RetroFan #21 by TwoMorrows Publishing

July 2022 No. 21 $10.95

Let’s rocket!

ASTRO BOY

n... a m o w t a C t rr-fec u p e h t t e e M

R A M W E N E I JUL

Take a Pleasant Valley Sunday spin in The Monkeemobile!

Pebbles Cereal History • The Untouchables • Search • Soviet Expo ’77 & more! 1

82658 00464

Featuring Andy Mangels • Will Murray • Scott Saavedra • Scott Shaw! • Mark Voger • Michael Eury Catwoman © DC Comics. Astro Boy © Tezuka Productions Co., Ltd. Tarzan © Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

RetroFan: The Pop Culture You Grew Up With! Remember when Saturday morning television was our domain, and ours alone? When tattoos came from bubble gum packs, Slurpees came in superhero cups, and TV heroes taught us to be nice to each other? If you love Pop Culture of the Sixties, Seventies, and Eighties, TwoMorrows’ new magazine is just for you! Editor MICHAEL EURY (author of numerous books on pop culture, former editor for DC Comics and Dark Horse Comics, and editor of TwoMorrows’ Eisner Award-winning BACK ISSUE magazine for comic book fans) has assembled an unbeatable roster of regular and rotating Celebrity Columnists to cover the pop culture you grew up with: • ANDY MANGELS (best-selling sci-fi author and award-winning pop culture historian) • ERNEST FARINO (Emmy Award-winning visual effects designer, animator, and director) • SCOTT SHAW! (acclaimed cartoonist, animator, Emmy Award-winning storyboard artist, and historian) • WILL MURRAY (pulp adventure novelist and pop culture historian) • SCOTT SAAVEDRA (graphic designer, cartoonist, and COMIC BOOK HEAVEN creator) • MARK VOGER (renowned pop culture newspaper columnist and book author), and others!

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Meet Mission: Impossible’s LYNDA DAY GEORGE in an exclusive interview! Celebrate Rambo’s 50th birthday with his creator, novelist DAVID MORRELL! Plus: TV faves WKRP IN CINCINNATI and SPACE: 1999, Fleisher’s and Filmation’s SUPERMAN cartoons, commercial jingles, JERRY LEWIS and BOB HOPE comic books, and more fun, fab features! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

Interviews with Lost in Space’s ANGELA CARTWRIGHT and BILL MUMY, and Land of the Lost’s WESLEY EURE! Revisit Leave It to Beaver with JERRY MATHERS, TONY DOW, and KEN OSMOND! Plus: UNDERDOG, Rankin-Bass’ stop-motion classic THE LITTLE DRUMMER BOY, Christmas gifts you didn’t want, the CABBAGE PATCH KIDS fad, and more! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

Meet the stars behind the Black Lagoon: RICOU BROWNING, BEN CHAPMAN, JULIE ADAMS, and LORI NELSON! Plus SHADOW CHASERS, featuring show creator KENNETH JOHNSON. Also: THE BEATLES’ YELLOW SUBMARINE, FLASH GORDON cartoons, TV’s cult classic THE PRISONER and kid’s show ZOOM, COLORFORMS, M&Ms, and more fun, fab features! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

Surf’s up as SIXTIES BEACH MOVIES make a RetroFan splash! Plus: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, ZORRO’s Saturday morning cartoon, TV’s THE WILD, WILD WEST, CARtoons and other drag-mags, VALSPEAK, and more fun, fab features! Like, totally! Featuring columns by ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, and MARK VOGER! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

MAD’s maddest artist, SERGIO ARAGONÉS, is profiled! Plus: TV’s Route 66 and an interview with star GEORGE MAHARIS, MOE HOWARD’s final years, singer B. J. THOMAS in one of his final interviews, LONE RANGER cartoons, G.I. JOE, and more! Featuring columns by ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, and MARK VOGER! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

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Interview with Bond Girl and Hammer Films actress CAROLINE MUNRO! Plus: WACKY PACKAGES, COURAGEOUS CAT AND MINUTE MOUSE, FILMATION’S GHOSTBUSTERS vs. the REAL GHOSTBUSTERS, Bandai’s rare PRO WRESTLER ERASERS, behind the scenes of Sixties movies, WATERGATE at Fifty, Go-Go Dancing, a visit to the Red Skelton Museum, and more fun, fab features!

Our BARBARA EDEN interview will keep you forever dreaming of Jeannie! Plus: The Invaders, the BILLIE JEAN KING/BOBBY RIGGS tennis battle of the sexes, HANNABARBERA’s Saturday morning super-heroes of the Sixties, THE MONSTER TIMES fanzine, and more fun, fab features! Featuring ERNEST FARINO, ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW!, and MICHAEL EURY.

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

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

Sixties teen idol RICKY NELSON remembered by his son MATTHEW NELSON, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., rural sitcom purge, EVEL KNIEVEL toys, the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, Saturday morning’s Super 7, The Muppet Show, behind-the-scenes photos of Sixties movies, an interview with The Sound of Music’s heartthrob-turnedbad guy DANIEL “Rolf” TRUHITTE, and more fun, fab features!

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99

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(Turn to the inside back cover for older back issues of RetroFan!)

The Crazy Cool Culture We Grew Up With Issue #21 July 2022

Columns and Special Features

Oddball World of Scott Shaw! Pebbles Cereal

3 46

Departments

Retrotorial

Will Murray’s 20th Century Panopticon The Untouchables

Too Much TV Quiz

67 57

Voger’s Vault of Vintage Varieties Julie Newmar

RetroFad The Slinky

Celebrity Crushes

Retro Cartoons Astro Boy

Super Collector The Monkeemobile

Retro Television Search

RetroFanmail

ReJECTED

Scott Saavedra’s Secret Sanctum Soviet Expo ’77

Andy Mangels’ Retro Saturday Morning Tarzan RetroFan™ issue 21, July 2022. (ISSN 2576-7224 ) is published bimonthly by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614, USA. Phone: (919) 449-0344. Periodicals postage pending at Raleigh, NC. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to RetroFan, c/o TwoMorrows, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614. Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief. John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Office: RetroFan, c/o Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief, 112 Fairmount Way, New Bern, NC 28562. Email: euryman@gmail.com. Six-issue subscriptions: $68 Economy US, $103 International, $29 Digital. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Catwoman © DC Comics. Astro Boy © Tezuka Productions Co., Ltd. Tarzan © Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. All Rights Reserved. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2022 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING.

BY MICHAEL EURY

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michael Eury

CONTRIBUTORS Michael Eury Robert Greenberger Katherine Kerestman Michael Knight Andy Mangels Will Murray Scott Saavedra Scott Shaw! Bill Spangler Mark Voger DESIGNER Scott Saavedra

SPECIAL THANKS Jim Alexander DC Comics Darren Goodhart Hake’s Auctions Heritage Auctions King Features Syndicate, Inc. Steve Luttrell John Rose Warner Bros. VERY SPECIAL THANKS Julie Newmar Ken Steacy

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RETROFAN

July 2022

Some recent issues of RetroFan have reached your bookstore, comic shop, or mailbox later than anticipated. Pandemic-related delays have hampered our distribution, from international shipping (we print in China) to California port processing to cross-country truck and postal deliveries. Unfortunately this matter has been out of our control, but rest assured that once the issues arrive, the content will be just as fun and informative as ever. Here’s hoping that by the time you read this in the summer of 2022, these woes will be behind us. In the meantime, thank you for your patience! Maybe the distribution network needs to take a cue from good ol’ Spark Plug. Barney Google’s horse is turning 100 (!) on July 17, 2022. In case you missed the Snuffy Smith history in RetroFan #5 (and if you did, you can rectify that by ordering a copy at www.twomorrows.com), King Features Syndicate’s long-running Barney Google and Snuffy Smith comic strip, which bowed in 1919 with Barney as the star before being taken over by the popular but lazy hillbilly, the bodacious Snuffy Smith, hasn’t missed a beat in over 100 years now. (Spark Plug, are you up for carrying some RetroFan copies coast-to-coast?) Ye ed’s honorary “cousin,” cartoonist John Rose, will be commemorating Spark Plug’s big One-0-0 in the Barney Google and Snuffy Smith comic strip in newspapers as well as on John’s website, https://comicskingdom.com/barney-google-andsnuffy-smith. Happy Birthday, Spark Plug! Another of our cartoonist pals, Darren Goodhart, was so enchanted by columnist Andy Mangels’ feature on the Filmation Saturday morning cartoon Super 7 in RetroFan #15 that he illustrated this fantasy cover imagining a Super 7 comic book from DC Comics. We’d buy that for a dollar! Thanks for sharin’, Darren! Holy moley, I’m almost out of room and haven’t yet said a word about the 79 pages that follow! But why do I need to yammer on when you can let your fingers (and your peeps) do the walking through these retro pages? So get ready for another groovy grab-bag of the crazy, cool culture we grew up with!

PUBLISHER John Morrow

THE ODDBALL WORLD OF SCOTT SHAW!

“BARNEY! MY BLOOD SUGAR!”

An Insider’s History of Post's Pebbles Cereal BY SCOTT SHAW!

Barney “Rip-off” Rubble filches Fred Flintstone’s Fruity Pebbles! The Flintstones © Hanna-Barbera Productions. Animated cel courtesy of Heritage.

When I was eight years old, I was a major fan of Hanna-Barbera and Jay Ward cartoons. The wonderful Rocky and His Friends was Ward’s only show at the time, but H-B already had The Ruff and Reddy Show, The Huckleberry Hound Show, and their latest, The Quick Draw McGraw Show. (Somehow, I’d missed those Loopy DeLoop theatrical cartoon shorts from H-B, although after seeing a few of them, maybe that was a good thing.) ABC was also starting to heavily promote the fact that H-B had a new weekly cartoon show coming up, one that would be aired at night and which was like The Honeymooners in a prehistoric setting and did not star funny-animal characters. And when an image of Fred Flintstone first appeared in San Diego’s newspaper—or was that TV Guide?—my first thought was, “Wow, he looks like my dad—as a caveman!” By the time The Flintstones premiered on ABC (September 30, 1960), I had turned nine. The show was everything H-B promised and more. I particularly liked its dinosaur designs because at that time, I had dual goals: to grow up to be a cartoonist or a paleontologist. And since I was a fat kid who lacked an internal editor, I really identified with Fred. When the first-aired episode “The Flintstone Flyer” was over, I clearly recall leaning forward, with my nose about six inches away from our black-and-white television, and whispering to myself:

“That’s what I’m gonna do.” So much for “paleontologist”—The Flintstones combined both of my favorite things! Of course, I wasn’t the only one who dug The Flintstones, the 1960 forerunner to 1989’s The Simpsons, and the public reaction was as similar as the two cartoon shows: both adults and kids absolutely flipped for it.

BOWLED OVER

1960’s most popular cereals included the old standards like General Mills’ Cheerios, Kellogg’s Corn Flakes and Rice Krispies, and new fare such as Kellogg’s Special K, Cocoa Krispies, Sugar Smacks, and Sugar Pops; General Mills’ Trix and Cocoa Puffs; and Post’s AlphaBits. My favorite was Cheerios—I’d dump on the sugar—but I’d really eat anything that hid a cool giveaway item inside its box. As the Sixties went on, many new cereals were introduced, with new flavors, new gimmicks, and new spokes-characters. More failed than survived, but one new product in particular, created in 1963 by a corporation and a cartoon studio, changed everything in the cereal aisle. Of course, it wasn’t just any cartoon studio, it was Jay Ward Productions. After seeing pitch art from Hollywood’s top animation RETROFAN

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studios, the Quaker Oats H-B’s Flintstones’ cast Company decided to work of cave-people fit the task with Ward and his creative perfectly. The primetime show team. That’s not surprising; aired on ABC until September the studio was getting noticed 1967 and had recently shifted for the syndicated Rocky and to Saturday mornings for an His Friends series (1959) and all-children audience. Not NBC’s The Bullwinkle Show only was The Flintstones a (1961), the hippest cartoon long-running, easily recogseries on TV. Ward asked the nized, and popular intellectual Quaker Oats folks to describe property, the show was the proposed cereal. “Sweet originally aimed at a primarily and crunchy” was the answer adult audience. Therefore, and that’s what Ward’s team the intended kids’ cereal came up with, a sweet old would be attractive to two sailor named Cap’n Crunch. groups: the adult parents who Adding a crew of kids and purchased the product and a pooch, the studio had all the children who consumed the elements necessary to it. Plus, The Flintstones series produce clever, complex, would remind both groups beautifully animated-in-Hollywood of the Flintstones cereal, and vice 60-second cartoon TV commercials versa. In fact, Weiss considered every that were as entertaining as Ward’s 22-minute episode of The Flintstones five-minute Rocky and Bullwinkle that aired to be the equivalent of 22 segments. Kids loved the cereal— one-minute commercials for Pebbles willing to sacrifice the roofs of their cereal! eager mouths for the Cap’n—and Fiendishly clever, eh? loved the commercials, too. They Weiss’ next challenge was how proved that advertising aimed at to differentiate the new cereal children has to be entertaining. It’s stand-out from Kellogg’s Rice just too easy to change channels Krispies. The rice pieces were already when you’re a bored child. smaller and flatter, but colors and Post Cereals’ Crispy Critters was flavors would make the difference, introduced the year before Cap’n so instead of one new rice-based Crunch, the basis for the Linus the Lionproduct, Weiss created two. One Hearted cartoon series in 1964. But would be fruit-flavored with color to neither the TV show nor the cereal match, while the other would taste lasted for long. But four years later... like chocolate with a rich brown color. Fruity and Cocoa Pebbles cereals These colorful, tasty new cereals were were created and developed in 1968 intended to make the competition by Post’s Product Group Manager look like Snap, Crackle, and “Pap”! Larry Weiss. His goal was to increase Finally, the dual brands Post’s market share in the competneeded names that were fun and Did the creepy Krinkles the Clown, Fifties’ itive children’s cereal market, so he appropriately prehistoric. Combining hawker of Post’s Sugar Rice Krinkles, imprint experimented with a cereal brand the appearance of the cereal pieces young Stephen King to later write It!? Post on the wane. The sales for Sugar and good ol’ Bedrockian logic, the took another wrong turn in the Sixties when it Rice Krinkles, a once popular cereal, cereal’s original working names replaced this bozo with an offensive stereotype were down, very possibly because its were “Flint Chips” and “Rubble on Rice Krinkles’ boxes, a diminutive “Oriental” Stones.” Not simple nor all that mascot was a creepy clown. Weiss named “So-Hi”—even offering a So-Hi considered Sugar Rice Krinkles to be appealing, they were changed to Rickshaw Racer as a free gift inside! © Post Consumer “Fruity Pebbles” and “Cocoa Pebbles,” the perfect candidate for a complete Brands. makeover. He met with DC Comics, thanks to a suggestion from the Marvel Comics, Archie Comics, and creative head of Post Cereals' ad Hanna-Barbera Productions, all of which owned time-tested agency Benton & Bowles, Frank Corey. characters with high levels of popularity and recognition to adults Weiss’ instincts were better than he realized. Since then, and children. Weiss pitched them the notion of a permanent Bedrock’s favorite citizens appeared in further reruns, animated TV spokes-character for his transformed version of an about-to-be-reseries, live-action films, toys, garments, and vitamins… and cereal. tired cereal, a concept that had never been applied to a re-branded And that’s why Pebbles remains the oldest surviving cereal brand product. based on a TV show or movie. 4

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WHAT? NO CACTUS COLA FLAVOR?

Fruity Pebbles, introduced as “Pebbles” in 1969, and Cocoa Pebbles, introduced in 1970, were tested on supermarket shelves on the West Coast. That was due to an internal concern at Post that the cereal might turn out to be a short-lived fad that would quickly burn out. Both Fruity and Cocoa Pebbles cereals were finally distributed across the nation by Post Consumer Brands on October 20, 1971. That was about a month after Hanna-Barbera’s The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show—a rather blatant prehistoric imitation of Filmation’s The Archie Show—began airing on CBS every Saturday morning. Coincidence? Aw, c’mon. Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera were always eager to exploit their cartoons whenever possible. Within The Flintstones’ first season, their studio was animating commercials for Kellogg’s cereal (featuring a lot of familiar H-B cartoon funny animals) and primetime spots for Winston cigarettes and Bayer’s One A Day multiple vitamins (which led to Bill and Joe making a Flintstones Vitamins deal with the corporation in 1968). Unlike Post’s puffy Sugar Rice Krinkles, both flavors of Pebbles consisted of smaller, flatter pieces of crispy rice that could be visually interpreted as rocks. Focus-group testing indicated that kids preferred Pebbles because they could fit more of its pieces in their mouths than Rice Krispies. Fruity Pebbles began with only three colors—orange, red, and yellow—and natural orange, lemon, and tangerine flavors, but were later flavored in natural orange and artificial lemon and cherry. Here’s the Atlanta-based business the Flaming Candle’s description of the experience of sticking one’s nose into a box of Fruity Pebbles: “This sweet fruity fragrance is bursting with flavor—tart lemon and sweet orange—soft lavender and corn cereal notes. It is sweetened with a base of vanilla blended with warm sandalwood.” (Uhh,

I don’t think you could possibly pay Barney Rubble enough to spew that much effusive dialogue...) The basic product retained the Sugar Rice Krinkles form, using the existing process and production facilities in Battle Creek, Michigan. The flavors, colors, and other details were developed by Post’s product experts. Cocoa Pebbles’ formula was set and has remained largely unchanged over the years. Fruity Pebbles also remained essentially unchanged for decades. In recent years, some additions and variations have been made to the Fruity Pebbles’ product formulation. Both Fruity Pebbles and Cocoa Pebbles were reformulated as part of the early-2010s’ industry-led sugar-reduction effort. The original formulation contained 12 grams per 3/4 cup serving, while the 2011 reformulation (still current as of this writing in 2021) contains nine grams sugar per 3/4 cup serving. Here are the ingredients of Post Fruity Pebbles cereal: rice, sugar, hydrogenated oil (coconut and palm kernel oils), salt, contains less than 0.5% of natural and artificial flavor, red 40, yellow 6, turmeric oleoresin (color), blue 1, yellow 5, blue 2, BHA (to help protect flavor). Vitamins and minerals: sodium ascorbate (source of vitamin C), ascorbic acid (vitamin C), niacinamide, reduced iron, zinc oxide (source of zinc), vitamin B6, vitamin A

Post wisely tapped Hanna-Barbera’s The Flintstones for its rebooted Rice Krinkles cereal, now remarketed as Pebbles. (RIGHT) Fruity Pebbles box from 1972. (ABOVE) Original art for that box’s promotion. Illustration attributed to Bob Traverse. © Post Consumer Brands. The Flintstones © Hanna-Barbera Productions. Courtesy of Heritage.

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palmitate, riboflavin (vitamin B2), thiamin mononitrate (vitamin B1), folic acid, vitamin B12, vitamin D). These are the ingredients of Post Cocoa Pebbles cereal: rice, sugar, canola oil, cocoa (processed with alkali), salt, caramel color, natural and artificial flavor, BHT added to preserve freshness. Vitamins and minerals: niacinamide (vitamin B3), reduced iron, zinc oxide, vitamin A palmitate, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), thiamin mononitrate (vitamin B1), riboflavin (vitamin B2), folic acid, vitamin D3, and vitamin B12. No mention of actual fruit or actual chocolate as key ingredients? “That’s why they’re called ‘fruity’ and ‘chocolatey’!”—Post’s team of lawyers. At least the chocolatey milk left at the bottom of a finished bowl of Cocoa Pebbles is tasty, but who wants to drink the milk left by Fruity Pebbles? Gray milk is decidedly not appealing, even if it’s just the effect of mixing edible pigments. Canada’s version of Pebbles Cereal, which came in the form of pebble-shaped puffs, was composed of whole wheat, corn flour, and oat flour. Due to character licensing and copyright issues, as well as a Canadian law that popular cartoon characters on television cannot sell products such as cereal, Fruity and Cocoa Pebbles are not sold in Canada at this time.

GOOD ENOUGH TO STEAL

The first Post Pebbles Cereal commercials were concocted at the manufacturer’s New York City advertising agency and produced at Hanna-Barbera Productions in Hollywood. Primarily directed by

noted Disney animator Art Babbit, they were animated by many of H-B’s top animators; the same ones who worked on MGM’s Tom & Jerry cartoon shorts with Bill and Joe in the Forties and Fifties. The commercials featured voiceover performances by most of the original Flintstones voice crew: Alan Reed, Jr. as Fred Flintstone, Mel Blanc as Barney Rubble and Dino, Jean Vander Pyl as Wilma Flintstone and Pebbles Flintstone, Gay Hartweg (replacing Bea Benaderet) as Betty Rubble, and John Stephenson as Mr. Slate. The original advertising campaign seemed to lack a theme, other than selling cereal. Some of the animated commercials featured cereal-craving prehistoric parodies of King Kong and Godzilla. Others featured the Flintstones and Rubbles enjoying breakfast together at home and around Bedrock. A few even featured Fred and Barney interacting with live-action children, a process more costly than regular animation. Some even had an awful jingle: “If you put sweet Pebbles in your mouth, you’ll never have rocks in your head.” With a lame credo like that, it’s surprising that the brand survived at all! Mysteriously, around 1975, the Pebbles commercials suddenly went from high-budget quality to the cat-box level. There was finally a consistent campaign, but its sheer weirdness is the only aspect that’s memorable. Crudely animated by Raymond Favata at NYC’s Tempo Studios, each spot depicted one or more of the Flintstones and Rubbles turning into a grotesque monster whenever they looked at a bowl of the “new” and supposedly brighter-colored Fruity Pebbles. Fortunately, there weren’t many of them, but they remain kinda fascinating in a so-bad-it’s-good way. I find it odd

Even dinosaurs love Pebbles! Cocoa Pebbles TV commercial concept art, c. 1980s, artist unknown. The Flintstones © Hanna-Barbera Productions. Courtesy of Heritage.

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Yabba-Dabba-Don’t…! Post turned Fred’s bosom buddy into a serial cereal thief beginning in the Eighties. The Flintstones © Hanna-Barbera Productions. Animated cel courtesy of Heritage.

that the commercials weren’t animated at H-B, especially since Post was willing to pay the original Flintstones voice actors. It may have been a budgetary decision, or perhaps the ad agency preferred to work with an animation house nearby. At least this Pebbles era was a relatively short one. By 1978, the animated Pebbles advertisements had returned to Hanna-Barbera Productions. D’Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles was no longer Post’s ad agency. The spots were now being hatched, pitched, and overseen by the Los Angeles office of Ogilvy & Mather. Not only had the commercials’ creative source changed, so had the presentations. Each spot was free of live-action performers and the quality of the animation was much better, but not quite as well executed as the earliest Pebbles commercials, probably due to smaller budgets and schedules. The big difference was a new campaign, one which was so successful that Pebbles Cereal would become Post’s second biggest brand and Ogilvy & Mather L.A.’s most profitable account. But I’m getting ahead of myself here… Focus-group testing revealed that over the years, young viewers interpreted the overall message of children’s cereal commercials as, “If something’s worth stealing, it must be good!” This mindset was played out in countless Trix and Lucky Charms spots, among many others. The new Pebbles campaign embraced that pattern, with Fred (always the “protector”) as a guy who’s about to scarf down his bowl of Pebbles cereal, until his pal Barney (always the “craver” and usually disguised) cleverly outwits Fred, but accidentally or intentionally reveals himself, then runs off with Post’s breakfast. Each and every Pebbles commercial would lead to a frustrated Fred blowing his stack while bellowing, “Barney! My Pebbles!” The phrase “They’re Yabba-Dabba-Delicious!” would occasionally be invoked if there was any spare time within the 30-second spots. Meanwhile, late in 1978 in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley, my career as a cartoonist was also changing. A few years before, my pal Mark Evanier had recommended me as an inker to Chase Craig, the editor of Marvel’s short-lived line of Hanna-Barbera comics.

Chase soon retired and Mark took on the editorship, allowing me to also start writing and penciling for the Marvel books as well as the studio’s overseas publishers. My work in those funnybooks was noticed by H-B’s Creative Director Iwao Takamoto, who hired me as a staff character and prop designer/layout artist. After a training period on The Godzilla Power Hour, my first big assignment was on another Flintstones revival, NBC’s The New Fred And Barney Show. Eighteen years earlier, The Flintstones had premiered. And I’d finally lived up to that promise I quietly made to myself on September 30, 1960: “That’s what I’m gonna do.”

ENDORSED BY BILL HANNA

I wound up working in H-B’s layout department for the next four years. During that time, I also began to do freelance work for the studio, including character models, concept art for “pitching” new shows, publicity art, and storyboards for title sequences and commercials. In 1982, I left H-B to develop and co-create Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew! for DC Comics, but continued to freelance for H-B. I was recommended to Funnybone Films’ animated commercial director Ken Walker. He needed someone to storyboard, design, and lay out a new breakdancing-themed commercial for Fruity Pebbles cereal. Before long, partially due to my love for and knowledge of The Flintstones, and my relationship with Hanna-Barbera Productions, I become one of those available freelancers who were on “The List” for the small animation studios around L.A. I specialized in pitch art, character designs, storyboards, and layouts. After Captain Carrot, I wound up at Marvel Productions as a story director and head of model designs on Jim Henson’s Muppet Babies for CBS. Despite my daytime job, I continued to work on new Pebbles commercials, not just for Funnybone Films, but other studios as well. I was working day and night, so much that I once turned in a Muppet Babies storyboard I drew while half-awake. The next day, the producer called me to his office to let me know that RETROFAN

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The oddball world of scott shaw!

I’d drawn Fred and Barney as cast members in Mr. Henson’s cartoon series. I was really embarrassed, but that didn’t prevent me from continuing to moonlight in advertising. At first, I had very little input into my Pebbles gigs. I was expected to work from locked-down scripts, dialogue recordings, and crude presentation storyboards. My job was to interpret them as clearly and entertainingly as possible. I often made creative suggestions through the directors, but Ogilvy & Mather rarely listened. Still, I enjoyed working on these commercials, even if I was unintentionally influencing kids to eat food that’s not very healthy. Hey, I weighed over 400 pounds at one point, so what did I know about healthy food? Besides, I loved the Flintstones so much, it wouldn’t be much of a moral struggle if I had been approached to create advertising for Flintstones Yabba-Dabba-Death Nerve Gas. The early spots I worked on were a continuation of the “Barney, my Pebbles!” campaign, with breakdancing and a parody of Jane Fonda’s workout videos as well as musical themes about heavy metal and a prehistoric Bruce Springsteen named “Rock Rockstone.” But who expected Playhouse Pictures’ “The Master Rapper”—animated by Malcolm Draper—would have an influence on hip-hop music almost 40 years later? Look up online “I love my Fruity Pebbles in a major way” and you’ll see what I’m referring to! But as time went on, the agency’s creative director and art director, as well as some of the directors, were getting older and more out of touch with kids. The commercials were repetitious and unfunny, looking kinda shabby, and the concepts were often lame (“Chinese Fruit Jugglers”). Based on the cereals’ sales, the commercials weren’t performing well. I was starting to get frustrated. But then, the stars aligned… I was on staff at Film Roman storyboarding an educational cartoon show about wooly mammoths and cavemen called Cro, when I got the news that the Pebbles’ art director at Ogilvy & Mather Los Angeles was retiring. Although I had absolutely no education that prepared me for the job, I decided to apply for the position of art director in 1991. Surprisingly, I got the job and was fortunate to negotiate a deal that my day job was to create the pitches and oversee the results of the Pebbles commercials, while my production work, as well as package art, premium designs, and print ads would be executed on a separate freelance basis and billed accordingly. I was immediately assigned to art direct every Pebbles Cereal spot, as well as Alpha-Bits and Marshmallow Alpha-Bits. (Much later,

Scott Shaw!’s sketches of Bedrock’s favorite citzens (and pets). (ABOVE) Fred Flintstone. The Flintstones © Hanna-Barbera Productions. Courtesy of Scott Shaw!

Dino. Bamm-Bamm Rubble. 8

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The oddball world of scott shaw!

Barney Rubble.

Betty Rubble.

