Cover Cavalcade

 

March is TRIAL BY JURY month!

Here's a 1964 cover by Sheldon Moldoff

Friday's Favorite OTR

 The Whistler: "The Black Box" 4/28/47

The choreographer of a ballet company has reason to destroy the career of the star male dancer. But she can't destroy a career if she's dead, can she?

Click HERE to listen or download. 

We Were There, Part 1

 

The We Were There books was series a of 36 novels for kids written between 1955 and 1963. There was one (We Were There at the Battle of Lexington and Concord) in my school library when I was in elementary school. I loved it and, when I rediscovered it as an adult, I was impressed with how good it was. As we have discussed before, I had remarkably good taste in books as a child. 

Aside from Lexington and Concord, I have run across The Battle of the Bulge and The Oregon Trail in used book stores over the last few years. I continued to be impressed with the good prose, solid historical accuracy (each book had an historian working with the writer) and the willingness to occasionally present difficult and morally uncertain situations. So, when I saw nine of them on the shelf in a Goodwill bookstore, I snatched them all up.

It gave me an idea. I have been a guest speaker at both Daughters of the American Revolution and Sons of the American Revolution meetings. My wife Angela is a leader in the local DAR chapter (which was my connection for becoming a speaker). I told her that if they ever had an open slot, I could do a talk on children's and young adult novels dealing with the American Revolution. This would include Esther Forbes' Johnny Tremain, Howard Fast's April Morning and the four We Were There novels dealing with the Revolution or the events leading up to it.

Angela thinks its a good idea, but there's no certainty that I'll eventually give this talk. So, as I read each of these novels, I'm going to write about them here. That way, if the talk does come up in the future, I'll have these posts as notes to use. 

Normally, I'd write about them in chronological order according to when the historical events being depicted happened. But I had to get two of the We Were There books via inter-library loan. I'll need to return these soon, so I'll be reviewing them first, beginning with We Were There with Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys, by Robert N. Webb (1956).

Each of the WWT books feature a boy and a girl, usually in their early teens, as the protagonists, giving the young reader point-of-view characters they could identify with. In this case, the story is told through the eyes of 15-year-old Tom Botsford and his 13-year-old sister Lucy. They live with their parents on a farm across a lake from Fort Ticondaroga.

Tom meets Ethan Allen when the big, bosterious leader of the Green Mountain Boys saves him from a mountain lion. The year is 1774, so the Revolution is still a year away. But Allen and his Boys have work to do. 

There was a land dispute between New Hampshire and New York, caused by contradictory land grants issued by various English kings over the years. The Botsfords and other settlers are in conflict with "Yorkers," militia and surveyors from New York who are trying to run them off their land. Tom ends up working with Allen's men, at one point helping to save his own farm from being burned.

All of this helps establish the personalities of the Botsfords and of Allen, but I'm also impressed that the author succinctly explains a complicated political situation (which was eventually resolved years later by the formation of Vermont) and use that to drive the plot. The story even briefly delves into the moral complexities of the situation, as Allen and his men eventually ride off to burn down a few Yorker farms and drive those families off the land. 

The book also does a great job of capturing Ethan Allen's larger-than-life personality. Though it does clean up his language. In fact, when Angela and I were discussing the book just before I read it, we were wondering if the plot would be driven by Tom being taught by Allen to cuss and drink. 

Eventually, the war begins and the focus of the Green Mountain Boys turns to capturing Fort Ticanderoga. Young Lucy Botsford has been to the fort to sell them cakes and bread made by her mom. So now she goes back one more time (the British troops haven't yet heard about Lexington and Concord) to sell some more cakes, but also to count how many troops are stationed there. Tom in the meantime, is on guard duty when he encounters an arrogant colonel named Benedict Arnold, who has been sent to take command. 

Arnold clashes with Allen over who is in command (an event that did happen in real life), with Allen eventually threatening to hog tie Arnold unless he leaves the issue alone until after the fort is taken.

Arnold's betrayal of his country is still a couple of years in the future. Here, we get a realistic snapshot of who he was at the time--an arrogant but incredibly brave and capable soldier. The book doesn't cover his later activities, but Arnold will be responsible for saving the Revolution at least twice before his ego led him down a treacherous path.

The Green Mountain Boys cross the lake at night in rough weather, attacking the fort and taking it without the loss of a single man. 

Later events are summarized at the end of the novel--Allen gets captured by the British while leading an attack into Canada, spending three years as a prisoner before being exchanged. Henry Knox, one of Washington's aides, arrives and hauls the cannon to the Continental Army besieging Boston (an incredible feat that could have been the plot of a We Were There book in of itself). And Tom Botsford rides off to join the army and fight for his country. That final scene is genuinely touching. Tom's mom is worried sick about him. His father is worried also, but proud of his son as well. It's a legitimately touching ending. Tom is doing the right thing, but he's riding into an incredibly dangerous situation and there's no guarentee he'll survive.

