Wednesday, November 6th, 1974

Mr. K was absent today. In club period, my class had to go to Study Hall. No teacher at all.

My horoscope said something about not hiding romantic feelings today. Coming home, I missed my bus. Doug's sister sat with me on the second one. I overheard Vernon say something that made me think that's all it meant.

I picked up a lot of stuff for my collage but forgot the poster paper.

Tonight I saw Marvin Hamlisch on a Danny Thomas TV special but had to miss Steffie on PETROCELLI.

NOTES: PETROCELLI was a two season TV series starring Barry Newman, star of such minor cult hits as VANISHING POINT and FEAR IS THE KEY, as a married lawyer. The great character actor Albert Salmi, himself tragically involved in a murder-suicide a few years later, co-starred.

Tuesday, November 5th, 1974

Election Day.

We have to make a poster collage in English and we played dodgeball in Gym. We played Spanish Monopoly and Spanish Scrabble in that class. Well, I ended up sitting them out, naturally. I didn't like 'em anyway. I spent my time trying to teach myself French by reading that Linda Blair article. I hope he goes ahead and gives it to me soon. It's got marvelous pix!

We got our report cards and mine was better than expected. Four A's and 2 B's. Hope I can do that again.

Terry said he saw 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY again and claims to have understood it this time. I doubt it.

I saw only GREEN ACRES, STAR TREK, LUCY and a bit of MERV GRIFFIN. That's all that was on tonight other than the election!

NOTES: My parents didn't vote. I don't know why. As far as I know, they never had! When I turned 18 and was able to register, I jumped at it...and talked them into it, also. I'm proud to say I've never missed voting in an election since! In fact, I've often said I had more respect for someone who votes exactly opposite of the way I vote than for someone who chooses not to vote at all! And yes, I've heard all the arguments. I don't believe a one of them. People fought and died to get us the right to vote and to protect that vote. I figure the very least I can do is VOTE!

Last week in 2012 my son got HIS report card--4 A+'s and 2 A's. I am SO proud!

Terry and I both hated 2001 when we saw it the day it opened back in '68. Probably because we were 9 years old. Still, I made the effort to understand it by reading not just the book but also the behind the scenes book they came out with! Still didn't grok. About every ten years I give it another try. I continue to find it--like most (let me emphasize NOT all!) Kubrick films--to be slow, dull, disjointed and ultimately pointless. What we had really wanted that day in '68 was STAR WARS. We had another decade almost to wait for that!

As far as the games thing, I don't do games well. Never had. I used to love to sit at the kitchen table and play board games with my parents but rarely have had the interest or patience to play with others my own age...even now. I don't do "fun" well at all. :(

Monday, November 4th, 1974

Terry's birthday!

No school for me today.

Two ITs early this morning. I've come to the conclusion that a woman looks better clothed than nude. I don't mind nudity. In fact, I consider the basic human body an art masterpiece! The way it looks! The way it works! It just does something to me! I think that in nice clothes it does something even more, though!

I'm really into "beauty" lately. Thoughts of walking with a nice girl through lovely snow-covered fields with a happy dog. Oh the very thought of it intoxicates me! Just wish that I could write a scene that good. Or better yet, LIVE it! Ecstasy!

Got TBG in the mail and saw one of my new faces, Chris Connelly, on TATTLETALES.

It rained real hard all day.

Today I got the bright idea of writing Linda Blair's biography. Maybe I should follow through on that.

After a long search, I discovered my TALON poster is missing! After a long search, though, I found it!

RHODA was funny tonight. I saw Harry Blackstone, Jr on MERV. Mind-boggling!

NOTES: It was (and is) Terry's birthday. I'll have to call him later today in 2012 and wish him a happy birthday! Today is also my wife's birthday. In 1974, she was turning 13. 

The nudity thing sounds like more rationalizing out of guilt but I don't know. Even now, I think I agree that a well-dressed woman is sexier looking than a naked one. When I did my only nude photography session a couple of years back, as the photographer, I enjoyed it immensely on several levels...but I've taken better pictures of my lovely model before and since and she's been fully clothed. 

Chris Connelly starred on the TV version of PAPER MOON with Jodie Foster. It didn't last long and he mostly did low-budget action films it seems after that before dying at a youngish age. In one of his very last films, he was the villain in the only official sequel to Franco Nero's classic spaghetti western, DJANGO.

A couple of years ago, I again toyed with the idea of contacting Linda Blair about collaborating on an autobiography. I had a great title this time: MY LIFE: IT WOULD MAKE YOUR HEAD SPIN.

And once again, in an odd 2012 parallel, someone in a FB group I'm in posted the Talon poster by Jim Steranko I mention here last week in 2012, followed by a great discussion of same.

Sunday, November 3rd, 1974

Got up early, watched some TV and read. Then we went to see CHARIOTS OF THE GODS?  It wasn't as good as it could have been, partly because of the lack of Rod Serling's narration. I had hoped it would have it. An article about Von Daniken in the paper this morning said that they found genetic formulas on cave walls of the mutations that the aliens used to make the cave men what they were. If that's true, that wold really be something!

I got a paper poster ad for the new BILLY JACK movie at the theater and I began my second DEADMAN folder.

Tonight I saw part of THE GENERAL on Channel 48, an old Buster Keaton film!

NOTES: As I mentioned before, I was really into all the ancient astronaut stuff that was prevalent at the time. While I think some of it was stretching the premise, there are parts that still make sense to me today!

This was probably the first time I saw even a portion of THE GENERAL. I knew Keaton from the BEACH PARTY movies and TV appearances he did late in life but was just beginning to discover his classic silent movies. Eventually, Buster Keaton would become one of my all-time favorite film stars and easily my favorite silent comic. 

Saturday, November 2nd, 1974

I got up early to a storm. After it finally subsided, Terry called. We didn't discuss the jail thing at all but I heard his Mom in the background. I didn't bring it up.

We managed to sit through EIGHT full hours of APES movies!! I purposely didn't eat all morning before we left so my stomach didn't even hurt! Afterwards, I was starved so I went to McDonalds but I had to wait 20 minutes to be served! Anyway, the lady did refill my Coke, free. By the time I got home, the day was gone except for a few good TV shows.

NOTES: I remember loving this marathon but squirming after a while and starving before it was over. In 2012, I spoke with Terry yesterday about it and he still remembers it, too. 

Friday, November 1st, 1974

Another Halloween's come and gone with hardly any notice. We has a pep rally again. In the gym this time. It wasn't half as good as the other one we had outside. Some coach was there and made a big speech about school spirit but I never had any anyway. While everyone else was jumping and hollering with the cheerleaders and stuff, I just sat there feeling pretty foolish. I would have felt even more foolish if I had gotten up, too! Oh, well. I lived through it.

