CARTOON PROJECTS

It's been a busy period for me as an artist and writer over the past couple of years. Creating Spy Vibe, working on a new non-fiction book, and composing a song re-mix- then a film- for Yoko Ono have all been fun and rewarding. Although it's been mostly film and writing news lately, I have also been savoring a return to my original love- cartooning! There are a couple of cartoon projects in the works that I look forward to sharing when the time is right. And I have been enjoying getting to know fellow artists in the area and spending time at the Charles Schulz Museum and the Disney Family Museum (both are must-see destinations if you are in the Bay area). Today I had the pleasure of visiting with Charles Schulz's wife, Jeannie Schulz, who gave cartoonist/writer, Brian Fies, and I a tour of Sparky's studio. Sitting at his drawing board, I felt like a pilot given an opportunity to sit in Charles Lindbergh's plane! Thrilling and inspiring. Here I am, the kid in me beaming (thanks to Brian for the photo and Jeannie for the lovely visit). More info over at my website, jasonwhiton.com. Spy Vibers, what were some of your favorite comics growing up?

AVENGERS AD

Although I've posted many vintage advertisements and newsreel footage of The Avengers in the past, I've never come across this Perrier ad from France. In keeping with the tone of the series, there is a wonderful blend of playful action and charm. Though, I am surprised that they had Pat land a direct punch, rather than dispatching the baddie with the cork. The cast and crew of The Avengers celebrated their 50th anniversary last summer.

JUDEX POSTER

I am enjoying a passionate reconnection with Feuillade's Judex and Fantomas ever since I saw Hugo and The Artist. If you are riding the same wave, join me in drooling over this neat Yugoslavian poster for the 1963 Judex film by Fanju listed on eBay. What are the disadvantages of living in a glass lair on a hill? Not many, but I wish I had acres of wall-space to exhibit retro posters like this.

HOLMES AND JUDEX

It's been a busy time in the Spy Vibe lair. The teaching schedule is more demanding as the end of the school year approaches. In addition to my studio classes in Film, Photo, and Drawing, I have also been teaching fun classes in Beatles history and in low-budget/high-concept movies (which allows for some fun days with the likes of Dr No, Lancelot Link, and Diabolik!). I have also been spending more time with a lifelong passion for cartooning. Although this has left us with less news or features for Spy Vibe lately, it has allowed me to start penciling my first graphic novel! I'm making a transition from strips and single-panel work, so it's pretty fun to have a new challenge.

In the wake of Hugo and The Artist, which have re-opened a door into the magic of the silent era, I'm enjoying a revisit with old favorites by Feuillade, Melies, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Fritz Lang. I just saw Buster Keaton's Sherlock Jr recently on Netflix and really enjoyed it! Like Melies, he used the illusion of linear time that film offers to create some memorable visual gags. I also just saw the John Barrymore Sherlock Holmes film (its restoration was funded by Hef!). Although it dragged a bit in the middle, I have to say that I enjoyed the casting a lot (both Holmes and Moriarty were great!). And the film had enough mystery conventions, like trap doors, signals, and secret hiding places to keep me entertained. Hats off to Kino films for making these classics available.


If you are a fan of the wonderful mystery/adventure serials Fantomas, Judex, and Les Vampires, join me in celebrating the new English translation of this Judex novel from Black Coat Press. Rick Lai has written about The Shadow in the past, so I'm intrigued by the section about The Shadow and Judex listed in the contents. Black Coat has also published many Fantomas titles. I'm looking forward to checking out the whole series and talking with the publisher about some details. I will post my findings on Spy Vibe when I get a chance. In the meantime, here is more info from the publisher's website:

In 1917, silent film director Louis Feuillade and writer Arthur Bernède created the character of a mysterious avenger, wearing a slouch hat and a dark cloak -- Judex! His name means "Judge," and he has sworn to mercilessly punish criminals!

Judex appears and disappears like a living shadow. Trained by the vindictive Woman in Black, he is a master of disguise and an excellent fighter. His loyal followers include a female athlete, a reformed ex-convict and a pack of vicious bloodhounds. Beneath the ruins of a castle is his secret lair, where he interrogates his prisoners through a "television" screen. His nemesis is Favraux, a corrupt banker who has left a trail of ruin and misery in his wake.

In this epic saga, Judex not only challenges Favraux, but also the evil Diana Monti, Favraux's fiancée who is as ruthless and powerful as he is. But as our hero struggles against the villains, he falls in love with Favraux's daughter, the beautiful, innocent Jacqueline...

