Tag Archives: glitternight.com

BIRD OF THE IRON FEATHER (1970) FORGOTTEN TELEVISION

BIRD OF THE IRON FEATHER (1970) – This African American drama was produced for Chicago’s educational station WTTW. The storied black radio and television pioneer Richard Durham created and wrote this soap opera/ soul drama that originally was to air every weekday like network soap operas did.

Durham was hoping to replicate the success of Los Angeles educational station KCET with their five day a week soap opera Cancion de la Raza, about a Mexican-American family. That program aired for 70 episodes from October 1968 to January 1969.

WTTW was approved for a $600,000 grant to produce one hundred 30-minute episodes of a series dramatizing the contemporary experiences of black Chicagoans. The title Bird of the Iron Feather was a reference to the 1847 Frederick Douglass speech in which he described African Americans as “birds of iron feathers unable to fly to freedom.”

Richard Durham decided to center the series around black Chicago police detective Jonah Rhodes (Bernard Ward), his wife Jean (Yolande Bryant) and his uncle “Funky” Frank Rhodes (Ira William Rogers), who owned Funky Frank’s Bar, an establishment where several characters would hang out. Continue reading

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COLLEGE FOOTBALL RESULTS FROM AUGUST TWENTY-THIRD

The 2025 college football season kicked off yesterday in a few of the divisions covered here at Balladeer’s Blog. Even more teams will start their 2025 season this Thursday and Saturday.

NSAC

*** What was supposed to be the inaugural game in the new league the NSAC – the ATLANTIS UNIVERSITY ATLANTEANS hosting the SOUTH FLORIDA TECHNICAL COLLEGE WILDCATS – was postponed yesterday over the weather. All of the NSAC teams will play next Saturday.

NJCAA

MANHANDLED – The TYLER COLLEGE APACHES welcomed the DODGE CITY COLLEGE CONQUISTADORS in this game. The Apaches dominated Dodge City College on both sides of the ball and led by a score of 17-7 come Halftime. After the break, Tyler left the Conquistadors even further behind in an authoritative 27-7 rout. 

HI, CHAPARRALS! – This game saw the COLLEGE OF DUPAGE CHAPARRALS take on the visiting ROCHESTER (MN) TECHNICAL COLLEGE YELLOW JACKETS. Usually a close rivalry game, this year’s edition of their clash was all Chaparrals to a degree that Rochester TC should just burn the game tape and deny being in Illinois yesterday. The College of DuPage won SIXTY to FOURTEEN! Continue reading

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ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION: THE THAMES VALLEY CATASTROPHE (1884)

London in ruinsTHE THAMES VALLEY CATASTROPHE (1884) – Written by Grant Allen. The story is presented in the form of a memoir about the destruction of London as seen from “the futuristic” 20th Century.  

“Back” in 1884 a Londoner familiar with lava eruptions and flows that happened in the American West in the past tries – in what would become a trope of later disaster movies – to warn the authorities that danger lurks. Needless to say his warnings go unheeded and lava erupts in the Thames Valley. Continue reading

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DEATHLOK: HIS 1970s STORIES

This weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero post here at Balladeer’s Blog looks at Marvel’s short-lived dystopian sci-fi series Deathlok the Demolisher.

ASTONISHING TALES Vol 1 #25 (Aug 1974)

Title: A Cold Knight’s Frenzy

Villain: Simon Ryker

Synopsis: This was another of Marvel’s inventive but short-lived sci-fi series of the 1970s and it introduced the character Deathlok (spelled without the “c” for style points I guess). This was the original Deathlok, Colonel Luther Manning, a slain American army officer brought back to life as part-cyborg, part preserved corpse.

Manning is brought back in this tormented form by Simon Ryker, one of the oppressive rulers of 1990s America. Remember, in 1974 the 1990s were still in the future. The premise of this Deathlok series was that a failed corporate coup during the 1980s had caused America to splinter into rival factions, some ruled by the military, some by the C.I.A. and some by other groups we meet as the series progresses.

