Newsday TV Book, February 19-25, 1978.

We're two-thirds of the way into a brutally cold February, so I bet the music of Barry Manilow will shine, shine, shine on you like a warm daybreak. (Or, you can't stand him, like several people I know, so just resume freezing your hinder off and skip the cover story by the great Bill Kaufman...)

I'm still working with the same keyboard that can't seem to recall certain letters, so for now I'm just gonna put up all the pics and then come back later to fill in some pithy, borderline-humorous commentary using my phone. Enjoy the silence while it lasts.

(Click or tap the pictures to see them better. I'm not sure I need to say that anymore, it seems so obvious and dumb. But, to paraphrase Mary Tyler Moore, "Dumb is all around.")

Newsday TV Book, February 2-8, 1975.

I'm keeping commentary light at the moment, because my keyboard is still screwy--a few letters don't work so I have to fill in the gaps afterward with the on-screen keyboard, which is a tremendous pain in the KEY-ster! Here, I'll copy the cover photo caption without correcting it so you get an idea of what I'm up against:

Simon r n nthony Hopkins portry  specil pir of veterinrins. See Hopkins story on pe 4.
(I can't even put it in quotes!)

Okay, now I’ve got my phone—let the easily-disregardable japery commence!

In the TV Line, we learn that Jimmy Osmond was 11 but could pass for much younger, Judith Lowery was the hot poster girl right before Farrah, and the mountains of Korea were in fact located in Santa Monica.

The cover story spends two pages telling us about some dunce actor who likes to watch a lot of daytime TV.

Sunday morning offered some minor efforts by Bud & Lou and Slip & Sach. Carlton Hair Creations’ permanent Mera-Bond System sounds pretty sketch, but I’ll keep it in mind as I get closer to that before picture…

The late Sunday page hosts a bunch of positive John Cashman takes (except that first one is a real zinger).

On Monday evening, one had an interesting choice between public television options: a Japanese film called Double Suicide, which replaced puppets with actors while keeping the puppeteers; or a show about aging into retirement. The latter benefits from an accompanying illustration by Gary Viskupic, but, to be honest, not much.

If Richard Conte ever happened across John Cashman’s review of his sole directorial effort, Operation Cross Eagles, I hope he was wearing a cup at the time.

If anyone can explain to me why a building contractor would use a clip-art angel in their ad (sitting on a stool and listening to music on headphones, no less), I’d appreciate that.

The page of later listings for Friday is great, serving up some classic Visk and Cashman, although that close-up gets Khigh Dhiegh’s name wrong (which is understandable, since it’s way trickier to spell than the performer’s real name: Kenneth Dickerson!).

Here’s all of Saturday, because I’m nothing if not a giver.

Residents of Plainview (hometown, woot-woot) had to travel a little farther to become lovelier in ‘75, as that Holiday Spas location was kaput.

Frosty Fair of Franklin Square supplied groceries delivered to your freezer (and more than just meat, apparently). Their erstwhile existence is unknown to the internet, thus I present this not-especially-interesting ad for posterity.

From what I’ve heard, Crosswords center Tom Bosley often had “cross words” for co-workers, because he was allegedly a real tool.

“London Hairdesigns” came to Plainview, and these pencil drawings are just as unflattering as I presume the cuts were in real life. 

See you next time! (Tht phrse I cn rite...)

"The Graphic," Volume 1, Number 7 (Saturday, August 4, 1945).

This post is a follow-up to this earlier one, about two regimental newspapers I have from World War II called The Graphic. In that post I published the pages of the first issue, now here's the other. Please hit that link so I don't hafta explain it all again...

I could write quite a lot about each page of these papers, but it's pretty time-consuming and this isn't exactly my nostalgia focus. Plus, as noted in the previous post, no one but me really seems to give a rodent’s rear about them. The post has gotten a tiny bit of traffic, a trickle more from my Facebook page, I've reached out to other parties that I thought might be interested, and... crickets. No replies, no comments, no likes. Oh well. I thought the article by future director of The Big Red One, Samuel Fuller, would attract some eyeballs, but no. Maybe the fact that this year is the 80th anniversary of the war's end will help garner interest.

2/7/25 UPDATE! I corresponded briefly with a curator from the First Division Museum at Cantigny (Ill.) and she told me these are unknown to her and the museum’s archives. She said she’d definitely be interested in seeing them, but my follow-up email went unanswered. I haven’t decided if I should donate them or try to auction them off, but I don’t know if I like the idea of them disappearing into a private collection. (They certainly shouldn’t be sitting in a drawer in my Nerd Room.)

For this issue, I went ahead and combined the top and bottom scans I created. I initially feared a loss of quality, but I find they look good on both my phone and my PC, perfectly legible and zoomable. I tried repairing the stain on pages one and two, decided to leave it as is.

I'm not a WWII buff by any means, but I'd love to hear from anyone finding these posts to be interesting or useful in some way...

BONUS!

In the interest of searchability, here is the text of Fuller’s article. (Bracketed comments mine.)

"Die Sixteenth Infantry hat ein haus eingeschlagen!"

By Cpl. Samuel Fuller

Once upon a time I was with the 16th. Am on DS [Detached Service] for several days to help out on the history. The GRAPHIC asked for an article on the third anniversary. I have no article, but I’d like to get something off my chest.

I didn't make Oran with the original 16th. I was a rifleman with K Company, 26th infantry when I was switched to the 16th in Algiers. It would be easy to jump off with the shopworn "Lest we forget,” but it is hard for me to get that sentimental.

