HYMN TIME

From 1926, The Wisdom Sisters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F646oOslREY

THRILLING COMICS #3 (APRIL 1940)

Thrilling Comics, an anthology series, ran for eighty issues from 1940 to 1951, and introduced a number of comic book heroes; the very first issue, for example, brought us Doc Strange (not to be confused with Marvel's Dr. Strange), the second introduced the Woman in Red, the nineteenth, American Crusader, and issue #56 gave us Princess Pantha.

Thrilling Comics #3 introduced its readers to The Ghost, a pulp hero created by G. T. Fleming-Roberts in The Ghost Super Detective (January 1940).  Sometimes known as The Green Ghost, he appeared in 14 original stories from1940 to 1944, seven in that magazine (which was retitled twice during its brief run), and and then in six issues of Thrilling Mystery; the final story was published in Thrilling Detective, but was rewritten to give the character a new name and all mention of The Ghost was dropped.   (Sic transit gloria mundi.)  The comic book Ghost had a much better showing than his pulp magazine counterpart:  he went to appear in 49 more issues of Thrilling Comics and made an appearance in Black Terror.

In this issue we learn the origin of The Ghost.  He's George Chance who was taught magic by yogis in India after his father died.   Arriving in America, he is asked to performance a party that evening, but the host suddenly died, supposedly by suicide, before the part took place.  George smalls a rat and determines to find the truth; in doing so he dons a disguise as The Ghost and vows to dedicate his powers to fighting crime.  The "suicide" is part of a clever and deadly insurance plot by villains Tanko and Trask,  buT they are no match for The Ghost!

Also in this issue:

• Dr. Strange is in the Orient when vital military secrets are stolen.
• The Three Comrades -- Lucky, Books, and Cal -- go into action when German spies steal a book that reveals the location of the treasure of the Aztec King in code.
• It's the Woman in Red versus The Terror as "Death Stalks the Grange," frightening a lonely old ladt.
• The Lone Eagle, the famous American ace, enlists in the British air force to aid democracy.
• The Rio Kid is always on the hunt for adventure and he finds it in an Arizona cowtown.
• And in a juvenile adventure, Marco Polo Jones is panning a trip to the Milky Way.  see, all the poor kids in the world don't have enough milk to drink, so Marco Polo Jones is going to round up all the cows in the Milky Way and bring them home.  Joining him is young Polly (whose mother tells her that milk is good for her) and Snowball, Marco Polo Jones's chauffeur (an offensively Black character).  So off they go in a covered wagon pulled by a winged Pegasus.  This tale is the epitome of twee.

Some winners here, a few turkeys, and one loser.

Enjoy.

https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=102390

FORGOTTEN BOOK: THUNDERHEAD

Thunderhead by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child  (1999)

I've been on a Preston & Child kick for most of this year, having read fifteen of their novels thus far.  Thunderhead was their fifth collaboration and their third standalone novel.  It introduces Nora Kelley, a young assistant professor of archaeology at fictional Santa Fe Archaeological Institute, one of the premiere institutes of its kind in the world.  Nora's father Pat was also a talented archaeologist, although one give to quixotic flights of fancy; he went missing sixteen years before while exploring the remote redrock canyons of Southern Utah, leaving Nora's unstable mother to raise Nora and her younger brother, Skip.  Their mother died six months ago, leaving their abandoned family home in ruins and Skip, who had recently earned his degree in physics, to embark on a fast road to alcoholism and despair.  Despite urgings to sell the property, Nora stubbornly hangs onto it and to memories of better times.

Then Nora receives a letter, mailed five days before, written by her father sixteen years ago to her mother.  Where did the letter come from and who mailed it?  In the letter her father tells of finding an ancient Anasazi trail that led to what he was sure was the fabled city of Quivera -- the lost city of gold and the center of the Anasazi civilization.  could this be true?  Had her father found the perhaps mythical city?  And what had happened to him sixteen years before?

Then when Nora was visiting her ancestral home, she was attacked by two beings?/men? covered in fur and acting like wolves but demanding that Nora give them the letter.  The two were dispersed by a neighbor with a shotgun, but Nora was shaken.  Nora's apartment was then apparently entered:  things were not in their usual place and her dog was missing.  Afraid both for her and her brother and determined to find answers about her father's disappearance and the lost city, she sets out to organize an expedition, which was eventually financed by Ernest Goddard, the Chairman of the Board of the Santa Fe Archaeological Institute.

