Emerald and Hobbit

Wild Wild West Jim West's prop images

2011-12-09T01:39:00.000-08:00

Here are some great images of Jim West's gear from Wild Wild West.

Jim had several pistols on board his train car The Wanderer, but his favorite side arm was a Colt .45 nickel plated single action revolver, complete with sterling silver rattle snakes on the grips. This Jim West revolver pictured here is owned by archivist and film and television historian Rob Klein.

Superman II press kit

2011-11-16T22:38:00.000-08:00

You can always get a feel for the budget behind a feature film based on several things: one, is how well the crew is taken care of...were there crew gifts? How good was the craft service table's goodies?

Another way is by the cool press materials created to entice the press to publish praise on the film. The Superman II press kit remains an excellent artifact created to support the film. Complete with a wonderful collection of stills and a bound full color cover complete with extensive information on the cast and crew and facts about the film's production.

Superman's "green crystal"

2011-11-16T22:19:00.000-08:00

No doubt the the "Ruby Slippers" of Superman: The Movie and Superman II is the green Kryptonian Crystal that Jor-El (Marlon Brando) places in Kal-El's spacecraft when he is sent to Earth.

This is one of two known to exist and both are in America, though they were both created and filmed in the UK. One is owned by archivist Rob Klein, along with one of Chris Reeves' Superman costumes.

This particular hero green crystal is the very same one used in the scene by Christopher Reeve when he is explaining his history with it to Lois in the Fortress of Solitude in Superman II. Acquired via Christopher Reeve while wearing his Superman suit at the completion of the scene.

The Batcomputer

2011-11-16T00:20:00.000-08:00

Batman and Robin's Batcomputer

2011-11-15T18:55:00.000-08:00

Its great to see one of our restorations covered on the web. The original Batcomputer was discovered by Emerald & Hobbit's archivist Rob Klein in the 1999. It was in the elements and being rained on. Rob purchased the set piece and restored it to its original glory, using as many of the original lights and components that were still able to be located. The restoration was completed in 2003 with working lights and switches, looking once again as it appeared in the 1966-1969 television series "Batman" and the 1967 feature film of the same name. Though it was labeled as many different "Bat" pieces of equipment over the three seasons that the script called for, it was referred often as simply as the "Batcomputer" in many episodes.

Evel Knievel's quote regarding his creation of his popular 70s toy line.

2011-10-20T20:36:00.001-07:00

The original Lone Ranger costume

2011-10-19T03:22:00.001-07:00

No doubt one of the coolest western costumes from entertainment history: The Lone Ranger's costume, complete with double gun belt rig complete with two six-shooter single action pistols and silver bullets across the back of the belt.

The General Lee from Dukes of Hazzard

2011-10-19T03:10:00.000-07:00

No doubt one of the coolest cars in television history is the General Lee (which many know is a 1969 Dodge Charger) from CBS' television series "The Dukes of Hazzard' seen here with car enthusiast the lovely Jennifer Smith.

This no doubt is one of the original cars made for the series. This one as you can see, did not have the doors welded shut, but does have the tan interior, which was simply sprayed tan. Since there were many cars made for the series, as they would get trashed quickly from the aggressive jumps and stunts required for the show the interiors at times were not even altered to tan. This car has a very sloppy mask job and has a lot of over spray on the door jams, indicating how quickly the motor pool had to detail the cars for the show. The shotty interior paint job is a great indication of the cars authenticity.

Sid & Marty Krofft's HR Pufnstuf original Freddy the Flute puppet / prop

2011-10-19T02:59:00.000-07:00

This is the original, one and only talking Freddy the Flute from H. R. Pufnstuf. This is the one that has a cable control which allows the mouth to open and close when manipulated. So anytime you see Freddy's mouth moving, it was this hero Freddy the Flute. Jack Wild had this Freddy in his shirt pocket as well. A cable ran down his shirt out of frame, at the end of the cable was a control that was activated by Sid Krofft, when it was pushed and pulled it made Freddy's mouth move.

The flute is made out of materials that have not held up well since 1969. Never the less Freddy still exists.

The Thing and Batman original props and costumes exhibit

2011-10-19T02:49:00.000-07:00

Here are images of displays I worked on at the Arclight Hollywood for John Carpenter's "The Thing" and "Batman" for the Aero Theater in Santa Monica. These displays feature original artifacts from the films. These screenings are a great way to share original production artifacts with the real fans who make the effort to see these films again in a theater on the big screen.

Burt Ward his career after Batman, the 70s and mind control.

2011-07-04T22:13:00.000-07:00

Fans of Burt Ward were waiting to see him appear in a new production anytime after they became captivated with his portrayal of the role he was destined to fill: Robin / Dick Grayson in the three seasons of BATMAN. No one will probably ever get it quite right as Burt did in his role as the boy wonder.

Burt was as perplexed at his lack of roles he was offered post Batman as his fans were. But perhaps this vintage TV article Emerald & Hobbit recently discovered in their archives sheds some explanation on why he may have been continually over looked, or perhaps avoided.

Superman Topps non-sports cards

2011-06-06T21:33:00.000-07:00

The yin and the yang

Christopher Reeve and Brando together in Superman the Movie

2011-06-06T21:29:00.000-07:00

This is the only scene that Christopher Reeve and Brando played together. In the cut scene from Superman II, it now appears in the Richard Donner Directors cut of Superman II.

Back to the Future part III DMC train

2011-06-06T21:13:00.001-07:00

To celebrate Back to the Future's 25th Anniversary, the DMC Time Machine was placed on the tracks in the same location where Marty Mc Fly went back to 1985 in part III, it doesn't get much cooler than this...

In some photos it almost doesn't look real!

One of the best parts about being there was seeing the looks on peoples faces sitting a the stop light when the DMC actually went through intersection.

T. J. Hooker

2011-06-06T21:06:00.000-07:00

Remember when Hooker teamed up with Herb (Battlestar Galactica Boomer) Jefferson Jr.

Nuff said-

Star Trek II Admiral Kirk (William Shatner) costume

2011-05-07T15:06:00.000-07:00

If you don't recognize this, then you have not seen Star Trek II Wrath of Khan. The best Star Trek film ever made.

Wild Wild West Robert Conrad 3rd & 4th Season costume

2011-05-07T14:23:00.000-07:00

After nearly 20 years of searching I was finally able to locate and acquire my favorite costume from the exciting 60s TV series The Wild Wild West. This is Jim West's coat and pants worn by Robert Conrad in the 3rd and 4th season of the show. The cuffs are about 2" wide which means this coat was worn in the 4th season. This is the same costume Robert Conrad is wearing on the cover of TV Guide from 1968. Unfortunately, I located the pants and chaps about a year ago, before I located the jacket and I did not acquire them, as I had given up on ever locating the coat. This is a perfect example on why one should never give up, because about 10 months later I located the jacket and the matching pair of blue pants. Never the less these blue pants (pictured) were indeed worn with this blue jacket in many episodes, though the chaps were more often seen with this ensemble while Jim West was riding across the plains of the wild west.

Still debating if this is real...

2010-06-13T23:30:00.000-07:00

Matt Heyerly is always a good fool-ster, master of graphic design. I certainly have never seen it, and I have been collecting records for nearly 35 years now, since I was 4 Gary Emerald was 4 as well. I think it may contain his rendition of the Archies' "Sugar, Sugar" he sings on the Disney classic, Disneyland Showtime.

Update: Yes, it's real, I found a Cashbox add Capitol Records took out advertising Kurt's record along side Jack Wild's album.

???

2010-06-13T23:11:00.000-07:00

Heyaa!

2010-06-13T23:08:00.001-07:00

Better than Star Wars!

2010-06-13T23:06:00.000-07:00

Does anyone remember this show? Neither do I

2010-06-13T23:02:00.000-07:00

2010-05-29T22:09:00.000-07:00

Rob Klein’s historic exchange with producer…legend Ilya Slakind.

RK: Hello, It’s an honor to meet you.

IS: Yeah…

RK Did you keep any of the Chris Reeve suits?

IS: You know…they made like only 50…they sell…, 150…uh, yeah!

RK: I see…they are all at the Warner Brothers now.

IS: Uh, okaaay… yeah.

RK I see you have a silver “S” charm…does it get caught in your chest hair?

IS: So you want me to sign something?

RK Ah, sure.

IS What you want me to sign?

RK How about “To Jennifer and Rob…”

IS How do you spell? J…e….f….n…..???

JS J E N N I F E R…

IS Yeah, ok…uhh.

RK Yes, that’s is…can you please, use the silver pen…it’s like the crystals from Krypton…

IS: Uh, yeah…okaaay.

Rk Where you living these days?

IS California, the weather is, uh…you know…

RK Better than Superman Retuns?

IS Uh, okaaay….

Movieland Wax Museum documentary update

2009-12-30T19:26:00.000-08:00

Dan Roebuck and Rob Klein continue to work on their forthcoming documentary about the now long closed "Movieland Wax Museum." Dan and Rob have been producing an in-depth look at the history of Buena Park's Movieland, which opened in 1962. Rob Klein commented: "Movieland was a very unique wax museum and a southern California historic amusement that is worthy of an in-depth documentation. Dan and I started out compiling interviews and materials in 2005, we had hoped to complete the documentary by 2007, unfortunately we are still unable to locate a large amount of promotional material the most crucial being the 1980s promotional TV spots. Southern Californians remember seeing these commercials broadcast all the time. I just don't feel that this documentary will be complete until we can locate some of these promos which will help convey the vibe of what Movieland was all about." Rob and Dan urge anyone who may know more about and or have any of this kind of material to get in touch with them.

For fellow Movieland fans, here is a rare print add promoting "The Black Box" which was an Audio-Animatronic horror attraction featuring scenes from "Halloween" and "Alien."

