Robinson Crusoe on Mars

A great movie, especially for young boys, from 1964.
Directed by Byron Haskin Produced by Aubrey Schenck Written by Daniel Defoe (novel Robinson Crusoe)
John C. Higgins ,Ib Melchior
Starring Paul Mantee, Victor Lundin, Adam West




Here's my capsule review of the DVD released by Criterion:






Great DVD production,\, Vivid colors. The only gripe I have is the extras...pretty weak. A lot of stuff is from Ed Shrief's "Space Family Robinson" The audio commentary is a mess, jumbled sound bytes from people recorded years apart, most having nothing to do with what's on the screen. One thing we learn from the audio comments is that Byron Haskin was a grace-less, pompus ass. Otherwise, first rate! One more from my childhood list has been released, and nicely done too.

77 Sunset Strip

77 Sunset Strip was a TV show created by Roy Huggins (July 18, 1914 – April 3, 2002), an American novelist and writer/creator and producer of television series, including Maverick, The Fugitive, and The Rockford Files.

  
The series ran from 1958 to 1964 and was about two former spies turned private detectives. The title refers to their office address.
As with most of Huggins' shows, there was a comic-relief character in the main cast.  In this case it was Gerald Lloyd "Kookie" Kookson III (played by Edd Byrnes), the rock and roll-loving, wisecracking, hair-combing, hipster and aspiring P.I. who worked as a valet parking attendant.
Kookie was sort of a washed and polite beatnik who talked in some writer's idea of hip slang. He was meant to appeal to the "teenage girl demographic" although it's debatable as to how popular he actually was.

Is he the clown that started the "like," thing??

This issue of Dell's Four Color series, #1066, from January 1960 gives us some help with Kookie's hip talk.

Till next time, squares.

Oh, by the way Roy Huggins was a member of the American Communist Party in the 1930s. It didn't seem to hurt his career nearly as much as it did many other actors & directors ofthe era. Perhaps it's because he blew in 19 of his friends at th HUAC hearings in 1952?

How To Build A WigWam- Dell does Tonto

from Four Color 312, January 1951

Tonto was brought into the Lone Ranger Mythos mainly as an exposition character--someone for The Lone Ranger to verbalize the action to.

The radio series identified Tonto as a chief's son in the Potawatomi nation. For the most part, the Potawatomi did not live in the Southwestern states, and their cultural costume is different from that worn by Tonto. The choice to make Tonto a Potawatomi seems to come from Lone Ranger creator George Trendle's youth in Michigan, the traditional territory of the Potawatomi . The character might have been named after Tonto Basin, Arizona.

Here's one of the stories in that issue:

Some people, who love to judge the motives of people long dead, see Tonto as an offensive stereotype. Stereotype? Sure, we're talking comic book and 15 minute cowboy radio shows for christsakes, not a scholarly study of 19th century Native American life.

Tonto was a positive image of Indians. I don't know if there is one in pop culture today. It's a shame if there isn't.

Here are 2 more informative pages & the cover from this issue:

Tonto carried on in his own comicbook series for another 31 issues, until 1959.

George Wilson's cover for SPACE FAMILY ROBINSON #5

One of my all time favorite cover paintings, from the DEC 1963 issue:

Freedom!!!

To a boomer kid, the essence of freedom was simple- your bike. It could propel you away from the drudgery of chores, the morass of homework, the utter despair of your younger siblings.


You learned many valuable life lessons on your bike, such as never running over catch basin grills that are longer and wider than your tires, and that adults want you to get the #&@^# out of their way (a lesson today's kids seem to have not learned. Put them on the Wayback Machine and we'll show them drivers that make soccer moms seem courteous!)


There were lots of ways to customize your bike. Baskets and bells were mainly for girls, and a boy who had streamers running from the handlebars was sure to pedal his way to a group beating.

What would summer be without booze and projectile weapons?

"This should be easy since there are two targets!"

"The target is BEHIND you, baby..here , you need another beer."

Do ghosts need shuteye?

From the Golden Age run of comicbook mainstay THE SPECTRE, in MORE FUN #90 (65-70 years ago). Why does the omnipontent spiritual being ,who could probably whip Superman's butt, need to sack out in a fluffy bed?

from 1930

They paid back the municipal bonds in short order, seeing as how they charged 25 cents for a barf bag.

Comic Book Short Story- A Jet's No Pet

From G.I. Combat #62, July 1958
written byBob Haney
Nice artwork by Russ Heath

CLICK FOR FULL SIZE

Friends from across the lake

 by Haddon Sundblom ,1955
He is best  remembered for his advertising work, specifically the Santa Claus advertisements he painted for The Coca-Cola Company in the 1930s.

Dell educational page from Four Color #1234

Jack Lehti did this educational filler page (as well as the whole issue) of Dell's 1961 adaption of the movie THE PHANTOM PLANET which was a film that started off strong but quickly became silly.

click to enlarge

Dinosaur educational page, 1968

One of the last Gold Key info pages , from The Invaders #4, by Rex Maxon

Gold Key Informational Page

During the latter half of their work on the Dell Four Color Series and for the first few years of the Gold Key Imprint, Western Publishing often included a one page educational short (usually) related to whatever that particular issue was about.

From The Phantom, #3 May 1963

Art by Jack Sparling

Now You Too Can Wear A Tiki On A Thong!!

This ad from a 1962 comic tempts us with these HEATHEN IDOLS painted in BARBARIC COLORS.

Crikey, I want the whole set!

Death from Below Belt Level

Yeah, kids were tough back then. You know, Scout Camp was really just a code word for Boot Camp. Honest. I personally led the 32nd Woodchuck Division on a pre-naptime snipe hunt.

We didn't get any, but the older kids really appreciated the way we kept those snipes at bay.





They mentioned it quite often!

Vic Prezio's Orignal Cover Art for Magnus Robot Fighter #17 & #21

February 1967

Jell-o From Hell-o

Some of these gelatin entrees are just plain wrong.

chicken

From "Women's Home Companion, Jan. 1947"

chicken

Pastries in jello...WTF?

Veal

Tomato

what the hell is that thing above the shrimp?Onion?

Beef

Olives

Tuna+Cream+ Lemon+Mayonnaise=GAG!

My favorite dessert-Tuna/A1 Jello!