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MOON LANDING MANIA

Summer 2019 No. 5 | $8.95

Snuffy Smith turns 100 The Original Greatest American Hero!

William Katt Interview

Feel the force es o l c p u r u o f o and-personal

Blast off with Jason of Star Command

the spaceman with the bends

MARK HAMILL INTERVIEW

“The First Time I Met Tarzan!” • TV Dinners • Celebrity Crushes & more! Featuring Andy Mangels • Will Murray • Scott Saavedra • Scott Shaw!

82658 00371

MAJOR MATT MASON

51 The crazy cool culture we

grew up with

CONTENTS Issue #5 | Summer 2019

47 Columns and Special Features

Retro Interview Mark Hamill

Will Murray’s 20th Century Panopticon The First Time I Met Tarzan

Retro Interview Snuffy Smith Cartoonist John Rose

Departments

Andy Mangels’ Retro Saturday Mornings Jason of Star Command

Retrotorial

RetroFad Moon Landing Mania

Retro Toys Major Matt Mason

Celebrity Crushes

Retro Television The Greatest American Hero

Retro Comic Strips Barney Google and Snuffy Smith at 100

Retro Interview William Katt

20 26

Scott Saavedra’s Secret Sanctum Museum of Pop Culture – Seattle, Washington

Too Much TV Quiz

Retro Food & Drink TV Dinners

RetroFanmail

ReJECTED RetroFan fantasy cover by Scott Saavedra

Cover image of Mark Hamill at the Star Wars: The Last Jedi Japan Premiere Red Carpet on December 6, 2017. Photo by Dick Thomas Johnson [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)].

RetroFan™ #5, Summer 2019. Published quarterly by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614. Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief. John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Office: RetroFan, c/o Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief, 112 Fairmount Way, New Bern, NC 28562. Email: euryman@gmail.com. Four-issue subscriptions: $41 Economy US, $65 International, $16 Digital. Please send subscription orders to TwoMorrows, NOT the editorial office. Snuffy Smith © King Features Syndicate, Inc. Star Wars TM & © Lucasfilm Ltd. Major Matt Mason © Mattel. Jason of Star Command © Filmation. All Rights Reserved. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2019 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING. ISSN 2576-7224

by Michael Eury What goes around, comes around, they say, and that old adage apparently applies to RetroFan’s columnists and contributors. Regular readers recall that right after our first issue, circumstances led two of our columnists, Martin Pasko and Ernest Farino, to leave our pages. Ye ed not being one to EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michael Eury

procrastinate, I immediately brought in some talented ringers plus two new columnists, Scott Saavedra (who’s also our designer) and Will Murray (who debuts this issue). Then—fortunately—Pasko and Farino

PUBLISHER John Morrow

(sounds like a Sixties folk duo, doesn’t it?) were able to return to the magazine… and the success of our

CONTRIBUTORS Joseph Baneth Allen Michael Eury Glenn Greenberg Dan Hagen Rod Labbe Andy Mangels Will Murray Rose Rummel-Eury Scott Saavedra

first few issues attracted a virtual plethora of submission queries from some of pop culture’s most prized purveyors of prose. From famine to feast, I now have a smorgasbord of subjects and writers from which to choose—which is a blessing, believe you me! But as an 80-page quarterly, RetroFan lacks the space to feature every columnist and department in each issue. So you’ll notice the absence of columnists Farino, Pasko, and Scott Shaw! this issue (they’ll be back with #6), and the Super Collector feature is taking an issue off as well (but returns with a vengeance next issue, with the comic-book-art collection of David

DESIGNER Scott Saavedra

Mandel, Emmy®-winning showrunner of the hit comedy Veep). Also, our Retro Travel department is on

PROOFREADER Rob Smentek

break this issue… sort of, as Scott Saavedra’s Secret Sanctum’s visit to Seattle’s Museum of Pop Culture

SPECIAL THANKS Jim Aupperle John Berwick John Carl Buechler Diane Ciampaglia Chuck Comisky Peter Dibenedetto James Gillam Marty Grosser Sid Haig Heritage Comics Auctions King Features Syndicate, Inc. Joe King Craig Littler John Morrow Michelle Parnett-Dwyer TIME Magazine for Kids John Wells

assured we will always deliver the wildest, most interesting, and eclectic selection of goodies you can find between the pages of any periodical, print or digital! Glenn Greenberg is getting a well-deserved rep for his interviewing talents. If you think his chat with Superman director Richard Donner in issue #3 made you feel like a fly on the wall, wait’ll you read Glenn’s conversation with the remarkable Mark Hamill that leads off this issue. This is no mere by-the-book Q&A—instead, Mark is so candid, approachable, and downright cool, it reads like you’ve taken a seat on the couch next to him as he takes us behind the scenes of Star Wars and his stellar career. Since we lead off with Luke Skywalker, this issue we’re retro-rocketing into a subtheme of space as we provide a tip of our bubble-helmets to the legendary crew of Apollo 11, Mattel’s memorable Major to ground control, there’s lots of other stuff to enjoy, from The Greatest American Hero and a William Katt interview to Retro Food & Drink history that pulls back the foil from TV dinners to our anniversary salute

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!

RetroFan

columnists and departments will rotate off for an issue, but they’ll be back in the next one… and rest

Matt Mason, and Saturday morning’s Jason of Star Command. But for those who want to remain anchored

VERY SPECIAL THANKS Mark Hamill William Katt John R. Rose

is a great fill-in for those readers with retro wanderlust. The end game is, from time to time our regular

to one of the funnypapers’ scruffiest stars, Snuffy Smith. Lastly, my wife, Rose Rummel-Eury, wrote a guest column about her youthful crushes on TV stars and musicians that I liked so much, as of this issue Celebrity Crushes is a regular feature—to be written by you, the RetroFan reader! Yes, you can contribute a tear-stained love letter to the teen heartthrob or sexy celeb that turned you on in the Sixties, Seventies, and Eighties. You’ll become famous, see your story in print, and earn lunch money! See page 26 for details. Joining guest-writers Greenberg and Rummel-Eury this issue are columnists Andy Mangels, Will Murray, Scott Saavedra, and yours truly, plus guest contributors Joseph Baneth Allen, Dan Hagen, and Rod Labbe, for another groovy grab bag of the crazy, cool culture we grew up with.

Summer 2019

Mark Hamill The Jedi Looks Back

Mark Hamill at the 2017 Disney Legends Awards luncheon. PHOTO: Steve Sherman

by Glenn Greenberg

Meet Luke Skywalker! One of four 1977 Star Wars promotional posters illustrated by Del Nichols and produced as a Coca-Cola premium. Star Wars TM & © Lucasfilm Ltd. Courtesy of Heritage.

He may not really be a Jedi Knight, but make no mistake—Mark Hamill is a Force to be reckoned with. All an interviewer has to do is ask him a question and then just get out of his way. Because, in delivering an answer, Hamill will go into great depth, providing rich backstory and texture, and he will often go down paths that are both unexpected and thoroughly delightful. He’s a natural storyteller, which should come as no surprise to people who have followed his career closely and are aware of his writing work—he created the comic-book miniseries The Black Pearl, published by Dark Horse in 1996, which he has hoped to adapt into a film—and his turn behind the RetroFan

Summer 2019

RETRO INTERVIEW: MARK HAMILL

(LEFT) Howard Chaykin artwork graces this rare promotional poster distributed at the San Diego Comic-Con and Kansas City WorldCon in the summer of 1976, roughly a year before the film opened. (ABOVE) Compare Chaykin’s poster art to his iconic cover for the Marvel Comics’ first issue of Star Wars (July 1977). Star Wars TM & © Lucasfilm Ltd. Courtesy of Heritage.

camera, as the director of the 2004 mockumentary Comic Book: The Movie (in which he also starred). But, of course, on top of his highly acclaimed voice work as the Joker in the now-classic Batman: The Animated Series and its various spin-offs, Hamill is best known for playing Luke Skywalker in five Star Wars movies—and he will take on that role again, for the sixth and presumably last time, in Episode IX, due for release in December 2019. I had the opportunity to interview Mark Hamill on April 6, 2017, in my capacity as a senior editor and journalist at TIME Magazine for Kids, for which I was writing a feature story about the 40th anniversary of Star Wars and its impact on our culture. The release of Episode VIII: The Last Jedi was eight months away, and, naturally, there was very little that Hamill could say about it, so the conversation was primarily about the past, rather than the future. I had expected and prepared for our conversation to run only about 15 to 20 minutes, but he and I ended up 4

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talking for nearly an hour. Unfortunately, due to the main focus of the article, and the fact that other people involved in the franchise—specifically animator Dave Filoni and production designer Doug Chiang—were also interviewed and quoted extensively, most of Hamill’s comments ended up on the cutting-room floor, so to speak. It seemed like the full interview would never see the light of day. But thanks to RetroFan editor-inchief Michael Eury, who expressed great interest in publishing the complete text, the interview is finally getting a home. Much gratitude to TwoMorrows publisher John Morrow, for his efforts to secure Mr. Hamill’s blessing for this piece to run, to Dante Ciampaglia, my original editor, for his support and encouragement, and, above all, to Mark Hamill himself, for his time and his ongoing generosity. RetroFan: As a comic-book fan, and as someone who grew up loving science fiction and genre stuff, can you remember what your initial reaction was when you read the script for the original movie?

