Tuesday, 6 December 2016

YOGI PLAYS SANTA...


Images copyright HANNA-BARBERA Productions, Inc

Here's the bold bruin YOGI BEAR in a Christmas adventure from 1962/'63, when he was regularly appearing on TV.  He's still a major cartoon (and big-budget movie) star today, so not only is he smarter than the average bear, he's longer-lasting, too.  Let's see what he and his furry friend BOO BOO are up to...











And below is the cover to the tale you've just read.

BABE Of The DAY - LEE MERIWETHER...



Here she is, fellas - the cat's pyjamas.
None other than the alluringly lovely LEE
MERIWETHER playing CATWOMAN in
the 1966 BATMAN movie.  (I'd give her a
 saucer of milk any day of the week.)

Monday, 5 December 2016

RECOMMENDED READING: SUPERMAN IN THE '70s...

Images copyright DC COMICS

SUPERMAN In The '70s is one in a series of books covering different decades in the Man of Steel's comicbook career.  It was published in 2000, but may well still be in print.  If not, eBay or Amazon might be able to accommodate you, should you decide you just have to add it to your collection.  Check your local comicbook store first, though, as they may still have copies in stock.  Give 'em a try!
  

HAVE YOU GOT AN OLD CHRISTMAS CARD?



Christmas is the season for sentiment, and
you can't get more sentimental than this particular
song.  So sit back and relax, and let the man whose
voice is like the echo of a whisper wash away your
troubles with this soothing little number.

RECOMMENDED READING: CAPTAIN MARVEL - THE 'COMPLETE' COLLECTION...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Okay, strictly speaking, this new MARVEL softcover collected edition of CAPTAIN MARVEL isn't really complete, in that it doesn't reprint every Captain Marvel story ever published.  It does, however, contain all the issues produced by JIM STARLIN, which is nothing to be sniffed at.  Just read the spiel on the back cover, then get yourselves straight over to your nearest comicbook store and buy one today!

******

(Incidentally, the quality of reproduction in this volume is far superior to that of the 1990 softcover book, The LIFE And DEATH Of CAPTAIN MARVEL, so it's worth buying for that fact alone.  Well, just what're you waiting for??!)

(BOND) BABE Of The DAY - JULIE EGE...



"C'mon in, the water's lovely!" says divine
JULIE EGE.  She's not fooling me though - she
only wants me to find the soap and then scrub her
back.  Er, wait a sec - that's hardly a chore, is it?
"Okay, count me in - make room, Julie!"

The POWER Of The DALEKS...


DR. WHO copyright BBC TV.  The DALEKS copyright BBC TV and the Estate of TERRY NATION

Someone I know very kindly gave me the new DOCTOR WHO DVD, The POWER Of The DALEKS recently.  The master tapes were wiped in the '60s & '70s, but the soundtrack to each episode somehow survived.  Cue some bright spark suggesting utilising animation to resurrect the episodes for modern-day viewing.  Great idea, woeful execution, alas.

Sadly, the animation isn't much better than an episode of CAPTAIN PUGWASH. So far I've watched the special features disc and the first episode of the actual serial, but the BBC should really have put more money into the project as it's painfully obvious that it was produced on an extremely limited budget.  So just what's wrong with it?

What isn't?  The accompanying booklet is riddled with typos that render some sentences gibberish, and, on screen, there's no consistency between the sizes of POLLY and BEN.  Sometimes Ben is taller than Polly, sometimes it's the other way around, and sometimes they're both the same size.  You can actually see through the DOCTOR's coat to his shirt and braces underneath, and in one scene his left hand is several times the size of his right and can be seen through his body.

The animation is basic and jerky, the backgrounds static, with characters often facing in the wrong direction to what's supposed to be occurring the other way.  The animation in SCOOBY DOO is better, so that should give you all an idea of just how bad it is.  In one scene, the Doctor and his two companions are being kept in a room, and Ben and Polly are seen in"suitable clothing" - which hasn't yet been given to them at that point in the story.

