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January 2022 No. 18 $9.95

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We’ll always dream of Jeannie...

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EXCLUSIVE BARBAR A EDEN interview The Battle of the Sexes

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HannaBarbera’s TV Super-Heroes of the Sixties

The Invaders • Monster Times • ‘How to Draw’ Books • Cartoon Xmas Cards & more! 1

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

AMERICAN TV (1940sCOMIC BOOKS 1980s) Hot on the heels of Back Issue #128, AMERICAN TV COMIC BOOKS (1940s-1980s) takes you from the small screen to the printed page, offering 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. Whether you loved watching The Lone Ranger, Rawhide, and Zorro from the 1950s—The Andy Griffith Show, The Monkees, and The Mod Squad in the 1960s—Adam-12, Battlestar Galactica, and The Bionic Woman in the 1970s—or Alf, Fraggle Rock, and “V” in the 1980s—there’s something here for fans of TV and comics alike! (192-page FULL-COLOR TRADE PAPERBACK) $29.95 • (Digital Edition) $15.99 ISBN: 978-1-60549-107-3 • SHIPS SPRING 2022!

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TWO-FISTED COMIC BOOK ARTIST A spirited biography of the EC COMICS mainstay (working with HARVEY KURTZMAN on MAD and TWO-FISTED TALES) and co-creator of Western strip AMERICAN EAGLE. Covers his 40+ year association with CRACKED magazine, his pivotal Marvel Comics work inking HERB TRIMPE on THE HULK and teaming with sister MARIE SEVERIN on KING KULL, and more! With commentary by NEAL ADAMS, RICHARD CORBEN, JOHN BYRNE, RUSS HEATH, WALTER SIMONSON, and many others. By GREG BIGA and JON B. COOKE. (160-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $39.95 • (Digital Edition) $14.99 ISBN: 978-1-60549-106-6 • NOW SHIPPING!

OUR ARTISTS AT WAR The first book ever published in the US that solely examines War Comics published in America! It covers the talented writers and artists who supplied the finest, most compelling stories in the War Comics genre, which has long been neglected in the annals of comics history. Through the critical analysis of authors RICHARD J. ARNDT and STEVEN FEARS, this overlooked treasure trove is explored in-depth, finally giving it the respect it deserves! Included are pivotal series from EC COMICS (Two-Fisted Tales and Frontline Combat), DC COMICS (Enemy Ace and the Big Five war books: All American Men of War, G.I. Combat, Our Fighting Forces, Our Army at War, and StarSpangled War Stories), WARREN PUBLISHING (Blazing Combat), CHARLTON (Willy Schultz and the Iron Corporal) and more! Featuring the work of HARVEY KURTZMAN, JOHN SEVERIN, JACK DAVIS, WALLACE WOOD, JOE KUBERT, SAM GLANZMAN, JACK KIRBY, WILL ELDER, GENE COLAN, RUSS HEATH, ALEX TOTH, MORT DRUCKER, and many others. Introduction by ROY THOMAS, Foreword by WILLI FRANZ. Cover by JOE KUBERT. (160-page FULL-COLOR TRADE PAPERBACK) $27.95 (Digital Edition) $14.99 ISBN: 978-1-60549-108-0 • NOW SHIPPING!

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The Crazy Cool Culture We Grew Up With

CONTENTS Issue #18 January 2022 Columns and Special Features

29 3

Retro Interview Barbara Eden

Celebrity Crushes

Retro Fanzines The Monster Times

Retrotorial

Departments

Will Murray’s 20th Century Panopticon The Invaders

Ernest Farino’s Retro Fantasmagoria 8mm Movies

Andy Mangels’ Retro Saturday Morning More Christmas cards from animation companies

Oddball World of Scott Shaw! Hanna-Barbera Super-Heroes of the Sixties

Retro Interview Tommy Cook Remembers ‘The Battle of the Sexes’

34 48

Too Much TV Quiz Cartoon super-hero theme song lyrics

RetroFad Leg Warmers

RetroFanmail

ReJECTED RetroFan fantasy cover by Scott Saavedra

Scott Saavedra’s Secret Sanctum How to Draw Books RetroFan™ #18, January 2022. 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. Barbara Eden cover photo by Michael Caulfield; courtesy of Getty Images/Hansom & Schwam Public Relations. The Impossibles © Hanna-Barbera Productions. All Rights Reserved. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2022 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING. ISSN 2576-7224

BY MICHAEL EURY

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michael Eury PUBLISHER

CONTRIBUTORS Elizabeth Anderson Shaun Clancy Michael Eury Ernest Farino Andy Mangels Will Murray Scott Saavedra Scott Shaw! Don Vaughan DESIGNER Scott Saavedra PROOFREADER David Baldy SPECIAL THANKS Wayne Brooks Martin Grams Fred Grandinetti Hansom & Schwam Public Relations Heritage Auctions Dan Johnson Mike Lefebvre Rose Rummel-Eury Joseph Trainor VERY SPECIAL THANKS Tommy Cook Barbara Eden

It’s early August 2021 as I write this, and since I’m scratching an itchy mosquito bite on my arm and prepping for another summer scorcher, Christmas would not be on my mind were I not this magazine’s editor. But it will be the most wonderful time of the year by the time this issue reaches you. Even if you don’t celebrate Christmas you will not be able to escape it, from holiday parties to ubiquitous Christmas music to the endless bounty of Christmas-themed telemovies offered by the Hallmark Channel (which have been in 24/7 rotation on the network since… well, August). The unbridled exhilaration I once felt in anticipation of Christmas is, like my knee cartilage, a thing of the distant past. Yet if I feel the pressures of being a grown-up in a world often besieged with woes is too much to endure, remembering the joys of Christmases past, when the Sears Wish Book was the magical tome that brought photos of the latest hot items from Santa’s North Pole workshop, is sure to bring a smile to my face. So is “The Voice of Christmas,” episode 12 of Season One of TV’s The Brady Bunch, which was originally aired December 19, 1969, back when all I had to worry about was which Saturday morning cartoon to watch (choosing between those three networks was a chore!). That’s the one where mom Carol Brady (Florence Henderson) develops a case of laryngitis right before she’s scheduled to sing a solo at church on Christmas morning. “I don’t want toys,” says her youngest daughter, Cindy Brady (Susan Olsen), to a department store Santa (cheerfully played by Hal Smith, recently sobered up from his role as Otis Campbell the town drunk on The Andy Griffith Show). All Cindy wants for Christmas is for her mommy’s voice to return so she can sing. And by the miracle of television—and the wonderful direction of Oscar Rudolph (an aptly named director for the Christmas episode)—Carol’s voice returns on Christmas morning! Gee, I’m welling up just thinking about that. The holiday season is a time of introspection, starting with Thanksgiving. Please indulge me as I count my blessings. Editing and writing for RetroFan is a true joy for me. And I am frequently told by so many of you RetroFan readers how much this magazine means to you. So thank you, readers, for being with us for another year. I hope this issue, like your favorite Christmas TV episode or special, brings a smile to your face. And what an issue we have in store for you, starting on the next page with the magical Barbara Eden. Plus, there’s The Invaders, 8mm movies, The Monster Times, Hanna-Barbera super-hero cartoons, Billie Jean King vs. Bobby Riggs, How to Draw books, and leg warmers to keep you in a delirious coma of nostalgia—and RetroFan’s resident jolly old soul with bushy facial hair, columnist Andy Mangels, has delivered NEXT ISSUE another collection of Christmas cards from animation companies to add a little yuletide to our eclectic contents. There’s something for everyone here, so get ready for another groovy grab-bag of the crazy, cool culture we grew up with! Happy Holidays to you all, and best wishes for a healthy and prosperous New Year! March 2022 No. 19 $9.95

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RETROFAN

January 2022

Department of Corrections: Regarding his Marvel Super Heroes feature in RetroFan #16, columnist Will Murray informs us, “Stan Lee’s video presentation for the 1966 Marvel cartoon show has since surfaced on YouTube and it refutes the long-held belief I put forth in my column that Sub-Mariner replaced Spider-Man in the line-up. Iron Man was the replacement!” RetroFan regrets the error.

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CAROLINE MUNRO INTERVIEW

Wacky Packages! Bob Kane’s other dynamic duo...

COURAGEOUS CAT and MINUTE MOUSE!

Will the real Ghostbusters please stand up?

Go-Go Dancing • Pauline Peril • Rare Pro Wrestler Erasers • Red Skelton Museum & more!

