May 2022 No. 20 $10.95
Buy this magazine or I’ll moider ya!
THE FINAL DAYS OF MOE HOWARD
Hi-yo, Satu ay morningrd ! Th e Lone Ran ger in animation!
The Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World of
SERGIO ARAGONÉS!
B. J. THOMAS in one of his final interviews
Get a kung-fu grip on the history of G.I. Joe! TV’s Route 66 • George Maharis interview • Contests You Wanted to Win & more!
1
82658 00463
7
Featuring Andy Mangels • Will Murray • Scott Saavedra • Scott Shaw! • Mark Voger • Michael Eury MAD © EC Publications. G.I. Joe © Hasbro. Lone Ranger © Universal.
New from TwoMorrows!
ALTER EGO #176
BACK ISSUE #134
BACK ISSUE #135
BACK ISSUE #136
The Golden Age comics of major pulp magazine publisher STREET & SMITH (THE SHADOW, DOC SAVAGE, RED DRAGON, SUPERSNIPE) examined in loving detail by MARK CARLSON-GHOST! Art by BOB POWELL, HOWARD NOSTRAND, and others, ANTHONY TOLLIN on “The Shadow/Batman Connection”, FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT, JOHN BROOME, PETER NORMANTON, and more!
BRONZE AGE RARITIES & ODDITIES, spotlighting rare ‘80s European Superman comics! Plus: CURT SWAN’s Batman, JIM APARO’s Superman, DAVID ANTHONY KRAFT’s Marvel custom comics, MICHAEL USLAN’s unseen Earth-Two stories, Leaf’s DC Secret Origins, Marvel’s Evel Knievel, cover variants, and more! With EDUARDO BARRETO, PAUL KUPPERBERG, ALEX SAVIUK, and more. Cover by JOE KUBERT.
SILVER ISSUE, starring the Silver Surfer in the Bronze Age! Plus: JACK KIRBY’s Silver Star, SCOTT HAMPTON’s Silverheels, Silver Sable, Silver Banshee, and more! Featuring KURT BUSIEK, STEVEN BUTLER, TOM DeFALCO, STEVE ENGLEHART, RON FRENZ, STERLING GATES, RON MARZ, FABIAN NICIEZA, ALEX ROSS, MARSHALL ROGERS, JOE RUBINSTEIN, ROGER STERN, and cover by FRENZ and SINNOTT.
BRONZE AGE COMICS STRIPS! SpiderMan, Friday Foster, DC’s World’s Greatest Superheroes starring Superman, Howard the Duck, Richie Rich, Star Hawks, Star Trek, MIKE GRELL’s Tarzan, and more! Plus Charlton’s comic strip tie-ins and the MENOMONEE FALLS GAZETTE. With COLAN, GOODWIN, GIL KANE, KREMER, STAN LEE, ROMITA, THOMAS, TUSKA, and more.
(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Now shipping!
(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Ships June 2022
(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Now shipping!
(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Ships May 2022
(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Ships June 2022
KIRBY COLLECTOR #83
BRICKJOURNAL #74
COMIC BOOK CREATOR #28 OUR ARTISTS AT WAR
THE LIFE & ART OF
DAVE COCKRUM
FAMOUS FIRSTS! How JACK KIRBY was a pioneer in all areas of comics: Romance Comics genre, Kid Gangs, double-page spreads, Black heroes, new formats, super-hero satire, and others! With MARK EVANIER and our regular columnists, plus a gallery of Jack’s pencil art from CAPTAIN AMERICA, JIMMY OLSEN, CAPTAIN VICTORY, DESTROYER DUCK, BLACK PANTHER, and more!
Amazing LEGO® STAR WARS builds, including Lando Calrissian’s Treadable by JÜRGEN WITTNER, Starkiller Base by JHAELON EDWARDS, and more from STEVEN SMYTH and Bantha Bricks! Plus: Minifigure Customization by JARED K. BURKS, AFOLs by GREG HYLAND, stepby-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK (including a LEGO BB-8), and more! Edited by JOE MENO.
STEVE BISSETTE career-spanning interview, from his Joe Kubert School days, Swamp Thing stint, publisher of Taboo and Tyrant, creator rights crusader, and more. Also, Part One of our MIKE GOLD interview on his Chicago youth, start in underground comix, and arrival at DC Comics, right in time for the implosion! Plus BUD PLANT on his publishing days, comic shop owner, and start in mail order—and all the usual fun stuff!
Examines US War comics: EC COMICS (Two-Fisted Tales, Frontline Combat), DC COMICS (Enemy Ace, All American Men of War, G.I. Combat, Our Fighting Forces, Our Army at War, Star-Spangled War Stories), WARREN PUBLISHING (Blazing Combat), CHARLTON (Willy Schultz and the Iron Corporal) and more! Featuring KURTZMAN, SEVERIN, DAVIS, WOOD, KUBERT, GLANZMAN, KIRBY, and others!
(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Ships Spring 2022
(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Ships June 2022
(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Summer 2022
Follows his career from fandom to redesigning the LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES and his introduction of X-MEN characters Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, and Thunderbird (plus his design of Wolverine’s alter ego, Logan). Includes later work on THE FUTURIANS, unused character designs, and other rare material! Written by GLEN CADIGAN with introduction by ALEX ROSS.
(160-page COLOR SOFTCOVER) $27.95 (Digital Edition) $14.99 • Now shipping!
(160-page COLOR softcover) $27.95 (Digital Edition) $14.99 • Ships June 2022
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
2022
Print subscribers get the digital edition free!
Alter Ego (Six print issues) Back Issue (Eight print issues) BrickJournal (Six print issues) Comic Book Creator (Four print issues) Jack Kirby Collector (Four print issues) RetroFan (Six print issues)
Poly mailer, backing board
ECONOMY US
Faster service, rigid mailer
PREMIUM US
Non-US orders, rigid mailer
INTERNATIONAL
DIGITAL ONLY
$68 $90 $68 $49 $49 $68
$91 $121 $91 $65 $65 $91
$103 $137 $103 $72 $72 $103
$29 $39 $29 $19 $19 $29
TwoMorrows. The Future of Comics History. TwoMorrows Publishing • 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 USA
No print issue
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:
https://groups.io/g/twomorrows
Download our Free Catalog of all our available books and back issues! https://www.twomorrows.com/media/TwoMorrowsCatalog.pdf
All characters TM & © their respective owners.
ALTER EGO #175
Spotlighting the artists of ROY THOMAS’ 1980s DC series ALL-STAR SQUADRON! Interviews with artists ARVELL JONES, RICHARD HOWELL, and JERRY ORDWAY, conducted by RICHARD ARNDT! Plus, the Squadron’s FINAL SECRETS, including previously unpublished art, & covers for issues that never existed! With FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT, and a wraparound cover by ARVELL JONES!
63
The Crazy Cool Culture We Grew Up With
58
52
Issue #20 May 2022
45
Departments
3
Retrotorial
2
Voger’s Vault of Vintage Varieties Moe Howard’s Final Years
23 Photo by Gage Skidmore
3
Columns and Special Features
11
Retro Toys GI Joe
23
Oddball World of Scott Shaw! Our Ambassador of Cartooning, Sergio Aragonés
20
RetroFad Hot Pants
45
Too Much TV Quiz
52
RetroFanmail
Retro Interview George Maharis
58
20
Scott Saavedra’s Secret Sanctum Contests You Wanted to Win… But Didn’t
11
56
Will Murray’s 20th Century Panopticon Route 66
78
ReJECTED RetroFan fantasy cover by Scott Saavedra… will return next issue.
73
63
Andy Mangels’ Retro Saturday Morning The Lone Ranger
73
Retro Music B. J. Thomas RetroFan™ issue 20, May 2022. (ISSN 2576-7224 ) is published bimonthly by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614, USA. Phone: (919) 449-0344. Periodicals postage pending at Raleigh, NC. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to RetroFan, c/o TwoMorrows, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614. Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief. John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Office: RetroFan, c/o Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief, 112 Fairmount Way, New Bern, NC 28562. Email: euryman@gmail.com. Six-issue subscriptions: $68 Economy US, $103 International, $29 Digital. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Sergio Aragonés cover photograph © Sergio Aragonés. MAD © EC Publications. The Lone Ranger and Tonto © Universal. B. J. Thomas photograph © B. J. Thomas. GI Joe © Hasbro. All Rights Reserved. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2022 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING.
BY MICHAEL EURY
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michael Eury PUBLISHER John Morrow CONTRIBUTORS Michael Eury Rich Goldschmidt Rod Labbe Andy Mangels John Michlig Will Murray Scott Saavedra Scott Shaw! Mark Voger
DESIGNER Scott Saavedra PROOFREADER David Baldy SPECIAL THANKS Mark Evanier Ernest Farino Hake’s Auctions Heritage Auctions
VERY SPECIAL THANKS Sergio Aragonés George Maharis
Sergio Aragonés is sort of like Santa Claus—a jolly figure with facial hair who spreads joy and happiness and has been around as long as most of us can remember. His inept barbarian, Groo the Wanderer, a comic book he produces with wordsmith Mark Evanier, turns 40 this year. Long before Groo, Sergio was doodling devilish toons starring Cain, Abel, and other horror hosts for spooky DC comic books like House of Mystery… and thanks to Señor Aragonés, at DC “Plop!” became much more than just a funny sound effect. Even for those of you who have never flipped open a funnybook, Sergio’s cartooning style will be instantly recognizable, especially if you’ve picked up an issue of MAD Magazine in the past six decades. You may have actually seen Sergio himself on TV, or in the movies, or seen his work in books or animation. Truly, he’s one of the all-time greats, and in this issue his friend, RetroFan columnist Scott Shaw!—a pretty darn impressive cartoonist himself—digs into Sergio’s past in a fabulously fascinating biography. Those of us who grew up in front of the TV in the Sixties remember that cool guys with cool cars were common across the dial. It took car customizers George Barris and Dean Jeffries to rev the Batmobile and the Monkeemobile, respectively, into television acclaim, but all the handsome, hip George Maharis had to do was hop into his Corvette convertible to make it the hottest wheels on TV. Sixties viewers got their kicks watching him and co-star Martin Milner on their trendy roadtrip drama, Route 66, and in this issue columnist Will Murray looks back at the show, while interviewer Rick Goldschmidt chats with Mr. Maharis himself—who’s an amazing 93 years young at this writing! We’re graced with one final celebrity guest this issue, but sadly he is unable to witness the results. Pop singer B. J. Thomas, who rocketed to the top of the charts with “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” was interviewed last year for RetroFan by Rod Labbe, but Mr. Thomas unexpectedly passed away shortly thereafter. As such, we’re honored to share with you what is B. J. Thomas’ final interview. On a cheerier note, we say hello to Mark Voger, our new columnist, keeper of the Vault of Vintage Varieties. Each issue, Mark will be bringing us a funky flashback to some treasure from our past—starting with this issue’s exploration of the last years of the Three Stooges’ Moe Howard. (There’s no truth to the rumor that Mark got a banged bowl-cut to prepare for this article, but we’re told a couple of his neighbors filed a restraining order against him for eye-poking.) That may seem like an issue-full of material in itself, but you RetroFan regulars know that ye ed loves to cram two issues’ worth of content into each NEXT ISSUE edition. So there’s also GI Joe, the Lone Ranger and Tonto, contests you wanted to win… but didn’t, and more in store. So get ready for another groovy grabbag of the crazy, cool culture we grew up with! July 2022 No. 21 $9.95
Let’s rocket!
