Monthly Archive: February 2012

Looking for the Original Art to Weird Tales #328

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  • February 27, 2012

Ian Randal Strock, publisher of SFScope, needs your help:

I know this is a long shot, but we seem to have no other options at this point. I’m looking for the current owner of a piece of art by George Barr. The painting was done as the cover of Weird Tales #328, Summer 2002. It’s an Egyptian motif. I’ve talked with the artist, and he’s given me permission to use it on a book I’m publishing, but he doesn’t have a copy I can work from, and doesn’t know who has the piece, so I’m trying to track it down.

We have faith in the ComicMix community– you guys probably have some ideas, yes? Add you leads in the comments.

Jan Berenstain: 1923-2012

Stan and Jan Berenstain

Image via Wikipedia

Another of the greats who brought graphic storytelling to millions is gone.

Jan Berenstain, who with her husband, Stan, wrote and illustrated the Berenstain Bears books that have charmed preschoolers and their parents for 50 years, has died. She was 88.

Berenstain, a longtime resident of Solebury in southeastern Pennsylvania, suffered a severe stroke on Thursday and died Friday without regaining consciousness, her son Mike Berenstain said.

The gentle tales of Mama Bear, Papa Bear, Brother Bear and Sister Bear were inspired by the Berenstain children, and later their grandchildren. The stories address children’s common concerns and aim to offer guidance on subjects like dentist visits, peer pressure, a new sibling or summer camp.

The first Berenstain Bears book, “The Big Honey Hunt,” was published in 1962. Over the years, more than 300 titles have been released in 23 languages — most recently in Arabic and Icelandic — and have become a rite of passage for generations of young readers.

via Berenstain Bears co-creator Jan Berenstain dies.

Our condolences to their children and grandchildren.

FORTIER TAKES ON BLACKTHORN: THUNDER ON MARS!

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  • February 27, 2012

ALL PULP REVIEWS by Ron Fortier

BLACKTHORN
Thunder on Mars
Edited by Van Allen Plexico
White Rocket Books
225 pages

Why on earth would a writer/editor like Van Plexico want to take a 1980 Saturday morning cartoon television show and meld it with a classic Edgar Rice Burroughs fantasy series? The answer to that perplexing question is found in this book, which by the way, is the result of that odd pairing. In the introduction, Plexico tells of his love for an old Jack Kirby created TV series called “Thundarr the Barbarian” and how, for whatever twists of the muses, it seemed to plague his thoughts over the years. Enough so that he decided to one day do something with the concept, adding a new and fresh spin to the plot. It would be another few years for that final element of this eclectic brew would reveal itself to him when one day he started thinking of Burroughs legendary Martian series.

Just like that the pieces were suddenly all there and when he mentally assembled them in his ever wondrous imagination, there he beheld the story of an American General who, upon his death in the Middle East, awoke to find his soul had been replaced in a brand new body; a body locked in the lab of a mad sorcerer on the planet Mars. Yet more revelations arise when this character, General John Blackthorn discovers his spirit has not only traveled through space but also time as this is a Terra-Formed Mars of the far-flung future.

Within minutes of his bizarre awakening in his younger, stronger body, Blackthorn manages to escape the sorcerer with several other soul-transplanted fellows. In their flight, he eventually meets the beautiful, dark haired sorceress Aria and the fur skinned humanoid creature Oglok of the Mock Men. It is this trio, once met, that join forces to travel the amazing, fantastic landscape that is a post-apocalyptic Mars. Their further adventures are chronicled by a half dozen of the finest writers in new pulp today.

Mark Bousquet, Joe Crowe, Bobby Nash, James Palmer, Sean Taylor and I.A. Watson spin exciting, fast moving adventures that pit Blackthorn and his allies against lizard men, battling robots and an ocean wide haunted valley from which no one has ever returned to name a few. Each story is a well crafted pearl in a thematic necklace of classical pulp sci-fi and brings Plexico’s dream to vibrant life before our eyes.

It is abundantly clear that Plexico has tapped the mother-lode of adventure fiction with John Blackthorn and I can guarantee you we haven’t seen the last of him, or Aria and Oglok. One can only wait in breathless anticipation to see where on the giant Red Planet their travels take them next.

REVIEW: JLA: DOOM

justice-league-doom1-300x4021-2474974When Mark Waid joined the creative team on JLA, he told a pretty terrific story about Batman’s secret protocols for neutralizing the Justice League of America falling into Ra’s al Ghul’s hands. In the “Tower of Babel” story, he used it to take out the League in order to execute a plan for world domination.  It made for a fine story arc that allowed Batman to leave the team for time and resonated with fans given the weighty thematic material. It has endured in memory and prompted Warner Premiere to approve JLA: Doom, an adaptation as a part of their ongoing series of direct-to-DVD animated features

The resulting production, on sale tomorrow, is bittersweet because it marks the final script from the talented Dwayne MacDuffie. And it needed series editing which clearly was not done, making it a deeply flawed adaptation of the source material. The dramatic core is here, but given short shrift in two brief scenes while the remainder of the story is a series of chaotic and badly choreographed fights strung together. Any semblance of characterization for the heroes or villains is seemingly accidental as the story allowed the JLA to trade blows with a variety of familiar villains. (more…)

BOX 13, DAN FOWLER, OPERATOR 5, JACK BENNY, AND MORE! FROM RADIO ARCHIVES!

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  • February 27, 2012

RadioArchives.com Newsletter

 
February 24, 2012
 

NEW Radio Set: Box Thirteen, Volume 4

“Adventure wanted. Will go anyplace, do anything. Box Thirteen.” These words sent Dan Holiday, reporter turned author, into mystery and action for fifty-two episodes of ‘Box Thirteen’, a stand out radio program produced in 1948-49. Holiday, played by screen star Alan Ladd, checked his box at his paper, the Star-Times, each week and every single time launched himself into a brand new adventure.
 