FEATURING Ernest Farino • Andy Mangels • Will Murray • Scott Saavedra • Scott Shaw! • Michael Eury Caroline Munro photo: Dutch National Archives. Wacky Packages © Topps. Nixon illustration © DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

John Morrow

RETRO INTERVIEW

Twenty Minutes with Barbara Eden BY MICHAEL EURY …Twenty-five minutes, max. That’s what her agency told me I’d have for my telephone interview with Barbara Eden. Barbara Eden, the immensely talented actress and singer who, in her definitive role as television’s prettiest pixie, was liberated from a purple bottle and enchanted both a hapless astronaut and generations of viewers. Whose earlier TV series had her stepping into the shoes of one of Hollywood’s most sensational bombshells. Who was Elvis Presley’s leading lady in the movie Flaming Star. Who socked it to the Harper Valley P.T.A. on the big and small screens. Whose guest roles on television series became unforgettable episodes, whose sparkling presence in over two dozen theatrical movies outshined elaborate sets and special effects, whose made-for-television films scored huge ratings, whose likeable personality and sultry voice commanded stage audiences from Atlantic City to Las Vegas. Whose star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame can be found within eyeshot of the legendary Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. That Barbara Eden.

Twenty minutes. (Twenty-five, max.) It would have taken a magical Jeannie “blink” to cram into such a narrow window of time all the questions I had, a few of which were suggested by RetroFan readers and fellow columnists through our Facebook page. Many of the roles of Barbara Eden, dubbed by People Magazine as “One of America’s 200 Greatest Pop Icons of the 20th Century,” are of tremendous interest to RetroFans, including fantasy films like Irwin Allen’s Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and George Pal’s 7 Faces of Dr. Lao. And then, of course, there’s one of TV’s most beloved sitcoms, I Dream of Jeannie, starring the petite, blonde Ms. Eden in a pink harem costume—with her navel very famously hidden, to appease puritanical program censors. Appearing alongside Eden were Larry Hagman as Major (originally Captain) Anthony “Tony” Nelson, the astronaut whose attempts to hide his genie’s magic led to no end of NASA nuttiness; Bill Daily as the skirt-chasing Major (originally Captain) Roger Healy, Tony’s pal and eventual confidant; and Hayden Rorke as

Jeannie Out of the Bottle (2011), by Barbara Eden with Wendy Leigh. © Barbara Eden. Cover photo: NBC/Photofest.

(ABOVE) The magical Barbara Eden, as captured by photographer Michael Caulfield. Courtesy of Joseph Trainor/Hansom & Schwam Public Relations. RETROFAN

January 2022

RF: But before that, you got your start on the Johnny Carson Show, early in Johnny’s career, did you not? BE: Oh, yes. That was way at the beginning of his career. He had this big break as Red Skelton’s summer replacement and my agent sent me down there. I was taking anything. I was trying to make a living. [My agent] said, “Barbara, wear the dress.” He meant, I had one sexy dress. It was one of those spaghetti-strap, cotton, kind-oftight dresses. I said, “All right.” I wore the dress and had a white fuzzy coat because it was really cold. I parked in the parking lot and it was freezing. I left the coat on and went inside. CBS, on Fairfax, was freezing cold at that time. It was colder inside than outside, so I left the coat on. I went to the sixth floor and walked in and they took me right away [for the audition]. I felt like a fool to just take my coat off… “Ta-da!” So I left it on through the whole interview and didn’t get the job, of course. My agent called and said, “What happened?” I said, “I didn’t get the job; I know I didn’t get it.” He said, “Tell me exactly what you did.” I told him and he said, “Barbara, next week they have another audition. Take… the… coat… off!” So I did. I wore the same dress and left the coat off. At that time, when you auditioned, they asked you your background, where you studied, what you did, blah, blah, blah, and I told them. I was a member of Actor’s Equity and worked at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and so after that, I was walking down the hall and there were some men at the water fountain and one of them detached himself. He came over and put his arm through mine and said, “You don’t mind, do you?” I said, “No.” He said, “They said I wouldn’t do this.” We walked to the elevator and he said, “Were you in [for the Carson interview]?” I said, “Yes, I was.” He said, “Did you get the job?” I said, “Nope.” I was sure I didn’t. He said as the doors were closing, he put his foot in and said, “We’ll see you later.” Well, that was the producer of the show. I didn’t know that, but I did get the job.

(LEFT TO RIGHT) Bill Daily, Wayne Rogers, Barbara Eden, and Hayden Rorke, in a publicity photo for the 1985 reunion telefilm I Dream of Jeannie… Fifteen Years Later. © Sony Pictures Television. 6

RETROFAN

January 2022

Consequently, after doing that job, I did six more shows with the same director. He apologized to me. He said, “I fell into that trap. We all think if you’re not stupid and you can’t sing off-key, you can’t do it. I forget people train to do this, you know?” I felt really good about it, but bad about it at the same time. Gee whiz. It wasn’t my talent that got me the part—it was a walk down the hall! [chuckles] He was a lovely man, and I was lucky. Yes, that started me doing comedy sketches with Johnny. RF: Our readers might not know that this was before Johnny Carson became the king of late-night TV, predating him succeeding Jack Parr on the Tonight Show. [See sidebar.] BE: Yes. He was filling in for Red Skelton and it was more comedy sketches and musical numbers—things like that. I think he had a very small [radio] show in the L.A. area, but this was a step up for him. RF: Let’s talk about how you segued into I Dream of Jeannie, which started in 1965. How were you cast in that show? BE: I don’t have a clue! You know, I really don’t! I had been reading about it, and by the time that came along I was very experienced in show biz. I had cut my teeth in film. When I came to L.A., I’d done a lot of stage work and was a member of Actor’s Equity, but I did not know camera work until I was under contract to Fox, but when I left Fox and was reading about this in Variety and their casting all these gorgeous beauty-contest winners [for the

retro interview

HEEEEERE’S JOHNNY (AND BARBARA, TOO)

Early in Barbara Eden’s career she had bit parts in The Johnny Carson Show—not to be confused with The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, the late-night program for which the comedian/talk show host became an entertainment icon. Carson landed in Hollywood in 1951 after launching his broadcasting career in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1948. He began to build an audience in L.A. by hosting the radio show Carson’s Cellar. Carson soon began writing monologues for The Red Skelton Show, which but him on the radar of Skelton’s network, CBS. The Johnny Carson Show, a halfhour comedy-variety show airing on CBS on Thursday evenings at 10:00 p.m., debuted June 30, 1955. Despite the burgeoning talent of its star, as well as Eden, the program floundered and was last telecast on March 29, 1956.

retro interview

part of Jeannie] who were six-feet-tall, or five-eight at least, and brunette, all dark, all Middle-Eastern: Miss Greece, Miss Turkey, Miss Italy, Miss Lebanon, all those beautiful brunettes. I said, “Well, this isn’t for me,” so I went through Variety looking for other work. My agent sent me a script, and I read it, and I thought I knew exactly what it was. He called me and said, “Barbara, do you like the script?” I said, “I do, but are you

SATURDAY MORNING MAGIC

I Dream of Jeannie’s rival magic sitcom Bewitched may have snagged a guest-star appearance on HannaBarbera’s The Flintstones, but TV’s favorite genie (sorry, Shazzan!) got her own Saturday morning cartoon! Hanna-Barbera, in conjunction with Screen Gems, introduced the animated comedy Jeannie on CBS’s Saturday morning line-up on September 8, 1973. This version, however, was geared toward kids, placing the famous bottle (and its genie inside) in the hands of high school student Corey Anders and adding buffoonish apprentice genie Babu to the cast. Barbara Eden did not reprise her Jeannie role, with the character instead being voiced by Julie McWhirter. One-time Stooge Joe Besser voiced Babu, and future Luke Skywalker Mark Hamill voiced Corey. Only 16 episodes of Jeannie were produced, with the last new installment airing on December 22, 1973. The show continued to air through 1975 and was later absorbed into other Hanna-Barbera programming blocks for further repeats.

sure they know what I look like?” He said, “I guess they do, because they’ve made us an offer.” I said, “Oh, that’s wonderful because I love the part.” He said, “They would like it very much if you would go meet [I Dream of Jeannie creator] Sidney Sheldon at the Beverly Hills Hotel and have tea with him. I went down and had tea with Sidney and that’s how I was cast. RF: So you didn’t have to test opposite Larry Hagman? BE: I tested with many men and later, I tested with Larry. RF: You wrote in your book that behind the scenes, Hagman had a mercurial temper that might be more along the lines of the character he’d later play on Dallas, J. R. Ewing, and that he was often combative with directors and some guest-stars. But we viewers didn’t have a clue when watching I Dream of Jeannie. You and Larry Hagman had a wonderful chemistry. BE: Fabulous! It was heaven working with Larry. RF: You worked together a couple of times afterwards in a telemovie and also on Dallas. You were there for several episodes. BE: Oh, yes. That was odd for both of us. We were laughing about that one. Afterward, Larry and I would tour in Love Letters. RF: You did have a long working history together. How did you react when they redid I Dream of Jeannie [in the 1985 TV reunion movie I Dream of Jeannie… Fifteen Years Later] and Larry was unavailable and they recast the part of Tony Nelson? BE: I was sad about that. But Wayne Rogers did a wonderful job. RF: He did. There was a familiarity there with Bill Daily back. BE: …and Hayden Rorke. RF: Yes. I wonder how Wayne felt, stepping into this role that was, for five years and beyond, in syndication, so identified with Larry Hagman? BE: I wonder. He didn’t talk about it. We had worked together on stage, Wayne and I, on Same Time, Next Year. RF: That’s a great show! BE: I had such a good time on that show and we toured with it.

