For the Love of Fury

By Gail McIntyre

The untimely passing of Peter Graves on March 14, 2010 brought back those early childhood memories when local TV stations in New York brought forth the finest in syndicated children’s television.  Weeknights around 7pm on WPIX-TV, you could relax after a rough day at 2^nd grade to the site of a majestic black stallion galloping down a steep hill running to meet his human soul mate named Joey, heralding the opening to another episode of “Fury”.  Running originally on NBC from 1955 – 1960, the opening of the show has a remarkably similar format to The Adventures of Superman including classical theme music and the announcer reading the show’s beautifully written prologue with a remarkably familiar cadence.   The episodes too are similar to the Superman series in that there is often a didactic purpose to each one.  The series tackles social issues including step parenting, widowhood, juvenile delinquency, animal cruelty, drunk driving, ecology and more.  The first episode of “the story of a horse and the boy who loved him” explains how a black stallion named Fury, who had been recently captured by rancher Jim Newton (Peter Graves), is actually being abused by one of the ranchers and is saved in the nick of time by Joey (Bob Diamond), who himself is saved by Jim Newton from living on the streets as an orphan.  Their first meeting takes place in juvenile hall where Joey has been wrongly accused of breaking a window.   Newton speaks up for the child who otherwise would have ended up in reform school.  This scene has a poetic irony to it in that Bob Diamond went on as an adult to become a civil attorney in California.  Thanks to my wonderful friend Beverly Washburn, I had the pleasure of speaking with Bob about his memories of the show and the cast members.  Born in 1943, Bob Diamond started out doing photo work which led to bit parts in movies and TV and ultimately landing the part of Joey.  Of working with Peter Graves, he said, “he was always a good guy; very easygoing.  He would talk to you if you wanted to talk, mostly in the evening; I would listen most of the time; everyone got along”.  Obviously there was a bit of an age difference with the two of them.  Bob mentioned that at the age of 10 – 16 you don’t really communicate with others on an adult level and he lamented not ever having had the opportunity to speak with Peter Graves as the conversation today would have been very different.  He did get a chance to see him once on the set of Mission Impossible and at an event where Peter was being roasted which was about 7 years ago and had actually been trying to reach him recently about appearing at a celebrity autograph signing when he got word that he had passed away.

Working with animals on an acting set brings its own unique challenges so I asked Bob if there were any scary or funny moments he recalled involving the horses or other animals.  While he did not do his own stunts he did do all of his own riding and fell off the horse once and sustained a concussion.  Although there were actually five different horses used for the part of Fury, the one that is most well known for the role is the award winning Highland Dale who was first featured in “Black Beauty” in 1946, Elizabeth Taylor’s horse in “Giant” in 1956 as well as a host of television shows including “Bonanza”.  On another occasion, they were filming an episode that featured a lion.  Just when someone was heard saying nobody could break thru the glass, the lion came running toward the glass and went right through it!  As luck would have it Bob just happened to have a camera and managed to film the whole scene.  He recalled that everyone ran for their lives but as it turned out the lion was more afraid than anyone else.

One episode that really stands out in my mind is called “Joey Sees it Through” which featured Beverly Washburn playing the role of Betsy Parker, a little girl still mourning the death of her biological father and rebelling against her mother who wants to remarry. Betsy gets turned around by Joey when she learns that he too is being raised by a man who is not his biological father.    It’s a wonderful episode to watch, especially knowing that to this day, Beverly and Bob are good friends and keep in touch with one another.  Beverly and Bob are both animal lovers, especially dogs.  Bob has always had dogs and shared with me that he recently lost two Labrador retrievers to old age and just adopted a black lab from his local shelter.  Beverly recalled her appearance on Fury and of Peter Graves she said, “I do remember that Peter Graves was a very nice man and made me feel so welcome on the show. It’s so sad that we are losing so many people”.

In addition to Beverly Washburn, Bob also still keeps in touch with Ann Robinson who played Joey’s school teacher Helen Watkins. In fact, Bob and Ann recently appeared together at an autograph signing show in California this past fall.    He is also still good friends with Jimmy Baird who played the part of Joey’s friend Pee Wee and is today a high school English teacher, perhaps inspired by William Fawcett who played the part of Pete, Jim Newton’s top ranch hand and was also at one time an English teacher.  And he noted that acting has been good to him as he transitioned into a career as an attorney because acting helped him to not be afraid to get up and talk; “when you are doing a closing argument where you put it all together, acting is very helpful”. 

For those of you who grew up in the range country and you cut your teeth on a branding iron, be sure to make a trip back to the broken wheel ranch for there is and will always be only one Fury.

I wish to extend my sincerest thanks to Mr. Robert Diamond, Ms. Beverly Washburn and Mr. Bruce Dettman for their kindness and support of this article.

May 2010

Death by Typecasting

By Gail McIntyre

For an actor it was a terrible way to go; the perpetual villain, the forever superhero, the eternal comedian, the tired out sidekick. If you contracted the disease there was usually no cure. Actors would pull out all the stops to insure that they were not infected with the typecasting virus. We know today that the cast of TAOS suffered from the insidious affliction, but they were not the only ones who would be affected by the disorder.

