The art of miid-70s Kirby dropped off considerably--unless inked by Romita (BTW, Romita just turned 93 years old on 1/24). At this time, Kirby's favorite inker (apparently) was Mike Royer, who worked with him at DC and Marvel, but was merely a tracer; he could not bring out the best in Kirby's work, while taking the robotic tendencies from his figures that a Romita, Sinnott or Shores. Ah, Captain America's Bicentennial Battles. I recall its release, and although it was a marginally fascinating concept, I would have preferred the Treasury Edition reprinting Cap stories from Tales of Suspense, or Kirby's late 60s run on Captain America. My family had the basic Adam-12 reels. Where the Talking View-Master sets were concerned, we only a a few--namely Star Trek: Mr Spock's Time Trek (adapting TAS' "Yesteryear"), Superman Meets Computer Crook (strange, yet stunning mix animation cels and miniature sets / backgrounds) and Snoopy and The Red Baron (all miniatures). Such a unique form of entertainment. I've read about the Moodies having band tension dating as far back as the Denny Laine period (e.g., when he bailed on the band to start a solo career), but I never knew they were as dysfunctional as DarrenTR1970 revealed in his post. Generally, I've found the most internally destructive 60s (or 60s survivor) band was The Rolling Stones (honestly, take your pick of the abusive situations / relationships in that band), on a level even the disgruntled Moodies could not match.
Just as well. Her first sung line to Linda Blair's kidney patient is ''You should take better care of yourself.'' Easy for her to say. Then Karen Black, the other stewardesses and a passenger or two start smiling. Had Efrem Zimbalist, Erik Estrada and Roy Thinnes continued those grins inside the cockpit, it might have improved the movie's grosses significantly. Lost opportunity. The Zucker Brothers knew better.
He was Colonel Klink! Probably a lot easier to shoot than with everyone popping out of doors and getting close-ups. Maybe. Steve did make a point of telling Danno that he would've fallen for it, too. I got the impression that it was improvised. The Gaynors were played sympathetically, Jessie in particular.
The Denny Laine lead version of the Moody Blues actually did make an attempt to record a second album, but Laine left before it was completed. The tracks are included on the bonus disc of the 50th anniversary reissue. After Laine left, he would record the single "Say You Don't Mind" which would be featured on Wings university and Europe tours of '72-'73. I found these quotes in the liner notes for the expanded reissue of "Seventh Sojourn" - Ray Thomas, "By the time we began the sessions I think we needed a break from each other. Up to that time everywhere one of us went the others would be there too. All my experiences were their experiences." Graeme Edge, "It was a strained and awkward time for us. Mike Pinder, particularly, found it difficult. We were all exhausted and become prisoners of our own success." John Lodge, "By then we were subject to lateral pressures which we'd brought on ourselves that were outside of music. On our 1973 tour we had our own Boeing 707 aircraft which was decked out with a sitting room and a fireplace. There were two bedrooms, some twenty individual TV's, sound systems everywhere and we had our own butler and our name written on the outside of the plane. I had a very empty feeling knowing things had gotten this excessive." There's another story, I think it's in the box set, where one of the members talks about there being a hat with pieces of paper with numbers written on it, and each number represented the punchline to a joke, and all one member had to do was reach in, pull out a piece of paper with a number on it and everyone would laugh because they knew what the joke was; and he said that was when he knew that things had to change within the group. Edit to add - The story comes from the liner notes in Ray Thomas' "Hopes Wishes and Dreams". Graeme Edge calls "Seventh Sojourn" his least favorite album of the core seven because of the bad memories associated with it. Edit to add - Having read the liner notes to all the solo albums, all of the Moodies at one point or another say that the reason they did a solo album was because they didn't think the Moody Blues would reform. Also, if I read between the lines to Justin Hayward solo album liner notes, it looks like Justin and John Lodge had a bit of a falling out after the release of the "Blue Jays" album with Justin saying he had to break up the songwriting partnership because John and the record company wanted the duo to tour the states, but Justin resisted because he felt the audience would be there to see the Moody Blues perform and not Justin and John's material, which is why some of the songs earmarked for a second "Blue Jays" album wound up on Justin and John's solo album.
