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[Quirky Quokka]

I didn't realise it came from a newspaper strip 

QQ, I pointed that out and pasted a link on Spranger, but over in the comments under the book itself, not in the reading group posts. The fact that two sets of comments on a book can exist on CB+ in two different places, can be quite confusing!

As I said there, quite a number of the Super Detective Library Books are reprints from US strips. 

cheers!   

Thanks Panther. I'm sorry I missed those other comments. I looked at the comments under that issue, but still couldn't see the one you mentioned. I'm obviously looking in the wrong spot.

Cheers

QQ

[The Australian Panther]

No QQ, you missed nothing. I posted that comment after you chose the book for the reading group. 
cheers!

[crashryan]

Sea Hunt #6

Add me to the list of grade-schoolers who were avid Sea Hunt fans. I can still play the show's theme song in my head. I became a big Lloyd Bridges fan and watched him found an acting dynasty with Beau and Jeff. His grandson Jordan is also an actor. There are some Sea Hunt episodes on YouTube. The ones I found were later episodes, after he'd upgraded his AquaLung. In most of the shows I remember he had a barrel-shaped mouthpiece with hoses attached to each side. This is what he's wearing on the cover and in Manning's drawings. Later on Mike Nelson switched to a triangular face mask attached to a single hose. But I digress.

Scripts in Dell media tie-ins were generally crisp and efficient. They didn't delve deeply into character, but they were usually interesting, with a bit of action and plots that mostly made sense. As a kid I liked stories set in exotic locales served up with tidbits of "inside info" about things like Mayan sacrifices and skin diving protocol. So "Treasure of the Mayas" was my favorite of the three in this book. No huge surprises, but I liked how the writers (Freiwald and Schaefer, according to the GCD) had Mike rescue Consuelo (shouldn't that be Consuela?) by cutting her free of her air tanks without tipping us off that the abandoned tanks would later play a part in the climax.

"The Fisherman's Feat" was a fair filler story. Giving the skipper the same light yellow hair as Mike Nelson confused me at first. I thought it was Mike until we got a good shot of him on the second story page.

"Underwater City" was a good story served well by the art. I'm unsure about dynamiting the bridge. The rubble didn't seem tall enough to back up enough water to cause the river to change route. I like the way the drawings and the color were used to depict Mike submerged in muddy water.

Russ Manning's art was excellent throughout. I've always liked his slick, clean ink style. He drew a surprisingly good Lloyd Bridges. He also gave secondary characters individual appearances instead of using stock characters. Some of you noticed Manning sneaking his signature into a panel. Back in the 60s he did that constantly. Jim Vadeboncoeur even made an index once, listing all the Manning sneaks he'd found. Manning would also sneak in his wife Doris' name. One background sign read "HAMMING." Jim wondered if that was Manning poking fun at himself. The fact that Manning liked sneaking names makes me wonder if "Modjeska" in the filler story is someone's name as well. Note also his "RM" monogram below the boat's name.

[crashryan]

Since posting my Sea Hunt review I found this excellent Manning retrospective on the ERBzine website. It talks about his many projects and his name-sneaking. It turns out "Modjeska" comes from the Modjeska Canyon Fire Department, where Manning was a volunteer firefighter.

https://www.erbzine.com/mag8/0830.html

Don't miss the page of art samples Manning did in 1950 for Dell's proposed John Carter of Mars comic. Tragically he was called up for the Korean War and by the time he returned John Carter had been given to Jesse Marsh. I know Marsh was Manning's friend and that Manning respected Marsh's artwork. I've tried hard to like Marsh without success. In my opinion Marsh's John Carter of Mars was dreadful. Imagine how it would have looked with Manning at the helm! The page is here:

https://www.erbzine.com/mag8/0831e.html

Here's just one sample:

[The Australian Panther]

Crash,
from that article on Manning,

When Magnus #1 (February1963) appeared, most comic book fans had never seen the remarkably imaginative fine-line work of Alex Raymond, who died in 1956 and last worked on Flash Gordon in 1944. Nor had the fans seen the crisp work of Mac Raboy, who labored on Captain Marvel Junior and Flash Gordon in the 1940s.

If Raboy was doing Flash in the 40's, how is it that I was enamoured of it when I saw Raboys's Sundays - in full colour - in the late 50's?  I never knew the artists name but I never forgot the style.
Didn't Raboy start doing Flash after Fawcett folded? 
I find the comparison with Raymond a little surprising, because Manning's inking style puts me in mind of Wally Wood!
It seems Russ seems to have changed his style a lot from that John Carter work which clearly is inspired by Raymond. He matured into his own unmistakably unique style.
cheers!
Cheers.       

[Robb_K]

I enjoyed watching the "Sea Hunt" series, and enjoyed skin diving, the couple times I did that, so I'm looking forward to reading the comic book version.  I bought hundreds of Dell and Western Publishing's comic books over the years, and lots were in their "Four Color Comics" series.  But I never read the "Sea Hunt" books.

