ROAD TRIP

 The blog will be quiet for the next few days while we journey to Birmingham for the 30-day checkup on Kitty's heart valve replacement.

HYMN TIME

 From 2004, CASTING CROWNS.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVYSQBGxv1c&list=PLNjwS3yjZIAAP2sPCyP1UTUknnhj-55PZ

BOB STEELE WESTERN #5 (AUGUT 1951)

 Round up all your little buddie, kiddies, and gather 'round the campfire..  It' time for two --count 'em, TWO! -- of almost nobody's favorite western hero, the rip-snortin' Bob Steele!  You don't have to thank me now, but I will be passing the plate at the end/

Enjoy.

https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=82678&comicpage=&b=i

FORGOTTEN BOOK: TERROR ON PLANET IONUS

 Terror on Planet Ionus by Allen A. Adler (originally published under the title  Mach I:  A story of the Planet Ionus, 1957, as Allen Adler [no middle initial]; reprinted as Terror on the Planet Ionus, [with the author's middle initial])

I read so you don't have to, and in this case some of you my thank me.

Imagine a very bad 1950s science fiction flick -- the "B-side," if you will, of a drive-in double header.  Then lower your expectations.  That, in a nutshell is this book.

Don't take my word for it.  Here's what P. Schuyler Miller wrote when he reviewed the book for Astounding:   "another Hollywood script in word and scene...no originality but some visualization..."

Damn Knight, a far more severe critic, had harsher words:  "the use of the word 'planet' as an adjective has always been a sure tip-off of grotesque ingnorance in the field...it is a half-heartedly 'novelized' screen story,,,the blank-faced characters stand up and speak their lines woodenly, without any perceptible motivation; characterization, explanation, depth of any kind there is none...it is incredibly, stupidly, loathsomely bad.  The science double-talk is not only meaningless but incoherent, the description has the frantic and addled art (and the idiot prurience) of a comic book story..."

Okay.  So what is Mach 1?  Well is a super-secret, super-charged torpedo boat , loaded with atomic weapons that can easily pass through any waters smoothly and do so beyond the speed of sound.  (Mach 1, remember?)  It is the world's deadliest offensive weapon and the pet project of Admiral Buchanan, the man who developed it and the only person who understands exactly what it is (Mach1, remember?)  Buchanan is a monomaniacal anal retentive who feel that the only good Russian is a dead one. And who are the other cardboard figures in this book?  There's Navy Lt. Commander Jeb Curtis, the arrogant, sexist, rebellious pilot of the Mach 1 and one of two men trying to put his moves on fictional eye-candy Lieutenant Jani Knight, young, beautiful, talented, sexually repressed.  The other man interested in Janis is Martin Edmur, but he is too shy and self-conscious to proclaim his love.  Edmur is the very young electrodynamics genius who discovered "oscillating current," the power behind the Mach 1.  (Oscillating current differs from direct and alternating currents in ways that are explained by scientific gobbledegook,)  Buchanan's aide (or perhaps the second-in-command -- it's not really clear) is Commander Shawn, a by-the-book career man with a major ego problem; Shawn hates Jed Curtis because of the latter's arrogant ways.  Later in the book Senator Collins, a young, level-headed, very un-political man.  There are other important characters but I'll get to them in a minute.

It is the day of the big test for the Mach 1.  Despite Shawn's objections, Buchanan had chosen Jeb Curtis to pilot the ship.  A message reaches Buchanan that the main tracking station on San Nicolas Island is getting unexplainable radio interference and is standing down as a precaution.  Nothing can interfere with Buchanan's pet project so he sends Martin and Janis to the island to fix whatever the problem is.  In the meantime, Buchanan declares the test a go.

As the pilot and sole passenger on the Mach 1, Curtis is amazed at it's power.  His orders are to pilot the ship the ship to a specified location, turn (while at supersonic speed), go to another location, the go to San Nicolas Island to pick up the rest of his crew.  The Mach 1 will then cross the Pacific.  As he zooms across the ocean, he leaves his jet escorts far behind, although he is still being tracked by a number of radar installations.  Suddenly the Mach 1 dies.  No power, no radio,  He sees a giant, gelatinous mass coming toward him from the air.  The mass coalesces in a large clamshell shaped vehicle, an alien spacecraft that swallows the Mark 1.

