The Hitchcock Project-Bernard C. Schoenfeld Part One: Decoy [1.37]

by Jack Seabrook

Robert Horton as Gil Larkin

Bernard C. Schoenfeld (1907-1980) wrote the teleplays for 16 episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents between 1956 and 1960. Born in Brooklyn, he majored in English Literature at Harvard and was graduated in 1928; he then attended the Yale School of Drama and was graduated in 1930. He was tutored by Conrad Aiken at Harvard and before he went to Yale he befriended James Agee. Schoenfeld sold two shows that were produced on Broadway: Shooting Star (1933; he was the co-writer) and Hitch Your Wagon  (1937), but neither had a long run. In 1936, he moved to Washington, D.C., and began working for the Federal Government as a radio writer for the Office of Education. In 1938, he became Chief Script Writer for the Radio Section of the Department of the Interior, and in 1940 he became Chief of the Radio Section of the Office of Emergency Management.

By 1942, Schoenfeld was an editor at the Radio Bureau of the Office of War Information. Nine of his radio scripts from that year are collected in This Is Our Enemy. In 1943, he moved to Hollywood and began a career as a screenwriter, adapting Phantom Lady (1944) from the Cornell Woolrich novel for future Alfred Hitchcock Presents producer Joan Harrison and co-writing The Dark Corner (1946). He received an Oscar nomination for co-writing the screenplay for Caged (1950) and he co-wrote Macao (1952), but by that year he began to focus his efforts more on writing for television than for film and he testified as a friendly witness before HUAC on August 19, 1952.

Cara Williams as Mona Cameron

Schoenfeld wrote mostly for television for the rest of his career, which ended in 1975. He spent his final years living in Mexico and died in 1980. The first episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents for which he wrote the teleplay was "Decoy," which was broadcast on CBS on Sunday, June 10, 1956, near the end of the show's first season. This episode was not adapted from a short story but rather from a radio play titled "A Murder of Necessity" that aired on Suspense on CBS on Monday, March 24, 1952, and may be heard online here.

Comparing the radio show to the TV adaptation is interesting because they have the same premise but unfold very differently. The radio play was written by Richard George Pedicini, a radio writer who was born in 1923 and who wrote, by my count, 16 episodes of Suspense. This was the only episode of the Hitchcock series to be adapted from one of his radio plays.

"A Murder of Necessity" is narrated by a man named Mark, who accidentally killed another man in a hunting accident and who is being blackmailed by a private detective named Herbie Sachs. Mark goes to visit Sachs at his office and kills him before realizing that Sachs was talking to someone on the telephone and the person on the other end must have heard the murder. Mark hears music on the other end of the line and finds three names on Sachs's message pad for that day. He visits the first person, a man named Collins who was also being blackmailed by Sachs, and he is satisfied that Collins was not the person on the other end of the phone. He then visits Janice, a waitress and former addict who was being blackmailed by Sachs because she had spent time in a sanitarium. Mark walks her home and is certain that she was not the person on the other end of the phone.

Philip Coolidge as Lt. Brandt

Finally, Mark visits Art Lafoon, who runs a novelty business. Mark thinks Lafoon is the person he seeks and he plans to return that night to kill him. However, when Mark gets home, he receives a phone call from Gretchen, the wife of Herbie Sachs, and she invites him to her house. He visits her there and she admits that she was on the other end of the phone and heard Mark kill her husband. He shoots her and she tells Mark that he has committed two murders for no reason, since she was planning to kill her husband when he returned home the night that Mark killed him. Mark calls the police to confess.

Robert Young plays Mark and gives an excellent performance in a story that is both entertaining and suspenseful. The radio play was adapted for the television version of Suspense as "Murder of Necessity" and broadcast live on June 3, 1952, less than three months after the radio version aired. The TV version starred John Forsythe but has been lost, so there is no telling how faithful it was to the source.

Jack Mullaney as
DJ Dave Packard

In 1956, the story was adapted for Alfred Hitchcock Presents by Bernard C. Schoenfeld, but he made significant changes to the plot. Mark is now Gil Larkin, a musician who works for Mona Cameron. In the first scene, they have just finished working on arrangements for her new show when Mark sees a bruise on her arm. Professing his love for her, he tells her he will confront her husband, talent agent Ben Cameron. Gil then goes to Cameron's office and finds him on the phone. Unlike the radio play, where Mark is being blackmailed by Herbie and goes to his office to kill him, in the TV version Gil has no relationship with Ben and no plan to do anything more than talk to him about Mona.

Gil approaches Ben's desk and suddenly Ben looks at someone behind Gil, a man he calls Ritchie, who hits Gil with a gun and knocks him out. Ritchie then shoots and kills Ben and Gil wakes up soon after that with a gun in his hand. In voice over narration, Gil explains what must have happened: "Whoever had killed Ben Cameron had wanted to pin the blame on me. I was a decoy!"--hence, the show's title. Like Mark in the radio play, Gil finds the names of people who were supposed to call Ben and visits each of them to try to find out who was on the other end of the phone when Ben was shot. Unlike Mark, who seeks to eliminate the witness to his own crime, Gil seeks to find a witness to exonerate him. He visits a Japanese dancer named Sasikawa in her dressing room, but her husband explains that they did not telephone Ben. He then visits a rock 'n' roll DJ named Packard, who likewise denies having called Ben.

Frank Gorshin as
the page

Gil returns to Mona's apartment only to find the police there; they were notified of Ben's murder and are investigating the case. Gil is taken to the police station, where he gives a statement, then he returns to Mona's apartment. When he starts playing the record on her record player, he hears the same song he heard on Ben's phone and realizes that Ben was speaking to his wife when he was shot. Mona set Gil up! She summons Ritchie from the next room but, before Gil can be eliminated by Ritchie, the police burst in and arrest him and Mona.

In adapting "A Murder of Necessity" from radio as the TV episode "Decoy," Bernard C. Schoenfeld turns Mark the murderer into Gil the victim of a frame-up and turns Herbie Sachs, the private eye/blackmailer, into Ben Cameron, the innocent theatrical agent. Instead of having a twist ending where Mark learns that he did not need to kill Herbie because Gretchen would have done it for him, Gil learns that Mona's lover Ritchie killed Ben and they tried to pin the crime on Gil. It's all rather confusing and the TV show does not work nearly as well as the radio play. The dialogue in several spots of the TV show is cliched (the DJ, in particular, is hard to watch--"I don't dig you, man!") and the script relies overly much on voice over narration by Gil to explain his thoughts and advance the plot.

