HYMN TIME

 A Medieval battle hymn.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAy1bJQkNnU

CLAIRE VOYANT TIMES TWO!

In the world of 1940s comics, there were two characters named Claire Vloyant.  The first was the original Black Widow from Timely (later Marvel) Comics.  Created by George Kaapitan and Harry SAhle for Mystic Comics #4 (August 1940), Claire Voyant was a samll-time medium who was possessed by Satan to place a curse on the Wagler family.  James Wagler, hoeveer, survives and shoots, Claire killing hrrt.  Stan swoops down and carries Claire's body to Hell, where he resurrects her as the immortall Black Widow.  The Black Widow is tasked with killing evil-doers to bring them to Hell; this she does by nerely touching them in the head aand leaving a mark of the black widow spider.  Before she on her murderous spree for Satanm, hiowever, he agrees to allow her have her vengeance on James Wagler.

This version of the Black Widow appeared in four storie only in the 40s,  Claire then appears 51 years later in a brief flashback in Marvels (January 1994), and in another flashbeck in Marvel Knights Spider-Man #9 (February 2005).  In 2008, she appeaars as part of an emsemble cast in tweve issues of The Twelve, and in the one-shot The Twelve Spearhead.  In the anthology Marvel, she brings the Red Skull to Hell to marry her.

I have not been able  to locate any of these issues on the internet, buyt heere is a detailed rundown of the character and her adventures:

https://comicsarcheology.com/index.php/2024/02/14/mystic-comics-4-black-widow/

The second Claire Voyant appeared in a newspaper strip by Jack Sparling from 1943 to  1948; some of her adventures were reprinted in four issues of Claire Voyant from Leader Enterprises in the late 40s.  This Claire Voyant was a recording artist and nightclub singer who had a missing gap of two years in her memory.  Originally a chorus girl named Luyn Hall. the USO ship she was in waa torpedoes in 1943 and she was given upo for dead; two years later, she was found wandering in aa Hong Kong airport, dazed and with no memory of what had happened.  When she arrived back in New York, she was "discovered" by Roger Timberly, a millionaire playboy producer.  Given the stage name Claire Voyant, she became an overnight sensation with a hit recording "I Had That Dream Again."  We later kearn that during her missing two years, she and three sailors led an amazing rescue of a seven-year-old girl from a Japanese prison camp...

Here, from 1947, is Claire Voyant #2, a decidedly non-supernatural Claire:

https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=76358

FORGOTTEN BOOKS: TWELVE FOR OCTOBER

Here are some more books -- an even dozen this time -- that can be prime reading fot this Halloween month:

