Friday, November 12th, 1976

Hell of a day! Mainly 'cause my glasses were missing! Turns out Dad grabbed 'em by accident. I got them back when he arrived home with my first Gold Star Chili coneys! Good..but not great.

I put up the McCartney poster again.

Avoided the two movie problem by watching ROCKFORD instead. Switched over to BOY IN THE PLASTIC BUBBLE during commercials thiugh. Got a nice view of Glynis's tits! Finally gave in and just watched the last 65 minutes of it. Magnificent, breathtaking ending.


NOTES: A red letter day as Gold Star Chili coneys are today my favorite food! I was raised on Covington Chili and it's still there but at one point, they were sold and the recipe was never quite the same since. I still go there when I can afford it. Picked up a couple the other day when I went to the Post Office. Mostly, though, Gold Star is our fast food of choice these days...again, when we can afford it!


THE BOY IN THE PLASTIC BUBBLE was a TV movie that proved that John Travolta was more than the teen idol flavor of the month. He played a young man who had spent his entire life inside an enclosed germ-free room due to an immunity disease. Glynnis O' Conner who had co-starred in my "movie of the year," ODE TO BILLIE JOE, co-starred here also and, apparently, showed some...exposure of a sort that was aesthetically pleasing to my teenage self. Ahem!

Thursday, November 11th, 1976

Had a good morning but for a bad SH. I left at 1:20 and got up to the bus stop in time to catch the 1:30 bus.  IT within the first hour after I got home. So much for cutting back.

Watched most of my least favorite (or is it most hated?) episode of ALL IN THE FAMILY.

Terry called and I talked with him a while. Then I went over the river and got new books.

I found that STARLOG I was looking for so I'll give Mona mine and then get another copy on Saturday for myself.

SS was cut short tonight by a strong desire to go to the bathroom.

NOTES: I guess the reason we got out early was for Veteran's Day?


No, I have no idea which episode of ALL IN THE FAMILY that would have been. There was no primetime episode as it was on Saturday evenings so it must have been a daytime rerun. 


Do they still make STARLOG? STARLOG was a sci-fi entertainment magazine that had the good fortune to premiere here not that long before STAR WARS the following summer. It was successful out of the gate and much more so after that. I collected it--as well as its spinoffs such as FUTURE LIFE and COMICS SCENE for years but eventually there was too much substandard product so I dropped it and sold everything off but the first few issues. I seem to recall that the issue here with its cover-noted SPACE 1999 episode guide was the one I was planning to give Mona. 

Wednesday, November 10th, 1976

Today's letter indicates we're out eighteen bucks but I have no intention of quitting.

Not much out over the river. Got CRAWDADDY and HIGH SOCIETY.

Got a  copy of LOGAN'S RUN at school (no pictures from the movie). Also got my report card today. Good as usual. Felt very down and pressured all day, though.

Learned that Beatle George will be appearing on SATURDAY NIGHT!


NOTES: The copy of the LOGAN'S RUN novel I got through a school book club was not a movie tie-in addition which was apparently a bit disappointing. 


No idea why we were out 18 bucks. Something I ordered maybe? That was an awful lot of money for me to have been spending on mail-order stuff at that time, though. 


CRAWDADDY was sort of an upscale version of CREEM, the hipper than ROLLING STONE rock mag of the era. George Harrison was in the midst of a mini-comeback (even though he hadn't really gone anywhere) and thus was all over the place. As I mention, he was even about to appear on SATURDAY NIGHT (the LIVE part was added later) in what would prove to be a most memorable appearance. Oddly enough, today, in 2011, my cousin just posted a video that would debut on that very episode--THIS SONG. 

Tuesday, November 9th, 1976

Was greatly harassed today. 

Alone with Mona in Study Hall (sorta).

Research booklet turned my FF ideas to EC.

WE get out early on Thursday. In fact, got out early today as we somehow ended up with no teacher for 6th period! Missed the Rosedale bus.

IT.

Both M*A*S*H and ONE DAY AT A TIME were reaffirmed as my two favorite programs.

NOTES: Neither M*A*S*H nor ONE DAY AT A TIME holds up particularly well these days in my opinion. Doesn't change the fact that they were great in their day. Just means that the timeliness that gave them both their something special means that they could never achieve that timelessness that shows like THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW still retain. 

Unfortunately this is a problem with many of the series in the 1970's that tried for "relevance." ALL IN THE FAMILY, CHICO & THE MAN, SANFORD AND SON and a score of other series suffer that same fate. 

Monday, November 8th, 1976

No HOLMESPUN again. I left the 1999 books at school to show Mona tomorrow since I didn't see her at all today.

I learned that Linda Blair will be playing Liz Taylor's daughter in a TV Entebbe film.

