RetroFan #26 by TwoMorrows Publishing

May 2023 No. 26 $10.95

I pity the fool who misses this issue!

A MR. T HISTORY

Go cross-eyed over DAKTARI’s lion lover, CHERYL MILLER

S ’ G N I N R MO Y A D R U SAT ES O R E H R SUPE

The actress who was almost

Emma Peel,

ELIZABETH SHEPHERD Meet EL VAMPIRO and other Monsters, Mexican style!

TV’s Avengers, Steed and Mrs. Peel • John and Yoko’s nation of Nutopia & more! 1

82658 00504

Featuring Andy Mangels • Will Murray • Scott Saavedra • Scott Shaw! • Mark Voger • Michael Eury Super Friends © DC Comics. Daktari © Warner Archives. Mr. T © Ruby-Spears Productions. All Rights Reserved.

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ALTER EGO #182

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An FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America) special, behind a breathtaking JERRY ORDWAY cover! Features on Uncle Marvel and the Fawcett Family by P.C. HAMERLINCK, ACG artist KENNETH LANDAU (Commander Battle and The Atomic Sub), and writer LEE GOLDSMITH (Golden Age Green Lantern, Flash, and others). Plus Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt by MICHAEL T. GILBERT, and more!

SUPER ISSUE! Superboy’s Bronze Age adventures, and interviews with GERARD CHRISTOPHER and STACY HAIDUK of the Superboy live-action TV series. Plus: Super Goof, Super Richie (Rich), Super-Dagwood, Super Mario Bros., Frank Thorne’s Far Out Green Super Cool, NICK MEGLIN and JACK DAVIS’ Superfan, and more! Featuring a Superboy and Krypto cover by DAVE COCKRUM! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

A special tribute issue to NEAL ADAMS (1941–2022), celebrating his Bronze Age DC Comics contributions! In-depth Batman and Superman interviews, ‘Green Lantern/Green Arrow’—Fifty Years Later, Neal Adams—Under the Radar, Continuity Associates, a ‘Rough Stuff’ pencil art gallery, Power Records, and more! Re-presenting Adams’ iconic cover art to BATMAN #227. (Plus: See ALTER EGO #181!)

BRONZE AGE SAVAGE LANDS, starring Ka-Zar in the 1970s! Plus: Turok—Dinosaur Hunter, DON GLUT’s Dagar and Tragg, Annihilus and the Negative Zone, Planet of Vampires, Pat Mills’s Flesh (from 2000AD), and WALTER SIMONSON and MIKE MIGNOLA’s Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure. With CONWAY, GULACY, HAMA, NICIEZA, SEARS, THOMAS, and more! JOHN BUSCEMA cover!

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KIRBYRETROFAN COLLECTOR#27 #86

KIRBY COLLECTOR #87

COMIC BOOK CREATOR #30

BRICKJOURNAL #79

Canadian comic book artist, illustrator, and graphic novelist MICHAEL CHO in a career-spanning interview and art gallery, a 1974 look at JACK ADLER and the DC Comics production department’s process of reprinting Golden Age material, color newspaper tabloid THE FUNNY PAGES examined in depth by its editor RON BARRETT, plus CBC’s usual columns and features, including HEMBECK! Edited by JON B. COOKE.

VISUAL Interview COMPARISONS! with CaptainAnalysis Kangaroo of BOB LAW & ORDER! Kirby’s lawmen from unused KEESHAN, vs. known The Kirby ROCKFORD covers and FILES, art,teen the Newsboy Legion’s Jim Harper and BARRY monster WINDSOR-SMITH movies, the Kung on his Fu and stylizaBRUCE “Terrible” Turpin, to Western gunfighters, tionsLEE in crazes, CaptainJACK America’s Bicentennial KIRBY’s comedy comics, and even future policemen like OMAC Battles, incorporation of real-life DONKirby’s DRYSDALE’s TV drop-ins, outrageousand Captain Victory! Also: how a Marvel images his work, of WILL con-and cop led to the creation of Funky Flashman! toys,inChallenge the MURRAY’s Super Friends, versations withfab topfeatures! pros justFeaturing after Jack’s more fun, columns Justice Traps The Guilty and Headline passing, unused Mister Miracle cover inked Comics! Plus MARK EVANIER moderating by ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, by WALTER SIMONSON,SCOTT and more! Edited SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SHAW, and 2022’s Kirby Tribute Panel (with Sin City’s by JOHN MARKMORROW. VOGER! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.FRANK MILLER). MACHLAN cover inks.

Create Brick Art with builders ANDREAS LELANDER and JACK ENGLAND! Learn how to build mosaics and sculptures with DEEP SHEN and some of the best Lego builders around the world! Plus: AFOLs by cartoonist GREG HYLAND, step-by step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art, Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS, and more!

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ALTER EGO #181

Special NEAL ADAMS ISSUE, featuring in-depth interviews with Neal by HOWARD CHAYKIN, BRYAN STROUD, and RICHARD ARNDT. Also: a “lost” ADAMS BRAVE & THE BOLD COVER with Batman and Green Arrow, and unseen Adams art and artifacts. Plus FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America), MICHAEL T. GILBERT in Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, and more! Edited by ROY THOMAS. (Plus: See BACK ISSUE #143!)

The Crazy Cool Culture We Grew Up With

Issue #26 May 2023

Columns and Special Features

Andy Mangels’ Retro Saturday Morning Super Friends

Departments

Retrotorial

Will Murray’s 20th Century Panopticon Steed and Mrs. Peel: TV’s The Avengers

61 41

Scott Saavedra’s Secret Sanctum John and Yoko’s Nation of Nutopia

Too Much TV Quiz TV character occupations

Retro Interview Elizabeth Shepherd, ‘The Emma Peel That Almost Was’

Retro Collectibles All in the Family Merchandise

RetroFad Bra burning

Voger’s Vault of Vintage Varieties Mexican Monsters

Retro Television Daktari’s Cheryl Miller

Oddball World of Scott Shaw! Mr. T

75 76

Retro Travel Cleveland, Ohio, hometown of Superman’s creators

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RetroFan™ issue 26, May 2023 (ISSN 2576-7224) is published bi-monthly by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614, USA. Phone: (919) 4490344. Periodicals postage paid 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: 73 Economy US, $111 International, $29 Digital. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Super Friends TM & © DC Comics. Daktari © Warner Bros. Mr. T © Ruby-Spears Productions. All Rights Reserved. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2023 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING.

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

BY MICHAEL EURY

Michael Eury PUBLISHER John Morrow CONTRIBUTORS Susan Bailey Michael Eury Richard Kolkman Ken Lynch Andy Mangels Will Murray Scott Saavedra Scott Shaw! Bryan D. Stroud Anthony Tayler Mark Voger DESIGNER Scott Saavedra PROOFREADER David Baldy SPECIAL THANKS Hake’s Auctions Tana Helfer Heritage Auctions Marc Tyler Nobleman Studiocanal S.A. VERY SPECIAL THANKS Ralph Helfer Elizabeth Shepherd Mr. T

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RETROFAN

May 2023

Super Friends may seem primitive to today’s viewers accustomed to big-budget super-hero movie blockbusters, as well as the live-action super-hero TV shows airing and streaming into our homes and devices. But let me tell you, back in the day, when Super Friends first made the scene in 1973, it was a big deal. By that time, super-hero television cartoons were nothing new—Saturday mornings and weekday afternoons were filled with them during the Sixties Batmania boom. But the majority of those toons starred a single hero (Superman, Underdog, Space Ghost) or a dynamic duo (Batman and Robin, Aquaman and Aqualad, the Lone Ranger and Tonto). Super-teams were rare on Saturday mornings, limited to Marvel’s Fantastic Four (which was really a “family” instead of an assemblage of heroes who normally operated solo) and made-for-TV teams like the Mighty Heroes and the Herculoids. But imagine, the world’s greatest super-heroes, joining forces to battle menaces bigger than one hero can handle! Aside from a handful of Justice League of America shorts produced by Filmation for its Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure, which premiered in 1967, the idea of a team of super-heroes seemed lost upon animators… until Hanna-Barbera partnered with DC Comics to produce Super Friends. Super Friends combined Superman, Batman and Robin, Aquaman, and Wonder Woman— narrated by one of RetroFan’s favorite personalities, Ted Knight. How could you not love that? Super Friends wasn’t just a Saturday morning cartoon—it was an innovation. It was so popular that it continued for years to come, in different permutations, which our Retro Saturday Morning columnist Andy Mangels explores in his patented in-depth manner in an exclusive four-part series beginning this issue. While RetroFan doesn’t rely upon a thematic structure like our sister TwoMorrows magazine, Back Issue, when reviewing this issue’s ultra-cool contents I noticed a subtle thread connecting its eclectic features: this is an issue of trailblazers. RetroFan columnist Will Murray peeks under John Steed’s bowler to unveil the history of the iconic British TV spy show The Avengers, which was ahead of its time in its depiction of liberated women. An accompanying interview from guest writer Anthony Taylor introduces us to Elizabeth Shepherd, The Avengers’ original—pre-Diana Rigg—Emma Peel. Another strong, self-reliant Sixties TV female trailblazer was a pretty blonde tomboy on a popular CBS program who was friend to virtually any animal imaginable, even dangerous ones—no, not The Beverly Hillbillies’ critter-lovin’ Elly May Clampett, but Daktari’s adventurous adventuress, Paula Tracy. Cheryl Miller, the actress who charmingly played Paula, is profiled this issue by guest writers Susan Bailey and Ken Lynch, who maintain a Daktari website. Another trailblazer featured in these pages is Mr. T, whose breakout roles in Eighties classics like Rocky III and The A-Team made him one of the most influential Black celebrities of his day. Columnist Scott Shaw! pities the fool who doesn’t read his Mr. T history in his Oddball World column this ish. All in the Family reinvented the television sitcom in the early Seventies, and as guest writer Richard Kolkman shares, the show was an innovator when it came to clever merchandising that mostly attracted adult consumers. It’s unlikely that anyone reading RetroFan needs me to tell you that The Beatles were the most influential band of the Sixties. But did you know that Beatle John Lennon, with his wife Yoko Ono, actually founded a nation? Scott Saavedra’s Secret Sanctum presents the story of their nation of Nutopia. And heck, I’ll even argue that the Mexican monsters whose freaky fright-fests are chronicled this issue by columnist Mark Voger were, despite their blatant appropriations of horror tropes and characters, trailblazing in their sheer audacity. C’mon, how often in American cinema do you get to see a wrestler fight a monster? This issue’s subjects are all over the map—but isn’t that what you’ve grown to love about RetroFan? From the familiar to the bizarre, we cover it all, with professionalism and pizzazz! So get ready for another groovy grab-bag of the crazy, cool culture we grew up with!

ANDY MANGELS’ RETRO SATURDAY MORNING

PART 1 BY ANDY MANGELS TM & © DC Comics.

“In the great hall of the Justice League there are assembled the world’s four greatest heroes,created from the cosmic legends of the universe: Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Aquaman… and those three junior Super Friends, Wendy, Marvin, and Wonder Dog. Their mission: To fight injustice; to right that which is wrong; and to serve all mankind!” This narration for the opening of 1973’s Super Friends—Ted Knight’s announcing paired with Hoyt Curtain’s percussive opening music—would drive fans to Saturday mornings on ABC for 13 years to follow, through nine different incarnations and as many titles. Over the next four issues of RetroFan, Andy Mangels’ Retro Saturday Morning will be your guide to the longest-running animated superhero series ever!

SATURDAY MORNING VIOLENCE BECOMES FRIENDLY

DC Comics’ super-heroes had been well represented since the dawn of Saturday morning television, with Filmation’s The New Adventures of Superman on CBS from September 1966–September 1967 [see RetroFan #25, available to order in print or digital at www. twomorrows.com—ed.], followed by The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure and its Justice League and guest hero shorts on CBS from September 1967–September 1968 [see RetroFan #3], and The Batman/ Superman Hour on CBS, from September 1968–September 1969. But as the Seventies dawned, so-called “moral watchdogs” like Action for Children’s Television (ACT) were making their voices heard, and critical editorials were written in newspapers and magazines, debating about “violence” on Saturday morning shows, specifically RETROFAN

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andy mangels’ retro saturday morning

A Golden Age-inspired version of Wonder Woman by Alex Toth. It was ultimately unused. TM & © DC Comics. for super-hero shows (which generally showed less violence than a Disney film). The entertainment industry newspapers reported that for the 1969–1970 seasons, both ABC and CBS were making pacts to eliminate violent programming—and that comedy would rule the airwaves. Indeed, by Fall 1970, all traces of super-heroes had been wiped from Saturday morning schedules. Even hamstrung by ACT’s agenda, Filmation used Superman and Batman on Children’s Television Workshop’s Sesame Street educational segments, then featured Superman and the television debut of Wonder Woman on ABC’s The Brady Kids, in Fall 1972. Batman and Robin, meanwhile, were licensed to Hanna-Barbera to appear in a pair of CBS New Scooby-Doo Movies. Fred Silverman, who had championed heroes at CBS, was now in charge at ABC. He wondered: could they bring back DC super-heroes in a friendlier non-violent way? The alphabet network commissioned HannaBarbera to create the new series, specifying that the stories had to be moralistic and nonviolent. Hanna-Barbera chose five of DC Comics’ top heroes to headline the series: Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Batman, 4

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and Robin… although the teen hero was so ill-respected that he didn’t even rate getting named in the show opening. Meanwhile, Aquaman was considered more popular than Flash or Green Lantern since he had already starred in his own animated series, so even though the writers were saddled with adding water-based elements to every storyline, the Aquatic Ace was in. Joining the team—alternately called the “Justice League” or the “Super Friends,” were teen sidekicks Wendy, Marvin, and Wonder Dog. The latter two of these “junior Super Friends” would occasionally exhibit super-powers if the story demanded it; Wendy had no powers, but was often the smartest character in the room. Comic master artist Alex Toth had previously designed such characters as Space Ghost and Birdman for Hanna-Barbera, so from March through July 1973, he was brought in to give all the characters a dynamic flair, simplistic enough for animation, but respectful of their comic-book roots. In one of Wonder Woman’s model sheets, Toth designed her to look more like her Golden Age version, but she reverted to a modern interpretation in later designs. The artist also changed Superman’s look when DC Comics

andy mangels’ retro saturday morning

A rejected version of Superman. Model sheet by artist Alex Toth. TM & © DC Comics. rejected his first designs for not closely enough resembling the house style, influenced by artist Curt Swan. Toth worked exceptionally hard because he had to; HannaBarbera had moved production of Super Friends to an Australian animation group, to save labor costs. Beginning in May 1973, Toth spent six months in Australia supervising the animators who worked with producer/director Eric E. Porter in Sydney, Australia. Toth also had to remotely supervise work coming in from a Mexican animation studio for Super Friends, and attempt to keep the two companies’ styles similar enough to mesh. In the book Genius Animated: The Cartoon Art of Alex Toth, the artist said, “I was doing up to twenty sheets full of model designs per board/show—on 8½ x 14 foolscap sheets—why so many? Because our Aussies didn’t know what anything American looked like—or foreign items either—from cars, streets to guns, planes, clothes, whatever—so my job was driving me nuts—everything in our shows had to be drawn-out for our local layout/animation/ BG/BE teams to know what ‘n hell they looked like!” In addition to the model sheets for characters or objects, Toth also did complete

storyboards for each episode… a Herculean task that would later be taken on by a dozen artists on later versions of the show. Toth departed Australia at the end of September, to return home to his family. All did not go well, though, when ABC got the footage for the Super Friends pilot. As Joseph Barbera wrote in his autobiography My Life in Toons, “When the show was delivered, it was just awful, and Nick Nichols, producing it for ABC, called for a phenomenal 900 feet of fixes. Staggered, Bill Hanna turned down his request, and the ABC rep working with us complained to Fred Silverman. This was on Tuesday. Silverman, we were told, would be at our studio, in person, on Thursday.” Barbera took a look at the rejected footage. “There was no doubt about it. The stuff was bad, lackluster, plodding, and featuring the worst Superman drawing I had ever seen. This was not a drawing of the ‘real’ Superman… What it looked like, however, was a rendering of the Man of Steel as the proverbial [90]-pound weakling. Deflated and wimped out.” Barbera and his crew worked tirelessly over the next 48 hours to salvage the footage, reshooting a scene of fire through a red filter RETROFAN

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andy mangels’ retro saturday morning

to make it more vivid, intercutting scenes of flying with people staring up at them in excitement, shaking the animation camera in scenes with explosions to add more movement, and adding an enormous amount of sound effects. “I got to the footage,” said Barbera, “specified the changes on Tuesday, we shot them that night, recut the picture on Wednesday, and showed it on Thursday to Fred Silverman and a crew of ABC executives, poised for the kill. None of these people had any idea of the frantic work that had gone into doctoring the picture.” Barbera’s gambit worked, and Silverman and his crew were mollified. Super Friends had been saved from the villain named Dr. BadAnimation.

CREATED FROM THE COSMIC LEGENDS… OR THE COMIC LEGENDS?

On Friday, September 7, 1973, ABC aired a preview show called Saturday Morning Sneak Peek [see RetroFan #9], hosted by comedians Jack Burns and Avery Schreiber. In the special, not only were viewers treated to the first-ever live-action meeting between Superman (Chuck Woolery) and Batman (possibly Kurtwood

(TOP) Background painting of the iconic Super Friends Hall of Justice based on Cincinnatis Art Deco beauty Queen City’s Union Terminal. (ABOVE) Discarded early concept for the Hall of Justice. Drawing courtesy of Heritage, TM & © DC Comics. 6

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andy mangels’ retro saturday morning

Smith), but they also got to see a clip from the next day’s Super Friends pilot, of an exciting mission at a damaged dam. Super Friends debuted on September 8, 1973, with an adventure in which the heroes had to stop energy thieves who came from an resource-depleted planet. It was typical of most of the stories to follow: no super-villains would appear; the “bad guys” were often misunderstood scientists trying to save mankind with some out-of-control scheme, or they were guys in suits and hats who never used violence to cause problems; ecological disasters and pollution were the worst humanity could fear; and heavy-handed moralizing was often delivered to and from Batman and Robin. Many of these pro-social messages were approved by HannaBarbera’s educational advisor, child psychologist Dr. Haim Ginott. If the animation was occasionally—okay, often—dodgy, the voice cast for Super Friends was rock-solid. Joe Barbera cast the voice actors, which included Ted Knight (the narrator), Danny Dark (Superman), Olan Soule (Batman), Casey Kasem (Robin), Norman Alden (Aquaman), Shannon Farnon (Wonder Woman), Sherry Alberoni (Wendy), Frank Welker (Marvin and Wonder Dog), and

(ABOVE) Restaging a section of the storyboard for the sixth episode of Super Friends. TM & © DC Comics. (LEFT) Voice cast of Super Friends as seen in this Sherry Alberoni photo from an issue of Starlog. (BACK, LEFT TO RIGHT) Olan Soule (Batman), Casey Kasem (Robin), Danny Dark (Superman), Shannon Farnon (Wonder Woman), and Norman Alden (Aquaman). (FRONT, LEFT TO RIGHT) Sherry Alberoni (Wendy) and Frank Welker (Marvin and Wonder Dog).

Alex Toth interior sketch of the Hall of Justice. TM & © DC Comics.

John Stephenson (Col. Wilcox). Each of them could also play two other characters per episode. In a 2004 Starlog interview, Dark would say, “I saw Superman as big, strong, and a man with high morals. I came up with his voice—nobody could really talk that way—but I used my own voice for Clark Kent… I didn’t realize how important it was to kids.” Dark loved the non-violence of the series. “I never hit one person on that show. I may have pushed them back with super-breath, but I never punched anyone.” In the same interview, Shannon Farnon found the non-violence humorous. “We couldn’t hit anybody… As the Super Friends, we would do everything but fight—which totally went against our comic-book origins!” Still, Farnon loved doing the show. “Every girl read Wonder Woman comics and imagined themselves as her. She was an icon… When I played Wonder Woman, I envisioned her as she was depicted in the comics I read as a kid: a bigger-than-life Amazon who defends the downtrodden.” Olan Soule and Casey Kasem had voiced Batman and Robin on Filmation’s earlier Batman/Superman Hour, and they returned to the RETROFAN

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andy mangels’ retro saturday morning

roles for Super Friends. Kasem had come from college radio shows prior to becoming a voice actor; ironically, he became one of the most famous radio deejays in the world. He was also the voice of Shaggy on Hanna-Barbera’s various Scooby-Doo series, where he worked with Frank Welker as Scooby instead of as Wonder Dog. Alberoni was another H-B alumni; the former Mickey Mouse Club mouseketeer had been a lead voice on Josie and the Pussycats. Alden, who voiced Aquaman with a stoic clearness, was a character actor who was probably most recognizable to later Saturday morning viewers as Professor Frank Heflin on Sid and Marty Krofft’s Electra Woman and DynaGirl series in 1976 [see RetroFan #8], and to later audiences for his role as the soda jerk in Back to the Future (1985) and sad sack cameraman in Ed Wood (1994). In a 2007 interview with Alden on the website Aquaman Shrine, the actor recalled that he got the Hanna-Barbera job due to a friend he had once loaned a car to. “I didn’t know [Aquaman] was going to be a treasure,” he admitted. “It’s a phenomenon. I go around, I’m just sitting in a restaurant or something, and somebody will come by and say ‘You’re Aquaman!’” Of the 16 episodes produced, adventures included guest-stars Green Arrow, Flash, and a brief cameo for Plastic Man, and saw the Super Friends battle a super-computer called G.E.E.C., dastardly polluters, and alien balloon people. Unlike almost every regular half-hour series on Saturday morning, the Super Friends episodes also 8

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(LEFT) Aquaman calls to the beasts of the sea in this screen capture from the first season of Super Friends. (RIGHT) Aquaman head turn reference. TM & © DC Comics.

(TOP) Batman and Robin action poses by Alex Toth. (ABOVE) The Batmobile in action in this screen capture from Super Friends. TM & © DC Comics.

andy mangels’ retro saturday morning

(TOP) Green Arrow model sheet for a Super Friends featured guest-star. The show features a handful of characters from DC’s stable of super-heroes. (CENTER) Revised model sheet for Wonder Woman. (BOTTOM) A model sheet for another guest-star, Plastic Man. Alex Toth clearly has fondness for the character who first appeared in comic books in 1941. Here he refers to the hero as “The one and only original.” TM & © DC Comics.

featured an hour-long story—albeit a heavily padded tale. Super Friends creative producer Iwao Takamoto would recall in his own biography, My Life with a Thousand Characters, that “Viewers loved this show. It was one of the top-rated programs on Saturday morning. And the writers and the story editors at Hanna-Barbera loved doing the show… The only people who did not like the show were the editors of DC Comics, who actually did take this stuff seriously. To say ‘disliked’ is actually an understatement: they wanted our heads. I never got so many irate letters about anything as those that came from the comic-book staff regarding how we were handling the characters. There was a high degree of sarcasm to them, an underlying viciousness that sometimes go to the point of being X-rated… Periodically I would gather these vindictive missives up and take them into the show writers and show them to them. The reply I usually got from them was no less blunt than the letters: ‘Ah, tell them to go f*** themselves!’” By accounts, the prime offended party at DC Comics was editor and writer E. Nelson Bridwell, who was generally in charge of keeping DC continuity as cohesive as possible… and who functioned as DC’s “Story Advisor” for Hanna-Barbera. He stopped Hanna-Barbera from making Bruce Wayne the uncle of Wendy (reportedly, she called him “Uncle Bruce” in early scripts), but he couldn’t get the animators to make the Justice League satellite the headquarters for the group; instead, Hanna-Barbera used the Hall of Justice, a building in an unnamed city that was based on the visual look of Cincinnati’s art deco-designed Union Terminal. Inside the Hall, the cavernous meeting room held not only tons of colorful computers and a meeting table, but also the wall-mounted giant-screen TroubAlert (later called “Trouble Alert”) on which government liaison Colonel Wilcox would warn the Super Friends of some impending disaster. In late 1975, Bridwell wrote comics’ first Super Friends story for the treasury-sized Limited Collector’s Edition #C-41, with art by Alex Toth. Shortly thereafter, Bridwell launched an ongoing Super Friends series, in which DC’s continuity cop attempted to reconcile the animated adventures with the larger DC universe, even linking Wendy properly to Batman (she was instead the RETROFAN

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andy mangels’ retro saturday morning

niece of one of Bruce Wayne’s detective mentors) and Marvin to Wonder Woman (he was the son of the woman whose identity Wonder Woman had adopted when she needed a non-Amazon name). “Many people thought a Super Friends comic would be a natural,” Bridwell would write in a text page in Super Friends #9 (Dec. 1977), “but at the time, we felt the TV series was really a version of the Justice League of America.” Although Super Friends did well in the ratings—and actually received primetime promotion—it was dropped from the air in August 1975, after its second season of all reruns. Replacing it was Filmation’s short-lived Uncle Croc’s Block, but in February 1976 (or April in some markets due to sports preemptions), Super Friends was brought back to the schedule as a mid-season replacement for that failed series, until September 11th when it was replaced by a 90-minute Krofft Supershow series. From December 1976 to September 1977, ABC brought back Super Friends one final time, this time chopping the hour-long tales into half-hour edited versions and removing most of the “filler.” Some sources cite ABC’s primetime success with The Six Million Dollar Man and Wonder Woman

as the reason for Super Friends continually being brought back in reruns, but that explanation seems unlikely; more obviously, the series just always got good ratings among kid viewers who were starved for super-heroes.

ALL-NEW FRIENDS, ALL-NEW SERIES

Hanna-Barbera finally sold ABC on a new hour-long version of Super Friends for 1977, under the auspices of ABC’s network producer Art Scott, who also taught about animation at Cal State Long Beach. There, he would have a prescient student named Darrell McNeil who was not only a lifelong DC fan, but was determined to become an animator on Super Friends however possible. Through a series of interactions and fortuitous coincidences [which you can read about in Back Issue #30—ed.], McNeil was hired as the youngest animator at the company. He would first work as an “in-betweener,” cleaning up elements between animation drawings; ABC had ordered Hanna-Barbera to step up their game and make sure this incarnation of Super Friends didn’t look as cheap as the first series.

Storyboard for the first season episode “The Baffles Puzzle” features Aquaman, Batman, Robin, and Wonder Woman’s invisible plane. TM & © DC Comics. 10

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andy mangels’ retro saturday morning

Alex Toth was again enlisted to design the new show—alongside George Wheeler and Bob Singer—this time in California, instead of Australia. The relocation may have been because Bill Hanna’s personal secretary was Guyla Toth, Alex’s wife, but it was also because animation was being moved in-house. Story editor Norman Maurer developed a bible in October 1976 for the new series that ABC reportedly was wild about. Each hour of The All-New Super Friends Hour was going to feature a half-hour story (22-minutes plus commercials), as well as three mini-adventures. Interspersed between each story were short interactive segments with the characters often speaking directly to viewers: Safety Tips, three-part Decoder Clues games, and alternating Crafts or Magic Tricks shorts. ABC briefly considered going back to the original style and changing the half-hour stories into hour-long tales, but HannaBarbera resisted. Their “focus group”—mostly animator McNeil— convinced them that more stories with the same characters would entice audiences to stay tuned much more than over-padded sequences. McNeil also watched continuity on the series—such as

setting the Hall of Justice firmly in Metropolis—thus lessening the amount of angry letters from DC’s Bridwell to the offices. The All New Super Friends Hour short stories tended to feature two characters teaming up to stop disasters or villains, and many of them guest-starred other heroes from the DC Comics universe: Hawkgirl, Hawkman, Rima the Jungle Girl, Green Lantern, Flash, and the Atom. Created specifically for the series were the new multicultural heroes Black Vulcan (an African-American man with electrical powers), Apache Chief (a Native-American man who could grow to be a giant), and Samurai (an Asian man who could spin his lower torso into a tornado). The final 15 episodes also featured the first super-villain adapted from the comics: Hawkman’s foe Gentleman Jim Craddock, the Gentleman Ghost. An alternate version of Aquaman foe Black Manta also appeared, colored differently and only called “Manta.” Ever cranky, E. Nelson Bridwell refused to write in the HannaBarbera-created multicultural heroes from the TV realm, despite the importance of there actually being multicultural heroes where previously there had barely been any. In the letters column for Super

Two additions to the Super Friends line-up in the second season created for the show: (LEFT) Apache Chief and (RIGHT) Black Vulcan. TM & © DC Comics.

(LEFT) Title card to the second season of The All New Super Friends (1976). (ABOVE) Cover to the show bible written by comic-book veteran (and Stooge Moe Howard son-in-law) Norman Maurer. Note Bill Hanna’s signature and alternate costumes for the Wonder Twins. (RIGHT) Painted cel featuring Hawkman. TM & © DC Comics. RETROFAN

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The lead Super Friends are introduced along with their classic logos: (TOP LEFT) Wonder Woman, (TOP RIGHT) Batman in a look inspired by his Sixties television show, (BOTTOM LEFT) and Superman, who appears to be riding his famous word mark like a surfboard. (RIGHT) The not-well-known Rima teams up with Batman in this title card. TM & © DC Comics. Friends #20 (May 1979), he wrote, “Black Vulcan seems little more than a hyped-up version of our own Black Lightning, Apache Chief an Indian version of Colossal Boy, and Samurai? His power seems rather vague, though last season he was turning into anything he said in Japanese. Must make it hard to carry on a conversation in his native language—or to order in a Japanese restaurant.” The following issue, he also dissed the use of Rima the Jungle Girl. “Rima first appeared in W. H. Hudson’s novel Green Mansions in 1902. That puts her too far back to join the SF today!” The other major addition for the series was that Wendy, Marvin, and Wonder Dog were dumped for new sidekicks: alien teens from Exxor named Zan and Jayna, and their space monkey, Gleek. Zan and Jayna were the Wonder Twins, and when they pushed their fists together and yelled “Wonder Twin powers, activate!” Zan could form anything made of water or ice, and Jayna could become any animal from Earth or another planet. Although they have been mercilessly mocked in pop culture ever since, the fact that they had actual super-powers made them significantly better than the previous Junior Super Friends, and the phrase “Wonder Twin 12

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Colonel Wilcox sends an important message to the Hall of Justice via the TroubAlert (later called “Trouble Alert”). TM & © DC Comics.

andy mangels’ retro saturday morning

TM & © DC Comics.

FAST FACTS

(ABOVE) Super Friends sidekicks Marvin, Wendy, and Wonder Dog. (BELOW) Wonder Twins activate! Zan and Jayna bump fists and their amazing powers would, well, activate! (INSET) Gleek, the alien monkey-like sidekick to the young Wonder Twins. TM & © DC Comics.

