Jun 25

Good Show Sir Comments: Captain Cat Whiskers
Thanks to Ryan for sending this in!
Published 1976

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Tagged with: cane • dress for success • E.E. "Doc" Smith • font problems • George Barr • mighty moustache • nip slip • Pyramid Books • Stephen Goldin
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June 25th, 2024 at 1:58 pm
Back cover. If that’s Jules, he’s gots jewels.
https://www.dpspbs.com/pages/books/610/edward-e-smith-e-e-doc-smith-stephen-goldin/imperial-stars-the-family-dalembert-series-1
June 25th, 2024 at 4:50 pm
He may be a dude but Space Sheep, please!
June 25th, 2024 at 7:13 pm
I’m having unwanted flashbacks to the Robert Stigwood ‘Sgt Pepper’ film. Frankie Howerd as Pope was the most sensible thing about it.
June 25th, 2024 at 7:35 pm
I am not sure which I envy most: His super-long legs, or his jaunty cap.
Definitely NOT the partial onesie.
June 25th, 2024 at 7:37 pm
Borat: The Space Opera
(“Have you not seen Flash Gordon, Borat? You have to go blond for space opera…)
June 26th, 2024 at 12:34 am
For my own sanity I’m ignoring the guy and focusing on the pink cat. With six legs is it some sort of Cat-taur? Just imagine how many items it can push off the table with extra hands.
June 26th, 2024 at 1:02 am
I don’t know which is shinier, his skin or his outfit.
And that’s some bizarre-looking cat-liek being on the hassock behind him. Then again, if you’re from a high-gravity planet (it’s called DesPlains, which I always thought was in the state of Illinois, USA, Earth, but what do I know?), you must get to have an exotic housepet.
June 26th, 2024 at 2:21 am
Ooh, I sent this in years ago, but I don’t have the book any more. Even had the whole set.* But since apparently everything I’ve sent to GSS since (checks) 2018 is considered unclean, I’m glad @Ryan sent it again.
Huh. The damage on the cover looks just like our copy did — it’s not out of the realm of possibility this IS my old book! Was this at HPB, Ryan?
The characters are fashionably and decorously clothed almost all of the time, but that doesn’t sell books.
I forget what the cat thing is or if it’s even in the book. But our hero (much less foppish and much stronger) and his sister (ditto, ditto, and something of a socialite) come from a circus family.
@Tat: I saw that movie when it came out, in the theater and everything. Mr. xn had somehow escaped and didn’t know/had forgotten it existed until sometime between 5-10 years ago when I recorded it off some obscure cable channel. He said “we’ve already seen that” and I mentioned the top-billed cast, he looked a bit confused till I worked out he was thinking of “Across the Universe”. So we duly watched it and his confusion grew enormous.
It is a monument to hubris and cocaine. I think that was the only thing Mr. Howerd did in the US, and no surprise.
Alice Cooper seemed to understand campiness was required. The Aerosmith and Earth, Wind, and Fire songs are well-done and were legitimate hit singles, and Steve Martin is perfectly odd and goofy. The chap who later was in “Twin Peaks” was perfect in his debut as a Large Menacing Man.
Frankly, it’s terrible, much less than the sum of its parts. Not a patch on “Phantom of the Paradise”.
*We were pals with the guy who did 99% of the writing, despite the tiny “with” billing. Doc wrote a novelette; Steve expanded that into this book and updated the plotting, writing, slang, and attitudes to the 70s.
June 26th, 2024 at 4:18 am
It’s really a great costume: when he takes it off, the muscles go with it.
June 26th, 2024 at 10:06 pm
@ex-Noob: as cocaine-fuelled Beatle-related Hollywood duds of the 70s go, ‘Sgt Pepper’ with Peter Frampton comes a long way behind ‘All This and World War II’.
June 26th, 2024 at 10:48 pm
@Tat: True dat!
