The Twilight Zone:

Unlocking The Door To

A Television Classic

By Martin Grams, Jr.

OTR Publishing, 2008

798 Pages

Reviewed by Bruce Dettman

The Twilight Zone has become much more than simply the title of a TV show. It has morphed into an intricate and indelible part of our culture’s language and dialog. It is indelibly seared into our collective consciousness as a kind of convenient mental short cut, a quick mechanism to instantly convey a state of unreality, the strange flip side of the predictable and certain, a topsy-turvy nowhere land where anything can happen to anyone at anytime.

Yet once it really was just a show, a black and white half hour anthology series aired by the CBS network on Friday nights and which dealt with fantastic themes. While many would label it a science-fiction series, in truth it rarely presented truly hard-core sci-fi concepts relying instead on tales of the ironic and bizarre.

Television in its early years was the home of numerous anthology productions. Some—like Playhouse 90, Climax and The U.S. Steel Hour—were presented live from New York. Others were filmed in Hollywood. The new media of TV was a magnet for young writers, directors and actors. It ate up and devoured talent. It was ravenous and insatiable. And, contrary to memory and media myth, it wasn’t all good.

Rod Serling, the creator of The Twilight Zone, himself began to feel devoured. He contributed numerous teleplays during what some have dubbed the Golden Age of Television, most largely forgotten today, but a few, such as Requiem for a Heavyweight and Patterns, are still remembered.

One of the main reasons why Serling abandoned his freelance status and went on to create and supervise The Twilight Zone was the issue of control. Too often his work, as well as many others from that generation of TV writers, people like Reginald Rose and

Paddy Chyevsky, had seen their creations compromised, violated and brazenly altered by producers at the behest of sponsors displeased with aspects of the script (a character smoking a pipe when the show’s sponsor was a cigarette company, a black character upsetting a southern network affiliate etc).

Serling hated this sort of mindless meddling but was also smart enough to know that if he was going to get around network censorship he would have to tackle the problem in a different way. His solution was to mask the social and political issues he wished to tackle as a writer under the guise of fantasy and science-fiction. For instance, instead of dealing with earth-bound racism which might offend or make the networks and sponsors uneasy and ready to bolt, Sterling would cloak his message within the context of a tale of encroaching Martians.  For the most part the networks and censors never caught on.

The Twilight Zone ran for five seasons both in a half and full hour format although the cream of the crop—and the best remembered shows—were of the 30 minute variety. It featured stories by many talented writers including Ray Bradbury, Harlan Ellison, Reginald Rose, Earl Hamner Jr. and Richard Matheson in addition to tales by Serling himself.

While there were a few clinkers here and there, most of the stories, in addition to being thought provoking and thematically intriguing, were well directed and performed. Few people who watched The Twilight Zone in its initial run—and later in syndication—don’t still have their own favorite episodes, the plots of which they would never forget.

There was The Monsters on Maple Street, homage to paranoia cloaked in the story of a neighborhood’s growing fear of spacemen, Eye of the Beholder, about prejudice based on appearance, Serling’s own favorite the poignant Walking Distance which told of a man’s opportunity to visit the unchanged hometown of his youth.

The series also boasted great guest stars, some new faces like Robert Redford, Anne Francis, Jack Klugman, Jack Warden and William Shatner—others old pros such as Franchot Tone, Burgess Meredith, Gladys Cooper, John Dehner, Lee Marvin and Gig Young.

If there is anything to criticize in Martin Grams’ incredibly impressive Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to A Television Classic, it is the astounding size and voluminous nature of the text. Grams, who in the past has written a number of impressive works on various other old TV and radio shows, has done more than his homework on this subject, he has gone for his full doctorate in Twilight Zone history. Within the nearly 800 pages his phenomenal research has managed to reveal just about every fact, both major and trivial, that could be gleaned about the show, from budgetary breakdowns to contract disputes. For the average reader, even the average fan of the show, wading through this Goliath-like tome could easily be a daunting enterprise. It is best served not as a casual read but rather as the ultimate reference guide to the series, a volume to be consulted after watching an episode or digested slowly and methodically.

Whichever, Grams’ book should be considered an exhaustible and definitive look at one of television’s most memorable and best remembered series. After fifty years The Twilight Zone still remains not only a beloved and revered production but a kind of benchmark, a stand-alone and highly unique achievement that continues to resonate and influence.

Martin Grams recognizes this and has created with his brilliantly executed book a worthy salute to the achievement that was The Twilight Zone, one all fans of the show will surely embrace with great enthusiasm and appreciation.

August 2010

The Legendary Lydecker Brothers:

The Godfathers of Special Effects

Jan Alan Henderson

Bifulco Books

2010

Review by Bruce Dettman

It is pretty much a given among the shrinking number of film fans who reserve a special place in their aging hearts for the long absent screen form known as the serial or cliffhanger, that Republic Studios made far and away the best products this genre had to offer. Lukewarm competition came from other film companies such as Columbia, Universal and certain independent outfits, but it was not competition in the same way that Joe Frazier was competition for Muhammad Ali, Mickey Mantle was competition for Roger Maris or even Rita Hayworth was competition for Ava Gardner. Columbia might have had its champions, undemanding fans who exalted such clumsily fashioned chapterplays as Batman or The Phantom, but those in the know understood that it was Republic who turned out the sturdiest, most action-filled, best conceived and executed serials. They excelled not only in directorial expertise (the superb team of William Witney and John English plus Fred Brannon and Spencer Bennet) but in overall look, art direction, photography, pacing, acting, stunt work—thanks to the brilliant athletics of Yakima Cannut, Tom Steele, Dale Van Sickle, Dave Sharpe, Fred Graham and many others—not to mention the all important area that truly defines the genre, the final cliffhanger seconds of each chapter, the exploding oil derricks, flooding caves, cars careening off perilous cliffs, boats igniting at sea. Conceiving of such dramatic moments, whether aquatic, pyrotechnical or man-made (rooms designed like wine presses with humans as victims, etc), is one thing. Executing said moments is quite another.

Luckily for both the studio and the fans, however, brothers Theodore and Howard Lydecker were on the payroll and brought with them a simply staggering ability to create on the screen any sort of mayhem that the scripts for Republic’s huge output of serials called for. Working with large size models of buildings, ships, planes, the exotic and commonplace, this duo of siblings fashioned an amazing array of visual effects that was the icing on the cake to the many fans of the cliffhanger form, a fact that in some unfortunate ways contributed to their expertise being sometimes taken for granted. Author and film historian Jan Alan Henderson has rectified this situation, however, with the publication of his splendid book The Lydeckers: The Godfathers of Special Effects, an homage to the lives and careers of these two remarkable creators of celluloid illusion.