The basic premise of the show is simple. Interested in writing the most successful and thrilling stories possible, Dan Holiday places an ad in the paper he works for – the Star-Times. Apparently prospering as a mystery writer, Holiday rarely charges a fee to any of the colorful clients that cross his path, most of whom need his assistance in one way or another.
 
“Box Thirteen” stood out amongst its contemporaries for more than one reason. The device Holiday uses to get his story ideas is one aspect of Box Thirteen that adds to its different flavor. Even though this technique, placing an ad in a paper advertising for adventure, was not a new one, actually present in at least one other old time radio show at the time, the way it was handled within this show was special. Holiday wasn’t a retired cop or a super secret agent with no war to fight. He was a guy who wanted to live the stories he wrote about so he’d write better books. He had no intention of making money directly off of helping someone out of a jam or being locked away in an asylum or any of the other calamities he intentionally encountered over fifty-two episodes. Thanks to Ladd’s portrayal, Holiday used the want-ad gimmick to better the lives of those he came into contact with in this unique way whenever he could.
 
Some sources cite that Alan Ladd played Dan Holiday as somewhat stiff and wooden in the early episodes of Box Thirteen. By the last episodes in the series, however, all agree that Ladd made the character and the show itself what it was always intended to be – a showpiece for what Alan Ladd could really do. Hang on tight and read over Dan Holiday’s shoulder as he learns what danger and death awaits him when he checks in at the Star-Times. All the mystery, suspense, and pure adventure you can handle await you in Box Thirteen, Volume 4, the last episodes in this classic program. This Six hour collection is available now on Audio CDs for $17.98 from Radio Archives!

 
This already fantastic collection of a Classic Adventures series also comes with incredible new artwork! Pulp Artist extraordinaire Doug Klauba brings Dan Holiday as played by Alan Ladd to visual life! A print of this great piece can be yours in one of the newest additions to the Pulp Book Store, The Art of Doug Klauba! Get this artwork as a poster in the new store featuring the varied and awesome work of Doug Klauba!
 

Many works from the Golden Age of Radio had their origins in other mediums. A best selling book, a movie, a hit Broadway play. Some even went on to have their time in the spotlight on TV. One show to rise out or grow into all of these mediums and become a part of radio history as well was a stand out unique soap opera called “Claudia.”

“Claudia” was based on the literary works of Rose Franken, a writer, novelist, playwright, and theatrical director who had first written about the Naughton’s in the mid-1930s. By the end of the decade, the highly popular short stories had been brought together into a series of best-selling novels which, in 1941, were adapted by Franken into a Broadway play starring Donald Cook as David and a young actress named Dorothy McGuire in the title role. Claudia Naughton was a breakout role for McGuire; the sincerity, simplicity, and captivating charm which she brought to the part made the play a long-running hit and soon brought her to Hollywood to reprise the role in the 20th Century Fox film version, released in 1943 and co-starring Robert Young as David. Based on that film’s success, in 1945, RKO Pictures starred McGuire and Young in “The Enchanted Cottage” and 1946 found them together again in “Claudia and David,” a sequel to the earlier film.
 
Heard today, “Claudia” remains wonderful entertainment, notable for both its lighthearted tone and the believable interplay between its characters. Claudia, a bit younger than her years, is often impulsive, sometimes irresponsible, usually perky, and just a bit flighty. As she matures, she becomes a unique mixture of enthusiasm, incompetence and over-confidence — deeply in love with her somewhat older husband David, but frequently naive and too likely to trust in her insecurities rather than her instincts.
 
Claudia, Volume 9 continues Radio Archives’ collection of the complete run of this classic series. Restored to the best and clearest audio quality possible, these shows sparkle and are best heard in the way they were presented, in fifteen minute chapters every single day. Whether you enjoy them as they originally aired or can’t wait and sit through them all at once, Claudia, Volume 9 continues a wonderful episodic tale of a woman and the man she loves living life the way most of their listeners did and do. This volume can be yours today on Audio CDs for only $17.98.
 

by Tommy Hancock

 

It’s often amazing and sometimes atrocious when a character begins in one medium and then is translated into other venues. Sometimes the essence of the original concept and story are maintained and fans simply get a different version of the tale they love. Other times, alterations made for whatever reason are so dramatic that whatever results from said changes is a pale imitation, if not something completely different than where the idea began. There is that rare instance, though, of something beginning one way, then being interpreted slightly differently through a different lens, so to speak.
 
Or in this case, through a radio speaker.
 
Casey, Crime Photographer, Volume 1 contains twenty episodes of good old-fashioned pulpy, fun, action packed newspaper mysteries that any fan would enjoy! Originally created for Black Mask magazine by writer George Harmon Coxe, the character that headlines this show was originally known as Flashgun Casey. And those original tales as well as the novels to follow were written in the trademark detective pulp style of two fisted hard boiled action made famous by Black Mask. Coxe imbued the initial version of his camera wielding newspaper photographer with a thirst for justice, a nose for news, and enough grit and iron to take on any thug or crime boss. Thankfully for fans of such stories, those aspects of Casey survived into the radio show, even though the sobriquet of ‘Flashgun’ didn’t for the most part.
 
