Sunday, August 25th, 1974

IT. I destroyed the mag already.

We went to church where I saw Janet O'Malley, the first of many familiar faces I'll see I guess as school starts up again this next week. Doug had me terribly worried this morning with a remark about school but now I'm convinced it's not so.

I intend to write Dreamsville about Linda instead of Linda herself this time.

Saw Sinatra's LADY IN CEMENT with Raquel on TV today.

NOTES: Dreamsville was a column in some magazine where they supposedly would choose a fan letter and then introduce the fan to the person they were a fan of, in this case me to Linda...I wished.

No clue what Doug had said about school or why I almost bought it.

What a terrible poster! Looks like he's shooting at her! LADY IN CEMENT was actually a pretty good sequel to Sinatra's TONY ROME.

Saturday, August 24th, 1974

IT. I bought a new 60 cent mag for it but I expect to get rid of it soon. In fact, once school starts, I'm hoping IT will never happen again.

I got a BLACK BELT yearbook, SIXTEEN (with Linda pics), a new PEANUTS paperback and Marvel's HITLER mag.

I saw the girl at Fountain. Wish i could see her more often.

I saw RETURN OF THE DRAGON with Terry and his mother. Twice. Actually, she didn't even stay. She paid to take us in, then walked back out. Throughout the picture, everyone was cheering, yelling and applauding. Everyone loved it! It will probably make my Top Ten. I've devoted several pages in my new scrapbook to Mr. Lee now.

I gota  new stapler, too.

NOTES: Wish I still had that new stapler. Mine's missing. 

In a bizarre attempt to...do something, Marvel Comics packaged and published a historical photo magazine based on Adolf Hitler. Hitler was surprisingly popular in this period with several movies related to him and John Toland's award-winning biography just a year or two away.

The folks who ran Fountain News were a family from...somewhere. I thought Mexican at first, then Greek, later Indian. Not sure. All I know is that girl was cuter than cute! She helped out from time to time and later worked the counter often which always made me feel awkward when I was buying the dirty mags.

RETURN OF THE DRAGON was actually not a sequel in any way, shape or form to ENTER THE DRAGON. In fact, it had been made first under the title WAY OF THE DRAGON. It's a minor story with its major setpiece being a duel to the death between Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris--he in his first major role--set in the Roman Colosseum. 

Friday, August 23rd, 1974

Dad came home at noon.

I got several things including the new CINEFANTASTIQUE. It says they're planning a special EXORCIST issue. I couldn't get much, though, even though I got a dollar from OSS.

There was still some girl at work when we went over so I never got to use my radio. Boy!

NOTES: Earlier in the month, back in '74, the number one song was Roberta Flack's "Feel Like Makin' Love." Starting tomorrow, the number one song was, appropriately enough, Paul Anka's "Having My Baby."Unfortunately for the joke, "The Night Chicago Died" by Paper Lace topped the charts in between. 

Thursday, August 22nd, 1974

Didn't get the letters done again.

Doug came up early and we played games until about one.

So far of the two people I had going to the movie with me, I now have four. Oh, well. It's the last time.

Today I saw a Martin-Lewis picture.

Spent the afternoon re-reading all my PEANUTS strip collections.

I saw MANHUNTER again.

NOTES: MANHUNTER was a short-lived TV series with Ken Howard as a Depression-era bounty hunter. Seen above is the pilot as it was eventually released on VHS. The pilot co-starred Stefanie Powers and her then-husband, Gary Lockwood.

My parents had taken me to Jerry Lewis films all my life and I knew Dean Martin from his TV variety series and records on the radio. It was only in the early seventies that I began to become aware that they had been a team. Over the next few years I would learn more and more about them and in time become a big fan of Martin and Lewis.

Earlier this year in 2012, I finally sold all of the PEANUTS books mentioned here.

Wednesday, August 21st, 1974

IT twice. I know I'll have it licked when school starts this next week.

Tomorrow I hope to finish rewriting those letters.

Dad promised to take me to RETURN OF THE DRAGON Saturday.

Terry's not mad at me.

MADHOUSE is on at the Twin. Ack! Too bad.

I finally saw ABC's MEN OF THE DRAGON and they ran a commercial for RETURN OF THE DRAGON. WOW!!!!

