Saturday Matinee to Matinee Classics!

On March 5 I wrote about a new website that had just gone online -- Saturday Matinee.   I mentioned it was in a test phase, had a lot more content to upload and planned to issue a press release in April.  Four months later it still has more movies and radio shows to put online -- an unending process that will be good news to frequent visitors.  I urge you to check it out!  You will find many rare radio shows, movie posters, 1950s TV shows, shorts, serials, newsreels and feature films going back into the silent era, all tied together with over a million words and counting.  No, I didn't count them yet.

The name change from Saturday Matinee to Matinee Classics was because a (fast-fading) video store chain (or is it a video releasing company?) had trademarked the name "Saturday Matinee."  I have heard of the company but can't find anything about it online.  I don't think it is "Eddie Brandt's Saturday Matinee," which is a famous Hollywood store that has been around forever.  It doesn't matter; someone had a TM on the name so it had to change.  The more generic "Matinee Classics" is actually working better with the search engines.

Here is the press release that went out on June 14, 2011:


Matinee Classics LLC today announces the debut of its new online entertainment presence. When completed there will be over 10,000 distinct videos (7,000 currently) with over 4,000 hours of viewing entertainment and many more thousands of hours of listening entertainment—more than an average person could possibly enjoy in a lifetime.

This unique online library lets you:

• Watch streaming videos of more than 5,000 classic movies and trailers from as far back as the late 1800’s, including some of the best silent classics, numerous educational and historical documentaries and newsreels, and more than 4,000 classic television shows, cartoons and TV commercials from the earliest days of television
• Listen to more than 40,000 Old Time Radio Show classics (6,000 currently)
• View tens of thousands of movie posters, lobby cards and publicity photos
• Read over a million words of entertainment content – historical information, biographies of actors and directors, as well as synopses of movies, television programs and radio shows.

MatineeClassics.com offers content that makes it tantamount to having a classic movie channel or cable television channel available 24-hours a day, with the programs you want when you want them. And the content is available for use on portable devices and smartphones such as an iPhone, Xbox, iPad, eReaders, MP3 players, and internet-connected televisions.

You’re invited to join our Community area to share your views, and write reviews and comments on the classic movies, television programs and radio shows you enjoy.

Matinee Classics is a user- and family-friendly site with something for everyone from the ages of 1 to 99 to enjoy.

Matinee Classics is a library, a huge database, indeed a museum where rare and wonderful classic works can be treasured and shared. This encyclopedia of entertainment is an evolving, ongoing project, with new content being added all the time.

*********

This comment is posted after the press release online.

I have been on this site and it brings back so many childhood memories. Shows that I watched as a child, cartoons,commercials and movie stars from a diffrent a time of long ago. I will be on this site all the time. Today I watched Dick VanDyke classic. I read biographies on my favorite stars, things I never knew so it is thrilling to learn about all these amazing movie stars. great great site.  Thanks.

Be sure to visit Matinee Classics!
Visit my website www.fesfilms.com.

Here are some short genre Introductory films you will soon find at Matinee Classics:

Jungle Drums, Jungle Memories!

I have been fascinated by jungle movies since I was a child under ten.  The interest was likely ignited by my Tarzan double feature at the age of eight when I saw the giant vampire bats in Tarzan Escapes, and fanned by reading all the Tarzan novels as a teenager.  At the same time I grew up watching "Ramar of the Jungle" (1952-'54), the Gunga Ram stories on "Andy's Gang" and all the adventure serials I could find on TV.

The elements that still appeal to me are the wild animal fights, crocodiles and crocodile pits, boa constrictors, men in ape costumes, elephant stampedes, vine swinging and lost kingdoms -- action, adventure, thrills & horror!  Lost in the deepest jungle of darkest Africa the resourceful hero always finds a way to save the heroine from the sudden danger that lurks behind every bush.

