Examining the Weird Bizarro World of Mr. and Mrs. J. Evil Scientist

This being the internet, several other folks have already posted online regarding
Mr. and Mrs. J. Evil Scientist, a curious little footnote in the history of comic books and
animated cartoons. I figure I'll take a turn anyway...

One interesting facet about J. Evil Scientist and his family was that the characters were one of the few Hanna-Barbera properties to appear in their own comic book without ever having had a series of cartoons devoted to them.

Gold Key Comics (who published many
Hanna-Barbera cartoon-based comics in the '60's) printed only four issues of the title, releasing one a year just prior to Halloween from 1963 to 1966.

Looking back on the mid-1960's, the ghoulish clan fit right in with assorted monster crazes and popular creepy families like the Addamses and the Munsters on TV.


(◀ Cover to issue #3, 1965.
A couple of excerpted story pages from this issue follow below.)



As the mining of hit sitcoms for animated series scenarios was a tried-and-true method for Hanna-Barbera, it would be natural to assume that had been a key to the creation of 'the Scientists'.

In fact, the characters' history in cartoons and in comics predates those television comedies.
Their origins go back to 1960, when the characters began as 'supporting players' to established H-B stars in a few various 'tryouts' (or pilots) for their own series.

Though unnamed in the cartoon, Mr. and Mrs.
J. Evil Scientist and their son, Junior made their first appearance in a
7-minute animated Snooper & Blabber cartoon,
'Surprised Party', which (according to The
Big Cartoon Database) premiered on TV's
Quick Draw McGraw Show on December 3rd, 1960.

This was shortly followed by another 'guest appearance', opposite Snagglepuss in
'Fraidy Cat Lion', which had its premiere on The Yogi Bear Show on February 20th, 1961.

(See video clips at the end of this post!)

In those days, the most likely influence for the creation of the
'J. Evil Scientist' characters would have been the pre-TV
'Addams Family' seen for many years in the Charles Addams
one-panel cartoons that ran in the New Yorker.







Mr. and Mrs. Scientist would turn up a few times in Gold Key-published Hanna-Barbera comic books as supporting characters or as a back-up feature, but in April of 1963 they had their 'official' comics debut in the anthology 'Hanna-Barbera Band-Wagon', ▶
issue #3.

The first issue of their own title appeared just a few months later. ▼













Given that the earlier comics pre-date 'The Munsters' and such on TV, I wonder if part of the 'Scientist' formula had perhaps come from the 'Bizarro' stories running in various Superman comics in those days.

Some of the backward 'good=bad' / 'pretty=ugly' machinations seem similar, though maybe this
over-estimates the popularity and influence the Bizarro World may have had at the time.


(From issue #1, interior page below ▼ ganked from Uncle Ernie's Creature Ink)













































Although their characters may have pre-dated the proliferation of monster-family TV sitcoms, certainly by the second or third issue of 'The Weird World of Mr. and Mrs. J. Evil Scientist' Hanna-Barbera had caught up to the bandwagon.

The strongest evidence would come in 1964 with the morphing of J. Evil and his crew into
The Flintstone's new neighbors, the Gruesomes.

That the Gruesomes looked slightly less reminiscent of The Addams Family could only work in H-B's favor.

(Cover to issue #2, 1964. ▶
A small excerpt from this issue follows below.)

Adding insult to injury in the demise of the
J. Evil Scientist franchise was Gold Key Comics spinning the concept into their own
non-Hanna-Barbera-owned property,
Little Monsters, a comic book which ran
from 1964 to 1978.










See also:
- An entry at Scott Shaw's
Oddball Comics regarding
'J. Evil Scientist' #1.

Scott identifies the issue's artwork as being by Pete Alvarado and fellow Gold Key workhorse Dick Hall.

- Comics creator Jay Stephens loves him some J. Evil Scientist, but as of this writing a couple of related posts archived at his Monsterama blog are missing their image links.
Perhaps that will change.

































- As previously referenced, here's a couple of video clips featuring early cartoon appearances of the
J. Evil Scientist family.
(Catch 'em
while you can)

Below, ▼ Snagglepuss in 'Fraidy-Cat Lion'



- - followed by ▼ Snooper & Blabber in 'Surprised Party'

'Making The Most of a Maxim': Joanna Pettet and Severn Darden photo spread, 1963

Below, ▼ four black & white shots by award-winning photographer Dan Wynn put an off-kilter spin on four musty old adages in a 'Screen Test' feature that ran originally in the January, 1963 issue of
Show magazine.

The featured players were (then) up-and-coming actors Severn Darden and Joanna Pettet.