The expedition, to be led by Nora, would include one of the world's leading geochronologists, one of the country's finest physical anthropologists, a high-end ( and expensive) camp manager and cook, an imaginative scient from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (who had altered a satellite's orbit to use image sensing to locate the Anazasi trail), a cowboy wrangler in charge of the needed horses for the expedition, Dr. Goddard's archaeologist daughter (she had to go along -- this one was a deal-breaker), and Bill Smithback, a cocky journalist hire to record the expedition.

The vast area they we headed to was basically unexplored and unknown -- a huge system canyons and desert, prone to dangerous floods and animals.  It would be hard trek.  The lost city -- if it exists and if they find it -- should be hidden in a steep cliff.  Not much is known about the Anasazi, the native Americans who ruled this land a thousand year ago -- their culture, their religion, their form of government, and even their language is a mystery, unsolved even with the many shards and relics they left behind; their civilization suddenly and mysteriously vanished without a trace about 1500 A.D.

To get the answers she wants, Nora has not only to face the harsh physical landscape, the contrarian members of her expedition, and the dangers of flood and landslides, but also whoever -- or whatever -- wants her to fail.  And are these forces trying to protect the fabled city, or are hoping to gain its riches for themselves?  And there's witchcraft and cannibalistic cults, to boot.

An exciting thriller filled with the fascinating lore and history of the Southwest.

Nora Kelly, went on to be featured in a number of Preston-Child books about FBI Special Agent A.X.L. Pendergast, and graduated in 2019 to her own series of (thus far) five novels.  (SPOILER ALERT:  In the Pendergast series, she eventually marries Bill Smithback, ANOTHER SPOILER ALERT: only to lose him on their first anniversary; Smithback was also a veteran of the Pendergast series, going back to the first novel, Relic.)

Douglas Preston is a journalist who has written ten nonfiction books, many about science and exploration, and a number of these about the American southwest.  He has published seven novels on his own, including the Wyman Ford series and Jennie, which was made into a Disney film, as well as two novels with his daughter Aletheia.

Lincoln Child is the solo author of eight horror and technothriller novels, including the Jeremy Logan series. Three of his solo novels were New York Times bestsellers.  He was a book editor for St. Martin's Press, leaving the company in 1985 when he began a career as a systems analyst.  Since 1995, he has been a full-time writer.  In the mid- to late-eighties, he published five horror anthologies, including three in the Tales of the Dark series.

Together, the pair have written thirty-seven novels, including 23 in the bestselling Pendergast series, five in the Gideon Crew series. five in the Nora Kelly series, and four standalones, most of which were bestsellers.  Their first collaboration, Relic, was filmed in 1997 as The Relic by Peter Hyams and starred Penelope Miller, Tom Sizemore, Linda Hunt, and James Whitmore -- the film was praised by Siskel and Ebert, although many critics disagreed ("brainless monster mayhem...too predictably derivative," "a bad reworking of elements from Aliens, Species, Jaws, and Predator," and "good novel, bad adaptation." and the film turned out to be box office bomb.

Bottom line:  the Preston & Child books are amazingly addictive and Thunderhead is thunderously so (see what I did there?).

YOURS TRULY, JOHNNY DOLLAR: DEATH TAKES A WORKING DAY (FEBRUARY 3, 1950)

Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar aired on CBS Radio from February 18, 1949 to September 30, 1962, featuring private investigator Johnny Dollar investigating unusual insurance claims involving suspicious deaths, possible frauds, missing persons, or other mysterious circumstances.  Each episode was related in flashbacks during a report to the insurance company and carefully notated various business expenses the Johnny incurred.  Investigating insurance claims is a risky business, and Johnny often ended up in personal danger.

Johnny Dollar was first portrayed by Charles Russell (Dick Powell had the role in the pilot back when the show had been provisionally called Yours Truly, Lloyd London [producers quickly changed the title, fearing legal backlash from Lloyd's of London], but opted to go with Richard Diamond, Private Detective instead).  Edmond O'Brien was the second to play the character, from February 1950 to September 1952.  O'Brien -- who would be 101 years old today [Happy Birthday!] -- already had a strong film career with such movies as The Killers, White Heat, and D.O.A., and would go to later films as Shield for Murder, The Barefoot Contessa(winning both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor), and Seven Days in May (winning a Golden Globe and gaining an Academy Award nomination); from 1951, O'Brien regularly appeared in television anthology series and other programs, including starring roles in Johnny Midnight, Sam Benedict, and The Long, Hot Summer.

