arglebargle!

Who'll watch The Watchmen?

2008-07-18T15:27:00.019-04:00

Well, everybody who has seen WB's The Dark Knight by now has had the extry-special mighty-fine treat of seeing the long-awaited trailer for The Watchmen (Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' subversive 1986 inside-out take on the Superhero genre.) I can say for a fact that the preview crowd in attendance at The Regal Hollywood 24 last night went nuts when the first images from the trailer hit the screen. Of course, it was small potatoes compared the the near-riot that broke out later,when the projectionist ran The Dark Knight reels out of order.
Wow, what an angst-fest! Palpatating, red-faced and rabid, the battiest of Bat-fans nearly beat down the projection room door, only to be told the Regal's resolve would be a pass for the next day-- because the movie -- still running and entering the climactic third act, could not be halted. Once they realized that, most fans RAN out in droves shielding their eyes, but not before security did some escorting-out of the unruliest.

Okay I digress... but it seems like it's always something at that damn theater.

Aptly timed, The Watchmen movie is the lead and cover story on next week's Entertainment Weekly (7.25.08). I was actually staggered a little when I pulled this cover out of my mailbox today. "A sure sign of the Apocalypse" I said as I showed my wife the cover. She looked at it for a second and then said "Why? Because they got the costumes right?"
"Uhhhh...Yeah..." I answered, looking at it a little closer. "That, too."

The Watchmen has been big-screen bound for nearly two decades. I remember thinking that the Watchmen-esque scenes on the moon in 1989's The Adventures of Baron Munchhausen felt like more-or-less a warm-up act for director Terry Gilliam, who at that time was slated to direct The Watchmen as his next project. The property has gone through many hands since those days.
But in the interim something has happened to the Superhero movie genre. Some might say it's "grown up". It's definitely become more serious. Much less playful. There is little resemblance in tone between say Batman (1966), Batman (1989), and The Dark Knight. Same characters. Whole different feel. (And I ain't even mentioning Schumacher's train wrecks.) Tim Burton's films were dark and ground-breaking for the genre, even though he really never took it beyond the comic booky/can't-take-it-serious tone --even in the most serious of scenes.

The Superhero movie of 2008 looks and feels more like a "real" movie. It's really required to by today's audience standards. With this in mind The Watchmen might have just been in the Hollywood hopper long enough to stand a good chance of turning real profit. Much more so now than say, a decade ago when a cynical group of heroes practically no one had ever heard of (cough... Mystery Men) was way harder to sell John Q. Public. (Reminding myself that HellBoy 2 was #1 at the box office last week) Still, I have to wonder if the movies' adult-oriented themes and apparent "R" rating will hurt the bottom line at the box office (...but then again, when I saw Team America at the Hollywood 24 the audience was almost HALF kids! Hoo-boy!).

EW has a lengthy article about both The Watchmen movie and Comic Con in general --which with over 130,000 attendees expected this year has been super-sized to the point, that for me at least-- it's almost become counter-productive. (Yeah, I said it! Even on Thursday it's crowded as hell now!) Comic Con attendees (presumably thousands) can expect a special Watchmen presentation of previously unseen footage on friday July 25th.
Anyhoo, here's a great who's-who of the Watchmen heavy hitters (put together by EW contributor Jeff Jensen) that should bring the laziest layman up to uh...super-speed.

Hmmm. So, ya think Snyder mighta got it right? The 300 was pretty good, ...right?
Well, since I'm trying to remain optimistic, I'll just have to hold out hope until it's released next year (March 6, 2009) that the original work by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons is finally done justice.
At least as of this date, Alan Moore still hasn't requested his name taken off the project. Yet.

Big Thanks (and good luck) for this post go to Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Comics, Entertainment Weekly, Jeff Jensen, Alan Moore and Zach Snyder.

Bakshi Spiderman music

2008-06-24T20:03:00.009-04:00

WFMU'S Blog Beware of the Blog always has some offbeat and ecelectic offerings from the musical fringe, and last month's The Radioactive Bite of a Very Groovy Bug post is certainly no exception.

