Super ‘70s and ‘80s: “Super Friends”—introduction

Introduction to series “Super ‘70s and ‘80s.”

Gathered together from the city limits of Hollywood are the most memorable voices for toons ever assembled…

Almost everyone interviewed for this subseries (scroll to bottom for full list) had not been interviewed before about Super Friends. Some were lively and chatty while others kept it short or remembered little; I include all responses in the name of curiosity (and thoroughness).

Voice actors and production staff I reached out to but, for various reasons, didn’t interview: Norman Alden (Aquaman 1), Janet Waldo (Hawkgirl), Kathy Garver (Rima), Al Gmuer (Hall of Justice designer). I did not try for Casey Kasem since he was a household name outside of Super Friends and my intention here was to give the floor to people who we’ve heard from less, if at all.

It seems almost any time I’ve read a post about the series, the multicultural heroes created for it (Apache Chief, Black Vulcan, Samurai, El Dorado) were criticized as stereotypical or even racist.

I don’t feel they were, nor did any of the voice actors who portrayed them. I don’t see anything wrong with a character whose native language is not English speaking in an accent that reflects that. What is offensive about those characters: three out of the four did not wear pants.

Here are previously unpublished cast pics courtesy of Sydney Croskery, daughter of the late Danny Dark (Superman).

Frank Welker, Sherry Alberoni, Casey Kasem, Olan Soule, Shannon Farnon

Casey Kasem, Danny Dark, Sherry Alberoni

Wally Burr, Shannon Farnon, Casey Kasem, Sherry Alberoni

Olan Soule, John Stephenson, Frank Welker

The surfboard shot of Danny Dark is from 1973, and it’s the only one dated; I think the others are from that year, too, because I believe they include Sherry Alberoni (who played Wendy only in the first season, which began in 1973).

A cast shot that has been published:

From a great Super Friends article by Patrick Jankiewicz (Starlog 9/04).

And another version of it, plus two (including Wally Burr, kneeling):

Photo courtesy of Norman Alden.

I particularly appreciated Jonas Croskery signing an e-mail “Son of Steel.” (Yes, his father is also Danny Dark.)

I got permission to post all images; if you want to repost, please do the same and ask me first

Welcome to the first-ever oral history of Super Friends.

Writers interviewed (7 parts):

Jeffrey Scott
David Villaire
Duane Poole
Michael Reaves
Marc Scott Zicree
Glenn Leopold
Mark Jones

Production staff interviewed (5 parts):

Bob Hathcock, animator
Darrell McNeil, animator
Bob Singer, character designer, and Iraj Paran, art director
Don Jurwich, producer
Michael Kohler, musician

Voice actors interviewed (15 parts):

Bill Woodson (narrator)
Shannon Farnon (Wonder Woman 1)
Constance Cawlfield (Wonder Woman 2)
B.J. Ward (Wonder Woman 3)
Bill Callaway (Aquaman 2, Bizarro)
Wally Burr (Atom)
Mark L. Taylor (Firestorm)
Jack Angel (Flash, Hawkman, Samurai)
Michael Rye (Green Lantern, Apache Chief)
Buster Jones (Black Vulcan)
Fernando Escandon (El Dorado)
Michael Bell (Wonder Twin Zan, Riddler, Gleek)
Liberty Williams (Wonder Twin Jayna)
Marlene Aragon (Cheetah)
Dick Ryal (Captain Cold)

Take a "What's the Difference?" quiz

What a treat. Some enterprising souls made an online quiz based on my book What's the Difference?, complete with graphics.

I wrote the book in 2005 so I am afraid to take it myself...

Super ‘70s and ‘80s: Original interviews with 100 lost stars of superhero pop culture!

One of my favorite questions is “Where are they now?”

One of my favorite periods in entertainment is the 1970s and 1980s.And so begins a massive, often startling, and at times eclectic series I have been working on in between and around since December 2009: an oral history of (mostly) superhero entertainment of the 1970s and 1980s. It consists of 100 interviews with the people who were there, spread over 71 posts, including introductions to each of the 10 subseries.

Technically, not all 100 kind souls in this feature can be called “lost,” but most have no other interviews online and nearly none of the photos and images you’ll see have been published before. I wanted the focus to be superhero/cartoon performers you remember but have read little to nothing about. This includes actors, writers, musicians, and even water skiers. Some of their recollections are laugh-out-loud funny. Others are heartbreaking.

What does this series have to do with the purpose of my blog—the stories behind the stories I write? Simply put, the 1970s had a huge cultural influence on me—one that informs my work today. That was the decade…

• Super Friends premiered (1973)
• Bill Finger died (1974)
• Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster got their settlement from Warner Communications (1975)
• Superman: The Movie came out (1978)

…not to mention the decade in which I was born. The 1980s were equally fertile for me; looking back now, I appreciate the era even more for its lack of cynicism.

I am a nostalgia junkie and an amateur historian. This series celebrates much that has instilled me with a love of story and action. It has a direct correlation with Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman and my 2012 Bill Finger/Batman book and, in fact, serves as a bridge from one to the other.

