famou s Monst

ers of Filmland

I Met the (and lived to tell about it) by Ernest Farino 1964. My Favorite Year. I was living in El Paso, Texas, and it was Prime Time for this 12-year-old MonsterKid— the double-bill reissue of Hammer Films’ Curse of Frankenstein and Horror of Dracula, Aurora monster model plastic kits, and Mars Attacks! bubble gum trading cards (which actually came out in 1962 but were still the rage). And, of course, the “godfather” of monster magazines, Famous Monsters of Filmland. My first issue —all true MonsterKids remember their first issue of FM—was #26 [above], with the “Thetan” monster from The Outer Limits episode “The Architects of Fear” on the cover. I read and re-read that magazine so much that the covers actually fell off and went missing. I wish I’d kept that battered copy but it was eventually replaced. For some reason—I think I’m a little slow on the uptake from time to time—I didn’t catch on that this was a recurring magazine, a periodical. The next issue I stumbled across was issue #30 with the great Russ Jones painting of Bela Lugosi on the cover, and I was stunned. Wait—I started with #26… this was #30… I missed three issues?! From that moment on I was an obsessive newsstand junkie, which sparked a passion for collecting all magazines even remotely related to horror or sci-fi, even Stan Lee’s Monsters to Laugh With, one-shots like Chilling Monster Tales and The Official Munsters Magazine, and Cracked’s For Monsters Only. When James Warren and Forry Ackerman came out with Monster World in 1964, a great and glorious day, I was convinced they had made it just for me. Famous Monsters #26 had an installment of the multi-part “Inside Darkest Ackerman” feature which opened the doors to the Forry’s Ackermansion. That was a MonsterKid’s dream: to be able to wake up in the morning and go downstairs to “work” in that environment, taking care of all things monsters. Over the years my own two-bedroom apartment evolved into a mini-Ackermansion—The Farinomansion—and now there’s

Meet the “Horror Man,” Lon Chaney, Jr.! Actual event poster from young Ernest Farino’s 1964 encounter. Poster courtesy of Jay Duncan. The Wolf Man © Universal Pictures.

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RetroFan

Ernest Farino’s Retro Fantasmagoria

(TOP) Forry Ackerman in the original “Ackermansion” (1951–1971), c. 1967. (BOTTOM) Forry in the second Ackermansion (1971–2002) dressed in his authentic Bela Lugosi Dracula cape, holding a copy of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine, issue #30 (1964). Famous Monsters of Filmland © Philip Kim.

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nary a square inch of wall space left amidst all of the framed posters, photos, paintings, and other ephemera. (The ceilings are starting to look mighty inviting…) In the early 2000s I became friends with one of Forry’s assistants and gradually gained considerable and frequent access to the Ackermansion long after the regular Saturday morning tours ended. That one-time MonsterKid’s dream became real, a pinch-me moment each time. At one point the fire marshal instructed Forry to remove the brush down in the backyard gully behind the house. The rallying cry went out and I joined a handful of others taking care of that problem over a full weekend. Allergies be damned, it was a way to “give back” a little, and I didn’t hesitate for a second. Television in 1964 was seemingly custom-made for me with a wide selection of new series and holdovers in reruns: The Munsters, The Addams Family, The Twilight Zone, One Step Beyond, Bewitched, My Favorite Martian, I Dream of Jeannie, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, and Fireball XL5. When “The Control Voice” opened each week’s episode of The Outer Limits by informing viewers that “There is nothing wrong with your television set… We are controlling transmission…” —I believed it. I can distinctly remember yelling out at my younger brother, “Don’t touch the TV!,” eventually relaxing with a sigh of relief at the end of the hour when we were informed, “We now return control of your television set to you.” Whew! To say nothing of Shock! Theater. That was the package of Universal horror movies syndicated to individual markets. I don’t think the version in El Paso was called Shock!, but I didn’t care about such details. Oddly, the show ran on Sunday afternoons, so my brothers and I would close off the living room to make it as dark as possible. We sat enthralled by Son of Frankenstein and The Wolf Man—movies that previously existed only as stills in Famous Monsters—while our parents and some neighbors held their weekly card game in the kitchen. Another late-night horror-movie

Ernest Farino’s Retro Fantasmagoria

collection ran on Saturday nights at 11 p.m.; I finally convinced my parents to let me stay up for that, and the first installment, Caltiki–The Immortal Monster, has the distinction of being the only movie that actually gave me nightmares (which I can vividly recall to this day). Yes, 1964. That Was the Year that Was. And to top it off, 1964 was the year that Kellogg’s introduced PopTarts. I rest my case. Like many others, I took to drawing monsters and writing and producing my own backyard plays. The Mummy Walks Again! never would have made it to Broadway, but it was a neighborhood extravaganza. To my frustration, schoolmates cast in this scare-fest had short attention spans, as kids often do, and lost interest quickly, effectively “closing” the run after one performance. Oh, well. The Twilight Zone Inspired by Famous Monsters, I also newspaper ad from ventured for the first time into the 1960s. world of “publishing” with my fanzine The Saturday Evening Ghost. (I traced the The Twilight Zone word “Ghost” from the cover of Dell’s © Cayuga Productions. Ghost Stories comic, the first issue of which contained one of the great horror comics of all time, John Stanley’s The Monster of Dread End…) Other MonsterKids at that time, such as Gary Svehla with Gore Creatures (begun in 1963), were actually printing their fanzines with a modest circulation, but that was far beyond my understanding or resources. Instead, my fanzine consisted of one copy for my friend Michael Polmanteer, who in turn did his own fanzine/newspaper. We were each other’s sole circulation. Lacking anything more sophisticated than a manual typewriter, my publication was largely hand-written or typed, with artwork traced from monster magazines and photos clipped from Famous Monsters and taped or stapled onto the pages. But it was great fun to see my own “magazine” take shape, a precursor of things to come. In addition to the horror/fantasy series, spy shows on TV were also the rage, and our whole family was hooked on everything from Mission: Impossible to I Spy to Get Smart. I never cared much for The Man From U.N.C.L.E.—I had already become quite the James Bond snob, so U.N.C.L.E. seemed like just a knockoff. Goldfinger in 1964 had instantly turned me into an obsessive James Bond fan. (I remember my parents became a little nervous after I saw it when they started to think of the “adult” nature of some of the scenes, so they cautiously asked, “Ummm… there are a lot of pretty girls in that movie, aren’t there…?,” to which I replied, after a few moments, “Yeah… but did you see that car!?” And, with an audible sigh of relief, they realized I wasn’t quite “there” yet.) To this day, Goldfinger remains firmly on my list of top five favorite films (and now not only because of the car). I distinctly recall becoming aware for the first time of the very concept of a special title sequence (in this case the great main title by Robert Brownjohn), and this not only propelled me into my own career in movie main title design years later, but sparked an interest in graphic design and typography

which would find an outlet first in the FXRH fanzine and then other print work over the years, culminating in my designing and publishing the recent Ray Harryhausen–Master of the Majicks books. Like many I became a devoted fan of Ray Harryhausen and his films, and remember that one day around 1965 my high school chum Roger Allison and I sat down to list all of Ray’s movies. That we could only name 11 Harryhausen movies didn’t seem right. Surely he must have done more than that since 1949. Which was my first inkling as to the time and effort that went into stop-motion and special-effects films. One evening a few years after that, I went to a screening at the nearby University of Dallas initially just to see King Kong (again). After the feature presentation a fellow named Sam Calvin started showing the silent 8mm movies of The 7th Voyage of Sinbad and other Harryhausen films with his own running commentary. I remember thinking, “Who is this guy? And how does he know all this stuff?” In those days, without the widespread interconnectivity we have today with the Internet, Facebook, and message boards, one often developed the proprietary mindset which caused you to think that you were the only one who knew anything about things like King Kong and Ray Harryhausen. Fortunately, I

Ernie Farino’s fanzine The Saturday Evening Ghost (c. 1964), with its 1962 Dell comics logo inspiration.

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Ernest Farino’s Retro Fantasmagoria

Half-sheet poster of the double-bill of Curse of Frankenstein/ Horror of Dracula (1964), with art from the French poster. The horrified woman at the bottom right is actually actress Maria Corday, in a publicity pose shot for Universal’s Tarantula in 1955. © Hammer Films.

didn’t just go home that night shaking my head, but instead decided to approach Sam at the end of his presentation. However, rather than thinking of this as the discovery of a kindred spirit, I was all fired up for a challenge (Oh, yeah!? You think you know about this stuff!? Well, I got news for you, pal!). Despite all that, or perhaps because of it, it’s amusing to remember that I was actually quite nervous about approaching Sam. His commentary was delivered with such assurance and

authority that I suddenly found myself weakened by an overwhelming feeling of self-doubt. Of course, all that anxiety was nonsense, as we hit it off instantly. We talked for what was quite a while and immediately recognized an common bond: our love of stopmotion animation and a desire to learn as much as possible about the “behind the scenes” aspects of the Willis O’Brien and Ray Harryhausen films. I soon visited Sam’s dorm room and was shocked to see the posters on the walls. No Harryhausen posters, strangely enough, and none of the usual rock music posters or anything like that. Instead, Sam had posters and stills from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly adorning the walls. We quickly realized another shared passion: the Italian Westerns of Sergio Leone. Discovering these shared interests was becoming almost spooky, culminating in an unexpected coincidence. I fully expected Rod Serling to step out of the shadows with one of his erudite introductions when Sam and I discovered that in addition to our shared interests, we also shared a birthday: June 17. During this time I stumbled across Duncan Poster Service in downtown Dallas quite by accident during a wintery Christmas holiday. While my mother and grandmother went shopping, us men— my father, grandfather, and I—went driving around downtown. I had previously spotted the office of American International Pictures on a side street just off the downtown area, so I asked if we could stop in so I could try and get some movie posters. The lady there was quite nice, and she directed me to the upper floor. So we went up this incredibly long, narrow, dark stairway from an outside entrance to discover Duncan Poster Service, an independent distributor of posters and stills to regional theaters and drive-ins. I was so awestruck at this “Cyclops Treasure Cave” of posters (which is not far from the truth, as Mr. Duncan had a glass eye) that my mind went blank. All I could think of was “James Bond” and “Italian Westerns.” So I came away with only a few posters that day. Later, Roger Allison and I would make monthly visits to Duncan’s, now armed with checklists, and we would Horror of Dracula art from the poster for the 1958 movie. © Hammer Films.

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Ernest Farino’s Retro Fantasmagoria

come away with loads of posters and stills. Over time I amassed quite a collection of Harryhausen material, which later became the foundation for the FXRH fanzine that Sam and I published from 1971–1974. Unfortunately, I only collected on the films I was interested in; I so wish I’d had the foresight to just buy everything— Universal horror, Fifties sci-fi, etc. It was all there, and to make matters worse (looking back, at least), posters that command thousands of dollars today then cost 75¢ and stills cost 25¢. As for Italian Westerns, Roger and another friend and I caught a second run of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly at the Irving Theater on a Saturday matinee in 1968. It’s a long movie, and at that time it was still being shown with an intermission. During that break, the three of us staggered into the lobby, stunned at what we had seen (and unaware that the second half is even better). I was literally speechless. And as those who know me will attest, that’s really something. During this time I started making my own 8mm movies. I never once shot “home movies” of the family or the dog or anything else so mundane. Rather, I set out to make a movie. While in the eighth grade I had been given a Kodak Instamatic M6 Super-8mm movie camera for Christmas, the kind that took a 50' film cartridge (which ran about 2 1/2 minutes). Unfortunately, I didn’t have an editor/viewer or a splicer. But I noticed that the camera had a finely incremented footage counter as well as the ability to stop on a closed shutter (so there would be a hard cut with no flash frame). So I mapped out the whole movie on index cards, shot by shot, pre-timing the shots with a stopwatch

and converting the time to footage, and filmed it in sequence—“editing” in the camera. The result: when the roll of film came back from processing at K-Mart, I had a finished film. The 50' roll started with a title, The Curse of Dracula, and as the roll ran out, the title “The End” flashed to white. Not the best way to make a movie by any means, but a surefire way to grasp continuity and editing. Of course, I’m sure the movie is terrible by any reasonable standards, but, Ed Wood-like, I expect my imagination filled in the shortcomings with gloss and grandeur. I also made a James Bond film (of course) based on Ian Fleming’s short story For Your Eyes Only, an epic 45-minute college class project based on Dante’s Inferno (which included some stopmotion animation), and my own “Italian Western,” Duel for a Dollar, in which I also played the “Lee Van Cleef” bad guy (a blond with a glued-on jet-black mustache). As a sophomore in high school my class science project was The Mesozoic Menagerie, a Super-8 stop-motion film with clay dinosaurs. It took me all semester, and a friend who had an audio-editing setup mixed a reel-to-reel soundtrack that accompanied the film (featuring Elmer Bernstein’s theme from The Great Escape as my dinosaurs came out at the end to take their curtain calls). My grade: A++, probably mostly for the novelty of the idea of making a film rather than any scientific accuracy. For my freshman year in college I attended New Mexico State University, partly because they had a film program and partly because I had previously lived in Las Cruces (which is adjacent to El Paso). Even though still in high school I had already been doing professional

One of the pop-culture influences of Ray Harryhausen’s Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956) was the Topps bubble-gum card series Mars Attacks!, released in 1962 under the banner Bubbles, Inc. The series was created by 20-year-old Len Brown and his boss at Topps, Woody Gelman. Inspired by Wally Wood’s cover of Weird Science #16, they engaged Wood to create preliminary concept art. Pencil art was rendered by Bob Powell, artist for The Shadow comic book and the Harvey line of horror comics. The final 55 color paintings were rendered by Norm Saunders. In 1996 the card series was adapted into a film by Tim Burton and featured saucers directly modeled after those in Earth vs. the Flying Saucers as an homage to Harryhausen. © Topps.

Ray Harryhausen and Forry Ackerman in the “Ackermansion” (c. 1968) with Harryhausen’s plaster cast of the “Ymir” from his film 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957). Photo by Tim Brehm. Courtesy of Ernest Farino.

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Ernest Farino’s Retro Fantasmagoria

Glimpse of the “Farinomansion”: (TOP & MIDDLE RIGHT) two views of the living room, (BOTTOM) the office, and (MIDDLE LEFT) the kitchen.