Even though Casey can be heard doggedly pursuing right and wanting to spread wrongdoing all over the front page of the Morning Express, there was a not all that subtle shift in the character by the time he made it to radio. This was not uncommon in the days of radio, to take especially a rough-hewn hard boiled type and lighten him up a bit for his audio incarnation. There’s multiple examples of this attached to some pretty well known characters. Unfortunately, there’s usually something lost when this occurs, a particular aspect of the character that just doesn’t survive the translation. A prime example of this that comes to mind is the Wally Maher version of ‘Michael Shayne’ (The Jeff Chandler version, also available via Radio Archives, nails the character solidly by the way). Maybe the portrayal comes off as too soft or downright goofy or the stories get feathery. Not so with “Casey, Crime Photographer.”
 
One of the major appeals of this show is the fact that the writers and producers built a likable, interesting supporting cast around Casey. There’s Miss Anne Williams, Casey’s very own reporter and love interest; Captain Logan, the almost standard irascible police contact; and Ethelbert, the most enjoyable owner and bartender of Casey’s favorite watering hole, the Blue Note. Each of the episodes in this collection follow a standard formula for the show. Casey and Ethelbert embark upon banter that leads to Tony Marvin, the announcer, opening the show and hawking the sponsor, Anchor-Hocking Glass. Then oftentimes the mystery or crime that Casey and Anne have to track down for the paper is reported to them while sitting again at Ethelbert’s bar. From there, each show contains a good balance of humorous repartee, well paced action and twists, and Casey showing the flashbulb blazing heroic side of himself Coxe imbued him with while maintaining a likability that added to the mass audience appeal of the character.
 
Throw in the fact that two of the best possible voices for the two best characters in “Casey” are present in this collection and you can’t lose! Staats Cotsworth, although not the only actor to voice Casey, owned the role the longest and definitely left his mark on it with his jovial baritone voice. John Gibson’s high tenor portrayal of Ethelbert clearly stands out in every episode, making the role that Gibson played for the entire run of the radio show one of the favorites among fans.
 
Casey, Crime Photographer, Volume 1 is that rare case where listeners get both the original take on the character wrapped in new interpretations…and it works! Available from Radio Archives for $29.98 on Audio CDs, this is a series that needs to be yours today! Get the picture?

 

In the flood of pulp magazines featuring the hard-hitting exploits of a single hero, only one magazine read as if its stories had been torn out of the headlines. That was G-Men, starring the closest equivalent to Eliot Ness and his Untouchables the pulps dared offer up.
 
The origins of this exemplary series are obscure. Leo Margulies, editor-in-chief of the Thrilling chain, may have been eyeing rival titles such as Secret Service Operator #5 and Secret Agent X, thinking there’s gold in fictionalizing the exploits of undercover men. Early in 1935, Margulies let it be known in the trade that he was planning to issue Secret Service Detective Stories—a bland and uninspiring title if one was ever floated.
 

But Secret Service Detective Stories never materialized. In April, James Cagney starred in a blockbuster film, G Men.  That July, a radio program by that same name debuted to strong ratings. It later became even more famous as Gang Busters. Pulp editors always looked to Hollywood and the headlines for inspiration. Margulies didn’t need to be hit over the head.  He scrapped the Secret Service concept and appropriated the popular title, which had been coined by gangster George “Machine Gun” Kelly when, after being surrounded by armed F.B.I. agents in 1933, threw up his hands and cried, “Don’t shoot, G-Men! Don’t shoot, G-Men!” Or so the legend goes. G-Man stood for Government Men, specifically F.B.I. agents.

 
These were the days of iron-fisted Federal Bureau of Investigation director J. Edgar Hoover battling back the gangster tide that was overrunning major cities all across America. Seeing the local law-enforcement was outnumbered and outgunned—if not compromised—by organized crime he reorganized the old Bureau of Investigation into America’s first national police force—sanctioned to cross state lines in the pursuit of justice. In the pulps, the urban menace of mobster crime had given rise to The Shadow and all the superhuman crime-fighters who followed.
 
Five years into this ever-shifting reality, Margulies and his editors must have decided the reading public was ready for a crime-crusher who didn’t wear a black cape or a weird mask, and who operated within the law. They were ready for the real deal.
 
So they created Special Agent Daniel Fowler. Young but hardened, the product of the FBI’s new scientific investigation methods, Fowler and his aides, Larry Kendal and Sally Vane, formed a special roving unit of the Bureau, willing and able to rush to any state in the Union to combat counterfeiters, extortionists and sundry foreign spies.
 
To write the exploits of such a non-nonsense hero, they understood that they needed a writer of a different cut than the boys who were grinding out The Phantom Detective every month. Maybe they tried a few of their Phantom authors and they flopped. In any case, they called in George Fielding Eliot, a former major in U. S. intelligence.
 
Titled after an underworld slang term for kidnapping, with the Lindbergh baby kidnapping fresh in the public consciousness, and inspired by the notorious Purple Gang, the premier exploit of Dan Fowler and his team was called Snatch! It was an instant success among readers who had been reading daily newspaper accounts of the F. B. I.’s successful crusade against John Dillinger and “Baby Face” Nelson, and other otherwise-unstoppable Public Enemies. Their bodies were fast piling up—filled with government lead, with no sign of The Shadow or the Spider anywhere in real life.
 
Seared by crime, trained by Hoover, and motivated by a stern sense of justice, Special Agent Fowler went on to a long and successful career spanning nearly two decades, and a single 1937 film, Federal Bullets. Only the death of the pulp magazine industry put an end to his fame.
 
In order to do justice to this riveting hero, we’ve recruited the impeccable-voiced Richard Epcar to narrate Snatch! If you like Richard’s hard-hitting performance as much as we do, expect to hear a big announcement regarding Richard Epcar and Radio Archives next month. We can’t wait!
 
Available for only $14.98 on Audio CDs, 5 Hours of G-Man Action from Will Murray’s Pulp Classics and Radio Archives!