Don’t STEAL our Digital Editions! C’mon citizen, DO THE RIGHT THING! A Mom & Pop publisher like us needs every sale just to survive! DON’T DOWNLOAD OR READ ILLEGAL COPIES ONLINE! Buy affordable, legal downloads only at
www.twomorrows.com or through our Apple and Google Apps!
& DON’T SHARE THEM WITH FRIENDS OR POST THEM ONLINE. Help us keep producing great publications like this one!
2
RETROFAN
May 2022
DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS: After RetroFan #16 had gone to press, Will Murray, who penned its column on the 1966 Marvel Super Heroes cartoons, discovered a Stan Lee interview on YouTube where Stan the Man states, contrary to popular belief, that Iron Man, not Sub-Mariner, was the anthology show’s replacement installment once Spider-Man was pulled out of its line-up to star in his own series. And apologies to John Cimino, author of issue #19’s Bandai Pro Wrestler Erasers article, for the omission of his name in the “Acknowledgments” section of our page 2 masthead. RetroFan regrets the errors.
ASTRO BOY
oman... rr-fect Catw Meet the pu
AR JULIE NEWM
Take a Pleasant Valley Sunday spin in The Monkeemobile!
Saturday morning TV’s King of the Jungle!
TARZAN! Pebbles Cereal History • The Untouchables • Search • Soviet Expo ’77 & more! Featuring Andy Mangels • Will Murray • Scott Saavedra • Scott Shaw! • Mark Voger • Michael Eury Catwoman © DC Comics. Astro Boy © Tezuka Productions Co., Ltd. Tarzan © Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
VOGER’S VAULT OF VINTAGE VARIETIES
Moe’s Final Years BY MARK VOGER Remember how Superman wore his costume under his Clark Kent clothes, and would run to a phone booth to tear ’em off and become Superman? Moe Howard was kind of like that in his golden years. Sure, he walked around in grandpa spectacles, a beige turtleneck, and a plaid jacket—practically the uniform of senior citizens in the Seventies. But that neatly parted white hair? On a moment’s notice, Howard could comb it into something more familiar to his generations of fans: a perfect Moe “bowl-cut” hairstyle. In other words, Howard was always ready to “become Moe”— the eye-poking, face-slapping, belly-punching ringleader of that beloved slapstick trio of yesteryear, the Three Stooges. This was the superpower of the comedic actor born Moses Harry Horwitz (1897–1975) in where else but Brooklyn. I saw it happen. With my own peepers, I once saw Moe Howard, kindly old man, whip out a comb and transform himself into Moe Howard, Three Stooges boss. On a cloudy, drizzly Saturday afternoon in 1973, Howard made an appearance at an old-fashioned movie theater in Camden County, New Jersey. This was Stooges country. Howard got a hero’s welcome that day. Despite a dearth of opportunities to work, and the declining health of he and his fellow surviving Stooges, Howard surreptitiously kept his hair in that bowl-cut, but combed to one side, as he had throughout his career. (Did you think Howard went to the fiveand-dime wearing those crazy bangs all those decades?) Howard never really gave up on the Stooges… that is, until shortly before his death at age 77 from lung cancer. A quick history: Howard was born in the Bensonhurt section of Brooklyn, hence that singular rat-a-tat cadence. In the middle Twenties, he and his big brother Samuel (stage name “Shemp,”
because that’s how their immigrant mama pronounced “Sam”) joined up with frizzy-haired violinist-comic Larry Fine, as the onstage “stooges” of caustic vaudeville star Ted Healy. The foursome made its film debut in “Soup to Nuts” (1930), written by cartoonist Rube Goldberg. When Shemp left the act to go solo in 1932, he was replaced by his and Moe’s little brother, Jerome (stage name “Curly”), whose childlike persona made him a fan-favorite. Then Healy and his stooges parted ways, with Healy steadily scoring movie roles as a single. In 1934, the newly minted “Three Stooges” made their first of 190 comedy shorts for studio honcho Harry Cohn’s Columbia Pictures. (Meanwhile, Healy’s solo career was cut short with his mysterious, alcohol-exacerbated death in 1937.) But health woes plagued the trio during their long Columbia run. Due to Curly’s series of strokes beginning in 1946 (which led to his 1952 death at the shockingly young age of 48), he was replaced by Shemp. Due to Shemp’s sudden death by heart attack in 1955, he was replaced by roly-poly comedian Joe Besser (the guy who, as Howard often pointed out, used the catchphrase “Not so hard”). But times were changing. In late 1957, after 23 profitable years, Cohn unceremoniously decided not to renew the Stooges’ contract with Columbia. Blonde, statuesque actress Greta Thyssen—a former Miss Denmark who once doubled for Marilyn Monroe—made three shorts with the Stooges, and was the leading lady in their final
(ABOVE) Moe Howard combs his hair into a perfect Moe “bowl-cut” during an appearance on The Mike Douglas Show (1973). © Mike Douglas Entertainments. RETROFAN
May 2022
3
Voger’s Vault of vintage varieties
(LEFT TO RIGHT) Adam West, Joe DeRita, Moe Howard, and Larry Fine in The Outlaws is Coming (1965), the Three Stooges’ final feature-length movie. © Columbia Pictures.
breakthrough as the star of TV’s Batman. During a 2000 interview, I asked West what it was like to play straight man to three old masters. “I remember how introspective and quiet they were off camera,” said West (who died in 2017). “To come in as the leading man—and, as you put it, the ‘straight man’—was a real challenge, you know, with their antics. Because you have to resist any kind of smirk, any kind of hey-aren’t-we-funny communication to the audience. Don’t you? So I had to be very seriously involved with their conundrum and their misadventures, and really believe, for them to play off me and for them to be funnier than me. Right? You have to do that. “I think it worked pretty well, because my character was open-faced naive. The lady marshal (played by Nancy Kovak) even did his shooting for him.” Did Howard—who always called the shots for the trio—have any advice or special direction for West during shooting? “Well, Moe was always directorial,” West allowed. “Yeah, there were moments when we discussed—as you do when you’re making a film—the timing and levels of whatever we were doing, and maybe a better way to say something or stage something. Because he really knew, you know. He knew what worked best.” Another player in The Outlaws is Coming was Sally Starr, one of ten local TV kiddie-show hosts invited to make a cameo in the film. (The cameos were a thank-you from the Stooges for the TV exposure that led to the trio’s resurgence.) Philadelphia’s Starr was already immersed in Old West lore; from the Fifties through the Seventies, she wore a spangle-y cowgirl costume as host of a kiddie show (titled Popeye Theater for the most part), on which she faithfully aired Stooges shorts. “I’ll tell you, they were so kind and courteous to me,” Starr told me of working with the Stooges, when we spoke in 2005. (The TV 6
RETROFAN
May 2022
(LEFT) Philadelphia TV personality Sally Starr, who aired Stooges shorts on her local kiddie show, made a cameo in The Outlaws is Coming. (BELOW) The Stooges did fresh poses for many covers of their 1959–1972 comicbook series, in costumes and settings that reflected the stories within. Shown is issue #36 (Sept. 1967). © Normandy Productions.
personality died in 2013.) In the film, Starr portrayed real-life outlaw Belle Starr, and got muddy during a spirited fight scene with Kovak. “That was the first time I ever had professional make-up put on me,” Starr continued. “I couldn’t stand it. I felt like I was wearing a mask, especially the eyelashes. I said to Moe, ‘Moe, I can’t open my eyes!’ He said, ‘Why?’ I said, ‘These eyelashes! What do I need these for?’ He said, ‘I don’t know.’ He said, ‘If you don’t like ’em, pull ’em off.’ They were so great to me.”
Voger’s Vault of vintage varieties
EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
Dell Publishing’s 55-issue Three Stooges comic-book series (1959–1972) and Cambria Studios’ animated TV series The New 3 Stooges (1965–1966) were hardly in-name-only ventures for Howard, Fine, and DeRita. The boys did fresh poses for many of Dell’s photo covers, in costumes and settings that reflected the stories within. They also filmed live-action “bookends” for the animated series, and voiced their cartoon counterparts. The bookends were like “old home week.” Emil Sitka, a supporting player who first appeared with the Stooges in 1946, was in several of the live-action segments, which were directed by Edward Bernds, who helmed many of the boys’ shorts and features, also beginning in 1946. This is not to say the live segments were the Stooges at their finest. The boys look tired, the film stock is chintzy, and the
audio can be atrocious. But the old magic is still there. In the live footage, the Stooges are seen golfing, cooking, camping, beaching, performing dentistry (with DeRita in drag as a nurse), riding minibikes, and performing a magic show. After some light— very light—slapstick, Howard would address the camera and say something along the lines of, “Now, bend your eyeballs around this next cartoon.” So truly, the wraparounds are akin to the old shorts. After a decade of long-form films and live appearances, the Three Stooges returned to the format that made them superstars. The trio also played in TV commercials for Simoniz car products, Dickies work clothes, the Arthritis Foundation, U.S. payroll savings plans, and, of all things, Aquanet hairspray.