(Click on images to ENLARGE in a new window, and to make the most of those maxims)







































(Click on images ▲ to ENLARGE in a new window, and to make the most of those maxims)

Here's the text that accompanied those images in 1963:

Miss Pettet was born in London 19 years ago and started taking acting lessons at the age of 14 to overcome shyness. That the treatment was a success is obvious now, five years later, in the spirit and insouciance she has brought before the camera.
More recently she studied acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York, and her credits include theater and TV stints in Canada and a summer at the White Barn Theater in Irwin, Pennsylvania. She is currently playing the ingenue lead in the road company of 'Take Her, She's Mine.'

Mr. Darden hails from Chicago, where he attended the university of the same name and soon became distracted by the provocative activities of the local cabaret theater. He started with the 'Second City' troupe in 1959. He quickly became it's mainstay as well as a rising acting and writing talent in his own right: he is one of the few modern entertainers to do a record on pre-Socratic philosophers-and make it funny.
Lately he has been trying his hand in off-Broadway theater with The Writer's Stage, his most recent appearance as the star of 'P.S.193.'

To furnish the scenario for this month's screen test, Joanna and Severn have uncovered two rare manuscripts from the 1820's entitled 'The American Chesterfield, or 'Way to Wealth, Honour and Distinction' and 'Parlor Amusements and Social Etiquette.'
On these pages we see their own wry 20th Century comments.

Following this magazine appearance, Joanna Pettet would be seen on Broadway in a production of 'Poor Richard', playing opposite Alan Bates and Gene Hackman.
Pettet and Bates were close friends from then on.

Soon after that stage run she was 'discovered' by film director Sidney Lumet, who brought Ms. Pettet into the ensemble cast of 'The Group' in 1966, launching her film career.

Probably it's Joanna Pettet's appearance as Mata Bond in 1967's epic comedy romp/train wreck
'Casino Royale' for which she is most often remembered today, though for some it could be for the several horror films she made during the '70's and '80's, or perhaps her work as a television actress, especially in made-for-TV movies.

IMDb lists 115 film and TV appearances for Severn Darden, running from 1961 to 1989, though it would not be surprising to learn that there were more.

It might be true that Darden (1929 - 1995) is familiar to most people only as 'That Guy'.
- - As in "...Oh, it's that guy. I've seen him lots of times. Like in... oh, what was that thing...?"

Scores of sitcoms and TV dramas of all flavors. A wide variety of films, from most any genre you care to choose.
Often he was cast as a doctor, an academic, or some sort of intellectual, though overall his range of roles was surprisingly varied.

The text from the magazine article mentions Mr. Darden's affiliation with Second City, Chicago's groundbreaking improvisational theater group.

In fact, Darden had also been a member of The Compass Players, the original University of Chicago cabaret revue that ran from
1955 - 1958 and would 'morph' into
Second City in '59.

To read more about Severn Darden's career, click over to a 2007 posting at
Arbogast on Film: 'Too smart for the room'.
It's a glowing remembrance and biographical sketch about a wonderful but
under-appreciated performer.
The piece warranted a nice little follow-up, too.

For a bit more on Severn Darden, see also:

- A 1956 photo of The Compass Players, posted at Shelley Berman's web site. A young and clean shaven Severn sits among fellow cast members including Berman, Barbara Harris, and Mike Nichols and Elaine May.

- You can preview Janet Coleman's book, 'The Compass: The Improvisational Theatre that Revolutionized American Comedy' at Google Book Search

- A transcript of Darden's 1961 'Metaphysics Lecture' from his LP 'The Sound of My Own Voice
(and Other Noises)'.
(When I successfully manage to rescue my record collection from storage, maybe I'll remember to post some audio. Feel free to remind me.)

- A 'famous University of Chicago grads' Severn Darden page (still under construction as of this writing) collects together several other biographical bits & pieces.

But It Was Only A Dream: Pvt. Doberman's Magic Johnny Otis Record

This post relates to a dream I had early this morning.
I awoke from it around dawn, thinking 'What the heck was that?'
I'm still trying to piece it together before it evaporates completely, and I feel compelled to share it with you.

To preface, I've always felt that dreaming is by far the best entertainment value for your money.
I love being able to remember a dream.
I revel in a wild dream, even if it scared the bejeebers out of me.

'Wow, where did that come from?'

It's like being an auteur filmmaker with an unlimited budget and no hassles from the studio.

Despite my love of a vivid dream, I've never had too much interest in dream interpretation.
Sometimes meaning will assert itself, and that's fine - - but otherwise my preference is to let the mystery be and just 'enjoy the show'.

