Issuu

June 2020 No. 9 $9.95

IT’S COLORIN’ TIME!

THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF COLORING BOOKS

ccount

An EYEwitness A

Seventies’

Captain America

REB BROWN

MEET TV’S

Captain Nice...

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

WILLIAM DANIELS

Whipple! Clara! Madge!

Behind the Commercial Characters

SATURDAY MORNING CARTOON FALL PREVIEWS

Benny Hill Invades America • 8-Track Tapes • Secret ID Quiz & more! 1

82658 00401

FEATURING <right> Ernest Farino • Andy Mangels • Scott Saavedra • Scott Shaw! • Michael Eury

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CONTENTS American Comic Book Chronicles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Companion Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Digital Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Comics Artists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Modern Masters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Jack Kirby Publications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

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Jack Kirby Collector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Draw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Write Now (and “how-to” books) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Comic Book Creator/Comic Book Artist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Alter Ego . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Rough Stuff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Back Issue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 RetroFan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 BrickJournal (LEGO® magazine) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

respective owners.

All characters TM & © their

Pop Culture Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 LEGO® Publications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

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2020

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The crazy cool culture we

grew up with

CONTENTS Issue #9 June 2020

Columns and Special Features

Retro Super-Heroes TV Captain America Reb Brown interview

Scott Saavedra’s Secret Sanctum Ad Men & Women: Favorite Characters from TV Commercials

Retro Television Captain Nice

Retro Interview William Daniels and Bonnie Bartlett

Andy Mangels’ Retro Saturday Morning Cartoon Preview Specials, Part One

Oddball World of Scott Shaw! America’s Best TV Comics (1968)

Ernest Farino’s Retro Fantasmagoria The Cyclops

Departments

Retrotorial

Too Much TV Quiz

Retro Toys The Wonderful World of Coloring Books

Retro Brit Benny Hill

RetroFad 8-Track Tapes

Celebrity Crushes

Retro Travel The Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention – Hunt Valley, Maryland

RetroFanmail

ReJECTED RetroFan fantasy cover by Scott Saavedra

RetroFan™ #9, June 2020. Published bimonthly by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614. Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief. John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Office: RetroFan, c/o Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief, 112 Fairmount Way, New Bern, NC 28562. Email: euryman@gmail.com. Six-issue subscriptions: $67 Economy US, $101 International, $27 Digital. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Captain America cover artwork by Lin Workman. Captain America, the Thing, Mr. Fantastic © Marvel. Captain Nice © NBC. The Cyclops © Allied Artists. All Rights Reserved. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2020 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING. ISSN 2576-7224

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michael Eury PUBLISHER John Morrow CONTRIBUTORS Brian Chrisagis Shawn Chrisagis Michael Eury Ernest Farino Dan Hagen Andy Mangels Ian Millsted Joe Pavlansky Scott Saavedra Scott Shaw! DESIGNER Scott Saavedra PROOFREADER Rob Smentek SPECIAL THANKS Ron Adams Gary Browning Gene Carpenter Ted Davenport Mark Evanier Ed Felinski Martin Grams, Jr. Joe Harvey Heritage Auctions Laura Inglis Laura Kooyman Marvel Comics Mark Thomas McGee Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention Chuck Rothman Rose Rummel-Eury Stephen Sansweet Bryan Schemine Cheryl Spoehr Universal Television Robb Versandi Pete Vilmur Leon R. Vincent Mark Wolf Steven Woolf Lin Workman VERY SPECIAL THANKS Bonnie Bartlett Reb Brown William Daniels Dennis Klein Terence H. Winkless Chuck Woolery

RetroFan

Miniskirts and 8-tracks. For most, these fashion and music fads are linked only by their Sixties heritage, but I can’t think of one without the other coming to mind. My first direct exposure to 8-track tapes was in the fall of 1969, when my next-door neighbor and classmate Babs and I were driven to junior high each morning by Babs’ older sister Becky, a high school student who had a powder-blue Mustang. Becky, like the Brady Bunch girls of that new TV show that had just premiered, was lovely and had hair of gold. And like Marcia Brady, she wore miniskirts—the mini-er, the merrier. The plump, shy 12-year-old me had a clear view of Becky’s bare knees protruding below her miniskirt hemline, and despite my prepubescent stirrings I had the decorum not to stare (my momma taught me well). So I instead fixated on the carrying case of 8-tracks in the backseat with me, which were in constant rotation in the Mustang’s dash-mounted tape deck. At this young age I had already amassed a growing collection of LPs and 45s, plus some kid-friendly Playtapes, and was aware of 8-tracks from my trips to the record aisle at the local W.T. Grant store. But since 8-tracks were still mostly confined to automobile dashes, the only sound-enhancing device I had attached to my own set of wheels was a Mattel V-rroom! bicycle “motor.” What struck me about the 8-track tapes were the (often wrinkled) labels on the fronts and backs of their plastic casings. These were the same images I’d seen on record albums. 8-tracks I remember in Becky’s car were Santana (with its cover illustration of a roaring lion), Chicago Transit Authority, The Association’s Greatest Hits, and Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Green River. I’d read the labels (occasionally sneaking a peek at Becky’s knees), lusting over how cool 8-tracks were. But by the time I got my driver’s license, cassette tapes had come into vogue, so I never got an 8-track player of my own. At least I got to write about them in this issue’s RetroFad column. Ah, memories. That’s what RetroFan is really about. At the heart of every article is nostalgia. With each issue’s eclectic contents, we take you back to your childhood… but instead of simply warming your heart we also blow your mind with trivia and information. Our forte is shining the spotlight on subjects you never suspected you wanted to learn more about… until they get the RetroFan treatment. Like TV commercial ad men and women. They squeezed the Charmin and asked, “Where’s the beef?” throughout our childhood, but only our own Scott Saavedra could lift the (washer) lid off the Maytag Repairman and other as-seen-on-TV characters to reveal the people behind the pitchmen. And those Friday night preview specials promoting the upcoming fall lineup of Saturday morning kids’ programs. Andy Mangels begins a two-parter looking back at an offbeat primetime world where Fat Albert, the Road Runner, and Darth Vader could share the stage in a single television special. Accompanying that is Scott Shaw!’s “Oddball Comics” reminiscence of America’s Best TV Comics, a Marvel Comics-produced 1968 comic-book counterpart to those preview specials that Andy covers. Horror movies are a favorite topic in RetroFan land, and this issue Ernest Farino draws bead on The Cyclops, a 1957 shocker that’s so bad it’s good. Guest columnist Ian Millsted takes a gander at the surprising success of Benny Hill in the U.S. Why did this comedian, of the many that starred on British television in the Sixties and Seventies, go on to receive a popular following that eluded so many others? And why did it all end so suddenly? Ian’s article is the first of a proposed semi-regular “Retro Brit” column examining the places where British and American retro-culture meet. Let me know if you want to see more “Retro Brit”! As a kid you were probably too busy just trying to color inside the lines Don’t STEAL our to wonder about the origins of coloring books, but pop-culture historian Joe Digital Editions! C’mon citizen, Pavlansky peers into their past—and no, he didn’t scribble his manuscript in DO THE RIGHT THING! A Mom Crayola! Dan Hagen, last seen in issue #5 with his Greatest American Hero/William & Pop publisher like us needs Katt interview double-feature, returns with the story behind another TV caped every sale just to survive! DON’T crusader, Captain Nice—and adds a wonderful interview with the esteemed actor DOWNLOAD OR READ ILLEGAL COPIES ONLINE! behind this campy crimefighter, William Daniels, joined by his remarkably talBuy affordable, legal downloads only at www.twomorrows.com ented wife, Bonnie Bartlett. Plus, we open the issue with an inspiring chat with or through our Apple and Google Apps! genial Reb Brown, who brought Captain America to life in two 1979 telefilms. All that and more is waiting for you, making RetroFan #9 yet another groovy & DON’T SHARE THEM WITH FRIENDS OR POST THEM ONLINE. Help us keep grab bag of the crazy, cool culture we grew up with. producing great publications like this one!

June 2020

N W O R B B RE RETRO SUPER-HEROES

The Motorcycling

Captain America of Seventies TV by Michael Eury

Muscular, chisel-jawed athlete Reb Brown started his screenacting career on the wrong end of a snake attack in the 1973 chiller Sssssss. He soon found no end of work making guest appearances in many popular TV series of the Seventies and Eighties including Kojak, Emergency!, The Six Million Dollar Man, CHiPs, Happy Days, Three’s Company, The Rockford Files, The Love Boat, and Miami Vice. Brown is also no stranger to the big screen, with many of his roles taking advantage of his physicality. His film credits include Big Wednesday (1978), Hardcore (1979), Yor, the Hunter from the Future (1983), Uncommon Valor (1983), The Howling II (1985), Death of a Soldier (1986), Distant Thunder (1988), Space Mutiny (1988), Cage (1989) and Cage II (1994), and more recently, Surge of Power: Revenge of the Sequel (2016) and Surge of Dawn (2019). Yet to many RetroFans Reb Brown is Captain America, having played Marvel Comics’ Sentinel of Liberty in two madefor-TV movies produced by Universal Television that aired on CBS in 1979. Like Christopher Reeve, who at the time had personified DC Comics’ Man of Steel in December 1978’s bigbudget blockbuster Superman: The Movie, Brown was the spitting image of the comic-book crusader he portrayed with his broad shoulders, shock of blond hair, and earnest demeanor. Liberties with the subject matter were taken with both Captain America movies, sidestepping the traditional World War II setting for a contemporary tale of Steve Rogers, Jr., a drifter/artist given superhuman abilities via the injection of the “FLAG formula.”

