Retro Fan 6 Online

Are you too
square to
solve me?
THE RUBIK’S
Fall 2019 CUBE CRAZE
No. 6 $8.95
The MUNSTERS’ BUTCH

Tune in to PATRICK…
SVENGOOLIE
& HORRIFIC HOTRODS
and
the retro
line-up of
MeTV
Who ya gonna call?
The ORIGINAL
GHOST
BUSTERS
s?
m b e r t h e Nauga
Reme vered
e ’ v e g ot ’em co
W
2
82658 00372
“I Was a Teenage James Bond!” • The Dobie Gillis Dilemma • Pinball Wizardry & more!
Featuring Ernest Farino • Andy Mangels • Will Murray • Scott Saavedra • Scott Shaw!
Svengoolie © Weigel Broadcasting Co. Ghost Busters © Filmation. Naugas © Uniroyal Engineered Products, LLC.
1
It’s GROOVY, baby!
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All characters TM & © their respective owners.

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All characters TM & © their respective owners.
Comics editor MICHAEL EURY takes you through that coolest cultural phenomenon with this all-new collection
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TwoMorrows.
The Future of Pop History.
By M
EURY ICHAEL
, edito
r of
Phone: 919-449-0344
E-mail: store@twomorrows.com
TwoMorrows Publishing • 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 USA Web: www.twomorrows.com
The crazy cool culture we
grew up with
CONTENTS
Issue #6 | Fall 2019
40 51
Columns and
Special Features Departments
3 2
Retro Television Retrotorial
Saturday Nights with
25 Svengoolie 10
RetroFad
11 Rubik’s Cube
3 Andy Mangels’ Retro
Saturday Mornings 38
The Original Ghost Busters Retro Trivia
Goldfinger
21
43 Oddball World of Scott Shaw! 40
The Naugas Too Much TV Quiz
25 59
Ernest Farino’s Retro Retro Toys
Fantasmagoria Kenner’s Alien
I Was a Teenage James Bond
21 74
43 Celebrity Crushes
Scott Saavedra’s Secret
Sanctum 75
Three Letters to Three Famous Retro Travel
People Pinball Hall of Fame –
Las Vegas, Nevada
51
65 Retro Interview 78
Growing Up Munster: RetroFanmail
Butch Patrick
80
65 ReJECTED
Will Murray’s 20th Century RetroFan fantasy cover by
Panopticon Scott Saavedra
The Dobie Gillis Dilemma
75
11
RetroFan™ #6, Fall 2019. Published quarterly by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614. Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief.
John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Office: RetroFan, c/o Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief, 112 Fairmount Way, New Bern, NC 28562. Email: euryman@gmail.
com. Four-issue subscriptions: $41 Economy US, $65 International, $16 Digital. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the
editorial office. Svengoolie © Weigel Broadcasting Co. Ghost Busters © Filmation. Naugas © Uniroyal Engineered Products, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2019 Michael Eury and
TwoMorrows. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING. ISSN 2576-7224
by Michael Eury
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Michael Eury
PUBLISHER
John Morrow
CONTRIBUTORS
Tammy Brown
Michael Eury
Ernest Farino
Richard J. Fowlks
Dan Johnson Operation Kid Brother. How can I have existed for six decades without encountering this movie until
Andy Mangels
Will Murray
now?!
Scott Saavedra As you’ll read this issue in Ernest Farino’s Retro Fantasmagoria, Operation Kid Brother is an obscure
Scott Shaw! Sixties’ spy spoof starring Sean Connery’s brother, Neil, accompanied by 007 film veterans. Yet I’d never
Rob Smentek
heard of it until Ernie’s trivia-drenched article, “I Was a Teenage James Bond.”
DESIGNER Then there are the Naugas, those cute, cuddly, slightly creepy hug-a-beasts made of Naugahyde®. I
Scott Saavedra had a vague recollection of magazine ads featuring the Naugas, but thanks to this issue’s Oddball World
PROOFREADER
of Scott Shaw!, I was able to learn more about them.
Rob Smentek It just goes to show you, that old adage is right: You learn something every day. Or, you do when you
pick up a new RetroFan.
SPECIAL THANKS
Tim Arnold
Not that my newfound discoveries of a Bond brother or little leather-like lovables will earn me a
Bob Burns contestant’s spot on Jeopardy, but I can beam with pride that, as I’m inching toward an age when I could
Michael Chaudhuri be pondering, “Where are my keys?” or “Do I take this pill in the morning or afternoon?”, I. Can. Still. Learn.
Fayetteville ComiCon
Brian Flynn
And you can too!
Heritage Comics Auctions Discoveries are one of the things I love about editing (and researching and writing) RetroFan articles.
MeTV I’m always amazed by what our talented columnists and guest contributors dig up. Really, could anyone
Leila Murray
Martin Pasko
other than our own Retro Saturday Morning columnist Andy Mangels have unearthed, as he reported
Pinball Hall of Fame back in issue #4, that TV’s Batman, the great Adam West, was the uncredited (and presumably voice-
Jim Roche modulated) announcer of the live-action Shazam! TV series of the Seventies? There’s always something
Jim Schelberg
Larry Strothe
to learn from our columnists, and we’re lucky to have Ernie, Scott, and Andy, plus Marty Pasko, Scott
Jim Swearingen Saavedra, and Will Murray, the brightest batch of know-it-alls to ever grace a pop-culture magazine.
Uniroyal Engineered Our guest contributors always bring something new to the table as well. This issue, Dan Johnson—
Products, LLC
Renee Witterstaetter
who pried open the tomb of TV horror hosts back in #2—chats with TV’s kookiest cryptkeeper,
Philip Wlodarczyk Svengoolie, and Eddie Munster himself, Butch Patrick. Rob Smentek is a name familiar to those of you
who read our masthead as he’s RetroFan’s proofreader, mopping up the mistakes ye ed misses. This issue
VERY SPECIAL
THANKS
Rob reveals his writing chops with his chest-bursting Retro Toys article about one of the oddest What
Rich Koz were they thinking?! merchandising moves of the late Seventies, products marketed to kids based upon
Butch Patrick an R-rated movie they were too young to see, Alien. Rich Fowlks, known as the designer of the other
magazine I edit for TwoMorrows, Back Issue, proves he’s a decent reporter with his Retro Travel trip to the
Las Vegas Pinball Hall of Fame. (Rich is a devoted hubby and daddy, so the only thing during his visit that
Don’t STEAL our happened in Vegas that stayed in Vegas was the bucket of quarters he dumped into pinball machines.)
Digital Editions! And Tammy Brown, who has worked for several of the country’s biggest entertainment companies,
C’mon citizen, shares a Celebrity Crushes revelation of her youthful fixation on several celebs, including a certain singer
DO THE RIGHT
THING! A Mom with the grooviest hair on Seventies TV (sorry, Farrah)!
& Pop publisher
like us needs Two features planned for this issue unfortunately did not materialize. Martin Pasko’s “My Life in the
every sale just to
survive! DON’T
DOWNLOAD
Twilight Zone” has been rescheduled to next issue. David Mandel, showrunner of HBO’s Emmy-winning
OR READ ILLEGAL COPIES ONLINE! comedy Veep, was slated to share his comic art collection in our Super Collector feature, but at presstime
Buy affordable, legal downloads only at
www.twomorrows.com was “deep in Veep.” David and I have agreed that he will produce that column when he has a chance
or through our Apple and Google Apps!
and I’ll schedule it accordingly… but if you’re jonesing for a Super Collector feature, wait’ll you see Jack
Condon’s Guinness World Records’ largest Charlie’s Angels collection in issue #7.
& DON’T SHARE THEM WITH FRIENDS
OR POST THEM ONLINE. Help us keep Joining our columnists and guest writers this issue are a couple of fun features from yours truly,
producing great publications like this one!
making RetroFan #6 another groovy grab bag of the crazy, cool culture we grew up with.
2 RetroFan Fall 2019

RETRO TELEVISION
Saturday
Nights with
© MeTV National Limited Partnership.
by Dan Johnson Conniff from Mystery Science Theater 3000, or even Vicki Lawrence
as Thelma Harper from Mama’s Family. Recently, RetroFan got to sit
In 2010, MeTV launched nationwide. The over-the-air digital down with Svengoolie for this exclusive interview.
channel, billed as “Memorable Entertainment Television,” has
become the destination for fans of classic TV shows, offering RetroFan: First of all, thank you for doing this interview with us.
reruns of such beloved series as Bonanza, The Andy Griffith Show, I consider it a high honor to have you in RetroFan.
Wonder Woman, and The Twilight Zone, to name just a few. MeTV is I used to work with Scary Monsters magazine, and its Dennis
the must-see-TV channel for many readers of RetroFan. Druktenis introduced me to you back in 1996. He sent me a
Shortly after the network launched, MeTV began airing a couple of your shows on video and I was hooked from that
program that brought back one of the great staples of classic moment on. This was when you were starting out on U 26 (WCIU
television: the horror host. [Editor’s note: See RetroFan #2 for the in Chicago), and looking back at the commercials for the classic
behind-the-scenes story of TV’s horror hosts.] Every Saturday sitcoms that ran on the channel (The Munsters and Gilligan’s
night, MeTV presents Svengoolie, who under the make-up and Island), U 26 appeared to be a prototype for MeTV.
costuming is actually Rich Koz, a veteran of Chicago television and Svengoolie: Yes, actually, it was. That is definitely so. When my
a legend in the Windy City. MeTV took him national and has made boss, Neal Sabin, took over WCIU for the owners, he wanted to
Svengoolie America’s Horror Host. make it the kind of retro, independent station that we all grew up
Svengoolie screens classic horror movies that many of us grew with. And that station was the first basis for what MeTV would
up with like Creature From the Black Lagoon and The Invisible Man, become.
with the host introducing these films to a whole new generation
of fans. But frightening his viewers is not the primary goal of RF: The channel looked great, and I remember wishing I had
Svengoolie. Between movie segments, Svengoolie entertains his a station like this in my viewing area. Even though I couldn’t
audience with comedy bits including song parodies that would watch it, I still fell in love with U 26.
give Weird Al Yankovic a run for his money. As for the jokes and Svengoolie: That’s very cool. I think that is exactly why MeTV has
puns, they fly almost as fast as the set’s rubber chickens do. been so successful. A lot of people feel that way.
Svengoolie is also great about interviewing horror and
comedy legends on his show. While most interviews are RF: The shows on MeTV are comfort food for your mind. You can
conducted at horror conventions, a good many take place right have a tough day at work or school, but then this channel just
in the studio. Indeed, you never know who might pop up on takes you back to a simpler time. If just for a little bit, you get to
Svengoolie. It could be Gilbert Gottfried, Trace Beaulieu and Frank escape reality.
RetroFan Fall 2019 3
RETRO television
Svengoolie: Definitely so. Of Svengoolie: It’s kind of like a safety

course, MeTV stands for Memorable valve, having the comedy relief to offset
Entertainment. One of the things I think things that might be a little upsetting.
about our show is that I think almost And granted, there are movies, like the
everybody grew up some sort of horror Universal horror movies certainly, that are
host, and it’s kind of a kick to see that a lot milder than what currently passes
type of show being done again since for horror movies today. They are a nice
most local horror hosts have fallen by introduction for younger viewers who may
the wayside. Today, most local stations have never seen a horror movie before.
devote most of their airtime to news,
sports events, and public af fairs, and they RF: I think one of the best movies to show
don’t really do my type of entertainment younger viewers is Abbott and Costello
show. Meet Frankenstein, and I can tell you are
[The horror host show] was one of the always having fun when you show that
things Neal wanted to bring back when movie.
he started WCIU. I was his first talent Svengoolie: Oh, definitely. Also good are
acquisition, I believe. He asked me to do the origin movies, like Frankenstein, The
the Svengoolie character again. I told Wolf Man, and Dracula. They are just great
him, very honestly, that in whatever time movies that I really enjoy, but they offer a
I had been of f the air, a week would not lot in the ways that we can have fun with
go by that somebody didn’t recognize me them.
and tell me, “You know, I really loved that
show, are you ever going to do it again?” RF: As a horror host, are the Universal
The show meant so much to people, and horror movies your favorite movies, or are
I would say, “Sure! I would be happy to there any other movies you like better?
do it.” Svengoolie: With Universal, the great
thing about them is that they cover so
RF: Our local host that I grew up on was many different decades. Even into the
Billy Bobb, a redneck who hosted horror Fifties they were giving us Creature From
films on Saturday afternoons and also the Black Lagoon, which I think is one of
did a kids cartoon show on weekday the classic monsters. In the Forties, there
afternoons on WGGT 48 in Greensboro, was such a wide variety of monsters. I also
North Carolina. Besides Billy Bobb’s love American International’s stuff, that’s
show, WGGT 48 also showed the old always fun. A lot of the modern stuff I like
Universal Studios horror movies on are the really original films, like Nightmare
Saturday mornings, and that was where I on Elm Street and Halloween. Those are really
discovered the classic films like Tarantula impressive films and I like those as well.
and Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man.
One of the things I love about your show RF: There are some fans out there that
(TOP) Jerry G. Bishop, the original is that you bring the old Universal horror may not be aware that your legacy as a
Svengoolie. (CENTER) Rich Koz as
movies back to the air. horror host extends well before MeTV.
Son of Svengoolie, 1980. (BOTTOM)
Koz in a 1995 WCUI-TV promotion. Svengoolie: When we started airing the You’ve been at this for four decades now,
Universal horror movies again, a lot of the correct?
markets that we go into had not had them Svengoolie: Actually, this year in June
on broadcast TV for at 15 or 20 years. So in marked 40 years since I first put the make-
a way, we are re-educating a lot of people up on and started doing the show on TV.
about these movies and presenting them There were years when I was not on TV
for the for the first time to some other with a regular show, but I was still doing
viewers. appearances and people would have me
come on TV shows and radio shows as the
RF: I know of parents and grandparents character.
who watch your show with their kids. Originally, Jerry G. Bishop was the
They know the old Universal horror original Svengoolie. In 1970, he happened
movies will thrill the kids a bit, and give to be the staf f announcer who was on
them a fright, but they won’t traumatize duty at the WFLD station on Friday nights
them. Plus, having you as the host, you when they were running horror movies.
are a nice buffer for the scary stuff. You He started goofing around during his
let them laugh a little before going back announcements for them, doing, as he
to the scary stuff. put it, a Transylvanian Yiddish accent,

RETRO television
and created the Svengoolie character. because he had a big job waiting for him (LEFT) You never know who’ll drop
by Svengoolie’s show—like rock ’n’
Originally he just did voiceovers, then it there, he asked me what I wanted to do.
roll songman Freddy “Boom Boom”
went to voiceovers over still pictures of I was just freelancing then and I thought Cannon, of “Palisades Park” fame.
him, and then it became a full-fledged I would try pitching a show to one of the (RIGHT) Svengoolie’s duet with Freddy
live show. I revered him and was a fan of local stations. He told me, “If you want to earned the horror host a contract—
his. Jerry did radio here [in Chicago] and I try and do the Son of Svengoolie thing, I luckily, the hit man never showed up.
(BELOW) Legendary wrestler Mick
loved his sense of humor, which was very give you my blessing.” So, I shopped the
Foley gets comfortable.
similar to mine. He would read jokes that idea around and brought it to WFLD, the
people sent him, so I started sending in station Jerry had done Svengoolie for,
jokes. He found out I was a broadcasting and there was interest, but they said, “We
student and he liked the stuf f I was want to do this kind of show, but let’s let
sending him. Eventually, he started anyone who wants to audition!” I had just
to ask me to write stuf f for him, like a brought them a full concept and script and
parody of a specific song or a current everything, but they were like, “Yes, but
commercial that was on TV, and that led we want a bake-off!” The rest is history,
to me working with him on his Svengoolie though, and I did get the job and I began
show, writing and doing voiceover work, a my career as the Son of Svengoolie in 1979.
whole variety of things.
RF: I love your sense of humor. It’s clean
RF: How was the Svengoolie torch passed and loaded with puns and corny jokes
from Jerry to you? and that appeal to me. It can also be very
Svengoolie: After Jerry was off the air, off the wall at times. Did you ever run
there was one summer where someone at into any problems at your original station
one of the local stations asked him, “Have regarding content?
you ever thought about doing Svengoolie Svengoolie: For my part, no, but there
just as a summertime replacement show were people at the station who didn’t
and just do it for fun?” Jerry didn’t feel understand it. They also didn’t understand
like he wanted to put all the make-up why the show became so popular. They
back on, so he came to me and said, “You just saw the show as some filler type thing
know, you could do this. You could be the on Saturdays.
Son of Svengoolie. You can write it and I’ll When we did some of our very first
produce it and that would be a good idea.” promos, I did take-offs on other shows,
I was all for it, and we had some callbacks like The Six Million Dollar Man and The Brady
on it, but it never really happened. Bunch, which were running at the same
Later on, when Jerry was getting ready time on WFLD. The woman who was in
to leave the Illinois area to go to San Diego, charge of promotions kept looking at them
RETRO television
RETRO television
and I thought, “This does belong [on a
network]?”
RF: Well, FOX was also trying to “class up”

television with Down and Out in Beverly
Hills and Women in Prison as well.
Svengoolie: Exactly!
RF: While hosting horror movies as

Svengoolie in Chicago, your alter ego,
Rich Koz, hosted Three Stooges shorts.
Since humor is such a big part of your
show, who were your comedic heroes?
Svengoolie: Certainly a lot of the old-
school comedians, like the Marx Brothers,
especially Groucho. I learned a lot by
watching him. Also Laurel and Hardy—I
always loved them—and the Three
Stooges. And then there were people
like Jack Benny and George Burns. Albert
Brooks I always thought was really, really
good. Also, George Carlin. Since I do a lot
of voices, I like people like Rich Little.
And then there are local people I
admired. Again, Jerry G. Bishop. I was a big
fan or his through his radio and TV work,
and he had a comedic influence on me.
But the old-school comedians, I just
and saying, “I don’t understand this.” Even thought were fantastic, and there were
(ABOVE) Special guest Gilbert Gottfried
though they didn’t get what I was doing, stand-up guys I thought were really
and Svengoolie. No rubber chickens for the most part, they let me do it. impressive. I learned a lot from watching
were harmed during the staging of this all these guys.
photo. (BELOW) Golly, MAD takes notice RF: One of the most famous clips from
of Svengoolie in issue four. © E. C. Publica- that show is the Cancelled Song from RF: I always love it when you are able to
tions, Inc.
your final episode. That whole segment get a classic Marx Brothers movie or a
was so meta, letting the audience know Bob Hope movie on your show, but from
the show was coming to an end and what I understand, aren’t those the films
still making fun of the situation. I was viewers complain about?
wondering if that might have raised Svengoolie: Oh, yeah. We have the
some eyebrows at the station? hardcore horror fans that if it isn’t a flat-
Svengoolie: No. Quite honestly, they out horror movie, they reject it. They will
never paid attention to what I did a even complain about Abbott and Costello
lot of the time. During the last year Meet Frankenstein, which honestly is one
they were worried about how much of the movies we get the most requests
production time we were taking. for, or The Ghost and Mr. Chicken with Don
They cut back on time they gave Knotts, another one people ask for all the
us for segments on air. WFLD time. But yet the hardcore fans will be
was preparing to become a like, “That’s comedy. We don’t want to see
FOX station. I remember that—we want to see monsters.” So, no
when I was told that the matter what I do, I get some complaints
show was going to end. The from some sector. You just learn to live
boss called me in and told with it, and majority rules in regard to
me, “We just don’t feel what people really want to see and that
your show is something shows up in the ratings.
that should be on a
network.” Then they RF: Well, speaking as a North Carolina
aired The Joan Rivers native, Andy Griffith and Don Knotts
Late Night Show are practically royalty here. I know a lot
of folks who are always delighted to see

RETRO television
RETRO television
[Knotts in] The Ghost and Mr. Chicken. You
have a lot of fans in the Tar Heel State
who love that movie and love you when
you air it
Svengoolie: That’s good to know. I love the
monsters and I am happy to show them,
and we have a good reaction to them, but
there is always that sector that will say,
“What is this? This isn’t a horror movie.” We
recently ran the film The 5,000 Fingers of
Dr. T, the Dr. Seuss movie, and boy, did we
get some complaints about that. We had
people that thought that was something
that should not be aired on a horror-movie
show.
RF: I kind of liked that movie. It was a fun,

weird fantasy film, the type you don’t
see every day. I like the mixture of films
you have where you can show a film like
that, then a classic horror movie, and
then maybe a science-fiction film. You’re
starting to screen some of Vincent Price’s
films and the Ray Harryhausen films, and
I love seeing those in the mix, too. personally will stay up late to watch Alfred
Svengoolie: We’re getting access to a few Hitchcock Presents.
more films from other distributors besides (ABOVE) And you thought we were
Universal. The Universals, of course, are RF: One of the things I love about your kidding when we said Mama Family’s
great and I always want to have them, but show is that you will let the viewers know Vicki Lawrence made a Svengoo-
it’s nice to be able to mix it up a little bit if you have a new, better print of the lie appearance! (BELOW) Attaboy,
Luther! Yes, The Ghost and Mr. Chicken
and bring in some new things. film being screened. I love that MeTV is is a horror movie, and we love it when
This year, for the first time, we’re always trying to give the viewer the best Svengoolie dusts it off for a showing. ©
running [Vincent Price in] House of Wax, TV-watching experience. I recently saw Universal Pictures. Poster courtesy of Heritage.
which I have never run in my entire career. ads for M*A*S*H that mention how the
It’s really great to have a film like that. station has acquired brand-new, better
We’re already working to get movies into prints of the episodes, and you can tell
2020. That’s nice to hear from my bosses, that the quality is just so much better.
because that means I’ll still have a job. And MeTV is running Buck Rogers in high
definition for the first time.
RF: As a fan of your show, that makes Svengoolie: Yes, it’s really cool. A lot of
me happy to know you have job security. people are used to seeing prints that were
From what I understand, your show is the poor dubs that were cycled around from
highest-rated show on MeTV, or one of station to station and then sent to the next
the highest rated. person who had a contract for the shows.
Svengoolie: It does really well every week. To have these brand-new, clear prints is
I wouldn’t say we’re the highest rated, but great. One of the things I love about the
we do real well. We’re trending in the top Universal films was, the black-and-white
ten nationally on Twitter and a few times film really creates an atmosphere, and to
we’ve hit number one. have this sharp picture is great. It’s great
And yes, the ratings are always to have the picture look as good as it did
good. There’s other stuff on MeTV that when these movies first ran on the big
does really well. The Westerns are really screen in the Thirties or Forties.
popular. And, of course, The Andy Griffith
Show always gets the great ratings. RF: I love the better prints, and I also
There’s such a great variety on MeTV, from loved the most recent version of Bela
M*A*S*H to Perry Mason. Perry Mason is Lugosi’s Dracula you showed with the
a real blockbuster. The ratings are also soundtrack from a later French version
good on Star Trek and The Twilight Zone. I of the movie. I thought that was just
amazing. I have friends on Facebook
RETRO television
that watch your show and everyone was

Svengoolie occasionally makes buzzing about this version of the film.
convention appearances, like It just had everyone excited that night.
(TOP) this one in Chicago in It’s that kind of commitment to bringing
2018 and another (RIGHT) at the
Batcave. something new to these movies that I
think the fans love.
Svengoolie: Even with that French
soundtrack, people will say, “You have run
that movie a lot,” but with these classics, I
don’t think you can run them too much as
long as you’re not running the same movie
every week, more or less. There are always
people who love to see them and always,
for someone, this is the first time they have
seen the movie. In some ways I wonder
AND THE
how could you not have seen these movies,
but it’s a great experience for them to see
AWARD GOES TO…

them in such great shape. And with the
movies we show, if you watch them every
SVENGOOLIE!
time, you’re going find something you
didn’t notice before. And we always try to
RetroFan congratulates Svengoolie on point out certain things that they might
winning the 2018 Rondo Hatton Classic have missed or something that is really
Horror Award for Favorite Horror Host (his unusual. We hear from people all the time
seventh win in a row)! The Rondos, named who are grateful and love when I fill the
for Forties’ horror actor Rondo Hatton background in on the actors. They always
(shown in his “Creeper” role, from House of comment on that, and I do that because
Horrors), are voted on by fans. We here at I’m a fan of all this stuff. I’ll watch movies
RetroFan agree that this award proves that and think, “I know that guy, but I don’t
Svengoolie is truly America’s Horror Host. know where I’ve seen him before!” We do
the research so we can point it out, and it
© Universal Pictures. helps connect the dots for a lot of people.

RETRO television
RF: That is one of my favorite segments

of your show, when you spotlight the
various actors and actresses in the movie
you’re showing. So many of these folks
had varied careers and played in so many
genres, yet the general public doesn’t
know who they are.
Svengoolie: A lot of people say, “Man,
you’re such an expert on this.” But you
know, I am not an expert on these things.
I have to do the research on all this stuff.
I still have a bunch of old books at home
that I use. I have
learned this stuff
along the way
and I just have
gained this vast
knowledge of film.
RF: It’s a great

service you’re
paying to all
these actors and
actresses, as well
as the directors
and producers and
writers who made
these movies.
Every Saturday night, you bring them
to life again, for a couple hours, and
you introduce them to new fans. As a
hardcore movie fan, I thank you from the
bottom of my heart for that.
Svengoolie: Well, thanks. That is nice to
hear.
RF: You were a Chicago institution for

many years and you are always making
personal appearances in your hometown.
Now that you are nationally known, have
you thought of going to other parts of the
country for personal appearances?
Svengoolie: Yes, we’re actually starting to
get some feelers for stuff in other places.
Quite honestly, we just need to figure out
how to do it between the work I have to do
here and being able to get all that done. DAN JOHNSON (TOP) It’s a MST3K sandwich! Svengoo-
lie is flanked by Trace Beaulieu and
Eventually we would like to go out to other is a comics writer
Frank Conniff of Mystery Science Theater
cities. It’s just a matter of figuring out the whose work can be 3000. (INSET) When horror hosts
logistics. found in Cemetery collide! Our cover star and the cover
Plots from Empire star of our previous Halloween edition,
Comics Lab RetroFan #2, Elvira! (ABOVE) Regis
Philbin!
RetroFan would like to thank Svengoolie’s (empirecomicslab.
Executive Producer, Jim Roche, for helping to com). His other notable comics work
arrange this interview and helping to make includes Herc and Thor for Antarctic Press
it happen. Thanks also to Jim for providing and several books for Campfire Graphic
the Svengoolie set photos accompanying this Novels. He is also a gag writer for the Dennis
article. the Menace comic strip.
RETRO FAD
Rubik’s Cube
by Michael Eury largely forgotten toon about a sentient, super-
powered cube named Rubik (voiced by
The Rubik’s Cube was created to make me feel Welcome Back, Kotter’s own Arnold
stupid. Horshack, actor Ron Palillo) that
Well, I doubt that was the intention of solved mysteries with a group of kids.
Hungarian architecture professor Ernõ Rubik In just a few short years, however,
when he sculpted his first “Magic Cube” in 1974 the Rubik’s Cube fad had peaked, and
as a tool to teach algebraic group theory at the most of the millions of Rubik’s Cubes
Budapest Academy of Applied Arts. But after sold joined other former favorites
Dr. Rubik licensed his three-dimensional puzzle like lava lamps and pet rocks as
to Ideal Toys in 1980 and it became a worldwide household dust collectors.
sensation, I just couldn’t get the hang of his Yet this was not the end of the
rechristened “Rubik’s Cube,” that plastic block Rubik’s Cube. While its sales had
of brightly hued, pivoting rows of squares where the dropped precipitously by the mid-
solution is the alignment of its like colors on each of its sides. Eighties, those aforementioned Math people
In the early Eighties, I was a recent college graduate, dripping helped make the Rubik’s Cube a perennial item, one touted
with hubris and ambition—nothing was going to hold me back by brainiacs as an intelligence gauge. Speedcubing quickly
now, I was gonna make my dreams come true, doing it my way. evolved as a “sport” among cube aficionados, with Math people
Then the Rubik’s Cube shattered my confidence, and I wanted to plying their algorithms to out-solve their opponents. These
shatter it with a well-aimed mallet swing. I couldn’t, because this competitions, which occur across the globe and have gained
cube wasn’t mine… it belonged to my younger brother. Fiddle and popularity during the 21st Century, include events where
shift and turn the cube as I might, the only skill I honed from it contestants race to
was my recitation of four-letter words. solve the Rubik’s
There’s a four-letter word that’s at the heart of the Rubik’s Cube while
Cube, and the explanation for my inability to conquer it: m-a-t-h. blindfolded. Or
There are Math people, and there are Word people. I’m the latter. with one hand.
Luckily, Wheel of Fortune was around Or with their feet!
to help me lick my wounds from the Rubik’s Cubes have
accursed cube—I can glance at a word been featured
puzzle and quickly “see” its possibilities, in numerous TV
sometimes without having to buy a shows and movies,
vowel. Not so with math. If your life and have inspired
depends upon my solving a Suduko sculptures in major
puzzle, I hope your Last Will and metropolitan areas.
Testament is in order. You can watch
There are not enough Math YouTube videos of
people in the world to make a “toy” an Math people wrestling with refrigerator-sized Rubik’s Cubes.
international sensation, so I obviously While the fad has long faded, the Rubik’s Cube’s main
wasn’t the only Word person fumbling contribution to our culture was its liberation of the slide-rule-
with a Rubik’s Cube during its heyday. toting, pocket-protected Math people who were once shoved
The New York Times reported that 25% into school lockers by jocks. Now they are the ones twisting and
of Ideal Toys’ sales of $216.8 million turning society with their creation of the hardware and software
in 1981 was attributed to the Rubik’s that define us and the codes and algorithms that run them. The
Cube, not a bad haul for a novelty that retailed for five bucks or ultimate revenge of the nerds.
so. The sure sign of a successful product is a tsunami of profiteers,
and by those standards, the Rubik’s Cube was a smash: knock-
offs crowded the shelves, how-to books like The Simple Solution
to Rubik’s Cube became bestsellers, and supplemental products (TOP) Rubik’s cube. © Rubik’s Brand Ltd. (LEFT) Rubik’s Cube
like the unfortunately named “Cube Lube” lubricant were rushed creator Ernõ Rubik in 2014. Photo by Babak Mansouri/Wikimedia
onto the market. Saturday morning television added Ruby- Commons. (RIGHT) Title card cel to the animated Rubik, the
Spears Productions’ Rubik, the Amazing Cube to its line-up, a Amazing Cube. © Ruby-Spears Productions. Courtesy of Heritage.

