The latest installment of Balladeer’s Blog’s recurring segment Forgotten Television.
CITIZEN SOLDIER (1956-1957) – Also known as The Big Attack, this half-hour series depicted dramatic reenactments of real wartime incidents from World War Two, STARRING THE ACTUAL SERVICEMEN WHO TOOK PART IN THEM!
That gimmick made Citizen Soldier stand out from the many other programs devoted to dramatizations of wartime events, but it was very obvious at times that an episode’s star was just a Citizen Actor and not a professional. If you put aside unrealistic thespian expectations, you’ll likely find this series riveting.
Charles Marquis Warren directed and Ron W. Alcorn produced this syndicated program that lasted for one season of 39 episodes.
Among my favorite episodes:
THE LITTLE PRIVATE – This episode starred Joe Richardson reenacting his World War Two experience of coming right out of Boot Camp with his unit and winding up at the front lines for the Battle of the Bulge. His recent training with the most up to date bazookas came in handy to save his entire unit. Continue reading
IN THE DEEP OF TIME (1897) – This story was written by George Parsons Lathrop, who also wrote the libretto for Walter Damrosch’s opera version of The Scarlet Letter. Though Lathrop credited an interview with Thomas Edison for the scientific concepts in this tale, it is NOT an Edisonade. In the Deep of Time is instead one of the many 19th Century stories about “present day” characters waking up in the far future. 
The multi-step procedure begins with Gerald being administered a drug that prepares his body for suspended animation, followed by another drug (mortimicrobium) that renders his body germ-free at all levels. Next, Bemis is placed in a glass cylinder at body temperature to “sleep” away the centuries. 
*** FIRST, A COMMENT REGARDING THE WAY DEMOCRAT CONVENTIONS AND DEMOCRAT CONFERENCES OF ALL KINDS SO OFTEN START BY STATING THEIR EVENT IS BEING HELD ON “STOLEN” LAND. Hey, that also means that all of the Democrats’ mansions and multiple homes are ALSO on “stolen” land. I call for Democrats to take the initiative and give up all of those extra homes to set an example for the rest of us. As a minimum, before ANY MORE finger-wagging lectures from privileged one-percenter entertainers or athletes I want an admission from them that their many properties stand on stolen land. 
*** NEXT, A RELEVANT ANECDOTE REGARDING AN EXCHANGE BETWEEN CHARLIE CHAPLIN AND BUSTER KEATON, BOTH OF WHOM I’M A FAN OF. Chaplin was proclaiming “What I want is that every child should have enough to eat, shoes on his feet and a roof over his head.” Keaton’s reply was “But Charlie, do you know anyone who doesn’t want that?” 
*** I USED TO BE A DEMOCRAT YEARS AGO. That was when the Democrats believed in freedom of expression and other long-held Civil Liberty principles that they have completely abandoned after becoming the Political Correctness Police in the 1990s and evolving into the intolerant Woke Fascists that they are today. 
SAMSON AND DELILAH (1902) – This 6-minute short was directed by Ferdinand Zecca, Walter Pathe’s right-hand man. This film has survived and is an interesting historical piece. It’s the earliest surviving silent movie about Samson, the iconic Zecca’s first Samson film, plus Samson and Delilah is one of the silent era shorts that were tinted by hand – frame by frame. 
This 1902 effort opens with Samson’s “labor” of tearing off the gate of Gaza, then just dumping it rather than carrying it away. We get other standard bits from the tale of this Biblical Judge including, of course, the seductive Philistine woman Delilah learning that the secret of Samson’s strength lies in his uncut hair. 
FOURTH QUARTER FURY – The DALLAS WINGS (7-22) welcomed the LOS ANGELES SPARKS (6-24). 
INSTANT CLASSIC – The LAS VEGAS ACES (18-11) took it on the road against the CHICAGO SKY (11-18) in this game.
SUNSHINE STATE SHUTOUT – The WEBBER INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY WARRIORS hosted the UNIVERSITY OF FORT LAUDERDALE EAGLES (should be Flamingos). The Warriors achieved defensive perfection against UFL while leading them 7-0, 21-0 and 37-0 in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Quarters respectively. The 4th ended in a 40-0 shutout victory for Webber International University. 
CAPTAIN BRITAIN Vol 1 #28 (April 20th, 1977) 
A very eccentric old professor, Robert Willard Scott, has retired from the university and lives alone with his hawks. When those birds die, Brian Braddock uses his scientific genius to construct a large hawk-shaped remote-controlled android to keep Professor Scott company. 
THE COLLEGE OF DUPAGE CHAPARRALS VS THE ELLSWORTH COLLEGE PANTHERS – This NJCAA matchup last night kicked off the 2024 college football season in the divisions covered here at Balladeer’s Blog. On Saturday the NAIA joins the action as additional NJCAA games also kick off. 
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