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Forgotten Books: THE LEGION OF THE LIVING DEAD by Carroll John Daly (1937)

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In the novel Mr. Strang (discussed HERE), our Beatle-haired hero exterminated the rat running what he called the Parole Evil, a racket in which criminals with particular skills were parolled to commit specific crimes.

Now, two years later, there's a new rat leading the pack, and Mr. Strang finds his work is not yet done. Mr. Strang, as I mentioned in the earlier review, is the closest Daly came to creating a Hero Pulp character. Unlike Daly's other heroes Race Williams, Satan Hall and Vee Brown, Mr. Strang has a secret identidy. When not stalking the streets in search of evildoers, he is Strang Cummings, a mld-mannered antique dealer.

Who would ever guess that a mystery man would be dumb enough to use his first name as his crimefighting monicker? Just about nobody, apparently. Pretty clever, eh? To further mask his identity, he changes his appearance by scowling and allowing his eyes to burn like hellfire. Then there's his usual haircut. As Strang Cummings, no one seems to notice it, but in Mr. Strang mode, it produces a lot of comment. Ingenious.



In spite of all that, Mr. Strang is a pretty cool character, made cooler by a bullet lodged close to his brain, producing borderline insanity. His fighting legion is pretty cool, too. The Legion of the Living Dead is a gang of short-timers with incurable diseases. Knowing they'll soon be dead anyway, they're happy to lay down their lives in Mr. Strang's behalf, knowing he'll see their families taken care of.

This four-part serial, from the Apr 24, May 1, 8, and 15, 1937 issues of Detective Fiction Weelkly, was collected in a rare paperback (possibly digest?) edition, published in Canada by Popular Publications in 1947. I've never seen a copy, and know it exists because, thirty-odd years ago, someone sent me Xerox copy of the cover. (I've forgotten who, but thanks, whoever you were!)



As the story begins, Mr. Strang is shot and taken to a hospital, where - along with removing the new bullet - the doctor also removes the old one pressing on his brain. Back on his feet, Mr. Strang is no more, and Strang Cummings is now a sniveling coward. Meanwhile, the parole racket runs wild.

Well. It's obvious such conditions can not long endure, and sure enough, Cummings soon has another life-altering experience which restores the pressure on his brain. Like magic, Mr. Strang is back, and the underworld starts quaking in its boots.

Odds of you laying your hands on the original serial or the old Popular Pubs edtion are not good, but chances are very good that Matt Moring at Altus Press will soon be making the compete saga of Mr.. Strang available to us all. Are you listening, Matt? It's time for old Beatle-head to make a comeback!


DC TRIP: Breakfast with the King

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For as long as I can remember (which, according to Google is 1968), I've hearing about Roy Rogers restaurants, and haven't been able to go. They've just never had such critters out here on the West Coast. So when we went to Gettysburg, we rode the Metro up the end of the line at Gaithersburg, MD, and while looking at googlemaps to find a nearby car rental, I spotted a Roy joint, and resolved to have breakfast with the King of the Cowboys.


So there we went. Being a lifetime member of the Roy Rogers Riders Club, I naturally wanted a Double R Bar Burger. But being that it was still shy of 8am, they refused to cook me one, and I had to settle for a Gold Rush Breakfast Sandwich. A Gold Rush, it developed, is pretty much a Sausage McMuffin with a wafer-thin slice of ham lumchmeat on it. But thanks to Roy's Fixin's Bar, I was able to load it with barbeque sauce and pico de gallo, making it pretty dang tasty.


The place reminded me of a Carl's Jr. (that's Hardees to you mid-Western and Eastern folk), and I later learned there's a reason for that. Between 1990 and 2002 it was owned by the same outfit, though it has since been indpendent.



It wasn't until we got home, and I was perusing the brochure listing the nutrional value of Roy's vittles, that I learned they also serve Holster Fries. Had I but knowed, I would have throwed a fit until they either fixed me some or placated me with a free holster.


There were a half dozen small repros of Roy movie posters scattered about the joint, but the only other tribute to the King was this poster. I picked up a comment card, so I could write the head office and tell them they need to pipe in Roy and Dale's music - and open one of those gol' darn restaurants out here in Oregon. 

DC TRIP: More Dioramas in Gettysburg

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The building housing the Gettysburg Diorama (shown HERE) also features a bunch of smaller dioramas in glass cases. The figures in some of these are about 54mm, some larger, and in at least one case a lot larger. Most represent isloated events or encounters during the three-day battle, but since I failed to take notes, I can't tell you what they are. As before, I'm posting photos of each, with blow ups of details.

These first pics obviously depict General Lee, but where I can't say. His headquarters during the battle was a house, which is still there.












 This last diorama focuses on Little Round Top, with the Yankees above and the Rebels below.


