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- 2002 Tom Corbett Radio Shows Restoration Project  The
Academy receives a lot of requests for information about the Tom Corbett Radio
shows as well as requests for copies of the shows. The poor sound quality of the
recordings and the confusion about the titles of the shows in circulation made
it difficult to obtain a good set of recordings of the shows. Through a cooperative
effort between the Academy and fellow cadet and OTR (old time radio) enthusiast,
Jeff Quick, the sound quality of 44 of the 52 TC shows have been restored and
recorded as MP3 files . We combined our collections, reviewed titles to make sure
there were no duplicates and corrected the sound problems using Cool Edit 2000.
In addition
to correcting the sound problems of the radio shows, Jeff produced a PowerPoint
salute to the Tom Corbett show that is included on the CD. You will see some familiar
My thanks to Jeff for his hard work and dedication in returning these shows to a better sound quality for all fans to enjoy. You can help with the project. We are still missing several shows. Click here for date and title of missing shows). Check the Solar Guard radio log for descriptions of the shows. If you think you have one of the missing shows, please contact Cadet Ed or Jeff .
Spaceman's
Luck The
History Channel's " Fantastic Voyage: Evolution of Science Fiction"
broadcast 8 am EST, September 28th, 2002 on the History Channel. I was contacted in late September 2001 by the producers of the show and asked to come to New York for an interview. I had to pass on the invitation but I did send the producers Ed Kemmer's email and the email of several other fans who lived in the New York Area (see Cadet Dale Ames story below). Of which, I have apologized for doing so :-)
Ed Kemmer was interviewed for about twenty minutes. He felt the interviewer didn't do their homework and was just looking for a brief moment that could be used in the show. Which explains a lot about the final structure of the show. There was a misleading statement about the Tom Corbett series that implied the Heinlein's removed themselves from the production of the show because of poor production values. I have a letter from Virginia Heinlein and cosigned by RAH from 1977 that confirmed the series was based on RAH's SPACE CADET, but Mr. Heinlein had nothing to do with any writing or production of the show. The
closing credits did list Virginia Heinlein and James Gifford as contributors ,
so maybe I missed something along the way. There is a lot of evidence that the
structure of the Space Cadet unit used for Tom Corbett was developed by Joseph
Greene. Joseph Greene's contribution to TC is documented on the site at http://www.solarguard.com/greene1.htm. I was contacted by Min Lee who is a free lance advertiser for the History Channel. Min Lee was given my name by fellow collectors who told Min Lee that I had an extremely large collection of Sci-Fi of the 1930's to 1950's, including Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, Space Patrol, Captain Midnight and many more. Min Lee asked if she and her co-worker Bill could journey from New York City to Worcester to film my collection for the TV special. What thoughts of grandeur ran through my mind....my collection and myself on TV promoting memories of the 1950's space shows and a mention of Galaxy Patrol Fan Club! A date was set for Min and Bill to journey to Worcester. I set up my collection in every room in the house: on the walls, on every couch, chair, table, on the bed, and I purchased a new bookcase for display. I filled up five rooms and was all set for them. A few days before the date, Min and Bill had to reschedule for two weeks later. As the second date came close, Min and Bill had to reschedule again. Finally, Min and Bill came to Worcester. The house had been in complete turmoil for two months waiting. Still, I thought it will be worth it for my collection and I to be on TV. Min and Bill filmed my collection for over four hours in my home. I now learned only my collection, not "I" was to be on TV. "OK", I said to myself, at least Galaxy Patrol Fan Club and space collectibles would be highlighted. After Bill and Min left, it took my lovely wife Mary and I several days to put the house back in order. A special thanks to my wife for allowing collectibles to rule the house for approximately two months! We waited and waited and waited for word on the TV show and finally was told the show was to be on on TV. Boy oh boy, now my collectibles were to be on TV. I told everyone about the show and with great expectations, my wife and I started watching the show. As time moved on during the TV special, my wife and I were looking at each other and said "where was my collection and at what time would it be shown"? While Ed Kemmer (Commander Buzz Cory) was shown on the special, my collection was shown....all of ten seconds!!! Yes, two months of setting up and four hours of filming at my home and my TV claim to fame was ten seconds and no mention of Galaxy Patrol Fan Club or "ME". Well, it was a great effort put forth to give space collectibles of the 1930's ; 1940's and 1950's a plug and I came up short. I will not be deterred and will continue to promote space collectibles. A special note must be made that my collection of space collectibles wouldn't have grown with out the friendly help of fellow collectors who I extend my sincere thanks to for help over the years.