So We Were There with Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys is a kids' book written with intelligence, telling an exciting story in clear prose without dumbing down either the characterizations or the events. 

In a few weeks, we'll examing the WWT book dealing with Yorktown. Darn Inter-library loans!--forcing me to read these books out of proper historical order! Civilization may collapse, but there's nothing to be done about it.

Edgar Rice Burroughs Podcast: Episode #31: Victory Harben: Fires of Halos Part 2

Edgar Rice Burroughs Podcast: Episode #31: Victory Harben: Fires of Halos Part 2:   Here's Part 2 of our discussion of "Victory Harben: Fires of Halos," by Christopher Paul Carey. Click HERE for the audio ve...

A Time Traveling Cat, part 1

 

cover art by Victor Pazmino

SPECIAL NOTE: Last week, I said I would talk about a story in which a squirrel attempts to skip school. It's a story I found online in a comic book that has fallen into the public domain. But, after reading it, I failed to make a note of the comic book's title. Now I can't find the darn story! Too many funny animal comics were being published at the time and that naughty squirrel is thus able to hide from me. So I'm moving on to a time-traveling cat. 

America's Funniest Comics #1 (Sept. 1944) was the first in that title's two issue run. Both issues include a story about Tommy the Time Traveler, a young cat who has access to a time machine. Well, it's not every day you stumble across a time traveling cat. So we'll cover his premiere adventure this week and his final adventure next week. The artist who chronicled Tommy's adventures is Thurston Harper. The writer is unknown.

Tommy has an interest in history. At the museum one day, he sees a suit of armor that had belonged to a knight named Watts Cookin. This night is said to have one day disappeared from King Arthur's court and was never seen again. Anxious to find out what happened to the knight, Tommy asks to borrow Dr. Goatee's time machine. 

What's interesting is that Dr. Goatee implies that Tommy has borrowed the time machine in the past and already had some adventures. This comic was put out by one of the many small publishers who came and went during the 1940s. It's possible that Tommy had showed up in another, largely forgotten book before this. But if so, I can find no record of it.

Of course, if this is Tommy's first recorded adventure, then the "he's done this before" vibe allows the writer to get the backstory out of the way in just one panel, leaving plenty of room for the actual adventure. If I had to guess, I'd go with this being Tommy's first appearance.

Anyways, Tommy is soon dressed in Watts Cookin's armor and winging his way into the past on the uniquely designed time machine. He reaches Camelot in 592 AD and greets the knights of the Round Table (who were busy playing jacks) with the phrase "What's cookin'?"

Tommy's odd speech patterns confince the knights he's a witch and they drag him outside to burn him. We learn here that the time machine is sentient, has it clobbers the knights and saves Tommy.

Tommy manages to convince the knights that he's friendly. He rides out with them on a quest to defeat a giant and the giant's pet dragon.

When they see the dragon, Tommy assumes it's a fake, because dragons exist only in fairy tales. Well, it turns out they also exist in stories starring anthropomorphic animals. The dragon is real, but Tommy's sword blows tickle it enough to make it run off.

Tommy gets rid of the giant by hanging a large mirror in front of its cave, frightening the big guy into running off. I have no idea where Tommy got the mirror.

The two monsters soon return, though, convincing Tommy its time to jump into his time machine and fly home. It's only when he gets back that he realizes that the knights of the Round Table thought Tommy's name was "Watts Cookin" based on how he initially greeted them. The knight was Tommy all along.

The story is fast-paced and fun, effectively blending silly humor with adventure. Tommy, in his eagerness to time travel and learn more about history, is an appealing protagonist. We'll join him next week for his second (and sadly last) adventure.

Click HERE to read the story online.

Edgar Rice Burroughs Podcast: Episode #30: Victory Harben Fires of Halos Part 1

Edgar Rice Burroughs Podcast: Episode #30: Victory Harben Fires of Halos Part 1:   The first of two episodes in which Tim, Scott and Jess will be discussing the New ERB Universe book "Victory Harben: Fires of Halos,&...

Cover Cavalcade

 

March is TRIAL BY JURY month!

Here's a Curt Swan cover from 1962.

Friday's Favorite OTR

 Duffy's Tavern: "Duffy's Draft Board" 2/2/51

Archie lies about his age when he attempts to hit on a woman. The domino effect of this leads to Archie getting drafted.

Click HERE to listen or download. 