FAST FACTS I DREAM OF JEANNIE

No. of seasons: Five No. of episodes: 139 Original run: September 18, 1965–May 26, 1970 Primary cast: Barbara Eden, Larry Hagman, Bill Daily, Hayden Rorke, Emmaline Henry, Barton MacLane Created by: Sidney Sheldon Network: NBC

SPIN-OFFS AND SEQUELS

Jeannie (1973 animated spin-off; see sidebar) I Dream of Jeannie… Fif teen Years Later (TV movie aired October 20, 1985; starring Barbara Eden, Bill Daily, and Hayden Rorke reprising original roles, with Wayne Rogers as Tony Nelson) I Still Dream of Jeannie (TV movie aired October 20, 1991; starring Barbara Eden, Bill Daily, and Christopher Bolton as Tony Nelson, Jr. (T. J.), who inherited his mother’s genie powers; Tony Nelson did not appear in the telefilm)

RF: Who created the head nod and the blink? Jeannie’s famous gesture? BE: Gene Nelson [director of the I Dream of Jeannie pilot and the show’s earliest episodes]. RF: You did it very well, like it was instinctive. Jeannie’s first season was black and white, and then the show went into color. It was one of the last shows shot in black and white. Any idea why they didn’t just start the show in color? BE: You bet! I was pregnant! I think they thought I was going to die or something and didn’t want to invest the money in color film. RF: [laughs] When you went to color in season two, did they have to change anything in the costuming or sets? I know in some series, like The Adventures of Superman—when George Reeves started that show, his costume was in shades of tan and brown to create the proper contrast on the black-and-white screen. Was it business as usual with Jeannie? Same props; same colors? RETROFAN

January 2022

retro interview

Various I Dream of Jeannie collectibles. Note that Miss Eden’s record album even co-opted her highly visible TV character. I Dream of Jeannie © Sony Pictures Television. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions and Hake’s Auctions.

had was in their mind to go into their bottle.

working week after week. I did Love Letters with Barry Bostwick, Then The Magic Carpet in Palm Springs, in the rain, and then a documentary on CNN. Then I was honored at the end of February at the Conservatory of Music in San Francisco.

RF: Aww. BE: Many, many people tell me that. It makes me feel like at least I did something. RF: That’s sad for people to admit that their imaginary bottle was a place to escape their home life. The miracle of television and any entertainment medium is that it is an escape for the viewer. You did help create a show that created that for so many of us. BE: That’s lovely. So many grown women tell me, “My bedroom was my bottle. My mother designed it for me just like your bottle.”

RF: Congratulations on that honor. BE: It was wonderful; it made me feel so good. RF: Am I wearing out my welcome? We’re at 32 minutes and I was told, “Don’t go past 25 minutes.” BE: Yeah, I think I have another call I have to make. RF: Then I’ll conclude with one final question: Is this the first time you’ve been interviewed about I Dream of Jeannie and haven’t been asked about your navel? BE: [bursts out laughing] Yes, it is!

RF: With a lot of pillows on the floor. BE: A lot of pinks and purples. RF: Was it fun going to work? BE: I loved it; I love it. I like my work no matter what I’m doing. I think we who are doing a job we enjoy are so lucky. So many people going to work every day hating it and having to do it to make a living. If you’re lucky enough to have work you enjoy, and you feel productive doing, it’s a wonderful thing! RF: I couldn’t agree more. You’re still active. You were on stage with Love Letters last year. Do you have plans to retire? BE: I’d rather not, but COVID may make me. The first part of this year [2020], I was 10

RETROFAN

January 2022

Barbara Eden’s original five-piece, screen-worn Jeannie costume, designed by costumer Gwen Wakeling. I Dream of Jeannie © Sony Pictures Television. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions.

Special thanks to Martin Grams of the MidAtlantic Nostalgia Convention for providing contact information; Joseph Trainor of Hansom & Schwam Public Relations for helping arrange the interview with Miss Eden; Rose RummelEury for transcribing the recorded interview; Fred Grandinetti for valuable I Dream of Jeannie background information; and Jim Alexander, Wayne Brooks, Ernest Farino, Dan Johnson, Dan Kirk, John Trumbull, and Doug Wagner for their magical support.

WILL MURRAY’S 20TH CENTURY PANOPTICON BY WILL MURRAY I’m not often offered the opportunity to interview the star of a favorite childhood TV program. But one came my way back when I was writing for Starlog magazine. My editor asked if I wanted to talk with Roy Thinnes, of Quinn Martin’s The Invaders. Would I? I loved that TV show! I got the assignment. But I never got the interview. Thinnes would consent only if the profile was written by the head of his fan club. This was not acceptable to my editor, who preferred writers he knew. He passed. Thinnes declined. I was disappointed. Happily, years later, a Starlog interview was done. But not by me. C’est la vie. But I still love that show. I had an interest in UFO reports, and I used to fantasize about crossovers with top TV shows at that time. What if the Green Hornet uncovered an Invaders operation? The similarity between the aliens’ green utility togs and THRUSH’s gray coveralls made me wonder how agents Napoleon Solo and Ilya Kuryakin would tackle them. Pitting U.N.C.L.E. against the Invaders would have been interesting, but their tones were diametrically opposed. The Invaders was deadly serious.

A QUINN MARTIN PRODUCTION

The origins of The Invaders are complex. Producer Quinn Martin wanted to replicate his long-running success, The Fugitive, which revolved around a falsely accused man fleeing justice. The Invaders reversed that idea. Unlike Doctor Richard Kimble, architect David Vincent wasn’t on the run. He was on the attack. Series originator Larry Cohen claimed the show was based on a favorite Fifties movie. “It was inspired by The Invasion of the Body Snatchers, which I’d seen when it came out as a B-movie,” Cohen said. “The idea of aliens on Earth in human form I thought would be a good format for a television program. Using aliens who had infiltrated society was a way of dramatizing the preoccupation with Communist infiltration of the United States and the paranoia that was spreading over the country. The hunt for subversives became the hunt for aliens.” Cohen’s conception was more Alfred Hitchcock than Quinn Martin. “I always liked the Hitchcock movie where the hero is in a situation where he’s the only one that knows the spies are operating, and no one will believe him. And when he takes the police back to the locale where he saw their operation, everything has been removed, there’s no more evidence, everybody lies and says that he was never there before.” Martin and Cohen quickly came to a parting of the ways. Cohen left behind 22 story outlines, none of which were filmed because they were designed for the half-hour cliffhanger format ABC borrowed for Batman. “The Invaders’ original format would have had continuing alien characters and been more like a serial,” he explained. The storyline was ripped from the headlines of 1965–1967. The nation was engulfed in a prolonged flying saucer sightings “flap.” Waves of Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) were constantly being reported. Witnesses claimed to have seen non-human pilots. Fascination and ridicule resulted. RETROFAN

January 2022

All characters TM & © their respective owners.

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OLD GODS & NEW

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A companion to JACK KIRBY’s FOURTH WORLD series, documenting the history of the NEW GODS in his own words, as well as those of assistants MARK EVANIER and STEVE SHERMAN, inker MIKE ROYER, and publisher CARMINE INFANTINO. How Kirby’s epic came about, where it was going, and how he would’ve ended it before it was cancelled by DC Comics! (160-page FULL-COLOR trade paperback) $26.95 (Digital Edition) $14.99 • ISBN: 978-1-60549-098-4

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Master of the Comics

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MICHAEL EURY looks at comics’ CAMP AGE, when spies liked their wars cold and their women warm, and TV’s Batman shook a mean cape! (272-page FULL-COLOR trade paperback) $36.95 (Digital Edition) $13.99 ISBN: 978-1-60549-073-1

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LIFE IS DRAWING WITHOUT AN ERASER

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ERNEST FARINO’S RETRO FANTASMAGORIA

Hollywood Epics

in Your Own Home! (in 8mm)