Harry Tyler as
the doorman

The show is directed by Arnold Laven (1922-2009), who got his start making training films during a stint in the U.S. Army Air Force First Motion Picture Unit during World War Two before working as a script supervisor and then moving into directing films and TV in the early 1950s. One of his films, Down Three Dark Streets (1954), featured a screenplay co-written by Bernard C. Schoenfeld. His career for the next three decades was mostly spent directing episodic TV. In addition to "Decoy," he directed "Return of Verge Likens," a superb episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.

Robert Horton (1924-2016) stars as Gil Larkin, in the first of his seven appearances on Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Horton had been active in film since 1945 but from 1952 to 1989 he was a busy TV actor, co-starring in Wagon Train from 1957 to 1962 and then starring on the short-lived series, A Man Called Shenandoah (1965-1966). A website devoted to his career is here.

David Orrick as
Ben Cameron

Playing the deceitful Mona is Cara Williams (1925- ), who was born Beatrice Kamiat in Brooklyn and who was married to John Drew Barrymore at the time this show was filmed. Her screen career lasted from 1941 to 1982 and she was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for The Defiant Ones (1958). She starred in Pete and Gladys (1960-1962) and The Cara Williams Show (1964-1965) and there is an interview with her here. This was one of four episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents in which she appeared; others include "De Mortuis" and "The Cure."

In supporting roles:

• Jack Mullaney (1929-1982) chews the scenery mercilessly as the disc jockey whom Gil questions; he was on screen from 1954 to 1980 and appeared in four episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, including "The Belfry" and "A Little Sleep." He was a regular or semi-regular on the TV series Ensign O'Toole (1962-1963), My Living Doll (1964-1965), and It's About Time (1966-1967).
• Philip Coolidge (1908-1967) plays Lt. Brandt, the homicide detective; a familiar face on film and TV from 1947 to 1967, he was in six episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, including "Whodunit." He was also seen on The Twilight Zone and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour and he had a small part in North By Northwest (1959).
• David Orrick (1914-1979) plays the doomed agent Ben Cameron; he was an actor from 1949 to 1956 on TV and film before becoming a TV director from 1956 to 1967 using his full name of David Orrick McDearmon. He directed three episodes of The Twilight Zone and was married to Patricia Breslin.



Eileen Harley as
the secretary

• Eileen Harley (1926-2012) appears briefly as Ben Cameron's secretary; she was on screen from 1945 to 1984 but usually worked under her real name, Wallace Earl Laven--she was married to Arnold Laven, who directed this episode.

• Harry Tyler (1888-1961) plays the doorman at the theater where Gil visits Sasikawa in her dressing room; he has hundreds of credits and always seems to have played bit parts; he started out in film in 1929 and worked steadily up to his death. He had minor roles in no less than 11 episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
• Frank Gorshin (1933-2005) plays the page who shows Gil to the disc jockey's booth at the radio station; this was his first acting credit. He was on screen for the next 50 years and also appeared in "The Second Verdict" on The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. Of course, Gorshin is beloved for his role as the Riddler on Batman and was a gifted impressionist.

"Decoy" is available on DVD here and may be viewed online here. Read the GenreSnaps take on this episode here.

Sources:

Arnold Laven: Tales of the Dark Side. www.filmnoirfoundation.org/arnoldlaven.pdf.

“Decoy.” Alfred Hitchcock Presents, season 1, episode 37, CBS, 10 June 1956.

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

“Hearings.” Google Books, books.google.com/books?id=odgJAAAAIAAJ.

Humphries, Reynold. Hollywood's Blacklists: a Political and Cultural History. Edinburgh University Press, 2011.

IBDB: Internet Broadway Database, 4. Aug. 2018, www.ibdb.com/.

IMDb, 4 Aug. 2018, www.imdb.com/.

“A Murder of Necessity.” Suspense, CBS, 24 Mar. 1952.

Schoenfeld, Bernard C. “Aiken, Agee, and Sandburg: A Memoir.” VQR Online, www.vqronline.org/essay/aiken-agee-and-sandburg-memoir.

“Suspense.” Radio Gold Index, www.radiogoldindex.com/cgi-local/p2.cgi?ProgramName=Suspense.

Wikipedia, 4 Aug. 2018, www.wikipedia.org/.

WorldCat, 4. Aug. 2018, www.worldcat.org/.

In two weeks: "Alibi Me," starring Lee Philips!

Star Spangled DC War Stories Issue 136: March 1973

The DC War Comics
1959-1976
by Corporals Enfantino and Seabrook

Mike Kaluta

Weird War Tales 12

"God of Vengeance!"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Gerry Talaoc

"Hand of Hell"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Tony DeZuniga

"The Warrior and the Witch Doctors!"
Story by Arnold Drake
Art by Don Perlin

Peter: In ancient Egypt, Hassup murders the beautiful Dinna when the girl shuns his advances. As she lays dying, she curses Hassup, promising that "God of Vengeance!" Anubis will strike him down. Later, Hassup engages in a battle with the Persians and shows no mercy, beheading their leader, Xeno. A huge sandstorm strikes and Hassup sees what he thinks are two mirages, one of the dying Dinna at the feet of Anubis and the other, the floating head of Xeno. Hassup is buried up to his neck in sand and then set upon by jackals. Dinna's curse has come to fruition. When Big Bob goes supernatural, he likes his Egyptian lore; we saw that years ago when we ran through the DC mystery titles and stumbled across some of Kanigher's work in House of Mystery. I like Talaoc's art (even if it sometimes strays into Frank Robbins territory) but I'm not keen on the story, which is nothing more than standard Egyptian curse fare.

"God of Vengeance!"