During the last ten years I have been re-watching films I remember from my youth like Francis the Talking Mule, Ma and Pa Kettle, Charlie Chan, all the serials, B-westerns and so on.  I am still looking for some jungle serial that I recall clearly and think I even saw twice on TV.  The first chapter ends with a plane crash in the jungle.  The second chapter ends with the hero and heroine on a narrow ledge in a deep pit full of crocodiles.  They need to walk along this treacherous ledge to reach an escape door on the other side.  Their footing crumbles... do they fall among the gators? For a long time I was sure this was one of the two Clyde Beatty serials, Mascot's Lost Jungle or the early Republic Darkest Africa, except when I watched them, no crocodile cliffhanger.  Both serials do have crocodiles in pits.  Lost Jungle's first chapter ends with a dirigible crashing.  A later ending has Clyde hanging from the rim of the pit as he grapples with a bad guy, but no scene of that ledge.  Perhaps I dreamed it all and recall the dream???

They made dozens of serials set in jungles from the silent era thru the fist sound serial King of the Congo (1929) up to the 1952 Buster Crabbe Columbia also called King of the Congo!  My favorite is Perils of Nyoka (1942) starring Kay Aldridge, Clayton Moore,  Charles Middleton and Lorna Gray.  Great plot that moves from one exotic location to another in search of a cure for cancer, slam-bang fights erupt in every new set with David Sharpe doubling for Nyoka, chases, imaginative chapter endings, a giant ape and more.  The Nyoka character (created by Edgar Rice Burroughs as a female Tarzan) also appeared in the 1941 Republic serial Jungle Girl.  I must confess I find the scantily-clad Frances Gifford the most fetching heroine in any serial.  Let's not forget The Tiger Woman (1943) serial starring Linda Stirling.

Searching for my lost serial that may not exist, I've seen some real losers in recent years.  Queen of the Jungle (1935) with Mary Kornman lost as a child and growing up to lead a jungle tribe.  The main interest was stock footage from a silent serial.  Jungle Queen (1945), with Ruth Roman battling Nazi invaders.  Jungle Raiders, 1945 Columbia serial with Kane Richmond.

However, I have just seen a jungle serial that surprised me for being quite well made and entertaining: Call of the Savage (1935, Universal). Two competing teams of scientists search the jungle for a lost formula to cure infantile paralysis.  The secret was engraved on a wrist band given to the boy Jan who disappeared 15 years before and grew up to be Noah Beery Jr.  Jan swings on vines like Tarzan, kills lions, tigers and leopards after wrestling with them, and is dressed like and talks faltering English like Tarzan, but he's still a boy (23) with an amiable smile and infectious laugh.  It takes a bit to get used to him.

You will never get used to the heroine, Dorothy Short, who screams at anything and constantly wanders off so a ferocious beast can chase her.  In the middle they dress her in a tiger skin to match footage from some silent serial.  This changes to a leopard skin outfit without comment, as pictured in a chapter ending.  While Jan grapples on a ledge with a lion, Mona backs to the edge and falls into a river infested with snapping crocs!

The jungle sets are well designed and alive with all imaginable animals: lions and tigers (yeah, together and fighting each other), crocs, tapirs, monkeys, giraffes, elephants, leopards, zebras, hyenas, gnus and some I can't identify.  There's also a man in a convincing gorilla costume.  Croc fights tiger, lion fights croc, Jan fights 'em all in hand-to-hand combat with a knife.  The fights are as good as any Tarzan movie since some stuntman really roughs it with his arm in the lion's fanged mouth.  Good animal photography of snarling tigers, etc., which may be from some silent serial.

It's a Universal serial so when they reach the lost city in chapter 10 action takes place on the Frankenstein castle set.  They use the giant bells from the 1923 Hunchback of Notre Dame, but it is newly shot footage because the monkey climbs the rope and plays with the bells, the ringing of which saves all from being speared to death at the end of chapter 11.

You can order Call of the Savage HERE. Meanwhile, I'll keep looking for that crocodile ledge that scared me as a child.

Visit my website www.fesfilms.com.

FAQ - Why Café Roxy?

