Friday's Favorite OTR

Damon Runyon Theater: “Baseball Hattie” 6/26/46


Damon Runyon’s wonderful short stories were a perfect match for radio—his fun, highly readable prose translated to the airwaves without any loss of humor or emotional impact.


Most of Runyon’s stories were comedies about gamblers and low-level criminals who hung around Prohibition-era New York City, but there were a few tragedies tossed into the mix. “Baseball Hattie” is one of those tragedies, a very human drama about a woman who marries an up-and-coming New York Giants pitcher. At first, it seems like the two are hopelessly in love and destined to live happily ever after. But when the pitcher becomes involved with gamblers, things go downhill fast.


It’s a soap opera-y story, but it’s an effective one, with both the dialogue and the acting bringing a real humanity to the proceedings. That it manages to pull an uplifting ending out of its inherent tragedy serves to make it that much better.

The Goblin Reservation

Here’s a fun book. Written by Clifford Simak, whose always excellent novels and short stories covered both fantasy and science fiction, The Goblin Reservation (1968) is a whimsical, imaginative novel that is actually a bit difficult to describe. I also don’t want to give too much of the plot away—this is one book where it really is best to just allow it to happen to you as you read it.



The book is set in the future, on the campus of a large university on Earth. The main character is a professor who discovers he was duplicated in a teleportation accident, but that his duplicate has since died in an accident while he (the original) was off-planet. So he’s officially dead—out of a job—and something of an embarrassment to the school administration.

And all this is set against a bizarre background. Time travel has been developed—in fact, William Shakespeare is on campus to give a lecture about how he didn’t really write his plays. Also, creatures such as goblins, faeries, trolls and banshees have turned out to really exist and turn out to play an important role in the ensuing shenanigans. There’s a crystal planet out there somewhere—a survivor from a previous universe--containing something like 50 billion years worth of knowledge that is now for sale. There are some rather icky aliens (hive minds whose wheeled-limbed bodies are full of writhing insects) who may or may not be mankind’s deadly enemy. There’s a series of paintings by a pre-time travel era artist that nonetheless seem to be eyewitness scenes from the Jurassic Era.

Our hero, along with his best friends (a ghost who doesn’t remember who he was when he was alive, a highly educated Neanderthal, and a young woman with a pet bio-mechanical saber-toothed tiger) has to make sense of everything. But they have to deal with potentially dangerous aliens, greedy humans, stubborn administrators, cash-strapped department heads and trolls who are ticked off because the goblins won’t share the latest batch of ale with them.

And, yes, all this does tie together at the end. But I don’t want to even hint how. Check your library or used-book dealers to dig up a copy and find out for yourself.

History of the Marvel Universes: November 1963--Part 2

JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #98


As this issue opens, Thor is throwing a temper tantrum because Odin has forbidden him to marry a mortal. What’s more, Jane has quit her job with Dr. Blake and gotten a job with another Doctor.

But the Thunder God’s personal problems take a back seat when the Cobra arrives in New York. A villain who got enhanced speed and agility when bitten by a radioactive cobra, the Cobra tries to take over a chemical factory. He intends to produce enough “cobra serum” to create an army of loyal snake-men.

This leads to a running battle with Thor. Eventually, Cobra takes Jane and her new boss hostage. Jane’s boss turns out to be a craven coward, which convinces Jane to return to her job with Donald Blake.

But, of course, that doesn’t happen until Thor rescues her from Cobra. Cobra himself escapes, but he’ll be back before too long.

It’s a pretty good issue. Cobra is probably too underpowered to really present Thor with a serious enough threat, but he’s visually interesting and will make for a solid if usually second-string addition to the Marvel Universe.

The real treat in this issue is the “Tales of Asgard” back-up feature. This time around, we see Odin battle some Frost Giants. It’s the sort of uber-powered battle scene that Jack Kirby excels at and his design for the Frost Giants is downright awesome. A few panels of Odin flying into battle on a chariot pulled by winged horses only adds that much more awesomeness to the whole thing.

TALES OF SUSPENSE #47


You know, over the years, Marvel Comics really has developed a large stable of reasonably interesting second-string villains who can be plugged into a story as needed. In Journey into Mystery, we’re introduced to one of these guys: The Cobra.

Now, in Tales of Suspense, we meet the Melter, an embittered former business rival of Tony Stark’s who invents a ray gun capable of instantly melting iron.

This, of course, is a weapon that works pretty well against Iron Man. But, after one disastrous encounter with the Melter, Tony rebuilds his armor out of a tough aluminum alloy. The Melter flees in panic when his weapon fails to work.

Interestingly, the Melter escapes—just as the Cobra escapes Thor. It’s a good month for stopping evil plans, but a bad month for actually catching the bad guys.

Steve Ditko did the fun art work and there’s some funny banter between Happy and Pepper. Iron Man still isn’t as good as it will be, but it’s slowly getting there.