Henderson brings not only his impressive knowledge of film and film-making to the subject but infuses the story of the Lydeckers—who worked on all manner of feature films in addition to their celebrated stint at Republic with cliffhangers—with his own fascinating, insightful and often amusing experiences as a movie-mad kid growing up in the shadows of the Hollywood studios.

This is mainly uncharted territory and Henderson, who has made a study of the Lydeckers for many years, is just the man for the task. Permitted access to family records, scrapbooks and with a long time association with several Lydecker descendents who have provided him with much heretofore unknown information, he unfolds the history of the brothers and their association with filmdom in a most entertaining and insightful manner.

Icing on the cake is provided by hundreds of photographs chronicling the extensive and time-consuming work that went on in the preparation of the effects that so elevated the movies they worked on, from their remarkable studio models of buildings and the methods employed to destroy them to their aerial manipulation of figures such as Captain Marvel and Rocketman who would both realistically soar through the skies thanks to the Lydecker’s inventiveness and ingenuity.

With so many books produced over the years devoted to the study and history of film—and of late so much renewed interest in the behind the scenes technical work in the field of genre films such as science-fiction, horror and fantasy—it is amazing that so little has been written on the Brothers Lydecker.

But to his credit, Jan Henderson has done something about this oversight and impressively filled in this lacuna with Lydeckers: The God Fathers of Special Effects.

August 2010

The Have Gun Will Travel Companion

By Martin Grimes, Jr. and Les Rayburn

OTR Publishing, 2000

Review by Bruce Dettman

On September 14, 1957 the face of the television western changed with the Saturday night debut of a new western series, Have Gun Will Travel.  This was a sagebrush show like no other, featuring a unique character totally removed from any other who rode what critic Gary Yoggy has called “the video range”. The main figure went only by the name of Paladin, and in what would be one of the great weddings of a character with an actor, was portrayed by the late Richard Boone.

Paladin lived in the Carlton Hotel in San Francisco where he was often attended to by the management’s employee, a young Chinese man called “Hey Boy” who Paladin considered a friend and who he helped out on occasion. He dressed the part of a gentleman of means, enjoyed the company of the city’s elite, smoked the finest cigars, imbibed the best liquor, was fond of quoting Shakespeare, Keats and Shelly, regularly took in the theatre and the opera, dated scores of beautiful woman and lastly, made his living with his gun. Although Paladin would often insist that he wasn’t simply a paid killer for hire but rather an agent called upon to deal with—and hopefully find a solution for—a myriad of problems plaguing people, the fact is that nearly every week this solution involved the custom-made, perfectly balanced, steel blue revolver that he kept in a holster with a chess knight embossed on the leather. During work assignments, most of which took place out in the frontier wilds, Paladin dressed all in black (in the first season he also sported a white tie that was later dispensed with) and carried a business card that read “Have Gun Will Travel”, hence the show’s title.

Over the years certain biographical tidbits turned up about the character, that he was from a rich east coast family, that he had attended West Point, that he had gotten into trouble as a gambler and eventually took up his mantle as Paladin after meeting a man called “Smoke” (also played by Boone sans the trademark Paladin mustache). Still, Paladin remained mostly a mystery. While he signed on for fairly traditional western jobs dealing with range wars, rampaging outlaws, dangerous killers and thieves, he also took time out to help the members of the Chinese community working for a railroad, a lonely teacher trying to teach her class correct history in the face of local opposition, even, on one occasion, the writer Oscar Wilde. Paladin hated injustice, bullies, hypocrites and those who preyed on the weak and vulnerable. He was fast on the draw, good with his fists and a cagey adversary.

In short, there was no other character on TV of that era, western or not, as unique as Richard Boone’s Paladin.

In The Have Gun Will Travel Companion, Marvin Grams and Les Rayburn have put together a terrific guidebook to all facets of this fascinating series.

While they trace the entire video history of the show, the book is more than simply an episodic survey of its four-year run on CBS.

Grams and Rayburn have done their homework impressively in assembling the engrossing total story of all the ingredients, personalities and work that slowly coalesced into the popular program.

The reader learns of the embryonic seeds from which Have Gun Will Travel grew, about show creators Sam Rolfe and Herb Meadow, about how western star Randolph Scott was the first choice to portray Paladin and how the TV series spawned a later radio version starring the great character actor John Dehner.

The authors also attempt to unravel the often convoluted claims (and subsequent legal wrangling) surrounding a suit brought against the show’s producers by a man named Victor DeCosta who charged that he was the one who years earlier had actually created the character of Paladin.

A biographical portrait is provided of star Richard Boone which traces his career from his earlier work in films and first TV series (Medic) through his Have Gun Will Travel years and beyond to later movie and television roles up to his death in 1981.

In addition, Grams and Rayburn have included not only a complete episode guide of the show (and the radio series)  with complete cast and credits, but have included, when possible, fascinating tid-bits about the makings of many of the individual programs.

For fans of TV westerns in general and Have Gun Will Travel in particular this is a must- have volume.

June 2010

Signs and Wonders

by Michael J Bifulco

A novel set during a progressive period of ancient Egypt that tells the story of how an oppressed population of slaves began their struggle for freedom and eventually became a great nation. Sound familiar? 

The ancient story of the first struggle between tyranny and liberty. Are men the property of the state, or are they free to live by God’s law? The same struggle continues today. 
 
We are all being watched. Whether we as individuals realize it, care to admit the possibility, or accept it on faith, the existence of a higher power shapes the way we live. Since ancient times, the story of Moses has survived the generations. It was known and understood by the participants of the first continental congress, and it was a major influence to the men who created the Constitution of the United States. 
They knew the only way a civilized society can survive in peace and freedom is to abide by the 
concept that all are equal under the law: The Ten Commandments. 

 

THE INVADERS

James Rosin

Autumn Road Company, 2010

Review by Bruce Dettman

The 1960s were an intensely active time for U.F.O.s. While Project Blue Book, the official government agency created to study the phenomenon, was winding down its investigation—closing its doors in 1970—civilian organizations like NICAP (National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomenon) and APRO (Aerial Phenomenon Research Organization) were launching vigorous membership drives in an attempt to keep Flying Saucers in the news. It wasn’t hard. There were scads of reported sightings appearing nearly daily in newspapers as well as being described in many best-selling books detailing such things as inexplicable  cattle mutilations and first-person accounts of individuals who claimed to have been whisked away by aliens. In one instance the government’s response to such phenomena was that what people had actually seen was not alien craft at all but rather something called swamp gas. This explanation became fodder for stand-up comedians and political cartoonists with swamp gas assuming a new role as a metaphor for government cover-ups, a popular subject for discussion since the JKF assassination.

