RetroFan #14 by TwoMorrows Publishing

May 2021 No. 14 $9.95

Who loves ya, baby?

TV TIE-IN TOYS NO KID WOULD WANT!

Star Trek

Holy Backstage Pass!

The Lean Years

The Man Behind the Mask

Behind the Scenes of Your Favorite TV Shows!

Saturday Morning Sasquatch! Bigfoot on TV

Van Williams Ready to Rumble?

WWF WrestleFest Game Zoorama • The Saint in the Sixties • Scooby-Doo Super Collection & more!

82658 00431

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

Batman © DC Comics. Bigfoot and Wildboy © Sid and Marty Krofft Productions. Green Hornet © The Green Hornet, Inc. WWF WrestleFest © Technōs Japan Corp. Kojak © Universal Television. All Rights Reserved.

RetroFan:

Pop Culture You Grew Up With! If you love Pop Culture of the Sixties, Seventies, and Eighties, editor MICHAEL EURY’s latest magazine is just for you!

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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!

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

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

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

NOWbackstage BI-MONTHLY! Celebrating fifty Holy pass! See rare, behind-theyears of SHAFT, interviews withfavorite FAMILY scenes photos of many of your AFFAIR’s GARVER and The Brady Sixties TV KATHY shows! Plus: an unpublished Bunch Variety Hour’sHornet GERI “FAKE interview with Green VAN JAN” REISCHL, ED “BIG on DADDY” ROTH, WILLIAMS, Bigfoot Saturday morning rare GODZILLA merchandise, Spaghetti television, TV’s Zoorama and the San Westerns, Diego Zoo, Saturday The Saint,morning the leancartoon years ofpreviewTrek specials, fakethe presidential candidates, Star fandom, WrestleFest video Spider-Man/The Spider parallels, game, TV tie-in toys no kid wouldStuckey’s, want, and andmore morefun, fun,fab fabfeatures! features!

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

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

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The Crazy Cool Culture We Grew Up With

CONTENTS Issue #14 May 2021 33

Columns and Special Features

Departments

Retrotorial

Will Murray’s 20th Century Panopticon I Rode with the Green Hornet!

Retro Toys TV Tie-in Toys No Kid Would Want!

Retro Television The Saint in the Sixties

Super Collector A real-life Shaggy’s Scooby-Doo collection

Retro Games WWF WrestleFest

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

Andy Mangels’ Retro Saturday Morning Bigfoot on Television

RetroFad Paper Dresses

Oddball World of Scott Shaw! The world famous San Diego Zoo, Part Two

Too Much TV Quiz

Scott Saavedra’s Secret Sanctum Star Trek: The Lean Years

73 78

RetroFanmail

ReJECTED RetroFan fantasy cover by Scott Saavedra

RetroFan™ #14, May 2021. Published bimonthly by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614. Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief. John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Office: RetroFan, c/o Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief, 112 Fairmount Way, New Bern, NC 28562. Email: euryman@gmail.com. Six-issue subscriptions: 68 Economy US, $103 International, $27 Digital. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Batman © DC Comics. Green Hornet © The Green Hornet, Inc. Bigfoot and Wildboy © Sid and Marty Krofft Productions. WWF WrestleFest © Technōs Japan Corp. Kojak © Universal Television. All Rights Reserved. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2021 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING. ISSN 2576-7224

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michael Eury PUBLISHER John Morrow CONTRIBUTORS John Cimino Michael Eury Billy Ferguson Ernest Farino Dan Hagen Andy Mangels Will Murray Scott Saavedra Scott Shaw! DESIGNER Scott Saavedra PROOFREADER Rob Smentek SPECIAL THANKS Hake’s Auctions Heritage Auctions Joanne Marshall San Diego Zoo Worthpoint

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RETROFAN

If you think our culture is divided today, you should’ve been around in the Sixties! (Actually, if you’re reading RetroFan, you probably were!) Adults were at odds over the Vietnam War, civil rights, and changing mores as the United States was experiencing cultural growing pains, and the Cold War cast a polarizing chill across the globe. While adults tried to shield their children from such matters, Sixties kids were dragged into the mire with our own clashes, some of which devolved into shoving matches on school playgrounds: Who do you like best, The Beatles or The Monkees? DC or Marvel? Ginger or Mary Ann? Samantha or Jeannie? Matchbox or Hot Wheels? Quisp or Quake? James Bond or Napoleon Solo? Betty or Veronica? The blue Rock ’Em Sock ’Em robot or the red robot? The success of ABC-TV’s Batman, which premiered on January 12, 1966 and instantly made mega-stars of Adam West and Burt Ward, prompted another clash later that year. During the Fall 1966 television season, Batman executive producer William Dozier rolled out a second series featuring a different masked man from the funnies (in this case, originally from a radio drama which soon spawned movie serials and comic books), The Green Hornet. Dozier’s Batman was bright and fanciful, a colorful campfest where A-list celebs vied for coveted guest-villain roles. Batman drove children and, for a brief period, college students and adults, quite batty. Viewers were expecting more of the same with The Green Hornet. Instead, Dozier and company played it straight, with an absence of costumed villains and scene-stealing guest-stars and an emphasis on street-level criminals and moody, nighttime action. While The Green Hornet helped catapult its co-star, Bruce Lee (Kato), to eventual stardom, and returned a familiar, handsome face, Van Williams, to weekly television as the Hornet and his alter ego, Britt Reid, it didn’t sustain its initial buzz and was axed after a single season. (Fun fact: Bill Dozier also produced two other comics-inspired pilots during this period, a semi-straight take on Dick Tracy and a ridiculously over-the-top spoof of Wonder Woman. For more info I refer you to my 2017 TwoMorrows book, Hero-A-Go-Go: Campy Comic Books, Crimefighters, and Culture of the Swinging Sixties, designed by RetroFan’s own Scott Saavedra, still available at www.twomorrows.com, for more information.) And thus, another divisive topic was introduced: Which show’s tone was best, Batman’s or Green Hornet’s? Would The Green Hornet have gone on to at least a second season if it had been played for laughs? That’s anybody’s guess, but as a young boy back in the day, I loved ’em both. And I feel their respective tones were right for each series at the time. It’s been several years since The Green Hornet’s Van Williams passed away, but this issue we’re lucky to revisit the late actor’s perspective on the iconic show thanks to columnist Will Murray, who interviewed the star for Starlog several years back and offers an edited version of that discussion in this edition of RetroFan. Fans of Batman will also rejoice over columnist Ernest Farino’s feature this ish, which presents behind-the-scenes photos from the Caped Crusader’s series as well as many other Sixties TV faves. If these two articles don’t reactivate your inner child, check your pulse and dial 911. There’s a heavy classic TV focus this issue, which was happenstance from the contributors’ material that was in the queue in time for this issue, not the result of a coordinated theme. Since most of us were glued to the tube during our childhoods, I doubt you’ll complain. All that and more is waiting for you, making RetroFan #14 yet another groovy grab bag of the crazy, cool culture we grew up with.

May 2021

The Green Hornet logo TM & © Green Hornet, Inc.

by Michael Eury

WILL MURRAY’S 20TH CENTURY PANOPTICON

e h t h t i w e d o R I

! t e n r o H Green by Will Murray

During the nearly 30 years I wrote for the Starlog Group of magazines, I interviewed hundreds of celebrities, ranging from Sylvester Stallone to Keanu Reeves. Most of these assignments were relatively routine. But one stood out as having personal meaning to me. Interviewing TV’s Green Hornet, Van Williams, was special. I was a huge fan of that 1966–1967 ABC-TV show. Over the course of my Sixties youth, I had several heroes, beginning with Superman and progressing to Captain America and probably culminating in the Green Hornet. I was a teenager by the time The Green Hornet aired, and the fact that the show took itself so seriously deeply impressed me. Alas, it was a one-season wonder. But what a season! The Green Hornet was a crime drama Original painting (artist unknown) for the box art for with the cooler trappings of Hasbro’s The Green Hornet Paint By Number set. Courtesy the ridiculous Batman TV show, of Heritage. (INSET) Van Williams in his iconic role as the which I also watched faithfully, Green Hornet’s alter ego, crusading media mogul Britt of ten cringing as I did so. Reid. The Green Hornet © The Green Hornet, Inc. TV version © 20th Century Television/

Let’s Roll, Van!

