Sunday, December 1st, 1974

Didn't get to see HARRY AND TONTO after all but Terry and I did see LT. ROBIN CRUSOE, USN instead. They had a Mickey Mouse cartoon with it! Nancy Kwan=gorgeous.

Afterwards, I went by King Kwik. They've changed everything there! Got one comic and left.

The snow had partly melted by this morning but came back this afternoon...with much more expected overnight.

I watched a special about Burt Reynolds. What language he used! Boy!

I counted 130 Linda Blair pics I have!

Watched MISTER MAGOO'S CHRISTMAS CAROL tonight for the first time in several years. Wonderful! Later, I saw a John Denver special.

NOTES: Eventually, I would catch HARRY AND TONTO when it debuted on network TV. LT. ROBIN CRUSOE, USN, was actually a re-release of an older Dick Van Dyke film. Years later, I found out that actor Tyler McVey, whom I met through the old time radio conventions, is in it.

The Magoo special featured Broadway quality songs and a great cast including Jack Cassidy along with Jim Backus as Scrooge. The fact that it was Mister Magoo was thoroughly incidental to the fact that it was and remains one of the best retellings of the classic Dickens ghost story. In fact, by this point in the seventies, to fit more commercials they were editing out the bumpers where we saw Magoo as himself arriving at the theater and preparing for his role as Scrooge. 

Saturday, November 30th, 1974

LAND OF THE LOST was really good this morning.

I went over the river this afternoon and bought THE MARX BROTHERS SCRAPBOOK. I may ask for WHY A DUCK?  for Christmas.

I discovered HARRY AND TONTO was on downtown. Mom might go with me to see it tomorrow.

Wonder of wonders! Early afternoon rain became snow! The first snow to actually stick this year! Later I went out with Dad when he took out the trash. I just walked around the house but oh, it was marvelous!

Terry called and talked for a long time this evening. He said he saw THE GREEN HORNET twice today!

NOTES: THE MARX BROTHERS SCRAPBOOK was a major early book in my Library and is still occupying its position on a shelf in the next room as I type this. I liked it but apparently Groucho didn't and disowned it even though he's credited as co-author. 

WHY A DUCK? was another Marx Brothers book, all photos and text from the films. The copy I eventually got was one of the first books I ever purchased at Waldenbooks in downtown Cincinnati, by then marked down as a bargain book. Eight years on from November, 1974, I got my second real job there, a dinky little Christmas help position that would last 21 years (with a return even after that for a few more!).

Oddly enough, when Terry and I reconnected a couple of years back via Facebook, the first thing we did was go to the new version of THE GREEN HORNET. He loved it. I didn't.

Friday, November 29th, 1974

Another early start today. Read some recent FF stories when I got up.

Dad took him with me to the Post Office to get his check. We went across that new bridge, me for the first time. I took my camera and finished all 20 shots. On the way back, Dad let me out downtown and I went around and got all the new books. Also picked up a $1.50 Bruce Lee special. Doug would love it.

We got our check in the mail today.

Later in the afternoon, Terry and I planned to take the bus to go see MAN OF THE EAST at Newport but we missed the bus. Caught a later one, though. The hill was muddy and there were problems with the theater and the print. The picture wasn't as good as Terence Hill's other films, either. Turns out it's several years old! We stopped at the poster shop and a few other places, then came home. Terry bought a  whole box of APES trading cards. He's crazy sometimes.

NOTES: I still have a photograph I took that day of my dad walking away from the car toward the Post Office (where he worked). You can see my reflection in the car's rear-view mirror. I was hoping to find it and post it but apparently I've never scanned it and I'm not sure where he original is.

MAN OF THE EAST was erroneously billed as a TRINITY picture but, of course, was not. Taken on its own, though, it was much fun. I watched it again earlier this year.

Turns out Terry was, of course, ahead of the game regarding buying a whole box of trading cards. In a decade or so, even I would be doing that until I finally gave up trading cards completely.

Thursday, November 28th, 1974

Happy Thanksgiving! This year, for a change, we stayed home all day. I awoke early, watched THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW and read the paper. I had pancakes for breakfast and watched the parades.  On the whole I was disappointed with them this year although I did enjoy Kathy Coleman from LAND OF THE LOST singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" as Dorothy.

Then we all sat down to dinner--a marvelous full meal of turkey, mashed potatoes, corn and a few other things.

I watched A DAY AT THE RACES yet again, this time on TV.

I also read a few favorite comics I hadn't read in a while.

