Christmas at Thanksgiving?

This was Thankgiving weekend, yet the television screen was filled with Christmas movies. NBC aired It's a Wonderful Life the first time this year Saturday and tonight they aired a musical version of A Christmas Carol. On Thanksgiving day itself, TNT showed A Christmas Story. That night ABC showed How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The Hallmark Channel showed nothing but Yuletide films this weekend.

Now don't get me wrong. I love Yuletide movies. Both It's a Wondeful Life and the original Miracle on 34th Street are among my favourite movies. And I have always loved both A Christmas Carol with Alastair Sim as old Ebeneezer and the musical Scrooge. But it seems to me that Thanksgiving weekend is a bit too early for such movies. What is worse is that it seems to me that the various TV outlets show all these holiday movies at Thanksgiving and, then, when the Yuletide itself is upong us, they stop showing them. Oh, one can still expect NBC to show It's a Wonderful Life and TNT to show A Christmas Story. And, of course, TCM will show Christmas movies up through December 25. But those many other TV outlets will simply stop showing Yuletide movies entirely. It seems to me that they are showing the movies at the wrong time.

What is worse to me is that in showing Yuletide movies on the weekend of Thanksgiving, it effectively denies Thanksgiving a character of its own. It seems to me that Thanksgiving is becoming more and more simply an extension of the Yuletide. If it contnues, I rather suspect people will forget about the autumn imagery previously associated with the holiday (corn stalks, pumpkins, fallen leaves) and opt for Yule decorations instead. Further, I have to wonder that Thanksgiving will become less about giving thanks. than it will preparing for Christmas (especially buying presents).

I suppose a lot of this is due to retailers. Sometime in the late 19th century, America's retailers (particularly the big department stores) decided that the day after Thanksgiving marked the beginning of the Chritsmas shopping season. Indeed, the Macy's Thankgiving Day Parade was originally named the Macy's Christmas Parade. And, with the exception of the year that he led the parade, the end of the parade has always marked the arrival of Santa Claus. It seems to me that in modern American society the Chritsmas shopping season has become conflated with the Christmas season itself. Is it any wonder that Americans don't celebrate the Twelve Days of Christmas (the evening of December 24 to the night of January 6) any more?

Anyhow, I suppose that there is little I can do about it, but I wish the various TV outlets would hold off on the Yuletide cheer until at least December 1. Let Thanksgiving be celebrated as Thanksgiving and not as an extension of Christmas. And let the Yuletide remain merry and bright by keeping it in its proper time.

British Imports

Today I read that the British Broadcast magazine selected the best and worst American imports to British television. It got me to thinking how much of my time has been spent watching British TV shows imported to America. British television has a reputation for being of a higher quality than American television here in the States, although I am not absolutely sure that is true. I am sure that they have had their share of bad shows--it's just unlike the U. S. they don't insist on sending them abroad...

Anyhow, I am fairly certain that the first British show I ever saw was The Avengers. I can remember watching it at a very young age. The show centred on John Steed (Patrick Macnee), a spy in service of the British government, and his various partners over the years. When the show debuted in the United States, Steed's current partner was Emma Peel (played by Diana Rigg). I was captivated by Emma Peel, as well as the various strange adventures Steed and Mrs. Peel had. It is one of my fondest childhood memories and still one of my favourite shows.

The Avengers was just one of many British TV shows imported to America in the Sixties. Two of my other favourites were Danger Man (renamed Secret Agent here in the States) and The Prisoner. Danger Man featured Patrick McGoohan as secret agent John Drake, a decidedly different sort of spy. He never carried a gun. He never kissed the girl. And he sometimes wondered about the morality of his profession. The Prisoner also featured Patrick McGoohan, this time as a spy who is abducted and taken to a mysterious place known only as the Village. There his name was taken away and he was give a number--Number Six. The series concerned Number Six's various efforts to escape the Village and foil the plans of his captors. There has always been some debate as to whether Number Six is actually John Drake. I always thought that he was.

With the end of the Sixties the American networks stopped importing British shows. From that time forward British shows only appeared on PBS or local stations. And, for the most part, they were comedies. In fact, Monty Python's Flying Circus may have been one of the earliest British shows I saw. It was also perhaps the funniest sketch comedy show ever made. Indeed, it has had a lasting impact on American pop culture--from "The Lumberjack Song" to the use of the word "spam" for junk email (taken from a skit in which Vikings drown everything out by singing a song about spam...).

The other huge British comedy to come to America in the Seventies was Are You Being Served?. The series centred on the employess of the Ladies' Intimate Apparel and the Gentlemen's Ready-Made departments of Grace Brothers department store. It debuted in 1972 and ran for a total of ten seasons (an amazing run for any show). It is still being rerun to this day. I am guessing that it may well have been the most successful British show of all time. I know KETC reran it for years and I watched it faithfully.

Of my two other favourite British comedies (or Britcoms, as they are called), one is a period piece and one is a sci-fi show. Black Adder followed the various members of that family, through the days of Richard II to the reign of Queen Elizabeth I to the Regnecy period to World War I. In each Black Adder, the protagonist was Edmund Blackadder, a generally conniving and cowardly fellow, who was aided by his none to bright partner Baldrick. I always thought Black Adder was absolutely hilarious, with some very good pokes at history (and rewriting it).

The sci-fi show of which I spoke is Red Dwarf. Red Dwarf centred on Dave Lister, the last human alive. He was an employee aboard the mining vessel Red Dwarf before waking from stasis to learn the rest of the crew was dead and he had been in stasis for three million years. His only companions are Cat, a felinoid being who evolved from the cat he had brought onboard centuries ago, a hologram of his wicked roommate Rimmer, and the android Kryten. Red Dwarf is enjoyable on two levels. First, it can be enjoyed as one of the most outrageously funny comedies ever made. Second, it is actually quite good as science fiction, with some very original episodes. The series is still very popular on both sides of the Atlantic. It ran eight seasons and there is supposed to be a Red Dwarf movie at some point.

There are many more Britcoms that I have enjoyed. Keeping Up Appearances, Coupling (forget that horrible American version ever happened...), The Office. In some ways I think the British may just be better at comedy than we Americans. At any rate, I have always loved British TV shows. I just wish they would import more to the States. It would sure beat more episodes of some reality show...

Thanksgiving

Well, today is Thansgiving. I have fond memories of the holiday from childhood. As a kid Thanksgiving meant two things to me. The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and a turkey dinner. I loved both the parade and the turkey.

I don't know what my earliest memory of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is. I have a vague memory of being a very young child watching the parade and seeing the debut of the new Superman balloon. It was 1967 when the second Superman balloon debuted, which means my earliest memory of the parade is from when I was four years old. Regardless, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade was a well established holiday tradition by then. And I supsect watching it had been a tradition since my family first got a TV set (apparently well before I was born).

The first Macy's Parade was held in 1924. Strangely enough, it was originally called "Macy's Christmas Day Parade," even though it took place on Thanksgiving. By 1927 it was renamed "the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade." During the 1925 and 1926 parades they actually had animals such as elephants and lions and tigers and bears (oh my!). It was felt that the animals frightened little children, however, so that in 1927 they were replaced with the giant helium balloons. Even from the beginning balloons were based on cartoon characters, with Felix the Cat being the first. The other ballons in that first parade were included Felix the Cat, The Dragon, The Elephant and Toy Soldier. Originally the balloons were released after the parade, but this practice was stopped in 1933. The parade was cancelled in 1942, 1943, and 1944 due to World War II, something I still find hard to believe ("They didn't have a parade?!"). The balloons were chopped up and donated to the government to help in the war effort (rubber was in high demand). This means that the original Superman balloon and the original Uncle Sam balloon are pretty much lost to us.

Over the years there have been a number of popular balloons. Mickey Mouse received his first balloon in 1934. The first Superman balloon debuted in 1939 as the first to be based on a superhero and a comic book character. The Golden Age for Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons may well have been from the Fifties into the Seventies. Balloons in the likenesses of Mighty Mouse (1956-1972), Smokey Bear, Popeye (1957-1969), Bullwinkle (1961-1983), Underdog (1965-1984), and Snoopy (1968-1985) all made their debut during this period. I have to admit that I felt a bit disappointed when the older cartoon character balloons were phased out in the Eighties. Indeed, no balloon except the 3rd Superman balloon, Spider-Man, Bart Simpson, and Sponge Bob have appealed to me as much as the old balloons.

Of course, the balloons have not always had it easy. Thanksgiving in New York in 1957 was particularly rainy. As a result water collected in the brand new Popeye balloon's hat and it dump it directly on the spectators below. In 1975 the Undedog balloon collided with a light pole. It seems to me that such incidents were rare until the Nineties when it seemed as if each year brought more reports of balloon accidents. In 1993 a balloon of Sonic the Hedgehog made a less than impresive debut when he knocked over a lamppost. That same year a balloon based on the character Rex from We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story split in two when it hit another lamppost. In 1997 the Cat in the Hat balloon actually knocked a lamppost into a crowd of spectators and injured a woman. As a result, the size of the balloons were restricted to 70 feet high, 78 feet long, and 40 feet wide. The required number of balloon handlers was also increased and Macy's increased the amount of training they received.

I have no idea why there were more balloon disasters in the Nineties than any other year. I have read that they reduced the number of balloon handlers in the Nineties from what they had been earlier. At any rate, it actually seems to me that the quality of the balloons have actually improved. Sponge Bob Squarepants, Charlie Brown, and Uncle Sam are more appealing than most of the characters in the Nineties parades (although they still have that damn Barney balloon...).

Over the years a number of celebrities have appeared in the parade. As early as the Thirties, people like Benny Goodman and Harpo Marx made appearances. In the Fifties Jackie Gleason and Jimmy Durante appeared. To tell the truth, I never paid much attention to the celebrities as a child and I still don't to this day. An exception is the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes. Ever since I was a child I would eagerly await their appearance. I guess even when I was young I could appreciate cheesecake... Apparently, I'm not the only one. I seem to remember that when the Rockettes did their "The Parade of the Wooden Soldiers" (in which the girls dress in soldier outfits--complete with pants) for the parade, they got complaints!


