Saved From The Paper Drive

The Magic Tunnel- Time Traveling Subway Adventure for Kids

2012-02-29T18:01:00.002-05:00

Jerry Robinson (1922-2011) was a long time artst on the Batman series, and created "The Joker",and came up the name "Robin" for Baman's sidekick.

He was largely uncredited most of his career, and any comic book fan knows of this work. In 1978, he founded Cartoonists & Writers Syndicate/CartoonArts International.

He also illustrated some books, as shown here.

This is one of my favorites as a 10 year old. The story was written in 1940, but this Scholastic edition was published in 1964. I think I read it in 1966 or 1967. It's a great time travel story for juveniles, and has a bunch of Jerry Robinson illos.

Love the Corvette in this drawing.

Jerry Robinson in 2008

Old Video Game- FULL METAL PLANET

2012-02-24T00:05:00.004-05:00

Video/ Computer games today certainly look nicer than their fore bearers of 25 years ago, but I find that they often lack something the simpler games provided...FUN.

"Full Metal Planet" was a 1990 computer version of the French science fiction board game "Full Métal Planète" from two years prior.

In this game of science fiction strip mining, players land on a planet and try and grab as much ore as possible and take off before the game is over. Each player has tanks, boats, barges, mining equipment and a base ship at his disposal and will have to contend with the weather and the other miners.

This game was a lot of fun, despite a cumbersome copy protection check everytime the program was run.
The game was written for DOS, although it might have been ported from some other system. This fine bit of gameware will not run under Windows, not even with DosBox. I miss it.

Tell-a-Tale Book~~~ Captain Kangaroo's Picnic

2012-02-23T22:53:00.002-05:00

from 1959, Mel Crawford artwork

Mayan Illustrations from 1935 National Geographic

2012-02-22T15:55:00.001-05:00

In 1935, The National Geographic Journal was a far cry from the sensational fare offered today. There wasn't even a cover picture, and color was only used sparingly, in the manner of "color plates" of books.

Here are eight inserts my somone named Herget that accompanied an article about the Mayans. Click to enlarge & read captions.

DANGER MAN 1964 UK Annual

2012-02-22T15:11:00.000-05:00

World Distributors first of several DANGER MAN annuals. Several text stories, no comics, and some sketchy illustrations.

Whitman's "The Space Eagle"

2012-02-21T22:36:00.000-05:00

The Space Eagle- Operation Doomsday was one of a series of books for children of around 10 and up put out by Whitman in the 60s. Other titles included "Bonanza", two "Man From U.N.C.L.E." books, "F Troop",

"The Green Hornet" and more (Watch this blog for future Whitman material)

The two "Space Eagle" books were written by Jack Pearl, supposedly based on characters created by Raymond J. Meurer. Dedications in both books by Meurer, who was a business partner , in the broadcasting industry, of Lone Ranger co-creator George Trendle. Meurer was also a lawyer involved with the Lone Ranger licensing, so he would have connections with the Whitman/Western Publishing people. It's a shot in the dark, but he probably pitched this idea to them, and they hired Pearl to do the actual writing. Almost all of the other Whitman books in this series are licensed characters.

This book was, like all the others in the series, about 200 pages in length with colorful covers.

first book came out in 1967

second published in 1970

Interior art by Arnie Kohn.

This title is false advertising.....

2012-02-21T22:35:00.000-05:00

This magazine from circa 1950 could not have been more different from what I imagined..........

Whitman's The Invaders

2012-02-21T17:09:00.002-05:00

In the mid to late 60s, Western Publishing put out a number of nice fiction volumes, many based on TV shows, for children. They were fairly large type, and had about 200 pages.

Jack Pearl wrote this story based on the television show "The Invaders". Robert L. Jenny drew a few interior illustrations.

The best part of the whole effort were the end-papers

Jack Pearl also wrote novel tie-ins for the films "The Yellow Rolls Royce" and "Funny Girl".
For Whitman, he wrote the two "Space Eagle" novels in this same format. (click for SPACE EAGLE.)

Space Man #3

2012-02-20T19:28:00.001-05:00

One of the first Dell titles after the split with Western Publishing, the first issue was actually Four Color #1253, cover dated January 1962. This is issue #3, from July 1962. There was almost a year hiatus until issue 4 came along. The series ended with issue 8 in mid 1964. The first 2 issues were reprinted in the 70s.
Art is by Jack Sparling, script most likely by Ken Fitch.Covers were by Vic Prezio.

Look Out For Pirates!

2012-02-15T14:46:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite books when I was learning to read.

First published in 1961

Comic Book Short Stories-- THE SKYMAN

2012-02-14T16:59:00.003-05:00

The Skyman ( not to be confused with DC's "Skyman") was created by Gardner Fox and artist Ogden Whitney in 1940 and was found in comics published by Columbia. The Skyman was Allen Turner, who was raised by his uncle to become "outstanding in mind and body." A brilliant scientist, he had no superpowers but did have a flying wing-shaped airplane, dubbed The Wing, that flew by the power of Earth's magnetic poles. With this and money inherited from his late uncle's will, he fought crime until his last appearance in 1949.