Anyway, I'll persevere with the remaining episodes when my masochistic tendencies kick in again, but I may just book an appointment with the dentist instead.  Not quite one to avoid, because the documentary on the making of the programme is interesting, but don't expect PIXAR quality animation or you're bound to be disappointed.  Marks?  Only four out of ten, sadly.  Should've been  much better.

Sunday, 4 December 2016

LINKS, CHAINS, AND PAINS...



The attitude of some people often astounds me, and the following story is a perfect example of just what I'm talking about.  Almost ten years back, I worked in a watch repair shop.  At one time, after I'd left its employ, myself and a friend were in negotiations to buy the business, but eventually pulled out of the deal as the incompetent owners couldn't get their act together (though I'll bet that's not what they told the person they eventually sold it to).  But I digress.

One day, a women I knew came into the shop looking to have links removed from a chain bracelet of some kind.  The standard charge for this particular procedure was £7.99, but because she was a member of a church I'd once attended when younger, I decided to do her a favour.  After I'd completed the task, she asked me how much she owed and I smiled and told her just to give me two quid.

The manageress was in that day observing proceedings, so I was quite prepared to make up the £6 discount from my own pocket simply to do the woman a good turn.  She looked taken aback, and grudgingly started to reach for her purse.  Noticing her scowl, I asked her why she didn't seem too happy.  "I think you've got a cheek asking for that" she responded.  It was now my turn to be taken aback.  I explained that I was letting her off with six quid and therefore didn't understand her attitude, and to remember that it was a business and not a charity. 

Anyway, she paid up and left, but the experience dispirited me.  Had she expected me to do it for nothing merely because we were acquainted?  If I'd worked in Asda, would she have expected me to wave her through the checkout with a box of biscuits without charging her?  Who goes into a shop looking for goods or services without expecting to pay?  I'm still staggered by her attitude.

No doubt when relating her version of events to her friends, I was painted as the bad guy.  It brings to mind the old saying - "No good deed goes unpunished."

Too true, mate - too bleedin' true.   

BING'LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS...



Continuing our Yuletide theme, here's BING CROSBY letting us all
know that he'll be home for Christmas.  Wonder if it'll be a white one?

Saturday, 3 December 2016

RECOMMENDED READING: Dr. STRANGE - The OATH...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

You all know the drill by now - I let the official spiel on the back cover speak for itself.  Suffice to say that if you're a Dr. STRANGE fan, then you're sure to love The OATH - no sweary words involved.  By The Hoary Hosts of Hoggoth, race right 'round to your nearest friendly neighbourhood comicbook store and buy this book today!  (Or The Omnipotent Oshtur will bite you on the bum!)

Friday, 2 December 2016

BABE Of The DAY - TIA CARRERE...



Wotta pout, wotta bod, wotta
babe.  It can only be the lovely TIA
CARRERE.  (And should anybody be
wondering, the strap over her shoulder
belongs to her newspaper delivery
bag.  It's a part-time job.)

The LIGHT In The WINDOW...



Do you remember, as a youngster, making your way home on a dark evening after a day out adventuring, and, as you caught sight of your house, glimpsing the amber glow of the standard lamp in your living-room, penetrating the curtains like a beacon to light your way home?  Do you recall the sudden surge of renewed energy that infused your weary limbs, egging you on as you realised you'd soon be warm and comfy in  familiar surroundings?

So do I!  In fact, a whole 33 years ago, after my family had moved to a new house in another neighbourhood, I'd sometimes pass my former domicile on dark nights and trying to recapture that feeling, as I hadn't lived long enough in our new residence to have re-created the experience.  I'd see the light emanating from my previous home and imagine for a moment that I still lived there.  Then the moment would pass and I'd set course for my new abode some distance away, warmed and fortified by memories of earlier times.