Though I think Sgt. P is a much larger failure, what with all the expense of making a new movie rather than using stock footage — but at least it played longer and is still in circulation, even if only on odd satellite stations.
The Bee Gees were in both, poor chaps.
Frampton’s autobiography is wildly entertaining. It’s obviously transcribed from recordings of him just telling stories, and he’s funny and honest. His delineation of the excesses of SPLHCB is very amusing. Recommended by both my brother and I.
As to this book, I am ever more convinced that this is indeed my old copy. Cosmic, innit?
June 27th, 2024 at 12:23 am
Weird pecs, weird legs, weird pouch, weird fop, weird pet, weird color-scheme—
but
(or therefore) great thread! GSS to al!
June 28th, 2024 at 12:50 am
@BC, @Tag W: Petition for a “weird all anatomy” tag, as well as adding the needed ones here.
His attenuated appearance is extra-extra wrong: dude comes from a planet with 3X Earth’s gravity. A guy like the cover illustration would collapse in 1G, let alone 3.
Now absolutely certain this is my old copy. Ha, ha, a book of mine finally made it on, thanks @Ryan!
June 28th, 2024 at 8:46 am
@GSS ex-noob: well, maybe not that stretched out, but IIRC from reading one of the D’Alembert novels they aren’t built like Jinxians or Hoffmanites: they’re muscular looking, but not notably more chunky than Terrestrials. (Feel free to correct me if I’m misremembering!)
(I’m headcanoning that this guy isn’t a D’Alembert : he’s a circus barker type, and the muscles might be inflatable.)
June 28th, 2024 at 11:56 pm
@Bruce: That’s how I remember it too; they were more muscular, but not so as to look obviously different to average humans who did weight-lifting. So they could blend in, which is necessary for secret agents.
I agree: this guy is not our trapeze-whiz hero, he’s the barker beckoning people into the circus/midway/book. Also not ruling out extended robotic legs on this one.
The Wiki and ISFDB images show it was even MORE gaudily colored when hot off the press, as one would expect after nearly 50 years of fading. If this is my copy, it lived on a shelf never exposed to direct sunlight for the decades we had it, but I bought it used at least 10 years after it came out. Plus MMPB ink of the 70s wasn’t made to last.
In short, this photo could have been even worse.
July 10th, 2024 at 10:18 pm
I am sad to report that my friend Steve (aka The Were-Koala, past SFWA officer) has passed on. His widow was at the con, so we caught up and must keep in touch better. Although we picked right up.
She’s STILL pissed off about these books, because not only did Steve get the tiny print, Doc Smith’s daughter also cheated him out of ALL the royalties. Ten books’ worth! So he filed off the serial numbers, updated everything, and put them out again under his own name this century. It’s now set in a Russian-Imperial-style universe, and thus the first book is titled “Tsar Wars”. It’s free.
Also she gave me a couple SFBC editions of books he wrote in the 70s, and you can imagine the “quality” of those covers.
(see below)
July 10th, 2024 at 10:45 pm
So what’s the lion doing with that capital I ???
July 10th, 2024 at 10:55 pm
I don’t remember that from the book. But it’s another thing we can blame on Doc’s daughter.
Herewith find the 1 moderately hideous and 1 stunningly eldritch-y terrifying SFBC covers mentioned above:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/201031110@N03/
I think the yellow one deserves a 10/10. Never mind it’s a pastoral where the natives look much like teddy bears. And I don’t remember any swords.
You’re welcome?
July 11th, 2024 at 11:59 pm
Hi everybody, did I just lose a week?
Is it uncool to ask?
July 12th, 2024 at 4:58 pm
@GSS x-N: Surely the 70s were the low point for book covers of all genres, but those are ones I would never, ever pick up.
July 12th, 2024 at 6:03 pm
@GSS ex-noob: didn’t the robotic Assault Angels have swords?
https://mporcius.blogspot.com/2016/06/assault-on-gods-by-stephen-goldin.html
@B. Chiclitz; we all did. And maybe we all fear that if we talk too much about the interruptions the site might just vamoose entirely? (BTW, we set up a spot to hang out when it’s down on, I think, Librarything? [1] We should use it more.)