Mark Hamill: I can. I’ll never forget it, as a matter of fact. Mind you, I didn’t read the entire script until I’d gotten the part. I met George [Lucas] and there was just a general interview. He didn’t speak at all. Brian DePalma was also looking at actors for Carrie, so George stayed silent. It was a little “tell us about yourself” kind of thing—there was no talk of a movie or anything, they just want to get a feel of who you are. Then, based on that, I got a screen test, and it might have been a seven-, eight-, nine-page scene, in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon with Han Solo— Harrison [Ford] did it with me—and then, I heard I got the part and they sent the script to my house. And I was by myself and it was a little one-bedroom apartment on the beach in Malibu. And I sat in my living room and—well, I say living room, but you walk in and it’s one big room and one bedroom [chuckles]—and in any case, I read this thing and I was just astonished. I mean, I couldn’t believe my eyes. I was a Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine kid, I idolized the

RETRO INTERVIEW: MARK HAMILL

black-and-white King Kong and all the old Universal horror classics—I was so into this stuff. Ray Harryhausen was an idol of mine, Willis O’Brien, Marcel Delgado, all those old, cool, stop-frame animation people. But anyway, I’m reading this thing and I just can’t—like I say, the script itself, even without John Williams’ fantastic score and all the brilliant special effects and the art direction and all that—just the core story as it’s written down, is thrilling. I mean, you have that same sense of swashbuckling adventure, and that whole “swept away”—I remember thinking specifically, this really smacks of Wizard of Oz, with a gender switch. Instead of a young girl from a farm in the Midwest, here you have this boy or young man, someone who’s like—I was guessing Luke was in his senior year of high school, otherwise why wouldn’t he have just left home? And he’s swept away on this incredible adventure where he meets this fantastic array of characters, from a swaggering pirate and smuggler and rogue and an impudent, imperious princess who’s beautiful and he falls in love with, and he meets a wizard. Like I say, Han Solo’s a space pirate— there’s pirates and wizards and princesses! And, of course, the deep, dark, scary Darth Vader—I read that part and I said, “This is a wonderful role!” I mean, he’s not in it that much, but it’s so filled with mystery, it’s like Phantom of the Opera—masks are always very compelling dramatic devices because the audiences’ imaginations are so much greater than anything we can create. That’s why it’s inherently disappointing when anyone is unmasked, because they can’t meet those expectations. I thought that the robots specifically were written to be more human in many ways than the actual human characters, because they had all these frailties. [breaks into a C-3PO impression] “Oh, I’ve forgotten how much I abhor space travel! This is all your fault!” [laughs] I mean, what robot argues over whose fault it is? It just tickled me no end. The one thing that really occurred to me was—because when I’d heard

about this project, people said, “Oh, it’s like Flash Gordon or something.” And yes, it is. But I thought it much more strongly favored a traditional fairy tale. And had we been traveling around in horse-drawn carriages, it would have become very clear. And that’s why I thought it had a much broader appeal than traditional science fiction, which is usually dry and sort of scientific and lacking in humor. I mean, 2001 is obviously a masterpiece, but a barrel of laughs it ain’t. RF: Right, right. MH: And this one, I thought, was hilarious. And I also admired how they used concepts like the Force, which was sort of a way to talk about spirituality and religion, which makes everyone—well, I’m speaking in very broad strokes here—but makes people uncomfortable, you know? It was a way to be able to acknowledge that aspect of our beings without too much… resistance, I say, from the audience. This could all be inherently corny— now, I had done children’s theater, I mean, I understand that kind of storytelling and I love it because it’s primal, it’s black and white, it’s good versus evil. The Big Bad

2004’s Comic Book: The Movie was Mark Hamill’s directorial debut. Courtesy of

Heritage.

No joke, you can’t look at this specialty retail cel from Batman: The Animated Series without hearing Mark’s voice, making him the definitive Joker for many fans. TM & © DC Comics. Courtesy of

Heritage.

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Summer 2019

RETRO INTERVIEW: MARK HAMILL

Various 1977 Topps Star Wars trading cards featuring Hamill and a 5th series box. TM & ©

Lucasfilm Ltd. Courtesy of Heritage.

you were appearing on Broadway in Harrigan ’n Hart, where you didn’t even want to refer to it by name. You called it “George’s space movies.” MH: Yeah, yeah. But here’s the thing— it sucks all the oxygen out of the room, you know? It’s too big. That’s why I’m saying to you, Glenn, coming back to these movies—I’m perfectly happy being a character actor. That’s all I ever wanted to be. When I went to Broadway, it was because that’s the only place I could find character parts. They’re not going to let me play the Elephant Man on television or film, or in [the movie version of] Amadeus to play Mozart. Tony Hart was a character/ comedian, that’s still my favorite part I think I’ve ever played. But all those parts I did—Room Service [the 1986 off-Broadway production directed by Alan Arkin]! All the critics thought I was playing the Midwestern playwright, the naive playwright. Instead, I’m that sleazy Gordon Miller. And that’s probably the best reviews I ever got because 10

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it had the element of surprise—people didn’t know. I mean, I loved when [then-New York Times theater critic] Frank Rich said, “Like all great Jewish comedians, he allows others to shine.” He was talking about me blending into an ensemble so well. And Marilou, my wife, said, “Well, you’ve always been good, always favored ensembles with good people around you.” I said, “No, no, no—he thinks I’m Jewish!” [laughs] RF: Oh, that’s great. MH: That to me was like a compliment embedded in another statement. RF: Absolutely. MH: The thing is, it’s a matter of message control. In other words, I didn’t dislike Star Wars, I was just trying to make sure that whatever it was that was in the present—I mean, you acknowledge the past, but you have to live in the present and aim for the future, so when I was in whatever play I was in, that was it. At one point, I put in my billing, in the Playbill, something like that, but it was always facetious. It was always meant in good fun and so forth. [Hamill’s entry in the Playbill for the 1987 Broadway production of The Nerd describes him

as having appeared in “George Lucas’ so-called Strategic Defense Initiative trilogy.”] I’m playful. People who follow me on Twitter know now. It’s interesting, it’s taken all these years, but on Twitter, you can actually get some personality across, which is fun. RF: I also think a lot of the perception of you wanting to distance yourself from Star Wars came from you not doing the Return of the Jedi radio show for National Public Radio in 1996. You had played Luke in the radio adaptations of the first two movies, but you didn’t come back for the third one. [Note: The NPR radio adaptations of Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back were produced in, respectively, 1981 and 1983.] MH: That was for a specific reason. And I don’t mention it often, but if you bring it up, I will answer it honestly. Lucasfilm, or Lucas Arts, who produced [the radio shows], told me it was for— and it was—for public radio. We got [paid] scale, and I donated my salary back to public radio, because it was every actor’s dream to try to rekindle interest in radio drama, it was still very popular in England, and it is to this day. But here in the States, it’s gone—it was gone when I was a little boy. The first

RETRO INTERVIEW: MARK HAMILL

two [radio adaptations] were done that way. And then I walked into a bookstore and I saw a display with [them] on sale. And I was not happy. Part of the reason I did [the radio show]—you notice Carrie’s not in it, Harrison’s not in it—I did it because I wanted to become a real advocate for acting plays on the radio. Kids would love it on the way to school! I mean, it’s really too bad that they don’t do it anymore, and it’s a great training ground for actors. People need a place to act and that would be so fantastic. But in any case, [not doing the Return of the Jedi radio drama] was my protest. They apologized, they gave me money—I said, “I don’t want money, that’s the whole point!” If it were an endeavor, like, if you were going to put this out and sell it like a book or whatever, yeah, then you negotiate with my agent. But anyway, that’s all I’ve got [on that topic]. RF: Okay. Mystery solved! MH: It’s like the [Star Wars] Holiday Special—they don’t like me talking about that! RF: Oh, boy! MH: And look, I just talked about it. RF: So, we’ll move on! The release of Episode VIII is months away, and I promised I wouldn’t be delving into that here… that’s not what this article is about. It’s going to be about— MH: Go ahead and try, Glenn! You won’t get very far! RF: [laughs] I’m sure! MH: Seriously, I feel like I’m, in a way, running for perpetual office. Because you employ all these politician skills when you’re out in the public. Sometimes my boys will go, “God, you’re such a phony,” and I say [to them], “That’s the only 90 seconds they’re going to remember of me the rest of their lives.” Because [my sons would be] talking about how I was cranky and mean and all of a sudden I light up when I meet the public, and then go back to being just Mark, and they busted me on it. And I said, “You

(ABOVE) Signed promotional still. (LEFT) Image from the Empire Strikes Back photo card set (Topps, 1980). TM & © Lucas-

film Ltd. Courtesy of Heritage.

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Summer 2019

RETRO TOYS

Major Matt Mason

Major Matt Mason and his space buddy Doug Davis stand with a Gamma Ray-Gard and Mobile Launch-Pad. (INSET) Moon Mission, the Major Matt Mason Big Little Book. Major Matt Mason © Mattel. Photo courtesy of Peter Dibenedetto. Book courtesy of Heritage.

by Joseph Baneth Allen Do you remember the daring exploits of American astronaut Major Matt Mason, who lived on a lunar space station with three other fellow astronauts and explored the unknown worlds of the Solar System? Major Matt Mason—or Triple M, if you prefer— was created by Mattel Toys in 1967 to cash in on the popularity of the American Space Program. Along with his fellow astronauts Lt. Jeff Long—an AfricanAmerican astronaut—Sgt. Storm, and civilian astronaut Don Davis, Mason and America’s brave astronaut team were often assisted by the alien frenemy Captain Lazer when they traveled beyond the Moon. Also helping Major Matt Mason and his crew was their good friend Calisto, a mysterious alien with advanced mental powers, who hailed from Jupiter. Not all aliens in the Major Matt Mason Universe were friendly, though. Attempting to thwart Major Mason and his space buddies was Scorpio, a truly bizarre insectoid alien who was forever hurdling search globes from his gigantic vest on his chest. 20

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Mattel’s Men in Space

Mattel marketed Major Matt Mason as “Mattel’s Man in Space.” Mason and his crew were also known as the “Men in Space.” Even at the height of Major Mason’s popularity, toy astronauts were mostly a “Boys’ Only Club”—although female astronauts were introduced in the Major Matt Mason Big Little Book published by Whitman back in 1968. In Moon Mission, Major Mason and his team confront giant rabbits and huge burrowing worms on the Moon. What makes Moon Mission unique is that it was the first and only Big Little Book published that chronicled the adventures of a popular toy. Another unique aspect of Major Mason and his crew is in their backstories: They were engineers who lived on the Moon, and who dealt with the unforeseen obstacles of space exploration and mysterious all-powerful aliens. Major Mason and his crew were the first action figures/dolls to have “advanced degrees” stressing the importance of science and math.

