RetroFan #46 Preview

September 2026 No. 46 $10.95

Car 54, Where are you?

SGT. BILKO AND CAR 54?

Paperback Heroes:

the DESTROYER

From phasers to handcuffs...

William Shatner is T.J. Hooker

BANACEK

Merchandise

George Peppard Catches More Than Thieves in this Classic Series

and A

Gene Simmons Interview

Also: Cereal Premiums • Part Two of Saturday Morning’s Ark II & more!

Featuring Ed Catto • Bob Greenberger • Andy Mangels • Will Murray • Scott Shaw! • Aaron Sultan • Mark Voger

T.J. Hooker © Columbia Pictures Television. Kiss and related likenesses © Pophouse Entertainment Group. Banacek © NBCUniversal. The Destroyer © Warren Murphy Media, LLC. Sgt. Bilko © CBS. All Rights Reserved.

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The Crazy Cool Culture We Grew Up With

ISSUE #46 ✽ September 2026

Columns and Special Features 3

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Voger’s Vault of Vintage Varieties Kiss

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RetroTelevision T.J. Hooker

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RetroTelevision Banachek

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RetroBroadway I ♥ NY

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Andy Mangels’ Retro Saturday Morning Ark II Part 2

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RetroCharacters My Life as a Pink Panther Artist

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Will Murray’s 20th Century Panopticon The Destroyer

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RetroMovies Slap Shot

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Oddball World of Scott Shaw!

Sgt. Bilko & Car 54, Where Are You?

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RetroToys Hot Wheels Wannabes

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RetroCereal Nabisco Spoon Sitters & Bowl Hangers

Departments

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Retrotorial

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RetroFanmail

RetroFan™ issue 46, September 2026 (ISSN 2576-7224) is published bi-monthly by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614, USA.Phone: (919) 4490344. Periodicals postage paid at Raleigh, NC. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to RetroFan, c/o TwoMorrows, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614. Ed Catto, Editorin-Chief. John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Office: RetroFan, c/o Ed Catto, Editor, 304 N. Hoopes Ave., Auburn, NY 13021. Email: retroed@twomorrows.com. Six-issue subscriptions: $80 Economy US, $121 International, $29 Digital Only. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. KISS © Pophouse © Casblanca Records.

T.J. Hooker © Sony Pictures Television. Banachek © NBCUniversal. Ark II © NBCUniversal. Pink Panther © MGM Studios. The Destroyer © Warren Murphy Media, LLC. Slapshot © Universal Studios. Sgt Bilko © CBS. Car 54 Where Are You? © NBCUniversal. OOOBopperoos originally © Nabisco, now Mondelez. Hot Wheels and Fantastic Car Kooks/Farbs © Mattel. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2025 Ed Catto and TwoMorrows. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING.

VOGER’S VAULT OF VINTAGE VARIETIES

®

Painted Rockers Were Both Spectacle and Soap Opera

BY MARK VOGER

(ABOVE) Kiss poses for one of their earliest publicity photos.

(LEFT TO RIGHT) Peter Criss, Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley, and Gene Simmons. © Pophouse. © Casablanca Records.

To these fans, the phrase “Paul, Gene, Ace, and Peter” One day in 1974, there it was on the record store rack: is as ingrained as “John, Kiss, a new album by a new band, also called Kiss. The Paul, George, and Ringo.” cover photo commanded attention before the needle even A program note before we met the vinyl. fire up the confetti cannon: In their pancake, studs, and jet-black garb, the four musi- The quotes which follow are cians on the cover seemed like comic book characters. Soon from my interviews with the world would know their names and stage personas: Paul Stanley in 2004; Simmons in 2002; Frehley in 1995 and 2008; Stanley (rhythm guitar) was the strutting, hairy-chested and Criss on six occasions between 1995 and 2012. Cue the “starchild”; Gene Simmons (bass) was the fire-breathing, pyrotechnics! blood-spitting, long-tongued “demon”; Ace Frehley (lead guitar) was the silver-tressed “spaceman” with the smoking WE WERE UNDERDOGS guitar; Peter Criss (drums) was the arm-flailing “catman” The story of Kiss began in 1973, when Stanley and Simmons with the levitating drum kit. met and formed a band called Wicked Lester which, they At their height later in the Seventies, Kiss’ painted faces soon concluded, wasn’t going anywhere. Around the same time, Criss had been floundering in a band called Chelsea. would grace magazine covers, posters, toys, and a Marvel “It was very heavy,” Criss (born 1945 in Brooklyn) recalled. comic book. Kiss concerts—with their explosions, fog, and stagecraft—were spectacles without equal.

“It didn’t fly. I was looking for something. I’m like, ‘Oh, my But it wasn’t all rock ’n’ rolling all night, nor partying career is over when I’m 25. I’m going to die. I’ve gotta get ev-er-y day. something going.’ I put this ad in Rolling Stone: ‘Drummer There was infighting and resentment, turnover and willing to do anything to make it.’ shaky reconciliations. But despite personnel shifts “Gene called me, and next thing I knew, I met him and through the decades—Stanley and Simmons were the only Paul in front of Electric Ladyland (recording studio). They constants—many fans think of the band as those four guys. had some cool sounds going. Their band had fallen apart. So RETROFAN

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Voger’s Vault of Vintage Varieties

(LEFT) Kiss, the first album from Kiss (1974). (CENTER) Hotter Than Hell, the the three of us got to be a trio for quite second album (1974). (RIGHT) Dressed to Kill, the third album (1975). © Pophouse. a while. And then Ace, thank God, © Casablanca Records. © Universal Music Group. jumped in.”

Frehley auditioned wearing one red sneaker and one orange sneaker, and got the gig. been such an important part of our success,” said Stanley At a time when makeup and costumes were permeating (born 1952 in Manhattan). the rock world—think David Bowie, Alice Cooper, Roxy “To find any downside is just showing disrespect or lack Music—Kiss made the bold of gratitude for the success decision to paint their faces, we’ve been given. I always say: dye their hair, and wear graviIf you win the lottery, don’t ty-defying boots. complain about taxes.

Said Criss on developing “The makeup is really a the look: “I was going to the badge of honor. It always Fillmore East (concert venue) a has been. It’s a way of really lot, and seeing all these great magnifying, not necessarily guys from England. I was like, only our personalities, but ‘Man, something’s missing. It the personalities of our fans. needs more.’

People can identify with “And then we saw Alice different makeup, different Cooper and we went, ‘Wow! icons, different characters.

Now that’s something cool.’

Because you can feel very Why can’t there be four Alice much like one of the members, Coopers, like the four Beatles, and identify with the each one their own star, with personality.” their own persona?”

Back in the day before the It took a while for audiences band “unmasked,” Stanley to “get” it. would still get recog“People would just nized in public. look at us like we were “All the time,” he lunatics, because we said with a laugh. all blue-blacked our “People wanted to hair, we all dyed our believe this was a hair the same color,” Clark Kent/Superman Criss continued. “We situation. But the were really the undertruth was, if you saw dogs. But we had this me walking down dream of being these the street without guys that we wanted makeup, I was still in to see onstage.”

