Retro Fan #19 March 2022 (magazine review).
With ‘Retro Fan’, you can see the content on the cover. Saying that, it’s a lot more fun to read so lets look at some of the content. On one of the last pages on the inside, you can see an alternative version of the cover.
Will Murray has a look at the animated 1960-62 series ‘Courageous Cat & Minute Mouse’, allegedly created by Bob Kane, who took the credit for the real work done by Sheldon Moldoff who storyboarded all 130 episodes and who rightly demanded more money when he found he was being drastically short-changed. Not surprisingly, there are comparisons to a certain caped crusader.
Ernest Farino is bowing out of ‘Retro Fan’ but he’s going with a bang with 11 pages of behind-the-scenes photos from a selection of films that will make your jaw drop. I think the biggest jawdrop was seeing the façade that was the Bates house from ‘Psycho’ but there is so much to study here. Farino can’t be the only person with such a collection of rare film/tv photos so hope others can fill this gap and lets see what else is out there.
The interview with actress Caroline Munro by Anthony Taylor about her career is interesting and covers a lot of ground as she went from Lamb’s Navy Rum poster girl to bit part and even starring roles in films, learning as she went. Her coffin appearances in the ‘Dr. Phibes’ films but no credits is explained because of her contract to Hammer and she just wanted to meet Vincent Price.
Scott Shaw!’s look at the 4 issues of Gold Key’s ‘The Close Shaves Of Pauline Peril’ from 1970 seems an odd choice to go into so much detail about. Mostly because I doubt if it would be on many people’s buying list. Even so, it adds to the list of ladies in peril characters.
Something that didn’t get to the UK was ‘Wacky Packages’. L. Wayne Hicks explores these sticky label parodies from 1967-1976 and I suspect many of them wouldn’t work in other countries without some serious redrawing for local products.
Scott Saavedra’s look at the Watergate Scandal looks from the historical account and parody magazines and Bernstein and Woodward’s investigations almost become a footnote. To be fair, Saavedra admits in the end italics he was a schoolkid when Watergate was going on and little of it sunk in fifty years ago and had to rely on research books. It’s also a strong reminder than even recent history is running out of people who were alive and totally aware of such events.
Andy Mangels unravels ‘Ghost Busters vs Ghostbusters’ and how Filmation’s live action TV series later had problems from the 1984 film version who wanted to use the same title, although the idea itself goes back to 1914 and 1922 in the silent era. Things got even more complicated when both Filmation and Columbia released TV animation series at the same time. Seeing the studio politics is interesting although I do have to wonder if there was some shenanigans when Filmation was bought out and closed.
Something else that never reached our shores were M.U.S.C.L.E. aka Millions of Unusual Small Creatures Lurking Everywhere. Basically pencil rubbers in the shape of Japanese wrestlers before adding a selection of American wrestlers in its 1982-92 run as John Cimino explores the subject.
‘Remembering Red’ by Mark Kratzner and Doug Carroll isn’t about the colour but the actor Red Skelton and a museum devoted to him and nice to hear he was such a nice guy coming from such a poor background into showbusiness.
The oddest thing about ‘Retro Fan’ is its just a long as any of TwoMorrow’s publications but is read even faster. If you want to dig into American culture and stir up some memories or knowledge along the way, then ensure you get a copy.
GF Willmetts
March 2022
(pub: TwoMorrows Publishing. 82 page magazine. Price: $10.95. (US). ISSN: 2576-7224. Direct from them, you can get it for $10.95 (US))
check out website: www.TwoMorrows.com and https://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=98_152&products_id=1641