I am probably asked one question more than all others. Even if new customers don't ask it, they may well be wondering, because they find my website by making a google search on "public domain films." They already know what public domain means, so the question is some variation on:

"If all these films are in public domain, why can't I show what I got from a dollar store?" Here is an exact quote from a small theater owner last week: "Why can't I just use my private copy of the Movie? If it's public domain? You have an excellent selection and was just wondering about this!"

When I started making Café Roxy "Programs" in early 2009, I asked myself exactly the same question -- Why Café Roxy?  What could I offer special that no one else provided?  The answers are on the website, but here is a chance to spell them out again. I explained it in an email to the above theater manager. The same answers apply to TV stations adding public domain films and TV shows. If you are starting to yawn about now, jump to the bottom of this post to see his reply to my reply. Yawn....

PROGRAMS!
Each Café Roxy Program starts with a brief "Café Roxy Presents" opening fanfare.  You do not need to run this if you don't want to.  The Matinee, Horror, Turkey, etc., Roxy series contain trailers, live shorts, serial chapters, cartoons and Intermission breaks so every presentation runs close to two hours.  A Roxy logo with music concludes each show.  The "Just Classics" section contains longer films and classics that have at least one cartoon added, like the Cat O' Nine Tails poster.  The Classics have 3 minutes of exit music after a voice over says: "Thank you for coming.  Have a safe trip home."

POSTERS!
I make my own posters that list both features and shorts and have a blank area to add your show date info if you print out the posters.  You can also take the poster Jpeg off my website and put it on yours.  If the poster design appeals to you, then chances are it will work the same magic on your customers.

QUALITY GUARANTEE!
Quality of some of those dollar bin discs is all over the place.  My standard is acceptable (to excellent) viewing when projected in a 400+ seat movie theater.  I constantly seek to upgrade each show.  There are no annoying company logos or bullets in the corner of the picture like constantly show up on broadcast TV.  There is also a quality guarantee that if you get a show you don't like, then no charge.

I also screen the films before putting them into a program with an eye toward what audiences will enjoy today.  I am liberal about including westerns, B-pictures and golden turkeys, but I once discouraged a customer who wanted to buy and run "Sin Takes a Holiday" based on the title alone.  This 1930 drama with Constance Bennett and Basil Rathbone is fine viewing for Cinephiles on TV, but no one would sit through it in a theater.

PROOF OF PUBLIC DOMAIN!
Are you really sure that DVD you picked up for a dollar is in the public domain?  It says on the box and on the DVD that the FBI will pursue you for copyright infringement.  The only thing really copyrighted is the art work on the box.  I take the opposite and honest approach to inform exactly why a film or TV show is in the public domain.  You CAN run them on TV or show the films in your movie theater.  Won't you feel safer knowing why the films are public domain in case anyone asks, like the station owner?

I do put my own copyright notice -- © -- on each Café Roxy release to cover my openings and closings. This protection of new matter insures that no one can simply copy and resell the programs.  (This is the furthest thing from my users minds!)  At the same time I grant permission for theaters and TV stations to run the entire shows.

REASONABLE PRICE!
The Café Roxy pricing section had been saying $50 per program for movie theaters, with discounts for volume sales.  Most theaters who try the shows will take at least 5, which qualifies for the discount to $25 per program.  I don't want to scare you off with "$50."  I want you to try showing vintage films to audiences.  So the pricing page now reads: "For movie theaters and film societies where admission is charged -- $35 per DVD-R. Discount Price for all 12 programs of any series such as Golden Turkeys or 12 Nights of Horror: $25 per program."

FREE SAMPLE PROGRAM!
I almost forgot about this bonus.  Just ask and I will send a free Café Roxy program with shorts, serial trailers, feature excerpts, the first episode of "Beverly Hillbillies," a silent Buster Keaton short and the 1934 "Buck Rogers" film.  Run it in your theater to see how the films project.  Prepare samples for Internet streaming or TV broadcast.  Examine the range of quality.


