HYMN TIME

 From 1915, Homer Roadheaver.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6QDQ4wnfRM

TOR #4 (JULY 1954)

 Created by Joe Kubert, Tor was a prehistoric cave man in a world of a million years ago still inhabited by dinosaurs.  With his pet monkey, Chee-Chee, Tor faces danger on a daily basis in a world of violent monsters.  Created in 1953 for the September issue of 1,000,000 Years Ago from St. John Comics, Tor's second issue -- retitled 3-D Comics (#2) -- Tor became on of the first comic book characters to appear in 3-D form; the issue appeared i two versions, dated October and November 1953.  The third issue of the cmic book dropped the 3-D formt and changed the title to Tor.  Two more issues appeared before the title was cancelled.

In 1959, Kubert and Carmine Infantino attempted to sell Tor as a syndicated daily comic strip but were unsuccessful.  DC Comics pubished six issues of Tor from 1974 to 1975, and Marvel Comics Epic imprint published an original four-issue miniseries by Kubert (who had maintained the rights to the character) in 1986.

Some great Kubert art and story-telling here.  Kubert also breaks the fourth wall at times in this issue, discussing the back ground of the stories, introducing another story, and shilling for his his comic art school, Scholart Institute.

Enjoy.

https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=82846&comicpage=&b=i

FORGOTTEN BOOK FRIDAY: TO QUEBEC AND THE STARS

To Quebec and the Stars by H. P. Lovecraft, edited by L. Sprague de Camp  (1976)

Nowadays it's hard to imagine there is not a jot, tittle, or laundry list by H. P. Lovecraft that has not been published.  'Twas not always the case, McGee.

Between 1952 and 1955, SSR Publications issued the five-volume mimeographed chapbook series The Lovecraft Collector's Library, with two (very) slim volumes of essays, two of poetry, and one with a few samples from HPL's amateur magazine days; these chapbooks ranged in length from 25 to 33 pages/. In 1976, Arkham House had just published the last two volumes of Lovecraft's five-volume Selected Letters, begun in 1965, but many of his essays, poetry, and writings in amateur journals had notyet  been reprinted.  The year before, Willis Conover had published Lovecraft at Last, a collection of letters to him from Lovecraft, and collector and bookseller Gerry de la Ree published a slim chapbook. The Occult Lovecraft, which contained "The Cosmos & Religion," a brief essay by Lovecraft, along with a few essays by others.  The floodgates began tomopen in 1976 published volumes of Lovecraft's writing in The Pawtuxet Valley Gleaner, The Consevative, and The United Amateur.

DeCamp, in researching his book Lovecraft:  A Biography (1975), uncovered a number of articles by Lovecaft that had not been reprinted.  These he gathered in To Quebec and the Stars, which was published in an attractive volume by Donald M. Grant.  The core pat of the book was an unpublished history of the city of Quebec, a place Lovecraft had visited three times and one that had captured his imagination.   "A Description of the Town of Quebeck" is most likely the longest thing that Lovecraft ever wrote.  The piece -- 75,000 words -- was written in longhand from October 1930 to January 1931 shortly after Lovecraft's first visit to that city.  It was never intended for publication and, indeed, is actually only a draft that Lovecraft never revised.  

Lovecraft's first visit to Quebec was a pivotal one in his life in that it helped him to erase much of the "benighted ethnocentrism" he had held against foreigners.  

Lovecraft was a man trapped by his his preconceived persona.  He pictured hmself as an eighteenth century gentleman of British stock, and adopted -- both publicly and in part privately -- the preconceived prejudices that went with that image.  In reality, much of this persona seems to be mere posturing.  Rail as he would against the "mongrel races," several of his closest firneds wre Jewish, as was his wife.  In person, Lovecraft was both kind and forgiving to a fault and his vast circle of correspondents grew to appreciate his friendship and his unwavering support.  Prudish in outlook, Lovecraft was most likely completely unaware that one of his close friends, the teen-age Robert Barlow, at whose house he stayed several times, was overtly homosexual.