Mr. H was absent again. We got the new school paper. We got our grades in Geometry. I may not be getting Spanish this year but I'm A-OK in Geometry.

Got some good stuff about Roddy and about Clint's new movie over at SS tonight.

This morning, I got up really early and read comic books. Read more when I got home and successfully managed to avoid IT.

Saw PLANET OF THE APES for the first time in color tonight since we finally got the TV fixed.

Saw the beginning of THE GRADUATE again, too. The only good part as I like to call it.

NOTES: Never have been a big fan of THE GRADUATE or Mike Nichols as a director. I laugh like crazy at Nichols and May from the late fifties/early sixties. I enjoy Dustin Hoffman's performances in dozens of other films. I think Anne Bancroft was a superb actress and a very funny woman when she wanted to be. And I certainly never complained about the Simon and Garfunkel soundtrack. That said, after a well-done opening I still say the rest of the film was a pretentious bore, badly directed and aimless. It's not like I don't "get" sixties style filmmaking. I quite enjoy it in fact. Just...not THE GRADUATE.

Thursday, October 31st, 1974

IT. Bought a new mag. Too bad. Also got a lot of neat comics and mags, too, including the two newest EC reprints from Kidd's. It's about time!

WEBN played the whole Christopher Lee album in honor of Halloween. Not many trick-or-treaters here tonight but we did get a few.

Football in Gym again. Yuccchh!! My shoe string broke during it, too. Had to invent a whole new creative way to tie it.

Terry's Mom and Dad were sentenced to one day in jail each for allowing him to miss 122 days of school last year! UNFAIR!! I don't suppose I can expect him to see the movie this weekend now. Oh, well.

Watched Dean Martin roast Bob Hope late tonight.

The new bank at 4th and Madison is getting ready to open.

Looked at the book in Spanish class. Has 4 or 5 great pix of Linda plus 3 from THE EXORCIST.

NOTES: Had forgotten that about Terry's parents. I think what happened wasn't so much that he randomly missed 122 days but he had actually quit school to go to work full-time at McDonalds. Looks like he went a few weeks at the beginning of the school year, then quit. The odd part was that his parents had specifically bought a house directly across the street from a high school so he could easily attend. His Mom still lives there, today! Terry would quickly get a GED long before the rest of his class actually graduated.

Not sure why I was so adamant about it being unfair, though. In retrospect, the sentence seems like nothing more than a judicial slap on the wrist.

Not sure why I bothered to note that new bank opening, either. I never had an account there and I don't think I ever knew anyone who did!

Wednesday, October 30th, 1974

The day before Halloween. I can tell it's nearing. Tonight, right after Mom cleaned the SS door, it was soap-streaked!

I outgrew Halloween just as I did most other holidays several years ago. Too bad.

School Homecoming's this Friday. I'm not sure what it is but I know that even if I was I wouldn't matter anyway. Not at all. Something about a dance and football. I hate both.

Why can't I ever just be normal? I realize that now. I can never have another girlfriend. I'll never dig sports or cars or anything like a normal guy. I'm blessed with a marvelous insanity but it's stolen my life away. Oh, well...I'll live I guess.

President Nixon has been in critical condition ever since last night.

I wrote a neat poem today. I also wrote a composition about my first date with Debbie. I may regret that. I may have revealed TOO much.

I may write a letter to Barbi Benton. She's in town singing this Friday and Saturday and I like her. If it's going to get to her I'll have to do it tomorrow. I haven't decided yet.

IT ruined my day.

NOTES: I think '71 was my last year for Halloween. In 1982 I went to one grown-up Halloween party. I was not impressed. Dressed up a couple f times for work after that but that was it.

Still not sure what all the fuss is about Homecoming. Still don't care either.

I believe Mr. Nixon's condition was due to a heart problem and/or a blood clot. He would recover.

Barbi Benton had been Hugh Hefner's girlfriend, a PLAYBOY model, a Hee Haw "Honey," an actress, a country singer and about the cutest thing you ever saw! I hadn't remembered this about writing to her earlier this year when I came into possession of her current address and seriously considered writing her again in 2012 for an interview. I never got around to it. 

Tuesday, October 29th, 1974

A fast day at school but a bad one in Gym. The end of the school day brought both good and bad news. I realized that if I hadn't failed the Spanish test I no doubt came close. After school, though, I spotted a color pic of Linda on a French magazine cover! Mr. K promised to give it to me! I'm sure glad! I haven't yet seen the inside but above the picture on the cover were the words, "La Exorciste." I think the meaning of those words is obvious.

Mike told me that Arthur, now at Boone County, didn't make the band. Too bad. He was good.

This weekend, I hope to see SIX movies! CHARIOTS OF THE GODS? and all 5 APES movies over at the International '70. That should be fun!

This Thursday at 10:30, WKRQ presents Orson Welles' WAR OF THE WORLDS. I'd sure like to hear that.

I saw THE MARK OF ZORRO and a really good POLICE STORY. I also finished reading THE LIVING SHADOW. It was great!

NOTES: The mag was PARIS MATCH and it really wasn't a good pic of Linda so much as simply one I hadn't seen before. Eventually I did get it.

Arthur was my friend who had moved away after the previous school year. A shame he didn't make Band. Oddly enough he later became a professional musician I believe. 

At this point I knew very little of Orson Welles or WAR OF THE WORLDS. By now in 2012 I've seen 2 movies about it, heard it a zillion times, seen and heard multiple documentaries  on it and read both a behind the scenes book and a murder mystery with the broadcast as a backdrop. 


This version of MARK OF ZORRO was the TV movie starring Frank Langella who would seem to have been perfect casting but was undercut by a badly designed mask and a really stupid looking TV GUIDE ad. Compared to Guy Williams' grinning cavalier (as Disney's Zorro), he looked like a nervous cosplayer.

Monday, October 28th, 1974

I had several lengthy dreams about THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE. Mom and Dad liked it last night. I'm glad they did. 

Dad and I put out the trash early this morning because we didn't know if the men would come today or not. They did.

After over a month, the TV was fixed finally. Again.

This was a day when I really wish I could have stayed home. A beautiful day!

In school, in Spanish, there's one couple that are...really...well...wow. The girl says she's been streaking and the two feel each other up in class and... well, almost everything else!

A really good night for TV. I saw part of Steffie on THE ROOKIES and also IT'S THE GREAT PUMPKIN, CHARLIE BROWN for about the eighth time. Also RHODA took the big step. Down the aisle. It was funny! Watched a short special on the filming of THE TOWERING INFERNO, too. It was great!

NOTES: In actuality, it was probably the 9th time I had seen the PEANUTS special. I never missed it until sometime in the nineties. I still think it's one of the best animated TV specials of them all. 