It features a 65 minute podcast (recorded may 20, 2008) of music featured in the second and third season seasons (the Steve Krantz produced, Ralph Bakshi directed episodes) of the original 1967 Spider-man ABC cartoon series.
The program enjoys cultish adoration due primarily to its incredible music score of original Spider-Jazz (recorded for the show's first season) and the vast library of 1960s production music cues that it utilized. Those tracks have been all but impossible to come by over the 40 years since the series ended. Well, now it seems, that problem has finally been resolved - at least in part.

According to WFMU's Kliph Nesteroff:

"The second and third season music tracks come from the KPM music library in England, they still exist, and they sound great. The podcast also features some reminiscence from the man who provided Spiderman's voice in the series (as well as "Hermie" in Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer), Paul Soles."

Listen to the Spiderman Background Music Podcast!

"Perhaps the most revelatory piece of information that the discovery of these KPM masters unearthed is the name of the tracks themselves. Since the music was recorded for generic purposes to be used by anybody for any project or production, the sounds do not possess Spiderman related titles. However, if you've ever had the frightening experience of watching the notorious episode Revolt in the Fifth Dimension, you likely felt that it was a psychedelic cartoon made by animators high on acid. Turns out that the title of the crazy music in that episode was, indeed, titled LSD!"

I have my own memory of that particular piece (which sort of has an early-Pink Floyd-Syd Barrett groove) As a kid when I'd visit my Grandmother in Florida, The only thing there was to watch on Sunday morning was Bullwinkle (and the Munsters, curiously). And the only commercials they'd show during that hour were Florida PSAs. Lots of No-smoking 60 and 90 second spots, including one that showed a guy suffering from nicotine withdrawal --to the LSD beat!

Obvious HUGE thanks to WFMU's Beware the Blog, Kliph Nesteroff, Ralph Bakshi and D.E. O'Connor!

King Kong Cold-Cocked!

2008-06-15T01:29:00.023-04:00

BIFF - BAM - POW!

Burbank is proving more dangerous to Merian C. Cooper's 50 foot gorilla than was his Skull Island homeland.
Last week's fire at Universal Studios (6/1/08) gave the King's career a Kong-sized hotfoot and dealt the Gorilla-God a triple whammy.
The studio, which resides on a 400 acre property nine miles north of downtown Los Angeles has movie-themed thrill rides and the famous Universal back lot where countless movies and television shows are filmed.

It was the second fire at the historic studio in as many decades, taking out much of the historic
courthouse square (used in To Kill a Mockingbird, Village of the Giants, How to Frame a Figg, & Back to the Future, just to name a few) as well as the New York and New England street facades (Dirty Harry, Austin Powers, Spiderman 2). All were lost in the blaze that broke out from a blowtorch on a sound stage roof featuring New York Brownstone facades early Sunday morning on the first day of June. The fire moved quickly and at one point was two city blocks wide. It didn't help matters that Burbank 911 operators were slow to react when they received calls about "New York street" being on fire, saying over and over that they needed an address to send help (as seen on TMZ).
In addition to the back lot exteriors the building that housed the King Kong exhibit (that was part of the tram tour) was incinerated as well as a large building that served as a vault housing many archival prints was a total loss.

The Courthouse set, New York street and the King Kong attraction have all been down this road before --these same three sites were either damaged or destroyed during the November 1990 fire at Universal Studios. (That fire caused $25 million in damage and was started by a security guard who was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to arson.)

The film vault however, is another story...

Meyer estimated there were 40,000 to 50,000 videos and film reels in a vault that burned but said duplicates were stored in a different location. Firefighters managed to recover hundreds of titles. The videos included every film that Universal has produced and footage from television series including "Miami Vice" and "I Love Lucy."It was reported that hundreds of videos were saved from the burning building by firemen and most of what was there were duplicates. However, much of what was lost involved music recording masters from the last century from artists including Bing Crosby, Judy Garland, and many 1940s live jazz performances and soundtracks.

In addition to the initial list of the lost , Universal sent out this e-mail to several dozen film exhibitors on Monday (June 2):

It is with great sadness that I must inform you that yesterdays fire destroyed nearly 100% of the archive prints kept here on the lot. Due to this we will be unable to honor any film bookings of prints that were set to ship from here. Over the next few weeks and months we will be able to try and piece together what material we do have and if any prints exist elsewhere. For the time being please check your rental confirmations and look under shipping instructions. If the print was set to ship from the studio then your date is now canceled. If the shipping instructions say ship from Deluxe then those dates are still good. Please call either myself or Dennis Chong with any questions. I can be reached for the next two days at xxx and you can reach Dennis at xxx. I will be back in the office on Wednesday.

