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2023 COLLEGE BASKETBALL POSTSEASON IS UNDERWAY

The college basketball postseason for 2023 has tipped off in the divisions covered here at Balladeer’s Blog.

NAIA CONFERENCE TOURNAMENTS

mayville state comets logoNORTH STAR ATHLETIC CONFERENCE – It was all chalk in the opening round of the NSAC Tournament. The top-seeded MAYVILLE STATE COMETS swatted the (8) PRESENTATION COLLEGE SAINTS 91-63   ###   Meanwhile, the 4 seeds – the VALLEY CITY STATE VIKINGS – eliminated the (5) BELLEVUE (NE) BRUINS 72-54   ###   And the (3) DICKINSON STATE BLUE HAWKS won 72-60 over the (6) DAKOTA STATE TROJANS. Continue reading

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RELIC OF FORT TEJON (1957) FORGOTTEN TELEVISION

bret and camelRELIC OF FORT TEJON (November 3rd, 1957) – Here’s something a little different from the usual for Balladeer’s Blog’s Forgotten Television category. The 1950s James Garner series Maverick was an all-time classic, but this particular episode is often overlooked.

The subject matter deals with a camel supposedly left over from the ill-fated American Camel Corps that the U.S. Army tried launching in the 1800s. The project fell through in the end, but the dozens of camels from the experimental program – and their offspring – wound up roaming the deserts of the southwest for decades afterward.

bret at card tablePreviously, I’ve examined the James Garner western One Little Indian (1973) in which his soldier character winds up using a camel to flee an unjust mutiny charge, and the legendary Red Ghost of Arizona, a Camel Corps leftover which was sighted multiple times in the 1880s to 1890s and was mistaken for a monster.

In Relic of Fort Tejon, Garner’s iconic Bret Maverick, a gambler/ gunslinger, wins a camel named Fatima from a fellow gambler who conned him into thinking he was using an Arabian stallion as part of a poker wager. Continue reading

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PREZ: HIS 1970s ADVENTURES

This weekend’s light-hearted and escapist superhero story will deal with DC’s political comedy character Prez, given how this is Presidents Day weekend.

prez 1PREZ Vol 1 #1 (September 1973)

Title: The Making of the Prez

NOTE: Decades ago, Theodore White was known for his series of books titled The Making of the President, with the year of the election after each new volume. (1960, 1964, 1968, etc) In 1973, many readers would have gotten the implied joke of “The Making of the Prez.”

Villains: Boss Smiley and Misery Marko

Synopsis: On the alternate Earth known in the DC Universe as Earth 72, America not only lowered the voting age to 18 but also made 18-year-olds eligible for holding any elected positions in the U.S. – even president.

Enter stock-car racer Prez Rickard (a riff on the famous Tex Rickard), whose mother named him Prez because she was convinced her son would go on to be president some day. Prez’s political career took off when he synchronized all the clocks in his hometown of Steadfast. (Remember, this is political satire like Al Capp’s Li’l Abner on some levels.)

boss smileyThis caught the attention of corrupt political handler Boss Smiley, whose head was one of those syrupy and kitschy smiley faces that had become widespread by 1973. Boss Smiley and slimy advertising mogul Misery Marko recruited Prez to run for the Senate as their pawn, using the slogan “He made the clocks run on time.” (a Mussolini joke, of course)

Prez ultimately rebelled against Boss Smiley and Misery Marko and, with fellow 18-year-olds, ran his campaign honestly and won. In 1976, Rickard ran for president and won again, filling his administration with colorful youngsters like himself, thus kicking off even more satirical adventures in which Prez and company thwarted political villains. Continue reading

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CONCLUSION: 1972 EPISODES OF N.E.T. PLAYHOUSE

Balladeer’s Blog’s Forgotten Television category takes its final look at episodes of the 1966-1972 series N.E.T. Playhouse. For the opening look at the 1966 episodes click HERE

lorraine hansbLORRAINE HANSBURY: TO BE YOUNG, GIFTED AND BLACK (January 20th) – A 90-minute biography of African-American playwright Lorraine Hansbury, whose works include A Raisin in the Sun. Her husband Robert Nemiroff wrote this drama which includes performances of scenes from her plays. Ruby Dee, Roy Scheider, Blythe Danner, Barbara Barrie and Claudia McNeil were among the cast members. 

GALILEO (January 27th) – An airing of the 1968 Italian film about the famed scientist who was charged with heresy for agreeing with Copernicus by refuting the notion that the sun and the planets revolved around the Earth. Liliana Cavani directed this 1 hour and 45 minute production starring Cyril Cusack.   

HARRIET (February 3rd) – Adaptation of the 1943 stage drama about the life of Harriet Beecher Stowe. The drama follows Stowe from her early fantasy writings through her important novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, an indictment of the Democrats’ “peculiar institution” of slavery. Kitty Winn, Gretchen Corbett, Dolph Sweet, Richard Dysart and Madeleine Sherwood starred. 90 minutes. Continue reading

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1971 EPISODES OF N.E.T. PLAYHOUSE: FORGOTTEN TELEVISION

Mascot and guitar

Balladeer’s Blog

Balladeer’s Blog takes a look at the 1971 episodes of N.E.T. Playhouse. For the opening look at the 1966 episodes click HERE

LAY DOWN YOUR ARMS (January 7th) – A 1970 British telefilm. This comedy dealt with an eccentric young British genius drafted to work as a Russian translator for the military intelligence service during Egypt’s 1956 bid to nationalize the Suez Canal. During the resulting crisis, the young genius steals some classified documents to try to impress his mocking family members and chaos follows. 90 minutes.  

jeremt brett ideal playAN IDEAL HUSBAND (January 14th) – Adaptation of the play by Oscar Wilde. THE Jeremy Brett starred as the good guy, Viscount Arthur Goring, who takes action when the brother of his lady love Mabel Chiltern (Susan Hampshire) is being blackmailed by a conniving socialite (Margaret Leighton). Originally aired in England in 1969. 90 minutes. 