Whitney is probably best known as the creator of rotund 1960s character Herbie Popnecker. If you don't know who Gardner Fox was, how on earth did you get to this post?

Here are two stories from Skyman #3, published in 1947.

Old Valentine Card

2012-02-14T16:59:00.001-05:00

Looks to be a Cord .

late 1930s

Reed Crandall "Twilight Zone" story

2012-02-14T12:59:00.000-05:00

Although known mainly for his EC work, and also his stint on Blackhawk, Reed Crandall worked in all genres for many decades. Here is a piece he did for Dell's Four Color #1173 from March 1961. Story is by Leo Dorfman.

It is sad to report that Crandell died in near poverty. His last job was working as a night watchman at Pizza Hut headquarters in Kansas.

1965 Plymouth ad

2012-02-14T12:56:00.000-05:00

Dell Four Color 761 HOWDY DOODY

2012-02-13T21:10:00.000-05:00

You know how some kids are afraid of clowns? Well, Howdy Doody had the same effect on me. Never saw the charm of that ugly puppet. But for those of you who do, here is a story from FC#761, January 1957.
Cover looks like Mel Crawford's style. Dan Gormley is to blame for the interior art.

Howdy Doody was a TV pioneering show, created by Roger Muir and running from 1947 to 1960. It was broadcast in color beginning in 1955. Not that there were many color sets around then.

Topps "OUTER LIMITS" Trading Cards

2012-02-13T11:16:00.000-05:00

This is the kind of thing your mom just trashed...never even made it to the Paper Drive.
The pix were badly hand colored. Here are a few examples.

1976 was a great year for Galaxy Magazine

2012-02-12T13:15:00.001-05:00

As I entered my teen years my periodical buying switched from comics to science fiction magazines. I bought them all. Analog was clearly the leader in the early 70s, having the best production values, the best cover artists and the best authors. But by mid decade Galaxy was really pulling hard, or else my taste in fiction was changing! 1975 and 1976 issues of Galaxy gave us plenty of John Varley and Larry Niven. And 1976 had something worthwhile in each and every issue:

January--look at that awesome Rick Sternbach cover! This issue introduced us to Niven & Pournelle's MOTE series, a SF favorite. Also a short story by Spider Robinson- It's a Sunny Day.

February gave us more Larry Niven--"Down and Out", the first part of the novel "A WORLD OUT OF TIME", which was continued in the Smoke Ring novels.

March 1976--stories by Spider Robinson and Fred Saberhagen. Not top of the heap stuff, but I did like the Stephen Fabian cover.

They skipped April, but May 1976 had one of my favorite John Varley stories-Overdrawn at the Memory Bank. This was made into a movie starring Raul Juila.

July's issue had Varley's "Gotta Sing Gotta Dance", a much overlooked story in my opinion. Fabian did the cover representing said story.

September's issue began Niven's "The Children of the State" which was the bulk of his novel A WORLD OUT OF TIME. Rick Sternbach cover.

October not only had part 2 of "The Children of the State" , but another John Varley story . Fabian cover.

November- The first UPC code defacement of the front cover was an omen of the decline of the SF magazine genre in the next few years, But this issue had not only the conclusion of Noven's novel, but the beginning of Fredrick Pohl's Gateway, the start of his multi-volume HEECHEE series. I think that this is the first Vincent DiFate cover I'd seen depicting people and real objects. I liked his abstracts better.

The final issue of 1976 continued Gateway, and also had a science article by Robert Forward.

B-9 Be Mine

2012-02-12T10:53:00.000-05:00

Space Age Valentines

2012-02-12T10:49:00.001-05:00

for us kids of the 50s & 60s.......

Comic Book Short Story- Casey Jones "The Great Mail Race"

2012-02-08T10:44:00.000-05:00

Long before he skippered that famous three hour tour, Alan Hale Jr was in charge of The Cannonball Express. "Casey Jones" ran fro 32 half-hour episodes in 1957 and '58.

There was a one shot tie in published by Dell. Four Color #915 (July 1958) was drawn by Bill Ziegler with writing by Robert Schaefer.

Here are the 2 "infopages" for this issue

British MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E story

2012-02-05T17:13:00.001-05:00

Not published in the US, here is the four page MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E story from the 1966 Lady Penelope annual from the UK

artist unknown. Looks like a few photos were traced in, to me.

Fiesta Ware

2012-02-04T20:03:00.001-05:00

candle holder

Fiesta is a line of ceramic dinnerware glazed in differing solid colors manufactured and marketed by the Homer Laughlin China Company of Newell, West Virginia.