Into this controversy came television producer Quinn Martin. His well-known Q-M Productions had been responsible for a host of extremely popular productions such as The F.B.I., Twelve O’clock High and most significantly The Fugitive. The latter, dealing with a man wrongly accused of a killing he did not commit, was extraordinarily popular with fans, not only because of star David Jansen’s sensitive and moving performance as the protagonist Dr. Richard Kimble, but because the concept of a man on the run battling against establishment figures unwilling to believe him resonated with fans around the world. There were other Fugitive copycat shows as well such as Run for Your Life and Blue Coronet, even a parody called Run, Buddy, Run!

But The Invaders would take the concept to new heights, interstellar ones.

For the record, Martin did not create the show. That was the work of a gifted writer named Larry Cohen who had earlier delivered scripts for such shows as Checkmate, Arrest and Trial, The Defenders and The U.S. Steel Hour. He came up with his idea for the series and network executives bit. But after his initial involvement, as often happens in the world of television, he lost creative control and went onto other things. It was subsequently Quinn Martin who took the video ball and ran with it.

The Invaders was based around the concept of an architect named David Vincent (the “Vincent” coming from Vincent Price, an actor Cohen admired) who one evening driving home spots a flying saucer hovering above him.  Further investigation alerts him to the fact that this craft, as well as many others, have traveled to Earth for the specific reason of conquering it, and moreover that many of these aliens -- who appear physically like earthlings except for one finger on their hand being crooked and that when they die they completely burn up—have been able to integrate themselves into American society, some in positions of high authority. Vincent realizes that he has to do something about this but there is a hitch, a big one. No one will believe him. No one!

This does not curtail Vincent’s resolve to be heard, however, and for two seasons he turns his back on his career, his friends, his former life, in a concentrated effort to expose the aliens. In the second season, however, he hooks up with other earthlings who are also aware of the existence of the invaders. The introduction of these supporters of his cause removed some of the individual angst that viewers had come to associate with Vincent’s one man plight and was not viewed as a good move by most fans of the show.

Starring as Vincent was Roy Thinnes. The blonde, handsome and very intense actor, who had also appeared earlier in the TV series The Long Hot Summer, was a good choice for the part even though a few critics thought him a bit too humorless and stiff. But after all he was playing a character trying to save the earth from total oblivion. Not that much time left in the day for whoopee cushions and one-liners. Thinnes is excellent as Vincent handling both the dramatic moments and physical demands of the show with impressive aplomb.

SUPERGIRLS

By Mike Madrid

Exterminating Angel Press

2009

Reviewed by Bruce Dettman

The first super heroine to come to my attention was Mary Marvel. Mary, the twin sister of the celebrated Captain Marvel who for a while gave Superman more than a run for his money in the popularity stakes among comic book fans. I was too young to have seen Mary’s debut in 1942, but I had a friend, a comic book collector like myself at the time, whose older brother had given him a copy of a Captain Marvel Family comic which featured Mary. The idea of a female super hero was a real revelation to me. The only action heroine I was familiar with was TV’s Sheena as played by the physically impressive Irish McCalla. At that point I did not know that Sheena had once had her own comic book or that there had been a host of Sheena clones such as Nyoka, Tiger Girl and Judy of the Jungle. I only knew I liked her in that skimpy jungle outfit. Later I would be introduced to Wonder Woman who had made her print debut in 1941 but she didn’t interest me much. There was also Superman’s cousin, the somewhat bland Supergirl, and the motorcycle riding Bat Woman.

Although the 1940s produced some of the best known super heroes of all time (The Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman etc.) it was also a period when a number of female heroines made their debut. Many of these were created to help out with the war effort, others just dealt with home-grown crime. They were given different backgrounds, powers and costumes but the one thing they had in common was for the most part they didn’t last long. Once the fight against the Axis powers was over so were many of their crime-fighting careers and characters like Phantom Lady, Spider Widow, Miss Fury, Black Cat and the Blonde Phantom have, aside for the rare comic book historian who has searched out these bygone heroines, been largely forgotten.

Super heroines would re-emerge with some momentum as Marvel Comics began to dominate comic sales in addition to bringing more sophisticated plotlines and motivation to their stable of characters. Manhunter, She Hulk, Black Canary, Storm, Ms. Marvel, Dazzler and Electra were only some of the new and more realized distaff newcomers to the scene, characters which pushed the envelope and re-defined the Super Girls in many ways. But it was always somewhat of an uphill battle, in the largely male universe of super heroes, to develop female characters that resonated and had lasting power with comic book readers.

In Supergirls, Mike Madrid, a San Francisco-based writer, has done an impressive job of weaving together the often crazy-quilt like history of these comic heroines, not always an easy assignment given the roller coaster ride many of these characters have taken over the last sixty odd years. As times and society have changed—and with them perspectives about women and femininity—likewise the women in comics have undergone substantial alteration and modification, something Madrid, who has a witty and  engaging style in addition to a great historical knowledge of comics, understands and lays out in a most entertaining manner. In many ways, tracking the history of these super heroines presents a parallel look at the varied travels real women have navigated over the last half century. A case in point is the aforementioned Wonder Woman whose character and storyline have, due to attempts to keep her current with the times, gone through a myriad of often drastic changes since her creation nearly seventy years ago.

Madrid has fashioned a great romp of a read in Supergirls. For the die-hard comic book collector it’s a must purchase but even for those not overly familiar with the comic book world it is still a lively and enjoyable reading experience.

If I have any complaint about the book it would be its lack of illustrations, something that a work like this cries out for. Madrid, however, has solved this problem with the creation of a web site where curious readers can go to take a gander at the many fascinating characters he describes in his text.  Find this at http://www.heaven4heroes.com

December 2009

QUINCY M.E.

Reviewed by Bruce Dettman

 Long before there was CSI or BONES or any of the modern police shows where the cops rely heavily on forensic pathology in their quest to find those responsible for crimes there was Quincy M.E. an NBC production which premiered in 1976, ran for seven seasons and starred as the brilliant but chronically stubborn—some might say cranky—coroner the versatile actor Jack Klugman.

Quincy M.E., the subject of author Jim Rosin’s latest book of TV history, was initially telecast as part of NBC’s Sunday Mystery Movie, a rotating series which also featured on alternating weeks Columbo, McMillan and Wife and McCloud but got its own berth after only four episodes had been aired and subsequently began to air as a regular weekly series on February 4, 1977.

