Cover Cavalcade

 

An awesome Luis Dominguez cover from 1975.

Friday's Favorite OTR

 Boston Blackie: "Merry-Go-Round Murder: 5/14/46

Blackie and Mary find a dead man with a bullet in his head riding a merry-go-round.

Click HERE to listen or download. 

I can't make up my mind if I like this movie!

 

Tank Commandos (1959) is an aggravating movie in a weird way. It's a very, very low budget WWII film with a fairly simple premise. The Americans are trying to capture a German-held town during the Italian campaign. But the Germans are somehow able to keep bringin reinforcements over a river despite the fact that all the bridges have been blown. An American demolitions squad has to find out how this is being accomplished and put a stop to it--hopefully by blowing something up, since that's what they are good at.

We actually get to see what the Germans are up to in the opening scene. They are using a bridge built just barely underneath the surface of the river--keeping it hidden from view but still allowing German tanks to drive across.  A young Italian boy also sees this, then dodges German soldiers by ducking down a sewer. When he comes up, he's in the middle of a firefight and gets brought away by the American squad.

It's all good stuff as far as the plot is concerned. And I'm okay with the filmmakers using then-modern M60 tanks to stand in for German tanks. (I'm assuming they were borrowed from the National Guard.) This is unavoidable in most war movies from this time. The small arms, at least, looked reasonably accurate.

Where the movie fails is in character and dialogue. Gee whiz, the melodrama flies thicker than bullets. Potentially strong scenes that could have generated honest emotion simply fall flat because of awkward dialogue and wooden acting. For instance, the commander of the demo squad spends a scene telling a nurse how much it hurts to see any of his men die. That's a perfectly good idea--it's cliched, but only because it's a reflection of real emotion felt by good men in a war. It's a concept that has been used effectively in many war films. Here, though, neither the actors or the script are up to the job. The scene simply comes across as empty (and slightly painful) melodrama and you want nothing more than for it to end so we can get back to shooting at Germans. 

Later, a soldier meets an Italian woman while on patrol and has a moment in which the two seem to connect, only to have another American soldier accidentally shoot her. Once again, a good idea ruined by sub-par acting and dialogue.

But, darn it, it's a black-and-white movie set during World War II with a good plot buried in their somewhere. Eventually, the Americans learn that the Italian boy knows where the underwater bridge is located. He leads them through the sewers, with the Americans wearing the Scuba equipment they'll need to plant explosives on the bridge after they reach the river. But they encounter Germans in the sewers, giving us some action scenes in an unusual setting. There's an important character death that I did not see coming.

By the way, I know the scuba gear the Americans are using is anachronistic, but I'm okay with that simply because it looks cool.

So, in the end, I can't make up my mind about this movie. Do I like it for a good plot, black-and-white photography and some nifty action scenes? Do I dislike it because of an overdose of melodrama and bad dialogue? I can't make up my mind. 

I don't know if I'll go so far as to watch it again to find out. Here it is--watch it yourselves and tell me what you think:

A Quick Trip to Mars

 

cover art by Curt Swan

The next story from Superman Family #182 (March-April 1977) features Supergirl, whom we first see clearing the way for the Viking probe to land on Mars. (Which happened in real life in July 1976).

I wonder, in the DC Universe, how it might affect the morale of NASA when they spend years (including a year in flight from Earth) to get a probe on Mars, while superheroes and mad scientists can get there in seconds.

In this story, written by Jack C. Harris and drawn by Mike Vosburg, we see Supergirl helping out NASA and they are perfectly happy to have the help. Larger issues about this (raised by Eliot S. Maggin in "Must There be a Superman" a few years earlier) aren't discussed this time. Nor do they need to be--it's not the point of this particular story. I bring it up simply because it occured to me while I was reading the tale and... well, it's my blog. 

Supergirl returns to Earth and a line of dialogue tells us that someone has been stealing rocket components. Soon after, a Viking photograph shows a piece of kryptonite is on Mars.

At this time in DC's continuity, all the kryptonite on Earth had been transformed into iron. This was done because it was felt that kryptonite was used too often as a plot devise. But the stuff still existed out in space, so it had not completely disappeared.

