Monday, March 18, 2024

Batman in the 1960s Issue 18: November/ December 1962

 

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



Moldoff/Paris
Batman #151

"Batman's New Secret Identity!"
Story by Bill Finger
Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Charles Paris

"The Mystery Gadget from the Stars!"
Story by Jerry Coleman
Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Charles Paris

Batman and Robin are involved in a car crash when Batman drives in front of another vehicle that is heading straight for a stalled school bus. The Dynamic Duo are dazed; Batman's cowl falls off and a passing newspaper reporter notices that his secret identity is Bruce Wayne. Back at the Batcave, Batman tells Robin that he'll have to wind up Bruce Wayne's affairs, so he sells all of his holdings and clears out, even saying goodbye to Kathy Kane.

A headline reports that Bruce Wayne has disappeared, so "Batman's New Secret Identity!" becomes Bret Wilson, cab driver. The cabbie happens upon the hijacking of a freight car at the Gotham Freight Terminal, so Batman springs into action and foils the robbery. Bret Wilson drives back to the Gotham Hills Garage, which sits above the new Batcave, where Alfred Edward the butler meets Bret/Batman. Meanwhile, Robin is no longer allowed to be Dick Grayson, so he has assumed the identity of Ted Grey, a resident at the Wickham Boarding School for Boys.

The next day, the boys watch a televised social studies lesson that is suddenly energized by video of a gang holding up the Gotham Foundry Plant! Batman and Batwoman appear and thwart the holdup; Batwoman says they make a great team and she and Batman kiss on camera, causing Dick Ted to shed a tear when he realizes he's been replaced as the Dark Knight's partner. In the days that follow, the papers carry one story after another about the new team defeating crooks. Batman's new identity is exposed when a highway construction crew accidentally blasts the mountainside behind Gotham Hills Garage, exposing the new Batcave.

Crooks hold Bret at gunpoint and tell him to drive to a nice, quiet farm. Another radio report reveals that Ted Grey is really Dick Grayson--and thus Robin--so Dick/Ted celebrates by showing off his athletic skills to the other guys at school. He rushes to the Batcave, where Alfred Edward says he's worried about Batman. Twenty miles south of Gotham, Bret drives at gunpoint to an abandoned farm, where a bald crook pulls off the cabbie's fake mustache to reveal that he's really Bruce Wayne before ripping open Bret/Bruce's shirt to reveal his Batman costume.

Robin and Batwoman arrive and save the day! Fortunately, Batman had turned on a radio transmitter in his Bat-Belt that alerted the Boy Wonder to his location. Batman wonders what they'll all do now...and Bruce and Dick enter Alfred's study, where they find the butler typing out another one of his imaginary stories. This one is not about the second Batman and Robin team, however; since the Joker recently almost discovered Batman's secret identity, Alfred used his imagination to posit what might happen if Batman needed a new alter ego.

It took me five paragraphs to summarize this story, which runs sixteen pages (two chapters), twice the length of a typical story in Batman. Frankly, it's pretty bad. The GCD credits the art to Bob Kane and Charles Paris, but I found an online site where the original art for page 16 is for sale, and it credits it to Moldoff and Paris. As I read the story, I thought it looked like sub-par Moldoff, so I wondered if it really could be by Kane, but I have trouble accepting that he'd suddenly decide to draw a Batman story after years of letting ghost artists do all of the work. The most interesting thing about the story comes at the end, when Alfred mentions a story from several issues back. That's extremely rare in this era of stories that seem to exist in a vacuum.

They moved the giant penny to the new Batcave,
but where's the dinosaur?

While out collecting rare herbs, Ed Manos finds "The Mystery Gadget from the Stars," a red box that emits a beam of light when he picks it up. The light hits a nearby outcropping of rock and water gushes forth. Batman and Robin are summoned to the site of the discovery, where Batman figures out that the ray from the box speeds up natural development by centuries. Batman is concerned because he knows that, in a few centuries, the tiny flaws in the bedrock under Gotham City will cause disastrous earthquakes. He doesn't want the box to speed up that development!

The box falls into the hands of a crook after he sees its ray turn a hunk of coal into a diamond. Batman tracks the crook to an animal preserve, where the ray causes three small, harmless animals to grow to giant size and suddenly become violent. Batman manages to reverse the ray and shrink them back to safe size. He then takes the box back to the Batcave and smashes it with a sledgehammer.

When Batman finds the crooks in the animal preserves, the head crook exclaims, "Great griddle cakes!" I had a similar reaction to this awful story which, if anything, was worse than the one that preceded it. For once, we have an explanation, however silly, for the presence of giant-sized items in Gotham City!-Jack

Peter-Alfred definitely saved the day for Bill Finger, since nothing that preceded the climax made much sense. Batman's secret identity as Bruce Wayne is revealed and he goes out and gets another secret identity? How does that work when the whole world knows who Batman is for as long as he works the streets? These "Alternate Universe by Alfred" stories are genius; the writer can toss out any goofy stuff he wants to and then write it off as Alfred's lunchtime break. In the second story, Batman steps on some big toes when he hypothesizes that aliens are responsible for our rapid evolutionary development. Oh heavens, I wonder what Wertham made of that. Scary to think that all animals will grow to giant size in a few centuries.


Moldoff
Detective Comics #309

"The Mystery of the Mardi Gras Murders"
Story by Bill Finger
Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Charles Paris

"The Man Who Saved Earth"
Story by Jack Miller (?)
Art by Joe Certa

Dangerous criminal Mike Kelso has escaped Gotham State Pen (I guess waiting to serve out his maximum three months for Murder-One was getting to him) and his cellmate confesses to Batman and Robin that Max bragged that he'd be doing a big deal at the Gotham Mardi Gras. The Dynamic Duo hop in the Batmobile and drive down to the fest. Bats quickly realizes that broadcasting the news that Kelso is among the participants in the carnival would only start a riot, so he goes to the Mardi Gras office and speaks with its promoter, J.J. Ashley.

Ashley introduces Batman to Ed Burton who, with partner Tom Hawes, runs concessions and rides. The two men agree to keep their eyes open and report back to the masked avenger. The duo mingle with the crowd but Bats is soon accosted by ace photographer, Vicki Vale, just returned from a hot assignment overseas. As the two are flirting, a man falls off the carousel... dead. Batman examines the corpse and deduces that it's Mike Kelso and that he was murdered with a poison dart! 

Tom Dawes approaches, introduces himself, and apologizes for having not met up with the superhero as he was on the mend in the doctor's office. Vicki Vale intrudes, telling Batman she had snapped several photos before the crime and her award-winning photography might just have captured something integral to the case. Batman agrees and has a look at Vicki's Polaroids. In one, Kelso is clearly handing a package to a man dressed as a musketeer. "This is our main suspect," exclaims the world's greatest detective.

