Saturday, February 16th, 1974

I got several new books today but the best news was that I may finally get to see a movie on Monday.Not just any movie but maybe THE EXORCIST! It's kind of slim but...

Also, tomorrow, Evel Knievel jumps!

NOTES: Like many folks in the early seventies, I was seduced by the style of daredevil motorcycle stunt man Evel Knievel, whom I had first "met" when George Hamilton played him in a bio-pic a couple of years earlier. Although he was promoted as a real, old-fashioned hero and even ended up with his own Marvel comic book, in real life, Evel turned out to be quite a schmuck in the long run. Here, he was preparing a jump over some cars or buses or somesuch but later in the year he was planning to jump the Grand FREAKIN' Canyon!! Stay tuned.

Friday, February 15th, 1974

My horoscope said that I had nothing to worry about today and it was right! My exam didn't come today after all and now it looks like it won't be until Tuesday at the earliest.

Also, I negotiated a real good trade with Terry to be finalized on Monday.

NOTES: In the seventies, I was really into astrology. Every day I checked my horoscope in the newspaper and couldn't understand when the morning one sometimes conflicted with the evening one. I was pretty much disillusioned by it all in 1981 when celebrity psychic Joyce Jillson (also the star of the seventies exploitation flick, SUPERCHICK), told me by phone on a local radio talk show that May 21st would be my luckiest day of the year. Come May 21st, I awoke with great hopes...and ended up in the hospital for the first time in my life. With a kidney stone! I was 22 years old and got stuck staying overnight in pain in a ward with five moaning old men. It took nearly six months for the kidney stone to pass, during which time it flared up several times per week and necessitated canceling long-made plans, leaving movies in the middle and generally feeling miserable most of the time. 


It's been explained to me that A) she didn't say it would be GOOD luck or that perhaps B) the lucky part was that it could have been worse if I hadn't gotten to the hospital. Screw that. I know what she meant and she was wrong. Never paid much attention to astrology again.

Thursday, February 14th, 1974

Today was Valentine's Day and I find myself missing any sort of female companionship SO much! But it's over now and I don't have to worry about it anymore until next year.

My biggest worry is a physical exam the ninth graders must take soon. Maybe as early as tomorrow. We'll see.

NOTES: As a young child I used to love it when everyone bought valentines for everyone else in class at school. I saved them for many years! By this point, though, you only gave valentines to who you WANTED to give valentines to. I was, of course, too shy to give anyone a valentine...and of course no one gave me any. In the years since, I made efforts at celebrating the day again but they never worked. When I was managing bookstores in the eighties, I began buying flowers for all the female employees I worked with on Valentines Day. It was much appreciated at first but by the last year I did it, circa 2002, political correctness had ruined so much for everybody. My motives were questioned and the gesture was misinterpreted. I was asked never to do it again. Sigh....


Valentines Day 1974 was also the final birthday for the great comedian Jack Benny who would pass from pancreatic cancer at the end of the year after a brief illness.

Wednesday, February 13th, 1974

Well, that's all I needed. I did IT today in spite of my best intentions and I actually ended up better than I've felt in ages. Maybe that's it and I can finally put it behind me...for now at least.

I finally finished my rewrite today and later Terry told me some mighty interesting things about what's out in Cincinnati right now.

NOTES: A few days before this in 1974, the final astronauts of the Skylab mission returned to Earth and the space station remained empty until it crashed to Earth years later. There were later planned missions and some talk of reusing Skylab for the developing Space Shuttle but in the end, nothing came of it. 


I may not have mentioned it in my Journal but I had been a space buff ever since seeing John Glenn's flight coverage at an early age. I followed the Gemini and Apollo programs and was still enthralled during the Skylab era. Sad to see it end...even though we didn't yet know it WAS the end.


Oh, and I see there is now, in 2012, a music group using the title of my 1974 story, SITUATION SIX.

Tuesday, February 12th, 1974

Not bad. Worked some more on my story rewrite today and had a fair day at school. The weather was beautiful all day long.

NOTES: Well, alrighty then...I swear the year gets more interesting. While we're here, let's take a look at what was topping the music charts.


Barbara Streisand, whom I first discovered with her attempt at a rock single, STONEY END, in 1971, was now back in more familiar territory with what I still feel was the best song she ever recorded--the wistful ballad, THE WAY WE WERE. The movie theme had topped the charts the last week in January and then after a   week's displacement had returned to the number one position on the 10th. This time it would stay for two weeks.


The movie THE WAY WE WERE was, by contrast, extremely dull and forgettable. The song and the recording are gorgeous!

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. 

Monday, February 4th, 1974

Today I had a big disaapointment. I came across a magazine in English that had some beautiful pics of Linda Blair and some shots from THE EXORCIST but I totally failed in my after-school attempts to obtain a copy!

NOTES: When I say the magazine was in English, I meant it was in English CLASS, not English, the language. In fact, assuming this is the mag I think it is, it was actually an issue of the French-Language mag. PARIS MATCH. There was a store in Cincy that I knew sold foreign mags so I rushed there after school only to find the Linda B issue was not the current issue! Tomorrow, I simply asked my teacher if I could have the mag and it was given to me!

Sunday, February 3rd, 1974

Today I had a rather engrossing day as all I did between TV and phone calls was to become deeply involved in reading every chapter of Marvel's ever-popular TOMB OF DRACULA!

