Short(est) Lived Comic Series #30 - On Stage (Dell Comics)

It is with shock and surprise that I reach this 1,000th post for my blog!  When I started this blog back in 2015, I don't think I ever imagined I would still be writing it 10 years later, nor do I think I ever expected to have read as many books, short stories, and comics as I have read in that time.  It has been a fun journey, and (for the most part) I have been fortunate to have read so many great stories over those years.  So, it is fitting that for this special post, I review a comic that I have had for a number of years but have been waiting to read.  This one-off comic from Dell Comics (issue 1336 of Dell's "Four Color" series) is based upon Leonard Starr's very popular newspaper strip that ran for 22 years, from 1957 to 1979.  I have the full collection of comic strips in collected editions by Classic Comics Press, which I have been reviewing on this blog, and I never even knew this comic existed until I happened across it at a local comic convention one year.

 

Dell's On Stage comic was published in 1962, with an "April-June 1962" date listed in the indicia.  While the cover gives credit to Leonard Starr, the creator of On Stage, Starr did not actually work on the comic.  While no actual credits are given with the comic itself, which was standard in those days, the Grand Comics Database (Dell Comics - On Stage) indicates the cover art was provided by Robert Williams Meyers, while interior art was provided by Mike Sekowsky/Frank Giacoia (inside front cover); Frank Bolle and Mike Sekowsky/Frank Giacoia (main story); Frank Giacoia (inside back cover); and Mike Sekowsky/Frank Giacoia (back cover).  The script for these stories is credited to Ken Fitch, based on information in the "Who's Who of American Comic Books 1928-1999."  Despite Leonard Starr not being involved, I have to give the publisher credit for finding an artist who was able to mimic Starr's style when drawing Mary and her supporting cast.  Sadly, the one thing that is missing from the comic are the extremely detailed backgrounds that Starr provided in nearly each and every panel of his comic strip.  While the panels in this comic do have some backgrounds, there are quite a few panels that simply have basic, one-color backgrounds against which the characters stand.  For me, though, having only seen Mary Perkins in black and white in the reprint collections, it was exciting to see her brought to life in full color in this 32-page comic!

 

This story takes place during the years collected by the fifth volume of Classic Comics Press' reprint volumes, and it brings back not just one, but two recurring characters from Mary's newspaper strip.  When Mary is asked to take a role in a new play about Shakespeare's life, supposedly based upon diaries found that reveal missing years of his life, she must convince fellow actor and friend, Maximus, to come to the States and take a role as well.  The director's difficulty in finding a backer suddenly disappears when an attorney shows up indicating he has a backer who wishes to remain anonymous.  This is when Mary happens to run into Johnny Q, who warns her about the attorney and his reputation.  So, here we have two mysterious men from Mary's strip who swoop in to help her uncover the truth, not only behind the mysterious benefactor for the play, but also the reality behind those alleged diaries of Shakespeare.

 

There's not quite as much drama in this comic as there is in the daily strip, but it does have its moments - particularly when Frank Stewart, the playwright, is brutally attacked when he refuses to allow the financier to take credit for his script.  Maximus steps in and shows the hoodlums that he is more than just a "pretty face" (and if you have read the On Stage newspaper strip, then you'll understand that pun!).  Between Mary, Pete, Maximus, and Johnny, they manage to turn the tables on the crooked producer and save the play from having any unsavory connections.  And, surprisingly, in the end, Maximus reveals to Pete the truth about his appearance, a revelation that I cannot recall has ever been made in the newspaper strip (at least, not up to the point where I have read).

 

The cover art, by Robert Meyers, depicts the very dramatic moment when Maximus shows the producer's hoodlums that he can fight back and take them down - although, in the story, there is no woman in the background watching.  I am not sure if the woman shown on the cover is supposed to be Mary Perkins, but if so, then it is an inaccurate portrayal, as this woman is a blond, and Mary has dark hair.  And since Dell Comics of that period did not have any advertisements, the inside front cover, inside back cover, and back cover all feature short stories that give readers a bit more inside information, to to speak, about theater life.  "Angels Without Wings" on the inside front cover provides some details about investors, while "The Drama" on the inside back cover gives an abbreviated history of how drama has been depicted on the stage over the years. The back cover provides a color presentation of the "Arts and Tricks of Make-Up," and how strong make-up, simple techniques, and the use of rubber masks are used to hide blemishes, accentuate features, and sometimes change the appearance of actors on stage and screen. 