RHODA's marriage was one of THE big deals on TV that season. The following season saw the divorce episode.

Streaking was the bizarre fad of taking off one's clothes and running naked through a public place...just because. Both men and women did it. There were streakers at sporting events, live TV shows, in parks, in downtown areas. There was even a popular novelty song by Ray Stevens and a Marvel-published magazine about the odd phenomenon. People who wouldn't be caught dead naked in public suddenly seemed compelled to streak!

Sunday, October 27th, 1974

I read a lot of THE SHADOW. It's getting interesting.

Went to see WHAT'S UP DOC? It was really crowded but I enjoyed it. I loved it when Streisand said, "Love means never having to say you're sorry" and Ryan O'Neal says "That's ridiculous!" That had been HIS line in LOVE STORY! Wow!

Across the street, The Cool Ghoul was at Checker Furniture.I didn't see him but I sure heard him. Now, that was REALLY crowded!

I gave both Dwight and Terry some of my notebooks and folders.

Saw Karen Valentine with Sonny tonight and the TV premiere of THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE.

NOTES: I rewatched WHAT'S UP DOC? last year. Still hilarious! Streisand has never been funnier or, yes, sexier!

Little did I suspect at the time that Bob Hastings, the actor who's counting down to midnight just as the Poseidon crashes in THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE, would become a friend of mine over the years!

The Cool Ghoul had been the local horror movie host beginning in the late sixties. By this point, his show was gone but he was still trotted out around Halloween! This would continue for many years until his passing about a decade back.

Saturday, October 26th, 1974

THE TAKING OF PELHAM 1 2 3 is almost certain for the Top Ten! The previews showed both GOLD and ...GOLDEN GUN, both with Roger Moore. I passed up a new horror book for a paperback reprint of the first Shadow book. It's not bad but I was expecting better. Has a Steranko cover.

I gota  letter back from SIXTEEN...but it was about subscriptions! Boy!

I watched HANG 'EM HIGH for the third time and another STAR TREK rerun. The Hudson Brothers show was good, too.

NOTES: Jim Steranko had already been a favorite comic book artist for nearly a decade. I would finally meet him a couple years later and then again in 2011!

HANG 'EM HIGH was Clint Eastwood's first American western after his success in Italian westerns.

Roger Moore was about to open in his second 007 movie, THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN and the folks who were marketing another new film of his apparently wanted to cash in on that by calling it just plain GOLD.

THE TAKING OF PELHAM 123 is today tied with THE STING as my two favorite seventies movies. My Dad loved it, too. One of the best endings ever.

Friday, October 25th, 1974

IT. Otherwise basically a good day.

I don't know why but I got up early. Dad and I got the car. I read all my new books and had a marvelous time with AIRPORT 1975. Well worth the $1.50 I paid.

I saw Erich Von Daniken on with Bob Braun and played my IN SEARCH OF ANCIENT ASTRONAUTS tape. Earlier this week, I saw an ad for the film, CHARIOTS OF THE GODS. I think I'll get his books, too. I replaced my DEATH WISH Poster with the Marvel Calendar.

Ya know...when I really stop to ponder on it, I think my all-time favorite television show might be THAT GIRL, followed somewhat closely by STAR TREK.

I didn't catch its title, but I recorded the brand new Paul McCartney single the very first time WSAI ever played it today!

Another good episode of PLANET OF THE APES tonight. They seem to be getting better but news of the series' cancellation came down already. I watched POLICEWOMAN for the first time tonight.

NOTES: Erich Von Daniken was the main one (of several) authors pushing the "ancient astronauts" theory in books and then documentary films. In some ways, it makes some sense!

I still say THAT GIRL is my favorite show, also one of the very few that I bought all the different seasons of on DVD.

POLICEWOMAN was Angie Dickinson's new TV series, an OK addition to the seventies cop show genre.

I still have that recording! DJ Jim Scott played "Junior's Farm" and noted in his intro that the label only said "Paul McCartney" so Wings was undoubtedly over, "a foregone, past conclusion" as he put it! Wings, of course, set out on a mega-successful world tour the following year and lasted until the end of the decade. "Junior's Farm," however, to the best of my knowledge, was never played live until the 2012 McCartney tour!

Thursday, October 24th, 1974

No Gym today. We were to see a video-taped basketball game but the (illegible) wouldn't work. No school tomorrow.

In Cincy, I got the new Seaboard mag, PLANET OF THE APES, an AIRPORT 1975 mag and part one of Linda's life story in SIXTEEN. Finally got the Marvel calendar at Kidd's.

I saw THE CHEYENNE SOCIAL CLUB.

I got a notebook, a bookend, a staple and a staple remover, all thrown away at work.

Our sermons got read aloud in class (anonymously). I don't think I've ever laughed so hard at school!

NOTES: I sold the calendar about three months ago in 2012. 

THE CHEYENNE SOCIAL CLUB is a fun Western movie with Henry Fonda and Jimmy Stewart and Shirley Jones. It's somewhat naughty subject matter dealt with a saddle tramp inheriting a brothel.

Wednesday, October 23rd, 1974

I heard a radio commercial for LAW AND DISORDER. It sounds good. Carroll O'Conner and Ernest Borgnine. Rated R.

I had two Study Halls today and another teacher absent.

Found out Doug was hurt by a falling fire extinguisher at Twin Fair yesterday.

I watched STAR TREK yet again. THE SAVAGE CURTAIN! Also saw BAD RONALD. Bad title for a pretty good picture.

I created "Nightmare" my own pulp character in the tradition of the Spider and the Shadow. He kinda grows on a fella.

The new Clay Wade Bailey Bridge was dedicated today and the Holmes band was present. Actually, that and some of the teachers are the only thing I like about that school.

NOTES: NOt sure what I meant by that last line as I certainly was never all that into the Holmes Band. Didn't even know anyone involved with the band. And in retrospect I DID like the school more than I seemed to at the time even if I was never really close to any of the students other than Doug whom I had known since 4th Grade.

LAW AND DISORDER is an odd little dramady movie. It's quite good but wasn't really a hit because Carroll O'Conner had become so typecast as Archie Bunker that the public wasn't ready to accept him as anything else. And the fact that this role was so close to Archie and yet NOT Archie...

Never actually did anything with Nightmare but I drew him a lot. Was actually kind of ripped off from a character Gray Morrow did in a comic book story--seen here. The comic book had come out in June. My character was similar albeit with a yellow and red mask and a yellow cape.

Tuesday, October 22nd, 1974

Bruce Lee was on INSIDE TONIGHT but I didn't know it until it was almost over so I missed it. THE FINAL DAYS OF BRUCE LEE is on at the Grand along with CHINESE GODFATHER. Hope to get to see them this weekend.