The Stooges filmed live-action “bookends” for Cambria Studio’s animated series, The New 3 Stooges (1965–1966), and also voiced their cartoon counterparts. © Cambria Studios Productions/Normandy-TV III Productions.
RETROFAN
May 2022
7
Voger’s Vault of vintage varieties
The Three Stooges line-up that was never meant to be: Joe DeRita, Moe Howard, and Emil Sitka pose in the Seventies. Sitka, a longtime Stooges foil, was stepping in for Larry Fine.
reunions. Norman Maurer died in 1986, Besser in 1988, DeRita in 1993, and Sitka in 1998.
GHOSTS ON THE STAGE
I was a ninth-grader when I saw Howard onstage in New Jersey in 1973. Hmmm… now, where was it? My younger brother Brian, another attendee, and I have narrowed the venue down to two possibilities: It was either the Harwan Theatre in Mount Ephraim or the Coronet Theatre in Audubon. Both were Twenties movie houses situated on traffic-y King’s Highway. Neither remains standing. The booking likely dovetailed off of an appearance by Howard on The Mike Douglas Show, which was taped in Philadelphia, a quick hop across the nearby Ben Franklin Bridge. How did I learn about it? I’m guessing I spotted an advertisement in The Philadelphia Bulletin, which published a “zoned” South Jersey edition that was delivered to our doorstep daily. Brian recalls that he was playing street hockey when I suddenly interrupted him and said he “had to go” with me to see Howard. My mother and sister dropped us off and went shopping. (They both later said they regretted not attending the show.) The theater was packed with mostly school-aged Stooges fans. We’d all grown up watching the trio every weekday after school on Channel 6 in Philadelphia, on the kiddie show hosted by the aforementioned Sally Starr. (“Your gal Sal,” she always called herself.) There was electricity in the air. We were gonna see Moe! In person! But first, the theater screened Flying Deuces (1939), a feature starring Laurel and Hardy. This was followed by a Stooges short, which I believe was “Wee Wee Monsieur” (1938), making this a double feature of French Foreign Legion-themed comedies. (I can’t swear to this, though I know for certain it was “a Curly,” meaning a short with Curly Howard playing the third Stooge.) 10
RETROFAN
May 2022
When the title card showing Curly, Larry, and Moe flashed on the screen, accompanied by that insane rendition of the Stooges’ instrumental theme “Listen to the Mockingbird” (the one with the bird noises), loud cheers erupted in the theater. Finally, the man himself walked out and stepped in front of a microphone to a roaring ovation. Yes, his ears were long, and the bags under his eyes had bags. But there was no mistaking it: This was Moe. It felt cathartic—like a sacred rite, almost—to tell Moe via our cheering, whistling, and clapping how deeply we appreciated the entertainment he and his cohorts created way back when. Howard’s brothers Curly and Shemp never lived to see their resurgence in popularity. Howard and Fine did. Howard’s act was the one he’d been cooking up on college campuses. First, he told some time-tested behind-the-scenes stories, like the one about Fine getting stabbed in the forehead with a prop pen while shooting “Heavenly Daze” (1948). Howard grew solemn as he recounted his “kid brother” Curly’s careerending stroke on the set of “Half-Wits Holiday” (1946). Then, Howard did something remarkable. He conjured up the ghosts of his old comrades in comedy. He actually re-created familiar Three Stooges bits himself, slapping and eye-poking imaginary Larrys and Curlys to his left and right. It sounds sad, one man playing all three Stooges. But it was actually touching and very sweet. And what a revelation it was to hear that voice, that distinctive, grating, only-from-Brooklyn voice, saying, “Spread out!” and “I’ll moider ya!” Howard performed a magic trick for we lucky few that afternoon, again bringing the Stooges to life. He was by himself, but he wasn’t alone. MARK VOGER is the author and designer of five books for TwoMorrows Publishing, including Monster Mash: The Creepy, Kooky Monster Craze in America 1957–1972 (a Rondo Award winner), Groovy: When Flower Power Bloomed in Pop Culture, and Holly Jolly: Celebrating Christmas Past in Pop Culture. Voger worked in the newspaper field as an entertainment reporter and graphic artist for 40 years, and lives at the Jersey Shore. His favorite food is a toss-up between SpaghettiOs and Frosted Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop Tarts. Please visit him at MarkVoger.com.
RETRO TOYS
GI JOE BY JOHN MICHLIG
This story begins in the early Nineties. There are a couple of things you have to understand (and remember) about the early Nineties. This was well before the era of social media and iPhones. There was no internet to speak of. It was much more possible to be oblivious of certain fads and phenomena while still being a relatively “with it” individual. This might help explain my reaction the day I walked into a shop called The Toy Wizard that my girlfriend (now wife) spotted near her apartment one afternoon. Upon entering, my jaw dropped to the floor. It was a showroom full of the toys I played with when I was a kid. Major Matt Mason. Hot Wheels. Model kits. Lego sets. Batmobiles. And, in a corner of his own, the king of all toys: GI Joe. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. There were soldiers, accessories, a Deep Sea Diver, and even the very same six-wheeled ATV that was my trademark accessory among my neighborhood cohort. The man behind the counter—the Toy Wizard himself, J. R. Giguere—came closer. “So, you’re a GI Joe collector?” That’s when I asked the question that started the engines. “People collect GI Joes?”
GETTING UP TO SPEED
Truth be told, I had no idea that there was any market for—or interest in—the toys we grew up with. A quick look at the price tags on some of the displayed items made it clear to me that I’d better get my GI Joes and Mego super-heroes out of my parents’ basement before they ended up in a rummage sale.
The darling of Toy Fair 1964, GI Joe—America’s movable fighting man—in his classic Soldier and Sailor variations. © Hasbro. Courtesy of Heritage.
Almost immediately after meeting the Toy Wizard, I wrote my very first article. It was for a new magazine called Baby Boomer Collectibles (this was before persons born on and after 1965—like myself—began identifying as “Generation X”), and, though Major Matt Mason was my topic, I opened by explaining I was a “GI Joe guy.” Then I learned about an event called Toy Fair in New York. I decided to take a chance—it was my first commercial air flight, my first visit to the Big Apple, and my biggest bluff to date as I talked my way into a media pass to the show. I made a beeline to the giant Hasbro showroom to listen to their various pitches and promotions. I approached a person wearing a Hasbro nametag (and possessing what I considered suitable gravitas) and asked: “What about GI Joe?” “GI Joe!” he replied, as if awoken from a stupor. “We have big plans and big news ahead —can’t reveal anything yet.” He called over what looked to be a young intern who took down my name and contact info. In 1992, Hasbro released 12-inch “Hall of Fame” GI Joes that harkened back to the fully articulated figures my age group had RETROFAN
May 2022
11
Pop Culture Books HOLLY JOLLY
Celebrating Christmas Past In Pop Culture
HOLLY JOLLY is a colorful sleigh ride through the history of Christmas, from its religious origins to its emergence as a multimedia phenomenon. It explores movies (Miracle on 34th Street, It’s a Wonderful Life), music (White Christmas, Little St. Nick), TV (How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer), books (Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol), decor (1950s silver aluminum trees), comics (super-heroes meet Santa), and more! Featuring interviews with CHARLES M. SCHULZ (A Charlie Brown Christmas), ANDY WILLIAMS (TV’s “Mr. Christmas”) and others, the story behind DARLENE LOVE’s perrennial hit song Christmas (Baby Please Come Home), and more holiday memories! By MARK VOGER, the profusely illustrated HOLLY JOLLY takes readers on a time-trip to Christmases past that you will cherish all year long! (192-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $43.95 ISBN: 9781605490977 (Digital Edition) $15.99
MONSTER MASH
GROOVY
Time-trip back to the frightening era of 1957-1972, when monsters infiltrated America in monster magazines, toys, games, trading cards, and comic books. This profusely illustrated full-color hardcover covers that creepy, kooky 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 monster creators, publishers, and TV stars, with a Foreword by TV horror host Zacherley, the “Cool Ghoul.” Written and designed by MARK VOGER!
From Woodstock, “The Banana Splits,” and “Sgt. Pepper” to “H.R. Pufnstuf,” Altamont, and “The Partridge Family,” GROOVY is a far-out trip to the era of lava lamps and love beads. This profusely illustrated hardcover book, in psychedelic color, features interviews with icons of grooviness such as PETER MAX, BRIAN WILSON, PETER FONDA, MELANIE, DAVID CASSIDY, members of the Jefferson Airplane, Cream, the Doors, the Cowsills and Vanilla Fudge; and cast members of groovy TV shows like “The Monkees,” “Laugh-In” and “The Brady Bunch.” Revisit the era’s rock festivals, movies, art, comics and cartoons in this color-saturated pop-culture history written and designed by MARK VOGER!
(192-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $39.95 ISBN: 9781605490649 (Digital Edition) $11.99
(192-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $39.95 ISBN: 9781605490809 Digital Edition: $13.99
Get all three Mark Voger books above for just $99.95! Normally $124, save $24!
IT CREPT FROM THE TOMB
Since 2000, FROM THE TOMB has terrified readers worldwide. This second “Best of” collection of the UK’s preeminent magazine on the history of horror comics uncovers Atomic Comics lost to the Cold War, rarely seen (and censored) British horror comics, the early art of RICHARD CORBEN, GOOD GIRLS of a bygone age, TOM SUTTON, DON HECK, LOU MORALES, AL EADEH, BRUCE JONES’ Alien Worlds, HP LOVECRAFT in HEAVY METAL, and a myriad of terrors from beyond the stars and the shadows of our own world! It features comics they tried to ban, from ATLAS, CHARLTON, COMIC MEDIA, DC, EC, HARVEY, HOUSE OF HAMMER, KITCHEN SINK, LAST GASP, PACIFIC, SKYWALD, WARREN, and more! Edited by PETER NORMANTON. (192-page Trade Paperback) $29.95 ISBN: 9781605490816 (Digital Edition) $10.99
HERO-A-GO-GO!
