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Trick or Treat, kiddies!

Ben Cooper Halloween Costumes

Fall 2018 No. 2 $8.95

Open the vault of TV horror-hosts, with

Welcome to Horrible Hall… The Groovie Goolies

& fiendish friends this crazy Dinosaur Land Take a Look at Superhero ViewMasters

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Super Collector’s Legion of Lunch Boxes

Tune in to the Sixties’ most bewitching, munsterific sitcoms! Featuring Andy Mangels • Scott Saavedra • Mark Voger • and the Oddball World of Scott Shaw!

It’s GROOVY, baby! Follow-up to Mark Voger’s smash hit MONSTER MASH! All characters TM & © their respective owners.

From WOODSTOCK to THE BANANA SPLITS, from SGT. PEPPER to H.R. PUFNSTUF, from ALTAMONT to THE PARTRIDGE FAMILY, GROOVY is a far-out trip to the era of lava lamps and love beads. This profusely illustrated HARDCOVER BOOK, in PSYCHEDELIC COLOR, features interviews with icons of grooviness such as PETER MAX, BRIAN WILSON, PETER FONDA, MELANIE, DAVID CASSIDY, members of the JEFFERSON AIRPLANE, CREAM, THE DOORS, THE COWSILLS and VANILLA FUDGE; and cast members of groovy TV shows like THE MONKEES, LAUGH-IN and THE BRADY BUNCH. GROOVY revisits the era’s ROCK FESTIVALS, MOVIES, ART—even COMICS and CARTOONS, from the 1968 ‘mod’ WONDER WOMAN to R. CRUMB. A color-saturated pop-culture history written and designed by MARK VOGER (author of the acclaimed book MONSTER MASH), GROOVY is one trip that doesn’t require dangerous chemicals! (192-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $39.95 • Digital Edition: $13.95 • ISBN: 9781605490809 Diamond Comic Distributors Order Code: JUL172227

LOU SCHEIMER

CREATING THE FILMATION GENERATION Hailed as one of the fathers of Saturday morning television, LOU SCHEIMER was the co-founder of FILMATION STUDIOS, which for over 25 years provided animated excitement for TV and film. Always at the forefront, Scheimer’s company created the first DC cartoons with SUPERMAN, BATMAN, and AQUAMAN, ruled the song charts with THE ARCHIES, kept Trekkie hope alive with the Emmy-winning STAR TREK: THE ANIMATED SERIES, taught morals with FAT ALBERT AND THE COSBY KIDS, and swung into high adventure with TARZAN, THE LONE RANGER, ZORRO, HE-MAN, MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE, live-action shows SHAZAM!, THE SECRETS OF ISIS, JASON OF STAR COMMAND and others. Now, LOU SCHEIMER tells the entire story to best-selling author (and RETROFAN columnist) ANDY MANGELS, including how his father decked ADOLF HITLER, memories of the comics of the Golden Age, schooling with ANDY WARHOL, and what it meant to lead the last all-American animation company through nearly thirty years of innovation and fun! Profusely illustrated with PHOTOS, MODEL SHEETS, STORYBOARDS, PRESENTATION ART, looks at RARE AND UNPRODUCED SERIES, and more—plus stories from TOP ANIMATION INSIDERS about Scheimer and the story behind Filmation’s stories!

By RetroFan’s ANDY MANGELS!

(288-page trade paperback with COLOR) $29.95 • (Digital Edition) $14.95 • ISBN: 9781605490441 Diamond Comic Distributors Order Code: JUL121245

AGE OF TV HEROES Examines the history of the live-action television adventures of everyone’s favorite comic book heroes! FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER features the in-depth stories of the actors and behind-the-scene players that made the classic super-hero television programs we all grew up with. Included are new and exclusive interviews and commentary from ADAM WEST (Batman), LYNDA CARTER (Wonder Woman), PATRICK WARBURTON (The Tick), NICHOLAS HAMMOND (Spider-Man), WILLIAM KATT (The Greatest American Hero), JACK LARSON (The Adventures of Superman), JOHN WESLEY SHIPP (The Flash), JACKSON BOSTWICK (Shazam!), and many more! Written by JASON HOFIUS and GEORGE KHOURY, with a new cover by superstar painter ALEX ROSS! (192-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $39.95 • (Digital Edition) $9.95 • ISBN: 9781605490106 Diamond Comic Distributors Order Code: DEC091015

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The crazy cool culture we grew up with Columns and Special Features

Scott Saavedra's Secret Sanctum Bewitching, Munsterific Sitcoms of the Sixties

CONTENTS Issue #2 | Fall 2018

Retro Interview Ira J. Cooper – Ben Cooper Halloween Costumes

Retro Television Haunting the Airwaves – TV Horror Hosts

Retro Interview Elvira, Mistress of the Dark

Retrotorial

Too Much TV Quiz

And Now, A Word From Our Sponsor…

Retro Toys Sindy, the British Barbie

RetroFad Mood Rings

Retro Collectibles Superhero View-Masters®

Retro Travel Geppi's Entertainment Museum

Andy Mangels’ Retro Saturday Mornings Groovie Goolies

Departments

The Oddball World of Scott Shaw! Dinosaur Land

Mood: Awesome! 56

Super Collector Collecting Lunch Boxes, by Terry Collins

ReJECTED RetroFan fantasy cover

RetroFan™ #2, Fall 2018. Published quarterly by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614. Michael Eury, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Office: RetroFan, c/o Michael Eury, Editor, 118 Edgewood Avenue NE, Concord, NC 28025. Email: euryman@gmail.com. Four-issue subscriptions: $38 Economy US, $63 International, $16 Digital Only. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Elvira © Queen “B” Productions. Marvel heroes © Marvel Characters, Inc. View-Master © Mattel. Groovie Goolies © the respective copyright holder. All Rights Reserved. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2018 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING. ISSN 2576-7224

by Michael Eury

Recently, when channel-surfing, I stumbled across the Sixties sitcom The Flying Nun on Antenna TV… and its theme song reduced me to tears. That’s not necessarily a testament to an emotionally stirring musical composition (although I will extend props to composer Dominic Frontiere for this catchy little ditty; an accomplished arranger and jazz musician, Frontiere also scored the themes for other TV classics including The Outer Limits, The Fugitive, and The Rat Patrol). Instead, the theme struck a reverberant chord of nostalgia. In my mind’s eye, I was no longer a happily married, middle-aged man, but a pudgy grade-school kid plopped onto the couch with a stack of “funnybooks” in my lap. My dad, in an undershirt and his “skivvies,” was snoring from his comfy chair as he “rested his eyes.” My baby brother was “varooming” while careening Hot Wheels across the floor. And from the next room, my mom was humming along with a Chubby Checker record while hemming a skirt on her jackhammering Singer sewing machine. That flood of sounds and memories, all triggered by a simple sitcom theme. Those tears quickly dried to a wide grin of contentment as I remembered, as I often do, the joys of my childhood and the great gift my brother and I received from our parents—a safe and loving home environment. That, to me, is the power of nostalgia—it’s a comfort zone into which we can retreat to escape the realities of a world that seems determined to pummel us senseless with its violence, hatred, and catastrophes. I’m guessing that a great many of you feel the same

way—that’s why you read RetroFan. Glad you (and your inner child) are here! Unexpected circumstances have led RetroFan #1 columnists Martin Pasko and Ernest Farino to depart our pages, although Ernie’s absence is short-lived… he’ll be back next issue! To Marty we offer our best wishes, friendship, and deepest respect— plus an open invitation to return whenever you can. This has opened the door for some new voices in the mag, starting with our own designer, Scintillatin’ Scott Saavedra, whose lollapalooza-ing layouts delighted you in our first issue—and whose gut-busting (not “butt-gusting,” as I flubbed at a recent comic-con panel) “ReJECTED” fantasy cover from issue #1 still has us laughing! “Scott Saavedra’s Secret Sanctum” joins our line-up this issue, and wait’ll you read his take on those spooky Sixties sitcoms that continue to bewitch us! Also, a big thank-you to Cemetery Plots’ Dan Johnson and Monster Mash’s Mark Voger for stepping in for crypt-keeping duty with their horror-hosts article and Elvira interview! Columnists Andy Mangels and Scott Shaw! are back with more fun facts and freaky faves, and guest writers Elizabeth and Ian Millsted, Robert Conte, Michael Soloff, and Super Collector Terry Collins—plus ye ed, ’natch—are on board with crazy, cool contributions to this groovy grab bag of goodies. So how ’bout I shut up and rev up our retro engines? Blast off, baby! Coming soon: RetroFanmail, our letters column! We’d love your feedback on this issue. Write to ye ed at euryman@gmail.com.