For English we had to write a "sermon" on a contemporary, controversial subject. Took me all day bit I finally came up with "Violence in the Media." I mean, it's contemporary, it's controversial and who knows more about it than me? The only bad part was actually having to write the sermon. I gave it my best...or near it.

Guy at school gave me a mag with articles about Roddy and also HARRY & TONTO. I have gotta see that movie.

A guy at school was reading the book version of DEEP THROAT! Who'd know from looking at me that I've now seen that book!?

There's a new version of MARK OF ZORRO on next week.

NOTES: I kept watching the low grade chop socky films with Bruce's name connected in hopes of seeing some little known Bruce Lee movie. But no. There really were only the handful everyone knows...as well as the GAME OF DEATH footage that was still years away from being released. Everything else, no matter how entertaining in its own way, was getting my money under false pretenses.

Terry would loan me a copy of DEEP THROAT on video around 1981. I was fascinated by it...but I didn't ever enjoy it. As porn, there's much better, as indie film comedies, there's a million better! And yet it holds a unique place in the history of film that still fascinates today. 

Monday, October 21st, 1974

IT. I'd been leading up to it I guess.

I'm off school this Friday.

I forgot my Spanish homework and it's too late to take it tomorrow. I didn't need the new lock after all but I left it there. I wore my neat new shirt today, too!

Terry told the STAR TREK people he'd pass on their message so they wouldn't need to call me and now he's forgotten more than half of their message. I'll probably never hear from them again now!

I watched half of THE CANDIDATE.

NOTES: THE CANDIDATE is a Robert Redford film from a year or so before this that would most likely still resonate today. I should probably try watching it again. 

Sunday, October 20th, 1974

Terry welshed on his promise by not going to THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT with me. From now on I just won't ask him to go anywhere! THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT stands a chance of making my lower Top Ten.

Also saw a preview of EARTHQUAKE.

I wrote my seven page science report on Apollo 11. I almost didn't make it. I missed the Beatles show because of it.

Picked up one more new comic. IRON FIST.

Mom got me a new lock, boots, pants, coat and shirt yesterday. I am so ready for winter.

I've decided to try to get a job as Mary Wood's assistant. Not right now but soon. Mary's talked with Linda! Who knows? I might get to yet.

I might order a HANNIE CAULDER poster.

I watched Steffie on McMILLAN AND WIFE.

NOTES: I remember just getting lost in THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT that day. It was already a year or two old but was on re-release. I was one of only a few in the theater--the Skywalk. I bought the soundtrack soon after. Had it up until a few weeks ago when I divested myself of my LP collection.

IRON FIST was a very well-done comic at first but the character was later incongruously teamed with Luke Cage (Power Man). Didn't work for me.

Mary Wood, as I mentioned before, was the longtime TV editor for THE CINCINNATI POST and I had already met her. It coulda worked.

Saturday, October 19th, 1974

First of all, my blooper didn't win. Even though I mailed it a half hour after I saw the show, some girl mailed hers even sooner and she won! Boy! Maybe next time.

I didn't see the movie. Maybe tomorrow. Instead, Terry and I caught the Erlanger-Florence bus and went out as far as it goes. Then we started walking. We knew we were on the right road to find Comic Corner. It was just a matter of time. About an hour (almost) later, we found the Devon Garden Center and inside one of the greatest collections of comic books I have ever seen! Some for only a penny! I got some I really needed as well as some I just really, really wanted! The guy that runs the place is a really nice guy, too. He knew all the same people Terry and I have bought comics from over the years. I'm definitely going back but not too often. I can't stand the walk! But it sure was neat!

NOTES: Comic Corner was, to the best of my knowledge, the first comic book store in Northern Kentucky and one of the first in the Tri-State area. Supposedly there had been one out around Norwood around this time or earlier. I saw an ad in the newspaper but that area was totally unfamiliar to me and would have required multiple buses.

Which might have been better than the walk! Literally, the address said Comic Corner was on Dixie Highway and we knew the bus went way out on Dixie Highway. What we didn't then realize is that Dixie Highway continues on to Florida! I was probably exaggerating to say an hour but not by much. Earlier this week in 2012, I had trouble walking across a parking lot. Things change. Sigh.

The place was in the back of the garden store run by the man's father...or to be more precise, in a corner of it. We sat there for probably a couple of hours resting up, talking with the owner and going through more boxes of comics than we had ever seen one place! Somewhere I still have the original newspaper ad for the place but I can't find it to scan. 

Friday, October 18th, 1974

In Spanish class, we went to "The Lab," a strange futuristic place I didn't like. It actually gave me a headache. At least the time seemed to pass fast.

The bus was really, really crowded!

PLANET OF THE APES was good tonight. Real good.

I never go to finish my new books yet.

I worked some on my scrapbooks tonight.

Yoshiko sent me two tiny pineapple leaves. That was nice.

NOTES: It's odd how much lately I don't recall in the slightest but "The Lab" is yet another forgotten memory.

Yoshiko was my Japanese pen-pal for those who've forgotten.

Thursday, October 17th, 1974

I had a lot of trouble with Charles Herbert in Gym today.

We got out early. I caught the Eastern to Cincinnati in and got all kinds of new books. I intend to go back for more tomorrow. Eighteen comics, five books and TV GUIDE.

Saw an ad for something called Comic Corner in Florence. Terry said maybe we could go out there on Saturday.

Saw the Goodyear blimp tonight and a real army cannon!

I've decided to wait a while to see AIRPORT '75. Maybe 'til it comes closer. Saw the commercial again tonight. May see THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT instead.

Oakland took the series.

NOTES: I remember several of the guys who bullied me in Gym but I don't even recall the name of Charles Herbert.

Comic Corner will prove to be a major point in my life going forward, not so much for itself but for what it leads to.

Wednesday, October 16th, 1974

Mrs. P had all her stuff moved out.

I took THE HOBBIT to school but I didn't read any of it.

Some people in science class are so dumb. Some said the earth was flat and that stars were other planets and other childish things like that!

I managed to catch the regular bus but only about four others did.

I saw "When Gods Destroy" on STAR TREK with Yvonne Craig.

I taped an AIRPORT '75 commercial while taping radio songs tonight.

I saw Dick Van Dyke in THE COMIC again.

Yesterday, one of my wishes was to write a meaningful poem. I took out my pen and wrote "Sad Rainy Evening" about when I said goodbye to Debbie four years ago. It was meaningful.

NOTES: Yes, I still have "Sad, Rainy Evening" but what's sad about it now is that I was still so obsessed with Debbie four full years after shed moved away and two years after I'd last seen her. I was such a putz!

I should have read THE HOBBIT when I had the chance. I'll probably never get to it now. No, I still haven't read it!