Pumped up into a super-soldier, Rogers—initially with great reluctance—followed in the footsteps of his father, the original crimefighter dubbed “Captain America,” but quickly proved worthy of wearing the legendary patriotic battlesuit. (TOP) Reb Brown revs into The airing of Reb Brown’s action as Captain America. Captain America telefilms Captain America TM & © Marvel. followed CBS’ previous Photo © Universal Television. successes with Marvel-inspired Scan courtesy of Andy Mangels. live-action series The Amazing (ABOVE) Reb Brown in 2018 at a store appearance at Spider-Man and The Incredible Krypton Comics in Omaha, Hulk, plus a 1978 live-action Nebraska. Photo by Cornstalker/ Doctor Strange television Wikimedia Commons. movie—all of which were riding a wave of TV super-hero popularity that also included The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman, and Wonder Woman. Despite revving onto the small screen on a red, white, and blue motorcycle—and often bursting into action careening the bike from the back of a van—Brown’s Captain America arrived a bit too late to fully enjoy the Seventies’ comic-hero trend and his two telefilms unfortunately did not receive the green light for a weekly TV series. RetroFan

June 2020

RETRO super-heroes

However, impact that Brown’s starspangled performances made upon comic-book fans and children of 1979 has shadowed the actor for decades. Captain America’s more recent resurgence in massmedia popularity in the Marvel Studios films of the 2010s has by extension made Reb Brown a familiar face at comic-cons and Hollywood conventions across the country—and as you’ll discover while reading this exclusive RetroFan interview, the man behind Captain America’s cowl (and motorcycle helmet) has the kindness and conviction of a real-life super-hero. RetroFan: You had a lot of guest-starring roles on television before Captain America, but how did you get the part of the Star-Spangled Sentinel? Reb Brown: I was under contract at Universal at the time, and Monique James was the head of talent and she set up a meeting with Allan Balter, who was the producer of Six Million Dollar Man. We had lunch together and it was like two bears meeting in the woods—we got along. It just seemed to fit. I looked like what they had in mind, and it just seemed to fit.

RF: You definitely looked the part. You were very fit then, but did you have to go through more training after you got the role? RB: No. I’ve been working out since I was 21 years old, my whole life. I was an athlete—I played football, basketball, baseball, I surfed, and was doing heavyweight boxing and martial arts.

RB: I read the comic book, and there was a cartoon in 1966, where “Captain America throws his mighty shield.” RF: I love it! [sings] “When Captain America throws his mighty shield!” [laughter] The theme is probably better known than the cartoon itself.

RF: You were one of the first actors to play a super-hero who had the physical build of a super-hero. Today, Chris Hemsworth as Thor—he bulks up for that, but there was a time a while back, like with Michael Keaton playing Batman, when they built the suit for him. You fit the suit. RB: Yeah. There was no CGI for my Captain America! RF: How familiar with you with Captain America before you got this role? Cap unmasked—and un-helmeted! Reb Brown in costume from 1979’s first Captain America telemovie. © Universal

Television. Courtesy of Andy Mangels.

Captain America in the Movies and on Television <izquierda> 1944: Captain America (15-chapter

Republic movie serial)—Played by Dick Purcell

<izquierda> 1966: Captain America in The Marvel Super Heroes (syndicated TV cartoon)—Voiced by Sandy Becker

<right> 1979: Captain America and Captain America II: Death Too Soon (TV movies)—Played by Reb Brown <izquierda> 2011–2019: Captain America: The First Avenger (and other Marvel Studios films)—Played by Chris Evans

<arriba> 1980: Captain America Public Service Announcement (animated commercial)— Produced by the U.S. Department of Energy

Note: Captain America has also made numerous appearances in many Marvel animated TV <izquierda> 1990: Captain America (theatrical series from the movie instead released direct-toEighties to today. video)—Played by Matt Sallinger

Captain America TM & © Marvel.

RetroFan

June 2020

RETRO super-heroes

it, with its red and clear stripes instead of the traditional red and white stripes. What was it made of, and how much did it weigh? RB: It was a very heavy plastic, and the reason it was see-through was because the highway patrol would not allow something you couldn’t see through [when driving]. You had to have a shield you could see through so you could be able to see everything going on. RF: The shield doubled as a windshield. RB: We had the helmet, too. The cowl is normally what Captain America wears, but we had to have the helmet for that same reason. RB: I really enjoyed watching it and connected with it. It really was important for me. One question people ask me is, “How do you feel about the character, Captain America?” The one thing I feel is, it is pure. There is nothing going on behind the scenes—no hidden agendas. He just wants to do good for the American people. In essence, he is taking care of business the best way he possibly can. RF: That is a strength, if not the strength, of the character. Captain America goes well beyond the red, white, and blue costume. He is unwavering in his convictions. RB: So many other heroes have a hidden agenda—there’s always something going on and there’s something dark there. There’s nothing dark here, with Captain America—it’s just pure. It’s about doing good and being the one who is going to help. That’s the whole goal. RF: We need some Captain Americas in the real world right now, don’t we? RB: Yes, we do. RF: One thing that stands out with your Cap was the motorcycling. But that wasn’t the first time you were on a bike, right? You had some experience with riding… RB: Yes, I did. I had done a Honda commercial early on and was on CHiPs, in three episodes. Before you got to ride a motorcycle in CHiPs, you had to go with the highway patrol, and they taught you how to ride to look like you knew what

Don’t let go! A perilous stunt being filmed for the first Captain America TV movie. © Universal Television. Courtesy

of Reb Brown/Facebook.

you were doing. I enjoyed it a lot, but don’t ride anymore because of the way people are today. That way they are driving is too dangerous. But I enjoyed it at the time. RF: There were a lot of stunts in your two Captain America movies. I’m assuming you had a stunt double, but I know you did some of them yourself. How much of the stunt work did you actually do? RB: I did stuff that wasn’t like riding along a wall! [laughs] Gary Davis was one of the stunt people, and Al Wyatt [Allan Wyatt, Jr.]—he passed away some years ago. He was a wonderful guy, too. And they had Mic Rodgers, who also doubled Mel Gibson. I had some good people doubling. You talk about something happening when you’re filming… in the first one [Captain America], there’s a thing where I come off the motorcycle and jump onto a helicopter. They had the ramp all set up and the airbag and everything and it looked really good. I jumped off the ramp onto the helicopter skid and I looked down. When I looked down, because of the rotors on the helicopter, the airbag deflated! RF: Oh, man! RB: Needless to say, I squeezed the blood out of that thing. RF: What about the iconic Captain America shield? You could see through

RF: I understand you carry a replica of your Captain America shield with you to personal appearances. How do you get it onto an airplane? RB: My wife and I pack it up with bubble wrap, and it gets checked onto the plane. RF: I’m glad you don’t try to board with the shield as a carry-on—I could imagine you trying to explain it to a TSA screener! [laughter] The two movies you did—they both aired in 1979, about ten months apart. Did they film back to back or was there a hiatus between them? RB: Actually, we filmed the first one and they showed it and it did very well in the ratings. Then we did the second one. I was anxious to do that one. I asked

FAST FACTS Captain America `` Original airdate: January 19, 1979 `` Director: Rod Holcomb `` Cast: Reb Brown, Len Birman, Heather Menzies, Steve Forrest `` Network: CBS Captain America II: Death Too Soon `` Original airdate: November 23, 1979 `` Director: Ivan Nagy `` Cast: Reb Brown, Len Birman, Connie Sellecca, Christopher Lee, Lana Wood `` Network: CBS

RetroFan

June 2020

A 25 Year Celebration! th

THE WORLD OF TWOMORROWS

In 1994, amidst the boom-&-bust of comic book speculators, THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #1 was published for true fans of the medium. That modest labor of love spawned TwoMorrows Publishing, today’s premier purveyor of publications about comics and pop culture. Celebrate our 25th anniversary with this special retrospective look at the company that changed fandom forever! Co-edited by and featuring publisher JOHN MORROW and COMIC BOOK ARTIST/COMIC BOOK CREATOR magazine’s JON B. COOKE, it gives the inside story and behind-the-scenes details of a quarter-century of looking at the past in a whole new way. Also included are BACK ISSUE magazine’s MICHAEL EURY, ALTER EGO’s ROY THOMAS, GEORGE KHOURY (author of KIMOTA!, EXTRAORDINARY WORKS OF ALAN MOORE, and other books), MIKE MANLEY (DRAW! magazine), ERIC NOLEN-WEATHINGTON (MODERN MASTERS), and a host of other comics luminaries who’ve contributed to TwoMorrows’ output over the years. From their first Eisner Award-winning book STREETWISE, through their BRICKJOURNAL LEGO® magazine, up to today’s RETROFAN magazine, every major TwoMorrows publication and contributor is covered with the same detail and affection the company gives to its books and magazines. With an Introduction by MARK EVANIER, Foreword by ALEX ROSS, Afterword by PAUL LEVITZ, and a new cover by TOM McWEENEY! NOW SHIPPING! (256-page FULL-COLOR Trade Paperback) $37.95 (Digital Edition) $15.99 • ISBN: 978-1-60549-092-2 (272-page ULTRA-LIMITED HARDCOVER) $75 Only 125 copies available for sale, with a 16-page bonus Memory Album! HARDCOVER NOT AVAILABLE THROUGH DIAMOND—ONLY FROM TWOMORROWS! GET YOURS NOW!

AMERICAN COMIC BOOK CHRONICLES: 1940-44

ve owners.

OR -COL FULLDCOVER HAR RIES SE nting me f docu ecade o d y! each s histor ic com

All characte

rs TM & ©

their respecti

In the latest volume, KURT MITCHELL and ROY THOMAS document the 1940-44 “Golden Age” of comics, a period that featured the earliest adventures of BATMAN, CAPTAIN MARVEL, 1980s back in print! Look for SUPERMAN, and WONDER WOMAN. It was a time when America’s entry into World War II the 1945-49 volume in 2020! was presaged by the arrival of such patriotic do-gooders as WILL EISNER’s Uncle Sam, HARRY SHORTEN and IRV NOVICK’s The Shield, and JOE SIMON and JACK KIRBY’s Captain America— and teenage culture found expression in a fumbling red-haired high school student named Archie Andrews. But most of all, it was the age of “packagers” like HARRY A CHESLER, and EISNER and JERRY IGER, who churned out material for the entire gamut of genres, from funny animal stories and crime tales, to jungle sagas and science-fiction adventures. Watch the history of comics begin! NOW SHIPPING! (288-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $45.95 • (Digital Edition) $15.99 • ISBN: 978-1-60549-089-2

MAC RABOY Master of the Comics

Beginning with his WPA etchings during the 1930s, MAC RABOY struggled to survive the Great Depression and eventually found his way into the comic book sweatshops of America. In that world of four-color panels, he perfected his art style on such creations as DR. VOODOO, ZORO the MYSTERY MAN, BULLETMAN, SPY SMASHER, GREEN LAMA, and his crowning achievement, CAPTAIN MARVEL JR. Raboy went on to illustrate the FLASH GORDON Sunday newspaper strip, and left behind a legacy of meticulous perfection. Through extensive research and interviews with son DAVID RABOY, and assistants who worked with the artist during the Golden Age of Comics, author ROGER HILL brings Mac Raboy, the man and the artist, into focus for historians to savor and enjoy. This FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER includes never-before-seen photos, a wealth of rare and unpublished artwork, and the first definitive biography of a true Master of the Comics! Introduction by ROY THOMAS! NOW SHIPPING!