NOTES: I know, I know. Too easy. Let's just ignore that accidental double entendre above, okay? Okay. Moving on...

MADHOUSE is a Vincent Price/Peter Cushing/Robert Quarry film that looked great to me but barely played anywhere around here at all! It was cover-featured in FM and came directly on the heels of Price's well-received THEATRE OF BLOOD and yet for some reason, it didn't get booked in this area except at a drive-in way out on the other side of Cincinnati where I had no hope of seeing it. Although not well-liked by many fans, I found it quite enjoyable but that wouldn't be until I found it on VHS about two decades later!

Tuesday, August 20th, 1974

I went to see ANIMAL CRACKERS and it was really funny! Coming back I ran into Terry so I ended up not buying a new dirty mag at Fountain. Terry told me I had missed a lot of good stuff at The Ohio Book Store this morning because I didn't go.

This weekend, I hope to see a movie that's much better than BIG BAD MAMA--the unofficial sequel to my all-time favorite action flick, RETURN OF THE DRAGON with Bruce Lee!! Terry says we might get to see the other film tonight, also. I'm not staying home from work, though.

Well I cracked my previous work record again by finishing in just 23 minutes! I'm mad about one thing, though. Doug saw BIG BAD MAMA two days ago and didn't even tell me until now! I could have went with hi and he knew I wanted to see it! Terry got mad at me on the phone tonight but that's okay because I'm mad at him, too!

NOTES: As religious as his family was, I'm surprised Doug saw the controversial exploitation flick with William Shatner and Angie Dickinson (and Graham Nash's future wife, Susan Sennett!) at all.

ANIMAL CRACKERS was the 2nd Marx Brothers film from way back in 1930 that had at that time been out of circulation for decades. Steve Stoliar, now one of my FB friends, was instrumental in getting it nationally re-released to capacity crowds! As you can see from the flyer above that I picked up that day, it had been on for nearly a week already by the time I saw it. By that point, I knew three of the Brothers Marx from TV but Zeppo was new to me so he fascinated me. I kept waiting for him to be funny, though. 

Monday, August 19th, 1974

An average day. I forgot to finish the letters. Spent the afternoon making a list of my 50 Top Films and anticipating the chance of the one tonight. Only Terry never called. I called him but he wasn't even home. Boy!

I sat my alarm to wake me up at 1 to see Gene Roddenberry, Ray Bradbury and Harlan Ellison. A trio like that I couldn't miss! About the only good thing about today and technically--and literally--it's TOMORROW.

NOTES: Gene Roddenberry, Ray Bradbury and, to a lesser extent at this point, Harlan Ellison (who would come to mean  more to me later) were three of my sci-fi heroes. (Sorry, Harlan--he hates the expression "sci-fi.") This night, they were on the TOMORROW show with Tom Snyder. 

Sunday, August 18th, 1974

After a very hard time deciding which movie to see, Mom, Terry, Doug and I all went to see HOMEBODIES. I didn't really care for it. Boy!

Terry says maybe tomorrow we can go see BIG BAD MAMA with his mother. I'm not too hopeful.

I got FIGHTING STARS and the group and I ate on Fountain Square.

NOTES: HOMEBODIES was shot in an around Cincinnati. It was a very black comedy about a bunch of older tenants who murder their landlord. The cast included only two actors I knew, Ruth McDevitt and Ian Wolfe. Paula Trueman who would go on to a great performance in THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES also appears. We saw it up on the Skywalk which was probably my favorite theater in that year of so many movies. It just wasn't a very good one.

Saturday, August 17th, 1974

We went to see BLAZING SADDLES and we had a great time.

Tonight I found out that the Ludlow isn't supposed to have any matinees tomorrow after Doug and Terry have already agreed to come. Boy!

I got MAD (with an EXORCIST parody) and some other mags.

