Friday, April 22, 2016

FFB: THE COMPLETE HUMBUG edited and originally published by Harvey Kurtzman, Will Elder, Arnold Roth, Al Jaffee and Jack Davis, with annotations and interviews conducted by John Benson and Gary Groth (Fantagraphics Books 2009)

Humbug was the 1957-58 magazine published by a quintet of parody-comics veterans...Harvey Kurtzman had been the founding editor of Mad the comic book, and had edited the first few issues of the larger-format Mad, the new format adopted after the Comics Code had been created by the larger publishers (except for Dell and EC itself) in the comics industry to keep governmental censorship from going any further than it had in the wake of the hysteria encouraged by Fredric Wertham's "exposé" Seduction of the Innocent. Will Elder, Al Jaffee and Jack Davis had worked with Kurtzman at Mad, and continued to work with Kurtzman when he moved on to a brief career with the well-funded, Hugh Hefner-published slick magazine Trump (decades before a certain eventual presidential candidate had even been mocked as a "short-fingered vulgarian" by the not quite as shortlived slick satire magazine Spy)...Arnold Roth, already doing jazz record sleeve illustration as well as magazine comics and art, joined with the crew at that second magazine. So, when Hefner pulled the plug on Trump after the second issue, the five decided to pool their money and produce a small-format magazine, slightly larger than a standard
comic book but not much, and priced at 15c an issue rather than the standard comic price of a dime and the rather typical quarter for a full-sized magazine. Under pressure to get the magazine out on a regular monthly basis (endless improvement noodling on Kurtzman's part, among others', had helped doom Trump) in part because their partner in Humbug was Charlton, at the height of its mobbed-up days...Charlton printed and distributed (as CDC) the magazine, and might consider kneecapping anyone who didn't have their paid-for product ready for their trucks to carry. The eleven issues they managed to produce before folding (atop all else, the odd format of all but the last, 8.5 x 11" issues, helped cause the magazine to be lost on newsstands, as it wouldn't quite stand out among comics nor certainly among most magazines of larger size) were notable, not least to the artists who put it together and those who, such as Ed Fisher and Larry Siegel and R. O. Blechman, also contributed, for the
the 7th issue
amount of freedom to do as they wanted the magazine afforded. There certainly was good and better work in Mad, Trump, and in the later Kurtzman magazine Help!, but the fact that (aside from shady business partners), the five staffers (if particularly Kurtzman as the default editor and chief publisher) had no one to answer to but themselves and each other resulted in a certain creative freedom. And the results were an interesting mixed bag...some very incisive prose as well as comics and advertisement-parody pieces, along with merely mildly humorous work.  John Benson provides some annotations and conducts a fine interview with Jaffee and Roth; he and Fantagraphics head Gary Groth offer a good introduction, and Groth and company's design work on the slipcased two volumes is good (restoration notes from the pages shot from are also included). Sadly, when I picked up the set when it was new and had a list price of $60; now it sets one back a C-note, making it less an impulse purchase than it might be for many of us, as well as not the easiest sell to most librarians. And, frankly, the freedom the artists had was not quite exploited to the fullest...perhaps because of the pressure of practicality hanging over the heads of not-business-minded artists suddenly finding themselves responsible for the business several borrowed money to create...and it is remarkable how frequently one is disappointed, however slightly at times, by these collections from the notable humor magazines of the past. 

 For more of today's books, please see Patricia Abbott's blog...Friday's Forgotten Books celebrates eight years this Earth Day!
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Tuesday's Overlooked A/V: the links (on Wednesday and updated since)

Life's desire to not cooperate has become even more acute in recent months, but some progress has been made in beating it back, and below you see the first installment of Catching Up again with the overlooked reviews of the last two months from regular Overlooked A/V contributors...more of this overdue citation (and appreciation) to come next Tuesday, barring the flood...thanks to everyone for their patience and continued contribution...
Fallen Angels: "Dead End for Delia" (w/Gary Oldman, Gabrielle Anwar, Meg Tilly) from William Campbell Gault's story.





