Here’s the table of contents (10 subseries):

Super Friends (various incarnations; 1973-86)
animated TV series
28 interviews (15 voice actors, 7 writers, 2 animators, 4 other production staff)

Sea World superheroes water ski show (1976-79)
live-actor sports performance
45 interviews (37 skiers, 1 boat driver, 1 high diver, 2 announcers, 4 production staff)

Superman: The Movie (1978)
theatrical film
3 interviews (all actors)

Legends of the Superheroes (1979)
live-action TV specials
6 interviews (4 actors, 1 deceased actor’s niece, 1 director/producer)

Batman and Robin Meet Dr. Danger (circa 1979)
live-action theatre performance
2 interviews (both performers)

Bugs Bunny Meets the Superheroes (1979-81)
live-action theatre performance
6 interviews (all performers)

The Plastic Man Comedy Adventure Show (1979-81; repackaged with live-action host in 1984)
live-action segment of animated TV series
2 interviews (1 actor, 1 director/producer)

Superman (Ruby-Spears, 1988)
animated TV series
1 interview (voice actor)

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! (seasons 1-2: 1969-71)
animated TV series
7 interviews (2 voice actors, 2 theme song singers, 1 music producer, 1 songwriter’s widow, 1 songwriter’s son)

Mick Smiley (“Magic,” Ghostbusters, 1984)
musician
1 interview








Some of the people I was looking for came up on the first page of Google results. Others took months to find.

Among the warnings I was told when researching:
 

• On Liberty Williams (Jayna from Super Friends): “[She] keeps a low profile. Would be hard to locate. No one knows how to find a photo of her.” (I found her 5/18/10.)
• On Garrett Craig (Captain Marvel from Legends of the Superheroes): “Garrett is unfindable. He can’t be traced.” (I found him 1/26/11.)

Among the funny or otherwise charming responses I got after asking the wrong people:
 

• “No, sir, I am not that Howard Murphy, though I am somewhat of a legend in my own mind.”
• “I am not but it’s given the office something to laugh about.”
• “No, I'm not that Howard Murphy. But it would have been great to have been!”
• “I am not that person. However, I am very intrigued in what my namesake has (or has not) done?”
• “Umm, no. Not me. But this is absolutely the funniest case of Facebook mistaken identity I've received. I kind of wish it was me.”
• “Sorry to disappoint you but that wasn't me, I'm afraid. Wish it was—makes my life sound very tame!”
• “After we stopped howling with laughter, Danuta asked me let you know she is not the one you seek.”

Among the interviews you’ll read in this series:
 

• both Wonder Twins (Zan and Jayna) and all four multicultural Super Dudes (as well as the creator of one of them)
• the Boys of Steel of the big-screen—toddler and teenaged Superman from Superman: The Movie
• the first two singers to record the Scooby-Doo theme
• two of the few surviving members of the Legion of Doom voice cast
• a man who reveals the discarded original lineup for the Legion of Doom
• three long-lost performers from perhaps the biggest cult classic superhero TV show ever
• the first performers to portray a live-action Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, Green Arrow, Plastic Man, Black Canary, Huntress, Mera, Mary Marvel, Supergirl, and Captain Cold
• the first performers to portray a filmed live-action Flash, Hawkman, and Huntress
• a familiar character actor you will recognize from Independence Day and Seinfeld…who got his start playing Batman

Every one of them generously donated time and mined memories for a guy they hadn’t heard of—but mostly for fans many did not even realize they had. Some were on board instantly. More than a couple had to be coaxed into participating. Just about all were surprised that anyone would come around to ask in the first place. I even got to meet some in person, including Captain Marvel, the Wonder Twins, two Supergirls, and Superman's pimp.

While I appreciate everyone’s contribution equally, I would like to acknowledge several who sent me lengthier responses that I wish I could have included more from: Garrett Craig, Darrell McNeil, Randy Messer, and Diane Smith.

I’d also like to point out a perk of doing such a project is being able to help old friends reconnect. (Facebook isn’t everyone’s preferred method!) Among those who got back in touch (in some cases, decades after last contact): James Rebhorn and Gary Meitrott, Mike Bell and Liberty Williams, Wally Burr and Iraj Paran, Dave Madeline and Mark Gutleben, Duane Poole and Elana Lesser, Dick Ryal and Mike Rye, Cindy Barhoff and Sherry Satterfield Runion, Barry Koeb and Joel Stein, (maybe) Nicole David and Heather Kenney. 

I also found myself pointing some toward residuals they didn’t know they had.

You don’t know some or most of those names, but you soon will.

Among the quirkier discoveries I made:
 

• In large part, the groups are still in their “origin” cities—Los Angeles for voicers, Orlando for skiers, New York for stagers.
• One of the Sea World skiers has family in my small Connecticut hometown.
• The project involved three people named Mark Taylor—a Sea World skier, the actor-comedian who portrayed the first live-action Plastic Man, and the voice actor who portrayed Firestorm.
• I came at this via the superhero angle but quickly saw that for most of the people involved, the significance had little to do with that; I learned a lot about the worlds of water skiing, voice acting, theatre, songwriting, TV production, and more.

Housekeeping:
 

• This feature will run most every day till completion, but at times, my “regularly scheduled” content (most of which relates to book publishing) will run in between.
• I conducted most of the interviews in 2010 [so ages and other information in the responses are current as of then].
• I got permission to post all images; if you want to repost, please do the same and ask me first.
• As the series unfolds, use the Labels to easily navigate through the various subseries.

First up: Super Friends.

Adults are people, too

In the 5-6/11 Horn Book article “Send in the Clowns: Picture Books About Grownups,” Leonard S. Marcus debunks a misconception that has become quite pervasive: the notion that books for kids must be about kids.

Of course kids do like to read about kids—just not exclusively.

Leonard’s sharply written article reminds us that many time-tested fairy tales and stories from children’s literature do not include children, from Cinderella to Good Night, Gorilla. (Some fairy tales were not even originally intended for children.)