The boys scour the crowds for any suspicious musketeers and voila! one is seen running from the cops. The Caped Crusaders chase him down to the dinosaur ride, but the Duo are attacked by an Arab riding a T. Rex (granted, the thing is on wheels and hooked up to a rail, but it looks dangerous!). Our heroes duck out of the way just in time but this enables the Arab to blow a dart at the fleeing musketeer, killing him immediately. The murderer escapes and the boys are left with a warm corpse. Unmasked, the dead man is... Ed Burton! The plot thickens (and so does the dialogue).

Investigating Burton's trailer, Batman runs across a puzzling artifact... a map of the United States with X's and mythological beasts written on certain cities (Boston=Unicorn, Chicago=Dragon, etc.). Remembering an exhibit on the carnival grounds, Batman races over to the Wax Museum of Mythological Creatures and heads straight to the Unicorn. Twisting the horn reveals a trap door on the body, where Robin finds the Vanderdine Necklace, stolen in Boston the week before! "Golly!" enthuses the Boy Wonder.

Batman hypothesizes that the carnival is being used as a front for a fencing operation and that the other mythological beasts will give up even more riches stolen across the nation. Following up on a clue, the boys head over to the "Crazy House," where Batman is entrapped in the grip of a giant metal hand and Robin is held tight by a pair of costumed goons. The musketeer emerges from the shadows and pushes the lever operating the giant hand to "Full Force," thus squeezing the Dark Knight even tighter. But Batman is too clever for a common criminal and breaks free, delivering a killer left upper cut to the chin of the musketeer. 

Unmasked, the culprit is revealed to be none other than... J. J. Ashley, who was hiding gorgeous ten-dollar counterfeit plates in the Crazy House in hopes of getting very rich. Once back at the precinct, Ashley confesses to the murders of Kelso and Burton. Batman is crowned king of the Mardi Gras and Batwoman is his queen. When Bats proves just how much he knows about females and suggests that the queen's crown should be shared with Vicki Vale, who broke the case wide open with her candids, he opens a huge can of worms with his female counterpart.

"The Mystery of the Mardi Gras Murders" was a somewhat dreary yarn that seemed to go on forever. I absolutely hated the numerous interludes where Batman had to explain (to us) what the hell was going on. You know when the action stops for a rundown that your plot is too complicated. That hand on the wall visual is pretty lame. It looks like the paw is higher up the wall in the second panel. At least there was a bit of violence to break up the unending string of alien-starring stories. Honest-to-gosh murders in the age of the CCA. Dead horse department: this Moldy-Paris art is about as simplistic and childish as it gets. In a lot of action panels, Batman and Robin seem to be on a loop: waving their hands in the air and running in place.

While investigating the disappearance of cute cop Diane Meade, John Jones stumbles across an invasion of Earth by aliens from the planet Centuria (three miles past Pluto, turn right at the asteroid belt). In an effort to find out just what the Centurians plan, J'onn disguises himself as earthling Horace Reeves (the man Diane was searching for) and lets the invaders fly him to Centuria. Unfortunately, on the way, he discovers Diane has been tossed on board as well. Once on Centuria, the Martian Manhunter discovers his problems are only beginning as he finds himself in the middle of a military coup. How can J'onn juggle a coup and Diane at the same time?

For the first time in history, I actually enjoyed the Martian Manhunter backup more than the headliner. I won't go overboard and say this is among the best stories of the year, but "The Man Who Saved Earth" at least kept a smile on my face. That Diane... (growl)... I wonder if she's ever actually saved anyone. And does she wear a gun? And how many more times will J'onn have to divert attention from his earthbound alter ego?-Peter

Jack-I also preferred the Martian Manhunter story to the Batman story, but it's not the first time that has happened. J'onn's ability to transform himself into anyone certainly increases the story possibilities! I was thinking he was going to become Diane Meade, but that may be too progressive for DC in 1962. Once again, I feel like I see Mike Sekowsky's handiwork in random spots. He was drawing the Justice League, which includes the Martian Manhunter, so it's certainly possible he might have cleaned up a few panels.


As for the Batman story, it's not great but at least it's better than what we got in this month's Batman. I was struck by the comment that the first day's receipts at the Mardi Gras were going to charity. It seems like every dollar earned in Gotham City goes to charity! How did anyone make a living? The highlight of the story was the Vicki Vale reappearance and Batwoman's jealousy at the end. I can't wait to see those two battle it out!


Moldoff
Batman #152

"Formula for Doom"
Story by Bill Finger
Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Charles Paris

"The False Face Society"
Story by Bill Finger
Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Charles Paris

"Memorial to an Astronaut"
Story by Bill Finger
Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Charles Paris

Bat-Hound tracks down a renegade scientist named Arnold Taney, who confesses to having been hired by a European named Kuzak to create a chemical formula. Batman and Robin trail Kuzak to the Greek island of Hydra, where they discover a second formula after Kuzak escapes. In the Swiss Alps, Kuzak confronts a scientist who had been the assistant to a Nazi scientist named Krueger. The Nazi was working on a formula for an explosive "'with the force of a tiny atomic bomb,'" and mixing the ingredients provided in the formulas will complete the project. Batman and Robin ski to the rescue and Bat-Hound makes a mighty leap and grabs the vial containing the explosive from Kuzak's hand just in time.

It's nice to see a Nazi menace instead of more aliens! It's also good to see Bat-Hound back in action and wearing his mask. He was getting a little bit bored hanging around Stately Wayne Manor, being fed kibble by Alfred. 

A mysterious crook has set up a contest for criminals! Each must wear a costume and commit a crime; they will all meet and vote on the best heist. The winner gets most of the loot, except for a percentage that the organizer will take. First, a man dressed as a deep-sea diver steals a valuable necklace and gets away from Batman by swimming underwater. Next, a man dressed as a knight robs a painting from an art exhibit and gets away on horseback.

Batman disguises himself as Nick Bayles, a "'crook that nobody knows is dead,'" and infiltrates the underworld, quickly learning about the crime contest and "The False Face Society." The next night, a bold crook disguised as Batman tries to steal a rare violin, but the real Batman captures him, unbeknownst to anyone. Batman plans to attend the meeting of the False Face Society in costume, pretending to be a crook masquerading as the Caped Crusader. A night later, Batman and the other crooks are taken to an abandoned lighthouse, where a crook in a mask and top hat conducts a vote and declares Batman the winner!