HERO-A-GO-GO! celebrates the camp craze of the Swinging Sixties, when just about everyone—the teens of Riverdale, an ant and a squirrel, even the President of the United States—was a super-hero or a secret agent. RETROFAN magazine and former DC Comics editor MICHAEL EURY takes you through that coolest cultural phenomenon with this all-new collection of nostalgic essays, histories, and theme song lyrics of classic 1960s characters like CAPTAIN ACTION, HERBIE THE FAT FURY, CAPTAIN NICE, ATOM ANT, SCOOTER, ACG’s NEMESIS, DELL’S SUPER-FRANKENSTEIN and DRACULA, the “Split!” CAPTAIN MARVEL, and others! Featuring interviews with BILL MUMY (Lost in Space), BOB HOLIDAY (It’s a Bird … It’s a Plane … It’s Superman), RALPH BAKSHI (The Mighty Heroes, Spider-Man), DEAN TORRENCE (Jan and Dean Meet Batman), RAMONA FRADON (Metamorpho), DICK DeBARTOLO (Captain Klutz), TONY TALLARICO (The Great Society Comic Book), VINCE GARGIULO (Palisades Park historian), JOE SINNOTT (The Beatles comic book), JOSE DELBO (The Monkees comic book), and more! (272-page FULL-COLOR TRADE PAPERBACK) $36.95 ISBN: 9781605490731 (Digital Edition) $13.99
AMERICAN TV COMIC BOOKS (1940s-1980s) From The Small Screen To The Printed Page
A fascinating and detailed year-by-year history of over 300 television shows and their 2000+ comic book adaptations across five decades. Author PETER BOSCH has spent years researching and documenting this amazing area of comics history, tracking down the well-known series (STAR TREK, THE MUNSTERS) and the lesser-known shows (CAPTAIN GALLANT, PINKY LEE) to present the finest look ever taken at this unique genre of comic books. Included are hundreds of full-color covers and images, plus profiles of the artists who drew TV comics: GENE COLAN, ALEX TOTH, DAN SPIEGLE, RUSS MANNING, JOHN BUSCEMA, RUSS HEATH, and many more giants of the comic book world. If you loved watching The Lone Ranger, Rawhide, The Andy Griffith Show, The Monkees, The Mod Squad, Adam-12, Battlestar Galactica, The Bionic Woman, Alf, Fraggle Rock, and “V”—there’s something here for fans of TV and comics alike. (192-page FULL-COLOR TRADE PAPERBACK) $29.95 ISBN: 9781605491073 (Digital Edition) $15.99
THE BEST OF FROM THE TOMB This first collection compiles features from its ten years of terror, along with new material meant for the NEVER-PUBLISHED #29 • (192-page Digital Edition) $10.99
LOU SCHEIMER
CREATING THE FILMATION GENERATION
Biography of the co-founder of Filmation Studios, which created the first DC cartoons with Superman, Batman, and Aquaman, ruled the song charts with The Archies, kept Trekkie hope alive with the Emmywinning Star Trek: The Animated Series, taught morals with Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, and swung into high adventure with Tarzan, The Lone Ranger, Zorro, live-action shows Shazam! and The Secrets of Isis, and He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. Written by LOU SCHEIMER, with RetroFan’s ANDY MANGELS. (288-page Digital Edition) $14.99
TwoMorrows. The Future of Pop History.
TwoMorrows Publishing 10407 Bedfordtown Drive Raleigh, NC 27614 USA 919-449-0344 E-mail:
store@twomorrows.com
Order at
www.twomorrows.com
THE ODDBALL WORLD OF SCOTT SHAW!
Our Ambassador of Cartooning
SERGIO ARAGONÉS BY SCOTT SHAW!
In 1963, the United States discovered the cartoons of Sergio Aragonés, and funnybooks have never been the same. Sergio’s first piece, “A MAD Look at the U.S. Space Effort,” first appeared in MAD #76 (Jan. 1963.) MAD was already altering my perception of the adult world. I had started reading the then-outrageous magazine with issue #69, only ten months earlier than Sergio’s initial contributions, which really got my attention. It not only included Sergio’s first article for MAD, it also featured tiny cartoons by the new guy lurking in the margins of many pages, replacing the cerebral “Marginal Thinking” written gags in the previous issues. Sergio’s “Drawn-Out Dramas” were incredibly detailed and always funny; eventually, they became known as “Marginals.” I didn’t realize it at the time, but Sergio also came up (ABOVE) Ladies and gentlemen, our ambassador of cartooning, Señor Sergio Aragonés, in a 2021 photograph in his studio. (INSET) A cartoon from Sergio’s first feature for MAD magazine, “A MAD Look at the U.S. Space Effort,” from MAD #76 (Jan. 1963). Photo courtesy of Sergio Aragonés. © Sergio Aragonés and E.C. Publications, Inc. RETROFAN
May 2022
23
The oddball world of scott shaw!
“While I was out snorkeling in that river, I realized that I was near the location of Irish McCalla’s Sheena, Queen of the Jungle (1955–1956), where my father was representing the Actor’s Union. I dropped by to say hello, but just as I left, the Mexican director of the TV series, Ismael Rodriguez, ran up in a panic. Sheena’s stuntwoman hadn’t shown up and they needed a stunt diver ASAP. My father mentioned that I was an experienced diver. Minutes later, I fit myself into Sheena’s costume, put on a red-haired wig, climbed a tree, jumped out of the tree while holding onto a thick rope, swung out on the rope, let go, dove into the water—and that was it. I changed my clothes and went back to snorkeling. But I never got to meet Irish McCalla.” [Editor’s note: Readers, you can meet Irish McCalla in our Sheena TV show history in RetroFan #12.] Apparently, Sergio spent more time in the water entertaining people than Flipper. “One day in 1955, my friends and I went to the pool, but we were not allowed to go in. It was because women were trying out for the synchronized swimming team that performed aquatic ballets. They wouldn’t allow any males into the pool during the auditions. When I told my friends, ‘Hey, I can get in,’ they laughed. I told the man in charge that I needed to talk to the coach, an American lady who’d been an accomplished swimmer. The longer we spoke, the more my friends would whistle! By luck, she needed a ‘clown diver.’ I told her I was her man! That was the start of a new career for me. I learned a few routines and we did shows. It was a lot of fun. Later, I got a call from Elvira Castillo, the 1954 ‘Miss Mexico’ who had a professional aquatic group. She needed a diving clown, too! I had plenty of time so I joined. It was fun being the only male in the group.” Then there was the time when Sergio wore a gorilla suit in a swimming pool. “Elvira had another diver, Victor Yturbe, a.k.a. ‘Piruli,’ who later became a famous singer and owned his own nightclub. We concocted a skit in which he was ‘Tarzan’ and I was a ‘Gorilla’ in a beautiful gorilla suit. But after I dived into the pool, it was destroyed, with loose ‘fur’ hairs coating the surface of the water.” This was the basis for one of Sergio’s first autobiographical
Irish McCalla’s screen-worn outfit from the short-lived Sheena, Queen of the Jungle television series. Now picture Sergio Aragonés wearing it. Courtesy of Heritage. stories, appearing in TwoMorrows’ Streetwise (2000), an Eisner Award-winning anthology.
U.S. BOUND
Meanwhile, back in higher education, Sergio kept busy juggling studying and his accelerating career as a cartoonist. “In 1956, I re-entered UNAM, this time to study architecture,” Sergio recalls. “It had another hallway newspaper with a weekly slot for me to fill, even while I was continuing to sell gag cartoons to Mexican magazines. That’s where I learned how to draw so fast!” While representing his union in Cuernavaca on the set of The Beast of Hollow Mountain (1956), Pasqual invited Elisa and Sergio to visit. While there, the teenage kids were photographed with one of the film’s stars, Guy Madison. Watching them shoot the film, which featured a stop-motion Allosaurus animated by King Kong’s visual creator Willis O’Brien, Sergio noticed that none of the actors were looking in the same direction because the dinosaur would be added in post-production. Sergio cleverly suggested to his dad that they should come up with something to improve the actors’ “line of sight.” Pascual passed this on to the film’s director, who readily agreed. “Soon, I was painting the dinosaur’s head on a flat piece of plywood, which they cut out and attached to a long wooden stick.” If you watch The Beast of Hollow Mountain, please note that everyone’s looking directly at the Allosaurus. Sergio served in Mexico’s military. “In 1957, I was in the Marine Conscription, and because of my diving experience, as an ‘observer,’ I joined two frogmen—in Mexican, ‘Hombres Rana’—who were officers in the Mexican Navy. I got permission from my university, and in Acapulco, we boarded the frigate ‘California,’ and a WWII ship, the USS Hutchinson (PF-45) Tacoma Class, another frigate. For a couple of months, I dove with the officers and was present in a ‘war game.’ It was quite an experience.” Sergio also performed on stage and studied the work of the world’s finest pantomime performers. “I played a part in The Skin of Our Teeth by Thornton Wilder, The Beautiful People by William Saroyan, Danton’s Death by Georg Büchner, and a few plays by H. Azar. The great French mime Marcel Marceau was in Mexico, doing his pantomimes. The theater group got passes and I acted as a translator for them. It was (LEFT) Sergio was both a dramatic and presumably colorful presence at the Aquatic Ballet, but a great time. I chatted with another pantomimist I’d (RIGHT) a comical one, shown here monkeying around. Photos courtesy of Sergio Aragonés.
28
RETROFAN
May 2022
The oddball world of scott shaw!
