Pop Culture Chronicles

Mego Men (and other 8 inch Action Figures)

The Mego company just about had the 8 inch action figure market cornered in the 1970s. These were some of my favorite childhood toys. I recall saving my money for the next trip to TG&Y or K-Mart to get another of my favorites--and it was usually a difficult choice.

Mego began with the Action Jackson figures (Mine is still good, but not pictured). He was the quintessential man of action who could be a cowboy, fisherman, motor bike dude, baseball player--you name it---depending upon which clothing and accessory packages you preferred. But Mego branched out, eventually landing the licensing rights to both DC and Marvel heroes. Additional heroes were added to the line each year and Action Jackson was eventually phased out. Pictured are some of my personal childhood collection.

Mego also produced a classic monsters series, but the license for the Universal Pictures versions belonged a company called Azrak Hamway Inc. So the Frankenstein pictured is not actually a Mego.

Mego had other categories as well:

• Planet of the Apes (I have "Soldier Ape, but he is worse-for-the -wear).
• Western Heroes (I have Wild Bill Hickok and Sitting Bull, both of whom are now dismembered but I still got all the parts)  
• Happy Days (I have Fonzie. A lever on his back makes his thumbs go up. Aayyy)
• Starsky and Hutch (Mine are still in excellent condition).
• Our Gang (the Little Rascals) (I didn't even know these existed until last week).
• Star Trek (I've kicked myself for 30 years for not collecting these).

In addition to Starsky and Hutch other TV heroes came in 8 inch versions, but not from Mego. LJN produced the cops from the Rookies (I have Webster and Gillis), the team from S.W.A.T. (I have Deke and the S.W.A.T. van), and the paramedics from Emergency (I have Roy). These well-made figures have withstood the test of time.

I had many hours of fun with these 8 inch people who were such a significant part of my childhood. Of course I had Batman (the original with removable cowl), Robin, and Superman. But these guys are too worn to still be photogenic. 

You can learn more about Mego by visiting the website dedicated to these 8 inch figures. it's called Mego Museum.  

Universal Monsters and Men

As a child I was allowed to stay up late Friday nights to watch classic horror movies. I especially loved the monster movies produced by Universal Studios: Dracula, Frankenstein, Wolfman, and the Mummy. These would air Friday nights at 11:30 on The Plenty Scary Movie, which came to us on cable from KTUL-TV, channel 8, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. We eventually had our own local horror movies in Western Arkansas, complete with horror hosts Dr. Boo and Dummy Mummy. 

Strange as it may sound, when I watch those old black-and-white horror movies today I feel rather cozy and secure--like a child lost in the world of make believe. Here are some fascinating facts about the Universal Monsters and the actors who portrayed them. 

Bela Lugosi: Lon Chaney, Sr. had played both the Phantom of the Opera and Hunchback of Notre Dame in the silent era. He was to be Dracula, but he unexpectedly died before filming began. So Bela Lugosi got the job  in 1931 and set the bar for interpreting the Count. His trademark accent has become a vampire staple. 

It is said that Lugosi turned down the role of the Frankenstein monster. But he did go on to play Ygor in Son of Frankenstein and Ghost of Frankenstein. In 1941 Lugosi was a gypsy in The Wolfman. He finally portrayed the Frankenstein monster in Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman (1943) and reprised his role as Dracula in Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948). 

Boris Karloff: He was the original Frankenstein monster in 1931 and in the first two sequels Bride of Frankenstein and Son of Frankenstein. He did not reprise his role as the monster again until an episode of Route 66 in 1962. Karloff did appear as a mad scientist in House of Frankenstein (1944) and coached Glenn Strange through his performance as the monster. Karloff was also the Mummy in 1931. 

Lon Chaney, Jr.: Chaney, Jr. was the only actor to play all four monsters. Between 1943 and 1948 he played the Wolfman in five movies. He was the Frankenstein monster in Ghost of Frankenstein (1942), Dracula in Son of Dracula (1943), and the Mummy in three sequels from 1942-1946. 

John Carradine: Having turned down the opportunity to be the first Frankenstein monster, Carradine was also considered to be Dracula, but the part went to Lugosi.  Carradine did, however, go on to play Dracula in House of Frankenstein (1944) and House of Dracula (1945). 

Glenn Strange: Better known for his roles as Sam the Bartender on Gunsmoke and Butch Cavendish on the Lone Ranger, Strange was the Frankenstein monster in three movies: House of Frankenstein, House of Dracula, and Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein.    