NOTES: TOMB OF DRACULA was a long-running comic book series that arose in early 1972 when the Comics Code was revised to allow the use of vampires again for the first time for more than 15 years.  Originally intended as just an attempt at cashing in on the popularity of monsters, it turned out to be a  surprisingly literate series written by the appropriately named Marv Wolfman with longtime artists Gene Colan and Tom Palmer. This, in fact, became the defining book in Gene's legacy. It ran until the end of the decade and an animated version was made in Japan (of all places) in the eighties.


I had seen my first Dracula movie when I was 7--Chris Lee in DRACULA, PRINCE OF DARKNESS. By the mid-seventies, I had read extensively about them and seen a lot of the movies on TV and a few in theaters. I even went on to write my own vampire stories some thirty years before that became such a popular thing to do. 

Saturday, February 2nd, 1974

I got TBG, some new magazines, old comics and and an old (1945) newspaper today. Watched TV and talked on the phone with Terry the rest of the day.

NOTES: I still have that newspaper, still wrapped in the same plastic it was wrapped in at The Ohio Bookstore on this date. It's a Detroit newspaper from 1945 reporting extensively on the funeral of President Roosevelt. Historically important and fascinating but there was also an extensive comics section including BATMAN and JOHNNY HAZARD. As you can see from the examples seen here, though, I uh...clipped out the strips. 

Friday, February 1st, 1974

Well, the first month's over.

I had a lot of tests today at school and as usual I passed them all.

I did a good deed today helping a man get his car started.

Unfortunately I did IT again, too, darn it! DEFINITELY the last time!

Terry got his new TBG so I'm probably going to get mine tomorrow.

Probably going to try the movie again, tomorrow, too.

NOTES: As I said, I did not see the movie. As I also said earlier, I just was in no position to accept the concept that masturbation was normal. Those of you who followed me through 1976 last year already know I don't make much progress over the next two years...nor was today "definitely" the last time. 


TBG was THE BUYER'S GUIDE TO COMIC FANDOM, a weekly newspaper for comics fans and, in those pre-Net days, the ONLY place for relatively up-to-date comics news. It was published by a man named Alan Light who, in retrospect, really wasn't much older than I was at the time. I subscribed regularly from issue 17 in 1972 until sometime in the 1990's and have picked up a number of issues of the now-magazine version, retitled CBG--THE COMICS BUYER'S GUIDE--since. 

Thursday, January 31st, 1974

Today was  a very confusing day. I went over to Cincinnati to see the PG-rated THUNDERFIST only to be sent away from the theater! We straightened it out but by that point I didn't want to see the picture...at least not today.

Comic book prices have gone up again!

Tonight I watched an absolutely fascinating documentary called IN SEARCH OF ANCIENT MYSTERIES.

NOTES: The latter film was a follow-up to Erich Von Daniken's IN SEARCH OF ANCIENT ASTRONAUTS, an exploitative pseudo-documetary based on his surprise bestselling book.  When that book and film proved popular, there were suddenly a dozen more in both genres, all pretty cheesy although some were narrated by Rod Serling. Eventually, a popular TV series narrated by Leonard Nimoy, IN SEARCH OF, assumed the same format. Today there are whole cable networks made up of that kind of thing!


I think this was comics went from 20 cents to a quarter. They had stayed 10 cents for most of three decades but only by gradually lessening the page count and adding more ads. By the early sixties, there was no more cutting to be done if any story was to be left. So twelve cents for about 8 years, then fifteen, then twenty-five, then back to twenty (long story) and from there up and up and up!


I don't know what the deal was with THUNDERFIST. The lady at the box office at Cincinnati's Grand Theatre refused to let me in without an accompanying adult. I attempted to explain to her (endlessly and loudly) that it wasn't rated R, only PG! She didn't care. Eventually a manager or somebody in charge showed up and said I could go in but by that point I really didn't think I could possibly enjoy it and didn't want them to have my dollar! I never have seen it.

Wednesday, January 30th, 1974

Today was a good day at school and everywhere else. Miss Williams was back, the weather was nicer, I read AMBLER in the GAZETTE and when I got home I destroyed the few pics I had kept yesterday so there's just no way I will be tempted now! If I haven't solved the problem now then I never can!

NOTES: Miss Williams was my home room teacher in the 9th Grade. She had been my music teacher in the 7th Grade under her married name but had since gotten a divorce. My friend from grade school, Artie, was in my class for the first time in a couple of years and we had become sort of her unofficial aides and sidekicks this school year. Since our homeroom was the Music Room, it was huge compared to all the other, normal sized and cluttered classrooms. WE even had a piano we could noodle around on before the bell! When I think of my Junior High School experiences, there were few positive highlights but having Miss Williams for homeroom that year was definitely one.


AMBLER was a short-lived newspaper comic strip by an artist named Doug Wildey. It had never been in out local newspapers so it was new to me in THE MENOMONEE FALLS GAZETTE. It was about a sensitive rock star trying to find himself in "today's" world. The art was the highlight. Wildey, credited with creating TV's JONNY QUEST, had a wonderful realistic style that clearly used lots of real-life photo-reference but better than most who did so. He would later be known for his painted western graphic novels.

