Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 121: Atlas/Marvel Horror & Science Fiction Comics!

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 106

May 1956 Part III

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Strange Tales #46

Cover by Carl Burgos

"The Sands Are Running Out" (a: Joe Sinnott) ★★★

"The Man From Nowhere" (a: Joe Orlando) ★

"Repeat Performance" (a: John Severin) ★1/2

"The Wild, Wild Wind" (a: Dick Ayers) ★

"You Must Not Look" (a: Paul Reinman) ★

"The Greatest Experiment" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★★★

Mean old skinflint Hiram Holt acquires a magic hourglass that can transport him far into the future. He finds himself on his hometown street, obviously years in the future. When he inquires as to the date of a passerby, he is told, "Of course, it's '71." His land seems to be the centerpiece of a mining operation and when he stops another walker, he is told the block is rich with "Pennsolium," the mineral that makes rocket ships fly. Anyone owning a piece of this land is a billionaire.

With dollar signs in his eyes, Holt heads back to the 1950s and buys up his neighbors' lots at inflated prices. Almost bankrupt but knowing he'll be the world's richest man in fifteen years, Hiram can't help but travel back to the future to check his bank account. When he asks the teller for his account balance, the man tells him there is no account for Hiram Holt. Panicked, Holt explains he deposited the money six years before, in 1971. The teller laughs and explains that 1971 is one hundred years in the past! It's 2071!

What with werewolves, vampires, and ghouls forbidden, the overworked writing staff in the Atlas lunchroom had to devise new variations on innocuous plots, ergo the unending time travel yarns. "The Sands are Running Out" is actually one of the better post-code time travel tales, with some fabulously dark Sinnott work and a twist that is genuinely surprising.

Detective Joe Axel investigates the bizarre case of "The Man from Nowhere," a guy who seems to materialize out of nothingness during freak lightning storms and then vanish into thin air within seconds. The disappearing man causes no damage but Axel wants to nab him before he starts a panic. Then the detective heads home after a hard day's work and is greeted by his gorgeous blonde daughter, Judy, who explains that she met the man of her dreams during a freak lightning storm. 

Axel calmly tells Judy to invite the charming man over for dinner and then sets his trap. Unfortunately, the precocious and impatient Judy elopes to Mars with her mystery man, a Martian who explains that he's perfecting his "molecular displacement" and as soon as his research is done, he and Judy can settle down to a happy Earthly existence. Dopey script (wouldn't you run off with a Martian at a moment's notice?) and truly uninspired Orlando art sink this one faster than Kevin Costner's Horizon Part II.

Ted and Alice, history-loving tourists, visit the site of the Battle of Lexington and find themselves transported back to the "skirmish" itself. The sharp Severin art in "Repeat Performance" is wasted on a brainless script. No explanation why Ted and Alice (who are doubtless waiting for Bob and Carol) are sent back in time, not even picking up a relic from the past and wishing themselves back in the past. It just happens and then it's over. In the equally dreadful "The Wild, Wild Wind," a two-man crew are carried by a supernatural wind to a desolate atoll where they discover the descendants of the passengers of the S. S. Mauru, victims of a mutiny. Turns out the boat the pair are sailing on is, you guessed it... the Mauru. How did these people survive and thrive through the years without food or water? Who knows? 

Ada keeps warning her lazy husband, Charlie, about that box on her dresser: "You Must Not Look"! Charlie keeps at it and finally Ada confesses that it contains a letter addressed to her father from when she was a child. Being a little brat and pissed with Pop, Ada tore the letter to pieces and then hid it in the box. Her father asked Ada if the letter had arrived and she lied... over and over. Her dad told the little ragamuffin that the repercussions of what was in the letter meant nothing compared to the sorrow in his heart; how could his little girl lie to him? 

"Just tell the truth and your troubles are over!" he calmly told her but she continued to fib. Finally, in a fit of guilt, Ada tells Charlie to open the box and her hubby finds a perfectly fine, untorn envelope containing five thousand dollars. "Our problems are solved! Now I can get that liver transplant! Let's have a drink, Charlie!" she exclaims. And yet another selfish brat is rewarded for her insolence. This is some dreary stuff, four pages that feel like forty. The artist's signature can be found on the splash but this is truly the worst Paul Reinman story I've ever seen, scratchy and drab.

Three travelers awaken in their ship, deep in space, destination unknown. Turns out the trio are a crew of robots sent from Earth by greedy, selfish scientists looking to mine other planets. The ship has been programmed to land on a planet but there's a malfunction during touchdown and the rocket crashes, marooning the androids. 

Back on Earth, the trio of eggheads are confident "The Greatest Experiment" has been a success, so they power up another rocket and head for the uncharted planet. When they arrive, they are astonished to find that not only have their robots survived but they've built a huge city to live in. The trio of beaker-lovers exit their vehicle and are immediately set upon by hostile hands, who lovingly pop them back in their vessel and shoot them back to Earth. Later, we learn that the robots have come to love their new home and aren't happy to share it with gold-diggers. 

Easily the best story so far of 1956, "The Greatest Experiment" is the perfect combination of clever story, unique plot, and dazzling art. The story starts out very similar to Ridley Scott's Alien but then veers off into different territory. Ditko's detailing is sensational. In fact, I've strayed from the usual and presented more than one panel from this story. It's heartening to find a diamond among all the detritus we've been plowing through.-Peter

Uncanny Tales #43

Cover by Bill Everett

"And After Death..." (a: John Forte) ★★★

"The Hidden Answer" (a: Paul Reinman) ★★1/2

"The Building That Grew" (a: Ed Moore?) ★

"Don't Nobody Move" (a: Tony Mortellaro) ★★1/2

"Double Identity!" (a: Robert Q. Sale) ★

"The Man Who Saw a Groplin" (a: Bob Powell) ★★1/2

After completing work on his insanely genius gizmo, the Mental Projection Machine, Professor Galway collapses, the victim of a massive heart attack. Moments from death, Galway calls his dog over and switches on the MenPro. Galway's genius is immediately transported into the brain of Rex. 

All the wonderful things he can now accomplish! Rex/Galway muses to himself that he'll get around to teleporting his brain into a more suitable subject someday but, for now, he'll enjoy the lazy life of a dog. The final panels find Rex lolling lazily at the feet of Professor Galway's assistant. "And After Death..." is a delightfully goofy SF yarn, with John Forte's depiction of a very alert and obedient Rex being the highlight. It's never made clear whether Galway's protracted "vacation" is voluntary or if (and I'll do my own scripting here) the gizmo ain't all it's cracked up to be and the consciousness of the teleported brain fades after a bit of time. By the climax (which can be construed as both a sad and a happy ending), it sure looks that way. 

You think that was silly? You ain't seen nothin' yet! Appearing on the "A Week to Find Out" show, Chester Chandler is asked the $500,000 question: "How many people have homes on the moon?" Chester is given one week to research and provide the right answer on TV to win the booty. Undeterred, Chester finds a scientist who wants to test his moon rocket and convinces the egghead that he's the perfect pilot (never mind space training or anything silly like that); in no time he blasts into space. One week later, he gives the answer: 63. The show runner calls him on it and Chester produces his evidence: all 63 moon men are in the audience. They made faster rockets at the time "The Hidden Answer" was written (by pulpmeister Carl Wessler); a round trip to the moon plus time to convince everyone there to fly back with you in under seven days! I can't get the plumber out in seven days! Oh, and this Paul Reinman can't be the same Paul Reinman who illustrated the awful "You Must Not Look" in Strange Tales #46. This is the Reinman who immediately captures my attention.