Contents:
Introduction
JUDEX (1917)
Part One: The Mysterious Shadow
Part Two: The Atonement
Part Three: The Amazing Dogs
Part Four: The Secret of the Tomb
Part Five: The Mill of Misery
Part Six: The Licorice Kid
Part Seven: The Woman in Black
Part Eight. The Caverns of the Chateau Rouge
Part Nine: When the Child Appeared
Part Ten: The Heart of Jacqueline
Part Eleven: The Water-Sprite
Part Twelve: Love's Forgiveness
The Continuity and Chronology of Judex
Judex and The Shadow
A List of Judex Pastiches

Arthur Bernède (1871-1937) was a renowned playwright, journalist, screenwriter and the author of numerous popular novels. His best-remembered creations are the mysterious avenger known as Judex (co-created with, and for, filmmaker Louis Feuillade who directed the first Fantômas serials), and the villainous Belphégor, the so-called "Phantom of the Louvre." In 1919, Bernède joined forces with actor René Navarre, who had played Fantômas in the Feuillade serials, and writer Gaston Leroux, the creator of Rouletabille, to launch the Société des Cinéromans, a production company that would produce films and novels simultaneously.

The absolutely brilliant 1963 version of Judex by Franju, available from Amazon for $8.99!

NEW SOUNDTRACKS

Screen Archives Entertainment has announced their new soundtrack releases. With The Ipcress File topping the list for me, there are a number of titles that should appeal to Spy Vibers. From Screen Archives:


The Ipcress File by John Barry

"If you want to see an example of what music does for a movie, go and see 'THE IPCRESS FILE'. Then you'll understand what John Barry's all about." - Michael Caine

CD re-issue of one of John Barry's most memorable film scores from the 1960's composed for the seedy and realistic spy thriller starring Michael Caine as Len Deighton's great anti-hero, Harry Palmer.

For his inspiration for the music John Barry looked to one of his favourite films "THE THIRD MAN" and its famous solo zither score by Anton Karas. With THE IPCRESS FILE he wanted to achieve an equally distinctive, repetitive yet haunting sound. In this he chose the Hungarian cimbalom as his lead instrument for his "Man Alone Theme" backed by an orchestra in a series of swing, jazz and blues variations.

Michael Caine made the first of three appearances as novelist Len Deighton's bespectacled British-spy Harry Palmer in "The Ipcress File". Palmer has no real love of espionage, but he doesn't really know any other life. With studied insolence, he takes on the case of locating missing doctor Radcliffe (Aubrey Richards), who has in his possession a valuable file that would prove injurious to the Free World should it fall in the wrong hands. The government also fears that Radcliffe will be brainwashed by the enemy, as has happened to two previous British scientists. While Palmer is off doing everyone else's dirty work, his superior, Nigel Green, is making a deal with duplicitous information "broker" Frank Gatliff to win Radcliffe's release. The price for this would seem to be Palmer, who is captured by the enemy and subjected to a grueling brainwashing session. Palmer escapes, whereupon he confronts a traitor in his midst in the climactic exchange of gunfire. Advertised as the thinking man's "Goldfinger", "The Ipcress File" offered a far more realistic view of the morally ambivalent world of espionage than did the James Bond films. Also stars Gordon Jackson (Hudson, the butler from "Upstairs, Downstairs"). 1965

The H-Man, Secret of Telegian, The Human Vapor

Three Complete original soundtracks from TOHO's transformed sci-fi horror movie series on triple disc!

BIJO TO EKITAI NINGEN (aka THE H-MAN, BEAUTY AND THE LIQUIEDMAN): When a narcotics deal goes sour and a suspect disappears, leaving only his clothes, Tokyo police question his wife and stake out the nightclub where she works. His disappearance stumps the police - until a young scientist appears who claims that H-Bomb tests in the Pacific, evidenced by a ''ghost ship'' that has turned up in the harbor, have created radioactive creatures - ''H-Men'' - who ooze like slime and dissolve anyone they touch. Director: Ishiro Honda, Stars:Yumi Shirakawa, Kenji Sahara and Akihiko Hirata. Music by Masaru Sato.1958 TOHO.

DENSO NINGEN (aka THE SECRET OF THE TELEGIAN): Detectives must stop a homicidal madman called the ''Telegian'' from his killing rampage, while trying to save the intended victims and solve the mystery of the madman's true intentions and origin. The Telegian uses a mind-transmitting machine to teleport himself to his victims, whom he is out for revenge. Director: Jun Fukuda, Stars:Koji Tsuruta, Akihiko Hirata and Yoshio Tsuchiya. Music by Sei Ikeno. 1960 TOHO.

