DUFFY'S TAVERN: ARCHIE PROPOSES TO MARIE "THE BODY" McDONALD (APRIL 6, 1945)

Duffy's Tavern, where the elite meet to eat, ran from March 1, 1941 to December 28, 1951 on several radio networks (CBS, 1941-41; NBC Blue, 1942-42; and NBC, 1945-1951), and featured Ed Gardner as Duffy's bartender Archie.  (Gardner had originally created the character as early as November1939 on NBC's Good News for 1940.)  The show was co-created  by Gardner and Abe Burrows, who also served as head writer for the first five years.  In 1949, Gardner moved the show to Puerto Rico, hoping to take advantage of tax  breaks, but many of the high-powered guests stars, who were a main feature of the program, opted not to travel that far, and the program died in 1951.

The show moved to the big screen, once, in 1945, with Paramount Pictures' release of Ed Gardner's Duffy's Tavern, with a line-up of 32 of Paramount's biggest stars playing themselves, including Bing Crosby, Paulette Goddard, Betty Hutton, Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, Dorothy Lamour, and Robert Benchley.  In 1954, Duffy's Tavern re-emerge as a syndicated television series for 39 episodes.  Because of other commitments, Gardner restricted himself to merely acting in the series.  The show was not a success:  "woefully cookie-cutter in design,"  "TV-sitcom cliches," and "this isn't the same Duffy's Tavern we had known for so many years on the radio."  (an earlier, hour-long version of Duffy's Tavern had been filmed for the All Star Revue series; it was never aired because the sponsor [Pet Evaporated Milk] was a milk company and the barroom conflicted with the company's image.)

For those too young to remember, Marie "The Body" McDonald (1923-1965) was an actress, singer, and popular World War II pin-up girl.  Despite her popularity, her career was hampered by press attention to her romantic life.  She had numerous high-profile romances and seven marriages (including one re-marriage) and once made a questionable claim of being kidnapped by two men and held for ransom.  She died at age 42 from what was deemed to be an accidental "active drug intoxication due to multiple drugs."

In this episode, also known as "Archie Tries to Impress Marie,"  Archie pretends to be an wealthy eccentric to win her heart.  Predictably, things backfire.

Enjoy.

https://archive.org/details/duffys-tavern-205-archie-proposes-to-marie-the-body-mc-donald-04-12-46

A SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY TWOFER, PART 2: THE HOAXTERS

"The Hoaxters" by Richard Wilson (from Galaxy Science Fiction, June 1952; reprinted in the collection Those Idiots from Earth, 1957)

Sam and Alex, lone researchers on a lone asteroid, are bored.  They have already spent three months of their hitch with absolutely no results for their work, which consisted of hand rolling pieces of the asteroid in search of something -- they have note been told what they are looking, or why they are looking for it, or even why they must do the searching by hand rather than by using the technology that is available.  They are bored and feel useless and are homesick.  The asteroid, for all intents and purposes, is devoid of life; the only living thing is a tiny one-celled organism that buries itself deep within the asteroid, presumably feeding on some element in the soil -- Sam and Alex called the organisms "vizzies," for "invisibles."

Every day for the past three months, they have been broadcasting their results to Earth, always with the dame four words:  "All well. Progress nil."  Then, because he was bored, Alex want to change the daily message to:  "All well.  Progress...Break for urgent.  S.O.S.  Research Station Nineteen.  Attack on station  by alien life form from coordinates zero four eight x two seven.  Request patrol craft blast spot as own armament ineffective."  Sometime boredom needs  some excitement to break things up.  Sam was reluctant, feeling that Alex's scenario (which postulated an attack by one of Jupiter's patrol ship) would blow up in their faces.  He suggested an attack by the vizzies, rising from the ground in some sort of migratory pattern and forming an unspecified multi-cellular threat.  That sounded even better to Alex.

Not only did the patrol come and leave an o-bomb crater a quarter of  mile wide, but they were followed by reporters covering the event.  

