Balladeer’s Blog’s annual end-of-year retrospective continues with June’s best.
THE SWAMP FOX (1959-1961) – The forgotten television series about a young Leslie Nielsen portraying Francis Marion, the guerrilla leader known as the Swamp Fox during the Revolutionary War. Click HERE.
BALLADEER’S BLOG’S FAVORITE RUM BRANDS – I presented a pair of lesser-known rum brands. Click HERE.
ANNA MARIA LANE (left) AND SALLY ST. CLAIR (far left): REVOLUTIONARY WAR HEROINES – A look at two heroines from the American Revolution. Click HERE.
BLACKE’S MAGIC (1986) – A Father’s Day look at the series which featured Hal Linden and Harry Morgan as a father-son team of stage magicians who solved seemingly impossible murders and other crimes on the side. Click HERE.
BAD MOVIE REVIEW: TELEVISION SPY (1939) – I examined this forgotten sci-fi film regarding the hilariously overstated potential of television for espionage purposes. Starring Anthony Quinn and Richard Denning (The Governor from Hawaii 5-0). Click HERE.
THE BLACK COAT – My look at this comic book series about a costumed Revolutionary War hero. Click HERE.
ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION: THE FEARSOME ISLAND (1896) – The discovery of a Caribbean Island on which an exiled mad scientist from Spain enslaved the population and made them erect his castle full of futuristic devices. Click HERE.
NEGLECTED REVOLUTIONARY WAR BATTLES IN FEBRUARY 1777 – Often overlooked actions. Click HERE. Continue reading
CHRISTMAS IN THE YEAR 2000 (1895) – This was written by Edward Bellamy as one of the additions he made to the lore surrounding his look at the world of the “future” year 2000 AD in Looking Backward (1888). 
SCROOGE, OR MARLEY’S GHOST (1901) – This big-screen Christmas Carol adaptation was the first-ever cinematic depiction of the Charles Dickens classic. The criminally neglected British silent film pioneer R.W. Paul produced the movie and fellow trailblazer Walter R. Booth directed. 
Back to this 1901 production. Scrooge was originally just over 6 minutes long but like so many movies from the silent era it suffered damage in the decades ahead. About 5 minutes have survived and the film bears a few similarities to the 13-minute Edison Films Christmas Carol from 1910.
R.I.P. ROGER CORMAN: FILM LEGEND – I noted the passing of the King of B-Movies and the man who nurtured more up and coming talent than most other figures in Hollywood history. Click 
BRAZIL’S SUPERHEROES – From the 1950s into the 21st Century, I looked at Brazil’s home-grown heroes like Captain Seven, the Black Ray, Mylar and the Black Lizard. 
ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION: GUESSES AT FUTURITY (1894-1895) – Frederick Thomas Jane’s work of speculative science fiction about what life might be like in the year 2000. He predicted scientific achievements far beyond what 2000 really had to offer, but his take is still fascinating. Click 
TRADER HORN (1927) – Alfred Aloysius Horn’s book about his experiences as a Trade Agent in Africa during the late 1800s. Various film versions were made over the decades. Part One 
BLACK LIGHTNING: HIS 1970s STORIES – The early adventures of DC’s African American superhero from the 1970s. Click 
FIRST SEMIFINAL – This game pitted the defending national champs – the KEISER UNIVERSITY SEAHAWKS – against the visiting BENEDICTINE COLLEGE RAVENS. A 6-0 Ravens lead in the 1st Quarter became a 14-14 tie by Halftime. The 3rd Quarter ended with Benedictine College up 28-14 but the Seahawks exploded in the 4th, coming from behind for a 42-38 triumph. 
GARDIEN DE LA REPUBLIQUE (Guardian of the Republic) 
In a nice touch the Marquis de Lafayette was secretly the very first Gardien de la Republique (seen in costume at right) when he returned to France after America’s Revolutionary War. Since then, as mentioned above, the title and costumed identity have been passed down to other figures for nearly 250 years. 
L’INFERNO (1911) – My review of the epic silent film adaptation of Dante’s Inferno. This production blew me away given its time period. And it was filmed in Italy just a few years before the horrors of World War One. Click 
INDEPENDENT ACTION AND HORROR FILMMAKER LEN KABASINSKI REMEMBERS THE LATE LEO FONG – The one and only Kabasinski was gracious enough to leave a few memories about international action star Leo Fong here at Balladeer’s Blog. Click 
TRANSGRESS WITH ME: APRIL EIGHTEENTH EDITION – Are you daring enough for this? It’s an ongoing series going back several years. Click 
Balladeer’s Blog’s Forgotten Television feature wraps up its look at 
