August, as it turned out, was a "Month of Many Things"!
Some of them really bad... more of them good... all of them draining and depleting!
Outside of working on a story for Fantagraphics at the beginning of AAUGH-ust, and just completing another one at the end, virtually none of my normal activities - personal communications, indexing for GCD, comics reading and "The Great Comics Organization and Storage Retirement Project"... and, yes, even this Blog - received ANY of my attentions during this period!
It's finally time to rectify this, and begin getting things back on track!
So, here I am with an admittedly less than adequate explanation for our lengthy absence, and hope you're all still around and ready to rejoin me, as we try to make this insane world a better place... one Blog post at a time!
Together let's begin turning AAUGH-ust into YEP-tember!
8 comments:
Aw, go take the rest of the summer off! We'll wait for ya!
If I were still in school, I'd take you up on it - but normal Blogging will return before the fall term begins!
Charlie Brown would have approved of "AAUGH-ust"...or perhaps rolled his eyes and said "Oh, good grief!" After YEP-tember, maybe we can look forward to a Star Trek-themed month of SPOCK-tober, followed by the somewhat contemplative month of DEEP-cember. (Or better yet, none of those...).
Or, better-better yet, Deb… ALL of those!
And, to balance off the “Star Trek-themed month”, we could have JUNE-uary to honor the mom of LOST IN SPACE – June Lockhart… or just to have a little “June-in January”, because that’s when we need it most.
All that being a mere prelude to… (wait for it)… DEB-ruary! Of which I have no doubt that Fluffy and Mervin would approve!
…Ahhh, it’s good to be back!
Glad you're back blogging! And I look forward to June Lockhart Month, whether that's JUNE-uary or, well, June. I will contribute a comment on my favorite Christmas episode of Lassie, in which June (atypically) gets to have and implement the idea that saves the day! How often did she get to save the day on Lost in Space? I watched it in childhood, but I do not remember much about her role. Never mind, you can respond to that question when her month rolls around!
Elaine:
And glad *you’re* back (all of you) to be a part of what we do here!
“How often did [June Lockhart as Maureen Robinson] get to save the day on Lost in Space?”
She came right out of the gate (…or airlock, or space-dock, or whatever) saving the day and was the hero of the cliffhanger that took Episode One into Episode Two – which would make her the FIRST hero of Lost in Space.
She further saved the day by employing psychology in “The Oasis” (1965), and was the rock-steady guardian of the group when the men were exploring. (“All That Glitters”, “The Golden Man”, “The Astral Traveler”, “The Galaxy Gift”, and more.) Oh, and sometimes she went on those exploring missions too – but that just shifted the focus to opportunistic Doctor Smith taking advantage of the Robinson parents’ absence to cook up more mischief.
Given that her character came into being at the epicenter of mid-1960s family TV values, I think she fared reasonably well.
And while we're on the topic of Miss June, leave us not overlook the character of Dr. Craig. Especially since I just recently spent a weekend in the vicinity where the exterior scenes of Petticoat Junction were filmed--and stood in the round house right in front of the original steam engine that was rollin' down the tracks to the Junction! Considering Miss Lockhart's considerable gifts it was not perhaps the most challenging role for her but she certainly pulled it off well and very gracefully stepped into Bea Benaderet's shoes. A great lady! Can't wait to see the tributes!
Egad, Scarecrow…
Did I inadvertently give the impression of a “June in June” tribute post? It’s a great idea, of course, but now I’ll have to update my 2023 calendar… which I don’t even have yet!
I think June Lockhart’s role as Dr. Craig is less remembered (though not by you and me) because of Petticoat Junction’s odd lack of presence in syndication over the years.
For instance Green Acres (the better known show of the “Hooter-verse”, alternately known as the “Sam Drucker-verse” – so as not to associate it with a certain questionably-themed restaurant chain) is seen every weeknight in prime time on ME-TV and, before that, was a syndication staple (like Lost in Space)… but “PJ” never came close to that sort of success. Even on my DVD shelf, I have the “Complete Series” of “GA”, but only the first three seasons of “PJ” – and not due to any purposeful bias toward “GA”, which (even in DVD) had a greater availability.
Oh, and, as a kid, I loved the train… and booed and hissed mean old Mr. Bedloe – but later grew to love the actor Charles Lane – especially on The Lucy Show!
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