Doc Savage - Part 4 Star of All Media

Today, I conclude my look at the history of Doc Savage, originally posted in April 2010.

Doc Savage starred in 2 radio series during the pulp era. The first was a 15-minute serial which ran for 26 episodes in 1934. A second series aired in 1943. No tapes exist from either series, although some scripts have been collected. In 1985, NPR aired The Adventures of Doc Savage, as 13 half-hour episodes.
In 1975 Doc finally made it to the big screen in a campy Warner Bros. feature that owed more to the BATMAN TV show than James Bond.

The film was released internationally and was supposed to launch a franchise, but it's lackluster performance put the kabosh on any hope of a sequel.

The posters were pretty sensational though.

TV Tarzan (and future FACE THE MUSIC and MISS AMERICA PAGEANT host) Ron Ely was cast as The Man of Bronze.

The film was released on VHS.

And was made available on DVD on demand through the Warner Archive Collection.
The movie is a mid-70s curiosity, as is the soundtrack by John Philip Sousa!

As an addendum to my look at Doc in comics, you may want to check out Wildstorm's brilliant PLANETARY series, which featured a thinly disguised homage to Savage named Alex Brass. That's all I've got on Doc, hopefully someone out there appreciated this exhaustive (and exhausting) look that the classic pulp character. I know I enjoyed pulling it all together!

Doc Savage - Part 2 Paperback Pulchritude

Continuing a repost from April 2010. Yesterday, I briefly traced the pulp magazine origins of Doc Savage. Today, let's look at the gorgeous painted covers that graced the popular Bantam paperback series which ran from the 1960s through the 1990s.

As I mentioned yesterday, Doc often was depicted with a ridiculously torn shirt barely covering his massive heaving manboobs.

 Though at times, the climate called for more appropriate attire, as seen above.

Or sometimes less clothing was required, as in the case of The Frightened Fish!

So apparently Doc took on Hiltler, Hercules and some frightened fellow, all of whom cause him to thrice again tear his shirt apart. What was this guy's clothing budget?

Here Doc looks like he's waiting for someone to, ahem, bow down before him, and then he meets his torn shirt-wearing twin in The Land of Fear!

Here Doc experiences deja vu as the cover painting is recycled. At this point the story titles seem to have gotten a bit silly as well: The All-White Elf?, The Angy Canary?, The Running Skeltons? and The Swooning Lady?

Yikes! What the hell is that bird creature? And just who is The Metal Master? Ozzy?

Before you know it, Doc is back underwater and then he's fighting off a giant case of the crabs.

At times he even explored religious and mystical themes such as resurrection and black magic.

And finally Doc took some shirt-busting disaster movie plots. I wonder how I would look on the cover of a Doc Savage novel...

Now I know. If I haven't frightened you away, come back tomorrow for a look at Doc's comic book career.

Doc Savage - Part 1 Bronze Skin & Torn Shirts

Back in April 2010, DC Comics was about to launch a new DOC SAVAGE comic book series. I asked my readers if they were wondering..."who is Doc Savage?"

The character, Doctor Clark Savage Jr., first appeared in 1933 in a series of pulp magazines from publisher Henry W. Ralston, editor John L. Nanovic and author Lester Dent.

Doc has often been noted as being one of the possible inspirations that led Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster to create Superman.

After all, Doc was called a "superman," his name was Clark, he was dubbed "the man of bronze" and he had a secret headquarters called The Fortress of Solitude. Coincidence? I think not,

Unlike the last son of Krypton, Doc was an Earthling whose only "costume" was his khakis and torn off-white shirt.

Doc somehow managed to always appear either shirtless or in a terribly mangled shirt that emphasized his bulging biceps.

 

 And sometimes Doc even appeared...well, you know...

...naked! Talk about pulp fiction!

Things got a little creepy at times for Doc,

but this Savage always knew how to get his man.

Mystery on Happy Bones? I'm not even touching that one! Come back tomorrow when I take a look at the swinging, sexy paperback novel covers that made Doc a sensation and pop culture icon all over again in the 1960s.

PRETTY POISON

Yet another re-post from my prolific blogger days.

PRETTY POISON (1968, directed by Noel Black) is a quirky little film based on Stephen Geller's 1966 noir-ish novel She Let Him Continue.

One part thriller, one part black comedy, Anthony Perkins stars as a mentally unstable ex-con who meets up with a seemingly innocent high school knockout (the wonderful and highly-watchable Tuesday Weld)—and soon the two are a lethal combination.Perkins plays the easygoing, but slightly psycho Dennis Pitt, who is on parole from a mental institution and working at a chemical factory in sleepy, working-class New England town. As sage advice, his parole officer (John Randolph) warns him that “the world has no place for fantasies.”. He soon becomes enamored with Weld's sexy, precocious drum-majorette Sue Ann Stepenek after seeing her perform with the local high school marching band.
Rather than reveal that he is a nerdy arsonist (who trots around town rather than drive) who killed his own aunt in a fire he started, Dennis tells kittenish Sue Ann that he is a CIA agent, and playfully concocts all sorts of tales of espionage. The two begin a torrid romance, and frequent the local makeout area. The age-inappropriate relationship is not looked upon kindly by Sue Ann's domineering mother (expertly played by the late, great Beverly Garland).SPOILERS begin here: A plot to explode an bridge and dump bright red (pretty) poison into the local water supply turns even uglier when Sue Ann decides to kill the sweet old night watchman by clobbering him with an enormous wrench and then rolling his body down to the lake and sitting on him until he drowns. Oh yeah, she steals his gun too! Dennis begins to feel guilty what has transpired, but Sue Ann is turns out to be quite the thrill killer and wants to continue the crime spree- culminating with Dennis marrying her and taking her to "the bay of Mexico" to live.
The only person standing in their way is her nagging and disapproving mother. So, with the help of the night watch man's gun, Sue Ann says goodbye to her. The twist is that Sue Ann has now become more diabolical than Dennis ever was.Dennis, realizing that Sue Ann is psycho turns himself in to the local authorities and takes full blame for their crimes. Sue Ann instantly and gleefully betrays him and he is sent to prison.The film ends with Sue Ann meeting another handsome young man and complaining to him that the people who she lives with won't let her stay out late, implying that she will use this new stranger to her best advantage. Pretty poison indeed.

A fun, if a bit slow-moving romp with an addictive performance by Weld. Perkins is his usual reliable, nutty self and Garland, like a said earlier, is a hoot. Some great color choices and unusual shots also add to the stylish look. I give this one a 9 outta 10. See it!

For a fun and stylish blog inspired by the quirky, legendary Hollywood bad girl Tuesday Weld - go here.