Laird Cregar was born in 1916 in Philadelphia and educated in England. Shortly thereafter, he won a scholarship to California’s Pasadena Playhouse which produced so many great stars during that era including George Reeves. His major break was when he was invited to a Hollywood party and started reading the part of Oscar Wilde, forcing everyone in the room to take notice. When he signed on with 20^th Century fox, they assured him that he would not be typecast, something Cregar feared intensely. And it seemed initially that was the case. Cast in a hodgepodge of dramatic roles from the flamboyant Natalio Curro in Blood and Sand with Tyrone Power and Rita Hayworth, to the whimsical Gooseberry in Hudson’s Bay, it seemed this rotund actor would find a well balanced cinematic career that would showcase his acting range.

But things began to change in 1944.  Although he did not receive top billing, Cregar was cast as Jack the Ripper in The Lodger with Merle Oberon. Weighing over 325 pounds, Cregar takes over the screen both with his body and his face leaving you unable to take your eyes off him.  Coupling this performance with other villainous roles he had already played in films such as I Wake up Screaming and This Gun for Hire, Cregar began to worry that he was being typed as a villain. He longed for the opportunity to play a leading man. Merle Oberon told Cregar during the filming of The Lodger that he had a handsome face and could land leading man roles if he only lost the weight. 

Cregar pushed for the lead role of Hangover Square. The novel centers on contemporary England where a mentally ill classical composer murders a woman he has fallen in love with after learning that she has taken advantage of him. Cregar, an accomplished pianist, was also told he could play some of his own musical pieces in the film. But a year went by and while Cregar was off appearing in a play that year, the producers of Hangover Square had reworked the screenplay so that it would take place in Victorian England, with the gaslights and mystery that made filming of that era so appealing. In short the story was made to look and sound very much like the previously successful film The Lodger. Compounding the disappointment, the promise to perform some of his own piano compositions fell to the wayside when Bernard Hermann was contracted to score the Concerto Macabre. One of the more spectacular aspects of this film is that Cregar’s hands are actually shown moving over the piano keyboard mimicking the actual movements that would match the music being played. 

In preparation for the role of composer George Harvey Bone, Cregar lost over 100 pounds.   Hangover Square was subject to reshoots after the film was completed so there are times in watching the film that Cregar seems heavier then curiously slimmer. His body appears to be almost as schizophrenic as his mind, making his performance all the more extraordinary. Cregar gets top billing in this film for the first time, playing opposite Linda Darnell, and clearly seems to break the leading man ceiling despite the fact that he still weighs a hefty 225 pounds. Hangover Square was a big box office hit for 20^th Century Fox and it seemed that Cregar was on his way to becoming a major star for the studio.

The reshoots of Hangover Square were completed at the end of November 1944. Two weeks later, Laird Cregar prepared his last will and testament and was admitted into the hospital to undergo surgery. There are conflicting stories as to whether the surgery was an elective one to undergo a procedure on his stomach to limit his consumption of food so as to lose more weight OR whether the procedure was to correct severe stomach problems, brought on as a result of the massive weight loss Cregar had sustained in such a short period of time, fueled by the use of amphetamines. Five days after the surgery, Cregar died of a heart attack at the age of 31.

Although Laird Cregar’s list of movie credits is short, consisting of only 16 films, his performances are absolutely mesmerizing. If you are a film noir fans, his body of work is a must see. While heart attack is the official cause of death, there is no doubt, knowing his story that he was yet one more victim of an era where too many Hollywood hopefuls died from an infected career for which no antibiotic or vaccine had ever been developed. Seeing his work today, we can only close our eyes as we do with George Reeves and wonder what could have been.  

**December 9^th, 2009 marks the 65^th anniversary of Laird Cregar’s passing. 

November 2009

The George Reeves Dinner

June 20^th, 2009

By Gail McIntyre

The George Reeves Dinner was the brain child of Jim Nolt who had spent easily the last year communicating over email, and coordinating discussions regarding hotel and restaurant choices and arranging activities to make the event unforgettable.  Approximately 30 adult fans of George Reeves assembled in New York City to mark the 50^th anniversary of his death.  But anyone who was there will tell you this was not about how George died but rather how he lived and how his life changed a generation of young Americans forever.

The day before, folks started arriving from all over the country, including California, Arizona, Virginia, Florida, Massachusetts and North Carolina.  Most stayed at the Novotel Hotel on 52^nd street. The location was ideal as the festivities began with the group walking over to the Paley Center for Media on 52^nd street and 5^th avenue. Many thanks to Steve Brant who made arrangements for the group to view a private screening of Superman and the Mole Men along with two episodes of the Adventures of Superman; Jimmy Olsen Boy Editor from the 1953 season and The Perils of Superman which was directed by George Reeves. The episodes included the original commercials including not just from Kellogg’s but Tootsie Rolls as well.  Seeing these shows set the mood for the rest of the night. I had not realized that Tootsie Rolls was also a sponsor of Superman. Now I know why they are Noel Neill’s favorite candy! 