HANNA-BARBERA’S SUPER FRIENDS f No. of seasons: One (new), Three (reruns) f No. of episodes: 16 f Original run: September 8, 1973–August 29, 1975 f Reruns: February 14 or April 10, 1976–September 4, 1976 f Reruns (30-minute version): December 4 or December 31, 1976–September 3, 1977 f Studio: Hanna-Barbera Productions f Network: ABC

PRIMARY VOICE PERFORMER CAST f Ted Knight: Narrator f Danny Dark: Superman f Olan Soule: Batman f Casey Kasem: Robin f Norman Alden: Aquaman f Shannon Farnon: Wonder Woman f Sherry Alberoni: Wendy f Frank Welker: Marvin and Wonder Dog f John Stephenson: Colonel Wilcox powers, activate!” has become an active part of many fans’ vocabularies. In fact, it has had a peculiar renaissance in the post-Covid pandemic world where fist-bumping Wonder Twins–style became the new form of shaking hands. Despite the… *ahem*… similarities between the names of Tarzan and Jane and their monkey, Cheeta, and the names for Zan, Jayna, and their space monkey, Gleek, the Edgar Rice Burroughs characters were not the visual inspiration for the Wonder Twins. That honor instead went to Donny and Marie Osmond, the Mormon singing duo who were hit stars on television variety shows. Norman Maurer created the characters, originally calling them Dick, Jane, and Mighty Monkey. By the time the show’s bible was created in October 1976, they were instead Wonderboy (Dick), Wondergirl (Jayne), and Wonder Monkey (Squeeks). Their solar-based super-powers had been stronger in the original plans as well: Zan could morph and stretch like Plastic Man, and Jayna could become literally anything as long as she was in the sun. Because these powers made the teens a bit too “super,” their abilities were scaled back significantly.

Wally Burr was the recording director on the first floor of Hanna-Barbera, and while he voiced the Atom, he brought in several newcomers to play other characters. One of them was veteran stage actor William “Bill” Woodson, who took over from Ted Knight as the ever-worried narrator. In an interview with Marc Tyler Nobleman, Woodson complained that “Wally loved to read every line—every line. It made some more angry than others. [laughs] We’d say, ‘If you really want someone else to play this part, why don’t you trust them a little?’” Burr himself admitted to Nobleman that “I did [Atom] because I wanted to get into SAG… The actors on show were making more money than I was as director. I had done professional performance as an announcer.” Each episode was recorded in a four-hour voice session. Despite being a Caucasian actor, Jack Angel was the voice of Samurai. Hanna-Barbera did ask one of their Japanese animators to attend recording sessions, though, to make sure that Angel spoke any Japanese words correctly when he voiced Samurai. Angel was also one of two actors who voiced Flash, whom he voiced in a higher energetic voice, while reserving his lower tones for RETROFAN

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andy mangels’ retro saturday morning

FAST FACTS

TM & © DC Comics.

Hawkman. Buster Jones was the first African-American to work on Super Friends, voicing Black Vulcan. Even though The All New Super Friends Hour was animated in-house at Hanna-Barbera’s California offices, the quality of the new show was still not the best, and Fred Silverman was angry. The series had originally been planned for 16 episodes, but upon seeing the quality on the first few episodes, he cancelled the 16th show and told Hanna-Barbera to use the money they would have been paid to fix the earlier shows.

TRUTH, JUSTICE, AND PEACE

The All New Super Friends Hour debuted on September 10, 1977, with an exciting new opening sequence: “Gathered together from the cosmic reaches of the universe, here in this great Hall of Justice, are the most powerful forces of good ever assembled: Superman! Batman and Robin! Wonder Woman! Aquaman! And The Wonder Twins: Zan and Jayna, with their space monkey, Gleek! Dedicated to truth, justice, and peace for all mankind!” The opener was the first time that Robin got billed, although a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it shot in the sequence showed a beaten Robin tied to a telephone pole, in one of three still-frame shots drawn by Alex Toth. It also featured a now-iconic shot of Aquaman surfing while standing atop two dolphins with reins in their mouths! Oddly, the one thing the series did not feature was its full title; the screen title only read Super Friends in rainbow-colored letters! The All New Super Friends Hour was a ratings hit for ABC, and the network quickly tapped Hanna-Barbera for another iteration of the series for the 1978 season. What the animation company would create for that third version would be the stuff of animation legend… and the subject of our story in the next issue of RetroFan! RetroFans looking to watch these first two incarnations of Super Friends have a few options. After decades in chopped-up form in syndication and cable TV packages, the uncut as-aired versions of Super Friends were released on DVD by Warner Home Video as Super Friends! – Season One, Volume One on January 5, 2010, and Volume Two on July 20, 2010. Oddly, Warner had already released The All New Super Friends Hour in two DVD sets: Season 1, Volume 1 on January 8, and Season 1, Volume 2 on January 27, 2009. No explanation was ever given as to how or why Warner released Super Friends in such a

Composite screen capture of the Super Friends as the camera passes each hero. TM & © DC Comics.

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HANNA-BARBERA’S THE ALL NEW SUPER FRIENDS HOUR f No. of seasons: One f No. of episodes: 15 (four stories per episode) f Original run: September 10, 1977–September 2, 1978 f Studio: Hanna-Barbera f Network: ABC

PRIMARY VOICE PERFORMER CAST f William Woodson: Narrator f Danny Dark: Superman f Olan Soule: Batman f Casey Kasem: Robin, Computer f Norman Alden: Aquaman f Shannon Farnon: Wonder Woman, Rima, Hawkgirl f Liberty Williams: Jayna f Mike Bell: Zan and Gleek f Buster Jones: Black Vulcan f Jack Angel: Flash, Samurai, Hawkman f Michael Rye: Apache Chief, Green Lantern f Regis Cordic: Apache Chief, Manta f Wally Burr: The Atom f Barney Phillips: Flash f Also featuring Ross Martin, Richard Paul, Mike Road, Ted Cassidy, Jane Jones, Joyce Mancini, Chuck McClennan, Alan Oppenheimer

andy mangels’ retro saturday morning

(LEFT) Alex Toth drawing. (RIGHT) A cel produced from the drawing showing our heroes flying off into the night sky (wait, Aquaman can’t fly!). TM & © DC Comics.

haphazard way, but fans were delighted to finally have the shows in their original unedited form. By the way, fans that watch the special features on Season 1, Volume 2 will see the mini-documentary “The Wonder Twins Phenomenon.” It features, among a few other talking heads, your very own Retro Saturday Morning author as one of the experts. Unfortunately, they cut a joke I made at the end wherein I accidentally drank Zan out of a glass of water… The four DVD sets are still available through retailers, but in June 2021, Warner released high-definition versions for HBO Max, digitally restored and looking better than they had when they were broadcast. Whether these hi-def versions will ever be released on Blu-ray is unknown, but for now, fans are happy to have choices. For those who want a real deep dive into the minutia of each Super Friends episode, I highly recommend the thick two volume The Ultimate Super Friends Companion by Will Rogers with Billie Rae Bates. The pair are available on Amazon. We’ll see you next issue as we dive into the nerd-happy season known as Challenge of the Super Friends! Unless otherwise credited, artwork and photos are courtesy the collection of Andy Mangels. Marc Tyler Nobleman’s website quoted with permission above is at www.noblemania.com.

(TOP) Two-disc set for the All-New Super Friends Hour. (ABOVE) Promotional Hanna-Barbera 1978 calendar page. TM & © DC Comics.

ANDY MANGELS is the USA Today bestselling author and co-author of 20 books, including the TwoMorrows book Lou Scheimer: Creating the Filmation Generation, as well as Star Trek and Star Wars tomes, Iron Man: Beneath the Armor, and a lot of comic books, including the bestselling Wonder Woman ’77 Meets the Bionic Woman series for Dynamite and DC Comics. He 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, as well as Bookazine projects (available at grocery store checkouts) on Ant-Man, Iron Man, yhe Little Mermaid, and others. Additionally, he has scripted, directed, and produced Special Features and documentaries for over 40 DVD releases. His moustache is infamous. www.AndyMangels.com and www.WonderWomanMuseum.com RETROFAN

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Too Much TV COLUMN ONE

1) sewer worker 2) music shop clerk 3) county clerk 4) carpenter 5) department store interior designer 6) mechanic 7) mail carrier 8) butcher 9) sportswriter 10) whatever job he can find 16

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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.) The occupation in Column One corresponds to a TV character in Column Two. Match ’em up, then see how you rate!

RetroFan Ratings

Any of these workers is better than that deadbeat Flintstone!

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) Rhoda Morganstern, The Mary Tyler Moore Show B) James Evans, Good Times C) Chico Rodriguez, Chico and the Man D) Sam Franklin, The Brady Bunch E) Ralph Monroe, Green Acres F) Howard Sprague, The Andy Griffith Show and Mayberry R.F.D. G) Mindy McConnell, Mork & Mindy H) Oscar Madison, The Odd Couple I) Ed Norton, The Honeymooners J) Cliff Clavin, Cheers The Andy Griffith Show, Mayberry R.F.D.; Cheers, Mork & Mindy, The Honeymooners, The Mary Tyler Moore Show © CBS Television Distribution. The Brady Bunch, The Odd Couple © Paramount Pictures Television. Chico and the Man © Komack Company Inc./Wolper Productions. The Flintstones © HannaBarbera Productions. Good Times © Mill Creek Entertainment. Green Acres © MGM Television. All Rights Reserved.

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

TwoMorrows 2023 www.twomorrows.com • store@twomorrows.com

THE BEST OF SIMON & KIRBY’S

MAINLINE COMICS

by JOE SIMON & JACK KIRBY Introduction by JOHN MORROW

In 1954, industry legends JOE SIMON and JACK KIRBY founded MAINLINE PUBLICATIONS to publish their own comics during that turbulent era in comics history. The four titles—BULLSEYE, FOXHOLE, POLICE TRAP, and IN LOVE—looked to build off their reputation as hit makers in the Western, War, Crime, and Romance genres, but the 1950s backlash against comics killed any chance at success, and Mainline closed its doors just two years later. For the first time, TwoMorrows Publishing is compiling the best of Simon & Kirby’s Mainline comics work, including all of the stories with S&K art, as well as key tales with contributions by MORT MESKIN and others. After the company’s dissolution, their partnership ended with Simon leaving comics for advertising, and Kirby taking unused Mainline concepts to both DC and Marvel. This collection bridges the gap between Simon & Kirby’s peak with their 1950s romance comics, and the lows that led to Kirby’s resurgence with CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN and the early MARVEL UNIVERSE. With loving art restoration by CHRIS FAMA, and an historical overview by JOHN MORROW to put it all into perspective, the BEST OF SIMON & KIRBY’S MAINLINE COMICS presents some of the final, and finest, work Joe and Jack ever produced. SHIPS SUMMER 2023! (256-page COLOR HARDCOVER) $49.95 • (Digital Edition) $15.99 • ISBN: 978-1-60549-118-9

All characters TM & © their respective owners.

DESTROYER DUCK GRAPHITE EDITION

by JACK KIRBY & STEVE GERBER Introduction by MARK EVANIER

In the 1980s, writer STEVE GERBER was embroiled in a lawsuit against MARVEL COMICS over ownership of his creation HOWARD THE DUCK. To raise funds for legal fees, Gerber asked JACK KIRBY to contribute to a benefit comic titled DESTROYER DUCK. Without hesitation, Kirby (who was in his own dispute with Marvel at the time) donated his services for the first issue, and the duo took aim at their former employer in an outrageous five-issue run. With biting satire and guns blazing, Duke “Destroyer” Duck battled the thinly veiled Godcorp (whose infamous credo was “Grab it all! Own it all! Drain it all!”), its evil leader Ned Packer and the (literally) spineless Booster Cogburn, Medea (a parody of Daredevil’s Elektra), and more! Now, all five Gerber/Kirby issues are collected—but relettered and reproduced from JACK’S UNBRIDLED, UNINKED PENCIL ART! Also included are select examples of ALFREDO ALCALA’s unique inking style over Kirby on the original issues, Gerber’s script pages, an historical Introduction by MARK EVANIER (co-editor of the original 1980s issues), and an Afterword by BUZZ DIXON (who continued the series after Gerber)! Discover all the hidden jabs you missed when DESTROYER DUCK was first published, and experience page after page of Kirby’s raw pencil art! SHIPS SPRING 2023! (128-page COLOR HARDCOVER) $31.95 • (Digital Edition) $13.99 ISBN: 978-1-60549-117-2

ALTER EGO COLLECTORS’ ITEM CLASSICS

By overwhelming demand, editor ROY THOMAS has compiled all the material on the founders of the Marvel Bullpen from three SOLD-OUT ALTER EGO ISSUES—plus OVER 30 NEW PAGES OF CONTENT! There’s the STEVE DITKO ISSUE (#160 with a rare ’60s Ditko interview by RICHARD HOWELL, biographical notes by NICK CAPUTO, and Ditko tributes)! The STAN LEE ISSUE (#161 with ROY THOMAS on his 50+ year relationship with Stan, art by KIRBY, DITKO, MANEELY, EVERETT, SEVERIN, ROMITA, plus tributes from pros and fans)! And the JACK KIRBY ISSUE (#170 with WILL MURRAY on Kirby’s contributions to Iron Man’s creation, Jack’s Captain Marvel/Mr. Scarlet Fawcett work, Kirby in 1960s fanzines, plus STAN LEE and ROY THOMAS on Jack)! Whether you missed these issues, or can’t live without the extensive NEW MATERIAL on DITKO, LEE, and KIRBY, it’s sure to be an AMAZING, ASTONISHING, FANTASTIC tribute to the main men who made Marvel! NOW SHIPPING! (256-page COLOR SOFTCOVER) $35.95 • (Digital Edition) $15.99 • ISBN: 978-1-60549-116-5

CLIFFHANGER!

CINEMATIC SUPERHEROES OF THE SERIALS: 1941–1952 by CHRISTOPHER IRVING

Hold on tight as historian CHRISTOPHER IRVING explores the origins of the first on-screen superheroes and the comic creators and film-makers who brought them to life. CLIFFHANGER! touches on the early days of the film serial, to its explosion as a juvenile medium of the 1930s and ‘40s. See how the creation of characters like SUPERMAN, CAPTAIN AMERICA, SPY SMASHER, and CAPTAIN MARVEL dovetailed with the early film adaptations. Along the way, you’ll meet the stuntmen, directors (SPENCER BENNETT, WILLIAM WITNEY, producer SAM KATZMAN), comic book creators (SIEGEL & SHUSTER, SIMON & KIRBY, BOB KANE, C.C. BECK, FRANK FRAZETTA, WILL EISNER), and actors (BUSTER CRABBE, GEORGE REEVES, LORNA GRAY, KANE RICHMOND, KIRK ALYN, DAVE O’BRIEN) who brought them to the silver screen—and how that resonates with today’s cinematic superhero universe. SHIPS SUMMER 2023! (160-page COLOR HARDCOVER) $39.95 • (Digital Edition) $15.99 • ISBN: 978-1-60549-119-6

SCOTT SAAVEDRA’S SECRET SANCTUM

John and Yoko’s Nation of Nutopia BY SCOTT SAAVEDRA

I am a citizen of Nutopia, and if you aren’t already one yourself you could be soon. But don’t expect to vacation there anytime ever, because Nutopia is a state of mind rather than an actual state. Simply, Nutopia is a conceptual country. And it was founded by Yoko Ono and John Lennon in 1973 on the first day of April (no foolin’) when the following statement was signed:

We announce the birth of a conceptual country, NUTOPIA. Citizenship of the country can be obtained by declaration of your awareness of NUTOPIA. NUTOPIA has no land, no boundaries, no passports, only people. NUTOPIA has no laws other than cosmic. All people of NUTOPIA are ambassadors of the country. As two ambassadors of NUTOPIA, we ask for diplomatic immunity and recognition in the United Nations of our country and its people. [Signed by] Yoko Ono Lennon John Ono Lennon

The very next day, Lennon and Ono held a press conference at the Association of the Bar of the City of New York to announce the founding of Nutopia. John Lennon’s voice was strong and clear as he read the letter but Yoko Ono, who read along, was barely audible despite sitting in front of a microphone. Lennon wore a “Not Insane” button representing the “National Surrealist People’s Party” (never heard of it). Their demeanor appeared rather sober, though deadpan might be a better description. The couple also (ABOVE) John Lennon (LEFT) and introduced the flag Yoko Ono (RIGHT) at the 1973 press of Nutopia, which confrence announcing the creation appeared to be of Nutopia. Bernard Gotfryd photograph simple white handcollection/ Library of Congress Prints and Photographs kerchiefs. Asked by Division. (INSET) The seal of Nutopia a reporter what the (get it?) as drawn by John Lennon. RETROFAN

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scott saavedra’s secret sanctum

white flag meant, they each waved one around above their heads: “surrender and submission.” Lennon then used the tissue in a more traditional fashion and blew his nose. Ono would later point out that the full meaning of the flag was to surrender and submit to “peace and love.” Nutopia appeared to be utterly nonsensical. After all, what’s Cosmic Law? In space, no one can hear you scream? Thou shalt not covet your neighbor’s heavenly body? (I could do this all day.) What on Earth did it all mean? Well, they were artists and artists do unexpected things. At least that’s how Ono explained the abrupt creation of Nutopia to their lawyer Leon Wildes after the press conference. Wildes was unfazed, even though he had serious work to do for the couple. Lennon and Ono were in the midst of a difficult personal time. Ono’s daughter had been abducted by her ex-husband, and ex-Beatle Lennon was on the verge of being deported from the U.S. That escalated quickly, didn’t it?

ALL WE ARE SAYING

John Lennon and Yoko Ono were married in 1969, following divorces from their previous spouses, in Gibraltar. The ten-minute cere-

(ABOVE) Souvenir stamp sheet from Gibraltar commemorating the 30th anniversary of the wedding of Lennon and Ono. The actual stamp leaves out Ono (there’s a metaphor in there somewhere). (RIGHT) Ono and Lennon at their first Bed-in at the Amsterdam Hilton in 1969 following their wedding. © National Archives, Netherlands. Photographer Eric Koch/ Anefo. Wikimedia. (INSET) The

second Bed-in in Montreal had some well-known guests including radio disk jockey Murray the K. Some 200 hippies also showed up. Courtesy of Heritage.

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mony was held at the local registry office, where they managed to avoid the explosion of press and paparazzi they could expect at a more accessible venue in the U.K. But they knew there would be strong interest once their marriage was announced. Wanting to take advantage of the press attention, they spent their honeymoon at the Amsterdam Hilton, Netherlands, where they held a weeklong “Bed-in for Peace.” As expected, the press showed up enthusiastically. Not expected were the journalists who thought the couple might have marital relations (wink) in front of the press while they covered the Bed-in. This did not happen, as Lennon would say he and Ono were both “angels” the entire time. He wore pajamas and Ono wore a nightgown. It was all very Ozzie and Harriet, with a counterculture spin. In keeping, more or less, with the theme that love leads to peace Ono did say at the Bed-in that she could have reformed noted historical monster Adolf Hitler (oh, no) in only ten days (stop) as his girlfriend (please stop) with some non-marital relations (ick). This comment didn’t land well in the expected places (nearly everywhere), but like Lennon’s previous comment about The Beatles being “bigger than Jesus,” it did blow over. A follow-up Bed-in was intended for the U.S., but Lennon’s request was turned down. So the couple headed to Montreal (after a night too hot for Bed-ins in the Bahamas). For this Bed-in they were joined by famous guests including Tommy Smothers, Dick Gregory, Petula Clark, Timothy Leary, and a crabby, hippie-hating Al Capp (who at least managed to keep his “L’il Abner” in his pants). You didn’t have to be famous to come to the Bed-in. Everyone was invited to come to the hotel, although access to the room was limited. And people came. Why, the Breckville Recorder & Times of Ontario reported that roughly “200 hippies” showed up!

scott saavedra’s secret sanctum

(LEFT) Much to the alarm of the government at the time, Lennon and Ono were known associates of anti-war protesters like National Lampoon cover model Abbie Hoffman. © National Lampoon, Inc. (RIGHT) Prez, a 1973 DC comic book about the Establishment’s nightmare scenario of a peace-loving teenage president of the United States, attempted to reflect the zeitgeist as only a group of middle-age men can. Prez lasted four issues. TM & © DC Comics. When reporters asked what the Bed-in was all about, Lennon responded, “Just give peace a chance.” He kept repeating this phrase, and a new song was born. Even though Paul McCartney shares credit with Lennon, it was Yoko Ono who helped write it. A recording engineer and equipment was found which allowed the song be recorded in the hotel, hubbub from attending guests and press included. “Give Peace a Chance” became an anthem for anti-war protesters, as did Lennon’s post-Beatles “Imagine,” as resistance to the Vietnam War was on the rise.

YOU KNOW IT AIN’T EASY

Life in the U.K. during Beatlemania was chaotic and invasive for Lennon and Ono. Following the break-up of the band, it was all that and even threatening. Yoko Ono, who was born in Japan, was widely believed to be the cause of the band’s end, and some fans made their displeasure known insisting that she “go back to her own country.” They moved to New York in late summer 1971. Ono already had a green card allowing her to live and work in the U.S. permanently. Lennon had a visitor’s visa. A judge had granted Ono custody of her daughter Kyoko, so long as she and Lennon raised her in the U.S. The judge, and this is kind of interesting in light of later immigration actions, felt that Lennon and Ono would provide a more stable home than the

apparently unemployed ex-husband, Anthony Cox. Following the judge’s order, Cox abducted his daughter eventually taking her to live in a cult with a new wife under an assumed name. Efforts to find—and in one instance even counter-abduct—Kyoko failed, despite the couple’s resources. Believing Kyoko to still be in the U.S., they wanted to remain in the country as long as possible. Meanwhile, Lennon and Ono were drawn to the more radical individuals of the American anti-war cause, people like Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin and the pro-marijuana White Panther John Sinclair. This did not go unnoticed by elements of the U.S. government. So when Lennon asked for an extension to his visa he was denied. Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina had sent a double-super-secret memo to an aide of President Richard Nixon on the very day of my 12th birthday, February 4, 1972. The memo, also sent to U.S. Attorney General John Mitchell, our nation’s top law enforcement official, strongly recommended that John Lennon be deported as an undesirable alien (a good enough person to be a parent, just not in the U.S.). Senator Thurmond described this action as a “strategic counter-measure” due to concerns that the anti-war musical performer had overt influence on young voters (the voting age had recently been lowered to age 18). Meanwhile, the matter had been referred to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Despite the FBI’s open and obvious RETROFAN

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surveillance of Lennon and Ono, there was no evidence of any criminal activity. So the case was shuffled over to the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). The nominal out-loud reason for denying Lennon residence would be a 1968 marijuana conviction in the U.K. Some feel the original charge was highly suspect as the arresting officer Detective Sergeant Norman “Nobby” Pilcher’s drug squad used illegal methods and targeted hippies and the famous. Nobby’s law enforcement career ended in 1972 following a “conspiracy to pervert the cause of justice” charge. The president need not have worried about Lennon’s impact on public opinion; he won re-election in a landslide victory over Senator George McGovern in November. Lennon, unhappy that Nixon won, fell into a depression. He then separated from Ono for about 18 months. Lennon referred to it as his “Lost Weekend” (from the 1945 movie of the same name) full of introspection, substance abuse, and an affair with his and Ono’s assistant May Pang. It was also a creative time for the former Beatle. Lennon finished three albums including Mind Games. While President Nixon and Attorney General Mitchell would find their political careers soon ended (despite Senator Thurmond’s strong support) due to the events of the Watergate scandal [see our story on Watergate in RetroFan #19] Lennon’s immigration battle would last five years.

THE WAY THINGS ARE GOING

Bob Dylan wrote a letter of support to the INS on Lennon and Ono’s behalf, as did other creatives including writer John Updike, singer-songwriter Joan Baez, and conductor Leonard Bernstein. Dylan’s letter praised the couple by saying that they “inspire and transcend and stimulate” and “put an end to this dull taste of petty commercialism… passed off as Artist Art by the overpowering mass media.” The poetic words did not seem to change the minds that needed changing. An order to leave the U.S. was given to Lennon on March 23, 1973. He was instructed to leave within 60 days. Ono, on the other hand, was granted permanent residence. The absurdity of the situation, serious as it was, gave birth to Nutopia. Lennon credited Ono with the idea. Everything about Nutopia was ethereal. No land. No flag. No laws except, you know, cosmic ones. The Nutopia National Anthem is three seconds of silence. You can “hear” the hush on the Mind Games album, CD, and via Apple Music (where it’s four seconds long for some reason). Lennon drew a seal for Nutopia (the seal is a drawing of the animal of the same name) that is about the only thing physical about the place. If there was any method to the madness it was this: as ambassadors of Nutopia, they were asking for asylum from the actions of the INS as a way of pointing out the unfair treatment they were receiving from the government. Their immigration lawyer Leon Wildes (he vaguely knew about The Beatles but had no idea about the fame of his clients at first) was surprised after requesting a six-month extension to allow the couple to stay in the country while they worked to retrieve Ono’s daughter. Wildes found the government’s actions unusual and even punitive. The lawyer argued that similar such immigration cases had in the past been handled in a low-key manner with deportation action deferred. 22

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I SAY NUTOPIA, YOU SAY UTOPIA The term “nutopia” appears to have been coined by John and Yoko. The word is made up of “nu,” the 13th letter of the Greek alphabet, and “topia,” meaning place. More likely, “nu” is a creative replacement for “new” that allows clever co-existence with “utopia.” Utopia is a word created by Sir Thomas More, a former Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain. His 1516 book Utopia proposed that a perfect world could not exist. He created the term by adding the Greek word ou (meaning no or not) to topia. There have been many attempts at utopias over the years, and at least in modern times none have truly taken root. The latest attempt is called Telosa and is being championed by former Walmart president Marc Lore. It is in its early stages. I wish it well. I have been intrigued by utopian cities since I first heard about Walt Disney’s original ideas for EPCOT (Experiment Prototype City of Tomorrow) around 1969. Like other such projects, it did not roll out as hoped for. I’m more in line with Sir Thomas these days, but I still have a soft spot for the attempts. Nutopia, as a word not related to the Lennon and Ono concept, is alive and well. You can find it attached to a media production company, a nutrition consultant business, other musician’s music, and, of course, flooring. (ABOVE) New Harmony, Indiana, a proposed view of a utopia with a distinct prison vibe. It did not succeed. Engraving by F. Bates (1838). Wikimedia. The administration of President Gerald Ford showed little interest in continuing the case. The deportation order was reversed by a New York State Supreme Court judge on October 7, 1975. Lennon could now stay legally in New York with Ono. Two days later, Sean Ono Lennon, their only child together, was born, sharing a birthday with his father. In 1976, the year of the American Bicentennial, John Winston Ono Lennon got his Green Card. President Jimmy Carter invited the couple to his Inaugural Ball the following year. It was not lost on either Lennon or Ono (or Wildes) that they received justice because they had the resources to fight for it when others often didn’t. Did

scott saavedra’s secret sanctum

Lennon have any hard feeling about those who gave him grief wondered a reporter. No. Said Lennon: “Time wounds all heels.”

THE LOVE YOU MAKE

John Lennon was murdered in front of Yoko Ono outside their home at the Dakota apartments in New York on December 8, 1980. Fans gathered in front of the Dakota for a weeklong vigil of mourning. International and other U.S. vigils were held as well. A purely unexpected but welcome result of Lennon’s death was a note of condolence to Ono from her long-missing daughter Kyoko. She and her father had managed to elude Ono’s and Lennon’s efforts to track them down for years. It would be another 14 years before Ono and Kyoko Chan Cox were finally reunited. A Lennon memorial was created and overseen by Ono in a section of New York’s Central Park facing the Dakota. Dubbed “Strawberry Fields” after Lennon’s favorite of his Beatles’ work, it features a large, round mosaic with the word “imagine” in the center. It is frequently decorated with flowers, coins, and other

(ABOVE LEFT) John Lennon’s hard-won Green Card. (ABOVE RIGHT) The Dakota Apartments, where Lennon and Ono lived together before he was assassinated. It is one of New York’s earliest residence skyscrapers. It remains Yoko Ono’s residence to this day. David Shankbone/ Wikimedia. (LEFT) John Lennon and Yoko Ono, photographed by Jack Mitchell for the New York Times, November 2, 1980. Permission for use given by copyright holder. Wikimedia. items. Occasionally it serves as a memorial meeting site for other musicians who’ve since passed such as fellow Beatle George Harrison and for the victims of 9/11.

MISUNDERSTANDING ALL YOU SEE

As a young fan of The Beatles, I wasn’t particularly concerned with behind-the-scenes drama. I was just interested in the music. However, I was acutely aware that The Beatles broke up because of Yoko Ono. Everybody knew that. At least that was the story until recently.

REEL TO REEL When my siblings and I were little, my Uncle Daniel used to send us little surprise packages. These boxes could be full of almost anything (like ear-piercing, hand-held alarms) and were sent unconnected to any holiday or birthday. One gift box had a seven-inch tape reel with a recording from a local radio station’s “Beatles Weekend” jammed full of the Fab Four’s music. It was basically my introduction to the breadth and width of the band’s work. I’ve been a fan ever since. I listened to the tapes so often that I got accustomed to the specific order of the music and for years felt a bit of disappointment if the expected song didn’t follow. The tape ended abruptly with most of a Led Zeppelin tune, “The Immigrant Song.” (LEFT) Two hours of Beatles music recorded from a Southern California radio station circa 1971. RETROFAN

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Peter Jackson’s 2021 three-part, eight-hour documentary, The Beatles: Get Back, featured footage shot during the making of the Let It Be album and related live performance. The documentary clearly showed that the Fab Four were falling away from each other on their own and didn’t need help from anyone else. Some viewers of Get Back suggested that “we owe Yoko Ono an apology.” As artistic expressions go, the country of Nutopia was more accessible and a lot less strange than, well, some of Lennon’s and Ono’s experimental work. I just re-listened to “Revolution 9,” written by Lennon, Ono, and George Harrison, from 1968’s The Beatles (a.k.a. The White Album). Eh. Still don’t care for it. But then, I enjoy “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer,” a tune even The Beatles didn’t like. As satire, Nutopia seemed more effective as a public-relations effort though I don’t doubt the sincerity of the message of peace. Looking in the rearview, it’s clear to see that many journalists of the day did not “get” Lennon and Ono, Nutopia, the Bed-ins, or other peace protests that they were involved with. When asked if the Amsterdam Bed-in had been successful as in, did the couple help bring peace to the world, Lennon was a bit exasperated.

He pointed out that it wasn’t his and Yoko’s “policy” to be taken seriously. “We are humorous.”