WRITTEN AND CAPTIONED BY ERNEST FARINO

Boy, are we spoiled. Let’s pop in a DVD or fire up Netflix and revisit Casablanca or travel to the Forbidden Planet or check out the latest episode of Downton Abbey. Or, for that matter, just about any movie or TV series covered in any given issue of RetroFan magazine. Disney+, HBOMax, Amazon, Hulu, Peacock, Turner Classic Movies, Nickelodeon, MeTV, The Game Show Network, ESPN, CNN, The Golf Channel—it’s hard to believe that we once had to settle for three networks (ABC, CBS, NBC), PBS, and UHF (show of hands: who remembers UHF…?). And don’t forget to wrap the tips of your rabbit-ears antenna with tin foil. And, of course, we had to wait months (sometimes years) for a movie to show up on Saturday Night at the Movies. Otherwise, gotta catch it at the theater or drive-in. Yet there was an alternative. Not great like the DVDs and streaming we have today, but any port in a storm: 8mm home movies. Actually, 16mm was the original format, film that was half the width of theatrical 35mm. The Bell & Howell 2709 camera was used in early silent films, and cameras such as the Filmo, Eyemo, Autoload EE, and the N-6A military 16mm “gun” camera were commonly used by newsreel cameramen and combat photographers during WWII. B&H Filmosound projectors dominated the market for many years, and I still have a 16mm Filmosound projector, originally built in the Fifties. Eugene Castle formed Castle Films in 1924 to distribute 16mm newsreels and sports highlights by mail order and in photo stores. His films were also rented for non-theatrical exhibition in schools or non-profit community venues. His primary products were “soundies,” the music videos of the day. For a dime in a machine you could view a “soundie” of Glenn Miller’s orchestra. Around 1947, Castle sold his company to United World Films. The new owners made a deal with Universal Studios to release scenes from Universal movies, most notably Abbott and Costello films, monster movies, and Walter Lantz cartoons. Bell & Howell introduced their first amateur 8mm movie projector in 1934, the Filmo Straight Eight camera in 1935, and the Double-Run Filmo 8 in 1936. In 1940, the Filmo Auto-8 camera took a 25-foot reel of Kodak Double-Eight film. The new “home movie” market had arrived. Amateurs were making their own RETROFAN

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Ernest farino’s retro fantasmagoria

CARTOONS

Cartoons were always popular and ran the gamut from Mighty Mouse to Mr. Magoo. Some interesting oddities came out, too: Alice in Wonderland was Lou Bunin’s stopmotion version integrated with a live-action Alice played by Carol Marsh (who would later appear as “Lucy” in Hammer’s Horror of Dracula). Alice in Wonderland © Lou Bunin Productions. Mighty Mouse © CBS. Mr. Magoo © UPA. Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck © Disney.

CATALOGS

All the major companies issued profusely illustrated catalogs, some in full color. It was enough to make your mouth water. Mike Lefebvre’s L/C Films catalogs were so extensive as to simultaneously provide a basic reference index to virtually all of the titles available across the board.

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Ernest farino’s retro fantasmagoria

COMEDIES

One wonders if the “comedy” was effectively conveyed without the benefit of sound; e.g., the wisecracks of Groucho Marx or the wordplay of Abbott and Costello. Speaking of Abbott and Costello, Mark Evanier related an interesting side story in his November 29, 2003 blog on Castle Films (slightly condensed here): “Around 1949, Castle Films figured into a notable Hollywood ‘first.’ Abbott and Costello’s manager, Eddie Sherman, had secured for them a contract that paid them a percentage of the profits from their films. [But] Universal maintained that there were no profits to share. Sherman could not get a look at

the accounting unless he sued the studio, but he couldn’t find a basis on which to sue. One day, while walking down Vine Street in Hollywood, he passed a camera shop with a window display for the 8mm Castle Films of Abbott and Costello. That was the excuse he needed. He sued Universal on behalf of his clients and gained access to the books, which displayed all manner of financial irregularity. They wound up settling out of court for a very large sum of cash, starting a tradition that continues to this day and now involves DVDs.”

HITCHCOCK

DOCUMENTARIES

Like theatrical newsreels, and in an age of limited TV news, documentaries were quite popular. Those covering the U.S.A.’s space race were of great interest to me, and “uncovering” Jayne Mansfield started to open the door to X-rated 8mm “loops” popular in the Seventies.

The “Master of Suspense” Alfred Hitchcock was represented considerably, but the absence of Bernard Herrmann’s screech-screechscreech music score for Psycho in the silent 8mm version pointedly demonstrates the importance of an effective music score. Psycho © Paramount Pictures. Frenzy ©

Walt Disney World © Disney. Gemini 4 Space Walk © Columbia Pictures.

Universal Pictures.

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Ernest farino’s retro fantasmagoria

I must come clean—I have never been a fan of 3D. I’ve seen the best 3D in reissue venues (House of Wax, Dial “M” for Murder, The Creature from the Black Lagoon) and modern films such as Avatar, but the novelty wears off pretty quick. For me the effect doesn’t simulate real life but creates an exaggerated multi-plane look that actually distorts reality. In any case, the 8mm market was not about to skip over the popularity of 3D, and sure enough, everything from the Three Stooges to features such as The Mad Magician came complete with red-and-green plastic glasses.

WORST BOX ART

As seen in this article, box cover art was most often lively, colorful, and faithful to the film. A few fell short—way short—and I present for you here two of the most hilariously awful pieces of art that don’t even rise to the level of a thirdgrader doodling in a coloring book. If that’s Raquel Welch on the cover of Bandolero! (a terrific movie), then I will someday be mistaken for George Clooney. And it somehow seems fitting that Plan 9 from Outer Space—often cited as the worst film ever made (it isn’t)—has the worst box cover art ever made (it is).

Thanks to Sam Calvin and Mike Lefebvre. ERNEST FARINO directed an episode of the SyFy/Netflix series Superstition starring Mario Van Peebles, Steel and Lace starring Bruce Davison, episodes of Monsters starring Lydia Cornell and Marc McClure, ABC’s Land of the Lost starring Timothy Bottoms, and extensive 2nd Unit for the miniseries Dune starring William Hurt, Noah’s Ark starring Jon Voight, and Supernova starring Luke Perry. A two-time Emmy®-winning Visual Effects Supervisor for SyFy’s Dune and Children of Dune miniseries, Farino supervised the visual effects for the Tom Hanks/HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon and James Cameron’s The Terminator, The Abyss, and T2. His Archive Editions published Mike Hankin’s Ray Harryhausen–Master of the Majicks. 28

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January 2022

RETRO FANZINES

BY DON VAUGHAN Like many RetroFan readers, I was a MonsterKid in my youth. And not just a weekend dabbler—I was hardcore. I watched every classic horror/SF movie I could find on television, as well as new releases at the theater. The first comic book I ever purchased was Where Monsters Dwell #5, a 1970 Marvel reprint title that snagged my 15 cents with a kick-ass, action-filled Jack Kirby cover. I read Shelley’s Frankenstein, Stoker’s Dracula, Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and numerous other monsterific literary classics because they were the foundation of pretty much everything I loved in popular culture. Science fiction and horror were my personal passions, regardless of form, and if a work contained monsters, all the better. As a card-carrying MonsterKid, Forest J Ackerman’s Famous Monsters of Filmland was my pop-culture bible. I occasionally read the competition, such as Castle of Frankenstein and, later, Cinefan-

tastique, but Famous Monsters was my favorite. Sure, Uncle Forry could go overboard with the bad puns, but the amazing photos contained in each issue were a visual treat, and I dreamed of seeing my name in “You Axed For It.” A dream unfulfilled, though not for a lack of trying. In early January 1972, a new publication hit the stands—The Monster Times. Similar in theme to Famous Monsters of Filmland, The Monster Times was different in two very significant ways: it was published in tabloid newspaper format, and came out every two weeks (as opposed to Famous Monsters’ bimonthly publication). That’s a LOT of monsters. The publishers of The Monster Times were Larry Brill and Les Waldstein, veteran art directors who worked on such esteemed publications as Al Goldstein’s tawdry sex rag, Screw, and—wait for it—Famous Monsters of Filmland. In the late Sixties, Brill and

Creepy! Kooky! And cool! From 1972, The Monster Times #1 and 2. © The Monster Times Publishing Company. Courtesy of Heritage. RETROFAN

January 2022

CELEBRITY CRUSHES

The “Itt” Girl Celebrity Crushes, by me, a silly girl who got named “Bitsy” by her older brother. So I called him “Sleeve” instead of Steve. Overall, first, I loved my brother and drew him lots of monster pictures, always hoping each drawing would meet his approval. But let’s begin going through the list of Celebrity Crushes. There is a long list—I have had a variety of loves in my life. An early recollection is of sitting astride my mom’s rocket-shaped Electrolux vacuum cleaner in front of the big, blond, boxed Zenith TV. I was watching the Indian test pattern on the screen waiting for the Bozo Show to come on. Yes, Bozo was the first love of my life. Next, I fell head over heels in love with the Banana Man! He was part of the Captain Kangaroo gang. Yup, the Banana Man had my heart tucked in one of his seemingly endless supply of pockets with all of that cool stuff he had. I think Cousin Itt from The Addams Family was my next flame! He looked so handsome in his derby and sunglasses. But then when The Beatles came to America, I was willingly sucked into that hurricane. I loved George. My weekly allowance went to purchases of those wax packs of Beatles bubble gum trading cards. (Don’t tell anyone, but I liked and chewed those crappy hard pink sticks that were supposed to be bubble gum.) I would trade my Beatles cards with my other crazy Beatles fan friends to get all the George cards I could. We would read all the neat fun facts printed on the backs of

the cards. Then, I guess, tired of love, but still listening to Beatles music. Of course, I took some time off to build popsicle-stick houses for my cool little Rat Finks that I now used my allowance to get out of those gumball machines at the Piggly Wiggly. Some of my Rat Finks had moustaches! By then there was a color TV in the living room that fueled an infatuation for Batman. I had the Life magazine with Batman on the cover. And then there was that great MAD magazine that had Batman with Alfred E. Neuman as Robin on the cover. Being on the cover of MAD magazine was about as good as it gets, I thought, and still do. Then, when I wasn’t looking for love, Barnabas Collins comes and bites me in the neck! Yes, he had put his spell on me. Now I had to buy Dark Shadows wax pack bubble gum trading cards. (And I still liked that terrible “bubble gum,” and it was just as hard and nasty as I remembered it to be.) And I had Dark Shadows comics with Barnabas on the cover. They were great reads. Not long after my love for Barnabas, I discovered boys, or did they discover me? And many of them were bozos. (All apologies to Bozo.) Looking back, I have to say that Cousin Itt was the most sensible love of my life. He always knew what to say. These days, my current goal is to become the neighborhood crazy cat lady. Maybe, if you ask around, they might say I have achieved my goal. My love now is for four very hairy cats. Like Cousin Itt, they always know what to say. ELIZABETH ANDERSON lives in Ham Lake, Minnesota.