This morning's 'show' was just about literally that, at least at first; The dream presented itself as an old TV sit-com, a strange episode of 'The Phil Silvers Show'.

With at least one vividly-colored exception, what I recall is the dream being in 1950's black and white, complete with laughter from the studio audience.
It included Sgt. Bilko and the rest of his platoon at Fort Baxter, but featured the slovenly, slow-witted and gullible Pvt. Duane Doberman ▼ (as played by Maurice Gosfield).

In the hazy 'plot' of this dream, Doberman is nuts over the new Rock & Roll music on the radio, and specifically he's crazy for the tune
'Willie and the Hand Jive', the latest number from
(R&B pioneer) Johnny Otis. ▼

Doberman begins to cause a stir among his fellow soldiers by constantly singing the song to himself as he goes about his day.

He keeps fudging the lyrics, but belts out the chorus, bellowing - -

"Han' Jive. Han' Jive.
"Han' Jive,
"Doon' That Crazy Han' Jive."

'Hilarity ensues' sit-com-style, as various members of the platoon are driven to distraction by Duane's singing - - telling him to be quiet, trying in vain to correct him on the lyrics of the song, getting in arguments over the lyrics with others, and ultimately finding themselves 'infected' by the hand jive as they themselves begin absent-mindedly singing it, unable to get the tune out of their heads.

The thread of the dream changes gears slightly around this point, with Pvt.Doberman announcing excitedly that he's just seen an advertisement in the back of a comic book for a new 'magic' Johnny Otis record available by mail order.


It's here that details of the dream get fuzzier.

I recall some speculation and doubt from 'cast members' about what a 'magic' Johnny Otis record could be, as well as general disgust with Doberman.

Somehow this leads to a 'Cinderella' situation, where all of the platoon gets to go to some special event except for Dobie, who's been restricted to barracks, likely for some sort of 'hand jive mania' hijinks.

I suppose if this were really a sit-com episode and not a strange dream, the special event would be a Johnny Otis Show concert & dance, perhaps engineered via some Bilko chicanery.
Some further subterfuge would probably then lead to Doberman being snuck out to attend, ending with his being on stage to sing 'Hand Jive' with the band.

As it played out though, the remainder of the dream centered around the magic record.

Doberman is dejected as the others are readying to depart for the special event, leaving him behind in the barracks.

Suddenly, Mail Call. A package for Doberman. It's the Magic Johnny Otis record!

The other soldiers are ready to leave, but hesitate, curious about the record as an elated Duane opens the package and prepares to play the record on a little portable record player.

Okay, here goes.

The record itself looks like a standard 12-inch black vinyl LP, but instead of standard concentric grooves, you can clearly see that at least one side of the record bears some sort of crazy jumble of a criss-crossing pattern etched into the vinyl.

"Dobe, I hate to say it," says one soldier, "- - but I think you got gypped. That nutty thing's never gonna play right."
Doberman replies: "Aw, gee! Maybe that's why it's a Magic Rekkid. Have a little faith, willya?"

There's a moment of silence as Duane places the tonearm on the edge of the record. By now there's a small group of soldiers with him, crowded around the player.

Music begins playing. There's a gasp. "Gee, wouldya look at that..."

Not only is the record player's needle somehow tracking along the maze of etched grooves, moving at odd angles without incident, but as it travels through the groove, it changes the color along that line from the vinyl's black to various different vivid colors.

The men crowd in closer to watch and listen. More colored lines are revealed as the record plays, and it becomes clear that they are beginning to form a picture. Not only that, but the movements and color changes seem to be correlating to changes in the music as it plays.

"Gosh, it's beeyootiful..."

How ANY of this could been seen and interpreted on a disc that's spinning is something I can't explain to you. I can tell you that it worked just fine in the dream.

As the 'witness' of this dream, I know I don't remember the music, except that it didn't sound like any Johnny Otis I've ever heard, and that in the context of the dream it was gorgeous.

My fuzzy recollection of the image on the Magic Record is that the finished product revealed when it finished playing was figurative artwork, but I can't remember what it depicted.

Watching it form was like watching the continuous line of an Etch A Sketch moving quickly in time to music, so I suppose when you add vividly changing colors it's also kinda reminiscent of my iTunes 'Visualizer' gizmo.

- - Though it reminded me more of the elementary school art projects where you'd put a full layer of black india ink over a sheet of paper you'd already scribbled full of rainbow crayon colors, and then scratch designs through the black with some kind of stylus or the sharp end of a pair of scissors.

