The Hitchcock Project-The Children of Alda Nuova by Robert Wallsten [7.35]

by Jack Seabrook

"The Children of Alda Nuova" was adapted by Robert Wallsten from his short story of the same title that had been published first in the August 1961 issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. The episode aired on NBC on Tuesday, June 5, 1962.

Robert Wallsten (1912-2005) acted on Broadway from 1933 to 1942 and wrote a play in 1941 before serving in the Navy in WWII. He wrote short stories from 1944 to 1963 and, in 1950, he began writing for TV. The short story, "The Children of Alda Nuova," was nominated for an Edgar Award, and his teleplay adapting it for the small screen was his last TV credit. Wallsten was friends with John Steinbeck and edited the Steinbeck collection, A Life in Letters, the book for which he is best remembered today. His papers are at the University of California Santa Barbara Library.

"The Children of Alda
Nuova" was first
published here

As the short story begins, a man named Frankie Filippo is driving a Fiat that he rented under an assumed name through the Pontine Marshes not far from Rome, Italy, in the hot August sun. He has been avoiding crowds and tourists for fear of being recognized by an American who has seen his photograph. A week ago, at a cafe in Rome, Frankie struck up a conversation with Ainsley Crowder, who "knew Rome like a book...history, art, archaeology, the works." Crowder wrote down a list of places to visit, including Alda Antica, "'a ruin, abandoned nearly a hundred years before Christ,'" that is located near the more modern village of Alda Nuova. Crowder described the villagers as "'mountain people, a race apart--inbred, undernourished, desperately poor.'"

Frankie drives into the village and sees squalor unlike any he has seen before. A young boy named Paolo approaches his car and offers to be his guide; more boys quickly surround the vehicle and Frankie agrees to drive Paolo and two others to explore the ruins. He drives out of the village until they reach an old stone wall. Soon, more than a dozen other boys and a man arrive on foot; the man, Cesare, will stand guard by the car and Frankie thinks that he resembles a boy he had badly beaten in his youth.

Jack Carson as Frankie

Uncomfortable with "the undecipherable malignity of the place," the American follows Paolo through the "great gate" and into the ruins. Paolo points out what is left of the ancient temples and, when Frankie pats the boy's shoulder, he realizes that the boys are older than they seem: they are 14 or 15 years old but small for their age due to malnourishment. The criminal has been on the run for less than two months and the boys observe his "New York suit, his monogrammed shirt, his amethyst cuff links, the diamond in his ring."

Frankie sees a stone ring surrounding the entrance to a small tunnel in the ground and Paolo explains that five ancient tunnels run through the middle of the mountain  and come out at its base. He explains that they were built "'to dispose of enemies,'" and the boy "made a comic gesture describing it." Another boy, Giulio, leads Frankie to the edge of the ruins, where he sees that there is a sharp drop down to the valley below. Frankie accidentally drops a pack of cigarettes and, as the boys scramble to pick them up, he heads back to his car.

Thano Rama as Paolo

Paolo and the other boys begin to ask for money. As Frankie approaches the car, he steps down hard on the nearest boy's foot before taking a switchblade from his pocket and stabbing Cesare in the stomach. The boys attack Frankie, driving him back through the gate and into the ruins, taking his knife and encircling him. Fearfully, he offers them money, tossing bills into the air and calling for help, as the circle of boys around him shrinks.

Three weeks later, a police officer named Sinai arrives in Alda Nuova with Ainsley Crowder, having followed clues along the trail of the missing Frankie Filippo. The townsfolk claim ignorance and the visitors approach the ruins with the boys as their guides. Sinai notices boys wearing new items of clothing but they explain it all away. Crowder quietly points out the charred remains of a Fiat lying at the bottom of the mountain and Sinai cautions silence. Back in the village, Crowder notices Frankie's jewelry adorning two local women. He and Sinai leave together and Sinai reveals the nature of the crimes that made Frankie flee the U.S.: "'He was the chief of a group that sold narcotics to...High school children.'"

Christopher Dark as Ainsley Crowder

"The Children of Alda Nuova" is a powerful, well-written story that vividly evokes a place where ancient justice is meted out by disadvantaged boys. The author makes it clear that Frankie Filippo is a wanted criminal on the run who has left the U.S. and fled to Italy; his crimes were notable enough that he fears recognition by tourists who would have seen his photo in American newspapers. The final lines reveal the exact nature of his offenses and imply that his fate at the hands of poor village boys is poetic justice. But should the boys be celebrated as heroes for killing Frankie and later denying knowledge of his existence? The fact that he stabbed one of their own is used to justify their violent act, since they had no knowledge of his criminal past. Not heroes, no--more like victims who enact a rough justice that is all they have ever known.

Stefan Schnabel as Sinai

The TV version of the story lacks some of the background that is provided in the short story, relying on dialogue and visuals to fill in the blanks. It follows the story closely, for the most part, with a few small changes made necessary by casting choices and censorship. The flashback structure that starts the story is eliminated and, instead, the TV show starts at the cafe in Rome where Frankie Fane, as the character has been renamed, meets Ainsley Crowder. Light music helps to establish a comedic tone when a waiter brings the wrong drink to Fane, who neither speaks nor understands Italian; this incident lulls the viewer into expecting a light tone throughout the episode.

Crowder clears up the misunderstanding between the waiter and Fane, who is happy to meet a fellow American. Ainsley compliments Frankie's gold cigarette lighter, which bears his initials; there is a close up of the item, which will be seen again later. Fane's personality quickly turns menacing when he overreacts to a benign comment made by Crowder; this suggests that the initial tone may not last.

