Tag: Larry Todd (1948 – )

ISSUE 2: EDITORIAL, CREDITS, INDEX, AND INDICIA

OH BOY! STAR TREK! A whole issue dedicated to every aspect of the show! Just one question – Why?

That’s a pretty good question…

Well, this special ish of THE MONSTER TIMES serves a 2-fold purpose – to celebrate the first annual STAR TREK CONVENTION, January 21, 22, 23 at New York’s Statler-Hilton, and secondly, to commemorate the convention’s memory.

HUH?

You see, we figured the STAR TREK CON was such a nifty idea, that we put out this special issue in honor of it. However, as our distribution schedules go, some of you readers will be reading this in your (few) spare moments at the hectic bustling TREK-CON, as this ish is made specially available to you there, whereas the rest of you have purchased your copy after the convention, at your local newsstand.

So this issue is both a special supplement and a memento of the gala occasion, and we have made our coverage so thorough, that those who didn’t attend the con can get the spirit and crazy exuberance of the luna-module-tic affair. So it’ll seem to you you were there (poor souls!).

ANCIENT SECRETS REVEALED:

Doubtless there are many questions about the show you have long wanted answering. Just to be pesky, we’ll ask them again:

Q: Who was STAR TREK’s salt-thriving vampire? page 5.

Q: Who kept hiding Leonard Nimoy‘s bicycle in the studio rafters? page 14

Q: Did you know the first STAR TREK model kit was a real lemon? page 22

Q: What did chopped chicken liver get for one wise Trekkie? page 28

Q: What lunacies will we be presenting two weeks from now? See back cover.

So, for those of you who’ve bought this modestly superb effort at the STAR TREK CON, enjoy the festivities – and maybe drop over by THE MONSTER TIMES’ special table in Spaceway Hucksters’ room, and maybe perhaps subscribe (mercenary, ain’t we!). For those who (sadly) missed the convention (details of it are on page 23), we hope this issue makes up for it, and we hope to see you there next year.

Next issue (2 weeks from now), we return to our regular newspaper programming, with Giant Bugs on the Munch. See you and your napkins then!

“MT-Many Thanks! Chuck

CHUCK R. McNAUGHTON: Almighty Editor. JOE KANE: Managing Editor. ALLAN ASHERMAN, PHIL SEULING, STEVE VERTLIEB: Associate Editors. BRILL AND WALDSTEIN. Art Direction. BILL FERET, DENNY O’NEIL, C.M. RICHARDS: Columnists. ALLAN ASHERMAN, JESSICA CLERK, DAVE IZZO, DEAN ALPHEOUS LATIMER, ED NAHA, C.M. RICHARDS, STEVE VERTLIEB, JIM WNOROSKI: Contributing Writers. JACK JACKSON: Contributing Photographer, LARRY WALDSTEIN: West Coast Correspondent. JESSICA CLERK: European Correspondent. RICH BUCKLER, ERNIE COLON, CARLOS GARZON, DAN GREEN, STEVE HICKMAN, JIMMY JANES, JEFF JONES, MIKE KALUTA, GRAY MORROW, B.B. SAMS, LARRY TODD, BERNIE WRIGHTSON: Contributing Artists.

