John A. Douglas

Very few periods of my life have been without comic books. From the days when comics could be purchased for a dime at newsstands, drugstores and anywhere a kid might frequent to these days when there are stores that specialize in comic books, I have loved comic books. During that period of time I made no secret of my lust for the stories printed in color on newsprint. Sometimes when I boasted of my love for comics, someone who was still in the comic closet would pipe up and reveal that they too read comics.

I remember once back in the 70s when I was running a film series on Monday nights at the Grand Rapids Art Museum, I happened to mention to the group that I was a major comic book fan and after the show was over, a friend I had met during the series asked me if I had ever read “American Splendor.” I had to admit that I had not and he indicated that I couldn’t be that much of a fan if I had not read “American Splendor.” I, of course, had my doubts that this friend knew what he was talking about.

The next Monday evening my new friend arrived at the film series with five or six comic books, all of which were issues of “American Splendor.” He told me to take them home and read them and let him know what I thought.

I agreed to do so but the fact is that the comics didn’t look all that interesting to me, so they sat on my desk and began their downward trek to the bottom of a pile.

Before I managed to muster the energy to read an issue of “American Splendor,” my friend died.

Soon after his funeral I remembered that I still had his comics. [Read more →]

I was notified last weekend that Mrs. Lee recently died at the age of 101. Mrs. Lee was the principal of the elementary school that I attended in the late 1940s in Glen Ferris, West Virginia.

We kids all knew that her real name was Virginia Lee but no kid that I ever knew said her name aloud either in front of her or behind her back. That kind of disrespect was too dangerous for we believed either consciously or subconsciously that she probably possessed powers that were not given to regular folks.

She was Mrs. Lee and that was that.

So what does Mrs. Lee have to do with movies? Nothing. But she does have something to do with one movie in particular. That movie is Michael Curtiz’ “Yankee Doodle Dandy” with James Cagney and Joan Leslie.

“Yankee Doodle Dandy” is a film that was built to elicit an emotional response from its audiences be they folks that lived through World War I and/or World War II. The film is filled with inspirational songs that were composed [Read more →]

I just finished looking ar “Sunday Morning” on CBS which was dedicated to the career of Walter Cronkite. If you don’t know who Mr. Cronkite was then I will leave it to you to find out on your own. From the point of view of an 70 year-old man it would seem an insult to the intelligence to the majority of the readers of this article to have to explain who I’m talking about. It would like writing an article about Abraham Lincoln or Jesus Christ or [Read more →]

As one who has been involved in movies most of his life – first as an avid fan and later as a film reviewer – I can report to you that there is a positive aspect that you are probably unaware of. I have seen so many movies and talked to so many movie people that they appear in my dreams sometimes as major players and at other times as guest stars.

A couple of nights ago I was involved in a dream that featured Sophia Loren. It’s great fun to be in a dream with a movie star but the fact that a movie star appears does not guarantee that I will remember much about the dream after I have been awake for awhile.

But for some reason there are dreams that I do remember a little about. I remember once I was in a dream with James Arness that took place on the top of a boxcar on a moving train. There was some gun play and Mr. Arness fell on top of me. I’m not sure whether he was wounded or dead although I would like to believe that he had suffered a flesh wound and was OK. I wouldn’t like the word to get out that it was difficult to survive my dreams.

Another time I was involved in some kind of adventure with Dick Tracy. Well, it was Dick Tracy as played by Ralph Byrd and I don’t remember much else about it. And speaking of Dick Tracy, I shared a dream not long ago with Warren Beatty who had nothing more than a walk-on role.

It happens all the time and for the most part I am pleased to have visitors from the silver screen involved in my dreams. But what about Ms. Loren? Well, the dream took place in New York City where I was attending a junket along with James Sanford, who was a reviewer for the Kalamazoo Gazette, and John Serba who was there representing The Grand Rapids Press.

For some reason I was to escort Ms. Loren to a screening of a movie and just as I was to shake hands with her, I woke up. I told my wife who was also awake that I just had a dream in which Sophia Loren appeared. “What happened?” she asked. “Nothing,” I said. “I woke up.”

Well, wouldn’t you know it? This was one of those times when I was able to go back to sleep and pick up the dream essentially where it had left off. I was standing with Ms. Loren and I was wondering what kind of intelligent thing I could say to Ms. Loren that would indicate to her that I was a man of great intellect.

“Do you still make Italian films?” is what I came up with. It had occurred to me that I had seen her only in American films in recent years. I don’t know what she said in return because the dream got chaotic after I helped Ms. Loren into a vehicle. The rest of the dream involved missing an airplane flight to the screening and trying to figure out how to get to the screening not knowing where it was taking place.

I don’t know what happened to Mr. Sanford and Mr. Serba and when all was said and done I really didn’t care. I had had a few moments with Sophia Loren which is as much as you can ask from a dream.

Lots can be learned about the world of “Star Trek” from watching the brand new “Star Trek” movie which was directed by J.J. Abrams. Before I elaborate I must tell you that the story in this new film takes place in time before the “Star Trek” stories that were told on the initial television series. So we get to see Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Uhura, Chekov, Scotty and Sulu when there were all wet behind the ears.

Now brothers and sisters, these guys and a gal may have been young and [Read more →]