ALL THE PEOPLE

Leon Wildes’ arguments in the Lennon case have influenced immigration matters and government action since. Of the famous couple that put him in the limelight, Leon Wildes said that Lennon was “some kind of visionary” and of Ono that “she always seemed to ask the right questions.” Wildes would teach a class on the case at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University for 30 years. It was that big a deal. Wildes wrote a book, John Lennon vs. the USA: The Inside Story of the Most Bitterly Contested and Influential Deportation Case in United States History (Ankerwyke Publishing, 2016). A documentary similarly titled The U.S. vs. John Lennon was released in 2006. On April 1, 2022, the 39th anniversary of the creation of Nutopia, Ono shared a message at www.imaginepeace.com about how John Lennon had placed a plaque on the kitchen entrance to their home at the Dakota. It read: “Nutopian Embassy.” Friends prefer to use that door when they visit, Ono admitted. “We all belong to Nutopia… living life in peace.” Many thanks to Lennon fan and fellow popular-culture writer Richard Kolkman for his input on the Nutopian anthem. 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/

(ABOVE LEFT) Ono and Lennon’s immigration attorney Leon Wilkes wrote about their legal journey together in John Lennon vs. The U.S.A. (ABOVE RIGHT) There was also a similarly titled documentary, The U.S. vs. John Lennon. Courtesy of Heritage. (RIGHT) The Imagine mosaic at the John Lennon memorial Strawberry Fields in New York’s Central Park, across from the Dakota. Damzow/Wikimedia.

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WILL MURRAY’S 20TH CENTURY PANOPTICON

C ool Br

a c i n n a it

g e n r e s v A e h T s ’ n o i s i Telev Steed and Peel, The Avengers © Studiocanal S.A.

BY WILL MURRAY The British invasion of the Sixties is remembered as a time when America was inundated by English music, beginning with The Beatles in 1963. Those shaggy-haired imports re-energized rock ’n’ roll, paving the way for a cultural revolution that reverberates to this day. But that creative and cultural invasion was not limited to popular music. British television programs started popping up on the three American networks. The James Bond craze was responsible. The earliest British shows were espionage-oriented: Danger Man, a.k.a. Secret Agent. Similar fare such as The Saint, The Champions, and others followed. [Editor’s note: See RetroFan #6 for James Bond and #14 for The Saint… and come back in four months for RetroFan #28’s spotlight on the British Invasion and Beatlemania.] But one rose above all others: The Avengers. In the summer of 1967, ABC offered the series in the U.S.

JOHN STEED

The Avengers was a far different viewing experience for American audiences than it was for British television viewers. In America, the show exploded fully developed. But its roots were much more

complex than Patrick Macnee playing rakish government agent John Steed with Diana Rigg as his saucy sidekick, Emma Peel. The Avengers started in 1961 as a retooling of an Ian Hendry vehicle called Police Surgeon. The actor was recast as another medical man, this time named David H. Keel. Patrick Macnee was introduced as a shadowy intelligence agent with whom Keel crosses paths when his fiancée is murdered in the inaugural episode, “Hot Snow.” “The role will be a kind of extended version of the police surgeon,” explained Hendry, “because Keel will be more directly involved with fighting crime. And as he tangles with villains himself, he’ll have more of the action.” John Steed was originally conceived as a George Sanders type. Producer Sidney Newman

For he’s a brolly good fellow… Patrick Macnee as The Avengers’ John Steed in an autographed publicity photo. Also shown is Steed’s actual bowler from the series, which sold for $12,000 in an auction on December 21, 2013. Both, courtesy of Heritage.

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wanted Macnee to grow a mustache, but the actor refused. Macnee wasn’t even sure he wanted the part. He had just produced a TV documentary series based on Sir Winston Churchill’s memoirs, and envisioned his future to be behind the cameras. But the money proved irresistible. After the pair finally vanquished drug lord Ronnie Vance in the second episode, “Brought to Book,” they agree to team up to battle injustice on an ongoing basis. Dr. Keel and John Steed were self-appointed Avengers. They operated undercover, without police cooperation, and even though Steed was affiliated with the British government, he appeared to be largely operating on his own. Keel maintained his private practice and the only other recurring character was his nurse-receptionist, Carol Wilson, played by Ingrid Hafner. The series focused on Keel, with Macnee as a frequent but not strictly weekly accomplice. No question as to which was the star and whom the costar. The series was videotaped, so it was studio-bound and rather talky. Only three episodes and part of the premiere survive today. To modern American eyes, they are slow and stagy teleplays. But British audiences in the early Sixties loved the quirky show. Once The Avengers found its footing, it took off. Macnee credited Hendry with its early success. “Ian Hendry was such a volatile character,” he asserted, “and he put a great deal more into the series than was really there. We had this great feeling of alertness and it came in from Ian’s mind.” “Keel is a most attractive character,” explained Hendry. “He combines toughness with compassion, and serves as the conscience of the team.” The early John Steed was not quite the stylish character he later became. He was manipulative, vaguely brutish, and not the Edwardian-era figure so fondly remembered now. “The character of John Steed was created purely as a name, as an opposite type to the rather steady doctor,” Macnee explained. “At first you never quite knew if he was good and evil or good. He was a shadowy sort of character who emerged through windows with a pistol and impeccable brolly [umbrella].” In the early episodes, Steed claimed to be working for the British Secret Service, but was vague about his official affiliations. As the series progressed, his background became even more opaque as Macnee developed his persona, all but eclipsing Dr. Keel’s dour personality. The transformation was Macnee’s invention. Sidney Newman took him aside and said that he needed to up his game. “Patrick, I’m afraid you’re just not working out. You don’t seem to be anything. Go away and think of something.” Macnee gave that warning serious thought and adopted the Edwardian clothes, bowler hat, and umbrella, which became the character’s trademarks. The latter two he used as weapons, the bowler being lined with steel while the brolly doubled as a swordstick. Steed usually eschewed firearms. “I’m not going to carry a gun,” Macnee reportedly said, “I’m going to carry my brain.” John Steed was more than his clothes and accessories. “I went back to the obvious and made him a combination of Leslie Howard’s Sir Percy Blakeney in The Scarlet Pimpernel, my father, my commanding officer in the Navy who was a dandy and a very brave man, and a character Sir Ralph Richardson played in a film called Q Planes.” 26

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The other Avengers: (TOP) Macnee as Steed and Ian Hendry as Dr. David Keel. (CENTER) John Rollason as Dr. Martin King, with Macnee. (BOTTOM) Julie Stevens as Venus Smith is entranced by Steed’s delight. © Studiocanal S.A.

Will Murray’s 20th Century Panopticon

Together, the pair battled an array of very British criminals and foreign spies. The Avengers might never have risen above standard TV fare, but Ian Hendry had a habit of tearing up inferior scripts and demanding the scripters do better. How the first incarnation of The Avengers would have developed is unclear. It was a top-rated show and certain to continue. But an Actor’s Equity strike got in the way of Season Two. While this was being sorted out, Ian Hendry heard the call of Hollywood and quit. Macnee attempted to talk the departing star out of leaving, but Hendry had a different idea. John Steed should take over. “The crown and scepter are yours, Patrick,” Hendry told him, “though I suppose they have been for some time in the shape of the bowler and brolly.” Macnee was skeptical. “I am not really a character,” he once quipped. “I am a type—a sort of throwback to the Twenties with my bowler hat, umbrella, and old-fashioned clothes.” For the final Season One episode, “Dragonsfield,” Steed soloed. That might have been the end of The Avengers, but its producers, perhaps prompted by Hendry, decided to restructure the show around John Steed, changing and broadening its appeal. Since the former sidekick needed a sidekick of his own, they began experimenting with various unofficial partners.

CATHY GALE

Dr. Keel was written out with the excuse that he had gone abroad to study. He was temporarily replaced by Dr. Martin King, played by John Rollason, simply to salvage a trio of scripts written for Ian Hendry. For the Second Season, the format would have introduced a nightclub singer named Venus Smith, who would alternate with Keel as Steed’s partner. Those plans blew up when Hendry left. The producers then decided The Avengers needed a stronger foil than a blonde chanteuse. This led to bringing in a completely new character as Steed’s accomplice. Producer Leonard White came up with Dr. Catherine

You’ll flip for Honor Blackman! The Avengers star was featured in this 1967 judo magazine, and shared her self-defense strategies in books.

Publicity photo of Patrick Macnee as Steed and Honor Blackman as Dr. Cathy Gale. © Studiocanal S.A. Gale, an anthropologist and photographer based on Margaret Mead, with a dash of LIFE photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White. Gale had been widowed during the Mau-Mau uprising in Africa, and fought with Fidel Castro until he deported her from Cuba. Many auditioned, but it came down to Nyree Dawn Porter and Honor Blackman. Sidney Newman selected Porter, then went off on holiday. Upon his return, he was shocked to discover ash-blonde Blackman in the role, Porter having declined the part. In case her character didn’t gel, Blackman was contracted for only six episodes, while the producers searched for someone to play Venus Smith. Cathy was introduced in “Warlock,” when Steed consulted her, establishing their partnership. But the episode was delayed, and her introductory scenes were removed before transmission. Blackman struggled with finding her character. “We had an enormous problem with the rewrites at the beginning,” she recalled. “My part had been written for a man, and when they started writing it for me, my problem was that they continued to write it as they’d always written women’s parts until then: she waited for the man to make the decision; she had no mind of her own and wasn’t capable of any logical thought process. I was going mad at the time.” Blackman’s husband suggested she play Dr. Gale as a man. “So I did,” Blackman declared, “then gradually we changed the scripts as we went along and the writers soon got used to writing for me, once they’d seen on the screen just what sort of character I was producing.” Originally, Cathy was to carry a gun in a garter holster, but this proved impractical. So she became a judo expert, which necessiRETROFAN

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tated dressing her in black leather and matching boots. The kinky into it because it would have been rather bizarre without it over look caught on, influencing British fashion. such a long period.” “It inspired sexual connotations,” Macnee admitted. “It was The stories evolved into increasingly offbeat situations, which no secret that leather, rubber, or any second skin look is a form of only added to its appeal. Cold War espionage was their specialty, sexual deviation. But until then such deviations were kept under but they also tackled unusual crimes. cover. Honor’s gear brought the kinky world out into the open.” During the first Honor Blackman season, John Steed reported The role of Venus Smith finally went to Julie Stevens. Due to to a superior codenamed One-Ten, played by Douglas Muir. a pregnancy, she appeared in only six With the second, One-Ten vanished. In episodes. The Avengers had struck gold with this sequence, Steed had a new superior, Cathy Gale. Macnee was thrilled with his Ronald Radd as Quilpie, who operated new partner. The feeling was mutual. under cover of a common butcher shop. He “Patrick was wonderful to work headed PANSAC, the Permanent Agency with,” remembered Blackman. “He was for National Security and Counter-intelprofessional, very funny, and an absolute ligence. This was part of the increasingly dear. He used to worry about my getting tongue-in-cheek direction The Avengers was hurt. If you notice, when he fought, he used taking. to do these strange duels with his umbrella At the end of 1963, a Hollywood Avengers and all sorts of other odd stuff. He would movie teaming the pair with two U.S. say to me, ‘Oh, darling, why don’t you do agents started moving forward. as I do? You’re going to get hurt one day.’ “We couldn’t do anything before March, He worried an awful lot about me, but the whether we wanted to or not,” observed show wouldn’t have been quite the same Blackman. “Fives days a week rehearsing without the judo.” for the next episode is a full-time job. After Aside from bruises, Blackman suffered that, well, I wouldn’t mind making a film.” no significant injuries. But that wasn’t But it was not to be. Honor Blackman always true for the victims of her judo. would make a film all right, but it wouldn’t “I knocked out, or rather booted out, a be called The Avengers. For she was about famous wrestler named Jackie Pallo,” the to become the next Bond girl in Goldfinger. actor recalled. “I should have put my boot in Goodbye Avengers. his face and then kicked. Instead, I ended up Macnee took the news hard. “As I had kicking out, splitting his nose and causing been when Ian Hendry left the show,” his eyes to go quite cross. He did manage to he later confessed, “I was convinced that finish the fight and, after I pushed him into without Honor, The Avengers would be an open grave, he was out for the count for finished. I pleaded with Honor to stay, but seven and-a-half minutes. As for me, I was to no avail. Losing my temper, I snapped sobbing around the grave, saying, ‘I’ll never that she must be insane to walk out of the fight again,’ but, of course, I did.” most popular television series in Great Blackman became a new kind of sex Britain.” symbol, independent and assertive. But Blackman was adamant. She told “She is fantasy and not touchable,” the press, “I’m sorry about having to quit explained Blackman. “In one episode I did the Kathy Gale role. But I felt it was better have a lover, but the only thing was it wasn’t to do this than wait until she gets out of Cathy Gale. I had a fortnight of necking with fashion. My part in the series was a little an attractive gentleman and the producer different from that of John Steed, the was horrified and said: ‘She mustn’t be eternal Englishman who can go on forever. touched.’ I had the biggest row I’ve had Cathy Gale was a child of her times and since joining A.B.C. [the Associated British I feel if I go on too long I will outstay my Company] but he won because he is the welcome.” producer. I’m sure now he was right.” As Goldfinger’s Pussy Galore, Blackman Dr. Gale’s relationship with John Steed tried her judo on James Bond, but became suggested more than a professional parthis latest conquest instead. “That certainly nership. Viewers were given only suggestive will be a switch,” she acknowledged. “In hints. some 50-odd Avengers shows I only got The Avengers’ loss was Goldfinger’s “Let’s face it,” Blackman admitted, “you kissed once, and then the script called for gain as Blackman reached wider could hardly have a series with a man and me to dump the man on his ear for getting acclaim as Bond girl Pussy Galore. a woman who were both perfectly normal, fresh.” Goldfinger door panel courtesy of Heritage. James Bond and Goldfinger © Danjaq, LLC. without having that sort of relationship. This wasn’t exactly correct. In The Some sexual relationship had to be brought Avengers’ “Death on the Rocks” Cathy kissed 28

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Steed, something Fleet Street [the British newspaper business] made a big deal about. But romance hadn’t blossomed. As part of an undercover job, Steed and Cathy were pretending to be husband and wife. Cathy Gale departed The Avengers on her own terms, deciding to abandon England for sunnier climes. Blackman noted, “In the last episode, Steed says something to Mrs. Gale like, ‘You’re going to be pussyfooting around on some beach.’ He worked that into the dialogue because everybody in Great Britain knew where I was going, so it was sort of an in-joke.”

EMMA PEEL

The show’s future looked uncertain. At the time, A.B.C. Television only said, “We are on the look-out for new personalities and faces.” New producers Albert Fennell and Brian Clemens came up with a new character they initially called Samantha Peel, “Mantha” for short. Daughter of a wealthy ship owner, she was also the widow of test pilot Peter Peel, an expert swordswoman, and proficient in karate. No one thought the name worked. Publicist Marie Donaldson renamed her Emma Peel, which stood for “man appeal.” The search for the perfect Mrs. Peel took months. Patrick Macnee had married Catherine Woodville, the actress who had been murdered in the Avengers pilot, and she wanted the part. She didn’t get it. Instead it went to Elizabeth Shepherd. She was fitted with a wardrobe that included a red-leather fighting suit with a hood. “Although she was not too different in character from Mrs. Gale, and had a strong infusion of leather in her wardrobe,” recalled Macnee. “Mrs. Peel was envisioned as being a shade softer in character, and would enjoy more warmly witty friendship with John Steed.” The season opener, “The Town of No Return,” was filmed entirely with Shepherd. After seeing the rough cut, the producers were dissatisfied. In the middle of filming the next episode, Shepherd was let go. [Editor’s note: The full story is revealed in RetroFan’s interview with Elizabeth Shepherd, following this article.] “She was a wonderful actress, one of the most beautiful women I ever saw—but totally miscast,” commented Macnee. “She was far too serene and lovely for anything like The Avengers, in which you had to be a bit quirky and cocky, the way Diana Rigg was.”

Once again, Macnee feared that The Avengers might not survive. Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) actress Diana Rigg had auditioned for the part but failed to make the cut. Desperate for a replacement, executives reached out to the auburn-haired 28-year-old. “Her animal quality stuck in our minds,” recalled producer Julian Wintle. Never having seen an Avengers episode, Rigg auditioned purely as a lark. “I didn’t know what I was in for except I knew the lady fought.” Fortunately, she and Macnee clicked. Their chemistry was exquiThe mod, site, and they shared a marvelous mischievous sense of Diana Rigg was humor that crept into wisely tapped their on-screen banter. as the new “If I were asked why Avenger, Emma I got into The Avengers,” Peel. Courtesy of Rigg explained, “I’d say Heritage. for the fame. It was a calculated move. I sat and thought how much I had achieved by being with the

RSC, which I love and in which I gradually progressed. But when I left I discovered that although people treated me with a great deal of respect, being a classical actress they didn’t exactly fall over themselves to give me jobs, because I wasn’t commercial.” “Town of No Return” was re-shot with the new Emma Peel. But in developing her character, Rigg faced the same challenge as her predecessor. “I entered The Avengers at the half-way stage,” she recalled. “They were still writing the part for Honor and it took me six months to discover a style of my own and another six months to get them to write it my way.” Rigg was obliged to continue the tradition of wearing black leather, but instead of judo, she employed karate. RETROFAN

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Nobody does it better (with apologies to Carly Simon): The Avengers had stellar casts in each of its permutations, but the team of Patrick Macnee as Steed and Diana Rigg as Mrs. Peel, seen in this DVD release promotional art, is the best remembered. © Studiocanal S.A.

“I wanted to be Lady Peel,” she quipped, “not really for grandiose reasons, but simply because it seemed to get some rather good comments over on the English aristocracy. Of course they wouldn’t do it.” Once more, Macnee was delighted. “If I had to sum up my partnership with Diana, I’d say it was not too similar to being bewitched by an impish kid sister.” Producers promised a more comedic and outrageous take on the series, and they delivered. This was the season in which the Cybernauts were introduced and included episodes such as “Man-eater of Surrey Green” and the infamous “A Touch of Brimstone,” in which Emma Peel was decked out like a dominatrix. British viewers were initially skeptical, but soon took to the newest Avengers girl. Diana Rigg became the latest international sex symbol. “I never think of myself as sexy,” Rigg countered. “I identify with the new woman in our society who is evolving. Emma is totally equal to John Steed. The fighting is the most obvious quality. I always win my fights, and personally, I enjoy it—the idea of taking on six men when you know you’re going to win.” Her personal relationship with Steed danced on the edge of an ambiguity. “We’re not married and we don’t actually live together because audiences would be bored watching such an obvious relationship, don’t you think?” Rigg observed. “If a scene takes place in the morning, Patrick may be having coffee with me at my place or vice versa. So everything is understood without too much comment.” “We also play scenes which illustrate that we have keys to each other’s flats,” added Macnee. “Very cozy.” Elsewhere, Rigg contradicted that impression, noting, “My physical relations with him are, to put it mildly, ambiguous. They’re certainly not active on the screen but I don’t think they did have an affair. I think it was one of those relationships where the promise that they might be in the future sustained it.” Macnee had a different take. “I should say they slept together at least three or four times a week. The adrenaline of excitement

Four unrestored color transparencies from 1966 publicity photos of Diana Rigg as Mrs. Emma Peel. Courtesy of Heritage. The Avengers © Studiocanal S.A.

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always leads to sex. What would be very worrying is if we hadn’t gone to bed. Can you imagine Emma Peel in a leather suit and Steed not going to bed with her? I just didn’t make a song and dance about it.” Producer Julian Wintle insisted, “They are not sleeping together.” Regarding replacing Honor Blackman, once Rigg had settled into her new role, she quipped, “She’s a marvelous-looking lady but I’ve succeeded in—as they say in Shakespeare—laying the ghost.” If anything, The Avengers grew even more popular in the U.K. and Europe. The Bond craze will still peaking and American networks took an interest in bringing the series to the U.S. Sounding like her predecessor, Diana Rigg greeted the news with a softball warning shot. “I’ve only signed for one year. But I suppose with this American deal I’ll have to stay longer. I hadn’t counted on being tied down to one role for such a length of time.” When she learned that she was receiving less money than the cameraman, Rigg threatened to quit. Out of loyalty to Macnee, she stayed—once she received her raise. The first Rigg series pitted the duo against larger-than-life villains and James Bond–style world-threatening plots. Many episodes, such as “The Cybernauts,” veered into Spy-Fi territory. Viewers responded positively to these and when the next series was being prepped, the producers decided to go all out.

“We became terribly British,” declared Clemens. “A car is a car is a car, and not an automobile. A lift is a lift is a lift, never an elevator. It is this Britishness that fits the fantasy world so appealing to the Americans.” The emphasis was on fantasy. Every episode opened with Steed finding a new clever way to communicate, “Mrs. Peel. We’re needed.” The first color season lampooned popular American movies and TV shows with episodes entitled “The Superlative Seven,” “Mission… Highly Improbable,” and a takeoff of Batman called “The Winged Avenger.” “We spoofed everything,” remembered scripter Dennis Spooner. “We took Mission: Impossible, Bad Day at Black Rock, High Noon, The Dirty Dozen, The Birds… we took them all. The film buffs used to love it. There were always lines in it that people knew what we were talking about.” Traditional British reserve was replaced by offbeat characterizations. Art Director Bob Jones explained the new thinking: “If it was a solicitor’s office the chap wouldn’t be an ordinary solicitor. We’d have him ride a bicycle around his desk, or make him a collector of top hats—hundreds of ’em. I’d say to a writer, ‘What’s this chap’s background? Let’s make him quite mad—have him live in a tube station.’” This was the season where Rigg popularized the colorful catsuits called “Emmapeelers,” which inaugurated a fresh fashion trend. The U.S. ABC network executives banned the leather jumpsuits and her karate kicks were replaced with graceful Kung Fu and Tai Chi. Rigg was relieved. “That show catered to every kinky thing imaginable—and no wonder, considering some of the writers we had. I was always getting tied up in some outlandish way. And the leather! God, I thought I’d never get out of all that leather.” “The sexual tensions are good,” countered Clemens, who wrote many episodes. “Under the surface, The Avengers has been seen as a very Freudian show, with classic relationships touching the sadistic and masochistic.” Talk of a Hollywood Avengers film reignited. But like her predecessor, Diana Rigg had grown restless after only two seasons. “I simply had to leave the series,” Rigg averred. “The Avengers was fun, but I had no idea when I followed Honor that it would make me a name like this. I began to feel claustrophobic. I begin to feel The Avengers was taking over. If I had stayed, I would have been under pressure by forces outside myself. I knew I had to go, why wait till I was stale if I could leave on a high note?” “On the day she left, I sat in my dressing room and cried,” admitted Macnee. He was back to square one for the fourth time. “I thought of leaving after Diana went, but as I’ve always believed that once you start something, you should see it through to the end, I stayed.”

TARA KING

Yet again, a search for Steed’s next sexy sidekick commenced. Scores of actresses auditioned. The finalist was the youngest one ever, 21-year-old Linda Thorson. Conceived as a contrast to the

Will Murray’s 20th Century Panopticon

Gold Key Comics published a single issue of a John Steed and Emma Peel comic book in 1968, but the popular Avengers duo has since appeared in several other comics adaptations, including a 2016 crossover with Batman ’66! Steed and Mrs. Peel © Studiocanal S.A. Batman TM & © DC Comics.

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Will Murray’s 20th Century Panopticon

Avengers publicity photos featuring Linda Thorson as Tara King. Courtesy of Heritage. © Studiocanal S.A.

tomboys who came before, Tara King was a farm girl and traditionally feminine. “She learned to shoot on the farm,” Thorson explained. “She also went to finishing school in Switzerland. I fight like any woman attacked by a man. I kick and scratch.” Thorson claimed to have picked the name because “Gone with the Wind was my favorite movie at the time and that was the name of the estate, and ‘King’ for King and Country, which I felt was a nice touch.” The U.S.’s ABC thought the second Rigg season gotten too far-out and brought back producer John Bryce from the Honor Blackman era. Two episodes in, they fired him. Clemens and Fennell returned, junked Clemens’ episodes including a 90-minute Tara King introductory episode, and started over. This nearly led to Linda Thorson’s premature departure. “I was very sorry when John Bryce had to go—and toyed with the idea of leaving with him. But Patrick and two of my colleagues, including John himself, said, ‘You can’t do it.’ By then Patrick had become very supportive was always taking the time to find out if everything was all right. He was marvelous. So I stayed.” Diana Rigg was called back for the new season opener, “The Forget-Me-Knot.” This was the most-watched episode of The Avengers ever telecast. An enemy agent wielded a weapon that gave British agents amnesia and Emma Peel became one victim. Consequently, Steed teamed up with agent-in-training Tara King. Together, they resolved the problem. In a closing scene that broke male hearts all over the globe, Emma says goodbye for the last time. Her long-lost husband has been found alive in the 32

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Amazon. As she departs Steed’s flat, Emma encounters Tara on the stairs and informs her that “He likes his tea stirred anti-clockwise.” Looking out his window, Steed watches Mrs. Peel being driven away by her husband—who wears a bowler hat and looks strikingly like himself! So ended the Mrs. Peel era of The Avengers. Like Honor Blackman, Diana Rigg later co-starred in a James Bond film, marrying 007 in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Rigg was a tough act to follow, and Linda Thorson knew it. “I have nothing to offer the audience but me,” she said defensively. “And maybe that’s better than black leather fetishes and karate. The American men may find a lady is sexier than something else. In fact, all men may.” The returning producers were not happy with the inexperienced Thorson, or her character. “She couldn’t project a sense of humor,” complained Clemens. They decided to return the series to its original espionage theme. A new character was introduced, a wheelchair-bound official codenamed “Mother,” played by Patrick Newell. He sent the duo off on their missions. Macnee was not pleased. “I felt bringing the Mother character into the picture destroyed the mystery. It became very boring having Steed report to this… man. Just to be sent off to his mission? For many of the Honor Blackman shows and always during the Diana Rigg shows, we were just there, at the scene. It didn’t have to be explained how we got there.” Spoofing the idea of the super-secret headquarters, Mother’s office was everywhere and nowhere—conferences took place

Will Murray’s 20th Century Panopticon

in swimming pools, dandelion fields, even the back of a doubledecker bus. As a result of having such a young partner, Macnee found his role changing. “Tara’s innocence put me in the position of being the hero, the knight in shining armor. Which I’d never been before. I’d been slightly subservient to the women.” Their relationship was also different. Tara was the first single Avengers girl. “Before this series you never saw a girl making a fuss of Steed,” Thorson observed. “But Tara will give him a kiss now and again. As a result, I think women viewers will find Steed psychologically more attractive.” Thorson convinced the producers to let her play Tara as being in love with Steed, 25-year age difference notwithstanding. “She fancies him like mad,” Thorson revealed. “Part of the attraction is that he does such exciting things and she loves adventure.” According to Macnee, “We took the sex relationship for granted and Tara, like Emma before, did sometimes stay overnight—but it was all very civilized.” Unfortunately, audiences were not impressed. Ratings sank. Diana Rigg declined to return for a special episode. Macnee felt the show had been written out. Slotted against Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, The Avengers couldn’t compete. Previously, Laugh-In had replaced the failing Man from U.N.C.L.E. [Editor’s note: See RetroFan #15 for our coverage of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.] “The spy thing was on the wane by then—although I believe that we could have gone on for say another year, but the money wasn’t there,” declared Thorson.

“Noble in defeat,” reflected Patrick Macnee, “producer Brian Clemens chose to end the show by having Tara and Steed marooned in a rocket in outer space. A stroke of genius, if you think about it. What’s goes up, must come down.” Mother closed the series with, “They’ll be back. You can depend on it.”

‘THE NEW AVENGERS’ AND BEYOND

It took seven years. In 1975, Macnee and Thorson were reunited for an Avengers-themed French champagne commercial, sparking a revival. Linda Thorson did not return for The New Avengers. Macnee, now 53, teamed up with two younger agents, Gareth Hunt playing Mike Gambit and Joanna Lumley as Purdey. Brian Clemens auditioned 200 women before he arrived at his choice. “I knew Joanna Lumley was the right one. She is good to look at, witty, charming, feminine, and elegant but can knock you through a plate glass window.” At first, the character was called Charly, but that name was dropped when Charlie perfume was released. Clemens asked Joanna to come up with a masculine-sounding name. Lumley chose Purdey, saying, “It’s the name of a famous shotgun. The most elegant and expensive of them all. Perfect to handle. Deadly accurate.” Clemens saw this revival as the further evolution of the Avengers format. “The situations are just as fantastic, but, this time, we carefully framed a story so that, no matter how mind-blowing the plot, we make it believable. And that is the big

A collection of photos and autographs of Avengers cast members. Courtesy of Hertiage. © Studiocanal S.A.

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Will Murray’s 20th Century Panopticon

“Ours is this surrealistic Grimm’s fairytale sort of terror,” echoed Macnee. “If we start pumping bullets into people’s stomachs, we’re done for.” Production resumed with improved scripts. “I was pushed rather into the background and complained,” Macnee revealed. “Gambit was taking over a lot of the stuff that Steed would have done. Changes were made and I was quite happy in the end. The three of us are great friends and there was a wonderful bond between us.” Despite improvements, The New Avengers lasted only two 13-episode series (seasons). For CBS, Brian Clemens scripted a pilot called Escapade subtitled Avengers USA, starring Granville Van Dusen as Joshua and Morgan Fairchild as Suzy, U.S. equivalents to Steed and Purdey. The gimmick of this 1978 Quinn Martin production had their missions selected by a computer named “Oz.” While the pilot aired, no series resulted. Then CBS eyed reviving The New Avengers.

FAST FACTS THE AVENGERS f No. of seasons: Six f No. of episodes: 161 f Original run: January 7, 1961–May 21, 1969 f Primary cast: Ian Hendry, Patrick Macnee, Honor Blackman, Diana Rigg, Linda Thorson, Patrick Newell f Executive producers: Brian Clemens, Albert Fennell, Julian Wintle The Avengers (1998) starring Ralph Fiennes, Uma Thurman, and Sean Connery was not a hit with audiences or critics. © Studiocanal S.A.

change, if you want to point out the difference! The old series was a humorous spoof, which dramatic overtones. The New Avengers is dramatic, with humorous overtones.” This included bringing back the Cybernauts for a third and last deadly encounter. The inter-character dynamic naturally changed. Agents Gambit and Purdey enjoyed a flirtatious relationship, while Steed was relegated to semi-retired father figure. “If I read the scripts right,” revealed Gareth Hunt, “my relationship with Purdey is based on a promise: ‘One day it will happen.’” Macnee, however, was not happy. “Frankly, the scripts reduced my role. I had all been put out on to grass. If not for the pleasure of working with Joanna and Gareth, and my contractual obligations, I would have walked out.” The French financiers were also dissatisfied. They pushed for more sex and violence. After 13 episodes, production was halted while these issues were sorted out. “The Avengers has got to be British and umbrellas and rain and okay behavior, and I thought we’d rather gone off the feeling that Diana and Patrick got, with very tight scripts and very bizarre sort of things,” Lumley complained. “So that left Gareth and me endlessly blasting people’s heads off.” 34

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SPIN-OFFS AND REMAKES: f The New Avengers (revival and continuation of the original Avengers series, running 26 episodes originally broadcast October 22, 1976–December 17, 1977; starring Patrick Macnee, Gareth Hunt, and Joanna Lumley) f The Avengers (1998 remake Warner Bros. motion picture directed by Jeremiah Chechik; starring Ralph Fiennes as John Steed, Uma Thurman as Emma Peel, and Sean Connery as villain Sir August de Wynter) f The Avengers has also been adapted into a radio show (in South Africa), a stage show, and numerous interpretations in comic books.