Of course, the mainstay of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade are floats. I really don't have a very good memory for them myself. I remember the mainstays--the Pilgrims and the turkey that flaps it wings. Other than that, I can only remember one float from a Macy's Day Parade. That was the Lord of the Rings float promoting the release of Ralph Bakshi's animated adaptation of the classic from the 1978 parade.

As long as I have been alive, NBC has broadcast the parade. They started doing so all the way back in 1948. As hard as it is to believe, there were two years that it wasn't broadcast on NBC. In 1953 and 1954, CBS aired the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. It returned to NBC in 1955. When I was very young Lorne Greene (Ben Cartwright from Bonanza) and Betty White hosted the parade. They hosted it from 1963 (the year that I was born) to 1972. To tell the truth, to me it still feels like they should be hosting the parade!

Beyond the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, my memories of Thanksgiving are primarily of Thanksgiving dinner. We always had a fairly good sized turkey, with plenty of mashed potatos, pumpkin pie, cranberry sauce, sweet potatos, and many other foods. Mom always had to get up early to have it all ready by noon, which is when we had dinner. When my brother and I were older, we would actually take care of the turkey (they are one of the few things I can actually cook).

As to the rest of the day, it varied as to what we did. When I was really young, the networks and local stations would sometimes show various Thanksgiving oriented specials of the afternoon. One time NBC actually showed a failed pilot, The Hereafter, about a group of old men who sell their souls for youth and rock stardom. I don't really know if it was actually any good, although I liked it as a child. NBC also showed Start the Revolution Without Me one Thanksgiving afternoon. It was the first time I ever saw the movie. I still think it is one of the funniest movies that I have ever seen (I have it on VHS and plan to get it on DVD some day). Curiously, when I was a child, one never saw Yuletide movies and specials on Thanksgiving. Today it seems that there is all that is on. Personally, I liked it better when they didn't show Christmas movies and specials on Thanksgiving--the holiday should have its own character and not be an extension of the Yuletide. Anyhow, we didn't spend all our time watching TV on the holiday. Often my brother and I would go for a walk or simply play of a Thanksgiving afternoon.

I know a lot of people think of football where Thansgiving is concerned. I am not one of them. I like football and I do watch the occasional Rams game, but my parents were not huge sports fans. For that reason, I never have watched football on Thanksgiving. The two just don't go hand in hand to me.

At any rate, I do have very fond memories of Thanksgiving. As much as I loved the Macy's Parade, I ultimately think the time spent with my family was most important. And it was a time to give thanks. I know that I am thankful this year for my family, my friends, and a certain young lady (whom I won't name here). I just hope that others have much to be thankful for as I have.

Terry Melcher R.I.P.

Terry Melcher died yesterday at age 62 after a fight with melanoma. Melcher was a songwriter and a record producer. He was also the son of Doris Day.

Melcher started singing on his own in the early Sixties. Eventually he formed the a partnership with songwriter and future Beach Boy Bruce Johnston. The two formed the group The Rip Chords,who had a major hit with "Hey Little Cobra." The two also recorded as Bruce and Terry. They had two very minor hits with the songs "Custom Machine" and "Summer Means Fun."

In the mid-Sixties Melcher became a record producer for Columbia Records. Melcher produced the first two albums of The Byrds, inluding their hits "Turn, Turn, Turn" and "Mr. Tambourine Man." He would later produce Ballad of Easy Rider, (Untitled), and Byrdmaniax for the band. Melcher was also the original producer of Paul Revere and the Raiders at Columbia. Melcher produced the band's singles and albums well from 1964 to 1967.

As a songwriter, Melcher co-wrote songs with Bobby Darin ("My Mom") and Mark Lindsay of the Raiders ("Just Like Me" and "Ups and Downs"). He also wrote "Him or Me (What's Gonna Be)" for the Raiders and "Kokomo" for the Beach Boys. Melcher also performed on The Beach Boys album Pet Sounds. Melcher made a bit of a comeback in 1974 with a solo album. He was executive producer on his mother's series, The Doris Day Show and helped run her charities.

I have always been a huge fan of both The Byrds and Paul Revere and the Raiders. In fact, I would have to say that Paul Revere and the Raiders are one of my favourite bands of all time. As the man who produced the Raiders' early albums and wrote some of their songs, Melcher had a small role in givng shape to my childhood. I have to say, then, that I am saddened by his passing. It is a shame that he had to pass away fairly young.

The B Westerns of John Wayne

First published in The Old Cowboy Picture Show, July 2001, vol. 5 no. 7

If one were to ask a random person on the street to name a star of Western movies, chances are very good that the reply would be "John Wayne." Even today, twenty one years after his death, John Wayne not only remains one of America's favorite Western stars, but one of its favorite stars, period.

If John Wayne continues to be considered one of America's foremost cowboy stars, it is not without good reason. He first came to national prominence with Stagecoach (1939). With Red River (1948) he became a veritable superstar. Afterwards John Wayne became so identified with the Western that it is hard to conceive him doing anything else. While there can be little doubt that the classic films that John Wayne made with such directors as John Ford and Howard Hawks were largely responsible for his success as a movie star, it is also safe to say that the foundations were laid in a most unlikely place--Western B movies of the 1930s.

Throughout the Thirties John Wayne made a number of B Westerns for various studios, the best known perhaps being those he made for Monogram and Republic. In the majority of these pictures John Wayne received top billing (both as a lone hero and as one of the Three Mesquiteers). In fact, John Wayne was so successful as a cowboy star that he ranked in the top ten of the Motion Picture Herald's poll of favorite B Western stars for three of the years he spent in the field. It is perhaps a measure of his success as a B Western star that over forty of the sixty five movies he made in the Thirties were horse operas.

Despite John Wayne's success in the genre there is very little in his childhood that would have proved him as a future Western star, let alone the Western star. John Wayne was born to pharmacist Clyde Morrison and his wife Molly on May 26, 1907 in Winterset, Iowa (Madison County). While John Wayne's birth name is often give as "Marion Mitchell Morrison" and sometimes "Marion Michael Morrison," his birth certificate gives his name as "Marion Robert Morrison." And while various authors conflict over John Wayne's middle name, there was apparently no conflict in his own mind. When Wayne requested a copy of his birth certificate from the Madison County courthouse, he signed a letter confirming his name was "Marion Robert Morrison." "Marion Robert Morrison" is also the name on his death certificate as well.

Marion Robert Morrison spent little time in Winterset. The economic realities of life in Iowa at the time forced the Morrisons to move several times in the first seven years of young Marion's life. In 1914 they left Iowa entirely and headed to California. There in an arid basin called Antelope Valley, Clyde Morrison tried farming. To a large degree Antelope Valley was still "the Old West." The area still depended on gas for lighting and outhouses were more common than indoor plumbing. Antelope Valley even looked like the Old West--it was a dusty area filled with wild game.

Oddly enough, the man who would later become America's foremost Western star initially hated the West. Young Marion disliked the gas lighting in his family's house and hated the rattlesnakes that haunted the outdoors. Even his first experience with a horse was a less than pleasant memory. He had to ride to school in the nearby town of Lancaster on a horse afflicted with a disease that kept it rail thin.

Fortunately the Morrisons did not remain in Antelope Valley long. In 1916 they moved to Glendale where Marion Morrison would have fonder memories of the West. It was there that he would first encounter the Western movies of Harry Carey Sr. Carey's performances would have a lasting impact on Morrison---of the cowboy stars of the early silent era, Marion Morrison found Harry Carey Sr. to be the only one who was totally convincing. It should come as no surprise that John Wayne patterned many of his own mannerisms after those of Harry Carey Sr. The cinema was not the only place young Morrison was exposed to the "Old West." A voracious reader, among Marion Morrison's favorite books were numbered the Westerns of Zane Grey.

It was also in Glendale that Marion Morrison befriended Bob and Bill Bradbury (Bob would later become famous as cowboy star "Bob Steele"). Their father, Robert North Bradbury, directed commercial shorts and would later direct John Wayne in Monogram B Westerns.

It was also about this time that Marion Robert Morrison became "Duke." He had never particularly cared for the name "Marion," which was the source of much teasing from other boys. As a twelve year old Marion threw newspapers and often took his Airedale, Duke, along with him on his route. One of his stops was the fire station, where the fireman jokingly called the dog "Big Duke" and young Morrison "Little Duke." Morrison liked the nickname and claimed it as his own.

At Glendale Union High School young Morrison participated in several school activities. He was a member of the dramatic society and was even chosen to represent the school at the Southern California Shakespeare contest. It would be his place on the football team, however, that would lead him to acting. Duke Morrison received a football scholarship to the University of Southern California, where he was one of the team's tackles. Hollywood regularly depended upon the USC football team for extras in the popular college melodramas of the day. Duke Morrison's first appearance on film was then while he was at USC. In Brown of Havard he doubled for Francis X. Bushman as a football player.

Duke Morrison found there was money to be made both working odd jobs at the studios and as an extra in movies. In the summer of 1926 he served on his first Western, The Great K and A Train Robbery with Tom Mix. Duke Morrison was an extra on the film and a prop boy as well. It was also around this time that Morrison met and befriended director John Ford. While Morrison would play a few bit parts in Ford's films of the time, it would be years before Ford would use Wayne in any important roles in his films.

After 1927 Morrison appeared in various films as an extra until he finally received a billing in Words and Music in 1929 (where he was billed as "Duke Morrison"). What could have been his big break came in 1930 when director Raoul Walsh cast him in the lead role of his Western epic The Big Trail. Raoul Walsh was already a bit of a legend in Hollywood. In 1929 he directed the first "Cisco Kid" movie, In Old Arizona, which was also the first Western with sound. Walsh taught Morrison how to ride (although it was with an "Indian slouch") and how to move convincingly. Walsh also gave Duke Morrison a new name--"John Wayne."