Good Night, Gorilla brings up an interesting tangent: books in which all characters, or at least the main character, are/is an animal. Children generally love animals and gravitate to such books despite the lack of a “relatable character” who relates to them literally (i.e. a human).

More to the point, take classic Curious George—although those books don’t have a child in a leading role, George himself, while simian, is clearly meant to serve as a child figure. So in my mind, those don’t count as “children’s books with no children in them.”

The article focuses on picture book fiction. It’s worth reflecting on this same topic with respect to picture book nonfiction.

I don’t believe every nonfiction picture book must address childhood. In, say, a biography, if there is an organic way to incorporate the subject’s youth, by all means. However, if it will feel forced, better to acknowledge that and start with the aspect of the story that better suits your story—even if that is a scene that is the very opposite of youth, such as a character on his deathbed! Just because a person becomes notable as an adult does not mean there were specific and documented signs when he was a child.

In my upcoming picture book biography of Bill Finger, the uncredited co-creator of Batman, I start the story when Bill was young (young enough to have the word “boy” in the as-yet-unrevealed title)—but not so young that he was a child. (The first line is about his high school graduation.)

There were at least a couple of fun anecdotes about his childhood that early drafts included, but when it came time to streamline, they had to go because they didn’t have a strong enough link to the rest of the story as I am telling it. (Happily, I will still be able to share these anecdotes on this blog and in presentations.)

Age-appropriateness of the book is always more important than the age of the characters. In other words, you can tell great stories to young people with characters of any age (or gender, or race, or personality). Think of all the books and movies where a child has an emotional connection not to another child but to an adult or something nonhuman.

Readers, including kids, want to read about characters they can relate to...but luckily we live in a world where we don’t have to be like someone to relate to him or her.

And isn’t that a message we want to pass on to our children?

Facebook as research tool

My last several writing projects (namely a book and an expansive online feature that I will launch imminently) have involved extensive interviewing. When I’m looking for someone contemporary, the first place I now look is Facebook.

As recently as 2007, the thought of going to a social media site to locate (or at least narrow down) someone didn’t occur to me. But it was ultimately MySpace (you remember, yes?) which led me to the biggest find of my professional career.

Facebook is good for triangulating. If you know a person’s city, or you’ve used public records sites to learn the names of a person’s relatives, Facebook can help you line up a likely group to contact. Or if the person you’re searching for has an unusual name, Facebook can be a godsend.

If you don’t have any of that information, you can still slog it out on Facebook, individually contacting every “John Smith” with the hope that one is paydirt.

However, ironic though it may be for a company that is regularly challenged for privacy violations, Facebook is vigilant about spam control. I learned this the annoying way.

I was in search of a person. Let’s call him, well, John Smith. I began contacting every John Smith on Facebook, copying and pasting the same query for each. It couldn’t have been more than 10 when Facebook threw up a red box warning me that I may be in violation of Facebook policy. It went on to explain that I was sending messages too fast and if I continued, I would be blocked from sending messages for anywhere from a few hours to a few days.

Yet I’d already been blocked. And it was indeed about a day before I could send any messages again through Facebook.

Spam is broadly defined as unwanted contact, but I feel elemental to spam is the idea that someone is trying to sell you something (even if it’s just selling you on the decision to click a link).

But what I was doing was research. It may be intrusive in the sense that it’s just as unsolicited as a sales pitch, but it’s not a blanket approach, targeting whoever’s attention I can grab. I am approaching select people—and among them may be the only people who would have certain information.

In the greater interest of “getting the story” for the public to benefit from, do writers have a right to ask anyone anything anytime they want by any means necessary?

Should Facebook have a system by which professional writers and researchers can register and then use the message function without restriction?

Every year is magical: 1937

Any year you investigate will yield a detail that does not change: something noteworthy occurred. So it’s not a shock to learn that 1937 is no exception. The reason I bring up this particular year, and the reason I bother with this topic as a post in the first place, is because I find myself talking about 1937 every time I speak at a school.

The starting point is—surprise—Superman. He debuted in 1938 (after three-and-a-half years of rejection), and that’s the year that gets almost all of the attention with regard to the world’s first superhero. But writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster sold the idea the year before. (I’ll do the math: 1937.)

The same year that the Superman deal was inked (and it should be said that the deal was really anything but for the creators), another future pop culture legend (whose name also begins with “S”) entered stage left: Dr. Seuss. That was the year his first book, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, was published (after more than two dozen rejections).

For years, I’ve been telling kids that KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) was founded in 1937; I am no fan of KFC but I am a fan of persistence, as you’ve probably already gathered, and apparently KFC’s founder, Harland Sanders, endured 1,000 rejections before a bank agreed to invest in his idea for a fried chicken restaurant.

My quoting this date goes back to the late 1990s, but uncharacteristically, I didn’t save my source for the date. Upon revisiting the KFC story, I now see that 1937 was the year Sanders opened a café that is considered the precursor to a KFC operation. Coincidentally, Sanders makes the third “S” in my 1937 retrospective.

Here’s the fourth: Ms. White, first name Snow, who, in 1937, was the star of Disney’s first feature-length animated film (and, I believe, the first fully animated film in world history).

Some non-S pop culture milestones of 1937:

• the first issue of Detective Comics came out (two years later, Batman would debut in #27)
• The Hobbit was published
• nylon was patented
• Daffy Duck debuted
• the Golden Gate Bridge opened
  

Some milestones were grim (making them notable rather than magical):

• Amelia Earhart went missing
• the Hindenburg exploded

I started this post by writing that every year is magical in some way, yet it does appear that 1937 got an extra helping.

