FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH (1907) – Written by Thomas William Lawson, a writer and stock manipulator who made a fortune from shady stock deals … in between advocating for cleaning up Wall Street to shut down those fleece jobs. The reforms Lawson campaigned for were taken up decades later when Franklin Roosevelt appointed future Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas to head the Securities Exchange Commission.
Coincidentally enough the overall feel of Friday the Thirteenth put me in mind of FDR’s cousin, Theodore Roosevelt. The novel did that with its New York setting, with the way the story takes place late in T.R.’s presidency and most especially with the way it dealt with ethics in the marketplace.
Jim Randolph, one of the novel’s main characters, is in the T.R. mold: he may be a bloated rich pig but at least he’s a bloated rich pig with a sense of noblesse oblige. Jim shares Teddy Roosevelt’s disdain for the Trusts and for con men who use the stock market to rip off their clients.
It’s not as if Jim Randolph is as fiery as Teddy Forstmann was in his opposition to Leveraged Buy Outs during the 1980s, but like Forstmann he has a sense of what makes for a healthy economy and frowns upon the fly-by-night operators who thrive on irresponsible “frenzied finance” as Randolph calls it. Continue reading
SECRETS OF THE METEORITE – Once again Kapitan Mors and his crew take off from their secret island base on a space exploration mission. Among the crew of Mors’ spaceship the Meteor are the regulars – Executive Officer Lindo of India, Engineers Stern and Schrecken, Ship’s Astronomer Van Halen, plus Science Officers Anita and Lucy Long. 
PARIS (1979-1980) – This 13-episode cop show was created by the one and only Steven Bochco. James Earl Jones took his first starring role in a television series as Woody Paris of the Los Angeles Police.
THE EPISODES:
MOSES CLEAVELAND (1754-1806) – With the 4th of July fast approaching, here’s a seasonal post about this Revolutionary War veteran and founder of Cleveland, OH despite the difference in spelling. 
THE DEADLY SPAWN (1983) – This film is also known as The Alien’s Deadly Spawn. If you’re into less appreciated splatter flicks this is the movie for you! Diminutive creatures (ignore the poster) from outer space terrorize a neighborhood while literally chewing their way through anything in their way, including human bodies. The gore effects are graphic but not extreme, the acting ranges from awful to average and the creature designs may be cheap but the overall package makes this a cult classic. And watch out for that final stinger!
CAR CRASH (1981) – Travolta … Joey Travolta. Yes, it’s Barbarino’s older brother in this Italian-Spanish coproduction. Ever wonder what the Fast and Furious franchise would be like if Frank Stallone was the overall star? This movie provides the answer – sped up footage to (unsuccessfully) lend the illusion of speed, and model cars just one step above Hot Wheels toys passing for the race cars much of the time! Travolta stars as the fast and fatuous driver Paul Little. He wins a race, infuriating the crime boss who rigged the event to let his own driver win. Paul then faces the gangster, his men and several other competitors in a race called the Imperial Crash. With Johnny Carson’s frequent 1980s joke Ana Obregon. 
THE DOLLY MADISON MURDERS (2023) – In September of 2002 24-year-old Mandi Alexander and 79-year-old Mary Drake were found murdered in the Dolly Madison Bakery in Great Bend, KS. Compared to many other unsolved crimes around the world this case has gotten comparatively little attention. 
Balladeer’s Blog resumes its shoutout to the FORTIETH anniversary year of The Texas 27 Film Vault, one of the many Bad Movie Shows since the 1950s. The program debuted on Saturday February 9th, 1985. 
CONTEST OF CHAMPIONS Vol 1 #1 (June 1982) 
They both agree that since Earth has the greatest concentration of superbeings it will be the site of their mysterious contest. The two villains abduct every single superhero in Marvel Comics at the time, plus several new ones from around the world who were just introduced in this story. 
As we all observe the June 6th anniversary of the 1944 Allied landing at Normandy during World War II, Balladeer’s Blog takes a look at the events from other June 6ths in history.
1782 – In the Ohio Country, American Rebel Colonel William Crawford’s 500 men were defeated in the wilderness by 750 British, Shawnee, Ojibwe and Potawatomi troops as the Revolutionary War continued despite Cornwallis’ surrender the previous October. 
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