The Classic/Retro Pop Culture Thread

[The Old Mixer]

I'm with Galen. TMI. "I'm a married man," would have sufficed.

Yeah, that whole angle seemed forced. He was trying to allay her skepticism about where he was from, but he could've just made up an ape planet-friendly story.

Very interesting idea, actually. Malaria is almost unknown in North America, but this is the Apes future timeline and Apes are notorious carriers, so it's easy to envision how this could come about. I wonder if somebody on the writing staff actually did some reading.

The whole premise kinda contradicts that they don't have anyone who practices human medicine, though.

Urko can't tell Galen and Galen apart.

The chimps mostly wear the same outfit, don't they?

I'm guessing that it was Virdon who knows how to make quinine, since he knew how to type blood. I wonder if he trained to be a doctor before switching career paths. As if the producers thought anything through that far...

I'd have to go back to look, but I think it was mainly Virdon taking charge in this one, though they were both contributing. It was Burke who was typing blood before, but I think Virdon was incapacitated then.

Urko wouldn't let Kava have the medicine?

Guess not.

Strangely Specific Memory Department: The first thing I think of when it comes to WIN buttons is Steve Gerber's Guardians of the Galaxy.

Any particular reason, or just random temporal association?

Okay, that's funny.

And well played all around, right down to Mike's reaction while holding his fork in the air.

This is weird. We know Archie votes, because I remember Mike mocking him for writing in Nixon in 76.

Maybe this motivated him to register. But I wouldn't be surprised if this contradicted something from an earlier episode or three.

Maybe he just walked up to a random car and told the occupants to take a walk.

It was a distinctive set of wheels, suggesting that it was either his or something he had access to.

Or maybe hers? She seems to be behind the wheel.

I'm not sure why I do. I wasn't even living with my parents by the time Happy Days ended, so I wouldn't have even seen it in passing. Maybe he was on a magazine cover or something.

I was gonna say you might've seen a picture from publicity for the new season or something.

I like it.

By Fonzie's beard, so shall it be!

One thing I thought was weird was the moving eyes. I think that's more creepy than motivational.

Eagle-Eye G.I. Joe with the Kung Fu Grip!™

Wow, I wasn't even aware of that crossover, I don't think. I was under the impression that Bulletman was in the Public Domain, actually.

Justice League of America Vol 1 135

"Crisis in Eternity": In the Earth-S universe, home of Captain Marvel and other super-heroes, the brutish King Kull invades and takes over the Rock of Eternity, dwelling-place of the gods. Only the swift Mercury esc Justice League of America #135 is an issue of the series Justice League of...

dc.fandom.com

Back in the there-and-then of 50th Anniversaryland, the Moment of Great Epiphany is nigh. I recognized an ad in the latest issue of Superboy & The Legion as one that will also appear in a certain issue of great personal import that hits stands later this month.

"I wish that Franklin D Roosevelt had lived to see this day." Nice touch.

Speaking of anniversaries, did somebody hit this one last week?

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[RJDiogenes]

Yeah, that whole angle seemed forced. He was trying to allay her skepticism about where he was from, but he could've just made up an ape planet-friendly story.

Plus it's weird that she believed him.

The whole premise kinda contradicts that they don't have anyone who practices human medicine, though.

True. Although it was research, so some Apes may want to develop human medicine.

The chimps mostly wear the same outfit, don't they?

Probably. And they probably do it just to screw with the gorillas.

I'd have to go back to look, but I think it was mainly Virdon taking charge in this one, though they were both contributing. It was Burke who was typing blood before, but I think Virdon was incapacitated then.

Oh, right. I was mixing up their names for a while.

Any particular reason, or just random temporal association?

There was a standalone issue, which was a Trek homage, where the Guardians visited a planet whose culture was an exact duplicate of 1970s America, except the people were a variety of aliens. The twist was that it was an asylum where a bunch of planets dumped their lunatics, and 1970s America is what spontaneously emerges when you throw a bunch of crazies together. At least one of the aliens was wearing a WIN button.

Maybe this motivated him to register.

Could be, since it would have been probably a couple of years later.

It was a distinctive set of wheels, suggesting that it was either his or something he had access to.
View attachment 46426
Or maybe hers? She seems to be behind the wheel.

Ah, rich girlfriend. That explains it.

I was gonna say you might've seen a picture from publicity for the new season or something.

That's probably it. I was still reading TV Guide in those days.

By Fonzie's beard, so shall it be!

Justice League of America Vol 1 135

"Crisis in Eternity": In the Earth-S universe, home of Captain Marvel and other super-heroes, the brutish King Kull invades and takes over the Rock of Eternity, dwelling-place of the gods. Only the swift Mercury esc Justice League of America #135 is an issue of the series Justice League of...

dc.fandom.com

Nice. I may pick up one of those collections. Looks like that King Kull is not the Robert E Howard character. And I confirmed that Bulletman and Bulletgirl are in the Public Domain, so DC got ripped off if they paid for them.