RetroFan.org EDITOR Michael Eury PUBLISHER John Morrow CONTRIBUTORS Terry Collins Robert V. Conte Michael Eury Dan Johnson Andy Mangels Elizabeth Millsted Ian Millsted Scott Saavedra Scott Shaw! Michael Soloff Mark Voger DESIGNER Scott Saavedra PROOFREADER Rob Smentek SPECIAL THANKS Scott Awley Ernest Farino Heritage Comics Auctions Scott D. Marcus Bethan Millsted John Morrow Queen “B” Productions Mark Vanis J. C. Vaughn VERY SPECIAL THANKS Ira J. Cooper Cassandra Peterson If you’re viewing a Digital Edition of this publication,

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SCOTT SAAVEDRA'S SECRET SANCTUM

Monsters in the House Bewitching, Munsterific Sitcoms of the Sixties by Scott Saavedra

This is how I heard the story. Early in 1965 my father won $100 from a betting pool at work. He was then an elevator operator at the stunningly deco Bullocks Wilshire department store in famous Los Angeles, California. My parents had a fifth child on the way. Certainly, $100 would help pay upcoming hospital bills, right? The cash prize made it home in the form of a brand-new color television set—a $400 color television set that knocked out the back window of my parents’ Ford Comet station wagon because it wasn’t tied down when it was brought home. A new color TV set that we didn’t need but my father bought—because that’s what he told everyone at work he would do in the heat of his winning moment. That was fine by me and the rest of my siblings, current and to come. My mom? She got over it. It was a big, beautiful, steel box, colored and imprinted to look like wood. It stood on RetroFan

Fall 2018

Scott Saavedra's Secret Sanctum

lopsided) equality between the sexes was a very unusual situation in the situation comedies of the Sixties—bewitching, munsterific, or otherwise. Also, the kind of tolerance exhibited by Samantha, Gomez, Morticia, Herman, and Lily for those different from themselves were admirable traits then, now, and always.

A Death in the Family

(TOP) A 1964 Milton Bradley card game named "Stymie" that shows a magical mother-in-law intruding on a young couple's honeymoon. The mind reels. Courtesy of Ernest Farino. (LEFT) Package and card from Leaf's 1964 trading card set. Courtesy of Heritage.

SOME THINGS ARE BETTER LEFT BURIED Bewitched, The Addams Family, and The Munsters all had appealing theme music. Only The Addams Family theme was actually broadcast with singing. For shows with so much talent on display in the writing, the set design, and the acting, it was all a pretty dismal showing. The Addams Family theme featured Ted Cassidy song-talking “neat,” “sweet,” and “petite.” Why? It makes zero sense. The cool finger snapping almost makes up for the completely random rhyming words. Almost. The Munsters’ lyrics were never heard on air, which is good since they include lines like, “Whatever ever happened to Eddie? “Did I freak or go insane?” Apparently, Butch Patrick recorded the song years later. Bewitched—and this really surprised me—had lyrics too. Among lyrics thankfully not heard on air: “You witch, you witch, one thing that’s for sure, “That stuff you pitch—just hasn’t got a cure.” The Munsters #12 (Gold Key, 1967). 10

Our color television set was finicky. Sometimes the picture would blip out, requiring someone to bang the side of the box until the image and sound returned. And sometimes, incredibly, the banging wouldn’t work and “Uncle Sal” (my father’s handy-man cousin) would be invited to dinner and, “Hey, Sal, could you look at the TV, it’s acting up.” Eventually, all things come to an end (like this article—soon—I promise) and our beautiful color television died, exhausted, in the early Seventies. My parents replaced it with a JVC Videosphere Portable television with pull-out rabbit-ears, a rechargeable battery, and a groovy chain with which to carry it. It had a shiny white plastic body with a dark plastic window over the small, small, tiny, little screen. It looked like a space helmet (its best feature), was roughly the size of a small one, and it didn’t broadcast in color. What... Monsters...! Samantha’s nose twitch, Darrin’s endless frustration, Herman’s earth-shaking laugh, Grandpa’s sure-to-fail schemes, Lurch’s groans, Gomez’s enthusiasm, and Morticia’s Mona Lisa smile still bring the welcome warmth of comfortable, bemused memories. It was a good time for those of us concerned only with childish things. A time to watch television to our heart’s content and see our ooky, spooky, TV friends, some of the most colorful characters ever… in living black-and-white. SCOTT SAAVEDRA is a graphic designer, artist, and writer. He is perhaps best known as the creator of the long-ago comic-book series, It's Science with Dr. Radium (SLG), and he wrote for the short-lived Disney Comics. His first monster-related job was drawing storyboards for The Hideous Sun-Demon Special Edition. His fanzine, Comic Book Heaven, about crazy, vintage comics, had a devoted but, sadly, tiny following. The Karloff version of The Monster is his favorite. Check out his Instagram thing, won't you? (instagram.com/scottsaav/) RetroFan

Fall 2018

Masquerading on Halloween has long been an American tradition and is one of childhood’s most beloved rituals. For the kids of yesteryear that scoured store shelves and racks for that perfect trick-or-treating costume, one manufacturer’s name stood supreme: Ben Cooper. From the late Thirties through the late Eighties, New York-based Ben Cooper, Inc. was one of the top producers of inexpensive retail masks and costumes featuring everything from generic goblins, popular licensed characters, and media figures (including U.S. presidents). Ben Cooper and his brother Nat Cooper recognized the commercial value of pop-culture icons and built an empire upon affordable dress-up ensembles, trading on their skills as theatrical costumers. Boys and girls who are now adult RetroFans fondly recall their Halloween candy quests disguised as their favorite characters, decked out in Ben Cooper costumes of everyone from Donald Duck to Cinderella, Fred Flintstone to Princess Leia, Pac-Man to Wonder Woman, Mr. T to Miss Piggy— even offbeat trick-or-treating personalities such as Chuck Norris and Captain Merrill Stubing from The Love Boat! Ben Cooper products are best remembered for their vacuformed plastic masks, with eyeholes and usually with nostril holes and mouth slits, held onto a kid’s face with a rubber band; and their vinyl costumes, brightly colored smocks that secured in the back with strings not unlike the ties on the backs of hospital gowns. The masks were sometimes dead-on depictions of their host characters—Ben Cooper’s Dick Tracy mask, for example, almost looks as if cartoonist Chester Gould had drawn it; while others were less-accurate representations of their characters—such as Aquaman, whose generic white face with blond hair was covered with an orange domino mask with scales. Ben Cooper costume fronts sometimes recreated the outfit of the characters they represented, but more often than not displayed an illustration of the character (or of a TV show’s cast), complete with the character’s or show’s logo for the benefit of those clueless, candy-shoveling parents who might otherwise ask of the well-costumed trick-or-treater, Now who do we have here? Ben Cooper, Inc.’s costumes were usually marketed in a colorful box with a cellophane “window” which allowed the mask inside to be seen, although costumes could sometimes be found sold on cardboard hangers or in window-less boxes. Many of the company’s masks were also sold separately. Ben Cooper masks and costumes not only helped define Halloween as we know it (and perhaps pointed some future cosplayers toward their passion), but the company itself also helped rescue the holiday in the early Eighties in response to parental fears over potential candy-tampering (copycatting the horrific Tylenol®-poisoning murders of 1982) by forming the Halloween Celebration Committee as part of a public-awareness

RetroFan

Fall 2018

Retro Interview: Ira J. Cooper

Beginning in the Fifties, Ben Cooper’s Superman suits flew off the shelves— and kids were later warned that the capes would not let them fly like the Man of Tomorrow. Superman TM & © DC Comics. Courtesy of Heritage.