After comparing it with other options, it was decided that dinner would be at Kennedy’s restaurant on 57^th street between 8^th and 9^th avenues. I had noticed this place as it was only a block away from the Holiday Inn where Noel Neill had appeared several times. It allowed us the flexibility for everyone to order what they wanted and it offered a lovely private room for a large group. The group dined on a wide assortment of terrific dishes including Prime Rib, Roast Turkey with the trimmings, Shepherd’s pie and Crab Cakes!   It included dessert with selections that included ice cream, apple pie and German chocolate cake.   

But great food was just the beginning. As part of entertainment during dinner, Lou Koza treated us to a slide show where he had scanned his extensive collection of George Reeves photographs, many of which the group had never seen before, along with other documentary data such as newspaper clippings, articles, and other little gems Lou has found and made part of his George Reeves treasure chest. One that stuck in my mind was a copy of a certificate from The Adventures of Superman Fan Club. I had no idea the show had an organized fan club and the certificate was signed by George Reeves himself along with a note saying that he was going to be appearing a new show called “I Love Lucy.” The certificate was circa 1956 so it just shows George’s delightful humor in writing to this fan. Lou’s knowledge of George Reeves and the show is remarkable and he went out of his way to describe many of the slides in detail which made the presentation incredibly entertaining.

One of the major surprises of the evening was that we were joined by Dr. Don Rhoden.   It is because of Don that our gathering even happened because it was he who first started the TAC magazine. Don kept the evening alive by posing questions to the group and going around the room. Questions included: What was your favorite color episode and what was your least favorite? Who was your favorite TAOS director? What was your favorite season? It got the crowd thinking and kept the fun coming!

Later on, Jim thrilled everyone by calling Noel Neill on his cell phone and put her on speaker so she could join us. It was delightful seeing the faces of everyone around the room as they heard Noel’s voice come over the speaker. 

Nothing beats meeting the faces behind the emails! Aside from those already mentioned, the gathering included many familiar names on the message boards as well as accomplished writers and webmasters including Richard Potter, Eddie Caro, Alfred Walker, Mike Goldman, Steve Randisi (co author of Crimson Cape), Steve Brooks, Jody McGhee, Dave Orbach, Bill Wellington, Delmo Walters, Joe Kryzynski, Michael Hayde (author of Flights of Fantasy and recent inductee in the GRHOF on Glass House Presents), Steve Shapllo, Mark Rothberg, Bill Casey, and Brian McKernan.

Just when you thought nothing could make the night any better than it already was, New York radio and TV icon Joe Franklin joined the group to celebrate the life of George Reeves as well. Joe graciously took pictures with many in the room and shared stories of George, noting that George had appeared on his show a few times, once along with Sammy Davis Jr., and Dean Martin!

George Reeves liked to be known as The People’s Friend. As Jim Nolt noted so well at the gathering, a lot of friendships have come about because of the Adventures of Superman. That is the legacy George Reeves left behind. June 20^th was testimony to that. It is my sincerest hope that this weekend can become a tradition and that I will have the opportunity to write next year on the 2^nd annual George Reeves Dinner. My thanks again to Jim Nolt, Lou Koza, Steven Brant and Doctor Don Rhoden and all those who traveled from far (and not so far) to make this one of the most super moments in the history of The Adventures Continue.

Keep on Flying Mr. Reeves!

Click here for a video of the night’s events courtesy of Steven Brant !!!  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YhvSbKAp4Q

June 2009

Growing Up with

William Holden

A Memoir by Virginia Holden Gaines

“He was sooo handsome”, she said. “He looked just like William Holden.” So I shrugged my shoulders and turned on the radio. At 20 years of age, in 1975, I had no interest in listening to my mother’s musings on why she married my father when I could listen to the Hughes Corporation sing “Rock the Boat”. Six years later, I would be reminded of this moment on a brisk November afternoon when I heard on the radio that William Holden had passed away as a result of a fall in his apartment. “Wow, that’s sad!” I said. But then the DJ played Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing”; and I moved on. When I recently read Lou Koza’s article called “Mad About the Boy”, on www.jimnolt.com, I bought Sunset Boulevard to get a look at it again. After watching it admittedly at least ten times, I realized I had to see more of William Holden and I intuitively understood what it was about him that fascinated movie goers in the 1950’s when he was at the height of his career.  While I have seen close to 35 of Holden’s film in the last few months, I was more interested in learning more about his character and the kind of man he was off screen.

Growing Up with William Holden, written by his daughter, Virginia Holden Gaines.  Virginia is the daughter of actress Ardis Ankerson (stage name Brenda Marshall). When Ankerson divorced her husband / actor Richard Gaines to marry Bill Holden in 1941, Holden adopted Virginia. 