8-inch heels; I still had Did the makeup black, curly hair way (LEFT) Kiss Alive!, the fourth album (1975). (ABOVE CENTER) Destroyer, become an albatross? past my shoulders; I the fifth album (1976). (RIGHT) Rock and Roll Over, the sixth album (1976). was still over 6-feet“You know, the © Pophouse. © Casablanca Records. © Universal Music Group. makeup has always tall. Either the circus 4

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Voger’s Vault of Vintage Varieties

masters competing with the new wave of MTV-friendly “hair metal” bands. Subsequent Kiss members included guitarists Bruce Kulick, Mark St. John and Tommy Thayer, and drummer Eric Singer. In 1995, the original Kiss reunited, sans makeup, on MTV Unplugged. This, of course, made the rumor mill go haywire.

ROCK STAR REUNION At the 1996 Grammy Awards, rapper Tupac Shakur made a surprise introduction. Shakur brought out Kiss—the original Kiss, that is, again wearing the makeup that catapulted them to superstardom two decades earlier. Between ’96 and 2001, the reunited foursome toured, reprising their most memorable stage tricks: the fire, the blood, the levitating drums, the smoking guitar. Stanley “flew” over the audience riding a sparkling pogo stick. The quartet also recorded its first album together in 19 years, Psycho Circus (1998), though Frehley and Criss were not on every track.

“It’s so cool,” said Criss. “It’s like a time thing. You get into the makeup, and you’re back in ’75.”

“It was great,” said Frehley. “I signed on for one tour. Then I signed on for the ‘farewell’ tour. And then, you know, at that point, I just kind of had it. I wanted to get back to my own life, and get back into trying to push my solo career. Five or six years with Kiss again kind of did me in a little. Because I kind of fell back into my old habits. It took me a while to get things back together.”

By “old habits,” did Frehley mean partying?

“Well, you know, the road can make you crazy. And so can Paul and Gene,” Frehley added with a sardonic chuckle. “I ended up numbing myself with alcohol and drugs.

Today, I’m clean and sober. It’s a much better way to go. It’s nice wakin’ up the following day remembering what you did the night before.”

To fans who followed the behind-the-scenes soap opera, it seemed by then that the four founders had devolved into two factions: Stanley and Simmons on one side, Frehley and Criss on the other. (Draw your own conclusions.)

Stanley told me that Kiss had “closed the door” on Frehley.

“Ace has his own ideas of what he wants to do, and I certainly wish him the best,” Stanley said. “It’s just that it’s not fair to the fans or the band to be constantly asking one person what he wants to do. At some point, you have to close the door and say life will go on.”

Frehley was replaced onstage by Thayer, who was previously a jack-of-all-trades for the band. Thayer wore Frehley’s getup on stage, essentially playing the part of “Ace.” But Frehley held no animosity.

Kiss graced countless magazine covers during the band’s heyday. © Current copyright holders.

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RETROTELEVISION

T.J. HOOKER LA County’s Finest

BY CHRISTOPHER ROBINSON

(LEFT) William Shatner is T.J. Hooker, street cop.

(RIGHT) Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan kept William Shatner busy as he was jumping into his new cop series. Star Trek © Paramount Global. T. J. Hooker © Sony Pictures Television. Photos courtesy of IMDb

was eager to sign on even if that meant being demoted to a ‘sergeant.’ In Shatner, He boldly went where no man had gone before. From there he went where only the bold dared to go. In 1982 screen icon Michael Seth Starr’s biography, Shatner is quoted, William Shatner made a triumphant return to television “My managers and I decided as Thomas Jefferson Hooker, a no-nonsense veteran street that I had been waiting for cop in a new action series. His five-year mission this time fine screen opportunities for around was to contrast his well-established ‘Captain Kirk’ many years, but what I was persona with something of a gritty and flawed semi-antibeing offered was the next hero. While not as iconic as Star Trek’s career-defining role, level down.” the plan clearly worked and the new character served him Goldberg and Spelling well, leading to subsequent career turns and one final hit for had been contracted to produce a final pilot before parting network wiz Aaron Spelling. ways to helm individual productions. Husky was tasked T.J. Hooker, created by writer/producer Rick Husky had

by Goldberg to develop an idea for a cop show centering on evolved from an ABC network pilot titled The Protectors young recruits and pitch to ABC within a few days’ time. which had intended to be a new version of the Seventies Husky immediately created the LCPD Academy setting police drama series The Rookies, produced by Spelling and producer Leonard Goldberg. Experiencing an unchallenging as well as the T.J. Hooker character. After reading it, the period of Star Trek features and TV commercials, Shatner network execs ordered a two-hour pilot which they decided should center on the Hooker character to whom still no actor was attached. Spelling and Goldberg soon focused on Shatner, whose name was among the few on a casting list which also named Robert Conrad (The Wild Wild West, Baa Baa Black Sheep).

In The Protectors, Hooker is introduced as a training officer for the Los Angeles County Police Department or ‘LCPD’ (Was there no room for the ‘A’?). The academy has After Star Trek but before T.J. Hooker, Shatner, with Doug McClure, had headlined the short-lived Barbary Coast series in 1975. Star Trek and Barbary Coast © Paramount Global. T. J. Hooker © Sony Pictures Television.

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T.J. HOOKER: 5 KEY EPISODES (TO GET YOU HOOK’D)

“Carnal Express” This episode sees the disappearance of a young acquaintance of Hooker and Stacy’s who Hooker had helped through an addiction. To find her and infiltrate a slave ring, Stacy moonlights undercover as an exotic dancer. The subject matter and its compelling storyline make this a relevant one.

A moment from Locklear’s dancing scene would later be incorporated into the series’ title credits.

“Trackdown” When a violent and psychotic killer uses captive women to lure other victims into a trap, it’s up to Hooker and Stacy (going undercover, yet again) to track him down. Based on a true story, according to the IMDb, it features a captivating performance

by Richard Hatch as the unstable yet charming villain few are quick to suspect.

T.J. Hooker debuts. © Sony Pictures Television. TV Guide is © NTVB Media.

implemented a new program created in the wake of a violent crime spree and Hooker soon learns the strengths and weaknesses of each recruit. They take to the streets and hunt a team of robbers who leave a trail of bloodshed but all the while they are hindered by other obstacles.

Hooker has recently given up his rank of detective after the killing of his partner and insists on personally hunting down “maggots” himself. He and his ex-wife still care about one another despite their marriage’s failure to survive the impact of his police work. Meanwhile, Hooker closely watches Vince Romano (Adrian Zmed), a young rookie who has what it takes, but is tormented by PTSD from his tour of duty in Vietnam. After an intense tribulation of casualties, disappointments, and 14

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Shatner in “Trackdown.” © Sony Pictures Television.

