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Book, Science Fiction/Fantasy

[August 14, 1966] So Bad It's Hilarious (The Star Magicians by Lin Carter/The Off-Worlders by John Baxter (Ace Double G-588))

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by Cora Buhlert

Science Fiction at the Newsstand

Perry Rhodan No. 258
Issue 258 of Perry Rhodan features the fan favourite character Gucky the mouse beaver on the cover, expertly drawn by Johnny Bruck.

Ever since its debut almost five years ago, West German science fiction has been synonymous with the dime novel series Perry Rhodan. Issue 258 of Perry Rhodan came out this week and so far, the series shows no sign of faltering.

Success breeds imitators and so there have been challengers for the crown of West Germany's premier science fiction series. The first challenger Mark Powers was hampered by old fashioned and inconsistent plots and so the series was discontinued in 1964, though Mark Powers still occasionally pops up in the pages of the anthology series Utopia Zukunftsroman.

This month, a new challenger appeared on West German newsstands. Ren Dhark is penned by former Perry Rhodan writer Kurt Brand and published by Kelter Verlag. Only one issue has come out so far, but what I've read looks promising.

Ren Dhark, No. 1
The first issue of Ren Dhark, the latest Perry Rhodan challenger

The story begins in the far off future of 2051 AD, when overpopulation – a popular theme in current science fiction, as Harry Harrison's Make Room, Make Room! and several of the stories collected in Orbit 1 show – forces humanity to look for a new home among the stars. So the starship Galaxis under the command of Captain Sam Dhark (no reason is given for the odd spelling of the name) departs for Deneb with fifty thousand colonists. However, the time effect drive malfunctions, stranding the Galaxis in the depths of space, turned into an involuntary generation ship.

Eventually, the Galaxis, now commanded by the titular Ren Dhark, son of the late captain, manages to find a habitable planet. But their problems have only just begun, because the planet in question is not only habitable, but also inhabited…

Ren Dhark started out promising enough, though not particularly innovative. Nonetheless, I will certainly haunt the newsstand on the lookout for issue 2.

Science Fiction at the Spinner Rack

The Off-Worlders by John Baxter

However, my main source of new science fiction is still the spinner rack at my local import bookstore. And during my last visit, I managed to snap up the latest Ace Double, number G-588 to be exact, which includes The Off-Worlders by John Baxter and The Star Magicians by Lin Carter.

The Off-Worlders has just been serialised in New Worlds under the title The God Killers, so I'll just point you to Mark Yon's review of the novel and delve right into the other half of this Ace Double.

Most readers of the Journey will probably know Lin Carter mainly from his "Our Man in Fandom" columns in If, but he is also an up and coming science fiction and fantasy writer. Erika Frank reviewed his sword and sorcery novel The Wizard of Lemuria last year. Now, Carter has set his sights on space opera, though barbarians still feature prominently.

A Familiar History

The Star Magicians by Lin Carter
Amazingly, Jack Gaughan's cover is an accurate illustration of a scene in the novel.

The Star Magicians begins with one of those dreaded information laden prologues which occasionally afflict science fiction novels. In fact, when I read the capsule history of the fall of the Great Carina Empire, I briefly wondered whether I had accidentally picked up a later book in an ongoing series.

But even if there is no previous novel in the series, the history of the Carina Empire, which is beset by barbarians at its borders and eventually breaks apart and descends into a new dark age, will seem familiar to anybody who knows even a lick of history, for here is the fall of the Roman Empire replayed once again in outer space.

However, one planet stands firm against the new dark age and the barbarian Star Rovers: the planet Parlion, which is inhabited by a group called the White Wizards, who preserve science and technology and are considered magicians by their less enlightened neighbours. If that story seems familiar, it's probably because you've read it before when it was still called Foundation and penned by Isaac Asimov.

Naked Bodies and Tortured Metaphors

Once the actual plot begins, the novel becomes more engaging, though not necessarily better or more original. The story proper opens in an arena, where a would-be Conan gladiator is fighting against an alien monster, while the barbarian warlord Drask looks on and fondles a naked girl.