Paul Ginsburg
Vice President NBC Universal Distribution

(The history-engulfing blaze can be seen here roaring just down the hill from the "Psycho" House -at right)

The rarity of archival 35mm prints is driven home further by last year's G-FEST XIV's intended Universal film screenings. When G-Fest's booker arranged for the rentals of King Kong vs. Godzilla and King Kong Escapes from Universal Studios they were told that they had only one archival print of each film in their vault.

So if Mr. Ginsburg's message above is correct, then that would mean that at the very least, the prints of the English versions of KING KONG VS. GODZILLA, KING KONG ESCAPES and Hammer Studio’s CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF are gone.
Two of these films have now confirmed themselves gone, as they had bookings that had to be canceled or replaced by a different screening method.

One of the venues affected was the upcoming "Thrillville goes Ape" film festival. According to Thrillville’s host, promoter and programmer Will “The Thrill” Viharo, “I was particularly anticipating my West Coast premiere of the single existing 35mm print of KING KONG ESCAPES next week (The 35mm print of KKE was previously shown at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood back in 2005). But I just got word that rare print has indeed gone up in flames. However, due to the proximity of this catastrophe to the play date, the show will go on - via the magic of big screen DVD".

(“Thrillville Goes Ape” will take place Thursday, June 12 at 9:15pm. The Cerrito Speakeasy Theater is located at 10070 San Pablo Ave in El Cerrito, CA)

No one’s still quite sure just how many films were affected in the vault’s disaster, so the question still remains regarding Universal’s classic Horror, Monster and many other genres of films. Naturally, Universal still has digitalized versions of most films that were used to create the DVDs. But the loss of the archival prints would be devastating.

True, and thankfully, the negatives DO exist at a different site.
But with the rising costs of striking prints and the onslaught of digital distribution and digital projection methods, it is highly likely there may never be a reason to strike these prints --providing they all do still exist-- because of their, shall we say, selective appeal. (Making new film prints can cost $5,000 or more each and take months to produce.)
Meaning, the only way we may ever be able to see certain Universal films again is strictly by DVD or another video means outside the classic 35mm projection method.

And, if that ain't bad enough...

"Built in 1986, the $6.5-million “King Kong” attraction included a 30-foot-tall, 7-ton animatronic gorilla inside a 26,000-square-foot soundstage built to look like a city block, according to The Studio Tour fansite."

Now The L.A. Times reports:
"Universal Studios Hollywood officials said the “King Kong” attraction, a key element of the movie and television theme park’s back lot tram tour destroyed by Sunday’s fire, won’t be rebuilt and will be replaced with an all-new, yet-to-be-determined attraction."

As Richard Pryor woulda said... PI-YOW!!

Bad day for ol' Kong
--not to mention fans of Universal and giant monkeys in general.

Kudos for this post go out to Robo Japan, Sci-Fi Japan, Arron Cooper, The L.A. Times, Thrillville & Will Viharo.

R.I.P. Ben Chapman (1928-2008)

2008-02-21T11:58:00.013-05:00

Hoo-boy... it was already a dreary day and now this....
Hollywood actor Ben Chapman --one of the last men to play a classic Universal monster (and a super-nice guy to boot) passed away in Hawaii early this morning.

From the Creature from the Black Lagoon Yahoo Group:

Ben Chapman passed away this morning at 12:15 AM Hawaii time. He was
admitted to the hospital two days ago and died peacefully in his
hospital bed. He had a living will and they turned off his life
support yesterday about noon Hawaii time. They will be having a
memorial service at a Catholic Church located near the beach and he
will be cremated. He turned 79 last October.

My sincere hope is that he died peacefully and with no pain or suffering.

My best thoughts are for the Gill-man who carried a fallen female and entered into movie monster stardom!
Our Gill Man (on land) will be forever remembered, not just as the body of the imposing Creature, but for his priceless recollections, his detailed memories and willingness to share this will Monster Kids the world over.