***EXTRA*** Movies I Saw in 1974-Part Two

11--SNOWBALL EXPRESS--I love a movie with a good snow scene and this movie IS a good snow scene! Many dislike the live-action Disney comedies but I loved them. This one, like so many, features Dean Jones (who would call me on the phone once in the nineties), Kathleen Cody (whom I crushed on on DARK SHADOWS and have recently exchanged emails with online) and the underrated Michael McGreevey, now a Facebook friend!

12--THE WORLD'S GREATEST ATHLETE--This one wasn't as good. Jan-Michael Vincent as a jungle boy brought to the big city.The fun trivia here is that his true love is played by Dayle Haddon who went on to a career of softcore European sex films before settling into a lucrative position as a make-up spokesperson.

13--DR. NO--I convinced my Dad to go with me to THE EXORCIST but we got tired of waiting on the bus so we decided to walk half a block to a theater showing Sean Connery's first and (then) last Bond films.

14--DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER--This was the first Bond film I had ever seen and remains a favorite in spite of its vague nods to camp and Connery's bad wig. It was the 2nd feature that day.

15--THE GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD--Terry and I took the bus out to the Tri-County Mall. The ad in the paper said the new theater we were going to was "Near Tri-County Mall." Note--"NEAR" is a relative term. It would have been 5 minutes away if we had had a car but we were 15. For us it was a 90 minute hike on a hot, hot day! And then another one back later! The movie, with Harryhausen special effects and Caroline Munro, was great but still makes me sweat thinking about it.

16--SPYS--I saw stars Elliot Gould and Donald Sutherland on a rather anarchic episode of Phil Donahue's talk show and decided then and there to see this movie...which was nowhere near as fun as SUTherland and Gould on DONAHUE.

17--MY NAME IS NOBODY--My favorite spaghetti western, atypical as it may be! My dad and I saw it twice at the Skywalk. Terrence "Trinity" Hill in an iconic role with Henry Fonda in a surprisingly nuanced performance and a great ending.

18--THUNDERBOLT & LIGHTFOOT--As I've said, I was a big Eastwood fan by this point. But I hated this. Clint and Jeff Bridges as violent ant-heroes in Michael Cimino's excesses that just left me feeling yuck. Many love it, I know. I'm not one.

19--THE EXORCIST--Finally! By the time I saw the picture it was at that stage where it couldn't possibly live up to its hype. I liked it. I had already read the Making of book though so I knew what to expect and how it was all done. My main reason for seeing it was to see Linda Blair's award-winning performance...which was kind of messed up for me by the make-up and vomiting. My Mom ended up going with me!
  
20--HERBIE RIDES AGAIN--One of my least favorite Disney films and I had to take two buses to get to it! Stefanie Powers was in it so I felt I had to go but beyond that I was disappointed all around.

Tuesday, January 29th, 1974

I made it to school today after all and almost everything went fine.

IT again! I went ahead and destroyed everything associated with it except for a few photos I tore out and a couple of comics. And to think, I wasn't going to do it at ALL this year. Sheesh!

NOTES: Yeah, I was willing to destroy the comparatively expensive mags but the comics--most likely undergrounds in this case--were safe. I had been buying undergrounds since I was 13 as the guys at what passed for the local "head shop" in downtown Cincinnati had decided I seemed more mature than some of their older customers! I appreciated comix for their freedoms, their politics, their unique art styles, their original thoughts and, of course, their dirty pictures! I wasn't really into Robert Crumb's, though, which is odd as Crumb was a major influence on my own style of art when I drew cityscapes and such in art class.  I loved Corben, though (seen here), along with Bode, Rand Holmes, Jay Lynch, Skip Williamson (now a Facebook friend) and later Gilbert Shelton, Fred Schrier, Larry Welz and Dave Sheridan. 

Monday, January 28th, 1974

Doug was finally back in school today.

I felt much worse with my cold but went anyway. May not be able to make it tomorrow, though. Too sick to feel like writing much here, either.

NOTES: Nothing really to comment on here so lets take a look at the NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERS in Fiction for this week in 1974, just for a little perspective. Even though I was a big book reader by this point, I stuck mainly to classics, science fiction or mysteries. I never read any of these Bestsellers. In fact, in spite of two and a half decades selling books, I've only ever heard of seven of them and only two of those continued to sell for any length of time after I entered the field. 


1-BURR- by Gore Vidal--One of a number of historical epics penned by the controversial author of MYRA BRECKINRIDGE (a book I HAD read by that point!), this tells the fictionalized story of the much maligned Aaron Burr, former Vice President and alleged traitor to the US.


2-THE HONORARY CONSUL- by Graham Greene--Graham Greene published many novels of spies, political intrigue and espionage but this one about kidnapping in South America wasn't one of the most memorable. It was made into a big budget but equally unmemorable film a decade later with Michael Caine. 


3-COME NINEVAH, COME TYRE- by Allen Drury According to Wikipedia, this political novel by Pulitzer-winning right wing author Drury is a sequel to an unpublished alternative outcome of an earlier novel. Alrighty, then. 


4-THEOPHILUS NORTH- by Thornton Wilder--This was the last published work by Thornton Wilder, whose plays OUR TOWN and THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH we would read in English class in a year or so. Again made into a later film, MR. NORTH, of which I haven't the slightest memory.  


