JUSTLY OVERLOOKED FILM: WAR OF THE COLOSSAL BEAST (1958)

 First off, this one came from American International Pictures (AIP), which was to Fifties horror flicks that Republic Pictures was to Forties B-westerns.  Second, it was produced, directed, and and with a story by Bert I. Gordon (who also did the special effects), the king of the giant monster films, which is not really and Oscar-worthy sobriquet.  Third, it was a sequel to Gordon's first AIP flick, The Amazing Collosal Man -- even though it was not marketed as a sequel and had a different cast (but the storyline does pick up where the previous film left off.  And, although it was filmed in black-and-white, the fim;s last shocking (he-he-he) thiorty seconds or so was filmed in color.

The Colossal Man is Lt. Colonel Glenn Manning (Dean Parkin; his only other acting credit was the previous year's The Cyclops).  The eye candy in this flick was Manning's sister, Joyce (Sally Fraser; It Conquered the World, Giant from the Unknown, The Spider -- she screamed a lot during this phase of her career), and her beau was Major Mark Baird (Roger Pace; 10 credits on IMDb, including one episode of The Real McCoys, one episode of Steve Canyon, and three episodes of My Little Margie [playing deferent characters] )  And, because we need a scientist, the role of Dr. Carmichael was taken by Russ Bender (The Navy vs. the Night Monsters, Space Probe Taurus, the Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow).

The actual screenplay was by George Worthington Yates (It Came from Beneath the Sea, Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, Earth vs. the Spider).

The film, also known as Revenge of the Colossal Man, The Colossal Beast, and Terror Strikes, was released theatrically as the bottom half of a dopuble feature, with Attack of the Puppet People, another George Worthington Yates scripted flick.

The plot?  Yes, there is a plot.  Manning gets dosed by radiation.  Manning grows big.  Manning goes smash.  Manning shakes a buisload of teenagers.  Big colorized fianle.

Cheesiness, thy name is War of the Colossal Beast.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8S0M3R39Ug

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SKIP JAMES!

Delta blues guitarist and singer Skip James (1902-1969) was born Nehemiah Curtis James in a segregated hospital near Betonia, Mississippi.  "Coupling an oddball guitar tuning set against eerie, falsetto vocals, James' early recordings could make your hair stand up on the back of your neck."  And his guitar playing was phenominal.

Give a listen:

"Devil Got My Woman"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05ypnm_Wcls

"Crow Jane"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytVww5r4Nk0

"Hard Time Killing Floor Blues"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cyGmLF8FpE

"I'm So Glad"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0mANtSMLy8

"Special Rider Blues"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kwLG0F6EeU

"Cypress Grove Blues"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6vEDxP45CQ

"Look Down the Road"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUTdkRSWVkY

"My Black Mama, Part 1"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiinYF1xWZc

"Sick Bed Blues"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02IkbJkazLs

And here's a great clip of Bukka White, Skip James, and Son House at the Nrewport Folk Festival;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWSSxCAizWI

"Mountain Jack"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-XOO6XeM8Q

"Catfish Blues"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlvaHEXP7NU

"Illinois Blues"  (lines from this song were quoted three times in August Wilson's play The Piano Lesson) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spqfdTddYbo

HYMN TIME

 The Plantation Siongers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ixGvrwz_qI

SINISTER TALES #17 (UNDATED, PROBABLY SOMETIME IN 1965)

Here's a quickie.  Sinister Tales was one of several titles of black-and-white reprint comics from the British publisher Alan Class.  The Class comics reprinted material from Atlas, Marvel. ACG, Charleton, Archie and other U.S. comic book lines.  Sinister Tales ran from January 1964 to January 1989 for a total of 227 issues.  In addition to Sinister Tales, Class also published such titles as Creepy Worlds, Secrets of the Unknown, Suspense, Outer Space, Tales of the Underworld, and Uncanny Tales.  I have no idea where the stories in this issue originally came from, but five of the twelve stories were signed by Steve Ditko, which should count for something.  Joe Gill wrote at least one of the stories, but I don't know which one.

Enjoy.

https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=78003

FORGOTTEN BOOK: EASY GO

Easy Go by "John Lange" (Michael Crichton)  (!968; also republished 1984 as The Last Tomb)

Early in his career, beginning when he ws a medical student, Michael Crichton published eight thrillers under the pseudonym John Lange, "for furniture and groceries."  Crichton considered these books the literary equivalent of an in-flight movie:  "I write them fast and the reader reads them fast."   Easy Go was the third novel to be published as Lange, although sources say it was actually the first book that Crichton wrote -- it took him a week.

Harold Barnaby is an Egyptologist with a singular knack for accurately translating hieroglyphics, many of which had previously been only hasitly translated in situ.  One particular papyrus he had come across puzzled him; it made no sense, and clearly ikt was writenn in code.  Barnaby eventually deciphered the code and learned of a hidden tomb of an unnamed pharaoh, which had been unknown for millenia.  The papyrus also gsve detailed instructions (well, detailed for the time; things shift over the centuries) of the tomb's location.  The thought of finding this tomb -- perhaps the last undioscovered tomb in Egypt -- and the possible riched it contained excited Barnanby.

He recruits Robert Pierce, a freelance writer, who has the contacts that Barnaby doesn't -- those who have the knowledge and the wherewithal to loot the tomb without alerting the Egyptian authories.  Pierce goes to Lord Grover, a wealthy and dissolate earl to bankroll the project.  Grover insists on bringing along at least two of his mistresses and his private secretary, Lisa Barrett.  (Lisa is young, attractive, and -- after a somewhat rocky start -- falls for Pierce, and he for her).  Pierce also recruits archaeologist and smuggler Alan Conway and international thief Nikos Karagannis.  The team gets permission from the Egyptian government for an expedition to a remote area of the desert to photograph and translate hieroglyphics from minor tombs, using this as a cover for their actual search for the last tomb.

It is painstaking and weary work, maintaining their cover while trying to locate the hidden tomb, made more difficult by the unannounced appearances of Hamid Iskander, a representaitve of the government's Antiquities Services; Iskander's demeanor as an eager to please official hides a brilliant brain and a watchful, suspicious eye.

The desert is cruel and unforgiving.  Heat, insects, dysentary, the occasional invasion of cobras, and sand blowing everywhere become normal occurances.   After months of false starts, the  tomb's location is found, its entrnce through a small cleft on the side of a cliff 500 feet above the ground.  The cleft is so small that only one man could work it at a time, digging down seven feet before finding the first step that led to the tomb.

Now that they have found the tomb, can they get the to the riches within?  Can they get the loot out of Egypt and safely dispose of it?  Can they outwit and avoid the overly suspicious Egyptian authorities?  Can they even survive the tomb itself, with its deadly traps?

A fast, light read, with the reader's credbility somewhat overcome by the wealth of detail and atmosphere throughout the novel.  This is Gamal Nassar's Egypt, the Egypt that was building the Aswan Dam, the Egypt of extreme wealth and even more extreme poverty, an Egypt of unrelenting peril...A nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there.

Crichton went on to become an international phenominon, writing The Andromeda Strain, The Terminal Man, Congo, Sphere, Jurassic Park, and Timeline, among others.  He wrote the screenplays for Westworld, The Great Train Robbery, Runaway, Jurassic Park, Rising Sun, and Twister, among others.  For Television, he created the hit series ER.  Thirteen of his novels have been filmed and these films have spawned seven sequels.  Two television series have been based on his films.  During his lifetime, Crichton published twenty-five novels and four works of nonfiction; an additional four novels have been published posthumously, two of which were completed by other authors.  Crichton has received two Edgar awards, the Seiun Award, a Golden Plate Award, a Technical Achievement Oscar, a Writers Guild Award, a Peabody Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, an Audie Award, a BILBY Older Readers Award, and the American Association of Petroleum Geologists Journalism Award.  In 1991 he was named one of People magazine's Fifty Most Beautiful People.  Crichton is the 20th highest grossing story creator of all time.

A very private man, Crichton kept his final illness a secret, dying of leukemia on Novembner 4, 200b at age 66.

 

THE CHASE AND SANBORN HOUR, WITH EDGAR BERGAN AND CHARLIE McCARTHY (APRIL 18, 1943)

Called "the quintessential ventriloquist of the twetieth century," Edgar Bergan (1903-1978) more than anyone else pioneered modern day ventriloquism.  At age eleven he taught himself ventriloquisim; when he sixteen he received daily lessons from famed ventriloquist Harry lest; and later that year he paid 436 to have a dummy carved for him in the likeness of a red-haird newspeper boy he knew -- and thus was Charlie McCarthy born.  Two other major creations were added as his career progressed -- Mortimer Snerd and Effie Klinker.

Beginning in vaudeville, Bergen soon appeared at the famous Rainbow Room at Rockefeller Center; there he was seen by two rppoducers who booked Bergan (and mcCathy) for an appearance on Rudy Valee's radio show in December 1936.  The pair were so popular that the following year they became part of the cast of The Chase and Sanborn Hour, a gig that lasted from 1937 to 1956.  (Part of the so-called War of the Worlds Panic from Orson Welles' infamous 1938 broadcast was due to the fact that many of Welles' listeners tuned in halfway through the show because they had been listening to Bergan and McCarthy and did not ealize the program was emtirely fictional.)   Bergen also had a CBS radio program, The Charlie McCarthy Hour (later The Edgar Bergen Hour) from 1949 to 1956. 

The fact that Bergen was a star ventriloquist on radio, where no one could see the act was part of itss charm.  (In fact, some listeners thought the McCathy was real person and not a dummy.)  
the other part of Bergen's popularity was due to his comedic timing and the personality he gave to his puppets.