Disney original prop & costume display featuring items from Tron and The Black Hole by Gary Emerald

2009-12-30T19:09:00.000-08:00

Disney Archives did an amazing job helping D23 promote the D23 Expo at Comic-Con by bringing out a few of Disney's comic-related heroes. All of these original costumes were displayed for the first time in California together. Pieces from the 70s sci-fi cult-classic "The Black Hole" were present, including the miniature robots, V.I.N.Cent., Old B.O.B. and Maximillain. Costumes from "Sky High," "Condorman," "TRON" and "The Rocketeer" complete with the hero X-3 Jetpack delighted attendees. The most popular definatly being Bruce Boxlietner's hero costume from TRON, even garnered attention from TRON's creator, Steven Lisberger, who stoped by the display to discus the details of the TRON costume with Disney Archivist Rob Klein.

Battlestar Galactica Tele-films promo ads

2009-12-24T11:28:00.000-08:00

Here are two examples of print ads promoting the Galactica tele-films. There were several of these tele-movies cut together for syndication; I believe 5 in all, joining two-hour long episodes.

Instead of using the opening credits for the series, a new title card was created with the new title: i.e.: The Curse of the Cylons and Murder in Space placed over stock footage of the fleet flying by, to give it a feature film the feel.

“Experiment in Terra” was the only one that featured new footage. Ironically this was always a two-hour episode as it was originally broadcast as “Experiment in Terra” parts 1 and 2.

It’s A Wonderful Life- Blu-ray Disc

2009-11-29T22:51:00.000-08:00

It’s A Wonderful Life is a wonderful film. Does that sound cliché? Well, too bad, because it has been voted the number one most inspiring film of all time by the American Film Institute (AFI). Frank Capra’s film holds up to the hype, and that’s a very difficult thing to live up to after so many years and years of fanfare. Broadcast every holiday season, this film is considered a “Christmas movie” though it’s not really about Christmas at all. It was continually shown during the holiday season, as the rights had fallen into public domain, so TV stations ran it endlessly during the holidays without having to pay a royalty. The aggressive broadcasts assaulted the public, happily creating several generations to take notice. Though it may have always been regarded among only film buffs as a great film, television is responsible for it its rediscovery, and for crowning it one of the royal classics, along with Gone with the Wind and the Wizard of Oz.

It’s A Wonderful Life should be viewed any time of the year. It is a masterpiece of filmmaking and should not be saved only for the holidays. In the film, George Bailey (James Stewart) questions his self worth late in life. He was once someone with big dreams, ambitions and ready to leave his small hometown Bedford Falls to make his mark on the world, but fate forces him to take on his father’s Building and Loan Company, which provides the lower income residents of Bedford Falls a chance to better their lives. He stays in Bedford Falls, though he knows that his decision to stay and run the his father’s loan company will guarantee him a financially moderate life like his father’s and prevent him from fulfilling his ambitions. Also, he is the only chance the community has against the wicked Mr. Potter (Lionel Barrymore) who owns everything in town except the Building and Loan. Foiling Potter’s continual attempts to put the Building and Loan out of business George is eventually found a victim to Potter’s evil schemes, and, in a desperate frame of mind, questions his own self worth. He is shown, with some heavenly help, that his life has been an adventure, indeed – and his impact on everyone around him has been profound. “No one is a failure who has friends,” was filmmaker Frank Capra’s ultimate message.

Released in 1946 by RKO It’s A Wonderful Life was filmed at the Culver Studios. The studio has had different names before and since the filming of this film, such as Tom Ince Studios, Desilu Culver, David O’Selznick Studios and recently, simply The Culver Studios. The film’s interiors were shot on the same stages where Gone With the Wind, King Kong, Star Trek and Batman were filmed. The exterior set for Bedford Falls was filmed on the little celebrated RKO Ranch, located in Encino, California. The ranch is all but forgotten today, and I believe that a golf course is now located where cameras once captured lighting in a bottle or onto celluloid rather.

This disc offers the film in original glorious black and white, looking absolutely pristine as presented in its standard 4:3 format. It definitely looks better than previous releases, but not noticeable enough to freak out over. Also offered is the colorized version, which looks not as crisp as you would think. This version suffers from the “colorized look,” where the pigments are just “off” enough to annoy, and constantly remind you that something doesn’t look right. The gem of the set is a vintage television documentary hosted by Tom Bosley, who looks as plump as a Christmas goose in his blue holiday sweater, stoking and poking his fireplace while he reminisces about the film. Ah, the production values of television. Surprisingly, Tom will go on to grace other film docs again, lending his syrupy and throaty voice to explore the sci-fi train-wreck all-time crap-tacular waste of sci-fi celluloid called Krull. Thankfully interviews with James Stewart and Frank Capra make this doc worthwhile.

I predict that the future of It’s A Wonderful Life will be prolific: there must be even more versions of the film released, as the movie needs a better in-depth look into its history. It is perhaps the greatest time-travel films of all time, next to Back to the Future. It is no surprise that this is one of Robert Zemeckis’ favorite films, and that It’s a Wonderful Life contains moments that obviously inspired Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale in writing their time-travel trilogy. I am sure that the film inspired even Rod Serling, as some of the creepier moments could be right out of the Twilight Zone. How many vintage family films combine such evocative story telling, drama, and gut-wrenching emotion? Very few, which is perhaps why fickle audiences of today except It’s A Wonderful Life in so many ways.

Palitoy's "TALKING" BATMOBILE

2009-11-08T10:13:00.000-08:00

There is nothing more aesthetically perfect than the 1960s Batmobile from "Batman." It is represented here quite well and with quite a lot of charm. This piece is perhaps one of the best offerings of the Batmobile ever produced, manufactured by Palitoy of the UK. Just look at the full color box. With its extra cool “talking" feature kids just may become frightened of Batman and Robin...give as listen.

Obi-Wan Promotional video from the 1977 Living in These Star Wars LP

2009-11-01T09:39:00.000-08:00

Living in These Star Wars was released in 1977 by The Rebel Force Band. I have heard from a few people who are aware of this LP, people are aware of this because of Rob Klein who was spreading the word among friends, that it was a parody. Nope, these guys were obviously serious and very impacted by the fever of 77, Star Wars fever. Since it was released in 1977 it was out before many of the Star Wars products were, perhaps even sooner that the bootleg toys. (a story for another time)

This pop rock offering is full of catchy harmonies and Moog keyboards, a very groovy, perfect time capsule of fun for the custom van and maybe a simpler time.
In any case here is the rare promotional video for "Obi-Wan" promoting the extremely rare CD release of "Living in these Star Wars."

Global Van Lines was once located near Disneyland

2009-10-30T22:11:00.000-07:00

Does anyone remember the Global Van Lines building that was once located at the North East corner of the Disneyland property in Anaheim California? Throughout the 60s and 70s it literally sat on the same property the Team Disneyland building is today. It is the iridescent green building off of the 5 FWY right before you exit onto Harbor Blvd. I remember knowing that we were about to exit Harbor as a youngster, before I could read when I saw the Global Van Lines fountain, a globe with the water pumping through it in front of their unique building (see my rare advertisement posted for your enjoyment). Does anyone have any color photos of that building before it was demolished?

Back to the Future's DeLorean time machine abandoned and neglected by Gary Emerald

2009-10-28T11:39:00.000-07:00

It's sad but true; some studios just don't care about their assets. Their short sidedness sometimes is just plain unprofessional. Back to the Future is one of the most important franchises in American film history, and no doubt one of Universal Studios’ best. Back to the Future is a perfect movie, a masterpiece. It is shocking to see that one of the three hero DMC time machines created for use in BTTF part I was left to rot away on Universal’s back lot. Can you imagine the value of this picture vehicle had it been cared for and auctioned off? Instead it was left to rot away…this particular car was used for all the interior shots, and perhaps was the one in the films that gets the most screen time. Clearly no one their has any concept of what they have or had, and for a company who needs stuff to display on their tour, why was this thing not better cared for?

Burt Ward's action figure

2009-10-28T09:37:00.001-07:00

One way or the other, this was the closest you could get to having a Burt Ward Robin action figure: Mego's 8" World's Greatest Super Heroes line. The card art is fantastic, don't you agree? These figures were released in the early 70s, and the first issue of Robin featured a removable mask, which did not look as good as the later painted on mask, seen here carded.

Emerald and Hobbit photo pic of the week

2009-10-24T16:39:00.000-07:00

Here's an image you don't see everyday: "The many moods of Daffy"

Emerald & Hobbit cool photo pic of the week

2009-10-20T17:39:00.000-07:00

Disney and Dinosaurs

Vintage TRON photo from Disneyland's Starcade

2009-10-20T17:34:00.000-07:00

Do you remember the 1982 Disney fantastic feature film TRON? Many do…I never saw it in the theater, but I do remember the video arcade game. It was one of the first games to feature four separate games in one. It had beautiful cabinet art and even a clear blue joystick that illuminated with a black light located just underneath the monitor, which illuminated all the florescent line details as well as the joystick. A Disney experience even in you home town’s video arcade.

Disneyland’s Tomorrowland had at least ten of these games in the Starcade, complete with overhead video monitors so everyone near and far in the Starcade could view the game in play. Here is a rarely seen image of the TRON set up in Disneyland’s Starcade.

The most wanted prop or costume list in the "Mirror, Mirror" universe.

2009-10-18T22:52:00.001-07:00

Daddy Warbucks' dress from Annie

Fizzgig from Dark Crystal

"Mac" from Mac and Me

Pat Morita's apron and "Al's" neon sign from Happy Days

Ted Knight's drafting table and Cosmic Cow Puppet from "Too Close for Comfort"

Anything Richard "Larry" Kline from "Three's Company"

Anything from Alan Quartermain and the Lost City of Gold

Porkin's X-Wing fighter pilot boots from Empire

The Monkey Man's robe Raiders

Elrond's prosthetic fingernails

Tire from "Tucker" automobile from Coppola/Lucas' film "Tucker"

Remco's energized Spiderman and other Energized heroes

2009-10-16T11:34:00.000-07:00

The Remco Energized Superhero line fits in the category of crap-tacular non-pose able 12” figures with great box art. The boxes and commercial TV tie-ins inspired… yet these toys did very, very little. You’d think a battery operated toy could provide hours of adventure…not really. These figures were designed with non-moving limbs, very simplistic and similar in design to toys from the 1960s.