One of the staff at NASA is really a spy for Lex Luthor--and is also the guy who has been stealing rocket components. With these, he's built a rocket ship discussed as a redwood. When he tells Lex about the kryptonite, the arch-criminal summons the rocket via remote control and uses this to escape prison. The rocket, equipped with a space warp devise, then reaches Mars within minutes.

So once again, we see the importance of keeping Lex Luthor away from the darn machine shop while he's in prison.

Soon, the Viking camera is picking up Lex walking on the surface of Mars. (Let's be generous and assume that Mars was at it's closest point to Earth, so it only took five minutes for this image to reach NASA. That's not too much of a time gap for the story to still work--though I suspect that Harris simply didn't think of this or choose to ignore it for the sake of moving the story along.)

Luthor's spy wrecks the monitor, but Supergirl quickly catches him, then flies to Mars. Luthor has found the kryptonite and put this into a sort of kryptonite bazooka. When Supergirl arrives, he shoots and "kills" her.

But it's a trap. In fact, it's all a trap. The kryptonite was fake, planted there by Supergirl to smoke out the spy in NASA and recover the stolen rocket parts. 

It's a nice touch, by the way, that Supergirl wears a head set to explain how she can talk with Luthor so easily.

It's a fun, well-constructed story, showing off Supergirl's intelligence as well as her powers. That's a key part of what makes the best Superman family stories work. Whether it's Superman, his younger cousin, or one of the Super Pets, when a writer creates a situation in which the hero must use his or her brains as well has their godlike powers, then we have a truly well-told tale. 

In two weeks, we'll return to Superman Family to see how Krypto is doing. Next week, we'll watch a turtle joust with an alligator.

Edgar Rice Burroughs Podcast: Mini-Podcast #46: A Princess of Mars Chapter 13

Edgar Rice Burroughs Podcast: Mini-Podcast #46: A Princess of Mars Chapter 13:   A discussion of Chapter 13 of the 1912 novel A Princess of Mars, in which John Carter demonstrates the practical value of showing kindness...

Cover Cavalcade

 

A fun cover from 1936. The artist is Malvin Singer. 

Friday's Favorite OTR

 Pat Novak for Hire: "Dixie Gilian" 11/24/46

Pat is hired to deliver a message. To the surprise of no one, this quickly leads to him being involved in a murder. 

Click HERE to listen or download. 

An Old West Murder Mystery

 

Read/Watch 'em In Order #125

When we began our trip through the pages of the May 1927 issue of Frontier Stories, we discovered the magazine's definition of "Frontier" wasn't confined to the Wild West or the days of colonial expansion in America, but would feature stories set anywhere along the edges of Western civilization. The first story, for instance, was set in modern-day North Africa.

"Wanted--?," by Eugene Cunningham, is the second appearance of a 19-year-old Texas Ranger known as Ware's Kid. The Kid's first appearance had been in the March 1927 issue. He'd go on to star in eight more tales in this magazine throughout 1927 and 1928, the last of which was novel-length. Ware later popped up twice in Detective Fiction Weekly and, in the late 1940s, returned twice in Zane Grey's Western Magazine. 

"Wanted--?" is the only one of these I've read and I enjoyed it enormously. Ware's Kid is an interesting protagonist. His youth and small size make him seem non-threatening, but early on in the story he stares one man down with his "icy greenish eyes" and gives a bully twice his size an expert beating. All this quickly tells us that he's a man you don't want to mess with.

But there are other things about him that make him interesting and three-dimensional. He's smart--capable of Sherlockian deductions. And his courage isn't a reckless one. At one point in the story, he's fired at from ambush and elects to run for it rather than take on what he deems as poor odds if he stays and fights.

In this story, he's pursing a man wanted for murder and robbery. While on this trail, he teams up with a deputy sheriff of a small town to stop a train robbery. The ensuing fight scene is short, but fun and usual. The battle takes place at night, with everyone shooting at rifle flares rather than definite targets. And the Kid makes an embarassing mistake that almost gets him killed when he hastily reloads his rifle in the dark with the wrong caliber bullets. 

The deputy sheriff saves his life, which is further embarassing when the Kid realizes that the deputy is the man wanted for murder. But, as I mentioned, the Kid can use deductive reasoning and he figures out his new friend is innocent. That means starting from scratch to track down the real killer. This, in turn, leads to an ambush and an encounter with Apaches.