Hey, lovelorn, quit sobbing into your pillow and writing diary entries—instead, share your Sixties/Seventies/ Eighties Celebrity Crush with RetroFan readers! You can become famous, get three free copies of the magazine, and earn a whopping $10 as well. Submit your 600-word-maximum Celebrity Crush column to the editor for consideration at euryman@gmail.com. 34

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Bozo © Larry Harmon Pictures. Captain Kangaroo © CBS. Addams Family © Filmways Presentations. Beatles © Apple Corps. Batman © DC Comics. MAD © EC Publications, Inc. Dark Shadows © Dan Curtis Productions.

BY ELIZABETH ANDERSON

THE ODDBALL WORLD OF SCOTT SHAW!

Hanna-Barbera’s

Super-Heroes of the Sixties!

BY SCOTT SHAW! When it came to animated cartoons, as a little kid I always loved the funny stuff. That’s probably because all of the cartoons were funny stuff: Tom and Jerry, Popeye, Bugs Bunny, Droopy, Woody Woodpecker, Mighty Mouse, Baby Huey, and most of the rest of the classic characters. Their syndicated shorts were sold in cartoon “packages” culled from all of the great animation studios of the past, except Disney (it had the Mickey Mouse Club TV series to run its cartoon shorts). Fortunately, most of the old cartoons were great, and some of them were incredible. Max Fleischer’s 1936 animated featurette Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor was a standout, about as close to a super-hero clobberfest as anything I’d ever seen on film. One day, I was watching “Uncle Russ” Plummer, the host of The Johnny Jet Show on San Diego’s XETV Channel 6, broadcasting from south of the Mexican border. I didn’t care much for him—I’d met him at a local event and he was drunk—but I often entered (and won) the drawing contests he held on his show, named after his pet parakeet Johnny Jet, the series’ host. Every weekday, that poor

little bird had to endure the unasked-for routine of perching on a miniature rocketship “propelled” by a spark-emitting “sparkler” only about two inches away from the bird. I was always so focused on Johnny Jet’s predicament, I don’t even recall any of the cartoons that Uncle Russ aired… except one.

EARLY SUPER-TOONS

It was the Fleischer Studios’ second-to-last Superman cartoon [coming in a future RetroFan—ed.], “The Underground World” (1943), about a race of birdmen living in a huge, isolate cavern. I knew who Superman was because George Reeves’ Adventures of Superman TV show [see RetroFan #11] was concurrently airing during the days of The Johnny Jet Show and also because I’d received my first-ever super-hero comic book, Superboy #57, in 1957 when I was stuck in the hospital to have my tonsils removed. I’d never seen anything like it. I tuned in the next day, but there were no more Superman cartoons to follow on Uncle Russ’ low-budget budgieshow, that day or ever. I was as mystified as I was when, a year

(ABOVE) Spaaaace Ghooost! Biiiiirdmaaaan! Hanna-Barbera’s Sixties super-heroes did a lot of yelling! Title cels from six Sixties super-faves. © Hanna-Barbera Productions. Courtesy of Heritage. RETROFAN

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The Oddball world of scott shaw!

(LEFT) Space Ghost’s executioner-hooded “Batman in space” look, and the looks of teen sidekicks Jace and Jan, had not yet been finalized when Tony Sgroi illustrated this 1966 presentation piece for what was called The Space Ghosts. (RIGHT) Stunning Alex Toth presentation art for H-B’s “Tarzan in space,” The Herculoids. © Hanna-Barbera Productions. Courtesy of Heritage.

There’s another aspect to the creation of Frankenstein Jr. Frankie was “born” in a pitch concept drawn by Jerry Eisenberg called “Ubble Dugly” about a mad scientist and his goofy Frankenstein-like monster. The further development progressed, the more the concept mutated. It centered on the monster, still human-sized, then enlarged to match 1965’s kaiju classic, Frankenstein Conquers the World. Speaking of Japan, in 1963, Gigantor, a cartoon series about a huge and heroic robot and a boy inventor, debuted. It didn’t air in America until 1968, but the studios likely tracked their rivals— even ones overseas—and what they were up to. There’s also a resemblance to Japan’s Johnny Socko and his Giant Robot TV series (1967). After all, Bill Hanna once told me, “Don’t create anything if you can steal it.” Hey, that’s show biz for you. The Frankenstein Jr. episodes that were designed and laid out by Iwao Takamoto are the ones to watch. Look for “The Menace from the Wax Museum,” “The Alien Brain From Outer Space,” and “The Shocking Electrical Monster” to see what I’m talking about. Eddie Brandt’s campy scripts do a perfect job of tightrope-walking between ironic and bombastic, too. 40

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Due to the style, tone and intent of The Impossibles, it was definitely a concept suited for the “funny” cartoonists at Hanna-Barbera. The characters’ personalities were interchangable, but the designs, villains, and gags were appealing and clever. The two songs by the Impossibles—“Hey You (Hiddy Hiddy Hoo)” and “She Couldn’t Dance”—were both heard throughout the series. In fact, there were plans for an Impossibles .45 record for the HBR label but it shut down before that happened. I was 15 when these first aired, and Frankenstein Jr. and the Impossibles is still the most-recent H-B show that I dig.

The Oddball world of scott shaw!

CBS 9:30 A.M.: THE HERCULOIDS

If it wasn’t brazen enough to sell The Herculoids as “Tarzan in space,” the family father, Zandor, was originally named “Zantar”—“Tarzan” spelled sideways, not subtle in the slightest. Although The Herculoids’ cast of characters was designed by Alex Toth, the stories themselves were intentionally simple. Ruby-Spears Production’s Ken Spears once told me that he and Joe Ruby were always scolded by Mr. B whenever FAST FACTS they’d submit story springboards for THE HERCULOIDS The Herculoids. VOICE CAST No matter how Mike Road: Zandor, Zok, Igoo, Tundro simple the pitch, Virginia Gregg: Tara Joe would tell Ted Eccle: Dorno them to “dumb it Don Messick: Gloop and Gleep down.” Joe also wanted to keep his gagmen busy, so Mike Maltese and Warren Foster “wrote” a lot of Herculoids episodes in storyboard form. The show concept was “jungle monsters versus alien invaders,” so The Herculoids came across like a sci-fi version of Tom and Jerry, with “gags” that weren’t ever intended to be funny.

Tara was voiced by Virginia Gregg, one of the most prolific and versatile TV character actors of the Fifties and Sixties, and a favorite of Dragnet’s Jack Webb.

CBS 10:00 A.M.: SHAZZAN!

Full of wizards, warlocks, and other magical foes, this twostories-per-episode series portrayed its gigantic genie star, Shazzan, as a mystical super-hero. He was the loyal defender of two rather ordinary American pre-teens who somehow got themselves lost in a Mid-Eastern desert. The stories were full of mythical threats, but Shazzan, who was essentially omni-powerful, seemed to shrug off their attacks with ease. His constant chuckling was so overused on the soundtrack that it irritated me, although the designs by Iwao Takamoto and Alex Toth were a good distraction. And yes, the FAST FACTS genie’s name was a veiled reference SHAZZAN! VOICE CAST to the Golden Age Barney Phillips: Shazzan wizard Shazam, Jerry Dexter: Chuck who transformed Janet Waldo: Nancy Billy Batson into Don Messick: Kaboobie Captain Marvel.

Cover-featured Barbara Eden isn’t the only genie in this issue! Shazzan model sheet by Alex Toth. © Hanna-Barbera Productions. Courtesy of Heritage.

RETROFAN

January 2022

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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LEGO® photography with Toy Photographers Blog founder SHELLY CORBETT, and photographers ASTRID HEYLAND, NATASJA VOS, and MARCO ZANCONI offer their favorite tips and tricks to make your creations look great! Plus, STEVEN SMYTH’s Star Wars builds, instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS, and more!

