Saturday, March 3, 2012

Sunday, March 3rd, 1974

I had a good time playing board games all afternoon with Terry. I'm going to use the $3.00 he gave me to buy something I like better than those old records. More old comics at the Ohio Book Store tomorrow after school!

Only thing was I didn't get around to writing my pen-pal letter. Maybe next week.

NOTES: Above is a relatively recent shot of the Ohio Book Store, still there and still virtually unchanged since 1974. (Even some of the same books are still there!)

Friday, March 2, 2012

Saturday, March 2nd, 1974

Well, I got the Superman book and it's a great mate for the Batman one I already had.

Also picked up a bunch of great all-time hads and wants. Wow!

Terry will most likely buy a bunch of old records from me tomorrow for $3.00 to sell later to the Ohio Book Store for a profit. That's okay by me because I don't have to go through all the hassle of dragging them over there and I get three whole bucks up front. Hah!

Saw the Grammy Awards tonight.

NOTES: Can you remember when "three whole bucks" was exciting? Wow. 


I never really cared for the Grammy Awards much, mainly because it always seemed like the really good singers and records didn't even get nominated!


At the 1974 Grammys, the record, song and best pop vocal of the year was KILLING ME SOFTLY by Roberta Flack.


Stevie Wonder's INNERVISIONS was album of the year.


Best new artist was Bette Midler.


Olivia Newton-John and  Charlie Rich took the top country awards.


Gladys Knight, Aretha Franklin, Big Band leader Woody Herman, actor Richard Harris and the SESAME STREET cast also took home awards this night. 


Albums that would have been eligible for awards that year, I believe, included BAND ON THE RUN from McCartney and Wings, DARK SIDE OF THE MOON from Pink Floyd, Elton John's GOODBYE YELLOW BRICK ROAD and DESPERADO from The Eagles.


1973 songs that should have been eligible include big hits by  Grand Funk Railroad, John Denver, Three Dog Night, the Doobie Brothers, Deep Purple, Loggins and Messina, Chicago, Curtis Mayfield and The Allman Brothers Band.


The Beatles regularly lost at the Grammys.


Come to think of it, I don't know why I watch the Grammys. 



Thursday, March 1, 2012

Friday, March 1st, 1974

My dreams were shattered this evening when the paper noted that NO ONE under the age of 18 will be admitted to THE EXORCIST even with a parent! They can't do that!! It just isn't fair but I swear I will see it someday! Even if I have to wait three years 'til I'm 18 and it's re-released! BOY! Darn it!!

At least tomorrow I should be able to pick up the SUPERMAN Book and maybe some old comics. Terry picked up $70.00 worth!

NOTES: I don't recall if I was mis-reading that or if they legitimately chose to consider THE EXORCIST as if it were an X-rated film. I clearly wasn't happy about what I thought it said anyway. I mean "Boy!" and "Darn it!!" Wow.


My parents didn't really curse to speak of.  Ever. The one exception was that my Dad referred to anything he didn't like as "horseshit." No "hells," no "damns"and certainly nothing more colorful.  Thus I grew up NOT cursing. 


A year earlier was when George Carlin ran afoul of the law with his SEVEN DIRTY WORDS sketch. It was that sketch that eventually convinced me that words are just words. It's the way one uses them that gives them power. 


The first time I heard "bitch" was when Dexter P. called our third grade teacher that through a window after he walked out of class for reasons long forgotten. The first time I heard "suck my dick" was from an apparently very confused girl in the 4th grade named Susan. The first time I SAID "hell" was in the 7th grade when we were reading a Herman Wouk story and, as the best reader in class, I was chosen to read a segment aloud. I would be 23 before I said the dreaded "F" word when it turned up in a comedy sketch written by another member of the comedy troupe I was in. 


Today, I know all the words and creative ways to use them. They no longer scare me but I choose not to use them unless I particularly want or need to emphasize something. Makes 'em more powerful that way. 


I can't believe Terry had $70.00 to spend on Golden Age comics at that age! I sure didn't. 

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

***EXTRA***Movies I Saw in 1974, Part 4

31--CALIFORNIA SPLIT--Aug. 31st, Times
Elliot Gould, arguably the biggest star of the "New Hollywood," teamed with George Segal as gamblers who hit it big. Segal would become one of my favorite stars after this.

32--BIG BAD MAMA--Sept. 14th, Albee
Angie Dickinson, William Shatner, Tom Skerritt and Graham Nash's future wife, Susan Sennett, all in Roger Corman's violent 1930's crime drama filled with lots of surprising nudity!