5-POSTERN OF FATE- by Agatha Christie--This is the final novel written by the great mystery writer, although not the last to be published. It features her detective characters Tommy and Tupppence, now aged an retired but still solving mysteries. Among Christie fans, it is rarely a favorite.


6-THE HOLLOW HILLS-by Mary Stewart--Actually written in 1970 but unpublished until '73, this is one of a series of books by the author giving depth to a fictional history of King Arthur. It was later to be taught in schools  (at least around here) and remained in demand as a fantasy genre title up through the 1990's.


7-BEAULAH LAND-by Lonnie Coleman--This was the first of a Civil War-related trilogy and was done up as a mini-series at the end of the decade but left the shelves after the author's death in 1982.


8-THE SALAMANDER-by Morris West--Even the Internet seems a little vague but this one is something about violent Italian political struggles by the author of SHOES OF THE FISHERMAN.


9-THE FIRST DEADLY SIN- by Lawrence Sanders Sanders books remain popular even today, continued by other hands after the author's passing. This one is a serious police drama that would later provide Frank Sinatra with his final starring film role.


10-NICKEL MOUNTAIN- by John Gardner--The author's GRENDEL was perennially stocked in my stores but this one was forgotten. It's a slice-of-life about a middle-aged man marrying his pregnant teenage employee. Once again, there was a movie version but no one seems to have seen it. 

Sunday, January 27th, 1974

Another Sunday. I worked on my scrapbook some, watched a couple of Frankenstein movies and IT happened yet again. I went ahead and destroyed one of the mags like I said I would.

I watched the Golden Globe Awards tonight and got one of the nicest surprises I've had so far this year when Linda Blair, the lovely young actress from Warner Brothers' EXORCIST film, cried and cried when she won the Best Supporting Actress award. Afterwards I watched a late special on exorcism so I didn't get to sleep until nearly 2 AM!

Also caught a cold.

NOTES: This was the first year I ever really paid any attention to the Golden Globe Awards. Since Linda won here and later lost at the Oscars, I actually preferred the GG's for the next few years.  

Saturday, , January 26th, 1974

It rained pretty hard all day today.

I got the big BATMAN book and some great issues of the GAZETTE.

Terry came over early and that pretty much took up my whole day, though. Oh, well.

NOTES: DC Comics had a popular series of extra-large comic books in the seventies. Some were facsimile reprints of entire classic Golden Age issues. Others were all-new, super-length specials. Overall, though, these were the seventies version of the classic Silver Age 80 Page Giants, reprinting vintage material. Seen here is the BATMAN volume that I purchased on this date in January of '74, complete with an absolutely striking Neal Adams cover.

Friday, January 25th, 1974

Today was a terrible school day! Thank goodness it's Friday.

Terry told me about a special EXORCIST review coming up Sunday evening.


NOTES: Okay, here we have the first mention of THE EXORCIST. As a horror movie buff, I naturally had some interest. But my main interest in it was...Linda Blair. Stay tuned. 

Thursday, January 24th, 1974

Things went well at school today.

I did IT again tonight but I'm not worried. I stocked the problem away. Can't get to it anymore. And if I do, it'll be really hard to stock away like this again so I hope I don't have to worry about it.

Good TV tonight.


NOTES: Whatever dirty mags I was hiding away, I seemed to be laboring under the false impression that they were what was causing the "problem." I was a 15 year old boy. I didn't need anything but hormones and imagination. I think I was trying to pass teh guilt I was feeling off on something else. 


On Thursday nights in January of '74, we were consistent in that the family watched THE WALTONS. KUNG-FU and THE STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO. All three series were above average for the seventies TV dramas.


Years later, KUNG-FU star David Carradine's death was allegedly due to an extreme form of IT. 

Wednesday, January 23rd, 1974

Today I began writing a STAR TREK story at school.

The new TBG came today. There were quite a few (small) pics of Bruce Lee in it. I cut them out and put them in my scrapbook.

NOTES: I had been a Bruce Lee fan since THE GREEN HORNET in 1967. My family would almost always do our weekly grocery shopping on the night the show aired so I'd be lucky if we got home in time to see it all! I followed him in his guest spots on BLONDIE and HERE COME THE BRIDES as well as his semi-regular appearances on LONGSTREET, essentially playing himself. When the earliest movies of the Kung-Fu craze began in 1973, I had no idea he had starred in any! Then I saw a magazine article about ENTER THE DRAGON and was actually able to see it at a sneak preview in July of '73... a week before Bruce's untimely death. 


As far as STAR TREK had only recently become a big fan as the reruns propelled the series at warp speed into the phenomenon it became. The story I started writing that day, MISSION TO MENTHOS, would turn out to be the longest fiction I had written to date. I still have it. With a few more adjectives and some better comma usage it wouldn't be all that bad!

Tuesday, January 22nd, 1974

Here I am, again--the Television Freak. Except for a slightly hectic day at school and a short but profitable (possessions-wise) trip across the river later, that's all I did was watch TV.

Oh, I also did write my pen-pal letter and paid my Post bill by mail.


NOTES: Not sure why I considered it "my" Post bill. THE POST was the local evening newspaper at the time which we had always gotten. Later, we started getting THE ENQUIRER, Cincinnati's morning newspaper, pretty much exclusively so I could collect the SPIDER-MAN newspaper strip. So I can see where I would have considered THE ENQUIRER as "my" paper but THE POST? Don't know.