Unfortunately for the newly named John Wayne, The Big Trail would fail at the box office. Walsh's Western epic was an early example of a movie shot for wide screens on a 70 mm cameras. Concurrently it was also shot on 35 mm camera for the standard movie screen of the time. Naturally the 35 mm version lost a good deal of the picture and as a result much of The Big Trail's visual impact. This worked against The Big Trail at the box office as the vast majority of theatres showed the 35 mm version. After all, the Depression was well under way. Most theatres had only recently converted to sound. and, with little money to spare, could not afford the technology needed to show 70 mm films. With The Big Trail'sfailure at the box office it would be years before John Wayne would have a major role in a major motion picture.

In 1931, following the failure of The Big Trail, John Wayne signed a five year contract with Columbia Pictures. It was here that John Wayne appeared in his first B Westerns, although in the beginning it appears that he was intended for other things. John Wayne's first film was Men Are Like That (also known as Arizona), an adventure melodrama with Wayne as an army lieutenant and Laura La Plante as his former girl friend. It would be the casting of Wayne and La Plante that would inadvertently lead to Wayne's roles in Columbia B Westerns according to one apocryphal story. Supposedly Harry Cohn, the notorious head of Columbia Pictures, had more than a passing interest in La Plante. When rumors that Wayne and La Plante were having an affair reached Cohn, the studio head resolved to "punish" the young actor. Perhaps significantly, John Wayne's next role was that of a corpse in The Deceiver (1931).

Whether or not the story of a jealous Harry Cohn is true, John Wayne soon found himself playing secondary and even tertiary roles in Columbia oaters. Range Feud (1931) marked John Wayne's first appearance in a B Western. He received second billing to Buck Jones, playing one of Buck's friends who is falsely accused of murder. While Wayne's role in Range Feud was substantial and it was a fairly good B Western, it was not the start of a promising B Western career at Columbia. The Duke received only fourth billing in the Tim McCoy Western Texas Cyclone (1932), a movie which also marked Walter Brennan's first appearance on film. In Two Fisted Law (1932), another Tim McCoy Western, Wayne was reduced to little more than an extra, even though he received credit for his role.

Concurrent with and subsequent to John Wayne's work at Columbia, he made three serials at Mascot and a film at Universal. It was while working on the serials at Mascot that Wayne would meet Yakima Cannutt, the stuntman extraordinaire who would have a huge impact on Duke's future career. After Columbia did not renew his contract in 1932, it was not long before John Wayne signed with Warner Brothers. Warner Brothers had decided that it could make cheap, cost effective B Westerns by recycling clips from old, silent Westerns starring Ken Maynard. Maynard was perhaps the best trick rider in Western films of the silent era and his horse, Tarzan, was considered to be the best in the business. All Warner Brothers needed was a tall, handsome actor to substitute for Maynard and a magnificent horse to substitute for Tarzan. John Wayne provided the actor. Duke "the Devil Horse" provided the horse.

In all John Wayne made six B Westerns at Warner Brothers. Some were outright remakes of Ken Maynard films, though all of them used footage from Maynard's silent movies. In most of the films John Wayne played a character whose name was "John" and in each one Duke "the Devil Horse" played a significant role. The plots varied a bit in these movies. In The Big Stampede (1932) Wayne played a deputy who must stop cattle rustlers. In Haunted Gold (1932) John Wayne's character found himself in a ghost town with a real ghost! In Man from Monterey (1933) Wayne played a hero who must save a family ranch from land grabbers. Over all John Wayne's Warner Brothers B Westerns were enjoyable fare, with light humor and sometimes interesting plot twists.

Following his stint with Warner Brothers John Wayne signed a contract with Monogram. There he would make sixteen B Westerns for the studio's Lone Star label. Monogram could probably best be described as the bargain basement of Poverty Row and they made movies on a very thin shoestring. Often their films were regarded as little more than junk, although there were exceptions. Many of the series which Monogram produced still attract viewers today--everything from the Bowery Boys to Charlie Chan. Similarly, they produced a number of enjoyable B Westerns featuring such stars as Tex Ritter, Bob Steele, Buck Jones, and Johnny Mack Brown, among others. John Wayne's Lone Star Westerns were among these exceptions.

That John Wayne's B Westerns at Monogram were better than the studio's average product can largely be attributed to the team that usually worked on them. Robert North Bradbury, father of Bill and Bob (Steele) Bradbury, directed many of the pictures. Bradbury had long been in the business and his experience can be seen in his Monogram B Westerns. The camera man on most of the films was Archie Stout. Stout had shot Cecil B. DeMille's Ten Commandments (1923). Later he would win an Academy Award for his work on The Quiet Man (1952). But in the depths of the Depression he was forced to work on B movies. Despite the low budgets of the films, Stout's talent could still be seen on the screen. Finally there was Yakima Cannutt. Cannutt was a real life cowboy and a rodeo champion. By the time of John Wayne's films with Monogram, Cannutt was already well on his way to becoming the most famous stuntman of all time. He would revolutionize stunt work, instituting many of the safety procedures still observed today and inventing many devices which made stunts safer while keeping them convincing. As might be expected, Cannutt co-ordinated the action sequences on Wayne's Monogram Westerns.

Cannutt would also join Harry Carey Sr., Raoul Walsh, and Zane Grey as one of the man who had an impact on John Wayne as a Western star. Cannutt taught Wayne how to ride without the "Indian slouch" he had picked up from Raoul Walsh. Cannutt also taught Wayne how to stage a fight and perform other stunts convincingly. Indeed, Duke observed how Cannutt walked and how Cannutt talked. Wayne would even try to deliver his lines in the same low, slow, strong way Cannutt actually talked.

As shocking as it might seem today, Monogram initially wanted to use John Wayne as a "singin' cowboy" in a series of films featuring him as "Singin' Sandy Saunders." It should come as no surprise that the idea was probably doomed from the start. Wayne had always disliked the idea of singin' cowboys as it seemed to him to be unrealistic--cowboys in the Old West simply did not ride from town to town singing songs. This may have been the reason Wayne looks so uncomfortable in the scenes in which he had to "sing" in Riders of Destiny (1933), the only Singin' Sandy movie made. As it was John Wayne could not sing well and so his voice had to be dubbed for the scenes in which he sung. As to who dubbed Wayne's singing voice in Riders of Destiny, this has been a source of some controversy. Some claim that it was Robert North Bradbury's son and Bob Steele's brother Bill Bradbury. Others believe it was bandleader Smith Ballew. Still others think that it was Jack Kirk. The one thing on which everyone agrees is that Wayne did not do his own singing.

Despite the "singin' cowboy" concept, Riders of Destiny was a promising start for Wayne's Monogram career. While the movie is somewhat cliched and predictable, it featured some impressive camera work on Stout's part and some fine direction on Bradbury's part. For the most part Riders of Destiny is typical of Wayne's Monogram Westerns--entertaining if somewhat predictable movies with occasional touches of brilliance. Sometimes the pictures even featured inventive twists on the typical Western plot. For instance, The Dawn Rider sets up a love triangle between the hero, his best friend, and girl whose brother killed the hero's father! Wayne's Monogram Westerns also featured some interesting casting at times. In The Star Packer (1934) George "Gabby" Hayes (who appears in most of the movies) took a rare turn as a villain. The Trail Beyond (1934) featured both Noah Beery Sr. and Noah Beery Jr.

The Lone Star Westerns John Wayne made at Monogram also established Duke's screen persona so familiar to viewers today. John Wayne already moved with a rolling walk, already made the small but powerful gestures with his hands when emphasizing a point, and already spoke in that slow, strong voice. The heroes John Wayne played in the Lone Start B Westerns differed little from the heroes he played in A Westerns made for the major studios. The typical John Wayne hero of the Monogram B Westerns was generally a loner, strong of heart and strong of body. Not one for small talk, he was the man of action who defended the innocent and meted out justice to evil doers.

And even as early as the Lone Star B Westerns it was evident that the John Wayne screen persona appealed to audiences. When the Motion Picture Herald reviewed Blue Steel (1934), Wayne's fifth film for Monogram, it commented, "Of Wayne's popularity there can be little question, and a certain quota of Western fans can be relied upon to respond to the call of the Wayne name on the theatre marquee."

Despite the success of the John Wayne B Westerns, Monogram was not faring well in the mid-Thirties. With many of their other features failing at the box office, the studio was deep in debt. In order to survive Monogram merged with Mascot and Consolidated Film Industries to form Republic Studios in 1935 (Monogram would later regain its independence, but that's another story for another time...). For John Wayne the merger changed very little as he continued ot star in B Westerns for the new studio. He still worked with Bradbury, Stout, and Cannutt. One thing that did change was the budgets of the movies, which was generally larger. Wayne's first film for Republic, Westward Ho (1935), cost $34,0000.

The scripts for the Republic B Westerns differed very little from those of the Monogram B Westerns. With the United States still in the Depression it was fashionable to use big businessmen, bankers, or lawyers as villains in films. Lawless Range (1935) used the time honored plot of ranchers being forced off their land, this time by a crooked banker. In Winds of the Wasteland (1936) John Wayne played a former Pony Express rider who must compete with a crooked stagecoach operator for a government contract. In The Lawless Nineties (1936) a big rancher attempted to stop a territory from attaining statehood. With regards to casting, of particular interest is Ann Rutherford's appearances in there of the Republic B Westerns: The Lonely Trail (1936), Lawless Nineties, and Oregon Trail (1936). These are among her earliest appearances on film.

Over all, the movies John Wayne made at Republic from 1935 to 1936 were very well received. In all likelihood "John Wayne" was already a household name in the Southwest and the Midwest where Westerns were popular. In 1936 John Wayne ranked 7th in the Motion Picture Herald's poll of the most popular B Western stars. Even The New York Times took notice of John Wayne--their lead critic of the time, Bosley Crowther, praised The Lawless Nineties.