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CBA BULLPEN: The Magic Is Back! COLLECTING THE UNKNOWN ISSUES OF COMIC BOOK ARTIST! COMIC BOOK ARTIST BULLPEN collects all seven issues of the little-seen labor of love fanzine published in the early 2000s by JON B. COOKE (editor of today’s COMIC BOOK CREATOR magazine), just after the original CBA ended its TwoMorrows run. Featured are in-depth interviews with some of comics’ major league players, including GEORGE TUSKA, FRED HEMBECK, TERRY BEATTY, and FRANK BOLLE—and an amazing all-star tribute to Silver Age great JACK ABEL by the Marvel Comics Bullpen and others. That previously unpublished all-comics Abel appreciation (assembled by RICK PARKER) includes strips by JOE KUBERT, WALTER SIMONSON, KYLE BAKER, MARIE SEVERIN, GRAY MORROW, ALAN WEISS, SERGIO ARAGONÉS, MORT TODD, DICK AYERS, and many more! Includes the never-released CBA BULLPEN #7, a new bonus feature on JACK KIRBY’s unknown 1960 baseball card art, and a 16-page full-color section, all behind a KIRBY COVER! (176-page TRADE PAPERBACK with COLOR) $24.95 • (Digital Edition) $8.99 ISBN: 978-1-60549-105-9 • NOW SHIPPING!

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RETRO INTERVIEW

Tommy Cook Remembers

BY SHAUN CLANCY You may recognize Tommy Cook (b. 1930) as a child actor—he was barely ten when he became famous as Little Beaver in the 1940 Adventures of Red Ryder movie serial. He was also a veteran of radio plays and other films, growing up behind the radio mic (Red Ryder, Blondie, The Life of Riley, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet) or in front of the camera, appearing in movies including Tarzan and the Leopard Woman (1946), Teenage Crime Wave (1955), Send Me No Flowers (1964), and the cult horror classic, The Thing with Two Heads (1972). In the late Sixties through the Seventies, he was a voice actor in numerous Saturday morning cartoons, including The Funky Phantom, Jeannie, Jabberjaw, and CB Bears (he was even Kid Flash in the “Flash” and “Teen Titans” segments of the Superman/ Aquaman Hour of Adventure!).

(ABOVE) TV Guide clips from 1973, promoting ABC’s airing of the soon-to-belegendary “Battle of the Sexes.” © ABC. Courtesy of Shaun Clancy. Being a devotee of old-time radio, I arranged a telephone interview, conducted January 11, 2020, with Mr. Cook to discuss his radio days. But during our conversation I discovered—as you will, too, in the interview transcription that follows—that Tommy, as a Southern California junior

tennis player, had a wild career on and off the court that led to his involvement with creating one of the most significant sporting—and pop culture—events of the Seventies, “The Battle of the Sexes,” a his-versus-hers tennis match between Bobby Riggs, age 55, and Billie Jean King, RETROFAN

January 2022

retro interview

age 29. And thanks to RetroFan, you’ve got a courtside seat to the match that made history on September 20, 1973! RetroFan: You you had some involvement with the Bobby Riggs vs. Billie Jean King “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match held back in 1973. Tell me about your tennis background and what your participation was with that historical event. Tommy Cook: When I was in my junior years, barely five-feet, seven inches, I patterned my tennis game after Bobby Riggs, and would defensively outsmart and outfight [opponents]. Bobby was sort of my tennis hero. And now, the top tennis tournament in the western part of the United States would take place at the L.A. Tennis Club. I had played in the junior tennis tournaments, near West Hollywood, and was also a ball boy when I was very young. I was there for the Women’s Tournament Finals that Billie Jean King was participating in. At this event, there was a big dispute going on with Billie Jean King when she was playing her friend, Rosemary Casals. One of the people sitting to call lines had fallen asleep and didn’t call a shot, which created a big uproar. Jack Kramer was the director of the tournament at the time and a good friend of mine. They brought Jack Kramer out on the court, and the guy who missed the call was now well awake. Jack said, “Just continue.” But both women said, “Well, if you don’t get rid of this guy, we’re not going to continue.” To which Jack replied, “If you don’t continue, you’ll be defaulted and you won’t receive your checks.” And so they continued. During that confrontation, I saw what was happening between Jack Kramer and Billie Jean King, and that put a thought in my head: “What would it be like if there was a match between a man and a woman? A young woman at the top of her game and a middle-aged guy, retired, and no longer playing the big tournaments, to make it even?” Knowing Bobby [Riggs], I went to him and sold him on the idea. He loved it. I knew that he had the kind of personality that would stir up a crowd because he was a great showman and a former great world champion. He was the only player to win Wimbledon—Singles, Doubles, and Mixed Doubles—in the same year. Nobody’s ever done that. Unbeknownst to Bobby, I also signed Jack Kramer to play Billie Jean King. Kramer 52

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Cook’s roles over the years include The Adventures of Red Ryder (1940), Teenage Crime Wave (1955), and lots of Saturday morning cartoons including Filmation’s Kid Flash!! Red Ryder © Republic Pictures. Teenage Crime Wave © Columbia Pictures. Flash and Kid Flash © DC Comics. Posters and cel courtesy of Heritage. Cook photo: IMDb.com.

and Riggs didn’t know about each other being signed, but Billie did. I did this because Bobby had all the personality for this, but Jack Kramer was better known. Although they were both retired, Jack Kramer was much more current in the trades, as well as a friend of mine. As far as putting the match together, I’d let the network and sponsors decide. Well, my option ran out—I had a 90-day option contract with Jack Kramer, a 90-day option contract with Billie Jean King, and a 90-day option contract with Bobby Riggs, to put on “The Battle of the Sexes.” I got some sponsor interest, but when I went to the networks, they said, “See the door? Use it.” RF: So what happened next? TC: I just couldn’t come up with a deal in the 90 days to put the project together. Bobby still loved the idea, so with me out of it, he went to the press and challenged the best women in the world to play the match. Margaret Court of Australia took him up on it for $10,000. She had beaten Billie Jean King and was currently the #1 woman player in the world. ABC took it on. They

retro interview

televised it, and Jackie Barnett was the producer. But ABC made a terrible faux pas—it was for only one deal. They played at the San Diego Country Estates, and I went down there with Bobby and took my wife. It was on Mother’s Day, and Bobby had a bouquet of roses he presented to Margaret before the match. He leaned over and whispered in her ear, “Please, I’m an old guy—don’t make me look like a fool. Let me win a game or two.” It blew her mind, and then Bobby went right through her! He beat her easily. When that match was over with, the press went crazy! Several of my friends like Gene Mako—former world champion—could not believe what happened. I remember Bobby standing by the tennis fence and publicists asking him about being the man of the hour. Jerry Perenchio—who started out as an agent at William Morris and became a partner with Norman Lear, and eventually became a billionaire—saw the match on ABC-TV, along with 40 million others, and sent a plane to pick up Bobby Riggs in Palm Springs, and soon Jerry and Bobby became partners and made a lot of money with sponsors like Sugar Daddy. Jerry put together “The Battle of the Sexes” at the Houston Astrodome. The people at ABC went bananas because they lost out. We got close to standing-room-only, which could seat about 50,000 people. Jerry and I were great friends, and Billie Jean King almost blew the match before it started. Two or three weeks before the match was scheduled to

go on, she decided she wouldn’t play the match if Jack Kramer was going to do the color commentary. So Jack was nice enough to bow out, but was paid, and we brought in somebody else. We lost about 5,000 to 10,000 spectators because of that switch. We could’ve really filled out the stadium, but we did have close to over 40,000 people there. The match went on, and Billie legitimately beat Bobby. A lot of people thought he purposely blew the match. He was bleeding at the time and years later, came down with prostate cancer, which he eventually died from in 1995. He and Billie Jean King did patch things up and were good friends towards the end of his life. That’s how “The Battle of the Sexes” happened. RF: Bobby Riggs showed up in a Sugar Daddy costume. Were you aware of that beforehand? TC: Oh, yeah! Bobby had a ball with it and was wonderful! He played that to the hilt! RF: Didn’t Billie Jean King give him a live pig, as in male chauvinist pig, at the beginning? TC: No, I don’t think so, but it was something like that.

(ABOVE) Bobby Riggs, Tommy Cook’s wife Elisabeth, and Tommy Cook (in background). (LEFT) Signed agreement between promoter Tommy Cook and tennis star Billie Jean King, from 1971. Courtesy of Tommy Cook.

