KI - GOR , THE JUNGLE KING by Dave Goode

 

Ki -Gor was one of the more popular of the

Tarzan imitations. He was featured in

about 60 stories appearing in the Jungle Stories pulp magazine from 1938 to 1954. At first glance you might confuse him for Kaanga. And not because both looked like Charles Atlas and could be played by Buster Crabbe in a movie. But because both heroes adventures were published by Fiction House.

Ki -Gor as mentioned in the pulp magazine Jungle Stories.And Kaanga in the comic book Jungle Comics. And there were a few covers of Jungle Comics featuring Kaanga that were " swipes " of

Jungle stories starring Ki - Gor. In any case Ki - Gor was the original appearing first in Jungle Stories ( Winter 1938 ) in a story written by John M. Reynolds.

As origins go Ki - Gor's was pretty cliche. The son of a missionary killed by the fierce Wunguba tribe the boy survives in the jungle with the help of his elephant friend Mamo. Later growing to manhood he rescues American aviatrix and socialite Helene Vaughn who has crashed in the jungle  and been captured by slavers. The two fall in love after sharing several adventures and she forsakes America to marry Ki -Gor and remain in the jungle with him. Like I said pretty cliche. But the stories wouldn't remain that way. They would become down right psychotronic with the hero facing dinosaurs , mad scientists , glowing zombie men , vampiric flying squirrels and witch women with actual supernatural powers.

I'm sure another reason for the hero's popularity stemmed from the wonderful Jungle Stories magazine covers. Aside from Ki -Gor wrestling with crocodiles , lions and gorillas on his way to discovering lost cities in the jungle , you also found his wife Helene in a two - piece leopard swimsuit. Sometimes in bondage. Sometimes she would be in the foreground looking like she was posing for a pin - up calendar while he swung to her rescue or fought the bad guys in the background. The Fiction House editors certainly knew how to catch the attention of pulp reading young men.

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And as we close this weeks blog, I'd like to congratulate Dave Goode on having written his 200th blog. His knowledge of pop culture, psychotronica, martial arts, and wrestling far exceeds many of the so called "experts" posting on the world wide web. He claims that much of his knowledge has slipped away...I disagree...once you get him talking about some nostalgic moments of yesteryear, the gears begin to turn and Dave Goode's built in pop culture dynamo is back to full power. Dave's a fantastic writer and a better friend. Congrats, bud.

Vance Capley

artist

THE MONSTER , THE GIRL, AND PHILLIP VAN ZANDT by Dave Goode

 




When I created the Phantom Gorilla with Vance Capley a major inspiration for the character was the 1941 Paramount B-Movie THE MONSTER AND THE GIRL. Produced by Jack Mass and directed by Stuart Heisler THE MONSTER AND THE GIRL was a 65 minute time killer that I liked as a kid. But as an adult...well it seems like it's a lot longer than 65 minutes. It drags in a lot of spots.

The screenplay by Stuart Anthony plays like a grind house exploitation flick. When Susan Webber played by Ellen Drew is tricked into a life of prostitution her brother played by Phillip Terry comes to the big city to rescue her. The small town church organist is instead framed for murder, tried, and executed. This is where the flick gets interesting. Dr. Perry played by the never to be forgotten George Zucco transplants the young man's brain in the body of a gorilla (ape- suit actor Charles Gemora). From there he wrecks vengeance on the men who ruined his sister and caused his death. If this wasn't a superhero origin story I don't know what is.

Any movie automatically becomes better with the inclusion of an ape-suit. You can also say the same about any movie that features actor Phillip Van Zandt. Before I knew his name I knew his face. Van Zandt appeared in over 200 movies including CITIZEN KANE (1941). But I first knew him for his roles on THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN. And in 3 Stooges shorts. It was Vance Capley who decided to make the mad scientist in the Phantom Gorilla origin story look like Van Zandt after we discussed the 3 Stooges short SPOOKS (1953).

Produced and directed by Jules White the screenplay for this short that ran just under 16 minutes , was by Felix Adler. The story has Moe, Larry, and Shemp as private detectives hired to rescue the kidnapped Mary Bopper (Norma Randall) from mad scientist Dr. Jeckyl (Phillip Van Zandt) and his assistant Mr. Hyde (Tom Kennedy). Another plus for this one was ape-suit actor Steve Calvert as Dr. Jekyll's pet gorilla. A mad scientist, a damsel in distress and a gorilla. My kind of movie. Now if only the Stooges were playing masked wrestlers.

CHRIS CASTEEL IN HIS GORILLA SUIT...THANK CHRIS!

Thank you again, Chris

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THE STRONGEST MAN IN THE WORLD? REALLY? by Dave Goode

  THE STRONGEST MAN IN THE WORLD? REALLY? by Dave Goode

My 2nd favorite giant ape movie , after the original King Kong of course, is MIGHTY JOE YOUNG (1948). A fun flick to be sure. But my favorite scene is when the giant gorilla, as part of a nightclub act, has a tug-of-war with ten professional strongmen/wrestlers. The strongmen, all dressed in leopard skins and Roman sandals,  perform feats of strength before they compete with the gorilla, who appears to be twice the size of an average gorilla. But there is no mention of Joe's abnormal size. Still a normal 5' 8", 450 lb. gorilla is about as strong as 12 men.

  In order the strongmen were Sammy Stein who breaks a chain. "Killer" Karl Davis bends a crowbar. Rasputin, the Mad Russian breaks a pair of manacles. "Bomber" Kulky lifts a heavy barbell with one hand. Sam Menacker tears a telephone book in half. Mac Batchelor bends a railroad spike. "Wee" Willie Davis bends a steel rod. Man Mountain Dean bends a horseshoe. The Swedish Angel breaks a 4x4 over his head. And the former heavyweight boxing champion of the world Primo Carnera snaps metal bands on his arms by flexing his biceps. Sadly no one breaks a chain through chest expansion.