Lidia Vana

The scene dissolves to a shot of Frankie driving through the countryside not in a Fiat, as in the short story, but in a big, American convertible that he somehow managed to rent. A shot of a small statute of the Virgin Mary mounted on a pedestal at the roadside suggests that the local residents are old-fashioned and religious, though their later behavior is far from holy. Another dissolve shows Fane arriving in the village square at Alda Nuova, where his sunglasses and convertible stand in stark contrast to the villagers, who include a man walking alongside a donkey cart and a woman in black emerging from a chapel.

David Fresco

Fane tosses a cigarette out of the car and it lands in the dirt. At first, this is an image of his disrespect for the old village, but when Paolo, depicted as a young man with dirt on his face, picks it up and eagerly begins to smoke it, it is apparent that even Frankie's trash has value in Alda Nuova. Paolo and the other young people quickly surround the car and all are filthy, but unlike the story, there are two young women in the group. Fane wants to leave the village immediately, remarking "'Ever hear of a hunch?'" but when Paolo asks if he is afraid, Frankie agrees to drive three young people to the ruins. This challenge to his manhood is not in the short story and causes him to abandon his sensible hunch and make a fatal choice. The camera pans past the chapel and across the village to show Frankie's car winding up the road toward the ruins.

Carlo Tricoli

After the commercial break, the shot fades in on Frankie at the ruins, his flashy suit and two-tone shoes contrasting with the rags worn by Paolo and the other young people, who arrive quickly. Paolo introduces Cesare, who is clearly disabled, and sends him off to watch Frankie's car; the young people speak to each other in Italian, which is not translated for the viewer, who shares Frankie's discomfort at the inability to understand them. The ruins are much smaller than what is described in the story. Paolo shows Frankie the tunnel and drops a rock in it to show that it seems bottomless. The short story's "comic gesture" by which Paolo describes how enemies were disposed of is expanded in the TV show into a pantomime battle by Paolo, who is observed by the others, their faces shown in ominous close up. In the space of a few minutes, the tone of the show has changed significantly from light to menacing.

Christy Cummins as Gina

Frankie is led to the edge of  the cliff and the young people grab the pack of cigarettes from his hand. He heads for his car but is stopped when they demand money; all of this takes place in a tight space. By his car, instead of stabbing Cesare, as he does in the short story, Frankie punches the young man and throws him to the ground, where he lies, knocked out and bleeding. Paolo takes the keys from the car's ignition and Frankie begins to throw money at the young people, their faces dark and the music foreboding. After he tosses them his cigarette lighter (recall the focus on this item in the show's opening scene) and his watch, the American visitor to Italy disappears behind the crowd as they attack him.

There is a fade out and then a fade in on a scene at Sinai's office, where he interviews Crowder, who agrees to join him to follow Fane's trail. There is a dissolve to the small, European car driven by Sinai, a contrast with Fane's big, American car; Sinai's vehicle approaches Alda Nuova along the same road that Fane's car did, again passing the statue of Mary. The scene dissolves to the village square, where much of the dialogue that follows is in Italian, untranslated for the viewer. The villagers pretend ignorance of Fane and the group of young people who were last seen attacking him enter the square in almost martial formation. The elders give the young people glances that warn them not to say anything about the missing man.

Raymond Cavaleri
as Giulio

Sinai notices that a crippled man in the square sports Fane's expensive pen in his shirt pocket; the man claims, in Italian, that it was a gift from his grandfather in Naples. Sinai and Crowder drive to the ruins with the same trio of young villagers in the back of their car who had accompanied Frankie earlier, and the scene dissolves again to the ruins, where Paolo begins his tourist speech. Crowder sees Fane's car, upside down and lying at the base of the mountain. Unlike in the short story, where Sinai appears fearful of the villagers, here he is resigned, telling Crowder that "'you cannot prosecute a whole village.'" Crowder closely examines the entrance to the tunnel before he and Sinai return to their car, where they have their last conversation as they sit by the ruins. Sinai ends with the same words that he uses in the story and the car drives off. The final shot shows Paolo lighting a cigarette with Frankie Fane's lighter, the initials "F.F." shown in close up.

"The Children of Alda Nuova" is an effective adaptation of a great short story, gradually pulling the viewer into a horrible situation. The show is atmospherically directed by Robert Florey (1900-1979), who creates a sense of menace and unfamiliarity on a limited budget. Born in Paris, France, he came to Hollywood in 1921, where he began as an assistant director and soon was promoted to director, making films from 1927 to 1951. Some of his best-known movies are The Cocoanuts (1927), Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932), and The Beast With Five Fingers (1946). He switched to television in 1951 and worked in that medium until 1964, directing episodes of The Twilight Zone, Thriller, and The Outer Limits, as well as five episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, including "The Changing Heart."

Ray Giarrusso as Cesare

Jack Carson (1910-1963) stars as Frankie Fane. The actor was born in Canada and does not look Italian American; perhaps this is why the character's surname was changed from Filippo to Fane (though Carson's brief hesitation when he tells Crowder his name may suggest that the character comes up with it on the spur of the moment). Carson started his career in vaudeville and also worked in radio; his screen career lasted from 1937 until his death. He had a supporting role in Mildred Pierce (1945) and briefly had his own TV show, The Jack Carson Show, which aired in 1954 and 1955. He was also seen on The Twilight Zone and Thriller, but this was his only role on the Hitchcock show. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Paolo is played by Thano Rama, who had a short screen career from 1959 to 1964. He is effective as the young villager who is the de facto leader in this situation due to his knowledge of the English language, which he says he learned from members of the U.S. Army.

