Do You Dare Enter? Part Twenty-Six: July 1972

The DC Mystery Anthologies 1968-1976

by Peter Enfantino and
Jack Seabrook

Nick Cardy

Unexpected 137

"Dark Vengeance!"
Story by Carl Wessler
Art by John Calnan and Mike Esposito

"Trial by Torment"
Story by George Kashdan
Art by Jerry Grandenetti and Wally Wood

"The Glowing Blood-Red Eye"
Story by Carl Wessler
Art by Jack Sparling

Jack: Bart Harrod has been jealous of his wife Jo Ann's high school sweetheart Sandy for years. He even thinks their daughter Sandra was named after his rival. Now, Sandy visits after an expedition to the Ecuadorian jungle and Bart seethes. When it all gets to be too much, he attempts to wreak "Dark Vengeance" and shrink his wife and her old lover by means of black magic. He thinks he succeeds but in reality he's just gone off the deep end and everyone is fine. What the heck is going on in this story? Where does Bart get this mysterious green smoke that he burns in the furnace to try to shrink Jo Ann and Sandy to doll size?

Peter: I've probably used the phrase "Worst Horror Story of All Time" far too much since we began our journey but, people, I'm telling you: this one deserves it. Calnan's art lacks anything resembling style; his characters just seem to blend together. Witness the two male leads in our "drama," who I couldn't tell apart from panel to panel. When you're trying to discern just what's going on in a meandering, unfocused story like "Dark Vengeance," that can be fatal. What's not Unexpected is that the art by Calnan and Esposito is so awful but that the finished product could have been handed in and approved by Murray.

Jack: Tired of being blackmailed, Bryn pushes Hamish to his death in Whirling Lake. From then on he is subjected to a "Trial By Torment," seeing the dead man in his hat and cloak everywhere he goes, hearing his mocking laughter. There is only one problem: Bryn has been locked away and raving for 20 years and the whole thing is a figment of his twisted brain. Oddly enough, Wally Wood does a great job erasing inking Jerry G's pencils here. I have to think he did an awful lot of revising.

This really looks like Wally Wood ca. 1952

Peter: "Trial by Torment" is another awful story but it's a fascinating example of just how important a good inker is to a bad penciler. Well, actually, the GCD credits Wally with inks but I have to believe he had a hand in the pencils as well. Can an inker really morph an artist so much that the artist's work is unrecognizable? There are flashes of Jerry in there from time to time but there's more Wood than anything. It makes the strip "lookable" if not readable. The main problem with the narrative is that the hauntings begin so quickly after the murder that there's no time to build suspense. Yep, that's a problem when you're given only eight pages but Oleck and Skeates seem to find a way now and then. I think the problem, based on the stories we've read by Wessler and Kashdan, is that these guys just weren't that good. Kashdan was a veteran DC writer of the Golden Age and that may be why I find fault with his stories: they read as though George was still pumping out 1947 scripts even though these plots had been done a thousand times betwixt. There's an amazing, no-holds-barred interview done by comic book historian Jim Amash (whose interviews are unequaled) in Alter Ego #93-95, wherein Kashdan talks candidly about his life and comrades in comics. Highly recommended.

Jack: When sad sack Varney Krayle gets a job as a fortune teller at a carnival, he discovers that he possesses "The Glowing Blood-Red Eye," which accurately foresees the death of whomever his anger is directed at. He uses the money to help a racketeer eliminate a pesky witness but when his wife tells him she doesn't want blood money, his eye begins to glow. Unexpectedly, his little daughter Eunice inherited the power and turns it on her Daddy! Jack Sparling's art begins to remind me of a bargain basement Jack Davis. This story raises more questions than it answers, such as why did Varney just discover this power?


Peter: It may be a matter of happening upon a bottle of tainted water after three days in the Sahara but I enjoyed this one. Talk about Unexpected! There's no logic whatsoever to what's going on (how did Varney acquire the red eye in the first place and why does little Eunice suddenly have her daddy's power at the fear-fraught finale?) but it's goofy fun. Sparling's art, in general, is hit and miss but here's it's just right. I love how Ada goes from caring to nasty nag back to righteous do-gooder and her daughter seems to exhibit the exact opposite emotions all the way. No wonder poor Varney Krayle turned to a life of crime. Eye would have too! The letters page blurbs Hammer's upcoming Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde but I assume the average Unexpected reader was a tad too young to see the racy transgender B-flick.

Bernie Wrightson

The House of Mystery 204

"All in the Family..."
Story by Virgil North and Bernie Wrightson
Art by Bernie Wrightson

"Never Deal with a Demon"
Story by Jack Oleck
Art by Win Mortimer

"To Die For Magda!"
Story by Carl Wessler
Art by Alex Nino

Peter: A bickering couple, Fred and Mary, find themselves stranded in a swamp when they take a wrong turn and drive into the muck. Exploring, they find a creepy old mansion amidst the snakes and reeds but Mary exclaims that she's seen this house before. In a dream, she knocked on the door and two very creepy characters answered. She was beckoned in, where she was attacked by "a mass of cranberry jelly with tentacles and eyes!" The feeling of deja vu vanishes when a beautiful woman named Gloria answers the door and invites them to stay for dinner. The famished couple quickly agree and Mary relates her dream to their host over a huge banquet. When Mary hears a weird dragging sound behind her, she turns to face the same creature from her dream, the host's brother, Ookey.

