Sunday, Oct. 24th, 1076

Elton and Kiki on WONDERAMA this morning.

Went ti see the great movie THE FRONT this afternoon and picked up the new JLA.

Depressed later in the afternoon but we ate early and went back over the river at 7:15 to see the show. It started late but we saw all but Ben Vereen who didn't show. Fabulous! Especially Wayne Newton, Roy Clark and, of all things, Enzo Stuarti!

NOTES: Damn! My 4 lines rule meant I couldn't say much about the Bob Hope Show! Luckily I wrote no less than 2 pages about it in my SCHOOL Journal two days later...and here it is now:


Every year Bob Hope comes to town to get money for a favorite local charity, The Bob Hope House. This year, in an attempt to get enough money to burn the mortgage on the house, the great comedian decided against his usual golf tournament in favor of a concert with himself and some of his famous friends. Scheduled to be a two hour event, the extravaganza started almost half an hour late and lasted 4 hours!


First Bob Braun, probably our most well-known local entertainer, sang and joked for about ten minutes as singer Lynn Anderson had missed a flight and was forced to get a ride down in the rain from Columbus!


The first major performance of the evening came as operatic singer Enzo Stuarti treated the vast audience to a medley from MAN OF LA MANCHA, THE BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC and an aria from PAGLIACCI and met with probably the mist unexpected triumph of the evening! The crowd loved him!


During his performance, Miss anderson apparently arrived as she appeared next on stage. She wore a thin, yellow, flowing gown and did several popular songs, ending with her signature ROSE GARDEN.


Following this was a long and elaborate concert put on by former country music "Entertainer of the Year" Roy Clark. Backed up by several back-up vocalists and and a full band, he ran through a gamut of country to pop to masterful instrumentals, all aided immensely by Roy's great wit. He got a standing ovation.


Then the great Pearl Bailey came onto the stage sharing songs and lightly comedic stories and even some fast dancing! We in the audience heartily approved of the antics of the woman known as Pearlie Mae and gave her the next standing ovation of the evening!


After a brief intermission, Bob Braun returned to finally introduce, "the funniest man in the world," Bob Hope! Here was what the crowded Coliseum had been waiting for and he immediately got his standing ovation just for being there! Launching directly into first a song and then his customary monologue, Bob left no doubt as to who the real star was on this star-studded program!


He brought out Miss America (Dorothy Benham) and then Reds catcher Johnny Bench to do one song each. Then he brought on Wayne Newton.


Wayne Newton is unquestionably an entertainer. He knew just what the audience wanted and gave it to them in spades! As he sang and joked, the stage was constantly bombarded by girls of all ages trying just to touch his hand. It was reminiscent of an Elvis concert. Keeping the stage for much longer than his supposedly allotted twenty minutes, Newton sang his hits and favorite songs and played at least three musical instruments! While catching his breath between high-energy numbers, he also joked and told stories until nearly 11:30 PM!


When Bob Hope took the stage again, it was for a song and dance with his wife who had been in the audience. Then, right at midnight, they burned the mortgage onstage! 


The event was touted in newspapers the next day as the single biggest show to ever perform in Cincinnati and said to be a part of history in the making! It may not be the biggest show for long, though, as Hope has promised to return again next year...with Perry Como and Bing Crosby!


And return he did--see the ad above. Twice more, in fact, before returning to the golf tournament format in 1979. Sadly Crosby died the following year but Como did come in '78! Other guests in the following two years included Mark Hamill (fresh from STAR WARS), Joey Heatherton, Silent film star Buddy Rogers (!), Glenn Campbell, Teresa Brewer, Minnie Pearl, Jane Russell, Gordon MaCrae and Nick Clooney. 

Saturday, Oct. 23rd, 1976

Up real early. Started the day with IT. Then saw GLENN'S DEN and got the paper by 8. Snow this morning (!) and then rain the rest of the day!

Finally picked up a copy of SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES for my book review. Also got the HOWARD THE DUCK TREASURY.

Finally read the Jimmy Carter interview. Last debate aired last night.

Went to see CAR WASH but didn't get the free T-shirt. Ordered 7 undergrounds.