GASU NINGEN DAI ICHIGO (aka THE HUMAN VAPOR): A librarian is subject to a scientific experiment which goes wrong and transforms him into 'The Human Vapour'. He uses his new ability to rob banks to fund the career of his girlfriend, a beautiful dancer. The Human Vapour is ruthless in his quest for money and kills anyone who stands in his way, especially police. He soon becomes Tokyo's most wanted criminal. Can he be stopped before he kills again? Director: Ishiro Honda, Stars:Tatsuya Mihashi, Kaoru Yachigusa and Yoshio Tsuchiya. Music by Kunio Miyauchi. 1960 TOHO.

Sherlock Series Two by David Arnold

Screen Archives carries the first season soundtrack to this incredible series, as well. See a complete list of their complete Sherlock Holmes-related titles here.


Gungala La Pantera Nuda

The music of "Gungala La Pantera Nuda" uses a wide range of sounds, which makes us to a score rich in musical ideas as well as varied and suggestive. The work is dominated by the beautiful Gungala’s theme that appears over the edition with different arrangements, including superb vocal version, which this edition is included in English and Italian versions. Special importance is the careful orchestration of the string used to accompany the loveliest sublimely Africans music, the lounge themes and the melodic jazz tracks.


The Mechanic by Jerry Fielding

La-La Land Records presents composer Jerry Fielding’s (STRAW DOGS, THE ENFORCER, THE GAUNTLET, SEMI-TOUGH) classic original action score to the legendary 1972 MGM action-thriller THE MECHANIC, starring Charles Bronson and Jan-Michael Vincent and directed by Michael Winner. An atmospheric marvel of sonic textures and experimental approaches, Fielding’s chilling score truly is the stone-cold-heart of this classic hitman/apprentice tale. Aside from perfectly capturing action and suspense, Fielding’s score gives the film a depth and resonance beyond its celluloid. Aside from some audio enhancements, a slightly different track order and new packaging and liner notes, the audio content is the same as the Intrada release, so this re-issue is geared for fans who do not currently own that previous release. Produced by Ford A. Thaxton and mastered by James Nelson, this release features in-depth, exclusive liner notes by film music writer Randall D. Larson. Limited to 1200 units.

GEORGE HARRISON

George Harrison was born today in 1943. In celebration, here is a re-post of our Harrison celebration. In the past year, Martin Scorsese released his documentary film about George, Living in the Material World. A companion book was published by Olivia Harrison. And George's son, Dhani, created an iPad app that offers a multi-media history tour through George's collection of instruments (NY Times review here). Image below by Richard Avedon.


Happy Birthday to George Harrison (1943-2001). George played a large role in bringing Indian music and culture to the radar of 1960s pop culture. Inspired by a sitar player on the set of Help! (1965), George went on to study with master, Ravi Shankar, who became an adopted father to the Beatle. George pursued a life-long study of meditation and spirituality and helped to produce records by Indian musicians and spiritual groups. A wonderful box set came out recently called Collaborations, which includes all of the music George and Ravi recorded together, as well as some video performances. George is also remembered today for the role he played in producing Monty Python and other independent film projects. Through his company, Hand-Made Films, Harrison was the executive producer of Mona Lisa, How to Get a Head in Advertising, Powwow Highway, Withnail & I, Times Bandits, Life of Brian, and others.


Harrison was celebrated in the all-star Concert For George at the Royal Albert Hall in 2002. The program included Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Dhani Harrison, Ravi Shankar, Tom Petty, Monty Python, and others. Fans can see the entire film in a free streaming event today on the George Harrison website. A Blu-ray [was released] on March 22nd.

In connection to our post yesterday about instruments and the James Bond Theme, it's worth noting that Harrison was also a big ukulele fan! The Beatles grew up with the sound and humor of UK stage-sensation, George Formby. During the Beatles Anthology project (1995), George, Paul, and Ringo re-visited one of their first recordings, Ain't She Sweet, on a sunny day with ukuleles. Since Harrison's passing in 2001, Paul McCartney has included a ukulele tribute to George in all of his concerts with a performance of the powerful, Harrison classic, Something (Abbey Road/1969). Here is Paul playing the song during the Concert For George with Eric Clapton below.

Spy Vibers can also visit my YouTube channel to see my experimental film for Yoko Ono (now on the festival circuit), and a 75th anniversary film/sound collage I made for John Lennon.