2020

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TwoMorrows Publishing • 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 • 919-449-0344 • E-mail: store@twomorrows.com • www.twomorrows.com

RETRO TOYS

The Wonderful World of

COLORING BOOKS by Joe Pavlansky

Nine of Joe Pavlansky’s favorite character-based coloring books. Tarzan © ERB, Inc. Planet of the Apes © 20th Century Fox. Hulk and Captain America © Marvel. Superman © DC Comics. The Shadow © Condé Nast. Courtesy of the author.

Writing on this subject really took me back some decades, to when life was much simpler, cartoons were aplenty, and every shelf at the department store seemed to have a toy on it. I remember many of the joyful activities of my youth, and still today, I attempt to bring some of that feeling back with my many areas of collecting. But when I started to think about coloring books, not only did my memories come flooding back but also the smell of the paper and crayons. Everything mixing together was almost too much, and I found myself remembering times of being in my G.I. Joe pajamas, eating a bowl of cereal, watching cartoons, and getting ready to color. Let me try and somewhat set the scene for you as I remember it. The smell of pulp paper fills your nostrils as you lie belly down on the living room floor or take a comfortable seat at the kitchen table. A quick flip of the pages delights your youthful eyes as you see picture after glorious picture of dynamic black-and -white illustrations. The excitement begins to grow as you set the book down and swiftly grab the cardboard box gently resting next to the book. On the cover of the box gleams a bright rainbow of colors that not only draw a smile to your young face, but also starts to get the wheels turning in your head. With so many shades to choose from, the possibilities could be endless. Superman’s cape could be green. The sun could be ablaze with a purple glow. The Hulk could be blue mixed with orange and red. Having so many colors and possibilities to choose from, the outcomes could be as endless as our imagination. RetroFan

June 2020

SCOTT SAAVEDRA’S SECRET SANCTUM

AD MEN

Favorite Characters From TV Commercials

WOMEN by Scott Saavedra When watching television as a kid in the Sixties, if you were too lazy to get up during the commercial breaks (hello) then you were just stuck watching them or doing your best to try and ignore them. This used to be perfectly normal behavior (I guess you had to be there). Channel surfing was only something I did if I couldn’t remember what station was broadcasting, say, Munsters reruns. The types of commercials I enjoyed were those for toys and candy, but the memory of them has faded over time. The ones that seemed to really stick featured humorous personalities that described or demonstrated the benefits of the product being sold. The best of these characters were just like you and me but friendlier, and just barely on the sunny side of sanity. Just barely. Remember: repetition is important in commercials. These personas turned out to be well embraced by the consumer. A good thing, because television advertising was pretty lackluster in the previous decade and a half of the medium’s short history. Broadcasters treated early efforts as merely radio ads with pictures. The Bulova Watch Company was the first—in 1941—to broadcast a commercial on television (an image of a clock showing the time). It ran 20 seconds and cost $9 (a bit less than three pairs of men’s socks at Lord & Taylor according to that year’s (ABOVE) I Love Lucy features many beloved episodes out of the 180 produced, but the first season’s “Lucy Does a TV Commercial” has got to rate among the best. Here Lucy as played by Lucille Ball is beginning to feel the unsteadying effects of the product she’s trying to sell, Vitameatavegamin. © CBS.

RetroFan

June 2020

catalog). Some 4,000 people—exact numbers vary, but about half of all television sets in the U.S.—are said to have seen it. Why, that’s fewer people than the 5,360-person population of the fictional small town of Mayberry (watched over by the pair of Fife & Taylor). Before the use of videotape or film, early commercials were done live. A notorious example of the hazards of that approach was recounted by TV advertising pro Harry Matthei in American Heritage (May–June 1977). During a live demonstration of an “easy open” Westinghouse refrigerator, the actress could not cajole the door to open despite her best, most heroic efforts. We late Baby Boomers (and BB-adjacent generations) weren’t around to see such sights but we have witnessed (over and over again) Lucille Ball, comically inspired by such incidents, as she tried to sell Vitameatavegamin (a product containing an absurd amount of alcohol) in the “Lucy Does a TV Commercial” episode from the first season of the classic series, I Love Lucy. [Editor’s note: My wife and I have a “talking” Lucy Vitameatavegamin Christmas ornament!] Jingles, dancing cigarette boxes, and animated mascots like Alka-Seltzer’s Speedy (voiced by Dick Beals) became popular as advertisers worked to compete with each other. Human product trademarks were also featured. In the Fifties, “Betty Crocker” would appear near the end of the television ad to help make the sale. But “Betty,” sadly, was a bit of a stiff. As I said, that changed by the Sixties. The agreeably odd product salespersons were the stars of the ads and not a tacked-on sales device. And when they became popular (and helped move product), we devoted TV viewers saw their weirdly

In this 1966 commercial, Josephine the Plumber, as played by acting veteran Jane Withers, really likes her Comet. © KIK Custom Products, Inc. (BELOW) Before she ever put on plumber’s overalls, Jane Withers was a successful child star of the Thirties. Withers and an unsettling ventriloquist’s dummy (is there any other kind?) share this half-sheet for 45 Fathers (1937). © 20th Century Fox.

specific, repetitive adventures play out in 30-second increments over months and even years. Let’s meet some of them, okay? Okay.

Josephine the Plumber and the Swamp Wizard

I always accepted the notion of Comet cleanser’s Josephine the Plumber as a plumber. She wore appropriate work clothes and was often seen around sinks, which was, I assumed, a popular focus of plumber attention. She even fixed a sink or two. Of course, no plumber anyone has ever hired concerned themselves so much with getting out stains “that other leading cleansers can’t” as did Josephine. Josephine’s single-minded pursuit of excellence in sink cleaning lasted over a decade, from 1963 to 1974, making her a hugely successful creation with as many as 20 different (I use that word loosely) installments of her story told each year. One of the more shocking Josephine commercials featured a very young Robby Benson as a lad preparing to put on a sandwich board. The front of the board read, “Josephine says DON’T USE COMET.” Robby, clearly upset, thinks that such a sign was, and I’m quoting here, “naughty.” Josephine comforts young Robby by showing him the other side of the sign, “USE NEW SUPER STAIN-REMOVING COMET.” Robby was eye-poppingly relieved as

Josephine then held up a can of the new Comet. And, boy, she just had the craziest look on her face. Josephine was played with a certain amped-up flare by Jane Withers and the Swamp Wizard actress Jane Withers. (1944), by Kathryn Heisenfelt. The Withers’ acting career fascinating www.series-books.com calls began, well, before the ending “bizarre and unsettling” she was even alive. Her and leaves the reader feeling “creepy mother wanted a girl so and repulsed.” the child could have the show business career she herself missed. Withers frequently told the story of how her mother (pre-child birth) would look at movie theater marquees and try to come up with a name that would look good up in lights and go with the family name. Say what you will about Mother Withers’ plan (and I’m trying hard not to say anything), she was right and Jane Withers was born—in 1926—a natural. Withers’ big break came when she was cast as a mean kid opposite sweet little Shirley Temple in the 1934 film, Bright Eyes. RetroFan

June 2020

scott saavedra’s secret sanctum

passed over due to space and because they weren’t my top favorites. Still, they were all part of the background noise of our TV watching life and should at least be mentioned: Rosie the waitress for Bounty paper towels (played by TV great Nancy Walker), Joe Isuzu for Isuzu automobiles and trucks (assayed by the perfectly cast David Leisure), and the Ty-D-Bol Man for the TyD-Bol toilet bowl cleaner (brought to life by four different actors including NBC Charlotte, North Carolina, weatherman Larry Sprinkle, who is really pointed out here because, wow, Sprinkle is a great name and RetroFan is the pride of North Carolina). Perhaps a sequel to this Secret Sanctum is in order. Readers? Anyone? Bueller? A couple of interesting threads were revealed as I researched these commercial characters. Firstly, the actors seemed to genuinely like the jobs. Acting is a tough way to make a living for most performers but if one is open to it, a long-term advertising campaign pays better than most other assignments. True, there are requirements beyond, say, squeezing toilet paper in the commercials. Public appearances need to be made and “morals

THE DAY RODNEY ALLEN RIPPY AND I ALMOST DIED!