"Sea Hunt 6"
Nice artwork and the 2 "Sea Hunt" stories are good candidates for possibly having been taken from "Sea Hunt" TV show scripts.  Does anyone here know if one or both of them were?  The filler story about marlin fishing was mildly entertaining.

(1) Treasure Of The Mayas
This has some very nice picturesque visuals that look like they might have been drawn looking at still shots from an episode of the TV series.  this story seems to be a nicely-distilled, condensed version of a feature film scoped plotline, with the greedy, mercenary, adventurer hired diver plotting to steal much of The Mexican Government's monetary and historical golden treasure for his own gain, and hide that from the others on their expedition.  The underwater scenes are drawn nicely, and the action is decent enough.  As was typical in "Sea Hunt" episodes, there were almost always scenes in which the divers were in life danger, based on losing their source of oxygen, or being cut to pieces by sharply-edged rocks when pushed or pulled at great speeds by treacherous ocean currents.  This was an entertaining story, in which no character gets hurt badly, or killed, and the villain is apprehended, so justice is served.  But, despite all that being expected, the story is still entertaining enough.

(2) The Shadow of Danger - Text Story
This "fish story" about the manta ray seems quite "fishy" to me.

(3) The Fisherman's Feat - Short Filler Story
A benign, happy little vignette about an un-athletic, inexperienced would-be fisherman, who wanted badly to have a Marlin trophy on his wall, and got his wish, only with the help of the men he hired to take him out to marlin frequented waters.  A bit entertaining, but very much expected.  Couldn't they think of a diving story without Mike Nelson (e.g. starring characters other than him to keep their series 2nd class postal status?) Perhaps a real life diving story used as a framework for describing the basic details of the scientific aspects of that sport and professional careers relating to that activity would have been more appropriate?

(4) The Underwater City
Now comes the story pointing out the real-life practical benefits of the careers based on the non-sportive activities of deep-sea diving.  This story demonstrated one of the practical benefits of divers' prowess, and it included some interesting action and related suspense.

The (5) Information Pages were interesting and worth reading, as well.

Overall, this book was an enjoyable read.

[Johnny L. Wilson]

Hi all

Trivia for the day. In the 'Bold Venture' radio show, there's a short song from a character called King Moses, who apparently does little musical interludes in all (most?) of the shows. I looked him up and the actor is Jester Hairston who was a composer, among other things. He wrote the well-known Christmas song 'Mary's Boy Child' that has been covered by tons of artists, the first being Harry Belafonte:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8N8aNhbnP-Y

He also wrote the song 'Amen' which features in the Sidney Poitier film ' Lilies of the Field'. Sidney Poitier 'sings' it in the movie, but it was dubbed by Hairston. Here's a clip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYHd0HKaVw4

Cheers

QQ

There was also a Jester Hairston Choral Collection still being published at least a couple of decades ago. That makes sense because, when I was in high school in California, he was well-known for attending and judging at high school choir festivals and conducting workshops.

He was the first black actor to appear on the television series, Gunsmoke, and was a regular on the Amos 'n Andy television show as the high society character that Amos 'n Andy tried to outwit for financial gain (which, spoiler alert, never really worked out for them).

One bit of trivia deserves another!

[SuperScrounge]

"Sea Hunt 6"
Nice artwork and the 2 "Sea Hunt" stories are good candidates for possibly having been taken from "Sea Hunt" TV show scripts.  Does anyone here know if one or both of them were?

I don't think so. IMDB has plot descriptions for the various episodes and while a few stories have similarities checking the episode entry has character names which don't match the comic stories.

[Robb_K]

"Super Detective Library 59" 

Excellent artwork and staging, and an interesting classic story of looking for sunken treasure on The Spanish Main.  Up to this series' usual high standards.  Well worth the read.

(1) The Saint's Sunken Gold
Right away, on the first page, the artist introduces the main characters, where they are, and what they intend to do there.  The Saint and his friend wash up on the shore of The Professor's tiny Caribbean island after their boat is sunk in a storm.  Already there is a clue that some danger may exist for them, as The Professor and his thug-like partner are armed when they discover the story's protagonists.

The underwater scenes are drawn really well.  And for once, the black and white although interesting to see how it was inked, doesn't enhance the feeling of being under water as well as the added contrast between adjacent colours would enhance the feeling of being under the water.Also, the thickness of many (if not most) of the lines makes it more difficult to see individual reeds or strings of seaweed, or details of the fish, etc.  So. I would have much preferred to see this story in four colour process (perhaps even better also using blended colours and gradations, to enhance differences in lighting.

