From 1958, a young Jimmy Clanton.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8zYkmvqHdQ
Small House of Everything
Saturday, February 13, 2016
SUBMARINE ATTACK #20 (FEBRUARY 1960)
I'm sad to report that Charleton Comics Submarine Attack #20 is weak tea. The four stories are told quickly and dryly; every opportunity to make a story exciting or interesting seems to be studiously avoided. Ah, well...
"The Square Peg" is Lt. Shorty Weaver, a recent Annapolis grad. Shorty dislikes submarines and wants to be assigned to a destroyer His admiral father has other ideas and asks Shorty to volunteer for submarine duty where Shorty's expertise would be invaluable. So Shorty relunctantly finds himself serving on a sub under a captain who dislikes his attitude. While attacking a Japanese ship in an atoll, the captain and the executive are knocked out of service, leaving Shorty in charge of the sub while other Japanese ships are closng in. Shorty pulls a bluff and saves the sub. Afterward, he decides he likes submarine service. Wait. Uh. How did that happen? Dunno.
The scene shifts to the North Atlantic in 'The U.S.S. Ice Cube." A sub is pursing a German tender and they both get locked in the ice, each out of range of the others' guns. The Germans send men across the ice to blow up the American sub. The Americans outflank them and send them scurrying back to their ship. The Americans take the explosives the Germans so kindly left behind when they were fleeing and use them to blow a hole in the ice, allowing the sub to go underwater and get closer to the Germans. The German boat goes kaboom. A by-the-numbers plot with absolutely no suspense, sort of like the stories your boring Uncle Alex would drone on about during dreaded family get-togethers.
We move up some years to the present time -- 1960. A foreign (foreign being a code word for Russian) sub is lodged offshore in American territorial waters. To lodge a diplomatic protest would be useless. The foreign power would just deny everything while their sub goes back to international waters. The American submarine captain sends frogmen to wrap cable around the lurking sub;s propeller, disabling the sub if it tries to move. The foreign sub is forced to surface and the Americans have their proof that their territorial waters have been violated. The foreign sub -- no longer "The Undetected!" -- sails off with their figurative tail between their legs. That'll larn them!
Finally, in "The Admiral's Shadow," a Japanese admiral is leading a large convey not suspecting that a lone American sub is tagging along directly underneath the admiral's ship. The sub shadows the convvoy until they have enough information about the strength, direction, and probable destination of the convoy. The Americans then radio the information, surface, fire enough torpedoes to hobble the admiral's ship, then move back underneath it and wait for reinforcements to destroy the convoy.
It's amazing that -- throughout this issue -- the Americans are always able to fire their weapons just a split second before the enemy can.
All in all, I found this issue to be as boring as day to day llife on a submarine might be. Perhaps you'll feel differently. Let's see.
http://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=60948
"The Square Peg" is Lt. Shorty Weaver, a recent Annapolis grad. Shorty dislikes submarines and wants to be assigned to a destroyer His admiral father has other ideas and asks Shorty to volunteer for submarine duty where Shorty's expertise would be invaluable. So Shorty relunctantly finds himself serving on a sub under a captain who dislikes his attitude. While attacking a Japanese ship in an atoll, the captain and the executive are knocked out of service, leaving Shorty in charge of the sub while other Japanese ships are closng in. Shorty pulls a bluff and saves the sub. Afterward, he decides he likes submarine service. Wait. Uh. How did that happen? Dunno.
The scene shifts to the North Atlantic in 'The U.S.S. Ice Cube." A sub is pursing a German tender and they both get locked in the ice, each out of range of the others' guns. The Germans send men across the ice to blow up the American sub. The Americans outflank them and send them scurrying back to their ship. The Americans take the explosives the Germans so kindly left behind when they were fleeing and use them to blow a hole in the ice, allowing the sub to go underwater and get closer to the Germans. The German boat goes kaboom. A by-the-numbers plot with absolutely no suspense, sort of like the stories your boring Uncle Alex would drone on about during dreaded family get-togethers.