"Hand of Hell"

In a quasi-sequel to "God of Vengeance!," Bob Kanigher brings back goddess Dinna to face the evil Nazi, Lieutenant Krantz, an officer serving under Rommel. Dinna doesn't last long, however, since Krantz shoots her (and two Allied soldiers) in cold blood (in front of the statue of Anubis, which sits out in the middle of the desert by this point in time) when the information he's seeking is not forthcoming. Rommel arrives and orders Krantz and his men to advance as the Allies are mounting a huge attack. The Nazis find themselves turning tail quickly and Krantz's tank is destroyed right in front of the statue of Anubis. Even more frustrating than the first story, "Hand of Hell" is obviously Big Bob trying to make a point by tying goddess Dinna in with two time periods (that is, if Kanigher is insinuating this is the same girl as in the first story and not a descendant) and two completely different wars. Yes, the eons pass but man gets no more merciful. I get it. As much as the script makes me snore, Tony DeZuniga's art makes me sit up and take notice. It's dynamic, gritty, and photo-realistic. Joe Orlando may have been a bust when it came to illustrating EC stories but, when it came time for Joe to become editor of the DC mystery titles and he needed new blood, he obviously paid attention to the renovation being done over at Warren, as the DC mystery titles (including WWT) are the spitting image of the kind of material that was being presented in Creepy, Eerie, and (especially) Vampirella. Well, minus the swearing and the naked chicks, that is.

"The Warrior and the Witch Doctors!"

Me and my big mouth. Just as I'm celebrating the influx of new talent to the ranks of the DC bullpen, Joe Orlando goes and throws Don Perlin and Arnold Drake at me. Yeccch. "The Warrior and the Witch Doctors!" is a nonsensical bit of rubbish about a Roman soldier sent forward in time by British druids. There, in Times Square, Claudius hides from police in a grind house playing Rome Against the Druids and sees the light as he's never seen it before. He returns to ancient times to counsel Polonius Maximus and they plan their strategy for total defeat of the Brits. I'm not really sure what this mess adds up to other than, possibly, an homage to all those awful 1950s Sci-Fi tales they would reprint in House of Mystery and Unexpected. No possible motive is given for why the druids would teleport the soldier to 1970s New York but if the explanation were to take up another page, then I'm happy with the obfuscation.

Jack: More Weird than War, "God of Vengeance!" features very good art, an entertaining story, and crisp action. It helps that I love tales set in Ancient Egypt! The art in "Hand of Hell" is even more impressive, and I like how Kanigher continued the theme from the first story into this one set in WWII. "The Warrior and the Witch Doctor!" is not nearly as bad as I expected when I saw that it was by Arnold Drake and Don Perlin. The time travel aspect is fun and Perlin's work is better here than some of what we'd see over at Marvel.

Kubert

Star Spangled War Stories 168

"The Glory Hound!"
Story by Archie Goodwin
Art by Jack Sparling

"The Last Raid"
Story and Art by Tom Sutton

Peter: His super secret mission behind enemy lines must be put on pause as the Unknown Soldier deals with one of his own, a "Glory Hound" Captain by the name of Ransom who wears a red holster and packs a Nazi hand gun. Ransom holds US, decked out in Nazi officer uni, until word comes down from higher-up that this is a man on an important mission and he should be aided in any way possible. The pig-headed Ransom refuses to listen to US's warning that an all-out attack is on the way and Ransom's men need to pull back. No retreat, no surrender for the gung-ho captain until his men start dying around him and the Soldier unwraps his bandaging and assures him that he knows war and a big battle is on the horizon if they don't ease on down the road. Ransom finally listens and orders a pull back but, just then, the squad is attacked by a Tiger attempting to cross an important bridge. Ransom shows he can be just as brave as foolish and the Tiger is dispatched. His job done, the Unknown Soldier heads back to his mission.

"The Glory Hound!"

Just one more foolish, headstrong soldier story, this one with some really bad art and a few silly plot points. The unmasking of the Unknown Soldier begins well enough but ends laughably, with Captain Ransom's near-breakdown upon seeing US's scarred visage. I'm finding myself tuning out to anything Archie is trying to do here for the simple fact that Sparling's art is so rancid it ruins any kind of suspenseful vibe and, instead, elicits chuckles and eye-rolling. As the Losers strip continues its ascent, the previously-essential Unknown Soldier series becomes the 1970s' answer to Gunner and Sarge.

"The Glory Hound!"

"The Last Raid"

In a last-ditch effort to delay inevitable defeat, the Nazis create the largest zeppelin in history (over 700 feet long) and assign Captain Peter Strasser to "The Last Raid," a deadly bombing run over London. This zeppelin (dubbed the L-70) is designed to fly higher and carry a larger payload than any of the previous airships and Germany's idea is to bomb London off the face of the Earth. But Major Egbert Cadbury has something to say about that and, along with his trusty mate, Leckie, he jumps into his trusty DH-4 and hits the sky. It's a long, arduous journey, one that sees Cadbury and Leckie close to extinction several times but, in the end, the good guys win and the L-70 is reduced to burning rubble. A really exciting tale, one that almost pulses with danger and adventure; the panel where Cadbury sees the massive zeppelin for the first time is particularly dazzling. One drawback, of course, is the fact that Tom Sutton excelled at horror comics and most of his characters, no matter what genre he's dabbling in, come off creepy (and that includes the major and captain both). But Sutton nails the air battles, the carnage and, perhaps most importantly, the drama.

Jack: I was in agreement with you that "The Glory Hound!" was a weak story with terrible art until the moment the Unknown Soldier took off his bandages. Is this the first time he's done that? I thought it was a powerful scene and one that was easily the highlight of the story. While I have fond memories of Tom Sutton's work, "The Last Raid" is not among his best. I always like to see new artists and it's a decent tale overall but it seemed kind of plodding and the art looked muddy to me.

Kubert

Our Army at War 255

"What's It Like?"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Russ Heath

"Red Rain"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by ER Cruz

Jack: Lamenting that he is desk-bound and never has any excitement, Sgt. Egbert gives Rock another order, this time to rescue a lieutenant and his jeep from a river. Easy Co. makes its way to the river but finds that Nazis set the soldier and vehicle as bait and as soon as the Americans arrive, the shooting starts. "Nick" and "Al" are killed in the gunfire and the lieutenant on the jeep was dead anyway.

Back at H.Q., Sgt. Egbert issues another order: repair some road signs that have been turned around and are causing confusion. The job is accomplished in the pouring rain and a plane flying overhead drops a bomb that kills "Sol" and "Phil." After another return to H.Q., the men of Easy Co. bed down for the night while snow falls outside. Rock takes off on his own to handle Sgt. Egbert's latest order, which involves finding the general's lost bulldog mascot. Rock finds that some Nazis picked up the dog and, after he blows up their tank, he takes the Nazi commander prisoner and brings him back to base. Rock is injured and getting a blood transfusion, so Bulldozer reports in the Sgt. Egbert, who assumes Rock is enjoying coffee and donuts.