While at an advertising symposium held at my high school, I got to see Rodney Allen Rippy (then the tiny, adorable star of Jack in the Box’s popular Jumbo Jack campaign where Rodney struggled to eat the larger than usual burger), and have lunch. The then-hot advertising agency, Doyle Dane Bernbach, was there as part of the event. They were known at the time for a series of Volkswagon Bug ads that were both clever and highly regarded, and were having success with the Jumbo Jack commercials. Long story short, I got to see Rodney Allen Rippy, then suddenly there was a bomb scare and we were all ushered out of the building. Outside, we were offered Jumbo Jack lunches. I recall hearing grumbling and the burgers didn’t seem to be very popular. I had two. In re-reading the headline to this sidebar I realize I may have oversold it. Well, that’s advertising for you. Rodney Allen Rippy adorably struggles with his Jumbo Jack in this commercial screen capture. © Jack in the Box, Inc. 26

RetroFan

June 2020

Rosie the Waitress, played by “Rhoda’s mom” Nancy Walker, from Bounty Paper Towels ads (“They’re the quicker picker-upper!”) and Mr. Whipple encounter each other in this Seventies’ Charmin commercial. © Procter & Gamble.

clauses” (or something similar) need to be respected. Still, it must be said that I did not come across a single unhappy word from any of the actors covered here about their experience. In fact, they seemed quite grateful for the work. Secondly, advertising agencies—especially the most creative ones—got tired of the formula of these popular ads very quickly. So did the TV audience. And yet, the commercials served their purpose to maintain or increase customer awareness of the product. In short, they worked. And, it should be noted, these products—from Comet cleanser to Wendy’s burgers—continue to be sold to this day. Television commercials are still a thing, though not as universally seen as in the past because of the ways in which the media landscape has continued to change. And since entertainment and information are all around us and at our fingertips, advertising is everywhere, too. We are—I can’t let this opportunity pass—soaking in it. In the interest of journalistic transparency the reader must be informed that we at the Secret Sanctum regularly use Comet cleanser and have used Maytag dishwashers but prefer Dawn or Method dish soap to Palmolive, Five Guys burgers to Wendy’s, and Kirkland’s toilet paper over Charmin (not because it’s more squeezable but because it’s just more— those Costco packages are huge). We now return you to your regularly scheduled entertainment… SCOTT SAAVEDRA is a graphic designer, writer, and artist who watched way too many commercials when his brain was fresh and formulating. 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 line, where he scripted stories featuring Chip ’n’ Dale Rescue Rangers, Mickey Mouse, Goofy, and others. His fanzine, Comic Book Heaven, about crazy vintage comics, had a devoted but, sadly, tiny following. Check out his Instagram thing, won’t you? (instagram.com/scottsaav/)

RETRO BRIT

Benny Hill

by Ian Millsted In December 2018, the church that my wife, daughter, and I attend had an evening of comedians doing a Christmas-themed show. Of tangential interest to RetroFan readers, one of the comedians, Dominic Holland, is the father of current SpiderMan actor Tom Holland. Hosting the evening was Paul Kerensa, best known in the U.K. as a writer of sitcoms. As part of his act Kerensa put up two lists on the screen. One was a list of wellknown tunes and the other of Christmas carols, the idea being that any of the carols could be sung along to any of the tunes. The overwhelmingly popular choice was the tune simply identified as “The Benny Hill Theme.” How interesting that, 30 years after his show was cancelled largely due to being seen as not acceptable for modern audiences, the name elicited such a warm response from, of all things, a church audience. The church we go to may be a little unconventional, but—even so! Benny Hill was both a traditionalist and a pioneer at the same time. He had been a star of British television for 20 years before the first signs of success in America emerged, and he should be given all due credit for making that success happen. He was steeped in the vaudeville tradition, while also understanding the need of modern television for programs of a certain length that could also accommodate commercials. The risqué nature of much of his comedy meant that it was cutting edge in the Sixties and out of fashion by the Nineties. The tone and style of the programs changed little over time.

Benny Hill’s character Fred Scuttle, as immortalized in wax at Madame Tussauds in London. Photo by Ricardo Liberato/

Wikimedia Commons.

RetroFan

June 2020

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) $11.99 • ISBN: 9781605490649 Diamond Order Code: MAR151564

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RETRO TELEVISION

Captain Nice The Short and Happy Flight of America’s Insecure Superman

“Watch out for the fallout!” Carter called. “I’m going to take the potion!” “Do it, boy!” There was a blinding explosion! A cloud of smoke billowed up from behind the couch! A sulphurous odor filled the air! Then a figure, choking, eyes tearing, stepped from the smoke. It was: Captain Nice! He spread his arms, lifting his cape, revealing the lettering on the chest of his red, white and blue uniform. His muscles bulged, his jaw jutted, his steely eyes glinted. “And to think!” Mrs. Nash murmured. “A moment ago, that was my finky son, Carter!” “It’s still me, Mother,” Captain Nice said. “No matter what I become, I’ll always be your son.” — William Johnston, Captain Nice paperback novel (1967)

by Dan Hagen

On the evening of January 9, 1967, NBC viewers were treated for the first time to these sprightly, though not deathless, lyrics: Look! It’s the man who flies around like an eagle. Look! It’s the enemy of all that’s illegal. Look! At the muscles on those arms, they’re like hammers. Look! It’s the nut who walks around in pajamas. That’s no nut, boy, that’s Captain Nice. Nice! Nice! Nice! Nice! Nice! The theme song was written by Brooklyn-born composer Vic Mizzy, who’d also penned the catchy themes to Green Acres and The Addams Family. Mizzy didn’t find Captain Nice funny, and the show’s creator Buck Henry, in turn, didn’t care for Mizzy’s theme song. He’d have preferred to punctuate his comedy with an instrumental theme, like the one Irving Szathmary had written for Henry’s other parody sitcom, Get Smart. ABC’s Batman had become TV’s surprise hit the year before, a fact not lost on the other two networks. Debuting the same night

(TOP) Able to bend steel in his bare hands! William Daniels in a publicity photo for Captain Nice. © NBC. (ABOVE) Jack “King” Kirby’s promotional poster for NBC’s Captain Nice. Courtesy of

The Jack Kirby Collector. © NBC.

as Captain Nice, actor Stephen Strimpell gained the strength of a thousand men and the ability to fly in another Superman spoof, the CBS sitcom Mr. Terrific. Pretty much a yawn. Captain Nice ran opposite CBS’s sitcom The Lucy Show and ABC’s World War II adventure Rat Patrol. The critics ran from cold to lukewarm to warm, at least preferring the show to Mr. Terrific. In the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, Bob Hull said Captain Nice and Mr. Terrific were “embarrassing likenesses in theme, RetroFan

June 2020

RETRO television

costume and gag.” But both the Boston to pop a government-developed power pill FAST FACTS Globe and the Detroit Free Press used the and become a flying, super-strong secret phrase “Nice is nicer.” agent for a maximum of 100 minutes. Captain Nice In the New York Times, George Gent said To the general audience, both Mr. `` No. of seasons: One Captain Nice “…at least gave some evidence Terrific and Captain Nice were obviously `` No. of episodes: 15 of a sense of style.” In the Washington Superman parodies. But the two `` Original run: January 9, 1967– Evening Star, Bernie Harrison called the show protagonists also resembled a largely August 28, 1967 smartly written, brisk, and ingenious. forgotten DC Comics superhero, Hourman. `` Primary Cast: William In retrospect, it’s clear that NBC had He, too, had gotten his time-limited Daniels, Alice Ghostley, Ann the fresher approach. “The show was just powers of strength and speed from a Prentiss irreverent enough to make it work both as wonder drug. In fact, both sitcoms were `` Created by: Buck Henry spoof and super-hero,” recalls fan Chuck sometimes criticized because of America’s `` Network: NBC Rothman. “Carter was never as dumb as growing uneasiness about drugs. Maxwell Smart, but often had problems With the It’s a Bird… It’s a Plane… It’s trying to live up to the super-hero lifestyle.” Superman! musical having just closed on Broadway and four Buck Henry, in creating his clever but largely unappreciated live-action superheroes (Batman, The Green Hornet, Captain show, anticipated with comic effect something that might Nice, and Mr. Terrific) on TV’s three happen in real life if some masked, super-strong fellow were to networks, maybe it was just a fly around doing good deeds. case of “capelash,” as one wit We imagine helpless, grateful citizens being suggested. overawed, and look-up-in-the-sky-ing, but very, very But in fact, Daniels’ quickly we’d get used to him, just as we get used “insecure Superman,” to every impossible thing that happens—men played for laughs, landing on the Moon, Japanese nuclear reactors anticipated the evolution poisoning the Pacific, walking around with Star of less campy super-hero Trek communicators in our hands, and so forth. stories in later decades. Henry’s satire was deft. I remember laughing at an episode in which a highway bridge, ruined by Publicity photo of Captain Nice corrupt contractors, collapses during its dedication stars William Daniels and Ann Prentiss. © NBC. ceremony. When police chemist Carter Nash (William Daniels) appears as Captain Nice to catch the bridge and save the day, the mayor wonders if he wouldn’t mind just standing there to support the bridge permanently. Cheryl Spoehr, a fan of Captain Nice, recalls, “I loved the way he defended the whole concept of comic-book heroes, as well as showing how a real person might be if they got powers. He never liked the taste of his super-serum, often getting a stomach ache from it… and he was the only sane and moral man in his hometown.” A couple of decades after the show’s early demise, Daniels put it down to the audience’s inability to cheer for an “insecure Superman.” But after all, Henry’s Get Smart featured an inept super-spy and ran five seasons. Later, Daniels said CBS’s decision to air Mr. Terrific a half-hour before NBC’s Captain Nice really hurt both shows. Mr. Terrific starred Strimpell as Stanley Beamish, a filling-station operator whose unique biochemistry permitted him