ANDY MANGELS’ RETRO SATURDAY MORNING
Ghost Busters stars Forrest

Tucker, Larry Storch, and
Bob Burns, and the show
logo. © Filmation.
by Andy Mangels
Welcome back to Andy Mangels’ Retro Saturday Morning. Since capturing our memories. Grab some milk and cereal, sit cross-
1989, I have been writing columns for magazines in the U.S. and legged leaning against the couch, and dig in to Retro Saturday
foreign countries, all examining the intersection of comic books Morning!
and Hollywood, whether animation or live-action. Andy Mangels
Backstage, Andy Mangels’ Reel Marvel, Andy Mangels’ Hollywood It’s 1975, and ghosts, werewolves, and mummies are creeping
Heroes, Andy Mangels Behind the Camera… three decades of you out at the castle inexplicably placed on the southern
reporting on animation and live-action—in addition to writing California hill. In other words, there’s something strange in your
many books and producing around 40 DVD sets—and I’m still neighborhood… Who you gonna call? The Ghost Busters, that’s
enthusiastic. In this new RetroFan column, I will examine shows who. But not Venkman, Stantz, Spengler, and Zeddemore, who
that thrilled us from yesteryear, exciting our imaginations and wouldn’t strap on their proton packs for another eight years.
RETRO FAD
We’re talking the OG Ghost Busters, Spencer, Tracy, and Kong, stars of the live-action 1975
CBS show The Ghost Busters from Filmation Associates. The trio brought a slapstick humor
to Saturday mornings for 15 demented episodes, and unintentionally launched a name-
confusing franchise that’s still ongoing today!
From a Scream to Laughter

The concept of paranormal investigators has been lurking around Hollywood since
cinema began, though several of its earliest iterations were based on the 1909 Broadway
play The Ghost Breaker. That story was adapted for a 1914 silent film by Cecil B. DeMille,
a 1922 silent remake, the 1940 Bob Hope-starring The Ghost Breakers, and the 1953
Jerry Lewis/Dean Martin film Scared Stiff, all from Paramount. The Bowery Boys also
investigated hauntings in the 1951 Monogram Pictures release Ghost Chasers. Television
animation jumped onto the bandwagon in 1969 with the CBS and Hanna-Barbera series
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!
One element that most of the paranormal comedy-horror projects had in common
was that the hauntings and horrors were almost never actually supernatural in origin,
but often were elaborate hoaxes being played for greed, revenge, or other criminal
acts. Very few of the features were about actual monsters, until Abbott and Costello Meet
Frankenstein in 1948, which was followed up by Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man
(1951), Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1953), and Abbott and Costello Meet the
Mummy (1955).
Ironically, none of the above were what initially inspired Filmation head Lou
Scheimer to commission plans for the animation studio’s next live-action hit for CBS in
1974: the inspiration came from a combination of the true crime radio series Gang Busters
(1936–1957) and the sitcom F Troop (1965–1967).
Founded in the early Sixties by animators Lou Scheimer and Hal Sutherland, with
ex-disc jockey Norm Prescott, Filmation Associates had been riding high on Saturday
morning animation since the 1966 debut of their The New Adventures of Superman series.
Although the majority of their shows were animated spin-offs based on live-action
licensed properties—Fantastic Voyage, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Batman, The Brady
Kids, Star Trek, Lassie’s Rescue Rangers, and The New Adventures of Gilligan, to name a few—
Filmation eventually branched out to live-action original series. Their first such show
was Shazam! in 1974 [see cover story in RetroFan #4], and in 1975, the studio produced the
first live-action superheroine series with The Secrets of Isis, plus the bizarre anthology Uncle
Croc’s Block… and the original The Ghost Busters.
Part of the reason for the boom in live-action series on the traditionally cartoon-
dominated Saturday mornings was that animation costs had risen so high that that a
live-action budget on a show with a small cast and limited sets could be produced for
almost the same amount, and with a much faster turnaround time. The networks also
dangled the hopes above studios’ heads that a live show might transition to primetime
evening fare if it was popular enough. And actors too were attracted to the new market;
for Krofft shows such as H. R. Pufnstuf (1969), The Bugaloos (1970), Lidsville (1971), Sigmund
and the Sea Monsters (1973–1975), and Land of the Lost (1974–1976), popular primetime
comedy actors such as Jim Nabors, Bob Denver, and Ruth Buzzi were finding a lucrative
second career. Actors working on kids’ shows could reach an audience of 35 million kids
who would grow up already knowing who they were, enabling them to charge more
for a multitude of personal appearance fees for car shows, boat shows, fairs, circuses,
and shopping center openings. In the days before comic conventions were pop-culture
heaven, this meant big bucks for TV actors who didn’t mind meeting their audiences.
To develop what would become The Ghost Busters, Lou Scheimer went to one of his
chief writers and idea men, Marc Richards, who had delivered The Brady Kids and other
series for the studio. “I went to Marc and said, ‘Let’s try to do something that’s different,
more adult than we normally do. Maybe we can work something out for Saturday
morning that goes nighttime,’” said Scheimer in my interviews with him for the 2012
Precursors to Filmation’s Ghost Busters include the film comedies Ghost

Breakers, Ghost Chasers, and Scared Stiff. Ghost Breakers and Scared Stiff © 1940
and 1953 Paramount. Ghost Chasers © 1951 Monogram. Posters courtesy of Heritage.

RETRO FAD
TwoMorrows book, Lou Scheimer: Creating the Filmation Generation.

“I think he said something like, ‘Well, what about something like
Gang Busters, but we call them Ghost Busters?’ Marc was brilliant
and fast. And I said, ‘Gee, that sounds fun. What can we do?’ ‘We’ll
take all those monsters who’ve ever been in the movies, stick
them in one place.’
Richards began development, and returned to Scheimer
with a fuller premise. “He came back to me and said, ‘I’ve got the
detective agency, and they’re ghost hunters, and we give them
some stuff that kills ghosts, but it really doesn’t kill them, and we
call the characters Spencer, Tracy, and Kong. Spencer [alternately
“Spenser,” as painted on their office door] is one of the guys in
this agency, and Kong is his partner. And they’ve got a gorilla who
works with them.’ And I said, ‘The gorilla’s Kong!’ He said, ‘No,
the gorilla’s Tracy.’ I said, ‘Why is he Tracy?’ ‘Because it’s funnier.’
I figured, ‘Okay, he’s right.’ Marc did strange things. So, it was
Spencer, Tracy, and Kong.”
After staff artists did some presentation drawings for the
series, Scheimer met with CBS executive Fred Silverman in New
York to pitch the show in February 1975. “I told him about this
concept we had to do a spooky, laughable show. He liked the idea.
He said, ‘You’ve got to get somebody the kids will know to do the
lead characters. I mean, you’ve got two guys who are live, and
you’ve got a gorilla.’ I said, ‘Well, it probably ought be easier to
find the gorilla than the live guys.’”
Filmation had worked with comedian Larry Storch
[interviewed in these pages in our next issue!] on the studios’
earlier hit, Groovie Goolies [see story in RetroFan #2], and Storch’s
agent also represented Forrest Tucker. The two had appeared
in the ABC sitcom F Troop from 1965–1967, and the series was in
constant reruns on syndicated television. F Troop also featured the
same kind of slapstick and physical comedy, born of vaudevillian
and burlesque stage acts, that Filmation intended for The Ghost
Busters. And Storch and Tucker had camaraderie both off-screen
and on-screen, making them perfect to team up again for
character-based humor.
“They were a comedy team like Abbott and Costello,”
Scheimer said. “They were also crazy, crazy people. We had
a meeting, and I told them what we wanted to do. Storch
turns around and says, ‘What do you think, Sarge?’ just like his
character from F Troop. They wanted to do it, and just like that we
had our stars. Except for one… we still had to find a gorilla.”
Who’s the Guy in the Monkey Suit?

“On our budget we couldn’t afford both an actor and a gorilla
suit, so we needed to try to find an actor who owned a gorilla suit,”
said Scheimer. “We put a call out to all sorts of agents and the
casting people working for us, and set up a time for me to meet
the potential gorillas.” Enter Bob Burns, a man who worked at
CBS, and in his spare time, collected science-fiction and horror
movie props, including the armature for the original King Kong
movie model. Burns had put together his own gorilla costume
with his wife, Kathy, for fun, around 1963. The mask, feet, and
hands had been made for Burns by Don Post, Sr. of the famous
mask company Don Post Studios, and Burns called it Kogar. Burns
was soon booked as the gorilla on an episode of Mickey, a 1964
Main cast and producer credits. © Filmation.

RETRO FAD
Mickey Rooney show, and occasionally got

other jobs in his suit. Feeling the Kogar
mask was too angry looking, Burns asked
future make-up star Rick Baker to sculpt
him a new, friendlier head, which was
completed in 1974, just before fate was
about to drop a banana in Burns’ paws.
“I worked in the film department there
at CBS,” says Burns, “and a gal that was
one of the assistant directors there was
at a meeting one night, a production type
school thing, and Lou Scheimer was one of
the guest speakers. And during a break, he
was sitting there saying, ‘Oh, man, this is
the worst day I’ve ever had in my life.’ She
said, ‘What’s wrong?’ He said, ‘We’ve got
this show to do, it’s called The Ghost Busters, Tracy and his “trainer,” Bob Burns, the man inside the very
about three detectives, one is Forrest Tucker, and Larry Storch, hot gorilla suit. © Filmation.
and other is a gorilla! But we gone through all the gorilla people,
we’ve seen the suits, they’re terrible, and we may even have to
cancel the show if we can’t find a gorilla.’ She said, ‘Well, wait a into Lou’s office. Norman Abbott, the director was there, Marc
minute, I work with a guy at CBS, he has his own gorilla suit, and Richards, who wrote the script, they’re all there. I go walking in,
he works and does stuff all the time.’ And Lou says, ‘Well, why and I could see they liked the look of the suit when I walked in.
haven’t I heard of him?’ She says, ‘Well, he doesn’t really go out Marc says, ‘All right, let me tell you, Tracy the Gorilla, he can’t
looking for jobs, they just kind of come to him.’ And he says, ‘Any talk, he can grunt and snort, he can draw, he can do pantomime,
way you can get hold of him first thing in the morning? I mean, he just can’t talk. That’s all he can do. So, what would you do if
we’re desperate now.’” you were Tracy the Gorilla?’ So I looked for a moment, thinking,
The next morning, at the behest of the girl, Burns asked ‘hmm… what am I going to do here? I’ve never had to audition for
his wife to take a long lunch hour to help him. “She’s the gorilla a thing like this.’ So there was a chair there, I sat down in the chair,
wrangler, of course. So anyway, she puts me in the suit, we go and I crossed my legs, mainly the way I sit anyways, and there was

RETRO FAD
(LEFT) Director Norman Abbott

(SEATED, CENTER) and the Ghost
Busters cast. (TOP) Abbott directs
Storch and Burns on the GB set.
(ABOVE) Somebody dock that
sign painter’s pay! He misspelled
“Spencer” on the Ghost Busters’
agency door! © Filmation.

RETRO FAD
a copy of Variety on the desk, and I picked up and

started reading it. And they said, ‘that’s Tracy the
Gorilla.’ And a week later, we were shooting.”
Scheimer recalled that Burns “had his eyes
painted black so his eyes really looked like a monkey.
I walked over to him and asked him for his agent. He
said, ‘Tarzan.’ I knew we had our guy. He later chose
to have his screen credit read, ‘Tracy trained by Bob
Burns,’ and a lot of people thought Tracy really was a
gorilla!”
“Working with Forrest Tucker and Larry Storch
was just the greatest thing you could possibly ever
do,” Burns says enthusiastically. “The first day on the
set, I was just in awe of these guys. I knew Tuck from
old Westerns, I’m a Western fan, and I knew he and
Larry from F Troop, which I loved. Well, I was afraid of
these guys, and here I’m thinking, ‘here I am, a guy in a
suit, and animals and kids can upstage anybody,’ and I
thought, ‘Oh, my God, if I upstage these guys, they’ll kill
me!’ Tuck’s 6’6”—the guy could kill me! And I didn’t know
him at all, so in rehearsal, I did this shtick they wanted
me to do, I happened to look at Tuck, I didn’t know him
real well then, and he kind of gave me a glance… I thought, ‘Uh- and you guys are the last guys in the world I want to upstage. I’m
oh, I think I did something wrong.’ So, when we actually shot the the new kid on the block here, so I’m afraid.’ And Tuck says, ‘That’s
first scene, I held back and didn’t do it. what your problem is? Oh, my God, I’m much too old for that! And
“Norm Abbott, who was directing, came over and said, ‘Bob, Larry’s just too dumb, he doesn’t care anyway.’ And Larry goes,
something’s wrong here. You’re not giving me the stuff I want.’ ‘Yup, yup,’ because they were such good buddies anyway. And he
And I said, ‘Well, Norm, I’ve got a problem here.’ And he said, says, ‘If you can stand behind me and go blooodoooloopp and get
‘What’s your problem? Man, we’ve got 15 shows in nine weeks, a laugh, we’re here to make people laugh. We’re going to end up
we’ve got to go!’ And I said, ‘I’ve got to talk to these guys.’ So I being second bananas to a gorilla anyway. We already know that.
went over, they were both sitting in their chairs, and my heart’s And that’s fine, we’re here to entertain people. Get a laugh.’ And
pounding, because I thought, ‘Oh, I’ll be fired right now,’ and boy, from that moment on, it was like the biggest cloud had lifted
I said, ‘Guys, can I talk to you for a minute? I’ve got a problem.’ from me!”
And Tuck looks at me—and I didn’t know Tuck’s sense of humor Scheimer noted that the co-stars not only sacrificed laughs to
at that time—and says, ‘What could possibly be your problem?’ Burns, but protected him as well. “Tucker and Storch fell in love
Well, I just want to go climb in a hole, but I look back at Norm, with him. They cuddled him. They nourished him. Because he
and he’s going, ‘Fix it, fix it,’ and I said, ‘Well, I’m trying to do the couldn’t stay in the gorilla suit too long. He’d start sweating under
thing, but I’m holding back, because I’m in such awe of you guys, the sun or the heavy lights; it was awful! If he stayed in there ten
minutes, he’d start to faint! Every time the gorilla
would almost faint, Tucker and Storch would catch
him. They started making him take more breaks so
that he wouldn’t faint.”
“Tuck became the father figure for me,”
remembers Burns. “Like one day, I just passed out,
because I kept the gorilla head on too long, because
I just didn’t want to shake up the troops, you know.
And he was the first guy over to me, he made up
new rules, like, ‘Okay, we’re going to give him a break
whenever he’s tired, pop the head off, give him some
air, water, whatever he needs, I’m going to go to my
trailer have a little drink,’ which he did occasionally,
‘and I’ll come back and shoot…’ He took care of me.
(ABOVE) Filmation head Lou Scheimer

(RIGHT) and friends on the Ghost Busters set.
This photograph was signed to CBS bigwig
Fred Silverman. (LEFT) Man-mountain
Forrest Tucker as Kong (CENTER) shows he
can mug just as well as his co-stars. © Filmation.

RETRO FAD
Well, everybody on the set took care of me. He would even give One element the producers hadn’t planned for, according to
me, like in a rim shot at the end of the show, they used to show his Scheimer, was that “Larry was a connoisseur of fine liquors, and
face in one, and he’d say, ‘Oh, no, do it on Trace, he’s uglier than I Forrest, a hard-drinking man. They decided they were going to
am, let’s shoot him,’ and he’d give me the rim shots half the time.” meet each other for breakfast every morning. Well, I didn’t know
that ‘breakfast’ was two bottles of champagne. Part of the deal
Haunting the Sets we had to make with them was that Storch wanted two gallon
The scripts for The Ghost Busters were all written very quickly, and jugs of white wine any time we shot. With Tucker it was a case of
unlike most series, all by one writer: creator Marc Richards. “Marc beer. I got a call from Tucker after the second week of shooting,
Richards started writing on the show, and I told him we needed and he said, ‘Forget the case of beer a day; from now on it’s Jack
more writers,” said Scheimer. “He wanted to know why, and I Daniels.’ They would start out drunk and get sober by the end of
told him we had to have a script a week. I knew he could write an the shoot!”
animated short in a week, but he said he could do the scripts with Many well-known comedians were cast in the guest roles as
more than enough time to spare. All of them! It turned out that the ghosts and monsters, including Howard Morris, Jim Backus,
the son of a gun was one of the fastest we ever had. He’d bring Billy Barty, Ted Knight, Marty Ingels, and others. “They loved the
in a script on Monday, he’d do a story, Tuesday we’d rehearse, scripts,” said Scheimer. “Most of them had never done anything
Wednesday we’d shoot—we shot for two-and-a-half days—and for Saturday morning, and, when they read these scripts, they
Mark would go write another script. He did 15 scripts for that were funny. It was one of the funniest shows ever done for
season—two a week—but I almost never saw him sitting down to Saturday morning, truly a wacky comedy. I hate the word wacky,
work, so I don’t know when he wrote them. He had some ghosts but that’s what it was.”
in there doing it. Or, maybe there were ghostwriters?” Burns recalls working with two of the guests in particular.
The Ghost Busters plots hinged on the premise that from “One was our vampire show we did. Little fella named Billy Holms
their run-down office, Spencer, Tracy, and Kong take on did this old, old, Jewish-type vampire guy that was so funny!
assignments no mere mortal could face, backed up by a weapon He just developed the character himself, and I loved the playoff
for dispatching ghosts called the “Ghost Dematerializer.” In the we had together. And then we had Richie Balin, who did the
super-secret missions assigned to them by the mysterious “Zero,” Abominable Snowman, which was the last show we actually shot.
the trio of bumbling detectives confront phantoms, vampires, But he could get more out of this Snowman suit—it was just a big
werewolves, the Frankenstein monster, mobsters, Vikings,
magicians, and even a devilish dummy… who are usually haunting
a nearby cobwebbed castle!
The sets were built on sound stages at a secondary studio
known as Filmation West (in Canoga Park, California, instead of
the main offices in nearby Reseda), a warehouse in an industrial
park. The sets included the Ghost Busters’ office, a graveyard, and
the outdoors, halls, and rooms of a castle. The sets for Uncle Croc’s
Block and Isis were also in the same studio, and with those shows
filming—as well as the mostly-on-location series Shazam!—the
actors would sometimes run into each other in costume. Filming
commenced in the summer months.
The biggest prop for the show was an old 1925 car for them to
ride around in for outdoor scenes. “It was the worst automobile in
the world,” said Scheimer. “When we found it, it had been used as
a taxi in Argentina. Don’t ask me how we found it. We got this car,
we got some mechanics, and they got it to work to turn it into the
Ghost Busters’ car.” Tracy, the gorilla, became the chauffeur, as
seen repeatedly in the opening credits.
All of the location stuff was shot in the hills near a little town
called Piru in East Ventura County, including scenes set at a store
where the Ghost Busters got their assignments. “We kind of
made fun of spy shows like Mission: Impossible when they got their
mission for the episode,” said Scheimer. “I did the voice of Zero,
the guy who gave them their assignments. They filmed all 15 of
the intros in the first couple of weeks up in this horrible desert. It
was hot and miserable, and Tracy was fainting all the time.”
When Filmation Worlds Collide! John

Davey, Shazam!’s second Captain Marvel,
and Bob Burns. © Filmation. Shazam! TM & ©
DC Comics.

RETRO FAD
FAST FACTS Among Ghost Busters’ guests: (LEFT) RetroFan fave Ted Knight as Simon de
Canterville, with Burns as Tracy, from the episode “The Canterville Ghost”; and
(RIGHT) Get Smart’s Bernie Kopell is Dr. Frankenstein and William Engesser as
The Ghost Busters the monster in “Dr. Whatsisname.” © Filmation.
`` No. of seasons: One
`` No. of episodes: 15
`` Production dates: shot July blob of hair, but his body English… he had a way of working the suit that was wonderful,
3–September 5, 1975 and the both of us had the greatest time ever.”
`` Original run: September 6, One frequent guest was the uncredited son of Lou Scheimer, Lane Scheimer.
1975–1976 (CBS, Saturdays “Nepotism works,” Scheimer said with a laugh. “I hired my son Lane to be a stand-in for
`` Reruns: September 11, Tucker. He was the only guy around who was bigger than Tucker. My son was a big guy.
1978–1979 (CBS, Sundays) And he’s also the ghost in the main title! Nobody really believed him when he would tell
Primary Cast them once the show got popular: ‘Oh, yeah, I’m on television. I’m a ghost in a main title.’”
`` Forrest Tucker: Kong Burns soon found out that The Ghost Busters gave him a paycheck, but also
`` Larry Storch: Spencer anonymity. “A lot of people, when they saw the show, thought the gorilla was real! They
`` Bob Burns: Tracy used to get people writing in, saying, ‘How do you do this with this gorilla, I’d be afraid
`` Lou Scheimer: voice of Zero to even be on the set with him!’, and they’d write back and say, ‘Oh, we give him a lot of
(uncredited) bananas,’ and stuff like that. And I would never take the head off if I knew kids were
coming on the set. They’d always tell us, and I’d keep the head on all the time, and I
would do my bits, and my snorts. That’s another reason I always say I got the job, that’s
what Lou says, because I could do my own snorts, they didn’t have to dub in anything.”
Burns has a lot of affection for Scheimer. “Lou Scheimer was the greatest producer in
the world, he’d come in and laugh harder than anybody, I do believe. He almost messed
up a bunch of takes, just by starting to laugh.”
The Ghosts in the Machine

The new 1975 TV season debuted on September 6th, with CBS airing Ghost Busters at 11:30
a.m., shortly after The Shazam!/Isis Hour. Industry newspaper Variety labeled Ghost Busters
as “vaguely remindful of The Three Stooges.” All of the CBS shows performed well, taking
the top ratings in each of their timeslots.
“The Ghost Busters was enormously successful,” said Scheimer. “We picked up
an audience that was significantly older. We’d find out that kids in college wouldn’t
go do their classwork until af ter Ghost Busters was over! In October the Los Angeles
Herald-Examiner did a huge article about the big USC vs. Notre Dame game, a huge
football meet. But the article wasn’t about the team practicing plays, it was about
© Filmation.
the team and the coaching staf f watching Ghost Busters together pre-game! It was an
honest, true hit. Tucker and Storch felt that it was going to go to nighttime as soon
as somebody from the network really watched it. Unfortunately, it never happened.

RETRO FAD
(LEFT) No, it’s not the Uber driver you didn’t expect, but Tracy chauffeuring Spencer in the Ghost Busters’ car. (RIGHT) These guys had
a great time during the filming of Ghost Busters—and viewers did, too! © Filmation.
I don’t know whether anybody from the network outside of a letter out to Columbia, telling them that they were infringing
Silverman ever watched it.” on the title, and if there was any similarity in concept, Filmation
Despite its success, The Ghost Busters only lasted one season would hold them liable.
on Saturday mornings, but in Fall 1978, CBS brought the series Nothing happened right away, but in October 1983, Epstein
back for reruns on Sunday mornings at 9:00 a.m. The show was was in New York and came upon a movie filming on Sixth Avenue.
offered in syndication markets as of September 1980, and was Told that the crew were shooting a movie called Ghostbusters,
eventually offered in several VHS volumes by Continental Video Epstein fired off a cease and desist letter to Columbia. Shortly
under the title, The Original Ghost Busters. Why the title change? after that, Epstein and Scheimer were in a meeting with the
In the early Eighties, actor Dan Aykroyd wanted to make a head of Columbia Pictures. Scheimer recalled that “he said, ‘Well
comedy movie about a group of guys who fought ghosts. He sold you did an animated Saturday morning show, and we’re doing a
a script called Ghostbusters to Columbia around 1982, and word of live-action movie called Ghostbusters that has nothing to do with
the sale hit the trade papers. Filmation’s lawyer, Ira Epstein, sent
your animated show.’ I said, ‘Number one, it was a live show,’ and
he said, ‘Uh oh,’ and I said, ‘It was the same
concept that you’ve got on film right now. You
The Ghost Busters Theme Song guys don’t have the right to do that.’”
Apparently aware that the film might be
Sung by Forrest Tucker and Larry Storch forced to change titles, the movie had been
Written by Diane Hildebrand and Jackie Mills filmed with some alternate dialogue, with the
crowd chanting “Ghost Breakers” or “Ghost
We’re the Ghost Busters! We’re the Ghost Busters! Smashers,” but Columbia really wanted the
I’m Spencer, he’s Tracy… Spirits and demons beware! title “Ghostbusters.” “They went ahead and
I’m Kong! The Ghost Busters! released the movie on June 8, 1984, and it
We’re the Ghost Busters! Wherever you’re hiding out there! made a boatload of money,” said Scheimer.
We’re clever, courageous, and strong! “We went to court over the matter, and in
We know what you’re up to, mid-June, after appearing at L.A. Superior
Your sleep has been haunted, we’re ready for anything, Court, Columbia settled with us, paying us
with whispers and rattlings, we’re bold and we’re fearless, for the use of the title. Their obstinance really
your blood has been curdled, and never complain. cost them a lot. They gave us $608,000 for
we know what to do! We’re always prepared, the use of the concept and allowing them to
Your skin has the creepies, we’re right there with everything. utilize the name and the title, plus we had,
I wonder what’s happening? With us on the job, like, one percent of the profit. That profit
You’re safe in our hands, troubles will fade! percentage was a mistake on our part. If you
we will take care of you! The Ghost Busters do it again! know anything about Hollywood, you know
that no picture ever makes a profit. No matter
RETRO FAD
Dueling Ghostbusters!
After the success of
the live-action Ghost-
busters film, Filma-
tion and Columbia
battled for kid-TV
ratings with their
respective incarna-
tions. Filmation’s Ghost-
busters © Filmation. The
Real Ghostbusters ©
Columbia. Animation cels
courtesy of Heritage.
what it brings in at the box office, the accountants have ways Lou Scheimer and Bob Burns were included in some DVD
of making sure that on paper, no picture is ever profitable. So, promotions at Comic-Con International in San Diego in July 2007,
taking a piece of the deal was a mistake, as we never got another alongside other Filmation actors, but the poor booth layout for
dime. But we did get $608,000, which was okay. The one other their signings meant that most fans never even knew they were
mistake we made in the settlement—and it was my fault for not present.
thinking about it—was that Filmation didn’t keep the rights to Today, Bob Burns still lets fans come to visit “Bob’s
any animated version of Ghostbusters. That would end up being a Basement” to see old make-up and props from vintage films,
much bigger mistake.” and occasionally acts. Peter Jackson even put Burns and his wife,
Filmation began developing a five-day-a-week syndicated Kathy, in a scene in his 2005 King Kong remake, reacting to the
animated sequel to The Ghost Busters, using the sons of Spencer giant monkey when he breaks out of the theatre. “I’m not good at
and Kong, and the original Tracy. The second week of August remembering lines,” says Burns. “And my own face, I’m not good
1985, Filmation announced that 65 episodes of their “Ghostbusters” at that. Put the gorilla face on me, a whole different ballgame…
would be offered to televisions stations worldwide. A week I want to climb into the suit everyday now, but she won’t let me
later, Columbia announced that they, too, would be bringing a do it! But I’d love to! There’s two things I love to do, and one is
65-episode animated Ghostbusters series to syndication for fall comedy, and one is the gorilla.”
1986, going head-to-head with Filmation’s. The mistake in not As for The Ghost Busters, Burns says that, “It had something
keeping the animated rights to Ghostbusters in the settlement for everybody in it, including adults! It was a fun, fun show, and
deal had come back to bite Filmation! it wasn’t scary, it wasn’t meant to be scary! It was a great, great
Filmation’s 65-episode syndicated Ghostbusters debuted on show… and just about the best time I’ve ever had in my life.”
September 22, 1986 on 75 U.S. stations, while ABC ran 13 episodes
of Columbia’s The Real Ghostbusters beginning September 13, Unless otherwise credited, the quotes from Lou Scheimer are from
1986, before launching its own 65-episode syndicated run in the autobiography he wrote with Andy Mangels, for Lou Scheimer:
September 1987. With competing shows of almost identical Creating the Filmation Generation. Mangels’ interviews with Bob
names and competing toylines, viewers were confused. “Doing Burns were conducted in 2006. Artwork and photos are courtesy the
two Ghostbusters shows eventually turned out to be a huge error,” collection of Andy Mangels and Bob Burns.
said Scheimer. “It muddled things in the audience’s minds. Our
Ghostbusters was a great show, and I loved it a lot, but people got
us confused with Columbia’s show.” ANDY MANGELS is the USA Today
Filmation was closed down by a new parent company on bestselling author and co-author of 20
February 3, 1989, and nothing would be heard of The Ghost Busters books, including the TwoMorrows book
again for almost two decades. Lou Scheimer: Creating the Filmation
Generation, as well as Star Trek and
Busting a Legacy Star Wars tomes, Iron Man: Beneath
On April 17, 2007, following the success of DVD releases of He- the Armor, and a lot of comic books.
Man and the Masters of the Universe, BCI Eclipse released The Ghost He recently wrote the Wonder Woman ’77 Meets the Bionic
Busters: The Complete Series DVD Set as part of a series of the Woman series for Dynamite and DC Comics, and is currently
Filmation library on DVD. The three-disc set was produced by working on a book about the stage productions of Stephen King.
the author of this very article, Andy Mangels, and included all 15 Additionally, he has scripted, directed, and produced Special
episodes, plus interviews, rare footage, a gallery of photos, and Features and documentaries for over 40 DVD releases. His
all 15 PDF scripts. The animated Filmation’s Ghostbusters were moustache is infamous. www.AndyMangels.com and www.
released in two boxed sets (February 27 and July 3, 2007). All three WonderWomanMuseum.com
sets are now out of print and demand big dollars in online sales.

THE ODDBALL WORLD OF SCOTT SHAW!
NAUGAS
Adorable Threat or Loveable Menace?
by Scott Shaw!
New plant and animal species are constantly being discovered to accomplish the branding. Due to such successful accounts as
by scientists, usually in the most distant and desolate places on Peugeot automobiles, Maypo cereal, and Xerox, PKL’s assignment
our planet. However, there is a strain of creature that we have was to make consumers comfortable with a synthetic material of
known about for over half a century, one that’s both savagely vaguely mysterious origin.
indestructible and yet a selfless boon to mankind. Working with their designer Kurt Weihs, the PKL team
The name of this monstrous miracle of xenozoology? created a non-existent critter to be the source of Naugahyde.
I’m writing about the once-elusive Nauga, of course. And here But the “Nauga” looked like the opposite of a lovable Dr. Seuss
is its story… character. Instead, the Nauga, all crazed eyes, fangs, and claws,
looked more like, “What if Gonzo illustrator Ralph Steadman re-
Naugahyde®, an artificial leather, was invented in 1936 by designed Warner Bros.’ Tasmanian Devil?”
Byron A. Hunter, a senior chemist at the United States Rubber Surprisingly, it worked, possibly because the Nauga looked
Company, now known as Uniroyal® Engineered Products, Inc. even more unnatural than the material of which it was both the
The material itself is composed of a knit fabric backing coated by source and the result. The bizarre-looking creature supposedly
NAUGA: Jeff Kaplan/Archive.org BACKGROUND: andreas160578/Pixabay
a layer of polyvinyl chloride plastic. Its name was derived from hailed from Sumatra and shed its hide once a year for the good of
the city of Naugatuck, Connecticut, where it was first produced. mankind—and Uniroyal.
Naugahyde, a leather-like material, is extremely durable and It sounds to me like the PKL team were fans of Al Capp’s Li’l
easily cleaned, therefore it was well suited to upholster furniture Abner syndicated comic strip, which introduced the similarly
such as sofas and beanbag chairs. The new material became cooperative Shmoos in August 1948. After all, that lovable
so popular that in its wake, many imitations abounded. creature laid eggs, gave milk, and died of sheer ecstasy when
Therefore, it became necessary for looked at with hunger. The Shmoo loved to be eaten and
Uniroyal to “brand” Naugahyde tasted like any food desired. Anything that delighted people
to stand out from the crowd. delighted a Shmoo. Fry a Shmoo, and it came out chicken.
In 1966, the advertising Broil it, and it came out steak. Shmoo eyes made terrific
agency Papert Koenig Lois, suspender buttons. If cut thin, the hide of the Shmoo
also known as PKL—founded made fine leather, and if cut thick made the best
by Fred Papel, Julian Koenig,
and George Lois—was hired
When in Connecticut, be sure

to visit Naugatuck. Naugas ©
Uniroyal Engineered Products, LLC.

The oddball world of scott shaw!
Commission, might look upon the ugly Nauga as a for-real living
species. Huh?! Its hide might be considered genuine leather, they
contended, and that could be deemed deceptive advertising. ‘Kill
the Nauga,’ they said. ‘Over my dead body,’ I said. Research to the
rescue! A bunch of us from my ad agency hit Fifth Avenue and
showed tourists and New Yorkers our Nauga ads and asked, ‘Is
this a real animal?’ ‘What, are you nuts?’ they answered. ‘That’s
just a big, fat, ugly, snarling, make-believe creature with a cute
tush.’ The ugly Nauga was spared. He went into the marketplace
and Uniroyal overwhelmed their competitors. Today, the 12-inch
Nauga doll is a collector’s item (Jenette Kahn, the high-voltage
Late-night TV king Johnny Carson, an unidentified Nauga fan,

and—no, not Ed McMahon, but a real, live Nauga! © NBC Television.
lumber. Shmoo whiskers made splendid toothpicks. How

compliant can a non-existent creature get?
Let’s ask the Nauga. Or rather Naugas, because they
replicated faster than a synthetic leather bunny rabbit.
Uniroyal made it clear to the public that their “source”
of Naugahyde were enjoying themselves just fine:
“Naugas do give up their hydes. But they do it willingly
and they shed their skins quite often. They live to give
again and again. In fact, Naugas are so willing to please
that they often shed their hyde several times a year. No
self-respecting hunter would ever try to hurt a Nauga.
However, to protect the little Naugas from the curious,
they now are living on a secret ranch somewhere near
Stoughton, Wisconsin.” Uniroyal even went so far as to refer to
Naugahyde as “the cruelty-free fabric.”
In television commercials and in print advertisements in
the nation’s “slick” magazines, the Nauga became the spokes-
creature for Naugahyde furniture and other applications. When
the Nauga appeared live, it was taller than a basketball center,
and lurking inside the walking Naugahyde sauna room was
comedian Chuck McCann, perspiring like a maniac. Twelve-inch
Nauga dolls—made of multicolored Naugahyde—were given to
the children of parents shopping for new furniture, to which were
attached hangtags with images of Naugas printed on them. The Naugas were made
for Naugahyde adver-
giant Nauga even made an appearance on The Tonight Show with
tisements! © Uniroyal
Johnny Carson! Engineered Products, LLC.
George Lois once said, “Before our first ad ran (the Nauga
is ugly, but his vinyl hide is beautiful), legal objections were
raised. Too many people, it was claimed by the Federal Trade

The oddball world of scott shaw!
NOT NECESSARILY
NAUGAS®
Don’t be confused by pop culture’s
NAUGA SHMOO other adorable monsters when
wanting to cuddle up with a Nauga—
use this handy-dandy identification
guide to keep your creatures straight!
Naugas © Uniroyal Engineered Products, LLC.