When it was introduced in January 1936 the decoration of dinnerware and kitchenware ceramics was still inspired by the Victorian era, based on full, predetermined sets of dinnerware, all decorated with the same decal designs. With its solid color glazes and mix-and-match concept, Fiesta represented something radically new to the general public.

The original colors were ivory, yellow, light green, turquoise, dark blue, and red-orange.

Fiesta was sold until 1973, although the colors and selection had dropped since the late 50s.

Laughlin began producing Fiesta again in 1986 with these colors, none of which match the original 1930s colors...

Rose (true pink) (1986-2005),
Black (slightly chocolate under bright light) (1986-),
Cobalt (dark navy blue) (1986-),
White (bright stark white) (1986-),
Apricot (pale pinkish tan) (1986-1998).
Yellow (pale custard/butter) (1987-2002),
Turquoise (more greenish than vintage Turquoise) (1988-),
Periwinkle (slightly lavenderish-blue) (1989-2006),
Sea Mist (pale mint green) (1991-2005),
Lilac (soft purple) (1993-1995),
Persimmon (brownish-orange) (1995-2008),
Sapphire (medium bright blue like faded denim) (Bloomingdale's exclusive 1996-1997),
Chartreuse (brighter and greener than vintage Chartreuse) (1997-1999),
Pearl Gray (warm light gray) (1999-2001),
Juniper (dark bluish-green) (1999-2001),
Cinnabar (brownish-burgundy) (2000-2010),
Sunflower (bright yellow) (2001-),
Plum (deep dark purple) (2002-),
Shamrock (bright deep green) (2002-),
Tangerine (bright orange) (2003-),
Scarlet (deep true red) (2004-),
Peacock (bright blue) (2005-),
Heather (dark reddish-purple) (2006-2009),
Evergreen (dark bluish-green) (2007-2009)
Ivory (egg shell/off white) (2008-)
Chocolate (rich brown) (2008-)
Lemongrass (yellowish chartreuse) (2009-)
Paprika (dark rust) (2010-)
Marigold (yellowish-orange)

Harlequin, often confused with Fiesta, was made exclusively for Woolworth by the Homer Laughlin Co., It is lighter in weight. The rings are separated from the edge by a plain band. Pointy handles and cone shapes characterize this pattern, the Art Deco collector’s delight.

Harlequin pitcher

1944 ad for commercial air conditioning

2012-02-02T17:32:00.002-05:00

More from the 1968 British SPACE FAMILY ROBINSON Annual

2012-01-31T14:35:00.001-05:00

Here's some more from the 1968 Annual

(CLICK HERE FOR PREVIOUS ENTRY)

Click on these to get full size..print on cardboard and play! Jeepers!

Another text story.

Oh look, a maze!

Vic Prezio's Paperback Covers

2012-01-30T11:19:00.000-05:00

Original art for WHAT NEWS OF KITTY

In addition to Comic Books and Men's Magazine, Prezio also was prolific as a paperback cover illustrator, mainly in the 1970s. Most of his work was in either the Gothic Romance or Western genres. Here are a few examples.

What News of Kitty 1969

Original art for unknown book cover

Dell Four Color #1348 "Yak Yak" (1962)

2012-01-29T18:45:00.000-05:00

As the Western Publishing - Dell Comics union was coming to a halt, some interesting stuff emerged from Poughkeepsie, such as one of the final issues in the Four Color series. Number 1348* was a Jack Davis one man show, very much in the vein of his work for MAD Magazine. Here are a few sample pages.

* In the final years of Four Color there are some gaps in numbering that probably have no issues. There are 1331 known Dell Four Color Issues, yet the last one is number 1354.

Vic Prezio's Men's Magazine Covers

2012-01-28T10:11:00.011-05:00

Original art by Vic Prezio for REAL MEN, June 1964

The previous post showed off some of the mysterious Mr Prezio's comic book covers...here are some of the ones he did for a popular genre of the 60s.........

Adventure, April 1961

Feb '66

May '59

Dec '69

Original art for MAN'S ESCAPE, June 1963

Dec '60

March 1959

May 1965

Original art

October 1958

Oct '57

original art

Jan '65

Vic Prezio's Comic Book Covers

2012-01-28T09:55:00.001-05:00

Original art for MAGNUS ROBOT FIGHTER #18, May 1967

I can't find a bit of biographical info on Vic Prezio. He seems to have been active from the late 50s thru the eearly 70s, doing covers for both comics and "men's adventure magazines" (See Next Post)

He did a number of covers for Magnus, Robot Fighter, (even some I think are wrongly credited to George Wilson).

Here are a couple more Magnus covers.

