jim henson

When the article below ran in the May, 1948 issue of Radio and TV Mirror magazine, actor Howard Duff (1913 - 1990) had been portraying detective Sam Spade in a weekly radio series for a couple of years.

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His popularity in that role would propel him further into a long career in films and TV in the 1950s and beyond.



Click here to enlarge page one of this article and read the text.

Follow links to continue reading the article in a new window:
- Part 2
- Part 3

'The Adventures of Sam Spade' premiered on radio in june of 1946, airing on Friday nights on the ABC network.

The hard-boiled detective's creator, mystery author Dashiell Hammett was marginally involved in the radio production, at least at the beginning.

With the relatively unknown Duff in the lead role, the series quickly caught on, and soon moved to a more prominent spot on Sunday evenings, now airing on CBS. It shifted networks again in 1949, moving over to NBC.

In 1950, both Howard Duff and Dashiell Hammett found their names appearing in 'Red Channels', the Hollywood Blacklisting-era pamphlet that listed entertainment industry professionals with supposed Communist ties.

Howard Duff was soon able to clear his name, but not before the Sam Spade show was brought to a sudden demise. The series would be revived for a final season, but without Howard Duff, and minus Dashiel Hammett's name.
This left Duff free to pursue more movie work, which led to several kick-ass film noir roles in the '50s, among other performances.

Following his "tempestuous" late 1940s relationship with actress Ava Gardner (between her marriages to Artie Shaw and Frank Sinatra, and somewhere amidst her relationship with Howard Hughes) Duff married actress/filmmaker Ida Lupino in 1951.


Episodes of 'The Adventures of Sam Spade' featuring Howard Duff can be heard online at a couple of 'Old Time Radio' locations:

-The Internet Archive has a couple of good stashes of episodes.

- The OTR.Network has a nice selection too, using Real Player and featuring sound quality that is perhaps a bit more consistent.

Cartoonist
Charles Addams was 20 years old in 1932, when his work first appeared in the pages of
The New Yorker.

His macabre cartoons were still running there on a regular basis when this article appeared in the September 13th, 1976 issue of People Magazine, and did so up until his death in 1988 - - and beyond.

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Consider this article a companion to the previously-posted 'Charles Addams: Master of the Macabre', an earlier magazine 'profile' from 1953 that appeared her almost a year ago.

Follow link to that piece for further background links, photos and more info about the three wives of Charles Addams.

See also:
Several great vintage Addams cartoons are on display over at Hairy Green Eyeball.


















































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The article below appeared in the August, 1971 issue of Teen World magazine - - One of dozens of fan-mag articles focused on then-teen
'Brady Bunch' star Maureen McCormick during the original run of the TV series.

Of interest is the common fashion of using only her first name in the article.
Was that merely a device for the readers, to suggest a casual familiarity with their teen idols?

Or did it somehow serve to distance the 'character' of 'Maureen' from the real actress, who perhaps would not invite you to 'spend the day' with her?

Note that co-star Susan 'Cindy' Olsen was not granted the same first-name basis status...

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For years now we've had plenty of examples of how bizarre the effects of a childhood on TV can be for the 'habitual' celebrity.

I personally have not witnessed our friend Mo McCormick's current incarnation as a staple of reality TV, though I have friends who are eager to tell me all about it.

From what I've gathered, Mo has acquitted herself relatively well - - at the very least in comparison to some of her peers from the ranks of former child stars.

But certainly celebrity can make for a slightly strange mindset...

I recall back around 1994 when Mo was involved in a seminar that traveled around U.S. college campuses.

On tour with 'Birth Control Matters', she would speak out to college students about various methods of birth control and the importance of practicing safe sex.

During a visit to the U.C. Berkeley campus, she made time to stop by the studios of KALX radio for an interview.

Amid questions about her showbiz career, she spoke earnestly about birth control education, and mentioned that she and her husband had tried different methods while planning their family, and after the birth of their daughter.

When asked what method they settled on, she declined to answer, stating in essence that it's up to the individual to choose the method that will work best for them, and that she didn't want to use her celebrity status to influence anyone into using 'the same birth control that Marcia Brady uses'.

- - Which of course is good advice, but, even giving Mo the benefit of the doubt to say that it wasn't ego talking, it's a little odd to consider having to think that way...