Nowadays, I reminisce fondly about that magical experience whenever I pass one of my former homes on a dusky evening, and as I've said elsewhere before, I sometimes feel that I could wander up the path of any of my previous houses, put my key in the lock, and walk in to find everything just as it used to be.  You'll find that it doesn't matter how much you enjoy going out, holidaying abroad, or travelling the world - nothing compares to that sudden electric thrill of recognition on catching that first sight of home and hearth when you return.

Dulce Domum indeed.   

Thursday, 1 December 2016

The CLASSIC LIBRARY Of HORROR...


Copyright relevant owner

Here's a trio of books from 1978 that you might want to add to your collection if you're into such things.  They're novelisations of three classic UNIVERSAL horror movies, and are faithful to the films that inspired them.  They likely pop up on eBay from time to time, so if you'd like to own them, that would be the place to start.

I started reading The BRIDE Of FRANKENSTEIN on a coach trip to Portsmouth in 1981, but I got this three paperback set from a jumble sale in a church (now demolished) across the street from one of my old houses in the early '90s ('91 I think).  Great little reads, and worthy additions to any bibliophile's personal library.

Hunt them down now!





I LOVE THAT CHRISTMAS FEELING - DO YOU?



Here's Der BINGSTER with a nice little Yuletide song
for all you Christmassy-Crivvies.  Sing up at the back now.

RECOMMENDED READING: BATMAN, GREEN HORNET & The MAN From U.N.C.L.E. ...

Characters copyright respective owners

Here's a couple of books I came home with recently that are sure to be of interest to all you cavortin' Criv-ites who look back on the 1960s with great fondness.  BATMAN Meets The GREEN HORNET and The MAN From U.N.C.L.E. are sure to delight and entertain you, and hey - that's what comics are all about.

Both publications are collected editions of six individual issues of each title, and would make nifty additions to your already straining bookshelves, so get yourselves around to your nearest comicbook store and buy them both today!



Wednesday, 30 November 2016

I HEAR THE SOUND OF - SILVER BELLS...



Tomorrow's the first day of December and the
CHRISTMAS Season really begins in earnest.  So,
as you'll all no doubt be counting down the minutes
until SANTA's arrival, here's a cracking little JIM
REEVES Yuletide number to set the mood.

Tuesday, 29 November 2016

BABE Of The DAY - TIA CARRERE...



Tell you what, Crivs - TIA CARRERE
may be a 'looker', but she's not much of a
dancer, is she?  My parrot can dance better
than that - and I don't even have a parrot!
(????????????????)

KID KLASSICS: MOONLIGHT, MEMORIES & MADNESS...

Image copyright DC COMICS

Above is the cover to a comic which reminds me of three other comics at the same time.  "How is such a feat of mighty memory-mastery possible?" you may be asking.  So, let us now, by the power of our imaginations, return to October 7th 1972 and the Old Village quarter of my hometown, where I, resplendent in my brother's cast-off cord jacket - slightly too big for me and worn for the first time that Saturday morning - was attending a jumble sale held in aid of the 8th Scout Troop in the 'old hall' in the grounds of the Old Parish Church.

This and subsequent images copyright MARVEL COMICS

I'd previously purchased The MIGHTY WORLD Of MARVEL #2 earlier that morning, and, later, SUPERMAN #251 en route to the village.  Now, in the kind of hall that spoke of a long-vanished age - anything from the '20s to the '50s - I was to add MARVEL SUPER-HEROES #1 and TERRIFIC #1 to my awesome acquisitions.  The previous owner seemed to have used the issue of MSH as a dartboard at some point, but it was still readable, and I think it was the first time I'd owned a complete copy of that particular Terrific, a U.K. weekly launched five years earlier which had graced the shelves for a mere 43 issues.