Now I have to warn you that if you are expecting yet another “mommie dearest” type story from a child growing up in a celebrity household, you are going to be disappointed. The book opens with a Portuguese proverb that goes, “what was hard to bear is sweet to remember”. The final chapter is entitled, “Honor Thy Mother and Thy Father”.  Despite all this, there are passages in the book that will make you laugh, make you cry, make you extremely angry and make you really wonder what the Holden’s (both husband and wife) were thinking a great deal of the time.  The passages, vividly written right down to what things smelled like to a young child, bring you right into the home and are written with an almost news reporter account of the various stars and celebrities who visited at the time along with events, many of which could make you hair stand on end. The work includes never before seen photographs William Holden taken in repose with his family along with movie stills that mark some of the more tumultuous moments of his movie career. It was impressive to read a brutally honest account of what life was like for this little girl as she makes the transition into womanhood along with her brothers, mom, grandparents, and especially dad, standing in her shadow, carving out the experiences that would mold the author’s soul. It is beautiful to read the series of chronological anecdotes with emotion flying off the pages, that illustrate how this many splendored Hollywood legend forever changed the life of one single solitary human being. 

You’ll see William Holden’s performances in an entirely new way after reading his daughter’s unusual life story. You’ll gain some insight as to why he chose so many of the roles that gave rise to his fame. Just be sure to check your radios at the door.

May 2009

Beyond Jimmy Olsen

By Gail McIntyre

Wednesday afternoons were an obsession.  It was roughly 1966.  I used to bolt out of school at 3pm and head on over to the corner candy store.  Fifty cents in those days bought you a package of Sweet Tarts, a Nestles Crunch bar and the latest copy of TV Guide.  I was searching.  Always searching for a TV show, movie or even variety show where I might find one of the cast members of the Adventures of Superman. Puckering my lips on those sour tart tablets I would scan the magazine from cover to cover.  Every now and then I got lucky.  Luck was critical in as much as I wasn’t very well informed.  For one thing it wasn’t clear to me that the series had long ended and what I was watching was already 5 to 15 years old depending upon the episode. I was also unaware that some of the cast, most notably George Reeves, had already passed away. To say nothing that I was clueless to the fact that other cast members had now long retired from acting and moved on. 

But that was then and this is now. With access to electronic media and finding wonderfully informative and illustrated books on the cast including Behind the Crimson Cape by Jan Alan Henderson and Steve Randisi and Beyond Lois Lane by Larry Ward, information on the careers of George Reeves and Noel Neill has been well documented. Information on Jack Larson’s TV and movie career is out there as well although more limited. The deregulation of the movie industry in the late 1940’s combined with his being type cast as Jimmy Olsen lead to an abbreviated acting career. Nevertheless there are some great finds out there that complement his iconic signature role from the 1950’s television series that Jack was originally assured by his agent no one would ever see.

Jack Larson’s debut appearance in a major motion picture was in Raoul Walsh’s Fighter Squadron which was released in 1948. His character, Lieutenant Shorty Kirk, appears about midway in the film.  He acquired the role after being discovered by an agent from Warner Brothers who was in the audience at a play Larson performed in at the Pasadena City College where George Reeves and Dabbs Greer also got their starts.   Playing a flyboy, there is a scene where he stops to salute his commanding officer and hits his head against the wing of his plane. As young as he was, you could already see that Jack had comedy in his blood, and that it was in comedy where he would most greatly flex his acting muscles.  It stars Edmund O’Brien, Robert Stack, who would later gain fame as Elliot Ness in The Untouchables, a new star by the name of Rock Hudson, and Walter Reed who would later appear with George Reeves in Superman and the Mole Men.  Incorporating actual WWII military war footage, this film has a unique look, feel and character. Filmed in color, when I first saw it I thought it was pretty graphic by 1948 standards. There are at least two scenes where a flyer is hit in the head and is shown with quite a blood spatter. There is a humorous thread where one soldier is romancing all the women in town. It also examines the complexities of military politics and how it can sometimes exacerbate the loss of life in the trenches. Part of a series of films that were made during that time period that underscored the pride this country felt for winning a hard fought war, this one is a must see if you like action packed war films that feature authentic flying sequences. It shows up from time to time on Turner Classic Movies.

Kid Monk Baroni was released in 1952, and has been described as the ultimate cult sci-fi film.  This is not because it has anything to do with science fiction but because it stars Leonard Nimoy from Star Trek, Jack Larson from Adventures of Superman and Bruce Cabot from King Kong. Monk is part of a street gang. Being somewhat ugly, he learns to fight his way thru life.  He gets a break from a priest who teaches him to box and from there he fights his way to popularity in the boxing world. Monk’s only real friend is Angelo (Larson) who manages his boxing career. He also has the good fortune of finding a girl who does not care about his appearance.  Monk’s girlfriend is played by Allene Roberts who appears three times in the Adventures of Superman in the Haunted Lighthouse, the Monkey Mystery and the Whistling Bird. This film has a bit in common with the movie Marty starring Ernest Borgnine. Both films examine societal expectations of physical appearance and how we all struggle with facial and body image issues.   Available on DVD, I really don’t like listening to commentary on DVD’s. I find them annoying.  But in this case I really encourage you to check out the commentary on this film from Leonard Nimoy, Jack Larson and Mona Knox. Their memories are astonishing and I think you’ll really get a kick out of some of the anecdotes they come up with about the actors in this show, and details about how the film was put together. Don’t miss it!!