Shmoo © Capp Enterprises, Inc. Tasmanian Devil
© Warner Bros. UglyDoll © PrettyUgly/SMK+DH.
TASMANIAN DEVIL UGLYDOLL
president of DC Comics, sleeps with 31 of the sexy beasts in her (Uniroyal, nobody loves the Naugas more than I do, but even I
bedroom). The ugly Nauga lives on. That’s my boy!” think you’re overdoing the Nauga-niceties here. “Adorable”? Have
(Former DC Comics president Jenette Kahn loved Naugas? No you taken a close look at one lately? Get too close to a Nauga and
wonder she claimed that Captain Carrot and his Amazing Zoo Crew! it’ll take your !?!#%&*!?! nose off!)
was her favorite funnybook!)
A November 1967 magazine advertisement suggested: Naugahyde is still manufactured in Stoughton, Wisconsin,
“Invite a Nauga to your next party. Punch him in the nose the and sold by Uniroyal Engineered Products, LLC, a publicly held
minute he comes through the door. Spill a Bloody Mary on him. company under Invisa, Inc. And if you want to adopt your own
Get him with a pie in the face. Smear chocolate on his chest. Nauga, here’s the place to start: www.naugahyde.com/dolls/.
Kick him around. His vinyl hide is Naugahyde vinyl fabric. It’s
indestructible.” Nauga-related photos are courtesy of Scott Shaw!
Eventually, the Naugas were replaced by a new advertising
campaign, which soon pushed them out of the national arena.
However, in 1981, stand-up comedian Al Rosenberg waged For 48 years (and counting), SCOTT SHAW!
a satirical “Save the Nauga” campaign. His mention of the has written and drawn underground comix,
Naugas happened to coincide with the rise in collectability mainstream comic books, comic strips,
of the Naugahyde critters. Not only were vintage Sixties-era graphic novels, TV cartoons, toys,
Naugas becoming more valuable, myriad new Naugas flooded advertising, and video games. He has
the market, some made with metal-flake material that had worked on such characters as Captain
little if anything to do with genuine Naugahyde. (The renewed Carrot and his Amazing Zoo Crew (which he
popularity of Naugas and the “naugastalgia” regarding them may co-created with Roy Thomas), Sonic the Hedgehog, the Flintstones,
have eventually let to the creation of UglyDolls, now the stars of the Jetsons, the Simpsons, the Futurama gang, the Muppet Babies,
an animated feature film.) Garfield, the Garbage Pail Kids, and yes, even Annoying Orange. His
Uniroyal is now well aware of the Nauga’s true invulnerability career has garnered him four Emmy Awards, an Eisner Award, and a
—to withstand the test of time—and has solidly reclaimed Humanities Award. Scott is also known for his “Oddball Comics
the “infamous and lovable” Nauga as the #1 icon of synthetic Live!” visual presentation of “the craziest comic books ever
lifeforms. They now manufacture a large variety of Nauga dolls published” and for his regular participation in “Quick Draw!” with
of all sizes, shapes, and colors. They even make special-request Mark Evanier and Sergio Aragonés. He was also one of the teenagers
Naugas according to custom orders, stating, “The new generation who co-created what is currently known as Comic-Con
of the adorable little icon of the Sixties is a wonderful companion International: San Diego, America’s biggest annual fan event. He can
and brings magic to any setting it dwells in.” be reached at shawcartoons.com.
COMICS MAGAZINES FROM TWOMORROWS
BACK ISSUE ALTER EGO COMIC BOOK CREATOR DRAW! JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR
BACK ISSUE celebrates comic books of the ALTER EGO, the greatest ‘zine of the ‘60s, COMIC BOOK CREATOR is the new DRAW! is the professional “How-To” JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR celebrates the
1970s, 1980s, and today through a variety is all-new, focusing on Golden and Silver voice of the comics medium, devoted magazine on cartooning and animation. life and career of the “King” of comics
of recurring (and rotating) departments, Age comics and creators with articles, to the work and careers of the men and Each issue features in-depth interviews through interviews with Kirby and his
including Pro2Pro interviews (between interviews and unseen art. Each issue women who draw, write, edit, and publish and step-by-step demonstrations from top contemporaries, feature articles, and
two top creators), “Greatest Stories Never includes an FCA (Fawcett Collectors of comics, focusing always on the artists and comics professionals. Some issues contain rare & unseen Kirby artwork, showcased
Told”, retrospective articles, and more. America) section, Mr. Monster & more. not the artifacts, the creators and not the figure-drawing instruction nudity; Mature in dynamic full-color! Edited by JOHN
Edited by MICHAEL EURY. Edited by ROY THOMAS. characters. Edited by JON B. COOKE. Readers Only. Edited by MIKE MANLEY. MORROW.
BACK ISSUE #113 ALTER EGO #160 COMIC BOOK CREATOR #19 DRAW #36 KIRBY COLLECTOR #77
BATMAN MOVIE 30th ANNIVERSARY! REMEMBERING STEVE DITKO! Sturdy Celebrating the greatest fantasy artist of all MIKE HAWTHORNE (Deadpool, Infinity MONSTERS & BUGS! Jack’s monster-movie
Producer MICHAEL USLAN and screenwriter Steve at Marvel, DC, Warren, Charlton, time, FRANK FRAZETTA! From THUN’DA Countdown) interview, YANICK PAQUETTE influences in The Demon, Forever People,
SAM HAMM interviewed, a chat with BILLY and elsewhere! A rare late-1960s Ditko and EC COMICS to CREEPY, EERIE, and (Wonder Woman: Earth One, Batman Black Magic, Fantastic Four, Jimmy Olsen,
DEE WILLIAMS (who was almost Two-Face), interview by RICHARD HOWELL— VAMPIRELLA, STEVE RINGGENBERG and Inc., Swamp Thing) how-to demo, JERRY and Atlas monster stories; Kirby’s work with
plus DENNY O’NEIL and JERRY ORDWAY’s biographical notes by NICK CAPUTO— CBC’s editor present an historical retrospec- ORDWAY’s “Ord-Way” of creating comics, “B” horror film producer CHARLES BAND;
Batman movie adaptation, MINDY NEWELL’s tributes by MICHAEL T. GILBERT, PAUL tive, including insights by current creators JAMAR NICHOLAS reviews the latest art interview with “The Goon” creator ERIC
Catwoman, GRANT MORRISON and DAVE LEVITZ, BERNIE BUBNIS, BARRY PEARL, and associates, and memories of the man supplies, plus Comic Art Bootcamp by BRET POWELL; Kirby’s use of insect characters
McKEAN’s Arkham Asylum, MAX ALLAN ROY THOMAS, et al. Plus FCA, JOHN himself. PLUS: Frazetta-inspired artists JOE BLEVINS and MIKE MANLEY! May contain (especially as villains); MARK EVANIER and
COLLINS’ Batman newspaper strip, and JOEY BROOME, BILL SCHELLY, and more! JUSKO, and TOM GRINDBERG, who con- nudity for figure-drawing instruction; for our other regular columnists, Golden Age
CAVALIERI & JOE STATON’s Huntress! Spider-Man cover by DITKO! tributes our Death Dealer cover painting! Mature Readers Only. Kirby story, and a Kirby pencil art gallery!
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ERNEST FARINO’S RETRO FANTASMAGORIA
I A few years ago the American Cinematheque hosted a

retrospective of classic movie main titles with a weeklong
WAS
screening of films at the Egyptian Theater on Hollywood
Boulevard. On the last night, a Sunday: Goldfinger. Now, being
my favorite James Bond film and easily in my Top 3 favorite
films in general, I’ve seen Goldfinger more times than I’ve had
hot meals, and in every format imaginable: indoor theaters
A
and drive-ins, VHS, laserdisc, DVD, Blu-ray, and 16mm. But I
hadn’t seen a 35mm print in a theater in quite a few years, so I
decided to treat myself. First things first—purchasing a large
buttered popcorn and an ice-cold Coke. I settled into my seat
TEENAGE
and soon the lights dimmed and John Barry’s electric guitar
version of the James Bond theme twanged us right into that
famous gun barrel as James Bond walked across and turned
and fired.
JAMES BOND
And in an instant I was 12-years-old once again. The
music… the imagery… the aroma of buttered popcorn… the
tangy taste of Coke… revved up that sensory time machine and
whisked me back to a magical Saturday in El Paso, Texas, in
1964.
My father was in the Army and stationed at Fort Bliss in El
by Ernest Farino Paso. They had shown Goldfinger on the base for the troops and
the next day he had regaled us with an enthusiastic retelling of
the film:
A white dot goes across and you’re down a gun barrel and
James Bond walks across and turns and shoots and blood comes
down over the screen and then James Bond comes up out of the
water with a duck on his head and knocks out the guard and
plants plastic explosives in these big oil tanks and then takes off
his wetsuit and he’s in a white tuxedo and he goes to a nightclub
and the oil tanks explode and Bond goes to see his “girlfriend” and
when he’s kissing her a bad guy comes up from behind but he sees
his reflection in the girl’s eye so he spins around and they fight
and finally Bond knocks the bad guy into the bathtub and throws
in an electric heater and electrocutes him!
Wow! I couldn’t wait to see this movie! The next Saturday

morning my friend Cordell and I got on a bus to the State
Theater in downtown El Paso (yes, by ourselves, with our
parents’ knowledge and permission—simpler times then). The
line of people stretched all the way around behind the theater.
Which only added to the anticipation. And as we inched closer
once the line starting moving, the marquee gradually came
into view with those big, red, plastic chiseled letters—James
Bond Is Back!—a huge cutout of Sean Connery holding the gun,
and eventually posters and lobby cards outside the theater.
Once inside, I got my bucket of buttered popcorn and Coke and
we settled into our seats.
A white dot goes across and you’re down a gun barrel…

and finally Bond knocks the bad guy into the bathtub and
electrocutes him!
ernest farino’s retro fantasmagoria
Then the main titles: images projected on the “golden girl”

accompanied by Shirley Bassey belting out one of the most
famous movie theme songs in history.
And then it dawned on me: Everything my father had
described in such loving, enthusiastic detail was the pre-title
sequence. I thought that was the whole movie! I sat there thinking,
“There’s more…?!”
And boy, was there. I was mesmerized. At one point my friend
Cordell leaned over and said, “I’m gonna get a hot dog—you want
anything?” I said, “You’ve leaving? Are you crazy?!”
Worth every penny of the 35¢ admission…
I talked about the movie so much that my entire family went
to see it the very next day, Sunday evening. (They were highly
amused at my pronunciation of “Seen” Connery and “Eye-an”
Fleming.)
Okay, so I am firmly entrenched in the thick of the spy craze.
At the time I didn’t even know there was one—for whatever
reason, I had missed Dr. No and From Russia With Love—probably
just too young to be aware, combined with my then overriding
preoccupation with monsters, hot rods, and other interests. But
I sure made up for lost time, including building the Aston Martin
model kits (both of them), the trick attaché case, the bubble gum
cards, the vinyl soundtrack LP album (which I thoroughly wore
out), and whatever else I could get my hands on.
Yes, this was the height of the “spy craze” of the Sixties.
It seemed like everything at one time or another had some
connection with spies—TV shows, comics, movies, commercials,
clothing—you name it.
Of course, it was also the world’s heaviest involvement in
the Cold War between the U.S. and Russia, providing a real-
world context that made even the most outrageous plots and
unbelievable spy gadgets… well, believable. I don’t think the CIA
ever built a sports car with an ejector seat, but in Thunderball
the next year gadget-master Q gives Bond a small breathing
apparatus with dual mini-oxygen tubes that allows him to survive
underwater for several minutes. Sure enough, someone from
Britain’s Royal Engineers called chief draftsman Peter Lamont
and asked him how long the apparatus actually lasted. Lamont
replied, “As long as you can hold your breath.” The engineer hung
up.
Nevertheless, the CIA found inspiration for its gadgets such
as the poison-tipped dagger shoe in From Russia With Love and
the tracking device featured in Goldfinger (a precursor of today’s
GPS technology). According to a study entitled Ian Fleming and
the Public Profile of the CIA published in the Journal of Cold War
Studies, Allen Dulles, director of the CIA between 1953 and 1961,
had met Fleming at a dinner party at the London offices of MI6,
(TOP) Ian Fleming at his desk at his estate, “Goldeneye,” in London’s international intelligence service, and soon instructed
Jamaica. This is where he wrote all of the Bond novels. Many
years later, on this very same desk, singer Sting wrote the song his technicians to try and replicate the gadgets.
Every Breath You Take. (MIDDLE) Albert R. “Cubby” Broccoli,
Sean Connery, Ian Fleming, and Harry Saltzman sign the The Man with the Golden Pen
final contracts to commence production on Dr. No. Broccoli Ian Fleming was a formerly an officer in British Naval Intelligence
and Saltzman sunk the entirety of their resources into the during World War II and later a writer for the Reuters newspaper
enterprise—it was literally Everything Or Nothing, hence
the name of their production company, EON Productions. syndicate. In 1953 Fleming said he “was just on the edge of getting
(INSET) Field Guide on Birds of the West Indies (first edition) married, and I was frenzied at the prospect of this great step
by ornithologist James Bond, the source of the name “James in my life after having been a bachelor for so long. And I really
Bond.” (BOTTOM) Newspaper ad for the State Theater in El wanted to take my mind off of the agony, and so I decided to
Paso, Texas, where Ernest Farino first saw Goldfinger. sit down and write a book.” He retreated to his resort house in
Jamaica, named “Goldeneye,” and set to work. Up first: a suitable

Barry Nelson as James (“Jimmy”) Bond and Linda Christian (named Valérie Mathis instead
of Vesper Lynd) in the October 21, 1954 one-hour TV episode of the CBS anthology series
Climax!, Bond’s first onscreen appearance. © Danjaq, LLC.
name for his “gentleman spy.” Fleming said, “One of the bibles of my youth was Field Guide of
Birds of the West Indies by James Bond, a well-known ornithologist, and when I was casting
about for a name for my protagonist I thought, ‘My God, that’s the dullest name I’ve ever
heard,’ so I appropriated it. Now the dullest name in the world has become an exciting one.
Writing about 2,000 words in three hours every morning, Casino Royale dutifully produced
itself. I made no corrections until the book was finished. If I had looked back at what I had
written the day before I might have despaired.”
Fleming continued the series, even though the books were not successful in the U.S.
Casino Royale (1953) was followed by Live and Let Die (1954), Moonraker (1955), Diamonds Are
Forever (1956), From Russia With Love (1957), Dr. No (1958), Goldfinger (1959), For Your Eyes Only
(including From a View to a Kill, For Your Eyes Only, Quantum of Solace, Risico, and The Hildebrand
Rarity) (1960), Thunderball (1961), The Spy Who Loved Me (1962), On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
(1963), You Only Live Twice (1964), The Man with the Golden Gun (1965), and Octopussy and the
Living Daylights (1966). After seeing Goldfinger I resolved to catch up with the books and
made a point to read them in the order they were written. I remember reading The Spy Who
Loved Me—a rather short novel—in a single day.
Not content to leave it at that, I embarked on making my own “James Bond” movie in
glorious Super-8. I had received a Kodak Super-8 camera shortly before, and in addition
to making stop-motion clay-dinosaur movies, adapted Fleming’s short story For Your Eyes
Only. I ended up making only one sequence in which Bond, played by my brother (who Ian Fleming poses next to
the cover paintings by Barye
also played Dracula and other parts at different times) walks along the sidewalk, sees the
Phillips, President of the Society
reflection of the assassin in the side rear-mirror of a parked car, and after several moments of Illustrators from 1965–1967, for
of excruciating suspense, finally whips around and shoots. This was in 1965 since I edited the Signet paperback editions of
the film to fit the furious bongo-laden music of the Death of Fiona cue from the Thunderball Goldfinger and Casino Royale.
soundtrack. Two-and-a-half minutes of Super-8mm spy movie gold…
Bond was a favorite in the halls of “Camelot,” too. President and Mrs. Kennedy enjoyed
the books and spread the word, including to CIA Director Allen W. Dulles. On November 17,
1959 Dulles wrote to Jacqueline Kennedy:
Dear Jackie: Months ago you kindly loaned me a book by Ian Fleming [presumably From
Russia With Love, which became a favorite of JFK’s], which I read with vast interest, and
thereafter when I was in London, I got in touch with the author. Now I have just got my hands
on a later edition of what I believe is the author’s [most recent] publication, which is a similar
thriller to the one you gave me, and I send it along, hoping you had not already seen it.” —
Encl: book “Goldfinger”
Unfortunately, Ian Fleming only lived long enough to see the first two Bond films.
He died of a massive heart attack on August 12, 1964, one month before the release of
Goldfinger, though he was able to visit the set during filming.
Bond… James Bond

Producer Harry Saltzman purchased the rights to all of the Fleming Bond novels except
Casino Royale, which was unavailable, and partnered 50/50 with Albert R. “Cubby”
Broccoli. (Yes, his lineage goes back to farming the vegetable broccoli. In the January 11,
1967 episode of The Danny Kaye Show, Danny appeared as a British secret agent battling
a world menace played by Liberace, opening with a title that had Broccoli and Saltzman
presenting “A Dietetic Picture.”)
“Twenty-eight years ago, Harry Saltzman and I walked into 729 Seventh Avenue, in
New York, to United Artists, for a meeting with Arthur Krim,” Broccoli told Los Angeles When From Russia With Love
completed filming, noted British
Times writer John Culhane in 1989. “Arthur wanted to know how I planned to make the
documentary photographer David
pictures. I had budgeted the first one at $1.1 million. They agreed to $1 million. In 45 Hurn was hired to do a photo spread
minutes we put together a deal for six pictures.” with Sean Connery and the actress-
And thus launched what became the “spy craze” of the Sixties, running parallel to the es in the film. But the prop master
Italian Western fad spawned by Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars in 1966. Both Dr. No and had forgotten to bring Bond’s
famous Walther PPK. Improvis-
Fistful would also launch the careers of two of the biggest male stars of modern times:
ing, Hurn, an amateur marksman,
Clint Eastwood and Sean Connery. got his Walther LP-53 air pistol,
Connery had appeared in several minor films, but had a decent role in Disney’s Darby assuring the producers that no one
O’Gill and the Little People. Broccoli saw the film and saw Connery as a potential Bond, would notice as long as the graphic
taking his wife Dana to see it to confirm Connery’s “sex appeal.” She concurred and they designers removed the long barrel.
They forgot to do that, of course, and
were off and running.
the resulting iconic photo has since
The first scene was filmed on January 16, 1962 in the Kingston, Jamaica, airport where depicted the most famous secret
a female photographer attempts to take Bond’s picture (the photographer was played by agent in the world holding… an air
the reigning Miss Jamaica, Marguerite LeWars, an employee at the airport when asked pistol. © Danjaq, LLC.
to be in the film). But surprisingly, Bond’s introduction in the film itself when he delivers
(ABOVE) Sean Connery and Ian Fleming on Ken Adam’s set for Dr. No’s “launch
control” set. (RIGHT) Eunice Gayson as “Sylvia Trench,” originally planned to be
an ongoing character as Bond’s regular girlfriend, inside Bond’s apartment. A
friend of Sean Connery, she helped him get over his nerves when it came time to
deliver his now-famous opening line, “Bond, James Bond.” © Danjaq, LLC.

(ABOVE) Sean Connery helps (LEFT) S.P.E.C.T.R.E.’s Kronsteen (Vladek

slate the shot for Dr. No on Sheybal), representing Czechoslovakia
location in Jamaica. © Danjaq, (not Russia), faces off against McAdams
LLC. (ABOVE RIGHT) Sean (Peter Madden), representing Canada, in a
Connery, Ursula Andress, and championship chess match in From Russia
director Terence Young on With Love. This shot is one of the few matte
location in Jamaica. paintings in the early Bond series, created
by Pinewood Studios’ resident matte artist
Cliff Culley. © Danjaq, LLC.
for the first time the famous “Bond… James Bond” line was a bit with by John Barry, with the famous guitar riff performed by Vic
of s struggle. Eunice Gayson, who played Sylvia Trench in both Dr. Flick), and Production Designer Ken Adam’s exotic visual style
No and From Russia With Love, was the glamorous player opposite that instantly catapulted the “look” of the films far and above
Bond at the gaming table in Le Cercle casino. Gayson told Steve any of the runners-up copycats. To say nothing of the bikini worn
Hendry for The Daily Record in 2012: by Ursula Andress, which sent sales of two-piece swimwear
skyrocketing. Andress emerging from the water in that white
“[Sean] came to see me the night before the first day of the bikini topped UK Channel 4’s 2003 list of 100 sexiest scenes in film
shoot. He was terribly nervous [and the] next day, when we got on history and in 2001 the bikini sold at auction for $61,500.
set, I could see the nerves were very much up. He said, ‘The name is Fortunately, the Japanese distributor’s first translated title for
James Conn... eh… cut!’ Well, you can imagine the turmoil. We had Dr. No, We Don’t Want Doctors!, was revised at the last minute.
quite a few takes. I had never seen Sean so nervous. The producers
were standing on the side of the set almost biting their nails. I Think My Mouth is Too Big
[Director] Terence Young said to me, ‘I want you to give him a good President John F. Kennedy had included Fleming’s novel From
stiff drink to relax him.’ Sean had been told to be on the wagon and Russia With Love on his favorite books reading list in the March
I knew that because he refused to drink the night before. We went 17, 1961 issue of LIFE magazine, which prompted Broccoli and
for lunch and I said, ‘Oh, I’m dying for a drink, do you want one?’ He Saltzman to select it as the second Bond film. When completed,
said, ‘No, I can’t.’ I said, ‘Go on, just have one.’ I pretended to drink the film was screened for President Kennedy in the White House
mine but he more or less downed his in one. Then, to my horror, he on November 20, 1963, making it the last film President Kennedy
ordered another one. Well, not having had a drink for so long, it saw before his fatal trip to Dallas two days later.
really affected him but in a nice sort of way—all his nerves seemed Dr. No received mixed critical reaction at the time but was
to go out the window. We went back on set and he said the name a financial success, grossing $6 million on its $1 million budget
‘Bond, James Bond’ in a beautiful way. Terence said, ‘Cut! Now that and launching a whole new genre of “secret agent” films in the
is great, that is what I want from your whole performance.’ Sean Sixties. But few came to rival the solid storytelling and terrific
said to me, ‘The trouble is I can’t remember what I’ve done’. But it combination of humor, action, and suspense as From Russia With
worked, didn’t it?” Love. The introduction of Ernst Stavro Blofeld and his white cat,
an emphasis on Fleming’s alternate European spy organization
Dr. No is still an enjoyable film, but is more of a detective story S.P.E.C.T.R.E. (The SPecial Executive for Counterintelligence,
than an outright spy thriller. The filmmakers were feeling their Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion), terrific villains in the form
way, getting a handle on the character and their overall approach, of Rosa Klebb and Red Grant, exotic locations in Istanbul and
and establishing many of the basic stylistic elements of the series: Venice, a ride on an “Orient Express” type train, the fantastic fight
the gun-barrel logo, a designed standalone main title sequence, scene with Red Grant, the helicopter and speedboat chases (the
the iconic “James Bond” theme (originally composed by Monty helicopter scene inspired by Hitchcock’s crop duster sequence
Norman and arranged into the version we’ve become familiar in North by Northwest), a step-up in the visual stylish main title
INSIDE FORT KNOX

Ken Adam’s recreation of the Fort Knox at Pinewood
Studios looked so real that a 24-hour guard was
placed on the Fort Knox set at Pinewood Studios
so that pilferers would not steal the prop gold
bars. A letter to the production from the Fort Knox
Rare candid photo of From Russia With Love’s Daniela Controller congratulated Ken Adam and his team on
Bianchi and Sean Connery taken during the studio
the recreation. Goldfinger’s Model Map seen in his
shoot of publicity photos. © Danjaq, LLC.
Operation Grand Slam briefing is now a permanent
exhibition at the real Fort Knox.
In addition to about 4,600 metric tons of gold worth
sequence (credits projected on a belly dancer), and more. A close to $200 billion dollars, over the years Fort Knox
thoroughly satisfying film that many regard as the best of the has protected copies of the Gutenberg Bible, the Magna
Bonds, and certainly a solid espionage thriller in its own right. Carta, the Declaration of Independence, the U.S.
And this film escalated the merchandising. For Dr. No, United Constitution, and the Gettysburg Address.
Artists established the James Bond name by sending newspapers The vault door is blast-, drill- and torch-proof, 21
a box set of Bond’s books, a booklet detailing the Bond character, inches thick, and weighs in at more than 20 tons. It is
and a picture of Ursula Andress. Merchandising tie-ins included set on a 100-hour time clock and is rarely opened. No
drinks, tobacco, men’s clothing, and car companies. A comic-book one person can open the vault door.
adaptation written by Norman J. Nodel was published in the U.K.
by Classics Illustrated and later reprinted in the U.S. by DC Comics
[in Showcase #43]. Ken Adam’s master design sketch of the vault
Added elements to the formula included the pre-title interior. © Danjaq, LLC.
sequence and a lyric-based theme song. And a new closing line in
the end credits:
The End
Not Quite The End
James Bond
Will Return in
The Next
Ian Fleming Thriller
“Goldfinger”
And boy, did he.
An Ejector Seat? You’re Joking!

Goldfinger became the gold standard (I couldn’t resist) for the
series. The iconic image of the Golden Girl, the tricked-out Aston
Martin, Oddjob and his razor-brimmed bowler hat, a spectacular
theme song made famous by Dame Shirley Bassey (and which
made her famous in turn) accompanied by an equally famous Sean Connery, Daniela Bianchi, and Robert Shaw rehearse a From
Russia With Love scene for the train sequence. A set on a sound stage
main title sequence, Goldfinger’s laser beam (in the novel a buzz
at Pinewood Studios, note that the rear-projected image outside the
saw, deemed too Perils-of-Pauline quaint and replaced by the window is switched off. © Danjaq, LLC.

laser when recommended to designer Ken

Adam by two Harvard scientists), and, of
course, Fort Knox.
Many people—including me—
marveled over the years at the interior of
Fort Knox, wondering how the filmmakers
got permission to film inside the United
States Bullion Depository. They didn’t. It
all sprung from the fertile imagination
of Ken Adam, who surmised that the real
vault was probably a dull collection of
safety-deposit type boxes and correctly
concluding that if no one has been inside,
then who’s to say? So he let loose and
created one of the greatest examples of fanciful art direction Nadja Regin, previously seen in From Russia With Love, plays the
cabaret dancer “Bonita” in Goldfinger’s pre-title sequence. The
in the history of movies. As Johnny Dee wrote in The Guardian
reflection of the advancing bad guy (stunt man Alf Joint) was
(September 17, 2005): optically superimposed on a close-up of Nadja’s eye by Pinewood’s
optical expert Cliff Culley. © Danjaq, LLC.
“It is because of [Ken Adam] that people believe criminal
masterminds operate from the insides of dormant volcanoes and
travel between their sumptuously decorated lairs on chrome-plated tray under the driver’s seat, a headlights chamber firing triple-
monorails. It’s his fault that we think gold bars are stacked in vast spiked nail clusters, a radio telephone inside the driver’s door
cathedral-tall warehouses and that secret agents escape capture by paneling, and a thermos with a built-in hand grenade. Director
using jetpacks or ejector seats.” Guy Hamilton came up with the revolving license plates after
receiving a parking ticket.
But then again, we want to believe, and are delighted to do There were a couple of Aston Martins made for the film and a
so. As Johnny Carson once said, “Like their parents, kids flock to couple more for promotional purposes. In 1965 I saw one of them
see James Bond and Derek Flint movies, outrageously antiheroic on tour in Baltimore promoting Thunderball—the ejector seat
heroes who break all the taboos, making attractive the very was in the extended “up” position, and the bulletproof shield and
things the kids are told they shouldn’t do themselves.” other devices were demonstrated. Somewhere I have a roll of
“Oh, that interesting car of yours!” says Auric Goldfinger— Super-8 film covering my encounter with this Holy Grail.
“Interesting” being probably the understatement of the century. The bold, brassy music score by John Barry added
The ultimate boy-toy “guy” thing, the Aston Martin DB5 (“DB” immeasurably to the feel of the film and its huge success as well.
standing for Aston Martin founder David Brown) quickly became On January 30, 1965 the Goldfinger title theme peaked at #8 on
“The Most Famous Car in the World.” In addition to the machine Billboard’s Hot Top 100 chart and stayed there for 13 weeks. Led
guns, smoke screen, oil slick, and, of course, the ejector seat, Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page was a session guitarist on this album. In
additional gadgetry not used in the finished movie included the late Sixties, WFAA Channel 8 in Dallas ended their nightly
front and back over-riders for jamming other vehicles, a weapon’s 10:00 p.m. newscast with the “Dawn Raid on Fort Knox” track.
The Silver Birch Aston

Martin DB5, “with
modifications.” The
re volv ing-number
plates came from
director Guy Hamil-
ton, who had just
received a parking
ticket. Due to the
success of Goldfinger,
it became known as
“The Most Famous Car
in the World” and sales
of the Aston Martin
DB5 increased by 50%.
© Danjaq, LLC.

By now “Bondmania” was all the rage. I had my own 007

attaché case and trading cards and board games and soundtrack
albums and God knows what else. By now, in those prehistoric
days prior to home video, United Artists kicked into double-bill
re-releases. To us Bond fans it was almost a sacred duty to attend,
even though the films were often paired with Dr. No; as a result,
by default I have probably seen Dr. No (in theaters, at least), more
times than I ever thought possible.
Certainly, we thought, Goldfinger was the high-water mark.
This had to be “the biggest Bond of them all.” I mean, what could
possibly top this…?
Code Name: Thunderball

Now, I have to confess that initially I didn’t much care for
Thunderball, but unfairly so, and no fault of the film. For some
unimaginable reason, our family went to see it at the drive-in.
Well, those already-dark underwater sequences just about Says Ernest Farino, “I met Goldfinger’s Tania Mallet at an
autograph show and she described how the white Ford
disappeared, and
Mustang wasn’t yet on the market (designated as the
it probably wasn’t 1964-1/2 model) and was still top secret. It arrived concealed
even shown in the in a tarpaulin complete with ‘body guards.’ Mallet did all of
correct widescreen her own driving in the film.” © Danjaq, LLC.
aspect ratio. So I felt
John Barry’s score is terrific, although for years I wondered

why all of it wasn’t included on the soundtrack album. Turns out
he had only finished scoring the first half of the movie when they
had to commit to pressing the album! Tom Jones really belted out
that theme song, almost fainting after that last note. Said Jones,
“I closed my eyes and I held the note for so long when I opened
my eyes the room was spinning.” An alternate theme song had
been written, “Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,” but in addition to some
censorship concerns over that title (this was 1965, remember), it
was decided that the song lyric had to include the name of the
film early in order to synchronize with the name of the film in the
opening credits.
He always runs while others walk.