See also: The Official Maureen McCormick Fan Club Home Page.
Once there, you can navigate to more Mo-centric vintage 'Brady Bunch'-era teen magazine articles at the 'Information' section.

Once upon a time, the stand-up comedy team of
Cheech and Chong emerged as products of the drug-
and counter-culture of the 1960's, and rose to great popularity in the 1970's.

Such was their acclaim (and such were the times) that they could even receive favorable press in a mainstream publication (like this one ▶)
geared for teenage girls, and share print space with
make-up tips and photos of Rod Stewart, Ryan O'Neal and Ali MacGraw.

The fact-filled article below ▼ appeared in the
March, 1973 issue of TEEN magazine.


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Just for fun, a couple of video links...

- First, from a 1978 live stand-up appearance, performing one of their set pieces - - one that would soon show up in the first of Cheech and Chong's profitable string of movies.
Click on links to view:
'The Lowrider', Part 1
'The Lowrider', Part 2

- Followed by the early, slightly 'unfortunate' film trailer for 'Up In Smoke'.

Below, ▼ an excerpt from the very memorable animated short of 'Basketball Jones' (also seen briefly in the 1979 film 'Being There').

Memorable, and positively steeped in the early-seventies era from which it came, well before the concept of 'PC'...



- To view a larger version of this same video with a slightly clearer image, click here.

Cheech and Chong's 'Basketball Jones' had appeared as a track on their 3rd LP, the 1973
Grammy-winning 'Los Cochinos'.

On the album, the song segues out from an interview with 'Tyrone Shoelaces' (Cheech) on
'The White World of Sports'

The backing band on the track included George Harrison on guitar, along with Carole King, Billy Preston, Tom Scott, Darlene Love and Michelle Phillips.

Some folks may not remember the 1973 soul hit that it parodies;
'Love Jones' by Brighter Side of Darkness. (A song that needed spoofing)

Producer Lou Adler was behind the creation of the animated short for 'Basketball Jones', and released it to a few theaters in late 1973 to make it eligible for Oscar consideration.

See also:
Cheech and Chong.Com

Cartoonist Whitney Darrow, Jr. was part of 'the old guard' at
The New Yorker.

His stint there was among the longest; He was 24 years old when the magazine first published one of his cartoons in 1933.
1,500 + cartoons and several covers later, he retired from The New Yorker's pages in 1982.

His work appeared over the years in many other magazines, in advertisements, in children's books, and in this case, accompanying a piece on the 1964 New York World's Fair that appeared in the July, 1964 issue of Woman's Day.

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- Text to the article 'Come One, Come All, Come to the New York World's Fair' continues...

Follow links to:
- page 83
- page 84
- page 85





Dedicated to
"Peace Through Understanding," and "Man's Achievement on a Shrinking Globe in an Expanding Universe", the fair was located at Flushing Meadows Park in Queens - - the same site as the 1939 New York World's Fair.

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For more info on the '64 Fair, the wikipedia entry has some great links to video footage and photos, and you may also wish to visit a previous 'vintage vinyl' post on this blog; 'The Wayfarers at the World's Fair'.


Regarding cartoonist Whitney Darrow, Jr.,
follow links to:
- Darrow's obituary in the New York Times, from 8/12/1999

- A gallery of Darrow New Yorker cartoons

- A gallery of Darrow's book covers and illustrations at PBase.Com, including his poster for the '64 NY World's Fair.

- a 1943 TIME magazine article about Darrow

- Circa 1955, Whitney Darrow's lesson from the Famous Artist's Cartoon Course, via Matt's Morgue

- A Leif Peng flickr set, archiving Darrow's artwork in 2 mid-1950's Chase & Sanborn magazine ads

It may not have been exactly the height of Rock Journalism, but if you were a teenybopper in the latter part of the 1960's, 16 Magazine was the place to get your fix of all your fave fab popstars.

It had taken Paul Revere & the Raiders several years to find the right formula for the successful run they had in the latter half of the '60's - - the years when they were regulars in the pages of 16.

From the band's origins in Boise, Idaho in 1958, through several stops and starts and personnel changes heading into the early '60's, it wasn't until around 1965 that things came together for them with just the right sound, the right vibe, gimmicks, and line-up.

The article below ▼ gave readers a 'revealing' look at the individual members...