The bad guys quickly realize that Batman is the real deal and Batman convinces them that the contest was rigged in his favor by the organizer. Robin appears with the cops to round everyone up and the crook who set up the contest is revealed to be the Joker!

The random appearance of the Joker in the story's final panel surprised me, since nothing else about this story seemed consistent with his usual M.O. Still, it's a fun tale with some unusual situations, and I was glad to see Batman go undercover as a crook, even though his disguise just consists of a mustache and some stubble.

Batman's old friend, mineralogist Luke Haley, is on death's door and has always dreamed of being on the first rocket ship to travel to outer space, so Batman makes his dream come true by rigging up a movie prop spaceship and tricking Luke into thinking that he and the Dynamic Duo really fly to Mars! When they supposedly reach the Red Planet, actors dressed as Martians welcome the trio, but three criminals hiding nearby put on the Martian costumes to make off with gold and platinum that had been planted for Luke to find. Just as the crooks disguised as Martians are about to shoot Batman and Robin, Luke rips off his space helmet and throws it at them, spoiling their aim. He collapses and dies without ever knowing it was all fake.

A fitting "Memorial to an Astronaut" indeed! Finger's story manages to work in some Martians without having to send Batman to Mars. The whole thing reminds me of Capricorn One or the wacky conspiracy theories espoused by folks who think the moon landing was staged. Of interest to me is the panel at the bottom of page five where the head crook announces that they'll "'take a tip from the False Face Society we read about in the newspapers.'" This is the second time in one post where a character  refers to another story. The DC Universe is becoming self-referential!-Jack

Peter-
I thought "Formula for Doom," albeit densely packed with expository dialogue, was pretty good, certainly more interesting than any other Bat-adventure this month. Bat-Hound is right up there with Bat-Mite for annoying gimmicks. Why don't the boys bring the dog on every escapade? Why are only certain cases dog-worthy? I had high hopes for "The False Face Society," but the story was dopey and complicated (just try to make sense of the dialogue in the panel I've reprinted here) and, yet again, an appearance by the Joker is wasted. 

"Memorial to an Astronaut" is enjoyable because it's so dopey. Batman could have probably sponsored an actual trip to Mars with what he must have spent on the faux journey. The every-panel explanations about "Luke doesn't know that Martian soil is actually brown and not red" are annoying, but the whole adventure is worth reading just to get to the climax where Luke dies and is buried on the movie set! That Batman will do anything for a buddy.


Moldoff
Detective Comics #310

"Bat-Mite's Super-Circus!"
Story by Bill Finger
Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Charles Paris

"The Miniature Manhunter"
Story by Jack Miller (?)
Art by Joe Certa

Bat-Mite is bored! Usually this means a dangerous adventure is in store for the Dynamic Duo. Sure enough, opportunity presents itself to the mischievous cosmic imp in the form of three wanted criminals: Tate, Graff, and Dorn. To make the impending battle fair, Bat-Mite gives the Terrible Trio superpowers. Gone are three slightly demented crooks and in their place are Strongman (really strong and a caveman skirt to prove it!), Rubberman (he can stretch all over the place just like Elongated Man!), and the Cannonball (rolls himself up into a big ball and flies!). All three really don't like Batman and Robin and prove it by pounding the Caped Crusaders into dust. Round one goes to "Bat-Mite's Super-Circus!"

Unfortunately, everyone's favorite Bat-costumed leprechaun gets knocked upside the head and loses his power to turn the trio back into normal thugs. Bat-Mite, Batman, and Robin are tossed into a water tank and left to drown while the Terrible Trio head to Gotham to pull off a string of robberies. Only Batman's incredible detective skills (and Bat-Mite's relative weightlessness) allows our heroes to escape a watery death. Batman and Robin curtail the heists of Rubberman and Strongman while Bat-Mite (who suddenly regains his powers) eradicates the Cannonball's plot to steal a rare Rembrandt just before he detonates a huge cache of explosives. Bat-Mite congratulates himself for a job well done and heads back to his dimension while Batman sighs and predicts we'll see more of the pesky gremlin.

Of that I am sure as well. The Batman stories of the 1960s, for the most part, are juvenile and aimed at a younger audience. I get that. But a lot of the Bats yarns we're reading are filled with magic and imagination. These Bat-Mite adventures push my patience to the limit. There's a pattern to them that's grating (Bat-Mite becomes weary of whatever it is he does when he's not here and cooks up a danger for B&R to navigate) and it feels as though Bill Finger couldn't give a flying *%#@ about this character but knows the boss wants the little shit in the picture now and then. The art is as awful as usual (see the panel reproduced below for some strange anatomy lessons re: the human bicep) and if these guys can't give it their best, why should I?


J'onn J'onzz, Manhunter From Mars, faces the deadliest danger he's ever come up against since emigrating from the Red Planet: the crazed genius/scientist Victor Vance, who's perfected a machine that can both shrink and enlarge an item in its path. The Manhunter tries to sneak up on Vance but the loony crook is too fast for him and reduces J'onn to the size of a Barbie doll. The Martian superhero must now prevent Vance from getting his hands on an experimental "Force-Field" machine that will make him the most powerful man in the galaxy.

The big brain criminals in these things are always either one can short of a six-pack or short-sighted. Why doesn't Vance travel to the police precinct and shrink it down to microscopic size, thereby eliminating the police force? The hero of "The Miniature Manhunter" is not much brighter; police warn him that Vance is super-sizing and shrinking stuff left and right and JJ goes after the cycling psycho without flipping on his invisibility switch. What a dope.-Peter

Jack-Bat-Mite must have been reading DC comics, since it turns out in the end that he was only pretending that being knocked in the head took away his powers. He tries to tell Batman that a second head knock (of course) caused them to come back, but Bats is too smart for him and points out that the timeline makes no sense. The Martian Manhunter story once again demonstrates the fascination at DC for giant things. The entire premise of  the Atom is based on a man shrinking so that everything seems giant sized. Here, the Manhunter never really seems to be in much peril, so the story is an excuse to turn him into a green Atom for ten pages or so. The year 1962 ends with a whimper for Batman; we are slowly approaching the 1964 reboot and I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Next Week...
Joe Orlando Joins
the Atlas Bullpen!

Monday, March 11, 2024

Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 107: Atlas/ Marvel Science Fiction & Horror Comics!

 


The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics
Part 92
December 1955 Part I
by Peter Enfantino
and Jack Seabrook



Astonishing #44
Cover by Carl Burgos

"Abra Cadabra!" (a: Art Peddy) 
"Nightmare!" (a: Jack Katz) 
"Something in the Sea" (a: Bob Powell) 
"Through the Veil!" (a: Robert Q. Sale) 
"Inside the House!" (a: Doug Wildey) 

With the wave of a wand, The Great Emery has become a washed-up magician. The icing on the cake was his final evening on stage, when he carelessly forgot to lock the door during the "disappearing maiden" trick and the door swung wide, revealing his assistant fleeing through a trap door.