Curtis finds himself in a strange multi-colored area with apparently no walls or corners.  Voices tell him not to be afraid, he will not harmed.  H sees vague, humanlike figures behind one colored curtain.  The aliens "adjust" him so he could enter through the color.  There is a pretty nifty alien woman with strange eyes and multicolored hair.  Her name is Keesa.  Her race is called the Grid.  She takes him to a male named Kalphon, who tells Curtis that there is a powerful evil. Karkong, that is capable of obliterating Earth, as well as his own planet.  And they need Curtis's help.  The space ship, called the Mass, heads for their own planet Ionus, which we eventually learn is one of Saturn's moons.

Just before this happened, however, a powerful storm unexpectedly hit San Nicolas Island while Janis was alone in a newly constructed hut.  The hut is destroyed and Janis loses consciousness, waking up to find herself on the Mass.  Janis and Curtis reunite on the ship.    They also meet Kimian, Karthom's son and the last-born of their race; as such, he is considered a treasure belonging to the Grid as a whole.  The arrive on Ionus and take an elevator through thirty feet of frozen methane to reach  their city.  Janus and Curtis are brought before the Grid Patriarch Kal.  (The Grid -- or perhaps the author -- have a thing for "K" names.)

Now for a bit more exposition.  Despite being humanlike with strange hair and eyes, the Grid are filled with oscillating current, something that must be discharged on a regular basis or dire consequences will result, such as Karkong, who had been a grid who did not discharge his oscillating current and then grew to an energy-eating monster.  Karkong had destroyed most of Ionus and many of its people in his appetite for energy, even to devouring the last bit of vegetation on the moon's surface (on a methane-ice planet, no less!).  The underground (under-ice?) city has some defenses that are keeping Karkong from breaching it, but those defenses are weakening.  The Grid are absolute pacifists and refuse to try to kill Karkong.  Rather, their plan is to get the secrets of nuclear power from Earth and use that power to constantly feed the monster so it would not attack them.  As plans go, that's pretty much at the bottom of the heap, methinks.

Because this is coincidence theater, Karkong manages to breach the city while Janis, Curtis, and the Special Ks are together.  They all mange to escape in the Mass and head to Earth.  On Earth, however, hellzapoppin'.  Buchanan has no idea what happened to his precious ship.  It just vanished and suspicious minds are blaming Curtis, who now pilots the ship back to Earth while the Mass and its occupants hover in space, undetected by radar.  Curtis tries to convince his superiors of the approaching danger (did I mention that Karkong is following the trace of oscillating current that Janis and Curtis were exposed to?), but officials believe he is either insane or a traitor so they lock him up in a military jail in San Diego.  Karkong the lands in San Diego and begins eating, destroying everything in a 100-yard wide swarth.

So Curtis is released.  The Grid and Janis join him and Karkong continues on his path of destruction, growing larger and larger.  Foreign countries want to blast the monster with atomic weapons but can't agree on where to strike.  Martin comes up with a plan that involves cutting all power from North America except for at Hoover Dam.  Curtis in the Mach 1, would come up underneath the creature where its weak spot is (how they know this I can't explain) and shoot the beast down.  It may have worked but at the last minute, three Russian jet fighters approach and fire atomic weapons at Karkong.  The Russian planes and crew are toast and Karkong has now got an appetite for atomic power.  Countries across across the world have been powering down their atomic weapons (physics be damned!) but one country that has been slow in doing so and that is Russia.  Admiral /Buchanan sees nothing wrong with Karkong eating the Soviets, but wiser heads disagree.  A last-ditch effort is made to destroy Karkong with the Mach 1.

People die.  All this nonsense ends with the final period on page 161.

Here's a description of Karkong, who is over a mile wide near the book's finale:  "Karkong stood reeling on the lifeless rock of a small, barren island.  The illuminating flashes of lightning were outlining a monstrous figure over thirty feet high.  It stood in the center of its shattered field and it seemed to be clawing at the lightning.  The thing's form was that of a human giant that had been burned black by its own heat.   The powerful muscles of its body were partially melted so that the tendons ran like tree roots from arms to chest, from legs to groin.  Even its huge hands had been seared to webs and one foot was shaped like a charred elephant's, as though it had served as a ground for its electrical discharges.  It was completely hairless and it face was a black putty lump of melted flesh.  An ebony, tar-like substance oozed from its depthless eye pits as it did from its twisted mouth."  Wouldn't a special effects department have fun making that?