“Mattel’s Men in Space were the first toys to actually have advanced, albeit fictional, engineering degrees from universities,” says Michelle Parnett-Dywer, curator at the Strong National Museum of Play located at Rochester, New York. Yet apart from the passing mention of the Men in Space having engineering degrees, there was no further backstory for each of the toy astronauts. “There was no backstory [for the Men in Space],” recalls cartoonist Joe King, a former art director for the Licensing Division of Mattel Toys. King started working for Mattel Toys back in the late Seventies and left roughly a decade later. During the toy line’s near-decade-long run, Major Mason and his fellow astronauts were never as popular or as imaginationflexible as G.I. Joes, who weren’t bound to one play environment. Marty Grosser, a fan of Mattel’s Men in Space and the editor of Diamond’s Previews catalog since 1988, concurs. “Well, I was a kid back in the mid-to-late Sixties, so I definitely had my imagination expanded by the Space Program at NASA,” Grosser recalls. “I watched the Moon landing on TV, and all I wanted to be was an astronaut—that, of course didn’t last. But

landings, and Major Matt Mason allowed us to participate in our imaginations. The Men in Space and their various accessories— which included satellite launchers, re-entry shuttles, and space stations—were one of the top ten toys in the Sixties.”

Following in Joe’s Boots

Yet without Hasbro, Inc. taking the—then for its time—highstakes gamble on its line of G.I. Joe figures for boys, Mattel’s Men in Space never would have been launched off the conceptual drawing table. When Hasbro proved the popularity of boy-oriented play dolls—pointedly called action figures, not dolls, by their

still, I filled in my dreams of space travel by playing with Matt Mason, Calisto, Captain Lazer, Scorpio, and the rest, [filling] in the missing pieces from the Colorforms Outer Space Men—Colossus Rex ruled! —and the Zeroids. “The only thing that would eventually drag me away from the Space Race was the Kung-Fu Grip of G.I. Joe’s Adventure Team— another great set of toy memories there!” “We all were Apollo Kids,” says vintage action-figure collector Peter J. Dibenedetto. “We were all excited about the Moon The Major Matt Mason line featured a “universe” of imaginative products. (BOTTOM RIGHT) Captain Lazer is Mason’s towering ally in this promo graphic. © Mattel.

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Summer 2019

CELEBRITY CRUSHES

by Rose Rummel-Eury When my family moved from California to North Carolina in 1966, we began a new chapter in our lives—one that finally included a television. I was late to the game because I was already eight years old. Today when my husband asks me what shows I liked as a little kid, I really don’t know what to say. While I occasionally saw The Mickey Mouse Club or reruns of Kukla, Fran and Ollie on a neighbor’s TV, my family did not gather around a set in the evenings so there was no chance of becoming emotionally invested in any program. I quickly became invested when I spotted a handsome and funny star of a show my daddy and I laughed through every week, called F Troop. When most people refer to the “handsome and funny star” of F Troop, they are thinking about Ken Berry. No, I am not referring to Mr. Berry! My first TV crush happens to be… Larry Storch! Lawrence Samuel Storch, born January 8, 1923 (96 and going strong as of this writing), captured my attention from the first time I saw Corporal Randolph Agarn make a goofy face and take a pratfall. I wanted to kiss him on the mouth. I didn’t know it at the time, but this little, obviously heterosexual girl was being imprinted. Years later, I discovered that Mr. Storch could imitate numerous stars and he also provided character voices for Hey, lovelorn, quit sobbing into your pillow and writing diary entries—instead, share your Sixties/Seventies/Eighties Celebrity Crushes with RetroFan readers! (Celebrity stalkers, please do not apply.) You can become famous, get three free copies of the magazine, and earn a whopping $10 as well. Submit your 600-word-maximum Celebrity Crushes column to the editor for consideration at euryman@gmail.com. 26

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animation. Larry is a voice genius! Did you know that in the late Sixties, he was the first actor to be the voice of the Joker in The Adventures of Batman produced by Filmation? Currently, I keep up with his antics on Facebook. There, I have the pleasure of seeing him learn how to paint, write on-thefly poetry about wine, and wish other celebrities like Julie Newmar a “Happy Birthday.” You’ve still got the charm and the humor, Larry! Television again provided me with another crush: the Monkees’ Micky Dolenz. At the time, I was holding “slap fights” with my sister over our one black-and-white TV. One of us would get up and change the channel and the other would change it back. I don’t even remember what she wanted to watch—all I know is, it wasn’t The Monkees! While she was aging out of enjoying their exploding silliness, I was definitely a member of their targeted demographic. George Michael Dolenz, Jr., born March 8, 1945, had a mop of hair and lopsided grin that stole my heart. I wanted to kiss him on the mouth, too. He was cute, funny, and he could sing. Another imprint? There would be other crushes: Peter from The Brady Bunch in 1969, Michael Jackson with “ABC” from 1970, and the smooth stylings of Perry Como (don’t ask). My last television crush before moving into puberty was Robert Conrad. Now, he wasn’t funny—he was just purty. I really wanted to kiss him on the mouth! Once puberty hit, the early crushes were all discarded in favor of John Denver, James Taylor, and David Gates from Bread. As I spent hours spent crying through “Leaving on a Jet Plane,” “Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight,” and “Baby I’m-a Want You,” my earlier fascination with Larry Storch melted away. I was entering the dark age of unrequited love and loneliness—the teen age. However, years later, the early imprinting of comedy and song led me to my husband—funny, handsome, and a good singer. I did kiss him on the mouth. ROSE RUMMEL-EURY has worked in the corporate textbook and self-publishing fields for almost 30 years, and has been married to RetroFan editor Michael Eury even longer.

F Troop © Warner Bros. The Monkees © Rhino Entertainment Company.

My TV Crushes

WILL MURRAY’S 20TH CENTURY PANOPTICON

The

Tarzan

PHOTO: Pixabay-bere69.

First Time I Met by Will Murray

If the name Will Murray rings a bell, I’ve gotten around in the last 40-odd years of freelancing. For some 25 years, I was Boston correspondent for Starlog and her sister magazines, Fangoria and Comics Scene. I traveled to movie locations around the world and interviewed tons of talent. Comic books, pulp magazines, oldtime radio, film, TV, and other expressions of American popular culture have been my meat, man and boy, fan and professional writer. I bought some of the earliest Marvel Comics off the

newsstands before the days of comic shops. I belong to the Baby Boom generation whose dimes helped build the present Marvel Entertainment empire. As a fiction writer, I’ve stepped into the literary shoes of some of my favorite writers. My first brush with pulp fiction was reading Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter of Mars series. I’ve since gone on to revive his greatest creation in Tarzan: Return to Pal-ul-don and the acclaimed King Kong vs. Tarzan. I contributed

Will Murray’s lifelong jungle fever probably dates back to this 1959 theatrical release starring Gordon Scott, Tarzan’s Greatest Adventure. Note this movie poster’s still of the film’s aftermath of a plane crash. Tarzan TM & © ERB, Inc. Courtesy of Heritage.

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Summer 2019

COMICS MAGAZINES FROM TWOMORROWS BACK ISSUE

BACK ISSUE celebrates comic books of the 1970s, 1980s, and today through a variety of recurring (and rotating) departments, including Pro2Pro interviews (between two top creators), “Greatest Stories Never Told”, retrospective articles, and more. Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

BACK ISSUE #113

ALTER EGO

ALTER EGO, the greatest ‘zine of the ‘60s, is all-new, focusing on Golden and Silver Age comics and creators with articles, interviews and unseen art. Each issue includes an FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America) section, Mr. Monster & more. Edited by ROY THOMAS.

ALTER EGO #160

COMIC BOOK CREATOR

COMIC BOOK CREATOR is the new voice of the comics medium, devoted to the work and careers of the men and women who draw, write, edit, and publish comics, focusing always on the artists and not the artifacts, the creators and not the characters. Edited by JON B. COOKE.

COMIC BOOK CREATOR #19

DRAW!

DRAW! is the professional “How-To” magazine on cartooning and animation. Each issue features in-depth interviews and step-by-step demonstrations from top comics professionals. Some issues contain figure-drawing instruction nudity; Mature Readers Only. Edited by MIKE MANLEY.

DRAW #36

JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR

JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR celebrates the life and career of the “King” of comics through interviews with Kirby and his contemporaries, feature articles, and rare & unseen Kirby artwork, showcased in dynamic full-color! Edited by JOHN MORROW.

KIRBY COLLECTOR #77

REMEMBERING STEVE DITKO! Sturdy Steve at Marvel, DC, Warren, Charlton, and elsewhere! A rare late-1960s Ditko interview by RICHARD HOWELL— biographical notes by NICK CAPUTO— tributes by MICHAEL T. GILBERT, PAUL LEVITZ, BERNIE BUBNIS, BARRY PEARL, ROY THOMAS, et al. Plus FCA, JOHN BROOME, BILL SCHELLY, and more! Spider-Man cover by DITKO!