Anne Billson: Hugh Grant; chapter titles in movies; photographers in movies

Anonymous: Commissar; Still Mine; Intolerance; Ordet

Bhob Stewart: "Beat Memories: The Photography of Allen Ginsberg"; the Firesign Theater; World's Fairs; Stan Freberg on The Dick Cavett Show

The Big Broadcast: 17 April 2016           
  • 07:00p Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar
    12/04/61 #717 The Earned Income Matter (CBS) (23:22)
  • 07:30p Dragnet
    08/03/54 #259 Big Stand (NBC) (23:56)
  • 08:00p Gunsmoke
    05/28/55 #163 Cow Doctor (CBS) (24:24)
  • 08:30p Molle Mystery Theater 
    10/12/45 A Death is Caused (NBC) (24:30)
  • 09:00p The Halls of Ivy
    04/14/50 #15 Mrs. Foster's Lost Dog (Schlitz Beer) (NBC) (28:26)
  • 09:30p Mysterious Traveler
    06/08/48 #157 Murder is My Business (Sus.) (MBS) (29:42)
  • 10:00p Mercury Theater
    07/18/38 #02 Treasure island (Sus.) (CBS) (60:00)



Pretty Poison




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Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Tuesday's Overlooked A/V, the much delayed...and finally revised and continued in the next post.

Anne Billson: Hugh Grant; chapter titles in movies; photographers in movies

 Anonymous: Commissar; Still Mine; Ordet; Intolerance

 Bhob Stewart: "Beat Memories: The Photography of Allen Ginsberg"; the Firesign Theater; World's Fairs; Stan Freberg on The Dick Caveat Show

 The Big Broadcast: 17 April 2016           
  • 07:00p Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar
    12/04/61 #717 The Earned Income Matter (CBS) (23:22)
  • 07:30p Dragnet
    08/03/54 #259 Big Stand (NBC) (23:56)
  • 08:00p Gunsmoke
    05/28/55 #163 Cow Doctor (CBS) (24:24)
  • 08:30p Molle Mystery Theater 
    10/12/45 A Death is Caused (NBC) (24:30)
  • 09:00p The Halls of Ivy
    04/14/50 #15 Mrs. Foster's Lost Dog (Schlitz Beer) (NBC) (28:26)
  • 09:30p Mysterious Traveler
    06/08/48 #157 Murder is My Business (Sus.) (MBS) (29:42)
  • 10:00p Mercury Theater
    07/18/38 #02 Treasure island (Sus.) (CBS) (60:00)

 B.V. Lawson: Media Murder

 ...please see next post (above).
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Friday, April 15, 2016

Friday's Forgotten Books: the links to the reviews, 15 April 2016

Patti Abbott will be hosting the links to the reviews and citations of underappreciated (mostly) books and related literature again next week at her blog; please let me know in comments below if I've missed your or someone else's review for this week...thanks.  TM

 Sergio Angelini: Smear Job by James Mitchell

 Anonymous: Rediscoveries II edited by David Madden and Peggy Bach

 Mark Baker: Time of Fog and Fire by Rhys Bowen

 Yvette Banek: 2015 in Books

 Joe Barone: Talking to the Dead by Harry Bingham

 Les Blatt: Tour de Force by Christianna Brand

 Ben Boulden: M.I.A. Hunter by Joe R. Lansdale and Stephen Mertz

 Brian Busby: Collected Poems by Archibald McKillop

 Bill Crider: Magical Beginnings edited by Steven Silver and Martin H. Greenberg; Katherine Anne Porter

 Jose Cruz, Peter Enfantino and Jack Seabrook: EC Comics, 1950

 Martin Edwards: Bury Him Darkly by Henry Wade

 Fred Fitch: novels as by "Samuel Holt" by Donald Westlake

 Barry Gardner: Blood Type by Stephen Greenleaf

 "John Grant": Don't Open the Door by Ursula Curtiss

 Rich Horton: The Perfume of the Lady in Black by Gaston Leroux

 Jerry House: UFO Abductions in Gulf Breeze by Ed and Francis Walters

 Nick Jones: Casino Royale (aka You Asked for It) by Ian Fleming

 Tracy K: Web of Deceit by Katherine Howell

 George Kelley: The Caped Crusade: Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture by Glen Weldon