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Ernest Farino’s Retro Fantasmagoria Ernie Farino animates his clay dinosaurs for his Super-8mm production of The Mesozoic Menagerie (1968), his sophomore high school science project.

jobs (industrial films, commercials) with my partner John Cacciatore for our United Cine Productions, so the NMSU film course mostly provided the means to make a short 16mm/sound movie. I adapted a very funny short story by Richard Curtis as published in Playboy magazine, The Giant Chicken–Eating Frog Will Soon Be Extinct Unless We Take Action Now! On a return visit to Dallas, I filmed some miscellaneous scenes, including one shot (with dialog/sound) of a Roman orator—played by Sam Calvin (a performance that French critics still cite today in hushed tones). During this time, from 1969–1970, I had become affiliated with the Marcel Delgado Appreciation Society fan club and its newsletter, all spearheaded by R. Michael Hayes. After a year or two of correspondence, I had occasion to call Michael at his home in Georgia, and was surprised to learn that all along he had been pronouncing Marcel’s last name Del-JAY-doh. Having spent my formative years in El Paso among a prominently Hispanic population, I knew the Mexican origin of the name and that it was pronounced Del-GAH-doh. I remember that Michael was quite surprised when I corrected him on the pronunciation. Later, the newsletter expanded into a “magazine” format and the fourth and final issue was titled Miniatures and Related Special Effects. I contributed to the MDAS as a “researcher,” and was quite interested to see the newsletter/ magazine expand

in size and quality. Somewhere in the back of my mind was the notion that “I could do this…” So at that point, like the Forbidden Planet’s Monster from the ID, all of these interests and influences started to converge and take shape. One day Sam and I were going somewhere. I was driving. I casually asked, “What do you think about doing a fanzine about Ray Harryhausen…?” Sam immediately replied, “Allll right!” I continued by saying that I had given a little thought to this already, and felt that a good title would be Ray’s on-screen credit, Special Visual Effects Created by Ray Harryhausen. Sam was on board with that, too. The problem was that such a title would be kind of cumbersome for the name of a magazine. So I then suggested that, in the same way that Famous Monsters of Filmland was referred to as “FM” and Castle of Frankenstein magazine was referred to as “CoF,” we could acronym-ize the title by combining the word “effects” (say the word fast) and Ray’s initials, RH. And that gave us: FXRH. But it all started—with any significance, at least— back in that magical year of 1964. One day in October 1964, to my heart-stopping astonishment, I read in the newspaper that Lon Chaney was going to appear at Western Playland, a local El Paso amusement park. The come-on was that any kid who showed up in costume would receive a couple of free tickets to the rides at the park. Right up my alley! The anticipation during the week prior to the event was like a delirious fever-dream (helped by the fact that it was mid-October and the Halloween mindset was in

Composite image of the covers of issues #1–4 of FXRH magazine.

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Ernest Farino’s Retro Fantasmagoria

In his London home in 1974, Ray Harryhausen signs 40 copies of FXRH, the fanzine published by Ernie Farino and Sam Calvin. The signed copies were requested by Columbia Pictures as part of the UK promotion of Ray’s new film, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad.

Ernie Farino met and interviewed Italian Western director Sergio Leone in 1971 in Rome, and Leone signed this photo, “Ad Ernie, con tutte la mie simpatie, Sergio Leone” (“To Ernie, with all my affection, Sergio Leone”).

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full gear). I had never met anyone “famous,” much less Lon Chaney! Using Dick Smith’s Monster Makeup magazine as a guide, I made up my nine-year-old brother Mike as Dracula, and he dressed in a suit and the classic Christopher Lee-style high-collared black cape with red lining that my mother had hand-made for me for an earlier Halloween. (My brother later reprised his role in the same cape in my 8mm film The Curse of Dracula.) I dressed up as the Frankenstein monster with a rubber mask, an actual Frankenstein makeup being a bit too ambitious for me at the time. My mother drove us to the park, and initially the situation was somewhat embarrassing—we were the only two kids who showed up in costume. Or at least that’s the way it seemed. But everything turned around when my brother and I stepped up to the table. One look at us and Chaney lit up with a broad grin. He said, “My goodness! The Frankenstein Monster! And who do we have here…? Count Dracula!” I think he was genuinely pleased that we had gone to so much trouble. He complimented our costumes (which, all things considered, was very generous on his part), and gave use a great, classic guttural “Wolf Man” growl. It was nothing short of magical. He signed photos for us, and, finally, in appreciation, he reached into the fishbowl of tickets and handed each of us a whole fistful of tickets. He gave us so many that we couldn’t use them all by the time the park closed. A couple of years ago or so I discovered that my friend Jay Duncan, who still lives in El Paso, had also attended the event (although we didn’t know each other in 1964) and had managed to talk a local store owner out of a poster. The poster is about 14 x 22 (like a movie theater-style “window card”) and was printed on heavy card stock. Incredibly, 8mm home movies taken on the day surfaced about two years ago on the Internet showing me in the Frankenstein mask and my brother Mike made up as Dracula. [see image on next page] The very existence of this video is something I never imagined in my wildest dreams. My mother didn’t take any photos or home movies like this, so this short 8mm film is just an amazing Twilight Zone-like trip back in time. Now out of school, throughout the 1970s I worked on local film productions and commercials in Dallas including a fair amount of stop-motion projects for myself and others. Inspired by 2001: A Space Odyssey, which was a life-changing experience in Cinerama on its first run (I still have my reserved seat ticket stubs from June and July, 1968, which cost a staggering allowance-gobbling $2.25 each), I studied Doug Trumbull’s detailed technical article in American Cinematographer magazine and actually built a crude but working model of the slit-scan machine that created the “Stargate” sequence at the end of 2001. It filled up my mother’s two-car garage. My “motion control dolly track” was an old wooden 12-step ladder lying horizontally. I shot only one Polaroid photo, but, by golly, the thing worked. And that was enough for me. (Much later, in 1997, I was the Visual Effects Supervisor on the HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon, created by Tom Hanks. I knew Tom was a big fan of 2001. Early on he remarked that he

Ernest Farino’s Retro Fantasmagoria

to Transylvania, which, disappointingly, looks about as spooky as Vermont, and visited the “Dracula” castle of Vlad Tepes, which does look like it came right out of a Hammer film. But for me, it all “began” in 1964, a seminal year which laid the foundation for my own personal “sense of wonder.” Over the years I’ve enjoyed working with the likes of James Cameron, Tom Hanks, Sigourney Weaver, and many others, and met and interviewed Sergio Leone and others. But nothing tops meeting Lon Chaney.

Ray Harryhausen and Ernie Farino in June 2003 in the Pig ’n’ Whistle restaurant adjacent to the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood. Ray was in town to receive his “star” on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

had kept track of how many times he had seen the film. I think he was then up to 27 times, or something like that. I said that I had done the same thing, but eventually gave up when I acquired my own 35mm color ’Scope print. He sputtered an exasperated sigh and left the room…) I moved to Los Angeles in 1979 and was first hired by Coast Productions, ultimately animating four Pillsbury Doughboy commercials. From there I continued in visual effects, especially main title design, and eventually as a director. In that regard I directed two low-budget films produced in Romania and while there actually traveled

ERNEST FARINO recently directed an episode of the SyFy/Netflix series Superstition created by and starring Mario Van Peebles, as well as serving as Visual Effects Consultant. Previously Farino directed Steel and Lace starring Bruce Davison, episodes of Monsters starring Lydia Cornell and Marc McClure, ABC’s Land of the Lost starring Timothy Bottoms, and extensive 2nd Unit for the miniseries Dune starring William Hurt, Noah’s Ark starring Jon Voight, and Supernova starring Luke Perry. A twotime Emmy®-winning Visual Effects Supervisor for SyFy’s Dune and Children of Dune miniseries, Farino supervised and produced the Emmy®-nominated visual effects for the Tom Hanks/HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon; James Cameron’s The Terminator, The Abyss, and T2; as well as Starship Troopers, Snow White–A Tale of Terror, Creepshow, and many others. His publishing enterprise, Archive Editions, has published Mike Hankin’s elaborate three-volume hardcover book set Ray Harryhausen – Master of the Majicks, The FXRH Collection, and more.

Ernie Farino, standing tall in his Frankenstein mask, and his younger brother Mike in the foreground as Dracula, meet Lon Chaney, Jr. in El Paso, Texas, in 1964.

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RETRO FAD

Mr. Microphone by Michael Eury In the wake of the tsunami of sexual misconduct allegations that wiped out numerous media and political figures in late 2017, it’s nearly inconceivable that one of television’s best remembered marketing campaigns of the late Seventies through the Eighties hinged upon the smarmy come-on line, “Hey, good looking, we’ll be back to pick you up later!” Yet that’s part of the pedigree of Mr. Microphone, the device that changed the world. But wait… there’s more! Mr. Microphone was one of the first wireless devices to captivate consumers. It was a cordless, handheld mike—retailing for $14.88—that allowed its user to wirelessly project his voice onto a nearby FM radio, enabling him to sing, rap, joke, orate, or simply act like a jackass through a tinny speaker. Its frequently aired TV ads claimed that Mr. Microphone could “liven up parties” (I’m sure it did) and boasted that “professional entertainers use Mr. Microphone for rehearsals” (that, I’m not so sure)… plus it encouraged pimply faced, Jheri-curled young men to publicly stalk women from their convertibles in the hope of getting dates (the “Hey, good looking” scene from the commercial, while now painfully non-PC, has inspired spoofs over the years, on The Simpsons and elsewhere). And let’s not forget that Mr. Microphone was “the perfect Christmas gift”! Who came up with Mr. Microphone, anyway? The same folks who came up with a lot of “As Seen on TV” products: Ronco, the successful, “Always Innovating” marketing house that has netted over $2 billion in sales of inexpensive gadgets designed to make life easier, from the kitchen (Veg-O-Matic) to the wardrobe (Ronco Rhinestone Stud Setter) to the great outdoors (the Popeil Pocket Fisherman). Chicagoan Ron Popeil started the company back in 1964, inspired by the open market hustling he witnessed during his youth along the Windy City’s Maxwell Street. With aggressive TV campaigns which touted the allure of something more than you had bargained for (“But wait… there’s more!”), Popeil’s products not only made him a millionaire but also propelled Ronco into the pop psyche. (The aforementioned Mr. Microphone bit on The Simpsons wasn’t the only takeoff of a Ronco product, by the way… Bass-O-Matic, anyone?) Mr. Microphone was perhaps Ronco’s most prescient product. It certainly wasn’t the first microphone to allow its user to broad48

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cast over the radio. Radio hobbyists of the Thirties and Forties could buy wired “radio microphones” which would make them their household’s own Edward R. Murrow or Nelson Eddy. But Mr. Microphone’s wireless transmission and television ubiquity boosted the concept to a much broader level, and a rabid consumer base couldn’t get enough of the device, keeping it on the market for over a decade. Mr. Microphone’s most significant (and perhaps lamentable) contribution to pop culture history was its vision of a society where everyone could be a star. Sure, most of those wannabes warbling Lionel Ritchie ballads into a Mr. Microphone back in the Eighties knew they’d never get a shot on Star Search, but they had a great time doing publicly something that had previously been the domain of the morning car commute or the shower. But nipping at the heels of the Mr. Microphone fad was the karaoke fad (which never went away), where all you needed to be a “star” was a mike and a slightly inebriated audience. And now, some 40 years later after Mr. Microphone’s debut, it’s hard to find an American who isn’t “famous” within his micro-universe of Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, or (insert your favorite social media platform here). Plus, television now offers no end of reality shows, and as a result a limitless succession of home remodelers, chefs, fertile mothers, and people who actually can sing have found themselves celebrities. We, the people, simply adore the spotlight, and we can thank Mr. Microphone for setting the stage for our culture of hyper-promotion! Next issue’s RetroFad: mood rings!

Ad for the Radio Microphone, a precursor to Mr. Microphone.

RETRO TRAVEL

Mayberry Lives! Andy Griffith's Hometown

by Michael Eury In the 1998 comedy-drama Pleasantville, Tobey Maguire plays David, a reticent teenager obsessed with a wholesome, Father Knows Best–like vintage TV sitcom. Via a magical remote control, he and his frisky, polar-opposite twin sister Jennifer (played by Reese Witherspoon) become trapped inside the show’s black-and-white reality. There’s a much easier way to personally experience a television classic: by visiting Mount Airy, North Carolina, birthplace of legendary entertainer Andy Griffith and an inspiration for pop culture’s most beloved small town, Mayberry, of The Andy Griffith Show renown. Nestled within view of the magnificent Blue Ridge Parkway, Mount Airy, once the site of textile mills and furniture manufacturers, is now, according to the town’s mayor, David Rowe, the corporate headquarters of several companies including Renfro Corporation, Insteel Wire Products, South Data, AES, Pike Electric, and Starrett. It is the location of the largest open-faced granite quarry in the world, which has provided stone for structures in Washington, D.C., Fort Knox, and Kitty Hawk. The famous “Siamese” (conjoined) twins, Chang and Eng Bunker, settled in Mount Airy in the 1800s. Country singer Donna Fargo called Mount Airy home before becoming the happiest girl in the whole U.S.A. But the town of 10,000-plus’ indisputable claim to fame is homespun humorist and musician Andy Griffith (1926–2012), the only child of a blue-collar worker and his wife. Andy’s roots were humble, spending his first three years bunking with relatives before his folks finally bought their own house—in the poor side of town. It was on the stage at Mount Airy High School that young Andy’s passion for performing began, after which he earned a music degree at the University of North Carolina and briefly taught high school band and drama. Soon, Griffith’s toothy grin and Southern drawl whisked him from the Carolina stage (The Lost Colony) to the comedy circuit (with the hit record, “What It Was, Was Football”), then on to teleplays (No Time for Sergeants, which later became a theatrical film starring Griffith) and a stunning dramatic movie role (1957’s A Face in the Crowd) before rocketing him into America’s living rooms and hearts as Sheriff Andy Taylor, Mayberry’s peacekeeper, in eight seasons of The Andy Griffith Show (1960–1968). Things haven’t changed all that much on Mount Airy’s Main Street since the days when young Andy lugged his trombone case to and from music lessons with his pastor. You can amble down its rustic walkways while licking a cone of homemade peach ice cream, laze

(ABOVE) Tours of Mount Airy are available from replicas of the Mayberry sheriff’s squad car. Photos by Michael Eury, unless otherwise noted.

The Mayberry courthouse doors and signs are among the most popular exhibits at the Andy Griffith Museum.

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Main Street Mount Airy, as seen from a mule wagon tour.