Most of his comic covers were for Dell... here is a random gallery:

Kona #5

December 1962

January 1963

January 1964

July 1963

July 1964

July 1962

March 1964

may 1962

May 1966

May 1962

September 1963

Bonus, Jan 1965

Comic Book Short Story ~~ The Detectives "The Informer"

2012-01-27T19:22:00.001-05:00

The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor was an American crime drama series which ran on ABC during its first two seasons, and on NBC for its final season. Along with Robert Taylor the series starred Tige Andrews (later on THE MOD SQUAD), Adam West (later on THE FAMILY GUY and some other show) and Mark Goddard (future Don West on LOST IN SPACE).
The first 2 seasons were in my favorite format, 30 minute drama. The 3rd season increased to an hour. Reruns were syndicated as "Captain of Detectives", as most reruns had a title change back then.

Nat Edson, who mostly did westerns in the 1950s, drew the Dell Four Color issue # 1219, March 1962. Written by Eric Freiwald and Robert Schaefer, here is one of the two stories in that issue.

The front cover is rather bland compared to earlier photo covers.

info page

Comic Book Short Story ~~ The Aquanauts in "The Deep Six"

2012-01-27T18:33:00.000-05:00

The story was that of 2 California salvage divers, Drake and Larry. After 19 episodes, in early 1961, the Larry character was replaced by one named Mike, played by Ron Ely. The underwater adventures ended and the show was renamed Malibu Run for the remaining episodes. The last episode of the show aired in June 1961.

Even as the name and format changed, Dell put out a one shot in their Four Color Series. It was #1197, dated May 1961. Art was by Dan Spiegle. There were 2 stories---here is one of them.

While we're here, we might as well look at this issue's informational page, also by Spiegle.

The ORIGINAL original Land Of The Lost

2012-01-26T05:27:00.000-05:00

Almost anyone reading this will think of stop-motion dinosaurs on Saturday morning TV when asked about THE LAND OF THE LOST, unless you only know of that horrible crapfest with Will Ferrell.
In the 40s, there was a radio program by that title about the adventures of two children who traveled underwater with the fatherly fish Red Lantern. Written and narrated by Isabel Manning Hewson, the radio series aired from 1943 to 1948 on the Mutual Broadcasting System and ABC. Art Carney was the voice of Red Lantern.

EC comics published a comic book series, which lasted for nine issues, beginning in 1946. It was illustrated by Dayton Ohio native Olive Bailey.
Here is a story from the first issue:
(click twice to enlarge)

Olive Bailey

here is one of the radio show episodes:

part 1

part 2

Comic Book Short Story~~ Chess

2012-01-26T04:54:00.000-05:00

Years before the ground breaking comics magazine HEAVY METAL debuted in the US, Warren was pushing the envelope with their horror magazines. Here is a tale by Esteban Maroto from Eerie #41, 1972. This version was colorized and reprinted in Comix International in 1975

1939 World's Fair souvenir

2012-01-23T23:14:00.002-05:00

My best friend popped by with this dandy trinket he found in a box of his mother''s things. It's a small (about 1x2 inch) steel replica of one of the exhibits at the 1939 New York fair.."The World's Largest Typewriter" by Underwood. Despite this geegaw's small size, it apparently was designed to be a bank. You might be able to stick 5 dimes in it.

Sorry about the fuzzy macro-shot..wanted to show the Trylon and Perisphere on the back.

Sleazy Paperbacks Shelf #7

2012-01-23T14:04:00.000-05:00

More fine reading from the 40s, 50s and 60s.

Comic Book Short Story~~~ Phantom of the Films

2012-01-22T11:39:00.000-05:00

from BORIS KARLOFF TALES OF MYSTERY #10 , June 1965

first off, the wonderful Wilson cover, as it appeared on the back pinup page

Now one of the stories from that issue, written by Dick Wood and drawn by Fred Fredericks:

The cover:

BONUS: Here are the informational pages from this issue:

both probably by Joe Certa

1931 LIFE Magazine cover

2012-01-21T10:32:00.000-05:00

Jaguar E Type

2012-01-16T17:21:00.001-05:00

The Jaguar E-type ( XK-E in USA) was produced between 1961 and 1975.
The E-type revolutionised sports car design, with performance, handling and looks ahead of its time. Aside from being the one the most iconic and gorgeous cars ever made, the E-Type also achieved performance figures that had companies like Ferrari scrambling to make sure there next generation supercar could match the E-Type, but none matched the presence and style of the Jaguar. It was priced well below competing models, helping it to high sales for a high performance car.

The E types went through 3 series.

SERIES I specs

Production :1961–1968

Body styles 2-door coupe,2-door 2+2 coupe,2-door convertible

Engine 3.8 L XK I6 and (after 1964) 4.2 L XK I6

Transmission 4-speed manual, 3-speed automatic (1966-onward, 2+2 model only)

Wheelbase 96.0 in , 105iches for the 2+2

Length 175.3125 in , 184.4375 in (2+2)

Width 65.25 in

Height 48.125 in ,50.125 (2+2)

Curb weight 2,900 lb ,3,090 lb for the 4 seater

4.2 L straight six

1964 model

1966 model

4.2 Litre engine straight 6

1961 Coupe

The Series 1 was introduced, initially for export only, in March 1961. The domestic market launch came four months later in July 1961. The cars at this time used the triple SU carburetted 3.8 litre six-cylinder Jaguar XK6 engine from the XK150S. The 3.8-litre engine was increased to 4.2 litres in October 1964.