Christopher Dark (1920-1971) portrays Ainsley Crowder; born Alfred Francis DeLeo, he served in the Army in WWII and acted on the New York stage and on screen from 1950 to his death, usually on TV. He was also in one episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour: "Forecast: Low Clouds and Coastal Fog." In "The Children of Alda Nuova," he is convincing as a young Ph.D. student.

Vincent Padula

Sinai is played by Stefan Schnabel (1912-1999), who was born in Berlin, Germany, and who came to the U.S. in 1937. An original member of Orson Welles's Mercury Theatre, Schnabel appeared on radio, stage, and screen, in a long career that lasted until 1992. He served in the Army in WWII and had a recurring role on the TV soap opera, The Guiding Light, from 1973 to 1981. This was his only appearance on the Hitchcock show, but he appeared in the Bus Stop episode, "I Kiss Your Shadow," which was based on a story by Robert Bloch.

In smaller roles:

• Lidia Vana as the old woman outside the village church; this appears to be her only credit.
• David Fresco (1909-1997) as the crippled man in the village square; he was on screen from 1946 to 1997 and he was blacklisted in 1956. Despite that, he appeared in twelve episodes of the Hitchcock show, including "The Day of the Bullet," as well as episodes of The Twilight Zone and Night Gallery.
  
• Carlo Tricoli (1889-1966) as the man in the village square; born in Italy, he was on screen from 1949 to 1964.
• Christy Cummins as Gina, the girl with long hair who rides in both cars; this was one of two TV roles she played in 1962. She was also a singer who recorded singles from 1961 to 1964.
• Raymond Cavaleri (1947-2021) as Giulio, the small boy who rides in both cars; he was on TV from 1961 to 1970 and appeared in a couple of movies and one episode of Thriller. He was more successful as a talent agent.
• Ray Giarrusso as Cesare, the young man who guards Frankie's car and ends up getting hit; he appeared in a few TV episodes between 1955 and 1962 and had an uncredited film role in 1955.
• Vincent Padula (1898-1967) as the waiter at the cafe; born in Buenos Aires, he started appearing in films in Argentina in 1927 and seems to have moved to the U.S. around 1950; his film and TV credits extend to 1965.

Watch "The Children of Alda Nuova" online here. Season seven has not been released on U.S. DVD. Thanks to Tom Seabrook for providing a copy of the short story!

Sources:

"The Children of Alda Nuova." Alfred Hitchcock Presents, season 7, episode 35, NBC, 5 June 1962.

Christy Cummins Discography - USA - 45cat, www.45cat.com/artist/christy-cummins.

Edgar Awards Info & Database, edgarawards.com.

The FICTIONMAGS Index, www.philsp.com/homeville/fmi/0start.htm.

Grams, Martin, and Patrik Wikstrom. The Alfred Hitchcock Presents Companion. OTR Pub, 2001.

IBDB, www.ibdb.com.

IMDb, www.imdb.com.

RadioGold Index, radiogoldin.library.umkc.edu.

Stephensen-Payne, Phil. Galactic Central, www.philsp.com.

Wallsten, Robert. "The Children of Alda Nuova." To Be Read Before Midnight: 21 Stories from Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Random House, New York, 1960, pp. 77–90.

Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, www.wikipedia.org.

Listen to Al Sjoerdsma discuss "The West Warlock Time Capsule" here!

In two weeks: "The Safe Place," starring Robert H. Harris!

Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 131: Atlas/Marvel Science Fiction & Horror Comics!

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 116

August 1956 Part III

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Strange Stories of Suspense #10

Cover by Sol Brodsky

"The Weeds" (a: Mort Meskin) ★★

"In the Shadows" (a: Reed Crandall) ★1/2

"Flee For Your Life!" (a: Paul Hodge) ★

"The Secret of the Black Forest" (a: Angelo Torres) ★★

"The Crisis!" (a: Vic Carrabotta) ★★

"The Long Sleep!" (a: John Forte) ★

A small scientific party finds itself stranded in the Sargasso Sea while searching for a particular brand of seaweed. They come upon an island populated by people dressed as pilgrims and soon discover that the seaweed surrounding the land has a magical quality to it. The atmospheric Mort Meskin art found in "The Weeds" reminds this reader of the fact that Atlas stories once contained an aura of mystery and danger. The band of intrepid travelers face an interesting realization at the story's close but we never worry that any bodily harm will come to them.

Brad Norton walks away from a small plane crash into the arms of the lovely but mysterious Arla. Before long, Brad pops the question and Arla says "Sure!" It's one night while they are dancing that Brad notices his wife doesn't cast a shadow. "Don't freak," the woman says, "but I'm from another dimension and I came here to look for the beauty my world lacks. You dig?" Brad does not and he shows Arla the door. Suddenly, he's back in the plane crash, remarking about what a miracle it is he's alive but, man, would he like a hot babe right now. "In the Shadows" is another in the seemingly unending stream of nonsensical fantasy tales that pulled themselves free from the Atlas lunchroom and splatted on the pages. It reads like vintage Wessler but I'm no expert. The Crandall art is not great but remember the old adage... "Even bad Crandall is ten times better than great Paul Hodge."