There were several energized figures produced, Spiderman, was the focus of the collection and had the commercial spotlight. Superman, The Hulk, Green Goblin did not get any commercial attention and are the more obscure characters from the series. You don’t see many of them around these days.

With a “C” battery each figure did one thing. Spiderman has a pulley inside, when switched on he would climbs up a piece of fishing line from an arm permanently raised above his head. There was even a helicopter made for Spiderman… he looked dumb in it because he had to stand in the helicopter since he couldn’t bend his legs.

Superman’s eyes light up and when you plug the Kryptonite rock into his side, his eyes dim. His box shows an energized Superman looking nothing like the figure inside.

The Hulk has a pulley inside, same sort of things as Spiderman’s mechanism so the Hulk can and can pull stuff. Yawn…this mysterious toy line is one of my favorites
,

Kenner's Star Wars line 1978-1986?

2009-10-16T00:56:00.000-07:00

Its been talked about ad nauseaum, just look at the colors and enjoy...nuff said!

William "Shatastic" Shatner collectibles by Rob Klein

2009-10-16T00:45:00.000-07:00

Everyone collects something. No matter if they are square with that or not. Concerning toy collecting it’s not really about the toy, it’s about the object. The toy plays a small part to me, it's all about the packaging. Toys can represent much, providing a deep understanding about the TV show or film it is based off of on so many levels.

Take for example this item from William Shatner’s first successful TV series since Star Trek (1966-1967): T.J. Hooker. This artifact asks the question: Did the public need toys from TJ Hooker? Perhaps the toy licensors couldn’t decide either since for this 5 season Aaron Spelling produced Shatastic Saturday night cop show only spawned a handful of products and they were all hard to find. I looked for anything I could find all and only remember locating a few items such the dart guns and a die-cast police car that was so inaccurate from the actual black and white police car Hooker drove, I didn’t even want it. Luckily a model kit was produced that was perfectly detailed, and remains to be a great example of T.J. Hooker merchandise, not to mentioned a great example of a 80s model police car, complete with the blue and red gumball sirens on top.

This T.J. hooker racer was not on my radar in the 80s, I never saw it or knew of its existance, and thanks to ebay I now know of it. Who cares about the toy itself, the mere fact another item with William Shatner that was once available for purchase in a store makes the world a little brighter.

Top 10 best movie or television weapons

2009-10-12T17:13:00.000-07:00

Winky spear The Wizard of OZ
Deckard’s gun Blade Runner
Han Solo’s blaster Star Wars trilogy
Flame pistol Logan’s Run
Visitor laser pistol V
Colonial Marine Pulse Rifle Aliens
Colonial laser pistol Battlestar Galactica
Phaser 1 Star Trek
Luke Skywalkers Lightsaber The Empire Strikes Back
Phaser II Star Trek

Top 10 Television costumes-

2009-10-12T17:12:00.001-07:00

Cylon Centurion Battlestar Galactica
Sleestak- Land of the Lost
Endora’s (Agnas Moorehead) witch robes- Bewitched
Batman (Adam West) “Batman”
Davy Crocket coonskin hat (Fess Parker) Disneyland - Davy Crockett episodes
Dr. McCoy (Deforest Kelley) Star Trek (1966-1969)
Captain Kirk (William Shatner) Star Trek (1966-1969)
Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) Star Trek (1966-1969)
Superman (George Reeves) The Adventures of Superman
Walt Disney suit from the opening of Disneyland (Anthology television series)

Super Powers Collection by Kenner: The best super hero toys ever produced?

2009-10-11T22:09:00.000-07:00

Kenner's Super Powers collection

2009-10-11T20:20:00.000-07:00

Many Super hero authorities consider Kenner’s Super Powers line to be the best toy line ever produced for the DC Universe. Perhaps even coming in first over the only other worthy collection: Mego's World's Greatest Super Heroes, produced in the 70s.

The Super Powers collection offered highly detailed figures, yet produced with simplistic charm. A style which has been ignored too often by current toy makers of the day. The primary colors of the plastic and superb packaging makes the Super Powers collection a pleasure to behold, total eye candy.

The figures were derived from Hanna Barbera’s “Super Friends” Saturday Morning TV series, and other super shows that followed such as: “The Challenge of the Super Fiends,” and eventually, “Super Powers” which tied directly into the toy line. Batman's and Robin’s designs were still closely related to the “Batman” 60s television series, though Batman started to stray away from Adam West’s look. The Super Powers Batman still had the classic blue and gray color scheme. This was the last toy line that offered Batman looking his best in blue and gray before he would forever be changed to the boring “dark motif” brought forth by Tim Burton’s Batman film in 1989.

Here is an example of Robin MOC card from the Super Powers line, still very Burt Ward-ish even 20 years after the show went off the air. Another robin feather in the cap of Burt Jervis.

Super accessories: Justice Jogger

2009-10-11T20:17:00.000-07:00

What’s the deal with this Super Powers vehicle? Offered in the scarce third wave of the series. The Justice Jogger is an “overland villain chaser” with power stepping action. Perhaps Kenner’s design team was out of ideas by the time they began designing the third line of the Super Powers collection. The Justice Jogger is basically a wind-up two legged walking chair, which will carry a Super Powers action figure. The box depicts Superman piloting the chair. Lucky this vehicle is available to the man of steel just in case he gets tired. The only other character I could think of that would have been as bad of a choice to use as Superman was would have been the Flash. Though I guess Superman probably sells more toys regardless of the logic behind the idea.

Vintage Sleestak toy...well, sort of...

2009-08-31T22:05:00.000-07:00

Most of the Land of the Lost toys were disappointing to say the least. Never the less, they are fun looking back now.

Unfortunately a Sleestak action figure was not produced. Though the Sleestaks did appear on this odd toy: “Land of the Lost Moon Spinners.” Sadly this toy had very little to do with Sleestaks, the moon, Land of the Lost or the Disney Hayley Mills film of the same name.

Beware: Sleestak by Gary Emerald

2009-08-31T21:52:00.001-07:00

Concerning “The Land of the Lost” there is no doubt that the Sleestaks, the weird reptilian race stole the show. They are both nightmarish and yet fascinating, the 70’s generation’s Creature from the Black Lagoon. The Sleestaks are just a masterwork of design. The very name Sleestak was a creation of Sid Kroffts, another feather in his very colorful creative cap.

There were 3 Sleestaks suits made for all three season…no more, no less and the show’s long day production schedules trashed on them. Only two exist today, restored by archivist Rob Klein for Marty Krofft. Where the third one is, no one knows. Perhaps it was trashed after its use on the A-Team. The picture above is from the A-Team, in the show some guy parachutes into Universal's water tank, the one on the tour with the parting of the red-sea. Did they think that this fragile years old costume could survive this strain? Clearly someone did not care about the preservation of a priceless television Krofft artifact.

The Land of the Lost hand puppets

2009-08-31T21:35:00.000-07:00

“The Land of the Lost” was one of the coolest Krofft shows. There is much to explore surrounding the three seasons that “The Land of the Lost” was on the air. Star Trek alumni contributed to writing episodes, no doubt by the suggestion of Sid Krofft. This show had it all, dinosaurs with a cool sci-fi cross-over.

This show technically combined video; the format the live action footage was taped on, with film, the format used to create the dinosaur’s movements. At one time it was thought the entire show would get scrapped vbefore the technitians figured out how to marry the two formats.

Not all of the dinosaurs were stop motion. The Krofft puppet shop made hand puppets for Grumpy and later Big Alice. Each puppet was quite large, constructed of foam, Grumpy seen here, has seen better days as you can see in the photo.

Big Alice is in far better condition, as the staff at Emerald and Hobbit has carefully maintained her. The Big Alice hand puppet can be seen at the end of the season 3 titles, taking Grumpy’s queue for having the final word.
The Big Alice hand puppet may have been built by Wah Ming Chang as grumpy was.

Technically The Big Alice hand Puppet is also Grumpy as she was substituted for Grumpy in one episode. It is unknown whether this was a mistake, or that perhaps they had to use her for some other technical reason. Maybe Grumpy was not available? Interesting whatever the reason may have been.

Photo #3: The Big Alice Hand puppet seen here in the late 80s

New recording of the Dr. Shrinker theme song.

2009-08-30T22:11:00.000-07:00

One of the most fun aspects to the Krofft's shows was the opening credits and catchy theme songs. Here is a recent version of the "Dr. Shrinker" theme song recorded by the pop trio "Lady Elaine and the Music Go-Round.”

Also pictured is a classic piece of Krofft memorabilia a "Dr. Shrinker" magnifying glass. Maybe by using this you can find those shrinkies. Notice the placement of where the manufacturer put the hole for where product was supposed to be hung from. Its exactly on Jay Robinson's head. I am not a big one for "punched" and "un-punched" concerning condition, but if this piece were "punched" you would loose the image of the doctor's face.

Sid Krofft and Rob Klein

2009-08-30T21:58:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of Sid Krofft with Rob Klein. Rob restored several of the artifacts from the Krofft's archives, including one of the only 2 remaining Sleestak costumes.

Gary Emerald explores The Worlds of Sid & Marty Krofft

2009-08-30T21:48:00.000-07:00

Sid & Marty Krofft remain to be one of the most unique creative teams in television history. They are known most for their childrens television programming. When you think of childrens television, the first thing you may think of may be The Muppets, or Sesame Street, the result of the creative mind of Jim Henson and those who worked with him. The Krofft’s Legacy shares many similarities to the world of the Muppets; yet their products take a sharp turn into the world of psycadelic and the strange. Perhaps due to their first self-produced hit H.R. Pufnstuf (1969-1970). Cloaked as a kids show, Pufnstuff spoke to not just young kids: The teenagers and young adult party goers of the late 60s waking up from a night of "wackiness" no doubt that was common and unique in the fall of the last year in the decade of magic. Waking up to "H.R. Pufnstuf" may just about have made the hang-over worth it. The talking mushrooms, and all the Sgt. Pepper / Magical Mystery Tour colorful sets were unlike anything on television then and now.