Watched Roy on HEE HAW before seeing him in person tomorrow night--also PLAYBOY's Misty Rowe on HEE HAW, too!

NOTES: GLENN'S DEN was another short-lived local series featuring longtime Cincinnati TV fixture Glenn "Skipper" Ryle--children's show host, game show host, announcer, weatherman and talk show sidekick.


CAR WASH was a funny urban ensemble comedy with a very successful funk soundtrack. I think I was the only white viewer in the theater that day. It was the first time I had ever seen Bill Duke who went on to become one of my favorite film directors. I exchanged a couple emails with him a few years ago. It also featured glorified cameos from Richard Pryor and George Carlin. Apparently there was supposed to be a free t-shirt but I got there too late.


The HOWARD THE DUCK TREASURY was an oversized--literally--comic reprinting the character's first appearances along with an all-new story. 


SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES was, at the time, one of Ray Bradbury's few full-length novels and even it was based on a short story! It would become and remains a favorite book.

Friday, Oct 22nd, 1976

Lots of publicity for the Hope show.

The school band played in a parade today and I passed a Spanish test.

Met Mona twice today and I'm starting to hope that becomes a habit.

I think I saw Barry (Binkley) and tonight I learned that Cheryl and Bob are no longer "living in sin."

I got to SS real early tonight.

NOTES: I have to admit that it's odd my spooky memory can recall so much and yet other things I read here seem totally foreign to me. For example, I don't have a clue who Barry Binkley was/is nor who Cheryl and Bob were. If I found out about them that night then it seems like it wouldn't have been  school-related. I knew a couple of Cheryls in school but I don't recall any Bob's during he high school years. No clue. 


Also, I don't recall why I was so interested in noting the band playing in the parade. I wasn't in the band nor did I know anyone who was. 


I was really getting excited about the Bob Hope Show as it got closer.


If only I had known about Mona...


If I got to SS early, then I was probably back in time to watch my Friday night shows which, at this point, included DONNY & MARIE, THE ROCKFORD FILES and David Birney as a sanitized version of SERPICO, played by Al Pacino on the big screen. It only ran one season.

Thursday, Oct 21st, 1976

Good and bad both today. Sheff for Homeroom.

Several of the new TV shows canceled already!

My coat zipper and my shirt got stuck until I got to school where I had to rip it loose. Tore the zipper good. Dad gave me his jacket when he got home.

Got Mona's picture when she came to see me in Study Hall at lunch. Beautiful!

I had to stand on the bus home.

Reds won the series tonight and I went to bed early!

NOTES: Yes, this was four lines in the actual Journal. I've decided to separate them here for clarity going forward.


Apparently Mr. Sheff was another teacher. I don't recall him. Sounds like my regular Homeroom teacher was out and he covered for her.


When Mona became an issue later, I would tear her picture into little tiny pieces.


Dad just gave me his jacket. Doesn't sound like a big deal and I didn't treat it like one at the time but ow I find myself doing that kind of thing for my own son and I realize that sometimes it kind of is a big deal. Thanks, Dad.

No idea what shows were canceled on this date but 1976 was teh year that one series in the TV GUIDE FALL PREVIEW ISSUE was cancelled before a single episode aired. SNIP with David Brenner. From Wikipedia: 

Snip (September 30, 1976) 

Comedian David Brenner was slated to star in this sitcom, where he would portray a hairdresser dealing with his ex-wife (Lesley Ann Warren) moving back in with him. Created by James Komack, who had earlier created Chico and the Man and Welcome Back Kotter, Snip appeared to have great potential and was heavily promoted by NBC; however, after seven episodes were written and five were filmed, the network decided to pull the show at the last minute – so abruptly, in fact, that TV Guide still listed the show in its schedule guide. Brenner later stated that he believed the pulling was due to fears of controversy, as one of the supporting characters was openly gay, quipping that apparently "In 1976, there were no gay people in America." The five completed episodes later aired in Australia.

Wednesday, Oct. 20th, 1976

Bad day. Screwy Study Hall mixup. PTA tomorrow.

