1974 Battle For The Planet Of The Apes article

Battle For The Planet Of The Apes was the last in the film series, and the lowest in quality, before the TV series began, which seemed to take place not too far in the future from what we saw in this movie. This article on it is scanned from issue # 108 of Famous Monsters, which was published in July of 1974. This is about where I came into my awareness of the Apes phenomenon, having somehow missed it up til then; don't ask me how. But I made up for in rabid interest what I lacked in prior awareness, and my fervor for it burned in intensity second only to my love for Star Trek.

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Below, as a bonus, is an ad page featuring the model kits for the Apes, as well as other interesting items.

COF #23 Apes Article

When I was 15 years old in 1974, I was living near Macon, GA at the time, and one weekend as usual I was spending the night at my Grandma's house. These trips were like a taste of freedom given to a prisoner, in that I was allowed to be myself there, and buy what I wanted. I made my trip to Chi-Chesters Pharmacy on Vineville Ave, to see what magazines, comics or paperback I could find... and this time I hit the goldmine: the following issue, #23, of the awesome magazine "Castle of Frankenstein." The issue was electrifying to me as I snatched it from the magazine rack in an instant and feasted my eyes on the Apes cover art! I was a rabid Apes fan by then (an interest that was second only to my fever for Star Trek), and this was just before the first issue of the Marvel Apes magazine had come out. Below is the art for the wraparound cover, and the main Apes article inside. I still remember reading the article as I walked back home to Grandma's house, and how excited I was.

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Zaius: "I'm tickling her underarm! Tickle, tickle, tickle!"

Bonus: the cover art without the text! Found online.

1974's Shazam TV Show

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(Note: This is a post I already made some time ago on another of my blogs, "Held Over!" but since creating this one it seemed to fit here better. So, I'm reposting it here in case you missed it over there, and just to put it where it belonged.)

The scan above is from TV Guide around 1974, while the "Shazam" Saturday morning series was in early production. (Sorry about the faded Scotch tape in the middle.) Jackson Bostwick, the first (and my favorite) Captain Marvel on the show, is shown doing the flying stunts. If it seemed that the Big Red Cheese was flying roughly 10 feet above the highway most of the time, this truck-based flying rig explains why. They could have taken a cue from the effects done in the 1940's Captain Marvel serial, which were far superior to anything else done at the time and were the best seen in movies or TV for over three decades later, including this show.

The article above I clipped from "The Star" tabloid about the same time. I really liked the show and seldom missed it Saturday mornings. I still get a chill watching it when he changes into Captain Marvel! The musical buildup, the animated effects of the transformation, and the subsequent leap into the air, were all done very well. They handled the drama and power of the change better than any other medium has, including his appearance on the Justice League episode "Clash." Sure, this Cap was more involved in lifting fallen trees and stopping runaway cars than fighting super-villains, but for a kid's show it was well done and exciting, and I have great nostalgic memories of it. I hope how soon the first season is released on DVD! As it is, I have my episodes taped off of TV Land latenight showings from a few years back.

Below, an article from a local TV guide supplement published in the Macon Telegraph (GA) on Oct. 6, 1974.

And what teen boy could NOT have a crush on Isis as portrayed by JoAnna Cameron? The article above came from a local TV guide newspaper supplement that I clipped while living in Ft. Lauderdale FL in 1975 when she joined the lineup with her own show.

Let's hope that the still-in-development Shazam movie gets made soon, and that it fulfills the possibilities of the character. It could really rock! And wouldn't it be nice if they gave Jackson a cameo role in it also? And the second actor to fill the red tights, John Davey, did a good job, but you always like best the actor you saw first in a role.

1975 "Cracked" Planet Of The Apes TV show spoof

In 1975, I was 16 years young, and the biggest thing in my life at that time (aside from Star Trek) was the Apes movies and the new TV series based on them. I was excited to find this "Cracked" magazine, issue #123, in March of that year, and read it as I walked back home. The cover art and the inside spoof were done by Severin, as usual with his spot-on caricatures and accurately detailed costumes and sets. The cover, oddly enough, is from the movie, protraying Zira, Cornelius and Lucius, along with a couple of gorillas, whereas the inside parody was of the TV show. But that was alright by me, being an ardent Zira-lover as I was (and still am).

Bonus: Below, a two-page poster from the teen magazine "Spec," once again bought in 1974 at a corner 7-11 using the excuse of buying it for my (non-existent) little sister. I'm sure the clerk was used to hearing that from me after awhile as I bought teen girl's mags for whatever genre nugget I found in them. Humiliating it might have been, but nothing stopped me from my collecting, not even "the step-father" who was constantly on my case about it, irritatedly demanding "when are you going to grow up?" Well, "daddy-o," sorry to disappoint, but here I am at 50 years old and I still haven't.

Planet of the Apes TV show premiere (Updated)

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Above, the TV Guide Fall '74 spotlight section highlighted the new shows, and POTA and Night Stalker were both of great interest to me, and are the ones I clipped out and saved.

September 13, 1974 was a red letter date, as it was the premiere of the most anticipated (by me) show just about ever. I was a tender skinny lad of 15, and the Apes movies had fascinated me, even though up to that point I had only recently managed to catch the first on TV in Florida while babysitting a neighboorhood kid (a situation that enabled me to catch many good movies on Saturday nights and even get paid for it). But, the POTA magazine by Marvel had just come out, and it was my main connection to the simian phenomenon. I made sure I got each issue no matter what. I'll be posting cover art, stories and comics from it quite often on this blog in the future.

Below, an ad from the same issue of TV Guide about the show. Since it was so difficult for me to see the movies, the TV show made it a whole lot easier to visit the Ape planet, and whenever I spent the weekend at Grandma's house, which was a lot that year, I was able to catch it, which elated me beyond words.

Next, a local television guide supplement in the Macon Telegraph (GA) supplied me with an ad...

...as well as an article, which I quickly clipped and put in between the pages of Apes section of my scrapbook. That section grew quite rapidly that year, for sure. Also pictured in the same page scan are some other snippets and articles from the same time period.

As with Star Trek, I was always on the alert for Apes article in any kind of magazine, tabloid or newspaper. My keen eye spotted a teen "Flip" magazine, which the cover had a text blurb that there there was an Apes article inside!!! And the article had exclamation marks after every sentence, sometimes in multiples!!! OMG!!! Embarrassed, but undeterred, I bought the mag, apologetically telling the clerk (who could care less!) that I was picking it up for my (non-existent!) sister!!! Once home, the article and photo was very quickly cut out and in my scrapbook, while the offensive teen mag was relegated to the bottom of the outside trashcan... lest it be found by my stepdad, who would have raised a real ruckus over it had he found it!!! Then, there would have been a lot of exclamation marks as he yelled!!! (Whew.)

Besides the trading cards, which I'll post images of often in the future, one of the bigger and more exciting items associated with the show was the novelizations that came out. Below is the front and back covers of the first one, which adapted two of the episodes.

It was with true joy that I snatched up the POTA series DVD set a couple of years back, and sometimes I will devote an evening to "the 70's" and watch an episode of "Apes," Kung Fu," and "Kolchack" back to back and lift my glass of blue creme soda to the memory of Grandma, who allowed me to have the freedom a kid deserves, to pursue and enjoy the things that interested me the most.

Here's a neat POTA TV show fan site that you'll enjoy visiting.