The Boston Strangler (1968)

The Boston Strangler was a 1968 film based on the true story of the Boston Strangler and the book by Gerold Frank. It was directed by Richard Fleischer, and stars the legendary Tony Curtis as Albert DeSalvo, the strangler, and Henry Fonda as John S. Bottomly, the chief detective now famed for obtaining DeSalvo's confession.

The first part of the film shows the police investigation, with some examples of the seedier side of Boston life, including promiscuity in the adult quarters of the city. The second part shows the apprehension of DeSalvo. The intention of Officer Bottomly and the law is to answer the question presented in the film's famous print ad:

Why did 13 women open their doors to the Boston Strangler?

When released film critic Roger Ebert criticized the film's content, writing, "The Boston Strangler requires a judgment not only on the quality of the film (very good), but also on its moral and ethical implications...The events described in Frank's book have been altered considerably in the film. This is essentially a work of fiction 'based' on the real events. And based on them in such a way to entertain us, which it does, but for the wrong reasons, I believe. This film, which was made so well, should not have been made at all."

In the same vein, The New York Times film critic Renata Adler, wrote "The Boston Stranger represents an incredible collapse of taste, judgment, decency, prose, insight, journalism and movie technique, and yet—through certain prurient options that it does not take—it is not quite the popular exploitation film that one might think. It is as though someone had gone out to do a serious piece of reporting and come up with 4,000 clippings from a sensationalist tabloid. It has no depth, no timing, no facts of any interest and yet, without any hesitation, it uses the name and pretends to report the story of a living man, who was neither convicted nor indicted for the crimes it ascribes to him. Tony Curtis 'stars'—the program credits word—as what the movie takes to be the Boston strangler."

More recently, film critic Dennis Schwartz discussed the film's style, writing, "What mostly filled the split-screen was the many interrogation scenes, where on one side was the suspect and interrogator in the present and on the other side the suspect and his interrogator in flashbacks. Fleischer eschews the graphic violence in the murders and aims instead to try and understand the killer through the script's bogus psychology. The big things the film tried didn't pan out as that interesting, as the flashy camera work counteracts the conventional storyline chronicling the rise, manhunt, fall, and prosecution of De Salvo.

The David Cassidy Magazine - No 1: June 1972

The David Cassidy magazine was one of numerous fan magazines printed throughout the 1970s due to the star's growing popularity. The star was a singer and actor most notably appearing in, "The Partridge Family." Below is the very first edition of the David Cassidy magazine.

The David Cassidy Magazines were full of articles, gossip and pinup posters.

Band Leaders.

Band Leaders was a Celebrity/Fan magazine about 1940's bands and vocalists. The Library of Congress says it was published by the Comic Corporation of America, as ALL-AMERICAN BAND LEADERS, 1942-May 1943, and as BAND LEADERS, Aug 1943-June 1946.

"The Voice" Frank Sinatra sings "I Can't Forget".

Harry James with his trademark. Also, Van Johnson, Vaughan Monroe, and Sonny Dunham.

Portrait of Benny Goodman, with his clarinet. Feauring: Bing Crosby, Louis Prima, Charlie Spivak, Georgia Gibbs, Stan Kenton, Kay Kyser, Mary Lou Williams and Buddy Rich.

Portrait of Vaughn Monroe. Also: Benny Goodman (B. G.), Doris Day, Frankie Carle, and Bob Eberly.

Trombonist reaches for the sky in a musical high point, while two teenagers dance with legs swinging out. Content: Les Brown, Perry Como, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, Charlie Barnet, Peggy Lee, Dave Barbour, Axel Stordahl, Georgie Auld, the Andrews Sisters, Evelyn Knight, Jack Owens, Les Paul and Dick Todd.

The Perils of Arthur Fowler

Back in the eighties and early nineties I was a big fan of EastEnders before it went all Dallas/Dynasty. One of my favourite characters was that of Arthur Fowler played by the excellent Bill Treacher. Take a nostalgic look back at the perils that faced dear old Arfur!

Arthur was essentially a good man, but he made some foolish choices and he always ended up paying dearly for them. Bossed to the brink of insanity by his mother-in-law and wife (Lou Beale and Pauline Fowler), it was small wonder that Arthur fell into the arms of another woman. During his time in Albert Square he suffered with Mental disorder, was sent to prison twice and eventually died of a Brain haemorrhage in 1996.