The Wright Stuff!

The monster drags Mary off and we discover that the entire night was set up by Fred and Gloria, a chance to dispatch Mary so the two could be together. Fred leaves to ditch the car in a bog and comes back in time to meet Gloria's family (the same two creeps from Mary's dream), who tell the frightened man that Gloria is just "changing into something comfortable..." Anything Bernie Wrightson touches is magically made more readable, even a silly little time-waster like "All in the Family...", but there are some lapses of reason here. Much ado is made of Mary's dream but no explanation is provided for the cause of the "vision." Has she always been psychic? Does Ookey project himself into the dreams of future victims? All a coincidence? And Fred seems fairly reserved for a guy who's found out the girl he lusts for has a protoplasm for a brother. "All in the Family...", in the end, does exactly what it's supposed to it in the space allotted: it makes you smile.

Jack: Man, I thought you'd be all over this EC homage like slime on a shrew! Wrightson is in full-on Ghastly mode here, down to the spittle strings in the open mouth, and Mary even utters a "Good Lord...choke!" for good measure! If this is the direction the DC horror line is going, count me in! It was worth reading umpteen issues of Unexpected to get to stuff like this!

The Mortimer Stuff

Peter: Cooper has been studying sorcery and spells for ten years, trying to find the best way to conjure up a demon to do his bidding. At last, he manages to call forth a particularly nasty specimen who agrees to give Coop all the money he desires but only if the demon is allowed to steal "one minor ability." Cooper is told he'll remain a wealthy man but he'll answer to the demon if he ever steps through a red doorway. The conjurer quickly agrees, thinking he's gotten the better bargain (he obviously has never read a DC horror comic), and a table full of greenbacks materializes. Unlike every other dishonest DC character, Cooper decides he needs to deposit his stash in a bank. The demon is waiting for him, though, as the astonished man steps into the bank. The ability stolen was his ability to differentiate colors and Coop has just crossed through a red doorway, learning the hard way you should "Never Deal with a Demon." Three pages isn't much but, again, this one made me smile. I honestly didn't see the twist coming! Win Mortimer's art, however, is gawdawful.

Jack: That is one decidedly unscary monster! More Bernie Wrightson!

El Nino!

Peter: At a masquerade party, Stefan falls hard for the lovely, if mysterious, Magda Kossu, and asks if he may see her socially. The two quickly become inseparable and, inevitably, Stefan asks Magda to marry him. The girl tells Stefan that she loves him but that, being old-fashioned, he'll have to ask her father for her hand. When Stefan visits Magda's house and makes the plea, the old man explains he will give up her daughter if Stefan signs a confession of witchcraft. The Head of Secret Police, the father tells the young man, has labeled Magda a witch and wishes her executed. By signing a document of confession, Stefan would squash the cop's beliefs and save the girl's life. Head over heels, our naive hero agrees "To Die For Magda" only if they are married before he signs the document. Unfortunately for Stefan, the truth is that Magda is in love with another man, Janos, and she plans to dispose of Stefan soon after the wedding. After a few botched attempts, the new groom gets wise and confronts his bride with his suspicions. Magda and Janos take off the kid gloves but, during one last assault, Janos is killed by Stefan. Magda confesses to Stefan that she really is a witch and that she feared for her life but her husband scoffs... just before the girl turns him into a monster. The second act is a bit muddled and things get confusing when Stefan confesses he's the real Head of Secret Police in the climax (a finale filled with confessions), but who cares when you've got such gorgeous art to stare at? In his DC (and American comic book) debut, Alex Nino sets the bar very high for the coming wave of artists from the Philippines. Like Alex Toth, Nino has a style unto itself, one you can spot a mile away and one that would only grow more distinct as the years pass. His work for Heavy Metal is very highly regarded but I prefer the stuff he did for Warren, especially the otherwise fetid 1984/1994. His brother, Delando, also did some great work for Warren, sometimes paired with Alex as The Nino Brothers.

Jack: Too bad Nino only had this script by Carl Wessler to work with. Even so, the art is gorgeous, almost too fine for the cheap comic book reproduction. The page layouts are very creative, with panels of odd shapes and sizes and figures who don't respect panel borders at all. With Wrightson and Nino, this is one of the best issues of House of Mystery we've seen to date!

Michael Kaluta

House of Secrets 98

"Born Losers"
Story by John Albano
Art by Michael Kaluta

"The Secret Hero of Center City"
Story Uncredited
Art by Alex Toth
(reprinted from House of Mystery #120, March 1962)

"The Night Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore!"
Story by Len Wein
Art by Mike Roy and Mike Pepe

"The Fatal Superstition"
Story Uncredited
Art by John Prentice
(reprinted from House of Mystery #35, February 1955)

"Happy Birthday, Herman!"
Story Uncredited
Art by Adolfo Buylla

Peter: Labeled "Born Losers" as long as they can remember, a retired professor and Raff Rakin, an aged boxer, forge a union to break out of the Losers Club. The professor injects the pugilist with a serum, derived from ants, that will give him the comparative strength of the sacrificed insects. Raff re-enters the ring and slays all his competition but the serum has the predicted House of Secrets side-effects and the duo remain in the Losers Club 'til the day they both die. The story's a bit silly (and is either a nod at or a swipe from Marvel's Ant-Man) but I like the initial set-up, almost like a super-hero origin. The transformation of Raff from super-strong prize fighter to giant ant is handled too quickly but the climax is still effective and Kaluta's art is gorgeous. One can continue to complain about the quality of the scripts but, unless one is blind, there can be no such prattling about the artwork. We're entering the Golden Age of DC Horror, I believe.