In 1965, as a favor to the creators of Gomer Pyle, USMC, Jack Larson appeared in the First Episode of Season II. Jack plays Tommy, a corporal who handles a lot of the paperwork for Sergeant Carter. Carter wants to go on vacation to Hawaii but won’t go till all the privates in his command pass the test to be private first class. Everyone passes the test except Gomer Pyle. There has to be an easier way for a man to take a vacation.  This is an important show. It is essentially the last time Jack Larson appears on television again playing anyone other than himself. He will not appear again for 26 years until 1991 when he plays Lou on an episode of Superboy starring Gerard Christopher. This episode, called Paranoia, is special in that it is the first time that Jack Larson and Noel Neill appear together in a television episode since the Adventures of Superman series went off the air in 1958. While season one of Superboy is out on DVD, season four, when this episode was broadcast, has unfortunately not been released as of  yet.

Jack Larson joins the cast of Lois and Clark; the New Adventures of Superman is an episode called Brutal Youth in 1996.   This episode marks the final appearance to date that Jack Larson appears in a television series. In this story, a scientist creates a machine that extracts the youth out of young people and transfers it to aging individuals and discovers a fountain of youth. When a friend of Jimmy Olsen’s (played by L&C cast member Justin Whalen) is found not just dead but 50 years older than his real age, Jimmy sets out to find out what happened to his good friend and in doing so becomes another young victim of the scientist’s experiments with youth and old age. By the time it is discovered just what is going on, Lois and Clark find Jimmy (played by Jack Larson) on the floor in the Daily Planet building, aging and near death. When Jack played Jimmy Olsen in the 1950’s he was always very polite, adhering to the expectations of the time of how a nice young man should behave by 1950’s standards. But now as Jimmy Olsen, once young, now aging, he addresses Lois Lane as Lois. He calls Clark Kent CK.  The jeepers, the golly’s and the swells disappear from his vernacular and now he just exclaims that he “screwed up royal”. The bow tie and the sweater are gone and in its place is a short sleeve tee shirt. Through the transformation of Jimmy Olsen we see the transformation of our culture as it has evolved from the 50’s to the 90’s.  There is something almost Forrest Gump about it.  More poignantly, we see how the character of Olsen becomes somewhat of a precious heirloom as it is passed down from one acting generation to another.

While Brutal Youth marks the last television episode for Jack, it would not be the last time he would appear on a television in an acting capacity entirely.  In 1998, Jerry Seinfeld collaborated with American Express for a super commercial to appear in that year’s Super Bowl. Struggling to save a damsel in distress who is in dire need of money, Superman’s costume doesn’t have a handy little pocket for storing credit cards. Leave it to Jerry to whip out an American Express card and save the day.  On their way out of the store, the sky begins to darken. The crowd looks up in the sky. It is a comet heading straight for the earth.  Seinfeld lets Superman handle this dilemma but for about 2 seconds we see Jack Larson in a cameo appearance, sporting the traditional bow tie and sweater, the daily planet logo behind him as he looks up at this foreign body heading for the earth, a gaze reminiscent of the 1953 Superman episode Panic in the Sky which is Jerry Seinfeld’s favorite episode from the 1950’s series. You get the impression that Jack seems to be having fun engaging in a parody of the character he has become so closely associated with over the decades. This infamous advertisement can be viewed at blogs.creditcards.com

Superman Returns, released in 2006, is currently Jack’s last acting role where he plays Bo the Bartender, also known as Bibbo Bibbowski, a supporting characters in the Superman comics. This would be the first time Jack is seen on the big screen since appearing in Johnny Trouble in 1957. Knowing this you can’t help but feel a zing of irony zap you right in the gut when he utters the words, “Must be tough coming back” to Clark Kent as he is serving up a couple of cold ones to Clark and Jimmy. As in Brutal Youth, it seems he comes full circle here and makes peace with a character that has become somewhat of an alter ego and has lived in his shadow for more than half a century as embraces the new Jimmy Olsen played by Sam Huntington. When you think about it, this is really a more important love story than the one put forth between Lois and Clark.

Old habits die hard but they do eventually die.  I would never reach for a package of Sweet Tarts today. I often wonder what I saw in them and how I didn’t end up dying from indigestion. I would still reach for a Nestle Crunch bar but a bulging waistline forces me to keep my hands in my pockets. And I haven’t picked up a TV Guide since the 1970’s.  If I had continued with that weekly ritual, I might have found that Jack made many personal guest appearances and interviews over the years that included The Tomorrow Show, Entertainment Tonight, the WOR-TV Channel 9 Superman Anniversary specials, Unsolved Mysteries, 2020, and TV Land, among others.  So now, at last, when it comes to finding what Jack Larson did Beyond Jimmy Olsen, I finally found what I had been searching for back in 1966.  And I rest.

