Once upon a time, namely the early 1960s, every other Hollywood film was NOT a superhero movie.
In fact, we had none at all, and to a superhero-besotted person under age 10, that inexplicable, short-sighted omission seemed tragic.
The whole burden of colorful cinematic world-saving had fallen on the capable shoulders of Agent 007, but at the time his adventures were considered too spicy for a child’s diet.
A vexing state of affairs.
Imagine the boy’s delight, then, when he happened to spot the covers of something called Screen Thrills Illustrated magazine, and discovered that during the 1930s and 1940s, live-action movie serials had been made about the dashing, costumed comic book characters he loved, and many he hadn’t heard of.
The revelation was stunning, a lost world of wonder akin to the discovery of dinosaurs in South America.
Screen Thrills Illustrated was published by James Warren from June 1962 to November 1964. The magazine “….was for action movie fans what (Famous Monsters of Filmland) was for monster movie fans,” the Monster Magazine blog noted. “Editor (Sam) Sherman and Robert Price wrote most of the articles, concentrating on westerns, war and crime films and most especially serials. Action stars and stunt men were also profiled.”
This house ad appeared in Creepy 16 (Aug. 1967). Warren had been publishing cover stories about Batman on screen well before January 1966, when TV’s Batmania began. And although Screen Thrills was by then defunct, this must have seemed a perfect opportunity to unload those old issues for a dollar a piece. Pow! Zam!
As much fun as those serials were when the boy finally saw them, years later, they could be forgiven if they never quite measured up to the mysterious delights of high adventure and romance that he’d imagined when he gazed at those magazine covers.
After all, how could they?
Bob Bailey:
ReplyDeleteDan, I loved those along with Larry Ivie’s Monsters and Heroes even more than Famous Monsters! I’ve managed to acquire almost all of them. Great article
I replied:
Ivie's magazine was an even rarer sought-after treat. I remember that a grade school classmate had one that tantalized me. The cover featured a live-action superhero flying who looked like Superman, but wasn't. It was, of course, Captain Marvel, but I'd never heard of him.
Michael Fraley:
ReplyDeleteI recall feeling the same sort of thrill when I came across a library copy of Harmon and Glut's The Great Movie Serials. I think that they mentioned that most serials were kept off of television due to legal restrictions, and that just made them all the more tantalizing. Of course, when copyrights lapsed and we could see them, most of the serials kind of blend together after a while -- sort of the way that the third wave of Marvel films have today. Occasionally there's a standout among the serials -- Flash Gordon, Captain Marvel, Spy Smasher, etc. -- but that era had its 'Iron Man' and 'Captain America: TFA' too. Generally, when I think of the superhero glut in cinema today, I'm reminded of the omnipresence of westerns in the 1950s and 1960s. I mean, even Star Trek had a western episode!
I replied:
The problem with serials is that we can now watch them in one long three and a half hour binge, but shouldn't. Seeing the episodes back to back makes the endless manic car chases, boat chases, plane chases and fistfights seem like a kind of pointless madness.
Michael Fraley:
ReplyDeleteWhen Columbia re-released the first Batman serial to theaters in 1965, one of my cousins in Cleveland told me that his parents dropped him off to watch it -- the entire serial! -- while they went Christmas shopping. That's something that I couldn't magine my own parents doing in the small town we lived in, let alone Cleveland. I felt so much pure envy when I heard that, and I can only imagine what the theater owners had to put up with. I'm reminded of Jonathan Winters' description of what watching B-movie thrillers and serials was like in the mid-1930s -- a whole herd of howling kids holed up in front of a movie screen for hours with Clark bars in their hands and a box of old clothes.
I replied:
Michael Fraley I heard about that re-release too, and was equally envious. Also, my father was able to describe scenes in the first Batman serial in minute detail. He came in off the farm to see it when he was 14.
Terry Levin:
ReplyDeleteA book reprinting the first five issues of Screen Thrills Illustrated is available on the Barnes & Noble web site.
Cheryl Spoehr:
ReplyDeleteFor me, it was Spaceman magazine. I purchased an issue that not only had a synopsis of "King of the Rocket Men", a superhero movie I had never heard of.....and A PICTURE OF KIRK ALLYN AS BLACKHAWK!!!!!! FROM THE BLACKHAWK MOVIE!!!!!! What Blackhawk movie???? For goodness snakes, when did DC comics hero Blackhawk get his own movie, but here is the photo......would take me a long, long time to finally see the Blackhawk serial, and at that point I knew of its faults.....but I still love it, ONLY Blackhawk film ever made, and fairly authentic....