Local businesses bear names familiar to Andy Griffith Show rerun watchers.

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on a bench and wave at friendly faces passing by, or take in a movie or live show at the Historic Earle Theatre, a venue built in 1937. Mount Airy is such an idyllic place, you almost believe it could be policed by a sheriff without a gun. Were it not for contemporary trappings such as hybrid cars and Wifi window signs, you might think that you, like Pleasantville’s David and Jennifer, were stuck in a time warp. Mount Airy now boasts tourism as a major economic driver— to the tune of $121,000,000 annual revenue for North Carolina’s Surry County, while employing roughly 840 people. It is the stomping grounds for bluegrass festivals and fiddlers’ conventions, an Autumn Leaves Festival, a regional history museum, tours of historic homes and Civil War trails, ghost tours, and broadcasts of The Merry-Go-Round, radio’s second-longest-running program after The Grand Ole Opry, at the Earle Theatre. But thanks to Andy Griffith’s legacy, the biggest show in town is Mayberry. Mount Airy has co-opted the “Mayberry” brand from its most famous son’s fictional hamlet. While the town has no shortage of chain restaurants, retailers, and hotels, it’s the small, locally owned businesses that evoke the essence—and reuse the names—of The Andy Griffith Show. In Mount Airy you can get a trim at Floyd’s City Barber Shop or simply ogle its assortment of thousands of “Wall of Fame” photographs, taken by late owner Russell Hiatt, of visitors (including celebrities) perched in its barber chair. Right next door is the Snappy Lunch, whose name was once mentioned on The Andy Griffith Show, which looks pretty much like it did when young Andy ate there; it’s the home of the famous (and filling) pork chop sandwich. Wally’s Service Station is a refurbished gas station originally built in 1937 which today hosts a gift shop and a replica of the Mayberry Courthouse, including a jail cell whose creaky iron door is ready to swing open for your photo op. Wally’s is also the launch point for guided auto tours of Mount Airy offered from a dead-on replica of the Mayberry squad car, a customized Ford Galaxie. When in Mount Airy you can grab a brew and sandwich at the Loaded Goat, a Barney Burger at Barney’s Café, or nurture your sweet tooth at Opie’s Candy Store. You’ll find a restaurant and a caterer called Aunt Bea’s (as opposed to the television series’ spelling of “Bee”), as well as the Mayberry Motor Inn’s “Aunt Bee’s Room” (with the proper spelling), which contains nearly three dozen personal belongings of the actress who brought the Mayberry matron to life, Frances Bavier. Visitors can also book a stay in Andy Griffith’s Homeplace, his former residence on East Haymore Street (a street name once mentioned on the classic show) that has now become a bed-and-breakfast. You won’t have to worry about being locked up next to Otis if you’re caught imbibing at Mayberry Spirits, one of around a half-dozen businesses sporting the Mayberry moniker. And just a stone’s throw away from Mount Airy is Pilot Mountain, whose breathtakingly beautiful, foliage-topped “Knob” (a.k.a. the Big Pinnacle) peaks over 2,400 feet above sea level. Its lower Little Pinnacle provides unforgettable hiking and viewing opportunities, and its nearby municipality, also named Pilot Mountain, inspired the name of Mount Pilot, the “big town” near Mayberry on The Andy Griffith Show—although in real life, Mount Airy is considerably larger than Pilot Mountain. Yet the most exciting attraction in town for classic TV addicts is the Andy Griffith Museum, an expertly curated gallery of memorabilia celebrating the life and career of Mount Airy’s most famous

Retro Travel

native. Note that this isn’t the “Andy Griffith Show Museum,” although a bounty of Mayberry-related matter is housed within its walls. Juxtaposed with such items as Griffith’s actual Sheriff Taylor uniform and Barney Fife’s vaunted “salt and pepper” suit are materials connected to Andy’s personal life; his stage, music, and film credits; and his long-running Matlock courtroom drama. The museum’s roots dig deeper than Andy’s heralded career, stretching back to the late actor’s lifelong friend Emmett Forrest, whose name inspired Mayberry’s fix-it man, Emmett Clark. Forrest devoted decades to amassing artifacts connected to Andy’s days in show business, many of which he acquired from his childhood pal as well as from Griffith’s associates, from publicity photos to scripts to wardrobe pieces to movie posters and lobby cards. His collection, neatly framed and displayed, had shuffled to different locations until 2007, when it was unveiled as the Andy Griffith Museum, which at the time was a single room on the bottom floor of the Andy Griffith Playhouse, Surry County’s cultural arts center. The dreams of countless thousands of fans devoted to The Andy Griffith Show could not be shunted into a mere single room, however. In September 2008, groundbreaking took place for a separate facility for the Andy Griffith Museum, next door to the Playhouse. One year later, on September 26, 2009, the Andy Griffith Museum opened at its current site (see sidebar), to the acclaim of a boisterous crowd attending the 20th Annual Mayberry Days® event, a celebration of all things Mayberry. Emmett Forrest passed away in 2013, the year after Andy Griffith’s death, but the collection he once affectionately curated has mushroomed, augmented by pieces donated by the estate of Don Knotts, as well as from cast members including Betty “Thelma Lou” Lynn (the subject of an interview, following), George “Goober” Lindsey (who passed away in 2012), and Maggie “Charlene Darling” Peterson. In August 2017, I visited the Andy Griffith Museum for the fourth time in ten years, having first ventured there in early 2008 when it was in its original, lower-floor location in the Andy Griffith Playhouse. Having witnessed the museum in its first and second iterations, I was always enthralled by the caliber of materials presented therein, including the actual “Sheriff” and “Justice of the Peace” sign props from The Andy Griffith Show’s Mayberry Courthouse doors, given to Emmett by Andy himself. While the collection was upscale, their simple, yet tasteful presentations did little to conserve the materials as heirlooms, with some irreplaceable paper items such as original shooting scripts and vintage record sleeves being yellowed by harsh overhead lighting—the woe of many a small-town museum. During that fourth visit, however, I was dazzled by a brandnew look for the Andy Griffith Museum, a major upgrade completed in mid-2017 that transformed the 1,500-square-foot facility into a

Funny, She Looks a Lot Like Aunt Bee Frances Bavier of The Andy Griffith Show and Mayberry R.F.D. fame appeared alongside Andy in the TAGS pilot episode on The Danny Thomas Show—but not in the role that made her famous, Aunt Bee Taylor. In “Danny Meets Andy Griffith,” Bavier played Mayberry resident Henrietta Perkins, as shown in the inset image above. © Danny Thomas Enterprises, Inc.

(TOP) Surry County’s cultural arts center is named after its favorite son. (MIDDLE) View of the Blue Ridge Parkway from nearby Pilot Mountain. (BOTTOM) Editor Michael Eury with the TV Land Andy and Opie statue. Rose Rummel-Eury.

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(LEFT) Barney’s sidecar sits outside the Andy Griffith Museum. (RIGHT) This marquee replica inside the museum brings attention to Griffith’s film career.

Andy Griffith’s actual Sheriff Taylor shirt is among the many items on display in the museum.

A Sprightly Theme Song Earle Hagen composed The Andy Griffith Show’s theme song, “The Fishin’ Hole,” with Hagen whistling the tune. There were lyrics written for “The Fishin’ Hole” by Everett Sloane, also known as moonshining farmer Jubal Foster in the TAGS episode “The Keeper of the Flame.” Griffith himself sang “The Fishin’ Hole” lyrics on the Andy Griffith Show soundtrack album.

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multi-media, state-of-the-art exhibition, with climate control and appropriate preservation and lighting standards to safeguard its vital memorabilia from deterioration. It was an expensive makeover, costing $600,000. According to Tanya Jones, executive director of the Surry Arts Council, “Planning for the renovation was in progress for several years.” A variety of technicians and preservationists were consulted, as was Andy Griffith Show expert Jim Clark, co-author (with Ken Beck) of The Andy Griffith Show Book and founder of The Andy Griffith Show Rerun Watchers Club. “The actual project took approximately 14 months,” says Jones. “It was funded by the City of Mount Airy along with earmarked funds from museum gate for the past eight years.” Highlights of the renovated museum are a “Snappy Lunch” exhibit chronicling Andy Griffith’s early years; an illuminated Earle Theatre marquee replica, under which visitors can select video clips from Andy Griffith’s film roles; artifacts from The Andy Griffith Show in exhibits bearing such names as “The Taylor House” and “Floyd’s Barber Shop”; video and music features allowing fans of all ages to watch their favorite Mayberry moments or hear Andy sing; and the museum’s centerpiece, “The Mayberry Courthouse,” a recreation of one of television’s most legendary sets, complete with many pieces from the original. The Andy Griffith Museum brings to life myriad memories from the infinitely re-watchable Griffith Show. “All the original items from The Andy Griffith Show remain the most popular,” according to Tanya Jones. “Certainly the jail keys and the door plaques from the Mayberry courthouse are popular with fans.” Jones herself has a personal favorite among the Andy artifacts: “The slingshot that Andy’s dad made for him is special to me because it was given to me by Evin Moore, Andy’s first cousin, on the first Mayberry Days, 28 years ago. Evin was so happy that we were doing something to honor Andy’s success.” A significant landmark greets visitors before they even step foot into the museum: a bronze statue of Andy and Opie Taylor, fishing poles in hand, a recreation of the iconic opening credits scene to each episode of The Andy Griffith Show. The sculpture, located on the grounds between the Andy Griffith Playhouse and the Andy Griffith Museum, was dedicated in September 2004 by Larry Jones, president of the cable network TV Land, and keynote speaker Andy Griffith, making a rare appearance in his hometown. The Andy and Opie statue is perhaps Mount Airy’s most popular site for photos and selfies. When Griffith died in July of 2012, the statue temporarily became a shrine, so covered with flowers from visitors paying their respects that staff had to clear them away every few hours.

Retro Travel

While the Andy Griffith Museum is Mount Airy’s biggest attraction, its big event is Mayberry Days, an The Andy Griffith Museum annual festival occurring each September. “It began 218 Rockford Street, Mount Airy, North Carolina 27030 in 1990 as Mayberry Day, and it was in celebration of Open 7 days a week, with the exception of Thanksgiving and Christmas the 30th anniversary of The Andy Griffith Show,” says Monday–Saturday 9:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m., Sunday 1:00 p.m.–5:00 p.m. Tanya Jones. The enduring popularity of The Andy Griffith Show has grown the event into a week-long festival that 336-786-7998 (Monday–Friday), Admission: $8 for adults, 336-786-1604 (Saturday–Sunday) commences on Monday with standup comedy billed $6 for ages 12 and under www.surryarts.org, “The Mouth of Mayberry.” By the weekend, Mayberry www.andygriffithmuseum.com Days attracts tens of thousands of visitors, making arts@surryarts.org this small-town event big business for Mount Airy and Surry County. This year’s Mayberry Days will take place from September 24–30, 2018. According to the honorable David Rowe, “The mayor’s role consists mainly in pronouncing a proclamation setting forth the dates dedicated to Mayberry Days and why we celebrate a simpler way of life. The proclamation reflects on the values set forth by Sheriff Andy Taylor in ‘mythical’ Mayberry. Actors from The Andy Griffith Show attend the event, greeting fans and signing autographs. The days are filled with music, entertainment, and the enjoyment one gets from being in a place where friendliness is the norm.” Among Mayberry Days’ activities are trivia contests, a barbecue cook-off, a pie-eating contest, Mr. Tucker’s Apple-Peeling Contest, a checkers tournament, “The Emmett” golf tournament, Colonel Tim’s Talent Time, a lecture by Mayberry 101 author Neal Brower, and a Saturday morning parade, right down Main Street. Celebrities in attendance in 2017 included the aforementioned Betty Lynn and Maggie Peterson, plus Ronnie Schell (best known Among the museum’s exhibits: “The Taylor House” (featuring the as Duke Slater from Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C.), Bettina Linke (widow “salt and pepper” suit worn by Don Knotts) and the “Mayberry of TAGS associate producer Richard O. Linke), and Clint Howard, Courthouse.” the real-life brother of Ron “Opie” Howard, who made several appearances himself on The Andy Griffith Show as Leon, the little boy always ready to share his peanut butter and jelly sandwich. FAST FACTS And thanks to several talented impersonators, you might also spy Deputy Barney Fife, Floyd the Barber, or town drunk Otis Campbell making their way through the crowd.

The Andy Griffith Show

With each day’s news of political rancor, violence, terrorism, war, and natural disasters tempting us to stay in bed with our heads under the covers, a little visit to “Mayberry” can go a long way to remind us of what’s really important. As Tanya Jones puts it, “I believe that folks will always be seeking a simpler time as our world gets busier with technological advances. We are blessed that Andy Griffith connected that small North Carolina town of Mayberry to Mount Airy as he sought to make it more real.” Lest you think that Mount Airy’s “Mayberryism” is simply a ploy to attract tourists, think again. “The enduring charm found in Mount Airy can be attributed to one thing—its people,” contends Mayor David Rowe. “People here are still considerate of other people. We still stand when a lady enters the room or joins a table. We still hold open doors for ladies or others struggling with maladies or packages. We still say, ‘Yes, Ma’am’ and ‘Yes, Sir.’ We still respect our elders and each other. “Quaint? In today’s fast-paced, device-driven world, I would say so. If given a choice, would I live anywhere else? Absolutely not. As they say, ‘Home is where the heart is.’ My heart is in Mount Airy.”

hh No. of seasons: eight (five black and white, three color) hh Original run: October 1, 1960–April 1, 1968 hh Network: CBS hh Creator/Executive Producer: Sheldon Leonard (also Danny Thomas, Executive Producer) hh Emmy® Awards won: six (five for Don Knotts, one for Frances Bavier) hh A spin-off of: The Danny Thomas Show, in the episode titled “Danny Meets Andy Griffith” (originally aired February 15, 1960) hh TAGS spin-offs: Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. (1964–1969), Mayberry R.F.D. (1968–1971), Return to Mayberry (1986 reunion telemovie) hh You can join the “Who’s Been Messin’ Up the Bulletin Board?” Chapter (the original online chapter) of The Andy Griffith Show Rerun Watchers Club by visiting wbmutbb.com. Summer 2018

RetroFan

INTERVIEW

Thelma Lou An Interview with Betty Lynn

by Michael Eury

Ol’ Barn and Thel, in a not-so-private moment from The Andy Griffith Show. © Mayberry Enterprises, Inc.

