Cap Gun Monday: HUBLEY White Scout Rifle

Dang near all the cap guns manufactured in the '50s and '60s (and before and since) were marketed to boys. But there were exceptions, and this is one of them. The boy's version of this 32' rifle was done in either dark brown plastic, or light brown with black highlights. Both are nice guns, but this white and black job, aimed at girls, is more dramatic.

The original Hubley Scout used a different mold, as we'll see in a future post. This newer edition came on the heels of the Hubley Rifleman (HERE), and is basically identical. The only differences are the smaller hand lever, the slightly different cap compartment, and the Rifleman-specific engraving. And, of course, Hubley didn't have to pay a licsensing fee. 

Lots more Cap Guns HERE. 

The Art of TOM ROBERTS (Part 4)

A Crippen & Landru book from 2005. I'm curious to know who these faces belong to. (Scan courtesy of the Richard Robinson Collection)

What's the story on this cool Green Lantern painting? I wish I knew. Some guy is asking $450 for it on eBay.

A Black Dog cover from 2012. It's probably my imagination, but these guys remind me of Ham Brooks and Monk Mayfair.

More Tom art next Sunday. 

See the first three Parts HERE.

Toy Soldier Saturday: Tim-Mee AIR FORCE (Part 2)

Part 1 of this patriotic pictorial is HERE. 

More Toy Soldiers HERE.

Forgotten Books: MEDICINE SHOW by Bill Crider (1990)

The first character we meet in Medicine Show claims to be Kit Carson, but he isn't. His boss, the Colonel, isn't really a colonel. The Colonel's wife, the Indian squaw Ro-Shanna, and his daughter, the Indian maiden Banju Ta-Ta, are not really Indians. Along with a doctor (who hasn't been a real doctor for a very long time) they form the company of a thoroughly unauthentic "Authentic Indian Medicine Show," and travel the West selling phony medicine.

Most of their sales efforts are devoted to Indian Vitality Pills, which are sort of an Old West version of Viagra. Men folk want them to cure their "Secret Sorrow," and women want them to cure their men. Should Mr. Crider be hailed as a visionary, foretelling the coming of such drugs? We'll let history decide.

As the story begins, the troupe arrives in a small East Texas town with identity problems of its own. If it has a name, we never learn it. The town sheriff is secretly an outlaw, in league with a pair of slimeball brothers who run a sort of lackadasical protection racket. The guy who thinks he runs the town has no real power, and the only citizen man enough to use a gun is the preacher.

As you've no doubt guessed, this is not your average shoot-em-up. It's a complex story with at least eleven point-of-view characters, and all but two of them (the slimeball brothers who are unrelentingly bad) have their own character arcs. There are themes everywhere you look. Revenge. Redemption. Unrequited love. Unrequited lust. One character discovers he's a coward, then discovers he ain't. One crawls out of bottle and proves himself, then crawls back in. One wants somethiing she can't have until she realizes what she's already got. Some scenes have so much going on that point-of-view shifts from one paragraph to the next. That's a tough thing for a writer to pull off, but Mr. Crider does it and makes you like it.

Bottom line, it's a fast-moving, entertaining and satisfying tale, with happy endings for those who deserve them, and just deserts for those who don't. And while the 1990 hardcover edition ain't easy to come by, a shiny new Kindle version is just a few clicks away. You'll find that HERE.

One cool thing about the hardcover, though, is the back cover photo of Bill and his bookshelf. I took a close-up look at that shelf in yesterday's post, "Secrets of BILL CRIDER's Bookshelf," and found a few surprises. I invite you to check that out HERE.

Secrets of BILL CRIDER's Bookshelf (circa 1990)

We all know what kind of books Bill Crider reads these days (nudge nudge, wink wink), but what was he reading twenty-five years ago? For the straight skinny, we take a squint at this official author photo from the back of tomorrow's Forgotten Book. Oddly, while Mr. C is known primarily for his mystery and western fiction, there are apparently no westerns represented here, and only one mystery (and that's in a foreign language).

First, what are these two volumes he's putting the squeeze on? Obviously, they have some special significance to him. Here they are:

Next, there are at least four volumes of John Norman's Gor series visible here. Bondage, anyone?

Many masters of Science Fiction and Fantasy reside on these shelves. Robert Bloch, Leigh Brackett, Piers Anthony, Robert Silverberg, Ben Bova, Larry Niven, and Frederic Brown to name but a few. And tucked right in with them are a couple of Doc Savage books (including this one) and the saga of Robby the Robot. What's that weird critter in front of the Conan the Liberator? I don't have a clue.

Remember the Weird Heroes series? I'm pretty sure Bill does:

Remember I mentioned there's one mystery visible here? This is it. Translation: Too Late to Die (first in the Dan Rhodes series). Barbwire bondage? And who knew Bill could write in Italian?

Here's where things get eclectic. This is apparently the Motion Picture shelf. Along with Picture by Lillian Ross (the story of the filming of The Red Badge of Courage), we find:

And way down in the corner, where we weren't supposed to see it, is the Parenting section. Can you see Bill administering baby care? Naaaaaaahhhhhh.

Tune in tomorrow to see the front side of this week's Forgotten Book.

WEIRD TALES 53, 54 & 55 (1928)

The frist 52 covers are HERE.

Overlooked Films: PHILIP MARLOWE in "Murder is a Grave Affair"

This was episode 23 of the TV series Phlip Marlowe, from March 8, 1960.



This week's Overlooked Film collection is at Sweet Freedom.

Cap Gun Monday: Halco MAVERICK 45

This Maverick 45 is 10 1/2 inches of solid copper-toned metal, and a fine example of capgunsmithing. The 'H' brand stands for Halco, a toy distributor that farmed out the manufacturing to other cap gun companies. This one was made by Leslie-Henry, the same outfit that brought us last week's smaller Maverick pistol. That rearing pony was the Leslie-Henry trademark.