Although the brainchild of producer writer Lou Shaw and producer Glen Larson it was Klugman, fresh from a major success on the long-running Odd Couple series, who truly established the thematic guidelines and aesthetic vision for the direction of the series. While the network was mostly interested in a cop show which just happened to have a forensic pathologist in the lead, the star was intent on tackling serious social, medical and moral issues, a fact which led to many heated and contentious battles with studio brass, writers and directors.  But Klugman—who could often be just as confrontational and adamant as the character he played—stuck to his creative guns and forged an often powerful and evocative series which was willing to take head-on many controversial topics heretofore considered off limits to series TV such as child abuse, autism, rape victims, incest, environmental pollution, illegal sale of prescription drugs, alcoholism and drug addition.

The show which boasted excellent scripts became a popular and critical success and attracted many of Hollywood’s most talented performers including Van Johnson, Jane Wyatt, Kim Stanley, Carolyn Jones, James Gregory, Craig Stevens, Robert Webber, Martin Balsam, Dane Clark, Robert Loggia, Edd Byrnes, Henry Darrow, John Dehner, Charles Aidman, Elisha Cook Jr., Carol Cook and Marshal Thompson and many, many more.

Jim Rosin, who of late has made a career out of researching and writing about classic TV shows of the past including Wagon Train, Naked City, Adventures in Paradise and Route 66 is in a particularly unique position to tell the story of Quincy M.E. since he acted as both a writer, contributing stories and teleplays to the show, as well as appearing in several episodes.

Included with numerous interviews of important individuals in the show’s history, both in front and behind the camera, are several photo sections, a complete episode guide and biographies of many of the key players that made Quincy, M.E.  such a memorable show.

December 2009

NAKED CITY: THE TELEVISION SERIES

By James Rosin

Autumn Road Company

2008

Review by Bruce Dettman

For years Hollywood crime movies spent little if any time on the criminal’s point of view, the only exception being when the good guy was framed and we had to watch as he went through the motions of outsmarting the law until he could finally establish his innocence.

For the most part, Tinsel Town crime was about getting the villains not about how they got that way. The heroes were maverick private eyes or tough cops who put in long hours, were only nominally paid for their efforts and yet never strayed from their objectives of nailing those murderers, robbers and con men that inflicted the great cities like a virus. These malcontents when played by actors like Dan Dureya, Lee Marvin, Jack Elam or Lee Van Cleef could be fun to watch, often more interesting than their heroic counterparts, but they rarely were given significant back stories or histories explaining what  made them tick.

The romance of the cops and robbers game—if it could be called that—was pretty much removed thanks to DRAGNET created, produced and starring Jack Webb. The show, which originally premiered on radio in the late 1940s and then went to television, told the hard-edged, procedural and no-nonsense story of the daily work of ordinary police to apprehend criminals. Webb had absolutely no interest in the reasons behind why the killers, thieves and kidnappers behaved as they did. His only interest was in detective Joe Friday and his various partners getting their men and locking them up. 

In its day DRAGNET was considered the ultimate in authenticity with its no-nonsense approach to crime. Eventually, however, its single-edged slant began to wear a bit thin, particularly when TV was growing up and attracting a lot of first class writers and film-makers who were intent on probing deeper into social pathology and psychology of humankind.

One of these was Herbert Leonard, an independent television producer (The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin, Rescue 8 and Circus Boy) who envisioned a weekly cop show which would explore more than just the predictable hunt and capture of criminals. His inspiration for this was the 1948 film Naked City, a documentary-styled crime drama actually filmed in the streets of New York and starring Barry Fitzgerald and Don Taylor as the police officers out after a sadistic killer. Leonard approached Screen Gems with the concept and a green light was given for writer Sterling Silliphant to produce a pilot script.

Naked City, a half hour show, premiered on September 30, 1958. It starred John McIntire (who would later replace Ward Bond on Wagon Train) and James Franciscus (Mr. Novak) in the same roles introduced in the film. It was a radical move to actually film a TV show on location—it had never been done before—and presented many unique problems and challenges for the film makers. McIntire eventually grew tired of the rigors of filming in New York and quit the show (his character was killed off in a car crash) and replaced by Horace McMahon. The show later went off the air for about a year but returned in 1960 in an hour format with a new lead, Paul Burke as Detective Adam Flint, replacing Franciscus.

The extended length of this version allowed the writers to broaden their scope and to expand their storylines. This was no longer just a show about crime, criminals and the means that went into apprehending them. Stories explored in greater depth the root causes of crime and the often bizarre and circuitous routes which could prompt individuals to be led astray.

The show was gritty, edgy and smart and shooting on the real streets of Manhattan almost made you think you could smell the asphalt.

The show attracted some of the best actors in the business including Lee J. Cobb, Claude Rains, Burgess Meredith, Eddie Albert, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Robert Loggia, William Shatner, Jack Lord, Jack Warden, Jo Van Fleet, Martin Balsam, David Jansen, Carroll O’Connor, Jan Sterling, Dennis Hopper, Robert Webber, Hume Cronyn, George C. Scott, Jack Klugman, Walter Matheau, Ruth Roman and dozens more.

Another aspect of the show which gave it added dimension was the relationship between Flint and his struggling actress girl friend Libby Kingston portrayed by the gifted Nancy Malone. The chemistry between these two was terrific and always felt very genuine, very real and brought further realism to the stories and characters.

Media historian and author Jim Rosin, already the author of a series of books documenting the television history of a number of important video productions (Wagon Train, Route 66, Adventures in Paradise), has once again risen to the occasion with this effort. The story of this ground-breaking series is told through the voices of many of those intimately involved in the production including the late Paul Burke who only recently passed sway. In addition, the book is full of wonderful photographs and also includes a complete listing and description of each episode.

Thanks once again to Jim Rosin for exploring and documenting another classic TV show.

October 2009

CANYON OF DREAMS

The Magic and Music of Laurel Canyon

by Harvey Kubernik                            

Internet info: Canyon of Dreams or at Barnes and Noble Bookstores 

For well over a century, Hollywood has been a favorite destination for travelers from all over the world.  With weather that replicates almost every environment world wide, the Southern California locale has many attractions to please and mystify young and old.  One such landmark is Laurel Canyon.  This landmark has been essayed in many recent tomes, but the entire history has often eluded writers, journalists, and historians.  It’s not that these scribes have offered substandard work; it’s that none of them until now have captured the panoramic scope and depth of this topographical wonder. 