RetroFan

Summer 2018

That Barney Fife—he beats all, you know that? Mayberry’s quirky, jerky, by-the-book deputy might’ve had an eye for the ladies, from his phone flirtations with Juanita at the diner to his impromptu rendezvouses with Skippy the Fun Girl, but there was only one girl for Barney. She was “the cats,” the only one he ever really loved—the affectionate, infinitely patient and forgiving, strong-willed but sometimes temperamental, occasional matchmaker Thelma Lou. When meeting Betty Lynn, the lovely actress who brought Thelma Lou to life in The Andy Griffith Show (as well as in the 1986 reunion movie Return to Mayberry), it’s easy to see why ol’ Barn was smitten. The eldest surviving Griffith cast member (age 91 at this writing), Ms. Lynn is a sheer delight— warm and accessible, as friendly as you’d expect someone from Mayberry to be. Of course, she’s not really from Mayberry. Nor is she “just” Thelma Lou. Betty Lynn, a native of Kansas City, Missouri, started taking dance lessons at age five, and by her early teens was acting and singing on radio. Once she turned 18 she was contracted as a U.S.O. entertainer, wooing U.S. troops across the globe during World War II. Postwar, as a New Yorkbased actress, Lynn appeared on stage in productions including Park Avenue. She soon broke into Hollywood, making her film debut in Sitting Pretty (1948), for which she won a Photoplay Gold Medal. A flurry of films followed, including Apartment for Peggy (1948), June Bride (1948), Cheaper by the Dozen (1950), Payment on Demand (1951), and Many Roads to Cross (1955). She transitioned to television, appearing in everything from anthologies (Schlitz Playhouse of Stars) to comedies (Ray Bolger’s Where’s Raymond?) to Westerns (in the Walt Disney Presents serial Texas John Slaughter), as well as a slew of guest-spots on series before and after her days as a semi-regular on The Andy Griffith Show. But it is as Thelma Lou that Betty Lynn will be forever remembered. Introduced in the Season One episode “Cyrano Andy,” Thelma Lou curiously lacked a last name, although she had two lady cousins (Karen Moore and Mary Grace Gossage) who visited Mayberry. She seemed to spend virtually no time at her unspecified “office,” yet lived in a roomy, neatly decorated house all her own. She was seen in a mere 26 of the 249 episodes of The Andy Griffith Show, but their rerunning in perpetuity has created the illusion of hers being a much more frequent role. Certainly her wide smile and chemistry with Don Knotts have made Betty Lynn’s status as a Mayberrian seem larger, as has her continuing devotion to the fans of

Retro Interview: Betty Lynn

the show. Now a resident of Mount Airy, North Carolina, Ms. Lynn makes personal appearances on the third Friday of each month at the Andy Griffith Museum, graciously greeting each and every one of the many (sometimes hundreds) of fans of all ages lined up to say “hey” to good, ol’ Thel. It was prior to one of those appearances, on Friday, August 18, 2017, that I had the good fortune to “set a spell” with Betty Lynn. The Surry Arts Council’s Tanya B. Jones and Heather Elliott kindly arranged a private interview, and Ms. Lynn was remarkably gracious while trying to sneak a few bites of her rapidly cooling takeout lunch while I asked questions. RetroFan: So, you’ve lived here in Mount Airy for 11 years… Betty Lynn: Eleven years in January, and I love it very, very much. RF: I’ve read the story elsewhere but would like to hear it directly from you: How did you come to relocate from Hollywood to Mount Airy, North Carolina? BL: I was robbed twice in my home in L.A. I was out of town both times when it happened, but it scared me. I was afraid to go back… my home had been wrecked, really. RF: Oh, I’m so sorry. BL: At first I went to a hotel, and wondered where I should go. I knew I couldn’t stay in a hotel. A friend said, “You should go and buy a home,” but I didn’t want that responsibility any more. My hometown in Kansas, where I grew up, it has really extreme weather sometimes—really cold winters and hot summers, and I thought, “I’m not sure I can handle that any more.” So, Tanya [Jones, executive director of the Surry Arts Council] was kind enough to suggest that I come here, and I could stay at the RidgeCrest area, where she had put me up the last time I came for Mayberry Days. I always thought I got a cold on my way here—“I must have caught a cold on the plane,” I thought. And then I found out after I moved here that I have allergies here in North Carolina that I never had in California. But that’s okay, I can live with that.

know that we have a mutual acquaintance, [comics and TV writer] Mark Evanier. BL: [ecstatic] Oh, my dear Mark! He was my neighbor from the time he was a year-and-a-half! RF: I’d heard that. BL: First time I ever saw him was watching him crawl out the back steps of his home, trying to learn to walk, and he’d fall on his backside [laughter]. But he’d spend a lot of time at my house. He used to come over—and he was so bright, even when very young—and he would show up at the door. Sometimes my mother and I would have our coats on, ready to go out, but we would take them off, and bring him in. He would go to my piano, and he was very gentle, unlike some other children. He would show us some poems that he made up—they were kind of like haiku, just a couple of lines, but they were brilliant! My mother and I would applaud him for everything he did: “Oh, Mark, that was wonderful!” He was so intense. He didn’t smile a lot, very serious. He was just adorable; we loved him. RF: So it certainly came as no surprise to you that he became a successful writer. BL: Not at all. He’s brilliant! I saw his blog, finally. He wrote so funny.

RF: I was his editor for a while when I worked at DC Comics [on The New Gods]. BL: Or, were you? He started writing to the comics when he was so young. He was amazing. I loved him very much. I’ve always loved him. We were very close. And as he got older he’d come over and we’d talk about things. I’d tell him, “You be good to those older actors, because it’s not easy when we get old.” And he’s been very good to them, too. RF: With actors, and with older creators of comic books, too. Mark’s one of the most noted historians of comics. BL: He was not foolish about anything that he did. I’m so happy that you know him. Tell him I love him. RF: You had such an extensive and impressive stage and screen career for years, long before you became known and loved as Thelma Lou. Before you were hired for The Andy Griffith Show, did you Betty Lynn and interviewer/editor Michael Eury, backstage at the Andy Griffith Museum in Mount Airy, North Carolina, August 18, 2017. Photo by Heather Elliott.

RF: Speaking of L.A., I wanted you to Summer 2018

RetroFan

Retro Interview: Betty Lynn

Mark Evanier, The Boy Next Door Betty Lynn’s former neighbor, Mark Evanier, is an acclaimed comics and television writer. The one-time assistant to comics visionary Jack Kirby, Evanier’s numerous credits include comics’ Groo the Wanderer (with Sergio Aragonés), DNAgents, Crossfire, and The New Gods, and TV’s Garfield and Friends and Welcome Back, Kotter. A noted comics historian, he is the author of the Eisner Award-winning book, Kirby: King of Comics. ever work with anyone who would later be a fellow cast member or guest-star on the show? BL: [pondering] I don’t know. I’m trying to think back… I’m not sure that I ever did. I don’t think I did. RF: I’ve never discovered a credit to that effect, but thought I’d ask. You made two movies with Bette Davis [June Bride and Payment on Demand]—I understand she called you “Boo.”

BL: Well, she had to. [On the set,] we’d both be running around answering to “Betty,” not knowing which one they wanted. So she said, “Would you mind if we called you your character name?” And I said, “You can call me anything you want, that’s all right with me!” [laughter] So she called me Boo from then on… she’d introduce me to people as “Boo Lynn.” There are books written about her where she mentions Boo Lynn. RF: Did anyone else ever call you Boo?

BL: Well, I have a godson in California, and he and his wife and children call me Boo. RF: Tell me how you got the role of Thelma Lou in The Andy Griffith Show. BL: The casting director called me in, and I didn’t know exactly what it was for. And I had just seen the show—twice—and I thought it was brilliant. I laughed so hard… I was watching it all by myself, but I was laughing so hard. We didn’t laugh that much at shows back then, or at least I didn’t. So I said, “This is a good show.” I had already seen a girl in it with practically the same part that they handed me to read. So I met with Aaron Ruben, the producer, and Bob Sweeney, who was the director, and read a scene with them, and they said, “We’d like you to play this part.” And I said, “Well, I’m under contract to Disney, but maybe it can be worked out.” At that time I was still under contract for a series, Texas John Slaughter, the story of the first sheriff of Tombstone, Arizona. Disney had just bought that, starring Tom Tryon in it. I played the second of his wives—the first wife had died in childbirth, I was his second wife. I’d been on it two seasons. But as it turned out, they dropped the series. They never signed me on The Andy Griffith Show. RF: You had no contract? BL: I had no contract. RF: And you did 26 episodes. BL: Which isn’t much over five years. RF: You were mentioned in some episodes where you didn’t appear. Or Barney would call you. BL: Or Juanita. [laughter]

(ABOVE) Publicity photo of Betty Lynn, signed by the actress to ye ed/interviewer, and (INSET) a still from June Bride (1948) with Bette Davis. © Warner Bros.

RetroFan

Summer 2018

RF: I know you’ve been asked this question to death, but I wonder why Thelma Lou never got a last name when every other character had one. BL: Well, I didn’t really need one, until about the fourth year, when Andy had to introduce me to a couple. And he turned to me during rehearsals, and Bob Sweeney was directing, and he said, “Well, what’s your last name? Thelma Lou what?” [laughter] And I said, “No. I’ve been ‘Thelma Lou’ all this time; I don’t want a last name.” I’m like Cher, or Madonna.

Retro Interview: Betty Lynn

[laughter] So I said, “All you have to do is say, “This is Thelma Lou. You don’t need a last name.” So, he said, “Okay.” And that did it. I didn’t need a last name. RF: And you never really needed a last name, as everyone knew you as Thelma Lou—and still do. But I found it curious, as I’ve read in a lot of the books written about the show, that a lot of the names, even characters who are just mentioned, background characters, it’s like they’re lifted from a local phone book, from people Andy grew up with. BL: The longer I live here, the more I see things he took from his hometown. And it’s so nice that he did. RF: Yeah… BL: I think it’s great. When [Andy] was appearing here one time, they’d say, “Well, this is a lot like Mayberry in a lot of different ways.” And I guess it is. RF: The charm, the mystique of Mayberry… it keeps drawing people like me here to Mount Airy. BL: [The show] makes you laugh hard. Don [Knotts] was a great actor… Andy, too. Don was nothing like Barney Fife. People would always say to me, “He must be so much fun.” No… very quiet man. Very sweet. Nothing like Barney Fife. He was a great actor. He could make you cry as well as laugh. RF: There’s a very dramatic moment for Don as Barney in one episode where Andy was on trial, when a newspaper editor with a grudge tried to bring him down [“Andy on Trial,” Season Two]… BL: Right, right. RF: And Barney was running off at the mouth, bragging, and they used that against Andy in the trial. But Don, when defending Andy from the witness stand, was so good, and showed how deep Barney and Andy’s friendship was. That scene always brings a tear to my eye. He was so good in that! BL: Wasn’t he? Oh, I know! My Aunt Mary, who later lived with my mother and I for about five years, until she died, she had seen a daytime show when she was living in Cleveland, Ohio—it was from the east coast, a live show—where

Don played this pitiful character. So even though she would laugh and laugh at Barney Fife, she could never get that character out of her mind. She told me he was so good at it, at this sad, pitiful character he played, that she couldn’t help but think about it when she watched him as Barney. RF: That’s a double-edged sword for an actor or actress, when they become so identified with a character, that people can’t accept them in other roles. BL: Oh, I know! And Don did Barney so well. RF: Did that ever affect you, becoming so well known as Thelma Lou? BL: Well, af ter I was no longer on the show, the only things I’d get a call for was [chuckling] “backwoods woman,” or something. They all thought I was country from then on, and I had done a whole lot of things before that. Hollywood is kind of a funny area in that way: They like putting you in a little slot. RF: In retrospect, this worked out for you. You’re adored by so many as Thelma Lou. I mean, there’s a room full of people outside just waiting to say hello to you. BL: Oh, yes, I’ve loved it! And I cried like a baby when I had to leave. RF: How did you react when Don announced he was leaving the show? BL: I didn’t know it! We were on what we call location on the backlot of MGM, and all of a sudden Andy said something about Don leaving for Universal [and a movie deal]. And I said, “What??!” Because no one had told me. And [Andy] said, “Didn’t you know?” And I said, “No!” And he said, “Yeah, he’s leaving.” So I thought, “I guess that’s the end of me, too.” They did say, “Maybe we can work something out with you staying on.” But I said no. Without him, what was I? I was nothing. So I felt really sad. When I had to say goodbye on the last show I did, I thanked everyone, and I thanked Andy, then I went

This stunning portrait of Ms. Lynn, produced in 2007 by G. M. McCormick, welcomes visitors to the Betty Lynn exhibit at the Andy Griffith Museum.

into the ladies room and broke down into tears and cried. RF: Bless your heart. BL: I didn’t want to leave Thelma Lou. I really loved her. I enjoyed her. She was sweet and kind, she was so fun to play, and I loved working with Don Knotts—he was so wonderful. And I just hated to leave it all, but I had to. RF: The one color episode you did, where you came back to Mayberry married [to someone other than Barney], that’s the most heartbreaking episode of all [“The Return of Barney Fife,” Season Six]. BL: I know! All the fans got mad. Some thought I’d thought it up: “Why would you do that?” It’s not my fault. I made up a whole sub-thing for it. I couldn’t play it. I figured she’d never do that. “Oh, she did,” they said. Well, that was like being thrown off a cliff. But I thought, “I have to figure this out.” So I made up a little story in my own head so I could play it, and that was, Summer 2018

RetroFan

Retro Interview: Betty Lynn

in life. There’s a lot of humor, but there are also moments when you cry. There are certain shows where the relationship between the father and the son is so important. It’s very touching, you know. I cry at some of the shows featuring Opie.

Photographs and memorabilia highlighting the actress’s versatile career are on view at the museum’s Betty Lynn exhibit.

[Barney] had left town without anything being settled between us. So I left town, and got a job somewhere. The reunion came up, and there was a fellow I worked with, and I said, “I’ll give you a hundred dollars and two days in Mayberry if you’ll pretend to be my husband.” He said, “Sure.” So off we went. And I introduced him as my husband knowing full well he was not, and I just didn’t want to be left in a lurch [with Barney], and just made him think I was married.

BL: Much better! But that was the only way I could’ve played it. I could not bring myself to look at Barney Fife and say, “This is my husband.” I couldn’t do it! RF: At least everything righted itself with Return to Mayberry. BL: Yeah. RF: For me, that was the big wedding of the Eighties—not Charles and Diana, but Barney and Thelma Lou. BL: [laughs] That’s right. We finally got married!