Despite his success, John Wayne was probably eager to move onto major motion pictures and may well have wanted a change of pace. It may have been for that reason that John Wayne signed a contract with Universal in 1936. The studio planned to star Wayne in acton movies which fell somewhere between A and B movies. Unfortunately none of the films succeeded at the box office.

On the one hand Universal's series of action movies probably failed because of more expensive, upscale acton films from larger studios. After all this was the Golden Age of action movies, when The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Lives of a Bengal Lancer, Mutiny on the Bounty, and many other classic action films were released. Too expensive to be considered B movies and too modest be considered A movies, Universal's series of action films simply could not compete. On the other hand, it is possible that Wayne's position as a B Western star played a role in the failure of the Universal acton films. Most of the people who knew who John Wayne was knew him as a B Western star. Perhaps they simply did not want to see him as a newsreel cameraman in I Cover the War (1937) or a pearl diver in Adventure's End (1937). It could be that Wayne's fans wanted him back on the range.

If that was the case, they soon got their wish. In 1937 Wayne made a B Western at Paramount, Born to the West with Johnny Mack Brown, before returning to Republic. Republic put John Wayne to work on their Three Mequiteeers series of movies. The Three Mesquiteers series was based on a series of novels by William Colt MacDonald and featured three friends, Tuscon Smith, Stony Brooke, and Lullaby Joslin, who constantly got into and out of scrapes. Both RKO and First National had made Mesquiteers films, but Republic took the idea and ran with it. From 1936 to 1943 the studio made fifty one Three Mesquiteers movies.

For the most part Republic's Three Mesquiteers series took place in the contemporary West. And nearly every one of the films followed a definite formula. Stony, Tuscon, and Lullaby would ride into a town, become entangled in that town's problems, and would have to solve the town's problems before they could leave. Stony was the handsome leading man wo often found himself engaged in a rivalry over some girl with Tuscon, the daredevil of the group. Lullaby provided comedy relief as a ventriloquist who had a dummy named Elmer.

John Wayne replaced Robert Livingston as Stony Brooke on the series. On the one hand there was sometimes discord between Livingston and Crash Corrigan, who played Tuscon, on the set. It was hoped that by replacing Livingston with Wayne that it would bring a bit more peace to the proceedings. On the other hand, Republic wanted to star Livingston in bigger budget, A movies. Of course, to do so would mean recasting the role of Stony Brooke. As a well known cowboy star, John Wayne must have seemed like the perfect choice.

As mentioned earlier, the Three Mesquiteers followed a definite formula that varied little from film to film. In Pals of the Saddle (1938), Wayne's first Mesquiteers movie, the trio rescue a girl on a runaway horse. It turns out that the girl is really a government agent investigating the smuggling of monium (a chemical used to make poison gas) into Mexico. Naturally the guys must help her out. In Santa Fe Stampede (1938) the Three Mesquiteers must help a man falsely accused of horse theft and Stony is implicated in a murder. Of particular interest to film buffs is Overland Stage Raiders (1938). Although not one of the best Mesquiteers movies, it is the last appearance of silent screen siren Louise Brooks on film.

The Three Mesquiteers movies made a good deal of money for Republic. And they continued to be quite popular with John Wayne as Stony. In the 1938 Motion Picture Herald poll of favorite B Western stars, the Three Mesquiteers ranked 5th. Unfortunately, John Wayne did not particularly care for the Three Mesquiteers films. Wayne told writer Maurice Zolotow that the movies were "horrible monstrosities."

For Wayne, then, it was fortunate that his old friend John Ford offered him the part of the Ringo Kid in Stageecoach (1939). Stagecoach has sometimes been characterized as a "B Western," although this hardly seems the case. Stagecoach was shot on a budget of $546,200, slightly more than the average B movie of the time. More importantly, its plot was in no way typical of B or even A Westerns of the period. In many respects Stagecoach was closer to movies of the Grand Hotel genre (Ship of Fools, Rules of the Game, and, of course, Grand Hotel are examples of this genre), in which a group of strangers are thrown together for a brief period of time in which whatever pretensions they might have are exposed.

Not only was Stagecoach not a B Western, but it did not spark the rebirth of the A Western as many have supposed. The year 1939 saw the release of many A Westerns (Destry Rides Again, Jesse James, and Dodge City to name a few), some of which were in production before Stagecoach. While Stagecoach alone did not revitalize the A Western, however, it did revitalize John Wayne's career. Many of the film's reviews praised Wayne's performance. Variety said of Wayne that he showed "talent hither to only partially used." Of course, much of Stagecoach's success at the box office might have been due to John Wayne's career as a B Western star. Audiences in the West and Midwest, familiar with Wayne's many horse operas with Monogram and Republic, may have flocked to the new Western featuring their hero.

One would think that John Wayne's bosses at Republic would take advantage of his new found success by casting him in A movies. Instead they sought to capitalize on his success with four more Three Mesquiteers films. These new entries in the series differed little from previous ones. In each the Three Mesquiteers became wrapped up in the problems of a community and must solve those problems to extricate themselves. In Three Texas Steers (1939) the Mesquiteers must help a circus owner save the ranch she owns. In New Frontier (1939), Wayne's last Mesquiteers film, they become involved in a land swindle.

These new Three Mesquiteers films did differ from previous entries in one major respect--John Wayne's role was expanded to take advantage of his success from Stagecoach. No longer were the Mesquiteers equal partners; Stony Brooke was now indisputedly the main character and the other two little more than sidekicks.

Like previous entries in the series, these new Mesquiteers movies are interesting to watch for their casts. Up and coming star Carole Landis appeared in Three Texas Steers. Phyllis Isley, who would later become famous as Jennifer Jones, appeared in New Frontier.

While Wayne described the Three Mesquiteers movies as "horrible monstrosities," in their defense it must be said that they were generally harmless, enjoyable pieces of fluff. Although they depended on a definite formula, most of the Mesquiteers pictures can still be enjoyed today for the interplay between Tuscon and Stoney and the antics of Lullaby. Regardless, fans certainly enjoyed the series in 1939. In the Motion Picture Herald's poll for that year, the Three Mesquiteers ranked 6th and John Wayne alone ranked 9th.

Regardless, John Wayne still disliked the series and wanted to move onto other things. John Wayne approached Herbert Yates, head of Republic Pictures, with the idea that Wayne would become the studio's A film star. While Wayne would continue to make movies for Republic, he would also be free to make films at other studios as well. Yates agreed and so ended Wayne's days in B movies.

That is not to say that for the rest of his career Wayne would only appear in major motion pictures on the big screen. With the advent of television John Wayne would make the rare cameo on a TV show--he appeared in both The Beverly Hillbillies and Laugh In. With regards to Westerns, John Wayne introduced the first episode of Gunsmoke, which debuted on September 9, 1955. John Wayne also made a cameo on old friend Ward Bond's TV series Wagon Train. In the episode "The Colter Craven Story" (first aired November 23, 1960), Wayne appeared as General William Tecumseh Sherman. Although shot in shadow, it is recognizably John Wayne.

In all John Wayne spent nearly ten years making B Westerns. Of the over sixty five films Wayne made between 1930 and 1939, the vast majority were horse operas. While today it is often fashionable to credit Wayne's success as a cowboy star to the films of Howard Hawks and John Ford, it seems likely that much of the success was due to the B Westerns he made in the Thirties. After all, "John Wayne" was already a familiar name to fans of B Westerns in the West and Midwest by the time he made Stagecoach. It seems possible, perhaps even likely, that these fans would still follow John Wayne even as he moved to major motion pictures. The fans who enjoyed Rainbow Valley (!935) and King of the Pecos (1936) as children may well have flocked to see Red River (1948) and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) as adults. The possibility that John Wayne's success in B Westerns led to his success in A Westerns seems all the more likely when one considers that the basic "John Wayne" persona was largely developed in his B Western career. Howard Hawks' Red River and John Ford's Westerns would further shape the "John Wayne" persona and the persona would vary a bit from film to film. But the fact remains that there is not too much difference between the stern, young loner John Brant in Sagebrush Trail (1933) and the stern, older loner Tom Doniphan in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962).

Even if the B Westerns John Wayne made in the Thirties cannot be credited with much of the success he had in later major motion pictures, they are fine examples of the B Western genre. In particular, the Monogram horse operas show how a talented director (Bradbury) and a talented stunt co-ordinator (Cannutt) could rise above extremely low budgets and create what were largely entertaining products. Even if John Wayne had not become a Western superstar, his B Westerns would still be worth seeing.

Action Movies of the Sixties

A while back Men's Journal surveyed its readers for the top action movies of all time. They recently conducted another survey to add 25 more actions movies to their list. I'm not going to discuss their lists here, although I don't entirely agree with them. What I do want to discuss is the fact that I was born in the midst of what I consider the Golden Age of the Action Movie. In both the UK and the United States, some of the greatest action movies of all time were made in the late Fifties into the Sixties. I grew up watching many of these movies on television. Indeed, most of them are still aired regularly on local stations and cable channels alike.

I have no idea what the first action movie I ever saw was, but I suspect that the odds are good that it was one of the films I discuss below. Indeed, I know that I saw The Great Escape when I was very young. Indeed, the film was released the year that I was born--1963. It was one of a number of all star action films made in the Sixties, featuring a cast that included Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough, James Garner, Charles Bronson, James Coburn, and many others. Directed by action films master John Sturges, the film was based on the many real life escapes from Nazi prisoner of war camps that took place during World War II. In many ways it is the perfect action movie. Technical advisor Wally Flood insured that The Great Escape had an authenticity that few World War II films have had before or since. The film was shot on location in Europe, adding to its authenticity. All of the characters are well developed and the movie features some of the best performances ever seen in an action movie. The movie also benefited from a great premise--a mass escape from a POW camp to tax Germany's resources as much as possible. The Great Escape moved at a great pace, with some of the best excecuted action sequences ever created on film. Indeed, Captain Hits' (Steve McQueen) ride on the motorcycle is hard to forget.