In "Death Takes a Working Day," O'Brien's first outing as Johnny Dollar, our hero investigates the murder of policy holder Loyal B. Martin, who had been shot in the back twice.  The suspects:  Martin's young wife who married him for the honey, his long-serving housekeeper whose romance with Martin had been shunted aside when he married another, his pecunious brother who may been in love with Martin's wife, and the private detective who was Martin's bodyguard and who may also be in love with the beguiling Mrs. Martin.  In the end, Johnny Dollar submits an expense account totaling $823.

Produce and direct by Jaime del Valle, written by Paul Dudley and Gil Dowd, and featuring the voice talents of Irene Tedrow, Walter Burke, Ted de Cosia, John Boehner, Gene Bates, and Ed Begley.

Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cP5yyk6VXR8&list=PLneoVXdPCzrfDyffrXvlgykS4WVzvv4pa

OVERLOOKED VAMPIRE OATER: THE DEVIL'S MISTRESS (1965)

Looking for cheese?  I've got you covered.

In The Devil's Mistress, a group of outlaws come across a cabin occupied by an old man and his beautiful, silent wife.  Because they're the bad guys, they kill the old man and kidnapped the woman.   And because they're the bad guys the woman turns lout to be a vampire.  There's probably a lesson in there somewhere.

The [production values are bottom of the barrel -- I mean, lower than Manos, the Hand of Fate -- and the acting complements the production values.  in an alternate universe this could have been a nifty film; sadly, we are stuck in this universe.

Featuring nobody important (although I'm sure their mother would disagree):  Joan Stapleton, Robert Gregory, "Forrest Westmoreland" (who was actually Wes Moreland, the film's producer), Douglas Warren, Oren Williams, and Arthur Resley.  Written and directed by Orville Wanzer (whose only other director-writing credit was 1970's George Andrews, a semi-autobiographical mess starring Wanzer as the title character, and -- wouldn't you know it? -- also featuring Wes Moreland).

I offer no apologies for this one.  If you are a fan of really bad movies, you'll like this one.  But if you are a connoisseur of film, I'm lucky you don't have my address.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gI5VCo9oIi4&list=PLrm4jq5dGtLn5X8o3EFOQGm9GtsBW_QiM&index=35

SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: KUDZU

"Kudzu" by Ace Atkins (from Birds of Prey, edited by Harlan Coben & C. J. Box, 2026; also available in Kindle)

Mook and Juanita Briggs were a neat and tidy couple who kept their yard a point of admiration to all who saw it.  Then Mook died; Juanita lasted a few more years and was moved to a home a few towns over before she too passed.  The property passed to their son, Dontell, who rented out portions of the land and left the house to fall into decay.  Now the house was eaten by kudzu which had swallowed the entire building; a portion of the roof had fallen in, the yard was a jungle of weeds, abandoned vehicles, and junk trees; and vultures -- attracted by a parade of dead animals killed on the nearby highway -- kept circling the property.  Then Grady Daniels bought up two hundred acres along the road to develop, with the love holdout being Dontell Briggs.  In Tibbelah County, Mississippi, especially if you were good friends with a County Supervisor, as Briggs was.

Sheriff Quinn Colson was informed by Ole Man Skinner, the head of the County Supervisors, that they had voted to condemn the Briggs place as a firetrap and a nuisance.  Colson was to serve papers on Dontell Briggs to that effect.  Briggs met Colson holding a rifle, stating that his family home was going to torn down.  Quinn had no education and worked in a menial janitorial position at the county high school.  He told Colson that he wrote to the governor and to the president, and they would surely support him when they wrote back.  "This ain't Russia."  The house, he said, was "filled with antiques.  Nice stuff that belonged to Mama.  An old-time church piano and family photo albums.  Yearbooks, keepsakes and shit.  Anyone try to touch that place and I'll shoot them where they stand."  Colson did not bother to tell him that anything left in that place was either ruined or vandalized.

