DEVIL IN THE BLUE MASK by Dave Goode

There are two types of stories that fan-boys live for. Origins and cross-overs. El Santo was given a silver screen origin that combined elements of Lee Falk's Phantom and the original Golden Age Captain Marvel. And of course fans of the Mexiluchahero movie genre know that Mil Mascaras' movie origin owes a bit to the back story of pulp superman Doc Savage. But as far as I know the third member of the " Holy Trinity of Mexiluchahero Movies ", the Blue Demon, had no such cinematic origin tale. And now I'm sure that someone is going to respond with the title of a movie that gives Blue Demon a comic book type origin. But until then let me share with you my idea for his back story.

His origin would be similar to that of Marvel Comics' Daredevil. He's the
studious bookworm who gets picked on by the neighborhood kids who works out in secret to keep in shape. Maybe even following a Charles Atlas type training course that includes self-defense program. And of course his father would be a luchador and not a pugilist. The major change is that as a high school student he takes on the leader of the " Blue Demon " biker gang after being picked on one too many times. After whooping the leader and his second-in-command our hero is recruited by the gang as their enforcer. Deciding gang wars in singles combat. After his father is killed by crooked gamblers he becomes the Blue Demon to bring the
criminals to justice.

If you're new to the Mexiluchahero genre the Blue Demon movie you want to watch is La Sombra del Murcielago. Known in English as Shadow Of The Bat , this 1966 flick is considered to be Blue Demon's best. Produced by Luis Enrique Vergara and directed by Federico Curiel this flick written by Jesus Velezquez is a psychotronic classic. The idea that came from Vergara was a reworking of the Phantom of the Opera with Fernando Oses going over the top as a physically and mentally scarred former wrestling star. He even plays the organ. Blue plays the hero who eventually defeats the mad man who also takes an unhealthy interest in a nightclub singer played by Marta Romero. Blue comes across like a Mike Hammer type. But one who wears luchador gear. This one is great fun. It even has a Spanish language version of the sixties pop hit Wooly Bully. If you haven't seen it search it out.

For more information on the Blue Demon, both films and wrestling, visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Demon 

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Bettie Page...B-Movie Starlet by Dave Goode

Time for another excursion into that alternate universe that my mind sometimes populates. Where Johnny Weissmuller played Prince Namor in a Sub-Mariner movie and Esther Williams played Wonder Woman. Where Bernard Gorcey won an Academy Award portraying a burlesque club owner in a movie where George Reeves portrayed an investigative reporter minus glasses.And where Steve Holland played Steve Zodiac in a live-action Fireball XL-5 movie. This week's Goode Stuff blog looks at Bettie Page...B-Movie starlet.






Miss Bettie Mae Page of Tennessee went to Hume-Fogg High School where she was a member of the debate team and graduated salutatorian of her class. She would later graduate from George Peabody College with a Bachelor of Arts degree. Eventually she made her way to New York where she worked as a secretary while she looked for work as an actress. She was discovered in 1950 by NYC Police Officer Jerry Tibbs ,an amateur photographer. It was Tibbs who suggested to Page to adapt her now iconic bang.

Bettie would find work for a number of "camera clubs" during the 50s. But it was her work for Irving Klaw that would earn her cult status. From 1952 to 1957 she would appear in dozens of 8mm and 16mm "specialty films" for Klaw. In 1953 she appeared in the grindhouse movie STRIPORAMA for Jerald Intrator. In 1954 she appeared in the Irving Klaw produced VARIETEASE. And in 1955 , the same year she was Playboy's Miss January she appeared in TEASERAMA also produced and directed by Klaw.

Reportedly Bettie had a screen-test with 20th Century Fox. But nothing ever came of it. It was rumored that her Tennessee accent cost her a shot at stardom. But while re-watching the Johnny Weissmuller Jungle Jim movie VOODOO TIGER I started imagining Bettie as eye-candy in a number of B-Movies. Imagine Bettie as one of the Vesuvian soldiers in QUEEN OF OUTER SPACE or as one of the daughters of the 40 Thieves in the Howard Hughes produced THE SON OF SINBAD.

But as long as we're playing "just imagine", imagine Bettie as Fox Comics Rulah,
Jungle Goddess, one of the many Sheena imitations found in comics. Or imagine Bettie as Fox's cult comic book heroine the Phantom Lady. That would have been a natural.

Oh What Could Have Been by Dave Goode

K. Gordon Murray presents...

Being a fan of masked wrestler movies I sometimes imagine the genre taking off here in America during the 1960s. I imagine some Hollywood producer seeing the success K. Gordon Murray had at American matinées with his re-dubbed Santo flicks and decided to make a series of homegrown movies. The results would probably resembled the Superargo series from Europe that starred Giovanni Cianfriglia under the Americanized name Ken Woods.

 

Samson Burke in action

 The logical choices to star in these movies would have been the expatriate North American bodybuilders who went to Europe to star in sinew & sandal epics. Some of the more athletic stars like Dan Vadis, Brad Harris, and Gordon Mitchell could have nailed it. Samson Burke had been a pro wrestler under his real name Sammy Berg. Frankly I'll never understand how he didn't take the name "Samson Burke" when he began his career as a wrestler. It was a natural.

 

Gordon "Tarzan" Scott

Gordon Scott who starred as Tarzan and appeared in a number of peplum pictures would have been a good choice too. A former member of the U.S. Military Police and an expert in hand-to hand combat Scott would have been great playing a pro wrestler. The problem with Scott or Steve Reeves or Mark Forest playing a masked wrestler would be that they would spend 60% of the movie mask-less. And one of the things that makes the masked wrestler genre is that the heroes wear masks. But they had no secret identities. Something that the writers of the Superargo series understood.

