National Lampoon January 1975

National Lampoon

January, 1975

Once again, let us travel back in time, fifty years in this case, to January, 1975, and the latest issue of the National Lampoon. The cover art, by Robert Grossman, depicts Father Time holding up a used condom.........that's Lampoon humor for you !

 

The Billboard Top 200 LP chart for early January 1975 indicates that Elton John's Greatest Hits album is atop the chart, followed by albums from Jethro Tull, Neil Diamond, the Ohio Players, and Joni Mitchell. So you have rock, pop, soul / R & B, Adult Contemporary, and folk, all represented.

At the Lampoon, P. J. O'Rourke now is executive editor, with Henry Beard and Doug Kenny still manning the editorial offices. The magazine is thriving, with lots and lots of  advertisements for high-end stereo equipment and record albums in its pages. At the beginning of '75, the singer-songwriter movement was getting a lot of attention from labels. You can find all the albums advertised below on YouTube. 

 

I've listened to some of them and I find them listenable, with the Ozark Mountain Daredevils' It'll Shine When It Shines a good LP. Poco's ad tells readers that the group is America's 'first and best country rock band,' a dig at the Eagles. Unfortunately, as 1975 unfolded Poco would struggle for commercial success, while the Eagles would only expand their dominance of the charts with the release of One of These Nights later in the year.

 

 

 

 

The Nostalgia Craze of the 1970s continues unabated; how else to explain Columbia, a major label at that time, flacking a packaging of old W. C. Fields radio programs ?! 

 

There are lots of comics in this January issue, one of the best being 'All New First High Comics,' from Doug Kenny and Joe Orlando. Not only does it satirize the romance comic books of the era, it delivers a great last panel. And, the character 'Dave Wheatjeans' seems to have been the inspiration for Stephen Bishop's character in Animal House: 'I gave my love a cherry / that has no stone.........'

 

 

 

 

 

Do you want nudies ? Well, as always, 'Foto Funnies' delivers !

This issue's magazine parody is Negligent Mother, which, in its own snide way, reminds us that fifty years ago things like Child Protective Services were rarer, and less effective, then they are nowadays.

 

 

 

 

  

We'll close with 'Salvation Army Comics,' by Henry Beard, with art by Frank Springer. This is one of Beard's better pieces in those early years of the magazine. It avoids his highbrow approach to humor and instead goes for something more blunt and acidic..... I mean, Christian soldiers using flamethrowers on Bowery Bums ?! That's humor for you, from fifty years ago......

 

 

 

 

 

Book Review: Before It's Too Late

 January is Gold Medal Books Month at the PorPor Books Blog

Book Review: 'Before It's Too Late' by Lou Cameron

image courtesy of Paul Eng, Bookscans

2 / 5 Stars

'Before It's Too Late' (176 pp.) is Gold Medal Book No. R2197, and was published in January 1970.

Lou Cameron (1924 - 2010) wrote a small library of pulp fiction in all genres, particularly westerns (under the house name 'Tabor Evans').
 

'Too Late' is set in 1969, when twenty-four year-old Steve Warren comes back from the Vietnam war to his Midwestern hometown of Jefferson City. Needing a job, Warren signs on with the Ace Collection Agency and is given a tough, even dangerous, initial assignment: repossess an automobile from one 'Mau Mau' Fenwick, leader of the Jefferson City hippy tribe..... and something of a psychopath.

Warren's repossession goes off without incident. But then things get complicated when Mau Mau turns up dead, his body bruised and battered. As the investigation unfolds it becomes clear that something very odd is going on in Jefferson City, something that its leading citizens would rather not talk about.

Steve Warren teams up with a beautiful Israeli medical student to do some investigating of his own, as the bodies and the alibis begin to pile up..........

'Before It's Too Late' was something of a disappointment. The first half of the book displays Cameron's skills at pulp fiction writing: clean, straightforward prose; dialogue that is a bit dated by contemporary standards, but still believable; some vintage male chauvinism; and a set of nubile, pliant, and utterly groovy chicks.