Looking for a place to pore over my comics as I left the jumble sale, I wandered around to the back of an adjacent, nigh-derelict building (a dentist worked from a room or two on the upper floor) which adjoined the local, centuries old public house next to the church (and overlooked the graveyard).  It was an inquisitive boy's delight, and a week or so later, under the dark velvet canvas of the star-kissed heavens, yours truly and a friend were crawling across the roof of the pub, and even using the exterior, cast-iron fire-escape staircase to gain access to the back 'courtyard' below.  This location became the source of surreptitious exploration every so often over a period of two or three years and holds many happy memories for me.


So, I can't look at any one cover without also thinking of the other three - or of that jumble sale, my cord jacket, and an old pub next to the final resting place of long-gone local 'worthies', who had doubtless quaffed many a flagon of ale centuries before in the very building over whose slates two teenage boys daringly defied death in the airy Autumn moonlight.

******

The building at the back of the pub

Interestingly, I occasionally visit the upstairs lounge bar for a soft drink and a bag of crisps, and have done for many a year now.  It's an odd sensation to think, while sitting there, that I'm under the very roof I once crawled over as a 14-year-old lad so very long ago. I sometimes wonder if any modern-day counterparts of me and my pals have ever retraced our footsteps (and handprints) in the years since we first braved the slates, but it's unlikely.  The building at the back of the pub is now residential and access to the roof can no longer be obtained through its grounds.

******

 For an earlier mention of my rooftop adventures, click here.

Monday, 28 November 2016

RAMPAGING REPOST: A POOH In The CORNER Of The HOUSE - (Or SOMETHING LIKE THAT - CLOSE ENOUGH)...


Continuing the theme of the previous two posts, here's another earlier one which might add some clarity to the topic.  (Then again, it might not - so no promises.)

******

Returning to an oft-repeated theme on this blog which I've probably battered to death - that of memories and associations.  Take the above EP record as an example. ("Don't want it!" you contemptuously reply.)  I got it at an Autumn or Christmas Fayre in 1981/'82, held by the church at the top of the street and across the road from the house I'd lived in from 1965-'72.  Note that I said by and not in.  That's because the fayre (let's call a spade a spade - jumble sale) was held in my old primary school at the foot of the street, primarily (no pun intended) because it had more space to accommodate the aspirations of the event's organisers.

So, to hopefully helpfully reiterate: I obtained the record while living in my current home, from my old primary school in the same street as my former house.  That would explain why, whenever I look at it, I associate it with the area where I acquired it, but - so strong is the link, that I also associate it with my old room and can actually 'see' it there in my mind's eye as plain as day, in some kind of 'false memory'.  Weird, eh?

"Ah, that's easy to explain!" you proclaim.  "You associate the record with your old school and you associate your old school with your old house, so it's only natural that you'd connect the record to the house, too!"  And doubtless you're right.  However, it's still an odd feeling to have what appears to be a memory of something that was never actually so.  Anyone have any similar instances they'd care to share?

Go on - we won't laugh.  Promise.
  

RAMPAGING REPOST: MEMORIES And IMAGINATION...


On the same theme as the previous post, here's an earlier one which perhaps better conveys what I was trying to say.  As always, comments welcome.

******

One tends to think of memory's magical kingdom as having fixed boundaries.  Only shadows of the past are allowed residence and interlopers are strictly forbidden.  However, the sentries can be fooled and intruders may sometimes sneak in under the cloak of familiarity if they bear a close enough resemblance to a recognised inhabitant.

"Okay, Gordie, you've lost the plot.  What are you blathering on about now?" you may well be thinking.  Simply this.  If you're around the same age as me, you may well remember the CAPTAIN SCARLET merchandise that was available back in the 1960s, particularly the DINKY diecast vehicles like the SPV, MSV, and SPC.  (Though nowadays it's usually referred to as the SSC.  Perhaps it was only Dinky who called it an SPC?)


I had all of them - and still retain the set I acquired many years ago as replacements for my originals.  I've had them for far longer than I ever owned their predecessors, although it doesn't actually feel like it.  It's almost as if there's never been a period in my life when I was without them, and that the ones I have today are the very ones I had as a kid; hidden in a cupboard somewhere for all those years until I rediscovered them after a long period of neglect.  That's not the case of course, it just seems that way.