A MEMORY OF TWO MONDAYS (January 28th) – This was a 90-minute production of Arthur Miller’s memorable play about several days in the lives of blue-collar workers during the Great Depression. Among the cast members were Harvey Keitel, Estelle Parsons, Tony Lo Bianco, Jerry Stiller, Dick Van Patten, Jack Warden, Cathy Burns and J.D. Cannon.  Continue reading

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VALENTINE’S DAY WITH A CLASSIC POP FICTION COUPLE

Happy Valentine’s Day from Balladeer’s Blog! In the past I’ve marked the day with sentimental items regarding President and First Lady McKinley or my heart-felt (yet sappy) review of the 1942 movie Casablanca, so this year let’s go with some dark humor instead.

For everyone who’s tired of couples who are held up as being epitomes of a “perfect” romance:

so long

But then there are those couples who remind us of good old Mom and Dad: Continue reading

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BALLADEER’S BLOG’S NCAA D3 COLLEGE BASKETBALL RESULTS: FEBRUARY 12th

NCAA DIVISION THREE

st joseph ct bluejaysEASY AS ONE, TWO, THREE – The number 1 team in the nation – the UNIVERSITY OF SAINT JOSEPH (CT) BLUEJAYS – hammered the DEAN COLLEGE BULLDOGS 87-60   ###   Meanwhile, the 2nd ranked RANDOLPH MACON COLLEGE YELLOW JACKETS defeated the ROANOKE COLLEGE MAROONS 69-50   ###   And the number 3 CHRISTOPHER NEWPORT UNIVERSITY CAPTAINS won 85-73 at the SALISBURY UNIVERSITY SEA GULLS.

John Carroll Blue StreaksCLOSE CALL FOR NUMBER SIX – The (6) JOHN CARROLL UNIVERSITY BLUE STREAKS took it on the road against the OHIO NORTHERN UNIVERSITY POLAR BEARS. At Halftime the Polar Bears were on top 44-36 but the Blue Streaks roared back to force Overtime with a 77-77 tie to end Regulation. In the extra session John Carroll University managed a 95-89 victory. Luke Chicone’s Double-Double of 19 points and 10 rebounds led the Blue Streaks. Continue reading

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SUPERHEROES OF CHESLER PUBLISHING

Balladeer’s Blog’s escapist, light-hearted superhero blog post for the weekend takes a look at the superheroes from Harry A. Chesler ‘s publishing company. 

Alias the Dragon 1THE DRAGON

Secret Identity: Bill Norton, Police Scientist

Origin: Tired of being relegated to the scientific end of crime solving, Police Scientist Bill Norton decides to seek out some action. He devises a flame-thrower pistol for himself plus a costume and starts fighting crime as the Dragon in his series titled Alias the Dragon.

First Appearance: Skyrocket Comics #1 (March 1944).

Powers: The Dragon had the strength and agility of a very athletic man. He wielded a pistol which could shoot fire like a flame-thrower and the dragon-scale cape of his costume was bullet-proof. In addition this hero was a first-rate scientist in criminology.

Comment: The Dragon was one of those Golden Age superheroes who didn’t care if he killed the criminals he fought. As Bill Norton our hero serves under Captain Donovan, no first name given. This character’s willingness to kill and his flame-thrower gimmick can’t help but remind a Bad Movie Fan like me of Robert Ginty’s two-movie character the Exterminator.

Yankee GirlYANKEE GIRL

Secret Identity: Lauren Mason, wealthy socialite 

Origin: Lauren Mason’s family line included practioners of the mystic arts, but the only spell-casting Lauren herself ever employed was a magic conjuration employing the words “Yankee Doodle Dandy.” (I guess her delivery made all the difference.) Chanting those three words transformed her, Shazam-style, into the super-powered Yankee Girl. 

First Appearance: Either Red Seal Comics #17 (July 1946) or Dynamic Comics #23 (November 1947). There is still some dispute. 

Powers: Continue reading

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COOL-NAMED SPORTS TEAM: EL PASO COMMUNITY COLLEGE

el paso college tejanos

College: EL PASO COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Team Name: TEJANOS/ TEJANAS

Location: El Paso, TX

Division: NJCAA (National Junior College Athletic Association) Continue reading

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THIRTY-EIGHTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE TEXAS TWENTY-SEVEN FILM VAULT

Happy Anniversary to The Texas Twenty-Seven Film Vault, one of the pre-MST3K Movie Host shows. Yes it was Saturday night February 9th, 1985 that this program debuted in Dallas, Texas, in the same studio that would later be used for Joe Bob’s Drive-In. Here is an encore presentation of my EXCLUSIVE 2011 interview with Randy Clower, one of The Texas Twenty-Seven Film Vault‘s co-creators and co-hosts. 

Clower (right) with co-host Richard Malmos as “Film Vault Technicians First Class” on The Texas 27 Film Vault

Before MST3K there was THE TEXAS 27 FILM VAULT! Before Joel and Mike lovers of bad movies had Randy and Richard! Before Pearl there was Laurie Savino! Before Devil Dogs, Observers and Deep 13 there came Cellumites, giant rats and Level 31.

In the mid 1980s The Texas 27 Film Vault was the show to watch on Saturday nights for wry mockery of Golden Turkeys preceded by episodes of vintage Republic Serials like Radar Men from the Moon and Canadian Mounties vs Atomic Invaders.     Continue reading

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