THE CINCINNATI POST (and its special edition, THE KENTUCKY POST) went Internet only a few years back and THE ENQUIRER has shrunken so much that I almost cry to hold a copy anymore...which I rarely do.


One of my new favorite shows on TV at that time, airing on Tuesday evenings, was HAPPY DAYS. The now-classic sitcom of fifties life starring Ron Howard and Henry Winkler had premiered on January 15th as a mid-season replacement so this was only the second episode. I'm not even sure The Fonz was IN the second episode! HAPPY DAYS, would, of course, run 11 seasons and literally define the term, "jumping the shark."

***EXTRA***Movies I Saw in 1974--Part One

I saw a total of 59 movies in theaters in 1974, even though I didn't catch my first one until halfway through February. In 2012 dollars, that would be more than 700 smackers but in 1975, when movies were still a buck if you caught them at the right time--and only 2 or 3 when you didn't--it was probably less than 100 dollars! 


Here, in the first of six installments, is the full list of films I paid to see last year. Even in a perfect world where I had plenty of money, I doubt there were more than a dozen films I would have wanted to see in 2011. I actually saw only two last year...and someone else paid for one of those. 


1--MAGNUM FORCE--Feb 18th, Times Towne Cinema--I became a big Eastwood fan after my Dad and I saw a re-release of DIRTY HARRY the year before so we were both naturally excited to see the first sequel MAGNUM FORCE. We went on my Dad's 64th birthday! If anything, I think it's an even better film. 


2--BLACK BELT JONES--March 16th, RKO Albee--ENTER THE DRAGON had been my favorite film the year before and with Bruce Lee dead it was presumed co-star Jim Kelly would carry on his film hero legacy. Sadly, he couldn't act and  BLACK BELT JONES was no ENTER THE DRAGON. 


3--ZARDOZ--March 23rd, Madison--Sean Connery's infamous diaper-wearing, post-apocalyptic caveman aside, this was a pretty thoughtful sci-fi flick. Since it was rated R, I had to get my Mom to take me. She didn't get it.


4--THE STING--April 13th, the Skywalk--My favorite film of the year and still one of my all-time favorite movies! Newman and Redford, Scott Joplin music, a fun plot, a great ending and a great cast. It would go on to win the Oscar. I went to see it with my friend Arthur. It was the only pic I ever went to see with Arthur for some reason.


5--STORMY--April 19th, Madison--Wow. I have no memories of this at all nor can I find it listed on IMDB. It says it's about a horse. I'm wondering if it might be the sequel to MISTY OF CHINCOTEAQUE, a book I had enjoyed  a few year's earlier. There was a 1930's horse film called STORMY but that wasn't it. No clues, though. Anyone?


6--ALICE IN WONDERLAND--April 19th, Madison--This was the Disney film. It had been a favorite the first time I saw it as a kid so I was anxious to see it again. It remains a Disney favorite to thus day and probably my favorite version of one of my favorite stories.


7--McQ--April 21st, Ludlow--John Wayne was a favorite of my dad's so we saw a lot of his pictures on television when I was growing up  and he became a favorite of mine. also. Wayne had reportedly turned down the role of DIRTY HARRY but then surprisingly took this lower-budget cop actioner that looks like a bit of a rip-off of the Eastwood film character.


8--THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE--April 27th, RKO International '70--This was a re-release when I caught it here for the first time. As disaster films go, it's one of the best...period. The top-notch cast set the standard for these all-star disaster pictures. 


9--CHOSEN SURVIVORS--May 26th, Times Towne Cinema--This played more like a TV movie, complete with TV movie cast and a plot about a post-nuclear survival facility plagued by an unplanned for infestation of bats. It was okay...or would have been if it had been a TV movie. On the big screen, it didn't work so much for me.





10--SERPICO--May 26th, RKO International '70--I had no intention of seeing this one--seemed too "adult" for my interest. But Al Pacino's charisma came through in the TV commercials and I decided to take a chance. I was surprised how much i enjoyed it!

Monday, January 21st, 1974

Another schoolday. Mr. Arnzen is still in the hospital.

Today I was inspired to work on my D.M. story. I was inspired so much, in fact, that I took the pages to school with me even though I ended up NOT having any time to do anything with them!

NOTES: Remember how I said I had always wanted to be  a writer? Well, I may have still been getting the hang of non-fiction with this journal but I had been writing detective stories for a year or two already! D. M. was a detective character I created. The thing that made him unique was that he was a man who awoke one morning in a strange town where no one knew him and he had no memory of who he was. His pockets had been stripped of all info except for a small, folded piece of paper on which was written the initials, "D" and "M." 


