Hostess and the Hulk Gets Even and the Thing and the Ultimate Weapon!

It's Saturday Morning and time for more adventures with Hostess. Since I missed last Saturday I will give you two Hostess adventures today. One with the Thing and the other with the Hulk.

This Day in Music History: Elvis and Don't Be Cruel/Hound Dog

On this day in music history, August 18, 1956, Elvis Presley began an 11 week run on the top of the Billboard Charts with is double hit Don't Be Cruel/Hound Dog. It is one of the longest runs in the history of the charts. Elvis is listed as one of the writers of Don't Be Cruel just as he was with Heartbreak Hotel. He didn't write either one but it was Col. Tom Parkers way of making sure that Elvis got part of the royalities from the song. The real writer of Don't Be Cruel is Otis Blackwell who wrote other hits like Fever, Great Balls of Fire, Return to Sender, All Shook Up, etc.
Hound Dog was written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. It was originally recorded by Big Mama Thornton who took it to #1 on the R&B charts. In April of 1956 Elvis played Las Vegas. While there he saw Treddie Bell and the Bellboys do a comedic version of Hound Dog where they added the line "You never caught a rabbit and you ain't no friend of mine." He liked their version and added it to his list of songs.

All this time Ed Sullivan said he would never have Elvis on his show but that didn't stop Milton Berle or Steve Allen. On Berle's show there was an uproar about Elvis and his pelvic moves and he was blasted by the press. On Allen's show when he preformed Elvis was given instructions to stand still. When Steve Allen got a 55 share that changed Ed Sullivan's mind and he signed Elvis for three preformances.

While he was in New York for the Steve Allen show he recorded Don't Be Cruel and Hound Dog. He was reluctant to do Hound Dog but his producer, Steve Sholes convinced him to record it.

This was the last time ELvis recorded in New York.

On July 25, 1956 the Andrea Doria ocean liner was rammed and sunk off the coast. On board was Mike Stoller and his wife returning from a trip to Europe. They survived and were greeted by Jerry Leiber at the dock who announced to them that Elvis had just recorded Hound Dog.

Don't Be Cruel


Hound Dog

Superman 198

I was going over some old comics today and seeing what I needed to get rid of and what I wanted to keep. To my surprise I came across Superman #198. I remember seeing this cover many times and was interested as to what the story was that was in the book. I was surprised to see it as I don't remember buying it or anyone giving it to me. This was one of those that I decided to get rid of but I had to read the story before I did.

Back in the 1960's you always saw covers that made the story look interesting but it turned out to be really dull. However, this story was pretty good. Clark is in a meeting with Lois and Perry when the bearded Clark burst in and exposes his identity. He says that Superman is evil and he took Clark's place and kept the real Clark in an underground cave as a prisoner. An earthquake freed him and now he is going to expose Superman for what he really is. Superman quickly gets him out of there and finds out that he is really from another dimension and traveled to this one when the earthquake opened up a rift between the worlds. Superman takes him back and battles the evil superman to defend their Metropolis. In the end we find that everyone on this world is really a robot. Superman knew it was all fake when he noticed that everyones body temperature was 60 degrees and the city looked too shiny and new. It was all a trap by the Superman Revenge Squad and they placed a forcefield around the world so Superman couldn't escape. The force filed was starting to close and it was a race between Superman and the Squads spaceship to see who would make it. Of course Superman made it and the Superman Revenge Squad had their ship destroyed by the very forcefield they made to trap Superman. This was a really good story and in my opinion one of the best of Supermans from the 1960's.

My Two Cents: Flash Gordon

Well tonight is the second episode of the new TV series Flash Gordon. I really wanted to see this series but was busy at the time so I taped it and just watched it this morning. Maybe it is because I am older but this Flash wasn't to my liking. I watched the old serial that had Buster Crabbe as Flash. It was of course in black and white with little humor but lots of action. Years later in the 1980's Flash was back in all his campy glory with Sam Jones in the role. There was more humor this time with lots of action. While some didn't care for it I loved it. It was light and breezy fun. With it now being in color and a name like Flash there were lots of things colored in red and yellow. Mostly Flash in his red shirt and blond hair. Dale Arden was played by the lovely and beautiful Melody Anderson and the rest of the cast was Max Von Sydow as Ming, Topol as Dr. Zarkov, Ornella Muti as Princess Aura and Timothy Dalton as Prince Barin. If you get the DVD you should have alot of fun watching it.

The new Flash seems to think it is in black and white again. Oh yes it is in color but most of the scenes are lit so dull that you hardly notice the color. The above picture is a perfect example of what you will see. Not the bright and blazing colors that I expected and hoped for. The plot just plodded along and seem to take its time getting to each plot point. Casting seemed pretty good espically with the lead as Flash. They said the lines well but they just didn't make me care. These days the viewer has a lot competting for his attention and other things at home seemed more interesting to do then watch Flash Gordon. Maybe I'll just get out the old Buster Crabbe serials and watch them instead. Anyway this is just my two cents on Flash Gordon.

Happy Birthday

I just wanted to take a moment to say Happy Birthday to Rob at the * Aquaman Shrine. I hope you have a great day buddy.

Monkees in color

If you look at yesterdays posting you will see a black and white photo from around 1966 with the Monkees jumping. While I wasn't on line last week I decided to try and colorize some black and white photos and this was one of them. I hope you like it. I know Davy made his living training to be a jocky but he must have been in great shape then. If you notice that while he is shorter then the others, he is jumping as high as the others. Actually he looks to be jumping a little higher then Mike.

Our Long National Nightmare is Over

That may be a little dramatic but I was wondering when I would finally get them and I finally did. The Monkees CDs from Rhino have arrived! While most of the stuff on the CD's was not new to me I did find it interesting to hear a new alternate version of What Am I Doin' Hanging Round on PAC&J Ltd. They were close to the finished project but not quite there yet. Anyway when you get it you will be pleased.

Sorry I have not posted for about a week but I was not on the internet at all till today and not much to report here. Hope you had a good week.