Though "H.R. Pufnstuf" only was on their air for one season, a story for another time, what followed was probably the most unique and creative portfolio of shows in television history, each rich with colorful characters and Theme songs that will not ever leave your subconscious…hopefully not! Plus the Kroffts had what very few creators or producers can claim on their resume’: a theme park.

What was once know as “The World of Sid & Marty Krofft” was sadly only open for a short time, but the mystery and majesty of their history still is some what illusive. I must explore more. Though I have had access inside of their world, their empire which they still own outright (they have never sold out) I got to perhaps to see a glimpse at the “men behind the curtain” I still need to learn more and crack the case and discover all the nooks.

Star Trek's Deforest Kelley's and Leonard Nimoy's unreleased LPs finally located on CD

2009-08-09T22:37:00.000-07:00

by Rob Klein
There are many 60s records that have been put on to CD since the 60s. There are times when a certain release comes and goes with out anyone every really knowing about it. Two examples of extremely rare CDs are Leonard Nimoy’s “Butterscotch Kisses” and Deforest Kelley’s one and only album “I’m Here for You.”

Here is a copy of De Kelley’s CD autographed by him. When he signed it he commented to me that the cover photo “was taken where we did all those Western pictures.”

Paul Williams a true gift to Planet Earth

2009-08-05T22:00:00.000-07:00

By Rob Klein

Paul Williams is a special talent on the Earth arriving to public awareness in the later part of the 20th Century. Paul started his songwriting career, in the 60s. He was inked into pop culture when his catchy-lazy-groove-mellow tunes were recorded by The Carpenters and the sounds of Karen’s and Richard’s musical gifts mixed with Paul’s hooks summed up the feel of the early 70s. The post-sixties, tired of all the drugs, burned out counter culture, music lovers of the early 70s needed a sonic break, and the relaxing vibes of the Williams tune was the right medicine. “We’ve only Just Begun” went to the top of the pop charts and many more went straight to "hit" status.

Maybe it should have been titled “Paul has Only Just Begun,” as his career took off into solo LPs and writing complete scores for motion pictures, as was the case in Brian DePalma’s first film Phantom of the Paradise. Paul also wrote the complete score for Bugsy Malone (the one with the kids as gangsters, with Jodi Foster lip-synching along with the child mob-boss Fat Sam) Bugsy Malone featured the prop called the splurge gun. The Tommie-gun styled weapon that fires cream pies effectively messing up the victim’s face and effectively killing them. This is probably the most sought after movie prop by the powerhouse super-duo collecting team of Gary Emerald and Jim Hobbit. The aggressive pop culture collectors have reportedly tracked down the only surviving working prop known to exist, but they were unwilling to relinquish their Charlie Chaplin collection for it as trade.

Paul Williams later got into acting, finally gracing us with his entire person. Appearing in films such as Smokey and the Bandit as Little Enos Burdett, Swan the evil music mogul in Phantom of the Paradise and Virgil the orangutan scientist in the 5th and "best" Planet of the Apes offering: Battle for the Planet of the Apes. In addition to small screen appearances on magical programming like “The Muppet Show” and 70s Saturday were never the same without shows like “Fantasy Island” and “The Love Boat” and both featured Paul in guest starring roles. Most importantly Paul composed the soothing theme song to the “The Love Boat”…BANG! Paul even had his own show for a time, titled what else: “The Paul Williams Show”…BAM!!!

What's next...collecting Paul Williams merchandise. Paul Williams manufactured mementos are very scarce and there really is not too much that we know of around, with the exception of soundtrack LPs, and 8-tracks, and the occasional movie poster, that he appears on, perhaps other items surrounding his music, such as sheet music and the like.

The late seventies brought about Paul’s most celebrated contribution, writing a song for Kermit the Frog in his first feature film The Muppet Movie. Without over working the word "magic" the song “The Rainbow Connection” truly is. How that song did not receive the Oscar for song of the year is about as annoying as when Raiders of the Lost Ark did not win in 1981 for best picture. Or when Star Wars lost out to Annie Hall in 1977,
At least Paul took home an Oscar for one of his songs in the forgettable film A Star is Born. I prefer the Judy Garland James Mason version, but I support the effort merely on Paul’s involvement.

Today Paul in the president of ASCAP…BANG!!! He occasionally does concerts. I went to one in the early 90s and it was sold out…darn!

Texans are true Paul fans as they have a Phantom of the Paradise concert quite often where Paul comes out and sings his tunes written for the film…Texas is cool.

Paul Williams… Emerald and Hobbit loves you, carry on beautiful man, carry on.

Here are a few of Emerald and Hobbit’s treasures from the vaults pertaining to Paul Williams.

If anyone turns up the satin powder blue suit he wore in Smokey and the Bandit, please contact Emerald and Hobbit immediately.

Paul Williams rarest collectible item ever!

2009-08-05T21:45:00.000-07:00

Perhaps the most unique item that we have found for Paul Williams is a Slurpee cup. This piece is so rare it has been put inside a plexi-box, as no one should ever handle this treasure umless it is by the experts at Emerald & Hobbit.

It may be the only one left on the Earth, as most kids were not aware of his magic until they grew a little and learned more about him. Most kids usually discarded his cup into the gutters where they were crushed by the pea spup green and sparkle brown gas guzzling boat-like automobiles of the 70s.

Kenner's rare "Burping" ALIEN commercial

2009-06-21T13:49:00.000-07:00

Blade Runner: I don't get it.

2009-04-23T23:20:00.000-07:00

Blade Runner…I don’t get it.
Jennifer Smith
Am I missing something? I admit, it took me three viewings of Casablanca (I saw it for the first time when I was 12) before I can sort of understand why some consider it the finest motion picture ever made. But Blade Runner? I don’t get it. Let me tell you, I have tried. My eyes have seen the original props from the film, from the Toymaker’s jacket and shirt to Harrison Ford’s original blaster, complete with its semi-translucent fiery handled grip. The Japanese Blade Runner “Dekkard” doll is beautiful, down to the last detail. The film has a rabid following of very cultured and intelligent sci-fi fans. I usually “get it” almost immediatley, I just don’t this time. So I’m wondering, am I alone? I feel somehow “wrong” for not catching on to the apparent coolness of this film, but I’m missing something here.
I tried to watch the film last night, for about the fourth time in my adult life. Mind you, I have the absolute perfect setting for film viewing. The film was projected onto a 90” screen with 5-point-one surround sound. When those Tangerine Purple (or whatever the hell that band is called) bells sounded, it was incredible. The film is a tour-de-force of design and boasts an absolutely otherworldly soundtrack. The innovation of Japanese projection ads on buildings through the rainy gloom of 2019 Los Angeles was fantastic. Rutger Hauer is both magnetic and tragic. He’s a symbol of doomed perfection, a combination of Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s immortal “Spike” and a genetically engineered Billy Idol. A brilliant and compelling character.

The question is raised: is Harrison Ford the “good guy,” or is he bad? After all, he guns down helpless Joanna Cassidy in the streets, which is one of the saddest examples of violence against women I have ever seen on film. Yet in the moments where you are supposed to empathize for his character, to root for him, I felt nothing. First of all, there is absolutely no chemistry between Sean Young and Harrison Ford. None whatsoever. The tender love story that is supposed to transform a bounty hunter into a runner (so run, runner!) fizzles at the end. Why does he want to run away with Young’s chain-smoking ice queen anyway? In the scene where they first meet and he questions her, she is rude and hostile. Is that sexy? I didn’t catch the undertone of attraction there, or in any subsequent meeting.
Then, the menacing and bizarre character played by James Edward Olmos just lets them go at the end, evidenced by the foil unicorn left on Ford’s apartment entryway. Olmos knows that Ford will run with the replicant Young, but I suppose he figures that she will die soon anyway, so he allows it? And what’s with Olmos’ weird blue eyes? Is he a replicant? Did that weird Japanese guy in the freeze chamber make his eyes too?
This could have been a chase film, like Terminator on crack. A cybernetic Rutger Hauer in his prime Vs. Harrison “Han” Ford? Bring it on!! Daryl Hannah as a psychotic gymnastic “pleasure model”? Wow! Pris says to Hauer: “We’re stupid and we’ll die,” yet Hauer seems so touchingly certain that they won’t. Yet at the end in the rooftop scene, with the nail in his hand and the dove across his chest, Hauer resembles a futuristic St. Sebastian. Even if he alone lived, excepting all other replicants (including Sean Young’s wet rag with great lip gloss character) it would have made this film worth watching. If Hauer lived on, and the Blade Runner let him go because he has a realization on the rooftop that he is an executioner, and not the good guy, how great would that have been? Hauer is the good guy, and could go free. Fabulous, I would have cried and cried. Just like Somewhere in Time, right?
In the prop collecting world, much has been made about the blaster that Ford uses. What’s the big deal? The very gun that blows two huge holes in Pris does Ford absolutely no good five minutes later against Hauer? Then Ford drops it? He drops it???? Where’s the drama? Ford could have shot Hauer in the face in the hallway of the toymaker’s house in the first minute of the finale when Hauer discovers the dead Pris, for Pete’s sake! By the end of the film I was howling like Hauer does, hoping for some logic to strike this highly legendary movie. I was hoping to figure out some secret message that everyone else has already figured out that makes this movie so well loved, like those 3-D images at the mall that I have never been able to see for myself. Like the fat guy in Mallrats, I never saw the sailboat either.
Some of you may be thinking, “lighten up, woman, it’s a classic!” but I don’t care. Classics are Three Stooges shorts with Curly in them, or Return of the Living Dead on DVD. Classics are The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, when at the end Mrs. Muir’s ghost walks away into the clouds holding hands with the ghost of the Captain. Classics are Elvis in the Aloha from Hawaii special and I Remember Mama with Irene Dunne. Logan’s Run and Aliens. Xanadu and Singin’ in the Rain. Logan’s Run and the Star Trek episode “Return to Babel” where Spock’s mom slaps him in the face. These are the true classics, and no well-made Japanese doll or cleverly marketed nostalgia of a beautifully art-directed film will make me think otherwise. So there.

