The Distribution of US Published Comics in the UK (1959~1982) 15 15

[Get Marwood & I]

On 4/24/2023 at 7:42 PM, Malacoda said:

I've seen loads of 41's with both sizes of T&P stamp, and this oddbod which looks like a retailer stamp, but I've not seen a 41 with an oblong stamp. 

You've seen two now. 

  

A late favourite - November 1967 - double 10d oblong / shilling circle stamped:

[Malacoda]

On 4/24/2023 at 7:55 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

You've seen two now. 

 

It....it isn't going to get simpler, is it?  Hold me, Steve. 

[Get Marwood & I]

On 4/24/2023 at 8:06 PM, Malacoda said:

It....it isn't going to get simpler, is it? 

Not the way you write Richmond, no  

 

[baggsey]

On 4/23/2023 at 1:42 PM, Malacoda said:

@David BuckWow, well first off many thanks for posting this.  

Yes, I think you're right.  DTW was practically next door to the Marquee (though Denmark Street was only 500 yards away).   Forbidden Planet was new and relatively small.  Dark They Were was uber famous and absolutely massive (bearing in mind the size of 1970's TV cameras, you'd have your work cut out for you filming in FP). 

 

My memories of DTW were formed in 1974 when they occupied a premises in Berwick Street, before moving to St Anne's Court. 

But probably of more interest is the footage of DTW in the BBC documentary "The Dracula Business", which can be found on Youtube. I posted some screen grabs on the Superstuff blog at http://superstuff73.blogspot.com/2021/06/memories-of-dark-they-were-golden-eyed.html .

Or take a look at   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e48aCY8shKc  starting at 27:36 for the full film clip inside the shop. Some shots of import comics on a spinner rack are to be found.

 

[Get Marwood & I]

On 4/24/2023 at 8:19 PM, baggsey said:

 

Or take a look at   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e48aCY8shKc  starting at 27:36 for the full film clip inside the shop. Some shots of import comics on a spinner rack are to be found.

 

  @Cushing Fan

[Malacoda]

On 4/24/2023 at 8:19 PM, baggsey said:

My memories of DTW were formed in 1974 when they occupied a premises in Berwick Street, before moving to St Anne's Court. 

But probably of more interest is the footage of DTW in the BBC documentary "The Dracula Business", which can be found on Youtube. I posted some screen grabs on the Superstuff blog at http://superstuff73.blogspot.com/2021/06/memories-of-dark-they-were-golden-eyed.html .

Or take a look at   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e48aCY8shKc  starting at 27:36 for the full film clip inside the shop. Some shots of import comics on a spinner rack are to be found.

 

That lady being interviewed is superb.  You expect her to say something like 'well, I was getting fed up with Mills & Boon, so I decided to give this a try' but she actually says 'I'd like to violently murder my husband in the nastiest way possible'. 

[baggsey]

On 4/24/2023 at 2:30 PM, Malacoda said:

That lady being interviewed is superb.  You expect her to say something like 'well, I was getting fed up with Mills & Boon, so I decided to give this a try' but she actually says 'I'd like to violently murder my husband in the nastiest way possible'. 

I wonder how many customers the BBC had to interview before they decided that she was the most balanced interviewee. It's a great slice of 1970s vox-pop.

[Malacoda]

On 4/25/2023 at 12:35 AM, baggsey said:

I wonder how many customers the BBC had to interview before they decided that she was the most balanced interviewee. It's a great slice of 1970s vox-pop.

Indeed. It is fortuitous that the one person he happened to interview completely reinforced the viewpoint of his piece.  Also quite surprising that everyone who went to Dark They Were was there because of their 'obsession with the ramifications of the Dracula cult'. Still, without this guy we wouldn't have this wonderful footage, so I will still buy him a pint. 

Of blood, obviously.  

 

[Cushing Fan]

On 4/24/2023 at 3:21 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

  @Cushing Fan

Great documentary! Always love to see Nosferatu - that portrayal by Max Schreck of Count Orlok  is still downright scary with such iconic imagery. Great to see Hammer's Michael Carreras as well but the real gem here is the behind the scenes bit from Jose Larraz's Vampyres with Marianne Morris and Anulka - such an awesome film that really tackles the seduction of a vampire - plus Marianne Morris is super hot!

[Malacoda]

On 4/25/2023 at 1:57 AM, Cushing Fan said:

Always love to see Nosferatu - that portrayal by Max Schreck of Count Orlok

When my gf wants to keep me quiet for 5 minutes, she gives me a Kevin Bacon to do i.e.  connect 2 actors by their films in 6 jumps or less.  By far the best, and most surreal one she ever gave me was Max Schreck to Herbie (the Volkswagen). I suspect she associated them because they're both German (which tells you everything you need to know about how her mind works). 

[rakehell]

On 4/24/2023 at 6:19 PM, Malacoda said:

Well, we were sticking rigorously to the point, but as you've completely derailed us now , I might as well ruthlessly exploit the opportunity while we're on the magazines. 

Derailed like a German Army supply train travelling through occupied Belgium circa 1943. I'm proud to be part o the Eerie Resistance. 

[rakehell]

On 4/25/2023 at 2:21 AM, Malacoda said:

By far the best, and most surreal one she ever gave me was Max Schreck to Herbie (the Volkswagen).