The end result 'painted' picture on the record gave a feel that was similar to the old
Vogue label picture records ▶
of the late 1940's, but with the angular continuous line in vivid color against black vinyl, I'm more reminded of some of
Jim Flora's artwork.
(see below) ▼

Huh. It was my dream, so I guess it can be an amalgam of all of those things, right?









As for Doberman and the rest of the Bilko crowd in the dream, my feeling is that by consensus the amazing Magic Johnny Otis record exonerated Duane of all of his transgressions, and that made a perfectly fitting end to the dream.

Again, had this nonsense somehow been a 'real' Bilko episode, it would have then ended with Dobie being sprung from the barracks to go rock out with the Johnny Otis Show.

In my dreams, I suppose. (And thanks for indulging me!)

Clyde Crashcup Comics by John Stanley (1964 - 64)

Some recent nostalgia for sixties-era Chipmunks and 'The Alvin Show' cartoon got me jonesing for the misadventures of inventor Clyde Crashcup and his intrepid assistant, Leonardo.

Before long, I'd dug out some of my old, tattered issues of the funnybooks printed by Dell Comics way back when.

The comic book version of Crashcup was created by John Stanley, much-beloved artist and writer of
Little Lulu and so many other characters.

Below are a few tidbits to enjoy...

(clicking on links or images will ENLARGE pages in a new window)






(click on links to open pages in a new window ⬇⬇)

⬅ 'Clyde Crashcup invents The Broom',
from issue #3 (1963)
⬇

(The Broom, page 1)
(The Broom, page 2)
(The Broom, page 3)
(The Broom, page 4)
(The Broom, page 5)
(The Broom, page 6)































































(click on links to open pages in a new window ⬇⬇)

⬅ 'Clyde Crashcup invents Sports',
from issue #4 (1964)
⬇

(Sports, page 1)
(Sports, page 2)
(Sports, page 3)
(Sports, page 4)
(Sports, page 5)
































































(click on links to open pages in a new window ⬇⬇)

⬅ 'Clyde Crashcup invents Hi-Fi',
from issue #5 (1964)
⬇

(Hi-Fi, page 1)
(Hi-Fi, page 2)
(Hi-Fi, page 3)
(Hi-Fi, page 4)
(Hi-Fi, page 5)
(Hi-Fi, page 6)
(Hi-Fi, page 7)
(Hi-Fi, page 8)














See also - -
- A couple of animated Clyde Crashcup episodes available at YouTube:
'Crashcup Invents The Bathtub'
'Crashcup Invents The Ship'

- - and more John Stanley at:
- 'Beatsploitation in Kookie #2', a previous post on this blog

- The Stanley Stories blog!

In Crowd of the month: The Chipmunks (1965)

The Chipmunks have come a long way since their creation by Ross Bagdasarian (a.k.a. Dave Seville) in 1958.

Nah, I can't say I was too excited about
Jason Lee's 'Alvin and the Chipmunks' movie, although from the tiny bit I saw, it's sort of nice to see that the franchise still has a place with kids today.









The modern CG look to Alvin and his posse is a bit of a change from the 1960's animated cartoon look that I grew up with - - which in itself was markedly different than the depiction they'd had on their earliest records, or than the hand puppets that would be seen with Dave Seville on TV in those same early days.

It's the old look and spirit present on this 1965 LP cover ▼ that I miss, though.

I loved 'The Alvin Show' cartoon on TV, and I miss it.

Where's the spiffy DVD release for THAT show, huh?!?
That's what this aging nerd wants to know...

I needs me some
Clyde Crashcup!!

From the LP
'Chipmunks à Go-Go'
(Liberty Records, 1965),
listen to:

The Chipmunks - The "In" Crowd
(click for audio)



See also:
- Follow link to a nice healthy stack of video clips from 'The Alvin Show' at YouTube

- A history of The Chipmunks, written by Ross Bagdasarian, Jr. at his Chipmunks.Com
(requires Flash Player)

- Click here for this entry and all of the previously posted 'Bagdasarian-centric' items on this blog

- Click here for this entry and all the previous 'In Crowd of the month' posts together on one page.

78s fRom HeLL: Lawrence Welk Orchestra, featuring Rocky Rockwell - Good Morning, Mr. Zip, Zip, Zip (1953)

Speaking of Lawrence Welk, here's an old hunk of shellac with a sound much more typical of what we expect from his TV orchestra.

Rocky Rockwell was a trumpet player in the Welk band, and appeared as a regular on the TV show from 1950 to 1962, often providing vocals on novelty or light-hearted tunes.

The origins of 'Good Morning, Mr. Zip, Zip, Zip' are as a morale-raising popular song during World War I, written in 1918.