Greenway Productions.

When the opportunity to interview Williams came, it was by telephone. I called in at his workplace and he generously gave me about an hour of his time. We stayed in touch and he paid me of the high compliment of telling me I was one of the few who quoted him accurately. Well, I taped the interview. That certainly helped. I began by asking him how familiar he had been with the Green Hornet radio show that ran from 1936 to 1952. “I was a big fan of it,” he admitted. “My family was a big fan of it.” Yet when the part of crusading newspaper publisher Britt Reid was offered, surprisingly, Williams was at first reluctant. RETROFAN

May 2021

Will Murray’s 20th Century Panopticon

“To be honest with you,” he confessed, “I really didn’t really want to do it. I had just done a pilot for Four Star. I really liked that role.” He was a submarine commander in Pursue and Destroy. But the pilot failed to sell and so the actor agreed to wear the midnight green overcoat and mask of the Green Hornet. Having grown up on a Texas ranch, Williams found it ironic. “For some reason,” he told me, “when I went to Warner Bros. under contract, with all those Westerns they had going over there, they put me in a modernday thing as a kid from Tulane University in a coat and tie!” That was on Bourbon Street Beat. His character, Ken Madison, grew up and migrated over to Surfside 6 for two seasons. Despite his initial reservations, Williams got into the dual role of newspaper publisher Britt Reid and his masked alias. “It was a fun show in the stunts and the gadgets until we had done it long enough,” he said. “We did a great many run-throughs with Black Beauty [the Hornet’s sleek sedan] in the mountains of Malibu, and it gets quite hot here. I had to wear a suit and a muffler, and the overcoat, the hat, and the mask. I would just jump in the car and do it, and get out and do the fight or whatever. I always insisted on doing all my own fights. Some days, I would lose ten to 12 pounds.” Next to Bruce Lee as his combination manservant, chauffeur, and bodyguard Kato, the Hornet’s black limousine was the third star. When I reminded Van that he had joked to TV Guide that it should have been called Black Ugly, he stated, “It really was when you first saw it. More than ugly, it was mean-looking. It was low-slung, dull black, and had those dark windows. It looked like a typical hood car, which was exactly what it was supposed to look like. We had a good number of problems with the car even though it was a tough old bird. We almost wrecked the thing so many times in chase sequences.” 4

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May 2021

A Hornet’s Nest

One of the last half-hour TV adventure shows, The Green Hornet suffered due to the restrictions of its 30-minute time slot. “We didn’t really have time to develop anything except a stern guy who was out to do good,” he lamented. “There was no scope to it. Somehow, we would discover a new criminal element and there we would go. That wasn’t really the time to do Kato and I. Bruce was very adamant about not being shown as a manservant, but we had a hard time trying to come up with any scenes. “It was my contention that Britt Reid as Britt Reid should have gotten more involved in those stories. All you ever saw of Britt Reid was in his den or his office, setting up the story. He could have gotten into it, which would have allowed us to do certain things during the daytime. But they felt, ‘Ah, this is a kids' show. You don’t need any romance to sell it.’ I think we had a following more of adults than of kids. The kids liked Bruce, but the adults liked the show.” There were also problems with the character’s owner, radio executive George Trendle, who also owned the Hornet’s ancestor, the Lone Ranger. “Trendle didn’t like the show’s grim tone,” Van revealed. “Trendle complained about the lack of humor. Instead of doing it like the radio show, he thought it would be have been better to have done it like Batman. I didn’t agree with that. We tried to make The Green Hornet as truthful as you could be with a guy running around in a mask. I feel proud about that and I don’t care what anybody says.” The Green Hornet was produced by Batman’s William Dozier, who decided (TOP) Williams as Commander Russ that the Hornet and Kato should guest-star Enright in a screen capture from the 1966 on a Batman two-parter, which has since TV pilot, Pursue and Destroy. © ABC. (ABOVE) become notorious. Van Williams as Ken Madison, opposite— “I felt very strange on that show,” Van make that up close and personal to—Diane allowed. “I didn’t want to do it because McBain, in a publicity still from TV’s I didn’t think it was going to work. And Surfside 6. © Warner Bros. Courtesy of Heritage. it didn’t. And Bruce! Oh, Bruce was just

Will Murray’s 20th Century Panopticon

the difference and he became a believer. Then, he had to learn it all over again.” Despite its future cult status, The Green Hornet was a showstopper for the careers of its co-stars. Fortunately for Bruce Lee, he escaped Hollywood for Hong Kong, where he became a superstar, thanks to Kung Fu, which he popularized. “I had no idea it was going to take off like it did,” Williams said, “because after the show went down the drain, Bruce had a big problem getting work. What he really didn’t want to do was that show he ended up doing, where he played a teacher to the blind guy on Longstreet. He was really depressed with his role. They didn’t give him anything to do. One of Bruce’s problems was that he had a very heavy Chinese accent and you couldn’t understand what he was saying half the time. He didn’t really study the craft as an actor, but he wasn’t bought as an actor.”

Hanging Up His Mask

Williams was equally fortunate in finding a new direction. “It did definitely put a big damper on my career,” he admitted. “And I was more or less decided in the middle of The Green Hornet that I was going to get out. I never liked the business, even though Green Hornet publicity still signed to Green Hornet co-creator (with Fran Striker) George Trendle by star Van Williams. Courtesy of Hake’s. TV Green Hornet © 20th Century Television/Greenway Productions.

livid. He didn’t get along with Burt Ward at all. Ward was always making cracks about Bruce being a waiter, and it got back to Bruce. He didn’t want to have a confrontation with Robin where he would be bested. As a matter of fact, Bruce almost walked off the show because he thought Robin was just a comic character and had no balls. Here, Bruce was the big kung-fu guy and he was going to be bested by this kid. It was just a mess. I don’t remember much about the show. I think they ended up making two stamps out of Kato and me.”

Van Williams and Green Hornet co-star Bruce Lee in costume (RIGHT) and, unmasked, in a publicity still (BELOW). © 20th Century Television/Greenway Productions.

Remembering Bruce Lee

Williams had vivid memories of his late co-star. “I always knew Bruce had a hell of a talent with his Jeet Kune Do, which was what he called it back then. There was nothing, being an actor or anything, that had any importance besides that. He was always practicing. He used to drive everybody nuts around the set because he was constantly kicking. You would be watching the set and suddenly, you would feel a breath of air go by your ear. You would turn around and Bruce had kicked out and tickled your ear lobe. One time he did it, the guy turned and Bruce kicked him in the jaw and broke it! “Bruce didn’t realize he was dealing with a two-dimensional medium and not a three-dimensional one. He always wanted to work everything in close. You could swing at three feet and as long as the reaction’s right, it looks real on film. Bruce hurt a lot of people. He didn’t mean to. He just got going and he couldn’t stop. He got to the point that we used every stuntman in town because Bruce hurt them. Finally we took the time to show him RETROFAN

May 2021

Will Murray’s 20th Century Panopticon

Feeling that his career had been fatally stung by The Green Hornet, Van Williams struck off on his own. He remained defensive about that experience. “We were probably made fun of because we played it so seriously. But it was the way it was meant to be with The Green Hornet. I was trying to be honest with myself in the role and that’s the way I felt it should have been played. And I’ve gotten a good amount of criticism for that. People were disappointed in it. They thought it was going to be another Batman. I’m just now starting to get many people who are showing that they appreciate what I did. But it took a long time to come out.” Green Hornet ratings never matched the Batmania phenomenon, but the show was not renewed for that reason. “We were winning our timeslot,” Van explained. “Bill Dozier wouldn’t agree unless the show was expanded to an hour.” Thanks to fan feedback, Williams came to realize that he had the superior show.

LOOKING FOR MORE GREEN HORNET?

RetroFan #4 featured the late Martin Pasko’s column about the Green Hornet in Hollywood. And our sister magazine, BACK ISSUE, examined Now Comics’ Green Hornet series in issue #18. Visit www.twomorrows.com to order both.