The two managed to pull off their hoax,  but soon they got bored again, and like the boy who cried wolf...

And now officials began to consider the "attacks" to be "problematical."  Although official reports backed up Sam and Alex's story, in private the patrol and the corporation just did not believe them.

And then Sam and Alex learned that they really did not known anything about the vizzies...

A cute story about man-made hysteria and its consequences, although this time with a redeeming ending.

Richard Wilson (1920-1987) was a journalist and long-time news director.  A founder of the legendary science fiction group The Futurians in the 1930s, He was the author of some 120 short stories and three well-regarded satirical science fiction novels.  Wilson was instrumental in having prominent science fiction authors donate their papers to the George Arents Research Library of Syracuse University, now acknowledged as "the most important collection of science fiction manuscripts and papers in the world."  Wilson received  Nebula Award in 1968 for his novellette "Mother to the World," and tow other of his stories have been nominated for Nebula Awards.  "In his later years, Wilson reportedly made it clear to colleagues that he remained too content in his professional life to continue seriously in a writing career."  [John Clute]  His writing was marked by a polished professionalism, often with a gentle satiric and humorous edge.   One can do far worse than seek out his writing.

A SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY TWOFER, PART 1 : THE SERPENT

 THE SERPENT

 THE SERPENT

Three boys were playing together in a field; and as they played, one passing by called to them:  "Beware!  in the corner of that field is a poisonous serpent, whose bite is death."

"Alas!" said one child.  "How terrible, to think that anything evil should be in a place so lovely.  Let me flee from it!" and he wept, and ran from the place.

"Why," said the second child, "should such a thing be here?  what is the reason of it?"  and he found himself a safe place, and sat down to ponder on the matter.

The third child picked up a stone.  "Show it to me!" he said.

-- Laura E. Richards, The Silver Crown:  Another Book of Fables, 1906

Laura Elizabeth (Howe) Richards (1850-1943) was the daughter of Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe, an abolitionist and the founder of the Perkins Institution and Massachusetts School for the Blind, and of Julia Ward Hlowe, who wrote the lyrics for "The Battle Hymn of the Republic."  She was a pre-kindergarten- to-second-grade elementary schoolteacher in Gardiner, Maine.  She published some ninety books during her lifetime, including biographies, poetry, and children's books.  Julia Ward Howe 1819-1910, a biography she co-wrote with her sisters, won a Pulitzer Prize in 1917.  Her children's book, Tirra Lirra:  Rhymes New and Old, won the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1959.  Among her best-known books was Captain January, 1891, which was made into a Shirley Temple movie in 1936.  One lof her most popular poems for children was "Elephony," 1932 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJVSDAdxpNc).

OVERLOOKED FILM: THE STRANGE CASE Of DR. Rx (1942)

From IMDb:  "A mysterious vigilante known as 'Dr. X' strikes again.  Assigned to the case is private detective Jerry Church but the crimes are baffling and involve strangulation and a possible attempt to implant a gorilla's brain into a human body."  Don't you just hate when they try that?

Featuring Patric Knowles (The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Wolf Man, Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man) as the detective and Lionel Atwood (who ended his career by frequently playing criminal doctors or mad scientists in low budget B-movies).  The two are abetted by Anne Gwynne (House of Frankenstein, Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome, Arson, Inc.), Samuel S. Hinds (It's a Wonderful Life, You Can't Take It with You, Scarlet Street), and Mona Barrie (Something to Sing About, Skylark, Cairo).  Throw in appearance from Shemp Howard, Mantan Morland, and an uncredited Ray "Crash" Corrigan (in one of his early gorilla suits as Nbongo the gorilla) and you have a campy low-budget wonder.

Directed by William Nigh (Rose of the Rio Grande, Mr. Wong in Chinatown, Lady from Chungking) and scripted by Clarence Upson Young (Madame Spy, Night Monster, The Ghost That Walks Alone), from a story by Alex Gottlieb (Mystery of the White Room, Susan Slept Here, and the creator of the television shows Dear Phoebe and Love That Jill).  It should be noted that, although the film was scripted, most of the characters ad-libbed their lines.