Courtesy of IMDb.

“Night Vigil” When Stacy is hospitalized with a critical gunshot wound, Hooker, Romano, and Corrigan madly hunt for a ‘super slug’ shooting crook who has left her in a coma, clinging to life.

This one reveals Hooker’s close bond with Stacy who is insistent that he catches the perp ‘by the book.’ T.J. Hooker Annual 1983 (LEFT) Shatner, as T. J. Hooker, is ready for anything on this cover TV Guide. Star Trek and Barbary Coast © Paramount Global. T. J. Hooker © Sony Pictures Television. TV Guide is © NTVB Media.

doubt, justice eventually wins out and Hooker pairs up the remaining recruits, taking on Romano as his own partner.

This effective pilot set the template for a brief initial season where a slightly less-Dirty Harryish Hooker and Romano pursue hoodlums and hooligans throughout the city in Hooker’s Dodge Monaco where they catch thieves, muggers, and killers, all the while protecting the good citizens of “LA County.” Their exigent assignments are commissioned to them by their superior, Captain Sheridan (Richard Herd), seen momentarily in The Protectors, while

retrotelevision

“I have been and always shall be your friend.” Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner reunite on Earth in the second season of T.J. Hooker. © Sony Pictures Television.

“Vengeance is Mine” The corruption of the justice system is explored in a story that brings Hooker together with an old law enforcement buddy. The friend’s daughter is beaten and raped by a defense lawyer who uses his connections to avoid imprisonment. While the victim’s father will stop at nothing to avenge her, Hooker and Romano have to beat him to it and remain on the right side of the law. Shatner’s friend and Star Trek co-star Leonard Nimoy agreed to star in this episode only if given an additional one to direct. That episode, “The Decoy,” would air just two weeks earlier.

(LEFT) Heather Locklear as Officer Stacy Sheridan in a T.J. Hooker publicity photo. (BELOW) Everyone already knew that “Hooker is hot!” From October 20, 1984 issue of TV Guide. © Sony Pictures Television. TV Guide is © NTVB Media.

to fight the maggots with one partner or as many as three. Nevertheless, there were numerous opportunities to save the day single-handedly. He seized these opportunities by vaulting onto the back of a truck, bus, or speedboat or grappling the landing skids of a helicopter as it left the ground. He did it all in style too, donning a seemingly endless array of leather jackets and windbreakers when not in his regulation dark blue shirt and tie (and let’s not forget those obligatory smooches from lady guest stars that seem like they were specifically written into Shatner’s contract).

“Nightmare” A car accident on a rainy night in a remote area leaves Stacy with amnesia and held captive in a large house by a mysterious murderer. When she discovers he’s not really a doctor but a killer, she looks for ways out. This final season episode is tense and suspenseful from beginning to end.

Romano spends his spare time flirting with the station desk clerk, Vicki (April Clough).

For Hooker’s second season, Vicki was replaced by Sheridan’s daughter, Stacy (Heather Locklear) who assists in their work and rounds out their team. Sheridan himself would gradually fade into the background as the show progressed. The officers-in-training would likewise seem to be someone else’s responsibility. Hooker would rarely work with them again, though their ubiquitous drill exercises would be on display nearly every time the academy exterior was shown. His ex-wife and kids were similarly seen less frequently, allowing Hooker to adopt a more bachelor-like image. Without connoting any goings-on, Hooker’s condo is often paid visits by a bevy of nubile young ladies stopping by for superfluous chitchat or to borrow sugar.

Once Stacy was ready to hit the streets, she was partnered with veteran cop Jim Corrigan, played by former ’60s teen idol James Darren, also a Vietnam vet like Hooker and Romano. Now the ensemble was complete, allowing Hooker RETROFAN

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RETROTELEVISION

George Peppard taught men of a certain generation how to look good in a Turtle neck and a blazer. © NBCUniversal.

Unlocking the Locked Room A Look at BANACEK

BY ROBERT GREENBERGER In 1972, the most well-known Polish character on television was Mike Stivic, son-in-law to Archie Bunker on CBS’ All in the Family, and the butt of the many Polack jokes hurled his way. It played off the stereotype of the Polish people not being smart, with Mike suffering a variety of slurs, including being called “Meathead.” A year later, the Polish people in America had a different role model, someone who was witty, urbane, wealthy, and very proud of his Polish heritage. He was Thomas Banacek (pronounced BAN-uhcheck), and unlike Mike, he headlined his eponymous television series.

The show starred movie heartthrob George Peppard (1928–1994), who didn’t discover acting until college. His father’s unexpected death in 1951 slightly derailed him as he returned home to take over his father’s construction business. Once completed, he attended the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon). He began with a two-year stint at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, where he befriended George Eckstein, who later was Banacek’s executive producer. During this stretch, he married fellow actress Helen Davies, and they welcomed a son, Bradford, in 1955.

By 1964, the marriage was over, and he fell in love with Elizabeth Ashley when they costarred in The Carpetbaggers.

It was the second marriage for both, and once again, Peppard had a son, Christian, in 1968. Yet, their love would sour, and things grew acrimonious.

He took various odd jobs before settling into steady work on live radio and television series before booking his first film, The Strange One, a 1957 adaptation of Calder Willingham’s novel. From there, he began appearing in big-budget international films such as How the West Was Won and Pork

Cheers! George Peppard and Audrey Hepburn in 1961’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s. © Paramount. Photo courtesy of IMDb. RETROFAN

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(LEFT) George Peppard and Ursula Andress flirt in The Blue Max. © 20th Century Studios/The Walt Disney Company.

Photo courtesy of IMDb. (BELOW) Banacek’s 1941 Custom Packard was shown in the shows opening. Two cars were used in the series. In 2019, one was sold by classic car auction house RM Southeby’s for $373,000. © NBCUniversal.

Chop Hill. While most of them are forgotten, he is today best known as Audrey Hepburn’s romantic interest in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. After the so-so performance and reviews of his Blue Max and Tobruk, Peppard turned to television. He made one telefilm, the potential pilot The Bravos, before being hired by creator/producer Anthony Wilson.

He hadn’t entirely abandoned film as he also shot The Executioner (1970) and The Groundstar Conspiracy (1972), the latter featuring Banacek costar Christine Belford.

Peppard accepted the “demotion” to television, as it was viewed in Hollywood from the 1950s through the 1990s, partly because it would keep him in California, closer to the child he shared with Ashley. He also liked the notion that the series would rehabilitate the Polish reputation as he succeeded, whereas people of other ethnicities failed.

Thomas Banacek was suave, athletic, and incredibly smart. He ran his own operation, “restoring” missing items to insurance companies for a percentage of the insured value. Living in tony Beacon Hill, Banacek and his home were definitely callbacks to a similarly clever and sophisticated figure: 1967’s Thomas Crowne (Steve McQueen). The same Boston home, 85 Mt. Vernon Street, was used as the exteriors for both men. They, of course, differed after that, with Crowne being a thief and Banacek spoiling thefts.