The villain gang leader, Clegg, had a seemingly solid plan, to rig up a fake experimental explosion that would kill The Professor (who invented the undersea metals finder he needed to dig up treasures from sunken Spanish Treasure Ships).   With The Saint and his diver friend bound by ropes, and taken by Clegg's henchmen to be dumped into the ocean where many sharks swim, The Professor's daughter seemingly was the only one possibly able to help free them, and defeat The Villain.  However, The Saint is the star of this series, and he had a knife strapped to his leg, which was reached by his friend, Don, who freed them.  In jig time, they captured the two thugs, drove the boat back to the island, apprehended Clegg, and the story was over.  The climax was a bit too weak for my taste, and there was too little action after it, and no epilogue at all.  The too mundane, and abrupt ending, didn't ruin the story, but it surely pulled it down a peg.

Still and all, it was an interesting plot and entertaining read, overall.

[crashryan]

Super Detective Library #59

I've read a fair number of The Saint continuities. It was a reasonably good adventure strip. John Spranger's art was very good and the stories were fair enough. The strip ran for years appearing in a middling number of papers. Now and again Simon Templar acted like The Saint in the books, though mostly he was your standard adventurer-private crimefighter.

"The Saint's Sunken Gold!" moves well and provides the appropriate amount of danger and derring-do. One thing kept me from enjoying the story more: Spranger's characterization of Clegg. "Clegg" is a bad-guy name to begin with, but drawing him as an ape-like brute torpedoes any doubt that Clegg is a thorough rotter, not just an obnoxious "partner." In real life we're not supposed to judge people by appearances, but comics are a different world. All Clegg lacks is a sign hanging round his neck that says "BAD GUY." Wouldn't it have been an interesting story if Clegg turns out not to be the bad guy? Maybe the Doctor gets greedy and tries to rub out the others (except, I hope, his daughter).

As long as I'm kvetching about art, I got a laugh out of the settings on the Detectoscope. Silver, Steel, Brass, Copper...Lead? Does the Doc hope to make a killing in the musket ball market?

It's tricky to adapt a newspaper strip to fit a comic. They did a pretty good job here, except for the addition of redundant captions to fill space. I am pretty sure a couple of pages were drawn by a Btitish artist to bridge gaps. On our page 6 The characters are way off model and details like hair and eyes are drawn differently than in the rest of the book. Page 58 also seems a bit suspect. I could be wrong of course, but home grown panels were added in other SDL reprints, so there's a precedent.

One last observation: why must every baddie attempt to force himself upon the woman in the story? It's doubly annoying here because Clegg shows little interest in Emily until suddenly his phone chimes and reminds him, "Time to assault the girl!" It'd be fun just once to see the villain so intent on collecting the boodle that he doesn't give the luscious babe a second glance. On the plus side, a tip of the hat to the writer for remembering that Simon always carries a knife strapped to his leg. It's not deus ex machina this time.

[Robb_K]

Bold Venture 21 - Sunken Treasure At 20 Fathoms
This radio show didn't do a lot for me.  Other than "Bogey" and Bacall, the acting was pretty weak.  The plot was a decent idea, but, I think it could have been played out better.  And the big disappointment was an almost complete lack of sound effects.  That, and only having a couple interludes using dramatic music made this episode lack the feel of most of the old-time radio shows.  I was around from the period with few scheduled programmes, and before we had a TV, in any case.  And at that time I did listen, with family, to some radio shows.  But, my main entertainment in the evenings was playing games and reading comics.  This episode was too routine and weak, besides, to provide much entertainment.  The writing wasn't very good, but the story idea was okay.  The writers weren't very imaginative, and it seemed that nobody was having fun making it.  I'd rather have seen this on screen, with a better script, and better supporting actors.  The villain wasn't believable.  He seemed like a journeyman "bit player", just going through the motions to get his daily pay.  I'd even rather have heard a "hammy" actor, wrong for the part, like George Arliss, who, at least, due to pride in his profession and love of his work, would have gotten into the part, and tried to do his very best, even if the whole script was weak, and his part, silly. 

I also miss the commercial breaks read by the announcer, and the corny music that goes with that.  And they could have used a good sound effects man.  There were no water splashes, and absolutely no sound effects in Slates dives, and, especially his struggle with the manta ray.  What's the point of even writing in that scene as just a description we get from someone describing it vocally, in a calm voice, after the fact, and he has calmed down.  We should have heard splashing, and Slate gargling in a glass of water, to mimic his forgetting he was under water and his mouth connected to an air hose, when he instinctively wants to yell at his adversary (the ray).  And we should have heard his knife pierce a piece of leather, to simulate piercing the manta's skin.  He should have been huffing and puffing when reaching the water's surface after his energy-sapping struggle to survive the encounter.  We should have heard an exaggerated hard knock on a clothing dummy's head when the villain supposedly conked Slate on his head, knocking him unconscious.  Slate should have yelled (Oof!) loudly.  Maybe the villain should have yelled ("Take THIS!") loudly, just before we hear the "KONK!" of the blow landing.  A radio show should be exaggerated in sound, and the people who make it should be having a lot of fun.