We move up some years to the present time -- 1960. A foreign (foreign being a code word for Russian) sub is lodged offshore in American territorial waters. To lodge a diplomatic protest would be useless. The foreign power would just deny everything while their sub goes back to international waters. The American submarine captain sends frogmen to wrap cable around the lurking sub;s propeller, disabling the sub if it tries to move. The foreign sub is forced to surface and the Americans have their proof that their territorial waters have been violated. The foreign sub -- no longer "The Undetected!" -- sails off with their figurative tail between their legs. That'll larn them!
Finally, in "The Admiral's Shadow," a Japanese admiral is leading a large convey not suspecting that a lone American sub is tagging along directly underneath the admiral's ship. The sub shadows the convvoy until they have enough information about the strength, direction, and probable destination of the convoy. The Americans then radio the information, surface, fire enough torpedoes to hobble the admiral's ship, then move back underneath it and wait for reinforcements to destroy the convoy.
It's amazing that -- throughout this issue -- the Americans are always able to fire their weapons just a split second before the enemy can.
All in all, I found this issue to be as boring as day to day llife on a submarine might be. Perhaps you'll feel differently. Let's see.
http://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=60948
Friday, February 12, 2016
MUSIC FROM THE PAST: DO YOUR DUTY
The great Bessie Smith.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5T87_KuVC8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5T87_KuVC8
FORGOTTEN BOOK: TARZAN AND THE FOREIGN LEGION
Tarzan and the Foreign Legion by Edgar Rice Burroughs (1947)
First off, the book starts off with a note from the author that at the time he decided on novel's setting he was woefully ignorant about Sumatra and the local library in Honolulu had no books on the subject. (Woeful ignorance about a location had never stopped Burroughs before.) Nonetheless, Burroughs relied on the knowledge of a humber of persons whom he then thanked. The important thing -- to me, at least -- was that Burroughs dated the note September 11, 1944, indicating that the book was written during the height of the war in the Pacific even though it was published several years after the war ended.
It also should be noted that Tarzan and the Foreign Legion was the 22nd and last Tarzan novel published during Burroughs' lifetime. The jungle swinger had been having adventures since 1912 and was one of the mosr popular characters in world.
So...Sumatra. Well a jungle is a jungle and Burroughs had used the Africa locale many times as Tarzan fought thee enemy during the first world war. RAF Colonel John Clayton was aboard an American B-24 for a reconnaisance and photographic mission over the Japanese-held island when the plane was struck by a Japanese Zero. The plane's pilot, Captain Jerry (a truly noble name, that) Lucas tries to guide the plane from the anti-aircraft guns along the islands shore. Knowing they were to crash in the jungle, Jerry orders everyone to parachute off the plane, himself being the last to jump. Once on the ground, Clayton shucks his clothes, fashions a loincloth from part of his parachute, and takes to the trees in search of survivors.
At least three of the plane's crew have survived: the nobly-named Jerry, hailing from Oklahoma City, S/Sgt. Joe Bubonovitch, a college-educated zoologist from Brooklyn, and S/Sgt. Tony Rosetti, a poorly educated man from the streets of Chicago. Bubonovich and Rosetti, besides being fearless fighters and the best of friends, provide the comic relief. Tarzan leads the crew away from the flaming wreckage to begin a long trek through enemy territory toward the shore where they hope to find a boat and sail to Australia. Along the way, they rescue Corrie van der Meer, the eightee-year-old daughter of a Dutch planter who had been murdered by the Japanese two years earlier. Corrie had been hiding from the enemy for two years before Tarzan came along.
Along the way, they encounter a many groups of Japanese soldiers -- each more nasty than the other -- as well as aband of Dutch outlaws who have been terrorizing the natives, Tarzan fight and kills a tiger, a python, an orangutang, a shark, and Jungle Lord knows what else. Oh...and he also kills what feels like 93 percent of the Japanese on the island. There's a complicated love story between the noble-named Jerry and Corrie*, some treacherous natives, some noble natives, and a whole lot of capturing and escaping. And that's basically the book. (By the end of the novel, Tarzan's group has contained some Americans, some Dutch, a Chinese, and Indonesian, and the British Jungle Lord, thus the "Foreign Legion.")