Kollecting KISS

2009-04-04T00:50:00.000-07:00

Kollecting KISS

KISS is one of those bands where you either love them, or hate them. The loyal KISS fans would all agree that their lives have been changed by being a KISS fan. The fun and magic of their entertainment will always be a high point while on Planet Earth. They are one of he most innovative and talented bands in the history of entertainment.

The genius of Paul Stanley’s song writing, god given voice and stage performance, he is the epitome of what is Rock Star. Ace Frehley, perhaps the best guitarist of the 70s and onward, Ace is just cool, truly awesome. Peter Criss’ excellent and straightforward, custom van drumming, along with classic rock n roll wiskey-ish voice, KISS would not have been the same without him. Gene Simmons, is Gene Simmons, nuff said.

Here area few examples of some KISS items, a true feast for the eyeballs.

“Here come the Show Boat!”... and you better listen, when the Lion Roars!!!

2009-02-10T22:28:00.000-08:00

MGM: When the Lion Roars Two-Disc DVD Set

MGM: When the Lion Roars was once a shelf-hogging three-part VHS set or a thick deluxe laser disc box set, well worth the space required to have this in your personal library. It is now a 2-disc DVD set, and it’s about damned time. This documentary was one of those reasons I was hanging onto my VHS player, for Pete’s sake. Departed from the DVD release is the booklet once included in the VHS set that contained information about the MGM coffee table tie-in book of the same name, as well as tragic images of the MGM back lots being bulldozed to rubble in the late 70’s. Nevertheless, this six-hour-plus documentary detailing the complete glorious-to-tragic history of the greatest motion picture studio of the 20th century is finally available to the public once again.

If you are a radster and think that musicals are just for girlies and are too “old school” for you, you are an idiot, and you should shut your mouth and sit down to learn how things were done with style and talent that you just don’t see anymore. I dare the most cynical modern-day individual to watch this historic journey and not at least walk away with more respect and interest in early film industry, needless to say in MGM studios.

Documentary host Patrick “Jean-Luc Picard” Stewart mentions in his opening monologue the sheer power of the MGM studio, psychologically and behind the scenes. Though he admits right away that he never was there to witness it in person, Stewart possesses the gravitas necessary to convey this magnitude, and to take us through this sacred story. We learn about the inception of the studio, and the merging of three pioneers of early film history. This triangle were three successful and prevailing silent film studios, Metro, along with two other studios led by Samuel Goldwyn, and Louis B. Mayer, two individuals who were pioneers of film production, trail blazing their way to power. These three entities were brought together by Lowes Incorporated to become the greatest motion picture studio the world has ever known: MGM. Immediately joining the new company, Irving Thalberg, the “boy genius”, was recruited from Universal Studios in 1924 and initiated by Mayer to become MGM’s head of production. He was 23 years old at the time. Tragically, Thalberg died in 1936 at 37 years of age, but his legacy is still celebrated today with the prestigious Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, which singles out excellence in the art of filmmaking every year by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences at the yearly Oscar ceremonies.

MGM was located in Culver City, and would become a self-sustaining complex behind its own walls, complete with everything from schools to a zoo, hospital, costume department, lakes, and millinery. A motion picture factory, capable of producing one motion picture a week, in order to supply the parent company, Lowes Inc. with first-run movies across the states.

This documentary doesn’t focus on any one movie, song or person, but is about one of America’s most fascinating moments in history, when poor American immigrants started off in the new industry of filmmaking and became power-hungry, money-mad movie moguls, who would rule the entertainment industry for decades. Their seemingly unlimited power even had enormous pull with the politics of the time. (Well, some things have not changed.) Hence an American film studio provided the gold standard for motion pictures.

This documentary features perhaps many of the last on-camera interviews of many of the stars and technicians who were all cornerstones of the success and magic of MGM. Along with the interviews are clips of all the essential MGM staple films, and even the obscure clip or two from shorts and behind the scenes coverage.

MGM provided escapism for the audiences of the time. Their films always had an elegance and art that was true eye candy. MGM’s stable of talent was made up of individuals hand-selected to become “stars”; Clark Gable, Judy Garland, Joan Crawford, Greta Garbo, Spencer Tracy, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, the list goes on and of all made their films made by MGM.

The story arc of MGM is not without tragedy, as the glory years of the silent era through the 40s are glamorous and magical, but the struggle for power in the studio, mixed with the changing times like the advent of rock n’ roll in the 1950s along with the rise of television was the establishing the slow downfall of MGM. The last days are truly sad, although there are highlights, like with one of the best horror films ever made: “2001: A Space Odyssey”. This film was made at MGM via the genius of Stanley Kubrick, whose success quickly followed in 1969 with the selling of studio to Kirk Kerkorian, the hotel millionaire. Unfortunately was not interested in making movies at all, and eventually his purchase of the studio led to the selling off of MGM’s glorious back lot, piece-by-piece, to make more condos. Thousands of iconic props and costumes, rare antiques and paintings were all sold at a public liquidation auction for 1.5 million dollars. Today, one pair of Ruby Slippers from “The Wizard of OZ” is worth at least that, and six pairs were found in the MGM wardrobe department and sold at the auction. Perhaps my favorite interview comment was made by Debbie Reynolds, who mentioned that she tried to make the heads of MGM realize they had a potential tourist goldmine on their hands, as their back-lots were already a Disneyland, and that all they needed was to add a turnstile and let cars drive in to see where “The Wizard of Oz,” “Singing in the Rain”, and hundreds of other film classics were made. She said, “Universal did it. If a silly little girl from Burbank could see it, why didn’t they see it, it’s too late now.” (The Universal Studios Tour draws more revenue than their motion pictures or television programs do, yet Universal is now is planning on developing their back-lot into condos, the same as the MGM folly of the 70’s. I guess no one ever learns from history.)

MGM When the Lion Roars features no additional features, but really none are necessary as the information contained on this DVD set is magnificently exhausting with its 366-minute running time. Writer / Director Frank Martin is no novice to the world of documentary filmmaking as he has delivered numerous exceptional Hollywood related docs, including “John Huston: The Man, The Movies, The Maverick” (1989), “Elvis in Hollywood” (1993) and “The Warner Brothers 75th Anniversary: No Guts, No Glory” (1998). It is reassuring that this tent pole documentary was awarded the Emmy Award for Outstanding Informational Series. Only to be matched by “That’s Entertainment,” the 1974 documentary largely focusing on the glorious musical numbers, this enormous accounting of MGM’s history will be hard to top. This is without a doubt the best MGM documentary produced to date.

स्टार ट्रेक सीज़न ३ DVD

2008-12-11T23:40:00.000-08:00

Star Trek- The Original Series: Season Three Remastered DVD Edition
Reviewed by- Jennifer Smith & Rob Klein

Star Trek Season Three Remastered Edition is “sauce for the goose, Mr. Saavik.”

Star Trek’s season three looks very different than the previous two seasons, and it wasn’t just because the Starfleet uniform’s fabric was switched from fuzzy velour to “Brady Bunch”-ish polyester. Star Trek suffered from a severely cut budget, due to the shows’ near cancellation at the end of season two. NBC had no faith in the program, and due to the historic letter-writing campaign spearheaded by loyal first generation Trek fans, Star Trek was awarded a third season. Star Trek was not given a fair chance, as its third season time slot of Friday at 10:00 PM was known as the network “dead-zone.” This was the time when the loyal fans that had supported the shows for two years were out of the house being teenagers, and the younger Trek fans were asleep, as 10:00 PM was still past their bedtime, even for a weekend. Additionally, the departure of Gene Roddenberry as the show’s writer/producer due to political posturing over contract disputes also affected the style and feel of the third season. Though the new producers did a great job with what they had to work with, Star Trek’s third season too often gets dismissed as throwaway when compared to the first two seasons. It may not be the strongest of the three, but with episodes like “Spectre of the Gun”, “The Enterprise Incident’, “All Our Yesterdays” and the “The Savage Curtain”, we should thank God for Star Trek’s third season, and this new DVD set celebrates it with style.

In season three, “all bets are off”. There are many far-out premised episodes that affirmed that the show was strong enough to carry controversial stories concerning race and war; subject matter that other shows of the time dared not tackle. Star Trek had the guts of storytelling that would pique the interest of the hardest of Klingons, and it took 60’s television boldly where no other shows had gone before. An excellent example of this is “All Our Yesterdays”, a tour-de-force of acting by Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock and DeForest Kelley as Dr. “Bones” McCoy. Sent back in time to a frozen wasteland by mistake, Spock and McCoy encounter the beautiful Zarabeth, marooned there by an evil dictator. McCoy finds a way to return through the time portal, but cannot jump through without Spock. Spock sacrifices his future with Zarabeth for McCoy’s return to the Enterprise, leaving Zarabeth alone in the past. Almost 20 years after the Trek episode was filmed, a brilliant book was released called “Yesterday’s Son,” by A.C. Crispin. In it, Spock realizes that he fathered a son by Zarabeth, and travels back in time to rescue him. How many other television shows have spawned episodes being embellished upon 15 years after the episode premiered? Another example is obvious; the first season episode “Space Seed” that originally starred Ricardo Montalban as “Khan” became the vehicle that generated the best Trek feature film: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

Star Trek- The Original Series: Season Three Remastered DVD Edition looks great in spite of the controversial addition of enhanced effects. Though we will always be purists and want to see the original cuts and effects live on forever in reruns, I must admit that it’s fun seeing these new digital effects pop-up from time to time in an episode, especially when you forget you are watching an enhanced version. There is a certain thrill at seeing an episode that you’ve watched dozens of times, and being “wowed” or at least caught off-guard by how cool The CG “U.S.S. Enterprise” looks in orbit.