Back to reality I come crashing thanks to the abysmal "The Building That Grew," wherein the very tall Mammox Building somehow continues to add floors (from the ground up) on an hourly basis. We find out in the badly-realized climax that an alien race from either: a/the center of the Earth, or b/another planet, is striving to build their tallest skyscraper and it's butting up against the Mammox. I've explained too much already so I won't stick around to add that the Earth turns so a building connected from another planet to a building in New York wouldn't... yeah, you're right...

While working on a time travel machine (I mean, like, who isn't?), Professor Dukes discovers that when he flips the "On" switch, the entire neighborhood freezes. "Hmmm, peculiar that... but of what use is this?" questions the goofy scientist. Just for giggles, Dukes decides to monkey with his machine to see just how far-reaching the effects can be. He hits "On" once again and then turns on his TV. The entire population of Earth (except for Dukes himself) is frozen. 

At just that moment, a group of alien invasion scouts land on Earth and witness the strange display. Reasoning that the planet must have been overcome by some strange virus that might prove deadly even to the warriors of Planet-OU812, the enemy ship flies back into space. Minutes later, the population returns to normal and Professor Dukes vows not to waste any more time on a gizmo that has no value to mankind. "Don't Nobody Move" adds to the general whimsical farce theme of this issue.

Through an amazing coincidence, a failed nightclub juggler becomes a sensation on a faraway planet. The less said about "Double Identity!" the better. And I'm serious. In the finale, "The Man Who Saw a Groplin," ace reporter Floyd Hubbard scores a string of exclusives thanks to his invisible alien friends, the titular Groplins. No one believes Chester until he makes a TV appearance and gives the world proof. More whimsy and some great Bob Powell art. Maybe Uncanny Tales should have been retitled Charming Fantasy.-Peter

World of Fantasy #1

Cover by John Severin

"The Cry of the Sorcerers!" (a: Werner Roth) ★1/2

(r: Crypt of Shadows #21)

"The Secret of the Mountain Top!" (a: Bernard Baily) ★★

"What Went Wrong?" (a: Bob Forgione & Jack Abel) ★★1/2

"The Useless Ones!" (a: Tony DiPreta) ★★

"When Will They Come?" (a: Bob Bean) ★1/2

"Let There Be Light" (a: Dick Ayers) ★★

A couple of backwoods folk are poling their boat through the Black Swamp when they hear "The Cry of the Sorcerers!" When they reach their village, they encounter a city feller named Perry who took a detour and got lost. He makes fun of the swamp folk and their belief that there's gold hidden in the sorcerer's cave before driving off the next day.

A few nights later, Perry returns with a map that shows where the cave is. He sells it to the swamp folk and drives off. That night, the swampers pole their boat to the cave, explore it, dig in the spot shown on the map, and find gold! Suddenly, a sorcerer appears out of the fog and warns them. They hear a cry from deep inside the cave and make a run for it. As they run, they see the city feller run past them in a sorcerer costume. They pole off in their boat and never see him again. But what was the source of the cry in the cave?

Werner Roth's usual mediocre effort doesn't help this confusing tale. I thought that the city feller was after the gold, but if that were the case, why would he go to all the trouble of cooking up a map, selling it to the swamp folk, dressing as a sorcerer, and waiting for them in the cave? None of it makes sense. If he knew where the gold was, why not just go dig it up?

The tallest mountain on Earth looms large over a small village, bathing it in shadow. A stranger arrives, vowing to climb to the peak, but the mayor tells him the story of the strange mountain, which suddenly erupted from the ground over 100 years ago. Climbers came from far and wide but none who scaled the mountain ever returned. The young climber ignores the warning, determined to learn "The Secret of the Mountain Top!" Battling snow and wind he reaches the peak and finds people dressed like Ancient Greeks; they explain that they used to live by the Earth's core. They wanted to learn surface ways so they ascended, camouflaged by the mountain. They have learned all they need to know from the various climbers and now are ready to head back down to the center of the Earth. The young man appears to stay with them, the mountain disappears, and sun shines again on the village.

So many of the post-code Atlas stories are like this one in that the writer sets up a relatively interesting premise and then ends it with a sappy conclusion. The secret turns out to be ludicrous and everyone lives happily ever after. Bernard Baily was a pro and gives the art a good try, but there's not much anyone could do with this bland story.

Martian invaders have planned every detail of the invasion of Earth and are certain of success. Their ship launches and, as it approaches touchdown in an Idaho field, the crew see a sign that reads "Detour." Assuming the Earthlings posted the sign to warn them, the Martian ship makes a turn and promptly crashes into the side of a mountain. On Mars, observers wonder "What Went Wrong?" On Earth, a construction worker is chastised for sticking the detour sign in the wrong place, not knowing that his error saved the planet.

Forgione and Abel draw Martians that resemble humanoid birds, with purple skin, beaks, and slits for pupils. Their misplaced confidence is funny, as is the sudden way their mission ends. Best of all is the construction foreman who blows pipe smoke in the face of the worker who unwittingly saved us all. This is a rare Atlas story where the humor works.

A scientist who hopes to contribute something great to mankind looks out his window and feels sorry for "The Useless Ones," an old couple next door who spend all their time working in the garden. Little does the scientist know that their efforts will save the planet! When a strange, extra-terrestrial plant blooms and the husband cuts off a flower to give to his wife, she complains that it stinks. He promptly heads outside with weed killer, destroys the plant before it can spread, and unknowingly saves mankind.

I like the subtlety of this story, where no one ever breaks character; the scientist looks down on the old couple while they methodically go about their business. No one but the evil, extra-terrestrial plant ever has an inkling of the importance of what happens. Tony DiPreta's art is nothing special but it matches the low key nature of the story.

A young man has recurring dreams of a pretty girl and always wakes up crying out "When Will They Come?" Found as a baby and raised in an orphanage, he is telepathic and knows that his girlfriend Janice isn't sure she loves him. The man takes a vacation at a lodge near where he was found as a baby and (surprise!) sees the girl from his dreams standing outside the window. It turns out that he was lost as a baby when his parents' alien spaceship landed on Earth but had to leave in a hurry. Now he's reunited with Tala, his betrothed. Janice will be fine without him.

Any reader who didn't know what was going on right at the start must go back and reread six Atlas comics as punishment. Bob Bean's art is competent but no more.

A dense smog has spread over the Earth and Dr. Ross is determined to do something about it! Meanwhile, a blond man walks around with a lantern asking strangers for a light, but no one helps him, since matches are going for three dollars each. Dr. Ross is convinced he has a solution to the smog problem and heads for the Academy of Science. At his home, his son Billy encounters the man with the lantern and demonstrates his Boy Scout skills by rubbing two sticks together to make fire. The man turns out to be Apollo! He hops in his chariot and takes off for the sun, where he says, "Let There Be Light." The smog dissipates and Dr. Ross is congratulated for making the sun come back, unaware that it was Billy's act of kindness that saved the day.