Beachcomber in Space, Part 1

 

cover art by H.W. McCauley

Read/Watch 'em In Order #159

I had mentioned in the last "In Order" entry that there was one more Hok story to go, published after the author's death. But when I found a copy online, I saw that it was the story of how Hok met his wife. Unsold in Wellman's lifetime, he later incorporated the events of this story into the first published Hok tale.

So we are done with Hok. We therefore jump from the distant past to the far-flung future to hang out with Ebbtide Jones--a beachcomber who ends up working in space.

His first adventure appears in the November 1939 issue of Amazing Stories. "Whirlpool in Space," written by Miles Shelton, explains that Ebb never does anything other than sit on the beach and wait for wreckage to drift in. Salvaging such wreckage is how he eeks out a living.

But Ebb's friend Stan Kendrick is a scientist who has figured out that there is a sort-of gravity whirlpool out in space. Space wreckage would drift to this spot--tons of stuff just waiting to be salvaged. Stan's girl has taken a job as a flight attendant on a space ship, so Stan has nothing holding him on Earth. He and Ebb are soon zipping through space in a small ship. 

They find the whirlpool and are soon at work, collecting valuable salvage.

But trouble is afoot. A ship (with Stan's ex-gal aboard) is transporting an exiled king--and the king's priceless jewels--to Venus. The crew of that ship is not above acts of murder to get their hands on those jewels.

So murder, plots and counter-plots soon lead to the jewels "washing up" in the whirlpool, but the bad guys also showing up to get the loot themselves. Stan tries to do some swashbuckling to save the girl and stop the villains, but it's Ebbtide's quick thinking (and a salvaged Space Cannon) that saves the day.

The story is fun and Ebb, who stays at the salvage point at the story's conclusion, is an unusual hero. Uneducated and single-minded, he is able to carry this short, light-hearted tale along in an enjoyable manner.

By the way, the author has the characters lifting/moving large objects easily because of zero gravity. He was either deliberately cheating for the sake of the story or he didn't realize that "weight" and "mass" are different and moving big, heavy stuff isn't that easy in space. But what the hey--the story is fun enough to get away with a little physics silliness. And, as I said, it's possible the author did this deliberately just to keep the story fun.

You can read the story online HERE. 

There were four Epptide stories all-together, so we'll be visiting with him again soon.

There's No Nice Way to Say It--Dullwit the Fox IS Dumb!

 

cover art by Bill Walton

Adventures in Wonderland #1 (April 1955) includes the story "Dullwit, the Dumb Fox," with art by Dick Rockwell. And, by golly, there really ISN'T a nice way to say it. Dullwit is an idiot.

We meet him on the way to school, dressed in a new coat and carrying his lunch. But a crow tricks Dullwit, stealing the lunch. Then a couple of hedgehogs trick him, stealing his coat. When he comes home from school that night, he has a note from the teacher saying he's too dumb for school. Mom briefly tries to console and encourage him, but then resignedly tells him "I guess you are dumb!"

Not exactly in the running for "Mom of the Year," is she?

Actually, the standard of intelligence among the foxes isn't that high. A fox named Dapper Dan is luring foxes into traps, so that their pelts can later be sold. We see him trick one fox into a trap by promising him he'll find a money tree in that spot.

Dapper Dan lures Dullwit into a trap by promising him some "smart juice." But Dullwit is too small for the trap, gets loose and stumbles across the cage holding the captured foxes. He's too dumb to figure out how to unlatch the cage. Because he's cold without his coat, he starts a fire. In a panic that the surrounding woods will catch fire, Dapper Dan and his bear partner run into the trap that had been meant for Dullwit. 

Later, fox police officers, searching for the kidnap victims, find everyone. The foxes are freed, while the bad guys are taken off to jail. Dullwit, however unintentionally, is responsible for capturing Dan and the bear, so all the kids who had been picking on him now try to make him smarter.  They start with trying to teach him 2 + 2, which he'd been struggling with earlier. And maybe--just maybe--he starts to learn.

It's a silly story, but silly in a good way. Rockwell's art is charming--the story does succeed in getting us to sympathize with Dullwit when everyone (even his Mom) is picking on him. And it's nice to see all the other fox children joining together to help him learn in the end. This is a story that could only have been told years ago, since nowadays we automatically wonder if Dullwit has a learning disability. But such things weren't understood in 1955. And besides, the other foxes don't come out looking that bright either. Falling for the old "You'll find a money tree" trick? Come on! I myself haven't fallen for that one in months!

Click HERE to read this story online. 

Next week, we go from a dumb fox to a smart squirrel--who is trying to come up with a plan to skip school.