Safe Space Travel and Space Man's Luck, What a disappointment! This was merely a boring, disorganized collection of unimaginative clips and interviews, brought to us by a producer, director, and writers who obviously know little of, and have no love for, the subject of Sci-Fi in general, and 50's Space Opera in particular. I
was especially sorry to find that Dale Ames' collection of space opera memorabilia
was not included; apparently it ended up on the cutting room floor so we could
"enjoy" more time with Bill Shatner. Let's hear more reviews from the group. We have more collective knowledge of this subject here on this Solar Guard Bulletin Board than anyone at the History Channel who was involved in this debacle can ever hope to claim. Fortunately,
video tape is reusable, and I can delete the History Channel from my TV's programming
sequence. I didn't find it quite that bad, but it was VERY disconnected. It's hard to put over 100 years of history into less than 90 minutes (with commercials pulled). I was constantly annoyed that the visual didn't match the supposed subject that the narrator was talking about. Most glaring example that pops to mind is the "Twilight Zone" (BTW, I've never really thought of TZ as being SF) section which was all "Night Gallery" clips. When talking about Jules Verne's amazing accuracy in predicting the size and material of the Apollo spacecraft, they show an astronaut floating through the ISS. Then there were the constant mispronunciations like George "Melees" and Ray "Bradberry" which made me wonder just who the hell was keeping tabs on this. Also, whoever was grabbing the clips and graphics must have just picked up anything that was handy. The quality of most of the older stuff was atrocious! The clips from "Metropolis" were inexcusable seeing as how that film was restored over a decade ago for Georgio Moroder's version. I, too, was sorry to see no mention of Dale's collection (since it was mentioned here beforehand). There is also the annoyance that, according to this program, SF on TV consists of some "cheap '50s knock off " of Destination Moon, Twilight Zone and Star Trek. Period. C'mon, they could have at least thrown a bone towards "Lost In Space"! For a show that was obviously very tight on time, I was surprised that they left in Shatner's zoning out on one answer where he just stammered along for about 20 seconds without saying anything. I was clicking off about one major mistake or distortion per segment (not counting the mismatched visual as mentioned above): 1) Getting the message from "Day the Earth Stood Still" completely backwards (not to mention not showing a single shot of Michael Rennie!). 2)Informing us that Apollo 11 was lifted to the moon on an "Atlas 5" rocket. 3) Saying that NBC approached Gene Roddenberry asking him to do Star Trek rather than the other way around (if that were the case, why did he pitch it to CBS first?). 4) Not a mistake but an omission. How could they go on at such (relative) length on Fritz Lang's "Metropolis" (even with the awful clips) and not even mention "Die Frau im Mond?" Especially since the poster art for the film was behind one of the talking heads the whole time. [sigh] It could have been so much better. I sit corrected. Yes, they did have the shot of him with that aggressive-looking "whatsit" deployed, but my statement still stands that we never "saw" Michael Rennie. And there was 4x more screen time (4 seconds vs. 1 second) of Gort carrying Helen Benson up the ramp. Well, then, that wasn't Gort, either. It was Lock Martin :-) Actually, it was neither Neal nor Benson. For that shot (of Gort carrying Helen Benson up the spaceship ramp) a lightweight mannequin was used, since Martin, despite being a giant at 7' 7", was quite frail and could barely carry himself in that heavy costume, let alone an adult actress. All of this (and more!) is from a subset of the next "Spaceship Handbook" volume called "The Saucer Fleet," which I hope to have out by next summer. ------------ However. as I read the post on the BB. I saw what was there, but loud by its absence was what was not there. For some, the world of Sci-fi began with Star Trek and I can't fault the HC for not knowing that there was a world before they were born. Maybe one of us ought to put together a tape of the REAL good stuff. ------ If nothing else, it's about the only place you can still see Roger Mudd and some of the other television journalists who covered the '60s space launches. ---- ------------------- There's an
intrinsic problem with all television (and, for that matter, all media) and its
limits of time (or, for paper media, limits of space). Ideally, "The Evolution
of Sci-fi" should have been a 15-hour series -- and, even then it would not
have covered all the essential elements, or used all the best available footage.
As it is, I'm glad the documentary was at least able to cover what it did in two
hours. With any luck, we'll someday get a full-course treatment of the Civil War,
jazz, and baseball documentaries. Thanks
to everyone who has contributed so far. I recommend that fellow cadets read Paul's
expanded review of the HC's program on his website at: http://sff.net/people/paullevinson/
Norm was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer a couple of weeks ago. His wife, Lois, rushed him to Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona, where he underwent a five-hour operation. He came through it fine. I spoke with him afterwards and he promised me he’d “come back,” as he put it. He promised that to Lois, too. He was recovering well and the doctor told him he could leave the hospital in a few days. On Tuesday morning, he left early. They’re still not sure why he suddenly died. He
said one day that he always thought he’d be remembered for his work on Wagon
Train, and he was so surprised that, instead, it turned out to be Space Patrol Congratulations to Jeff Berkwits, fellow Solar Guard cadet, who has been nominated for Best Fan Writer for the 2002 (60th) World Science Fiction Convention being held in San José, California. The World SF Convention is one of the largest and oldest gathering of SF fans in the World (hence the word WORLD :-) The convention will be held over the Labor Day Weekend August 29 through September 2, 2002 at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose' (See http://www.conjose.org/index.html for complete details). Jeff holds down the Solar Guard's San Diego chapter of the Solar Guard Academy and is one of the few SF writers who have placed articles about the early 1950's SF shows in mainstream Science Fiction magazines such as Starlog. Writing about the early shows is a difficult job since most Science Fiction genera magazines are dominated by Star War/Star Trek/ special effects type of productions. He has highlighted several Space Patrol and Tom Corbett projects in the internet publication SCIFI Weekly ( http://www.scifi.com/sfw/current/index.html ) and has provided encouragement to fellow Space Opera fans through emails and research of the early shows. His main field of expertise is the music of SF and published an excellent fanzine called "ASTERISM-The Journal of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Space Music." He
has always supported the cause of the early 1950's SF TV shows and we would like
to thank him for his support and wish him Spaceman's Luck in San Jose'. No matter
what the ballot may bring, Jeff will ALWAYS be the Academy's Best Fan Writer.
