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 Best Superman Movie (IMHO) by Dave Goode

For my money, the best Superman feature film to date, remains SUPERMAN AND THE MOLE MEN from way back in 1951. Produced by Barney A. Sarecky, written by Richard Fielding and directed by Lee Sholem, this little B-Movie was distributed by Lippert Pictures Incorporated. And it introduced the world to George Reeves in the role of Superman. With no Jimmy Olsen. And Perry White only briefly mentioned in the dialogue this black and white film seemed almost like an extended live-action version of the animated shorts the Fleischer Brothers produced for Paramount back in the 1940s.

The movie jumps right into the action.Clark Kent and Lois Lane arrive in the town of Silsby to cover the story of the world's deepest oil well. The drill however has penetrated into the underground home of a race of "mole men" who come to the surface to investigate what's going on. The town's people on first contact with the strange visitors from the center of the Earth form a mob intent on killing the creatures. Luckily Superman is around to prevent a tragedy.

More or less a sci-fi flick the movie's limited budget (estimated at 275,000 dollars) is obvious. George Reeves does some pretty effective Peter Pan take-offs.But his actual flying scenes are limited to two. One is a pretty cool overhead tracking shot where the viewer never actually sees Superman in flight.But at the same time you don't feel cheated.The other is a brief animated flight scene. It's pretty bad. But we still "believed a man could fly".  And of course there is the infamous vacuum cleaner/ray-gun that the Mole Men use. Something Irwin Allen might have tried on LOST IN SPACE. But it works.

What really works is the tightly written script.And George Reeves and Phyllis Coates as Superman and Lois Lane.Reeves is the perfect Superman. Even without a wind curl on his forehead. And his Clark Kent is even better. Though some purists might argue he's a far cry from the Clark Kent that Siegal & Schuster created. I've always preferred Reeves' mild-mannered reporter to the wimpy Kent played by other actors. And Coates was the perfect Lois Lane. Independent and gutsy.

You probably have seen this movie in it's edited form that was shown in two parts on THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN television series where it was titled THE UNKNOWN PEOPLE. But if you've never seen the 58 minute movie version I suggest you search it out.Those missing 15 minutes do make a difference.

Missed Opportunity by Dave Goode

You’re probably familiar with the episode in question. An old friend of Clark Kent,one Gary Allen is visiting Metropolis and is making plans to meet up with the mild-mannered reporter. What no one is aware of is due to exposure to kryptonite radiation Allen has become invulnerable to everything except kryptonite which has the same effect on him as it does on the Man of Steel. There is no real explanation for this. We just except it. Allen’s vulnerability to the “deadly rock” of the title leads to a case of mistaken identity and he is kidnapped by criminals who plan to use the kryptonite to kill him. Lois and Jimmy blunder into the picture and are also threatened with death. Of course the real Superman arrives on the scene to save the day.

This is a pretty mundane episode of the series and only the use of kryptonite and reference to the 2^nd season episode Panic In The Sky make it stand out. But it could have been so much more. You see the actor who portrayed Gary Allen in this episode was none other than B-Movie leading man Robert Lowery. The same Robert Lowery who a few years earlier had portrayed Batman in a movie serial. What an opportunity wasted. I’m not suggesting that Lowery should have worn the cape & cowl in this episode.Though how cool would that have been? I’m only suggesting that the writers could have made the Gary Allen character Bruce Wayne from Gotham City and made some reference to his ward Dick Grayson being unable to make the trip to Metropolis. Shazam...instant cult classic.

By the way this episode wasn’t the 1^st project Reeves and Lowery worked on together. During the 2^nd World War while in the service the pair made a sexual hygiene training film.

Steve Holland...Manly Man Model by Dave Goode

  Holland was a male model turned actor. He was best known for portraying "Doc Savage" on the Bantam paperback series for artist James Bama. Bama called him,

 "the world's greatest male model."

 

  Holland portrayed Flash Gordon in 39 episodes from October 1 1954 to July 15 1955. The syndicated television series was filmed in West Germany.

 

  He also stood in for a number of other heroes. He appeared on photo covers as Bob Colt Fawcett's western comic book series. A series created because Fawcett Comics didn't want to have to license the likeness of a cowboy star. 

