Monday, April 29, 2013

Monday with Hayley Mills: CANDY

Young and successful Hayley Mills is the subject of the May 1965 issue of the sensationalizing gossip magazine Whisper. Within the article the magazine asks the question if Hayley will be chosen to star in the film adaptation of the satirical psychedelic sex romp Candy, based on the 1958 novel  by Terry Southern and Mason Hoffenberg. I can't tell if this is Hayley Mills' representatives planting a story for the publicity, producers doing the same and pushing for her to be considered for the role or if this article is just using her name to create wagging tongues because of her fresh-faced innocent image. Personally, I'm glad Hayley never appeared in the film that resulted. Many films of the 1960s and 1970s suffered from the excesses and egos of the makers, resulting in movies which appeared to have been created in sputtering fits of drug-fueled mania.

The article itself has a few nice publicity shots that I have not seen elsewhere and even with the inexpensive black and white reproduction values of the era are still nice to look at.


I'm not familiar how straight the book told a story but the film was bonkers and all over the place. Candy is now one of those productions that is considered a "cult classic" though I am in the camp of those who think the term is applied too broadly for many bad efforts. Fresh off several dramas and comedies, Hayley Mills was undoubtedly searching for a more adult role at the time as a year later in 1966 she appeared as a newlywed experiencing marital problems in The Family Way.

 
Admittedly, at the time audiences had a hard time accepting the grown up actress in a dramatic role with a mature theme. People were too used to Hayley as a star of Disney and being cast in other roles as the adorable cute one, forgetting her earlier strong work in Tiger Bay and Whistle Down the Wind. Yet as an inoffensive comedy/drama about a troubled couple the choice of The Family Way was superior than if she appeared in a disjointed bizarre sex farce like Candy. Experiencing the trailer for Candy I cringe to think what that movie as it was made would have done to her career.



 Yes, it was definitely for the best someone else got the role.

Friday, April 26, 2013

Oh say can you see my eyes if you can then my hair's too short


A sign warning long-haired customers they will be sent to the back of the line. Reportedly from a Singapore post office, late 1960s.

From the anti-establishment humor magazine Apple Pie (1975).

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Terry Austin draws for Algol (1977)


Most people are familiar with the work of illustrator Terry Austin from his tenure in the comic book industry, most notable in the classic X-Men titles. Not many people are aware of or familiar with his other illustration work for magazines and books such as the contributions to the 1978 printing of I, Alien by J. Michael Reeves.

Illustration for Richard Lupoff's Book Week column published in Algol #17 (Winter 1977).

Monday, April 22, 2013

Monday with Hayley Mills: Hayley and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Dress

I am in love with this photo and the dress worn by actress Hayley Mills. The setting, the pose, the entire scene is beautiful. I'm glad I can share it with any Hayley Mills fans who wander by.

About the Poster:

I am pretty sure that this over-sized fold out poster of actress Hayley Mills is from the Japanese celebrity magazine Eiga Joho (April 1966). The publication notes state this poster is included in the issue but my copy does not contain it. It was probably stripped out long ago for resale. Cutting out and removing unique ads, articles and photos is a common practice among those who resell ephemera, something I personally am conflicted about. One one hand items are being preserved that would otherwise vanish from age and neglect but on the other books and magazines are rendered almost useless for collection even as they are sold as complete. In some instances this may not be on purpose.

I have a number of vintage books where the best part was cut out and those sellers, I believe, were not aware that someone had removed pages before they received it. Once a magazine or book is stripped of a few interesting pages what is left is probably sold or donated. These will typically eventually end up at thrift stores or sold cheaply elsewhere. Much of the time luck and detective work is required to determine if old publications have been stripped. Sometimes it is obvious, like careless cuts and tears. Find an old copy of LIFE with no ads remaining in it and you know something is wrong. Sometimes it is harder to suss out as the vandal will only selectively remove pages that do not interfere with the flow of content and would otherwise be detected. A lot of times this is done to ensure multiple sales from one item.