1 THE STAR TREK SAGA:
The show’s origins, exploits and fateful (shudder!) destiny.

4 STAR TREK… A GOURMET’S DREAM OF FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Some of the greatest missions.

7 BOOK REVIEW: THE MAKING OF STAR TREK:
A handy reference, if you write S.T. comics.

12 TV SPACEMEN:
A playful portfolio of early rabbit-eared star-raiders.

13 INTERVIEW WITH WILLIAM SHATNER:
Capt. Kirk lets it all hang in outer space, Star-flight-on!

15 LEONARD NIMOY:
An informal, ear-perking portrait of one Vulcanized actor.

16 STAR TREK COLOR POSTER:
Worth the price of the whole dang Trekkified issue!

18 MONSTER TIMES TELETYPE:
Facts, flashes and fore-tollings of monster film news.

20 M.T. PRODUCT TEST:
Star Trek Model kits… and a couple of interesting facsimiles.

23 STAR TREK CONVENTION NOTES:
What’s happening at Ye olde whole sha-bang!

25 THE COP WHO LAUNCHED THE ENTERPRISE:
An Encyclopedia Film-Fannica portrait of Genius Gene Roddenberry.

26 STAR YECCH! – A PIX-PARODY:
A special photo-comix takeoff, so’s we don’t take this adulation business to seriously.

28 THE LAST DAYS OF THE ENTERPRISE:
The last laughs and last heartbreak of the last day of shooting.

THIS ISSUE’S COVER is excerpted from this issue’s super color centerfold poster which we especially commissioned Gray Morrow to concoct for this special all-STAR TREK issue. We trust you’ll find Gray’s fantastically designed poster even more exciting than our cover. We sincerely believe our poster and your wall will be very happy together.

THE MONSTER TIMES, No. 2, Feb. 16th, 1972 published every two weeks by The Monster Times Publishing Company. P.O. Box 595, Old Chelsea Station, New York, N.Y. 10011. Subscriptions in U.S.A.: $ 6.00 for 13 issues, outside U.S.A.: $10.00 for 26 issues. Second-class mail privileges authorized at New York, N.Y. and at additional mailing offices. Contributions are invited provided return postage is enclosed; however, no responsibility can be accepted for unsolicited material. Entire contents copyrighted (c) 1972, by The Monster Times Publishing company. Nothing may be reprinted in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher. Subscriber change of address; give 8 weeks notice. Send an address imprint from recent issue or state exactly how label is addressed.

Printed in U.S.A.

ISSUE 1: THE GHOULS, A BOOK REVIEW

by LARRY TODD

THE GHOULS

edited by Peter Haining with an introduction by Vincent Price and an afterword by Christopher Lee $7.95

Peter Haining’s THE GHOULS is an anthology of nineteen stories which have found their way (in some form or another), to the screen as horror films. That is, some of them are horror films, others are monster flicks. Editor Haining has produced several other anthologies, including a competent one on vampyres; THE MIDNIGHT PEOPLE.

THE GHOULS is published by Stein and Day, for the truly blood-curdling sum of $7.95. Its other attributes, (apart from the impressive price tag); a garish cover done in early Grand Guignol and ziptone, with hints of decadence and bad taste, (the inside cover is even worse; its in Day glo Christmas colors with a reproduction of Christopher Lee yawning) an introduction by Vincent Price, an editor’s forward, an afterword by Christopher Lee, and stills from the films.

The stories are by Ambrose Bierce, Edgar Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Bram Stoker, Nikolai Gogol, and Robert Louis Stevenson to name a random few. Literary excellence, and the role these stories have played in the history of the horror film are Mr. Haining’s chief considerations.

The stories are, on the whole, excellent. Some, such as Tod Robbin‘s SPURS and Gaston Leroux‘s THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, have inspired, respectively, the cine-masterpieces FREAKS, and the immortal Chaney film. Others, Poe’s THE OBLONG BOX, for example, have been butchered and transformed beyond recognition. As Boris Karloff once remarked during an interview “Poor Poe, the things we did to him when he wasn’t around to defend himself.”

The best story is W.F. Harvey‘s grisly THE BEAST WITH FIVE FINGERS; a classic which has been anthologized since the Flood, and is perhaps one of the most frightening stories of all time. Also good are Poe’s THE SYSTEM OF DOCTOR TARR AND PROFESSOR FETHER, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s FEATHERTOP. and Nicolai Gogol’s THE VIY.

Harvey’s BEAST WITH FIVE FINGERS concerns a man relentlessly persecuted by (and finally murdered by) his dead uncle’s possessed hand. A beautifully crafted piece of work, from its subtle beginning to its climactic ending, it was, unfortunately, made into an undistinguished film in 1947. That it survives at all, despite its typical 1940’s gimmick ending, is due entirely to the acting ability of the late Peter Lorre. And the pauperdom of Warner Brothers TV department.