Over the years (and with slightly altered lyrics) it was familiar to many as a campfire song, or Boy Scouts hiking song.

Just like 'Camels', the 'Fatimas' lyric refers to a brand of cigarettes.

Listen to:
Lawrence Welk and his Champagne Music, vocal by Rocky Rockwell -
Good Morning, Mr. Zip, Zip, Zip
(Coral Records 78, 1953)

(click for audio)














See also:
Follow the link to YouTube
for a grainy B&W video clip from the mid-'50's presenting Rocky on The Welk Show performing his signature tune with the band,
'I Love Girls'

Dick Shawn photo profile from LOOK Magazine, 1954

Actor / Comedian Dick Shawn was a pretty sensational performer, especially for someone who seemed to often 'fly under the radar' in his professional career.

He'll never be forgotten for his small turn as 'LSD' in 1968's 'The Producers', though personally I'd have to say I'm partial to his appearance as beach bum Sylvester Marcus in the second act of '63's 'It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World'.

This small photo-article ran in the October 19th, 1954 issue of LOOK Magazine, as Shawn's
one-man cabaret stage act was leading him to bigger appearances on television.

(click on images to ENLARGE to readability in a new window)












































Over the years there have been anecdotes told about Dick Shawn by Mel Brooks and others that worked with him.

More often than not they'd illustrate his versatility, quick inventiveness,
off-beat humor and how he could be both stunningly charming and winningly tasteless, sometimes in the same breath.

He worked fairly regularly in film and TV, though only a handful of those appearances seemed to stand out.

Shawn's real passion was for nightclub performances.
His one-man stage act combined
stand-up with singing and dancing, and he kept up a steady run of appearances throughout the 30+ years of his career.

⬅ (click on images to ENLARGE to readability in a new window)

Much has been written about
Dick Shawn's demise, but it's such a perfectly fitting performer's exit that it bears repeating...

Performing at U.C. San Diego on
April 17, 1987, he was in the middle of doing a routine about nuclear war.

"...He was his manic self as he began to imagine the holocaust. Nobody would survive, he explained, except the audience in the little sheltered theater.
Then he shouted, 'And I would be your leader!'" ǂǂ

He fell forward, flat onto his face.
He lay there while the audience's laughter slowly subsided and turned to uneasy silence, wondering if this was part of the act.

It was no act.
Dick Shawn had suffered a massive heart attack and died on stage.
He was 62.

In writing about Dick Shawn's death, New York Post columnist Cindy Adams recounted what the comedian had once said about always trying to find the right audiences for his brand of comedy - - "I can't work places like Vegas or the Catskills where people are belching. Maybe I belong in colleges. At least if I die, I die in front of intelligent people who know what I'm talking about."

Another quote from Shawn in reference to performance - - "I think of my relationship with any audience as a love affair. It lasts only a little while but I always look forward to a happy ending. For both of us."










Below, ⬇ Dick Shawn in action - - From 1967, a clip from the CBS Summer replacement variety show, 'Our Place' (with regulars Rowlf The Dog and Burns & Schreiber).

78s fRom HeLL: Grandpa Jones - Call Me Darling Once Again (circa 1947)

Louis Marshall "Grandpa" Jones (1913 - 1998) had been using that 'Grandpa' persona for decades before he truly aged into the role, and a huge chunk of those years were prior to the existence of the syndicated TV phenomena 'Hee Haw'.

He began performing country music, bluegrass, old-time rural ballads and gospel tunes live on regional radio in the mid-1930's, when he was in his early twenties.

His character of the ornery old cuss with a funny tale to tell and a song to play developed soon after.

Jones' career-long association with Nashville's Grand Ole Opry began
in 1946. He was a regular on 'Hee Haw' from its inception in 1969, and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1978.

Though often known for his hot-pickin' rompin' & stompin' numbers like 'Mountain Dew' and 'Old Rattler', it's my personal opinion that Grandpa Jones was truly at his best performing sweet and sentimental tunes like 1958's 'Falling Leaves' (my favorite of his thus far), or the 78 side presented here, the B-side of 'Alimony Trouble'.





(click on images to ENLARGE)



Above ⬆ two images are from 'The Hee Haw Family Scrapbook', published in 1979.

Listen to:
Grandpa Jones -
Call Me Darling Once Again
(King 78, circa 1947)

(click for audio)










Below: ⬇ A 1950's performance of 'Eight More Miles To Louisville'

For more Grandpa Jones, see also:

- Bio Page entries at AllMusic.Com and CMT.Com

- Discography at Hillbilly Music.Com

- 'Search results' reveal several other archived musical performance video clips over at YouTube