Colson tried to convince Skinner to delay tearing down the building and managed to get a two day reprieve.  He spent part of that time trying to figure out who actually had legal ownership to the property.  There was no local record of Juanita Briggs death and no will appears to have been filed.  Dontell was four years behind in taxes and hadn't registered a car since 1997.  Without any definitive proof of legal ownership, Colson had to let Skinner have his way.

Colson and Skinner went out to the property and were met by a rifle shot through Colson's windshield.  The standoff continued for hours.  Finally, Colson yelled out that he was coming in.  Once inside, he realized why Briggs was so determined to have the home remain standing...

Quinn Colson is a cigar smoking war hero who returned home to Tibbehah County after his uncle, the sheriff died.  What Colson found was a nest of corruption, his hometown swimming in drugs, violence and bad politicians.  He decided to follow his uncle as sheriff to help fix the county.  Colson is a decent man who is trying to do the right thing.  He was introduced in 2011's The Ranger.  to date, there have been eleven novels and several short stories about the popular character, who was inspired by the myth of Buford Pusser.

Ace Atkins (b. 1970) has also written four novels about Nick Travers, an amateur detective, blues historian, and former football player (Atkins had lettered for the Auburn University football team, and his father had been an NFL All Pro football player and coach), ten novels continuing the adventures of Robert B. Parker's Spenser character, two novel featuring Memphis PI Porter Hayes, and four standalone novels.  Atkins has received a number of literary awards and is a member of the Alabama Writers Hall of Fame.

OVERLOOKED JUVENILE DELINQUENTS: THE VIOLENT YEARS (1956)

 It didn't start with The Amboy Dukes but that 1947 novel helped lead the way.  America was soon realizing that its teenagers were disaffected and revolting against societal norms, and that meant big business and big profits.  By the 1950s America was hooked on juvenile delinquents; films such as 1953's The Wild Ones and 1957's Rebel Without a Cause and The Blackboard Jungle were reaping in big money.  Popular novels by Hal Ellson and others, the fear mania against comic books spearheaded by Dr. Fredric Wertham, the unexplained popularity of rock and roll among the younger crowd, the supposed blase attitude among many parents becoming comfortable in their new lifestyles, the plethora of nonfiction warning of the dangers of juvenile gangs -- all this combined into a national juvenile delinquent mania.  Rebels were cool and Hollywood was eager to cash in.

And cash in they did, producing some of the most imaginative and unimaginative dreck committed to film.  Case in point:  The Violent Years, written by an uncredited Ed Wood (he of cashmere sweaters and Plan Nine from Outer Space) and directed by William Morgan (Mr. District Attorney, Heart of the Rio Grande, The Bells of Capistrano -- he returned to directing after a thirteen year gap to direct The vilent Years, his final film).

Former Miss Hollywood and Playboy's October 1955's Playmate of the Month Jean Moorhead (The Amazing Colossal Man, Motorcycle Gang, Attack of the Puppet People -- if she is still alive, she'd be 91) as Paula Parkins, the leader of a gang of juvenile delinquent high school girls.  Among her gang are Theresa Hancock (no other IMDb credits) as Georgia ("George"), Gloria Farr (ditto no other IMDb credits) as Phyllis ("Phil"), and Joanne Cangi (she's also credited in two episodes of 1955's It's a Geat Life as a switchboard operator and a receptionist) as Geraldine ("Jerry").  Local criminal Sheila (Lee Constant, also with no other IMDb credits), a member of the Communist Party, instructs the girls to wreck a local school.  Gerry and Phil are shot and killed as they try to get away and Paula guns down one of the cops.  Paula and George report back to Sheila, who (because she is an untrustworthy Communist, I suppose) tries to turn them over to the cops, but Paula shoots and kills her.  Paula and George try to get away in Sheila's car, but in the ensuing car chase, they crash through a storefront window and George is killed and Paula hopitalized.

Because Paula is a juvenile, she cannot be sentenced to die, but the judge sentences her to life without parole.  And then -- surprise! surprise! -- we learn that Paula is pregnant, perhaps from a man she and the gang raped, or perhaps from lone of their "makeout" parties.  Paula's parents are denied custody of their granddaughter because of the neglectful way they raised Paula.

Paula's gang evinces a laissez-faire "so what?" attitude throughout the film.

Let this tale of teenage angst, woe, and bad behavior be a moral lesson for you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9o2pqF4gKE