The Wrightson-esque Mike Kaluta

Jack: "As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect-like creature." Okay, John Albano is no Franz Kafka and "Born Losers" is no "Metamorphosis," yet the story attempts to reflect early '70s aspirations of the Black community in the way Kafka's story reflects conditions in WWI-era Germany. Just when I was starting to think the DC horror books would bypass the blaxploitation stories found in some of the superhero titles, along comes Rapp Rakin, spouting lines such as "Like it was real cool of you to help me . . . y'dig?" But as Peter points out, Kaluta's art is so strong and so fresh that it elevates a somewhat awkward story to a higher level. It's funny how Kaluta's cover turns Rapp into a white man and adds the obligatory Neal Adams kids as onlookers, creating a scene that is nowhere to be found in the story.

Peter: Silas Horn has just killed his partner and made off with the business cash. In a hurry, he hops on to the 6:10 train, one that mysteriously wasn't scheduled. It isn't long before Silas discovers all of his train-mates are dead and that he's boarded The Hades Express. "The Night Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore" is proof that not everything Len Wein wrote should be read. Incredibly dim-witted, this one explains nothing and climaxes with one of horror comics' biggest cliches: That Hell-Bound Train. Why is Silas on a train with dead people? Did he die on the way to the train station? Doesn't the station manager know what this train is? Is Silas' business partner a midget (see panel-->)? Why does Silas look different in every panel? Did DC pay the Two Mikes in contributor copies? Can I move on now?

Jack: Gee, I kind of enjoyed it! We have now gone from a nod to Kafka to a nod to Bloch, as you suggest ("That Hell-Bound Train"), and the kitschy predictability of this story makes it fun. I don't know a thing about Mike Roy, but I see that he started in comics as Bill Everett's assistant on Sub-Mariner in 1940, so he can't be all bad.

Peter: As his wife, Martha, wishes him "Happy Birthday, Herman!", the young gigolo poisons her and buries her corpse in the cellar. To set up an alibi, he tells his friends that Martha has found another man and he fears she'll leave him soon. He buys a mannequin and makes sure his neighbors see him drive off to Mexico (the idea being she'll leave him while they vacation, I assume) with the dummy in the front seat. When he returns a month later, he finds a truck and the police waiting for him. Seems Martha had the perfect birthday gift in mind for her wine connoisseur hubby: a wine cellar! I'm not sure why the company would have to dig up the middle of the concrete floor to install wine racks but the twist climax was still a welcome pleasure and, indeed, a surprise. Adolfo Buylla looks like an artist who's going to do special things some day. There's no splashy, show-off style, just crisp, well-defined lines. I liked how Abel became part of the story, following Herman around the house as he does his dirty work, much as Cain works himself into his HoM stories from time to time.

Jack: Agree on the art, but not on the surprise, since this is a copy of John Collier's "Back for Christmas," which was adapted for radio and TV on various occasions, most famously in 1955 for Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Still, if DC writers are going to steal, steal from the best--Kafka, Bloch & Collier, all in the same issue!

Peter: The collapse of the town's underground mines endangers all of Center City until an old man steps forward with one of his inventions: a ray gun that transforms air into solid mass. The police chief uses the gun in the collapsing mines and suddenly the old man is "The Secret Hero of Center City." Unfortunately, he's also a fugitive alien from Uranus (stop that snickering down in front!) and switching on his molecular ray gun alerts the outer space men looking for him. When the bad guys arrive and threaten our elderly hero, the town rises up to protect him. A charming little fairy tale, the type I can never get enough of. There's a smattering of originality but, more importantly, I get the sense that our uncredited writer was enjoying his job rather than pumping out the same old crap.

"The Secret Hero of Center City"

Jack: You stole my line about Uranus! The little old man with the ray gun reminded me of one of the bad Twilight Zone episodes when they tried to be funny, but the story was good and Toth's art solid as always. Early '60s DC "horror" leans more toward sci-fi than the macabre, but it's quite enjoyable nonetheless.

Peter: Equally fun is "The Fatal Superstition," wherein business partners Burt Roman and Ed Huggins drive into a town where superstition is king; black cats, mirrors, ladders, and salt are all outlawed! Already planning the murder of Ed (in order to take over the business), Burt sees his chance to pin his evil deed on the town's silly beliefs. He convinces the townsfolk that polka dot scarves are bad luck and then strangles Ed with one. Obviously lacking a CSI lab and not noticing the really big fingerprint marks on Ed's throat, the town sheriff waves goodbye to Burt only minutes before a large box of polka dot scarves falls off the back of a truck, blocks Burt's view, and causes him to crash into a tree. Yep, there are a lot of hoops to jump through here (why does Ed go along with Burt's polka dotted tomfoolery?) but much like the first reprint this issue, this one's a gas. Nice art by John Prentice as well. While all companies around them turned to gore (including Marvel/Atlas) in the early 1950s, DC never went down that road, staying pretty tame even in their horror/mystery titles, so it doesn't seem as though the transition to Code-approved material would have been as startling to DC fans as to the readers of comics published by Harvey, Story, Prize, and EC (all companies that were either pushed to the brink of extinction or had to overhaul their entire lines to exist).

