SPEED SPAULDING COLLECTION FROM FAMOUS FUNNIES (Golden Age Reprints)

SPEED SPAULDING COLLECTION FROM FAMOUS FUNNIES (Golden Age Reprints)

    Speed Spaulding is the perfect hero for a 1930’s or early 1940’s B-movie or serial or comic book—a former college football star, a former championship boxer, a man who is knowledgeable in many fields, a handsome and athletic blonde who is attractive to the ladies (but is devoted to his main squeeze), a quick wit with a self-deprecating charm. I can easily imagine the late 30’s Buster Crabbe or Kane Richmond playing him on screen.

    FAMOUS FUNNIES ran from 1934 through 1955, putting out 218 (!!!) issues in that time. It’s considered a pioneering comic book, and while not the first comic book, is one of the first publications to resemble what we’d today consider the classic comic book form. Much of its content consisted of republished comic strips, which had appeared in newspapers and then pretty much vanished unless someone clipped the strips and collected them. Famous Funnies founder Maxwell C. Gaines (whose son was William Gaines of Mad Magazine and EC Comics fame!) felt that those old discarded strips still had secondary value and that people would pay to read them—Famous Funnies then took off, but unfortunately Gaines was ousted from it by the publisher, Eastern Color Printing (he later had a lot of success doing the same kind of thing elsewhere, so he probably had the last laugh). Famous Funnies DID have some original content, not just reprints of strips, and when I got this SPEED SPAULDING collection, I first assumed that it was an original creation (Golden Age Reprints books have no information in them about the source of the material and no introductory essays—you’re on your own!). Liking the book a lot, I decided to review it, and then did some online research, which has turned out to be like peeling away the layers of an onion. Yes, it is based on an obscure strip, which had both a daily (see the B&W pic of sample) and a Sunday (see the color pic of an excerpt of a Sunday page) version….but both of these were an adaptation of a science fiction novel, WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE, and the credited “authors” of the strip are the authors of the novel. Art is credited to Marvin Bradley, who later worked for many years on the well-known strip REX MORGAN, M.D., which still runs today in many newspapers. Because the comics in the book under review are in color, I presume they are Sunday strips, which were somehow re-edited or re-contextualized for the comic book page.

  The novel WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE was made into a classic science fiction film in 1951, produced by George Pal. This strip has less to do with the source novel than the film does, beyond taking the general premise….about two distant bodies in space which are headed to crash into and destroy earth…and weaving it into an overall plot which at any time has 3 or 4 OTHER subplots running. It’s kind of like WHILE Speed Spaulding is posing as a boxer or fighting organized crime or having relationship issues with his girlfriend or helping the State Department or whatever, there is the thread of a plot about his girlfriend’s father, who is a scientist, having discovered that the worlds will collide and trying to figure out some way to keep the event from happening.

 What I like so much about the SPEED SPAULDING comics is that they contain pretty much everything one would want in a 30’s/40’s action movie serial or comic book: gangsters, aviation thrills, brawls-a-plenty, intrigue in exotic foreign lands, all held together by the bizarre science fiction premise of the world potentially ending from this interplanetary collision, and with the usual B-movie/comic-book thugs and  clichéd foreign agents trying to get in the way of the heroes. I’m reminded of those late-period Republic serials where some alien takeover is planned, and the entire invasion force consists of three or four fedora-wearing, dark-suited gangster types working for the alien powers and using such advanced interplanetary methods as fistfights and revolvers and running cars off highways to help conquer the earth! Also, as the newspaper comic strips appeared in 1940 and 1941 (and the Famous Funnies version came soon after that), right before the American entry into WWII, you can be sure that there are a number of faux-Japanese and vaguely Germanic villains and flunkies to liven up the proceedings. This reprint ends with the final installment of the comic strip, which kind of leaves a lot up in the air….or does it? I’m not going to be a spoiler—you read for yourself and decide.

    Golden Age Reprints offers an attractive printed collection of the SPEED SPAULDING comics from FAMOUS FUNNNIES, but they are also available for free online (as they are in the public domain) at comicbookplus.com—-the earliest issue of FAMOUS I see Speed listed in is issue #71, and the latest issue is #86, so you could just do a search for FAMOUS FUNNIES on the comicbookplus website and read them for free, if you’d like. You’ll be glad you did….

BILL SHUTE, originally published elsewhere online in 2018

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Be sure to pick up a copy of my newest poetry book…

STATIC STRUT by Bill Shute

KSE #421, 125 pages, 6″ x 9″ perfect bound, softcover, $6.95 cover price

published 2 January 2024

available for immediate order in the USA from https://amzn.to/48GeYC5

V.A.—Ann Arbor Blues Festival 1969, Volumes 1 & 2 (Third Man), two 2-LP sets

ANN ARBOR BLUES FESTIVAL 1969 LP Vol. 1

1. Roosevelt Sykes – Dirty Mother For You
2. Arthur ‘Big Boy’ Crudup – So Glad You’re Mine
3. J.B. Hutto & His Hawks – Too Much Alcohol
4. Jimmy “Fast Fingers” Dawkins – I Wonder Why
5. Junior Wells – Help Me (A Tribute To Sonny Boy Williamson)
6. B.B. King with Sonny Freeman And The Unusuals – I’ve Got A Mind To Give Up Living
7. Mississippi Fred McDowell – John Henry
8. Pinetop Perkins – Pinetop’s Boogie Woogie
9. Big Bill Hill – Introduction
10. Luther Allison And The Blue Nebulae – Everybody Must Suffer/Stone Crazy
11. Clifton Chenier – Tu M’as Promise L’amour (You Promised Me Love)
12. The Original Howlin’ Wolf And His Orchestra – Hard Luck
13. Otis Rush – So Many Roads, So Many Trains *