TALES TO ASTONISH #49



Henry Pym takes another step forward as a viable character when he finally realizes he can use his reducing/enlarging formulae to become Giant-Man as well as Ant-Man.



It’s a new power that comes in handy when he (and some other scientists) are kidnapped into another dimension by cranky aliens who want the humans to make atomic weapons. The Wasp (who secretly tagged along when Pym was snatched) helps Hank get loose and he uses his new Giant-Man ability to make mincemeat of the alien military. He and Wasp get hold of the dimension-hopping device used to kidnap everyone and use it to get themselves and the other hostages back to Earth.



Jack Kirby has some fun with the battle scenes (including a King Kong homage when Giant-Man stands atop a tower to fight alien aircraft), while the banter between Hank and Janet is actually quite clever. I like one line when Hank replies to Janet’s statement that she loves him: “Honey, you’re just in love with the idea of being in love.”



“Even when you call me Honey,” she replies, “you make it sound so… medicinal!!!”



Not Nobel Prize-winning dialogue, perhaps, but it succeeds in giving the protagonists some personality. As I’ve said before, this series will never come close to the level of quality we’re finding in FF and Spider Man, but it still—from time to time--does okay for itself.



Next week, we’ll finish up November 1963 with a look at the Avengers and the X-Men.

Friday's Favorite OTR

Crime Classics: “Blackbeard’s Fourteenth Wife” (November 11, 1953)


Crime Classics is a unique show—an anthology that purports to dramatize some of the most memorable crimes in history. In reality, it didn’t worry all that much about historical accuracy—it just told stories really, really well.


Created and directed by Elliot Lewis, the show expertly weaved droll, informal narration together with the sound effects and actors’ dialogue, giving it a unique ambiance. In “Blackbeard’s Fourteenth Wife,” this makes for a fun half-hour as we learn why the famous pirate’s latest wife was bad for him.


Blackbeard is played by William Conrad, who really seems to be enjoying the role. In fact, everyone involved seems to be having fun, which is probably why the episode is so enjoyable. It manages to infuse a bloody and violent story with droll humor, but never comes across as mean-spirited or tasteless. Crime Classics isn’t one of old-time radio’s best-known shows, but it probably oughta be.

Curse you, Agatha Christie!!!!!!

The ABC Murders, by Agatha Christie


No mystery writer was better at twist endings and planting incredibly subtle clues that reveal one of the least likeliest suspects (or, often, someone who wasn’t a suspect at all) turn out to be the killer. It actually kind of gets on my nerves. I can occasionally figure out a Perry Mason solution. I remember being insufferable proud of myself as a 12-year-old when I figured out the solution to “The Red Headed League” right along with Sherlock Holmes.


But I don’t think I’ve ever beaten Hercule Poirot or Miss Marble to the punch. When the solution to the mystery is revealed, it will turn out that the clues were all there right in front of us. But only I’ve never manage to quite figure it all out before the wonderful creations of Agatha Christie do.


The ABC Murders seems to at first be atypical. Poirot receives letters from a madman who signs his name ABC, taunting Poirot to catch him and revealing in each letter the town in which the next murder would take place. The madman seems to have an alphabet obsession—his kills a Mrs. Asher in the town of Andover. Then a Miss Barnard in the town of Bexhill. And so on.


It does not seem to be a matter in which Poirot’s usual deductive genius can really help, since there is no logical motive or method behind it all. But Poirot’s skills do play a part when he gathers the friends and relatives together, questioning them until a certain pattern to the events is made clear.


Then the killer is finally caught. It all seems very straightforward, at least until Poirot suddenly comes forward with the announcement that all is not as it seems…


At which point he gives us a summary of several clues that were right there for us to see as well. But we don’t—at least not until Poirot points them out to us. Agatha Christie, darn her, is far too good at her job to all that. That’s why her often brilliant mysteries are still in print today—over eight decades after she first began to write them. That’s why The ABC Murders is so much fun to read. That’s why she continues to get on my nerves.


Next month, we'll look at "The Chinese Parrot" and visit with the world's most likable detective--Charlie Chan.

History of the Marvel Universe: November 1963--Part 1

FANTASTIC FOUR #20

The Watcher—last seen on the moon back in FF #13, pays a visit to Earth. A menace so powerful it threatens even the Watcher’s race has popped up, forcing him to act. Well—it forces him to get the FF to act, at least, even if all he still does is observe.

The menace is the Molecule Man, a lowly technician given an awesome superpower in a lab accident. Now he can transmute matter at a molecular level, pretty much allowing him to turn anything (including air molecules) into anything else.

The Molecule Man soon tussles with the FF and manages to force them to retreat. Encasing Manhattan in glass, he threatens the populace into helping hunt down the heroes.

But the FF gets unexpected help from the Yancy Street Gang. The Yancy Streeters have been an occasional running gag for a number of issues, sending hate mail and mean-spirited practical jokes to Ben. But, since they don’t like the fact of anyone else picking on Ben, they help smuggle the Fantastic Four to Alicia’s apartment.