HOW TO MAKE PEBBLES ADS, THE SCOTT SHAW! WAY While working on the Pebbles Cereal TV commercials, both as a freelancer and as their key creator, these were the goals I always tried to achieve:

Wilma Flintstone.

f Make funny and entertaining commercials. f Make unique, multi-audience, and multi-viewable commercials. f Make current, kid-relevant commercials. f Make each commercial feel like a seven-minute cartoon “short.” f Make the best Flintstones cartoons possible. The Flintstones © Hanna-Barbera Productions.

Hoppy.

Pebbles Flintstone.

I created pitches for new kid-focused campaigns for Jell-O, Log Cabin Syrup, and Tang’s “Orangeutan.”) I was one busy Bedrockian. Ironically, I was also working for the same creative director that oversaw the spots since 1978, and ironically whose cartoonist father animated on the sixth season of The Flintstones. (So much for DNA.) At least now I could attempt to solve many of the issues that I felt were subverting the Pebbles campaign. But it wouldn’t be easy. I’d already dealt with studio bosses and network executroids when I was producing and directing NBC’s The Completely Mental Misadventures Ed Grimley and Camp Candy, but it was still daunting to surf a profession that I only knew from Bewitched. I never much liked Bewitched. And real advertising corporations are very much like Bewitched. And chock-full of Larry Tates. Lotsa politics, phonies, two-faces, and egos, just like Hollywood, but not nearly as interesting. (At least Bewitched had H-B titles!) I didn’t fit in and didn’t want to. I had to fight for my ideas, but it was worth it. I wrote, I drew, I had input in the voice recordings, I even faked Fred’s voice a few times, and finally got to do the Flintstones the way I thought they should look and act. I was right where I wanted to be, despite the toxicity of advertising. Before an animated commercial gets started, countless meetings, presentations, focus groups, and revisions, often with competing pitches for the client, eat up a lot of time. Therefore, RETROFAN

July 2022

The oddball world of scott shaw!

(CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT) Screen captures help show the range of Scott’s work. Barney in drag; Barney as “Cartoon Man,” a parody of the Mask; oh, mah darlin,’ it’s Huckleberry Hound in this pencil test for a Fruity Pebbles spot with Top Cat in the background working some controls; and Fred and Barney going toe-to-toe in a Survivor parody commercial. © Post Consumer Brands. The Flintstones © Hanna-Barbera Productions.

every decision is extended to the last possible moment. Fortunately, I had a longtime connection with one of my best-ever bosses who co-created The Flintstones. He sent a letter to my O&M overlords that gave me credibility and saved a lot of time for everyone. “If Scott Shaw! does it, it’s approved.” – William Hanna

SPOTTED FEVER

Considering all of Ogilvy & Mather’s 30-second, 20-second, and 15-second spots and 5-second “tags,” I’d say the total number of Pebbles Cereal TV commercials I worked is well over 200. During my time at O&M, I also freelanced on Pebbles commercials done with foreign ad agencies that were specifically for Mexico and Latin America. By 1991, O&M’s “Barney! My Pebbles!” Pebbles campaign had become increasingly hipper, incorporating fads, popular films, 10

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and celebrities, but there was a time lag that thwarted many of them. By the time the commercials were on the air, their audience had matured, so the themes seemed passé. I took advantage of my connections in entertainment, used their information, and developed pitches that were prehistoric parodies of upcoming films. Among others, King of the Jungle (Playhouse Pictures) was a parody of Disney’s The Lion King, Cocoahonta was a goofy version of Disney’s Pocahontas, Cartoon Man (Playhouse Pictures) was based on Jim Carrey’s The Mask, and Cocoasaurus Rex (Startoons) was a takeoff of the Godzilla remake starring Matthew Broderick. Whenever possible, I also included visual Easter Eggs for the observant Flintstones fan, bringing back characters that hadn’t been seen in decades, as well as animated caricatures of Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera. Some of my favorite Pebbles spots are “Virtual Reality” (Playhouse Pictures/Blur), “Spies” (Duck Soup), “My Favorite Pal”

The oddball world of scott shaw!

and “Teacher’s Pet” (Playhouse Pictures, featuring Fred in drag as “Miss Stonewall”), “Video Game” (Klasky-Csupo), and “Barney, My Pebbles!” (Ogilvy & Mather). I also recall a lot of the nuttier moments while we were making them… Although Fred and Barney were often dressed in drag on the original Flintstones show, after an approved presentation, a finished spot featuring Barney disguised as a “Baseball Fairy” was rejected by Post and was never broadcast. (Its animator has put it on YouTube.) In the late Eighties, Post paid $50,000 to Paramount to allow a spot wherein Barney disguises himself as Star Trek’s Mr. Spock. Disappointingly, Barney had to be mentioned by name rather than the rather obvious Bedrock version, “Mr. Rock.” When Sonny Bono died in a skiing accident by running into a tree in 1998, Post’s management insisted, in a nearly completed Pebbles snowboarding spot, that we replace a tree with a rock that Barney’s snowboard ricocheted off of. The client was convinced that even in the late Nineties, children still knew and cared about Cher’s ex-partner.

A client once objected to a gag depicting Fred’s weight snapped off a diving board, wildly upset that anyone considered his brand’s spokes-character to be fat. Tell that to Wilma. By the way, the most ironic aspect of all cereal advertising remains the final depiction of a “legal breakfast,” in this case, a bowl of Pebbles, a glass of milk, and a description by the announcer as “Part of this nutritious breakfast!” Of course, it would be just as nutritious without the Pebbles, too! Aside from my work for O&M, I also designed and illustrated dozens of Fruity, Cocoa, and CinnaCrunch Pebbles boxes. Many were promoting product improvements and promotions, but the theme of using images of Barney’s myriad disguises to

CURRENT CEREALS Fruity Pebbles Cocoa Pebbles Marshmallow Fruity Pebbles (2015–present) Magic Fruity Pebbles (2020–present) Birthday Cake Pebbles (2021–present)

DISCONTINUED CEREALS Dino Pebbles (1991–1993) Holiday Fruity Pebbles (1997) Bedrock Blizzard Fruity Pebbles (1998) Bedrock Blizzard Cocoa Pebbles (1998) Cinna-Crunch Pebbles (1998–2001) Winter Fruity Pebbles (2002–2005) Marshmallow Mania Fruity Pebbles (2005–?) Half-Sugar Fruity Pebbles (2005–2007) IceBerry Pebbles (2006) Ice Cream Pebbles (2015) Bamm-Bamm Berry (2007–2009) Dino S’mores Pebbles (2008–2009) Cupcake Pebbles (2010–2011) Marshmallow Pebbles (2010–2014) Pebbles Boulders: Caramel Apple (2011) Pebbles Boulders: Chocolate Peanut Butter (2012) Fruity Pebbles Xtreme (2013) Fruity Pebbles Extreme (2013–2014) Sugar Cookies Pebbles (2013–2014) Summer Berry Pebbles (2014) Candy Corn Pebbles (2014) Poppin’ Pebbles (2014–2016) Cinnamon Pebbles (2016–2018) Peanut Butter and Cocoa Pebbles (2018–2020) Fiesta Fruity Pebbles (Date unknown; marketed to Latino consumers)

Scott Shaw!–drawn Fruity Pebbles cereal boxes. © Post Consumer Brands. The Flintstones © Hanna-Barbera Productions.

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The oddball world of scott shaw!

connect the animated commercial and cereal boxes was mine. I also worked on a number of the goodies… er, premiums hidden within those boxes, including a giveaway Bedrock poster that I created to astonish the Flintstones-obsessed nine-year-old Scott Shaw! One of my unrealized goals was to guest-star then-current Cartoon Network characters in some of the commercials. Another was inspired by Jay Ward’s “Quisp vs. Quake” campaign [see RetroFan #11—ed.], only with Fred representing Fruity Pebbles and Barney rep’ing Cocoa Pebbles, competing for viewers to eat their flavor. (However, we did do a political spot, urging consumers to vote for their favorite.) Unfortunately, I never had the pleasure of meeting or working with Alan Reed, Jr. or Mel Blanc, the noteworthy comedic actors whose voices brought Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble to life. However, I enjoyed getting to know and make cartoons with the talented voiceover actors who immediately followed them. Familiar character actor Henry Corden was cast as Fred Flintstone. He had already performed in a number of H-B projects—including a lot of baddies in Jonny Quest—and was Fred’s singing voice. After Mel, there was a succession of voice actors portraying Barney—originally Frank Welker, then Joe Alasky, followed by Jeff Bergman (who later played Fred in Cartoon Network’s The Flintstones on the Rocks special, sounding very much like Alan Reed, Jr.). I always fought to hire the original Flintstones cast members whenever possible. They included Jean Vander Pyl, the original Wilma Flintstone, in her final performance of the character; John Stephenson, the

COLORS These new colors were added over time: 1985 – Purple 1987 – Green 1988 – Lime Green 1994 – Berry Blue 1995 – Incrediberry Purple 1997 – Bronto Bright 2005 – Bedrock Berry Pink

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The oddball world of scott shaw!

Two sweet treats from Pebbles TV commercials: (LEFT) Barney as “Mr. Spock” and (RIGHT) a guestspot by voicemaster Gary Owens, who autographed this cel. (INSET) More Scott Shaw!–designed cereal boxes. The Flintstones © Hanna-Barbera Productions. Cels courtesy of Heritage. Box art courtesy of Scott Shaw!

original Mr. Slate; and Harvey Korman, the original Great Gazoo, also portrayed by Carlos Alazraqui. Space Ghost himself, Gary Owens, was a lot of fun as TV personality “Quarry Owens” and Cocoa Court’s TV judge; and SNL Conehead Laraine Newman portrayed an entire saucer full of friendly gray aliens from outer space. I also worked with Tom (SpongeBob SquarePants) Kinney as Boo Boo Bear, and smooth singer Lou Rawls as a purple Megalodon. It was also a pleasure to cast Glenn Shadix, Beetlejuice’s “Otho,” as a snotty middle school science teacher in a Cinna-Crunch Pebbles spot that combined live-action and animation. I was fortunate to collaborate with a number of top animation directors, including Gerry Woolery of Hollywood’s Playhouse Pictures; Sam Cornell of Encino’s Cornell-Abood, Santa Monica’s

Duck Soup, Hollywood’s Playhouse Pictures, and Klasky-Csupo; Gerard Baldwin, former Jay Ward animator and producer of The Smurfs, who directed for a small Beverly Hills animation boutique run by ink-and-painter Mary Cain; Ken Walker of the Wilshire District’s Funnybone Films; Daryl Van Citters of Burbank’s Renegade Studios; Jon McClenahan of Chicago’s Startoons; and Frank Molieri and Raul Garcia of Hollywood’s Klasky-Csupo. But the one I constantly relied on was Mike Kazaleh. He loved The Flintstones and fully understood how to support the client’s message while cramming in a lot of squash-and-stretchy fun. And whenever possible, I made sure that background painter Alison Julian was part of the team; she knew how to paint Bedrock-style (and a zillion others), but somehow even more so.

UP IN SMOKE

Post Cereals was owned by Kraft Foods, which was owned by the Phillip-Morris cigarette corporation. Sooner or later, the public was sure to learn of this, so Kraft was looking to unload Post Cereals before that happened. The need for new commercials dropped. Pebbles Cereals had become my sole assignment after being RETROFAN

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The oddball world of scott shaw!

A promotional cell signed by the creators of The Flintstones, Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera. © Post Consumer Brands. The Flintstones © Hanna-Barbera Productions.

made a senior art director, so the need for my contributions also dropped. Due to that, in 2000, I was no longer employed by Ogilvy & Mather. It took a while, but Kraft Foods’ Pebbles Cereal and other Post cereal brands were finally purchased by Ralcorp, a.k.a. Ralston-Purina, in 2008. My experiences in advertising inspired my back-up story “Duff Daddy!” in Simpsons Comics #55 (Bongo, Feb. 2001). My publisher assumed that I had lost my job due to this story. Unknown to him, I showed it to most of my co-workers at O&M and none of them were interested enough to notice their Simpsonized caricatures. A few more years’ worth of Pebbles spots were done at Ogilvy & Mather, with animation by Disney’s Eric Goldberg in many of them and at least one that was directed by Cow and Chicken’s David Feiss. In May 2010, a controversial Cocoa Pebbles commercial led to a lawsuit by WWE wrestler Hulk Hogan (a.k.a. Terry Bollea) against Post Cereals. In the spot, Barney and Fred face off against prehistoric wrestler, “Hulk Boulder,” who’s easily overwhelmed by super-strong Bamm-Bamm. Since the cartoon wrestler resembled Hogan, who used the name “Hulk Boulder” early in his career, the lawsuit was settled in September 2010 with the condition that Post would no longer air the commercial. In 2015, both Fruity Pebbles and Cocoa Pebbles and other Post brands began to be offered in discounted, bagged packaging alongside the traditional box sizes. From 2010 to 2012, Pebbles Cereal commercials—devised by ad agency BurnsGroup and animated by Portland’s Bent Image 14

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Lab—were depicted with stop-motion animation that parodied Fifties spots for off-the shelf medications. The tagline “Fruity Pebbles rocks your whole mouth!” reflected earlier research and determined that the cereal allowed 64 Pebbles pebbles to fit on a youngster’s tongue. The new ad campaign emphasized the enjoyment of the cereal as opposed to the former “craving.” Unfortunately, merely a handful of these clever new commercials were made, which may have been too clever. (I assume that kids didn’t “get” the retro presentation.) Unfortunately, animated spots require healthy budgets, and like the bagged Pebbles cereals, live-action is cheap. Therefore, Pebbles commercials are now videos of happy kids bopping around to a “Yabba-dabba-doo, man!” chant. Other than the occasional threesecond short clip from the original Flintstones series, there’s barely any Hanna-Barbera prehistoric vibe left, if any. In 2013, the new owners of Pebbles Cereal really got their money’s worth when Ralcorp teamed with the WWE and hired then-wrestler John Cena to be featured in two new Fruity and Cocoa Pebbles TV commercials, a photo app, an on-pack giveaway, and as a “Pebble-ized” character co-starring with Bamm-Bamm Rubble on special boxes of Bedrock’s only breakfast. Cena was picked as the cereal’s representative due to the fact that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson once nicknamed Cena “Fruity Pebbles,” referring to his rasslin’ frenemy’s loud shirts. This jarring change in familiar package design got a lot of attention and outraged reactions on TV, the Internet, and of course, in my home.

The oddball world of scott shaw!

In 2014, similar to a Quaker Oats Jay Ward Quisp and Quake commercial in the late Sixties, Pebbles commercials urged kids to side with either Team Cocoa or Team Fruity. Each “team” had its own commercial and its own celebrity mascots who appeared on the corresponding front panels of cereal boxes. The celebrities included actress Bella Thorne, basketball player-actor Shaquille O’Neal, and soccer player Alex Morgan. Since both sides represent nostalgia, Pebbles Cereals and MeTV joined forces with special “Spot the Differences” MeTV puzzles on the boxes and Pebbles commercials during MeTV’s presentations of original Flintstones episodes. (So where’s Svengoolie?) In 2021, Ralcorp celebrated the 50th anniversary of Pebbles Cereal (even though it first appeared on West Coast shelves in 1969), beginning on New Year’s Eve 2020, with Pebbles releasing a Fruity Pebbles confetti filter on TikTok. Fred and Barney Funko Pops were redesigned to include bowls of Fruity and Cocoa Pebbles. Post sponsored Pebbles contests and manufactured promotional merchandise produced by the Love Your Melon hat company. Pebbles also released both Fruity and Cocoa Pebbles-flavored ice cream, Pebbles cake mix, Pebbles creamer, Pebbles protein powder, and both Fruity and Cocoa Pebbles chocolate bars, and most recently and alarmingly, Mrs. Buttersworth’s Pebbles Syrup. Ralcorp/Post Pebbles’ cereal roster currently includes Cocoa Pebbles, Fruity Pebbles, Marshmallow Pebbles, Fruity and Cocoa Pebbles Treats, and Fruity and Cocoa Pebbles Crisps. Additional flavors are sure to arise. Quite honestly, I never cared about the cereal. For me, it was getting paid to make top-shelf Flintstones cartoons with someone

else’s money. As I used to tell young students on Career Day, “Eat the box instead of the cereal, kids. It’s more nutritional.” I’m diabetic (and have been for decades), not due to consuming Pebbles cereal—I’ve always avoided any more than a spoonful taste test, although Cinna-Crunch Pebbles was surprisingly delicious—but as I always say, “Karma has a sense of humor.” (I still prefer Cheerios, but don’t expect a column about ’em.) For 50 years (and counting), SCOTT SHAW! has written and drawn underground comix, mainstream comic books, comic strips, graphic novels, TV cartoons, toys, advertising, and video games. He has worked on such characters as Captain Carrot and his Amazing Zoo Crew (which he co-created with Roy Thomas), Sonic the Hedgehog, the Flintstones, the Jetsons, the Simpsons, the Futurama gang, the Muppet Babies, Garfield, the Garbage Pail Kids, and yes, even Annoying Orange. His career has garnered him four Emmy Awards, an Eisner Award, and a Humanities Award. Scott is also known for his “Oddball Comics Live!” visual presentation of “the craziest comic books ever published” and for his regular participation in “Quick Draw!” with Mark Evanier and Sergio Aragonés. He was also one of the teenagers who co-created what is currently known as Comic-Con International: San Diego, America’s biggest annual fan event. He can be reached at shawcartoons.com.

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WILL MURRAY’S 20TH CENTURY PANOPTICON

BY WILL MURRAY

Lock up your gin joints, ya Windy City lowlifes, here come the Untouchables! (LEFT TO RIGHT) Abel Fernandez as William Youngfellow, Paul Percini as Lee Hobson, Robert Stack as Eliot Ness, and Nicholas Georgiade as Enrico Rossi. © Desilu Productions, Inc. and Langford Productions, Inc.

Desilu Productions is revered for its pioneering TV sitcom I Love Lucy and producing the enduring Star Trek original series. Between those hits, their greatest non-comedic successes were The Twilight Zone and—The Untouchables. In 1959, television trends were going in one direction––West. That was the season when all types of Westerns stampeded though primetime. One show bucked the cowboy trend. Ironically, this prodigious feat was also accomplished by reaching back to an earlier era.

The pilot—if you want to call it that—was filmed as a theatrical movie that ran on Westinghouse’s Desilu Playhouse. Starring Robert Stack, it was a semi-fictionalized story ripped from Roaring Twenties headlines, but inspired by U.S. Treasury Agent Eliot Ness’ 1956 autobiography, The Untouchables. The Untouchables were an elite squad of Prohibition agents whom the Chicago press had branded as “untouchable” because they couldn’t be corrupted by bribes. Countless criminals tried. None succeeded. RETROFAN

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Will Murray’s 20th Century Panopticon

Staff producer Quinn Martin was the one who pitched the project, suggesting it should be a two-part program. This was a budget-buster, a problem solved by releasing it theatrically overseas.

‘OLD STONE FACE’

Remarkably, Robert Stack was not the first actor considered for the role. Van Heflin turned it down. Van Johnson accepted the part, then his wife talked him out of it. Fred MacMurray and Jack Lord were also considered. At the time, Stack had a middling film career and had thrown himself into television in an attempt to break with his public image as the young swain who gave Deanna Durbin her first screen kiss. He didn’t want the role, either. “I remember how I waved the script at the agent and cried, ‘But Capone’s got all the jokes,’” Stack once said. “And my agent came back with the clincher, ‘Yes, but you’re the one the audience will care about.’” Two days before cameras rolled, Stack donned the three-piece suit tailored for Van Johnson. It didn’t quite fit, but that didn’t matter. The part did. Dramatizing Eliot Ness’ battle to bring Al “Scarface” Capone to justice, The Untouchables was a hit when its pilot was first broadcast

on CBS in April 1959 [aired in two parts on April 20 and 27, 1959, on the Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse on CBS—ed.]. Ratings increased when it was rerun that summer. Probably no one was more amazed than Robert Stack when asked to reprise Ness for a weekly TV series. Stack was initially reluctant. He was about to fly to Japan to make The Last Voyage when ABC called him. He had 12 hours to decide. While producer Quinn Martin struggled with casting their lead, he faced another problem: reconstituting the core Untouchables cast. Unfortunately, most of the actors who signed on for the original roles were too expensive or unavailable for an ongoing television series. Keenan Wynn’s Joe Fuselli had been killed off in the original. Only Abel Fernandez as Special Agent William Youngfellow stayed on. Other recurring roles were recast or another character substituted. One other actor did make the transition. Nicholas Georgiade, who had played one of Capone’s underlings, was inaugurated into The Untouchables in an unusual way. Even though based on historical events, the pilot been severely criticized for its perceived anti-Italian bias. So Quinn threw a bone to the Italian-American community in the first episode, “The Empty

A mess of Nesses! Robert Stack (ABOVE), immortalized here on the cover of the February 27–March 4, 1960 TV Guide, played top agent Eliot Ness on all four seasons of the crime series. But (CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT) actors Van Heflin, Van Johnson, Fred MacMurray, and Jack Lord were considered for the role. The Untouchables © Desilu Productions, Inc. and Langford Productions, Inc. TV Guide © TV Guide.

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Will Murray’s 20th Century Panopticon

Chair,” introducing Enrico Rossi, a barber who gets caught up in the power struggle between Frank “The Enforcer” Nitti, and accountant Jake “Greasy Thumb” Guzik over Capone’s territory. After his fiancé is accidentally slain during the rubout, Ness recruits Rico into the Untouchables as Ness’ driver, and the group had its Italian-American member. That Georgiade was Greek was just one of those Hollywood things. Abel Fernandez’s Agent Youngfellow, a “full-blooded Cherokee,” was really Mexican. Bruce Gordon as Frank “The Enforcer” Nitti was another holdover from the pilot. He would prove to be as key to the show’s popularity as Stack. “Bruce Gordon turned in a fantastic performance as Frank Nitti,” Stack praised in his 1980 autobiography, Straight Shooting. “With Capone in prison, he became the regular villain once we started making regular series episodes. He was absolutely magic. Bruce managed that oneness with a part that rarely happens. He made Nitti unforgettable, a combination of chilling evil, ironic humor, and sex. In fact, he was a real crook; he stole most of our scenes.” In real life, the Untouchables had disbanded after Capone landed in stir. Going forward, Eliot Ness’ exploits would be sheer fantasy mixed with historical reality. Initially, Stack agreed to do 11 episodes, then narrate the rest. Co-star Jerry Paris, playing Agent Martin Flaherty, would carry the remainder of the season. Then Stack decided that would be unfair to viewers. “The minute the audience feels cheated,” Stack explained, “they blame it on the chief performer. That has happened to other stars with severe consequences to their careers. I realize that it would be a mistake to devote less than all my energy to the series.” Stack was derisively referred to as “Old Stone Face,” but he was perfect as the incorruptible Ness, playing him as a no-nonsense, inflexible arm of the law. “I’m trying to play Eliot without all the clichés like snapping my hat brim back every two minutes, putting my hands in my pockets, flipping coins,” he explained. “I just want to keep away from the obvious.” And that went for the other Untouchables, as well. “Actually,” Stack related, “the Ness era was so bizarre that we soon saw truth was really stranger than fiction, and our writers have to be careful to hold it down and script it tight and close to their chest. That’s the way those of us who act in the series play it. We avoid heroics. If one of our actors blows the smoke out of his gun barrel or does anything that smacks of the theatrics, we pick him up and carry him bodily to the nearest cold water spigot and hold his head under until he cools off.” Ness had a reputation as a straight arrow, and the show maintained that public perception.

(LEFT) The two-part The Untouchables pilot aired on the Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse and then released as a film overseas. (ABOVE) The other star of The Untouchables was Bruce Gordon in a recurring role as the seemingly un-killable mobster Frank Nitti. © Desilu Productions, Inc. and Langford Productions, Inc.

“Eliot Ness would be a bore if you just made him up,” stated Quinn Martin. “It would be sort of like a ballet form of good and evil, as depicted by the TV Western. The fact that Ness actually existed is the real stuff of this series.” “Actually, the miracle wasn’t that he was so brave, but that he managed to survive,” noted Stack. “He was a tough character. He had to move his family several times and his car was wired a few times.”

TAKING LIBERTIES WITH HISTORY

Premiering in the Fall of 1959, The Untouchables shot up to #2 in the ratings, making third-place ABC a competitive network. Just as quickly, it came under fire for historical inaccuracies. The family of Al Capone unsuccessfully sued the production. The second episode, “Ma Barker and Her Boys,” drew the wrath of no less than J. Edgar Hoover, director of the FBI. The Bureau had handled that case. A depiction of corrupt cops in “Syndicate Sanctuary” prompted an angry letter from a police organization. Another episode, “The Noise of Death,” focused on the decline and fatal fall of aging Mafia don, Joe Bucco. Quinn wanted Edward G. Robinson for the role, but it went to J. Carrol Naish. Because the Appalachian Mafia trial was ongoing, ABC was asked to hold the episode back until a verdict was reached. A two-part episode, “The Unhired Assassin,” also drew ire because it inserted Ness and his boys into the attempted assassination of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, which resulted in the RETROFAN

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Will Murray’s 20th Century Panopticon

The real Eliot Ness’ Department of Justice badge, with his photo, plus the first edition of his book, The Untouchables, which inspired the television show. (The Prohibition Bureau shifted from Ness’ original department, Treasury, to Justice in 1930.)

murder of Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak. The real Untouchables mind. None of us has a yen to be pretty. I’ve had to fight a ‘pretty had nothing to do with that case. boy’ stigma for 20 years. But this show has finally licked it for me.” “There is a certain amount of dramatic license,” admitted Quinn Martin. “If we have a scene in which a Lepke is talking to a Schultz, A KILLING SPREE for instance, we naturally have to make up the dialogue. We try The Untouchables dared go where no other TV series would. It to stick to the facts as closely as possible, but we can’t let the facts was relentlessly violent and tackled the issue of organized crime steer us away from our primary purpose––which is dramatic as no show before it. When Ness took on prostitution in “The entertainment.” White Slavers,” controversy flared anew when mob machine guns Authentic or not, everyone involved pretended otherwise. callously mowed down a flock of inconvenient hookers. “Well,” deflected Stack, “that’s not my department. I just learn the lines, hit the The Untouchables’ depiction of chalk marks, and try to keep violence was alarming to some going. After grinding out 28 of viewers. Image of Robert Stack the shows, I’m lucky to know as Eliot Ness from the cover of my own name. But I do want Dell Comics’ Four Color #1286 to emphasize that we’re out (Feb.–Apr. 1962). © Desilu Productions, to entertain viewers, not to Inc. and Langford Productions, Inc. produce real documentary programs.” You wouldn’t know that from watching the early episodes. From Walter Winchell’s staccato narration to the Charles Straumer’s noirish cinematography, The Untouchables looked more authentic than 99% of TV Westerns. “We try to get a documentary effect in filming our show,” Stack noted. “We use cross-lighting. This picks up everything––pucker lines under the eyes, creases and wrinkles in your skin and suit. Actually it’s newsreel lighting. Gals don’t go for it, for it ages them ten years. But the men in our show don’t 20

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Will Murray’s 20th Century Panopticon

Pressed by a reporter on that gruesome scene, Stack shot back, “So far as violence is concerned, we’re in a spot. That scene you mentioned was based on fact. There was an underground railway in those days for the transportation of prostitutes from Mexico to the United States. So what do you want us to do? Change facts and actual occurrences so they will be sweeter and prettier? I think this about violence: if it is put in to beef up a bad script or a slow-moving story, then it’s wrong. But there’s a legitimate reason for portraying violence if it’s a natural part of the story you’re telling and of the period you’re showing.” Such stark realism included casualties among the cast. Untouchable LaMarr Kane (Chuck Hicks) was killed in the ninth episode, “The Tri-State Gang.” Midway through the first season, Jerry Paris as Martin Flaherty transferred out and was replaced by rookie recruit, Cam Allison, Jr., played by Anthony George, in the episode “The St. Louis Story.” Stack had casting approval, so some losses resulted from friction between the star and his satellites. The gangsters got it worse. In the first season alone, the Untouchables tangled with likes of Dutch Schultz, Mad Dog Coll, Walter Legenza, Jake Guzik, and others. Not every thug met his end right away, but he did meet his match in Eliot Ness. “Most of these gangsters came to pretty sorry ends,” Quinn Martin noted. “Although never proved, it’s generally accepted fact that Schultz was shot and killed by an organized mob. Coll was shot to death in a phone booth by his own gang. He was so crazy that they were afraid he’d turn on them. Legenza finally went to the electric chair. Guzik died of a heart attack a few years ago. Moran recently died a natural death in prison. Capone, of course, died pretty much a raving maniac. He wound up a physical and mental shell.” If you watched The Untouchables, you’d think Ness bumped them all off. This first season wrapped with two particularly strong episodes. “Head of Fire, Feet of Clay” guest-starred Jack Warden as an old schoolmate of Ness’ drawn into illegal activity. Nehemiah Persoff played gangster Johnny Fortunato. This was the first episode to probe into Ness’ human side. The season finale was “The Frank Nitti Story,” in which Ness finally nailed the Enforcer in a Chicago subway shootout that also claimed the life of new recruit Cam Allison. Anthony George was leaving the series to star in his own series, Checkmate. He pleaded with the producers not kill off his character, fearing that TV audiences might think he had died in real life, but Quinn Martin had other ideas. He was on a killing spree. Bruce Gordon recalled his brush with death. “After the first few shows they had killed off nearly everyone in the gang except Nitti, I suggested to the producer one day that they had better keep Nitti alive, or there would be no conflict for Ness. I don’t, however, think this was instrumental in making him a regular character.” Then Gordon received the script for “The Frank Nitti Story.” “When I saw from reading the script that I was going,” he said, “I pleaded with Quinn Martin, who was executive producer, to let me live. I pointed out to him that all the other big gangsters already have been popped off, and Ness would have nobody to go after if you got me, too.” Jerry Thorpe, slated to succeed Martin, also lobbied for Nitti’s survival, saying, “I’m going to need him next season.” But Martin liked the script.