Speaking of which... Paul Hodge is responsible for the doodling that tells the story of Ian, a boy abandoned on Earth by his Martian father. Ian has a sibling on Earth somewhere and he spends decades trying to find him, only to discover he's a she! I know we've read something very much like this recently but my brain is like a pasta strainer. "Flee For Your Life!" is not only a great title but, in this case, it's good advice.

There's something odd going on in the small village of Grausberg, Germany. The oddest buildings are popping up in the center of town and no one knows who's been building them! Then Hans Schmidt finds an odd little frog-like creature in the forest and takes it home as a domesticated pet. Meanwhile, a thought strikes the town's burgomeister... this strange architecture must be the work of invisible aliens from outer space. What else could it be? Hans puts two and two together and decides his new pet is not safe at his home. The villagers drive the creature into the forest and tell it to never come back or else... The frog gets back in its spaceship and heads home to Jupiter. It's silly to call this silly because all these stories are silly so I'll accentuate the positive which is, as usual, the art. Angelo Torres's work on "The Secret of the Black Forest" is stunning, a visual feast, simple yet intricate.

Though "The Crisis!" is a three-pager (and we know how successful those are), it's a very clever little fantasy about troops fighting an alien force in a small tunnel. The final panels reveal that the war is being fought in a hospital patient's lungs! "The Long Sleep!" is a predictable yarn about a scientist who worries that the human race is sliding downward on the intellectual scale (wait until he gets to 2025!) and preserves his body in suspended animation for one thousand years in order to help out future generations with his brilliance. Guess what? When he wakes up, he's the dummy. Mankind has advanced past his knowledge threshold. Another lazy script and crude graphics sink this one from the get-go.-Peter

Strange Tales #49

Cover by Bill Everett

"Inside the Black Bag" (a: Mac L. Pakula) ★★1/2

"The Girl Who Saved the World" (a: Joe Orlando) ★★

"Not Quite Human" (a: Christopher Rule?) ★1/2

"What Happened to Mr. Smith?" (a: Harry Lazarus) ★

"The Animal" (a: Bob Brown) ★

"The Man Who Cried" (a: John Forte) ★★

In the opener, gruff and heartless explorer Dennie Craig is abandoned by his jungle guides and left to fend for himself in the wild. A starving and dehydrated Dennie stumbles into a veritable paradise in the middle of the jungle, populated by incredible architecture and beautiful people and ruled by the village's elder, who can turn small stones into priceless gems with a wave of his stick. Dennie grabs fistfuls of the gems and heads out into the wild, unaware that the gems and the paradise were all illusions crafted by the old man. "Inside the Black Bag" has some nice work by Mac Pakula and a climax that's especially downbeat for this era.

Vickie Lund's only hobby is reading about Florence Nightingale and dreaming that, one day, she too could help her fellow man. One day, while reading on a bench just outside her university campus, Vickie is approached by aliens who have come to Earth to conquer and seem a little put out by Vickie's calm demeanor. When one of them blasts a nearby tree with his Beta Ray Gun, the BEMs are convinced that humans are unafraid and therefore unconquerable. They run to their ship and blast off, never to return. Vickie turns her attention back to her Braille edition of The Life of Florence Nightingale. 

"The Girl Who Saved the World" seemed hell-bent on becoming just the latest dopey alien invasion tale until its clever reveal (I assumed wrongly that Vickie was a Venusian in disguise). The Orlando art looks like it would fit better in a romance comic but that doesn't mean it's bad. Neither is the art for "Not Quite Human," which may or may not be the work of Christopher Rule (based on a comparison between this one and three of Rule's confirmed jobs, I'd say it's probably Rule). The story is another... story... altogether. Authorities bust into the mansion owned by an eccentric scientist, only to find the man dead, seemingly killed by the robot he built. But then one of the investigators finds the egghead's notes and gets the rest of the story.

Atlas's latest pilfering of A Christmas Carol (well, minus the holiday) is "What Happened to Mr. Smith," in which the titular tightwad sees his entire fortune and legacy disappear in a matter of moments but is redeemed in the end by a little boy who needs help with his balsa wood glider. Only redeeming feature of this tedious yarn is the panel where Mr. Smith witnesses all his belongings vanish, culminating in his visit to the skyscraper that bears his name. Now it's just a big hole in the ground! Worth the price of admission alone.

Like most of the three-pagers, "The Animal" is a waste of space. Fred Hobson is a miserable example of living flesh, mean to his wife, his kid, and especially the kid's mutt. Even when the mongrel saves Fred from a UFO abduction (the ships resemble baseballs), he has no gratitude. I'd be pissed too if I resembled a Kindergarten doodle. The finale, the respectably-illustrated "The Man Who Cried," follows the final space trip of a grizzled old captain. The final panel is supposed to be a shocker (he's actually sixteen years old and the "men" taking over his command are much younger) but it comes off pretty lame without any context.-Peter

Strange Tales of the Unusual #5

Cover by Bill Everett

"The Moving Stairs!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★1/2

"The Last Tomorrow" (a: Reed Crandall) ★★

"The Threat!" (a: Harry Lazarus) ★1/2

"The Parrot Speaks!" (a: Ed Winiarski) ★1/2

"Mary's Robot!" (a: Howard O'Donnell) ★1/2

"One Mistake!" (a: Bob McCarthy) ★1/2

After three customers mysteriously disappear while riding the up escalator in a department store, the store detective, a 20-year veteran named Mallon, decides to investigate. He discovers that each member of the trio disappeared right before they would have received heartbreaking news. Unable to explain it, Mallon rides the escalator and disappears right before he would have been informed that it was time to retire.