Truth to tell, Bergan was not a very good ventriloquist.  Filmed appeatances clearly showed Bergan's move moving, but few people cared.  Bergen even had Charlie McCarthy occasionally mention how his mouth was moving.  Above all, bergen brought a certain innocence and good-tempered humor to his act.

On this episode of The Chase and Sanborn Hour, Ronald Colman, Dale Evans, Victor Moore, and Billy Gaxton.

Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h--kfyx8Mtc&t=2s

SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: A BAR CALLED CHARLIE'S

 "A Bar Called Charlie's" by Charles Ardai (firsr published in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, November 1990; republished in The Year's Best Horror Stories:  XIX, edited by Karl Edward Wagner, 1991; and in Ardai's coolection Death Comes Too Late, 2024)

Marty Jenson is part of a dying breed, and, because of inertia, has been one for fity years.  Most poeple in his trade had left long ago, to offices where the job cn be done online, to other more lucrative fields, and some to early graves due to drink and/or suicide.  Some of those who worked with Marty during the early years were focused and lucky, like Mack Davis, who saved every penny he made and dropped out of the game after six yearss to buy a self-sustaining farm in South Dakota, or like Louie DelBianco, who quir and started a successful chain of stores which 'started sprouting up around the country like pimple's on a teenager's face."  But Marty, morose and self-pitying, stayed with it simply because he did not know how to do anything else.  Yeah, Marty was married and had a couple of kids, now grown, but even their pleas to find something else were ignored.

And sometimes Marty thought of suicide.  When those thoughts approached, he would pull his call over to a nearby bar, rather than to drive on where there mjight be a bridge abutment.   And this one night, it was a bar called Charlie's.  It was a dead night.  Just one other customer and Charlie, the bartender.  The other customer was pretty drunk and drunk people make up stories, and Charlie had been around long enough to know that for you pretend to to believe any story a drunk might tell you, and this drunk started telling Marty that he was a professional assassin -- he even pulled a small gun out of a pocket as proof of his drunken claim.  Gun back in his pocket, he began to tell Marty a story about a traveling salesman.

Charlie, the bartender, stopped him there, saying that there was a house rule against Traveling saleman stories in his bar.  Charlie, it turns out had also been a traveling salesman.  It also turned out that Charlie was Charlie DelBianco, the father of Marty's old partner Louie DelBianco.  Charlie and Louie did not get along; Louie was ashamed of his father for a number of reasons.

Then, two other men entered the bar and pulled out guns.  They made Charlie emoty the cash register -- only a couple of hundred nbucks (it was a slow day).  They dmanded the watches and wallets from the three.  The drunk customer started checking his pockets for his wallet and pulled out his gun and gut shot one of the robbers.  The other robber turned to the drunk.  Now both were ointing guns at the other, but the drunk was so far gone he didn't really know what he was doing.  The ronbber blew his face off, then he shot Charlie.  He was about to shoot Marty also but Marty began the sales pitch of his life.. to save his life.

The robber had Marty help him carry his friend's body to his vehiclle and then drove off, leaving Marty lone outside the bar.  Without checking to see whether Charlie was dead or merely wounded, Marty got in his car and headed out of state, while musing on fate and his life.  He thought of calling the police and of going back to check on Charlie, but he just kept driving on to whatever fate awaited him.

An early story by Ardai, readable despite the many faults in its plot, more readable as a character study.

Ardai, of course, is best known today as the co-founder and editor of Hard Case CCrime, the line of pul--style paperback novels.  While in high school, Ardai worke as an intern for Isaac Asimov's Scince Fiction Magazine.  He graduated from Columbia summa cum laude, and was hired by the hedge fund  D. E. Shaw.  Also in the early 1990s, he edited a number of anthologies (some with Cynthia Masonor Sheila Williams) that mined IASFM and its companion magazines for much of their content.  While at Shaw, he and fellow employee Jeff Bezos were tasked with coming uop with potential online business ideas.  Ardai came up with the internet company Juno, which became very big in those early days; Bezos started something called Amazon, which I understand is doing okay.  Ardai sold his interest in Juno in 2001. and he and Max Phillips decided to start a publishing company.   The first Hard Case Crime novel was published in September 2004; the following month, Hard Case Crime published Little Girl Lost, written by Ardai and published as by "Richard Aleas"; The bookm was nominated for both the Edgar and the Shamus Awards.  His second novel, Songs of Innocence, also by "Aleas," won the 2008 Shamus Award.  The fiftieth novel published by Hard Case, Fifty-to-One. was the fisrt to appear under Ardai's own name.  Ardai also started a brief line of Indiana Jones-type adventure novels about Gariel Hunt, each written by a different author; Ardia's contribution was Hunt Through the Cradle of Fear.  Also for Hard Case, Ardai wrote the novelization of the comic crime novel The Good Guys.  In 2001, Titan Comics became publishing a series of Hard Case Crime graphic novels, begining with Ardai's Gun Honey; several sequels have since been published.  Last year to celebrate the 20th anniversay of Hard Case Crime, he publlished the collection Death Comes Too late, containing twenty of his short stories.  Several of Ardai's nearly forty shorty stories have been honored:  "Nobody wins" was nominated for a 1994 Shamus Award, while "the Home Front" won the 2004 Edgar Award.  Ardai also won the 2015 Ellery Queen Award for his work on Hard Case Crime, and a 2024 Inkpot Award.  Arfdai was also a writer and producer on the SyFy series Haven, based on Stephen King's Hard Case Crime novel The Colorado Kid.   By my count, Hardcase Crime has published 162 books by a disytionguished lineup, including Lawrence Block, Erle Stanley Gardner, Max Allan Collins, Day Keene, Donald E. Westlake, David Dodge, Wade Miller, Stephen King, Ed McBain, Donald Hamilton, Charles Williams, Ken Bruen, Pete Hamill, Michael Crichton, Richard S. Prather, Gil Brewer, David Goodis, Cornell Woolrich, Mickey Spillane, Robert Bloch, John Farris, Roger Zelazny, E. Howard Hunt, Jason Starr, Peter Rabe, Lester Dent, Arthur Conan Doyle, Brett Halliday, Robert Silverberg, James M. Cain, Harlan Ellison, Samuel Fuller, Ray Bradbury, Gore Vidal, Gregory Mcdonald, Charles Willeford, Joyce Carol Oates, Brian de Palma, Rex Stout, and Christa Faust; many of these titles had been out of print for decades, while at least 55 titles had never been published before.  At least 34 graphic novels have been released by Hard Case Comics, including a trilogy based on the Stieg Larrson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series, plus titles by Alison Gaylin and Megan Abbott, Walter Hill, Max Allan Collins, Duane Swierczynski, and Will Eisner.

CHARLIE WILD, PRIVATE DETECTIVE: THE CASE OF THE DOUBLE TROUBLE (MARCH 20, 1952)

A perhaps justly forgotten television show was Charlie Wild, Private Detective, which ran on three of the four major networks un the early 1950s.  We can thank the Red Scare of the 1950s for the existence of this program.  The Adventures of Sam Spade, starring Howard Duff, was an extremely popular radio show, but Dashiell Hammett, the creator of Sam Spade, was a Communist, and Duff himself, though not a Communist, had some leftist leanings.  The show's sposor, Wildroot Crram Oil, panicked and immediately cancelled the show, replacing it the very next week with Charlie Wild, Private Eye; Wild was a tough New Yotk City private detective.  This program ran on NBC Radio for 13 episodes (September 24-December 17, 1950) before moving over to CBS Radio, retitled Charlie Wild, Private Detective, and replacing star George Petrie with Kevin Morrison (later Kevin O'Morrison and John MacQuade) for a further 26 episodes (January 7-July 1, 1951).  On December 22, 1950, the show also appeared omn CBS Television, running for seven episode with Kevin Morrison as Wild, before Morrison was replaced with John McQuade fpr a final 14 episodes, ending on June 27, 1951.  The program moved to ABC on September 11, 1951, and stayed there for 19 episodes, until February 26, 1952.  The final move of the short-lived show took it to the Dumont Network, from March 13-July 3, 1952.  The television program was also known as The Affairs of Charlie Wild and Charlie Wild, Private Eye.  The show was known to recycle plots from the radio series, and some of the CBS programs were simulcasts of the radio show.  Charlie Wild's secretary was named Effie Perrine, the same name of Sam Spade's secretary -- if she were the same character, she moved from California to New Yorrk in the space of a week.  Confused yet?

Charlie Wild, like Spade, "chased beautiful dames, hated chiselerss, and got involved in a slugfest every episode."  The show was apparently known for its trite, worn plots and stilted dialog.

In "The Case of the Double Trouble," Charlie is given $500 to guard a valuable parchment.  The shnow features Philip Truex as identical twins Terrence and Thomas Tillinghast (the "Double Trouble" of the title).  Also featured in the cast are John  Shellie, Phillipa Bevins, and and Yale Wexler.  This is one of the very episodes not to feture Chloris Leachman as Effie Perine.

The episode was written by Palmer Thompson, who had a career in episodic television from 1952 to 1969, including five episodes of Charlie Wild, Private Detective and 43 episode of Lamp Unto My Feet.  The episode was one of only two directed by Charles Adams, who has no further directorial credits on IMDb.  Herbert Brodkin began his producing career with eight episodes of Charlie wildm Private Detective; he went on to produce 18 eoisodes of The Doctors and the Nurses, 71 eoisodes ofThe Defenders, and a nunber of television movies.