“He was adamant,” Gordon remembered. “You know the real Nitti was found dead on the Long Island Railroad tracks in New York in 1943, but Martin was killing me off nine years earlier on subway tracks in Chicago. I even explained to him that there was no subway in Chicago in 1934. But Martin was leaving the series, and I guess he wanted to take as many as he could with him.” Predictably, that episode also received carloads of criticism for its historical inaccuracies. The real Nitti committed suicide. Despite the presence of Enrico Rossi, the Italian-American community remained upset with the weekly demolition of Sicilian gangsters, even though most were long-deceased historical figures. “The Untouchables managed to get in more trouble in a shorter time than any other show on TV,” Stack recalled. “One of our biggest problems was the charge of an ethnic bias in our scripts. Many of the villains, from Capone and Nitti to the least important, smalltime thugs, had Italian names.” In an effort to resolve the growing issue, an amazing deal with struck. Vegas Mafioso Johnny Roselli suggested that Desi Arnaz

Soundtrack album for The Untouchables, with music by Grammy-winner Nelson Riddle. The Untouchables © Desilu Productions, Inc. and Langford Productions, Inc.

add an Italian actor to the cast, recommending Paul Picerni, who had played a Capone underling in the Untouchables pilot. Picerni was cast as Special Agent Lee Hobson. Go figure. Hobson joined the team in “A Seat on the Fence,” which was delayed several weeks in favor of “The Rusty Heller Story,” considered to be one of the series’ greatest episodes. Elizabeth Montgomery played beautiful but conniving nightclub singer Rusty Heller, who manipulates certain underworld figures to advance her career. Tragedy strikes when she falls madly in love with the unflappable Eliot Ness. RETROFAN

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Will Murray’s 20th Century Panopticon

Montgomery won an Emmy for her role, and the Untouchables’ Prohibition came to an end with FDR’s election. We can’t let Ness second season was off to a powerful start. Stack had already handle criminal cases without a Prohibition angle. And Chicago garnered one for Season One. is the natural habitat of the Despite having been decishow––most of the flamboyant sively bumped off, Frank Nitti criminals of the era were returned in “The Purple Gang.” located there. We can’t adapt all It was no miracle. The episodes crimes to The Untouchables. For followed no chronological instance, we can’t take a tragic, order. How Nitti could coexist famous case like the Lindbergh with Lee Hobson, who hadn’t kidnapping and let Ness handle joined the team when he was it. The public wouldn’t accept it, crushed by a subway train, was for one thing.” never explained because it was Despite the real Untouchunexplainable. ables having operated for “I told the new producer only three years in Chicago, in I was inadvertently killed Season Two they took on a slew through spite,” chuckled Bruce of New York gangsters and the Gordon, “and he brought me Nazi Bund. back to life.” “These men had freedom After this, Nitti popped of action,” rationalized Stack. up frequently, although “They were not under the rules other recurring mobsters of Bureau police. They could Elizabeth Mongomery and Robert Stack. © Desilu Productions, Inc. clashed with Ness from time make their own rules and that and Langford Productions, Inc. to time, including Jake Guzik, helps in our stories.” Waxey Gordon, Little Charlie The parade of infamous Sebastino, Dutch Schultz, Bugs Moran, Nero Rankin, and others. Mafiosi came in for continued criticism, prompting Stack to The conflict between Capone heirs Nitti and Guzik was revisited in promise, “Next year we’re going to skirt the Mafia and look into “The Seventh Vote.” other crimes as well. We’re going to stress Rossi’s outrage at what a very small group of his own descent have done.” BAD GUYS AND BROUHAHAS Famous last words. Interviewed at the start of the second season, new executive During the second season, the cast had stabilized. Frank Wilcox producer Jerry Thorpe recounted the limitations of building a TV appeared irregularly as Federal D.A. Beecher Asbury. Robert Bice drama around actual events. played Police Captain Jim Johnson. But the Untouchables them“There are few notorious men left for us to do,” lamented selves were never developed. Often, they had few lines. Thorpe. “We can’t extend the time period into the later 1930s— “On some episodes we’re mere shadows in the story,” Nick Georgiade complained. “It suffers a little when my role as Enrico Rossi is minor.” “It’s really not important how big your part is,” Abel Fernandez commented. “I’m happy to be in the show whether I say anything to him or not.”

The Leaf Company produced Untouchables trading cards and mini-comics in the early Sixties. © Desilu Productions, Inc. and Langford Productions, Inc. Courtesy of Heritage.

RETROFAN

July 2022

Will Murray’s 20th Century Panopticon

Poor Steve London as lineman Jack Rossman hardly ever spoke. London’s job was to pick up dialogue slack when another actor called out sick. The focus was not even on Eliot Ness. “Everyone knows the emphasis is on the heavies,” observed Paul Picerni. “The way I see it, the hoodlums get 60% coverage and we get 40%.” Yet audiences found Stack’s restrained yet intense performance strangely compelling. “It’s a deliberate thing with me when I took the role––no mannerisms––no gimmicks––no Bat Masterson cane, no Wyatt Earp vest,” he said. “There’s this inner turmoil, but outwardly I saw Ness as a counterpoint to the flamboyant characters he was fighting. Even if a script turns out bad, the fans think Ness is wonderful.” Stories were constructed so that the stars and the heavies shot at different times, rarely interacting. Paul Picerni recalled, “The good guys and the bad guys each ‘did their own thing,’ and we usually didn’t come together ’til the shootout at the end!” Another controversial episode was the two-parter, “The Big Train.” It revolved around a scheme to free Al Capone during a rail transfer from the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary to Alcatraz. It was

Dell Comics randomly published several editions of The Untouchables, featuring photo covers and (BOTTOM LEFT) interior artwork by Dan Spiegle. © Desilu Productions, Inc. and Langford Productions, Inc.

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Will Murray’s 20th Century Panopticon

pure fantasy. No such breakout was ever attempted. But it was a great way to bring back Neville Brand as Scarface Al. No matter what stories the writer came up with, the Prohibition era and its inhabitants remained a minefield. The portrayal of corrupt prison guards in “The Big Train” upset their union, which complained loudly. No bigger pitfall existed than the tricky portrayal of ItalianAmericans. It erupted again in the episode called “Augie ‘the Banker’ Camino,” which focused on a scheme to distill illegal liquor in Italian-American homes. Although sympathetic to immigrant Italians, it was not viewed favorably by many in the community. The episode aired on February 9, 1961. On March 9, ABC’s New York headquarters was picketed by a group calling itself the Federation of Italian-American Democratic Organizations. They called for a boycott of sponsor Chesterfield cigarettes. The head, Anthony “Tough Tony” Anastasia, brother of slain Murder, Inc. boss Albert Anastasia, was also chief of the International Longshoremen’s Association. His workers on the Brooklyn docks refused to handle Chesterfield cigarettes. Various Italian groups denounced the show as “The Unspeakables” and “Wops and Robbers.” Bomb threats were sent to Desilu’s offices. Frank Sinatra and Desi Arnaz almost came to blows over it. In retaliation, Sinatra moved his production company out of Desilu Studios. Production was suspended. Liggett & Meyers Tobacco prudently bowed out of sponsoring The Untouchables. In response, Arnaz promised to eliminate fictional hoodlums with Italian names going forward, and stress Enrico Rossi as Ness’ right-hand man while playing up the cultural contributions of Italian-Americans in the program. The situation resolved, production resumed. “No one thought it was going to be a series,” Stack observed. “When you tell the same story every week, it seemed like a vendetta between Ness and the Italians.” Now they were all but banned. Except for Frank Nitti.

“I personally am not thrilled by the character,” he admitted only a year earlier. “I cannot reconcile myself to the fact of all this weird interest. It’s hard to imagine these gangsters. Complete hedonists, I think you’d call ’em, capitalizing on the weakness of people.” Now he quipped, “Me? I like the part. Now, if I can only keep from getting killed again….”

FAST FACTS THE UNTOUCHABLES f No. of seasons: Four f No. of episodes: 118 plus pilot f Original run: October 15, 1959–May 21, 1963 (last new episode; final rerun episode aired September 10, 1963) f Primary cast: Robert Stack, Nicholas Georgiade, Abel Fernandez, Paul Picerni, Steve London, Bruce Gordon f Network: ABC f Production company: Desilu f Narrator: Walter Winchell

SPIN-OFFS AND REMAKES: f The Untouchables (film remake directed by Brian DePalma; starring Kevin Costner as Ness and Robert DeNiro as Capone, with Sean Connery, Charles Martin Smith, and Andy Garcia) f The Untouchables (1993–1994 television series created by Christopher Crowe; starring Tom Amandes as Ness and William Forsythe as Capone, with Paul Regina, John Newton, and David James Elliott.

THE ROARING TWENTIES IN THE SWINGING SIXTIES

Going into the 1961–1962 season, The Untouchables faced a flood of imitators ranging from The Roaring Twenties to modern takes like Quinn Martin’s The New Breed. “With all this of this going on,” confessed Stack, “we sometimes find ourselves in the odd position of imitating the imitators. For example, we can’t use the scene of the hoods at the conference table any more. Every time I turn on my TV set now, I see a conference table. They’re all using it.” All these upstarts were soon cancelled as the networks cracked down on TV violence. Filming resumed in July 1961 for Season Three with “Tunnel of Horrors,” featuring Frank Nitti. But the episode was held back in favor of “The Troubleshooter,” in which Ness is set up to shoot an unarmed man, having been tricked into thinking that he was being fired upon. Questioned about the lingering sensitivity over the Mafia question, Bruce Gordon replied, “Oooh! Let’s not talk about that. Sure Nitti is an Italian, but he’s not a fictional character. I think Desi just promised not to use Italian names for the fictional gangsters. What can they do now? Call me Nittinski?” By this time, Gordon had settled into the role despite earlier reservations. 24

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This included a return to Ness’ original mission as a stern enforcer of Prohibition. “We’ve gotten away from that idea,” admitted Stack. “The Untouchables in the last 30 shows were almost faceless people walking around looking for the body. Now there’s a reevaluation of what these men are and what they did.” Busting bootleggers and drug pushers became the main focus. Scripts set in nightclubs with an emphasis on the era’s music, like “Blues for a Gone Goose” and “The Jazz Man” were commissioned. A new executive producer took control, Leonard Freeman. “Freeman has some innovations planned for next season,” promised Stack. “For instance, Ness won’t win ’em all. He won’t always get the verdict he’s seeking when he brings malefactors into court. This is the way it was in real life. Freeman plans to humanize Ness in other ways, too.” The actor told another reporter, “We’re going to dig deeper into character––Ness’ problems, his loneliness, his (ABOVE) Bruce Gordon as Frank Nitti dies again in this screen capture from an episode of The Untouchables. (RIGHT) Requirements for becoming an agent were featured in Dell’s Untouchables comic books. Do you measure up? © Desilu Productions, Inc. and Langford Productions, Inc.

“We killed Bruce off about three times,” Stack later boasted, “but always resurrected him.” During the third season, Robert Stack began hinting that he might not want to return in the fall. ABC was not ready to give up on the show and looked for a new lead. In “The Silent Partner,” Lee Hobson shoots a criminal, but Ness takes the credit, creating a rift between them. This led to real-life problem when Stack began to suspect that the producers were grooming Paul Picerni to take over the show if he bowed out. Sensing an aloofness from the star, Picerni wisely had a sit-down with the actor and assured him that if Robert Stack didn’t sign on for Season Four, neither would Paul Picerni. That ended the friction. A million dollars of Desilu stock convinced Stack to stay. As Season Three wrapped, Stack assessed the state of The Untouchables. The actor made it clear that he wanted to see changes. “We’ve got to broaden The Untouchables next season––my character, as well as the scope of the show,” Stack said. “I want us to see us take advantage of the things that made the series different in the beginning. I hope we get original live music instead of the canned stuff, too. If we do all these things, we can have a unique show again.” RETROFAN

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Will Murray’s 20th Century Panopticon

temptations. We’ll have more production, a return to the values that were in the original two-parter that kicked off The Untouchables which, it seems to me, is many things—a semi-documentary, an action series, and also a morality play.” The networks were still feeling heat over excessive violence, and The Untouchables remained in the hot seat. “No shows will get away with what we did during our first year,” Stack allowed. “But our series is, after all, a morality play. If you can’t show the bad, you can’t show the good either. The first few shows of the new season, at least, will be quieter than those we’ve done in the past.” No so fast. Season Four opened with another controversial episode, “The Night They Shot Santa Claus.” An old friend of Ness’ is gunned down while playing Santa at an orphanage on Christmas Eve. Nothing quiet about that. But this story explored Eliot Ness’ feelings as he delved into the unsuspected secret life of his old friend. “We want to put Ness in different positions,” Stack explained, “but we don’t want to destroy the whole equilibrium of the show because much of the beauty of the period is in the bizarre characters.” Damon Runyon–style humor was written in. The previously unseen Mrs. Ness was slated to show her face. An early episode in which Ness is temporarily blinded was promised. This was intended to further humanize him. But second thoughts set in. “A Taste for Pineapple” was saved until the bitter end, airing as the season and series closer. But once these retooled episodes with their human-interest themes were rolled out, ratings sank. Stack quickly changed his tune. “Ness is not the prime motivating factor in the show,” he insisted. “He’s a counterpoint character. The show is based on great performances by guest-stars. My main job is to give the whole thing a credulity, without which the other characters would be so bravura, so flamboyant, that no one would believe them. “Secondly, the show must be vital and juicy. It can’t be small and psychological because the period wasn’t small and psychological. The times were bigger than life, and we have to be, too. That doesn’t mean violent necessarily, but it does mean spectacular.” What Stack really meant was a return to grimness, guns, and gangsters. Runyon-esque explorations of human psychology were out. “And one thing I know for sure is that you can’t analyze the heavies on the show or try to justify them,” Stack pointed out. “A lot of them were just plain crazy. When you try to analyze them, Ness becomes a sort of Carrie Nation with a gun. His role gets befuddled.” During the retooling, Frank Nitti had been understandably absent. Press reports hinted that the character had been permanently retired, that the Ness/Nitti feud had become like Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty. Repetitious. This ban of recurring gangsters was quickly lifted. When Nitti resurfaced, it was for only three closely spaced mid-season episodes, with Bruce Gordon up to his usual histrionics. Then the Enforcer vanished forever. It didn’t matter. Ness had bumped him off three years back. Nehemiah Persoff returned one last time to reprise his role as Jake Guzik in “Doublecross,” in which

he tangled with Bugs Moran, who popped up in several episodes, but played by different actors. Nothing worked. Ratings continued to sink.

OUT OF TOUCH WITH VIEWERS

In a certain sign that the end was near for the once top-rated TV program, attempts were made to create spin-off series. Barbara Stanwyck was introduced, in the episode called “Elegy,” as a Lt. Agatha Stewart of the Bureau of Missing Persons. She returned in “Search for a Dead Man.” But the series, entitled The Seekers, never went forward. Another backdoor pilot, “The Floyd Gibbons Story,” starred Scott Brady as the famous globetrotting reporter who sported a white eye-patch. Again, no series materialized. “A number of factors led up to the cancellation of The Untouchables at the end of its fourth year,” wrote Paul Picerni in his autobiography, Steps to Stardom: My Story. “For one thing, other studios came up with shows very similar to ours, trying to cut into our pie. Then, too, there was Lenny Freeman deciding to do stories spotlighting Eliot Ness, which wasn’t what Untouchables fans wanted––I think that also killed off interest.” Stack remembered it differently. “There’s no doubt in my mind that one of the lowest points in my life came when my health forced me to stop work on the series. When I hemorrhaged a vocal cord on The Untouchables, I found what life can be like without communication.” In the last episode filmed, “Line of Fire,” Ness departed early for a court appearance, returning in time for the climactic shootout. Voice problems would explain that.

Cover to LOOK magazine from September 27, 1960, featuring Robert Stack and his boss, Lucille Ball. © Desilu Productions, Inc. and Langford Productions, Inc.

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Will Murray’s 20th Century Panopticon

2018’s The Untouchables: The Complete Series DVD set includes the pilot that was released theatically as The Scarface Mob. © Desilu Productions, Inc. and Langford Productions, Inc.

The other reason for its cancellation was that Desilu was losing money on the show—money that could only be recouped in syndication. In the Seventies, Stack declined to revisit Ness for a Paramount feature, telling Paul Picerni, “We’re too old.” Stack eventually relented, returning without his loyal cast mates for a 1991 TV movie, The Return of Eliot Ness. No new series was spun off, but it hardly mattered. The original Untouchables has been a syndication hit for 60 years and will no doubt be watched on the 100th anniversary of the founding of Eliot Ness’ immortal Untouchables in 2030. What did the real Ness think of the TV show? No one knows. He died before his autobiography was published and never saw the TV series that cemented his posthumous fame. WILL MURRAY is the writer of the Wild Adventures (www.adventuresinbronze. com) series of novels, which stars Doc Savage, The Shadow, King Kong, The Spider, and Tarzan of the Apes. He also created the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl with legendary artist Steve Ditko.

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RETROFAN

July 2022

Too Much TV COLUMN ONE

1) MM7 2) Rover 3) Twiki 4) Conky 5) Hymie 6) Runaway Robot 7) Robert 8) The Fun-Fun Killer 9) Smiley 10) Cybernauts 28

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July 2022

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 TV robot in Column One corresponds to a TV show in Column Two. Match ’em up, then see how you rate!

RetroFan Ratings

“That does not compute!”

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!

COLUMN TWO

A) Get Smart B) Buck Rogers in the 25th Century C) Adventures of Superman D) Honey West E) The Avengers F) Wonder Woman G) The Addams Family H) Pee-wee’s Playhouse I) Fireball XL5 J) Columbo The Addams Family © Filmways Television. Adventures of Superman, Wonder Woman © DC Comics/Warner Bros. Television. The Avengers (Steed and Mrs. Peel) © Studiocanal S.A. Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Columbo © NBC Universal Television. Fireball XL5 © ITV Studios Limited. Get Smart © CBS Studios, Inc. Honey West © Gloria Fickling. Lost in Space © Space Productions. Pee-wee’s Playhouse © Pee Wee Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

RETROFAN

July 2022

ANSWERS: 1–J, 2–F, 3–B, 4–H, 5–A, 6–C, 7–I, 8–D, 9–G, 10–E

Pop Culture Books HOLLY JOLLY

Celebrating Christmas Past In Pop Culture

HOLLY JOLLY is a colorful sleigh ride through the history of Christmas, from its religious origins to its emergence as a multimedia phenomenon. It explores movies (Miracle on 34th Street, It’s a Wonderful Life), music (White Christmas, Little St. Nick), TV (How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer), books (Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol), decor (1950s silver aluminum trees), comics (super-heroes meet Santa), and more! Featuring interviews with CHARLES M. SCHULZ (A Charlie Brown Christmas), ANDY WILLIAMS (TV’s “Mr. Christmas”) and others, the story behind DARLENE LOVE’s perrennial hit song Christmas (Baby Please Come Home), and more holiday memories! By MARK VOGER, the profusely illustrated HOLLY JOLLY takes readers on a time-trip to Christmases past that you will cherish all year long! (192-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $43.95 ISBN: 9781605490977 (Digital Edition) $15.99

MONSTER MASH

GROOVY

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IT CREPT FROM THE TOMB

Since 2000, FROM THE TOMB has terrified readers worldwide. This second “Best of” collection of the UK’s preeminent magazine on the history of horror comics uncovers Atomic Comics lost to the Cold War, rarely seen (and censored) British horror comics, the early art of RICHARD CORBEN, GOOD GIRLS of a bygone age, TOM SUTTON, DON HECK, LOU MORALES, AL EADEH, BRUCE JONES’ Alien Worlds, HP LOVECRAFT in HEAVY METAL, and a myriad of terrors from beyond the stars and the shadows of our own world! It features comics they tried to ban, from ATLAS, CHARLTON, COMIC MEDIA, DC, EC, HARVEY, HOUSE OF HAMMER, KITCHEN SINK, LAST GASP, PACIFIC, SKYWALD, WARREN, and more! Edited by PETER NORMANTON. (192-page Trade Paperback) $29.95 ISBN: 9781605490816 (Digital Edition) $10.99

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LOU SCHEIMER

CREATING THE FILMATION GENERATION

Biography of the co-founder of Filmation Studios, which created the first DC cartoons with Superman, Batman, and Aquaman, ruled the song charts with The Archies, kept Trekkie hope alive with the Emmywinning Star Trek: The Animated Series, taught morals with Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, and swung into high adventure with Tarzan, The Lone Ranger, Zorro, live-action shows Shazam! and The Secrets of Isis, and He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. Written by LOU SCHEIMER, with RetroFan’s ANDY MANGELS. (288-page Digital Edition) $14.99

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VOGER’S VAULT OF VINTAGE VARIETIES

Stupefyin’ Julie Newmar got her claws in Batman, and her fans, as TV’s feline fatale BY MARK VOGER

Why does Batman act all weird in front of Catwoman? That was the question on our young minds as we watched Batman (Adam West) hem and haw while Catwoman (Julie Newmar) toyed with him like a… a… cat who has captured a mouse. I was seven and my little brother was four, so Newmar’s considerable allure was lost on us. All we knew was this simple formula: Batman equals good guy, Catwoman equals bad guy, er, girl. We’d previously seen Batman and his pants-less sidekick Robin (Burt Ward) vanquish the Riddler (Frank Gorshin), the Penguin (Burgess Meredith), the Joker (Cesar Romero), and a host of others. So why didn’t he just throw the Bat-cuffs on Catwoman, who was, as little boys used to say back then, “only a girl”? (Please pardon the sexist talk. It’s an inconvenient truth that boys in the middle Sixties bought into the whole “weaker sex” thing. My brother and I have since matured into progressively-minded gentlemen. Or so we hope.) Catwoman was introduced in episodes 19 and 20 of ABC’s 1966–1968 action-comedy Batman at a time when the show was still fresh, new, and building momentum as a cultural force. (Everything was “Batman” in ’66. You had to be there.) West’s Batman usually addressed criminals with the scolding tone that a forest ranger might use on littering tourists. But in the presence of Newmar’s Catwoman—strikingly tall in her figure-hugging costume that glittered when it caught the light—he stammered. Even beneath that cowl, he seemed… sweaty. And Catwoman did a bunch of stuff to Batman that the Riddler, Penguin, and Joker never would have. She ran a fingernail—actually, a faux nail on her elbow-length glove—down the front of his

(LEFT) Meow! Sexy, statuesque actress Julie Newmar won lasting fame in the role of Catwoman in the 1966–1968 action-comedy Batman. Newmar’s portrayal paved the way for the character’s comeback in the comics after a dozen years in exile. © Warner Bros. and DC Comics.

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Voger’s Vault of vintage varieties

(ABOVE) Catwoman, then known as the Cat, wore civvies in her debut story in Batman #1 (Spring 1940). Art by Bob Kane. (CENTER) Catwoman’s first cover appearance was in Detective Comics #122 (Apr. 1947). (RIGHT) The Golden Age Catwoman in a detail from the cover of Batman #42 (Aug.–Sept. 1947). Art by Jack Burnley and Charles Paris. TM & © DC Comics.

person, from his Bat-emblem to just above his utility belt. This was an outrageous liberty. One time, Batman came within millimeters of actually kissing Catwoman, but for Robin interrupting them. And they once split an ice-cream soda! (Could you picture Batman doing that with King Tut?) We urchins wondered: What power does she have over him?

ORIGIN OF THE PRINCESS OF PLUNDER

By the time Newmar became the first actress to play Catwoman, the character had already been around for 26 years, having debuted in DC’s Batman #1 in 1940. (Batman made his bow the previous year in—all together, now—Detective Comics #27.) In her premiere story, the villainess is known as the Cat, a beautiful but cunning cat burglar who wears “civvies” and plunders jewelry from the wealthy passengers of a luxury cruise. Sparks fly from the get-go between the Cat and Batman, not to mention some curious dialogue. “Quiet or Papa spank!” Batman commands the Cat when she protests after being collared by him. “I know when I’m licked,” she concedes as Batman searches her for pilfered jewelry. The Cat then proposes a romantic alliance: “You and I, the king and queen of crime!” When straight-arrow Batman balks, the Cat uses up one of her nine lives by jumping into the sea rather than face prison. Already, Batman is smitten: “Lovely girl! What eyes! Maybe I’ll bump into her again some time!” To which Robin replies warily: “Hmmm.” The story was produced by Batman’s co-creators, writer Bill Finger and artist Bob Kane. (Gosh, it feels good to say that out loud after 70-plus years in which Finger’s co-creator credit was unfairly denied.) This makes Catwoman one more Finger/Kane co-creation in a long line of indelible comic-book characters. Catwoman has recognizable ancestors in pop culture, from silent-era “vamp” Theda Bara, to Marya Zaleska in Dracula’s Daughter, to the Dragon Lady in Milton Caniff’s adventure strip Terry and the Pirates. Kane himself cited actresses Jean Harlow and Hedy Lamarr as direct influences. 32

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From here, the Cat’s evolution was incremental but steady. She is first called Catwoman in Batman #2 (Summer 1940); she acquires a costume in Batman #3 (Fall 1940); her costume is revised in Batman #10 (Apr.–May 1942) and #15 (Feb.–Mar. 1943); her first cover appearance is in Detective Comics #122 (Apr. 1947). Catwoman’s best-remembered “Golden Age” look has her in a purple cowl (with cat-ears, natch), costume, and heeled boots, paired with a green collar and cape. Her legs, without benefit of stockings or tights, peek out from her long purple skirt. Poor Batman didn’t stand a chance. Catwoman was not depicted in either of the Batman movie serials (of 1943 and ’49), but she continued to appear regularly in Batman comic books through Detective Comics #203 (Jan. 1954). After that edition hit the stands, she took a long catnap—12 years’ worth. Some ascribe this hiatus to the publication that year of psychiatrist Fredric Wertham’s comics-bashing book Seduction of the Innocent, which seemed to blame every societal ill on comic books. (Though Newmar originated the role, it should be noted that she might not have been the first to wear the costume. In a 1966 publicity photo, Kane posed with a girlfriend who was dressed as the Golden Age Catwoman. Kane, styled like a low-rent Hugh Hefner, pretends to be painting the lovely young lady. Depending on whether the photo was taken before or after Newmar’s bow as Catwoman that same year, Kane’s unnamed girlfriend might technically be the first person to have “officially” dressed as Catwoman.) The TV Batman team, led by producer William Dozier and writer Lorenzo Semple, Jr., was reviving comic-book villains that would satisfy the show’s emphasis on color-soaked visuals. When they wisely decided to revive the Catwoman, the character hadn’t been heard from in a dozen years. The team wanted Newmar in the role, and needed a quick answer. But Newmar didn’t know from Batman.