Johnny Williams:
ReplyDeleteDan Hagen, this is one that I’ve been waiting for, even though I didn’t know it. Lol.
Here once again is yet another ‘shared experience’ between us. I too remember fondly the scintillating excitement of seeing those Screen Thrills Illustrated covers. The difference between our experiences is that I actually saw the original magazines during the earlier 60’s, well before the house ads for them when they were no longer being published.
You are so correct and your assessment of the situation for a superhero-loving kid during that period of time that was void of any cinematic expression of the loved genre. The discovery via magazine of those serials was the life preserver thrown to the floundering swimmer.
I remember showing those magazines to my comic book fan mother, and her response was as remarkable as it was matter-of-fact. She simply smiled and said - “Oh yeah, I remember those. I went to see quite a few of them. They were a lot of fun. You would have loved them.”
Of course that did it. Reels of some of them were advertised for sale so I had to decide whether I would sacrifice part of my comic book money from my allowance to eventually purchase some of those reels. Luckily Birthdays and Christmas covered the situation; because there’s Nothing like having a loving Parent who knows you so well that they know Exactly what to get you; takes the time and makes the effort to find out your preferences, and order them well in advance of the event, secretly.
That would be ‘My Mom!’
The first two were the first Batman serial and the Captain Marvel one.
Dan, one part of this experience that we didn’t share was disappointment upon first viewings. I was enthralled and enraptured before the small makeshift movie screen we had. That’s understandable though because our experiences were different enough from one another’s to account for the difference in our reception of the actual films.
This may be one of my favorite recollections because of your essays.
Bob Bailey:
ReplyDeleteGreat article, Dan.
Paul Zuckerman:
ReplyDeleteSTI — What fond memories I have of that magazine! Issue 4 -- the one depicted in the ad with Batman on the cover -- was the first issue I saw. I don't remember if it was just sitting in the store or what, but I scoped it up because of that article and stayed for everything else. I don't remember if I was following its more famous sister magazine Famous Monsters of Screenland yet, but I think I didn't start to read FM until later.
There was am ad inside for the earlier issues all of which had articles about Superman, who hands down was my favorite character then. So I did something I rarely did in the 60s -- I sent away for them! I collected the magazine for a while but missed the later issues (even while picking up FM) and eventually all my early issues went by the wayside. But in the late 80s, I found a few issues in an old bookstore and then haunted the shops and dealers at cons to find the full set. Usually, a bookstore if it had one would have several issues but it still took me nearly 20 yrs or so to amass the full run, finally by using ebay.
Paul Zuckerman:
ReplyDeleteThe superhero articles were my favorites. They even published a picture of Avengers 4 to go along with the Captain America article. But I learned about so much more — other serials, western stars, the Marx Brothers even! It was just a fun mag.
Johnny Williams:
ReplyDeleteOh, Dan, one more observation. When the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the DCEU began I was totally and completely all-In, because the selfsame little boy who’d longed to see superhero hero derring-do on the big screen still exists deep inside of me.
My appetites had been sufficiently whetted by the epic Smallville and CW runs; and I remain a staunch supporter and defender of the Arrowverse. Netflix with their Defenderverse added to the mix. All of that was great, wonderful stuff …. but, they weren’t the big screen.
The Donner Superman movies filled the bill magnificently as did the Burton Batmans. Subsequent movies featuring both seminal characters were received eagerly by me even when not up to the standards of the best of them.
Here’s the deal.
That inner little boy of mine is not as harsh a critic of the film genre as some other individuals are. He remembers how it was to experience a severe dearth of same, and his gratitude to being afforded the opportunity to experience such an embarrassment of blessings of ‘superhero movies’ provides him with a gratitude perhaps others could not understand.
This is a great time to be a superhero movie fan, with the better and the lesser films all getting some level of appreciation just for existing.
Paul Zuckerman:
ReplyDeleteAd for the old time serials — our local station 11 started to air them and I'd run home after school to watch each daily chapter. Commander Cody, Larry Martin, Rocketman, and more including my favorite, Manhunt on Mystery Island, with the lively Linda Stirling. Sigh!