Paul Revere, keyboards
Mark Lindsay, vocals & saxophone
Phil 'Fang' Volk, bass guitar
Mike Smith, drums
Jim 'Harpo' Valley, lead guitar

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◀ In '67, your subscription to 16 could also merit a Paul Revere & The Raiders poster, PLUS posters of Herman's Hermits AND
Dino, Desi & Billy!!!

See also:
- Two examples of the band's many TV appearances of the era. Follow the links to see them
lip-synching to 'Steppin' Out' and 'Kicks'

- Wikipedia entry for Paul Revere & the Raiders

- 'Gloria Stavers and 16 Magazine' and 'Teen Magazines from 1970'

- For more fine reading from this very same issue, follow link to
'Mike Nesmith's Happiest Day'

ADDENDUM, 4/28/08: Big thanks to Ward Jenkins for his note - -
"I scanned in some 16 Magazine covers that my mom had when she was a teeny-bopper during the Beatles hey day. Makes for some interesting reading."

- Here's a link to his blog entry at Ward-O-Matic, and also to the full 'My Mom's 16 Magazines' flickr set.

Below: ▼ Back cover wackiness.

Actor / Comedian Dick Shawn was a pretty sensational performer, especially for someone who seemed to often 'fly under the radar' in his professional career.

He'll never be forgotten for his small turn as 'LSD' in 1968's 'The Producers', though personally I'd have to say I'm partial to his appearance as beach bum Sylvester Marcus in the second act of '63's 'It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World'.

This small photo-article ran in the October 19th, 1954 issue of LOOK Magazine, as Shawn's
one-man cabaret stage act was leading him to bigger appearances on television.

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Over the years there have been anecdotes told about Dick Shawn by Mel Brooks and others that worked with him.

More often than not they'd illustrate his versatility, quick inventiveness,
off-beat humor and how he could be both stunningly charming and winningly tasteless, sometimes in the same breath.

He worked fairly regularly in film and TV, though only a handful of those appearances seemed to stand out.

Shawn's real passion was for nightclub performances.
His one-man stage act combined
stand-up with singing and dancing, and he kept up a steady run of appearances throughout the 30+ years of his career.

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Much has been written about
Dick Shawn's demise, but it's such a perfectly fitting performer's exit that it bears repeating...

Performing at U.C. San Diego on
April 17, 1987, he was in the middle of doing a routine about nuclear war.

"...He was his manic self as he began to imagine the holocaust. Nobody would survive, he explained, except the audience in the little sheltered theater.
Then he shouted, 'And I would be your leader!'" ǂǂ

He fell forward, flat onto his face.
He lay there while the audience's laughter slowly subsided and turned to uneasy silence, wondering if this was part of the act.

It was no act.
Dick Shawn had suffered a massive heart attack and died on stage.
He was 62.

In writing about Dick Shawn's death, New York Post columnist Cindy Adams recounted what the comedian had once said about always trying to find the right audiences for his brand of comedy - - "I can't work places like Vegas or the Catskills where people are belching. Maybe I belong in colleges. At least if I die, I die in front of intelligent people who know what I'm talking about."

Another quote from Shawn in reference to performance - - "I think of my relationship with any audience as a love affair. It lasts only a little while but I always look forward to a happy ending. For both of us."










Below, ⬇ Dick Shawn in action - - From 1967, a clip from the CBS Summer replacement variety show, 'Our Place' (with regulars Rowlf The Dog and Burns & Schreiber).

Jazz journalist and historian Leonard Feather's 'Blindfold Test' was a regular feature in the pages of Downbeat and other music magazines for many years, beginning in the latter half of the 1940's.

Musicians were 'blindly' made to listen to a piece of music unknown to them, and then solicited for their comments.

Very often, simply being able to identify the mystery artist was of less importance than reading the blindfolded performer's evaluation of the music they were hearing.

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This article ran in the April 22nd, 1953 issue of Downbeat Magazine.

Jazz drummer Louie Bellson and singer-actress Pearl Bailey had been married in London the previous November.

Their marriage lasted almost 40 years, until Pearl Bailey's death in 1990.