By this stage in his career, it appears that Burroughs was merely telephoning it in -- at least as far as Tarzan goes. ERB was never a great stylist; his strength was in his fast-paced style and his imagination. His imagination flagged in Tarzan and the Foreign Legion and he satisfied himself with merely moving his players around on a board, encountering and overcoming difficulties as they came. Villains pop up and are quickly eliminated only to have other villains pop up and be eliminated and so on seemingly ad infinitum.
Several sentences in the book make absolutely no sense to such a degree that they could not be printing errors.
Because of when the book was written, Burroughs' jingoism is at full force. There are no Japanese in the novel -- only Japs, who are often referred to as monkeymen and as stupid an unintelligent. Even Tarzan calls the enemy Japs.
Nonetheless, despite the banal plotting and racist imagery, the book moves along quickly and there are enough glimpses of the old Burroughs to make the book readable, although discomforting.
Maybe it would be best for you to skip this one and read some of the earlier Tarzan novels. This one appears to be for completists only.
First off, the book starts off with a note from the author that at the time he decided on novel's setting he was woefully ignorant about Sumatra and the local library in Honolulu had no books on the subject. (Woeful ignorance about a location had never stopped Burroughs before.) Nonetheless, Burroughs relied on the knowledge of a humber of persons whom he then thanked. The important thing -- to me, at least -- was that Burroughs dated the note September 11, 1944, indicating that the book was written during the height of the war in the Pacific even though it was published several years after the war ended.
It also should be noted that Tarzan and the Foreign Legion was the 22nd and last Tarzan novel published during Burroughs' lifetime. The jungle swinger had been having adventures since 1912 and was one of the mosr popular characters in world.
So...Sumatra. Well a jungle is a jungle and Burroughs had used the Africa locale many times as Tarzan fought thee enemy during the first world war. RAF Colonel John Clayton was aboard an American B-24 for a reconnaisance and photographic mission over the Japanese-held island when the plane was struck by a Japanese Zero. The plane's pilot, Captain Jerry (a truly noble name, that) Lucas tries to guide the plane from the anti-aircraft guns along the islands shore. Knowing they were to crash in the jungle, Jerry orders everyone to parachute off the plane, himself being the last to jump. Once on the ground, Clayton shucks his clothes, fashions a loincloth from part of his parachute, and takes to the trees in search of survivors.
At least three of the plane's crew have survived: the nobly-named Jerry, hailing from Oklahoma City, S/Sgt. Joe Bubonovitch, a college-educated zoologist from Brooklyn, and S/Sgt. Tony Rosetti, a poorly educated man from the streets of Chicago. Bubonovich and Rosetti, besides being fearless fighters and the best of friends, provide the comic relief. Tarzan leads the crew away from the flaming wreckage to begin a long trek through enemy territory toward the shore where they hope to find a boat and sail to Australia. Along the way, they rescue Corrie van der Meer, the eightee-year-old daughter of a Dutch planter who had been murdered by the Japanese two years earlier. Corrie had been hiding from the enemy for two years before Tarzan came along.
Along the way, they encounter a many groups of Japanese soldiers -- each more nasty than the other -- as well as aband of Dutch outlaws who have been terrorizing the natives, Tarzan fight and kills a tiger, a python, an orangutang, a shark, and Jungle Lord knows what else. Oh...and he also kills what feels like 93 percent of the Japanese on the island. There's a complicated love story between the noble-named Jerry and Corrie*, some treacherous natives, some noble natives, and a whole lot of capturing and escaping. And that's basically the book. (By the end of the novel, Tarzan's group has contained some Americans, some Dutch, a Chinese, and Indonesian, and the British Jungle Lord, thus the "Foreign Legion.")