 

Overall, I would say this issue is a very nice tribute to the characters and stories of Leonard Starr, and it definitely does Mary Perkins proud.  Of course, only being one issue, the story is a bit faster paced than the daily strip, which had stories that lasted weeks, seven days each week, so had plenty of time to build up suspense and drop sub-plots that would come to fruition later.  Also, with just 32 pages, the writer did not have a lot of time for character development, so any readers who were not already familiar with the characters would likely have a lot of questions about who they are and how they are connected.  I wonder what we would have seen if Dell had decided to do more On Stage comics?

 

RATING:  9 electronic door locks out of 10 for keeping the drama in Mary Perkins' life and providing an interesting new theater story centered around the bard himself!

Janet Hardy in Radio City - Book Two of the Janet Hardy Series

So, after enjoying the first Janet Hardy novel so much, I did not want to wait long to read the second book in this series.  Interestingly, the copy of this second book that I have is larger and thicker than the first book.  My copy of Janet Hardy in Hollywood measures only 5" x 7.5", while my copy of this book measures a bit over 5.5" x 8".  Additionally, Hollywood is only a bit over one inch in thickness, while this book is nearly one-and-a-half inches thick.  The additional thickness is likely due to the heavier paper stock used for this book, as I noticed the pages are nowhere near as thin and brittle as the first book.  Both have a copyright of 1935, so I honestly don't know if one is an earlier printing than the other, or if all copies of these books were printed in these different formats.  Regardless, the dust jacket contains the same cover art, with the same description of the series on the inside front flap.  And this second book picks up literally right where Hollywood left off...

Janet Hardy in Radio City opens with Janet and her best friend, Helen, getting ready for their next acting gig - another western filmed by Billy Fenstow and starring Curt Newsome. Author Ruthe S. Wheeler (who, it has been suggested, is actually a pseudonym used by Graham M. Dean) manages to get in a recap of the previous book in the first chapter, giving new readers a quick review of how the girls came to be in Hollywood and the adventures they had filming their first movie.  Interestingly, this book follows the same pattern as the first book with regard to how the story advances.

The first half of the book is spent in Hollywood, with the girls starring in the new film, Water Hole, which is being filmed on location at a secluded ranch.  The film crew and cast get on a bus (hmmm, if you've read the first book, perhaps you can see where this might be heading) and head out to the desert to film the movie.  Oddly enough, when the film is near completion, Janet and Helen's nemesis from back home, Cora Dean and her lackey, Margie Blake, show up at the ranch and manage to talk themselves into a bit part during the crowd scene at the end of the film.  They quickly leave, and it's a good thing they do - because when the film crew heads back to Hollywood on the bus, they have one mishap after another.  The bus breaks down; they get it fixed, and then it breaks down worse; then they discover there is a brush fire heading their way; and just when they get the bus fixed and head out, they have a flat tire!  By the time they make it back to the ranch, the fire is well on its way - and they once again hop onto the bus and head for higher ground.  They manage to find a stream with a bank nearby under which they can hide from the flaming onslaught.  It is a weary, damaged group that walk their way slowly back to the ranch, where all of the buildings have been burned to the ground - and just when they think all hope of help is gone, Helen's father shows up with a rescue team to help get the girls and the film crew back to Hollywood!  (And in case you missed the first book, there is a similar scenario in the first book where Janet, Helen, and their school friends are trapped on a bus in the middle of a deadly blizzard, and it is Janet's father who shows up in the nick of time - from the freezing cold of a blizzard to the deadly heat of a desert and fire!  And in both instances, buses were involved!)

