Friday, April 28, 2017

SUPERHEROES ARE DAMN-NEAR EVERYWHERE #77

Primary LYNN BARI (not shown) has one credit in THE GIRL FROM UNCLE teleseries.





Peripheral CLIVE BARKER (right) acted in SLEEPWALKERS with--








Primary ALICE KRIGE of THOR; THE DARK WORLD.





Primary LEX BARKER acted in the 1960s DOCTOR MABUSE series, the TARZAN series (beginning with TARZAN'S MAGIC FOUNTAIN) and even appeared in DICK TRACY MEETS GRUESOME.










MONSTER MASHUPS #10



This 2000 episode of SABRINA also featured a mummy and cyclops in additon to the above "Gruesome Twosome."

Saturday, April 22, 2017

SUPERHEROES ARE DAMN-NEAR EVERYWHERE #76

Primary TREVOR BARDETTE had roles in TV shows like SUPERMAN and LONE RANGER and serials like 1941's JUNGLE GIRL.

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Peripheral BRIGITTE BARDOT acted in SPIRITS OF THE DEAD with--


Primary TERENCE STAMP from SUPERMAN I and SUPERMAN II.

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Peripheral MIJANOU BARDOT (not shown) acted in SEX KITTENS GO TO COLLEGE with--



Primary VAMPIRA from THE MAGIC SWORD.


Thursday, April 20, 2017

SUPERHEROES ARE DAMN-NEAR EVERYWHERE #75

Primary JOAN BARCLAY  acted in BLAKE OF SCOTLAND YARD and SHADOW OF CHINATOWN.

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Primary ROY BARCROFT racked up a few dozen relevant credits, of which the best known are serials like RADAR MEN FROM THE MOON, FEDERAL AGENTS VS. UNDERWORLD INC., MANHUNT ON MYSTERY ISLAND, and DEADWOOD DICK.


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Primary JAVIER BARDEM qualifies only for his forthcoming role in the next PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN flick.



LITTLE FRENCHMAN..., HOW TO WRITE/BLACKWOOD, DEVIL/BELFRY, MAN WHO WAS USED UP (1837-1838)

As arranged in the Running Press book, the next four Poe tales are all pretty humdrum humor-stories from the author.

"Why the Little Frenchman Wears His Hand in a Sling" is little more than an excuse for Poe to indulge in dialect-humor, in which a boastful Irishman competes with a "little Frenchman" for a maiden's favor. Even if one didn't know the story's title, Poe telegraphs the story's "surprise" from a mile away.

"How to Write a Blackwood Article" is narrated by "Signora Psyche Zenobia," who gives a snarky account as to how a writer can sell short stories to the popular fiction magazine Blackwood's. In the original publication Poe this supposed instructional essay with one of the Signora's stories, "The Scythe of Time," in which Zenobia herself is beheaded by a giant clock-hand. Unlike the slightly later "Pit and the Pendulum" that contributed to Poe's notoreity, "Scythe" is presented as a tale that did not really take place, so that the paired narratives conform to the naturalistic phenomenality.

"The Devil in the Belfry" is a marvelous story in which a devilish being enters a Dutch community, one obsesses with orderliness, and upsets the citizens by causing a clock to strike thirteen o'clock. The satire probably worked better in 1838.

"The Man Who Was Used Up" is the only story with any substance. An unnamed narrator meets a famed war hero, A.B.C. Smith, at some party. The narrator is immediately fascinated with the man's physical comeliness-- indeed, in modern times readers would assume that the narrator has formed some sort of "man-crush," if not outright homosexual lust. But as the narrator hears strange rumors about Smith, he becomes consumed with curiosity. He finally seeks out Smith at the man's home, only to learn that the great war-hero has lost most of his natural body-parts to duels and battles with Indians. Smith's manservant has to put the "used up" hero together out of false legs, false arms, a false palate, etc. This too I rate as "naturalistic" even though it is certainly an exaggeration of what the prosthetics of the time could produce.

Monday, April 17, 2017

SUPERHEROES ARE DAMN-NEAR EVERYWHERE #74

Primary CHRISTINA BARANSKI voiced two characters in the 2002 cartoon SPEED RACER X, both "Trixie" and "Spritle."