Crestfallen, Emery heads out into the night, pondering his future. It's during this brainstorm that he stumbles onto a bank heist and accidentally makes the getaway car vanish with a simple "Abra Cadabra!" Perhaps his career isn't over? Cute, but much too short for the reader to become involved with Emery's plight. 

International racing phenom Faletti never shows his emotions, even after one of his colleagues is killed while rounding the "Coresci Turn," an infamous curve that has taken the lives of many skilled drivers. The death of von Grantz doesn't seem to faze him, at least not to the outside world. But deep inside, the tragedy eats at Faletti.

That night, while driving a perilous stretch of road, Faletti loses control of his sports car and the vehicle violently leaves the road. The driver manages to gain control of the car and put it back on the road but the horizon looks odd and unfamiliar to Faletti. Before long, he comes across a race track and, sitting in their autos, all the drivers who died on the Coresci Turn! Faletti turns tail and tries to outrun the dead men but they quickly catch up. With death in his rearview mirror, Faletti exclaims that he's always carried the weight of death on his shoulders but can't display those emotions as it wouldn't be part of the "game."

Suddenly, the other drivers fall back and Faletti finds himself back on the road, his car a mangled mess. But the incident has taught him something about himself. What that something is, I have no idea. I'm not sure if the entire Death Race was taking place inside Faletti's brain or if there really was a video game landscape stretched out before him. The Jack Katz art is nice but the script is maudlin junk; I suppose the moral of "Nightmare" is that, if you're a famous race car driver, open up about the sorrow you feel deep inside or else it will come back to haunt you in the end. Yep, that's what it's about.

"Something in the Sea" is a deadly dumb fantasy about a dope who falls in love with a gorgeous mermaid while on a sea cruise. The Bob Powell graphics are some of his worst ever, as if the artist never had the time to finish.

In "Through the Veil," test pilot Tod Barclay ponders whether what he's doing is for the good of mankind or if it will hasten the apocalypse. He gets his answer when his jet breaks through the sound barrier and ends up 200 years in the future. A sparkling, bright future! At that moment, Tod realizes that war is not so bad and weapons are pretty cool. This is the kind of jingoistic claptrap Stan Lee was famous for in the 1950s and, while I do not have evidence before me, I kinda think "The Man" had a hand in this one. The Robert Q. Sale art, at times, very much resembles Reed Crandall's work.

Mr. and Mrs. Irvin Dale are notified that they've won a dream house, all expenses paid, in a national contest. Mrs. Irvin thanks the hubby for having the good sense to enter but Irvin shakes his head and says "I thought it was you!" The couple move "Inside the House!" and begin their new life, but there's one strange, circular room that Jane refuses to enter. There's something about the room she just doesn't trust.

One day, as Irvin is walking through the house, he hears an odd, hollow sound below the floor. Grabbing a convenient concrete drill, Mr. Dale chips away at the foundation and discovers a mass of machinery below the house. Irvin opines that it must be some newfangled kind of heating system. That night, the couple are visited by two strangers who introduce themselves as Mr. and Mrs. Irvin Dale! Irvin II insists that the house is theirs, since he was the party responsible for entering the contest. Irvin I tells Irvin II to blow and Irvin II tells him he'll see them in court.

But what with all the pain that goes into owning a new house (and the gardener just can't get grass to grow in that crappy soil), Irvin and Jane decide to sell the house to their namesakes and enjoy the extra funds the free house gained them. Unbeknownst to either couple, the house is actually a trap set by outer space aliens who needed one of each sex to complete their study. Once the Irvin II couple step into the circular room, the house blasts off into space! A fun, imaginative little SF yarn that has a few holes large enough to blast a house through (Who built the house? Who signed the deed? Who pays the utilities?) but possesses enough charm to make those speed bumps null and void.-Peter


Journey Into Unknown Worlds #40
Cover by Carl Burgos

"Who Dwells Inside the Mountain?" (a: Dick Ayers) 1/2
"Not Quite Human!" (a: Vic Carrabotta) ★1/2
"In Your Hat" (a: Mort Lawrence) ★1/2
"The House of Secrets!" (a: John Forte) 
"He Went Too Far" (a: Art Peddy) 

Big Hank Blatt has dreamed of finding a vein of gold all his life. Then, while exploring caves one day, Big Hank runs into a solid wall of gold deep inside a remote cavern. Dream has become reality! But before Big Hank can so much as count the millions, his glee is interrupted by tiny voices. Yep, the biggest gold strike since the Beatles is being guarded by leprechauns!

The little people tell Big Hank that no one sees the gold and returns to the outside world, so he's got a choice: die or remain in the cave with the little guys forever. Big Hank vocalizes the latter but strategizes his escape inside his devious mind. No way a bunch of midgets are going to keep Big Hank from his riches. The leprechauns rejoice when they hear Big Hank's decision and propose a toast with some potent bubbly. After Big Hank downs his quaff, he hightails it for the cave exit and heads for a nearby field to make his re-entry strategy. It's then that he falls asleep, dreaming of gold, unaware that the bubbly has caused him to shrink to leprechaun size. "Who Dwells Inside the Mountain!" is more evidence that Dick Ayers was a really bad penciller. The outcome at the finale must be guessed at since no explanation is provided but, seeing as how Big Hank is tiny, it's pretty obvious. 

Android #2166 is aboard a ship bound for Venus. All the androids on Earth have been rounded up for what #2166 believes is a final trip before they are decommissioned. But, after #2166 stages a riot on board, he's notified by the ship's captain (who is also an android) that the ship is actually bound for Venus, where humans cannot exist. It will be the new Eden for plastic men and women. Though the happy ending borders on schmaltzy, "Not Quite Human!" actually comes off as sweet and compassionate. I always wonder what these scripts would have looked like had they been produced a year earlier. The mini-riot on board the spaceship doubtless would have been more violent and the climax darker.

The raft of shipwrecked magician The Great Sandini hits the shore of an uncharted island somewhere south of Borneo and the showman knows he's in trouble when he's greeted by a band of very unfriendly-looking natives. Realizing he'd better dazzle them with his skills, Sandini dons his garb and whips out his wand, making an egg appear out of the medicine man's hat. He's got his audience eating out of his hands yet again!

