While I enjoyed Spider Robinson’s By Any Other Name, his collection USER FRIENDLY was a disappointment. For starters we have the title story of alien bodysnatchers in which one character declares that being raped multiple times is nowhere near as horrific, in fact it was enjoyable by comparison — Spider, Spider, you really shouldn’t have gone there. There are also a couple of shorts that rely far too heavily on SF fan in-jokes and a couple of stories written rap style (not the best choice). Below Robinson’s average.
(Plushie has nothing to do with the books but doesn’t he look cute?)
After ordering THE ANNOTATED GILBERT AND SULLIVAN VOL. 1 edited by Ian Bradley, so that I can read up on The Gondoliers, I naturally read the rest of it. Bradley does a great job detailing the genesis of the plays (though surprisingly he omits that Pirates of Penzance and HMS Pinafore are both parodying popular seagoing stage genres of the day)., obscure terms, dropped songs, deletions, additions and changes (The Mikado song “I’ve Got a Little List” has been updated repeatedly over the years) and subjects of parody (in its original run, Iolanthe sent up Wagnerian opera). As a G&S fan, well worth the reading.
CRIMSON STREETS: Amnesty is another collection from the web magazine, the high point being “Omphalos,” in which a dismayed occultist learns the extremely funny truth behind all those Lovecraftian legends and cryptic texts of the Great Old Ones. Good fun.
There’s an old, now defunct genre of cartoon where characters from various popular books rush out and intermingle. A lot of the books are classics — the studios of the 1930s were always happy to burnish their literary cred — and unsurprisingly several included Jekyll and Hyde (mostly Hye)
1932’s THREE’S A CROWD, for, instance, has Alice in Wonderland gathers everyone from Robinson Crusoe to Antony and Cleopatra for a singalong, the highlights being Cleopatra’s belly dance and Uncle Tom crooning a spiritual. Then Mr. Hyde bursts out of Stevenson’s book and kidnaps Alice only to be countered by the combined force of Tarzan, the Three Musketeers and Robin Hood! A very Fredric March Hyde, both visually and in the heavy breathing (something March does when he first transforms) though I don’t think it comes across in the illustration below.
In HAVE YOU GOT ANY CASTLES (1938) imost of the action involves the Three Musketeers liberating the Prisoner of Zenda while for some reason Robinson Crusoe and other good-guy literary characters try to stop them. Mr. Hyde appears at the beginning dancing a minuet with Fu Manchu, Frankenstein’s monster and the Phantom of the Opera.
THE BOOKWORM (1939) has more of a plot: Macbeth’s witches charge Poe’s Raven to get them a worm for their cauldron brew. He picks a bespectacled bookworm unhappy that nothing exciting ever happens to him … Mr. Hyde’s supposed to be somewhere among the evil characters who get involved but I don’t see either the book nor Hyde (assuming they use the usual top hat and cape visual markers). And lord, Paul Revere riding a Mammy figure for a horse (popping out of Black Beauty) is one of those Oh God moments you get in old movies.
THE BOOKWORM TURNS (1940) was a sequel in which the crow, troubled by being so stupid, turns to kindly Dr. Jekyll for advice; Jekyll’s solution is to have him capture the bookworm so the doctor can transfer the latter’s intellect into the corvid. Amusing but ultimately loses its way — Mr. Hyde’s experiment does nothing for plot but does provide some freaky visuals
BOOK REVUE (1946) wasn’t listed as having a Jekyll/Hyde elements but I figured I’d check it out just in case — one I know I’ve seen before as I remember the gag of every female fictional character swooning when Sinatra sings.
Now, onto other cartoons — FLY FROLIC (1932) has a spider kidnap a girl fly from a night club, find an angry fly mob pursuing him and whips up a formula to turn himself into a suave mustachioed figure to send his pursuers off on a forced trail. While that does resemble the climax of the 1932 Jekyll and Hyde, it would qualify for an appendix at best.
BETTY BOOP, MD (1932) was listed but also goes in the appendix, at best: Betty sells Jippo patent medicine (“Flattens feet! Grows tonsils!”) whose side effects include turning a baby into Mr. Hyde.