The second half of the book follows Janet and Helen as they return home to not only register for college, which the plan to attend in the fall, but also to ready themselves for a ten-day trip to New York City, where they will join several other cast members of the film to promote the movie filmed in the last book over a radio broadcast.  The girls take a rather lengthy train trip (from their midwestern home town of Clarion - which, there is such a town in Iowa - through Chicago and on to Jersey City, before taking a ferry to New York City), and their arrival in the Big Apple is filled with awe as they take in the wonders of the skyscrapers and crowds.  Curt Newsom is there, and they meet the radio director, Ben Adolphi, as well as fellow radio star Rachel Nesbit, who thinks quite a bit of herself and takes an instant dislike to Janet.  (Again, this scenario seems very reminiscent of the second half of the first book!)  As with the previous book, the second act is where the mystery comes in, as someone steals a manuscript that Janet had been working on in her hotel room, and there is a suspicion that someone in the radio drama is intending to lead the movie's plot and ending in order to stop World Broadcasting Company from getting the rights to air this radio preview of the film.  Needless to say, Janet ends up in the thick of things, and she gets chloroformed (but not kidnapped this time, thankfully), there's another theft, a car chase, and an ultimate showdown with the culprits behind the sabotage, which results in Janet and Helen both being offered jobs at WBC as a writer and actress, respectively!

Despite the mystery not being central to the entire story, I still enjoyed reading this one as much as I did the first. Janet and Helen remain very likable characters, and even though the author follows the same format with both books, the stories are actually pretty engaging.  I became interested in knowing whether Janet and Helen would actually sign on with the studio and stay in Hollywood, or whether they would go home to pursue their college education.  And, yes, the saboteurs of the radio program are fairly obvious from the moment they are introduced, but it doesn't make the mystery any less exciting, as you find yourself rooting for Janet and Curt to stop the culprits before they get away with the manuscript and ruin the station's chance at getting the studio's contract.  My only wish is that Goldsmith had included internal illustrations, like nearly all of the other publishers did at the time, even if it was only a frontis piece.

With this, the adventures of Janet Hardy come to a close, as Goldsmith did not offer up any more books in this series.  I have to wonder if it was because sales were not high enough to warrant more, or if the author was simply not interested in writing more tales of these characters.  At this point, I suppose it doesn't matter, as no more Janet Hardy stories were publishers, and fans like me are left to cherish the two we do have.

RATING:  9 glowing masses of steel out of 10 for keeping these midwestern girls hopping from one coast to the other, and taking them from film to radio!

Janet Hardy in Hollywood - Book One of the Janet Hardy Series

I've had the second book in this series for quite a while, but it was some time before I finally picked up the first book (I was looking for one reasonably priced in a pretty good dust jacket).  I managed to find a great copy at an estate sale last year, so I bought it and am finally just getting around to reading it.  Now, I will admit that prior to picking up this series, I had never heard of Janet Hardy.  I knew that Whitman did quite a few "Authorized Editions" based on various actors and actresses from Hollywood, and based on the two titles in this series, I though perhaps Goldsmith had jumped on the bandwagon.  This, clearly, was not the case.  There was no actress named Janet Hardy back in the early 20th Century, although I did find a book by famed author Nora Roberts, in which the main character has a grandmother in the book named Janet Hardy who was a legendary actress.  Makes one wonder if Nora Roberts perhaps read these two books... (I should note there were two actresses named Janet Hardy who did films in 1971 and 1981, respectively, but those were obviously well after this book, so it could not have been based on either of them!)

Janet Hardy in Hollywood is the first of this two book series written by Ruthe S. Wheeler, the same author who wrote another book from Goldsmith that I reviewed a while ago (Helen in the Editor's Chair).  Although, from what I have learned since reading that book, apparently Ruthe S. Wheeler was actually author Graham M. Dean, who wrote these books for Goldsmith under his wife's maiden name.  I suppose at the time, it did not seem appropriate to have male author's names attached to series books intended to be read by girls,  In today's world, that would not matter in the least, but the 1930s were definitely a different time (in fact, stopping to think about it, that would be nearly 100 years ago - a century ago!).

