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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