RF: How many employees did the company originally have? When did expansion occur, and how many employees did Ben Cooper, Inc. maintain at the company’s peak? IC: The company had a number of seamstresses and packers/shippers from the start—perhaps as few as five, ten, or 20 in their very early days. They eventually grew to about 750 at the height of the production season at the Brooklyn factory with a number of others in warehouses, an ancillary sewing plant in the South, and eventually the use of factories overseas.

described here. I believe that they had an early Disney license, and as near-contemporaries of Walt they worked with him at times. But I think they got the license for playsuits (more expensive department store goods) upon acquiring the Playmaster Corporation. Their first foray to Los Angeles to see Disney about an original product was likely after the war in order to secure the license for inexpensive Halloween costumes. Trips to Disney before that were no doubt to create a business relationship and to get approval for various new designs.

RF: It’s been reported that in 1937 Nat Cooper ventured from the company’s Brooklyn headquarters to Hollywood to meet with the Disney company to negotiate Ben Cooper, Inc.’s first licensing deal, for Mickey Mouse. Did Nat have a prototype in hand? What anecdotes can you share about this monumental meeting? IC: I do not have any stories about this, and I am not so sure about this “lore” as

RF: After Disney, what was Ben Cooper, Inc.’s next big licensing score? IC: It was actually more Disney, because although Mickey was popular, he evolved as to his looks so that he became more and more kid friendly. This required a risk of capital. Snow White was next, and the prospect of success was not necessarily optimistic. But like Walt, Ben and Nat saw the value in the sheer quality of what

Disney was producing and so they risked it. Ensuing licenses ran the gamut from Looney Tunes to Universal Monsters to the eventual rise of Superman. RF: How long did it usually take for a costume’s development, from sketch to production? IC: Nine months if there was no rush, six months rushed, and three months if it was a major new property with potential right away. The process involved artists, sculptors, engineers, fabric production, pattern cutting, etc. Samples and art were often hand-carried to the various artists and sculptors in the area of the Brooklyn factory. It could take weeks to sculpt a mask to Ben’s liking. Nothing was accepted without finessing the design, execution, and fit. RF: Ira, what’s your earliest personal memory of the family business? IC: Visiting the factory on 32nd Street at

SLICK(ER) MERCHANDISING IDEA Were raindrops fallin’ on your head back in the Seventies and Eighties? Then you needed a poncho from Ben Cooper, Inc.! Young Ira Cooper pitched this concept to the company, and ponchos became part of the product line. As with Cooper’s Halloween costumes, the ponchos featured both generic monsters such as a “Ghost” and “Dracula,” but also licensed properties, running the gamut from family favorites (the Little Rascals, Bozo the Clown, Holly Hobbie) to superheroes (Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, Hulk) to media favorites (Star Wars characters, Max Headroom). The ponchos included a “topper mask” to make the misty-weather masquerade complete! 14

RetroFan

Fall 2018

Retro Interview: Ira J. Cooper

Bush Terminal when I was about in kindergarten. Their second and largest factory was on 34th Street. RF: What roles did you have at the company throughout your time there? IC: Mostly as outside salesman, and for a while, as assistant to Bobby Cooper (more about that experience in my ensuing book). I was at times an independent salesperson on the West Coast with my own organization, and a direct employee when I lived in New York. Prior to graduating college, I worked summers in the factory, the packing operations, outside warehouses, and as the salesman for parts of New England. RF: The company produced coonskin caps during the frontier hero craze of the Fifties. What were they made of, and where did the materials come from? IC: Mostly fake fur, although Nat told stories of using some real fur at the height of demand.

(TOP) A boxed John Lennon costume, from Ben Cooper’s Beatles selection of the Sixties, and a costume out of the box. (Sorry, no Yoko Ono available.) (LEFT) Kids went ape over this 1963 King Kong mask and costume from Ben Cooper.

RF: Also in the Fifties, Ben Cooper, Inc. produced Superman costumes and capes, during the heyday of TV’s Adventures of Superman starring George Reeves. How many of these were sold during that time? IC: I do not know the volume, but Superman approached Mickey Mouse in volume—but not overall, as Mickey sold to a wider age range of kids than we see today for superheroes. In those days, Superman was strictly for boys ages eight and up. RF: Did the company ever face any negative publicity from incidents where children injured themselves when trying to fly while wearing a Superman cape? IC: Yes. Famously, a child was killed jumping out a window. Those were not the days of instant litigation. There was a warning on the Superman playsuit that said, “Remember, this suit will not make you fly. Only Superman can fly.” RF: What were “Glitter-Glo” costumes, and when did they come about? IC: Glitter came about in the late Fifties, early Sixties to make kids more visible as they went out trick-or-treating. Most costumes were black or other dark colors, as there were not that many choices in cheap rayon, and witches, skeletons, and others were necessarily dark in order to be realistic. Glitter was added for safety but RetroFan

Fall 2018

ended up a company “trademark” of sorts. Costumes were much more enticing with glitter, and it thereby became a higher price point. RF: The smell of Ben Cooper Halloween masks provides a vivid memory for kids who wore them. What were the masks made of? IC: “Virgin vinyl” was how it was described, virgin being important as it did not have any other coatings or paints on it that might have been unsafe. Lead was not known to be an issue, but material that went through various factories and handling was simply not clean enough for the paint. I think they would be considered PVC, but my understanding is that PVC itself changed over time.

RF: Who were some of the standout costume artists who worked for Ben Cooper? IC: Ben did not hire a lot of artists. There were two who held long-term jobs with him: Henry Porter, who went on to become an African-American artist of note, and Frank Romano, who was with the company for many decades and is the one responsible, along with Ben’s specific direction, for the look of the Ben Cooper line and the interpretation of the licenses from the late Fifties-on. Frank is in his nineties and still active, still painting. I am working with his family to reproduce some of his original art. RF: Ben Cooper, Inc. created a “Spider Man” Halloween costume in 1954, eight years before Marvel Comics’ Spider-Man 15