BAH!  Humbug, I say!

[The Australian Panther]

Sea Hunt #6
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=39007
In Australia, programming for Children started at about 3:30 pm and went to 7:00 pm, which was News Time.
Seahunt was always broadcast about 4:00 pm and I saw many episodes.
It seems that at the time, certain technology was new and considered exciting, so we had shows with helicopters, paracutes and scuba-divers.
I enjoyed SeaHunt, but I don't remember the comics.
I have recently found - to my delight, that Lloyd Bridges was very activie in building his career. Before Seahunt he appeared in no end of B Films, many of which aren't half bad and some of them can be found on YouTube.
So, to the comic!
Treasure of the Mayas
As i have pointed out in my comment on the book, this is a real scenario. 
Anything drawn by Russ Manning is not only good eye candy but will be creatively laid out visually and make logical sense. He does a good job on Lloyd Bridges' face too.
A couple of problems tho. If there is a hole with enough suction to suck a man into it - right above the treasure and bones- why haven't they been swept into the hole, since they have been there for hundreds of years?
From the ERBzine article on Manning,
https://erbzine.com/mag8/0830.html

He got around the Dell policy of not allowing artists to sign their work by scattering his name and those of family members all through his work on buildings, signs, text, etc. 

Russ and his artist wife Doris (nicknamed Doe or Dodie) were married in 1959 and spent their lives together in their home in Modjeska Canyon, Orange County. 

The Fisherman's Feat
Note the name on the boat!
Now that I know this, going to look for them in Russ's art!
Nice little story!   
Underwater City
The first and possibly the second page look like they were inked by somebody other than Manning.
The first page sets up the back-story, panel 1 on page 2 introduces the dramatic element.
Simples!
[I don't know what they teach in Comic schools but I f doubt they get students to analyse the work of Paul S Newman or Gaylord DeBois. I see no evidence of it.
We have to wait till page 4 for Mike to enter.   
The Half-page helicopter shot works to help Mike make a dramatic entrance and emphasis the damage done by the flood.
Not sure though, though about the validity of the premise. 2 months ago I was on the site of a disaster area caused by a flash flood. Bridges were crucial for access to the area, and several had been severely damaged. one town close to the area was divided in two by a flooded river for weeks.
That scene of Mike being hit by a fast-flowing tree? That happened to a freind of mine in that disaster, except he got hit - and  injured- by a fast-flowing car!
All of the scenarios in this book are quite realistic and therefore more believale than a lot of comic book fare.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1999/07/15/a-comic-genius/30457351-487f-47e1-b417-c65724640981/
On Paul S Newman

  He also started what became his signature work: "Turok, Son of Stone." Turok was a Native American lost in the Valley That Time Forgot, which, to his perpetual chagrin, was filled with hungry dinosaurs. Newman wrote Turok for 26 years.

The young artists and writers argued that their characters were more realistic and representative of modern life. Newman was particularly disturbed by the revival of his "Turok" series. The old Turok carried a bow and arrows; the new wielded an AK-47 machine gun. The old Turok was slim and fit; the new was a bundle of impossibly chiseled muscle. The old Turok solved problems with ingenuity; the new Turok shot first and asked questions later. "Where I had written about an intelligent inventive optimistic Indian lost in a prehistoric world of dinosaurs and primitive people, the new publisher has turned Turok into a killer."
When asked his opinion of this new generation, Newman liked to cite a quote by Elizabethan author Ben Jonson: "The easiest thing in the world to write is a part for a crazy person."

"Ra-roob-ra-raay, ra-roob-ra-raay!"
--an exclamation by Scooby-Doo the talking dog, the last comic book line Newman ever wrote, from "Scooby-Doo #24"

These two were the most prolific Dell writers. Responsible for the Dell and Gold Key style.  However the scripts for this book are credited to Eric Freiwald and Robert Schaefer. 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Freiwald

From the mid-1950s to 1984 with partner Robert Schaefer, Freiwald wrote for such shows as The Gene Autry Show, The Adventures of Kit Carson, Tales of the Texas Rangers, Maverick, Whirlybirds, Texas John Slaughter, Zorro, 77 Sunset Strip, The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok, Buffalo Bill, Jr., The Adventures of Champion and many others.
They also wrote 188 episodes of Lassie and, between 1957 and 1965, wrote comic book adaptations of TV shows and movies for Western Publishing. 

 
So they may have been adapting scripts that they had written for SeaHunt that were never used.         