[1] The name of which site entirely eluded me until just now. Darn cheap brain.
July 12th, 2024 at 6:04 pm
Found the link:
https://www.librarything.com/topic/359592
July 12th, 2024 at 6:45 pm
@B.A.M.—thanks for the link; I think I signed on but it’s a pretty daunting site for my luddite and enfeebled brain to navigate. For some reason it wouldn’t let me remain “B. Chiclitz” so I called myself “bobbolink.” I still can’t find the rest of youse however—but I’ll keep searching.
July 12th, 2024 at 6:58 pm
@B.A.M.—thanks for the link. I signed on and joined the “Green Dragon” group but navigating the site is pretty daunting to my luddite and enfeebled brain. I can’t seem to find the rest of the gang anywhere, but I’ll keep searching.
July 12th, 2024 at 11:50 pm
@BC: There isn’t an LT member with the username “bobbolink” at present. There is a “bobolink”, who has been a member since 2009. I seem to recall that if you join on a mobile device you get an “unconfirmed” membership until you respond to an email they send you, but I’m not sure whether they are still doing this. There may be a rule against usernames with spaces in them: try an underscore perhaps?
LT is huge (more than three million members and more than 200 million books catalogued). It has two roles: as a book cataloguing site and as a place to talk (no live chat though, just posting to discussion threads). Members can form groups to discuss particular topics, and there are groups for science fiction (Science Fiction Fans) and fantasy (Fantasy Fans) and then there’s the Green Dragon which is officially about science fiction and fantasy but in practice is about absolutely bloody anything. I think anyone who hangs out in GSS would fit right in in one or all of those. Some LTers do goal-directed reading: there are quite a few groups aimed at reading so many books in a year, or reading the lists of Book You Must Read. You can join as many groups as you want although some are invitation-only. You can post in most groups whether you’re a group member or not, but in some groups you have to join to post.
The group for GSS is called Good Show Sir!. NomadUK, Hammy, GSSxn and Tor are there (plus me of course: I’m haydninvienna there, and I’m the group admin). A few LTers have joined as well.
July 13th, 2024 at 12:01 am
Also, just seen this: https://www.librarything.com/topic/361943. BC’s non-presence on LT may simply be an issue with one of the servers lagging. That should fix itself pretty quickly though.
July 13th, 2024 at 12:32 am
@Bruce: Ah, you’re right. Haven’t read it in quite a while. But because (spoilers as to their nature) I didn’t remember them as exactly such.
@Ryan: The ones I linked to are from SFBC. You didn’t get a choice as to covers (you meaning both authors and readers). We have seen the havoc here that this policy caused to many fine books thanks to SFBC having a captive audience. Your only recourse was to take the dust jacket off.
Someone at the party took a look and said “Oh God, SFBC…” and the widow apologized about the yellow cover before handing out the signed numbered copies.
And thanks for the LT reminder: I’ve bookmarked it now. Although apparently I can either be signed in OR see the group, but not both? How TF am I supposed to post and comment? I was trying to post in the Frankenstein thread and also add the pics above to a new one, but no. I left a message in the Welcome thread there.
I think @BC and I are going to need it explained in very small words and possibly graphics.
July 13th, 2024 at 5:35 am
@GSSxn—better make the graphics small too. It’s a labyrinth to me. Let’s just hope GSS never goes down again and lasts forever.
July 13th, 2024 at 11:25 am
Now, at last, the truth can be told:
The year was 1976. George Barr had injured his hand in an accident, and couldn’t make the deadline. Then a childhood friend, who had dabbled with painting and didn’t lack talent, offered to step in for him.
That friend… was Liberace!
July 14th, 2024 at 1:06 am
@BC: Maybe just a list of icons to click and in what order.
@ARY: By Jove, you’ve got it.
