DC Larson is one of my favorite authors: a connoisseur of classic movies and television shows. He knows what makes them tick (why the newer stuff often falls short), which makes his reflections the most accurate homages.
Larson's latest anthology is "Movie Palace Evening". Its contents create an old-time, Bijou-movie experience. That means he establishes an atmosphere of consistent, nostalgic fun, covering comedy, scares and rollicking thrills: the ingredients that once made movie-going a major highlight of any night, afternoon or weekend.
He introduces us to the Bijou world through a nifty, golly-gee short called "Two Scoops for Tubby Barvin", where an ice-cream lovin' lad is carried away by the titular, space-age reporter's engrossing broadcast. The fictional transmission becomes ever more consuming as young J. Cecil listens with growing intent, to the point where Barvin's details adapt exciting, three-dimensional sustenance. Ah, the uplifting power of old-time radio, not to mention big-screen shorts...
To further warm one's chair, Larson follows the tasty "Two Scoops" with a crafty detective tale, "Cosmo Jones Nabs the Vaudeville Strangler". In this story, the shrewd Professor Jones interrogates stage suspects to reveal the killer of the Seer of Decopolis. Jones' process of elimination allows Larson to spotlight the story's quirky performers and their splashy specialties, giving this mystery not only a mini-movie panache, but a glimpse into those gutsy stage-show personas who once populated towns. An excellent romp that teems of gleeful tension and seasoned, pop-cultural know-how...
"Cosmo" is joined by the fanciful co-feature, "Pennsylvania Avenue Capers", hosted and influenced by (hold onto your seat) White House ghosts! The "Canterville"-feeling story dispatches ample pomp and circumstance, frivolous and superfluous debate to make one's head spin, though in the best possible way. (Breakfast menus and house redecorating for any new Pres and First Lady are paramount, especially when whispering spirits are near.) Larson proves with "Pennsylvania" that he can kick it with the best satirists, though who dares to engage in clever, ghostly comedies these days? Larson--that's who! (Give that man a cigar!)
Next in line is "Movie Palace'"s headliner, "The Beleaguered Reascendence of Conrad Mayflower": a moving tale where the eponymous thespian (cut from the same cloth as John Barrymore/Douglas Fairbanks) gains a chance for cinematic resurgence through an ambitious, low-rent production called "Center of Gravity".
Mayflower's questionable circumstance brings to mind "Dinner at Eight" and "The Trouble with Templeton", at the same time giving readers a swell slice of behind-the-scenes history that never occurred, but thrives with starry sophistication per every page turn. A literary, it-shoulda-been-a-movie gem, if ever there was one...
Larson's euphoric endeavors will leave one exiting his imaginary odeum with pep in one's step and no doubt yearning to check out a few favorites on TCM.
If one can't get enough of the sweet tidbits of the past, check out Larson's fruitful work. The sentiment beckons at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07S9T9JTZ.
Earlier this month, I reviewed DC Larson's spectacular, space-opera novella, "Stratosphere Boogieman". I'm still riding intergalactically high off the Captain Atomic adventure, but I'm equally impressed by the author's latest outing: "Ballad of the Riegelsberg Werewolf and Other Fantastic Accounts".
That's because "Ballad..." churns its flavor from a number of nostalgic shorts. Not only is there the aforementioned lycanthropy tale, but twelve additional weird and eclectic entries (heralded by a nifty, memory-lane intro) that imagi-fans are certain to relish:
(Intro: A Midnight Well Spent)
1 - The creeping ghost of Edwardshire
2 - Dracula invades the Castle of Frankenstein
3 - Ballad of the Riegelsberg Werewolf
4 - Johnny Jupiter: The Lost Episode That Never Was
5 - Commando Cody battles the Purple Monster from Mars
6 - Make like a monster
7 - Final Performance
8 - Blinky the little robot spy-smasher
9 - Just a man in a monster mask
10 - The Iowa water heater who knew Crash Corrigan
11 - Terror in the Pain Parlor of Doctor Aurora
12 - The crawling amoeba
13 - Adam and Eve on Monster Island
For horror's sake, Larson's Riegelsberg shape-shifter is a grand example of hairy, old-world brio (and the anthology's meatiest morsel), recalling the sublime pathos of "Werewolf of London", "The Wolf Man" and "The Undying Monster".
The same sturdy approach marks Larson's moody "creeping ghost", which rests its concept not only on spectral visitation, but an engrossing, probing process straight out of Universal's liveliest undead lore.
This atmospheric tactic saturates Larson's titular Dracula/Frankenstein team-up as well, where he insinuates set-ups from "House of Frankenstein" and "House of Dracula", while spiking the match with that trusty, ol' standby, angry villagers. Those villagers, of course, are rebelling against run-amok devilry and inflated science: influential components that penetrate the writer's other stories through other clever means.
In those examples, Larson sustains all villainous traces, but filters them through kiddie-tech reinvention. In his sentimental Johnny Jupiter and Commando Cody sequels, Larson's insight of the good-vs-bad characters (puppet and otherwise) is as amazing as it's affectionate. In much the same way, Larson's robotic "Blinky" uses a carefree, '50s context to achieve a cute and charming effect.
Such wistful penchant accentuates "Make like a monster" and "Just a man in a monster mask", where a garnishing of "How to Make a Monster", "The Giant Gila Monster", "Invasion of the Saucer Men" and "Earth vs the Spider" is discernible, bolstered by breezy hot-rodding and mesmerized, teen spirit.
Larson furthers these cool components with reflective, Ray Bradbury-type prose for a boy's Aurora-kit reverie; a movie-serial "Iowa water heater"; and a phantom-of-the theater mystery, all the while referencing Crash Corrigan, Sammy Petrillo, Duke Mitchell, and (though more by allusion than label) Lon Chaney Sr.
Concluding the anthology are morphing, merging mutants (think Joseph Payne Brennan's "Slime" meets Shorty Yeaworth's "The Blob" meets Kinji Fukasaku's "The Green Slime") and a veritable monster island that springs one helluva "Twilight Zone" twist.
Each story is a treat to savor, but the culmination will leave one beyond inebriation, as one travels back to greet fantasies that one never experienced and yet one knows like the back of one's hand. Larson pulls off this uncanny overlap like few authors can. (I'm astounded by how the son of a gun did it!)
If Universal Studios really desires a resurgence of its Dark Universe, or even a revival of its old-time sci-fi, the blueprint for success lies in this masterful raconteur's "Ballad..."
Fortunately, you don't have to wait until some myopic, movie exec sees the light to enjoy Larson's successful formula. His fantastic accounts await at ... http://retroriffbooks.blogspot.com/ ... and ... https://www.facebook.com/DCLarsonBooks/.