Lately most things have been going just really wrong. I feel like I need to get away from it for a little while--all the movies and comics that I love so much, the fantastic imagination that I have that dreamed up Arkon, DM and SITUATION SIX, all the songs I love and all the feelings that I hide. I am mature beyond my years and it's not right. I wish I never got hooked on all those marvelous things and that I got average grades and wasn't the bookworm! Maybe then I'd have been interested in cars and sports and normal things and girls might have been interested in me. I'm almost 16 and I've never kissed a girl! I WANT TO!! Mr. Graves once told me I could get anything I wanted if I just tried and I believed him. By this time tomorrow, most of these feelings will have subsided probably. I could never give up comics or movies. They are my very favorite things! I love girls. They just don't love me. But I love comics and movies and they DO love me. I'm glad.

NOTES: Surprised I didn't say more about BLAZING SADDLES as I consider it still to be one of the funniest films ever.

I never bought MAD regularly but I did pick up issues with parodies of movies or TV shows I really liked.

A nice little "poor pitiful me" rant there, right in line with being a teenaged geek I know now. Interesting that I was perceptive enough to realize that the feelings I was feeling were likely to blow over quickly. And come back...and blow over...and come back...

Mr. Graves had been my sixth grade teacher. I had always thought of teaching as a woman's job. He was my first male teacher and ended up as my favorite grade school teacher!

Friday, August 16th, 1974

My horoscope predicted a great day today so I went to bed with great hopes but awoke to a thunderstorm which caused me to miss JEANNIE for the first time since reruns started several months ago. Well!

I went with Terry to Scroggins and King Kwik but didn't get a thing. We ran into David Donner.

No mail today but I wrote FM, Warren, Japan and Linda. Didn't rewrite any of them for mailing yet, though.

There was a bird on my windowsill and it was there for hours. I gave it some bread to eat but it didn't. Some stupid kids tried to get it down. I made a weapon out of a stick and a nylon cord. Kind of  awhip. I was ready to attack them if they messed with the bird again but they didn't. Finally the bird just flew away like there was nothing wrong with it.

I cut myself pretty bad over at SS tonight.

We won't get to see BLAZING SADDLES 'til tomorrow.

Whew! Glad I survived today!

NOTES: Yes, this was in my astrology period. Most teens had them back then. Do they still? Days like this were what got me out of mine. 

King Kwik was our local version of 7-Eleven. Scroggins was the candy store way uptown that had the best selection of comic books.

David Donner was a school acquaintance, more a friend of Doug's than mine. A few years ago, I looked up folks from my Junior High yearbooks online and we found he's a registered sex offender!(Needless to say, I did NOT use his real name.)

I don't remember the bird or the kids but I remember that whip-like thing I made. Yowtch! That nylon really stung if you accidentally hit yourself with it! I kept it in the closet for years and finally added a piece of heavy cylindrical cardboard on the other end making it into a type on nunchuk. 

And yes, I wrote letters in drafts. I rarely mailed the first draft. Sometimes I'd go through multiple laughs and ultimately decide it wasn't working so I just didn't mail the letters at all. So there! The Warren letter I refer to here may have been the letter I wrote to VAMPIRELLA which they ended up actually publishing!

Thursday, August 15th, 1974

I got several more things on Linda including one that's prompted me to write her again tomorrow (maybe). I also ordered LINDA--EXORCIST & BEYOND for $7.00! What it is exactly I'll have to wait and see.

I got FATE & FORTUNE 1 to trade to Terry.

I also got SUPERFAN AGAIN which wasn't nearly as good as the memorable SUPERFAN I got a year or so back.

NOTES: Not sure what FATE & FORTUNE was. There's a magazine called that nowadays but that's clearly unrelated. Not sure what that LInd aBlair thing I ordered turned out to be but I'm shocked I paid that much for it! That was a small fortune in those days!

I DO know what SUPERFAN AGAIN was. I sold it recently in 2012 alng with SUPERFAN. They were MAD-like paperbacks by Nick Meglin and Jack Davis featuring a nebbish who gets super powers and becomes a football hero. Seen here is my original copy, scanned just prior to selling it.

Wednesday, August 14th, 1974

Doug has moved! he wants me to come up tomorrow or sometime soon. He tells me that girl IS Bob's sister. Oh, well. Can't win 'em all. Just wish I could win SOME of these!

I had a terrific dream about Doug, Terry and I attending some big school over in Ohio. Too fascinating to really describe and get across what made it feel so good.