THE SYSTEM OF DR. TARR AND PROFESSOR FETHER deals with the strange doings in a lunatic asylum when the patients take over. It’s by Poe. Need I say more? The critic who remarked-“One does not go to Poe for humor.” can eat his words. It may be black humor, but it is definitely humor. The film, under the title THE LUNATICS, was produced in 1912 by the Edison company; which also produced the lost FRANKENSTEIN of 1910.

FEATHERTOP is about a scarecrow who through the whim of a New England witch, becomes alive. Gogol’s THE VIY, a story of vampirism and witchcraft in Russia, was turned into an excellent film by Mario Bava. Bava had been a cameraman before becoming a director, and his visual sense of values and ability to use his actors (Barbara Steele and John Richardson in this case), were what made BLACK SUNDAY a superior film.

Now for the bad news folk. Included in the anthology are Gaston Leroux’s PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, Tod Robbin’s SPURS, and Francis Oscar Mann’s THE DEVIL IN A CONVENT.

The PHANTOM OF THE OPERA is quite a good novel in the original French. This translation is terrible. To judge Gaston Leroux by this mess is comparable to judging Chaney’s performance by the rotten Hammer remake. I’ve read the original, complete, French version. I know. (I’ve also seen the rotten Hammer remake.)

I was disappointed in Tod Robbin’s SPURS. I expected the story that inspired Tod (Dracula) Browning’s magnum opus, the incomparable FREAKS, to be made of sterner stuff. Well. That is life. THE DEVIL IN A CONVENT is a bore. It may have inspired the first horror film of all time, but it is a mushy Pre-Raphaelite-like bore. Enough. If you’re curious about what exactly a Pre-Raphaelite-like bore is, read it.

Now: the question that is doubtless foremost in your hearts as you sit, perched on your chairs breathlessly perusing this review. Do I recommend the book? After all, $7.95 is a lot of bubble gum in these depression days. And is it worth it?

Yes.

Jessica Clerk

EDITOR’S NOTE: Jessica Clerk is The Monster Times’ Staffe Vampyr Expert, 17 years old, and claims to carry a torch for Chris Lee. We plan to ship our precocious li’l tyke to England to interview England’s No. 1 vampire in a forthcoming ish of M.T.

Peeleth thine eyes!

ISSUE 1: EDITORIAL, CREDITS, INDEX, AND INDICIA

DESTINY DEMANDS:

Destiny has brought forth this first issue of The Monster Times, and the theme of the issue is Destiny at work. Hark work.

It takes a lot of back-hunching work to bring out a publishing sensation like The Monster Times – a tabloid monster newspaper of films, comics, fantasy and science fiction, news, reviews, previews and interviews – appearing every two weeks! But ol’ Destiny had a hand in it, and now we are the thankfully proud purveyors of the phenomenon.

The theme of Destiny is evident in our crypt-full of “firsts” as seen for instance in this first issue’s QUIZ:

Q: What did a fellow named “Max Terror” have to do with the first Vampire Film? (Page 4).

Q: Did you know that Dracula’s name was really “Irving?” (Page 5).

Q: Did you know the first Frankenstein monster had long hair? (Page 6).

Q: Who were the first blabbermouths to warn that people from the lost continent of Atlantis were secretly controlling us? (Page 11).

Q: What real-life 9-foot lizards inspired the first film appearance of King Kong? (Page 22).

Q: What 1936 film first accurately predicted World War Two, television and the atomic bomb? (Page 27).

Q: How often will The Monster Times be appearing on your newsstands? (see below).

…EVERY TWO WEEKS

Future issues of “MT” will theme themselves about Star Trek (next issue) Frankenstein, Flash Gordon, Werewolves, The War of the Worlds, Giant Bugs on the Munch, Edgar Rice Burroughs, the Ghastly and Great Horror Comics of the 1950’s, etc.

