MUSIC FROM THE PAST: IF YOU'VE GOT THE MONEY I'VE GOT THE TIME

Lefty Frizzell would have been ninety today.  From 1950, here's his first big hit.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2x0fMszj58

MILITARY COMICS #1 (AUGUST 1941)

"History has proven that whenever liberty is smothered and men lie crushed beneath oppression, there always rises a man to defend the helpless...liberate the enslaved and crush the tyrant...such a man is BLACKHAWK...out of the ruins of Europe and out of the hopeless mass of defeated people he comes...smashing the evil before him..."

Thus the world was introduced to Blackhawk, who at one time was second in popularity only to Superman.  Created by the Eisner studios by Chuck Culdera (artist), Bob Powell (writer), and Will Eisner, the team known as the Blackhawk Squadron took a few issues to shake themselves out into their most recognizable line-up.  Blackhawk himself was an ace fighter pilot for the Polish Air Force; later identified as an American flying for Poland, no longer identified as a Polish citizen.  Who he really is is shrouded in mystery.  Much later in the series he was given a name, Bart Hawk...but can we really trust that was his true name?

Blackhawk premiered in the first issue of Quality Comics' Military Comics, a title billed as Stories of the Army and Navy.  Blackhawk appeared in Military Comics (later renamed Modern Comics) until that title was cancelled with issue #102 in October 1950.  In 1944, Blackhawk also got his own title with Blackhawk #9 (Winter 1944), having picked up the numbering from the cancelled Uncle Sam Quarterly.  In December 1956, Quality Comics closed with Blackhawk #107.  The character and trademarks were then leased and eventually sold to DC comics, which continued the title until issue #242 in August 1968; late attempts to modernized the characters came too little, too late.

From Wikipedia:  "[Blackhawk] shares the unique distinction of being just one of four comic book characters to be published continuously in his own title from the 1940s through the 1960s (the others being Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman),"  As stated, this sounds specious to me but, with a few caveats, essentially sound.

In this issue, the seemingly undefeatable German army is ruthlessly destroying all Polish resistance.  In the air, the Nazis are handily defeating the Poles until there is just one Polish airplane left -- its pilot shooting down six of the Germans.  Nazi Captain von Tepp leads his "Butcher Squadron," whcih closes in on the unnamed Polish pilot.  Escaping bullets, the pilot makes a rough landing near his home and rushes out of his plane.  Von Tepp vows to destroy him and drops a bomb which barely missed the pilot but destroys the house, killing the pilot's brother and sister.  "The stranger sadly buries his sister and brother, and without a backward glance walks away to disappear in the darkness..."

Months later, a new figure arrives on the scene.  With his squad of men, he rains death to the Nazis.  Headquartered o a small Atlantic Ocean island fortress, the Blackhawk Squadron follow their leader as he strikes fear into the Nazi machine.  Blackhawk, himself, is seeking vengeance for his siblings against von Tepp.  When one of his men is captured and about to be executed by von Tepp, Blackhawk finally has his chance -- which leads to an aerial battle between the two aces, one in which von Tepp has secretly sabotaged Blackhawk's plane!

Also included in this issue:

• "Loops and Banks of the Red Dragon Squadron" -- After losing their jobs as test pilots, Loops McCann and Banks Barrows join up with General Cheng's guerrilla Red Dragon Squadron to fight in China.
• "Origin of the Blue Tracer" -- American engineer Wild Bill helps create a spectacular war machine to fight fascists in Ethiopia.
• "Episode with a Goat" -- Archie Atkins, Desert Scout, joins up with a billy goat to help save his battalion. 
• "Enlisting the Hard Way" -- Colonel Sam Shot and Slim Shell team up to stop a Nazi plot in this humorous episode.
• "The Coming of the Yankee Eagle" -- Jerry Noble and Sam (the Yankee Eagle, a real egle, mind you) stop a group of Nazi spies who have embedded themselves in the U.S. military.
• "Origin of the Death Patrol" -- Created by comics legend Jack Cole, this is the first episode of The Death Patrol.
• "The Origin of Miss America" -- Reporter Joan Dale is given special powers by the Statue of Liberty to become the superhero Miss america.  Guess which side she fights for?
• "Sink the Kaiser Adolf" -- The "Q Boat," a four-masted schooner that is much more than it appears, is under the command of Captain Foghorn and has a crew of young boys (Bob, Dick, and Freckles) are more than a match for a new German battleship.

Enjoy this historic issue.

http://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=14463

MUSIC FROM THE PAST: TRY A LITTLE TENDERNESS

Otis Redding.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnPMoAb4y8U

FORGOTTEN BOOK: SPACIAL DELIVERY

Spacial Delivery by Gordon R. Dickson (1961)


Poor John Tardy!  The one-time Olympian and current bio-chemist was on his way to join a government exploration on McBanen's Planet when he was drafted and diverted to Dilbia, an out-of-the-way plant that is important to both Earth and the Hemnoid Empire, a rival civilization, as a potential supply and refueling station for expansion beyond the Belt Stars.  Ever loyal to Earth, Tardy wonders what Dilbia needs with a bio-chemist.  Slowly he begins to realize that he is not needed for his scientific skills but as a political sacrificial lamb.

The natives of Dilbia are a large, bipedal, rustic, bear-like race.  When I say large, I mean LARGE.  They are a fierce -- sometimes cruel -- race with a strange code of ethics.  Quick to take offense, they revel in one-on-one combat -- a good, old-fashioned fight without the sissy stuff, like weapons.   (Think Robert E. Howard's Breckinridge Elkins, only larger, with fur.  Think also of Dickson and Poul Anderson's Hokas gone bad -- and bigger.)

