FORGOTTEN TELEVISION: THE FLYING DOCTOR (1959-1960)

THE FLYING DOCTOR (1959-1960) – This installment of Balladeer’s Blog’s Forgotten Television is a series that was based on the 1950s BBC radio show about Australia’s airborne doctors who tended to widely separated communities in the Outback. Previously, I covered the long-running Australian television series The Flying Doctors based on the same outfits.

Richard Denning starred in this 1959-1960 UK-Australian co-production as Dr. Greg Graham. Jill Adams portrayed Nurse Mary Meredith, Alan White played pilot Charley Wood, and Peter Madden was Dr. Jim Harrison, a temporarily blinded physician.

There were 39 half-hour episodes.

STANDOUT EPISODES:

A PAIR OF EYES – American Dr. Greg Graham (Denning) takes a leave of absence from a medical research institute in San Francisco to temporarily serve in Australia’s Flying Doctor Corps. 

DEATH BY WILLIE-WILLIE – Nothing to do with Death by Snu-Snu. A windstorm called a Willie-Willie prevents planes from flying, meaning pilot Charley Wood must be talked through a medical procedure for a patient.

BLOOD DONOR – Dr. Graham must improvise his way through a blood transfusion for a little girl who fell down a mine shaft. Meanwhile, the only donor for her rare blood type is an escaped convict. Continue reading

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MARCH NINTH NEWS ROUNDUP

 Independent Voter Site Balladeer’s Blog is back with another current events roundup from an America where Ukrainiacs are still trying to pretend that the regime in Iran isn’t at least as bad as crazed war criminal Vlad Putin’s regime.

FORMER IRANIAN POLITICAL PRISONER KIAN TAJBAKHSH POINTS OUT THAT PRESIDENT TRUMP IS WORKING TO END THE WAR THAT IRAN HAS BEEN WAGING AGAINST AMERICA SINCE 1979. More HERE.      TAJBAKHSH ALSO DISCUSSES HOW THE MONEY THAT OBAMA SUBSERVIENTLY PAID TO IRAN FINANCED TERRORISM

DEMOCRAT HENRY CUELLAR COURAGEOUSLY AGREES THAT IRAN HAS BEEN AT WAR WITH AMERICA SINCE 1979 AND IT WAS TIME TO STRIKE BACK.

IRANIAN OPERATIVE ASIF MERCHANT FOUND GUILTY OF PLOTTING TO KILL AMERICAN OFFICIALS INCLUDING PRESIDENT TRUMP.

ALFREDO ORTIZ AMONG THOSE PROMOTING TRUMP’S WORKING CLASS FAMILIES TAX CUTS. The greatest president for the working class and the poor during my lifetime. 

ICE ARRESTS MORE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS FOR MURDER, CHILD RAPE AND SEXUAL ASSAULTS ON WOMEN.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT IN IDAHO ARRESTED FOR TRAFFICKING CHILDREN FOR SLAVE LABOR AND POSSIBLY MORE. People who are like Renee Good and Alex Pretti support that over ICE. 

IN DEMOCRAT “SANCTUARY STATE” MARYLAND, FOUR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT MEMBERS OF MS13 INDICTED FOR MURDERING FOURTEEN-YEAR-OLD. As always, victims get no “sanctuary” under Democrats – only the perpetrators do.

NINTH CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS UPHOLDS TRUMP’S PRESIDENTIAL AUTHORITY TO SUSPEND RESETTLEMENT.           SEVENTH CIRCUIT COURT SMACKS DOWN ANOTHER LOWER COURT JUDGE WHO RULED AGAINST ICE. Continue reading

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MARCH NINTH: ANNIVERSARY OF THE POLIO VACCINE

On March 9th, 1953 Dr. Jonas Salk announced his successful vaccine against poliomyelitis, the virus that causes polio.

Just the previous year, polio had 58,000 new victims and left 3,000 dead. Continue reading

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2026 COLLEGE BASKETBALL POSTSEASON CONTINUES

For Divisions One and Two in the USCAA (United States Collegiate Athletic Association).

USCAA DIVISION ONE

FIRST SEMIFINAL – The 4th seeded NORTH AMERICAN UNIVERSITY STALLIONS played the 1 seeds – the BLOOMFIELD COLLEGE BEARS. The Stallions put Bloomfield College on Upset alert with their 43-41 Halftime edge, then carried through by knocking off the top seeds by a final score of 98-88. North American University was led by Jamarric Hammond with a Double Double of 27 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists. (So almost a Triple Double.) 