I got 9 1/2 on the English paragraph from Thursday. I did Comp vocab homework at SS from a dictionary I thought I'd never see. Every obscure word and thought ever seems to be listed--even "fuck." So weird!

I saw part two of WONDER WOMAN.

NOTES: VICTORY AT ENTEBBE was the first of two TV movies with all-star casts about the Israeli commando raid that saved hostages hijacked to Uganda. Besides Liza and Linda, this one co-starred Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster, Richard Dreyfuss and others. See above. It was first on the air as it was shot quickly on videotape.


The second was a tad lighter on the star power with Charles Bronson, Peter Finch, Yaphet Kotto and HOUSEWIVES OF BEVERLY HILLS' Kim Richards. It was a much better film, though. 

Sunday, November 7th, 1976

Up at 5 AM but back to bed at 6. No Laurel and Hardy. Don't know what happened.

Paper shows several good-looking films opening this week.

Somehow I felt closer to Mom and Dad today.

Spent the afternoon on homework.

Taking two 1999 books to show Mona tomorrow.

Saw Bogey at 2 and then bathed and washed my hair.

Big trash fire at the grocery store at 9:15!

Saw the new Mousketeers for the first time on Disney tonight and then finally watched GONE WITH THE WIND.  Not that impressed really.

NOTES: Oddly enough, Laurel and Hardy are running all night long tonight on TCM in 2011. 


Presumably I was referring to SPACE 1999 books that I was planning to show Mona. In yet another odd tie-in to the present day, I offered several SPACE 1999 paperbacks fro sale on my Bookstore blog last week!


The new Mouseketeers were a mixed bag with the cute one--the new Annette-- being little Lisa Whelchel who would go on to fame as Blair on THE FACTS OF LIFE. My favorite was POPS (I think that was his name), the young African-American kid. 


This would have been my first time watching GONE WITH THE WIND. As a film buff, that was a big deal. That said, as I wrote, i really wasn't that impressed. I love the photography and the sets and the spectacle and the costumes...but I dislike all the characters and the story drags SO much to me. 

Saturday, November 6th, 1976

An inability to decide what books to get brought me instead to pick up a couple of magazines and a German Beatles import album instead. Wow. $6.79. The most I've ever paid for an album!

A very real-seeming sci-fi dream last night.

Saw an unseen (or un-remembered) episode of STAR TREK today.

Also watched a pretty fair Elton John special on TV and tonight saw Wonder Girl on WONDER WOMAN. Also learned the Wings TV special will be rerun.

NOTES: I still have the Beatles album I bought that day--a German vinyl version of HELP. At that point, the American version included incidental film music. This was the original song lineup including YESTERDAY which, in the US, was not on an album. 


Be funny if that unnamed STAR TREK episode was THE NAKED TIME as I'm watching that with my 15 year old son as I type this in 2011. 


The Wings special mentioned was a late-night concert/documentary called WINGS OVER THE WORLD I believe. Until the belated release of the concert film ROCK SHOW, it was the only place to relive songs from the Wings concert I had seen earlier in the year. 


Debra Winger, briefly a fairly big movie star, played a variation on the Wonder Girl of the comic books in a two-part episode of WONDER WOMAN. She was short, seemed a tad plump, but was funny and sexy. As she became more popular I liked her less and less.

Friday, November 5th, 1976

Last night I dreamed of (CeNsOrEd)'s tits! WOW!

Yesterday, Terry turned 18.

Took CFO to school. Mona wants to see more. Got a copy of the school paper from her. Played games in Spanish. Dumb Ol' Hitch sent us down to room 217!

Got TBG and learned Marvel has canceled three of the black and whites! I may order LITTLE ANNIE FANNY.

I plan to get Laurel and Hardy and Beatles hardcovers tomorrow.

Dad brought home a mag with one good article.

NOTES: I've always said you can't help what you dream about. I'm not a "breast man," though. Apparently I was then. That would explain my desire to see Kurtzman and Elder's LITTLE ANNIE FANNY, too. I never did order that LITTLE ANNIE FANNY collection (seen here) but many years later Denis Kitchen published two annotated volumes that are quite marvelous.


"Yesterday, Terry turned 18." Told ya.


"CFO?" Again, I apologize but I am at a loss. 


"Hitch"would have been Miss Hitch at school. I had been kind of an aid to her in a previous grade and normally didn't think of her as "dumb." Not even sure now what she taught so I'm not sure why room 217 was such a big deal that day that I resorted to name-calling.


Marvel's black and whites were mostly horror mags designed as rivals to Warren's CREEPY, EERIE and VAMPIRELLA. At their best, I felt they were better. In 2011, it's rather surreal that one former seventies editor of the Marvel black and white mags is an online friend and a fan of my blogs!

