Here's a bit of fun for you.
Did you know that, in 1962, there was a movie tilted The 300 Spartans? Oh yes, long before Frank Miller and co. we kids had a really good heroic movie to watch which had no weird mutated giants or...well, all the stuff that was in the Miller movie.
And the movie had one of those Dell Comic spin-offs. Don't believe me? Word.
Now, Dicky -it's okay. He said as we were such good friends I could call him that- was one of the Hollywood beefcake action stars -Westerns, War movies and so on. How the girls -no doubt a few boys, too- swooned!
Egan had a great physique and was, by all accounts, a great swimmer soooooo -can you guess the connection between the Sub-Mariner comic and Egan?
Yes, in the 1950s -as George Reeves became Superman- there were serious plans for a Sub-Mariner movie/series starring Egan as....Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner!
Below is NOT a movie still. I found it on a disc and I belie that it originates with Roy Thomas' Alter Ego magazine. Looks quite nifty, huh?
And there would have been none of this over the op plastering of the Marvel logo everywhere. You see, in case you are THAT young, back in the 1950s Marvel did not exist---
You kids notice something? Yep, in the serial posters Cap has a winged cowl...in the serial Dick Purcell's Captain America had no winged cowl -just a gun and fists of fury.
Uhhh, and isn't the red star a bit sorta, you know...Commie??? Damn -no true blooded American kid seeing that red star would even know about Communism -right?
So, there you go. How Spartan King Leonidas almost became the Sub-Mariner but after the unwinged Captain america hah his own movie serial.
There's more of this in my brain but I don't want that kid popping up everywhere!!!
Just to show you...Timely then Marvel...BUT look at the indicia at the bottom of the Sub-Mariner Annual #2 (1972) "Magazine Management"and from a 1968 issue of the Sub-Mariner #7: "Atlas Magazines"
Yes, it takes a real Prince to thumb is nose at Dis/vel, and Namor is just the guy. A nice bit of work, laying the facts out for us, Terry - and also picking up on the the red star of Cap'n America... why ? In the series ( with the wonderful and underrated lunacy of Lionel Atwill as the bad guy ) Dick Purcell sports a WHITE star. Why on earth did the poster makers/designers go RED ? Ah... secret commies in the design room....ya caint trust those arty-farty types an inch... best shoot'em all I say....
ReplyDeleteBack to ( mental ) hospital ! Bye.
Well, I'm no conspiracy theorist but...remember the 1940s/50s Hollywood witch hunts? McCarthy? Hey, its WHY so many US writers came over to the UK and wrote for Robin Hood and others on TV. It was probably just to add colour BUT...a red star...hmm. Joe McCarthy knew.....something. Publicity? Making a name for himself? meh.
ReplyDeleteAgain, this has made my day. The picture of that kid just cracks me up, you know I gotta swipe it !
ReplyDeleteDid you know that you can watch THE 300 SPARTANS trailer on YouTube ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JY15TitA-Is
And I got the CAPTAIN AMERICA serial a few years ago as a Christmas present. I think I have only seen the first two episodes, Cap is chubby and wears a gun. Fists of Fury indeed.
Honestly, I thought "I need a baby making a face" that sorts of say "WTF??!!!" Disbelief, shock and so on. Couldn't find one then -ta-daaaaa! The face does say it all. Swipe away!
ReplyDelete