IMPORTANT LETTER FROM ELBA ANNOUNCEMENT: I would like to thank Marie and Valerie, and all the talented people at Lillstreet Art Center. responsible for getting next Thursday’s “Booze and Blogs” bash launched. The event is already sold out and I’m excited to be a part of it.
They’ve set up a terrific evening of craft cocktails and a panel discussion featuring Chicago bloggers Dana Bassett, Noah Berlatsky and yours truly.
It’s going to be a short course in “Everything You Have Always Wanted To Know About Blogging But Were Afraid To Ask.”
And even though the event is SRO, if you’d like to take part, please put your name on the wait list. (I feel like a rock star.)
Thank you- and now back to our regularly scheduled program…
Does the name “Dr. Hans Zarkov” mean anything to you? If you think he’s the new Georgian member of the United Nations Security Council, you may want to skip this post.
But if his name send chills of excitement down your spine, you’d better put your space ship into warp drive. We’re blasting off to the planet Mongo.
With Flash Gordon.
When I was a kid I was just crazy about him. And beauteous Dale Arden, scheming Queen Azura- even the creepy, Playdoh-like Clay People.
They all starred in a serial brought into my home via the television waves. And were they sponsored by, who…? I just remembered. Larry Goodman and the Community Discount Store.
But although blonde, blue-eyed polo-playing Yalie Flash – played by Olympic swim champion Buster Crabbe- was the very picture of WASPY hunkiness, (thereby setting a standard in astronaut good looks that NASA clung to for decades) my heart was stolen away by Ming the Merciless.
Long before there was Khan on Star Trek, or Darth Vader in Star Wars, there was bald-headed, Fu Manchu-ed mustachioed, goatee-sporting Charles Middleton as the evil emperor of the planet Mongo.
Just his name- Ming the Merciless- was fabulous! What alliteration. It fairly dripped with menace. It was enough to make my kiddy flesh crawl.
In 1955 Flash Gordon was the highest tech thing ever to beam into my black and white Sentinel TV set. And it really didn’t matter that we didn’t have living color because the serial itself was in a moody, other-worldly, eerie, grainy black and white.
Security Clearance Background Check On Space Traveler Gordon: The series, based on the cartoon by Alex Raymond, was produced at Universal Studios and first shown in movie theaters in 1936. (It has the distinction of being the only serial selected for for film preservation by the United States National Film Library,btw.)
Along with Buster, there was Jean Rogers, (another actress briefly played her in the first series. But this Dale Arden was my pinup girl) Frank Shannon was the semi-mad Werner Von Braun-like Dr. Zarkov and Priscilla Lawson, the sexy, spacebabe, Azura- who was always lusting (fruitlessly) for Flash.
But it was Charles Middleton who stole the show.
As well he might.
The only true actor among them- he had been in such great film classics as Gone With The Wind and Abe Lincoln in Illinois- he could act circles around Buster Crabbe- who though handsome when you dried him off, had learned his craft at the Johnny Weissmuller School of Leaden Acting.
Ming, however, had chops. And he could eye Dale Arden hungrily and threaten the earth people evilly and oh, how I loved him. He was camp and scary at the same time.
A perfect villain for an eight year old North Shore kid.
And let’s never forget that great Flash Gordon theme song.
I used to incite the Avoca school junior orchestra to play it. Me: flute. Who’s big idea was that, btw? Glasses, braces and a woodwind. The epitome of uncool. I must have been some sight in the third grade.
I never could really coax what you could call “music” out of that flute, either. I was much better on the Tonette. But still, every once in awhile when I was really in an impish mood, no matter what melody we were supposed to be playing, I would break out into the “Da da da, dadadada dah” Flash Gordon theme song and hijack the whole band with me.
It was fun.
And the other characters were fun, too. Prince Barin, (isn’t that a contradiction in rank?) Queen Desira, the Shark Men, (divorce lawyers?) the Hawkmen -ruled by Prince Vultan.
And in the dysfunctional Family Feud of all comic time, Princess Aura- Ming’s lovely daughter (no goatee) married Prince Barin – one of the good guys- and together they toss her old man off the throne of Mongo and rule peacefully.
Ming was always trying to make a comeback and overthrow his duplicitous daughter. He and his henchmen were always staging a palace coup- episode by episode.
I could go on and on. But a serial clip is worth a thousand words.
Let’s join our hero, Flash, as he meets Ming the Merciless for the very first time.
Oh, and if any of you know the theme song, don’t be shy. Hum along.
Fasten your spacesuits.
Prepare to be amazed.
And hope to see you all soon. If not on Mongo, at Lillstreet.
Ellen, your post loosened a Gordian knot and unleashed a Flash flood of memories. BTW, some crossword puzzle editors (I won’t mention names) frown on the Broadway meaning of SRO, and seem to prefer the acronym for “single room occupancy.” Good luck as star attraction on the Windy City blogger’s panel.