I'm less familiar with his DC work, but I seem to remember that he worked with two inkers around that time, Mike Royer and Bruce Berry. That must have been part of his deal to return to Marvel, along with writing everything he drew. Neither of those was the best decision, I don't think, but I still like his 70s work. And Happy Birthday to John Romita. He was one of those guys, like Sal and George, who never got the credit that bigger names did, but kept Marvel alive and well. They should have done both. Those Treasury Editions were bonanza of classic stuff in those days, when classic stuff was not easy to find. Those miniature sets were so cool. Road Runner was another one. But I think all of my talking reels were nature documentaries, like the Grand Canyon. I didn't have many. Indeed. Poor Radar.... But booor-ing. Yeah, they were more pathetic than evil. It's so sad to think that works of art that bring happiness to millions also bring distress to their creators.
Ever notice the female jaws in his CAPTAIN AMERICA and 2001 comics were just as blocky as the male ones?
Yes, and Kirby crept toward that way of illustrating women during his last years at Marvel (the first time around). After a time, there was no difference between the wide faces of Sue Storm, Janet Van Dyne, Sharon Carter or any other Kirby female, and as you point out, by the time of his return to Marvel, his female faces were wide, to say the least. As great as Kirby was, he would not rate high on the list of comic book artists who knew how to illustrate various female appearances (John Romita, Nick Cardy, Neal Adams and Gene Colan would top that list).
Today marks the 50th Anniversary of the release "Shoot Out at the Fantasy Factory" by the band Traffic. It would peak at #6 on the Billboard charts. Here they are performing probably the best known song from the album, (Sometimes I Feel So) Uninspired. (Just like to point out Steve Winwood is not yet twenty-five in this clip.)
_______ 50th Anniversary Viewing (Part 2) _______ Mission: Impossible "The Fountain" Originally aired January 26, 1973 Thomas Bachman (Maharis in bad-looking middle-age makeup) storms into the computer center of Matthew Drake (Mitchell), concerned that Drake has pulled records on his operation with the intent of taking over. Bachman pulls a gun and, assisted by Drake goons who are on his payroll, takes a couple record reels with the intent of ransoming them back to the Syndicate; then has Drake taken into an adjacent room and sets a bomb, which explodes after he leaves. Jim and Barney intercept a smuggler named Mallory (uncredited Ed Connelly), who's supposed to get Bachman back to the States from where he's been lying low in northern Mexico, and Barney knocks him out with the Paris Neck Pinch (or maybe they're using the ring when they do that, but they don't show it). Barney then meets with Bachman, posing as the smuggler, negotiates a price, and takes him up. Barney fakes a mechanical difficulty, knocks out Bachman via the same method, and lands on a dirt strip for a rendezvous with Jim. Bachman awakes in the fake aftermath of the plane crash, where Barney is wearing a splint and using a branch as a crutch (foreshades of TIH's "Mystery Man"). Walking in the wilderness, they find the IMF's borrowed mansion, posing as the headquarters of the Fellowship of the Golden Circle, presided over by robed Jim and Casey. Willy brings in a seemingly badly wounded raccoon, which they quickly bring back to full health. Bachman then finds a very old photo of Casey tucked in a book that was printed in 1861. He finds further evidence in a newspaper article and confronts Casey with it, which indicates that she was already in her 50s in the 1880s, despite her youthful appearance. Meanwhile, Drake--whose crippling injury from the blast seems limited to a busted hand that he wears a glove on--tracks down the plane with his henchmen, Dawson (Luke Askew) and Perez (Carlos Rivas, who looks a lot like Jonathan Frakes here), and sends them to find Bachman and bring him in. The IMFers further reveal that Barney's fake broken leg has been miraculously healed; and Bachman finds planted evidence that Willy was a bomber pilot in WWII. Spying on Casey, Bachman follows Casey through a secret panel down to a cave spring--coming across a photo of Jim in 1838 along the way--and confronts her about everything he's seen. She reluctantly divulges that the water from the spring keeps the members youthful, but has to be drunk every 