In case those of you reading this are too young to remember it, this was in essence the backstory of a short-lived 1967 TV series entitled CORONET BLUE. I recall watching that series but I don't remember if I consciously or unconsciously lifted the idea for my own stories. I wrote--or at least plotted and/or started quite a few of them, though. I found the following list this evening:


DM--SEARCH FOR IDENTITY


1--The Beginning--Jewel Robbery


2--The Mark of Capricorn


3--Arrows of Death


4--The Spawn of Hitler


5--Mystery of the Supermen


6--The Horrible Dr. Dare


7--A Turn For the Worse


8--On the Trail of Dr. Dare


9--The Egyptian Connection


10--Angie Dawn


11--The Doll House


12--A Death in the Family


13--The Millionaire


14--Rock and Roll Revenge


15--The Death Corporation


16--The Executioner


17--Killer On the Loose


18--Stranger in My Mind


19--The Suicide Conspiracy


20--The Genocide Formula


21--Z For Zoo


22--Sabotage


23--Return to Lifetime


24--Professional Death


25--Last Dance Together


26--A Trace of Identity


Looks like a full season of TV episodes, doesn't it? Reading my notes, though, 9 were left completely unwritten, 5 unfinished and 6 in need of revision. I wrote about DM from about 1971 or '72 until 1975. During that time, i also spun off a couple of his supporting characters into their own stories--Angie Dawn and Rick Trace--as well as teamed DM up with my pulpish, two-gunned masked avenger, Nightmare. 


I still have most if not all of the DM episodes that I actually finished...and they aren't one bit as interesting as all of the above might make them seem! I had a LOT to learn about writing.

Sunday, January 20th, 1974

Well, this month's almost over already. Today I was going to write some letters but i didn't get a chance to. Terry came over and we went down to Pasquale's for a pizza. Then we made a neat radio tape.

Tonight I saw Clint Eastwood in FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE.

I did IT again. I've read that it's actually physically harmless but that it can cause emotional harm or even addiction!

NOTES: Okay, now this is odd. My favorite pizza of all time is LaRosa's from here in Cincinnati but when I was growing up, we always got Pasquale's. In fact, the very first prize I ever won was a $5.00 gift certificate from Pasquale's Pizza. They were thin and greasy but tasty. The odd part is that the closet one I remember was at 18th and Madison (a stone's throw from where I'm sitting right now but sadly long gone these several decades). The way this sounds, it was somewhere close enough to walk easily from my house. Hmmm.... I'll have to check with Terry. 


Every town seems to have a Pasquale's by the way, none of them related to the other. The image above is at least the same little guy from "MY" Pasquale's.


Ahhh...the radio tapes! I was always fascinated with my cassette recorder. Sometimes when he would come over, I'd put in a 90 minute cassette and we'd basically adlib a radio DJ program complete with a drunken disk jockey (his idea), a straight-laced newsman (me), commercials, bits of records from my collection, sound effects, weather, traffic, guests, etc. We must have done dozens of them but for some reason I only kept one...which I still have. There's no exact date so I don't know but it might be the one we recorded on this date!

Saturday, January 19th, 1974

Well I got about six Gazettes. I may order the others at some point. I'm going to have to order something, soon. I really like to get books in the mail!

I spent all afternoon reading and then all evening watching television. I watched Stefanie and Bobby on the ABC Suspense Movie and it was marvelous.

NOTES: I went through a period of hating to get mail in recent years as so much of it consisted of bills and late notices but I have to admit I still get a thrill when I get a book--mostly review copies these days--brought right to my door.


The movie that aired that night really wasn't that memorable in the long run but it was called SKYWAY TO DEATH. Basically a TV disaster movie, it was highly touted by ABC and then just faded away. "Stefanie" was Stefanie Powers, the first celebrity I ever got an autograph from and "Bobby" was Bobby Sherman, the Justin Bieber of 1970, here in the last moments of his 15 minutes of fame. I had all his records and always enjoyed seeing him on television but after his recording and acting careers dried up for some reason (after about ten years since he started on SHINDIG and guest-starred on shows like HONEY WEST), he became an EMT and a trivia question.  

Friday, January 18th, 1974

Mr. Arnzen is in the hospital.

Terry says that a couple of the Gazettes are gone already so maybe I can afford what's left tomorrow.

The week's over already, only to be followed by an all-too short weekend and then we start all over again.

NOTES: Mr. Arnzen would turn out to have some major health problems. Not sure if I go into it here in the Journal but let's just say that he sadly doesn't make it out of the school year alive.


I guess during this period where I disliked school, weekends took on an extra meaning to me. Earlier, I loved the weekdays just as much and later on, as an adult, I actually worked nearly every Saturday and many Sundays for about a decade. These days, they're still nothing special but, for a time in the seventies, I loved my Saturdays!

Thursday, January 17th, 1974

Two days into the second semester and already the Health teacher is absent! Not that I really cared. Gave me a chance to finish my Algebra and also my book report.

My biggest problem right now seems to be that there are 11 issues of THE GAZETTE at Kidd's that at the moment I can't afford. I sure hope something turns up soon in that area before I miss them.

Doug called again tonight. Since he was released from the hospital last Friday, he's called almost every night. Just like old times. I'm glad he's all right.

NOTES: This was Algebra 1 I had this year and I loved it. I had never been big n Math but I really liked Algebra. Later, in high school, Algebra 2 would not be as simple to me.  Luckily, my son is a math expert all around. He took online calculus classes last summer...for fun.


I dearly loved THE MENOMONEE FALLS GAZETTE  (a whole newspaper of nothing but comic strips!) but the issues were nightmarish to store after they started building up. In the latter days of my 1976 Journal, it was these issues that I was cutting comic strips from! 