All of these feats of strength had been performed in carnivals and circuses by professional strongmen who billed themselves as the "Strongest Man In The World". When Sam Menacker tears the phone book in half it reminds me of an episode of  The Adventures of Superman. In The Girl Who Hired Superman (Season 4 Episode 7) Superman is performing at a dinner party for charity. At one point he tears a phone book in half. One of the guests is unimpressed remarking that he has seen other strongmen perform the same trick. Superman then takes the two halves , puts them together and tears them in half. The guest then says he has never seen anyone do this before because it's impossible. Another guest tells him the Man of Steel just did it. But he says he doesn't care. It's still impossible. Which brings up something I've pondered for years. How do professional strongmen in a comic book universe bill themselves as the Strongest Man In The World? Especially when the world they live in might have someone who can literally "change the course of mighty rivers" among the populace. Or even someone who just has the proportionate strength of a spider?

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OF GORILLAS AND HULKS by Dave Goode

OF GORILLAS AND HULKS BY DAVE GOODE

 When you talk about gorilla artists in the Silver Age of Comics the conversation usually begins with Carmine Infantino. And rightfully so. But for my money the best ape artist of the era was Steve Ditko. Nobody drew a gorilla quite like Ditko. Ditko's best known gorilla was the giant ape Konga. Charlton's KONGA comic book was a sequel of sorts to the British horror movie KONGA (1961) distributed by AIP. Oddly enough the comic book adaptation appeared in June 1960, nearly a year before the movie was released. The second issue cover dated August 1961, written by Joe Gill and illustrated by Ditko more or less took up where the movie ended. And the series has become something of a cult favorite. Fondly remembered by Silver Age readers.

Ditko would team up with another titan of the era, Jack Kirby, inking the pencils of the man known to comic book readers as the "King" on THE INCREDIBLE HULK No.2 (July 1962). Page one of that story has one of my favorite illustrations of the Hulk. In it the green Goliath looks like nothing so much as the personification of brute force. And reminds one that in his first appearance the Hulk was mistaken for both a bear and a gorilla. 

 

Kirby and Ditko would team again on FANTASTIC FOUR No.13 (April 1963). This was the issue that introduced readers to the menace of the Red Ghost and his Super-Apes. For the record the communist villain's anthropoid minions were a baboon, an orangutan and a gorilla. This was a really fun story that I wish the art chores had been switched with Ditko doing the pencils. 

And when the character Kraven the Hunter was introduced in THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN No. 15 (Aug. 1964) Ditko had him battling a pair of escaped gorillas as only Ditko could. Nobody drew a fight scene quite like Ditko either.

My favorite issue on the original run of the Hulk's comic book came in the sixth and final issue cover dated March 1963. In this story the Hulk faces the Metal Master. With Dick Ayers inking Ditko pencils the Hulk in his purple trunks resembles a professional wrestler. The massive Bruno Sammartino or Dick the Bruiser come to mind. On further examination Ditko gave this Hulk the same physique he gave to his gorillas. But with much thicker legs. It gave the Hulk the look of being shorter. Except for when he was standing next to something or someone to give him scale. By the way gorillas generally measure about 5' 8" inches in height and weigh in at about 450 pounds. Seven foot tall, 800 pound gorillas can only be found in movies and sometimes comic books.

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ZAN...THE FORGOTTEN TARZAN by Dave Goode

One of my favorite ersatz Tarzans was Zan, King of the Jungle (1969). The star of this European production known alternately as Tarzan En La Gruta Del Oro (TARZAN IN THE GOLDEN GROTTO) and KING OF THE JUNGLE the movie's star Steve Hawkes claimed the film company that produced the flick couldn't pay the licensing fee to the Edgar Rice Burroughs estate for the use of the Tarzan name. And so they simply cut the jungle hero's name in half. 

In any case the production was a fairly entertaining flick that was filmed in Africa, Florida, Italy  Spain, and Suriname. And it featured something that was rarely seen in a Tarzan movie since MGM's TARZAN THE APE MAN (1932). Tarzan in mortal combat with a gorilla.

The movie's star Steve Hawkes was born Stepjen "Steve" Sipek in Croatia and relocated to Canada in 1959. I've read interviews with Hawkes where he claimed to be a champion swimmer (Johnny Weissmuller was his boyhood hero) and the winner of the Mr.Canada bodybuilding title before becoming a professional wrestler. The latter was pure "kayfabe". There is no record of him winning the Mr. Canada championship. There have been any number of well - built pro wrestlers who billed themselves as Mr. America or Mr. Universe without having won those titles. Or even having competed in those contests.

There was a sequel to KING OF THE JUNGLE, TARZAN AND THE BROWN PRINCE (1972) that had a similar plot to the Jock Mahoney movie TARZAN'S THREE CHALLENGES (1963). Hawkes played the lead in this flick and his co- star from the first movie Kitty Swan returned as well. 

 

Swan had starred in a jungle movie of her own as GUNGALA, VIRGIN OF THE JUNGLE (1967). An accident on the set of TARZAN AND THE BROWN PRINCE left Hawkes and Swan both horribly burned when they were tied down for a scene and a fire got out of control. A lion on the set who was trained to free the actors from their bonds for the scene actually saved them.Hawkes would relocate to Loxahatchee, Florida where he opened an animal sanctuary. News services of course wrote him up as a real life Tarzan. But in 2012 he was arrested and his animals confiscated for "non regulatory compliance in regards to animal permits".

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.