48 hours. Bachman wants the water as a way of curing Drake's hand for leverage. Jim gives him a cupful with a pill slipped in, which Bachman drinks and passes out. Casey gives Bachman a temporary youthifying treatment, then dons an extreme old age mask and matching gloves, over which she'll be wearing an easily dissolving mask and gloves to simulate her normal age and appearance. Bachman awakes to discover the new him as Dawson and Perez enter with rifles. Bachman tells them that they ain't seen nothing yet, and he wants to take the girl to Drake. Jim gives Casey a vial of the water for the journey. Bachman returns to Drake and offers him the vial...refusing to give any to Casey as proof of the water's effects. While the men are bartering, Casey slips on the solution that dissolves her outer disguise and also turns her hair gray, and fakes death from extreme old age. Drake agrees to Bachman's deal and Bachman takes him to where he hid the computer records. Jim and Barney swoop in on the Syndicators with conventional backup and take the reels. _______ Love, American Style "Love and the Singing Suitor / Love and the Unmarriage / Love and the Wee He" Originally aired January 26, 1973 "Love and the Singing Suitor" opens with Murray Roomer (Warren Berlinger) overworked because the office he's sharing with Walt Lerner (Dave Madden) is between secretaries. A discussion of having flings with secretaries leads to Murray sharing how he wants true love, like in musicals, and when he finds it, he'll burst into song. When personnel sends a new secretary, Nancy DeHaven (Bridget Hanley), there are a few false instrumental intros before Murray goes into a full-on musical number...terrifying Nancy, who takes refuge in the closet. Walt gets in the closet to talk to her, while Murray goes into a slower number outside. Nancy reluctantly agrees to stay, on the understanding that she's just the secretary. Nancy subsequently tries to stick strictly to business as Murray breaks into new numbers over the slightest things...sometimes using a hat and cane and/or dancing. Eventually she's ready to walk out, but tries to get through to Murray that his behavior is unnatural and he's living in a fantasy world. He tries to explain himself to her without music, and she finds herself liking him much more, agreeing to go to lunch with him. He can't help going into the closet for a brief musical outburst, but promises not to do it again. In "Love and the Unmarriage," Julie Garber (Susan Foster) and her boyfriend Ken (Michael McGreevey) drop in on Julie's parents (Ozzie and Harriet) to announce that they've decided to live together. Attempting to argue for the importance of the commitment of marriage, Mr. Garber brings up an evident fling he had while out of town on business that Mrs. Garber caught via phone, which includes unconvincingly rehashing his excuse from nine years prior. Ultimately Mr. Garber gives the kids his blessing, but is in hot water with the missus after they leave. The next day, the Garbers announce that they're getting a divorce, and Julie is distraught that she'll be leaving a broken home. Later, while the Garbers are working out who gets what, Julie and Ken drop in again to reveal that they got married in Mexico. In attempting to argue that marriage is more than just a commitment, Mrs. Garber ends up indirectly forgiving Mr. Garber, and Julie and Ken consider their mission accomplished. "Love and the Wee He" hearkens back to over a month prior, with Wayne (Craig Huebing) and Bibi (Sarah Kennedy) celebrating Christmas on their honeymoon. Wayne's present to Bibi is a lifelike mechanical elf who used to be on display in a department store window (Billy Barty). But they can't turn it off, so it lurches around mechanically, brandishing its hammer, while they're trying to get intimate. Wayne ends up putting it on the window ledge of the apartment building, only for a fireman (Patrick Campbell) to break through the door, accompanied by a policeman and a rabbi who's subbing for a priest (Donald Barry and Marvin Miller), all responding to what they think is a jumper. The lot of them end up getting the elf back in and it seems to have calmed down, but gets active again once the couple are back in bed...so they give up and put him in bed between them. _______ All in the Family "Archie Goes Too Far" Originally aired January 27, 1973 While Archie's searching for a magazine to settle a bet with Mike, Edith finds her wartime diary and reads passages about her