Jack: Silly but fun, with dynamite art. The more comics we read, the more cool artists we discover!

"The Fatal Superstition"

Nick Cardy

The Witching Hour 21

"The Mournful Bells of Santa Morte"
Story Uncredited
Art by Nestor Redondo

"Prisoner of Sorcerer's City"
Story Uncredited
Art by Ruben Moreira
(reprinted from House of Secrets #42, March 1961)

"Laugh, Clown--Die, Clown"
Story by Bill Dennehy (Murray Boltinoff)
Art by Jerry Grandenetti

"Designs for Disaster"
Story Uncredited
Art by Nick Cardy
(reprinted from House of Secrets #19, April 1959)

"The Haunted Houseboat!"
Story Uncredited
Art by Jack Sparling

Jack: "The Mournful Bells of Santa Morte" ring out loud and clear as the hilltop monastery is shelled by Nazi bombs during WWII's Italian campaign. Bill and Joe, a couple of American G.I.s, hide from the carnage in the monastery and find a hidden trunk that is filled with a fortune in treasure. They leave it there, planning to return in peacetime to make off with the loot, since everyone else in their company has been killed. After the war, Bill needs money to pay for his daughter's braces and so it's back to Italy he goes, only to find Joe, recently released from the hospital after having had a nervous breakdown. To their surprise, they meet Brother Francisco, who wishes that he could find the trunk of treasure to fix up the crumbling monastery. Bill and Joe uncover the hidden trunk and Bill brains Joe with a stone, only to hear the bells from the tower ringing out loud what he has done. He goes up to see what's causing them to ring and falls to his death when Brother Francisco discovers the treasure and gives the bell rope a joyful pull. Nestor Redondo's art is fabulous; I only wish we knew who wrote this story, because it's creative and entertaining.

Peter: A bit of a jolting personality switch in Bill, from caring family man worrying about bills and education for his little one to murdering his old pal for a fortune. Why did the boys wait so long to go back for the jewels? None of it adds up but that's okay when the story is illustrated by Nestor Redondo. An extra thumb up for the grim final panel.

Jack: Blonde beauty Denise works the high wire act at the circus until one day Kroger, the jealous sword swallower, cuts the wire and she falls. She is saved from certain death in "Laugh Clown--Die Clown" by Hugo, the clown on whom she had bestowed a kind kiss. As he lies there dead from the blow of her falling body, she discovers that he wore no makeup and that his clown face was his real face. Jerry G's occasional forays into surrealism seem to work best in settings that are in themselves a little out of the ordinary. This is not a great story by any means but the art fits.

Peter: If writer Boltinoff (hiding under a Bill Dennehy pseudonym) was trying to make his character, Denise, come off as an angel for loving a clown while handsome men parade around her, he probably shouldn't have had her scream out "Oh my God in Heaven... that was his REAL FACE!" when she unmasked him in the finale! But we learned a vital lesson here: 4 pages of Grandenetti is supremely better than 8.

Jack: When Henry Belding arrives at a craggy village on the New England coast to investigate the haunting of Hobbes House, he is surprised when the house disappears the morning after he first sees it. The townspeople claim to know nothing about any such house, but soon enough he discovers that the house has been loaded on a boat down by the docks, making it "The Haunted Houseboat." Stubborn Henry is knocked out and finds himself aboard the boat, now at sea, in the company of witches who have been locked in the house for two centuries by a protective wax around the doors and windows called Satan's Seal. Poor Henry tries to escape but discovers to his horror that he is doomed to spend eternity as the servant of Hobbes house.


Peter: "Houseboat" takes an interesting concept--just what does a town do with an unwanted haunted house?--and succeeds, for the most part, to entertain. Jack Sparling's art is primitive (he's been much better but he's also been much worse, let's not forget) and I thought the finale was pretty stupid but the set-up and second act are engaging. Thumbs sideways.

Jack: Modern-day practitioner of black magic Edwin Locke becomes a "Prisoner of Sorcerer's City" when he is transported to Marsus which, like Brigadoon, appears for one day every century. The wizards in charge task Edwin with finding the secret that will allow them to remain in the present for more than a day, but when Locke realizes that they are bent on world domination he must use a trick of his own to make sure they fade away for another hundred years without taking him with them. Ruben Moreira's superb art works beautifully with the story in this exciting reprint from 1961.

Peter: Our reprints this issue are not as good as those found up north in House of Secrets but they're both readable (if abundantly silly). "Prisoner" reads like an 8-page expository and I expected it to be revealed that our hero was dreaming the whole thing up. Not a very exciting story but I did find the main character, Edwin Locke, "noted authority on ancient wizardry," to be intriguing. This appears to be his one and only appearance even though it almost seems as if he's being set up for his own series.

Jack: Dane Foote's movie settings become "Designs for Disaster" when the disasters in films begin to mirror real ones that follow. It turns out that the smoke from a medieval sorcerer's candle is making Dane dream things before they happen, which is fortunate because his next dream involves the crash of a train on which his wife is traveling! A solid, late '50s effort by Cardy.