[SuperScrounge]

However the scripts for this book are credited to Eric Freiwald and Robert Schaefer. 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Freiwald

From the mid-1950s to 1984 with partner Robert Schaefer, Freiwald wrote for such shows as The Gene Autry Show, The Adventures of Kit Carson, Tales of the Texas Rangers, Maverick, Whirlybirds, Texas John Slaughter, Zorro, 77 Sunset Strip, The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok, Buffalo Bill, Jr., The Adventures of Champion and many others.
They also wrote 188 episodes of Lassie and, between 1957 and 1965, wrote comic book adaptations of TV shows and movies for Western Publishing. 

 
So they have been adapting scripts that they had written for SeaHunt that were never used.       

Not necessarily. An issue of Comic Book Artist talked about Western's habit of asking the people they've licensed a property from if they could suggest somebody familiar with the property (such as Disney suggesting Carl Barks as someone familiar with Donald Duck). The idea was that these people would be more familiar with the characters and be aware of upcoming stories unlike a writer who can only judge characters based on what's just aired. (If only Star Trek had suggested some writer for Western.) So while these authors were probably familiar with the show and what was coming up they might use some unsold scripts they pitched they also might create new stories for the comic. A script that works for a TV show might not work for a comic because of the different strengths and weaknesses of the storytelling mediums.

Reminds me of when I was reading J. Michael Strazinsky's Spider-Man comics and how weak I thought the dialogue was, then I realized how much he depended on the performances of the actors to sell his dialogue.

[crashryan]

Bold Venture #21

I don't recall having heard an episode of Bold Venture before. I wish I hadn't read Robb's review before listening to the show. I'm not sure how much it prejudiced me against the episode. At any rate, I have to agree with Robb that this radio play is a big disappointment.

I'm a longtime Bogey-and-Bacall fan. To Have and to Have Not is my favorite B&B movie, and Bold Venture has echoes of the film in the Caribbean setting and the relationship between Slate and Sailor. It's nice hearing them again. They play well off each other. However neither actor puts much energy into their part. I wonder if the production flow is partly responsible. I found this interesting article about how the show came to be:

http://www.jimramsburg.com/bogart--bacalls-bold-venture-audio.html

It turns out that B&B recorded all their lines separately, in advance. They aren't playing off the rest of the cast as in most radio dramas. I suspect this fact contributes to the action's somewhat choppy start-and-stop feel. In action scenes you'd expect characters to talk over each other or at least to crowd each other's lines. Instead we get a series of discrete speeches.

The supporting cast are generic old time radio character voices, meaning phony, unidentifiable accents. I could live with them if it weren't for the lead villain. He has a classic announcer voice, and his delivery throughout the episode sounds like an announcer reading a script. More than anyone he spoils the illusion that we're listening to people talking, not actors acting.

Many of the sound effects Robb asked for are there, just at so low a volume that they're almost inaudible. Even so they're not very good. It sounds almost like they're produced the old-fashioned way, with recorded sound effects played from a speaker into a microphone alongside the physical effects. That setup gave many Golden Age effects a muffled sound. I would have thought that by 1951 sound effects would have been mixed directly through the main board, which gave a much cleaner sound.

I was interested to see that Bold Venture was another creation of the King of Syndication, Frederick Ziv. He started syndicating radio programs in the late 1930s. During the 50s he was behind an amazing number of half-hour adventure shows I remember from my youth, including Highway Patrol, Men into Space, and The Aquanauts. If you're interested, here's a list of 17 Ziv TV shows:

https://m.famousfix.com/list/television-series-by-ziv-television-programs

There was a Bold Venture television series, too. Dane Clark and Joan Marshall starred. There don't seem to be many examples out there. I found this episode on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrUB3nP88eY

I admit I haven't watched it yet. I clicked into a random spot and found Clark and some police official literally standing nose to nose yelling at each other. Bogart he wasn't.

[The Australian Panther]

SuperScrounge wrote,

Not necessarily.

No, possibly not, but likely.
Note that the bio stated,

between 1957 and 1965, wrote comic book adaptations of TV shows and movies for Western Publishing. 

That's 9 years - so they would have had plenty of experience with comic writing.
And I came to the conclusioin from the quality of the comic book and it's faithfulness to the TV show.
Also in my post, I left out a crucial word, which I have corrected, so the sentence now reads,
"So they may have been adapting scripts that they had written for SeaHunt that were never used."     

[crashryan]

Following up on the Bold Venture TV show...I watched the episode on YouTube (the person who posted it called it "Back from the Dead") and I'm here to tell you I hated it! Production-wise the show is fine, with decent direction and locations. But Dane Clark is horrible as Slate Shannon, Bogart's role in the radio series. The story concerns only-slightly-hinged Whit Bonomo, an ex-Korean War POW, who holds Slate responsible for Bonomo's capture by the Communists. During his time as prisoner, Bonomo's wife died, adding to his list of grievances. Now he's come to Trinidad to destroy Slate and everything he loves--presumably Sailor Duval (Joan Marshall). Whit makes his mission clear to Slate, but since Slate can't prove he's done anything illegal Whit is free to lurk about taunting our hero.