Decide for yourself whether Charlie Wild was fit to fill Sam Spade's shoes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49RdvH0PFAw&t=8s

HYMN TIME

 Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CH2WyVRKP0A

PANGO #60 (UNDATED)

 I can't say much about Pango, either the British comic book or the character..  It ran for 31 issues from 1953  to 1956, so either the numbering of the issues was continued from a previous title to explain that this was issue #60, or the British publisher L Miller & Son Ltd did not understand numbers.  The company was founded by Leonard Miller and his son Arnold in 1943 and continued until 1966; it specialized in reprints of American comics and occasionally (as in this case) created series of their own.  no artist or writer is credited on this issue -- the only one I have found online, although there have been a number of issues isted for sale at various sites, including issue #61, which the seller dated as Jan uary 1953, which is also the the seller listed for all eighteen issues he had for sale, up to issue #91, so there were at least 32 issues of the book published.  If anyone has a copy of P.J. Wolfson's British comic guide, Paperback Pulp and Comic Collector, feel free to fill in the details for me. 

So who Pango?  Evidently, he is "a white boy living in the jungle where he battles black tribes and white intruders as well as hostile animals."  No jungle or black tribes or hostile animals in this issue, though.  This time he is fully dressed and riding his horse through the mountains of North Morocco.  We learn that is young and courageous and has adventured in many lands.  We also learn that was born in France.  And that's all the backstory we have on the character.  Well, except that he's blond.

This issue is titled "The Pirate of the Rif" on the cover and "The Pirate of the Riff" on the story -- indicative of the quality of the overall publication.  The artwork is moderate and not too detailed; the writing is on a par with the "Dick and Jane" texts I read in the second grade; the characgterization boils down to "Pango, good."

Pango meets a young fellow traveler named Ahmed and the two ride off together toward the village to get food and water, they come across a band of riders in the distance, killing and pillaging "to take possession of the land."  The land belongs to Caid Mohamed ben Kaddour, Ahmed's guardian; the raiders belong to Abderhamman, a cruel tyrant.  Pango and ahmed ride on in search of food and water, not bothering to interfere with the lilling and pillaging.  They travel to Souk al had to inform ben Kaddour of the raid.Ben Kaddour wants to make Abderhama pay, but the villain is powerful.  Hr asks Pango for ideas.  Since Abderhaman lives in the mountains and wanders about, Pango says they must surprise him, prise him oout -- then attack!  But that would take a large army, and only the Pasha has one large enough.  Ben Kaddour goes to the Pasha and requests the army he needs, but the Pasha is corruipt and indolent and does not care for the well-being of his people; he refuses be Kaddour.  What to do?

Well, for ben Kaddour the logical thing is to foment a revolt, oust the Pasha, and install the Pasha's son, who is a good guy and cares for his people, and then they could go after Abderhaman.  Ben Kaddour asks Pango for his help and Pango naturally agrees.

There's a little bit of business in the middle, where Pango and Ahmed come across Abderhaman and his men and Ahmed is wounded.   They escape.  I'm not what this has to do with the story.

Pango and Ahmed go undercover to enlist the help of Abd-el-Rhali, the garrison commander at Ain-Acel to enlist his aid in the revolt.  (A wise choice to send Pango, with his long flowing blond locks disguised as an Arab fruit seller.)  A treacherous serent betrays them and the Pasha's men close in.  Rather than be taken alive and tortured, Abd-el-Rhali commits suicide.  Pango is taken and tortured, refuses to betray his friends, and is thrown in a prison cell.  Abdehaman's men storm the city, capture the Pasha, who whines for mercy.  Prince Adbullah (the good guy) is tossed into a prison cell.  During the chaos, Ahmed climbs over a wall, silences a guard, and frees Pango.  That evening, Pango and Ahmed free the Prince, and while Pango stays behind to organize a revolt (not to sure how), Ahmed and the Prince rode off for help (not to sure where).  Several days later, ben Kaddour's men pull a surprise attack and overcome the thugs.  Pango has one-panel scimitar fight with Abdehaman and efeats him handily.  Pango is thanked for bringing peace to the kingsom, the price is corned, Ahmed is commended for his bravery, Pango is showered with riches, and Abdehaman is left to rot in prison.

The final two paages of the comic book is given to photographs of military airplane -- don't know why.

Pango #60 is a fast and simplistic read.  If you wish to check it oput, it can be found at Comic Book Plus:

https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=96799&comicpage=&b=i

FORGOTTEN BOOK : ALPHA CENTAURI OR DIE!

 Alpha Centauri or Die! by Leigh Bracket (fix-up novel of "The Ark of Mars C [Planet Stories, September 1953] and "Teleportress of Alph C" [Planter Stories, winter 1953-54], with the second story substantially edited, 1963; also included in Brackett's 2008 collection The Solar System)

"There were no more men in space.  The dark ships strode the ways between the worlds, lightless, silent, needing no human mind to guide them.  The R-ships, carrying the ffreight and the passengers, keeping order, keeping the law, taking the Pax Terrae to the limits of the solar system, and guardinbg there the boundary which was not now ever to be crossed.

"No mopre men in space,  No strong hands bridling the rockets, no eyes looking outward to the stars.  but still upon the wide-flkung worlds of Sol were old men who remembered, and young men who could dream."

It's a future where mankind can no longer dream, where the human spirit is bound by the reaches of the solar system.

From the blurb from the first edition Ace paperback:

"MANHUNT BEYOND PLUTO

"Alpha Centauri -- nearest star in the Solar System -- a matter of 4.3 light-years away.  to Kiorby and the others it meant freedom -- a word so powerful that they had gathered uop their protesting families and their few possessions and left the safe, easy, automated life of Mars to risk the wrath of the gevernment and the terror of flight into the void between the stars.

"But Alpha Centauri meant something else too:  five years crammed in the belly of a nearly obsolete spaceship, five years of praying that the old ship wouldn't fall apart, tht the food supply wouldn't run out, that the dark shape of a Government-controlled R-ship wouldn't suffenly loom ahead, blocking the path to freedom.

"And should they ever reach the unknown planets of alpha Centauri, what then?  Might there not be a force there, waiting for them, more menacing, more terrifying in its power thn anything man had encountered before?"

Pure space opera and planetary romance adventure of the type typical of Planet Stories, perhaps the best pulp magazine of its kind in the history of the genre.  Leigh Brackett was a mainstay of that revered pulp, and her writing managed to combine fantastic speculation, poetic imagery, sensitivity, and breakneck pacing.  Because of the disparate themes of the two stories that make up this novel, the book is not her very best, but it is a worthwhile example of why people hungered for this type of story.

Leigh Brackett (1915-1978), while known as the "Queen of Space Opera" in the science fiction field, was a multitalented writer who also had great success in other fields. With her 1956 novel The Long Tomorrow, she became the first woman ever nominated for a Hugo Award; she won a Retro-Hugo posthumously in 202 for her novel The Nemesis from Terra.   Other outstanding science fiction novels include The Sword of Rhiannon,The Big Jump, and (notably) The Long Tomorrow, as well as the sword and sorcery inspired Eric John Stark saga.  In the myatery field, she ghosted Stranger at Home for actor George Sanders, the hard-boiled No Good from a Corpse, An Eye for an Eye (adapted as an episode of Suspicion in 1958, the teen-age gang suspense novel The Tiger Among Us (filmed as 13 West Street in 1962), and crime novel Partner.  In the Western field, she wote the novelization of her film Rio Bravo, and the Spur-winning novel Follow the Free Wind.  She began her screenwriting career with Repubic Pictures' The Vampire's Ghost (not the grratest film ever made," according to Brackett).  This led to Columbia Pictures' Crime Doctors Man Hunt.  Director Howard Hawkes was so impressed with her novel No Good from a Corpse that he told his people to get "this guy Brackett" to help William Faulkner wit the script for Ratmond Chandler's The Big Sleep.  Brackett would go oon to work with Hawkes, scripting Rio Grande.Hatari!, El Dorado, and Rio Lobo.  She also wrote the screenplay for Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye, and at the tiome of her death, had just completed the first draft of The Empire Strikes Back.  Brackett was married to legendaryscience fiction writer Edmund Hamilton and collaborated with him (uncredited) on some of his works.

For a rip-snortin' read, it's hard to gop wrong woth Leigh Brackett.

THE WHISTLER: RETRIBUTION (MAY 16, 1942)

"I..am the Whistler, and I know many things, fir I walk by night.  I know many strange tales, many secrets hidden in the hearts of men and women who have stepped into the shadows.  Yes...I know the nameless terrors of which they dare not speak!"

So speaketh the mysterious host and narrator of this mystery anthology series, which teended toward the grim (although not always) and recorded the machinations of fate.

The Whistler ran from May 16, 1942 to November 22, 1955 on the West Coast CBS radio network.  It also ran in chicago and on the Armed Forces Radio.  A couple of brief attemps were made to air the program on the east coast (July through September 1946 and late March 1947 thtrough September 1948).  In total, there were 692 episodes, nearly a quarter of them no longer available.  The radio program spawned eight films from Columbia Pictures from 1944 to 1948 (half of which were directed by William Castle), and a syndicated television show in 1954, airing 39 episodes.

The character of the Whistler was portayed at various times by Bill Forman, Gale Gordon, Joseph Kearns, Marvin Miller (remember him from television's The Millionaire, whic I covered here two days ago?), Bill Johnston, and Everett Clarke.  Writer-producer ran the program for theits first two yearss, folllowed by producer-director George Allen; other directors included Sterling Tracy, Stephen Marks. and William N. Robson.  The actual whistling for the seriies was done by Dorothy Roberts.

In "Retribution," the premiere episode of the radio series, we meet John Hendricks, on trial for the brutl axe murder of his wife and his mentally challenged stepson.  Hendricks supposed ly killed his wife for her money, but no money was found at the scene.  Much to the dismay of the trila judge, because of a lack of evidence, the jury convicted Hendricks of manslaughter insteead of murder.  Rather than face execution, Hendricks was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Ten years pass and Hendricks is planning a jail break.  Bill, his cellmate, has decided to go "straight" and refused to go with Hendricks.