“It’s amazing how many die-hard Green Hornet fans are not fans of the Batman TV show,” he noted. “They didn’t like it. They thought they were being cheated. I don’t know whether it works the other way when Adam goes out on these things or not, but I’m surprised that most of the real die-hard fans do not like it. “Nothing I did stayed alive as long as The Green Hornet,” he observed with quiet satisfaction. “It’s a modern day kind of a James Bond, but without the super-criminals, that if we could have done it probably would have made the show more successful. The fans have stuck with it and I guess they’re probably going to stick with it for the next generation, and beyond.” Van’s final role was another bit part, but a fitting one. In Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, he played the director of an episode of The Green Hornet. Over the years Van Williams and I fell out of touch. I always regretted that. He passed away on November 29, 2016 of kidney failure, a year before his good friend and fellow TV crimefighter, Adam West. WILL MURRAY is the writer of the Wild Adventures (www.adventuresinbronze. com) series of novels, which stars Doc Savage, The Shadow, King Kong, The Spider, and Tarzan of the Apes. He also created the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl with legendary artist Steve Ditko.

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RETROFAN

May 2021

SCOTT SAAVEDRA'S SECRET SANCTUM

STAR TREK The Lean Years

Death is in the air. With a sudden jolt, the bridge crew of the USS Enterprise lurches in unison, first toward the port bow and then just as violently toward starboard. Captain Kirk intensely stares at the main viewscreen, moments earlier filled with stars but now roiling with static, offering no clues to their situation. A Red Alert sets off the familiar attention-getting klaxon. Kirk sharply queries his helmsman, “Mr. Sulu, report!” “The controls, Captain, they’re not responding,” Sulu replies with usual efficiency. The static grows louder and more frantic. Dr. McCoy, often on the bridge instead of the Sick Bay during times of danger, and Lt. Uhura exchange concerned glances. Lt. Leslie tugs at his red shirt, wondering, “Is today going to be the day?” A call comes in from Engineering. The familiar brogue of Chief Engineer Scott is tense, “Captain, it dunna make any sense but we’re dead in the water!”

by Scott Saavedra

Kirk brings a clenched fist to his mouth. He turns toward the Science Station, where Mr. Spock is usually deep in his duties. He is not at his post. Ensign Chekov bolts from Navigation to take over the Science Station on Kirk’s orders. The situation demands answers. “Captain, the sensors must be malfunctioning, we appear to be… nowhere,” the ensign reports with considerably more concern than the Vulcan First Officer could ever muster. Kirk gives his com button a swift punch. “Spock! Report to bridge… Spock!” No answer. Abruptly, the chaotic, jagged lights on the viewscreen and the overwhelming static noise stop. What remains is a single bright but fading dot of light in the middle of a dark screen. It blinks out. “Spock, where are you?” Kirk half-whispers through clenched teeth. Then everything goes black…

William Shatner as a distressed Captain Kirk (more or less—it's complicated) in the final episode of the final season of Star Trek. Digitally altered screen capture from "Turnabout Intruder." © CBS Studios, Inc.

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Scott Saavedra's secret sanctum

(BELOW) NASA’s official caption for the September 17, 1976 event: “The Shuttle Enterprise rolls out of the Palmdale manufacturing facilities with Star Trek television cast members. From left to right they are: Dr. James C. Fletcher (NASA Administrator), DeForest Kelley (Dr. “Bones” McCoy), George Takei (Mr. Sulu), James Doohan (Chief Engineer Montgomery “Scotty” Scott), Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura), Leonard Nimoy (the indefatigable Mr. Spock), Gene Roddenberry (The Great Bird of the Galaxy), Democratic Congressman Don Fuqua, and Walter Koenig (Ensign Pavel Chekov).” NASA.

(LEFT) One of many Star Trek products that seemed badly thoughtout, a kid’s puzzle showing an unconscious (and shirtless) Captain Kirk in flames with Mr. Spock (minus his insignia) apparently losing his right hand in a magical whirlwind. Star Trek © CBS Studios, Inc. Courtesy of Heritage.

(RIGHT) Hamilton's Invaders fans will quickly recognize the helmet at right which was repurposed to become the Star Trek Astro-Helmet. While stylish, it was not Trek canon. Star Trek © CBS Studios, Inc. Courtesy of Hake's.

RetroFan #1 for Andy Mangels’ extensive history of Star Trek: The Animated Series.] Further attention was brought to the actors because of the characters they played following another Trimble-organized letter-writing campaign urging President Ford to name the first Space Shuttle Enterprise instead of Constitution. The main cast, minus Shatner, was on hand September 17, 1976 (which is Constitution Day) as Space Shuttle Enterprise was introduced to the public. Another way for actors to try and shake off typecasting was to show off other skills. This involved singing. Shatner’s “songtalking” performance of “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” in 1968 is likely the best known. Nimoy did three albums, with The Touch of Leonard Nimoy being the last during the show’s run in 1969. Nichelle Nichols could actually sing and had performed with Duke Ellington. She had a few albums to her credit. And Grace Lee Whitney (Yeoman Rand) wrote and sang a number of songs, including “Disco Trekkin.’”

A Piece of the Action

The model maker AMT released USS Enterprise and Klingon Battle Cruiser model kits while Star Trek was still being made. They were designed by Star Trek art director Matt Jefferies. Other kits eventually followed including scaled-down versions of the tricorder and communicator. 16

RETROFAN

May 2021

There were Trek toys, but they had space sickness or something. The disk-firing Star Trek Tracer Gun that shot off colorful plastic circles is probably the one of the earliest and probably recalled most by fans. There was a rifle version, too. Neither resembled anything seen on the show, though the rifle looked pretty futuristic. Remco’s bug-eyed Star Trek Astro Helmet (c. 1967) was a yellow re-release of the company’s gray Hamilton’s Invaders helmet of 1964. I know this because there is a picture of me as a child wearing the Hamilton’s Invaders helmet and a simple pair of white kid undies. That’s my complete outfit. You will never see this photo. [Whew.—ed.] 1975’s Official Star Trek Space Fun Helmet with a large red flashing light on top is a beautiful thing, especially with a “Spock” sticker emblazoned across the front. It didn’t appear on the show, which is too bad since it could only have improved “Spock’s Brain” (Season 3, Episode 1—yes, they began the third season with this gem). Other equally wrong merchandise included an Astro Wrist Radio and the Kirk and Spock Official Star Trek Sky Diving Parachutist toy (1974). The Mego Star Trek figures (1974–1976) were fine, but the playsets were wrong. The cardboard and plastic Mego Bridge playset not only had too many colors but short bar stools instead of chairs for the navigator and the helmsman who were, ironically, not part of the original Mego line-up. On a personal note, a Mego Mr. Spock figure travelled with me on business trips for a few years as a good-luck token until he lost his pants (a mystery to this day). Surprisingly, there will be more on this later. There were, however, show-accurate items made by specialty companies. Replicas of the communicators, phasers, tricorders, insignias, and even Vulcan ears (in pro or slip-on styles) could be mail-ordered or found at conventions.

Scott Saavedra's secret sanctum

Open Communication Channels

Popular mainstream magazines didn’t much cover the subject of Star Trek then. Thankfully, the show’s growing popularity left an opening for small publishers to fill. The first issue of Starlog (O’Quinn Studios, Aug. 1976) had a large section devoted to Star Trek. Fan geek-out: I still vividly recall purchasing that issue at the Thrifty Drug Store across the street from my high school—I was pretty excited. Various other modest publications popped up but didn’t last very long. There was Star Trek Giant Poster Book (not much of a magazine, but, yep, it unfolded into a giant poster), All About Star Trek Fan Clubs, and junk like Space Wars. It would be in these newsstand magazines and others like them that I would have to rely on for news about a possible Star Trek return.

Before Star Trek (and its stars) regularly turned up on the covers of major magazines, smaller circulation, more focused newsstand publications kept fans informed. Star Trek © CBS Studios, Inc. Images of the Monster Times, Castle of Frankenstein, Monsters of the Movies, and Starlog are from Archive.org.

