In
the News (Almost)
Ever
noticed that so much of our signalling devices belong in a civilization
more advanced than our own? Things like car horns. Bells. Buzzers,
Ringing, bleeping, tinging things. All so very handy -- yet designed
for the hands and minds of a more enlightened populace.
Consider
what a boon it is to be able to signal an emergency while driving
a car. Shouting "Oh for goodness sake, you've just stepped
in front of my car, would you mind looking this way" is essentially
worthless. But a quick tap on the horn, and a life is saved.
But
we turn it into our soundtrack.
Or
take desk bells. The kind you find in hotels, department stores,
and schoolrooms. They are lovely little sculptures, all rounded,
metalic and interactive, and theirpurpose is to give a bright little
"Hello, I'm here.Such tiny, bright little mechanisms they would
be, and what cheerful sounds they could produce in a society which
didn't "wicked-stepmother" them into beaten relics of
their potential beauty,
Fan
Warning:
Kirstin,
of "Watch With Kristin," is reminding her readers to go
out and vote for their favourite (and least-favourite) shows. It's
time again for the Tater Tops 2003 (previously known as the WandAwards)
and on Friday, June 27, the winners of the Golden Tater will be
announced. I'd tell you how to vote but, well ... Kristin didn't
seem to provide that information. However, you can find out what
you're missing here.
Back
to top
Profiles:
Superman's
Unacknowledged Father?
Lester Dent
(October 12, 1904 - March 11, 1959)
Dent
is best known, for those who know him at all, as the man who created
Doc Savage.
Dent
originally intended to become a banker, but, while attending business
college in La Plata, Wyoming, learned there was more money to be
made in telegraphy. He finished up his courses and took a job with
Western Union in 1924. A year later he moved to Ponca City, Oklahoma
where he was employed as a telegrapher for Empire Oil and Gas Co.
There he met Norma Gerling whom he married that August. In 1926
he took a job with Associated Press where he discovered the potential
of writing for the pulps when a co-worker succeeded in selling a
story. Shortly afterwards, Dent had moved to New York with a $500
a month drawing account writing solely for Dell Publishing.
Not
long after he was approached by Henry Ralston, creator of The Shadow.
Ralston, now an executive with Street and Smith, had just come up
with a new character, Doc Savage, and thought Dent was just the
man to write it. He was right. Along with being one of the best,
and most prolific, hack writers of his generation, Dent was also
a man of adventure and loved learning new things. He got his first-class
radio operator's license, built his own Ham radio set, passed the
tough exams for both electrician and plumber, earned his pilot's
license, and climbed mountains. He brought all of his varied expertise
into the stories with the result that Doc became a believable all-round
expert.
The
Doc Savage Magazine ended publication in 1949, Dent continuing to
write mysteries and westerns up to 1958. In February, 1959, he suffered
a heart attack and died later that year on March 11.
The
Superman Connection
One
of our glorious Heritage Minutes shows the origins of Superman.
In it, a young Joe Shuster (half cousin of comedian Frank Shuster)
is boarding a train to leave for the United States and excitedly
tells his aunt about the new cartoon character he's created. Very
stirring. Also incredibly wrong.
Shuster
was only 7 when he moved with his family to Cleveland in 1923, and
it was ten years later, in 1933, that he would meet Jerry Siegel
with whom, according to the official story, he invented Superman.
But
a funny thing also happened in 1933. In March of that
year the first issue of the Doc Savage Magazine was published, the
first in a remarkable series about a remarkably strong man, dedicated
to fighting injustice, with his own Fortress of Solitude located
in the Arctic.
An
incredible coincidence? Or did two 17 year old boys pick up a copy
of the popular magazine and take the idea one step further?
_________
(There is a good history of Superman
at Redboots (with, of course, no mention of a Doc Savage connection)
and an interesting account of when "Superman
Worked at the [Toronto] Star". The Eighty-Sixth
Floor is one of the best Doc Savage sites on the Web.
Previous
Profiles
|