Retro Fan #36 January 2025 (magazine review).

Catching up with ‘Retro Fan.’ Writer Mark Voger goes over some details of a 2011 interview with actress Stefanie Powers about her career. Not only is ‘The Girl From U.N.C.L.E.’ covered, but some of her films as well and a real potpourri of famous actors she worked with, learning all the best traits.

Writer Will Murray looks at one-season wonders ‘Blue Coronet’ and ‘T.H.E. Cat,’ although I do think he could have done them separately. I’ve never heard of ‘Blue Coronet’ but am interested enough to look it up, and it looks like its DVD release has sold out. From what Murray says, this 1966 show has an amnesiac man looking for clues to his identity. Made as a mid-season filler but held back for a couple of years before going on TV. It did well but took too long to restart to resurrect. ‘T.H.E. Cat,’ again from 1966, is one I’ve heard of but not released on DVD, as it follows the life of a reformed crook. It predates ‘It Takes A Thief,’ but both take their source from the Cary Grant 1955 film, ‘To Catch A Thief.’ I wish the TV studios would remember they are sitting on odd TV series that would serve nostalgia and their bank balance if they put them in circulation.

I remember seeing Chuck Connors (1921-1991) on TV in ‘Branded’ back in the late 1960s. We Brits never followed American sports; we knew nothing of his career in baseball. He got the name ‘Chuck’ from being on first base and instructing balls to be thrown to him. He had a considerable career in films but is mostly known for his TV westerns. Writer David Krell covers a lot of ground. I know from his bio that Krell is into baseball, but perhaps there is a little too much sports information there. That’s probably just me, as we Brits tend to think of baseball as your version of our rounders.

Probably the biggest piece here is by writer Scott Shaw! about SCTV—Second City Television—from Canada. Again, something we never saw over here, but considering how many of the comedians went on to do films, like John Candy, Martin Short, Catherine O’Hara, et al., this piece has told me a lot more about their backgrounds.

Writer Scott Saavedra has a look at TV catchphrases, which I think should be visited again, as there’s even more than he has here. He doesn’t even qualify. ‘Say goodnight, Gracie’ came from George Burns. Although we never saw his show in the UK, we did get the odd excerpt as he got older. There are so many others I could add, like Fred Flintstone’s ‘yabba-dabba-doo!’ or even ‘The Prisoner’s ‘Be seeing you.’ And there’s certainly enough from films. Not to say I didn’t like what was shown here, and showing the characters who made them popular weren’t the original source, which should surprise many of you.

This is also editor Michael Eury’s swansong, and I hope he’s enjoying his retirement.

GF Willmetts

July 2025

(pub: TwoMorrows Publishing. 82 page magazine. Price: $10.95. (US). ISSN: 2576-7224. Direct from them, you can get it for $10.95 (US)).

check out website: www.TwoMorrows.com and https://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=98_152&products_id=1776