Maverick

Pictured is a gem I recently purchased at a comic book show. I've been hoping to find an affordable issue of Maverick in decent condition for a long time. If you've been reading this blog, you know I love westerns--especially the TV westerns of the 50s and 60s. While the big screen cowboys are okay, my first love is the TV western whose memorable recurring characters get to seem like old friends. 

Maverick is my favorite western and possibly my favorite TV show of all time. Not your typical horse opera, Maverick had complex plots, witty dialog, comedy relief, a reluctant hero, and excellent acting. 

The comic based on the series lasted 19 issues from 1958 to 1962. The first six issues were a part of Dell Publishing's Four Color series, while the seventh issue was published as Maverick # 7 and the numbering continued from there. Each issue featured photo covers and the one pictured below introduced Bart Maverick to comics (I recently purchased this one at a comic shop sale).  

Bret Maverick (James Garner) was originally to be the only Maverick, until Warner Brothers got behind on production of the TV series. Then Jack Kelly was introduced as Bret's brother, Bart Maverick. So now two episodes could be filmed simultaneously with two separate production crews with respective episodes featuring either Bret or Bart. The Bart episodes would alternate with the Bret episodes Sunday nights on ABC. The brothers would occasionally share an episode. 

Garner left the show after three seasons due to a contract dispute. Kelly continued as Bart and Garner was replaced by Roger Moore who played the Mavericks' British cousin, Beau Maverick. On an earlier episode, Moore had appeared as Jack Vandergelt III, a character very much like the Beau Maverick character. This historical episode was the only one in which Garner, Kelly, and Moore all appeared together. It would be great if someone made available some 8 x 10 stills of the three together from that episode.

Moore played Beau Maverick in only 13 episodes, citing mediocre scripts as his reason for leaving the show. Robert Colbert appeared as Bart's brother, Brent Maverick, in two episodes of Season Four. Publicity photos of Kelly, Moore, and Colbert together and in character still survive. While it was intended that the three appear together in the show, Moore left too soon for that to happen. An episode with Bret and Bart together also aired during Season Four, but was actually a hold over filmed during Season Three. So this makes Season Four the only season in which each of the four Mavericks appeared at least once. Only Kelly returned for the fifth and final season. His new episodes alternated with Garner reruns from earlier years. 

The comics stories always starred whatever Mavericks were currently on the TV show. The artist was Dan Spiegle who visited Garner on the set and took great pains to make his characters look like the actors. 

Maverick has appeared somewhere each decade of the last half of the twentieth century. The original series ran from 1957 to 1962. The 1970s saw a made-for-TV movie, New Maverick, with Garner, Kelly, and introducing Charles Frank as cousin Ben Maverick. His series, Young Maverick ran only 8 episodes on CBS with Garner making a cameo in the first show. 

NBC was the third network to pick up Maverick as Garner returned in Bret Maverick for the 1981-82 season. Kelly made a cameo as Bart in the final episode and would have become a regular player had there been a second season. Kelly also appeared as Bart Maverick in Kenny Rogers' 1991 The Gambler Returns: Luck of the Draw. 

The year 1994 saw the theatrical release of Mel Gibson's Maverick in which Gibson played Bret. Co-stars included James Garner and Jodie Foster. 

So where has Maverick shown up in the 21st century? In 2006, a Bret Maverick statue was unveiled at a ceremony with Garner present in his hometown of Norman, Oklahoma. The Encore Westerns cable network has aired the entire series in chronological order. And of course, Maverick occasionally shows up at a comic shop or show.                                        

Andy Hardy in Movies, Radio, and Comics

When I was a kid, channel 11, KTVT, in Fort Worth, Texas was an independent superstation in the Southwest (They have since become a CBS affiliate). The Monday night late movies each summer were the Andy Hardy series which I discovered one evening by accident. I've since recorded most of the series off TCM.

Anyhow, I immediately fell in love with the Hardy family who lived the American Dream in the quaint little town of Carville. They were decent, moral, and patriotic people.

The first Hardy family movie was A Family Affair in 1937 which centered around Judge Hardy's entire family. The film was so popular it became a series, with much of the cast being replaced for the series. Lionel Barrymore, the first Judge Hardy, was replaced by Lewis Stone, the quintessential Judge Hardy. It wasn't long before teenage son Andy, played by Mickey Rooney in every installment, stole the show. The films then revolved around Andy's misadventures, including girl trouble, car trouble, and various other "jams." Many of the films have the name Andy Hardy in the title. 

In all there were sixteen Hardy films, with the original series from 1937 to 1946, and a sequel in 1958. The series took Andy from high school through college and beyond. After the series' demise, the Hardy family could be heard on radio in 1949-50.