 Margot Kinberg: Unidentified Woman #15 by David Housewright

 Rob Kitchin: Worst Enemies by Dana King

 B.V. Lawson: Let's Talk of Graves, of Worms & Epitaphs by "Robert Player" (Robert F. Jordan)

 Steve Lewis: A Bullet for a Blonde by Paul Kruger; A Killing in Swords by Reginald Bretnor; Every Inch a Lady by Joan Fleming; Ten Days, Mister Cain? by Brian Freeborn; Crown Court by James Follett

 Todd Mason: crime fiction Best of the Year volumes; some suspense fiction anthologies; some of Tolkien's peers among fantasists; The Year's Best Horror Stories, Series V edited by Gerald W. Page; 1992 Horror BOTY annuals

 Sean McLaughlin: I was a Teeny-Bopper for the CIA by "Ted Mark" (Theodore Gottfried)

 John F. Norris: This is the House by Shelley Smith

 Matt Paust: What Came Before by Gay Degani

 James Reasoner: Trumpets West! by "Luke Short" (Frederick D. Glidden)

 Gerard Saylor: The Secret Speech by Tom Rob Smith; The Dead Lands by Benjamin Percy

 Steve Scott: "Common Denominator" by John D. MacDonald

 Kerrie Smith: The Traveller Returns by Patricia Wentworth

 Kevin Tipple: SeaSmoke: Crime Stories by New England Writers edited by Kate Flora, Ruth McCarty and Susan Oleksiwhis

 "TomCat": The Secret of Phantom Lake (Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators series) by "William Arden" (Dennis Lynds); Fear is the Same by "Carter Dickson" (John Dickinson Carr)

 David Vineyard: The Brotherhood of the Seven Kings by L. T. Meade and Robert Eustace
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Friday's Forgotten Books slightly delayed this morning by veterinary concerns.

A 9:45am veterinary appointment for Ms. Niki (Anna Nicole) Mason-Chang, a ginger tuxedo cat of some hardiness (cancer survivor, kidney-disease victor, possessor of a small ulcer on her once cancerous lip). 

 A slightly later in the morning appearance than I'd planned. (If human, our she-cat Niki, named Anna by previous keepers apparently, would probably be a politician, as she's both fascinated to meet new apes and even new cats and quick to take offense at slights, as well as intent on being top of her feline hierarchy; younger dark tabby she-cat Ninja, who loves to figure out doors and the physics of bottles and is rather less good at interaction with other animals, would probably be an engineer; our white and black piebald tomcat Domino would probably be whatever a drunken frat-boy eventually becomes.)

 Sorry for the delay...too familiar a tune in these parts. Life resolutely continues to happen. Happy Emancipation Day!
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Thursday, April 14, 2016

A "Throwback Thursday" rumination on a night in 1957, and 1970s/80s new radio drama in the US (including imports)

On the night of 9 January 1957, in Milwaukee, WI, you could at 8pm have chosen to watch on television the NBC station WTMJ Channel 4 with an in-color broadcast of Kraft Television Theater: "Six Hours of Terror" starring Theodore Bikel; on the NTA Film Network station WITI Ch. 6 the film Gangway for Tomorrow (1943, with Robert Ryan and John Carradine--a Racket Squad repeat would follow at 9:30); The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet on the ABC station, WISN-TV12, or on the still somewhat experimental CBS-owned UHF station WXIX 19, The Millionaire (episode "The Story of Nancy Wellington" featuring Anita Louise). You couldn't yet tune in WMVS TV10, the National Educational Television station that would go on-the-air later in the year, after some local and national resistance from the commercial stations and their allies, but support from among others the Socialist Party Mayor of Milwaukee from 1948-1960, Frank Zeidler; among the first programs it would carry would be The Friendly Giant, from Madison, WI public station WHA, a series that would run nationally on NET for at least a dozen years (PBS then took over) and on the CBC till 1984, and in repeats afterward (apparently a Kukla, Fran & Ollie-esque puppet sketch and music series mostly for children). Or you could've opted to tune in, at 8pm, WTMJ-AM, the NBC Radio station, and listened to the first broadcast of X Minus One's adaptation of the Theodore Sturgeon story "A Saucer of Loneliness"; unless you were listening to the CBS radio station instead for The World Tonight newscast, followed at 8:30 pm by, no kidding, Amos & Andy, still in production; I probably would've stuck with NBC radio for the Nelson Olmsted dramatic reading series Sleep No More at 8:30 (featuring A. M. Burrage's "The Waxwork" and Ambrose Bierce's "The Man and the Snake"). 