relationship with Archie, including one in which she took a reference to "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree" too literally. Archie: 1943...she was still in training for her dingbat wings. After some more readings, Archie comes downstairs with a poetic letter that he found in a box of Mike's, asserting his right to search anyplace in the house...provoking a very topical reference. Mike: We're living in the Watergate Hotel here. Archie reads the poem aloud against Mike's objections. Gloria recognizes the poem as one that Mike wrote to her, but Archie drops the bomb that this copy was written "To Vicky". Gloria confronts Mike about this and Mike storms out. A distraught Gloria goes to stay at a girlfriend's over her father's instigative behavior, and Edith goes after her...taking her diary with her after telling Archie that there are things in it that she wouldn't want him to read. Lionel comes over to tell Archie that Mike is laying low at the Jeffersons'...teasing Archie by likening it to the Underground Railroad. Archie looks up the address of Gloria's girlfriend, Trudy (Pamela Murphy)--with whom Gloria and Edith are getting drunk and having fun. Trudy discourages Gloria from calling Mike, arguing that she should let him come to her. A couple more girlfriends (Mary Kay Place and Patty Weaver) show up dressed for a slumber party with pizza, following which Mike pops in. The Stivics reconcile, then Archie gets there during a singalong and Edith's overjoyed to see him...but won't let any of them go home until Archie admits he was wrong for invading Mike's privacy. Archie is tacitly backed into confessing to his wrongdoing, and everyone celebrates. _______ The Mary Tyler Moore Show "Romeo and Mary" Originally aired January 27, 1973 Mary double dates with Rhoda; contrary to the description, Rhoda doesn't think much of either of their dates, so she's grateful to Mary for agreeing to it. Rhoda's date, Lowell (Bo Kaprall), arrives with Mary's date, Warren Sturges (Stuart Margolin), the two of them doing comedy schtick. After the date, Mary subtly tries to discourage Warren from coming in for coffee, but he doesn't do subtlety, and comes on strong about his attraction to her and what he sees as their future...leaving before she can set him straight. After calling her twice overnight, he shows up early in the morning with breakfast, and has the day all planned out for the two of them. She shows him out, but he insists that she'll fall for him given time. Later at work, Mary learns that Warren's put a billboard up declaring his love, and then he pops in, having befriended Ted. Warren handcuffs himself to Mary, forcing her to go to lunch with him to get the key. In a discussion about Mary's situation with Ted and Murray at the station, Lou reveals that when he was dating Edie, he was writing romantic poetry under a female predecessor's name for the Detroit Free Press. Mary returns late from lunch, traumatized by the experience. After days of further incidents, Mary takes to using multiple locks at home, paranoid about Warren's next move. Rhoda tries to convince her not to be afraid to make a scene in order to make Warren get the message. After a letup in the Warren activity, Mary's at a restaurant with a guy named Peter (Joe Warfield) when Warren shows up with a band and a cake with a marriage proposal written on it. Mary takes Rhoda's advice and lets him have it very demonstratively...only to be mortified to learn that it was all for Warren's new girlfriend, Peggy (Barbara Brownell). _______ The Bob Newhart Show "The Two Loves of Dr. Hartley" Originally aired January 27, 1973 At the end of a session, Mrs. Walker (Henry), who's lost 50 pounds with Bob's help, drops the bomb that she loves him. To keep her around and away from food until after his next appointment, he has Jerry clean her teeth. Bob tries to tell her that her affection for him is just transference, but she persists...and then calls Bob at home, which gets Emily's attention. Bob tries to explain the situation... Bob: Just think of me as a rock star, with fans. Walker comes to the office when Bob's leaving to tell him that she and her husband split up after she told him about her feelings for Bob. Bob has to miss Monday Night Football with Howard and Jerry to counsel Walker; and back at the apartment, Howard ends up counseling Emily. (Emily's issue with MNF in the prior episode is referenced.) Howard and Jerry try to engage Emily in the game, and get up to