Peter: I thought it was pretty trusting of the airline to let Bill use one of their planes to stop the train wreck. I can just see the woman at the counter after Bill explains that his friend can see the future: "No problem, sir. We'll have a jet gassed up for you in no time and you can ride up front with the pilot! Nuts and a soda too?" I guess a magic candle is a better way of explaining things than the usual excuse (Bill staged all the natural catastrophes to drive partner Dan over the edge so Bill could control all the shares in their business!) and, in the end, we don't get a logical solution. Extra points for that, I says. This is the last of the quarter books. Next month all the titles will be reduced to two dimes a pop and 36 pages. Even though it increased our work by double fold, I'm going to miss these reprints. Of course, they'll be back before you know it (on an even grander scale).

Nick Cardy

Secrets of Sinister House 5

"Death at Castle Dunbar"
Story by Lynn Marron and Michael Fleisher
Art by Mike Sekowsky and Dick Giordano

Peter: In an attempt to uncover the secret behind her sister Val's death, beautiful Virginia Holstein disguises herself as biographer Mike Hollis and travels to Castle Dunbar, where she finds more questions than answers. Did Virginia's brother-in-law (who she has never met), the mysterious Sir Alex Dunbar, Laird of the estate, murder Val for the inheritance or was Val's death really just an accident, a case of swimming where you shouldn't? Is the estate haunted by Val's ghost, who seemingly comes to Virginia every night to impart messages from the grave? Is Dougal Dunbar (distant cousin of Alex and possessor of warm, crushing lips) really the man for her or is he a psychopathic killer? Will Virginia be able to find Val's killer before the fiend strikes again... and forever silences our heroine's crimson-streaked, smoldering, feminine lips? I haven't read the first four issues (nor the similar first four issues of The Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love) of this title, which graced the comic racks as Sinister House of Secret Love but, based on a reading of "Death at Castle Dunbar," and last week's "They All Came to Die," I have to believe that Sinister editor Joe Orlando had the same guidelines booklet as Mansion editor Dorothy Woolfolk:

1/ Introduce our heroine.
2/ Introduce two handsome but mysterious men (one will be a murderer and the other will get the gal)
3/ Lots of kissing (yecchh!)
4/ Big conclusion with cliffs and storms and stuff
5/ More kissing!

Jack: Your analysis is most scholarly, Prof. Peter! I was distracted by the numerous shots where the lovely Mike was parading around in her nightgown in front of various light sources, the better for us to see her silhouette beneath the flimsy garment.

Peter: You might think, with all my sarcasm, I'm about to throw "Death at Castle Dunbar" into the recycle bin but it's not a bad story (probably due to the talents of future comics superstar Michael Fleischer) and the art is more than decent (probably due to the talents of super-inker Dick Giordano). There are actually a few moments of real tension in this story, the best among them when Virginia has a rough time paddling towards shore and admits to herself she's going to die, a very scary image. I can't put into words why I enjoyed reading this one when it's every bit as dumb as "They All Came to Die" and Virginia Holstein is every bit as gullible and helpless as Judith Fremont but it does give me hope that this sub-genre might not be as vacuous as I assumed. What is it about these girls that leads them to bad guys? And then they can't make up their minds which one they want until fate steps in. I mentioned the nice art but feel compelled to point out that the panel on page 24 (see below) indicates that Lady Alwynne was not beheaded but fell victim to a headshrinker.

Jack: This was Michael Fleisher's second professional writing credit (the first was the prior issue), and I have to think some of the more ghoulish aspects of the tale were his doing, such as the discovery of the skeleton of the Laird's first wife. Giordano is a great inker (and a great artist), but I think Mike Sekowsky's pencils must have been very tight and detailed, since I don't see much evidence of Giordano's style here at all. Sekowsky's shadowy style, heavy on the thick, black lines, seems perfect for a Gothic romance tale, and this story is a little more original than last week's Agatha Christie ripoff. One question: if these stories were targeted at girls, why is there so much cheesecake? Mike investigates the cove in a skimpy bikini, for goodness sake. Not than I'm complaining, but how many 10 year old boys would be caught dead buying this? Aren't they too young to be attracted by drawings of pretty girls?

Yeccccchhhhhhhh!

The Many Faces of Silas Horn

COMING NEXT ISSUE!

The Hitchcock Project-Henry Slesar Part Twenty-Seven: "Keep Me Company" [7.5]

by Jack Seabrook

By the fall of 1961, Henry Slesar had seen over two dozen of his short stories adapted for television as episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Certain themes were repeated, such as love and betrayal among parents and children, and stories were often set in and around New York City. The twist endings that were such a part of the TV series were always a key ingredient in his short stories, which is probably one reason that he became such a prolific contributor to the show. It was inevitable that, after this many episodes, a surprise turn of events would come as no surprise to regular viewers.

Anne Francis as Julia

"Keep Me Company" was one of the four stories among those collected in A Crime for Mothers and Others that had not been published previously in a periodical. In discussing the three other episodes based on these tales, I questioned whether Slesar wrote the teleplay or the story first. However, Slesar seems to have settled the matter: "There were times when I wouldn't wait for a magazine publication, but sent the story directly to Hitchcock if I thought they would like it. On several occasions, they did."

The title card on this episode states that Slesar's teleplay was based on his story, so it is safe to assume that he wrote the story first and that it was not published in print form until his paperback collection came out the following year.