• "Eugene Ascher" (Harold Ernest Kelly),There Were No Asper Ladies.  An unusual vampire story.  The first of the Lucan Carolus occult detective stories.  a hard-tofind paperback from Britain's Mitre press, first published in 1943 and reprinted in 1947.  (Copies of the first edition have been listed at $750.)  The second edition was published in 1947 or 1948 (records are scant; some remainders were shipped to America, but many book distrubutors were on strike then).  Two further editions appeared, both under the title To Kill a Corpse. first in 1959 from World Distributors, then in 1965 from Consul Books.  To say it is difficult to find is an understatement.  I'm still looking for a copy.
• John Blackburn, Children of the Night (1966).  The small English voillage of Dunstonhome has been the scene of mysterious tragedis, dating back to the 1300s, when a set of Christian heretics known as the Children of Paul were involved in a bloody massaacre.  Mining disasters, railway accidents, shipwrecks, and other terrible happenings have taken their toll.  Now, a string of suspicious deaths have locals on edge.  Blackburn was the author of 28 thrillers and was called "today's master of horror" by the Times Liteerary Suppliment.  His best-known book was probably The Scent of New-Mown Hay.
• Fredric Brown, The Miond Thing (1961),  A figitive from another world takes possession of mind afet mind in an attempt to find one that will help him get home.
• John Dcikson Carr, The Burning Court (1937).  The master of the locked room impossible crine melds a contemporary crime with wirchcraft with stunning results.  A classic.
• John Collier, Fancies and Goodnights (1965).   A collection of fifty short stories, many taken from the author's previous collections Presenting Moonshine and A Touch of Nutmeg,  The stories range from light fantasy to outright horror.  Winner of the first International Fantaasy Award and an /Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America.
• Charrles G. Finney, The Circus of Dr. Lao (1935).  A very special circus with very special animals and displays.  You p[robably have never reaad anything like this witty, penetrating, and sometimes scary novel.  Be sure to check out the book's appendix.
• Edward Gorey, Amphigory. (1972).  A colletion of fifteen short illustrateed books first published between 1953 and 1965 by Gorey.  Strange beasts, doleful children, murderous happenings, Edwardian weirdness...all as only Gorey could present them.  Contents ionclude The Unstrung Harp, The Listing Attic, The Doubtful Guest, The Object Lesson, The Bug Book, The fatal Lozenge, The Hapless Child, The Curious Sofa, The Willowdale Handcar, The Gashlycrumb Tinies, The Insect God, The West Wing, The Wuggly Ump, The Sinking Spell, and The Remembered Visit.  And be sure to check out Amphigorey Too (1975),  Amphigory Also (1983), and Amphigorey Again (2006).
• Russell Greenan, It Happened in Boston? (1968).  An unreliable narrator's goal in life is to meet God and destroy Him.Paranoia abounds and we are not to sure what really happened in Boston.  A brilliant look at the nature of art and madness.
• Shirley Jackson, The Road Through the Wall (1948).  A mainstream novel.  Jackson's first book, and a terrifying loook at suburbia.  Did the outcast teen bluidgeon to death the three-year-old girl who was beloved by entire neighborhood?
• Alexander Lsing, The Cadaaver of Gideon Wyck (1934).  In a small maine town, the brilliant and cruel Dr. Gideon Wyck perfroms an unnecessary oamputation on one of his patients, who now complains that black devils are trying to steal his soul.  All further editions until 2016 of this noted weird novel were bowdlerized.
• George Lanning, The Pedestal (1966).  There's an object lesson here:  never buy something impulsively at an auction.  George and Eleanor bought the ix-foot pedestal they thought would look good in their living room.  "Soon thereafter clicking scraping, thudding noises were heaard in the darkness of the night and scratches were found on the well-polished floor.  Soon the nocturnal noises would darken the lives of the Baydens with a hellborn horror neither could have imagined."
• Joe R. Lansdale, Riders of the Worm and Such (1995).  Weird western graphic novel featurng bounty hunter Jonah Hex from DC Comics.  Hex fights a Cthuloid monsster and giant man-eating worms under the control of the Autumn brothers -- two creatures born after an ancient Planarian worm raped a human woman.  Buckle yourselves in for a wild ride:  this is stange as only Lansdale could make it.  Art by Tim Truman.

I'll return with a further list of October books next week.

SUSPENSE: THE DUNWICH HORROR (NOVEMBER 1, 1945)

How about some H. P. Lovecradt as we get closer to Halloween?

Ronald Colman stars in this adaptation of HPL's "The Dunwich Horror," which Wilbur Whateley, the very odd grandson of the village crackpot wants to get his hands on the university's copy of The Necronomicon, the fabled grimoire written by the mad Arab Abdulk Alhazred.  Does this have anything to do with whatever Whateley is keeping locked in his bran, and is feeding blood to?

Also featuring Brett Morrison and a cast of uncredited voice actors.

Enjoy this little bit of gooseflesh.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9capIHG2jE

SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: PAT PENDING'S PERISCOOP

"Pat Pending's Periscoop" by Nelson Bond, (from The Blue Book Magazine. January 1943)

Nelson Slade Bond (1908-2006) is primarily remembered for his science fiction  and fantasy stories.  He worked in the public relations field until he realized that he could make more money writing fiction.  Much of his early work were stories for the sports pulps, but he soon gained attention for his science fiction tale "Mr. Mergenthwerker's Lobblies," which has been adapted for radio at least six times and ran as a radio series in 1938; the story was also televised at least three time and spawned three additional stories about the lobblies.  Other series by Bond included stories about spaceman Lancelot Biggs  and about Meg the Priestess -- who was one of the first powerful female characters on science fiction.  Other popular characters include Horsesense Hank (the Scientific Pioneer), Squaredeal Sam McGhee, and  hapless inventor Pat Pending; lesser-known characters included Chip Warren and Jessifer; newspaper reporter and amateur detective Anne Rogers was a radio character created by Bond for Hot Copy (1941-1944).   Bond's work was featured regularly in The Blue Book Magazine, one of them premiere fiction magazines of the time.  Bond also was active scripting for radio and television.  Bond retired from writing in the late Fifties and opened his own public relations firm; he later became an antiquarian bookseller.  A philatelist, Bond served on the Board of Governors/Board of Directors of the British North American Philatelic society and published aa book on  the postal stationary of Canada.  A correspondent with author James Branch Cabell, Bond was briefly Cabell's literary  executor.  In 1998 Bond was named an Author Emeritus by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.