We shift to a wild stormy night.  George Kimball and his wife Joan are traveling through a remote Southern when their car breaks down, its distributor flooded. They take shelter in a dark, unkempt mansion that at first appeared to be abandoned, a one-time inn.  The occupant of the creepy house is an equally creepy old lady who speaks crypticly and her simple-minded son.  After some rather unusual conversation, the old lady shows the couple through the cobweb-infested house to a room upstairs.

Meanwhile, John Hendricks, who has escaped from prison, enters the house, goes to a room and recovers a large envelope of cash from a sectret hiding place.  He is interuptted by the old woman and her son, who is carrying a large axe.  Both now have bloody heads.  They tell Hendricks that he had murdered them and now it is his turn.  A shot is fired, waking the couple upstairs.  They find Hendricks unconscious of the floor and the woman and her son missing.  The police, who had suspected that Henricks might show up, burst in.  They hear the couple's story and take Hendricks into custody.  Although the old woman and her son are nowhere to be found, they do find the envelope of cash.

A nifty little ghost story, right?  But there's a twist at the ned which changes everything...

The Whistler, because it appeared on only a few West Coast radio stations, has been called the most popular radio show that most people never heard.  It was noted for its atmospheric and unique approach to formatting which ran counter to most radio dramas of the day, making it extremely popular to today's old-time radio fans.

Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=au-Ak3o6Brc

SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: MYSTERY LEAGUE #1 (OCTOBER 1933)

Just four years after the publication of their first mystery novel The Roman Hat Mystery, "Ellery Queen)(Frederick Dannay & Manfred B. Lee) launched their first mystery magazine.  Dannay and Lee were the only employees.  Unlike other pulp magazines which would abridge their contents, Mystery League would publish only complete stories in an attempt to maintain th high quality the editors demanded.  Unfortunately, this led to the magazine having a higher price tag -- twenty-five cents -- and with the economic condition of the country, that was unsustainable.  The magazine closed after only four issues.  Dannay had much better luck eight years later when he launched the digest Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (again, as "Ellery Queen") in 1941, which would carry over the tradition of quality, uncut fiction.  EQMM is still goiing strong, now in its ninth decade.

The first issue of Mystery League carried the fourth and final novel about Druray Lane, Drury Lane's Last Case  by "Barnaby Ross," a pseudonym for Danny and Lee.  The cousins were tired of Barnaby Ross and of Drury Lane, as well as of their relationship with their publisher Viking,  so, with thumb to the nose, they published the complete novel in Mystery League two months before the Viking edition hit the streets.  Although not rudderless, Dannay and Lee sailed into the future Drury Lane-less, Barnaby Ross-less, and Viking-less.

Drury Lane was a retired Shakespearean actor and an amateur detective, getting older and growing deaf.  I hope I'm not spoiling things, but most mystery readers know that he is killed off in this novel.  The plot involves a stolen Shakespeare manuscript, which is replaced by a rarer, more valuable one.  The plot also includes a mysterious rainbow-bearded man, and envelope containing a million dollar secret, and an impossible murder.

Also included in this issue are:

• "Nightshade" by Dashiell Hammett (later included in the Hammett collections The Adventures of Sam Spade and Other Stories, edited by Queen, 1944; Vintage Hammett, 2005; and Lost Stories, 2005)  "Occasionally we shall print non-mysteries by mystery authors."
• "Suspicion" by Dorothy L. Sayers (later included in the Sayers collections In the Teeth of Evidence, 1939; in the anthologies 101 Years' Entertainment [Ellery Queen, 1941], World's Great Mystery Stories [Will Cuppy, 1943]. Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural [Herbert A. Wise & Phyllis Fraser, 1943], Murder Medlay [Hennel Locke Ltd., 1947], The Unexpected! [Bennett Cerf, 1948], Handbook for Poisoners [Raymond T. Bond, 1952], Famous Mysteries [Mary Yost Sandrus, 1955], Wicked Women [Lee Wright, 1959], Shock! [M. C. Allen, 1965], Best Crime Stories 2 [John Welcome, 1966], Great British Short Stories [Reader's Digest, 1974], Tales of Mystery and Suspense [Theodore W. Hipple, 1977], The Best Horror Stories [Hamlyn, 1977], Crimes and Clues [Stepehn P. Clarke, 1977], Masterpieces of Mystery:  Cherished Classics [Ellery Queen, 1978], 65 Great Murder Mysteries [Mary Danby, 1983], The Web She Weaves  [Marcia Muller & Bill Pronzini, 1983], Great Murder Mysteries [Octopus/Chartwell, 1988], The Best Horror Stories [Lynn Picknett, uincredited, 1990], and Murder Short & Sweet [Paul D. Standohar, 2008]; and reprinted in Argosy [UK, July 1942], Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine [#85. December 1950],and The Saint Mystery Magazine [March 1966]; the story has probably been reprinted in many other places, but I'm too lazy to look them up.  "No writer but a Briton and no Brioton but a woman could have conceived such a delightfully piquant study in 'suspicion.'  A gem from the world-famous anthologist of 'The Omnibus of Crime.' "
• "To the Queen's Taste," an unsigned colum designed "as a parturage for the editor's browsing thoughts."  Topics covered include Sherlock Holmes and Conan Doyle, a request for readers to contribute list of what they consider the ten best detective stories of all time, a suggestion by Senator Royal S. Copeland (NY) for a federal police agency similar to England's Scotlnd Yard "To deal with the appalling wave of kidnapping now sweeping the United States" (shortly after this article was written, FDR created the Department of UInvestigation to be headed by J. Edgar), a list of imaginary mystery novels whose author could be determined by the title alone, a discussion on Native Americans as potential heroes of detective stories, a note on the death of Charlie Chan creator Earl Derr Biggers, and the need for higher critissim in the field of detective fiction.  The title has no connection with To the Queen's Taste, an anthology of some of the best short stories from the early years of EQMM.
• "Burlingame, the Magnificent" by John Marvell.  "As the District Attorney said:  'The crooks trim the puiblic and Burlingame trims the crooks!'  We offer you this rollicking story of the gentlest grafter since G. R. Chester's Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford and the imperishable Jeff Peters."  This is the first of two Burlingame stories; the second appeared in the next issue.  I have no idea whether this is the author's true name; his only other credit is a third short story in Mystery League, and his name is not listed in either Hubin's Crime Fiction or in Hawk's Authors' Pseudonyms.  The magaine claimed that he was a new writer and that the editors knew nothing about him.
• "With 
• "Puzzle Department," various puzzles. including a crossword, anagrams, ciphers, a mini-mystery, and more.
• "The Glass-Domed Clock" by Ellery Queen (also reprinted as "The Adevnture of the Glass-Domed Clock" in the Queen collection More Adventures of Ellery Queen, 1940; and in the anthologies The Arbor House Treasury of Mystery and Suspense [Bill Pronzini, 1981], and Sleuths of the Century [Jon L. Breen & Ed Gorman, 2000], and in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Marh 1991.  "One of the strange adventures in deduction in which Ellery Queen, author of 'The American Gun Mystery,' 'The Egyptian Cross Mystery,' and 'The Greek Coffin Mystery,' etc., has demonstrated his analytical method of solving crimes.  Another interesting memoir from the author's criminal casebook will appear in an early issue."

A solid issue, although -- with the exception of the story by John  Marvell -- the fiction may be overly familiar to many modern readers.  Later issues included stories by such noted authors of the time as Phoebe Atwood Taylor, G.D. H. Cole & Margaret Cole, Henry Wade, Thomas Walsh, and Viola Brothers Shore.

Copies of this issue have gone for $500 or more.  Luckily for us, Internet Archive recently made the issue available this issue available.  Check it out:

https://archive.org/details/mystery-league-v-01-n-01-1933-10/mode/1up

OVERLOOKED TELEVISION: THE MILLIONAIRE: THE NEWMAN JOHNSON STORY (NOVEMBER 12, 1958)

Remember this one?

"My name is Michael Anthony, and until his death just a few years ago, I was the executive secretary to the late John Beresford Tipton.  John Beresford Tipton, a fabulously wealthy and fascinating man, whose many hobbies included the habit of giving away one million dollars, tax free, each week -- to persons he had never even met."

The Millionaire (also known as If You Had A Million in syndication) was a top-rated anthology drama series airing on CBS from 1955 to 1960 for a total of 207 episodes.  That's a lot of millions; ac tually it was $206 million -- one person returned the money.  A million back then would be worth over $11 million today.  The show explored how wealth -- sudden and unexpected -- could change the lives of ordinary people, for better or for worse.  (Although never stated or acknolwedged, Tipton was essentially playing a petty god, toying with the lives of others, redgardless of the consequences.  So, yes, the rich are different.)

Michael Anthony was played by Marvin Miller (1913-1985), he was also noted for being the voice of Robbie the Robot in the 1956 SF classic Forbidden Planet, and was the announcer on old-time radio's The Whistler.   Miller also did a one-man, fifteen-minute dramatic anthology, Armchair Adventures, for CBS Radio, and in 1950. recorded 260 episodes of a five-minute series of vignettes about famous people (title unknown).  A popular voice-over artist, Miller was the voice of Aquaman for the Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure. the voice of Buddy Birdwell in the animated series Fantastic Voyage. and was the off-screen voice in The Pink Panther Show.  He won two Grammies for his recordings of Dr. Seuss stories in 1965 and 1966.  His role in The Millionaire was to take the cashier's check from Tipton and deliver it to "our next millionaire"; Tipton often told him he needed a full report.