The naked girl is a captive princess, though you wouldn't know it from the first chapter. Carter repeatedly starts and then fails to describe the young woman, getting sidetracked by reminiscing about the conquest of the planet in a pitched space battle, describing the chafing and sweat-soaked leather and iron garb of a barbarian warrior and lovingly detailing the manly vigour and magnificent body of the gladiator (who will be dead within two pages, his "nakedness clothed in dripping scarlet").

Here's a typical example of Lin Carter's tortured prose. If this is too much for you, best bail out now, because the entire book is like that:

Above, in the royal box, Drask reclined at his ease on the satin cushions, half his cynical attention on the tragic drama unfolding below, and half on the trembling young girl beside him, whose nude breasts he was idly fondling. A philosopher in his rough way, the Warlord of the Star Rovers mused on the changeful ways of Fate. In this moment of time the young Argionid swordsman was filled with robust life, bursting with manly vigor in the full hot morning of his youth… in the next moment, his splendid, virile body would be an awful bundle of bloody rags, crushed in the inexorable jaws of the slavering thard.

We are toys at the feet of the gods, he thought.

When Carter finally remembers to describe the young princess – or rather her breasts – he compares them to "warm, white fruit", at which point I wondered whether Carter has ever seen a naked woman, or eaten fruit, for that matter.

After the would-be Conan has met his demise, we are finally introduced to the actual protagonist, Perion of North Hollis (which sounds like a stop on the London Underground rather than a city on an alien planet), a minstrel sentenced to die in the arena for treason. However, Perion manages to outwit the monster and is pardoned and even invited to a feast of the Star Rovers, where he further ingratiates himself by stopping the captive princess from stabbing the warlord Drask. Her attempt at revenge foiled, the princess stabs herself and is forgotten within a page. We never even learn her name nor anything about her appearance except that she has breasts.

Lin Carter
Lin Carter

White Wizards and Green Goddesses

What follows is a clunky and exposition laden dialogue, which not only repeats information we already got in the equally clunky prologue, but also reveals that there is only one person who can stand against the mighty warlord Drask, namely Calastor, one of the White Wizards of Parlion. Not only does Calastor have superior quasi-magic technology, he also has dozens of minions willing to do his bidding. Worse, no one knows what he looks like. "For aught we know, he might be standing among us at the very moment," mutters one of the few named Star Rovers at the feast. Anybody who has read Isaac Asimov's Foundation series may develop certain suspicions at this point.

Since the princess committed suicide, Drask is in need of a new bed companion and picks a random dancing girl, who promptly tries to stab him again. Even Drask, who's not the sharpest knife in the drawer, thinks that two assassination attempts in one night are a little much to be a coincidence. So he examines the dagger with which the girl tried to stab him and finds a glowing green stone, a talisman dedicated to the Green Goddess of Malkh. The dancing girl is one of her priestesses. For it turns out that Drask has not one but two sworn enemies in the galaxy, the White Wizard and the Green Goddess. Of course, it might have been helpful if Carter had mentioned that tidbit of information before.

The interrogation of the dancing girl, whose name is revealed to be Lurn, reveals nothing, because Lurn downs a potion that – no, this time around, the potion doesn't kill her, it only makes her fall asleep. When the sleeping Lurn is taken to the dungeon for further interrogation, she vanishes into thin air.

Lurn reappears on the next day, hidden in Perion's baggage, which leads to both her and Perion being arrested. During their interrogation, Perion is unmasked as none other than Calastor, the White Wizard and sworn enemy of Drask. This turn of events might have been a genuine surprise, if Carter hadn't borrowed it wholesale from "The Mule" part of Isaac Asimov's Foundation trilogy. And just in case you failed to notice the parallels, Perion is even shown with a (pack)mule shortly before his arrest. In fact, the only surprise is that the reveal happens halfway through the novel rather than at the end, as I expected.

Calastor and Lurn escape Drask by teleporting to safety and engage in yet another exchange of long explanations aboard Calastor's spaceship. Calastor reveals that he must stop Drask and the Star Rovers soon, because they are threatening the planet that the White Wizards of Parlion have picked out as the nucleus of the new galactic empire they are trying to build.

Smoke and Mirrors

The story now heads to Xulthoom, the planet of mists and also the planet that drives men mad. Xulthoom is a fascinating setting with its ancient ruins and perpetual mists and I wonder what e.g. Leigh Brackett could do with it. Lin Carter does not nearly have Leigh Brackett's skills, but even he manages to convey the spooky atmosphere of Xulthoom.

