In my entry last month, I posted a line-up for a night of prime-time television in the Silver-Age Marvel universe. I had fun with it, as I managed to include multiple references to actual elements, people and things, which appeared in Marvel comics at the time. Even in some of the things I made up outright, there were hidden meanings. As much fun as I had ginning up the entry, I hoped all of you would have fun identifying the “Easter eggs”.
Cap, our fearless leader, and Fraser Sherman, Jeff of Earth-J, and doc photo rose to the challenge. Between them, many of the more obscure references were nailed. In fact, nearly all of them.
I said nearly all. There were a few that escaped them. For those who have an interest in what gems lurked in the television line-up, I’ll keep you in suspense no longer. Here is the breakdown of the references I used in putting it together. Let’s start with the banner . . .
WNNT was the television station that aired The Dan Dunn Show, as shown in The Avengers # 73 (Feb., 1970). Because I was including The Dan Dunn Show in the line-up, it made perfect sense to use WNNT as the station. This instance is one of the handful of times that I had to slightly step out of my usual cut-off time for the Silver Age in order to make the entry work.
The story “A Time to Unmask”, from Daredevil # 11 (Dec., 1965), established that there was a television series Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.in the Silver-Age Marvel universe. As doc photo stated, it was an analogue to the real-life The Man from U.N.C.L.E. series. But nobody caught on to how much of a riff I made of it with the names of the main characters.
The name of the lead agent in U.N.C.L.E. was Napoleon Solo. For a nod to this, I needed the name of another historical emperor and a word for solitary or working alone. I used “Maximilian”, for Maximilian I, the Austrian archduke who became emperor of the Second Mexican Empire from 1864-7. And “Stag” from the common vernacular for someone, usually a male, who attends a party or event unaccompanied by a date.
Thus, Maximilian Stag = Napoleon Solo, and I had him played by Brad Carter, an actor encountered by Colonel Fury in Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. # 2 (Apr., 1968). Carter made a handful of appearances before meeting a nasty end in The Rampaging Hulk # 8 (Jan., 1978).
For my Illya Kuryakin counterpart, I felt anything I could come up with using the initials would sound too cutesy, so I settled for a vaguely central-European-sounding name, “Emil Kasimir”, which evoked the name of Illya Kuryakin. To play Kasimir, I chose Joe Smith, the protagonist of The Amazing Spider-Man # 38 (Jul., 1966), who became an actor at the end of the story.
On The Man from U.N.C.L.E., the head of the organisation’s New York branch and the guy who gave Solo and Kuryakin their marching orders was Alexander Waverly. I had to take an oblique step for the name of my Waverly analogue. Scottish writer Sir Walter Scott’s first prose novel, Waverley, published in 1814, concerned a young Scottish officer in the King’s Regiment who is torn between his loyalty to the Crown and his sympathies for a faction seeking the king’s overthrow.
Sir Walter authored several novels, not with the same characters but using the same essential plot dilemma, and they became known as “the Waverley novels”. The most famous of these was Ivanhoe (1819). So, Stag and Kasimir’s boss became “Mr. Ivanhoe”. A suitable actor to fit the image of Leo G. Carroll was Victor Marshall, an elderly British actor who saved the Earth from an alien invasion in Tales to Astonish # 33 (Apr., 1962).
As the Baron noted in his sole answer, I had to go ‘way back to find someone to play the episode’s villain. That was Goris Barloff, a famous horror actor in the Marvel universe and obvious take-off of real-life actor Boris Karloff. Barloff appeared in Captain America Comics # 3 (May, 1941). (Coïncidentally, here in the real world, Boris Karloff appeared as the main baddie in an episode of Man’s sister series, The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.)
Lastly, I’m sure all of you caught the pun in the title of that Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode, right?
Of course, we learnt in The Amazing Spider-Man Annual # 1 (1964) that one of May Parker’s favourite television shows was The Beverly Hillbillies, which established that the antics of “Jed and all his kin” existed in the Marvel universe, as well. I chose the episode “The Giant Jackrabbit”, first aired on 08 January 1964, because, sixty years later, it remains the highest viewer-rated half-hour sitcom episode in TV history. It’s hilarious. “Jed! Jeddddd!”
Marvel Comics’ version of Dean Martin was Dino Manelli, and like the real-life singer/actor, the ex-Howling Commando had his own television show, The Dino Manelli Show, in the 1960’s, as seen in Sgt. Fury Annual # 3 (1966). For his guests that night, I chose:
Hap Tanner, who, as Mr. Sherman provided detail on, appeared in Patsy and Hedy # 107 (Aug., 1966).
Monica Lynne, the singer introduced in The Avengers # 73 and was an early love interest of the Black Panther.
Millicent Collins, who starred in her own Marvel series, Millie the Model, from 1945-73.
The tribute to Jerry Larkin referred to Dino’s former stage partner, thus serving as the Marvel universe’s version of the comedy team of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. We met Jerry Larkin, and lost him, in Sgt. Fury # 63 (Dec., 1968).
