1977 article on Farrah in Logan's Run

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Farrah Fawcett's tragic and untimely loss prompted me to go through some of my magazines to find an article on her role in "Logan's Run," since this is a sci-fi blog. Although her role as Holly was only a small part, she made an impression and the character was quintissential Farrah. From the second issue of TV's Dynamic Heroes, published in June 1977 we have this article...

A photo showing off the two things Farrah was famous for... her hair and face. What else did you think I was going to say, hmmm?

Below, some screen grabs I made of Farrah's scene in the movie. Logan's Run, which was made in 1976, was the last big-budget sci-fi film before Star Wars came out and changed everything, and it holds a special place in my memories. The design may be cheesy 70's, but I was a teen at the time, when "The Hustle" ruled the airwaves, and the movie was a lot of fun.

This is the way I'll always remember Farrah... who is now with the angels for real.

Bonus: a TV Guide ad for a new show coming out on September 22, 1976...

1990 Starlog article on Kim Hunter (Zira)

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Today's item from the collection cabinets is an article from Starlog Issue #160, published November 1990. My absolute fascination and love affair with Kim Hunter's Zira began in 1973 when I finally saw the first movie, and it's never ended. My heart beats a little faster whenever she's onscreen, and my favorite scene was when she kissed Taylor... who was the viewer by proxy. Very few that I've come across share or even understand my appreciation for the beauty of Zira, but I melt when she wrinkles her muzzle and her eyes sparkle as she says, "You wouldn't hurt me, would you... Taylor?" The makeup design for Hunter was thinner and more flexible than anyone else's on the set, and they made an extra effort to make her attractive. In my mind, they succeeded!

Below, my all-time favorite photo of Zira, which I call the "Mona Zira." If the Ape civilization had it's Michaelangelo, surely she would have been his subject and model!

Below, a press kit publicity photo of the star-crossed, yet ill-fated, lovers.

And lastly, a scan of a color 8 x 10 photo from my scrapbook.

Finally, below is a pencil drawing I did of Zira about 1974 or thereabouts; I was about 15 at the time.

We'll see more of the First Lady of the Apes on this blog as time goes by, you can be sure of that!

1978 Star Wars Poster magazine #10

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This 1978 poster magazine from my collection is especially valuable to me due to the personal autograph I have on it from the man behind the voice of Vader, James Earl Jones! I was working at a radio station in 1987 in West Virginia when he was there filming "Matewan," based on a true story that happened in a mining town in the Mountain State. Filming was taking place in a park that had an exhibition mine open for tours, and word reached us that he was coming to the station the next day for a live interview. I took this issue as well as a SW poster of Vader, and he was kind enough to autograph them both for me.

He was a great guy, very gracious, and it was an honor to meet him. It was made even more memorable because he came in full miner's costume, on a break fron the set! I only regret that I had no picture made of me with him. I guess I didn't want to impose too much on him, considering the little time he had there.

Below are the rest of the pages of this 31 year-old magazine, inside and back. I thought you might enjoy seeing the rest of it, if you don't have it!

Did you have, or do you still have, any of the toys depicted above? I bought my 7 year old little brother the landspeeder and blaster pistol for Christmas.

Below is a snapshot of the inside poster, which was too big to scan without messing up.

And as a bonus, from one of my five other blogs, "Held Over!" here's an earlier post of a full-page ad for the re-release (based on the artwork above), clipped by me from the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel on Friday, July 21, 1978.

Exciting times when I clipped this!

1987 "Newsweek" Robocop article

July 20, 1987 Newsweek article that I clipped on the upcoming "Robocop," a clever and violent film populated by fun-to-watch actors. The back-stabbing world of corporate big business and greed give one a plethora of villains to cheer as each gets well-deserved punishment from the very entity they helped to create. This fresh take on "Frankenstein" turns the tables as the creature is good and the creator despicable.

A clipping from a Ft. Lauderdale, FL newspaper around 1992, as Robocop visits some kids to terrorize the tykes into not taking drugs.

June 1989 "Time" article on Batman movie

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"Time" magazine article on Batman from June 19, 1989.

It's very hard to believe that it was twenty years ago last Tuesday, June 23rd, Tim Burton's breakthrough Batman movie opened. It just doesn't seem like that long to me. But it has been, and I've seen nothing online commemorating that in my (admittedly limited) web browsing. It was looking through stuff to post on my "Held Over!" blog, posted the first Batman movie ad, then realised: "Holy Coincidence, Batman!" I was only off one day in posting it 20 years after it premiered! So, here are a few items from the old scrapbooks. starting off with the most mainstream of venues, "Time" magazine.

A couple of articles from the local WV newspaper where I lived at the time it came out...

This was only lucky dude in the clipping below, but the car had no engine! I wonder what he ever did with it... probably sold it to some collector or museum. What good is a Batmobile if you can't hop in and tool around town after dark?

Below, from USA Today, a trio of Jokers yuk it up in line waiting for the movie to open.

Here's the newspaper ad I posted over on "Held Over!"

Below you'll see one of the press kit publicity photos for the movie.

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.

1979 "Newsweek" Superman: The Movie article

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Check out the full-page newspaper ad I featured over on my other blog, "Held Over!"

"The Outer Limits" article

The Monster Times, that wonderful newspaper-format magazine of my youth, came out with a magazine-format special in 1973. How well I remember ordering it from an issue of TMT, then getting it in the mail a few weeks later when I went to spend the weekend at my Grandma's house (where I had everything like that delivered to protect it from my step-dad.) The special magazine issue was mostly devoted to Star Trek, but there were other articles about many of the sci-fi TV shows that had come out in previous years. The Trek article you will find soon on my blog "My Star Trek Scrapbook" but you'll find some of the others here, like this one.

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Sharp-eyed readers will take note that the soldier's helmet will show up again in the first episode of "Mork And Mindy" as part of Mork's costume.