The Buffalo Bills played on Thursday Night Football so they’re resting today. How will your favorite NFL team perform today?

Deborah Cox lights up The Bodyguard: The Musical (aka, Whitney Houston’s Greatest Hits) with her dance moves and strong voice. This is a musical version of the 1992 movie starring Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston. A pop star, based on Whitney Houston, is being threatened and stalked by a psychopathic killer. A former Secret Service agent is hired to protect the pop star. That’s pretty much the plot. This musical version goes from song to song without much dialogue or plot. There’s just one scene where Deborah Cox and Judson Mills (who plays the bodyguard) get to interact: in a karaoke bar. Needless to say, it was my favorite scene in the whole production. If you like Whitney Houston’s hits, you’ll enjoy The Bodyguard: The Musical. Do you have a favorite Whitney Houston song? GRADE: B-
Act I
“Queen of the Night” – Rachel and Ensemble
“I’m Your Baby Tonight” – Rachel, Fletcher and Ensemble
“Oh Yes” – The Stalker and Rachel
“Saving All My Love” – Nicki
“Saving All My Love” (Reprise) – Nicki
“So Emotional” – Rachel, DJ and Ensemble
“Run to You” – Rachel and Nicki
“How Will I Know” – Karaoke Girls
“I Will Always Love You (Dolly Parton Version)” – Frank
“I Have Nothing” – Rachel and Nicki
Act II
“All the Man That I Need” – Rachel and Ensemble
“I’m Every Woman” – Rachel and Ensemble
“All at Once” – Nicki
“Jesus Loves Me” – Nicki, Fletcher and Rachel
“Jesus Loves Me” (Reprise) – Rachel and Ensemble
“One Moment in Time” – Rachel
“I Will Always Love You” (Whitney Houston Version) – Rachel
“I Wanna Dance with Somebody” – Company

Douglas Ellis’s new The Art of the Pulps: An Illustrated History presents the development of action Pulps to spicy Pulps and everything in between. Ellis presents the complete history of Pulp magazines from the the stories and their writers to the artwork and artists, including the changing market, readership, and publishers.

Each chapter in the book includes dozens of examples of the best eye-popping Pulp graphics. The book is organized by genre with a selection of the best Pulp magazine covers and interior graphics presented chronologically throughout the chapter. F. Paul Wilson’s informative Forward gives historical context to the Pulps. Ask Santa to bring you a copy of this wonderful book! GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Foreward By F. Paul Wilson 6

Introduction: Birth of the Pulps By Douglas Ellis 8

1. In Search of Adventure (action pulp, ERB, Adventure covers) By Douglas Ellis 12

2. Cops, Crooks & Private Dicks By John Wooley 32

3. Riding the Range (Westerns, Max Brand, etc..) By Ed Hulse 52

4. Above the Clouds & In the Trenches (Aviation & War, Zeps & Subs) By Tom Roberts. 72

5. Armchair Athletics (Sports, Sport Story, etc…) By Michelle Nolan. 92

6. Love on the Newstands (Romance, Daisy Bacon, Western love, etc) By Laurie Powers 110

7. The Horror! The Horror! (Horror, sex & sadism, The Big Three, etc..) By Robert Weinberg, Douglas Ellis & Ed Hulse. 128

8. Adventures in Other Worlds (sci-fi, fantasy, Hugo G, British Sci Fi, etc) By Mike Ashley. 148

9. When We Needed A Hero (Heroes, The Shadow, Doc Savage, Villain Pulps (Fu Manchu), etc) By Will Murray 170

10. Adding More Than A Pinch of Spice (sexy stuff, Henry Marcus, NSFW stuff) By Douglas Ellis 190

11. Wizards with a Brush (incl. Norman Saunders & Walter Baumhofer) By David Saunders 210

12. Wizards With A Pen (Lovecraft, Howard, etc) By Ed Hulse 222

Afterword: The Death of the Pulps and Rise of Paperbacks By Ed Hulse 234

Index 236

Art Credits 239

Contributor Bios/Acknowledgements 240

The surprising 5-2 Buffalo Bills take on the struggling NY Jets (3-5) tonight on the NFL Network. The Bills are 3 and 1/2 point favorites. The Bills were able to defeat the Oakland Raiders in the wind and the rain of Western NY. The weather forecast for tonight’s game appears more benign. These AFC East games can be rough, tough, and close. No Bills fan expects an easy game tonight.

I loved Emma Stone’s performance as Billy Jean King in Battle of the Sexes, the story of the TV event in the Astrodome that captured the largest audience for a tennis match at that time. Steve Carell plays frustrated 55-year-old former tennis great Bobby Riggs. Riggs decides he can regain the public spotlight (and make some money) by becoming a sexist clown and challenging women tennis players to competitive matches.