THE CASE OF THE STUTTERING PIG (1937) qualifies for sure: Porky and Petunia Pig are among the heirs of old Solomon Swine, informed that if all the heirs disappear their lawyer inherits everything. The lawyer then downs a bottle of “Jekyll and Hyde juice” … A fun one.
THE IMPATIENT PATIENT (1942) has telegram delivery boy Daffy Duck turn to Dr. Jerkyl’s convenient office for a cure of his hiccups, only to end up chased around the lab by Hyde before whipping up a potion that turns the brute into a baby
MIGHTY MOUSE MEETS JEKYLL AND HYDE CAT (1944) has a foolish group of field mice who don’t realize you never shelter in creepy old mansions during a sudden storm. This one happens to be Jekyll’s former home (“It is, indeed, a hard house to rent.”), still occupied by the doctor’s cat. The mice easily outwit him until the cat takes his former master’s potion — but not even Hyde Cat can stand the power of Mighty Mouse!
Tom and Jerry were in endless syndication on TV when I arrived in the US and the Oscar nominated DR. JEKYLL AND MR. MOUSE (1947) is one of the many I’ve seen. Tom swipes a bottle of milk of his owner’s doorstep (this was back when milk delivery was a routine thing) only to discover Jerry wants to share. Tom whips up some poison to put in the milk only to discover a Few Side Effects … Note the visual Hyde signifiers such as the top hat in the opening credits.
GENTLEMAN JEKYLL AND DRIVER HYDE (1950) is a live-action short from Canada in which a couple of truckers discuss how, much as they’re villified as road hogs, they’re trained professionals and the real problem are reckless civilians. Here we see a mild-mannered homeowner transform into a rather lycanthropic Hyde —
on his daily commute, heedless of the damage he’s causing. One trucker complains to the other that guys like this would never cut in line at the cafeteria — why can’t they be civil when they’re queued up on the roads?
Disney’s MOTOR MANIA (1950) is an animated educational cartoon on the same theme, showing how Goofy transforms from kindly, thoughtful Mr. Walker into selfish jackhole Mr. Wheeler whenever he drives. Much more marginal a Jekyll/Hyde than the Canadian film — I do wonder if one of them was ripping off the other or if Jekyll/Hyde just make a natural fit for this sort of topic.
#SFWApro. All rights to images remain with current holders.
It’s absurdly warm for this point in the year, more like what I’d expect in early September for this area. Almost like the world is getting much warmer … However we survived Helene, experiencing nothing but heavy rain. Even so, the catastrophe to the west of Durham is a reminder there’s no safe place any more.
(Because of Plushie’s back problems we carry him up and down the stairs. He likes to run up if we forget to gate them off, then waits for us to carry him down).
The work week went well. I watched more movies for Jekyll and Hyde, bringing me almost to the 1950s. I wrote some new material, rewrote some of what I’d already gotten down. I had a story published in The Local Reporter about protecting migrating birds from light pollution. Over at Atomic Junk Shop I blogged about how the Marvel and DC apps affect my comics reading plus a couple of images that caught my attention. Here’s one of them.
For fiction, I was mostly about Southern Discomfort. My final final rewrite is now 2/3 complete; proofreading it is maybe 20 percent along (but I’m catching errors so it’s worthwhile). It’s really looking good if I do say so myself.
I also put in some unsatisfying work on formatting Ceaseless Way. Some of what needs fixing can’t be fixed; some will require input from the Draft 2 Digital help desk. I think I can work around the former (or we’ll learn to live with it); on the latter I’m still waiting. Happily, the last time I asked for help, they delivered.
That was pretty much it. As usual when things go well, these week-in-review posts are much duller. Hope y’all are okay with that — I certainly am.
#SFWapro. All rights to images remain with current holders.