A gentle giant and a heck of a nice guy.

Personally I have to include these shots I took as well: The whole Creature gang photo-op for the fans at CreatureFest 2003 in Wakulla Springs. (left to right) Ben Chapman, Julia Adams, Ginger Stanley and Ricou Browning --together again at this event for the first time in 50 years.

And here's Ben with and signing my own Creature Mask for posterity.
Thanks again Ben... and rest in peace.

Incoming: El Superbeasto!

2008-02-05T23:04:00.000-05:00

This Spring will see the long awaited release of The Haunted World of El Superbeasto, a 2-d (!) animated theatrical production written and conceived by Rob Zombie. As 2-d animated feature films grow fewer and farther between I'm pulling for it to be enjoyable --or at least be watchable and turn a solid profit. Different from Rob's own "house" style (as displayed in a Beavis' peyote trip in Beavis and Butthead Do America) the overall look of the film is more like Ralph Bakshi meets Ren and Stimpy, thanks in large part to the talents of Spumco alumnus Director Doug "Spongebob" Lawrence, Co-Director Carey Yost, and Chris Riccardi.

The film centers on a Santo-type, lout of a Mexi-wrestler and his epic battle with Dr. Satan (voiced by the always-great Paul Giamatti). Though a version Dr. Satan appears in House of 1000 Corpses, this guy looks totally different. Tom Kenny of Spongebob fame and Brian Posehn lend their vocal talents as well. This week Rob Zombie posted some new pics from the movie on his Myspace page. Here's some choice selects. Enjoy!

Yow! Zombie Nazis! Shades of Ralph Bakshi's Wizards (1977) ...

No denying it's got a nice look... and like Rob's previous films you can bet it's R-rated for violence and what-not. Personally I just really hope it's not as full of the detracting "mean for mean's sake" spirit that has hobbled his 3 previous films -- and escalated with each new script. (I liked House of 1000 Corpses...but hated the Halloween remake.) But I guess we'll all find out once it's released...

For "full disclosure", check out Rob's My Space page at:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=28735418

R. I. P. Vampira (1921-2008)

2008-01-13T13:08:00.000-05:00

Thursday was my forty-sixth birthday. It would also be officially recorded as the day that Maila Nurmi, who became synonymous with her character, Vampira, passed away in her sleep at the age of 86.

She was born Maila Elizabeth Syrjäniemi on December 21, 1921, in Petsamo, Finland - now Pechenga, Russia. Her uncle was an Olympic champion in track running, Paavo Nurmi. Maila's family moved to the United States when Maila was only two years old. The young beauty was already dreaming of being a Hollywood star and at the tender age of 17, she took a trip to Los Angeles to seek her fortune. Of course, glory doesn't come easily and Maila became an exotic dancer and photo model to survive.

At some point in 1954, Maila disguised herself as Morticia Addams (Charles Addams ghoulish character from New Yorker Magazine who would eventually become popular on TV and films) for a masked ball. As simply as that, Vampira was born. Maila's appearance appealed to Hunt Stromberg Jr., program director for KABC Channel 7, who was looking for somebody to spice up his night time programming. In a very short time, Maila officially became Vampira to host a show presenting horror movies each Saturday night at 11 PM.In the 1950s she created the character of Vampira, popular for both films and as a television host. Her character was to set the standard for an entire legion of horror hostesses, actresses, and even cartoon characters to follow. From what I have heard she was always kind and gracious with her fans (though some of her co-stars are of a different opinion).

Without a doubt, her striking features, deadpan humor and faux-blasé attitude contributed to make her a fast popular success. Introduced with a music cue (heard twice in The Shining), Vampira came down a fog enshrouded hallway at the start of each show, screaming unexpectedly into the camera and saying: "Screaming relaxes me so." Before commercial breaks, she took the habit of reciting weird poetry or even give out Charles Addams-esque cocktail recipes. She lit and smoked her long cigarettes with her three-inch nails on camera too, which of course would be a huge no-no today.

Her unusual figure was no doubt a large part of her success, as Vampira claimed to be gifted with the following measurements: 38-17-36! (Yoiks!)

