ALL SCI-FI

[Eadie]

They are changing Superman's costume, again:



If this keeps up poor Clark will have to be as rich as Bruce Wayne to hid all the variations!

[Bud Brewster]

I like it!

Except . . . why does the cape have a "tail" in back?

As an artist I can appreciate a little artistic license when it comes to the folds in a superhero's cape. I got plum carried away with this guy's cape, drawing in folds that aren't physically possible.



But that silly little flag in the back of Kal-El's cape is ridiculous! There's no way to see that as a fold. It's a tail, plain and simple.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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Today I spent the several hours familiarizing myself with the origin and evolution of the legendary Lois Lane!

Early this morning I received my box set of the Torchy Blane series (from the late 1930) nine movies total, with seven of them starring the lovely Glenda Farrell.

Wikipedia has this interesting item in its article about the series.
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Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel credited Glenda Farrell's portrayal of Torchy Blane as the inspiration for the Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane and the name of actress Lola Lane [who replaced Farrell in the 5th film] as his inspiration for Lois' name. Joanne Siegel, Siegel's wife and the original model for Lois Lane, also cited Farrell's portrayal of Torchy as Siegel's inspiration for Lois.
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Here's a picture of Joanne Siegal, and a drawing Jerry Siegel for which Jerry used her as his model.



And IMDB has a trivia item for the last film in the series, Playing With Dynamite which offers a another Superman connection.
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Torchy works at the Daily Star — the same newspaper that Lois Lane worked at in her first comic book appearance. Later, Lane's paper was called the more-familiar Daily Planet.
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When I started watching the DVDs today I decided to watch the two films of the nine-film series that did not star Glenda Farrell (the 5th and 9th films) because I suspected I wouldn't like them quite as much, since Miss Farrell and her co-star (Lane Barton) weren't in them.

I was right when I thought the 5th movie, Torchy Blane goes to Panama, suffered from the lack of Glenda Farrell and Lane Barton. However, I did find that the film was still enjoyable.

But actress Lola Lane, I'm sorry to say, just didn't impress me very much. She wasn't especially attractive, and her acting was an obvious attempt to imitate Glenda Farrell.

However, as soon as I started watching the 9th film (Playing with Dynamite) I was so delighted by the lovely Jane Wyman (with blonde hair for a change) that I actually stopped the DVD and switched to the first film in the series, Smart Blonde. I decided to wait and watch the one starring Jane Wyman after seeing all the other movies.

My reason for doing this was that I thought I might like Jane's portrayal so much it would spoil my enjoyment of Glenda's version. Miss Wyman was so beautiful and so effective as the gorgeous, fast-talking report that she actually compared well with Glenda Farrell as the inspiration for Lois Lane!

I've always thought Jane Wyman was absolutely gorgeous, and the way she played Torchy in the first few scenes I watched in Playing with Dynamite convinced me that the series could have continued successfully with her in the role for several more films.

Unfortunately the public didn't take too well to either of the Torchy films that didn't star Glenda Farrell, so Jane Wyman's version was the last in the series. I can't help wondering if Lola Lane's less impressive portrayal in the 5th movie actually caused the public to avoid the 9th film when Miss Farrell chose not to star in it.

By the way, it's ironic that Jane Wyman appeared in several scenes in the first Torchy Blane movie (Smart Blonde) as a cute hat check girl named Dixie. She plays the adorable and dim-witted character so well that she's barely recognizable as the elegant and savvy Torchy Blane she portrays in the last film in the series!

I was amazed by the way Miss Wyman gave us a demonstration of just how an actress can actually transform her physical appearance by the way she plays her character! I was very impressed.



I mean, seriously . . . does this cute little floozy look like Jane Wyman? I know the screen shot from the Youtube video below is blurry, but watch the two videos and listen to her voice. She doesn't even SOUND like Jane Wyman!



____________ Torchy Blane And Jane Wyman 1


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_________ Torchy Blane Interviews Jane Wyman


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[trekriffic]

[Bud Brewster]

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When I was in high school a friend passed me a piece of paper in class one day with this drawing, and a note which said:

Can you guess what these are? If not, the answer is on the other side.



I studied it careful, but I was stumped. So, I turned over the paper and read the answer.

These are the Tails of the Texas Rangers!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]