In Canyon of Dreams (The Magic and Music of Laurel Canyon), Harvey Kubernik has presented the first complete oral and visual history of the Canyon of Laurel.  Beginning at the beginning, Kubernik traces the Canyon’s winding legacy from its pile of rocks genesis to its present day splendor.  Through the memories and minds of L.A. scenesters such as Van Dyke Parks, Richie Hayward, Jack Larson, Graham Nash, Miss Pamela Des Barres, Michelle Phillips, Nurit Wilde, Mark Volman, Richie Furay, Glen Campbell, John Densmore, Bobby Womack, and Roger McGuinn, to name a few, Kubernik paints the most accurate word portrait of life and times in Laurel Canyon. 

Frames with mostly previously unseen photographs, many snapped by legendary rock photographer Henry Diltz (who also is a musician in his own right), Canyon of Dreams is as pleasing visually as it is in the literary sense, and will provide hours of pleasure.  For those who haven’t lived in the gypsy canyon, this beautiful coffee table book is the closest thing to it. 

A must-have for fans of the L.A. music scene.  From Sterling Publishing. 

Reviewed by George DeLoro

October 2009

Capes, Crooks and Cliffhangers

By John Petty and Grey Smith

Ivy Press

2009

Review by Bruce Dettman

In Capes, Crooks and Cliffhangers the writing team of John Petty and Gray Smith have succeeded in putting together an impressively lavish and visually stunning celebration of the motion picture serial.

Subtitled Heroic Serial Posters of the Golden Age, the book is designed not only to provide graphic representations of many of the most colorful and artistically exciting serial posters available but to suggest the best means possible of procuring these highly valued collectables. However, Capes, Crooks and Cliffhangers is much more than this, a real eight course feast for both the ardent fan of serials and for those attempting to educate themselves on a cinema form which has not been in active production for over fifty years.

Although the motion picture serial got its start in the early days of the silent film with such efforts as What Happened to Mary and The Perils of Pauline, it was the later talkie chapter plays produced at Universal, Mascot, Columbia and most importantly Republic Studios which refined and popularized the form. Each week the kids of America, not to mention a lot of adults, shelled out their dimes to see a fifteen minute installment of the latest cliffhanger.

In the early 1950s the breakdown of the old Hollywood studio system, various anti- monopoly laws eliminating studio-owned theatres and most important, the rise in popularity of television, all conspired to ring the death knoll on the motion picture serial, but not before some twenty years worth of matinee excitement, thrills and adventure for the serial lovers of America. Such titles as The Adventures of Captain Marvel, The Phantom, Flash Gordon, Spy Smasher, The Crimson Ghost, King of the Rocketmen, Dick Tracy, The Shadow and dozens more kept audiences on the edge of their seats as they waited each week to find out how the hero or heroine managed to escape a flaming cave, a fall over a cliff or an exploding automobile.

In addition to providing serial histories of such characters as Superman, Captain America, Dick Tracy, Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, Tarzan, The Phantom, Captain Marvel, Zorro, Rocketman, The Lone Ranger and many more, authors Petty and Smith have included valuable tips on procuring and collecting poster art from these productions. The colorful reproductions which accompany the text are absolutely beautiful and a real mouth-watering visual feast for fans of poster art in general and devotees of cliffhangers in particular.

Capes, Crooks and Cliffhangers, although not really a definitive or totally comprehensive history of the motion picture serial, is a total delight.  The text, which includes sidebar biographies on many leading serial stars, is both fun and informative and manages to infect the reader with the unbridled and simple joy that was once the great movie cliffhanger.

In addition, our own Noel Neill, who appeared in a number of serials in addition to her ground-breaking role of Lois Lane opposite Kirk Alyn in Columbia’s two Superman serials, provides a lively and entertaining introduction.

Top marks all around.

September 2009

FLIGHTS OF FANTASY

By Michael J. Hayde

Bear Manor Media, 2009

Review by Bruce Dettman

Christmas came early for Superman fans this year in the form of ace writer and incomparable researcher Michael Hayde’s stunningly impressive work Flights of Fantasy: The Unauthorized But True Story of Radio and TV’s Adventures of Superman.

While this reviewer usually balks at using the over used term definitive, it would difficult if not impossible to conjure up a more appropriate word to describe Hayde’s terrific effort.

Unlike so many books on cinema and television where lazy authors simply pass down the same familiar anecdotal information from one book to another, Hayde, a tireless and dedicated media historian, went back to many original sources to put together the complete story of the radio and first TV Superman series.

While Hayde references earlier incarnations of the character beginning with his appearances in the comics as created in 1938 by Joe Schuster and Jerry Siegel, later in the Fleisher cartoons and even later yet still in the two Columbia serials starring Kirk Alyn as the Man of Steel, it is his chief goal and commitment to explain and document the connecting tissues between the immensely popular radio series starring Bud Collyer, which premiered in 1940, and the early TV series The Adventures of Superman featuring George Reeves. To some degree this is uncharted territory since most writers who have told the Superman story in the past have usually approached the radio series as a totally distinct and separate entity completely unrelated to the later more familiar TV incarnation. However, this is anything but true. Not only did the Superman of the radio series with his tough, nearly vigilante approach to society’s miscreants resemble the Reeves’ first year performance, but many of the faces behind the camera such as writer/producer Robert Maxwell and comic book executive Witney Ellsworth (who would follow Maxwell as the TV show’s producer) were involved in both projects. Even various radio scripts were dusted off and re-tooled for television. The connections, particularly in the early days of the TV effort, were numerous, but it took Hayde to really document and connect the dots and he does this superbly.

In addition to chronicling both shows, Hayde has secured many of the original television scripts and reprinted numerous scenes from certain episodes that were re-vamped to alter motivation or in some cases to tone down or modify lines that were not really appropriate for the character or situations. This is fascinating stuff that even the most rabid Superman fan is unlikely to have ever seen before.

Hayde spent years putting Flights of Fantasy together, interviewing individuals both in front of and behind the camera, hunting down arcane bits of documentation pertaining to both shows and the results couldn’t be more satisfying and impressive.

In addition, the author has provided complete episode guides for both the radio and TV series.

This is a terrific read and a wonderful accomplishment and the book many Superman fans have waited for years to become available.

Great thanks to Michael Hayde for his tireless research and superb execution of this fascinating material.