Calastor uses his quasi-magical science to mentally destabilise the Star Rovers and turn them against each other, while gizmo-speaking to Lurn and spouting an amount of nonsense about psionics that would impress even John W. Campbell.

Due to Calastor's manipulations, the Star Rovers go mad one by one and begin to hear voices. Some literally die of fear. In the end, even Drask himself hears a voice, supposedly that of the Green Goddess, warning him to return to the Rim Stars whence he came or suffer the consequences. However, the message from the Green Goddess is not Calastor's doing. There is another power at work here.

Spooked by the message of the Green Goddess, Drask finally gives the order to abandon Xulthoom – no, not to go home, but to conquer the next planet, the one planet that the White Wizards want to keep the Star Rovers away from at all costs.

Calastor summons some help from Parlion and together the White Wizards attempt to dissuade the Star Rovers from travelling onwards by projecting an illusion of space dragons attacking the fleet. However, the Star Rover shaman Abdekiel, an offensive Asian stereotype who is frequently likened to a "butter yellow buddha", sees through the ruse.

So Calastor and his companions teleport aboard the Star Rover flagship to face Drask and his men directly. The White Wizards use their mental powers to disarm the barbarians, while Calastor gets involved in a prolonged and remarkably well described swordfight.

The standoff is interrupted by the Green Goddess herself, who thoroughly smites the Star Rover fleet, a scene strikingly illustrated by Jack Gaughan on the cover. Finally, the Goddess teleports the adversaries away, metes out punishment to Drask and gives her blessing to the marriage of Calastor and Lurn (who turns out to be a princess as well), who will rule together over the world that will become the nucleus of the new empire.

An Unholy Mess

Lin Carter was aiming for Isaac Asimov's Foundation as written by Robert E. Howard. However, Carter has the skill of neither Asimov nor Howard and so the result is just a mess.

One technique that Carter borrows from Robert E. Howard is Howard's tendency to begin a story with a supporting character before his barbarian adventurer Conan steps onto the scene. But while Howard never leaves any doubt that Conan is the hero of the story, Carter seems unsure which of his characters is the protagonist. By rights, Calastor and Lurn should be the stars, but Calastor vanishes for chapters at a time and Lurn never even acquires a personality, so Drask, the villain, is the closest thing to a protagonist this unholy mess of a novel has.

Make no mistake, this is a terrible book. It's certainly the worst book I have ever reviewed for Galactic Journey. The plot is hackneyed, the prose is tortured and so purple that it almost crosses over into ultraviolet. In fact, this book is so awful that I wonder how desperate Ace must have been to publish it. If there was a Hugo Award for the worst science fiction novel, The Star Magicians would be the uncontested winner.

However, this novel has one redeeming feature: it is at least entertainingly terrible. In fact, the book is utterly hilarious. I was giggling the whole time I read it and regaled friends and family members with reading Lin Carter's awful prose out loud. If The Star Magicians were a parody, it would be absolutely brilliant. But unfortunately, it's supposed to be a serious space opera adventure.

I'm sure there is something that Lin Carter excels at and I hope that he will eventually find it. However, writing science fiction is not it.

One and a half stars

AG Weser workers relaxing
Workers at the AG Weser shipyard in Bremen are enjoyaing a well deserved break in the summer sun.
Three young ladies bathing in Bremen
Meanwhile, these three young ladies are enjoying a swim in the Stadionbad public pool in Bremen.

Rosel George Brown's new hit novel, Sibyl Sue Blue, is much better than Lin Carter's book. You might want to get the taste out with it!




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Book, Science Fiction/Fantasy

[June 14, 1966] Aliens, Housewives and Overpopulation: Orbit 1, edited by Damon Knight

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by Cora Buhlert

Whale Hunt on the Rhine

Moby Dick on the Rhine
Moby Dick swims past the Duisburg copper smelter.

All of West Germany is currently kept on tenterhooks by Moby Dick. No, I'm not talking about the classic novel by Herman Melville, but about our very own re-enactment thereof on the river Rhine.

On May 18, the skipper of a Rhine barge reported having seen "a white monster" in the polluted waters of the Rhine near Duisburg. The river police initially assumed that the man was drunk, but other sightings were reported as well. The unfortunately named Dr. Wolfgang Gewalt (his surname literally means "violence"), director of the Duisburg Zoo, identified the creature as a beluga whale, which had somehow managed to swim 450 kilometres upstream.