You like gorillas? Sergio has you covered. (LEFT) Panel from his autobiographical story, “The Gorilla Suit,” from Streetwise (TwoMorrows, 2000). (CENTER) In an office full of treasures, MAD publisher Bill Gaines was dwarfed by only one, a gift from his fastest artist, this giant hand-crafted paper mâché King Kong face peeking in his window. (RIGHT) Things get hairy for Sergio’s long-time friend, Scott Shaw! Illustrations TM & © Sergio Aragonés.
admired for a long time, Jaques Tati. I also befriended Alejandro Jodorowsky, who was in Mexico and opened a pantomime school. I told Alejandro that I did not want to become a mime, but I intended to apply the experience to my pantomime cartoons. He loved the idea, and I played a part in a couple of his shows, sketching on a large glass easel while I was a mime in white face.” Meanwhile, Sergio was still selling his cartoons like crazy. With a healthy cartooning career in Mexico, why did Sergio decide to move to the United States? “At that time, most of the cartoons published in Mexico were political material such as editorial cartoons. There weren’t any original Mexican comic strips other than Condorito. All of the strips appearing in the Mexican newspapers were reprints, primarily from the U.S. My weekly slot in Mañana magazine didn’t pay nearly enough for me to make a living. I decided that I had no choice. The only way to do better for myself was to either move back to Europe, or to take my chances in the United States. After I acquired an issue of Writer’s Digest magazine, I learned what the standard pay rates were for cartoonists in the U.S. That was enough for me.” As a test run, Sergio traveled to Los Angeles, stayed with relatives, and sought out new clients in Southern California. In 1961, he made two sales, a gag cartoon for sophisticated San Diego Magazine and a regular feature, “Jose the Bullfighter,” for San Diego’s Toros bullfighting magazine. The responses were so encouraging that Sergio went back to Mexico City, sold most of his possessions, and set out—via many long bus rides—for New York City, the home of most U.S. publishers. “In 1962, on my first night in New York City, I slept on a bench by the East River,” Sergio tells RetroFan. “The next day, I walked to Greenwich Village. During the day, it was a perfect Italian neighborhood, but after the sun set, beatniks started to appear. My first job was in the Flamenco coffee house, reciting material I’d memorized, all written by the great Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca. That was my night job, but during the day, I visited publishing houses to sell my cartoons, but without much luck. The
editors’ reactions were often, ‘This is too crazy! No words? You should go to MAD magazine!’ …which, of course, I did. “When I walked into the MAD offices, I was so nervous that I blurted out ‘Antonio Prohias!!!’ to the receptionist, Gloria, who was the wife of EC and MAD cartoonist Joe Orlando. I had been a fan of MAD since the Fifties; I couldn’t read it because my English was almost nil—but the artwork! I hadn’t seen anything like it in my life. By good fortune, Prohias—the creator of Spy vs. Spy—happened to be visiting MAD’s offices. He introduced me to the editors as his ‘brother from Mexico.’ (Of course, Prohias referred to all his friends as ‘brothers.’) And that was that! MAD launched my career as a cartoonist... and I’m still at it!” Of course, until he had earned enough money, Sergio needed a place to stay in NYC. “MAD was not only my sole source of work, its staffers and freelancers became my U.S. family. I didn’t have enough cash to stay in a hotel, so Jerry DeFuccio—assistant editor for MAD, comic-book collector, knowledgeable comics expert, and a great friend—allowed me to spend my nights in MAD’s offices. For security’s sake, they locked me inside, which fortunately included a bathroom and a good coffeemaker. MAD publisher Bill Gaines had a particularly comfortable sofa, too. I spent time reading old issues of MAD, admiring the magnificent original pages of art by Drucker, Clarke, Wood, Martin… it was magic.”
IT’S A MAD WORLD
There was also a unique perk to being a member of “The Usual Gang of Idiots.” “The ‘MAD trips’ were equally magical, with many of its staff and freelance cartoonists. Getting to know them better, even sharing rooms or tents, was a delight. The trips—paid for by Gaines—took us to Europe, Africa (on safari), Tahiti, Morocco, and Mexico. There, I introduced my American family to my Mexican family, one of the best days of my life.” Since 1963, Sergio’s “A MAD Look At...” and “Marginals” have appeared in every issue of MAD, from #76 through the latest issue except one; his artwork got misplaced during shipping. RETROFAN
May 2022
29
Looking for the perfect book to cozy up with? See what we have!
WILL MURRAY’S 20TH CENTURY PANOPTICON When viewers recall Route 66, they think of it as a television show that starred Martin Milner and costarred George Maharis. Because Milner received top billing and drove the Chevy Corvette convertible that was a non-speaking cast member, it was universally assumed to be Milner’s show. But that wasn’t the way it started. The show was actually—if you’ll pardon the expression––a vehicle for Maharis. “I met this rugged 10th Avenue bruiser named George Maharis,” recalled producer Herbert Leonard. “I liked his style. We used him in Naked City. It was obvious he was star material. But I had no idea what to do with him. So we paid him option money to keep him tied up. Then we came up with Route 66.” Mararis starred in the first hour-long episode of Leonard’s acclaimed Naked City. In a 1959 episode scripted by Stirling Silliphant, “Four Sweet Corners,” Maharis played Johnny Gary, a discharged veteran who discovers that his kid sister has joined a Hell’s Kitchen shoplifting ring in his absence. He and his Army buddy, Lincoln Ridgeway, played by Robert Morris, investigate. In the end, the two hit the road to see what America has to offer them. This was going to be the jumping off point for Route 66. A writer’s strike delayed shooting five months. In the interim, Morris died unexpectedly as a consequence of an epileptic seizure. He was only 25. The producers scrambled to replace him. It came down to two actors. They chose experienced Martin Milner over an unknown named Robert Redford. By that time, Leonard and co-producer Silliphant had abandoned the Army-buddy premise. Now, the idea was to follow two footloose young men as they moved around the country, seeking a place to put down roots. Their working title, The Searchers, was discarded because that had been a recent John Ford Western. So they named the program after the Mother Road, Route 66, which wound from Chicago to Los Angeles. They considered buying the rights to “Get Your Kicks on Route 66,” which Nat King Cole had first recorded, but opted to have Nelson Riddle write a catchy new theme instead. It charted on its own. The backstory was simple. Tod Stiles and Buz Murdock were young New Yorkers from opposite sides of the tracks. Buz worked for Stiles’ father, who died unexpectedly, leaving Tod broke. Stiles dropped out of Yale and with Murdock hit the road searching for a future they could not imagine, taking up odd jobs along the way, meeting kooky people, and seeing America as it really was in the early Sixties from Tod’s Corvette convertible. “The Corvette was important in creating the image we wanted,” Silliphant remembered. “It helped to
Get Your Kicks Off BY WILL MURRAY
George Maharis as Buz Murdock and Martin Milner as Tod Stiles, the handsome actors who revved ladies’ hearts on TV’s road-trip drama, Route 66. © Columbia Pictures Television. RETROFAN
May 2022
45
RETRO INTERVIEW
At Home with
George Maharis BY RICK GOLDSCHMIDT
I caught up with Route 66 actor George Maharis at his Beverly Hills home as he was watering his garden on an unusually hot 80-degree January day—January 16, 2021, to be exact. At 93 years old (the internet has his age wrong, at a year younger), he spends his time between the desert and Beverly Hills. He says it’s easier to get around at his desert home and hasn’t been out much due to COVID-19. These days Maharis spends much of his time painting and golfing, but was happy to take a few moments to chat with me on behalf of RetroFan. RetroFan: The pandemic brings to mind your film, The Satan Bug (1965). That movie is very relevant to what is going on today. Would you like to remake it as COVID-19? George Maharis: Ha-ha! When I originally got that script, the story had nothing to do with a deadly virus being unleashed on the world. In the original script it was about a bank heist. After the Kennedy assassination, it was changed into the espionage thriller that it was. We shot it in the desert and back then… there was nobody around. The desert was quite deserted. RF: My late friend and Rankin/Bass composer, Maury Laws, used to say to me, “The Rankin/Bass films weren’t real heavy parts like the roles in Bad Day at Black Rock.” You worked with the director of that film on this! What was that like? GM: John Sturges! Yes, he was great with male actors, but not so much with actresses. In fact, there was a famous actress hired for The Satan Bug that he ended up firing because he couldn’t get along with her, and then ended up hiring Anne Francis, who was able to make it work. Of course, Anne and I worked together in Route 66. Anne actually appeared in Sturges’ Bad Day at Black Rock (1955).
Pictures Television. Publicity still courtesy of IMDb.com. Maharis photograph courtesy of Geroge Maharis via Rick Goldschmidt.
52
RETROFAN
May 2022
RF: A friend of mine gave me an issue of TV Radio Mirror from February 1964. It had the headline on the cover: “Husband accuses George Maharis of Wife-Stealing.” I went on to read the story, and
The Beverly Hillbillies © CBS.
(ABOVE) George Maharis as Buz Murdock in a publicity still from his weekly TV drama, Route 66. (INSET) A recent photo of George. Route 66 © Columbia
RF: Many of the actors in The Satan Bug appeared in Route 66. Was this by design? I noticed James Doohan (Scotty from Star Trek; Rankin/Bass’ Willy McBean & His Magic Machine) and Lee Remick even have small parts in the film. GM: It was just the way things worked out. I had never worked with Richard Basehart before, so that was fun. But you’re right—Ed Asner, Frank Sutton, Anne, were all people I worked with previously in the series.
it was actually a very sweet story about your friendship with your agent Mimi Weber. The reason I bring this up now, you were red hot at the time and signed to or already filming The Satan Bug. Was Mimi your agent through all of this? GM: I was with the William Morris Agency originally, and I met Mimi when she worked at MCA. She helped me get some parts early on and we became friends. She parted ways with MCA over some sort of dispute, and I hired her to handle my dealings with Epic/Columbia records. I needed someone to deal with all of that. Since I was traveling the country with Route 66, I actually flew into New York to record my first album with them in six hours, and then I had to head back to wherever we were filming the series. Things got a bit hectic, and Mimi helped with all of that. She went through a bad divorce, and her husband named me in all of the legal stuff, but it all got worked out. RF: I picked up one of your records lately. I am a singer and musician too, and I really liked your style and voice. GM: Well, thank you. I appreciate that. RF: Another film I love of yours is Quick! Before It Melts (1964). Robert Morse did some performances in the Rankin/Bass specials and called me up a few years ago to thank me for my [Rankin/Bass] book and to tell me how special the shows were to him. You and Robert were almost like a comedy team in this film. What was that like? GM: That was my first starring role in a film, and originally, we were supposed to shoot it in Alaska. There was some sort of an earthquake there, and they ended up doing the snow scenes on sound stages. Bobby Morse was a pleasure to work with and a real talent. His work in Tru, a 1989 play as Truman Capote, was outstanding. I don’t think he quite got the recognition he deserved. RF: As far as television went, some of your earliest appearances were in one of my favorite series, Naked City. In fact, you appeared in four episodes prior to landing Route 66 with Herbert B. Leonard. GM: Yes, I did. The episode “Four Sweet Corners” was sort of a buddy-type pilot episode for Route 66. In fact, when I showed up for Route 66, I was surprised to see Marty [Milner] there, as I thought the
Maharis as a guest on The Judy Garland Show, from a contact sheet of behind-thescenes photos from the short-lived comedy/variety television series. Garland’s program ran on CBS during 1963–1964 but was routinely beaten in the ratings by competitor NBC’s powerhouse Western Bonanza and was cancelled after a single season. Maharis was a guest on episode 4, originally airing on October 20, 1963. © CBS. Courtesy of Heritage.