RF: What makes your character, and this TV show, still resonate with people today? It’s been sixty-plus years, and here we are RF: I like your version better! [laughs] in a museum dedicated to Andy and the The Thelma Lou/Opie Reunion show—and the newly remodeled museum Some 15 years before Return to Mayberry, is beautiful, by the Betty Lynn guest-starred in an episode way! of The Smith Family, the upbeat drama airing on ABC-TV from January 20, BL: Yes, it is! I just got 1971 to June 7, 1972 for a 39-episode run. The Smith to see it the other day, Family starred screen veteran Henry Fonda as L.A. and was amazed. I police detective Chad Smith and Ron Howard think it’s beautiful. (above, between his famous Andy Griffith Show and Well, I’ll tell Happy Days roles) as Chad’s middle child, eldest son ya: There’s a sweetBob Smith. Betty Lynn played Barbara Martin in the ness about the show. episode titled “Strangers: Part 1,” originally airing There’s everything in February 24, 1971. it that you would want 58

RetroFan

Summer 2018

RF: I never fail to well up at the end of “Opie the Birdman,” when the camera trucks back, and the trees are full of birds. BL: Oh, yeah, yeah. Or when Opie didn’t want Aunt Bee [in episode 1], he wanted Rosie, but at the end he runs up and says [about Aunt Bee], “She can’t leave. She needs us. She can’t do anything!” [laughter] I just loved all that. All those things make me cry. There’s a lot of things that people can identify with. Many of them have grown up with it, and they watched it with their parents or their grandparents or someone who was close to them. Men will come and stand and cry when they meet me. Some of them can’t look at me. They look down… RF: Oh, really? BL: I say, “Come on up, look at me.” It’s pitiful… then I want to cry. But people have different reactions to it that are very emotional. RF: But they’re all positive. BL: Yes. It touched them in their hearts some way that I don’t think many shows have been able to do since. I think that all of us really cared about the show, too. Andy—when we did the [Return to Mayberry] movie for television, in ’86, I believe, he said those were the happiest days of his life doing the show. I don’t think financially it helped him like it should have—Matlock did—but I don’t think the other did like it should have. That was very meager, to put it nicely. But anyway, I’m so grateful that I could be a part of show that meant so much to so many. And who’d ever dream that I’d get to be Thelma Lou again? Now, people say to me, “Are you Thelma Lou?” When I go to the market, people say, “Are you Thelma Lou?” “Yes, I am!” They come up and hug me. Everybody, they feel they can touch me… they rustle my hair. [chuckles] They feel like they’ve known me forever. It’s quite fun. I’m like an old aunt… everybody’s old aunt.

RETRO COLLECTIBLES

Original

Andy Griffith Show Collectibles

The Scarcity of Mayberry Licensing in the Sixties by Michael Eury Back in the Sixties, when DVRs—VCRs, even!—were the stuff of the future, your favorite television show could only be seen once a week. For a TV junkie, seven days seemed like an eternity. Luckily, a legion of licensors lined up to ensure that the best (and sometimes, the worst) of the boob tube could be revisited at the consumer’s demand through tie-in products such as board games, comic books, View-Master reels, coloring books, Colorforms, record albums, card games, paperback novels, trading cards, model kits, frame tray puzzles, and lunch boxes. If a Sixties show was a hit, the market would be flooded with products bearing the likenesses of its stars. The Andy Griffith Show (TAGS) was indisputably a hit, scoring in the Top Ten of the Nielsen ratings for each of its eight seasons—even snatching the coveted Number One spot during its last season, 1967–1968. Its successor, Mayberry R.F.D., remained in the Top Ten, only dropping to the Number 15 position in its third and final season. With TAGS’s tens of millions of dedicated viewers, you’d think there would be no shortage of Mayberry merchandising during the show’s heyday. Before you set your sights on obtaining a Sixties-vintage squad car model kit or a Sheriff Taylor outfit for your Captain Action, let me warn you that your search for collectibles produced during the show’s original run will be quite limited, to only a handful of items. Why the scarcity of items bearing the Andy Griffith Show brand? In their exceptional book, The Definitive Andy Griffith Show Reference (McFarland, 1996), authors Dale Robinson and David Fernandes posit that the children comprising much of TAGS’s viewing audience were an unappealing commercial demographic to merchandisers. That’s an interesting theory, but Sixties manufacturers certainly weren’t shy about cranking out kid-targeted products connected to nighttime TV shows, and there’s no shortage of Bonanza figures, Beverly Hillbillies paper dolls, and Man from U.N.C.L.E. walkie talkies in collectors’ curio cabinets to prove this point. The authors also suggest that the show’s producers lacked interest in exploiting the series. No argument there. Their focus was on the quality of the production itself and the cultivation of Mayberry as a welcoming “place” where viewers yearned to retreat. While some episodes are stronger than others, there was no dud among TAGS’s 249 episodes (other than mountaineer “Dud” Wash, who married Charlene Darling), and as a result the series endures as one of television’s most perennially popular programs. Seconding this conjecture is Terry Collins, author of The Andy Griffith Story: An Illustrated Biography (Explorer Press, 1995), who contends, “My theory for the lack of merchandising during the original run of The Andy Griffith Show can be traced to Andy’s own tastes and how he wished the show to be perceived. As a part owner of the series, he was in a position to refuse the usual overtures to create card games or lunch boxes based on the denizens of Mayberry. Unlike the sheer insanity of The Beverly Hillbillies, the ‘Griffith’ show (as Andy usually referred to it) was

Front and back covers to the second comic book, Four Color #1341. “Opie’s Printing Press” art by Bill Fraccio. © Mayberry Enterprises, Inc.

Summer 2018

RetroFan

Retro Collectibles: Original Andy Griffith Show Collectibles

viewed as being a more realistic and thoughtful comedic offering. Simply put: episodes such as ‘Opie the Birdman’ would never appear in the wacky world of Jed Clampett and his kinfolk. As such, The Andy Griffith Show wasn’t actively merchandised.” While Mr. Griffith’s protectiveness of the series is appreciated, 50-plus years later, there were some missed opportunities that pain the most devoted TAGS collectors. Terry Collins asks, “Can’t you just imagine what a vintage lunch box based on The Andy Griffith Show would look like?” Personally, my fantasy collectible would be an Andy Griffith Show View-Master packet—imagine seeing a certain nervous deputy in 3-D! During the past few decades, Andy Griffith Show merchandising has become commonplace, with more recently minted products marketed toward adult collectors who grew up with the show. Items include—but are by no means limited to—sourcebooks, figurines, bobble heads, squad car miniatures, and a version of the board game Monopoly titled Mayberryopoly. Nonetheless, original TAGS merchandising products remain the Holy Grail. Purists looking for these collectibles should be forewarned that your collector’s itch will be an expensive one to scratch. The items listed below are now over a half-century old and exceedingly rare—you’d have an easier time finding a second bullet in Deputy Fife’s pocket than most of the collectibles listed here. Still, who am I to deter you from the thrill of the hunt? Use this handy-Andy checklist as your guide, and let your search begin!

Original Andy Griffith Show Collectibles ØØ Miscellaneous TV Guide covers See sidebar.

Company, early 1960s) with illustrated cover Artist unknown.

ØØ Songs, Themes and Laughs from The Andy Griffith Show ØØ The Andy Griffith Show Coloring Record album (Capitol Records, Book 1961) with music from the show as Coloring book (Saalfied Artcraft composed and conducted by Earle Company, early 1960s) with Hagen. illustrated cover Contains 12 selections including Artist unknown. Andy Griffith singing the normally Note: The coverillustration, based whistled “The Fishing Hole” theme, upon an early publicity photo, depicts incidental music from the show, Sheriff Taylor wearing a necktie and Andy singing bluegrass tunes with holster with firearm, neither of which Roland White and the Country the “sheriff without a gun” did regularly Boys, and a Griffith comedy monoon the show. logue, “Jack, the Giant Killer.” Note: This has since been ØØ The Andy Griffith Show Writing re-released on CD. Tablet Andy and Opie Taylor photo cover, ØØ Ronny Howard of The Andy blank interior pages (manufacturer Griffith Show: Pictures to Color unknown, early 1960s) Coloring book (Saalfied Artcraft Extremely rare.

(TOP) Songs, Themes and Laughs from The Andy Griffith Show record album. (CENTER) The Opie-centric TAGS coloring book. A copy of this rarity can be found in the Andy Griffith Museum. (BOTTOM) Andy’s wearing his firearm on the Andy Griffith Show Coloring Book cover. © Mayberry Enterprises, Inc.

RetroFan

Summer 2018

Retro Collectibles: Original Andy Griffith Show Collectibles

ØØ Four-Color #1252 featuring The Andy Griffith Show Comic book (Dell Comics, Jan.– Mar. 1962) with photo cover Stories: “Barney’s Badge” (1 pg.), “Opie’s Secret” (32 pgs.), “The Shooting Match” (1 pg.), “Lady in Dis-dress” (1 pg.) Artist: Henry Scarpelli; Writer: Don Segall

ØØ Four-Color #1341 featuring The Andy Griffith Show Comic book (Dell Comics, Apr.– June 1962) with photo cover Stories: “The Magician” (1 pg.), “Undercover Man” (32 pgs.), “Andy’s Garden” (1 pg.), “Opie’s Printing Press” (1 pg.) Artist: Bill Fraccio; Writer: Don Segall

ØØ Grape-Nuts Flakes Cereal box (Post Cereals, 1966) Andy Griffith as Sheriff Andy Taylor pictured on box backs displaying recipe for frozen lemon pie; Andy is saying, “Aunt Bee’s pie recipe sure is good!” Note: Post Grape-Nuts was a sponsor of The Andy Griffith Show. ØØ Goober Sings! Record album (Capitol Records, 1968) with comedy routines and songs by George Lindsey as Goober. Introduction begins with Lindsey as Goober doing his Cary Grant impression (“Judy, Judy, Judy”)—and even making a drug reference! Contains 12 selections of songs and routines including “Good Morning Sunshine,” “I Ain’t Good Looking (But I’m Mighty Sweet),” “That There’s Big with Me,” and “Write Me R.F.D.” Andy Griffith wrote the liner notes, on the LP’s back cover. Note: This LP is stamped “FREE,” indicating that it was a promotional giveaway. ØØ Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. collectibles See sidebar.

Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. Spinning out of the fourth season of TAGS, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. ran from 1964–1969, with 150 episodes produced. The show enjoyed merchandising in several venues that bypassed TAGS: a Gomer Pyle board game from Transogram, paperback novel from Pyramid, trading cards from Fleer, and lunch box and thermos from Aladdin. Gold Key Comics published three issues of Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. between 1966 and 1967; each featured a photo cover, with Warren Tufts and Doug Wildey among the series’ artists.

(TOP) Photo cover to the first TAGS comic book, Dell’s Four Color #1252. (CENTER) Sheriff Taylor, the pie guy, on the box back of Post Grape-Nuts. (BOTTOM) Goober Sings! record album. TAGS © Mayberry Enterprises, Inc. Post © Post Consumer Brands, LLC.

Summer 2018

RetroFan

Retro Collectibles: Original Andy Griffith Show Collectibles

The Andy Griffith Show-related TV Guide Covers

hh Jan. 28, 1961: Andy and Opie Taylor photo cover hh May 12, 1962: Barney Fife photo cover hh May 11, 1963: Andy, Barney, and Opie photo cover hh Mar. 21, 1964: Andy, Barney, and Gomer Pyle photo cover hh Nov. 21, 1964: Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. photo cover hh Apr. 24, 1965: Sheriff Andy Taylor photo cover hh Dec. 18, 1965: Jim Nabors photo cover hh June 4, 1966: Andy Griffith with guitar photo cover hh May 20, 1967: Andy Griffith and Aneta Corsaut photo cover hh Aug. 26, 1967: Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. cartoon cover hh July 13, 1968: Sheriff Taylor, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., and Don Knotts cartoon cover by Jack Davis hh Oct. 19, 1968: Jim Nabors photo cover (for TV special) hh Mar. 15, 1969: Mayberry R.F.D.’s Sam and Mike Jones photo cover hh Sept. 20, 1969: Jim Nabors in tuxedo photo cover hh July 25, 1970: Mayberry R.F.D. cast photo cover hh Oct. 24, 1970: Don Knotts photo cover Also desirable among TAGS collectors are a handful of regional television magazines, comparable to TV Guide, which featured Andy Griffith Show covers.

RetroFan

Summer 2018

The “bible” of television viewers, the weekly TV Guide, long a digest-sized periodical, cover-featured The Andy Griffith Show and related programs on numerous occasions throughout the original runs of TAGS and its spin-offs, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. and Mayberry R.F.D. The following editions are considered highly collectible among TAGS followers.

Andy Griffith Cast in Non-TAGS Comic Books You know you’re an honorary Mayberrian if you have these comic books in your collection because their photo covers feature actors also known from The Andy Griffith Show: hh Four-Color #914 featuring No Time for Sergeants Comic book (Dell Comics, July 1958) adapting the theatrical version starring Andy Griffith Photo cover features Andy Griffith as Will Stockdale. hh The Music Man #nn Comic book (Dell Comics, Jan. 1963) adapting the 1962 movie version of Meredith Willson’s stage musical Photo cover features Ronny Howard as Winthrop Paroo. (Presumably this is also desirable to Partridge Family collectors since the cover also features The Music Man’s Marian the Librarian, Shirley Jones.) hh The Incredible Mr. Limpet (Movie Classic #12-370-408) Comic book (Dell Comics, Aug. 1964) adapting the 1964 live-action/animated family comedy Photo cover features Don Knotts as Henry Limpet (in an uncharacteristic shot; Knotts’s cartoon fish persona is not shown on the cover). hh Happy Days Original comic-book series (Gold Key Comics, running six issues, 1979–1980) based upon the popular TV sitcom Photo montage covers including Ron Howard as Richie Cunningham appeared on five of the six issues published. Issue #5 featured an illustrated cover by Art Saaf spotlighting Henry Winkler as Fonzie but also including Howard as Richie.

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THE ODDBALL WORLD OF SCOTT SHAW!

Oddball Comics Zody the Mod Rob #1 by Scott Shaw!

The outasite automaton, Zody the Mod Rob. Issue #1 (and only) cover art by Roger Armstrong. © the respective copyright holder.