More Trouble with Trek

Following the final season of Star Trek, Roddenberry began lobbying Paramount Pictures for a movie based on the show. The negotiations (or lack thereof) and various proposals lurched about (what’s the opposite of warp speed?) for years. Eventually, progress was made, or so everyone thought. Star Trek Phase II was intended to have a 1978 debut. All of the old cast was returning except for Nimoy, who didn’t want to do regular television work. Shatner signed a contract, but Paramount was worried that he would get too expensive. (So. What.) A new character, Executive Officer Willard Decker, was created as a hedge against Shatner wanting more money. Scripts were being written and sets were getting built. Happily, it didn’t get made

(who wants the original Star Trek without Spock?), but there would be a good reason for that.

Journey to Babel

Just to remind everyone, popular-culture conventions were not a thing when Star Trek first hit the airwaves (which is where our home video entertainment came from, the air), although sciencefiction fans had held conventions since the Thirties. One of the first such gatherings convened at the home of a nuclear physicist in 1936. Among the attendees were Frederik Pohl (soon to be a science-fiction writer and, later, a somewhat disinterested editor of Star Trek books) and James Blish. By 1939, the granddaddy of such conclaves, the World Science Fiction Convention, was first RETROFAN

May 2021

THE MAGAZINE FOR LEGO ENTHUSIASTS OF ALL AGES! ®

BRICKJOURNAL magazine (edited by Joe Meno) spotlights all aspects of the LEGO® Fan Community, showcasing events, people, and models every issue, with contributions and how-to articles by top builders worldwide, new product intros, and more. Available in both FULL-COLOR print and digital editions. Print subscribers get the digital version FREE!

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ALICE FINCH’s art/architectural models, the WOMEN’S BRICK INITIATIVE and the BRICK ALLIANCE (bringing more builders to the community), the WOMEN OF PHILIPPINES LUG (LEGO Users Group) and their creations, STEVEN SMYTH’s intricate Star Wars builds, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS, and more!

Get an introduction to TOM GERARDIN’s LEGO best friends Billy and Charlie, tour Disneyland Paris’ Sleeping Beauty Castle in bricks with DARIO DEL FRATES, and visit more theme parks LEGO-style with BILL VOLLBRECHT! Plus: “AFOLs” by cartoonist GREG HYLAND, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, Minifigure Customization by JARED K. BURKS, and more!!

YUANSHENG HE’s breathtaking LEGO® brick art photography, the many models of TOM FROST, and the intricate Star Wars builds of Bantha Brick’s STEVEN SMYTH! Plus: “Bricks in the Middle” by KEVIN HINKLE and MATTHEW KAY, stepby-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS, and more!

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Download our Free Catalog for descriptions of each issue! https://www.twomorrows.com/media/BrickJournalCatalog.pdf

Pop Culture Books HOLLY JOLLY Celebrating Christmas Past In Pop Culture

MONSTER MASH

GROOVY

Time-trip back to the frightening era of 1957-1972, when monsters stomped into the American mainstream! This profusely illustrated full-color hardcover covers that creepy, kooky Monster Craze through features on FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND magazine, the #1 hit “Monster Mash,” Aurora’s model kits, TV shows (SHOCK THEATRE, THE ADDAMS FAMILY, THE MUNSTERS, and DARK SHADOWS), “MARS ATTACKS” trading cards, EERIE PUBLICATIONS, PLANET OF THE APES, and more! It features interviews with JAMES WARREN (Creepy, Eerie, and Vampirella magazines), FORREST J ACKERMAN (Famous Monsters of Filmland), JOHN ASTIN (The Addams Family), AL LEWIS (The Munsters), JONATHAN FRID (Dark Shadows), GEORGE BARRIS (monster car customizer), ED “BIG DADDY” ROTH (Rat Fink), BOBBY (BORIS) PICKETT (Monster Mash singer/songwriter), with a Foreword by TV horror host ZACHERLEY. By MARK VOGER.

From WOODSTOCK to THE BANANA SPLITS, from SGT. PEPPER to H.R. PUFNSTUF, from ALTAMONT to 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. GROOVY revisits the era’s ROCK FESTIVALS, MOVIES, ART—even COMICS and CARTOONS, from the 1968 ‘mod’ WONDER WOMAN to R. CRUMB. A color-saturated pop culture history written and designed by MARK VOGER (author of the acclaimed book MONSTER MASH), GROOVY is one trip that doesn’t require dangerous chemicals!

(192-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $39.95 ISBN: 9781605490649 • (Digital Edition) $11.99 Diamond Order Code: MAR151564

(192-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $39.95 ISBN: 9781605490809 • Digital Edition: $13.99 Diamond Order Code: JUL172227

TwoMorrows. The Future of Pop History.

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

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

(192-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $43.95 • ISBN: 9781605490977 (Digital Edition) $15.99 • Diamond Order Code: AUG201697

Get all three Mark Voger books for just $99.95! These three full-color Hardcovers normally retail for more than $120, but get this specially-priced trio for only $99.95, and save $24! Phone: 919-449-0344 E-mail: store@twomorrows.com Web: www.twomorrows.com Don’t miss exclusive sales, limited editions, and new releases! Sign up for our mailing list:

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RETRO TELEVISION

IN THE SIXTIES by Dan Hagen “I’ve never seen so much crap in all my life,” said NBC vice president of programming Mort Werner. It was 1963, and Werner was reacting to a screening of the first episodes of the imported TV show The Saint. Although the actionadventure series became the second most popular show among British males, American TV networks weren’t interested. Too British, they said. Too old-fashioned. And indeed, Leslie Charteris’ crimefighting criminal Simon Templar, the “Robin Hood of Modern Crime,” had by then been famous for more than 30 years, appearing in every popular medium—novels, movies, magazines, dramatic radio, comic books, and a newspaper comic strip. So why not TV? American network executives had underestimated the Saint, and—as many an ungodly villain might attest—that’s always a mistake. Simon Templar, the cosmopolitan thief played by Roger Moore, ended up stealing ratings from the networks that had rejected him. “The Saint became one of the most successful dramas ever offered in American syndication,” noted Wesley Alan Britton in his book Spy Television. “The New York NBC affiliate found the show won in ratings against its competitors’ movies on Saturday nights, and similar success followed in Los Angeles and Chicago. Until the advent of independent cable stations, The Saint was

the only series aired coast-to-coast in syndication in primetime broadcasting.” And so it came to pass that a few years later, NBC reversed itself. In 1967, the network began to air new episodes of The Saint, now in color, as part of its primetime line-up. The move was just another of the Saint’s impossible feats. TV shows might go from a major network into syndication, but not from syndication onto a network. In fact, the Saint’s career on American television paralleled that of another cool-cat British import, Danger Man, alias secret agent John Drake. Danger Man began in 1960 as a half-hour adventure series about a NATO counterintelligence agent played by Patrick McGoohan, with CBS broadcasting some episodes in 1961 as a summer replacement for Steve McQueen’s bountyhunter Western Wanted: Dead or Alive. In 1964, the series was revived in an hourLeslie long format with John Drake now a British Charteris, intelligence agent, and those shows aired creator of on CBS under the title Secret Agent in 1965 The Saint. and 1966. The show’s American theme song, Secret Agent Man by Johnny Rivers, hit No. 3 on the U.S. Billboard chart. In fact, Patrick McGoohan was one of the first actors considered to play the Saint on TV. And, of course, the moment was right for both Danger Man and The Saint. Cool British international men of mystery were at the forefront of the Sixties zeitgeist. RETROFAN