SECOND SEMIFINAL – And in this game the 3 seeds – the BRYANT & STRATTON COLLEGE (Syracuse) BOBCATS – took on the 2nd seeded SOUTHEASTERN ILLINOIS COLLEGE FALCONS (should be Blue Falcons). SIC led 43-37 at the Half, only for the Bobcats to force Overtime with an 80-80 tie. In the extra session, BSC-Syracuse triumphed 92-87. Jordan Drain’s 25 points led the victors, while his fellow Bobcats Wayne Longmore and Khai Pugh logged Double Doubles of 15 points & 12 rebounds, and 13 points & 10 rebounds, respectively. Continue reading

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FLASHBACK: HEROIC WOMEN FIGHTING MUSLIM OPPRESSION

Given all the heroic women in Iran and elsewhere who are defying theocratic oppression while shaming the cowardly white Democrat women of America who think cosplaying in Handmaid’s Tale outfits is “daring”, here are several women who demonstrate REAL courage. 

FROM SEPTEMBER FIFTH, 2019 – 

Natasha Fatah

NATASHA FATAH

And we have more members of the real-life League of Extraordinary Women! Reporter NATASHA FATAH, who covers stories that privileged white Western leftists refuse to cover. ALINEJAD MASIH, the woman behind the #WhiteWednesdays campaign for Iranian women’s rights. And SABA KORD AFSHARI, who was sentenced to 24 years in prison by Iran for removing her hijab in public. You know … those same hijabs that condescending white leftist women LOVE to wear to pretend they’re showing solidarity with Muslim women.

FOR THE LINK TO THEIR STORY PLUS MANY OTHER COURAGEOUS WOMEN HEROICALLY FIGHTING MUSLIM MISOGNY AND OPPRESSION SEE BELOW:

For Natasha, Alinejad and Saba click HERE 

For Raheel Raza click HERE

For Shams Bandar click HERE

For Asra Nomani click HERE

For Nadine al Budair click HERE

For Anni Cyrus click HERE

For Nonie Darwish click HERE

For Qanta Ahmed click HERE Continue reading

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CONAN THE BARBARIAN: THE ALTAR AND THE SCORPION

This weekend’s light-hearted and escapist superhero post looks at Marvel Comics’ adaptation of Robert E. Howard’s non-Conan short story The Altar and the Scorpion rewritten with Conan as the central character.

CONAN THE BARBARIAN Vol 1 #52 (Jul 1975)

Title: The Altar and the Scorpion

Villain: The Scorpion God

Synopsis: Conan’s wanderings bring him to Belverus, the capital city of Nemedia in the Hyborian Age. He encounters the suave, handsome and capable Murilo, whom he first met in Rogues in the House during his battle with Thak and Nabodinus.

Murilo now leads a mercenary troop called Crimson Company and he hires Conan as his new second-in-command. The hundreds of Crimson Company soldiers ride south to Ophir to start working for their new client – the ruler of the city of Ronnoco.

Their first mission is to retrieve the Ring of the Black Shadow, a powerful ring in the ruins of an abandoned, ancient Valusian city dating back to the time of Robert E. Howard’s character Kull the Conqueror. The ring can unleash a dark god if worn by a mortal. Conan and a female member of Crimson Company, Tara of Hanumar, shine in the expedition.

Conan finds the Ring of the Black Shadow, thus animating a huge statue of the Scorpion God which guards the ring to keep it out of human hands. Our hero fights the statue and renders it inert again with a sword through its “brain.”

Heeding Murilo’s instructions that nobody must touch the ring, two Crimson Company soldiers are assigned to stand guard over it while Conan, Tara and the others ride on to Ronnoco to get priestly help in containing the ring.

One of the guards greedily decides to steal the ring but upon touching it is transformed into a human-sized black shadow-being. He absorbs the other guard at his touch and becomes as large as two humans. Continue reading

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NEWS ROUNDUP: MARCH SIXTH

It’s another Friday current events roundup from Independent Voter Site Balladeer’s Blog here in an America where hypocritical Democrats still can’t get enough death and destruction in Ukraine but are feigning outrage on behalf of Iran’s thuggish theocracy.

        One of the ways that Democrat Media Outlets still outdo Republican Media Outlets is the way that Ukraine was and is treated like a just war against a vile regime, but Democrats pretend that Iran isn’t as repulsive a dictatorship as the one run by war criminal Vlad Putin.    

MASIH ALINEJAD, WHO HAS SURVIVED MULTIPLE ASSASSINATION ATTEMPTS BY IRANIAN THEOCRATS, SLAPS DOWN KAMALA HARRIS FOR CRITICIZING TRUMP ABOUT IRAN STRIKES.

PRESIDENT TRUMP GETS SEVEN MAJOR TECH COMPANIES TO SIGN PLEDGE TO COVER THE ENERGY COSTS FOR THEIR OWN DATA CENTERS SO THAT TAXPAYERS DON’T HAVE TO.