I think a lot of attentive readers will tumble to who the real killer is before the revelation at the story's conclusion, but it's a satisfying ending all the same. "Wanted---?" is a great yarn with a strong protagonist and several excellent action scenes. 

This issue of Frontier Stories can be read online HERE. 

Those Darn Mole People Again!

 

cover art by John Buscema

 The previous issue ended with Cap and the gorilla that is really a transformed mad scientist falling in a hole dug deep into the earth for the purpose of disposing of radioactive waste. In other words, it's Tuesday.

We start Captain America #136 (April 1971--written by Stan Lee, drawn by Gene Colan) back on the surface, with Nick Fury, Falcon, and Sharon Carter mourning Cap's apparent death. Fury, though, realizes that Falcon isn't going to give up and gives him the space he needs to make a rescue attempt by getting Sharon out of the way.

Falcon goes to Tony Stark, who quickly whips up a jet pack that will get Falcon down the shaft--though it won't have enough fuel to bring him back up again.

There are several points that show the challenges of writing stories set in an ever-expanding fictional universe. First, as we'll soon see, the tunnel has been drilled directly into the domains of the Mole Man. Since subterranean civilizations are known to exist, it seems unlikely that no one would have given this consideration when the tunnel was first planned.

Also, one wonders why Tony Stark didn't suit up as Iron Man and come along with Falcon. Cap is one of his best friends, after all.

But, as much as I like consistant continuity in my comic book universes, there are times when it is more important to tell an individual story in an exciting manner without worrying about the overall universe it is set in. This is Cap's and Falcon's book and there's no room for an extra guest star in this story, so Iron Man is simply left out of it. And the story requires the interaction with Mole Man, while pages of political negotiating with him about the tunnel would have slowed the action-oriented tale down just a tad too much. Besides, politicians both in fiction and in real life are often short-sighted, so maybe digging the tunnel without thinking about the consequences isn't that much of a jump in logic.

Anyway, we find out that Mole Man used an anti-gravity beam to lower Cap and the Monster Ape to the bottom safely. This is because he wants to find out what's up with that darn tunnel. Mole Man's characterization in this issue is a lot different than we've seen in the past. He isn't looking for conquest or revenge on the surface world right now, but simply wants to make sure that his own domain is safe.

The Monster Ape immediately starts planning to make trouble. He begins a rampage and has to be subdued and caged--though we soon find out this is part of a quickly improvised plan to get Cap killed. What his long-term plans are isn't clear, but that's not really a flaw in the story. Perhaps he's just playing it by ear to see what he can eventually get out of it for himself.

Cap is quite straightforward about the fact that the tunnel was going to be used to store radioactive waste, but he assures Mole Man that he can get this plan cancelled once it is known that they'd be dumping the stuff in the lap of another civilization. Mole Man believes him and is about to send him back to the surface when the Monster Ape does indeed start to cause trouble.

By turning back into Dr. Gorbo, he is able to slip out of his cave. He then convinces Mole Man that Cap is a spy scoping out the underworld defenses. This quickly leads to Gorbo (once again in ape form) getting into a fight with Cap. Falcon shows up at this point, though, and in a very well-choreographed fight scene, the two heroes work together to take down the big ape.

But Mole Man is now planning on destroying SHIELD headquarters before then attacking various surface cities. When Gorbo hears this, he realizes that this would mean Julia--the lab assistant he loves--would be killed. So he sacrifices his life to stop the attack, confessing to having lied about Cap just before he dies.

A lot of pages are used up recapping the previous issue and reviewing Mole Man's origin, so the main plot comes across as a little rushed. But Gene Colan's art has it all looking magnificent. As I mentioned when I reviewed the part one, this story is an example of taking old and perhaps cliched ideas, but still telling a fresh and interesting tale based on those ideas. 

Next week, it's back to Superman Family #182 as Supergirl visits Mars. 

Cover Cavalcade

 

Yet another great cover by an unknown artist. From 1957.

Edgar Rice Burroughs Podcast: Mini-Podcast #45: A Princess of Mars Chapters 11 & 12

Edgar Rice Burroughs Podcast: Mini-Podcast #45: A Princess of Mars Chapters 11 & 12:   A analysis of Chapters 11 & 12 of the 1912, in which John Carter gets to know Dejah Thoris and becomes a "prisoner with power.&qu...