"The Moving Stairs" sets up an intriguing mystery but delivers no solution. What it does deliver is four pages of Ditko's art, looking similar to what he'd do a few years later on Spider-Man.

"The Last Tomorrow" could come any day for Don after his doctor tells him that he has a rare, incurable disease. Don is walking through the woods, unhappy about his fate, when suddenly he is captured by aliens and taken aboard their spaceship, where they tell him that he will be used to mine a substance on a small asteroid. They need the substance to keep their civilization going, and the sun's powerful rays would kill them if they tried to mine it. Don is sent to the asteroid, where he and another human dig rocks day after day; both are in bulky space suits and helmets. Don suspects that the other miner is a woman, so he grabs a weapon from one of the aliens and demands that he and the woman be sent back to Earth. The aliens chuckle and admit that they had planned to free the humans all along. The woman is a knockout and the sun's rays cured Don's disease, so the new couple look forward to a happy life back on Earth.

The first two stories in this issue are a treat in the art department; this one is drawn by Reed Crandall, whose work is always competent and often much more than that. His aliens are cute little guys with orange skin who wear clear helmets that have antennae atop them. The story is slight and the ending is schmaltzy, but Crandall's work is usually worth a look.

Les Foster is a janitor who rents an attic room in a tenement building to a strange man named Yurka. Les sneaks upstairs one day and peers into Yurka's room, where he sees the man building a strange device using the power of his mind. Yurka is "The Threat!" He observes Les spying on him and uses his mind powers to pull him into the apartment. Yurka admits that he's an alien who is building a machine to go home before he ceases to exist. Yurka tries to kill the janitor, but Les fights back and manages to survive until Yurka and his machine vanish.

Harry Lazarus draws some good panels, but a couple of times the perspective seems off and Les seems like a miniature man. The story is pointless.

A bird breeder named Fry unexpectedly receives a pair of unusual parrots in a shipment of parakeets from Australia. Unable to find any other examples of the species, he christens them Fry Parrots and begins to breed them and sell their young all over the U.S. Noticing that his own parrot seems unusually bright, he is shocked when "The Parrot Speaks!" It can read human thoughts and solve scientific conundrums, so of course government agents come to take it. Fry and the bird make a run for it and the bird hides itself among his other parrots, all of which look alike, swearing never to speak again.

A silly story in which my favorite line hearkens back to earlier days; one of the government agents, for no reason I can glean, exclaims, "Come on, you Commies!" Ah, the 1950s. Happy Days!

Mary Weston is tired of her husband Emil not asserting himself, so she asks her brother Bryan to build a robot duplicate of her husband who will stand up for himself. Two weeks later, the robot shows up and she tells it what to do. In the morning, the robot Emil demands and gets a raise; the next Saturday, he plays a smashing game of golf. Her husband's self-confidence grows, so she tells her brother that she no longer needs his robot. Surprise! Bryan announces that he just finished building it!

It's the old "Banquo's Chair" twist all over again, where someone thinks a character arrived and is doing things when, in actuality, that character has not arrived yet. "Mary's Robot!" makes no sense, though, since we see the real Emil sitting in his chair when the robot Emil arrives, and Mary tells the robot to stay in the garage. Howard O'Donnell's art is adequate, but the three-page story has such a cliched ending that it's a letdown.

Carl Wessler wraps up the issue with another confusing story called "One Mistake!" A crook named Tom Redmond is sentenced to ten years in prison, so he jumps out of the courtroom window, makes his way to an R.A.F. base (this being England), and stows away on a plane to Africa. He is discovered mid-flight, so he grabs a parachute and leaps out of the plane. As he descends, he passes through "the dark veil of time" and finds himself in what appears to be Ancient Egypt, where he falls for and proposes to Wahima, the pretty daughter of a man he assumes is the pharaoh. Tom is suddenly pulled back to 1956, where he's once again a crook on the lam. He finds a scientist with a time machine who sends him 2000 years into the past, but the pharaoh says he has no daughter and Tom is jailed for ten years, unaware (stay with me) that Wahima was actually 100 years in the future, when people dressed like ancient Egyptians (?) and her father was just a rich man who looked like a pharaoh.

Bob McCarthy's art is pretty good, but Wessler's script takes such bizarre twists and turns and has an ending so out of left field that it just makes me shake my head and wonder what magic mushrooms old Carl was snacking on when he wrote these things.-Jack

Next Week...
Something Unique for 1966...
Batman Reprints!

Batman in the 1960s Issue 41: September/October 1966

 

The Caped Crusader in the 1960s
by Jack Seabrook
& Peter Enfantino

Infantino/Giella

Detective Comics #355

"Hate of the Hooded Hangman!"

Story by John Broome

Art by Carmine Infantino & Joe Giella

Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson take in a night at the wrestling matches, watching the flavor of the month, the undefeated Hangman, whose gimmick is that no one knows his real identity. Dick puts forth that the Dynamic Duo should utilize (some might say waste) their detective skills to discover just who the man under the hood really is.

Bruce quickly agrees that it would be a lot of fun to unmask a celebrity but admits that they must attack that chore in their spare time. Since Joker, Riddler, Penguin, and Catwoman all seem to be out of town, there's a lot of spare time on hand. Well, except that Dick has to tackle his homework, which leaves Batman to patrol on his own. It's while on street ops that he hears a burglar alarm sound and sees (coincidentally) the Hangman running from a burgled pawn shop. Thinking quickly, he exits the Batmobile and gives chase. The Hangman pleads innocence but Bats is on one of his "I will restore order to the streets of Gotham" tears and employs battle tactics.