The film got poor reviews on release ("[an] incredulous and wearisome tale"), although the Leonard Maltin Classic Movie Guide later called it a "fast-paced whodunit...but not particularly puzzling."

What do you think?

https://archive.org/details/the-strange-case-of-doctor-rx-1942

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TOR JOHNSON!

Karl Erik Tore Johansson (1903-1971) was a Swedish wrestler and B-movie star, perhaps best known for his appearances in films of Ed Wood, Jr.  He stood 6' 3", weighed up to 440 pounds, and shaved off his full blond hair to give him a more threatening appearance.  In person, he was quite different from his stage persona -- one co-worker described him a "a big sugar bun" -- a friendly, likable guy with a big heart.

Johnson had already been working in films for twenty years (mostly in uncredited roles) when Ed wood gave him second billing to Bela Lugosi in 1953's Bride of the Monster.  Johnson never had many lines in his films -- just being Tor Johnson was enough for his fans, but his screen presence always added something special to whatever film he was in.

Here's the MST3K presentation of  Bride of the Monster.

Enjoy.  And Happy Birthday, Tor!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1G8FvQyfnI

HYMN TIME

From 1977, The Million Dollar Quartet -- Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Roy Orbison.

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

THOROUGHLY RACIST CARTOON: STEVE OF THE RIVER (1937)

I recently came across this cartoon on YouTube.  Steve the Horse was a hugely popular carthorse featured in Roland Davies' British newspaper comic strip in the Sunday Express, Come On Steve! from 1932 to 1947, and spawning several children's annuals and six animated features.  The name of the strip came from a popular cheer given to the legendary jockey Steve Donaghue.  Steve was a wordless but genial horse whose stemmed from his light-hearted adventures and sight gags.

Steve of the River was the fourth of the six cartoons and a parody of Edgar Wallace's popular character Sanders of the River, a British commissioner in darkest Africa.  The Wallace stories (twelve collections from 1911 to 1928, with at least two additional collections written by Francis Gerard following Wallace's death) were also stereotypically racist.  (But, hey, this was England still in its the colonial era, so I guess the blatant racism was okay, maybe.)  Wallace's Sanders of the River reigned over his fictional portion of Africa (modeled, in part, on Nigeria) with a firm, but fair, hand, dealing with tribal hatreds, ju-ju, and various uprisings.  I enjoy the Sanders stories for what they are -- a snapshot of a time, place, and attitude that I hope I never have to see.

In Steve of the River, Steve and his human companion Sam are in Africa, "where they must escape local cannibals.  Lord Sandy, the Commissioner, leaves his African district for the weekend, and is waved off on his plane by Steve, a white horse, and his rider, Sam.  The Africans beat their drums to announce Lord Sandy is gone, while the local King laughs.  Now ignoring a sign saying 'Cannibal stew pot not to be used again by order - Lord Sandy', the locals throw spears, capture Sam and fling him in their pot.  The locals perform magic, as the King rides off on Steve.  Steve throws the King over a cliff and outwits the locals by pretending to be dead.  He beats his own message announcing that Lord Sandy has returned and the locals flee.  Steve is now able to rescue Sam and they escape in a chase sequence after they pretend to be a zebra and a tortoise."  [YouTube description]

The description is bad enough, but the execution is execrable.  The artwork is crude and does not have even the distinction of rising to a Windsor McKay level of racism.  Stereotype done with a wink and a nod can be fun, but stereotypes which exist merely to promote the idea of white superiority are off-putting.

It is important to preserve items such as this so that we know we know where we came from and can judge how far -- if at all -- we have come from that point.  To do otherwise lies the path to MAGA-dom.

So, warts and all, here's Steve:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIcXgzJTMH4&t=3s