So I told that theater owner: "Programs have cartoons, shorts and serial chapters added.  I get the best quality films, and ones without any company logos over the picture, and you can use my posters to promote your showings, and I include copyright info in case it is needed.  That is particularly useful to TV stations. Yes, you could put your own programs together if you prefer."

And he replied: "Oh, okay, now I understand that will be well worth the price then. I will defiantly keep you guys in mind when the time comes. Your set up sounds fantastic and will pass your site onto others."


Visit my website www.fesfilms.com.

Roy's Comical Sidekick -- Pat Brady!

 In a follow up to last week's post, I offer some comments on the curious case of Pat Brady. From their first meeting in 1935 when Pat was only 21, up until Pat's early death in 1972 at the age of 57, Pat and Roy Rogers enjoyed a lifetime friendship while working together many times.  Pat appeared in 36 Roy Rogers features from 1941's Red River Valley until the last Rogers feature in 1951, Pals of the Golden West.

The curious part of these screen appearances is that Pat's roles alternated from unbilled extra as a member of the Sons of the Pioneers singing group, to second sidekick, to #1 sidekick, but not in ascending order.  One would expect him to move up to the #1 job and keep it, but he had a bigger role in Red River Valley with lines and musical  numbers than as a border patrolman in Pals of the Golden West, where Pinky Lee filled the comic relief.  Pat does ride to the rescue with the "Roy Rogers Riders" while Roy and Pinky hold off the bad guys.

Born in 1914, Pat Brady first set foot on-stage at the age of four, in a road-show production of Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch.  From that moment he was hooked on showbiz for life. While appearing as a bass guitarist in California in 1935, Pat struck up a friendship with a young country western singer named Leonard Slye, a member of the popular The Sons of the Pioneers. When Len Slye was elevated to screen stardom as Roy Rogers, he recommended Brady as his replacement in "The Sons." However, since Bob Nolan, an original member of The Sons, was referred to as "Bob," the group thought one "Bob" was enough, so "Bob Brady" became "Pat Brady" from then on.

As a member of the Sons of the Pioneers, Pat appeared in 27 Charles Starrett westerns from 1937 to 1941.  I have seen none of these even though I taped many Starretts off the western channel about ten years ago.  Then the Sons moved up to Republic to rejoin Roy, who had been an original member.  Pat stayed on when Foy Willing and his Riders of the Purple Sage replaced the Sons.  Pat's character was sometimes called Sparrow Biffle and other times he was not even billed in the credits!

In Roy's 1942 film that was titled "Sons of the Pioneers," Pat Brady and Gabby Hayes get equal screen time as "dual sidekicks," as shown in the picture on the left.  They appear in every scene together as pals and best friends of Roy.  In a charming scene they ride together at night believing that Roy has been killed, singing a mournful song.  When Roy yodels the song in the distance Pat screams "It's a ghost!" and they hightail it. They shared the comedy in at least two other Rogers westerns of the period, and seemed comfortable doing so.

In King of the Cowboys (1943) Pat sings a comic song with The Sons, just before Roy rides off on an undercover job with sidekick Smiley Burnett!  That's it for Pat until he rides as an extra in the finale.

In Bells of Coronado (color, 1950), Pat is billed third and is Roy's one and only sidekick -- riding, fighting, getting shot and providing comedy.  But in Trigger Jr. (1950), Pat is again a comedy co-star with sidekick Gordon Jones.  

In 1951's South of Caliente Pat has little screen time opposite burlesque comic Pinky Lee (who went on to a career as TV kid show host in the 1950s).  It is fortunate for Pat's dignity that he was not asked to dress up like a gypsy or take pratfalls like Pinky was made to do.  The fact seems to be that Pat was by then part of Roy's stock company and performed whatever the script asked of him, sometimes a lot but other times little.

His loyalty and flair for comedy paid off.  When Roy moved to television from 1951 to 1957 he took Pat with him, now permanently billed as "himself" or as The Roy Rogers Show put it: "...and Pat Brady, Roy's comical sidekick."  Brady enlivened over 100 episodes, happily driving about the sagebrush at the wheel of his faithful jeep "Nellybelle."  Nelly was Roy's jeep that he used on his ranch.  He had noticed that kids expressed extra interest in the vehicle whenever they saw him driving around, so he ran the idea past Pat as his transportation in the TV show rather than riding a horse.  The idea was a hit with Pat, who reveled in the comedy antics of the cantankerous prop, as was the entire show.  