"What's It Like?"

I happened to read this issue last of the five we're covering this month, and the quality of "What's It Like?" in both script and art far outpaces any of the other new material. I only have one complaint, and it's a big one. Why, oh why, did they give us a cover that makes it look like Pooch has returned? It's a total cheat, since the dog in the story has nothing to do with Gunner and Sarge. I love Kubert's covers, but this one got my hopes up unfairly! Also, it's a little suspicious that the only soldiers in Easy Co. who ever get killed are the ones we've never heard of before!

"Red Rain"

Allied soldiers in 1917 France are led through a mine field by a brave French soldier who disappears as soon as the coast is clear. The soldiers then enter a village, where they see a statue that looks just like the French soldier. When an enemy tank attacks, the same French soldier charges it and destroys it, allowing the Allied soldiers to fight off German troops and retreat to safety. This time, they see the statue of the French soldier, bleeding from a shot to the heart. The "Red Rain" goes unexplained.

ER Cruz's art isn't up to the level of his fellow Filipinos at this point, but I like the gritty, violent nature of Kanigher's story, another in a string of good "Gallery of War" tales.

Peter: "What's It Like?" is one of the best Rocks, in both script and art, we've seen in some time, but maybe I'm just up for something that doesn't involve the rescue of a frail Fräulein or cute little kid. It's a nice touch that Egbert remains confident that Rock and the boys have a cushy job; there's no final page reveal.  Russ, as always, is aces. "Red Rain" is an interesting change of pace (perhaps one that might have been better suited to Weird War) but it makes no sense. Big Bob tips his hat and the reveal halfway through the story and then continues on with the narrative as if we don't know what's going on. The living statue plot may have been used one too many times.

Kubert

G.I. Combat 159

"Mission: Dead End!"
Story by Archie Goodwin
Art by Sam Glanzman

"Swords at Dawn"
Story by John Warner
Art by Ric Estrada

Peter: "Hard-chargin', gold-plated" General Norton is back (from GIC #148) and he wants the boys of the Jeb Stuart to take on a suicide mission to a POW camp deep behind enemy lines. The boys grudgingly accept their duty and head out, unhappy that the general has decided to send an escort, one of his top dogs, Major Cord, along with them. The presence of extra eyes alerts the men to the importance of the mission. Meanwhile, Arch's true love back home has written him a "Dear John" letter and that's wreaking havoc with his duties.The Jeb arrives at Wehrstadt to find it empty save POWs. Something's up! Sure enough, they find themselves surrounded by Tigers in an ambush. They load up as many POWs as they can carry and hightail it but the boys are taking on loads of artillery and suffering heavy casualties. Only through quick thinking and battle smarts are the boys able to survive. When the smoke clears, Jeb demands to know why they were sent on this mission and the major confesses that one of the POWs was Norton's son. Unfortunately, the man did not survive the battle but the crew are elated that they were able to save a handful of prisoners.

"Mission: Dead End!"

"Mission: Dead End!"

Now that Sam Glanzman's art doesn't irritate me as much (I'm up to "Slightly Irritated" on the Irri-mometer), the Haunted Tank has moved up comfortably to the #3 slot in regular war series for me (far ahead of the "Grossly Irritating" Unknown Soldier but still behind Rock and the Losers); though it's still got its contrivances. Why not ditch the ghostly general altogether since he only shows up for a panel or two each issue? If Archie's not going to throw open the curtain for the rest of the tank crew, don't bother wasting the panels. Archie's a great writer and his scripts are always sharp. "Mission: Dead End!" begins as a cliche ("oh no, not another impossible mission!") but the climax holds a bit of a twist with the death of General Norton's son and the welcome absence of a page of the general's grief. Nice ironic twist that, as Jeb observes, "in trying to save his son, Norton's lost him . . ."; if he had left him alone in the POW camp, chances are he'd have been liberated before long anyway. But what else could a father do?

Samurai Zenkiyata must battle his old mentor, Mulaido in "Swords at Dawn," a well-written but cartoonishly-drawn back-up strip. It's tough for me to get into these ancient tales of war but newcomer John David Warner throws enough interesting twists to keep my attention. Warner would go on to become an editor at Marvel, overseeing several of the black and white titles as well as creating the goofy supernatural superhero, Ulysses Bloodstone.

"Swords at Dawn"

Jack: I'll grudgingly admit that Glanzman's work had its moments of less than awfulness this time out, but I still think it dragged down what is probably a good script. It's discouraging that we've gone from a diet of Heath and Kubert to a diet of Sparling and Glanzman, but the DC War books have recovered before and I hope they'll recover again. If not, maybe we should start blogging about Tarzan. I like to see that Archie studied up on past issues and cites them in Marvel-like footnotes. As for "Swords at Dawn," I'm a sucker for samurai stories, so I was predisposed to like this one and I thought Estrada's art fit the topic well.

Heath

Four ★★★★ Battle Tales 1

"Be Brave--Be Silent!"
(Reprinted from All-American Men of War #94, December 1962)

"Tin Pot Lottery!"
Story by Bob Haney
Art by Mort Drucker
(Reprinted from Star Spangled War Stories #73, September 1958)

Peter: The DC War line must have been doing better than we thought if the powers that be decided that a reprint series was in order. Four Star Battle Tales (or, to be technical, Four ★★★★ Battle Tales) would last a mere five issues before getting the ax, but more reprint titles would follow.

"Tin Pot Lottery!" has some good art from one of our reprint favorites, Mort Drucker, but there's an overly familiar ring to the script. Three G.I.s wager a month's pay on whether the new sergeant will last three days without being blown to kingdom come. By the end of the story, naturally, the sarge has won three new fans.

"Tin Pot Lottery!"

Jack: Looking back at our post on December 1962's DC War Comics, I see that I was very impressed by the Johnny Cloud story, "Be Brave--Be Silent!" Mort Drucker's work on "Tin Pot Lottery!" is so good that it makes most of the new stories we read this month look bad in comparison. Bob Kanigher may be the king of the DC War Comics writers, but Bob Haney sure could spin a great yarn himself! The one thing I love/hate about Mort Drucker's war stories is that the characters look like movie actors but I can never quite pin down which ones.