 

You can see him on several of Gold Key's Magnus,Robot Fighter 4000 A.D. covers as well as posing for a couple of Phantom covers as the "Ghost who Walks".

  On the covers of Warner's revival of that popular 30s pulp hero, he portrayed the Avenger. He was The Man From O.R.G.Y , The Executioner and judoka Jason Striker just to name a few.

 

  

  Holland was probably best known as the "manly man" on men's sweat magazines.One month you might find him as a U.S.Marine in the Pacific rescuing nurses from fiendish Japanese soldiers. The next he might be a British commando captured and tortured by a Nazi dominatrix.

   It was entirely possible to find him on several different covers in the same month. As a jungle explorer on safari, an American soldier fighting Nazis or a private eye rescuing a comely co-ed from white-slavers or bikers. And the titles for these stories were just as much fun as the illustrations themselves.

"I Found the Pleasure Geishas of Kamikaze Island and Death Cruise of the Cuban Cuties.

In the alternate universe that I sometimes find myself inhabiting A.I.P made a series of low-budget action movies adapted from these stories and starring Steve Holland.The reason they cast Holland was because he already appeared on the cover illustrations that saw double-duty as movie posters.Starring opposite model/actress Eva Lynd who appeared with him on several sweat mag covers,Ginger Grant,Starliss Knight and several other B-Movie actresses he rose to cult movie stardom.

    

Graphic design and layout by Vance Capley

Ginger Grant: Drive-In Movie Queen by Dave Goode

  

 Let me start off by saying that I'm a Mary Ann guy*. And yes I prefer Betty to Veronica too. I never thought Ginger was prettier than Mary Ann. Dawn Welles who played Mary Ann Summers, the sweet Winfield Kansas farm girl had been a Miss Nevada winner and a contestant in the 1960 Miss America contest for gosh sakes. Ginger was just more glamorous. But then she was a movie star.

 

 I always imagined Ginger Grant as a B-Movie actress. A drive-in movie queen. Someone who was the damsel in distress in sci-fi flicks, jungle adventures and horror movies. She was the sultry saloon singer in westerns. The captive slave-girl in peplum movies. And the other woman in potboilers. A graduate of Hollywood High, Ginger got her first job in show business upon graduation working as a magician's assistant.

 From there she began to get modelling work appearing on the covers of "true romance" magazines. Discovered by a movie producer while working as a nightclub singer she was soon seen in a number of low-budget crime dramas as eye candy in bit parts.

    From 1960 to 1964 she was co-starring opposite stars like Vince Everett,Troy McClure,Dash Riprock and Deke Rivers in THE HULA GIRL AND THE FULLBACK, BELLY DANCERS FROM BALI BALI, THE RAIN DANCERS FROM RANGO RANGO and THE BIRD PEOPLE MEET THE CHICKEN-PLUCKERS.

 After her mysterious disappearance in 1964 along 5 other passengers and the crew of the S.S. Minnow tour ship her movies became cult classics. There was a biography written by Richard Welle that became an instant best-seller.

  Three years after the book's publication there would be a documentary made about her life, rise to stardom and mysterious disappearance. Her disappearance and those of the other people, who were on the Minnow when it set sail on a three hour tour in fall 1964, remains a mystery to this very day to anyone who doesn't own a television set.*

*Editor's notes

• I'm a "Tina Louise - Ginger" guy. 
• In 1978, Rescue from Gilligan's Island, the castaways made it home...only to be lost once again on Gilligan's Island. (Judith Baldwin as Ginger)
• In 1979, The Castaways on Gilligan's Island, the castaways are found. Mr. Howell turns the island into a resort. A sequel was made in 1981, The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island. (Constance Forslund as Ginger)
• The show was revived in animated form in The New Adventures of Gilligan in the '74-'75 tv season with Jane Webb as Mary Ann and Ginger. In the '82-'83 tv season, Gilligan's Planet launched the castaways into outer space with Dawn Wells as both Mary Ann and Ginger.

Retro book covers (and Ginger fan) Vance Capley