Sunday, September 15th, 1974

Instead of going to the movie BANK SHOT (no one would go with me) I went to Twin Fair where I got "White Rabbit" and the Donny and Marie Osmond album. Wow. IT brought back the good old days of Bobby Sherman and partridge family albums.

Almost did IT but I managed to avoid it. It's gone for good, remember?

I saw an exceptionally good episode of APPLE'S WAY.

I've got big plans for STAR TREK. More on that later.

NOTES: Not sure why I didn't see BANK SHOT alone. I actually saw the majority of the pictures that I saw by myself. Always preferred it that way as you didn't feel the need to keep another person or persons entertained.

The Donny and Marie albums really were good!

"An exceptionally good episode of APPLE'S WAY"--now there's an expression that's rarely been uttered. It wasn't bad, mind you, just unmemorable. APPLE'S WAY was an attempt at a modern day family drama with a WALTONS vibe. It starred Ronny Cox and Vince Van Patten. Starting as a mid-season replacement, it ran a season and a half. This night's episode was the first episode of the second  (and only full) season and was, according to the 'Net, entitled "Tornado."

Saturday, September 14th, 1974

A great day! I got a letter from Warren saying my book was finally mailed!

We got paid!

Mom and I bought Dad a slot machine for fifteen dollars. I bought CASTLE OF FRANKENSTEIN with a big thing on Roddy.

Later, Mom, Dad, Terry and I went to see BIG BAD MAMA. Mom didn't like it at all. Way too much sex! Didn't do a thing for me. I told you.

Terry and I went to the STAR TREK meeting, too! Much better than before.We got free stuff, they had  slideshow, set up another meeting and discussed plans for a fanzine and a group trip to the STAR TREK con in February! I hope more than almost anything we can go. That would be a highlight of my life! My first STAR TREK con! I'm gonna dig up my STAR TREK story I started and finish it to take to the next meeting! Man, this could be great! WOW!

NOTES: My dad had loved playing the slot machines around here before organized crime was cleared out around 1960. We bought him one of those tabletop fake slot machines that came with tokens. He loved it for ages.

I guess my parents were so willing to take me to see BIG BAD MAMA because it was made up of TV stars--Angie Dickinson, William Shatner, Tom Skerritt and even that cute little thing from OZZIE'S GIRLS (Susan Sennett, later married to Graham Nash). Must have been hard to wrap their head around the fact that they could all be rolling around naked in it. And who was I kidding here? Myself? My memory is that I thought the sex scenes were HAWT!

Speaking of memory, I have only the vaguest memories of this STAR TREK meeting that seemed to make such an impact. I don't even recall what the free stuff was. If there was ever a 'zine or a trip, I wasn't involved. Sigh. 

Friday, September 13th, 1974

Bad luck? No, they've always been good for me and this was no exception. It rained hard but nothing else.

I saw PLANET OF THE APES and it fit in with the movies better than I expected.

Got some more stuff from SS.

BIG BAD MAMA's at the Albee.

According to the paper, some parts of BORN INNOCENT were deemed to be obscene by some viewers. Oh, well.

NOTES: The PLANET OF THE APES TV series really is kind of hard to fit into the established timeline of the film series but it's not a bad show. Plotwise, it's the typical "man on the run" concept only with two men and a large, sentient chimp...on the run from gorillas. Roddy was great but his makeup had been streamlined so much as to now LOOK like makeup rather than a real face. Many of the gorillas were wearing obvious masks. The constraints of TV budgets. Ron Harper, previously the star of GARRISON'S GUERILLAS, was perversely cast as the human lead with future Broadway and TV commercial voiceover star James Naughton as his sidekick. A year or so later, I would see Naughton perform in a summer stock musical. 

Thursday, September 12th, 1974

The SS people worked late meaning I had to, also. And man, they made a mess tonight. I missed THE ODD COUPLE but I caught most of PAPER MOON.

I got a few new things in Cincinnati. Got a lot of pens and stuff the office threw out tonight.At ;least thirty!

School went a little better but for Gym and a few other things. I still have no Geometry book! I expect tomorrow to be better as it's Friday the 13th and that's always been lucky for me.

I've noticed my attitude about sex has changed recently. Even after those scenes with Kinda the other night, I just didn't care. I think I've beaten it to the point where I care nit at all about sex! My tendency toward physical attraction is increased, though. I guess most of that is due to the girls at school even though they all hate me.