Next Week . . .
The septic tank is getting full

Fredric Brown on TV Part Eleven-I'll Cut Your Throat Again, Kathleen

by Jack Seabrook

Fredric Brown's fondness for clever titles is evident in "I'll Cut Your Throat Again, Kathleen," a story that he completed by January 21, 1947, and sold by February 21, 1947, for $140, according to his logbook. Published in the winter 1948 issue of Mystery Book Magazine, the story's title was a play on an old song called "I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen," which had been recorded by Bing Crosby and released as a single in 1945.

The story features Johnny Marlin, a jazz musician, who is being kept in a private sanitarium after having cut first his wife's throat and then his own wrists. As the tale opens, Johnny is visited by an intern named Red, who helps Johnny piece together bits of his memory, recalling his career and his marriage to society girl Kathy Courteen. Johnny is examined by a panel of doctors and, when he recognizes band mate Tubby Hayes, he is allowed to go home.

Afraid to confront his wife, Johnny visits a bar with Tubby and is upset when he hears a recording of himself playing Mood Indigo, since his self-inflicted injury will prevent him from resuming his career as a musician. Johnny returns home and finds two straight razors in the bathroom cabinet; he pockets them with the intent of discarding them. Kathy rushes into his arms and expresses her excitement at the prospect of doing what she wants to do now that his band will no longer come between them. As St. James Infirmary plays on the phonograph, Johnny's memory returns and he realizes that he did not attack his wife or wound himself. Instead, he came home to find her with her throat cut and then he passed out. While he was unconscious, Kathy awoke and cut his wrists to end his music career, certain that he would awaken and think he had done it himself. In fact, her jealous brother had attacked her and fled.

When Kathy does not deny her crime, Johnny snaps, takes a razor from his pocket, and cuts her throat for the last time.

David Niven as Johnny Marlin

"I'll Cut Your Throat Again, Kathleen" is set in Chicago, where some of Brown's best work from the mid-1940s takes place (The Fabulous Clipjoint, The Screaming Mimi) and the author's interest in jazz is evident, as the main character is a jazz musician and jazz standards play at key moments in the story. Johnny Marlin grapples with insanity or the fear of it, something many other Brown protagonists struggle with. In her autobiography, Oh, for the Life of an Author's Wife (recently published in paperback and available here), Brown's wife Beth wrote that actor David Niven read the short story in the British magazine Argosy (where it was published in the February 1954 issue) and bought the rights to adapt it for television. Beth writes that it aired on Four Star Playhouse, but that is incorrect--it aired as an episode of The Star and the Story, a syndicated drama anthology series produced by Four Star Productions.

Joan Camden as Kathy

Founded in 1952 by Dick Powell, David Niven, Charles Boyer, and Joel McCrea, Four Star Productions was responsible for a number of television series in the 1950s and beyond. "I'll Cut Your Throat Again, Kathleen" was adapted under a new title, "The Thin Line" and, though online sources claim that it was the 19th episode of the second season of the series, the print available for viewing online lists it as the fifth episode of the first season. Even more curious are the comments by David Niven, who is both host and star, at the beginning of the show, since he seems to be introducing a new TV series, where the star selects the story. The copyright date at the end of the episode is 1954, suggesting that this episode could have been the pilot for the series.

The adaptation is excellent, for the most part, though it is not surprising that the TV show ends happily with a conclusion rather different than that on the printed page. In the first scene, Red visits Johnny in his room at the sanitarium and the conversation is similar to that in the story, with some lines of dialogue lifted from page to small screen. Johnny is self conscious about the scars on his wrists and keeps looking at them. He says that his parents were "poor but honest scholars" and that he comes from Boston, though there is no explanation for David Niven's British accent.

Herb Vigran as Smiley

In the scene that follows, a single doctor speaks to Johnny and Johnny does not have to figure out on his own that his band mate has entered the room and that the doctor is testing whether Johnny recognizes him; in the TV version, this bit of intelligence has been conveyed to Johnny by Red in the prior scene, using dialogue to give the viewer information that was provided through narrative in the story. In the story, Johnny sees a fat man and guesses that he is Tubby Hayes; in the show, he sees a man smiling broadly and guesses that he is Smiley Hayes.

Johnny and Smiley then go to a bar together, as in the story, but the TV version eliminates references to a band mate on heroin or to Kathy's brother. The teleplay is well-written: "Skip the improvisation, just give me the melody," says Johnny when Smiley begins to go into too much detail. Johnny wonders: "Who is this man in here? What is this thin line that divides me from him? How thin is it? Is it as thin as a tight rope and if I fall off do I fall on his side or my side?" Like the initial scene between Johnny and Red, this scene between Johnny and Smiley is well played, especially when Johnny nearly smashes the jukebox that plays one of his records.

At home, when Johnny embraces Kathy, he looks at her neck and remarks, "Just a thin line." Retitling the story "The Thin Line" is a clever choice, since the new title has multiple meanings. There is a thin line between the truth of what happened and the lie Kathy tells, a thin line between sanity and insanity, and the scars on Kathy's neck and Johnny's wrists are thin lines as well. The short story is an example of crime fiction, with references to drugs and a brutal if subtle conclusion. For television, the drug references are removed, the story is simplified by the removal of Kathy's brother, and the conclusion is completely altered.

Chuck Connors as Red

In the final scene, Kathy puts on a record that skips and triggers the return of Johnny's memory. He recalls that he came home and put on the same record; Kathy woke up, came out of her room, and "ripped the arm off the music." They argued about his music taking him away from her, then he blacked out and woke up to find his wrists and her throat had been cut. There is no mention of her brother trying to kill her or being high on heroin, as there is in Brown's story. In the TV version, Kathy argues at first but soon confesses. Instead of killing her, Johnny pities her. He wants her to tell the truth to the police, the newspapers, and his fans, but he relents, realizes that she is sick, and promises to help her. "You'll have to find your own way back," Johnny tells Kathy, "it might be easier if I walk with you."

"The Thin Line" is a faithful adaptation of Brown's short story, with minor changes along the way to remove elements unfit for television, and with a happy ending replacing the story's violent conclusion. I prefer the end of the short story to the sappy finale of the TV show, but it hardly detracts from what is a very good episode overall.