The Roy Rogers Show is where I first heard the term "sidekick" at an early age and where I first met Pat Brady.  I had no idea Pat appeared in so many features with Roy ... 36 ... until today when I added them up!

Visit my website www.fesfilms.com.

More Roy Rogers!

The more I see of Roy Rogers, the better I like him.  While I don't specifically recall seeing Roy's features on TV when I was under ten, his TV show started in 1951 when I was six and is one of my earliest TV memories.  I might have watched the first year at a friend's house since we did not have television that early.

I have previously blogged about the Roy Rogers Auction and about "Happy Trails Theater."  What's new today is... more "Happy Trails Theater!"  A 6-DVD set has been issued by Timeless Video, an excellent provider of classic TV and movies. Check out their numerous other offerings.

The set contains 19 episodes of "Happy Trails" plus the bonus film "Cowboy and the Senorita" (1944), which is the first film Dale made with Roy and is the only film shown complete at 78 min.  All the others are abridged to around 62 min, which includes the credits and intros.  Some comments at the IMDB say don't buy the set because of the massive cuts in the features.  I sympathize because most of the films are copyrighted and these are the only versions for sale.  Some of Roy's features like "Song of Texas" were cut for TV in the 1950s to 54 minutes and do not seem to survive anywhere in a complete form.  Most of these are copyrighted films obtained from Republic in 1988 when the new intros were filmed.  "Trail of Robin Hood" could have been preserved complete and in color in 1988, but where are those missing scenes today?  Why do the shows run 62 minutes?  Were they intended for a 90-minute time slot that would have included 28 minutes of commercials?

Forget the cuts, this is a wonderful set for the interviews and bonuses.  Bonus films include a "Roy Rogers Biography," "Museum Tour," and documentary on Roy's many sidekicks.  The guests include 5 segments talking with Gene Autry and Pat Buttram, 5-time co-star leading lady Penny Edwards, Iron Eyes Cody and Roy Rogers Jr.  Roy Rogers (78 at the time) and Dale Evans (75) are charming hosts and interviewers.  Their lifelong friendship with Gene Autry and Iron Eyes Cody is quite apparent.  Discussions about Gabby Hayes are fascinating.  They appear much as they look in this photo from 1985.

There is plenty of variety in the plots of the films.  "Sunset in El Dorado" was written as a solo starring Dale, until V-E Day changed Roy's draft status and he did not enter the army after all.  Dowager Margaret Dumont plays Dale's Aunt who proves no match for Gabby Hayes.  In "Trigger Jr." (1950, Trucolor) Roy is hooked up with a circus and a killer horse named Phantom; he even goes to prison to save Trigger from a murder charge.  In "South of Caliente" (1951) Roy transports horses to Mexico, aided by dual sidekicks Pat Brady and Pinky Lee.  In "Spoilers of the Plains" (1951) Roy works for an oil company but comes to the aid of experimental rocket scientists when foreign spies steal secrets.  Penny Edwards is his co-star in this one.  Watch the chase/fight scene between two wagons full of men when one of the stunt men falls under the wagon and is run over.

Just get this set from Timeless, or watch "Happy Trails Theater" from Netflix.

Switching gears a bit, I sell 58 public domain Roy Rogers westerns on DVD on my website. That may be all of them in public domain; I should check. For quite awhile I did not offer "Song of Texas" (1943) because the only copies I could find were pretty terrible in quality. A few months ago I got a call from Tom Connor who has a theater in Stockton, CA. Tom likes to run B-westerns once a month and was looking for "Song of Texas." When he heard my report it came out that he had an original 16mm print of the film but that he no longer ran film, only video projection.  I connected Tom's print with Derek Myers to transfer the film and we all have nice video copies now.