Will Murray’s 20th Century Panopticon

“It would be nice to have the three together again,” Clemens declared, “but not essential. Avenger girls can come and go, but if Patrick Macnee decided to drop out of the picture, it would signal the end of The Avengers for good.” This revival also failed to launch. Macnee was not entirely disappointed. “I don’t like The New Avengers,” he later confessed. “It was very pretty good as a thriller, but it took itself very seriously and didn’t have a sense of humor. Jo and Gareth and I would have made it very good but the shows were not well written and the characters weren’t well developed. The Avengers was a show for the Sixties and shouldn’t have been re-created.” That seemed to be the end of The Avengers at last. But it wasn’t. In 1985, Taft International Group hired Clemens to script another pilot, The Avengers—International. We are going back to grass roots,” explained Taft head Sarah Lawson.” It will be far more like the old Avengers rather than The New Avengers. Patrick Macnee would like to re-create John Steed as a more avuncular figure. He will have two younger operatives working for him: one English, one American, partly to provide a hook for viewers, partly to give it a more international flavor.” A search began for someone to play Mrs. Samantha Peel, but the project never went forward. Neither did an Avengers film with Mel Gibson as Steed. Universal toyed with a TV series called The Avenging Angel, where Dr. Kathy Gale and Tara King— played by the original actors—would meet at Steed’s funeral and take the story from there. Brian Clemens was not involved, but Macnee was.

Ultimately, Ralph Fiennes and Uma Thurman essayed the roles of John Steed and Mrs. Emma Peel for the long-deferred Avengers film in 1998. It bombed. Patrick Macnee was present in voice only. He played a Ministry agent known as Invisible Jones. It was a sad and sorry ending to what should have been an enduring franchise, one that worldwide audiences universally recognize as built around one character, Patrick Macnee’s Avengerin-Chief, John Steed. “I always saw Steed as an example of the type of Englishman I knew during the war,” the actor once reminisced. “He was also the sort of Englishman who reacts to crisis, adversity and change in a rather over-cool and collected way. The character was a reflection of what I was like during World War II and also what I would expect people to be like in a crisis.” “What is the secret of its longevity?” Brian Clemens once asked rhetorically. “A carefully contrived, dateless fantasy world depicting a Britain of bowlers and brollies, of charm and muffins for tea, a Britain long since gone—if it ever really existed!” 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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RETRO INTERVIEW

Mrs. Mrs. Blade, Blade, We’re We’re Needed! Needed! The Emma Peel That Almost Was BY ANTHONY TAYLOR

Elizabeth Shepherd, in a 1964 promotional shot for The Avengers. The Avengers © Studiocanal S.A.

As The Avengers moved into its fourth season with an eye toward expanding into the American television market via a sale to the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), England’s ITV and A.B.C. (the Associated British Company) felt that producers with a fresh vision were needed. Brian Clemens had been a writer for the series since its earliest days, and now officially became Associate Producer, with Julian Wintle taking the lead spot. With Honor Blackman on her way to menace and romance James Bond as Pussy Galore in Goldfinger, the team’s first order of business was to find a new companion for John Steed. The replacement for Blackman’s Cathy Gale would be named Emma Peel, and would be portrayed by Elizabeth Shepherd, an actor most known at the time for her role as Ligeia/Rowena in Roger Corman’s The Tomb of Ligeia (1964), in which she co-starred with Vincent Price. After shooting an episode and a half with Patrick Macnee (Steed), Shepherd was let go from the series under mysterious circumstances and replaced by Diana Rigg, who re-shot the scenes already filmed. Many stories about what really happened to cause the replacement have been bandied about over the years, but the truth is less complicated than the myth. I was able to speak with Elizabeth Shepherd and finally get to the bottom of the story. According to Shepherd’s diary, filming for Ligeia ended July 31st, 1964, and she met Julian Wintle at Elstree Studios to talk about The Avengers on September 14th. “I do not know if he had approached my manager Peter Eade about me, or whether Peter submitted me. I was aware of the series though not a devotee,” the actress recalled. “Quite honestly, in those early days of TV, theater was what I and most actors took 36

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seriously; we were even a little dismissive of TV as a useful sideline.” The pair met again for dinner on Sunday, September 27th, and Shepherd was offered the role. “I had no audition or call back—I never did have a film test with Macnee. Julian Wintle was quoted as admiring my ‘terrific personality and good looks—all the ingredients for the series.’ I was simply cast—offered the job—and my manager Peter Eade negotiated the contract. I went to Wig Creations, and we talked costume. I believe I was cast because I was already a frequent star on TV and I was a blonde like Honor Blackman’s Cathy Gale—and ten years younger.” She vividly remembers what Wintle said when he cast her, “Elizabeth, we are going to record the program on film, not tape, so it is going to be ten times better than it was before, and we welcome your own ideas…” She took these words very seriously, but says they eventually became fatal. Already booked to go on holiday to Venice and Naples, Shepherd was there when the casting was announced to the press. Photos of her in a red leather pantsuit and long coat from her own wardrobe taken in Italy appeared back home in the Daily Mail on October 20th, 1964. She was now officially an Avenger. After her holiday, Shepherd began shooting her first episode, “The Town of No Return,” directed by Roy Ward Baker. She came to the set with Wintle’s words still fresh in her mind. According to Shepherd, “In my excitement to make my own mark on the role, I inundated them with ideas! I thought that Emma Peel should be a more equal partner and maybe even initiate some of the action. I had been told Emma Peel was to be warmer and wittier than Cathy Gale, but when I saw the script I saw I needed warmer and wittier dialogue—so came in with my own

Double-sided view of one of Shepherd’s “First Emma Peel” autograph cards. The Avengers © Studiocanal S.A.

(BACKGROUND) Headlines tell the tale from beginning to end. suggestions! That was the start of it… it did not go down well with the writers’ department. Next I was in conflict with the costume department—‘Why not red leather instead of black leather?,’ etc.—‘Oh, no, no, no, must not tread on their territory.’ I thought she could be ultra modern, ahead of her time—with a computer wardrobe maybe, where I could dial in the assignment and the right costume would be forthcoming… much too much even to imagine, let alone put into practice! If not that, maybe a large computer watch which I could consult during assignments, sort of like a diver’s watch, sexy on a delicate wrist.” The next day, on-set producer Albert Fennell brought her just such a watch to wear. “I was thrilled!! At the end of the day he came to take it away, saying firmly, ‘We only got it so you could see how foolish it looked…’ I was crushed by such condescension. I could have anticipated Apple and set the trend right there and then!” At this point, Elizabeth began to doubt that the producers had any intention of listening to her thoughts about the character, and that “Emma Peel”—a name they reached from the idea that the character needed to have “Man Appeal”—was only there to titillate the male audience, and would have no qualities or characteristics that might go against that mandate. Shepherd’s own preference for the character’s name had been Jacqueline Blade, who would have been known as Jack Knife. Clearly, Wintle and Clemens would never go for anything so feminist forward. One of her experiences on the show did seem at first more promising. “I did have fun working with (stunt coordinator and future director) Ray Austin on the martial arts—just judo they had

Elizabeth Shepherd in 2020.

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retro interview

“What about one side short, one side long? Vidal Sassoon could design it and the ‘Emma Peel’ style would be all the rage!” No, no, no. “Be patient, Elizabeth—we’ll get it right in six months,” she was told. But she wondered why they couldn’t just get it right now? Shepherd thought she had a supporter in Patrick Macnee, who had called her “beautiful, delightful, and I adore her cleft chin,” and they got on apparently well when they worked together. “But he was evidently not in agreement with the way my mind was working. Steed was ‘it’ in his mind, and she was his amusing junior partner in crime. Diana Rigg obviously did make sure she fit into the relationship and character of Emma Peel that Wintle and Macnee were happy with.” Finally, the axe fell—Wintle and associates decided they could not go on with Shepherd in the part and had to make a change. In the middle of shooting her second episode, “The Murder Market,” she got a call at home from her agent. “I was shocked and upset—yes, of course I was. Peter negotiated a [financial] settlement. I was terribly disappointed at not being able to develop the role, but had really no idea how big a deal not to have that successful series [would be] as a step in my career. Looking back, I wish I had not truly believed they would actually welcome my own ideas… quite honestly, this being the [Sixties],

The woman in red: (TOP) Lobby card from the horror sequel Damien: Omen II, featuring Shepherd as Joan Hart. © 20th Century Studios. Pictures. (BOTTOM) Shepherd, with an almost-unrecognizable Vincent Price, in Roger Corman’s gothic flick, Tomb of Ligeia. © 1964 American International.

decided, like before (with Blackman). It was grueling and adventurous to learn all the moves and get my body ready for such action, and Ray was a great instructor,” she explains. He also occasionally doubled for her doing the more strenuous stunts. “But the more we worked, the more he could see that judo would not be enough for the kind of fights she [Emma] might be involved in… toppling a big, tall man simply by redistributing the weight would not work—he suggested I needed to do karate, and started training me.” Again, the producers were not pleased. “Much too fierce for her—and besides, chopping with her hand would cause a callous which would give her away...” More frustration. “Well, then she always wears a glove on her right hand—leather or silk or lace… it will cause a trend... do you know how many people have a glove fetish?,” I said, knowing of one who did. “Elizabeth!!” was the shocked response. This sort of struggle continued regarding almost every aspect of the character. Ray Austin pondered that her hair was so long that any opponent might easily best her by pulling it, so Shepherd suggested a short Joan of Arc–style cut—“not glamorous enough.” 38

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retro interview

even a male actor would have to be tactful about ‘suggestions,’ and an actress? Forget it until you were indispensable—once the audience loved you in Season One, even Season Two—then you may have been listened to. Even now one has to be clever and careful about taking initiative—flattery and smiles rather than so much enthusiastic ardor.” Elizabeth was offered more television roles immediately, including the BBC series of Thomas Mann’s Buddenbrooks, in which she played daughter Toni Buddenbrooks. In 1965, she immigrated to America, but still worked frequently in the U.K. (including Danger Man/Secret Agent with Patrick McGoohan) and in 1966 won the role of alluring villainess Syrie Van Epp in Edward Brooks’ far-out spy series, The Corridor People. Several of Elizabeth’s ideas for Emma Peel found solid ground in this series, making her character an unforgettable, over-the-top personality that proved imminently watchable—and enjoyable. The short-lived series (four episodes) is available on DVD from Network video in the U.K. In 1978, Shepherd made an unforgettable appearance as journalist Joan Hart in Damien: Omen II. Currently Shepherd lives in New York, has appeared on Broadway, teaches Shakespeare at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, and is still a working actor. Recent roles include Daisy Werthan in Driving Miss Daisy, Fanny Cavendish in The Royal Family, Madame de Rosemonde in Les Liaisons Dangereuses, and in June 2022, Mrs. Graves in Matthew Barber’s Enchanted April at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey. She also enjoys meeting her fans at conventions. Regrets? As Sinatra would sing, she has a few. “If I had known in 1964 that international celebrity was going to be the only name of the game in the future, it would have been prudent for me to keep my mouth shut and benefit from a series not only popular in the U.K. but to be widely seen also in the U.S.A.

I did more work in England after emigrating (several substantial classic series like The Birds Fall Down, Frost in May, The Cleopatras, By the Sword Divided), but for whatever reason they never made it into Masterpiece Theatre presentations in America. And it is unfortunate that all my many great roles in Canada are not taken seriously in either of the other two countries.” And one more, a rather specific one: “As for that skimpy fetish outfit (worn by Diana Rigg in the Avengers episode ‘A Touch of Brimstone’), I think I would have looked fabulous in it!!” She is proud to have been an Avenger, even if no one ever saw her performance as Emma Peel. “I am recognized as part of the Avengers history. Fans collect my Emma Peel pictures and are intrigued by the story. I have enjoyed a distinguished stage and screen career, and a successful and interesting life with all the adventures of my travels, acquiring three passports on the way, and in my eighties I’m working as much and as hard as I ever have!” Images accompanying this article are courtesy of Anthony Taylor.

ANTHONY TAYLOR is the licensing and brand manager for the Bram Stoker Estate, and a writer. He is the author of Arctic Adventure!, an Official Thunderbirds novel based on the iconic British television series by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson; The Future Was FAB: The Art of Mike Trim; and articles and features for a host of television and film magazines and publications. His website is Taylorcosm.com.

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THE CHILLINGLY WEIRD ART OF

MATT FOX

by ROGER HILL

MATT FOX (1906–1988) first gained notoriety for his jarring cover paintings on the pulp magazine WEIRD TALES from 1943 to 1951. His almost primitive artistry encompassed ghouls, demons, and grotesqueries of all types, evoking a disquieting horror vibe that no one since has ever matched. Fox suffered with chronic pain throughout his life, and that anguish permeated his classic 1950s cover illustrations and his lone story for CHILLING TALES, putting them at the top of all pre-code horror comic enthusiasts’ want lists. He brought his evocative storytelling skills (and an almost BASIL WOLVERTON-esque ink line over other artists) to ATLAS/MARVEL horror comics of the 1950s and ’60s, but since Fox never gave an interview, this unique creator remained largely unheralded—until now! Comic art historian ROGER HILL finally tells Fox’s life story, through an informative biographical essay, augmented with an insightful introduction by FROM THE TOMB editor PETER NORMANTON. This FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER also showcases all of the artist’s WEIRD TALES covers and interior illustrations, and a special Atlas Comics gallery with examples of his inking over GIL KANE, LARRY LIEBER, and others. Plus, there’s a wealth of other delightfully disturbing images by this grand master of horror—many previously unpublished and reproduced from his original paintings and art—sure to make an indelible imprint on a new legion of fans. SHIPS FALL 2023! (128-page COLOR HARDCOVER) $29.95 (Digital Edition) $15.99 • ISBN: 978-1-60549-120-2

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

HERO-A-GO-GO!

HERO-A-GO-GO! celebrates the camp craze of the Swinging Sixties, when just about everyone—the teens of Riverdale, an ant and a squirrel, even the President of the United States—was a super-hero or a secret agent. RETROFAN magazine and former DC Comics editor MICHAEL EURY takes you through that coolest cultural phenomenon with this all-new collection of nostalgic essays, histories, and theme song lyrics of classic 1960s characters like CAPTAIN ACTION, HERBIE THE FAT FURY, CAPTAIN NICE, ATOM ANT, SCOOTER, ACG’s NEMESIS, DELL’S SUPER-FRANKENSTEIN and DRACULA, the “Split!” CAPTAIN MARVEL, and others! Featuring interviews with BILL MUMY (Lost in Space), BOB HOLIDAY (It’s a Bird … It’s a Plane … It’s Superman), RALPH BAKSHI (The Mighty Heroes, Spider-Man), DEAN TORRENCE (Jan and Dean Meet Batman), RAMONA FRADON (Metamorpho), DICK DeBARTOLO (Captain Klutz), TONY TALLARICO (The Great Society Comic Book), VINCE GARGIULO (Palisades Park historian), JOE SINNOTT (The Beatles comic book), JOSE DELBO (The Monkees comic book), and more! (272-page FULL-COLOR TRADE PAPERBACK) $36.95 ISBN: 9781605490731 (Digital Edition) $13.99

AMERICAN TV COMIC BOOKS (1940s-1980s) From The Small Screen To The Printed Page

A fascinating and detailed year-by-year history of over 300 television shows and their 2000+ comic book adaptations across five decades. Author PETER BOSCH has spent years researching and documenting this amazing area of comics history, tracking down the well-known series (STAR TREK, THE MUNSTERS) and the lesser-known shows (CAPTAIN GALLANT, PINKY LEE) to present the finest look ever taken at this unique genre of comic books. Included are hundreds of full-color covers and images, plus profiles of the artists who drew TV comics: GENE COLAN, ALEX TOTH, DAN SPIEGLE, RUSS MANNING, JOHN BUSCEMA, RUSS HEATH, and many more giants of the comic book world. If you loved watching The Lone Ranger, Rawhide, The Andy Griffith Show, The Monkees, The Mod Squad, Adam-12, Battlestar Galactica, The Bionic Woman, Alf, Fraggle Rock, and “V”—there’s something here for fans of TV and comics alike. (192-page FULL-COLOR TRADE PAPERBACK) $29.95 ISBN: 9781605491073 (Digital Edition) $15.99

THE BEST OF FROM THE TOMB This first collection compiles features from its ten years of terror, along with new material meant for the NEVER-PUBLISHED #29 • (192-page Digital Edition) $10.99

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 Emmy-winning 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

Monsters Mexico Vampires, mummies, and other fantasmas from south of the border

Collage by Mark Voger.

BY MARK VOGER Being a monster movie fan in the olden days made you a connoisseur of world cinema, whether you realized it or not. You didn’t yet know Federico Fellini, but you knew Atom Age Vampire. You didn’t know Jean Renoir, but you knew The Horror Chamber of Dr. Faustus. You didn’t know Akira Kurosawa, but you knew Ghidorah the Three-Headed Monster. When you were really little, and a dubbed-into-English monster movie came on TV, you may not have even realized it was a “foreign” film. But deep down, you knew it was a little bit off. The lingo, music, production values, and even the film stock were a long way from Universal Pictures’ sparkly canon. And when characters spoke, their mouths didn’t exactly match up with their words. Hmmm… I fell madly in love with Mexican horror movies from the Fifties and Sixties—black-and-white wonders with cool monsters, chilling music, garishly styled sets, curvy heroines, and the sublime weirdness that lost-in-translation moments alone provide. Most horror aficionados have heard of the biggies: The Vampire, The Vampire’s Coffin, The Robot vs. the Aztec Mummy, The Brainiac, and the El Santo movies (in which the beloved masked wrestler often battled monsters). But many such films never made it to this side of the Trump Wall. Stateside, they are only obtainable in Spanish

without English subtitles. Still, even if we Yanks can’t grasp the finer points of a given storyline, we can follow these movies. Mexi-horrors communicate in an international language well known to monster-movie geeks. Mexico’s películas de monstruos often paid homage to American monster movies, especially the Universal classics, but with a moody, amped-up style all their own. In particular, the Mexicans took their vampirism to new heights. If Dracula’s castle was cobwebby the night Renfield arrived, the cobwebs in Mexican vampire movies were as thick and plentiful as cotton candy at a carnival. The fangs were longer, almost tusk-like. The higher, wider cape collars would have delighted James Brown. Dracula had three brides and a slave; Count Subotai in The World of the Vampires (1961) had dozens of tan, rounded, negligee-clad, highhaired brides and an army of fuzz-faced batmen. Did Dracula ever entertain his minions? Count Subotai made like Liberace, playing a gigantic pipe organ festooned with skulls. This was some serious vampirism. Another mind-blowing thing about Mexi-monster movies: Emulating Universal, Mexican filmmakers created a “society” of monsters that recurred in sequels, and intermingled in subsequent films. Discovering Mexican monster movies was like reading only DC Comics all your life, and then suddenly discovering Marvel. It’s a whole ’nuther universe, bruh! RETROFAN

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Harbingers of the Mexican horror genre include Fernando de Fuentes’ El Fantasma del Convento (1934), Chano Urueta’s El Monstruo Resucitado (1953), and Urueta’s La Bruja (1954), which starred Lilia del Valle as a disfigured woman—her face is Outer Limits worthy— made beautiful via a scientist’s formula. (The compelling La Bruja, which sometimes brings to mind William Dieterle’s 1939 Hunchback of Notre Dame, is as much drama as horror.) But Mexico’s monster movies, which were often shot at the fabled studio Churubusco Azteca (est. 1945), finally came into their own thanks to a film with a title that is unambiguous in any language: El Vampiro. Some program notes before we dive in. If a given film was released in the United States (often dubbed by American producer-distributor K. Gordon Murray), I use the English title; otherwise, I use the Spanish title. The spelling of some actors’ names, and the year of release for some films, are occasionally inconsistent (likely a symptom of translation). When this occurs, I go with what seems to be the consensus. I am concentrating on the Fifties–Sixties period, which I consider to be a hallmark, but Mexican horror soldiered on through the Seventies and well beyond, often with—it should come as no surprise—gore and nudity. So please consider what follows a primer, not a comprehensive study. In the wild and wonderful world of Mexican horror films, you never know what obscure gem might pop up next. It’s like friggin’ Whack-a-Mole (in a good way).

MUCHOS VAMPIROS

It’s confusing, looking back, that two movies titled The Vampire came out in 1957: one from America, one from Mexico. In the U.S., where we’d turned our backs on Gothic monsters, The Vampire was about a small-town doctor who takes pills derived from living bats and periodically turns into a monster, Hulk style. In Mexico, where the Universal classics never went out of style, El

(LEFT) The thoughtful La Bruja (1954) was a precursor to Mexico’s monster trend. © Internacional Cinematográfica. (ABOVE) Germán Robles and Carmen Montejo are up to no good in The Vampire (1957). © Cinematográfica ABSA. Vampiro (released as The Vampire up our way) was about an undead being with fangs who wears a cape, sleeps in a coffin, and drinks the blood of the innocent. Fernando Méndez’s dark, atmospheric The Vampire is, unmistakably, a horror noir with its liberal use of shadows and fog in eerie black-and-white photography courtesy of cinematographer Rosalio Solano. The foreboding, sometimes bombastic score by the prolific Gustavo César Carrión (who scored many Mexi-horror films) wraps the movie in dread. In his film debut, Germán Robles is instantly recognizable as a movie star. Until The Vampire, the camera would cut away as the title bloodsucker emerged from his coffin, almost in deference to his nobility. But when Robles rises, we see it all, and he moves with the precision of a dancer. As Lavud he is resplendent in a costume that conjures Bela Lugosi: a crisp tuxedo wrapped in a black cape with a high collar. And Robles bared his fangs one year prior to the better-known Christopher Lee. Plot: Lavud, like Dracula, has long-range plans. Posing as mysterious aristocrat Mr. Duval, he wants to take possession of the Sicomorros, a sprawling, though dilapidated, hacienda in Sierra Negra. Lavud is also bent on reviving his likewise vampiric brother on the 100th anniversary of his death. But once Lavud lays eyes on young heiress Marta (Ariadne Welter), her blood is all he craves. The hero, Enrique (Abel Salazar), resembles a misplaced (FAR LEFT) The movie poster for El Vampiro (1957) makes plain the film’s Gothic roots. © Cinematográfica ABSA. (LEFT) Fishnets-clad Lorena Velázquez, Miss Mexico 1960, meets a gnarly alien in the sci-fi comedy La Nave de los Monstruos (1960). © Producciones Sotomayor.

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(LEFT) Don’t trust Germán Robles’ smile as the ruthless vampire Nostradamus. (BELOW) The Mexican movie poster for The Blood of Nostradamus (1962). © Estudios América.

Mike Hammer in his overcoat and fedora. It is Enrique who figures out that “Duval” is “Lavud” spelled backwards. (Lon Chaney, Jr. pulled the same gag as Count Alucard in Son of Dracula.) The main difference between The Vampire and Méndez’s 1958 sequel, The Vampire’s Coffin, boils down to town and country. The action shifts from remote, outdated Sierra Negra to a modern city with a hospital, police station, theaters, cafes, a wax museum, and many darkened streets in which Lavud can stalk his victims. When petty criminal Barraza (Yerye Beirute) removes a wooden stake from Lavud’s corpse in order to steal his glittering amulet, the vampire rises anew. (Even his shirt no longer has a hole.) Always in the market for a Renfield-like slave, Lavud puts Barraza under his hypnotic control. Marta is now starring in a modern dance revue. (How’s that? Her show-biz talents were never alluded to in The Vampire.) She rehearses wearing a sexy stage costume with sheer black stockings. (Ooh, la la!) On show night, Lavud watches her from an opera box, conjuring Phantom of the Opera and Mad Love. When Marta is raised to the rafters via a pulley—it’s all part of the act—she is snatched by Barraza, and the theater is thrown into chaos. Once again, old rivals Enrique and Lavud are locked in battle, with Marta’s fate in the balance. No further sequels to The Vampire followed, but that same year, Robles donned his Count Lavud getup in El Castillo de los Monstruos, a horror-comedy starring Antonio “Clavillazo” Espino. Also on hand were the Frankenstein monster, a mummy, a werewolf, and a Black Lagoon Creature-like fishman—a true monster rally with more than a passing resemblance to Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (which was hugely popular in Mexico).

These were followed by such ridiculously atmospheric films as Alfonso Corona Blake’s The World of the Vampires (1961), in which a hair-sprayed Guillermo Murray looks as much like a lounge singer as a vampire; Miguel Morayta’s The Invasion of the Vampires (1963); and Alfredo B. Crevenna’s comedic Bring Me the Vampire (1963). Robles returned to the realm in four Nostradamus movies (which were re-edited from a serial). I’m talking about Nostradamus the dapper, goatee-wearing, 18thCentury vampire, not Nostradamus the 16th-Century prognosticator with the ZZ Top beard. The films are The Curse of Nostradamus (1961), The Monsters Demolisher (1962), Geni of Darkness (1962), and The Blood of Nostradamus (1962), all from director Federico Curiel.

‘AZTEC MUMMY’ TRILOGY

If you’re going to have a past life, don’t be a sacrificial virgin. That’s one lesson of The Aztec Mummy (1957), in which earnest scientist Eduardo (Ramón Gay) administers “regression therapy” to his lovely fiance, Flor (Rosita Arenas). She time-travels to her previous existence as a maiden princess named Xochi at an ancient Aztecan ritual with feathers, torches, dancing, percussion, and more feathers. Through Flor, Xochi speaks of being sacrificed in “eight moons,” a period during which she must, shall we say, refrain from romance. But a beefy Aztec warrior named Popoca (Angel Di Stefani) messes around with Xochi. As punishment, Popoca is forced to swallow an elixir that bestows eternal life, and he is sentenced to guard Xochi’s tomb for all eternity. (Yep, the ancient Aztecs were no more lenient than the ancient Egyptians.) Eduardo resolves to find the tomb of Xochi, in order to acquire the jewel-encrusted gold breastplate and bracelet she was interred with. As any mummy movie fan knows, Eduardo will regret swiping

(LEFT) The Mexican movie poster for The Aztec Mummy (1957). (RIGHT) The Mexican movie poster for The Curse of the Aztec Mummy (1957). © Cinematográfica Calderón S.A.

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(LEFT) An improved Aztec mummy in Las Luchadoras Contra la Momia. (RIGHT) Believe it or not, that’s supposed to be a robot: the mechanical man from The Robot vs. the Aztec Mummy (1958) and (INSET) its movie poster. © Cinematográfica Calderón S.A.

Xochi’s bling. He is hunted by the revived Popoca—now a withered, long-haired mummy—and the Bat (Luis Aceves Castañeda), a criminal mastermind with a seemingly endless supply of loyal-to-afault henchmen. The three films in the Aztec Mummy trilogy—all directed by Rafael Portillo—were shot in one, long slog. And they look it. Huge chunks of the Aztecan flashbacks are seen in all three, which is fairly excruciating, even angering, if you binge-watch the trilogy. And yet, the movies are distinct from one another. The first film presents the mummy’s origin story. The second film, The Curse of the Aztec Mummy (1957), introduces the masked hero the Angel, lending the series a luchador feel. The third film, The Robot vs. the Aztec Mummy (1958), is a battle royale between the title titans. Okay, “titans” is overstating it. That robot looks like some guy wearing Amazon boxes spray-painted with Rustoleum. There were more Aztec mummy movies, but this was “the” trilogy. The first such film to follow Portillo’s original trio was Rene Cardona’s Las Luchadoras Contra la Momia (1964), which boasted a new character design for the mummy with more detail—almost approaching Mrs. Bates territory—and facial articulation. It’s an improvement, undoubtedly, but I wouldn’t trade the original Popoca for all the coffee in Oaxaca.

“Santo” to “Samson” was Murray’s brilliant idea.) Given Blake’s penchant for eeriness, both films are superb examples of Mexican horror in all of its darkness and excess, despite their wrestling theme. See Santo pour bubbling molten wax on the bad guys, Quasimodo style. Zero mercy from this guy. Sometimes joined by his buddy Blue Demon (Alejandro Muñoz Moreno), Santo continued to fight monsters through the Eighties: Dracula, Frankenstein, the Wolf Man, Frankenstein’s daughter, and mummies both Aztecan and Guanajuatan. Huerta died in 1984 at age 66, and was reportedly buried in his famous silver mask. Even luchadoras—lady wrestlers—got in on the act. Remember G.L.O.W., the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling? (It was an Eighties thing.) René Cardona’s Doctor of Doom (1963)—Mexico’s first movie to mix lady wrestlers with monsters—is not that. But it does have some gorgeous ladies who wrestle: Gloria Venus, played by Miss Mexico 1960 Lorena Velázquez, and Golden Rubi, played by beauteous American émigré Elizabeth Campbell. Doctor of Doom has a scattershot premise at best. There’s a masked mad doctor (Roberto Cañedo) who dresses like a KKK grand wizard—he has everything but the pointy top on his white

LUCHADORS Y LUCHADORAS

El Santo, real name Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta, was a national hero and a busy man. A professional masked wrestler (luchador enmascarado) in real life, Santo played himself in the movies as a do-gooder in a mask and cape who drives a gizmo-equipped car, kinda like Batman. Santo made his film debut in Joselito Rodriguez’s Santo vs. the Evil Brain (1961), and it wasn’t long before he started fighting monsters on the screen. Two early such films are Blake’s Samson vs. the Vampire Women (1962) and Samson in the Wax Museum (1963). (Anglicizing

Mexican folk hero El Santo was the masked, musclebound Van Helsing of monster movies. © Azteca Films.

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(ABOVE) Roberto Cañedo (LEFT) and Jesus Murciélago Velázquez (RIGHT) marvel at luchadora enmascarado Carmela Camacho in Doctor of Doom (1963). © Cinematográfica Calderón S.A.