Dad watched all the football games naturally. In my room, I watched "Friday's Child" on STAR TREK, WILLY WONKA (again) and Miss MacLaine's TV special.

NOTES: There was a period in the seventies where I actually considered Thanksgiving to be my favorite holiday. That said, there were also a few years when we DID go out to relatives' homes for the holiday and I opted to be anti-social and stay home to read and watch TV whilst my parents went without me. 

I had managed to catch The Marx Brothers' A DAY AT THE RACES on the big screen in revival prior to ever seeing it on TV with commercials.

"Miss MacLaine" would have been Shirley MacLaine, a delightful actress whose sitcom a couple years earlier flopped but she returned with some popular TV specials. Later on, she would seem to go about nuts and would be parodied on TINY TOONS as Shirley MacLOON.

Wednesday, November 27th, 1974

The last day of school! Well, for four days anyway.

We were able to forego English class in English class and instead discuss certain student's love lifes. Lives? We had a part of a game in History but tests in Geometry and Science. Boredom in Study Hall was followed by a canceled quiz in Spanish due to the teacher having visitors. So instead I just sat and listened to Colleen's dirty jokes like everyone else.

After school, I went straight over the river and saw THE GREEN HORNET. The continuity was non-existent as three half hour shows and one cartoon (The Dogfather) were shown.

Dad took Mom to and from work today.

We've got a turkey and pies for tomorrow.

Not too much on TV tonight. I saw a little bit of GODSPELL and then watched Rod Serling and Dick Clark on a special MERV about live TV.

NOTES: I have no recollection of a "Colleen" in my class.

The Dogfather was featured in a late theatrical series of cartoons made by Depatie-Freleng, the folks who made the Pink Panther cartoons. They started this series in '74 so this must have been one of the first ones. They popped up off and on through '76.

This was most likely the first time I saw any part of GODSPELL. Despite my not being a Christian, I've always enjoyed the movie and its songs. What I had no way of knowing then was that I would one day interview one of its assistant directors as he went on to direct Christa Helm's only starring feature. I also spoke on the phone with one of the producers of the original Broadway version of GODSPELL.

Tuesday, November 26th, 1974

I made it through today. Tomorrow should be a lot easier. I've got 3 tests tomorrow but I don't mind tests as much as Gym.

Dad went over and saw THE SAVAGE IS LOOSE today. I was going to ask him to take me when he was talking about going Friday but he says it isn't very good anyway. We may go see MAN OF THE EAST, then, with "Nobody," "Trinity" or just plain Terence Hill.

PLANET OF THE APES has been canceled as of December 27th. Too bad. I kind of expected it, though.

The color on the TV went off again. I watched Shatner on POLICE STORY, though and during that hour they advertised THE GREEN HORNET. Should be great! Hoping to catch it tomorrow or on Thanksgiving day.

NOTES: My Dad rarely went to movies on his own but for some reason, this one intrigued him. THE SAVAGE IS LOOSE starred George C. Scott and his real-life younger wife, Trish Van Devere along with John David Carson, an acted handed many chances and yet who never quite caught on. Directed by Scott who was still on a career high after PATTON, the plot dealt with a family shipwrecked on an island and the sexual tensions fostered as the young son grows up. It was generally NOT well-received.

Monday, November 25th, 1974

I awoke looking forward to a great day and I got it. I got up very early and it felt great!

GREAT EXPECTATIONS was on TV last Friday but we watched it at school today.

I saw the very first BEVERLY HILLBILLIES episode and STAR TREK's "City on the Edge of Forever" by Harlan Ellison. My favorite episode! Magnificent!

Later I saw Rod Serling, Big Foot, The Abominable Snowman and the Loch Ness Monster in a  special while I worked some more on my Geometry notebook.

Dad's home all week this week.

It snowed a little and turned very, very cold.

NOTES: The version of GREAT EXPECTATIONS here was a greatly truncated TV movie version with a fine cast of British stalwarts including Michael York, Sarah Miles, James Mason, Robert Morley, Margaret Leighton and Anthony Quayle. I remember greatly enjoying it.

In the years prior to his death, Rod Serling, one of the greatest writers of his generation, settled into an easier and more profitable career narrating speculative documentaries. While it was great to hear his wonderful voice so often, in retrospect it was sad that he no longer shared his true genius with us.

I think "City On the Edge of Forever" became my favorite episode of STAR TREK from the very first time I saw it. At once one of that classic series most memorable and yet most atypical episodes, it also introduced me to Joan Collins.