As we learn in the pilot telefilm, Banacek has a 66% success rate, infuriating employees in the insurance recovery divisions around Boston. There is less-thanfriendly competition between the freelance recovery specialist and the staffers, who are used as foils in most episodes. Banacek comes across as smug and superior but earns it through his successful career.

Peppard ensured that Banacek was a variation on his true self, from the fine lifestyle to the same wines and thin cigars. However, Universal Studios’ filmed smoke of choice was custom-made Puncheon Selection Slendores, crafted by 21 Club Selected Items, Ltd. It was Peppard who suggested his short haircut be retained, and his preferred dress was a turtleneck and jacket.

Peppard and his alter ego both played squash, and the title credits saw him 20

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sculling on the Charles River (fun fact: it was 10 degrees when he filmed that sequence for the pilot). His independent streak, smart mouth, and rebellion against authority are also reminiscent of another Boston investigator, Robert B. Parker’s Spenser, who arrived at much the same time with 1973’s The Godwulf Manuscript.

His Polish heritage takes some knocks, with most episodes featuring people who cannot properly pronounce his name. In the pilot and a subsequent episode, he is asked if he has ever considered changing his name, and the answer is no, both times.

All the elements of the series could be found in the pilot, from Banacek’s preference for expensive antiques to his reliance on Felix Mulholland (Murray Matheson), owner of Mulholland’s Rare Books & Prints, for research and banter to his reliance on Jay Drury (Ralph Manza) to be his chauffeur in the long Cadillac. Also found in the pilot is rival investigator Caroline “Carlie” Kirkland (Christine Belford), who was brought back as a regular in season two. Once the series began, Felix was often seen playing chess with attractive and much younger women, suggesting that, in his prime, he might have been like Banacek. He’s certainly a father figure here, dispensing wisdom, knowledge, and snark.

Anthony Wilson conceived of the series as a modern-day take on the locked room mystery subgenre of detective fiction. A writer and/or producer for prime-time television, Wilson’s credits through the 1950s and 1960s included Have Gun Will Travel, The Naked City, Bonanza, Gene Roddenberry’s The Lieutenant, The Twilight Zone, Land of the Giants, and others.

He was coming off ABC’s The Immortal when Universal bought his Banacek pitch. NBC liked the pitch and bought the pilot to be tested as a movie of the week, a common practice in the 1970s.

George Peppard as Banacek. © NBCUniversal.

RETROBROADWAY

At the Heart of the Greatest Ad Campaign of All

BY LAURENCE MASLON The idea probably occurred to them on the morning of July 5, 1976, as the last of the Tall Ships streamed out of New York Harbor, under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, out into the sea, past the demoralized legend of a beleaguered city.

Operation Sail was the highlight of the Bicentennial celebration, an almost logistically impossible feat, when 228 sailing vessels entered New York Harbor led by 16 three-masted ships from all around the world (including the Soviet Union, with whom we were locked in an ongoing struggle in 1976). Although New York City in 1976 was no one’s idea of a model of hospitality, the event was a massive success, defying naysayers, crowd control, and plain old common sense. Six million bystanders lined the banks of the Hudson River, celebrating the nation’s 200th birthday in a spectacle that was pulled off without incident or controversy. Even then-president Gerald R. Ford, who only nine months earlier had implied that New York City should drop dead (at least as inferred by the New York Daily News in a famous headline), watched Operation Sail from an aircraft carrier moored off of Manhattan and proclaimed it “the greatest Fourth of July any of us will ever see.”

A HELLUVA TOWN, STUCK IN HELL The success of the Bicentennial celebration only put into relief how distressed New York City was during the other 364 days of the year. Recent history had been particularly

(ABOVE) Milton Glaser’s original design for the I Love NY campaign. Courtesy of Miltonglaser.com (EDGE) Lower Manhatten by Tristan Surtel. Courtesy of Wikipedia.

bad for the once “wonderful” town. The number of murders in the city had more than doubled over the previous decade, from 681 in 1965 to 1,690 in 1975. Car thefts and assaults had also more than doubled in the same period, rapes and burglaries had more than tripled, while robberies had gone up an astonishing tenfold.

An overextension of the city’s credit line, based on unwieldly budgets and poor planning, led to an unsuccessful attempt

by New York to get the federal government to throw the city a lifeline—hence Ford’s rejection of the city’s request. Mayor Abe Beame was forced to resort to huge cutbacks to the ranks of city’s already overworked civil service employees.

These layoffs and pension cuts provoked aggressive pushback from the affected It all started with workers. Members of the police Operation Sail in 1976. union concocted a “Fear City” Courtesy of eBay. campaign where they produced a brochure highlighting the city’s most frightening statistics about crime and depredation, handing them out to tourists arriving at airports and bus stations: the cover featured the blurb “Welcome to Fear City” emblazoned over the cartoon of a ghoul so depraved that he made Skeletor look like Boo-Boo Bear by comparison.

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ANDY MANGELS’ RETRO SATURDAY MORNING

Saturday Morning Dystopia

Part 2

BY ANDY MANGELS Welcome back to “Andy Mangels’ Retro Saturday Morning,” your constant guide to the shows that thrilled us from yesteryear, exciting our imaginations and capturing our memories. Grab some milk and cereal, sit cross-legged leaning against the couch, and dig in to “Retro Saturday Morning”! This issue, we’re finding out that the future would reveal weird adventures even on Saturday mornings, as we take a ride on Saturday morning’s coolest vehicle ever!

Live-action shows on Saturday morning had a resurgence in the mid-1970s, with the weird and wondrous worlds of Sid & Marty Krofft on ABC and NBC, and the more human adventures of Filmation’s Ghost Busters, Shazam!, and Isis on CBS. But even as America was celebrating its Bicentennial, Filmation was readying the darkest plot ever conceived of for a children’s show… set on the desolate and ruined post-apocalyptic Earth of the 25th century! [Last issue, RetroFan #45, featured part one of the Ark II story and now onto part two! –RetroEd.] YOU’LL BELIEVE A MAN CAN FLY Quite a while before Superman: The Movie made audiences believe a man could fly, the series Ark II actually showed it happening for real! Although jetpacks had been a staple in pulps, Buck Rogers comic strips, and comic books, Ark II made them a reality.

“Probably the thing people remember most about the show is

Jonah using his flying backpack,” Scheimer said. The backpack was known as the “Jet Jumper,” and it was a modified Bell Rocket Belt, like the one seen in the 1965 James Bond film Thunderball. It would later be used in the Olympics opening ceremonies of 1984. The pack did not use flammable fuel, but was instead propelled by five gallons of 90% pure hydrogen peroxide!