Edmund Hashim as Marco

In the story, Julia Reddy is a 30-year-old woman recently married to Marco. She moved from Cincinnati to New York and is lonely, knowing no one but her husband, who has taken to staying out late at night, engaged in a business enterprise with his two brothers.

One night, as the clock ticks past midnight and she sits in her apartment, angry and bored, Julia hears a noise on the fire escape outside the bedroom window. Thinking that even the company of a prowler would be preferable to solitude, she calls out an invitation but gets no reply. She telephones the police and speaks to Detective Parks, who tells her that it's a busy night and he can't spare a man to investigate her complaint.

Jack Ging as Detective Parks

At 1:30 AM she calls again, insisting that she heard someone and convincing the detective to pay her a visit. When he arrives, she sees that he is "depressingly plain."

Parks is disappointed when she mentions that she has a husband. They sit and have coffee together while Julia waits for Marco to come home, hoping he will find her with the detective and be jealous. At 2:15 AM Marco finally returns. He and Parks study each other and Marco turns to run, but the policeman catches him. Parks tells Julia that Marco's picture is "all over the department these days. We've been looking for him and his two pals for the last five weeks." Julia realizes with anguish that her lonely nights have just begun.

The twist ending is very similar to that of Slesar's story, "The Man With Two Faces," where a mother unwittingly leads the police to arrest her daughter and son-in-law in the apartment they share. That story had been published in the August 1956 issue of Manhunt and the TV adaptation was shown on December 13, 1960, less than a year before "Keep Me Company" aired on Tuesday, November 7, 1961, on NBC.

To adapt his brief, six-page story for a half-hour television show. Slesar had to make numerous changes and additions. The first scene is entirely new, as Marco and his brothers enjoy the dinner that Julia serves them. She is harried and frustrated, especially when he tells her that he and his brothers are going out after dinner. Marco says that he will be home by 11. In this and the next scene, Slesar dramatizes what was only mentioned as background in the story.

On reflection, she's bored!

Another added scene follows, set the next morning, where Julia prepares breakfast and is frosty with Marco, who did not get home until after 2 AM. Though he says that he has to go out again tonight, he promises to be home by 8:30 PM. The show then picks up where the story's action begins, with Julia alone at home in a negligee, killing time as it gets later and later. Much of the episode is a solo performance by Anne Francis as Julia, and the mood is heightened by background music that is either jaunty, with strings and woodwinds falling into an almost clock-like rhythm, or suspenseful, when Julia thinks she hears a prowler on the fire escape. Director Alan Crosland, Jr., uses two interesting camera setups several times in the course of the show to keep things interesting. The first is a shot of Julia reflected in a large mirror, as she sits on the couch playing solitaire. The second is a shot looking through some ironwork out on the fire escape and into the window of Julia's bedroom. This is the only time the camera leaves the apartment, and it always remains focused on what is going on inside. A almost noir-like feeling takes over in the bedroom at night, where a neon light outside blinks on and off, illuminating Julia's lonely, poor state.

Neon lights blink on and off

Unlike the story, Julia's first call to the police results in the arrival of two uniformed officers, who investigate the fire escape, find nothing of concern, and depart, refusing her desperate offer of coffee. After they leave, Julia complains: "I wish I did have a prowler." As the night drags on, the viewer begins to wonder if Julia will get her wish and be visited by a prowler. Instead, she calls the police again and Detective Parks arrives, finds nothing, and then discovers that Julia does not want him to leave. There is a subtle sexual tension in their scenes together, as Parks sneaks looks at Julia's negligee and wonders what the beautiful, lonely woman really wants from him. The viewer begins to question her motives as well: she first offers him wine, then puts a record on the turntable and insists that he dance with her. He comments, "This isn't exactly in the line of duty, now don't you think?" She replies, "Well, a detective has to relax now and then, doesn't he?"

Looking in from the fire escape

Director Crosland and actors Anne Francis and Jack Ging (as Parks) handle this topic carefully, aware of the censors in 1961. Julia's true intention suddenly becomes clear when there is a knock at the door and her face lights up with delight at the thought that Marco will walk in and find her with another man. Detective Parks reacts with understandable surprise, saying "I didn't know you had a husband!"

The final capture of Marco is made more dramatic when Parks pulls a gun and handcuffs Julia's husband, telling the lonely housewife that Marco is really Harry Milan, wanted for warehouse robbery. Parks takes Marco away and Julia stares at the closed door as the shot fades out. While this conclusion is similar to that of "The Man With Two Faces," one key difference is apparent: the mother in the earlier show grieves for the loss of her daughter, exposed as a criminal, but the wife in the current show grieves mostly for herself and her lonely future.

Another lonely night

"Keep Me Company" is another example of the creative team of cast and crew working together to bring life to a story that is much less entertaining on the printed page. This is one of nineteen episodes Alan Crosland, Jr. (1918-2001), would direct; his last was the season seven premiere, "The Hatbox."

Anne Francis (1930-2011) was born Ann Marvak in upstate New York. She began modeling at age five and was on Broadway by age eleven. Her first movie came out in 1947 and she was on the scene at the dawn of television in 1949. She worked both in movies and TV until 1969; after that, most of her roles were on episodic TV. She is best known for Forbidden Planet (1956), as the star of the Honey West series (1965-1966), and for a couple of roles on The Twilight Zone. She appeared on the Hitchcock show five times.