Celebrating the greatest fantasy artist of all time, FRANK FRAZETTA! From THUN’DA and EC COMICS to CREEPY, EERIE, and VAMPIRELLA, STEVE RINGGENBERG and CBC’s editor present an historical retrospective, including insights by current creators and associates, and memories of the man himself. PLUS: Frazetta-inspired artists JOE JUSKO, and TOM GRINDBERG, who contributes our Death Dealer cover painting!

MIKE HAWTHORNE (Deadpool, Infinity Countdown) interview, YANICK PAQUETTE (Wonder Woman: Earth One, Batman Inc., Swamp Thing) how-to demo, JERRY ORDWAY’s “Ord-Way” of creating comics, JAMAR NICHOLAS reviews the latest art supplies, plus Comic Art Bootcamp by BRET BLEVINS and MIKE MANLEY! May contain nudity for figure-drawing instruction; for Mature Readers Only.

MONSTERS & BUGS! Jack’s monster-movie influences in The Demon, Forever People, Black Magic, Fantastic Four, Jimmy Olsen, and Atlas monster stories; Kirby’s work with “B” horror film producer CHARLES BAND; interview with “The Goon” creator ERIC POWELL; Kirby’s use of insect characters (especially as villains); MARK EVANIER and our other regular columnists, Golden Age Kirby story, and a Kirby pencil art gallery!

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ANDY MANGELS’ RETRO SATURDAY MORNING

Craig Littler strikes a heroic pose as Jason, with the logo of his series and the anthology series which featured it. Jason of Star Command

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 crosslegged leaning against the couch, and dig in to Retro Saturday Morning! “Danger hides in the stars! This is the world of Jason of Star Command… A spaceage soldier of fortune determined to stop the most sinister force in the universe… The creator and director of Jason of Star Command, Arthur Nadel, stands behind Peepo the robot in the cockpit of the Starfire, with producer Lou Scheimer. Jason of Star Command © 1978 Filmation Associates.

Dragos, Master of the Cosmos! Aiding Jason in his battle against evil is a talented team of experts, all working together in a secret section of Space Academy. Jason of Star Command!” The announcer’s voice was Filmation co-creator Lou Scheimer, but the intonation and visuals promised pure science-fiction space-adventure serial, translated to Saturday mornings. With a hero that could have been Han Solo’s brother, a one-eyed villain that was television’s scariest-looking bad guy, and special effects unrivalled on television, Jason of Star Command pushed viewers into hyperspace!

Graduating from Space Academy

Founded in the early Sixties by animators Lou Scheimer and Hal Sutherland, with ex-disc jockey Norm Prescott, Filmation Associates had been riding high on Saturday morning animation since the 1966 debut of their The New Adventures of Superman series. Although the majority of their shows were animated spin-offs based on live-action licensed properties—Fantastic Voyage, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Batman, The Brady Kids, Star Trek, Lassie’s Rescue Rangers, and The New Adventures of Gilligan, to name a few—Filmation eventually branched out to live-action original series. Beginning with Shazam! RetroFan

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andy mangels’ retro saturday morning

effects and creatures. So one day, I packed up my portfolio, and I walked down the streets of Hollywood, and down the streets of the valley, wherever there was a studio, and I just knocked on doors. And Filmation Studios was one of the doors that actually opened for me.” The receptionist showed Buechler’s work to Art Nadel and Lou Scheimer. “I had no idea they were doing anything like Jason of Star Command or what have you, but I got lucky. I walked into the right place at the right time with what they wanted at the moment.” Buechler was hired to do the live-action creature ef fects on Jason, whether that was a make-up ef fect, a mask, or a full-body creature. “They wanted, I guess, sort of a Star Wars-y kind of feel to it, where there were guys with blue faces and green faces and the scales and stuf f walking down the corridors. I actually worked in the model kit area before I graduated to doing character make-up ef fects, because they hadn’t written any scripts yet, so they didn’t know what they wanted me to build. Af ter they wrote some scripts, ‘Okay, this one shoots Monday, go for it.’ The first episode, I think, I had five creatures in it. Full body, hands, faces, bodies, breastplates, everything. Ta-da! “Basically, I was given scripts and they said, ‘We need these creatures,’ and they were sort of called beast creatures without any kind of description. I had kind of carte blanche to make them look like whatever I wanted them to. The only real problem was the time and the money. There was no time, and there was no money, I was like an army of one, doing all the creatures. And there were a lot of creatures! They had a boardroom filled with these things.” Buechler would create color renderings of the creature ideas, based on the screenplay given to him, and show them to Nadel, who would pick his favorites. “The process would then be for me to throw some clay on a life mask and start sculpting very quickly, make a mold, and start pumping out foam applications of the mask. Meanwhile, I’d begin to build the musculature understructure. I’d start with a Spandex body stocking, I’d use foam, like upholstery foam, build muscle groups on it, glue it to the body stocking. Then I’d spatulate foam latex over the muscles, and I’d put aluminum foil over it, bake it with a hair dryer, because I didn’t have a walk-in oven at the time. Then I’d paint it, stick hair on it if it needed it, and it was done!” On Dragos’ Dragonship, there was a scrum of aliens gathered around a meeting table, and the menagerie became a favorite grouping for Buechler. “I’d say that there’s a soft spot in my heart for the boardroom of monsters at Dragos’ table. None of them were really terrific works of art, but 42

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The aliens of Dragos' boardroom often changed. This shot, from the opening credits of Season Two, included one seated front right who is conspicuously wearing blue jeans and tennis shoes! (INSET) John Carl Buechler in an interview for the Jason DVD set. (BELOW) Buechler’s aliens and monsters were impressive for Saturday mornings! Jason of Star Command © 1978 Filmation Associates.

I think in context, with the color and the lighting, and with Dragos there… the monsters didn’t have any dialogue, they were, ‘Ruhr ruhr ruhr ruhr ruhr,’ it was just fine! You have to look at one of these shows in the context of what it is: It’s a kids TV show that goes on Saturday mornings, and given the limited resources, I think it turned out just fine! A little funky, but fun.” Having had a successful career after Jason of Star Command, Buechler carries a fondness for the show in his heart. “Regarding restrictions on an artists work when you’re doing a TV series, whether it’s wardrobe, make-up effects, actors, directors, whether you are working for George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, or Roger Corman, it’s always the same worry: not enough time, not enough money. And that was certainly true of Jason of Star Command. Essentially, they tried doing a really, really top-drawer show with a very minimal budget, and I think it succeeded on many levels for the time.”

Guest Starring in the Cosmos

Two femme fatales familiar to genre fans bedeviled Jason and his friends on the series: Julie Newmar as the first season’s Space Queen Vanessa, and Francine York as Season Two’s Queen Medusa. Of Newmar, Littler says that she was a “very stately woman, sort of bigger than life. She had a very caricature sort of quality about her, very tall, and very sort of elegant. She was in this ridiculous outfit, as I recall, this whole body suit… sort of overpowering.” Sid Haig agrees with the assessment. “Julie Newmar is an amazing, amazing woman. I don’t know why her career didn’t send her straight to the

andy mangels’ retro saturday morning

moon, because she was not only a good actress, but she is just… she’s elegant. She wanted to meet the person she was going to be working with before she signed to do the show, because she didn’t want to work with somebody shorter than she was; she was very relieved that she and I were the same height. As it turned out, we only interacted through monitors, because we never were physically in a scene together.” Shortly after, Haig and Newmar did work together again, on an episode of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. Glamorous Francine York had a career arc similar to that of Newmar’s, and she took on the role of a second scheming space queen in Jason’s second season. “She was always prepared, she always gave a huge commitment to whatever she was doing at any given time,” says Haig. “She was a great foil for me, even though we were kind of on the same side. In various scenes, she would bring me to task for what it was that I was doing, and then I would have to almost defend myself to someone who was, story wise, inferior in terms of the pecking order. She was able to pull that off really well.” Only two characters actually crossed over from Space Academy: Peepo the robot, and Matt Prentiss. Both were played by John Berwick… sort of. Peepo was a radio-controlled

Julie Newmar as Space Queen Vanessa and Francine York as Queen Medusa are glad they never walked the intergalactic red carpet together, since they both clearly used the same clothing designer! Jason of Star Command © 1978 Filmation Associates.

robot with arms and a swiveling head with a glowing faceplate. During filming, Berwick would read Peepo’s lines, but the dialogue would be replaced later by the voice of Lou Scheimer’s daughter, Erika. Berwick also read the lines of W 1K1 on set, which were replaced with the sped-up vocal tracks of Larry Storch doing a Chinese-like gibberish for the Ping and Pong characters on the animated The Brady Kids. A few years prior, Berwick had waited on Arthur Nadel at an Italian restaurant, and Nadel asked him to audition for Space Academy. Although he didn’t get that role, Berwick did become an assistant to Nadel, supervising the scripts, being a stand-in for actors, occasionally rewriting scripted scenes on set, casting extras, and eventually playing a guest role on Space Academy as cocky Lieutenant Matt Prentiss. “That episode went

really well, and the year after, when Jason of Star Command started up, they approached me again to play Matt Prentiss in that series. For some reason, I’d been captured by Dragos, and put into some type of time warp, where I was moving so fast, people couldn’t see me, and my metabolic system was sped up to the point where I was aging very rapidly. And that, of course, presented a problem because the question then became, ‘If he’s aging rapidly, what did he look like? In the last episode, he was very… he was young.’” After an old-age make-up test failed to impress Nadel, Berwick was given a bit of gray hair and a receding hairline to portray the “aging” Prentiss. Berwick also played various creatures on the series, including a second-season Tantalutian ghost, from the same race as Commander Stone, and Tehor, the leader of an angry band of cyclopean ape-like creatures. “I can’t even remember the amount of monsters I was in Jason,” Berwick says, laughing. “The ghost was a great character to play. There was a very elaborate scene, where we first got on the planet, and first met the ghost; we had to fill the entire large soundstage at Filmation West with fog, and it took forever to do this, and the fog drove up against the mountainscape, and got up to a certain perfect level for the shoot. Just as I was cued as the ghost to make my entrance from behind the rock, I stepped on my ghost outfit, and I was trying to raise up from the rock, but couldn’t quite get out. I realized my foot was standing on my costume, and couldn’t see it, because it was hidden by all the smoke. I released my outfit from beneath my shoe, and all of a sudden, the ghost could stand.” Berwick would go on to have a long career at Filmation, including a starring stint as the bullying teen hero Rex Ruthless—in live-action and animation—on the Hero High segments of The Kid Super Power Hour with Shazam! But it was his time on Jason that really changed his life. At the wrap party for Jason of Star Command, he met Art Nadel’s daughter, J. C., and asked her out. “I think within a month or two we moved in together, we lived together for 15 years, and then we got married in 1995, and we’ve been together ever since.”