Luther Manning as Deathlok is an antihero fighting the many forces of evil in the dystopian America of his time period. He uses his military savvy, high-tech weapons and cyborg abilities in that struggle. Continue reading

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GLEN OR GLENDA (1953) ON THE TEXAS 27 FILM VAULT

In the middle 1980s, way down on Level 31 Randy and Richard, machine-gun toting Film Vault Technicians First Class (EO6) hosted this neglected cult show that debuted on February 9th, 1985. Balladeer’s Blog continues its celebration of the program’s 40th anniversary year.

EPISODE’S ORIGINAL BROADCAST DATE: Unknown but definitely before May of 1986. One of the old newspaper articles from early May of that year refers to Glen or Glenda as one of the movies having already been shown on The Texas 27 Film Vault. Anyone with more specific info feel free to contact me.

The Texas 27 Film Vault aired on Saturday nights from 10:30pm to 1:00am. The show was broadcast throughout Texas and Oklahoma.   

SERIAL: Unknown. Again, if you have info feel free to contact me. If this episode aired near the date of the newspaper article mentioned above then Radar Men from the Moon was the serial airing before the movies during that point in 1986. The article makes that clear.

THE MOVIE: Glen or Glenda is so well known I’m sure I don’t need to say much about it. It was Ed Wood’s infamous semi-autobiographical movie about his love of wearing women’s clothing. Incidentally – very incidentally in terms of footage – the movie also touched on the topic of sex-change operations because of the highly publicized 1950s case of Christine Jorgensen. Continue reading

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BARBARY COAST (1975-1976) FORGOTTEN TELEVISION

BARBARY COAST (1975-1976) – William Shatner was the main draw for this series set in 1800s San Francisco and its Barbary Coast section famed for gambling, crime, gunfights, brawls, partying and dance hall girls. Shatner starred as Jeff Cable, hero of the Union Army during the Civil War, now serving as a special government agent like Robert Conrad’s character in The Wild, Wild West.

Barbary Coast captured the same “Old West James Bond” appeal of the Conrad series combined with the same creative team’s similar series Bearcats from 1971. Dennis Cole, co-star of Bearcats, played Shatner’s reluctant partner, casino owner Cash Conover in the Barbary Coast pilot movie but was replaced by Doug McClure for the series.

Fans of The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. and Wildside (reviewed previously here at Balladeer’s Blog) would likely enjoy this series.

BARBARY COAST (May 4th, 1975) – This 2-hour telefilm was directed by the one and only Bill Bixby, who also made a cameo appearance. Jeff Cable (Shatner), West Point Graduate and Civil War hero fresh off fighting the Democrat Party’s hate group the Ku Klux Klan for President Ulysses S. Grant, arrives in San Francisco. Cable’s new mission is to shut down the Crusaders, an organization of Klan members who moved west and started their plot to become California’s version of the KKK. Continue reading

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CCCAA COLLEGE FOOTBALL RANKINGS FROM BALLADEER’S BLOG

The divisions of college football covered here kick off their 2025 season on August 23rd, so here is my last look at preseason rankings.

CCCAA (California Community College Athletic Association)

*** 1. MT. SAN ANTONIO COLLEGE MOUNTIES    ###    2. COLLEGE OF SAN MATEO BULLDOGS (defending champs)    ###    3. RIVERSIDE CITY COLLEGE TIGERS    ###    4. BUTTE COLLEGE ROADRUNNERS    ###   

5. GOLDEN WEST COLLEGE RUSTLERS    ###    6. EL CAMINO COLLEGE WARRIORS    ###    7. BAKERSFIELD COLLEGE RENEGADES    ###    8. COLLEGE OF THE SEQUOIAS GIANTS    ###    Continue reading

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KARATE GIRL (1973) BAD MOVIE REVIEW

KARATE GIRL aka Karateci Kiz (1973) – As fans of Psychotronic movies know, Turkish cinema’s imitations of B-movies from around the world are known for very eccentric acting and for ignoring international copyright laws.