That scene I stumbled into when I clicked on a random sample, with Slate and the police inspector yelling at each other, was Clark's crowning moment. Slate is trying to get the cops to deport Whit, even threatening to kill the guy. The inspector refuses because there's no evidence of wrongdoing. Slate blows his top and the inspector replies in kind. According to IMDB this story was adapted from a radio episode like numerous others. The IMDB episode listing is very sparse, and I don't know whether to take it seriously. The Whit Bonomo episode is given the title "Look Back, Inge Anger" and other episodes have joke titles playing on the titles of well-known films, like "Build My Gallows Ankle High." Several episodes are supposed to have had nonsensical titles incorporating producer David Friedkin's surname: "One of our Friedkins is Missing...Good," "Tom, the Fun-Loving Friedkin," "Tom Friedkin Calls It Quits," etc. I don't know what to make of it.

Anyway, back to Slate and the cop. I can imagine Bogart delivering Clark's rant--I'm thinking of when Sam Spade popped his cork at Casper Gutman--without sounding unhinged. Throughout the scene Clark carries on like a borderline nut case. If I were the inspector I would have locked Slate up for a psych evaluation. When he has his temper under control Slate is still not a sympathetic character. He's a jerk. Nothing shows this so clearly as his treatment of Sailor.

Bogart and Bacall as Slate and Sailor trade a lot of snarky patter in the radio shows. These exchanges mostly come off as friendly teasing. Bacall's cool impudence matches Bogart's wry delivery line for line. In the TV episode the power balance is way off kilter. Joan Marshall isn't much of an actor to begin with (her Fay Wray screams are laughable); she lacks Bacall's assurance. Marshall's Sailor Duval is desperate, needy, and steamrollered by Slate's loose-cannon machismo. At his very best Slate is patronizing and dismissive of Sailor. Most of the time he seems to hold her in contempt. Theirs is a terrible relationship. If I were Sailor Duval I would have let Whit Bonomo drill the sonuvabitch.

I want to put in one good word: the resolution of the final showdown was unexpected and quite satisfying. Even so I don't understand why the moment it's over, instead of a wrap-up scene with the inspector, they finish the episode with a "comedy" scene right out of left field. It has Marshall dressed in an I Dream of Jeannie outfit reading Slate's palm...you don't want to know.

[Quirky Quokka]

Bold Venture 21 - Sunken Treasure At 20 Fathoms
This radio show didn't do a lot for me.  Other than "Bogey" and Bacall, the acting was pretty weak.  The plot was a decent idea, but, I think it could have been played out better.  And the big disappointment was an almost complete lack of sound effects.  That, and only having a couple interludes using dramatic music made this episode lack the feel of most of the old-time radio shows.  I was around from the period with few scheduled programmes, and before we had a TV, in any case.  And at that time I did listen, with family, to some radio shows.  But, my main entertainment in the evenings was playing games and reading comics.  This episode was too routine and weak, besides, to provide much entertainment.  The writing wasn't very good, but the story idea was okay.  The writers weren't very imaginative, and it seemed that nobody was having fun making it.  I'd rather have seen this on screen, with a better script, and better supporting actors.  The villain wasn't believable.  He seemed like a journeyman "bit player", just going through the motions to get his daily pay.  I'd even rather have heard a "hammy" actor, wrong for the part, like George Arliss, who, at least, due to pride in his profession and love of his work, would have gotten into the part, and tried to do his very best, even if the whole script was weak, and his part, silly. 

I also miss the commercial breaks read by the announcer, and the corny music that goes with that.  And they could have used a good sound effects man.  There were no water splashes, and absolutely no sound effects in Slates dives, and, especially his struggle with the manta ray.  What's the point of even writing in that scene as just a description we get from someone describing it vocally, in a calm voice, after the fact, and he has calmed down.  We should have heard splashing, and Slate gargling in a glass of water, to mimic his forgetting he was under water and his mouth connected to an air hose, when he instinctively wants to yell at his adversary (the ray).  And we should have heard his knife pierce a piece of leather, to simulate piercing the manta's skin.  He should have been huffing and puffing when reaching the water's surface after his energy-sapping struggle to survive the encounter.  We should have heard an exaggerated hard knock on a clothing dummy's head when the villain supposedly conked Slate on his head, knocking him unconscious.  Slate should have yelled (Oof!) loudly.  Maybe the villain should have yelled ("Take THIS!") loudly, just before we hear the "KONK!" of the blow landing.  A radio show should be exaggerated in sound, and the people who make it should be having a lot of fun.

BAH!  Humbug, I say!