Part of the "fun" of reading these comics is in trying to guess the ending of each story as I read it. In this one, I thought the stranger would be Diogenes, looking for an honest man and finding only a child. But nope, he was Apollo! It's not a great twist but I give it credit for outsmarting me.-Jack

Next Week...
Batman Encounters the
Menace From the Dawn of Time!

The Hitchcock Project-The Ordeal of Mrs. Snow by Alvin Sargent [9.25]

by Jack Seabrook

"The Ordeal of Mrs. Snow" is based on a long story of the same title that was first published in The Ordeal of Mrs. Snow and Other Stories, a 1961 collection by Patrick Quentin.

Hugh C. Wheeler (1912-1987) and Richard W. Webb (1901-1966) used the pseudonyms Q. Patrick, Patrick Quentin, and Jonathan Stagge. They wrote many novels together and won a special Edgar Award in 1963 for The Ordeal of Mrs. Snow. Wheeler also wrote the books for Broadway shows, winning Tony Awards for A Little Night Music (1973), Candide (1974), and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979). "The Ordeal of Mrs. Snow" was adapted for The Alfred Hitchcock Hour by Alvin Sargent and it was broadcast on CBS on Friday, April 17, 1964.

As Quentin's story opens, Adelaide Snow, a sixty-year-old widow who lives in Manhattan, is apprehensive when her niece Lorna announces her engagement to Bruce Mendham, whom she recently met and who has neither job nor money. Mrs. Snow keeps her own counsel and agrees to hire Bruce to handle her affairs. Eighteen months later, her sapphire ring disappears.

"The Ordeal of Mrs. Snow"
was first published here

After Lorna goes to Long Island with her friend Sylvia Emmett for the long Labor Day weekend, Mrs. Snow has lunch with Bruce and begins to suspect him of having stolen the ring and tampered with her bank accounts. She calls her banker and her statement arrives by mail the next day. After telling Joe, the handyman, that he can take the weekend off, she discovers that Bruce has been writing forged checks on her account. She writes "Forgery" across one of the canceled checks and calls Bruce into her study, where she confronts him.

Bruce claims that he lost the money on a bet at the racetrack. Adelaide telephones Sylvia, intending to tell Lorna about Bruce, but Lorna is out. Bruce threatens Mrs. Snow, who walks into her vault to get her lawyer's telephone number. Bruce closes the door behind her, locking her inside the vault. She calls out to him but he ignores her and the house is otherwise empty, since Maggie, the maid, stayed home due to illness. Bruce makes sure that no one will rescue Adelaide by telephoning Arlene, the cook, to tell her that Mrs. Snow went away for the weekend. Bruce puts the forged checks and the sapphire ring in his briefcase and leaves to join Lorna.

Patricia Collinge as Adelaide Snow

Mrs. Snow begins to panic and thinks of her late husband for support. Though she expects Arlene to arrive at noon, the cook is delighted at the prospect of a four-day weekend and, though she nearly goes to Mrs. Snow's house to collect her salary, she is talked out of it by her boyfriend, who convinces her to enjoy her time off with him. By 12:45 p.m., Adelaide realizes that Bruce must have told Arlene not to come and switches her hopes to the arrival of Joe or Lorna. Lorna is enjoying her time in East Hampton when Sylvia tells her that her aunt telephoned; Lorna heads for the house to call Adelaide but is intercepted by Bruce, who lies and tells her that Mrs. Snow found her missing ring, so there is no need to call her back.

After six hours have passed, Adelaide gives up on Lorna and hopes that Joe will arrive. She has begun to tap on a heating duct to make noise that will be heard by anyone who comes to the house. Meanwhile, Joe sets out to go to Mrs. Snow's house to pick up a machine to sand the floors in his apartment but detours to a bar, where he ends up spending the rest of the evening. By midnight, Adelaide realizes that Joe is not coming and begins to fear her own death. Unscrewing a light bulb from the ceiling, she lies down on the floor to sleep in the darkness.

Jessica Walter as Lorna

The next morning, Adelaide awakens and pries open an air duct to provide herself with fresh air to breathe. In East Hampton, Lorna again nearly telephones her aunt but is stopped by Bruce, who reports that Mrs. Snow is spending the weekend at the home of a friend named Mrs. Lindsay. Lorna fleetingly wonders if her husband is making up the story. Adelaide recalls that Hilary Prynne, her banker, always comes at 12: 30 p.m. on Saturdays for lunch. She hears him ring the door buzzer but only her cats respond. Standing outside, Hilary begins to worry before concluding that Mrs. Snow must have been called away.

That night, after dancing with Bruce at Sylvia's house, Lorna overhears a stranger ask him about the $5000 bet he lost on a horse. She begins to suspect him of stealing money and the ring from her aunt, but he reassures her. In the vault, Adelaide's despair grows as she spends a second night alone. On Sunday morning, Lorna learns that Mrs. Lindsay died the week before and realizes that Bruce has lied to her. She telephones her aunt and gets no answer, then she telephones Arlene and learns that Bruce gave her the weekend off. In Bruce's briefcase she finds the ring, the check marked "Forgery," and a gun. Realizing that Bruce must have locked Adelaide in the vault, Lorna pockets the check and the ring.

Don Chastain as Bruce

When Bruce discovers that the check is missing, he thinks that he must have dropped it in Mrs. Snow's study and makes an excuse to insist that they return to Adelaide's house right away, assuming that the woman must be dead by now. Bruce drives Lorna back to New York City and they enter Mrs. Snow's home. The hungry cats jump on Lorna, who drops her wallet, from which the check falls out. Bruce sees it and knows that Lorna has learned the truth about him. They struggle until Bruce suddenly collapses, hit on the head by the sanding machine wielded by Joe, who has appeared in the nick of time. Joe and Lorna open the vault to find Adelaide, groggy but alive, who tells Lorna that she was worried about the cats!

In a review of the collection, Anthony Boucher called the title story "an almost too professional and neat exercise in suspense," but I think it is well-plotted and carefully structured. "The Ordeal of Mrs. Snow" creates great suspense even though the reader never really thinks that Adelaide will die in the vault. Each potential savior fails to arrive and the narrative moves back and forth between the vault and the acts of those connected to the woman inside; all of her family, friends, and staff have unrelated reasons for not going to the house, either encouraged by Bruce or on their own. A few of them almost go there but change plans at the last minute. Adelaide is heroic and selfless, solving the problems of a lack of fresh air and the need for darkness in order to sleep. Lorna is a detective of sorts as well as a woman in danger; she solves the puzzle and is in peril at the same time. Only the sudden and unexpected appearance of Joe prevents her from an uncertain fate.

George Macready as Hilary

The story was adapted for television by Alvin Sargent (1927-2019) in his only teleplay for the Hitchcock TV show. Born Alvin Supowitz, he began writing for TV in 1956 and branched out into writing films in 1966. After 1974, he wrote only for the big screen, winning Academy Awards for his screenplays for Julia (1977) and Ordinary People (1980).