 8pm on a winter Wednesday night in the Midwest.



My mother was often indulgent of my childhood requests for such things as books, magazines and records, but not always, and one item she did not agree to buy for me was the Vanguard Records omnibus album of the Olmsted Sleep No More readings on LP he'd done for them:











































While I hardly ever make an effort to see 60 Minutes any more, I have been finding myself, while on the road in the 7pm hour on Sundays, listening to it on the CBS Radio station KYW-AM (Philadelphia). (I will have to watch eventually and soon to see how Morley Safer looks these days; he sounds every minute of his 85 years of age.) It reminds me of when, my family having just moved to Hawaii in 1979 and living in each other's pockets in a one-bedroom condo in Waikiki for the summer, if I was bored with the late-season Mission: Impossible repeat my parents were watching on cable in the living room, and I didn't feel like going down to the lobby of Discovery Bay and reading a back issue of Fantastic or Fantasy and Science Fiction I'd bought at Froggy's that week, I might go into my parents' room and listen to the CBS Radio drama series, The Sears Radio Theater and The CBS Radio Mystery Theater, running from 8p-10p weeknights on the Honolulu CBS station...when Hawaii finally got an NPR station, listening to the various dramatic series they would try out...catching The World Tonight on CBS Radio in the '80s when not instead catching the Pacifica Evening News or All Things Considered on the DC public stations (I think I pretty much completely missed Monitor on NBC)...and I felt the loss of broadcast access to Pacifica when Temple University's station dumped its affiliation over Mumia Abu-Jamal doing commentary for the network (In my first year in Philadelphia, I was the local presenter of Radio  Nation and The Progressive magazine's Second Opinion on WPPR-FM in the second hour of my Sunday shift, 10p-Midnight...Sweet Freedom the radio series...much as I had been in Fairfax County, VA, on WCXS/WEBR for some years previous...the only downside to being on 8-10p Sundays in the DC area was in missing some of The Big Broadcast on WAMU.) 60 Minutes works reasonably well on the radio, and you can do worse while driving than to parse how as well as what they choose to tell us about whatever they're talking about.

 Archives of episodes for streaming, or at worst samples and approximations:
The CBS Radio Mystery Theater
(The) Zero Hour
Earplay
Hollywood Theater of the Ear: 2000x
Sears Radio Theater; Mutual Radio Theater
The Lord of the Rings
Nightfall
Bob and Ray (1950s-70s); NPR 1987 episode 
NBC Monitor in the 70s; Gene Rayburn as host interviewing  Jean Shepherd; penultimate Monitor  hour w/Bob & Ray
Firesign Theater radio series episodes
Nick Danger on The Daily Feed
The Credibility Gap (tv sketch)
Le Show
National Lampoon Radio Hour episode; clips
The Fourth Tower of Inverness episode; ZBS
Pacifica Radio Archive
Mind's Eye Theater (Pacifica): "The Girl Had Guts" (dramatic reading of the Theodore Sturgeon story)
General Mills (later CBS) Radio Adventure Theater: episodes
The End of the Road
A Prairie Home Companion
Star Wars
LA Theater Works: recent episodes and more

and on FaceBook, Kim Jones was nostalgic about a series of fillers, which I'd missed altogether: 
Ellery Queen's Minute Mysteries



The National Radio Theater of Chicago and The Hollywood Theater of the Ear 




Michael McKean and Harry Shearer of the Credibility Gap respond to the Kent State shootings:
Pacifica Radio Archives: drama
Mind's Eye Theater
General Mills' Radio Adventure Theater head base





and ongoing (here and here): 

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