Voger’s Vault of vintage varieties

HOLLYWOOD TO BROADWAY

If there’s one word that must be used in describing Julie Newmar, it is “statuesque.” She is a statue—a walking (on mile-long legs), talking (in sex-kitten breathiness) monument to enduring beauty. I interviewed the actress on four occasions, in 1995, 1998, 2002, and 2008. She was born Julia Chalene Newmeyer in 1933 in Los Angeles, where she grew up in an artistically nurturing environment. Both of her parents had obtained a measure of fame: Newmar’s father once played professional football, and her mother was a dancer and fashion designer. Family notoriety didn’t end there. “I’m related to two presidents,” Newmar once told me. “I think one is [Ulysses] Grant and the other is [Franklin D.] Roosevelt, probably by fifth cousinhood or something.” Newmar reckoned she had six careers. As she put it: “First off, I was a pianist; secondly, a dancer; third, an actress; fourth, a mother—that counts, you know—fifth was real estate; sixth was writing.” Newmar’s earliest films were often musicals: She’s Working Her Way Through College (1952), her film debut as a chorus girl; The Band Wagon (1953), starring Fred Astaire; and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954). She trekked east to make her mark on Broadway in Silk Stockings (1955–1956), Li’l Abner (1956–1958), and The Marriage-Go-Round (1958– 1960), for which she won a Tony Award. Recalled the actress: “My first big career break was on the Broadway stage in Marriage-Go-Round because I was associated with such high-quality people—Claudette Colbert; Charles Boyer; Joel Anthony, the director; Leslie Stevens,

the writer. All people who’ve won Academy Awards. I was fortunate enough to win the Tony for that first acting role. In retrospect, being associated with great people, they lend their luster to a novice or someone starting out, as I was at that time.” Newmar was asked what she learned from Colbert, an Oscar winner with a long career. “I think she taught me strength,” the actress said. “This was a powerful woman who knew how to ‘right’ things, how to make things work. Everything that she had was placed in the top drawer. She had instant mental access to put whatever support she needed into her career. Top drawer. A genuine star, as her career showed from beginning to end, every decade of her life.” Newmar repeated two of her Broadway roles in movie adaptations: Stupefyin’ Jones in Melvin Frank’s Li’l Abner (1959), and Katrin in Walter Lang’s The Marriage-Go-Round (1961). Recalled the actress of shooting Li’l Abner: “I was dancing on these berms. They built little hills on the stage because that’s the way the comic strip [by Al Capp] was drawn. Dancing up and down on those skinny little heels about the size of your little finger, you know?” Did the actress, whose height was her calling card, need those skinny little heels? “Yes. I needed them because—it’s what high heels do for the legs, you see.” One can only agree. Newmar’s first regular TV role was in My Living Doll (1964–1965), a one-season wonder starring Bob Cummings. Decades before the manufacturing and marketing of so-called RealDolls, Newmar played an alluring robot in the sitcom

There was palpable sexual chemistry between Julie Newmar and Adam West. © Warner Bros. and DC Comics.

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Voger’s Vault of vintage varieties

Julie Newmar as Stupefyin’ Jones in the movie musical Li’l Abner (1959). She repeated her role from the Broadway production. © Paramount Pictures.

Bob Cummings and Julie Newmar in My Favorite Doll (1964–1965), Newmar’s first regular role on a TV series. © CBS Studios, Inc.

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(for which she was improbably nominated for a Golden Globe). I once commented to Newmar that My Living Doll seemed like a prototype for Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie. Her response made me feel like I was being toyed with, as Catwoman had done with Batman: “That’s stupendous of you to know that! How did you figure that out? Do you get savvy information? Tell me!” All three shows, I continued, depicted a recurring male fantasy from the days of rampant chauvinism: having a beautiful woman at your command. “That’s it,” Newmar came back, still pulling my leg, I believe. “At your command. You’ve got it. No one knew that. But that type of show—woman’s taking a different position, isn’t she? She doesn’t shine the light on the man so much as try to hold her own when she can.” Amen. Said Newmar of her chemistry with Cummings: “It was an interesting difference. He played a psychiatrist. Robert Cummings had just come off his very successful [Love That] Bob, the photographer show. I don’t know how to answer that in a nutshell. Let’s put it this way: We almost made a good pair. I know I tried hard enough. It was the most challenging role I’ve probably ever had. I loved it. I did my best.”

FATEFUL CALL

Newmar was living in New York when the Batman people first contacted her. She might have turned down the Catwoman, if not for the urging of some visitors who were familiar with the hit comedy, and recognized its significance. Recalled the actress: “One Saturday afternoon, I was sitting in my penthouse apartment with my brother, who’d just come down from Harvard where he was getting his Ph.D. in psychology or whatever degree he was getting; he has about seven. About five of his friends were there. A phone call came in and asked the question: ‘Could I? Would I? Catwoman? Batman?’ I said, ‘Catman? Batman? What’s that?’ And as I said ‘Batman,’ my brother leapt off the sofa and said, ‘Oh! It’s our favorite show at Harvard! You’ve got to go do it! Leave tomorrow!’ So I was on a plane Sunday and in wardrobe Monday and on the set Tuesday.” Newmar said she “had a hand” in designing her figure-hugging Catwoman costume. She recalled: “It was me. See, I have the secret of making zingy clothes, form-fitting clothes. It’s almost as if licorice was poured over the body, and then they zip you into it, see. It’s very easy to wear. Its secret is in the seams. The whole secret is in the seams, and I’m the only one who knows how to do it. Even Thierry Mugler, the French designer, fell in love with the Catwoman.” Then there was Newmar’s interplay with West. Said the actress of screenwriter Stanley Ralph Ross’ “gorgeous” dialogue: “If it hadn’t been for his brilliant dialogue—all I had to do was just physicalize the words. When you have gorgeous dialogue like that, all you have to do is get in the right costume and show up. It’s true. There’s a lot of details in that, so that the end result is that everything looks easy. I owe my career to Stanley Ralph Ross.” “Physicalize” is right. Newmar brought her dancer’s training into her portrayal of Catwoman, slinking around West as she played him like a Stradivarius. This provided a visual counterbalance to their already suggestive dialogue, such as the memorable exchange that follows… Catwoman: “I can give you more happiness than anyone in the world.”

Voger’s Vault of vintage varieties

(LEFT) Julie Newmar as Hesh-Ke in the film Mackenna’s Gold (1969). While she was filming the wordless role, Eartha Kitt stepped in as Catwoman on TV’s Batman. © Columbia Pictures. (RIGHT) After 12 years in exile, largely thanks to the popularity of Julie Newmar as Catwoman, the character returned to comic books in, of all titles, Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane #70 (Nov. 1966). Art by Kurt Schaffenberger. TM & © DC Comics. Batman: “How do you propose to do that?” Catwoman: “By being your partner in life. You and me against the world.” Batman: “What about Robin?” Catwoman: “Well, I’ll have him killed—painlessly. Well, he is a bit of a bore with his ‘Holy this’ and ‘Holy that.’”

CATWOMAN’S COMEBACK

Newmar’s TV portrayal of Catwoman proved so popular, the character enjoyed a revival in marketing and a return to comic books. Topps released three painted series of Batman trading cards in 1966. The first such series, largely illustrated by the great pulp artist Norman Saunders, presented separate multi-card storylines featuring the “big four” Batman TV villains: Joker, Penguin, Catwoman, and Riddler. The debut Catwoman card is, owing to Saunders’ mastery, indelibly etched on my psyche. It depicts Batman and Robin in the Batcave, viewing a computer-screen image of an undeniably attractive Catwoman. I’m projecting a bit here, but Robin is grinning at Batman with an expression

that seems to say, “Too bad she’s a felon,” while Batman, smiling wistfully, seems to be thinking, “I’d rehabilitate that.” Catwoman made her triumphant return to her medium of birth in, of all titles, DC Comics’ Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane #70 (Nov. 1966) and 71 (Jan. 1967), in a two-part story by Leo Dorfman with art by Kurt Schaffenberger, then DC’s preeminent Lois Lane artist. Newmar is name-checked in the introduction: “Is it the Catwoman? Julie Newmar from the Batman TV show? Lee Meriwether from the Batman movie? No… it’s our own Lois!” The peyote nightmare of a story has Lois donning the Catwoman costume and engaging in a “cat fight”—what else would you call it?—with the villainess. It’s like World’s Finest Comics meets The Twilight Zone, with its wild assortment of Metropolis and Gotham City denizens: Clark Kent (and Superman), Jimmy Olsen, Perry White, Lana Lang, Batman, Robin, the Penguin, and, to make it even more of a head-scratcher, President Lyndon B. Johnson, First Lady “Lady Bird,” and their daughters Lynda Bird and Luci. Oh, and Superman turns into a cat while Lois becomes a mouse. (This kind of thing never happens in the DCU anymore.) Schaffenberger, a pragmatic professional, RETROFAN

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Voger’s Vault of vintage varieties

drew Catwoman’s costume as we had last seen it in 1954. Newmar’s Catwoman was nothing short of a sensation, and with it, she achieved her most enduring fame. But she relinquished the role while the series was still on the air. In all, Newmar played Catwoman in 13 episodes. A previous obligation prevented her from appearing in the 1966 movie Batman. Instead, Catwoman was played by Lee Meriwether, a former Miss America then known as scientist Ann MacGregor on Irwin Allen’s sci-fi series The Time Tunnel. Meriwether wore the Catwoman costume well, and the subtle banter in her scenes as phony Russian journalist Miss Kitka opposite West’s suave Bruce Wayne is deftly played. In 1967, Newmar began shooting J. Lee Thompson’s Western Mackenna’s Gold (1969), starring Gregory Peck. Her role as Hesh-Ke, a Native American, was wordless. “Oddly,” she said of the experience, “I love parts where my body has all the dialogue. I cherish those parts. I guess, probably, because I feel I’m good at it.” While Newmar was off shooting Mackenna’s Gold, chanteuse and activist Eartha Kitt took over the Catwoman role on TV for the character’s final three episodes. Kitt gave the villainess a fresh interpretation that was no less sexy. In doing so, she made pop-culture history as the first black actor to play a comic-book character on film—no small feat at the time, considering that segregation was then still practiced in the South, despite the passage of the Civil Rights Act three years earlier. Newmar had only nice things to say about her fellow Catwomen. “Personally, Lee Meriwether is a dear and beloved friend of mine. I love her,” she said. “Eartha Kitt has a far better purr than I do, and Michelle Pfeiffer has a far better meow than I do. So, I look up to them. Well, not really. They look up to me—but that’s only because I’m 5-foot-11.” Pfeiffer wore a gleaming black-leather catsuit and death-blue make-up as Catwoman in Tim Burton’s sequel Batman Returns (1992). Halle Berry played Catwoman as an avenging super-heroine in Pitof’s Catwoman (2004). The latter was a critical bomb, and deservedly so. How do you whiff on a solo Catwoman movie starring Berry—an Oscar winner and one of the screen’s most beautiful actresses—cracking a whip like a high-priced dominatrix? The creative team behind Catwoman found a way. In The Dark Knight Rises (2012), Anne Hathaway played Selina Kyle. (She wasn’t expressly referred to as Catwoman, but wore the cat-ears.) During a sequence set at a high-society ball, Hathaway revived the cat-and-mouse interplay with Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale). Then came Camren Bicondova in TV’s Gotham, followed by Zoe Kravitz in The Batman. And the beat goes on. Which brings us to a purr-fectly valid question: Would we still be talking about Catwoman had Newmar not lent her statuesque 36

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(ABOVE) Eartha Kitt replaced Newmar for Catwoman’s final episodes in the TV series. (LEFT) Lee Meriwether replaced Julie Newmar as Catwoman in the theatrical film release Batman (1966). © Warner Bros. and DC Comics.

Voger’s Vault of vintage varieties

Batman and Robin admire Catwoman in card #25 of Topps’ first of three painted sets of Batman trading cards in 1966. The art was painted by pulp cover master Norman Saunders. TM & © DC Comics.

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Voger’s Vault of vintage varieties

(there’s that word again) form, seductive charms, and intuitive playfulness to the character way back in 1966? We’ll never know, but things turned out purr-fectly fine.

ICON STATUS

In the intervening decades, various talk show and “photo op” reunions of the TV cast occurred with West, Ward, and other surviving players, in which Newmar happily took part, still looking fabulous and playing her little games. (For example, she laid one on TV host Maury Povich, while apologizing to his wife Connie Chung.) A testament to her icon status came in the form of a movie-title shout-out. Beeban Kidron’s To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (1995) starred Patrick Swayze, Wesley Snipes, and John Leguizamo as drag queens. “I think it’s a loving gesture to all women,” she said of the film. “American women can finally take a deep breath and say, ‘Hey, you guys, you did a good job imitating us, dressing like us, acting like us. You didn’t put us down. You didn’t make us raunchy, ugly, or something to look down upon.” Newmar was particularly impressed with Swayze. “I fell in love with him,” she said. “When I watched him up on the screen, I got goosebumps. He moved me. He cherished the person that he was playing. And, you see, that’s a double blessing. Because it was: ‘I cherish this woman I am being.’” Newmar spent three days filming her Wong Foo cameo. “Oh, it was heavenly,” the actress said. “Good heavens! I felt like a princess the entire time. I was dressed in a Thierry Mugler black-rubber lace dress. It was made in Japan. I think it cost $40,000. The dress itself has a very interesting history. It got stolen for a brief period and ended up in Watts, which sent the whole house of Mugler into a tizzy.” The most significant of Newmar’s revisits to the Batman milieu occurred in the 2003 TV movie Return to the Batcave: The Misadventures of Adam and Burt, a wavering “meta” comedy in which she, West, Ward, and Gorshin played alternate-universe versions of themselves. The film intercuts making-of flashbacks to the Sixties TV production with a latter-day lark in which West and Ward follow clues to retrieve the Batmobile, which was stolen from a charity auction benefiting orphans. Meriwether cameos as a hash-slinging waitress. Newmar and Gorshin hatch a nefarious plot as carefully styled iterations of their Batman roles. The result was hot and cold—at turns hilarious and corny, and ultimately a ratings disappointment. But seeing the veteran stars recapture the old magic just warms the heart. Considering her many and varied career achievements, does Newmar consider Catwoman a blessing or a curse? “Life’s not a curse for me,” she said. “Especially the more successful parts. I love the challenges that life brings. And I’m sure that with the Catwoman, as with any role, one offers one’s gifts. If it works, it works. If the part is wrong or the editing or whatever goes into all of our magic-making, if the other guys didn’t do their jobs, then we all 38

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suffer, you see. But I think they all did their jobs on the Batman. I give the producer the top star for that. Producers prepared the ground for me to dance on. They gave me the clothes to shine in.” Newmar’s tip for maintaining one’s appearance: “It’s the one my mother always taught me, which goes on forever and ever and ever: Stay out of the sun. That’s the biggie. No baking, no cooking, no frying in the sun.” Her tip for longevity: “You have to learn to like what’s good for you. That’ll take you further.” For me, an epiphany regarding Newmar occurred some time during my adolescence. I spotted photos of Newmar in Playboy, scenes of her swimming nude in Mackenna’s Gold. Seeing the Catwoman herself in this context was, to use understatement, an awakening. It dawned on me why Batman was so flustered. This understanding has only deepened over the years. I became aware of the possibility that, rather than throw the Bat-cuffs on Catwoman, Batman might request that she throw the Bat-cuffs on him. If you catch my drift. During one of my conversations with Newmar, I spoke about how the sexual dynamic between Catwoman and Batman zoomed over my head at the age of seven. I remarked that as a child, I Frank Gorshin, Julie couldn’t possibly have fathomed Newmar, Adam West, the double entendre and sexually and Burt Ward played charged subtext of her onscreen alternate-universe interplay with West. But Newmar versions of themselves would have none of it. in the meta TV movie “Oh, but you did,” she insisted Return to the Batcave: The over my protests. “Maybe some Misadventures of Adam of the snappier dialogue got past and Burt (2003). © 20th you, but you got the intent. You Century Fox. got the meaning and you got the sexual innuendo. Didn’t you?” Um, well, er… “Yes, you did. You absolutely did. I swear you did. I get letters from people who say, ‘Oh, I was so turned on!’ And then I started getting letters from guys that tell me they were five years old when they got the message that something was about to happen in their lives.” MARK VOGER is the author and designer of five books for TwoMorrows Publishing, including Monster Mash: The Creepy, Kooky Monster Craze in America 1957–1972 (a Rondo Award winner), Groovy: When Flower Power Bloomed in Pop Culture, and Holly Jolly: Celebrating Christmas Past in Pop Culture. Voger worked in the newspaper field as an entertainment reporter and graphic artist for 40 years, and lives at the Jersey Shore. He is still afraid of the Zanti Misfits. Please visit him at MarkVoger.com.

RETRO CARTOONS

‘The Pinocchio Syndrome’

ASTRO BOY They were separated by half a planet and more than a century. But their stories were still similar. A seemingly inanimate figure is brought to life through extraordinary means. Naive and idealistic, the individual embarks on a series of amazing adventures, to try to find his place in the world, and how to be a real boy. The first individual is, of course, Pinocchio, created in the late 19th Century by Carlo Collodi. The second character, though, is an iconic Japanese character that became one of the first stars of anime to make an impact in America. He began life as Mighty Atom, but you probably know him as Astro Boy. From 1963–1966, the original Astro Boy animated series ran in syndication on TV stations across America, usually five days a week in the afternoon. Long-time science-fiction fan Steve Luttrell of Downingtown, Pennsylvania, recalls, “I remember that the NBC affiliate in Philadelphia used to run Astro Boy right before [news journalists] Huntley and Brinkley. You could go from anime to grainy 16mm footage of warfare in Vietnam within four minutes.” Ken Steacy, a Canadian writer-artist who would become associated with Astro Boy, tells RetroFan, “I recall visiting relatives in New York City in the early Sixties, and being parked in front of their black-and-white TV long enough to catch the last few minutes of an Astro Boy episode. At that point, I had yet to join the ranks of the Merry Marvel Marching Society… but was a fan of Rupert the Bear and Tintin (and remain so to this day!). Something about the simplicity of the character [Astro Boy] design and the sparse animation intrigued me, but it wasn’t until a quarter century later

BY BILL SPANGLER

that I developed a much greater Go, Astro, go! An amazing appreciation of [creator Osamu] cel of Astro Boy taking Tezuka’s character.” to the air, from Tezuka Mighty Atom was part of Productions’ 1980 Astro a large cast that populated a Boy cartoon reboot. Astro Boy manga called Ambassador Atom © Tezuka Productions Co., Ltd. or Captain Atom (depending on the translation). The series was created by a writer-artist named Osamu Tezuka. Eventually, Tezuka would be dubbed by many as the God of Manga, but Ambassador Atom was considered only a mild success. Tezuka’s editor recommended that he focus on Mighty Atom’s adventures. The change turned a modestly performing series into an institution. Tezuka produced Astro Boy stories for a variety of publications from 1952 to 1981. He also created Jungle Emperor Leo, better known in America as Kimba the White Lion, and more adult features such as Black Jack.

HE’S GOT FIREPOWER OUT THE…

Astro Boy was constructed by Doctor Tenma to replace his son Tobio, who had recently died in car accident. Robots were common in this world, but Astro was still something different. He could fly, and his body contained a variety of weapons, including a machine gun that extended from his butt. That’s right, his butt. In many versions of this story, Astro ends up as the property of a circus, similar to the circus in Disney’s Pinocchio. That relationship doesn’t last very long, either. Astro becomes a ward of the Ministry of Science, whose scientists create a robotic family for him to live RETROFAN

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retro cartoons

(TOP LEFT) A 2003 reprint edition of Osamu Tezuka’s 1951 first Astro Boy manga, Ambassador (Captain) Atom. (TOP RIGHT) An Astro Boy import. (BOTTOM LEFT) Gold Key Comics published Astro Boy #1 (and only) in 1965. (bottom right) NOW Comics’ The Original Astro Boy #3 (Nov. 1987), featuring a painted cover by Ken Steacy. © Tezuka Productions Co., Ltd.

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retro cartoons

with. His sister Uran (short for “uranium”?) is probably the bestknown member of that family. Tezuka told an interviewer that Astro Boy was intended to be a “21st-Century reverse-Pinocchio, a nearly perfect robot who strove to become more human and emotive and to serve as an interface between man and machine.” As his career evolved, Tezuka established an animation studio. One of its initial projects was a television series featuring Astro Boy. This show proved to be a landmark, as the first animated series to run on Japanese TV and the first Japanese series to run in America. Selling the series to America required several changes. Astro’s original identity was now Astor Boynton, and Professor Ochanomizu, Astro’s mentor at the Ministry of Science, was now known as Professor Elefun, for reasons that are apparent as soon as you see his nose. In addition, the American producers added a theme song which was added to the Japanese version. This series of Astro Boy adventures consisted of 104 segments in black and white, with very limited animation. Despite these drawbacks, there are some striking visuals. Some are meant to produce jokes, such as scientists’ necks that stretch and squash as they watch temperature gauges go up and down. Other robots in the circus Astro winds up in do bizarre things (one robot is shaped like a mailbox with arms and legs, and takes letters out of a door in his body and reinserts them through his mouth). There’s a different sort of surrealism in a later episode, as Astro imagines running through a nightmarish landscape, searching for his mother. (Which brings up an interesting question: Who was Astor Boynton’s mother?) As color television became more common in the mid-Sixties, the black-and-white Astro Boy cartoons were phased out. In the early 1980s, Tezuka and his animators brought the character back, in full color. This new series kept the general outlines of Astro’s origin, and his time as a circus performer. His original last name was still Boynton, but now his first name was Toby, a variation of Tobio.

This series also introduced his arch-enemy, a robot known as Atlas. A scientist constructs Atlas based on Dr. Tenma/Boynton’s plans, which cause some people to refer to him as Astro’s half-brother. Not only do the animators import Atlas from Tezuka’s original manga, but whole stories are adapted into the new medium. A story called “The Greatest Robot on Earth” became a two-part TV episode. In this particular outing, a formidable robot controlled by a character known as the Sultan challenges other robots across the globe to see who is the most powerful. Naturally, Astro Boy is on this list. The Sultan’s robot was originally known as Pluto, but his name was changed to Bruton for the animated version. The other robots had names like Hercules and Mont Blanc. Astro eventually convinces Bruton that there are more things in life than fighting. “The Greatest Robot on Earth” stayed in a lot of readers’ memories. Eventually, Naoki Urasawa and Takashi Nagasaki got permission to adapt the story back into manga form, with a more modern look. This version is called Pluto, and was published in America as a six-volume set in 2009. Although the characters here have a more contemporary and realistic look, they’re easily recognizable in most cases (Astro Boy is simply called “Atom” here). As of late 2021, the color Astro Boy was available on the streaming service Tubi. Episodes of a third animated series, which premiered in 2003, are available on YouTube.

ASTRO BOY AT NOW COMICS

Artist Ken Steacy used to watch and enjoy the French-language version of the Astro Boy color cartoon with his two boys. He became even more intimately involved with the character in 1987, when NOW Comics, one of the companies in the burgeoning independent market, approached him about doing an American version of Astro Boy. NOW’s series launched with The Original Astro Boy #1 (Sept. 1987).

The master cartoonist and creator of Mighty Atom (Astro Boy), Osamu Tezuka, in a self-caricature from the early Eighties. © Tezuka Productions Co., Ltd. Courtesy of Heritage.

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retro cartoons

(LEFT) 1963 cel from the original, black-and white Astro Boy. (BOTTOM) Astro’s up in the air again in this cel from the 1980 color reboot. © Tezuka Productions Co., Ltd. Courtesy of Heritage.

“I jumped at the chance,” Steacy says. “I illustrated the first eight issues with writer Michael Dimpsey; then took over the scripting chores for the next nine issues, although I only did the artwork up to issue #16. I also created the logo, which had to say The Original Astro Boy, due to some convoluted legal issues. “The first issue featured black-and-white line art, with blueline painted color,” Steacy continues. “After that, every page was fully painted in transparent watercolor, and lettered directly on the artwork. All of the covers were airbrushed paintings by yours truly, and I’m still very pleased with most of them. I greatly enjoyed collaborating on the interior artwork with my stalwart assistant at

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the time, Andrew Pratt, who also handled the lettering chores on the series. “NOW gave me carte blanche for the stories,” he reveals. “For a while, I followed the arc of the first eight issues, which were essentially an adaptation of Tezuka’s origin story. After that, though, I just wrote and drew whatever I wanted. Dinosaurs! Super-villains! Renegade robots! And my fave character, John E. Seven, the one-man army, my favorite childhood toy. “Towards the end my enthusiasm waned, owing to my short attention span, I guess,” Steacy admits. “Those 17 issues are the longest run I ever did in comics, [since I preferred] to focus on

retro cartoons

without warning or explanation and say something cryptic like, “Here to greet you,” only to vanish again after a panel or two. Although the stories in the Dark Horse edition are reprinted out of their original publication order, they are published in the order Tezuka himself chose. As a result, each volume contains a short framing sequence, written and drawn by Tezuka, in order to provide background information. In addition, the pages have been flipped to read from left to right, rather than the right-to-left format of most manga. Some aspects of these stories can be considered racially insensitive by modern standards. However, these stories are reprinted unedited. In a statement that comes with each volume, Dark Horse and Tezuka Productions say: “We are against discrimination in all of its forms, and intend to continue to work for its elimination. Nonetheless, we do not believe it would be proper to revise these works. Tezuka is no longer with us, and we cannot erase what he has done, and to alter his work would only violate his rights as a creator.” The Dark Horse reprints can be ordered through Amazon or your local comics shop. Although plans for another revival were announced , the most recent version of Astro Boy seems to be a 2009 film produced with computer generated animation. In some areas, this film is very respectful to the original, but there are also major changes. Set in the year 2108, one major plotline is the conflict between the floating city of Metro City, and the city underneath it, which has grown out of Metro’s castoffs.

(ABOVE AND RIGHT) Courtesy of artist Ken Steacy, original art to the Mighty Atom’s origin, from NOW Comics’ The Original Astro Boy #1 (Sept. 1987). © Tezuka Productions Co., Ltd. painted covers, one-shots, and graphic novels.” Steacy’s other credits include The Sacred and the Profane with Dean Motter, and Night and the Enemy with Harlan Ellison. “The one I’m most proud of,” he says, “is War Bears, the 2019 hardcover adaptation and expansion of Margaret Atwood’s bittersweet short story ‘Oursonette,’ which concerns the rise and demise of a fictional Toronto comic-book company during World War II.”

ASTRO BOY 2K

In 2002, Dark Horse Comics acquired the rights to translate and reprint Tezuka’s original manga. There were 23 pocket-sized volumes in this series, which were later reprinted as seven omnibus editions. These reprints give the reader a closer look at the source material for the cartoons and Tezuka’s sense of whimsy, which isn’t always visible in the animated version. In the original stories, police cars were often given the features of dogs, to reflect the dogged determination of police officers. Characters would appear RETROFAN

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retro cartoons

2008 Limited edition art print from an exhibition celebrating 150 years of friendship between Japan and France. “Signed” with an official Osamu Tezuka stamp.© Tezuka Productions Co., Ltd. Courtesy of Heritage. 44

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retro cartoons

Dr. Tenma still creates Astro out of grief for his son, but he’s not the primary villain this time. Here it’s President Stone, the ruler of Metro City. Astro is exiled from Metro City and has to fight his way back with his new friends from the under city. For his first few moments of life, Astro is in his original form, before being given the look that is seen in the movie posters. Despite the new look, Astro still has most of his original weaponry… including the machine gun in his butt.