Another great World War II film from the same era is The Dirty Dozen. Released in 1967, The Dirty Dozen had a premise that was then starkly original--a squad of hardcases are brought together under the command of Major John Reisman (Lee Marvin)with the goal of sending them on a suicide mission against the Nazis. The Dirty Dozen was another all star affair, starring Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, and others. The Dirty Dozen unfolds perfectly, taking the dozen misfits through their training through their mission. In doing so, we get to see most of the convicts evolve from misfits into men with their own sense of honour (the psychopathic Archer J. Maggott, played by Telly Savalas being the exception). While less authentic than The Great Escape and other World War II films, The Dirty Dozen makes up for this with some of the best action sequences of its time. Indeed, director Robert Aldrich, coming off What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? and Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte, was still at the top of his game.

Of course, as good a job as Aldrich did with The Dirty Dozen, John Sturges is arguably the great action director of the era. Prior to The Great Escape he directed another great action film, the Western The Magnificent Seven. The Magnificent Seven was Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, and it does fall short of that film's greatness, but that does not make the film any less a classic. Like The Great Escape, The Magnificent Seven features an all star cast, with Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn, and James Coburn in key roles. The plot is more or less the same as Seven Samurai--a helpless village at the mercy of bandits hire seven warriors to help them fight back. Like both Seven Samurai and The Great Escape, character development is key to this movie. Each character has his reasons for helping the villagers and some even have their own demons with which they must deal. The movie features some of the best performances in any action film or any Western. The climax is among the best of any action film or Western. While it does fall short of the original Seven Samurai (and what film could hope to match it, short of Citizen Kane?), it is still very much a classic.

While many think of the action movie as a Hollywood phenomenon, it was a British film that started the Golden Age of Action Movies in my mind. The Bridge on the River Kwai was based on the novel by Pierre Boule (who also wrote Planet of the Apes) and directed by British director David Lean. Its cast included such worthies as William Holden, Alec Guiness, and Sessue Hayakawa. The Bridge on the River Kwai is not a typical action film by any means, being more a battle of wits than a battle of guns. During World War II Colonel Saito (Sessue Hayakawa)of the Japanese military has been ordered to build a bridge over the river Kwai. To do so he uses prisoners of war, a situation not particularly to Colonel Nicholson's (Alec Guinness) liking. As Nicholson eventually develops an obsession with building the bridge, a group of commandos led by British Maj. Warden (Jack Hawkins) and guided by the American Shears (William Holden) are set to stop the bridge from being built at all costs. The Bridge on the River Kwai has less action than many of its succssors, but it has just as much suspense and excitement, largely due to the great performances of the actors. It set the standard for many of the action movies to come.

I really can't say when the Golden Age of Action Movies ended. It seems to me that it lost momentum throughout the Sixties, just as Hollywood lost ground to independent films. I am thinking, then, that 1969 might be the point at which the Golden Age ended. At any rate, the films made during this era would be remembered. Many of them (such as The Great Escape and The Magnificent Seven) were aired once a year on network television when I was young. And it is with good reason that these films are remembered. They did not simply offer action and excitement. They were about more than the thrill of violence. These were films that featured men who became heroes, even though they may have been something much less in the beginning. The Magnificent Seven grow to admire and the love the villagers and find honour in defending them against an impressive foe. The men of The Great Escape realise that they may well be recaptured or even killed, but they go through with their escape out of a sense of duty, a sense of patriotism, anda sense of honour rarely seen in movies today. It is not so much the exciting action scenes that draw viewers back to these films again and again, but the heroism they portray.

Yuletide in August

My sister told me the other day that she heard Christmas carols while at WalMart. It seems to me that each year stores want to roll out Yuletide cheer earlier and earlier. I know that WalMart had their Christmas decorations out as early as August, although at that point they were in an out of the way part of the store. And, of course, Holiday themed commercials are already running on television.

Of course, I can realise the desire of stores to put out the Yuletide decorations they have for sale before December. After all, I can understand that the average person, myself included, might wish to buy their decorations well before the Holidays arrive. After all, not many people care to wait until the last minute. But it seems to me that August is a bit too early. As for Christmas carols playing in stores and Holiday themed commercials running on television in mid-November, that just seems far too early to me for that kind of thing.

As I see it, displaying Christmas goods too early and, worse yet, playing Christmas carols and so on too early has at least three detrimental effects on our winter celebrations. First, it seems to me to some degree Thanksgiving could lose its own character. I can remember growing up that Thanksgiving meant the Macy's Parade, a huge turkey dinner, and giving thanks for what we have. As the years have gone by, however, it has simply become more and more the start of the "Holiday shopping season." If this trend continues, I can see Thanksgiving ceasing to be a holiday of its own and becoming merely an extension of the Yuletide. Second, part of what make the Yuletide special to me is that it only comes one time a year. Indeed, traditionally it was celebrated for 12 days--from the evening of December 24 to the evening of January 6. The Holidays were then a special time of year, little less than two weeks, to which one could look forward. With stores putting out their Christmas gear and playing carols earlier and earlier, the Yuletide seems to be in danger of losing that special quality it has. Third, I have heard a lot of people complaining the past several years of being sick of Christmas by December 15! While I cannot ever say that I have ever been sick of Yule, I can understand their feelings. The past several years the average person has been bombarded with Yuletide imagery and Yuletide sounds at least since November 1. It is perhaps natural if some people then grow weary of the holiday before it even arrives!

Loving Yule as I do, I wish that the stores would cease celebrating the holiday two months before it has even gotten here. I think it would please most people if they did not put out their Yuletide wares until after November 1 and they did not play Yuletide songs until after December 1. I also think that the various television outlets should hold off on any Holiday themed commercials until after December 1. I think this would please most people. It would preserve the identity of Thanksgiving as a holiday of its own and it would help preserve the specialness of the Holiday season. I can't see anyone saying that they are sick of Christmas then.

Harry Lampert R.I.P.

Harry Lampert died Saturday, November 13, after a long battle with cancer. He was 88 years old. I suppose many of you are probably wondering who Harry Lampert was. Well, along with Gardner Fox, Lampert created The Flash back in 1939. The character made his debut in Flash Comics #1, January 1940. The Flash was scientist Jay Garrick, who after being ingesting heavy water and other chemicals, discovered he could ran exceptionally fast. The character proved to me one of the most popular superheroes of the Golden Age of comics. Lampert derived his inspiration for The Flash from Greek mythology, drawing upon the super fast god Hermes. The Flash even boasted a winged helmet and wings on his boots. As a testament to the character's lasting popularity, it was a new version of The Flash (this time around The Flash was Barry Allen) that sparked the Silver Age of comics in 1956.

Before creating The Flash with Gardner Fox, Lampert had worked at Fleischer Studios. There he worked on such classic cartoon characters as Betty Boop and Popeye. At All-American Comics and National Comics (the companies that would become DC), Lampert also created The King and Red, White, and Blue. During the Second World War and following it, Lampert worked for years as a gag cartoonist. His cartoons appeared in Esquire, The New York Times, The Saturday Evening Post, and Time. He also founded an advertising firm, the Lampert Agency, and taught at the School of Visual Arts.

Although most people probably do not recognise the name "Harry Lampert," I think it is safe to say that he has had a lasting impact on pop culture. Through various incarnations, The Flash has remained one of the most popular superheroes. In fact, Lampert's creation--the original Flash--can still be seen in the pages of JSA each month. Only a few comic book characters have had that kind of lasting power.

Help!

Last week I managed to win The Beatles movie Help! on DVD on EBay. It arrived yesterday and I watched the film for the first time in literally years. Help! has often been comapared to The Beatles' first film, A Hard Day's Night. In fact, it has often been considered inferior to that first movie. I am not sure that such comparisons are fair myself. While both movies were directed by Richard Lester, both movies star The Beatles, and both movies feature musical segments with Beatles songs, in some ways the two films are very different. Obviously A Hard Day's Night was shot in black and white, while Help! was shot in Eastmancolor. Beyond that, however, A Hard Days Night is an exaggerated portrayl of approximately 48 hours in the lives of The Beatles, while Help! is sheer fantasy. Both have surrealism, humour, and Beatles songs, but in some ways the two are very different movies.

Indeed, it must be kept in mind that from the time A Hard Day's Night had been conceived to the time that Help! (originally titled Eight Arms to Hold Me) was developed, The Beatles' circumstances had changed enormously. At the time that A Hard Day's Night was conceived, The Beatles were primarily a British phenomenon. It would be a few months before they took America by storm. Help! was conceived when The Beatles were the most popular rock act in the world. Help! could then afford a bigger budget, with sequences shot around the world, not to mention not a few special effects.

Essentially, Help! is a spoof of the James Bond and other spy adventures fashionable in that time. The loose plot concerns the efforts of the cultists of Kaili to retrieve a sacrificial ring from Ringo's finger. To complicate matters, a mad scientist scientist (Victor Spinetti, who played the TV director in A Hard Day's Night) also wants the ring so he can, as might be expected, "rule the world." The movie sees The Beatles travel to such locales as the Swiss Alps, the Bahamas, and Buckingham palace. Not only does the plot poke fun at Bondian adventure, but manages to take a few swipes at war movies, skiing competitions, and other pop culture artefacts.

Over all, the loose plot, with The Beatles moving from one set piece to another, works quite well. There are some very funny moments in the movie, such as Paul being shrunk to only a few inches tall, John trying to convince Ringo to simply cut off his finger, and a struggle at a near Eastern restaurant while diners simply continue eating. And Help! has some wonderful surreal moments, such as when a swimmer surfaces in a frozen Swiss lake looking for the White Cliffs of Dover and The Beatles recording in the middle of a field. Leo McKern (best known as the one man to play Number Two from The Prisoner twice and Rumpole of the Bailey) gives a good performance as High Priest Kang, as does Victor Spinetti as the nefarious Dr. Foote.

Of course, Help! does have its shortcomings. While the songs in A Hard Day's Night blended seamlessly into the plot, there are times when the musical sequences in Help! almost seem as if they were simply inserted in. There are also times when The Beatles themselves seem to get lost in all of what is going on, reminding me of the comment from John Lennon about being "extras in their own movie."