Voger’s vault of vintage varieties

hood—and commands a healthy contingent of suited henchmen. Doc, as I’ll call him, keeps a half-man/half-ape called Gomar (Gerardo Zepeda) behind bars in his cellar. Gomar is that most ubiquitous of horror-film tropes: an experiment gone wrong. Doc’s precarious M.O. is to abduct unwilling surgery subjects; perform crazy transplant operations on them; and when they invariably die, dump them unceremoniously in the street. The growing body count triggers a citywide (LEFT) Mexican movie poster for Samson in the Wax Museum (1963). © Azteca Films. (CENTER) panic. Rita Macedo is having eye trouble in The Curse of the Crying Woman (1961). (RIGHT) Abel You wouldn’t call Doctor Salazar (or his stunt double) is hungry for some brains in The Brainiac (1961). Crying Woman & of Doom a great horror film, Brainiac © Cinematográfica ABSA. but it has quite a sphere of influence. There were three sequels and two semi-remakes, all by Cardona. And there are in the credits, despite his dual role (as a 19th-Century fiend, and that undeniable echoes in ostensibly unrelated films. fiend’s 20th-Century lookalike grandson). Instead, the top-billed One or both of the luchadoras from Doctor of Doom appeared in “star” of the patch-quilt American version is someone who never at least three more films directed by Cardona: Las Luchadoras Contra existed: Rock Madison (a mash-up of the names Rock Hudson and la Momia (a crossover!), She-Wolves of the Ring (1965), and The Panther Guy Madison). Who committed this cinematic atrocity? American Woman (1967), which also starred Tongolele, a veritable dance shlock producer Jerry Warren’s thumbprints are all over the crime institution. scene. Those films followed the further adventures of Urueta’s The Brainiac (1961) has a prologue set in 1661, no less, in which the Holy Inquisitors sentence unrepentant Count Vitelius the luchadoras, not the Doc or his hairy prodigy Gomar. But Cardo(Abel Salazar) to be burned alive for heresy, witchcraft, dogmatism, na’s semi-remake Las Luchadors Contra el Robot Asesino (1969) brings necromancy, and “having seduced married women and maidens.” us back to that cellar, with the ape man now called Carfax (Zepeda Vitelius returns in 1961 to take revenge on the descendants of the again). Yet another semi-remake by Cardona, Night of the Bloody Inquisitors, via a perfectly logical method: transforming into a Apes (1972), was a sensation on the midnight movie circuit thanks monster and sucking out their brains with a tongue that would make to the doubtful rumor that it includes an authentic sequence of Gene Simmons jealous. open-heart surgery. The film has yet another ape man (Round 3 for Rafael Baledón’s The Curse of the Crying Woman (1961) has, hands Zepeda) locked in a cellar. Why fix what ain’t broke? down, the coolest eye makeup on any monster character, in this case ROCK WHO? worn by the otherwise lovely Rita Macedo. Fernando Cortés’ La Marca del Muerto (1961) is a very cool horror More genre treats from south of the border were Méndez’s The movie with a plot that anticipated TV’s Dark Shadows. Muerto has Black Pit of Dr. M (1958), Benito Alazraki’s The Curse of the Doll a charismatic star in Mexi-Western hero Fernando Casanova. But People (1960), and Urueta’s The Witch’s Mirror (1961). In homage to the American horror films they loved so much, Casanova’s only film to reach American screens didn’t even bill him Mexican filmmakers (chiefly producer Luis Enrique Vergara) invited Hollywood genre stars to appear in their movies. Lon (LEFT) Lon Chaney, Jr. makes like Larry Talbot in La Casa del Terror (1960). © San Ángel S.A. (RIGHT) John Carradine still has some bite in a Mexican lobby card for Las Vampiras (1969). © Filmica Vergara S.A. RETROFAN

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f Ariadne Welter (1930–1998): Besides co-starring in The Vampire and its sequel, the Mexico City native was in The Brainiac and The Panther Woman. Welter’s older sister, Linda Christian, became a movie actress in America and was once Mrs. Tyrone Power. Welter and Christian fight over Robert Alda in the American horror film The Devil’s Hand (1961), which has a performance by TV’s Commissioner Gordon himself, Neil Hamilton, that can only be called campy.

(LEFT) Boris Karloff as the mysterious Damballa in The Snake People (1971), one of four Mexican films that turned out to be the actor’s last. © Azteca Films-Columbia. (RIGHT) Basil Rathbone made his final bow in Autopsia de un Fantasma (1967). © Filmica Vergara S.A. Chaney, Jr. looked very spry indeed while reprising his transformation from man to beast, Larry Talbot style, in Gilberto Martínez Solares’ La Casa del Terror (1960). John Carradine apparently had a ball in Jaime Salvador’s Pacto Diabolico (1967); Ismael Rodriguez’s Autopsia de un Fantasma (1967); Curiel’s Las Vampiras (1969, as Count Alucard) and Enigma de Muerte (1969, as a Nazi officer); and Salvador’s Madame Death (1969). Basil Rathbone—looking a bit like Sir Guy of Gisbourne in period dress and a long wig—joined his old comrade Carradine in the delightfully absurd Autopsia de un Fantasma. It turned out to be Rathbone’s final screen role. When Boris Karloff was too ill to travel, a Mexican cast and crew headed north to collaborate with the horror maestro in House of Evil, The Snake People, The Fear Chamber, and The Incredible Invasion (all shot in 1968 and released sporadically thereafter). As with Rathbone, these films proved to be Karloff’s cinematic swan song.

MEET THE STARS

If you’re inclined to re-watch Mexican horror films, you begin to notice recurring faces, which lend the movies a “company” feel. Following are ten stars of the genre. Many more talented players await your discovery. f Abel Salazar (1917–1995): At ease on either side of the camera, handsome Mexico City native Salazar worked as an actor, producer, and director. After appearing in many films of the Western, comedy, and romance genres, Salazar carved a midcareer niche as a horror star in El Hombre y el Monstruo (1959), The Vampire, The Vampire’s Coffin, The Curse of the Crying Woman, and The Brainiac (in which he played a monster for a change). Salazar produced, but did not appear in, El Monstruo Resucitado, The Witch’s Mirror, and The World of the Vampires. His third wife was fellow Mexi-horror star Rosita Arenas. Salazar’s brother, Alberto Salazar (1922–2006), wrote many such films, including The Witch, the Aztec Mummy trilogy, The Vampire’s Coffin, The World of the Vampires, and Frankenstein el Vampiro y Compania (1962). 46

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f Germán Robles (1929–2015): The charismatic Spanish actor became an icon of Mexican horror for his star-making portrayal of Count Lavud. Robles also played the fastidious title vampire in the Nostradamus tetralogy. Later in his career, he overdubbed characters for the Spanish-language market for three Terminator movies, TV’s M*A*S*H, and as KITT on Knight Rider. f Ramón Gay (1917–1960): The debonair native of Mexico City appeared in the Mexi-horrors La Bruja, Cry of the Bewitched (1957), and the Aztec Mummy trilogy. One night in 1960, Gay was dining with actress Evangelina Elizondo (with whom he was co-starring in a play) when he was shot by her estranged husband. Gay was pronounced dead at age 42. f Rosita Arenas (1933–present): As the heroine of the Aztec Mummy trilogy, Venezuela-born Arenas looked fetching in an up-do and modern dress, or in the gauzy costume and painted face of a maiden princess from another century. Arenas also made The Curse of the Doll People and The Witch’s Mirror. The actress put her comedy chops on display opposite Mexican funnyman Cantinflas in El Señor Fotografo (1953). f Lorena Velázquez (1937–present): The attractive native of Mexico City played damsels in distress, luchadoras, a space alien, and a vampire queen. Her filmography includes Samson vs. the Vampire Women, Doctor of Doom, Las Luchadoras Contra la Momia, and the world’s only sci-fi/ horror/Western/musical comedy, La Nave de los Monstruos (1960). f Quintin Bulnes (1926–2003): Tall, thin, intense Mexican actor Bulnes played the high priest who unleashes the tiny terrors in The Curse of the Doll People. On two occasions, Bulnes played vampires in comedic films. He was the dapper singing vampire— top hat, white gloves, walrus fangs—in

Voger’s vault of vintage varieties

the twisted kiddie flick Little Red Riding Hood and the Monsters (1962). He also wore the fangs in Frankenstein el Vampiro y Compania. Bulnes traded lines with Karloff in The Snake People and House of Evil. f Luis Aceves Castañeda (1913–1973): Old-school monster movie fans will forever remember the Mexico-born Castañeda as evil mastermind Dr. Krupp, a.k.a. the Bat, in the Aztec Mummy trilogy. Though the actor played Krupp as a caricature, he was capable of sensitive characterizations. Castañeda was a favorite of Spanish director Luis Buñuel, who cast him in several films including Wuthering Heights (1954) and Nazarin (1959). f Tongolele (1932–present): Born Yolanda Montes in Spokane, Washington, Tongolele danced in the International Ballet of San Francisco before relocating to Mexico as a teenager. The dancer-actress with the shock of white hair is, at 90 as of this writing, a living legend in Latin America. She is so well known that, like Lugosi and Karloff, her name appeared in the title of a movie: the backstage murder mystery Han Matado a Tongolele (1948). In that film, she frequently danced with her backside toward the audience, and one can’t help but conclude that Tongolele invented “twerking.” She haunted The Panther Woman and The Snake People. f Yerye Beirute (1928–1972): Costa Rica native Beirute had a knack for shifty, violent characters, and appeared in The Vampire’s Coffin, Bring Me the Vampire, La Casa del Terror (with Chaney), and The Fear Chamber and The Incredible Invasion (with Karloff). Beirute was in several American productions, such as TV’s Sheena, Queen of the Jungle (1955) and the movies A Woman’s Devotion (1956) and Tarzan and the Valley of Gold (1966). He died on Christmas Day 1972 at age 44. (I have not been able to ascertain the cause of death.)

BEST-KEPT SECRET

Alas, Mexican monster movies remain a best-kept secret among fans. Precious little beyond their television broadcasts remains in our foggy collective memory. But there are a few happy exceptions. In the early Seventies, movie theaters presented a double feature of The Vampire’s Coffin and The Robot vs. the Aztec Mummy accompanied by something called Hypnoscope—a reel of concentric circles in a constant loop meant to “hypnotize” the audience—and the promise that live monsters would walk off the screen and into the audience. (When I caught the Hypnoscope show in 1972, the “monsters” were three teenagers wearing Topstone masks.) Robles as Count Lavud was the cover boy of Famous Monsters of Filmland #124 (1976) via a lovely painting by artist Ken Kelly,

(LEFT) Germán Robles as Count Lavud in Ken Kelly artwork on the cover of Famous Monsters of Filmland #124 (1976). © Warren Publishing. (BELOW) Behold the power of Hypnoscope! The Vampire’s Coffin and The Robot vs. the Aztec Mummy formed a memorable double feature in the early 1970s. who created the cover for KISS’ Destroyer album that same year. Today, we find that the biggest booster of the monster movie happens to have been born in Mexico: Guadalajara native Guillermo del Toro, director of Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), Pacific Rim (2013), and the 2017 Best Picture Oscar winner The Shape of Water. The genre is not only safe, it flourishes, in del Toro’s assured hands. But his films have little in common with those crazy black-and-white treasures of the 20th Century. How did I get hooked on these movies to start with? The first Mexican monster movie I ever saw was The Curse of the Doll People. Philadelphia TV horror host Dr. Shock (a.k.a. Manayunk magician Joe Zawislak) aired it on his Channel 17 show Scream In one Saturday night in 1971. I’d never seen anything like it. There was a robed, long-haired sorcerer who spouted incantations with maniacal fervor. Standing wordlessly beside him was a gnarly lookin’ zombie named Zabootz. (You can’t make this stuff up.) Like the old Hollywood movies about “voodoo dolls”—quotations are used out of respect for the actual Vodou religion—the doll people were fashioned to resemble human targets. Diminutive actors (or perhaps children) wore the doll costumes, which were topped with outsized caricatured heads. The doll people hobbled around at night carrying long, thin knives (which resembled letter openers) to silently dispatch their victims. Great stretches of these scenes had no dialogue. To this 12-year-old, it was creepy as all get-out, though I’m sure modern viewers would find it laughable. But on that particular night, I was by myself. (My parents were at a party; my siblings were asleep.) It was after midnight. The house was dark and pin-drop quiet, while on the TV, the little doll people were killing folks in their sleep. Yer danged tootin’ I was creeped out. Still am. MARK VOGER is the author and designer of six books for TwoMorrows Publishing, including Britmania, Monster Mash (a Rondo Award winner), Groovy, and Holly Jolly. Voger worked in the newspaper field for 40 years as a graphic artist and entertainment reporter, and lives at the Jersey Shore. He couldn’t believe his luck when, in 1964, The Addams Family and The Munsters premiered within the same seven days. Please visit him at MarkVoger.com. RETROFAN

May 2023

RETRO COLLECTIBLES

Those Were the Days…

of All in the Family Collectibles

BY RICHARD KOLKMAN

It’s January 12, 1971: A brief text warning appears on the TV screen, then that familiar song begins: “Boy, the way Glenn Miller played…” With that came a huge seismic shift in American television and culture. The Mary Tyler Moore Show spearheaded this sea change in 1970, but All in the Family (AITF) defined it. In the early Seventies, America was changing fast (as always)… and Archie Bunker and family became odd bedfellow pioneers on our TV landscape. All in the Family wove an innovative seriocomic TV series from love, politics, civil rights, patriotism, war, and family. CBS-TV and series creators Bud Yorkin and Norman Lear, while tweaking the intolerant, asked the burning question: Can bigotry be funny? Popular consumerism’s “Americanism” produces a lot of stuff for the bucks. You won’t find any AITF model kits, trading cards, or lunch boxes here—but in celebration of Norman Lear recently turning 100 (on July 27, 2022), let’s dig out the junk! [Editor’s note: If you came in late, RetroFan #22 featured a Norman Lear interview; you can still snag a copy at twomorrows.com!]

AUDIO RECORDINGS

Before videotapes—and before DVDs and streaming—All in the Family was immortalized on vinyl records. So… sit back and enjoy an evening of loud, intolerant diatribes. During AITF’s first flush of success in 1971, Atlantic Records released All in the Family: The First Album (SD 7210). The LP sold well and charted in the Top Ten. Official products like this album are always marked copyright “Tandem Productions, Inc.” (or “TPI”). The album begins with the memorable theme song “Those Were the Days,” written by Lee Adams and Charles Strouse, a longer version than what started each episode of the CBS-TV series. Presented here are the lyrics to the second and third verses to the theme: People seemed to be content, Fifty dollars paid the rent, Freaks were in a circus tent. Those were the days. Take a little Sunday spin, Go to watch the Dodgers win, Have yourself a dandy day that cost you under a fin*. Hair was short and skirts were long, Kate Smith really sold a song, I don’t know just what went wrong, Those were the days! © New Tandem Music Company.

[*Editor’s note: A “fin” is five bucks.] After the opening, The First Album features notable excerpts from the show, insanities such as “Sweetie-Pie Roger,” “A Station 48

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(ABOVE) Original cover painting by Norman Mingo for 1973’s MAD Special #11, which included MAD’s All in the Family take-off “Gall in the Family Fare” on a flexi-disc record. MAD TM & © EC Publications, Inc. Courtesy of Heritage. Wagon Full of Nuns,” “God is Black,” and “Bacon Souffle and Women’s Lib.” The album enabled classic bits to live on, after disappearing from the airwaves after summer reruns. The promotion of the earliest AITF products often included actor Mike Evans (Lionel Jefferson) and show creators Bud Yorkin and Norman Lear. Surprisingly, for such a politically divisive show, AITF products always presented a pleasant Bunker family group portrait. One exception is the back cover of this album: Archie and Mike Stivic square off in profile. One strange thing about the biography and lyric insert that was included with the album is the picture on the front. Archie is wearing a white suit with black shirt and a white tie, looking every bit like a Mafia don. (This was before the movie The Godfather was released.) This outfit was uncharacteristic of Archie. He never appeared like this on the show. The First Album was also issued on 8-Track tape and cassette. “Those Were the Days,” as sung by Archie and Edith, also appeared on an Atlantic 45 RPM single (45-2847), with a picture sleeve matching the First Album cover. This 1971 single features two versions of the theme song, one on each side. A mono/stereo promo also exists. Buoyed by the success of the first album, Atlantic released All in the Family: The Second (2nd) Album in 1972 (SD 7232). More show excerpts are featured here. “Sammy Davis, Jr.’s Visit,” “Archie and Maude,” “Change of Life,” and “Archie in Jail” help fill out this LP of comedy classics.

(TOP LEFT AND RIGHT) Front and back covers to Atlantic Records’ 1971 LP, All in the Family: The First Album. (RIGHT) The follow-up, 1972’s Second Album. All in the Family © CBS. A Carroll O’Connor (Archie Bunker) album titled Remembering You (A&M SP 4340) also appeared in 1972. Mr. O’Connor croons 12 standards. In addition to the title track (written by Roger Kelleway, with lyrics by Carroll O’Connor—which wordlessly ended AITF weekly on TV), there also appeared: “Just a Memory,” “Last Night When We Were Young,” and “So Rare.” This album was also issued on 8-Track tape (AM8TC0340). A promotional EP was culled from the album, and was also released in 1972 in a picture sleeve by A&M Records (EP-7): “Can We Talk It Over”/“Sweet and Lonely”; “Last Night When We Were Young”/“Remembering You.” Rounding out 1972, Carroll O’Connor appeared with Cloris Leachman on the TV soundtrack of Of Thee I Sing (Columbia S31763). Jean Stapleton (Edith Bunker), a Broadway veteran (Damn Yankees, Bells Are Ringing), appeared on Barbra Streisand’s 1972 Broadway cast soundtrack album Funny Girl (Capitol STAO 2059). Then there’s the bizarre parody flexi-disc “Gall in the Family Fare” (EC/Evatone B3277327) included as a bonus in EC Publications’ MAD Special #11 (1973). Recorded in New York City and pressed in Clearwater, Florida, this aural re-enactment is from the story’s original appearance in MAD #147 (Dec. 1971).

In 1973, RCA Records released Side by Side: An Evening of Songs and Fun with the Bunkers (RCA APL1-0102). The album promises “solos and duets, song parodies, and a few well-placed wisecracks.” Listening to the entire album is an exercise in endurance. Among the old chestnuts like “You’re the Cream in My Coffee” and “I Remember It Well,” the latter song features some spoken misremembering: Edith claims she and Archie first met in 1942 at the “Astor Hotel under the clock.” Archie claims they met at “Niederman’s Drugstore.” In the series, Maude Findlay sides with Archie’s version. Maude describes how Archie stuck straws up his nose to impress them, as described by Maude with disgust. More contemporary songs were also covered: “Oh, Babe, What Would You Say?” (Norman “Hurricane” Smith’s #3 hit, 1972; formerly, from 1962–1966, Smith was a Beatles recording engineer). The Bunkers even sing the Beatles’ “When I’m 64.” (This song is ironic, since in the series Edith dies at age 53 in 1980, between seasons of the continuation series Archie Bunker’s Place. But thankfully, Jean Stapleton lived to age 90 and died in 2013. Carroll O’Connor passed away in April 2001.) Later albums get a little murky; in 1976, Audio Fidelity (AFSD 6276) released Carroll O’Connor Sings for Old P.F.A.R.T.S. (People Favoring A Return To Sentiment). Translation: More old standards. Mr. O’Connor also released one later (undated) album: Carnival of Animals (Location Recording Service LRS-RT-6280). We also must note the Nineties recording career of Danielle Publicity photos Briesbois (from 1978–1984, Archie’s from All in the Family niece Stephanie Mills) with her signed by the show’s disheveled punk persona intact. stars remain popular Another unusual AITF-related collectors’ items. All in the musical note: Barry Gordon (Gary Family © CBS. Courtesy of Heritage. Rubinowitz in Archie Bunker’s Place) was a child singing star at age seven: “Nuttin’ for Christmas” (MGM 12092) charted at #6 in 1955. Barry played “Chopper” on Leave It to Beaver—remember him? As for Archie’s rock ’n’ roll tastes? It was revealed on the show that Archie had once mooned the Rolling Stones when they appeared on his TV. The Internet, of course, has revealed fake records. “Youse Can All Go Eat S***” by Archie (“Atlantic SD 72102”) is a fake album, purportedly sanctioned by Norman Lear. It wasn’t.

SCRIPTS

Original All in the Family scripts are a special kind of collectible. They’re out there… and better left to the experts. Anything official will be marked with “Tandem Productions, Inc.”

PHOTOS

You’re a hardcore All in the Family fan if you own these records!

Every actor on AITF handed out personalized photos… or at least their agent did. Carroll O’Connor, Jean Stapleton, Rob Reiner, and Sally Struthers all knew how to handle this branch of fame. RETROFAN

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retro Collectibles

Ideal Toys’ Joey Stivic doll made headlines for its anatomical accuracy. All in the Family © CBS. [Editor’s fantasy: And how about an All in the Family ViewMaster reel set?]

PERIODICALS

Did anyone of youse RetroFans play these games back when youse was li’l dingbats? All in the Family © CBS.

POSTERS

When the AITF boom was in full swing (1972), posters abounded of the Bunkers—either the familial group shot or Archie, usually brandishing his trademark cigar. Official posters exhibit the Tandem (TRI) copyright, but there are always knock-offs.

T-SHIRTS

Archie’s brush-off “Stifle!” was the word of the day, and it appeared on one official shirt. Undoubtedly, bootleg shirts exist. The popular term “Dingbat” was not an insult, but rather, a term of endearment, Archie’s pet name for Edith. Most T-shirts feature the solo Archie.

GAMES

With All in the Family taking American viewers by storm, fans wanted to know more about their new favorite TV family. Filling the weekly void between episodes came an avalanche of cover stories and specialty publications detailing backstories of the Bunkers and the actors portraying them. In 1971, Fawcett published All in the Family—“The only authorized magazine to take you behind the scenes with the Bunkers.” Written by Marcia Borie, this official mag detailed the stars’ life stories and was loaded with intimate black-and-white photos. Many pics were culled from family photo albums and had never been published before. Numerous issues of TV Guide sported AITF covers, as did Photostar’s TV Family Album. The tide of popularity was still rising. In 2021, the 50th anniversary of AITF saw Time-Life’s publication of a full-color All in the Family Retrospective of the historic TV series and its many spin-offs. The November 19, 1971 issue of Newsweek’s AITF cover story was accompanied by a lengthy, serious journalism piece about TV “Speaking about the unspeakable.” Bigotry, compassion, and social responsibility were all under the microscope. Some of the other notable magazine appearances for the duration of AITF’s run include Scholastic’s kids’ magazine Dynamite (by 1974, the once-controversial AITF had “mellowed,” and in that acceptance was deemed appropriate for school children). Carroll O’Connor was cover-profiled (sans Archie and his cigar) in a People magazine “puff piece” in the July 14, 1975 issue. The

The Milton Bradley All in the Family Game released in 1972 asks, “Is there a little bit of Archie in all of us?” This game has movers, dice, and cards, based on a company template. Archie Bunker’s Card Game (1972) takes it to another level. The AITF episode “Archie and Edith Alone” (S2/E 19, February 5, 1972) reveals that Edith cheats to lose—not to win. Watch out for that!

GROUCHO MARX GLASSES

Groucho Marx glasses—gag eyewear with an affixed large nose and moustache, mimicking the look of the famed comedian—aren’t exactly AITF collectibles, but for goodness sake, they appeared in episodes over ten times. Begun by Mike Stivic, the Groucho routine was milked dry. (This phenomenon also infiltrated M*A*S*H.) So, for purists only, are Groucho Marx Glasses.

DOLL

Joey Stivic, son of Mike and Gloria, made his first appearance in “Birth of the Baby” (S6/E15, December 22, 1975). In 1976, Ideal Toys came out with Joey Stivic, the first anatomically correct male doll. Branded as “Archie Bunker’s Grandson,” Baby Joey had a lot more going for him than G.I. Joe. Author’s fantasy: Can you imagine Aurora model kits of AITF where Archie’s and Edith’s chairs join together at the bases? 50

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The Bunkers were popular cover stars on TV Guide and other media magazines. All in the Family © CBS. TV Guide © TV Guide.

retro Collectibles

entire cast was covered in People on March 27, 1978, as AITF was approaching its end.

BOOKS

There has never been another show like AITF. Leaving no stone unturned, researchers and crass merchandisers alike covered the Bunkers. In 1972, an avalanche of mass-market books accompanied the flood of AITF merchandise. The Wit and Wisdom of Archie Bunker (Popular Library 445-08194-095) was a paperback book full of quotations from “Chairman Archie.” Popular Library’s Archie Bunker’s Family Album was another mass-market paperback catering to the masses (of course) with “Snappy snapshots and candid captions” (photos and crazy quotes). Edith Bunker’s All in the Family Cookbook was another Popular Library paperback. Its recipes featured red flannel hash, pecan pie, sauerkraut pirogis, and Chinese egg rolls: “The joy of Edith Bunker’s cooking; down-to-earth recipes.” In 1975, theologian Spencer Marsh published the book God, Man and Archie Bunker: A Treatise on Bunkerism and the Church, promoted as “A look into a man of faith, through the eyes of TV’s beloved infidel.” Another mass-market paperback was All in the Family, a 1976 novelization by Burton Wohl of seven TV episodes re-told in short story form. In 1987, Workman published the definitive AITF history/ reference book. Archie & Edith, Mike & Gloria by Donna McCrohan was a billed as a “tumultuous tome” rife with biographies of the actors and creators of the series, the cultural impact of the show, anomalies, and a detailed episode guide of all nine seasons and 207 episodes of AITF. Those Were the Days: Why All in the Family Still Matters by Jim Cullen was published by Rutgers University Press in 2020. In an early celebration of the AITF creator’s 100th birthday, Norman Lear wrote All in the Family: The Show That Changed Television, published in 2021 by Universe. Of course there are other books, but the books listed here are a good start for an AITF library.

COMIC BOOKS

All in the Family in the comics was always a parody version of an already warped reality. (Imagine if Gold Key Comics had done a faithful presentation with photo covers…) Almost everyone jumped on the bandwagon: EC Publications’ MAD #147 (Dec. 1971) featured a Larry Siegel/Angelo Torres–

Among the Bunker sightings in Seventies comic books include this Archie and Edith cameo in Superman #249. Superman TM & © DC Comics.

produced parody titled “Gall in the Family Fare.” The irreverent story culminated with a visit from Archie’s “old war buddy” Adolf Hitler. This audio sour note was reenacted and set to music for the bonus flexi-disc included in MAD Special #11 (1973). Reportedly, the laugh track machine threw up. Archie and Edith appeared in DC Comics’ Superman #249 (Mar. 1972) as they watched Superman fly away. “Eydie” is told to stifle herself by an unnamed Archie in this story by Cary Bates, Curt Swan, and Murphy Anderson. Sick magazine #91 (July 1972) featured a Joe Simon cover that has Archie sitting on Huckleberry Fink’s lap and exclaiming, “The Fink is the real dummy.” Sidesplitting! In Marvel Team-Up #3 (July 1972), the Human Torch berated the TV-hogging Thing as “An Archie Bunker addict”—to which the Thing replies, “Stifle.” This is a one-panel gag in a story by Gerry Conway, Ross Andru, and Frank Giacoia. In Marvel’s Spoof #2 (Nov. 1972), “Brawl in the Family” is a framing device for “Artie” (Archie) to envision himself in lampoons of classic comic strips such as “Peanut,” “Terri and the Pilots,” “Dick Tracer,” and even editorial cartoons. This parody by Stu Schwartzberg and Henry Scarpelli was fronted by a topical Marie Severin cover. In DC Comics’ Shazam! #5 (Sept. 1973), writer-artist C. C. Beck introduced Archie and Edith into a Captain Marvel story titled “The World’s Toughest Guy.” Blink, and you’ll miss it: “The Walnuts” by Marv Wolfman and Marie Severin skewered that other family show of the Seventies, The Waltons—and who should appear in the final panels but the Bunkers. This appeared in Marvel’s Crazy magazine #3 (Mar. 1974). In return, the Waltons are mentioned in the AITF episode “Gloria’s Shock” (S5/E7, October 26, 1974). Barely related but worthy of mention: Jack Kirby’s “Dingbats of Danger Street” for DC Comics, as published in First Issue Special #6 (Sept. 1975). The legendary Kirby undoubtedly named this kid gang after Archie’s pet name for Edith. A “dingbat, by the way, is a printer’s type slug of decorative symbol art, as revealed in “Edith’s Conversion” (Season 4/Episode 9, original airdate November 10, 1973).

ARCHIE BUNKER FOR PRESIDENT

All in the Family–inspired paperbacks were on lots of reading lists in the early Seventies. All in the Family © CBS.

This segment of AITF deserves a category of its own. Write in the candidate of “yer cherce”—Archie Bunker! Portrayed as a “Man of the masses,” an “everyman,” Archie, a retrograde bigot, somehow was a popular force on an entire range of products: RETROFAN

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retro Collectibles

And you thought Howard the Duck was the Seventies’ weirdest presidential candidate. These six “Archie Bunker for President” buttons were among the selection available, retailed in vending machines. All in the Family © CBS. Courtesy of Hake’s.

h CANDLE This unabashed Archie for President item (1972) one strangely looks like a birthday cake, but reads: “It might as well be Bunker” (red/ blue).

h BUTTONS “Archie Bunker for President” pinback buttons were produced by the Folz Vending Company. Sporting patriotic colors of red, white, and blue, they were sold in vending machines and featured these slogans and images: 1. Archie Bunker for President (Archie portrait) 2. Archie Bunker for President (type design over the U.S. Capitol) 3. Back Bunker (Archie) 4. Another Meathead for Bunker (Archie) 5. America’s Foist Family: The Bunkers (Bunker family) 6. Bunker in ’72 – Chaos in ’73 (Archie) 7. Meathead for President (type design) 8. Archie Bunker Tells It Like It Was (Archie) 9. The Bunkers for Foist Family (Edith) 10. To the Rear – March with Bunker (type design) 11. I’m a Dingbat for Bunker (Archie) 12. Intellectuals for Bunker – Vote Arch in ’72 (type design) 13. Behind Every Great Man is a Dingbat (Edith) 14. Stifle Yourself! Back Bunker’s Bunk (Archie) There may have been additional slogans, but the 14 listed above are known to exist. Knock-offs are probable—more merchandise for the masses! h BUMPER STICKERS These were a little bit more understated, but had an appeal of their own. After all, the point was to get Archie Bunker elected president! 1. It Might As Well be Bunker 2. Archie Bunker – the Man for ’72 h CUP/STEIN/GOBLET Everyone knows Archie likes to tip one back at Kelsey’s. Here are four versions of “everyman” Archie for your drinking pleasure (in 1972). 1. plastic stein/mug with handle; color pic of Archie Bunker as “Mr. American” 2. glass mug (blue/white); “Archie Bunker for President” 3. ceramic white stein; “Archie Bunker, the Beer Party Candidate” 4. glass goblet (gold and white on clear); “To the Rear, March with Arch” (ArchIe and Edith portraits) 52

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h ASHTRAY The mass-market ashtray reads, “What do you want? Bad grammar or bad taste? Vote Archie Bunker and get both” (typographic on white ceramic). It is marked “TPI.” (Thanks to Mark Johnston for bringing this item to my attention.) h T-SHIRTS This is another area rife for counterfeit product, but according to official sources, there are two variations of Tandem-approved “Archie Bunker for President” T-shirts, featuring: 1. an Archie Bunker portrait, and 2. a Bunker family portrait. Another T-shirt resolved the question of “everyman” Archie Bunker’s political party affiliation: “Your Beer Party Candidate.” Archie was depicted on this shirt. Iron-on transfers were also available for those who wished to make their own “Archie Bunker for President” T-shirts, with these slogans: 1. “I am a Meathead for Archie Bunker,” and 2. “I am a Dingbat for Archie Bunker.” All of this compelling campaign merchandise came just in time for 18-year-olds to get the right to vote!