He acts while other men just talk.
(ABOVE) Goldfinger opening run He looks at this world, and wants it all,
on Times Square, New York City.
So he strikes, like Thunderball.
(ABOVE LEFT) The June 1965 issue
of Esquire heralded the arrival of
Thunderball with an elaborate, Do the lyrics describe the hero, Bond, or the villain, Largo? The
somewhat tongue-in-cheek advance debate continues. You decide.
look at the movie’s guns, girls, and I had the pleasure of meeting Italian actress Luciana Paluzzi,
gadgets. (LEFT) James Bond makes
who played the femme fatale, Fiona Volpe, on several occasions.
the cover of the January 6, 1966 issue
of LIFE magazine. 007 had become She is charming, funny, and simply delightful, so say nothing of
someone to reckon with, and the being an eternal beauty. A über-Bond fan friend of mine told me
world was taking notice. that a couple of years ago he was browsing the DVDs in a Best Buy
electronics store in Van Nuys, California, and, as he was reading
the back of the newest DVD release of Thunderball, he felt a tap
Thunderball was a letdown. Over the years I’ve grown to like it a on his shoulder. He turned around to face—Luciana Paluzzi. She
lot more, though I still think it has some pacing and production said, very politely, “Are you going to buy that? If not, I’d like to get
problems. it. I’m in it.”
None of which bothered anyone else. On a budget of $9 My friend just about passed out on the spot…
million, more than the budgets of the previous three Bond films
combined, Thunderball was a global box-office smash. The film Welcome to Japan, Mr. Bond
earning $141.2 million worldwide, which, adjusted for inflation, is Okay, so I have a thing for Asian women.
about $1 billion, making it the second most financially successful There. I said it. And You Only Live Twice has a lot to answer
Bond film after Skyfall. for in that regard. To this day there are close-ups of Mie Hama

row one afternoon. Not just because of Mie and Akiko, but the
film itself is quite spectacular. I was keen on visual effects by
then, and had long followed the space program, so the scenes in
space were especially exciting (of course, 2001: A Space Odyssey left
all such scenes in the dust a year later, but for now, this was great).
From the standpoint of physics and orbital mechanics I intuitively
knew that the “capture” of another spacecraft was pretty much
impossible, but heck, it’s a James bond movie…
The ending-to-top-all-endings takes place in Blofeld’s volcano
launch pad, of course, a Ken Adam masterpiece. Adam later said:
“The challenge appealed to me. When I had done two or three

sketches, Cubby said, ‘Looks interesting. How much is it going to
cost?’ I knew it was going to be a gigantic set but I had no idea. I
quoted about a million dollars. That was an enormous amount of
© Danjaq, LLC.
money [$1 million in 1966 = $7.8 million today]. Cubby didn’t blink
an eye. ‘If you can do it for a million go ahead.’ And then my worries
GOLDFINGER’S GOLDEN GIRL started…”
Author Ian Fleming borrowed the notion of someone This one set alone cost as much as the entire production of
being suffocated by being covered in gold paint from Dr. No.
the horror film Bedlam.
On April 20, 1964, the make-up team consisting
principally of Paul Rabiger and assisted by Eileen
Warwick spent two hours painting actress Shirley Eaton
gold all over. The make-up men left a six-inch patch on
her stomach unpainted so that her skin could breathe.
Eaton said, “The original body paint was an almost clear
gel full of gold particles. They had to leave a gap down
my tummy because of the breathing thing.”
A doctor was on set at all times. Over the years
rumors circulated that Shirley Eaton had actually died
on set, owing to the misconception that the gold paint
caused asphyxiation. She didn’t, of course, and after a
series of showers and steam baths, was good as new.
and Akiko Wakabayashi that still prompt for me a spontaneous

nosebleed. A good friend of mine once confessed that the scene
of Sean Connery and Mie Hama kissing on the mountainside as
they pause in their trek to the volcano taught him how to kiss. I
believe it.
A female Japanese movie memorabilia dealer I knew used to
make an annual trip to Los Angeles and we would get together for
lunch to see all the things she brought for me. When I mentioned
Mie Hama (pronounced MEE-yuh, as in Mia Farrow), her eyes lit
up. Apparently Hama is/was a giant celebrity in Japan, on the
level of interest of a Madonna or Marilyn Monroe—or whatever
giant superstar you care to name. I didn’t know that, but it makes
sense. In this film she plays Kissy Suzuki, although oddly that (TOP) Filming the miniature of Thunderball’s Vulcan bomber.
Two early Avro Vulcan B1As were used for the live-action
character name is never mentioned once in the film. She was
filming. Thunderball won an Oscar® for Best Special Effects,
originally slated to play Aki, played by Akiko Wakabayashi, but awarded to John Stears. (BOTTOM) Mie Hama (LEFT), Sean
was struggling with her English. They briefly thought about Connery, and Akiko Wakabayashi. Prior to You Only Live
dropping her, but, per Japanese culture, she would have endured Twice, Hama and Wakabayashi appeared in two films togeth-
such shame with her family that she might have committed er, Key of Keys, a 1965 police picture that Woody Allen later
transformed into his 1966 spoof What’s Up, Tiger Lily?, and
seppuku (harakiri), so she and Akiko switched parts.
the 1962 Toho production King Kong vs. Godzilla. © Danjaq, LLC.
You Only Live Twice premiered in the U.S. on June 13, 1967. My
birthday is June 17, so my treat was seeing the movie twice in a
And, of course, we get to see Blofeld himself, finally. I was

a little disappointed in that regard; as much as I liked Donald
Pleasance in The Great Escape, Fantastic Voyage, and others, I felt he
was a bit “weak” as a megalomaniac villain, especially on the heels
© Danjaq, LLC.
of Auric Goldfinger and Emilio Largo.
By now the Bond merchandising was overwhelming.
James Bond pillowcases anyone? 007 deodorant? But oddly,
the introduction of new items had tapered off. Nick Bennett,
Guinness World Record Holder for The Largest James Bond
Collection, told Will Levith of RealClearLife in 2017:
TITLE SEQUENCES
Maurice Binder created the famous “gun barrel” logo by
“Each Bond film had grossed more than the last and the shooting with a pinhole camera through an actual gun
expectation for merchandise was high. But by the time You Only barrel. Stuntman Bob Simmons is “James Bond” in the
Live Twice came out, suppliers were happy to carry on selling gun barrel logo seen in Dr. No, From Russia With Love, and
previously made merchandise. They just kept producing the same Goldfinger. Sean Connery first appeared in the gun-barrel
items for years until they just didn’t sell anymore. The result is that logo for Thunderball—since that film was the first to be
You Only Live Twice has some of the least amount of memorabilia shot in 2.35:1 anamorphic Panavision, the gun-barrel
compared to Goldfinger and Thunderball, even though the film sequence had to be filmed anew. Every successive actor
was more popular.” playing Bond has since appeared in the gun-barrel logo.
Binder then created the animated opening titles for
Regardless, You Only Live Twice was a giant hit, pulling in over Dr. No—pressed for time, he took a series of white sticker-
$100 million internationally. dots and pasted them onto black cardboard to illustrate
his idea. Later, Binder created the signature look of
Your Mission, Should You Decide to Accept It… the “Bond title sequence” by featuring silhouetted girls
Bond set the path, established the “rules,” and paved the way. swimming or jumping on trampolines in slow motion.
Producers, studios, and television networks aren’t stupid (as There was something of a dispute between Binder
often as we might think they are), and soon the floodgates and the producers the next time around, so Binder
opened for all of the knock-offs, spin-offs, and one-offs. If stepped away and prominent graphic designer Robert
imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Broccoli and Brownjohn stepped in. For From Russia With Love
Saltzman must have been blushing (all the way to the bank). It’s Brownjohn projected the multi-colored title credits on
beyond the scope of this article to cover all movies and TV series, a gyrating belly dancer, inspired by constructivist artist
deserving or not, but a few comments are in order. László Moholy-Nagy projecting light onto clouds in the
Twenties. Next came Goldfinger, and Brownjohn reversed
It’s All in the Family — One of the most bizarre knockoffs was his concept by projecting scenes from the film onto the
1967’s Italian-made Operation Kid Brother starring Sean Connery’s reflective surface of the Golden Girl. For the sake of the
brother Neil, supported by Bond veterans Anthony Dawson titles and the ad campaign, British pin-up model and
(Dr. No), Daniela Bianchi (From Russia With Love), Adolfo Celi Carry On actress Margaret Nolan (a.k.a. Vicky Kennedy)
(Thunderball), and Bond series regulars Bernard Lee (“M”) and Lois was painted gold, and as part of her compensation for
Maxwell (“Miss Moneypenny”). I saw this at the time and didn’t the job was given the small part of Bond’s masseuse
think much of it—obviously a “gimmick” picture through-and- “Dink” in the opening scene poolside at the Miami hotel.
through, but it might be amusing to watch again. Brownjohn’s girlfriend Kiki Byrne designed the bikini
that Nolan wore for the sequence. Photographer Herbert
Mission: Impossible — I and my family were huge fans of M: I, I think Spencer was on set and took the still photo images used
partly because my Army dad was part of Military Intelligence for a in the ad campaign.
while as a photo analyst. He told some stories of infiltrating army
bases on exercise, complete with fake papers and costumes and
vehicles that were right out of M: I. The first two seasons are the
best, with the most ingenious storylines and plotting. I preferred
Steven Hill over Peter Graves, but it was all good. Many scenes
of exterior third-world government buildings were filmed using
administration buildings on the Paramount Studios lot; years later
when I was working in film and had occasion to go onto the lot, I
experienced an odd sense of déjà vu, until I finally figured out how I
had “been there” before.
I met Barbara Bain, the original female member of the team, Robert Brownjohn’s inspired idea of projecting scenes from
Goldfinger onto the “golden girl,” for this purpose played by
and described how we all had loved the two-part episode “Old Margaret Nolan, a British actress and pinup model who also
Man Out” (episodes 8 and 9, 1966) in which the team has to rescue appeared as Bond’s masseuse “Dink” in the Miami Beach
a Catholic cardinal being held prisoner by an Eastern European hotel pool sequence.
country. She mentioned in reply that the “prison” exteriors were

Honey West — I only vaguely

remember Honey West from back in the
day, but in 2012 MeTV ran the series in
the 3:00 a.m. timeslot and, sad to say,
it’s terrible; an excruciating catalog of
wrong choices, an uninhibited tour-
de-force of Ed Wood awfulness. Not
only the stories and situations but the
staging and production, to say nothing
of some utterly ridiculous fight scenes.
On the other hand, there’s charming,
flirtatious, smart, shrewd, funny, and
drop-dead beautiful Anne Francis.
She can’t save the show all by herself,
but just about anything with Anne
Francis was great to see. [Editor’s note:
Columnist Will Murray takes a look at
Honey West in RetroFan #8. What does
Will think of the show? Join us to find
out.]
The Wild Wild West was a genre

mash-up of Westerns and spy stories,
(LEFT) Japanese You Only Live Twice poster. © Danjaq, LLC. (RIGHT) A film largely forgot- but had more to do with the exotic
ten and often overlooked, Operation Kid Brother, a bizarre knock-off starring Sean
world of spies than the cowboys and
Connery’s brother, Neil, supported by Bond veterans Bernard Lee, Lois Maxwell, and
Adolfo Celi. © United Artists. wagon trains. Still, some amusing
adventures, a great train, and pretty
solid production values. In addition
to Bond-like gadgets and gimmicks,
shot at Fairfax High School on Melrose Boulevard in Los Angeles, Ross Martin’s character seemed to be inspired by Martin Landau’s
which some would certainly call a “prison.” I’ve occasionally gone character in Mission: Impossible with his talent for disguises and
to the weekly flea market on Sunday afternoons on the grounds make-ups.
of Fairfax High School and enjoyed noting the different locations
for the episodes. The Avengers — This one I didn’t get at all, and still don’t. No
surprise that I wasn’t much into Patrick McGoohan’s The Prisoner,
The Man (and Girl) From U.N.C.L.E. — I wasn’t much of a fan of either. The Avengers just seemed too self-aware, trying a bit too
U.N.C.L.E. The series premiered in 1964, the year of Goldfinger, so hard to be cute and hip and sassy. Or something. Honor Blackman
I was at the height of being a James Bond purist (okay, snob), so quit her role as Cathy Gale on The Avengers (from 1962 to 1964) in
this struck me as a blatant knock-off. Years later I have come to order to appear in Goldfinger, and in a 1965 episode of The Avengers
appreciate the series a lot more, especially the first season, which John Steed (Patrick Macnee) receives a Christmas card from Cathy
was in black and white. The U.N.C.L.E. theme song by one of my Gale—sent from Fort Knox, Kentucky…
favorite composers, Jerry Goldsmith, still packs a wallop, and
despite my original disdain for the series, immediately evokes The Saint — Based on the novels by Leslie Charteris and
those halcyon days of Sixties spies. I later learned that Ian Fleming previously made into numerous feature films over the years,
contributed to ideas for the show and even the names two of the was nevertheless spun into a British-produced “spy”-type series
principal characters: Napoleon Solo and April Dancer (The Girl from 1962–1969, although the Saint was traditionally more of
From U.N.C.L.E.). a detective involved in murder mysteries. Future James Bond
Roger Moore played Simon Templar in the series, and was joined
I Spy — This series was enjoyable, but didn’t grab me as much as in separate episodes by Goldfinger alumni Honor Blackman and
some others. A lot of globetrotting adventures but less “spy” stuff, Shirley Eaton.
per se (at least it seemed at the time; I’d like to revisit the series
at some point). I had always liked Robert Culp, remembering him Matt Helm, Derek Flint, Maxwell Smart — Finally the spy craze
from two of the best episodes of The Outer Limits: “The Architects became oversaturated and spilled over into satire and parody, or
of Fear” and “Demon with a Glass Hand.” I met Culp at one of at best a “devil-may-care” cavalier approach.
the autograph shows and he was very friendly and amiable. The Matt Helm movies starring Dean Martin—The Silencers
Unfortunately, a disturbing cloud now hangs over Bill Cosby, but (1966), Murderers’ Row (1966), The Ambushers (1967), The Wrecking
at the time he and Culp shared a terrific chemistry and, like Sidney Crew (1969)—are flat-out terrible, even on a wink-wink level.
Poitier in films, made this role a breakthrough on TV for African- The fourth film, The Wrecking Crew, is passable, partly due to
American actors. the presence of Nigel Green as the villain (a few years earlier
A portion of the author’s Bond memorabilia collec-

tion. On the far back wall, partially seen, is the
British quad poster for Goldfinger.
Green played Hercules in the Ray Harryhausen epic Jason and the
Argonauts), and a bevy of beautiful actresses from the period:
Elke Sommer, Sharon Tate, Nancy Kwan, and Tina Louise. The
film was also directed by Phil Karlson, who years earlier directed
several tight film noir classics including 99 River Street, Kansas City
Confidential, and Scandal Sheet (all 1952). In 2009 it was reported
that producers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci would produce
a more serious Matt Helm film, and that Paul Attanasio’s script
was closer to The Bourne Identity. There are 28 Matt Helm books
by Donald Hamilton, so we can hope that a new, authentic spy
franchise is in the works.
Our Man Flint and In Like Flint starred the great James Coburn,
but he was more a super-hero than a super-spy. Gila Golan co-
starred in Our Man Flint and three years later would star in Ray
Harryhausen’s dinosaur Western The Valley of Gwangi.
Get Smart! sprung from the comedic mind of Mel Brooks and,
like many series, was strongest in its earliest seasons. Don Adams
as Agent 86 and Barbara Feldon as Agent 99 were perfectly cast,
as was Ed Platt as the “Chief.” The Cone of Silence, the shoe-
phone, and catch phrases like “Would you believe…?” and “Missed
it by that much!” all became part of the spy lexicon, but like the
Universal monster series slipping into parody with Abbott and
Costello Meet Frankenstein/The Mummy/Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the
writing was on the wall.
Deadlier Than the Male — Another standalone feature film cashed

in on not only the spy genre in general but took the glamour
factor up a notch by featuring the stunning Elke Sommer and
Silva Koscina as female assassins in the employ of Nigel Green. Some of the 007 merchandising available in the Sixties:
Multiple Toy Products’ Attaché Case, A. C. Gilbert’s Road
Sommer and Green would pair up again on the wrong side of
Race Set, Lakeside Toys’ Electric Drawing Set, board games
the law two years later for The Wrecking Crew, in which Green by Milton Bradley and Tri-Ang, Corgi’s Aston Martin, and
masterminds the theft of $1 billion in U.S. gold being transported Philadelphia Gum’s trading cards. For adults, Colgate-Pal-
in Europe in order to create chaos in the world’s financial markets molive’s men’s toiletries and (shown on page 25) American
(sound familiar?). Character’s James Bond Action Pen with Vapor Paper.

counter-terrorism agency, was directly inspired by the U.N.C.L.E.
RE-VOICING / organization, which, in turn, had precedent in Ian Fleming’s

S.P.E.C.T.R.E. Other “inspirations” included bowler hat–wearing
NIKKI VAN DER ZYL S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Timothy “Dum-Dum” Dugan.
So the Swingin’ Sixties became the Spyin’ Sixties and Carnaby

Entirely replacing an actor’s voice was done more Street became Bond Boulevard. But all good things must come to
commonly in Europe in the Sixties, partly because of the an end. Sort of.
many multinational co-productions made at that time. The Bond series continues, of course, Sean Connery having
Often, actors had strong accents, did not speak English handed over his Walther PPK to George Lazenby, Roger Moore,
in the first place, or were no longer in the country and Timothy Dalton. Pierce Brosnan slid into the role with
and thus unavailable for post-production sound work. Goldeneye. (Ironically, Brosnan’s stepfather took the 11-year-old
Monica “Nikki” van der Zyl [pronounced van dur zill, as Pierce to see Goldfinger in 1964, his first James Bond film. I’d love
in “thrill”] was the uncredited performer for many of to reminisce with him someday over our shared experience.)
the actresses in the early Bond films. Because of Ursula Today Daniel Craig has the license to kill, the new series really
Andress’ strong accent, van der Zyl re-voiced her in Dr. coming into its own with Skyfall, coincidentally the third film in
No (for which van der Zyl received £50 [$140.00] for a the new series much in the same way that Goldfinger, the third in
day’s work. “Although first and foremost I am a trained the original series, finally nailed it in the Sixties (and Skyfall has a
and working actress,” van der Zyl told author Mike prominent appearance by the Aston Martin, too!).
Hankin in 2004, “I have been doing voice dubbing since Time for me to sit back with my Vodka martini (shaken, not
1958 when I lent my voice to the girl who rides with Dirk stirred), and—well, to paraphrase Goldfinger’s advice, “Choose
Bogarde in the execution cart at the end of A Tale of Two your next witticism carefully, Mr. Farino—it may be your last…”
Cities.”
For Dr. No, van der Zyl also re-voiced Eunice Gayson All pictorial material reproduced herein derives from the voluntary, non-
and all other female voices except Lois Maxwell, Zena compensated contributions of pictorial or other memorabilia from the
Marshall, Yvonne Shima, and Michel Mok, and later re- private collections of the author, and from the select private archives of
voiced Eunice Gayson and Arlette Dobson (the Istanbul individual contributors.
Hotel Receptionist) in From Russia With Love, Shirley
Eaton and Nadja Regin in Goldfinger (and was also the
on-set English-language voice coach for Gert Frobe), ERNEST FARINO
Claudine Auger in Thunderball, and Mie Hama in You fully realized on
Only Live Twice. Thursday, July
Other Bond actors from this period who were re- 22, 1999 how
voiced include Daniela James Bond felt in
Bianchi in From Russia Goldfinger when
With Love (re-voiced by he said, “I must be
Barbara Jefford), Gert dreaming…” Farino
Frobe in Goldfinger stands with Honor
(re-voiced by Michael Blackman (she’s
Collins), Adolfo Celi in the pretty one on
Thunderball, and Tetsuro the lef t) during The
Tamba in You Only Live Magical Worlds of
Twice (both re-voiced by Ray Harryhausen film festival at the Vista Theater in Hollywood
Robert Rietty). (Blackman starred in Harryhausen’s Jason and the Argonauts in
1963). Farino’s own career in movies and TV includes his recently
Gert Frobe with his vocal coach Nikki van der Zyl on the directing an episode of the SyFy/Netflix series Superstition
Fort Knox Depository set at Pinewood Studios, Goldfin-
starring Mario Van Peebles. Previously Farino directed Steel and
ger, 1964. © Danjaq, LLC.
Lace starring Bruce Davison, episodes of Monsters starring Lydia
Cornell and Marc McClure, ABC’s Land of the Lost starring Timothy
Bottoms, and extensive 2nd Unit for the miniseries Dune starring
Nick Fury – Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. — Even the comics played into William Hurt, Noah’s Ark starring Jon Voight, and Supernova
the spy craze, especially Marvel’s Nick Fury, reimagined from his starring Luke Perry. A two-time Emmy-winning Visual Effects
World War II adventures as Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos Supervisor for SyFy’s Dune and Children of Dune miniseries, Farino
as a slightly older character with an eyepatch, created by Stan supervised the Emmy-nominated visual effects for the Tom Hanks/
Lee and Jack Kirby in Strange Tales #135 (Aug. 1965) and principally HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon; James Cameron’s
drawn by Jim Steranko. Stan Lee admitted that S.H.I.E.L.D. The Terminator, The Abyss, and T2; as well as Starship Troopers,
(Supreme Headquarters, International Espionage and Law- Creepshow, and many others. His Archive Editions has published
Enforcement Division, although those designations were altered Mike Hankin’s elaborate three-volume book set Ray Harryhausen –
a couple of times in intervening years), a fictional espionage and Master of the Majicks, The FXRH Collection, and more.
x p ec t M e
Do You E
To Ta l k… ?
Goldfinger Trivia
by Ernest Farino
QUESTIONS
1. In the film, what year did Auric Goldfinger first conceive of
“Operation Grand Slam”?
2. What day of the week did Goldfinger brief the gangsters of the
plan (with his model of Fort Knox, etc.)?
3. What mistake does the lead female pilot make in the countdown
to release the Delta-9 gas as the planes fly over Fort Knox?
4. What is the “code name” flight designation of the formation of

planes that strafe Fort Knox? Such as, “Pussy Galore’s Flying Circus”
(which is not the answer).
5. Following the “gun barrel logo” the pre-title sequence opens with
a high wide angle of the large storage tanks and the camera cranes
down the other side of a wall to find Bond emerging from the water
in his wetsuit. What is unusual about this shot?
6. In the scene where Bond engages the tire-slashers to disable Tilly

Masterson’s white Mustang, there is a close-up of his hand flipping
the switch on the control panel console next to his seat. What’s
wrong with this shot?
7. What is the proper temperature for enjoying “Dom Pérignon ’53”?
8. After the bomb is switched off by the C.I.A. guy just before Bond
rips out the wires, 007 says, “Three more ticks and Mr. Goldfinger
would have hit the jackpot.” What’s wrong with this line?
9. With Bond on board Goldfinger’s private jet and piloted by Pussy

Galore, what time of day do they expect to land in Baltimore, “our
port of entry into the United States”?
10. What brand of golf balls do Bond and Goldfinger use,

respectively?
Bonus Question
What is unusual about this shot?

ANSWERS easy way to remember the temperature is that “38” is also the
caliber of a gun.
1. 1949. In the scene inside the clubhouse prior to the golf game,
there is a calendar on the back wall dated. So, in addition to the 8. The timer on the bomb originally stopped at 003 (seconds) and
movie having been made in 1964, it is telling the story as if it takes the line referred to that count. Producer Harry Saltzman saw the
place in 1964. When briefing the gangsters later on, Goldfinger dailies and rushed to the set the next day (they were still shooting
says, “I have devoted 15 years of my life to Operation Grand in the vault set) and said, “Are you guys crazy?! It needs to stop at
Slam…” Thus, he conceived of the plan in 1949. 007.” So they made a new shot of the timer at 007 (seconds) but
never looped the line referring to the new number.
9. 2:40pm. After Bond has changed into his suit, Pussy Galore
Shot with calendar in golf clubhouse with 1964 circled. © Danjaq, LLC. says, “We’ll be landing in Baltimore in 20 minutes…” The clock on
the wall above the lavatory door beyond her says 2:20, so their
2. Goldfinger tells the gangsters that the raid will take place arrival time would be 2:40pm.
“tomorrow,” and one of them says, “Banks don’t open on Sundays.”
Thus, the briefing took place on Saturday. 10. Bond: Penfold Hearts. Goldfinger: Slazenger 7.
3. The pilot says into her microphone to the other planes, “Five…
four… three… two… Zero!” She skips over “One.”
Bonus Question
4. Champagne Section (or Flight). The Pilot says, “Champagne Pussy Galore’s co-pilot, Sydney (Tricia Müller), is reading the
Leader to Champagne Section: commence Rock-a-Bye Baby.” April 1964 issue of Vogue magazine. Tania Mallet, who plays
Tilly Masterson in Goldfinger, was a high-end fashion model at
5. It’s an optical effect, a sliding split screen. Look closely and the time and happens to be on the cover of that very issue of
you’ll see that the shot of the field with the storage tanks is static Vogue in a photo by David Bailey.
and the wall that glides up in front of it is matted and tracked
over that background. Since the storage tanks are in the distance,
there wouldn’t be much of a perspective shift if it were a crane
shot on the actual location, so the illusion works.
6. They apparently didn’t shoot a close-up for this scene, so they

“stole” a similar shot from later when Bond and Tilly are fleeing
from the bad guys at night in the forest (when he uses the smoke
screen, etc.). Note that in this shot Bond’s sleeve is that of his black
shirt from the later scene in the forest at night, not the sleeve of
the gray suit he’s wearing in the tire-slasher scene.
7. 38º Fahrenheit. When Bond leaves Shirley Eaton in bed to get

another bottle because their open bottle has “lost its chill,” she
says, “Who needs it?” Bond says, “My dear girl, drinking Dom
Pérignon ’53 above the temperature of 38º Fahrenheit just isn’t
done. That’s like listening to the Beatles without ear muffs.” The

RetroFan's
Too Much TV
Quiz
If your old man used to gripe that you’d never learn anything
with your nose glued to the boob tube, here’s your chance to
prove him wrong. (Father doesn’t always know best.)
Each of the TV spies and secret agents in Column One
corresponds to an organization in Column Two. Match ’em
up, then see how you rate!
1) John Drake
2) Barney Collier
3) James West
4) Agent 99
5) Steve Austin
6) Lancelot Link
7) Mrs. Amanda King
8) April Dancer
9) Secret Squirrel
10) Angus MacGyver
A paperclip can be
a wondrous thing!
A) CONTROL
B) Agency to Prevent Evil
RetroFan Ratings
10 correct: Fine-Tuned RetroFan
Sock it to me, baby! I bet you know theme song lyrics too!
C) U.S. Secret Service 7–9 correct: Rabbit-Eared RetroFan
D) U.N.C.L.E. Dy-no-mite! You wasted your childhood with the rest of us!
4–6 correct: Fuzzy-Receptioned RetroFan

E) Phoenix Foundation Up your nose with a rubber hose ’til you spend more
tube time!
F) International Sneaky Service 0–3 correct: Tuned-Out RetroFan

Ya big dummy! Put down that book and go watch
G) NATO some classic TV!
H) Office of Scientific Information

ANSWERS: 1–G, 2–J, 3–C, 4–A, 5–H, 6–B, 7–I, 8–D, 9–F, 10–E.
I) The Agency Danger Man/Secret Agent Man © ITC. Get Smart and The Wild Wild West © CBS. The
Girl from U.N.C.L.E. © MGM Television. Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp © ABC. MacGyver
and Mission: Impossible © Paramount Television. Scarecrow and Mrs. King © Warner
J) IMF Bros. Television. Secret Squirrel © Hanna-Barbera Productions. The Six Million Dollar
Man © Universal Television. All rights reserved.

MONSTER MASH
The Creepy, Kooky Monster Craze In America, 1957-1972
Time-trip back to the frightening era of 1957-1972, when monsters stomped into the American mainstream! Once
Frankenstein and fiends infiltrated TV in 1957, an avalanche of monster magazines, toys, games, trading cards, and comic
books crashed upon an unsuspecting public. This profusely illustrated full-color hardcover covers that creepy, kooky Monster
Craze through features on FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND magazine, the #1 hit “Monster Mash,” Aurora’s model kits,
TV shows (SHOCK THEATRE, THE ADDAMS FAMILY, THE MUNSTERS, and DARK SHADOWS), “MARS ATTACKS” trading
cards, EERIE PUBLICATIONS, PLANET OF THE APES, and more! It features interviews with JAMES WARREN (Creepy, Eerie,
and Vampirella magazines), FORREST J ACKERMAN (Famous Monsters of Filmland), JOHN ASTIN (The Addams Family), AL
LEWIS (The Munsters), JONATHAN FRID (Dark Shadows), GEORGE BARRIS (monster car customizer), ED “BIG DADDY”
ROTH (Rat Fink), BOBBY (BORIS) PICKETT (Monster Mash singer/songwriter) and others, with a Foreword by TV horror host
ZACHERLEY, the “Cool Ghoul.” Written by MARK VOGER (author of “The Dark Age”).
(192-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $39.95 • (Digital Edition) $11.95 • ISBN: 9781605490649
Diamond Order Code: MAR151564
TwoMorrows.
The Future of Pop History. Phone: 919-449-0344
TwoMorrows Publishing • 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 USA E-mail: store@twomorrows.com
Web: www.twomorrows.com
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Creator • Draw • Jack Kirby Collector:
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SCOTT SAAVEDRA’S SECRET SANCTUM
Dad Made Me Do It
Three Letters to Three Famous People
by Scott Saavedra
Astronaut Neil Armstrong. Illustrator Norman Rockwell. Comic- I was bad at math and, much later, hated flying). Even playing
book creator Jack Kirby. Three individuals generally regarded to too long on a swing set was problematic. To this day, my mom
be near or at the pinnacle of their professions. When I was a kid, I will—for no discernible reason—remind me about the time I got
wrote to all of them. I asked one for comic books. I asked one for a “car sick” on a drive one Easter Sunday and threw up in her brand-
job. And I asked one for government property. My requests were new purse. There was no malice intended. I just don’t travel well.
all made under duress. Also, I was an infant (besides, I was sitting on my mother’s lap in
This is my story. a moving car that was not equipped with seatbelts, therefore a
baby blithely barfing was really the least bad thing that could’ve
The Man from the Moon happened).
Thinking back through the haze of my childhood memories, I So… space. By the middle of 1969, NASA was on the cusp of
don’t recall much about America’s Space Program during the realizing President John F. Kennedy’s famous 1961 call to put men
Sixties. Certainly, I was aware of it and interested in it. I know that on the Moon and return them safely home before the decade’s
I wanted to be an astronaut but I had awful motion sickness (plus end. President Kennedy, cruelly assassinated in 1963, would not
(LEFT TO RIGHT) Neil A. Armstrong in a lunar module simulator where he practiced in the weeks leading up to the historic Apollo 11
mission. NASA. Illustrator Norman Rockwell in a portrait by Underwood and Underwood, 1921. Library of Congress. Jack Kirby in thought
during a media interview at a fund-raising event in Westlake, California, c.1977. Photo courtesy of the author.

scott saavedra’s secret sanctum
live to see the mission’s success. If there was to be a success.

One of my strongest memories is of the uncertainty and danger
associated with the Moon landing. And the years following
Kennedy’s death were difficult and bruising to America’s sense of
itself. A positive event—a successful Moon mission—that could
bring the country together was more than welcome. That’s an
observation made with the benefit of research and hindsight, of
course. I was only nine at the time, enjoying my summer, and not
thinking deeply about much of anything. My dad, on the other
hand, had his mind on objects paradoxically momentous and
small. Moon rocks.
The July 4, 1969 issue of Life, then a popular weekly magazine
of photojournalism, was a special edition highlighting the
impending Apollo 11 Moon landing. I dimly recall this issue and an
online copy was pleasantly familiar (I must have read the heck
out of it as a kid). My Dad did not generally bring home a lot of
magazines, so that, plus the ambient Moon Landing Mania (for
more on that subject, see RetroFan #5), helps it stick in my mind.
There was a feature on the three astronauts being sent to the
Moon—Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins—and
NEIL ARMSTRONG (1930–2012)
their families. Dad was especially interested in the families, Following Neil Armstrong’s death, retired U.S. Senator
specifically their number. He had an idea, Dad did, and it involved John Glenn called his fellow groundbreaking astronaut
me (though I didn’t know it just yet). “humble.” In fact, Armstrong long maintained that the
Soon, my dad was busily silk-screen printing T-shirts in successful moonwalk was the result of the work of many
our garage and then carefully lying them out on the backyard people. The Soviet Union, unable to beat the U.S. to the
lawn to dry. The shirts were simple: the designation APOLLO Moon with a manned flight, sent an unmanned craft,
11 over a stark image of the Moon printed in a single color (red, Luna 15, which failed and smashed into the lunar surface
I think) on a basic white T-shirt. My father’s plan was simple: hours before Armstrong and Aldrin began their return
send the astronauts these fine custom T-shirts for themselves to the orbiting Command Module. My second youngest
and their families and ask if they would swap them for… moon brother was born just a few days after that first moon-
rocks. Because, sure, why not? It’s like if my dad knew Neil walk, he was named Buck Rogers (I kid… his name is
Armstrong was going to McDonald’s for lunch and then asked if Neil). In a somewhat related note, my father was once
he could have his delicious French fries. Except these fries cost mistaken for astronaut Buzz Aldrin at an Inventor’s
$100,000,000 instead of just 15 cents. Expo (the two men look nothing alike).
(ABOVE) Author’s copy of the Apollo 11 crew photo given out by
APOLLO 11
NASA (note tape stains). The signatures are via an Autopen,
which was used to keep up with the demand for autographs. NASA.
Decades later, I’m still shaking my head at the audacity. If Dad

had just read a bit deeper into that issue of Life he would have
seen the article about the expensive ($8.5 million in 1969 dollars)
and elaborate efforts to quarantine the astronauts and their
collected rocks to make sure they didn’t bring back any Moon-
pox. Plus, the rocks were destined for research. This information
was there in black and white. I was only a kid and I thought the
notion was bonkers. But Dad felt he had a secret weapon. Me.
Who, my dad figured, could deny a decent American boy a
teeny, tiny, won’t-be-missed pebble collected during the apex of
Humanity’s Greatest Moment? All I had to do was write a letter
telling the astronauts how much I was interested in the space
program (quite a bit) and how much my younger brother Mark
was interested in the space program (not a bit) and, hey, if you
had any extra leftover lunar gravel could I get some, that would
be great, thankyouverymuch. Oh, here are some T-shirts for you
and your lovely wives and children.
A recreation of the T-shirt design produced by the author’s father So I reluctantly wrote the letter. My dad looked it over and
for the purpose of obtaining moon rocks.
rejected it. “Kids don’t talk that way. You need to sound like a

Neil Armstrong responded to the author’s letter while still in quarantine after Apollo 11’s
crew returned from their historic mission to the Moon. Courtesy of the author.