leave in its neck-and-neck last two minutes when Bob gets home. Emily argues for Bob to dump Mrs. Walker, though he counters that her jealousy is the real issue that has to be dealt with. As Bob is trying to tell Emily that nothing is more important to him than her, his attention is diverted by an upset victory in the game by a Washington team that was recently renamed. In the coda, Emily meets Mrs. Walker when she drops by Bob's office, learning that she and her husband have gotten back together. _______
George Perez was a great one for individualizing characters. Another guy from those days who was really good is kind of forgotten now-- in fact, his name escapes me-- but he was the first artist on New Mutants. Even when he was inking Sal Buscema's pencils he maintained that individuality for the characters. I think he was something like sixteen when he got started. Pretty amazing. All those years on the road in a convertible.... Ah, the old solitary mansion in the wilderness trope. Always a sign that fun times are ahead. Yep, here we go. An ancient order of immortal veterinarians. That's nice. What happened to the original smuggler? I wonder if the IMF called conventional law enforcement to pick him up or just returned his plane to him and let him keep on smuggling (assuming the wreckage was faked and they didn't really bust up the plane). Immortals really like to leave evidence just lying around. They're also early adopters of new technology, apparently. Two layers of masking-- they've got to be using Area 51 technology or something. Very Zone-ish. A bit of an anticlimactic ending, but a cool episode overall. It would have been funny if they had a little epilogue revealing that the IMFers really are hundreds of years old because of the secret spring. You've got to lay the foreshadowing on thick in these short stories. That's my LAS. But a bit of a disappointing ending. It would have been more LAS if they ended it with a duet. Ozzie and Harriet. It's all about you, Julie. Nice one. It's usually awkward when they champion traditional values for the old folks in the audience, but this was well done. I remember this one. And the newlyweds begin their threesome with the cursed mechanical elf. There's a backdoor pilot that should have gone to series. The hell you say! He actually wrote it when he was thirteen and used it on every girl he ever knew. Perhaps not so much of a dingbat, after all. "Hey, I know that poem." "Me, too!" That's remarkable. Probably no apology, though. LAS guy. Also, Rockford Files. Doesn't this guy have a job? Time to call the cops and the men in the white coats. One of which was plagiarized by a guy named Mike Stivic in later years. If she's not going to call the cops, she should at least ask Lou to have a non-rhyming talk with him. Well, that was a very Mary ending, at least. He should have hinted that Jerry has a crush on her. I think we kinda do. Not too surprising. I remember that. All's well that ends anticlimactically.
Barney did take him up in the plane. I'm not clear if the wreckage was the original plane...I'd say it's more likely, but this is the IMF. Hadn't even thought of that. Maybe... That was a good beat, actually, and one that resonates all the more today. The institution of marriage was too square and old fogey for her...until her own parents were the ones looking to ditch it. Parents have to be perfect rocks of support. Not a direct one, no. There was a great line from Archie in the scene with Lionel that would probably be considered way too insensitive to repeat here 50 years later. It was Sunday. The really awkward thing about writing this one up is that I don't think they ever dropped Mrs. Walker's first name.
Bob McLeod, I believe. Did Claremont ever have stories drawn by Perez? Had it happened, George's visuals would probably have to be squished to accomodate Chris's considerably-sized thought balloon essays. I must admit I was underwhelmed at the first Kitty-Wolverine limited series at his choice of artist.....assuming it was his choice. I also wonder if Claremont ever entertained the possibility of writing for THE AVENGERS, with or without Perez.
As the series progressed, the behind-the-scenes stories started to become less and less elaborate in the later seasons, probably due to it being a well-worn formula by this time. The only item of note the "M:I" book has to say about this story is that, as a cost saving measure, the location of the tapes was the Paramount Studios commissary.