The one Yancy Streeter we see has his face in shadows, so we never see what he looks like. This will become the traditional way of portraying the gang members in their occasional future appearances.

Anyway, once Reed has time to think, he realizes the Molecule Man can’t affect organic matter and uses this fact to come up with a plan to defeat him. The Watcher pops up again to take the villain into custody.

It’s a good issue, though not quite on the same level of imagination as the Red Ghost or Rama Tut stories. Still, it’s nice to see the Watcher again and Jack Kirby is obviously having fun drawing out the bizarre initial battle between the FF and the bad guy.

There’s one odd bit at the beginning of the story---taking place before the Watcher pops up to get things going. Reed is studying a meteor and finds something that resembles a “dehydrated acorn” inside it. “This proves that some form of life MUST exist in outer space,” he exclaims eagerly.

Gee whiz, Reed—doesn’t meeting the Watcher, the Skrulls, the Impossible Man and the citizens of Planet X (not to mention the countless other alien races that keep invading us) already kinda sorta prove that?

There are moments when I really worry about Reed.

AMAZING SPIDER MAN #6



Spidey continues to add members to his Rogue’s Gallery at a fast and furious rate. This time around, it’s the first appearance of the Lizard.

One-armed scientist Curt Connors studies lizards in an attempt to find a way for humans to regenerate limbs. The formula he comes up with does re-grow his missing arm—but also turns him into the hideous and violent Lizard.

It’s yet another visually cool villain with a strong back-story. The setting is a change-of-pace as well—Spidey and the Lizard fight their final battle in and around an old Spanish fort in the Everglades.

We get a nice reminder that Peter is smart as well as super-powered when he manages to come up with an antidote to turn the Lizard back into Dr. Connors. We also get some fun stuff involving Peter’s as-yet still theoretical love life. He gets interrupted before he can ask Betty Brant on a date. Later in the story, he gives Liz Allen a call. But Liz, recently saved from thieves by Spider Man, tells Peter she’s waiting for the webslinger to give her a call and won’t go out with anyone else. Peter turns out to be his own competition. Finally, there’s a few good gags involving the growing feud between Jameson and Spider Man.



All in all, yet another strong issue.

STRANGE TALES #114



The Human Torch story at first seems to feature the return of Captain America—one of Marvel’s World War II era heroes—to modern continuity. It turns out to be a trick, though. The villainous Acrobat (who fought Johnny eight issues earlier) has impersonated Cap in order to pull off a bank robbery. Johnny manages to put the kibosh on him once again, though.



It’s a pretty good story. Jack Kirby (who co-created Cap in 1941) returns to the title for this issue to do the art and the final panel includes an outright admission that the story was a test. Jack and Stan were trying to get a feel on whether their readers wanted to see Cap return for real.



And, of course, Cap would be returning soon—getting thawed out of a block of ice by the Avengers a few months down the line. It’s such a narrow time frame, I think it likely that Stan and Jack had already pretty much decided to bring Captain America back. And it would prove to be a wise decision.



Meanwhile, Dr. Strange is lured into a trap by Baron Mordo, but manages to telepathically summon help from a young lady named Victoria Bentley. He gets free of the trap and manages to force Mordo to retreat.



The impression left by all this is that Stan Lee and Steve Ditko might have been planning on using Victoria as a regular supporting character and possible love interest. But, though she does pop up again from time to time through the years, Stan and Steve seem to have rather quickly lost interest in her.



This is perhaps just as well. This particular story is a bit slow-paced and not as visually interesting as other stories in the series have been. Soon, Dr. Strange will be regularly engaging in combat with strange beings on extra-dimensional battlegrounds—making for some of the most visually impressive stories Marvel ever produced. Poor Victoria probably would have just been in the way.



Next time, we’ll look in on Thor, Iron Man and Ant Man.

Friday's Favorite OTR

Challenge of the Yukon: “River Pirates” 2/28/49


A band of ruthless crooks plan to board and rob the riverboat Indian Queen while it is carrying valuable cargo along the Yukon River. To cover their crime, they intend to scuttle the ship afterwards, killing all aboard.


It is, of course, up to Sgt. Preston and his dog Yukon King to save the day. But they can’t save it alone. With the regular crew locked away as the Indian Queen floats into some rapids, a former riverboat pilot named Steve Ballard (who had lost his nerve after losing a boat to a hidden snag some years earlier) must pull himself together and take the wheel.


Produced by the same people who made The Lone Ranger and The Green Hornet, Challenge of the Yukon offered the same high production values and expert storytelling as those other two shows. And, of course, anytime a story can logically fit something as cool as a 19th Century riverboat into a story, it’s already one up on the competition.


Challenge of the Yukon was basically a Western in terms of plot and characters, but its unique setting gave it an equally unique ambiance. “River Pirates” is a fine example of just how entertaining this show could be. And, of course, the unlimited budget given to radio by our imaginations means that riverboat ride through the dangerous rapids “looked” just as cool as any modern CGI effect.