Plus a captivating cornucopia of creative creepish comix, pulsating posters, nerve-numbing news releases, freakish fan-happenings and wrenching reportage of general goings-on in the ever-expanding cantankerous cosmos of the 20th Century’s Popular Arts Renaissance.

INITIAL INSPIRATION:

“MT” – Monster Times! “MT” – Merely Terrific! “MT” – Morbidly Tasteful! “MT” – More Than Merely Timely, Mighty Topical, Modestly Trend-setting! For these are the best of times and the worst of times, these indeed quite are; THE MONSTER TIMES!

Destiny Demanded that The Monster Times came to be-And you, dear reader, have helped us fulfill our destiny by buying our premier issue. See you in two weeks!

“MT” – Many Thanks! Chuck

CHUCK A. McNAUGHTON: Almighty Editor. JOE KANE: Managing Editor. ALLAN ASHERMAN, PHIL SEULING, STEVE VERTLIEB: Associate Editors. BRILL AND WALDSTEIN: Art Direction. BILL FERET, DENNY O’NEIL, C.M. RICHARDS: Columnists. ALLAN ASHERMAN, JESSICA CLERK, DAVE IZZO, DEAN ALPHEOUS LATIMER, ED NAHA, C.M. RICHARDS, STEVE VERTLIEB, JIM WNOROSKI: Contributing Writers. JACK JACKSON: Contributing Photographer. LARRY WALDSTEIN: West Coast Correspondent. JESSICA CLERK: European Correspondent. RICH BUCKLER, ERNIE COLON, CARLOS GARZON, DAN GREEN, STEVE HICKMAN, JIMMY JANES, JEFF JONES, MIKE KALUTA, GRAY MORROW, B.B. SAMS, LARRY TODD, BERNIE WRIGHTSON: Contributing Artists

THE MEN WHO SAVED KING KONG from the cutting-room floor – page 1

NOSFERATU: the first Vampyr – but not the last! – page 3

DER GOLEM: Mud, sweat & tears that made Czechs bounce – page 6

BUCK ROGERS: His rockets roared thru a vacuum of space! – page 9

THE MONSTER MARKET: Is the Wolfman better than George Washington? – page 15

MONSTER TIMES POSTER BONUS! Frankenstein, by Berni Wrightson – page 16

THE GHOULS, A BOOK REVIEW: of Ghouls, by Ghouls and for $7.95 – page 18

MUSHROOM MONSTERS: An MT series on the ’50’s bomb Bomb movies – page 19

NOSFERATU, A GRAPHIC INTERPRETATION: Special comic strip treatment – page 20

THINGS TO COME: The most prophetic film ever made – page 22

MY TELETYPE & CON CALENDAR: Reviews, previews and news of fan conventions – page 18

MONSTER FAN FAIR: Where you can advertise for monsters and comix – page 31

Our premier cover has been specially rendered by ace science fiction illustrator and syndicated cartoonist (Big Ben Bolt), Gray Morrow. Gray found time away from his prolific chores to prepare this fantastic mini-poster of King Kong for our first issue.

THE MONSTER TIMES, No. 1 January 26, 1972, published every two weeks by The Monster Times Publishing Company. P.O. Box 595, Old Chelsea Station, New York, N.Y. 10011. Subscriptions in U.S.A.: $ 6.00 for 13 issues, outside U.S.A.: $10.00 for 26 issues. Second class mail privileges authorized at New York, N.Y. and at additional mailing offices. Contributions are invited provided return postage is enclosed; however, no responsibility can be accepted for unsolicited material. Entire contents copyrighted (c) 1972, by The Monster Times Publishing company. Nothing may be reprinted in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher. Subscriber change of address; give 8 weeks notice. Send an address imprint from recent issue or state exactly how label is addressed.

Printed in U.S.A.