The Bigger They Are.... by Dave Goode

 

 

One of the things that made the Mexiluchahero flick Los Campeones Justicieros a.k.a The Champions of Justice such over the top fun are the midget minions of the movies mad scientist villain. The most memorable scene in the movie remains when he charges them with a ray that gives them super - strength. And they use it to toss the muscular heroes like a salad. There are midget (actually dwarf ) protagonists in all three of the Champion of Justice movies. Los Campeones Justicieros , Vuelven Los Campeones Justicieros and Triunfo De Los Campeones Justicieros. Watching the trilogy this past weekend made me realize how much I miss "midget wrestling". I guess it's something that's not considered politically correct.

 

 

Also watching these three flicks got me to thinking about Cecil B. De Mille's epic spectacle Samson & Delilah (1949). Just before the movie's climax, where Samson literally brings down the house, the blinded strong man is tormented by the "Spider People". A group of pygmy warriors armed with spears and tridents. Thank goodness their skin wasn't darkened. In a previous De Mille spectacular The Sign Of The Cross (1932) the director had Nordic Amazons fighting African pygmies in the Colosseum. In this case white actors in blackface and wearing afro wigs. Cringe. It's probably why my favorite scene in the arena is the one where legendary fan dancer Sally Rand (uncredited) is bound to a post and threatened by a wild gorilla. Sorry to say there was no strength hero like Ursus or Maciste to save her.

 

 

There have been Tarzan and Jungle Jim movies featuring pygmy warriors. But none with Tarzan taking on a dozen of them at one time. And in several sinew & sandal flicks Hercules has a dwarf sidekick. But he doesn't fight an army of them. Too bad. It would have made for a striking visual. Just like the Mr. Incognito comic book cover below by Vance Capley.

 

 

 

 Super cool t-shirt (and other merch) designs available at:

 

https://www.teepublic.com/user/vancecapleyart1972

So It Wasn't Just Stan Lee by Dave Goode

The other day I happened to be watching an episode of the classic television western Wanted Dead Or Alive starring Steve Mc Queen. The episode titled " Black Belt " featured Robert Kino as Sammy Wong , a Chinese karate expert hunted unjustly for the murder of his employer. The 1960 second season episode was written by John Tamerlin. And was proof that Stan Lee wasn't the only one that got it wrong.

The Invincible Iron Man's arch - foe the Mandarin was introduced in Tales Of Suspense No. 50 ( Feb. 1964 ). And from the get go was depicted as being a " karate master ". Of course in retrospect being Chinese it was more likely that he would have been a master of the Chinese fighting art of kung fu. But back in 1964 most Americans probably thought that kung fu was something you ate with egg roll. You can reason all you want with any fanboy theory you can come up with why the Chinese villain was using a Japanese fighting style. But the simple truth is that when Stan handed the original story over to Don Heck to draw he most likely said to the artist " let's make the bad guy an expert of that new fangled karate stuff everyone is talking about. He's so good at it that he's able to break iron bars with it. "

This is what most people at the time thought karate was. Breaking wooden boards , bricks and blocks of ice with the side of your hand while shouting a popular American greeting. And the Mandarin's tameshiwari ( breaking ) skills were so great he actually posed a threat to an adversary who wore armor that could resist cannon fire. Of course the Mandarin had significant back - up in his 10 power rings. Each one had a seperate super power.

Tales Of Suspense No. 86 ( Feb. 1967 ) featured my favorite throwdown between Iron Man and the Mandarin. The Golden Avenger removes his gauntlets to give his opponent a taste of good old western styled fisticuffs. Pretty cool stuff until you realize that though Iron Man took off his gloves he kept on the rest of his armor. Which of course protected him from the Mandarin's karate chops ( shuto blows ).

MARVEL'S THREE AMIGOS by Dave Goode

My favorite moment from the second season of the television series AGENT CARTER came in the third episode titled " Better Angels ". It was the scene where Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper) , the MCU's answer to Howard Hughes is directing a Kid Colt movie. The Kid is portrayed by Walker Roach who had previously played a voice actor portraying Captain America on a radio show in the season one episodes " Bridge and Tunnel " and " Valediction ".

As a Silver Age kid and fan of B-Westerns and television westerns I always imaginined movies starring Marvel Comics' Top 3 western heroes. Kid Colt , the Two - Gun Kid and the Rawhide Kid. Characters who actually started out in the Atom Age of Comics when Marvel was known as Atlas Comics. But may have had their best run during the Marvel Age of Comics in the swinging 60s.

Stunt casting would have been fairly easy for these flicks. Especially during the 50s. John Ericson as Kid Colt. Or maybe Ty Hardin. And maybe Van Williams or Peter Brown as the Two - Gun Kid. Casting the Rawhide Kid may have been more difficult because of his physical stature. Or lack of. For years I imagined Audie Murphy. But a few years back someone suggested to me Nick Adams as the short in stature gunfighter with a chip on his shoulder. And I thought that would be perfect. One other choice would have been Vic Morrow.