The Continuing Adventures

CBS debuted Tarzan and the Super 7 at 10:30 a.m. on September 7, 1978, predating primetime’s bigger-budget Battlestar: Galactica by ten days. The 90-minute episodes of the anthology featured rotating segments in the first hour: Slot 1 was either Web Woman or Superstretch and Microwoman; Slot 2 was always Tarzan; Slot 3 was always Jason of Star Command; Slot 4 was either Freedom Force or Manta and Moray. The last half-hour was reruns of the previous season’s The New Adventures of Batman. Sixteen Jason of Star Command segments were produced, as well as introductions by Littler’s Jason for CBS inter-show segments called “In the News.” Even though it was part of an anthology, ratings for individual segments still were trackable. Never dipping below a hef ty 47 share, Jason of Star Command was enough of a hit that CBS renewed the series in early 1979 for a second season. The schedule was shuffled, though, and Jason was broken of f into its own half-hour show; the serialized storylines were mostly jettisoned for shorter plots: twoRetroFan

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andy mangels’ retro saturday morning

are going to be watching me… it’s just finally explain that I starred in Jason of FAST FACTS Star Command, and this kid was an adult amazing! I hope they enjoy watching Jason of Star Command at this point!” them as much as we enjoyed making Sid Haig has continued working them.” `` No. of seasons: Three (two original, one rerun) in Hollywood steadily, still often “I do a lot of horror film `` No. of episodes: 28 playing the bad guy. “Villains are fun conventions, and people definitely, `` Original run: September 9, to play because, at the end of the day, that were growing up in the late 1978–September 5, 1981 you don’t get arrested,” he says with Seventies, remember the Dragos `` Network: CBS a laugh. In 2001, heavy-metal horror character,” says Haig. “They come to `` Creator: Arthur H. Nadel rocker Rob Zombie featured him in a me, they talk about it, and remember music video for “Feel So Numb,” and it fondly. And it’s great to be able Primary Cast shortly afterwards, cast him as the to interact with them. And just be `` Craig Littler: Jason creepy Captain Spaulding in 2003’s there and get their take on what the `` Charlie Dell: Professor E. J. House of 1000 Corpses (which has show was about, and what it meant Parsafoot `` Sid Haig: Dragos spawned multiple sequels). But it was to them. For the time, Jason of Star `` Susan O’Hanlon: Captain at Zombie’s 2002 wedding to Sheri Command was probably one of the Nicole Davidoff (Season One) Moon that Haig learned exactly why he most expensive shows, certainly `` James Doohan: Commander had been chosen. “I was talking with for Saturday morning TV. We had Canarvin (Season One) his brother, and he said, ‘You know, this all these great special ef fects, all `` Tamara Dobson: Samantha is really weird.’ And I said, ‘What, the these gewgaws that flew around (Season Two) wedding?’ And he said, ‘No, standing and did things. It captured more `` John Russell: Commander here talking to you.’ I said, ‘What do of the imagination, as opposed to Stone (Season Two) you mean?’ He said, ‘Well, when Rob the early days, the Fif ties, of space`` Larry Storch: Voice of W1K1 and I were kids, we used to get up every related programs, where you saw the in Season One, uncredited Saturday morning and watch you on little sparkler hanging out the back `` Erika Scheimer: Voice of Peepo (uncredited) Jason of Star Command.’ And that stuck end of the spaceship, just kind of `` Lou Scheimer: Various voices with [Rob] all those years, and when he fluttering away on the strings. It broke of Academy and Dragos’ had an opportunity to give me the goa lot of ground in terms of children’s underlings (uncredited) ahead on this role, he took it!” television.” From Filmation’s closing in 1989, With its action-oriented serialized Lou Scheimer showcased keepsakes plots, cutting-edge special ef fects, of his company all throughout his home atop a hill in Tarzana, and memorable space-age heroes and villains, Jason of Star California. There were gold records from The Archies, toys from Command will be remembered by audiences for as long as… He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, and a five-foot cutout danger hides in the stars. of Fat Albert’s head. Behind the bar were his Emmy Award for Unless otherwise credited, the quotes from Lou Scheimer are from Star Trek and his Annie Award and Inkpot Award. In his guest the autobiography he wrote with Andy Mangels, Lou Scheimer: room was the actual Peepo, Creating the Filmation Generation. Mangels’ interviews with standing sentry in the corner, Craig Littler, Sid Haig, John Berwick, Chuck Comisky, Jim Aupperle, while part of W 1K1 sat on the table next to a couch. And on and John Carl Buechler were conducted in 2006–2007. Artwork and his dining room table—later photos are courtesy the collection of Andy Mangels. moved to his office window— was the three-foot model of Dragos’ Dragonship. ANDY MANGELS is the USA Today Littler remembers working bestselling author and co-author of 20 on the show fondly. “A lot of books, including the TwoMorrows book hard work was put into them, Lou Scheimer: Creating the Filmation a lot of dedicated actors and Generation, as well as Star Trek and producers and directors and set Star Wars tomes, Iron Man: Beneath designer and a lot of effort was the Armor, and a lot of comic books. He put into that show to entertain recently wrote the bestselling Wonder Woman ’77 Meets the kids.” With fans now having Bionic Woman series for Dynamite and DC Comics. Additionally, watched Jason on DVD, he notes he has scripted, directed, and produced Special Features and The cover to the 1980 Jason that, “You talk about the whole documentaries for over 40 DVD releases. He is now working on a of Star Command novel. cycle coming around to [those] book about the stage productions of Stephen King and a second Jason of Star Command © 1978 kids watching me are now in book about Filmation. His moustache is infamous. www. Filmation Associates. their 30s and 40s, and their kids AndyMangels.com and www.WonderWomanMuseum.com 46

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RETRO FOOD & DRINK

TV Dinners

Dial D for Dinner! TV set-styled packaging for Swanson’s original 1954 Turkey Dinner. (BACKGROUND) Swanson’s TV Dinner ad circa 1970. © Pinnacle Foods Corporation.

by Rod Labbe Picture this: 1957, a sunny summer weekday afternoon. I’m four, and my “big sister,” Sue, is 11. We’re sitting comfortably in front of the television, watching Sky King, and waiting for Mom to bring us dinner (or “supper,” as she called it). Everything’s ready: the TV trays have been set up, utensils and napkins are where they should be, I have a big tumbler of Orange Crush with a bendy straw and plenty of ice, and Sue’s drinking frosty cold Coca-Cola. We share salt, pepper, and ketchup. Only Heinz Ketchup, please. It’s still our condiment of choice. “Who gets the turkey?” Mom yells. “Me!” I yell back, excitedly sitting up. “Turkey’s yummy!” “And Sue, yours is fried chicken?” “Yup!” “Okay, here they come, piping hot!” Mom swoops out dramatically from the kitchen, two plaid oven mitts protecting her hands. In each, she’s holding a gleaming, steaming aluminum serving dish.

Like an expert waitress, she slides the dishes onto our trays, and we’re immediately overwhelmed by enticing smells, textures, and a cacophony of color. Potatoes and vegetables are mouthwatering. Battered chicken is crisp; my turkey rests atop a bed of seasoned gravy and stuffing. Ah, middle class nirvana, American-style! Now, before you think my mother was some culinary whiz, à la Julia Child, think again. Rather than possessing multiple limbs and a varied, restaurant-quality menu, Ma had plugged into one of the newest crazes then sweeping America—the ultraeconomical Swanson Frozen TV Dinner. Cost: 98 cents, U.S. Preparation: simple, easy, and quick. Just open an end flap, slip out the neatly wrapped aluminum “capsule,” pop into any oven, and heat according to instructions. Voila! Twenty-five minutes later, remove the foil covering, and a lip-smacking entree is revealed. I fancied turkey most because it tasted exactly like what we had at Thanksgiving. Even the peas were wonderful: bright green, fresh, and “just right.” And I usually hated peas! RetroFan

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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

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RETRO TELEVISION

The Greatest American Hero

by Dan Hagen Stephen J. Cannell didn’t like superheroes. He thought they were stupid. Cannell, one of American TV’s most successful writerproducers, never read superhero comic books and didn’t watch superhero TV shows. The superhero was, as he put it, “a BS genre.” But superhero shows had provided ABC-TV with some of its biggest hits, including Batman and The Six Million Dollar Man, and the network wanted another one. What ABC also wanted, undoubtedly, was to replicate the success of Richard Donner’s recent Superman film (1978)—a tall order for a small screen. Network television was a quotidian, kitchen-sink medium, generally uncomfortable with superheroes or anything else so spectacular that it might be out of place in Mary Tyler Moore’s modest living room. Some superhero TV shows, like the Sixties’ Mr. Terrific or the Seventies’ Spider-Man, had been dismal failures that nobody involved seemed to believe in—pre-sold packages produced by cynics, as author Jon Abbott described them in his book Stephen J. Cannell Television Productions: A History of All Series and Pilots. Audiences are likely to reject a show if they sense that its producers have contempt for them. But Kenneth Johnson’s successful series The Incredible Hulk, still airing on CBS at the time,

had shown that a superhero show might tackle serious social problems like child abuse, and need not be camp. Nevertheless, navigating such a primetime series around the pitfalls of absurdity and cheesiness remained a tall order. ABC thought Cannell could do it. He wasn’t so sure. “By that time in my career, I had learned not to say no in the room, but to always bring the piece of meat back to the den and kind of sniff it for a while before I kick it out in the sand,” Cannell recalled in an interview for the Archive of American Television. “So I said, ‘Let me think about it. Maybe, something.’ I was sort of thinking, ‘I’m never going to do this.’ ” All right, so superheroes were BS. Where to go from there? Wait a minute, Cannell thought. The private detective genre was also BS, and yet he had created one of the most successful private-eye series in TV history, The Rockford Files. How had he done that? By pretending he was Jim Rockford. “What would I do if I was Rockford?” Cannell said. “If I had a guy pull a gun on me, I’d give him my watch. So I always knew what Rockford would do, because it was exactly what I would do.” Okay, then. What if he, television writer Steve Cannell, were given a caped, Cannell’s series were examined in this 2009 book published by McFarland. © 2009 Jon Abbott.