It's then that Sandini notices the pearls hanging around the necks of his hosts and decides he just has to have them. In exchange for more tricks, the natives happily hand over more and more pearls. Before long, Sandini has them diving for the precious objects. Finally, a ship comes and Sandini flags them down. The natives do not want him to leave, but the magician offers his magic hat and paraphernalia for his freedom. He stashes the pearls in a sack and climbs aboard the ship. Once underway, the captain demands payment, but when Sandini opens the sack, a rabbit pops out. Back on the island, the natives have nothing but pearls.

The climax of "In Your Hat" is confusing. Well, I think I understand but, like "Who Dwells Inside the Mountain," it's open to interpretation. I love how The Great Sandini is shipwrecked but manages to get what looks like a very heavy luggage trunk on what looks like a raft constructed from logs. First, how did this guy get his magician's locker from a sinking ship and, more important, who helped him build the raft? 

In the supremely dopey "The House of Secrets," Harvey and Faye Tanner adopt Michael Bryant, a boy they stumble upon on an airport tarmac (!!!) and raise him as their own. Though they love Michael, they refuse to tell him their secret and, for Michael's part, he loves them too but refuses to give up hope that his real parents will come back for him. Then, on his 18th birthday, the Tanners decide to tell Michael everything. At night, they grow whiskers and a cat nose because they're actually from the planet Mars. But that's okay, sighs Michael, because he's from Jupiter and his parents should be back soon to pick him up because a round trip to Jupiter takes eight years. So, for eight years, Michael never saw the Tanners at night? Pulpmaster Carl Wessler was responsible for this knee-slapper, a script that could have written itself.

In the finale, "He Went Too Far," Matt Heggerty sees fortune teller Madame Ulga, who predicts that the man will go far in his work life if he steps on his co-workers and spares no emotion. Matt does just that and ends up where he belongs. Awful, sketchy art and a convoluted script make "He Went Too Far" the perfect capper to a dismal issue of Journey.-Peter


Journey Into Mystery #29
Cover by Joe Maneely

"Three Frightened People" (a: Reed Crandall) ★1/2
"The Black Book" (a: Manny Stallman) 
"Mr. Know-It-All" (a: John Forte) 
"Into Thin Air!" (a: Ed Winiarski) 
"Someone is In My Room" (a: Bob Brown) 

Joe and Helen Barkley are so glad that their G.I. son Ken is coming home from Korea that they invite the young man's girlfriend, Barbara, over to celebrate with them. Unfortunately, at that moment, three thugs (led by Doyle) break into the house and hold a machine gun on Pop Barkley, demanding sanctuary. They've just escaped prison and need to lay low for a few days until the heat is off. Pop explains that his tough-guy son will be there any minute, but the hoods pay no mind. Moments later, a telegram comes informing Pop that Ken will be delayed due to weather but that he'll be there in spirit. That leaves just "Three Frightened People" and suits the convicts just fine.

Just then, a voice emanates from the shadows. It's Ken! The G.I. warns the hoods that they'd better hightail it pronto or face his wrath. Doyle guffaws and lets loose a volley of lead into Ken, who doesn't seem fazed. In fact, he disappears in a wisp of smoke, only to reappear again behind Doyle. The hardened convict threatens to mow down Barbara but, at the last moment, lowers his weapon. Ken vanishes, Pop calls the police, and the three cons surrender. Soon, Ken arrives through the front door and asks why no one is happy to see him. When Pop admits they were happier when he showed up to thwart the criminals, Ken admits that he just arrived from the airport a few minutes ago after being delayed in California. All involved shrug, sigh, and look to the heavens above. 

Reed Crandall makes a welcome comeback to Atlas after the collapse of EC several months prior. Though there's not much for Crandall to do (most of the panels involve the Barkleys and hoods standing around talking), his pencils are so comfortable and detailed, I'll take what I can get. The script by Carl Wessler is pure pulp nonsense. Ken's "spirit" asks Doyle to surrender his weapon but could the astral projection actually hold anything if it tried? It's a pretty cocky spirit, too, as it actually dares Doyle to empty his Tommy into Barbara. Not sure the real Ken would have liked his spirit much if Babs was reduced to rubble by the time he got there in body.

With the help of "The Black Book" and its magical incantations, Josiah Stone becomes the most powerful and wealthy captain in the Atlantic but, in the end, he becomes too greedy and reads the wrong spell. Oops! The final panel (after Stone wishes for a sea "as smooth as glass," he and his ship end up in a bottle) has been done to death and better, but Manny Stallman's dark, atmospheric art at least makes the journey worthwhile.

In the silly "Mr. Know-It-All," Professor of Astrology Robert Emory is a stick in the mud as far as his babe-alicious wife is concerned. Mae just wants to get on the "Rocket to the Moon" ride and have a good time, not be lectured about how many microorganisms it takes to fill a lunar pothole. Bob gives in and the ride begins, taking them to the moon, where they exit the machine and walk the lunar surface, discovering moon men and their homes. All the while, Bob can't keep his mouth shut so Mae hoists a moon-axe and cleaves Bob's head in half just listens patiently. Once back on Earth, Bob lectures the ride's owner about factual inaccuracies and the jovial man just laughs and points to the exit. Once Mae and Bob have left, the stowaway moon men disembark and take their place in the carnival. I found Bob's pretentiousness delightful (I've encountered several "Bob"s in my lifetime), but the bit I loved is that the ride took our protagonists to the moon, they got out without any kind of suit to protect them, and then returned to Earth in what must have been an hour's time. That's some rocket ship.

Elephant hunter Roger Colton is determined to track a dying elephant to see where the beasts go to die. Roger tracks the animal to the graveyard but there's no corpse. It's vanished "Into Thin Air!" That's because when elephants die their bodies teleport to another planet. And on that planet are scientists trying to figure out where these huge corpses are coming from! Oh boy.

In the equally dreadful "Someone Is In My Room," George Johnson is amazed to find an extra bed in his room and evidence that someone has slept in that bed. But no matter how late George stays up, he can't catch a glimpse of the stranger. Is it Goldilocks? No, actually it's George's spirit, broken away from him during a particularly bad bout of the flu. He finally confronts himself and his two halves agree to reunite and everyone lives happily ever after. Except us. Besides bad scripts, the last two stories in this issue are graced with simply horrendous art. Winiarski's is scratchy and made me physically ill, while Bob Brown's safe, uncomplicated pencils put me to sleep.-Peter


Marvel Tales #141
Cover by Carl Burgos

"From Out of Nowhere!" (a: Dick Ayers) 
"Swap Shop" (a: Manny Stallman) ★1/2
"The Spelunker!" (a: Mort Drucker?) 
"The Last Chance" (a: Pete Tumlinson)
"The Iron Brain!" (a: Bill Benulis) ★1/2

Two amorphous alien creatures arrive on Earth, study the ways of humans, and meet a lonely scholar. Transforming themselves into replicas of perfect humans (white, young), they announce their mission: to learn all they need to know about humanity, find our weak spots, and then invite the rest of their dimension's inhabitants to conquer our dimension!