September 2009

FLIGHTS OF FANTASY: The Unauthorized but True Story of Radio & TV's Adventures of Superman can be ordered at bearmanormedia.com For more information about this book, go to http://geocities.com/MikeH0714/

ROUTE 66

By James Rosin

Autumn Road Company

2007

Review by Bruce Dettman

The lure of the open road, much like the attraction of the sea to earlier generations, gained a real foothold in the American consciousness during the mid twentieth century. The romantic notion of casting aside all materialistic possessions and needs and setting off on a personal journey of self-discovery along the asphalt tributaries of the country was reflected in films (Sullivans’s Travels), songs (King of the Road), books (the cult classic On The Road By Jack Kerouac) and as the 1950s drew to a close, on the highly popular and ground-breaking TV series Route 66.

Route 66, which debuted October 7, 1960, was the combined brainchild of producer Herbert B. Leonard and writer Stirling Silliphant who over lunch one day came up with the unique concept of two young men with distinctly different backgrounds traveling around the country together. A pilot was filmed using a relatively new face, George Maharis, and was integrated into Leonard’s other network series Naked City, but it didn’t make much of an impression. Consequently Silliphant tried again with a new pilot that paired Maharis with veteran actor Martin Milner (Robert Redford had also been up for the role but the producers preferred Milner) and this time the networks bit.

In the show Maharis portrayed the tough and mercurial Buz Murdock, a former resident of New York’s infamous Hell’s Kitchen, while Milner was given the less showier role of Todd Stiles, the privileged yet level-headed son of a wealthy industrialist whose death and business ruin has left Todd with only one possession, a shiny new Corvette. Despite their obvious differences the two men decide to take off across America to find not only adventures but perhaps themselves as well.

One of the many things that separated Route 66 from other TV shows of the period was the fact that it was filmed on location much like Leonard’s Naked City, the difference being that while that groundbreaking series was shot on the streets of New York, Route 66 went all over the country to create authenticity for its eclectic stories. America was not quite the homogenized place fifty years ago that it has become since and this allowed the writers to have Bud and Todd venture into specific little community pockets with characters who reflected their distinct cultural, racial, political and social attitudes and biases. Quite often the two young men were merely the conduits for the action, the catalysts whose presence fueled conflicts between the other characters. Other times they were central to the stories. The writing was edgy and adult, the plots solid and compelling. It was a rare gem in the days when the majority of TV was taken up by westerns and private eye shows.

Maharis and Milner were as different away from the camera as they were in front of it but they had real chemistry. Maharis became something of a teen idol in those pre-Beatle days and even tried his hand at a singing career, but Route 66 only succeeded as well as it did because of both men, equal partners in providing the strong core of the show. When Maharis was forced to leave the series after several seasons due to a serious illness he was replaced by actor Glenn Corbett as Viet Nam veteran Lincoln Chase. It was still a good show but the special Maharis-Milner connection was gone.

Route 66 was an immediate hit. It boasted strong guest casts which included both old pros and up-and-coming performers. Some of those who appeared on the series included Ed Asner, E.G. Marshall, Suzanne Pleshette,  Charles McGraw, Inger Stevens, Leslie Neilsen, Lee Marvin, Anne Francis, Jack Lord, Michael Rennie, Dorothy Malone, Ben Johnson, Walter Mathau, Robert Duvall and Darren McGavin.

Author James Rosin, already the highly respected author of many books on popular and media culture including works on such series as Wagon Train, Naked City and Quincy, has provided an entertaining and vastly informative history of the show. Rosin has not only created a fascinating and well-researched glimpse of the making of the series but interviewed many of those performers and behind-the-scenes individuals whose immense contribution to Route 66 helped make it one of the most memorable television shows of all time.

August 2009

REEL TEARS

The Beverly Washburn Story

By Beverly Washburn and Donald Vaughn

Bear Manor Books, 2009

Review by Bruce Dettman

The child movie star, often abused by the ravenous studio system, exploited by parents and the industry, psychologically battered, self-destructive and unable to adjust when fame and attention begin to recede and bank accounts dry up, is as much a cliché as anything Tinsel town ever laid bare on the big screen. However, like most clichés it has a foundation in truth, in this case, a lot of it.

Hollywood history is littered with the carcasses of many a child performer who either never made it to adulthood or if they did weren’t prepared for the challenge of real life. A list of such individuals would be a long one, from early juvenile performers such as Carl “Alfalfa” Switzer (of Our Gang fame) and the very talented Bobby Driscoll up through modern TV performers like Rusty Hamer, Anissa Jones and Dana Plato, screen lore is replete with a sad and wasteful tally of youthful talents who withered much too early on the vine.

There are, of course, notable exceptions to this grim scenario, a prime example being Beverly Washburn, one of the busiest child actors of the 1950s and early 60s who honed a steady and impressive list of credits and, as they say, lived to tell about it.

In Reel Tears (the double-edged title referencing the youthful Beverly’s uncanny and industry-wide reputation for being able to shed realistic tears at a directorial drop of the hat) Beverly recounts her early years as a busy child actress in such films as Old Yeller, Shane, The Greatest Show On Earth, The Juggler, The Lone Ranger, The Killer That Stalked New York, Here Comes The Groom and, of course, Superman and the Mole Men. She was also busy on the small tube with appearances on Wagon Train, Thriller, Science-Fiction Theatre, Zane Gray Theatre and The New Loretta Young Show, to mention just a few.

During these years she worked with some of the truly memorable figures of the period including Jack Benny (probably her favorite), Lou Costello, Barbara Stanwyck, Dorothy McGuire, Anne Baxter, Loretta Young, Kirk Douglas and Alan Ladd and she provides wonderful tidbits about these performers and her experiences both behind and in front of the camera.

But there is more to Reel Tears than simply tales of a child, later a juvenile performer, working in movies and on television. It is in many ways  two books fused into one, the story of a performer and the story of a survivor. Beverly is both.

The second half of the book, and just as compelling as the first, tells how Beverly was forced to adjust to a world where parts were few and adult demands and responsibilities were many.  It is the chronicle of coping with tragedy, rejection and life’s many disappointments and pitfalls without a scintilla of self-pity or complaint. Mostly it is a book about dealing with what has to be dealt with and moving on.

Perhaps some writers wouldn’t be able to get away with this but Beverly Washburn does. There is a wonderful modesty and honesty inherent in her simple telling which comes across on every page and which resonates with great sincerity, conviction and truth.

Reel Tears is very real, very heartfelt and genuine, just like the lady herself.

August 2009

ADVENTURES IN PARADISE

By James Rosin

Autumn Road Company

2009

Reviewed by Bruce Dettman

In the fall of 1959 the ABC network introduced a new series to their weekly lineup. It was called Adventures in Paradise. The show, based on a concept by bestselling author James Michener, starred a relatively unknown actor named Gardner McKay in the role of Adam Troy, a Korean War veteran who roams the South Pacific in his schooner The Tiki seeking out adventure and in the process getting into some sticky situations and meeting a lot of colorful people. Adventures would run for three seasons and ninety-one episodes before the much beleaguered Gardner opted to bow out.