The story centers around Janet Hardy and her best friend, Helen Thorne, two young ladies who are getting ready to graduate from high school in their mid-western town of Clarion (the state is not identified, but there is a Clarion, Iowa, which would fit the Midwest setting).  Helen's father is a successful film producer in Hollywood, and Helen is anxious for him to come home in time for her graduation.  In addition, Janet and Helen are auditioning for the lead parts in the senior play before graduation - and Helen wins her part but Janet ends up as a light technician and stage hand.  Of course, as fate would have it, when the opening night of the play arrives, the other lead actress is injured in a freak accident, and Janet has to step into the role at the last minute!  She and Helen do such a magnificent job, Helen's father decides to take the girls to Hollywood for the summer so they might have an opportunity to act in some western films his company is producing.

Despite the title, more than the first half of the book actually takes place in Clarion, with all of the events leading up to the girls taking their trip to Hollywood.  The girls face a pretty dangerous scenario when the bus taking the seniors to a skating rink for an evening gets caught in a horrific snow storm on the way home, trapping the students and their teacher in a blizzard with no heater and no help in sight!  Janet and Helen (along with the boys they like, Jim and Ed) manage to keep everyone safe and warm, and the bus driver eventually returns with help to get everyone back home for hot drinks and a roaring fire.  They also face some difficulties from the girls against whom they compete for the lead roles in the play, as the rumor is spread that Helen only got her part because of her father's fame in Hollywood, while another rumor begins that Janet caused the accident that injured the other girl so she could get her part!  No real mysteries involved in these events, but they do make for some enjoyable reading.

It's only after Janet and Helen arrive in Hollywood with Helen's father does the mystery begin. Janet and Helen audition and win small parts in a western film being made by Mr. Thorne's production company. From the get-go, it is pretty clear that the leading lady in the film is not overly fond of the girls, feeling they got the parts solely because of their connection to Mr. Thorne.  Sure enough, Janet has a mishap with a saddle she is using while riding a horse during the filming of a scene, and while recovering from the fall, she learns that someone purposefully cut through the saddle girth, so that it would slide loose during the ride!  Janet does not like to think someone would purposefully injure her, so she lets it go.  But when they are selected to be in another film, albeit small parts once again, they see firsthand how deep the sabotage goes - because it is not Janet the saboteur is after; rather, someone wants to ruin Mr. Thorne's production company!  A kidnapping, some aerial battles, some burning sets, and a deadly explosion threaten to close down the film - and Mr. Thorne's company! - if someone doesn't figure out who the saboteur is and fast!  (And I'll give you two guesses who cracks the case...)

Sadly, this book does not have any internal illustrations (I don't know why, exactly, but I really do love seeing internals - I guess having had them in the Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, and Bobbsey Twins books I read while growing up has spoiled me!); however, it does have some beautiful art on the dust jacket, featuring the scene where Janet and Helen first arrive in Hollywood, where they are greeted with a horde of photographers as they step off the plane.  Interestingly enough, you even see "NBC" on one of the large microphones, which I'm surprised they were able to get away with using a national broadcasting company like that.  The book does not identify the artist, although next to Helen on the cover is the phrase, "Two Taylors" - I'm not sure if that is a signature of the artist or some other obscure reference.  I tried researching the question online, but came up empty-handed.  

One odd thing I did find while reading the story is that these people always seem to be up late, and they have no issue with eating meals at midnight or later.  What is odd about that is that they refer to these meals as "lunch."  I've always thought of lunch being the mid-day meal, usually around noon or so.  Looking online, I saw reference to a "midnight lunch" or "late night lunch" on a message board, referring to a term used in Canada to describe meals served in the middle of the night (for late night parties, wedding receptions, etc.).  Although, if I were awake at midnight, I probably would have no problem eating a "midnight lunch"!

Overall, this book was just as enjoyable to read as Helen in the Editor's Chair - not exactly heavy on the mystery side of things, but a well-written story that is nicely paced and easy to read and enjoy.

RATING:  8 heaping platters of celery, olives, and pickled onions out of 10 for a tale of two midwestern girls who make their dreams come true in Hollywood!