The Jet Jumper was not actually flown by Terry Lester as Jonah, but

by Nelson Tyler, his face hidden by a helmet. Today, Nelson has his own company, Tyler Camera Systems, which

Standing in front of the Arc II vehicle is (FRONT) Moochie as Adam and (BACK ROW) Jose Flores as Samuel, Terry Lester as Jonah, and Jean Marie Hon as Ruth). Unless otherwise mentioned, all images from Arc II © NBCUniversal.

specializes in stable camera mounts for helicopters. “We were the first TV show to use the backpack though,” said Scheimer. “Nelson had to put on one of RETROFAN

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andy mangels’ retro saturday morning

Terry Lester [or Nelson Tyler?] in the Jet Jumper—good for about 40 seconds of flight time.

Terry’s suits, and the thing was so baggy all over him we had to sort of tape it down so it fit him because Terry was a big guy.”

“That thing was wild to watch,” Scheimer continued. “We shot a lot of footage of it. We had it for a couple of days, and we shot hundreds of feet of footage of it, so that we had a lot of different stock scenes: different views, different scenery, going down through a hill and over a mountain. Everybody wanted to be on set those days when he was flying around.”

The pack allowed Tyler to fly for about 40 seconds total.

The backpack had a small hammer in the helmet that would tap him on the head when he was about to run out of hydrogen peroxide. Tyler then knew that he had about 15 seconds of flight left in which he would have to land. “There was once that he forgot, or it didn’t tap him hard enough, and he didn’t have enough fuel to get all the way down,” remembered Scheimer. “He fell about 20 feet, and almost got killed. I asked him if he ever got headaches from the thing bopping him on the head.”

But what about all the scenes of Terry Lester in the Jet Jumper and close-ups of him flying? Pure practical Hollywood magic. “We had another fake backpack, which Terry wore for his scenes,” said Scheimer. “I don’t think he ever flew at all though. I don’t think they would let him do it. The shots in the show where it’s a close-up and it Moochie as Adam inside looks like him flying around the Ark II as they wander a were just camera tricks, or desolated Earth. him standing on a platform 36

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with wind blowing at him. And then we’d cut to a shot of the other guy.”

MONKEYING AROUND The role of Adam was played by a juvenile chimpanzee named Moochie, trained by Darrell Keener and supervised

by Ralph Helfer with Gentle Jungle. Director Henry Lange said, “It was the first time I’d ever worked with a chimpanzee on the show, and… the trainers could pretty much get Moochie to do what we needed to do. We had one guy grip on the show, Big John, and for whatever reason, Big

RETROCHARACTERS

MY LIFE AS A PINK PANTHER ARTIST

On occasion, I do presentations at grade schools to talk about my career as an animator and comic book artist/ writer. Often, to break the ice, I ask kids if they recognize any of the characters I have worked on. It’s a fun and revealing icebreaker that always gives me a gentle chuckle.

On this day, I was presenting to about 200 first-, second-, and third-grade students.

“I drew comics of Underdog. Have any of you heard of Underdog?”

One hand raises.

“I saw the movie with the real dogs.” I winced.

“I was the story director on the video game Hogwarts Legacy. Have any of you played that game?” I always expect a big response for this, as the game’s made over $3 billion. However, I might have been asking this of a younger crowd than the game is geared toward. A few hands went up, and one kid mentioned that his brother played it while he watched. Fine—my feelings weren’t hurt. But I was worried my heavy-hitter credits weren’t landing.

I mentioned I was an animation artist at Disney, that I directed the Netflix film The Velveteen Rabbit and the voice sessions for the cast of the latest Star Wars trilogy. There was interest, for sure. But I didn’t get the “wow” factor I usually get at conventions.

I knew I wasn’t going to land these kids with Rocky and Bullwinkle… but then I stated, “I was an artist for this comic book as well.” I put a PowerPoint slide of the Pink Panther on the screen, and the amazement and excitement of the crowd was palpable. I was so tickled that they loved the character.

But, as many times as this happens, I wondered why.

I used to think it was because people were misunderstanding that I created the character. I wasn’t even born yet—that would have really been something. I have Pink Panther on my convention banner, and I’ve had many parents walk by my table with their kids and whisper, “That man invented the Pink Panther.” Cue my existential crisis and a quick call to a plastic surgeon. Honestly, that didn’t explain the hold the pink one had on kids.

This made me think about my own love for the character.

I love nostalgic cartoons—I always have. I remember being enchanted by Pink Panther, the Ant and the Aardvark, Misterjaw, and the rest of the ensemble when I was a kid. But I had to pause and realize I still love the gang.

Pondering became a reflection on my own fandom, and I started to understand the answer.

Where Underdog and Rocky and Bullwinkle require some cleverly—dare I say mature—writing, Pink Panther speaks directly to the human condition without the need for voice work. It’s inherent to his charm and likely the reason kids responded to him so well. It took me far too long to understand what had come so easily to Charlie Chaplin. We, as a collective, have a primitive and silent yearning to face the human condition with humor.

BY ADRIAN ROPP

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WILL MURRAY’S 20TH CENTURY PANOPTICON

1970s Men’s Adventure Series

Part 2

BY WILL MURRAY The men’s adventure paperback explosion of the 1970s detonated with Don Pendleton’s the Executioner, released

by Pinnacle Books in 1969. Pendleton and his publisher are always given credit for inaugurating one of the most significant category evolutions of the paperback revolution.

Nothing can be taken away from them. But the truth is more complicated.

By 1971, Executioner sales were steady, but not yet phenomenal [Will covered it all back in RetroFan #42 – RetroEd]. Nonetheless, Pinnacle had carved out a growing niche in the paperback industry. They wanted to expand their line.

(TOP) The Destroyer: Oil Thanks to a synchronistic stroke of luck involving a Slick #16 (Pinnacle Books, much-rejected manuscript, they managed to catch lightInc., 1974) (ABOVE) Coin ning in a bottle for the second time. Although marketed of the Realm #77 (Signet, as a new entry in the vein of the Executioner, Richard 1989). All Destroyer materi- Sapir and Warren Murphy’s satirical Destroyer concept al © Warren Murphy Media, technically predated Don Pendleton’s Mack Bolan by seven LLC. years.

(TOP) Sue Me #66 (Penguin Publishing Group, 1986).

(ABOVE) Bay City Blast #38 (Pinnacle Books, 1979).

(CENTER TOP) Death Therapy #6 (Pinnacle Books, 1972).

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RETROMOVIES

50 YEARS OF HILARIOUS HOCKEY HIJINKS WITH SLAP SHOT

BY ROBERT JESCHONEK The genre of hockey movies and TV series is a rich one, from the slapstick humor of The Mighty Ducks to the feelgood patriotism of Miracle (about the U.S. Olympic hockey team’s 1980 “Miracle on Ice”) to the gay romance of Heated Rivalry.

Then there is what many consider the greatest hockey film of all time.

Insert soundtrack here… “Thus Spake Zarathustra,” composed

by Richard Strauss, as featured in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey…

The year: 1977.

