AMY PRENTISS – Long before she was known as Archer’s mother, the talented Jessica Walter had churned out powerful performances of all kinds in movies and television. Jessica’s short-lived run as the sleuth Amy Prentiss is a reminder that a program can be a bit too far ahead of its time to thrive.
IRONSIDE: AMY PRENTISS (May 23rd, 1974) – For readers too young to remember the term “back-door pilots” it referred to producers using an episode of an existing hit television series as a de facto pilot for a new series. The star and a few cast members of the prospective new series would costar with the hit series’ regulars in a story tailored to show off what the proposed new series would be like. Continue reading
THE MYSTERY OF DR. FU MANCHU (1923) – One of the earliest, if not THE earliest, big screen adaptations of Sax Rohmer’s Fu Manchu novels, which launched in 1913. The tales depicted the brilliant Chinese figure Dr. Fu Manchu at most plotting global domination but most often uniting many Far Eastern races against White Colonial nations to drive them out of Asia. 
Before MST3K there was The Texas 27 Film Vault. Before Joel and Mike there was Randy and Richard! Before Deep 13 there was Level 31.
SERIAL: Before showing and mocking John Carradine’s Billy the Kid vs Dracula our members of the Film Vault Corps (“the few, the proud, the sarcastic”) showed and mocked an episode of the Mascot Serial The Phantom Empire (1935). 
FIRST SEMIFINAL – The 4th seeded JOHNSON UNIVERSITY ROYALS (formerly the Royal Crusaders) took on the 1 seeds – the UNIVERSITY OF PIKEVILLE BEARS. By Halftime the Royals were on top 35-26. After the break the University of Pikeville mounted a small rally but fell short as Johnson U. triumphed 78-73. Isaiah Poore led the victors with 29 points. 
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY 
THE DEFENDERS 
THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971) 
IN THE CLUTCH OF THE WAR-GOD (1911) – Written by Milo Milton Hastings and serialized in the July, August and September 1911 issues of Physical Culture magazine. 
FIRST QUARTERFINAL – The number 1 seed – the GRACE COLLEGE LANCERS – took on the 8th seeded MT. VERNON NAZARENE UNIVERSITY COUGARS. By Halftime the Lancers were up 45-36, and after the break they left the Cougars further and further behind. In the end, Grace College won the game 83-64 led by Ian Scott with 23 points. 
SECOND QUARTERFINAL – Up next the 2nd seeded BETHEL (IN) PILOTS (Riverboat Pilots) played the 7 seeds – the TAYLOR UNIVERSITY TROJANS. The Pilots got more of a fight than expected from Taylor U. and led them by just 39-35 at the Half. From there Bethel University squeezed out some more distance from the Trojans in their 77-69 victory. Trent Edwards tossed in 22 points to lead the Pilots. 
THE TELEVISION GHOST (1931-1933) – As astonishing at it may seem, there were actually some regularly televised programs on pioneering channels like W2XAB beginning in 1931. Comparatively few people actually had the mechanical television sets of that period when the whole enterprise was highly experimental. Newspaper listings offer most of what little information survives about the broadcasts.
The Television Ghost ran 15 minutes and starred George Kelting as the Ghost with Bill Schudt as an announcer and narrator. The show’s Halloween Episode of 1931 was nicely hyped with a reference to some primitive television special effects magic. 
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