Special thanks to Mr. X for sending me a copy of Fighter Squadron.

September 2008

A Prayer in Memphis

By Gail McIntyre 

If anyone had told me two years ago that I would travel all the way to Memphis Tennessee to attend a film festival, I would have told them they were nuts. But that’s all different now. The Memphis Film Festival took place this year from June 6 - 8^th at the Whispering Woods Hotel and Convention Center in Oak Branch Mississippi. This year’s combination theme celebrated 75 years of the Lone Ranger and the 70^th anniversary of the appearance of Superman in the comics. For fans of these two beloved superheroes it was truly something to bring tears to anyone’s eyes. There was so much to see and do that it would be impossible to capture it all here but the following are those events that stuck in my mind and made the event the trip of a lifetime.

I arrived on Friday June 7^th just in time to attend a panel that included Noel Neill and actresses Laurie Mitchell and Beverly Washburn. This was the first time I had ever had the opportunity to meet Ms. Mitchell and become familiar with her work.  Superman fans will remember her for her role as Ruby in the episode, “The Man Who Made Dreams Come True”. I have to tell you I just fell in love with her. Her presentation on the panel kept you engaged with stories of her having worked with Zsa Zsa Gabor in the movie “Queen of Outer Space”. While on the panel she did a marvelous impression of Zsa Zsa that really kept the audience engaged. It was that role that enabled her to land a part as a trumpet player in an all women’s band in the 1959 film “Some Like It Hot” with Jack Lemmon whom she has very fond memories of. She described her memories of an episode of Bonanza where Slim Pickins fights Dan Blocker (Hoss Cartwright) for her affection, and how much she enjoyed working with the Bonanza cast. Laurie Mitchell has appeared in many classic TV westerns including the Virginian and Laredo. I was also delighted to find out that like me, she hails from the New York area, specifically Westchester county. She was extremely sweet and gracious and I consider myself truly privileged to have been able to meet, speak with and receive her autograph and I look forward to exploring the body of her cinematic work in the future. 

I also had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Janine Perreau.  In the Superman episode “Joey” Janine plays Alice, a little girl who is heartbroken that her beloved horse Joey has to be sold to help pay for expenses on the farm.  Janine traveled to the festival with her sister Gigi Perreau who like Laurie Mitchell appeared in many of our favorite classic TV westerns including Gunsmoke, Rawhide and the Rifleman. Janine appeared with her sister in a movie called “Song of Love” with Katharine Hepburn. She also appeared with Glenn Ford in “Redhead and the Cowboy”. During the Superman panel, she was asked how she felt about working on the Superman series as a child. She commented on the scene where George is flying with her in the “flying pan” apparatus and after a while George commented, “This girl is getting heavy!” It was only then that she came to realize that George really wasn’t Superman because she believed up until then that Superman was real just the way we did. Today Janine resides in California and is active in animal rescue.  Her focus as you might guess is on horses!  

Having met Beverly Washburn only 2 weeks before, I felt like I was going to chat with an old friend.   Beverly is the little girl in “Superman and the Mole Men” who unknowingly attempts to play with the creatures and befriend them. Beverly had some wonderful memories to share on the two panels she participated in. Her memories of stars she had worked with brought a very personal touch to her presentation. She appeared in several episodes of the “Loretta Young Show” and had become very close to Ms. Young over the years and shared with us how supportive she was to Beverly when her father had become very ill. She also shared a story of a time where she received a message from Jack Benny in the evening but because it was so late she didn’t feel right calling him till the morning. While it would seem impossible to us to imagine something like this, Mr. Benny had called her to see if she was free to go to the movies with him because he had no one to go with. This underscored the notion that although celebrities can be known the world over, the fact is their celebrity status often puts them in a lonely place.

What impresses me most about Ms. Washburn is her commitment to helping animals. All of the proceeds from her autograph signings go to a no-kill shelter in the Las Vegas area where she currently resides. So if you do have a chance to meet her at any of these shows, do keep that in mind.   I would like to personally thank Beverly Washburn and Janine Perreau for all that they do to help those creatures who cannot speak for themselves.  

Gregory Moffett who plays Johnny Wilson in “The Stolen Elephant” was also on hand. This was Gregory’s first appearance at a show of this kind. During the Superman panel he shared information about the process whereby an elephant’s coat is shaved. The hair on an elephant he explained is like porcupine needles so you have to be very careful when you touch them particularly after they have been groomed.    