A very fierce Dilbian named Streamside Terror wanted to marry Boy Is She Built but Joshua Guy, the Ambassador Plenipotentiary convinced (for reasons that we will soon realize) Old Shaking Knees (Boy I She Built's father) to refuse the marriage.  In retaliation against Guy, Streamside Terror has kidnapped sociologist Ty Lamorc, known to the Dilbians as Greasy Face.  Tardy's mission is to get Miss Lamorc from Streamside Terror and return her to the capitol.  What wasn't mentioned was, in order to do this, Tardy must fight Streamside Terror -- a fight in which he would certainly be killed.  Of course, once the Terror kills Tardy, he would most likely consider his revenge had been taken and would release the girl.  Problem solved.  Easy peasy.

To complicate matters, the Hemnoids are busy trying to sabotage (by this I mean torture and kill) Tardy and they have recruited Boy Is She Built, who just wants to bash in Tardy's brains and be done with it.

Dilbia is a rough mountainous world with little or no available transportation.  So, how to get Tardy to Streamside Terror and the kidnapped sociologist?  One of the few things Dilbia has going for it is a dedicated mail service so Ambassador Guy decides to mail Tardy to Streamside Terror.  Tardy gets put in Hill Bluffer (the mailman's) bag and off they go.

Spacial Delivery is an amusing, internally consistent, old-fashioned science fiction romp.  By no means is it a major work, but it is fun and a good example of Dickson's early writings.  The book was originally published as one half of an Ace Double (with Dickson's Time to Teleport) and was based on an earlier story "The Man in the Mailbag" (Galaxy Magazine, April 1959).  Dickson returned to Dilbia with Spacepaw (1969) and the 1969 novelette "The Law-Twister Shorty" (The Many Worlds of Science Fiction, edited by Ben Bova, 1971).  The two novels and the 1971 novelette were published in The Right to Arm Bears, an omnibus published in 2000.

UNDERAPPRECIATED MUSIC: ANCESTORS OF ROCK AND ROLL

Yep, rock and roll is here to stay -- it will never die.  But it took a long while birthing.  You may recognize them as such but here are some of the antecedents, from 1922 to 1936, to a great musical genre.


1922 -- Trixie Smith, "My Man Rocks Me (with One Steady Roll)"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHtSz4BooMA


1925 -- Papa Charlie Jackson, "Shake That Thing"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNW-2BiGs44


1926 -- Blind Lemon Jefferson, "Black Snake Moan"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kic5rUrvv08


1927 -- Uncle Dave Macon and His Fruit Jar Drinkers, "Sail Away" and "Rock About My Saro Jane"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqpP6zNuAXE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXqk2mPtPo0


1927 -- Jim Jackson, "Kansas City Blues"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMBO2Sb_91k


1928 -- Tampa Red and Georgia Tom, "It's Tight Like That"

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


1928 -- Pinetop Slim, "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6dPdfXZVI8


1929 -- Blind Roosevelt Graves, "Crazy About My Baby"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56rjRNQ1fPY


1930 -- Jimmie Rogers (with Louis Armstrong on cornet and Lil Armstrong on piano), "Standing on the Corner (Blue Yodel No. 9)"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BFbY9Vw8DM


1932 -- Washboard Rhythm Kings, "Tiger Rag"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkW7osPfonU


1934 -- Austin Coleman and Joe Washington Brown, "Good Lord Run (O Jeremiah)"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkxeB0gcLyA


1936 -- Harlem Hamfats, "Oh! Red"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2heVEC2djCE

MUSIC FROM THE PAST: LET'S STAY TOGETHER

Al Green.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COiIC3A0ROM

OLD-TIME RADIO: THE KING IN YELLOW

For the safety of your smile, use Pepsodent.

For the safety of just about everything else, call on Philip Marlowe.

Van Heflin stars as Raymond Chandler's iconic private eye in this episode of The Adventures of Philip Marlowe.  King Leopoldi, a trumpet player for "The Pepsodent Hour," is found murdered clad only in yellow silk pajamas.  Although yellow was his trademark color, the pajamas were not his.  Philip Marlowe is on the case.

Chandler's original story was first published in the March 1938 issue of Dime Detective, with the detective named Steve Grayce; the name was changed to Marlowe when the story appeared in book form in Chandler's 1945 paperback collection Five Sinister Characters.  The title harks back to Robert W. Chambers' classic 1895 supernatural collection The King in Yellow.

The Adventures of Philip Marlowe (as it was named then) ran from June 17, 1947 to September 9, 1947, as a summer replacement for The Pepsodent Show Starring Bob Hope.  Eight, perhaps nine shows, were aired.The show, now titled The New Adventures of Philip Marlowe, next appeared on CBS radio and ran from September 26, 1948 to September 29, 1950 for 114 episodes.  Gerald Mohr replaced Heflin in the title role.  By 1949 the show had the largest audience in radio.

"The King in Yellow" (July 8, 1947) was the fourth episode featuring Van Heflin to be aired.  The show was adapted for radio by Milton Geiger.  The announcer was Wendell Niles.  Lyn Murray composed the music and conducted the orchestra.  Gerald Mohr (who would take over as Marlowe in 1948) evidently played King Leopoldi, the title character of the episode and the first murder victim.  

Raymond Chandler has little to do with the radio show and declined having script approval, which may explain in part why he was less than impressed with the Van Heflin series.

From a time when radio wasn't very hard-boiled, here's a hard-boiled private eye story.

Enjoy.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2SdUdgeSMI