RetroFan

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RETRO television

Writers would wonder: What if the superhuman protagonist wasn’t a pure moral paragon, but had ordinary human hangups like most people—dominated by his mom, nervous around women? The concept had dramatic legs, and Marvel Comics under writer/editor Stan Lee was headed in the same direction at the same time. Writer/producer Stephen Cannell explored that same territory more than a decade later with The Greatest American Hero on ABC [which writer Dan Hagen also covered in these pages, in RetroFan #5—ed.]. Henry saw to it that Captain Nice had a satiric point, whereas Mr. Terrific pointedly did not. “They kept saying ‘Do another series!’ so I said, ‘Okay, superhero,’” Henry told Jim Benson on TV Time Machine. “It’s something we all grew up with. And you know, I knew where the jokes would be.” Henry knew the face of the actor he wanted to play Carter Nash, if not his name—that guy who had played stuffy child welfare worker Albert Amundson in the 1965 film A Thousand Clowns. He turned out to be William Daniels, a busy actor who’d appeared on Broadway even in his teens in the long-running play Life with Father. Daniels had received the Obie Award for Distinguished Performance by an Actor in Edward Albee’s 1960 off-Broadway play Zoo Story. And so it was that Daniels left the cast of the Broadway musical On a Clear Day You Can See Forever and flew to Hollywood to film his first TV pilot, Captain Nice. Afterward, he got on an Air France jet to Paris to appear in the Stanley Donen film Two for the Road with Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney. Joining Daniels in the Captain Nice cast was Alice Ghostley, best known to TV audiences as the insecure witch Esmeralda on Bewitched. She was much surer of herself as Carter’s mom. When Carter resigned from the police lab on principle, his mother was full of sympathy. “What is it, dear?” she asked. “You haven’t eaten a thing since you lost your job and began feeling like a worthless failure.” Playing love interest Sgt. Candy Kane was Ann Prentiss, who closely resembled her sister, actress Paula Prentiss. Big Town Mayor Finney was played by Liam Dunn, who went on to turn in classic comic performances in Blazing Saddles and What’s Up, Doc? William Zuckert was cast as Chief of Police Segal. Byron Foulger “appeared” as Carter’s father (Why the quote marks? Because the out-of-touch character always had his head buried behind a newspaper). Goggled and caped, the super-hero was visibly a little embarrassed, but remained plucky. Captain Nice could catch bullets, punch through walls, survive artillery blasts, and fly around the world in under an hour. “You know I can’t fly at night,” he once remarked. “I don’t have wing lights.” “Well, it had Buck Henry, and he would take a script, go into a room, and make it funny,” recalled Daniels in an interview with Will Harris. “He was a terribly gifted comic writer.” Daniels once got his head banged into a wall while flying, and that wasn’t the only mishap. “There was a scene where I supposedly knock down a door and come charging in, and I was standing next to the director, right near the door, when they were practicing it. And suddenly they blew out the door, and it makes a tremendous noise. And

I had a ringing in my ears that went on for a couple of days, so I finally went to a doctor, who said, ‘Well, sure, you’ve got a ringing: They broke your eardrum!’ I said, ‘Well, how do you know?’ He said, ‘Because there’s blood in there!’ [laughs] So he says, ‘You’re going to lose some of your [hearing] highs.’ Which I have.” “Unfortunately, Captain Nice was no stronger a personality than Carter Nash was normally—shy, unassuming and motherdominated,” observed The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows. “In fact, if it had not been for his mother, who demanded that her son wage war on the evil forces that constantly threatened society, he would not have gotten actively involved in fighting crime at all. The sight of Captain Nice trying to maintain his composure while flying over Big Town (he had an acute fear of heights) in his baggy, moth-eaten, red-white-andblue leotards (made for him by his mother) did not exactly terrify evil-doers.” RetroFan

June 2020

William Daniels and Bonnie Bartlett by Dan Hagen

He’s been, among other things, John Adams, the Graduate’s dad, a super-hero, a surgeon, and the voice of a car. Born in Brooklyn in 1927, William Daniels was a child performer from the age of three who, in 1960, earned critical acclaim and an Obie Award in Edward Albee’s play Zoo Story. He’s had notable roles in numerous memorable movies, including A Thousand Clowns (1965), The Graduate (1967), The President’s Analyst (1967), Two for the Road (1967), Marlowe (1969), and The Parallax View (1974). Daniels originated the role of John Adams in the 1969 Broadway musical 1776, and played the part again in the 1972 film version. His starring TV roles included Captain Nice (1967), Mr. Feeny in the ABC sitcom Boy Meets World (1993–2000), and two TV series at once during the Eighties. Daniels was Dr. Mark Craig in the critically 38

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June 2020

acclaimed St. The way they were and are: Award-winning Elsewhere (1982–1988) Hollywood super-couple William Daniels and the distinctive and wife Bonnie Bartlett. Courtesy of William voice of KITT the Daniels and Bonnie Bartlett. supercar in the popular Knight Rider (1982–1986). Daniels won two Emmys for because we can play many different kinds St. Elsewhere, and Bonnie Bartlett—who of roles. We’re not typecast. That’s the has been Daniels’ wife since 1951—also reason I am still working in my late 80s. won one. He was president of the Screen “As a character actor I became a star, Actors Guild from 1999 to 2001. but a very small one, and I saw time and “When strangers recognized me in again how the big stars—the leading public they still didn’t know my name, men—surrounded by sycophants, but they remembered the uptight doctor lost their sense of reality and then lost in that hospital show,” Daniels recalled everything: their families, their marriages, in his memoir I’d Rather Be Elsewhere. “It’s and, in some cases, their lives.” an odd way to live, but there are many actors and actresses who have had the RetroFan: Are your grandchildren same experience. … We don’t end up on aware that you were once a comic-book the cover of People magazine. But many of super-hero? us without name recognition make a fine William Daniels: I don’t… living, put our kids through college, and, Bonnie Bartlett: Yeah, Liam. if we’re lucky, enjoy long careers precisely WD: Does Liam know that?

BB: Our son Michael showed Liam one of the Captain Nice shows. Mike found them somewhere and he showed them to him. And Liam loved it. Was there a parrot you talked to on the show, Bill? WD: Um-hm. BB: Liam loved that, so he was very busy doing the parrot, and talking about the parrot. WD: As I walked by, the parrot would say, “I love you,” and I would reluctantly say to the parrot, “I love you, too.” RF: Somebody for the character to talk to, I guess. Batgirl had the same thing, oddly enough. BB: Really? They probably stole it [laughter]. RF: My friend Cheryl described Captain Nice this way. She said it was Get Smart in reverse. Instead of a silly man in a highlevel government spy organization, it was the only sane and rational man in a town full of foolish and corrupt people. BB: That’s funny. That’s good. WD: That’s pretty good. RF: That’s one of the reasons I liked it, that he seemed to be the only sane person. WD: [chuckling] Well, you know, Buck Henry wrote both those things. And he has a great sense of humor. I enjoyed very much working with him, or for him. And in The Graduate, too. RF: Captain Nice was a Superman spoof, as you say. You would have been 11 years old in 1938 when Superman arrived, the perfect target audience. Did you follow the character in comics or on radio, or were you aware of it? WD: I was just aware of it. No, I didn’t follow it on any source. BB: No, he was too busy working. Bill doesn’t know any of the movies of the time. I went to the movies. He never went to the movies. He was working. RF: What did you think about the fact that Mr. Terrific aired at virtually the same time as your show? WD: Well, it was one of those things where the networks were fighting against each other. We were, I think, in rehearsals when we heard that suddenly CBS decided to do this Mr. Terrific. And that would have been all right, but they scheduled its first

(TOP) Daniels as TV super-hero Captain Nice, from the back cover of the 1967 comic book Captain Nice #1. (BOTTOM) CBS-TV’s competing caped crusader, Mr. Terrific. Captain Nice © NBC. Mr. Terrific

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June 2020

RETRO INTERVIEW: WILLIAM DANIELS AND BONNIE BARTLETT

So this part is going to be treated very respectfully, and not made fun of.” And I said, “Well, that’s fine.” BB: And they had a lot of humor in it, there were a lot of funny things. WD: Oh, sure, but never did it deride the profession.

NOT UNDER THE HOOD.

RF: Right. I just watched the last scene of the show, and it really is touching. WD: Oh, that, yeah. That was wonderful. He wrote a wonderful scene there, he set it up beautifully. I remember very well being moved myself by it, when they left the classroom and I said, “I love you all.” It was very moving for me as well. RF: That was a perfect dramatic set-up, that Feeny said it only after they’d left. Would you say you owe part your success to the G.I. Bill, because that enabled you to attend Northwestern? WD: Oh, yes, absolutely. And that’s where I met my wife, who got me through Northwestern! Because you know, I was a performer, so I seldom had much basic education. I went to a professional children’s school. And I’d just check in and say I had an appointment, then I’d go down to Chock Full o’ Nuts and have coffee and a doughnut and read the New York Times instead of going to the class. I had a very spotty education until I met her. She was head of her class. RF: It was kind of brave of you to go to Northwestern when you’d had such a spotty education. WD: I know. BB: It never occurred to him. WD: No, it didn’t. BB: [laughing] It never occurs to him. RF: He’s as brave as John Adams or Captain Nice, I guess. WD: Yeah, I just stumble along from one thing to the next. BB: That’s what he’s supposed to do. WD: But anyway, that’s where I met Bonnie, and actually she taught me how to get through all this learning business. Writing essays, doing reading assignments, taking tests. BB: But he’s basically, what do you call it? An autodidact? RF: An autodidact, yes. Self-taught. BB: He really went on from there.

RetroFan

June 2020

My husband, the car! William Daniels voiced super-car KITT in the popular NBC action show, Knight Rider. © Universal TV. William Daniels photo by Alan Light.

RF: This is an off-the-wall question, but what’s your favorite Western, your favorite Western movie? WD: Mmmmmm. Probably anything that John Ford directed. Henry Fonda did one… RF: My Darling Clementine. WD: Yeah, Clementine. BB: Wasn’t there Red River? WD: Red River was Montgomery Clift. I loved that picture. RF: What do you like about Westerns? WD: I love them. They don’t do them anymore, not like they used to, when the studios were turning out all those Westerns. RF: Somebody said—and I think there may be some validity in it—that the Western genre was sort of what the super-hero genre is now. Instead of cowboys, there are super-heroes. WD: Maybe so. BB: I think it’s people trying to say what is good and what is bad. They’re fairy tales. WD: The cowboy movies were very realistic. Nowadays, these supermen things are just filled with special effects. BB: The cowboy movies weren’t realistic. They seemed realistic. WD: Well, they seemed so, given our understanding of what the West was like. RF: People didn’t fly, anyway.