VIDEO/DVD

On March 8, 1979 the final episode of All in the Family aired, and all 207 episodes were gone into the ether until the best episodes were released in 1993 on Columbia Productions VHS tapes. Either close to 20 tapes collected four episodes each in an initial effort to make classic episodes available for home viewing. With the advent of DVDs, Columbia Tristar released Seasons 1–6 of AITF; every episode was in chronological order. One season was released annually from 2002 until 2007. Shout! took over from there and released seasons 7–9 sequentially on DVD. In 2012, Shout! obtained the rights to release all 207 episodes of AITF on a DVD boxed set. This is the one to get. The successor to AITF, Archie Bunker’s Place, ran for four seasons (1980–1984), but at this writing only Season 1 has been released on Sony DVD. This is the only season to feature Edith Bunker. No discernable product was generated by Archie Bunker’s Place. RICHARD KOLKMAN compiled the Jack Kirby Checklist: Centennial Edition (2018) and writes for Jack Kirby Collector magazine.

RETRO TELEVISION

The

Amazing

Cheryl Miller

‘She rides lions and pushes tigers around and isn’t even afraid of snakes!’ BY SUSAN BAILEY WITH KEN LYNCH

At ten years old, I wanted to be Paula Tracy of Daktari. I could not imagine a more exciting life than protecting and caring for wild animals in Africa. The idea of being in the great outdoors, driving a jeep, riding a lion, and cuddling baby animals was intoxicating. Her story was not typical “girl” stuff—Paula, played by actress Cheryl Miller, spoke to the animal and nature-loving tomboy in me. Every Tuesday from 7:30 p.m.–8:30 p.m., I was glued to the TV, watching my heroine in her latest adventure. What would Paula, Dr. Tracy, Jack, and Mike encounter along the way in their efforts to protect the animals—poachers, fires, floods, rhinos, leopards, alligators? All, and then some! But it wasn’t all drama. The hijinks of exotic beasts at the compound, especially Judy the Chimp and Clarence, the Cross-Eyed Lion, provided loads of fun. They were the real stars of the show. Through Paula’s escapades on Daktari, I saw a different kind of girl, physically strong with skills, guts, and resourcefulness. Thanks to Miller’s characterization of Paula, I had a role model. I soon became an enormous lifelong fan of Cheryl Miller and Daktari. With the help of a weekly allowance and a bicycle, I collected every picture and article I could find on Cheryl and Daktari. I frequently rode my bike to stores in the area, where I spent long and happy hours poring over movie magazines. I ordered glossies from Stephen Sally and Jeri of Hollywood; to this day, I still get a thrill from receiving large brown envelopes in the mail. I covered my bedroom wall with my treasures. That Christmas, my parents gave me a scrapbook hoping I would clean off that wall, which I did. I cherished that scrapbook and kept it throughout my life.

CREATING A FOREVER SCRAPBOOK FOR DAKTARI

I am now in my sixties, and my “Wameru” consists of three house cats I adore. I didn’t become Paula, choosing instead to write, but I still love the outdoors. And I remain a Daktari fan. In 2013, I lost my beloved scrapbook. Heartbroken, I turned to the Internet to rebuild my collection. I started a website, Daktari TV Show (https://daktaritvshow.wordpress.com/), thinking others might appreciate such a collection. Quickly I connected with many diehard fans worldwide, including Ken Lynch from Australia, Patrick Sansano from France, and Walter Steeman from the Netherlands. Their expertise and tireless efforts to compile an episode guide and find long-lost photos, videos, and other information have built Daktari TV Show into a popular website with tens of thousands of views each year. I have more pictures now than I can count! All because I had lost my scrapbook (which I finally found two years ago, to my great delight).

RECOLLECTIONS OF DAKTARI

Lynch writes, “Daktari first aired in Australia in late 1966 or early 1967 when I was 12. I loved action-adventure stories and the African landscape at the time, so it was perfect for me. The developing relationship between the Jack and Paula characters was also an added attraction, probably normal interest for a boy about to become a teenager.” Steeman first watched the show on Dutch and German TV when he was four. “I remember most Clarence and his crossed eyes and the funny chimp, Judy,” he said. He admitted to being scared when characters faced danger, such as being RETROFAN

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retro television

trapped in a pit with a wild animal. In the Eighties and Nineties, Daktari was rebroadcast, piquing Steeman’s interest. He began searching for information about the series. “I found more and more on the internet about Daktari and even episodes to watch again, and when the series was on DVD, I bought all four seasons,” he said. “At that time, I discovered Susan’s Daktari TV Show website and helped her to find information about the series and actors.” He was most fascinated by Cheryl Miller. “Cheryl Miller is interesting because she is a beautiful woman with many skills besides acting, like singing and playing music, flying airplanes, horseback riding, etc. It is unbelievable where she found the time to do all this!” Steeman also grew to appreciate Daktari’s message. “Fifty-six years ago, this show gently reminded fans to be aware of nature, wild animals, and the Earth’s resources,” he said. “Daktari was a unique TV series with a message that still stands the test of time.”

DAKTARI’S BEGINNINGS

What brought about this show that has inspired such passion? Daktari (Swahili for “doctor”) was developed as a result of a film geared towards children. Ivan Tors produced the series following his 1965 MGM film Clarence, the Cross-Eyed Lion, which served as a pilot. It was a family-friendly movie about a veterinary surgeon, Dr. Marsh Tracy (Marshall Thompson), heading up the Wameru Study Center for Animal Behaviour in East Africa with his teenage daughter Paula (Cheryl Miller). Paula had adopted Clarence, a rescued cross-eyed lion, and Judy, a mischievous chimpanzee; they joined her and Dr. Tracy in thwarting poachers from trapping the research gorillas of Julie Harper (Betsy Drake), a love interest for

FAVORITE MOMENTS

My favorite episodes were Season Two’s “Terror in the Bush,” “Countdown for Paula,” and “The Return of Clarence,” and Season One’s two-part episode, “The Return of the Killers.” The trailer for “The Return of the Killers” initially attracted me to Daktari, and I became hooked. Watching these episodes as a child, I was thrilled at the amount of screen time given to Paula and all the adventures she experienced. Some 50 years later, as an adult, I noticed undertones to these episodes that made them even more enjoyable. The tender and close relationship between Dr. Tracy and his daughter shown in “Terror in the Bush” and “Countdown for Paula” was touching. He had great faith in her abilities, especially in “The Return of the Killers,” when she had to remove a bullet from a convict, taking instructions from her father on the walkie-talkie.

VALUABLE MESSAGES

But as aforementioned, Cheryl’s Paula was an outstanding role model for young girls. In “Terror in the Bush,” Paula had to rely on her resourcefulness, creative problem-solving, and raw courage to save her father after their jeep had overturned. The scene where she wrestles with the alligator before bringing her father across the river to safety still has me on the edge of my seat whenever I watch it. Daktari was groundbreaking in other ways. Steeman mentioned that the show presented a meaningful message about protecting the environment by example rather than preaching. Daktari was also the first television series providing many roles for Black actors portraying various characters. 54

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(TOP) And you thought Mr. Magoo was a bad driver! Poster from producer Ivan Tors’ Clarence, the Cross-Eyed Lion. © 1965 MGM. Courtesy of Heritage. (ABOVE) Publicity photo of the Daktari cast. (LEFT TO RIGHT) Cheryl Miller as Paula Tracy, Clarence the Cross-Eyed Lion, Marshall Thompson as Dr. Marsh Tracy, and Yale Summers as Jack Dane. Daktari © Warner Bros. Courtesy of Susan Bailey. the widowed Dr. Tracy. Popular with young moviegoers, Clarence was an entertaining animal adventure film with plenty of human interaction and comedy. The film’s success led Thompson and Tors to continue the format in television as Daktari in 1966. The TV series added additional characters, Jack Dane (Yale Summers) and Mika Makula (Hari Rhodes), who assisted Dr. Tracy in protecting, caring for, and studying the native animals. District Officer Hedley (Hedley

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Mattingly), a British game warden, worked with Dr. Tracy to bring poachers to justice. The show was filmed outdoors at Africa U.S.A., an affectiontraining animal compound located in Soledad Canyon about 40 miles north of Los Angeles, California. During production, several floods and fires in Soledad Canyon caused major problems resulting in the loss of animals and buildings. Some footage was shot in Africa, featuring Marshall Thompson in the bush with natives. Tors’ 1963 film Rhino! also provided clips for the series. Adding to the ambiance was jazz artist Shelly Manne’s memorable African-flavored music in the second, third, and fourth seasons.

DAKTARI’S SUCCESS

The hour-long CBS drama was a mid-season replacement, debuting on January 11, 1966. Daktari became a surprise hit in America and worldwide, achieving Top Ten in the ratings by the second year. Both Clarence and Judy received Patsy awards (“Picture Animal Top Star of the Year”), an honor given by Hollywood’s office of the American Humane Association to trained animal performers. The show’s success spawned a merchandising industry producing four paperbacks, four annuals, and at least nine other comics and hardback books. Shelly Manne released an LP soundtrack album of his music. Other Daktari merchandise such as jigsaw puzzles, chewing gum trading cards, play sets, and model cars remain popular among collectors today.

MISSED OPPORTUNITIES

One of the show’s most popular arcs was the potential love interest between Jack Dane and Paula Tracy, suggested by a near-kiss in the first season. Though Jack, several years older than Paula, tended to treat her like a little girl, he was noticeably jealous when a playboy showered attention on Paula (and she responded by upturning her hair). The pair teased each other in good fun and eventually shared an innocent kiss in the second season. Despite the great chemistry between Cheryl Miller and Yale Summers, the romance never blossomed, which disappointed fans greatly.

WORLDWIDE SUCCESS

The show enjoyed a strong following in the United Kingdom and throughout Europe, remaining popular throughout the Eighties and Nineties. Fans can find whole seasons online on Dailymotion. com, overdubbed in various languages. Daktari also became the first American series shown in the former U.S.S.R. Cheryl Miller was so beloved in Australia that she appeared as a presenter in that country’s TV Logie Awards. The popularity of Daktari and its cast endured in later years, with Marshall Thompson making one of his last regular TV appearances in George, a 1972–1973 series shot in Switzerland.

SEASON FOUR CHANGES

In 1969, changes occurred in Season Four of Daktari. With the exit of Yale Summers (whose character, Jack, returned to the states on a research fellowship), Ross Hagen (Bart Jason, camera-safari guide who was once a ranger) joined the series. Seven-year-old Erin Moran (who later became well known as Joanie Cunningham on Happy Days) played Jenny Jones, an orphan adopted by Dr. Tracy. She and Dr. Tracy could maintain the father-daughter aspect of the show now that Cheryl had turned 26. Her costuming (shorts, miniskirts, and boots) and more glamorous hairstyle reflected how Paula had grown up. The fourth season, increasingly geared towards small children, focused on Jenny, Judy, and Clarence. Ratings fell despite the shift in direction, and CBS cancelled Daktari in midseason.

(ABOVE) Daktari fans across the globe could read further adventures of Paula Tracy and her jungle family in a range of books produced for various reading levels. Daktari © Warner Bros. Photo by Ken Lynch. (RIGHT) Box and interior contents of Marx Toys’ 1967 Daktari play set. Note the misspelling of actress “Cheryll” Miller’s name on the box front. Some of the play set’s pieces reused molds from previously produced Marx play sets (an example: the trees and plants were the same as in Marx’s Flintstones play set). Daktari © Warner Bros. Courtesy of Heritage.

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A sampling of periodicals featuring photo covers of the animal-loving Ms. Miller in her Daktari role. Dell Comics published four issues of Daktari in the late Sixties; issue #3 (Oct. 1968), shown here, is the only issue to feature Cheryl on the cover. (Dell’s Daktari #4 was a reprint of issue #1.) Daktari © Warner Bros.

UPSTAGED BY THE ANIMALS

of an emphasis on education rather than pursuing stardom. Gary eventually became a dentist. While still in school, Cheryl took on guest-starring roles, beginning in 1957 at age 15 with a small part in Bachelor Father with John Forsythe. She appeared in many iconic early Sixties television series including Perry Mason, Leave It to Beaver, Our Man Higgins, My Three Sons, and The Farmer’s Daughter. Her looks varied greatly from the rather plain Helen, escorted by Lumpy Rutherford on Leave It to Beaver, to the blonde, glamorous Georgina Williams, Robbie Douglas’ old flame on My Three Sons. Later, pragmatic Cheryl would explain in an article from Motion Picture magazine written by Paul Denis, “I acted in order to get money for my education.”

Despite the show’s success, the stars sometimes complained of not being recognized publicly. Cheryl contributed a tongue-in-cheek article for Cynthia Lowry’s column in the Kingston Daily Freeman lamenting her invisibility: “I dream of overhearing someone whisper, ‘There goes Cheryl Miller—she rides lions and pushes tigers around and isn’t even afraid of snakes.’ But it just never happens. When I go out shopping or to the movies, I do get a reaction of sorts. Some people do a double take and get a thoughtful look on their faces. Obviously they were thinking, ‘Now where have I seen her before?’ But little kids don’t rush up and ask me for autographs. Their parents don’t want to know if Judy is as smart as she seems on the show. I’m dying to talk about the amazing things that happen on Daktari, FAST FACTS but nobody knows I know.” DAKTARI That lack of recognition would not last long. But it had taken some 22 years for f No. of seasons: Four Cheryl’s star to shine despite spending her f No. of episodes: 89 whole life in show business. f Original run: January 11, 1966– January 15, 1969 CHERYL’S BEGINNINGS f Primary cast: Marshall IN ACTING Thompson, Cheryl Miller, Yale Cheryl began her acting career in 1942 at a Summers, Hari Rhodes mere 20 days old, cast as the baby boy of f Created by: Ivan Tors, Art Gary Cooper and Teresa Wright in Casanova Arthur Brown. Her reputation as a “good baby” PRECEDED BY: earned her a part just eight days later in Marriage Is a Private Affair. Although she and f Clarence, the Cross-Eyed Lion older brother Gary appeared in hundreds of (1965 movie) movies as babies, their parents placed more 56

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BEING DISCOVERED

Cheryl’s breakthrough came in 1965–1966 with a flurry of movies, TV appearances, and other extracurricular activities. In 1965, Walt Disney cast her in the supporting role of Lisa, babysitter to Stanley, a chimpanzee, in The Monkey’s Uncle, starring Annette Funicello and Tommy Kirk. When asked by Dick Clark on American Bandstand what it was like to work with the chimp, she quipped, “Well, if you consider being kissed on the mouth fun… it was interesting!” It appears Stanley appreciated Cheryl’s affectionate baby talk. That same year, Miller’s four-episode role of Bonnie McCoy on Flipper brought the 22-year-old actress to the attention of Ivan Tors, who produced that popular series.

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Remembering Cheryl’s ease with animals, he cast her as Paula Tracy in Clarence, the Cross-Eyed Lion, which evolved into Daktari. The following year she was named a “Hollywood Makeup and Hairstylists Guild Deb Star” along with Melody Patterson (F-Troop), Edy Williams (Beyond the Valley of the Dolls), Peggy Lipton (The Mod Squad), and Sally Field (Gidget). Cheryl was also named Miss Golden Globe, assisting Andy Williams in the presentation of the Golden Globe Awards.

FAR MORE THAN AN ACTRESS

Fame did come as the result of Daktari, but as Cheryl stated to Paul Denis, she had never planned to make a lifelong career of acting. Her mother, Elsie, a travel agent and divorcee (previously married to Howard Miller, an architect), proved a strong and welcomed influence. “I guess my brother and I have my mother to thank for our curiosity about so many different subjects,” she said. Denis went on to comment, “As proof of this, Cheryl’s lively conversation can touch on Hawaiian real estate (she owns some) and go on to auto-racing, religion, church music, calculus, gentling racehorses, art, marital problems, period furniture, investment—and mating iguanas.” An athletic young woman, she held the San Fernando Valley record of 6.5 seconds for the 50-yard dash for many years. She also surfed (with a ten-foot board), skin-dived, sailed, and played tennis. She enjoyed gourmet cooking and designing her own clothes. She summed up her life approach: “I’d like to be able to do everything well. Until you’ve tried every ice cream flavor, how do you know which is best?” Her original ambition was to become a choral director of her church, Bel-Air Presbyterian, where she remained active during her time on Daktari, serving as program director, social chairman, and vice president of the college division. As she put it, “I don’t bring my work home with me. When I leave for the day, I leave acting there with the cameras. I want to learn about as many things as I can, and I enjoy talking with people who know about things other than acting.” Cheryl first attended UCLA, where, as she told Dick Clark, she spent her first year studying chemistry. She took no theater arts classes because “there are too many other things I don’t know anything about.” After UCLA, she attended the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music. A member of her church’s choir,

(LEFT AND BELOW) Screenshots of early Cheryl Miller television guest appearances, on Leave It to Beaver and My Three Sons. (Beaver fans are directed to our recent coverage of the show in RetroFan #24.) Leave It to Beaver © NBCUniversal. My Three Sons © CBS Studios, Inc. Courtesy of Susan Bailey.

she was an accomplished singer with a three-and-one-half octave range and played piano and classical guitar.

HER LOVE OF ANIMALS

Cheryl’s interest in animals has been lifelong. She collected black widow spiders, raised a baby alligator, and caught wild animals, snakes, and insects with her brother, Gary, while still living at home in the San Fernando Valley. All her pets were kept in the garage “because my mother doesn’t like animals.” According to the Fresco Bee, she scratched tarantulas under the chin because they enjoyed it. Later in her own home, she mated iguanas, kept house cats, and wished she could have raised a baby tiger in her apartment. Her passion for and lack of fear for exotic animals served Cheryl well for Daktari. Her tendency to be a daredevil also helped, though, as she commented to Bert Resnik of the Press-Telegram, she didn’t consider herself particularly courageous. “I don’t push myself or try to be brave about it. I just do what the trainers tell me to and that’s it.” She never forgot what she was told, that “the animals are tame to a degree but… they can revert to their wild instincts at any second.”

HAZARDOUS MOMENTS ON THE SET

Some of Cheryl’s recollections of her experiences with animals on the show were pretty hair-raising. She told Bert Resnik the story about riding the lion for the show’s opening credits and how, on the eighth take, the lion lunged for her left leg. The trainers leaped into action, knocking her off the lion before he could bite. She’s been trampled by an ostrich, dumped into a slimy pond by an elephant, scratched by a hyena, and charged by a lion. Even affectionate animals placed her at risk,

Animal lover Cheryl hugs a fellow Daktari cast member. Daktari © Warner Bros.

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nearly being knocked over by a purring 300-pound lion rubbing against her legs.

A KINDER, GENTLER ANIMAL-TRAINING METHOD

Affection, however, was the basis for coaching the animals on Daktari. Ivan Tors and Ralph Helfer, his partner in Africa U.S.A., developed the technique known as “affection training.” I recently corresponded with Ralph Helfer about this method: “Affection training is a program I created to work with animals with love instead of fear. The principles are love, patience, understanding, and respect. It’s a process that forms a bond between the animal and the person that doesn’t allow any negativity between them. If it arises, it’s turned around into communication by using touch, gentleness, and working with positive vibes. Affection training revolutionized the motion picture and television industry around from using fear training.” Ivan Tors told the Modesto Bee that affection training does increase the time it takes to shoot a scene. “We don’t always get results as fast as we would if we drove the animals at the end of a whip,” he admitted. But he added, “But we get something much more important to us, and that is consistent reactions. Because the animal trusts us, we can trust him to behave predictably—something you can’t do with a fear-trained animal.” Like Tors, Helfer saw Cheryl’s potential with affection training. “There are some people… who have a special aura that animals are drawn to. Cheryl Miller was such a person. The love and patience needed were there.” After putting the cast through the extensive training procedures, Helfer said, “Cheryl passed with flying colors.” Because Cheryl had such an affinity for animals, Helfer felt he could ask her to do things not usually done. “It was fun teaching her how to ride Zamba, my 528-pound lion,” he recalled. “To put Astaroth, our ten-foot boa constrictor, around her neck. She was like one of my trainers, always there to load or unload animals for the shot.” A famous photo from TV Guide showed Cheryl “pulling” the tail of Serang, a tiger. Helfer explained that she was not pulling his tail but holding it playfully. “We did it all the time,” he said. At times, however, the risk proved too high for Cheryl to perform all of her own stunts. Ralph Helfer’s wife, Toni, would step in to help. Helfer recalls one such stunt from Season Two’s “Terror in the Bush,” where Paula wrestles with an alligator. “[As] Ivan Tors didn’t want any of his actors to risk injury, we limited the shot for Cheryl by me putting tape around the gator’s mouth so that it couldn’t bite. Cheryl wanted to do all the wrestling, but Tors wouldn’t let her. They were still concerned about her being scratched by his claw. Toni, my wife, was Cheryl’s stunt double.” Helfer describes his late wife as a “beautiful blonde actress/ model and more than a stunt double.” He continues, “She was in charge of the trainers and worked hand in hand with me. She 58

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(ABOVE) Africa U.S.A.’s Ralph Helfer (SEATED), with wife Toni (STANDING) and daughter Tana (IN LAP). Oh, yeah… and Zamba. (LEFT) Tana and Ralph Helfer today. Both, courtesy of Tana Helfer. had raised [many of the animals] in the nursery, so they knew her.” Who was Cheryl’s favorite animal on Daktari? “I think it was Judy or Zamba,” said Helfer.

MILLER’S MOVIE AND TV ROLES AFTER DAKTARI

After Daktari’s cancellation, Cheryl worked steadily throughout the Seventies. In 1969, she played Samantha Pudding in a short-lived daytime drama Bright Promise, which ended in 1972. Along with her work on the show, she was hired as the new Dodge “Fever” Girl, replacing Joan Parker. Cheryl appeared in commercials, magazine spreads, and national car shows. Cheryl co-starred in several films, including Doctor Death: Seeker of Souls (1973) as Sandy, falling prey to the evil John Considine; The Man from Clover Grove (1974) as Millie Swickle, alongside Richard Deacon, Rose Marie, and Paul Winchell; Guardian of the Wilderness (a.k.a. Mountain Man) (1976) as Kathleen Clark, playing opposite Ken Berry; and Mr. Too Little (1978) as Carola. She remained active on television with guest-starring roles. Shows included Cade’s County; Love, American Style; Emergency!; Barnaby Jones; The Streets of San Francisco; The Wide World of Mystery; Run, Joe, Run; Gemini Man; The Six Million Dollar Man; Police Story, and The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo.

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appeared in some of his work, a nod from him in appreciation for her support.

CHERYL MILLER TODAY

According to Freizeit Revue, Cheryl has remained active in her senior years. As part of a gated community, PebbleCreek Resort in Goodyear, Arizona, she has many friends with whom she attends the theater. Cheryl is blessed with good health, competing in Bocci tournaments with cohorts (often winning the competitions), and participating in the senior citizen Olympics. In 2012 she told Freizeit Revue, “I can handle bows and (LEFT) Lobby card from the 1965 Disney family film, The Monkey’s Uncle, arrows, I swim, I ski.” showing Cheryl Miller and star Annette Funicello with Stanley the chimp. The Cheryl also gives back to her Monkey’s Uncle © Disney. Courtesy of Heritage. (RIGHT) Post-Daktari, Cheryl’s sparkling face community by working through her perked up Dodge’s marketing materials, such as this 1970 print ad. © 1970 Chrysler church with children with incurable Corporation. (INSET) Cheryl Miller in 2016. Facebook. conditions, inspired by caring for her terminally ill husband. “This can be rough but fulfilling at the same time,” she said. In a 2012 interview with Freizeit Revue, Cheryl recalled her time In July 2016, Cheryl met with fans and gave autographs at the in Daktari as “wonderful,” but summed up the rest of her career as Hollywood Show in Los Angeles. Attendee Susan Davis shared her “a soap opera and some fair to middling flickers.” She gave up on impressions on the Daktari TV Show site: acting in 1980. “I had earned enough money. I wanted to “She is beautiful inside and out. My concentrate purely on my family,” she said. “My children daughter asked if she could take a cell shouldn’t get the feeling that their mother was something picture of her and me, and she said yes. special.” She was also very gracious in signing pictures for my granddaughter and me. MARRIAGE AND CHILDREN She is extremely nice and very pretty.” Amid her acting work, Cheryl experienced a turbulent personal life. She first married (in a backless white mini Cheryl’s love of wild animals gown) stockbroker Stanley Shapiro in 1968, but they remains. “My memories of Daktari divorced in 1971. A second marriage to businessman Robert are as vivid then as if it were only Seidenglanz in 1979 ended in 1983. She had one child, Erik, yesterday,” she said. now 41. Finally, in 1987, she met and married her “ideal man,” Robert Kasselman, and became the stepmother of his sons, A FINAL THOUGHT Ronn, now 55, and Robb, 53. She and Kasselman were happily I have been a “fangirl” for Cheryl Miller since the tender age of ten. married until 2004, when he died of a rare heart disease. First attracted by her luminous beauty, I quickly learned just how Cheryl was a proud and devoted mother, supporting her son fascinating, intelligent, and caring she was and is. That beauty still Erik Seidenglanz’s passion for magic. At 12, he was the youngest shines as Cheryl, the last surviving cast member of my favorite TV person admitted to Hollywood’s Magic Castle junior program. He show, Daktari, turned 81 in February 2023. The Daktari TV Show performed at a White House luncheon in 1993, attended by Vice website, built with love in partnership with friends worldwide, is President Al Gore. a tribute to this amazing woman and the TV series that made her As a young magician fine-tuning his skills, Erik often performed famous. At 66, I remain a big fan. on street corners. Cheryl recalled that she “went up with him and parked myself across the street on the bus stop bench watching, I wish to thank my co-writer Ken Lynch, whose extensive knowledge and the protective mother.” passion for Daktari made this article possible. While she drove him to his various gigs, she stayed out of sight as he worked the room. ”This is the time to go from boy to man Life-long Daktari devotees without Mommy around,” Cheryl said. “Every kid wants to be good SUSAN BAILEY and at something, find their niche. This is his niche.” KEN LYNCH run the As Erik grew older, his passions expanded into conceptual art Daktari TV Show website with an emphasis on photography and music. Cheryl’s photos have (https://daktaritvshow. wordpress.com/). RETROFAN

May 2023

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! (192-page COLOR HARDCOVER) $43.95 • (Digital Edition) $15.99 • ISBN: 978-1-60549-115-8 • NOW SHIPPING!

GROOVY also by MARK VOGER

From Woodstock, “The Banana Splits,” and “Sgt. Pepper” to “H.R. Pufnstuf,” Altamont, and “The Partridge Family,” GROOVY is a far-out trip to the era of lava lamps and love beads. This profusely illustrated hardcover book, in psychedelic color, features interviews with icons of grooviness such as PETER MAX, BRIAN WILSON, PETER FONDA, MELANIE, DAVID CASSIDY, members of the JEFFERSON AIRPLANE, CREAM, THE DOORS, THE COWSILLS and VANILLA FUDGE; and cast members of groovy TV shows like “The Monkees,” “Laugh-In” and “The Brady Bunch.” Revisit the era’s rock festivals, movies, art, comics and cartoons in this color-saturated pop-culture history! (192-page COLOR HARDCOVER) $39.95 • (Digital Edition) $13.99 • ISBN: 978-1-60549-080-9

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THE ODDBALL WORLD OF SCOTT SHAW!

I Pity The Fool Who Don’t Read This Article The Golden Life of Mr. T BY SCOTT SHAW! When I was a kid, there were scads of talented people out there who had a genuine “bigger-than-life” vibe I admired. I loved the more outrageous members of that crowd in the Fifties and Sixties. Here are a few of my favorites (a few of whom I’ve already written about in previous RetroFan issues): Gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson; comics’ carny, Smilin’ Stan Lee; surrealist painter Salvador Dali; prizefighter/ rebel Muhammad Ali; demented improv comedian Jonathan Winters; abstract custom car designer Ed “Big Daddy” Roth; radio deejay Wolfman Jack; cartoon director Bob Clampett; and TV pioneer Ernie Kovacs. They all seemed to me as if they were wearing invisible facades that imperceptibly heightened their unique and eccentric qualities. (Unfortunately, in recent years, it’s also become another branding and marketing tool...) In 1983, I came across another unique member of the “Bigger Than Life Club.” He was making his first television appearance on NBC’s Late Night with David Letterman, already known by moviegoers as Clubber Lang from Rocky III. Mr. T was an instant star, so iconic that school kids still know who he is 40 years later. Of course, if you only know Mr. T from The A-Team, you’ll be surprised by his backstory beyond his unique look, attitude, and sense of humor.

SON OF A PREACHERMAN

Mr. T—born Lawrence Tureaud in Chicago’s Southside, Illinois, on May 21, 1952—is a born-again Christian with three children: two

(ABOVE) Publicity photo of Mr. T, c. 1983. (LEFT) Lawrence Tero’s 1970 high school graduation photo. U.S. Dept. of Defense. daughters (one of whom is a comedian) and a son from his ex-wife. Muhammad Ali was his “childhood hero.” His father was a minister, Reverend Nathaniel “Buddy” Tureaud, Sr. Rev. Tureaud had a powerful voice and was an outstanding speaker and an expert on the Bible who could get “the whole church shouting and hollering.” He was proud and wanted to be proud of his kids and raised them with discipline, requiring them to help out around church as choir singers or ushers who collected and counted the donations of cash. “My father did not believe in sparing the rod,” Mr. T said. But the senior Tureaud also had a mellow, fun side—he owned a beat-up, cream-colored, fourdoor 1956 Plymouth, one that young Lawrence loved to ride in. When he was out of work, Nathaniel became a junkman and would scour Chicago’s white neighborhoods with five of his sons to find castoff toys, bicycles, food, and new clothes for his family, friends, and for bartering. He and his boys would also go into abandoned buildings to collect scrap to sell. “I guess you could say my father had a genius for knowing what the white folks liked to see—they liked to see blacks begging and needing something from them,” Mr. T recalled. Rev. Tureaud was so deft as a charming “smooth talker” that well-to-do people invited him and his kids for dinner, which led to introductions to other privileged whites, who he subtly manipulated to his advantage. “He played his hand like a RETROFAN

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The oddball world of scott shaw!