Sometimes DVD releases get everything right (in this case, except for the absence of a “play all episodes” function). The set is incased in a clear plastic covering which hinges open to reveal a CD-sized clear box, housing the DVDs with a colorful slipcover and neat-o data cards printed on clear red plastic featuring the set’s program. Continuing the typical third season tradition, the episode “The Cage” is included, which was the pilot before William Shatner was the Captain of “The Enterprise”. Some of the extras in the set have been regurgitated from the 2004 Trek DVD release, while a few are recent. “To Boldly Go… Season Three” is a short featurette that covers the highlights of season three. “Star Trek: A Collector’s Dream” explains the re-production of Star Trek props like phasers and communicators. It also coins the hysterical phrase “crapezoid” to refer to Trek’s non-working background phasers. Other mini-documentaries include “Life Beyond Trek: Walter Koenig”, “Chief Engineer’s Log” and “Captain’s Log with Bob Justman,” about the man who took up producing responsibilities when Gene Roddenberry left. On a lighter note, a little feature called “Collectible Trek” is just about as uncomfortable to watch as the film Trekkies. To those of you who have not seen Trekkies, it may be the best Star Trek film after Star Trek- The Wrath of Khan. On a more serious note, a very moving and informative look into the life of George Takei is shown in “Memoir from Mr. Sulu”, where he poignantly discusses his years in a Japanese Internment camp as a boy during World War WII.
As with the DVD Enhanced releases of seasons one and two, season three comes with the best Trek news of the decade: “Billy Blackburn’s Treasure Chest.” This is home video gold. Blackburn was on the Trek set five days a week. He provided production support, which is, to say the least, a Trekkie’s dream job. He was a stand-in for DeForest Kelley, stuntman, assistant to Fred Phillips (Star Trek’s resident make-up wizard with prosthetic effects), in addition to helping Bill Thiess with wardrobe. Blackburn took home movies while on the Trek set or while on location, and each Enhanced DVD Trek release reveals new Blackburn home movies never before seen or heard of until now. Part 3 features perhaps the only behind the scenes footage from Star Trek season three in existence (other than the elusive “season three blooper reel”).

The greatest moment of these season three home movies is seeing Spock, McCoy and Kirk on location for the episode “The Paradise Syndrome” hanging out around the giant Indian pylon featured in the story. Fantastic footage of the giant set piece under construction is awesome. Due to the slashed budget for season 3, not many episodes were filmed on location. However, “The Paradise Syndrome” was one of the few that let the crew out of the confines of the small Desilu studios in Hollywood to enjoy the outdoors and green pine trees surrounding the Hollywood Reservoir. The treat of leaving the studio’s gates is perhaps is why Blackburn documented so much material from this particular episode. These moments captured are priceless, and to reveal original series footage this long after everyone thought that the Trek well had run dry is a one in a million opportunity for fans.

The Blackburn footage is truly amazing, though short. Hopefully these sets will sell well, and their success will be attributed to the inclusion of “Bill Blackburn’s Home Movies”, not just to the enhanced effects. Blackburn must truly be commended and compensated for his foresight in capturing these precious moments in television history. His footage may be all that exists…but then again it may not be. Let’s hope that the success of these current DVD sets will spawn the future producers of Trek videos to suss out the “other” forgotten footage that still awaits discovery in the garages of Trek production personnel. The archeology of Star Trek still awaits, ready to be discovered.

2008-12-01T13:31:00.001-08:00

Walt Disney’s True-Life Adventures Volume 4

If you enjoyed Walt Disney’s True life Adventures Volumes 1, 2 and 3, then you will probable enjoy Walt Disney’s True-Life adventure Vol. 4, the last volume in the series.
This set may not seem to have as much material as the previous volumes, but it does have rarer films, not often mentioned as The Living Desert or The Vanishing Prarie. The programs running times on vol. 4 are a bit longer than some of the other True-Life Adventure short films. This is the set I would imagine may be the future collectible volume, as I have not seen this set in stores, as often as I have run across volumes 1 and 2 of the True-Life sets.

This set contains the only Disney “True-life Fantasy” called Perri about the adventures of a young female squirrel. Unlike the other Disney nature films, this piece had a predetermined story line, written by Felix Salten who wrote the Disney feature animated masterpiece Bambi (1942). While filming Perri the Disney photographers were witness to a forest fire, and helped douse the flames. Footage of this event was presented on an episode of the Disneyland TV series. Which is presented on this DVD set. Any Disney home video release containing any Disneyland episode excerpts immediately finds a place in my video library.

Secrets of Life, is featured on this set, and contains some of the first stop motion photography of plants growing. Shot using macro photography on insects such as ants, the film is truly quiet remarkable when paired with the incomparable Disney story telling.

All the True-Life Adventures were shot with 16mm cameras, there-fore the prints tend to be scratchy, especially if you viewed one of these films for the first time at school in the 60s or 70s, as so many of us were exposed to the True-Life Adventures in that way. Fortunately, through modern technology these films have been restored and are crisp and clear, looking better than ever.

Disc two continues the tradition of the exceptional bonus features, which have been an essential addition to these True-Life Adventures DVD sets. Included are several enjoyable films: Searching for Nature’s Mysteries, Adventure in Wild Wood Heart and another Academy Award Winning film in 1951 for best short subject: Nature’s Half Acre. The section of the film documenting the habits of bees took over three years to photograph. Which is understandable, as bees probable don’t take direction very well.

Continuing the tradition originating on this series is the “Filmmaker’s Journal”, a look at the making the films featured on this volume and “Collector’s Corner”. In addition to yet another segment of “Backstage with Roy Disney” at Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park, learning about butterflies.

A very special bonus feature is a tribute to Winston Hibler who was the narrorator for all the True-Life Adventures. Mr. Hibler’s voice is that of legend. The volume of work this artist produced while at Disney is truly impressive. This short documentary features his grandsons, Chris Hibler and Winston Murray Hunt Hibler the second, examining their grandfather’s Oscars, archived at the Disney Studios, for the first time. Winston Hibler was a writer, producer and director at Disney. His contributions are vast, and it is surprising he has not been mentioned more as he was a contributor to so many Disney masterpieces. Winston Hibler has story credits on Sleeping Beauty and Peter Pan. He wrote Sleepy Hollow, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, Johnny Appleseed and Walt’s opening dedication at Disneyland, to name but a few of his contributions. He is perhaps best known for his voice over narration, a fact his family members feel sells him short. He never took any payment for his voice over work. He is a true renaissance artist and was honored as a Disney legend in 1993, though he passed in 1976. It is documentaries such as this, featuring the artists who made up the Disney empire that make these DVDs worth their weight in gold.

Roy Disney appears again throughout this set. He is a welcomed addition as some of his first production experiences were on True-Life Adventure productions. I wouldn’t mind at all if he got more involved with the company these days and became the official company spokes-person. Heck any member of the Disney family is better than some outsider, he was there in person when some amazing events in the companies hstory went down. He is a fascinating individual, as he is a true adventurer himself. The resemblance he has to his uncle doesn’t hurt either. Perhaps now with changes made with-in the Disney Company, we will see more of Roy Disney Jr. I had the pleasure of meeting him while I was documenting a lecture he was giving about his interests in sailing. The vibe he puts out is exciting as he was a part of the era of Disney history that is truly worth studying.

2008-12-01T13:18:00.000-08:00

The Traveling Wilburys Collection
-------Rob “Doofus Wilbury” Klein says: “What Happened to Wilburys Vol. 2?”

The Traveling Wilburys made rock n’ roll history immediately upon their debut LP offering, The Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1. The group consisted of Beatle George Harrison, Jeff (ELO) Lynne, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and Roy Orbison: a superstar line-up if there ever was one. The Wilburys came together as if by fate; George Harrison was recording a B-side for a single for his critically acclaimed 1987 offering “Cloud Nine” which was produced by Jeff Lynne. The B-Side, “Handle With Care”, was to be included on the LP’s first single “Got My Mind Set on You”. When the record company heard “Handle with Care” they immediately broadcasted their thoughts that this song was “too good” to be a B-side, and suggested another entire album upon hearing it. The company’s positive outlook for the single was not lost on Harrison, who ultimately produced more work than he had in twenty years. The last three years of the 1980’s were a career renaissance for all of the future members of The Traveling Wilburys. The connections between the artists can be explained by a game of “six degrees of separation” from Jeff Lynne, who would produce everyone’s solo LP’s: George Harrison’s Cloud Nine, Tom Petty’s Full Moon Fever and Roy Orbison’s Mystery Girl.

Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne met during Petty’s outing one summer afternoon in the Valley, while he was going out to purchase a baseball glove. Petty pulled up next to Jeff Lynne’s car and introduced himself; an instant friendship was formed. Petty then met George Harrison through Lynne. Petty mentioned in a later interview that George Harrison met Petty at his Encino home, then spontaneously stayed for several days after as an unexpected house guest. Petty, Lynne and Harrison began to pal around together, and decided that it would be a good idea to record together. They headed down to Anaheim, California by limo to the Celebrity Theater and asked Roy Orbison to join the mix, to which he answered: “it sounds like great fun.” This led to recording Harrison’s B-side, “Handle with Care”.

The last Wilbury recruited by Tom Petty was Bob Dylan. Petty had a relationship with Dylan through a previous Tom Petty and Heartbreakers Tour, where they had been Dylan’s support band (after the Dylan set Petty performed with the Heartbreakers). Even George Harrison with his legendary Beatle status was giddy with excitement at the idea of Dylan joining the band; he would later secretly from the upstairs at Petty’s Encino house video-tape Dylan playing the piano.

Each band member assumed a Wilbury alias; comically they were all supposed to be half-brothers: Lucky-Boo (Dylan), Otis-Clayton (Lynne), Charlie T. Jr./Muddy (Petty), Nelson-Spike (Harrison), and Lefty (Orbison), even though these names changed on their second Wilburys release, “Vol. 3”. It has been said that those lucky enough to run across Harrison during his Wilbury days would receive a signature as his Wilbury character, “Nelson Wilbury”, a valuable and valid variation of the Harrison autograph. (Though many at the time were confused and pleaded for him to sign his real name).