Sargent did a fine job adapting "The Ordeal for Mrs. Snow" for television, finding ways for characters to express their thoughts in dialogue, making small changes that tighten the story's structure, and improving the ending. The show begins with a scene where Mrs. Snow talks to her two Siamese cats like they are people, setting her up as a lonely, older woman and establishing that she talks to her pets, a detail that will be important when she is locked in the vault. Bruce and Lorna are introduced in the next scene and there is already a subtle division between them; she is still in a negligee, eating breakfast in bed, while he is dressed for work, sitting on the floor and reading the newspaper. Their dialogue quickly establishes their background and relationship; she went to Bennington, an exclusive college, while he grew up poor and frequented the East Side Athletic Club.

Cal Bartlett as John Wilson

In the first addition to the story, it is revealed that Lorna will inherit money on her birthday. Bruce is called downstairs to speak to an unexpected and unwanted visitor, a man named Charlie Arthur, who is there to try to collect money that Bruce lost on a bet. Arthur is charming and funny but behind his smile is a threat and he's clearly a member of the criminal class; their exchange establishes that Bruce has a gambling problem and needs cash.

The following scene shows Bruce and Adelaide in her study, where she explains that she follows her late husband's practice of signing every check herself. After Bruce leaves, Lorna confronts her aunt in another scene that is not in the story. She wants to collect her inheritance ahead of schedule because she and Bruce need the money to advance in society, but Adelaide reminds her that she does not control the money. The older woman is firm but clearly disturbed by the altercation with her niece and, in the next scene, Mrs. Snow is in her study with Hilary, her banker, as she writes out a check to give to Lorna. This act causes him to mention her other, recent large checks, of which she recalls nothing, and soon her bank statement is delivered and she discovers Bruce's deceit.

Unlike the story, where a maid, a cook, and a handyman are all dissuaded from coming to the Snow house by a combination of Bruce's lies and their own activities, in the TV show, Adelaide simply tells Frieda, the maid, that she can take the weekend off. There is no mention of it being a long weekend and the scenes in the story where Arlene and Joe start out on their way to the house before being distracted are omitted. Adelaide writes "Forgery" across one of the checks and, when she confronts Bruce in her study, she has a different reason for walking into the vault. In the story, she goes in looking for Hilary's telephone number, but in the TV show, one of her cats runs into the vault and she follows it in to retrieve the pet. When Bruce locks her in, she has her cat to talk to, which allows her to express her thoughts aloud, even though the only response she gets is an occasional meow.

The vault as seen from above.

There is a wonderful shot from overhead soon after Adelaide is trapped that establishes just how small the space is and, from then on, when she is shown in the vault, a combination of close ups and tight shots remind the viewer that Mrs. Snow has very little room to move. Since Arlene and Joe have been eliminated from the plot, Adelaide pins her hopes on the arrival of Hilary, who is coming to take her to dinner that evening at 7:30 p.m.

A contrast is set up between Mrs. Snow's dire predicament and the empty life of the young and rich in East Hampton in a scene at the house of Sally Wilson (as Sylvia Emmett has been renamed), where she and Lorna engage in insipid conversation over drinks. Bruce's lack of concern for his fellow man is underlined by an offhand comment he makes after he and Sally's husband John arrive, having driven to Long Island from New York City; he remarks, seemingly in jest, that "'a man jumped off the Triboro Bridge,'" showing that a stranger's death only concerns him as the cause of an inconvenient traffic slowdown.

Early that evening, Hilary and his wife Ruth arrive to take Mrs. Snow to dinner. He rings the doorbell and the addition of his wife, a character not in the story, gives him someone to talk to as he waits on the front step. In fact, in the story, Hilary muses that he might propose marriage to Adelaide at some point, but in the TV show he is happily married and his banter with his wife, both on the front step and at the restaurant soon after, provides some of the only humor in the episode. Right before the commercial break, music supervisor Stanley Wilson inserts a snippet of Bernard Herrmann's ominous, five-note phrase from "Behind the Locked Door," an episode that had aired not quite four months earlier and whose title fits this episode equally well.

From here on, the show consists of alternating scenes, as Lorna gradually begins to figure out her husband's duplicity while Adelaide slowly deteriorates inside the vault. She never manages to create a source of fresh air, as she does in the story, and at one point she looks at a model ship on a shelf and recalls sailing with her late husband, hallucinating that the model ship is being tossed on real waves. Mrs. Snow gains strength when she resolves to leave a message for Lorna about what Bruce has done. In the story, she writes a note and drops it in the air duct, but in the TV show she cannot find a writing utensil and instead resorts to a wonderfully visual method of written communication, tearing the shapes of letters from sheets of paper, spelling out "BRUCE SHUT DOOR" in paper letters arranged on the floor of the vault.

June Vincent as Ruth

In East Hampton, Lorna discovers the forged check in the inside pocket of Bruce's jacket when she hangs it in the closet. She learns that her aunt is not visiting a friend when she makes a telephone call and learns that the woman is vacationing in Europe (not dead, as in the story); when Bruce enters the room, she holds the folded check behind her back and there is more suspense as he nearly touches her hand and almost discovers what she is holding. They go back downstairs, where a party is in full swing; Lorna tries to sneak out and get in the car to drive back home to check on her aunt, but Bruce catches her and insists on driving her to New York City.

The final scene is somewhat different than that in the story. When Bruce and Lorna arrive at home, she rushes around the house, looking for her aunt, while Bruce goes immediately to the study. A cut to the inside of the vault shows Adelaide lying unconscious or dead on the floor, her message to Lorna spelled out on paper next to her. In the study, Bruce insists that Adelaide has left, but when Lorna confronts him with the forged check, he admits his crime and attempts to portray himself as a victim, blaming his wife for bringing him into a world where he had to forge checks to keep up. Lorna is relieved and believes Bruce's story until she hears a cat meowing in another room. She brings the cat into the study and it leads her to the door of the vault, where she suddenly understands what has happened. Bernard Herrmann's menacing, five-note musical phrase plays again on the soundtrack and Lorna searches for the combination to the vault. She finds it and, as she opens the door, a gust of air scatters the paper letters on the floor, eliminating what could have been a dying clue. Fortunately, Adelaide awakens and looks at Bruce before asking Lorna to bring food for the cats. The show ends as Lorna and Bruce exchange looks.

Presumably, Bruce will be imprisoned for theft and attempted murder and his marriage to Lorna will be over. The ending is subtle but effective; as in the story, Adelaide is selfless and only concerned for her cats even though she has just survived a near-death experience. Lorna is devastated by her husband's treachery, while Bruce is resigned to his fate. Alvin Sargent's way of resolving the conflict is more believable than the sudden appearance of Joe the handyman at the end of the story, who saves Lorna by hitting Bruce on the head with a heavy object.

Pamela Curran as Sally

"The Ordeal of Mrs. Snow" is an outstanding adaptation of a story that uses dialogue to translate thoughts into words for the visual medium. The teleplay is focused on the key event and eliminates characters who are not necessary to the central story. Having Adelaide locked in with one of her cats gives her someone to talk to and strengthening the theme of Bruce and Lorna's lack of money and Bruce's desire to fit into society gives the villain of the piece a more nuanced reason for his crimes.

This was one of the 49 episodes of the Hitchcock series that Robert Stevens (1920-1989) directed; he won an Emmy for "The Glass Eye."

Patricia Collinge (1892-1974) gives a strong performance as Adelaide Snow. She was born in Dublin, Ireland, and began her career on stage in 1904, coming to the United States with her mother in 1907. Collinge appeared on Broadway from 1908 to 1952 and played roles on screen from 1941 to 1967. Her films included Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt (1943) and she was seen on the Hitchcock TV show six times, including "The Landlady."