July 14th, 2024 at 1:31 am
I still can’t figure how to get actual images to my account, but I did get links to my Flickr page mentioned above in comment #17.
July 17th, 2024 at 2:00 am
Since we’ve no new content since last month, I thought I’d tell you lot about seeing the re-release of the director’s cut of Close Encounters on one of those Fathom Events, in a theater near me.
Still holds up! Practical effects look less dodgy than cheap CGI and the sound mixing was such that it wasn’t alternately TOO LOUD and then too soft. You could hear the whole thing. Apparently our tech has gone backwards since the 70s.
Thinking of catching Lawrence of Arabia next month.
Also thinking of slowly uploading the pix Tag and Admin thought were too scary for here to the LT group. Despite none of them being nearly as terrifying as our top 10. Would this be of interest? There’s at least 20 of them, including many giant floating heads from Laser plus many from the WTF school of the 60s/70s, including font problems.
July 17th, 2024 at 9:01 am
Go for it!
Talking about late 1970s SF, I recently saw the original “Alien”, which is free with ads on Youtube. Thoughts:
1. You really don’t see the alien much.
2. The computer tech (or at least the interface) of course looks laughably primitive.
3. The alien spaceship set, OTOH, still looks pretty cool
4. Man, Ripley really, really wanted to save that cat, didn’t she?
(I’m sure it would have been much more impressive in an actual movie theater. I mourn the slow death of the cinema: the experience of seeing things on a full size movie screen simply can’t be duplicated in a home setting.)
July 17th, 2024 at 10:47 pm
@Bruce: Will do! Starting next week.
The ones where you don’t see the critter much are always the scariest, particularly in pre-digital. Like Alien and Jaws. Low-budget flicks with cheap CGI nowadays should remember this. I don’t know what approach the new Alien is taking but is using practicals for at least the chestbuster, and seemingly for other shots. Plus in 1&2 timeline, none of the prequel stuff. So I have hopes.
You’re probably old enough to remember the jokes after the first that the second was going to be “Alien 2: It’s In the Cat” (noooo! Jonesy is a good kitty!) and after the second that the third would be “Alienses”.
I saw the first on an extra-big screen (ex-Cinerama), same as SW originals and Indy 1&2 plus CE3K and other big hits of the 70’s-80’s (and 2001 before that) so they’re all kinda disappointing now. I recall my single-digit self sinking lower and lower in my chair as the psychedelic part of 2001 went on and on.
Also, sound mixers should be forced to do it the old way for movies and TV, even if they gotta be Ludovico’ed into it.
July 19th, 2024 at 2:05 am
@B. Chiclitz: What’d you think of that Continental Op story? I thought it was swell myself. I also liked Clive Owens’ “Monsieur Spade” tv series once I stopped expecting it to be in B&W.
July 20th, 2024 at 6:38 pm
@GSSxn—I loved it! So cool the way it morphs from the Op doing doing grunt leg work looking for some random mug, then without warning tied up to a chair with danger abounding. And he stays, as he will, calm and rational. Great story.
Mother of mercy, is this the end . . . of GSS? It will leave a crater in me heart. Feels like the end days anyway, what with the political disasters unfolding. Here comes Project 2025, which will probably outlaw GSS anyway.
Seriously, GSS has been beacon in the storm for such a long time. Eternal gratitude to Admin, to TAG, to B’Mancer, to all.
Say it ain’t so, Joe . . . .
July 28th, 2024 at 5:56 am
I took some more books in to Half Price to trade for small amounts of money, and they were either loading or unloading boxes of bulk books from/to somewhere else.
So now I KNOW this copy was indeed mine.
July 29th, 2024 at 8:07 pm
This contestant misunderstood Rupaul’s Drag Race theme this week…
(Bodysuit? Just plain lazy!)
July 30th, 2024 at 8:05 am
“Honey, the above the knee boots are fabulous, but you didn’t even TRY with that peekaboo wrestling singlet from hell. Sashay away.”