DC TRIP: The guy who put the Washington in Washington DC

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George's face is all over the DC area, and rightly so. This painting, now in the National Portrait Gallery, was done from life in 1785 by British artist Robert Edge Pine. Thankfully, this was before George's mouth was disfigured by dentures.

This bust by Jean-Antoine Houdon, from around 1786, is also in the NPG.



This statue's in the NPG, too. Don't know whodunnit.

This is a detail from a study by Constantino Bremudi for the huge "Apotheosis of Washington" in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol.

This bust of George at a toga party was done by Hiram Powers in the 1850s. It now guards the elevator in the State Department's Diplomatic Reception Rooms.



Another in the Diplmoatic Reception Rooms.

Greeting tourists on the street in National Harbor.

Here he is in full denture mode.
Rembrandt Peale painted the original version of this in 1795, and made copies, like this one in the NPG.


DC TRIP: A letter from John Wilkes Booth

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Then.

Now.

We knew before going that the original Ford's Theater had burned down in 1893, after being remodelled for use as a government office building. I don't know if other visitors knew that or not, because the theater folk made no effort to say so. The current edition, built on the same site, opened in 1968, and another rennovation was completed in 2009.  It may be more or less like the original, but doesn't feel at all old.

Anyway, as a tourist site, it's just okay. The Peterson house across the street, where Lincoln spent his last hours, still stands, and would have made the tour more interesting - but it's currently closed for restoration. Boogers.

There's a museum in the basement, and another across the street, with a few items of interest. As part of our admission, we saw a 20-minute play called "One Destiny," which was pretty well done. It finds the owner of the theater and one of the actors shortly after the shooting, bemoaning the fact that the theater has been closed, and trying to make sense of events. In the process, they briefly assume the roles of various people involved, including one known to have a letter from John Wilkes Booth in pocket.  Booth had given him the letter before the shooting, and asked this guy to deliver it to a newspaper. Which brings us to the title of this post.


The actor pulls the letter out of his pocket and reads it aloud before crumpling it and throwing it off the stage. Because we were sitting in the front row, it fell at our feet, and we claimed it as a souvenir. As you see, it's in Booth's own handwriting, and bears his signature. We're still quaking in our boots that the theater may be coming after us to retrieve this historical artifact.


Other Booth artifacts found in the museum:

The gun Booth shot Lincoln with. 

Here's how big it isn't.

After shooting Abe, the other guy in the booth jumped up and Booth stabbed him with this knife.

When Booth jumped out of Lincoln's booth onto the stage, this spur caught on the flag (or flag bunting) and he crash landed, hurting his leg.

The revolver Booth was carrying when he was killed.

JWB's switchblade.

Booth's pin-ups of actress Mary Brown.

Booth's keys and compass.

Booth's boot. Looks like the guy had little feet.

DC TRIP: Amazing Sights at the Museum of American History

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Okay, so maybe I have a low threshold for amazement, but I thought this stuff was mighty interesting.


George Custer's buckskin jacket

Chief Joseph's rifle

Capn Bob Napier's Lincoln Logs


Lady Columbia


Silver junk presented in 1906 to President Teddy Roosevelt by the Emperess Dowager of China

Anti-Chinese cap pistol

It's Back! The World's Greatest Sporting Event

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Yeah, I'm incredibly bummed that the U.S. team failed to qualify, and that my blood brothers from Italy won't be there, either, but the World Cup will still command my attention and strain my eyeballs for the next month. Let the games begin.

It's been a big honking piece of my life since 1986, and it was a great year to start, with Argentina's Diego Maradona running wild and scoring his infamous "Hand of God" goal. That year, and for several Cups afterward, I had to watch most of the games in Spanish, because U.S. networks broadcast only a few. I'm pretty sure it wasn't until 1994, when the USA played host, that I finally got to see them all in English.

 The Hand of God strikes!

DC TRIP: The Museum that 007 Built

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Well, maybe not exactly, but it's hard to imagine The International Spy Museum existing without Bond's iconic status. Most of the main floor is devoted to the Bond Villians exhibit. Overall, it's pretty interesting, though most of the artifacts are from the later films. This is understandable, because the good stuff from the Sean Connery years has long disappeared into private hands.




The best thing in the joint is this Aston Martin. It goes through a cool routine, complete with sound effects, demonstrating the built-in machine guns, the bullet-proof shield, the rotating license plate and the Ben Hur-inspired wheel grinders. I want one.





































The book that inspired 007's name, which Fleming called, "the dullest name I ever heard."








Want to see more? Here's a video taking you inside the exhibit:


DC TRIP: Andy Jackson is our Gen'ral's name

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Andy Jackson is our gen'ral's name,
His reg'lar soldiers we'll put to shame,
Them redskin varmints us Voluteers'll tame,
'Cause we got the guns with the sure-fire aim.
Davy - Davy Crockett,
The Champion of us all!