Friday's Favorite OTR

 Calling All Cars: "Oakland Payroll Robbery" 7/2/35

Local cops and G-men team up when a train is robbed of a large payroll shipment.

Click HERE to listen or download. 

My Favorite Spaceship Crew

 

cover art by John Schoenherr

My favorite spaceship crew should be the bridge crew of the original starship Enterprise, shouldn't it? Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, along with Scotty, Sulu, Chekov and Uhura, are an important part of my childhood and I never get tired of watching TOS episodes. (Well, except for "Spock's Brain.") The character dynamics and interactions were perfectly balanced and the best of those episodes (along with Wrath of Khan) are superb science fiction. 

But, well--though I may be betraying both my childhood and my fellow Trekkies everywhere, I must admit that there is a spaceship crew I like a little bit better. Just a little bit, mind you. But there you are.

David Falkyn, Chee Lan and Adzel are not explorers in the purest sense. They work for Solar Spice and Liquors and their job is to find new markets for trade. Many planets have furs, spices, pharmaceuticals and so on that can be sold for high prices on other planets. So when a planet is identified as a possible source of trade, the three merchants fly their ship Muddlin' Through to that planet to make a trade agreement. 

They appear in stories and novels written by Poul Anderson--part of his Future History that includes an era in which the Polesotechnic League era, in which galactic expansion and exploration is fueled by capitalism. Falkyn had already appeared in several stories, but it is when he is given his own crew that he really takes off.

Falkyn is human. The feline-like Chee Lan is a xenobiologist from the planet Cynthia. The huge, centauroid (scary-looking but sweet and even-tempered) Adzel is a planetologist from a world called Woden. And, though their personalities do not parallel those of Kirk, Spock and McCoy, they establish a similar rapport and work together just as effectively. They are awesome. 

cover art by David Egge

In a way, Falkyn and crew have an unfair advantage over the Enterprise command crew, since there were no budget and technical restrictions limiting the use of aliens. That two of the three Muddlin' Through crew are non-humanoid aliens does give them a coolness factor that the TV show could not quite emulate.

They first team up in the novela "Trade Team," serialized in the July and August 1965 issues of Analog Science Fiction. Anderson later rewrote it as "The Trouble Twisters" and it became the title story in an anthology of stories featuring Falkyn.

This first adventure finds the team on Ikrananka, a small world that orbits around a small sun, though close enough to allow for life to exist. At first, that life seems to consist primarily of the native intelligent species, who are furred, beaked and stand about five feet tall. They have a pre-industrial technology, though it is eventually learned that one particular city is experimenting with Leyden jars and other methods of generating electricity.

The team lands near an outlying city of an empire and begin negotiations. It is soon apparent that the local Ikranankan authorities are stalling, though. And when a human woman being chased by Ikranankans is seen, she becomes one heck of a wild card.

There is a human community on Ikrananka--the descendants of humans stranded on the planet by space pirates a few generations earlier. Because of their size and their increased strength due to the low gravity, they have become soldiers. But one human faction has rebelled against the empire and taken possession of a city, which the imperial army is now besieging.

From David's point-of-view, rebellion and war is bad. Aside from moral considerations (which the merchants do not ignore), it's bad for trade. To establish steady trade here, there needs to be stability. David initially thinks that helping the empire squash the rebellion might be the best plan--with the technology aboard the Muddlin' Through, they could do so without killing anyone. But the girl (named Stepha) objects to this and soon arranges for Falkyn to be kidnapped. In the meantime, Chee Lan is jailed by the Ikranankan and Adzel is soon a fugitive. Bad luck leaves both of them with broken radios, so they can't call the A.I. on their ship (named Muddlehead) for rescue. Nor can they reach the now heavily-guarded ship alive.

cover art by Steve Ferris

All this trouble must thus be twisted about to turn their desperate situation to an opportunity to force the various factions on the planet to come to terms and, of course, start buying their stuff.

"The Trouble Twisters" is an excellent and exciting Sci-Fi story. Anderson was skilled at world-building, making the Ikranankan society interesting and believable. The action flows smoothly throughout the tale, with lots of plot twists to which my brief summary does not do justice. And the interplay between Falkyn, Chee, Adzel and Muddlehead are often priceless and the story as a whole is full of humor that never takes away from the sound plot. We completely accept that these three completely different beings and their computer can come together to form an effective team. They are indeed my favorite spaceship crew.

