Picture Perfect Wednesday with Alyssa

Happy birthday to model and actress Alyssa Sutherland, born on this day in 1982! We hope her birthday is picture perfect (and perhaps even have something in it to smile about)!

Wonder Woman Wednesday

As we continue to count the days, hours, and minutes until we might have a chance to see Wonder Woman on the big screen again, we continue to offer bi-weekly art shows featuring everyone's favorite Amazon!

By Renee Rienties

This time out, we're focusing on Wonder Woman busts. (Okay... that sounds worse than it is. I think.)

By Neal Adams

By Paul Abrams

By Ivan Reis

By Dick Giordano

By Jose Luis Garcia Lopez

By Frank Cho

'Murders in the Zoo' is top-notch

Murders in the Zoo (1933)
Starring: Lionel Atwill, Kathleen Burke, Charles Ruggles, Randolph Scott, Gail Patrick, and John Lodge

Director: Edward Sutherland

Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

Psychopathic millionaire and patron of the Municipal Zoo (Atwill) uses it as a cover to murder his wife's lover (Lodge)... and else anyone who he thinks is a threat or challenge to him.

For a film made in the early 1930s, "Murders in the Zoo" is an unusually constructed thriller with some surprisingly shocking scenes. From the opening scene where Lionel Atwill is taking revenge on a fellow member of a safari for making a pass at his wife, through the climactic chase sequence through the titular zoo where dozens of dangerous predators are running wild in addition to the killer, this film delivers surprisingly brutal violence... and it doesn't shy away from showing it. 

Unlike most thrillers from this period, there isn't much mystery here as to who the murderer is. Like an episode of "Columbo", the fun is in watching the villain be villainous as he commits his murders and evades capture... and like some of the best episodes of "Columbo", there are unexpected plot twists that spring from the killer's actions, especially when the killer is a straight-up psychopath like the one this film.

And Lionel Atwill plays a great psychopath. His character's monstrous nature is establish in the film's very first scene and it brings tension to every scene he appears in afterwards, because you know that anyone he interacts with--especially his terrified wife (played by Kathleen Burke)--is under the threat of violent death. It gives this movie an atmosphere that few other films of this era has. Even the antics of the obligatory comic relief character (the zoo's publicist, played by Charles Ruggles) can't break the tension.

Like all true B-movies, "Murders in the Zoo" barely clears one hour of run-time, including the opening credits. It is such an unusual film that I wish it had been longer, because I think it could have benefitted from a little more screen-time for John Lodge and background on his character. In fact, I wanted to know a little more about all the secondary characters, because I found myself becoming invested in them, because I knew the dangers they were oblivious to. The only other complaint I can mount about it is that I wished the denouement had been stronger and that the film's final moment would have been completely different. (That said, I am grateful that we were treated to the nicety of a denouement, something this kind of movie of this vintage often lacks.)

"Murders in the Zoo" is a far better movie than its humble origins imply. With a script full of well-crafted dialogue and a cast of actors perfect in their parts and performing at the top of their game, it's a film where everything works. It you like vintage thrillers, it's definitely worth your time.

Happy Batman Day!

Some say it's on the third Saturday in September. Others say it's on September 21. Whatever the case, Batman Day is as mysterious as the Caped Crusader it is named after! And we're celebrating it with this gallery of fine art portraying Batman along with his friends and foes!

Musical Monday with The Correspondents

The Correspondents are back (for the third time this year) with "Fear & Delight", a title that seems appropriate as we gear up for Halloween! This tune is part swing, part techo, and all fun! The video is a kaleidoscopic festival of trick photography, and other exuberantly creative bit of filmmaking. We hope the color sequence near the middle doesn't shock your senses too much!


Fear & Delight (2013)
Starring: Ian Bruce and Abigail O'Neill
Director: Naren Wilks
Rating: Ten of Ten Stars

Yarr! Here be comely pirate lasses!

Here at Shades of Gray we observe Speak Like a Pirate Day by looking like a pirate!

Bebe Daniels

Tahliah Debrett Barnett (FKA Twigs)

Joan Crawford

Joan Blondell

Gloria Blondell

Colleen Moore

Saturday Serial: Jenna of the Jungle

Continuing Don Hudson's "Jenna of the Jungle" (and including a random bonus jungle girl afterwards). Click on any panel for a larger version, and come back next Saturday for Part Nineteen.


JENNA OF THE JUNGLE: PART EIGHTEEN
By Don Hudson

To Be Concluded...

Girls of the Jungle

By Arianna Farricella

Firearms Friday with Diana Rigg

This is Dame Diana Rigg's second appearance on Firearms Friday... because who doesn't love Diana Rigg? It was originally planned for November 6, 2020, but she sadly passed away last week, on September 10, at the age of 82. In saddened observance of her death, we're posting it early (with some obvious revisions).

Dame Diana, whose busy stage, film, and television career spanned eight decades, worked up until the very end of her life. Her final screen appearances are in the film "Last Night in Soho" and the television mini-series "Black Narcissus", both tentatively slated for release in 2021.