MONSTER MASH

The Creepy, Kooky Monster Craze In America, 1957-1972 Time-trip back to the frightening era of 1957-1972, when monsters stomped into the American mainstream! Once Frankenstein and fiends infiltrated TV in 1957, an avalanche of monster magazines, toys, games, trading cards, and comic books crashed upon an unsuspecting public. This profusely illustrated full-color hardcover covers that creepy, kooky Monster Craze through features on FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND magazine, the #1 hit “Monster Mash,” Aurora’s model kits, TV shows (SHOCK THEATRE, THE ADDAMS FAMILY, THE MUNSTERS, and DARK SHADOWS), “MARS ATTACKS” trading cards, EERIE PUBLICATIONS, PLANET OF THE APES, and more! It features interviews with JAMES WARREN (Creepy, Eerie, and Vampirella magazines), FORREST J ACKERMAN (Famous Monsters of Filmland), JOHN ASTIN (The Addams Family), AL LEWIS (The Munsters), JONATHAN FRID (Dark Shadows), GEORGE BARRIS (monster car customizer), ED “BIG DADDY” ROTH (Rat Fink), BOBBY (BORIS) PICKETT (Monster Mash singer/songwriter) and others, with a Foreword by TV horror host ZACHERLEY, the “Cool Ghoul.” Written by MARK VOGER (author of “The Dark Age”). (192-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $39.95 • (Digital Edition) $11.95 • ISBN: 9781605490649 Diamond Order Code: MAR151564

SWAMPMEN

MUCK-MONSTERS OF THE COMICS SWAMPMEN dredges up Swamp Thing, Man-Thing, Heap, and other creepy man-critters of the 1970s bayou, through the memories of the artists and writers who created them! Features interviews with BERNIE WRIGHTSON, ALAN MOORE, MIKE PLOOG, LEN WEIN, FRANK BRUNNER, STEVE GERBER, STEVE BISSETTE, RICK VEITCH, GERRY CONWAY, VAL MAYERIK, JOE ORLANDO, MARTIN PASKO, JIM MOONEY, JOHN TOTLEBEN, TOM YEATES, KAREN BERGER, JESSE SANTOS, MICHAEL USLAN, MIKE KALUTA, ROY THOMAS, and other, with a new FRANK CHO cover! (192-page trade paperback with COLOR) $17.95 (Digital Edition) $9.95 ISBN: 9781605490571 Diamond Order Code: MAY141629

TwoMorrows.

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THE BEST OF

THE TERRIFYING SEQUEL:

Since 2000, FROM THE TOMB has terrified readers worldwide, as the preeminent magazine on the history of horror comics, with stellar writing and intensely frightening illustrations from the best talent in the industry. Produced in the UK, issues have been scarce and highly collectible in the US, and here’s your chance to see what you’ve been missing! This “BEST OF” COLLECTION compiles the finest features of FROM THE TOMB’s ten years of terror, along with new material originally scheduled to see publication in the NEVER-PUBLISHED #29. It celebrates the 20th Century’s finest horror comics—and those they tried to ban—with a selection of revised and updated articles on BASIL WOLVERTON, JOHNNY CRAIG, RICHARD CORBEN, LOU CAMERON, RUDY PALAIS, MATT FOX, ALVIN HOLLINGSWORTH, plus publishers including ACG, ATLAS, EC, FICTION HOUSE, HARVEY COMICS, SKYWALD, WARREN, HOUSE OF HAMMER, A-BOMB COMICS, CANNIBALS, and others!

Just when you thought it was safe to walk the streets again, FROM THE TOMB (the UK’s preeminent magazine on the history of horror comics) digs up more tomes of terror from the century past. IT CREPT FROM THE TOMB (the second “Best of” collection) 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 from the darkest of the horror genre’s finest creators!

FROM THE TOMB

(192-page trade paperback with COLOR) $27.95 (Digital Edition) $9.95 • ISBN: 9781605490434 Diamond Order Code: AUG121322

IT CREPT FROM THE TOMB

(192-page trade paperback with COLOR) $29.95 (Digital Edition) $10.95 • ISBN: 9781605490816 Diamond Order Code: OCT171887

RETRO TELEVISION

Haunting the Airwaves

by Dan Johnson In the days before there were a thousand cable channels and streaming services, you were darn lucky to have three, maybe four, local TV stations you could pick up with your rabbit ears. Even with fewer alternatives, back then there was still a lot of competition on the part of local stations to fill timeslots with shows that would woo viewers to tune into their channel. The thing is, the programming had to be affordable. “B” horror and science-fiction movies made for cheap TV filler in the late-night hours, especially on the weekends. But getting people to tune in for cinematic clunkers like The Brain That Wouldn’t Die was not an easy feat. Early on, the stations knew you needed someone to help get you through these stinkers, be it a wacky vampire whose biting wit included corny puns, or a sexy ghoul who specialized in double entendres. These were local horror hosts, the men and women who dressed up as mad scientists, monsters, and femme fatales with names like Dr. Morgus and Crematia Mortem, and on the weekends they welcomed you to sit through I Married a Monster from Outer Space… if you dared!

A Long, Sordid Tradition

The best-remembered horror hosts came from the medium of television, but introducing morbid stories of the macabre is a tradition that goes all the way back to the days of radio. Each week, listeners tuned into shows like The Hermit’s Cave and Inner Sanctum, where they were greeted by hosts that would introduce that evening’s story. These spooky ladies and gents would keep listeners company in the dark, and then invite them back the next week to have the bejeezus scared out of them again. RetroFan

Fall 2018

(TOP) TV’s first horror hostess, Vampira—Maila Nurmi—in a signed publicity still from the Eighties. (INSET) Vampira and the mighty Tor Johnson, in Ed Wood’s 1959 classic, Plan 9 from Outer Space. Photo courtesy of Heritage Auctions. Plan 9 © 1959 Reynolds Pictures. Courtesy of Mark Voger.

Retro Television

(LEFT TO RIGHT) SNL’s Not Ready for Prime-Time Players buried lots of horror hosts in 1975. Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Monster Vision with Joe Bob Briggs defibrillated the horror-host concept. Rich Koz keeps the tradition alive today on MeTV’s Svengoolie. SNL © NBC. MST3K © Satellite of Love, LLC. Monster Vision © TNT. Svengoolie © Weigel Broadcasting Co.

Live from New York…

Late Saturday night was the usual golden time for horror hosts back in the day. The only competition might be another movie or television rerun. If you were up against an NBC affiliate, they might have optioned to air The Best of Johnny Carson, but that was just another repeat. Then, on October 11, 1975, the first of many nails went into the coffins of horror hosts around the country, and it was called Saturday Night Live. The sketch-comedy show, featuring the original Not Ready for Prime-Time Players, became an immediate hit, and suddenly all the local vampires, witches, and mad scientists were losing their key audience, which were children and teenagers. Fifty-foot women and saucermen just couldn’t compete against the Coneheads and Roseanne Roseannadanna. A few hosts tried to hang on by moving to 1:00 a.m. following Saturday Night Live. Others moved to Saturday afternoons or Friday nights. Yet slowly but surely, horror hosts began to disappear from the television landscape. And then there came a sensation even SNL could not eclipse.

Putting the Boob Back in the Boob Tube

In 1981 the producers of Fright Night, Seymour’s old show, decided the time was right to return to the airwaves. They decided to go a sexier route though and bring a woman in to host the show. After auditioning several prospects, they settled on a young showgirl and actress named Cassandra Peterson. Peterson was allowed to come up with her own character and she settled on a wisecracking, sexy gal who was part vampire, part valley girl, and always quick with the quips. Thus was born the most popular horror host since Zacherley—Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. Her local show was an immediate success and the producers set their sights on Elvira taking over the airwaves in other parts of the country. She did just that when her show, Movie Macabre, went into syndication in 1983. Once again, folks were tuning in for a horror host, and there was little doubt they were not coming for the movies! [Editor’s note: More about the Mistress of the Dark follows this article.]