Lovecraft's persona ruled his life, causing his to live in penury because a "gentleman" did not lower himself or his art to mercenary influences.  

Yet Lovecraft was a genius -- a polymath with a vast knowledge of science, history, classical literature, and philosophy.  Many of these traits are evident in the articles De Camp chose to displayin this volume.  In a number of these articles, Lovecraft interjects his opinions and prejudices to the detriment of the pieces.  In expressing his admiration for French navigator, explorer, and founder of Quebec and New France Samuel de Champlain (1567-1635), Lovecraft writes, "A gentleman of distnguish'd ablity & untarnish'd virtue, 'tis a pity Samuel de Champlain cou'd not have been an Engishman & a Protestant."  (!)  Lovecraft's affectation for eighteenth century England also extended to his use of archaic spelling and verbiage.  He also tended to incorporate his personal friendships in some of hi amateur writings, as when he refers to "Galpinian Wisconsin"  - the average reader would have no idea he was referring to his young friend Alfed Galvin.

This miscellany of Lovecraft's essays allows us a look at Lovecraft, warts and all.  It gives us a fadcinating portrait of the man through his many interests and prejudices.  This volume is now well out of date, having been supplanted by the plethora of Lovecraft books that have flooded the market in recent years, most particularly the five-volume collected essays issued by Hippocampus Press from 2004 to 2007, which I believe collects all the material in de Camp's book, plus much, much more.

The contents:

SCIENCE:

1.  "Trans-Neptunian Planets" (letter published in Scientific American, August 25, 1906)
2.  "November Skies" (from Providence Evening News, November 1, 1915)
3.  "June Skies" (from Providence Evening News, June 1, 1916)
4. "May Skies" (from Providence Evening News, May 1, 1917)
5. "the Truth About Mars" (from The Phoenician, Autumn 1917)

LITERATURE AND ESTHETICS:

     6. "Metrical Regularity" (from The Conservative, June 1915)

     7. "The Allowable Rhyme" (from The Conservative, October 1915)

     8. "A Reminiscence of Dr. Samuel Johnson by 'Humphrey Littlewit, Esq.' " (from The United Amateur, November 1917)

     9. "The Literature of Rome" (from The United Amateur, November 1918)

     10. "What Belongs in Verse" (from The Perspective Review, Spring 1935)

PHILOSOPHY:

     11. "The Crime of the Century" (from The Conservative, April 1915)

     12. "Neitzcheism and Realism" (from The Rainbow, October 1921)

     13. "A Confession of Unfaith" (from The Liberal, February 1922)

TRAVEL, DESCRIPTION, AND HISTORY:

     14. "A Descent to Avenus" (from Bacon's Essays, Summer 1929)

     15. "Some Dutch Footprints in New England" (from De Halve Maen, Octber 1923)

     16. "The Unknown City in the Ocean" (from The Perspective Review, Winter 1934)

     17. "A Description of the Town of Quebeck, in New-France, Lately added to His Majesty's Dominions" (not published before)

The passing of time has made this a curiousity piece.  One might be better off reading the Collected Essays published by Hippocampus Press.

THE NEW ADVENTURES OF NERO WOLFE: ROOM 304 (APRIL 27, 1951)

 Once again it's time to match wits with the one-seventh of a ton genius, Nero Wolfe.

Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3l0Zc_2zQs

UNDERAPPRECIATED MUSIC: COUNTRY JOE MCDONALD

 Few rock band were better at tapping into the anti-war sentiments of the 60 and 70s than Country Joe and the Fish.  Co-foundd and led by 'Country" Joe McDonald,, the band merged country, bluegrass, psychedelic, and rock music in a way that made them popular headliners at concerts, festivals, and rock venues throughout the country.  McDonald, now in his 80s, has recorded 83 albums over the years and has spent much of his life as a political activist.

"Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine"

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

"I Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOo13RnfaMc

"Tricky Dicky"  (Yeah, McDonald made it on Nixon's infamous Enemies List)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wmp9gRsncuY

"Agent Orange Song"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fk8umoqfz14

"Save the Whales"

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

"Oh, Jamaica"

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

"Janis"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nhfk4X0BTmQ

"Coyote"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tSHezLE7DM

"Hold On It's Coming"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XynqSMiSrQ

"Kiss My Ass"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8x5omoKgkg

"Breakfast For Two"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqtGdDqDx6Y

"Roll On Columbia"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1I9ZQAk2XI

"Blues for Michael" (this seems to be fronted by a political ad for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis -- please do not support this anal sphincter)

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

"The March of the Dead" (from the Robert Service poem)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12SRKhNS_oY

"Ring of Fire"

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

"Holy Roller"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D19NyXfvDTg

"Thi Land Is Your Land"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lrov8JNG198

"Peace on Earth in Our Time"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lrov8JNG198

SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: THE VISION OF CAMPBELL OF INVERAWE

 "The Vision of Cambell of Inverawe" by Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, Bart.  [note that the author's name ia oftern hyphenated]  (first published Legendary Tales of the Highlands:  A Sequel to Highland Register, 1841, as "The Legend of the Vision of Campbell of Inverawe," the final tale in Volume 3 of Dick Lauder's three-volume work; reprinted in the anonymously-edited Weird Tales Scottish (or Scottish Weird Tales), Volume 6 in publishers William Paterson's "Nuggets for Travellers" series, that volume also reprinted the same year by White and Allen as Weird Tit-Bits Scottish.)

At its heart this is a fairly simple story of the price of honor (or honour -- this was written by a Scot) in the face of certain doom.  Duncan Campbell, Laird of Inverawe, led a troop of the Black Watch, the famed military group originally formed to maintain peace in the Highlands.  The Watch, however, became usd for political reasons by their overlords in London, first sent to fight in Flanders. then, back home, they were ordered to act against those who had risen against King Charles.  This last was a grievous duty for Campbellwho,led one company of the Black Watch, and his men:  here they had to fight against friends and relatives, many of whom numbered among the insurgents.  Ner Lorn, they were ordered to burn and destroy the homes of a few of those who opposed what they consdiered to the government of an usurper.  But Campbell and men had sworn an oath and, distasteful as it was, obeyed orders.

It happened that Campbell, by some circumstance, had been detained behind his men and while attempting to rejoin them got lost.  Having determined the best route to rejoin his men was a diagonal track across some treacherous mountains, he set out, eventually finding his narrow path blocked by rock that would be difficult for a mountain goat to cross.  Tired, cold, and hungry, Campbell heard a voice call out to him by name.  The person who had recognizd him offered him food,a fire, and directions back to his company.  Campbell was grateful but at a loss; he did not tecognized the man who had recognized him.

It turned out that the man was one of the homeowners whose property was destroyed by Cambell's men earlier that day.  The man held no antipathy for Campbell because, he said he knew that Campbell was an honorable man who had acted against his personal wishes because of his oath to his king.  Thus, in an amazing act of friendship, the man fed Campbell and then set him on the correct path.  All of this shows that, in the Highlands, a man's oath is sacrosanct, even when that oath forces one to go against one's own desires and wishes.