Hi Robb

Thanks for those comments. I liked the patter between Bogart and Bacall, which is something I liked from their movies, but something was missing. I think you're right about the sound effects not being very good. I listened to another episode with a hidden treasure in it too, but chose this one because I thought it was the better of the two. There was a part in the first one that I had to replay a few times because I missed what happened. I eventually worked out that Bogart's character had gotten into a fight with the bad guy and had come out on top, but the lack of good sound effects made it very difficult to work out that a fight was happening. I suspect similar things happened in this one. You have to rely on the dialogue to work out what was happening a few times.

Cheers

QQ

[Quirky Quokka]

Bold Venture #21

However neither actor puts much energy into their part. I wonder if the production flow is partly responsible. I found this interesting article about how the show came to be:

http://www.jimramsburg.com/bogart--bacalls-bold-venture-audio.html

It turns out that B&B recorded all their lines separately, in advance. They aren't playing off the rest of the cast as in most radio dramas. I suspect this fact contributes to the action's somewhat choppy start-and-stop feel. In action scenes you'd expect characters to talk over each other or at least to crowd each other's lines. Instead we get a series of discrete speeches.

The supporting cast are generic old time radio character voices, meaning phony, unidentifiable accents. I could live with them if it weren't for the lead villain. He has a classic announcer voice, and his delivery throughout the episode sounds like an announcer reading a script. More than anyone he spoils the illusion that we're listening to people talking, not actors acting.

Many of the sound effects Robb asked for are there, just at so low a volume that they're almost inaudible. Even so they're not very good. It sounds almost like they're produced the old-fashioned way, with recorded sound effects played from a speaker into a microphone alongside the physical effects. That setup gave many Golden Age effects a muffled sound. I would have thought that by 1951 sound effects would have been mixed directly through the main board, which gave a much cleaner sound.

Thanks for that extra info, Crash. The fact that Bogart and Bacall did their lines separately explains why it doesn't work so well as an ensemble piece, and also why the leads aren't firing at their best.

By contrast, I've recently discovered that Lucille Ball's 'My Favorite Husband' radio show is on Spotify. I'm a huge 'I Love Lucy' fan, and 'My Favorite Husband' was the springboard for the TV series. I've been listening to those episodes and they're great by comparison. All done in front of a live audience with the full cast, the corny announcer, good sound effects and great timing. I know it's a completely different genre, being comedy rather than drama, but it's a lot better than 'Bold Venture' in terms of production. A shame when they had such big stars. Maybe Bogey and Bacall just wanted some easy money by then so they could actually sail the Caribbean on their yacht.

Cheers

QQ

[Quirky Quokka]

Following up on the Bold Venture TV show...I watched the episode on YouTube (the person who posted it called it "Back from the Dead") and I'm here to tell you I hated it!

I want to put in one good word: the resolution of the final showdown was unexpected and quite satisfying. Even so I don't understand why the moment it's over, instead of a wrap-up scene with the inspector, they finish the episode with a "comedy" scene right out of left field. It has Marshall dressed in an I Dream of Jeannie outfit reading Slate's palm...you don't want to know.

Wow Crash, you've gone above and beyond the call of duty by checking out the TV show. I didn't even know it existed. After your description, it's probably not on my 'must see' YouTube list. Though it might be worth a laugh to see the 'Jeannie' scene. As it was made some time before 'I Dream of Jeannie', I guess we can't excuse it as cross-promotion. Thanks for finding that info.

Cheers

QQ

[Quirky Quokka]

Sea Hunt #6
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=39007
In Australia, programming for Children started at about 3:30 pm and went to 7:00 pm, which was News Time.
Seahunt was always broadcast about 4:00 pm and I saw many episodes.
It seems that at the time, certain technology was new and considered exciting, so we had shows with helicopters, parachutes and scuba-divers.
I enjoyed SeaHunt, but I don't remember the comics.
I have recently found - to my delight, that Lloyd Bridges was very activie in building his career. Before Seahunt he appeared in no end of B Films, many of which aren't half bad and some of them can be found on YouTube.     

Hi Panther

I remember 'Sea Hunt' being on in the afternoon when I was primary school age, which must have been re-runs by then, but I don't remember sitting and watching a full episode. I was probably watching 'The Jetsons', 'The Flintstones', 'Gilligan's Island' and a bit later the 'Brady Bunch'. However, I enjoyed the comic and I alarmed my hubby by saying that we'd have to check out the 'Sea Hunt' episodes on YouTube. He's 7 years older than me and remembers watching them first time round, which he enjoyed, but he's not as big a fan of revisiting classic TV as I am. The gear all looks so old-fashioned now, but must have been cutting edge at the time. 'Sea Hunt' also predated James Bond's 'Thunderball' which had some even higher-tech diving scenes. I bet a lot of people took up scuba diving after watching the TV show. Hubby did a bit of scuba diving when he was younger, so it may have played a role. The most I've done is snorkeling.