Back in the there-and-then of 50th Anniversaryland, the Moment of Great Epiphany is nigh. I recognized an ad in the latest issue of Superboy & The Legion as one that will also appear in a certain issue of great personal import that hits stands later this month.

Cool. Can't wait.

Speaking of anniversaries, did somebody hit this one last week?

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I'm afraid so. I'm one year creakier than I was the week before.

 

[The Old Mixer]

50 Years Ago This Week


May 11

• A crowd of about 75,000 people in New York City's Central Park celebrated the end of the Vietnam War. Organized by Phil Ochs, the rally included music performances by Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, and Paul Simon.

May 12

• At 2:10 pm local time (3:10 am in Washington DC), the United States merchant ship SS Mayaguez was stopped in international waters by the P-128, a Cambodian gunboat manned by Khmer Rouge forces. Ten minutes later, P-128 fired machine guns across the bow as a warning, and at 2:35, a group of seven Khmer soldiers boarded the Mayaguez, commandeering the ship and taking its 39 crew captive.
• With two goals from 47-year-old ice hockey legend Gordie Howe, the Houston Aeros won their second straight World Hockey Association championship, defeating the Quebec Nordiques, 7-2, to sweep the best of four series.
• Two Soviet destroyer ships, the Boykiy and the Zhguchiy, sailed into Boston Harbor, becoming the first Soviet ships to dock at a U.S. port since the beginning of the Cold War. The occasion was the 30th anniversary of the Allied victory over Germany. The next day, the U.S. Navy ships USS Leahy and USS Tattnall sailed into Leningrad.

May 13

• Turkey's Prime Minister Süleyman Demirel was punched in the face by a 34-year-old unemployed man, Vural Onsel, at Ankara. Demirel's nose was broken as he walked out of a cabinet meeting.
• Died: Richard Hollingshead, 75, inventor (in 1933) of the drive-in theater

May 14

• Nineteen years after the Academy Award for best screenplay was awarded to, but went unclaimed by, an author with the pseudonym of "Robert Rich," Dalton Trumbo was presented the 1956 Oscar for scripting The Brave Ones. Trumbo had been blacklisted from Hollywood during the 1950s for his former membership in the Communist Party.
• Thousands of Hmong soldiers and officers who had assisted the CIA during the Laotian Civil War reported to the Long Chieng airbase in Laos, along with their families. Though the Hmong were told that they would be airlifted to safety before the country was taken over by the Communist Pathet Lao, only two cargo planes were allotted to the rescue, which saved only 2,500 people. The others were forced to flee into the surrounding jungles, where they were hunted down after Communist troops captured Long Chieng. Those who survived to make it to Thailand lived in refugee camps for years.
• The first full-sized luxury electric car, the Transformer 1, was introduced by Apollo Energy Systems at a press conference in the Detroit suburb of Southfield, Michigan. Robert Aronson showed the car to reporters and his friend, television personality Arthur Godfrey, drove the vehicle around the grounds of the Raleigh House. The Transformer 1 was a modified two-door 1975 Chevy Chevelle powered by a 180-volt lead cobalt battery.

May 15

• The American merchant ship Mayaguez, seized three days earlier by Cambodian forces, was rescued after the U.S. Marines landed on Kohn Tang Island, where the 45 crewmen had been held captive. Another contingent of Marines had boarded the Mayaguez and found it deserted, while the 130-man force sent to the island fought in combat against the Khmer Rouge. Under the white flag of surrender, a Cambodian vessel brought 30 Americans to the destroyer USS Wilson. Thirty-eight U.S. Marines were killed in America's last battle in Indochina. The American assault force that landed on Koh Tang expected only 20 Khmer Rouge defenders, and encountered 150. A Khmer rocket brought down "Knife 31," a U.S. Sikorsky HH-53 helicopter, and 18 of the 231 Americans were unaccounted for when the attack force withdrew. It would later be revealed that three of the Marines (Joseph N. Hargrove, Gary L. Hall, and Danny G. Marshall) and two Navy medics (Bernard Guase and Ronald Manning) may have been alive when they were left behind on the island.
• Star Trek [The Animated Series] won the franchise's first Emmy Award.

May 16

• Junko Tabei, a 35-year-old homemaker from Japan, became the first woman to reach the top of Mount Everest, arriving at the summit 29,028 feet above sea level at 12:30 pm local time. Mrs. Tabei was accompanied by a Sherpa guide, Ang Tsering. At the time, she was only the 36th person to scale the mountain, the first two having been Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953. Mrs. Tabei would go on to become the first woman to scale the highest peak on all seven continents.
• Michael X (Michael de Freitas), 41, Trinidadian revolutionary and convicted murderer, was executed by hanging.