May 2021

RETROFAD

PAPER DRESSES Recycling bins aside, we live in a culture of consumerism of disposable items. My 92-year-old father-in-law is still using the same washing machine he’s had since the Seventies, but my wife and I just had to replace the washer and dryer we bought eight years ago. Nothing is built to last anymore. The Scott Paper Company—yes, the kind folks responsible for a range of products used for wiping up messes from kitchen counters to… well, you know—had a brainstorm back in 1966, the celebrated year that gave us TV’s Batman, The Monkees, and Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots Are Made for Walking.” Witnessing a wave of popular throw-away-afteruse products like ballpoint pens, razors, and cigarette lighters (the landfills of 2021 are cursing this now), as well as the Mod fashions and miniskirts that were driving ga-ga young people to the go-gos, Scott unveiled “Paper Caper” dresses that could be mail-ordered for a buck (plus a quarter for shipping). Clothing made from paper or paper byproducts wasn’t anything new—chances are you trick-or-treated in an inexpensive Halloween costume made of a paper blend—but never before had it been so cleverly promoted. Scott’s paper dresses (originally available in two styles, a blackand-white op art print or a red bandanna print) were made from a paper-cellulose hybrid the company called “Dura-Weve,” touted as “the fabric of the future” (one wonders, were Jane and Judy Jetson wearing paper dresses?). And it caught on. Instantly. The company was blindsided by orders of over a halfmillion paper dresses in just six months. As we know from our ongoing RetroFad fables, the one recurring theme is, one company’s success will spawn imitators. And soon hosiery companies, cosmetic firms, and clothing manufacturers began rolling out paper dresses and other accessories, made from their own paper-synthetic blends with catchy names like “Webril” and “Kaycel,” names I’m surprised haven’t been snatched up by some modern-day pharmaceutical company. By the end of 1966, well over three million paper dresses had been sold, and over a hundred thousand were produced each week. By 1967, you could find them in almost any clothing or department store. Of course, Scott and other manufacturers didn’t limit this to just Twiggy wannabes. Paper clothing became available for everyone in the family. Parents no longer had to spend a fortune buying clothes for their quickly growing kids, thanks to inexpensive girls’ paper play dresses and boys’ paper pinafores. Men could display their grooviness in paper dashikis and 32

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by Michael Eury

sport shirts, top off a look with a paper vest, or go to work in a paper suit that would be trash-heaped after a few uses (sorry, neighborhood dry cleaner). Ladies, paper evening gowns were oh, so fashionable and available at a fraction of the cost of a cloth gown, and you could even walk down the aisle in a paper wedding dress. Yet it was the miniskirt that dominated the paper-clothing craze. Fashion designers whipped up luminous pop-art patterns for paper dresses, with bold geometrics, funky flowers, and paisley prints commonplace. A “blank” paper dress was sold that allowed artists to customize their own clothing. Product logos and Hollywood celebrity likenesses were plastered onto paper dresses. Perhaps the most famous paper dress was the “Souper Dress” which replicated illustrator Andy Warhol’s popular Campbell’s Soup Cans painting. With this product versatility and an average cost of only eight bucks per unit, it’s no wonder the paper dress became the “in” thing. But there was a catch. More than one, actually. First, despite their trendiness, paper clothes wrinkled easily and weren’t very attractive. Wearers found them uncomfortable. Their paper-synthetic blends were touted as being relatively resistant to water and fire, but an unexpected downpour or smoking mishap could prove problematic to the paper-clothing wearer. Their colors would fade and sometimes temporarily stain the flesh underneath. Before long, people had had enough. By the end of the decade, the paper dress/paper clothing fad was dead, and then along came the Seventies’ environmental movement, where Woodsy Owl taught us to “give a hoot—don’t pollute.” Disposable clothing was a thing of the past. Or was it? Earlier today I tossed a paper facemask after wearing it to the grocery store in our pandemic age. And the next time I go to the dentist, they’ll place a paper bib around my neck, and the hygienist may very well be wearing a paper smock. Maybe the Scott Paper Company was right: This was a “fabric of the future.”

(TOP) The ad campaign that started a fad! © Kimberly-Clark. (BOTTOM) Based on Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup Cans paintings, the legendary 1976 “Souper Dress.” Peloponnesian Folklore Foundation/Wikimedia Commons.

ERNEST FARINO’S RETRO FANTASMAGORIA

In response to issue #7, RetroFan reader Thomas Guild wrote, “I just read the Dick Van Dyke Show article. I will need to watch the reruns. I would like to see more ‘behind the scenes’ articles on shows like Bewitched and The Addams Family (was the set really all pink)?” So, just to show that we do read the mail (keep those cards and letters—and emails—coming in), here’s Part One of a collection of “behind-thescenes” (BTS) photos from some of your favorite TV shows from the Sixties. Part Two, in the next issue of RetroFan, will be a collection of similar photos from movies from the Sixties. Some feel that photos of this nature “spoil the fun,” but, partly because of my own interest in filmmaking and later involvement professionally, I’ve always enjoyed that glimpse “behind the curtain” that conveys… well, How They Did It! So… Roll camera… mark it… annnnd… Action!

HOW THEY DID IT! Compiled and captioned by Ernest Farino

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retrofad

Every fall season the “Big Three” TV networks, ABC, CBS, and NBC, would assemble their stars for groups photos, most often used in TV Guide’s “Fall Preview” issues.

Another CBS line-up. (LEFT TO RIGHT) Clint Eastwood (Rawhide), Paul Brinegar (Rawhide), Tina Louise (Gilligan’s Island), and from The Wild Wild West, Robert Conrad and Ross Martin. © CBS.

From CBS shows airing in 1964–1965: John McGiver (Many Happy Returns), Sterling Holloway (The Baileys of Balboa), Yvonne De Carlo (The Munsters), Paul Ford (The Baileys of Balboa), Fred Gwynne (The Munsters), Julie Newmar (My Living Doll), Cara Williams (The Cara Williams Show), and Tina Louise (Gilligan’s Island). © CBS Television.

From ABC: (LEFT TO RIGHT) Marlo Thomas (That Girl), Judy Carne (Love on a Rooftop), and Elizabeth Montgomery (Bewitched). © ABC.

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It’s all about the hats: Clint Eastwood (Rawhide), Buddy Ebsen (The Beverly Hillbillies), Danny Kaye (The Danny Kaye Show), and Fess Parker (Daniel Boone). © CBS.

retrofad

(LEFT) Adventures of Superman may be a Fifties classic, but it became a Sixties favorite due to its heavy syndication. Here’s George Reeves, the only “real” Superman to most Boomers, shielding Lois Lane (Noel Neill) from what must certainly be a dastardly bad guy lurking just off-camera. (ABOVE) A high-angle view of the Clark Kent Office Set with Reeves, Neill, and Jack Larson (Jimmy Olsen).

[Editor’s note: For more Adventures of Superman photos and trivia, see RetroFan #11.]

Jerry Mathers “as the Beaver” takes a few shots for his own scrapbook with what appears to be a Minolta Autocord TLR (twin lens reflex) with Tessar-type 4-element Rokkor f/3.5 lens. Pretty fancy for the Beav…!

RETROFAN

May 2021

NEW BOOKS FROM TWOMORROWS

OLD GODS & NEW A COMPANION TO JACK KIRBY’S FOURTH WORLD

For its 80th issue, the JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR magazine presents a double-sized 50th anniversary examination of Kirby’s magnum opus! Spanning the pages of four different comics starting in 1970 (NEW GODS, FOREVER PEOPLE, MISTER MIRACLE, and JIMMY OLSEN), the sprawling “Epic for our times” was cut short mid-stream, leaving fans wondering how Jack would’ve resolved the confrontation between evil DARKSEID of Apokolips, and his son ORION of New Genesis. This companion to that “FOURTH WORLD” series looks back at JACK KIRBY’s own words, as well as those of assistants MARK EVANIER and STEVE SHERMAN, inker MIKE ROYER, and publisher CARMINE INFANTINO, to determine how it came about, where it was going, and how Kirby would’ve ended it before it was prematurely cancelled by DC Comics! It also examines Kirby’s use of gods in THOR and other strips prior to the Fourth World, how they influenced his DC epic, and affected later series like THE ETERNALS and CAPTAIN VICTORY. With an overview of hundreds of Kirby’s creations like BIG BARDA, BOOM TUBES and GRANNY GOODNESS, and post-Kirby uses of his concepts, no Fourth World fan will want to miss it! Compiled, researched, and edited by JOHN MORROW, with contributions by JON B. COOKE. (160-page FULL-COLOR trade paperback) $26.95 • (Digital Edition) $12.99 ISBN: 978-1-60549-098-4 • SHIPS MAY 2021!

OR -COL FULLDCOVER HAR RIES SE nting me f docu ecade o d y! c ea h s histor comic

AMERICAN COMIC BOOK CHRONICLES The 1950s

MARVEL COMICS IN THE 1970s (Expanded Edition)

PIERRE COMTOIS’ sequel covers how STAN LEE became publisher, JACK KIRBY left Marvel, and ROY THOMAS rose as writer & editor! New edition with 16 extra pages! (240-page trade paperback) $29.95 (Digital Edition) $12.99 INCLUDES 16 EXTRA PAGES! NOW BACK IN STOCK!