Series canceled on account of rain tonight. SS worked late so I couldn't go over until late. Got WW at SS.

Saw Chuck Norris on with Bob Barker. Farrah's tits every week on national TV! Wow!

I heard Bob Braun may host Bob Hope's upcoming show and that Crosby and Como may come in '77!

NOTES: Bob Braun was for many years the King of the local Cincinnati talk shows, replacing Ruth Lyons on her retirement. He eventually moved out west to make it as an actor but the only thing I ever saw him in was a very brief role as a newsman in DIE HARD 2. Ironically, his son became the major anchorman in the Cincinnati market in the eighties and remains so today. 


At this point, Bob Barker's sole gig if I recall was his hosting of THE PRICE IS RIGHT. Not sure what the now iconic Norris would have been doing on that game show unless it was simply plugging his then -new film star career.


No idea what "WW" refers to but whatever it is, I got it at the Social Security Office that night I guess.


Sorry about the Farrah remark. Seriously, I know I was 17 but I don't recall being that shallow! At some point, I even stopped being a breast man all together. Maybe it was after seeing Morganna, Baseball's "Kissing Bandit" up close in 1981. Once you've seen HER topless, nothing else could compare. 

Tuesday, Oct. 19th, 1976

New system. Only 4 lines per day. Graded papers for Mr Shoe, 6th. Had to write an ad in Comp. Funny because I had just posted my two HORIZONS ads. Got in trouble with "SEX."New chick in Gov. Vicky something. Fire drill at lunch. (Illegible) co-ed PE. Dad brought home ten comic books, most only fair but I'm still reading them. Series continued tonight on TV and I was stuck alone since I didn't watch it.

NOTES: At this point, I seem to have realized that if I continued just writing willy-nilly I would run out of journal before I ran out of year. Thus my self-imposed 4 lines limit. I would break it occasionally but not by much for the remainder of the year. 


The SEX poster was quickly pulled from the hallway where I had placed it and I received a call to come to the office. The poster read "SEX!" in gigantic letters and showed a not-so-great drawing of a sexy babe by me. In smaller print it said, "Now that I have your attention, It's time to order this year's HORIZONS." I think I stole it from an ad in TBG. I thought it was clever! The school authorities disagreed. I defended it, pointing out that there was literally NOTHING explicit about it other than the barest (pardon the pun) hint of cleavage. No matter. It had been taken down and already ripped up by the time I got there. I was given a warning NOT to be clever like that again. No one complained about my CLOWN poster...but I bet it didn't get as many students' attention, either!


No idea what the bit was with the co-ed PE. Mayhap I was excited that girls in gym clothes had gotten called out on the fire drill? After all, I was seventeen, remember. Didn't take much to excite me. 


No memory of Vicky at all. 


The "series" was the Reds in the Playoffs again.


Apparently this was one of the times my dad "salvaged" some of the trash they normally incinerated at the Post Office...in this case comics! The fact that I knew he could get in big trouble for it made the gesture all the more meaningful. Thanks, Dad!


While all this was going on, the venerable band Chicago displaced DISCO DUCK at the top of the charts with an uncharacteristic love ballad IF YOU LEAVE ME NOW sung by Peter Cetera. A taste of things to come for them.

Monday, Oct 18th, 1976

Last time I'll ever believe astrology. Today was a very good day after all! Forgot to take the posters, though. No Spanish class today. Never did hear why exactly.

Sat next to Mona in Study Hall and on receipt of my senior picture, she gave me some nice compliments! I  wrote a poetic inscription on the reverse.

Got the new TBG already. As usual, some good ads.

Leonard Nimoy was on with Daryl and Toni tonight and Roger Moore was Sherlock Holmes in New York.

I taped part of SWEET YOUNG THING.

NOTES: Dating back to the early seventies, I used to record songs from TV and radio, originally on a reel to reel recorder but by this point on a cassette recorder. 


Daryl and Toni were THE CAPTAIN & TENNILLE. No recollection of why Nimoy appeared on their variety hour on this date.