actor I worked with in Naked City [Robert Morris] was going to be Tod. [See the Will Murray’s column on Route 66 for the full story.—ed.] My last Naked City was with Eli Wallach, who played a crooked detective, and I played a boxer in “Death of Princess.” “Fire Island” was a favorite from the first season, as I got to work with Henry Hull and Michael Conrad and the first cast of the series. I played Stroke Strokirch in the episode “The Manhole,” in which I was a real heel. I played a full range of characters, thanks to Stirling and Bert. Stirling Silliphant was magic to me. I loved his writing! RF: First thing that comes to mind about Route 66 is, did you ever get to meet Nelson Riddle? GM: Yes, I did! What a great theme song he did for our series! He told me he based it on an earlier song by Jimmy Dorsey called “Oodles of Noodles.” Of course, he did some
work on Naked City for Bert, along with Billy May, who was also great and worked on all of that big band stuff. RF: Did you know that “Lizard’s Legs and Owlet’s Wings” [Route 66 S3/Ep 6, original airdate 10/26/62] came out on Blu-ray in 2020 with the commercials, bumpers, and next-week tag? GM: No, I didn’t realize that. It was such a treat to film that episode at the Chicago O’Hare Inn with Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre, and the screen’s Wolf Man, Lon Chaney, Jr. We actually came to Chicago from Utah to film that. From the big outdoors to inside a hotel. Another thing about shooting around the country back then was that each state and city was drastically different, unlike today. Utah wasn’t anything like Chicago, and I enjoyed that about the series.
RETROFAN
May 2022
53
SCOTT SAAVEDRA’S SECRET SANCTUM
Contests You Wanted to Win… But Didn’t BY SCOTT SAAVEDRA The first contest I recall not winning was a chance for 100 old comic books. Or, if I changed my mind (never), I could choose another prize like 100 straw baskets or 100 pounds of English muffins. The contest was the 1979 edition of the Benson & Hedges 100 Sweepstakes sponsored by the cigarettes of the same name (hence the 100 theme of the contest). For years, Benson & Hedges 100’s advertised themselves as longer than King Size cigarettes, and being longer… well, smoking them could lead to wacky predicaments (beyond the expected health problems). In one such print advertisement, a groovy guy bent his cigarette when he somehow got his love beads caught around it (how the cigarette was supposed to support the love beads is anybody’s guess). The 100 old comic books was a prize that would not be mine in part because I couldn’t enter the contest. You can’t win if you don’t play (also, the odds are against you). In any event, as a mere lad of but 19 summers, I was too young to participate. It said so in the small print. Always read the small print.
The Benson & Hedges 100’s sweepstakes ran from the Seventies and into the Eighties offering 100 feet, pounds, or other units of a possible prize; some great (100 old comics!) and some deep in the non-great category (100 gallons of sour cream). Each prize offering was essentially a separate contest and so required a purchase of two packages of B&H 100’s per to enter. © Altria, Inc.
58
RETROFAN
May 2022
TERMS AND CONDITIONS
Though the words “contest” and “sweepstakes” are often used interchangeably, the latter is defined as a game of chance, whereas the former is a game of skill. In other words, when I won second place in a patriotic poster contest in sixth grade, it was due to my skill. The first place winner, my younger brother Mark, won due to my father’s skill, since that was who actually produced the top poster. My father has long since passed, and I only mention it now because it’s little stories like these that bring humanity to the otherwise serious business of discussing retro popular culture. Also, I didn’t get the top $10 prize that was due me. You could buy a lot of comic books in 1971 for $10. So, contests… they require skill. Sweepstakes, on the other hand, are supposed to be a matter of chance. You, me, my younger brother Mark, or anyone can win if luck is with them. The Publishers Clearing House has a very well-known sweepstakes with millions of dollars in prizes that can be won without any particular skill at all (though at one time, the ability to lick stamps was paramount). I actually did win a PCH
Elements of a 1968 sweepstakes mailings for Publishers Clearing House. Courtesy of archive.org/Ted Nelson’s Junk Mail Cartons. prize some years ago, but it happened outside of RetroFan’s Sixties to Eighties time frame and so will go unmentioned here (oh, don’t make a face… it was just a cheap necklace). Whatever you call them, they are an opportunity for the public to win something. Winning is fun. Playing to win is fun until you discover that you didn’t win, which is—sorry to be a downer—the most likely scenario. For the holder of the contest, whether a charity or business, the upside is increased public interest and, even more important, increased sales. The Benson & Hedges 100’s sweepstakes, according to Promotion magazine (April 15, 1974), created “multi-millions” for the brand over three years. Winning is fun. Just as an historical aside: P. T. Barnum created the promotional contest in 1850 to generate interest in the first U.S. appearance of a singer most Americans had never heard perform, Jenny Lind. To enter, you simply wrote a poem that would be turned into a song to be performed by “the Swedish Nightingale,” as Lind was known. Her American tour was a massive success in part because Americans wanted to hear the winning song performed.
YOU MAY HAVE ALREADY WON
The financial success of the Benson & Hedges promotion was no doubt helped along by the requirement to buy two packages of the cigarettes and send in the wrappers to enter the sweepstakes in the first place. That was how things worked in the Retro Years, as we shall see. But eventually laws were changed, and sweepstakes like the one that Publishers Clearing House ran is part of the reason this change happened. The Publishers Clearing House is so associated with its promotional Sweepstakes it’s easy to forget that PCH is an actual business. In the days before PCH, magazine subscriptions were sometimes sold door-todoor by individuals working alone or with a team. They were known in the profession as
canvassers. The canvassers made very little money per subscription, so selling in volume was important. A former manager of a canvassing team, Harold Mertz (no relation to Fred), came up with the idea of offering subscriptions for multiple magazines via mail order and, in 1953, created PCH. And that was the business, to sell magazines. Inspired by Reader’s Digest magazine’s success with its sweepstakes, in 1967 Mertz created a sweepstakes for PCH. You could win prizes of 25 cents all the way up to the amount you might win in, say, a patriotic poster contest—ten dollars. Your odds of winning were 1 in 10. The PCH sweepstakes proved to be very popular and helped Mertz’s company sell more magazines, which, of course, was the goal. The success created a significant competitor, American Family Publishers, and ever-larger prizes. Television ads for the PCH sweepstakes began appearing in 1974. The iconic Prize Patrol that surprises a winner with a giant check full of lots of zeroes was unleashed in 1989. PCH was a direct mailing powerhouse for years, and its sweepstakes and their very optimistic declarations of your chances of winning did end up creating problems for many. But, as I said, in the Retro Years, the rules were different.
YOU MUST BE THIS TALL TO ENTER
Early comic-book contest from Action Comics #1 (June 1938). TM & © DC Comics.
Comic books actually have a pretty long history of contests. The first issue of Action Comics (June 1938) not only featured Superman’s debut, but a contest that could be entered simply by tearing out a page—per instructions—from the issue’s Chuck Dawson (who?) story, coloring it, and then mailing the finished work in to the publisher. A cash money award of one whole dollar (worth nearly $20 today) was to be given to 25 young entrants. Seeing as how Action Comics #1 is now an astronomically valuable collectible worth up to about four million-plus simoleons, I wonder how many of these treasures are missing Chuck Dawson pages. You would think RETROFAN
May 2022
59
scott saavedra’s secret sanctum
the weekend and $250 to help feed him per the ad: “Don’t think we’re kidding.” In an “Oh, look, an eccentric sub-culture” pre-contest profile from Life magazine (Oct. 16, 1964), Roth admitted that kids like him because, “I look like someone their parents wouldn’t like.” After searching two years’ worth of Car Modeler magazine and all of the internet, I suspect this particular contest may have been called off as I could find no record of any winner, but I hope not. In any event, Roth and Revell held another contest later that same year for a “Boss-fink saying” contest (example: “Put your best fink forward”). How finky.
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY
This ad detail for a contest that would bring an utter stranger into your home for a weekend ran in the March 1965 issue of the ultra-wholesome Boy’s Life magazine. What parent would sign off on this? Eventually, the exact timeline is a bit unclear, the Aerojet was donated to the winner’s elementary school and from there moved to the front of the Missouri Department of Mental Health, which eventually had it dismantled in the late Sixties–early Seventies (it looked too much like a missile, and this made people uncomfortable). Truthfully, I probably couldn’t be trusted with a real spaceship. I played “splash down” in a neighbor’s pool with my GI Joe Official Space Capsule long enough to dissolve the paper “control panels,” and I didn’t do my Joe in the Authentic Space Suit any favors either, ruining a future collectable. I suppose there’s a lesson to be learned here, but I’m ignoring it. I really wanted that Gemini module.