 

The more audiobooks produced by Radio Archives that I listen to, the more impressed I am and the more I’m getting hooked on them. What I really enjoy first off is the mixture of music and sound effects that make the audiobooks a little closer to audio dramas than just a straight reading of the text. Which isn’t a bad thing, depending on who’s doing the reading. For White Eyes we’ve got Richard Epcar who has a clear, firm, muscular voice, which is just what you want for a Doc Savage adventure.
 
And what an adventure it is! In White Eyes, Doc Savage is up against one of the most formidable villains he’s ever faced. The mysterious White Eyes dresses entirely in white. His skin is the color of porcelain and his eyes have no pupils. He appears to have supernatural abilities such as his mastery of The Blind Death. A horrifying method of murder, it turns the eyes of its victims as blank and as white as cue balls.
 
There’s quite a lot of eccentric supporting characters running around here, including a goodly number of New York’s criminal element. These criminals are bonded together into an army by White Eyes to seize Doc’s source of wealth: the Mayan gold that was bequeathed to him by his father in The Man of Bronze, Doc’s first recorded adventure.
 
It’s an ambitious scheme and one I found highly intriguing as for a change, it’s the criminals who go on the offensive to challenge Doc and his crew.
 
As an added bonus, there are two interviews with Will Murray where he gives interesting and entertaining background information about Doc Savage and Lester Dent in general and White Eyes in particular. Being a writer myself, I’m always fascinated to hear how another writer goes about crafting his stories.
 
Out of the two highly excellent Doc Savage audiobooks I’ve listened to so far, I’d have to give White Eyes the edge. That’s not to say that Python Isle suffers at all. It’s an outstanding Doc Savage adventure and well worth your time and money. But I’d have to say that White Eyes is probably my favorite out of the two. Tell you what, why not go listen to both of ‘em then get back to me and we can argue about it, okay? Get your copy for $31.98 on Audio CDs from Radio Archives!

 

 

The Best Pulp From Yesterday for Your Digital Reader Today! That’s what Will Murray’s Pulp Classics line of eBooks from Radio Archives brings you! Thrill to Heroic Tales of Pulp Icons like The Spider and Chill to the Machinations of Villains like Doctor Death! Two fisted action and high octane adventure written by the Authors who defined Pulp Fiction forever!
 
These exciting pulp adventures have been beautifully reformatted for easy reading as an eBook and feature the original full color cover. Will Murray’s Pulp Classics line of eBooks are of the highest quality and feature the great Pulp Fiction stories of the 1930s-1950s.
 
Two new eBooks starring the violent vigilante adventures of the Master of men! The Spider, America’s best-loved pulp-fiction character of the 1930s and 1940s, erupts guns blazing in these two exquisitely reformatted classic tales!
 
Like the consuming flames of a prairie fire the dread news spread: “The Spider has gone mad! He will massacre us all!” But Richard Wentworth, never more sane, was even then gambling life itself in one desperate effort to save the city which cursed his name — from the awful ravages of man-spread plague!
 
 
When night falls you’ll think of Zara. You’ll see those eyes of his glowing with the very fires of hell — and you’ll be glad that the Spider prowls the night to help mankind. For Zara rose from Underworld filth… to enslave all peoples. And his crowning glory was saved for the Spider — Master of Men — whom he swore to make an idiot, the clowning jester of Zara’s court!
 
As a special Bonus, Will Murray has written “Meet the Spider” especially for this series of eBooks.
 
Joining the Spider are three names well known to Pulp Fans and characters full of intrigue, adventure, and excitement all their own!
 

by Frederick C. Davis writing as Curtis Steele
Invisible, secret, deadly, the masked empire wielded its dread power of darkness throughout the nation. Havoc and ruin followed the terror-torn thousands who fled the country to escape the Thirteenth Darkness. America, faced with certain disaster, placed her chance of survival in one man’s capable hands — and prayed that the warrior gods might smile once more upon the miracle man of her Secret Service — Jimmy Christopher! Jimmy Christopher, clean-cut, square-jawed and clear-eyed, was the star of the most audacious pulp magazines ever conceived — Operator #5. As a special Bonus, Will Murray has written an introduction especially for this series of Operator #5 eBooks.
 

by George Fielding Eliot writing as C.K.M. Scanlon
Into the arena of the endless war which society wages on the criminal has stepped a new and gallant warrior — G-Man Dan Fowler, special agent of the Department of Justice. In this classic tale, Fowler takes to the trail of the Grey Gang — that band of masked killers who laugh at the Law while committing every heinous crime known to humanity! Dan Fowler, special agent of the Department of Justice, appeared as a long-running series inside G-Men Detective magazine from 1935 to 1953. Join him as he battles the brutal instruments of crimedom in this fast-paced battle against the minions of the lawless.
 
by Harold Ward writing as Zorro
Who Is Doctor Death? A mad old wizard with the power to summon loathsome gray horrors from hell’s attic, decrees that the country’s 12 most famous men must die as carrion for his ghostly vultures. Only one man has a clue to the strange power of Doctor Death and that man faces torture and death to combat the master of carnage. The maddest of the Mad Scientists — Doctor Death — starred in his own bizarre pulp magazine in early 1935. Standing against him were the Secret Twelve, a band of the top U. S. civil and business leaders, headed by Jimmy Holm, a millionaire criminologist and occultist. One of the rare unabashedly supernatural series the pulps ever produced.
 
All eBooks produced by Radio Archives are available in ePub, Mobi, and PDF formats for the ultimate in compatibility. When you purchase this eBook from RadioArchives.com you receive all three formats in one ZIP file: PDF for PC or Mac computer; Mobi for Kindle; and ePub for iPad/IPhone, Android, Sony eReader, and Nook. When you upgrade to a new eReader, you can transfer your eBook novels to your new device without the need to purchase anything new.
 