I think Westerns, private-eye things, police stories, and super-heroes—it’s all about good and evil, right? BB: Sure, sure, sure. And that’s the reason you like to read a thriller is to catch the bad guy. We just watched something. Bill rarely will sit with me and watch something on television, but he got caught on a Belgian movie and wanted to find out who did it [the murder] [laughter]. RF: It occurred to me while reading your book—I imagine you can’t say the name “Michael” in a crowd without somebody thinking of KITT the supercar. [laughter] BB: They love it. He did a commercial recently, and all he had to say was, “It’s the future, Michael.” [laughter] RF: I don’t want to keep you too long. It is great to hear that incredible voice. [Daniels laughs] You must just thrill people, walking down the street and talking. BB: He gets beautiful, beautiful, beautiful letters from fans. He really does. RF: I bet. It’s been really great talking to you, and I thank you very much. BB: Bye-bye. WD: Oh, sure. Bye-bye. BB (to Daniels): We have to go to the post office. WD: All right, let’s go!

ANDY MANGELS’ RETRO SATURDAY MORNING

Saturday Morning Preview Specials Jack Burns and Avery Schreiber are surrounded by ABC’s stars in this promo for the 1973 Saturday Morning Sneak Peek program.

Part One: 1968–1977 by Andy Mangels

Welcome back to Andy Mangels’ Retro Saturday Morning. Since 1989, I have been writing columns for magazines in the U.S. and foreign countries, all examining the intersection of comic books and Hollywood, whether animation or live-action. Andy Mangels Backstage, Andy Mangels’ Reel Marvel, Andy Mangels’ Hollywood Heroes, Andy Mangels Behind the Camera… three decades of reporting on animation and live-action—in addition to writing many books and producing around 40 DVD sets—and I’m still enthusiastic. In my 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! Normally in this column, I have spotlighted one series or set of series, giving you behind-the-scenes stories, cool factoids, and interviews. In this column and the next, I’ll instead be giving you the Retro Saturday Morning treatment of one of the most anticipated shows every fall from 1968 forward… the Saturday Morning Preview Special. In the September 26, 2008 issue of TIME magazine, Family Guy’s Seth MacFarlane gave his own thoughts on the

phenomenon: “I was obsessed. Every year, the Friday before the new Saturday-morning shows would premiere, the networks would do this big preview special, and I was always glued to the TV. As horrible as they were, they were entertaining at the time. There was a lot of showmanship from the networks based around the new lineup.” The problem with nostalgia for the Preview Specials is that they were only ever aired once. They were never rerun, never offered in syndication, and never released on home video, DVD, or streaming. Because of the cross-platform licensing rights for clips and music, they never can be legally released. Some of them exist in parts and pieces on YouTube—a few of them exist completely there—but by and large, this set of shows is a missing part of television history. Very little has been written about them, and even Wikipedia has many of its crowd-sourced facts wrong. Until now. Now there’s RetroFan to the rescue. Utilizing this author’s amazing resources, here is as much information and material that could be dug up on the astonishing phenomenon of Saturday Morning Preview Specials! Beware, though… proceeding without caution can bring untold emotions, unfettered joy, and quite possibly, madness! RetroFan

June 2020

andy mangels’ retro saturday morning

1969 CBS - The Funtastic Show

Airdate: Sunday, September 7, 1969, 7:30pm, 30 minutes Written by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears Directed by Sam Gary Produced by Jacqueline Smith (CBS)

CBS jumped into the fray with their first preview special, tapping the cast of their hit comedy series Family Affair to host it. Sebastian Cabot (Mr. French), Johnny Whitaker (Jody), and Anissa Jones (Buffy)

all appeared in character. Joining them were Melanie Fullerton and Susan Neher, who were about to debut as Pokey and Penny Endicott on a new sitcom called To Rome With Love. The hosts previewed new series Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, The Perils of Penelope Pitstop starring the Ant Hill Mob, and The Archie Comedy Hour (introducing Sabrina, the Teenage Witch). A complete short from Dastardly & Muttley in Their Flying Machines was also included.

The Brady Bunch meet four of the Jackson 5.

1971 ABC - The Brady Bunch Visits ABC

Airdate: Friday, September 10, 1971, 7:30pm, 30 minutes Song: “Joy to the World” (Brady Bunch) Written by Samuro Mitsubi and Dennis Klein Directed by Gordon Wiles Produced by Jack Watson, Garry Marshall ABC doubled down in their second special, featuring not only the stars of their ultra-popular sitcom The Brady Bunch, but also the popular singing group the Jackson 5! In the show, Maureen McCormick (Marcia), Barry Williams (Greg), Eve Plumb (Jan), Christopher Knight (Peter), Susan Olsen (Cindy), and Mike Lookinland (Bobby) all go to ABC Studios to watch a taping of The Odd Couple. Sadly, they’ve come on the wrong day for that series, but happily, they break away from their guide and run into the stars of the new Jackson 5ive series, brothers Jackie, Jermaine, Marlon, and Michael (Tito was missing from the group). Exploring the ABC lot, the Bradys visited the set of Curiosity Shop, wandered into the studio paint shop and the set of the Krofft series Lidsville, toured the office of a network executive and the master ABC control room, and eventually invaded the viewing room. There, they see clips from new series Funky Phantom and Sunday series Make a Wish, as well as scenes from returning series The Road Runner Show, Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp, and Bewitched! Filming for the Brady and Jackson meeting was done on July 9, 1971. That same day, the Jackson 5 was filming their own television special on the ABC lot, Goin’ Back to Indiana, which aired on the

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June 2020

network on September 16, 1971. Those wondering who writer “Samuro Mitsubi” was would only recognize his name from a few Hollywood credits. It was, however, a pen name for famed writerdirector Garry Marshall. Co-writer Dennis Klein informs RetroFan via email that his original title for the special was “The Brady Bunch Visits A Studio,” and that, “For a few years I was Garry Marshall’s writing partner in everything he did, but I was uncredited in order for him to be perceived as a solo writer/director/producer/executive producer. He paid me $100 per week out of his own pocket and I was thought of at Paramount as ‘Garry Marshall’s assistant,’ when what I was was his writing partner. And when Garry agreed to make this Special, he had me be the writer of it, although for a bunch of reasons he took co-writing credit for it under his pen name, a name (Samuro Mitsubi) chosen by him because he believed Asians were underrepresented in television comedy writing. Garry had no part in the Special at all. It was only me… “There was no brainstorming. I just sat down one afternoon and wrote the script. That’s all. After the Special was made and aired, the format for those Specials became people repeating the format of what I’d come up with, as is the case with any television series, from I Love Lucy to… whatever TV series is popular at the moment: The first show establishes the series and after that the series simply repeats the formula.” Asked if there were any challenges to the special, Klein says, “Nothing in writing is a challenge. It’s all simply sitting down and writing. A challenge would’ve been if ABC executives and Paramount executives had been in a machine gun turret firing at me as I dodged bullets while trying to write the script.” As for memories of filming, Klein was on the set for most of it, and writes that, “I have many memories of the filming. I had a wonderful time on it and became friends with all those children and I already knew the one adult, Charlie Martin Smith, because he was good friends with Ron Howard, and I was the uncredited co-creator of Happy Days when it was a Love, American Style segment called ‘Love and the Happy Day,’ that Garry and I wrote together. In addition to meeting Marty Kroff t and becoming good friends with him, I enjoyed fun times with both casts: the Bradys and the Jacksons. They were all good kids and delightful and talented. It was sad to me to see children missing out on childhood. I got more friendly with Michael than with his brothers because Michael actually had a personality. I liked

andy mangels’ retro saturday morning

1972 NBC - Howdy Doody and Friends

Airdate: Tuesday, September 5, 1972, 7:30pm, 60 minutes Songs: “It’s Howdy Doody Time,” “We’re Back on NBC,” “The Clarabell Song,” “The Rhyming Song,” “Howdy Doody’s Do’s and Don’ts/The Popcorn Song/Go to Bed” (Howdy Doody cast) Written by Jack Ainob, Lan O’Kun Directed by Mike Gargiulo Produced by Mike Gargiulo, Florence Small NBC went ultra-retro with their third preview special, all the way back to the kids’ variety show The Howdy Doody Show, which began airing on NBC 25 years before, back in 1947 (to 1960). This special

their mother but not their father. And I remember having long talks with Barry Williams, the oldest Brady, about comedy. He wanted to know why the comedy of The Brady Bunch was not as respected in the entertainment industry as the comedy of The Odd Couple, and yet I was writing for both series and writing for both in the same style. I explained to him how show business works, which—surprisingly— neither Sherwood [Schwartz, the Brady Bunch creator] nor anyone else had ever done.” Klein would go on to write much more television; he scripted much of the long-running Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, and was Emmy-nominated for his work on The Larry Sanders Show and Buf falo Bill. Bobby and Marcia have groovy fun with a cut-out of Rankin-Bass’ Michael Jackson from The Jackson 5ive.

reunited puppeteer Buffalo Bob Smith with his wooden marionette partner Howdy Doody, as well as Clarabell the clown (Lew Anderson) from the Triple B Ranch. The group had left the air but continued to tour college campuses and schools, performing for the “peanut gallery” kids who had grown up watching them. NBC had been deluged with letters from people wanting to attend the taping for the special when word got out about its production; audience attendees were separated into the Alumni Peanut Gallery (for adults) and the Howdy Doody Peanut Gallery (for kids). Unlike any other special to date, this one was filmed in New York City. The special is charming in its retro attitudes and old antics, and Buffalo Bob takes a lot of time greeting the adult audience and remembering them as kids. In an opening scene, Howdy Buffalo Bob and Howdy Doody, together again.

Doody (puppeteered by Carl Harms) appears with sunglasses and a hip beard, as Bob tries to figure out why he’s so familiar. Howdy brings a message from NBC that they want Bob to help introduce the new fall Saturday morning schedule, debuting the following weekend. He verbally goes through Underdog and The Jetsons before showing a clip from The Pink Panther Show and talking with the Abominable Snowman, one of that show’s Ritts Puppets featured in cartoon wraparounds. Next up, newcomer Cynthia Goodheart (Jill Choder) delivered another secret message with a fast-talking rhyme. Interpreting a boxed smoke-signal puff, Goodheart introduces The Houndcats with a three-minute scene. Clarabell appeared in the following scene, chasing and spraying Cowboy Bob with a bottle of seltzer water. Clarabell introduces the next long clip, for Roman Holidays. Howdy Doody’s protest sign next leads to a clip from The Barkleys, DePatie-Freleng’s rip-off homage to All in the Family. Clarabell and Cynthia introduce Sealab 2020, followed by Bob singing a vintage show song that leads to a clip from kids’ game show Runaround. Cynthia then shares a clip from Around the World in 80 Days, and the trio introduced clips from the nearly forgotten “kids interview important celebrities” show Talking With a Giant. Finally, Bob sings a fairly funny song about the fall Saturday line-up to the near-rap tune of Gilbert & Sullivan’s “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General” from Pirates of Penzance. In all, though Howdy Doody himself gave me nightmares as a child, as an adult watching this again, it’s one of the nicest—and least bizarre—of the Saturday Morning Previews. RetroFan

June 2020

THE ODDBALL WORLD OF SCOTT SHAW!