Unfortunately, the second half of the novel suffers from Cameron's inability to keep the plot simple. So many red herrings, coincidences, and contrivances are thrown into the narrative that the final segment explaining Whodunit is over ten pages long. Even after re-reading it several times I still couldn't figure exactly, what, had happened.

Summing up, I can't call 'Before It's Too Late' a neglected Pulp Fiction Gem. Perhaps it's unfair to reason that Cameron, who made a living from cranking out as many books as he could, was going to take the time to craft a stellar work of fiction. However, this is one Gold Medal Book that likely can stay on the shelf.

January is Gold Medal Books Month at the PorPor Books Blog

 January is Gold Medal Books Month at the PorPor Books Blog

Here at the PorPor Books Blog, we like to take a break from reading and reviewing books on science fiction, fantasy, and horror, and instead profile books, fiction and nonfiction, from other genres and publication lines.

For January 2025, we're going to focus on those paperbacks of yore: Gold Medal Books. According to the Wiki entry, in 1950, "Roscoe Kent Fawcett wanted to establish a line of Fawcett paperbacks....Fawcett announced Gold Medal Books, their line of paperback originals." The Gold Medal line quickly became sales leaders, as they were marketed at the same retail outlets as were Fawcett's magazines. 

According to Bookscans, in 1955 Fawcett began issuing its paperbacks under its Crest label. The line continued to publish titles in varied genres, such as romance, spy thrillers, melodramas, Vaguely Sleazy, science fiction, crime / detective, and historical dramas.

Growing up as a paperback collector, I never paid all that much attention to the Gold Medal Books lineup. I considered Gold Medal books to be rather old-fashioned and obsolete. My attitude towards the imprint changed a bit in 1987 when I read 'The Black Lizard Anthology of Crime Fiction,' edited by Ed Gorman.

In his Introduction, Gorman looks fondly back to his youth when he first bought a Gold Medal book:

I still remember buying it. I could hardly forget. It packed the same charge on anxiety as purchasing one's first teenage beer.

The woman behind the counter of the place....peered down at me and said, "Pretty racy stuff, isn't it ?"

Outside, shut of the woman, I got my first good glimpse of it then in the new spring sunshine.

The cover, designed by the masterful Michael Hooks, depicted one of his wild but forlorn red-heads submissive at the feet of a hood with a .45 in his hand....The title was in yellow, as was the medallion in the upper right hand that would virtually change my life. 

Gold Medal book number 663 was DEATH TAKES THE BUS by Lionel White.

That was my first Gold Medal book.

I can't say that after reading Gorman's introduction I went out and snapped up every Gold Medal or Fawcett Crest paperback I could find, but when I did see these on the shelves of the used bookstores, and the titles lodged them in the detective / noir / private eye and sci-fi genres, well, I was a little more likely to buy them. 

One thing I learned rather quickly was that Gorman, in his nostalgia, was avoiding a rather blunt truth: many of the Gold Medal titles, regardless of the genre, weren't very good........

Having accumulated a small library of Gold Medal books over the years, I thought that I'd start off 2025 by reviewing a bunch of them. Few Gold Medal titles are over 200 pp. in length, so it wasn't that hard of a journey in terms of sitting down and finishing six or seven of them. 

It's well worth noting that the ability to compose a novel of short length, however commonplace it may have been 60-70 years ago, is a dying attribute. The 'Cormoran Strike' detective novels by J. K. Rowling (using the pen name 'Robert Galbraith') are over 900 pages (some over 1,000 pages) in length. I can't imagine reading a detective novel that requires 900 pages.

Anyways, with the asking prices for Gold Medal and Fawcett Crest books increasing with each passing year, hopefully these reviews will inform any decisions by my blog audience to invest in these titles.