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RETRO television

Early publicity photo for the series spotlighting its cast, (LEFT TO RIGHT) Robert Culp, William Katt, and Connie Sellecca. The Greatest American Hero © Stephen J. Cannell Productions.

superpowered suit by aliens and told that while wearing it, he could accomplish great good for the globe? Cannell mused about that. “I’ve got TV shows on the air, I’ve got networks calling me up wanting me to do pilots, and I’m going to put on this spandex outfit with a cape and run around in the street? What would I do? And what happens when I get arrested the first time, and my wife comes down and goes, ‘What are you doing?’ And I’m, ‘Oh, this is for Bud and Joan’s costume party.’ The second time I get caught, what am I going to say? All of a sudden, that starts to be funny to me.”

“That’s right!” Lee said. “And here’s a guy who’d be considered totally square. He believes in liberty and freedom and the flag. It was the Vietnam War, and nobody was interested in war anymore. People were turned of f. So I figured, ‘Let’s give it a shot.’ So that was the reason for the man out of time, out of sync. “One thing I always tried to do was take things that are disadvantages, and try to make a plus out of them,” Lee recalled. Cannell, too, was well practiced at turning genre weaknesses into strengths. “In many ways, Stephen Cannell is to TV what Stan Lee was to the comic-book industry—both present us with heroes who are vigilantes, Robin Hoods, and anti-heroes, flawed, vulnerable, tongue-in-cheek pastiches of harder, straighter fare,” Abbott wrote. “Like Lee’s Sixties Marvel superheroes, Cannell’s TV heroes—particularly those of the early Eighties (Greatest American Hero, Hardcastle and McCormick, The A-Team, Riptide, Hunter)—are living in a halfway world too real to be as phony as the fantasy environments of more straight-faced entries in their chosen genres, too fake to be confused with grim reality. Stan Lee took superheroes out of impossibly pure characterizations and makebelieve locales, and dropped them squarely in an equally fictional environment that more closely resembled reality… Cannell played the same trick with the TV hero.”

Clothes Make the (Super)Man

The Cannell shows were a matter of deftly navigating between dramatic poles. They winked at the inherent absurdity of fictional genres like private eyes and superheroes, even as they provided moments of heartfelt heroics. In the Mighty Marvel Manner The reluctant hero, the superhero, and superhuman high In a way, Cannell did for TV what Marvel Comics editor Stan Lee jinks—Cannell’s recipe successfully mixed ingredients from had done for comic books a decade before. Like Cannell, Lee took The Rockford Files, The Adventures of Superman, and Bewitched into pride in the dramatic jiu-jitsu of turning plot pitfalls into peaks— something fresh. repurposing something that might be regarded as a liability and Co-star Robert Culp said this approach was typical making it a storytelling advantage. of Cannell’s creativity. “What Steve is good at is taking a Take Captain America, for example. Lee wanted to revive the lighthearted approach to a genre, if you will, and kind of Forties character in 1964, but was worried that Sixties readers putting a twist on it that no one else would think of but Steve wouldn’t accept a cornball character dressed in red, white, and Cannell,” Culp told David Anthony Kraft’s Comics Interview blue tights. magazine. “Over the years we had tried to resurrect him, and he never Perhaps Cannell’s cleverest idea was to build the worked,” Lee recalled. “After World War II ended, he was just a superpowers right into the alien superhero suit. That required guy in a dumb costume running around. I mean, that’s the way a Ralph Hinkley (William Katt) to wear the embarrassing costume, lot of people perceived him. something no one would ordinarily do, and thereby provided a “So I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be fun to convincing explanation for an otherwise say he had been frozen in the ice for these inexplicable comic-book convention. FAST FACTS two decades or whatever it was, and now The 1981 pilot film, written by Cannell and directed by Rod Holcomb, plays he’s back?’ I’m always trying to give them The Greatest American Hero both up and against such comic-book a personality hook or a character trait that ` ` No. of seasons: three superhero conventions, spotlighting would make them unique. And I thought, ` ` No. of episodes: 45 (four them in witty ways. ‘Wouldn’t it be great? Here’s a guy who’s unaired) While Ralph’s trying on the suit been out of it for 20 years, and suddenly `` Original run: March 18, everything is changed.’ He never knew for the first time, his young son Kevin 1981–February 3, 1983 what a hippie was. There are hippies, there (Brandon Williams) is in the next room `` Cast: William Katt, Robert are guys smoking marijuana, all those watching TV. So Ralph’s costume change Culp, Connie Sellecca, things…”. is conducted to the accompaniment of Michael Paré, Faye Grant, So against the public’s disintegrating the absurd stentorian tones of Ted Knight Jesse D. Goins belief in America, Marvel Comics would `` Network: ABC narrating the Seventies Justice League juxtapose Captain America himself. cartoon Super Friends. 52

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So Ralph, already weirded out, hears Batman say, “What we need is one more Super Friend who can fly!” By contrast, Cannell’s villains had a distinctly real-world vibe. In the pilot, written by Cannell, Ralph and Bill are pitted against fascist religious fanatics. The aliens play the sound of Hitler rallies on Bill’s car radio to underline the point of their mission. In the opening scenes, white skinheads chase and capture a black government agent while telling him “Jesus loves you” and singing “Onward Christian Soldiers.” They’re plotting a national military takeover by staging urban riots while assassinating the president. Clearly, America needs help, and the aliens’ idea—Cannell’s idea—of who ought to help it makes sense. Who would have the kind of character you could entrust with vast superhuman powers? A compassionate caretaker, a protector, someone with the best interests of others at heart. Ralph Hinkley is a dedicated high school special-ed teacher undaunted even by the hostile, violent students in his class. Ralph’s liberalism was balanced by his partner’s no-nonsense conservatism. Ralph’s tough-guy student Tony Villicana (Michael Paré) picks a fight with a stranger at a lunch counter, remarking that he doesn’t like the man’s “Eliot Ness” wardrobe. “If you’re looking for trouble, you’ve just come across the West Coast distributor,” replies FBI agent Bill Maxwell (Culp), whose instantly produced revolver trumps Villicana’s switchblade. Mysterious events bring these unlikeliest of companions together in the desert night near Palmdale, California, as an alien spaceship descends. They find themselves locked in Bill’s stalled car as the car radio, moving instantly from station to station, telegraphs a message. “You… will… not... be… harmed… You… will… listen… you… will… decide.” The voice of Bill’s partner comes on the radio to explain that the aliens want Ralph to accept a suit that offers unearthly powers and will work only for him, and for the two of them to function as a team. Bill’s partner teleports down to give them the super-suit, and some advice. “You’ve got to take this on,” he says. “You can change things. Save this planet from destruction.” “Are you all right?” Bill asks. “I’m dead,” the partner replies. “Ain’t that a laugh? Been dead for six hours. The ship picked me up out there afterwards. I’m leaving with them.” The scene, which ought to be camp, isn’t. It’s deliciously eerie, and sets the audience up to accept the absurdities to follow.

Sooner or later, Ralph would discover he possessed superstrength, super-speed, invulnerability to gunfire, invisibility, telekinesis, pyrokinesis, psychometry, precognition, clairvoyance, super-hearing, the power to shrink, and the ability to sense supernatural forces. Of course, Ralph could also fly—sort of. Flight is standard operating procedure for comic-book supermen, but because he’d lost the instructions, Ralph was lousy at it. The novelty of Ralph’s terrified, shaky flights quickly wore off for the audience, Culp recalled. “The very hook that made the series sell—and it made it work for the first year but became a detriment the second year—was that he couldn’t work the suit,” Culp said. “I mean, you have no idea of the mail and the talk on the streets; ‘When is somebody gonna teach that a--hole to fly that suit?’ We all knew that it was going to come to a swift end, and it did. “And pretty soon, what we did in the second year was start to accelerate his ability to find uses for the suit and make it work. And by the time we go to the third year, we didn’t expect too many crashes and too many screamings and falling out of the sky. Only a few.” Ralph’s first flight—undertaken because he’s late for Kevin’s custody hearing—only gets off the ground because Ralph gets advice from a small boy who has presumably watched Superman on TV. “You’re not doing it right,” the boy says. “You’ve got to run like three steps, and jump with your hands out in front of you.” Bill, on the other hand, knows what’s he’s doing in tight spots. Captured by the traitors, Bill remains defiant. “You make me sick,” he tells them. “Buncha chicken hotshot political terrorists hidin’

Winging It

Understandably freaked out, Bill drives away, leaving Ralph in the desert, where he promptly loses the suit’s instruction book. That mishap sets up two ongoing dramatic effects in the series. One is comedic: Ralph’s awkwardness with his powers can be played for laughs in a dozen ways. The other is ingenious: Because Ralph doesn’t know exactly what his powers are, new crowd-pleasing abilities can be introduced as needed. MAD Magazine spoofed The Greatest American Hero in issue #232 (July 1982). Cover by Jack Rickard. MAD TM & ©

E.C. Publications, Inc.