As time passes, they begin to discover that being human is actually pretty nice and realize they can never go back to the way they were. They tell the scholar that they want to become fully human, but he replies that their lack of emotions will prevent them from achieving their goal. Overcome by the strain of worrying about the fate of our dimension, the scholar grows weak and the aliens care for him. When he sees them shedding tears, he explains that they have finally developed emotions and can join the human race.

Hoo boy, if I wanted to read The Velveteen Rabbit, I wouldn't pick up a comic called Journey Into Mystery. The end of this tepid tale hardly comes "From Out of Nowhere!"--instead, it is utterly predictable.

Alice and John Marston are on a camping trip when they discover a fish tank with an unusual power--anything John puts in the tank is returned in such a way as to seem like a gift given by an intelligent being that is trying to figure out what John wants. Maybe Dr. Stevens at the observatory can help figure out what's going on! The Marstons drive through the pouring rain, ignoring a flood warning, and reach Dr. Stevens, who opines that the fish tank is allowing them to communicate with another world!

The river overflows and flood waters approach, but the miraculous tank draws the torrent in and pumps it back out to safety. Dr. Stevens determines (don't ask me how) that the tank must be communicating with the planet Pluto, and when he looks through his telescope he sees the (then) ninth planet in our solar system enveloped by a swirling gaseous mass. Assuming the gas spells trouble and the Plutonians need help, he takes a block of uranium, the element that has done "'remarkable things for this world,'" and transports it to Pluto by means of the fish tank. Suddenly, deep in space, an atomic explosion occurs and the gas disappears from around  Pluto. Back in the observatory, the mysterious tank is gone and Dr. Stevens assumes the Plutonians determined that Earth was not ready for "'permanent contact.'"

The title of this story is "Swap Shop," which comes from  an offhand remark made by Alice when she sees that things John puts into the tank are traded for other things. A better title might have been "Nonsense." The leaps of logic that are required to go from a fish tank to Pluto needing uranium to dissolve a gaseous cloud are astounding. The GCD posits that Stan Lee wrote this but, as Peter has taught us, there are no Commies, so I have my doubts.

"The Spelunker!" is Jeff Cord, who explores caves beneath the Earth's surface in  part because he seeks to escape the reality of his life above ground. During one expedition, he is separated from the other spelunkers and explores a shaft that goes deep into the Earth. At the bottom he finds a paradise, where the people live forever and never die. He soon gets tired of their meaningless existence and escapes back to the surface, pledging never to tell anyone what he found.

The GCD credits the art on this one to Mort Drucker with a question mark, but it's clearly his work, and it's easily the best thing about the story. Often, post-code Atlas stories end with a character deciding he likes his life just the way it is. It's the opposite of a surprise ending and it gets dull.

A Broadway bit player named Arthur Rowland gets a starring role when a lead actor is in bad shape, but when he's offered a contract to replace the man, his conscience won't let him ruin the star's career. He gets another break three years later, but this time he refuses to play a serious scene for laughs. Finally, "The Last Chance" comes along, but a fire breaks out during the performance. Arthur sacrifices his own life saving others and, after his funeral, a brand new star is seen in the night sky.

Unfortunately, Pete Tumlinson is no Mort Drucker, so this maudlin four-pager fails to rise above its mediocre script.

Jeffrey Donell spends ten years building Ferro, a machine equipped with "The Iron Brain." Ferro impresses all of the bigwigs in town with its ability to erect buildings with incredible speed, but all of the laborers are unhappy at being put out of work. Jeffrey gets rich until Ferro decides the money should be his. A trial is held and the jury decides that Ferro deserves the money more than Jeffrey. Ferro retires, the laborers return to work, and Jeffrey is left begging for change.

I liked "The Iron Brain," partly due to the art by Bill Benulis and partly due to the tongue in cheek story. In a few places, Benulis makes good use of white space, and his design for Ferro is amusing--the robot has a big wheel instead of legs and a propellor atop its head. The conclusion, where each gets his just desserts, is satisfying.-Jack


Mystery Tales #36
Cover by Carl Burgos

"What Am I?" (a: Art Peddy) 
"The Strange Sink" (a: Bernie Krigstein)  
"Eyes in the Night" (a: Bob Forgione & Jack Abel) 
"Man in White" (a: Ed Winiarski) ★1/2
"The Unseen Enemy!" (a: Joe Sinnott) 

When he emerges unscathed from a building explosion, Don wonders, "What Am I?" All his life, he's never been hurt or fallen ill. Is he an alien from another planet? He's kept his secret hidden from his wife Mary, who doesn't realize that Don doesn't even need sleep. And who is the man who has been following Don for weeks, trying to talk to him?

One day, Don arrives home to find Mary standing in the kitchen, staring at the milkman, who lies unconscious on the floor. She picks up the man as if he weighs no more than a feather and carries him out the back door. It turns out he was overcome by fumes from the gas stove. After the milkman leaves, Mary and Don confess to each other that they are the same! Neither gets hurt, neither gets sick, neither needs sleep. The man who has been following Don appears at their house and explains that they are products of the atomic age, formed by nature to ensure man's survival as radiation on the planet increases.

Well, that conclusion landed like a lead zeppelin, didn't it? I was expecting Don and Mary to be robots, but instead they're somehow genetic mutations. The oddest part of the story is the way the scientist just turns up in their living room right in the middle of their mutual confessions. Creepy.

A poor old woman named Martha is astonished when she washes her ragged dress in "The Strange Sink" and, when she lifts it out of the water, it's brand new! She shows her husband, Henry, and admits that she was wishing for a new dress when she put it in the water. Henry wishes for a box of fine cigars, and they suddenly appear in his humidor! Determined to make their next wish a good one, they wish that the mortgage on their home was paid in full. Mr. Holden, the man who holds the note, appears at the door and explains that he just got rich from an oil field and is canceling their mortgage to keep himself out of a higher tax bracket.

Holden accidentally drops his pen into the sink, and the ink turns the water blue. As he leaves, Martha lets the water out so it won't stain the sink, which she then scrubs clean. She fills the sink with more water, but its wish-granting properties have vanished. On a nearby estate, young Tommy gazes down into a wishing well and remarks that the water at the bottom has suddenly turned blue.