Given that most of television during this era was taken up by a plethora of formula westerns and detective shows, Adventures was a fairly unique series, one that relied more on solid story-telling and characterizations than action and physical conflict. Some of Hollywood’s best actors made appearances on the show including – to name just a few –Julie Newmar,  Agnes Moorehead, Martin Landau, Hans Conried, Thomas Mitchell, Buddy Ebsen, George Hamilton, Elsa Lancaster and Carroll O’Connor.

Solidly produced with an impressive behind-the-scenes company (including executive producers Dominic Dunne and William Self) and (in later seasons) beautiful on-location filming, Adventures in Paradise was a memorable and impressive accomplishment. Although not warmly welcomed by critics, the show, which included wonderful music courtesy of ace film and television composer Lionel Newman, earned good ratings and would undoubtedly have gone on for more seasons had not McKay, the recipient of much abuse at the hands of reviewers plus a rigorous schedule that he eventually came to resent, pulled the plug.

Jim Rosin, as with his earlier books on shows such as Route 66, Naked City and Wagon Train, has explored and documented the history of this series and in the process included interviews with many of the those once involved, both behind and in front of the camera. A complete episode guide and biographical material on cast and crew is also provided.

For fans who recall with fondness Adventures In Paradise and have occasionally wondered about this mostly forgotten show this book provides an entertaining journey back and is well worth the wait.

June 2009

SUPERMAN VS. HOLLYWOOD

By Jake Rossen

Chicago Review Press

$16.95

Review by Bruce Dettman

To a large degree Jake Rossen’s recently published SUPERMAN VERSES HOLLYWOOD charts the same basic course as Bruce Scivally’s SUPERMAN ON FILM, TELEVISION, RADIO AND BROADWAY released last autumn. In their own fashion both authors attempt to trace and document the history of the Superman character from his seminal comic book days up to through his most recent incarnations on TV’s Smallville and Brian Singer’s big screen adaptation Superman Returns.

The differences in the books are twofold, tone and detail, with Scivally’s work being the more reverential and nostalgic but lacking some of Rossen’s level of research and documentation.

As far as tone is concerned—and this is particularly of importance to the followers of this web page—a certain glibness and sarcasm often comes through when Rossen is discussing his subject. I found this to be particularly true in his account of the creation and making of TAOS. There is nothing downright mean-spirited or incendiary exactly, but rather a sort of shadowy condescension and veiled disapproval which often creeps into the writing. He constantly harps and makes disparaging comments on the dated aspects of the series and its small budget while rarely if ever coming to terms with its lasting charm, sincerity and engaging performances of the principles—Reeves, Coates, Neill, Larson, Hamilton and Shayne—which not only made it one of the most fondly recalled series of early television but one which continues to resonate with audiences worldwide.

Factual errors creep in as well. For instance, he cites the fact that in the Columbia serials Kirk Alyn as Superman never used a stunt double which, based on several production stills taken at the time, is simply not true. He says that in TAOS Lois (Coates) was accidentally knocked out by a stuntman (it was actor Frank Richards) and he also repeats the erroneous story of a considerable amount of George’s From Here to Eternity footage being excised by studio heads due to Reeves’ association with the comic book character.

As in Scivally’s book, TAOS does not really receive the extent of coverage that lesser but more recent Superman projects do. In my opinion, this is a glaring slight since it really was TAOS—not the serials or Fleisher cartoons or the popular radio series or even the comic books (directed as they were towards a juvenile audience)—with its massive appeal to people of all ages and brought into homes worldwide via the new medium of television that made the character such a cultural icon.

Rossen is a good writer and as somewhat of a Hollywood insider has done his research, particularly regarding events during the Christopher Reeves period as well as later attempts, most of them bungled and ill-advised, to get a new Superman franchise up and running again following the failure of the disappointing SUPERMAN IV, the final and delayed result being 2007’s SUPERMAN RETURNS which opened to mixed reviews and lower box office returns than hoped for. He also touches briefly on the controversial film HOLLYWOODLAND and provides a more or less accurate account of the history and failure of this project although omitting references to early developmental influences by other key figures this reviewer is personally aware of who had a more accurate movie about George Reeves in mind.

As the title of the book suggests, this is not only a book about Superman but one in which the famous character is utilized to showcase how Hollywood writers, producers and directors deal with a successful long-running property, not always in a constructive or attractive manner. This was particularly evidenced several years after Chris Reeve’s final Superman movie was released when various Tinsel Town moguls got into the picture in an attempt to create new storylines and even to blatantly (some might say sacrilegiously) re-vamp the Man of Steel’s mythological persona, some of these concepts absolutely ludicrous and totally at odds with the character and his history. It is often the story of Hollywood back-stabbing, misrepresentation, horrendous judgment and downright stupid decision-making. In the end, compared to some of the abusive suffered at the hands of Hollywood, Superman’s confrontations with the likes of Brainiac, Bizarro and Lex Luther were child’s play.

Rossen’s work, like Scivally’s, although flawed and somewhat deficient in its coverage of TAOS, is certainly deserving of a place on any Superman fan’s bookshelf, if nothing else for the totality of its coverage and insight into the behind-the scenes machinations that were always at work during the 70 year history of this wonderful and ever evolving character.  

January 2008

Superman on Film, Television, Radio and Broadway

Book by Bruce Scivally

Mcfarland Publishers, 2007

Reviewed by Bruce Dettman

Nearly from his inception in 1938, the product of the fertile imaginations of two daydreaming Cincinnati teenagers, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the character of Superman, one of the most recognizable icons in pop culture, has been showcased in a wide variety of mediums which have—in some instances minimally, other times more extensively—served to stretch, redefine and expand upon the initial mythos and fictional parameters of the character. It was only a couple of years after his comic book debut that the Man of Steel was alive and well and featured on an immensely popular national radio hookup starring Bud Collier (which would also introduce such later perennial ingredients of the Superman legend as Daily Planet Editor Perry White, Jimmy Olsen and Kryptonite) followed two years later by his stellar incarnation in a series of brilliant Paramount animated shorts created by the Max Fleisher Studios. Next would be the bargain basement cliffhangers of Columbia Studio’s Sam Katzman starring Kirk Alyn which would in turn give rise to the phenomenally popular long-running TV series starring George Reeves. Other incarnations would follow including additional cartoons, a Broadway production, the tremendously successful big screen versions starring Christopher Reeve, other TV series which explored the Superman theme including Superboy, Lois and Clark and the current trend-setting Smallville as well as what could be a new major franchise with newcomer Brandon Routh in the lead role.