(BELOW) Now here’s an artist who really gets into his work… Ken Steacy as Astro Boy. (RIGHT) An anime meet-up: Astro Boy and Speed Racer, in a 2004 illo by Ken Steacy. Astro Boy © Tezuka Productions Co., Ltd. Speed Racer © Speed Racer Enterprises, Inc. Courtesy of Ken Steacy.

A caricature of Tezuka makes cameos throughout the movie, much like some of FAST FACTS the more bizarre residents of the original manga. Anyone who has seen the caricature in other venues, like the Dark Horse reprints, ASTRO BOY (1963) will be amused by the callbacks, but it won’t f No. of episodes: 193 bother people who don’t recognize him. f Original run: January 1, 1963– One of the Metro City rejects is named December 31, 1966 Hamegg, which is also the name of the circus f Network: Fuji TV ringmaster in the earlier versions. f Director: Osamu Tezuka Some prominent talent provides the voices in this film, including Nicholas Cage, ASTRO BOY (1980) Donald Sutherland, Nathan Lane, Kristen f No. of episodes: 51 Bell, Alan Tudyk (Firefly), and Matt Lucas f Original run: October 1, 1980– (Doctor Who). A young performer named December 23, 1981 Freddie Highmore provides Astro’s voice. f Network: Nippon TV [Editor’s note: Highmore is also known for f Production company: Tezuka director Tim Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Productions Factory (2005), plus two television series, as young Norman Bates in the Psycho prequel Bates Motel (2013–2017) and as the lead in the ABC medical drama, The Good Doctor (2017–present).] The plot itself was not particularly original, but it was serviceable. It may be that fans who have been with Mighty Atom from the beginning just didn’t care for a CGI Astro. In addition to his work on Astro Boy, Steacy has an anecdote of sorts about Tezuka himself. “Sad to say, I missed two opportunities to actually meet Osamu Tezuka: once, when he appeared at a show in Montreal, but I couldn’t afford the airfare from the West Coast where we live, and again at Comic-Con in San Diego. I was sitting with my old friend, Steve Leialoha, and this very familiar-looking gentleman sporting a beret strolled by and smiled at us. Steve nudged me and asked if I knew who that was. Of course I did, and I so wanted to speak with him, but what could a little pipsqueak like me say to the God of Comics? He passed away shortly thereafter, and ever since I regretted not taking the opportunity to thank him for being such a wonderful part of my life, both professionally and as a fan. I’ll do it now: domo arigato gozaimashita. Tezuka sensei!” In 1984, BILL SPANGLER was one of the servers at a party for important fans, held at the World Science Fiction Convention (which was in Baltimore, Maryland, that year). One of the guests was wearing a full-length kimono with an intricate design. Bill had to get closer though before he recognized the design as tiny versions of Astro Boy. Bill’s wife Joyce introduced him to the Astro Boy cartoons, shortly after he discovered anime. RETROFAN

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RETROFAD

The Slinky

Slinky® and © Just Play, LLC. Slinky photo by Roger McLassus/Wikimedia Commons. Toy Story © Disney/Pixar.

BY MICHAEL EURY

James discovered that these coils My formative years were spent in a would “walk” down stairs. His son, small, one-level apartment, with no Tom, was agog over the phenomstairs. So the magic of “a wonderful enon, as were Tom’s buddies. toy” that is “fun for a girl and a boy” It was a sick child and a smart and could walk down steps all by wife, however, that inspired Richard itself was lost upon a kid whose James to stop thinking like an home was on the first floor. engineer and start thinking like an Still, it was the TV advertising entrepreneur. “I gave one coil to a jingle whose siren call pronounced, boy in bed with the mumps,” James “Everyone wants a Slinky” that coiled recalled. The kid’s parents were itself into my psyche and demanded impressed with how the simple I spring into step with Slinkymania. device helped buoy their child’s One of my earliest TV memories is a spirits and told James he should black-and-white commercial from market his spring as a toy. James’ the mid-Sixties where a little girl is wife Betty saw the merit in taking yanking her caterpillar-shaped Slinky his springs to a commercial level toy across her living room carpet. The and urged him to proceed. At first slithering plaything that expanded James was discouraged, since “the and contracted like Myron Floren’s ‘toy people’ wanted no part of” his accordion on The Lawrence Welk Show, springy plaything as he tried to hawk stymied her pet dachshund. This his product to disinterested stores. Slinky “Cater-puller” was supposed to Betty suggested that her husband be cute, but to me resembled a Zanti make his toy more attractive to Misfit from The Outer Limits. It would children by painting the wire in bright have been horrifying if it weren’t primary colors, and even coined the for the perky jingle chiming in the name “Slinky” after flipping through background. The intoxicating theme the dictionary. (An aside to all you song worked—I wanted a Slinky! married men: Listen to your wives!) And the girl’s poor puppy probably Richard and Betty James persuaded needed a doggie shrink. Philadelphia’s Gimbels Department Maybe the whole U.S.A. needed Store to give the Slinky a shot in (TOP) Richard T. James’ original patent design. its collective head examined when late 1945, with Dick himself demon(BOTTOM) Everyone knows it’s Slinky’s creator, you consider that the Slinky—which strating the product live. Shoppers, Richard T. James. has sold hundreds of millions of like the kid with the mumps, were units—is a simple spring. enthralled by this “walking” The Slinky was discovered by accident in 1943. Philadelphia spring. Within an hour and a half the 400 Slinkies the shipbuilder Richard T. “Dick” James, commissioned by the U.S. husband-and-wife duo had invested in had not Navy, was working with round elastic wire in an attempt to walked, but blown off the shelf. Gimbels wanted create a device that would buffer ships’ delicate navigational more Slinkies! Richard quit his day job, he and instruments from choppy ocean waters. Legend has it that James Betty borrowed $500 for startup costs, and noticed the gyrations of a coil spring that toppled from a shelf they formed James Spring & Wire Company and began to shimmy across tabletops before “walking” its way to of Clifton Heights, Pennsylvania. They the floor. Its acrobatic movements mesmerized him. “The coils of hurried more Slinkies into production, round wire wouldn’t stand up,” James said in an interview. While frantically keeping apace with climbing he was unable to produce the shock absorber the Navy wanted, demand during the Christmas season. James had samples of flat wire produced and began “tinkering This American Dream had its with wire springs.” nightmares along the way. Patent disputes RETROFAN

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and warehouse blazes were threats, and the couple’s young company—soon renamed James Industries—was nearly shuttered in late 1947 by Richard’s hospitalization and a crippling steel shortage. Betty’s snappy personality saved the day when she boldly phoned the president of the Pittsburgh Steel Company and “explained the situation,” she once said in an interview. “I just told the president he must be a very understanding man, or he wouldn’t have the position he had.” Her earnestness worked. James Industries got their steel—and Slinky bounced back into production. During their first two years in business, Richard and Betty James sold 100 million Slinkies, priced at $1 each. They had the world on a… spring. The Fifties were the Golden Age of Slinky, with an explosive expansion of the brand. A 1952 over-the-transom submission by a woman in Washington State included mechanical drawings for Slinky pull toys. Richard and Betty brokered a deal with her and went into production on the Slinky Dog and the Slinky Train, for which the West Coast inventor received handsome royalties for years. New Slinky variations followed: Slinky Jr., Slinky Soldier, Slinky Handcar, Slinky Soldiers, Slinky Worm, Slinky Eyes, Slinky Popup, Slinky Satellite Beanie; and the popular Slink’em, a board game where two mini-Slinkies would race down a runway. With an affordable price range from 69 cents for the smaller items to $2 for the larger pull toys, an estimated 14 million units of Slinky products were sold during the company’s first decade. The Sixties were a time of change for Slinky. In 1960 Richard James took a religious sabbatical to Bolivia with a missionary group, leaving Betty behind to run the business and raise their six kids. It turned out, however, that James was being played by a cult. “…These religious people always had their hands out,” Betty said to the New York Times some 36 years later. Her husband gave away much of their Slinky fortune and nearly toppled the company into bankruptcy. Betty, now CEO of James Industries, helped the company spring back by relocating from the pricier Philadelphia to just outside of Altoona, Pennsylvania,

in the Appalachian Mountains, and by using less-expensive steel in production. Betty James’ wisest decision, however, was to begin an aggressive advertising campaign on the burgeoning medium of television, where the aforementioned jingle soon jangled its way into the public consciousness. She risked the house on this, literally taking out a mortgage to fund the launch of her new marketing blitz at the 1963 Toy Fair in New York City. While Barbie, G.I. Joe, and space-age toys were the rages of the day, those ubiquitous Slinky TV commercials wouldn’t let viewers forget that “a spring, a spring” is “a marvelous thing.” Slinky products continued to be strong sellers. It’s ironic that a popular toy that was nearly put out of business by a cult has become a cult favorite. Technological advancements in toys and electronics have since made the Slinky old school, but as such it has achieved an iconic status as a perennial. The Slinky has been immortalized in space shuttle experiments and movie cameos, getting a new lease on life in 1995 when Slinky Dog was introduced to a fresh generation as one of the cast of Pixar’s Toy Story, with tens of thousands of Slinky Dogs being sold in the mid-Nineties. The Slinky was inducted into the National Toy Hall

of Fame in 2000 and was cited among the 20th Century’s 100 most memorable playthings in the Toy Industry Association’s “Century of Toys List.” Betty James, who sold her company in 1998, was similarly inducted into the Toy Manufacturers Association’s Hall of Fame in 2001. There’s even a National Slinky Day each August 30th, and Slinky’s original home of Clifton Heights has adopted historical bragging rights as the classic toy’s birthplace. Not a bad thing… for a spring. Slinkies continue to be made to this day right here in the U.S.A., in the same factory in Hollisdayburg, Pennsylvania, just outside of Altoona, rolling off the same assembly machine that Richard T. James invented decades ago. The Slinky may seem archaic in today’s world where our robotic vacuum cleaners are more animated than this simple step-walker. But as a torrent of crises relentlessly pelts our high-strung culture, maybe spending a few moments watching a spring walk down the stairs is the perfect way to unwind. RETROFAN

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New from TwoMorrows!

ALTER EGO #176

BACK ISSUE #134

BACK ISSUE #135

BACK ISSUE #136

The Golden Age comics of major pulp magazine publisher STREET & SMITH (THE SHADOW, DOC SAVAGE, RED DRAGON, SUPERSNIPE) examined in loving detail by MARK CARLSON-GHOST! Art by BOB POWELL, HOWARD NOSTRAND, and others, ANTHONY TOLLIN on “The Shadow/Batman Connection”, FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT, JOHN BROOME, PETER NORMANTON, and more!

BRONZE AGE RARITIES & ODDITIES, spotlighting rare ‘80s European Superman comics! Plus: CURT SWAN’s Batman, JIM APARO’s Superman, DAVID ANTHONY KRAFT’s Marvel custom comics, MICHAEL USLAN’s unseen Earth-Two stories, Leaf’s DC Secret Origins, Marvel’s Evel Knievel, cover variants, and more! With EDUARDO BARRETO, PAUL KUPPERBERG, ALEX SAVIUK, and more. Cover by JOE KUBERT.

SILVER ISSUE, starring the Silver Surfer in the Bronze Age! Plus: JACK KIRBY’s Silver Star, SCOTT HAMPTON’s Silverheels, Silver Sable, Silver Banshee, and more! Featuring KURT BUSIEK, STEVEN BUTLER, TOM DeFALCO, STEVE ENGLEHART, RON FRENZ, STERLING GATES, RON MARZ, FABIAN NICIEZA, ALEX ROSS, MARSHALL ROGERS, JOE RUBINSTEIN, ROGER STERN, and cover by FRENZ and SINNOTT.

BRONZE AGE COMICS STRIPS! SpiderMan, Friday Foster, DC’s World’s Greatest Superheroes starring Superman, Howard the Duck, Richie Rich, Star Hawks, Star Trek, MIKE GRELL’s Tarzan, and more! Plus Charlton’s comic strip tie-ins and the MENOMONEE FALLS GAZETTE. With COLAN, GOODWIN, GIL KANE, KREMER, STAN LEE, ROMITA, THOMAS, TUSKA, and more.

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KIRBY COLLECTOR #83

BRICKJOURNAL #74

COMIC BOOK CREATOR #28 OUR ARTISTS AT WAR

THE LIFE & ART OF

DAVE COCKRUM

FAMOUS FIRSTS! How JACK KIRBY was a pioneer in all areas of comics: Romance Comics genre, Kid Gangs, double-page spreads, Black heroes, new formats, super-hero satire, and others! With MARK EVANIER and our regular columnists, plus a gallery of Jack’s pencil art from CAPTAIN AMERICA, JIMMY OLSEN, CAPTAIN VICTORY, DESTROYER DUCK, BLACK PANTHER, and more!

Amazing LEGO® STAR WARS builds, including Lando Calrissian’s Treadable by JÜRGEN WITTNER, Starkiller Base by JHAELON EDWARDS, and more from STEVEN SMYTH and Bantha Bricks! Plus: Minifigure Customization by JARED K. BURKS, AFOLs by GREG HYLAND, stepby-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK (including a LEGO BB-8), and more! Edited by JOE MENO.

STEVE BISSETTE career-spanning interview, from his Joe Kubert School days, Swamp Thing stint, publisher of Taboo and Tyrant, creator rights crusader, and more. Also, Part One of our MIKE GOLD interview on his Chicago youth, start in underground comix, and arrival at DC Comics, right in time for the implosion! Plus BUD PLANT on his publishing days, comic shop owner, and start in mail order—and all the usual fun stuff!

Examines US War comics: EC COMICS (Two-Fisted Tales, Frontline Combat), DC COMICS (Enemy Ace, All American Men of War, G.I. Combat, Our Fighting Forces, Our Army at War, Star-Spangled War Stories), WARREN PUBLISHING (Blazing Combat), CHARLTON (Willy Schultz and the Iron Corporal) and more! Featuring KURTZMAN, SEVERIN, DAVIS, WOOD, KUBERT, GLANZMAN, KIRBY, and others!

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Follows his career from fandom to redesigning the LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES and his introduction of X-MEN characters Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, and Thunderbird (plus his design of Wolverine’s alter ego, Logan). Includes later work on THE FUTURIANS, unused character designs, and other rare material! Written by GLEN CADIGAN with introduction by ALEX ROSS.

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ALTER EGO #175

Spotlighting the artists of ROY THOMAS’ 1980s DC series ALL-STAR SQUADRON! Interviews with artists ARVELL JONES, RICHARD HOWELL, and JERRY ORDWAY, conducted by RICHARD ARNDT! Plus, the Squadron’s FINAL SECRETS, including previously unpublished art, & covers for issues that never existed! With FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT, and a wraparound cover by ARVELL JONES!

RETRO TELEVISION

BY ROBERT GREENBERGER In February 1972, America wasn’t yet worried about bugging offices. Instead it was emerging from a turbulent, violent period that frayed the social fabric. We still trusted our government and our major corporations, so there wasn’t much need to think about the surveillance state or the coming changes computer technology would bring to America. As a result, an NBC telefilm, Probe, seemed like a far-fetched concept. The brainchild of Leslie Stevens, the concept posited that a private firm, World Securities, protected and insured banks, national treasures, art collections, and other valuables. Their Probe Division outfitted their agents with high-tech gear, allowing a team at Probe Control to guide them on their investigations. Each agent had a surgically implanted ear jack, allowing two-way communications, along with a dental implant that allowed nonverbal signals (once for yes, twice for no, or continuous for emergency). The crown jewel, as it was, was the scanner, a tiny device that allowed Control to see and hear what was happening while studying vital signs, and the camera could perform infrared scanning, allowing for night vision. It could be worn as a ring, pendant, or cufflinks. Stevens, the mastermind behind The Outer Limits, certainly understood thinking forward as well as the paranoia that can come with too much power or the fear of the unknown. He was well paired with producer Robert H. Justman, recently coming off Star Trek, who also knew a few things about the future. Stevens brought along with him associate producer John Meredith Strong, whom he met on McCloud. According to Strong, he and Stevens conceived of a series called 1999 that featured a secret group operating in the Earthside Missile Base, solving cases involving strange phenomenon. World Securities Corporation fronted as an insurance firm. From there, the series morphed into Probe. The NBC two-hour film starred Hugh O’Brian, making his triumphant return to television after his Fifties hit, The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp. It was glossy, boasting a strong score from Dominic Frontiere, with guest-stars Sir John Gielgud and Elke Sommer (and future “Angel” Jaclyn Smith), and showed a lot of promise. In keeping with U.N.C.L.E. and other acronyms of the day, in the film, Hugh O’Brian’s character explains that Probe actually

(TOP) No, that’s not a Zoom meeting—it’s the cast of TV’s innovative one-season wonder, Search (1972–1973). Special thanks to RetroFan Jim Alexander for providing the Search promotional photos accompanying this article. © Warner Bros. Television. (ABOVE) Ad for Probe, the telefilm directed by Russ Mayberry, which aired on February 21, 1972. When it continued as a series, its name was changed to Search to avoid duplicating the title of PBS’s science program, Probe. © Warner Bros. Television.

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retro television

Sir John Gielgud (LEFT) as Harold L. Streeter and Burgess Meredith as V. C. R. Cameron, from the Probe pilot. © Warner Bros. Television.

means “Programmed Retrieval Operations,” with the “B” and “E” remaining classified. O’Brian wound up becoming a part owner of the series, which was being produced by Warner Television, but he only appeared in eight of the episodes. For reasons unknown, Search became a wheel show. Beginning with ABC’s Warner Bros. Presents in 1955, numerous television series would rotate leads or storylines. They were unrelated, a practice NBC used regularly with The Bold Ones (1969–1973), Four in One (1970–1971), and The NBC Mystery Movie (1971–1977). The Peacock Network’s 90-minute The Name of the Game (1968–1971), for which Stevens produced seven episodes, set all the characters in the same world, which became influential for the new series. The Name of the Game featured intrepid reporter Jeff Dillon, played by Tony Franciosa, who was recruited to the new show. Doug McClure, who spent 1962–1971 as Trampas on the popular TV Western The Virginian (also briefly produced by Stevens), was also signed for a role in Search. To handle the agents and to bring some gravitas to the proceedings, Burgess Meredith was brought in as Probe Control Director V. C. R. Cameron, while the technicians he oversaw were all relatively new performers—Angel Tompkins, Albert Popwell, Byron Chung, A Martinez, Amy Farrell, Ginny 50

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Golden, Ron Castro, and Cheryl Stoppelmoor, the latter better known today as Cheryl Ladd. Strong initially conceived the title shots and recounted how, as a joke, he edited them into a huge penis-like missile taking off to Mars with the title Probe right behind it; fear and laughter was heard in the network screening room. “I told the story to the NBC press when they had their big junket for all their new series without blinking an eye, because I thought it was funny (and innocent), and Tony Franciosa was with me because he was being [added] to the show of contract players and he was embarrassed or speechless.” Meredith didn’t think the series would ever be picked up, losing a dinner bet to Strong at the famed Beverly Hills restaurant the Bistro. He finally agreed to appear in it when he realized the Probe Control scenes would be shot one day a week. Strong also said securing Meredith cost him 13 bottles of Chateau Laffite 1941. Between the pilot and the series, PBS pointed out that they had a science series called Probe, and as a result the NBC series was quickly retitled Search. It was given the 10 p.m. berth on Wednesday nights, facing off against ABC’s The Julie Andrews Show and CBS’s latest detective show, Cannon. Each week saw a new case handed to the Probe Division, and Cameron would brief the agent du jour, usually in the dark opera-

retro television

Searching for Search? These 1972 television magazine ads let you know where it’s at! Search © Warner Bros. Television.

tions center. Like the Enterprise bridge, there was a main viewscreen where information on the case was presented, and where later the agents’ activities could be seen. O’Brian was Hugh Lockwood, a former astronaut, and agent Probe One, the best of the lot. James Franciosa was a former NYPD cop, Nick Bianco, who specialized in criminal activity, dubbed the Omega Probe. Beach bum-cum-electronics genius C. R. Grover (Doug McClure) was the backup Probe, usually pressed into service on short notice, upending his personal life. Sadly, there was zero crossover with the agents, so they were never all seen in a single episode. At Probe Control, each technician had a specialty such as medical telemetry, languages, logistics, etc. Cameron oversaw everything, trying to keep the inevitable flirting between operative and pretty technician to a minimum, focusing them instead on the mission—and their budget. The set, conceived by production designer Fred Harpman on his first job, was filled with thencutting-edge computers on loan from Control Data Corporation, so extras were manning those machines in the background, suggesting a robust operation. The wealth of information they could access suggested the internet long before it went public. As befit shows of the era, it boasted an illustrious cadre of guest-stars including Dabney Coleman, Sebastian Cabot, Jeff Corey, Edward Mulhare, Mary Frann, Nehemiah Persoff, Nicholas Colasanto, James B. Sikking, JoAnna Cameron, Michael Conrad, Jo Ann Pflug, Stefanie Powers, and William Smith. Styled after the globetrotting espionage novels and films of the era, Search tried to make it appear the Probe agents were in Europe, the high seas, tropical islands, and so on. Today, the themes about man and machine, privacy rights of the agents or the people being investigated, and similar concerns would fuel a lot of the stories. None of those issues ever came up back in the Seventies, and the show avoided topical matters, going for the more generic threats that fueled so many dramas of the time, from Mission: Impossible to Hawaii Five-0. The scripts were professional, but never really took advantage of the tech or the moral issues. In a 1972 interview on The Bobbie Wynant Show, Burgess Meredith touched on Search’s potential. “Our program uses the tech for the side of good, but imagine if it is used on the side of evil? It’s terrifying what [the government] can find out, what they can look into.” After starting off strong in the ratings, negative reviews and William Conrad’s engaging performance in the competing Cannon saw Search suffer, never ranking higher than 38 in the Nielsen Ratings. A typical review of the premise came from Don Page of the Los Angeles Times, who declared: “Unquestionably, there is a lot to say for Search… like contrived, ludicrous, gimmicky and dull.” Rather than understand the potential of the tech, the critics saw it as mere child’s play. For example, Bettelou Peterson of the Detroit Free Press wrote, “The gimmicks carry the show [but it] is played for snickers rather than laughs.” Of course, these same critics were dismissive of Star Trek for being gimmicky and outlandish without trying to pay attention to the stories. On the other hand, anecdotal buzz was positive, according to Strong, who told the Probe Control fan group, “I got some amazing response to the show… and we were all very proud of it. And we all work in this business, move from job-to-job, from movie-to-movie, RETROFAN

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and from television series-to-television series… and you don’t find a ‘family.’ Most of these good shows had ‘families.’ Well, we had a good ‘family’ there.” A more recent critic was comics writer Don McGregor, who liked the series and reviewed the DVDs when released in 2014. He noted, “Instead the problem is in the show itself, in what might have had to be done in the early 1970s to get the show greenlit. There is a glimpse of Leslie Stevens in the general setup of Probe, with its uncomfortable combination of frivolous spy adventure with a technological, computerized control room that feeds information into the heroes’ heads. One of the most fun elements of Search is that it takes a room full of computer whizzes commanded by Burgess Meredith, playing Cam, to do what can now be done by an individual on a smartphone—possibly without having Big Brother

Hugh O’Brian as Hugh Lockwood and JoAnna Cameron as Laura Day. © Warner Bros. Television.

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listening to every conversation you have with a possible sexual partner (except maybe for the NSA). “Leslie Stevens wrote the first three episodes. I suspect that was so he could create the three lead characters. Unlike his Stoney Burke scripts, however, none of these characters have much depth. They are what many television heroes had become as the medium went into the 1970s, and what the networks seemingly demanded in many action dramas: good looking leads that were always the same, involved only in running around through that week’s episode.” Strong explained that his job was to make the show look good, but especially make the cast look their best. In turn, they gave it their all even through injuries. During the pilot shoot, O’Brian injured himself on the third day and shot several fights from a

retro television

FAST FACTS

SEARCH f No. of seasons: One f No. of episodes: 23 f Original run: September 13, 1972–August 29, 1973 f Primary cast: Hugh O’Brian, Tony Franciosa, Doug McClure, Burgess Meredith f Network: NBC f Creator: Leslie Stevens f Theme music composer: Dominic Frontiere

Tony Franciosa as Nick Bianco. © Warner Bros. Television

wheelchair with clever choreography so no one noticed. Strong also recounted: “Tony Franciosa went out one night, went and jumped off a dock onto some pads and broke his shoulder… for one of our directors, Barry Shear. I said, ‘Barry! What the f**k are you doing?!’ Barry said, ‘He didn’t want a stuntman to do it. He wanted the audience to see his face.’” Interestingly, despite his huge television popularity, Strong said, “[McClure’s] episodes weren’t, I shouldn’t say ‘weaker,’ but weren’t as well received, ratings-wise.” Strong believed that unlike Lockwood flirting with medical tech Gloria Harding (Tompkins) or Bianco flirting with Ginny Keach (Golden), Grover didn’t have an in-house romantic interest. He did, though, romance guest-star Barbara Feldon, where he revealed that C. R. stood for Christopher Robin. It should be noted that several of the more interesting shows were the ones to feature McClure. The episode with Feldon and directed by Colasanto, “In Search of Midas,” is a rare one to go on location, in this case Las Vegas. Apparently, Warner balked at the cost, saying it would cost $75,000, and Strong said he could do it for $4,500 or less. He bet them he could use his connections and if he spent less, he’d be paid the difference. Of course, he won. There was also one rare Cameron-centric case where Grover has to find his kidnapped boss. When NBC, worried about its investment, learned Stevens was developing a project for CBS, they removed him and Justman, turning the series over to story editor Anthony Spinner. In short order, the new producer turned the lights on in Probe Control, removing most of the technicians, including Tompkins, while stories grew more somber and serious, the wise-cracking agents grew positively grim. Strong recalled, “[NBC] thought the [Search] episodes needed to be more hardedged. And Leslie thought they shouldn’t be more hard-edged. It was a more ‘romantic adventure story’ with some good hard action in it. “Bob Justman didn’t write. And the network felt that [Justman] was more of a Production Manager–type Producer, and wasn’t essential to the show’s ‘new look.’ Tony didn’t produce… he was just a writer. And [Spinner’s] skew was somewhat different from ours; you know?” In an interview later in his life, O’Brian thought the tech was an impediment to the show, making the agents too powerful, and audiences would be rooting for the bad guys. The series was cancelled after one season and 23 episodes. It received some licensing attention back then including two novelizations by Robert Waverka and a ViewMaster packet of 3-D reels. Interestingly, Gene Roddenberry’s Lincoln Enterprises picked up Search for merchandising, so fans could buy scripts and frame clips, but no replica scanners. For Warner, it was a blow as its RETROFAN

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cancellation, along with Delphi Bureau, meant one-third of their existing shows were gone. Being a one-season wonder, there weren’t enough episodes for syndication, although the pilot film wound up being rerun here and there for the next two decades. As the internet rose and people used it to peer back through time, many websites revisited obscure series, giving them a fresh look. TV Party found a lot to like and favored the episodes “The Bullet,” where Lockwood tries to help a scientist defect to the West; “Operation Iceman,” wherein Bianco goes after the eponymous contract assassin; and “Short Circuit,” that sees Grover try and prevent the Mega-Trans Package, an EMP, from destroying Probe Control. The TV Party website noted, “It’s argued that the average person today really can’t have a private life anymore because the many methods of snooping are little understood. Some might joke that US Attorney General John Ashcroft would love to have a group like Probe Control, but the potential for misuse is there and that aspect was not really explored by the producers of Search. Instead, Leslie Stevens took a more lighthearted approach to the surveillance angle, seeing technology as a positive force that could help humanity. It is interesting to note that Stevens previously produced an Outer Limits episode entitled ‘O.B.I.T.,’ which effectively explored the dark side of surveillance in a way which was never attempted by Search.” What no one imagined back then was that the series, like Star Trek before it, was very influential to the generation of young adults who tuned in. As the Nineties were ending, these viewers found one another in a Search Yahoo Group, which lasted until the groups went away, but a robust Search Facebook page continues. Through this coalescing group, actors and producers were contacted, many of whom gave interviews and shared recollections of their time on the show, flattered anyone remembered it at all. As one-time director Russ Mayberry said, “You never know where a Search fan is going to turn up.” Then, Warner Archive Collection (WAC) began remastering and rereleasing obscure and esoteric movies and television series for 54