Saw part 2 of THIEF and a very, very moving ABC afternoon special with Patty Duke Astin. I finally saw MELVIN PURVIS, G-MAN, too. And I watched MUSCLE BEACH PARTY again. Made me discover that what used to be my favorite type of movie now seems childish and silly. Boy! I didn't even like it!

Either I mis-numbered or I'm missing two of my SPECIAL COMIC EDITIONS.

NOTES: Not sure how Doug knew she was Bob's sister. Guess if I had a clue who Bob was maybe?

Don't recall where Doug moved to, either. Don't think I ever did go there. Guess we'll find out.

Interesting how tastes change. Seems to me like I always loved the BEACH PARTY movies with Frankie and Annette. Yes, they are silly and childish but...so? This particular one also features Donna Loren who I was privileged to interview a couple of years back, "Little" Stevie Wonder and one of Peter Lorre's very last film appearances. I loved it as a kid, apparently didn't as a teenager, and now I love it again!

Tuesday, August 13th, 1974

IT yet again! Desperately, I destroyed the "inspiration." Maybe that will stop things.

Terry came by this morning to listen to the tape I made yesterday.

We saw Joey Heatherton--with long hair!--on IT TAKES A THIEF, too!

BLAZING SADDLES is gonna be downtown. Hope I can manage to see it, too, this week.

This afternoon, I recorded my thoughts about Debbie and other old girlfriends and crushes but I erased them because they could be embarrassing.

I saw a flick with a suicidal Richard Basehart and one with Angie Dickinson and William Shatner (NOT the one at the Ludlow).

I saw more commercials for upcoming ABC TV movies included the Connie Stevens flick, THE SEX SYMBOL. Should be a terrific season. Wow!

NOTES: Again, I was 15. These earlier crushes and "girlfriends" would have been almost all back when I was 11 or 12. WE WERE JUST KIDS!!! Ah, well. It's all perspective. 

The Basehart movie was 1951's FOURTEEN HOURS, a tense drama. The Shatner/Dickinson film that was NOT the controversial BIG BAD MAMA was most likely the TV film, PRAY FOR THE WILDCATS that had aired for the first time back in January. 

THE SEX SYMBOL was perky Connie Stevens' attempt at doing a serious version of the life of Marilyn or someone like her. It almost worked. When it finally aired, the controversial TV movie was rather explicit for TV with some actual nudity added in for theatrical release overseas.

Monday, August 12th, 1974

IT.

I started reading my SPIRIT collection again.

The Beatles album's really starting to grow on me.

I find myself kind of attracted to the girl next door with the short black hair even though she's obviously a little younger than me and I think she may be Bob's sister. Oh, well. It's not like last summer when that girl lived upstairs. That may have been my chance. I saw her around all the time but never spoke to her.

Made several attempts at radio plays today with me doing all the parts. Even tried the EXORCIST script from that book with me doing all the language! It got tiresome eventually. I ended up making a tape I called NUTHOUSE though. It's just me and portions of records. Not too bad.

NOTES: Wow. I not only have no memory at all of this girl next door but I don't even have a clue who "Bob" was! I do recall the girl from the previous year. She had apparently spent the summer with a relative who lived in one of the apartments upstairs. No one ever introduced me and I certainly never introduced myself but I'd see her around outside, riding off on her bike or walking back from the corner grocery. I doubt I said a single word to her. I remember I still felt like I was building up to that when suddenly she was no longer up there. 

I may still have NUTHOUSE. I know I had it a few years ago but it may have been one of several that got damaged. I was unable to salvage most of them. I definitely did not keep the one man plays I attempted. Probably recorded NUTHOUSE over them.

I still love THE SPIRIT. Even at its worst its better than most comics of its day and the whole thing has perhaps the most unique history of any comics character, also. Long after the terrible recent film version is forgotten, the influence of its source material will endure. 

Sunday, August 11th, 1974

It rained  a lot today.

Mom wet shopping and got me The Beatles' WHITE ALBUM. I only like about half the songs but I'm still glad I've finally got it!

I watched EARTH VS THE FLYING SAUCERS for about the 8th time.

I also saw The Bunny Pageant and a show called THEY'VE KILLED MISTER LINCOLN which gave me lots more facts to use if and when I rewrite SITUATION SIX.