Old Editions Bookshop North Tonawanda

Old Editions Bookshop

North Tonawanda, New York

Early in November I took a trip to the Old Editions Bookshop and Gallery at 954 Oliver St, in North Tonawanda, New York (near Buffalo). This is one of those stores that looks small outside, but once you are inside, it seems to be quite a bit larger.

The front portion of the store has a sizeable collection of paperbacks and hardcovers in a variety of genres, along with vintage magazines and other print media.

There's a little section devoted to tabletop RPG stuff:

The science fiction and fantasy section of paperbacks and hardcovers has some good representation of modern and older titles. The paperbound titles are usually around $3 to $6 each.

There's a large section of books on military history, with a shelf devoted to those old Ballantine Books trade paperbacks from the 1970s.

Those looking for vintage, postwar crime / detective / mystery paperbacks will find a good selection available. These are comparatively higher priced, from $10 on up.

And if you're into New Age books, they have you covered:

There horror section inevitably oversubscribes to Stephen King and Dean Koontz, but there are some Paperbacks from Hell nestled there on the shelf. 

Higher-end antiquarian / vintage paperback books are housed in the back of the store. There is an impressive shelving system for these paperbacks, in fact, the most impressive such shelving system I've yet seen in a bookstore. Needless to say, these vintage paperbacks are in 'very good' to 'like new' condition, and have prices of $10 on up.

Old Editions is the sort of place where you easily can spend several hours poking among the shelves and looking for offbeat treasures. I came away with a nice collection for myself:

If you find yourself in the greater Buffalo area and you have a couple of hours of free time, it's well worth making a detour to Old Editions.

Penthouse December 1972

Penthouse

December 1972

December, 1972, and atop the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart is Billy Paul with 'Me and Mrs. Jones.' 

The latest issue of Penthouse magazine is out on the newsstands ! And this December issue is a good one.

 

In his 'Housecall' column, publisher Bob Guccione triumphantly notes that this is the longest and largest issue yet, with '....our heaviest bookings by advertisers.' And big money advertisers, too: liquor, cigarettes, cars, stereo equipment, and cologne. All the items that a magazine, aimed at a male readership, needs to promote in order to be successful. 

 

In the letters / forum page, 'monopede mania' continues. Reading so many early Seventies issues of Penthouse has made me inured to this rather disturbing fetish; I react to 'maniacs' with pity, rather than abhorrence. Or something like that.

We've got some cartoons......

 

A portfolio titled 'Dutch Treat' features a stunning young Netherlands girl named Diana van Derenter who is, in the modern parlance, 'THICC'  !

 

 

 

 

 

Raquel Welch (1940 - 2023) was a superstar in '72, and the fact that Penthouse was able to score an interview with her signaled to the world that Guccione and his magazine were up-and-comers. She comes across as sensible and level-headed.

 

Also a major coup for Penthouse is an interview / profile of Carlos Castaneda, by John Wallace. By '72 Castaneda was a major pop cultural phenomenon, but also, wary of interviews; he would become a recluse as the decade went on. Wallace's article is fanboy stuff; despite his fawning tone towards his subject, Carlos comes across as a bullshitter, who at times is cruelly amused that people actually believe his 'Don Juan Matus' crap.

 

William Kloman, who was a music critic for the New York Times, and contributed articles to a variety of print media in the 60s and 70s, authors the fiction piece 'The Return of One Soldier.' The soldier of the title is a Vietnam war vet named Michael, who was wearing a straightjacket when he was discharged (!). Aimlessly wandering the California coast, Michael meets a hippy chick who changes his life. For the better ? Maybe......

The fashion section features actor Richard Roundtree, riding high on the 1971 film Shaft, modeling some early Seventies 'lougewear.'Of course, Roundtree has some foxy ladies grooving along with him.......

 

Isaac Asimov makes another of his many appearances in the magazine, here with an overview of the phenomenon of 'corpsicles.' Asimov's piece is centered on the science, and concludes that freezing corpses is, all things considered, a bad idea.

 

 

And thus we close our issue of Penthouse, from that long-ago December of 1972..........