The Virginia Mysteries, Book 11 - Danger on the Stage

It's been a year since I read the previous book in the Virginia Mysteries series, so it was about time to pick up the most recent book.  For the most part, I have enjoyed this series, each book not only set in a particular part of Virginia (or its surrounding area) but also chock full of historical facts about the State and its rich history.  Author Steven K. Smith not only provides young readers with fun stories of mystery and adventure, but he teaches them about Virginia's colorful past along the way.  And this particular book was one I was looking forward to reading, as it centers around an historic theater - and since I spent some years acting in local community theaters, I could not wait to see how Smith would merge the mystery and theater into one story!

Danger on the Stage takes place in Abingdon, Virginia, where the historic Barter Theatre is located.  And yes, Abindon is a real city, and yes, Barter Theatre is a real place!  As Smith relates in the story, the theater got its name from the fact that when it opened back in the 1930s, patrons were told they could either pay the 35-cent admission in coin or by bringing "an equivalent amount of produce" - basically bartering for their ticket!  The concept became known as "ham for Hamlet," and today the theater still has at least one show a year in which patrons can bring canned or dry goods to help local charities in exchange for a ticket to the show.  The history of this theater can be found at their website, Barter Theatre.  Again, this is one great thing about this series - actual, historical sites are integrated into the stories, with a mystery centering around them.

The mystery this time involves the aunt of the boys' best friend, Caitlin.  Her Aunt Ginny, who is the current artistic director for the theater, has invited Caitlin and her family (and by extension, Sam and his older brother Derek) to come visit and see the production of Red Riding Hood - which, coincidentally enough, stars the famous actor, Jake Greensboro, as the big bad wolf.  Sam can't wait to meet his favorite actor - but when they get the chance to meet him backstage before the first performance, they learn he has been getting threats from someone ever since he arrived back in town (Jake used to act in the theater years ago, before he left for Hollywood after being "spotted" on stage during a performance).  Sam is concerned, but Jake shrugs it off, saying it is something he is used to as a star.  After all, the show must go on...

 

And here's where the mystery really heats up.  Sam spots a mysterious man in a white suit in the balcony across the way - a man who seems to be warning of something.  Sam catches on and cries out to the actors on stage, but it is too late - a swinging sandbag knocks over a wall, which falls directly on Jake Greensboro!  He is injured and taken to the hospital, leaving Aunt Ginny to deal with the show's backer - a real estate mogul who Sam, Derek, and Caitlin see in several places around town.  With Jake in the hospital, and the "accident" revealed to be sabotage, the show must be shut down, leaving Ginny concerned about the future of the theater (which is in financial straits).   The three little crime solvers decide to do what they do best and figure out what is really going on in town.

This is actually once of Smith's best mysteries to date (and I'm not saying that just because of the theater connection).  There's a bit of a ghost tale, there's an unscrupulous real estate developer, there's a blackmailer, there are plenty of secrets, there's a secret underground tunnel, there's a wronged individual out for revenge, and there are unresolved feelings between some star-crossed lovers.  There's mystery, there's supernatural (is there?), there's history, and there's romance, all rolled into one great story.  And, of course, there's Derek's mischievous and somewhat rebellious nature that leads the kids into trouble more often than not. I can honestly say there is not one dull moment in the entire story - each chapter leaves you wanting to keep reading to find out what's going to happen next!

As usual, the mystery does get all wrapped up nicely by the end, and the kids prove their worth by uncovering the truth and revealing the culprits behind everything - and at same time, save the theater, and pretty much the entire historic district, from being gobbled up by a real estate developer set on turning the entire area in a 21st century money-grab!  Smith's stories remind their readers just how important history and the landmarks that preserve it, are to our culture and our country.  Such a fun way to learn, much in the same way Harriet Stratemeyer always incorporated real world learning experiences into the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books back in the '60s and '70s.

 

I do not find any solicit for a 12th book in this series, so I have to wonder if this book is the concluding chapter of The Virginia Mysteries.  I hope not, as I'd like to see more adventures of Sam, Derek, and Caitlin as they continue to age and learn more about their home state of Virginia!

 

RATING:  9 lightning round games of chess out of 10 for proving that there is always way more drama going on back stage / behind the scenes at a theater than is actually on the stage!