I made a SPIRIT folder with daily strips clipped from THE GAZETTE.

NOTES: THE WHITE ALBUM has never been a favorite of mine. I fall into the category of the folks who think it would have made a truly great single record but no...they self-indulgently had to put out everything.

EARTH VS THE FLYING SAUCERS is Ray Harryhausen's special effects extravaganza. Oddly enough, the reason I had seen it so many times is that they used to show it at school in assembly every year! In grade school. Cheri McAvoy got scared once and buried her face in my shoulder. 

SITUATION SIX was my time traveling tale of Lincoln as villain from the future. 

THE SPIRIT I'm referring to here is the daily strip version as reprinted in THE MENOMONEE FALLS GAZETTE. I clipped them out and taped them in a yellow folder...which I took down from the shelf and scanned just now, 38 years later. For the cover I clipped and colored (badly) an otherwise lovely Walt Simonson rendition of Will Eisner's evergreen hero, also from TMFG.

Saturday, August 10th, 1974

Mom's birthday.

I got a haircut.

Terry and I did one of our "radio" shows. Then I went with him to see THE STING, my best bet to be  my number one movie of the year so far. After all, I saw ENTER THE DRAGON five and a half times last year.

MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN looks like a winner. Also saw previews for HOMEBODIES and got a Marx Brothers poster as well as a book on Academy Award Winners.

NOTES: We of course didn't know it at the time but my Mother would be with us only a little more than seven more years at that point. Sigh. Been without her now longer than I was with her. Had she survived, she would today turn 97.

Terry and I would often turn on my tape recorder and just ad lib radio shows, often complete with songs in between the ad-libbed schtick. Sometimes we'd even use sound effects records. I still have one hour long recording we made that year. Wonder if it was this one?

Friday, August 9th, 1974

It. Twice.

Spent most of the day watching history in the making. It was really something the way it worked. I hope Mr. Nixon gets a fair deal now.

I went over the river but they didn't have anything. I returned empty-handed.

I went uptown with dad and it was neat to see EXORCIST still at the Madison.

I've been seriously considering writing Debbie again. I really, really want a girlfriend!

I re-entered the TV Bloopers contest with the game show question. What President's picture is found on a ten dollar bill? Answer--Alexander Hamilton. Only he wasn't a President! This time I know it's definitely a mistake. I already mailed it. If they get mine first, I get 50 bucks which I'll put in my savings! By this time next year, I WILL be able to afford to meet Linda! Well, if I can ever find out definitely where she's at!

Nixon cut off Roddy on last night's Bicentennial Minute and because it was dated for yesterday specifically, they can't ever run it now. Boy!

I stayed up 'til after 12 to watch Desi Arnaz, Jr. in CALIFORNIA MY WAY. I left for bed, though, after I got to see Desi. Sr and a trip to the movie studios.

NOTES:The Bicentennial Minute was a nightly one minute "show" that aired for a couple years leading up to the actual event in '76. Each night had a celebrity reading a brief remembrance of a major US historical event that occurred on that date. Thus, by missing the date, Roddy McDowall's minute was considered moot. 

Wish I could remember that CALIFORNIA MY WAY. IMDB says it also featured Cass Elliot, Paul Williams, Ross Martin and Desi's former bandmate in Dino, Desi and Billy, Dino Martin. Seen above are Desi Sr and Jr from the special. 

Thursday, August 8th, 1974

It wasn't one of my better ideas but Terry, Doug and his sister and myself all went together to see BORN LOSERS. None of them seemed comfortable around each other.

The picture was good but it did leave me wishing I had seen BILLY JACK when I had the chance. Also it made me sick the way those creeps were pushing everybody around and raping all the girls. Made me so sick I'd probably go after 'em myself but more like Paul Kersey in DEATH WISH than BILLY JACK! Damn!

At work, I broke my own record again. Just about 25 minutes. Of course, there wasn't as much trash as usual.

Mom wanted me to walk over to Becker's but I told her I didn't feel like it. Dad went but was gone over an hour. Mom got so worried I was wishing I had gone but he finally got home just fine.