A Batman world premiere at San Diego Comic-Con...

No, I am not talking about the Batman: Year One animated movie.

No, not possible surprise teaser footage from The Dark Knight Rises.

I mean this:

front

back

Look for this T-shirt on the convention floor. You will have ten chances to spot it.

Supposedly, black-on-yellow is the color scheme with the greatest impact. (Fortuitously, it also recalls Batman's emblem.)

And if you must have one yourself, you can buy it from Skreened, a company with a very cool aesthetic. (Brown shag carpeting not included.)

Two versions are for sale: one with only the front text and one with both front and back text.

B.B.F. (Before Bill Finger)

Rarely can we backtrack and pinpoint precisely when our awareness about any given issue shifted. But tonight, I came closer than I would’ve expected on a subject that’s dear to me.

You might have noticed I’ve blogged a thing or two about Bill Finger, uncredited co-creator and original writer of Batman (and subject of a book I wrote coming out a year from this month). I now know I first encountered Bill sometime after 1992.

The fall of that year, when I was a junior in college, I lived in a suite—six friends in six small bedrooms off a main common area.

One of those friends was Dave. Another of those friends was Justin, and he and I often had a bit of fun by leaving stream-of-conscious, often nonsensical messages on Dave’s answering machine. Since our doors were only 15 feet from his, we would be amused beyond sane limits when he’d get home and we’d hear him listening to them. These weren’t crank calls; they weren’t mean-spirited and he obviously recognized our voices. They were, in effect, off-the-cuff comedy routines for his own personal enjoyment.

Back then, I copied all of the messages onto a cassette. Today, I converted them, all 18 minutes’ worth, to digital. And, of course, listened to them again. Three times, actually (long drive).

One of our VM MOs was to ramble on at some length about a topic of no consequence to Dave. For example, Justin once read a hokey, extended poem about the nature of friendship. Another time, he rambled off the draft of a letter he was writing to a professor who gave him a grade he didn’t agree with.

One of my segments particularly struck me. It was about Batman. Specifically, about the creation of Batman. I told Dave the story. Except, at the time, to my surprise today, I mentioned only Bob Kane. As of 1992, I had not yet heard of Bill Finger.

It was jarring to be reminded that there was a time when I knew only the whitewashed version of a true story I have been immersed in for the last five years. Hearing this recording was a fun visit with another me. I will probably never be able to determine when and how I was introduced to Bill; one thing my Finger research has shown me time and again is that B.F.B. (Before Facebook), too few documented the day-to-day. (Historic moments are not always obvious in advance.)

Therefore, when you discover a seemingly throwaway comment that you did capture, it’s a potent form of time travel. Time has a way of amplifying the personal significance of even the smallest moments.

How are cartoons good for business?

Around 2002, I compiled a list whose title was the same as this post’s. At times, I would e-mail that list to select businesses with the hope of convincing them to do something they almost certainly had not considered before. Without further achoo…

Here are 10 reasons cartoons are good for business. Each will take you 3 seconds to read—same as a cartoon.

1. Cartoons are effective: "The magazine cartoon is probably the most popular of the graphic arts; media surveys invariably place cartoons among readers' first preferences." – Graphic Artists Guild Handbook: Pricing & Ethical Guidelines, 10th Ed., p. 308
2. Cartoons are versatile: Business magazines around the world (including Wall Street Journal, Barron's, and Forbes), PowerPoint presenters, newsletter editors, web content builders, print advertisers, custom publishers, and direct mailers regularly use them to reinforce serious points.
3. Cartoons are fresh: True, companies including Barnes & Noble, Canon, Absolut, DuPont, L.L.Bean, Palm, Altoids, Cinemax, MINI, and hundreds of others have used them in training or mainstream advertising. But too many more haven't.
4. Cartoons are inexpensive: Wish they weren't.
5. Cartoons are easy: No committees, R & D, warehousing, technical support, or previous experience needed. Just talk to a guy with a pencil and a pad.
6. Cartoons are unifying: Can you think of any cubicles that don't have at least one cartoon taped up? Laughter is a universal language. People bond over what they mutually enjoy. That improves the mood. If you smile at any of the cartoons here, wouldn't your employees and/or clients?
7. Cartoons are sneaky: You can't poke fun of your bosses, colleagues, or customers to their faces. You can get away with it in cartoons.
8. Cartoons are word of mouth: "It has been such a pleasure working with you. Our team really got a kick out of all your wonderful cartoons. [The calendars featuring them] are a huge hit. We [printed] 500 for [one department]. Suddenly, we have reps from all over the company wanting them for their departments. Your cartoons are creating quite a stir here in Kohler.”
9. Cartoons are healthy: "Laughter can boost the immune system, reduce stress, and lift energy" (Real Simple 4/02). Who wouldn't want employees and/or clients with less stress and more energy?
10. Cartoons are profitable: When my cartoons began appearing on BizTravel.com, site producer Ronnie Smith said, “’We got so many click-throughs that my CEO totally loved it!’ In fact, the first month's cartoon pulled the second highest click-through rate of all of that week's articles. Then, the following month's cartoon shot to the number one spot. Smith [added] a link next to other articles: ‘If you need a good laugh, click here.’ And as it turns out, that's exactly what many businesspeople do need these days.” – B2B Marketing Biz

Superman vs. Batman - quantity of monthlies

In September, DC Comics is starting over.

The company, which began publishing superhero comic books in 1938, is canceling every title in its primary imprint. Then it is bringing out 52 new titles throughout the month, each starting at #1. (DC is also selling each title simultaneously in stores and digitally.)