Jump Feet First into Classic Pulp with eBooks for only $2.99 each! All Radio Archives eBooks are available at the Kindle Store.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Radio Archives is proud to count the International Jack Benny Fan Club as one of the newest members of the Pulp Book Store! The Fan Club’s store features 39 Forever: Second Edition, Volume 3 written by Laura Leff and Martin Gostanian. This book is part of a series that focuses on Benny’s career and illustrates the impact that he had as a comedian and an individual on the entertainment industry and society at large. In the following interview, Laura and Martin discuss their personal interest in Jack Benny as well as the Fan Club itself and the importance of Jack Benny to fans, listeners, and Pop Culture Enthusiasts today.
 
Radio Archives: First, could you share something about yourself and how you developed your interest in Jack Benny?
 
Laura: The short version is that it all started for me with the 1958 Warner Brothers’ cartoon The Mouse That Jack Built. It portrayed many of the classic radio characters as mice, and included a rare live-action sequence with Jack at the end. Later, I was drawn to reruns of Jack’s programs on a Detroit station in the late 1970s, and then decided it was high time to start the Jack Benny Fan Club.
 
Martin: Along with family, friends and my mother’s cooking, my earliest memories starting in the early 1960s revolved around and were defined by television. To be sure, I loved to read and my interests were varied, from history to math. But when it came to TV, I was just simply obsessed by it, there’s no other way to put it. Through it all, my preferences always lead to comedy, physical as well as verbal and literate humor. My first memory of Jack Benny was his weekly TV series in 1963 when it was on Tuesday nights right after Petticoat Junction – that is why I usually watched it. I will admit I gravitated to whatever physical comedy and sight gags that Jack would either instigate or had become the butt of, but it wasn’t until I had become fascinated with what was dubbed “old-time radio” that was resurfacing on local radio stations in the late 1960s that I really first discovered who Jack Benny really was.
 
It was when I was becoming more mentally discerning that I had latched onto Jack’s deft comedic skills. I started to fathom his virtuosity and his escalated absurdist vision of the world he inhabited, which constantly plagued him and bordered on the surreal. This rewarded audiences with not only what he espoused but also how he expressed his finely calculated wit. Such was the sum total of his greatness as a communicator. I had grown to understand and cherish the subtleties as well as the broad mental conjuring that only Benny’s radio comedy could evoke so superbly and unfailingly – and which had been translated so organically and envisioned so imaginatively when adapted for television. As a writer, I also have a true reverence for the scribes Benny employed who helped shape, hone and perfect Jack’s peerless humor for the ear as well as the eye.
 
In adulthood, I appreciated most the genuineness and universality of his comedy that other more astute pundits and mavens of comedy have already attested more eloquently and precisely. After over 45 years, the more I listen and watch Mr. B, the more I am in sheer awe of his depth, influence and humanity.
 
Radio Archives: What is the background/history of the International Jack Benny Fan Club?
 
Laura: I started the club when I was 10, and have to credit Jay Hickerson for giving it the first boost of publicity. Once upon a time there was no Internet (*GASP!*), and you had to get the word out by connecting to other people and groups who were interested in the same kinds of things that you were! Through 32+ years of accumulating members, shows, information, technology…progressively everything comes together. Today we have an extensive Web site, monthly chats, a newsletter that is published three times per year, audio and video libraries, and lots of resources to help members connect with the things they love most about Jack Benny, his life, and his work.
 
Radio Archives: What do you think there is about the legacy and work Jack Benny has left behind that still makes him popular today?
 
Laura: The major factor is that his comedy was based on character, not topical humor. Everyone still knows someone who is cheap, who thinks they do something very well (like play the violin) when they really don’t, someone who is silly and naive (like Dennis), etc. The characters are people to whom you can relate immediately without running for Wikipedia (“Who was Wendell Wilkie again?”). I have had many members tell me how they enjoy listening to the shows with their children, and even use them as bedtime stories.
 
Martin: Jack’s esteem in the pantheon of American entertainment is celebrated to this day for a variety of reasons. First and foremost was his “everyman” character persona that was so empathetic, sincere and endearing to audiences. His comic logic of inflating his own sense of self and in reacting to the inanities of life that unmercifully and hilariously confronted him revealed his mastery of humor and his ingenuity in connecting with audiences. On a larger scale, Jack’s influence and legacy stemmed from the acknowledged achievements that he innovated or epitomized on radio: character-driven humor, the running gag and the ensemble comedy.
 
Admittedly, there are a good many people, mostly under thirty, who have never seen or even have heard of Jack Benny. However, when they delight in the uproarious antics of sitcom favorites such as The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Cheers, Seinfeld, Friends and 30 Rock, they indirectly know who Jack is because he set the standards for the character-driven, ensemble comedy. And when these same deprived viewers are treated for the first time to Jack’s unique brand of humor, whether from radio or TV, they most always are rewarded with belly laughs, a true sense of appreciation for such a comedic talent and an earnest desire for more Mr. B.
 
By far the greatest testament to Jack’s comedy legacy is readily apparent in late night network talk shows. As learned author and television scholar David Marc observed in his essay, “Lending Character to American Comedy,” hosts such as Johnny Carson, Dick Cavett, David Letterman (and more recently Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien) are “heirs to the mechanics of the Benny inheritance.” He perceptively noted that these stars (and well as other post-primetime “desk-and-sofa” scions since Marc’s 1993 observations) have developed their own versions of the “Benny stare” to minimally express “their personal aggravation with onstage occurrences” and in beseeching viewer support, all while “creating identity with audiences and picking up laughs in the bargain.” In one regard they are like Benny in that each is an “everyman” who tries to make sense of the world around them, all while juggling the vainglorious as well as the self-deprecating within their comic repertoire. Carson was the most vocal on air about his love for Jack and the influence Benny’s comedy wielded in shaping Johnny’s own comic vision, which in turn still serves as the hallmark for any successful comedy-variety talk show on late night TV.
 