However, there are other ways to fool the mind, and here's what I hope is an interesting example of just such an instance.  Back in the very early '90s, THUNDERBIRDS enjoyed a huge resurgence in popularity when the BBC broadcast all 32 episodes on network TV for the very first time.  Previously, back in the '60s (and with most subsequent repeats), they were shown in various TV regions on different days and times.  Amazingly, the '90s screenings were a huge success, spawning a level of merchandise to rival that which was available during the show's heyday. 

The BBC tried again with STINGRAY and CAPTAIN SCARLET, but met with a more muted response from viewers.  However, having anticipated the same kind of enthusiastic reaction that INTERNATIONAL RESCUE had enjoyed, toy manufacturers launched all sorts of items to tie-in with the expected demand for all things GERRY ANDERSON.

Such an item was the SPV 'play set' by VIVID IMAGINATIONS, pictured in this post.  Now, here's the thing: I obviously bought this as a collector's piece, not to play with - and I purchased it while living in my present abode, with where one would naturally assume I would associate it.  But no, whenever I cast eyes on it, I seem to see myself, as a kid, sitting on the doorstep in the back garden of my old house, playing with this exact same vehicle - even though this specific toy didn't exist at the time and wasn't made until around a quarter of a century later.


So vivid is the image that it does indeed seem like an actual memory - as opposed to what is obviously merely my imagination (see what I did there?), facilitated by the fact that I associate the familiar design of the vehicle with a particular period from my past.  In short, it's a perfect fit - and seems more at home in my memories of 1968 than of when I actually obtained it.

Funny how the mind can play such tricks, isn't it?  I believe it's called 'false memory syndrome', which is perhaps where 'Deja vu'-type feelings spring from.  Anyone got any similar experiences they'd care to share?  Feel free to let loose in the comments section.

OUT OF STEP, OUT OF TIME (OR: A FRIVOLOUS PONDERING)...


As someone who's all too aware of the seeming immutability of memory and association, I'm often surprised when I experience instances that fly in the face of the principle.  What do I mean?  Well, if I got an item in, say, the '60s, I'm usually always reminded of the period and place in which I lived when I purchased it whenever I look at the thing, be it comic or toy.

But, sometimes, there are exceptions.  A case in point is this set of WADE porcelain figures, which I've shown on the blog before.  The YOGI BEAR figure was bought in 1970 or '71 and, naturally enough, I associate it in memory with where I was then living, which was the previous house to the one I now reside in.

Around 40 years passed before I decided to track down and acquire the remaining two HANNA-BARBERA figures in the set, HUCKLEBERRY HOUND and Mr. JINKS.  Having bought them only in relatively recent years, you'd think I'd associate them with now, rather than the '70s, but surprisingly, such is not the case.

When I look at Huck and Jinks, I can't help but 'see' them in my old room of my former house, sitting alongside Yogi as if I owned all three pieces back then.  They fit so well into that period that it's hard to separate them from it, and link them to the contemporary times in which they were purchased.

Another of life's little mysteries which I thought I'd share with you all here.  After all, why should I be the only person who has to ponder such perplexities?  Now you can all wrestle with it - and if you feel like commenting on the matter, be my guest. 

Sunday, 27 November 2016

INVASION Of The DALEKS...


The DALEKS copyright BBC TV and the Estate of TERRY NATION

Most people who bought TV CENTURY 21 in 1965 will recall the back page DALEKS strip and, in particular, the golden globe-headed Emperor and the hoverbouts.  However, that's not where they first appeared!  The Emperor and the Daleks' mode of sky transportation made their debut in the 1964 (for '65) DALEK BOOK, today a rare collectors' item.  So, for all you panting Criv-ites, I now present the first-ever comic strip to feature the metal-clad scions of SKARO, as illustrated by RICHARD JENNINGS.  Enjoy!