The Hangman proves to be just as adept at street fighting as he is at wrestling and puts Batman out (1-2-3) on the canvas. While the Dark Knight lies in the gutter, the Hangman approaches and reaches down as if to unmask our hero. At that moment, a siren rings out and the wrestler hoofs it. The next morning, Bruce is astonished to learn that two thugs have been arrested for the pawn shop heist. The Hangman is innocent! But then why was he running? Anyone who runs down a dark Gotham street has to be up to something, no?

That night, on another solo patrol, Batman stumbles onto the Hangman in an alley where a robbery is in progress... again. That tears it! This guy is up to something! The two are involved in some light fisticuffs until the Hangman slips into a darkened doorway. Batman finds the door is locked and sighs... another villain has escaped the grasp of the World's Greatest Detective in the simplest way! The next day, Bruce and Dick are pondering the subject when their "favorite newscaster, Telman Davies" begins his broadcast and Bruce suddenly realizes that the voice of Davies and the voice of the Hangman are one and the same!

That night, Batman shows up at Gotham Arena for the Hangman's latest bout and challenges the celeb to a match. Hangman agrees but wants to take the fight upstairs to the roof. Batman agrees and the epic battle begins. Hangman gets the best of Bats and then grabs for the Caped Crusader's mask, pulling it off and revealing the face of... Telman Davies! This obviously startles the Hangman since (just in case you weren't paying attention) he's Telman Davies! Batman takes advantage of the break in the action to pop back up and deliver a crushing blow and a turnbuckle dive, with the piece de resistance being the public unmasking of the Hangman. Telman Davies is fired from his high-paying newscasting gig and run out of town (on a boat!). Batman and Robin sigh, knowing they've done good work, basically disgracing a mentally ill man and sending him off to another country.

Another really lame adventure, with some parts defying all logic. There's always a boatload of coincidence involved in a funny book story... I get it, without wink winks there would be no story... but the fact that Hangman just happens to be the number one watched news guy in Wayne Manor and the boys were at the wrestling match is a little much. The Dynamic Duo have become so mentally entwined that Dick can actually read his mentor's mind now (see reprinted panel). My personal favorite moment comes when Hangman decides he's had enough of an alleyway battle with Bats and escapes through an obviously-scouted convenient escape portal. Bats can't seem to open the door, despite the myriad of gadgets on his utility belt! Despite all this, I thought the Hangman was a nifty character and wouldn't mind a return visit once he's finished his exile in Cuba.-Peter

Jack-Between another gorgeous cover and terrific interior artwork by Infantino and Giella, I was so dazzled that the coincidences in the plot didn't bother me until the end. Having the Hangman's entire motive be to become the number one masked man in Gotham was a real letdown. It would have been better if he had been on the right side of the law and worked with Batman to solve some other problem.

Infantino/Anderson/Giella

The Brave and the Bold #67

"The Death of the Flash"

Story by Bob Haney

Art by Carmine Infantino & Charles Paris

Gotham City is hit by a series of robberies by men wearing sneakers who can run super-fast! They manage to outrun both the Batmobile and the Bat-Copter, causing Batman to crash both vehicles during pursuit. Even when wearing a jet pack, Batman can't catch them! Meanwhile, in Central City, the Flash catches a pair of crooks but feels exhausted, so it's off to the doctor, who tells the speedster that he's running himself to death and he'd better slow down!

When Batman calls the Flash for help, however, the Flash can't say no, so he takes the train to Gotham City and soon ends up chasing speedsters. Flash catches one and is worn out; Batman arrives and observes that the crook's sneakers burned up, surely to prevent them from being analyzed. The crook reveals that he and his gang call themselves the Speed Boys and, unbeknownst to our heroes, the bad guys meet at the Accelerated Gentleman's Club where, wearing masks and tuxedos, they discuss their plans and explain that their sneakers are coated with radioactive isotopes and meteorite fibers that give them their pep.

The next day, a midget Speed Boy is mistaken for a kid when he steals a valuable necklace. Flash and Batman work together to catch him but, when Flash collapses, Batman knows something is wrong. Another visit to the doctor's office reveals the truth but, unfortunately, a Speed Boy is outside the doctor's office and overhears the Flash's dire prognosis. The next day, the Speed Boys rob a bank and the Flash gives chase. The Speed Boys overpower the hero and send a TV message to Batman announcing "The Death of the Flash." Back at the Batcave, Batman analyzes one of the sneakers and discovers what makes it go.

Following a clue to the hideout of the Speed Boys, the Caped Crusader coats the floor with oil and captures all but their leader, who escapes out a window and is chased by the Flash, who catches him with ease and is back to full health, having been cured by his proximity to the radiation from the Speed Boys' sneakers!

I guess that the term "Gentleman's Club" had a different meaning in 1966 than it does today. This issue marks the return of inker Charles Paris, who toiled with Sheldon Moldoff for so long before being unceremoniously dumped in favor of Joe Giella. Paris's inks over Infantino's pencils are nothing special and don't compare well to those of Giella or Sid Greene. As for the story, it's average. We all know that the Flash isn't going to die, but the fact that the radiation from the sneakers is what cures him is not what I expected.-Jack

Peter- You're right, Jack, this isn't Adams or Englehart, but I did enjoy it, nonetheless. As in 'tec #356 (below), there's much more energy than the usual Bat-venture and, Giella or no, I found the art to be much better than anything Moldoff was doodling at the time. I thought at first this might turn into a classic Marvel Team-Up-esque superhero battle, with Batman mistaking the fast thief for the Flash, but that never materialized. I guess the DC characters trusted each other much more than the Marvel heroes. I love how Gordon goads Batman with talk of failure. This from the laziest law enforcer in the DC Universe!