May 17

• Filbert Bayi of Tanzania broke the world record for running the fastest mile, held by Jim Ryun for almost eight years (June 23, 1967). Bayi, who led the race in Kingston, Jamaica, from start to finish, bested Ryun by a tenth of a second, covering the distance in 3:51.0; less than three months later, on August 12, John Walker of New Zealand would break Bayi's mark.
• The "Wild Man of the Green Swamp" was captured by sheriff's deputies in Sumter County, Florida, after surviving on his own for eight months. First sighted in September, he had eaten armadillos, snakes, turtles and alligators. Identified as Hu Tu-Mei of Taiwan, a mentally ill man who had escaped from a Tampa hospital, the "Wild Man" hanged himself in jail two days later.

Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week:

1. "He Don't Love You (Like I Love You)," Tony Orlando & Dawn
2. "Before the Next Teardrop Falls," Freddy Fender
3. "Jackie Blue," The Ozark Mountain Daredevils
4. "Shining Star," Earth, Wind & Fire
5. "Only Yesterday," Carpenters
6. "Walking in Rhythm," The Blackbyrds
7. "Thank God I'm a Country Boy," John Denver
8. "How Long," Ace
9. "I Don't Like to Sleep Alone," Paul Anka w/ Odia Coates
10. "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song," B. J. Thomas
11. "Philadelphia Freedom," Elton John
12. "Killer Queen," Queen
13. "Sister Golden Hair," America
14. "Old Days," Chicago
15. "Bad Time," Grand Funk
16. "Love Won't Let Me Wait," Major Harris
17. "When Will I Be Loved," Linda Ronstadt
18. "Hijack," Herbie Mann
19. "Shoeshine Boy," Eddie Kendricks
20. "Long Tall Glasses (I Can Dance)," Leo Sayer
21. "Cut the Cake," Average White Band

23. "I'm Not Lisa," Jessi Colter
24. "It's a Miracle," Barry Manilow
25. "Chevy Van," Sammy Johns
26. "Only Women [Bleed]," Alice Cooper

28. "Rainy Day People," Gordon Lightfoot
29. "Wildfire," Michael Murphey
30. "Bad Luck," Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes
31. "Magic," Pilot
32. "Get Down, Get Down (Get on the Floor)," Joe Simon
33. "The Last Farewell," Roger Whittaker
34. "Shakey Ground," The Temptations
35. "I'll Play for You," Seals & Crofts
36. "Take Me in Your Arms (Rock Me a Little While)," The Doobie Brothers
37. "Bloody Well Right," Supertramp
38. "Trampled Under Foot," Led Zeppelin

41. "Love Will Keep Us Together," Captain & Tenille

43. "The Way We Were / Try to Remember," Gladys Knight & The Pips

46. "Young Americans," David Bowie

48. "Misty," Ray Stevens
49. "L-O-V-E (Love)," Al Green
50. "Lovin' You," Minnie Riperton
51. "Amie," Pure Prairie League

54. "The Hustle," Van McCoy & The Soul City Symphony
55. "Attitude Dancing," Carly Simon
56. "Sail On Sailor," The Beach Boys
57. "Dynomite, Pt. I," Tony Camillo's Bazuka

59. "Baby That's Backatcha," Smokey Robinson
60. "Why Can't We Be Friends?," War

69. "I'm on Fire," Dwight Twilley Band

73. "The Bertha Butt Boogie, Pt. 1," The Jimmy Castor Bunch
74. "What Am I Gonna Do with You," Barry White
75. "Shaving Cream," Benny Bell

80. "Midnight Blue," Melissa Manchester

82. "Swearin' to God," Frankie Valli
83. "Rockin' Chair," Gwen McCrae
84. "I'm Not in Love," 10cc
85. "Hey You," Bachman-Turner Overdrive

91. "Slippery When Wet," Commodores

93. "The Rockford Files," Mike Post

Leaving the chart:

• "Emma," Hot Chocolate (14 weeks)
• "Have You Never Been Mellow," Olivia Newton-John (16 weeks)
• "No No Song" / "Snookeroo", Ringo Starr (14 weeks)
• "Once You Get Started," Rufus feat. Chaka Khan (13 weeks)
• "Stand by Me," John Lennon (9 weeks)
• "Supernatural Thing, Part I," Ben E. King (14 weeks)

New on the chart:

"Hey You," Bachman-Turner Overdrive

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(#21 US; #51 UK)

"The Rockford Files," Mike Post

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(#10 US; #16 AC)

"Rockin' Chair," Gwen McCrae

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(#9 US; #1 R&B)

"Swearin' to God," Frankie Valli

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(#6 US; #9 AC; #4 Dance; #31 R&B; #31 UK)

"I'm Not in Love," 10cc

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(#2 US; #10 AC; #1 UK)
Music video


And new on the boob tube:

• Adam-12, "Something Worth Dying For: Part 1"

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Timeline entries are quoted from the Wiki page for the month, with editing as needed.