3.8-litre cars have leather-upholstered bucket seats, an aluminium-trimmed centre instrument panel and console (changed to vinyl and leather in 1963), and a Moss four-speed gearbox that lacks synchromesh for first gear

1962

A 2+2 version of the coupé was added in 1966. The 2+2 offered the option of an automatic transmission. The roadster remained a strict two-seater.

The Series 1 can be recognised by glass-covered headlights *(up to 1967), small "mouth" opening at the front, signal lights and tail-lights above bumpers and exhaust tips under the number plate in the rear.

*Cars imported to the US did not have the aero glass lens covers

Here is a example of the series II (1969 to 1971)

All Series IIs had the 4.2 six cylinder engine. They were detuned for US import. US models also had all of the dash switches replaced from toggle to rocker. All IIs lack the glass lens covers. A/C was available now, as an option.

1972

1974

The final series , produced from 1971 to 1975, stared off with a much larger engine, a V12 (5.3 liter). The car gained alot of weight due to this, up to almost 3400 pounds. No two seater was available, and on the whole, the car went from being a sports car to a grand tourer, in some people's minds.

The length was now 184 inches, the width 66 and the height 49. It was ,all in all, a larger Jag, although the wheelbase size is the same as the original 2+2 coupe.

1973

Smeghead's favorite Matchbox car , given to him at age 6

Comic Book Short Story ~~ Possessed

2012-01-14T14:11:00.000-05:00

From BORIS KARLOFF TALES OF MYSTERY #5, October 1963

Here is the wonderful back page pinup by George Wilson

Now on to the story, written by Dick Wood and drawn by the Alex Toth.

The issue also had 2 Infopages, the first by Joe Certa, the other by Ray Bailey

007 Girls, part 4

2012-01-13T21:03:00.001-05:00

SInce a red headed evil henchwoman worked so well in THUNDERBALL, I guess the casting people of the next 007 film, 1967's YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, thought it'd work again. But Karin Dor (born February 22, 1938, Wiesbaden, Germany) wasn't a very good actress, at least in this writer's opinion, as well as most 007 fans. Her character, Hilda Brandt, gets eaten by piranha after she tortures Bond.

Karin Dor

Mie Hama

Akiko Wakabayashi

Mie Hama (born 1943) and Akiko Wakabayashi (1941) were both veterens of the GODZILLA films. Mie was cast as Japanese secret agent Kissy Suzuki. Strangely, her name is never spoken in the film. Also in the odd column is the fact that this is the only 007 film in which James Bond doesn't drive a car at any point in the movie. But he IS driven by Mie in one of the rarest of 007 sports carts, the Toyota 2000 GT.

The Toyota 2000GT was never produced as a convertible. It was customised in the film because Connery couldn't fit in the coupe.

Akiko Wakabayashi portrayed Aki, who goes into a fake marriage with Bond to help the mission, but is soon killed by ninjas.

McGinnis painting for film's poster

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2002's DIE ANOTHER DAY was the 20th "Official" Bond film, 21st if you count NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN and 22nd if including the spoof "CASINO ROYAL" from 1967.

This was Pierce Brosnan's fourth and final fling as Bond. The film was rather good, but we're not here to debate that..we're here to check out the Bond Girls.

Halle Berry as CIA operative is unforgettable in a role that they have tried before, but it just doesn't work: Female Spy The (Near) Equal of James Bond. If you want that kind of stuff, I direct you to MR AND MRS SMITH.

Madonna sang the theme song for DIE ANOTHER DAY and had a larger than cameo role (although her action scenes were done by stuntwoman Karen Sheppard). Although she had no romantic tryst with Bond, I'll put her character Verity as a minor Bond girl.

On Madonna's right is Rosamund Pike playing Miranda Frost. She sexes James, turns out to be a traitor and is killed by Halle Berry in the finale.

Pike was born in London in 1979.She plays the part of Kate Sumner in the 2011 Bond-spoof film Johnny English Reborn, playing a psychologist and English's love interest.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Licence to Kill, released in 1989, is the sixteenth entry in the Eon Productions James Bond series and the first one not to use the title of an Ian Fleming novel. While it was a very good film, it was somewhat lacking in the dishy femme department.

Brooklyn born Talisa Soto , born in 1967, played Lupe Lamora, the baddie's terrorised girlfriend. Talisa went on to star in such dramatic classics as MORTAL KOMBAT, SPY HARD, and VAMPIRELLA.

The Main Bond Babe in this film was played by Carey Lowell (born 1961), another attempt at a "female co-spy" that woefully failed.