Playing Tipton was an unknown character actor (or actors?) -- Tipton's arm was usually shown handing over the check to Anthony.   voicing Tipton, however, was character and voice actor Paul Frees (1920-1986), best known as the voices of Boris Badenov and Ludwig von Drake.  Frees also llent his voice to many of the Disney Theme park attractions, including The Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean.In addition to Boris Badenov, Frees provided voices for other Jay Ward cartoons, including Dudley Do-Right''s Inspector Fenwick, and characters in George of the Jungle, Tom S;ick, Superchicken, and Hoppity Hooper.  For Rankin Bass, he provided voices for The Mouse on the Mayflower. The Little Drummer Boy. Frosty the Snowman, Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town, Rudolph's Shiny New Year, The Last Unicorn, The Hobbit, and The Return of the king, among others.  For George Pal. Frees did voice-over work for The War of the Worlds, The Time Machine, Atlantis -- The Lost Continent, and Doc Savage.  He could also be heard as the voice of the Pillsbury Doughboy, Toucan Sam, 7-Up's Fresh-Up Freddie, and the farmer in the Green Giant commercials.  Frees also worked with Tex Avery, Stan Freberg, Spike Jones, Hanna-Barbera, Walter Lantz, He voiced both Jophn Lennon and Geroge Harrison in The Beatles cartoon show, and was Ben Grimm (The Thing) in The Fantastic Four.  He was the narrator for The Manshurian Candidate, the Steve Canyon television show, did voice-overs and looping for The List of Adrian Messenger, and was the vopice of Josephine (the female persona of the Tony Curtis character) in Some Like It Hot.  And that's just a small part of his ouevre.  He also did a couple of cameos in The Millionaire.

John Beresford Tipton by the way, got his name from the birthplaces of producer Don Fedderson (Beresford, South Dakoata) and Fedderson's wife Tido (Tipton, Missouri).   Tido Fedderson also appeared an an extra in vitually every episode.

It was never revealed how or why the recipients of the check were chosen, although Tipton has said that he considered this a chess game, setting the pieces in motion to see what would happen.

In this episode, the meek don't inherit the earth, but they sure can do a lot with a million.  Newmn Johnson is constantly harried byn his overbearing employer, and has to deal with a conniving co-worker, a nosy sister-in-law, and a critical wife.  Things change when he uses his new-found wealth to buy the company.

Orson Bean is featured as Newman Jackson.  Also featured are Sue Randall, Douglas Dumbrille, Amzie Strickland, Peter Leeds, Rick Ellis, and Alica Allyn.  Tido Fedderson's cameo this time is as an office employee.  The episode was directed by James Sheldon, who directed 45 episodes of the series.  It was scripted by Leonard Kantor, whose many credits include 151 episodes of The Doctors.

If someone offered me a million dollars today, I'd probably hold out for something more valuable, like a month's worth of groceries.

Have fun enjoying someone else's wealth:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzU3b0CPA84

MY GO-TO SONG FOR TODAY

Ed Trickett with one of tmy favorite versions of this great song.  Never forget.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1Z4PAZX9Bs

INCOMING

 A few goodies found their way to my doorstep this week:

• William Gray Beyer, Minions of the Moon.  Classci science fiction novel.  "Move over, Buck Rogers!  When Mark Nevin was put under general anestheric, he expected to wake up minus his appendix.  That was all.  To his shock and horror, he discovered himself 6000 years ub the future, long after mankind had reverted back to savagery.  Fortunately for Mark, the surgeon who had accidentally placed him in suspended animation carefully laid him in a crypt containing all the means for survival available in the 20th century.  And he would need them, for he was about to plunge into a world more dangerous and primitive than the long-dead one he had known.  and Mark would not be alone.  There was the beautiful Nona Barr.  And the mysterious Omega, a disenbodied moon-mind with the personality of a mischievous child yet possessing the transformative power of a god.  Not to mention assoreted cannibals and an actual dragon."   This was Beyer's first attempt at fiction and it was serialized in Argosy in 1939; and it was released as a book in 1950 (the fifth novel to be published by science fiction small press pioneer Gnome Press).  An abridged version appeared in a science fiction magazine in 1952.  and then silence...until it was reissued in 2017 by Altus Press as part of their Argosy Library series.  But the whimsical nature of the book proved popular with Argosy readers, and Beyer brought Mark Nevin back for three additional novel-length adventures; all four novels were released as an omnibus (Minions of the Shadow: and Other Mark Nevin-Omega Novels) in 2003 by the Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, but copies are hard to find.  Beyer also pub;ioshed four mystery novels in the mid-1940s.
• James Blish, The Tale That Wags the God.  A posthumous collection of essays, edited by /Cy Chauvin.  Blish was a major science fiction figure in the 50s and 60s (A Case of Conscience. Cities in Flight, "Surface Tension", as well as two important  books of science fiction criticism as by "William Atheling"); his reputation may have taken a hit by adapting all of the origional Star Trek episodes for paperback collections, beginning in 1967.  The essays in the boomk are "mostly about science fiction and fantasy.  These include studies of Poul Anderson, James Branch Cabell [Blish was a Cabell scholar -- JH], and the application of Spengler to science fiction.   Other pieces range from "Music of the Absurd" (modern music -- more fantastic than any fiction) to the autobiographical "A Science Fiction Coming of Age" (focused on Blish's childhood), and a conversation with Brian Aldiss that reveals the emotion behind Blish the man and his fiction, as well as his intellect.  Blish's comments on his two [revious Advent books (The Issue at Hand and More Issues at Hand) were intended primarily for writers, although readers found his criticism facinating as well.  The essays in this collection are more genrrtalized and theoretical.  The five essays in Part I are thematically linked, and present a mosaic of Blish's view of science fiction, helping place it in the general context of art, literature, and life.  Together, these essays seem to form part of the extended theoretical and historical work that many critics and writers wished Blish would write.  Alas, he died too soon.  Last but not least is a very detailed 96-page Bibliography of the Works of James Blish, by his widow, Judith Lawrence Blish."  I've mentioned before that Blish's writing blows hot and cold for me, but when he was good, few could touch him.  And there is no denying his genius.  I look forward to dipping into this book, both now and well into the future.
• Harlan Ellison, with J. Michael Straczynski, editors, The Last Dangerous Visions.  At last!  It's finally here after a fifty-one year wait!  Well, it's kind of here.  TLDV was intened to be the third and fianl volume of the ground-breaking Dangerous Visions series, following 1967's Dangerous Visions and 1972's Again, Dangerous Visions.  The original anthology contained 33 stories and "almost single handedly.. changed the way readers thought about science fiction."  Stories in the anthology won two Hugo Awards and two Nebula Awards, with another story being nominated for a Hugo.  The 1972 follow-up anthology contained 45 stories and one poem; one sotry garneed a Hugo and one a Nebula.  The Last Dangerous Visions was scheduled to be published in 1973.  It didn't happen.  For nearly hnalf a decade, editor Ellison kept fiddling with the contents -- adding stories, dropping stories, swapping stories until TLDV became the most famous book that was never published.  The number of stories and authors kept changing.  The most "complete" table of contents was releaed in 1979 and included 113 stories by 102 authors, to be published in three volumes (as per the June 1979 issue of Locus); many of the authors listed have since died, and some of the stories have been published elsewhere by the author or the author's estate; n ine of the stories that had been previously announced were not included in this list.  Late in 2020, Straczynski, who is the excutor of Ellison's estate announced he would undertake puiblication of TLDV.  He would not include withdrawn stories (as many of themn were over the years), or "stories overtaken by rreal-world events."  (To be honest, many of the tales wedged alongside truly brillianr stories in the first two volumes were bloated or insignificant; I suspet the same wojuld have been true for the final volume.)  The final length of the book wis about one-sixth of that which had previously been announced by Ellison.  Anyway, what we have ended up with is 31 stories by 24 authors, 24 of the stories were originally selected by Ellison, with the remaining seven selected by Straczinski.  The stories selected by Ellison were by Stephen Robinett, D. M. Rowles (eight brief stories), Richard E. Peck, Edward Bryant, Stephen Dedham, Steve Herbst, A. E. van Vogt, John Morrissey, Jonathan Fast, Howard Fast, Robert Wissner, Steve Utley, Robert Sheckley, Dan Simmons, Ward Moore, P. C. Hodgell, and Mildred Downey Broxon.  More than 40 stories originally purchased by Ellison have been published elsewhere.  All rights to stories not used have been reverted back to the authors.  It is good to have the book -- in whatever form -- available, but I suspect that the Dangerous Visions time has passed, and that fw of these tales will be regarded in the future as classics.
• Percival Everett, James.  Huckleberry Finn reimagined.  Already acclaimed as one of the best books in recent times, James has won the 2024 Kirkus Prize, the National Book Award for Fiction, and the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and was a finalist for the 2024 Booker Prize and for the 2025 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.  It has appeared on 33 lists of the best books of the year.  If Huckleberry Finn could be considered the great American novel (because it is!), then James may come in at a close second, or perhaps even surpass it.  Time will tell.
• Christopher Golden, Prowlers Series:  Four Complete Novels.  Omnibus of four horror novels:  Prowlers, Laws of Nature, Pedator, and Prey.  Werewolves are the myth.  Prowlers are the savage reality.  Werewolves of legend are human beings transformed by the moon into wolves; Prowlers are savage beasts masqueraading as humans.  Led by Owen Tanzer, the Prowlers are expanding, mooving from city to city to avoid detection.  They are being u hunted by Jack Dwyer, aided by the ghost of his best friend, and Molly Hatcher, Jack's love interst, Jack vows to eliminate the Prowlers from Earth.  And allies, dead or alive, must join together in a final conflict.
• Christopher Golden and James Moore, Bloodstained Oz.  A dark fantasy, the first in a series.  "Something's gone wrong over the rainbow...1933.  The winds of the Dust Bowl have reduced what had been the nation's breadbasket to a desert full of broken dreaams and desperate prayers.  The water is gone, the crops are ruined and, for the people of Hawley, Kansas, there's little left to struggle for except the chance for another day in hell.  There's a storm coming, one that will rip the roofs from farms and scatter the wretched crops far and wide.   One little girl will find a treasure trove in a ruined field and converse with a nightmare.  One man will find salvation in the dirt and damnation close on its heels.  One woman will suffer the sins of her husband and seek hope in the actions of her only child.  Dying faith will be test, because that isn't rain wetting the crops, it's blood.  Those aren't trinkets and toys that are lying hidden in the fields; they're nightmares wrapped in false promises.  And while the darkest storms bring the brightest rainbows, that isn't a pot of gold waiting at the far end; it's an emerald that gleams and flickers with its own infernal light.  [...]  there's no hell like home..."   Golden is a prolific author who weaars many hats; I've found he looks pretty daened good in all of them. 
• Amor Towles, editor, Otto Penzler, series editor, The Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2023.  Penzler had previously edited (among many other books) The Best American Mystery Stories of the Year for 24 volumes.  In 2020 it was announced that Penzler was out and that Stephen Cha would become series editor, with a slight title change to The Best American Mystery and Suspense.  In response, Penzler announced that a new series from Penzler's Mysterious Press and The Mysterious Bookshop would produce an annual The Best Mystery Stories of the Year.  This book is the third in that series.  As with the earlier series, Penzler (aided by Michelle Slung) would ferret out a long list of what he considered the best of the year, and a changing roster of guest editors would make the final selection.  It should be noted that Penzler's definition of what defines a mystery is extremely broad, allowing stories from mainstream publications and literary magazines that might not be considered by other editors.  This 2023 edition contains 21 stories first published in 2023, plus a "bonus" story by Edith Wharton first published in 1926.  Familiar authors include Doug Allyn, T. C. Boyle, Andrew Child, Jeffrey Deaver, Brendon DuBois, Michael Mallory, and Joseph S. Walker.

