Show Biz Gets Buzzed

BACK in the 1950s television was overtaking the movies as a regular source of entertainment. Hollywood's response was to upgrade the technology: "Cinemascope," "Technicolor," "VistaVision," "Sensurround," and huge projection screens displaying yards-wide heaving bosoms and bulging biceps. While motion picture premieres were hyped more than ever, TV showcased not only dramas and comedies but also soap operas and game shows, which were wildly popular. It's no surprise, then, that a couple of unserious pulpsters just couldn't pass up taking a swipe at that era's entertainment milieu . . .

(1) "Preview."

By Frank Belknap Long (1901-94; Wikipedia HERE; the ISFDb HERE; and the SFE HERE).

First appearance: Fantastic Universe, January 1956.

Reprints page (ISFDb HERE).

Short short short story (5 pages as a PDF).

Online at Project Gutenberg (HERE).

   "But how could there be one when no man or woman on Earth would ever know where Mr. Scanlon went, or why he had insisted on a preview in the first place?"

. . . but he has his reasons. It's clear that Scanlon has an appreciation for what show biz people used to call a "boffo finish"—with emphasis on the "finish" . . .

Main characters:

~ Mr. Scanlon, the film critics, and Stella.

References (all from Wikipedia):

- "Rabelaisian" (HERE)

- "the Black Hills" (HERE)

- "Robert Mitchum" (HERE)

- "Custer" (HERE)

- "Shane" (HERE)

- "Calamity Jane" (HERE)

- "Humpty Dumpty" (HERE)

- "extras" (HERE)

- "unstable isotope" (HERE).

(2) "The Vidiot."

By Ib Melchior (1917-2015; Wikipedia HERE; the ISFDb HERE; the SFE HERE; and the IMDb HERE).

First appearance: Fantastic Universe, March 1956.

Reprints page (ISFDb HERE).

Short short story (8 pages as a PDF).

Online at Project Gutenberg (HERE).

   "There was a mint to be made—and Donny boy was going to make it!"

WHO could possibly predict that a new way of producing a television show just might mean the end of civilization as we know it?

Main characters:

~ Don Hartley, the secretary, George Kenmore, Steve, Bill Sanders, and Barnes.

References (all from Wikipedia):

- "the son of a singer" (HERE)

- "the Perry Como show" (HERE)

- "Ganymede" (HERE)

- "space opera" (HERE)

- "live TV" (HERE)

- "dry ice" (HERE)

- "ammonia vapors" (HERE)

- "doubles" (HERE)

- "matting amplifier" (HERE)

- "Test Pattern" (HERE)

- "uranium mine" (HERE)

- "Person to Person" (HERE)

- "General Electric" (HERE)

- "RCA" (HERE)

- "a Croesus" (HERE)

- "Rich as Rothchild" (HERE)

- "Another Rockefeller!" (HERE)

- "The Norden Bomb Sight" (HERE)

- "the H-bomb" (HERE).

(3) "The Winner and New . . ."

By Ib Melchior (1917-2015).

First appearance: Fantastic Universe, July 1956.

Reprints page (ISFDb HERE).

Short short short story (5 pages as a PDF).

Online at Project Gutenberg (HERE).

   "Little beads of sweat were forming on his forehead and a tiny artery in his temple beat—and beat—and beat . . ."

THERE used to be a quiz show called You Bet Your Life, but they weren't being serious. The producers of Quizz Night, however, have other ideas . . .

Main characters:

~ Bob May, Barrie Rose, Charles Monroe, and James Burton.

References (all Wikipedia):

- "Fritz Leiber, Jr." (HERE); "Manly Wade Wellman" (HERE); "and Samuel Merwin, Jr." (HERE)

- "Emcee" (HERE)

- "Univac" (HERE)

- "Force-Field" (HERE)

- "Gulliver's Travels" (HERE); "Jonathan Swift" (HERE)

- "Franklin Delano Roosevelt" (HERE); "Mangareva" (HERE); "Tahiti" (HERE)

- "Mount Kepler": Mars has no Mount Kepler.

- "lichens" (HERE)

- "mosses" (HERE)

- "George Washington" (HERE)

- "Thomas Jefferson" (HERE).

- Addendum: It's a shame that TV quiz shows in the 1950s were beset by scandals. (Wikipedia HERE.)

Resources:

- Thirty years after "The Winner and New . . ." was published, there was a novel by a pseudonymous author (much better known by his real name) which was adapted for the movies and captured the spirit, if not the precise details, of "The Winner and New . . ." (WARNING! SPOILERS! Wikipedia HERE and HERE).

- Our only encounter with Frank Belknap Long's fiction before now was (HERE).

- Ib Melchior's involvement with Hollywood was more that casual. He was responsible for some of the best low-budget sci-fi B-films of the period (WARNING! SPOILERS! Wikipedia HERE, HERE, and HERE). One of his stories became the nucleus of a cult film starring two future Hollywood superstars (WARNING! SPOILERS! Wikipedia HERE).

The bottom line:

Unless otherwise noted, all bibliographical data are derived from The FictionMags Index created by William G. Contento & edited by Phil Stephensen-Payne.

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