As I see it, however, these are minor flaws that really don't distract from enjoying the movie. Help! is the fun sort of British film that they stopped making in the Sixties, fitting in quite well with such comedies as The Mouse That Roared and The Wrong Box. Indeed, in many ways the film feels like a Sixties version of the Marx Brothers films, only with rock music. I would recommend it to anyone, not just Beatles fans.

The NBC Mystery Movie

As I mentioned yesterday, my mind has been on The NBC Mystery Movie of late. The series is somewhat unique in the annals of American teleivision as the only truly successful "wheel show" or "umbrella series." On The NBC Mystery Movie several, regular series were rotated within the same time slot. The NBC Mystery Movie did very well in the ratings and ran five seasons. It also happens to be one of my fonder childhood memories from the Seventies.

The NBC Mystery Movie originated in the offices of Universal Studios. In the late Sixties Universal, in conjunction with NBC, had started experimenting with TV formats. In 1968 the studio produced The Name of the Game for the network. The Name of the Game was a show with rotating stars. In 1969 Universal produced The Bold Ones for NBC. Unlike The Name of the Game, The Bold Ones was a true wheel show or umbrella programme. It consisted of three shows which rotated under The Bold Ones title. The NBC Mystery Movie followed the format of The Bold Ones in that it featured rotating series. It differed from The Bold Ones in that it centred on mysteries and in that each episode of its series was 90 minutes long.

When The NBC Mystery Movie debuted in September 1971, it consisted of three rotating series. McCloud had been a part of another Universal umbrella series the prior season, Four in One. Columbo featured Peter Falk as the detective of that name, having first played the role in the 1968 TV movie Prescription: Murder (although the character had appeared before that). McMillan and Wife was the only wholly brand news series, introducing big screen star Rock Hudson to the small screen. The NBC Mystery Movie proved to be extremely successful. In fact, it did so well that with the 1972-1973 season The NBC Mystery Movie aired twice a week. The original line up of rotating series moved to Sunday night to be joined by a new series, Hec Ramsey. A new group of rotating series took over the Wednesday night time slot: Madigan, Cool Million, and Banacek. Unfortunately, none of the new series would catch on, so that The Wednesday NBC Mystery Movie would eventually move to Tuesday and then leave the air completely. But The Sunday NBC Mystery Movie would continue for a few more years.

Over the years, about 15 different series aired as part of The NBC Mystery Movie. I cannot say that I enjoyed all of them, but I have very fond memories of a few. Chief among them is Columbo. Of all the characters on The NBC Mystery Movie, LT. Columbo has the longest history. His origins go back to the short story "May I Come In" by Richard Levinson and William Link, first published in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, March 1960. In the short story there was a smallish detective named Lt. Fisher--the prototype for Lt. Columbo. Levinson and Link adapted their short story as "Enough Rope" for the anthology series The Chevy Mystery Show. The TV drama featured the first appearance of Lt. Columbo, played by character actor Bert Freed. Link and Levinson were disappointed with the production and set about turning their story into a play. The play, entitled Prescription: Murder featured character actor Thomas Mitchell (best known as Uncle Billy from It's a Wonderful Life) as Lt. Columbo, a rumpled, cigar smoking NYPD detective. Columbo was only a secondary character in the play, but throughout the play's tour it became obvious that audiences loved the detective. When Prescription: Murder became a telefilm (the action was moved from NYC to LA), Columbo was definitely the star. The role of the rumpled lieutenant was originally offered to Bing Crosby and then Lee J. Cobb, but finally went to Peter Falk, the man who would make the role his own. The movie received very good ratings, but neither Levinson nor Link nor Falk were interested in a series at that time. This changed when Universal approached them with the idea of making Columbo part of The NBC Mystery Movie.

The appeal of Columbo was twofold. First, it was not a traditional whodunit. The viewer knew from the very beginning whom the culprit was. Instead, the appeal of the series was watching the game of cat and mouse between Lt. Columbo and the suspects. Second, Lt. Colubmo was quite possibly one of the greatest character ever created on television. He was hardly what one would expect of a police detecive. He was almost always unshaven and constantly wore a rumpled rain coat (even when it wasn't raining). He often smoked cheap cigars. Columbo appeared to be somewhat bumbling and deferential to the point of being apologetic. But the rumpled, bumbling exterior hid a mind like a steel trap. Columbo was an excellent judge of human nature and a genius at deductive reasoning. Indeed, one often got the feeling that Lt. Columbo usually knew who had committed any particular murder from the very beginning...

My other favourite series on The NBC Mystery Movie was Hec Ramsey. Hec Ramsey featured Richard Boone (of Have Gun Will Travel fame) as Hec, a former gunfighter currently serving as a deputy to young Sheriff Oliver B. Stamp (Richard Lenz) in the turn of the century West. Hec had long ago given up his six guns for a new weapon in the fight against crime--the young science of forensics. Hec had a trunk full of equipment he used in his investigations--magnifying glasses, a fingerprinting kit, and so on. Hec was a bit of a curmudgeon, somewhat uncouth, but he had a flair for solving crimes. I loved Hec Ramsey because it blended two of my favourite genres--Westerns and mysteries. Unfortunately, the series would only run two seasons. Reportedly, Boone and Universal constantly came to heads, thus leading to the end of the show.

Another one of my favourite series from The NBC Mystery Movie also touched upon the West. McCloud featured Dennis Weaver (best known as Chester from Gunsmoke) as Sam McCloud, a U. S. Deputy Marshal from Taos, New Mexico assigned to duty with the NYPD. McCloud usually dispensed with procedure and had a habit of ignoring the rules, something which displeased Police Chief Peter Clifford (J. D. Cannon). The appeal of McCloud was that it was a classic fish out of water situation. Sam McCloud hardly fit into the NYPD, yet his arrest record showed him to be a success. Not having seen the series for literally years, I have no idea if it was actually good, although I know I enjoyed it as a kid.

I also enjoyed The Snoop Sisters, which aired on The Wednesday NBC Mystery Movie (and later The Tuesday NBC Mystery Movie). The Snoop Sisters centred on a widow, Gwendolyn Snoop Nicholson (Mildred Natwick), and her spinster sister, Ernesta Snoop (Helen Hayes), who were both mystery writers. Not only did they write mysteries, the Snoop sisters insisted on solving them, much to the chagrin of their nephew, Police Lt. Steve Ostrowski (Bert Convy). The appeal of The Snoop Sisters was twofold. First, one was able to see two of the greatest actresses in the world, Helen Hayes and Mildred Natwick, at work. Second, the series had a sense of humour. It was as much a comedy as a mystery, often placing the Snoop sisters in such strange milieus as those of the occult and rock stardom. Like McCloud, I don't know if the series really was good, but I know I enjoyed when I was young.

The NBC Mystery Movie lasted until the 1976-1977 season before going off the air. Two of the series that had aired on the show would outlive it. Columbo would continue as a series of special movies throughout the 1977-1978 season. Quincy M.E., which debuted in the final season of The NBC Mystery Movie, would continue for several years as a show of its own. Since The NBC Mystery Movie, its various series have been rerun, most notably on The CBS Late Night Movie in the Eighties. Columbo was revived for The ABC Mystery Movie in the 1989-1990 season. After the demise of that series, it continued as special movies throughout the Nineties. In 1989 there was a McCloud reunion movie, The Return of Sam McCloud, which returned the character to New York City.

With the possible exception of Columbo, one does not see the series that aired on The NBC Mystery Movie very often any more. The Hallmark Channel has aired both McMillan and Wife and McCloud the past year. As for myself, I would love to see Hec Ramsey and The Snoop Sisters again, not to mention the opening credits of The NBC Mystery Movie (a man in silhouette with a flashlight accompanied by the theme written by Henry Mancini). I can only hope that Universal and NBC decide to come out with the entire series (compelete with the opening credits) on DVD. I know the first season of Columbo is out on DVD, but it would be nice to see the other shows again too.

A Short History of Umbrella Series

This week I have been thinking of the old NBC Mystery Movie series of the Seventies; however, it occurred to me that before writing about it, I should probably take a look at the sort of series it was. The NBC Mystery Movie was what is called in the television industry a "wheel show," more commonly referred to as an "umbrella series." That is, it was a title under which several, regular series were rotated within the same time slot. The NBC Mystery Movie is by far the best known and most popular of these series, although it was hardly the first.

I really have no idea what the first umbrella series was, although I am thinking it may well have been Warner Brothers Presents. In 1954, Walt Disney Studios became the first major Hollywood studio to enter the television industry with Disneyland. Disneyland proved to be enormously successful, not only providing ABC with much needed ratings, but giving Disney a powerful means of promoting their movies. This did not go unnoticed by Warner Brothers, who saw in television a way of publicising their motion pictures. ABC was fortunate enough to be the network on which Warner Brothers decided to debut their first venture into television.

That first Warner Brothers series, Warner Brothers Presents, was an umbrella series which featured three rotating shows: King's Row (based on the novel and the movie of the same name), following the travails of a small town doctor (played by Jack Kelly); Casablanca (based on the movie of the same name), with Charles McGraw in the role of Rick Blaine; and Cheyenne, a Western featuring Clint Walker as a drifter in the Wild West. The series would open with a shot of the famous, trademark Warner Brothers shield while a voice over announced, "From the entertainment capital of the world comes Warner Brothers Presents. The hour that presents Hollywood to you. Made for television by one of the great motion picture studios." Following the episode of each show would be a segment called "Behind the Cameras at Warner Brothers," hosted by actor Gig Young. James Dean on the set of Giant, director John Ford on location with The Searchers, and others promoting various Warner Brothers projects appeared in this segment.