Radio Archives: Comedy is a slippery slope as far as timeliness. Does Benny’s work transcend that and if so, what about his work appeals to a modern audience?
 
Laura: Many things don’t age well because people simply don’t understand them any more, or can’t relate them to their own personal experience. For example, consider immigrant humor of the early 20th century. People understood it in the context of that society, and experiencing it today can provide a sociological study of how people were struggling to make the transition into American society. Yet the Irish washerwoman or the Yiddish peddler is largely an artifact of the past, inspiring question marks over the heads of most people who don’t have a first-hand memory of the Reagan administration (and many who do).
 
While you get the very occasional topical joke on Jack’s program, it’s in the larger context of character with which people can connect. Stinginess aside, who doesn’t laugh at Jack playing a broken-down Tarzan opposite Carol Burnett as his put-upon Jane? It’s still character-based, with the humor of a robust young couple growing older in amusing ways.
 
Martin: The timeliness of Jack’s comedy lies in the individuality of Jack’s persona and how he is simply trying to rationalize the world around him, regardless of the scenario. How Jack interprets and reacts to a situation or a condition under one pretense while cleverly revealing his true motivation or hidden agenda resonates with and relates to audiences across all generations because it speaks to our emotional make-up and traits in its many shades through the prism of human behavior.
 
On the whole, people aspire to the same things Jack does: we want to be loved, we want to excel, we want to be respected, we want to know the how and why of situations affecting us, etc. His comic slant is predicated on and motivated by these universal desires and goals. Moreover, Jack’s exaggerated and likeable comic outlook was tinged with self-deprecating humor, yet he carried the veneer of a vulnerable, genteel and harmless fussbudget. The dynamics of Benny’s outward appearance clashing but coexisting with his visceral inner agenda only enhanced the hilarity. Again, comedy emerging out of a well-developed character.
 
This contrasts to comedy that heavily relies on topical references that are soon dated and eventually rendered arcane or obtuse. True, Benny did use topical references and idioms of the day, but the contexts were so broadly used that latter-day audiences unfamiliar with such timely citations could usually get the gist of the joke or outrageous allegory regardless of the era when they first occurred or still had prominence in the then-current culture.
 
Jack Benny endures as an eloquent comic presence and influence who appeals to modern audiences because he was most human and humane of them all in the 20th century. And thanks to the wonders of digital entertainment and the internet, Jack will continue to attract, amuse and amaze legions of new fans in the generations ahead.
 
Radio Archives: What is the goal and purpose of the Fan Club as well as your mission in terms of sharing Jack Benny with today’s listeners/readers/fans?
 
Laura: We are a 501(c)(3) educational non-profit, with the official purpose being to educate people about the life and work of Jack Benny and his associates. We do so by preserving and making material available through our libraries, online resources, and other publications. We also do ongoing research for books such as the 39 Forever series and the newsletter to provide a growing body of knowledge about Jack Benny, expanding the context of understanding who he was as a person, an artist, and one of the foremost comedians of the 20th century.
 
Learn about one of the greatest comedic talents in history by visiting the International Jack Benny Fan Club’s page in the Pulp Book Store!
 

 

Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows! The pulp era’s greatest crimebuster journeys to Maine on golden quests in two thrilling pulp novels by Walter Gibson writing as “Maxwell Grant.” First, The Shadow and G-man Vic Marquette hunt enemy agents sabotaging maritime shipping from a mysterious Castle of Crime. Then, a sea captain’s dying words lead to serial slayings along the long-buried trail to a Dead Man’s Chest and Cuban gold! This instant collector’s item reprints the classic color cover paintings by George Rozen and Graves Gladney and the original interior illustrations by Edd Cartier and Paul Orban, with historical commentary by Will Murray. Yours for only $14.95!
 
The pulp era’s greatest superman returns in classic pulp thrillers by Laurence Donovan and Lester Dent writing as “Kenneth Robeson.” First, Doc and Patricia Savage attempt to discover the secret behind the baffling series of “black spot murders” that confounds the law. Then, an auction gallery bidding war leads to the abduction of Monk Mayfair. Can the Man of Bronze uncover the sinister secret of The Terrible Stork in time to save his right-hand aide? This special collectors edition showcases the original color pulp covers by Walter M. Baumhofer and Modest Stein, Paul Orban’s classic interior illustrations and a behind-the-scenes article by Will Murray, writer of nine Doc Savage novels. Yours for only $14.95!
 
The double life of Police Commissioner James Gordon is explored in a pair of two-fisted thrillers that inspired classic Batman stories! First, The Whisperer goes undercover to close down a “School for Murder” that prepares teenagers for criminal careers! Then, Wildcat Gordon investigates corruption in the trucking industry in “Murder on the Line.” BONUS: an adventure of Norgil the Magician by The Shadow’s Maxwell Grant! This historic collector’s item showcases both original color pulp covers by Spider artist John Newton Howitt, classic interior illustrations by Paul Orban and golden-age great Creig Flessel, and historical commentary by Will Murray and Anthony Tollin. Now at Radio Archives for $14.95!