RF: What happened after the Riggs-King match? TC: I tried later to put Chris Evert together with Pancho Segura—“The Two-Fisted Battle of the Ages”—because they both used two hands on their backhand. I signed Pancho Segura personally to a contract. I went to Florida to see Chris Evert and her father—he was her manager at the time until she signed on with big-time sports management company, International Management Group [IMG]—and made the proposal. I said, “Under the table, we’ll pay a lot more.” She said, “No way I’ll play Pancho Segura—he’ll beat the heck out of me.” And he would have, too. We had the deal all set to play in Las Vegas—all the arrangements—but she wouldn’t play the match. RF: Did you stay in touch with Bobby Riggs? TC: Bobby became a great friend, and after he lost the match with Billie Jean King, I would bring him with me to participate in my charity tennis tournaments. He would get up at six in the morning and go on the air and television, publicizing the event. Then he would gamble with Vinnie Van Patten. His father, Dickie [actor Dick] Van Patten, was a big gambler, and Vinnie used to put on a fake moustache when he was 15, fly to Vegas, and play the crap tables like he was an adult! I kept up that relationship with Bobby, and I went to his funeral in Palm Springs. Those were glory days. RF: I had a friend, Ed Silverman, who was once the Director of News and Public Affairs for WABC-TV, the network’s New York flagship station. During World War II, Ed was stationed in Hawaii with Bobby Riggs. He told me, “One of the guys who was in our Navy unit in Hawaii was the tennis player Bobby Riggs—the great hustler. Riggs was an absolute fantastic player and he was a con man. At the Chief Petty Officer’s Club, they used to have this big ping-pong table and they used to play table tennis for money. Riggs, in addition to being a great tennis player, was also a great table-tennis player. So, he’d hustle these guys and he’d say, ‘I’ll play you lefthanded,’ but, of course, Riggs was ambidextrous. That didn’t convince anyone, so he said, ‘All right, I’ll play you with my left hand tied behind my back and play you RETROFAN

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retro interview

with Evans back in New York, ever forgave Bob Evans. It was embarrassing, but we did the film. I set us up to shoot at Wimbledon, the most prestigious Grand Slam event in the world, and we were the first company ever allowed to shoot on the hallowed center court there. We were allowed to shoot a scene 15 minutes—this is during the tournament!—15 minutes before Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova walked on the court at two o’clock to play the finals. At Wimbledon, you don’t go out on that court 15 seconds before the tournament or 15 seconds after, but I’m given permission to shoot one scene 15 minutes before. There are 16,000 people there, waiting for the women’s finals, and I’m on the mike on the court saying, “Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention please. We’re shooting a tennis film here called Players, and we would appreciate your cooperation and will give you a signal to applaud when the two stars come out. First of all, I’d like to introduce to you a young tennis player, he’s a member of the Phoenix Racquets World Team Tennis; he’s the son of one of the great stars in show business; a wonderful player and he’s playing the lead—his first big role—Dean Paul Martin!” No applause. Some boos! “What the heck is this kid doing on the center court at Wimbledon?!” Now I know I’m in trouble. I say, “Ladies and gentlemen, coming right out to rally with Dean Paul Martin is the current U.S. Open Champion from Argentina, Guillermo Vilas!

June 1974 magazine cover featuring “Battle” victor King. Courtesy of Shaun Clancy.

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FAST FACTS

HOLLYWOOD COURTS ‘THE BATTLE OF THE SEXES’

Holly Hunter played Billie Jean King and Ron Silver played Bobby Riggs in the television movie When Billie Beat Bobby, which aired on ABC on April 16, 2001. Also featured in the telefilm was RetroFan fave Fred Willard as Howard Cosell. On September 28, 2017, Emma Stone and Steve Carell brought King and Riggs to life on the big screen in the movie Battle of the Sexes.

He walks out and the crowd is warming up. “Ladies and gentleman, to play the coach to Dino, the one and only, the all-time great Pancho Gonzales!” He stands up and waves to the crowd. Now the crowd is going crazy and the real photographers on the court are taking pictures! The two of them start to rally like they’re playing the final match. All of a sudden, I get the cue, “CUT!” We have eight cameras hidden in the stands and we get everybody off within minutes of Evert and Navratilova walking on the court to play the finals. Ali McGraw came over to me afterwards and said, “Tommy, I’ve been around a long time. That was exciting!” You talk about memorable moments. I’m the only civilian that ever worked out on the center court of Wimbledon. Right after the tournament, they reseeded so that nobody would play until the next year. At the Old England Racquet and Cricket Club, a

couple of old ladies would get out and hit a couple of balls, and that would be the start of people working out on the grass court again. I even worked out on that stadium grass court with Dino one morning, and what a thrill that was. RF: A few years ago there was a movie made called Battle of the Sexes (2017), which was based on the tennis match we’ve been discussing. Did you see it, and if so, what was your reaction? TC: I didn’t like the way they showed Jack Kramer [as portrayed by Bill Pullman]. I was very close to Jack. He was not only one of the great, great champions we’ve ever had, but he was a helluva nice guy and did an awful lot for tennis. He helped put together the Association of Tennis for men, and other things. I didn’t like the way they treated him in the film. But it was wonderful. Emma Stone was wonderful and Steve Carrell—they were excellent, but it hurt me. But what are you going to do? The film was well done. RF: I appreciate you taking the time to talk to me about your tennis memories and the fascinating behind-the-scenes story on “The Battle of the Sexes” tennis match! TC: This exchange with you has brought back some of the most cherished times in my life on the tennis courts with all the greats. I appreciated sharing these times with you. If only I could go back playing in the Juniors and going to the Junior National Championship in Kalamazoo, Michigan. You brought me back to those wonderful days. Special thanks to Rose Rummel-Eury for transcribing this interview.

Radio and comics fan SHAUN CLANCY owns a heating and air-conditioning business in the Seattle area and devotes much of his time to interviewing radio, screen, and comic-book personalities. His interview with Lost in Space star June Lockhart appeared in RetroFan #8.

SCOTT SAAVEDRA’S SECRET SANCTUM

BY SCOTT SAAVEDRA Draw me. You can do it. First make an oval. Then add the details. Easy, right? I’ve been drawing me ever since I developed interesting facial features, which, sadly, happened at an early age. And by interesting I mean a nose that points left, ears that appear to be peeling off of my head, and—long ago—a rough shock of poorly behaved mammal hair on top of my scalp (that’s called “painting a word picture”). My little self-caricature was the first successful thing that I ever drew because I was able to capture something that existed in the real world. Notice that I didn’t say that I drew well, just that the art produced an honest positive response. I enjoyed that. Where Monsters Dwell #5 (Marvel, Sept. 1970) was one of my first purchased comics. The lead story was about a giant mud monster named Taboo “from out of the black nowhere.” It was actually a reprint from an earlier comic, but I knew nothing about that sort of thing then. It was also a sequel to “Taboo, the Thing From the Murky Swamp!” So Taboo is from the “black nowhere” and the “murky swamp.” He is also “unstoppable.” That is, until his fellow beings arrive from outer space in a muddy space ship (which is analogous to the space shuttle being made of skin, right?), indicating that Taboo is from nowhere, the swamp, and outer space. I loved that story and the entire comic book for that matter and thought it’d be simply swell to be able to make something like that. But I clearly didn’t have the ability and that needed to change. But how? How?! © Marvel.

MATERIALS YOU WILL NEED

Pencil. Eraser. Any brand paper. RETROFAN

January 2022

Scott Saavedra’s secret sanctum

So I realized decisively pretty early on that what I wanted to draw was comic books. Or work for MAD. Or maybe do something for Disney (design rides, that could be fun). Stuff along those lines. Or perhaps become an F.B.I. agent (I lacked a certain focus). But you needed talent and skill. You also needed to be an adult, and I was ten. Clearly, my dreams weren’t going to come true overnight (not that that wouldn’t be nice). Since I wanted to expand my artistic répertoire beyond my own face, I did what millions of Americans did back then when they wanted something, I turned my attention to the Sears catalog. Specifically, the holiday Wish Book edition. The arrival of the Sears Wish Book, full as it was with thin page after thin page of toys and other items of interest, was an event equal in importance to the annual TV broadcast of The Wizard of Oz. There was always a bit of a tumble as three or more of us wanted to look at the thing Right Now, but eventually one could spend some serious personal time with it and make mental notes of dozens of must-have playthings or, for me, one of the art kits. Realizing my interest in drawing, Sears—via my parents—came through for me one Christmas (or birthday) with a Jon Gnagy “Learn to Draw” Outfit. The contents were actually fairly modest, but I was

delighted. Then, as now, I love art supplies (also office supplies and woodworking tools, though I have never been a woodworker). The “Learn to Draw” Outfit included four pencils (one charcoal, three lead), three small pieces of chalk (white, gray, and black), a sand pad pencil sharpener, a shading stump, a kneaded eraser (one of the more fun art supplies because you can pull it apart like taffy and mold it into rough shapes), paper, a small drawing board, and a 64-page Learn to Draw with Jon Gnagy instruction book. Learn to Draw has been with me my entire life. Gnagy filled the book with lessons on drawing objects like a covered bridge, a snowy Midwestern home, and a locomotive. All very nice, basic illustrations. The single fully fleshed-out drawing of a human person was called “Good Neighbor,” and the portrait of a lad in a sombrero looked like a puppet more than a living being. There is a silhouette of another person in the background of this “Mexican scene.” He’s taking a siesta. Gnagy’s tip on how to cut a piece of folded paper to create a guide to creating an oval to use in rendering a sombrero is very nifty (ovals are hard). In fact, the whole book is full of neat tips and was completely worthwhile to this kid even though I have never liked drawing buildings or sombreros (seriously, ovals are hard). Back then I had no idea who Jon Gnagy was. He was just a guy whose name and face appeared on the front of the box of some art kits and was, apparently, “America’s television art instructor.” I thought then that Gnagy looked like a beatnik, which was pretty old-fashioned circa 1970, and if he was on television I never saw it. So, who was this Jon Gnagy guy and why did he draw so many buildings? Well, for starters, he wasn’t a beatnik.