Thanks, early bird. Glad the post gave you Flash-backs. And that editor is a yutz.
Ellen, what fun watching that clip. I’m still reeling from the sexual tension. This certainly brought back many memories as I was a fan too. BTW, if this were on my kindle I would have highlighted your line about once you dried him off. Thanks for the Flashback (sorry).
Glad you enjoyed this. And yes, one could feel the sexy space vibes. And please see my next reply. Thanks, Gary.
Guess I should read your previous comments before I make my own dupications!
All is forgiven. Love, Queen Azura.
Ellen you forgot the ice kingdom of Frigia, ruled by Queen Fria; the jungle kingdom of Tropica, ruled by Queen Desira; ; and let’s not forget the Clay people. I was friends with Larry Goodman’s son Gary and we would actually go down to the TV studio where the commercials for Community Discount Stores were made and I was in several. So maybe you saw me on TV!
Ahem, Mitch. I did give a shout out to Queen Desira. Please reread. And I also mentioned the Clay People. Were you under Ming’s power when you read this?
But thanks for the insider pov on the tv show. Was his name Gary? (Just kidding.)
I was trying to read your post and listen to some continuing legal ed course on the computer at the same time. My multitasking skills are going fast. Thanks for the fun trip back to childhood Barb. LOL
You are forgiven. Love, Princess Aura
Flash Gordon: This isn’t happening, Dale. We’re not here. It’s just a bad dream.
Dale Arden: Oh, I agree completely. Why we’ll wake up any minute in Dark Harbor and have a laugh about all this.
Flash Gordon: Only next time I won’t just ask the maitre d’ your name. I’ll walk over and talk to you.
Dale Arden: You promise?
Flash Gordon: I promise. Cross my heart and hope to…I really will talk to you.
Omg! Dialogue! Yes, Flash. You move me strangely.
“Bring me Flash Gordon at once”!!
The best line of all time in TV…….
Yep.
more great dialog:
Zogi, the High Priest: Do you, Ming the Merciless, Ruler of the Universe, take this Earthling Dale Arden, to be your Empress of the Hour?
The Emperor Ming: Of the hour, yes.
Zogi, the High Priest: Do you promise to use her as you will?
The Emperor Ming: Certainly!
Zogi, the High Priest: Not to blast her into space?
[Ming glares at Zogi]
Zogi, the High Priest: Uh, until such time as you grow weary of her.
The Emperor Ming: I do.
Dale Arden: I do NOT!
What would Sunday morning have been without Flash and his friends? Wasn’t Robert Hall a sponsor also? Must have been quite something to go to the movie theatre in the late 30’s to catch Flash Gordon weekly! You had to love the special effects! The Clay People still scare me!
I’m not sure re Robert Hall. That sounds vaguely familiar. I just remember Larry Goodman. Thanks, Rickey. And the Clay People were spooky.
Flash Gordon, the strip, was launched 5 years after Buck Rogers’ newspaper debut, to capitalize on the appetite for adventure comics, but the Flash movie serials aired 5 years before the Buck serials, which were much lower budget and borrowed sets and props from the Flash movies. Flash, in all its incarnations, was more wildly fantastical than Buck, and this was obvious from Emperor Ming’s collar and beard alone (“Silence! The Emperor is approaching!” as a high school classmate of mine used to yell when our advisor was about to enter the room. ) For me, Ming was second only to the Clay People (and the sparking model rockets with their visible wires, and the iguanas with their rubber spine crests shot really close up so they were the size of zeppelins). They were just so funky, and had such spooky theme music, even though I don’t remember them ever doing anything except marching endlessly through their caves (which are in a hill in a park in Hollywood, not far from here, and are all of 50 feet long – Evidently the Clay People were marching in circles and never actually arrived anywhere. That would explan why they never actually did anything.)
And how come the bad guy was Chinese? And how come Zarkov had a German name? So many questions left unanswered.
FIRST name I mean.
I knew I could count on you, John. I knew you’d have fascinating and arcane lore re Flash. The Clay People caves are near you? I’m there- and Dr. Hogly Wogly, too.
K, E.
Romeo Oscar Golf Echo Romeo
Ellen If my old Ojibwa memory serves me correct Flash Gordon was shown for several years in the rec hall on thursday evenings in the early to mid 70’s. Every once in a while Al would allow ice cream bars to be served instead of the traditional candy selection while we watched Flash & the gang
Very nice! A FG memory and Ojibwa. Good mashup, Mark.
I guess “Flesh Gordon” produced by Paul Pompian (old friend from Hirsch HS) and released in 1974 never arrived at the Chicago Theater! I couldn’t help mentioning it here in his memory.
I don’t think I would have understood this version when I was eight. Or maybe even now! Thanks, Nancy!