From Jess Nevins:  "Pat Pending is an Unlucky Inventor whose creations are ingenious but also lead him into various adventures, often with his Russian counterpart, Regis Patoff.  Pending is assisted by Don Mallory, a clerk in the U.S. Patent Office."  "Pat Pending's Periscoop" was the second of twelve published adventures.

"The famous inventor of the amazing Bacular Clock makes an even more soul-shaking discovery." 

Donald Mallory receives a telegram from Pat Pending, "a big red-haired, buck-tooth gawk with a face like the map of Eire." urging him to come at once to his secret location.  Pending had vanished shortly after inventing the bacular clock -- one that turned back time -- and used it to stop a train wreck, saving hundreds of young American soldiers.  Moments after arriving three Germans broke into the house and pulled guns on Pending and a cute Western Union employee, Susan Ross, demanding Pending's latest invention, while Mallory was in the upstairs bathroom getting something for Pending.   Mallory managed to knock out two of the men and he and Pending grabbed their guns and held them on the third.  Soon all three Nazis were tied up.  Pending, of course, knew exactly what was going to happen, which is why he sent Mallory to the bathroom when he did.  Pending had seen it all the day before, using his latest invention, the periscoop, which shows what's going on at a certain place at a certain time twenty-four hours later. 

But there was a fourth Nazi, Eric von Bummschmell, waiting outside.  Wondering hat took his companions so long, he entered and got the drop in Pending, Mallory, and the girl, forcing Pending to show him how to operate the periscoop.  (The way the periscoop works is really very simple:  "It's motulation is based on the constantibility of tempuosity.  An electricaceous magnitulation disrupterizes the dimensular controvenive creatinga hnyperstacity of scopables."  Easy peasy.)  Pending focused the machine on Talu island in the Aleutians where American forces had just (will just) be obliterated by Japanese forces.  What von Bummschmell did not count on was Pat Pending's cleverness and the International Date Line...Ipso facto, all ends well.

Only four of the twelve Pat Pending stories have been reprinted; six of the stories are available in the original magazines on Internet Archive of Luminist Archive; leaving four of the stories currently unavailable.  I doubt if I am the only one who wishes that all twelve stories were available in a single volume.  I wonder if any small press publisher is listening?

The Pat Pending series:

• The Bacular Clock  (The Blue Book Magazine*, July 1942; reprinted in Mr. Merganthwirker's Lobblies and Other Fantastic Tales, 1946)
• Pat Pending's Periscoop  (The Blue Book Magazine*, January 1943)
• Miracular and Importulant   (The Blue Book Magazine*, April 1943)
• The Masked Marvel (also features Bond's character Squaredeal Sam McGee)  (The Blue Book Magazine, December 1943; reprinted in The Far Side of Nowhere, 2002)
• Pat Pending's Invisibelt  (The Blue Book Magazine**, January 1944)
• Pat Pending Returns  (The Blue Book Magazine, June 1945)
• Magnifular and Marvaceous  (The Blue Book Magazine, April 1946)
• The Greater Gizmo  (The Blue Book Magazine, May 1946)
• Pat Pending -- Detectivator!  (The Blue Book Magazine*, October 1946)
• Double Trouble for Pat Pending  (The Blue Book Magazine, April 1947)
• Much Ado About Pending  (The Blue Book Magazine, August 1948; reprinted in Nightmare and Daydreams, 1968)
• Lighter Than You Think  (Fantastic Universe**, August 1957; available on Project Gutenberg. 2009; included in The Science Fiction Megapack:  25 Science Fiction Stories by Masters [e-Book, also published as The First Science Fiction Megapack], edited by John Gregory Betancourt, 2011; included in Light Tales:  Five Short Science Fiction Stories About Light, editor uncredited, 2012; also published in Fantastic Stories Presents:  Science Fiction Super Pack #1, editor uncredited, 2013; also available in Short Science Fiction 48 [audio] from Librivox, 2013; also available in Fantastic Stories Presents The Fantastic Universe Super Pack #3, editor uncredited, 2016)

* Issue available at Internet Archive

* Issue available at Luminist Archive

OVERLOOKED FELINE HORROR: THE CAT CREATURE (1973)

This made-for-television horror flick was a tribute to two horror films of Val Lewton:  Cat People (1942) and The Curse of the Cat People (1944); it even featured actor Kent Smith, who had starred in the Lewton movies.