Turkish Star Wars has long been a favorite of Turksploitation fans but most of us were introduced to the country’s Psychotronic cinema via their home grown costumed crimefighter called Killing or through the movie 3 Dev Adam (1973). Three Divine Men or Three Giant Men as it’s called in English featured the U.S.A.’s Captain America and Mexico’s El Santo teaming up against Spider-Man, who for some reason was depicted as an international criminal.

The Turkish “screw you” attitude when it came to the fact that they didn’t own the trademarks to those three figures added to the bizarre charm. Similarly, Turkish films appropriated whatever music they wanted to use in their productions. For instance, Karate Girl shamelessly uses the Shaft music to accompany its martial arts revenge storyline.

Turkish superstar Filiz Akin stars in Karate Girl as Zeynep, a beautiful young woman who sells flowers to raise money for an operation to fix her vocal chords so she can talk. Zeynep lives with her good-natured father, who verbalizes to the viewers what his mute daughter’s personal sign language means. Continue reading

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NORTHWEST SMITH: LIKE HAN SOLO IN THE UNIVERSE OF THE ALIEN FRANCHISE

Female author C.L. Moore’s space traveling smuggler of the 2500s A.D. – Northwest Smith – was like a 1930s forerunner of Han Solo but set in a forerunner of the Alien franchise’s gritty universe.

THE HERO: Space traveling anti-hero Smith was created by the female writer C.L. Moore in the 1930s. Four decades before Han Solo, Northwest Smith was a ruthless swashbuckling smuggler, thief and all-around mercenary. Smith’s less than sterling character made him a refreshing change from the usually wholesome pulp heroes of the time.  

THE STORIES: Northwest Smith’s adventures take place in the far future, when regular trade exists between Earth and the native inhabitants of Mars and Venus. The other planets in the solar system have been colonized by those Big Three worlds. Wielding a blaster like a six-gun and piloting his deceptively fast and maneuverable spaceship The Maid, Smith and his Venusian partner Yarol roam the solar system making a living by plying various illegal trades.

My reviews of their 13 stories from back in 2014:

SHAMBLEAU (1933) – While trying to lie low between smuggling runs, Northwest Smith stays in New Chicago, a dangerous Martian hotel with a deadly clientelle. Walking the nighttime streets, he saves an eerily seductive woman from a mob who want her dead for being one of the sinister race called the Shambleau. Can Yarol save Smith from himself as the Shambleau lures him into deeper and madder indulgences? Click HERE.   

BLACK THIRST (1934) – On Yarol’s home world Venus, he parties with old criminal associates while Northwest gets into trouble of his own. Smith gets on the bad side of the Mingas, a caste of glorified alien pimps who run their harems of biologically altered women from their Hutt-like lair Far-Thursa Castle. One of the genetically engineered temptresses wants Northwest to help her escape the Mingas, and Smith, thinking purely with his man-parts, tries to oblige. Click HERE. Continue reading

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NJCAA COLLEGE FOOTBALL RANKINGS FROM BALLADEER’S BLOG

August 23rd is when the divisions of college football covered here kick off. Previously I posted my preseason rankings for the NAIA, NCAA Division Two and NCAA Division Three.

NJCAA – 1. HUTCHINSON COLLEGE BLUE DRAGONS (Defending National Champions)    ###    2. IOWA WESTERN COLLEGE REIVERS    ###    3. NORTHWEST MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE RANGERS    ###    4. GEORGIA MILITARY COLLEGE BULLDOGS    ###

5. SNOW COLLEGE BADGERS    ###    6. COFFEYVILLE COLLEGE RED RAVENS    ###    7. EAST CENTRAL COLLEGE WARRIORS    ###    8. MISSISSIPPI GULF COAST COLLEGE BULLDOGS    ###    Continue reading

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