On occasion the only way to know if some publications have been stripped of content is from comparison of copies of other vintage periodicals. Comparing copies to the other is a way to discover that pages might be missing or an issue is otherwise damaged. The best resource for this is badly aged or degraded copies. Many times the contents will remain intact because there is no resale value of a page because it is unattractive. Unfortunately some older magazines do not have page numbers, content pages or publication listings anywhere. It is up to the individual collector to create a record of the content and all too often information is repeatedly transcribed in error. This is common particularly when the references are from amateur crowd-sourced information posted to the internet. My personal copy of Eiga Joho has been through the hands of many sellers before I obtained it and each listing reported it was undamaged and complete.


I had seen the poster on the internet long ago but it existed only as a tiny thumbnail in the cache of a seller's defunct website. It was enough to know it existed so I made repeated efforts to locate it. I thought I found one at last several years ago in a magazine but when it arrived the poster was not included. Crushing, but I did not blame the seller. The magazine itself is a delight otherwise and contains a short but cute Hayley Mills article. After some searching and patience I found the Hayley Mills poster early last year, sold separate from any magazine. I scanned and filed it until now.

I don't read Japanese so this could be a poster originally sold on it's own, part of some other periodical or fan club collection. The pristine condition has me speculate it spent several decades safe in the pages of a magazine that was properly stored. Hayley is wearing the same dress as on the cover of Eiga Joho and both the magazine and poster are listed as from April 1966. So barring a translation of the Japanese on the poster that would prove otherwise, I believe this is the "bonus" fold out poster of Hayley Mills the issue of Eiga Joho references in the publication notes.


Hayley Mills on the cover of Eiga Joho (April 1966)

Further browsing:Everything Hayley Mills at LTMS
Tumblr search Hayley Mills

Friday, April 19, 2013

The Terrible Planet

Text stories were often included in comic books in the era of distribution by news stands and mail to qualify for less expensive postal rates. While the prose entries were for the most part no better or worse than the sequential art in the same issues The Terrible Planet credited to Allen Anders stands out. A short two-pager this story has a theme that will appear in such works as The Ship Who Sang, Man-Plus, A Plague of Demons and many, many others. The climax and decision of the protagonist at the end is surprising for the era outside of denser science fiction works.

From Fantastic Worlds #6 (November 1952).



Thursday, April 18, 2013

Happy Birthday to Hayley Mills!

Number One Biggest Hayley Mills fan here with some Hayley Facts!

  • Today in 1946 Hayley Mills was born! Acknowledge!
  • Her birth was heralded by a triple rainbow in the sky and the emergence of two new stars!
  •  Team Hayley Mills created and sent an awesome birthday card to Hayley and not to brag but my personal message is the bestest one! It's in the upper right corner!
"Lot's of people are thinking of you on your birthday; I just wanted to let you know I'm one of them. Thanks for all the wonderful moments and hope you gift us with many more. Happy Birthday Hayley! From Your Biggest Fan, Sleestak ."

  • The Hayley Mills Celebratory Complex is open 25/8 for tours and visitations (the extra hour is in there because of Hayley awesomeness, she is that magical)! Take the Virtual Tour and see!
Awwwwwwww


Super Surprise! The next Monday with Hayley Mills will feature a rare, hardly ever seen photo of Hayley!  Stay tuned!

Monday, April 15, 2013

Death and Taxes (1948) by David Dodge

Death and Taxes (1948) by David Dodge, Cover art by Rudolph Belarski.

Friday, April 12, 2013

Guilty of Love in the First Degree

I could be a Love-Crime Detective. Lots of career opportunities there. Have to turn down some jobs though. "I'm sorry miss, I can't take your case. That's a clear instance of Thought-Crime. I don't do those. May I suggest installing parental-control software on your husband's computer?"

From Famous Fantastic Mysteries (August 1942).

Monday, April 08, 2013

Hello, Larry


Larry Niven, 1974. Check the patch and is that a 3-eyed smiley button?

Monday, April 01, 2013

How many years is it now?


C'mon, people! Check your calendars! You know what day it is, right? I don't want to hear about adults falling for pranks all day on the news. Don't be so gullible.