At least that implies that the smuggler was carted off between scenes, so there's one that didn't get away. True, it did tilt toward the ending. We'll rendezvous at the usual time and location for intel transfer. Use Code Z-86. The countersign is "Ferry Cross The Mersey." If apprehended by the Thought Police, stop thinking. Oh. Bob is always polite. That's the guy! I wonder whatever happened to him. He was a good artist, but slow, I think. Yeah, Perez would have to do full-page panels. I don't recall them ever working together. Not that I know of. It was around the time of that Kitty-Wolverine mini series that Claremont started to lose it and go full-on 80s torture porn. He was actually always kind of an iffy writer who needed a strong artist to collaborate with. If left to his own devices, his work was not very memorable. They were really losing steam at that point, it seems.
He had great acclaim, though while reading some of his MARADA adventures in Epic Illustrated as well as NEW MUTANTS and MARVEL TEAM-UP he would begin repeating snatches of dialogue with different characters or narrators. At least two women threatened to rip the heart out of their enemy's breast, the outcome was never in doubt, and so on.
My Brother and I used to joke about how the same stock phrases started coming out of every character's mouth, appropriate or not. When Magneto said "I offer the world a deal," it was in character-- when Wolverine said "I offer a deal" to Dr Doom it was not. And whenever anybody loved someone, the reply was always "And I, you." There were others, but I can't think of them right now. Basically, everybody started talking like Chris Claremont.
The man's got serious issues. He naturally preferred his new X-MEN to Stan Lee's old, and actually had Wolverine say ''we're better'' despite the new group's 0.02 percent villain capture-or-kill rate. I was actually pleasingly shocked when one X-Men (temporarily) killed Proteus, as I was expecting the usual conclusion to end in a draw. His bias to his new members was never more screwy when in one issue Havok asked Rogue if he could help. She replied with the most unwarranted disrespect imaginable. She treated him like an FNG because he hadn't bled enough for the newbie's liking. What the #$%&, Rogue? And you, too, Claremont. Is Cyclop's kid brother supposed to accept unmoderated insults from traitorous ex-evil opponents who later came crawling to Xavier for help when she needed it? Or is this Rogue-logic at its finest? Last point on Claremont. When Ripley in the ALIEN comic adaptation/graphic novel ran from the alien, she emphasized running over dialogue. When Claremont's shameless-yet-well-drawn ripoff of that film came out late 1980, and Kitty Pryde was being chased, she decided to unleash a 300-word-essay in one harrowing panel while running from her alien threat, emphasizing the necessity of possessing ''a well-honed body and mind,'' among other irrelevancies. Had this been MAD, that alien would have chewed up and spat out half of that immense thought-balloon, no quarter given.
50 Years Ago This Week February 4 The U.S. television news show 60 Minutes aired a segment, "The Selling of Colonel Herbert", which led to the CBS network being sued for libel by U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Herbert. The lawsuit would lead to a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1979 in Herbert v. Lando, which rejected a claim of First Amendment protection against discovery requests of the editorial process. Herbert would end up losing his lawsuit in 1986. February 5 A U.S. Air Force spy plane was shot down over Laos one week after the Paris Peace Accords had officially ended the United States involvement in the Vietnam War. All eight crew of the EC-47 airplane were listed as killed, though the remains of only four crewmen would be located and their classification would later be changed to missing in action (MIA). U.S. Army Colonel William B. Nolde, the last American serviceman to die in the Vietnam War, was buried with full honors at Arlington National Cemetery. Afterward, Nolde's widow and their five children met with U.S. President Nixon at the White House, where he told the children, "Your father gave his life so that you may live in a generation without war." Nolde had been killed ten hours before the January 28 ceasefire went into effect. The rock band Queen recorded the first four tracks of their album At the Beeb. February 6 Operation End Sweep, the clearing of explosive mines from North Vietnam's Haiphong harbor, was commenced by four minesweepers of the United States Navy's Task Force 78 in accordance with the Paris Peace Accords. After 30 days, the U.S. Department of