Dah… The star: Paul Newman.

Dah… The film: a sports comedy about minor league hockey.

Dah… The title: Slap Shot.

Dah Dah! Insert thundering kettle drums of “Zarathustra” here, dialed up to “11.”

Today, fans of sports movies—or just plain riotous comedies—know the movie well. Hockey fans and players the world over know it even better, as a kind of sacred text.

Hockey teams have been known to watch it on the bus or in locker rooms before home games or when they go on the road.

And its reputation seems to grow with each passing year. Calling it a “classic” never goes out of style.

Those who’ve never seen it before often fall in love with it at first sight.

But it wasn’t always like this, not at all. Like the Charlestown Chiefs

featured in the movie, Slap Shot started with little respect… only to win in the end through sheer grit and determination.

Plus profuse violence, profanity, and overall lowbrow humor, of course.

On the 49th anniversary of the film’s production in 1976, on the verge of the 50th anniversary of its release in ’77, it’s only right that we look back at how Slap Shot came to be, what makes it such a great film, and how it found acceptance in spite of early rejection.

Just be careful, as we look to the past, for the kind of hooking, high-sticking, and slashing that the Chiefs and their opponents are so famous for.

Watch your step. There will be blood on the ice.

THE NAMES WERE CHANGED TO PROTECT THE INDECENT Slap Shot got its start with the adventures of a real-life minor league hockey team based in the West-Central Pennsylvania industrial community of Johnstown. For the Johnstown Jets, and their opponents in the North American Hockey League, hockey was very much a rough-and-tumble sport, often characterized by unsportsmanlike conduct and brawls on the ice.

Under coach Dick Roberge, the Jets won the league’s Lockhart Cup in the 1974–75 season. The championship team included three rowdy brothers—Jeff, Jack, and Steve Carlson—and Ned Dowd, who happened to have a sister who was a screenwriter. Listening to Poster for Slap Shot (Universal, 1977). © Universal Pictures.

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retroMovies

Arlene was the lucky recipient of this autograph from Slap Shot star Paul Newman. © Universal Pictures.

Ned’s wild tales of the team’s off-color antics, sister Nancy knew she’d struck gold and took copious notes. The source material was so rich, Nancy spent a month with the Jets to research her new project—a screenplay about minor league hockey.

By the time Slap Shot started filming in March 1976, a true dream team was driving the bus. Director George Roy Hill and star Paul Newman were fresh off two smash hits—Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting. Their involvement brought instant prestige and anticipation to the project, feeding a can’t-miss sense of motion picture manifest destiny.

Could there be any doubt that this movie would kick as much ass as the fictional hockey brawlers it featured?

HOME ICE ADVANTAGE One thing was certain when the cameras started rolling: the main filming location would be utterly authentic. Where better to shoot a story inspired by the Johnstown Jets than the venue where they played their home games?

The Cambria County War Memorial Arena in downtown Johnstown proved to be the ideal backdrop for the film, giving every scene shot there a convincingly rough and weathered look. With such a great location, it wouldn’t take much to convince filmgoers that the place they were seeing—like the hockey team that played there—had seen better days.

For scenes taking place outside the walls of the arena, the city of Johnstown itself provided the perfect setting. Once a booming mill town, Johnstown was on the leading edge of the collapse of the American steel industry. The dying mills and somber downtown streets had a faded glory and spirit of desperation that reflected the hockey team struggling for survival at the heart of the film.

The other towns and arenas in New York state where scenes were shot had a similar Rust Belt dinginess. Even as the Charlestown Chiefs’ dreams of success take a header, the towns where they and their opponents play hockey seem to be on a similar downward trajectory.

The Chiefs have it so bad, in fact, that their owner wants to shut down the team. This threat drives the action throughout the film, as player-coach Reggie Dunlop, played

by Newman, dreams up a plan to boost attendance at Chiefs games and convince the owner to keep the team alive.

Spoiler alert: The plan does not involve bobbleheads… unless you count the heads of rival teams knocked for a loop by the rampaging Charlestown players.

HIT ’EM WITH YOUR BEST SHOT Spurred on by Dunlop, the Chiefs become a truly savage squad, determined to give the fans exactly what they want the most: good old-fashioned violence. Fights on the ice,

Scenes from Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Photos courtesy of Robert Jeschonek.

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THE ODDBALL WORLD OF SCOTT SHAW!

Nat Hiken

BY SCOTT SHAW!

The New Yorker Behind Sgt. Bilko and Car 54, Where Are You?

Car 54, Where Are You? series creator Nate Hiken conversing with stars (LEFT) Joe E. Ross and (RIGHT) Fred Gwynne. © NBCUniversal.

When I was very young and mainly watching cartoons and Captain Kangaroo on my parents’ black-and-white television, I had three favorite live action TV shows for adults: The Honeymooners, Amos ’n’ Andy, and best of all, the series which was known at the time as The Phil Silvers Show. I thought they were funny because the stars of all three shows were always looking for a way to make some quick cash. They all had a scheme that usually didn’t work, but it didn’t stop them from coming up with a new scheme the following week.

Since then, I’ve memorized every original episode of The Honeymooners, and watched many of the Amos ’n’ Andy’s on YouTube (taking notice that the show wasn’t racist, even if their original radio show certainly was). But my favorite of the three series, The Phil Silvers Show—which still runs on Neal Sabin’s “Catchy Comedy” channel—continues to make me laugh out loud. But when I grew older, I was interested about the man behind the show, Nat Hiken, who also created the outlandish Car 54, Where Are You? Nat was truly one of TV’s funniest writer/director/producers, but is rarely mentioned anymore, although his work made a huge impression on comedy, television, and even animation.

According to David Everitt, the author of King of the Half Hour, “Milton Berle would describe Hiken as ‘a genius.’ Phil Silvers would characterize him as ‘the most fertile TV comedy mind of the 1950s.’ From 1955 to 1962, Hiken won eight Emmy Awards, and in a 1956 poll of TV comedy writers conducted by Time magazine, he was selected as ‘the finest writer in TV today’—and this at a time when Hiken’s contemporaries included such future luminaries as Mel Brooks, Larry Gelbert, Neil Simon, and Woody Allen.’”

Nathan Hiken was born into a family of storytellers from White Russia. His father Max and his uncle Louis left to avoid being drafted into Russia’s tsar’s army—a death sentence for young Jewish men at the time—and arrived in America sometime between 1905 and 1910. Max was the funny one of his many brothers, but that didn’t bring in money. They arrived in NYC, but soon moved to Chicago, where Max established a small business making and selling wooden wagon tongues. Once he had a steady income, Max married his boyhood’s friend’s sister, Minnie Levin. And on June 23, 1914, their only child was born, named after Max’s old pal, Nathan Levin.

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the oddball world of scott shaw!

