Sunday, April 7th, 1974

Terry visited and we played a long game of Monopoly. As usual, I lost.

The Reds lost today, too--their third game.

IT.

I'm going back over the river to get that Exorcist Special and a few old comics after school tomorrow.

I traded Terry two old Batgirl stories for a rare Kirby Green Arrow story!

NOTES: Terry really liked Batgirl and I really liked Jack Kirby comics. It was a good trade. The Kirby story was a reprint from the fifties. At the time, I hadn't realized that Jack had been the artist on the Green Arrow feature for nearly a dozen stores not long before he returned to Marvel to create the Marvel Universe as we know it today.   

Saturday, April 6th, 1974

Over at the Ohio Bookstore I got some old Vampi's and a few other old mags but hardly any comics out of all of those new old ones. There's also a special EXORCIST newspaper out that I want to get soon.

Got the another new TBG today.

IT.

NOTES: "Vampi" was VAMPIRELLA, a black and white comic magazine that didn't subscribe to the Comics Code and thus often showed naked women! At 15 it was perfectly legal to buy. No one questioned it. On top of that, some of the stories and art were by some of the best in the comics business! Win-Win. I started with issue 14 and bought it for many years, even having a letter published in one when I was about 16.


If I remember correctly, one of the back issues I got this day was the one seen here featuring a now-classic story by Wallace Wood. (In case you haven't heard, I run a Wallace Wood blog, too!)

Friday, April 5th, 1974

I got a free adzine in the mail today.

Terry says there's a lot of new stuff out over the river. Much more than I can afford. We're going over at 8:30 tomorrow morning to check out 2000 new books they got in at the Ohio Book Store!

NOTES: An adzine was a comics fanzine that consisted entirely or at least mostly of ads. I remember this one was pretty cheap-looking and homemade once you got past the cover but they had apparently gotten subscriber names from TBG so they sent me one. If it's the one I'm thinking of, it was called POOR RICHARD'S ADZINE. 

Thursday, April 4th, 1974

Today I talked with Kathy Allen for the first time in a long time.

I finished work in an hour, did what little homework I had and tried to help Dad fix his garage door but couldn't. This just isn't his year for things that concern cars.

The tornadoes did terrible damage all around last night.

The Reds won their opening game and Hank Aaron hit one homer. Only one more to go!

NOTES: Okay, in this case Mom wasn't overreacting. I didn't realize that yesterday in 1974 was the date of the infamously destructive Sayler Park tornado! This was an F5 tornado in what became known as the Super Outbreak in which five similarly violent twisters struck around the same time. 


Dad had rented a garage space a couple of blocks away for the new car but the door never really locked and between the two of us, we couldn't fix it. Not a good sign.


Hank Aaron was one away from either tying or beating the home run record. Not sure which at the money.

Kathy Allen was a girl who had been a friend for several years in grade school. When Debbie moved away in 6th grade, Kathy and I sort of considered the idea of becoming a couple but it really didn't work out. She had quite a temper but a great sense of humor. Even though we had been in junior high together all along, we hadn't really had any classes together so we rarely saw each other anymore.

Wednesday, April 3rd, 1974

All the wrong people won the awards last night including Tatum O'Neal instead of Linda!!!!

I finally got the new TBG in the mail.

Terrible storms this evening and Mom was very scared.

NOTES: There had been a bit of a controversy when it was revealed that actress Mercedes McCambridge had "sweetened" Linda Blair's demon-possessed performance. Linda had still performed the difficult physical aspects of the role and the dialogue but the veteran McCambridge had added her rough voice to the mix for a better sound and that had been kept quiet. Mercedes wasn't happy and eventually was given a credit on the film. 


I hadn't seen Tatum O'Neal's performance in PAPER MOON at this point; wouldn't catch it until it showed up on TV a few years later. In retrospect, it really was an Oscar-winning performance. Tatum was, as many child performers are, a natural. Also like many child performers going all the way back to Shirley Temple, however, she lost much of her natural acting abilities as she grew older. 


My Mother was always scared of storms and passed that on to me. Even as I learned over the years that she was, on some levels, overreacting to basic thunderstorms, it had already been instilled in me. To this day, I worry a bit too much about thunderstorms...although, granted, in recent years there have been plenty in this area worth worrying about!

Tuesday, April 2nd, 1974

I had a really good day at school today.

Finished the new job a lot sooner tonight than last night.

I fact, my only real disappointment today was that the TV GUIDE and another mag with EXORCIST junk weren't out yet.

The Academy Awards are on tonight. I hope Linda Blair wins!

NOTES: It was unusual for me to do something like I just did--write about a show that was going to be on before watching it. More often than not, I wrote these entries at the very end of the night just before bed or sometimes even the next morning before going to school. 


Above is the Cincinnati skyline around this time, probably taken through a bus window.  

Monday, April 1st, 1974

April Fools Day and none pulled a single joke on me. Whew.

We started our job at the security office tonight and I think it's okay bit I'm not crazy about it. One interesting thing is they have a computer! It's a computer named Ssader who types out message automatically from time to time! Oh, well. It's an easy way to earn some money. I hope it works out, though.

I broke my second best tape later tonight in a terrible storm. In some areas, they said on the News that it was a twister!

NOTES: Never liked the concept of April Fool's Day. Back then, especially, I had a nightmarish fear of public embarrassment.


This was the day we started working as the janitors at the Social Security Office next door to our apartment house. 


The same man who owned our building owned the office also. Technically it was my dad that was hired but from the beginning my Mom and I worked with him as a team. Every night after everyone left the office, we'd go over and clean up. With the three of us, it only took between one and two hours unless there was a particular problem. After I finished my part--emptying the trash cans and ashtrays (yuck!) and tying the bags up to take out on Trash Night--I'd usually go home and catch some television. 


I also had to change a TON of lightbulbs, especially when President Carter's administration required government offices to remove two out of every four of their light bulbs during the energy crisis. 


There were 25 desks, 2 conference rooms and 2 private offices. My Mom cleaned the ashtrays, conference rooms and bathrooms and my Dad mopped the whole floor every night and buffered it occasionally. 


Sometimes the employees would work late and we'd end up having to go over very early (like 5:30 AM) the next day before they came in. 


I guess this was the very first time I'd ever seen a computer. It took up a whole room about the size of a large closet. It had reels and a dot matrix printer as well as something that spit out tape with punch holes in it. Whoever designed it never bothered to come up with some kind of receptacle to catch the little dots made by punching said holes so we had to sweep them up every night, always with the possibility of the darn thing spitting out more while we were doing it!


Ultimately we kept the job for ten years. During that time, my dad was sidelined for a year in 1978 by an accident so I took over the majority of the work. My mother died in 1981 and I took over hers, also. Somewhere in there, the Social Security Office moved out and the newspaper office moved in. They were a lot pickier and also more prone to working weird hours which meant I, also had to work weird hours. 


In 1982, I even lost my virginity on their conference room table to a young lady I snuck in one night at 1 AM.  Ahem!  


I ultimately left the job in late 1984 when I was by then promoted to full-time at Waldenbooks. 

Sunday, March 31st, 1974

Tomorrow is April Fool's day.

I finished my book and watched some more of the telethon.

Mom bought me the new McCartney record and ordered my baseball tickets.

This evening I watched part 1 of THE MOVIES and OSCARS, ACTORS AND THE EXORCIST.

IT twice.

NOTES: I can't recall either of those two TV specials.


IT twice? That was nothing. My record for one day was 5 times. Ahem...


The McCartney record was most likely the single of JET that had come out the month before. Mine was in a simple, plain sleeve. Doubt my mother would have purchased it if it looked like this image!

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Saturday, March 30th, 1974

There was a real bad storm last night.

I got a paperback book all about Bruce Lee along with a lot of good comics. Also got THE MONSTER TIMES with an article on Bruce.

We did NOT get to the movies. Either of them.

I watched a little of the Easter Seals Telethon which started at 11.

NOTES: The Bruce Lee book, the first of many, may to come, was THE LEGEND OF BRUCE LEE by Alex Ben Block. I bought them all for the next few years and I still think this one was the best.

Friday, March 29th, 1974

I got free baseball tickets from school today for my grades.

This morning I found a pen-pal letter in the mailbox. It must have been overlooked yesterday.

Terry and I may go see  a couple of movies tomorrow in Newport.

Mister Deters is coming again tomorrow about the job.

Mom says the girl might come next week about the Hot Wheels cars.

NOTES: Hot Wheels were cool. Sizzlers were even cooler!

Thursday, March 28th, 1974

I thought I did pretty well in Volleyball today but some guy almost started something with me because he didn't think so!

There's not much school left this year. I fear those big exams.I've never had one before.

I've got to do an essay and composition this weekend.

Hopefully my pen-pal letter will be showing up soon.

NOTES: I never really knew what I was doing when it came to Volleyball but as I think I mentioned before, I was surprisingly good at serving. It may have had something to do with my peculiarly acute sense of balance but I had a talent for hitting the ball across the net and making points! It never came up outside of Gym class as I never knew anyone who actually played Volleyball in real life. 

Wednesday, March 27th, 1974

Again I have high hopes of seeing THE EXORCIST. This weekend I also may see CONRACK at the Place.

I probably can't take that big test in English so I'll just have to do a lot of extra credit work.

I'm writing a composition soon about my favorite (and least favorite) movies of recent years.

NOTES: So weird. My son came home today in 2012 upset with a B+ he had gotten in English, Says he'll just have to do a lot of extra credit work. 


CONRACK was one of Jon Voight's biggest films since MIDNIGHT COWBOY made him a star five years earlier. I wouldn't end up seeing it until it hit TV a few years later, though. It was based on the autobiography of teacher Pat Conroy who would go one to become a best-selling author whose works I would be selling throughout my long bookstore career. 

Tuesday, March 26th, 1974

We got report cards today. I got 4 A's--including one in my worst subject, IBS--and 3 B's. I hope I'll still get the free baseball tickets although I probably won't end up using them all.

Tomorrow, I'm supposed to make up a test in English but I don't know how I'll be able to with no study halls.

IT again tonight.

NOTES: Straight A students were rewarded with tickets to see multiple Cincinnati Reds games. I had a history of getting them. Doesn't seem like I'd get one for a mix of A's and B's. We'll see. Below, though, is a card they gave out 2 years earlier, when I was in 7th Grade, to show off to relatives that you had won the tickets for your grades and attended the games. I was never big on baseball but my Dad sure was so it was always a nice treat for him. We always took Mom, too, which means I guess we had to buy an extra ticket. 

Monday, March 25th, 1974

IT.

Yesterday, Dad told me he saw a whole magazine about THE EXORCIST. I went everywhere today looking for it while I was off school but nothing! Finally, I bought a great mag on THE TELEVISION YEARS and a teen mag with articles and photos about Linda and Bruce Lee. When I got home, my Dad said that this was the one he had seen all along!

I also picked up a few more old comics at the Ohio Book Store.

NOTES: THE TELEVISION YEARS was an incredible find for a lifelong TV fan like myself. It was more or less a linear history but all told in heavily annotated photographs of the shows and personalities including many long unseen by that point! I definitely learned more about TV history here than I had ever learned prior to that! All these years later, of course, this has borne fruit in my latest blog,
http://bookstevechannel.blogspot.com/


And yes, I still have it.

Sunday, March 24th, 1974

I did IT again today in hopes that I won't do it tomorrow while I'm off school.

Worked on my school notebooks today and made a couple of folders for myself, also.

I've decided that I'll probably go back up to Horn's tomorrow morning.

NOTES: Horn's was the junk shop Terry and I had discovered a few years earlier that had some excellent old comics for only a nickel. Picked up quite a few key Silver Age books there in the early seventies and even a few fifties titles! The place was always a mess, much like Fred Sanford's junkyard on TV.  But week after week, it seemed like they had new boxes of old comics! After a few years, as word got out that comics were collectible, they quit getting the good stuff in. 


I also bought an entire set of James Bond paperbacks there for a dime each, Harvey Kurtzman's HELP paperbacks and quite a few other gems! Even MYRA BRECKINRIDGE with that great Raquel cover. Even though I didn't see the picture until 1980 and the coming of home video, I had the book and even the movie poster, as seen here.

Saturday, March 23rd, 1974

I saw ZARDOZ! A very complex sci-fi film with an interesting twist. Also a very exciting film! It contained an abundance of action, adventure, fantasy, sex, good acting and even some violence. All in all, I'd say it'll definitely make my Top 10 for this year...assuming I eventually see at least 10 pictures.

Also, THE EXORCIST is definitely coming to the Madison finally! I hope more than I've hoped for most films that I'll get to see that one.