With my Sherlock Holmes obsession at its height throughout this year, it was very accommodating of film producers and authors to continue feeding my interests. SHERLOCK HOLMES IN NEW YORK featured "James Bond" as the great consulting detective. Outside of that seeming stunt-casting, the rest of the cast was impressive including THE AVENGERS' Patrick Macnee as Watson, legendary director John Huston as Moriarty and Charlotte Rampling, then quite the hot property, as Irene Adler. Although looking nothing like the classic image of Holmes, Moore was actually quite good in the lead, also!


As far as the astrologer, there would be another incident a few years later in 1981 where celebrity astrologer/actress Joyce Jillson (SUPERCHICK) told me a day that would be my luckiest day of the year...and I ended up in the hospital that day for the first time in my entire life. With kidney stones!

Sunday Oct 17th, 1976

Tomorrow will be a bad day. Two months ago an astrologer told me so. Good day today, though.

I spent the entire afternoon finishing up the two HORIZONS posters--CLOWN and SEX. I'm planning to leave them home until Tuesday.

Paper was very late but we finally got it. And it had VERA VALIANT, VERA VALIANT by Stan Lee and Frank Springer!

I called Terry finally.

Mom went shopping again and brought me back some new slippers, two footlong hot dogs from Dairy Queen, the INSIDE STAR TREK album and, bonus, a new 5 band radio!

Steffie turned up for the first time lately with Bill Cosby. It was great!

NOTES: "Steffie" was, of course, Stefanie Powers, one of my permanent crushes. Not sure now why she would have been on COS.


VERA VALIANT, VERA VALIANT was the name it was given in THE CINCINNATI ENQUIRER, a riff on MARY HARTMAN, MARY HARTMAN. In reality, the strip, a rip-off of the style of that show, was entitled THE VIRTUE OF VERA VALIANT. It didn't last very long in the local papers but it lasted long enough overall for a paperback collection. 


The HORIZONS posters were my first attempt at such design-oriented art. I spent a lot of time at the kitchen table drawing and coloring them on mid-size poster paper. CLOWN featured a smiling, very traditional clown with his arm sticking out across the poster and the letters of the name HORIZONS rolling across it. SEX featured a lovely scantily-clad blonde (that I probably copied from a dirty mag) with the word itself, "SEX," in gigantic letters. In smaller print, it said, "Now that I've got our attention, it's time to order HORIZONS."That one would prove to be controversial.


It's cool that I was excited about a 5 band radio. It's sad that I don't even recall exactly what that was at this late stage. 

Saturday, Oct 16th, 1976

I'm 80% sure Dad saw that X-rated TARZAN flick when he was off last Monday because he referred today to a Tarzan movie when he couldn't possibly have seen the one on TV last weekend.

Mike Nesmith and the Carole King duo wrote SWEET YOUNG THING which I finally heard today.

I outlined two HORIZONS posters this afternoon.

Bad vibes between me and Mom all day. She got me a new scrapbook and new pajamas while out shopping though.

Finally got TBG and learned that THE SPIRIT has been cancelled, Gerber is still writing HOWARD THE DUCK and National has officially changed its name to DC (and it seems to be improving). Also learned Stan Lee will write a Spidey newspaper strip.

Got Wendys for dinner tonight and a new book on television heroes.

Stayed up and saw Karen Black's baby Hunter attempting to disrobe her on live TV on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE!

NOTES: No idea what that book on TV heroes would have been. 


The SPIDER-MAN newspaper strip would debut soon by Lee and Romita. It was gorgeous and fun for the first few years and I clipped them all out and pasted them in a scrapbook. After Romita left, it strated going downhill. The strip is still going although it appears in very few papers and is nowadays considered a bit of a joke as a few seconds of storytime seems to take 2 weeks to tell. 


I find it hard to believe I had never heard the Monkees song, SWEET YOUNG THING, prior to this date. In fact, it's been a favorite of mine for as long as I can recall. Still...why would I have made it up?


The X-rated TARZAN movie was probably the animated SHAME OF THE JUNGLE from 1975 which appeared briefly on local screens. It actually wasn't horrible but its English translation is best-remembered---if at all--for featuring the voices of many SNL actors including Bill Murray and John Belushi (not JAMES Belushi as that DVD box cover says). I wouldn't catch it until years later on cable. It's possible there was some live-action X-rated TARZAN around at the time that I've totally forgotten.

