Tyrone Power was one of Hollywood’s top level heart-throbs and came from an acting family which had performed onstage since the 1700s. Here are his swashbuckler movies.
THE MARK OF ZORRO (1940) – Tyrone Power starred in this semi-remake of the 1920 Douglas Fairbanks classic. To me, nothing can top the Fairbanks version, but this Power effort comes a close second.
We all know the basics – Don Diego de Vega (Power) returns to 1820s California following his higher education in Spain. His father’s letters while he was away have made him pose as a meek and foppish aristocrat; the better to covertly fight California’s oppressors as the masked and costumed el Zorro – “the Fox.”
Not even Diego’s father knows about his son’s dual identity, so he is just as contemptuous of the cowardly, buffoonish figure he pretends to be as everyone else. Eligible ladies of California look down on Diego, too, despite his family’s wealth. They all have the hots for the dashing Zorro who strikes the oppressors with his sword, pistols and whip, then vanishes into the night.
Ultimately, Zorro gains enough popular support to topple the villains, led by Basil Rathbone. Linda Darnell plays Lolita, Gale Sondergaard is Inez and Eugene Pallette portrays Frey Felipe. 94 minutes. Continue reading
PART 74 – Some of the Fool Killer’s targets on both sides of the aisle in the October of 1914 edition of the folk figure. The World War is in full swing. 
Yes, “the Broadway of TV” is back for this look at the program’s third season. 
CHAR-BROILED – The number 2 team in the nation – the HUTCHINSON COLLEGE BLUE DRAGONS – welcomed the CISCO COLLEGE WRANGLERS. The Blue Dragons proceeded to fold, spindle and mutilate Cisco College, leading them 21-0 to end the 1st Quarter, 42-7 at Halftime, and 52-7 in the 3rd Quarter before logging a FIFTY-NINE to SEVEN triumph over the Wranglers in the 4th.
ANOTHER ROSWELL INCIDENT – In Roswell, NM the NEW MEXICO MILITARY INSTITUTE BRONCOS (should be Cavalry) took the field against the visiting DODGE CITY COLLEGE CONQUISTADORS. The Conquistadors led the Institute 7-3 in the opening Quarter, but the Broncos went up 23-20 by the Half. The 3rd Quarter ended with NMMI leading 30-20 before winning out 37-20 in the end. 
STRAIGHT TALK (1992) 
EDDIE L. DRISCOLL played several different Movie Host characters during his THIRTY-THREE years working at the same television station – WLBZ Channel 2 in Bangor, Maine. That Maine location made Driscoll’s characters the Movie Hosts that a certain horror author had watched in his youth (see below). Eddie’s shows aired throughout Maine and into Canada’s Maritime Provinces.
Over the years, he worked there as a cameraman, weather man, kiddie show host and much more. He retired from WLBZ in 1987. His Movie Host characters: 
UNCLE GORY – From 1964 to 1967 Eddie hosted his new Saturday night at Midnight show titled Weird. On this Bad Movie Show he played Uncle Gory, a Dungeon Master in a fur vest and a mop-top wig. Uncle Gory hosted from his dungeon with a human skull displayed on a slab near him. He presented each week’s movie like it was a story coming to life from a book he was reading aloud. 
PART SEVEN – Picking up where we left off, Ofe the chief conspirator in the murder of Ozidi the Elder had cowardly fled once again rather than face the avenging son Ozidi the Younger in combat. Ozidi’s grandmother Oreame cast spells to flush out Ofe no matter where he was hidden. 
JOHNNY COOL (1963) – Okay, this weekend I once again met someone who never heard of this film, so I resolved to do what little I could to spread the word about it by reviewing it here on Balladeer’s Blog. 
Sammy was still wearing his pre-glass eye eyepatch in the film and also sang the movie’s title song. There’s a boatload more kitsch casting in Johnny Cool, which I’ll cover as we go along. 
MINERSVILLE 
For newbies to this IP, in 1973 Marvel licensed the use of Sax Rohmer’s Fu Manchu plus other characters from the Fu Manchu tales. Rather than just churn out a Fu Manchu comic book series “the House of Ideas” instead combined it with the Kung Fu craze of the time and created Shang Chi, the son of Fu Manchu.
Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu had its own inimitable style and was largely one of the most innovative comic books of the 1970s and early 1980s. “Largely” is the key word. 
MASTER OF KUNG FU Vol 1 #29 (Jun 1975) 
Our heroes take a seaplane to Velcro’s mansion in a grotto near France’s Gulf of Lions. Reston poses as a buyer of a large amount of heroin who then burns all of his purchase and an enormous amount of the drug dealer’s additional inventory of smack. 