Pulp fiction’s legendary Master of Men returns in two classic novels from the Golden Age of Pulp Fiction, written by Norvell Page under the pseudonym of Grant Stockbridge. First, in “Overlord of the Damned” (October 1935), the Boss unleashes horrible death with his demonic acid guns… with a vat of the same deadly corrosive reserved for those who talk too much! With his beloved Nita van Sloan a hostage to a terrible doom, the Spider faces the soul-tearing prospect of planting the Spider seal on his friend Stanley Kirkpatrick, Commissioner of Police! Then, in “Dictator’s Death Merchants!” (July 1940), The jaws of death gape open when El Crocodilo feasts! With uncanny skill, he forestalls even the Spider’s best attempts to trap him. Striking without mercy, this menace from the past rises anew by demolishing a banking institution each night, in a mad scheme to take control of nothing less than all of America’s finances! This volume is available in two editions and features the original artwork from the October 1935 or the July 1940 edition of “The Spider” magazine. Both versions feature reformatted text and original interior illustrations to accompany each story. Available now for $14.95!
 

 
Classic Reprints! New Pulp Tales! History, Pop Culture, and Much More! Where do you find the finest of these? In the Pulp Book Store! And in the Treasure Chest, you find unbelievable deals from the following Publishers!
 
The Lord of the Vampires Returns and you can get him for 20% off original price. Dracula Lives by Joshua Reynolds is a page turning chill ride and can be yours at a steal!
 
Puttin’ The Monthly Back into Pulp, Pro Se Productions offers the finest in modern Pulp Magazines! For the month of February, pick up any or all of the first three issues of Pro Se Presents at an amazing 25% off each copy!
 
The greatest Minds of the 19th Century go to battle with the most evil forces known to man! Buy Modern Marvels: Viktoriana by Wayne Reinagel and get 5% off the regular price for the entire month of February!
 
Just click on the Treasure Chest on the Pulp Book Store Page for these terrific offers! And enjoy the best that these companies and more have to offer in the Pulp Book Store!

 

By Art Sippo

 
Four scientists were stranded on Cormoral Island when the Kendall Foundation of St. Louis that funded their expedition went bust. They were rescued by a passing ship, the Meg Finegan. It should have been a coincidence, but one of the scientists KNEW it would find them. He also started knowing a lot of other things before they happened. Professor Macbeth Williams was a hydrologist and the heir to a 500 million dollar fortune. He had taken the job on the expedition to escape from the pressure of managing his family fortune. He did not think his judgment skills were up to par. Now he was literally predicting poker hands before they were dealt and showing keen insight into future events. But Professor Williams was a man of science and did not place any stock in such things as precognition. But even after landing in Miami, the prediction kept coming. His fellow stranded scientists see this as a good thing and they insist to Williams that maybe he does have enough in sight to manage his vast fortune. But he was frightened that he might be losing his mind. He needed to get professional help to set his mind at ease. So he decided to call on the greatest Psychiatrist of his time: Dr. Clark Savage Jr.
 
But as he attempted to make contact with Doc Savage, strange things start happening. The telegrapher who took his initial message was murdered. Thugs in New York attacked Doc at his headquarters to prevent him from going to Macbeth Williams’ aid. Doc Savage becomes intrigued. There is an enormous fortune at stake, and its unwilling heir suddenly manifests almost supernatural insight which he thinks is a sign of madness. Meanwhile nefarious influences are working to isolate this heir from Doc Savage’s help. Something does not add up.
 
Can Doc Savage figure out this puzzle? Is Macbeth Williams really a prophet? Why are criminal elements interested in him? Is this an elaborate scam to get access to the Williams family fortune?
 
This was the penultimate adventure of the original Doc Savage pulp series. The story harkens back to the heyday of the series with the literary polish that marked many of the later stories. Don’t miss this one! Get it and another Doc Classic today in Doc Savage #15 for $12.95 from Radio Archives!

 

Comments From Our Customers!
 

Dominick Cancilla:
Thanks again for the assistance and for the great customer service (as usual). I have a six-hour drive tomorrow for work and The Green Llama will be keeping me company. I will certainly continue to buy every pulp audiobook you put out.
 
Eugene Dungan:
I am getting ready to order The Green Lama audiobook. I have all of the audiobooks that you have published. I sure am enjoying all of the audiobooks that you have put out so far.
 
Bobby McGowen Jr.:
I have been getting all of The Spider ebooks and I love them.
 
Bryan Pears from the United Kingdom:
Do you have any Operator 5 eBooks available? I have just bought The Spider eBook “City of Flaming Shadows” and was really impressed.

 
If you’d like to share a comment with us or if you have a question or a suggestion send an email to Service@RadioArchives.com. We’d love to hear from you!

 
The products you’ve read about in this newsletter are just a small fraction of what you’ll find waiting for you at RadioArchives.com. Whether it’s the sparkling audio fidelity of our classic radio collections, the excitement of our new line of audiobooks, or the timeless novels of the pulp heroes, you’ll find hundreds of intriguing items at RadioArchives.com.
 
If you no longer wish to receive our newsletter, or if this newsletter has been sent to you in error, please reply to this e-mail with the subject line UNSUBSCRIBE and your name will immediately be removed from our mailing list.
 

Steven Spielberg’s War Horse Coming to Video on April 3

BURBANK, Calif., February 21, 2012 – Legendary Academy Award®-winning motion picture director/producer Steven Spielberg presents the critically acclaimed and multi Academy Award®-nominated epic adventure “War Horse” on Blu-ray™, DVD, Digital and On-Demand, April 3. This newest home entertainment release not only enthralls viewers once again with its visually stunning and emotionally heartwarming story on the Blu-ray, but also offers an unprecedented look into the making of the film by Spielberg himself.