It didn't take long before publications like Time or Newsweek gave her some written space.
One of the first first magazines to take notice was Life. Here from their June 14th 1954 issue is that original article in it's entirety:

Fame came fast and furiously, and before long Marlon Brando, Mae West and even James Dean became fans -- Dean even debuting an intimate relationship with Maila. (Orson Welles and she spent some "quality time" together as well.) Oddly, all this attention would be cut short. Dean's premature and tragic death would seriously shake up Maila, not counting ABC trying to stop her in her attempts to pursue different career projects, as their intent was to completely own rights to the Vampira character. Consequently --and somewhat incredibly-- the show would soon be canceled after only one season. It ran less than one year, from April 30 1954 to April 2 1955 but in those 11 months she left an indelible mark on Television and Horror history. Not long after cancellation, Maila was attacked in a beauty parlor by an enraged woman who burned her hair and scalp, causing her to have to totally shave her head . Other unfortunate burns would follow, as Maila later tried to save her cat from a home fire.

Vampira ressurrected with the help of Edward D. Wood Jr., who was shooting his ultimate classic, Plan 9 from Outer Space. Maila was hired to work a single day on the movie (for a paltry $200 bucks!), playing a ghoul who came back to life via an alien light-ray. Her undead ally was the immortal Tor Johnson, who has become quite the Horror icon in his own right --inspiring a Don Post mask from this epic that even showed up in other films (like Mad Max). It would also make the final screen appearance of Bela Lugosi. Sadly, Bela would not live long enough to work with Vampira onscreen... (But we have this photograph, at least!)

However, after she read the script, she found the story so appallingly bad that she agreed to do it only if she didn't have to speak a word of dialog. She didn't (But since she's supposed to be a ghoul... few notice). She starred in a few other forgotten "classics", but none of them have achieved the popularity of Ed Wood's high-camp firebrand, - hilarious and cherished today.

For a time the spotlight eluded her and Maila owned an antique shop called "Vampira's Attic", and created her own lines of clothing and jewelery.

Interest in camp entertainment in the 1970s would see Ed Wood's films in a new light. The book "The Golden Turkey awards" by the Medved Brothers voted Plan Nine From Outer Space "The worst movie of all time". It wasn't long before sellout midnight showings of Plan-Nine (as depicted on Seinfeld) became hip entertainment. All this attention would make Vampira once again popular for a new generation of fans. Musical groups like The Damned and The Misfits wrote about her in songs. As Vampira, Maila even turned up as a singer for a punk band.
Sometime in 1981, a television station contacted Maila for a renewal of the Vampira concept. According to her, many discussions took place over the next few months and she remains convinced that all her ideas were stolen for the Elvira character. She sued for tens of millions.

A Finnish documentary about Maila was shot in 1995, entitled Death, Sex and Taxes. In 1998, she returned to movies for I Woke Up Early the Day I Died, from an old Ed Wood script and starring Billy Zane. Until just recently she was still active on the star-convention circuit.

While it was thought for years no footage of the old Vampira Show was known to exist, at the end of the late 1990s a friend of mine "in the industry" told me about 5 minutes of footage had been found in the KABC archives and was going to be used in a news story about the aging Vampiress. He'd managed to snag a nice copy of the unedited footage tape (on vhs), and graciously shared it with me. Needless to state I felt very privileged. So much so that I "sat on the evidence" for years. I did somewhat enjoy insisting from time-to-time that the footage did exist in the faces of hard-line fans who were ready to put their careers on the line that it didn't, and then-- BAM --producing the hard evidence. (Ahhh...I might as well also note that while I read on a Horror Host site earlier today that the "only existing footage" came from Dave Stevens, my wife reminds me that we gave him a copy from our tape --so he could show it to Maila herself-- in summer 2000.)

That's not the ONLY Vampira footage out there either, I'm happy to report. A few years ago the History Channel (I think) did a multi-part series on the History of Las Vegas. Somewhere around part 3 the focus shifts to Liberace, and sure enough, Vampira can be seen briefly (about 10 seconds worth) on stage dancing with her old Pal.

I'm assuming this footage is probably all available on the "Vampira: The Movie" DVD
( I still haven't seen it) ...if not it should be.