The final Hardy movie, Andy Hardy Comes Home, was in 1958. A grown and married Andy, now an attorney, comes home to Carville after having been away several years. This film was intended to be a revival of the series as the words "to be continued" appeared on screen during the final scene. But the movie was a box office flop failing to capture the magic of the previous series. Andy Hardy is one of those forever young characters who'll forever be frozen in time as a high school or college boy.

So did Andy Hardy ever have a comic book connection? I'm only aware of one Andy Hardy comic bearing Mickey Rooney's likeness. It's a movie adaptation of the 1946 film Love Laughs at Andy Hardy. It was issue # 3 of Fiction House's Movie Comics. I recently saw a copy on ebay with a Buy it Now price of around $100. A mint copy would be worth over 400 bucks. I guess I won't be adding this one to my collection any time soon.

Dell did about six Andy Hardy comics from 1952-54, but the character doesn't look much like Mickey Rooney. Never having read one of these comics, I don't know how closely it resembles the movie series or if Andy had been updated for the 50s.

I have read that Andy Hardy was the inspiration for the Archie character which may very well be one of the legacies of Andy Hardy. One more comic connection: Ann Rutherford appeared in 13 episodes as Andy's high school sweetheart, Polly Benedict, from 1937-1942. Rutherford went on to marry William Dozier, producer of the Batman TV series.

Only a few Hardy movies are available on video, so you might have to try broadcast television. If you've never seen one, I highly recommend them, especially if you're a 40s nostalgia buff like me. As Andy might say, "They're good clean fun."                        

Snow White and the Seven Stooges

Our family watched Snow White and the Three Stooges for a recent family movie night. We got the free DVD by sending in forms from Kellogg's cereal boxes. Our whole family enjoyed the movie. Snow White was played by figure skating's Olympic Gold Medalist, Carol Heiss. It was a musical fairy tale with plenty of ice skating. My wife loves musicals and figure skating. My daughter loves fairy tales. And of course my son and I love the Three Stooges. But this one was a box office bomb. Being short on slap stick, many traditional Stooge fans just would not accept it.

As any serious Stooge fan knows, the Three Stooges lineup evolved several times. Here is a run down:

1) Moe, Larry, and Shemp. (1922-1932) Brothers Moe and Shemp Howard with longtime friend Larry Fine.

2) Moe, Larry, and Curly. (1932-1946) The "classic" and most popular lineup. The heyday of the Stooges in my opinion. Howard brother "Curly" replaces Shemp who leaves the act.   

3) Moe, Larry, and Shemp. (1947-1955) Following Curly's stroke and eventual death, Shemp is persuaded to rejoin the act.

4) Moe, Larry, and Joe. (1955-1958) Following Shemp Howard's death, he is replaced by Joe Besser.

5) Moe, Larry, and Curly Joe (1958-1975) When Joe Besser leaves the act due to his wife's illness, he is replaced by "Curly" Joe DeRita. While other incarnations of the Stooges starred mainly in short subjects, this is the lineup that is best known for six feature films. The "classic" lineup received top billing in only one feature film, "Rockin' in the Rockies."

6) Moe, Harry, and Curly Joe. Well, this lineup never actually made it to film. But after Larry Fine's death, Moe Howard asked Emil Sitka to be the third stooge ("Harry"). Sitka was already affectionately known as "the fourth stooge" due to his numerous appearances in Stooge films, being the only actor to have worked with every single combination of the Three Stooges. But the unexpected death of Moe Howard robbed Sitka of the opportunity to be an official Stooge. Without a Howard brother in the act, and with no originals left, it was thought best to end the Three Stooges.

So if you count Emil Sitka, you could say that there were seven stooges all together. Snow White only befriended three.

The various Three Stooges lineups have appeared in comics through the years. What follows is a Three Stooges cover gallery which celebrates each combination.

In 1949, a publisher called Jubilee (later St. John) published the only two Golden Age appearances of the "classic" Stooge lineup.

      

   

   

In the 1950s, St. John published several issues featuring Shemp as the third Stooge following his return to the act.

The most common comic book version of the Stooges was the lineup with Curly Joe DeRita as the third Stooge. In the 1960s, between Dell and Gold Key, over 50 issues with photo covers of this lineup were produced. The issues in my personal collection include issues 17 and 35. 

 Three Stooges # 35: 

In the late 80s, Eclipse published four 3-D issues of the "classic" Stooge lineup.

In 1989 and 1991, a publisher called Malibu produced two one-shots featuring the "classic" lineup complete with photo covers.

So there you have it! a very abbreviated history of the Three Stooges and their history in comics. Ironically, while Curly Howard was the most popular third Stooge, he only appeared in two issues of all the Golden and Silver Age comics. But modern publishers would not even think of any other lineup.