HYMN TIME

 Rhiannon Giddens.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1Z4PAZX9Bs

FANTASTIC COMICS #6 (MAY 1939)

Okay.  This one has to be seen to be believed.  I'm just going to go into the first story in excrutiating detail.

There's this dude Samson, see. He's very strong.  He wears only brown shorts that look like they be made of fur.  And blue sandals with straps that reach to just below his calves.  And that's it.

So this dude is just hanging around the countryside by a river (which I presume is the Rio Grande) doing nothing.  Then..."The keen eyes of mighty Samson detect sinister activities in a U.S. bound express."  That's the first panel.

Then..."With one powerful leap he clears the foaming river," saying. "I must stop that train before it--'  And we see him leaping across the river.  Did I mention he has long, flowing blond hair?  That's the second panel.

Samson is in mid-leap when there is an explosion beneath him.  It looks like a bridge has been destroyed and the train (or at least part of it ) is teetering over a cliff.  At the bottom of the cliff there are some buildings, presumably a farm or some sort.  That's the third panel

Then we get a closeup of the face of some evil-looking character with a sobrero and (I guess) a serape.  He has bugged eyes, wrinkles, and a thin, emaciated face.  This dude is saying, "Caramba!  He escapes my bombs unhurt!  Eet ees just as well.  My carload of pets is across the border, by now!"  This fourth panel closes the first page of the story

His pets?  What could they be?  Let's turn to page 2.  Sampson has stopped the train, lifting it off of its tracks.  As he says, "This train has gone far enough," creepy, grayish monters are emerging from the train -- at least three of them.  They look like a cross between lizards and dogs.  They are huge, with round eyes, large nostrils, and wide jaws filled with sharp, pointed teeth.  They have snake-like tongues and,,,eyelashes? (!)  And they drool.  There are stange shadows at the bottom of the train Sampson has stopped, and those may be more of the "pets."  We'll see (maybe).  That's the first panel

The next panel is a long shot.. The creatures are roaming the farm.  Samson and some farmbers are watching them.  One of them says, "Giant insects are spreading all over"; another says, "MY CROPS!  They're devouring my crops."  That's the second panel.

Now we get a closeup os Samson (looking serious) and a rather woebegone-looking farmer.  Samson says. 'Sorry, Farmer..We'll have to find some way to round them uop."  The farmer queries, "Why would anyone want to ship such monsters?"  Two things here:  first, we now know that the creatures were deliberately shipped on the now-destroyed train; and second, the farmer is nonplussed about the half naked strongman at his side.  Why did the evil guy ln the first page blow up the train anyway?  Mkaes little sense to me.  Anyway, that's the third panel.

It gets worse.  The farmer observes, "Heaven help us!  They grow larger as they feed on my crops!"  Samson (arms akimbo, looking very brawny) replies, "And bolder -- We can expect an attack any minute."  In the background there are two farmhands, one pushing an empty wheelbarrow.  Why?  That's the fourth panel and the end of page 2.

Things heat up on page 3.  Samson is getting ready to throw a large boulder at one of the monsters.  The boulder is larger than Samson's torso and he is holding it in his right hand, all set for the pitch.  No offense to Samson, but he has an expression that just spits of constipation.  The montser is close to Samson.   It's head is as large as the boulder.  It's slavering mouth is open and it's serpent-like tongue flickers at Samson.  The eyelashes on the monster are gone, to be replaced by bristles around its nostrils.  The farmer and his farmhands are in the background and there is now something (don't know what) in the wheelbarrow.  That's the first panel.

Hoo!  We're faked out.  Samson does not throw the boulder!  He pushes it agains the monster, lifting it in the air and (presumably) crushing it.  Meanwhile the farmer is picking up a (much smaller) boulder himself.  That's the second panel.

Somehow, they have managed to get all the boulders in the world and have built a long, tall wall that extends far into the distance.  Samson pulls a huge tree out by its roots.  "We'll build a barricade to keep them away from the farm house."  Easy-peasy, evidently.  End of panel three and end of page 3.

Okay.  Page 4.  Samson is building a gate for the stone wall.  It's held together by large bolts (attached to what? I wonder).  Samson explains, "As soon as we builr a fence, we'll be safe from them insde, any way."  The farmer says, "We'll not tell the women folk about it.  They'll be scared out a' their wits."  Naturally the women folk are clueless.  There's only been an explosion, a train wreak, a battle with monsters in their front yard, trees uprooted and cut and shaped to form a large fence, and a giant "infinity" wall of boulders springing up out of nowhere and surrounding the farmhouse.  Who would notice something like that?  The farmhands now appear to be the farmer's young sons.  End of the first panel.

Now we go to the farmhouse.  Mrs. farmer is holding a stack of plates and teenage daughter farmer is holding some cups.  The table has not yet been set.  That's the second panel.

Daughter is now standing on the porch, cupless, hand to her mouth:  "HELP!  The Monsters Are Coming!"  That's the third panel.

Now the farmer and his boys have entered.  (The boys evidently pretty excited; the farmer looks bored.)  Mrs. farmer says, "Heavens!  What's wrong? What does all this excitement mean?"  The daughter is back kn the kitchern and is now holding a plate of something (a cake?  some meat?  her mother's hat?  You guess is as good as mine.)  That's the fourth panel and thats the end of page 4.  That also appears to have been the end of the daughter -- we don't see her again until page 13, and the only from a distance and in silhouette.

Page 5.  "The giant insects, growing ever bolder, tuirn their attention to the peaceful farmhouse."  Why do they keep calling these critters insects?  There is absolutely nothing insect-like about them?  Is everynbody here stupid?  (This is 1939, 41 years before the Department of Education was created, so maybe that explains some of it.  Now that Trump is trying to dismantle the Department of Education, how soon will it be before we, too, start mistaking all sorts of things for insects?)  Anyway the Border Wall is not working.  The monsters have learned that they can climb over it, while other monsters have learned they can knock down the gate and enter that way.  The farmer, Mrs. farmer, and the two boys (the daughter has gone walkabout, remember?) watch as the monsters come their way.  Farmer:  "There's no stopping the demons"  Mrs. farmer:  "Hurry.  Find Samson!  He must help us!!"  Where did Samson go?  He was there just a minute ago?  End of first panel.

"At the cry of alarm, Samson springs fearlessly in front of the creatures."  Actually, in from of one of the creatures.  Like the villainous gangs in B-movie westerns, there creatures appear to attack only one at a time.  Samson stands in from of the farmer and his two sons.  Samson wisely observes, "So!  They're not satisfied with the crops!  They want human food now!"  No idea where Mrs. farmer went.  End of panel two.

In panel three, Samson knocks the monster for a loop.  The monste has a stupid expression on tis face and its tongue is pushed even further out of its mouth.  (Don't expect any sound effect BAM! or KA-POW!...they evidently used up their sound effect budget with the BOOM! on page 2.)  On to page 6.

A change of scene.  "Later, two sinister figures sulk over a nearby bar."  Yeah, they are Mexicans.  Evil Mexicans.  They are not called Mexicans, because that would be impolite.  But they are Mexicans, all right.  The first one says, "Thees beeg gringo has upset out plans..."  The other says, "Here we have it all set for our insects"  -- INSECTS, AGAIN!  dammit -- "to devour the U.S. crops and create a market for our countree when thees Samson butts in!"  Interesting point here:  the first person speaking here waas the same evil dude from the final panel on page 1 -- the dude who claimed credit for little "pets."  But the second guy is wearing the outfit the first guy wore on page 1.  Wardrobe continuity error.  Let's move on to the second panel.

They hop on their horses, with the first guy saying, "He must be taken care of!"  But how?  All will be explained (kind of) in the third panel.

As the horses gallop away, the first guy says, "I weel inject some large animal weeth the same serum that makes my insects"  INSECTS!  SHEESH! "so ferocious."  Which large aninmal?  We will find out on page 7.

In the first panel, our two baddies have come cross a herd of cattle.  The plot thickens.  'We pick out a strong one.  You stand guard while I geeve the injection."  End of the first panel.