(LEFT) Mr. T as… Mr. T, in writer-director James Fanaka’s sweaty prison flick, Penitentiary II (1982). © Bob-Bea Productions. (BELOW) They’ve both got the eye of the tiger! While the U.S. movie poster for Rocky III (1983) spotlighted the glistening boxer-bod of writer-directorstar Sylvester Stallone, this promo from Belgium co-emphasized the Italian Stallion’s indomitable adversary. © United Artists Productions. Lobby card and poster courtesy of Heritage.

riverboat gambler, and I think he should have received an Academy Award for ‘Best Actor’ because he was simply outstanding.” He earned the respect of his community by standing up to landlords, “the light man, the gas man, the coal man, bill collectors, the police, and the store clerks.” As Nathaniel’s eight sons grew older, they grew much bigger, just like their pop. Without any employment opportunities and a huge family, the reverend made a sad decision: in order for his family to receive welfare benefits, there couldn’t be a man to be living in the household. Therefore, when Lawrence was only five, his father left and his family was on its own. Lawrence changed his last name to “Tero.” The Tureaud boys were angry and hostile toward their father who couldn’t leave even a scrap of his possessions behind without endangering the family’s welfare. But their mother assured them that their father did what he could and sacrificed himself for his family’s survival. They should always love him, because he would always be their father. “You know, if my mother hadn’t told us that, we would have killed my father, or seriously injured him for deserting the family,” Mr. T recalled. “We were angry, hurt, poor, and had no way out and nobody to turn to.” Fortunately, the kids came to understand that Nathaniel was doing the only thing he could that would benefit his family. While Lawrence was attending high school, he and his father reunited, developing an understanding of each other’s position, with no hard feelings. Although her name isn’t known by the public, Mr. T’s mother was incredibly devoted to keeping her family from being thrown to the streets. She’d awake at dawn and wait in the snow for a bus. Of his mother Mr. T said, “It was her feet that carried her across town to do domestic work for the white folks’ houses. My mother had to get down on her hands and knees to scrub floors, scrub toilets, and wash dirty, stinky diapers.” Despite her increasingly pain-ridden body, Mr. T’s mom did everything possible to raise her eight sons and four daughters to the best of her ability. Li’l Lawrence—the brother among eight who got whipped the most and spent the most time in the discliplinary “black room”—was indeed a handful. But Mr. T remembers his mother as loving, protective, courageous, and tough. “I remember one time 62

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a fight broke out and my mother ran downstairs with a golf club ready to do battle with anybody, even though her sons were on the case.” She was a very religious lady and a positive role model to her 12 kids. “My mother means so much to me,” said Mr. T. “She’s been my inspiration, my light when times got dark; she’s been my partner when I couldn’t find a friend.”

MR. T LEARNS HIS ABCs

Attending a mostly white grammar school with few kids of color, Lawrence Tero learned how to socialize; everyone got along without any problems. He was influenced by many of his female teachers, and in sixth grade won top awards in the school’s science fair. In seventh grade, pre-adolescent Lawrence had his first male teacher and his first “dream killer” teacher. He began to realize that there are two options that most urban Black kids can choose to escape the ghettos: school or sports. “I always did so like the rougher things

The oddball world of scott shaw!

“Everybody had ‘A-Team’ fever,” Mr. T said. And he wasn’t kidding! As this sampling of A-Team merchandise and media shows, Mr. T’s B. A. Baracus was clearly the breakout star of the show. The

in life, the rougher sports, ’cause sports were a way of me working off anxieties and tension,” he reflected. “Also, the trophies were something to look forward to, to work for, to get some pride and self-respect.” In 1966, Lawrence began attending Paul Lawrence Dunbar (Vocational) High School. The 165-pound teen joined the Dunbar wrestling team, taking his weight and practice very seriously. He even dropped a girlfriend who wanted him to privately “wrestle” her rather than attend practice! He was a good winner and a better loser, treating his rivals with public respect, becoming the City Wrestling Champ for two years straight. But his success led to a problem. “It got so that I would be winning everything, and I became the most feared wrestler in Chicago,” Mr. T revealed. “They soon started barring me from tournaments, saying that I had won enough; give someone else a chance.” This may have tamped down his enthusiasm for wrestling a bit, but it didn’t stop him from enjoying his face-offs against competent challengers. “I would meet my opponent at the center of the mat and stare at him, then go to my corner and hold my hands and pray. I had this penetrating look, this hypnotizing look, this intimidating look on my face, and I was a vicious wrestler. Mean and brutal, but never dirty.” Lawrence gained the ferocious nickname “Tero the Terror” and was voted his team’s Most Valuable Player. In his junior year, he won third place in the state of Illinois, the first time a Dunbar student placed at that level. But his coach decided to give the MVP award to another player, keeping that information from Lawrence until just minutes before the sports banquet, informing him in front of teachers, principal, students, fellow athletes, guests, and

reporters. Lawrence was so stunned that he didn’t wrestle in his senior year. Lawrence was also on the school’s football team—for all four years of high school. “I knew I was good, and yes, I had a big head (I wore a size 7¾ hat). I was cocky and I was conceited.” In his senior year, Dunbar’s football team beat its longtime rival, in part due to Lawrence’s performance, his first genuine high point in life. As he approached graduation, Lawrence had over three dozen football scholarship offers from Big 10, Pac 8, Ivy League, and other colleges. Texas’ Prairie View A&M College offered him a scholarship, which he accepted since A&M was an all-Black institution. In 1970, he arrived there for football summer practice. It took his Texas teammates a while to get used to the massive Chicagoan attending his classes in a nice suit. “When I enrolled a Prairie View A&M, I changed my first name to ‘Mohammad’ and demanded everyone to call me by that name or I wouldn’t answer,” Mr. T said. As a freshman football player, he was expected to shave his head for a big game. “I cut all my hair off and I liked it, so I’ve been wearing it bald (or semi-bald) ever since.” Mohammad’s biggest thrill at Prairie View was coming home to Chicago to play against Grambling at White Sox Park in October 1970. He was also elected as the president of the freshman class, as well as making the honor roll with six As, a 4.0 grade average. “When I was in college, I was sort of militant—that is, I was a militant from the authorities’ point of view,” Mr. T recalled. “I just didn’t take no stuff, that’s all. Besides, I was class president, so I had some power and I voiced my opinion.” Some people misinterpreted Mohammad’s self-confidence as “attitude.” At a time when RETROFAN

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destructive protests nearly demolished the college, the faculty asked for help from the student body in quelling the violence. Mohammad stepped forward as the freshman president. He and other volunteers who showed up for a meeting to discuss the students’ grievances with the administrators soon learned that their conversation had been secretly recorded; within days, every one of them was suspended. “All of the charges were trumped up,” Mr. T later revealed. “I had two college hearings in which I had no chance at all. The only thing the board wanted to hear was the names of the other students who participated in the riot. I refused to tell. If that’s what I had to do to get back into college, well, I didn’t want an education there.” He went on a campaign to tell his story on television and radio, at other colleges and universities, and in courtrooms, and sued Prairie View A&M for defamation of character. “I left Prairie View in a state of shock.”

In 1972, his career made a sudden leap from nighttime security guard to gym instructor for Chicago’s Board of Education’s government-funded program called Operation Impact. It was a fairly big school for “problem” boys—slow learners, disinterested students, fighters, troublemakers, and boys from broken homes. And Mr. T was their gym and health instructor. It sounds like a pitch for a sitcom, but the actual situation was anything but funny. “My mission at Impact was to teach the un-teachable, to reach the unreachable, and to wait on the late bloomers.” Every day was a challenge. But Mr. T felt that he and his kids had a lot in common. He taught at Impact for three years until the school’s funding ended. Thanks to simultaneously working multiple jobs and good timing, the 23-year-old Mr. T saved enough money to buy his own four-unit apartment building. “Now, I got this building at a steal because the neighborhood was changing and the man who was the previous ‘T’ TIME owner (a white man) Clearly, it was time for figured it was time to get the future Mr. T to go out,” Mr. T explained. “So home to Chicago. After I came along just in time, job searching, he found with my pockets bulging employment in the housewith money. The man keeping department of a wanted $1,500 down, but downtown hotel, setting I gave him $5,000 to show up rooms with chairs, him I meant business.” tables, ashtrays, and Mr. T’s next move was water bottles. The job “to become a bodyguard. itself was easy and someWhy? Because I liked the times he’d get nice tips, danger, the excitement but the racist behavior of it, the satisfaction I got of the hotel’s guests got out of saving someone’s under Mohammad’s skin. life.” He planned for “They would say, ‘Hey, boy, that career with a series come here.’ I was 19 years of jobs and activities old, old enough to vote that would provide him and go into the Army and the skills he’d need as a Mr. T’s toughness was toon-ed down for Saturday morning’s die for my country, but bodyguard: low-paying Mister T animated series. (ABOVE AND OPPOSITE PAGE) Publicity they still called me ‘boy.’ I security jobs, law enforcecels of the Mister T cast and the show’s star (with stylized logo). was getting plenty tired of ment schools, studying © Ruby-Spears Enterprises, Inc. Courtesy of Heritage. that ‘boy’ sh*t.” He found a books about police work, second gig as a janitor at a seminars, and workshops bank and within a few months quit the hotel job. were useful. He began working as a security guard at one of 1972 became a pivotal year in Mohammad Tero’s life as he Chicago’s hospitals. Mr. T even signed up with the National Guard officially changed his name to Mr. T. “Now, when I’m addressed, the Military Police to further his plan. very first word that comes out of a person’s mouth must be ‘Mister.’ In 1975, he took military leave from the hospital and left for It’s a sign of respect.” Fort Jackson in South Carolina. He excelled to the point that his The name “Mr. T” turned out to be an unintended door-opener drill sergeants elected him “Trainee of the Cycle,” an award and when applied by the smoother, more sophisticated, now-focused honor that identified him as “the top trainee out of about six young man formerly known as Mohammad Tero. He was interthousand men.” After graduation at Fort Jackson Basic Training ested in the real estate business and making connections. After Center, he was sent to Fort McCullom, Alabama, for AIT, the all, who wouldn’t be curious to have a meeting with a person Advanced Individual Training and Military Police (MP) School. named Mr. T? He enjoyed the judo and self-defense courses in MP school, but 64

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The oddball world of scott shaw!

outside Fort McCollom still faced the racism often found in the deep South. On a three-day pass, Mr. T got himself a room in a motel, but when he took a dip in the pool, all of the white swimmers and waders suddenly split. He got his swim, but with the state police keeping an eye on him. He felt more at home on the base, and concentrated on study and exercise, graduating early. Mr. T left the Army on July 1, 1976, but he still had commitments with the National Guard. While at on one of a training event out in the woods, Mr. T—actually, he was using “Mr. Tero” again to avoid grief with the military system—was punished by his platoon sergeant by putting him on a detail to chop down trees. “I asked him, ‘How many should I chop down?’ and he said, ‘I’ll let you know.’ I started to swing the ax and trees were falling everywhere. I must have chopped trees for or five hours.” When the major dropped by, stunned to see dozens of fallen trees, he asked “Pvt. Tero” to tell him who ordered him to that. While the major chewed out his platoon sergeant, Mr. T resumed chopping down trees. When Sarge demanded to know why he was acting like a berserk lumberjack, our man responded, “You told me to chop down trees until you told me to stop.” (And this wouldn’t be the last time Mr. T pulled an ax on a tree.) When Mr. T returned to his job at the hospital, he had a new boss. “I had more experience as a sergeant and could help the new lieutenant, but he saw it as an insult,” Mr. T admitted. “Why? Because he was white and didn’t need any help from a black.” The boss did everything he could to phase out Mr. T, but he couldn’t find anyone else who was capable of managing the otherwise-uncontrollable people who go wild in the emergency room and haunt the hospital hallways in the middle of the night. After he hurt his arm while helping a fellow officer, Mr. T was given a written warning and three months’ probation. The lieutenant was out to get him. Mr. T had made seven arrests while he was on probation, and yet he was warned not to arrest any more people. Finally, the hospital’s assistant director got involved. “He was firing me and finding me a job at another hospital on the other side of town. That way it would look like I quit and went to work somewhere else,” Mr. T explained. “He said that he was doing me a favor

by getting me a job at this other hospital and that he didn’t do this for everyone.” Mr. T instead went to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and hired an attorney to sue the hospital for racial discrimination and unfair business practices. “I needed to get away from all of the Uncle Toms, all of the white racists, and all those jealous people.” It was time for Mr. T to make the leap upward from working for the system to his dream job.

THE REAL ‘BODY THAT GUARDS’

Mr. T was a professional bodyguard for nine years. His business card read: Mr. T – Bodyguard Extraordinaire. Next to God there is no better protector than I. “When I was hired to protect someone, I did everything except guarantee them their lives,” Mr. T said. “I didn’t give them a guarantee because to do that would be trying to play God, and I can’t do that.” His clients included eight bankers, 19 actors and actresses, 17 male and female entertainers, eight airline stewardesses, 42 millionaires, five preachers, three politicians, four store owners, eight housewives, 14 secretaries, seven clothes designers, six athletes, seven judges, four attorneys, five models, ten schoolteachers (male and female), 16 prostitutes, four stockbrokers, nine welfare recipients (including a West Side mother with five children who was getting robbed after she cashed her welfare checks), ten executives, and 18 children. “If you say I was not the best bodyguard in the world, that’s because I never protected you. Then you would understand when I say the rest are frauds, fakes, phonies, pretenders, actors, and so-called bodyguards. They are really stand-ins and substitutes for the real ‘body that guards,’ which is myself.” Over the years, Mr. T served as a payment collector for large firms, a spouse-watcher for suspicious partners, a hunter of missing teenagers and deadbeat fathers, and a dog-tracker. He received a lot of requests to rattle, beat up, and even kill their husbands and wives. Lonely women and men contacted him for intimate hookups. He even got involved with a man he never met who wanted Mr. T to kill his best friend for $75,000 and would only communicate through a post office box, with each envelope’s return address from a different city and state. His ethics naturally RETROFAN

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Mr. T, in both live-action and cartoon forms, has been the subject of merchandising since the mid-Eighties. Mister T cartoon © Ruby-Spears Enterprises, Inc.

wouldn’t allow him to murder anyone, but understandably, Mr. T couldn’t resist following the mystery. “That whole thing seemed like Mission: Impossible,” HE admitted. In 1978, Mr. T’s life suddenly changed for the better. “I was called to the Conrad Hilton Hotel and I met the heavyweight champion of the world. I told Leon Spinks, ‘Whether you hire me or not, I am the best bodyguard you will ever find.’ Leon replied, ‘I like T.’ I was instructed to protect him while he was in Chicago.” Spinks was in town for a fight with a white boxer named George Mostardini, and Mr. T was hired to protect Leon while he was there. Despite his preparation, there was one aspect that Mr. T hadn’t planned for and couldn’t control: Mostardini’s fan base primarily consisted of aggressive racists who despised Leon Spinks. As Spinks and his bodyguard Mr. T attempted to approach the ring, white supremacists blocked the aisles and yelled racist epithets. “I never ran into so many angry, hostile, and mad white folks in my life,” Mr. T recalled, being puzzled over their motivations. “I couldn’t figure it out… why were they so mad at Leon? What did he do to them? He didn’t try to move into their neighborhood!” Mr. T ascribed their venom to envy; “those white folks didn’t like to see a Black man out of the ghetto making all that money.” Tensions mounted during the fight as Spinks started pounding Mostardini. Riled white observers tossed beer bottles, cups, shoes, popcorn, and other trash into the ring. Their racist jeering got angrier. An entire section of the amphitheater charged the ring. Things got physical and bloody. Leon Spinks was standing there, watching the chaos. After the police arrived, Spinks’ team had packed and was about to leave in a limousine when the press 66

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showed up. A journalist asked Spinks if he was worried that he might have been hurt during the match. “Leon said, ‘No, because I can deal with anybody in the ring and my man was here.’ The reporter asked, ‘Who is your man?’ and Leon put his arm around me and said, ‘Right here—Mr. T.’” With his job now full-time, Mr. T was enjoying a posh and exciting lifestyle with one of his heroes. But when you get to know your heroes, you’re sometimes disappointed. Leon Spinks was a nice enough person, Mr. T. believed, but he was riddled with flaws that endangered his marriage, his career, his health, and his life. Meanwhile, Mr. T was enjoying the bonuses and perks that come with working for the heavyweight champion of the world. But there were ethical issues with which he wasn’t comfortable, like lying for the champ or searching for him when he’s disappeared with people of dubious intent or intimidating him to do his training. On September 15, 1978, at New Orleans’ Superdome, everything changed. An out-of-condition Spinks was handed his head in a rematch with Muhammad Ali. Within six months, he was running low on cash and fending off multiple lawsuits. “I couldn’t take it anymore,” Mr. T reflected. “I had to start my own career. I just didn’t have a bright future with Leon any more, so I had to let him go.”

TROUBLE WITH A CAPITAL ‘T’

Mr. T was an established bodyguard, a profitable businessman, and a realtor. He was getting respect. Unfortunately, his successes drew unwelcome attention.

The oddball world of scott shaw!

While he was serving in the U.S. Army National Guard, due to his arrangement with Leon Spinks, Mr. T let his sergeant know that he wouldn’t be available for scheduled drills and would make up all the ones he missed; he also asked for a leave of absence. Mr. T later learned that the commander had been trying for two years to send him into the Army because he was considered to be AWOL. In early July 1979, there was a warrant out for his arrest. “I have no problem taking orders,” Mr. T remarked, “but don’t give me no dirty deal.” Meanwhile, two white agents from the Internal Revenue Service began to show up at Mr. T’s apartment, asking lots of questions, apparently suspicious of how a Black man was making so much money. Mr. T hired tax attorneys, but ultimately considered them a waste of funds. “I would supply no more information until I was officially charged with a crime or violation. I was doing nothing illegal. I hadn’t cheated on my tax returns. I was not a drug dealer, nor was I a pimp.” To make matters worse, Mr. T got in trouble with the Chicago Police Department. While making his way through the crowds at the Air and Water Show at Lake Michigan, he and his friend were told by a policeman that they could walk along a median strip to reach the lake. But minutes later, they were confronted by an overaggressive cop who pulled a gun on him. After a physical encounter with a dozen more policemen, Mr. T was arrested for carrying a firearm and spent six hours in jail. “I was charged with unlawful use of a weapon and they didn’t even find a weapon on me. But the cop who pulled out his weapon, aimed it at me, and cocked the trigger, was not charged.” While Mr. T was battling in courtrooms to beat the charges the police had against him, the IRS tapped his phone, bank account, and other income sources. Two

THE LAKE FOREST CHAINSAW MASSACRE Chicagoans know quite well the bizarre story of “The Lake Forest Chainsaw Massacre,” because every time a tree is threatened in the area, Mr. T’s name is invoked. In 1986, Mr. T bought the sprawling English Tudor estate Lake Forest for $1.7 million and immediately added a few personal touches to the historic property. A year later, he chopped down over one hundred of the trees on his property. “He’s smiling and laughing about all this,” said one horrified neighbor. “He thinks it’s a joke.” Arborists were stunned. Mr. T never fully explained why he fired up a chainsaw and, alongside hired workmen, sawed down the oaks, elms, and maples that populated his seven-acre estate. According to a Chicago Tribune report, he left the estate looking as if it had been “ravaged by an army of beavers.” In 1988, prompted largely by the public outrage over Mr. T’s behavior, Lake Forest enacted a tree preservation ordinance to prevent developers and homeowners from chopping down trees.

Mr. T mania was in full swing when our main man dominated the poster for the 1983 ensemble comedy, D.C. Cab. © Universal Pictures. Courtesy of Heritage. National Guard MPs threatened him. Mr. T worked the police’s illegal moves against them, outlasted the IRS snoops, and found an ally in a National Guard commander who used his clout to revert Mr. T into a civilian.

‘AMERICA’S TOUGHEST BOUNCER’

In the late Seventies, Dingbats Disco was one of Chicago’s hottest nightclubs. “Dingbats was a rough and rowdy place simply because it was predominantly Black,” Mr. T said. “If you came down to Dingbats and didn’t know how to dance, I’ll bet you learned before you left.” Mr. T was its doorman who checked I.D.s and made sure that everyone had a good time. That meant patrolling the restrooms for drugs, mingling with the guests, dancing with the ladies, and handling problems quickly, professionally, and quietly. Being the club’s top bouncer, “I was challenged a lot. It’s like being the fastest gun in the West—some people would stay out of your way, while RETROFAN

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some people want to have a showdown with you to see if they can beat you.” On Saturday night, February 2, 1980, Mr. T was approached by two men from Los Angeles. They represented NBC and invited Mr. T to participate in a contest-themed primetime special, America’s Toughest Bouncer. After a few grueling weeks of training for the show, with “no alcohol, no sex, no parties, no visitors, and no fun,” he was ready. The contest was for an NBC-TV pilot, Sunday Games, which was held on March 25, 1980 at BBC Disco. It consisted of three specific events. The first was “The Bounce,” where competing bouncers threw a 115-pound stuntman as far as possible. The second was “The Blast,” where each bouncer jumped from behind a bar, ran through a group of people seated at tables, jumped over a rail, and crashed through a four-inch wooden door. Finally there was “The Box,” where the two highest-scoring bouncers squared off with boxing gloves in a 16-foot ring. As the show was shot, there were hour-and-a-half breaks between the events. During those, Mr. T picked up on a racist buzz

among some of the contestants. “But when those white folks booed and made racial slurs about me, that only made me want to win even more. I had to win… I had to win for all the Black people who would be watching the contest, because winning would be an inspiration to other Blacks who are in the ghettos all across the nation.” Mr. T performed with great gusto. The final event, “The Box,” pitted Mr. T against a huge man named Tutefano Tufi—six-foot-five and somewhere between 280 and 320 pounds—from Honolulu. After a long and wearying battle, Mr. T was named the recipient of the trophy for “The Toughest Bouncer In America.” The pilot aired on June 10, 1980 and directly led to a new primetime series, Games People Play. A few months later, NBC planned a second bouncer contest but neglected to let Mr. T know until the last minute. The show’s program director asked him to participate in the regionals because he would pull in more viewers, but did not pay Mr. T, although he’d promised. After three-and-a-half weeks of training—which included bursting “through some of the walls” in Chicago ghettos’ condemned old buildings—Mr. T was ready. “Man, the neighbors in the area thought I was crazy for sure.” On July 16, 1980, the second “Toughest Bouncer In America” episode of NBC’s Games People Play aired. The confident Mr. T performed well in “The Bounce” and semi-coasted through “The Blast.” Once again, it was “The Box” that was the challenge. “I gave my opponent the eyeball-to-eyeball stare,” Mr. T said. “I looked him right in the eyes until he couldn’t stand it any longer. From that point on, he knew he was in trouble and couldn’t nobody help him.” When interviewed by newsman Bryant Gumbel before the final boxing match, Mr T. said, “I just feel sorry for the guy who I have to box. I just feel real sorry for him.” This fight was scheduled to last three rounds, but Mr. T finished it in less than 54 seconds. Mr. T defended his title and was crowned America’s Toughest Bouncer for the second time. But he stated that he was done with the title. He didn’t know it, but he had a new gig coming soon that didn’t involve crashing through doors.

‘ROCKY III’

At the White House on December 12, 1983, First Lady Nancy Reagan breaks the ice by showing Santa T a little Christmas spirit. Reagan Library, #C 18929-22. 68

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In October of 1980, Mr. T got another call from Hollywood. A lady named Rhonda Young was the casting director for Sylvester Stallone’s new movie, the latest Rocky sequel, Rocky III. After a long conversation, our man T was relieved that the role that he was being considered for wasn’t another clichéd and stereotyped Blaxplation character. Over 1,500 African-American actors auditioned for the part. On January 3, 1981, Mr. T received a seven-page script that spotlighted Clubber Lang, a brutal opponent for Rocky if there ever was one. Mr. T enthusiastically leaned into becoming Clubber. “Now, if you know me, it’s easy to tell that Clubber is my make-believe twin and my real-life self,” he said. “I practiced for hours a day; I would wake up in the night hollering, ‘I am Clubber and I want Rocky Balboa!’” Finally, the day came for Mr. T to audition for the role in front of Sylvester Stallone, Rhonda Young, other executives, and the

The oddball world of scott shaw!

(LEFT) How many of you Eighties kids chomped on this sweet T-shaped cereal? (ABOVE) Pee-wee Herman sure did! Mister T cartoon © Ruby-Spears Enterprises, Inc. Pee-wee’s Big Adventure © Warner Bros.

cameras. “Sly” was very easy-going and encouraging, letting the man from Chicago know that he didn’t have to nail his lines on the first try. Working with a lady who read Rocky’s lines, Mr. T shot four pages of script. Then Stallone tested Mr. T’s acting abilities through improvisations. Mr. T recalled of the circumstance, “He said, ‘I liked what you did and I liked what I saw, but you’re up against some pretty tough competition. We’ll let you know within a week.’” Mr. T flew back to Chicago and waited for the call. On the fourth day, the casting director contacted him and told him to start celebrating—he got the gig. Relocating to Los Angeles, over the next three weeks Mr. T immediately launched into a new regimen. “I had to lose about 30 pounds, get my breathing together, develop my muscles, and sharpen my boxing skills,” Mr. T explained. “Now, I don’t know about you, but for me that’s a lot of work.” Working with a trainer named Chris Collins for three months, he achieved all of the goals Sylvester Stallone set for him. Mr. T now looked and acted like a professional prizefighter. Over Rocky III’s eight-week shoot, Mr. T and Sylvester Stallone—the movie’s writer, director, and star—got to know each other much better, becoming friends in the process. Rocky III’s line of dialogue, “I don’t hate him… but I pity the fool” was written by Stallone, who has said that it was inspired by Mr. T’s comment in his interview with Bryant Gumbel after the second “Toughest Bouncer In America” contest. The film’s Clubber Lang also enjoyed working with veteran character actor Burgess Meredith, who played Rocky’s trainer Mickey in the franchise. “I have so much respect for Burgess as a person and as an actor,” Mr. T spoke of the experience. “After one scene where I holler at Mickey, Rocky’s trainer, we later ate together and laughed

about it. That’s when he told me, ‘You’re a damn good actor.’” He must have similarly impressed the rest of the crew—when Sly announced that Mr. T had just completed his final scene in Rocky III, he received a standing ovation from his fellow cast members and the film crew. In June 1981, Mr. T returned to Chicago for some rest and relaxation time. By then, he had made the decision to give up working as a bodyguard to focus his career on entertainment in movies and television. The year before, he had an uncredited role in The Blues Brothers and a month later, he landed a small role in Penitentiary II. And then, in January 1982, the promotional campaign for Rocky III was launched… and nothing was ever the same for Mr. T. “In April 1982 I was chosen by the UMPA [United Motion Pictures Association] as Newcomer of the Year, in Kansas City,” Mr. T related. He jumped from a L.A. press conference and its multi-media interviews to a 23-city tour promoting the film, leaving an exhausted Mr. T to comment, “I averaged at least six interviews a day, and most of the time didn’t know where I was.”

A HOUSEHOLD NAME

One of those interviews was on NBC’s Late Night with David Letterman, a turning point for Mr. T’s presence in pop culture. Letterman wasn’t speaking with Clubber Lang, he was speaking with Mr. T, who seemingly made the host very nervous. Dave’s quips and humorous observations fell flat due to Mr. T’s refusal to address them. Mr. T had a squeeze ball in his hand, the kind that can strengthen hand muscles, and when Dave commented on it, his guest explained that every time he squeezed it, he was staving off getting angry—and he didn’t have many squeezes left! To the millions of viewers who hadn’t yet paid for a ticket to see Rocky III, this was their unforgettable introduction to the man who called himself “Mr. T,” although he was dressed differently than in the film. Over time, he became one of Letterman’s favorite guests. RETROFAN

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The oddball world of scott shaw!

It is here when Mr. T defined his look: for a while he had been wearing a Mohawk, but now he had added gold earrings, feathered earrings, and a heavy amount of gold chains hanging from his neck. It was dramatic… it was unique… it was pure Mr. T. Of his Mohawk haircut, Mr. T said, “I’m proud to be along with the Mohican Indians and all that, but there’s a tribe in Africa, the country of Mali, that wear their hair this way, they’re called the Mandinke warriors.” Of his seven earrings, Mr. T said, “I wear three in my right ear. The three is symbolic of the father, the son, and the holy ghost; the three wise men; the three Hebrew boys—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed’nego— the three parts of the day, morning, noon, and night; the three days Jesus was in the tomb, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday; the three graces, Faith, Hope, and Love; the three motions, slow motion, moderate motion, and fast motion.” The number three had significance for Mr. T for other reasons, including the inscriptions written on Jesus’ head and the three murdered Civil Rights workers from 1963 who became the basis for the movie Mississippi Burning. Mr. T claimed the four earrings in his left ear symbolized the four seasons, the four directions, and the four gospel writers. “Then you put the three and four together, it’s seven. It’s seven times that Joshua marched around the walls of Jericho; Samson had seven locks of hair, like seven braids, like seven dreadlocks; there’s seven notes in a musical bar; there’s seven colors in the rainbow; God made heaven and earth in six days, he rested on the seventh; I am the seventh son.” Mr. T also stated three reasons for wearing gold jewelry: “One, when Jesus was born, three wise men came from the east, one brought frankincense, one brought myrrh, the other one brought gold. The second reason I wear gold is I can afford it. The third reason I wear it, it’s symbolic of my African heritage. When my ancestors came from Africa, they were shackled by our neck, our wrists and our ankles in steel chains. I’ve turned those steel chains into gold to symbolize the fact that I’m still a slave, only my price tag is higher.”

‘THE A-TEAM’ AND SATURDAY MORNING TV

Then, in September, came NBC’s The A-Team (1983–1987). Created by Stephen J. Cannell and Frank Lupo at the behest of Entertainment President Brandon Tartikoff, the action/adventure series was about four eccentric Vietnam veterans, framed for a crime they didn’t commit, who help innocent people in trouble while on the run from the military. (The term “A-Team” is a nickname coined for U.S. Special Forces’ Operational Detachments Alpha during the Vietnam War.) Tartikoff described the series he envisioned to Cannell as a combination of The Dirty Dozen, Mission: Impossible, Mad Max, and Hill Street Blues... with “Mr. T driving the car.” Yes, the series was built around its essential component—Mr. T. The A-Team starred George Peppard as John “Hannibal” Smith, Dwight Schultz as “Howlin’ Mad” Murdock, Dirk Benedict as Templeton “Faceman” Peck, and Mr. T as Bosco “B. A.” (“Bad Atti70

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The 1984 inspirational video, Mr. T’s Be Somebody... Or Be Somebody’s Fool! © 1984 BIG T Productions, Inc. Courtesy of Heritage. tude”) Baracus, the series’ immediate breakout character. It lasted for five seasons and 97 episodes. The A-Team was not generally expected to become a hit, although George Peppard thought that it would be a huge hit “before we ever turned on a camera.” “We put a lot of work into that show,” Mr. T said, “and NBC hit the air with a major promotional blitz for The A-Team.” The first regular episode, which aired after Super Bowl XVII on January 30, 1983, reached 26.4% of the television audience, placing fourth in the Top Ten Nielsen-rated shows.

The oddball world of scott shaw!

When asked at a press conference whether he was as stupid as B. A. Baracus, Mr. T observed quietly, “It takes a smart guy to play dumb.” Of the show’s multigenerational appeal, Mr. T noticed, “Everybody had ‘A-Team’ fever, from the little babies all the way up to their grandmothers.” The A-Team has remained prominent in pop culture for its cartoonish violence—in which people were seldom seriously hurt, despite the frequent use of automatic weapons—formulaic episodes, characters with the ability to form weaponry and vehicles out of old parts, and its distinctive theme tune. “Anyway, we became one of the hottest shows on TV,” according to Mr. T. “But the icing on the cake was my own cartoon show on NBC-TV called ‘Mister T,’ what else?” Developed by noted comic-book writers Steve Gerber and one-time RetroFan columnist Martin Pasko, NBC’s Mister T cartoon show (1983–1985) was then typical of Saturday morning animation. In this series, Mister T (note the change in spelling to “Mister” so the studio could get a cut of the license) was the coach for a touring teenage gymnastics team who also solve mysteries. Like Scooby-Doo cartoons, Mister T even had a tough bulldog that wore gold chains and sported a Mohawk haircut just like his master. Live-action Mr. T was also in the show, with “bookend appearances” and morals at the beginning and end of every episode. Over three seasons, 30 episodes were produced.