America’s America’s

Best TV TV Comics Comics (Rabbit-Ears and Knobs Not Included!) by Scott Shaw!

It was 1967 and thanks to Batman, ABC’s primetime, live-action smash hit about to enter its third season, “Batmania” was not only ruling primetime television, it was also ruling the attention of everyone in the U.S. who happened to be under 30 years old— and quite a few older people, too! The other television networks and all of the Saturday morning animation studios took note of this trend and responded in force… In 1966, NBC introduced DePatie-Freleng’s Super 6, which employed a clever gimmick: five macho super-heroes and one puny, goofy one who receive their assignments from what amounts to a temp agency. Otherwise, Hanna-Barbera’s Atom Ant (in reruns) was the only other super-hero in its line-up. The remainder consisted of H-B’s The Flintstones, The Space Kidettes, Secret Squirrel, and the Jetsons. Reruns of King Features’ Cool McCool, a spy in the Get Smart mode created by Batman co-creator Bob Kane (must have been pretty easy to sell a show by the man associated with ABC’s biggest hit, eh?), aired at the end of their SatAM schedule. But at least both of NBC’s 1966 super-hero shows were pretty good ones. CBS thrilled us with Hanna-Barbera’s Space Ghost (sold to the network as “Batman in outer space”), Frankenstein Jr. and the Impossibles, Format Film’s The Lone Ranger (complete with steampunk super-villains!), and Filmation’s The New Adventures of Superman, the studio’s first-ever TV series and one that successfully duplicated the style of DC’s Superman-centric funnybooks. Plus, the network aired reruns of Terrytoons’ The Mighty Heroes and Total Television’s Underdog, as well as the deliciously violent classic Road Runner and Tom and Jerry theatrical cartoon shorts. How Total Television’s The Beagles got in there is anyone’s guess. But ABC’s schedule for 1966 seemed to be lagging behind the times. Without a single super-hero, its rather puny schedule included King Features’ The Beatles, Rankin-Bass’ King Kong, and reruns of Porky Pig, Casper the Friendly Ghost, Bugs Bunny, Magilla Gorilla, and Hoppity Hooper. They needed to beef up their line-up with beefcake… namely the super-types that their competition was exploiting to snag high ratings. Oddly enough, no network or studio had considered doing a Batman cartoon show… yet. However, whether due to wised-up executives or a new corporate regime, ABC was smart to make a deal with the rival of Batman’s publisher, Marvel Comics. The “House of Ideas” already had a syndicated cartoon series ion 1966, Grantray-Lawrence’s Marvel Super-Heroes, featuring five of their characters: Captain America, the Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, the Mighty Thor, and Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner, (Spider-Man was initially to be part of this line-up, but when ABC ordered 20 episodes of SpiderMan from Grantray-Lawrence for its network, he was rapidly replaced by Namor). They also order 20 episodes of The Fantastic Four from Hanna-Barbera. “Six Fabulous FILM Features”? Only King Kong and various adaptations of Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth novel ever appeared in films. However, back in 1967, TV cartoons were filmed, with each cel filmed for a minimum of two frames, if not many, many more. Hey, it was the era of “limited animation”!

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June 2020

Meanwhile, CBS’s Fred Silverman was its Head of Children’s Programming and again, he knew what kids wanted to watch in the Bat-drenched world of 1967. Its Saturday mornings began with good ol’ Captain Kangaroo, followed by Frankenstein Jr. and the Impossibles (rerun); three brand-new H-B series: The Herculoids (sold as “Tarzan in outer space”), Shazzan (about two lost kids and a chuckling genie), Moby Dick and the Mighty Mightor (respectively, a super-hero whale and a super-hero caveman); plus Filmation’s The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure [see RetroFan #3] and reruns of Jonny Quest, The Lone Ranger, and The Road Runner. The shows in NBC’s (RIGHT) America’s Best TV Comics’ new 1967 SatAM schedule were only inside front cover, with Saturday slightly less fueled by testosterone. Super morning airtimes. (Casper looks like he 6 was joined by DePatie-Freleng’s Super needs a good chiropractor.) (ABOVE) President and H-B’s Samson and Goliath and This colorful ad ran in Marvel comic Birdman and the Galaxy Trio. Reruns of Cool books during the late summer of ’67. The Beatles, shown on both, were McCool, Atom Ant, Secret Squirrel, and Top woefully missing from the comic itself. Cat brought up the rear of the morning. In other words, ABC was up against super-hero cartoons with interesting concepts from established fail” cartoons of yore, with robots studios. CBS’ line-up was particularly strong; Fred Silverman subbing for evil had a close relationship with Hanna-Barbera and tied up their cats and foxes, top writers and artists with the new super-hero shows. (To non-humorous keep some of H-B’s old-timers, like Mike Maltese and Warren Foster, shows like The Herculoids were structured like violent “try/ gags that the veteran board men could easily cook Title: America’s Best TV Comics up.) Having licensed Issue Number: #nn upstart publisher Cover Date: Summer 1967 Marvel Comics’ Page Count: 68 (72, counting covers) two bestselling Publisher: Marvel Comics properties, The Cover Artists: Mr. Fantastic penciled by Herb Trimpe Fantastic Four and and inked by John Verpoorten; Casper the Friendly Spider-Man, ABC’s brass had the rather brilliant idea of enlisting Ghost penciled and inked by Warren Kremer; The Marvel Comics itself to package and publish a special comic book Fantastic Four designed and penciled by Jack Kirby and to promote ABC’s new SatAM line-up directly to the loyal fans of inked by Joe Sinnott; The Amazing Spider-Man penciled Marvel’s super-hero characters. Thus, America’s Best TV Comics was and inked by John Romita, Sr.; Journey to the Center born. Oddly, there are only two mentions of Marvel Comics itself of the Earth penciled by Paul Reitman, undetermined in this entire comic: “corner box” images from the covers of The inker; King Kong and George of the Jungle drawn by Fantastic Four and Spider-Man added to each story’s “splash page.” undetermined artists. RetroFan

June 2020

ERNEST FARINO’S RETRO FANTASMAGORIA

“You Won’t Believe Your Eye!” THE CYCLOPS AND FILMMAKER BERT I. GORDON by Ernest Farino As part of the 64th Academy Awards, on March 7, 1992, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented stop-motion artist Ray Harryhausen with the ninth Gordon E. Sawyer Award, honoring “an individual in the motion picture industry whose technological contributions have brought credit to the industry.” Two-time Academy Award®-winning superstar Tom Hanks stepped onto the stage as Master of Ceremonies to introduce Harryhausen’s body of Were you one of the kids who got work and proclaimed, “Some people say Casablanca an eyeful of The Cyclops on TV? or Citizen Kane, but I say [Harryhausen’s] Jason and the The Cyclops © Allied Artists. Argonauts was the greatest film ever made!” As Visual Effects Supervisor I had the pleasure of working with Tom for a year-and-a-half on the HBO miniseries (I almost said, “Well, not that far From the Earth to the Moon and found him to be as smart and as back,” but golly—do the math: that’s 56 personable as his public image conveys. But here I have to take years ago—more than half a century. So I exception. In what can only be a momentary lapse of memory, guess that is way back…) Tom appears to have overlooked the one film that stomps on all of As I’ve mentioned before in these those with a giant Godzilla foot. pages, that was a magical time for The Cyclops. me. I was 12 years old, immersed in Made in 1957 by Bert I. Gordon, whom wordsmith and punster everything from monsters to Ed “Big Forry Ackerman nicknamed “Mr. B.I.G.” in the pages of Famous Daddy” Roth hot rods, to monsters, to Monsters of Filmland, The Cyclops starred Clark Gable lookalike James Bond, to monsters, to—well, you James Craig, the lovely Gloria Talbott, the heavy-drinking Lon get the idea. So one day I’m studying Chaney, Jr., and Duncan Parkin as the one-eyed-wonder. Filmed the local El Paso, Texas, TV Guide to plan in the picturesque, cave-strewn, “I’ve-seen-it-in-a-hundred-other- out my week of The Munsters, The Outer movies” valley called Bronson Canyon in the Hollywood Hills in Limits, The Twilight Zone, Bewitched, and less time than it will take you to read this magazine, The Cyclops more, and lo and behold, the Saturday has emerged as a bonafide cult classic among those in the know. midnight horror movie is The Cyclops. The logline in the listing was Casablanca? Citizen Kane? probably something like, “An expedition to Mexico does battle Pffft! Neither of those movies has a 25-foot one-eyed giant. with a mutated 25-foot man with one big eye.” So there. All riiiight! That Is For Me! So let’s join business magnate, inventor, scientist, Nobel Now, this was the “Silver Age” of monsters, and a whole crop laureate, gourmand, and two-time Olympic medalist Mr. Hector of TV horror hosts had sprung up following the success of Maila Peabody and his adopted son Sherman in the WABAC machine for Nurmi as Vampira: there was Zacherley, Ghoulardi, M. T. Graves, an all-new episode of “Peabody’s Improbable History.” Seymour, the original Svengoolie, and no doubt many other local All the way back to 1964. yokels who slathered on some greasepaint and chomped down 66