Comic Book Short Story ~~Sundance in THE DARK HORSE WINS

2012-01-13T21:02:00.001-05:00

Hotel de Paree was a TV Series that aired on CBS in the 1959–1960 season. It Starred Earl Holliman as "Sundance" and Strother Martin, later famous for "What We Have Here Is Failure To Communicate". It was in my favorite format, 30 minute drama, and Holliman played a reformed gunslinger in Colorado who becomes the town sherrif and owns a hotel.
The marketing guys at Western no doubt though that SUNDANCE was a better title than "Hotel de Paree" for a Western comic book. Gaylord DuBois wrote the script for Four Color #1126, penciled by Mike Sekowsky. Issue dated August 1960.

Here are the "Infopages" for this issue:

007 Girls, part 3

2012-01-13T17:11:00.002-05:00

THUNDERBALL, released in 1965, was the fourth James Bond film and offered no less than four ladies for our BEST 007 GIRL contest.

Beswick with Sean Connery

Making her second of two small yet important roles in the series, Martine Beswick portrays Paula Capan, 007's assistant in Jamaica. She is killed by the bad guys after a couple of scenes.

Martine also a part in FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE as a gypsy girl. She was born in 1941 in Jamaica and went on to appear in films such as ONE MILLION YEARS BC and PREHISTORIC WOMEN.

Another minor Bond girl, one of 3 he beds this time out, is Patricia Fearing, played by Molly Peters. This was Peters' largest film role. She was born in 1942 and was a model before her appearance as a physical therapist at the clinic Bond is sent to for some rehab at the beginning of the film.

Molly Peters

Getting far more screen time as one of the best evil hench~~men~~women of the franchise was Fiona Volpe, as played by Italian redhead Luciana Paluzzi. She was born in 1937 and was a staple in Italian action films of the 60s. She was memorable in 1968's THE GREEN SLIME as the love interest of Robert Horton and Richard Jakael on a doomed space station.

Paluzzi as Fiona

She also appeared in the pilot episode of THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. previous to her role in THUNDERBALL in which she gets two of the best scenes in the whole 007 mythos. In the first, after they make love and she betrays him to her goons, Bomd taunts her with his famous exchange:

James Bond: My dear girl, don't flatter yourself. What I did this evening was for Queen and country. You don't think it gave me any pleasure, do you?

Fiona: But of course, I forgot your ego, Mr. Bond. James Bond, the one where he has to make love to a woman, and she starts to hear heavenly choirs singing. She repents, and turns to the side of right and virtue...

[she steps on Bond's foot]

Fiona: ... but not this one!

A few minutes later, then, the famous Death of Fiona scene in which 007 uses her to block a bullet shot by one of her henchmen

Now we come to one of the better 007 Babes, French actress Claudine Auger as Domino. Born in 1941, she was a runner up for the 1958 Miss World title. She appeared in many European films after her stint with Bond. The one piece swimsuit she wore in that film was most edgy:

The role of Domino was originally to be an Italian woman: Dominetta Petacchi. Auger impressed the producers so much that they re-wrote the part to that of a French woman to better suit Auger. Although she took lessons to perfect her English, her voice was eventually dubbed by Nikki van der Zyl

Sputter Spurt!!!

2012-01-12T23:12:00.000-05:00

You can tell this ad is from 1951 because the T-Shirt bears no obscene slogan or tasteless picture.

Paperback Art of Richard Powers

2012-01-12T10:18:00.001-05:00

1964

Richard M. Powers (February 24, 1921 – March 9, 1996)

1969

1966

1964

Power's mostly abstract work has always fascinated me. I've featured it here and here.

1960

1959

Powers was born in Chicago and discovered drawing at age 11 when an uncle gave him a sketch pad.

1959

1958

1958, a non-SF cover

From the 1940s through the 1960s, he did many of covers for Doubleday. During the 1950s and 1960s, he served as an unofficial art director for Ballantine Books. He was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2008.

1958

1958, another non SF genre cover

1957

1955

1954

2001 coffee table book

1938 Hudson Terraplane

2012-01-09T16:59:00.000-05:00

1938 was the last model year for the relatively inexpensive Hudson Terraplane, which debuted in 1934. It was one of the best looking autos of the Art Deco age.

The 212 cubic inch inline six cylinder was good for 88 horsepower.
It could also be had as a pickup truck.

Infopages from Dell Four Color # 1080 FURY

2012-01-05T16:15:00.000-05:00

a couple by Tom Gill, from February 1960.

This one was on the back page, and was replaced by a candy ad in some print runs

A Few More Full Page Comic Panels

2012-01-05T16:03:00.001-05:00

found a few more....

from Magnus Robot Fighter 4000 AD #3

#3 Aug 1963

from Magnus Robot Fighter 4000 AD #7

#7, Aug 1964

both Magnus pages by Russ Manning

From The Man From U.N.C.L.E. #18 by Mike Roy

issue 18, May 1968

from Space Family Robinson #8 by Dan Spiegle

#8, June 1964

Robert McGinnis art

2012-01-03T10:37:00.001-05:00

No other pop illustrator captures beautiful women the way Robert McGinnis does. Not Frazetta, not Vallejo. McGinnis art has graced over 1200 paperback book covers and over 40 movie posters, many of them iconic such as the Barbarella and James Bond posters.