VIDEO: JUBILANT IRANIANS DO NEW DANCE THANKING PRESIDENT TRUMP, THIS TIME BY DOING HIS YMCA DANCE. More HERE.

DON SURBER’S EXCELLENT PIECE ON PRESIDENT TRUMP’S SECOND TERM STRATEGY AND PERFORMANCE.

POLICE WARNED DEMOCRAT D.A. LAST NOVEMBER ABOUT HOW THE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ARRESTED FOR KILLING STEPHANIE MINTER WAS ON THE VERGE OF COMMITTING MURDER, BUT THE D.A. FAILED TO ACT ON THAT. And now Democrat Governor Spanberger is fighting on the illegal’s side against ICE.

DEMOCRAT GOVERNOR TIM WALZ PUBLICLY GRILLED AGAIN OVER HIS STATE’S CORRUPTION. Congresswoman Nancy Mace destroys him HERE.

PRO-TRUMP CONGRESSWOMAN ANNA PAULINA LUNA BLASTS BOTH PARTIES IN CONGRESS FOR USING TAXPAYER MONEY TO FINANCE THEIR SLUSH FUNDS THAT PAY OFF SEX ASSAULT CASES AGAINST THEM.

SOMALI FRAUDSTER IN MINNESOTA SENTENCED TO FIVE YEARS FOR TRYING TO BRIBE A JUROR WITH A SIX-FIGURE AMOUNT. Continue reading

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BALLADEER’S BLOG: USCAA BASKETBALL TOURNAMENTS

As the 2026 college basketball postseason continues, here’s a look at the national tournaments in Divisions One and Two of the USCAA (United States Collegiate Athletic Association).

DIVISION ONE

FIRST QUARTERFINAL – The 4 seeds – the NORTH AMERICAN UNIVERSITY STALLIONS – took the court against the 5th seeded BRYANT & STRATTON COLLEGE (Buffalo) BOBCATS. Come Halftime the Stallions held a comfortable 38-21 lead over Bryant & Stratton. After the break, however, North American U. had to hold on by its fingertips to defeat the Bobcats just 65-64. Sixteen points from Jamarric Hammond led the Stallions. Continue reading

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ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION: THE MAN AND THE MONSTER (1826)

THE MAN AND THE MONSTER – Written by Henry M. Milner, this stage adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein differs significantly from her novel and was first performed on July 3rd, 1826 at the Royal Cobourg Theatre.

The full title of this play is Frankenstein; or The Man and the Monster, a Melodrama in Two Acts. At least one other stage adaptation in 1823 preceded Milner’s version of the story. Milner’s play can be read in its entirety online.

In honor of Rome: Italian Style on SCTV I like to think of this work as Frankenstein: Italian Style since it is set in Sicily, apparently only so that Mt. Aetna can figure in the play’s finale. Rather than laboring in his own castle, Dr. Frankenstein lives and works in Sicily under the auspices of the Prince del Piombino.

The prince is a great patron of arts and sciences, and he finances Frankenstein’s work. In turn, the doctor tutors the prince’s son Julio (Julio?). Continue reading

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THE FIRST TARZAN MOVIE AND MORE: ELMO LINCOLN’S SILENT FILMS

For Balladeer’s Blog’s latest look at a silent movie star I will cover Elmo Lincoln, who is best known as the big screen’s very first Tarzan but also starred in other films outside the Tarzan series.

TARZAN OF THE APES (1918) – Though Elmo had been appearing as an extra or in small supporting roles since 1913, his portrayal of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan in this movie put him on the map. For nitpickers, Gordon Griffith of silent Tom Sawyer fame played the very young Tarzan when his parents died early in this film, but Elmo Lincoln was the first adult Tarzan performer in movie history.

Surviving prints of Tarzan of the Apes run 61 minutes and cover the basics of the original novel’s opening half in workmanlike if not spectacular fashion. Lord Greystoke and his wife perish after becoming shipwrecked in Africa and their surviving heir is raised by apes.

The boy’s discovery of his late father’s knife among the shipwreck ruins enables him to rise to dominance among the apes by killing off rivals. As he matures, Tarzan becomes a legend in the jungle as he wars on tribes which kill apes plus frees slaves captured by Muslim slavers.

Binns the sailor realizes Tarzan is the long-lost Greystoke heir and an expedition heads to Africa, headed by Professor Porter. The professor’s daughter Jane Porter (Enid Markey) accompanies her father’s expedition and winds up abducted by a villain only to be saved by our King of the Jungle.

Jane uses gentleness to calm down the horny Tarzan when he gets too pushy. Her line “Tarzan is a man, and men do not force the love of women” conveys what we need to know without getting graphic. Charmed by the Ape Man, she eventually canoodles with him willingly.    Continue reading

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