Unfortunately for both Warner Brothers and ABC, Warner Brothers Presents was not well received by either viewers or critics. Of the three rotating series, only Cheyenne proved to be a hit. In the end, both King's Row and Casablanca were cancelled and the idea of Warner Brothers Presents was dispensed with. Despite a rocky start, this was not the end of the relationship between Warner Brothers and ABC. Warner Brothers would produce some of ABC's biggest series in the Fifties, among them Maverick, 77 Sunset Strip, and Hawaiian Eye. As for Cheyenne, it lasted eight years in all.

The failure of Warner Brothers Presents may well have disuaded the networks from any more experiments with umbrella series. For the remainder of the Fifties and much of the Sixties, none of the networks tried the format again. In the late Sixties, however, NBC seemed willing to experiment, while Universal Studios was more than willing to provide NBC with shows that were off the beaten track of most television. In 1968 NBC debuted a rather unique show, produced by Universal, called The Name of the Game. The Name of the Game was not an umbrella series per se, although it did come very close. Instead of shows, The Name of the Game rotated its stars. The series was set at Howard Publications, the publisher of various magazines. Tony Franciosa played Jeff Dillion, a crusading investigative reporter for People Magazine (nothing like the magazine that Time-Life would publish several years later). Robert Stack played Dan Farrel, a former FBI agent and senior editor of Crime Magazine. Gene Barry played Glenn Howard, owner of Howard Publications. Each character was featured in his own self contained episodes on a rotating basis. The Name of the Game was the most expensive show produced for its time, with each episode costing $400,000. Each episode also ran 90 minutes (the only other show on at the time with 90 minute eipsodes was The Virginian). The series proved successful enough to run three years.

Perhaps because of the success of Name of the Game, NBC debuted a true umbrella series in the 1969-1970 season. Three series were rotated under th title The Bold Ones: The New Doctors, The Lawyers, and The Protectors (which centred on a police chief and a district attorney). With the second season of The Bold Ones, The Protectors was gone, replaced by a series called The Senator (with Hal Hobrook as the title character). By the 1971-1972 season, The New Doctors and The Lawyers would be the only two series left under The Bold Ones title. With the 1972-1973 season, The Bold Ones effectively ceased to be an umbrella series. Although the umbrella title remained, The New Doctors was the only show which aired under the heading of The Bold Ones.

With 1970-1971 season NBC took an even greater risk. Instead of rotating series under an umbrella title, they aired four mini-series for six weeks in a row each under the title Four in One. Two of the series would prove successful enough to outlast the Four in One format. One was the horror anthology series created by Rod Serling (of Twilight Zone fame), Night Gallery. It would go on to run two more seasons following the demise of Four in One. McCloud would go on to become one of the rotating series on the NBC Mystery Movie. San Francisco International Airport and The Psychiatrist were not so lucky. Like Name of the Game before it and The NBC Mystery Movie following it, Four in One was produced by Universal.

The NBC Mystery Movie debuted in 1971 on Wednesday nights with three rotating series, each with ninety minute episodes: Columbo, McCloud, and McMillan and Wife. Columbo centred on a rumpled LAPD detective (Peter Falk) whose bumbling exterior belied a mind like a steel trap. McCloud followed the adventures of a Deputy U. S. Marshal from Taos, New Mexico assigned to the NYPD. McMillan and Wife focused on San Francisco Police Commissioner Stewart McMillan (Rock Hudson), whose wife Sally (Susan St. James) insists in getting involved in his cases. The NBC Mystery Movie defied the odds that faced most rotating series before it and became a smash hit. It was successful enough that with the 1972-1973 season NBC moved the original NBC Mystery Movie to Sunday nights and created a new set of rotating series for Wednesday night. Eventually the Wednesday Night NBC Mystery Movie would be moved to Tuesday nights, but the Sunday Night NBC Mystery Movie would continue to run until 1976. I'll write more about The NBC Mystery Movie in my next entry.

The NBC Mystery Movie proved successful enough that both ABC and CBS attempted to jump on the umbrella series bandwaggon. The Men debuted on ABC in 1972 with three rotating series: Assignment Vienna, The Delphi Bureau, and Jigsaw. Assignment Vienna followed the adventures of Jake Webster (Robert Conrad), a man without a past who becomes part of a government organisation that works with Interpol and other European law enforcement agencies to fight crime around the world. The Delphi Bureau centred on the secret government agency of the same name, with Laurence Luckinbill as rumpled spy Glenn Garth Gregory (the series was created by Man From U.N.C.L.E. creator Sam Rolfe). Jigsaw focused on Lieutenant Frank Dain (James Wainwright) of the Missing Persons Bureau with the California State Police Department. The Men failed to catch on with audiences, facing stiff competition from Ironside on NBC and the Thursday Night Movie on CBS.

That same season NBC tried another series similar to The Name of the Game with rotating stars. Search focused on Probe, a subsidiary of the World Securities Coroporation. Probe hired its agents to various governments, companies, and individuals to retrieve missing objects (jewels, money, documents) or people. Each agent was equipped with scanners which would transmit all kinds of information (everything from the agent's health to what the agent saw and heard) back to Probe headquarters. The agents were also in constant contact with Probe through a tiny transmitter implanted behind the ear. Burgess Meredith as V.C.R Cameron was the one constant in the series; Camerson was Probe's Controller, who watched over the computer room to which all information from the agents was transmitted. Hugh O'Brian played agent Hugh Lockwood (Probe One), who dealt in those cases not related to organised crime. Tony Franciosa played Nick Bianco (Omega Probe), who dealt with those cases involving organised crime or criminal activity. Doug McClure as C.R. Grover was designated "Standby Probe." In an emergency, he was the agent who was sent in. Search was a very high tech series for its time and its format of rotating stars set it apart from other shows on in the early Seventies. Perhaps for that reason, it failed to find an audience.

Despite the failure of both The Men and Search, CBS tried its own hand at an umbrella series in the 1973-1974 season. The New CBS Tuesday Night Movie rotated three elements: Shaft, Hawkins, and The CBS Tuesday Night Movie. Shaft featured Richard Roundtree as John Shaft, the same character that had brought him fame in three movies. Unfortunately, the series was very different from the motion pictures. John Shaft not only cooperated with the police, but would actually call LT. Al Rossi (Ed Barth) for assistance! Fans of the Shaft movies were hardly happy with the series. Hawkins brought Jimmy Stewart once more to the small screen, this time as Billy Jim Hawkins, a West Virginia defence attorney. The CBS Tuesday Night Movie was simply whatever movie CBS decided to air in the time slot. The New CBS Tuesday Night Movie proved no more successful than The Men and was cancelled by the end of the season.

The NBC Mystery Movie would continue until the end of the 1976 season. Afterwards, umbrella series would be a rarity on American television. In the 1989-1990 season, ABC attempted to recapture the success of the The NBC Mystery Movie with their own ABC Mystery Movie. Columbo returned as one of the elements on the series, the other two being with B.L. Stryker and Gideon Oliver. B.L. Stryker featured Burt Reynolds as the title character, a burned out New Orleans Detective. Gideon Oliver centred on the character of that name (played by Louis Gossett Jr.), an anthropology professor at Columbia University who also solved crimes. Eventually Gideon Oliver was replaced by two other series. One was a revival of Kojak. The other, Christine Cromwell, featured Jaclyn Smith as the defence attorney of the title. The ABC Mystery Movie would only last one season, although new Columbo movies would continue to appear on and off throughout the Nineties.

The umbrella series or wheel show is a format that has a chequered history. In fact, it can be argued that there has only been one successful series of that type--The NBC Mystery Movie. I can only guess that perhaps television viewers are somewhat regular in their habits. They like for their favourite shows to be on once a week and at the same time every week. As to why The NBC Mystery Movie proved to be the exception to the rule, it is perhaps because the quality of its rotating series were such that viewers were willing to tune in once a week, even if it meant waiting a month for their particular favourite. Anyhow, in my next entry I'll examine The NBC Mystery Movie and some of the series that aired under that title.

The Late, Great Howard Keel

Howard Keel, the star of such musicals as Kiss Me Kate and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, died this morning from colon cancer. He was 85 years old. Keel was born Harold Clifford Leek in Gillespie, Illinois. At age 20 he decided to take up singing after seeing baritone Lawrence Tibbett at the Hollywood Bowl. His first real job as a singer was at the Paris Inn Restaurant in Los Angeles, where he was paid a meagre $15 a week. Eventually he had an audition with Oscar Hammerstein II, leading to the role of Curly in Oklahoma.

Keel starred in a number of Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals before deciding Hollywood offered greener pastures. He signed with MGM and achieved star billing with his first film, playing Frank Butler in Annie Get Your Gun. His baritone voice and sheer size made him ideal for roles in a number of MGM musicals. He starred in Show Boat, Lovely to Look At, and Calamity Jane. Perhaps his biggest role was in my favourite musical of all time(it was also his favourite film), Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, as the eldest brother Adam. I have often thought that Seven Brides for Seven Brothers is a man's musical. The protagonists are seven rugged men, living off the land, looking for brides. The dance sequences are hardly minuets, but lively, undeniably masculine dances involving a lot of jumping and stomping. And there are seven beautiful women (among them a young Julie Newmar) for us fellows to ogle. Anyhow, Keel was perfect as Adam, perhaps the most rugged and bull headed of the brothers. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers was one of the first musicals I ever saw and remains my favourite to this day.

Perhaps his other biggest role was Fred Graham in Kiss Me Kate, another one of my favourite musicals. Kiss Me Kate is essentially an adaptation of Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew about the staging of, well, an adaptation of Taming of the Shrew. It is one of the funniest musicals I have ever seen and Keel handles the comedy quite well. Too, it features Ann Miller in a major role (always a bonus in any movie).

After the age of musical came to an end in Hollywood, Keel continued to perform on stage, touring with companies performing South Pacific, Annie Get Your Gun, and, of course, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Keel also appeared in Westerns, among them Waco and The War Wagon (one of my favourite John Wayne movies). He even appered in a sci-fi film, Day of the Triffids. Keel also performed on the TV show Dallas for ten years. His last appearance on film was in the 2002 movie My Father's House.