Friday, Oct 15th, 1976

I suppose you'd have to call this a bad day.

Finally talked with Marie for the first time in ages. Says she wants one of my senior pics for some reason.

Over the river after school and few new books were out.

Not much on TV tonight except presidential debates and boxing.

Yep. Bad day.

NOTES: Bad day? Sounds kinda dull but bad? Hmmm...


I really did enjoy talking with Marie before her mental illness became apparent. We even spoke of getting together away from school sometimes but we never did. I remember we talked later in the year about going to see the Dario Argento horror film SUSPIRIA. Not a date. We just both liked horror films. She always made it clear in no uncertain terms she had a boyfriend...although in retrospect i think she was lying.


Sadly, the number one song on this "bad day" wouldn't have made it any better. DISCO DUCK by Rick Dees and his Band of Idiots. This novelty disco song was one of the worst of the whole Disco Era. Dees had been a disc jockey and, in fact, was married to Julie McWhirter, a wonderful voice actress and mimic who made quite a few TV appearances in the seventies. In the eighties, I actually got an autographed pic of her.

Thursday, Oct 14th, 1976

I heard today we get out of school for election day coming up. Slow day today.

Unusual evening that allowed me to catch STAR TREK.

Really liking Miss November. Almost unintentional IT but for once I wasn't ashamed of it in the least. Got to read all the rest of the mag except for the Carter interview, Want to read that all at once. Despite a rather strange brand of paper, I'm now more anxious than ever to start my collection.

We went outside again in Comp but some (girls) stayed in this time. I don't get it.

Got the WORLD'S FINEST issue of FLASHBACK in the mail but still no sign of this week's TBG.


NOTES: I really lived for that weekly TBG! In those pre-Internet days, it featured comics, movie and TV news faster than anything else we had. Also, it was my sole regular connection to fandom with all of the ads for fanzines, small press comics, comix and, of course, interviews with creators old and new.


FLASHBACK, as I mentioned before, was a series of inexpensive black and white facsimile reprints of Golden Age comics that I would never be able to afford.  


PLAYBOY was in an odd place in the mid-seventies, at once appealing to the conservative yuppie-types it had always courted and yet really trying to meet the younger generation on its own terms. This created what I thought was the best years of the magazine and this issue remains memorable. I never did get it for very long and I ended up keeping only 3 issues--the one with John Lennon's final interview, the one with Farrah Fawcett...and this one, with Jimmy Carter, Misty Rowe and...Miss November.

Wednesday, Oct 13th, 1976

Fair day despite lots of bad luck. Wednesday Study Hall moved downstairs. (Illegible) a Barbi Benton song in home room!

Speaking of Barbi, when no comics were out today, I bought the controversial Jimmy Carter issue of PLAYBOY. Has a nude section on another HEE HAW girl, Misty Rowe. Still no Kurtzman and Elder. I also got Dad a World Series book.

WONDER WOMAN returned tonight and ANGELS was on after all.

Dad made me so mad when he told me they were always tearing up records and throwing them away at work. Please, please, please let me get mine!

NOTES: That issue of PLAYBOY was actually the first I ever actually bought and none of the few I had looked through had ever had LITTLE ANNIE FANNY, the painted comic strip from Harvey Kurtzman and Will Elder of early MAD fame. Thus my frustration that this one didn't either. In spite of the distractions in the rest of the issue, I actually did read the Jimmy Carter interview in which he spoke of "lusting in his heart."


My dad, as I've mentioned before, was working at the Post Office as a janitor. Anything that lost its address...even if it had money in it!...they had to destroy! Not sure that was legal but...


What really strikes me about this entry, though, is the casual comment that "WONDER WOMAN
returned tonight." That particular episode was entitled "Beauty On Parade" and featured actress Christa Helm in what would prove to be her most memorable role before her murder just four months later. A few years ago, I ended up almost inadvertently becoming a part of the cold case effort to solve Christa Helm's murder. For all the details of THAT fascinating story, go HERE.