The Sunday Press publications

Hy Mayer, “How the Family of Acrobats Skipped Their Board Bill in Professional Style”, February 26, 1899

The Sunday Press has published some beautiful books on the early comics strip.  Imagine a time when comic strip artists were given the entire page of a newspaper, a time of wild experimentation in a medium which, like radio drama, was nearly lost and forgotten.

Unfortunately, I cannot afford to own these amazing reprint collections produced by The Sunday Press, but thanks to GoComics, The Sunday Press and Peter Maresca some of the best of the early comic pages have been made available online.    If newspapers want to revive their failing circulations, a return to giving space to the comic strip  (and better, tougher, more informative reporting) would certainly be the way to return people to the printed page.

More Sample Sundays at The Origins of the Sunday Comics

And here is a wonderful article by Paul Tumey on The Sunday Press collection Society is Nix

Moviegoing ’77

The first year that my folks allowed me to go to the movies by myself was 1977.  I had enjoyed films before, but I became much more interested in movies after I went with a friend to see Star Wars.   Tom had praised everything about the film, particularly the special effects (naturally).   Neither of us were science-fiction fans, although I read some Heinlein and collected comics, but we weren’t against it either.  That weekend we went to see the film and I was overwhelmed.

Not long afterwards, my father won a VCR at work.  At that time video recorders were very expensive and there were few videos available.  Thanks to the VCR, I would get to see classics like The Godfather (1972) and non-classics like Young Lady Chatterley (1977), both of which were available to rent at the local video store.

However, the prize of our video collection and the first video tape we owned was a bootleg copy of two movies, given to us by a friend of my father’s.   The first film was The Wizard of Oz (1939), the second was letterboxed bootleg of Star Wars.  My siblings and I watched those films repeatedly, had friends over to watch it.   We viewed it so often that when my brother and I saw the re-release of the film we spotted too many changes that had been made to “improve” or “update” the film to relax and enjoy it.  Our copy had a glitch during the scene when Han and the gang are chasing a TIE fighter towards what they think is a small moon.  Chewie jams its transmissions and then there is a glitch.  The film begins again a second later, but it repeats the same scene a second time before moving on.  We watched that version so many times that my brother and I expect theatrical versions to have the same glitch and repeated scene.

Today, I rarely go to the movies, or watch a film at home.   When we go to the movies, my wife and I like to see either classics or art cinema.  There was a time when I would have been in line with all the other folks watching Star Trek into Darkness, Man of Steel, perhaps even The Lone Ranger (although never in any time or alternative world would I have watched Kick Ass 2.  Ask your Doctor, some things transcend time and space).

Thinking about Star Wars reminded me how much I used to love film.  When multiplexes were brand new, I used to walk from one move to the next and see three in one day.    As I am walking down amnesia lane, it seems a good opportunity to briefly review some of the films I watched at the movie theater that year.
The Gauntlet (directed by Clint Eastwood)

My first Clint Eastwood film.  I thought his character, Ben Shockley, was a a dope, and I got tired of all the shooting at the end, but otherwise an enjoyable film.  Sondra Locke was good as Gus Mally, a lady whose smarter than most of the characters in the film, particularly Shockley.   But he has grit, as Mattie Ross would say, and eventually he and Mally come to terms.  Locke is very good in this film.

The Goodbye Girl (directed by Herbert Ross)

I saw this again recently and found it much less funny than I remembered.  This is common with comedies, the impact of the joke comes in part from the surprise, but great comedies are more than the sum of their jokes.  Neil Simon wrote the original screenplay, which is a variation on the Odd Couple except this time Felix and Oscar are not friends, and they fall in love.  I thought Quinn Cummings was very good as ten-year-old Lucy.  I was ten myself when I first saw the film and usually found child actors annoying.  Richard Dreyfuss and Marsha Mason are also very funny as Eliot and Paula .

Oh, God! (directed by Carl Reiner)

I’ll be terribly disappointed if God does not resemble George Burns (or Gracie Allen).

Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown

Once upon a time, I believed that any animated film (or tv show) was better than any live action film (or tv show).   This was entertaining, but not nearly as memorable as Snoopy Come Home (1972), a film which made me truly sad when it seemed Charlie Brown and Snoopy would be separated.   This one involves camp, some bullies and a river raft race.  Saying “River raft race” is fun tho’.

Raggedy Ann & Andy (directed by Richard Williams)

I recall the piano based theme song that is played over the opening credits, even the little curtsey that Raggedy Ann gives to the audience.  Otherwise nothing else about the film comes to mind.

The Rescuers (directed by Wolfgang Reitherman, John Lounsbery, and Art Stevens)

I no longer believe that all animated films are superior to other media.  I liked the film, although I never felt the need to revisit it and even at the time I thought the animation was a bit rough.  At this time the sound in Disney films, particularly the voices, often were richer than the animation.

Smokey and the Bandit (directed by Hal Needham)

After we saw this movie, my father bought a unit and we added ourselves to the national craze for CB culture.   I rewatched this film recently and found it still held up.  Surprisingly clever dialogue from James Lee Barrett, Charles Shyer and Alan Mandel, particularly the conversations between Bo the Bandit (Burt Reynolds) and the runaway bride (Sally Field).  Always a pleasure to see Jerry Reed in a film.  I also liked Mike Henry as Sherrif Justice’s (Jackie Gleason) dimwitted sun.  Gleason is appropriately hammy, and very funny, as the “Smokey” of the title.   Former stuntman Needham keeps the film moving at a brisk pace, Reynolds is at his light comic best and Sally Field is very appealing as Carrie.  Reynolds and Field were an item at the time and they have definite chemistry onscreen.  Terrific song “East Bound and Down” sung by Jerry Reed.   Needham would only make one other good film, Hooper (1978) (also starring Reynolds and Field).

Star Wars (directed by George Lucas)

I love this film the way a child loves his first toy.  Still enjoy watching it.  Next to American Graffiti (1973), its the best film Lucas was ever involved with, including the Indiana Jones films.   Needless prequels and a bad third film has not diminished the fun of this movie.

The World’s Greatest Lover (directed by Gene Wilder)

My parents must have taken us to this one.  I had not yet seen Mel Brooks collaborations with Wilder, had no idea who Valentino had been and was rather baffled when we saw this movie.  Much later I discovered that this film was inspired by Fedrico Fellini’s Lo sceicco bianco (The White Sheik, 1952).  According to the ever reliable Wikipedia, Fellini’s film was also the inspiration for Woody Allen’s To Rome with Love (2012).

The next film I saw Wilder in was The Frisco Kid (1979).  I did not know how truly inspired a comic actor he could be until I saw Young Frankenstein (1974), many years later.

That’s all for 1977.  Later I would watch Slap Stick, The Kentucky Fried Movie and other favorites released that year.  But the film I most associate with that year is Star Wars.  It was not the first film I ever watched, but it is the one that made me interested in film.