This was the only Hitchcock appearance for Jack Ging (1931- ), who is featured as Detective Parks. He worked mostly on TV from the late '50s to the early '90s. Julia's husband Marco was played by Edmund Hashim (1932-1974), who was on TV from 1955 to 1970 and who was seen on the Hitchcock show three times; he played El Magnifico in "Maria."

"Keep Me Company" is not yet available on DVD and I was unable to find an online source for viewing.

Sources:
Grams, Martin, and Patrik Wikstrom. The Alfred Hitchcock Presents Companion. Churchville, MD: OTR Pub., 2001. Print.

IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2014.

"Keep Me Company." A Crime for Mothers and Others. New York: Avon, 1962. 74-79. Print.

"Keep Me Company." Alfred Hitchcock Presents. NBC. 7 Nov. 1961. Television.

Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2014.

Star Spangled DC War Stories Part 26: July 1961

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

Joe Kubert and Jack Adler

 GI Combat 88

"Haunted Tank vs. Ghost Tank!"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Russ Heath

"Don't Dig In!"
Story by Bob Haney
Art by Jack Abel

"Everything's a Straight Line!"
Story by Bob Haney
Art by Jerry Grandenetti

Peter: The "Jeb Stuart" aka The Haunted Tank comes up against its stiffest competition yet: a "Ghost Tank" that can seemingly appear out of nowhere, blast its enemies to Kingdom Come and then vanish in a poof of smoke. With the aid of his namesake, who now regularly appears in the sky, GI Jeb Stuart uncovers the secret of the "ghost tank": an elaborate elevator system that enables the tank to disappear into an underground fortress. When Jeb gets wind of the cave, he manages to infiltrate and destroy the Nazi hideout. Even though this predates the James Bond extravaganzas of the mid-60s like Thunderball and You Only Live Twice, the hydraulic elevator certainly brings those films to mind. Even if so amazing a feat could be accomplished,  I'd question whether the Nazis would build the fortress out in the boonies. How many tanks could they destroy out there and at what cost? That military sky is getting pretty crowded; I just hope Jeb Stuart doesn't get run down by Johnny Cloud's Great Spirit! I love Russ Heath's art (as always) but I'm not sold on a series about a haunted tank just yet.

Jack: First of all, what a cool cover! It took me a minute to figure out what the green thing in the foreground was, but when I did--yikes! The colors are also really impressive. As for the second haunted tank story, I thought it was cool! A ghostly Jeb Stuart in the sky is better than the Great Spirit any day. He's kind of like Yoda, dispensing nuggets of wisdom at opportune moments. One question: will the tank crew get knocked unconscious once per issue?

Peter: Charlie Cigar, Big Al, and Little Al, aka The Three Stooges/The TNT Trio, are given explicit orders to check out Area Green and "Don't Dig In!" but when the trio is buried under tons of sand the lieutenant is the last of their worries. Like targets in a shooting gallery, the boys are attacked first by a Zero and then a tank. Ingenuity and a little luck see them through. I've a feeling that this series will make me wish I was reading Sarge and Gunner. There really is no story here; it's just a punch line dragged out over four pages. Just like the previous installments.

Jack: Bob Haney has no better luck with these awful characters than did Bob Kanigher. This was a very long four pages! I was hoping that the tank would squash the Trio but they escaped once again. They have been gone since issue #85 and hopefully we won't see them any more.

Peter: Your prayers are answered, Jack. That's the last of the TNT Trio. GIs are told by their C.O. that everything's a straight line. It's a straight line to the beach. It's a straight line into the jungle. It's a straight line over the rickety bridge. It's a straight line up the mountain. Only it's not. Obstacles are thrown at the men right and left to throw them off their straight line but they do, finally, make it up the mountain. This is not a story but more a series of incidents stuck together with chewing gum and bad pencil scratchings. I'm not even going to take the time to count how many times Bob Haney uses the words "straight line." Let's just say that it's omnipresent and let it go at that. Well, I will throw in that this is the worst story of the month hands down. My favorite line (one I shouted out a few times) is when Joe asks Rusty, "Everything's a straight line?" and Rusty replies, "C'mon, Joe! Stop talking' to yourself!" It seems that when Haney and Kanigher got writer's block, they'd crack open a dictionary, throw two words together and write a story.

Jack: The very definition of a filler story. My brain took a straight line from start to finish as quickly as possible.

Jerry Grandenetti

 Our Army at War 108

"The Unknown Sergeant!"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Russ Heath

"Ace on My Wing!"
Story by Bob Haney
Art by Jack Abel

Jack: Passing through a battered French village, the men of Easy Co. are stunned to see a statue of a WWI doughboy who bears an uncanny resemblance to Sgt. Rock. "The Unknown Sergeant" had saved the village but his identity was unknown. In Easy's next battle, Rock commandeers an enemy tank and sustains a head injury, which leads him to imagine that he's a soldier in past wars, saving the day each time but never being identified. He finally comes to and saves the day again but no one knows it was his doing. Since I am firmly a member of Team Kubert and Peter is on Team Heath, I'll say that I missed big Joe this time around. I wish I liked this story more, but it's corny and dull.