A thin manila envelope from NASA arrived that August.

Did I get a Moon rock? Well, come on, no. I did allow myself to
think that maybe it could happen, so I was briefly disappointed.
I squeezed the envelope before opening it hoping to find a
lump. What I did get was a machine-autographed photo of
the three Apollo 11 astronauts and a personal letter from Neil
Armstrong dated August 12, 1969 when he would have still been
in quarantine. In the letter Commander Armstrong thanked my
parents for the T-shirts (“Our children thought the shirts were
great!”) and encouraged my brother and I to study hard (sorry, sir)
and keep up our interest in the space program (Roger that).
After I showed it around to everyone, I proudly took my
Original art to Fantastic Four #98 (May 1970). Writer Stan Lee historic document and, using masking tape, stuck that sucker
and the legendary artistic team of Jack Kirby and Joe Sinnott
to my bedroom wall. I was and continue to be impressed by the
correctly capture Neil Armstrong’s intended words at this
historic Apollo 11 moment (Armstrong famously forgot the simple, decent kindness of the letter. I did eventually see an
article “a” and said “That’s one small step for man”). Kirby actual piece of the Moon that was part of a traveling exhibition. It
would soon leave Marvel Comics and begin his “Fourth World” just looked like a rock.
comics at DC. Fantastic Four TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. Art courtesy
of Heritage Comics Auctions.
The Mystery of ‘Shuffleton’s Barbershop’
There was a very large book in our house, Norman Rockwell:
kid.” Me? Not sound like a kid? Preposterous! Dad dictated a more Artist and Illustrator (Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1970). It was a gift
juvenile version to his liking and it was sent with the T-shirts from Mom to Dad. I don’t specifically recall any great interest in
directly, I believe, to Neil Armstrong in care of NASA. Rockwell by my father, who was an (mostly) amateur artist, but
Then Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Mike Collins flew to I loved that book. In addition to reproductions of some of the
the Moon in a rocketship. Armstrong, then Aldrin, walked on prolific artist’s work there was also background on his process.
the surface of Earth’s only natural satellite. They picked up some That was the part that was most compelling to me. Being a boy of
rocks and took some pictures. And then they came home to Earth. just 13 summers, though, my artistic tastes were still developing
Safely. Humanity marveled at such an historic achievement. With and I was more focused on one of this country’s great native art
the mission objective achieved the astronauts were then stuck in forms: comic books.
quarantine for 21 days. What did they do with their time? Well, at At that time, 1973, comic books (and Star Trek and Lord of the
least one of them decided to catch up on some correspondence. Rings) were still fringe popular culture as far as the population
NORMAN ROCKWELL (1894–1978)

In the early Sixties, NASA initiated an art program to
promote the space program. Annie Liebovitz, Andy
Warhol, and Norman Rockwell were among the artists who
participated. Rockwell managed to convince NASA to let him
take a spacesuit home so he could get the details right for
a painting of two Gemini astronauts, John Young and Gus
Grissom, suiting up. A NASA employee was required to be
with the suit at all times. Later, Rockwell was commissioned
to paint the Moon landing in the lead-up to the actual event.
Other Apollo 11 paintings followed. Astronaut Story Musgrave
grew up on the 40-acre Linwood Estate in Stockbridge,
Massachusetts, which is now the home of the Norman
Rockwell Museum. The painting, “Shuffleton’s Barbershop,”
is owned by popular culture giant, George Lucas, and will
be on display at the as-yet-uncompleted Lucas Museum of
Narrative Art in Los Angeles.
Norman Rockwell’s final studio. Out of the 20 or so over a

lifetime, he felt it was his “best studio yet.” In 1986 it was
moved to its current location at the Norman Rockwell
Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Photographs from
the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photo-
graphs Division.

at large was concerned. Nothing to notice or take too seriously. The only person I could think to share my discovery with was my
My mom worried about me reading comics… she was concerned father.
that it was junk (well, yes). There were no superhero movies that I don’t recall my dad being particularly moved by my
year, no comic-book-inspired primetime television series. What is incredible discovery. Absentmindedly, and with a complete
now called Comic-Con International: San Diego (but usually just misunderstanding of how Norman Rockwell worked, I puzzled
referred to as Comic-Con) had an attendance of a mere 1,000+ aloud, “Hmmm, I wonder if he still has the comic books?”
enthusiasts. “You should ask him. Write him a letter.”
I read everything about comic books that I could find at the Nuts.
library (not much) and kept my eyes peeled for any reference Now I had my dad’s full and enthusiastic attention. As a
to comics elsewhere (slim pickings). And so I was pleasantly younger man, Dad enjoyed collecting autographs from young
surprised one day, while looking through Artists and Illustrator for actresses (and someday I will find that autograph book). But I
the umpteenth time, to see something I hadn’t noticed before. was his polar opposite. I did not want to bother someone just
A rack of comic books in the left corner of one of Rockwell’s because they were famous.
paintings. “Maybe he still has the comic books and he’ll give them to
The painting, “Shuffleton’s Barbershop,” is one of Norman you.”
Rockwell’s better-known works. “Shuffleton’s Barbershop”—a I did not want to write Norman Rockwell and ask him about
real place, by the way—provided the cover to the April 29, 1950 misspelling comic-book titles and then ask him for 23-year-
issue of The Saturday Evening Post. Artist and Illustrator presents not old comic books that I was pretty certain he didn’t have. But, I
only the painting but some of the reference photos used to create allowed, that it was maybe, sorta, possible he might have one or
it. Rockwell definitely had an eye for detail but the photos he two. I wouldn’t say no to free comic books.
used, in this case taken by an assistant, were a supplement for his This letter, as with the moon rock request, was re-drafted
onsite sketches. What caught my eye—once I stopped marveling because Dad said that I didn’t sound enough like a kid (if you
at the fact that I found comic books in a Real Artist’s painting— could ever conceive of such an inconceivable—that word means
was the fact that the two comic-book covers that I could make exactly what I think it does—scenario). We sent the approved
out were inaccurately painted. At the time, I only recognized two version off and waited.
of the source comics and (much) later research turned up the Annnnnd… he wrote back! It took a few months but I got
actual issues: Crime Does Not Pay #82 (Dec. 1949) and Walt Disney’s a reply. It was brief and polite. He didn’t recall why he left
Comics and Stories vol. 10, #3 (Dec. 1949). Rockwell had misspelled out the C and he didn’t have the “magazines.” Boom. That’s it.
the comic titles. CRIME, for example, became
“RIHE” with the letter C clearly painted over.
(LEFT) The April 29, 1950 issue of the Saturday Evening Post
featuring Norman Rockwell’s “Shuffleton’s Barbershop.” (TOP
LEFT) Crime Does Not Pay #82 (Dec. 1949), and (TOP RIGHT)
Disney’s Comics & Stories vol. 10 #3 are two of the most visible of
the mis-painted comics found on the lower left of the cover. Of
the comic books on the rack, writer Richard Halpern notes in
his book, Norman Rockwell: The Underside of Innocence, that “it is
rare that a specimen of cultural sleaze manages to crawl up from
the basement and park itself in the middle of a Rockwell.” Rude.
Saturday Evening Post © Saturday Evening Post Society. All Rights Reserved.
Donald Duck & related characters © Disney.

Park, California, by the way, was then a

very quiet, small town in the Conejo Valley
(conejo is Spanish for rabbit, a creature I
never, ever saw while living there).
On a hunch, I checked to see if our
phone book had a listing for a Jack Kirby.
It did. But I couldn’t believe it was the Jack
Kirby because—pardon my naiveté—
famous people just didn’t have themselves
listed in the phone book. Besides, everyone
knew that comic-book artists lived in
New York. Except this Jack Kirby lived in
Thousand Oaks, a larger neighboring city
in the Conejo Valley (sound of no rabbits
frolicking). Despite my completely logical
doubts I convinced myself that I was on to
something.
“Hey, Dad, a real comic-book artist
lives in Thousand Oaks!”
“You should write to him and ask him if
he needs an assistant.”
Thought balloon over my head: “Aw,
crap.”
I did not want to be Jack Kirby’s
assistant. He clearly already had an
assistant helping him with the letters
page (turned out he had two assistants
who later went on to have creative careers,
writer Mark Evanier and puppeteer Steve
Sherman). I actually still have an early,
maybe final, draft and I can easily make
out my contributions: “I think that you and
Joe Kubert are the best in the field of comic
art,” just like any frickin’ run-of-the-mill,
bookish, comic-book goofball 14-year-old
would write. And my dad’s: “I was just
wondering if you could use my help in
Norman Rockwell’s succinct reply to the author.
either fileing (sic—any bad spelling is my
fault) or doing errands in exchange for
letting me see you at work.” Ugh.
Right there on his personal stationary. “Sincerely Yours, Norman First, Jack Kirby wasn’t an accountant, so I question how much
Rockwell.” Mystery solved. filing he needed and second, what errands did my dad think a kid
without any means of transportation do for an artist in the middle
An Audience with the King of the suburbs, and third, who would want to have some strange
According to my records from 1974 (ahem), I bought 87 comic (so true) teen sit and stare at you while you’re working? The
books for the entirety of the year, a robust round of purchases request for an autographed photo is also my dad’s line. And I have
for me then, but it wasn’t anywhere near enough for this fan. I never signed off as “Your Friend” to anyone, not even my actual
just couldn’t afford any more than that. Fortunately, my brother friends. The finished letter was placed into an envelope on which
Daniel had a friend who got $20 a month to spend on comics was placed a freshly licked ten cent stamp. It was then taken away
(back when they were 20 to 25 cents for a regular issue) and by our friendly long-time postman, Dick.
was willing to swap back and forth. It was in this way that I was So, one summer day not long after, I’m pulling weeds for
introduced to Jack Kirby’s mad Kamandi (adventures in a post- a neighbor (gotta earn that comic-book money) and my mom
holocaust world) and his inventive, interconnected “Fourth comes over to tell me that Mrs. Kirby called to say that I could
World” comics, Mister Miracle, New Gods, The Forever People, and the come over to visit Mr. Kirby. I will admit that even though I didn’t
precursor, Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen. want to write the letter I was thrilled to hear this and was floating
I quickly noticed that the address to send an LOC (fanspeak for the rest of the day.
for letter of comment) was a post-office box in Newbury Park, In preparation for the upcoming visit I mounted my artwork,
California. Wait. I lived in Newbury Park, California! D-did that a sampling of poorly drawn fantasy and superhero illustrations,
mean Jack Kirby lived in Newbury Park, California? Newbury and produced a new science-fiction story (in the manner of

Kamandi) which my dad “helped” me with by inking my pencil art
with a ballpoint pen and placing tasteful highlights in gold paint
on the splash page. He also randomly colored parts of panels with
watercolors. From a professional comic-book art point of view,
there really wasn’t anything that we didn’t do wrong.
The day of The Visit came and my dad and I sat down with
Mr. Kirby in his studio, which overlooked the Conejo Valley in the
manner of Mount Olympus (but with fewer rabbits). He politely
looked over my youthful, clumsy attempts at art. He smiled. I
sat up straighter. Jack Kirby seemed especially taken with the
art for my science-fiction story. He pointed to the hero’s name
emblazoned across the page: ROZ.
“My wife’s name is Roz!”
Well, my character’s name was ROZ because my dad named
him ROZ. ROZ is an acronym for Radioactive Organic Zam (don’t
ask me). Somehow, ROZ was “half man, half atom.” Even by comic-
book standards of the time this was ba-donkers. My dad is gone
now so I can’t ask him about it. But it would be so like him to think
JACK KIRBY (1917–1994)

that this would somehow improve my chances of employment
if, in fact, he knew Roz Kirby’s name ahead of time. That doesn’t
completely explain “Zam” but it’s something.
After looking over all of my art he gently let me know that Jack Kirby’s galactically vast imagination has inspired
I didn’t have enough… hate?, anger? I don’t recall exactly. Years and powered both comic books and the successful
later, Rocketeer creator Dave Stevens told me Kirby had said movies that sprang from them. Stan Lee, the original
wordsmith, editor, and master showman of Marvel
Comics, gave “fun” nicknames to his fellow creators in
that company’s early days. Lee bestowed “King” onto
Kirby. It was an agnomen (don’t use that word often
enough) that—though it ultimately fit—reminded
the artist of an earlier, un-beloved boss, Victor Fox.
Apparently Fox, a Forties-era publisher of comic books
with attractive covers on the outside and junk on the
inside, strutted about, cigar in mouth, proclaiming, “I’m
the King of Comics!” to no one in particular.
(ABOVE) The author’s father with Jack Kirby, c. 1983. No

one living has any idea why this particular meeting took
place. Courtesy of the author.
more or less the same thing to him, though he also acknowledged

Dave’s huge talent. Kirby did suggest that I probably could have
gotten work in the Golden Age of Comics (not a complement but,
you know, he was trying to be nice).
No assistant job for me. However, I was gifted with a Jack
Kirby’s Gods portfolio. Four large renditions of strapping characters
penciled and watercolored by Kirby and finished with voluptuous
inking by Marvel Comics stalwart Don Heck.
Allowing me and my dad to visit was a huge act of generosity
on the part of both of the Kirbys. I fully expected that encounter
to be a one-off, but it wasn’t. I visited Jack Kirby again in 1975—he
had Captain America art on the drawing board—for a high school
A page of art prepared to show Jack Kirby the author’s artistic

abilities. Coloring, most of the inking, some of the writing, much
of lettering, all of the fancy gold paint applications provided by the
author’s father. New York was sarcastically known as “Fun City”
during some of the Sixties and Seventies. © Scott Saavedra.

(LEFT) A slightly stalker-y sounding letter to comic-book giant, Jack Kirby. (TOP RIGHT) The author once before recounted, slightly
inaccurately, his first meeting with Jack Kirby in strip form for the Aug.–Sept. 2000 issue of his fanzine, Comic Book Heaven vol. 2 #3
(SLG). (ABOVE) Postcard from Jack Kirby, dynamic and to the point (like the artist’s work itself). Art © Scott Saavedra. Artifacts courtesy of
the author.
assignment to interview a local interesting person (“Why don’t doing at the time for the San Jose State newspaper, the Spartan
you ask Jack Kirby?”). Daily) was coming along. I have no earthly idea why he wrote that
That same year a student from my high school was shot and postcard. I suspect my mom sent him clippings of the comic strip
paralyzed. My dad helped spearhead efforts to assist the boy, one and maybe suggested I’d like to hear from him. It’s the sort of
of nine kids. This was strange to me, not because my dad didn’t thing she’d do. Kisses, Mom.
care about others, it’s just that he wasn’t an organizer. I asked my “He was channeling through you,” Mom told me recently
mom about that recently. “Your father was an idea man. Other when I asked why Dad had me write “my” letters. We had
people had to do the work.” My mom isn’t being unkind. That’s opposing personalities. I was a shy, bookish kid while my dad
exactly the kind of person my father was. Once, after I moved was way more relaxed. Way more. It wasn’t always a smooth
away from home, Dad called me out of the blue (a rare event). He relationship. But the Neil Armstrong and Norman Rockwell
didn’t even say “hello.” letters are framed and hanging (properly, minus the masking
“Boogie Boy!” tape) on my office wall. I smile and usually think of Dad (kindly)
“What?! Dad?” when I focus on them. I only recently uncovered the Jack Kirby
“Boogie Boy! He makes graffiti and fights crime on his postcard and I’ll put that up too.
skateboard. Do that one!”
I didn’t do that one. Defacing public property is a crime (yep,
I’m that guy). SCOTT SAAVEDRA is a graphic designer
Hang on, I’m coming back around to Jack Kirby. So, my dad who writes and draws as needed. He is
was involved with some fundraisers for the wounded boy and perhaps best known as the creator of the
distressed family. At least two events involved celebrities and long-ago comic-book series, It’s Science
my dad invited Jack Kirby to be one of the celebrities both times. with Dr. Radium (SLG), and he wrote for
He happily drew sketches for kids and I watched as he was the short-lived Disney Comics line, where he
interviewed by local media. Years later, Roz Kirby made a point of scripted stories featuring Chip ’n’ Dale
telling me how much she and Jack enjoyed my parents. Rescue Rangers, Mickey Mouse, Goofy, and others. His fanzine,
I didn’t ever get a letter from Jack Kirby. The reply to my initial Comic Book Heaven, about crazy, vintage comics, had a devoted
letter was a phone call. But in 1982 I received a postcard from him. but, sadly, tiny following. Check out his Instagram thing, won’t you?
In it he asked me how my Benchly comic strip (an awful thing I was (instagram.com/scottsaav/)

Growing Up
© Universal Pictures.
by Dan Johnson though the show ended over 50 years ago, grandparents. They had cast the show
The Munsters remains a fan-favorite thanks with a kid named Happy Derman and
In 1964, CBS introduced America to one to reruns, and it is a show that has never a woman named Joan Marshall played
of the most memorable television sitcom left the airwaves. the mom, whose name was Phoebe.
families of all time. In many ways, they At the Fayetteville Comic Con in [They were in the original pilot, and this]
were very typical. There was a father, a October 2018, this writer got to sit down has since become the lost pilot for The
mother, a grandfather, a poor distant with the youngest member of this Munsters, which was shot in color. At the
cousin that seemed destined to be an frightening family unit, Butch Patrick, last minute, the producers decided to do
old maid because of her looks, and a who played Eddie Munster, for a panel screen tests for other kids, and my agent
young son. They had the usual wacky Q&A. Butch was nice enough to share convinced them to fly me out from Illinois
misadventures that a lot of television his memories of working on the iconic and do the screen test, which I did. Before
families experienced, and, at the end of sitcom and also discussed his career after The Munsters, I had appeared on General
the day, it was certain that there was much The Munsters. The following is an edited Hospital and done a year on The Real
love in this family. transcription of that interview. McCoys, so I had several credits before this
What set this clan apart from everyone series.
else on the air was that they were based RetroFan: Tell our readers how you got
on the classic Universal Monsters (Herman the part of Eddie Munster. RF: 1964 was a big year for horror fans.
Munster, the father, was, more or less, the Butch Patrick: The Munsters came along Shock Theater was on the air with the
Frankenstein Monster, and Grandpa was in 1964. I had started acting in 1961, and Universal Horror films, Famous Monsters
Count Dracula). They were the Munsters, I was actually living in Illinois with my of Filmland was out on the newsstand, and
and for two years (1964– the Aurora monster model
1966) they rode the wave kits were huge hits. Were
of monster mania that you a horror fan before The
was sweeping the U.S.A. Munsters?
in the early Sixties. Even BP: Yeah, I really enjoyed the
classic Universal Monster
movies, like Dracula (1931),
Butch Patrick, TV pop Frankenstein (1931), The Wolf
culture icon, indeed!
Man (1941), The Mummy
Courtesy of Leila Murray/
Munsters.com. (1932), and especially

RETRO INTERVIEW: BUTCH PATRICK
(ABOVE) Phoebe, not Lily? And who’s that as Eddie?? Title cards from the original Munsters pilot showing the two key roles that would be
recast. (BELOW) Just an average American kid: Butch Patrick as Eddie Munster, with Al Lewis as Grandpa, in an autographed publicity
still. Photo courtesy of Heritage. Munsters © Universal Pictures.
Creature From the Black Lagoon BP: Well, the people who
(1954). I was definitely a Universal produced The Munsters worked on
Monsters junkie. Leave It to Beaver for six years, so
they were very committed that
RF: The age you were, working the scripts be poignant. Hugh
on the sets of The Munsters and Beaumont [Leave It to Beaver’s
working in the monster make-up, Ward Cleaver] was a great TV
and being a fan, you must have dad. Fred Gwynne was a great
been in seventh heaven. TV dad. The interesting thing
BP: It’s funny. The Munsters for they were able to do was take
me was a job. My favorite thing the family dynamic of Leave It to
to do was explore the Universal Beaver and apply it to The Munsters
lot when I had some free time. while utilizing Universal’s classic
My favorite destination was the monsters. So they really knew how
make-up department where Mike to use set dressing and lighting
Westmore worked. Mike was an to make them scary while being
apprentice on The Munsters and friendly and a family.
[doing my make-up] was his first
work in television. My favorite RF: Tell us about Al Lewis,
thing to do was check out the Grandpa Munster.
special effects and make-up and BP: Well, Al and Fred were so
all the things behind the scenes. opposite. Fred was very much
reserved and Al was over the top
RF: Tell us about Fred Gwynne. with crazy energy levels. Together,
Herman Munster was, in my they made up a Yin and Yang. Al
opinion, one of the most iconic The thing I learned the most from loved sports and was well known for being
television dads of all-time. Fred was acting techniques. Fred was such a scout for basketball, and he taught me a
BP: Fred was a great guy and a really a good teacher and such a talent. You’ll lot about not taking things too seriously.
fine actor. He and Al Lewis, from [the notice, as we became closer and closer, the He would toss a Frisbee and play baseball
1961–1963 sitcom] Car 54, Where Are writers started writing more father-and- with me when we had the time, and he
You?, were a very funny comedy team. son moments, so I have to thank Fred for became my mentor. Until the day he died,
On The Munsters, Fred was able to broadening my techniques. Al and I were very close.
capture this Frankenstein character, My favorite thing to do when we
and once you saw him, he wasn’t RF: For a show about a family of were on set was check out Grandpa’s
Frankenstein, he immediately became monsters, The Munsters presented a great dungeon. The laboratory/dungeon set
loveable Herman Munster. family dynamic.

was my favorite set, and Al really took the was the producer and writer of Captain set the tone for the show and were the
character of Grandpa to a new level. Kangaroo. She knew she didn’t want to leaders on the set, is that correct?
move to Los Angeles, but then the show BP: Yes. They basically were a team. Some
RF: Tell us about Yvonne De Carlo, Lily became a hit and she was stuck out there. of their interactions on the show were as
Munster, your TV mom. Prior to The She was miserable and she cried all the funny as Abbott and Costello or Laurel and
Munsters, she had a huge career as a film time. Eventually Fred and Al went to the Hardy or any comedy team of any period.
star. producers and said, “You’ve got to let
BP: This was before a lot of movie stars this girl out of her contract because this RF: I’ve read stories of different actors
did television. Yvonne took the role of Lily is just harsh and unusual punishment.” who had played the Frankenstein
mainly for financial security. Her husband The producers said, “No way, we’re not Monster and the torture they went
was a stuntman, Bob Morgan, who was letting her out of the contract. We have through with the make-up. I can imagine
severely hurt and couldn’t work anymore. a hit show and she’s a very valued part of after two years, Fred Gwynne was happy
He was hurt doing a stunt on How the West it.” That’s when Fred and Al basically told to have that aspect of the job over with.
Was Won. He was on a train car loaded the producers, “If you don’t let her go, we’ll BP: Fred arrived at 6:00 a.m. and he had to
with logs, and the timbers came loose and walk off the show. Take your pick.” be on the set at 8:00 a.m. The main thing
he was crushed by them. He was lucky to So that is how Pat Priest got the job. A was the foam-rubber suit he had to wear.
have survived. lot of people don’t even know there were It’s very hot on the soundstage under the
In the Forties and Fifties, Yvonne two Marilyns, since it was such a seamless lights, and he was in practically every
was one of the major stars of the day. So transition, unlike Darrin on Bewitched, scene. He was a thin man to begin, but
when she came to do The Munsters, a lot of where Dick York left and Dick Sargent being in that suit and in those boots, he
people didn’t think she would be able to came in and you knew something was up. was sweating weight off.
pull it off, especially doing comedy. I think [Editor’s note: In The Munsters’ 72 episodes,
she did a fabulous job and did very well Beverley Owen played Marilyn Munster in RF: Sadly, The Munsters only lasted two
playing off Fred and Al’s antics. the first 15 episodes and Pat Priest played seasons. What were your thoughts
the role in the remaining 57.] when you found out the series had been
RF: Let’s talk about cousin Marilyn. cancelled?
Every family has that ugly duckling, RF: What was Pat Priest like to work with? BP: Well, you have to remember, I was
and I always thought it was funny the BP: Pat is wonderful. She did a really 12 years old and I was in school most of
producers choose to have an attractive great job on the show and she is still a the time if I wasn’t in front of the camera.
blonde be the “shame” of the Munsters friend of mine. She is 84 and she lives in Anything else regarding production I really
family. Idaho. I’ve tried to get her out for personal wasn’t privy to.
BP: We had two Marilyns. appearances, but she has declined them. At the time, though, we were shot in
First there was Beverley [also Beverly] black and white and network television
Owen. The story was that Beverley came RF: Based on what you’ve just told us, was getting ready to go to color. Everybody
out to L.A. to do the pilot. She was in love Fred and Al seem to be the ones who was talking about the transition and
with a guy in New York, Jon Stone, who the ratings were kind of suffering in the
(LEFT) Beverley Owen, the original Marilyn

Munster, with cast (sans Patrick as Eddie),
and (RIGHT) her better-known replace-
ment, Pat Priest, with the entire cast (includ-
ing Patrick). Munsters © Universal Pictures.

(LEFT) Butch with the Koach in a recent photo. (RIGHT) The Munsters’
Koach, customized by the man behind many of Hollywood’s coolest cars,
George Barris, was one of the most popular rides on Sixties TV. Munsters
© Universal Pictures. Butch Patrick photo courtesy of Leila Murray/Munsters.com.
second year. The producers, Joe Connelly two years. The window
and Bob Mosher, approached CBS, and was small, but people
they wanted to go color for half a season remember us because
before the rest of the network to try and we didn’t have cable
showcase The Munsters as this show with and we didn’t have the
the wild make-up. CBS agreed to do this internet. You basically
but told them they would have to pay had three channels to
for the more expensive film. Joe and Bob entertain yourself on
didn’t want to pay [that extra cost]. Plus, Thursday night after
Fred and Al were from New York, and they dinner, and we were
were tired of being on the West Coast. And lucky enough to be the
again, the ratings were down. The politics lead show.
of the situation seemed to be we’re just
going to let the show die. What they did do RF: You mentioned the
was a feature film, Munster, Go Home! music. The first season theme was good. had a dragon before they were cool. The
The second season theme is epic. I’ve writers liked creating stories that were
RF: So, the show was almost done in color, heard various bands cover that theme, non-reality-based, and you saw that in
but to me, The Munsters always worked with its wonderful surf-style riffs. You other shows like My Favorite Martian and
because it was in black and white, just just hear it and you can’t help but smile. I Dream of Jeannie. They could write funny
like the old Universal horror films. It just BP: Most every band knows The Munsters stuff and it was just meant to make you
felt like it belonged in that world of the riff. Fall Out Boy had a really good song laugh. That is the secret of so any old
classic movies. out a couple years ago called “She Wants shows. These shows bring back fond
BP: The success of the show came from the to Dance Like Uma Thurman,” and they memories.
fact that basically we had the Universal used the theme and tied it to Quentin Spot was a great example. No one
Monsters look, very vintage Thirties and Tarantino. Literally, the Munsters theme has a dragon as a pet, and no one cared
Forties. Then you took the script writing, has been recorded over a hundred times. that the Munsters did. There was a movie
and then you add in great guest stars, we called The Lost World (1960), and a small
had cool cars, excellent music, and great RF: Let’s open up the floor to some T-Rex used in that movie was reused to
special effects. There really wasn’t a weak questions from our audience. make Spot.
link in that chain. There were about seven
different departments and they all did Fan 1: Tell us about Spot on The Munsters. Fan 2: My favorite episode of The Munsters
their jobs really, really well, and that’s why BP: The Spot character was funny. Spot is where Eddie meets the local horror
the show did so well. We did 72 episodes in was long before Game of Thrones, so we host, Zombo, played by Louis Nye. I loved

(LEFT) Butch Patrick and the Drag-u-la. Butch and both

Munsters cars are available for convention and car show
bookings via Munsters.com. (RIGHT) From the George
Barris Archives and courtesy of Heritage Auctions, behind-
the-scenes and set photos of The Munsters’ other sizzlin’ set
of wheels, Grandpa’s hot rod, the Drag-u-la. Butch Patrick
photo courtesy of Leila Murray/Munsters.com.
the scene where Eddie finds out Zombo over the years. Until Davy’s passing, I
is just a regular guy, and he goes nuts and I’m going to be doing something would see him quite often. Micky and I see
destroys the sets. myself now with Super Scary Saturday each all the time, and Peter, too, of course.
BP: Yes. That is the one where I am creator, Jeff Grimshaw, from TBS. He And lately I’ve seen Mike more often.
obsessed with Zombo, not because I’m wants to do a recreation of me hosting Being friends with the Monkees has been
watching the monster movie, but because Eddie’s Monstrous Movie Mausoleum as a one of the highlights of my career. [Editor’s
I think Zombo is a real guy. I go to the streaming video show. So, go to Facebook note: Several months after this interview
studio after I win a contest, and I visit and check out Eddie’s Monstrous Movie was recorded, Monkee Peter Tork died, on
Zombo’s house and I am seeing it is all Mausoleum. February 21, 2019.]
fake. I go up to the producer and I ask,
“Isn’t anything real?” The guy playing the Fan 3: Tell us about your friendship with Fan 4: Was there a favorite movie or TV
producer says, “This is television! Nothing the Monkees. show that you liked as a child that you
is real!” That was just the kind of writing BP: A couple of things occurred to create tried out for?
we had. At the very end of the episode, the Monkees friendship. Number one, the BP: Sure, there were several of them.
and very few people ever catch this, Louis Beatles came on the set of The Munsters, One of them was The Twilight Zone. I had
Nye has the biggest credit ever seen on The and they happened to come on a day I was a meeting with Rod Serling, and if you
Munsters. I guess his agent got him that, off. I was really bummed. ever had a chance to meet this guy, you
but he has the biggest name ever in the So when The Monkees came along, immediately would know where his
end credit roll. I went on an interview for a Christmas writing was coming from. I really believe
episode of their show. That kind of made he had an alien inclination and he knew
RF: Something a lot of folks may not be up for me missing out on the Beatles about so much about things we had no
aware of is that you were actually a horror because the Monkees were huge at that idea about. I met him and I just thought he
host yourself for a while. time. I was lucky enough to work with was from the other dimensions. I met Walt
BP: You mean Macabre Theatre? them for a week as an equal. If you’ve Disney and I got to work with him. I’ve
never seen the episode, it’s one of the best. been very lucky; I have gotten to meet a lot
RF: Yes. At the end, they sing an acapella version of of cool people.
BP: Yeah, that was about 20 years ago. I “Riu Chiu” and then they break down the
brought along a co-star, Ivonna Cadaver. fourth wall and they introduce everyone Fan 5: After The Munsters, you made a
I did about 20 shows and it was fun. involved with the production. Everyone film that has become a cult classic, The
[Editor’s note: Butch co-hosted this came on camera and I thought that was Phantom Tollbooth. Tell us about it.
horror-movie anthology from 2002–2005, really cool. BP: The Phantom Tollbooth was a great book
with Ivonna Cadaver carrying on through They really were a very friendly group about a kid who is bored in school and his
2018.] of guys and I became friends with them imagination is doing this and that and he

the Road Runner. He told me to go get him a cup of cof fee,

and when I came back, he handed me this drawing of the Road
Runner signed from “The Phantom Road Runner, Chuck Jones.”
I had that framed along with some of the cels he gave me.
That’s actually my most cherished possession. I know of all the
Road Runners he ever drew, that’s the only one he ever put the
“Phantom Road Runner” on.
Fan 6: I wanted to ask about Lidsville. How did you come to work
on that show?
BP: Sid and Marty Krofft, who had done H. R. Pufnstuf and The
Bugaloos, approached me to do the show, and I didn’t want to
do it. I actually turned it down three times. Finally, Sid Krofft
called and asked to take me to lunch. We met and talked and
then I finally went out to the set to see what they were up to.
The Bugaloos had just finished production and there was a really
pretty girl on the show named Caroline Ellis. I was looking at a
picture of her and I thought, “Maybe she’ll show up if I do this
other show.” Well, she never did, but I did Lidsville with Charles
Nelson Reilly in the summer of 1971 and it became a huge hit. The
show was on the air for a couple of years. It was 11 weeks’ work
and I had a lot of fun doing it.
Fan 6: I remember Caroline Ellis from The Bugaloos, and I have

to say, to expect her and get Charles Nelson Reilly had to be the
worst bait and switch of all time.
Director Earl Bellamy’s full-length film Munster, Go Home!,

released during the summer of 1966, not only revealed the
Munsters in full color but recast Marilyn yet again, with
actress Debbie Watson, known for her starring roles the
teen sitcoms Karen and Tammy, in the “ugly duckling” role.
Munsters © Universal Pictures. Poster courtesy of Heritage.
ends up going to this other world in this little toy car through
a tollbooth in his room and he becomes animated. It was
[legendary Warner Bros. animator] Chuck Jones’ only feature
film. So, from 1967 to 1969 I was lucky enough to work with all
these great voiceover people like Mel Blanc, Daws Butler, June
Foray, and Hans Conried. Everyone Chuck knew, and he knew
them all, came in to help him make this movie. I was lucky
enough to be the star of this movie playing this character Milo.
It’s a great family movie and it’s another highlight of my career.
Fan 5: The voice actors you mentioned were all legends and
were a huge part of my childhood, as I am sure they were
yours, too. Did you get to record dialogue with them, or were
the sessions done separately?
BP: I actually worked with them. Every three or four months
we would go back into the recording studio, as they were
rewriting parts of the movie. It took two years to finish the
movie and there were six different sessions. That was the best
part, actually being in the room and seeing the voices that Butch got animated in director Chuck Jones’ 1970 family
come out of these actors. film, The Phantom Tollbooth. Of several different posters
One of my most cherished possessions [came from this promoting the movie, this one banked on Patrick’s Munsters
film]. I asked Chuck Jones how long it would take to draw fame. © MGM. Poster courtesy of Heritage.