There is a reason why this reads like a B-movie script.  The author, Allen Adler (1916-1964) came from a theatrical family.  His father was a stage manager and his grandfather was a major star in Yiddish theater.  He owned a New York theater at age 21, presented touring opera companies, and produced a revival of The Front Page.    He "has written both original stories and screenplays for films."  A quick note:  IMDb lists only two credits:  with Irving Block, Allen (both without screen credit) provided the original story for the screenplay for Forbidden Planet (1956) -- no mention that the orignal story was Shakespeare's The Tempest; and the (again uncredited, with Robert Abel) story for 1959's The Giant Behemoth.  Somewhere long the line, he also wrote for Ripley's Believe It or Not!  Allen evidently got caught up in the "second red scare" and was blacklisted.  He died from unspecified causes at age 47, leaving a wife and two children.

So there you have it.  A mess of a novel.  A 50s drive-in science fiction movie for the printed page.  A total disaster.  But...

But.

I reverted to my thirteen-year-old self and tore through this book at a rapid pace, completely suspended my disbelief.  

Or, let's go back to P. Schuyler Miller:  "It's oddly fascinating, crude as it is -- but the I fascinate easy and repent later."

If there is a thirteen-year-old somewhere in side of you, you might want to give this one a try.  While holding your nose.  

THE BLUE BEETLE: SABOTAGE AND LIQUIDATION (MAY 16, 1940)

 The Blue Beetle began in 1939 as a comic book feature in Mystery Men.  Following its debut it became a feature comic strip. and in 1940 made its way to the radio.  Dan Garret is a cop who is frustrated by bureaucracy and turn to wearing special armor deigned by a friend.  Garret becomes The Blue Beetle and criminal better beware!

A a radio program, The Blue Beetle did not last long -- just 48 episodes 13 minutes long.  Here's an early 2-part episode from May 16, 1940.  Frank Lovejoy took the tarring role early in the series only to be replaced by uncredited actors.

The Blue Beetle has had a longer life in comic book than on radio.  First published by Fox Feature Syndicate, it ran for 60 issues.  Charlton Comics then reprinted several of the adventures, but they had not bought the rights to the character, only some old plates.  In 1964 Charlton revised the character, changing his last name to Garrett (two Ts) and significantly altering his backstory -- essentially making him a new character.  The Blue Beetle showed up from Americomics and the DC, where he became Ted Kord, a former student of Dan Garrett.  DC eventually passed the mantle on to Jaime Reyes, a Texas teenage.  Jaime hooked up with the Teen Titans.  Jamie's last appearance was in 2013, but in comic book world characters can be revived at a drop of the hat, so don't count The Blue Beetle out yet.

Enjoy Frank Lovejoy as The Blue Beetle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyKpidhq0kY

SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: WHITE CARNATIONS

 "White Carnations" by "Q. Patrick " (pseudonym of Richard Wilson Webb and Hugh Callingham Wheeler) (first published in Colliers, February 10, 1945; reprinted in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine #25, November 1945, in John Creasy Mystery Magazine, April 1958, and in Suspense (UK), January 1959)

Lt. Timothy Trant made his debut in the 1937 novel Death for Dear Clare.  This, plus the following two novels were published under the "Q. Patrick" pseudonym; the remaining five novels in the series were written as "Patrick Quentin" -- two of which also features "Quentin" 's most famous detective, theatrical producer Peter Duluth.  The character also appeared in 23 short stories, plus five of the novels abridged for magazine publication under the "Quentin" by-line.

Trant is a Princeton-educated police lieutenant in New York City's Homicide Department;  it was his "passionate interest in the less orthodox behavior of human behavior which had deflected Timothy Trant, Princeton '35, from a solid business career into the police force."  I can only assume it was his ability to allow him to reach this position in such a short time.  Many of Trant's short story appearances involved quick little puzzles that confound all but himself -- sixteen of them appeared in the Sunday newspaper supplement This Week.  

"White Carnations" brings a beautiful girl from Trant's past to his office.  Nine years before, back in his college days, he once danced with her at a prom.  He specifically remembered her white evening gown with very little back and that she waltzed superbly,  Angela Forrest entered Trant's office carrying a bunch of white carnations.  She was obviously frightened.  Today was her birthday, she told Trant some one had anonymously sent her the carnations and she feared that she was marked for death, as had happened to two other family member.