The extraordinary journey of courage and friendship as seen through the eyes of one unforgettable horse named Joey and his miraculous journey to find his way back home, “War Horse” is a must own contemporary classic for everyone’s home entertainment collection. Spielberg’s renowned creative passion and artistry not only shine throughout the film but are also evident in all the fascinating bonus features included exclusively on the Blu-ray disc. (more…)

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol Coming to VIdeo on April 17

mi4_bd-combo_3d_skew-300x369-9063482HOLLYWOOD, Calif. – (February 21, 2012) Called “a powerful thrill ride that is simultaneously gritty and dazzling” (Claudia Puig, USA Today) the global smash hit MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE—GHOST PROTOCOL explodes onto Blu-ray and DVD (both with UltraViolet™), On Demand and Digital Download April 17, 2012 from Paramount Home Media Distribution.  Boasting “a bullet train of action and an arsenal of cool gadgets” (David Germain, Associated Press), MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE—GHOST PROTOCOL delivers non-stop thrills and breathtaking stunts, including a dizzying ascent up the world’s tallest building that Roger Ebert called “one of the most spellbinding stretches of film I’ve seen.”  The extraordinary Tom Cruise returns as IMF agent Ethan Hunt, along with an exceptional cast of actors including Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker), Simon Pegg (Star Trek), Paula Patton (Precious) and Michael Nyqvist (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo).  With a worldwide box office take of more than $650 million, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE—GHOST PROTOCOL is the must-own action-thriller of the year. (more…)

PULP ARK 2012 AWARDS ANNOUNCED!

  • News
  • February 26, 2012

Tommy Hancock, Editor in Chief of Pro Se Productions and Pulp Ark Coordinator, announces that voting has closed for the 2012 Pulp Ark Awards, the first awards given in association with this inaugural Pulp creators’ conference/convention.

The Winners of the 2012 Pulp Ark Awards are-
BEST NOVEL-Yesteryear by Tommy Hancock (Pro Se Productions)

BEST COLLECTION/ANTHOLOGY-Four Bullets for Dillon (Pulpwork Press)

BEST SHORT STORY- The Devil’s Workmen by Barry Reese-The Avenger: The Justice Inc Files (Moonstone)

BEST COVER ART-Hugh Monn, Private Detective-by David Russell (Pro Se Productions)

BEST INTERIOR ART-The Adventures of Lazarus Gray-George Sellas (Pro Se Productions)

BEST PULP RELATED COMIC-All Star Pulp Comics #1 (Airship 27 Productions)

BEST PULP MAGAZINE-Pro Se Presents (Pro Se Productions)

BEST PULP REVIVAL-The Wild Adventures of Doc Savage by Will Murray (Altus Press)

BEST NEW PULP CHARACTER- John Blackthorn Created by Van Allen Plexico (White Rocket Books)

BEST AUTHOR-Teel James Glenn

BEST NEW WRITER-TIE Sean Taylor And Chuck Miller

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD-Howard Hopkins

The awards, 8X10 engraved wooden plaques, will be awarded in the middle of Pulp Ark, the evening of Saturday, April 21, 2012. Hancock stated that all winners as well as nominees are encouraged to attend, but any winners who could not would receive their awards by mail. Pulp Ark thanks all who nominated, all who voted, and congratulations to all the nominees and especially to the winners of the Pulp Ark 2012 Awards!

For any questions concerning Pulp Ark, contact Hancock at proseproductions@earthlink.net or follow Pulp Ark news at www.pulpark.blogspot.com

REVIEW: Mad Season One, Part Two

Mad Magazine worked in the 1950s when it debuted because it was subversive in its own way. At a time when conformity was the ideal, Mad went out of its way to skewer that very conformity, poking at the pop culture icons of the day, from its comic book brethren to movies and the nascent field of television. But it was smart humor, written and illustrated by some of the greatest talents working in the field. Its shift to black and white magazine was a desperate move at the time, avoiding the coming of the Comics Code Authority, but it also let the magazine grow in scope and influence. Being skewered by Mad’s usual gang of idiots was a badge of honor, usually proudly worn.

With time, the magazine became stuck in a pattern while the world around it changed and only offers up occasional bursts of brilliance these days. Still, it remains a cultural touchstone and spawned a long-running late-night sketch show that bore little resemblance to the magazine. More successful was the animated version of Mad, produced by Warner Bros. Animation for its sister division, Cartoon Network. Made up of eleven minute shorts, it has relied heavily on only parody since its September 2010 debut. Other carryovers from the magazine have included Spy vs. Spy and some of Don Martin’s cartoon panels coming to life.

The pedigree here comes from executive producer Sam Register, who has normally handled the more action-oriented fare; and Kevin Shinick (Robot Chicken) and Mark Marek (KaBlam!), far more accustomed to comedic stuff.

Recently, Warner Home Video released Mad Season One, Part Two, containing thirteen episodes of the show, which ran between February and June 2011. The parodies range from kid-oriented shows like Pokemon to older-oriented offerings including The Social Network (The Social Netjerk). Sometimes, the titles are funnier than the episodes themselves, especially Smallville: Turn Off The Clark. You wonder if some of the audience watching gets that Law & Ogre is Law & Order?

While the parodies tend to be smirk inducing to laugh out loud funny, they are only a small piece of what Mad is all about and it’s a shame that some of the mainstream social mores the magazine was brilliant at puncturing is totally absent here. There was an edge and bite to the mag at its best but all a new generation is learning is that everything they watch, read, and hear is ripe for parody. I think they knew that.

The quality of the animation is fine but the eleven minute structure needs to be more flexible so the jokes are made and we move on. Interstitials, like the Sergio Aragones margin pieces, would have been nice to have to connect everything.

The only bonus you get on the disc is a Mad digital comic which proves to be funnier than some of the installments themselves.

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