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Plus it's weird that she believed him.

It was too outrageous to be a lie.

Probably. And they probably do it just to screw with the gorillas.

For Galen's impersonation in the previous episode, they sewed a fancy collar to top his usual uniform.

The twist was that it was an asylum where a bunch of planets dumped their lunatics, and 1970s America is what spontaneously emerges when you throw a bunch of crazies together.

That's all kinds of -centric.

Nice. I may pick up one of those collections. Looks like that King Kull is not the Robert E Howard character.

A Fawcett character who was being brought back from the early '50s.

King Kull (DC Comics) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

And I confirmed that Bulletman and Bulletgirl are in the Public Domain, so DC got ripped off if they paid for them.

Could that have happened since the '90s? Or maybe it was one or more of the other characters? Spy Smasher had a Republic serial back in the day.

I'm afraid so. I'm one year creakier than I was the week before.

Birthday greetings, bottle of tea

 

[RJDiogenes]

A crowd of about 75,000 people in New York City's Central Park celebrated the end of the Vietnam War.

Not really a happy ending, though....

47-year-old ice hockey legend Gordie Howe

One of those professional athletes who was so famous that even I knew him.

Two Soviet destroyer ships, the Boykiy and the Zhguchiy, sailed into Boston Harbor, becoming the first Soviet ships to dock at a U.S. port since the beginning of the Cold War.

Ah, the good old days of detente.

Turkey's Prime Minister Süleyman Demirel was punched in the face by a 34-year-old unemployed man, Vural Onsel, at Ankara. Demirel's nose was broken as he walked out of a cabinet meeting.

"By doze!"

Died: Richard Hollingshead, 75, inventor (in 1933) of the drive-in theater

A true American hero.

Trumbo had been blacklisted from Hollywood during the 1950s for his former membership in the Communist Party.

And they think Cancel Culture is something new.

The first full-sized luxury electric car, the Transformer 1, was introduced by Apollo Energy Systems at a press conference in the Detroit suburb of Southfield, Michigan. Robert Aronson showed the car to reporters and his friend, television personality Arthur Godfrey, drove the vehicle around the grounds of the Raleigh House.

But it went nowhere. Pun intended.

The American merchant ship Mayaguez, seized three days earlier by Cambodian forces, was rescued after the U.S. Marines landed on Kohn Tang Island, where the 45 crewmen had been held captive.

Wait, was it 39 or 45? Did they lose some American sailors or gain some Cambodian defectors?

Star Trek [The Animated Series] won the franchise's first Emmy Award.

That's nice, and a little sad.

Junko Tabei, a 35-year-old homemaker from Japan, became the first woman to reach the top of Mount Everest .... Mrs. Tabei would go on to become the first woman to scale the highest peak on all seven continents.

She can also bring home the bacon and fry it up in a pan.

The "Wild Man of the Green Swamp" was captured by sheriff's deputies in Sumter County, Florida, after surviving on his own for eight months. First sighted in September, he had eaten armadillos, snakes, turtles and alligators. Identified as Hu Tu-Mei of Taiwan, a mentally ill man who had escaped from a Tampa hospital, the "Wild Man" hanged himself in jail two days later.

Well, that was a fun little weird tale, until the end.

"Hey You," Bachman-Turner Overdrive

Oh, yeah, I forgot about this one. Not as good as their other stuff, but some mild nostalgic value.

"The Rockford Files," Mike Post

TV themes get a pass from Squiggy, and this is one of the all-time best. Strong nostalgic value.

"Rockin' Chair," Gwen McCrae

I like it because I like it. Strong nostalgic value.

"Swearin' to God," Frankie Valli

I like it because I like it. Strong nostalgic value.

"I'm Not in Love," 10cc

Very good and very distinctive. Strong nostalgic value.

It was too outrageous to be a lie.

Ah, if only that were true in real life.

That's all kinds of -centric.

It was an homage to those duplicate-Earth episodes like "A Piece of the Action" and the Roman Empire one, but the satire was all Gerber.

A Fawcett character who was being brought back from the early '50s.

King Kull (DC Comics) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Weird that there were no copyright issues.

Could that have happened since the '90s? Or maybe it was one or more of the other characters? Spy Smasher had a Republic serial back in the day.

According to the Wiki page, the characters lapsed into the Public Domain before DC acquired them. It doesn't say if they asked for their money back.

Birthday greetings, bottle of tea

Thank you very much.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Weird that there were no copyright issues.

Different enough that it wouldn't matter?

 

[The Old Mixer]

Not really a happy ending, though....