REED CRANDALL ILLUSTRATOR OF THE COMICS

(Softcover Edition) ROGER HILL’s history of Crandall’s life and career, with never-seen photos and unpublished artwork! NOW IN SOFTCOVER! (256-page FULL-COLOR TRADE PAPERBACK) $39.95 (256-page Digital Edition) $13.99 NEW SOFTCOVER EDITION IN STOCK NOW!

The 1990s

BILL SCHELLY tackles the Atomic Era of Marilyn Monroe and Elvis: EC’s TALES FROM THE CRYPT, MAD, CARL BARKS’ Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge, the FLASH in Showcase #4, return of Timely’s CAPTAIN AMERICA, HUMAN TORCH & SUB-MARINER, & FREDRIC WERTHAM!

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

(240-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $46.95 (Digital Edition) $15.99 NOW BACK IN STOCK!

(288-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $48.95 (Digital Edition) $15.99 NOW BACK IN STOCK!

Coming Fall 2021: American Comic Book Chronicles: 1945-49 and The Charlton Companion

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

Other volumes available: 1940-44 1960-64 1965-69 1970s 1980s Phone: 919-449-0344 E-mail: store@twomorrows.com Web: www.twomorrows.com Don’t miss exclusive sales, limited editions, and new releases! Sign up for our mailing list:

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THE ODDBALL WORLD OF SCOTT SHAW!

Zoorama and Other

ODDBALL SECRETS of the World Famous San Diego Zoo!

Part Two

by Scott Shaw! If you’ve been binge-watching Animal Planet’s The Zoo: San Diego as I have, I’m sure you’ve noticed the dedication, enthusiasm, and pride of SoCal’s world famous zoo’s employees. They’re not acting—that’s all genuine. Although I no longer know any current employees of the world famous San Diego Zoo, 50 years ago, I knew many Zoo staffers who were exactly like this new batch. I’ve had a lifelong relationship with the Zoo, including: I first visited the Zoo at the age of three; served as the first president of the San Diego Junior Zoological Society; displayed my artwork at the zoo’s public nexus; worked there during college as a “waste control technician”; and had a father who was in a key position there. I loved the Zoo then and I love it now, even though it’s completely different—and even better!—from the San Diego Zoo I grew up with during the first two decades of my life. Here’s a history of Balboa Park’s “world famous” San Diego Zoo, concluding the first part which ran last issue. And believe me, as someone who grew up in San Diego, everyone referred to (ABOVE) San Diego Zoo bus from the Seventies and the “You Belong in the Zoo” promotion. All photos accompanying this article are courtesy of Scott Shaw! and © San Diego Zoo, unless otherwise noted.

it as “world famous”—without the hyphen—because the world famous San Diego Zoo was the #1 tourist attraction in town. Promotional signage for the Zoo was ubiquitous, and every single one of ’em included the phrase “world famous.” So I’m sorry, but you’ll just have to get used to it. Blame San Diego for my “world famous” compulsion. In fact, to make things easier on you, I’ll only use its initials, WFSDZ, most of the time. (But the Zoo really is “world famous!”)

Zoo Transit, Pinnipeds, and Joan Embery

The world famous San Diego Zoo’s tourist-packed tour buses— initiated in 1927—covered 75% of the zoo, excepting the Reptile House and its surrounding exhibits, the primates’ area, and the Children’s Zoo. The park’s tour bus drivers, who—like the pilots of Disneyland’s “Jungle Cruise” attraction—each had their own schtick, added to their mandatory educational spiel. During their circuitous path around the park, each bus would pass Roosevelt High School, separated only by a taller-than-a-giraffe chain-link fence. Their unique patter didn’t matter; they all had to say, as they’d drive by students playing basketball through the wire barrier, “And now, on your right side, is the enclosure of our most dangerous species—the American teenager.” The passengers and the pedestrians always laughed and clapped when the bus drivers would twirl a slice of Wonder Bread to Chester the grizzly bear after he’d show them his toes! Speaking of transportation, zoos have to compete with theme parks, and since 1955 the world famous San Diego Zoo’s RETROFAN

May 2021

The Oddball World of Scott Shaw!

most formidable rival had been the world famous Disneyland in Anaheim. And since “The Magic Kingdom” had its “Skyway” bucket ride, it’s likely one of the reasons the Zoo decided to add their own. After all, both parks had very impressive exhibits, architecture, and vegetation that were all exciting to see from an aerial view. Both parks were also huge, so it was a great way to quickly transport visitors from one end to the other… and make a little money in the process. Opened in 1969, an overhead gondola lift called the “Skyfari” was ready for the WFSDZ’s thrill-seeking public. It was built by the Von Roll tramway company of Bern, Switzerland. The original San Diego Zoo Skyfari was a Von Roll type 101. Now the sky ride, a different design, is known as “The Skyfari Aerial Tram.” In 1936, the Zoo’s amphitheater was named the “Wegeforth Bowl” in honor of its creator, Dr. Harry M. Wegeforth. At the unveiling of a commemorative plaque dedicated to him, Wegeforth expressed gratitude but told the assembled officials that the money for the plaque would have been better spent to buy another animal for the Zoo. In 1948, the amphitheater’s stage became a pinniped (aquatic carnivores) playground, where seal trainer Captain Bennie Kirkbride and his slippery students entertained Zoo visitors for 35 years. Benny developed three completely different shows: a “dry act” with on-stage seals and sea lions, a diving act that took advantage of the bowl’s pool wrapped around the stage’s curved proscenium, and a jawdropping act with seals and sea lions riding on the backs of ponies! Harry M. Wegeforth Elementary School opened in San Diego in 1957. The site was dedicated on February 9, 1959, with Mrs. Harry Wegeforth and family in attendance. 52

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Among the ways to travel about the Zoo: the bus (seen here in a 1959 postcard) and the Skyfari (c. 1969).

My father once took me inside of the animal hospital on the grounds of the Zoo. Based on what I’ve seen on The Zoo: San Diego, it looks nothing like it did in the Sixties and Seventies. The one element I’ve always remembered was an operating room constructed for the WFSDZ’s largest animals like elephants and giraffes. Like one of the fiendish traps that Batman and Robin often found themselves in, one of the walls of the room was on a track, so it was possible to anesthetize and operate on the bigger beasts while they were still standing up, supported by that sliding wall. The city of San Diego owned the Zoo’s huge parking lot. My father was one of the guys behind the tropical “security towers” throughout it. He was also an animal lover, and during heat waves, he would patrol the parking lot to rescue pets that their doltish masters had locked in their cars. Sometimes I’d have to clean up the parking lot and its parameters, including the

The Oddball World of Scott Shaw!

bushes, where I once found dirty magazines and a baggie of pot. I burned all of it. Although I didn’t know Joan Embery when we were both students at Crawford High— she was one year ahead of me and graduated in 1967—we also worked at the WFSDZ at the same time. By then, I was goofing off at Cal Western while Joan went to San Diego State College to study zoology and telecommunications. She eventually became the world famous San Diego Zoo’s Goodwill Ambassador, an honor she held for 32 years. Recognized for her many appearances with live animals from the Zoo on Johnny Carson’s The Tonight Show, she wrote a book about her experiences there and elsewhere, My Wild World (1980). Since then, she’s hosted a number of educational TV series and specials. Joan is now an animal and environmental advocate.