When Nat was little, he could speak only Yiddish, but after Nat Levin and his new bride, Rose, moved in with them, she taught little Nat to speak English by the time he was four. By this time, more of Max’s brothers had settled down in Milwaukee, so the Hikens family moved there, to a less-than-prosperous Jewish neighborhood. Nat’s father opened a new business, the South Side Leather Company, supplying material to shoe repair shops. Nat’s mother was very political and interested in communism, as well as assuming that anyone she met that was Jewish was somehow a relative of hers. Young Nat loved to make fun of her obsessions, but she soured any interest in him for politics. However, his father’s—as well as his friends’—senses of humor were naturally mirrored in Nat. He liked to travel, sometimes solo, and Nat’s favorite escape for entire summers away from Milwaukee was his Uncle Jake’s farm in Bangor, Michigan. There, he was surrounded with friends and family, especially Sandy Rothblatt, an expert on practical jokes.

Nat’s hobbies were reading, basketball, baseball, ice skating, swimming, and particularly “stoopball”, a game that is played by throwing a ball against a stoop on the pavement in front of a building.

Young Nat’s sense of humor began to evolve, from his folks’ Jewish tales to the works of Gilbert and Sullivan.

Since his home was adjacent to neighborhoods composed of Germans, Poles, Swedes, and Italians, his humor was widened by their influence on Nat. Many of those neighbors’ names eventually popped up on his The Phil Silvers Show/ Sgt. Bilko show. By the time Nat entered high school, his classmates considered him to be a pleasant wise guy.

For example, while facing a girl whose debate-topic was anti-smoking, Nat responded by praising smoked fish.

Fortunately, the otherwise soft-spoken, self-effacing kid got the laughs he’d hoped for.

After Nat graduated from high school in 1932, he enrolled at the University of Wisconsin to study journalism, a somewhat solid career during the Great Depression. He was taking college seriously. But for his senior year, Nat wrote a humor column for the school’s paper, the Daily Cardinal, intentionally complaining about the rather pleasant environment around him. It was called “The Gripers’ Club.”

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“We Gripers are misunderstood,” wrote Nat. “This club is our gesture of friendship to the student body. We no longer will buttonhole you and pour out our woes. No longer will you have to tolerate our downcast features because from now on, our features are going to be definitely brighter.”

Although the gripes were all supposedly from the college’s students, Nat actually wrote most of them. They were fairly juvenile, but definitely in the right direction, humor-wise, and its readers enjoyed the column. But the “well-known Milwaukee boy” had no conception of just how much the Gripers’ Club would affect his life.

After Nat graduated from the University of Wisconsin, he created a freelance news-feature service, writing marketing articles about Hollywood and the people working in entertainment at all levels. His gimmick was to sell them to newspapers where the objects of his material were born.

Meanwhile, his friends Nat and Sandy Rothblatt—and many of their relatives and friends—had moved to Los Angeles in the same Jewish neighborhood.

Nat Hiken Sandy had already goes over a worked for script with Republic Pictures, an unnamed been in a touring associate. dance troupe, was a singer, and was writing for The Jewish Daily newspaper, so she was somewhat familiar with how to promote Nat’s articles to Hollywood’s studios. When young Mr. Hiken took a trip to L.A. for faceto-face interviews with the people he’d already been writing about, things were looking promising, although his articles brought in a mere five dollars or less. Nat remained in Los Angeles.

After Sandy met Roland Kibbee, the manager of a local radio station, and his pal, Jack Lescoulie, a local deejay, the three of them realized that they all shared the same sort of humor. They felt that Nat would fit right in. After Nat mentioned his “Gripers’ Club” column, Lescoulie told him that he’d get it on his radio station, KFWB, if the Milwaukeean would write the scripts.

Now called The Grouch Club, the show aired six mornings a week from 6:00 to 8:00 and soon became a big hit with Angelenos. According to Sandy, “You could be driving on your way to work in the morning and, if you stopped at a street light, almost everyone driving within hearing distance would be listening to The Grouch Club and laughing.” With such popularity, Nat added a comedy sketch called “Grouch of the Week” with a cast who played charac-

RETROTOYS

The Gold Standard of tiny metal cars was Mattel’s Hot Wheels. Seen here is the Splittin’ Image. Hot Wheels® is a registered trademark of Mattel, Inc.

BY JIM BEARD Popular wisdom tells us that “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” but the famous quote goes on to add “that mediocrity can pay to greatness.” That sentiment can be applied to many things in life, but perhaps especially so to the toy industry. To be very specific, it can be applicable to one of the grandmasters, a classic plaything that spawned imitators from the get-go: Hot Wheels.

And the funny thing about it is that a large fleet of the wannabes that lined up to try to match and even outrun Hot Wheels’ speed were launched from its very own creator, Mattel Inc. There are many, many examples, but here’s a rundown of some of the coolest cats of the wheels and wings categories that had eyes on the prize throughout the Seventies, but fell short of the prize, the finish line flag. [You remember our Hot Wheels article in RetroFan #33, right? –RetroEd.] PLANES… If Mattel figured kids were diggin’ the unique models, names, and even personalities of Hot Wheels, it must have believed the same concept could be transferred to just about any theme. In 1971, three years after Hot Wheels’ debut, the company set out to prove just that, but not on the ground again—it set out to conquer the skies.

Sporting the same special “Spectraflame” colors as their wheeled cousins, the Hot Birds line took to the air in ’71 with imaginative names like Sky Scraper, Cloud Hopper, and Regal Eagle.

Slightly futuristic in their sleek lines and aerodynamic sass, the new Hot Wheels wannabes hit the scene in distinctive packaging, several playsets, and a colorful carrying case, but despite good intentions and the Mattel wind machine at their backs, the six Hot Birds aircraft hit the dirt not long after takeoff, perhaps proving to the company that what flew well on the drawing board wasn’t necessarily what kids wanted flying over their heads in the backyard testing grounds.

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After just one year, the Hot Birds cooled off and fell back to earth. Mattel would later incorporate airplanes into their Hot Wheels offerings, but a separate line all its own would remain on Cloud Nine. It did release Flying Aces, though, in 1975, but the World War II vibe of the airplanes in the series never really did catch on.

Rival toymakers tried to fly the concept, too. Lesney launched Skybusters in 1973 as a Matchbox jam, with die-cast flyers emulating military and commercial craft, unlike Mattel’s more way-out wonders. On the other side of the pond, Zee Toys released Dyna-Flytes in the ’70s as part of their Dyna series of vehicles, and found a bit more success than their competitors in controlling the skies, but still never truly won them. …TRAINS… Railroads might not seem like a go-to proposition for a follow-up to Hot Wheels, the longtime fascination with model trains throughout previous decades notwithstanding, but Mattel thought it had a conjunction junction of win-plus-success on its hand when it uncoupled the Hot Line series from the R&D department and sent it out on a rail in 1970.