Some are relaunches of existing titles, some resurrect characters who've been out of the spotlight for a time (in fact, one is called Resurrection Man), and some are first-timers. This means DC is aborting the runs of both Action Comics (in which Superman debuted in 1938) and Detective Comics (where Batman debuted in 1939). These titles have run continuously since the Great Depression. Soon their history will be history, as far as uninformed readers will know.

DC calls itself a forward-thinking company. I've been told it doesn't acknowledge anniversaries of its properties because that reminds readers that many of its most popular characters are also its oldest. This cultural ageism doesn't affect any industries outside of comics that I can think of; children's books, for example, regularly sport anniversary badges with pride. I find it misguided not to honor the longevity of a property. Heritage is something to celebrate.

Yet DC's experiment is bold, and I feel it is the right time to try it. At this stage, it may be the only time. The goal is clear: lure in new (young) readers because the primary audience is adults and we're only getting older. Is there a way to attract young readers without alienating older ones? I used to think it would take nothing more than good stories, but this is a life-saving mission, and that means you've got to make bigger moves.

Though I am a traditionalist, I am not incensed (as some are) that the updated costume for Superman is lacking red underwear. (I am more bothered by the renumbering of Action and Detective than by the redressing of Superman.) If the updated costume was lacking red, blue, a cape, and/or an "S," I would disapprove. But the costume has been tweaked before to keep speed with the times, and Superman remained easily identifiable. Besides, just like comic book deaths, if this experiment doesn't work, the company would likely revert to the status quo currently in place.

The reason I am posting on this subject, however, is not to pontificate about the business strategy (too late) but rather to make an objective observation. In the relaunched DC Universe, titles are grouped by category, seven total.

Three of the seven categories are simply the name of a character (Superman, Batman, and Green Lantern). Superman and Green Lantern have four titles apiece. But what is more telling is how many titles fall under the "Batman" line.

Eleven.

Yes, nearly a quarter of the total—and seven more than Superman, DC's flagship character (who gets the same number of titles as a character many people hadn't even heard of before the movie this summer).

Here's a screenshot from the DC site:

Longtime comics writer/guru Mark Evanier once speculated that Batman is perhaps the most lucrative comic book superhero in history. Even simple stats like the above seem to support that.

How you found me: part 7

Exactly one year after the previous installment, here is the seventh (and possibly final) look at some of the wackiest search terms that have catapulted people to this blog:

• how to become a film director for kids
• batman inflatable rental near oconomowoc wi
• vanished: true talis of the missing by marc nobleman [MTN: not to be confused with this]
• www.boarsofsteel.com [MTN: also covered here]
• ghosts OR conspiracy OR dimensions OR bermuda triangle OR black holes OR ziggurat OR scenery OR hardcore OR new age OR pyramids [MTN: this search probably brought up just about every blog]
• while both words were at one time insulting, nowadays they are routinely used as terms of endearment
  
• a book call the golden to say yes
• winter words that begin with s
• examples of cartoon obsessive interests
• is it a nerd or a geek that can take apart the computer
• who is Superman [MTN: really?]

"Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books" review...three years later

Thanks to a recent Google Alert, I learned of a review for Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman that slipped by me in 2008. It's from the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (Volume 62, Number 2, 10/08) and I'm glad it didn't stay hidden forever. Here's a passage:

Nobleman presents them honestly as awkward teens, frustrated adults, and, for a long time, exploited and uncredited creative artists. However, the author also focuses on their imaginative skills, their remarkable collaborative triumphs that started at very young ages, and their ultimate contribution of the best-known superhero in comics for over seventy years. The text is snappy and effectively episodic, honing in on moments of frustration and elation with which readers will readily empathize. MacDonald’s blocky, vividly colored illustrations are an ideal complement to the text, drawing from the idealism and Americana of the comics themselves.

The Land of Make Believe

In 1930 (or perhaps 1933), a startling notion was announced to the general public: many of the most beloved fairy tale characters inhabit the same world. We learned this from a colorful and wonderfully detailed poster by artist Jaro Hess called “The Land of Make Believe.”

Who knew Cinderella (whose rep was built on a shoe) and the Old Woman (who lived in a shoe) lived across the winding path from each other?

When I was young, a print of this hung in my house.

my mother and me, 1972 

It captivated me. I would study each character, choose which castle or house I would live in if I could, and trace the entire path with my finger.

Then I grew up.

And I stopped following that path.

Until 1995.

That year, I walked into a print store in New York City and rediscovered the Land of My Childhood. For some reason, I hadn’t yet realized that it was a print that others might also have had. Turns out this one was brought in for framing but the person never came back to pick it up. (Guess one of the witches pictured cast a forgetting spell.) The owner sold it to me for $60, half of what the framing cost. (That’s some more magic right there.)

Then I found out that my mom still had the copy of my youth. (Now my sister has it.)

The original version included a character labeled “The Wandering Jew.” Later printings sensitively recast him as “The Wanderer.” It’s hard to make out detail on the low-res version at top, but look to the bottom right: he’s the figure in a brown coat walking the path directly above the frolicking mermaids.

In those nascent days of the World Wide Web, I got nowhere searching for information on Jaro Hess. At the time, I worked for Abbeville Press, known for its books on fine art, so I also looked him up in a book I found in the office: a guide to 20th century artists. But I had no luck there, either.

It wasn’t till years later that the Internet developed deeply enough to spit out some information on Hess, but little if any that is authoritative. By one source, he was born in 1895 and died in 1981; by another, 1889 and 1979. [12/11/20 addendum: Turns out it is 1889 to 1977. Probably.]