Show your support for Jeff and wish him Spaceman's Luck and support him for the
Best Fan Writer for 2002. 2006 World SF convention in Anaheim CALLING ALL SPACE CADETS The Southern California Institute for Fan Interests, Inc. is bidding for the 2006 World SF convention in Anaheim and are using a Space Cadet theme. Check out the LA Con IV webpage. It looks like a REAL SPACE CADET event with logo and theme's from the Space Opera genera. In fact, a supporting membership to the event would be a lot of fun for all cadets. Check out the site and spread the word that the Space Cadet Spirit is alive and well in Southern California. Cadet Jeff Bytof forward this posting by Phil Nelson from a genealogy posting Jeff found while searching for information about Margaret Garland:I
am researching the life and career of Margaret Ledbetter, daughter of General
Louis Ledbetter, who came from Oklahoma City. She (and her sister) attended Central
High School, married William Hammerstein (son of Oscar Hammerstein II) in 1941,
and served with the American Red Cross during WWII in England, France and Germany.
After which she pursued a career in acting: stage, radio and television. I last
saw her in the television series: Tom Corbett, Space Cadet (aired: 10-2-50) portraying
the character: Dr. Joan Dale. She left the series in 1952 and possibly show business
altogether. I would like to correspond with anyone who knows about her or her
family. Phil Nelson The search for
Margaret Garland (Ledbetter) has been on for a number of years. Jan and Frankie
lost contact with her many years ago and fans have not been able to find any information
about her since the Tom Corbett show. Anyone with any information about Ms Garland
is urged to contact the Academy with
an update. Copies of the radio script, Marooned with Death, signed by Frankie Thomas and Jan Merlin are available from the Film Committee. Contact the Academy if you are interested in getting a copy of the signed script. Cost will be $15 plus postage. I don't know how many are available at this time, so contact me as soon as possible if you are interest Cadet Ed Jan Merlin, Frankie Thomas joined fellow cadets in Williamsburg for the 2002 Film Festival. A great time was had by all Cadets who attended. Pages and pictures of the event are being added to the site over the next few weeks. The introduction and cadets comment pages are on line now, go to the 2001 information Williamsburg Festival Page to view the fun. STARLOG
- February 2002 Issue #295 - Letter to the editor by Jack Hagerty. Few items which
fellow cadets enjoy from the 1950's appear in the leading SF magazines today.
We need to write magazines like Starlog when there are stories about the early
SF Shows. You can tell by the response in the letter column that Star Trek and
Star Wars always have a number of letters. How many letters have you seen that
sing the praises of Space Patrol or Tom Corbett?? Let them know we are here, maybe
there will be more articles written for us.
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items from Cadet Roy Coker's ROARING ROCKETS,Cadet Elliott Swanson's excellent
collection of Kids 1950's Space Records -KIDS IN SPACE and the radio log
of the TC shows and related material from the SOLAR GUARD ACADEMY. The
restoration project is an effort to get these shows out to a new group of fans
and to build interest in the space opera shows of the 1950's . To that end the
shows will be part of a 2 CD gift set to those who attend the Solar Guard Reunion
at the Williamsburg Film Festival this March 2003 ( 
For
those who can not wait till March, the shows and TC salute will be available for
trade from Jeff for an exchange of 6 blank CD's to replace the CD's used for the
programs and to help cover Jeff's postage. Please use good quality CD's for the
trade, not generic silver topped media that have no protective covering. Any name
brand media, 700 Mb 80 minute blank CD-R is acceptable. The generic CD's have
a high percentage of defectives that result in useless media and are not reliable.
You may contact Jeff at 
and
it's always best to get your shows from an original source. Spread the word to
fellow cadets that the shows are now available and where to get them, that's the
best way to put the shows back into circulation with fans who will enjoy them
the most. 
There
may be other 50's radio shows that may benefit by this type of cooperative effort
by fans. Can't promise, but there were quite a few Space Patrol radio shows out
there ….. :-)
I
was disappointed but not surprised with the History Channel's presentation. David
Kyle's 1976 PICTORIAL HISTORY OF SCIENCE FICTION appears to have been a guide
for the structure of the documentary. The program glossed over the 1950's ( as
has so many other media projects ) and followed the "common" knowledge
that the "kids" shows of the 50's aren't really that important. It's
a snobbery side of SF that I have always disliked.
FROM:
Jean-Noel Bassior:
For the 4th Month in a row,Robinson
Crusoe on Mars , the classic SF movie
returns to the American Movie Classics (AMC) Channel - 4 times this month: