Sunday, April 28th, 1974

A much better day profitwise. I finally got Marlo Thomas's FREE TO BE YOU AND ME album along with another new McCartney single. I listened to the album over and over. I think it may have changed my whole views of life.

I've got about 19 dollars left and it's got to last until my next payment. I do, however, intend to order the HOUSE OF HORRORS book for $5.84 tomorrow from Warren.

Also I came up with a great idea for selling a new radio mystery series to a local radio station. Maybe I'll do more work on it soon.

The very air was pleasant all day today. My cold is almost better and I even survived the nearly unbearable heat to come up with a good feeling.

Are things finally starting to go my way? I doubt it but I can hope so.

NOTES: HOUSE OF HORRORS was a history of Hammer Films that came out just as the company itself was about to go under. 


Every once in a while, I would decide that what local radio needed was a new mystery series written by me. This was probably the first but I know I was still toying with this idea as late as the early 1990's. Oh, hell, it's crossed my mind just recently, too. Trouble is that no one in local radio cares what I think. Even when I was briefly associated with local radio in the early 1980's no one cared what I thought!


FREE TO BE...was Marlo Thomas's now classic children's album of liberating songs and skits for boys and girls. Mel Brooks, Jack Cassidy, Shirley Jones, Billy De Wolfe, Tommy Smothers, Bobby Morse, Diana Sands and other celebs appeared with THAT woman, Marlo. It was for a slightly younger audience than me at 15 but it really was a very eye-opening experience. I had been raised in a rather conservative home with traditional ways of looking at males and females. Boys, for example, could never wear pink. It was my appreciation of the THAT GIRL sitcom that made me get it but it was the album that made me rethink a lot of things and eventually get to where I considered myself a male feminist. At 19, I almost joined NOW. After all, it's the National Organization FOR Women, not OF Women. I could still be sexist in some ways (still!) but this day a new seed was planted in my understanding of male and female roles, expectations and possibilities in society. Thanks, Marlo.A few years later, I had a pink shirt I really loved. 

Saturday, April 27th, 1974

I took ten bucks over to Cincinnati today and all I picked up was THE MONSTER TIMES. I couldn't sell Tim's books at OBS but I got three bucks for 'em at Horn's. I hope that's okay with him.

I finally did see THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE.

Mom picked me up the record THE ENTERTAINER.

Also, IT.

NOTES: Around here, even today, we call it "The Ten Dollar Rule." You beg and beg for a certain amount of money to spend and then you go out and you can't really bring yourself to spend it. Otr you beg for permission to do something and then when you get it you feel so guilty for begging that you end up not doing it anyway. Still happens all the time. The Ten Dollar Rule. 


THE ENTERTAINER was Marvin Hamlisch's hit record of Scott Joplin's song that had been used as the theme music for THE STING. 

1976--THE BOOK--A Kickstarter Project!

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Friday, April 26th, 1974

We finished early again tonight.

I worked on my story again.

I helped Dad get the car.

Through all this my cold stayed about the same.

Tomorrow morning at 9, I go to pick up Tim's comics.

NOTES: I saw Terry today (in 2012) and, like myself, he has no idea who Tim was at this late date.

Thursday, April 25th, 1974

I'm catching a pretty bad cold.

I got a D on an Algebra test!

I hope my cold doesn't persist. Big test in English tomorrow.

I saw an episode of THE WALTONS which is now my favorite.

Found out Arthur's moving on Saturday.

NOTES: Yikes! A "D"!!?? I was actually very good at Algebra and rarely got below a "B"in anything...ever!  This must have--even though you couldn't tell it here--devastated me!


I don't recall Arthur moving. Maybe that explains why we ever became closer friends after hanging out at school so much this year. Wonder where he moved to??

Wednesday, April 24th, 1974

There were a lot of tests at school today.

We got to work early tonight.

Saw a good TO TELL THE TRUTH with Supie, Bats and Robin.

Two new martial arts films begin today. Really the first this year. I hope to see one at the Grand on saturday along with THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE down the street.

NOTES: Not sure who the host of TO TELL THE TRUTH was at this stage but it wasn't the show's original host, Bud Collyer, seen here with some favorite reading material. That would have been interesting to have a Superman themed episode as Collyer had, in fact, BEEN Superman for many years on radio in the forties and later in the sixties cartoons.

Tuesday, April 23rd, 1974

I finally went and looked at Tim's comics. I bought about six of them for a nickel apiece. I'm to sell the rest for him next weekend for $4.75 and I get to keep the 75 cents! Also, Terry owes me $1.50.

I'll probably see THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE (the first ad on the first page of my first scrapbook from a couple years back) finally this weekend at The International '70.

MAGNUM FORCE starts up at the Madison tomorrow.

I watched Roddenberry's PLANET EARTH on TV tonight.

NOTES: Wow. High finance 1974 style. Terry owing me $1.50 was a big amount then. This week in 2012, I'm selling him some DVD's worth about 50 times that much. Things change. 


I don't know why I skipped THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE when it first came out. Considered the first in the seventies disaster movie trend, it was by Irwin Allen who had made many of my favorite childhood TV series including LOST IN SPACE and THE TIME TUNNEL. It also had a genuinely all-star cast including a number of my favorite actors like Roddy McDowall and even my future real-life friend Bob Hastings. 


PLANET EARTH was a semi-sequel/semi-remake of Gene Roddenberry's post-STAR TREK pilot, GENESIS II. The original starred a quirky actor named Alex Cord. This one starred the more traditional John Saxon, a favorite of mine since ENTER THE DRAGON (as well as a future Facebook friend) but I didn't think he worked as well. I watched both versions again in 2011 and I stand by that. 

Monday, April 22nd, 1974

Back to school alright but it was better than I expected.

That's about all that happened today except for a slight rainstorm.

NOTES: Well...some days are just...there, y'know? And wet.

Sunday, April 21st, 1974

I learned to balance a broom on my palm by watching WONDERAMA.

I cleaned the SS office very early this morning.

After quite a hassle convincing Terry to come with me, I went to see McQ. Wasn't great but above average.

I played the TUBULAR BELLS record over and over again all day today.

I saw JULIE AND DICK AT COVENT CENTER and then watched THE TONY AWARDS just to see all the stars.

Hate to say it but it's back to school again in the morning. Even Doug's back from vacation.

NOTES: Turns out the broom trick had more to do with my innate sense of balance than anything I saw on TV that day. Years later a doctor explained that the reason I get motion sick so easily is that I have not a BAD sense of balance but an acute one! I can find the center of gravity relatively easy in any object...including: a broom. I can still do it, moving it from fingertip to fingertip. If I had ever been invited to parties, I could have been the life of them.


Was listening to parts of TUBULAR BELLS on YT today in 2012. 


I never get to see plays. Even though they come to the area from time to time, they're so ridiculously overpriced we saw only one in the past 16 years! Love the Tonys, though and always have. 


Julie and Dick were Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke, the co-stars of Disney's MARY POPPINS, reunited for a TV special. The whole show, also spotlighting Carl Reiner, is on YouTube.

Saturday, April 20th, 1974

I got some more terrific mags with pics of Linda Blair. Also bought the theme from THE EXORCIST record and an early Beatles 45. I started getting FF again and the new FM was out, too.

Terry came through with the deal for MSH # 1.

Saw Melanie Cantor at Woolworth's when I picked up my new scrapbook. Filled about ten pages already with DARK SHADOWS junk.

We got paid today! $125.00!

I'm studying up on horses because Linda loves them so!

NOTES:In another case of odd temporal coincidence, here I was making a DARK SHADOWS-themed scrapbook in '74 and today in 2012, a lot of us boomers are mourning Jonathan (Barnabas Collins) Frid. I posted about DARK SHADOWS on two of my blogs yesterday. 


There was a record store in Cincinnati that sold nothing but old '45's. Every once in awhile I would pick up some Beatles music there. The EXORCIST theme was actually an excerpt from a marvelous experimental, instrumental album by English musician Mike Oldfield entitled TUBULAR BELLS. It would be nearly thirty years before I heard the whole album which is quite wonderful. 


Mentioning Melanie here is just a throwaway line but I sometimes think if she and I had become an item two years earlier in seventh grade my life would have been very different. She was the smartest girl in school, new that year, and also had an amazing sense of humor and a cute, cute smile. In what I thought was a really odd move, she ended up actually dating two of my closest school friends without ever looking twice at me! I tried. Even got up the courage to walk her home once (Had no idea just how long a walk that would be either!).  


MARVEL SUPER HEROES (MSH #1) was a 1966 one-shot comic book reprinting a classic early AVENGERS tale with the Hulk, the origin of Daredevil and a Golden Age battle between Namor and the Human Torch! At the time, this was coolness personified! I don't recall what happened to my copy but by this point I hadn't had one in several years and was pleased to get it back! I still have Terry's former copy!


And my first ever paycheck. Cool!

Friday, April 19th, 1974

I saw ALICE IN WONDERLAND with STORMY. ALICE is one of the best animated features I've ever seen. I also saw previews fro HERBIE RIDES AGAIN with Steffie.

There are a couple of new mags with pics of Linda out.

Well, the free week is almost over. After the weekend, it's back to the old grind for another couple of months.

I can't say it wasn't fun but it could have been better.

NOTES: HERBIE RIDES AGAIN was a just okay Disney live-action comedy starring Stefanie Powers, Helen Hayes and MAYBERRY RFD and F TROOP's Ken Berry. A talented and personable TV star, Berry was unable really to carry a lead role in films and this picture suffered for that. Cute...but not a patch on the original (although the next one would be worse!)

Thursday, April 18th, 1974

I watched Nick Clooney's Kings island special which I've awaited since last summer when it was filmed and it was marvelous. All the while I dreamed of inviting Linda Blair there with just me for a whole day of fun. Oh, t'would be fantabulous! If only I could meet Linda! I was once told that I could have anything I ever wanted if I just put my mind to it and I can't imagine NOT ever wanting to meet Linda Blair.

Nick's regular show was pretty special today, too. They had a piece on UFO's.

I saw an UNTOUCHABLES film, the first I've ever seen. Now that's a TV series I would have really loved.

NOTES: Wow. I really, really was smitten! I didn't know it then but there are photos of Linda, who was my age, hanging out with Who drummer Keith Moon and porn star Linda Lovelace during this period. Talk about out of my league. 


And I didn't even LIKE King's Island all that much!


As regular readers know, I DID finally get to meet Linda Blair via the Internet and see her in person at a Horrorfest but it took 36 years.


The movie I saw was the TV film that served as the pilot for THE UNTOUCHABLES around the time I was born. Actor Neville Brand played Al Capone but he was arrested in the movie and the series itself featured his lieutenant, Frank Nitti, as the Big Bad.

Wednesday, April 17th, 1974

Over in Cincinnati, I got some new books and two old (and cheap!) Vampi's. Should be some more books out later this week.

I might go see McQ Sunday at Ludlow. Probably make ALICE on Friday.

I'm progressing well with my own story of Alice and Mister Cheshire. I'm patterning Alice after Linda and Mister Cheshire after Quentin from DARK SHADOWS.

I need to get a new scrapbook soon. Think I'll dedicate it to DARK SHADOWS so I can look at all my DS stuff.

NOTES: McQ was the movie that was John Wayne's version of DIRTY HARRY.


I can't recall exactly what the plot of my story was to be but I never wrote it. Just lots of notes and drawings. In my mind, Mister Alexander Cheshire, always drawn in a top hat,  looked like Willy Wonka but, as stated here, I originally based him on David Selby's sideburned DS character, the show's original werewolf, the brooding, dark-eyed Quentin Collins.

Tuesday, April 16th, 1974

IT. Second day in a row.

I finished re-reading THE EXORCIST.


I ate a lot of doughnuts today.

I went through a lot of old folders the Soicial Security office threw out yesterday. Thinking I can maybe trade them to Terry for something.

I'll probably go over the river tomorrow and then catch ALICE IN WONDERLAND if it's still playing on Thursday.

I needed to wash my hair and take a bath tonight but didn't get to it.

