Welcome back to the continuing saga of a young actress trying to make her way in the world of theater, television, and film, all the while adjusting to her new life as the wife of a news photographer. Yes, that is where we find the beautiful and talented Mary Perkins as we reach Volume Four of the collected editions of the newspaper strip, On Stage. I have been absolutely loving this series of strips, as they contain everything necessary to make for engaging stories - strong characters, dramatic stories, fast-moving plots, suspense, mystery, surprises, excitement, and above all else, the true-to-life adventures of theater life. Despite her naivety and innocence, Mary Perkins comes across as a very real, very relatable person with whom the reader can quickly and easily identify with and root for in every situation. She always sees the best in everyone, she's quick to help when needed, but she's not afraid to call out those who are underhanded or engaged in villainous activities. In many ways, Mary Perkins is a theater-version of Nancy Drew!
Volume Four of Mary Perkins, On Stage covers the strips that ran from June 13, 1960 to September 17, 1961, so just a little over a year's worth of strips. That's more than 365 daily/Sunday strips, which certainly provides for a lot of story. And when you think about the fact that this strip ran for over 20 years, 365 days out of every year (not counting the 366 days every leap year!), that's quite a bit of work for Leonard Starr, the strip's creator, writer, and artist, to churn out on a daily basis. Yet, not only does he manage to do it, but he does it with such style and keeps the stories fresh and exciting! I'll definitely admit that I'm glad to be reading the strip in these collected editions, as I don't know if I would have been able to wait day after day for the story to build (like I do when I watch General Hospital on a daily basis...). At least with General Hospital, we get about 36 minutes of story each day - with On Stage, it was only three panels a day (except for Sundays, which were expanded to nine or so panels). So, imagine trying to follow three panels a day, waiting impatiently each day to see what would happen next to Mary and her supporting cast!
This volume picks up right where Volume Three left off. Mary Perkins is now married to photographer, Pete Fletcher, and it seems the "View" magazine is trying to reach Pete for a new assignment. Meanwhile, as Starr so often does, a subplot is developing with an elderly woman - one Daisy Collins - who is trying to get a job at the very theater where Mary is currently working. Starr builds the story, not just around Daisy, who manages to insinuate herself into Mary's life, but also around Mike O'Hare's latest play, which is not doing so great, as well as Harley Langton, Jr., a wealthy man who has his sights set on Mary! As it turns out, Daisy is not everything she appears to be, and she manages to help both Daisy and Pete, and in so doing, ensures herself a place in their home! By the time this first story is coming to an end, Starr is already setting up the next tale, in which Mary finds herself guest-starring on the Julep Tandy Show!
Starr provides a look behind the scenes of Hollywood and young actresses whose parents can be a bit tyrannical. Mary is excited to be a guest on the Julep Tandy Show, but what she doesn't know is that Julep's mother does not want her there - she wants all focus on her daughter, and with Mary in the picture, she may overshadow Julep. Mary ends up in the middle of things, and before you know it, Julep ends up at Mary and Pete's apartment, asking to stay in order to get away from her overbearing mother! Mary and Pete are forced to play mediators between Julep and her mother, but even they are completely unaware of just how far Julep will go to get out from underneath her mother's control!
Starr's creativity knows now bounds, as he slides ever-so-smoothly from one story to the next, using the end of each story as a jumping-board to go into the next tale. Julep sets up Mary to have her own television series created by none other than the programming genius, J.J. Jonah - which evolves into a tale of mystery surrounding the mysterious Mr. Jonah. Who is he, why does he keep everyone in the dark around him (literally!), and just why is it that Mary has never seen Mr. Jonah and his rather stern secretary in the same room at the same time? Just when Mary thinks she has it all figured out, Starr throws in a rather unexpected twist that makes the story all the better! This eventually leads into the start of Mary's new show, which finds her heading down to the Florida Keys, where she will be filming an episode with the famous actor, Gregg Talbot! Pete joins Mary for an early vacation in the Keys before he heads off on his next assignment and she begins filming; but, it seems Talbot has other ideas. And who should also appear in the Keys, but the infamous Johnny Q, who makes his return to the panels of Mary's strip. A deadly hurricane, an abandoned baby, and Talbot's true nature all make for a gripping story.