The counterculture who'd been rallying against it for so many years probably felt otherwise.

One of those professional athletes who was so famous that even I knew him.

I didn't.

Wait, was it 39 or 45? Did they lose some American sailors or gain some Cambodian defectors?

Got me.

That's nice, and a little sad.

I edited that one a bit because in immersive retro context, it seemed wrong to put the retronym on as if it were the actual title of the series. Made me wonder if the awards presentation actually did anything to differentiate the name of the show from its live-action predecessor.

Oh, yeah, I forgot about this one. Not as good as their other stuff, but some mild nostalgic value.

This seemed somewhat familiar, though it seems to be channeling previous hit "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" musically.

TV themes get a pass from Squiggy, and this is one of the all-time best. Strong nostalgic value.

This is the one in this batch that I didn't have. I'll probably get it, though I was never into the show.

I like it because I like it. Strong nostalgic value.

Nothing terribly memorable here musically. I read that it was conceived as an answer song to husband George McCrae's "Rock Your Baby".

I like it because I like it. Strong nostalgic value.

This is alright.

Very good and very distinctive. Strong nostalgic value.

Distinctively beautiful and playful soft rock classic. I had to wonder what had kept this out of the top spot, as it's the kind of song that had "#1" written all over it. Turns out that it sat at #2 for three weeks, each one under a different chart-topper. Two of them I could understand, the other one not as much.

According to the Wiki page, the characters lapsed into the Public Domain before DC acquired them. It doesn't say if they asked for their money back.

I don't think that Wiki page is telling the whole story, compared to what I vaguely recall reading in letters pages at the time. I'm pretty sure there was some sort of later acquisition of the characters involved that occurred by the '90s; and that acquisition was why DC started using them again, after conspicuously not using them at good opportunities in the '80s, such as an Earth-S crossover in All-Star Squadron (Roy Thomas definitely would've used them had that been on the table) and Crisis.

Thank you very much.

My half-birthday passed last week. I'm now 55-1/2.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Different enough that it wouldn't matter?

Well, the character is certainly completely different but the name is exactly the same. Could I create a character called King Conan if he was very different? What about Solomon Kane? I don't know, but it seems weird.

The counterculture who'd been rallying against it for so many years probably felt otherwise.

Which was fine, because it meant the end of sending American kids off to die. But on the other hand, it was kind of a narrow viewpoint.

I edited that one a bit because in immersive retro context, it seemed wrong to put the retronym on as if it were the actual title of the series. Made me wonder if the awards presentation actually did anything to differentiate the name of the show from its live-action predecessor.

Probably not. Or maybe the context or the category made it obvious.

This is the one in this batch that I didn't have. I'll probably get it, though I was never into the show.

It was a good show, although I can't say I watched it religiously. But that theme really takes me back and it's a very Summery piece of music for me. I hear those chords and I feel a hot, dusty day in the 70s.

Nothing terribly memorable here musically. I read that it was conceived as an answer song to husband George McCrae's "Rock Your Baby".

This is alright.

I suppose for songs like these I should really say that I like them because of the strong nostalgic value.

Distinctively beautiful and playful soft rock classic. I had to wonder what had kept this out of the top spot, as it's the kind of song that had "#1" written all over it. Turns out that it sat at #2 for three weeks, each one under a different chart-topper. Two of them I could understand, the other one not as much.

These things often baffle me.

I don't think that Wiki page is telling the whole story, compared to what I vaguely recall reading in letters pages at the time. I'm pretty sure there was some sort of later acquisition of the characters involved that occurred by the '90s; and that acquisition was why DC started using them again, after conspicuously not using them at good opportunities in the '80s, such as an Earth-S crossover in All-Star Squadron (Roy Thomas definitely would've used them had that been on the table) and Crisis.

Yeah, definitely Roy the Boy's cup of tea. Maybe somebody was challenging the Public Domain status? I have no idea.

My half-birthday passed last week. I'm now 55-1/2.

55.5. Play that number. Any order.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Well, the character is certainly completely different but the name is exactly the same. Could I create a character called King Conan if he was very different? What about Solomon Kane? I don't know, but it seems weird.

Wiki say the name/character wasn't copyrighted until 1985, I assume the content of the stories were copyrighted when published. Though that sometimes slips through the cracks. The Original Captain Marvel has interesting history with copyrights. Fawcett was famously sued by DC because CM was too much like Superman. They didn't share a name but the similarity in abilities was enough. Later the copyright was allowed to lapse and Marvel scooped up the name. DC got the license and later the ownership of the Fawcett character, but not the name. DC/Fawcett's Kull is a minor character who probably won't ever be a headliner. So it's not going to matter to REH's heirs and rights holders too much.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Which was fine, because it meant the end of sending American kids off to die. But on the other hand, it was kind of a narrow viewpoint.