O, he is so evil!  In the second panel he gives the injection to a bull.

Back to the farmhouse kitche.,  Mrs. farmer is pointing out the wndow.  "Look!  That bull is running wild!"  "I better stop him before he does some real damge," says Samson.  The farmer opines, "Something awfully funny going on."  Oh, and the farmer's daughter is back.  I missed her the first time because she's seated with her back to us and she looks like a boy.  It's one of the farmer;s sons who's missing in this panel.  With this third panel, we move on to page 8.

Page 8 opens with Samson facing a raging bovine.  (I was going to say "moo-cow," but that would be "udderly" wrong.  See what I did there?  I can be so clever.  He-he.)  "With all the fury of his newly endowed powers, the crazed bull rushes at the man who dares to oppose him."  The farmer is far in the background weilding a pitchfork; his kids are far behind him with sticks, or maybe rifles, who knows?

"But not even the powers of the serum can match the might of Samson."  The second panel has Samson taking the bull by the horn (singular) and lifting him over his head.  This gives Samson the chance to say the one moderately witty line in the story:  "This is what we commonly term 'throwing the bull."  (Note, if you will, that they forgot to close the quote.)

And throw the bull Samson does in the third panel.  "The plotters, in the act of injecting more cattle with the dangerous serum are interrupted by a raging bull tossed in their midst."  9Here, the final comma that shoud have separated the phrase is missing...But we are getting near the end of the story and the letterer must be getting tired.)  End of page 8.

"Temporarily sidetracked, the cattle start out of the gate."  That's the first panel.

But, "One bull runs wild and..."  Samson knocks the bull ouit in one pjunch.  That's the second panel.

In the third and final panel on page 9, Samson again takes a bull by the horn (singular), tosses it over his shoulder, and decides, ""We're going to get to the bottom of all this -- and now."

Those wily Mexcians (but we don't call them Mexicans -- nudge, nudge, wink, wink -- and there's at least four of them now) come charging on horseback in the first panel, with the head baddie saying, "You've spoiled out plans once too often.  Shoot him down , men!"  And one of them tries to, but the bullet bounce off Samson.

Great guacamole!  In the second panel, the guy used his handgun is astoundined.  "G-gosh!  Bulets don't harm nim!"  As Samson reached for the gang...

But Samson does not go for the guy who shot at him .  He grabs the leader's rifle and snaps it in half with a CRACK!  (Looks like they managed to eke out a bit for their sound effect budgets, after all.)  And that's panel three and the end of page 10.

Page 11 opens with Samson tossing the main bad guy and his horse into the air.  "And I  don't like your horses jumping over me either."  (Missing comma here; the letterer must be dog tired by now,)

Page 11 closes with Samson picking up the bad guy, shaking him, and telling him,"Now take your serums and clear out of here while you're still in one piece1"

In the first panel on page 12, Samson points a "tsk!tsk!" finger at the bad guy with his left hand, while his right is making a fist.  He then imposes his own imigration policy with. "And if I ever find any one of you in this country again I'll tear him limb from limb,,,Now go!!!"  One of the bad guys says, "We'd better git out'v here!"

Thy ride off quickly in panel 2, commenting, "Why he ain't human!" and "That's the devil hisself!" and ""I don't wan to fool with him none!"

The page closes with the bad guy (back wearting the same outfir he had on page 1) in a bar across the border.  The bartender says, "You certainly made the border fast enough."  To which, the bad guy snarls, "Eet ees non of your beesnees, fat peeg!"

And now we are on the final page, and it took long enough to get t-here.  Back on the farm,  Samssn lifts the gate (which had been pretty easily knocked down, remember?) back into its place on the border wall, saying, "This gate will seal the border from any further evil influences."

The second panel is in silhouette, as Samson says goodbye to the farmer and his family.  Samson says, "There are millions of people I must help before it's too late."  (Too late for what?)  Various farmer family silhouetted people say, "Well I'm speechless!" and "No money could pay you!"  and "Can't we do something?" and "Please stay, Mr. Samson." and "Take me with you."

And we close with the note "The man seems to grow larger as he fades into the distance."  Grow larger, indeed.  As Samson walks away, he is pictured as umpitty-ump times the size of the farmhouse, becomig pale as he fades -- even his shorts have lost their dark color.

And there is a coda:  "Samson, mightiest man on Earth, returns for more thrilling adventures in the next issue..."

The Engish language is inadequaet to explain how terribly bad this stroy is.  And don't get me started on the artwork.

But, wait!

This is just the tip of the iceberg!  There are also stories about Flip Falcon in the Fourth Dimension (he fights the devil there), the Golden Knight (with his magic ring and sacred cloak), "Yank"Wilson Super Spy Q4, Space Smith, Captain Kidd Explorer (no, not that Captain Kidd), Professor Fiend, Stardust the Super Wizard, and Sub Sanders (in the year 10,000 AD).

By the way, the cover of this issue does not illustrate any of the stories therein.

Buckle up!  It's going to be a bumpy ride!

https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=96602&comicpage=&b=i

CBS RADIO MYSTERY THEATER: AFTERWARD (MARCH 2, 1976)

Edith Wharton's classic ghost story "Afterward" was adapted for radio by Murray Burnett, and features Celeste Holm, Larry Haines, John Shea, Guy Sorrell, and Ian Martin.  As usual, the program was directed by Hyman Brown, with E. G. Marshall as your host.  It's a ghost story of greed and retribution.  The ghost comes for one of the main characters long after the character wronged another.  If revenge is a dish best served cold, then retribution can often be taken...afterward..

Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7gJRUq7E7g

SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: NO END IN SIGHT

 "No End in Sight" by Carrie Richerson  (from More Phobias:  Stories of Unparalled Fear, edited by Wendy Webb, Richard Gilliam, Edward E. Kramer, & Martin H. Greenberg, 1995)

Carrie Richerson (1952-2019) was a science fiction fan and bookseller who lived in Texas and was involved in running science fiction convdntions, including the LoneStarCon 2, the 1997 World Science Fiction Convention. Richerson authored nineteen short stories over a fifteen-year period.  She was twice nominated for the John W. Campbell Award (now the Astounding Award for Best New Writer) in 1993 and 1994.  Only six of her stories were ever reprinted, and one (Geckos, 1994) originally appeared as a chapbook.  She died after years of illnes at age 66s in an Austin rehab center at age 66.

The protagonist of "No End in Sight" is a tough Texas Panhadle rancher who is haunted by memories of her son, Jason,  who had died twenty-five years before at Trin Lao.  Lately her dreams seem to foretell her own death.  Now 65 and having buried two husbands, she has discovered a lump near her armpit.  It turns out to be a very aggressive kind of cancer,  At first it was very small and he waited two weeks before having it seen.  Luckily there are new drugs that can treat the cancer.  One, Juprex, is injected directly into the center of the cancer, and it destroys the cancer completely from the inside out.  It's a painful treatment and a sedative is given before the Juprex is injected.   But something went wrong -- the doctor, thinking he was injecting the seditive, accidently injected the Juprex first.  Rather than going into the tumor, the drug coursed through her body and began to rapidly destroy her organs.  There was no cure or treatment; she will be dead within days.  The doctor, the hospital, and the insurance companies want to settle before she dies, but she is holding them to the fire.  In addition to a large payout, she insists that they keep her alive by any means possible...

This is not a major story, and it certainly isn't the best story that Richerson wrote, but it is an interesting character study of a woman who has faced hardship and incredible odds her entire life, and she is not about to give up now.

Worth a look if you can find it.

NOT QUITE OVERLOOKED FILM: YAQUI DRUMS (1956)

James Reasoner published a review of this Rod Cameron oater today:

https://jamesreasoner.blogspot.com/2025/05/movies-ive-missed-until-now-yaqui-drums.html

So I thought I should check it out.  You should, too.

Thanks, James.

MINI-REVIEW: ASK A POLICEMAN

Ask a Policeman, by Certain Members of the Detection Club  [Anthony Berkeley, Milward Kennedy, Gladys Mitchell, John Rhode, Dorothy L. Sayers, & Helen Simpson]   (1933)

An interesting experiment by Britain's famed Detection Club.*

First, Milward Kennedy asked John Rhode to posit a mystery based on a proposed title, Ask a Policeman.

Rhode responded by setting the scene.  A wealthy and powerful newspaper tycoon is murdered in his study.  If popular opinion was anything to go on, the culprit should have been given a medal and a parade, but murder is, alas, murder, and it must be solved.  The many suspects -- all of whom had ample reason to off the publisher -- include an Archbishop, an MP, a Scotland Yard Commissioner, plus a private secretary, a butler, a cook, a chauffeur, a gardener, and a mystery woman.  Complicating things is a very tight timeframe for the murder; it had to have happened within a few specific minutes.  A rather unusual gun was found at the scene but it was not the gun that fired the fatal shot, although a similar weapon had to have been used.  A second gun was found but it, too was mot the murder weapon.  Was there a third, or even a fourth gun of the same make?  Officials are flummoxed, with the situation made worse by having a Scotland Yard official as one of the suspects.  It was decided to pull the police from the investigation and to leave the detecting to four proven amateurs.

The meat of the book involves the investigation of the four amateurs.  Milward Kennedy asked four members of the detection club to chime in.  Unfortunately, he got his requests a bit mixed up:  Helen Simpson was asked to write about Mrs. Bradley (who was Gladys Mitchell's detective); Gladys Mitchell was asked to carry on with Sir John Saumarez, Helen Simpson's detective; Anthony Berkeley was tasked to have Lord Peter Wimsey investigate; while Dorothy L. Sayers was left to write about Berkeley's Roger Sheringham,  A cute, interesting, and surprisingly effective ploy.  But when you have four very different detectives, you end up with four very different solutions and murderers...It should be noted that each author wrote their part without consulting one another and using only Rhode's original story.