Many of you may remember the famous Battle of the Sexes event on ABC TV narrated by Howard Cosell and Rosie Casals (Natalie Morales). Austin Stowell plays Billy Jean’s devoted husband. I liked Sarah Silverman as Billy Jean’s feisty agent. Bill Pullman and Alan Cumming are part of the talented cast.

A good part of this movie shows the pressures Billy Jean King endured on the professional tennis tour, the physical and mental demands. Billy Jean’s relationship with a hairdresser (Andrea Riseborough) isn’t sugar-coated although the resolution is. Good performances and great story. What more could you want? GRADE: B+

Although most of Marshall is set in 1941 Bridgeport, Connecticut what you’ll be seeing on the screen is Buffalo, New York: Central Terminal, Delaware Park, Beard Avenue in North Buffalo, Statler City’s former Rendezvous Room (doubling for Harlem’s Minton’s Playhouse), and City Hall. Yes, this film was mostly shot a few miles away from where I live.

Director Reginald Hudlin’s movie about Thurgood Marshall–the first African-American Supreme Court Justice and the civil rights lawyer that won “Brown vs. Board of Education” that officially ended “legal” segregation and the “separate but equal” defense–features Chadwick Boseman as the prickly Marshall (soon to be a major star in Black Panther). Hudlin and Boseman take a risk by making Marshall initially arrogant and aloof and unsympathetic. Marshall is the NAACP’s only full-time lawyer at this time. He defends cases of discrimination all over the country, but not all the black defendants get freed. That adds to Marshall’s bitterness.

Marshall centers around a case where a black chauffeur (Sterling K. Brown) is accused by his female employer (Kate Hudson) of rape and attempted murder. Marshall hasn’t passed the Bar in Connecticut so he needs a local lawyer to front for him. Sam Friedman (Josh Gad), a Jewish lawyer who specializes in insurance cases, finds himself Marshall’s reluctant co-counsel. Marshall’s contempt for Friedman’s lack of criminal law experience soon turns to grudging respect as the two men work together to prepare a defense.

Marshall is one of the best movies I’ve seen in 2017. Don’t miss it! GRADE: A

The Big News here is the trade that sent million dollar per game Defensive Tackle Marcell Dareus to the Jacksonville Jaguars for a Sixth Round pick. Clearly, the Bills executed a classic “Salary Dump” by moving Dareus. The Buffalo Bills drafted Dareus in 2011 with the Third overall pick in the First Round. Dareus made the Pro Bowl in 2013 and 2014. In the 2014 season, Dareus had 10 sacks and 49 tackles. The Bills signed Dareus to a $100 million contract extension.

But then Dareus flunked a drug test, was suspended for a game in 2015, flunked another drug test, was suspended for four games in 2016, and Dareus’s performance fell off the cliff.

Dareus is just one more flunked drug test from a mandatory 10 game suspension. The Bills had to be delighted that the Jags were willing to take Dareus off their hands (and free up millions under the Salary Cap!).

The Bills are 3-point favorites today against the Raiders. How will your NFL team do today?

Professor Marston and the Wonder Women is based on Jill Lepore’s book The Secret History of Wonder Woman (you can read my review of Lepore’s book here). Professor of Psychology at Harvard University and Radcliffe, William Moulton Marston created Wonder Woman and the comic book that became a sensation back in the 1940s. As if creating the most popular female superhero of all time wasn’t enough, Marston also maintained a love triangle with his wife and a student.

If you’ve read the early Wonder Woman comics, you’ll notice a thread of sadomasochism running through those issues. Marston, his wife Elizabeth (Rebecca Hall), and the student (Bella Heathecote) get into some kinky S&M. And we learn where Wonder Woman’s sexy costume originated. If you’re looking for something outside the mainstream, I recommend Professor Marston and the Wonder Women. GRADE: B+

This new Soho paperback omnibus collects five of Margaret Millar’s mysteries from the 1940s. Three novels feature PSYCHOLOGIST PAUL PRYE: The Invisible Worm (1941), The Weak-Eyed Bat (1942), and The Devil Loves Me (1942). My favorite mysteries in this volume feature Toronto police detective, INSPECTOR SANDS. The Wall of Eyes (1943) and The Iron Gates (1945) contain some of Margaret Millar’s best writing. If you haven’t read these early Millar’s, you are in for a treat! Soho deserves praise for reprinting Margaret Millar’s work in such an attractive, affordable format! GRADE: A

You can read my reviews of Margaret Millar’s work here, here, and here.