Wednesday, January 16th, 1974

Today I found out Health class is not gonna be as easy as I thought because they teach you--very frankly--about sex! And that's the one subject I really don't want to get any more interested in!

Terry came over about 5 and showed me some more Golden Age comics he bought over the river. Then we almost got into a fight but everything turned out okay, I guess.

All in all, today wasn't a very good day except for the weather which, for a change, was quite good.

NOTES: The main reason, of course, that I was against sex was that I wasn't having any. I was absolutely fascinated by it on the one hand (no pun intended) and yet so afraid it would never apply to me. Not sure why a sex ed class made me nervous at this point as we had sort of had one two years earlier. It was called "Safety"class and we had it twice a week, alternating with PE on the other days. The gym teacher taught it, it was all guys and it was, frank language and all, a sex education class. In fact, it's where I actually learned the meaning of the dreaded "F" word. I was, by that point, familiar with the act but had never made the connection with the term!

****EXTRA****January, 1974 Number One Songs

The following songs topped the BILLBOARD charts during the first month of 1974:


TIME IN A BOTTLE-Jim Croce


A beautiful ballad from Jim Croce, the artist originally known more for his novelty numbers such as BAD, BAD LEROY BROWN and YOU DON'T MESS AROUND WITH JIM. Sadly, this was one of several posthumous singles, released only months after the singer's late Summer, '73 death in a  plane crash.

THE JOKER-The Steve Miller Band


The Steve Miller band had been around for a number of years by this point but I had never heard of them. Thus the fact that this is a pretentious, self-referential number had no impact on me at all. Just seemed egotistical from someone who, to me, was a nobody. That said, as Mr. Miller and his band developed an impressive array of hits throughout the remainder of the seventies, I did eventually become a fan...but still not of this song.

SHOW AND TELL-Al Wilson


Wilson had had a minor hit with THE SNAKE in 1968, a song I heard often on the radio in those days but didn't like. This song, SHOW AND TELL, had originally been recorded by Johnny Mathis but it was Al's version that became a hit and still is heard today from time to time. He never duplicated its success. Al Wilson died in 2008.

YOU'RE SIXTEEN-Ringo Starr

A single off Mr. Starkey's sorta-kinda Beatles reunion album, RINGO, this catchy number had been a hit back in 1960 for Johnny Burnette. Written by Disney's favorite songwriters, the Sherman Brothers, the recording featured vocals by Ringo and Harry Nilsson (with McCartney on kazoo!). Here in 2012, it remains a staple of Ringo's concerts but comes across as more than a little weird to have a seventy one year old singing about his underage sweetheart!

Tuesday, January 15th, 1974

I answered my pen-pal letter this evening.

Earlier in the day, I started Health class at school, the first day of the second semester.

Today seemed like early Spring to me and that got me thinking about Debbie, again.

I read THE SANDY DUNCAN STORY today for my English book report.

NOTES: My pen-pal was relatively recent at this point, a Japanese girl my age named Yoshiko. We would correspond for about 5 years.


Sandy Duncan is sadly pretty much a trivia question, today, but she was a fun actress/comedienne in the early seventies whose rising star was shot down by surgery that left her blind in one eye and caused her hit sitcom, FUNNY FACE,  to be put on hold. When it returned, it was completely revamped but never quite as popular. She stayed in the public eye for the remainder of the decade, her most notable role being as PETER PAN onstage. The book I read was found on the shelf in English class and was by  Rochelle Reed. Seen above, should you be interested, copies can be had for a penny via Amazon. 

Monday, January 14th, 1974

Well, I did get back to the Ohio Book Store today and I picked up two more great ones! WHIZ and ALL-AMERICAN! 1948 and 1949.

Also did IT twice, though, but I'm getting over it. If it happens again I think I'll have to get rid of my mag collection.

NOTES: Readers of my 1976 Journal will recall that I never had trouble buying dirty mags. The other kids at school made fun of the fact that I was prematurely greying but I always credited that with why I was never carded at all. Not once. Ever. Ha. Ha. Ha!


Seen above are the two comics I bought this time. I love the Golden Age CAPTAIN MARVEL, arguably the closest thing to a perfect comic book series. And ALL-AMERICAN starred GREEN LANTERN, my favorite of the 1940's DC characters (as seen in the JSA revivals I had loved since '66). The issue I bought here, though, # 100, was a sign of the times in that it cover-featured the debut of cowboy JOHNNY THUNDER who would quickly take over the title as GL disappeared for about 15 years. 

Sunday, January 13th, 1974

Another boring Sunday.

I finally started reading my birthday present, THE MAKING OF STAR TREK and that's about all I ended up doing once I got into it!

NOTES: In the sixties, I only got to watch STAR TREK occasionally as, for much of its original run, it was opposite GOMER PYLE, USMC, one of my parents' favorite comedies. Sometimes I'd catch the last half of an episode. 


In the early seventies, however, the series became much more popular in syndicated reruns then it had been on the network and I managed to catch all of the episodes eventually.  As stated above, my birthday present that year (presumably from my parents) was THE MAKING OF STAR TREK, a paperback edition of the 1968 book by Gene Roddenberry and Stephen Whitfield...or at least that's what I thought at the time. It came out in time that author Stephen POE had written the book with NO contributions form Roddenberry, although Roddenberry's name went on it to give it some credibility and Gene collected all the royalties from the book.  For quite some time it was the ONLY book on STAR TREK but, I believe, by this point I had already read David Gerrold's THE WORLD OF STAR TEK.