33--ONE MILLION YEARS, BC--Sept. 22nd, Ludlow
What do you know? i didn't remember seeing this in theaters at all! Obviously a re-release of Raquel Welch and SPFX guru Ray Harryhausen's 1966 caveman pic.

34--MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR, Oct. 6th, Penthouse
The Beatles TV movie, finally released in theaters in the US some seven years after it flopped in England. The Penthouse was a new theater, a tiny art-house addition upstairs at the Ludlow Cinemas. The projectionist looked out, didn't see anyone and turned off the film. I had to go out front and tell them to turn it back on!

35--DEATH WISH, Oct.13th, Ludlow
Went with my Dad to see this. I had seen Bronson in plenty of things on TV but I was amazed at how charismatic he was on the big screen. Unlike the later ripoff sequels, he gives a nuanced performance here in a serious and well-made film about a man taking the law into his own hands.

36--THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT, Oct. 20th, Skywalk
When this compilation of classic MGM musical scenes came out in 1970, I wasn't a big enough film buff to care but seeing it at this point was almost a life-changing experience! I picked up the soundtrack soon afterwards.

37--THE TAKING OF PELHAM 123, Oct. 26th, Times
This was SUCH a great time for films! Here's another that became an all-time favorite. Walter Matthau and a hijacked subway train co-starring the city of New York and a great cast with an amazing serious/funny script.

38--WHAT'S UP DOC?, Oct. 27th, Madison
Saw this one again just recently, too. Absolutely hilarious tribute to screwball comedies and the only time I would ever describe Barbra Streisand as sexy!

  
39-43--THE SAGA OF THE PLANET OF THE APES--Nov. 2nd, International '70. This was the famous "Go Ape!" campaign! All five of the PLANET OF THE APES films in one single sitting! Eight hours of fun!

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Thursday, February 28th, 1974

The last day of the second month already. I taped the school band concert for Arthur (he was in it) but apparently I did something wrong or accidentally erased it.

Tonight I saw a very entertaining evening of TV which included, among other things, Jim Kelly, a discussion of THE EXORCIST and a vintage Laurel and Hardy feature!

NOTES: I got my very first tape recorder around 1970. It was a reel to reel recorder and I always had problems with threading the reels. Not sure when cassettes came in big but I know by this point, I had a cassette recorder that looked much like this one.


Sometimes I would tape songs I like from the radio. Other times I would sit quietly for two hours or so and record the entire soundtracks of movies like BATMAN, FIREBALL 500, FIVE WEEKS IN A BALLOON and DALEKS' INVASION EARTH-2150 A. D. 


After a while, my friend Terry and I would just sit and be goofy for the run of the hour long tape. I wish I'd taped my parents voices more. I still have a couple of very brief bits with them. 

Monday, February 27, 2012

Wednesday, February 27th, 1974

No comics today but I picked up the TV GUIDE and several magazines. Also, I put in layaway over there at the Ohio Book Store the book SUPERMAN: FROM THE THIRTIES TO THE SEVENTIES for only $4.50! That's a savings of $5.50 off the original price!

Saw Mr. Daniels walking downtown, too.

NOTES: Mr. Daniels was the art teacher at school. Somewhere I have a picture of him. He was a small, black man with a mustache that covered his mouth, a smallish afro hairstyle and a penchant for colorful shirts that looked to have been designed by Jackson Pollack. He spoke softly and with a stammer and through that mustache was often unintelligible but he was very encouraging to me. Sometimes I wish I'd followed through with art rather than writing.


The book, SUPERMAN: FROM THE THIRTIES TO THE SEVENTIES was a hardcover collection of just that from a couple of years earlier. I had gotten the companion Batman volume for Christmas but had never actually seen the Superman one in stores until now. I did end up getting it. In 2012, I'm seriously considering putting that very copy on our booksale site this next week. Let me know if you're interested. 

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Tuesday, February 26th, 1974


I rewrote my English composition at home today although I didn't actually change it very much.

Possibly--but not probably--I will go to see the triple kung-fu movie feature at the Albee this weekend.

Tomorrow, I'll probably go over to the Ohio Bookstore with Terry.

NOTES: Cincinnati's RKO Albee theatre was one of my favorites. Directly across from the city's centerpiece, Fountain Square, I was not yet aware really of its amazing history as a showplace going way back. I certainly had not come to the realization that this gorgeous old movie house with it's ornate interiors and an amazing, unused giant pipe organ should not have fallen so far as to be showing a triple king-fu feature! Sigh. I was so naive.