This new CD / DVD is the first release of any Wilburys work since the initial release of the first and only two albums. (Not including endless UK 12” maxi-singles and 45’s, the most sought-after being a 12” single for “End of the Line”, which included Wilbury stickers). The Traveling Wilburys Collection includes just about every track recorded by the group, and offers both albums: “Vol. 1” and “Vol. 3”. (The group’s second LP was in fact entitled “Vol. 3”, a title cooked up by the group to confound future music historians who would no doubt would pull their hair out trying to find the non –existent “Vol. 2”.)

The third disc in the collection is the debut release of the band’s videos: “Handle with Care”, “End of the Line”, “She’s my Baby”, “Inside Out”, and “Wilbury Twist”. These videos are magical, especially “Handle with Care”, which is the only video featuring all five members. It was during this particular video’s shoot where Bob Dylan walked off the set, for reasons unknown. Another unpublished anecdote concerning the “Handle with Care” video debuting in this very article: The Wilburys used a privately owned Hollywood costume facility to outfit their wardrobe for the video. The entire band was let loose inside the wardrobe house with racks upon racks of Western garments that had been worn by Western legends like John Wayne, Michael Landon and Clint Eastwood. George Harrison picked out the duster that he is seen wearing in the video, and demanded to keep it upon the video’s completion, which did not go over well with the owners of the costume house, who were avid Western collectors themselves. The end result of this story I cannot recall, but had the owners been Beatles fans before Western fans, things may have gone more smoothly.

Vol. 1 and 3 are here in their entirety, and include the elusive bonus tracks, which were the “missing” Wilbury tunes that were virtually unavailable until this release. The highlight of the collection is the cover of Del Shannon’s “Runaway”, sung by Jeff Lynne. This track was only available as a bonus track on a very rare import CD single of “She’s My Baby”.

The coolest thing on this release is the DVD disc, which features all of the Wilbury videos. The “Handle with Care” video is enough to bring any Beatle fan to tears; it is so poignant to see how vital and hip these legends were in the late 80’s, especially Harrison, whose singing brings the Beatle film Help to mind. Now we have lost two of them, Harrison and Orbison. The videos for the Wilburys’ songs make one wish that Ringo Starr had been included in their little musical endeavor; the historical value of the footage would have been incredible. (With no disrespect to the incredible Jim Keltner who played drums on the Wilburys records, and to which Harrison, Petty and Lynne were all members of his fan club!) As the sales for CDs decline, it is very good that record companies are realizing that a DVD will add interest to any music release. Since videos were made to sell albums, why not use them for the purpose that they were created for?

This will be the definitive Wilburys release for both video and audio. Any fan of these legends must own this collection, whether it is the first time that you discover the Wilburys, or are revisiting a seldom talked-about era of the late 1980’s, where the epilogue to the historic 1960’s musical era was written.

Rob Klein
Pop Historian and Wilbury Authority - Author of the forth-coming Wilbury Biography:
“Popsicles, Beer, and Ukuleles”
North Hollywood, California

2008-11-30T18:46:00.001-08:00

Star Trek original costumes: Ensign Pavel Chekov

2008-11-30T18:02:00.000-08:00

Here are some images of the "Star Trek" Season 3 (1969-1969) Ensign Pavel Chekov (Walter Koenig) costume, displayed with an original pair of 1960s Star Trek series pants. 1960s original Trek uniforms are really scarce, and very few have been paired together with a tunic with the original pants, which are harder to find than the Starfleet tunics from any season.

Chekov did not have any rank braid as he was an Ensign, who required nothing on his sleeve. So the sleeves are as they appeared on the show: bare. NOTE: Most often the rank braid had been removed for dry cleaning, as was never added back on, so most characters are missing their rank braid.

Note: This Chekov, he has no braid, therefore this tunic is complete.

(A single strip of braid sells for in excess of $1,500.00 US dollars, if you are lucky enough to find one available.)

The stitches still remain where the insignia patch was removed for dry cleaning by Paramount Pictures Corporation, who had taken over production for “Star Trek” by the 3rd season 1968-1969. Sold to them recently by Desilu.

This Chekov tunic still has the inscription: "Konieg #4" hand written into the "secret" location where ALL the stars names were hand written. Some supposed experts say they never had star names written in the tunics, wrong, wrong an wong !!!!

I have proven them all wrong, their made up stories and theories were total BS, coming from ignorant wanna be self proclaimed Star Trek experts, trying to get attention in anyway they could. These inaccurate statements were started because someone was sold a Kirk or a Spock or another character that did not have a name written into the tunic...well, clearly they were sold an item that was not a star's tunic, so it is not a Kirk or Spock, and they refused to realize they were sold something that was claimed to be different that what it was sold as. These people fail to except the truth. And are idiots for challenging Emerald and Hobbits experts that are on payroll 24/7.

To quote Khan in ST II WOK: "It is very cold in space" and in the world of original historical entertainment artifacts especially when things just don’t add up to equal…authenticity? BLAM!!!!

Please all fellow 60s fans and Trek fans alike....enjoy the silver sparkles on the original Star Trek pants, pretty cool...huh! Once you know they are there, you'll never not notice them again. Look for them gleaming ion the newly converted Blu-Ray DVDs. These sparkles add that bit of bling, bling- BANG! To 1960s Star Trek and reaffirms what it always had, when compared to other Trek shows that went blah! in front of the cameras.

You gotta see this stuff in person to notice these things.

Lit correctly in a museum setting these pants would look spectacular! Details such as these would be “Fabulous darling…to say the very least!!!!”

This tunic could have appeared in classics such as:

"Spectre of the Gun" (one of G. Emerald's favs)
"Day of the Dove"
and
"Way to Eden"

are also to take note of

If not many, many more examples of third season “Trek”

2008-11-23T21:36:00.000-08:00

Rob Klein reviews the final seasons of I love Lucy, which were also the final years that Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz were together.

I Love Lucy: The Final Seasons 7, 8 and 9.

The last of the I Love Lucy boxed sets are now available, and contain the never-before released Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour. These episodes are long awaited by fans, not only because these films are rarely seen, but also because format is unique and provides a different style than that of the half hour show I Love Lucy. Behind the scenes, the personal life of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz added a fascinating element to these last 13 hour-long episodes.

1957 was a big year for Desilu. Motion Picture Center, the facilities where I Love Lucy was produced, were crowded. Desilu, who owned a controlling interest in the small studio, needed more room to expand. One lunch break, Desi Arnaz went out and purchased all of RKO’s studio property. Lucy and Desi now owned the largest amount of real estate in Hollywood. Interestingly, it encompassed the very same studio that Lucy had been under contract to years before when she first arrived in Hollywood. With their new studio, Desilu expanded and grew. Live long and prosper they did, as Desilu was responsible for later producing a show called Star Trek.

Season 6 of I Love Lucy contains several memorable episodes, including “Lucy Meets Orson Welles” and “Lucy Meets Superman” which features a rare appearance of the legendary George Reeves in costume as the “Man of Steel”. I Love Lucy was, as usual, the number one show on television. Oddly, season 6 was the last of the half-hour episodes produced. The change in format to the one-hour Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour may have been in response to the lack of awards that I love Lucy received. It was the number one show, and not a single person involved with the production, including Lucille Ball, had been honored with an award. Desi had even been the host of The Emmy’s that very year! Lucy and Desi decided to change their hectic weekly production schedule of one half-hour show a week to a single one-hour show a month. This change in format did not sit well with fans, not to mention CBS affiliates and sponsors. I Love Lucy’s main sponsor, General Foods, pulled out of the program. Desi consummated a new sponsorship deal with Ford for the first season of the Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour. Three original Ford Motors commercials are included in this set.

Season 8 saw a new sponsor, Westinghouse, and had five shows produced. Each show was rated within the top five specials broadcast that season by all three networks. The format of the hour-long show continued to have celebrity guest-stars featured heavily in the plot. Fred MacMurray, Ann Southern, Maurice Chevalier and Caesar Romero, to name a few, made appearances on the show. The focus on the guest stars affected the screen time of the Mertzes, played by Vivian Vance and William Frawley. Desi offered Vivian Vance a spin-off series, to placate her upset to the change, but she was not interested. William Frawley, not unlike his character Fred, welcomed the change as it allowed an easier workload.

This set features restored prints and they look fantastic, crisp and clear. The bonus features are exemplary and include deleted scenes, bloopers and original titles sequences. If that was not enough disc 2 features a film made for Westinghouse employees. It is shot like an episode of I Love Lucy but Desi and Lucy play themselves along with Vivian Vance and William Frahley. Desi gives a studio tour of all Desilu’s movie studios documenting the studio property by helicopter. Including priceless footage of Motion Picture Center, where I Love Lucy was done, the old RKO Gower lot recently acquired at the time of the filming, and the old David O. Selznick Studios that had been owned by RKO since the 30s. The footage is incredible. In the fly by of the old Culver back lot … as the helicopter reaches the end of the studio property the last facade is positively Tara from Gone With the Wind, which was shot there 20 years earlier. Unfortunately to an untrained eye most will not notice Tara or the Train Station set as it is not pointed out. This DVD set will become that of legend for containing this rare film. Thank you CBS video.

Season 9 provided only three episodes, each with Desi seated in the directors’ chair. This last season is fascinating to watch, as what was going on behind the scenes adds an intrigue to these episodes. Lucy and Desi’s marriage was coming to an end, and the cracks in their relationship added tension on the set. Desi’s role as director also added fuel to the fire. The last episode ends with Desi and Lucy embracing, and Ricky saying: “Lucy, you help me more when you don’t help me”, then a kiss follows. The scene was shot over and over again; all who watched felt the emotion. It was nine years to the day that the very first I Love Lucy pilot episode was produced, a show that had been originally conceived as a vehicle to bring both Lucy and Desi to work together, in hopes to help strengthen an already troubled marriage. The very next day after the last Lucy –Desi Comedy Hour was filmed (“Lucy Meets the Moustache”), Lucy filed for divorce.
The end of The Lucy –Desi Comedy Hour was also the end of Lucy and Desi, and a milestone in television history came to a close.