I love Dick Van Dyke movies--from MARY POPPINS to CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG to COLD TURKEY and FITZWILLY and everything in between. THE COMIC is one of his best and played into my growing love of silent movie comics.

Tuesday, October 15th, 1974

Today I awoke with the knowledge that everything I wanted to happen today would come true. And it did! Even almost impossible things! I wished we wouldn't play football or basketball in Gym and that I'd do good in whatever we DID play. And we played volleyball and I scored more than ten points. Then I wished the SS people would leave by 5:30 and they did! Wow! I sure wish more days were like this.

Watched STAR TREK again.

We have a PTA meeting on Thursday.

NOTES: I don't really know how to play volleyball either. Not then and not now. But somehow I proved to be good at it anyway and people actually wanted me on their team.

Monday, October 14th, 1974

Columbus Day. We should be off school but we're not. Social Security was off and The Post Office (including Dad) was. Mr. Deters wanted us to be the new landlords when the Pritchetts move out tomorrow.  I helped carry out some of their stuff this afternoon.

I added my Linda Blair poster as a foldover in my second scrapbook and replaced it on the wall with a DEATH WISH poster.

A girl at school has a copy of THE BOOK OF MORMON, just what I'd like to read now that I've been so interested in marie lately. She says I can see it tomorrow.  Today is Marie's birthday...I think.

I saw "That Which Survives" on STAR TREK's return tonight at 6. I hope this time I can see all the episodes I haven't seen or don't recall completely.

NOTES: Were we ever off for Columbus Day? I was never sure. I know they aren't these days.

When did I have a poster of DEATH WISH? I don't recall that at all. Where would I have gotten that?

Haahahaha. With both the Romney campaign and the Broadway show in the news over the past year or so, I'd forgotten my brief period of interest in THE BOOK OF MORMON here.

Sunday, October 13th, 1974

I got up early. We went to church for a change but left early because it was communion.

I decided to give in and let Terry come to the movie with us. He was glad. DEATH WISH will definitely be high on my Top Ten this year. It was great!

I found the other seat belts in the car!

Terry and I split a good pizza and I timed him as he raced around the block on his bike.

I saw good episodes of APPLE'S WAY AND McCLOUD.

Tonight I resubscribed to TBG and also wrote a letter to SPEC about my Linda Blair poster kit. Oh, boy.

NOTES: We really weren't a religious family at that point.After my Mom's death a few years later, my Dad would go more often. I think only once did I end up participating in the commuinion. I remember I thought the whole ritual was more than a little creepy.

DEATH WISH gets a bad rap. It was an A list movie with an excellent performance by Charles Bronson and a great ending but it gets judged on the basis of its four sequels, each of which was increasingly more violent and exploitative and of lessening quality (in spite of the Jimmy Page soundtrack in the second one).

Saturday, October 12th, 1974

Dad went with me to King Kwik.

STAR TREK was great this morning!

IT. I tore up the mag and threw it away.

Terry and his Mom went over the river with me this afternoon. He got four hardcover books. I got the last Beatles album I needed and a Chris Lee Dracula LP. Wow!

I spent the evening taping portions of all my Beatles albums.

I didn't mention DEATH WISH to Terry because Dad wants just me and him to go together.

I got my last batch of pix back today, too.

NOTES: The Lee album was cool looking but I found it virtually unlistenable. Not sure I ever even got through it once in its entirety. Very collectible, though. Since it was virtually unplayed, I got a considerable amount for it when I sold it a few years back.

Friday, October 11th, 1974

The new work record is now 20 minutes.

We had three fire drills today at school.

I got the Marvel ORIGINS book at Kidd's. Also some new stuff on Linda and her new movie and my first look at the AIRPORT 1975 poster. In full color yet from the TV GUIDE! Also picked up THE SPIRIT and a few other things.

Got the second issue of the school paper this morning and actually heard an episode of THE LONE RANGER on WEBN!

Dad stayed home today.

NOTES: This was most likely the first episode of the radio LONE RANGER that I had ever heard. More than two decades later, I would be privileged to appear in a re-creation of a LONE RANGER episode with the original announcer Fred Foy. Later that evening, my wife and I had dinner with him. 

Sounds like someone was having fun with the school's fire alarms on this date in 1974. In the latest coincidence crossing the time barrier, my son came home yesterday and told us that someone was pulling the fire alarms at school in 2012!

Seen here is the original TV GUIDE ad I got on this date 38 years ago, ripped out and taped together by me and with the ticket stub from when I eventually saw the film itself later in the year!

Thursday, October 10th, 1974

We had our pictures taken today at school, we played football again and I went home with Doug after school. He bought that Indian ring and gave me a picture of Linda that I forgot last time.

On the way to the bakery to catch the eastern home, we found an old copy of PENTHOUSE but all the good parts had been ripped out! He did spot a pic of Raquel, though, small and fully clothed.

I saw Stan "The man" Lee on TODAY talking about THE ORIGINS OF MARVEL COMICS. Kidd's should get it in soon. Maybe this week.

Watched a pretty good western movie tonight, THE GOOD GUYS AND THE BAD GUYS, with a pretty awful performance from David Carradine.

NOTES: Robert Mitchum, George Kennedy and a cast of old pros in a Burt Kennedy comedy western. Pretty forgettable, really, but enjoyable at the time.

Stan Lee's book turned out to be a lot of fun, although I now know it was filled with generalizations and inaccuracies, much like Stan himself. Hard not to like the man but he does have his own version of comics history that doesn't always fit the facts. 

Wednesday, October 9th, 1974

I've got lots of tests this week. Boy.

Doug wants to buy an Indian key ring from me because it was in SOLDIER BLUE. Dad brought one from Hawaii.

It's Dodgers vs. the A's.

I finally read SUPERFAN again.

My new story is coming along well so far.

IT.

NOTES: Did I write this?  Why would I have cared about the Dodgers and the A's? Why would  I be worried about tests? I liked tests. And most of all--My Dad brought an Indian key ring from Hawaii!!?? My dad was never in Hawaii. When was my dad in Hawaii? I'm so confused!!!!

Tuesday, October 8th, 1974

I didn't take my Gym clothes 'cause we had some dumb test where we had to put round pegs in holes and then turn them upside down and stuff like that.

We had our first Spanish test today, too.

I caused a minor sensation with my Donald Duck voice in Science at lunchtime.

I got 10 new notebooks at the office tonight! That gives me 16 with no present use as well as 11 folders.

I hope to see DEATH WISH this weekend.

NOTES: Decades later my wife would be the one administering those fine motor skills tests for several years until the state cut funding for the program. 