Peter handily informs me that this is the first we've seen of Bernie Krigstein at Atlas in over two years, since "The Untouchable" in Strange Tales #22. I'm happy for more work by a former EC artist, but I would prefer it if he were assigned a story that had some meat to it. The tale of Martha and her sink hardly warrants the artwork of the man who drew "Master Race." What's next, "The Terrible Tub?"

No one likes Char, a black cat, and the poor kitty thinks that if only someone would trust him, he'd lead them to great riches. Char spends his nights in the basement of a deserted stone house, sitting atop a chest of gold coins. Along comes Joe Ruddey, an escaped convict on the run who is being pursued by bloodhounds. Char rubs against his leg and Joe follows the cat to the basement, where he discovers the gold. Unfortunately, when Joe is dragging the heavy chest out of the basement, a wall collapses and traps him under its debris. His calls for help alert the cops and he is taken back to jail, but Char thinks Joe will see him as an omen of good luck that led him to wealth.

There's nothing wrong with "Eyes in the Night," which features some decent layouts by Bob Forgione and Jack Abel, but it suffers from the same problem so many of these post-code stories do--it's too tame. Having the cat narrate doesn't help.

When the cops respond to a burglar alarm going off at the bank, all they find is a "Man in White" who speaks Latin and is dressed in a toga. A Latin teacher is brought in to translate, and the stranger explains that he's Caius Aneas and he lives in Rome in 40 B.C. He conducted scientific investigations but his conclusions, such as demonstrating that the Earth revolves around the sun, forced him into exile. One day, a group of peasants summoned Caius to examine a strange, red box that had dials and levers inside. He got in and, the next thing he knew, he was transported to 1955. Meanwhile, in Rome of 40 B.C., a bank robber wonders what happened to the time machine he used to hide out after robbing the bank. Now he has to wait 2000 years for the bonds he stole to mature!

Ed Winiarski's primitive art ruins any chance that this quickie had of being entertaining. As is so often the case, the ending falls flat. I'd like to see what happens when the Romans discover the bank robber, who wears a jacket, tie, and fedora!

Flight instructor Col. Luke Roehm tells his students that Earth is at war with Mars and flying saucers have been sent to spy on us. As a result, he's court-martialed. A professor of astronomy testifies that there is definitely no life on Mars. Smiling to himself, Roehm hops in his flying saucer and returns to Mars, where he reports that Earthlings are morons and the planet is ripe for takeover. Unfortunately, Martian scientists have concluded that there is definitely no life on Earth and thus nothing to conquer! Roehm is kicked out of the Martian army.

I was hoping for a brief interruption in the mediocrity when I saw that "The Unseen Enemy!" was drawn by Joe Sinnott, but no such luck--it looks like he phoned it in. The end of the story, where the Martians are certain that there is no life on Earth, is kind of cute, but the story is a series of talking heads.-Jack



Next Week...
Introducing...
The False Face Society!

Thursday, March 7, 2024

The Hitchcock Project-Calvin Clements, Part One-Beta Delta Gamma [7.6]

by Jack Seabrook

Calvin Clements (1915-1997) wrote the teleplays for two episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents that aired in November 1961, during the show's seventh season: "Beta Delta Gamma," an original script, and "The Old Pro," based on a short story from Manhunt. Born in Jersey City, NJ, Clements joined the Navy at age sixteen and traveled through South Asia and the Pacific before becoming a fireboat pilot with the New York City Fire Department. He began writing short stories, the first of which was published in 1948, and retired from the fire department after twenty years to be a full-time writer. He had four novels published between 1952 and 1956, the year his last short story was published. Clements then moved his family from New York to Los Angeles, where he began a career as a television writer. He mostly wrote westerns and his last TV show aired in 1979. His son, Calvin Clements, Jr., is also a TV writer.

*   *   *   *   *

Barbara Steele as Phyllis
"Beta Delta Gamma" begins as a college student named Alan whistles to himself as he walks across a beach after sunset and enters a house perched on the edge of the sand. The house is filled with a selection of other students, and large Greek letters on the wall above the fireplace identify it as the fraternity house of the local chapter of Beta Delta Gamma. A party is in progress, but one young man named Mark strikes a serious note, studying his lines for a play and quoting Hamlet's famous line, "The play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king." As in the Shakespeare play, this episode will find a performance being put on that ends up uncovering the conscience of Alan, the king of the fraternity, who is referred to as a "'boy genius and valedictorian.'"

Burt Brinckerhoff as Alan
A beautiful young woman named Phyllis dances seductively around Alan, who appears to be slightly drunk and who resists the temptation she presents. After Alan tells Phyllis that she "'want[s] to crucify anything [she] can't have,'" Phyllis responds, "'Meaning I wanted you?'" Alan replies that she "'can't bear the idea that I'm not falling on my face running after you, dear.'" Alan's refusal to respond to Phyllis's attempt at seduction will soon drive her to set a series of events in motion that will, in a way, crucify him, and that will also reveal "the conscience of the king."

A pair of older beatniks enter the room and sit down; they are Franklin and Dodo, and Franklin comments on the goings-on by saying that "'We're not the lost generation, we're the stupid generation.'" The lost generation refers to Americans of the 1920s, whose youth (and many of its young men) was lost in the horrors of WWI. In a decision that proves Franklin correct, Mark challenges Alan to a drinking contest and hands him a pitcher of beer, which Alan proceeds to consume.

Duke Howard as Mark
Mark concedes that Alan has won but Alan is not satisfied and grows aggressive, insisting that Mark also drink a pitcher of beer. Mark resists and, before tensions can escalate any further, Alan passes out drunk. A woman named Beth remarks that Alan looks dead and suggests using Mark's makeup kit to make Alan look like a ghost when he wakes up, but Phyllis suggests something even darker: staging the scene so that, when Alan awakens, he will think that he has killed Mark with a fireplace poker. A fraternity brother named Robert goes next door and comes back with his father's medical bag, then injects Mark with a drug that will knock him out and slow his breathing so that it is barely discernible. Some fake blood on his forehead completes the illusion, and Mark passes out.

Joel Crothers as Robert
The soundtrack, which has been free of music up to this point, features an eerie flute and drum accompaniment as the students watch Mark lose consciousness. Everyone but Phyllis leaves; left alone with the two sleeping men, she puts the fireplace poker in Alan's hand before she departs. Later, the telephone rings, waking Alan from his drunken slumber. On the other end of the line is Phyllis, the architect of the unfolding nightmare, calling from next door. When Alan answers the phone, she hangs up and tells the others that he is awake.