The teleplay is by Frederick Brady (1912-1961), who started out as an actor in film from 1943 to 1950 and then became a writer, scripting films from 1950 to 1953 and numerous TV episodes from 1954 until his death in 1961, including 14 episodes of The Star and the Story.

Directing this episode without much vigor is Roy Kellino (1912-1956), who was born Philip Roy Gislingham in London and whose father, W.P. Kellino, directed silent and early sound films. Roy Kellino worked as a cinematographer from 1935 to 1945 and began directing in 1937, moving into television in 1955 and directing nine episodes of The Star and the Story. He married actress Barbara Billingsley (of Leave it to Beaver) in 1953 and died of a heart attack in 1956.

Joseph Forte as Dr. Glasson

David Niven (1910-1983), who read the story and bought the rights, acts as both host and star of the show, playing Johnny Marlin. Born in London, Niven's screen career lasted from 1932 to 1983 and he was a major film star, appearing in movies such as The Bishop's Wife (1947), Around the World in 80 Days (1956), The Guns of Navarone (1961), The Pink Panther (1963), Casino Royale (1967), and Murder By Death (1976). He won a Best Actor Oscar for Separate Tables (1958) and was a regular in a TV series called The Rogues (1964-1965). This was his only appearance on The Star and the Story, though he did appear in 33 episodes of Four Star Playhouse, which may have been the source of Beth Brown's confusion about where this episode aired.

Johnny's wife Kathy is played by Joan Camden (1939-2000), whose performance is a bit wooden. Born Joan Louise Creears in Los Angeles, she was on screen from 1952 to 1963 and her last credits are a couple of episodes of The Outer Limits.

Dr. Glasson, who speaks to Johnny and lets him out of the sanitarium, is played by Joseph Forte (1893-1927), whose many credits from 1924-1962 include that of a doctor in the camp classic, Reefer Madness (1936).

Familiar face Herb Vigran (1910-1986) plays Smiley. Vigran has over 350 screen credits in a career that lasted from the early 1930s to the late 1980s. Perhaps he is best remembered today for his six appearances on The Adventures of Superman, playing characters with names like Legs Lemmy, Georgie Gleap, and Mugsy Maple.

The biggest casting surprise in "The Thin Line" comes in the opening scene, where none other than Chuck Connors (1921-1992) plays Red, the sanitarium intern. Born Kevin Connors in Brooklyn, he played Minor League baseball in the early 1940s, was on the championship Boston Celtics team in 1946, and had a brief stint as a Major Leaguer from 1949 to 1951 before becoming an actor. His screen career lasted from 1952 to 2001 and he starred in several TV series, but it was The Rifleman (1958-1963), a series produced by Four Star Productions, that made him famous. There is a website all about him here.

"The Thin Line" is available for online streaming purchase here and is well worth a look.

Sources:

Brown, Elizabeth Charlier. Oh, for the Life of an Author's Wife. Booklocker.com, 2017.

Brown, Fredric. “I'll Cut Your Throat Again, Kathleen.” Carnival of Crime: The Best Mystery Stories of Fredric Brown, Southern Illinois University Press, 1985, pp. 146–163.

The FictionMags Index. 10 July 2018, www.philsp.com/homeville/FMI/0start.htm.

IMDb, IMDb.com, 10 July 2018, www.imdb.com/.

Seabrook, Jack. Martians and Misplaced Clues: the Life and Work of Fredric Brown. Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1993.

Stephensen-Payne, Phil. Galactic Central, 10 July 2018, philsp.com/.

“The Thin Line.” The Star and the Story, 17 Mar. 1956.

Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 10 July 2018, www.wikipedia.org/.

EC Comics! It's An Entertaining Comic! Issue 63

The EC Reign Month by Month 1950-1956
63: June 1955 Part II

Evans

Aces High 2

"Chivalry!"★★★★
Story by Carl Wessler
Art by George Evans

"Revenge"★★
Story Uncredited
Art by Bernie Krigstein

"Locker 9"★★★
Story by Carl Wessler
Art by Wally Wood

"Footnote"★★★
Story Uncredited
Art by Jack Davis

"Chivalry!"

Battles in the skies above France during World War One were marked by a sense of "Chivalry!" and the rules of fair play were observed by both sides. Lt. Pat Hogan saves the life of his friend, Steve "The Kid" Barry, in an air battle. Three days later, it happens again, when the Kid comes up against Germany's Flying Fox, Baron Walter von Ritter, who refuses to press his advantage when he sees Barry's relative youth. After the battle is done, German Lt. Horst Viegel remarks that the Kaiser instructed his fliers to destroy the enemy, and the next time they're in the air, Horst shoots down the Kid's plane and then mercilessly guns him down as he runs on the ground. Disgusted by this violation of the rules of decency, von Ritter forces Viegel to face Hogan, who finishes off the rash German pilot.

George Evans sure can draw WWI air battles, and Carl Wessler's script is well above average. Even though we get a flashback to how the two pilots first met (something that would later be done to death at DC), the story works well and the ending is completely satisfying. Reading about the respect shown between the two sides in WWI makes what happened in WWII all the more tragic.

"Revenge"

Captain William Warren falls hard for pretty Nurse Ellen Mack when she tends to him in the hospital. Soon, he professes his love but she is killed in an air attack by German pilot von Rustow and Warren vows "Revenge." Before you can say "Great War" he's back in the air, flying his Spad and looking for the villainous Hun. Find him he does and, out of ammunition, Warren crashes his plane into von Rustow's so that both are killed and Nurse Ellen is avenged.

It's interesting to see how weak Krigstein's art can be when he tries to tell a story in a straightforward fashion, without any pyrotechnics. This is just such a story and, with a corny and predictable plot, Krigstein turns in a mediocre six pages.

Down in the muddy trenches, Burt Rolfe yearns to fly a plane in the Lafayette Escadrille and soar high above the war. Up in the sky, Lt. Eddie Blackton pilots his plane over No-Man's-Land and succeeds in downing a feared German Halberstadt. Eddie returns to base for a celebration, but everyone know he's doomed because he has the jinxed "Locker 9." Next time out, his plane goes down in flames and, in the trenches, Burt Rolfe receives word that he has been accepted into the Lafayette Escadrille. He arrives and can't understand why his fellows lament that he has been assigned to Locker 9.