So sang the choir on the Disney mini-series, linking Andy and Davy forever in my brain. On the show, and in real life during the Creek Indian War, the two had minor differences. Their serious differences came later, when Andy was President and Davy opposed his Indians and settlers in western Tennessee. This resulted in Davy being groomed by the Whigs as a possible Presidential opponent, and Andy using the power of his political machine to take away Davy's congressional seat. At which time Davy headed for Texas - and you know the rest. 

So I've always had an interest in Andy, especially after reading a bunch of books about the Battle of New Orleans, and paying a visit to the battlefield. 

The statue above is a small version of the one that stands in front (or back) of the White House (depending which side you're on), and the other in the plaza before the Cabildo in New Orleans. 

by Thomas Sully, 1984, now in the National Portrait Gallery




by Ralph E.W. Earl, 1836-37


General Andy's uniform above, and sword below, in the Museum of American History



by Hiram Powers, 1935

DC TRIP: Spy Toys on Wheels

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Saw this fleet of spymobiles at The International Spy Museum. A couple of them looked familiar, like maybe I once had my own. Gave me visions of having a machine gun installed on the hood of my PT Cruiser. 







DC TRIP: George Washington Slept (and Sat) Here

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Yeah, we made the pilgrimage to the old wickiup George called Mount Vernon. 

George, Martha and her rugrats by a previous marriage were there to greet us.


George's ride was pimped up something like this one, from the same Philadelphia carriage maker.

He also tooled around in a covertible.

Sadly, the best stuff was inside the house - and inside the museum - where no photos are allowed. Being watched like a hawk by one of the guards, I refrained from taking illicit pictures, but luckily, a few scofflaws managed to snap some and post them online. 

My favorite room in the mansion is Washington's study. That guillotine-type dingus above the chair is a foot-operated fan. 


Employing some fancypants science, someone managed to recreate what is supposedly Washington's true face. The first time we saw it on a manequin, it looked pretty cool, but when the same face and same expression turned up on several more Georges, it got a little creepy. 



DC TRIP: The Tall American

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Yeah, we paid another visit to this guy. Hasn't moved a muscle since we saw him ten years ago. His butt must be getting sore.

A 1917 copy of a life mask made in 1860, before Abe ran for President. 


1917 copy of an 1865 life mask.


The hat he wore to Ford's Theater.




One of the pillows he bled on before dying. 


The tower of Lincoln books we saw at the Ford's Theater museum.


This song was running through my head the whole time.

A bug for Mike Britt

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This is Mike.

This is a bug.

DC TRIP: Presidents Gone Wild

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More cool stuff from the Smithsonian Museum of American History - Presidential style . . . 

Harry Truman's vacation shirt

 Warren G. Harding's pajamas


Eisenhower's golf clubs




A fan given away at Babtist churches, sponsored by a mortuary

Kennedys on Mt. Rushmore? Sure, why not.


Congress commissioned this statue in 1832, to celebrate the centennial of George Washington's birth. Scultor Horatio Greenough depicted George in this wacky steam-room pose. It sat in the Capitol Rotunda, then was moved outside for a while, before being tucked away in the Smithsonian in 1908.

Pirate Comics: "Eric Falcon, Soldier of Fortune" by Bill Ward

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This tale illustrated by Bill Ward, the creator of Torchy (see her HERE), is from Buccaneers #20 (the second issue) from May 1950. Thanks to JonTheScanner for uploading it to comicbookplus!


DC TRIP: Still More Planes . . .

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Lockheed 5B Vega, as flown by Amelia, in the Air and Space Museum

Sorry, I can't identify this one. Can you?

Lockheed Model 8 Sirius

Tsk, tsk. Another mystery plane.

Eastern Airlines DC3

DC TRIP: Grant and Lee (and other guys) were Here

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The chairs and table used at the surrender at Appomattox.
As seen in the Smithsonian Museum of American History.

 Lee sat here. 

Grant got the padded chair.

Grant's field glasses.

Grant's camp chair.

John Mosby's cavalry jacket.
Phil Sheridan's cavalry sword.

William T. Sherman's hat and sword.

Avon Comics CUSTER'S LAST FIGHT: Part 1 "The Civil War" (1950)

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On this anniversary of Day One of Custer's Last Stand, we present Part One of this 1950 Avon comic, as  posted on the very cool comicbooksplus site. 







Avon Comics CUSTER'S LAST FIGHT: Part 2 "The Indian Wars!" (1950)

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You saw Part One yesterday, right? Here's the next installment, courtesy of comicbookplus. Tomorrow: Custer bites the dust. 








Avon Comics CUSTER'S LAST FIGHT: Part 3 "The Battle of the Little Bighorn" (1950)

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Here at last is the thrilling conclusion. Time for Charly Gordon to stand up and cheer. Thanks once again to comicbookplus






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