Hunting Moby Dick
Dr. Gewalt and his crew hunt Moby Dick with stun guns and bow and arrow.

Discovering his inner Captain Ahab, Dr. Gewalt decided to capture the white whale and have it transported to his brand-new dolphinarium. However, he was about as successful as his literary counterpart and so Moby Dick, as the whale was nicknamed by the locals, repeatedly eluded the traps laid for him, with the aid of some people who believe that the whale should be free back to swim the ocean and not imprisoned in a too small basin.

Diving bell vessel Carl Straat
The specialist diving bell vessel "Carl Straat" with a tugboat on the Rhine. The "Carl Straat" was built in 1963. My Dad designed the handling gear for the diving bell.

Eluding his would-be captors, Moby Dick even swam as far upstream as the West German capital of Bonn, where he interrupted a parliamentary press conference, most likely to protest the treatment he had suffered at the hands of the West German police as well as the heavy pollution of the Rhine, which turned the pristine white skin of a whale a splotchy grey. However, there is a happy ending, because Moby turned around and made it back to the North Sea unharmed.

Moby Dick in Bonn cartoon
A cartoonist's impression of Moby Dick interrupting the parliamentary press conference, much to the chagrin of Chancellor Ludwig Ehrhard.

All-new Anthology, All-new Stories:

Moby's adventures are enough to keep the entire country at the edge of their seats. But nonetheless, I still found the time to read the new science fiction anthology Orbit 1, edited by Damon Knight, which I picked up from the trusty spinner rack at my local import bookstore. The blurb on the backcover promised nine brand-new stories by the best science fiction authors working today, so how could I resist?

Orbit 1, edited by Damon Knight

"Staras Flonderans" by Kate Wilhelm

Kate Wilhelm is not only one of the best up and coming science fiction authors, she also happens to be married to Orbit editor Damon Knight. That said, Knight wasn't playing favourites here, because Kate Wilhelm's contribution to the anthology is a genuinely good story.

A scout craft with a three person crew, two humans and the alien Staeen, approaches a derelict starship. The lifeboats are gone and the ship was abandoned by her crew in a hurry. However, our three brave explorers have no idea why, since the ship was in perfect working order. Nor is this the first time something like this has happened; other ships have been found abandoned as well.

Kate Wilhelm explores the mystery of the abandoned starship not through the eyes of the two human crewmen, but of the alien Staeen, who is described as looking like an inverted tulip at one point. Staeen is a truly alien creature, who can survive on land, underwater, in deep space and in high radiation environments. He is an empath, several millennia old and humans are ridiculously short-lived to him. In fact, Staeen's people, the Chlaesan, refer to humans as "Flonderans", which means "children" in their language. Staeen's human crewmates, two big, burly spaceman that would be at home in any issue of Analog, clearly have no idea how their comrade views them.

Staeen uses his empathic abilities and realises that the crew abandoned the ship in a fit of irrational panic. But whatever caused that blind panic is still out there, as our three brave explorers are about to find out…

At its heart, this story is a neat mystery in space that would have been at home in Planet Stories or Thrilling Wonder Stories twenty years ago. What sets it apart is Staeen's uniquely alien view of the world as well as Kate Wilhelm's writing skills.

Four stars.

"The Secret Place" by Richard McKenna

I wasn't familiar with the work of Richard McKenna, who passed away two years ago at the way too early age of fifty-one. So "The Secret Place", which was found among his papers after his death, is my first exposure to his work.

First-person narrator Duard Campbell recounts his strange wartime adventures. As a young geology student, Campbell was part of a team that was supposed to track down a uranium mine in the Oregon desert. For in 1931, a boy named Owen Price was found dead with claw marks on his back as well as some gold ore and a piece of uranium oxide in his pocket. When uranium suddenly becomes vitally important with the onset of WWII, the US Army sends a team to locate the source of the uranium oxide. The chief geologist Dr. Lewis believes that this venture is futile, because the area in question is a volcanic high plateau, where uranium does not naturally occur.