Defense announced that the minesweepers had "neither detonated nor recovered any of the several thousand mines" in North Vietnam's harbors. In Toronto, construction of the CN Tower began with the financing of Canadian National, the nation's largest railway. The 1,815 feet (553 m) concrete communications and observation tower would be completed on April 2, 1975, and opened on June 26, 1976. February 7 The United States Senate voted unanimously, 77–0, to approve U.S. Senate Resolution 60 and establish a select bipartisan committee to investigate the Watergate scandal. Eleven people were killed in the crash of a U.S. Navy jet into the Tahoe Apartments in Alameda, California, including the pilot, and 40 were injured. The explosion and fire at 8:26 in the evening destroyed two four-story apartment buildings at 1825 Central Avenue, where about 200 tenants, mostly young couples, lived. The A-7E Corsair II jet caught fire at an altitude of 28,000 feet (8,500 m) while flying [over?] San Francisco Bay during a training flight after taking off from Lemoore Naval Air Station. The West German news magazine Stern exposed the identity of "M", the director of the British spy agency MI-6, as Sir John Ogilvy Rennie. February 8 The Church of Denmark (officially the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Denmark) became the first Christian body to recognize gay marriage, when Pastor Harald Søbye performed a wedding of two men. Søbye followed on February 25 with the televised wedding of a lesbian couple. Neither marriage was given legal recognition by the Kingdom of Denmark. U.S. Senator Sam Ervin of South Carolina was named Chairman of the Senate Watergate Committee, a bipartisan committee to investigate the Watergate scandal. The comet 64P/Swift–Gehrels was rediscovered after having last been seen by astronomers in 1889, when observed by Tom Gehrels from the Palomar Observatory in California. February 9 The United Kingdom and France established diplomatic relations with East Germany, leaving the U.S. as the only nation to refuse to give the Communist nation recognition. The first convention of the National Women's Political Caucus began in Houston, ending on February 11. The co-founders of the NWPC—Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem and U.S. representatives Bella Abzug and Shirley Chisholm—stepped aside and asked the 1,000 delegates to elect new leaders of the organization. Died: Max Yasgur, 53, American dairy farmer who allowed his upstate New York farm to be the site of the Woodstock Festival, died of a heart attack. February 10 ABBA, entered as "Björn and Benny, Agnetha and Anni-Frid," performed the song "Ring Ring" in Melodifestivalen 1973, the contest to select the Swedish entry for the forthcoming Eurovision Song Contest, but finished in third place behind second place Ann-Kristin Hedmark and the winner, the pop duo Malta. The third place finishers would create the name [for] their band a year later, taking the initial letters of their first names (B & B, A & A) and rearranging them, going on to win the 1974 Eurovision contest and becoming successful worldwide. Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week: Leaving the chart: "It Never Rains in Southern California," Albert Hammond (16 weeks) "I Wanna Be with You," Raspberries (11 weeks) "Living in the Past," Jethro Tull (14 weeks) Recent and new on the chart: "Dead Skunk," Loudon Wainwright III (Jan. 27; #16 US) "Aubrey," Bread (Feb. 3; #15 US; #4 AC) "Stir It Up," Johnny Nash (#12 US; #6 AC; #13 UK in 1972) "Break Up to Make Up," The Stylistics (#5 US; #20 AC; #5 R&B; #34 UK) "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia," Vicki Lawrence (#1 US the weeks of Apr. 7 and 14, 1973; #6 AC; #36 Country) And new on the boob tube: M*A*S*H, "Dear Dad...Again" Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, Season 6, episode 19 Hawaii Five-O, "Will the Real Mr. Winkler Please Die?" Adam-12, "Killing Ground" Kung Fu, "The Soul Is the Warrior" The Brady Bunch, "The Subject Was Noses" The Odd Couple, "The Hustler" Mission: Impossible, "The Fighter" Love, American Style, "Love and the Anniversary / Love and the Playwright / Love and the Trampled Passion" All in the Family, "Class Reunion" Emergency!, "Syndrome" The Mary Tyler Moore Show, "Murray Faces Life" The Bob Newhart Show, "A Home Is Not Necessarily a House" _______ Timeline entries are quoted from the Wiki page for the month, with minor editing as needed. _______ I, too, got to a point where Claremont's tendency to have characters interchangeably use highly idiosyncratic speech patterns and turns of phrase got annoying. I belatedly realized that my response should have been "I lost you at the bakery."