Octopus

Octopus
The Ominous Octopus

Tuesday, April 30, 2019

Monk Mayfair, Guest Star








Monk and Ham both appeared as characters in Dave Stevens ROCKETEER, as did Bettie Page. The names Monk and Ham were not used for their characters in this story, but they are still recognizable as two of the sidekicks of Doc Savage.




Doc Savage himself appeared as a character in the story, but again the character's name was not used.




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Monk Mayfair, Guest Star











Monk Mayfair was one of Doc Savage's "fabulous five", a team of adventurers whose exploits ran for years in the original magazine and were reprinted in a series of paperback books. But there was more to it than that. Apelike characters called Monk were used in other stories outside the series. It might not always have been because of the Doc Savage character, but it was in some cases.



Reference photo used by Bama for drawing Monk.





 The "Monk" appearing in the 1939 Universal serial THE PHANTOM CREEPS is similar.



There was no Ham, but in this serial Monk quarreled with Bela Lugosi's character a lot. This was unusual for serial henchmen in the serials of the time. Ordinarily they tended to do what they were told without a lot of arguing.

An resemblances could be coincidental, as they say, but then again they might not be.



The Monk Mayfair character was used in Ted White's CAPTAIN AMERICA AND THE GREAT GOLD STEAL,



which was published by Bantam books. This was the same publisher that was reprinting the Doc Savage stories, and it was similar to the Doc Savage books, except that here Monk was one of the bad guys. Monk got killed during the course of the story, but I don't supposed that mattered very much as Monk continued to
appear in other adventures afterwords. Doc Savage books are still being published, including some new adventures by Will Murray. 




CAPTAIN AMERICA AND THE GREAT GOLD STEAL:
http://bennypdrinnon.blogspot.com/2012/11/captain-america-and-great-gold-steal-by.html






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Saturday, April 27, 2019

Joan Lyndell And Joan Blondell

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Every Doc Savage story had a beautiful girl in it, and Joan Lyndell was one of the girls.
 Joan Lyndell appeared in one Doc Savage adventure, THE MYSTIC MULLAH, which was originally published in DOC SAVAGE magazine in January 1935.

The name "Joan Lyndell" is close enough to Joan Blondell to cause me to think that she was named after her. Joan Blondell was popular in the movies during the period that the Doc Savage stories were originally published.



But while Joan Blondell usually seemed to be seeking wealth in her movies, Joan Lyndell is described as a woman who had already attained wealth, and in that way is different. Since she is described as being tall and having dark hair, she wasn't even supposed to be that similar in appearance. Only the name seems the same, but that is close enough to make it look as if they had done it on purpose.

Joan Lyndell as depicted with Doc Savage in an illustration from he original magazine.




Reblogged from docsavagetales.blogspot.com/2011/03/pulp-of-week-doc-savage-23.html


Doc Savage stories usually had a weird mystery menace as well as a beautiful girl, and this one had such a menace, ghostly green spirit snakes that seemed to defy explanation until Doc got around to explaining them.


The green snakes in this story were borrowed for the 1975 movie DOC SAVAGE: THE MAN OF BRONZE, which featured Ron Ely as Doc Savage.


Reblogged from https://gmepodcast.com/2012/08/20/tan-man-w-desk-fan/


Before that move had been made there had been plans to make a Doc Savage movie with Chuck Connors, but they were unable to get the rights to the character and they ended up making a western called RIDE BEYOND VENGEANCE. Also in the cast was Joan Blondell. Because of that, Joan Blondell herself could be seen as being linked to Doc Savage.



THE MYSTIC MULLAH:
http://docsavagetales.blogspot.com/2011/03/pulp-of-week-doc-savage-23.html

DOC SAVAGE: THE MAN OF BRONZE ( Movie ):
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072886/

RIDE BEYOND VENGEANCE ( movie ):
http://atocom.blogspot.com/2011/04/doc-savage-movie-that-almost-was.html

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Friday, April 26, 2019

Doc Savage And The Neotropical Viper

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There is no mystery about the "neotropical viper" mentioned in the Doc Savage story, apart from the elements of mystery present in the story itself. It is something that is known to science.



                                                                 Magazine cover








Ad





Book cover



Neotropical area









Author Rick Lai had this to say:

From my book, THE REVISED COMPLETE CHRONOLOGY OF BRONZE:



"The Mystic Mullah's poison came from the "neotropical rattlesnake" (chap.
18). This species of snake actually exists, and is more formally called
Crotalus durissus. It is also known as the Central American rattlesnake."



Rick

* DOC SAVAGE Vol. 4 No. 5 (Jan 1935) "The Mystic Mullah" reprinted as
Bantam #9 (Nov 1965) Chapter XVII "The Green Face":*
**
*"If that green stuff touches you, it'll kill you!" Doc said grimly. "He
[Mystic Mullah] was using two kinds [of venom]. One only burned the skin
and produced senselessness. The other was mixed with the venom of the
neotropical rattlesnake."*
**
*"Neotropical—"*
**
*"Something like that," Doc rapped. "Venom of the neotropical rattler
centralizes its effects in the nervous system around the nape of the neck
and causes a form of nerve destruction which makes it appear that the
victim has a broken neck. The posion probably had additional ingredients
which heightened its effects, causing a muscular constriction which actuall
snapped the vertebrae in most cases."*
**
*(Note the weasel words "something like that" and the wiggle room added by
positing a combination of poisons.)*
**
*DND*


Phillip Jose Farmer didn't have a clue, as usual.



Wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bothrops_insularis



THE MYSTIC MULLAH:
http://docsavagetales.blogspot.com/2011/03/pulp-of-week-doc-savage-23.html



THE REVISED COMPLETE CHRONOLOGY OF BRONZE:



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Pat Savage











Pat Savage is Doc Savage's cousin and the most important female character in Doc Savage adventures.

FROM WIKIPEDIA

Patricia Savage
First appearanceDoc Savage Magazine vol 2, #5 (January 1934)
Created byLester Dent
Patricia Savage is a recurring supporting character in the Doc Savage pulps outside of "The Fabulous Five".
The character is presented as Doc Savage's cousin and sole living relative,[5] sharing the bronze hair color and skin tone with him as well as strikingly beautiful. The stories also note her as being an accomplished marksman, pilot, and hand-to-hand combatant.
She is also shown to love Doc's adventures to the point of joining them on occasion.
She uses a Colt Frontier Single Action .44 as her signature weapon, a family heirloom handed down from her grandfather[citation needed] and modified with a filed trigger and fanning spur. The gun was used as an important plot element in "Violent Night". In that story, a disguised Hitler thinks he's left his fingerprints on it, so Nazis keep trying to get the gun in order to protect his subterfuge.[6]
In "I died Yesterday", she is the main character as the story is told as a first person narrative.
She has also appeared or been mentioned in stories and novels that have been based on the pulps. These include:


                                               *                  *                    *



 I wrote part of that wikipedia article myself. Actually I wrote the wikipedia entry on Pat Savage in the first place, but it's been added to since then. Farmer's book on Doc Savage is mentioned.
Farmer is frequently guilty of misrepresenting the characters he wrote about in this and other books.


Pat Savage first appeared in the Doc Savage story BRAND OF THE WEREWOLF, as a cousin living in Canada. The werewolf business in the story seems to be a serious threat for much of the story, but turns out to be a hoax, something that frequently happens in Doc Savage adventures

Doc Savage's regular assistants, "the fabulous five", all like Pat Savage, but frequently try to keep her from getting involved in their adventures just as Doc himself does. Renny Renwick says Pat is "Excitopsychic" - pyschic to excitement - in the Doc Savage adventure WINGS OF DEATH. In the same story Pat invents a muffler for an airplane motor that makes it sound like a car motor, so she evidently shares Doc Savage's brilliance, even if it is not always as obvious.

According to Lester Dent, Pat Savage is Five foot seven inches tall. This is the same height given for Blondie by Chic Young*. And it would have been unusually tall for a woman in the thirties. Blondie was said to be about the same height as Dagwood, as a matter of fact.

Will Murray, who is still writing new Doc Savage books, continues to use the character of Pat Savage and she seems to be important in his stories.

BRAND OF THE WEREWOLF is said to have been the best-selling of Bantam reprint, selling over 185,000 copies.



Interior illustration from DOC SAVAGE magazine



DOC SAVAGE #19 seems to be the only issue in the original run to show her on the cover, along with Doc Savage. 






The height of Carole Landis was given as five foot six and a half, and I have sometimes thought that she would be a good Pat Savage. 



Carole Landis with a revolver. This is a more modern type of gun than Pat Savage was supposed to use.


Susan Hayward with old type sixguns similar to what Pat Savage was said to use. 




*BLONDIE, July 9, 1931.


BRAND OF THE WEREWOLF:
http://www.duskbeforethedawn.net/2009/06/brand-of-the-werewolf-doc-savage-5/

Pat Savage:
http://www.supremeadventurer.com/patricia.html
http://docsavage.wikia.com/wiki/Patricia_Savage

Pat Savage Fan Club On Yahoo:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Pat_Savage/







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Dotty And Ditto In Hollywood







Bill Woggin story in which a little girl meets a number of movie stars in Hollywood. Bill Woggin is best known for drawing KATY KEEN.

Reblogged fromfourcolorshadows.blogspot.com/






















Joe E. Brown entertained the troops during the second World War. He had a son who served in the army and was killed in action.

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Wednesday, April 24, 2019

Brigette Nielson In THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS







A character that appears to be Brigette Nielson appears in THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS.




I don't know if anyone else has ever said that that was who that was. Bob Kane said something like it was weird. I think so, too.




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Monday, April 22, 2019

Courtship Of Three Lois Lanes




This story is three times as good because it has three Lois Lanes. blonde Lois Lane, brunette Lois Lane. and redheaded Lois Lane





































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Saturday, April 20, 2019

Batman Serials







An article about the Batman serials was published in this Warren magazine.




































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