Arthur Fowler was one of the original twenty-three characters invented by the creators of EastEnders, Tony Holland and Julia Smith. Arthur was a member of the first family of EastEnders, the Beales and Fowlers and Holland took the inspiration for some of the series' earliest characters from his own London family and background. Arthur's original character outline as written by Smith and Holland appeared in an abridged form in their book, EastEnders the Inside Story.

"Rock-solid and reliable. Has an instinctive (unintellectual) wisdom...He cries openly at funerals, loves his wife, is strict with his children, doesn't drink a lot, supports Arsenal, votes Labour and would never walk down the street carrying flowers. He worked in a factory - but was made redundant, and has been unemployed for a year." (page 54)

Bill Treacher had been the first actor Holland and Smith had thought of to play the character, in fact, Arthur had almost been invented with him in mind. Both had worked with Treacher before on the popular BBC drama Z-Cars. His qualities as an actor were exactly the ones they wanted for the "very difficult" part of Arthur: "Warmth, directness and an ability to be convincingly ordinary without being dull".

1985–1990

Arthur's greatest pleasure was gardening and in 1985, he obtained a spot in the local allotment, which he would regularly use as a foil to escape his nagging wife and his equally nagging mother-in-law. Over the years Arthur found a steady stream of odd jobs to keep him occupied. He worked for Tony as a Carpenter's helper, deliveryman and as a Road Sweeper in the Turpin Road Market. For a brief period in 1986, he was also employed by Walford Cleaning Services to clean the local schools.

Arthur initially had a distant relationship with his son, Mark, and was unable to keep him in check when he turned to crime in 1985. After some time apart Mark returned to the Square with the news that he was HIV Positive in 1991. Arthur had a difficult time accepting his son's illness and his lack of education concerning HIV led him to react in trepidation. Mark eventually helped him come to terms with his status, and he and Arthur enjoyed a close relationship in the following years.

Arthur's lack of employment became a huge problem for him in 1986 when his daughter, Michelle, announced her engagement to Lofty Holloway. Desperate to provide his daughter with a wedding that the family could be proud of, Arthur decided to dip his fingers into the Walford residents' Christmas Club savings scheme that he had been running.

With Christmas fast approaching, Arthur realised that he would have to do something to explain the lack of money in the account to everyone in Walford that contributed. At the beginning of November, Arthur announced to the members that he'd withdrawn the money, then foolishly staged a fake burglary at his house and told the police that the Christmas Club money had been stolen.

However, Arthur's attempts to make the robbery look legitimate failed abysmally, and it took the Police no time at all to realise that it was an inside job. When questioned by the police, Arthur soon confessed and after his arrest he became severely morose, withdrawn, and depressed. This culminated in Arthur finally having a nervous breakdown on Christmas Day and smashing his living room to pieces in a violent rage. By early 1987, Arthur had become so despondent that he was admitted to hospital.

He returned to the Square the following Spring just in time to stand trial for the theft of the Christmas Club money. Despite Arthur having the whole community behind him, he was sent to prison for 28 days. After his release he succeeded in making things even worse by borrowing money from a Loan Shark.

1991–96

In 1991, Arthur started his own gardening business and was awarded a contract to maintain the Albert Square gardens. This led to Arthur being employed by lonely divorcee Christine Hewitt. Arthur and Christine soon became friends and this led to Christine getting a job as Arthur's gardening assistant. In May Pauline was called away to New Zealand to care for her brother, Kenny, who had been involved in a car accident. In Pauline's absence Christine became a regular visitor to Albert Square and it was clear to everyone that she was becoming very fond of Arthur. By Christmas of that year Arthur and Christine had embarked on an affair, meeting up and kissing in alleyways at any chance they got.

It wasn't long before Christine began to crave more commitment from Arthur, and when he refused she decided to get a job at Kathy Beale's café so she could be as close to him as possible. The affair continued, unknown to anyone, until Kathy caught them both kissing and forced a confession from Christine. Faced with the threat that Pauline may soon find out about his seedy shenanigans, Arthur began to cool their romance. Meanwhile, Christine, sensing that she was losing Arthur, became slightly loopy and she began to drink heavily, stalk him round the square and attempt to buy the affections of his youngest son, Martin, which only sought to infuriate Arthur.