It's intriguing to guess what kind of cultural impact she could have had if her career had been longer and more profitable. As an immortal cult figure, who knows what kind of importance she could've had if she'd truly been given the chance to become the mistress of her own destiny?

Movie credits

1947 If Winter Comes

1958 Too Much, Too Soon

1959 Plan 9 from Outer Space, The Beat Generation, The Big Operator

1960 I Passed for White, Sex Kittens Go to College

1962 The Magic Sword

1986 Population One

1998 I Woke Up Early the Day I Died

The Vampira Show - KABC-TV 1954-55

Featuring Maila Nurmi as "Vampira"

Channel 7, Los Angeles, California
1.	04/30/1954	Dig Me Later Vampira (Preview Show)
		Saturday Night/Sunday Morning at Midnight
2.	05/01/1954	Charge is Murder
3.	05/08/1954	The Face of Marble
4.	05/15/1954	Revenge of the Zombies
5.	05/22/1954	Fog Island
		Saturday Night at 11:00 p.m.
6.	05/29/1954	Corridor of Mirrors
7.	06/05/1954	(Not Listed)^*
8.	06/12/1954	Devil Bat’s Daughter
9.	06/19/1954	The Flying Serpent
10.	06/26/1954	The Mask of Dijon
11.	07/03/1954	Strange Mr. Gregory
12.	07/10/1954	The Man With Two Lives
13.	07/17/1954	Corridor of Mirrors
14.	07/24/1954	Fear
15.	07/31/1954	Rogue’s Tavern
16.	08/07/1954	Dangerous Intruder
17.	08/14/1954	Mystery of the 13th Guest
18.	08/21/1954	Midnight Limited
19.	08/28/1954	Bluebeard
20.	09/04/1954	Missing Lady
21.	09/11/1954	Murder By Invitation
22.	09/18/1954	Red Dragon
23.	09/25/1954	Missing Heiress
24.	10/02/1954	Missing Corpse
25.	10/09/1954	Fatal Hour
26.	10/16/1954	Phantom Killer
27.	10/23/1954	The Shadow Returns
28.	10/30/1954	King of the Zombies
29.	11/06/1954	Doomed to Die
30.	11/13/1954	House of Mystery
31.	11/20/1954	My Brother’s Keeper
32.	11/27/1954	Dear Murderer
33.	12/04/1954	Castles of Doom
34.	12/11/1954	The Charge is Murder
35.	12/18/1954	Return of the Ape
36.	12/25/1954	Man With the Gray Glove
37.	01/01/1955	Apology for Murder
38.	01/08/1955	Decoy
39.	01/15/1955	Murder is My Business
40.	01/22/1955	Phantom of 42nd Street
41.	01/29/1955	Case of the Guardian Angel
42.	02/05/1955	Lady Chaser
43.	02/12/1955	Killer at Large
44.	02/19/1955	She Shall Have Murder
45.	02/26/1955	The Lady Confesses
		Saturday Night at 10:30 p.m.
46.	03/05/1955	Larceny in Her Heart
47.	03/12/1955	Glass Alibi
48.	03/19/1955	Detour
49.	03/26/1955	Strangler of the Swamp
50.	04/02/1955	Woman Who Came Back

^*The major L.A. newspapers (The Los Angeles Times, The Los Angeles Examiner and The Los Angeles Daily News) list only "Vampira" for this date, as does the L.A. edition of TV Guide. The name of the film shown is not listed. However, the article in the 14 June 1954 issue of Life mentions two films shown on the program: White Zombie and Fog Island. The latter had been shown and listed prior to the article’s publication, so it is likely that White Zombie was shown on this date.

Ironically, when I first googled Vampira's name, this tombstone from Plan Nine came up first.
Rest in peace, Maila. You were the first true Horror-babe. The first cool-ghoul. The first Living-dead girl.

Big thanks and a tip of the cobwebbed hat go out to the Cult Sirens site, The explodingkinetoscope site, The Milwalkee Horror Hosts site and Dick (Nitelinger) Golembiewski (for his exhaustive research on the episode lists) and the 800 pound Gorilla.