When the team departs, only Campbell is left behind. He wants to prove Dr. Lewis wrong and find the uranium vein. So he hires Owen's sister Helen, who can see things no one else can see, as his secretary to pry the secret of the uranium mine out of her. But the game Campbell plays with Helen quickly becomes dangerous for them both.

I enjoyed the vivid descriptions of the Oregon countryside, though I have no idea how accurate they are. The ending is a bit abrupt, though, and the central mystery is not really resolved, probably because McKenna died before he could finish the story.

Three stars.

"How Beautiful With Banners" by James Blish

James Blish needs no introduction to the readers of the Journey.

Dr. Ulla Hillstrøm is a scientist who runs into problems when her living spacesuit merges with a native creature, described as a floating cloak, during a research mission of the Saturn moon of Titan.

Dr. Hillstrøm realises that the cloak is trying to mate with her spacesuit. She notes a second cloak creature and deduces that it might be jealous, so she tries to use the second creature to separate the cloak creature from her spacesuit. However, she is only partly successful, because the separation destroys the spacesuit. The last thing Dr. Ulla Hillstrøm sees before she freezes to death is the mating dance of the cloak creatures.

Beautifully written, but inconsequential. The stereotype of the icy female scientist who never knew love and companionship is overused. Science fiction writers, please go and meet some actual women scientists.

Two stars

"The Disinherited" by Poul Anderson

Poul Anderson is another author who needs no introduction.

The government of an overpopulated future Earth ends the galactic exploration program and recalls scientific personnel and spaceship crews. Understandably, no one is very happy about this.

"The Disinherited" follows two characters. Jacob Kahn is a starship captain and has been for a very long time due to the time dilation effect of travelling at lightspeed. Kahn is also an Israeli Jew, something which should not be unusual, considering how many science fiction writers are Jewish, but which sadly still is. Kahn's first mate is Native American, his chief engineer is from India, the assistant chief engineer from Africa. Anderson presents us a still all too rare future populated by people other than white Anglo-Saxon Protestants, though most of them are still male.

David Thraikill is a scientist whose family has been living on the planet Mithras for three generations now and who has never been to Earth. As a result, Thraikill and the rest of the scientists do not want to leave Mithras, because this is their home now. Kahn tries to persuade them to leave by explaining that the human inhabitants of Mithras cannot maintain a high level of technology in the long run and that there will also be conflicts with the native population of Mithras, a race of peaceful kangaroo-like beings. Because as history shows, this is what always happens when one group of humans comes in contact with another group and colonises their homeland…

Considering how prolific Poul Anderson, it's no surprise that his works can be hit and miss. "The Disinherited" definitely falls on the "hit" side and offers a look at the dark side of colonialism, something our genre rarely explores.

Five stars

"The Loolies Are Here" by Allison Rice

Allison Rice is the only unfamiliar name in Orbit 1. However, the biographic note explains that Allison Rice is a joint penname used by Jane Rice, whose stories have been brightening up the pages of Unknown, Astounding and F&SF for more than twenty years now, and Ruth Allison, a mother of five and new writer.

The first person narrator – we later learn that she shares the name the authors have chosen to publish this story under – is a harried housewife and mother of four, who is dealing with a torrent of bad luck, appliances breaking down, children and pets misbehaving, etc… One day, she finds tiny footprints on the floor and wonders whether the loolies – mischievous goblins whom her sons blame for their own misbehaviour – are not real after all. Eventually, the narrator sees a bonafide loolie in the bathroom during a massive storm. But even though the loolie causes chaos, he does help the narrator get even with her useless husband.

"The Loolies Are Here" is very much a humour piece and the voice of the harried housewife and mother certainly rings true. In many ways, this story reminded me of Shirley Jackson's collection of semi-autobiographical short stories Life Among the Savages. It's a good story, but as a humorous domestic fantasy story, it doesn't really fit into what is otherwise a science fiction collection.

Four stars

Life Among the Savages by Shirley Jackson

"Kangaroo Court" by Virginia Kidd

Virginia Kidd is a well known name in genre circles as a member of the Futurians, poet, magazine publisher, literary agent, former roommate of Judith Merril and former wife of James Blish. Now she can also add short fiction writer to her resume.

A future Earth, where war is a thing of the past and space travel has been outlawed, receives strange messages from outer space, followed by the landing of a spaceship. A military officer named Tulliver Harms puts himself in charge of dealing with the alien Leloc, whom he is convinced must be dangerous – after all, they're aliens. Harms plans to annihilate the Leloc.