(LEFT) Butch Patrick as Melvin, with Mike Nesmith, on The Monkees, “The Christ-
mas Show,” Season 2, Episode 15, original airdate 12/15/67. (RIGHT) Butch starred
RF: In closing, let’s discuss one of the
in Saturday morning’s Lidsville for two seasons (1971–1973). Shown with him is Billie
Hayes as Weenie the Genie. Monkees © Rhino Entertainment Co. Lidsville © Sid & Marty Krofft unfortunate things about Hollywood
Television Productions. today… and that is the constant demand
to try and reboot past successes. Over
the last 30 years, there have been several
BP: [laughs] True! BP: The show Shazam!, I was actually attempts to remake The Munsters. If a
up for the part of Billy Batson. At the remake had to be done, what would be
Fan 6: What was Reilly like to work with? I last minute the producers decided it your advice to the producers to make it a
had heard he was a master of improv and wouldn’t do to have the same person on success?
tended to go off in several directions at two Saturday morning shows, so I was BP: They did Mockingbird Lane about
once. eliminated by process because I still had six years ago and that was directed by
BP: Yeah, he did. He was nice. He kept Lidsville airing. But I did end up doing an X-Men’s Bryan Singer. Bryan Fuller, who
complaining about the make-up and I told episode of Shazam! called “The Athlete” wrote Pushing Daises and Dead Like Me,
him, “You know, Charles, this is 11 weeks. I and worked with [Billy Batson] Michael wrote it. It was good and had a good cast
was in make-up for two years and I didn’t Gray. I got to play this bad guy to this with Jerry O’Connell and Eddie Izzard
complain as much as you do, and I was an female athlete who wants to join the boys’ and so on and so on, but it didn’t fly. Seth
11-year-old kid. Just man up and let’s do it.” track team. First I spook her horse while Meyers has the rights to do a reboot of
Anyway, that became the beginning of a she was riding and then I almost ran her The Munsters and I’ve actually spoken
long summer. over. That was fun for me to play the bad to Seth’s people. I made the suggestion
guy. [Editor’s note: If you missed RetroFan that Herman has to have a job and there
Fan 6: Let’s talk about Billie Hayes, who #4’s cover feature on Saturday morning’s has to be an income. I said why not make
was Weenie the Genie on Lidsville and Shazam!, it’s still available—see elsewhere him an uber driver or why not have them
Witchiepoo on H. R. Pufnstuf. She is still in this issue.] inherit an old movie theater where they
alive and going strong, isn’t she? are showing home movies, but these are
BP: Yes, she is. She was the anchor of RF: I previously interviewed Jackson actually old horror movies. Seth seemed
[Lidsville]. If there were times I might be Bostwick, who played Captain Marvel, to like those ideas and he asked me if
upset, she would take me aside. She is still and he told me that stunt with the horse, I would like to be in this. I told him yes
alive and doing great. The only reason you where he saves the girl you were bullying, and no, depending. Now that is in a hold
won’t see her at conventions is because was one of the most difficult they ever pattern. But it just goes to show, the
she doesn’t like to fly. attempted on the show. series is still going strong. They are still
BP: Yes! Where he pulled her off the making toys, models, and T-shirts. Young
Fan 7: You also did an episode of Shazam! galloping horse. He’s a great guy, Jackson kids today are watching reruns with their
for Filmation. I am a huge Captain Bostwick. He was a lot of fun. And that parents and grandparents, so it keeps
Marvel fan, so I wanted to ask about that stunt, he got it in one take. going on and on.
appearance.

RETRO TOYS A long time ago, in a toy aisle far, far away
In the late Seventies, Kenner had taken the toy
Evil Brains
world… by force. The intergalactic success of their
Star Wars toy line, in particular the 3¾-inch action
figures, had created a fervor for science-fiction
playthings unseen since the heyday of Buck Rogers
and Flash Gordon, and, perhaps more important to
Gruesome Teeth
their bottom line, positioned the company as tops
among licensors.
As such, in late 1978, 20th Century Fox invited
Kenner Product Manager Jim Black and Senior
The 40th Anniversary of the World’s Product Designer Jim Swearingen to England so
they could scope out the sets of to tour the sets of
Most Terrifying Toy, Alien Alien, a sci-fi picture that had just concluded filming
at the legendary Shepperton Studios. As the pair
had forged a solid relationship with the studio
thanks to their stellar work on the initial Star Wars
toy line-up—Swearingen designed the 12 original
figures that essentially started the 3¾-inch action
figure trend—the studio was hoping to find repeat
success by having Kenner merchandise this new
film on toy shelves to cross-promote their tent-pole
release for summer 1979.
According to Swearingen, “Jim and I saw the
sets, and I think we met Giger [Swiss surrealist
painter H. R. Giger, who designed elements of the
film, including the titular creature]. We got to tour
by Rob Smentek
In today’s collector-driven toy market, it’s hard to

imagine a pop-culture property that doesn’t have a
line of toys. Apart from the kid-driven marketplace
that offers playthings based on popular TV shows or
movies, grown-up RetroFans now have the opportunity
to go to any toy retailer or comic store and find figures
for adult-themed properties as diverse as Cheech &
Chong, Reservoir Dogs, and The Big Lebowski.
While these days, it’s clear that the licensors are
gearing these toys to the adult market—seriously,
what kid is going to be remotely interested in a
Breaking Bad or even a Bride of Chucky figure? Once upon
a time, though, the very idea of a toy line based on an
R-rated film was considered inexplicable and even
offensive.
(ABOVE) Screen capture from an Alien action figure

commercial. Image manipulation by SMS. (RIGHT) Larry
Strothe’s very own original 1979 Kenner Alien with box.
Courtesy of Larry Strothe. Alien TM & © 20th Century Fox.

RETRO toys
what is now known as the Space Jockey mock-ups for the viewer and game,
set and wander around and take some but no image of the creature. In lieu of
pictures. Eventually, they showed us the a product shot was a text box reading:
Alien.” “Contractual obligations prevent us
It was clear from their tour that from revealing the awesome secret of
director Ridley Scott’s forthcoming film the alien or its full configuration at this
was not going to offer audiences the time,” although the catalog copy did
same upbeat, Saturday afternoon serial promise a “fully articulated” figure that
escapism as Star Wars. While Alien’s will be “authentically detailed in every
production and art teams included respect as seen in the new movie.”
some Star Wars vets (including Ron Fortunately, as the movie neared
Cobb and Roger Christian), there were its release, Fox eventually furnished
no princesses or ray guns to be found. Kenner with the necessary material
“We observed things [on the set], to begin production on the toy line.
but really didn’t know what the movie Swearingen returned to his drawing
was going to be like,” says Swearingen. board and designed the 18-inch figure,
“Initially we hadn’t seen the script, but meticulously replicating the work of
we knew the movie was going to be… Giger for science-fiction-loving kids
pretty dark.” around the globe. What could go
As such, upon returning to wrong?
Kenner’s Cincinnati headquarters, the Upon its release on May 25, 1979—
designer shared his impression with coincidentally, two years to the day
his superiors: “I’m going to disappoint from Star Wars’ debut—Alien redefined
a lot of Alien fans by saying this, but at the monster movie for the modern era.
the time, I recommended we not take Monster Party podcast co-host Larry Strothe While the story is relatively simple—
with the original box insert that was included
on the license. Our target market was the seven-person crew of the starship
with the Kenner Alien. Courtesy of Larry Strothe.
3–9 year-old, and Alien was completely (BELOW) H-G Toys Alien puzzle in green egg Nostromo answers a distress beacon on
counter to that. When we came back, it packaging. Courtesy of Larry Strothe. Alien TM & a distant planet and unwittingly brings
was like ‘Really, you want to do THIS?’” © 20th Century Fox. an inhuman stowaway aboard their
Alas, in the interest of maintaining vessel—it was scary.
their relationship with Fox, in the hopes that a more “toyetic” Really, really scary.
property might come down the line from the studio, Kenner Even the most jaded filmgoers were shaken by Alien. Reports
entered into a contract to produce a toy line based on Alien, emerged of sci-fi fans expecting the next Star Wars running down
and began work on the campaign in Spring 1979. But given the the aisles to the lobby, and in some cases, vomiting or passing out
reluctance of some company insiders to pursue the license, in their seats. The infamous “chestburster” sequence, in which
Kenner kept things to a minimum, planning just three toys for the an alien hatchling pushes its way through the sternum of ship
line: a board game, a movie viewer, and an 18-inch action figure of navigator Ash (played by John Hurt), was particularly shocking in
the Alien. 1979, and remains one of the most oft-cited (and parodied) scenes
“It didn’t make sense to do… an action-figure line,” says in the genre.
Swearingen. “We had done 12-inch Star Wars figures, and a 15-inch While Scott succeeded in unsettling the audience with a
Darth Vader, so [the Alien] was kind of a barrage of jump-scares and unrelenting feeling
‘hero’ size figure… a centerpiece… which of dread—not to mention a timely subplot
showed commitment, but didn’t risk a lot. involving corporate corruption—the movie
After that, the idea was that Fox would would likely be forgotten without Giger’s
come to Kenner with the next property. innovative creature design. Part insect, part
Relationships meant a lot at those days.” biomechanical psychosexual nightmare, the
However, the toy makers faced a Alien is kept largely in the dark throughout the
particular challenge of designing and film (and, in fact, isn’t seen in its final form until
marketing product with little to no reference almost an hour in), leaving viewers guessing as
material. to its size and true appearance.
“Fox gave us a large-format book of So, while at its core, the film borrows tropes
photos of scenes and characters—but there from classic Fifties B-fare like It! The Terror from
were no photos of the Alien; they wanted Beyond Space, its innovative production design,
to make sure nothing leaked,” Swearingen drum-tight script, top-notch cast of character
recalls. performers, and exceptional direction made
As such, when Kenner introduced the line it an instant classic among both critics and
at Toy Fair in 1979, its promotional catalog (brave) audiences.
contained a few vague production shots Fortunately for Fox, Alien was a hit,
from the movie, as well as some packaging grossing close to $81 million dollars

RETRO toys
domestically in its initial release, coming in property to their audience (“ages 5 and up”
at number five in 1979’s box-office winners. according to packaging). While no footage
Moreover, the film received an Academy from the Fox film was used in the ad, somehow
Award® for Best Visual Effects, and was one of the marketing team managed to capture
the nominees for Best Art Direction. the ominous vibe of the film by showing
But despite its massive acclaim and three small boys playing in a dark den. The
grosses, Alien was not kids’ fare. commercial concludes with two of the kids
running from the room while their friend
His evil brains glow in the dark brags, “Another triumph for Alien.”
Once Swearingen finished drafting the Yes, folks, if we’re to believe the ad, the
concept for the 18-inch figure, he jokes that goal of this toy was to scare the hell out of
he “left for the dark side,” and went to work your friends.
for Kenner’s marketing department, where One of the horror fans that was
he would help develop the Strawberry profoundly affected by Alien was Larry
Shortcake property. However, before his Strothe, who is now a co-host of the Monster
tenure in Strawberryland began, his drawings Party, a podcast where four friends talk about
for the Alien were sent to the manufacturer’s all things science fiction, fantasy, and horror.
sculpting department to develop into retail Strothe saw Alien as an adolescent in the
product. summer of 1979 but never imagined that he’d
Similarly, the board game, which H-G’s Alien Puzzle featuring art see a toy based on the film.
marketed as “an exciting game of elimination by Earl Norem, along with a proto- “Alien was the first R-rated movie I had
type Alien figure. Courtesy of Phil
and escape” and the Alien Movie Viewer, Wlodarcyk. (BELOW) A sampling of seen; I went with my dad. At that time, I made
which somewhat incredulously contained Phil Wlodarcyk’s Kenner Alien collec- a habit of going to Toys R Us on a regular
about a minute of fast-cut shots from the tion. Courtesy of Phil Wlodarcyk. Alien basis. I’ll never forget—the image is burned
film—including shots of the monster—were TM & © 20th Century Fox. into my brain—I went to the action-figure
also put on the fast track to make their way section and there were stacks of the Kenner
to toy stores in time for the line’s anticipated October release. Alien toy. It was that beautiful blue box. The cool thing was, when
(RetroFans can see the Movie Viewer’s montage here: you see the movie, you don’t get a good idea of what the Alien
http://bit.ly/2ESJ6Od.) looks like. But here was a toy that showed you exactly what it
But it was the 18-inch figure that was the true highlight of the looked like. I flipped out. Even though it was around $14, which
line, largely because it’s one of the best best-looking toys ever was a lot of money at the time, I bought it myself. I still have my
made. Despite essentially taking on the Alien license to curry Alien toy—and I still have the box.”
favor, Kenner pulled no punches, producing a truly accurate Another fan of the film, and the toy, was Brian Flynn, who is
version of Giger’s beast in black plastic. Every biomechanical the owner of Super 7, a pop-culture design house and producer
detail is present in the figure from the weird dorsal tubes to the of lifestyle-oriented collectibles, toys and apparel based in San
skeletal tail and rib cage. Swearingen and the design team even Francisco.
incorporated a transparent dome over “This thing was so cool, and it
the alien’s phallic head, revealing the was so crazy that this even existed—
intricate death’s head skull structure because it’s not like ANY kids’ toy
seen only briefly in the film. from that era,” says Flynn. “You
“Don’t be scared—he’s only basically have a very, very well-done,
an action figure,” reads Kenner accurate representation of a killing
catalog copy, which also details the machine. As opposed to the Star Wars
toy’s rotating tail, articulated hips, aliens, which were very stylized and
and “spring-loaded arms to crush simplified in their execution at 3¾-
its victims.” The instruction sheet inch. They’re still faithful to a degree,
included with the alien inform (or, but still simplified. The Alien is NOT.
perhaps, warn) kids that “his evil They didn’t cut any corners with the
brains glow in the dark” and they can Alien.”
“press the back of the head [and] his Meanwhile, fans of the Alien toy
mouth opens and the gruesome teeth weren’t limited to the United States.
move forward.” Halfway across the world in Australia,
As was par for the course during teenager Phillip Wlodarczyk closely
the day, a television spot was produced followed the Alien hype machine,
to promote the figure to the all- and was impressed with the movie
important target audience. Given that when it was released Down Under
kids were unlikely to have seen the in December 1979. That year, he
movie in theaters, this was Kenner’s received one of the Kenner figures as
only opportunity to introduce the a present from his mother.
RETRO toys
(INSET) Hey, let us out

of here! Boxed Kenner
Alien figures in French
and English packaging.
(LEFT) Kenner Alien
Board Game and Movie
Viewer. All courtesy of
Phil Wlodarcyk. Alien
TM & © 20th Century Fox.
“My mother bought me one for Christmas 1979. She knew I to children. This toy was released in enormous quantities in
was seriously interested in the design of the creature. Back then, October 1979. It is based on a character that violently punches
Giger’s work was unique. The imitators just didn’t exist yet, so there gaping holes in people’s heads with its bolt-action mouth parts,
was nothing like his work available, and getting one of the Kenner and it was expected to be bought by the parents of children
figures for Christmas was a big deal. I remember the day well. My as young as five as Christmas presents in 1979. Controversy
family was sitting around the tree and we’d been opening all the surrounding a children’s toy has to raise eyebrows.”
goodies under it. There was one last, tall box remaining at the back Even film critic Roger Ebert, who reviewed Alien favorably
of the tree that hadn’t been claimed by anyone. My mother said and later included the film on his list of The Great Films, jumped
something like, ‘Phillip, that one is yours.’ Sure enough, the little on the Kenner-bashing bandwagon. On an episode of PBS Sneak
card on the wrapped box had my name on it. Inside was my first Previews, he blasted the existence of the figure, while waving the
Kenner Alien action figure. I still have it, too.” toy at his co-host Gene Siskel.
While that generation of monster-loving kids fell in love Whether it was the high price tag, the creature’s terrifying
with the 18-inch Alien figure, sadly there was group not as visage, the protest of parents everywhere, or a combination of the
equally impressed: parents. Not every mom and dad was as three, Kenner’s Alien toy line essentially landed with a thud. In early
understanding as Strothe’s and Wlodarczyk’s. Evidently, parents’ 1980, the toys were liquidated to outlet stores where they could be
groups weren’t happy about their kids playing with a toy based on found as late as 1982. Eventually, remaining figures were recalled
such a notorious film. and destroyed. With the failure of the license, a planned 3¾” line
“I got my Alien toy right when it came out,” recalls Strothe, of figures—which would have followed in 1980 had they been
“and I remember that week there was a report on the news that successful—was metaphorically jettisoned out the airlock. Kenner
said parents were p*ssed off. They complained to Toys R Us, and moved on and had continued success with their Star Wars line.
it made the local news. Basically parents were trying to have it
removed it from the shelves because it was a creature from a Alien Resurrection
rated-R film. If you are a toy company, the last thing you want It was seven years before Alien returned to the pop-culture
is parents mad at you. It’s bad publicity—it’s always difficult to consciousness with the release James Cameron’s sequel, Aliens,
bounce back from negative publicity. It resonates and sticks with which a huge hit in the summer of 1986. Often regarded as a
people. ” follow-up superior to its predecessor, the movie was critically
Wlodarczyk concurs: “It was the first toy commercially acclaimed, and Sigourney Weaver even received a Best Actress
released to be based on an R-rated movie—and it was marketed nod for her return as Ripley. Alas, likely stinging from their first

RETRO toys
go-round, there was no merchandizing push from Kenner to downright maudlin tone, of Alien 3—Kenner proceeded with
accompany Aliens. an Aliens toy line (abandoning the Operation: Aliens branding).
However, despite being seen as a failure in 1979, the Kenner Sculpted in standard four-inch action figure size, an initial series
18-inch figure began to find its niche… in the secondhand of eight figures and two vehicles was released to toy stores in
collectors’ market. With Alien being recognized as a classic, the 1992. In addition to Colonial Marine characters based on those
movie found new fans through cable television and home video. that appeared in the popular 1986 sequel, the line included
Eventually the kids that weren’t allowed to have the 18-inch figure various animal-hybrid variations on the classic xenomorph along
in 1979, or who weren’t even aware of its existence, discovered with Queen, and later King, Aliens. Three more series would
the toy at comic conventions or second-hand retailers, but at follow over the next several years, including Alien vs. Predator sets
extremely exaggerated prices. The toy that was once being and a wave of KB Toys exclusives.
liquidated at $4.98 in 1982 was being sold at $100 or more— “When they came out those figures, they did different
without its box—before the end of the Eighties. versions of the Alien,” says Strothe. “Now, I have a problem—it’s
“Back then, the 18-inch Alien was one of those mythically rare the completist thing inside me. A new Alien line comes out, and
toys,” says Flynn. “They were out there, but you weren’t likely to I think, ‘I gotta get ’em all.’ There was a Rhino Alien, a Praying
bump into one—they became super-rare.” Mantis Alien, a Snake Alien… But each one of those figures had a
But as the Nineties dawned, thanks to a hit comic-book series special thing about it: for instance, on the Rhino Alien, you could
from Dark Horse, a popular arcade game, and anticipation of a press a button and his neck would sort of stick out. The Gorilla
second sequel in 1992, all things Alien became hot again. And with Alien, you could fill with water and squirt the water.”
parents groups easing up a bit (not much of a fuss was made over While Kenner finally found some success with the Alien
Rambo, Robocop, or Terminator 2 action-figure lines, which were license, there was still a segment of RetroFans who remained
all based on R-rated films), Kenner decided to approach Fox with particularly passionate about the original 18-inch figure.
the idea of a Saturday morning cartoon loosely based on the 1986 Across the Pacific in Melbourne, Australia, Wlodarczyk
film, which would have an accompanying toy line. turned his appreciation of the Alien figure into a full-fledged
The concept was entitled Operation: Aliens, and would feature hobby, becoming, arguably, the most prominent collector of
Ripley and the Colonial Marines fighting against different Kenner Alien toys in the world. In fact, he’s currently at work on
variations of the xenomorph (the term then adopted by the studio a book entitled Hideous Plastic: In Stores Everyone Can Hear You
and fans to describe the space monster). Kenner approached the Scream, which chronicles the history of the toy with photographs
studio with their concept, but in something of a reversal of the of his enormous collection.
events of early 1979, Fox decided to nix the animated show. “I own a lot of Kenner Alien action figures,” he tells RetroFan.
In an interview posted on website The “People are surprised that I have, like, 40 or more of them. But,
Internet Is In America, former Fox Kids it’s not like I bought ’em all yesterday or this morning.
executive Margaret Loech said: Remember, if I buy one or two a year for 40 years,
“My recollection is that Kenner they’re gonna mount up. It’s a cumulative thing
Toys designed some prototypes and I like to put it in perspective this way:
and showed them to us at People who smoke for 40 years spend
Fox. Kenner was a remarkably way more money on supporting their
creative company and they had habit than I do on mine, except I have
great designers. They did the same something to show for it—minus
with ‘Planet of the Apes’— the health issues, too, of course. I
[the] toy prototypes also have an Alien Movie Viewer and
they designed multiple international versions of the
were remarkable, Kenner board game. And tons of other
but ultimately we stuf f as well.”
decided not to go Then in 1995, Alien fans were sent into a
forward with an frenzy with the publication of Tomart’s Action
animation series Figure Digest #23. Inside the magazine were never-before-
for either property seen photos of prototypes for the unrealized line of 3¾”
because of the broadcast Alien figures that included Ripley with flame-thrower,
standards issues we would Dallas with flame-thrower, Ash with motion tracker,
face with both concepts.” Ripley in spacesuit, and an in-scale Alien figure.
Despite the lack of a tie-in Shocked by the news that such a line was even
cartoon—and the mediocre considered, let alone prototyped, collectors
business, not to mention the like Brian Flynn lamented that they’d never
get the chance to pose their Dallas
figure next to Han Solo.
A closer look at the Kenner 18˝ “When that Tomart’s
figure. Courtesy of Phil Wlodarcyk.
came out in 1995, and it
Alien TM & © 20th Century Fox.
had the unproduced Alien
prototypes on the cover,
RETRO toys
I think every person that collected toys and action figures was
like “HOLY S*IT!” For me, and a lot of people, that’s when the
fascination for those figures began.”
Flash-forward two decades: Flynn was finding success with
his own toy company Super 7. Initially devoted to making vinyl
monster toys for the Japanese market, the company found
success domestically with their Star Wars-themed 24-inch Super
Shogun Stormtrooper. So, when it came time to planning their
next project, Flynn recalled that famed issue of Tomart’s.
“After the Stormtrooper, we recouped our money and had to
decide what we were going to do next. That’s when I said, ‘The
thing I’d like to make the most is those Alien figures.’ Then, Frank
Supiot, who was working with us at the time, said ‘I know a guy at
Fox. Lemme see if I can get the license.’”
Sure enough, Fox was game, and Flynn and his partners went
on a quest to find the original prototypes of the 3¾-inch figures
that they could scan to produce their new line.
“From there, since we were all very die-hard collectors, it was
fairly easy for me to call people who dealt into the prototype
world. Former Kenner employees, who had them over the years,
sold them to collectors. And surprisingly at first, everyone that
had the prototypes was like, ‘Hell, yeah, if you’re going to make
these, I’ll gladly let you borrow mine.’”
Once the prototypes were acquired (except for Dallas, which
only existed in a vintage photo), Super 7 went into production.
They even went as far as to track down the former Kenner
graphic designer who designed card art for the company. Super
7 eventually debuted their Alien figures, released through a 3¾-
inch line they dubbed ReAction, at the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con,
where they sold out in two hours.
“What we realized is that there’s a whole group of people who
grew up liking the same things we did. So if we do our sculpting
correctly, do our packaging correctly, and choose our licenses
Believe it or not, Kenner wasn’t the only toy company correctly, there’s someone out there like me that feels the same
that took a chance on Alien-related merchandise. New way when they see these toys in stores on a peg,” says Flynn.
York-based firm H-G Toys, which had a long reputation Since 2015, the Super 7/ReAction Alien line has included a
for their jigsaw puzzles and budget-priced licensed fare, full line-up of the movie’s characters (not to mention several
produced several Alien items. variations of the title creature), a limited edition Egg Chamber
In addition to a line of puzzles featuring stills from playset, a collector’s case, and a new wave inspired by the 1986
the movie, H-G also made a three-foot puzzle featuring sequel. ReAction even offered companion 18-inch figure of the
the title monster amidst a character collage, masterfully xenomorph from Aliens. Moreover, the manufacturer has licensed
painted by noted paperback and men’s-magazine artist dozens and dozens properties and made figures based on retro
Earl Norem. His art is also found on a smaller puzzle, properties from TV, movies, video games, and music.
which came enclosed in a glow-in-the-dark green egg “I’m intrigued by Super 7’s three-foot ReAction figure releases,
(recalling Fox’s initial movie poster). says Wlodarczyk. “The fact that Super 7 has been so successful
Most prized by Alien collectors, though, are H-G’s with their pocket-size Alien line just amplifies the amazing history
two Alien target games, which let kids shoot ping-pong of all of these things.”
balls or suction darts at Norem-illustrated cut-outs.
Also, ubiquitous costume maker Ben Cooper released Special thanks to Jim Swearingen, Brian Flynn, Super 7, Larry
a vinyl Alien children’s costume for Halloween 1979, and Strothe, and Phil Wlodarczyk for lending their time, knowledge, and
Atari even released a game for their 2600 system in 1982. photos.
None of these products found any sort of success upon
their initial release.
ROB SMENTEK is the proofreader for TwoMorrows’ BACK ISSUE,
(CLOCKWISE, LEFT TO RIGHT) Atari’s 1982 Alien Game, H-G Alter Ego, Comic Book Creator, and RetroFan. He counts Alien
Toys Alien three-foot puzzle (1979), Ben Cooper Alien mask and as his favorite film despite being terrified by the commercial for the
costume, and H-G Toys Alien Blaster Giant Target Set from 1979 Kenner figure as a boy. Oddly enough, his brains also glow in the
(a safety dart gun version also exists). Alien TM & © 20th Century Fox.
dark.

WILL MURRAY’S 20TH CENTURY PANOPTICON
The
Dobie
Dilemma
Platinum-coiffed Dwayne Hickman
as Dobie Gillis and the series’ signa-
ture Thinker statue. © 20th Century Fox
Television. Signed publicity still courtesy of
Heritage.
during the CBS show’s four-season run

back in 1959–1963.
As Dobie once quipped, “I’m not
oversexed, mind you. But I’m not
undersexed either. Let’s just say I’m sexed.”
He couldn’t say that on TV back in the
late Fifties, of course. But he did in Max
Shulman’s original stories, where it all
began.
I suppose I must recap the checkered
history of Dobie Gillis before we proceed
to the secret.
“He looked like a Dobie Gillis.”

Dobie emerged out of satirist Max
Shulman’s experiences at the University
of Minnesota, which led to his bestselling
sendup of campus life, Barefoot Boy
with Cheek. The first Dobie Gillis short
stories popped up in Cosmopolitan and
The Saturday Evening Post in 1945, later
collected in a 1951 book, The Many Loves of
Dobie Gillis.
by Will Murray Shulman turned the book into a
screenplay, which was filmed as The
Let me tell you a secret about the classic TV show, The Many Loves Af fairs of Dobie Gillis, starring Bobby Van as the Grainbelt
of Dobie Gillis. University freshman and Debbie
It’s not what you think it was. Reynolds as his love interest, Pansy
No, really. But before I let you in on the secret, allow me to Hammer. Other than Hans Conried as
wallow in this classic show’s je ne sais quoi, joie de vivre, savoir faire, Professor Pomfritt, none of the familiar
and other classy French expressions hinting at my half-century- future TV characters appeared in this
plus love affair with this, one of the greatest sitcoms of the rather forgettable 1953 musical film.
© Max Shulman estate.
Golden Age of Television. One film critic derided the title

If you ever watched more than one episode, you’ll recognize character as “One-third Casanova, one-
that I’m talking just like 17-year-old Dobie, who often waxed third Henry Aldrich and one-third one of
poetic––not to mention sappy and philosophical––about Thalia Mr. Wodehouse’s poodles.”
Menninger, Aphrodite Millican, Elspeth Hummaker—among Remember the Henry Aldrich
many of the innumerable girls this love-struck lad romanced reference. I’ll explain later.
will murray’s 20th century panopticon
“I said, they have to be high school students, teenagers now.