See also:
- A 1959 blindfold test conducted with John Coltrane, archived at Downbeat.Com
(Enter 'blindfold test' in their search window for more 'test' results, including Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, Charlie Mingus and others)

- Some background on the blindfold test at a Dutch jazz site: Keep Swinging

- Leonard Feather bio at AllMusic.Com

- Official website: The Leonard Feather Scrapbooks & Music Catalog

Charles Addams' cartoons first appeared in the pages of The New Yorker in 1932, and ran there on a regular basis until his death in 1988. (Actually, the last of them appeared posthumously)

About a decade before his characters spun off into the 'Addams Family' TV show, this photo-spread ran in the May 19th, 1953 issue of LOOK magazine, casting the spotlight on Addams, the popularity of his creations, and his quirky personality.



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Above: ⬆ Addams and his 2nd wife, Barbara, in 1955.

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See also:
- Official Charles Addams Website

- 'The Father of the Addams Family' - - NPR interview with Addams biographer Linda Davis

- 'Chas. Addams and his Family' - - From a Dutch auto enthusiast's website, scroll down the page for a small article about Addams' vintage car collection.

- Thanks to Lex10 for sending along a link to his posting at Glyph Jockey; a photo of Addams with his 1st wife, Barbara Jean.
It would seem that all of his wives had a certain Morticia quality, including his '3rd-time's-the-charm' spouse, his beloved Tee.

This article ran in the June, 1955 issue of Woman's Home Companion magazine.

Posting it here was really just an excuse to scan the picture with the Nash Metropolitan below, but in fact the article is pretty interesting.

It comes during that period of mid-century post-war affluence in the U.S., when the notion of middle-class families owning two cars was still something of a novelty. In addition to that 'dated and quaint' factor present in reading the article now is its general stance of optimism towards the future - - another position that perhaps seems a bit dated these days.
Enjoy the scans and captions below - -

- - and click here (or on title image) to read the beginning of the article in a new window.

- Click here to read the rest of the article in a new window.

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While working with troubled youths in the 1940's, psychiatrist and author Dr. Fredric Wertham (1895 - 1981) began turning his clinical focus towards the possible detrimental influences of mass media and popular culture.
His articles published on the subject became very influential.

By the 1950's his study was concerned almost exclusively with comic books. The height of his influence came in 1954 with the release of his book 'Seduction of the Innocent'.

The book made a big splash, and so Dr. Wertham was called upon to give testimony that year at the congressional hearings that would put many comics publishers out of business and would give rise to the formation of the
content-regulating Comics Code Authority.

The article shown below ran in the November, 1953 issue of Ladies Home Journal ("The Magazine Women Believe In").

I found a copy of the issue recently and wanted to share the opportunity to see the article in (something similar to) the manner in which America first saw it.

The magazine piece served as something of a preview to 'Seduction of the Innocent' and played a large part in paving a path to the fame and credibility Dr. Wertham was afforded.

Even as comic books became demonized at the time, so over the years has Fredric Wertham to many comics fans the world over. It's just barely possible that both reactions were a bit extreme and unfortunate...

⬆ Photo of Dr. Fredric Wertham at work. ⬆

See also:
- Transcripts of 1954 Senate Subcommittee Hearings into Juvenile Delinquency, with a special focus on Comic Books.

Specifically, you may wish to read from the afternoon session of April 21st - - Testimony of Dr. Fredric Wertham.

- 'Fredric Wertham - Anti-Comics Crusader Who Turned Advocate' - an article detailing Wertham's writings and dealings with the comics medium, and his apparent about-face in the 1970's.

In 1974, In his book 'The World of Fanzines: A Special Form of Communication', "...Dr. Wertham was praising the efforts of comic-book readers, and presenting (their) internal hobby publications as the very model of non-violent communication by bright young people."




































⬆ Cover, Ladies Home Journal, November 1953

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ADDENDUM, 11/25/07: Many many thanks to Rogelio T for sending along a link to an archived radio broadcast from a March 2, 1948 episode of 'America's Town Meeting of the Air'.

'What's Wrong with the Comics?' featured a discussion with Al Capp, George Hecht, John Mason Brown and Marya Mannes.

It was later featured in the March 20, 1948 issue of Saturday Review of Literature as 'The Case for the Comics'.

"It's not Wertham, but the same subject", says Rogelio.

Follow the links to listen...
Reel 1 of 2
Reel 2 of 2

(Via American Voices)