The only potential obstacle to this plan is the newly appointed liaison officer Wystan Godwin, who had no idea what is going on due to having spent the past few months on a retreat in monastery in Tibet. Harms does his best to keep Godwin busy and in the dark, but eventually Wystan gets to parley with the kangaroo-like Leloc, who are not just very alien, but who also believe that Earth is their long lost colony. Wystan has to muster all his diplomatic skills to avoid genocide or all-out war.

"Kangaroo Court" is an amusing story about how diplomacy rather than violence wins the day, featuring some truly alien aliens. However, it also goes on far too long and particularly the expositional sections in the middle about kangaroos, marsupials and the impossible nature of the Leloc spacedrive made my eyes glaze over like the gizmospeak in a bad Analog story.

Three stars

"Splice of Life" by Sonya Dorman

Sonya Dorman burst onto the scene a few years ago and has since established herself as one of our most exciting new writers.

"Splice of Life" opens with a young woman – she's only ever addressed as Miss D. – coming to after a car accident, just in time for a doctor to stick a hypodermic into her eyeball. The eye was injured in the accident and Miss D. worries that she may lose it. The doctors and nurses reassure her, but both Miss D. and the reader realise that something is not quite right in this hospital.

A neat tale of medical horror with a ending that packs a punch.

Four stars

"5 Eggs" by Thomas M. Disch

Thomas M. Disch is another newish author, who was one of Cele Goldsmith-Lalli's discoveries back when she was editing Fantastic and Amazing.

The unnamed writer protagonist of "5 Eggs" has been left by his lover Nyctimene on the eve of their engagement party. Gradually, we learn that Nyctimene was not quite human, but some kind of bird alien, as the reference to the figure from Greek mythology suggests. However, Nyctimene has left something behind: a basket of eggs. But leaving eggs lying around the house can be quite dangerous.

This story is well written, but there isn't much of a plot and the final twist is not as shocking as Disch probably thinks it is. The recipe for Caesar salad sounds good, though.

Two stars

Pure Food-Oil ad
If you're planning on making Thomas M. Disch's recipe for Caesar salad, mind the eggs.

"The Deeps" by Keith Roberts

British writer and artist Keith Roberts has been gracing the covers and pages of Science Fantasy and New Writings in SF for several years now, though this is his first US publication, as far as I know.

"The Deeps" starts with the by now familiar dystopian vision of an overpopulated Earth (for another recent take on this theme see Make Room, Make Room! by Harry Harrison, reviewed here by our own Jason Sacks). This time around, the ingenious solution to the overpopulation problem is cities on the ocean floor.

Mary Franklin is a suburban housewife living in one of those undersea cities. One day, her teenaged daughter Jen goes off to a dance and doesn't come home. Mary goes searching for her, wondering whether the children who grow up under the sea are not becoming steadily more fishlike.

"The Deeps" is well written. Roberts captures both Mary's frustration with her husband and her fear for Jen, though I wonder whether a frantic mother searching for her missing child would really spend two pages describing the infrastructure of undersea living. Atmospheric, but not a whole lot of plot and marred by long stretches of exposition.

Three stars

Summary Judgment

The Orbit anthology series is certainly off to a good start. The quality of the stories varies, but they do offer a good overview of the range of science fiction writing today.

Of the nine stories in this anthology, four are written by women. If we count Jane Rice and her collaborator Ruth Allison separately, we have five male and five female authors. Of course, women make up fifty-one percent of the Earth's population, so an anthology with fifty percent male and fifty percent female contributors shouldn't be anything unusual. However, in practice there are still way too many magazine issues and anthologies that don't have a single female contributor, so an anthology where half the authors are women is truly remarkable.

Three and a half stars all in all

Café on the Bremen market square
Enjoying the summer sun with a cup of coffee, a slice of snow mousse cake and a good book on Bremen's market square.
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Book, Science Fiction/Fantasy

[May 16, 1966] Spies, Poets and Linguists: Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany

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by Cora Buhlert

Crashing Starfighters

Before heading into the planned book review, I have sad news to relate: on May 10, two Lockheed F104G Starfighters of the West German air force collided over the North Sea and crashed into the waves, killing both pilots.