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Doug McClure as C. R. Grover and Brooke Bundy as Virginia Carr. © Warner Bros. Television. diehard fans, using their print-on-demand technology to service those small collectives. Of course, the Probe Yahoo Group began lobbying WAC to show Search some love. According to Daniel Ferranti, who works for Warner Home Entertainment, “I was very excited to find and join the Yahoo newsgroup devoted [to Search] in the late Nineties. When I landed at Warner Archive Collection early on, I went in planning on pushing for Search (they had already released Legends of the SuperHeroes, another title I thought perfect for Made on Demand Home Entertainment!). At my second or third meeting with George Feltenstein,

retro television

then SVP of Theatrical Catalog and the brains behind WAC, I made my push for Search, and, in a once-you-get-to-know-George-notactually-a-surprise turn of events, he was already aware of Search and investigating the possibility of releasing it. The stumbling block that emerged— and this was a huge stumbling block costwise—was the fact that the library only contained Original Camera Negatives, no Masters, broadcast or otherwise. So a new search for Search was on. We reached out to fans in the UK, Australia, and Japan (through the Search newsgroup and other message boards), because the show had received some syndication, but this avenue proved fruitless. It was brand new masters from OCN or bust.” Coming to Ferranti’s aid were his fellow fans whom he describes as “not as large as more known fan groups but fiercely loyal and articulate—and the fact that I was already part of it and knew where to go to demonstrate this was a huge factor in getting the green light to go ahead. Nonetheless, there were a series of production hiccups that resulted in Search being

Angel Tompkins as Gloria Harding. © Warner Bros. Television.

taken off the schedule many times before we were able to get it out. This became a running joke at the office because by then everyone knew this was a pet project of mine. ‘Don’t tell Dan—Search is on the backburner!’, etc. More than one of these production hurdles were overcome thanks to the experts on the old Yahoo newsgroup and their rather extraordinary knowledge of this less-than-a-full-season show.” By this time, creating a new master file by scanning the Original Camera Negatives was a new process and other WAC projects were benefitting from this treatment. Search was added to the scan schedule because there were no other alternatives. Ferrante noted this meant high-definition scans exist, so he’s holding out hope for seeing an HD edition of the series. The Probe film came out as a separate release in 2011, and three years later, Search finally arrived as a complete set. Rewatching them, Ferranti noted, “It very much holds up—the first set of episodes before the mid-season retool more so— but it’s still a one-of-a-kind blend of SF and spy show. And a huge influence on 24 (not sure if that’s ever been acknowledged).” Search also influenced science-fiction author Robert J. Swayer, best known for his novel (and subsequent television series) Flash Forward. In 2008, he wrote on his blog, “Those of you who have been enjoying my new novel Wake as it is being serialized in Analog will have met the character of Dr. Masayuki Kuroda, the information theorist who specializes in how the human retina encodes data; he is, as you will have seen, a major character in the book. “And he’s named in homage to another vision specialist, the character of Kuroda, played by Byron Chung in the 1972–73 NBC TV series Search (and the pilot film for it, which was called Probe). “Those who have read my autobiography know how important that series was to me. Naming a character in honor of someone on that show is my acknowledgment of that.” While it feels as if every series from the past is being rebooted, Search never comes up, which is a shame given its incredible potential in today’s environment. The fans, though, continue to discuss and celebrate the show. In 2004, looking back, Strong said, “It’s like your first girlfriend. When you’ve got something you like, you never forget it. And, Search and Probe were like a first girlfriend. You know? It was new and it was fresh, and it was pretty, and it was sexy, and it was romantic. I mean, when Lockwood’s necking with Elke Sommer, and you hear Burgess Meredith’s, ‘We have lift off!’” Follow writer, editor, project manager, pop-culture expert, and teacher ROBERT GREENBERGER at bobgreenberger.com. RETROFAN

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CELEBRITY CRUSHES

My Gothic Interior In honor of Dark Shadows’ 55th Birthday, and My Crush, Quentin Collins

BY KATHERINE KERESTMAN I have always dreamed in rooms, secret rooms. On this morning, though, when I leapt from the bed, I found myself standing on a bearskin rug, complete with teeth and claws, blue mist swirling around me and jasmine perfuming the air. I felt an arm around my waist. I gasped and, turning, found myself enfolded by the arms of Quentin, whose lips were pressing my neck. For a moment, I melted in his embrace, but very soon I was wriggling out, oh so gently. “Oh, Quentin,” I spoke, even while trying to increase the space between Quentin and myself, for I knew that Quentin was quite the ladies’ man, and I did not relish joining his lengthy list of burned-out passions. Even so, I could hardly contain my excitement! And, somehow, I felt safe. “To what enchanted combination of the heavenly orbs am I indebted for the crossing of our fates and… the meeting of our lips?” purred Quentin as he strode toward me, the distance I had created between us rapidly disappearing, his outstretched hand closing over mine, even as his eyes locked my own, preventing me from glancing away. “How comes it that a beautiful maiden awaits me in my chamber, unexpected, yet exceedingly welcome—and,” he continued, “how does such loveliness know my name? Surely I could not have forgotten meeting you.” He drew me toward him once again, as if he were leading me in a waltz macabre. I tried to explain: “Well, Quentin, I don’t know exactly what spell has brought me here, but I know you very well, for I have dwelt in Collinwood in my heart every day of my life, and know its cobwebbed spaces intimately, and its inhabitants. This is the home of my soul; although you do not know me, I am come home.” Just then—I was going to say a chill, but that expression does not nearly approximate the sensation that assailed me—it was as if a rod of ice impaled me through my spine. A low, menacing laugh followed, then the swish of a gown. I spun to face the golden beauty of a malicious Angelique!

“Mon Dieu!” she breathed, “And who wants surplus beauteous damsels in Collinwood?” Her enormous blue eyes were beautiful, although they glared at me. As a result, I moved close to Quentin, who was placing himself between the sorceress and me. “A slip of the tongue, Mon Cher?” replied Quentin. “When you exclaimed, ‘Mon Dieu,’ perhaps you meant to invoke your old acquaintance Beelzebub?” Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Stretching, with closed eyes, I knocked the alarm clock over with my fumbling, and then reached from the comfortable cocoon of my fluffy comforter, and the shroud of my laceedged linen sheets, to silence the beeping. Throwing off the bedcovers, I leapt to my feet—for today was the day to leave for the Dark Shadows Festival. I donned the clothes I had laid out the night before, put on my lipstick, and pulled to the door the bags that had been packed for days. It was pitch black outside. A thin orange line on the horizon heralded the dawn. I reached for my suitcase and was surprised to find an old-fashioned valise in its place. I noticed then that my shorts and sneakers had been replaced by a calico skirt and button-up boots. I spun to face the house I had just exited. Where it had been now stood an 18th-Century frame building with a sign that read “Eagle Tavern.” Wheels crunching on gravel caused me to turn again, and I found myself face-to-face with a man driving a wagon. “I’m Ben,” he said, “and you must be the new governess.” KATHERINE KERESTMAN has won the Literary Titan Silver Book Award for Creepy Cat’s Macabre Travels: Prowling around Haunted Towers, Crumbling Castles and Ghoulish Graveyards (WordCrafts Press, 2020), a nonfiction literary- and historically oriented travel memoir that placed on the Preliminary Ballot for the 2020 Bram Stoker Awards, in the nonfiction category. Her website is www.creepycatlair.com [Editor’s note: Dark Shadows photo © Dan Curtis Productions. See RetroFan #11 for our exclusive interview with Dark Shadows’ Quentin Collins, actor David Selby.]

Hey, lovelorn, quit sobbing into your pillow and writing diary entries—instead, share your Sixties/Seventies/ Eighties Celebrity Crush with RetroFan readers! You can become famous, get three free copies of the magazine, and earn a whopping $10 as well. Submit your 600-word-maximum Celebrity Crush column to the editor for consideration at euryman@gmail.com. 56

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The

SCOTT SAAVEDRA’S SECRET SANCTUM

1977 Soviet

Pinback button from the Soviet National Exhibition. Collection of the author.

Photo courtesy of Los Angeles Convention Center.

National Exhibition BY SCOTT SAAVEDRA

The Soviet invasion of the United States depicted in the 1984 movie Red Dawn featured enemy paratroopers landing near a small-town school, killing a teacher, shooting at a classroom, and blowing up an empty school bus with a rocket launcher. I agree that educated children are one of our nation’s greatest resources, but it would have been smarter to have neutralized local law enforcement and locked down the adult power centers and other important resources before wasting ordinance on empty school buses. If they had rounded up the kids and held them as prisoners to keep the adults in check, they might not have had to fire a shot. But I’m no general. I didn’t buy the premise of the movie at all, but as fantasy it was entertaining. Besides, the Soviets had already invaded America. Not a shot was fired. No empty school buses were blown up, and, as in Red Dawn, things didn’t work out as planned for the invaders. I know, because I was there.

The exhibition ran from November 12–29 and was held at the Los Angeles Convention Center in fun-in-the-sun California (as opposite from Siberia as you can get). It is still listed as a highlight for the facility to this day. Some 310,000 people attended, and my dad decided that he and some of his older kids would be among them. So off we went one fine November day to visit the invading Soviets. I didn’t know what to expect. Would the Russians (which is what we called them even though the Soviet Union was made up of multiple republics and nationalities) be utterly alien to me? Would there be spy stuff happening? Would I meet a beautiful but tragic ballet dancer who yearned for both freedom and the comforting arms of a string-bean high school student? Clearly, my idea of the Soviet Union was abundantly influenced by Western media.

ПРИВЕТ! [HELLO!]

During World War II, the Russians were our allies. And then they weren’t. From 1947 until 1989, the world’s only two superpowers, Us and Them, were in an existential face-off. However, since we were not in an active shooting conflict it was known as the Cold War (come for the popular culture, RetroFan, get a history lesson). The Cold War made people nervous because of the potential for a Hot War to blow up the world with nuclear weapons of which both sides had plenty. This tension impacted our entertainment (which is why we’re all here, right?).

In 1977, the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics (U.S.S.R.) was celebrating its 60th anniversary (just a year earlier, the United States had celebrated its 200th birthday). To help mark the occasion, the Soviets held a National Exhibition in Los Angeles, their first such show since the one held in New York in 1959. The event’s name was “The U.S.S.R.’s National Exposition Commemorating the 60th Anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution,” but was more commonly referred to as the “Soviet National Exhibition.”

РАЗВЛЕЧЕНИЯ ХОЛОДНОЙ ВОЙНЫ [COLD WAR ENTERTAINMENT]

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Serious movies like Fail Safe (1964) and the equally dark but funny Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) were both about accidental nuclear death and destruction… not such a far-fetched topic so soon after the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, during which President Kennedy confronted the Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev, over the issue of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba. But even silly (yet completely wonderful) movies like The Russians are Coming! The Russians are Coming!, which told the story of a Soviet submarine (full of swell guys) running aground on the coast of a small American community (full of swell folks) in 1966, had an undercurrent of danger. Any moment, the small incident could turn into a larger and possibly deadlier one. Kids were not immune to awareness of the Soviet threat. “Duck and Cover drills” were used from the Fifties until around 1961, when I was a toddler. My introduction to the Soviet menace was likely via Rocky and Bullwinkle’s Boris and Natasha, nefarious spies with broad Russian accents from Pottsylvania, an Eastern European country very likely in the Soviet sphere of influence. I loved those characters, but clearly Boris and Natasha and their boss, Fearless Leader (and sometimes Mr. Big), were bad guys. In the Sixties, Marvel Comics’ Iron Man stories were certainly more attune to the Communist threat than, say, Superman and Batman. The first Crimson Dynamo (gosh, that’s a tip-top character name!) and Black Widow were two notable Soviet creations that encountered Iron Man (a stanch anti-Communist and wealthy ladies’ man) and were soon turned to the cause of Freedom. And Nikita Khrushchev (or an unnamed simulation) turned up in the occasional comicbook story, including appearances in Patsy Walker #99 (Feb. 1962) and Life with Archie #24 (Nov. 1963). The tense relationship between the Klingons (warmongering space bad guys) and the Federation of Planets (decent but willing-to-fight-for-space-freedom good guys) were a much-enjoyed feature of the original Star Trek television series in the Sixties. And if you missed that

relationship as a metaphor for the ideological conflict between the East and West, then the Star Trek episode “The Omega Glory” (Season 2, Episode 23), with its battle between the Red Chinese–esque Khoms (Communists) versus the fair-skinned Yangs (Yankees), would drive home the point with less subtlety. For good measure, the Constitution of the United States makes a cameo in that episode too.

ПОЗНАКОМЬТЕСЬ С СОВЕТАМИ [MEET THE SOVIETS]

The wait in the line to see the Soviet National Exhibition was about an hour or two. But once inside the large space, my eyes immediately focused on the Soyuz spacecraft hanging from the ceiling. It was quite large. At least in my memory. Seeing a photo years later, I could tell that being inside the craft was probably crushingly claustrophobic. The possibility that it could come loose and smash everything below was very present in my mind

Archie, the typical teen, beats up Nikita Krushchev and Fidel Castro. Iron Man battles Commies (note the Crimson Dynamo’s clunky Soviet hardware). And, hey, kids… comics about the dangers of Communism. © Archie Publications, Inc. © Marvel. 58

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because worst-case scenarios often Perhaps the Soviets were expecting play in my head in unfamiliar situations. something more like, “Nice to see you, Fortunately, it would have hit a bunch of please stop by again anytime.” (They other space stuff, but I kept my distance should have known better. See the just the same. sidebar.) To be sure, not everyone wrote Two years earlier, the United States out rude comments. We’re not all jerks, and the U.S.S.R. conduced a joint space but honestly, the Soviets were just test mission with our Apollo spacecraft asking for trouble. We were not, after and the Soviet’s Soyuz. Not only was all, global pals. Steigerwald’s attempt this an unusual amount of cooperation to copy the rude comments attracted between the nations at the time, but the attention of some of the staff it would also allow the Soviet people (there were about 200, many nice, but to see a space mission as it actually a subset of whom were reputed to be happened, a first for the secretive Soviet KGB… spies!). In true Stalinist fashion, A Soyuz space program. Amazingly, the current the unsmiling staff eliminated that one spacecraft similar and final version of the Soyuz is still in troublesome guest book. to the one on operation with a capsule attached to In a more helpful vein, some of the display in Los the International Space Station as an visitors did note, via the guest books, Angeles. emergency escape craft. the lack of information about day-to-day The exhibit area was designed in a life in the Soviet Union. And, yeah, I flower shape and meant to be experienced clockwise after circling don’t recall coming away thinking I knew what it was like to live around the center to look at the space bits and bobs before moving there. In fairness, I’m not sure I could come up with a good way to to the outer sections devoted to Social Achievements, Scientific show exactly how we lived at the time. You and I may have enjoyed and Technological Progress, the Ukrainian Republic, Arts and similar TV shows, toys, and comic books, but how do you distill Crafts, etc., etc. Placed around the exhibit hall were guest books for America into a few-thousand-square-foot area? Then again, I don’t visitors to sign and maybe leave a note. know that I was truly all that concerned about how they lived. Let’s let that last one sink in a bit. The Soviet Union, wanting to Having seen the space stuff, I now just wanted to know what their make nice and show off their good side to their ideological rivals, televisions looked like. did the one thing they would never do back in the U.S.S.R.… they allowed us to freely write down our fearlessly honest comments CCCP TB [USSR TV] about the visiting communists. A former writer for the L.A. Times, Admittedly, one of my biases entering the convention center was Bill Steigerwald, shared his experiences of the Exhibition for the that American technology was superior to that of the Soviets. Television was important to me, ergo, I wanted to see their TV sets. Moscow Times in 2013, an English language newspaper. He found plenty of surly comments in the guest books like “this is almost as There were televisions on display and I distinctly recall thinking impressive as the Berlin Wall” and “Lenin needs a hair transplant.” that they seemed… out of date. I realize that’s an esthetic and not

The 1977 Raduga 706 model television. Warning: Do not leave it plugged in. (Raduga can mean rainbow or satellite in Russian.) Photo by Eckhard Etzold, retouched by Sloyment. Wikicommons. RETROFAN

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scott saavedra’s secret sanctum

Kitchen Fight

A brochure with map for the exhibit and a booklet celebrating Soviet space achievements. Collection of the author. a functional observation. They weren’t—at least not that I can recall—in operation. When I began corralling my memories of that day, I began to worry that maybe I’d been unfair in my assessment of the TV sets. You can imagine my relief when I discovered that the Soviet televisions of the time had a tendency to explode. A Soviet publication, Komsomolskaya Pravda, reported that exploding television sets caused thousands of fires and an undefined number of deaths and the destruction of homes and other buildings. This took place over a number of years. A reporter from the Seattle Times looking into the killer TVs went to Kiev, Ukraine, in 1991 and had a light bulb explode in her room and a large light fixture blow up during a luncheon. It wasn’t just the televisions that were dangerous. The Soviet government actually recalled the television models that were the worst offenders and a public-service film along with brochures were produced with instructions on how to safely own a television. Important step: Unplug after use. Yet, despite the potential danger, Soviet citizens loved their televisions, which were popularly known as telik. They waited many months for the sets to arrive, and after they got them home they’d have their picture taken with their new purchase. Ukrainian artists Anna Pylypyuk and Volodymyr Shypotilnykov have collected some of these photos at cargocollective.com/shipotilnikov, and it’s worth a look (fair warning: There is a brief bit of nudity, I kid you not). [Editor’s note: That aside may double the number of readers who actually check out that site!] This collection is more charming and revealing of Soviet life at the time than anything at the Exhibition. One more fun television fact: In the early Sixties, the Soviet State decreed that all businesses spend 1% of their annual budgets on commercials. The first Soviet commercial broadcast, in 1964, was an ode to corn (true). Many businesses had no use for commercials, 60

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In 1959, Americans and Soviets held exhibitions in each other’s countries. The Soviets’ June presentation in New York showed off technical achievements like the recent Sputnik satellite as well as the latest Russian fashions. At this show, they placed guest books around for comments from the visiting Americans (which were reported to be quite coarse) and repeated the gesture for the 1977 show, apparently having learned nothing about opinionated Americans. It was at the reciprocal American National Exhibition in Moscow beginning in July that the famous series of disagreements between Nikita Khrushchev and thenVice President Richard Nixon about whose system of government was better (ours) happened. The encounter became known as the Kitchen Debate because part of it took place in front of the General Electric model kitchen that looked like something out of a spaceship and was objectively fabulous. In an attempt to draw down the heat of the moment, the Soviets and Americans moved on to the next booth, which was much quieter. It was run by an American company looking to expand its market into Russia and is where Khrushchev famously cooled himself with their product, a refreshing Pepsi. It was the beginning of big things for the little cola that could in its battle against industry leader Coca-Cola, and would ultimately lead to Pepsi owning a chunk of Russia’s nuclear fleet (a story for another time).

(ABOVE) The space age General Electric kitchen from the 1959 American National Exhibition in Moscow and (BELOW) the more modest Soviet kitchen on display in a temporary exhibit held next door. Library of Congress.

scott saavedra’s secret sanctum

A miniature of Red Square, a detail of a larger diorama of Moscow. Each window has an individual light bulb, making the energy costs to run the model quite high. The diorama is currently on display at the Ukrania Hotel in Moscow. Photo © CanStockPhoto/Paha_L.

and the one state agency that made the commercials would create them for products and services that didn’t exist. On top of that, Soviet citizens didn’t trust product commercials at all. They thought that the government (which controlled all production) was trying to foist garbage stuff on them. In the Soviet Union, well-made goods were hoarded. That was a sign of quality. And yet—this is the weird part—the people loved to watch commercials. Remember that the next time you log on and watch the best ads shown during the Super Bowl (we’re not so different after all!).

МАЛАЯ МОСКВА [SMALL MOSCOW]

Amazing art form created by Edward Ter Ghazarian. The tiny figurine of Charlie Chaplin features a “cane” made from a spider’s web. © Edward Ter Ghazarian.

Having seen the spaceships and televisions, I was mostly done. There were displays of folk art and traditional dress as would be expected in such an exhibition. The most impressive art was the Armenian micro-art by Edward Ter Ghazarian, the inventor and a master of the form. Just how small is micro-art? It can fit in the eye of a needle or inside a single human hair. You need a magnifying glass to view it. For a country noted for its size (the U.S.S.R. was the largest country in the world, a title Russia still holds), its biggest “wow” exhibits were tiny. Besides the micro-art there was an over 400-hundred-square-foot forced-perspective diorama of the largest city in Russia, Moscow, made up of miniature buildings and other elements (it may not have been tiny, precisely, but it sure was a lot smaller than the actual city). It took 150 craftspeople about a year to make. The model was lit in great detail and the lighting was controlled to reflect the time of day. In fact, it was the power demands of the model that nearly led to its destruction years later. Fun fact: There are lots of buses, but virtually no people in the model except for a line of tiny figures waiting to enter Lenin’s Tomb. RETROFAN

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scott saavedra’s secret sanctum

The diorama toured Europe after the Exhibition was over before going on permanent display not far from Moscow. Then, with the fall of the Soviet Union, it was privately purchased and put on display in a shopping mall. The energy cost of the well-lit diorama and loss of public interest caused the model to be put up for sale (asking price: 3,000,000 euros). Happily, the Ukrania Hotel in Moscow bought the diorama, restored it, and upgraded the lighting. It remains on display there to this day. There were also larger miniature structures on display, buildings tall enough to come up to an adult’s knee. I was intently staring at one in the middle distance when a commotion stirred up. I was about to have my spy stuff moment.

A 1977 Soviet ruble commemorating the 60th Anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution (enlarged to show detail). Collection of the author.

ПРОТЕСТ [PROTEST]

A counter-exhibit was being held on the second floor of the Los Angeles Convention Center concurrently with the Soviet one. “Soviet Jewry: Six Decades of Oppression” was intended to protest the treatment of Jews in the U.S.S.R., especially those who wanted to leave and move to Israel or, frankly, any place else. Outside the convention center were protesters as well. Inside, all was well until an argument between an… American, maybe, I think so, and someone from the Soviet group got heated. The subject was definitely about the treatment of Jews and the Soviet target of the conversation was fully on his country’s side of the fence. I couldn’t really hear the details of the debate, so my attention returned to the large lit-up model I’d been studying (the model could have been of the RBMK-100000 nuclear reactor building or

of the Tokamak-10 teroidal installation prototype, I don’t recall). A stone-faced guy in a dark suit had been watching the two verbal combatants and very casually, with his hands clasped benignly behind his back, walked up to the model, bent over, and flipped a switch, turning off the lighted windows. He then walked around the model very calmly so as not to attract attention (hi, there!), and bent over and turned the lights back on. Very quickly, two darksuited and very serious men came out of, I don’t know, thin air and took their comrade away and put him, I suspect, wherever it was they sent the guest book with the snarky American comments. I looked around. The crowd that had gathered dissipated. “Did you see that?!” My dad and siblings: “What?” “The Russian guy, he turned off a light! Did you see that?!” I hope the guy was okay.

ВОЗМОЖНОСТЬ ОТПУСКА [VACATION OPPORTUNITY]

The visitor’s last stop before leaving the exhibition was the Intourist Travel Agency booth. Intourist was the state travel agency, and if you wanted to visit the Soviet Union you had to go through them. While it may seem like a friendly gesture, to invite guests to come up and see them sometime, the reality of travel in a Communist country could be jarring for Western travelers. A handy 1982 “Tips For Travelers to the U.S.S.R.” brochure from our own State Department included a warning that visitors not bring “risque photos,” scholarly material, more than two religious items for personal use, narcotics (well, yeah), and, “gifts” into the Soviet Union. There was also a list of places and things not to be photographed unless you wanted the experience of being detained by grim-faced authorities. The list included military objects, seaports, and, of course, the poor. Since we weren’t planning on going to the U.S.S.R., we left.