Title: Zody the Mod Rob Issue Number: No. 1 Cover Date: July 1970 Publisher: Western Publishing Company, Inc. (Gold Key Comics) Cover Artist(s): Roger Armstrong

Scott Shaw! suspects that Zody the Mod Rob got its name from a chain of Los Angeles “fashion budget department stores,” Zodys, which was similar to Target. This ad is from 1974, but Zodys was around a decade earlier.

RetroFan

Summer 2018

The Metal Men! Machine Man! Adam Link! Yes, these are some of comicdom’s greatest robot characters… and then there’s Zody the Mod Rob, the groovy star of this issue’s Oddball Comic—from the same people who brought us Magnus, Robot Fighter! And as his comic’s cover claims, “He’s an astrological, terrestrial phenomenon doing his thing right here on Terra Firma!” Like wow, man, what were the folks at Gold Key smokin’ back in 1970 when they came up with this far-out funnybook—hashish-oiled mechanical joints? Zody the Mod Rob is one of those multi-tiered oddities that’s as good a children’s comic as it is a relic of the Sixties (although it was published a full three years after the so-called “Summer of Love”) that’s hilarious in its middle-aged un-hipness! Plus, it’s liberally sprinkled with drug references that are used without any cognizance of the catchphrases’ real meanings! During the mid-to-late Sixties, many mainstream comic-book publishers desperately tried to exploit aspects of the hippie era in their funnybooks. Most of their editors were middle-aged white men with absolutely no identification—or even a basic understanding—of the youth movement that was revolutionizing American society. For drama or for laughs, many major publishers were trying to lure young readers with their (mostly) sanitized new (or made-over) titles with a synthetically “groovy” theme: DC’s Brother Power the Geek (“the real-life dangers of hippie-land”), Prez (“the first teenage president of the United States”), Swing with Scooter and Windy and Willy (the latter featuring touched-up reprints of the officially licensed The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis comic from only a few years earlier); Harvey’s Bunny (“queen of the in-crowd”) and Rock Happening; Archie’s Madhouse Ma-ad Freak Out; and Charlton’s Go-Go, among others. Since the results were usually lame and unintentionally hilarious, no actual hippies would be caught dead reading these comics, not when they could instead peruse an issue of Zap Comix, Mr. Natural, The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, Air Pirates, Harold Hedd, Dope Comix, or any number of other under-the-counter (cultural) “underground comix,” sold in “head shops” catering to the psychedelic crowd. Only young children were naïve enough to find the neutered mainstream “hippie comics” to be entertaining. Speaking of kids, although perceived as a rather staid and conservative publisher of children’s comic books, Gold Key made occasional attempts to approach hipness. One of these, The Close Shaves of Pauline Peril by creators Del Connell and Jack Manning, was actually impressively cool and innovative, even though the uniquely Oddball series only lasted for four issues. Other efforts in this direction were generally less successful, although Gold Key’s editors seemed to hang a lot of expectations on the word “mod”; hence such titles as the Oddball romance comic Mod Love (one issue), the Oddball teenage comic The Modniks, (two issues), the Oddball hot rod comic Mod Wheels (a whopping 19 issues)… and this single issue of the Oddball hippie robot astrologer comic Zody the Mod Rob. How appropriate for the first issue of TwoMorrows’ RetroFan. Hopefully, this magazine will last a lot longer, maybe to when the 2010s will be considered nostalgia, at least by the mutants staggering

The Oddball World of Scott Shaw!

around in a post-apocalyptic world. Zody the Mod Rob was created and written by Don R. (for “Ragnvald”) a.k.a. “Arr” Christensen (July 6, 1916–October 18, 2006). Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, he studied at the Minnesota School of Art and worked at the art department of The Minneapolis Journal. In 1937, he began working at the Walt Disney Studio as an in-betweener and later, a scriptwriter. There, Don worked on classic animated features such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, and Dumbo. Due to the union strike of 1941, Don left Disney to work at Warner Bros., where he wrote and storyboarded a number of wartime cartoon shorts. During this period, he also started doing work for the comic-book industry, where he swiftly became one of its most prolific practitioners. Often using “Don Arr” as his pen name, Christensen wrote and drew generic funny animal stories for Sangor, Pines, American Comics Group, and National/DC Comics. From the Fifties through the Seventies, Don worked for the Los Angeles office of Western Publishing, mainly writing and storyboarding comics starring cartoon characters from Disney, Warner Bros., Walter Lantz, Bob Clampett, and HannaBarbera. The versatile cartoonist even wrote a few “realistic” comic books for Western/Gold Key, including Magnus, Robot Fighter and Space Family Robinson (a.k.a. Lost in Space). One of his most highly regarded funny books is the adaptation of Donald in Mathmagic Land with Tony Strobl and Steve Steere, but my personal favorite is his Woody Woodpecker in Chevrolet Wonderland, a showroom “giveaway”

Zody creator and writer Don R. Christensen, at the 1982 San Diego ComicCon. Photo by and courtesy of Alan Light.

comic hawking the 1955 Chevy. (Yeah, I’d trust a psychotic bird to recommend my next automotive purchase…) Don wrote a lot of educational and promotional funny books, as well as concocting puzzle pages for activity books, Big Little Books, greeting cards, comic strips, magazine articles, radio show scripts, and Saturday morning cartoon scripts and storyboards for Depatie-Freleng, Filmation, Grantray-Lawrence, and Sunbow. He also edited, wrote, and published How to Draw Tips from the Top Cartoonists (1981), an excellent instructional book. Don was also a president of Southern California’s Comic Art Professional Society (CAPS). He was 54 years old when he conceived Zody the Mod Rob and was obviously out of touch with the counterculture… but he was a very nice man and I think that it shows. I guess that’s one good reason why I dig this obscure Oddball Comic so much. Zody the Mod Rob was penciled and inked by Roger Armstrong (October 12, 1917–June 7, 2007). He was born in Los Angeles and his father was a director and cameraman for early silent Mack Sennett movies and later, a screenwriter for 20th Century Fox. Like most cartoonists, Roger began drawing about the time he started walking and by age 16 was selling cartoons to local advertising agencies. Of course, having a father who worked on Charlie Chaplin comedies must have been inspiring to the budding cartoonist. He attended Chouniard Art Institute for two years, but finances forced Roger to quit art school and take a job at Lockheed working on airplanes. Soon after, he met Chase Craig, a cartoonist working for Western Publishing. It wasn’t long before Roger was drawing funnybooks for the company that had the rights to all of the great cartoon characters. Armstrong drew a lot of comics and storyboards starring characters from Disney, Warner Bros., Walter Lantz, and HannaBarbera. In the late Seventies, Roger drew H-B comics for Marvel. He also drew comic strips, including Ella Cinders, Napoleon and Uncle Elby, Scamp, Little Lulu, and Bugs Bunny. Roger was also an art teacher and watercolor artist specializing in landscapes. He was a great believer in “paying it forward” and spent a lot of time and effort with aspiring artists of all types. Original Roger Armstrong art to page 1 of Zody #1. Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). © the respective copyright holder.

Summer 2018

RetroFan

The Oddball World of Scott Shaw!

The issue’s 25-page, book-length Zody the Mod Rob cover story, titled “From the Zodiac Comes Zody the Mod Rob.” It begins in the student newspaper office of Tinker High School, where “your sensational, erudite, articulate, charming and modest editor-in-chief” Corby Kane hands clean-cut teenage reporter Randy Martin his first “real” assignment for the Tinker High Times (“high times?!?), to “wing a feature” on Professor Ipsof Acto, who's booked to speak at the next week’s school assembly. Grabbing an armload of pencils and note pads, Randy—who already knows where the scientist resides—eagerly rushes out the door while Corby explains his motives to a young copy editor on staff:

COPY EDITOR: Hey, Corb! How come the big break for Randy?

While on his way to the scientist’s home laboratory, his girlfriend, Sharon Gordon, anxious to confirm their date later that night, joins Randy, but the teen reporter can’t stop to chat:

Despite Randy’s protests, the eccentricscientist jams this “horoscope cap” onto the student journalist’s head and adjusts its controls: As he approaches Professor Acto’s home, Randy hears yelps of pain from inside. Entering the place, Randy is alarmed to find the frazzled-looking scientist quivering under a strange metal helmet.

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF CORBY KANE: Because this professor has got to be an even bigger ding-dong!

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Summer 2018

Reacting to Randy’s genuine interest, Professor Ipsof Acto delightedly pulls out two large charts covered with esoteric configurations and formulas: PROFESSOR IPSOF ACTO: You see? My lecture charts show how the stars and planets send patterns of influence criss-crossing the universe! Now YOU will be TUNED IN on yours!

As Randy helps the rumpled research scientist remove the device from his noggin, the Professor explains the zodiac sign of Aquarius and asks his visitor his birthdate.

PROFESSOR IPSOF ACTO: Don’t worry! It’s designed for an Aquarian brain! It won’t hurt YOU! It will magnify Aquarius energy waves so you’re sure to get the most good from them!

But despite the professor’s hopes, Randy doesn’t feel any effect from the horoscope cap. After examining the teen reporter for over an hour, Professor Acto declares his experiment a failure and tells Randy to remove his invention from his sight. While leaving the lab, he expresses a determination to help the nutty scientist. Walking down the street, a passing motorist heckles Randy about his unusual headgear. Self-conscious about attracting more unwanted attention, he drops by a shop specializing in “bargain wigs.” All images this page © the respective copyright holder.

The Oddball World of Scott Shaw!

Snugly fitting a shaggy orange wig over the horoscope cap, Randy heads home, his wacky wig attracting the attention of everyone he passes:

But as the afternoon progresses, Randy begins to slump with a weariness throughout his body and lies down for a nap. NARRATIVE CAPTION: When night creeps over the park, Randy is still there… sound asleep! Above, the stars shine brightly… and from them, like legendary star dust, a strange effect sifts down! The power of the ZODIAC! After the mysterious substance absorbs into the wig, Randy finally awakens: RANDY MARTIN: Huh? Dark? Omigosh! Sharon will think I stood her up! Meanwhile, inside the local movie theater, Sharon vents her spleen to her gal pal Hermoine: SHARON GORDON: Believe me, that Randy Martin will have plenty of explaining to do, Hermoine! HERMOINE: Shhh-h, Sharon! At least we got to go to the show together, for a change! Suddenly, they’re interrupted by Randy, who’s still wearing the wig (and underneath it, the horoscope cap). While the teenage trio is shushed by the other moviegoers, the bewigged teen reporter unknowingly displays evidence of possessing extremely odd mental abilities of prediction: RANDY MARTIN: This picture’s only got about five seconds to go! A projector jamAll images this page © the respective copyright holder.

up is going to ruin the film and they’ll fill in with a travelogue on Upper Sandusky!

THEATER MANAGER: We are having some problems with our feature, ladies and gentlemen! But we’re happy to offer a very exciting substitute… “TRAVELS IN UPPER SANDUSKY”!

But something somehow “impels” Randy to pay an unexpected visit back to Tinker High School before going home. He drops in on Mr. Medley, a chubby teacher who looks suspiciously like Professor Ipsof Acto, except for the fact that his shockedstraight-up Don King hairstyle (decades before Don King was wearing his ’fro like that!) is “permanently shocked from 20 years of teaching electronics.” A few hours later, Randy has assembled a cylindrical green robot with multi-faceted “eyes,” like something by illustrator Frank R. Paul in an early issue of the pulp magazine Amazing Stories. Unfortunately, Randy just can’t bring it to robotic life. While Mr. Medley closes up shop in preparation of going home, Randy removes the wig and horoscope cap from his head:

SHARON GORDON: H-how did YOU know, Randy? RANDY MARTIN: Search me! I just did! C’mon, let’s split! Next, Randy activates a nearby fire alarm— even though there’s no sign of a fire—yet! Sure enough, just as a fire engine arrives, a small fire ignites the drapes in a window of a nearby apartment. Instead of being caught as an alarm-triggering prankster, Randy is hailed as a hero!

Randy sets the horoscope cap atop his inert green robot’s cylindrical cranium. Both Randy and Mr. Medley bid each other goodnight, leaving the cap-wearing robot standing in the school’s electronics shop, beneath a skylight that provides a view of a particularly starry sky: NARRATIVE CAPTION: Back at the school… again the strange effect sifts down from the stars into the horoscope cap… and the robot! The next morning, Randy gets to school early to work on his robot before classes… but finds Mr. Yunkle, the janitor, in a panic! MR. YUNKLE: There is monster from Mars in shop! TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER… he said! Summer 2018

RetroFan

The Oddball World of Scott Shaw!

Cautiously venturing inside, Randy is astounded to find his robot prancing around the electronics shop:

MOTHER: He had the nerve to say that perhaps my Gertrude deserved only a “C” in creative dance! RANDY MARTIN: Omigosh! Mr. Priddy DID get socked! Zody was right! While Mr. Priddy calls the Superintendent of Schools to demand combat pay, some of the other students wonder how Zody predicted that the principal would get “belted”:

Getting a hunch, Randy “turns off” Zody by removing the horoscope cap from his head. (Let’s see: We’ve now got “tune in” and “turn off”… when are we gonna see “drop out,” to paraphrase Sixties LSD advocate Dr. Timothy Leary?) Then, reacting to the sound of Mr. Yunkle as he guides a pair of policemen to investigate his discovery, Randy creates an improvisational disguise from an old poncho and an old mop (why not use the wig, which seems like a plot device just waiting to happen?), dressing the reactivated robot as a hippie while concealing his horoscope cap! (I seriously doubt if this story point was meant to be funny, but the concept of dressing like a hippie to avoid suspicion by the police is a hilarious fantasy, at least for 1970!) When the police finally arrive, they are completely oblivious to Randy’s robot-ruse:

Meanwhile, Mr. Medley confers with Mr. Priddy, the principal of Tinker High School:

And in the Tinker High Times office, Randy—with Zody tagging along with him—reports in to Corby about how he’s been sidetracked from his previous story. ZODY THE MOD ROB: MEANING-ME,YOU-CUBES! ZODY-FROM-THE-ZODIAC! MY-HOROSCOPE-SAYS-THIS-IS-MYDAY-TO-BE-A-HOT-SHOT-REPORTER! HOW-SWEET-IT-IS! “HOW-SWEET-IT-IS!”? What, is Zody a fan of Jackie (The Honeymooners) Gleason? Anyway, Zody sits down at a typewriter (hey, remember those?) and bashes out an outrageous headline for the school newspaper:

After the police have left in search of the “monster,” Randy introduces Zody to Mr. Medley: ZODY THE MOD ROB: I’M-WITH-YOU,-BUDDY-BOY! LET’S-MAKE- THE-SCENE!