KNOLL SALE

Ready to revamp your secret lair? Check out the Knoll sale at Design Within Reach, where you can pick up classic furniture by Eero Saarinen and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. For more Mid-Century Modern delights, check out our review of the Dieter Rams gadget exhibit at SFMOMA here.

EARLY CINEMA

Anyone who has been fortunate to see the film, Hugo, has probably been inspired by Scorsese's love letter to early cinema to explore the works of Melies and other imaginative pioneers. The 5-dvd set of Melies work from Flicker Alley is definitely the place to turn. The distributor will also release a remastered Blu-ray edition of a few of his major works, including Trip to the Moon, on March 27th. As my imagination relishes a revisit to Melies's wonderful magic, I can't help but feel a tug back to the incredible mystery/adventure cliffhanger serials that Feuillade made in 1913-1914. Kino released his original Fantomas films on DVD last year, which are thrilling and visually exciting- as this trailer illustrates.

"Based on the phenomenally popular French pulp novellas, Louis Feuillade's outrageous, ambitious FANTÔMAS series became the gold standard of espionage serials in pre-WWI Europe, and laid the foundation for such immortal works as Feuillade's own Les Vampires and Fritz Lang's Dr. Mabuse films.

René Navarre stars as the criminal lord of Paris, the master of disguise, the creeping assassin in black: Fantômas. Over the course of five feature films (which combined to form a 5 1/2-hour epic), Fantômas, along with his accomplices and mistresses, are pursued by the equally resourceful Inspector Juve (Edmund Bréon) and his friend, journalist Jerôme Fandor (Georges Melchior)."



I love the movie poster that Kino chose as its DVD cover. From what I understand, the image above was originally the cover illustration for one of the novels. The bloody dagger that Fantomas holds in the original image was edited out when made into the film poster below. Despite that sinister detail, I enjoy how he is portrayed with top hat and mask- perhaps a precursor to the eccentric, well-dressed adventure we enjoy from the space age of the 1960s and programs like The Avengers. You can buy the poster image from AllPosters.com.

If you have not seen Hugo, by the way, make sure you see it on the big screen. I'm not usually a fan of 3D, but this is one film where it adds some beautiful (and humorous) elements to the experience. And you will see this Fantomas movie poster in the film!

I SPY COMIC BOOKS

Coming soon from Hermes Press, the complete I Spy comic book run from Gold Key! After publishing many successful comic reprint collections, including Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Time Tunnel, Land of the Giants, Dark Shadows, The Phantom, Buck Rogers, and other classics, I Spy: The Complete Series will be released on June 19th.


From Hermes Press: "One of the greatest spy shows from the 1960s, I Spy, returns with Hermes Press’ new deluxe reprint of all six Gold Key comics’ issues of the feature. Included in this complete reprint are informative essays about the creative team behind the comic book and loads of never-before seen publicity photographs featuring stars Robert Culp and Bill Cosby. Artwork by Al McWilliams (issues #1-5) and Mike Roy (issue #6); scripts by Western Publishing mainstay Paul S. Newman." Pre-order at Amazon.

BLU FOR BARBARELLA

Paramount announced their upcoming Blu-ray titles today and we are pleased to see Roger Vadim's Barbarella (1968) set for a July 3rd release! This classic starring Jane Fonda and John Phillip Law is pretty stagey in its direction, but the costume designs and ongoing erotic theme of the story makes the movie fun to revisit. The plot: "Barbarella, a 41st century earthling, is sent on a mission by the president of Earth to find Duran Duran, a scientist who has disappeared with an all-powerful weapon." Fans should check out Roman Coppola's homage, CQ (2001), and Barbarella as a double feature.

DESIGN SALE

Time to give your secret lair a makeover! Design With Reach is currently offering a sale on their living room pieces, including two faves: the Tulip Chair (designed in 1956 by Eero Saarinen for Knoll) and the Egg Chair (designed in 1958 by Arne Jacobsen for Fritz Hansen- thought to be the first swiveling upholstered chair). Sale ends on January 31st. Details at Design Within Reach.

BOND BLU-RAY SET ANNOUNCED

The breaking news today is that MGM has announced a 50th anniversary box set of every James Bond film on Blu-ray (including many that have not made it to the hi-def market yet). No street date has been set, nor news released about whether or not individual titles will be available at the launch for those of us who have already collected part of the series. I imagine that they will release as a run-up to the next 007 film debut in November. Check out this cool commercial! Pre-order on Amazon.