You can easily tell this movie was made for television by checking out the stars:  Meredith Baxter (Bridget Loves Bernie, Family, Family Ties), David Hedison (Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Five Fingers, Another World), and Gale Sondergaard (whose late career took her to mainly roles in television, including The Best of Everything.  Supporting players included John Carradine (one of the greatest character actors of all time, with 352 IMBd acting credits), Keye Luke (he was Lee Chan -- Charlie's son, Sidekicks, Battle of the Planets, Kung Fu), Stuart Whitman (Cimarron Strip, Superboy, Knott's Landing) Renne Jarrett (Nancy), Kent Smith (in addition to the films mentioned above he had regular roles in Peyton Place and The Invaders).  Also feature were Milton Parsons, John Abbott, Virgil Frye, William Sims, and "Peter Lorre, Jr." (no relation; he was actually Eugene Weingand, who adopted the name without permission and had attempted to have it changed legally but was legally barred from using the name without the genuine Lorre's permission; sadly, the real Lorre died a few months after and Weingand continued to use the name and even claimed to be Lorre's actual son).

The script was written by Robert Bloch, who had a few problems with it.  Originally, the film was meant to be a vehicle for Diahann Carroll, but by the time the script was approved she was no longer available, so Bloch had to rewrite the script.  He was then told that the scripts running time was twelve minute too long and Bloch had to work hard to cut the script tom its running time.  Then, in viewing the rushes, it was discovered that the script was twelve minute too short, and Bloch had figure out how to restore the twelve minutes after the sets had been taken apart to make the film's scheduled air time.

The film was directed by Curtis Harrington (Queen of Blood, Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?, Devil Dog:  The Hound of Hell; Harrington also was known as one of the forerunners to New Queer Cinema).  The movie aired on the ABC Movie of the Week on December 11, 1973.

Appraiser Frank Lucas (Kent Smith) takes an inventory of the estate of a deceased client.   He discovers a sarcophagus with a mummy wearing a gold amulet.  While Lucas was out of the room, the amulet stolen by Jo Sung (Keye Luke), unleashing a thousand years old curse.  Lucas returns to the room and is killed by a black feline the "howls like a jackal."  Sung tries to pawn the amulet at the Sorcerer's Shop, which deals with occult objects, by the owner, Hester Black (Gale Sondergaard) tosses him out.  Lt. Marco (Stuart Whitman) investigates Lucas's murder, with the assistance Roger Edmonds, a professor of archaeology.  A chain of murderous events follows, and a salesgirl named Rena Carter (Meredith Baxter) becomes involved.  At the center of this supernatural mystery is a black cat with glowing green eyes. 

The film has been called an "okay attempt to recreate a Val Lewton 40s mood," and the cast are "on hand to remind you of the B-movie roots."

Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mU5LKvJiA7M

CRYPTIDS AND MONSTERS AND GHOSTS, OH MY!

Some October music...

"Creepy Jackalope Eye" -- Supersuckers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCh0bLxqtHQ

"Cryptid" -- Madilyn Mei

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBbU7AVmRZI

"Chupacabras" -- Super Furry Animals

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

"Kleptomaniacrow" -- Madilyn Mei

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mEfHJ1dHbo

"Monster" -- The Automatic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtGrb3eHSaw

"A Night with the Jersey Devil" -- Bruce Springsteen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6leNRGhOqA

"Nessie" -- The Real McKenzies

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

"Laurie (Strange Things Happen)" -- Dickie Lee

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0N4nyYS5aA

"Cryptid (Mothman)" -- Ratwyfe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDQ7S4NOWlU

"The Eggplant That Ate Chicago" -- Dr. West's Medicine Show and Junk  Band  (Fer not.  ICE and the National Guard are on the case!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmOvQ-GfmK0

"At the Cemetery" -- Madilyn Mei (featuring Cloudkissed)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnibztK8ytY

"The Purple People Eater" -- Sheb Wooley

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jV-E09efRE

"Cryptid" -- ShallowSky

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lU46TlcTIVI

"Monster Mash" -- Bobby "Boris" Pickett

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

"The Mothman Song (Believe in the Power of the Mothman) -- The Paranormal Song Warrior

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