It was a tradition that the family gather for a birthday celebration dinner for whoever's birthday it was.  Her Uncle John had died on his birthday six month before, shot with his own revolver.  Angela had arrived at the house first that evening and discovered the body lying among scattered white carnations knocked over from a nearby vase.  The police deemed it suicide and Angela accepted that verdict even though her uncle had never liked flowers.  Then, in February, her aunt had died of carbon monoxide poisoning on her birthday.  She had received white carnations from an unknown source.  The police seemed to think it was just an accident.  Two deaths, two birthdays, two bunches of white carnations...Trant was intrigued.  The aunt had died outside of Trant's jurisdiction but the investigating officer was a friend.  Calling him, Trant learned that his friend suspected murder but could not prove it.

Angela's father had been very wealthy.  His estate went in equal shares to Angela, his siblings, and their children.  If anyone died, their money would be divided among the remaining heirs.  Money is always a good motive for murder.  Angela's remaining family consisted of three cousins and an aunt.  Cousin Philip was an unsuccessful broker and a very successful alcoholic, twin cousins Lucy and Bertram were ardent and eccentric research chemists, and maiden Aunt Ellen (a "holy horror") was a disagreeable, pushy woman with a cat allergy.

It was decided that Trant would attend the birthday gathering as Angela's old friend from Princeton.  Angela's family was as terrible as promised.  After dinner there was peach brandy.  When Angela brought her glass up to her mouth, she hesitated slightly.  Trant immediately switched glasses with her.  Angela's glass smelled just a little bit off, with a faint scent of bitter almonds.  Circumstances had it that anyone could have poisoned Angela's drink.  With the murder attempt foiled, Trant felt it would be safe for Angela to retire for the night and lock her door.  he felt sure he could name the murderer when he returned the next morning.

Trant's confidence was shaken later that night when he remembered seeing Angela's cat playing  with a catnip mouse.  Suddenly he realized that the murders may continue.  Desperately, he rushed to Angela's just in time to stop the last murder and capture the culprit.

This is a fair play detective tale.  The clues are there for all to see but the authors do a yeoman's job in pacing red herrings and mystifying the reader.  Good stuff.

"Q. Patrick" had a somewhat varied background.  The pen name was first used by Richard Wilson Webb and Martha Mott Kelly, then by Webb and Mary Louise Aswell, then by Webb alone.  In 1936 Webb partnered with Hugh Callingham Wheeler and the started a prodigious output as "Q. Patrick" (mainly Timothy Trant novels), "Patrick Quenton" (the Peter Duluth novels), and :Jonathan Stagge (featuring Dr. Hugh Westlake, a G.P. in rural Pennsylvania).  The partnership ended in 1952 with Webb's death.  Wheeler then continued to write eight more novels under the "Patrick Quentin" name.  Wheeler then went on to great success as a playwright with such hits as We Have Always Lived in the Castle, A Little Night Music, Candide, Pacific Overtures, and Sweeney Todd:  The Demon Barber of  Fleet Street.  Wheeler garnered two Tonys, three New York Drama Critics Circle awards, a Vernon Rice award, and a Hull-Warriner award.

The Edgar-winning short story collection The Ordeal of Mrs, Snow and Other Stories (1961) is a must-read, as are the Peter Duluth novels.

The November 1945 issue of EQMM that contains "White Carnations" is available to read online/

OVERLOOKED FILM: INNER SANCTUM (1948)

 Harold Dunlop (Charles /Russell) has accidently killed his fiance,  No one saw him do it but after he drops the body on a railroad platform, a young boy (Dale Belding, probably best known as Danny, one of Ma and Pa Kettle's kids) notices him and can place him at the scene.  A flood has washed out the bridge, isolating the town, so Dunlop goes to a boarding house.  This happens to be where the boy lives and he thinks he recognizes the new border.  What to do?  Try to kill the boy, of course.  Also staying at the boarding house is eye candy Jean Maxwell (Mary Beth Hughes).  

A suspenseful noir film directed by Lew Landers and scripted by Jerome T. Gollard.  Russell and Hughes are supported by a great cast of familiar faces, including Billy House (no relation), Fritz Leiber (Sr.), Nana Bryant, Lee Patrick, Roscoe Ates, Eddie Parks, Eve Miller, and Bert Stevens.

Yes, the film did have to get permission from Simon & Shuster to use the Inner Sanctum title.

Enjoy:

https://archive.org/details/Inner_Sanctum_movie