Our own Noel Neill also had an elephant story to share during the Superman panel that took place on Saturday afternoon. Noel appeared in the Cecil B. DeMille production of “The Greatest Show on Earth”. She shared the fact that Mr. DeMille could often be a little difficult to deal with.   The cast and crew by and large would never talk back to him. Apparently one day Mr. DeMille had said something derogatory to the man who was in charge of managing the elephants. She recalled that the elephants had been moving steadily, but then suddenly stopped. That was because the elephant keeper pointed the instrument he used to keep the elephants moving and pointed it at Mr. DeMille saying, “Don’t you ever say something like that to me again”! Then the elephants started moving again!

The Superman panel was moderated by Bruce Scivally who wrote the book, “Superman on Film, Television, Radio and Broadway”. If you get a chance be sure to read Bruce Dettman’s review of this unique take on Superman in all forms of mass media. At Books/Reviews.

Also on the panel was our own Jim Nolt who brought his own unique insights into the discussion as it moved from one audience question to the next. When I came out of the Memphis airport to search for the hotel van I knew I was in the right place because I found Jim sitting there waiting for the van too. Thanks heavens for the internet as I recognized him from pictures I had seen of him so I didn’t feel weird walking up to a stranger to introduce myself! 

The banquet was wonderful with a chance for all of us to get a little more formal. The wholesome southern style dinner included chicken, mashed potatoes and peach cobbler. Afterwards it was time for the celebrities to entertain us with a radio style program where the celebrities had a chance to speak into the microphone and bring their characters to life. Complete with sound effects right down to loud gunshots that got us all jumping, it was a chance to relive the way folks got to know the Lone Ranger and Superman way back when radio was the only form of electronic entertainment. There was also an auction of memorabilia items to raise money for the next festival and an awards ceremony to honor the actors and actresses who took time to come out to Memphis to make this event a smashing success.

Meeting the celebrities you watched as a kid is a thrill because it is as if they are toy people that suddenly come to life. But there is also the fact that this trip was a rare opportunity for so many of us who had been corresponding with one another for years to finally meet face to face. Dennis Lark commented to me that it was very much like a family reunion even though most of us had never met before. And he was so right. Whether it was a group of 10 off on a junket to the local IHOP or an intimate gathering of 3 in the hotel restaurant, we were everywhere and getting to know our family members. And what is it that we all have “genetically” in common?  It was obvious to me that we all shared a mutual love and admiration for George Reeves and the show that he brought to life for us. We all shared this unique passion that today shapes or values and sense of fair play. The chance to meet all of them was truly an answer to a prayer. And in my prayers going forward I will ask God to someday give me a chance to see them all again. Until next time, we’ll all just have to keep watching.

June 2008

The Time Tunnel

Season 1

 Perhaps it was a high school or college history class. Maybe it was a movie on a significant historical event. In any case, most all of us at one time or another have mused on the idea of going back in time to talk to notable historical figures and cry out, “Why are you doing this?  Don’t you know what is about to happen?” The Time Tunnel, which first aired on WABC-TV in the fall of 1966 on Friday nights at 8pm, gives us a chance to live vicariously thru the adventures of Dr.’s Tony Newman and Doug Phillips, played by James Darren and Robert Colbert.

The Time Tunnel is part of a collection brought to us by Irwin Allen who was also known as the Master of Disaster. Allen’s television work includes Lost in Space and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.  Allen also produced The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno which appeared in the movies in the early 1970’s. The Time Tunnel is a 10 year top secret project which is in danger of losing its funding because the U.S. Government is not convinced time travel is possible and the project has become too expensive to support. Dr. Tony Newman, in an effort to prove the government wrong, activates the tunnel and sends him back through time to one of the most tragic events in world history, the sinking of the Titanic. This was the pilot episode which features Michael Rennie, who also appears in an episode of Lost in Space. Needless to say, no one on the ship believes Newman when he insists the unsinkable ship will go down in less than 24 hours. Season 1 takes the stars back to the volcanic explosion of Krakatoa, The War of 1812 (which features Carroll O’Connor five years before he would be known forever as Archie Bunker), the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the Trojan War.

One of the more interesting aspects of the series is the fact that its appearance is very suggestive of the culture of the 1960’s. Talk about going back in time. Tony and Doug are constantly traveling from one time to another aided by their cohorts played by Whit Bissell and Lee Meriwether. Bissell is no stranger to sci-fi work as he appears with Phyllis Coates in “I was a Teenage Frankenstein” in 1957. Lee Meriwether was Miss America in 1955 and played the Cat woman opposite Adam West in the Batman series. Every time they are transported you see them swirling in a psychedelic maze so reminiscent of time when LSD was in its heyday. The computer room looks very much the way computer rooms looked in the day where a Sperry Univac computer would take up an entire room. There is always a monitor displaying a wavy sine curve similar to the waves that we see on the opening of “The Outer Limits.” The show is as crisp and exciting as ever and keeps you on the edge of your seat.  Tony and Doug, despite being two scientists, give you the impression they could easily out fight Mohammed Ali at Madison Square Garden.