The characters would have been great as stars of Warner Brothers television westerns. They could have appeared on alternating weeks. And the heroes from the Warner Brothers corral were known for their crossover storylines. Much like the Marvel Comics gunslingers.

BURLESQUE COMICS by Dave Goode

I've mentioned in the past that I've been a fan of old-time burlesque and striptease since I saw the movie GYPSY as a preteen back in the 1960s. In my early twenties I started collecting mags like CABARET and MODERN MAN that featured articles and pictorials on burlesque and nightclub performers. It was also about this time that I started collecting SHERRY THE SHOWGIRL and SHOWGIRLS comics from Atlas Comics in the 1950s. As most comic book fans know Atlas was the name of the company that would become Marvel Comics in the 60s. I'm sure that the target audience for these Atom Age comics were adolescent boys. I mean the stories were just flimsy excuses to draw the female characters in cheesecake poses by legendary comic book artist Dan De Carlo.De Carlo was best known for his work at Archie Comics in the 1960s. 

 

And just how many comics were there out there in the 50s had a lead character who was a cabaret performer / showgirl ? Hmm. Just what was Torchy's occupation ?

A little while back my buddy Vance Capley and I introduced a character Miss Ginger Snaps. We put her in a strip with a character we called Pharaoh Love, a black bodybuilder. We then put her in two one - pagers of her own. We then decided to build a comic around her. Below is the first page of that comic. Give us some feedback on what you think. Is the world ready for a retro cheesecake comic strip?

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KING OF THE GLADIATOR MOVIES by Dave Goode

After more than 60 years since HERCULES (1957) was released the actor most identified with the role is Steve (no relation to George) Reeves. Remarkably the Mr.America (1947), Mr.World (1948), and Mr.Universe (1950) winner only played the mythical muscleman in two movies HERCULES (1957) and HERCULES UNCHAINED (1959). Though he would play similar characters in other movies.

One of my favorite non-Hercules Steve Reeves' movies is GOLIATH AND THE BARBARIANS (1959) about the Lombard invasion of Italy. Reeves plays a character named Emiliano a.k.a Goliath who rages a guerilla war against the invading barbarians after his father is slain. Reeves physique never looked better on screen than it does in this flick. Especially in the scene where he is put through a trial of strength. Also appearing in this flick is sultry Chelo Alonso. If Reeves was the king of sinew & sandal flicks then Alonso was the queen.

Another favorite was THE LAST DAYS OF POMPEII (1959) based loosely on
the novel by Edward Bulwer-Lytton. This one has Reeves playing the Roman legionnaire Glaucus returning home from war. He discovers his father has been murdered and swears vengeance on the killers. Along the way he falls in love with a Christian girl who he will end up defending in the arena.

As I grow older it becomes harder for me to remember what the first Steve Reeves movie I ever saw was. I'm going to go with THE SLAVE a.k.a THE SON OF SPARTACUS (1962). Reeves plays Randus a Roman centurion. This flick is an unofficial sequel to the Stanley Kubrick epic SPARTACUS (1960) that starred Kirk Douglas as the rebel slave leader. Randus upon learning that he is the son of the former gladiator takes up his father's battle against slavery. Interestingly enough Reeves didn't play a super-human hero in any of these films like he did in the Hercules flicks.More of a gladiator hero like the type Richard Harrison would play in later movies in the peplum cycle.

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Valley of the Dolls...a Guilty Pleasure by Dave Goode

 

You'd think that someone who openly admits his love of all manner of B , C and D movies wouldn't have any guilty pleasures. But I do. And Valley of the Dolls is at the top of that list.

Based on Jacqueline Susann's 1966 best-selling roman à clef trash-fest the movie may have been more over the top than the novel. And deserves it's reputation as a camp classic. Directed by Mark Robson with a screenplay by Helen Deutsch the movie tells the story of three young women and their rise and fall in show business.Harlan Ellison also had a part in writing the movie. But had his name removed from the credits when the film's downbeat ending was changed.

RARE JUDY GARLAND STILL

The movie stars Patty Duke as Neely O'Hara, Barbara Parkins as Anne Welles and the beautiful and tragic Sharon Tate as Jennifer North. Half the fun in watching this movie is guessing who the characters are based on. For instance the Neely O'Hara character is based on Judy Garland. Garland originally was hired to play Helen Lawson ,the character who was based on Ethel Merman and played by Susan Hayward after Garland was fired for coming to work drunk.