The final section has Milward Kennedy coming in to try to pull the entire thing together and come up with the true solution.  Kennedy does have the private secretary to the Home Secretary bemoan the detectives chosen to investigate:  "Mrs. Bradley, he argued, was possibly a murderess already;  Mr. Sheringham was almost certainly an accomplice after the fact; Sir John Saumarez )'Not that that is his real name') was married to already who was found guilty of murder; and the Sunday papers had once linked the name of Lord Peter Wimsey...and, after all, his brother the Duke."

An amusing conceit allowing some of the best Golden Age of Mystery writers play in one another's sandbox.  The only drawback, in my opinion, was the necessity of continuing to question the timeline in boring detail.  (Yawn.)

*  "The Detection Club is a private association of writers of detective fiction in Great Britain, existing chiefly for the purpose of eating dinner together at suitable intervals and of talking illuminating shop.  It's membership is confined to those who have written genuine detective stories (not adventure tales or thrillers) and election is secured by a vote of the club on recommendation by two or more members and involves an undertaking of an oath" -- Dorothy L. Sayers

The club was formed in 1930 and members, in addition to those mentioned above, included Agatha Christie, Ronald Knox, Freeman Wills Crofts, Arthur Morrison, Hugh Walpole, Jessie Louisa Rickett, Baroness Orczy, R. Auston Freeman, G.D.H. Cole, M.I. Cole, E.C. Bentley, Henry Wade, Constance Lindsay Taylor, H.C. Bailey, Victor Whitechurch, J.J. Connington, Robert Eustace, Lord Gorell, Edgar Jepson, A.E.W. Mason, Ianthe Jerrold, A.A. Milne, and G.K. Chesterton.  (For some reason, Josephine Tey was never invited, and Georgette Heyer turned down an invitation.)

The detection club is still going strong with Martin Edwards as the current president.

Detective Club publications include:

• The Scoop, and Behind the Screen, 1931  (round-robin novellas)
• The Floating Admiral, 1931-2   (round-robin novel)\
• Ask a Policeman, 1933
• The Anatomy of a Murder, 1936 (also published as Anatomy of Murder, and released in two volumes as Anatomy of Murder and More Anatomy of Murder; true crime essays)
• Detection Medley, edited by John Rhode, 1939 (also published as Line-Up; short story anthology)
• [Mystery Playhouse presents the Detection Club, January 1948; six half-hour mystery plays by club members; presented on BBC Light Programme, written in aid of club funds]
• No Flowers by Request, 1953 (round-robin novella; a reprint of the book included Crime on the Coast, a 1954 round-robin novella)
• Verdict of Thirteen, edited by Julian Symons, 1978 (short story anthology)
• The Man Who..., edited by H.R.F. Keating, 1992 (original anthology to honor Julian Symons 80th birthday)
• The Detection Collection, edited by Simon Brett. 2005 (original anthology to mark the Club's 75th anniversary)
• The Verdict of Us All, edited by Peter Lovesey, 2006 (original anthology in honor of H.F.R. Keating's 80th birthday)
• The Sinking Admiral, 2016 (round-robin novel)
• Motives for Murder, edited by Martin Edwards, 2016  (original anthology in honor of Peter Lovesey's 80th birthday)
• Howdunit:  A Masterclass in Crime Writing by Members of The Detection Club, edited by Martin Edwards, 2020
• [Eric the Skull, by Simon Brett. 2020; a 45-minute BBC Radio 4 play, fictionalizing the setting up of The Detection Club; produced by Liz Anstee]
• Playing Dead, edited by Martin Edwards, 2025  (original anthology honoring Simon Brett's 80th birthday)

HYMN TIME

 From 1928. Blind Willie Johnson.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjHl-57_I0g

ACTION COMICS #1 (JUNE 1938)

Introducing Superman!

The Jerome Siegel and Joe Shuster character started out a bit differently than what is now accepted lore.  His unnamed home planet was destroyed "by old age."  The infant who would become Superman was not discovered by Jonathan and Martha Kent, but rather was placed in orphanage, where his superior strength astounded the attendants.  He could not fly, but was able to leap and eighth of a mile and hurdle a twenty-story building.  He was "able to lift tremendous weights" and  "run faster than an express train."   His body was not impervious, but "nothing less than a bursting shell could penetrate his skin."  So, yeah, he was faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.  impressive, but still not the all-powerful Sup we have come to know and love.  Also, no mention of X-ray vision, super-hearing, or any of the other qualities we have come to expect.

No mention of who named him Clark Kent, or why.  Or how he got his costume, of why he wore his underwear on the outside.  Very little detail all, actually.  But who needs detail when you've got a superman determined to "turn his titanic strength into channels that would benefit mankind" and become    the "champion of the oppressed, the physical marvel who had sworn to devote his existence to helping those in need."  This early Superman appears to have a quick temper and little ,patience.  Also, as Clark Kent, we works as a reporter for the Daily Star, not the Daily Planet, and the newspaper's editor is unnamed.  There is a hot chick named Lois who also works there and merely scribbles "sob Stories" all day long;  she tends to avoid Clark (thinking him a weakling and a coward) but finally accedes to a date out of pity and nothing better to do.  A gangster interrupts their date, humiliates Clark, and later that evening kidnaps Lois.  Big mistake.

Earlier, Superman first reveals himself (and his powers) as he manages to save an innocent woman, minutes before she is due to be executed.  (the governor is astounded, but grateful that this super being is 'apparently on the side of law and order."  Then Superman interrupts a wife beater and gives him what-for.  Tales of this Superman begin circulating and Clark is assigned to cover him, but  Clark soon  is assigned to cover a war in the small South American republic of San Monte.  But does Clark go directly to san Monte?  No!  For unexplained reasons he decides to stop over at Washington, D.C., where he discovers that a senator is being bribed to push through a bill that would "embroil" the country with Europe.  (Not that that would be a bad thing, I suppose, but in 1938?  The inference being that those who are bribing the senator have nefarious purposes.)  Well, something has to be done, and Superman is just the guy to do it!  But, alas, we'll have to wait until. next month...

Also in this issue we meet "Chuck' Dawson, a young cowboy with "the build of an athlete and an almost uncanny skill with the rifle and six-gun."  Now a man, Chuck is able to return to Texas and take up the fight against the crooked cattleman who had killed Chuck's father.  The artwork, by Homer Fleming, is leagues above that of Siegel and Shuster.  The story is printed in black and white and readers are urge to tear out the first page, color it, and mail it in for a chance of one of 25 one dollar prizes.

Next up is a story about Fred Gardineer's Zatara, Master Magician, making his first appearance.  Although his backstory would change over the years, his main source of magic was through speaking words backwards (gnikaeps sdrow drawkcab).  Zatara and his faithful assistant Tong often go against his arch-enemy, the beautiful criminal n onw as "The Tigress."  Here, they attempt to solve "the mystery of the freight train robberies."  (In 1964, writer Gardner Fox and artist Murphy Anderson gave Zatara a very sexy and powerful daughter, Zatanna, ohw dluoc kaeps drawkcab and is descended from the royal line of Atlantis.)

"South Sea Strategy"  by Captain Frank Thomas is a two-part text story to be concluded in the next issue.  ("Will Bret Coleman manage to save Merna Newton from the blood-thirsty South Sea Island natives?")

Sticky-Mitt Stimson is caught red-handed trying to steal apples from a street vendor and is chased by police to a construction site.  Not much happens.

We get the first part of "The Adventures of Marco Polo" (by Sven Elven).  

Fred Gardineer is back with "Pep" Morgan, a "versatile young athlete" who is fighting Sailor Sorensen for the coveted light heavyweight championship.  Sorenson, outclassed by Pepe, is managed by the unscrupulous Doc Lowry.  Lowry rubs liniment of Sailor's gloves, which blinds Pep, but Pepe manages to get in the punch that wins the bout.  Lowry leaves town for a while, but returns with a new fighter -- a "wild man" from Australia known as Bushman.  (There may be a little bit of racial messaging here.)  Bushman is winning every fight he has and soon he is matched against Pep.  Pep knows Lowry is using underhanded methods to make Bushman win every match, but what?

Scoop Scanlon, Five Star Reporter, is headed to the docks, where U.S. officials are bringing back Arnold, a captured international jewel thief.  Awaiting the group are a gang armed with machines guns, who attempt to free Arnold.  Scoop goes into action, and disarms one of the men; the police shoot others, but Arnold and one of the gunmen escape, to be pursued by Scoop and the police.  Scoop's sidekick and photographer, Rusty James, manages to hang onto the spare tire of the getaway car...

Bernard Baily's Tex Thompson is touring Europe, having struck it rich in the oil fields of Texas.  While in rural England, Tex meets a young boy named Bob who is impressed with the American cowboy.  soon they stumble across a dead body.  Tex sends Bob off to get help and a young woman arrives, accusing Tex of murdering the man -- a charge she repeats to the Sheriff.  Not knowing what happened to Bob, and fearing for the boy, Tex knocks the sheriff our and escapes.  Following the girl to an isolated cabin, he discovers that she is part of the gang that killed the man and that they are holding Bob captive.  Because bob is the only person who can prove Tex's innocence, the gang decides to kill him.  That gets Tex's dander up.

Filling out the issue are two one-page fillers:  "Stardust" (with tidbits about Fred Astaire, constance Bennett, Charles Boyer, and Wheeler and Woolsey) and "Odds 'n' Ends" (miscellaneous cartoons about the sporting world).

A jam-packed issue for a dime!

(And don't worry about all those stories continued on the next issue.  At least the first 139 issues of Action Comics -- through December 1949 -- are available online so you'll be able to catch up.)

Enjoy.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/12tChH6AaWVu3FglIknOWFE-AU-QRQTvi/view