Here’s something a Google won’t turn up (and even this is incomplete):

 
The owner of the company that got the license to sell the LOMB print e-mailed that article to me in 2004.

I bet I couldn’t find a fellow author who writes for young people who wouldn’t want this hanging over his or her desk.

Why zing him, Weisinger?

In issue #98 (12/10) of the always excellent comic fanzine Alter Ego, Joyce Kaffel, daughter of longtime DC Comics editor Mort Weisinger, reminisces about her polarizing father (who died in 1978).

On one hand, Weisinger was known for co-creating Aquaman and Green Arrow as well as expanding the Superman mythos; he oversaw the first appearances of Krypto (a dog from Krypton with the same powers as Superman), the Phantom Zone (an extra-dimensional Kryptonian prison), the Kryptonian city of Kandor (which villain Brainiac shrunk and put in a bottle), and more.

On the other hand, Weisinger was notorious for his abusive treatment of writers and artists who worked for him. One who bore significant brunt was Bill Finger, the co-creator and original writer of Batman. Jerry Robinson has stated that overhearing Weisinger berate Finger made him (Jerry) cringe.

Never-published still from 1950s home movie; possibly shot in California.

We have some idea of Weisinger’s side of the story—it seems he felt he could take a hard line with his talent in the best interest of the stories. I haven’t seen any commentary from Finger on Weisinger, though there are likely published accounts I don’t know about from other writers and artists.

At a 1965 comic book convention in New York City, Finger and Weisinger shared the stage on the first-ever panel of comics creators. Yet the transcript of that panel, which ran in Alter Ego #20 (1/03), reveals little if any animosity between Weisinger and Finger. I guess they had their game masks on.

While the thought of Weisinger belittling Finger saddens me (just as any case of belittling would), in this case, given that they were both adults, I do hold Finger at least partially responsible for letting this happen. I realize he was in the subservient position, but that doesn’t mean one must endure humiliation. Today bullying is a hot-button issue, but it seems that it was an almost acceptable part of the corporate climate in the 1950s and 1960s. A man could dish it out, and a man had to take it.

On a tangential note, I was shocked to read that Weisinger’s name was eventually added to the indicia of the comics he edited. It’s not that he didn’t deserve credit; it’s just another reminder that Finger did, yet never got it.

Also, it was ominous to see mention in the 1946 article from Pic (“The Magazine for Young Men”), whose first page is reprinted on page 26 of this issue of Alter Ego, that Siegel and Shuster were in a higher tax bracket. Why ominous? Here's why.

And I liked how Weisinger said that that dynamic duo “used the mailman for a salesman” (though, of course, at that time, everyone had to do that; not even those science fiction pioneers had Internet access yet). In fact, Weisinger’s turn of a phrase echoes one that I wrote for my 2012 Bill Finger book.

I’ve had the pleasure of speaking and e-mailing with Joyce several times. Her Alter Ego article is consistent with how she comes across personally: honest, independent, well-spoken. She doesn’t ignore harder truths. I found the last line of this article about her dad quite sympathetic, though it doesn’t lessen the sting I feel on behalf of Finger.

Filming: Carmine Infantino

On 6/28/11, more filming in New York City. For me, the first three hours of the day were occupied not with shooting but rather watching films.

I was the grateful guest of a son of Golden Age cartoonist Ruben Grossman; Rube was not only a prolific artist (and, it appears, a wonderful father) but also a prolific amateur filmmaker.

From roughly 1932 (yes, 1932) until his death in 1964, Grossman filmed his family to an extent far beyond anyone else from that time period that I know of: swimming pools, Thanksgiving meals, bar mitzvahs, strolls around the Bronx, trips to Miami. Even if I wasn't on the hunt for certain images, I'd have enjoyed looking through these ultra-vintage home movies (since transferred to videocassette) of a family I don't know. And given that I zipped though maybe 10 of the estimated 30 videotapes (if not more), I barely grazed the surface.

To call many of the captured scenes dazzling is woefully inadequate. Among the evocative gems: extended sequences (in color!) at the Bronx Zoo in the 1950s, pans of a simpler New York skyline (circa 1940s, I believe), a glimpse of the construction of Radio City Music Hall, and even some scenes inside the DC Comics office at 480 Lexington, where the company was stationed from 1938 to 1958.

I did not find precisely what I was looking for but I did find some useful footage—and, at some point soon, will likely be going back to continue the search.

From there, we descended on the home of DC legend Carmine Infantino, whose vast credits include the costume design of the Silver Age Flash (1956) and the culturally significant "New Look" Batman (1964).

Carmine was in equal parts gracious, uncompromising, and funny in person, just as he'd been on the phone.

 
It was trippy to stand at the very desk on which Carmine drew the Flash comics I read in the 1980s.

 
The following was new to me but I am not surprised to see that my friend Steven Thompson covered it five years ago: Peanuts creator Charles Schulz drew Batman. The original hangs in Carmine's bathroom:

The Brave and the Beagle: Batman and Snoopy

Speaking of new to me, straight-talkin' Carmine dropped a few Batman bombshells that hadn't come up with anyone else I've interviewed, nor with Carmine himself when I last interviewed him about this (2006).

You will hear them, too.

Biosong: "Mary Pickford"

Picture book biographies and biopics are fairly common. Biosongs, however, seem relatively rare. In fact, I may have just made up the word.

One song I have long loved is Peter Gabriel's "Family Snapshot," though I only just now learned (from Wikipedia) that it was not, as I have long believed, inspired by Lee Harvey Oswald.