• Recorded April 12, 1970 at Hill Auditorium, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor

ANN ARBOR BLUES FESTIVAL 1969 LP Vol. 2

1. Muddy Waters – Long Distance Call
2. Charlie Musselwhite – Movin’ And Groovin’
3. Magic Sam – I Feel So Good (I Wanna Boogie)
4. Shirley Griffith – Jelly Jelly Blues
5. Big Mojo Elem – Mojo Boogie
6. T-Bone Walker – Call It Stormy Monday (But Tuesday Is Just As Bad)
7. Big Bill Hill – Announcements
8. Big Mama Thornton And The Hound Doggers – Ball And Chain
9. Big Joe Williams – Juanita
10. Sam Lay – Key To The Highway
11. Lightnin’ Hopkins – Mojo Hand
12. James Cotton Blues Band – Off The Wall
13. Son House – Death Letter Blues

V.A.—Ann Arbor Blues Festival 1969, Volumes 1 & 2 (Third Man), two 2-LP sets

     Despite some off-years, the Ann Arbor Blues Festival has been going for 50 years, starting in 1969, which was a historic event, bringing together blues greats from different backgrounds and periods, artists who probably would not have crossed paths otherwise, in a college environment in beautiful Ann Arbor, Michigan.

     And what a combination of artists it was…from younger urban electric artists such as Magic Sam and Jimmy Dawkins, to the greats of post-WWII electric blues such as Muddy Waters and B.B. King and James Cotton (who’d come from the South originally), to someone like Son House, acoustic bluesman who’d first recorded (at the same session as Charley Patton!) in 1930 and had the gravitas of an Old Testament prophet, to barrelhouse pianist and prolific songwriter Roosevelt Sykes, who first recorded in 1929 and who adapted well to the changes in African-American music over the decades (he later made great records in the jump blues and R&B vein).

     Then there’s country bluesman Mississippi Fred McDowell, who’d been playing since the late 1920’s, but never made a record until he was discovered by folklorist blues researchers in 1959, and perhaps because he’d never been a commercially recorded bluesman, he remained a pure and uncompromising artist, eventually recording the album I Do Not Play No Rock’n’ Roll for Capitol and having his song “You Gotta Move” covered by the Rolling Stones. And let’s not forget the always show-stopping Big Mama Thornton, Texas master Lightnin’ Hopkins, Big Joe Williams, and T-Bone Walker (and others). A collection of major artists as rich as this could not have been assembled even five years later, so four full LP’s of precious live recordings from the 1969 Festival is a revelation for the blues fan.

     Although these are non-professional recordings made on a portable machine by the festival organizers, the artists and their stinging guitars and passionate singing are always out front, and the recordings deliver a rawness and immediacy perfect for this music. These albums (two 2-LP sets, or a 2-cd set) compare favorably with the studio recordings of the same artists from that era. Third Man Records generally does a great job with LP’s, so this set is pressed on heavy vinyl and engineered to sound loud even when played at low volume. The thick booklet accompanying the discs is full of photos and first-hand accounts of the event. A must-own collection!

BILL SHUTE, originally published in Ugly Things magazine in 2019

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and….Be sure to pick up a copy of my newest poetry book…

STATIC STRUT by Bill Shute

KSE #421, 125 pages, 6″ x 9″ perfect bound, softcover, $6.95 cover price

published 2 January 2024

available for immediate order in the USA from https://amzn.to/48GeYC5

BIG MAMA THORNTON “The Rising Sun Collection” (Just A Memory Records, Canada)

1 Spoonful
2 Rock Me Baby
3 Ball And Chain
4 Watermelon Man
5 Summertime
6 Medley: Hound Dogé, Walkin` The Dog
7 Sweet Little Angel
8 Sassy Mama
Recorded at Rising Sun Celebrity Jazz Club on April 12, 1977.