Sgt. Rock dreams it's 1776 all over again

Peter: Russ Heath is my favorite DC War artist but it's pretty startling to see him assigned to Rock. Russ does his best Kubert impersonation at times (especially that second panel on page two) but seems to shy away from close-ups of the Sarge as if to fool the customers into believing it's really Kubert at the stick. The story didn't win me over, too long and predictable, but I appreciate the sentiment and then there's Heath's art. Three Russ stories this month! I'm going to get spoiled.

Jack: Newly assigned to a WWI flying unit, Lewis wants to fly alongside Hawkes, the ace, but Hawkes always flies alone, ever since his kid brother was killed by the German ace Von Bock while flying with Hawkes. Lewis can't seem to get through to Hawkes but when Hawkes is captured by the Germans, it's Lewis to the rescue! He pulls Hawkes out of danger on the way to a POW camp and then must fly him back to base, as an "Ace on My Wing," pursued by Von Bock. Can Hawkes manage to cling to a strut on the wing of Lewis's plane while Lewis does aerial stunts and engages in a dogfight with the enemy? You bet he can! This story starts out seeming as if it's going to be another one where the same thing happens over and over, but it really gets going once Lewis heads off to rescue Hawkes. The concluding flight, with Hawkes clinging to the strut, is exciting.

"Ace On My Wing!"

Peter: This one borders on "it was all a dream" territory with its outlandish panels of the Ace surviving massive speeds and stomach-churning dips on the wing of the spad. Perhaps most fantastic of all is that our green pilot spots the Ace far below him, riding in the backseat of a car. This guy's got an eagle's vision. I never saw that climax coming when the Ace (after being such a wienie to our young hero all through the story) smiles and tells the kid he wants some flying lessons. I'm being sarcastic. Funny that I noted Heath doing a Kubert impersonation in the Rock story because it seems as though Abel is aping Heath here (not a bad thing, it turns out). So, this issue is all art, no story.

Ross Andru and Mike Esposito

Star Spangled War Stories 97

"The Sub-Crusher!"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito

"The End of Lady Luck!"
Story by Bob Haney
Art by Russ Heath

Peter: Brothers Nick and Petey, one a PT Captain, the other the commander of a submarine, are given the top secret assignment of finding out what is capturing and squishing American subs like soda cans. Assuming the Nazis must have devised some nefarious new secret weapon, the brothers head out to sea to find "The Sub-Crusher," only to be caught in a deadly storm. Amidst the roiling waves, Petey witnesses a fearsome sight: a huge claw rising from the deep, holding his brother's submarine in a death grip. The sub is pulled below the water and all aboard are presumed dead. The PT boat, lost in the storm, arrives at a mysterious island populated by giant creatures. At every turn, the small boat is attacked and pummeled but, through the ingenuity of its captain, the craft manages to make it off the island, where they discover the (very much alive) crew of the submarine, a little worse for wear and tear. As we salute our heroes, the Air Force flies in to bomb the living crap out of the island and blow the monsters from the prehistoric age back into... the prehistoric age. At least until next issue!

There's no getting around that the entire Allied militia knows about the dinosaur-infested Pacific at this juncture so there should be no excuses in our next chapter. This installment is so much fun and just so silly I can picture Bob Kanigher playing out the plot in his bathtub with toy boats and plastic dinosaurs. Things don't start out so well when we're introduced to (surprise!) two brothers serving in the same objective. I'd like to see that cobwebbed cliche put to rest for good but I'll bet dollars to donuts we haven't seen the last of that one this year.The Pterodactyl comes off as pretty darn smart when it drops a torpedo on our guys. Maybe the Army should think about training these birds for active duty? And, call me silly, but I buy the giant ape but not the huge coconuts. Right, selective gullibility. My most important question this issue would have to be: why is Nick the PT Captain and not Petey?

Jack: This is just lost on me. I like dinosaurs as much as the next guy, but when I read these War That Time Forgot stories I can't help thinking that this would have seemed childish when I was eight years old. Some of the images are cool, like the claw rising out of the water holding a sub or the pterodactyl's wings expanding beyond the panel borders, but Andru and Esposito's parade of sweaty, bug-eyed men and Kanigher's paint by numbers plotting, where the soldiers proceed from dino A to dino B to dino C, fails to capture my interest. At least this time they went back to base and told someone about it. I love how they blow up the island so they can get back to the serious business of fighting the war. Why not train some of these monsters to attack Nazis? Now that might be a story I'd enjoy.

Paging Jack Driscoll!

Peter: The crew of the "Lady Luck" have run 24 bombing missions without a scratch, earning the amazement and, yes, ire of the other bomber crews. For its 25th, and final, flight, the bomber draws a "milk run" (a low-combat mission) and the men prepare for yet another round of boredom. Unexpectedly, the "Lady Luck" begins drawing fire and flak and it becomes her duty to make sure the other bombers finish their mission. Could this be "The End of Lady Luck"? Once again, I'm out of superlatives for Russ Heath's astonishing art. The panels of the disintegrating bomber are gorgeous and wrought with fine detail. Let's not forget Bob Haney, who comes through with an exciting story yet again. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Haney is emerging as the real star of the writing staff.

Jack: You just knew Lady Luck's last mission was not going to end well! I was starting to wonder if we'd get a downbeat ending for a change, but miraculously the crew of Lady Luck all survived intact, even though the plane crashed and disintegrated. You're right about Heath's work on this one--it's stellar!

COMING NEXT ISSUE!