Some Classic Christmas

2007-12-17T18:40:00.000-05:00

I've collected so many images the past few years that I guess a post of pix from Xmases past was inevitable. A prime opportunity to start things off with a shot of the always-lovely Miss Bettie Page being positively fetching in festive spirits... (and why not?)

After the end of World War II, Christmas boomed in America and took on heretofore unseen Macy-Parade-Balloon proportions. Decorations themselves became a whole different animal as we reached the middle point of the last century. All new highs in cheerful-insanity and engineering-excess were an integral to the holiday experience...at least the commercial part.

Take this giant fiberglass Santa outside a department store for example... much more detailed and classically surreal than the big inflatable he'd be today.

ahh... and those department store window displays. Not a damn cell phone in sight...

We always went to my Grandmothers in Florida for Christmas, and almost every small town along the way had their own set of main street trappings. I remember this style in particular.

Ad-men reached new heights in abstracting the holiday in the 1940s & 50s... sometimes it was even hard to tell if Santa himself was truly being good or bad. (Wotta Shill, btw.)

Here's a room with an offbeat tree display from 1955 ( I know that smell).

And there was no Amazon or Wallmart... in the 1960s WE had the Sears Wish Book!
( It usually came in the mail around Halloween.)

Where you could order anything you could think of practically!

...The toy sections seemed endless... (and what a great spread this is!)

Yeah... Like I Wish I still had that Bugs Bunny.

And pages and pages of Christmas decor...

Sears, Pennys and all the Catalog stores sold more than a couple of different types of Mangers and accessories...

And all the cheesy crap that I love so much now...

Love the cardboard fireplaces. (Kids in apartments need a Santa snorkel too!)

The door coverings were hot at the end of the '60s. Ehh... not so much now.

Where's all this big-plastic illuminated stuff now? Antique stores? Flea Markets?

There's a couple of these plastic Santas around town that I've noticed... and they're TALL --around 5 feet!

Well, keeping the spirit alive here's our very own front door from last Christmas 2006. (The illuminated Reindeer we bought at sears in 1993 --the last year they sold them... The "Noel pole" I bought at Zayre in 1974 --for 3.99).

And here's the view down our walkway to the front door.

And last, when I went inside I snapped this picture of our own set -- and I didn't fake this, How the Grinch Stole Christmas was actually on Cartoon Network at the time.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS FOLKS!
Best wishes to all Arglebargle readers! Stay tuned --much more ahead in 2008!

Inside the Baxter Building

2007-12-08T20:34:00.002-05:00

Behold -- The world-famous Baxter Building!

One of the great things about the Fantastic Four comics was all the super-nutty Kirby gizmos and gadgets.
Crazy stuff --like James Bond gear on steroids and acid!
And talk about high maintenance... the team needed enough space for a Fantasti-car, a Pogo Plane, a Fantasti-Copter, a Private Passenger ICBM, an Observatory, an entrance to the negative zone, a computer room, a chemical lab, a photo analysis lab, a projection room, a gymnasium, trophy room and living quarters (just to name a few). Naturally, a Super-team with this much baggage needed an exceptional uh... "secret" base of operations. Where better, than the middle of Manhattan Island in NYC? (...yeah --good luck with that telescope, Stretcho.) Specifically floors 30 through 35 on the top of the Baxter Building.
Within the confines of these 5 floors lay a virtual crime-fightin' and weird experimentin' complex the likes of which the world had never seen before! So large in scope, that it prompted several celebrated cutaway views of of the Building's insides --presumably to help the reader figure out exactly where all the action was taking place.
I'd thought about doing a post like this last summer... but when I picked up issue #1 of Marvel's new Mythos Fantastic Four book last week and saw that the title artist Paolo Rivera had just done an updated cutaway, I knew the time was right.

So, here --for the first time I'm aware of-- are ALL cutaways of the Baxter building to date!
...featuring insane amounts of Photoshop restoration on the old versions by yours truly so they can be blown up big and still look great. All cleaned up from my own issues of the original books they appeared in, with the original (minus the yellowing) color schemes. Enjoy!

While the F.F. had already defeated the Mole Man and the Skrulls,
it wasn't until issue #3 that we got to see some Fantasti-car (known these days more commonly as the Flyin' Bathtub) and found out the secrets of the "Fantastic Four's Skyscraper Hide-Out!" This was the first time the Baxter Building and it's contents --at least the top two floors of it were diagrammed.