BALL, CUBE, CYLINDER, CONE

(ABOVE) Jon Gnagy was a television, art instruction and marketing pioneer. His “Learn to Draw” Outfit (the most basic of his art kits and still available) was featured in both Sears and Montgomery Ward (seen here) catalogs and came with this 64-page How to Draw book. This copy was the author’s introduction to properly learning to draw. (RIGHT) Gnagy’s Learn to Draw book was included with some of his art outfits. © Respective owners. Jon Gnagy is a registered trademark.

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By the time I got the Learn to Draw kit, Jon Gnagy’s syndicated show, Learn to Draw, had long stopped producing new episodes. Gnagy was a true pioneer, first appearing on television in 1946, when television programming was extremely primordial. With only some 6,000 sets in America, the novelty of the thing was nearly enough to entertain viewers. That year’s programs included I Love to Eat, Let’s Rhumba, and Campus Hoopla. These riveting examples of Won’t See TV were joined by You Are an Artist (debut: November 1, 1946), hosted by the soft-spoken Midwestern artist. In the era before organized audience measurement, Gulf Oil, the sponsor of Gnagy’s show, offered a free pencil to everyone who sent in a drawing. A whopping 887 responses were received, most of them from adults. I know it doesn’t really sound like it, but in 1947 this meant that You Are an Artist was a bit of a hit. Gnagy was born in 1907 to a strict Mennonite family. His parents encouraged Gnagy’s drawing talent, but only up to a point. Drawing people was not approved by the Mennonite culture. Even his beatnik look was actually a respectful nod to Mennonite traditions. Though self-taught, Gnagy was able to make a career for himself as a working artist. He was a little too successful, working himself to the point of illness. He pulled back on work, took up teaching art, which he enjoyed, and this ultimately led to You Are an Artist (1946–1955), a 15-minute how-to-draw show. That was followed by an early syndicated program,

Scott Saavedra’s secret sanctum

(LEFT) Jon Gnagy was a famous enough artist to do this Famous Artist promotional film, Draw Your Way to Fame. (RIGHT) The “Learn to Draw” Outfit was just the tip of the iceberg. From a 1958 art supply catalog. (INSET) Inkwash illustration by Scott’s father for a Bullocks Wilshire newspaper ad, circa 1965. © Respective owners. Jon Gnagy is a registered trademark.

Learn to Draw (originally titled Draw with Me), that stopped producing new episodes somewhere between 1955 and 1960 (accounts differ). It continued to air for years after. Some episodes of You Are an Artist are available via YouTube, so I’ve finally been able to see examples of the show. The man was hypnotic. Truly. Genuinely. He would begin his program by saying, “Ball… cube… cylinder… cone. By using these four shapes, I can draw any picture I want. And so can you!” In his allotted 15 minutes, Gnagy would demonstrate how to create a drawing. He made it look so easy. I was completely pulled in. Gnagy was a patient, kindly teacher. He would plug his art kits on the show like the “Learn to Draw” Outfit my parents got me. Turns out that there were more than the three kits I saw in the Wish Book. There were also Jon Gnagy paintby-numbers sets (called “Pre-Planned Paint a Picture”) and a Jon Gnagy Instant Cartooning & Lettering set, the latter being a very odd fish in that it contained mix-and-match rub-on cartoon body parts and letters for you to put together into some kind of creative Frankenstein monster. I have no idea what, beyond his name, Gnagy had to do with that one. Jon Gnagy was to artists what Famous Monsters of Filmland was to genre creators like George Lucas, Stephen King, and Peter Jackson. Talents as diverse as Andy Warhol and Berni Wrightson, whose fantastic Swamp Thing comic art has remained a favorite of mine, have said that they were influenced by his teaching.

LIFE. DRAWING.

My paternal grandmother, Mama Angela, had drawing talent. One-hundred-plus-years-ago, immigrant women of limited means with children generally didn’t pursue artistic careers. So she drew to amuse herself, possibly her children, and—I vaguely recall—her grandchildren like me. She was a seamstress. Her youngest son, my dad, also had artistic talent and did do creative work over the years. Early on he went from being an elevator operator at the fancypants Bullocks Wilshire department store in Los Angeles,

California, to producing drawings for the store’s newspaper ads. Bullocks is also where my parents met, and I mention that only because my mom is reading these words. All of my siblings are creative to different degrees and in different ways, but I was the one who most specifically wanted to be an Artist. By the time I was in high school I was pretty sure I going to be an Artist, but was less sure what I was going to draw. Comic books, maybe. They were still cultural pariahs at the time (it’s a bit weird to look back and remember that I was embarrassed to still be reading comics at the age of 15, 16). In high school, I took commercial art classes. There I was introduced to many of the hands-on ways to physically prepare material for print. My instructor noted my interest in cartooning and kept encouraging me to become a magazine illustrator, which, for reasons I don’t recall, I knew I didn’t want. I mean I was very certain of it. This annoyed him. By the 11th grade I filled out a Student Career Planning questionnaire, answering questions on a computer card of some sort. I indicated that my number one occupational choice was to be a Commercial Artist, which seemed to best tie together my desire to continue to draw as well as a growing interest in print design. My answers to the various personality and personal-interest questions were all geared toward pointing out that I was very confident about my choice. Sometime later, I got back the results. The Career Profile helpfully gave me ten career suggestions based on my interests: suggestion number nine was

Comic books (and other cheap magazines) of the day were riddled with ads like this. In 1970, markets for cartooning were shrinking, and the comic-book business was on shaky ground. RETROFAN

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ANDY MANGELS’ RETRO SATURDAY MORNING

Saturday Morning Back in RetroFan #12 (was it a year ago already?) we brought you the first installment of this fun pack of holiday-themed greetings, and it was popular enough for a sequel! Saturday morning television was appointment viewing for anyone growing up between the Sixties and the Nineties. From 8 a.m. to Noon, while their parents slept in from the workweek, kids could sit in front of the television and enjoy a time just for them. Cartoons—and later, live-action series—were produced by studios like Filmation Associates, DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, Total Television, Jay Ward Productions, Hanna-Barbera Productions, Sid and Marty Krofft, D’Angelo Productions, Marvel Productions, Sunbow Productions, RubySpears, DIC, Film Roman, and others. Mirroring Saturday

SECTION ONE – WARNER BROS. With the WB Television Network at its cartoon heyday, the very busy Warner Bros. Animation gangs sent out this card in 1999, showcasing many of their popular characters. (TOP ROW, LEFT TO RIGHT) Bugs Bunny, Scooby-Doo, the diminutive Shareena Wickett and imposing Eugenia Kisskillya from Detention, Superman, and Taz. (BOTTOM ROW, LEFT TO RIGHT) Babs Bunny and Buster Bunny, Yakko, Wakko and Dot Warner, network mascot Michigan J. Frog, Batman from Batman Beyond, Pinky and the Brain, Sylvester and Tweety, Wile E. Coyote, and Father Time and Big Fat Baby from Histeria! © Warner Bros.

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mornings for primetime was Rankin-Bass, which became famous for its stop-motion holiday-themed specials. Unlike most television studios and networks, purveyors of the world of Saturday mornings were relatively closeknit. Animators, writers, voice actors, and other crew would migrate from show to show, one season working on comedy, the next season a super-hero series. Sometimes they would work for multiple companies, though that was largely frowned upon. But the producers of content for Saturday morning were more of a “family” than those who worked on primetime content. Many of the studios would produce Christmas and/or non-denominational holiday cards, calendars, or advertisements in December, often featuring a wide range of projects and characters from their output. This issue for Andy Mangels’ Retro Saturday Morning, I’m sharing another look at some of those studios’ holiday wishes… with a wish that you have a great year to come in 2022 and beyond!

Background image by S. Hermann & F. Richter from Pixabay.

BY ANDY MANGELS

Holiday Cards (LEFT) In 1991, Warner was hot on Tiny Toons Adventures—then airing on CBS—and their holiday card reflected it. Pictured in the festive scene are (LEFT TO RIGHT) Dizzy Devil, Plucky Duck, Hamilton J. Pig, Furrball, Babs Bunny, and Buster Bunny. © Warner Bros.

(ABOVE) Warner’s most popular series on the Fox Network in 1992 was Batman: The Animated Series, so they had producer Bruce Timm draw up this mirthful holiday card, featuring a surprised Batman and a different kind of silhouetted image in the night sky. © DC Comics.

(RIGHT) We don’t think that Pinky and the Brain had this in mind in their quest to take over the world, as they seem to have been foiled by a Christmas tree. Singing in front of it are Tweety and Sylvester; Bugs Bunny; the title star of Freakazoid; Yakko, Wakko, and Dot Warner; and Granny Emma Webster, all stars of the Kids WB offerings! © Warner Bros. RETROFAN

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RetroFan #18