In his new book Superman on Film, Television, Radio and Broadway author/documentary-maker and cultural historian Bruce Scivally has provided an overview of the history of the Man of Steel in all mediums, not only tracing the meteoric rise in popularity of the character and describing his ongoing transformation and cosmetic alternations, but has touched upon those forces, social, political and artistic, that often provided the impetus for these changes.

For readers of Glass House Presents, the majority of who are dedicated fans of George Reeves and the 1950s Adventures of Superman, the book is often somewhat of a mixed blessing. While Scivally does a fine job in providing an entertaining and engaging survey of the Superman saga, I  suspect many will be disappointed and frustrated that Reeves show is not covered in more detail since a good argument could made for the fact that the series was not only a defining moment for the character, but that in the collective minds of a whole generation, George Reeves was the definitive Superman and those weekly television episodes, reaching so many (as they continue to do via cable and DVDS) probably more than anything else—certainly more than the radio series, the serials or the Fleisher cartoons—cemented the character’s reputation in the mind of the general public at large. Scivally owes a huge debt to Gary Grossman’s groundbreaking work from the 1970s, Superman From Serial to Cereal which he draws from for his research, but in doing so he occasionally repeats some of Grossman’s own errors which is disconcerting and undermines the intent setting the record straight. In addition, perhaps because Grossman spent so much of his text detailing what went on in individual episodes, Scivally sidetracks much discussion of these although he does often provide lengthy analysis of standout efforts from later shows like Lois and Clark and Smallville. Some attention to landmark episodes such as Panic In The Sky or Superman In Exile, which braved new grounds for the character, would have been a decided plus as would interviews with personal not usually quoted such as writers and technical people still alive. This reviewer would also have appreciated, particularly in a book with such a hefty price tag, more in the way of illustrations and photographs to visually showcase the historical development of Superman throughout the decades.

These complaints aside, Scivally is to be congratulated for applying his talents and energies to assimilating the considerable pieces of the Superman story into one volume. Unlike Grossman whose book pre-dated the most recent incarnations of the Man of Steel, Scivally is able to present the full breath and range of the character’s appearances right up to the present Brian Singer mega-production and for this reason is extremely useful as a reference tool and barometer showcasing the often circuitous paths that distinguished the multi-faceted media career of our favorite pop phenomenon.

November 2007

Truth, Justice, and the American Way

Expanded Version by Larry Ward

Review by Alfred Walker

Open Letters, Memos, Appreciations, and Apologies

re: Truth, Justice, and the American Way: The Life and Times of Noel Neill  - The Original Lois Lane, Deluxe Expanded Edition (2006) by Larry Thomas Ward

To Carl Glass, my friend and publisher: I'm letting you down big-time, pal. I agreed to review Noel Neill's newly expanded biography for Glass House Presents, but it's not going to happen. A "review" would suggest some semblance of an impartial stance, perhaps a bit of objective distance from the subject matter. You may be Miss Neill's Number One Fan (self-proclaimed), but I hereby confess that I'm a Noel Neill Fan 101: basic issue, hooked since childhood, still buzzing from meeting her three years ago and twice more since. As for Larry Ward, I count him as a loyal friend and a key provider of sustenance and enhancement to the legacy of The Adventures of Superman. So Carl, my objectivity with this book charts at about a third of one per cent. No way I can write a review. Sorry!

To My Basement, the locale of my regular column for Glasshouse: You will not be seeing this book. It has its own special shelf in the living room. You're just going to have to content yourself with the boxes of comic books and that moth-eaten Superman costume.

To Fans of Noel Neill, The Adventures of Superman, and the Golden Age of Hollywood: This book is must-have! Read that sentence several times.

Remember as a kid, you'd scour the shelves at the public library for a paltry few pictures of your favorite stars and shows? Well, growing up has privileges and here's the payoff! Larry Ward has compiled a stunning and overwhelming collection of images, many previously unpublished, often courtesy of scrapbooks diligently compiled by Miss Neill's parents. There are scores of pictures from 1940s Hollywood; page after page of production shots and candids from The Adventures of Superman (TAOS); and an amazing set of photos from George Reeves' touring musical troupe. At or near the center of all of these is, of course, the most lovely and effervescent Noel Neill.

Miss Neill's long and remarkable career (to date) is chronicled here: dance school standout, big band singer, film ingénue, serial star, and TV icon. And that's the first half of the book. There are 150 more pages devoted to life after TAOS: the Christopher Reeve film, the college tours, the Seinfeld webisode, and most heartwarmingly, her present day interaction with the army of boomer fans who, as kids, watched transfixed as she stood toe to toe with Superman.

Many of those fans came to meet Miss Neill at signings for the original edition of her biography, published in 2003. We loved that book. This book is that book on steroids. And whipped cream. With cherries on top. Lots of cherries. Here is an astonishing collection of photos from "The Private Side of Noel Neill" (have you ever seen her husband?). Here is Lois Lane meeting Lois Lane (can you guess how many Miss Neill has met? Check the pics!). And here is her 85th birthday bash, replete with friends and fans from Lou "Hulk" Ferrigno to Jon "Timmy" Provost.

Just as Larry Ward knows that Miss Neill is the star of all their joint appearances, so is the wisdom he employs with this book. He writes admiringly and competently of his subject, all the while knowing that the images are king in this tribute. Color photos abound, some surely colorized but glorious nonetheless. Any of a dozen of these online would command at the very least the cost of this handsome, hardbound volume.

Is this the final edition? Miss Neill continues on an open-ended tour. She's seen major press coverage with the opening of Superman Returns. And Larry reserves the right to cover her 90th birthday party. So maybe you'll want to roll the dice and pass on one of the 120 or so copies left at jimnolt.com In response, I would only quote the usually soft-spoken Mr. Nolt himself: Let this one slip through your fingers, and you'll be kicking yourself for years to come. 

To Larry Ward: You, sir, have an uncanny sense of what we fans like. You must be paying attention at all those autograph sessions! I thank you for this amazing, thoughtful offering. Your efforts count not only as a wonderful act of much needed stewardship of the memory of TAOS, but also as enrichment of the lives of so many who've met and visited with Miss Neill, thanks to you. 

And to Noel Neill: Your ongoing willingness to share your life with us excites and informs. From you we learn there can be chapters unforeseen, with no end in sight. We meet you with a thrill, then learn about your journey with quiet awe. Thank you!

July 2006