The dark side of that scene was a callousness about both the soldiers fighting there and the consequences for the people living there.

Probably not. Or maybe the context or the category made it obvious.

"Outstanding Entertainment - Children's Series" at the Daytime Emmy Awards. The context was there for the well informed, but TOS was in daytime syndication at the time.

It was a good show, although I can't say I watched it religiously. But that theme really takes me back and it's a very Summery piece of music for me. I hear those chords and I feel a hot, dusty day in the 70s.

That suggests that you were catching it in the rerun season, possibly because it was running against something else that you watched. What it ran against varied from season to season, but for its first year, it was against all or half of SMDM.

As for me, I remember it coming on at Grandma's, which makes sense because it was on Friday nights (when we would have been spending the night there), and following Sanford and Son and Chico and the Man. I remember the gag of the different oddball messages on what would have been my first exposure to an answering machine.

These things often baffle me.

As it's liable to get lost in the shuffle when the time comes, it was the weeks of July 26 through August 9. The songs at the top spot on those weeks were, in order, "The Hustle," "One of These Nights," and "Jive Talkin'". The first and third I can see; the one in the middle, not as much.

And yes, Disco Bee Gees are nigh....

Yeah, definitely Roy the Boy's cup of tea. Maybe somebody was challenging the Public Domain status? I have no idea.

It's vaguely possible that DC didn't want to use them because they were in the public domain; but that didn't stop Roy from using literary characters like Frankenstein, Captain Nemo, and Hugo Danner.

55.5. Play that number. Any order.

Radio station?

_______

 

[RJDiogenes]

Wiki say the name/character wasn't copyrighted until 1985, I assume the content of the stories were copyrighted when published.

Interesting. It actually says Trademarked, rather than Copyrighted, and Project Gutenberg considers the original stories in the Public Domain. Maybe that means whoever published them first forgot to Copyright them or somehow let the Copyright lapse. In those days, you had to actually register the Copyright and had to renew it periodically.

The dark side of that scene was a callousness about both the soldiers fighting there and the consequences for the people living there.

Indeed. I may have mentioned here before that the Left Wing's treatment of veterans was one of my early clues that there's a vast difference between Leftist and Liberal.

"Outstanding Entertainment - Children's Series" at the Daytime Emmy Awards. The context was there for the well informed, but TOS was in daytime syndication at the time.

True. I'll bet most people didn't know the difference, if they were even paying attention.

That suggests that you were catching it in the rerun season, possibly because it was running against something else that you watched. What it ran against varied from season to season, but for its first year, it was against all or half of SMDM.

That's probably true. I assumed my Summer association was just because it continued to be popular on the radio through the Summer months, but that's probably part of it too.

As for me, I remember it coming on at Grandma's, which makes sense because it was on Friday nights (when we would have been spending the night there), and following Sanford and Son and Chico and the Man. I remember the gag of the different oddball messages on what would have been my first exposure to an answering machine.

Oh, yeah, the weekly messages.

As it's liable to get lost in the shuffle when the time comes, it was the weeks of July 26 through August 9. The songs at the top spot on those weeks were, in order, "The Hustle," "One of These Nights," and "Jive Talkin'". The first and third I can see; the one in the middle, not as much.

Well, the Eagles were hitting their stride.

And yes, Disco Bee Gees are nigh....

Which wasn't bad... at first. I do love "Jive Talkin.'"

It's vaguely possible that DC didn't want to use them because they were in the public domain; but that didn't stop Roy from using literary characters like Frankenstein, Captain Nemo, and Hugo Danner.

And the thing about Public Domain characters is that whatever modifications you make belong to you (as do the actual stories, of course).

Radio station?

Heh. I think it would have to be a pirate station. A little quick research tells me that it would be an FM station, but below the FCC-approved frequency band. As far as I can tell, it would work, but I have no idea if there might be range or quality issues.

View attachment 46497

I want a receipt.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Well, the Eagles were hitting their stride.

The song just doesn't grab me as chart-topping materials like "I'm Not in Love".

Heh. I think it would have to be a pirate station. A little quick research tells me that it would be an FM station, but below the FCC-approved frequency band. As far as I can tell, it would work, but I have no idea if there might be range or quality issues.

I managed to get a search result indicating that an AM station used that style of identification for a four-digit frequency.

Hitting the stands 50 years ago today:

Invaders Vol 1 1

Featured Characters: Invaders ⏴ Bucky ⏵ ⏴ Captain America ⏵ ⏴ Human Torch ⏵ ⏴ Sub-Mariner ⏵ ⏴ Toro ⏵ Antagonists: Brain Drain (Behind the scenes) Donar ⏵ (First appearance) Froh ⏵ (First appearance) Loga ⏵ (First appearance) Wehrmacht Luftwaffe Other Characters: Brunnhilde (Hildy) ⏵ (First...

marvel.fandom.com

 

[RJDiogenes]

The song just doesn't grab me as chart-topping materials like "I'm Not in Love".