Fast forward to later, after the mission had been accomplished and the Black Watch sent home.  Campbell is back at his estate by the shore of Loch Etive under the mighty cliffs of Ben-Cruachan.  There he reveled in his many friendships and threw gay and merry feasts, for Campbell was nothing is not generous, kind, and friendly.  He lived with his devoted wife and his precious son.  The boy, Donald, happened to be away from home durng one feast.  As that feast broke up The Laird of Inverawe's good friend, George Campbell, raised the parting cup.  As George made the toast, a "rattling peal of thunder rolled dirctly over their heads" -- an ill omen many thought.  Later, alone with his thoughts after his wife had retied for the night. Campbell was startled by the appearance of a man  "with a naked dirk in his hand, his clothes dripping wet, his long hair streaming over his shoulders and half-veiling his glaring eyes and pale and haggard countenance."  The stranger promised him no harm buut begged for his protection, sayng that, in a sudden quarrel, he had shed the blood of a fellow-man, and that the victim's friends were in hot pursuit of him.  The stranger claimed "that protection, and that hospitality, which no one has ever failed to find within the house in Inverawe."  Hearing this, Campbell cried, "By Cruachan, I swear that you shall have both!" and, in doing so, Campbell's sacred honot and chivalry bound him to that pledge. 

Later that evening Campbell his the man in a remote cave, leaving him with food and blankets and urging him not to light a fire that might alert his pursuers.  That night, in bed, he was awoken by a ghostly spectre with an open, bleeding gash in its chest.   The ghost was that of the man who had fed and aided Campbell the night he was separated from his men.  The ghost had a dire wardning:  "Inverawe! -- blood must flow for blood! -- Shield not the murderer!"  The next morning Campbell was unsure whether he had a real visitant or a dream.   

The ghost appeared the second night with a more direct warning:  "My first visit has been fruitless! -- Once more I come to warn you that blood must flow for blood.  No longer shield the murderer!  Force me not to appear again, when all warning will be vain!"

And on the third night:  "The blood of the murderer might have been offered up -- now your blood mut flow for his!  We meet once more at Ticonderoga!"

Hoping to convince the man to give mself up, Campbell then went to the cave where he had hid the assassin, but the man was not there.  Campbell never saw him again, nor did Campbell ever learn his name.  Campbell also never learned the name of his ghostly visitor.

And, Ticonderoga?  What a strange name.  Campbell had never heard of it and had no idea what it referred to.

Time passed and the spectre's dire warning faded to the back of Campbell's memory.  Some time later (years, perhaps), the Crown called the Black Watch back to duty.  This time to fight the enemy in America.  You can see where this is headed.  The Black Watch is sent to New York, to Lake George, to take the heavily fortified fort Campbell knew as "Fort Defiance"...

Despite being a heavily telegraphed tale, "The Vision of Campbell of Inverawe" has several things going for it.  First, the strict adherence to honor as a major part of the Scottish character is weel (and tragically) portrayed.  Second, the vivid description of Campbell's Highland makes the landscape a character of its own in the tale; the rugged and dour beauty of the country and its people add strength to the importance of a rigid code of honor.  Third, the detail of the campaign against Fort Ticonderoga is compelling.

Added late in the tale is a subplot concerning Campbell's son Donald, who unbeknownst to Campbell, travels to America to fight with his father.  There, both Donald and Campbell befriend a young Indian warrior -- something that further solidifies our feelings for both characters and makes the inevitable tragedy even more poignant.

All in all, a darned good story.

[And, I  must admit, a story I felt somewhat guilty enjoying.  I felt I was betraying Kitty's great-aunt Sadie, who, as a McDonald, refused to have Campbell's soup in the house because she would have nothing to do with that scurrilous clan.  Irish Alzheiners and Scottish Alzeimers are one and the same:  you forget everything but the grudge.  Sadie evidently held onto the grudge with a fierceness that was epic.  She also had a strong antipathy for the Irish and for Catholics, and Kitty's father was both so she refused to talk to him.  ("Eileen, would your husband like another cup of coffee?"  This, while Harold was sitting right nest to her.)  On the plus side, Sadie taught Kitty how to identify all the tartans -- even the despised Campbell tartan.  Sadie was very talented at tatting and all of Kitty's underwear before she was school-age was trimmed with homemade lace; I still have Sadie's ivory tatting shuttle around her somewhere.  Wherever Sadie is, I hope she forgives me for liking this story.]