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From: Bill Shute
BIG MAMA THORNTON “The Rising Sun Collection”
Just A Memory Records (Canada, RSCD 0002)
Released l994

One of a few new releases recorded live at Montrteal’s “Rising Sun
Celebrity Jazz Club” (I also saw a John Lee Hooker CD in this series),
this l977 gig–with a backing band led by Phil Guy and also including
John Primer and, on the last few cuts, Big Moose Walker–captures
the fire and spirit of this great performer well and is a wonderful
document for those of us who never had the privilege of seeing her
live.
I’d be lyin’ if I said her voice wasn’t somewhat shot, but then “It ain’t
the meat/ it’s the motion,” and Big Mama is in fine raw form,
sounding very spontaneous and also outrageous!
The band gives her a lot of space to do her thing, and whether
she is belting out “Rock Me BAby,” the raunchy “Watermelon Man,”
or a tender, tragic, broken-voiced version of “Summertime,” she
sings with authority and a delicious slyness.
Big Mama is way up front and in-your-face with the way the
concert’s sound was mixed, and the fact that this IS NOT
a super-clean, well-balanced recording only adds to the immediacy
of the experience and makes me imagine that I am there in the
audience.
By the way, I’ll bet most of y’all would have also wanted to
be there that night, because Big Mama announces that the
evening’s musical acts also included Jay McShann, Eddie
Cleanhead Vinson, and Clifton Chenier (!!!!!!).
There are touching and funny notes about Ms. Thornton’s
spontaneity and let’s-live-for-today attitude towards
life in Rising Sun head-honcho (at whose house BMT stayed
for a few months) Roue-Doudou Boicel’s liner essay, and
blues fans will love the casual photo of Boicel
hanging around his home with John Lee Hooker, Muddy
Waters, and Willie Dixon.
The other entries in this series ought to be also worth
investigating.
Perhaps the MCA collection of Thornton’s 50s sides would
be a better place for a newcomer to Big Mama’s work to start,
but like a good live show this is a CD that has provided me
with some unforgettable moments…and unlike a live show, I
can re-experience it whenever I want.

BILL SHUTE, originally published elsewhere online in 1994

[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[ ———————–

and….Be sure to pick up a copy of my newest poetry book…

STATIC STRUT by Bill Shute

KSE #421, 125 pages, 6″ x 9″ perfect bound, softcover, $6.95 cover price

published 2 January 2024

available for immediate order in the USA from https://amzn.to/48GeYC5

RONNIE HAWKINS AND THE HAWKS, “RRRRACKET TIME” (Charly Records LP)

Those who like the R&B side of Ronnie Hawkins should enjoy this LP
collection of obscure 58-64 Canadian sides from The Hawk.

RONNIE HAWKINS AND THE HAWKS
“rrrracket time”
Charly LP (UK) CR 30180

come one, let’s go
diddley daddy
going to the river–slow version**
bluebirds over the mountain
suzie q
i still miss someone(slow, acoustic)
four strong winds(slow, acoustic)
little red rooster**
going to the river–fast version**
ain’t that just like a woman
got my mojo working
let the good times roll
ooby dooby
love me like you can
hey bo diddley

collection released circa l982

Except for the two acoustic cuts–the Johnny Cash chestnut and the Ian
and Sylvia tune–this album is solid R&B and rocknroll. The final two
tracks are from his first, l958 session in Hamilton, Ontario,(w/ Levon Helm),
interesting garage recordings. “Hey Bo Diddley” is like a rougher version
of Buddy Holly’s cover of the song.

The rest of the album is l964 singles sides released on Hawkins’ own “Hawk”
label in Canada and some unreleased demos.The three tracks I’ve marked **
feature JAMES COTTON on harmonica!
The common denominator here is the lack of production throughout–it’s
refreshing to hear these thin-sounding, unadornedtracks. Coming from 58
and 64, these tracks are like bookends around Hawkins’ best-known period at
Roulette. I’ve never considered The Hawk a rockabilly performer, in the
purest sense. His influences seem to be…one foot in rockin’ uptempo
honkytonk country of the early 50s, the other foot in the blues.

While this album contains no instant-masterpieces…and I can’t really
agree with the hyperbolic linernotes’ assertion that these “the frantic
rockin’ racket of a true primitive”…the album is very consistent and
documents the blues-side of a classic 50s rock’n’roller. There was no
“blues revival” to cash in on when these sides were cut…and a free
spirit like Ronnie Hawkins would probably NOT do what was “in” at a
particular time. If you’ve ever liked Hawkins, you’re sure to appreciate
these obscure recordings. I’ve played it six or seven times this week
since retrieving it from “storage.”

Re CD availability, I wouldn’t think that these lo-fi sessions would be a prime
candidate for digitalizing, but who knows? This being a Charly release, perhaps
you can get a two-dollar Portugese cassette of it from a Charly “licensee”?

Hats off to Ronnie Hawkins!! Time to go blast his hit version of “Who Do You Love”!

“The highway is like a woman…soft shoulders and dangerous curves”
–Percy Mayfield

BILL SHUTE, originally published elsewhere online in 1996

]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]

Be sure to pick up a copy of my newest poetry book…

STATIC STRUT by Bill Shute

KSE #421, 125 pages, 6″ x 9″ perfect bound, softcover, $6.95 cover price

published 2 January 2024

available for immediate order in the USA from https://amzn.to/48GeYC5

W.C. CLARK (1939-2024)

Remembering the great Austin bluesman W. C. CLARK, who passed away today, 2 March 2024. Over the decades, we saw him many times, in Austin, San Antonio, and even Houston. He would come around and chat with the customers at their tables in between sets. We’ve had an autographed gig poster of him on our living room wall for the last 15 years or so. Find some of his music online and enjoy it today. The album pictured is a good place to start.