RetroFan

Summer 2018

ZODY THE MOD ROB: I’M-TUNED-INON-THE-UNIVERSE! MY-COMPUTERDOESN’T-BOTHER-WITH-COINCIDENCES! Then, the “astrological, terrestrial phenomenon” makes another—even more startling—prediction:

RANDY MARTIN: WHERE, Zody? ZODY THE MOD ROB: SUPPLIESPILFERED-FROM-CHEMISTRYDEPARTMENT-HAVE-BEEN-ASSEMBLEDINTO-A-DEVASTATING-BOMB… SOMEWHERE-IN-THE-WALLS-OF-TINKERHIGH-SCHOOL! ZODY THE MOD ROB: MICE! ACCIDENTALARRANGEMENT… BUT-ANY-SPARK-FROMELECTRICAL-SWITCHES-MAY-EXPLODE-IT! Suddenly, Zody makes yet another prediction while doing a wild dance move:

ZODY THE MOD ROB: FLASH! PRINCIPAL-BELTED-BY-ANGRY-MOM! Apparently that “Aquarius energy” has given Zody the ability to predict the near future, because a few seconds later, Mr. Priddy shuffles into view, bearing a black eye—as an irate mother and her student daughter head for the exit: All images this page © the respective copyright holder.

The Oddball World of Scott Shaw!

Unfortunately, Randy’s too late to stop Zody from dashing into an adjacent classroom.

Back inside the school, Mr. Medley is taking the situation more seriously than his boss:

Randy, Mr. Medley, and Mr. Priddy run after the robot, only to find he’s pushed aside the instructor and taken over teaching the school’s dancing class:

MR. MEDLEY: Mr. Priddy, the chemistry department reports certain items ARE missing… and in a closed wall, fumes could create an accidental bomb! It IS possible that mice could have gotten those elements… Meanwhile, as Randy and Zody leave the school grounds, Zody is experiencing unforeseen trouble with his operating systems:

With Zody finally back to normal (if the word “normal” could ever really apply to an “astrological terrestrial phenomenon”), he and Randy head back to Tinker High School on Randy’s bike:

Although the dance class’ female students find Zody to be “too much,” the school’s principal is somewhat less enthusiastic:

With that, Zody collapses in a heap! Realizing that his robot creation needs to be recharged, Randy carries Zody to his bicycle and burns rubber to get his new friend to the laboratory of Professor Ipsof Acto. Once there, he fills in the eccentric scientist on how he constructed Zody and how the horoscope cap helped bring him to life, fearing they may not have time to save the school from the bomb.

Zody steers Randy’s bicycle right through the front doorway of Tinker High and down a hallway teeming with teens, running down Corby Kane in the process: ZODY THE MOD ROB: YOU-SOUND-AFIRE-DRILL-SIGNAL-TO-EVACUATE-THEWHOLE-SCHOOL--AND-I’LL-TRACKDOWN-THE-BOMB! I’LL-GO-THIS-WAY! It’s up to Randy to find and sound a fire alarm; unfortunately, he didn’t count on Mr. Priddy blocking his path:

But even as they leave, Randy can’t stop worrying about that bomb:

Fortunately, Professor Acto’s hunch is right on the money, and Zody is immediately revived: All images this page © the respective copyright holder.

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RetroFan

The Oddball World of Scott Shaw!

RANDY MILLER: But… the whole school may blow up if Zody doesn’t find that mouse bomb inside of two minutes! Meanwhile, Zody frantically searches the school for the bomb. When we catch up with him, he’s looking through skeins of fabric in the Home Ec class:

Even though the school has been evacuated, Zody dashes outside with the explosive components clutched in his mechanical hands:

ZODY THE MOD ROB: OH,WHAT-IS-WRONG-WITH-RANDY? WHY-DOESN’T-HE-SOUND-THAT-ALARM? STUDENT #1: Must be one of the guys in costume from Dramatics class! STUDENT #2: He’s real neat… in a monsterish sorta way! SFX: KLANG-G! DING DING! KERLANG-G! ZODY THE MOD ROB (thinking): AH… THE-FIRE-DRILL! JUST-SECONDS-ANDTHIS-WHOLE-PLACE-GO-BOOM! I’VE-GOTTO-GET-THESE-KIDS-OUT-OF-HERE!

MR. MEDLEY: Th-that robot was RIGHT! Lifting its cover, Zody drops the explosive components into a manhole in the street, and just in time, too. The resulting conflagration blows the well-meaning robot sky-high…

DANCE TEACHER: He can eve-teach my creative dance class! ZODY THE MOD ROB: YOUR-SIGN-MUSTBE-SCORPIO-MA’AM! IT’S-YOUR-LUCKYDAY AND-HOW-LUCKY-CAN-YOU-GETTO-HAVE-ME-TEACH-YOUR-CLASS! Later, that evening, Randy makes up for skipping their date earlier by taking Sharon to the park and rowing on the lake in a “Pertz Rent-A-Boat”:

Feigning a savage demeanor, Zody suddenly lets out a growl that’s as “monsterish” as he’s capable of making. It works, too, frightening the students to the point that they rush outside to escape the clutches of the mechanical hippie:

SHARON GORDON: Gee, to think, Randy… me, Sharon Gordon… out with a real hero! RANDY MILLER: Aw… I…

…landing in one of the hoops on the school’s outdoor basketball courts.

ZODY THE MOD ROB: HEY,-MAN… SHE-MEANS-ME! HO! I-SHOWED-‘EM! THE-ABSOLUTE-MOST… THAT’S-ME! ANDTO-THINK-I’VE-EVEN-GOT-BEAUTIFULPIPES-AND-A-WILD-BEAT-TOO! Unfortunately for Randy and Sharon, Zody’s tagged along for the ride ride, and our Oddball Comic comes to an end.

With only seconds left, Zody hears the ringing of an inner bell—literally: ZODY THE MOD ROB (thinking): I’M-NEAR-IT! I-CAN-SENSE-IT! SOMEWHERE-RIGHT-AROUND-HERE! In desperation, the shaggy-haired robot pries open an air duct near the floor and finds the mice—and the bomb!

RetroFan

Summer 2018

The Oddball World of Scott Shaw!

Also included in this issue of Zody the Mod Rob are the following features and advertisements: ØØ Giant Play Zoo Animal Collection, an inside-front-cover ad for “20 friendly zoo animals averaging approximately 2" in size” that are made of “rubbery washable plastic,” available via mail order from “Colonial Studios.” ØØ Gold Key Comics Club News, a page listing upcoming Gold Key comic books that heralds the arrival of the first issue of Baby Snoots (cover-dated Aug. 1970). ØØ Gold Key Club Comics Reader’s Page Monsters, a page featuring “The Big Boy,” “Rubber Monster,” “Giganto,” “One-Headed Ding Wing,” and “TopLike Robot,” imaginative monster concepts and drawings submitted by young readers. ØØ 25 Years Service to Military Personnel, a page of glittering men’s and women’s rings—with names like “Lovelight,” “Divine Love,” and “Romantic Love”—and wristwatches, all available through mail order from “Mark Jewelers.” ØØ Gold Key Club Comics Jokes on You, a page of jokes and riddles. ØØ What is Your Sign?, a text page listing a variety of astrological predictions All images this page © the respective copyright holder.

The avian host of Jokes by Cracky—Cracky the parrot— eventually got his own Gold Key series, The Wacky Adventures of Cracky, which ran for 12 issues between December 1972 and September 1975, plus two issues of Gold Key Spotlight! for every sign. (I’m pretty sure that Western Publishing received angry letters about this one.) ØØ Gold Key Club Comics Reader’s Page Doodles, a page of drawings that incorporate the letters of the alphabet, submitted by young artists. ØØ No Joke… Here’s the Happiest New Happening of the Season!! Golden’s Jokes by Cracky, a Western Publishing house ad for “a new Golden Magazine special by kids—for kids from 6 to 60,” hosted by “Cracky” the “funny animal” parrot! ØØ Amazing $1 Art Offer—4 Irresistible Wide-Eyed Kittens in Full Color for Your Home, an inside-back-cover ad for “beautiful and appealing original oil paintings now yours as full-color large fine art prints” available via mail order from “Colonial Studios.” ØØ 3 Complete Fishing Outfits— Nationally Advertised 1970 Models—2 Loaded Tackle Boxes—66 Deadly Lures—411 Pcs., a back-cover ad for a set of fishing equipment, available through mail order from “Niresk Discount Sales.”

For 47 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 cocreated what is currently known as ComicCon International: San Diego, America’s biggest annual fan event. He can be reached at shawcartoons.com. Summer 2018

RetroFan

SUPER COLLECTOR

Too Much Stuff and Too Little Time [Editor’s note: Are you a Super Collector? Want to share your collection with RetroFan readers? If so, contact the editor at euryman@ gmail.com — and include a few photos from your collection with your query.]

Amid a backdrop of movie and serial posters and a carpet of vintage comic books, Super Collector Tom Stewart can’t resist rereading The Flash #227. Photo by Kenyetta Carter. (Note: All other photos accompanying this article by Tom Stewart.)

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Collecting Collections by Tom Stewart

I have stuff. A lot of stuff. So much stuff that the house looks like a pop culture museum, or one that exploded on the modified Fifties bungalow I’ve lived in since 1999. Vintage movie posters, boys’ series books from the Twenties, Thirties radios, toys… and that’s just walking a couple feet in the door. It’s a bit crazy, a bit obsessive, and more than a bit… me. If a collection is a reflection of the collector, then mine is a mirror shattered, reflecting light every which way. Collecting is all of a piece; it can be hard to say where one collection ends and another begins, as one usually leads you into another; comics led to books, books and movies led to collecting autographs. I collect more things than I don’t collect. And even the things I don’t collect, I have a couple of here and there. So when people ask, I sometimes tell them the things I don’t collect, like baseball cards. I do have a few vintage ball cards and signed balls, though. You see? It’s not always easy to define a collection for many collectors.

Comics

My first love. We’ve had something of a rocky relationship over the years, but I’ve always come back to comic books. My love of comics probably started the same way it started with a lot of kids: the Adam West Batman show. I watched it as a tiny kid, and loved Batman ever since. My mom got me my first comics, cast-offs from her friends. These were read-intosubmission Disney and Warner Bros. books, all Mickey, Bugs, and friends (I think Super Goof was the favorite here). The problem with these is the Disney comics (Walt Disney Comics and Stories) often featured serials of which I only got to read a chapter or two, leaving me to figure out by myself how Mickey outwitted the Phantom Blot. When my parents divorced when I was seven, my dad started giving me an allowance, which I spent on comics. The first one I remember buying was The Flash #227 (May–June 1974), “Flash -- This is Your Death!” It had this Flash guy sweating (crying?) on the cover while reading a book about his own death. Who could resist? This started me down the rabbit hole of DC fandom (never cared for Marvel until I discovered Jack Kirby Sixties’ work, another long story) and haunting the 7-11 on new comics day. I bought every DC comic I could afford (hiding the more expensive, oversized Limited Collectors’ Editions from my mom so I could avoid the lectures about how comics only cost a dime in her day). When I’d read all the DCs, I’d buy Harvey, The Spirit magazine, or Archie digests. I searched for back issues, finding a few here and there, and lusted over the Captain Company ads in Summer 2018

Super Collector

the back of the Warren Spirit’s showing exotic books like All in Color for a Dime. I filled out a couple of the order forms, but could never get enough money in one place at the same time. I had to borrow what I could from a library that didn’t see comics as either important or even worthy of putting on their shelves. They had the Jules Feiffer The Great Comic Book Heroes and both Superman and Batman From the 30s to the 70s books, but that was it. I was alone in my love of the four-color newsprint. Almost. They were out there, but in the mid-to-late Seventies, comic-book fans didn’t for the most part advertise the fact that they were comic-book fans. There weren’t a lot of superhero T-shirts except by special order, and a comic-book shop in Pasco, Washington, didn’t exist at the moment. I was pretty open about my obsession as I was constantly covering notebooks and school assignments with Batman drawings. When I would locate another member of the tribe, it would be with a nod, a whispered, “I like comics, too” and a request to borrow that issue I had hidden behind my schoolbook. I traded a bit here and there, but mostly the other kids had the

same comics I had. One kid in sixth grade had his brother’s early Seventies Batman comics I got ahold of: Detective #400 (Man-Bat!) and a couple others. It was my first Neal Adams comic, and I needed more. It wasn’t until I found a local (kinda local, two towns over) bookstore that I discovered a consistent source of old comics: the Bookworm in Richland, Washington. They had a tiny bathroom that was stuffed to the ceiling with comics: DC on the right and Marvel on the left, assorted oddball stuff on the floor underneath. How many hours did I spend there, fingers raking the stacks, looking for the thicker spines of the DC Giants and 100-Pagers? How many hours did I spend begging my dad for a ride over there? I discovered tons of Sixties comics (this would have been the late Seventies, so Sixties DCs were still around and being brought into the store regularly) and tried to buy all that I didn’t own. I found my first Golden Age comics there (a Captain Marvel Adventures, a Whiz, and a Mary Marvel, all three bought for eight bucks). I picked up a VG Green Lantern #1 for $20 there, in the

Summer 2018

RetroFan

Super Collector

A comic spin rack displaying Bronze Age titles. Look around the room and you’ll also spy items such as the Ideal Toys Captain Action playset, a Mego Superman, and an ElectraWoman figurine.