"Song of Texas" is a terrific Roy Rogers film!  Roy and the Sons of the Pioneers work the rodeo circuit for bad-guy Barton MacLane.  When they try to quit to start their own rodeo group, Barton tries to put their ranch out of business.  Sidekick Pat Brady has more to do than usual with his own romance.  Although unbilled, Yakima Canutt must have staged the two spirited stagecoach races since he has a short dialog scene with Roy.  The first scene in the picture shows Roy and the gang, even Trigger, performing for sick children at a hospital, thus capturing a true event that Roy repeated many times for his fans.  Watch it right here!

Roy Rogers -- the greatest cowboy hero of all time to millions of kids!

Visit my website www.fesfilms.com.

Rare Robert Benchley Film!

Before I get to Mr. Robert Benchley, here's an inspiring picture someone posted on my Facebook group this week that harks back to the golden era of movie palaces and theater going in the 1930s. I have seen similar old drawings that glorify the Paramount Theater, some of the interiors of palaces, and have always been moved by the nostalgia they evoke for an era I never really knew. 

Ah, the thrill and expectation of seeing Marlene Dietrich first run with a full house.  I know it's a thinly disguised ad for Paramount theaters and pictures, but so what?

I have quite a few films I can never find -- piles and piles of DVDs everywhere -- and other gems I have yet to watch.  I don't know they are gems until I actually find the time to watch them but the discovery is always worth it.  Last night I got around to looking at a most interesting film sent to me last year by the real hero of this find, Derek Myers.

Derek has kind of a dream job and dream hobby to my mind.  He has programmed public domain films at WGGS-TV in Greenville, SC, and for a sister station in Atlanta for close to twenty years.  His continuing hobby is acquiring 16mm film prints of public domain films from ebay and private collectors and making new transfers.

The rare film that I had never heard of before is "I'm a Civilian Here Myself" produced by the U.S. Navy in 1945.  When World War-II ended all servicemen were brought home, but before they could step off the ship back into civilian life they had to enter separation centers for a few days.  This instructional film was probably shown to them on the ship home!

The Navy had a similar film for sailors out at the same time: "The Road to Home" in which Bing Crosby and Bob Hope told sailors not to jump ship.  While we would not think of it today, apparently there was a real problem with returning servicemen feeling they had served, the war was over and they could go AWOL right off the boat.  Bing and Bob entreated them to wait a few more days for their official discharge. I have sold this rare and highly entertaining short for some years in "On the Road With Bing and Bob" DVD.

Highly entertaining best describes "I'm a Civilian Here Myself."  In fact it is an absolute must-see film for fans of Robert Benchley, the reason being that he must have written most of it and plays many parts!  The film was made in 1945 and Benchley died in November of that year at the young age of 56.  It is probable he wrote his own dialog in one of his last films "Road to Utopia" released in 1946, but this Navy film may be the last free-wheeling, no-insanity-barred excursion into Benchley mania.  You can judge for yourself when he tries to explain to Hugh Beaumont his job before the war as a putty patterer.  The depiction of the separation centers as posh resorts with girls, girls, girls all in swimsuits could only have come from his mind as well.

The actual film runs 24 minutes.  The main title was missing so I labeled it: "Going Back to Civilian Life."  (I only just now found the correct title at IMDB under Hugh Beaumont, since there was no reference to the film under Robert Benchley.)  Because of the time limitation set by Youtube, only nine minutes of the film is presented here for your enjoyment.

Visit my website www.fesfilms.com.

Me & the Disney Ducks!

Since December I have been reading through about 4 boxes of Walt Disney Comic Books featuring the art and stories of the master Carl Barks. My appreciation of Barks has only increased to the point I would not hesitate to call him the greatest comic book writer and artist (yes, both) anywhere in the world at anytime. At the rate of two or three comics a day, I still have a few to read but not that many.

I own the hard cover compilation "Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge McDuck: His Life & Times," which is on ebay for $600, but I have not read the stories in there.  I prefer reading the original comic books that are either reprints or poor condition and so are worth very little.  The reprint on the left with two classic tales currently sells for only $7.