Bartlett Robinson

Her niece Lorna is played by Jessica Walter (1941-2021). Walter started on TV and on Broadway in 1960 and had a long career on the big and small screens. She was featured in many TV shows and won an Emmy Award in 1975 for Amy Prentiss, a short-lived mystery series. She had a great deal of success late in her career with regular roles on two long-running series: Arrested Development (2003-2019) and the animated Archer (2009-2021). "The Ordeal of Mrs. Snow" was her only appearance on the Hitchcock TV show.

Don Chastain (1935-2002) plays Bruce. He had an unremarkable screen career from 1960 to 2002, mostly on TV, and this was his only role on the Hitchcock show.

In smaller roles:

• George Macready (1899-1973) as Hilary*, the banker; familiar as a heavy, he had been on stage since 1926 and began working in film in 1942, adding TV roles in 1951. He had a noticeable part in Gilda (1946), appeared in Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory (1957), and was on the Hitchcock show four times, including "Vicious Circle." He also made appearances on Thriller, The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, and Night Gallery.
• Cal Bartlett (1935- ) as John Wilson, Bruce's friend and Sally's husband; he has had a long career on TV and film, starting in 1963, and he appeared in one episode of Kolchak: The Night Stalker and one other episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.
• June Vincent (1920-1988) as Hilary's much younger wife, Ruth; she had roles in films from 1938 to 1959, but once she started appearing on TV, her film roles mostly dried up and she was a busy TV actress until 1976. This was her only role on the Hitchcock TV show.
• Pamela Curran (1930-2023) plays Sally Wilson; she was on screen from 1958 to 1971, appeared three times on Thriller, and was also in "Where Beauty Lies" on Alfred Hitchcock Presents..
• Bartlett Robinson (1912-1986) plays Harvey Crane, a talkative guest at Sally's house party; he was on screen from 1949 to 1982 and was seen in no less than 11 episodes of the Hitchcock show, including "Thanatos Palace Hotel."
• Edit Angold (1895-1971) as Frieda, the maid; she was born Edit Goldstandt in Berlin and had a career on the German stage and on film in Germany before coming to the US, where she was on screen from 1940-1967. This was one of four appearances on the Hitchcock series, including "Sylvia."

Edit Angold

• Danny Gardino as Charlie Arthur, who comes to the Snow house to try to collect on a gambling debt from Bruce; this was one of his two TV credits, both from 1964.

Danny Gardino

Read "The Ordeal of Mrs. Snow" here. Watch the Hitchcock version here.

*In the story, Hilary is spelled "Hilary," while in the credits at the end of the TV show, it is spelled "Hillary." I use "Hilary" for consistency.

Sources:

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

IMDb, www.imdb.com.

"The Ordeal of Mrs. Snow." The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, season 2, episode 25, CBS, 14 April 1964.

Quentin, Patrick. "The Ordeal of Mrs. Snow." The Ordeal of Mrs. Snow and Other Stories. London: Victor Gollancz, 1961, pp. 7-64.

"Summer and Smoke: The Ordeal of Mrs. Snow and Other Stories (1962), by Patrick Quentin." The Passing Tramp, 27 July 2018, thepassingtramp.blogspot.com/2018/07/summer-and-smoke-ordeal-of-mrs-snow-and.html.

Wikipedia, www.wikipedia.org.

Listen to Al Sjoerdsma discuss "The Three Dreams of Mr. Findlater" here!

In two weeks: "Kill With Kindness," starring Hume Cronyn!

Batman in the 1960s Issue 31: January/February 1965

 

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

Infantino & Giella

Detective Comics #335

"Trail of the Talking Mask!"

Story by Gardner Fox

Art by Carmine Infantino & Joe Giella

Acting on a tip from P.I. Hugh Rankin (who's still trying to accrue enough points to become a member of the Mystery Analysts Club), Batman and Robin enter the Gotham City Jewel Mart and find three suspicious-looking characters intent on robbing the Mart of its prized possessions. Batman lays a fist into the chin of one of the trio and Robin takes a flying leap at another, but both crimefighters are easily shunted aside like rag dolls. 

Picking themselves up and dusting off their capes, the duo give chase, but the bad guys are already burning rubber in a getaway car. Using that insanely-intricate detective brain of his, the Caped Crusader proposes that he and his teenage partner visit the office of Hugh Rankin to see what gives.

But Rankin is not at his office and his secretary has heard nothing from him for hours. Bats deduces that Rankin was back at the Mart, hidden in the shadows, watching the action from afar. And that's exactly what happened, as we see in a quick flashback that details Hugh's witnessing of the escaping criminals. Turns out the trio of goons who robbed the Mart were "audio-automatons" (from here on out referred to as "robots" or "androids" or something even shorter), controlled by three very human bad guys aping their every move a block away. Hugh follows the two escape cars to an old abandoned theater on the outskirts of Gotham.

There, the androids and controllers meet up with their boss, the self-monikered Make-Up Man, who wears a prosthetic face and, therefore, has never let the world glimpse his true identity. Hmmmm... sounds like the start of a great mystery villain to be unmasked at a later date, right? Hugh enters the building and is quickly overpowered by the Make-Up Man's human goons and pummeled unconscious.

Meanwhile, our heroes have picked up a brilliant clue Hugh left for them in case he was incapacitated: a special paint sprayed on the tires of the getaway cars. With a special lens, Robin is able to trace the paint to the theater and the boys enter the building quietly. The body of Hugh Rankin lies splayed across the floor before them and Robin approaches to see if the man is alive, only to be viciously knocked off his feet by his boss, the big guy in tights. Seems Robin wasn't paying attention to detail and Bats saw that the face had no five o'clock shadow. Hugh had not been home to shave since the morning and would surely have stubble. Once again, the precocious Robin is saved by the World's Greatest Detective.

Hearing all the noise, Make-Up Man sends one of his robots to take care of business, but this time the Dynamic Duo are ready for the nuts-and-bolts villain and smash him to pieces. They quickly make equal piles of tin scrap of the other androids and rescue Hugh. The Make-Up Man seems to have gotten away. But just one second... as Hugh tugs at the door to his car, Batman leaps forty feet and wrestles Rankin to the ground. Has Batman lost his marbles? Nope, he knows that Hugh Rankin is careful to lock his car door and would know it was locked and wouldn't be caught dead tugging at a locked car door! This guy is the Make-Up Man, for gosh sakes! The boys put the cuffs on the MM and head back into the theater to find the real Hugh Rankin. All in a day's work.

There's way too much coincidence and guesswork in "Trail of the Talking Mask!" The androids work in the same way as our contemporary Virtual Reality games, but the fact that three guys have to accompany the robots to the heist site and then ape all their movements seems a bit cumbersome for such a sneaky operation. The Make-Up Man's real identity would forever remain a mystery, since no one on the staff had the foresight to consider a long arc to keep the readers guessing a la the Green Goblin. But continuing storylines evidently were anathema to six-year-old kids. Or so Julie believed. Anyway, this was MM's sole appearance. Gotta say, the Infantino/Giella team is cooking here; this is some of the most dynamic art we've seen in the 1960s adventures. It's very Gil Kane-ish. -Peter

Jack-I agree, but I'd still like to see Sid Greene ink a Batman story, since his inks look so great over Infantino's pencils on the Elongated Man stories in every issue of Detective Comics. The Make-Up Man is an okay villain, I guess, but the lack of any follow up is disappointing. I like the Hugh Rankin character and hope we see more of him. In addition to the nickname of Cowled Crusader, we now have the Masked Manhunter and the Teen-Age Thunderbolt. My hero blogging thesaurus continues to grow with each issue!