The Last Hurrah

Even though Elvira was riding high in the ratings throughout the Eighties, the last few remaining local horror hosts were about to have a number of bombs dropped on them. The first was the formation of the Fox Network. Many stations that had been independent UHF stations were signed up to be affiliates, and some horror hosts were dropped in an effort for their stations to look 26

more professional, or simply because they had to make room for the network shows they were committed to air. The second hit came in the late Eighties when first-run syndicated shows like Star Trek: The Next Generation and Friday the 13th began airing. With most of the advertising already sold, and halfhour and hour-long shows easier to schedule, the horror hosts just didn’t seem to be a wise investment anymore. The final blow came when television regulations regarding commercials were loosened up. The few remaining horror hosts met the one monster they couldn’t stand up to: infomercials. On the local level, almost all of the horror hosts were signing off for good. But new advents in technology meant new avenues to explore.

Changing Technology to the Rescue

While local horror hosts were falling out of favor, cable television introduced a few shows that kept this profession alive in the Nineties. The two most successful were Comedy Central’s (and later, the Sci-Fi Channel’s) Mystery Science Theater 3000 and TNT’s Monster Vision with Joe Bob Briggs. And just as cable had brought new horror hosts to the masses, the advent of digital television has given America a new host to rally around. Remember Jerry Bishop, that gent we mentioned that worked with Svengoolie back on his Chicago show? His name was Rich Koz, and in 1979 he brought bad puns and rubber chickens back to Chicago as the Son of Svengoolie. His first show ran until 1986 on WFLD. He was one of the hosts killed off because of the formation of Fox. In 1995, Koz returned to Chicago airwaves as Svengoolie and his show is still running on WCIU 26 to this day. Svengoolie is also seen every Saturday night on MeTV as part of the network’s Super Sci-Fi Saturday Night line-up. So thanks to Svengoolie, the art of horror hosting is alive and well. So long as there are bad movies to run and bad jokes to crack, we know he’ll be around for a long, long time. DAN JOHNSON is a comics writer whose work can be found in Cemetery Plots from Empire Comics Lab (empirecomicslab.com). His other notable comics work includes Herc and Thor for Antarctic Press and several books for Campfire Graphic Novels. He is also a gag writer for the Dennis the Menace comic strip. RetroFan

Fall 2018

Mistress of the Dark

PHOTO: Mark Voger.

by Mark Voger

RetroFan

Fall 2018

Horror movie nerds can be a lonely lot. Well, what do you expect when your best pickup line is: “Wanna come to my place and watch The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake?” Maybe that’s why Elvira—the horror hostess with, ahem, the mostest—has endured and flourished. With her ribald jokes, not to mention her va-va-voom décolletage, Elvira makes us feel a little less alone as we indulge our passion for fright flicks. The role of the horror host has traditionally been filled by local talent in a given television market. But actress Cassandra Peterson, who co-created and plays Elvira, established herself as the nation’s horror host. She did it with savvy branding… and pure hustle. It all began in the early Eighties, when Peterson, then a member of Los Angeles’ famous Groundlings improv-comedy group, landed a hosting gig on Movie Macabre for KHJ-TV in L.A. On the program, she presented films from The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant to The House That Dripped Blood to The Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism. Not surprisingly, Elvira attracted much attention, and it wasn’t long before her appeal spilled—no pun intended—into the national consciousness. There was her subsequent syndicated series… her “ThrillerVideo” line on VHS (remember those?) and the “Elvira’s Movie Macabre” line on DVD… TV appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The Arsenio Hall Show, Wrestlemania 2, Hulkamania 6, the reality show The Search for the Next Elvira, and even a Bob Hope special… her movies Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (1988) and Elvira’s Haunted Hills (2001)… her comic book Elvira’s House of Mystery from DC Comics, home of Superman and Batman… her Coors Light endorsement (which faithfully placed life-sized Elvira cut-outs in taverns at Halloween time)… her countless convention appearances… two Elvira-themed pinball machines… and a return to comic books, first from Claypool Comics in 1993, and recently in a new series that launched in July 2018 from Dynamite Entertainment. Elvira’s costume is sexy-creepy in the tradition of Morticia Addams and Vampira (who once sued Peterson unsuccessfully), but with a sexy-trashy twist. When in character, Peterson wears Elvira’s trademark gravity-defying, trailer-park-friendly hair-do in jet black; Vegasshowgirl makeup (heavy on the eyeliner and rouge); black nails; a plunging black dress that could double as a shroud; sheer black stockings; and shiny black stilettos. Yep, black is her color. 27

Retro Interview: Elvira, Mistress of the Dark

Dy-no-mite! Elvira returned to comic books in July 2018 in a new series from Dynamite Publishing. Cover art by Joseph Michael Linsner. Elvira TM Queen “B” Productions.

do everything myself?’ And I was thinking, ‘Yeah. I guess you do.’” Peterson was kind enough to give me her Top Ten horror— or horrible—film picks. She hosted many of the movies chosen. Others are ironic choices (Stroker Ace, anyone?), and one appears to be an outright prank. Here they are, in Peterson’s order of ranking: Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959) is the Ed Wood-directed sci-fi stinker enhanced by footage of Dracula star Bela Lugosi, who had been dead for three years when the film was released. Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (1978) is a parody of so-badthey’re-terrible movies such as… Plan 9 from Outer Space. The Killer Shrews (1959) is a monster movie that uses dogs wearing fake fangs to play the titular killer shrews. Attack of the 50-Foot Woman (1958) is a film with such cheesy FX, you can actually see through the 50-foot woman. A giant inflatable hand is an unconvincing prop. Pigs Kill Everybody is a film I can’t seem to track down. It looks like Peterson was pulling my leg. Showgirls (1995) is, basically, a big-studio soft-porn film infamous for showing Saved by the Bell fans what they always wanted to see of Elizabeth Berkley. 30

Night of the Living Dead (1968) is the groundbreaking zombie film by George A. Romero that marked a new era in the horror genre. The Creeping Terror (1964) is a no-budget horror movie about a monster that looks more like a filthy old carpet. Stroker Ace (1983) has Burt Reynolds still milking the Smokey and the Bandit thing as a NASCAR racer. P.S.: Peterson is in the film! Night of the Ghouls (1958), Ed Wood’s follow-up to Bride of the Monster, was completed in 1958, more or less, but not released until 1984. It was worth the wait. Peterson said she never expected her Elvira character to morph into a lucrative, multi-faceted career. She was happy enough to land a steady-ish gig on her way to more important work. Did that not happen? You don’t think that entertaining thousands of lonely nerds is important? MARK VOGER is the author of Groovy: When Flower Power Bloomed in Pop Culture and Monster Mash: The Creepy, Kooky Monster Craze in America, 1957–1972, both for TwoMorrows Publishing.

RetroFan

Fall 2018

ANDY MANGELS' RETRO SATURDAY MORNING

The Groovie Goolies all jam in Horrible Hall in this rare piece of 1970 promotional art. (INSET) Filmation Studios co-founder and producer Lou Scheimer, c. 1970. © the respective copyright holder.

by Andy Mangels Welcome back to Andy Mangels’ Retro Saturday Morning. Since 1989, I have been writing columns for magazines in the U.S. and foreign countries, all examining the intersection of comic books and Hollywood, whether animation or live-action. Andy Mangels Backstage, Andy Mangels’ Reel Marvel, Andy Mangels’ Hollywood Heroes, Andy Mangels Behind the Camera… nearly three decades of reporting on animation and live-action—in addition to writing many books and producing around 40 DVD sets—and I’m still enthusiastic. In this new RetroFan column, I will examine shows that thrilled us from yesteryear, exciting our imaginations and capturing our memories. Grab some milk and cereal, sit cross-legged leaning against the couch, and dig in to Retro Saturday Morning! “Everybody shout, come on now, sing out! It’s time for the Goolies get-together! We got jokes for everyone, with laughter, songs, and fun, so let’s go to the Goolies get-together!” So began the theme song for Groovie Goolies in 1970, and Saturday morning television was never quite the same. An mélange of monster movies, soft rock songs, fourth-wall-breaking RetroFan

Fall 2018

self-awareness, and counterculture humor, nothing quite like the Groovie Goolies had ever aired on television before. But what led to the international hit, and why did it burn so brightly… then disappear like a ghost?

