Sunday, August 25th, 1974

IT. I destroyed the mag already.

We went to church where I saw Janet O'Malley, the first of many familiar faces I'll see I guess as school starts up again this next week. Doug had me terribly worried this morning with a remark about school but now I'm convinced it's not so.

I intend to write Dreamsville about Linda instead of Linda herself this time.

Saw Sinatra's LADY IN CEMENT with Raquel on TV today.

NOTES: Dreamsville was a column in some magazine where they supposedly would choose a fan letter and then introduce the fan to the person they were a fan of, in this case me to Linda...I wished.

No clue what Doug had said about school or why I almost bought it.

What a terrible poster! Looks like he's shooting at her! LADY IN CEMENT was actually a pretty good sequel to Sinatra's TONY ROME.

Saturday, August 24th, 1974

IT. I bought a new 60 cent mag for it but I expect to get rid of it soon. In fact, once school starts, I'm hoping IT will never happen again.

I got a BLACK BELT yearbook, SIXTEEN (with Linda pics), a new PEANUTS paperback and Marvel's HITLER mag.

I saw the girl at Fountain. Wish i could see her more often.

I saw RETURN OF THE DRAGON with Terry and his mother. Twice. Actually, she didn't even stay. She paid to take us in, then walked back out. Throughout the picture, everyone was cheering, yelling and applauding. Everyone loved it! It will probably make my Top Ten. I've devoted several pages in my new scrapbook to Mr. Lee now.

I gota  new stapler, too.

NOTES: Wish I still had that new stapler. Mine's missing. 

In a bizarre attempt to...do something, Marvel Comics packaged and published a historical photo magazine based on Adolf Hitler. Hitler was surprisingly popular in this period with several movies related to him and John Toland's award-winning biography just a year or two away.

The folks who ran Fountain News were a family from...somewhere. I thought Mexican at first, then Greek, later Indian. Not sure. All I know is that girl was cuter than cute! She helped out from time to time and later worked the counter often which always made me feel awkward when I was buying the dirty mags.

RETURN OF THE DRAGON was actually not a sequel in any way, shape or form to ENTER THE DRAGON. In fact, it had been made first under the title WAY OF THE DRAGON. It's a minor story with its major setpiece being a duel to the death between Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris--he in his first major role--set in the Roman Colosseum. 

Friday, August 23rd, 1974

Dad came home at noon.

I got several things including the new CINEFANTASTIQUE. It says they're planning a special EXORCIST issue. I couldn't get much, though, even though I got a dollar from OSS.

There was still some girl at work when we went over so I never got to use my radio. Boy!

NOTES: Earlier in the month, back in '74, the number one song was Roberta Flack's "Feel Like Makin' Love." Starting tomorrow, the number one song was, appropriately enough, Paul Anka's "Having My Baby."Unfortunately for the joke, "The Night Chicago Died" by Paper Lace topped the charts in between. 

Thursday, August 22nd, 1974

Didn't get the letters done again.

Doug came up early and we played games until about one.

So far of the two people I had going to the movie with me, I now have four. Oh, well. It's the last time.

Today I saw a Martin-Lewis picture.

Spent the afternoon re-reading all my PEANUTS strip collections.

I saw MANHUNTER again.

NOTES: MANHUNTER was a short-lived TV series with Ken Howard as a Depression-era bounty hunter. Seen above is the pilot as it was eventually released on VHS. The pilot co-starred Stefanie Powers and her then-husband, Gary Lockwood.

My parents had taken me to Jerry Lewis films all my life and I knew Dean Martin from his TV variety series and records on the radio. It was only in the early seventies that I began to become aware that they had been a team. Over the next few years I would learn more and more about them and in time become a big fan of Martin and Lewis.

Earlier this year in 2012, I finally sold all of the PEANUTS books mentioned here.

Wednesday, August 21st, 1974

IT twice. I know I'll have it licked when school starts this next week.

Tomorrow I hope to finish rewriting those letters.

Dad promised to take me to RETURN OF THE DRAGON Saturday.

Terry's not mad at me.

MADHOUSE is on at the Twin. Ack! Too bad.

I finally saw ABC's MEN OF THE DRAGON and they ran a commercial for RETURN OF THE DRAGON. WOW!!!!

NOTES: I know, I know. Too easy. Let's just ignore that accidental double entendre above, okay? Okay. Moving on...

MADHOUSE is a Vincent Price/Peter Cushing/Robert Quarry film that looked great to me but barely played anywhere around here at all! It was cover-featured in FM and came directly on the heels of Price's well-received THEATRE OF BLOOD and yet for some reason, it didn't get booked in this area except at a drive-in way out on the other side of Cincinnati where I had no hope of seeing it. Although not well-liked by many fans, I found it quite enjoyable but that wouldn't be until I found it on VHS about two decades later!

Tuesday, August 20th, 1974

I went to see ANIMAL CRACKERS and it was really funny! Coming back I ran into Terry so I ended up not buying a new dirty mag at Fountain. Terry told me I had missed a lot of good stuff at The Ohio Book Store this morning because I didn't go.

This weekend, I hope to see a movie that's much better than BIG BAD MAMA--the unofficial sequel to my all-time favorite action flick, RETURN OF THE DRAGON with Bruce Lee!! Terry says we might get to see the other film tonight, also. I'm not staying home from work, though.

Well I cracked my previous work record again by finishing in just 23 minutes! I'm mad about one thing, though. Doug saw BIG BAD MAMA two days ago and didn't even tell me until now! I could have went with hi and he knew I wanted to see it! Terry got mad at me on the phone tonight but that's okay because I'm mad at him, too!

NOTES: As religious as his family was, I'm surprised Doug saw the controversial exploitation flick with William Shatner and Angie Dickinson (and Graham Nash's future wife, Susan Sennett!) at all.

ANIMAL CRACKERS was the 2nd Marx Brothers film from way back in 1930 that had at that time been out of circulation for decades. Steve Stoliar, now one of my FB friends, was instrumental in getting it nationally re-released to capacity crowds! As you can see from the flyer above that I picked up that day, it had been on for nearly a week already by the time I saw it. By that point, I knew three of the Brothers Marx from TV but Zeppo was new to me so he fascinated me. I kept waiting for him to be funny, though. 

Monday, August 19th, 1974

An average day. I forgot to finish the letters. Spent the afternoon making a list of my 50 Top Films and anticipating the chance of the one tonight. Only Terry never called. I called him but he wasn't even home. Boy!

I sat my alarm to wake me up at 1 to see Gene Roddenberry, Ray Bradbury and Harlan Ellison. A trio like that I couldn't miss! About the only good thing about today and technically--and literally--it's TOMORROW.

NOTES: Gene Roddenberry, Ray Bradbury and, to a lesser extent at this point, Harlan Ellison (who would come to mean  more to me later) were three of my sci-fi heroes. (Sorry, Harlan--he hates the expression "sci-fi.") This night, they were on the TOMORROW show with Tom Snyder.