Zoo Tunes and Promos

The world famous San Diego’s “You Belong in the Zoo!” ad campaign began in 1978. The lyrics sang in the TV commercials were bored into the brains of everyone who lived in San Diego at the time:

YOU belong in the zoo The San Diego Zoo YOU belong in the Zoo And the Zoo belongs to YOU If you’re feeling like a kid again And raise a roubideaux Say howdy-do to the animals too In the San Diego Zoo YOU belong in the Zoo... It was a very successful ad campaign. Not only was it behind numerous hats, buttons, stickers, magnets, and T-shirts, it also spawned a “flexi disk” of the theme song! At the 2016 Centennial celebration of the San Diego Zoo, a chorus of children performed the nostalgic “You Belong in the Zoo” theme song live. In 2016, the Zoo’s “Welcome to Koalafornia” marketing campaign included a television advertisement referencing marijuana with a koala purchasing eucalyptus leaves from a “dispensary.” Far out, mate. As I mentioned, the WGSDZ was (and is) San Diego’s biggest boon for tourism, therefore the Zoo—and probably the city—

Heeeere’s… Joan! The San Diego Zoo’s Joan Embery was a familiar face on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. The Tonight Show © NBC.

was eager to remind every stranger in SoCal from the mountains to the beaches that the Zoo was an essential part of anyone’s visit, therefore there were a lot of billboards for the zoo all over town. As I recall, the standard approach in the Sixties was a riveting photo of an exotic animal, accompanied by a single word and the WFSDZ logo. It sounds Spartan, but the intention was to let the image do the selling. In the Seventies and Eighties, the billboards developed even more spectacular approaches, including one crushed by Albert the gorilla, one squeezed by a python, one that appeared to be perforated by a gazelle escaping a cheetah, and many more that were mind-bendingly creative. There are still almost as many Zoo billboards around town, but the park’s recent advertising agencies have been a bit “too creative” for me, with images and copy too complex to be read by passing drivers or their passengers.

Zoo-per Stars

Over the years, there have been quite a few WFSDZ animals that have achieved local and even national notice. Here are just a few of those cool creatures. g King Tut, a salmon-crested cockatoo, served for 64 years as the world famous San Diego Zoo’s official greeter and became one of its best-known symbols. Mrs. I. D. Putnam of La Mesa donated him to the WFSDZ. In 1951, he became the Official Zoo Greeter. King Tut was a sweet bird, friendly to everyone, that greeted well over 100 million visitors from his perch near the Zoo’s entrance from 1925 until his retirement in 1989. King Tut was the oldest bird in the Zoo, until he died in 1990 at the age of 65. g Albert the gorilla was undoubtedly one of the WFSDZ’s most famous residents. Born in Africa, the four-month-old western RETROFAN

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The Oddball World of Scott Shaw!

signed, but I’ve still got that copy of Pet Sounds that he passed on to me and which I often listened to for years. Aside from Jan and Dean’s On the Run (1965), TV series, TV movies, and TV specials that were shot at the WFSDZ include: ` Border Patrol, “A Bundle of Dope” (1959) ` Perry Mason, “The Case of the Cowardly Lion” (1961) ` Night Chase, a made-for-TV movie (1970) ` Harry O’s early episodes (1974) ` McDonaldland, “Zoo Trip” (1976) ` Switch, “The Cage” (1978) ` Bill Nye, the Science Guy, “Populations” (1995) ` Animal Planet Zoo-ventures (1997–present) ` In the Wild’s Zoo Babies with Whoopi Goldberg (1999) ` Panda Tales, a made-for-TV movie (2002) ` Betty White Goes Wild, a TV special (2013) Theatrical films shot at the WFSDZ include: ` Rampage (1963) ` Poto and Cabengo (1980) ` Killer Tomatoes Strike Back! (1991) Videos shot at the WFSDZ include: ` Rainbow Brite: San Diego Zoo Adventure (1985) ` The Beach Boys: A Day at the San Diego Zoo (2016)

(TOP) Screen capture from Perry Mason, Season Two/Episode 22, “The Case of the Cowardly Lion,” original airdate April 8, 1961. (BOTTOM) Zoo promotional material for that episode. © CBS.

the Zoo, we headed for the Children’s Zoo, where we were led into a huge pen which contained various odd species of lambs, goats, llamas, and a few other animals which defied any sort of description!” Before a major storm came in, they’d taken all of the shots they needed to choose from. My father provided the security for the Zoo, overseeing the photo shoot and controlling the crowds of fans while the Beach Boys posed with goats, Galapagos tortoises, and giraffes. Dad wasn’t impressed and referred to the Beach Boys—then and now one of my favorite musical groups—as “pukes”! Unlike the Jan and Dean shoot, I wasn’t there, but frankly, my dad was not happy with hippies, not unusual for a man who survived both the Great Depression and Pearl Harbor. The Beach Boys’ album Pet Sounds was released on May 16, 1966, and soon after that, Capitol Records sent a box of the albums to the Zoo as a token of the label’s thanks. They weren’t 60

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The world famous San Diego’s connections to the entertainment has led us right back to where we started. So the next time you’re watching Animal Planet’s The Zoo: San Diego, think about this: Those curators and doctors and zookeepers really know what they’re talking about, but now I’ve passed onto you a few weird facts about the Zoo that even some of those fine experts may not be aware of. Just do me a favor: The next time you see me at a fan event, please don’t toss me a slice of Wonder Bread. Or a bear biscuit. Thanks to the “bitchen” San Diegan Joanne Marshall for jarring loose a few zoo memories! Visit the Zoo’s website at zoo.sandiegozoo.org. For 48 years (and counting), SCOTT SHAW! has written and drawn underground comix, mainstream comic books, comic strips, graphic novels, TV cartoons, toys, advertising, and video games. He has worked on such characters as Captain Carrot and his Amazing Zoo Crew (which he co-created with Roy Thomas), Sonic the Hedgehog, the Flintstones, the Jetsons, the Simpsons, the Futurama gang, the Muppet Babies, Garfield, the Garbage Pail Kids, and yes, even Annoying Orange. His career has garnered him four Emmy Awards, an Eisner Award, and a Humanities Award. Scott is also known for his “Oddball Comics Live!” visual presentation of “the craziest comic books ever published” and for his regular participation in “Quick Draw!” with Mark Evanier and Sergio Aragonés. He was also one of the teenagers who co-created what is currently known as Comic-Con International: San Diego, America’s biggest annual fan event. He can be reached at shawcartoons.com.

ANDY MANGELS’ RETRO SATURDAY MORNING

Bigfoot and Wildboy by Andy Mangels

Welcome back to Andy Mangels’ Retro Saturday Morning. Since 1989, I have been writing columns for magazines in the U.S. and foreign countries, all examining the intersection of comic books and Hollywood, whether animation or live-action. Andy Mangels Backstage, Andy Mangels’ Reel Marvel, Andy Mangels’ Hollywood Heroes, Andy Mangels Behind the Camera… three decades of reporting on animation and live-action—in addition to writing many books and producing around 40 DVD sets—and I’m still enthusiastic. In this RetroFan column, I will examine shows that thrilled us from yesteryear, exciting our imaginations and capturing our memories. Grab some milk and cereal, sit cross-legged leaning against the couch, and dig in to Retro Saturday Morning! Super-heroes on television enjoyed a golden year in 1976–1977, but the following season saw a much more experimental slate of programming on Saturday mornings. Goofiness abounded with new series like Wacko, Baggy Pants and the Nitwits, and What’s New Mr. Magoo, while real-world trends led to The C.B. Bears and The Skatebirds, in addition to the Muhammad Ali series I Am the Greatest. Filmation had their live-action Space Academy and animated The Young Sentinels debut, capitalizing on the post-Star Wars sci-fi craze. And Sid and Marty Krofft introduced two new concepts to their anthology series The Krofft Supershow, including genie-based comedy Magic Mongo, and hairy forestenvironmentalist heroes Bigfoot and Wildboy. This latter series is remembered by hardcore fans today even without licensing or release, but its origins and story have never before been told in print…

The Myths of Bigfoot and Wildboy

Before we get to the creation of Bigfoot and Wildboy, let’s explore what elements led to their creation… both the “real” and the “reel” Bigfoot and Wildboy. In the Seventies, one of the many crazes that gripped the nation alongside UFOs, ESP, MPD, and LSD (that would be Unidentified Flying Objects, Extra Sensory Perception, Multiple Personality Disorder, and Lysergic acid diethylamide) was the “cryptid” known either as Bigfoot or Sasquatch. Cryptids are animals or creatures that are considered real by followers of the