That sounds like a challenge! 

[Malacoda]

On 4/25/2023 at 8:59 AM, rakehell said:

That sounds like a challenge! 

Not 'alf.  The best part was I literally didn't know a single other movie with Max Schreck (though apparently there are a load).  Thankfully, Knock (ironically the knock-off of Renfield) was played by an actor called Alexander Granach who went to Hollywood and became the go-to central European for several years.  He's in Ninotchka with Greta Garbo who is in Anna Karenina with Basil Rathbone who is in The Court Jester with Angela Lansbury who is in Bedknobs & Broomsticks with David Tomlinson who is in the Love Bug with Herbie.  But once you've got Greta Garbo there are loads of ways to Herbie. 

I'll say one thing for the MCU  - it's made the Kevin Bacon game a lot easier in the 21st Century. 

[baggsey]

On 4/22/2023 at 10:54 AM, Malacoda said:

Just flipping back to the subscription / indicias conversation: in a spare moment.....

Not sure I can add much of worth to this thread, but I did ask my pal who subscribed to Amazing Spider-Man from the UK for a year starting with issue #136 (once it was clear that Marvel were stopping bringing into the UK for the long haul to avoid competition with the Marvel Weekly).

His comment: "No envelope. Just a strip of white paper wide enough to hold my address, about 2 inches wide, maybe, with the comic tightly folded inside it, presumably so the wrapper didn't slip off in the transatlantic post! Real 'throwaway' not 'collectible' attitude to their comics! When you think that nowadays they deliberately print 6 or 8 different covers of the same comic just to sell to the fans!"

So obviously subs sent to the UK avoided envelopes at that point to cut down on weight. It would be useful to find some of the discarded wrappers to see if the postage dates co-incided with the dates they hit the US newsstands, I suppose.

[Malacoda]

On 4/25/2023 at 7:58 PM, baggsey said:

Not sure I can add much of worth to this thread, but I did ask my pal who subscribed to Amazing Spider-Man from the UK for a year starting with issue #136 (once it was clear that Marvel were stopping bringing into the UK for the long haul to avoid competition with the Marvel Weekly).

His comment: "No envelope. Just a strip of white paper wide enough to hold my address, about 2 inches wide, maybe, with the comic tightly folded inside it, presumably so the wrapper didn't slip off in the transatlantic post! Real 'throwaway' not 'collectible' attitude to their comics! When you think that nowadays they deliberately print 6 or 8 different covers of the same comic just to sell to the fans!"

So obviously subs sent to the UK avoided envelopes at that point to cut down on weight. It would be useful to find some of the discarded wrappers to see if the postage dates co-incided with the dates they hit the US newsstands, I suppose.

That whole thing is fascinating.  It really bears out Marv Wolfman's comments about Al Landau.  It's incredible that Transworld were allowed to ban the Pembertons from importing any titles that conflicted with their sales (not just titles, but masthead characters) but then, when it came to importing those self-same titles on a subscription basis, it was Transworld who were allowed to do it, not World Distributors despite them being the licensed importers of US Marvels and Transworld not being. From what I've read, the whole thing was a total fiasco.  Would be very interesting to hear your friend's recollections of how it went. 

[gadzukes]

[Get Marwood & I]

On 4/26/2023 at 12:01 AM, gadzukes said:

Have you got something against even numbers Gad? 

[themagicrobot]

The price on the cover of X-Men No 1 looks like it is a sticker, but of course isn't. The best bit is found at the bottom of the inside cover.

 

Edited April 26, 2023 by themagicrobot

[rakehell]

On 4/25/2023 at 1:38 PM, Malacoda said:

Not 'alf.  The best part was I literally didn't know a single other movie with Max Schreck (though apparently there are a load).  Thankfully, Knock (ironically the knock-off of Renfield) was played by an actor called Alexander Granach who went to Hollywood and became the go-to central European for several years.  He's in Ninotchka with Greta Garbo who is in Anna Karenina with Basil Rathbone who is in The Court Jester with Angela Lansbury who is in Bedknobs & Broomsticks with David Tomlinson who is in the Love Bug with Herbie.  But once you've got Greta Garbo there are loads of ways to Herbie. 

Nice. I tried it going the other way, looking for a link to Anton Diffring, 'cause he was in just about every WWII movie from the '50s to the '70s.

Dead end. 

[Malacoda]

On 4/26/2023 at 9:39 AM, rakehell said:

Nice. I tried it going the other way, looking for a link to Anton Diffring, 'cause he was in just about every WWII movie from the '50s to the '70s.

Dead end. 

Wow. You're trying to link via another German actor but you've gone for one who is not actually in any German films.  That's a lot of bonus points right there.  You have to love the fact that Anton Diffring was both gay & Jewish and pretty much played nothing but Nazis.  Now there's some payback.

You can actually do it (full disclosure, I had to google this one), like this:  Max Schreck in War In Peace with Trude Berliner who has an uncredited role as a baccarat player in Rick's in Casablanca, then Bogey to Audrey Hepburn (Sabrina) to George Peppard (Breakfast at Tiffany's) to Anton Diffring (Operation Crossbow) which gives you John Mills to Hayley (Tiger Bay) to Dean Jones (That Darn Cat) and he's in 2 Herbie films.  Technically that's 8 jumps.