Cheers

QQ

[Quirky Quokka]

There was also a Jester Hairston Choral Collection still being published at least a couple of decades ago. That makes sense because, when I was in high school in California, he was well-known for attending and judging at high school choir festivals and conducting workshops.

He was the first black actor to appear on the television series, Gunsmoke, and was a regular on the Amos 'n Andy television show as the high society character that Amos 'n Andy tried to outwit for financial gain (which, spoiler alert, never really worked out for them).

One bit of trivia deserves another!

Thanks for that, Johnny. It sounds like he was a real trailblazer. I'll have to check out some more of his work.

Cheers

QQ

[bowers]

 Years ago, I downloaded all 57 episodes of "Bold Venture" from Old Time Radio Researchers Library. Last time I checked, they're still available for free downloading. These recordings are, for the most part, quite good in quality and are a great little "time capsule" into early '50s radio. Light-hearted adventure, snappy repartee, and Bogart and Bacall- who could ask for more? An excellent way to pass the time on a rainy afternoon!  Cheers, Bowers

[The Australian Panther]

Super Detective Library #59 – The Saint’s Sunken Gold
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=74180

Well, As Effie would say, 'how embarrassment!'  [Australian TV reference.]
The post that I referred to,

Spranger, but over in the comments under the book itself, not in the reading group posts.

 
Does not appear to be there. So I will cover that here.
John Spranger
https://www.lambiek.net/artists/s/spranger_john.htm
Quote

John Spranger is one of the more mysterious entries in American comic history. He made an impression during the 1940s as either a ghost artist for Jack Cole's 'Plastic Man' and Will Eisner's 'The Spirit'. He then moved over to work on newspaper strips like 'Bodyguard', a.k.a. 'Ben Friday' a.k.a. 'The Bantam Prince' (1948-1951) as well as 'The Saint' (1951-1959) before completely disappearing off the radar.

Seems to have been the master at copying other people's styles!
Mike Roy started the strip, at the end of its run, Bob Lubbers and then Doug Wildey worked on it. 
So, to the book.
Not one of Super Detective Library's best covers, good image, but fuzzily reproduced.
The first 3 pages are an obvious summary of what may have been a week or more of lead-up strips.
The Saint doen't appear till page 6.
The first Saint book I ever picked up and read changed my life. It was The Saint and Mr Teal and the Saint's sense of Humor, irreverenace to the policeman and his self-beleif spoke to me where I was in my life at that point. So, for me, any depiction of the Saint needs to live up to the impression oif that first exposure.
The Saint should have a twinkle in his eyes, be cool and smiling and always in control. Roger Moore got that but for me he wasn't tough enough, because if you are a baddy, the Saint has to be able to scare you. A tough ask I know, but the Saint is a kind of a Superman in his own way.
Regardless of how good the story is, the physical depiction of the Saint in the strip always disappoints me.
Now that I think about it, The Spirit's character is much closer to Charteris' Saint!
The Story,
Sebastian Tombs was one of Simon's regular aliases.and they use Tombs rather interestingly here. 
One Anomaly, why does Don the professioinal diver have a Clunky old style diving suit while Simon has an aqualung?
Who ever it was who edited the strip into this format did a good job. Good story - The full-page images are very effective and the artist is very good with faces.
But the art has beern reproduced with too much black. Looks to me like some of the detail has been lost.
Thank you QQ, I enjoyed that.                 
 

[The Australian Panther]

Bold Venture Radio Show, Episode #21 – Sunken Treasure at 20 Fathoms
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=81665
Kingcat said,

I can appreciate that Bogart & Bacall have a certain magic, though I'm inclined to think the combination worked better on celluloid. 

Well, when they are limited to dialogue, something will be missing.
It occurs to me that there had to be an art to making the script fit the time slot.
The plot here is a variation on the same plot used in the Saint story.
I would have listened to this and enjoyed it,when I used to come home from school and listen to Radio serials.[Late 50's]
Good choices QQ.
Something different Monday!
     

[K1ngcat]

Super Detective Library #59 – The Saint’s Sunken Gold
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=74180
The first Saint book I ever picked up and read changed my life. It was The Saint and Mr Teal and the Saint's sense of Humor, irreverenace to the policeman and his self-beleif spoke to me where I was in my life at that point. So, for me, any depiction of the Saint needs to live up to the impression oif that first exposure.
The Saint should have a twinkle in his eyes, be cool and smiling and always in control. Roger Moore got that but for me he wasn't tough enough, because if you are a baddy, the Saint has to be able to scare you. A tough ask I know, but the Saint is a kind of a Superman in his own way.

I know what you mean here, Panther. I've read a number of SDL issues where the Saint is totally confident, and in control.  He's portrayed with such a fearless bravado and such a smart mouth that he'd rival Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool,  constantly wisecracking at the expense of cops and villains alike. That hasn't come across so much in this version, which is rather a pity.