He was born in 1926 in Cincinnati and worked for Disney for a short time before joining the Merchant Marine. In 1958 he began doing covers for Dell paperbacks.He also illustrated for magazines such as Ladies' Home Journal, Women's Home Companion, Good Housekeeping, TIME, Argosy, Guideposts, and The Saturday Evening Post.

McGinnis created the famous James Bond stance with Bond holding a .22 marksman's pistol . He co-painted, with Frank McCarthy, a number of dramatic scenes for Thunderball, then You Only Live Twice. Diamonds Are Forever, Live And Let Die, and The Man With The Golden Gun were poster illos he did solo.

Stay tuned for a batch of McGinnis girls soon.

Original Comicbook Art- Twilight Zone #33 by George Wilson

2012-01-01T16:41:00.001-05:00

June 1970

Jack Benny New Year's Episode

2011-12-31T19:25:00.003-05:00

I'm not sure what year this is from, but it's one of my favorite Benny bits. It was done on radio many years earlier.

Frederick I. Ordway III on 2001:a space odyssey

2011-12-26T16:20:00.000-05:00

An interesting reminisce by a consultant on Kubrick's film 2001:a space odyssey

Comic Book Short Story~~ Frosty the Smiling Snowman

2011-12-24T15:59:00.000-05:00

from Four Color # 1065 (1959)

Nostalgic Christmas Scenes

2011-12-21T11:31:00.000-05:00

1948

I once read an opinon that the reason some people collect those little winter village scenes is that it gives them pleasure to remember a time and place that might not even have existed for them. Perhaps these scenes from old greeting cards, calenders and magazine ads are a bit idyllic, maybe a little bit staged. But as I get older, I too tend to remember past Christmas times and other events as better than they probably were. I don't see anything wrong with this at all, If you don't either, then enjoy the following pictures.

1948

1950

1952

1945

1948

1952

1947

1941

1948

1950

1961

1960

1954

1953

1948

1960

1959

1939

1957

1953

1948

1953

1954

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer comics

2011-12-18T17:20:00.000-05:00

from 1950 thru 1963, National published an annual issue of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer which consisted of comics, puzzels and games. Here are a few pages from the 1954 & 1955 issues. Martin Naydel did most of the work on these 2 issues, with possiblely Rube Grossman doing the covers

1954 cover

by Martin Naydel

1955 cover

Christmas Ads of Long Ago (part 5)

2011-12-18T15:21:00.000-05:00

Only one week left...here's some ads to get you motivated.....(click on 'em to enlarge)

1947

1952

Ronnie Regan gives out cigs in 1952

Arthur Godfery gives 'em out in '49

from Ladies Home Journal Dec. '52

circa 1950

unknown date. Guinness usualy just puts me to sleep.

1954

1965

unknown date, but obviously women have wanted vacuum cleaners for Xmas for a long long time

19 15. This and the next ad show that Santa wasn't always fat,

1905

1913

1924

I want, no.. I NEED this refrigerator from 1968

..but don't park it too near the fireplace.

Humpty Dumpty's Magazine 1961

2011-12-14T23:54:00.001-05:00

Humpty Dumpty was published as a sister publication to Children's Digest, but aimed at a younger audience , from October, 1952 through the 2000s. Here are some pages from the March 1961 issue.

Christmas Ads of Long Ago (part 4)

2011-12-13T12:51:00.000-05:00

Another batch to help you with your holiday shopping: (Click on them to enlarge)

1938

1946

1948

1949

1950

1952

1953

1955

1956

1957

1959

1945

1948

1950

1953

1948

circa 1950

Christmas at the Zoo -from Dell Four Color # 1063

2011-12-11T10:49:00.001-05:00

Mel Crawford illustrates this poem from 1959.

This issue also contained a couple of puzzles.

a one pager for cat lovers

R.I.P. Darrell K. Sweet

2011-12-09T18:02:00.001-05:00

When you think of the great science fiction book cover ilustrators, such as Freas, DeFate, and Powers, you have to include Darrell K. Sweet, who passed away on the 5th of December at the age of 77. I remember all the fantastic covers he did in the late 70s for Del Rey books. Between 1975 and 2005 he did over 3000 book covers. Amazing!
Here are just a few:

Christmas In Norway- from Dell Four Color #91,1945

2011-12-05T17:11:00.000-05:00

Jameson cover

007 Girls, Part 2

2011-12-05T05:34:00.001-05:00

DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER was released in December, 1971 and was the last "official" Bond film to star Sean Connery (he'd return 13 years later for "NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN").