It wasn't long though--just three issues in fact-- before Jack was at it again. From issue #6, here's a slightly more complete look at the top 5 floors of "the world's greatest office building".

Here's Jack's third and final take (to my knowledge) on the FF's HQ innards...
As it originally appeared in Fantastic Four Annual #3 ( this version was also printed in Black and White in the back inside cover of the 1975 over-sized Fantastic Four Treasury. I ran it too, back up a the top... And though on that printing there's a blurb with an allusion made to the then-current book's team of Len Wein and Rich Buckler doing an updated cutaway soon, I don't recall them actually getting around to it.

A decade and over a hundred issues passed before anyone would attempt a new Baxter bldg pin-up, but after the big Gonzo blowout with Dr. Doom in issue #200, Keith Pollard and Longtime-inker Joe Sinnott were ready to tackle the project. Here's their version from Fantastic Four issue 201, December 1978.

It would be 48 issues before anyone else would tackle the 5 story x-ray. Then, when John Byrne took over the book in 1981, he had Terrax destroy the the top 2 floors of the tower (and f-up the lower ones). The FF had to rebuild all 5 floors of their HQ --and once it was completed it was prime time to address the new changes. (Besides, more than anybody else outside of Stan and Jack, John got the FF and brought back a lot of what made the book fun to begin with --that is, before Shooter ruined it all with the Secret Wars books.) Here, from #249 is that cutaway.

And the latest version...Paolo Rivera's aforementioned new version. Nice to see see Paolo's rife and realistic painterly approach to the material. The rest of the book looks like this too, so if you haven't picked it up you probably oughta.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
And a big tip of the hat goes out to Marvel Comics Group, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, Keith Pollard, Joltin' Joe Sinnott, John Byrne and Paolo Rivera

Shadows = $$$$!!

2007-11-28T22:31:00.000-05:00

Like Halloween, the 1960s was a golden time for comic book ads. The level of ad-shystery had risen to a level beyond the preposterous with the promises of missile-firing Polaris Submarines and live six foot Monsters delivered to your door for a mere dollar. (Okay, the Submarine was 5.98...)
This one really takes the cake though... seems eerily like the basis of an early Leave It To Beaver episode. (click to enlarge --Haw!)

All you need is a flashlight-- or a candle? Room for hundreds? Damn, sister --sign me up!
How are some of these crazy contortions even possible? If you compare the "Nixon" hands to the artist's conception of Tricky Dick's shadow there's a lot of room for interpretation. How many amputated hands make up that "Dinosaur" anyway? (...And who can't do an effin' bird!)
If this is just the ad -- the book must've been really nutty.

Aheh ...anybody got a copy?

Jack Kirby meets Vincent Price?

2007-11-20T19:37:00.000-05:00

Growing up I saw The Abombinable Dr. Phibes and it's sequel Dr. Phibes Rises Again several times on the CBS Late Movie (probably on Friday Night). In both films Vincent Price plays a "dead" man avenging the surgical team that lost his wife on the operating table. Nine doctors in all (one of them a nurse) are treated to nine of the most innovative, creative, outlandish deaths imaginable.

The American International movie was released in May of 1971. Which makes this piece of concept art currently up fpr grabs on eBay all the more curious. Jolly Jack's take on a little character called ...The Sinister Dr. Phibes.

According to the seller (Jack's Grandson Jeremy) this piece conceptual art was drawn up (and inked, too) by Jack during the period when he was considering making the move from Marvel to DC.
Hmmmm... I ain't got my calculator, but wouldn't that make this piece sorta... pre-date the film version by a year or so? Even if it was supposed to be a comic version/tie-in with the first movie, it's still pretty freaking bizarre, I tell ya whut...
...And if the concept piece was somehow the inspiration for the movies --even weirder.
(I wonder if Jack had anything to do with that crazy Kirby-lookin' organ ol' Phibes played in the movies?)

Thanks and a tip of the fedora for this post go out to Jeremy Kirby, John Miller, The estates of Jack Kirby and Vincent Price and American International Pictures.