You can use your same everything––except update the dialogue
because it’s not a period piece. But only kids at 15––16, maybe––
can be this way, but not college people. They’d be idiotic. Well, he
wrote it, changed everything, and we sold it immediately.”
Not so fast, as Dobie might say. A pilot had to be cast and shot
first.
Shulman remained fixated on 25-year-old Dwayne Hickman.
As the actor later recalled, “Max thought I looked like a ‘Dobie
Gillis.’ I suppose I do, whatever a Dobie Gillis looks like. But that’s
what started it.”
But Hickman was still under contract to play teenaged Chuck
MacDonald in the popular Bob Cummings Show. MacDonald’s
inane antics had made him one of TV’s first breakout characters.
“I hung over that show like a vulture waiting for Hickman to
get free,” Shulman lamented. “I waited three years for Dwayne.
He’s the only actor I can remember with a face that can get
by and still be capable of the terrible things Dobie thinks of.
We have peroxided his hair so he looks younger than he did
as Bob Cummings’ nephew on his series. And those years with
Cummings have given him a grade-A comic training. This boy can
act. I’m beginning to find his range.”
“I’m one of a kind,” Hickman declared.
“During my years with Bob––playing his
not-too-bright nephew––I managed to
study his comedy techniques. When they
wanted someone to start in Dobie Gillis I
was the only guy around who could play
(TOP) Dobie Gillis creator Max Shulman, on teenage comedy. The rest of the young
a book back cover. (RIGHT) One of Shulman’s performers were too busy copying
popular campus-crowd counterculture books. Marlon Brando and wearing sideburns.”
Photo credit: Martha Holmes. © Max Shulman estate. Hickman wasn’t happy with his
transformation. During that critical
first season, he stood it, saying, “Mr.
Shulman thinks of Dobie as a blond.
Despite that misadventure, Shulman thought And the producers thought it would
his boy Valentino had possibilities for TV. Several be better if I look different than I did
scripts circulated without success. Comedian George when I was playing Bob Cummings’
Burns, seeing it as a vehicle for his son, Ronnie, nephew on his last TV series. Chuck
produced a pilot in 1956. CBS bought it, but Shulman was a pretty dumb guy and Dobie
refused to let it go forward, objecting to Burns’ isn’t.”
wooden performance. He had his eye on young actors Hickman may have been voicing
like Martin Milner, Dick Sargent, and Mark Rydell, but his earnest hopes, but Shulman and producers Manulis
especially Dwayne Hickman, then appearing on The Bob Cummings and Rod Amateau had other ideas. They saw Dobie Gillis as a
Show (a.k.a. Love That Bob). lovable loser.
Enter producer Martin Manulis. He had just left Playhouse “The Dobie on TV is not my short-story character,” asserted
90 and wanted to get into films. But he was talked into Shulman, who knocked out a new Dobie book, I Was a Teen-Age
becoming head of television for 20th Century Fox instead. Dwarf, to help launch the series. “The original Dobie went to
Seeking properties to develop, he read Max Shulman’s pilot college and could barely stay out of jails. We’ve lowered his age a
scripts. Manulis had enjoyed the original stories. But Shulman’s few years, put him back to high school, cleaned him up a bit, and
adaptations fell flat. given him parents. Dobie doesn’t quite understand his parents,
“I suddenly realized what the key was,” he recalled. “And I and they don’t understand him. There are no family discussions in
called Max.” this house to iron out problems. Everybody just tries to keep off
The two met. Manulis recounted, “Time had passed. From the everybody else’s back.”
time Max Shulman wrote the stories to the time he was diddling
about television for it, there had been a war. College kids today Breaking the Mold (and the Fourth Wall)
were not in raccoon coats and assing around town, being idiots. NBC was horrified by the smart, sophisticated, but irreverent
Now they were having babies and trying to get a job.” pilot and the semi-dysfunctional Gillis family. But CBS wasn’t. Off
“Well, what are you driving at?” asked Shulman. they went to make TV history.

It’s difficult to tell which supporting and set the tone for the comic-romantic hijinks to
© 20th Century Fox Television.
character raised more eyebrows: Dobie’s come.

amiable buddy, Maynard G. Krebs, or his As Shulman saw him, “Dobie is a high school
father, lowly grocer Herbert T. Gillis. kid who will do anything to get a girl. He’s not a
“I don’t want the series to be entirely a wolf. He just has to have a girl. That’s his main
teenage one,” recalled Shulman. “It needed mission in life.”
some leavening, so the grown-ups were The series’ premise called for Dobie to
added.” blunder from girlfriend to girlfriend, never
Florida Friebus played the mother, finding or keeping one. But when the producers
Winifred. She was too sweet to be real, and cast sex-kitten
handled all the exposition. Frank Faylen’s Herbert T. Tuesday Weld as the
Gillis (INSET ABOVE) was like no dad ever seen on TV. Grumpy, first girlfriend of the week,
stingy, short-tempered. In other words, realistic. His trademark grasping and greedy Thalia
line was, “I gotta kill that boy, I just gotta.” Menninger, the show
Faylen confided, “You will notice that I never say that in front runners knew immediately
of the boy. That would be bad, I suppose. So it’s always a sort of she was special.
Shakespearean aside. When he has driven me beyond endurance, Shulman explained,
I express my feelings aloud, but not to myself.” “After seeing her in the pilot
“It’s this way in the show,” Shulman explained. “The papa film we knew she was too
loves the boy, loves him fine, but at 15-minute intervals he says to good to let go.”
himself: ‘I gotta kill this kid.’ Let’s just say he’s undeceived about So Thalia became
his teenage son, as when he remarks: ‘He’s a bum, but he’s my a semi-regular. Dobie
bum.’”
Nevertheless, complaints caused
Faylen to drop his trademark line and stare
angrily at the camera instead. Audiences
had no trouble reading his mind.
Maynard was Dobie’s best friend and
comedic foil. He was also a jazz-loving
protest cat afraid of girls, and a rarity for
TV––a bearded beatnik. In real life, the
actor was anything but hip.
“Call me king of the beatniks and I
hit you over the head––but I guess I am,”
Denver allowed. “From the first days of the
show, when I started saying, ‘like,’ ‘dig’ and
‘the most,’ it all came to me easy. However,
I’ve never done any outside research.”
Dobie introduced himself to viewers
seated before a copy of Rodin’s Thinker
statue at Central City Park, pining over his
love life, or lack thereof. Remember that
statue, too. It will be significant later.
Every episode opened with a soliloquy
in which Dwayne Hickman broke the
fourth wall in emulation of TV pioneer
Jack Benny. These morose monologues
introduced that episode’s main problem
(INSET) The singing, swinging pre-TV

series The Affairs of Dobie Gillis. © MGM.
Movie poster courtesy of Heritage. (RIGHT)
Move over, Archie and Jughead—here
come Dobie and Maynard! © 20th Century
Fox Television. Signed publicity still courtesy of
Heritage.

adored her. Thalia adored money. Dobie didn’t have any. This Again, real life hurled a monkey wrench through the whirling
would be the show’s recurring situation. Only the girl changed. works. During induction, an X-ray revealed that Denver had a
The pilot revolved around Maynard rigging a raffle so Dobie broken vertebrae due to a car accident. Declared 4-F, he was sent
could have money to date Thalia. But Dobie suffers an attack of home.
conscience and declines the prize, only to discover that Maynard “So I wrote him back into the series in two lines,” Shulman
had failed to hold up his end of the scheme. He actually won. quipped.
Thalia dumps him in disgust. The lines were: “They kinda let me go. They said, don’t call us,
Episode Two introduced young Warren Beatty as rich, we’ll call you.”
handsome Milton Armitage. The story sets up a love triangle in In the meantime, actor Michael J. Pollard had been cast as
which Dobie and Milton compete to be the best dressed in order Maynard’s oddball cousin, Jerome. Wearing Maynard’s slovenly
to impress the avaricious Thalia. Sound familiar? I’ll clue you in shirt and jeans, Pollard took Denver’s place. Everyone involved
later…. recalled that it was a disaster. Pollard lacked Denver’s warm
William Schallert assumed the role of Mr. Pomfritt after personality and comedic timing. Though Pollard spoke Denver’s
Herbert Anderson abandoned it for Dennis the Menace. lines as if he were Maynard himself, Jerome Krebs barely
The premise hit another snag with the third episode, in which appeared in that episode.
Dobie happened to sit next to Zelda Gilroy, a brainy tomboy who Events were event-ing so rapidly that Maynard returned in
was unconventionally attractive. Her first words to him were, the next episode, and all was right again. The show was probably
“I love you.” A reverse chase ensued. Zelda, played by pixieish saved. Maynard G. Krebs was comedy gold, and soon became
Sheila James, was determined to land uncooperative Dobie in a breakout character whose hep-cat mannerisms and beat talk
matrimony. were widely copied by kids.
Once again, the character was meant to be a one-shot. Next, Warren Beatty decided he was too good for TV and
Recognizing the chemistry between them, Shulman brought Zelda bowed out. It wasn’t long before a less handsome version of the
back. Dobie thought he’d gotten rid of her. No way. The chase character, Chatsworth Osborne, Jr., debuted as a spoiled rich
resumed, going through many wild permutations. She was the only kid who was detested by all. He was often accompanied by his
other character who had carried over from the original stories. domineering mother, played by Doris Packer, who had been
Next, Hickman’s brother Darryl turned up as David Gillis, Milton’s mom. Steve Franken brought a broad comedic flair to the
Dolby’s away-at-college older brother. Trying to help Dobie with part that Beatty sorely lacked.
his love life, Davie manages to convince him to pretend to have
a married girlfriend on the theory this would attract someone Next, Zelda returned to resume her hopeless cause. The core cast
his own age eager to rescue him from the difficult and dicey firmly in place, the series had finally gelled. Many of the principals
situation. Darryl had been cast after future Tarzan Ron Ely, had worked together before. Hickman played Tuesday Weld’s
who had appeared in the promo film, was dropped. Jean Byron boyfriend in Max Shulman’s Rally ’Round the Flag, Boys! He did the
appeared as another teacher, Mrs. Ruth Adams. Once again
another semi-recurring character was born, although Davie Gillis
was soon phased out as unnecessary.
Dig That Crazy Draft Board

The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis hit another snag with the fifth
episode, and one that might have been catastrophic but for
several twists of fate.
In real life, Bob Denver was drafted. And so Maynard had
to be written out of the show. Shulman
penned a heartwarming script in
which Maynard, feeling unwanted
and rejected by everyone, enlists.
The show ends with Dobie
visiting his pal at basic training.
To everyone’s surprise, Maynard
has taken to Army life like he
was born to it. The unexpected
resolution was intended to close
out the character forever.
(RIGHT) Dobie Gillis’ Thalia Menninger,

Tuesday Weld, in a 1960 publicity photo. © 20th Century Fox
Television. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. (INSET) Dobie often
broke the fourth wall and spoke directly to the viewer. © 20th
Century Fox Television.

mother who was too sweet and good to be real, and a best friend
who was the only beatnik in a ten-state area.”
Whenever Dobie sought fatherly advice, Herbert recited a
litany of contradictory cliches, which only confused poor Dobie.
Doting Winnie Gillis usually slipped Dobie a few bucks from the
register to help.
“As for Dobie, he’s a normal teenager,” Shulman insisted. “All
he’s interested in is girls, a convertible, and money. His father,
on the other hand, wants him to work in his store and grow
up to be responsible. How do you get togetherness out of that
parlay?”
Hickman played up the dysfunctional family angle in
interviews.
“Dobie, for instance, has been caught with his hand in his
father’s cash register on occasion. This isn’t because Dobie is a
thief at heart; it’s because his father won’t give him the money to
(LEFT) You could easily substitute Thalia, Dobie, and Maynard take a girl to the dance. Dobie’s father wants Dobie to work for
onto this 1961 Laugh Comics cover. (RIGHT) DC Comics licensed
the money. This, to Dobie, is unthinkable.”
The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis for a 26-issue run that started in
early 1960. Bob Oksner’s illustrations have made it a coveted The first season concluded with an episode in which the
title among collectors of good-girl art. Archie characters © Archie Gillises mistakenly think Dobie is secretly a father. While the
Comic Publications. The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis © 20th Century Fox proceedings were handled within TV guidelines, it was the kind of
Television. risky storyline that would never happen on My Three Sons.
Hickman observed, “I think we got away with it because
Dobie is well, I hate to say ‘clean-cut,’ because that implies that
same opposite Sheila James in an episode of The Stu Erwin Show. some of these other teenage favorites are ‘dirty-cut.’ Let’s say
Denver had gone to Loyola University with Hickman. Hickman because Dobie is a nice, well-barbered, reasonably dressed
knew Frank Faylen from church. And Rod Amateau had directed young man. If Dobie wore long hair, sideburns, denim pants,
Hickman in The Bob Cummings Show. and a leather jacket, we’d never get away with it. There’d be
It was smooth sailing for a while––unless you were Dwayne crime in the streets. They’d come af ter me with searchlights and
Hickman. He began having problems with his bleached hair, loudspeakers and tear-gas bombs.”
which turned platinum and started falling out. Just in time for the
second season, he convinced the reluctant producers to let him go When in Riverdale…
au natural. For a show conceived as a collegiate spoof that morphed into a
teenage comedy, the transition had been remarkable. Audiences
Obliterating the Nuclear Family may not have noticed––and I sure didn’t at the time––but over
Although it took most of 1959–1960, Dobie became a hit, chiefly the course of that tumultuous first season, The Many Loves of Dobie
because this was the first TV program built around the teenage Gillis steadily turned into a variation of the “triangle” formula that
subculture. Other sitcoms, such as The Donna Reed Show and Father had made Archie Andrews such a success in comics, on radio, and
Knows Best, focused on affluent families with adult leads, the later, in animated cartoons.
teens mere foils for the parental figures. That was sponsor-safe, Here I reveal the secret. Ride with me here.
middle America stuff. Max Shulman wasn’t having any of it. Like Dobie, Archie was a doltish but good-natured high school
“This is, you might say, an anti-togetherness series,” he student whose life revolved around two girlfriends, the down-
recounted. “Dobie lives in one world and his parents and to-earth blonde Betty Cooper and the rich, snooty brunette,
other grown-ups live in another. There is little—if any— Veronica Lodge. Dimwitted Jughead Jones and dopey Maynard
communication between the two. Talk to Dobie, tell him G. Krebs might have been distant cousins, although Jughead was
something is wrong, give him good logical reasons to change, strictly a second banana while Maynard was a nonconformist
and he’ll say ‘Yeah,’ and go right out and do it again. Like I said, no counterculture type. Handsome rich rival Reggie Mantle was a
communication.” dead ringer for Milton Armitage, but also acted like Chatsworth
Most family scenes took place in the Gillis grocery store. As Osborne, Jr. And both teens tangled with student athletes named
Shulman revealed, “When I started the series I said there would Moose.
never would be a living room in it––to avoid any semblance of You get my drift. Many of the essential Dobie characters play
togetherness. But I had to weaken some scenes and put one in–– parallel roles. They also hung around Charlie Wong’s Ice Cream
however, it’s all right because they only use it to quarrel in. And, Shop, mirroring Archie’s Pop’s Chock’lit Shoppe.
I can assure you that there will be no homey family problems I have often wondered if any of this was conscious. But
solved on this series. I think it’s about time we did away with some reading the behind the scenes accounts of how the show
sweetness and light.” unfolded, it doesn’t appear to be.
Bob Denver cannily observed, “I always thought that the And yet… in every episode, Dobie narrates in the shadow of
series was a burlesque of the American family: a son whose whole that famous Thinker statue. Those who know the origins of Archie
life was chasing girls, a father who was going to kill him one day, a Andrews might recall that when Massachusetts cartoonist Bob
Montana developed the school. About the third

feature for comics, he or fourth year of the
based the cast on his program––if it lasts
school friends. Haverhill that long––they’ll even
High School boasted marry me off.”
a Thinker statue on its Shulman and his
grounds. This signature crew recognized that
element appeared in this was inevitable and
many early strips. unavoidable. Now it
That one stopped was time.
me cold. How many “Maybe they just
coincidences can you figure I’ve been a
have? teenager on TV too
Archie was a pretty long,” mused Hickman.
big deal in the Forties “I look young yet, but
and Fifties, appearing Publicity photo of a post-blond Hickman with Dobie’s I’m not causing any excitement as a
popular co-stars, Bob Denver as Maynard G. Krebs and
in comics and on radio. teenager. Y’know, like the Fabians and
Sheila James as Zelda Gilroy. © 20th Century Fox Television.
He was hardly obscure. that bunch. Also, I wouldn’t want to
Nor was Archie original. become a part of this new trend to be
Henry Aldrich, a popular playing any of those kookie kids like
radio program, preceded him by several years. Archie was a you see on these TV series. You know the ones I mean. I think one
take-off on Henry. Dobie Gillis was just another variation on the of ’em is called ‘88 Hollywood Blvd.,’ or is it ‘Surfside 666’? Anyway,
theme. it’s not for me. Who wants to go around town and be known as
This was a theme that Hanna-Barbara milked for their late- ‘Grasshopper’ or ‘Bungo Pete’?”
Sixties cartoon series, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! Legend has it Adult audiences looked askance at Maynard, so Bob Denver
that the creators based their cast––Fred, Shaggy, Velma, and softened him, noting, “Maynard is not even close to a beatnik.
Daphne––on Dobie, Maynard, Zelda, He’s more of a child of nature, a perennial
and Thalia, respectively. While this is FAST FACTS three-year-old. Jazz and Dobie are his
undeniable, it’s a little known fact that the whole life, and he’s sort of a conscience,
first creative approach to the series copied The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis/ like Jimmy Cricket.”
The Archie Show, then a Saturday morning Dobie Gillis/Max Shulman’s The season started off innocuously.
TV hit. Dobie Gillis Thalia Menninger was out, Tuesday Weld
Whatever the truth behind the `` No. of seasons: Four having proven too difficult. Like Beatty,
origins of Dobie Gillis might be, from `` No. of episodes: 147 she was too hot to stay in TV.
contemporary reports it sounds as if the `` Original run: September 29, “There won’t be any particular girl in
boy-and-two-girl triangular formula was 1959–June 5, 1963 the script, except for Zelda Gilroy,” stated
stumbled upon and not copied. But it was `` Cast: Dwayne Hickman, Hickman. “I’ll just play the field, I suppose.
destined not to last…. Bob Denver, Frank Faylen, They’re allowing Dobie to grow up.”
Florida Friebes, Sheila James,
In “The Big Question,” Mr. Pomfritt
Steve Franken, William
“Whither Am I Drifting?” Schallert assigned them to write an essay titled
For Season Two, the show was retitled `` Network: CBS “Whither Am I Drifting?” Dobie and
Dobie Gillis. More drastically, a decision Maynard sadly realized they had no
was made to move the action out of inkling.
Central City High. It was no doubt inevitable. Dwayne Hickman The hapless pair inevitably graduated, then wandered
still looked youthful, but time was not on his side. Early on, some aimlessly for a few episodes, arriving nowhere. They find
of the show’s principals hinted that this might be a direction the themselves yearning to return to Central High in “Dobie vs. the
series could go. Machine.” When Dobie’s data is fed into an aptitude-calculating
Hickman had predicted, computer, he realizes
“During the course of the that he can’t let a
series I’m going to grow up soulless machine guide
and graduate from high him. For once, the
Old Man gives his son
solid non-circular-logic
An early Archie statue advice. Since it sounds
drop-in, from Archie
like the easy way out,
Comics #2 (Spring 1943), by
cartoonist Bob Montana. naturally Dobie takes it.
Archie characters © Archie The new format was
Comic Publications. truly shocking. Dobie
and Maynard enlisted.

Never mind that Maynard had been kicked out of the Army. In Dobie ultimately realizes Thalia would only break his heart. They
typical comedy-of-errors sitcom style, Chatsworth soon joined part.
them. Much of this season focused on Zelda’s endless schemes to
“Let’s face it,” Hickman said at the time. “You can wear these win over Dobie to wedded bliss. In “Dobie, Dobie, Who’s Got the
things out. I couldn’t stay in high school forever. You can go into Dobie?,” Zelda’s efforts to sabotage Dobie’s ongoing romances
the Army on a six-months program these days. So they could reach a critical mass. This was Sheila James’ favorite episode. In
bring me out if necessary.” “For Whom the Wedding Bell Tolls,” Zelda’s relentlessness forces
Dobie and Maynard to stow away on a cargo ship. But Zelda
Having served during World War II, Max Shulman saw military follows, and works her will again. Dobie is about to let the ship’s
life as rich in satiric possibilities. captain marry them. Conscience-stricken, Zelda backs out. Two
At first, he was optimistic, saying, “We’re doing this to attract episodes later, Mr. Pomfritt’s marriage lecture half-convinces
a more adult audience for Dobie. We’re trying to broaden the Dobie that Zelda is his best option. Once more, the scriptwriter
audience base. After all, high school is a pretty juvenile thing. saves the day.
Folks are not interested in high school. But they are interested in Dobie continues to chase girls, while his relationship with
the Army. It’s universal.” Maynard is explored and sometimes tested. In “Names My
Shulman also hedged his bets. “After the Army, maybe junior Mother Called Me,” Dobie learns the origin of his name in an
college. Of course, if the Army shows get a rating of about 35, we’ll unusually mature episode. He was named after a Nobel Prize-
think seriously of keeping him in.” winning humanitarian.
This new approach required retooling. The Gillis family was Midway through filming, pneumonia struck Hickman down.
seen only when the boys went
on furlough. Shulman began
considering a Zelda spin-off show.
Everyone struggled to make the
format work, but it was a poor
fit for the misfit cast. Audiences
missed the Gillis family.
Modifications were made.
“By the end of his six months
in the Army,” Shulman quipped,
“Dobie will have had more
weekend passes than any other
soldier. It’s hard to keep the
character of our kids in the Army.
We’ve got to keep the family
alive and that’s why we give him
passes, so he can go home.”
Dobie’s Sgt. Bilko phase
flopped. That six-month hitch was the perfect escape clause. The cast of Hanna-Barbera’s Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!,
which premiered in 1969. Remind you of anyone? © Hanna-Bar-
bera Productions. Cel courtesy of Heritage.
Higher Education
In the third season opener, the drifting duo were kicked out of
Uncle Sam’s Army. Taking advantage of the G.I. Bill, they enrolled
at the S. Peter Pryor Junior College, where Zelda was already a Bob Denver and the others had to carry several episodes without
star student. This allowed the original cast to be reconstituted. the star. Since Maynard was such a unique character, the burden
Both teachers returned, Mr. Pomfritt as himself, but Jean Byron fell on him. He discovered unsuspected powers and wild talents
portrayed an entirely different instructor, Mrs. Imogene Burkhart. in whacky outings, and for one episode found his slacker soul
“I’m catching up with myself,” Hickman quipped. “When the mate. Denver was delighted.
show started three years ago, I was supposed to be about 17. “I’m very lucky to have a character like that,” he said. “There’s
Now the character is about 22 or 23.” In real life, the actor was no limits to his personality. He’s more of a fantasy than a
closer to 30. character. But how Maynard ever got out of high school and into
After writing the season opener, Max Shulman scaled back junior college is more than I can understand.”
his involvement. Previously, he had quipped, “I don’t think Dobie Given their continuing hijinks, however, the cast might as well
will ever go to college. The way he chases dames, he’ll get married have stayed at Central High. Other than Zelda—whom he didn’t
first, poor fellow.” But here he was, exactly where the character want—Dobie failed to land a steady girlfriend.
originated 20 years before, a girl-crazy college freshman. Hickman observed, “The chief contradiction of the character
Tuesday Weld returned in the middle of the season as a is that Dobie never gets the girl. His is a false aggressiveness––
saleswoman who tries unsuccessfully to sway Dobie into quitting everything he attempts in life backfires and pushes him into last
college and joining her in becoming rich. Although tempted, place. I think even Dobie is aware of what a minus character he is.”

Hickman continued to fret about his advancing age. “Sure,” he Without Shulman guiding him, the character had somehow
told one reporter. “I’d like a chance to play something other than evolved to become a noble humanitarian. Something had to be
a teenager. Sometimes it seems that I’ve been 17 years old for 17 done to resurrect the old dimwitted Dobie.
years. Of course, Dobie is 20 years old now. He began the year at “Dobie is in for a change,” said Jean Bryon, whose character
18; then he went into a ‘Twilight Zone’ and emerged at 20––all in was played up. “He’s going to be mean this year, mean. I don’t
one year.” think Mr. Shulman and Amateau want to do a commercial show.”
The actor understood that if Dobie Gillis was to continue, Storylines which spotlighted Maynard G. Krebs were frequent.
something had to be done. Take “The General Cried at Dawn.” On vacation in a banana
republic, he’s kidnapped and forced to impersonate a general
The Prisoner of Zelda known as “El Tigre.” “Requiem for an Underweight Heavyweight”
The fourth season of the retitled Max Shulman’s Dobie Gillis opened sees him transformed into unbeatable prizefighter dubbed “Killer
with the return of Shulman and Tuesday Weld after a hiatus. Krebs.” After accidentally putting a love potion on his hair in “The
Shulman’s dark “What’s a Little Murder Between Friends?” finds Call of the Like Wild,” Maynard becomes irresistible to women.
Dobie fearing that succession of accidents stems from Thalia Bobby Diamond’s character failed to ignite. “As hard as they
coveting his G.I. life insurance. Maynard appears to be in on the tried to make Cousin Dunky Gillis into another Dobie,” confessed
murder plot. Hickman, “it just didn’t work. The last few shows in the fourth
After that, Thalia would be seen no more. season went back to the original premise that had been the
The Zelda pilot, co-starring Joe Flynn and Jean Byron as her foundation for Dobie’s success––Dobie’s relentless search for the
parents, had finally been shot, and a pickup looked inevitable. perfect girl.”
So Sheila James dropped out of the regular series. The spin-off Zelda returned with ingenious new schemes to land poor
planned to focus on Zelda and a new hard-to-catch boy, Bimbo. Dobie. In “Thanks for the Memories,” Dobie again succumbs to
One supposes Dobie might have guest-starred occasionally. But it her wiles. But reverse psychology is fair play. In her series swan
was not to be. TV bigwigs ultimately killed the project, deciding song, Zelda takes the extreme step of hoodwinking Maynard
James was “too butch.” She was left out in the cold, but managed into impending matrimony. The only way to save his good buddy,
a few final guest appearances. Dobie realizes, is to step up and take his place.
To make up for Zelda’s absence, the producers introduced two
new Gillises. Whatever Happened to Dobie Gillis?
In “Northern Comfort,” Ray Hemphill played Virgil T. Gillis, A fifth season loomed. But in the press, Dwayne Hickman
Dobie’s cousin from Chicken Run, Tennessee, who comes north signaled his reluctance. “I guess you could say I’ve never had a
to kickstart his music career. The wannabe Elvis Presley popped flop, but I haven’t had a career yet, either. Someday I’ve got to
up twice more before fading away forever, in his swan song play something besides a 17-year-old kid.”
costarring with Robbie the Robot of Forbidden Planet fame. In that
episode, Maynard is briefly transformed into a robot.
The following week, Bobby Diamond debuted in “A Splinter
Off the Old Block” as Dobie’s cousin, Duncan Gillis. Herbert’s oil
baron brother foists “Dunky” on the Gillis household, then takes
off for parts unknown. Dunky turns out to be a junior version of
Dobie, who takes him not so firmly in hand.
“Bobby is 18 and looks it,” explained Hickman. “You realize I’ve
been playing 17 for the past nine years? I’m 28 now, and that’s too
old to be 17.”
That was the unending dilemma of being Dobie Gillis.
Hickman wanted Dobie to grow up. If not, he preferred to move
on.
“The original concept of the series has disappeared,” he
admitted. “Now it won’t be long before I outgrow the college kids.
But that doesn’t mean the show won’t go on. Eventually Dobie’ll
get married and go to work. I guess his buddy Maynard will have
to go right along with him.”
Yet in interviews during that time, Hickman sounded
increasingly disgruntled. “Nothing should go more than three
RECYCLED COMICS
years on TV, and we’re starting our fourth year next Wednesday. As an Archie craze swept the comics world, in 1969 DC
And last year the show got pretty lousy because CBS said it had Comics cannibalized art from its earlier Dobie Gillis
to have more heart. All of a sudden we were doing shows about licensed title and redrew it and updated its stories in a
humanity instead of comedy. There will be less family situation short-lived series that rebranded Dobie and Maynard as
this season, I am happy to report, and more ‘way out comedy.’ Windy and Willy.
We’ve got to be irreverent, because the show is up against ABC’s
Going My Way, and I don’t see how you can top a couple of priests Dobie Gillis © 20th Century Fox. Windy and Willy © DC Comics.

when it comes to heart.”

Screencaptures of Dobie and Maynard, all grown up, from 1988’s poorly received Bring Me the Head of Dobie Gillis. © 20th Century Fox Television.
Elsewhere, he allowed, “But if we do go on, there will have Shulman’s script as not hip enough. A team of writers took over,
to be some changes made. Changes in personnel, changes in depositing Dobie into a midlife crisis where he is married to Zelda
format. Dobie will have to go out into the business world. We and joined his father in the grocery. Maynard became a guru.
can’t work the campus humor any longer. That would be like Whatever Happened to Dobie Gillis? flopped.
beating a dead horse.” Dobie Gillis continued to wow them in syndication reruns. He
His goatee typecasting him, Bob Denver agreed: “I’m was so square he was virtually cool. In 1988, Shulman tried again.
beginning to think I’ll wind up like Peter Pan. I’ll never grew up but But his script proved too dark and he was again fired.
I’ll still have a beard.” Bring Me the Head of Dobie Gillis was loosely based by
When CBS declined to renew, ABC showed interest. “The Shulman’s fourth season story, “What’s a Little Murder Between
prospect of another three years doesn’t trouble me at all,” Friends?” Dobie was still married to Zelda. Connie Stevens
Hickman admitted bravely. played super-rich Thalia, who wanted him back and wouldn’t
But it was not to be. ABC passed. Dobie Gillis was spared the take no for an answer. But this revival didn’t take any better
real world. And vice versa. Plans to marry him off to Zelda went than the first ef fort.
glimmering.

Whether by accident or design, the final episode was a rehash
of the first. “Caper at the Bijou” involved Dobie and Maynard So finally Dobie Gillis was laid to rest. There will be no more
participating in a rigged raffle. For “The Devil and Dobie Gillis,” revivals. Dwayne Hickman is in his 80s now. Bob Denver has
Chatsworth and Dobie were the schemers. Chatsworth’s cousin passed. Sheila James Kuehl went into California politics. The rest
Pamela, played by Barbara Babcock, was the final girl who got are largely gone.
away. Once again, an attack of conscience saved the day. Max But they live on, on cable TV and CD collections of each
Shulman wrote the story. season, two technologies that were not even thought of back
When for the final time, Dwayne Hickman stood before when Dobie Gillis first aired and television episodes were not
the cameras and gave his trademark soliloquy, it wasn’t much something that were expected to be relevant 60 years into the
different from all the others. Except that the scene had been future.
moved to the middle of the episode. Otherwise, Dobie fretted But they are. And that is the enduring and timeless charm of
about his habitual lack of money and latest hopeless crush. What The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.
more was there left to say? Oh, and Archie Andrews? A pilot was filmed the year after
For four seasons, Dobie Gillis never really changed. No matter Dobie Gillis went off the air. William Schallert played Archie’s
how many times he was dumped or disappointed in love, he father. It was not picked up. Audiences had seen it all before….
always bounced back, rebounding off one failed romance and
into a fresh doomed crush, irrepressible and ever-optimistic, and
eternally Dobie Gillis. Marriage would probably have crushed his
poetic soul…. WILL MURRAY is the writer of the Wild
When we last see Dobie and Maynard, Maynard is gleefully Adventures (www.adventuresinbronze.com)
throwing pies at Dobie’s face at a carnival attraction. Soupy series of novels, which stars Doc Savage, the
Sales would have been proud. But it was a far cry from that Shadow, King Kong, the Spider, and Tarzan
sophisticated but subversive first season. of the Apes. He also created the Unbeatable
However, Dobie Gillis was not dead. Nostalgia, like karma, Squirrel Girl with legendary artist Steve
exerts its inexorable toll. CBS attempted a revival via a 1977 made- Ditko.
for-TV movie. Unfortunately, the new producer scrapped Max
CELEBRITY CRUSHES
My TV Crushes
by Tammy Brown
more Keith/David than any kid had a right to have. I still followed
Watching TV, the practice David later in his career with his appearances on The Love Boat and
of viewing a favorite Fantasy Island and as late as 2013 when he appeared on CSI. None
show at a designated of that can compare to my first brush with TV crushdom with
time on a designated Keith Partridge.
channel in my pajamas My crushes didn’t stop there, however. Hot on the heels
The Partridge Family © Sony Pictures Corp. Room 222 © 20th Century Fox.
in front of the glowing of The Partridge Family was Room 222 and
box was a favorite teacher/school life guru, Pete Dixon,
pastime in my little played by Lloyd Haynes. Mr.
world in Queens, New Dixon was what I thought every
York. Saturday mornings teacher should be—super
meant a bowl of Lucky cool and could teach history
Charms or Cocoa Krispies with like nobody’s business. Then
the delicious, sugary-flavored milk there was Lee Majors as
the cereal left behind while watching the big TV in the Steve Austin, The Six Million
living room on my favorite blanket. Afterschool viewing Dollar Man, where my love
was a combination of I Love Lucy, The Electric Company, of technology got its start,
and The Flintstones. Getting a TV in my room was key in followed by The Jeffersons
developing a keen sense of the subtleties of the slapstick son, Lionel, affably portrayed
comedy duos of Lucy and Ethel and Fred and Barney by Mike Evans with his lopsided
through regular viewing while enjoying Now & grin and quips to his irascible father,
Later candy and perusing Archie comic books. George. Smooth. Happy Days brought
Nighttime viewing, however, was reserved for the Fonz and Richie Cunningham together
the most crush-worthy men in primetime. as the only duo to make my crush list. The
The big gun, the meta experience of motorcycle-riding doctor, Steve Kiley, on
TV watching, happened on Friday nights. Marcus Welby, MD just seemed really cool.
The dynamic duo of early ’70s family The outer-space adventures of Major Don
viewing started with The Brady Bunch. I had West on Lost in Space was my one foray into
a bit of interest in Greg Brady, especially the hot-tempered bad-boy type. My girl
in his Johnny Bravo phase, but that was crush was Jaclyn Smith’s Kelly Garrett on
a passing fancy. At 8:30, however, came Charlie’s Angels. Badass, smart, sophisticated,
the awesomeness that was The Partridge and awesome hair.
Family, with my first TV crush, David Cassidy, You may see a pattern here of crushes on
the embodiment of the shag haircut, guitar-playing people who saved the day or at least made the day
heartthrob, Keith Partridge. The opening theme song got a little better for those around them. I guess I have a
me ready for 30 minutes of my “boyfriend,” who sang “I Think I hero fixation, and that’s okay. I’m all for the guitar-strumming,
Love You”… and just to me. I wanted nothing more than to be on scalpel-wielding, bionic-running, spaceship-flying, history-
the bus, heading to the next one-song concert of the Partridges. teaching TV guy who kept me coming back to that glowing box
Not only was Keith/David immensely talented and good week af ter week.
looking, he was also self-deprecating, which really endeared
him to me. He wasn’t a lothario, but the cute guy who lived in TAMMY BROWN has had a long career in entertainment marketing
the ideal fictional small town of San Pedro, California. I bought including working with Superman, X-Men, SpongeBob, and Mickey
the Partridge albums, the trading cards, and the novels to have Mouse.
Hey, lovelorn, quit sobbing into your pillow and writing diary entries—instead, share your Sixties/Seventies/
Eighties Celebrity Crushes with RetroFan readers! (Celebrity stalkers, please do not apply.) You can become
famous, get three free copies of the magazine, and earn a whopping $10 as well. Submit your 600-word-
maximum Celebrity Crushes column to the editor for consideration at euryman@gmail.com.