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on a pair of plastic fangs. [For a look at the horror hosts of the day, check out Dan Johnson’s excellent “Haunting the Airwaves” article in RetroFan #2, accompanied by an interview with today’s ghoul-girl, Elvira, by Mark Voger.] Most of them carried the slate of horror movies packaged as Shock Theater in 1957 and Son of Shock in 1958, released for television syndication by Screen Gems, the television subsidiary of Columbia Pictures. These collections included Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Invisible Man, The Wolf Man, and others, and televising these films gave them new life by introducing these classics to a whole new audience of baby boomers and MonsterKids. Combined with articles on the emerging monster craze that appeared in mainstream magazines such as LOOK and LIFE, this wave of films on TV was an inspiration for Famous Monsters magazine, which in turn lead to the Aurora monster model kits, Mars Attacks bubble gum cards, and much more. Well, we didn’t have an actual horror host. Not that I minded; I wasn’t really aware of the other hosts, despite East Coast-based Zacherley being prominently and regularly featured in the pages of Famous Monsters (I remember thinking, Who is this guy…?). No, I have a dim memory of our Lights Out program opening on a black cloth-draped table with candles and a skull enshrouded by floating clouds of low-hanging dry ice. As SCTV’s Count Floyd would later exclaim, “Oooh, scary stuff, kiddies…” And we didn’t have the Shock Theater package. I think our local station simply jumped on the bandwagon by licensing low-budget, halfforgotten “B” horror movies. But you didn’t hear me complain— to this day I have a vivid memory of watching the Italian-made blob movie Caltiki–The Immortal Monster on TV back then, the only movie ever to give me nightmares (and I can remember the nightmares, too). When creatures clash! Cyclops vs. boa constrictor: the photo that appeared in Monster World magazine. (INSET) Monster World #1. Cyclops © Allied Artists.

In any case, I didn’t need any help from TV Guide. Being a cardcarrying monster fan in good standing, I was already up to speed about The Cyclops. A full-page photo of the Cyclops wrestling the boa constrictor had appeared in the first issue of Forry’s companion magazine, Monster World, which had come out in late

1964. Thus, this broadcast of The Cyclops was “Must-See-TV” (even before that phrase was even invented). Step One: Pleading With the Parents. This was a midnight show, and I had never stayed up that late before. Please, Mom, PleasePleasePleasePLEEZE let me stay up! I guess I was persistent (or annoying) enough to wear down my parents and override normal bedtime because they finally gave in. I remember my mother wondering if I’d make it through the whole movie, but I assured her that there was so much adrenaline pumping through my veins that I could’ve bottled it. Step Two: Setting the Stage. Finally: Saturday night. 11:45 p.m. The rest of the family had gone off to bed as I shook my head at how oblivious they were to the wonders about to unfold. The house was as quiet as a moonbeam. A single table lamp cast a circle of light on my left. I reached out and turned on the TV and waited with high expectation as it warmed up (yes, it took a minute back in the days of cathode ray tubes). Conveniently, Kellogg’s had just come out with Pop-Tarts®, so, fortified by a pair of lightly toasted brown sugar cinnamon Pop-Tarts® and a large glass of ice-cold Tang, the orange-flavored powdered drink mix made famous during John Glenn’s Mercury space flight in 1962, I settled back for a glorious evening of low-budget thrills and horror. And fell asleep. Okay, well, not totally asleep asleep, but that in-between foggy-minded limbo in which you drif t of f to other worlds while half-consciously taking in the reality in front of you. In this case, I would occasionally shake it of f and wonder if the scene that just played out was in the movie or something I made up in my stupor. And then it happened: a scene that, for all its shock value, could have jolted the Frankenstein monster to life. About a third of the way into the movie our intrepid explorers have made it to the valley and into the cave where they think Gloria’s brother ended up. They’ve found evidence of his having been there— airplane parts, clothing, and, significantly, his wristwatch. And just as they’re wondering what’s going on, and just as I am once again slipping away into a drowsy dream state… ROAWRRR! The Cyclops himself leaps up from behind a huge boulder in the mouth of the cave, letting out a bellow that could be heard from here to Albuquerque. Well, you had to peel me off the ceiling, let me tell you. Peek-a-boo, I see you! Cyclops’ audience-chilling cavern reveal. © Allied

Artists.

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June 2020

ernest farino’s retro fantasmagoria

female character Tony Curtis played in Billy Wilder’s Some Like It Hot (1959). Fans of Ray Harryhausen’s films from the Fif ties will likely recognize Frees as the voice of the lead alien in Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956) who gravely announces in somber tones, “People of Earth—attention! People of Earth—attention! This is a voice speaking to you from thousands of miles beyond your planet.” Even more far afield is Frees’ memorable voice for Boris Badenov, the “villain” in the Jay Ward Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoon series, and, completely unrecognizable, was, incredibly enough, the giggly voice of the original Poppin’ Fresh, the Pillsbury Doughboy in TV commercials. (I animated four stop-motion Doughboy commercials in 1979, with soundtrack voice by the Cyclops himself, Paul Frees. Six degrees of separation…?) It has been said by those who worked with him that Frees was the consummate professional. So much so that if, say, he had a hour session to perform 30 seconds of voiceover, he would arrive at the recording studio and spend 59 minutes and 30 seconds regaling the sound crew with stories of his adventures in Hollywood, and then proceed to nail the required line reading in the remaining 30 seconds. And he’d do it perfectly, in sync, on Take 1. No doubt that “ROAWRRR!” that scared the living daylights out of me back in 1964 was Paul Frees nailing it on Take 1.

If you think this has just been a personal trip down Memory Lane for me only, I hasten to admonish you with the only remaining recall of my high school French: “Au contraire!” Nine times out of ten, movie buffs in the know will perk up when you mention The Cyclops (and we really don’t care about that tenth guy, do we?), enthusiastically speaking of the fight with the boa constrictor, our shared boyhood crushes on Gloria Talbott, and memories of visiting or working in Bronson Canyon. Independent filmmaker Brett Piper has gone one step further and put his money where his mouth is. Brett has made several micro-budget features, often featuring remarkably well-done stop motion animation, several of which are inspired by The Cyclops. Most notably is Brett’s film Triclops, which proves the old adage that Three Eyes Are Better Than One. So if The Cyclops shows up on CometTV or MeTV or one of the other retro channels, have a look. “Eye” guarantee a fun time… Thanks to Mark Thomas McGee and Mark Wolf. All pictorial material reproduced herein derives from the voluntary, noncompensated contributions of pictorial or other memorabilia from the private collections of the author, and from the select private archives of individual contributors.

(TOP) Voice maestro Paul Frees, known for cartoon characters, the Cyclops’ “speech,” and (RIGHT) Poppin’ Fresh, the Pillsbury Doughboy. This stop-motion commercial was animated by the author of this article, Ernest Farino, at Coast Productions in 1979. The Doughboy character was originally created at Cascade Productions in the Sixites by Phil Kellison, Joe Raynor, and Jim Danforth for the Leo Burnett Agency in Chicago. Pillsbury Dough-

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ERNEST FARINO recently directed an episode of the SyFy/Netflix series Superstition starring Mario Van Peebles, as well as serving as Visual Ef fects Consultant. Previously Farino directed Steel and Lace starring Bruce Davison, episodes of Monsters starring Lydia Cornell and Marc McClure, ABC’s Land of the Lost starring Timothy Bottoms, and extensive 2nd Unit for the miniseries Dune starring William Hurt, Noah’s Ark starring Jon Voight, and Supernova starring Luke Perry. A two-time Emmy®-winning Visual Ef fects Supervisor for SyFy’s Dune and Children of Dune miniseries, Farino supervised the Emmy-nominated visual ef fects for the Tom Hanks/HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon; James Cameron’s The Terminator, The Abyss, and T2; as well as Starship Troopers, Snow White–A Tale of Terror, Creepshow, and many others. His publishing enterprise, Archive Editions, has published Mike Hankin’s elaborate three-volume book set Ray Harryhausen – Master of the Majicks, The FXRH Collection, and more.

RETRO TRAVEL

The

Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention

by Michael Eury Imagine a minefield of movie posters, celebrity autographs, DVDs of rare films and TV shows, trading cards, comic books, Baby Boomer-era toys, cartoon collectibles, LPs and 45s, and cinema-related books (of all vintages), loaded to explode with warm memories at every step. Whether you’re looking for an original Pee-wee’s Big Adventure one-sheet or an autograph of Lash LaRue or a Captain Kangaroo comic book or a Frankenstein T-shirt, this is your destination. Now picture a 24-7 movie room with classic and cult film showings, plus late-night horror screenings. And a full slate of scintillating seminars exploring everything from the long-uncredited Batman co-creator Bill Finger to old-time radio reenactments. And an assemblage of familiar faces from the small and big screens, like Loretta Swit, M*A*S*H’s own “Hot Lips” Houlihan, live and in person, waiting to meet you. No, this isn’t an impossible dream—this extraordinary three-day event exists, once a year. It’s the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention (MANC), held each September in Hunt Valley, Maryland, just outside of Baltimore. I attended MANC for the first time last year, on September 12–14, 2019, to promote RetroFan and other TwoMorrows

publications. When I’m a guest or exhibitor at traditional comiccons, whose audiences skew younger than most of you reading this magazine, I often cast a piteous eye across the crowded convention aisles, hoping for that reader with gray hair to wander my way to discover my wares (in addition to RetroFan, I edit the comics-history magazine BACK ISSUE and have written many comics-history books). But at MANC, ye ed wasn’t the odd (or old) man out—I was among my people! Like the guy in a Wild, Wild West T-shirt. And the Yul Brynner/Westworld cosplayer. And Geri Reischl, the convivial actress/singer who played Jan Brady in one of TV’s most offbeat spin-offs, The Brady Bunch Variety Hour (my very Brady interview with “Fake Jan” appears in our next issue). And the friendly fan that informed me that actor Tom Jacobs portrayed random Mayberry townspeople in a whopping 64 episodes of The Andy Griffith Show. My people!

Convention History

From programming to guests to vendors, the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention is a blast from the past. “MANC is a throwback to what conventions used to be,” contends convention organizer Martin Grams, Jr., the author of books and articles about some of the same topics you find in our very pages RetroFan

June 2020