This was the first 007 film I saw in a movie theater, and since I was in my early teens, I thought that hot pants and tube tops were the zenith of female fashion (and really, why did they mess with success? sigh.). Therefore Bond Girl Jill St John really only had to stand there and she'd rack up votes for Best Bond Girl. She's my friend THJ's favorite , which started this whole debate. (I suspect he is thinking of Susan St James, whom he used to have an unhealthy thing for.)
Her birth names is Jill Arlyn Oppenheim and she was 30 when she co-starred with Connery as Tiffany Case. With and IQ of 162 she was, as THJ points out, smart enough to stay off her husband Robert Wagner's boat.

Also in this film is (very) Minor Bond Girl Lana Wood, who just couldn't get out from her sister Natalie's shadow. Most of her scenes were cut, and what remains aren't very memorable. Her character, Plenty O'Toole, is murdered by the bad guys, otherwise she'd just be classified as Eye Candy.

From Russia with Love is, along with On Her Majesty's Secret Service, one of the few James Bond films that actually follow the book it was titled after fairly closely. As such, it's a better book than movie, although purists like it. Twenty year old Italian actress Daniela Bianchi played the part of the defecting Russian cipher clerk who Bond had to smuggle out of the Soviet Union in the 1963 film.

Minor Bond girls this time out include Eunice Gayson making her second and last appearance as Sylvia Trench and Jamacian Martine Beswick, who would also have a small part in THUNDERBALL. She appeared in numerous B movies in the 60s and 70s, and in the 80s capped her career, such that it was, with guest shots on a number of American TV shows such as Falcon Crest, Hammer, & Hart To Hart.

Martine Beswick

A Visit from St. Nicholas- Dell Four Color #61

2011-12-05T01:25:00.000-05:00

from 1944, here is a nicely illustrated (by Arthur E. Jameson) presentation of Moore's poem.

cover also by Jameson

Saved From The Paper Drive

The Magic Tunnel- Time Traveling Subway Adventure for Kids

Old Video Game- FULL METAL PLANET

Tell-a-Tale Book~~~ Captain Kangaroo's Picnic

Mayan Illustrations from 1935 National Geographic

DANGER MAN 1964 UK Annual

Whitman's "The Space Eagle"

This title is false advertising.....

Whitman's The Invaders

Space Man #3

Look Out For Pirates!

Comic Book Short Stories-- THE SKYMAN

Old Valentine Card

Reed Crandall "Twilight Zone" story

1965 Plymouth ad

Dell Four Color 761 HOWDY DOODY

Topps "OUTER LIMITS" Trading Cards

This is the kind of thing your mom just trashed...never even made it to the Paper Drive.The pix were badly hand colored. Here are a few examples.

1976 was a great year for Galaxy Magazine

B-9 Be Mine

Space Age Valentines

Comic Book Short Story- Casey Jones "The Great Mail Race"

British MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E story

Fiesta Ware

1944 ad for commercial air conditioning

More from the 1968 British SPACE FAMILY ROBINSON Annual

Vic Prezio's Paperback Covers

Dell Four Color #1348 "Yak Yak" (1962)

Vic Prezio's Men's Magazine Covers

Vic Prezio's Comic Book Covers

Comic Book Short Story ~~ The Detectives "The Informer"

Comic Book Short Story ~~ The Aquanauts in "The Deep Six"

Ivan Tors (Sea Hunt, Flipper and many others) produced this hour long adventure series for United Artists and CBS. It ran for 32 episodes, the standard year for TV season back in 1960.

The ORIGINAL original Land Of The Lost

Comic Book Short Story~~ Chess

1939 World's Fair souvenir

Sleazy Paperbacks Shelf #7

Comic Book Short Story~~~ Phantom of the Films

1931 LIFE Magazine cover

Jaguar E Type

Comic Book Short Story ~~ Possessed

007 Girls, part 4

Comic Book Short Story ~~Sundance in THE DARK HORSE WINS

007 Girls, part 3

Sputter Spurt!!!

Paperback Art of Richard Powers

1938 Hudson Terraplane

Infopages from Dell Four Color # 1080 FURY

A Few More Full Page Comic Panels

Robert McGinnis art

Original Comicbook Art- Twilight Zone #33 by George Wilson

Jack Benny New Year's Episode

Frederick I. Ordway III on 2001:a space odyssey

Comic Book Short Story~~ Frosty the Smiling Snowman

Nostalgic Christmas Scenes

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer comics

Christmas Ads of Long Ago (part 5)

Humpty Dumpty's Magazine 1961

Christmas Ads of Long Ago (part 4)

Christmas at the Zoo -from Dell Four Color # 1063

R.I.P. Darrell K. Sweet

Christmas In Norway- from Dell Four Color #91,1945

007 Girls, Part 2

A Visit from St. Nicholas- Dell Four Color #61

This is the kind of thing your mom just trashed...never even made it to the Paper Drive.
The pix were badly hand colored. Here are a few examples.