RETRO TRAVEL
Pinball wizards, your mecca awaits: the

Pinball Hall of Fame in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Driph/Wikimedia Commons. (INSET) The Las
Vegas Pinball Hall of Fame’s Tim Arnold.
Photo courtesy of Jim Schelberg.
Autosave Triggered
The Las Vegas Pinball Hall of Fame
by Richard J. Fowlks classic pinball machines “Pin-Bot,” “Fireball,” “Black
Knight,” “Funhouse,” “Black Hole,” “Challenger,” and
A chorus of high-pitched bleeps and metal pings “Mata Hari.”
fill the air. Excited jackpot chirps compete with the The Computerized Sex Tester from the Seventies
din of mechanical triggers. All the while, coins rattle stands as a hilarious gimmick. The beautiful
persistently through hungry slots. These are not the illustrations on the glass backing boards are vibrant
sounds of slot machines, but rather the soundtrack of and belie little of the years they have lived. Every
a place founded to be the antithesis to the gambling machine’s history and story is told on a hand-printed
thrall of Las Vegas, the Pinball Hall of Fame. card attached to the game. The bulk of the pinball machines to
The Las Vegas Pinball Hall of Fame (LVPHoF) was opened in be found in the collection are from the Sixties to the Eighties,
2006 to be a nostalgic record of the pinball games of yesteryear. the heyday of pinball gaming. The older, historical machines
Machines from across the history of pinball were gathered and are an interactive museum of pinball history, with vintage
painstakingly restored to share the joy and tradition of the bowling games, antique bumpers, and analog bells chiming
beloved pastime. Row after row of pinball and arcade games live out players’ scores.
shoulder-to-shoulder, open to public play: most for a quarter, The LVPHoF encompasses the history of pinball games and
some two quarters. Grouped by era stand classic favorites from manifests the vision of one man, pinball wizard Tim Arnold.
companies Williams, Gottlieb, Stern, Midway, Bally, Data East, Tim Arnold began operating pinball games in his
and Atari, among others. hometown of Lansing, Michigan, at the age of 16. “I used
This author was immediately taken back to his youth playing to play a lot as a kid. Pinball machines offered the thrill of
on the Spider-Man and Superman tables (at the local Round gambling (free games) along with great art, and only cost a
Table Pizza after basketball practice). The recently released dime to play,” Tim recalls to RetroFan. In 1972, he bought his
Batman ’66 game featured a video screen playing clips from the first used pinball machine, “Mayfair” by the company Gottlieb,
classic television show that react to the game play! The Creature and every kid on the block constantly wanted to play it.
From the Black Lagoon pinball game is a perennial favorite of At the age of 20, in 1976, Arnold opened and operated
mine, with an LCD screen that simulates scenes from the black- Pinball Pete’s with his brother, and the arcade hit it big as the
and-white movie and a lower “swamp” area stalked by a small oncoming Pac-Man era landed in the Eighties. Tim states,
creature. The Haunted House has a lower level “basement” and “Pinball Pete’s was the perfect place for me. I always had a
upper level “attic” of game play for triple the pinball action. Hours problem with authority, didn’t play well with others, and
of games from the peak of the pinball era can be played on the had no patience with education. [The arcade] allowed me

celebrity crushes
By 2005, the event had simply become to

big for Arnold’s residence and The Shed
to accommodate. Tim had an impressive
pinball collection of functional machines,
but what to do with them? Tim established
the Las Vegas Pinball Collectors Club
(LVPCC).
The LVPCC was founded on giving
back to the community and establishing a
permanent home for Tim Arnold’s pinball
collection. Tim contacted Midge Arthur, an
administrative assistant in the Las Vegas
branch of the Salvation Army. On the PHoF
website (www.pinballmuseum.org), Midge
Classic pinball games like these cohabitate the Hall of Fame is quoted as saying, “I got a telephone
alongside more modern ones. Driph/Wikimedia Commons. call from Tim, and he said, ‘If I had money to give, what would
you do with it?’ We had a long discussion about our different
rehabilitation programs. He was, I think, kind of skeptical of all
to be a pirate sailing on the sea of pinball.” Tim notes that the organizations. He wanted to make sure the money was going
local distributor only gave him a $50 credit to trade in an older, to help people.” Tim reiterates to RetroFan why he continues to
low-earning game. He then made a business-savvy decision: support the charity: “It is not just the Army, we support other local
instead of scrapping an entire machine for minimal credit, he social-service charities. We like the [Salvation] Army because
began storing the games he moved off of the arcade floor. In his they are a lot like us, low-rent, focused on a mission, and really
free time, Tim repaired and maintained these stored games, and believing in what they do. Many charities pay the people at the
began a collection that would grow to nearly 1,000 machines. top way to much.”
After 14 years of operating Pinball Pete’s, he had perhaps one of The Salvation Army was decided to be the LVPCC’s main
the largest collections of pinball machines in the country, and had charity. Shortly thereafter, the Salvation Army began receiving
opened a second location in Ann Arbor. donations from what Midge describes on the website as “one
In 1990, Tim Arnold sold his share of the arcades and moved of my strangest, out-of-the-ordinary donors we have ever had.”
to Las Vegas to retire. Over the next two years, Arnold would On the PHoF website, Tim stated, “When the crap hit the fan
painstakingly relocate his collection from Michigan to Las Vegas, with [Hurricane] Katrina, the government failed completely, the
and he quickly ran out of storage space for his pinball machines. Red Cross failed mostly, but everybody that was there said the
He filled the tennis court on his property with hundreds of Salvation Army was exemplary in every way.”
games, then ultimately had to build a shed around the court to As Fun Night grew, the funds of the Las Vegas Pinball
house his entire collection. Low Las Vegas humidity and little rain Collectors Club grew.
meant minimal damage to the machines. Arnold muses, “My wife The organization was able to rent a location on East Tropicana
has been very understanding. As a midlife crisis goes, it is better Avenue and South Pecos Road in 2005. The Las Vegas Pinball Hall
than a boat or blonde.” He continued to restore and maintain his of Fame opened its doors as a not-for-profit organization, and
collection, and was dreaming of a way to share the collection with boasted the world’s largest pinball collection. Tim notes, “running
the world while helping the community. Thus was “Fun Night” [the Las Vegas Pinball Hall of Fame] as a not-for-profit allows us
born. to avoid a lot of costs and lets us stay purely a pinball attraction
By 1992, all of Arnold’s pinball machines were moved into the without any other side shows [like] pizza or alcohol to distract
10,000-square-foot building known as “The Shed” that wrapped us.” The machines were regularly maintained and repaired by the
around his tennis court. Tim began holding pinball parties that members of the LVPCC, subscribing to the tenets of Zen and the
became known as “Fun Night” as a reward for people who helped Art of Pinball philosophy. Club members regularly maintained
maintain the machines. Initially, 20 machines were set up on and replaced parts to keep games in working order, and could be
Tim’s back porch for 20 guests. As more games were restored and seen in carpenters’ aprons restringing and tuning up machines.
electricity added to The Shed, it became the venue for the parties, “We change the lightbulbs the minute they burn out. That
which were soon held twice a year. As Fun Night grew, it became doesn’t make any economic sense,” Tim noted on the website.
an opportunity to fundraise, drawing thousands of dollars to be “It’s so incredibly hard to keep this stuff working.” Arnold spent
donated to Las Vegas charities. By 1995, Tim would have the Fun inordinate amounts of time online and in eBay auctions to secure
Night during AMOA (an amusement game industry trade show) relays, motors, and electronic pieces that can be repurposed for
to attract a wider audience of pinball enthusiasts. “Fun Night was ailing machinery. He began selling duplicate restored machines to
a blast,” he recalls. “One of the later ones, we had Alvin Gottlieb, gather funds to afford a permanent home for the PHoF. Tim also
son of D. Gottlieb (and company), his son Mike, and his grandsons. began to travel to pinball shows around the country, conducting
He wandered up and down isles of machines he built and offered raffles and selling pinball-related items to raise money for the
factoids and opinions. Really cool!” building fund.
Tim purchased the property next to The Shed as Fun Night By 2009, the LVPCC had raised enough funds to move to
had expanded to around 1,000 visitors for its two-night event. its current space at 1610 E. Tropicana. The Pinball Hall of Fame

celebrity crushes
Among the games at the Hall of Fame: (LEFT) Stern Pinball’s 2016 Batman model celebrating the TV show’s 50th anniversary,
(CENTER) Chicago Coin’s 1945 Goalee “Game of Skill,” and (RIGHT) an Indiana Jones 2008 pinball machine featuring images from all
four movies. Photos courtesy of Richard J. Fowlks. Batman & related characters © DC Comics. Goalee © Chicago Coin. Indiana Jones © Lucasfilm Ltd.
is now 10,000 square feet, nearly twice the floor space of the machines, candy vending stand, and sales of the This Old Pinball
original Hall of Fame. The permanent residence of the PHoF is repair DVD are donated to charity. As Tim said on the website,
home to hundreds of machines from the Thirties to the Nineties, “It’s about games and charity, and not about making money. We
with a few modern machines to boot. The carpet is carpet scrap just don’t care that this or that game isn’t making any money. The
cleverly salvaged from a Convention Center weekend show, minute we start becoming professional, it’s gonna be about the
and the change machines were “liberated” from the Golden dollars and it’s not gonna be about the games.”
Nugget’s trash dock. First and foremost, it’s still about keeping
the machines working and supporting charity. Tim regularly has What lies in the future for the game museum rooted in the
to fabricate and repurpose modern components for broken parts past? Tim surmises that someday he will deliver the collection to
that are simply not available anymore. Take, for example, the someone else. Not anytime soon, but someday. He tells RetroFan,
1933 game “Jig Saw,” which Tim had to completely rebuild using “more of the same ’til I get too old to do it anymore. Then I get
modern components. Other games, such as “Pinball Circus,” are somebody else to be Dread Pirate Roberts, or I just close it up.”
so rare that only two are known to exist. Replacement parts are Tim Arnold has taken his lifelong passion and created both a
nonexistent, forcing repurposing of modern materials to make walk-through pinball history and a lucrative community service.
repairs. “Joker’s Ball,” according to Arnold, is the 1959 game that As Tim stated on the website, “Today’s society is often too self-
video poker is based upon, and one of only two known in the centered to bother doing community service. So I’m just giving
world reside at the PHoF. An early pinball game to introduce them a vehicle where they think they’re being self-indulging by
flippers, 1947’s “Lady Robin Hood” stands ready to be played by playing pinball, but they are really helping charity.”
the public.
The Las Vegas Pinball Hall of Fame has kept true to its A huge hug and thank you to Tim Arnold for his efforts during the
dedication to community service: profits from the game research and writing of this article, and Jim Schelberg for the photo of
Tim.
PINBALL HALL OF FAME RICHARD J. FOWLKS is the designer of

Eisner-nominated BACK ISSUE magazine
for TwoMorrows and Full Bleed for IDW,
1610 E. Tropicana Avenue, Las Vegas, Nevada 89119 and over a dozen books on comics and pop
culture. He is debuting his first trading card
Open daily. Admission: Free.
set this year, Drive-In Double Feature,
Sunday–Thursday 11:00 a.m.–11:00 p.m. Friday–Saturday celebrating beloved movies of a bygone era.
11:00 a.m.–Midnight. Rich is not known as a writer, therefore all typos and grammatical
errors are all his own. This is Rich’s writing debut, as he couldn’t help
702-597-2627 but share his love of pinball machines and the glorious Pinball Hall of
www.PinballMuseum.org Fame. See more of the trouble he is getting into at www.RJF-
pinballhalloffame@msn.com ImageDesign.com.

movie, Superman and the Mole Men, which
served as the pilot.
I’m also a member of two Facebook groups
of devotees who discuss the show and post
photos/videos. I would be more than happy
to spread the word to them should you take
Retro Saturday Morning columnist Andy figure lines would be fun to explore in our my suggestion. For non-subscribers who may
Mangels has brought to our attention the sad pages. As you say in your letter, “We’ll get or may not see RetroFan on their newsstand,
news that John Carl Buechler, the Hollywood there, though, I’m sure.” the members of my FB groups are almost
make-up/effects wizard who was included guaranteed to make a purchase (which may
in Andy’s Jason of Star Command article last lead to more subscribers, hint, hint). Hopefully
issue, died of Stage IV prostate cancer on it would include some new facts about the
March 18, 2019, at age 66. Beyond his creation THIS MAGAZINE ROCKS!!!! I have every issue show that we didn’t know before—but if not,
of aliens for Jason of Star Command, Buechler of RetroFan and it is the only magazine that I it still would make a nice addition to our TAOS
was celebrated for his work on a long list of have ever read cover to cover. Most magazines, collections.
horror and sci-fi movies, most notably for I just pick selected articles to read, but this one So in closing, Michael, keep up the good
directing Troll and Friday the 13th Part VII: The I have read every one. work on RetroFan, and I hope you will agree
New Blood. Our condolences to his wife, Lynn, I just received issue #4 in the mail and have about doing a piece on TV’s first and best
and his legion of fans. started reading it. I grew up in the Sixties and Superman in a future issue. Next up for me, of
Seventies. Those decades had the best toys, course: Become a subscriber!
movies, TV shows, and all things nostalgia. MICHAEL R. MATARAZZO
Almost all the articles that I have read bring
With nostalgia being a thing—hasn’t it back my childhood memories. Great Caesar’s Ghost, Michael, you’re
always?— RetroFan is the perfect magazine to I can’t wait until issue #5. I saw there was not the first person to suggest our
read, and I’d wager you have more material going to be an article on Major Matt Mason. covering Adventures of Superman. While I
than any issue can possibly fit in. We’ll get That was one of my favorite toys growing up. originally resisted—mostly because it was
there, though, I’m sure. Articles that I would love to see: a Fifties show and our coverage is generally
I’d love to see an in-depth article on Sixties through Eighties—I’m leaning toward
Kenner’s Super Powers Collection and `` Evel Knievel toys eventually spotlighting it in the magazine...
Mattel’s Secret Wars Collection, both of which `` Slime (in the garbage can) when a good angle presents itself (between
were released in the Eighties. Those toys `` SSPs a couple of books on the topic and numerous
gave me hours of enjoyment, and there was websites, there’s no shortage of TAOS TV
`` Freakies cereal
something very magical about having “cross- coverage out there). I’ll take this under
pollination” between DC and Marvel [during
`` School House Rock advisement and see what we can do down the
toy playtime]. Whether it was Batman and road.
I could go on and on, but it doesn’t matter.
Robin stuck in Doctor Doom’s Tower of Doom
You keep on printing them and I will keep on
or Kang’s forces invading the Hall of Justice,
reading them.
DAN CHRISTMAN
I enjoyed “I Think It Would Be Fun to Publish
a Fanzine” by Ernest Farino in RetroFan #3.
Dan, your mention of School House Rock has
In addition to giving us a nice lesson in the
“Conjunction Junction” stuck in my head. Not
history of fanzines, it featured two of my
that that’s a bad thing.
favorite movie zines that are still around today,
Those are great suggestions, and we’ll
Gary Svehla’s Midnight Marquee and Richard
add them to our list of potential subjects.
Klemensen’s Little Shoppe of Horrors. The article
Thanks!
also acknowledges the importance of Famous
Monsters of Filmland and legendary editor
Forrest J Ackerman’s role in inspiring countless
monster magazines and fanzines from late-
there was no barrier between DC and Marvel I recently picked up the current issue of Fifties to the present.
in my world! RetroFan on the magazine rack at my local An important precursor to Famous Monsters
I’d also like to draw attention to the fact Barnes & Noble (my home away from home), of Filmland was a particular issue of a digest-
that in the pre-internet age, you had to hunt and enjoyed it very much. As a child of the sized French film magazine titled Cinema
high and low for certain figures. The Flash Sixties, it brought back many enjoyable 57. Issue #20 of Cinema 57 (July–Aug. 1957)
and Brainiac seemed particularly hard to find. memories for me, so congrats on putting out a was devoted entirely to fantastic films and
The black-costumed Spidey also seemed hard quality publication that many readers will no is considered a major inspiration for Famous
to find. In the modern era, one would simply doubt enjoy. Monsters.
order figures via Amazon, but back in the day, That being said, now I’ve come to the While I never saw the nascent Gore
there was the thrill of the hunt. Toys R Us didn’t main reason I’m writing. I would like to make a Creatures fanzine in the Sixties or early
seem able to get either the Flash or Brainiac suggestion for a feature in an upcoming issue Seventies, I ultimately became a reader and
figures for me. But I wouldn’t have changed it (I bet you never heard THAT before, ahem). fan of Midnight Marquee in the Nineties and
for the world, retrospectively speaking. Some One of my favorite TV shows growing up was acquired numerous back issues along the
young folks today will never know the thrill of The Adventures of Superman starring the gone- way. Gary and Susan Svehla have done an
the hunt. too-soon George Reeves. I probably started admirable job over the decades, and while it’s
STEPHEN PARRY watching it at around five-years-old, before been published less frequently in recent years,
I was old enough to read the comics, and it MidMar continues to be a zine I always look
Stephen, I remember the thrill of the hunt stayed with me into adulthood. I know there forward to reading, not to mention the many
for elusive Super Powers figures, and the are a lot of Superman fans out there, like myself, fine books put out by Midnight Marquee Press.
exhilaration I experienced when I finally who would love to see a feature (or even better, Little Shoppe of Horrors has evolved, as
found a Cyborg after traveling to a different a cover story!) on the series. BTW, in case you Ernest Farino notes, “from a classic fanzine into
state to find one. Both of these lines action- didn’t know, it started out as a feature-length a slick, thoroughly researched, and substantive

chronicle of all things Hammer.” (Incidentally, eliciting answers that let us all know exactly
Little Shoppe also covers some non-Hammer why the film turned out so well.
films.) In short, Dick Klemensen’s Little Shoppe I’m not sure what it says about my viewing
of Horrors is essential reading for the serious, or habits, but this is the first TV quiz where I
even the casual, Hammer Film fan. got all of the answers right. Back at the time
Little Shoppe of Horrors is also invaluable many of these ran, here in the Toronto area
to zine enthusiasts for its excellent “A History we received four main channels: the CBC and
of Horror Film Fanzines,” a series that has the local affiliate for each of the major US
covered such zines as Photon, Fantascene, networks out of Buffalo.
Cinefantastique, and Castle of Frankenstein. In kind of the same vein, I don’t remember
Keep up the great work, Dick Klemensen and [live-action] Emergency! series. It started the any of the merchandise, and I’m not sure if I
company! same year as the animated Star Trek, but had ever sampled the drink, but I recognize most of
Another extant high-quality fanzine is quite a few more episodes produced during the Funny Face characters, so I’m guessing that
Monsters from the Vault, published since 1995 its run. Star Trek had 22 episodes made, while we saw the commercials up here as well.
and edited by Jim Clatterbaugh. Its long- Emergency +4 came close to 30. Go figure. I’m a little too young to have seen the
awaited (two) final issues are due out later this Some of the great comic-book writers and Aquaman cartoons in their first run (not by
year. artists did a great more than just the superhero much, mind you), but I remember loving them
The question I pose now is this: Is RetroFan comics we’re familiar with, and perhaps more when I did see them. Thankfully, through the
a magazine or a fanzine? It certainly looks like attention should be given to their lesser-known magic of DVDs, I have experienced them again
a glossy, professional periodical, but it has that efforts. I’ve been a fan of Shelley Mayer for and find they hold up quite well.
fun, fan-friendly fanzine feel to it as well. years, but perhaps an article on his earlier As someone who saw those ads so
Well, whatever you call it, keep publishing series, Scribbly, would be in order. Back issues frequently, I was fascinated by the article on
it and celebrating a variety of vintage movies, are too expensive for me. It would be nice if DC Sea Monkeys. Strange that they don’t look like
TV shows, toys, comics, cartoons, and Comics did a trade paperback for Scribbly, but the pictures!
collectibles. Keep up the great work, Michael it may not be a moneymaker in this dark and I never watched any of the Irwin Allen
Eury and company! gritty era. shows, but I have a cousin, Carol Knisley, who
TIMOTHY M. WALTERS RetroFan gives you an opportunity for was a huge fan of Land of the Giants.
some other pieces. Remember the Saturday A number of years ago we were shopping at
Morning Fall Preview Specials? They used to air a store called Vintage Video (sadly no longer
RetroFan is both a magazine and a fanzine! on the Friday nights before the new cartoons with us) in Toronto that specialized in hard-
Hopefully we’re proving that we can for the year debuted. to-find movies and shows and found a very
present a polished, professional periodical JAMES SMITH III elaborate box set of the series. The set was
that maintains the fannish passion for its expensive, but she really wanted it, so I bought
subject matter while still containing broader James, View-Masters were ye ed’s second it and “sold” it to her family so they could give
material of interest to the general reader. favorite childhood toy, after Captain Action— it to her for Christmas. I’ve never regretted it
It’s a balancing act, but I’d rather tip more especially the TV show reels, which were the since she has enjoyed it so much. Since I knew
onto the fandom side so that we’re in tandem “Netflix” of our generation, allowing us to she loved the show, I bought her a copy of the
with TwoMorrows Publishing’s other fine “watch” an episode on demand. Don’t worry, RetroFan issue. She enjoyed it so much she
magazines, which explore comic-book we’ll spin back around to them in a future asked me for information on how she could
history. issue. subscribe!
Thanks for your valuable updates about Interesting list of potential subjects…! BRIAN MARTIN
fanzines! Until your letter, I had forgotten Will the Real
Jerry Lewis Please Sit Down (shown above). Tell your friends about us, and share your
We’ll see what we can do. comments about this issue by writing me at
Incidentally, the episode gap between euryman@gmail.com.
Loved your View-Master article [issue #2]. the animated Star Trek and Emergency +4 isn’t MICHAEL EURY
Please do more on other television show reels, as wide as you’re remembering, according to Editor-in-Chief
not just the superhero ones. Internet Movie Database and Wikipedia. ST
So, you’ll be doing a piece of Major Matt had 22 episodes, while Emergency +4 had only NEXT ISSUE:
Mason. Thank you. THE space toy of the late 23.
Sixties and early Seventies deserves more I agree that Sheldon Mayer was a Same
attention, especially since no one’s done a full- fascinating figure (I’m a fan of his Sugar and Bat-time, same
Bat-channel!
blown book on MMM. Please do more. Spike and Black Orchid comics), but not only is
I encourage you to do articles on Billy Scribbly a product of the Thirties and Forties,
Blastoff and S.T.A.R. Toys. Both need more an era that predates RetroFan’s purview,
research, and IMHO, the toys of that era were except for rare exceptions (like an occasional BATMAN
Oddball Comic from Scott Shaw!) we’ll leave

GOOFS OFF!
Winter 2020
so much better than what is coming out today. No. 7 $8.95
[Today’s toys] have no heart to them, and I’m at comic books to TwoMorrows’ other fine
publications to explore. An
a loss for words to explain further. interview
Please encourage Andy Mangels to do And just this morning Andy Mangels and I
some research on some animated cartoons were talking about those Friday night preview with the
that he hasn’t already studied. Would love specials for Saturday morning kid fare. Expect World Largest
CHARLIE’S ANGELS
heavenly
Andy to cover this in a future issue. Collection
to see him do some pieces on Emergency +4, THE Jaclyn
Skyhawks, Hot Wheels, The Old Curiosity Shop, DICK VAN DYKE
Kid Power, The Kids from C.A.P.E.R., and the Jerry

SHOW Smith …plus we
Lewis animated program. reopen the
Charlie’s
My strongest recommendation would RetroFan #3 began with a great interview with JONNY QUEST
CREATOR
Angels
be for the animated Emergency +4. It ran for Mr. Richard Donner, a man a lot of superhero casebook
three years on NBC back in the Seventies and fans past and present owe a debt to for his Captain Action • Larry Storch Interview • Rare Marvel World Playset & more!
had a dynamic theme song. You’re probably commitment to creating a movie we could all Featuring Ernest Farino • Will Murray • Scott Saavedra • Scott Shaw! • Michael Eury
aware that it was an animated tie-in to the believe in. Glenn Greenberg did a great job
Charlie’s Angels © Sony Pictures. Jonny Quest © Hanna-Barbera Productions. Batman © DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

by Scott Saavedra
LABORATORY
DISASTER!
RUBIK’S CUBES
BRED WITH
TRIBBLES!
Will
Medical
Science
Ever Find a
Cure for
SVENGOOLITIS?
The Terrifying Teenage
Lost Season of James Bond Sues
Original Ghost Teenage Napoleon Solo
for Infringment
Busters that Cost
a Cast Member
His Sanity!
RUBBER CHICKEN RAMPAGE RUNDFFLES FEATHERS,
S H O CK E R !
ERING, WHAT
LEAVES A BAFFLED NATION WOW?
THE DICKENS IS GOING ON NO

Relive The Pop Culture You
Grew Up With
In RetroFan! If you love Pop Culture of the Sixties, Seventies, and Eighties,
editor MICHAEL EURY’s latest magazine is just for you!
RETROFAN #7
Featuring a JACLYN SMITH
interview, as we reopen the
Charlie’s Angels Casebook,
and visit the Guinness
World Records’ largest
Charlie’s Angels collec-
tion. Plus: an exclusive
interview with funnyman
LARRY STORCH, The
Dick Van Dyke Show,
Captain Action—the
original super-hero
action figure, a vintage
interview with Jonny
Quest creator DOUG
WILDEY, a visit to
the Land of Oz, the
ultra-rare Marvel
World superhero
playset, & more! RETROFAN #6 RETROFAN #8
Interviews with MeTV’s crazy creepster NOW BI-MONTHLY! Interviews with the
(84-page FULL- SVENGOOLIE and Eddie Munster himself, ’60s grooviest family band THE COWSILLS,
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RETROFAN #1 RETROFAN #2 RETROFAN #3 RETROFAN #4 RETROFAN #5

THE CRAZY, COOL CULTURE WE GREW HALLOWEEN! Horror-hosts ZACHERLEY, 40th Anniversary interview with SUPERMAN: Interviews with the SHAZAM! TV show’s Interviews with MARK HAMILL & Greatest
UP WITH! LOU FERRIGNO interview, The VAMPIRA, SEYMOUR, MARVIN, and an THE MOVIE director RICHARD DONNER, JOHN (Captain Marvel) DAVEY and American Hero’s WILLIAM KATT! Blast
Phantom in Hollywood, Filmation’s Star Trek interview with our cover-featured ELVIRA! IRWIN ALLEN’s sci-fi universe, Saturday MICHAEL (Billy Batson) Gray, the GREEN off with JASON OF STAR COMMAND!
cartoon, “How I Met Lon Chaney, Jr.”, goofy THE GROOVIE GOOLIES, BEWITCHED, THE morning’s undersea adventures of Aquaman, HORNET in Hollywood, remembering mon- Stop by the MUSEUM OF POPULAR
comic Zody the Mod Rob, Mego’s rare Elastic ADDAMS FAMILY, and THE MUNSTERS! horror and sci-fi zines of the Sixties and ster maker RAY HARRYHAUSEN, the way-out CULTURE! Plus: “The First Time I Met
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real-life Mayberry), interview with BETTY park! History of BEN COOPER HALLOWEEN RetroTravel to METROPOLIS, IL (home of the Park, a Star Trek Set Tour, SAM J. JONES on LANDING MANIA, SNUFFY SMITH AT
LYNN (“Thelma Lou” of The Andy Griffith COSTUMES, character lunchboxes, superhero Superman Celebration), SEA-MONKEYS®, the Spirit movie pilot, British sci-fi TV classic 100 with cartoonist JOHN ROSE, TV
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The MUNSTERS’ BUTCH

All characters TM & © their respective owners.

2 RetroFan Fall 2019

© MeTV National Limited Partnership.

Svengoolie: Definitely so. Of Svengoolie: It’s kind of like a safety

4 RetroFan Fall 2019

RF: Well, FOX was also trying to “class up”

RF: While hosting horror movies as

6 RetroFan Fall 2019

RF: I kind of liked that movie. It was a fun,

that watch your show and everyone was

AWARD GOES TO…

8 RetroFan Fall 2019

RF: That is one of my favorite segments

RF: It’s a great

RF: You were a Chicago institution for

10 RetroFan Fall 2019

Ghost Busters stars Forrest

From a Scream to Laughter

Precursors to Filmation’s Ghost Busters include the film comedies Ghost

12 RetroFan Fall 2019

TwoMorrows book, Lou Scheimer: Creating the Filmation Generation.

Who’s the Guy in the Monkey Suit?

Main cast and producer credits. © Filmation.

RetroFan Fall 2019 13

Mickey Rooney show, and occasionally got

14 RetroFan Fall 2019

(LEFT) Director Norman Abbott

RetroFan Fall 2019 15

a copy of Variety on the desk, and I picked up and

(ABOVE) Filmation head Lou Scheimer

16 RetroFan Fall 2019

When Filmation Worlds Collide! John

RetroFan Fall 2019 17

The Ghosts in the Machine

18 RetroFan Fall 2019

20 RetroFan Fall 2019

When in Connecticut, be sure

RetroFan Fall 2019 21

Late-night TV king Johnny Carson, an unidentified Nauga fan,

lumber. Shmoo whiskers made splendid toothpicks. How

22 RetroFan Fall 2019

Naugas © Uniroyal Engineered Products, LLC.

TASMANIAN DEVIL UGLYDOLL

SUBSCRIPTIONS ECONOMY US EXPEDITED US PREMIUM US INTERNATIONAL DIGITAL ONLY

THE MAGAZINE FOR LEGO

ENTHUSIASTS OF ALL AGES!

I A few years ago the American Cinematheque hosted a

Wow! I couldn’t wait to see this movie! The next Saturday

A white dot goes across and you’re down a gun barrel…

Then the main titles: images projected on the “golden girl”

26 RetroFan Fall 2019

Bond… James Bond

28 RetroFan Fall 2019

(ABOVE) Sean Connery helps (LEFT) S.P.E.C.T.R.E.’s Kronsteen (Vladek

INSIDE FORT KNOX

And boy, did he.

An Ejector Seat? You’re Joking!

30 RetroFan Fall 2019