ПОСЛЕДСТВИЯ [AFTERMATH]

As expected, the Soviets deemed the Exhibition a success. There were no acts of violence and nobody defected (unless you count all of the convention center’s vacuum cleaners mysteriously disappearing after the exhibit was over). Tensions between Us and Them had been calming somewhat in the Seventies, but despite whatever hopes the Soviets had for the Exhibition there were no major changes in our general 62

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scott saavedra’s secret sanctum

(LEFT) “Svimmmm vere!” Screen capture from the classic Wendy’s “Soviet Fashion Show” commercial. © Wendy’s International LLC. (RIGHT) “What Fits into Russia? with Feliks Dzerzhinsky” was part of an epic spoof of Soviet television in a top-notch episode of SCTV. Feliks is played by Dave Thomas, who came to fame as half of the show’s Great White North hosts, Bob and Doug McKenzie. SCTV © Second City Entertainment.

relationship. If anything, it all probably just reinforced bias on both sides. The U.S.S.R. continued to be both mocked and held up as the dangerous Other for several more years in our films, television shows and even our commercials. The fast food chain Wendy’s parodied the perceived Soviet lack of choice in a commercial spot called “Soviet Fashion Show.” The concept was illustrated by having the same Russian woman wearing the same drab shapeless dress walking the runway with only a changing set of accessories to differentiate each “outfit” (a flashlight with Evening Wear and a beach ball with Swim Wear). Just hearing the announcer bellow in a broad Russian accent “svimmmm vere” still makes me smile (does that make me a bad person?). The ad was directed by Joe Sedelmaier, the man behind the camera for the Wendy’s “Where’s the Beef?” commercials [see RetroFan #9]. Second City Television (better known as SCTV or SCTV Network), a Canadian syndicated show set in at a small television station (and later, small network), featured a well-crafted episode about a Soviet broadcast from “CCCP-1” replacing their own. The various faux Soviet programs took aim at the clichés about Communist life: clunky hardware, difficult-to-get consumer goods (one host shows off his new shoes), and a Scrabble-type game show dealing with absurdly long Russian words. And Star Trek again: Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home featured the best use of the Russian Pavel Chekov character in any of the original Star Trek movies by having him wander around 1986 San Francisco looking for “nuclear wessels.” The locals naturally thought he was a spy. Wouldn’t you? And what did the Soviet people think of us? Were we caricatured in their culture? Writing for the Sources and Methods blog of the Wilson Center’s History and Public Policy Program, Rósa Magnúsdóttir, Associate Professor of History at Aarhus University in Denmark, has this to say on the matter: “It is notoriously difficult to find out.” That’s the problem with authoritarian governments. The

Soviets didn’t want their citizens to know what we were really like, especially if it might make us Americans look good. But Professor Magnúsdóttir does note that the Soviet people were intensely curious about us. It was just hard to get around the obstacles put up by their leaders. So Soviet culture not only didn’t feature us as bad guys, but basically ignored us (rude). In Soviet entertainment, the bad guys were usually just other Russians, unless we’re talking about war movies, in which case the villains are German. But then, aren’t they always? The Soviet Union collapsed on December 26, 1991. A late Christmas present for the West. The Cold War was over, and we won. That means we’re all friends now, right? Ha-ha, he said ruefully. But that’s a subject for a different magazine. For now, I’d recommend firing up your favorite device and watch (or, likely, re-watch) The Russians are Coming! The Russians are Coming! and enjoy the simple story of regular people (played by highly gifted actors) struggling to deal with the day’s problems—both big and small—as best they can and surviving to try again tomorrow. SCOTT SAAVEDRA is a Retro Explorer operating from his Southern California–based Secret Sanctum. He is a writer (more or less), artist (occasionally), and graphic designer (you’re soaking in it). Check out his Instagram thing, won’t you, at instagram/scottsaav/ RETROFAN

July 2022

The Monkeemobile

BY MICHAEL KNIGHT SUPER COLLECTOR 64

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Where would the Lone Ranger be without his trusted horse, Silver? How would the Dynamic Duo fight crime without their Batmobile?? Even Marty McFly would never have been able to time-travel back to the future without Doc Brown’s infamous time machine, the DeLorean. So, when a TV rock-and-roll band needs to get around from gig to gig, they need something special, right? And thus we introduce the famous Dean Jeffries creation, the Monkeemobile. Built for the 1966 TV series The Monkees, the car appears in the opening theme

How one fan acquired one of the original Monkeemobiles all started with a local parade in his hometown. A 1966 style Batmobile was in the parade, and he started thinking about a car from a show he loved, The Monkees… and thus began his journey. It wasn’t long after that one of the two originals came up for auction at the famous car auction, Barrett-Jackson (which bills itself “The World’s Greatest Collector Car Auctions”), on January 19, 2008 (a video can be seen on YouTube). The fan, Mel Guthrie, was at that auction and finally bought his dream car. It now resides in Michigan and

After seeing this photo, you’ve gotta be a believer that customizer Dean Jeffries’ Monkeemobile, now owned by Mel Guthrie, is one of the coolest Hollywood cars of all time. Photo courtesy of Michael Knight/Motor City Reel Rides.

with the guys—Micky, Davy, Peter, and Mike—cruising down L.A. streets, getting “the funniest looks from everyone they meet.” The car shows up in several episodes and in several Kellogg’s cereal commercials featuring the Monkees. Often overlooked by various Hollywood TV/movie car polls, the Monkeemobile is a true fine piece of automotive art. Creator and designer Dean Jeffries built two original cars, customized 1966 Pontiac GTOs, both still surviving to this day… and both in the hands of private collectors. Several well-made copies also exist as tribute to the famed TV show vehicle. July 2022

couldn’t be in better hands. Surrounded by current and vintage Monkees memorabilia, it’s the pride of his collection. The car has been signed by each of the members of the group—Mike Nesmith, Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, and Peter Tork—at various events, concerts, or personal appearances. Other signatures are also on the car, including Dean Jeffries; Jim Wangers of the Pontiac Preservation Association; TV Batmobile customizer George Barris, who previously owned the car after The Monkees show went off the air; Butch Patrick, who many will remember

as Eddie Munster, who also guest-starred on the Monkees Christmas episode; and Larry Hagman and Barbara Eden of I Dream of Jeannie fame. At one time, Mel Guthrie went out to L.A. to visit Dean Jeffries at his shop and talk about the Monkeemobile. Dean’s office and garage were full of history and pictures, and Dean was very nice and spent time with Mel, signing memorabilia and posing for pictures. Mel was able to get to the bottom of some of those rumors that you may have heard about the car over the years. According to Dean, Mel’s car was the first Monkeemobile actually built, but the second one to be used on the show. The other original Monkeemobile was built second, but used first on the show. There are subtle differences between the two cars. Mel’s car is the one that Davy “races” in the Monkees episode “The Monkees Race Again” (Season Two/Episode 21, original airdate February 12, 1968). One of the things Mel found interesting was Dean’s concept art for an unproduced Monkeeboat—yes, you read that correctly—and it was pretty wild! Believe it or not, at one time the Monkeemobile was to have a small trailer to pull behind it that would act as a storage area for the guys’ instruments and open up to become a makeshift stage. According to Micky Dolenz’s book I’m a Believer, Peter Tork referred to the trailer as a “big doghouse.” When the trailer’s purpose was explained to the Monkees… well, let’s just say that was the end of that. If you saved your Monkees gum cards from back then, though, a keen eye can spot a trailer hitch on the back of the Monkeemobile. The Supercharger on the car is real. Many think it’s fake, but it’s 100% real. The executives on the show had it disconnected because of how powerful it was, and didn’t want to run the risk of anyone getting into an accident while driving. After The Monkees ended, Dean Jeffries was approached to buy back the Monkeemobiles and he declined, stating he could build ones cheaper than the studio’s asking prices. One of the cars was “lost” for some time and ended up as a hotel courtesy car in Puerto Rico, but it’s now back in a private collection in New Jersey. George Barris bought the other car, and had it on display for many years at his shop in Los

Angeles. Barris eventually had the Monkeemobile restored to a 100-point [perfect] show car, not by his own Barris Kustom Industries, but by Advanced Restorations of Sacremento before the car was sent to Barrett-Jackson for the auction. Several months after he made headlines for buying the Monkeemobile, Mel Guthrie made the front page again, on the August 18, 2008 Detroit Free Press, when he took the Monkeemobile to Detroit’s world famous Woodward Dream Cruise, America’s most popular event celebrating the car culture. People have come as far as Australia just to see the Monkeemobile. Whenever Mel has it on display at shows, the Monkeemobile gathers large crowds, with people reminiscing about watching The Monkees, buying their albums, and who had a crush on Davy Jones.

The Monkeemobile, shown in the publicity photo with the other Fab Four, was merchandized in the Sixties by model-maker MPC, diecastmanufacturer Corgi, and other companies. The Monkees © Rhino Records. Images courtesy of Heritage.

MICHAEL KNIGHT is a TV and movie vehicle guru, novice part-time magazine writer, and the creator/curator of Michigan’s largest Hollywood car collection, Motor City Reel Rides. [Editor’s notes: A 2006 interview with Dean Jeffries, who died in 2013, about his Solar Van and other vehicles customized for the Logan’s Run television series, appeared in RetroFan #16. Also, check out RetroFan #6 for an interview with The Munsters’ Butch Patrick and a look at the show’s Munster Koach and Drag-u-la hot rod, and issue #18 for our exclusive interview with TV’s magical Jeannie, Barbara Eden!] RETROFAN

July 2022

THE

CHARLTON COMPANION by JON B. COOKE

An ALL-NEW definitive history of Connecticut’s notorious all-in-one comic book company! Often disparaged as a second-rate funny-book outfit, Charlton produced a vast array of titles that span from the 1940s Golden Age to the Bronze Age of the ’70s in many genres, from Hot Rods to Haunted Love. The imprint experienced explosive bursts of creativity, most memorably the “Action Hero Line” edited by DICK GIORDANO in the 1960s, which featured the renowned talents of STEVE DITKO and a stellar team of creators, as well as the unforgettable ’70s “Bullseye” era that spawned E-Man and Doomsday +1, all helmed by veteran masters and talented newcomers—and serving as a training ground for an entire generation of comics creators thriving in an environment of complete creative freedom. From its beginnings with a handshake deal consummated in county jail, to the company’s accomplishments beyond comics, woven into this prose narrative are interviews with dozens of talented participants, including GIORDANO, DENNIS O’NEIL, ALEX TOTH, SANHO KIM, TOM SUTTON, PAT BOYETTE, NICK CUTI, JOHN BYRNE, MIKE ZECK, JOE STATON, SAM GLANZMAN, NEAL ADAMS, JOE GILL, and even some Derby residents who recall working in the sprawling company plant. Though it gave up the ghost over three decades ago, Charlton’s influence continues today with its Action Heroes serving as inspiration for ALAN MOORE’s cross-media graphic novel hit, WATCHMEN. By JON B. COOKE with MICHAEL AMBROSE & FRANK MOTLER. SHIPS OCTOBER 2022! (256-page COLOR SOFTCOVER) $39.95 • (Digital Edition) $15.99 • ISBN: 978-1-60549-111-0

THE

TEAM-UP COMPANION by MICHAEL EURY

THE TEAM-UP COMPANION examines team-up comic books of the Silver and Bronze Ages of Comics— DC’s THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD and DC COMICS PRESENTS, Marvel’s MARVEL TEAM-UP and MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE, plus other team-up titles, treasuries, and treats—in a lushly illustrated selection of informative essays, special features, and trivia-loaded issue-by-issue indexes. Go behind the scenes of your favorite team-up comic books with specially curated and all-new creator recollections from NEAL ADAMS, JIM APARO, MIKE W. BARR, ELIOT R. BROWN, NICK CARDY, CHRIS CLAREMONT, GERRY CONWAY, STEVE ENGLEHART, STEVE GERBER, STEVEN GRANT, BOB HANEY, TONY ISABELLA, PAUL KUPPERBERG, PAUL LEVITZ, RALPH MACCHIO, DENNIS O’NEIL, MARTIN PASKO, JOE RUBINSTEIN, ROY THOMAS, LEN WEIN, MARV WOLFMAN, and other all-star writers and artists who produced the team-up tales that so captivated readers during the 1960s, ’70s, and early ’80s. By BACK ISSUE and RETROFAN editor MICHAEL EURY. (272-page SOFTCOVER) $36.95 • (Digital Edition) $15.99 ISBN: 978-1-60549-112-7 • SHIPS AUGUST 2022!

BRITMANIA

by MARK VOGER

Remember when long-haired British rock ’n’ rollers made teenage girls swoon — and their parents go crazy? BRITMANIA plunges into the period when suddenly, America went wild for All Things British. This profusely illustrated full-color hardback, subtitled “The British Invasion of the Sixties in Pop Culture,” explores the movies (A HARD DAY’S NIGHT, HAVING A WILD WEEKEND), TV (THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW, MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR), collectibles (TOYS, GAMES, TRADING CARDS, LUNCH BOXES), comics (real-life Brits in the DC and MARVEL UNIVERSES) and, of course, the music! Written and designed by MARK VOGER (MONSTER MASH, GROOVY, HOLLY JOLLY), BRITMANIA features interviews with members of THE BEATLES, THE ROLLING STONES, THE WHO, THE KINKS, HERMAN’S HERMITS, THE YARDBIRDS, THE ANIMALS, THE HOLLIES & more. It’s a gas, gas, gas! Written and designed by RETROFAN columnist MARK VOGER. (192-page COLOR HARDCOVER) $43.95 • (Digital Edition) $15.99 ISBN: 978-1-60549-115-8 • SHIPS NOVEMBER 2022!

TwoMorrows. The Future of Pop History.

Phone: 919-449-0344 E-mail: store@twomorrows.com Web: www.twomorrows.com

TwoMorrows Publishing • 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 USA

ANDY MANGELS’ RETRO SATURDAY MORNING

TARZAN BY ANDY MANGELS

Welcome back to Andy Mangels’ Retro Saturday Morning! Don your pith helmet and loincloth as we take a trip into the deepest jungles of Africa! Do you hear that infamous yodel ringing through the trees? Do you catch glimpses of a nearly naked man swinging through the foliage on vines? That’s Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle, and he’s been a staple in film and on television since 1918. But with the live-action Tarzan an almost ubiquitous part of Saturday or Sunday viewing in the Seventies and beyond, the Ape Man has barely ever been translated into animation! Hang on tight to that vine as we swing into an examination of Tarzan’s Saturday morning heroics!

ORIGINS OF TARZAN

Tarzan’s origins date back to 1912, when the character first appeared, cover-billed, in the October issue of pulp magazine The All-Story, which promised “A Romance of the Jungle.” He was the creation of newcomer writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, who had created the John Carter of Mars/Barsoom stories only a few months prior (Feb. to July 1912) as his first published work. Tarzan of the Apes

(TOP) Promotional art for Filmation’s Tarzan animated series. (INSET) Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan of the Apes first appeared in All-Story, a noted pulp magazine. Tarzan TM & © Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. (ERB)

was serialized in The All-Story, and then republished as a novel in 1914. The character of Tarzan—the infant son of a British aristocrat who was orphaned in the jungle and raised by wild apes—was a tremendous hit, and Burroughs soon found himself writing further adventures. Wanting to capitalize on Tarzan’s immense popularity with the public, Burroughs decided to parlay his character into as many kinds of media as possible: films, comics, and merchandise. New books followed almost yearly, with The Return of Tarzan (1913) and The Beasts of Tarzan (1914) leading further into the jungle; by 1965, Burroughs had finished 24 Tarzan novels in total. The first film adaptations were silent, starring Elmo Lincoln in Tarzan of the Apes and The Romance of Tarzan (both 1918), but Tarzan blossomed significantly when portrayed by Olympian swimmer Johnny Weissmuller, who portrayed the hero in Tarzan the Ape Man (1932) and 11 other films! Following four silent serials, a 1933 serial starred Buster Crabbe, and a 1935 serial, The New Adventures of Tarzan, starred Herman Brix/Bruce Bennet, bringing fans into theaters every weekend. Tarzan of the Apes came to newspapers in the United Feature Syndicate daily comic strip in January 1929, illustrated by Hal Foster, and a Sunday full-page was added in March 1931, drawn by Rex Maxon. The comic strip would survive until 2002, including such art luminaries as Burne Hogarth, Dan Barry, Russ Manning, Gil Kane, Mike Grell, and others. [Editor’s note: Check out our sister magazine, RETROFAN

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andy mangels’ retro saturday morning

(ABOVE) Three panels from Hal Foster’s beautifully rendered Tarzan comic strip (Mar. 26, 1933). (RIGHT) Trade advertisement promoting the Tarzan radio show. Illustration by noted Tarzan book artist J. Allen St. John. © ERB. Back Issue #136, on sale this month, for a look at artist-writer Mike Grell’s Tarzan Sundays as well as other comic strips including The Amazing Spider-Man, Howard the Duck, Friday Foster, Star Trek, and many others!] Starting in 1947, Western Publishing started packaging Tarzan stories for Dell Comics, followed by Western imprint Gold Key Comics from 1962–1972, after which DC Comics took the reins until 1977, followed by Marvel Comics. On the radio airwaves, Tarzan was the star of three serialized series: 1932–1934, 1934–1936, and 1950–1951. Listeners could thrill to audio adventures that were largely adapted from the books. But radio was being edged out of its home entertainment monopoly by television, a newcomer to households. By the mid-Fifties, over a dozen Tarzan films, plus various serials, were being aired on syndicated television stations, usually on Saturdays or Sundays, to appeal to kids that were out of school. Although ‘movie Tarzan’ Gordon Scott would film three episodes of a prospective new television series in 1958, Tarzan didn’t reach the air until 1966, when producer Sy Weintraub brought the

(ABOVE) Elmo Lincoln was the first film actor to play Tarzan in the silent Tarzan of the Apes (1918). (RIGHT) Behind the scenes with (LEFT TO RIGHT) Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs, Maureen O’Sullivan, and Johnny Weissmuller. © ERB. 68

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show to NBC, starring Ron Ely. Weintraub had begun producing the films in 1959 with Tarzan’s Greatest Adventure, and he changed the character to more closely reflect the novels. Gone were the monosyllabic grunts of the previous Tarzan; now, Tarzan was an educated adventurer who was no longer beholden to longtime girlfriend Jane. The former jungle lord now had near-James Bondian adventures around the globe. Fifty-seven episodes of the Ely series were shot and aired before Tarzan retired in 1968. For the first time in 56 years, there were no new adventures of Tarzan in theaters, on the radio, or on television. But with the character constantly appearing on Saturday television in reruns, it was only a matter of time before the jungle leaves would rustle again…

TARZANTOONS IS PROPOSED

The one arena that Tarzan was missing in was animation. In fact, by 1968, none of Burroughs’ properties had been animated. Tarzan had been parodied in several Warner Bros. theatrical cartoon shorts,

andy mangels’ retro saturday morning

Development artwork for an un-produced animated Tarzan cartoon, circa 1936. The main human leads are (LEFT TO RIGHT) Muviro, Tarzan, and Jane. Bob Clampett (Beany and Cecil) was briefly part of the project. © ERB.

but those weren’t official. But that doesn’t mean that plans weren’t developed. In the mid-Thirties, Warner Bros. animator Bob Clampett contacted Burroughs directly, asking for permission to pitch an adaptation of the John Carter of Mars stories. Clampett worked for a year with John “Jack” Coleman Burroughs, Edgar’s son and a recent graduate of Pomona College and Otis Art Institute, to create a six-minute test reel that used rotoscoping and oil painting to achieve an unprecedented realistic tone. Burroughs went directly to MGM in 1936, who were quite happy with the numbers they were doing with the live-action Tarzan films… but due to Midwest theater owners who didn’t think the public was ready for realistic science-fiction animation, MGM cooled on the Mars concept. Had the project gone forward as a series of shorts collected into a feature-length film, it would likely have been the first animated film, beating out Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Burroughs suggested that perhaps Tarzan would be a better choice for animation, since the character was already known and loved. He pitched MGM on the idea that he would set up his own animation studio in Beverly Hills—Tarzantoons Inc.—to be headed by his son. John, in turn, would oversee production of the Tarzan shorts with Bob Clampett. An agreement for the studio was made—likely in July 1936—between Burroughs and backers Fred Mandel, Jr. and Donald M. Stralem. The shorts began development, and it was an odd mélange. The main characters of Tarzan, Jane, and Muviro (Tarzan’s African native companion, who would have become the first regularly occurring black character in animation), as well as other humans, would be designed in an illustrative style reminiscent of Hal Foster (and his new replacement Burne Hogarth). The animals, however, would be designed as exaggerated cartoon “funny animals,” more in the style of other comedy shorts. The move was a cost-saving measure, as a story with funny animals would be faster and

cheaper to animate. Stories might involve an animal facing a predator or caught in quicksand or a trap, only to be rescued by Tarzan at the end. Burroughs even went so far as to write two cartoon scripts himself: “Nkima, Mighty Hunter, Mighty Fighter” and “Tarzan and Tantor.” The first would star Tarzan’s tiny monkey companion in a comedy story, while the second would feature Tantor the bull elephant, who had been Tarzan’s friend since childhood. Adapted from the story “The Capture of Tarzan” from the book Jungle Tales of Tarzan, it’s not initially clear how the cannibal antagonists would be made funny, but that answer remains lost. Sadly, Clampett was cool on the idea. In quotes reported by animation historian Jim Korkis from a variety of interviews, Clampett said, “Aesthetically, Jack Burroughs and I were very inspired by the Mars project. And the idea, as much as I like Tarzan, to do the alternate series was simply not the same. Somehow, I just lost my enthusiasm for the new project.” Clampett returned to Warner to work on their projects. Seeing the director’s dispassion—and the high costs that would be incurred to start up Tarzantoons on its own—Burroughs decided to postpone his plans for a while, telling a prospective animator on October 15, 1936 that “I have been very thoroughly into the matter of Tarzan cartoons during the past year and have decided not to make them for the present.” If a jungle tree was a sapling when Burroughs delayed Tarzan, it would be fully grown by the time Tarzan became an animated reality.

WATCH OUT FOR THAT TREE!

Amazingly, Tarzan himself would not reach animation until a parody of him had. The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show’s Jay Ward and Bill Scott created George of the Jungle for ABC in 1967, parodying

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andy mangels’ retro saturday morning

Tarzan and his friends, companions, and enemies. The dimwitted FILMATION ENTERS THE JUNGLE George often slammed into trees when swinging on vines On March 1, 1919, Edgar Rice Burroughs purchased an enormous (prompting the theme-song refrain of “Watch out for that tree!”), 550-acre tract of land in the San Fernando Valley skirting Los and forever forgot that he lived in a treehouse, thus prompting Angeles. He named the area Tarzana Ranch, after his greatest gravity to take hold every time he stepped out. Debuting on creation… and the one that had earned him the money to buy the September 9, 1967 on ABC, George of the Jungle included in its land! Burroughs settled his family on it, eventually subdividing half-hour one George adventure, and a segment each of racecar and selling off parcels of it for residential neighborhoods, farms, driver Tom Slick and wacky super-hero Super Chicken. Seventeen and businesses. Eventually, Tarzana became a town of its own, a episodes were completed and aired, but a budget overrun on the suburb of Los Angeles, bordered by Encino and Woodland Hills on series meant that the series the east and west, and Reseda did not make a profit and only on the north. one season was produced. Founded in the early Sixties The show stayed on the air, by animators Lou Scheimer however, through Fall 1969, and Hal Sutherland, with showing reruns. [Editor’s note: ex-disc jockey Norm Prescott, For the full story behind George Filmation Associates had of the Jungle, see Scott Shaw!’s been working out of an office column in RetroFan #17.] at Producers Studio at 650 George may not have ever North Bronson in Los Angeles. figured out how to watch out In 1968, with the success of for that tree, but he comfortThe Superman/Aquaman Hour ably swung his way into the of Adventure and Journey to Filmation Studios in Reseda, CA. history books as the greatest the Center of the Earth having Tarzan parody. earned them some coin, and But George was not the a new season of The Archie only animated Tarzan parody. Show, Fantastic Voyage, and The In 1975, the French/Belgian Batman/Superman Hour coming adult animated comedy film up for fall. Filmation needed Tarzoon: Shame of the Jungle to expand. In April 1968, was released overseas, and Filmation moved their offices it was full of comedy and to Reseda, less than a mile sexual shenanigans. Directed from Tarzana. by cartoonist Picha and Boris A few years later, designer Szulzinger, the film called its Dion Neutra, the son of Tarzan doppelgänger “Shame,” legendary architect, Richard and found him fighting against Neutra, was hired by Lou the evil Queen Bazonga to save Scheimer to design a massive the hair of his girlfriend, June. house on top of the tallest The Burroughs estate quickly hill in Tarzana. Scheimer and sued the producer of Tarzoon his family moved in upon and 20th Century Fox, the film’s completion, in 1972. Who was (LEFT) Co-founder of Filmation Studios, Lou Scheimer, French distributor, for alleged the neighbor of the Scheimers, and (RIGHT) his neighbor Danton Burroughs, a grandson plagiarism. Unfortunately for just down the hill? That would of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. be Danton Burroughs, one of (ERB), the court determined the grandsons of Edgar Rice that Tarzoon was a legitimate parody. Imported to the U.S. in 1978 by Burroughs. Danton was the director of ERB—which had continued International Harmony and Stuart S. Shapiro, the film was slapped as a flourishing entity following the writer’s death in 1950—and with a first-of-its-kind honor, becoming the first X-rated foreign-aniDanton spent his days protecting the rights of Tarzan and licensing mated film in the U.S. The American voice cast included John Belushi, them for outside usage, whether that was Hollywood projects or Bill Murray, Christopher Guest… and Johnny Weissmuller, Jr.! The film eight-inch Mego dolls. was not a hit, but was re-edited for an R rating, and rereleased. In his 2012 interviews with me for the TwoMorrows book, Lou ERB filed another lawsuit in the U.S., attempting to have the Scheimer: Creating The Filmation Generation, Scheimer recalled that, name changed, arguing that the product degraded the heretofore “I got it into my head at one point that I wanted to do a Tarzan wholesome name of the American hero. A judge agreed, and cartoon, and I went down the hill to see them in their offices on the name “Tarzoon” was removed from the advertising and the Ventura Boulevard. The office was like walking into the 1920s. It film itself, using splices to the film negative! The retitled Shame had all the original Tarzan books there, the drawings that were of the Jungle was now neutered in sexy content and name, and made for the books, and the material that they collected from all it remains one of the animated curiosities of history (U.K. and over the place. It was just fascinating to go down there and spend Australian DVDs are available today). time with those people. The family was very protective for obvious 70

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andy mangels’ retro saturday morning

reasons. It was a very difficult deal to make, but I knew that it would be a perfect property for a Saturday morning show. “I had a bunch of lunches with them, and talked about what Filmation would do with Tarzan and how we would keep to the spirit of the books. I wanted to do a feature film introduction as to how he was born and where he came from, but we couldn’t work that out. David Gerrold even wrote up a script and met with Danton Burroughs… but that did not go well. Danton didn’t like some of the changes David had made, which were really to make the story flow a bit better. Danton got very testy with David, apparently, and that verbal tussle ended up being part of the cause for David leaving Filmation after that to work for Krofft. Later, though, the Burroughs estate and Filmation worked things out, and they were very easy people to deal with, except for the

deal itself, which is really what their concern was. I think we ended up with being equal partners.” For Scheimer, money wasn’t what was important about Tarzan. “The most important part was to do a show with a hero who was really sort of a normal adult. He couldn’t fly, he couldn’t do all the super-hero stuff, but he had that capacity to work with animals, and was raised by an animal. And there was no place in the world where you could go where you couldn’t see or sell Tarzan. I mean RETROFAN

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andy mangels’ retro saturday morning

it eventually sold like hotcakes all over the world. It was very, very successful.” Despite the rocky start, neighbors Lou Scheimer and Danton Burroughs did eventually become very close. “Danton did all of Tarzan’s yells,” Scheimer revealed to me in his interviews. “Actually, there was only one main yell, and we just kept using it over and over. The funny part is that Danton lived down a hill and across the street from me. I could hear him doing those damn yells every morning; it used to drive me nuts sometimes because you could hear it wafting up over the hill.” Once Filmation got the rights to Tarzan, they went to the CBS director of children’s programming, Jerry Golod, and the show was an immediate sale. “Then we had to figure out what stories to tell,” laughed Scheimer. “There were 24 novels, and we developed our stories from some of them and created others that were more appropriate for our more enlightened time, or more fun for children. I’m not going to say that Edgar Rice Burroughs was not contemporary, but we tried to keep it so that there was some talk about preservation, how to treat animals, and treating the other human denizens of the jungle—or lost civilizations—with sensitivity. And we made the decision to have him speak, unlike some of the movie Tarzans. He was fully articulate and intelligent, even if he wasn’t always a perfect speaker. And we put in lots of animals because children love animals, and it was entirely appropriate for this show to have them.” Scheimer and his crew wanted the show to have a lush, illustrative feel to the art and animation, like the work of famed Tarzan comic strip artist Burne Hogarth, but we also had to be mindful of our budget. Other studios reused animation as much as we did, or sent their work overseas and cheated American animators out of work, but we felt that, if we built an excellent set of scenes as a stock system for Tarzan, it would work. We wanted the anatomy to be very realistic, and this included muscular definition and even details such as painting in the eyes completely instead of having them be just the dots used on many adventure series. “So we ended up shooting a lot of liveaction footage of a model walking, running, jumping, diving, swinging, and doing the things Tarzan did. We did close-ups of faces and hands as well. Then we rotoscoped over the live-action to create our stock, projecting the film so that artists could draw it exactly like a real body moved. Our rotoscope model was a bartender from the bar down the street from Filmation, called the Dug-Out.” In addition to footage they shot of the bodybuilder, Filmation’s artists rotoscoped portions of the film Tarzan and His Mate (1934), including a scene where Weissmuller—or his stunt double, circus aerialist Alfredo Codona—capered across tree limbs, swung on vines, and watched rear-projected footage of animals below him in the forest. Even a crawling crocodile from the film was rotoscoped! Some scenes of Buster Crabbe may also have been used. Scheimer explained that a lot of stock footage was necessary because “Tarzan did a lot of action. The guy was just a very spectac72

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(TOP AND CENTER) Rotoscoped scenes of Tarzan in action were used as a budget-saving device by Filmation Studios. (BOTTOM) A model sheet of Filmation’s Tarzan. © ERB.

andy mangels’ retro saturday morning

ular human being, not a super-hero. He was jumping through trees, grabbing vines, and running and swimming. Superman was easy; he just flew through the air and picked up a log or a truck or a crook every now and then. But Tarzan moved all the time doing things. And on top of his physicality, he had the animals working with him! Although the show didn’t do a specific episode about the origins of Tarzan, each episode’s intro montage did recap the story:

(TOP) Character designs for the Tarzan pilot episode, “Tarzan and the City of Gold.” (CENTER) Storyboard of main title sequence. (BOTTOM) Tarzan title card. © ERB.