Ever since I was a child I have been able to do a vaguely Donald Duck-style voice that is fairly understandable by releasing air trapped in my cheek. In fact, I used to be able to do it from either side of my mouth...or both sides simultaneously! Even better was that I could speak in my own voice at the exact same time! Three voices at once! I am NOT exaggerating! Freaked people out. It still does but I can only do two these days. For some reason I can't do it from the left side any more but the right side is as good as ever and can still be augmented by my regular voice! For years I tried to teach myself to say "yes" as Donald while saying "no" as myself. That never worked, though. No mater how hard I try, whatever one voice says, the other says the exact same thing at the exact same moment if I do both voices. Ah, well. Still freaks people out but little babies love the Duck voice! 

Monday, October 7th, 1974

A fair day at school.

I saw a special episode of GUNSMOKE and got hold of a pro-BORN INNOCENT article.

I started writing a new D.M.

NOTES: My wife has really been getting into old episodes of GUNSMOKE for some reason in 2012 which has led to my rewatching some for the first time in decades. At its best, it was an extremely well-done series!

D.M. was the amnesiac detective I had created in a series of short stories.

Sunday, October 6th, 1974

The race was called off so Terry didn't go to the movie either. But I wasn't about to miss it. I caught the bus but it broke down. By the time the replacement showed up I didn't think I was going to make it. But when I got there, there was no one there! And no one ever came, either! I was the only one. Man, The Penthouse is the smallest theater I've ever seen! No more than 20 seats and a small screen not as wide as my bed is long. I got there in time for the very beginning and left just at the very end so I wouldn't miss the bus. It was only an hour. Caught the bus right outside.

On the way home, I saw some guy I used to know about to make out with a good-lookin' chick! Wow, I wish he was me! They were really going at it behind a trash can in the alley. When I walked by, he said, "Hey, whaddayasay, Steve?" I said "nothin'" and walked on, not looking back. I'm "different," remember?

I got three Cokes from the office.

I hear part of the NatLamp radio show and hated every minute. I'll never listen to that again.

IT.

NOTES: The movie, by the way, was MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR. Surprised I didn't mention this but my recollection is that the projectionist looked out of his booth and didn't see anyone in the tiny theater (I was in the back row) so he shut off the film! I had to go downstairs and remind them i was up there!

The NATIONAL LAMPOON radio show was a training ground for John Belushi, Gilda Radner and others who became members of the Not Ready For Prime Time Players a couple of years later. Apparently I didn't like what I heard, though. 

No memory of who that guy was in the alley and I find myself wondering now if he wasn't doing something to that girl against her will considering they were hiding in an alley. Ugh. I hope not!

Saturday, October 5th, 1974

IT. It'll probably happen again, too, but hopefully not as often as it did.

Later, Terry came over and we recorded a radio show. Not as good as some we've done but it had its moments. He said he'd go with me to see the Beatles film tomorrow if we could race in the morning. HOT WHEELS!

I got a neat Raquel article out of a detective mag I got at King Kwik.

Mom got me my new scrapbook and I immediately dedicated it to STAR TREK.

Had a bad headache all day.

NOTES: I had pretty much lost interest in Hot Wheels. It was too complicated to set up the track for what inevitably proved a short race. 

The Raquel article was actually in an issue of THE POLICE GAZETTE.

Friday, October 4th, 1974

We had a pep rally at school for the Holmes/Dixie game. Hah! It was a real laugh!

I went straight over the river to pick up all the new books.

We didn't get to work until after 7:30 so Mom let me get by with just skimming my work so I could get home in time to see PLANET OF THE APES. I sure love "good ol'" Mom but after seeing APES, I'm not expecting it to last. Too bad.

IT.

NOTES: I never liked pep rallies, partly because of my overall lack of interest  and school spirit and partly because of the crowds. That said, not sure why I was considering it "a laugh." Guess I was just being a dork.

Thursday, October 3rd, 1974

I got through Gym again. Not very easily, though.

A pretty good day otherwise. Doug and I and Jim Fawcett are doing a science project that's not so hot...yet.

I was supposed to go with Terry to Cincy but didn't.

I'm mad at everyone because no one ever sits next to me on the bus. People would rather stand than sit next to me. Boy! Well, I wouldn't sit next to them either!

NOTES: Jim Fawcett went on to do well, first working as a newspaper reporter and then eventually running a whole darn city! Literally! Saw a photo of him at last week's 35th Reunion (which I didn't go to) and he looks great!

The album charts this week were tied three ways with Rod Stewart's SMILER, The Bay City Rollers' ROLLIN' and John Lennon's WALLS & BRIDGES. Lennon's album has sounded better and better over the years  but I've never cared for Rod Stewart as a singer. The Bay City Rollers is the one of this trio that was uniquely seventies. They were an early Scottish boy band with some semblance of real talent which was largely sublimated by their success when the powers that be tried to cram them into standardized little flavor of the month boxes. 

Wednesday, October 2nd, 1974

Just when I thought my love for Linda might be dwindling, I had a dream last night of finally meeting her when I snuck into a private sneak preview of AIRPORT 1975. I saw George Kennedy and other stars I knew so I was certain she'd be there. I started looking around and there she was! I told her nervously about what I'd written her. She didn't remember but she did go with me on a date! Well, sort of. And it was all so real! Her voice, her mannerisms, her words! It had to be really her! I know it wasn't me thinking those things. I think it was her mind telling me about her. I love you so much, Linda Blair! AIRPORT '75 starts in two weeks!

Although I saw METROPOLIS with Terry (he didn't have to work) the highlight of the day was the dream. METROPOLIS is good if this were 1926 but the film did lose some stuff over the years. I think I would have enjoyed it much better if it had had SOME sound. Not even any organ music or anything. We didn't stay for the Felix the Cat cartoon.

I subscribed the the school yearbook today.

The temps were very cold but my ears were better.

The Beatles MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR is at the Penthouse. The only film of the Fab Four that I haven't seen and that's only because it was never released in this country.

Oh, Linda, may I dream another sweet dream of you. Oh, Linda!

NOTES: Oh, Linda...oh, please. I was such a lovesick geek.

Tuesday, October 1st, 1974

I had some ear trouble today. My cold was still here.

Finally picked up my Geometry book (YAY!) but it made me late for class.

We played basketball in Gym. Yuck!

I caught the early bus.

Terry says he may have to work tomorrow.

The Reds are out of it.

Saw a great movie written by Richard Matheson called THE STRANGER WITHIN with Barbara Eden. Eerie! Saw part of HOUSE OF WAX again, too.

A 50-50 day. Oh, well.

NOTES: No, I didn't know how to play basketball, either. All I knew was that at some point, someone was supposed to throw that ball through that basket. That's about all I know, now, too.  Baseball was my game of choice during the brief period I was into sports. Thus my bothering to note that the Reds were out of the running for the series.