In the early part of August, 1942, the 16th Infantry Regiment reached England and the first combat division from the U.S. in World War II prepared for the invasion of North Africa. An expression was born in Africa—“One more hill…” which simply meant there was just one more hill to take before your outfit was relieved. The expression lost its hope for an ending, added a bitter touch to an optimistic doggie.

“Smoky-smoky? Cigarette? Zig-zig?” became part of the doggie's dictionary. An unbelievable fire fight mushroomed into six months of mountain, desert fighting. Doggies resisted and attacked tanks and djebels [hills] became more significant than mere tongue-twisters.

August of 1942 had been forgotten.

It was July now, 1943, and in Sicily there were almonds and Mark VIs [anti-tank mines], pomegranates and 88s [anti-tank artillery guns], watermelons and nebelwerfers [rocket launchers]—and the old favorite “One more hill…”

August of 1942 had been forgotten.

It was November now, 1943, and in England there were maneuvers and rat catchers, hikes and marriages.

Omaha Beach took its toll. Suddenly there was the Siegfried Line and following a dark period, doggies angled for Russian stars in Czechoslovakia.

Nothing maudlin so far and most of you know that writing an article based on memories invites you to be maudlin. I am not going to describe that sax player waving an arm stump on Easy Red or that lieutenant colonel who never touched the Channel alive or that young boy who wanted to be a pilot curled up like a baby in a red blanket but struck down like a doggie on the road to Colleville-sur-Mer.

Names? That's easy. Kay of I Company, Briggs of C Company, Leyton of the I&R, O'Brien of Cannon… but no time for tear-jerking copy now. That would be like urinating against the wind… a bit too late in the game, don't you think?

I've had the opportunity to gather material for the history and for myself. I went sniper hunting, saw A Company take Stolberg, saw I Company attack toward Weilerwist, saw a medic streak through a minefield to patch up three legless doggies and lose his own legs on the way back…

You probably have seen much more than I have… I'm only mentioning these things to bring out that none of the men had the chance to remember August, 1942. Three years is a long time. And in those three years individual exploits were only eclipsed by group exploits. But weeping or editorializing or honoring, to me, is no way to carve an epitaph. Particularly now, when so many of you are new to the 16th. I know it is difficult to get excited about an outfit that means nothing to you. And no one is forcing you to get excited.

But, three years ago this week doggies started on a trip and if you can look around and find many regiments that have accomplished in three years what the 16th scored, then you’re a better Hawkshaw [detective] than the rest of us…

Being with the 99th Division means I'm sweating out going home. I used to write for a living. I hope to write a book one day—just the story of one regiment in combat. I even hope to write a movie of that regiment. I'm not a press agent—I’ll write strictly for money. But somewhere in the background will emerge, whether I can help it or not, the saga of a regiment that raised hell back in 1942, beginning early in August, and stopped raising hell only on May 9, 1945 in Czechoslovakia.

The Germans say “Der Blitz hat in ein Haus eingeschlagen.” That means, “The lightning has struck a house.”

So--if three years ago in August doesn't mean a thing to you, I'm pretty sure that to the Germans it means:

"Die Sixteenth Infantry hat ein Haus

eingeschlagen."

Newsday TV Book, December 30, 1973-January 5, 1974.

I wanted to have this one up before New Year's Eve, but it's taken a bit of effort to get it done because a handful of my wireless keyboard keys have crapped out on me. Until I figure out how to fix it, I'm typing as usual and then filling in the gaps with the on-screen keyboard. I suppose I could try some farchadat voice-to-text program, but that sounds like a bunch o' dang voo-doo to me!

Not surprisingly, football is the subject of the cover (drawn by Art Sudduth, with cover story by Stan Isaacs) for the final week of 1973.

Click the pics, they'll get better!

“Uncle Smilie” (it’s Uncle Smiley, actually) gets a shout-out in the TV Line, as do Wally and Beaver's fat friends.

Here's that cover story, if you're into that sort of thing.

Enjoy all day Sunday, Monday (New Year's Eve), and Tuesday (New Year's Day).

On Patchwork Family, puppeteer Cary Antebi is credited as performing “Rags.” He also played “Sherlock,” the pink squirrel, on Magic Garden. (If you knew this, you need to either never read this blog again or only read this blog.

Sam Axinn Lumber Company has printed other very nice ads in the pages of Newsday over the years, and here they thank their customers for a good '73 (alongside the Wednesday morning schedule).

Now here's that day's late sched, just for the pic of Rod Serling. As a fellow balding guy I totally get it, Rod, but I assure you that strapping a cockapoo to your head is no solution.

Thursday afternoon's listings have a Viskupic illustration, and the late-night ones have the once-not-under-appreciated Alan King.

Honestly, I haven't looked that closely at Friday's late-night offerings, I just love the amount of detail that went into the descriptions! (Plus, of course, some great John Cashman takes, including his customary potshot at poor Vera Hruba Ralston's puss.)

Saturday of course meant lots of horror, sci-fi, and western flicks... and the return of daylight saving time, FOUR months early?!?

Next Sunday's shows are previewed, and Eddie D's Hair Piece Center showcases a weave somewhere between Serling and a Stray Cat.

Newsday religion writer Briggs takes a look at "Religious America," a PBS series making its debut, and we take a look at Sarah, a Pentecostal ex-drug dealer (looking more grumpy than bubbly in this shot).

Finally, some ads, including an oddly cheesecake-less one for Holiday Spa (still in Plainview at this point, but not for much longer).

Happy New Year! We're still alive! What are the odds?