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Ep. 19, “Now You See It,” written by Hasburgh. Stumbling upon the suit’s precognitive powers, Ralph sees a hijacked private jet crash two hours in the future. What he doesn’t know is that the U.S. Air Force will shoot it down, and that Pam will be on board. Ep. 45, “The Greatest American Heroine,” written by Cannell and Babs Greyhosky. Ralph managed to maintain a secret identity in probably the only way it could realistically be done—by never letting the world know that a superhero existed. The terrorists, thieves, and Screen capture from the 1986 Greatest American Heroine pilot, starring Mary Ellen enemy agents he and Maxwell rounded Stuart, with Robert Culp. © Stephen J. Cannell Productions. up were routinely reminded that they’d be regarded as lunatics if they described what they’d actually seen, or thought they’d seen. And Ralph went from secret superhero to regular guest on the Tonight Cannell engineered it so that the exposure of that “secret identity” Show.” Ralph goes Hollywood, and the irritated “little green guys” ended Ralph’s superhero career. return. “Mr. Hinkley,” the aliens tell him dryly. “We saw you on The Hanging Up His Cape Dick Cavett Show.” ABC pulled the plug on the show in February 1983, leaving four Another American ruined by celebrity. episodes unaired. The aliens order Ralph to give the suit to another worthy “You see, we were really on our way,” Culp told me in 1984. “If candidate even as they make humanity forget his existence. Much the network had left us alone for another 30 days, we would still to Bill’s chagrin, and to the strains of Whitney Houston’s song be on the air. But they got trigger-happy and they cut us off just “The Greatest Love of All,” Ralph selects idealistic, compassionate ahead of when we would have owned the time slot.” young teacher Holly Hathaway to continue his mission. Cannell and company went on to give the interrupted story an “You picked a skirt!” Bill howls. “You’ve got me paired up with actual ending in the form of a pilot for a new series, The Greatest Nancy Drew?” And they’re off and flying. American Heroine. So with this pilot, Cannell proved to be again ahead of the In 1986, a grayer Maxwell recounts how Ralph was exposed as American popular culture curve, which would eventually throw its a superhero, adding acerbically, “Before you knew it, my old pal spotlight on just this sort of superwoman. “The essential thing that made the show work was, underneath it all, a kind of sweetness,” Culp said. “A core of sweetness in Ralph that his fiancée, and later his wife, could identify. And there was also a core of that in Maxwell that Maxwell would deny ’till his dying breath.” As they part, Ralph reminisces. “Bill, do you remember the time that I broke your hand when I went to shake it?” “Which time?” Bill replies dryly.

HANNAH SIMONE PHOTO: Genevieve719 (Creative Commons 2.0).

THE GREATEST AMERICAN REBOOT… BOOTED

In September 2017, ABC-TV okayed the production of a pilot for a reboot of The Greatest American Hero, intended for the Fall 2018 line-up. Hannah Simone, fresh from a seven-season run on the sitcom New Girl, starred as Meera, an aimless, Indian-American 30-year-old whose life finds meaning once she discovers a certain scarlet super-suit (instruction manual not included). In the spring of 2018 ABC passed on taking the pilot to series, followed by Simone’s brief social-media outcry lamenting the loss of what would have been “the first brown female superhero on TV.” 56

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DAN HAGEN, a writer who’s a former central Illinois newspaper editor and university journalism instructor, has won numerous awards from the Associated Press, United Press International, the Southern Illinois Editorial Association, and the Illinois Press Association, as well as the Golden Dozen Award for Editorial Writing from the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors. He’s written articles for several magazines in the U.S. and Great Britain, as well as for Marvel Comics and NPR.

INSTRUCTIONS NOT INCLUDED

William Katt An Interview with

by Dan Hagen RetroFan: You sort of grew up on the set of Perry Mason, right? Most of us see your profession as quite glamorous, but, with two actors for parents, did you regard the life of a performer as pretty ordinary?

William Katt: At a young age, there wasn’t any way to gauge the difference between ordinary and extraordinary. It was just what was! Famous faces, I knew from television. Photographers taking photos of our family, days playing hooky from school to go to set with my parents—that was normal! Of course, at the same time, there was joy, there was a lot of darkness and drama

around our house growing up. Mom and dad both actors, careers going in different directions… it was conflicted, to say the least! But that’s pretty normal too, isn’t it? Just watch TMZ and see the ups and downs of entertainment marriages and family life. It’s always best of times, worst of times! No different now than 50 years ago! That’s the business, as they say. Still, I feel lucky to have grown up in it and, looking back, I wouldn’t change a thing. RF: The son of Kit Carson and Della Street—no wonder you grew up to be the Greatest American Hero. What were your mother and father like? WK: My mother and father were complicated people! They both had their

own distinct devils and angels, but that’s what made them attractive to each other and to their fans. That’s what also made them interesting parents! Dad was the son of German immigrants… [he was] born in Brooklyn, New York. He grew up in a rough neighborhood. He was street-smart, tough, a savvy businessman—but incredibly kind and, above all, a man of his word. I learned the true meaning of integrity being raised by him. Although we didn’t get along all the time when I was growing up, I still live by the lessons I learned from him to this day. I should add he was an incredible raconteur, and I wish I had acquired his storytelling abilities. Sadly, I didn’t! I confess I actually bore myself sometimes!

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SCOTT SAAVEDRA’S SECRET SANCTUM

I like popular culture and I like museums. I also like eggs, but that’s a story for another time. My interest in the former was mostly a product of me growing up in the U.S.of A. My interest in the latter was largely due to an uncle and some elephants. I was, maybe, six years old when my father’s oldest brother had taken me to what is now known as the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. We were in the African Mammal Hall, at the end of which stood a massive display of elephants. It was mesmerizing. As we got closer, the display seemed to engulf me. It felt as if we were entering another world. I was in love. My affection for that museum (or any museum, actually) was so powerful that after that first trip I lied to my very dear grandmother, Mama Angela, as we walked home from church one day. Mama Angela, momentarily confused about how to get back to her apartment (it was across the street from the church), asked me which way we needed to go. I pointed in the direction of the elephants, miles away. I figured if I could just get us to the museum I might be able to convince her to let me go in. A few moments later she regained her wits and my cunning plan fell apart. Mama Angela—her back permanently hunched, a result of not receiving adequate medical attention after being struck by a car years earlier—and I walked slowly and silently back to her apartment. I was ashamed of myself for about four or five decades and, yes, post-life I expect to ride the express bus to the Bad Place. That 60

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The Crazy, Cool Stuff We Love On Display (and Why My Mom Liking the Marvel Exhibit Was So Great) by Scott Saavedra

shame, however, didn’t keep me from thinking about museums, which I did… a lot. Eventually, it occurred to me that it would be great to have a museum devoted to the things I loved most in popular culture (you know, the crazy, cool stuf f). And if I couldn’t make such a museum (I couldn’t), then I hoped that someone else would. A few years ago, I’d heard about a museum devoted to science fiction with a Star Trek exhibit that sounded promising. Unfortunately for this California lad, it was in Seattle, Washington, and I had been asked while visiting years ago to not remain in the city. It was a tour-bus driver doing the asking. He either didn’t like my looks or was tired of migration to the area. I’m sure it was my looks. Staying away wasn’t too difficult, until a recent opportunity presented itself thanks to my daughter. She was graduating with honors and two majors from Seattle University (TMI but indulge me, Mom and Dad are proud parents). The ceremony was to be held on Father’s Day at the KeyArena, mere steps away from where that science-fiction museum— recently reconstituted as the Museum of Pop Culture (modern acronym: MoPOP)—was located. The trip to MoPOP was my daughter’s gift to me for Father’s Day (those who wish to say, “Aaaaah” may do so now).

To Music and Beyond

MoPOP was founded by Paul Allen, who, while alive (he died October 15, 2018), was so often referred to as “Microsoft Billionaire Paul Allen” that I half suspected that’s what was on his driver’s

license. The MoPOP designation came in 2016 and is only the most recent name for an institution that began life in 2000 as the Experience Music Project (EMP), with a music focus reflecting Mr. Allen’s lifelong interests. The next incarnation went by the not especially catchy Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame (modern acronym: RuNUTS?). The current manifestation retains elements of its earlier forms while adding a new goal to, as they say with their mission statement, “make creative expression a lifechanging force by offering experiences that inspire and connect our communities” (insert eye roll here). MoPOP is situated at the Seattle Center, location of the 1962 World’s Fair. Close by is the most noted artifact of the fair, the 605-foot Space Needle, about as cool a civic icon as exists in this world. Running through a corner of MoPOP is the Seattle Center Monorail, also a 1962 fair survivor. The MoPop structure was designed by architect Frank Gehry, and its crumpled appearance has not been embraced by everyone. One social media wag called it “the hemorrhoids.” Our group’s reaction to the structure was more prosaic: “How do we get in?” Our small family fellowship—we were but seven souls—managed to find an entrance near a Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream stand silently commanding, “You shall not pass… until you eat our delicious treats!” This almost completely derailed us as it was a hot day, but we needed some real food first. Lunch was at the Culture Kitchen inside the museum (it was fine, but I will say that whoever thought that grilling lettuce