RetroFan

Summer 2018

special iron box where the store kept the “good” books. They also had an Amazing Spider-Man #1 on the wall, but I never asked what they wanted for it. (Yes, that is the sound of me kicking myself. Hard.) At the Bookworm, I discovered the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide, buying #9 and reading it nearly to pieces, carrying it with me to junior high and thumbing through it every chance I got. I found the All in Color for a Dime paperback and went through four copies of the brittle books. When I found the Steranko comics history books, I read and re-read them to bits as well. I have my third set on my shelves at the moment… signed, of course. I collected every DC and when we got a comic shop, quite a few indies as well. Still very few Marvels, despite my good friend Herman’s advice to try X-Men. I was stubborn. After high school, my collecting went up and down according to finances. I was still collecting and buying new books, but I was also trying to buy more of the comics I either read as a kid (many didn’t survive my childhood or my five siblings) or the Silver and Golden Age comics I had read about. In the Nineties I got back into them, buying old DC (and now Kirby Marvels) by the box at conventions. I ended up working at some local stores and writing for TwoMorrows Publishing, attending the San Diego Comic-Con several years, and picking up even more comics. My collection outgrew my storage, and I ended up having to make a decision—I got rid of 45 short boxes of Nineties books I just didn’t have room for, keeping the stuff I knew I would read again. At this time, I became a dealer. I would buy collections of comics, toys, series books, whatever they had that they wanted to sell and seemed of interest to me at the time. I picked up a trunk of early Forties to mid-Fifties Disney and “funny” comics no other dealer would even look at (no superheroes!). It had Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold and the first appearances of Uncle Scrooge, including #1–20 of Scrooge’s regular series, plus neatly a thousand other books. Got that trunk for $350. That purchase kept the business going for a couple years while I traveled around the area buying and selling. I heard many stories, heard many big expectations, and shattered a few dreams of instant wealth along the way (that poor guy with the early Marvel collection he’d stored unprotected in his garage—you want to talk dirty books). I petered out of dealing as I became too busy writing and acting to go to tiny towns with big housing developments, but I do miss it. Sometimes.

Super Collector

Books

Stewart’s boys’

book collection The first thing I collected was comics, the second thing includes the had to be books. We didn’t have a lot of books around the Alfred Hitchcock house as a kid; we had the Weekly Reader books my mom and the Three signed us up for, but she canceled it after a year or so. We Investigators had her stack of Perry Mason mysteries, old book club hardseries. backs from the Fifties and early Sixties, and encyclopedias a decade out of date. I haunted the libraries at school and went to the public library when I could convince my mother to give me a ride. I grabbed stacks of books—The Three Investigators, The Hardy Boys, Encyclopedia Brown, movie More of histories, American history, WWI history, nearly anything, Tom’s boys’ really. Loved each one and hated giving them up at the books, plus due date. miscellaneous When I discovered the Bookworm, I saw they also had character tie-in more than comics; they had rooms of paperbacks and vehicles. hardbacks. After digging though the comics, I roamed the warren of ad hoc and haphazard rooms piled with books, grabbing old science-fiction, mystery, and history. I would then have to figure out what I could afford from my allowance and the money I got returning bottles and collecting aluminum. It wasn’t until years later that I got serious, though. I have always loved old mystery novels, probably reading those Perry Mason books of my mother’s. I started casually collecting old Perry Mason, Ellery Queen, and other old mysteries I could find in the back room of the dingy old bookstore about 20 blocks from my college apartment (backroom was 25¢ a book). I was collecting to read, but then I wanted only hardback copies, and then only hardback copies with dust jackets, and then only first-edition hardback copies with dust jackets. I expanded my list of authors, always looking for the oddball and esoteric; that’s how I found the work of Harry Stephen Keeler, the mad author of Chicago. He led me to the old rental library press Phoenix Press, which led me to even more obscure works, and I was down another rabbit hole. This one led me to piles of rare mystery, Western, and science-fiction from the Thirties through the Fifties and more stories to tell on the tour I give of the house. I also started a collection of Boys Series books, mostly from the Twenties through the Seventies. As a kid, I read The Hardy Boys and their ilk, but my favorite was Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators. This was a series started in 1964 by Robert Arthur (he’d been a contributor and editor for Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and editor of several of the books under Hitchcock’s name; the series is still being published in Germany, where two movies have been made). I bought what I could from Harry Stephen Keeler the Scholastic Book Club at school; the rest I got from the library. Loved the adventures of Jupiter Harry Stephen Keeler (1890–1967) was to mysteries and Jones, Pete Crenshaw, and Bob Andrews. Read all science-fiction what Charlton Comics’ Joe Gill was to I could, and then forgot them as I grew older. comic books: an insanely prolific writer who cranked One day, I was in one of my favorite places in the out reams of stories. Keeler produced series of novels world, a moldy old bookstore, when I encoun(including Tuddleton Trotter and The Mysterious Mr. I) and tered four of the original Sixties hardbacks of numerous standalone books (with titles like The Case of the Transposed the Investigators. It was like a punch. I bought Legs and The Scarlet Mummy). Neil Gaiman called Keeler “the greatest bad them all, took them home, repaired them (this writer America has ever produced. Or perhaps the worst great writer.” is a theme for collectors—they not only have to

Summer 2018

RetroFan

Super Collector

Superhero muscle cars! Captain Action and Action Boy in the Silver Streak, the Mego Batman and Robin in their Batmobile, and a more recent vintage Batman ’66 Batmobile with the Dynamic Duo. Standing in the background are Ideal Toys’ Knight of Darkness and J. J. Armes figures.

learn everything about their hobby, but often how to care for and repair what they love), and went looking for more. At the same bookstore, I found a stack of ten more, and then at a Value Village I got another stack of the hard-to-find later editions. With the advent of the Internet (thank you, Internet!) I not only completed my collection of the hard-to-find editions but found extras I could turn around and sell to fund more purchases of other series. I now have all the original Investigator books, and a good collection of Hardy Boys, Chip Hilton, Rick Brandt, Ken Holt, Tom Corbett, and others. Buying and selling these books on the Internet led me to be a dealer in books, toys, and comics; I went from addict to dealer. I collect first editions, signed editions, rare plays, personal copies (I have James Cagney’s 1926 copy of Bridgman’s Anatomy with his bookplate and handwritten notes), and a near-complete Perry Mason collection. Probably my best finds were a first American edition of Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days and a first edition of Shane (very rare, with dust jacket), both found at thrift stores for a couple of dollars each. Books make a home, I think, and I have a very crowded home.

Toys

I think I started collecting toys because I either wanted the ones I had as a kid, or the ones I wanted but never got. This is fairly common in the collecting hobby, almost like revenge collecting. It started as an adult when I found a nude Mego Batman at a rummage sale for a buck. Well, I just can’t leave him naked, can I? And if I have Batman, well, Batman needs a Robin! And a Batmobile! A collection of Western books and figures, the And a Batcave! And what about all latter including some his Justice League and Starfleet pals? Marx Johnny West About this time eBay came along, and figures and Gabriel once again I was lost. And then I got Lone Ranger figures, into Captain Action. with miscellaneous The good Captain was the Nineitems peppered around. in-One Superhero, Ideal Toys’ answer 76

RetroFan

Summer 2018

Super Collector

to Hasbro’s G.I .Joe. While he only lasted roughly three years, he is remembered fondly by collectors (I think the cool ads in various Sixties comics might have helped). Check out editor Michael Eury’s book Captain Action: The Original Super-Hero Action Figure for much more info. [Unsolicited but appreciated plug! Word of warning: Two editions of my Captain Action book are now out of print.—ed.] Need I say, after seeing those ads as a collector, I had to have one! He was really hard to find. In the pre-Internet days (the before times, the long ago) I picked up a figure and box on a layaway plan with a local vintage toy shop. I was thrilled just to hold what seemed to be a huge figure in my hands. After the Internet I picked up more stuff, joined a list of like-minded crazy collectors, and got the rest of the sets. The Captain and his sidekick Action Boy keep sentinel over my other collections from the top of a bookshelf today. From the Captain I went to G.I. Joe. And that’s a deep rabbit hole. The Joe universe is so vast and deep; it has its own little section, eddies, and back alleys where people debate endlessly the history and the “best” versions of their favorite Joes. It can get a bit dizzying. The thing about collecting Joe is educating yourself as to what you’re looking at; there were so many iterations, knockoffs, and rip-offs that you have to know the history and how to tell the

difference from American Joe, Canadian Joe, Action Man, and Mego’s Johnny Action, among others. I bought stacks of Joe stuff, both as a collector and (once I learned what I was doing) a dealer. Since I wasn’t rich (working in non-profit and acting/writing) I would buy broken figures and repair them. I learned how to restring and make old Joes talk again. It was oddly rewarding. At one point, I had a collection of 150-plus Joes, with different uniforms (the 12-inch Joes of the Sixties and Seventies; I didn’t have the brain space for the Eighties figures) plus nearly all the equipment, vehicles, and playsets—even won “Best of Show” at a local fair in Seattle. Then I got rid of nearly all of it. I had gotten to the point where I was going to have to start either upgrading the collection (a better box, or better goggles) or hunting down the really rare stuff (the Canadian-only motorcycle cop set) to complete the collection, so I let most of it go, and I needed money for siding for the house. I still have the Captain Action collection (nearly complete), the Mego Batman, Robin, and Superman (the ones I remember having as a kid; the rest went to pay some unexpected bills), and a bunch of favorite Joes I kept. Who knows, I might collect them all over again.

Part of Tom Stewart’s Captain Action collection. Note the Captain Action card game (which was available through KoolPops) and minicomic (which was inserted into some CA products).

A few of Tom’s many G.I. Joe figures and accessories, with a certain roundheaded kid’s beagle getting into the spaceexploration act.

Summer 2018

RetroFan

Super Collector

Autographs

I think it was book and movie collecting that led me into collecting autographs. In collecting you often go after something because it was a piece of your favorite movie, or author, or features a favorite star; what could be better than having something actually owned, touched, or signed by someone you admire? I go after signatures of people I like and admire, or signed versions of favorite books and movie memorabilia. I may not admire [Jerry Lewis lookalike] Sammy Petrillo, but I have a signed lobby card from his movie Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla. I also have Cary Grant, Laurence Olivier, Franklin Roosevelt, James Cagney, Jack Webb, Nat King Cole, Buster Keaton, and Charlie Chaplin on the walls, and a few hundred more signed photos, cards, and signatures in books. I collected the bulk of the autographs back in the Eighties and Nineties from trusted dealers and other collectors. These days I get several signed books though thrift stores (places like Goodwill rarely actually check inside the book; I even got a Carl Sandburg signed edition through them) and secondhand stores. A tip: When poking around, check inside celebrity bios and recent (Eighties and up) mystery novels. Both celebrities and mystery writers tour often and hold events, and mystery writers tend to sign more books, increasing the likelihood of finding a signed copy. I have several by my favorites like Ray Bradbury, Harry Stephen Keeler, Carl Sandburg, and Tennessee Williams. And, of course, Erle Stanley Gardner, the creator of Perry Mason.

Movie Memorabilia

Framed poster from Chapter 9 of the Batman movie serial.

RetroFan

Summer 2018

I love movies—come on, who doesn’t? I used to watch the crappy old B-movies my local TV station had in its library, and then go looking for more. I read every movie history book in the library (I recommend anything by Kevin Brownlow) and checked out the 16mm projectors and films that were in the collection. Every month a new batch would make the circuit, so I’d reserve them and show them in my basement. Some I saw a dozen or so times, forward and then backward. I saw Hardware Wars and The Gold Rush so many times I memorized them. So when I got older, I got more into my favorite movies, which meant having a piece of them if possible. I picked up a few posters and lobby cards (smaller than posters, 11" × 14"; they usually came in sets). It was a chance meeting with a man that used to work at the Smithsonian that led me to getting my first real vintage piece, a 1941 poster for the serial Captain Midnight he’d used to illustrate an article in the Smithsonian Magazine. After that, I was lost. I collect mostly posters from movies I like and stars/directors I admire. James Cagney, Jimmy Stewart, Bogart, Keaton, Chaplin, Cary Grant, and the Marx Brothers are all up on the wall, plus posters from such serials at Batman (1943), Captain America

Super Collector

Some of the goodies from Stewart’s House of Collectibles on view here: Tom’s guitars, Bobby Kennedy memorabilia, and (inside case) Perry Mason and Harry Stephen Keeler books.

(1944), Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941), Charade, and Catalina Caper (look it up, I dare you). I have so many posters that I sometimes forget what I have; recently going through them I found I have a couple of duplicates. I also collect actual 16 and 8mm films and projectors, old silents, cartoons, TV episodes, feature films I like, and old serials. I need a bigger house with more wall and closet space. Collecting movies and books also led me to collecting autographs and signed editions as well.

cardboard case and a free lesson that consisted of learning the riff to “Smoke on the Water”) and played that until it wouldn’t stay in tune anymore (still played it, though). After too many years of it sitting in the closet, I got it repaired at the same time my wife bought me a Yamaha acoustic. I then got the bug: scouring yard and rummage sales for old guitars and learning how to fix them. It was something like my G.I. Joe collection; in order to afford what I wanted, I would find broken ones and learn to repair them. I love a project, as my house testifies. Guitars Sometimes I succeeded and the guitar sang again, sometimes I Ah, geeze. I love guitars. I play lousy, but I just love the feel of a did not and I took it to a professional who either commiserated vintage instrument. I bought my first guitar, a crappy and beaten with me or told me off. Sometimes both. My favorite was a 1956 arch-top, at a flea market in the mid-Eighties. Someone had taken Harmony Monterey I received off eBay (Ah, eBay again! Where what looked like white house paint and slathered the poor thing. It would we be without it?) as a beaten shell. I took months sanding, had never done anything to them but they punished it with a thick filing, and collecting vintage and new parts until I reassembled coat of Dutchboy. It also sported a homemade bridge whittled out it. I then had it electrified and play it when I want that thick and of a dirty chunk of balsa. Loved that piece of junk and played it all twangy sound. I own eight now, mostly vintage, the most recent the time. I replaced it a year or so later with a cheap sunburst Arbor a 20-buck junker from Goodwill that I pieced back together with acoustic I starved myself to afford (along with an even cheaper new frets, a bridge, and a new nut, and replaced some binding here and there. Has a good ring to it. Now I haven’t even gotten to the sci-fi collections, the Western collection, Catalina Caper (we looked it up for you!) the Lone Ranger collection, the Bobby Catalina Caper was a 1967 movie mash-up of the beach party Kennedy memorabilia, the Rockabilly and crime heist genres, with a group of fun-in-the-sun frolickrecord collection, the 1966 Batmobile ers (fronted by former Disney everyboy Tommy Kirk) becoming collection, the Hot Wheels collection, embroiled in some nasty business involving a pilfered ancient the letterman jackets, the Fifties delivChinese scroll. Despite elements of danger, Kirk and pals managed ery jackets… Well, you get the picture. to groove to the music of guest stars Little Richard, Carol Connors, I said I have a lot of stuff. I’m a collector, and the Cascades. It was directed by Lee “Roll ’Em” Sholem, known and a fan. to many comics fans as the director of Superman and the Mole Men as well as 14 episodes of TV’s Adventures of Superman. Next issue: Super Collector Terry Collins

and his collection of character lunch boxes.

Summer 2018

RetroFan

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