A truer biosong, and the inspiration for this post, is "Mary Pickford" by Katie Melua. It's almost a companion piece to Don Brown's nonfiction picture book Mack Made Movies, about silent film director and comedy pioneer Mack Sennett.

I have no plan to write about Pickford, or Melua, but encourage you to check out the song, both for the bio-aspect and for the music and lyrics themselves.

Do you ghost-hunt on school nights?

Fourth grade teacher by day, ghost hunter by night!

Actually, Allison Jornlin would likely say she’s both teacher and ghost hunter both day and night.

After I presented at the Wisconsin State Reading Association on 2/4/11, Allison (who’d attended one of my talks but whom I did not meet in person) e-mailed me. I’d mentioned my book Detective Notebook: Ghost Hunting Handbook and she wrote, “Your comment about the popularity of ghost hunters also nudged me to use my ghost hunting experiences in my 4th grade classroom a bit more.”

Allison in teaching mode.

Allison in ghost-hunting mode.

It’s not every day you meet a ghost hunter, and it’s not every decade you meet a ghost hunter/teacher. Since this unusual fusion of pursuits relates to my work, I asked Allison if I could post an interview with her, and she kindly agreed:

Where and what grade do you teach?

I teach 4th grade at a private school in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

How long have you been a teacher?

I’ve been teaching for five years.

How long have you been a ghost hunter?

I’ve been ghost hunting for over a decade.

How did you get into ghost hunting?

I’ve been interested in the paranormal since I was in 4th grade, but I’ve only been actively involved in ghost hunting since the late 90s. I began by attending American Ghost Society conferences and then got involved in local groups. Now I run haunted history tours in Milwaukee and arrange private investigations. The team I work with, Paranormal Investigators of Milwaukee, provide investigations free-of-charge to both residential and business clients. We were recently honored to conduct an exclusive investigation for Milwaukee Public Museum.

Does your experience with either teaching or ghost hunting help with the other?

In teaching you meet a wide variety of people of different ages, cultures, and walks of life. Knowledge of people helps you in any pursuit. It has certainly enhanced my empathy for witnesses and informed my approach to paranormal investigation. For example, sometimes during EVP (electronic voice phenomena) sessions it makes more sense to ask questions in languages other than English. A broader understanding of people and their circumstances encourages me to plan investigations with greater cultural sensitivity. My unusual research has also given me a reason to contact museum curators, historians, archaeologists, scientists, and writers. The relationships I’ve developed while ghost hunting sometimes crossover and provide opportunities for classroom visits and Skype interviews that easily connect to the curriculum and fascinate students.

Do your students know about your ghost hunting?

Yes, such news spreads fast in a school. In the past, I kept it quiet, but then I realized I was missing an important opportunity to connect with my students. Students are fascinated and motivated by paranormal topics. Like many of us they seek answers to the eternal questions of life like “Are we alone in the universe?” and “Why are we here?”

If so, please share some of your favorite reactions when they first learned.

My favorite reaction occurred recently. An 8th grader, who was never even my student, stopped me in the hallway just to tell me my website is “pretty cool.” I remember what the middle school experience was like, so for a student who barely knows me to take the time and initiative to say something nice was a big deal.

The most common reaction among students is the question: "Are ghosts real?" I tell my students the truth. I don't know for sure. I also tell them not to believe what they see on TV, but to seek their own answers.

Have any of your students asked to go with you on a ghost hunt?

A better question would be, “Do they ever stop asking me to take them ghost hunting?”

Have you heard from any parents after you mentioned to the kids that you're also a ghost hunter?

I was afraid I’d get negative reactions, but my experience has thus far been quite the opposite. One parent asked me if his daughter could join me as my personal assistant during my tours and investigations. Others have even shared their personal ghost stories with me. No one has expressed any concerns. I think that’s because my approach is skeptical in the truest sense of the word. I don’t jump to conclusions and I don’t promote any particular beliefs. I do my best to model and foster critical thinking both inside and outside the classroom. I don’t know what is out there. I just know there are anomalies that have yet to be explained and I seek answers regardless of what they may be.

What do your fellow teachers and your administrators think of your nocturnal pursuit?

Colleagues have taken my haunted history walking tours. Some have even begun to share the Milwaukee history and folklore from my tours in their classrooms. One administrator invited me to promote my tours in the school newsletter and shared a personal ghost story. I involve administrators in my plans to make sure they understand my intentions. My aim is always to hook students with captivating mysteries and then equip them with the critical thinking tools that will serve them for a lifetime.

Do you ghost-hunt on school nights?

No, teachers need their sleep! My responsibilities at school are almost all-consuming during the school year. Ghost hunting usually requires staying up very late, so during the school year I save it for Fridays and Saturdays.

Have you met anyone else who is a teacher/ghost hunter in one?

We’re rare hybrids, but we are out there. I don’t know any others personally, but the most famous is high school teacher Christopher Balzano. He has written many books about ghost hunting and at least one ghostly lesson plan.

Who do you ghost-hunt with? Do you ever go alone?

Ghost hunters never go out alone. You always need credible witnesses to corroborate whatever strange experiences you might have in the field. I ghost hunt with Paranormal Investigators of Milwaukee. I chose this team because they are tirelessly devoted to self-improvement and because their leader has two M.S. degrees and works as a laboratory scientist by day. It is important to me that the investigators I work with exhibit high standards of professionalism and demonstrate an in-depth understanding of the scientific method.

Do you believe in ghosts?