As a last resort Christine threatened to spill the beans to Pauline unless he told her about their affair. Arthur finally told Pauline the truth, and tried to tell her that he wanted her and not Christine. Hurt, embarrassed, and angry, Pauline responded by hitting Arthur in the face with a frying pan and then throwing him out of their home. Arthur was forced to move in with his son, Mark, and he spent the rest of the year desperately trying to convince Pauline that it was her he wanted. Pauline and Arthur eventually reconciled when he helped her deal with the death of her beloved brother, Pete. The affair was never allowed to be forgotten, however, particularly when Pauline's aunt Nellie came to lodge and discovered his escapades.

In 1995 Arthur was elected secretary of the allotment committee, and started raising money to create a new eco-friendly, urban garden, which was named the flowering wilderness fund. Arthur attended a funeral later that year and ran into an old friend, Willy Roper, who took a keen interest in Arthur's financial dealings. By the end of the year Arthur had managed to raise twenty thousand pounds for the garden, and this was enough to tempt Willy to crime. Willy was the sole carer of his senile mother, and desperate to get the funds to pay for her placement at a nursing home, he decided to con Arthur into signing the fund money into various different accounts, and then left Arthur to face the music when the money was declared missing. For a second time, Arthur was faced with a police investigation and with all the evidence stacked against him, he was soon arrested and ended the year behind bars. This was too much for Arthur, who was unable to face the prospect of serving a prison sentence for a crime he didn't commit, and upon his imprisonment he suffered a mental breakdown and refused any contact with his family.

Not content with putting Arthur in prison, Willy spent the beginning of 1996 trying to woo Pauline in his absence, even taking her on holiday to Jersey. However, this served to be Willy's undoing, after Mark correctly figured out that his real motive was to put the stolen money in an off-shore account under a false name. The evidence continued to stack up when Pauline discovered counterfeit credit cards on Willy. Willy was eventually arrested and charged, and Arthur was cleared. However, before they could pass on the good news, they were told that Arthur had been involved in a huge prison riot. Arthur was released the next day, but he had received a nasty blow to the head in the riot, although no one realised the seriousness of his injury until it was too late. Only a few days after his release in May 1996, Arthur suffered a brain haemorrhage on the allotments, and died the next day in hospital.

Arthur's funeral was delayed pending an inquest, but the jury eventually returned a verdict of accidental death, much to the disgust of Mark and Pauline, who felt that the prison services neglected to seek proper medical help for Arthur.

A bench was placed in dedication to his memory in Albert Square, the dedication is entitled "Arthur Fowler: He loved this place".

On 12 June 2007 after Pauline's death, Dot Cotton and Ian Beale buried her ashes at Arthur's grave, leaving them together again.

Johnny Cash - Ring of Fire

JOHNNY CASH "Ring Of Fire" - The Johnny Cash Reader printed back in 2002 is a US 310-page hardback book edited by Michael Streissguth featuring a collection of 32 classic articles and essays from some of the best music writers, and from Cash himself. These pieces reveal the complex soul of the American legend.

Sons and Daughters - Episode Four

Angela is taken to hospital, and John and Jill wait while she is treated. A doctor tells them Angela probably just has concussion. While they wait, John tells Jill about his dreams of a girl on a horse, and how this made him the family joke at home.

When Angela wakes up, John is standing at the end of her bed. John tells Angela that her mother is on her way, and that her horse is OK. He introduces himself to Angela as "Scott Edwards". He asks her if he can see her again, and she tells him to give her a call. Patricia, who arrives and hears this, tells Angela not to encourage "Scott", as she knows nothing about him.

Susan Palmer 'phones Bill, but he's out job-hunting - his mother tells Susan that Bill is having a tough time, as job opportunities disappear when he mentions Selmar. Susan decides to tell Bill that she's calling off the wedding.

Patricia complains about the hospital conditions, and she decides she wants to get Angela her own room, although Angela doesn't want this. Back at Dural, Patricia tells Gordon that "Scott Edwards" is scruffy. She also decides she doesn't want Angela riding the horse again.