Definitely not their best, but just their popularity would propel it up the chart to a degree.

Hitting the stands 50 years ago today:

Invaders Vol 1 1

Featured Characters: Invaders ⏴ Bucky ⏵ ⏴ Captain America ⏵ ⏴ Human Torch ⏵ ⏴ Sub-Mariner ⏵ ⏴ Toro ⏵ Antagonists: Brain Drain (Behind the scenes) Donar ⏵ (First appearance) Froh ⏵ (First appearance) Loga ⏵ (First appearance) Wehrmacht Luftwaffe Other Characters: Brunnhilde (Hildy) ⏵ (First...

marvel.fandom.com

This was such a great book, and consistently for at least a couple of years. It was Roy Thomas and Frank Robbins both doing what they do best and at the top of their game.

 

[The Old Mixer]

---

50th Anniversary Viewing

---

Adam-12
"Something Worth Dying For: Part 1"
Originally aired May 13, 1975

After a well known hype is released because of a lack of probable cause, Reed decides to temporarily join the narcotics squad to hone his skills. The demands of the assignment quickly take their toll on him personally, and his worst fears are realized when Malloy assists in a narcotics bust.

When Season 7 of Adam-12 was in production, Martin Milner made it known he was considering not extending his original seven-year contract, as he wanted to move on to other projects. Series co-creator Jack Webb proposed keeping Martin Milner on-board by reducing his appearances on-camera in a proposed Season 8 of the show, by promoting his character to Sergeant, Sergeant MacDonald to Lieutenant, and Jim Reed to training officer. This would allow Milner more time to pursue other projects, and keep him in the series. This plan resulted in two back-to-back episodes featuring Reed with new partners, "Gus Corbin" and "Dana Hall," to establish the premise. These episodes appeared at the end of the season.

Near the end of production of Season 7, Milner made his final decision to move on to other projects, effectively bringing the series to an end. In order to give the long-running series a fitting close, the two-part episode, "Something Worth Dying For," was quickly written, and filmed months after Season 7 had finished shooting. The biggest indicator of the lapse in filming from the prior episode is best indicated by the length (and different hairstyle) of Kent McCord's hair.

So that resolves some of the speculation. I wonder if they planned to give Reed a series of rotating partners; settle him down with one; or maybe focus on a partner or three a season (with the partners shuffled due to Substitute Rookie Syndrome, natch).

On to our finale...Sian Barbara Allen, Kristin Nelson (Harmon), and Norman Alden get prominent billing in the opening credits, something the Mark VII shows usually reserve for pilots, backdoor pilots, and crossovers.

On patrol, the officers approach a known hype named Sparky (Allen) as she's lethargically stumbling to her car. As Malloy's taking her into custody, she drops her purse and paraphernalia falls out. Back at the station, as the officers consult scruffily plainclothes narc detective Sgt. John Hardwick (Norman Alden), he exposes weaknesses in their charges against her, even though they were stopping her from driving under the influence.

As Hardwick predicted, the case is thrown out for lack of probable cause. Mac informs Reed of an OTJ training program which would involve a 30-day transfer to Narcotics under Hardwick. After Reed spends a week reading up and growing his beard, "Big Bad John" takes him on a stakeout and bust of a domicile where a pornographer gets young boys hooked on speed so he can take pictures of them. When the officers go to the door with a warrant, a shirtless young boy answers and runs from them; and while John's arresting the John who runs the place, Reed finds another boy lying on a bed with studio lights positioned over it. As they take the kid in, Hardwick warns Reed about the danger of catching a staph infection from having touched the boy.

After Reed goes home to take a shower and Jean expresses her concern about her husband's new working conditions, John sends Jim to a seedy bar to recruit Sparky, again "on the nod," as an informant to help them bust a pair of scammers known as Red Rudy and Paranoid Jack who rip off dealers. Sparky doesn't recognize Reed at first, but is willing to go along when she learns that she won't be busting her connection. She tries to make a move on Reed, which he fends off.

Meanwhile, Jerry Woods is keeping Jim's seat warm in the squad car. He and Malloy respond to a 211 at a bridge club where it turns out that one of the ladies (gotta have Virginia Gregg in it) tripped the suspect, causing him to break his leg, and relieved him of his gun. Elsewhere, Jim takes a phone tip from Sparky, who's made a delivery to Rudy and Jack following which she aided them in a smash and grab at a jewelry store. She warns him that Jack lives up to his moniker by stockpiling weapons.