By this stage in his career, it appears that Burroughs was merely telephoning it in -- at least as far as Tarzan goes. ERB was never a great stylist; his strength was in his fast-paced style and his imagination. His imagination flagged in Tarzan and the Foreign Legion and he satisfied himself with merely moving his players around on a board, encountering and overcoming difficulties as they came. Villains pop up and are quickly eliminated only to have other villains pop up and be eliminated and so on seemingly ad infinitum.
Several sentences in the book make absolutely no sense to such a degree that they could not be printing errors.
Because of when the book was written, Burroughs' jingoism is at full force. There are no Japanese in the novel -- only Japs, who are often referred to as monkeymen and as stupid an unintelligent. Even Tarzan calls the enemy Japs.
Nonetheless, despite the banal plotting and racist imagery, the book moves along quickly and there are enough glimpses of the old Burroughs to make the book readable, although discomforting.
Maybe it would be best for you to skip this one and read some of the earlier Tarzan novels. This one appears to be for completists only.
Thursday, February 11, 2016
MUSIC FROM THE PAST: HONEY DON'T
Written by Carl Perkins and featured on the B-side of his "Blue Suede Shoes," "Honey
Don't" enjoyed a second life when Ringo Starr made this one a hit for the Beatles. Here's the best of both worlds -- a 1985 performance featuring both Carl Perkins and Ringo Starr!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XswcADHL5zc
Don't" enjoyed a second life when Ringo Starr made this one a hit for the Beatles. Here's the best of both worlds -- a 1985 performance featuring both Carl Perkins and Ringo Starr!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XswcADHL5zc
BARRY CRAIG, CONFIDENTIAL INVESTIGATOR: THE IMPOSTER
William Gargan voiced P.I. Barry Craig for the NBC Radio series' 190 episodes (from 1951 to 1954) -- a role that he was more than qualified for. Gargan himself had once been a private investigator (and had even been shot once on the job!). The character of Barry Craig had gone through a few name changes while on the radio: he was first named Barry Crane, then Barrie Craig, and -- finally -- the more familiar Barry Craig -- and somewhere aloong the line he was Barry Crain. Craig was a worthy addition to the league of radio private detectives. His beat was New York City and his office was on the third floor of Madison Avenue's Mechantile Building. Among the writers for the series were detective novelists Frank Kane and John Roebert, I have no idea who wrote the episode linked below but there is a good chance it was written either by Roebert or Louis Vitters.
A move to television was not in the cards for Barry Craig. A 1952 pilot starring Gargan and written and directed by Blake Edwards failed
William Gargan's acting career was cut short by throat cancer in 1960. From that point on until his death he spoke with an artificial speech box and using esophageal speech. With time and hard work, Gargan was able to speak clearly but could not project his voice, effectively ending his acting career. He then became one of the leading spokepersons for the American Cancer Society, effectively promoting awareness of cancer and of esophageal speech until his death in 1979. He was an inspiration for many cancer victims. Gargan's courage, determination, and willingness to turn a terrible experience into a life lesson for so many makes him one of a few actors I truly admire.
This episode, from March 1, 1953, appears to also known as "Behold a Corpse." It seems the producers and/or the publicity department gave different titles to some of the episodes.
Enjoy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lzvFaB9nrs
A move to television was not in the cards for Barry Craig. A 1952 pilot starring Gargan and written and directed by Blake Edwards failed
William Gargan's acting career was cut short by throat cancer in 1960. From that point on until his death he spoke with an artificial speech box and using esophageal speech. With time and hard work, Gargan was able to speak clearly but could not project his voice, effectively ending his acting career. He then became one of the leading spokepersons for the American Cancer Society, effectively promoting awareness of cancer and of esophageal speech until his death in 1979. He was an inspiration for many cancer victims. Gargan's courage, determination, and willingness to turn a terrible experience into a life lesson for so many makes him one of a few actors I truly admire.
This episode, from March 1, 1953, appears to also known as "Behold a Corpse." It seems the producers and/or the publicity department gave different titles to some of the episodes.
Enjoy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lzvFaB9nrs
Wednesday, February 10, 2016
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)