Starr doesn't give the readers a break though, as he heads right into the next tale involving a writer who handpicks Mary Perkins to star in a television show for which he is writing a script - a script he is keeping secret, as he depends solely on astrology and other signs to warn him of what's to come! His beliefs ultimately put him at conflict with Mary and lead to some rather strange dreams (which, incidentally, provides Starr with the opportunity to draw some very off-beat and out-of-the-ordinary panels for the strip!). But the resolution of that drama does not mean any rest for Mary, as she and Pete are quickly thrust into relationship drama when Johnny Q shows up on their doorstep with a new love interest. Johnny has fallen for a siren - but the siren's voice leaves a lot to be desired! Admittedly, this storyline is probably the most lackluster of all of Mary's adventures thus far, it does provide readers some great insight into the character of Johnny Q, and allows Starr to explore the world of the music industry a little bit.
The final story in this volume is actually my favorite of them all. Starr gives readers a sad tale of a fading western movies star, Cody Kincaid. Mary and Pete happen to meet the movie star in an unexpected brawl as they are leaving a restaurant. Pete talks Cody into making a real western film, and, of course, Mary ultimately becomes his guest star. But Cody's agent, T.C. Hart, has some secrets of his own that will ultimately cause drama on the set and for both Cody and Mary when they are filming on location. Cody has never been concerned about the money he has made off of his successful films, but when his plans to establish a ranch for children to come out and experience the wild west as it once was are dashed because of his agent's mishandling of his money, Cody only sees one way out - one that sees the western star ride off into the sunset one last time. It's truly a heart-breaking story, with less focus on the drama (although there is drama involving a wild horse, a bobcat, a party held in a posh mansion, and the tension between Cody and his agent) and more focus on the human side of the characters, particularly Cody Kincaid.
One thing I noticed in this volume is that Mary often took a side-seat in her own stories, as other characters - Johnny Q, Pete, Cody Kincaid, and others - took the spotlight. There were instances where Mary did not appear in her own strip for two or even three strips in a row, as the story focused on the actions of other characters. This, of course, provides the strip with more of a "soap opera" feel, since soaps never focus just on one character, but look into the lives of numerous characters, switching from one story to the next and then back to the first. That's certainly not a complaint, as for me, it provides more of a sense of realism to the strip, as the stories could not be fleshed out if Starr only stayed focus on Mary, and she was in every single panel of the strip. I also noticed in this volume that there were more panels that lacked any background whatsoever - they just featured the characters in that scene and the word balloons for whatever they were saying. Most panels continue to feature Starr's very detailed backgrounds, and perhaps he was beginning to realize he could save a bit of time by leaving out the backgrounds once in a while and just allow the characters to be the focal point of particular panels. For me, this was a bit of a disappointment, as I'll admit - it is the details of Starr's art (such as the designs in wallpaper, shower curtains, the city backgrounds at night or in the rain, the stairs and bricks of buildings in the background) that truly makes this strip stand out from other daily comic strips.
The final strip, which wraps up the Cody Kincaid story, introduces a new character (unnamed as of yet) and a situation involving Mike O'Hare and his latest flop, giving readers a hint at what is to come for Mary Perkins next!
One final note on this volume - with this fourth volume, Class Comics Press increased the page count, which allowed for the reprinting of the full interview that comic creator Richard Howell had with Leonard and Betty Starr, which was originally printed in Comics Feature magazine number 9 (February 1981). It is a rather lengthy interview that takes up a lot of pages - I'm hoping future volumes feature more strip reprints per volume - while I do enjoy the interviews and other background information each volume presents at the beginning, I much prefer getting right into the stories of Mary Perkins and her life On Stage.
RATING: 9 books on astrology and chiromancy out of 10 for keeping the suspense, drama, and adventure going, with stories that vary in subject matter and intensity and characters that the reader can identify, or the very least sympathize, with.
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