Infantino & Giella

Batman #169

"Partners in Plunder!"

Story by Ed Herron

Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Joe Giella

"A Bad Day for Batman!"

Story by Ed Herron

Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Sid Greene

The Penguin, the Man of 1000 umbrellas, is out of jail and out of ideas for new crimes to commit, so he decides to launch an umbrella barrage on Gotham City so that Batman will provide him with the idea for a new caper and they will be "Partners in Plunder!" First, patrons at a jewelry store are given umbrellas that open by themselves and shoot smoke and lightning inside the store. Second, umbrellas given to bank patrons take flight and zoom around the bank. Third, giant umbrellas roll down the street with wild abandon. Fourth, a giant umbrella drifts down from the sky and lands in the street.

Batman and Robin are determined to blame the Penguin, who has been expecting them and who switches his monocle from his right eye to his left eye just to give them something else to consider. He points out that they have no evidence to tie him to the umbrella mayhem and they depart. That night, a pair of multi-colored umbrellas light up the sky. The Dynamic Duo investigate and Batman deduces that the umbrellas hold a clue to the Penguin's next crime, which must involve stealing a jeweled meteorite from the museum. Little does Batman know that the Penguin is listening in to the Cowled Crusader's soliloquy and happily adopts Batman's suggestions for his next crime.

The Penguin and his gang land on the museum roof and meet Batman and Robin, but the heroes are pulled away by a giant magnet that attracts their metal belt buckles, which were "subjected to a powerful and special magnetic force when [they] picked up [his] last two umbrellas." The Dynamic Duo easily free themselves by cutting off their belts. They kayo the Penguin's goons as he escapes on a jet-powered umbrella. Batman and Robin follow on two of the now-dispatched goons' jet-powered umbrellas, quickly catching the fowl fiend and rescuing the meteorite. Once again, the Penguin ends up behind bars, but he enjoys Batman's puzzlement over the meaningless monocle switch from one eye to another.

This issue of Batman went on sale in the first week of December 1964 and the Batman TV show premiered in mid-January 1966. The Penguin story really seems like just the thing for the TV show, and I wonder if William Dozier read this story in 1965 when he was developing the series. At first, I was disappointed by the contrast in art styles between the cover, by Infantino and Giella, and the splash page, by Moldoff and Giella, but soon the goofiness of the story grabbed me and swept me along. I thought it was quite enjoyable and I was happy to see a member of the Rogue's Gallery other than the Joker.

The Cloaked Crusader answers questions from reporters at a press conference and admits that it's been "A Bad Day for Batman!" A necklace thief escaped due to a series of unlucky breaks, such as the lights going out in a hallway during a chase and a boat running out of gas. At the end of the press conference, Batman invites one reporter to tag along as Batman easily locates the thief and recovers the necklace.

It's a simple, straightforward story and it's passably entertaining due to the art, which is above average. How often has the Dark Knight Detective been stymied by things like a sunbathing woman's mirror reflecting in his eyes? In the wrong situation, such flukes could be fatal!-Jack

Peter-The Penguin yarn is just about as brainless as some of the scripts for the '66 TV show, as if Ed Herron had already run out of ideas. It does shine a spotlight on Gotham's increasingly poor criminal justice system, since it seems only months (in real time... what's that, a few days in comic book time?) since Penguin pulled his last caper and was sentenced to hard time. The cover hints at what great art could have been found within had Julie assigned the strip to the better art crew. As it is, there are some pretty nutty panels here, as in the one on page ten where the monocled menace seems to have either a huge head or a very small arm. I found "A Bad Day for Batman!" to be equally sophomoric in the script department but much easier to stomach as far as art goes. Which is crazy, since Giella seems to highlight Infantino's graphics but weigh down Moldoff's, and Greene almost makes Moldy into a passable artist. Strange how these combos work.

Infantino & Giella

Detective Comics #336

"Batman's Bewitched Nightmare"

Story by Gardner Fox

Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Joe Giella

Batman and Robin face their deadliest foe ever--a witch who rides a broomstick and loves to rob banks. She can shoot lightning bolts from her fingers and transform a pumpkin and four rats into a car driven by gangsters. That's magic!

But her real aim is to defeat the Dynamic Duo. The boys discover quickly that the old hag can rob them of their five senses and she does that (with a loud cackle) during five deadly confrontations. In the end, Robin discovers that the witch's powers are voided when she doesn't have her broomstick. The "Teenage Thunderbolt" makes away with the kitchen tool and the woman can only look on in defeat.

But, after the boys have delivered Old Hag to the police and they are hanging the broomstick on the souvenir wall in the Batcave, the instrument begins talking to them in the voice of the mysterious Outsider. He acknowledges that the witch was his flunky and they've won yet another battle, but he'll be back soon to win the war.

"Batman's Bewitched Nightmare" is an entertaining bit of fluff, but why can't writer Fox leave well enough alone and hold himself back from explaining everything away in the end? The Outsider claims the broomstick is made of a rare wood and the witch used some "extra-sensory powers" to create her illusions. "Of course, there are no witches and no magic," he comforts the more sensitive six-year-old readers. Well, that may be true, but changing a pumpkin and some mice into a caddy full of goons sounds pretty magical to me. This "Outsider" sub-plot is a good one (and proves I may be wrong about DC's hesitancy to carry over plot elements) and I hope it's resolved in a cool way.-Peter

Jack-Moldoff's witch is pretty disappointing and I also was surprised by the need to explain things away at the end. What, there are no such things as witches, but we're supposed to accept Bat-Mite? Even stranger is the note in the GCD that this issue's witch was revealed to be Batman's Justice League teammate Zatanna in JLA #51. I did a quick review of that issue and it's true--she explains that she was compelled by the Outsider to do what she did!

Next Week...
More Severin +
Yet Another New Title!

Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 120: Marvel/Atlas Science Fiction & Horror Comics!

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 105

May 1956 Part II

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Marvel Tales #146

Cover by Carl Burgos

"The Lost World!" (a: Bob Forgione & Jack Abel)  ★

"Reach for the Stars!" (a: Joe Maneely)  ★★

"As the Crowd Roars" (a: Bob Powell)  ★

"Address Unknown" (a: Bob Bean)  ★★

(r: Tomb of Darkness #23)

"One Man's Leprechaun" (a: Mort Drucker) ★★★

(r: Weird Wonder Tales #20)

"The Secret Land" (a: Bob McCarthy)  ★1/2

Brilliant scientist Mark Terrel is found wandering in the desert, fifty years after he disappeared from Earth. What's the story? Turns out he had been stranded in Africa, penniless, and decided he could walk his way back through the desert. Unfortunately (or fortunately, as we discover later), Mark slipped through a "time flaw" and ended up in Atlantis, where he was welcomed with open arms. He fell in love with the beautiful Arla and made a life for himself, but one of the city's elders asked Mark to make a return visit to the world he once knew and drop off a handful of "gifts of science" from the people of Atlantis. Mark made his visit, dropped off the miracles, and zipped back to his girl. Schmaltzy and dopey, "The Lost World!" makes very little sense when you think about it. Brilliant scientist decides a long trek through the Sahara might just be the trick. All the menace and danger has been sapped out of these things and we're left with cornball romance and cliched characters.