Thursday, November 4th, 1976

Headache. Bad back pain, too. Couldn't concentrate. Made a lot of mistakes in class today.

A lot out in Cincy but I didn't end up getting anything today except dinner.

Snow flurries today of all things.

Found a neat STAR TREK article at SS. ANGELS one, too.

NOTES: Jeez, these entries were sure getting sparse. It looks as though I did NOT keep a journal for 1977 but I HAVE found a full and compete 1974 Journal. I asked on Facebook if anyone would be interested in seeing what would essentially be a prequel to this blog. What do YOU think? Want to read about me watching TV, listening to music, reading books and going to movies as a Freshman and a Sophomore, too? Let me know, please.


In yet another coincidence across the years, I've spent today with a headache and really bad back pain!


Odd that I didn't mention it but November 4th was my friend Terry's birthday. In 2011, I wished him  a happy one earlier today on the phone. It's also my wife's birthday! Her 50th!


You know the end of the year is getting near when the song that was about to hit number one on the charts actually would end up remaining at the top right into 1977! A big year for Rod Stewart. 

Wednesday, November 3rd, 1976

Busy lunchtime with a lot I wish hadn't happened. Mona was there. Almost blew my secret inadvertently.

Skipped the first bus and Cincy. The TANK tax is out! Big news!

Learned tonight of a big Beatles show coming to the Emery Theater. Looks like about an 80% chance I'll get to go. November 11-14th!

NOTES: The "big BEATLES show" was BEATLEMANIA, fresh from its New York run. It was a multimedia show in which four men appear live as the Fabs at various stages of their career performing live on stage while film clips detail the backdrop of the sixties all around them. Many called it a rip-off but I did get to see it and I called it pretty darn groovy!

Tuesday, November 2nd, 1976

Election Day. For the first time it's kind of exciting. Carter won!

Got my hair cut. Badly. Hope it grows back quick. It's still somewhat "up" but just doesn't work.

Cleaned and rearranged my room. Again.

Finally wrote Yoshiko and also the CR Shop.

Saw Bill Bixby and "Debbie" lookalike wife on DINAH.

Watched unseen BRADY BUNCH and Clint's first big hit tonight instead of the actual election coverage.

NOTES: I had spent all my life going to barbers but a year or so before this I started going to "hairdressers" in an effort to look at least a little more modern. These guys with their fluffy hair and porn star mustaches taught me to use blowdryers and brushes and treat my hair right...for what little time it had left before it started thinning. 


Bill Bixby, star of MY FAVORITE MARTIAN and COURTSHIP OF EDDIE'S FATHER, had been a favorite for most of my life. He was married to a woman named Brenda Benet who was very cute but looked absolutely nothing like Debbie although I seemed that day to have thought there was a resemblance. Sadly, Ms. Benet would take her own life just a few years later after the death of her child.


As for the election, yeah, it was kind of exciting. Not exciting enough to actually watch the coverage, mind you! I liked Carter, though. Still do. I think part of the issue with his generally ineffective presidency was that he was too honest. Too good for the job, really. It's easy to admore everything he's done since, however.


When Jimmy took office a couple of months later, the newspaper featured a surprise editorial cartoon (above) by Selby Kelly, widow of POGO's Walt Kelly, in which the Okefenokee Players congratulated a fellow Georgia boy for getting elected. 

 

Monday, November 1st, 1976

Off school today! Paper arrived by 1 for a change. Despite being really down again lately, I felt really optimistic this afternoon. Extremely optimistic in fact about virtually everything.

Saw previews for THE ENFORCER. Looks great!

I took clothes in for Dad, mail for Mom and SS cans as I went to Cincy. Dropped the new SEX IN FILMS book and got HIGH SOCIETY mag instead. IT. Twice.

Saw a previously missed HAPPY DAYS.

NOTES: From a fairly young age, my dad had me dropping off and picking up his suits and clothes from the laundry or the dry cleaner. In the late sixties, there was an old-fashioned Chinese laundry right down the street from my barber. It was hot and steamy and a very large Asian gentleman who seemed to speak little English would come out of the back wearing silk clothes and sweating profusely! He scared me. That closed by the early seventies, though, but there was no shortage of laundries around town and the dry cleaners were a block away on one side and down by the last bus stop over the river on the other. 


Mom often had me drop off mail as I went also. She wrote a lot of letters to relatives and old friends.


The trailer for THE ENFORCER did look good but I wasn't thrilled when I eventually saw the movie. The first two films had been favorites of mine and re-introduced me to Clint Eastwood after I had been a RAWHIDE fan as a child. Seemed a different character in this one and it just got worse in the next one. Still like those first two, though.