The Adventures of Superman seasons 5 and 6

2008-11-23T21:31:00.000-08:00

The Adventures of Superman Seasons 5 & 6.

by Gary Emerald

TV series’ complete seasons release on home video is the gift of the DVD format to fans of episodic television. Could you imagine what the entire 12-season run of Bonanza would look like on VHS? The Adventures of Superman is one of those titles I was looking forward to; once Warner Brother Home Video announced it I was curious about what direction they would take. Season 1 featured 26 episodes, a retrospective documentary, the 1951 Superman feature film (the first production of George Reeves as Superman), a vintage short film “Pony Express Days” featuring George Reeves and audio commentaries over a few episodes. Even a rare Kellogg’s cereal commercial was thrown in, featuring Clark Kent, Perry White and Jimmy Olson at the breakfast table, enjoying a bowl of “Frosted Flakes”. Actresses in the “Lois Lane” role never got to participate in the TV promo as the question of “what is Lois doing at the breakfast table with those three” would be on the mind of any suspicious TV viewer of the 1950s.
Adventures of Superman Season 2, the last black and white season has the benefit of featuring one of my favorite Superman epsisodes “Panic in the Sky”, in which Superman suffers from amnesia. The best scene in the episode is when Clark Kent, who having lost his memory stumbles around his apartment looking for something familiar to jar his memory discovers his closet filled with his Superman costumes. Its funny to see multiple Super-suits hanging together, as each is valued at $150,000.00 these days.

The third release featuring the first look at Superman in color featured seasons 3 and 4 of the series. It was a smart idea to put both seasons on DVD together, and the extras keep on coming. Plus the additional 2 featurettes, A look at the color era of the show, and the special effects, profiling the man behind how Superman flew and all the other special effects on the show, one artist who is not talked about enough Thol “Si” Simonson. The latest Adventures of Superman release, Seasons 5 and 6 is really lacking in the extras department. The one nice bonus is that the last disc has a nice featurette about Jack Larson who portrayed Jimmy Olson. This documentary is important as it discusses Larson’s contributions to the Superman franchise, and his popularity at the time the show was in production. Viewers get a great glimpse of how Larson’s strong acting chops and a natural ability for comedy added greatly to the show’s formula and the popularity of the Jimmy Olsen character, which ultimately demanded a DC comic Book title of his own: “Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen”.

Other than this worthwhile look at Jack Larson, the disc has no other special features, which is a bummer. There are several more details that should have been researched and incorporated into the packaging, such as original airdates of each episode and the episode production date. This set does contain three season 6 episodes that were directed by George Reeves. Reeves was aware of the fact that his future acting career could be compromised because of his possible type casting as Superman and wanted to try directing as a fall back plan if his career took a sudden turn for the worse. The three episodes that Reeves directed are “The Perils of Superman”, “The Brainy Burro” and “All That Glitters”, which were last three episodes of the season. In “All that Glitters” Lois and Jimmy end up with the powers of Superman. One could only imagine George Reeves’ delight in putting his co-stars through the same torturous special effects rigging that he endured on a weekly basis.

The upside to this release is that it is available, and it is beautifully packaged with individually silk-screened disks. The sixth season was the end of the series, sadly cut short due to Reeves’ controversial death, as The Adventures of Superman was ready to go into production for a 7th season. Contracts were signed with the cast including George Reeves, who was promised creative input, more opportunities to direct, and an impressive raise in salary. The down side to this release is that there is a lot more material that should have been be documented and included on the last DVD set of The Adventures of Superman.

2008-11-23T21:25:00.000-08:00

The Mickey Rooney &Judy Garland Collection DVD
By—Jennifer Smith & Rob Klein

Warner Home Video has released a DVD must have: The Mickey Rooney &Judy Garland Collection. Originally Metro Goldwyn Mayer musicals, these four “Mickey and Judy” films were tailor-made for their two teen-aged leads. Both Rooney and Garland were bona-fide stars on their own by the time their first collaboration Babes in Arms (1939) was released, it was the first of four films that they would co-star in together. Rooney was just eighteen years old when Babes was filmed, Garland was sixteen, but together they presented a professional and seasoned show business façade, each having come from theatrical families, literally born into the business.

Billed as “The Ultimate Collector’s Edition”, this set contains five DVD’s in truly spectacular packaging. It contains a DVD first, an actual hard cover book housing the bonus feature DVD, the book is filled with fun facts and photos of their films, and the back cover has four one-sheet posters beautifully reproduced faithful to their glorious vintage Hollywood graphics. In addition to the book and the standard packaged 4 DVD set containing the feature film, this set has a wonderful photo folder, portfolio with over 20 rare images taken of Judy and Mickey. Reproduced to look like a miniature 8x10 glossy photo. Many of these images I have never seen in print, and these show a behind the scenes look at the fantasy of the glory days of MGM when even an off camera moment is something of feature film. The MGM promotion machine is ever evident while you flip through this folio of fun.

On the bonus disc, Hollywood’s keeper of the faith and classic movie historian, Robert Osborne, interviews Mickey Rooney. It is amusing to see Mickey Rooney telling a story about his blacklisting from Hollywood in the 1950’s, spin yarns about his career and contradict himself, then become mildly irritated toward the interviewer during his attempt to make sense out of the tale. At one point Rooney tells a story with a fascinating footnote: he recalls being pressured to return to a film set by Eddie Mannix, MGM’s “man with the whip”. Mannix would later become suspected by conspiracy theorists of allegedly being involved with George Reeves (TV’s Superman) murder, as Reeves was having a prolonged affair with his wife. It’s great to hear Rooney’s gruff vocal impression of this mysterious man, whom MGM called upon in the 50’s and 60’s when little “personality problems” arose; he was the “muscle” of MGM.
Included in this set are Babes in Arms (1939) Strike of the Band (1940) Babes on Broadway (1941) and Girl Crazy (1943). All gosh-damn delightful to be sure. MGM’s A-list musical director Busby Berkley, whom Rooney heavily praises on the bonus disc, helmed three of these films. The three films also benefit from the input of legendary songwriter/producer Arthur Freed, whose place in MGM’s history will forever be cemented by major movie credits spanning from The Wizard of Oz (1939) to Gigi (1958).

If nothing else it is a delight to see a post Wizard of Oz Judy Garland grow up film after film. She reaffirms us that she was really something special. With these viewings of these movies it is no wonder Mickey can be quoted at telling her ‘Judy, you the biggest star in the world’.

Lucasfilm Archives continues to pull out new treasures.

2008-11-23T20:57:00.000-08:00

One thing for sure is that any studios archive is probably too big to display all their assets in one exhibit. Unless the studio just decided to began saving their assets and if the studio has any ties back into the old days of Hollywood such as Universal or Warner Brothers, numerous exhibits would be necessary to showcase even a small percentage of the potential collection.

Lucasfilm has been saving their stuff since George Lucas’ first feature film THX 1138. Though Lucas is most known for the obvious favorites such as Star Wars and Indiana Jones. Lucasfilm Archives has displayed artifacts at all of the Star Wars Celebration Conventions. Though they had an exhibit touring the country with Star Wars stuff at the same time of Celebration IV the Lucasfilm Archives were able to put on an impressive exhibit featuring some Star Wars items never before exhibited.

The highlights were Darth Vader’s burned helmet from Return of the Jedi along with the protocol droid who Jaba the Hutt had destroyed in his dungeon. Two other exceptional pieces were from The Empire Strikes Back: Luke’s severed head from “the Tree” sequence on Dagobah and Han’s Hoth jacket. Now we know what the correct color is: brown, unlike the blue jacket that the 1980 Kenner action figure sported.

Battlestar Galactica episodes sydicated for two-hour time slots

2008-11-22T11:29:00.000-08:00

One of the most unique and rarely talked about airings of the Battlestar Galactica (1978-1979) episodes was the syndicated two-hour night broadcast called "Odyssey of the Battlestar Galactica". Airing one two-hour episode each night of the week. Intercut with a brilliant blue logo and an odd choice of selection from Galactica's soundtrack: "Casopea and Starbuck", a haunting, mystical piece of music, largely featuring a melotron (the keyboard used by The Beatles on several of their groovier tracks like Strawberry Fields Forever and Bungalow Bill).

This odd part of Galactica's history has gone largely un-talked about, and forgotten except by Hollywood historian Rob Klein, who has given us a few images to share. The Show was hosted by s

omeone called Don Galloway (who?). He very clumsily explained about how special effects are made and basic facts about the show's production history.

What makes his wrap arounds so unique is that he is holding an original Viper and Cylon Raider during his monologes. These segments were produced and broadcast by Los Angeles' KCOP Channel 13, we are not sure if any other syndicated stations broadcast "Odyssey of the Battlestar Galactica."

Impressively KCOP actually acquired the 6' Galactica Miniature and the full sized Starfighter mock-up from "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" from Universal Studios, who by this time probably had the mock-ups rotting on their back-lot for years. (the full sized Viper Mock-up was probable actually too big to move, as Universal grip Michael Smith (the crew member who BG producer Donald Bellasario only trusted to move it) was not available for a simple LA sydicated TV station shoe-string budget.

Charlie Chaplin

2008-11-22T07:07:00.001-08:00

Here is a interesting review on Chaplin- 15th Anniversary Edition by Jennifer Smith and Rob Klein. http://www.collider.com/dvd/reviews/article.asp/aid/9502/tcid/3

Upcoming topics and posts

2008-11-22T06:48:00.000-08:00

We will be featuring posts and historical details from a variety of different TV shows and feature films. Many of these properties we are proud to have been involved in the archeology of these show's legacy and historical preservation. From Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator to Indy 4. We have stories to share, spanning nearly a hundreds years of entertainment history.

Emerald & Hobbit's web presence has arrived

2008-11-22T06:30:00.000-08:00

Gary Emerald and J. Hobbit are very pleased to announce the formation of their blog. Both artists are eager to post exciting facts and historical commentary about subjects they have found fascinating and / or projects they have worked on. Additionally, The Emerald & Hobbit Archive will be accessed from time to time to share rare and unique images from their vaults. Stay tuned...