Equally cornball and safe, but at least given a professional sheen by ace Joe Maneely, "Reach for the Stars!" involves brilliant scientist Pete Coleman, who's developing a spaceship for the military. Turns out a race of aliens has discovered Pete's brilliance and are even now heading for Earth to discuss the project with him. Of course, the military immediately circles the wagons and is on the brink of blasting the UFO into hell when a miracle occurs and the aliens are allowed to blast back into space. But not before leaving the vital information Pete needed to finish his rocket ship. 1950s aliens would have annihilated all of mankind rather than given them a Golden Wonka Ticket.

Evidently, that "time flaw" that swallowed up Mark Terrel never got properly closed as only two stories later, in "As the Crowd Roars," we meet wanna-be boxing manager, Manny Kimble, who just can't seem to find that future superstar pugilist until he takes a walk out the gym door one day and finds himself back in Ancient Rome, where he's introduced to Antonius Galleo. Within weeks, Manny has trained Antonius to be the number one gladiator in Rome. This infuriates Nero, so Ant and Manny have to take a powder. They end up back in crumby ol' Brooklyn and Antonius (now known as Tony Galleo) begins his ascent to heavyweight glory.

All the tenants of Mrs. Milworth's boarding house make fun of Herman Hofferman for stashing stones in his room. Only Mrs. Milworth cuts Herman any slack because he's such a nice man, even if he hasn't paid the rent in over a year. If only the other guests knew that Herman was working on a machine that turns rocks into diamonds, they'd keep their petty opinions to themselves, the wankers. Unfortunately, when Herman fires up the gizmo for the first time, it does nothing. Despondent, he gives the machine a good shove and leaves the house forever rather than hear any more baloney from the unwashed. Herman heads back to a life of poverty, begging on the street, not knowing that the extra heave-ho he gave his Tinkertoy was all it took. The thing is spitting out diamonds, to the delight of Mrs. Milworth! Yeah, it's a cliched ending, but it still brought a smile to my face, as did Bob Bean's nice art.

Leo Loomis only wants the best for his small town of Marshville, so he puts it out there that he's running for mayor. Well, the townsfolk just about split a gut at that news, so the despondent Leo heads out to the local crick to do some fishin' and happens upon a leprechaun (who dresses like Santa for some reason), who gives Leo the tools to turn his fortune around. Leo brings Marshvile out of its doldrums but the town still won't vote for him. Now here's a charmer that's not schmaltzy or fake, just a load of fun. Of course, the fact that "One Man's Leprechaun" is drawn by Mort Drucker is a big help. Mort's characters can't help but elicit chuckles.

In yet another variation of the "dimension-dimension time slip," two explorers hike to the top of Mt. Everest and discover the door to a cabin. Waiting out the storm, the pair of hikers exit the cabin to find a beautiful paradise awaiting them. Frank and Jack discover the land is ruled by King Rodj, who welcomes them and makes them feel at home. They spend several weeks with the king but eventually wish to get back to their families. When the king insists they can never go back, the men escape and find their way back to the cabin. The next day, they exit to find they are back on Mt. Everest. They make the descent, but their story is laughed off by anyone they tell. Meanwhile, King Rudj welcomes back the spaceship that sat atop Everest to his home on Jupiter. Do I need to whine that nothing about "The Secret Land" makes any sense? How did Frank and Jack get back to Everest from Jupiter? Did they accidentally fire up the ship? Why would King Rudj of Jupiter go to such fuss to transport two "guests" to his planet? Sheesh.-Peter

Mystery Tales #41

Cover by Bill Everett & Carl Burgos

"Out of the Darkness" (a: Mort Drucker) ★★★

"The Mystery of the Doomed Derelict!" (a: John Romita) ★1/2

(r: Vault of Evil #4) 

"The Man in the Mirror!" (a: Ed Winiarski) ★

"While the Town Sleeps!" (a: Kurt Schaffenberger) ★★

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #20)

"Behind the Mask" (a: Jim McLaughlin & Sol Brodsky) ★

"This Primitive Planet!" (a: Paul Reinman) ★★

Amidst an atmosphere of fear and hate, Leonardo DaVinci creates a race of robots, stashes them and all his wacky inventions on a spaceship, and blasts it off into space where they will be safe from human hands. The robots land on a planet and create a society based on law. One free-thinking robot (let's call him Leo) is accused of transgression and forced into suspended animation. Back on Earth, modern day scientists tackle the problems of space travel. "Out of the Darkness" is a wild tale, the likes of which aren't usually found within the pages of a post-code Atlas. Its climax is a sputter rather than an exclamation point, but I'll still give it extra points for being, yep, transgressive. Mort was the perfect artist for this goofy yarn.

Captain Wedgwood drives his crew to madness and exhaustion time and time again. Now, Wedgewood finds his crews are literally disappearing on him while still at sea. In a waterfront store, Wedgewood finds a book of magic and inside it is a spell to "transport men from one place to another without their consent." The captain boards his vessel, says the spell and, voila! instant crew. This bunch has heard how hard Wedgewood can be but they're keeping an open mind. A few days at sea and their minds are closed again. They vanish from the ship and Wedgewood is left to wonder about the vagaries of mankind. How do you run a ship without breaking some eggs? Like most of these Atlas tales, "The Mystery of the Doomed Derelict!" (a really dumb title if there ever was one) has some really nifty art but not a lot of pizazz in the little word balloons. 

Meek Harold Farnum really digs his boss's daughter, Sheila, but she's a chip off the old block, treating Harold like a lapdog and belittling him in front of others. Then one day, while Harold and Sheila are at an auction, Harold accidentally bids on and wins an ancient mirror. Sheila reminds him what a spineless mouse he is and doubles up on her assurance that she'll never marry him as long as he's a wimp.

Once home, Harold gazes into the mirror and (holy cow, not again!) is magically transported into the time of King Arthur's Court. He is known as brave knight Sir Guy de Montfort and witnesses a knave chasing a pretty wench, who looks startlingly like Sheila, through the castle halls. Sir Guy defeats a score of armed soldiers. Having preserved the pretty wench's maidenhood, Sir Guy gets the girl in the end. And, back in the present, Sheila enters Harold's dismal apartment to belittle him yet again. Instead of reaching behind him for the cutlery (which he would have done in 1953), Harold tells Sheila to shut her yap and marry him. A new day has dawned and man hath spoken. Sheila squeals in delight and agrees to be Harold's property until death do they part. The naïveté (or misogyny if you prefer) of some of these pre-PC strips can't help but make one laugh and the climax of "The Man in the Mirror!" is guaranteed to make even the sternest feminist let one rip.