Sir Thomas Dick Lauder of Fountainhall, 7th Baronet, (1784-1848) was a close friend of Sir Walter Scott.  He wrote several romances, along with volumes of Scottish legends and Scottish history, travelogues, natural history, and (at her request) a book detiling the official history of QueenMary's visit to Scotland in 1843.  Dick Lauder also served as Secretary to the Board of Manufactures, on the Herring Fisheries Board, and at the Royal Institution for the Encouragement of Fine Arts, a fellow of the Royal Socity of Edinburgh and as Deputy Lieutenant for conties Moray and Haddington.  in politics he was an active liberal and presided over what has been said to be the largest political rally in Scotland.

"The Vision of Cambell of Inverawe" can be read online.

OVERLOOKED FILM: THE HATCHET MAN (1932)

 If JohnWayne can play Ghengis Khan then surely Edward G. Robinson can play Chinese hatcher man Wong Low Get and Loretta Young can play the lovely Chinese maiden Sun Tya San.

Welcome back to the good (?) ol' days when Caucasians regularly played orientals in the films.

In this one at lest, Robinson does a fantastic job with his character nd turns in one top-notch performnce.

Wong Low Get is a hatchet man (executioner) for a tong in Chinatown who is tasked with killing his best friend and blood brother Sun Yat Ming (J. Carroll Naish, who, despite his Irish ancestry,  later played Charlie Chan, as well as a host of Italian and Native American characters).   Sun, in a surprising show of friendship, not only forgives Wong, but bequeaths him all of his earthly possessions, including his six-year-old daughter San, whom he pledges to Wong as a wife.  Wong swears before Buddha that San will know only happiness.

Time passes.  Wong becomes more powerful in the tong and San grows up and marries him.  San, as noted above is played by a 19-year-old Loretta Young, who also does a great acting job.  Another tong was draws Wong out of retirement.  San falls in love with a neer-do-well bodyguard, Harry En Hai (played by Englishman Leslie Fenton).  Wong returns from the tong was to discover his wife's affair.  Rather than kill the two of them, he charges Harry with San's happiness.  Wong renounces his vilent ways and because of this is banished from the tong.  San and Harry det deportd to China whre Harry is charged with dealing in opium.  Harry sells San to a brothel owner.  Wong discovers this and, no completely broke, works his way to China as a stoker of a steamship, determined to make Harry pay for betraying the lovely San.

The ending of the film is a classic.

The film also features Charles Middleton of Ming the Merciless fame as "Lip Hop Fat."  Also note that Robinson's then-wife Gladys Lloyd has an uncredited part as "Fan Yi."

Directed by William A. Wellman from a script by J. Grubb Alexander and based on a play, The Honorable Mr. Wong, by Achmed Abdullah and David Belasco.  Abdullah ws a popular adventure and thriller writer who scripted The Thief of Bagdad and The Lives of a Bengal Lancer; Belacos was a noted playwright whose plays The Girl of the Golden West and Madame Butterfly were made into operas by Giacomo Puccini (Belasco was also the person who gave Mary Pickford her stage name); Alexander has 98 credits on IMDb, including Moby Dick (1930 version), Svengali, and The Sea Wolf.  Wellma directed many classic films over his career, including Wings (the firt film to win an Academy Award), The Public Enemy, A Star Is Born, The Ox-Bow Incident, Story of G.I. Joe, and The High and the Mighty.

It should also be noted that, throughout the film, music director used vriations of the popular 1916 song "Poor Butterfly," which was inspired by Puccini's opera based on Belasco's play.

Also, I have a strong feeling that 'The Honorable Mt. Wong" was based on a short story by Achmed Abdullah that I once read in one of Abdullah's short story collections, probably under a different title.  Since I can't pinpoint the story this may just be one of my senior moments.

In any event, this is a film well worth your time.  Enjoy.

https://archive.org/details/HatchetMan