Fans of The Adventures of Superman might recognize two TAOS alumni in this season. Peter Brocco, who you might recall as Dr. H.L. Ort in The Secret of Superman in 1951 and Crackers in the Clown Who Cried in Season 2, appears in the episode called “Night of the Long Knives,”  where Tony and Doug meet up with Rudyard Kipling and get caught in a battle between British troops and Afghanistan tribes. John Doucette, who plays Slugger in The Birthday Letter in 1951, is almost unrecognizable in the role of Ulysses in Revenge of the Gods, which takes us back to the war between Greece and Troy.

The purpose of studying history hopefully is to teach us something, and to learn from those who have come before us so that hopefully we can become better people. This series is a chance to live thru some of the major events in world history and learn without feeling like we are back in a dull history lecture. That’s how I saw it when in 1966 when I was in the 6^th grade. Some things, despite the passage of time, never change.

May 2008

That Other Superhero

Named Reeves

He was born Joseph Reeves Bolton III on September 8^th 1910, in the town of Flushing, New York. This first generation “King of Queens” started his career in broadcasting as an announcer for WOR Radio in Newark New Jersey in 1927.  In 1948 he came to WPIX in NY to become a news announcer and weatherman. So popular a personality he became in his reporting of the meteorological events of the day that in 1957 his book entitled, “The Wind and the Weather” was published. In this book the reader could get an in depth education on the weather explained for a civilian audience. Readers would learn the answers to their burning weather related questions such as What is a degree day? or What is a high pressure or a low pressure area? But in 1955, WPIX Channel 11 became the first NYC based TV station to air reruns of the Our Gang/Little Rascals film comedies on their own daily kid's TV show, "The Clubhouse Gang".  The show’s program director was looking for a host for the show.  Ironically it was the director’s son who at his birthday party in January 1955 said his favorite person to host the show would be "The Tasteweatherman!" All the boy’s friends at the birthday party agreed and so Joseph Reeves Bolton III became known to a generation of boomer children as Officer Joe Bolton.

Retro Toy Corner

Home can mean a place of love, security, safety, well being and building memories that last a lifetime. People can have a transitory life and find every dwelling to be truly a home by definition. Carl Glass

Going back home is about going back to your roots. To capture those intangible things you can’t really put your finger on, but you know they make you essentially who you are today. Someday I will actually go back home the same way Carl Glass has done before. Until then, I search for my childhood home in a different way.   Finding the toys that made me feel safe and secure as a child is one of those ways.  I recall playing with “Miss Weather” by Colorforms when I was about 5 going on 6 which would be roughly 1962. It consisted of a vinyl board depicting a little girl in her room with an open closet, a cat, a teddy bear by her side and a window offering a view of the precipitation outside. Precision cut little pieces of plastic consisting of clothes, the sun, clouds, leaves, raindrops, snowflakes and the like, lay on a sheet of paper for the toddler artist to make up whatever scene comes to their mind.

The front of the box has exactly the same graphics as it did when it first appeared in toys stores in 1962. “Bigger pieces for little fingers” it proudly proclaims on the front. But this box I recently purchased also has a warning about “choking hazard”. I don’t quite recall seeing that warning on the original box. Probably because kids back in 1962 did not choke. We were much too sophisticated and savvy in the technique of chewing and digesting little plastic pieces so that we barely experienced so much as a tummy ache.

Opening the box was a joy. I sat up in bed and gently pulled each of the plastic decorations out of the storage keeper and made up little scenes time and time again. For summer I put on her bathing suit. For a snowy day she wore her snow suit and mittens. On a rainy day she wore her raincoat and galoshes. Each meteorological event sported raindrops, snowflakes or the sun in the window. 

As I touched the little decorative pieces and placed them on the board, I found myself going home again. Suddenly I was 5 years old again and living in a pre-war apartment in Brooklyn, New York in a section that today is known as Crown Heights. It was as if the little pieces of plastic were lighting up memory cells in my brain, bringing back the furniture I sat in or the little dress my grandmother had dressed me in that morning. Barrettes fastened my carefully coiffed pigtails. When I finished dressing Miss Weather for all 4 seasons, I carefully placed the little plastic clothing pieces back in their respective storage cells and closed the box. I was ready to take her along for a car trip! Sitting in the back of a Chevrolet Station Wagon, I would play with Miss Weather when the ride got boring and I would wonder when we would ever reach our destination. With Miss Weather to keep me company it made the trip to Prospect Park or Coney Island a little easier to bear.

I suppose what I loved so much about her, both then and now, was the sheer simplicity of the toy. No batteries, no instructions to read. The lack of instructions was important. I always had the reading comprehension level of a pineapple. No, with Miss Weather you just open the box and get going. If Miss Weather taught you the concepts of sun, rain and snow when you were a child and you would like to rekindle those homespun moments, it is available online for less than $10. 

However you choose to go back home, I hope you enjoy your trip!

I was still living in Brooklyn, New York at the time. It is so hard to describe Brooklyn as it appeared to me in 1959. All I can say is it was beautiful. Even at the age of 4 I intuitively understood that this first home in my life was regal.   

February 2008