Richard Matheson, who had written the TALES OF TERROR I saw just the day before, had become one of my favorite writers as I discovered more and more movies and TV shows--lots of TWILIGHT ZONE for instance--that he had written. 

Monday, September 30th, 1974

If today was too long, today more than made up for that by being very, very short.

Mr. Hubble was out today. Geometry books are finally in. I'll get mine tomorrow.

Coming home on the bus today, I got to sit next to Sarah Munday. Oh, she is SO attractive! But she hates me. And if she doesn't, she would if she knew me.They all do. I would have loved to have just leaned over on her shoulder like Ron and Kate were doing a couple of seats behind us.

Doug says Josette's pregnant! A likely story but I suppose it IS possible!

I saw TALES OF TERROR again with Price, Poe and Rathbone.

My cold was much better today but still evident. I developed an earache, too.

At work, I got two more folder, at least 20 more perfectly good pens and pencils, three more Donna Fargo albums and a wall map of Louisville. All thrown out by them!

So what can be expected for the last day of September, huh?

NOTES: Donna Fargo used to host a 5 minute daily radio show sponsored by Social Security in the seventies. Basically she would introduce a classic country song and talk very briefly about the performer before and, if time, after. Then there would be a plug for Social Security. I don't even think it aired in the Cincinnati market but since I was working as a janitor at the Social Security office at the time, they would get in box sets of albums monthly that featured all of the episodes and were supposed to be given to the radio stations. They threw them out, still sealed. Needless to say, I took them home and had a big set of them for years. Wasn't much call for rare Donna Fargo 
though, but I did sell them eventually.

As 2102 imitates 1974 yet again, the above paragraph was written by me yesterday in a comment on FB to artist Carol Tyler after she had posted a clip of Donna Fargo, a singer I hadn't heard mentioned in years.

Josette was a girl Doug had gone out with a few times. I don't think there was any fear that he was the father if she was, in fact, pregnant. 

Sarah was someone I had secretly crushed on since kindergarten...literally. Ron and Kate married out of high school but have long since divorced. 

TALES OF TERROR was Roger Corman and Richard Matheson's multi-story Edgar Allen Poe adaptation from about a decade earlier which also starred, along with Vincent Price and Basil Rathbone, the great Peter Lorre. 

Sunday, September 29th, 1974

My sore throat is now a rotten cold! I didn't sleep well at all. Felt terrible. I started taking some prescription medicine i had left over from the last time I felt like this.

I spent several hours this morning returning to the "good old days" by playing my Beatles singles and reading books.

Man, it was a really long day.

Mom and Dad went to see the Reds. I stayed home and watched a Martin & Lewis flick on TV. Later tonight, Joey Heatherton was on with Sonny Bono and I watched Bronson in THE VALACHI PAPERS. It was really good!

NOTES: THE VALACHI PAPERS was based on the true story of the testimony of gangster Joe Valachi. It was one of the last really good roles Bronson had before becoming labeled as an "action star" and then later an exploitation star. What a terrible poster, though!

Saturday, September 28th, 1974

IT. It'll probably happen again, I guess, but not as often I bet.

We had lots of car troubles. Might get it back from the garage by Monday.

I got two more PEANUTS books.

Saw several folks I know from school on TV's IT'S ACADEMIC as my beloved school barely blew it.

I saw THEATRE OF BLOOD again.

Terry said they called to tell him the STAR TREK thing was postponed for another couple of weeks.

Tomorrow, I hope to catch up on a lot of work.

Was up early this morning with a sore throat so bad I couldn't get back to sleep. It didn't get much better the rest of the day.

NOTES: For the umpteenth time, the past imitates the present or the other way around, I suppose.  IT'S ACADEMIC was a long-running TV game show featuring regional series with teams made up of students from local high schools. I had wanted to be on our school's team. That was the one thing I really wanted that year but for reasons lost to time I was passed over. Can't recall who was on it at this point. Now, in 2012, there's no longer a TV show but the competition still exists and my son is, according to the team sponsor who we met this evening at the parent/teacher conferences, one of its shining stars! After NO wins last year, they are two for two so far this year. 

Actually, IT'S ACADEMIC has a more interesting history than I thought. See here: http://www.itsacademicquizshow.com/history/

Friday, September 27th, 1974

I got my first copy of THE HOLMESPUN. It had some rotten things in it but i suppose it better than the stuff in that "underground" paper. The great thing was about free films at the Public Library. I've never been in there before but I can't wait to go, now. 1914 METROPOLIS and the Chaney PHANTOM OF THE OPERA! The first is next week! Told Terry and he said he may come.

I went to Doug's after school and then with him to where he works where I caught an Eastern bus home. Had the same driver of the morning Rosedale I catch. Ha! Thought I would get off a little closer but I didn't. The bus doesn't stop at the closest corner. Every other corner mind you but not mine. That's dumb.

NOTES: Hard to believe I had never been to the Public Library at this point but I had not. To be fair, I had, in fact, been to the Public Library, just not since it had opened its new--oddly much more convenient to me--location about three years earlier. Just never had a reason to go. I bought the books I wanted. In later years, I would spend quite a bit of time at that location when son David was little. Beyond that, when I briefly worked for a different branch of the Public Library, I actually spent one day working at that original location. 

METROPOLIS, of course, was the classic 1927 movie. Don't know if it was my mistake to say 1914 or if that's the way they had it in THE HOLMESPUN.

THE HOLMESPUN was the school's official "newspaper." Near the end of the previous year, I had been contacted by someone about becoming the anonymous editor of an unofficial, underground paper at the school. Sounded risky to me and I turned it down. Not sure I ever actually sa w acopy while I was attending. Maybe they couldn't find anyone to take it over and it folded?

Thursday, September 26th, 1974

I made it through Gym Day I suppose but I do NOT want to talk about it!

We didn't get to work 'til late tonight again. It was only me and Mom. Dad went to pitch horseshoes.

I heard "Paper Moon" on the radio at work.

Saw a great episode of STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO with Bill Bixby but we're already having TV problems again. Oh, well. Tomorrow's the end of another week.

NOTES: The late Bill Bixby was one of those few who could be termed a true television superstar. These folks couldn't get arrested on the big screen but rarely failed to please on the small. This rarified number includes folks such as Michael Landon, David Janssen, David McCallum and Gene Barry. Someday I should write an article about them.

Wednesday, September 25th, 1974

Basically good today. I had some homework problems at school and I missed the first bus but otherwise okay.

Doug told me that blankety blank Coach wants students to really PLAY football and not just walk around like they don't know how to play the game...even if they don't,  like me! If I can just get through and pass this year I won't have to take Gym anymore. Damn fool thinks he's in the Army!

