Mighty Mouse

Okay, I admit it, I was a huge fan of any comic book with Mighty Mouse inside even through my teenage years. He was my hero. I even learned to draw using Might Mouse as a model. But those were long ago days, and my illustrious art period is long past. But I still like the character.

The Marvel Family

Although the first comic books I ever found were Superman and Batman at 7 years old, and were my first heroes, I became a fan of The Marvel Family by my teenage years. This issue has a good cover featuring the whole Marvel family. Actually, Mary Marvel was my favorite of the series, though.

Happy 4th of July

WALT DISNEY’S COMICS AND STORIES, July 1942. I was two years old back then. Happy 4^th of July.

Knox Street Theater

Knox Street Theater in Dallas in the early 1930s. I love pictures of old theaters, from anywhere.

Congo Bill

Congo Bill: This 1948, 15-Chapter serial from Columbia was a fairly nice entry from 1948. It starred Don McGuire as Congo Bill. There are a lot of similarities between Congo Bill and Jungle Jim, both in character, and plot to this serial. Bill is tasked to deliver a letter to the heiress of a circus in Africa, and there are rumors of a white jungle queen named Lureen, played by 24-year-old bombshell Cleo Moore, who turns out to be the missing heiress. Bernie McGraw, played by I. Stanford Jolley, wants the inheritance and tries to intercept Congo Bill. Congo Bill was patterned after Jungle Jim, of course, but I thought Don McGuire was better in the part than the actor in the Jungle Jim serial. Also in the Jungle Jim serial a 16 or 17-year-old actress played the jungle queen, but looked too young for the part. Cleo Moore, the actress who played Lureen in Congo Bill, however, did look the part, though maybe too mature for a 20-year-old jungle queen. My DVD was a bad quality, and hard to see and hear. It was probably recorded from a poor VHS version. Overall, I did think it was a better serial than Jungle Jim, and regret it’s poor quality. I would love to see a good film of this one.

Jungle Jim

JUNGLE JIM: This 12-chapter serial from Universal in 1937 starred Grant Withers as Jungle Jim, with Raymond Hatton as his sidekick, Malay Mike, and Betty Jane Rhodes as the white Lion Goddess, Joan. Jungle Jim has been asked to find the white Lion Goddess who is thought to be a the missing child from a shipwreck, and the heiress to a family fortune. However, her evil uncle wants the fortune and hires men to kill her, so he will inherit the fortune. To add to the mix, The Cobra and his sister Shanghai Lil rule the local natives, and Joan thinks they are her parents, not knowing the pair are wanted in England for murder. There were some nice animal clips from other films. Most of the action takes place around a rocky landscape with a cave, and some jungle scenery. The cliffhangers were pretty good, but Joan doesn’t work well for the girl raised by lions. Too educated in her speech. In fact, some of the natives were pretty highly educated too, I think. My real problem was watching all those Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan and Jungle Jim movies growing up. Grant Withers just didn’t match up to Weissmuller. And the only sidekick Weissmuller needed was a monkey. Overall, it just wasn’t the quality of Republic Serials, nor the Jungle Jim I grew up with.

Man Hunt In The African Jungle

MAN HUNT IN THE AFRICAN JUNGLE or SECRET SERVICE IN DARKEST AFRICA, either title, they’re the same serial. My copy happens to be MAN HUNT IN THE AFRICAN JUNGLE. This is a 15-chapter Republic serial with Rod Cameron as secret agent Rex Bennett and Joan Marsh as Janet Blake, and American correspondent working secretly as a United Nations agent. Both are working with French officer Pierre LaSalle (Duncan Renaldo). They are after Gestapo agents who have infiltrated the North African tribes. Baron Von Rommeir is disguised as Sultan Abou Ben Ali, who is kept a prisoner in the dungeon, while Von Rommeir leads the tribes against the United Nations. I always loved the fight scenes with Rod Cameron, they liked to throw things more than fists – tables, chairs, etc. Lots of fun. Equally fun was watching Arabs riding horses with western saddles, with California scenery as a backdrop, firing six shooters like cowboys. And this takes place in Casablanca. Oh well, California does look a little like North Africa.