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!)

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. 

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. 

***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!

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. 

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. 

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. 

Monday, February 25th, 1974

The snow is still all over the ground. I read a lot of my GAZETTES today.

NOTES: Oddly enough, in 2012, we have had no snow at all. Today, we had a couple of instances of hail, though!


I really loved THE MENOMONEE FALLS GAZETTE. Yesterday, in 2012, I was speaking with its editor on Facebook! What a world.

Sunday, February 24th, 1974

I finally wrote my pen-pal letter and finished a composition for English.

I watched Steffie and Rocky in movies on TV today.

Mom cut my hair this afternoon and tonight we had the biggest snow we've had all year.

NOTES: "Steffie" and "Rocky" were my pet names for actresses Stefanie Powers and Raquel Welch.


My mom cutting my hair is not something that happened all the time. In fact, I had been raised going to one barber, a Clifton Webb type, and when he died suddenly, I felt lost. I tried going to my Dad's barber, an Ed Wynn type. He nicked my ear. During this period, we were trying other things. Mom had bought this kit that supposedly made it easy to cut other people's hair. It wasn't. She hated it and I hated the results. 

Saturday, February 23rd, 1974

I got some more issues of THE GAZETTE as well as a few other things. THE COMIC BOOK BOOK is finally out, also! I need to start saving up $9.95 to get that on!

NOTES: THE COMIC BOOK BOOK was the long-awaited sequel to the already classic personalized history of comics entitled ALL IN COLOR FOR A DIME. That book was a collection of essays by many different writers from an early sixties sci-fi fanzine. This one featured more of the same but purposely written for this volume. 


Edited by Dick Lupoff and Don Thompson, as had been the original volume, this one includes pieces by them as well as Don Glut, Mike Barrier, Maggie Thompson and Ron Goulart. In the years since, I met Don, had a story I myself wrote appear in a book alongside one by Dick, I'm Facebook friends with Maggie (and her daughter, Valerie) as well as Mr. Goulart and have exchanged email correspondence with Messrs. Glut and Barrier. I love teh Interwebs.

Friday, February 22nd, 1974

I did IT again.

I had my health exam in school today and it turned out there was nothing to it really.

Stayed up late tonight to watch THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES but almost fell asleep.

NOTES: THE ABOMNABLE DR. PHIBES was a slightly campy 1971 horror film that proved a surprise hit for Vincent Price in one of his few times in heavy make-up. Initially publicized as Price's 100th movie appearance (it was not) and marketed oddly as a children's film (Vincent appeared on an episode of a kids' program selling it--WONDERAMA maybe?), it was a violent tale of multiple acts of revenge. It even led to a sequel and a long talked about but never made third film!


After a decade in Poe adaptations, this movie had revived Vincent's career as a box-office success and led to the similar, but even darker, THEATRE OF BLOOD, where one of Price's co-stars was Coral Browne, who would become his last wife.

Thursday, February 21st, 1974

Today was a fine day at school. I even beat someone in floor drill runs in Gym.

But then I came home and found when Dad came in that now his entire--just refurnished!--car has been stolen! AS I said before when it was broken into, it really isn't any worry of mine and yet I'm concerned. I hate to see Dad this way. I wish something would happen in the case.

Probably have my health exam tomoroow. I hope so so I can get it over with.

Saw Roddy on TV tonight.

NOTES: Ugh! I guess that's why, to this day, even though we have a driveway for our car I still look out the front door regularly just to make sure it's still there! I hate that feeling of violation when someone gets away with something that's yours--especially something that big and expensive! But...you survive. 


Roddy was, of course, Roddy McDowall, a favorite then and a favorite now. Made a point of catching him on something just yesterday in 2012 in fact. In 1974, he seemed to be on everything, often still playing early twentysomething characters in spite of the fact that he was, by then, early fortysomething.

Wednesday, February 20th, 1974

School was a disaster today but in the end I guess nothing happened that won't be forgotten by tomorrow.

I read where Bobby Sherman has a new baby--another son.

I got TBG, another pen-pal letter and I stayed up way late tonight to watch THE HORROR FILM HALL OF FAME. I may have lost some sleep but it was worth it!

NOTES: I was a very loyal fan. I was still following Bobby Sherman's career even though it was quickly dwindling at this point. 


Produced by Chuck Braverman, the late night TV special HORROR HALL OF FAME was hosted by Vincent Price and featured guests such as John Carradine, FAMOUS MONSTERS editor Forrest J. Ackerman and, oddly, both actors who played the Riddler on TV's BATMAN, Frank Gorshin and John Astin.

***EXTRA***Movies I Saw In 1974, Part 3

Part three of my list of movies seen in theaters in 1974. Here are the next ten. 


21-99 & 44/100% DEAD-July 21st, Newport
Richard Harris and his female co-star Ann Turkel were all over the talk shows promoting this stylish and somewhat campy crime thriller about a hit man in a gang war. The two actually married in real-life. I remember enjoying it at the time but at this point, all I recall is Harris's stupid hairstyle.