Hardwick obtains a warrant and assembles his narc squad for the bust. Jim gets into an argument with him when he learns that John plans to have Sparky busted for her part in the robbery, but an angry Reed insists on bringing her in himself. Adam-12 backs up the narcs for the bust at Rudy and Jack's. When John and Jim bust in the front, they quickly find themselves in a firefight. When Pete comes in through the back and gets himself shot, Jim crawls out from cover and drags him across the floor to relative safety. After the successful bust, Jim sees a conscious Pete loaded into an ambulance and questions John about whether it was worth it.

TO BE CONTINUED
IN PART II

---

This was such a great book, and consistently for at least a couple of years. It was Roy Thomas both doing what they do best and at the top of their game.

Does Roy no longer identify as "The Boy"?

 

[RJDiogenes]

So that resolves some of the speculation.

I think it's amazing that they went through the trouble and expense of filming two extra episodes after the season had concluded. I wonder if those episodes are considered part of season 7 or if they're a 21st-century-style season 8.

I wonder if they planned to give Reed a series of rotating partners; settle him down with one; or maybe focus on a partner or three a season (with the partners shuffled due to Substitute Rookie Syndrome, natch).

Different partners would have been interesting, but I think the audience would be more likely to bond with one consistent character.

"Big Bad John" takes him on a stakeout and bust of a domicile where a pornographer gets young boys hooked on speed so he can take pictures of them. When the officers go to the door with a warrant, a shirtless young boy answers and runs from them; and while John's arresting the John who runs the place, Reed finds another boy lying on a bed with studio lights positioned over it.

This is pretty graphic for Adam-12.

Sparky doesn't recognize Reed at first, but is willing to go along when she learns that she won't be busting her connection. She tries to make a move on Reed, which he fends off.

Does the beard make him look more grown up?

Meanwhile, Jerry Woods is keeping Jim's seat warm in the squad car.

Too bad they didn't bring back Dana Hall.

one of the ladies (gotta have Virginia Gregg in it)

Aww, I'm glad she made it into the finale.

After the successful bust, Jim sees a conscious Pete loaded into an ambulance and questions John about whether it was worth it.

Ominous, considering the title. I'm actually not sure if Malloy survives or not, though I'm pretty positive he does. If Malloy did die and the show continued, that really would have underscored Reed as the new Malloy.

Does Roy no longer identify as "The Boy"?

Good question, which I never really thought about. I'm sure he must have stopped, at least for the most part, once he left Marvel since it was meant as a counterpoint to Stan the Man. Especially since he left Marvel on somewhat unhappy terms. He may have used it again later in his career on independent projects for nostalgic purposes. This is just me speculating, though, because I have no idea.

And, of course, that sentence was supposed to read "Roy Thomas and Frank Robbins." Sigh.

 

[The Old Mixer]

I think it's amazing that they went through the trouble and expense of filming two extra episodes after the season had concluded. I wonder if those episodes are considered part of season 7 or if they're a 21st-century-style season 8.

They're officially numbered as Season 7; and those episodes bring the season's count up to a typical 24. This season seemed kind of rocky production-wise in that it started late and there were lots of weeks off.

Different partners would have been interesting, but I think the audience would be more likely to bond with one consistent character.

I think some variety could have been welcome, but wonder what the billing situation in the credits would have been if they'd done that.

This is pretty graphic for Adam-12.

It was more suggested than explicit; and they have handled rape before.

Does the beard make him look more grown up?

Too bad they didn't bring back Dana Hall.

Aww, I'm glad she made it into the finale.

Ominous, considering the title. I'm actually not sure if Malloy survives or not, though I'm pretty positive he does. If Malloy did die and the show continued, that really would have underscored Reed as the new Malloy.

He lives...they didn't attempt to suggest otherwise.

Pete (to Jim, while being loaded into the ambulance): When you come to see me, don't bring flowers, okay?​

And, of course, that sentence was supposed to read "Roy Thomas and Frank Robbins." Sigh.

But you made me look it up...you never know these days.

 

[RJDiogenes]

They're officially numbered as Season 7; and those episodes bring the season's count up to a typical 24. This season seemed kind of rocky production-wise in that it started late and there were lots of weeks off.

Maybe they were already assuming the cancellation was a given, so they had already mentally checked out, like that last week of school before Summer vacation.

I think some variety could have been welcome, but wonder what the billing situation in the credits would have been if they'd done that.

They would have needed to change the title sequence every week, like Mission: Impossible.

It was more suggested than explicit; and they have handled rape before.

Both that episode and this one seemed exceptionally edgy for the show.

View attachment 46538

Why do I get the feeling that George Michael was watching?

View attachment 46537

I prefer Officer Dana.

View attachment 46539

"Do you boys want this?"

He lives...they didn't attempt to suggest otherwise.

Oh, okay.

Pete (to Jim, while being loaded into the ambulance): When you come to see me, don't bring flowers, okay?

That's pure Malloy.

But you made me look it up...you never know these days.

You never know... about my unreliable memory?