I must say that Howard Keel was one of my favourite musical stars of all time. Like Gene Kelly, he was the sort of actor with whom the average man could identify. The roles he played were generally those of typical males of the sort one might meet in the local pub or the local barbershop (an exception being Fred from Kiss Me Kate). It truly saddens me that he has passed on, as I assume it does many other people. He was a great singer, a very good actor, and one of the few musical stars who played roles that the average guy could see himself as.

A Hard Day's Night

I recently bought A Hard Day's Night on DVD and last night I watched it for the first time in years. The movie holds up quite well, despite the fact that it has been 40 years since its first release. Indeed, it is even better than I had remembered.

Of course, A Hard Day's Night is best remembered as The Beatles' first film. As hard as it is to believe, it was conceived even before The Beatles had arrived in America. What is harder to believe is that it was shot in only six weeks for a cost of only £200,000. In part, the tight shooting schedule was due to The Beatles' own hectic schedule. Prior to shooting they made their historic first trip to America, appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show and performing at Carnegie Hall. Following shooting they left for a tour of Europe. Both the tight shooting schedule and the low budget were also largely due to the thought of financiers and others in power that The Beatles were a passing fad. It was then thought that they had to get the movie into theatres as soon as possible. Never mind that many at the time thought The Beatles were here to stay. At any rate, A Hard Day's Night began shooting in March 1964 and was in theatres by July 1964.

From the beginning it was decided that A Hard Day's Night would be different from previous movies featuring pop acts. Prior to A Hard Day's Night, cinematic vehicles for pop singers differed little from standard musicals, in which the protagonist sings a few songs and gets the girl. Often there would only be a few good songs, with the rest of the soundtrack being made up of "throw away" songs. From the outset it was determined that A Hard Day's Night would not resemble previous movies featuring pop singers, that there would be no "throw away" songs (there would be no "Do the Clam"), and that comedy would be at its forefront.

The director on what was then known as The Beatles One was Richard Lester. Lester was a veteran of both American and British television. In 1964 he may have been bets known for his work on The Goon Show, featuring both Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers. In fact, it was with the Goons that he made his first short film, The Running, Jumping, and Standing Still Film, which was nominated for an Academy Award. Lester would then direct two comedies, It's Trad, Dad! (which capitalised on a short lived resurgence in jazz in Britain)and The Mouse on the Moon (the sequel to The Mouse That Roared, featuring the Duchy of Grand Fenwick.) It was through The Mouse That on the Moon that Lester met A Hard Day's Night producer Walter Shenson. As fans of The Goon Show, The Beatles were quite happy that Lester would direct. Indeed, given his experience in television (which had smaller budgets than major motion pictures, then as now) and his experience in comedy, he was perhaps ideal to direct A Hard Day's Night. Lester was able to bring something entirely different to the project that other, more experienced movie directors might not have been able to.

Indeed, A Hard Day's Night is a very different sort of film. Screenwriter Alun Owen proposed that the film depict a typical day in the life of The Beatles in exaggerated fashion. While very little survived from Owen's original screenplay, the basic premise survived intact. A Hard Day's Night has almost no narrative, showing The Beatles approximately 48 hours before they are to make a TV appearance, goofing around and trying to keep Paul's very clean grandfather (the brilliant Wilfrid Brambell) out of trouble. The movie is shot in like cinema verité, and yet there is a surreality about the film. One moment The Beatles are on a train, the next moment they are running beside it. John sinks into a bath full of bubbles, only to apparently disappear. While A Hard Day's Night looks like a documentary, it has the off centre sensibilities of The Goon Show.

Of course, with A Hard Day's Night Lester has been credited with inventing rock video. It is hard to argue against this. In particular, both the opening sequence played out to the title song and the sequence on the train's baggage car featuring "I Should Have Known Better" resemble rock videos from latter eras.

I cannot deny that I love A Hard Day's Night. The movie is filled with Liverpuddlian humour, bizarre bits of comedy of the sort for which the Goons were known, unstoppable energy, and great music. With A Hard Day's Night, Richard Lester and The Beatles changed rock movies forever. No longer would rock movies be the standard Elvis Presley vehicle or a DJ with a stream of rock acts. Richard Lester and The Beatles proved that rock movies could be funny and artistic.

Fantasy Authors Who Have Influenced Me

Growing up I was always fascinated by mythology, folklore, ancient civilisations, and the Middle Ages. I was also very young when I discovered both J. R. R. Tolkien and Robert E. Howard. Between my preoccupation with mythology, folklore, ancient times, and the Middle Ages, and my love of Tolkien and Howard, it was perhaps natural that I would be drawn to other fantasy writers. From my teens onward, I have read many, many fantasy novels. And some of those novels were by writers who have come to have a lasting influence on me.

Among those writers is Michael Moorcock, whose tales of Elric of Melnibone have always fascinated me. Moorcock created Elric in direct opposition to REH's Conan and other barbarians like him. Elric is an albino, physcially weak, and sickly. Making up for his physical weakness is a keen mind and a cultured intellect. Elric is the emperor of Melnibone, his family having ruled the empire for literaly centuries. Both his curse and his boon is the sword Stormbringer, a sentient and evil black blade which devours the souls of those it slays. This gives Elric the strength he needs, but also wracks him with guilt over those whose souls the sword has devoured. Elric is a tragic character, one who feels he must stray from the cruelty and selfishness of his Melnibonean ancestors, but who at the same time feels a duty to his ancestry. The Elric Saga is about as far from either Tolkien or Howard as one can get. Indeed, while Aragorn and Conan are heroic figures from the beginning, Elric is an anti-hero who must evolve into a hero.

Another fantasy writer who had a large impact on me was Fritz Leiber. Leiber was a contemporary of both Robert E. Howard and H. P. Lovecraft. Among his most famous works is perhaps Conjure Wife, which has been made into three different features films (Weird Woman, Night of the Eagle, and Witches Brew). Despite the fame of Conjure Wife, it is his series of short stories and novels centring on Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser that I love the best of this works. Fafrd and the Grey Mouser first appeared in the novelette "Two Sought Adventure" in Unknown, August 1939. They were an unlikely team to be adventuring together. Fafhrd was a huge, hulking fellow, who at time was not very bright. The Grey Mouser was rather smaller, but gifted with both cunning and wit. Unlike Howard's heroes (Conan, Kull, and so on), neither Fafhrd nor the Mouser is superhuman. They often get beat in fights and they don't always get the girl. Unlike Tolkien's heroes, neither Fafhrd nor the Mouser are moral paragons. They have their moral weaknesses and can ocassionally be guided by sheer selfishness. Ultimately, what sets Leiber's heroes apart from other fantasy characters is that their sense of humour. Both Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser are able to laugh in themselves. This is a good thing, as the situations they get themselves into can sometimes be quite funny. Anyhow, I always liked the way that Leiber portrayed his heroes as more or less human, neither wholly good, but hardly evil, with their own weaknesses and foilbles.

Stephen R. Donaldson is another writer who has had a big impact on me. Donaldson wrote the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, a pair of trilogies featuring one of fantasy's few anti-heroes. Covenant is a leper, constantly suffering and shunned here on Earth, who finds himself in another world called the Land. There he not only finds himself in perfect health, but the only thing standing in the way of Lord Foul, the villain bent on undoing the Land. Covenant is an unlikely hero. He can be selfish. He can even be impulsive. And while Donaldson's work has been compared to Tolkien, it actually has as much, if not more, influence from Shakespeare and Mervyn Peake (of Gormenghast fame). The original trilogies were published between 1977 and 1983. I have heard that there is going to be a third trilogy, but I don't know if the first book in that trilogy has been published yet.

Another fantasy author who has had an influence on me has been Katherine Kurtz, author of a series of novels centred around the Deryni. The Deryni are an ancient race with magical powers (apparently some form of psionics) existing in a world not far removed from medieval Europe--indeed, Catholicism even exists there! Kurtz's work is filled with all sorts of political intrigue, both on the side of the various nobles and on the side of the Church. They are also marked by very strong chararacters and an eye to accuracy in the details of medieval life. In fact, this is what sets Kurtz's work apart from that of many other fantasy writers. Kurtz's world feels as if it could have actually existed. It is easy while reading one of her Deryni books to forget that one is reading a fantasy novel rather than a historical novel.

All of these writers have had a significant impact on me. They are much of what inspired me to be a writer. And I feel all of them are very different from the Tolkien and Howard imitators whose books often fill the racks. I would recommend their books to anyone.

Current Songs I Like

I suppose at any given time, everyone has recently released songs that they really like. I'm no different than anyone else in that respect, so that there are a few songs out right now that I particularly enjoy.

Among them is the most recent single put out by the Denton, Texas band called Bowling for Soup, "1985." The song is about a middle aged housewife named Debbie who is "preoccupied with 1985." Now there have been songs about people who are stuck in the past before (Led Zeppelin's "Livin' Lovin' Maid" comes to mind), but for the most part they have been condemnatory of their subjects. This is not the case with "1985" It is wholly sympathetic with Debbie in her yearning for a bygone era. Considering how well it has done on the charts, it would seem a lot of people can sympathise with her. I know I can, as I do sometimes find myself nostalgic for 1985.

Another song that is out right now that I really like is "Lady" by Lenny Kravitz. Now I'll admit that the song is somewhat repetitive--Kravitz uses the word "lady" nearly 20 times throughout the song--but it reminds me of something that could have been released in the early Seventies. I think it is a very fun song.

"She Will Be Loved" by Maroon 6 is another song out right now that I like. Near as I can tell, the song is basically about a fellow who has yearned for a girl for years and been there for her through thick and thin. The song seems very romantic to me, especially with its lines about spending everday in the pouring rain on her corner. It takes a man truly in love to wait in the pouring rain...

Finally, I love "Accidentally in Love" by Counting Crows (a group I've always loved anyhow). To me the song sums up that the out of control feelings and the euphoria that occurs when one finds out he or she is in love.

Anyhow, there are more songs out right now that I do like, but I really can't list all of them right now. It does seem that the past few months have been good for music.