MR. T, THE ICON

As Mr. T became famous in the early Eighties, his persona scared some white parents with young kids. Many of them perceived him as the angriest, most aggressive Black man they’d ever seen. Fortunately, children of all colors looked past his characters’ rough

exteriors and knew that Mr. T was actually a sweet, funny man who they instantly respected. Mr. T will tell you that he’s nothing but gentle at heart: “To the women and children, T stands for tender. To the bad guys and thugs, it stands for tough. I’m tough when I have to be, tender when I should be.” One of Mr. T’s most famous photographs, featuring Mr. T dressed as Santa Claus with First Lady Nancy Reagan sitting on his knee, was shot a few weeks before Christmas in 1983. The first lady had invited Mr. T to the White House because she was impressed with his anti-drug messages to children. But Mr. T was frustrated because he couldn’t convince any of the white ladies to sit on Santa’s black knee. Seeing what was going on, Mrs. Reagan perched herself on his knee and gave Mr. T a big kiss on his head. An instant friendship was formed. Sheila Tate, then the first lady’s press secretary, took Mr. T to the White House mess hall. Within five minutes of their arrival for lunch, Vice President George H. W. Bush appeared with his own staff photographer, eager for a moment with the A-Team star. When Nancy Reagan died in 2016 at the age of 94, Mr. T attended her funeral, a private event that was by invitation only. He called his work with the first lady the “highlight of my career.” There has been an incredible amount of licensed Mr. T products, including action figures, talking dolls, bobble heads, punching puppets, chewing gum, jigsaw puzzles, car fresheners, ShrinkyDinks sets, card games, kites, rag dolls, Colorforms sets, Funko figures, neckties, erasers, rubber duckies, plastic jewelry sets, buttons, magnetic “Woolie Willy”–style disguises, a “Mr. T In Your Pocket” recorded voice blaster, and a bizarre, unlicensed toy vehicle that’s half-automobile, half-Mr. T, like Turbo-Teen. [Editor’s note: While on a trip to Mexico in 1984, I spied numerous presumably unlicensed Mr. T piñatas on sale at street markets.] Mr. T has been the star of three comic-book series: Marvel’s three-issue The A-Team adaptation in 1984; Now Comics’ ten-issue Mr. T and the T-Force in 1993 and 1994; and APComics’ two-issue Mr. T in 2005. And then there’s Mr. T Cereal, which was manufactured by the Quaker Oats Company from 1984 to 1993. To appeal to kids, it contained a lot of sugar. Promotions for the cereal included TV commercials advertisements and a supermarket stand-up cardboard cutout, with catchphrases such as “Team up with Mr. T, It’s cool” and “I pity the fool who don’t eat my cereal.” Premiums included a packet of Mr. T. stickers. Thanks to an appearance of the cereal in 1985’s Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, its boxes are still well-known collectibles. Mr. T’s appeal to young people led to his performances in Eighties records and music videos, including Mr. T’s Commandments rap mini-album for kids, Mr. T’s Commandments, the rap song “Be Somebody… Or Be Somebody’s Fool!” (written by Ice-T—how appropriate!), and the Mr. T’s Be Somebody... Or Be Somebody’s Fool! motivational home video, all from 1984.

‘T’ for two: Gary Coleman got Mohawk’ed for Mr. T’s guest appearance on the Season Six opener for NBC’s Diff’rent Strokes, original airdate October 1, 1983. © Sony Pictures Television. RETROFAN

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The oddball world of scott shaw!

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The oddball world of scott shaw!

Mr. T entered the world of professional wrestling in 1985. He was Hulk Hogan‘s tag-team partner at the World Wrestling Federation‘s (WWF) WrestleMania 1, which he won. Remaining with the WWF, Mr. T became a special “WWF boxer” in light of his character in Rocky III. He took on “Cowboy” Bob Orton on Saturday Night’s Main Event V. This stunt culminated in another boxing match against Roddy Piper at WrestleMania 2. Mr. T won the match by disqualification after Piper attacked the referee and bodyslammed Mr. T. Mr. T later returned to the WWF as a special guest referee as well as a special referee enforcer. He made an appearance in World Class Championship Wrestling. Five years later, Mr. T reappeared in WCW, first appearing in Hulk Hogan’s corner for his WCW world title match against Ric Flair. Next, he was a special referee for the Hogan– Flair rematch at Halloween Havoc. He went on to wrestle again, defeating Kevin Sullivan at that year’s Starrcade. On April 5, 2014 in New Orleans, Mr. T was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame‘s celebrity wing. Footage of Mr. T in the ring can be found on several wrestling home video releases including Highlights of WrestleMania, WWF Superstars, Best of WrestleMania, and WrestleMania XXX.

MORE MR. T TV FOR U2C

Beyond The A-Team and Saturday morning’s Mister T, Mr. T also starred in two other television series. First came the syndicated T and T (1988–1990). Its premise: T. S. Turner (Mr. T) is a former boxer accused of a murder he didn’t commit. Thanks to public defender Amanda Taler, he is proven innocent. Now he works as private eye and, alongside Taler, sets out to help those who can’t defend themselves in and out of the justice system. T and T ran 65 episodes. Much later came Nickelodeon’s I Pity the Fool (2006), which ran six episodes. Here, Mr. T takes on the role of motivational guru and offers up advice to people in a variety of businesses, from car dealerships to ballet schools.

Mr. T has also made appearances—playing himself as well as characters—on a number of television series, from live action to animated series, including Saturday Night Live, Silver Spoons, Diff’rent Strokes, Mr. Belvedere, Blossom, Eek! The Cat (as Mr. T-Rex), Martin, Suddenly Susan, House of Mouse, Johnny Bravo, The Simpsons, Dancing with the Stars, and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. During the height of his popularity in the Eighties, Mr. T starred in the made-for-television movies The Toughest Man in the World (1984), A Christmas Dream (1984), Back to Next Saturday (1985), and Alice Through the Looking Glass (1987). Since his iconic appearance on Late Night with David Letterman, Mr. T has been a popular guest on daytime and late-night talk shows, including The Wendy Williams Show, The Martha Stewart Show, and Today. On October 11, 2000, Conan O’Brien shot the first of many Late Night with Conan O’Brien exploits with Mr. T, where entertainment’s whitest white man and blackest Black man are pals—with great comedic chemistry—who go apple picking “in honor of fall foliage.” In more recent years, Mr. T has hosted and/or appeared in these TV specials: World’s Craziest Fools (2013), I Pity the Tool (2015), and From Rocky to Creed: The Legacy Continues (2015). In addition to his life-changing role in Rocky III and his small part in the aforementioned Penitentiary II, Mr. T also worked in a number of other motion pictures, including The Blues Brothers (1980), Young Doctors In Love (1982), D.C. Cab (1983), Straight Line (1990), Freaked (1993), Spy Hard (1996), Inspector Gadget (1999), Not Another Teen Movie (2001), and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009).

AN INSPIRATIONAL FIGURE

In September 1995, while removing a diamond earring, Mr. T noticed a small sore on his ear. Two weeks later, when he decided to see his doctor about it, he was referred to a dermatologist who performed a biopsy leading to a diagnosis of a rare type of T-cell lymphoma. “Can you imagine that?! Cancer with my name on it––personalized cancer,” Mr. T commented. Test results revealed that the cancer was localized on his ear. Radiation treatments were given, and his doctors told Mr. T that his cancer was gone. Eleven months later, the cancer was back. Six weeks of high-dose chemotherapy was prescribed, and failed. It was followed by interferon therapy for one-and-a-half years, followed by low-dose chemo,

(PREVIOUS PAGE) Hulk Hogan welcomes Mr. T to the slam-a-rama that is WrestleMania! Front and back (detail) sides to the March 31, 1985 WF WrestleMania program. © WF WrestleMania. Courtesy of Heritage. (ABOVE) Mr. T’s acceptance speech during his 2014 induction into the WWE Hall of Fame. Miguel Discart/Wikimedia Commons. RETROFAN

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The oddball world of scott shaw!

then radiation again, then more chemo as the cancer persisted over several years. Mr. T learned how to live with cancer. “I pity the fool who just gives up. We all gonna die eventually from something or other, but don’t be a wimp. Put up a good fight. Don’t sit around waiting on death. We can be tough. We can be determined. Go out and have some fun and make death find you! We can be living with cancer, not dying from it. We can be cancer survivors.” Mr. T stopped wearing virtually all his gold ornamentation, one of his identifying marks, after helping with the cleanup after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. “As a Christian, when I saw other people lose their lives and lose their land and property… I felt it would be insensitive and disrespectful to the people who lost everything, so I stopped wearing my gold.” Forbes has described Mr. T as “one of the most enduring pitchmen in the business.” He has appeared in commercials for Snickers, World of Warcraft, Comcast, and Hitachi. You can even buy Mr. T–themed Chia Pets, cookie jars, and USB drives. In 2008, Mr. T appeared on the American channel Shopping TV selling his “Mr. T Flavorwave Oven.” The same year, he appeared in commercials in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. In 2010, Mr. T signed up as the spokesman for Gold Promise, a goldbuying company. According to an appraiser, his trademark gold jewelry was worth around $43,000 in 1983, although some claimed it was as high as $300,000. In 2015, Mr. T starred in a series of Fuze Iced Tea advertisements. As of this writing, he’s recently been doing spots for Aaron’s Furniture. Mr. T is now 71, still enjoying his 15 minutes of fame for 40 years… and he’s still pityin’!

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“I’ve been in the pity business for many years. Everybody I pity is not a fool, and all fools I don’t pity. When I pity anybody, I’m showing them mercy. Pitying is showing mercy, so take away the hate, there’s enough going on, and show some compassion. Because pitying means you’re gonna give them a break. You’re gonna let them slide. Pity is good.” A-Team and Mr. T quotes are from Mr. T: The Man with the Gold by Mr. T (St. Martin’s Press, 1984. 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.

RETROFAD

Alix Kates Shulman Papers / Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

Bra Burning BY MICHAEL EURY Full disclosure time: My wife yanks off her bra as soon as she gets home. In a rapid maneuver that would have left escape artist Harry Houdini slack-jawed, she snakes her hands under her shirt and unsnaps and shimmies free from the undergarment, then instantly extracts it with her outerwear miraculously intact. It’s a sight to behold, only I can’t invite you watch, of course. A different liberation front prompted a bra-burning craze that captured headlines in the late Sixties and early Seventies. Or so we were told. But it appears that the legend of bra burning may have been, well, padded. The Women’s Liberation Movement lobbied for equal opportunities for women and control of their lives from male supremacy. Early feminists had long petitioned for gender equality, stretching back at least to the 18th Century when author Mary Wollstonecraft published a book arguing that young women should receive the same rights to an education that young men enjoyed. By the late Sixties, times, they were a’changin’. “Women’s Lib” (as the press liked to call it, to the chagrin of many feminists) had been slowly gaining steam in the United States but took center stage in New Jersey on September 7, 1968. Approximately 400 women gathered outside of the Atlantic City Convention Center to protest the event being held inside: the annual Miss America beauty contest. These demonstrators rejected the pageant’s objectification of women and brandished protest signs with slogans such as “Welcome to the Miss America Cattle Auction,” “Let’s Judge Ourselves As People,” and “All Women Are Beautiful.” There were speeches and skits about equality and empowerment. As reported by Roxane Gay in the January 2018 edition of Smithsonian magazine, one of the organizers behind the protest, Robin Morgan, likened the Miss America demonstration to “peeing on an expensive rug at a polite cocktail party.” The press was limited to female reporters only. For the media, the biggest attraction of the protest was a rubbish bin dubbed the “Freedom Trash Can” into which was discarded items signifying misogynistic depictions of female body image, including nudie magazines, wigs, lingerie, high heels, hair curlers, and magazines targeting women (Ladies’ Home Journal, Cosmopolitan, etc.). And here is where the “fad” of bra burning began. Humorist Art Buchwald’s column was a popular feature in American newspapers back in the day. As the Smithsonian article cites, Buchwald notoriously penned that “several of the women publicly burned their brassieres” during the Miss America demonstration. Those of us coming up during the late Sixties and early Seventies remember how bra burning was talked about in the media, and joked about in comedy television shows and publications. When the Norman Lear–created sitcom Maude, starring Bea Arthur as

the opinionated, “anything but tranquilizing” leftwing anti–Archie Bunker, premiered on CBS in 1972, bra burning was part of its theme song’s hilarious lyrics: “Isadora was the first bra burner, aren’t you glad she showed up?” (The female freedom fighter mentioned here was Avant-garde dancer Isadora Duncan, who in the Twenties relocated to Europe after her extreme political and social views led to the revocation of her American citizenship.) While a smattering of women across the county did ignite their brassieres as a symbol of protest, bra burning never really became a contagion like we were led to believe. Nor were the bras and other discards in the famous Freedom Trash Can ever set ablaze. In fact, quite the opposite, as the protest’s organizers were denied a burning permit due to the flammability of the Atlantic City boardwalk where the demonstration was taking place. According to several news sources, Lindsy Van Gelder, a journalist for the New York Post, opined in a pre-protest article that the demonstrators should burn their bras to gain attention to their cause, as antiwar protestors did with the burning of their draft cards. Then came the Miss America demonstration, followed by Buchwald’s remark and similar inflated reporting. What did result was a cultural and fashion fad of bralessness, a step forward for women who regarded brassieres as shackles. (Not surprisingly, men usurped this trend and built a slate of titillating “jiggle TV” programming around it.) While bra burning may have fallen flat as a fad, the urban legend behind it is more illuminating than any actual contagion of flaming lingerie ever could have been. RETROFAN RETROFAN

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RETRO TRAVEL

Cleveland Road Trip BY BRYAN D. STROUD

(ABOVE) Retro Traveler Bryan D. Stroud on June 26, 2022, in Cleveland, Ohio, the home of Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. All photos accompanying this article are courtesy of Bryan D. Stroud.

Cleveland, Ohio, bordering Lake Erie and home to three professional sports teams along with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, is a city worth visiting… and if you happen to be into the history of comic books, Cleveland even has a little more to offer. Any fan worth his or her salt will know that this city was the birthplace of the greatest super-hero of all, the one and only Superman! For those who might arrive unaware, the city of Cleveland has gone so far as to include a mural of Superman at the ground transportation level of the Cleveland Airport, proclaiming the city as the birthplace of Superman. While it wasn’t the sole purpose for my visit, I simply could not miss the opportunity to stop by the sites of the homes of writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, who had given us the gift of Superman over 80 years ago. Jerry Siegel was born in Cleveland, while Joe Shuster, along with his family, was a transplant to Cleveland from his birthplace of Toronto, Canada. The pair met at Cleveland’s Glenville High School, forming a fast friendship over mutual interests to include science-fiction stories, and as early as 1933 were working on the first prototype of Superman. The Man of Tomorrow eventually made his debut in Action Comics #1, published in March of 1938 with a June 1938 cover date. Little did anyone suspect what a tremendous and enduring success Superman would soon become. While their immortality was assured with the astonishing popularity of Superman, Siegel and Shuster soon regretted selling

(RIGHT) Superman’s first appearance, from Action Comics #1, appears in this super-sized form along a Cleveland fence surrounding the site of Joe Shuster’s former home, now demolished. (INSET) Meanwhile, at the corner of Joe Shuster Lane and Lois Lane… Superman and Action Comics TM & © DC Comics.

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all rights to the character to Detective Comics, Inc. (now known as DC Comics) for $130 in 1938. While the duo continued to be employed by the publisher and were well paid, Superman licensing and royalty monies eluded them and over the years, following their departure from working on their creation, each fell upon hard times. When the Superman movie was on the cusp of release in the Seventies, notable advocates including comic artists Jerry Robinson and Neal Adams helped to negotiate a lifetime stipend for the creators from Warner Bros., the corporate owner of the Man of Steel, and permanently restored their byline to the comic-book stories featuring their immortal character. The boyhood home of Jerry Siegel is a few short blocks from where his friend Joe Shuster had lived. The neighborhood street signs feature the Superman emblem, and Amor Avenue sports “Joe Shuster Lane” above it, while Parkwood Drive is adorned with a similar “Lois Lane.” While the Shuster home, which was actually an apartment house, no longer exists, a fence remains on the property featuring large, two-by-three–foot metal signs that reproduce the cover and the pages of that first adventure of the Man of Steel from Action Comics along with a sign on the corner alerting visitors to the significance of the location, to include vintage photos of Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel on either side of the classic Superman red “S” in the original inverted triangular shield. The narrative on the sign follows: “On this site once stood the home of where Superman was turned from words into pictures. Joe Shuster (1914–1992) came to Cleveland from Canada. He liked sports and comic strips. He drew all the time—on boxes, wrapping paper and even old wallpaper. With his best friend Jerry Siegel, he turned amazing stories about a Man of Steel into four-colored reality. Joe made the whole world look fresh and clean and strong. “He made it look Super. “With the creation of Superman, these two friends showed the world that the most ordinary of us can turn out to be the most heroic.” The former Siegel home still stands, but is a private residence. As such, there are no tours, but it is apparent that the current owners embrace the legacy of Jerry Siegel as can be seen by some of the Superman paraphernalia affixed to the front porch.

Similar to the Shuster home site, there are signs affixed to the fence at the front of the erstwhile Siegel home for the benefit of visitors, one with the inverted red triangle containing the familiar “S” and the accompanying one in the same shape, with this short essay:

Stroud in front of the home of Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel. Now a private residence, the home’s porch is adorned with Superman memorabilia. “They didn’t just give us the world’s first super hero… “They gave us something to believe in.”

“This is the house where Superman was born. “Writer Jerry Siegel (1914–1996) was a teenaged boy who lived here during the Great Depression, one of the toughest economic times for Cleveland and the country. “Jerry wasn’t popular. “He was a dreamer, and he knew how to dream big. “With his best friend, artist Joe Shuster, these two boys created a bright fantasy world of spaceships, strange planets and a city where a young man in red and blue tights could leap over tall buildings in a single bound. “They called him Superman. HALFPAGE-Back Issue-HC2023.pdf

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It’s a wonderful thing to have a city fully embrace the legacy of Superman and to be able to see the modest but notable tribute signs to the visionary creators of the Man of Tomorrow. If you find yourself in Cleveland, this fan can highly recommend taking the opportunity to visit this touchstone of American popular culture and try to imagine a time in the America of the Thirties when the imaginations of two teenaged boys presented the world with the original super-hero, that strange visitor from another world, standing for truth, justice and the American Way! The mighty Superman! BRYAN STROUD is a longtime fan of DC Comics, particularly the Silver and Bronze Ages, and has had the opportunity to interview many of the creators from that era, which can be found at www. NerdTeam30.com.

1:28 PM

SATURDAY ONLY!

ROY THOMAS

CMY

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Thanks for another superb issue [RetroFan #22]! The much-needed article on CARtoons and CYCLEtoons and other vehicle-related comics magazines by Scott Shaw! was outstanding. It deserves to be expanded into a book. The history of that part of SoCal comics culture has long been neglected. It should be mentioned that about a year pre-COVID, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art hosted a fine exhibition whose theme was southern California automobile comics. A small correction: the page of mine reproduced on page 40 was drawn for CARtoons—not Drag Cartoons (I never worked for Drag Cartoons). I was also the guy who brought Robert Williams and Alex Niño to CYCLEtoons and CARtoons. In 1998 I collected all of my CYCLEtoons and CARtoons stories into a book, Motor Mania (still available on my website, www.williamstout. com). On a related subject, I sure wish some publisher would collect all of Rick Griffin’s Murphy the Surfer comics into a book. I drew Rick’s Murphy character on dozens of junior high notebook covers in the mid-Seventies. One more correction: I was the production designer for the live action Masters of the Universe movie. It was not a flop. It did well the first weekend of its release then, astonishingly it did better the second week and even better the third week—fairly unheard of in the movie business. MOTU was on its way to becoming a huge word-of-mouth hit when it vanished from the movie theaters as its production studio, Cannon Films, had declared bankruptcy. WILLIAM STOUT Thank you for those corrections—and for allowing us to share your artwork in Scott’s column in issue #22. (Recommended reading for you RetroFans: A lavishly illustrated, in-depth interview with the esteemed William Stout, exploring his dinosaur artwork in comics, recently appeared in our sister publication, Back Issue, in issue #140, released in November 2022. See twomorrows.com for more information.)

Re RetroFan #22, Norman Lear interview, page 49: That’s director John Rich (the “unidentified party”) talking with Norman, while Carroll O’Connor sits idly by. HERBIE J PILATO I loved the September 2022 issue [#22] of RetroFan magazine! 78

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The unidentified man on page 49 is Emmy Award–winning director, John Rich. His many credits include Mr. Ed, Gilligan’s Island, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Hogan’s Heroes, Gunsmoke, Gomer Pyle, and two Elvis movies! These are a fraction of his credits. I had the pleasure of working with him on Benson. SCOTT GALE P.S. I am the composer of the Main Title for Saved by the Bell. In fact, my music partner, Rich Eames, and I wrote all the music for the series, including The New Class. John Rich… of course! Our sincere thanks to both of our celebrity correspondents for this identification.

I love King Kong and O’Brien’s fantastic stop-motion animation. Over the years I’ve collected unassuming, even tertiary Kong memorabilia—perhaps more properly called ephemera—because I can never afford the expensive materials. So now I’ve an eclectic collection of odds and ends including these two Kong related alcohols. MIRON MERCURY

An informative and entertaining issue [RetroFan #22]. Informative because you covered two topics, in depth, that I knew of, at the time, but never really got into: surf-related topics and CARtoons. With me being a young kid then, my guess is surf films were aimed at an older crowd, either to show other teens, at the drive-in, what they were missing, or playing the same role for those who didn’t live within hot rod distance of the beach. As a preteen in Arizona, I really couldn’t identify. I did laugh aloud at the description of the films as sanitized. Really? You mean

that’s not how teenagers without supervision act? Still, if people enjoyed the vicarious thrill of imaging themselves in any admirable given role, then it was a positive experience. I did search out Beach Blanket Bingo many years later, because I wanted to see Marta Kristen as a mermaid. I do think they’d be fun to watch today, in small doses, just to see teens of the day—or older actors playing such—cavorting or catching a blue-screen wave. Maybe having their stunt double hang ten? Seemingly, after years of successes, interest and energy were running dry? Or, with hippies on the horizon, this version of youth was no longer accurately representational? Loved that the article touched on other surf-related topics such as Frank Frazetta’s PSA about surfing, and the drawbacks of smoking. Probably the most beautifully drawn “ad” I’ve ever seen. My brother occasionally bought CARtoons and related publications. I’d look through and was not captivated. Granted, if you were indifferent to cars—from model kits to the real thing—it was a hard sell. I didn’t know that some artists I enjoy, as your article pointed out, contributed. Cool that it provided an outlet and extra cash for moonlighting cartoonists and animators. My problem was that cars, however customized, were just cars. While beautiful, they were just normal, something you could see on the street or highway. But, as with the Weird-Ohs, wild and outrageous drivers were my focus, not what they were driving. That’s why I built monster models and, to the best of my recollection, not one automobile or plane. Same effort, but when finished, they were unusual. Now, The Wild, Wild West was much more my Jeopardy category. As a kid I caught it semi-frequently, and in syndication. More recently, thanks to a global pandemic, I had the free time to watch the entire series on DVD. Great fun—it had action and a sense of humor. If intended to be a frontier James Bond, it surpassed that with the dual leads: Robert Conrad and Ross Martin. Both were first-rate and contributed much. They were heroes who cared and protected the other. The show was also a fairground for great character actors! In any given episode there might be two or three familiar faces. Half the fun was to identify them and figure out where I’d seen them before. In one case, it was where did I hear them previously? The actor was Mike Road, who voiced Race Bannon on Jonny Quest. Though a product of the times, I could have done with less of James West’s gratuitous kissing. Made him seem like a 19th Century Richard Dawson. One episode was funny. It had a lady on a wagon train that he didn’t try to smooch. I wondered why. Turns out it was a fleeing male felon in disguise.

The episodes with Ross Martin temporarily replaced didn’t work as well for me. No obvious fondness between the leads and, frankly, it was grating to see another actor using his disguise bit without Martin’s humorous charm. Enjoyed the look at Zorro: movies, TV shows, and cartoons. The animated shot of him on a motorcycle had me cracking up. Not heartbroken to have missed that! I loved the Guy Williams rendition, though not at the time of syndication. I wondered, “Why does Professor Robinson have a moustache?” The show was great—action-oriented, beautifully filmed, real characterization, etc. The lone drawback—and for me, a big one—was all the needless singing, especially with a dubbed voice. Otherwise, terrific! Nearly all the villains were despicable, which made it more fun. Particularly Britt Lamond’s Monasterio. Another prize package of wonderful gueststars: Neil Hamilton, Cesar Romero, and, most amusingly, Jonathan Harris. Knowing what was to come, in the years ahead [on Lost in Space], it was fun seeing Harris share the screen with Guy Williams. JOE FRANK Joe, those who didn’t watch the previous century’s iteration of TV’s Family Feud might be puzzled by your “19th Century Richard Dawson” quip, but it sure cracked ye ed up!

Michael, in your Hero-A-Go-Go book, your story about the third grade teacher who hated comics reminded me of a piece in my archives that I thought you’d enjoy. The attached press release was in the collection of longtime Birmingham kids’ host Cousin Cliff Holman, and as you can see, there was a bit of frantic activity leading up to a night when the Rodgers and Hammerstein

version of Cinderella on CBS was going head-tohead with Batman on ABC, and the marketing department was losing its mind figuring out ways to compete. (I guess NBC sat it out that evening.) I don’t know the final score during that sweeps week, but something tells me Cinderella might have done better if she’d eaten a can of spinach and given her stepfamily the what-fer. Or spun around on her glass slipper and turned into Wonder Woman. Anyway, I thought you’d be amused at the way they promoted the musical as a much more wholesome alternative to a comic-book show. And I’m pretty sure the signature on it is not the same John Walsh who later did America’s Most Wanted. TIM HOLLIS Holy character assassination, Batman! Thanks for sharing this, Tim.

I greatly enjoyed Retro Fan #22!! My brother was a huge Annette fan and Beach Boys fan, and hooked me on the surfer music and beach movies! Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello really seemed to have chemistry, and the beach movies seemed fun, although I don’t remember much of a plot! It seems unanimous Annette was really nice to everyone, and handled her MS diagnosis well. The Wild, Wild West I heard about from my brother, but never saw until syndication in the 21st Century! It was fun to see a Western with elements of spies, science fiction, and humor all together. I never made the connection of Michael Dunn in both WWWest and Star Trek, but I do remember his characters and enjoyed them whenever I saw them. I appreciated the article on Michael and his story of struggles and victories personally, as well in the entertainment industry. Writer Scott Saavedra did a solid job of presenting him to us. Also, the page of rejected candy was very interesting! PAUL GREEN

I recall reading Mark Voger articles for the Friday edition of central New Jersey’s Home News Tribune newspaper’s The Pulse supplement. He was always my go-to feature to start the weekend off right. I believe his articles were also carried by Newark’s StarLedger back then. I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Voger at one of the many central NJ comic-cons back in the 2000s,

when I lived in North Brunswick, NJ. I’m now living and running a teahouse with my family in south Jersey, and I instantly recognized the towns of Mount Ephraim and Audubon mentioned, as well as King’s Highway. [Voger’s] article on Moe Howard [issue #20] was as informative and pleasurable to read as any in your fine periodical. VINNY BELLIZIA

I’d like to share a little insight I’ve read about Red Skelton. I enjoyed the article in RetroFan #19, but I noticed a letter writer commenting about Red’s laughing at his own jokes. He was sometimes criticized for the habit of being amused by himself, but the Smothers Brothers had a different take on the laughter. In the book about the Smothers and particularly their comedy hour, Dangerously Funny by David Bianculli, it’s related that when the Smothers were given an office during production, they got the only office available, a former executive’s office. This office was wired so that all soundstages could be monitored at all times. And they found that when Red was doing the run-through of his show, done with only the crew present to be entertained, he would do the bluest, most raw, most ribald versions of the jokes. The Smothers felt that, when he was performing his actually show, he was often recalling his earlier versions. EARL GEIER

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

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RETROFAN #6

RETROFAN #1

RETROFAN #3

RETROFAN #4

RETROFAN #5

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!

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

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

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

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

RETROFAN #7

RETROFAN #8

RETROFAN #9

RETROFAN #10

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

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

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

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

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

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RETROFAN #11

RETROFAN #12

RETROFAN #13

RETROFAN #14

RETROFAN #15

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

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

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

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!

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!

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RETROFAN #16

RETROFAN #17

RETROFAN #18

RETROFAN #19

RETROFAN #20

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

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

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.

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!

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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RETROFAN #21

RETROFAN #22

RETROFAN #23

RETROFAN #24

RETROFAN #25

Meet JULIE NEWMAR, the purr-fect Catwoman! Plus: ASTRO BOY, TARZAN Saturday morning cartoons, the true history of PEBBLES CEREAL, TV’s THE UNTOUCHABLES and SEARCH, the MONKEEMOBILE, SOVIET EXPO ’77, and more fun, fab features! Featuring columns by ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, and MARK VOGER! 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.

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.

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 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.

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TwoMorrows. RETROFAN #27

RETROFAN #28

RETROFAN #29

RETROFAN #30

Interview with Captain Kangaroo BOB KEESHAN, The ROCKFORD FILES, teen monster movies, the Kung Fu and BRUCE LEE crazes, JACK KIRBY’s comedy comics, DON DRYSDALE’s TV drop-ins, outrageous toys, Challenge of the Super Friends, and more fun, fab features! Featuring columns by ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, and MARK VOGER! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

The BRITISH INVASION of the Sixties, interview with Bond Girl TRINA PARKS, The Mighty Hercules, Horror Hostess MOONA LISA, World’s Greatest Super Friends, TV Guide Fall Previews, the Frito Bandito, a Popeye Super Collector, and more fun, fab features! Featuring columns by ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, and MARK VOGER! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

The story behind BOB CLAMPETT’s Beany & Cecil, western queen DALE EVANS, an interview with Mr. Ed’s ALAN YOUNG, Miami Vice, The Sixties’ Wackiest Robots, Muscle-Maker CHARLES ATLAS, Super Powers Team—Galactic Guardians, and more fun, fab features! Featuring columns by ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, and MARK VOGER! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

The Brady Bunch’s FLORENCE HENDERSON, the UNKNOWN COMIC revealed, Hanna-Barbera’s Top Cat, a Barbie history, RANKIN/BASS’ Frosty the Snowman, Dell Comics’ Monster Super-Heroes, Slushy Drinks, and more fun, fab features! Featuring columns by ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, and MARK VOGER! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

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