VOID WHEREVER PROHIBITED, RESTRICTED OR TAXED
Ed “Big Daddy” Roth [see RetroFan #10] was a creative force in the Kustom Kulture world (a broad term encompassing creativity in the custom car and motorcycle sphere). His best-known creations were Rat Fink (a huge grinning, mutated, cartoon rodent) and his various car customizations, some of which became the basis for Hot Wheels cars and Revell models. Rat Fink and his similarly nasty looking group of friends became Revell plastic kits, as well as sparking a mini-craze for outrageous-looking creatures with cars. The 6-foot-4-inch-tall, somewhat beatnik-y Roth was a creative force and large presence with a wicked gleam in his eye. So my question is this: Would your parents be cool with you having this man about whom they likely knew nothing stay over for the weekend, needing to be fed large quantities of food? Because for one Revell contest, a weekend with Ed “Big Daddy” Roth in your home was the prize. Roth was no stranger to promotions and contests. He was a judge (at least two years running) for custom model car contests from Revell and Pactra, a model paint company. Winners got to visit Roth at his studio (and go to Disneyland and the Brown Derby). But this 1965 contest to name a new Big Daddy “Rothfink” creature is a bit of a mystery. The winner of the contest was to get Roth for 62
RETROFAN
May 2022
Now, the law is different and no purchase is necessary. A legitimate sweepstakes these days always have an AMOE (Alternate Method of Entry). How is this requirement enforced? By irate losers who contact the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, and/or the United States Postal Service, who, if needed, will investigate. This is, more or less, what happened to the Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes. Concern that sweepstakes like the one from PCH (and Reader’s Digest and American Family Publishers) were strongly suggesting purchases needed to be made to have a better chance at winning. Some, mostly people who could least afford it including many elderly, spent hundreds and even thousands of dollars in an attempt to have a better shot at getting the big money prizes. One couple in Norwich, Connecticut, encouraged by the excessively positive mailings from PCH, waited for hours one Super Bowl Sunday for the extremely large check that never came. A lawsuit and a tougher sweepstakes law followed. Legal headaches, technology, and declining interest in magazine subscriptions have forced Publishers Clearing House to adapt. The privately owned company started selling merchandise in 1985 and has expanded its offerings since. According to its website, PCH currently is a “direct-to-consumer company offering a unique blend of curated multi-channel shopping and free-to-play, chance-to-win digital entertainment across a network of web- and app-based entertainment properties.” I take them at their word. While PCH does have a number of online games with much smaller cash prizes and greater odds of winning, they still have the large marquee sweepstakes, currently with a top prize of $7,000 a week for life. The odds of winning? 1 in 6.2 billion. The winner, if there is one, will be announced in 2022. How do I know that? I read the small print. JUDGE’S DECISIONS ARE FINAL You may read this article as often as you like. The minutes you’ve spent reading the words of this article become the property of Scott Saavedra’s Secret Sanctum and none can be returned. This article subject to the local, state, and federal laws of your community. Secret Sanctum bears no responsibility for personal or property damage as a result of the text. Immediate family members are ineligible from commenting negatively and being paid attention to. If you’ve read this far, you are a winner. Seriously.
SCOTT SAAVEDRA is a Retro Explorer operating from his Southern California-based Secret Sanctum. He is a writer (more or less), artist (occasionally), and graphic designer (you’re soaking in it). Check out his Instagram thing, won’t you, at instagram/scottsaav/
ANDY MANGELS’ RETRO SATURDAY MORNING
The
Pencil art from Filmation’s Tarzan/Lone Ranger/Zorro Adventure Hour Saturday morning cartoon show. © Universal. Courtesy of Heritage.
Lone Ranger BY ANDY MANGELS
Welcome back to Andy Mangels’ Retro Saturday Morning, and return with us to the thrilling days of yesteryear! The most famous question of the Old West is, “Who was that masked man?” The most famous hero of the dusty plains is the Lone Ranger, clad in a black mask and carrying a gun loaded with silver bullets. Riding with Tonto, his faithful Indian sidekick, the Lone Ranger fights injustice on his galloping horse Silver, leaving behind a cloud of dust as he lets loose the hearty cry of “Hi-Yo, Silver!” Justice rides again as the “super-heroes” of the Old West battle rustlers, land barons, and thieves, and meet other famous historical heroes… and villains! Saddle up with us now as we take a look at the two major Lone Ranger animated series, as well as a few oddities along the trail!
ORIGINS OF THE LONE RANGER
No fictional Western hero is as well known as the Lone Ranger, and yet most people are a bit fuzzy as to his actual origins. Where and how were Lone Ranger, Tonto, Silver, and Scout created? And how did they come to the animation world? The first answer would appear to be simple: The character was created for a radio show on Detroit station WXYZ and is thought to have debuted on January 30, 1933, although several “try-out” episodes had been aired in the previous weeks. The Lone Ranger characters and story were generally credited to George W. Trendle, WXYZ station owner, and Fran Striker,
although other folks took part in the process, and arguments among historians rage about who contributed what. Research shows that shortly before Christmas 1932, Trendle had a staff meeting to discuss new adventure programs for the station. Attending was Brace Beemer, then the station manager (and later, one of the Lone Ranger’s voices). Trendle wanted to replace their failing radio shows with a show featuring a mysterious adult hero with altruistic motives, something like Douglas Fairbanks’ Zorro or Robin Hood. Trendle also wanted something kids would love and that the station could license out for the lucrative market of radio premiums. A mask for the character was discussed among the staffers, and various other ideas were thrown out. At a second staff meeting after Christmas, when Trendle mentioned the Texas Rangers, a staffer (reportedly Harold True) suggested the name “Lone Ranger.” Trendle placed a call to Buffalo, New York writer Francis H. Striker to further develop the characters and story… although show director Jim Jewell has stated he was the writer who wrote the earliest scripts, not Striker. In the main Lone Ranger story—although his origin wouldn’t be told for a few years—Texas Ranger John Reid was ambushed by bad guys (with five fellow Rangers, including his brother, Captain Dan Reid), and only survived thanks to being nursed back to health by Tonto, a Mohawk Indian. Once he was healthy again, Reid donned a domino mask (made of his dead brother’s vest) and RETROFAN
May 2022
63
THE
CHARLTON COMPANION by JON B. COOKE
An ALL-NEW definitive history of Connecticut’s notorious all-in-one comic book company! Often disparaged as a second-rate funny-book outfit, Charlton produced a vast array of titles that span from the 1940s Golden Age to the Bronze Age of the ’70s in many genres, from Hot Rods to Haunted Love. The imprint experienced explosive bursts of creativity, most memorably the “Action Hero Line” edited by DICK GIORDANO in the 1960s, which featured the renowned talents of STEVE DITKO and a stellar team of creators, as well as the unforgettable ’70s “Bullseye” era that spawned E-Man and Doomsday +1, all helmed by veteran masters and talented newcomers—and serving as a training ground for an entire generation of comics creators thriving in an environment of complete creative freedom. From its beginnings with a handshake deal consummated in county jail, to the company’s accomplishments beyond comics, woven into this prose narrative are interviews with dozens of talented participants, including GIORDANO, DENNIS O’NEIL, ALEX TOTH, SANHO KIM, TOM SUTTON, PAT BOYETTE, NICK CUTI, JOHN BYRNE, MIKE ZECK, JOE STATON, SAM GLANZMAN, NEAL ADAMS, JOE GILL, and even some Derby residents who recall working in the sprawling company plant. Though it gave up the ghost over three decades ago, Charlton’s influence continues today with its Action Heroes serving as inspiration for ALAN MOORE’s cross-media graphic novel hit, WATCHMEN. By JON B. COOKE with MICHAEL AMBROSE & FRANK MOTLER. SHIPS OCTOBER 2022! (256-page COLOR SOFTCOVER) $39.95 • (Digital Edition) $15.99 • ISBN: 978-1-60549-111-0
THE
TEAM-UP COMPANION by MICHAEL EURY
THE TEAM-UP COMPANION examines team-up comic books of the Silver and Bronze Ages of Comics— DC’s THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD and DC COMICS PRESENTS, Marvel’s MARVEL TEAM-UP and MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE, plus other team-up titles, treasuries, and treats—in a lushly illustrated selection of informative essays, special features, and trivia-loaded issue-by-issue indexes. Go behind the scenes of your favorite team-up comic books with specially curated and all-new creator recollections from NEAL ADAMS, JIM APARO, MIKE W. BARR, ELIOT R. BROWN, NICK CARDY, CHRIS CLAREMONT, GERRY CONWAY, STEVE ENGLEHART, STEVE GERBER, STEVEN GRANT, BOB HANEY, TONY ISABELLA, PAUL KUPPERBERG, PAUL LEVITZ, RALPH MACCHIO, DENNIS O’NEIL, MARTIN PASKO, JOE RUBINSTEIN, ROY THOMAS, LEN WEIN, MARV WOLFMAN, and other all-star writers and artists who produced the team-up tales that so captivated readers during the 1960s, ’70s, and early ’80s. By BACK ISSUE and RETROFAN editor MICHAEL EURY. (272-page SOFTCOVER) $36.95 • (Digital Edition) $15.99 ISBN: 978-1-60549-112-7 • SHIPS AUGUST 2022!
BRITMANIA
by MARK VOGER
Remember when long-haired British rock ’n’ rollers made teenage girls swoon — and their parents go crazy? BRITMANIA plunges into the period when suddenly, America went wild for All Things British. This profusely illustrated full-color hardback, subtitled “The British Invasion of the Sixties in Pop Culture,” explores the movies (A HARD DAY’S NIGHT, HAVING A WILD WEEKEND), TV (THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW, MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR), collectibles (TOYS, GAMES, TRADING CARDS, LUNCH BOXES), comics (real-life Brits in the DC and MARVEL UNIVERSES) and, of course, the music! Written and designed by MARK VOGER (MONSTER MASH, GROOVY, HOLLY JOLLY), BRITMANIA features interviews with members of THE BEATLES, THE ROLLING STONES, THE WHO, THE KINKS, HERMAN’S HERMITS, THE YARDBIRDS, THE ANIMALS, THE HOLLIES & more. It’s a gas, gas, gas! Written and designed by RETROFAN columnist MARK VOGER. (192-page COLOR HARDCOVER) $43.95 • (Digital Edition) $15.99 ISBN: 978-1-60549-115-8 • SHIPS NOVEMBER 2022!
TwoMorrows. The Future of Pop History.
Phone: 919-449-0344 E-mail: store@twomorrows.com Web: www.twomorrows.com
TwoMorrows Publishing • 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 USA
RETRO MUSIC
B. J. Thomas Mighty Clouds of Joy
Singer B. J. Thomas in a professional photo taken shortly before his passing on May 29, 2021. © B. J. Thomas.