Utilizing battery powered get-up-and-go motors finessed for the company’s successful Sizzlers line of toy track cars, the Hot Line trains were as sleek and futuristic-looking as their Hot Birds airborne relatives, and sported individual monikers like Freight Crate and Rockin’ Roller. Some saw them as an actual extension of Hot Wheels and even their packaging reflected the Hot Wheels look, though there was never any official connection.

The trains ran in vain, despite eager marketing, suggesting that as cool as they looked, kids were never going to accept that a souped-up model The Hot Birds Star Grazer in packaging.

RETROCEREAL

Cereal Premiums of the 1960s and 1970s

SPOON SITTERS AND BOWL HANGERS NABISCO’S TINY TREASURES

PA RT T WO

BY AARON SULTAN Welcome back to our ongoing exploration of the “Golden Age” of cereal premiums! After our deep dive into the high-seas adventures of Quaker’s Cap’n Crunch a few issues ago, it became clear that the sheer volume of ’60s and ’70s breakfast nostalgia was too big for just one bowl.

After a strategy session with Retro Fan editor Ed Catto, we’ve decided to expand this journey. While we have the giants like Kellogg’s and Post on the horizon, this installment focuses on a company that truly mastered the art of the “free inside” incentive: Nabisco.

Our journey through the Nabisco archives actually begins on the cusp of a new era—1959. As the sun set on the Western-dominated ’50s, Nabisco’s Shredded Wheat Juniors looked toward the stars, introducing the iconic “Spoonmen” just as the Space Race was capturing the global imagination. From the “spoonsitter” innovation to rare test-market gems like the elusive Bopperoos, Nabisco proved that you didn’t need the biggest box to have the biggest impact on a kid’s morning. Grab your milk and a spoon; it’s time to rediscover the plastic monsters, Disney pals, and prospectors that turned the breakfast table into a playground.

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SHREDDED WHEAT JUNIORS­— WHERE IT ALL STARTED Although the focus of this article is on cereal premiums of the ’60s and ’70s, I would be remiss if I didn’t really start a year earlier, in 1959.

The last year of the 1950s was really where the golden age started, due to one company issuing one particular premium. Nabisco, maker of Shredded Wheat Juniors, introduced the Spoonmen.

This innovation broke all the molds when they created an in-box premium that is still highly desirable today.

(ABOVE) One small step Making their introduction for plastic cereal premiduring the dawn of the space ums: space explorers. age, the Nabisco Spoonmen (LEFT) Yes, two miniature captured the imagination of spacemen were trapped children bracing themselves in every box of Wheat Honeys. All cereals, premi- for the decade called the ums, packages, and images 1960s.

With the space race were produced by the quickly ramping up, 1959 saw Nabisco Biscuit Company a bunch of firsts, namely (Nabisco®) now a tradeby the Russians—the first marked brand of Mondelez spacecraft to leave the International. earth’s gravitational pull and the first spacecraft to touch a celestial body (the moon). In the USA, we were still two years out from Alan Shepherd making his historic trip as the first man in space, and three years out from John Glenn being the first astronaut to orbit the earth. On our television sets, black and white Westerns continued to dominate the ratings, but not for long. As depicted in the now-classic

Didn’t Pooh like honey? Winnie the Pooh premiums from Rice Honeys? Winnie the Pooh and associated characters are TM and © Disney. Based on stories by A.A. Milne.

Disney Pixar movie Toy Story, Westerns were on the way out, characters were possible inside a box of Rice Honeys: and the space age was roaring in. The Nabisco Spoonmen Winnie, Christopher Robin, Eeyore, Owl, Rabbit, Piglet, were in the right place at the right time. Not only were they and Kanga with Roo. Tigger was available only in Canada cute little plastic space-age men in their space suits, but and is quite desirable among collectors. These spoon sitthey served a purpose: to sit on your spoon while eating ters also appeared in Wheat Honeys.

Shredded Wheat Juniors! The invention of the spoon-sitter ✽ Sea Monsters: The back of the cereal box advertised “the would be replicated years later with other characters and wildest dwellers of the deep you’ve ever seen!” Twelve difother brands. There were three different Spoonmen with ferent sea monsters were brought to life on the breakfast different names (Munchy, Crunchy, and Spoon-Size) and table in the 1960s. Manufactured by MPC, you could get in a variety of colors (green, yellow, blue, brown, light pink, everything from a sperm whale to a giant squid! and red). Their height ranged from 1.6"–2″. ✽ Beatles Yellow Submarine Run-Ons: Arguably the greatest of all Wheat and Rice Honey premiums ever WHEAT HONEYS AND RICE HONEYS offered, these Beatles Yellow Submarine characters came I’ve never met anyone who remembered they liked the taste in eight different sheets, featuring John, Paul, George, of Rice or Wheat Honeys. That said, the cereal somehow and Ringo, plus various Yellow Submarine characters such managed to last about 35 years. The coolest thing about Rice as the Blue Meanie.

Honeys and Wheat Honeys were their premiums from the 1960s. Although there were many Wheat Honeys would overlap more, I’ve selected five premiums in or complement certain of the Rice particular that were winners from Honeys premiums, such as the IF YOU ENJOYED THIS PREVIEW, the boxes, starting with Rice Honeys: Beatles, Winnie the Pooh spoon CLICK THE LINK TO ORDER THIS sitters, and Prehistoric Monster ISSUE IN PRINT OR DIGITAL FORMAT! ✽ Walt Disney’s Mary Poppins offerings. For Mary Poppins, one of “Pop-Up”: Back to our Hollywood the Wheat Honeys boxes featured premise, Nabisco seized the opBert (as portrayed by Dick Van Dyke), portunity to market Mary Poppins the Chimney Sweep Pop-Up. Here (as portrayed by Julie Andrews) on are some of the super cool Wheat the coattails of the 1964 Disney hit Honeys cereal premiums: movie. This “free inside” premium ✽ Space Explorers: Free inside a box featured a figural Mary Poppins of Wheat Honeys (also shared with and Bert the Chimney Sweep. He Rice Honeys) were two Space Exwould pop right out of a chimney! ✽ Winnie the Pooh Breakfast Buddies: Keeping with the Spoon Rice Honey and their charming Sitter theme from the Spoonmen, RETROFAN #46 Rock ‘n’ roll all night as MARK VOGER interviews GENE mascot with a Mary Poppins movie seven different SIMMONS Nabisco and spotlights created KISS collectibles!

BOB GREENBERGER reminds us that before the A-Team, GEORGE PEPPARD was premiums. Mary Poppins associatbreakfast friends to ride on your Banachek! Paperback hero The Destroyer is detailed by WILL ed characters are TM and © Disney.

MURRAY, and we ask based the eternalon question: 54, Where spoon the“Car Disney Winnie Are You?” With columns by ANDY MANGELS, SCOTT SHAW!, Based on stories by P.L. Travers. the Pooh movie from 1966. Seven AARON SULTAN, and more!

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 https://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=98_152&products_id=1896

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