SUSAN HAYWARD

JUDY GARLAND ON THE POSTER

PATTY DUKE

Patty Duke caught a lot of flack from critics for her performance as Neely when the movie was released. And when you win an Oscar for best supporting actress when you're only sixteen I guess a lot is expected of you. I actually enjoy her over the top performance in Valley of the Dolls. And the scene where she wakes up from a drunken stupor in a hot sheets hotel room with a skid row stud is great. The look of disgust on her face when she realizes what she ,the biggest star in movies ,has just done should have earned her another academy award nomination.

LINDSAY LOHAN in better days

For a time when it looked like Lindsay Lohan was still serious about getting her career back together I thought a remake of Valley of the Dolls would have been perfect for her. She could play Neely O'Hara in her sleep. After all she had been rehearsing for it all her life. Then I started to imagine an adaptation of Susann's book with Lohan playing all three of the female leads. With different hair colors of course. You could even throw Mariah Carey in as Helen Lawson. Now that would have been a camp classic.

...and bad days.

 

VALLEY OF THE DOLLS  directed by Mark Robson. Based on the novel of the same name by Jacqueline Susann. PG-13 1967 available on various formats.

THE ICONIC HERO by Dave Goode

Art by Vance Capley - 11x17 posters are available for $15 - Vance Capley Arts

 

"With his faithful Indian companion Tonto , the daring and resourceful masked rider of the plains led the fight for law and order in the early western United States. Nowhere in the pages of history can one find a greater champion of justice." I sometimes wonder if Fran Striker was creating The Lone Ranger for George W. Trendle and WXYZ Radio back in 1933 that he was creating one of America's iconic pop culture heroes.

 

The hero's origin is as much a part of Americana as real-life western legends of the Siege of the Alamo and the Gunfight at the OK Corral. Six Texas Rangers in pursuit of the Butch Cavendash gang are led into an ambush. Only one man survived. The younger brother of ranger captain Dan Reid. Found and nursed back to health by Tonto , a Native-American the surviving ranger makes a mask from his murdered brother's vest to hide his identity and the fact that one man had survived the massacre. He makes a vow to bring a hundred outlaws to justice for each one of his fallen comrades. As he begins his new life as a masked crime-fighter he adopts the silver bullet as his sign.The Lone Ranger is much like the masked wrestling heroes of Mexican cinema in that once he dons his mask he ceases to have any other identity than that of the Lone Ranger. No changing in phone booths for this character.

 Many actors have portrayed the Lone Ranger over the years. On the radio the most notable were George Seaton ,Earle Graser and Brace Beemer. Lee Powell played the character in Republic's 1938 serial THE LONE RANGER. Republic followed that up with the 1939 serial THE LONE RANGER RIDES AGAIN starring Robert Livingston. On television from 1949 to1957 the character was portrayed by two actors. Clayton Moore began playing the role in 1949. John Hart took over the role for one season while Moore sat out the year in a contract dispute. On television Tonto, the Ranger's faithful Indian companion was portrayed by Jay Silverheels, a Mohawk Indian born in Ontario, Canada. Moore is considered by many to be the definitive Lone Ranger. And aside from his playing the character on television he portrayed him in two feature movies THE LONE RANGER (1956) and THE LONE RANGER AND THE LOST CITY OF GOLD (1958). Both of these movies are pretty entertaining B-westerns. And if you haven't seen them you should search them out.

THE 40'S PRINCE NAMOR by Dave Goode

If you're a fan-boy then you've probably heard of the talk from the early 50s about a proposed Sub-Mariner television show. It was supposed to have starred actor Richard Egan. And though the former army judo instructor and World War Two combat vet would have been good for the part , the person I always imagine as the Sub-Mariner is Johnny Weissmuller.

I picture a Sub-Mariner movie starring Weissmuller being made sometime between the MGM and RKO Tarzan film series. Namor's undersea kingdom (it wasn't referred to as Atlantis until the Silver Age) would probably have been a lot different than it was in the comics. Most likely a city under a dome of some sort. And there would be a lot of "shot through a fishbowl " photography. Brenda Joyce who played Jane to Weissmuller's Tarzan in the RKO series would have been ideal as NY policewoman Betty Dean. And Frances Gifford or Linda Christian could have been Lady Dorma. Weissmuller with his angular (if not triangular) features , whiplash eyebrows and lean swimmer's physique was a spot-on match for Bill Everett's comic book creation.

Truth is I cant help but think the Sub-Mariner's creator didn't have Weissmuller in mind when he brought the prince of the undersea kingdom to life. After all Weissmuller was the greatest swimmer of the era , setting records in distances from 50 meters to the half mile. The star of the 1924 and 1928 Olympics he was undefeated in official competition and was an accomplished water polo player as well.Who would have been a better model for the Sub-Mariner? Buster Crabbe? No. He's Aquaman.

Retro art by Vance Capley

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