Sorry, Captain Kirk. That's just the way it is. 

The Stranger

 

We return to Superman Family #182 (March-April 1977) with a trip to the distant past as Clark Kent tells Pete Ross's son (who knows Clark is Superman) a story about Krypton.

4000 years ago, a famine left people hungry and a despotic ruler was making things worse. A rebellion led by a guy named Bel-Der was growing in strength.

Upon this scene comes Jo-Mon, a messianic figure who is mediating disputes and healing people And, though the Messiah parallel is obviously there, it should be mentioned that Jo-Mon gives no credit to God or gods, but to "the strength of will to fight what you fear." There is obviously no disrespect meant at all aimed at religious beliefs, but the messianic parallel (and the message of the story) is reduced in power by this. 

Otherwise, Paul Krupperberg's script is well-constructed and Marshall Roger's art is magnificent. 

The tyrant tries to have Bel-Der assassinated, which ignites the situation into open warfare. Jo-Mon tries to talk the tryant down, but that doesn't end well.

The battle begins and Bel-Der's untrained rebels begin to get slaughtered. But Jo-Mon tries talking again, this time lecturing both armies about peace and brotherhood. 

This works, convincing both sides to stop fighting. But this, in turn, drives the tyrant insane and he guns down Jo-Mon. The last panel before we flash back to Clark telling this story to Jon doesn't make the subsequent situation completely clear, but apparently the tyrant's hold on the people is broken and world peace comes to Krypton.

It is a good story, but really does have it's flaws. Jo-Mon's perpetual serenity means he lacks any real personality and his "let's all just be nice to each other" message lacks any real power.

On a more trivial note: We see that ancient Krypton had both horses and sheep. Since we know the planet had humans, dogs and monkeys, I guess this isn't that much of a surprise, but a more alien design for the horses, for instance, might have helped give us a more concrete sense that it was taking place on another planet.

Next week, we'll jump back to the Marvel Universe to finish up the Captain America story we began last week.

She/He MADE Me!: Tim Makes Angela Watch: Maverick: "Relic of Fort T...

She/He MADE Me!: Tim Makes Angela Watch: Maverick: "Relic of Fort T...:   Maverick  "Relic of Fort Tejon" Aired November 3, 1957. Starring James Garner. Written by Jerry Davis. Directed by Leslie H. Mar...

Edgar Rice Burroughs Podcast: Episode #19: The Mad King, Part 2

Edgar Rice Burroughs Podcast: Episode #19: The Mad King, Part 2:   Tim, Scott and Jess finish their discussion of the 1914/15 novel "The Mad King." Click HERE for the audio version. email us at:...

Cover Cavalcade

 

A great cover from 1937. I couldn't find an artist credit.

Friday's Favorite OTR

 Cloak and Dagger: "File 2218" 5/7/50

An agent parachutes into German-held territory, posing as a German. But a subtle mistake in his behavior threatens to give him away to the Gestapo.

Click HERE to listen or download. 

AAAHHH! I READ IT IN THE WRONG ORDER!

 

I love PT Boats, taking an inexplicable geeky joy in them. In fact, I've written about books featuring PT boats a number of times. (HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE) 

I recently scored a copy of the 1968 novel South Pacific Fury, by James Macdonnell, which also recounts the adventures of a PT boat. This short, fast-paced and truly exciting book stars Walt Kenyon, commander of PT 44. A few hair raising encounters with the Japanese (a bombing run by an enemy plane and an encounter with a destroyer) jump starts the story with a bang (actually, a number of bangs). After that, Kenyon is given the mission of picking up a coastwatcher from an enemy-held island. The Japanese have tumbled to the coastwatcher's presence and are hot on his trail. Also, he has important information that he wasn't able to transmit before his radio went on the fritz.

From there, the book switches from chapter-to-chapter between Kenyon's point-of-view and that of the coastwatcher, whose name is Cook. It's a standard but always effective narrative technique, expanding the action beyond the deck of the small boat and giving us a succession of cliffhanger moments.

The action set pieces are first class. The 44 boat runs into enemy activity and has some engine trouble at an inconvenient time. Cook, in the meantime, deals with an infected bayonet wound in his thigh while barely avoiding both the Japanese and a venomous snake.  But even though the PT boat and the coastwatcher haven't yet rendezvoused or even made radio contact with one another, they still manage to work together. At the same time, Kenyon finds himself in a position that might require him to act with mindnumbing recklessness in order to both complete his mission and survive.