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Primary OLIVIA BARASH plays the very important role of "Girl at Lake" in the INCREDIBLE HULK pilot film.

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Primary ADRIENNE BARBEAU scores multiple roles in ESCAPE FROM NEW YORKGHOST ROCK, SWAMP THING, and many TV shows, including several voicings of "Catwoman"
or various Batman episodes.


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Primary GLYNIS BARBER (not shown) acted in an episode of HIGHLANDER THE RAVEN.

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Primary URBANO BARBERINI put the "bore" in GOR and its sequel.

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Primary LISA BARBUSCIA has one role in HIGHLANDER: ENDGAME.


Saturday, April 15, 2017

MONSTER MASH IMAGES #9



The nicely rendered cover of SUPERMAN #344 (1980) is nearly the only positive feature of a carelessly constructed story about Superman meeting both Dracula and Frankenstein's Monster. The script by Paul Levitz was based upon "an idea by Len Wein," so in some sense it seems like Wein re-visting his old SWAMP THING grounds, by having the two monsters pop out of an alien dimension and start menacing innocents. I'd like to think Wein swiped his basic idea from THE MONSTER SQUAD, but that film appeared about six years later. No real attention is given to the provenance of the fictional monsters within Superman's real-to-him cosmos, until the very end of the tale, where the Phantom Stranger reveals that they both came from "the land of nightmare," whatever that may mean.

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

MONSTER MASH IMAGES #8

Six years after Abbott and Costello met Frankenstein, the Bowery Boys met assorted monsters, in this aptly titled flick:


In addition to two mad scientists, a gorilla, and a robot, there's a harridan with a man-eating plant and a would-be vampiress.


Monday, April 10, 2017

SUPERHEROES ARE DAMN-NEAR EVERYWHERE #73

Peripheral JILL BANNER acted in SPIDER BABY with--



Primary BEVERLY WASHBURN, who appeared in the STAR TREK episode THE DEADLY YEARS.

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Primary JOHN BANNER, best known as "Schulz" on HOGAN'S HEROES, had an assortment of TV roles on THE MAN FROM UNCLE, SHEENA, CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT, ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN, and (below) ROCKY JONES SPACE RANGER.

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Primary REGGIE BANNISTER from the PHANTASM series, which became more action-oriented in its second outing.


Tuesday, April 4, 2017

SUPERHEROES ARE DAMN-NEAR EVERYWHERE #72

Primary KAYE BALLARD (not shown) acted in the combative comedy-horror film PANDEMONIUM.

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Primary MARTIN BALSAM (right) played "Rudy Wells" in the TV-pilot for SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN and acted in one episode of MAN FROM UNCLE.

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Peripheral  TALIA BALSAM (not shown) acted in the 1986 movie SUPERNATURALS with--



Primary NICHELLE NICHOLS (left), who made her STAR TREK debut in the episode THE MAN TRAP.

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Primary ERIC BANA portrayed Bruce Banner in HULK and a villain in the 2009 STAR TREK.


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Peripheral ANNE BANCROFT voiced "the Queen" in ANTZ alongside--


Primary SYLVESTER STALLONE from DEMOLITION MAN.



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Primary ANTONIO BANDERAS is most famous for his two ZORRO movies, and has other relevant credits though the only one I've reviewed is MACHETE KILLS.



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Peripheral JOY BANG acted in NIGHT OF THE COBRA WOMAN with--


Primary MARLENE CLARK for ENTER THE DRAGON.


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Primary TALLULAH BANKHEAD played "Black Widow" on the 1966 BATMAN.


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Primary JONATHAN BANKS essayed several relevant minor roles, including a character from STAR TREK; DEEP SPACE NINE.

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Primary LESLIE BANKS  has one relevant role, but it's a great one in THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME.

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Peripheral TYRA BANKS acted in HALLOWEEN RESURRECTION with--


Primary KATEE SACKOFF from the second BATTLESTAR GALACTICA.

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Peripheral VILMA BANKY (left) acted in the 1925 "Zorro" knockoff THE EAGLE with--

Peripheral GUSTAV VON SEFFERTITZ in THE BAT WHISPERS, who also acted with--


Primary WILLIAM BAKEWELL of HOP HARRIGAN semi-fame.