Horrific Inspirations

In the realm of cinema horror, three monsters reigned supreme. Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Wolf Man had been immortalized onscreen by Universal Studios in feature films in 1931—the Tod Browning-directed Dracula starring Bela Lugosi and the James Whale-directed Frankenstein starring Boris Karloff; and 1941— in The Wolf Man, directed by George Waggner and starring Lon Chaney, Jr.—alongside other creatures and spooks such as the Mummy, the Invisible Man, the Phantom of the Opera, the Bride of Frankenstein, and more. Many of the creatures were based on either novels such as Mary Shelley’s 1818 Frankenstein or Bram Stoker’s 1897 Dracula, or they were based on European legends of lycanthropy, or whispers of Egyptian curses. 31

Andy Mangels' Retro Saturday Morning

The 1970 Filmation Christmas Card featured the Goolies trio puppeteering Filmation co-founders Hal Sutherland, Lou Scheimer, and Norm Prescott! © the respective copyright holder.

The final Goolies episode featured a walk-on by several Filmation staffers and animators: Bill Nunes, animator (red shirt); Ramon “Monchy” Martinez, supplies (big guy, white shirt); Joe Mazzucca (little guy, red jacket); (green shirt: unknown); Herb Hazelton, layout (orange jacket and ’stache); (yellow shirt: unknown); and Don Christensen, art director (white shirt & tie). © the respective copyright holder.

show was titled SuperWitch, but internally, at Filmation, the series Meet the Groovie Goolies movie! The syndicated series launched in was called “The New Sabrina”). Thirteen SuperWitch shorts were September 1978. Filmation produced new opening credits, and produced, at least one of which featured the Goolies, and Frankie new “bumpers” to introduce the cartoons. appeared in the closing credits. The New Archie/Sabrina Hour deIn 1978, Filmation announced plans for several theatrical projbuted on September 10th, 1977, at 9:30 a.m. The Goolies’ appearects for past series, including Fat Albert, Groovie Goolies, and The ances on NBC in this series make them some of the few animated Archies in animated form, but the projects never materialized. characters to appear on all three major television networks, from The final canonical appearance of the Groovie Goolies from the same production studio! Filmation came in the most unexpected of ways. In 1975, Filmation In mid-September 1977, Metromedia Producers Corp. made had created a live-action comedy series for CBS called The Ghost a deal with Filmation to syndicate Busters. In it, Larry Storch (one of the FAST FACTS Groovie Goolies and Friends, a packGoolies voices) played Spencer, his age that included 104 half-hours of F Troop co-star Forrest Tucker played Filmation-controlled shows: Groovie Kong, and Bob Burns wore a gorilla Goolies (16 half-hours), The Adventures suit to play Tracy. The trio busted hh No. of seasons: One of Waldo Kitty (13 half-hours, reghosts and monsters weekly, with named now as “The New Adventures more than a few similarities to hh No. of episodes: 16 of Waldo Kitty” due to a 1975 lawsuit), Groovie Goolies along the way. hh Original run: September 12, 1970– Lassie’s Rescue Rangers (17 half-hours), In 1986, after winning a lawsuit September 4, 1971 (CBS) The New Adventures of Gilligan (24 against Columbia who misapproprihalf-hours), My Favorite Martians (16 ated the Ghostbusters name for their hh Reruns: Fall 1971–Fall 1972 (CBS), half-hours), and a segment featuring feature film, Filmation revived their October 1975–Spring 1976 (ABC) M-U-S-H, Wacky and Packy, and Fraidy original concept as Ghostbusters, hh Guest-starred in: Sabrina (1970, Cat (18 shorts culled from the failed featuring the sons of Spenser and CBS, 14 episodes) Filmation series Uncle Croc’s Block). Kong, alongside Tracy the gorilla. One episode featured a never-aired The Ghostbusters series ran in synhh Guest-starred in: The New Sabrina/ King Arthur pilot, and a special Goolies dication for 65 original episodes. SuperWitch (1977, NBC) episode called the “The Haunted In the show, the Skelevator was hh TV film: The Saturday Superstar Heist.” This “new” episode was acturevived, and in the 36th episode, Movie: Daffy Duck and Porky Pig Meet ally a small bit of new footage (about “Shades of Dracula,” the vampire the Groovie Goolies (December 16, Hauntleroy stealing Wolfie’s guitar) was more than a little reminiscent 1972, ABC) combined with the edited live footage of Drac from Groovie Goolies. The from the Daffy Duck and Porky Pig 50th episode, “The Girl Who Cried

Groovie Goolies

RetroFan

Fall 2018

Andy Mangels' Retro Saturday Morning

(LEFT) Color presentation art for Fright Camp, and (RIGHT) design art for The Goolies (both c. 1984). © the respective copyright holder.

Vampire,” took it a step further, using direct designs and animation from the Goolies!

The Remakes That Almost Were

As this article for RetroFan was being completed, a previously unknown dossier of Goolies history surfaced. eBay seller Tom Gibson had bought the contents of a storage unit at auction, and discovered that it contained presentation pieces and art for over a dozen potential Filmation projects, most of which never made it to the animation table. He sold one set to Mark Vanis, who graciously shared the materials with this author. They reveal that a surprisingly large amount of work was done on two different concepts to revive the Groovie Goolies… as next-generation toddlers! Initially called “Night Camp,” the first project was renamed at some point to “Fright Camp.” The opening description reads: Deep in the hills, not far from where you live, lies an area that even the Sierra Club would like to see developed, burned down, or strip mined: The Great Putrid Swamp. Smack in the middle of this mucky, sloshy, smelly piece of prime real estate stands FRIGHT CAMP. FRIGHT CAMP is one of the most exclusive kiddie camps there is. The little ones who attend there come from some of the most distinguished families in TRANSUBURBIA! I’m sure you’ve heard of them. They’re all names you’ll find listed in the Boo Book… Frankenstein… Dracula… Wolfman… The Mummy… As the series pitch continued, it soon became clear that the series would star “The Junior Goolies,” the offspring of the Seventies monsters: green-skinned Pranky/Prankenstein (note the “P” not an “F”) is both super-strong and super-mischievous; Bella La Ghostly is the brainy witch who leads the others around her; Count RetroFan

Fall 2018

Kidula is a vampire who is also a spoiled bat; Willbee Wolf is the ultra-cool werewolf who finds that music soothes his savage beast; Mummy’s Boy is a sensitive poet who cries so much that his bandages are moist; Rattles is a hat-wearing skeleton who isn’t very bright; Spot is a baby brontosaurus and the camp’s pet/ mascot; the Invisible Boy is on his way to becoming a proper mad scientist; and other monsters, including Ratso and Bratso, Boo Boy, Baby Snaggletooth, Harrington Headstone, Dr. Hiccup and Baby Burp, Baby Big Foot, cyclopean Eye-Ris, the Not-Quite-YetAbominable Snowman, and more. The two humans at Fright Camp, who often have to corral their monstrous charges, are scoutmaster-like Sonny Harrison, and his girlfriend, the beautiful Jennifer West. The show was planned for three segments: an 11-minute Fright Camp story (either at the camp or on a field trip to the Petrified Forest, Snarlsbad Caverns, Shriek’s Peak, Screech Beach, or the Madder Horn); a three-minute “Fright Camp Anything Ghosts” short with jokes and skits; and a six-and-a-half-minute “Fright Campfire Tales,” wherein the junior Goolies or other night creatures would tell stories. In plots suggested, spooky puns and parodies abounded, including a “Tupperscare party,” “a Gool Light Special at the Monster Mart,” the National Gooliegraphic Society, Briar Patch Dolls, and opportunities to win a prize in a “creepstakes.” Guest bands would play on M.T.V. (Monster Television) music segments, including the Rolling Tombstones or the Cool Goolie Boogie Band. Included among the Fright Camp materials are almost a dozen large color presentation boards which seem to show a second, different show being developed. In what appears to be a project called “The Goolies,” all of the adult characters we know and love are toddler/child versions of themselves. In these, the werewolf child is called “Wee Wolfie,” and the fetching witch girl is “Trixie,” while a 41

AND NOW, A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR…

by Michael Eury & Scott Saavedra

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Fall 2018

THE ODDBALL WORLD OF SCOTT SHAW!