I loved this book and it does tell a complete story in of itself. But as I read it, there seemed to be a call back or two to previous adventures. After doing a bit of research, it seems likely that this book is a sequel to a 1967 novel titled Convert. At the very least, that novel is about someone who takes command of a PT boat after being transfered from a larger ship--which is also Kenyon's back story.

So I have, in all likelihood, read this out of order. That means I may receive a stern letter of reprimand from the International Society for Determining the Order in Which to Read Your Books. We all know what that means.

Oh, well. Hopefully, I'll be allowed to maintain my blog from my prison cell. I wonder if Angela will wait for me while I'm in stir.

A Monster Who Isn't A Monster

cover art by John Romita

Captain America and the Falcon #135 (March 1971) makes one think about cliches and tropes. The story, written by Stan Lee and drawn by Gene Colon, uses a version of the Jekyll and Hyde routine, in which a man transforms himself both physically and morally into a monster. But its an example of why some ideas are continually reused. They are the entry way for countless variations of the basic plot and, in the hands of good storytellers, often still make for entertaining stories. Colon's art looks great and the fight scenes are fun. Also---well, if Angela had failed to notice me the way Julia fails to notice Dr. Gorbo, perhaps I would have transformed myself into a giant ape and gone on a crime spree. So it is difficult not so sympathize with him. 

The issue begins with Cap bringing Falcon (at this time still a fairly new character) to SHIELD headquarters. Falcon meets Nick Fury and demonstrates his skills as a fighter by brawling with Dum Dum Dugan. 

While this is going on, we meet the aforementioned Dr. Erik Gorbo, whose lab is located near the combat area where Falcon and Dum Dum are sparring. Gorbo is crushing on his lab assistant Julia but realizes she doesn't see him in a romantic light. She's more interested in talking about another scientific experiment going on--the Earth Dig project--than in him. Though, to be fair to her, she's unaware of his interest and treats him with respect. Gorbo is butt-ugly, but there's no indication this bothers her. She just isn't in to him. 

Nowadays, this is an issue that would probably end with everyone talking to H.R.  But in 1971, it often ended with the rejected guy drinking a secret formula to make himself physically swesome and thus impress the girl. 

Unfortunately for Dr. Gorbo, the formula turns him into a large gorilla, which rarely impresses the ladies. But he has an antidote and he now also has an evil plan. He can rob banks as a gorilla, then turn himself into a human again so that no on suspects him. He also learns he can mentally control other animals, so he orders all the dogs in the neighborhood to attack the police, thus ensuring his getaway.

Well, a gorilla robbing banks is the sort of thing that draws the attention of superheroes. Cap and Falcon are soon on the trail, though they are also distracted by attacking dogs when they try to catch the gorilla.

But when Dr. Gorbo is next in his lab, Julia tells him she's going to watch the Earth Dig project, which involves digging the deepest hole ever dug into the Earth. In a world where we KNOW that subterranean civilizations exist, this seems like a bad idea. But science must march on.

Anyway, Gorbo gets jealous of the Earth Dig project and attacks it in his ape-form. This starts another tussle with Captain America and ends with the both of them falling into a very, very deep pit.

We'll return to this story in two weeks to see how it ends. I do think it gets off a fairly strong start. A lot of the stuff that happens on SHIELD can seem a bit like filler, but it does serve a purpose in introducing Falcon to a portion of the larger Marvel Universe while giving us a chance to meet Dr. Gorbo. As I already mentioned, Colon's art is wonderful and, though Gorbo is largely a jerk, he does have a few moments that allow us to feel some sympathy for him.

I'll have to ask Angela if turning myself into a giant ape would have impressed her. Probably not, I suppose.

Next week, we visit the planet Krypton.

 

Edgar Rice Burroughs Podcast: Episode #18--The Mad King, Part 1

Edgar Rice Burroughs Podcast: Episode #18--The Mad King, Part 1:   Tim, Scott and Jess discuss ERB's 1914/15 novel about treachery, loyalty, war, escapes, full-scale battles and mistaken identity.   Yo...

Cover Cavalcade

 

A fun cover from 1942. The artist is not identified.