Monday, February 11th, 1974

Today was a very good day at school compared to recent days.

In fact, the only thing that spoiled it was IT again!! Never, never, never again!

NOTES: Dooooon't Yooooou Beeeeelieeeeeve Iiiiiiit.

Sunday, February 10th, 1974

Got my new scrapbook off to a good start today.

Worked on SITUATION SIX while watching sports programs and the beginning of THE WORLD AT WAR this afternoon.

Spent the evening with Clint Eastwood in his third--and best!--"spaghetti" western, THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY!

NOTES:A year or so before, Terry and I had sat through a triple feature of Eastwood's Italian westerns--A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS, FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE and THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY. By that last one, I was too exhausted to have really enjoyed it. (It's a long movie!) So I was pleased to be able to catch it again on TV and this time enjoyed it much more. 


In just the last few years, thanks to the Internet, I've been able to see and enjoy quite a few of the spaghetti westerns I had only heard of before now. You gotta love the Internet. 


SITUATION SIX was an ambitious short story I wrote at this time. The basic plot was that a law officer from the far future uses a time machine to track an evil dictator who had escaped into the 19th Century.  The twist is that the dictator becomes Abraham Lincoln and the hero who has to stop him---John Wilkes Booth! I actually finished that one and went on to an even more ambitious follow-up, SITUATION SEVEN, which got an awful lot of outlining but nary an actual word written over a two year period I dealt with it before abandoning it.

Saturday, February 9th, 1974

I read most of THE EXORCIST today.

On my second trip over the river, I picked up the long-awaited SPIRIT magazine...and it was worth the wait! On my first trip earlier today I got some old comics which I turned right around and sold to Terry at a nice profit!

Saw the Mega Man this evening.

NOTES: Mega Man??!! No clue on that one. Obvious;y NOT the video game. It's been around a long time but not that long!


THE SPIRIT was a new magazine from Warren reprinting the classic 1940's comic stories by Will Eisner that were the basis of the horrid movie adaptation of recent years. It had a successful run and then moved over to Kitchen Sink Press which helped mainstream that underground company as well as eventually getting all of the Eisner stories back in print!


Around this time, EXORCIST director William Friedkin expressed a very public interest in doing a SPIRIT movie, going so far as to cite Eisner's works as an influence on the famous car chase scene in his previous film, THE FRENCH CONNECTION.


Oh, and yes, I still have all of those SPIRIT magazines!

Friday, February 8th, 1974

I got the novel of the EXORCIST today along with a new scrapbook.

Today wasn't so bad at school and tonight I enjoyed the new version of DRACULA.

NOTES: The new version of DRACULA that premiered tonight was the TV movie from former DARK SHADOWS producer, Dan Curtis, and starred Jack Palance. Seemed like odd casting to many at the time as Palance was a "big lug" type not known for his subtle performances. But he pulled it off amazingly well, though, in fact being credited with one of the better interpretations at a time when everyone seemed to be making a Dracula movie. 


I had been making scrapbooks of movie ads and other clippings since mid-1972. I continued to do so until the early eighties. At that time, I had 28 of them and they were impossible to store or find anything in...so I tore them apart and kept only a box of selected items. Wish now I'd kept them.


I was infatuated with Linda Blair so I figured I should at least read the book if I couldn't yet see the picture. So I read THE EXORCIST and loved it! But that's probably what led to my not liking the film as much as I might have by the time I finally saw it. 

Thursday, February 7th, 1974

Today was a bad day at school. It started when I learned I had missed seeing Linda Blair on Merv Griffin's show last night and then that was topped when I got back a low-graded Algebra test!

Watched KANSAS CITY BOMBER on TV again tonight.

NOTES: Roller Derby was, I suppose, closer to professional wrestling than to a real sport but it was fairly prevalent on television from the fifties on and was, in fact, enjoying a peak of popularity in the early seventies. KANSAS CITY BOMBER was a pretty good melodrama with a roller derby setting. Uber-sex symbol Raquel Welch stretched her acting wings a little in the starring role and did reasonably well. Unfortunately her next released role was in Alexander Salkind's stylish but disastrous BLUEBEARD with Richard Burton. From there, her days as a leading actress seemed over. A well-recieved character comic turn in the same producer's THREE MUSKETEERS in '74 salvaged her big-screen career for a while longer but it was never the same. 


Oh, by the way, I was never into Roller Derby in the slightest but I paid to see KANSAS CITY BOMBER twice in theaters in '72 because of Raquel and then watched and enjoyed it a third time here this evening. Odd that I can barely remember anything about it now.

Wednesday, February 6th, 1974

I got the new VAMPI and EERIE and Terry says the new MONSTER TIMES is out.

Mailed my pen-pal letter.

Had some big problems with my Algebra homework. Maybe I can get 'em cleared up in class tomorrow.

NOTES: VAMPI and EERIE were Warren magazines, VAMPI being short for VAMPIRELLA. The Warren mags had come along in the early sixties from the publisher of FAMOUS MONSTERS reviving the extreme but somewhat literary horror style  of the late, lamented EC Comics of the fifties. In 1969, the sexy VAMPIRELLA added an extra layer with nudity and often more adult storylines. The stated audience was adults but we all knew the target audience was young lads who couldn't yet buy PLAYBOY.


THE MONSTER TIMES was a tabloid newspaper that had, by this point, been around for a couple of years. It was done in the light-hearted vein of FM but presented more contemporary pieces and added more coverage of sci-fi, paperbacks, comics, TV and other pop culture monster appearances. It ran throughout the decade and at its peak here was a favorite. By the end, they were forced to go more mainstream with covers on THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN and such to remain viable. In the end, even that didn't work. I still have all my issues!


I loved this year of Algebra. I had a rather eccentric teacher we'll call Mr. Lucky. He had a reputation as a stern, old-school, never-smiling taskmaster but I found him quite helpful and he was one of my favorite teachers. 

Tuesday, February 5th, 1974

The only good thing about today was that I got that magazine with the Linda Blair article from school.

Other than that, we found Dad's car really ransacked and with parts and stuff stolen! I don't know why but I'm really, really worried about it even though it doesn't directly affect me. But I am.

Wrote my pen-pal about it tonight.

NOTES: I felt violated but didn't even realize it. It wasn't just my Dad's car, it was OUR car. They stole our radio and I don't recall what else from it...and it wouldn't be the first time during this period.


The earliest car I remember us having was a big, brown Buick. Then there was a two-tone Chevrolet. For most of my late childhood and early teens we had an early sixties Ford Galaxy in an ugly--in retrospect--green color. But it was shaped vaguely like the Batmobile. I liked that. Eventually it had died a more or less natural death and it was replaced by a white 1965 Ford Falcon similar to the one seen above. It was a much smaller car and I don't think I ever really got used to it. On this day, though...I was scared because of what happened to it.