I’m definitely open to the possibility. I don't deny that I want to believe, but I’m still waiting for that totally undeniable encounter. I'm not interested in fooling myself with wishful thinking, so any ghost up to the challenge will really have to get in my face to convince me. I would classify myself as a researcher rather than a believer.

Have you had any experiences you consider paranormal? If so, please tell me about the most unusual/convincing.

I’ve had many unusual experiences, but one stands out. I witnessed something that seemed unexplainable at a local restaurant with a history of ghostly reports spanning at least the last 20 years. A tray of glasses that I had observed earlier sitting undisturbed suddenly flew off a high shelf. Most of the wait staff seemed shaken by the event, but one experienced employee brushed it off, telling me such things happened all the time. Unfortunately, I wasn’t looking directly at the tray of glasses at that moment. The tray fell farther than one might expect if it had simply slid off an unlevel surface. However, since I didn’t have the presence of mind to take measurements at the time I have no way to prove that. Today I carry a measuring tape in my bag just in case such an opportunity presents itself again. This is a good example for students of how important it is to be prepared to apply your knowledge at any given moment. The paranormal is so fleeting and elusive, you might not get a second chance.

Have you incorporated anything about ghost hunting into your classroom? If so, what? If not, would you like to—and if so, in what way?

Sometimes students don’t see the point of our lessons. It always helps to show them ways they can apply what they’ve learned. I never fail to point out how paranormal investigators need to take accurate measurements, to ask insightful questions, and to write clearly about their findings. My work as a folklorist, researching and developing my haunted history tours, is also a good example for students that writing can take fun and surprising forms. Soon I plan to teach my students how to create successful inquiry circles by allowing them to explore high-interest topics including those of the paranormal variety.

What can we learn from ghost hunters?

Ghost hunters encourage us to fearlessly venture into the unknown. The best of them apply scientific knowledge to aid their research. Ghost hunters like all fortean explorers also realize that science doesn’t have all the answers and it takes human ingenuity to fill in the gaps. If teachers embrace a similar philosophy while harnessing students’ universal desire to answer eternal questions, the wonder they inspire will lead children into a lifetime of learning.

6/27/11 update: After I tweeted and Facebooked this post, Allison told me "I have found a couple more teachers in the last week who share the same interest. I'm contemplating starting a FB group on the subject. I think some great lesson plans will come out of this. : )"

PBS named "Boys of Steel"...

No, that's not the end of the sentence. PBS didn't name Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman, though I'm sure given the chance, whatever they would've suggested would've been great.

What PBS did kindly do is name Boys of Steel a "best book for boys - middle readers."

I wonder if just having the word "boys" in the title is enough to merit such an honor? If so, my next book might be renamed Beach Read of Steel.

"Heroes Don't Wear Black"

The summer of 1989 was all about what happened after dark. Not just for adolescent me, but for most of the pop-culture-loving world. That was the summer of Batman—to be precise, Batman, the first big-budget film about the Dark Knight. (It opened 22 years ago today.)

While that film was redefining the character worldwide for the next generation (and, likely, the one after that), I was tucked away in my Connecticut bedroom combining my lifelong love of superheroes with my evolving love of writing. And for better or for worse, that resulted in this:

Like staples much?

“Heroes Don’t Wear Black” was the only short story I wrote about a superhero. Well, until Boys of Steel. And at least one of those two titles made sense.

Below is the beginning of "Heroes Don't Wear Black." It's all kinds of tin-eared and plot-holed. Only the strongest would have the courage to read the rest.

May I borrow your hamster and gerbil?

I did two Barnes & Noble appearances for my 2005 book What's the Difference?: How to Tell Things Apart that Are Confusingly Close. At both, I had examples from the book on display (and, in some cases, to taste test).

At the first appearance, I brought examples including apple juice vs. apple cider and perfume vs. eau de parfum vs. eau de toilette. I asked a martial arts expert to come and demonstrate the difference between judo and karate (the trade-off being he could promote his business), but we ended up having no space. (He said he enjoyed himself just the same.)

I couldn’t very well show a meteoroid (a rock in space) or a meteor (said rock when plummeting through our atmosphere; otherwise known as a shooting star), and I didn’t happen to own a meteorite (a meteor that doesn’t burn up and actually lands on Earth). But the American Museum of Natural History did.

So I called them. And asked them if I could borrow one of theirs.

Credit the seriousness of science or just a pinch of good karma, but the curator I was asking did not laugh me off the phone.

There is actually a form for this. I filled it out and on my way downtown to the event, I stopped by and picked up my cosmic chunk loaner.

Yet the meteorite was not the craziest example I brought. That distinction belongs to a pair that would not stand out in a home but does in any bookstore.

This was a title bout.

Hamster vs. gerbil.

There were two hurdles involved in wrangling those critters. First, I had to get the bookstore’s approval. Second, I had to find a nearby pet store willing to bring them by. (For no charge.) The store would not, of course, allow animals (aside from seeing-eye dogs). But somehow I managed to convince them to allow in these two itty bitty pets for a short time, with the assurance that both would remain in their cages. (Neither I nor the pet store would’ve wanted to release them anyway.)

The first pet store I called reacted the way I thought the AMNH was going to—with a flat-out no; their company policy forbid them from removing the animals. A subsequent store was more lax—luckily. They agreed to bring a hamster and gerbil in their respective tanks and stay an hour.

True to my descriptions in the book, the hamster was shy, hiding most of the time, while the gerbil was hyperactive, running his wheel silly for long stretches to the audible amusement of the crowd. These little rodents made a big spectacle, attracting stragglers, just as I’d hoped.

I just regret that I took zero photos of the tabletop circus.