"While the Town Sleeps," the raging sea batters the dike that prevents the town from flooding. With no one to patch up the dam, the statue of a local lad who stuck his finger in a dike (hey, no laughing now!) and saved the town two centuries before comes to life and reenacts his heroic deed. In the morning, the townsfolk find the hole in the dike and the statue's missing finger. The only really outlandish aspect of "While the Town Sleeps!" is that the statue's plaque is worded: In memory of the brave Dutch lad who saved our countryside from flooding 200 years ago... Does this mean every year they change the number? 201...202...203... Schaffenberger's graphics are strong enough that I can remember distinctly reading this as a kid in Where Monsters Dwell and liking it, despite a dearth of monsters.

Sidney Burr has a problem... he's a homely, heartless wretch who needs to find a rich woman to wed so that he can be lazy the rest of his life. To that end, he visits master mask maker Eric Hoblund, who cranks out a series of disguises for the dishonest gigolo. The masks work until the very moment that Eric lowers the boom on his prospective spouses and then the disguise vanishes, leaving an ugly, greedy jerk once again. Despondent, Sidney walks the streets until he comes across a rather pretty, weeping lass who confesses to the smitten sod that she has no money and cannot eat. Sidney buys her a burger and falls in love with the girl but admits he's wearing a "handsome" mask and that, below the shiny surface, he's just another creepy, middle-class slob. To come completely clean, Sid unmasks and the girl sees... the same handsome blond. Love conquers greed. "Behind the Mask" magically transforms a money-hungry lounge lizard into a caring individual in the matter of a few frames. Brodsky's pencils admirably fit a sappy romance strip.

Mike Dawes hires a new guy for his welding and metal-cutting company despite the fact that the man can barely speak English but, after a few hours of inspecting the work, Mike declares the experiment a disaster. The man begs for another chance and, hours later, Mike is impressed with the cutting the new employee has made. The guy even speaks better English now! After only a few weeks, Mike's new hire is saving the company millions of dollars and is promoted to shift manager. He asks Mike if he can work on his own project in the after hours. Mike happily agrees.

Turns out the guy is actually space traveler, Oron, who crash-landed here on Earth and has been biding his time until he can build himself a new spaceship. Mike stows away on the craft and Oron drops him off on a remote Pacific island among a passel of hungry headhunters. Mike must prove his superior intellect and produce fire to keep the savages at bay. As Mike crafts a raft to escape the island, he watches as Oron zips over en route to outer space, musing that he and Oron are a lot alike. Superior beings amongst morons. At first glance, the climax of "This Primitive Planet!" might seem hopeful and contemplative, but then you remember that Mike is stuck on a raft in the ocean and will probably die very soon of exposure or starvation. That Oron isn't such a nice guy, after all.-Peter

Mystic #47

Cover by Bill Everett

"The Man Who Could Do Anything" (a: Dick Ayers) ★1/2

"The Magic Mixture!" (a: Bernard Baily) ★★

"It Happened at Night" (a: John Forte) ★1/2

"Just One More Chance" (a: Frank Bolle) ★★

"The One They Left Behind!" (art: Charles Stern?) ★

"The Eager Stranger" (a: Bill Benulis) ★1/2

Six months ago, Tod Carter was out prospecting for uranium (as one does) when he met a giant of a man who told him where to find a deposit. The man introduced himself as Sram and he and Tod quickly became pals. Sram was "The Man Who Could Do Anything," and he demonstrated this by capturing a lion with his bare hands and rescuing a planeload of people when the craft burst into flames. On a ship heading back to America, Sram showed a scientist where canals are on a map of Mars. When Tod was swept overboard, Sram rescued him by swimming over a hundred miles.

After the long swim, Sram disappeared and Tod followed his trail to a mountain cabin that was suddenly struck by lightning. In the ruins, Tod found a medal that read, "Champion Athlete...Stellar Space Series." Tod then wrote out SRAM on a sheet of paper and held it up to a mirror. Guess what? SRAM spelled backwards is MARS, where the giant came from!

Boy, I feel dumb not figuring that out myself. At least next month, when we read a story in Marvel Tales about a powerful man named SUNEV, I'll be a step ahead of the writer.

Raymond Barton is an unhappy man until he meets a strange scientist in a cabin who sells him four bottles of "The Magic Mixture!" for ten bucks. Ray goes home, drinks the bottle labeled "wealth," and is immediately flush with cash, but he soon tires of loneliness. He drinks the bottle labeled "friendship" and has tons of friends overnight, but that, too, becomes tiresome. The bottle labeled "travel" leads to many trips, but only when he drinks the bottle labeled "truth" and realizes that true happiness comes from generosity is he satisfied.

Thank goodness Bernard Baily drew this one. Otherwise, it would be a total waste of four pages. I'm quite fond of Baily's art, but the platitudes presented in this dull tale cause no reader excitement.

College student Ralph Doyle is calm and relaxed when he's abducted by men with shiny silver skin and flown in a spaceship to the moon. On the moon, local folk sniff the flowers and walk around holding parasols. They order that Ralph be returned to Earth, so it's back in the flying saucer for another trip. On Earth, the moon men remove their costumes and reveal that it was all a fraternity initiation prank, something Ralph knew all along. When the flying saucer takes off, they all realize that they really did visit the moon!

So many of John Forte's male characters seem to wear bow ties that it seems like a mid-1950s uniform. Here, college student Ralph sports a red one, while his frat bros all go to elaborate lengths to pretend to be Martians. I don't fully understand what happens at the end, when the flying saucer takes off, since it seems like all of the moon men are college students in disguise.

Jack and Joan are in love and wish he made enough money for them to get married. He longs for a bright future while she thinks things were better in the past. They visit a fortune teller and, after drinking her special tea, experience life both in the past (in the time of knights and ladies) and the future (where baby girls are assigned husbands at birth). In neither time do they find happiness so, back in 1956, they decide that they should go ahead and get married and appreciate what they have today.

Frank Bolle does a nice job illustrating "Just One More Chance," but it seems like Atlas goes too often to the time of knights. I have to wonder, who would a story like this appeal to? It's too lovey-dovey and corny for kids and too dopey for adults.

A crew of astronauts who are about to leave Saturn make one final effort to locate "The One They Left Behind!" They fail to find the crew member and blast off for Earth. The missing orderly emerges from hiding, gleeful that he'll no longer have to work hard and is free, but after a year he's bored and lonely. Back on Earth, the ship lands and reports that one crew member is missing. They are sent back to recover the orderly, even though he's only a robot.

Three wasted pages with below average art and a punch line anyone could see coming a mile away. It seems like it took a year to fly back to Earth from Saturn, and now the crew is being sent back to retrieve a surly robot? Seems like a poor use of resources.

"The Eager Stranger" is a little boy who walks into town determined to help everyone he can. He uses his mental powers to prevent a car from hitting a pedestrian but, to his surprise, the people involved complain. He helps a woman retrieve a necklace she had pawned, but she is upset that she wasted money she could've spent on necessities. Finally, he trips up what appear to be bank robbers, only to discover that he's wrecked a scene in a movie being filmed. Having learned his lesson, the little boy ascends back to Heaven, his angel wings now visible from behind.

Decent pages drawn by Bill Benulis can't save this saccharine story! With poorly conceived covers and interiors heavy on moralizing, the Atlas line of comics seems to be marching slowly toward oblivion.-Jack

Next Week...
Black Magic Woman!