Sundown Cinema has a great video about Superargo. Click HERE to see it. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 

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Arabian (K)Nights by Dave Goode

As a kid I loved swashbuckling adventure movies that were freely adapted from the 1001 Arabian Nights. Maybe they weren't quite as cool as masked wrestler movies or biker flicks. But they were still a lot of fun. Oddly enough my first Steve Reeves movie was the 1960 THIEF OF BAGHDAD.

A favorite series from the genre would have to be the one from Universal that starred Maria Montez and Jon Hall. My favorite of these was ALI BABA AND THE 40 THIEVES. Pure magic.









 



Another great series were the Sinbad movies with visual effects provided by the great Ray Harryhausen. These films were THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD (1958) , THE GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD (1973) and SINBAD AND THE EYE OF THE TIGER (1977).

  
One of the attractions of the Arabian Nights movie genre beyond the swashbuckling adventure was the amount of feminine pulchritude on display. Harem girls , princesses and dancers. The 1955 flick THE SON OF SINBAD had this all covered. This was released by RKO when Howard Hughes was the studio chief. I always believed this flick was Hughes way of keeping his promise to a number of starlets he told he would give them a part in a movie. The movie stars Dale Robertson as Sinbad and Vincent Price as Omar Khayyam. Along for the ride are Sally Forrest , Marie Windsor and exotic dancers Lili St. Cyr and Nejla Ates. Not a great film by any means. But a good little time killer.



In the world of Goode Guy Comics, Dr. Judo doesn't carry a magic lamp, but he will turn out your lights. Dig this retro-tastic cover by designed by Dave Goode and illustrated by Vance Capley:

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"Judo" George Reeves by Dave Goode

Like all fan-boys I like to imagine certain actors playing certain comic book characters. For instance when I imagine a big-budget 1940s Batman movie it stars Robert Taylor as Bruce Wayne/Batman.Paulette Goddard is Catwoman. Conrad Veidt is the Joker. And Burgess Meredith is the Penguin. No getting around it. Meredith is the Penguin no matter what era. So when I was imagining what actor would play my comic book creation there was a very short list. Richard Egan and George Reeves.

Egan had been a judo instructor during World War Two. And George (no relation to Steve) Reeves was a student of two-time National A.A.U Judo Champion Gene LeBell. LeBell a pro wrestler of note had even done personal appearances with Reeves as the black-clad villain "Mr.Kryptonite".

   

George Reeves had boxed and wrestled in college and would have been great as Dr.Judo, a high school gym teacher and wrestling coach turned pro wrestler and part-time superhero.
 

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Silver Age Super Soldier by Dave Goode

More than a few years back Stan Lee had a brief Q & A in FHM magazine* in which he was asked "Can you fight in real life?" Stan replied "Not since I was in the army. I taught judo in the army. In judo , you use your opponent's strength against him. I was always skinny , but if a big guy threw a punch I'd grab his fist and flip him over." Hmm. Maybe this is why so many characters in the early Marvel Age of Comics used judo.

In TALES TO ASTONISH No.27 (Jan.1962) after research scientist Hank Pym shrinks to insect size and becomes THE MAN IN THE ANT HILL he uses judo to defend himself against an attacking ant. Later in TALES TO ASTONISH No.35 (Sept. 1962) when he adapts the superhero identity of Ant-Man he uses judo again to defend himself against an ant. In FANTASTIC FOUR No.17 (Aug.1963) Sue Storm uses judo in a fight against Dr.Doom.

In SPIDER-MAN No.10 (March 1964) comic book readers were introduced to a trio of strong-arm men working for a criminal mastermind known as the Big Man. The trio was known as the Enforcers. And one of their number was the diminutive Fancy Dan who is described as a judo black belt. This may have been a first in American comics. A villain who was an expert in judo. Other heroes ,like Daredevil , were seen using judo techniques. And of course there was Captain America.

About a year ago I had a "discussion" with someone who said back in the Silver Age Captain America was described as nothing more than a "glorified acrobat". I countered that he was sometimes called that by someone who ended up getting his behind handed to them by the American Super-Soldier. This is exactly what happened in TALES OF SUSPENSE No.59 (Nov. 1964). But the writers at Marvel  "described" him as the "world's greatest human fighting machine.

In AVENGERS No.4 (March 1964) in his first Silver Age appearance Captain America uses a variation of the tomoe-nage to topple the 10-ft. tall Giant-Man. In AVENGERS No.6 (July 1964) while fighting Baron Zemo who has mastered karate the Captain reminds the Nazi war criminal that he was "adept at every form of hand-to-hand combat known to man". And in FANTASTIC FOUR No.26 (May 1964) Captain America uses the tomoe-nage to unbalance the incredible Hulk. In other stories he would be seen using karate as well as American boxing and wrestling.

Obviously two of the forms of hand-to-hand combat the Captain was adept at were judo and it's parent martial discipline jiu jitsu. Judo had been taught at Annapolis,the U.S. Naval Academy since 1912. And jiu jitsu had been taught at West Point,the U.S. Army Academy since the 1890s. So it only made sense that Captain America would be an expert at these two martial arts. After all he wasn't just a "glorified acrobat". He was the American Super-Soldier!!

 

* July 2000, Vol. 1, Iss. 3, pg. 100-101, by: Paul Semel, "Quote, Unquote" 

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