David tries to talk to Kevin, but just ends up asking if his son is OK before leaving him. Kevin is disappointed that his father can't communicate better. Susan asks Beryl how she could get married with all the publicity, and all the gawpers that would turn up at the wedding. Beryl tells Susan about how she first saw David when she was working in a cafe, and he had stopped there for a break from his lorry-driving job. Beryl relates how hard she tried to get David to notice her. She ended up accidentally spilling a pavlova over herself, and, as she stood crying, David had come over and comforted her. Beryl tells Susan that her and Bill's problems could be sorted out together.

John tells Fiona about how he went for a drive with Jill, and ended up meeting Angela. Fiona tells John she doesn't want him to have anything to do with Angela; she fears the Hamiltons will check up on him, and discover he's on the run.

Particia tells Gordon she thought she'd faint when she heard Angela had had an accident. She adds that she doesn't know what she'd do if anything really serious happened to her daughter.

The next morning, Fiona tells Jill she wants to get the problem with John sorted out, but when she goes to his bedroom, he pretends to be asleep.

Gordon tells Wayne to collect Angela's horse, but Wayne tries to get out of it by saying he has a lunch to go to. The telephone rings. It is John calling, but Wayne doesn't realise this, and lets him speak to Angela. John asks Angela if he can see her, and she tells him to come up to Dural. John asks Jill to take him and she agrees, but says she won't lie to Fiona if she asks her.

At Dural, Wayne answers the door when John rings the bell. Angela explains to Wayne that "Scott" is the person who saved her when she fell from her horse. Wayne tells "Scott" they must have a good long chat sometime. Angela explains to "Scott" that Wayne gives everyone the third degree.

Out on the verandah, Angela tells "Scott" that she's been riding since she was 6, and knows how to fall. John tells her he's not used to the richness of the Hamiltons. He tells her he wants to find out about her. She says "What do you want to know?"

Jill tells Fiona that she took "Scott" to the Hamiltons'.

John and Angela compare birthdates, and discover they were both born on the same day. John tells Angela about his fantastic aunt, and Angela says she'd like to meet her. John and Angela agree to meet again tomorrow. John says he'll call Angela in the morning.

We're off to Button Moon

Button Moon was a quirky, popular childrens television programme broadcast in the United Kingdom in the 1980s on the ITV Network. Thames Television produced each episode, which lasted ten minutes and featured the adventures of Mr. Spoon who, in each episode, travels to Button Moon in his homemade rocket-ship. All of the characters within the show are based on kitchen utensils, as well as many of the props.

Once on Button Moon, which hangs in "blanket sky", they have an adventure, and look through Mr. Spoon's telescope at someone else such as the Hare and the Tortoise, before heading back to their home on 'Junk Planet'. Episodes also include Mr. Spoon's wife, "Mrs. Spoon", their daughter, "Tina Tea-Spoon" and her friend "Eggbert". The series ended in 1988 after 91 episodes.

Button Moon was originally conceived by Ian Allen as a stage show for Playboard Puppets in 1978. Allen adapted it into a TV series for Thames two years later. The first series of 13 programmes was transmitted in 1980. A further 6 series of 13 programmes followed, making a total of ninety-one different Button Moon adventures. The series was repeated on a yearly basis for Thames TV up until 1988. All 91 episodes have been shown on satellite channel UK Gold since spring 1993.

Narration was by Robin Parkinson. Puppeteers included Ian Allen, John Thirtle, Alistair Fullarton, Sue Dacre, Chris Leith, Judith Bucklow, Ian Brown, Tony Holthamand, and others. The incidental music for the series was written by Peter Goslin.

The show had a typically 80s synthetic, catchy & melancholy theme tune that was composed and performed by Peter Davison and Sandra Dickinson, who were married at the time. They are best known for their roles as the Doctor (from Doctor Who), and Trillian (from The Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy), respectively.

There was also a live stage show which ran during the late 1980s and the early 1990s. The stage show was popular at many theatres including the Roses Theatre in Tewkesbury, King George's Hall in Blackburn and the Wyvern Theatre in Swindon.