By accident I have a poor condition issue of Barks' very first Donald Duck story -- "Victory Garden" -- from Walt Disney's Comics and Stories No. 31, April 1943.  Some pages are missing but not from the Barks story.

When I was growing up in the 1950s my father owned and ran a drug store in the small town of Deerfield, Wisconsin.  A population at one point of 710 sticks in my head.  Deerfield served farmers in the area and, being a half hour from Madison, is today a thriving community of commuters to the big city.  Way back then the main street was one block long with a bank, drug store, grocery store, doctor's office, hardware store, insurance office and single restaurant on that one block.  The family of mom, dad and 3 kids lived in a tiny apartment above the store.  My father bought the building next door and turned it into a larger drug store shortly before he died of a bad heart in 1958.  It is still there but the original store with upstairs apartment was torn down for a driveway for the bank on the corner.

Many features of the first drug store are burned into memory.  Soda fountain where I could make myself any sundaes, phosphates or malts I wanted.  Candy that I did not have permission to eat but that I occasionally pilfered.  Patent medicine bottles leftover from the 1920s -- not for sale, I hope, but hanging around for some years.  Mogen David wine on one shelf.  A few shelves of toys.  Girlie and stag magazines that turned up in the back room with covers torn off when I was around ten.  Yes, I remember those.  Storage in the basement that was spooky with the lights out.  A little work bench back in a corner where I played with a chemistry set and built model planes.

Last but not least, the store had a well-stocked rack of comic books and magazines.  I swear the store did not carry Superman or the other super heroes.  I only read those off the racks at a drug store in neighboring Cottage Grove or the Madison bus station.  My brother swears the store had super heroes.  One early memory was the horror comics.  I recall being scared by one where a man digs up a coffin to steal a jewel only to find rats pulling the corpse into a tunnel, so he follows them in....  Suddenly, one day, no more horror comics, but the E.C. science-fiction ones continued for awhile.

I did read every comic that came in.  I did not buy them or save them, just read them off the comic rack and put back -- Archie, Fox and the Crow, Little Lulu, Porky Pig and friends, Roy Rogers and lots of westerns, Classics Illustrated, etc.  My favorites of all were the Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge adventures.  But one grows up and like many others I put comics behind when we moved to Madison for my high school and college years.

When I moved to Minneapolis in the 1970s I became friends with David Mruz and other comic collectors.  There was a comic book store and comic conventions.  At some point I bought a lot of Disney comics at cheap prices and continued buying the early years of Gladstone Comics reprints in the 1980s, and hence the 4 boxes I have held onto.

For about five years I owned the Carl Barks lithograph "In Uncle Walt's Collectory" shown here.  Bought it for around $500 and sold for $600 or so, as I recall.  You can get a mint one on ebay for $850 so they have not gone up that much.  My wife Chris always commented that the weird eyes on the ducks kind of creeped her out.

Most of the epic Barks adventures have been re-printed again and again, so I have acquired reading copies of all the major epics going back to "Pirate Gold" in 1942.  That is, all except for the 1946 story "The Terror of the River" that I don't recall ever reading.  I'd like to borrow the Gladstone reprint from someone.

Favorite stories among hundreds....  "The Old Castle's Secret" from 1948 with Donald, Uncle Scrooge in his second appearance and the nephews -- for sheer spookiness in a great castle.  Funniest Duck story ever: "Letter To Santa" (1949) in which Huey, Dewey and Louie want a toy steamshovel for Christmas but Donald and Scrooge get them real ones instead.  After a battle, Donald disguises as Santa to tell the boys he is out of steamshovels, then the real Santa enters to clear it all up.  Favorite Scrooge adventure: "Seven Cities of Cibola" (1954) for the fabulous trek thru the desert to untold riches.

So nothing about movies today, just about what I've been doing.  Reading comic books.  Think I will go read another tale or two about Donald and the boys.


Visit my website www.fesfilms.com.