Alan still holds the poker in his hand as he discovers Mark's seemingly dead body, looks at what he assumes is a weapon, and assumes the worst, all to more music by flute and drums, adding an early 1960s coffee house feeling to the scene. Alan heads outside in the dark and walks next door, where he tells the others that Mark is asleep. This is Alan's first act of deception, since he believes that Mark is dead but conceals it from his friends. Robert plays along with Alan's lie, telling him that they all left the fraternity house because Alan and Mark were shouting at each other. Alan says that he is going back to the house to "'sleep it off'" and, when he returns to the seeming corpse, he tries to rouse Mark without success and appears distraught.

Severn Darden as Franklin
The sun comes up in the morning and Alan returns to the house next door, where the other students wake up from their positions sleeping on couches and chairs in the living room. Alan tells them that Mark is dead and that he does not know how it happened or why. He has been up all night trying to figure a way out of his predicament. As Alan is about to call the police, Robert tells him the truth, that they made it look like Mark was dead but that he was really alive. Alan reveals that, in an attempt to cover up his seeming crime, he wrapped Mark in a blanket and buried him in the sand! Everyone rushes out to the beach, but the tide has washed away all evidence and Alan cannot find Mark's burial place. The show ends with more eerie flute and drum music and a shot of waves relentlessly washing the beach clean.

Calvin Clements's teleplay for "Beta Delta Gamma" is simple and straightforward on the surface, a cautionary tale about the dangers of excessive drinking among college students, yet it contains subtle undercurrents that increase the tragic nature of events. The conscience of fraternity "king" Alan has been revealed, as the quotation from Shakespeare at the opening of the episode promised. When faced with apparent evidence of his accidental murder of Mark, Alan chose to lie to his friends, not call the police, and bury the body in the sand. His conscience pricks him in the morning and he confesses, but by then it is too late. Phyllis, spurned by Alan at the beginning of the show, gets her revenge in a way she never intended, by making Alan a murderer and Mark a real corpse.

Barbara Harris as Beth
The power of nature is revealed in the end and the viewer is left to wonder what will happen next. Will the students call the police and reveal Alan's crime and their part in it, or will they close ranks and take the chance that Mark's body will never be found?

The situation in "Beta Delta Gamma" has a passing similarity to two other episodes in the series, both of which were based on stories by Robert Arthur. The first is "The Jokester," which was based on a 1952 short story and which aired in 1958; in it, a prank-loving newspaper reporter pretends to be a corpse in order to scare an old morgue attendant, but the attendant causes the reporter to become a real corpse. The second is "The Cadaver," which was based on a 1964 short story and which aired that year; in it, a law school student with a drinking problem is frightened when a corpse is planted in his bed to scare him when he wakes up. "Beta Delta Gamma" does not seem similar enough to "The Jokester" to suggest that its author was familiar with it, but "The Cadaver" shares some interesting parallels with Clements's teleplay, so perhaps Arthur may have seen the earlier show before he wrote his story.

Petrie Mason as Dodo
"Beta Dela Gamma" is directed by Alan Crosland, Jr. (1918-2001), who started out as a film editor, working on features from 1944 to 1954 and on TV from 1955 to 1957, then began directing episodic television in 1956. He directed 16 half-hours and three hours of the Hitchcock series, including "The Woman Who Wanted to Live," as well as episodes of The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits. Crosland directed a handful of movies, but his main focus was on TV, and he directed his last show in 1986.

"Beta Delta Gamma" is an unusual episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents in that none of its seven cast members ever appeared in any other episodes.

Burt Brinckerhoff (1936- ) stars as Alan. He acted in numerous TV shows from 1954 to 1970 before becoming a busy TV director from 1971 to 2002; he also appeared on Broadway from 1958 to 1968.

Playing the seductive Phyllis is Barbara Steele (1937- ). Born in England, her screen career began in 1958 and continues today with voice work. Two of her most famous roles came right before this episode, as she appeared in Mario Bava's Black Sunday in 1960 and in Roger Corman's The Pit and the Pendulum in 1961. She later was seen in Fellini's 8 1/2 (1963) and in an episode of Night Gallery. She is beloved among horror film fans and considered one of the all-time great scream queens. As a treat for her fans, I've included a clip of her dance from the opening scene of "Beta Delta Gamma."


Mark is played by Duke Howard, who had only a handful of TV credits between 1961 and 1973; this was his first.

Joel Crothers (1941-1985) plays Robert; he was on TV from 1955 to 1985 and is best known for his long-running roles on several soap operas, including Dark Shadows (1966-1969), Somerset (1974-1976), The Edge of Night (1977-1984), and Santa Barbara (1985).

The oldest member of the fraternity is Franklin, who is also referred to as "'senior'"; he is played  by 32-year-old Severn Darden (1929-1995), who was a founding member of The Second City comedy troupe. He appeared on screen from 1961 to 1989 and was seen on Night Gallery and The Night Stalker.

Another former member of The Second City is Barbara Harris (1935-2018), who plays Beth. She trained with The Actors Studio and appeared on screen from 1961 to 1997; this was one of her first roles. She also appeared on Broadway from 1961 to 1967 and won a Tony in 1967 for The Apple Tree. Hitchcock fans know her as Blanche in Family Plot (1976).

Finally, Petrie Mason plays Franklin's companion, Dodo; this is her only credit.

The beach house in "Beta Delta Gamma" appears to be the same one used in "The Last Dark Step" and "Madame Mystery;" it is located on Malibu Beach.

Sources:

"Archives West Finding Aid." Calvin Clements Papers - Archives West, archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv83807.

"Barge Girl." Paperback Warrior, www.paperbackwarrior.com/2022/02/barge-girl.html.

"Beta Delta Gamma." Alfred Hitchcock Presents, season 7, episode 6, NBC, 14 November 1961.

"Calvin Clements." Stark House Press, starkhousepress.com/clements.php.

"Calvin J. Clements Sr.; Writer of Westerns for Film, TV." Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 19 Mar. 1997, www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-03-19-me-39941-story.html.

The FICTIONMAGS Index, www.philsp.com/homeville/FMI/0start.htm.

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

IMDb, www.imdb.com.

Sweedo, Nicholas. "Calvin Clements, Jr.: A Conversation." Calvin Clements, Jr.: A Conversation ~, themacgyverproject.blogspot.com/2015/04/calvin-clements-jr-conversation.html.

Wikipedia, www.wikipedia.org.

Listen to Al Sjoerdsma discuss "One for the Road" here!

Listen to Annie and Kathryn discuss "Beta Delta Gamma" here!

In two weeks: Our series on Calvin Clements ends with a look at "The Old Pro," starring Richard Conte!