If current plans hold, we'll be watching and reviewing the first half of Rigg's famous turn as Emma Peel on the "The Avengers" during the first half of 2021. Be sure to stop by!

'Happy Hoboes' will bring you joy

Happy Hoboes (1933)

Starring: Unknown Voice Actor (delivering a single spoken line)

Directors: George Stallings and George Rufle

Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

They've tried their hands at plumbing and instrument repair, and they've even been partners in their own law firm. They've owned and operated a bakery and a diner. They've even been test pilots. But now Tom & Jerry have fallen on hard times, and are living in homeless camps and riding the rails when the locals chase them out. Despite it all, they are as full of mischief and music as ever....

"Happy Hoboes" has a bit more plot than most Tom & Jerry, but ultimately it also counts among the most nonsensical and surreal ones with visual gags coming at the viewer non-stop and many impossible and weird. My favorites include the explanation of what causes snowstorms, Tom & Jerry's luxurious lifestyle while they ride the rails, and the lumberjack who is so strong that he wanders through the forest chopping down trees with a single swing of s scythe. (I also appreciated a cooking gag that did not go where I was expecting it to; it's always nice to be surprised!)

Out of all the Tom & Jerry cartoons I've watched so far, this might also be the one that will feel most relevant to modern viewers, so long as those above the age of 7 can look past some of the more juvenile gags. That said, some modern viewers might also feel put out by the appearance of the Chinese cook at a lumber camp in the second half of the film, but it makes sense within a pop cultural context of the 1930s and the basic genre being spoofed here... and I suppose it wouldn't be a Tom & Jerry cartoon without some sort of racial stereotype to pull modern-day triggers.

As always with these posts, I invite you to take a few minutes and check out "Happy Hoboes" for yourself. It's embedded below, via YouTube. I think you'll have fun.

Before her marriage to a mortal...

... Samantha was an up-and-coming model.

She sat for many sessions. Literally. She was a chair model. 

Just before marrying Darrin Stephens, Samantha landed the biggest gig of her career: She was central to the roll-out campaign for the line of matching leisure-wear and upholstery, Chairmoflage by Arthur.

Few mortals ever saw the results of Samantha's modeling career, but it was one of the reasons many of the Witchkind were unhappy that she decided to live among the mortals--and even build a family with one. They thought it was foolish of her to not only put her promising future as a Witch on hold, but to also walk away from her fame and fortune as a chair model.

(If you enjoyed Bewitched [which this post featuring photos of actress Elizabeth Montgomery riffs off], and you also enjoy roleplaying games, you might find "Secrets of the Witchkind" a source of inspiration for a different kind of campaign. It was written by yours truly.)

'Fangs' is a must-read

Fangs (Andrews McMeel. 2020)

Story and Art: Sarah Andersen

Rating: Nine of Ten Stars

With "Fangs", Sarah Andersen solidifies her place among the modern masters of the comic strip format. She tells the tale of a unusual romance between Jimmy and Elsie, who just happen to be a werewolf and a vampire, through 96 pages of stand-alone strips and illustrations, some of which add up to multi-page arcs, but all of which stand perfectly fine on their own.

Andersen is known to most for her long-running "Sarah's Scribbles" strip, and those readers may be surprised by the very different art- and storytelling style in "Fangs". Instead of the scratchy, bug-eyed, squat cartoon characters from Andersen's other series, this strip features smooth lines and handsomely drawn people and animals; and instead of cutting, self-deprecating observational humor, we instead get situational- and relationship-based jokes and comic situations arising from characters that conform to the pop-culture concepts of werewolves and vampires falling in love and making a life together.

In addition to the attractive art, "Fangs" succeeds because Jimmy and Elsie are both very likable characters. They are so charming and cute that after the opening series of strips showing how they met, you will spend the rest of the book enjoying their sweet and sometimes awkward romance and rooting for them to overcome obstacles and be happy together.

But this is still a book about "monsters" in love, so some of the humor gets dark and there's an occasional dangerous edge  visible in  how the lovers are portrayed. This is especially true of Elsie-- although she is now "vegan" and relies on bloodbanks instead of hunting humans for her sustenance, there are several episodes where you have the sense that she could easily "fall of the wagon". Meanwhile, there's a sense that Jimmy is something of a hippy among werewolves...

Not all the gags in fangs come off effectively, among these are a few that would be perfect if animated but fall flat in the comic strip format, but each strip is cute, funny, touching, and always entertaining. The single page illustrations scattered throughout the book are also very well crafted and add value instead of feeling like filler by moments scenes that either shed light on some aspect of Elsie or Jimmy's personality or on their relationship. The drawing of Jimmy meditating and the one of Elsie getting 

Another bit of "added value" is the physical quality of the book. It's a pretty little hardcover that's deep deep red in color with a simple drawing of Elsie on the cover. It looks more like a collection of poetry or a diary than a collection of comic strips. This means you can get get away with reading it almost anywhere, and you won't have to worry about people looking down their noses at you. And you should read it. Order your copy now!