Jesus and John Wayneauthor Kristin Kobes duMez is one of the talking heads in the documentary FOR OUR DAUGHTERS (2025) now streaming on YouTube. It’s about thirty minutes and intensely powerful. Also very simple: women who’ve been abused by the clergy talk about what happened, how it felt and why they spoke up. DuMez,
Nothing they said was news to me — this is stuff I write about, after all — but it’s still pretty shocking. For example, one woman was raped as a teen by Andy Savage, who went on to become a rising megachurch star as a preacher. When he confessed to a “sexual incident” involving a teen, his church gave him a standing ovation; when she went public the church sighed that she wasn’t on the same “path to healing” as Savage. As his victim says, why would he even need healing? He wasn’t raped!
Another victim describes how after her minister, a Southern Baptist, raped her, her parents took it to the higher officers of the church, such as Paige Patterson and Paul Pressler (who has his own rape history) … they did nothing. And there were a lot more victims.
DuMez and abuse-victim advocate Rachel Denhollander put this in context showing the misogyny and support for rapists makes it not that shocking they supported Trump. And the talk about a Christian America is very much a misogynist one supported by Christian misogynists.
One of those misogynists, Christian authoritarian and Trump ally William Wolfe insists the Southern Baptist Convention is no worse than other organizations. I’ve not heard of him providing examples; I doubt he has any. Even if true, the women’s accounts show the church is still unique — colleges and corporations can’t invoke God as a defense against accusations or tell a victim God demands she keep quiet.
Even if they were, say, “no worse than IBM” or “no worse than the FDA” (I’m picking those name entirely at random), so? Isn’t the point of Christian theocracy supposed to be that it will uplift people and make us morally better? Many leaders of the religious right want to be recognized our moral superiors, they don’t want to put in the effort to achieve that level of morality.
They love Trump because he’ll deliver on things like ending Roe and signing abortion bans. JD Vance is much more deeply in bed with theocrats and anti-democracy extremists. A Trump win would put him dangerously close to having the power he (and they) crave. Let’s keep it from happening.
For more about misogyny and its ugliness, check out Undead Sexist Cliches, available in ebook or paperback. Cover by Kemp Ward, all rights remain with me.
Which has me reflecting on my writing goals and how well I’ve done meeting them.
Nowhere near as well as I hoped, which isn’t unusual — my reach typically exceeds my grasp. I didn’t finish the second draft of Let No Man Put Asunder. Haven’t finished any short stories. Haven’t sold any. Only attended one con. While I should be able to bring out Southern Discomfort this year I know I won’t finish Savage Adventures, my Doc Savage history. My exercise regimen has also fallen way, way off. And plans to spend time on marketing don’t come to pass.
Part of the problem was our pets’ various health problems — the added time for Plushie’s eye drops, unplanned vet appointments, etc. Having three pets has made it a lot harder to find time by myself to exercise or stretch out, especially as TYG’s schedule requires me to handle the dogs for more of the day (which is fine — her work pays 90 percent of our bills, after all). That adds up to a loss of time and also of mental energy.
Another factor is that everything takes more time than anticipated. I thought I’d factored that into my goals for the year, but I didn’t. My Local Reporter work in particular keeping sucking up bigger chunks of my week than I think it will. I try to minimize that by concentrating all the work in one day each week, but interviewees aren’t always able to do that.
Ceaseless Way turned out to be a much bigger time drain than I expected. Working on a collaborative anthology sounds fun but it’s a lot more work than submitting a story to an editor and letting them handle the rest. Though my collaborators really appreciate the extra work I put in.
Then there’s my decision to starts writing Jekyll and Hyde; I’d considered waiting until Southern Discomfort and Savage Adventures were done, but the itch proved too strong. That also sucks up more time than expected, as I’m determined not to lag behind and end up massively rushed as I approached the deadline.
On the plus side I’m starting to get the hang of budgeting my exercise time around our pets. And I am getting a lot of work done, even if it’s not on the projects I thought I’d be handling. And switching to four seven-hour days a week has done wonders for improving my productivity.
While a little disappointed, I see no reason to beat myself up.
#SFWApro. Cover art by James Steranko, painting by Salvador Dali, all rights to images remain with current holders.
As I mentioned last week, TYG and I went on a trip to Durham’s Museum of Life and Science the weekend before last. Here are the photos from their impressive butterfly house.