BY ROD LABBE I bought my first B. J. Thomas album in 1972: Billy Joe Thomas (Scepter Records), which included his melancholy hit single, “Rock and Roll Lullaby.” By then, of course, he’d already conquered the music world with “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” a certified phenomenon. Written for the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (20th Century Fox, 1969) by the legendary music team of Burt Bacharach and lyricist Hal David—and winning a Best Song Oscar, to boot—“Raindrops” played on every radio station, jukebox, and turntable, circa 1969. It transformed B. J. Thomas, country boy, into an international superstar. Even before “Raindrops” and its subsequent hoopla, B. J. had won me over. I loved “Hooked On a Feeling.” No, not the “oogachaka” version (which I consider heresy), but the classic “Hooked” from 1968, with soaring vocals that wind and flow like molten gold. Ah, I can hear B. J. now, sweeping me along to an earlier time and place, when life wasn’t quite so complicated. Billy Joe Thomas is what I consider his finest LP, a startling collaboration bringing together several big names of the day: Carole King, Stevie Wonder, Paul Williams, and Jimmy Webb, among them. I especially enjoyed “A Song for My Brother” (written by Jimmy Webb) and “Happier Than the Morning Sun,” Stevie Wonder’s contribution that deserved a top ten Billboard finish. Stevie also accompanies B. J. on the harmonica. Tunes as fresh today as they were in ’72. Yep, B. J. sang the soundtrack of my life back then. We were young, optimistic, and looking forward to a future that didn’t include such science-fiction concepts as COVID-19 and climate change. I went along for a great ride and would never come down to earth again, even as the years piled on disappointment, triumph, and tragedy. It’s now 2022. Our world isn’t quite so new, and optimism is a word one encounters mostly in a dictionary. Still, some things never change, like the chills I get whenever I hear B. J. singing about mighty clouds of joy and rock-and-roll lullabies. It led to my approaching him for an interview, and lo and behold, he consented! We met in early February of 2021, had a great conversation, and both of us knew we’d created something special (RetroFan was our only venue of choice). I immediately started sketching out the perfect introduction. Imagine my shock when, weeks later, B. J. was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. Not a happy situation. B. J. met the news stoically, taking precious time to thank fans, family, loved ones, and friends for their support in what would undoubtedly be a terrific struggle. His attitude remained positive. “I’m a fighter,” he told me, “but I could use your prayers.” Heartfelt good wishes from admirers across the globe notwithstanding, Billy Joe Thomas slipped away on May 29, 2021. I received the news with a heavy RETROFAN
May 2022
73
retro Music
heart. By then, our interview was in editing phase, and a part of me just did not want to continue. I felt only sorrow… and an aching loss that made my soul bleed. Devastated, I went for a walk. The setting sun was a jumble of blue, yellows, and pinks. And it occurred to me—our paths had crossed for a reason. I’d no right to stop it. I would do my part and help him reach out and touch the people he loved. So, here we are: B. J.’s last big interview. Feel them? Those mighty clouds of joy, rolling in? I sure can. RetroFan: This is crazy. Am I really about to interview B. J. Thomas, the guy behind “Hooked On a Feeling” and “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head”? Punch me, man, ’cause I gotta be dreamin’!
would you mind terribly if we discussed it first? BJT: I’d love to. That’s one of my favorites, as well—a very special project near and dear to my heart. RF: You collaborated with famous songwriters and performers on the disc, like Carole King, Jimmy Webb, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, Paul Williams, Stevie Wonder, and even Duane Eddy! What an innovative idea! BJT: Billy Joe Thomas was the first album of its kind for me. Every song was written by a well-known artist, and if it could be arranged, I recorded with them. Steve Tyrell and Al Gargoni produced. We wanted the Beach Boys to do back-up on “Rock and Roll Lullaby.” Brian Wilson was contacted, we played it for him, and he gave us his blessing.
Some of B. J.’s versatile albums. © B. J. Thomas.
B. J. Thomas: Sounds like you’re a fan from way back, Rod. RF: I most definitely am, B. J. Hardcore and devoted to the max. Spun many a Billy Joe Thomas platter on my rack system [laughs]. And even boogied to them! BJT: I’m already smiling. RF: Your music has always been upbeat, and you make it all sound easy… though I know nothing worthwhile comes easily in life. BJT: No, it doesn’t. My career didn’t just take off, though some people might think otherwise, what with “Raindrops.” There have been many days and nights, before and since, spent worrying and working and going forward against fearsome obstacles. RF: Since I mentioned my favorite album of yours, Billy Joe Thomas, in the intro, 74
RETROFAN
May 2022
RF: But what happened? They’re not on the cut. BJT: That’s how things are in this business. Unless you sign a legal, binding contract, agreements often crumble. We flew out to California and met with Brian, but we never got the Beach Boys. Instead, four very accomplished singers did their part, and you can’t even tell. They sounded exactly like the real thing. RF: You mean Dave Somerville and the Ron Hicklin Singers? BJT: Those guys, yes. I can’t tell you how pleased we were. Their backing vocals brought everything together, just as we’d envisioned. Beautifully done. RF: And no one can tell the difference! Cha-ching! Money saved! How would you rate the album?
BJT: Bar none, Billy Joe Thomas is the best LP I’ve ever done. I’m proud of what my team accomplished. While in California, we recorded with Carole King and John Sebastian, too. Delightful all around… and a hit single didn’t hurt. RF: Duane Eddy played lead guitar on “Lullaby”! How cool is that? BJT: Duane’s one of rock and roll’s true pioneers. He contributed a twangy guitar accompaniment, lifting “Rock and Roll Lullaby” to a whole other level of excellence. RF: “Happier Than the Mornin’ Sun” by Stevie Wonder is quintessential B. J. Thomas. His harmonica solo defines the word “incredible.” BJT: Wasn’t he marvelous? Performing alongside an immense talent of Stevie’s caliber made me feel like I’d arrived as an artist. There were at least four number-one songs on that album, by my estimation, but Scepter went bankrupt, a disaster for everyone at their label. We were successful in South America and around the world, but here, everything fell apart. RF: Why? BJT: Scepter was a singles company primarily. Even Dionne Warwick and Burt Bacharach, two of their biggest names, struggled with album sales. Scepter just couldn’t or wouldn’t follow through… they never even wanted to press the records! Billy Joe Thomas was a quality production, and we were all extremely disappointed when Scepter dropped the ball. RF: Is that your genuine birth certificate on the album’s cover? BJT: [laughing] It is. Now I can’t lie about my age, anymore. I’m 78. RF: Eh, a whippersnapper. BJT: I appreciate the compliment! Thank you, Rod. RF: Scepter didn’t pay royalties or issue gold records, I read. Unbelievable. BJT: Unbelievable, but true. They were always having financial problems. You must be registered with the RIAA [Recording
retro Music
Industry Association of America] to get gold records, and they couldn’t afford the membership fee [laughs]. I had better luck elsewhere. In 1972, we signed with Paramount Records, and I released two albums that tanked: Songs and Longhorns & Londonbridges. Paramount was absorbed by ABC Records, and my first single for them took off like a rocket. RF: “Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song.” A surprise success? BJT: Sure surprised the heck out of me! I’d just finished my first album for ABC, Reunion, and it lacked a strong single. At the last minute, Chips Moman, who produced, played “Somebody Done Somebody Wrong” for me, co-written with Larry Butler. Right away I knew, “This’ll be a smash.” We cut the record in Nashville, and it was such a pleasure to work with Chips. A real professional. The back-up band was the American Studio Group, which should be in the Hall of Fame, since they were on over 400 hit records. RF: I bought both the single and album. Amazing how quickly it burned up the charts! Right to #1 in the spring of 1975. Didn’t you win a Grammy? BJT: We did. Best Country Song. A real shot in the arm, career-wise. When you have a powerhouse record behind you, especially a number one, touring becomes a whole lot easier. I couldn’t depend upon the album sales, but the singles were a different story. RF: I also loved your version of the Beach Boys’ “Don’t Worry, Baby,” in 1977. Dare I say you had a better arrangement than the original? BJT: Oh, feel free to say it [laughs]! A lovely arrangement. We reached #17, while theirs failed to make the top 20. Ours could’ve gone higher, but ABC wasn’t promoting singles or its artists in the best way. That’s something I’ve encountered my entire singing career. Being out on the road is where I find my true energy. It’s the other side of things—dealing with recording companies, watching the charts, looking for a hit—that can be physically and emotionally draining. RF: How’d you cope? Must’ve been frustrating, especially when producing quality product.
Thomas’ smash hit “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” written by the dynamic duo of Burt Bacharach and Hal David, was a gold-record-earning smash and helped catapult director George Roy Hill’s Western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid to even greater success. © 20th Century Fox. Poster, lobby card, and gold record courtesy of Heritage.
BJT: I’ve done a lot of soul-searching and never felt comfortable touring without a top 40 song on the charts. Self-doubt can be crippling. It led me to a serious prescription drug addiction, and soon I was caught up in the never-ending game of swallowing pills to sleep and pills to stay awake. Drugs were much cheaper and more accessible in those days. I’d miss engagements, too, or just walk out and leave. Totally shameful behavior. If it hadn’t been for Gloria, my courageous and supportive wife, I wouldn’t be here today. I was headed down the road of self-destruction. You learn from your mistakes, and I most assuredly learned. I’m thankful to God for sitting on my shoulder. I’m one of the lucky guys who survived. RF: Pitfalls of fame, they come with the territory. BJT: It can be a treacherous path for anyone, and if I could do it all over again, I’d be smarter and more concerned about my health. Drugs are a vicious cycle. So is alcohol. I found out the hard way. RF: You appeared on the Tonight Show around the time of “Rock and Roll Lullaby,”
and Johnny Carson lectured you about drug use. BJT: A turning point. I wasn’t embarrassed—he helped me recognize the dangers of my situation. RF: I’m always intrigued by success stories. Were you trained as a singer? BJT: No, I just took to it; I was a kid who liked to sing, that’s all. Outside of learning how to breathe in high school choir, I never had formal training. I sang with my older brother’s group, The Triumphs, and we made a few recordings and developed a particular sound. For me, the most significant thing about being in a band was the chance to do an album. RF: Which turned out to be “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” featuring a great cover of the Hank Williams standard. BJT: Yes, in 1966, on the Pacemaker label. My dad absolutely loved country music, and I essentially sang for him. We weren’t expecting a hit record [laughs]! No one was more surprised than us when stations started picking up the song. It went to number eight nationally and number one in Houston. RF: You signed with Scepter not long after. RETROFAN
May 2022
75