(OPPOSITE PAGE) Much of the display design in the museum is beautiful and striking if not occasionally confusing like this image of Albus Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) seen in the eye of a giant hanging dragonfly. Photos—such as they are —are by the author usless otherwise mentioned. (ABOVE) Seattle’s Space Needle. (LEFT) The Museum of Popular Culture. Photo by Brady Harvey. MoPOP

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RETRO COMICS

at 100 defiance of his overbearing wife (who was written out of the strip). Originally a lanky figure, Barney’s appearance was soon modified by DeBeck into the familiar, cigar-puffing pee-wee whose zany eyes were usually trained toward racing forms and card games. In the July 17, 1922 strip, Barney Google gained a funnyanimal sidekick—a joke of a racehorse named Spark Plug, a.k.a. “Sparky”—whose presence quickly helped the feature, soon retitled Barney Google and Spark Plug, gallop to stardom. Barney Google and Spark Plug were among the first comic-strip characters to become multimedia sensations: merchandise featuring the pair flooded the market throughout the Twenties; lyricist Billy Rose’s 1923 hit novelty song, “Barney Google (with the Goo-Goo-Googly Eyes),” was a hit; and silent comedy shorts, animated theatrical cartoons,

by Michael Eury Google is 100! No, not the internet giant, but one of the funnies’ most successful characters—the dapper, diminutive idler with the zany “goo-goo-googly eyes,” Barney Google. Cartoonist and sports aficionado Billy DeBeck (1890–1942) created Barney Google in a daily comic strip originally titled Take Barney Google, F’rinstance, which premiered on June 17, 1919 on the sports page of a Chicago newspaper. It soon gained wider distribution through King Features Syndicate. The strip’s placement on the sports section was not random, as its unscrupulous protagonist was a rabid fan of boxing, horse racing, and poker, and routinely bet on competitions, in direct (LEFT) Snuffy Smith, the bodacious breakout star of the Barney Google and Snuffy Smith strip, in a 1937 colored pencil-and-ink illustration by the comic’s creator, Billy DeBeck, produced for King Features Syndicate executive Brad Kelly. (RIGHT) The loveable—and merchandisable—Spark Plug was introduced into Barney Google on July 17, 1922. © King Features Syndicate, Inc. Snuffy Smith drawing courtesy of Heritage Auctions.

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RETRO comics

Early Barney Google and Spark Plug products included these dolls of the cartoon stars, produced by Schoenhut in 1922. © King Features Syndicate, Inc. Courtesy of Hakes Auctions.

World War II-era comedy films, and comic books kept them in the public eye outside of the funny papers, all making creator DeBeck a very wealthy man. It seemed like nothing could topple the juggernaut that was Barney Google… …except for another bodacious, pint-sized lazybones, this one with a taste for chicken-thieving and moonshine. In the Thirties, as the Great Depression gripped America, many “hillbillies”—impoverished people of the U.S. Appalachians—fled the mountains for other ports of call, in search of employment. A hillbilly craze of sorts emerged in the popular culture, its poster child being cartoonist Al Capp’s celebrated, long-running Li’l Abner comic strip, which premiered in 1934. Li’l Abner would continue for decades to come and its rustic setting and cornpone humor would influence such later media properties as Ma and Pa Kettle, The Real McCoys, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Hee Haw.

In the November 17, 1934 installment of Barney Google and Spark Plug, Barney, on the lam from the law, ducked into the Appalachian community of Hootin’ Holler, where readers were introduced to a cantankerous, scruffy mountain man named Snuffy Smith—or “Smif,” for y’all flatlanders who don’t speak hillbilly. The checkers-cheatin’ Snuffy, quick to draw shotgun bead on any potential “revenoor” who might be sniffin’ around for his moonshine still, was so shiftless and conniving by comparison, he almost made Barney seem worthy of Rotary Club membership. Barney and Snuffy feuded at first, but once it became clear that readers were fascinated by the backwoods antics of sawed-off Snuffy and his plump wife Loweezy (a.k.a. “Weezy,” although her name was spelled “Lowizie” in her earliest appearances), the fellas got along just fine. Before long, Snuffy took up residence in Barney’s comic strip as its co-star, its title being changed to Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, with Barney often up to no good in the

(also hotsie-totsie) (from Sweet Mama, a character added to Barney Google) 70

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creation and popularization of these slang words and phrases GOOGLE SHAPED OUR LINGO! The is attributed to the comic strip Barney Google and Snuffy Smith:

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hills instead of the city. (This wasn’t the first time this type of takeover happened at King Features. In January of 1929, E. C. Segar’s comic strip Thimble Theatre, then a decade old, introduced a scrappy sailorman named Popeye who quickly muscled his way into being the feature’s lead player.) Credit for Snuffy Smith’s breakout popularity can be partially attributed to reader fatigue from the familiarity of Barney Google’s urban setting and gambling antics. The broader burlesque of Hootin’ Holler, with its rickety shacks and drawlin’ mountaineers, was great for laughs and sight gags—which harried Depression-era readers sorely needed.

Snuffy starred in two live-action wartime comedy films, including 1942’s Hillbilly Blitzkrieg. He also appeared in television animation in (BELOW, TOP) a 1962 syndicated series and (BELOW, BOTTOM) the 1972 telefilm Popeye Meets the Man Who Hated Laughter. © King Features Syndicate, Inc. Poster courtesy of Heritage Auctions.

Original artwork from Barney Google and Snuffy Smith’s first two cartoonists show the difference in their art styles. (TOP) Feature creator Billy DeBeck’s Snuffy was a bodacious force to be reckoned with, as shown in this 1939 Sunday strip. (BOTTOM) Successor Fred Lasswell simplified the art style, making its stars more accessible to a wider audience. This 1954 strip was one of Barney’s last regular appearances before being removed as a regular. ©

King Features Syndicate, Inc. Art scans courtesy of Heritage Auctions.

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An Interview with Snuffy Smith Cartoonist

John Rose

Conducted by Michael Eury Cartoonist John Rose, a member of the National Cartoonists Society and the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists, was born, educated, and resides in the mountains of Virginia. He began cartooning professionally in the late Eighties as a political cartoonist and children’s-feature illustrator. Rose took up residence in Hootin’ Holler in 1998, assisting gag-master Fred Lasswell on King Features’ Barney Google and Snuffy Smith. Upon Lasswell’s death in 2001, Rose was hired to produce the feature. He has deftly maintained the spirit of his predecessor on the strip while subtly earmarking it as his own through contemporary references and through 74

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personal appearances where John meets Snuffy’s fans face to face. Several books have been published collecting Rose’s political, children’s, and Snuffy Smith cartoons. His work has been honored with national and regional awards, the most recent, as of this writing, being 2018’s First Place Award in the Tennessee Press Association’s “Best Use of Humor in an Ad” PSA campaign for his creation of Snuffy Smith-starring “Snuff Out Wildfires Before They Start” toons. I was drawn to Rose’s Barney Google and Snuffy Smith cartoons for two reasons: his accessible, likeable cartooning style and his name. Regarding the latter, I have an uncle named John Rose, my mother’s

maiden name being Rose, and my brother and I often joked that “Uncle Johnny” was drawing Snuffy Smith. But of the cartoonist John Rose I quietly wondered, Could we be related? I finally met John in October 2017 when we were both guests at a convention in the gorgeous hills of Virginia, and we hit it off—and while we’re not related (at least closely), we’re now unofficial “cousins.” RetroFan was in the developmental stages at that time and over dinner I blabbed Barney Google and Snuffy Smith’s third and current cartoonist, John Rose, working on a Snuffy strip in his studio. Courtesy of John Rose.

to John about the magazine. When he mentioned the then-upcoming centennial of the Snuffy Smith strip, the proverbial lightbulb went off over my head—or maybe John drew it there—and the result is this interview and its lead-in article. John Rose graciously answered these questions in late November 2018… and delivered them to me several days before deadline, a real pro!

(LEFT) The Rose family’s 2012 Christmas card, and (BELOW) John’s original artwork for same. © King Features Syndicate, Inc. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions.

RetroFan: I read in your bio that some of your earliest drawings were on your parents’ living room walls. Did that get you into trouble? John Rose: That’s a true story. And no, I didn’t get into trouble. My parents just wallpapered right over them! RF: Who were some of the cartoonists that inspired you during your development as an artist? JR: In addition to Fred Lasswell and Billy DeBeck, there have been many other cartoonists that influenced me. Some of those others include Mort Walker, Mike Peters, Jeff MacNelly, Dik Browne, Charles Schulz, Walt Disney, Jim Henson, and Dr. Seuss. Mike Peters spoke at my college, James Madison University, when I was a student cartoonist working for the student newspaper. This was right around the time when he launched his incredible Mother Goose and Grimm comic strip. One of my art history professors was on the committee that brought him to our school. She knew that I was an aspiring cartoonist, so she invited me to go to dinner with Mike and the committee members before he

spoke! I was so excited! I also attended his wonderful chalk talk, and after Mike’s program, I talked with him and showed him samples of my work. He is a great speaker and gave such a humorous and inspirational presentation. Mike was extremely kind to spend so much of his evening with me! He has the kind of personality that just makes you smile. When I look back on that night, I see it as a real turning point for me in my deciding to be a professional cartoonist. RF: In the late ’80s, you started drawing

professionally as an editorial cartoonist. What were some of your favorite political targets for your cartoons? JR: I have always enjoyed doing a good mix of national and local editorial cartoons, so anyone from the president of the United States to local politicians. RF: In today’s divisive political landscape, what challenges do political cartoonists face? JR: Once I was given the amazing opportunity by King Features in 2001 to be the cartoonist for Barney Google and

It’s a Hootin’ Holler Who’s Who in this scan of original art by John Rose, from A Collection of Great Cartoonists and Illustrators. © King

Features Syndicate, Inc. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions.

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RetroFan #5