“The jungle: Here I was born; and here my parents died when I was but an infant. I would have soon perished, too, had I not been found by a kindly she-ape named Kala, who adopted me as her own and taught me the ways of the wild. I learned quickly, and grew stronger each day, and now I share the friendship and trust of all jungle animals. The jungle is filled with beauty, and danger; and lost cities filled with good and evil. This is my domain, and I protect those who come here; for I am Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle!” The sequence was storyboarded and laid out by Bob Kline, a fan artist who had become one of Filmation’s top designers. According to Scheimer, “It was probably the first time in animated history that opening narration talked about the death of parents, but it was important to show where Tarzan was from, and why he was raised by apes.” Later seasons shortened the intro by more than half, dispensing with the origin entirely. The pilot episode of Tarzan, written by Len Janson and Chuck Menville, was “Tarzan and the City of Gold,” which was adapted directly from a 1932 Burroughs’ book. Other book plots would make it into the series, including Tarzan and The Golden Lion (1922). The series was incredibly faithful to the original books, replacing the movie chimpanzee Cheeta with N’Kima, a spider monkey who had been Tarzan’s companion in the tomes. The intelligent great apes that were Tarzan’s “family” spoke much of the Mangani language created by Burroughs. Jane Porter got a bit of a short shrift, only appearing in one story, at the request of Danton Burroughs; they needed to resecure the rights to the Jane character, who hadn’t been used in visual media since 1959. The biggest alteration was that the time period was updated, setting it sometime post–World War II. Bombastic actor Robert Ridgely was the voice of Tarzan, and here, he was presented as conversant with English and mostly civilized, despite his jungle loincloth. “He was one of the funniest men I ever met, and was a big handsome guy,” recalled Scheimer. “He did other voices for us, and appeared in some of our live shows like Ark II.” Scheimer himself did the monkey grunts of N’Kima. He joked, “He didn’t talk so much as he just made noises. I guess I did good monkeys. Or cheap monkeys, anyway. All they had to do was feed me a couple of peanuts.” As there were no other regular cast members, the show had one of the smallest voice casts in Filmation history; guest characters were voiced by a number of Filmation’s recurring actors. The first few seasons of Tarzan were all full-length 22-minute stories, although some of the stories were cut down in later RETROFAN

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became the anchor point for a new Filmation concept. Each 90-minute episode of the new Tarzan and the Super 7 had a half-hour of Batman, and an hour featuring the other components. There were six new Tarzans produced: two 17-minute shows and four eleven-minute shows. Other components included Jason of Star Command, The Freedom Force, Web Woman, Manta and Moray, and Superstretch and Microwoman. Tarzan and the Super 7 debuted on September 9, 1978. [Editor’s note: See Andy Mangels’ column in RetroFan #15 for Super 7’s history.]

FAST FACTS FILMATION TARZAN

seasons. At the end of other Filmation shows, the leads usually appeared to give viewers a moral lesson; despite Scheimer’s past recollection, further research shows that the Tarzan skipped this element. The Tarzan plots were heavy on lost cities and strange visitors, with Tarzan encountering gladiators, Vikings, Gorilla-Men, sea serpents, a giant wooly mammoth, aliens, giants, medieval knights, a robot duplicate, the Abominable Snowman, Bird People, denizens of Atlantis, a prisoner in an iron mask, greedy conquistadors, spider people, Mayans, a minotaur, a dragon, a wizard, and many more fantastical foes. In one episode, “Tarzan at the Earth’s Core,” the hero even crossed over into another Burroughs realm, the subterranean land of Pellucidar! Despite sharing a title with a 1930 Burroughs novel, this did not adapt the book’s complex storyline. On September 11, 1976, CBS debuted Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle, followed by other Filmation shows The Shazam!/Isis Hour, Ark II, and Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids. On February 12, 1977, CBS debuted a new midseason series from Filmation, The New Adventures of Batman, following Tarzan’s timeslot. The animation company now had a three-hour uninterrupted block of programming on CBS! Sixteen 22-minute Tarzan stories were produced. For Fall 1977, CBS combined their two popular hero shows together for The Batman/Tarzan Adventure Hour, debuting on September 10th. Six new 22-minute Tarzan stories were created. The third season in 1978 found another title change, as Tarzan 74

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PRIMARY VOICE PERFORMER CAST f Robert Ridgely: Tarzan f Danton Burroughs: Tarzan yell f Lou Scheimer: N’kima f Linda Gary: Jane Porter, Dr. Jessica Randolph, Fana the Huntress, Rowanda, Queen Tara f Guest voices: Alan Oppenheimer, Ted Cassidy, Joan Gerber, Hettie Lynn Hurtes, Jack Bannon, Erika Carroll (Erika Scheimer), Robert Chapel, Gerald Clark, Barry Gordon Tarzan © ERB. Batman © DC. Freedom Force © Filmation.

Norm Prescott (LEFT) and Lou Scheimer (RIGHT) have fun in this 1977 promotional image for The Batman/ Tarzan Adventure Hour. Tarzan © ERB. Batman © DC.

No. of seasons: Six Series title: Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle f No. of episodes: 16 (22 minutes) f Original run: September 11, 1976–September 3, 1977 (CBS, Saturdays) Series title: The Batman/Tarzan Adventure Hour f No. of episodes: Six (22 minutes) f Original run: September 10, 1977–September 2, 1978 (CBS, Saturdays) Series title: Tarzan and the Super 7 f No. of episodes: Six (17 and 11 minutes) f Original run: September 9, 1978–September 6, 1980 (CBS, Saturdays) f Series title: The Tarzan/Lone Ranger Adventure Hour f No. of episodes: Eight (22 minutes) f Original run: September 13, 1980–September 5, 1981 (CBS, Saturdays) f Series title: The Tarzan/Lone Ranger/Zorro Adventure Hour f No. of episodes: Reruns f Original run: September 12, 1981–September 11, 1982 (CBS, Saturdays)

andy mangels’ retro saturday morning

For the second season of Tarzan and the Super 7, no new Tarzans were produced. This season debuted on September 15, 1979. The series changed again the following year, pairing Tarzan with another legendary hero. The Tarzan/Lone Ranger Adventure Hour, debuting September 13, 1980, had eight new 22-minute Tarzan shows, including the one episode with Jane Porter. A third wellknown character was added to the title mix the following season. The Tarzan/Lone Ranger/Zorro Adventure Hour debuted September 12, 1981, though no new Tarzans were produced. In late September 1981, Warner Bros. TV International sold international syndication rights for Batman and Tarzan to foreign markets through 1983. Batman got 21 countries, while Tarzan beat him out with 30 countries! By Fall 1982, after six seasons on the air, CBS retired Tarzan from their regular Saturday schedule. The newly titled half-hour format The Lone Ranger/Zorro Adventure Show shifted over to Sunday mornings for 1982–1983. CBS brought Tarzan back for Saturday reruns briefly beginning February 1984, but by fall, the show was gone again.

DISNEY MAKES THE JUNGLE MUSICAL

In 1994, director Kevin Lima had directed the successful A Goofy Movie for Walt Disney Feature Animation, and studio chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg—then Michael Eisner—asked him to direct an adaptation of Tarzan’s first novel. Lima asked his friend, Chris Buck, (a supervising animator on Pocahontas) to be his co-director, and by April 1995, the film was officially in development. Tab Hunter began work on the screenplay, followed by Bob Tzudiker and Noni White, and an uncredited Dave Reynolds. The writers hewed relatively closely to elements of the book, but made the decision to not include any African characters to avoid the charges of racism that had been levelled at Burroughs’ work over time. Animation was done in Paris and Burbank, from bold designs by supervising animator Glen Keane. Because Tarzan wore only a loincloth, the animators worked very hard to correctly portray anatomy—even with the stylized Keane designs—resulting in one of the most accurate displays of human movement for Tarzan.

Disney’s Tarzan delivered the most impressive displays of human movement seen of the animated Ape Man to date. © ERB. © Disney.

Keane decided that rather than just swinging on vines, Tarzan would “surf” the trees. Animals were studied in Uganda and Kenya, and indulgent 3-D-rendered CGI backgrounds were created to place everyone against. As per usual with Disney films, the voice cast was largely well-known actors. Tony Goldwyn was Tarzan, while Minnie Driver was Jane Porter. Glenn Close was gorilla mother Kala, while Lance Henriksen was gorilla father Kerchak. Wayne Knight (replacing a departing Woody Allen) was elephant Tantor, Rosie O’Donnell was gorilla “cousin” Terk, Nigel Hawthorne was Jane’s father, Professor Archimedes Q. Porter, and booming-voiced Brian Blessed was the villainous hunter, William Cecil Clayton (Blessed also provided the Tarzan yodel). Pop star Phil Collins was brought in to add music to the film, but Lima and Buck were adamant they didn’t want Tarzan or most others to sing. Instead, Collins’ musical “voice” Screen capture from acted as narrator and the songs Tarzan of the Apes from the resonated with the themes of Sony Wonder Enchanted the scenes. Collins worked with Tales series (1997). © ERB. score composer Mark Mancina to create a seamless soundtrack in which the instrumental themes not only worked with the vocal songs, but also contained many unusual instruments. With a budget that stretched to $130 million—making it the most expensive animated film to date—Tarzan was released in the United States on June 16, 1999, making it the 37th Disney animated feature film. It was beloved by both critics and audiences, and grossed $448.2 million worldwide in theaters, and over $268 million on its initial home video release! It later won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, for “You’ll Be in My Heart” by Phil Collins. There was one animated “competitor” for the Tarzan film title. Produced in 1997, but released on home video as part of the Sony Wonder Enchanted Tales series directly before the 1999 Disney film debut, was Tarzan of the Apes. Produced by Diane Eskenazi and Darcy Wright and written by Mark Young, the 48-minute story is an animated musical adventure. The voice cast is uncredited. The Tarzan of the Apes project is barely known, even by Tarzan scholars. Meanwhile, Disney’s Tarzan’s continued success eventually led to a 2006 Broadway stage musical, and two direct-to-video sequels, Tarzan & Jane (2002)—set a year after the film—and Tarzan II (2005), a prequel which showed Tarzan as a young child. It also led to The Legend of Tarzan, a television series sequel to the feature. Now married to Jane, Tarzan lives with her and his father-in-law, Professor Porter, in the original family treehouse. Also appearing as cast regulars were Tantor the elephant, Terk the goofy gorilla cousin, and adoptive mother gorilla, Kala. None of the vocal leads reprised their roles from the film, though occasional secondary characters were played by their originators. RETROFAN

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The release of The Legend of Tarzan was odd. The first season of 39 episodes was released on UPN from September–October 2001, then the Disney Channel began re-airing then. Disney-owned ABC also re-aired the show on Saturday mornings beginning in July 2002. The final three “second season” episodes were saved until early 2003, but the trio were really a three-part story which had been combined for the direct-to-video Tarzan & Jane, already released the previous year! The Legend of Tarzan’s most famous episode was #35, “The Mysterious Visitor.” In it, American book author “Ed” (voice of Steven Weber) is in need of inspiration for his next novel. He tracks down information and stories about the mysterious jungle hero Tarzan, eventually meeting him. Ed decides to write fictionalized version of the Tarzan story for his novel. “Ed” is, of course, Edgar Rice Burroughs.

TARZAN’S LEGACY

In the time since the Filmation and Disney series, Tarzan has been an occasional presence on television and film, always in live-action. Wolf Larsen played the character as an environmentalist in the 1991–1994 syndicated Tarzan TV series, while Joe Lara played him in a 1989 CBS telefilm, Tarzan in Manhattan and a 1996 one-season television series, Tarzan: The Epic Adventures. Feature films included Tarzan the Ape Man (1981) with Miles O’Keefe; Grey-

FAST FACTS DISNEY’S THE LEGEND OF TARZAN Series title: The Legend of Tarzan f Studio: Walt Disney Television Animation f No. of seasons: Two f No. of episodes: 39 f UPN run: September 3, 2001–September 5, 2003 (UPN) f ABC run: July 13, 2002–April 5, 2003 (ABC, Saturdays)

PRIMARY VOICE PERFORMER CAST f Michael T. Weiss: Tarzan f Olivia d’Abo: Jane Porter f April Winchell: Terk the gorilla f Jim Cummings: Tantor the elephant, Lt. Colonel Staquait, Hobson f Susanne Blakeslee: Kala the gorilla mother f Jeff Bennett: Professor Archimedes Q. Porter f Frank Welker: Manu, Nuru and Sheeta, Mabaya, Hista f Guest voices: Erik von Detten, Jason Marsden, Lance Henriksen, René Auberjonois, Dave Thomas, Joe Flaherty, Taylor Dempsey, James Avery, Phil LaMarr, Sheena Easton, Neil Patrick Harris, Tara Strong, Grey DeLisle, Nicollette Sheridan, Keith David, Diahann Carroll, Craig Ferguson, Ron Perlman, Kevin Michael Richardson, John O’Hurley, Jason Alexander, John DiMaggio, Charles Napier, Amanda Donohue, Kathy Najimy, Mark Harmon, Nicolette Little, Tate Donovan, Stephen Root, Steven Weber 76

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stoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984) with Christopher Lambert; and Tarzan and the Lost City (1998) with Casper Van Dien. By 1989, Filmation had been shut down by its parent company, but Lou Scheimer was not through. He founded Lou Scheimer Productions, intending to package new properties for animation. Hiring on as many ex-Filmation staff members as he could afford, Scheimer had one character he couldn’t quit. As he told me in his 2012 interviews for the TwoMorrows book, Lou Scheimer: Creating The Filmation Generation, “I wanted to get the rights to Tarzan because I had another point of view about what to do with it. Even though we had done it as Filmation, the underlying ownership was still with the Edgar Rice Burroughs estate. So, I went over to see them. I would have liked to have the rights to John Carter of Mars, but they were already negotiating those. I paid them a good sum of money to get the rights to Tarzan again, and we developed a really more accurate storyline with Tarzan learning to speak French before he spoke English because he did that in the books… The way we set up the show was a little more worldly in the kind of problems that Tarzan would get into. We called it The Fantastic World of Tarzan. “We intended the show to have an environmental element to it, which made sense given the original setting for the novels. But we were creating a more magical world, with prehistoric elements and modern concepts working together. We also used many concepts from the books, including Pellucidar. Tarzan’s animal friends included Ator the eagle, N’Kima the spider monkey, Tantor the elephant, and Jad-Bal-Ja the golden lion. Jane Porter was a redheaded photojournalist and safari guide who occasionally had personality clashes with Tarzan because she was very independent. Also, a ten-year-old native boy named Quai would often leave his tribal home to be mentored by Tarzan.” Scheimer thought he would have no trouble selling the show to the networks because it was a terrific concept. What he didn’t anticipate was the negative feelings that the network representatives held towards him, ever since the mega-popularity of Filmation’s syndicated He-Man and the Masters of the Universe had altered the Saturday morning market, ad sales, and syndicated animation forever. “It could have been a terrific series, but I couldn’t get past the doors to even present the thing in some cases,” Scheimer said, shaking his head sadly. “It was very upsetting because it was a terrific presentation.” By the time the 21st Century rolled into place, Tarzan had been out of prominence for a few years. But in 2003, The WB did a shortlived Tarzan series with Travis Fimmel in the lead, and 2016 saw a big-budget The Legend of Tarzan feature film starring Alexander Skarsgård. Two final animated projects for Tarzan did debut in the last decade, though neither was a hit. Tarzan (also known as Tarzan 3-D) was a computer-animated German 3-D motion capture action-adventure film released worldwide in 2014 (after an early Russian release). It was widely panned by critics and audiences. Netflix aired two seasons of a computer-animated web series titled Tarzan and Jane, which streamed beginning on January 6, 2017, with

andy mangels’ retro saturday morning

a second season debuting on October 12, 2018. That series later ran on Discovery Family. In 2005–2007, the writer of this article, Andy Mangels, produced around 40 different DVD sets of Filmation properties for a company called BCI Eclipse. In the process, he had become good friends with Lou Scheimer and his family, and was working both on the eventual biography with Lou and trying to get future DVD projects like Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle released. In 2008, during a trip to Tarzana, Scheimer and Mangels were eating lunch at an IHOP when Danton Burroughs approached them. Danton was introduced to Mangels, and they agreed that he would visit the Burroughs archives on May 1st to go through materials about the Filmation series and interview Danton. It was to be an auspicious day for the grandson; that was also the day Danton was going to be named chairman of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.! That evening at the Scheimer home, Andy and Lou heard sirens down the hill. When the 1st came around, Danton had not been in touch for the visit. A few days later, Scheimer found out from a local firefighter that Danton’s home had been badly damaged by a fire the night they had heard the sirens; and that Danton himself had passed away from heart failure on the 1st! Being some of the last people to see Danton was an eerie feeling for Scheimer and Mangels. Subsequently, the animated Tarzan was not treated well by home video. After putting one episode on their 2009 Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1970s vol. 1 set, Warner Bros. released Filmation’s Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle: The Complete Season One on DVD on June 14, 2016. It contained only the first 16 episodes of the series. The set was savaged by fans for its poor quality—the source appeared to be old unrestored video masters, there were zeros extras, and the

packaging looked nothing like the actual series itself. To date, Warner has not revealed any plans to release further volumes. Although the Disney Tarzan movies were released to DVD, their animated television series, The Legend of Tarzan, is not available on home media. Even the more recent Netflix Tarzan and Jane series has gotten no further home release. With the failure of the big-budget Skarsgård Tarzan in 2016— and the abysmal box-office performance of Burroughs’ John Carter in 2012—Tarzan’s strength in Hollywood seems to have diminished. But the hero is a classic, and it’s doubtful he’ll stay hidden in the jungles for long. Until then, the legacy of Tarzan at 110 years old leaves a lot of entertainment value in a past filled with loincloths and vine-swinging, and one very classic yodeling yell. Unless otherwise credited, the quotes from Lou Scheimer are from the autobiography he wrote with Andy Mangels, for Lou Scheimer: Creating the Filmation Generation. Artwork and photos are courtesy of the collection of Andy Mangels. Some photos were provided by Scott Awley or Heritage Auctions. ANDY MANGELS is the USA Today bestselling author and co-author of 20 books, including TwoMorrows’ Lou Scheimer: Creating the Filmation Generation, as well as Star Trek and Star Wars tomes, Iron Man: Beneath the Armor, and a lot of comic books. He recently wrote the bestselling Wonder Woman ’77 Meets the Bionic Woman series for Dynamite and DC Comics, and has written six Fractured Fairy Tales graphic novels for Junior High audiences, released by Abdo Books in 2021. He is currently working on a book about the stage productions of Stephen King and other projects. Additionally, he has scripted, directed, and produced Special Features and documentaries for over40 DVD releases. His moustache is infamous. www.AndyMangels.com and www.WonderWomanMuseum.com RETROFAN

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a ton of material in the pipeline that I hope will keep you happy and informed while you’re waiting.

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spirits that similarly shared the joys of model-making. HARVEY M. STABBE, Ph.D. Dr. Stabbe, welcome to the pages of RetroFan! We’re thrilled you found us and that you so connected with Rod Labbe’s Aurora monster models article. I’m certain your letter’s summation of the importance of childhood memories will strike a common chord with most of our readers. That’s what RetroFan is all about.

I have just discovered RetroFan and have been really enjoying reading the magazine. It’s the only magazine, besides National Geographic, that takes longer than three hours to read cover to cover. And unlike National Geographic, I actually read every single article inside RetroFan. CHRISTOPHER TUPA

Enjoyed every single article in RetroFan #17, but in particular Scott Shaw!’s article on George of the Jungle, which I remember fondly and wish I had an excellent DVD version of in order to see those episodes again. I was very young when they first aired, but I remember they were hysterically funny... and my tender, young, prepubescent self actually found George’s girlfriend Ursula a bit sexy, ha! Maybe this article will help stir up interest in a new DVD release. In particular, I really appreciated Scott reprinting the lyrics to the theme songs, so that now when I think of them, I don’t have to merely hum or make up lyrics (I like to © Jay Ward Productions.

The November 2021 issue of RetroFan magazine was my first. I saw it on the Barnes & Noble magazine rack and was struck by the cover story about Aurora models. Reading “A Horde of Monsters in My Bedroom” by Rod Labbe was a true indulgence into the joys and memories of model-making back in the Sixties. I had one of the Aurora monster models, which I believe was Frankenstein. I was also poignantly struck by Rod’s reminiscences. At 67, I find myself in a very similar psychological place to him. I treasure memories of the past and yearn to return to them. It’s always disappointing to rediscover that the past will never be repeated. It’s a one-time deal that we never realized or reflected on at the time. As children, we were in the moment with a very limited perspective on the past and future. The models I made were emblematic of that. The joy of being fully engaged in making each model comes back to me in ebbs and flows of memories and manufacturers. The first model I made was of the Black Knight of Nuremberg, when I was eight years old. I was on a class field trip to the Brooklyn Museum. My mother gave me a dollar for expenses. I used it to buy the Black Knight model from the gift shop. I was hooked from the moment I saw it. Throughout childhood, I made models of cars, ships, tanks, planes, and many others. I assiduously painted each piece before assembling them. Each one was a work of art for me. The total participation in making each model was all-engaging. As I got into adolescence and my interests changed, the models suffered the fate of either getting blown up on the Fourth of July or getting tossed in the trashcan when we moved when I was age 16. I didn’t think I would miss them at the time, but I grieve not having them now as much as I grieve not having the moments of my life that went into painting, assembling, collecting, and loving them. It is the feeling of being completely absorbed in the process that I miss the most. Thank you and Rod for the thoughtful article. I appreciated the reminiscences and feelings that the article evoked in me. It also made me think of all the kindred Boomer

Glad you’ve found us, Christopher! Ye ed takes pride in the density of our subject matter. While we peddle nostalgia, instead of simply nurturing a “warm, fuzzy feeling” about those past joys, we peel off their layers to see what made them tick.

I’ve got some ideas for future issues of RetroFan: 1) the Eighties IBM ads with the cast of M*A*S*H 2) the 1975 TV version of It’s A Bird… It’s A Plane… It’s Superman 3) comparing the Black Panther cartoon to the movie 4) the world of Steel Magnolias including the failed TV pilot Thanks for any attention you give this. AMY WILSON Thanks for the suggestions, Amy! Black Panther skews a little too recent for RetroFan and seems more appropriate for one of TwoMorrows’ comics-related magazines (perhaps my own Back Issue), but the other topics are fair game for our pages. Hopefully, we can make them happen in the future, but right now there’s

sing to myself a lot). It’s a bit embarrassing singing the Super Chicken theme, however— my roommates all look at me like I’ve suddenly turned into Chicken Boo! Keep up the good work! TIM MARION Tim, you certainly weren’t the only kid to have a crush on a cartoon character. And I’m glad you’re spreading high culture (or is it high camp?) to your roomies. Hopefully they’ll soon join you in Super Chicken sing-alongs.

Whatever idiot coined “jumping the shark,” inspired by the “Hollywood, Part 3” episode from Season Five of Happy Days, should have been dumped into a tank of Mako sharks. The incident in question doesn’t even

meet the term’s definition of an outlandish publicity stunt by a show in ratings trouble. Happy Days was not in trouble in Season Five, Ron Howard hadn’t even left yet, and the show never suffered a significant ratings drop until the its final season... which ended seven years after Fonzie’s water-skiing exploits. The term is even lazier than most of the plot points “fans” label with it. Sorry, the term is a bit of a pet peeve of mine. DOUG ABRAMSON

Loved the coverage of the Aurora models in RetroFan #17. I sure remember them fondly. Not only the classic Universal film characters, but also super-heroes and TV favorites. But the monsters came first. That’s why I got a particular kick seeing the instructions for the Creature model. Supposedly, if I’d bothered to read them, assembly might’ve turned out significantly better. There was such a great assortment, and all the boxes were alluring works of art. Even better than the old movies, in a way, since they were in color. Favorite? Maybe Dracula because of the bats and moody lighting. For building, it might be the Witch. That one had no end of small parts. Maybe you can do a sequel with the non-monster kits? It’s where I first encountered Batman and Superman, lurking in a tree and punching a brick wall, respectively. Oddly enough, it’s not the visual aspects of the models I recall so well, it’s the various textures. Was delighted, as a follow-up, you had the article on artist James Bama. He should have gotten 49 cents each, per model sold, as his box art was half the thrill. Don’t think there’s a bad one in there. Laughed where he said that irate parents wrote in that the box poses didn’t match the kits. Tough. They were great, regardless. Any idea what happened to the various paintings? Did he get some back? Have any turned up? He was right, too, in that the monsters in dragsters undercut the whole premise. Seems like it was an early indication that monsters were turning comedic rather than startling. First, Famous Monsters of Filmland. Then The Munsters, Addams Family, Groovie Ghoulies, the General Mills monster cereals, etc. A shame it morphed into something embarrassing. In fact, reading the articles

on Monster Squad and especially Drak Pack made me glad I was sleeping late on Saturdays. Seeing them do the “Drak Whack” and, in unison, yell, “Whacko”? Glad I missed it. Had I known writer Stanley Ralph Ross was involved with Monster Squad, however, I’d have given it a chance. Thought his scripts on Batman were hilarious. Same with seeing another role for Jonathan Harris and Julie Newmar. I was not a huge fan of Dark Shadows. Hard to be as a kid. Because of school, I had to miss nine months [of the show’s afternoon airings]. Plus, playing with friends and running errands in the summer kept me away from the TV set. As a serial, it suffered when you only caught stray episodes. Regardless, the interview [with actress/author Lara Parker] still had two areas of interest. First, someone learning to write to her own satisfaction and noticeable improvement. Secondly, yet another instance of a television program being significantly superior to a supposed revival, one where the charm and identity of the original was lost, probably by intention. Totally enjoyed the George of the Jungle article. For me, that was the highlight of all the Jay Ward projects. George and Super Chicken were hilarious. Liked them as a kid. Love them even more as an adult. Yes, as you noted, the theme songs were catchy and a crack-up. A real unexpected treat was the look at Ward Cleaver and guessing what his actual

job might’ve been. I just watched all six seasons, again, during the pandemic, and didn’t have a clue. So, it was nice to have a likely answer. However, the point is it must not have mattered, or they would surely have told us. The show wasn’t about Ward’s job; it was about his home life. So, telling us too much would have been a distraction. Darrin Stephens, Andy Taylor, and Rob Petrie, in contrast, had their careers defined, and it was a vital part of the program. Ward just had to be working somewhere to be called away to Beaver’s school. Naturally, I laughed aloud when reading Ward’s line of fatherly advice: “There’s nothing old-fashioned about politeness.” Consequently, thanks so much, Michael, for a very pleasurable issue. JOE FRANK On behalf of everyone involved: You’re welcome, Joe! Regarding your question about the whereabouts of James Bama’s paintings, I’ll field that to Will Murray, who interviewed Mr. Bama, to see what he can discover. Will…?

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

NEXT ISSUE September 2022 No. 22 $9.95

I have the power!

HE-MAN & THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE

Zorro makes his mark on Saturday mornings!

zy These cra are a CARtoons real drag!

TV’s Wild, Wild West • Sitcom legend Norman Lear • Valspeak (Like, totally!) & more! Featuring ANDY MANGELS • WILL MURRAY • SCOTT SAAVEDRA • SCOTT SHAW! • MARK VOGER • MICHAEL EURY He-Man and Masters of the Universe © Mattel. Zorro © Zorro Productions, Inc. Drag Cartoons © The Pete Millar Family. All Rights Reserved.

RETROFAN

July 2022

ReJECTED! Not every great idea is successful, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't celebrate the also-rans, the nearly-made-its, and the ReJECTED. Advertised as "Part of a violent breakfast," UntouchaPops died on the shelves quietly in its sleep, unlike the bad guys Eliot Ness and his team brought down every week on television.

America h t r o N . s r M d n r. a WALTER “Good cereal, M at sea!” s ip h s e h t ll a WINCHELL and Says

D CORN & SUGAR-SOAKESEND NO GOOD BARLEY WILL NGER STRAIGHT MORNING HU OUSE! TO THE BIG-H

Bullet-shaped h and packed wit real lead

dora e F r e t h g i F e m i Cr

! e d i s n i E FRE

BY SCOTT SAAVEDRA

RETROFAN #14

RETROFAN #13

RETROFAN #12

RETROFAN #11

RETROFAN #10

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

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

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

HALLOWEEN ISSUE! Interviews with DARK SHADOWS’ DAVID SELBY, and the niece of movie Frankenstein GLENN STRANGE, JULIE ANN REAMS. Plus: KOLCHAK THE NIGHT STALKER, ROD SERLING retrospective, CASPER THE FRIENDLY GHOST, TV’s Adventures of Superman, Superman’s pal JIMMY OLSEN, QUISP and QUAKE cereals, the DRAK PAK AND THE MONSTER SQUAD, scratch model customs, and more!

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

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

RETROFAN #9

RETROFAN #8

RETROFAN #7

RETROFAN #6

RETROFAN #5

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

TwoMorrows. The Future of Pop History.

RETROFAN #4

RETROFAN #3

RETROFAN #2

RETROFAN #1

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

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

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

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

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

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