Dinosaur Land That Time Ignored!

Prehistoric monsters add the perfect touch to that family getaway… we wonder if young Michael Crichton or Steven Spielberg visited here. Dinosaur Land ad courtesy of Scott Shaw!

by Scott Shaw! San Diego, California, was an enjoyable place for a young Oddball (like me) to grow up in the late Fifties and early Sixties. It was a U.S. Navy town and I was a Navy brat obsessed with cartoons, dinosaurs, comic books, monsters, and the weird side of natural history. Fortunately for kids like me, we had Balboa Park, with its world-famous San Diego Zoo, the San Diego Museum of Man, and dozens of art museums, arboretums, and other cool hideaways, mostly with free admission. But as much as I loved them all, there RetroFan

Fall 2018

was no local landmark I’d rather visit than the San Diego Museum of Natural History. Why? Dinosaurs, of course. Actually, half a dinosaur, and not even a real fossil, either; it was only a plaster casting of the skeleton of a duck-billed Corythosaurus embedded in a very big wall at the end of one of the museum’s halls, but that was good enough for me. There wasn’t much else in the way of paleontology: a few beautiful—small, but beautiful—bronze dinosaur statues based 45

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RETRO TOYS

Barbie’s British Rival The Rise and Fall of a Supertoy by Elizabeth & Ian Millsted The Rise

Fashion dolls were popular in the Sixties and Seventies, but while pre-teen girls in the U.S.A. were likely to be playing with, and collecting, Barbie dolls, the same age group in Britain at that time were more likely to be spending their time and money on Sindy. In 1968 and 1970, Sindy was the bestselling toy in the United Kingdom. The authors of this article were both children living and growing up in England through the Seventies, and to both of them the name and brand of Sindy was the one that came instantly to mind when thinking of the types of dolls that girls would buy or have bought for them. In September 1963, Sindy was launched into the British toys market by Pedigree Toys Ltd. with the advertising slogan, “the doll you love to dress.” It was an opportune time, and the manufacturers did a lot of the right things to establish a successful product. This was the time when British fashion designers were becoming household names to all social classes, not just the privileged few. Pedigree Toys made the astute move of having the initial line of clothes for the doll designed by Marion Foale and Sally Tuffin. Foale

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and Tuffin had graduated from the Royal College of Art in 1961 and then established themselves in business in Carnaby Street, London. In 1962 their designs had been on the front cover of Vogue, with photography by David Bailey. They also did design work for JC Penney. That first range of clothes included outfits with names such as pony club, country walk, skating girl, lunch date, and shopping-in-the-rain. That last one probably gives a clue to Sindy being a British doll. However, Sindy is not quite as genuinely a British doll as many remember. In fact, her initial design was based on an American doll, Tammy, produced by the Ideal Toy Company in America from 1962 until 1966. Tammy lost out to Barbie in the domestic market, but under her new name of “Sindy” she thrived in Britain for a couple of highly successful decades. Pedigree had done their research on what British girls wanted. They had actually been of fered the U.K. license for Barbie by Mattel, but had conducted market research and found that their target audience did not, at that time, like the look of Barbie. Sindy had a more realistic figure than Barbie with a face that appeared sof ter and rounder. Another key feature in the initial success of Sindy was the supporting range of friends and accessories. As well as Sindy there were companion dolls Paul (from 1965), little sister Patch (1966), and friends Vicki, Mitzi, Poppet, and Betsy. Horses for the Sindy range were especially popular. More importantly, the range of accessories was extensive and fun and could be bought on their own. A child with limited money did not have to buy a new doll each time they wanted to have Sindy in a new outfit. Indeed, by the end of the Sixties, around 70% of all turnover in the Sindy range was from accessories. Nor was Sindy limited to one hair color—blonde, auburn, or black were available. A further innovation were the tokens on each box which could be cut out and sent off, once enough had been collected, for exclusive products. While this might have been anathema to hardcore collectors, young girls eagerly collected the heart-shaped tokens from each box or package by cutting them out. When a full set was complete they could be sent off for Sindy’s friend, June, who would arrive through the mail. Elizabeth remembers being “very excited” when her June arrived. She still has her.

PHOTO: Bethan Millsted.

Retro Toys

Sindy benefited from technological advances during these peak years in popularity. Beginning in 1968 she gained rooted eyelashes, and in the next few years she became fully poseable and fully jointed. The 1975 Active Sindy was the bestselling version of the doll ever. With Sindy being so popular in the Seventies, she often made appearances on the twice-weekly BBC children’s television craft and hobby program Blue Peter, which was also at the peak of its popularity at that time, being watched by several million viewers. The presenters could often be seen making entire new rooms for Sindy. At the time the BBC, which is not funded by advertising, had a very strict policy of not showing or referring to any brand names,

IT ALL STARTED WITH BARBIE One-time Mattel Inc. president Ruth Handler (1916–2002) created Barbie—named after her daughter Barbara—and introduced what would become the world’s most famous dress-up doll at Toy Fair in New York City on March 9, 1959. Shortly thereafter, an aggressive television marketing campaign skyrocketed Barbie to success. Barbie employed what toymakers once called the “razor/razor blade” concept: Sell a child a “razor” (in this case, the host toy, Barbie) and he or she will be compelled to buy “razor blades” (clothing and accessories, each sold separately). Barbie’s success inspired a host of imitators, including Sindy, and was not relegated solely to the girls’ toy market: Hasbro’s G.I. Joe, a generic soldier that could be disguised as various military men, and Ideal’s Captain Action, a nondescript superhero that could masquerade as popular licensed heroes, soon followed on Barbie’s (high) heels.

RetroFan

Fall 2018

Retro Toys

which meant that although everyone knew they were making extra accessories for Sindy, she was never named. So, even for children who had very little money, Sindy offered imaginative opportunities courtesy of a few cardboard boxes, sticky-back plastic, and some paint.

The Fall

So, what went wrong? How did Sindy fall from her position of ascendancy in the U.K. toy market? Well, for a start, increasingly there has been a move to a global market for toys rather than distinct national markets. Mattel had tried launching Barbie in the U.K. a couple of times without success, and finally made a third successful attempt in the early Eighties. From this point on, Sindy and Barbie were competing for the British doll market in a way that Sindy had not experienced before. While Pedigree Toys retained ownership of Sindy, the company licensed various rights to other manufacturers from time to time. In 1978, Marx Toys tried to introduce Sindy into the American market, but it proved unsuccessful and the company went into receivership in 1980. In 1986, Pedigree sold its rights in Sindy to Hasbro. Hasbro was a principal rival to Mattel and already had toy brands such as G.I. Joe, My Little Pony, Transformers, and others. A rival to Barbie would allow them to compete all the more… at least, that was the theory.

