Retro Fan #12 January 2021 (magazine review).
Please do not get confused by the January release date of this latest ‘Retro Fan’, it actually the Christmas edition but more on that later. A good chunk of this issue is devoted to ‘Three’s Company’, the American version of the UK sit-com ‘Man About The House’, which is probably why it was never shown on our side of the pond. At least we didn’t have the shenanigans behind the scenes that happened with this version.
Although not going into in detail, ‘The Ropers’ also parallel our own spin-off, ‘George And Mildred’, and even the third series, ‘Robin’s Nest’, which had even less comparison to the US version. Chris Mann interviews Nancy Morgan Ritter, its star, John Ritter’s ex-wife filling in details about her deceased ex-husband’s time in the series.
The latter animated adventures of Popeye on television in the 1960s, as explored by Tom Speelman, could not resort to the violence associated with his early adventures. It also looks like no spinach was eaten although the sailor man did have a family.
Mike Eury fills us in on CB Radios and how they rose and faded with a lot of media rigmarole.
Rick Goldschmidt’s article on the TV special ‘Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer’ is a supplement to his book on the subject, correcting a lot of things associated with its production that he’s discovered in later years that will make you wonder how it ever got out.
Andy Mangels gets festive with ‘Saturday Morning Holiday Cards’ where the production companies Hanna-Barbera, Filmation and Ruby-Spears Productions involved created cards using their characters
I’m not sure if I agree with Ernest Farino’s assessment that ‘Santa Claus Conquers The Martians’ from 1964 is the greatest Christmas movie but, then, it hasn’t been widely shown in the UK.
Scott Shaw!’s look at the merchandise based on the illustrations by Dr. Seuss does at least give a pronunciation of Theodore Geisel’s alter-ego, although I think ‘Soice’ rhymes with ‘sauce’ and looks like I’m had it wrong for years.
Will Murray spends some time with the late Irish McCalla who was the original ‘Sheena, Queen Of The Jungle’. I hadn’t realised she was also the name source for the Ramones’ song, ‘Sheena Is A Punk Rocker’.
It’s rather interesting what doesn’t get exported to the UK as we knew nothing about Ronnie Schell, although Jason Hofius endeavours to explore ‘Good Morning World’.
In contrast, Ian Millsted looks at how ‘Doctor Who’ or Terry Nation with the Daleks alone initially in the States and its failure to succeed. Considering how many UK shows were remade in the US image, it did make me wonder why none of the TV studios considered that than rely on the UK product. Terry Nation’s attempt to peddle the Daleks alone as his own creation would surely have needed a serious humanoid opponent than alone.
For a decent touch of American bygone culture, then pick up ‘Retro Fan’ and skip the shops. With only three features yuletide bound, this shouldn’t be considered a total seasonal issue.
GF Willmetts
December 2020
(pub: TwoMorrows Publishing. 82 page magazine. Price: $ 9.95. (US). ISSN: 2576-7224. Direct from them, you can get it for $ 9.95 (US))
check out website: www.TwoMorrows.com and https://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=98_152&products_id=1563