Infantino/Anderson

Batman #184

"Mystery of the Missing Manhunters!"

Story by Gardner Fox

Art by Sheldon Moldoff, Joe Giella & Chic Stone

"The Boy Wonder's Boo-Boo Patrol!"

Story by Gardner Fox

Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Sid Greene

Batman and Robin suddenly return after having been missing for 13 days! Commissioner Gordon and Aunt Harriet were beside themselves! The Dynamic Duo don't recall where they've been, so Robin hypnotizes Batman and the Dark Knight explains that, after saving Slippery Sam Lorenzo from a near-fatal fall off of a tall building, Batman used Sam's intel to interrupt a robbery in progress at the Temple of Tiny Treasures.

Sam proceeds to tell Batman all about Robbery, Inc., in exchange for a promise to protect him. Batman hides Sam in a cave with Robin and spends the next twelve days in a series of disguises, trying to learn more about Lefty Wright, the main threat to Sam's safety. Batman heads back to the cave, trailed by Lefty and his gang. Batman and Robin make short work of the gang members and their leader but, when the Dynamic Duo touch the Batmobile in order to grab the car phone to call Commissioner Gordon, they are zapped by an electric shock set up by Slippery Sam and  lose their memory of the last 13 days.

Sam escapes and Batman and Robin return to the Batcave, make some calls, and do some hypnosis to refresh their recollections about what's going on. They quickly locate Sam back at the cave and that's that.

In spite of a groovy cover, "Mystery of the Missing Manhunters!" is a dud. The whole business about Batman and Robin being out of touch for 13 days is ridiculous. Robin is hanging out in the cave with Slippery Sam while Batman tries on one disguise after another and learns next to nothing? Good thing the Joker didn't pick these weeks to start a campaign of terror! Worst of all, our heroes take about ten minutes to recover their memories, making the whole amnesia bit pointless.

Bruce Wayne has to attend an important meeting out of town so Robin is left on his own to patrol Gotham City. "The Boy Wonder's Boo-Boo Patrol!" begins when he sees a pretty redhead being thrown from a speeding motorcycle after the rear wheel falls off. Robin saves her from a bad scrape only to learn that she's stunt girl Viola Lance and Robin has ruined a take from a TV show she's filming. The Boy Wonder notices an air-blister on the tire and wonders if the accident was staged to harm the young woman. He decides to keep an eye on her.

The next day, Robin does some digging and learns that the show's director, Bill Porter, stands to receive a $1M insurance payment if Violet is killed. That night, Robin again rescues the stunt woman when she's sailing over a burning building by means of a balloon that appears to be pierced by a bullet. Certain that Porter is up to no good, the Teen Wonder drives Violet home, only to have to save her again when a speeding car barrels toward her. The car was driven by jewel robbers and Robin quickly knocks them out. Porter arrives and Robin learns that he and Violet are engaged to be married. A bit of investigation reveals that the balloon was punctured by a stray meteorite and Robin feels foolish for jumping to conclusions.

Violet gives him a peck on the cheek as a reward and, when the Boy Wonder returns to the Batcave and tells Bruce Wayne about his slipups, Wayne ribs him about the lipstick on his cheek.

This rare Robin solo adventure lives up to the "boo-boo" in its title by being corny and badly illustrated. We're a long way from the more mature Robin of a few years' hence who will go off to college and solve many a crime on his own.-Jack

Peter-Alas, the only smile that came to my face as a result of reading this snooze-filled issue was the title of the Robin solo. Between the two, I guess the better art was found in "Manhunters!" Neither script has a whit of wit nor anything resembling suspense. I couldn't make sense of the timeline in "Manhunters!"; were the crime-fighters out of service for two weeks or were they babysitting the whole time? I absolutely see the sense of letting a wanted criminal hang out in the Batmobile. Superhero life gets boring. The Moldoff/Greene Bruce Wayne found in "Boy Wonder Boo Boo" (pictured to the left) is unlike any I've ever seen or ever want to see again. Someone rescue me from this sludge.

Infantino/Giella

Detective Comics #356

"Inside Story of the Outsider!"

Story by Gardner Fox

Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Joe Giella

As our pals Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson wave bye-bye to Aunt Harriet (heading down to the local pub to slam back a few tall ones) in the Wayne Manor driveway, a delivery truck arrives and deposits two crates before them. Without further ado, the duo open the crates and are astonished to find inscribed coffins. When the lids are thrown back, wax images of the Dynamic Duo stand straight up and deliver a message from the Outsider: in one hour, both men will be dead.

Taking the threat seriously, the boys suit up and head after the truck drivers, who spill out of the cab in their work clothes: they are the Grasshopper Gang (last seen in 'tec #334). A tense, savage battle ensues but, as usual, Batman and Robin arise triumphant! They dump the bad guys at police headquarters and head back to the Bat-Cave for some detective work. Batman reveals that every time they've completed an adventure with the Outsider, they've had a peek into Alfred the butler's coffin (not just for kicks but because he was the only man who knew the Dynamic Duo's secret identities) and they head down to the cemetery for yet another look. 