Got some good books downtown today and we had snow! Lots of it! On the third day of Spring!

NOTES: ZARDOZ hasn't really aged well. I don't recall how it was received at the time other than a major cover feature in CINEFANTASTIQUE  magazine which, if I remember correctly, agreed with my opinion. Basically you have  (SPOILER) a balding, ponytailed  rapist caveman Connery in a big red diaper with a gun, worshipping a giant floating rock head based on THE WIZARD OF OZ. WIZARD OF OZ, get it? Ooooo, how clever.


Actress Charlotte Rampling appears topless and maybe altogether nude in ZARDOZ but even then I found her to be supremely unattractive so that wasn't even a major highlight for me. 


Seeing THE EXORCIST was a major goal that year. I had yet to realize that when one wants something THAT much, it will never live up to your expectations.


If you're a fan of the TV-related posts we do here, please be sure to check out my newest blog, THE BOOKSTEVE CHANNEL, which offers personal reminiscences of many TV shows I've enjoyed over the years.
http://bookstevechannel.blogspot.com/

Friday, March 22nd, 1974

Not much chance of seeing ZARDOZ after all it looks like unless Terry's mother agrees to take us tomorrow night.

Speaking of Terry, he told me there are a lot of new mags and such out over the river, today.

No school Monday!

NOTES: Being underage, we often had to depend on convincing one or the other family member to take us to R rated movies. In the case of Terry's mom, she would often pay to go in with us, then leave if she had no personal interest in the picture we were seeing. 


ZARDOZ was perhaps the biggest step yet in Sean Connery convincing folks he was no longer James Bond, 007. More about it tomorrow.

Thursday, March 21st, 1974

Spring is here! And it began on a bad note starting when I self-urinated in bed this morning for the first time since I was a little kid. Yuck!

At school it was oh so bad, too. And the weather was all rainy, snowy and cold.

The big surprise was when I received the twelve British DRACULA magazines I had ordered back before Christmas. The thing is, when I complained before, they ended up sending me something else for my money so these were basically free. I felt like I should send them back or something but everyone said that the postal laws say if you didn't ask for them, they're considered a gift. Even though I know they weren't meant as a gift, I guess I will keep them since even dad says so and he does work for the Post Office. Bet I dream about it tonight, though.

NOTES: This was the UK edition of the Spanish DRACULA magazine, later partially reprinted in book form by Warren in the US. I had ordered it back in December. They sent me something saying the mags were no longer available and a list of other items I could have. I picked something, I forget what, and they sent it. I was disappointed not to get what I had originally ordered but I was satisfied the deal was completed. Then they showed up. No note. Nothing. 


Everyone was correct in that if you receive an unsolicited order in the mail, technically it's yours. Clearly, however, this had just been a mix-up so I was torn. Dad said to keep them and he worked for the Post Office...but as a janitor! What did he know? Still, I did keep them. Finally sold them just a couple of years ago after getting scans of them first. 


As far as wetting the bed, it was a problem I had had only occasionally as a child. Never a major issue as for some kids. Hadn't happened in years though. In retrospect, I'm wondering if this might instead have been a wet dream. 

Wednesday, March 20th, 1974

Another bad day. I was right. The kung-fu flick was cut off.

A terrible day at school and then tonight they called Dad to say he didn't get the garage he was wanting for the car.

Almost did IT again.

Mr. Deters called tonight to say we DID get the SS cleaning job while the regular guy's on vacation.

NOTES: Unbeknownst to me apparently, this would have been the start of my first job. The Social Security Office was literally in our back yard as you can see in this shot of our back porch. It was owned by the same man who owned our building. We ended up eventually taking over the cleaning on a regular basis. All of us helped, with Dad doing the mopping and bathroom cleaning, Mom emptying and cleaning the ashtrays and me emptying all the trash cans and doing general straightening (as well as changing lightbulbs as needed...which was several times weekly). In time, after my Dad's accident, I would take it over completely. I hung onto the position even after the Social Security Office became the Cincinnati Post newspaper office, finally leaving about a year into my daytime job at the bookstore in 1983. 


We were never paid much. the work could sometimes be grueling and the employees never seemed happy with us...but an empty office to which I had a key proved a good place to take girls in the middle of the night a few years later. ;P