Terry dropped by later and we went over the river. Good thing, too, because I picked up a new Bruce Lee book, FM, etc. I passed up CFR.

NOTES: Again, looking back I seemed in the minority in my dislike of the Coach but I just couldn't figure why or how he expected me to play football when I hadn't the slightest bit of instruction as to how the game was played. It was, to me, discriminatory for him to presume that, as a teenage male, I had any knowledge of the game. The fact that he genuinely seemed to me to be making fun of myself and the few others who weren't athletic, as well as de facto encouraging (by not stopping them) the macho jocks from attacking us in class, made me hate the class all the more. 

CFR was CONTINENTAL FILM REVIEW, a long-running magazine exploring European movies. Since many European films in the seventies had nude scenes, much of the magazine in this period did also. Thus it was one of my favorite magazines. 

Tuesday, September 24th, 1974

Basically a good day but some things were rotten. Like getting plastered with a football in only my second game ever and then waiting to go to work even though nobody worked late. A quick day though and I'm glad of that.

Casey Piotrowski told a Linda Blair joke on the air while I was at work. Because of the broomstick scene in BORN INNOCENT, he says he finally believes the tales of THE EXORCIST affecting her mind and says she's now engaged to an O-Cedar broom. Haw. Haw. NOT funny.

NOTES: Casey was a local DJ known for his edgy sense of humor. He went on to write an episode of WKRP IN CINCINNATI and, according to IMDB, appeared in an episode of FIREFLY!

Monday, September 23rd, 1974

Last night I wished for a good day today. And wishes DO come true. I breezed through the school day with hardly an incident. I caught the early bus home. My locker stuck again but I fixed it in a second. Almost everything that could go right did.

At home, I played Marie's new albums a lot and saw another anti-Linda letter in the paper. Controversy! Hah!

NOTES: Checking in on the pop charts, this week the # 1 record was "Cant' Get Enough of Your Love" by Barry White, arguably the man with the sexiest male singing voice of them all.

Sunday, September 22nd, 1974

A bad day. I paid terry 8 bucks for his two Marie Osmond albums and I didn't like them as much as I expected to.

Then we went out to Ludlow to see ONE MILLION YEARS BC. It was on with the Sinbad flick. I stayed to see some of it but not much. Having already seen it, I left, leaving Terry to catch the bus. I walked all the way home. I had two Cokes before I left and my stomach was hurting terribly. I'm never gonna do THAT again!

Back home tonight, 007 was on with THUNDERBALL as was Sonny (sans Cher). I saw THE MALTESE FALCON, also. It was really good!

DEATH WISH is coming to the Ludlow.

Two more celebrities died--Walter Brennan and Jacqueline Susann.

NOTES: Another memory lapse on my part. Looks like we DID go to see Raquel but I didn't stay. Sounds more like my chronic gastrointestinal issues more than any particular desire to NOT see the film(s) again. 

The Marie Osmond albums in question were her first two. They were more than "a little bit" country. They were SO country that I didn't really care for them.

When Sonny and Cher divorced, their hit TV series disappeared immediately. Sonny was given a one-hour variety show with emphasis on comedy. Cher would later debut her high-profile version with emphasis on music. Ultimately, both would disappoint and the two would eventually reunite creatively and revive their joint show. America wasn't buying it, though.

And yes, I believe this was my very first time seeing THE MALTESE FALCON, one of my all-time favorite films.

Saturday, September 21st, 1974

Terry came over late to go over to OBS with me. They had new Golden Age stuff. I got two cheapies and a PEANUTS paperback with the "Thompson" series. Wow! I couldn't resist.

We may go see ONE MILLION YEARS BC tomorrow at the Penthouse.

The TV man came this morning and fixed it, hopefully once and for all.

IT again...finally. Guess I knew it would happen one more time and I'm glad it did. Now I know it will never happen again! I'm free!

NOTES: We didn't make ONE MILLION YEARS BC, a revival of the 1966 Raquel Welch film that  we'd both already seen on television.

The PEANUTS book is THOMPSON IS IN TROUBLE, CHARLIE BROWN, named after a brief surreal seventies sequence in which Snoopy is called on to help fellow dog...what? Agent? Spy?...Thompson. It is, as far as I know, the only instance where a PEANUTS book had a  name like that in its title...and it was MY name! Cool! And yes, I still have it. 

IT. Last time. Again. Uh-huh. Free. Right. 

Friday, September 20th, 1974

I saw Cindy again. Holding hands with a boy. My little Cottontop has grown up.

I watched the second episode of PLANET OF THE APES and my first NIGHT STALKER episode.

I've started seeing more stuff about BORN INNOCENT, particularly the shower "rape" scene. Very controversial!

NOTES: I had mentioned a while back my neighborhood friend Cindy. It was an odd friendship as we rarely saw each other but when we did it was like we were old friends. We'd walk along and talk. She always seemed calm and friendly with a ready smile, much older than her actual years but she was really about a year or two younger than me. I called her Cottontop because, in the winter, she always wore a red coat with a white knit cap with what looked like a fluffy bunny tail on top. Guess I could have called her Bunnybutthead or some such but no, Cottontop she was. 

Once again from the department of "the more things change," just this week in 2012 I watched a NIGHT STALKER episode online!

Thursday, September 19th, 1974

A bad day. Most Thursdays are now. I got my locker stuck again. I had to take that GATB test which about made me sick just by the ridiculousness of it. In Gym, we played touch football on the practice field. Having never played the game before, I didn't know how to play and had no idea what I was doing. I still don't. As a matter of fact, I probably know even less now.

We got out early which should have been great but wasn't. I ended up walking home because of the long wait for the bus. My back was hurting terrible. I don't know why.

At Woolworth's, I got another mag with more on Linda and Marie. Mom brought me home an article about Roddy from a mag at her work. I may send Marie a birthday card. Her birthday's soon.

Dad went to pitch horseshoes so it was just Mom and I tonight at work. We split up his parts. Somebody over there had a catalog of dirty jokes, novelties, tricks, etc. Was interesting but dumb.

Talked to Doug. Yesterday at the golf thing, he met Jim Scott and Jack Nicklaus. No autographs, though.

NOTES: GATB is "General Aptitude Test Battery." Normally I liked standardized tests and breezed through them. No idea why this was apparently different. 

As previously stated, the Gym teacher, from what I understand a very popular man with everyone except me, seemed to treat every "class" like practice for the guys on his teams. The rest of us were treated like cannon fodder when not being ridiculed or ignored completely. No offense to my ex-classmates but I was there and this was the way I felt then and the way I still remember him.

Golf thing? No clue. This may have been the brief period I was mildly infatuated with Saturday afternoon Golf programs on TV. Never played real golf and was never good at miniature golf.