Saturday, January 12th, 1974

Today Terry and I came across a great collection of Golden Age comic books and although I could only afford a couple, they were really good ones! I may be able to make it back Monday and get a couple more before they sell out!

NOTES: I had been collecting comic books for eight years by this point but I had never actually owned a Golden Age comic book from the 1940's. The earliest comics I had to that point were late fifties monster comics from Atlas, picked up as nickel back issues in sordid little junk shops that came and went over the years. 


Today, Terry and I made one of our regular stops at Cincinnati's Ohio Book Store and they had just received a shipment of 1940's comic books. They had only recently started dealing with anything related to comics and weren't quite sure what to do with these comics. Most of them they priced between $5.00 and $15.00 in spite of condition. That was a small fortune to my mind at that time! But I had ten bucks that day so I bought two comic books. 


I wanted to get at least one comic featuring characters I had heard about but really didn't know and I wanted to get one featuring favorite characters in ways I had never seen them. So I got the two comics you see above--FIGHTING YANK, which I had only ever read about, and SENSATION COMICS featuring Wonder Woman.


The Ohio Book Store would soon begin actually calling Terry and I whenever they got new shipments of Golden Age comics in! I've learned recently that they did the same for several other collectors.

Friday, January 11th, 1974

Well, today was a nice day.The weather turned better and I made it to school. On time even.

Terry called off our deal as I expected he would.

Tomorrow I return to Cincy. Picked up some new comics tonight at Scroggins.

NOTES: Around 1969, I discovered Scroggin's Confectionary, a crowded little store about 5 blocks from the main downtown area of Covington. They had more comic books than any of the other drugstores and dimestores and supermarkets where I'd been buying them up to that point. It was run by a woman who, I'm told, had a reputation  for grouchiness and supposedly didn't like kids. She always seemed to like me, though, and at times even gave me free comic books if I didn't have enough money!


Eventually Scroggins became the regular part of my route until I started to go into Cincinnati more often. For several years it was made even better because it was directly across the street from a junk shop that tended to get the absolute best selection of older, used comics in town...for a nickel!

Thursday, January 10th, 1974

Because of the weather again, I went to school a couple hours late today but I really didn't mind much. That meant I missed gym class.

Terry and I today began a race to see who can write down the most comic book titles by Midnight Sunday! The prize is something I have just got to win!

NOTES: I was never good at gym class. It wasn't even so much that I wasn't the athletic type. It was more the motion-sickness issue. For my entire life, I would get extremely nauseated and dizzy just from looking from side to side too fast, let alone actually moving. I couldn't ride in a bus or car without some issues and amusement park rides were out of the question. Period. 


In grade school, gym class was mostly boys and girls running around or playing silly games with only the occasional actual exercises or tumbling. Organized indoor recess.  I wasn't thrilled but I had learned to compensate. Starting with seventh grade, it was now P.E.---Physical Education. Boys only, you had to wear jock straps (which I could never figure out exactly), there were real, required exercises and play to win games of dodgeball and basketball and you had to shower naked with other boys. WHAT THE FUCK!? No one had warned super-shy me about this! 


Not only that, for all three years at that school, my PE teacher was a man who had not the slightest interest in understanding how I felt about this or about my motion sickness problem and if I got injured in a dodgeball game, he seemed to think I deserved it. I got the worst grades I had ever had in his "class." Needless to say, PE was one major reason why I no longer enjoyed school as much as I had all through the elementary years.


Any excuse to miss it and I was happy. 

Wednesday, January 9th, 1974

My birthday. About the only good thing about today. Well...in many ways it was better than most days lately but in others, worse. But then, I guess all days are like this.

NOTES: Never been big on birthdays. Never had parties either. Well...that's not true. I had one when I was very little and my mother went all out for some reason when I turned 11 an we had a bunch of kids at our apartment all at the same time including Terry, Doug, Debbie and at least a half dozen more including a kid I didn't know well who was brought along by another friend. His name was Mike. 


It was a memorable party but not for any good reasons. I threw an uncharacteristic late tantrum and locked myself in the bathroom. I guess it was just all of the conflicting personalities there in the same room. And then, a few weeks afterwards, Mike, with whom I had stayed friendly since the party, had a brain aneurism and dropped dead in the stairwell at school. He was the first person close to my own age I knew to have died. The whole school attended his visitation. 


I always try to at least treat myself to something on my birthday. This year, we've saved enough money from the bills to order a pizza! At the price they are these days, that's more of a treat than it might sound!

Tuesday, January 8th, 1974

Well, tomorrow's my birthday and I'll be 15 years old! Maybe for my birthday, I'll finally get to see BOLT this next weekend along with BLACK BELT JONES! " Black Bolt Jones." Ha, ha, ha, ha!

NOTES: In the actual journal, you can see where I had started to write the second movie title first and then accidentally mixed up the two and wrote BLACK BOLT and crossed it out. Thus the joke above, " Black Bolt" being the leader of The Inhumans in Marvel comics.


15. Wow. And now, tomorrow in 2012,  53. So much hope then and so much wasted potential over the years. Ah, well...