President Nixon resigned! A sad day for me. He was, in my opinion, the single greatest President of the century!I defended his name all through this Watergate business! But I believe and hope that he is doing the right ting here. The country can't be successfully run by a man who has lost the respect of so many. As for me. I will always have great respect for Richard Milhous Nixon!

NOTES: Ummm....or not. What can I say? I was fifteen and not the most politically conscious kid on the block, y'know? I had had to write a report about Nixon when he had first won a few years earlier (mostly cribbed from LIFE magazine) and later was chosen as the head of the Re-Elect Nixon mock campaign in junior high. With everything that's come out since and everything I've read and heard and learned about the man since, this has long since ceased to be my opinion!

And yikes! Was I saying I'd buy a gun to go after guys like in that movie? For those who don't know, I've been involved in the movement for safer gun laws as an activist and supporter for some years now. 

BORN LOSERS, btw, was NOT a good movie, then or now. It was a cheap, violent expatiation film. Even Tom Laughlin's Billy Jack character had yet to be fully developed. The only reason it was re-released then was to cash in on the later film's surprise success. Actress Jane Russell grabbed a quick paycheck for a brief, thankless role in one of her final appearances on the big screen. Otherwise, the thing I took away from the film was actor Jeremy Slate, so mean in this but, as I learned over the years, adept at all kids of roles from westerns to silly comedies. He was even the hero in THE AQUANAUTS on TV with future Tarzan and Doc Savage Ron Ely. 

Wednesday, August 7th, 1974

I managed to avoid IT today!

Got some new mags and INSIDE COMICS.

The only movies I want to see right now are DEATH WISH, BORN LOSERS and WHITE DAWN. Whether I get to see them or not is something else. THE MAGIC CHRISTIAN is showing uncut at the Alpha. Too bad. I'd love to see that.

Learned that Linda is making a TV flick for NBC called BORN INNOCENT. Should be great! EXORCIST is still at the Madison.

NOTES: The Alpha had been an adult theater that was always getting in trouble in Cincinnati and eventually closed. They reopened for several years as a repertory cinema. A little complicated to get to but in a year or so I figured out the bus routes and was there most every Sunday afternoon.

I never did see THE WHITE DAWN. In fact, I never even recognized the title when I saw that I had written it here. Looks like it was an adventure drama about whalers trapped with an Eskimo tribe. Warren Oates, later a favorite of mine but not yet then, starred. 

Tuesday, August 6th, 1974

I almost avoided IT today but not quite.

I worked some more on my new story.

I watched a very old episode of I LOVE LUCY with George Reeves as Superman! Brought back lots of memories for me even though Reeves committed suicide just after I was born.

I didn't want her to but Mom did my work when two of those dummies next door stayed until after 8:30 and there was a movie on I wanted to see. I went over by 10 but she was almost done with my stuff by then.

SHIRTS/SKINS, though, was one of the best TV movies I've ever seen.

I stayed up to watch FACE OF FU MANCU. Much better than the last Fu Manchu film I saw. This one was really the first Chris Lee one. The other I saw was AGAINST ALL ODDS, about two years ago. It seems as though there was no Fu Manchu movie by that name but I know there was. Maybe I can find out somehow.

NOTES: What was that, like ONE whole day since I assured myself I was now mature enough to avoid IT?


Seems like I had caught the ending of that LUCY episode at a friend's house some years earlier but I think this was the first time I had seen the episode all the way through. If I recall correctly, THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN itself hadn't been seen in the local market since about 1970 or so...a world of time at this age!


I'm glad I enjoyed SHIRTS/SKINS. Wish I could remember the slightest thing about it at this date...including who was in it.

In those pre-IMDB days, I must have turned to some reference book or another to determine the lack of a Fu film with that title...or so I thought. Christopher Lee, then and now a favorite of mine, had starred in 5 tales of the now horribly politically incorrect Evil Oriental Mastermind, all of them pretty cheap and pretty bad. It was 1968's BLOOD OF FU MANCHU, however, that got renamed AGAINST ALL ODDS...and also KISS & KILL...as well as FU MANCHU & THE KISS OF DEATH. None of which apparently helped its box office. 1969's CASTLE OF FU MANCHU was the worst of them all, though. If I'm correct, it was only released in the US a few years later as 3rd feature drive-in fodder.