NOTES: PAPER MOON had been the movie for which Tatum O'Neal won the Oscar, beating out Linda Blair. In retrospect, Tatum was brilliant while Linda was just very good but at the time I was less than thrilled. What I was talking about here, though, was the TV version of PAPER MOON, a short-lived sitcom in which actor Chris Connelly replaced his former PEYTON PLACE brother Ryan O'Neal and future superstar Jodie Foster replaced his daughter, Tatum.

Wednesday, September 11th, 1974

The TV got worse. Had to take mine in to watch. I saw FIVE WEEKS IN A BALLOON for like the fifth time. Saw part of CANNON with Steffie but a bad storm hit and I had to turn it off. MARLOWE was on late tonight with Bruce Lee.

I hurt my toe bad last night and although it got some better today, I hit it again.

I got a neat new hole puncher that the SS threw out.

May go see two movies this weekend. At least one.

I was really moved by Linda's performance last night but heard no mention of it all day at school. I couldn't stop thinking about her, though.

The hot water in the kitchen has been getting bad again so we cut it off tonight so we can get somebody to fix it tomorrow.

NOTES: FIVE WEEKS IN A BALLOON is a fun early sixties family adventure based on Jules Verne. Wouldn't mind seeing it again now. MARLOWE was James Garner's 1969 modernized take on Raymond Chandler's character, best remembered today for a couple of brief but energized scenes with Bruce Lee.

Cannon was, in the seventies--if you're still keeping track--the FAT detective. 

Tuesday, September 10th, 1974

Bad school day all around. Especially Gym. That stupid teacher thinks he's an Army Sergeant!! "Attention! Count Off! About Face! At Ease," etc...Boy!

Missed the early bus but still made it home by 4.

May go back to Newport this weekend to see BANK SHOT if it doesn't open closer.

I saw BORN INNOCENT!! And it was SOME movie! It came complete with a warning that young people shouldn't see it and yet more than two-thirds of its cast was under 18! If it had been a theatrical release submitted to the MPAA, it would at least have been a PG. maybe an R. There was one creepy scene where Linda was completely nude and assaulted by the other girls. Only her arms protected them from the censor! The language contained a few things never heard on TV and the implications were as graphic as a real picture! It was powerful, all right. It made me furious to again see the terrible things done to people when supposedly someone is trying to HELP them. I mean, in the end, instead of getting better, she ended up as bad as the rest. Even smoking! Maybe she doesn't smoke much. They only showed her for a minute. I sure ope she's not a smoker. The TV messed up about halfway through but I was quick to get to mine. Black and white was better than nothing. If BORN INNOCENT doesn't garner at least one Emmy Award for Linda, I'll know something's crooked!  Wow. What an evening!

Oh, and I also watched BARNABY JONES.

NOTES: Never did catch George C. Scott's BANK SHOT.

This was the first episode of BARNABY JONES' 3rd season. Jones was the "elderly" detective during the period when every detective show had to have some way to pigeonhole it.  Buddy Ebsen played the role. 

Don't get me started on that Gym teacher. Things got worse before they...come to think of it, they never got better until I didn't have to deal with him anymore and I had him for two years!!

BORN INNOCENT. It really was a good movie but it was relentlessly dark and its controversy over the plunger rape scene overshadowed it. As I understand it, the only network rerun, which aired only out of prime time, was edited. Never saw it and haven't seen the film since.


She would be better served by her next TV movie, SARAH T, PORTRAIT OF A TEENAGE ALCOHOLIC.

Turned out Linda really did smoke and the fan mags started running oics of her with cigarettes soon afterwards. 

Monday, September 9th, 1974

I still haven't gotten a Geometry book. Doug thinks his sister might have one.

There's a girl in my Spanish class that resembles a young Lynn Redgrave.

I caught the very early (3:29) bus home. Almost beat Dad home.

Tonight's the start of the new TV season. Our TV's been acting up again, though. I sure hope it's better tomorrow to see Linda! I saw Linda's commercial four times this evening and I loved every one.

I caught a NANNY & THE PROFESSOR rerun and Clint in JOE KIDD.

I got several things about Evel's jump.

NOTES: Lynn Redgrave, for those who don't recall, was a lovely and popular English actress first noticed in GEORGY GIRL in 1966.

What does it say when I'm all excited about the new TV season and then all I end up watching on Day one is a rerun and an old movie? And I didn't even like the movie! JOE KIDD is my least favorite Eastwood western. Oddly, it's also his most traditional.