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Andy Mangels’ Retro Saturday Morning

cryptozoology pseudoscientific subculture; the only proof or evidence for their existence is generally (LEFT) A frame anecdotal or blurry photos or film. Mainstream from the 1967 science considers such “evidence” insufficient, and Patterson-Gimlin thus considers them myth at best, and hoaxes at film shows what worst. Normal folk, however, love them! is thought to be a Bigfoot is a cryptid that has elements throughout female Bigfoot. history, though the North American versions sprang up mostly in the mid-1800s. Bigfoot is generally a 6–9-foot-tall humanoid creature that is covered in long hair. Bigfoots are said to be exceedingly strong. Additionally, because of their large feet and great size, they leave behind tracks in the woods or mud or snow… tracks with big feet! He or she is similar to the Yeti or “Abominable Snowman,” though that white-furred creature is generally associated with the Himalayan regions in Tibet and elsewhere. Thousands of people over the last 200 years have claimed to have seen Bigfoot loping through (RIGHT) Buddy Foster is the woods—and not large bears, which also have a feral child in "The Wolf five toes—but the creature has eluded capture or Boy,” a 1976 episode of The any kind of proof. The Pacific Northwest of North Six MIllion Dollar Man. America seems to be Bigfoot Central, with about 1/3 © Universal Television. of reported sightings. In October 1967, filmmakers Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin reportedly photographed a female Bigfoot walking at Bluff Creek near Orleans, California. The one-minute clip was utilized in film and television documentaries thereafter, including in a November 1974 CBS documentary copopular episode of The Six Million Dollar Man titled “The Wolf Boy” produced by the Smithsonian Institution! (aired in October 1975). Played by Buddy Foster, Wolf Boy was Although films utilized Bigfoot—including 1970’s Bigfoot young, physically fit, and had long shaggy hair… not unlike the vs. Bikers feature known simply as Bigfoot—a pair of films were later Wildboy! drive-in cinema hits: The Legend of Boggy Creek (1972) and Return Although both Bigfoot and feral children were part of the to Boggy Creek (1977). Additionally, the hairy hominid occasionally cultural zeitgeist of the Seventies, it is undeniable that ABC’s popped up on television, with an appearance on Filmation’s The The Six Million Dollar Man is crucial to the creation of Bigfoot and Secrets of Isis in 1975 the most well known story until another hero Wildboy… took on the character. In the third season of ABC’s popular The Six The Kroffts and Ruby-Spears Million Dollar Man, cyborg secret agent Colonel Steve Austin faced the hirsute giant down in a two-part episode in February 1976. The The world of Saturday morning television was in its heyday in the mid-Seventies, and only a few companies ruled the roosts character was popular enough to have three more appearances, on the three networks: Hanna-Barbera Productions, Filmation including a stopover in ABC’s companion series The Bionic Woman. Associates, DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, and Sid and Marty We’ll explore a bit more about that Bigfoot later in the article, but Krofft. Though Filmation had been dabbling with live-action first, let’s look at the concept of Wildboy… among its animated offerings, the Kroffts had almost singleFeral children were not a new concept by the 1970s, nor were handedly kept live-action on Saturday mornings since the Sixties, they mythological. Examples of human children who were first designing The Banana Splits for Hanna-Barbera in 1968, then isolated from other humans and “raised” by animals are extant throughout history. Popular culture is rife with the idea, including creating their hallucinatory (some would say hallucinogenic) monster-sized hit H. R. Pufnstuf (coming in RetroFan #16) in 1969. the stories of Tarzan in Edgar Rice Burroughs’ books (beginning With the success of H. R. Pufnstuf, the Kroffts were picked to in 1912) and Mowgli in Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book (1894). do further Saturday morning development. They created the But in the Seventies, perhaps due to parents looking for reasons insect-themed musical series The Bugaloos for NBC (1970–1972), to explain why their long-haired children were so “out of control,” the anthropomorphic hat series Lidsville for CBS (1971–1973), the feral children were a staple in film, television, and books. humans-adopt-a-cute-sea-creature show Sigmund and the Sea ABC network was particularly invested in the feral concept, Monsters for NBC (1973-1975), the adventures of a family trapped as shown in 1977. They aired a telefilm called Lucan, about a boy in an alternate world full of dinosaurs and lizard-men Sleestaks raised by wolves, on May 22, 1977, which was popular enough known as the Land of the Lost for CBS (1974–1976), and androids to lead to an erratically airing series in September 1977. Played from the future trapped in the present in ABC’s The Lost Saucer by Kevin Brophy, Lucan was young, physically fit, and had long (1975). shaggy hair. Lucan was perhaps inspired by a character on a 62

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Andy Mangels’ Retro Saturday Morning

(TOP) Sid and Marty Krofft at a 1978 event. (BOTTOM) Joe Ruby and (LEFT) Ken Spears (RIGHT).

together with the highly likeable Kaptain Kool and the Kongs,” Rushnell recently wrote in an email interview. But the first season of The Krofft Supershow wasn’t the hit everyone wanted, so the 90-minute show was cut to 60 minutes. A second season was approved, but a clean sweep was made of the segments in exchange for two new series: a wacky comedy about three teens finding the bottle containing a genie, named Magic Mongo, and the location-filmed series Bigfoot and Wildboy. In a 1998 interview, Sid Krofft said of the inspiration for the show, “Well, Bigfoot was hot. Bigfoot was in the news. So why not? I mean, it always interested everybody, didn’t it? We never saw him, but we all sort of rooted for him, I think. But at the same time, you can’t just string together a bunch of random Bigfoot sightings and call it a series. Kids won’t accept that. They want to see him. And since you have to have some kind of a story, why not give him a career? Why not make Bigfoot a hero?” The job of making that happen was given to two Saturday morning veterans… Joseph Ruby and Kenneth Spears had worked side-by-side at Hanna-Barbera since the Fifties, where they eventually wrote episodes and developed new shows. Their first big hit was Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, which they co-created, but they left the company, frustrated that they couldn’t move up on the ladder to the role of associate producers. After a period of time With their other series in perpetual reruns by 1976, Krofft at DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, Ruby and Spears began working made a deal to create something new for ABC’s fall schedule: for Fred Silverman at CBS—and by 1976, at ABC—taking West a 90-minute anthology series with different components, Coast pitches for the New York-based hosted by a musical group. Due to FCC executive. Silverman then asked them regulations on commercials, the networks to help supervise the Saturday morning preferred 60-and-90-minute programs to shows, and even birth shows for ABC. offer advertisers as a package. The Krofft Because networks worked closely Supershow, as the new series was dubbed, with studios on content at that time, contained two-part stories throughout its Bigfoot and Wildboy Ruby-Spears not only contributed to run, with the first 15 minutes shown one ` No. of seasons: Two the series, they actually created shows, week, leading to a cliffhanger ending that ` No. of episodes: 20 half-hour working for both ABC and Hannawould keep kids tuned to the same channel episodes Barbera and Sid and Marty Krofft to view the second 15-minute story the ` Original run: 12.5-minute Television Productions at the same time! following week. Hosted by a band created segments, September 10, 1977– For the competing companies—but just for the series—the disco-riffic and September 2, 1978 (Saturdays) the same network—they created 1976’s beglittered Kaptain Kool and the Kongs— ` Second run: 30-minute series, Dynomutt, Dog Wonder (see RetroFan #13), the four components of the series were: June 2, 1979-August 18, 1979 Jabberjaw, ElectraWoman and DynaGirl, Dr. Shrinker, Wonderbug, The Lost Saucer, and (Saturdays) and Wonderbug, and 1977’s Captain ElectraWoman and DynaGirl (the latter show ` Network: ABC Caveman and the Teen Angels and Magic was covered extensively in RetroFan #8). Mongo. In the Seventies, the networks were Primary Cast intimately involved with the creation of ` Ray Young: Bigfoot Saturday morning content, and ABC’s Beginning Bigfoot and Wildboy ` Joseph Butcher: Wildboy head of children’s programming was Exactly how much Ruby and Spears ` Monika Ramirez: Suzie Lucas Fred Silverman, working with Squire were “influenced” in creating Bigfoot ` Ned Romero: Ranger Lucas Rushnell as his Vice President of Children’s and Wildboy by the similar episodes of ` Yvonne Regalado: Cindy Programming, and Peter Roth. “With ABC’s The Six Million Dollar Man, versus ` Al Wyatt, Jr.: Cindy’s father The Krofft Supershow, our motive was being influenced by cultural zeitgeist, ` Marvin Miller: Narrator to create a large block of programming is unknown. What is known is that with very compelling characters, melded Ruby and Spears conceptualized a

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