When the Lester Lanolin Orchestra failed to arrive in time for a swank engagement party, in Patsy and Hedy # 104 (Feb., 1966), Cord Ryan’s rock-and-roll group, the Zip-Tones, performed in its place.
The Dan Dunn Show was probably the easiest to pinpoint the references. Dan Dunn was Marvel's counterpart to real-life controversial talk-show host Joe Pyne, noted for his confrontational interviews. Dunn was introduced in The Avengers # 73. As for his guests . . .
J. Jonah Jameson---do I really have to provide a reference?
Ted Braddock, a fiery television commentator who appeared in the Human Torch story from Strange Tales # 112 (Jun., 1963).
Bernard "Barney" Bushkin, the avuncular publisher of the Daily Globe, whom we first met in The Amazing Spider-Man # 27 (May, 1965) and was seen sporadically afterward.
Harris Hobbs, the Affiliated Press reporter who popped up on a couple of occasions to give the Mighty Thor some headaches, the first time in Journey into Mystery # 114 (Jan., 1965). He was lucky that he didn't go to jail on a felony charge in that one.
For the local news, I couldn’t find any late-night anchormen in any of the Marvel Comics stories, but I had plenty of TV field reporters whom I could “promote” into the job. I went with Bill Brinkley, from the Doctor Strange story in Strange Tales # 120 (May, 1964). (Now you know, Fraser.)
For the Late Movie, I had to deep dive into the Patsy and Hedy pool to find something suitably cheesy. Here in the real world, the success of the early James Bond films inspired a wave of low-budget, camp spy movies in the mid-1960’s. Patsy and Hedy # 107 provided everything I needed to fit that mould.
According to the plot of the story in that issue, when lead actor Hap Tanner walks out on the production of superspy film “The Spy Smasher and the Frantic Females”, our Career Girls, Patsy and Hedy, persuade the producer to replace him with Cord Ryan. Ryan had appeared three issues earlier as the lead singer for the Zip-Tones.
In my Marvel TV guide entry, I took the title of the film, the name of the superspy (“Flint Cannon”), and the name of the villain (“Dr. Silver-Ear”) directly from the comic. The names of the other characters in the cast I completely made up.
Note to Cap: the name “Peachy Kean” came from my own imagination, going for a more campish version of the type of names Ian Fleming hung on his Bond-girls. I was unaware that a similarly named male had appeared in the Hostess Pie ads. Nor did I realise that the name “Ava Stromstedt” was so close to that of real-life actress Ulla Stromstedt. That one was probably subliminal on my part.
The performers who played those parts, however, all appeared in Marvel comics. Cap and Fraser nailed all the sources, but for the record:
Vincent Sterling was an actor from the soap opera Strange Secrets, Marvel’s version of Dark Shadows. Sterling turned out to have murderous intentions, as seen in Daredevil # 65-6 (Jun. and Jul., 1970).
Dee-Dee Collins was Millie the Model’s cousin, making a short run of appearances in her title, beginning with Millie the Model # 148 (Jan., 1967).
Nan Miller was an actress who appeared in the story “Earth Will Be Lost Tonight”, from Strange Tales # 93 (Feb., 1962).
Sally Sanders and Jillian Jerold sought acting careers in “Dreams of Glamor”, from Millie the Model # 143 (Nov., 1966).
Carson Bells, Marvel’s answer to Orson Welles, was another one I had to dig out from the Golden Age. Bells appeared in the Secret Stamp back-up story in Captain America Comics # 23 (Jan., 1943).
The producer of “The Spy Smasher . . . “ was not named in Patsy and Hedy # 107, so I went with schlock-movie producer B. J. Cosmos, best remembered for his effort to make a film starring Spider-Man in The Amazing Spider-Man # 14 (Jul., 1964). He seemed appropriate to the material.
Whew! That’s it.
Faversham, everybody!
"Y'all come back, now . . . Y'hear?"
Replies
"Faversham", indeed.
Great work as always.
Inferior Five #1 also used Mr. Ivanhoe as a substitute for Mr. Waverly (as the leader of C.O.U.S.I.N.F.R.E.D.). As I reread that one relatively recently I should have spotted your use of the same ploy. But I didn't.
Even in some of the things I made up outright, there were hidden meanings.
Ooh, well done. I though that was just "chicken fat" (as Will Elder used to say), not that I would have guessed many in any case.
The Avengers # 73 (Feb., 1970)... This instance is one of the handful of times that I had to slightly step out of my usual cut-off time for the Silver Age in order to make the entry work.
Comics dated February 1970 would have actually gone on sale in December 1969, so I'd say you squeaked in under the line.
Millicent Collins, who starred in her own Marvel series, Millie the Model, from 1945-73.
I don't know that I've ever read an issue of Millie the Model. [There was a character named "Millicent Collins" (in 1795) on Dark Shadows, as well.]