"Locker 9"

Carl Wessler is two for two in this issue with this well-plotted and exciting story of a doomed locker and the men who use it. Wally Wood is great, as usual, making me wonder if he may have been the most versatile of all the EC artists. Is there any genre at which he did not excel?

Major Trout is the new commanding officer of a squadron of flyers and he's a tough one who intends to instill discipline in the young hotshots and who doesn't care whether they like him or not. Insisting that attention to detail saves lives, he tells the men a story of a pilot who ignored a loose cotter pin and ended up losing his leg in a crash. Trout then pulls up his pants leg to display a prosthetic leg and his men get the message. After they leave, he removes the fake leg and reveals that his healthy leg had been strapped behind him. The story was true, but the loss of a leg was icing on the cake.

"Footnote" is a pretty good story until the ridiculous double twist at the end where we're supposed to believe that Trout has been sitting on his leg for an hour and that no one noticed the prosthetic leg was a fake. The old story about the tough commander who only knows what's best for his men has been told umpteen times, but Jack Davis illustrates it well. Too bad the uncredited writer had to add one twist too many.--Jack

"Footnote"

Peter: I'm getting mixed messages from the first two stories in Aces High #2: "Chivalry!" insists that the Germans had a sense of fairness and gamesmanship about them but "Revenge" just strikes home what a horde of dirty rotten scoundrels they were. The art this issue is universally great but "Chivalry!" reaffirms that this is George Evans's book; the excitement of Evans's dogfights just soars off the page. "Footnote" has a great twist, one that plays on our expectations of cliched finales, and "Locker 9" has some great Wood art and an intro that made me laugh out loud since it echoes the kind of plot devices Bob Kanigher ran into the ground over at DC. The guys on the ground always think the guys overhead have it made and vice versa.

"Chivalry!"

Craig

Extra! 2

"Dateline: Oslo"★★★
Story and Art by Johnny Craig

"Stromboli!"★★1/2
Story by Colin Dawkins
Art by John Severin

"Hong Kong!"★★1/2
Story by uncredited
Art by Reed Crandall

"Dateline: New York City"★★★★
Story and Art by Johnny Craig

Intrepid, globe-trotting reporter Keith Michaels is sent on the trail of a woman who may know the secret to uncovering a cache of gold smuggled out of Germany during the war. Following her to Norway, Keith teams up with a hardboiled dame named Erica and, together, they rescue the young woman from some tough characters who look like they'll stop at nothing to pry the secret out of her.

"Dateline: Oslo"

"Dateline: Oslo" is pure Johnny Craig enjoyment! I don't know what it is, exactly, but Craig is my favorite overall creative person at EC. His stories are almost Eisneresque in the way he combines suspense and humor, story and art, and sprinkles a bit of the old hardboiled storytelling in for a topper. When Keith meets Erica, their dialogue is a delight: "You must have a good-looking doll at Bjornigsfjord to want to get there so bad," she says, and he tells her, "Look, honey, I appreciate your troubles, but I have to get to Bjornigsfjord"--all while lighting a cigarette. Love it.

Adventurous press photographer Steve Rampart parachutes on to the Italian island of "Stromboli!" where he witnesses a well-dressed man chasing another man named Colucci. The pursuer is a doctor who tells Steve that Colucci is the only man who can clear his name, but when the pursued dies in a house collapse then Steve must give the doc a pep talk to keep him from giving up on life. The doctor works valiantly to minister to many injured locals and is thrilled when his last patient turns out to be Colucci's wife, who also has information he needs to clear his name.

"Hey! Where'd our knives go?"
(Stromboli!")

Not the best work I've seen from Dawkins or Severin, "Stromboli!" suffers from some corny dialogue ("What? I don't dig you, Jack . . . talk English!) and a predictable finish, but it's reasonably entertaining nonetheless.

Geri Hamilton's pretty nose sniffs out news in "Hong Kong!," where a strike threatens the local government. Of course, a nefarious foreigner is behind the whole thing, and when he loses his cool after Geri's photographer takes his picture, the reporter knows something is up. The story she files leads to the scheme being unraveled.

Reed Crandall's half-page splash is a thing of beauty but the story is a dud. This comic book suffers from the need to have each story focus on an intrepid reporter who uncovers something exciting, and by the third story in this issue the conceit is already wearing thin.

Keith Michaels returns from Norway to find that his boneheaded editor sent his secretary, Vicky, out on what seemed like a safe and simple story, but now she is being held hostage by a psycho on the top floor of a condemned building! Keith races to the scene and heroically leaps from a neighboring building before crashing through the skylight and confronting the psycho. Keith manages to survive a gunshot wound and a beating before he knocks the psycho out a widow to his death. Keith and Vicky also fall from a great height but when he awakens in a hospital bed he learns that they landed in a hastily-set-up police net.

A great sequence from "Dateline: New York!"

Wow! What a great story! There's very little set up and no real investigation in "Dateline: New York City"--just several pages of slam-bang action. We are told that the psycho is the Penguin, who used to run a speakeasy and who just got out of a mental institution, apparently a bit too early. The last four pages, where Keith performs some amazing feats of daring in order to rescue Vicky, could have come straight from a pulp magazine. It may be far-fetched, but hey--it's a comic book! Isn't this why we read them?--Jack

Peter: I'm still trying to figure out exactly what was going on in "Dateline: New York City." The Penguin was holding Vicky hostage and people can jump really far in New York City. That's about it for me. But then that's the secret formula of Extra!, I guess. Just turn your brain off to the nonsense being conveyed by the little words and enjoy the pretty pitchers. Severin and Crandall are aces but I wouldn't mind if this became an all-Craig title (a la Kamen and his Psychobabble); Johnny's pencils handle the high adventure as well as anybody and they've got that Steve Canyon newspaper strip look to them. Extra! is just as good as any of the competitors' adventure titles but perhaps that's the rub: it's not as good as the ECs that preceded it. A little trivia here: Johnny Craig, in an extensive interview with the Comics Journal, reveals that the powers-that-be at EC removed all the knives from Severin's finished art in the fight scenes in "Stromboli!," which is why the choreography looks so funky!