NOTES: ALICE IN WONDERLAND has been a favorite story for most of my life but I never actually read the book itself until I was about 20. I tended to watch any TV adaptation or film that came along and I often listed Disney's ALICE as my favorite animated Disney picture. I had seen it as a child and this 1974 re-release was the one that tried to appeal to the psychedelic crowd, thus the colorful poster.

Monday, April 15th, 1974

Dad stayed home sick.

A boy in my Health class at school is presumed dead according to the nespaper. What a way to start Spring vacation.

All day long all I did was watch TV and begin re-reading THE EXORCIST.

I have to write my pen-pal letter soon.

Next door, another window was found broken out and this time I kept the ball that did it.

NOTES: No memory of the kid in my Health class. Driving me crazy trying to figure out who that was.

Sunday, April 14th, 1974

Another Easter passes me by. No eggs this year. At least no colored ones. We all went to church but even that didn't make it seem like Easter.

As if I never realized it before, I now have a tremendous crush on Linda Blair. More than anyone I've ever had a crush on in fact except Debbie and maybe even more than that!

Since I'm off all week, I intend to see some movies and watch TV.

The feeling of summer is in the air today and all is easy. Possibilities of tornadoes this afternoon but there were none. Good!

Saw a good movie on TV tonight--THURSDAY'S GAME.


NOTES: THURSDAY'S GAME was apparently made as a theatrical feature in 1971 but for some reason was shelved. It was trotted out to excellent reviews as an ABC MOVIE OF THE WEEK on this date 3 years later, most likely because nearly all involved were now bigger stars including Gene Wilder and EXORCIST star Ellen Burstyn.

Saturday, April 13th, 1974

Arthur went to see THE STING with me today. It's sure to make my yearly Top Ten!

Tomorrow is Easter. Forgot to mention that last night Aunt Velma and Rachel came down to visit briefly. That was unusual.

Oh, IT again. Hopefully for the last time this week!

NOTES: As I said, THE STING has been a favorite now for all these years. 


Arthur and I had known each other for years but this was really the only year we were particularly close at school and this movie was the only place we ever went together.


It was unusual that Velma and Rachel came down because the former was then in her seventies and didn't drive and the latter was about eleven years old. Wonder how they got there at all.

Friday, April 12th, 1974

We got out of school early today and I got a lot of books and mags over the river including a lot of stuff about Linda Blair.

I also got my last EC reprint in the mail.

NOTES: East Coast Comix was a company that set out to reprint the notorious--but by that point classic--EC comics of the 1950's in near-facsimile editions, complete with original ads and letter pages but with some new letters also if I recall. No longer ten cents each, they were now a dollar and available by mail-order subscription. The company was co-run by Bruce Hershenson, now a friend of mine on Facebook. The project lasted from 1973-1976 and only got a dozen issues republished but I, for one, was grateful and amazed!

Thursday, April 11th, 1974

Tomorrow's my last day of school for a week.

I may go see THE STING tomorrow or Saturday.

Tomorrow marks one full year since I last saw Debbie.

All is going well with the job except tonight some obviously "rookie" baseball players creamed a rear window. Again, no real concern of mine but they are very upset and thus so am I. Boy!

Nothing ever seems to go right in my attempts at being normal. Maybe I should just plan on staying different and give up vain hopes of close friends, a good job and a girl. We'll see.

NOTES: THE STING had been out for a few months and I hadn't paid much attention to it but the ragtime music of Scott Joplin had been resurrected due to the success of the film and I bought the theme on 45. It would go on to become probably my favorite film of this era. 

Wednesday, April 10th, 1974

I had a bad day at school.

We didn't get finished at work until very late because two girls decided to work late over there for some reason. When I finally got home, I watched two--or rather parts of two--great TV specials on the tube.

NOTES:

To add a little perspective, here are some highlights in the world of popular music from 1974:

Dylan tours for the first time since his motorcycle accident years earlier.

The Captain marries Tennille.

Cher divorces Sonny.

Kiss releases their first album.

John and Yoko reunite.

The Ramones, Blondie, Cheap Trick, Bad Company, Talking Heads and Van Halen play their first concerts.

Mama Cass dies.

George Harrison tours for the first time since 1966.

Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham join Fleetwood Mac.

ABBA tops the UK charts with contest wining song, Waterloo.