Once they have a look in Al's refrigerated casket, they realize it can't be him. He's still there and just as dead as ever. What gives? Well, it's here that writer Gardner Fox decides to spill the beans on the greatest funny book mystery this side of Gwen's clone: the secret origin of the Outsider! Evidently, boy genius Brandon Crawford is following a "rare insect" into the graveyard and detects a moan in one of the mausoleums thanks to his "audiometer." He investigates and, sure enough, finds Al the butler moaning in his casket. Crawford grabs Al and hauls him back to his basement lab where he is busy perfecting every incredible invention known to mankind.

One of those inventions can regenerate cells and restore the dead to life (or something to that effect), so Brandon pops Al on a gurney and zaps him with his machine. Unfortunately, some of the rays bounce off Al and hit Brandon. He collapses and Alfred rises from the dead as a very white guy with circles all over his skin (luckily the cell transformation changes Al's stiff corpse pants into trunks!). Dubbing himself the Outsider, the creature launches his reign of terror against the Caped Crusader and the Teenage Tsunami. Which brings us back to the "present"...

Batman and Robin have tracked the Outsider to the residence of Brandon Crawford and bust into his super-secret lab, finding the Outsider there, feeling pretty confident about a world without heroes in a couple minutes. Sure enough, as the clock strikes one hour, Robin transforms into... (what else)... his coffin! Knowing he'll follow in just a couple of minutes, Batman begins playing with dials on the super-secret, super-powerful gizmos in the lab. He gets the right combination and then levels the Outsider with a devastating right upper-cross. Exposed to the "Regenerator" machine, the Outsider's body changes back into the frail but faithful Al the butler. Brandon is promised a job at Wayne Enterprises and Batman and Robin agree that Al should not be traumatized any further. They'll keep the events of the past several months close to the vest and not mention it to their servant. Al and Harriet agree to share the spare bedroom and life goes on at Wayne Manor.

How the heck does Al survive his stay inside the coffin for a long amount of time? Was the embalming phase skipped over thanks to Wayne clout? And how does Batman's keen senses not detect breathing from Al? World's Great Detective, my ass! Well, despite a whole lot of lapses in judgement, some unending exposition, and embarrassingly clunky dialogue ("Perhaps I alone--for I am a radical individualist, always experimenting, always finding new laws of nature and science--laws which orthodox scientists do not yet admit--can bring him back to life!"), I had a good time with "Inside Story of the Outsider!" Heck, it's at least more energetic and clever than the usual dopey "Penguin robs an umbrella store" plot we've been handed over and over lately. 

I'd love to find out exactly at what point Fox decided to make the Outsider Alfred. Were the fans at the gate with pitchforks and torches demanding the return of one of the most useless supporting characters in funny book history? Or was it the success of the '66 show that necessitated lots of changes in the monthly books? So, I'll give this one a shaky thumbs up but one thing I won't throw into the recommendation is the stodgy art, about as stiff and lifeless as Al in his coffin.-Peter

Jack-Since Alfred was an integral part of the hit TV show, the folks at DC had to bring him back in order to make the comics' cast line up with that of the show. All you need to know about the show's popularity is contained in this issue's ads: Batman is everywhere! There are ads for the new movie, an ad for the newspaper comic strip, and ads for giant-sized issues of Batman and World's Finest. Batman has pretty much taken over The Brave and the Bold for the rest of its run. Holy market saturation! What bugged me most about this story were the awkward poses drawn by Moldoff, not just on the splash page but throughout the rest of the tale. I haven't seen the like since the last comic I read that was drawn by Frank Robbins!

Various

Batman #185

"Batman, Junior"

Story by Edmond Hamilton

Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Charles Paris

(Reprinted from Detective Comics #231, May 1956)

"Robin Falls in Love"

Story by Bill Finger

Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Charles Paris

(Reprinted from Batman #107, April 1957)

"Robin's New Boss"

(Reprinted from Batman #137, February 1961)

"Robin, the Super Boy Wonder!"

(Reprinted from Batman #150, September 1962)

"The Boy Wonder Confesses!" 

Story by David Vern

Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Stan Kaye

(Reprinted from Batman #81, February 1954)

"The Secret of the Ant-Man"

(Reprinted from Batman #156, June 1963)

"Robin Dies at Dawn"

(Reprinted from Batman #156, June 1963)

Jack-This 80-page giant issue of Batman focuses on the Boy Wonder, which means more corn and less excitement. Six of the seven stories are penciled by Moldoff and the other one by Mooney, which means that the artwork is not a standout. Even worse for us, four of the stories are post-1960, which means we've already covered them. Two of them are from Batman #156, so that entire issue is reprinted only three years or so since it first appeared. My favorite of the 1950s reprints is "The Boy Wonder Confesses," which is inked by Stan Kaye. It features a villain named Mr. Camera, who wears a big helmet that resembles a camera box, and the plot is one nutty event after another.

Peter- I'm the last one to ask what makes for a good solo Robin story but it might be the hilarity factor. Of the three 1950s stories, the most fun was "Batman, Junior," wherein the Boy Wonder discovers he wasn't the Dark Knight's first partner. Curiosity leads to jealousy and then, thankfully, hilarity. My favorite scene would have to be when Robin botches an intricate plan Batman and Vance (Jr's secret identity) have put into effect and then tries to make up for it. Batman's response is "er--Robin--why don't you go home and catch up on your sleep?" Priceless! The frequency of the 80-page Giants has to be due to the popularity of the TV show. DC thought it could make millions off that extra thirteen cents--and it probably did!

Next Week...
18 More Tales from
Atlas's "Tinfoil Age"