"Dateline: Oslo"

Williamson

Valor 2

"The Champion" ★★★1/2
Story Uncredited
Art by Al Williamson

"Poetic Justice" ★★★
Story by Carl Wessler
Art by Bernie Krigstein

"The Colonel's Son" ★★
Story by Carl Wessler
Art by Graham Ingels

"The King's Service" ★★★
Story by Carl Wessler
Art by Wally Wood

Since being taken as a slave by the soldiers of Rome, Flacchus has served honorably as Marcus Aurulis's most durable gladiator. Flacchus misses the wife he left behind but gets on with his business without revenge in his heart. Aurulis, thankful for Flacchus's years of bruised and bloodied service, declares the gladiator a free man and Flacchus opens a nice little sword shop in Rome. One day, a blind beggar comes into the shop and Flacchus immediately recognizes him as a former gladiator, left to wander and beg for his meals. The old man is run down by a horse and chariot and the occurrence leaves Flacchus shaken; soon after, he discovers that he is also going blind and decides to end his life in the arena. "The Champion" enters himself into an event and introduces himself to his opponent, a young Tuscan named Arminius. As the men talk, Flacchus realizes this is his own grown son and decides it's a fitting way to die.

Who doesn't love a well-told gladiator tale? I do, and "The Champion" nicely fills the bill, giving us a fully-developed lead character, pathos, and a sly twist in its tail. What's most welcome is the absence of vengeance; this warrior has just come to realize these were the cards he was dealt, why bitch about it? Sure, the coincidence is a stretch but it works on several levels. It's a better expository than a caption that says, "So here's what happened to Flacchus's wife and oh, he had a son . . ." The whole enchilada is delivered with a delicious Williamson sauce, the closest thing to Frazetta we'll get, dark and broody in spots and fully-lit when the action arrives. It's just like a good Steve Reeves movie!

In 12th-Century China, the cruel emperor Wu Ming has declared poetry to be a crime punishable by death. A group of poets rise up and murder a handful of Wu Ming's guards. All poets, that is, save the pacifistic Chou Po, who shrinks back and awaits the outcome. After the carnage is over, the group of men cast out Chou Po and head for the Emperor's palace to protest the new law. The poets never stand a chance against the horde of guards and are slaughtered in the courtyard to the delight of Wu Ming. Weeks later, the Emperor makes an appearance in the village to strike fear in his subjects but a young, pretty girl dares approach the procession to offer a flower to the Emperor. The girl is immediately arrested and brought to the palace, where she declares love for her ruler. Clearly smitten, Wu Ming brings the girl to his chambers and, an hour later, the girl emerges, telling the guards that the Emperor is asleep. Chou Po heads back to the teahouse, removes "her" wig, and cleans the blade used to murder Wu Ming. "Poetic Justice" has a sly twist that I must admit I never saw coming (though it's pretty obvious, isn't it?) and some glorious Krigstein art that almost matches that of the classic "Pipe-Dream" from Vault #36. It's remarkable how Wessler continually screws with the reader's preconceived notions of Chou Po as a character. Initially, we see him as a coward (as do his fellow poets), a future antagonist or a rat. Certainly not as a savior. That last page serves up some outré suggestions--Wu Ming's counsellors with their winks and "ahem"s at what might have taken place behind closed doors. And just how far did it get? A 12th-Century version of that scene from The Crying Game, perhaps?

Colonel Jean Lescours disapproves of his son's plans to marry the beautiful Janice but, when Napoleon invades Russia, the Colonel devises a way to keep Paul from making a really big mistake. Lescours pulls some strings and has Paul commissioned to accompany him to Russia so that he can keep an eye on him. The other soldiers are envious and spiteful of this coddled young man's place in the detachment and they let it be known loud enough to bother Paul. When his father wades into battle and leaves an officer to watch Paul in a tent safely away from the carnage, Paul pulls a gun and rushes to the front. There, he takes a bayonet and dies, leaving his father heartbroken. Luckily, Paul and Janice were married before Paul's commission and Janice shows the fruits of their wedding night to grandpa. A big steaming chunk of French soap opera, the bastard step-child of Margaret Mitchell and The Guiding Light, "The Colonel's Son" is the standout of the issue, but for all the wrong reasons. The dialogue is sappy ("You see, Colonel . . . he was a man and he loved me . . . so we were married . . . without your blessings!") and the plot threadbare and perhaps a little too reminiscent of "Yellow" (Shock #1), so the only thing that keeps me turning these pages is . . . yep, Graham, who continues to forge ahead in the terror-less swamps of EC.

Young knight Geoffrey wants only one thing in this English world and that's to join the Round Table of King Arthur. To that end, Geoffrey applies for the job but is told to ease on down the road while the knights attend to more pressing matters. After his squire is frightened away in a skirmish, Geoffrey takes Edward, a gnarled old man, as his new squire and the two take a tour of the English countryside, Geoffrey raising his sword to anyone who so much as sneezes a derogatory word in King Arthur's direction. After several battles, the knight and his squire rest by a lake but soon Edward is rousting his master awake to warn him of a nearby danger. Five knights sit around a fire, discussing  the assassination of Arthur. Geoffrey strides in and challenges the men to a battle but Edward pipes up before any damage can be done. Satisfied that Geoffrey is indeed a brave knight, King Arthur removes his old man makeup and he and his Round Table knights welcome Geoffrey into the fold.

A worthy successor to last issue's Arthur tale (and it almost seems like a chronologically-wonky novel we're reading here), "The King's Service" is a rousing adventure tale with fabulous Wally visuals. Much like in "Poetic Justice," Wessler plays with our expectations of the direction Geoffrey's path will take. Just a handful of months after this grand "New Direction" had begun, one thing was crystal clear: EC was finding success (quality-wise, at least) with the genres they'd already mastered (war, adventure, and suspense) and were floundering in the subjects that were new to them (medicine, newspapers, and--choke--psychoanalysis). -Peter

Jack: Williamson's gorgeous cover sets the stage for his brilliant work on "The Champion," an excellent tale by an uncredited author in which a kindness is repaid with more kindness. "Poetic Justice" is an intriguing tale from long-ago China with a surprise ending and a master of disguise whose talents rival those of DC's Unknown Soldier! Krigstein's work is better here than in "Revenge" but it's still the weakest art in the issue. "The Colonel's Son" is sentimental and old-fashioned with a gentle twist at the end and adequate art. Though I guessed the ending of "The King's Service," it was still well-told with even more fabulous art from Wally Wood. In all, a satisfying comic.

In only seven days . . .
Jack envies Peter's he-man lifestyle
in Star Spangled DC War Stories #136