22-M*A*S*H-July 21st, Newport
This was actually double-featured with the above. I'd seen it before and it has long been a favorite film. By this point, the TV series version was popular so it kept getting re-released.


23-BUTCH CASSIDY & THE SUNDANCE KID-July 23rd, Newport
This was another re-release of a favorite film that I caught just a couple days after the above double-feature. The classic western comedy drama teaming Newman and Redford, re-release in the wake of THE STING.


24-DIRTY MARY, CRAZY LARRY-July 24th, Newport
A great car chase exploitation flick with Peter Fonda, Susan George and Vic Morrow. Again at Newport. They were having the best stuff for a while that summer.


25-THE THREE MUSKETEERS-July 31st, Newport
Richard Lester's now-classic version of Dumas' famous story and one of my favorite seventies movies.


26-BORN LOSERS-August 8th, Newport
Terry and I were big into BILLY JACK since that film's successful re-release so I was anxious to catch this low-budget biker film that introduced the character as played by Tom Laughlin. Jane Russell--of all people--co-starred! Love or hate the main BJ trilogy, this one is a whole different animal.


27-BLAZING SADDLES-August 17th, Madison
In my Top Five list of the funniest comedies ever made to this day, this politically incorrect comic western leaves nary a moment to catch one's breath.


28-HOMEBODIES-August 18th, Skywalk
This was the world premiere engagement of a low-budget horror film about homicidal senior citizens. It starred Ruth McDevitt and Paula Trueman and had been shot partly in the Cincinnati area. It was just okay.


29-ANIMAL CRACKERS-August 20th, Skywalk
This was the highly touted big-screen re-release of the 1930 Marx Brothers comedy. Being a lifelong Groucho fan who hadn't even realized he had brothers until not long before this, I was first in line to catch it's sold out presentation!


30--RETURN OF THE DRAGON-August 24th, RKO Albee
    
Bruce Lee had been dead over a year before this film--one he had never intended to be released in the US--finally came out. Apparently finished just before ENTER THE DRAGON, this was called WAY OF THE DRAGON in most of the world. It is not in any way related to Lee's huge Warner Brothers hit but was now being billed as a sequel. It isn't very good overall but its memorable set-piece is Bruce Lee's one on one fight with Chuck Norris in the Roman Colosseum. It being Bruce's movie, he wins. 

Tuesday, February 19th, 1974

Dreary weather today. Makes me miss my memories and hope more and more that something big happens soon.

I've got to write my pen-pal letter soon and I really want to stay up late tomorrow night.

The first day back at school was okay but I'm happy to report that another school year will soon be over.

NOTES: I hit the early stages of puberty by 1969 but I hadn't had a problem with acne. I watched other classmates break out, some horribly so, but not me. And then all of sudden around this time--probably a year or so earlier--my turn came. It got pretty bad and it was definitely a factor in my decreased self-esteem. I tried creams and lotions and showering constantly and soaps and eventually even doctor-supervised meds and radiation treatments (glorified tanning beds). Finally, in my early twenties...it just faded away...mostly. 

Monday, February 18th, 1974

IT again. Me and dad went to Aunt Rosie's for the 3rd year in a row on this Presidents day. This afternoon, we really were ready to finally see THE EXORCIST only to find out the bus wasn't running because of the holiday. So we went to see MAGNUM FORCE downtown instead. Back to the old grind tomorrow.

NOTES: Not sure why I didn't mention it here but I'm assuming it's the reason we went to Aunt Rosies--Today was my dad's birthday. Rosie's birthday was Feb. 22nd and my Dad's was Feb. 18th so we often kind of celebrated together. 


Apparently my mother had to work, holiday or no holiday. She worked in a factory and they might not have recognized the still-new holiday of Presidents Day. 


If my dad were still alive in 2012, he would be 102 years old today, the same age as my wife's late GRANDFather, born on the exact same date in the same year. 


The picture shows my Dad and myself 7 years beyond 1974, once again at Aunt Rosie's house. 

Sunday, February 17th, 1974

Evel made a good jump!

My deal came through with Terry so I sent most of the rest of the day reading.

The chances of my seeing THE EXORCIST tomorrow are now very slim but I'll still probably see some movie tomorrow. There's a chance Linda B might be on THE MIKE DOUGLAS SHOW tomorrow, also!

NOTES: Mike Douglas, like Merv Griffin, was an ex-big band singer turned talk show host. Unlike Griffin and Carson and most other talk shows, however, Mike prided himself on welcoming the new as well as the tried and true. He wasn't himself "hip" per se...but it was like he knew it when he saw it. I enjoyed THE MIKE DOUGLAS SHOW immensely during the seventies. In more recent years, Rosie O'Donnell has called Mike's show the biggest influence on her own talk show.


The image of Mike seen here, by Richard Amsel, was one of my all-time favorite TV GUIDE covers.

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."