The point at which Hasbro took on the licence was also one where Sindy was already starting to decline in sales and popularity in the home market due to the competition in the U.K. from Barbie, and from an increasing range of other products competing for the attentions of the target market. Hasbro injected a bigger marketing budget, but also initiated a redesign of the doll to make it more similar to Barbie. This proved to be a mistake for two reasons. Firstly, it alienated some of the people who had been buying and collecting Sindy as she was and liked her just fine like that. Secondly, in 1989 Mattel sued Hasbro due to that similarity. The case rumbled on for years with court rulings falling in different directions depending on the country or territory. For example, while Hasbro won the ruling in Spain, Mattel won in France. Ultimately Hasbro agreed to alter Sindy’s face once more. Sindy was also losing out in the sales battle. In 1994 Sindy still had 7% of the U.K. doll market compared to 16% for Barbie. Just two years later, Barbie had achieved a whopping 30% while Sindy also gained but only to 8%. Hasbro withdrew the advertising budget for Sindy and retailers started to delist the doll. In 1998 the rights to the doll were returned to Pedigree, but by then too much damage had already been done. The next company to license the rights for Sindy was Vivid Imaginations, from 1999 onwards. It relaunched the doll to look younger, initially about 15 years old, and later redesigned her again as age 12 to 14. In 2006 an exclusive deal was made with

PHOTO: Bethan Millsted.

(LEFT) After a busy afternoon of horseback riding, this Sindy is resting up before she takes a relaxing shower. (ABOVE) Examples of Sindy merchandise. Note that the Scenesetter set (in the yellow box) is part of the U.S.-distributed Sindy product line from Marx. Sindy © Pedigree Dolls and Toys Ltd.

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(LEFT) A DC Comics original art ad slick illustrated by Dick Giordano for Post cereals’ Super Heroes promotion, c. 1979–1980. From the Robert V. Conte collection. (RIGHT & BELOW RIGHT) This popular 1973 comic book by writer Denny O’Neil and artist Neal Adams was adapted into this 1981 View-Master set. TM & © DC Comics.

“Spidey”-faced viewers with a teaser reel, a three-reel blister pack, and gift sets with reels and a custom storage case. Collectors have been vocally disappointed about the absence of Marvel film adaptations and the complete absence of DC Comics characters altogether in this current product offering. As of April 2018, Basic Fun has not announced plans to release new superhero titles. The second is the Virtual Reality View-Master. This new device is incompatible with the standard viewer and requires a smartphone to function. Among the dozen or so titles initially offered include Nickelodeon’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and, of course, its bestselling superhero of all time, Batman, in his Animated Series incarnation. Both titles are also available with specially packaged versions of the viewer. However, in less than two years after its debut, the ViewMaster Virtual Viewer and most of its titles have been deep discounted and sold off to clearance stores. It appears this current incarnation has been deemed less than a success. But why? Usually, “retro” properties stand the test of time because previous generations—once exposed to and pleasantly inspired by various brands and icons—pass their remembrances of joy onto their children and grandchildren, hoping they will share the same excitement. However, with the advances in 3-D technology and all kinds of offerings and smartphone accessories and apps immediately available to all, the future of View-Master is uncertain. View-Master has endured for 80 years. While Superman continues to soar to new heights with his recent appearance in the 1,000th issue of Action Comics and the new live-action television show Krypton, perhaps View-Master’s survival is contingent on change—to find a new “superpower” in which it may survive. No matter what incarnation a View-Master viewer takes in years to come, one category appears certain to continue—Superheroes! ROBERT V. CONTE is a pop-culture historian who has written, edited, packaged, and brokered over 2,500 projects. Armed with his vast memorabilia collection, he utilizes his expertise on officially licensed products, including Godzilla, KISS, and Sesame Street. Conte’s projects include Art of Atari (Dynamite Entertainment), Star Wars: The Original Topps Trading Card Series (Abrams ComicArts), and his autobiographical memoir, My KISS Story. www.robertvconte.com 66

VIEW-MASTER SHOW BEAM PROJECTOR GAF introduced its flashlight-styled View-Master Show Beam Projector in 1980. Instead of threedimensional reels, two-dimensional cartridges containing 30 separate images were used to operate the hand-held, portable device. An early version of the item was packaged with an Amazing Spider-Man cartridge. Several superherothemed titles, containing different imagery than View-Master reels featuring the same characters, include Batman, Incredible Hulk, KISS, Mighty Mouse, Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Super Friends (later Super Powers), and Superman. The Double-Vue Viewer was discontinued before GAF sold View-Master in 1981. Show Beam’s popularity, however, was maintained well into the Nineties before Tyco decided it best to concentrate specifically on View-Master reel-based projectors including its standard Super Show and Super Sounds Talking projectors.

RetroFan

Fall 2018

RETRO TRAVEL

Tou l a n i F The by Michael Solof

My name is Michael Solof, and for the past five years I’ve been the Collections and Exhibits Manager at Geppi’s Entertainment Museum (GEM) in Baltimore, Maryland. Geppi’s Museum is a place where you can experience pop culture as never before. Located in the historic Camden Station, GEM houses a collection of over 6,000 artifacts and is a tribute to the characters, toys, and collectibles of our past and present. It’s a place where guests can rub elbows with the characters that have shaped pop culture and our lives. But how did such a deep and varied collection come to be?

From a Collection to a Museum

Back in the Seventies, Steve Geppi—the owner of just about everything on display at the museum— was working as a postal worker. On weekends, he liked to spend his time at comic-book conventions, and eventually began buying and selling books himself. Like so many of us, his mom had thrown out his comic collection when he was younger, so he had a lot of lost time to catch up on! Soon, he was making more money selling comics than he was working for the post office, so he quit his job and opened up the first of many comic-book shops. His next big step was to get out of selling comics and instead get into dis(FAR LEFT) Geppi's Entertainment Museum, April 30, 2013. Photo by "Jim, the Photographer," via Flickr. (LEFT) Beam aboard this tour of Geppi’s Entertainment Museum with its Collections and Exhibits Manager, Michael Solof (seated). Steve Geppi, owner of most of the museum’s collection, is on screen in the background.

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[Editor’s note: Perhaps this department header should be retitled “The Best Laid Plans…” this issue. On Wednesday, May 30, 2018—the very day I was finalizing this article for the designer to begin layouts—I received a Scoop e-newsletter from Diamond Comic Distributors with the unexpected announcement that its president and CEO, Stephen A. Geppi, had made a multimillion-dollar donation of over 3,000 items from his collection of comic books, original comic art, movie posters, photographs, and other pop-culture collectibles to the Library of Congress. Since 2006, Geppi’s phenomenal collection has been housed in Geppi’s Entertainment Museum in Baltimore, Maryland—the subject of this very article, guest-written by the museum’s Collections and Exhibits Manager Michael Solof— but surprisingly with this bombshell, the museum’s doors have closed as of Sunday, June 3, 2018. This startling twist of events occurred too close to press time to cancel or dramatically alter this article. As a result, what was intended to be a tourism feature enticing reader attendance to Geppi’s Entertainment Museum is now a warm-hearted time-traveling trip in the Wayback Machine. But that’s what the museum was always about—preserving memories and history through the lens of pop culture (not unlike the mission statement of RetroFan magazine). While Mr. Geppi’s collection can no longer be seen in the manner described and depicted here, consider yourself fortunate to take this final, intimate tour of Baltimore’s beloved showplace of Americana— and plan to follow select items from this celebrated collection to their new home in the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.] 67

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