Lockheed Starfighter
A Lockheed F104G Starfighter, actually flying for once.

This would be a tragedy in itself, but what makes it even worse is that only eight days before, on May 2, another aircraft of the same type crashed near Rendsburg in the far north of West Germany, killing the pilot. Nor are these isolated incidents. All in all, the West German air force has lost fifty-four Lockheed Starfighters since 1961, twenty-six of them in 1965 alone. By now, the aircraft has a terrible reputation in West Germany, is nicknamed "widow maker" or "flying coffin," and also gave birth to tasteless jokes such as "How do you become the owner of a Starfighter? – Just buy a meadow and wait."

Starfighter crash Mörsen
This Starfighter crash in Twistringen, some 25 kilometres from where I live, cost not just the life of the pilot, but also that of a woman and her two daughters as well as a volunteer firefighter.

After so many crashes and avoidable deaths of both pilots and civilians on the ground, the West German parliament has finally launched an inquiry into why these accidents keep happening. Reasons include inadequate safety equipment and maintenance, general issues with the aircraft as well as the fact that West German Secretary of Defence Franz Josef Strauß, probably the worst German politician since 1945, requested alterations and add-ons, which the light fighter aircraft cannot handle.

Franz Josef Strauß
West German Secretary of Defence Franz Josef Strauß poses in the cockpit of a Starfighter. A pity he won't be the one who's in the cockpit when the next Starfighter crashes.

Spies in Space

With so much grim news in the real world, you just want to escape into a book. So I was happy to find Babel-17, the latest science fiction novel by Samuel R. Delany, in the spinner rack at my local import bookstore. The blurb promised a mix of space opera and James Bond style spy adventure, which sounded right up my alley.

Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany

Babel-17 starts with a poem, and there are further poems scattered throughout the novel, used as chapter epigraphs. This is something you occasionally find in vintage pulp magazines, but rarely in contemporary science fiction. However, the use of poetry is entirely appropriate here, because Rydra Wong, protagonist of Babel-17, is a poet.

Rumour has it that the character is based on Samuel Delany's wife, the poet Marilyn Hacker, and that the poems found throughout the novel are her work. This is supported by a scene where Rydra Wong remembers the two men with whom she was in a triple marriage, a fellow writer named Muels Aranlyde and a geologist named Fobo Lombs. Muels Aranlyde is not just an anagram for Samuel R. Delany, he is also the author of a novel called Empire Star, which just happens to be the title of a novel Delany published earlier this year (reviewed here by our own Jason Sacks). Fobo Lombs is an anagram for Bob Folsom, a friend of the Delanys, to whom Babel-17 is dedicated.

Marilyn Hacker
The poet Marilyn Hacker, wife of Samuel R. Delany and model for Rydra Wong

After the poem, the novel proper opens with General Forester of the Alliance musing about invasions, embargos, hunger and cannibalism. From this, the reader deduces that Babel-17 is set in a galactic empire in the far future, which is at war. Later, we learn that warring parties, the Alliance and the Invaders, are both human.

The General is at bar, waiting to meet the above mentioned Rydra Wong. At twenty-six, Rydra Wong is not only the voice of the age and the most famous poet in the five explored galaxies, but also a linguistic genius with perfect verbal recall as well as breathtakingly beautiful. Oh yes, and she can read minds as well. Normally, characters this perfect simply annoy the reader. Rydra Wong, however, is endlessly fascinating, not just to the reader, but also to any man she meets. She has the magnetic charisma of James Bond, if James Bond were a brilliant female poet.

The military has hired Rydra Wong to solve a mystery. Factories and military installations have been experiencing mysterious accidents, which appear to be due to sabotage. Just before every accident, a burst of radio signals occurs. The signals seem to be encoded messages, but no one can crack the code, named Babel-17.

This is where Rydra Wong comes in. Using her linguistic genius, she determines that reason no one can decode Babel-17 is that it's not a code at all, but a language. Once Rydra realises that the messages are a dialogue, not a monologue, she makes headway in translating them and figures out where the next accident will occur. And since Rydra Wong also happens to have a space captain's licence, she is determined to go there.

As Rydra begins to translate more messages in Babel-17, she finds that her thoughts speed up to the point that regular English seems hopelessly slow and clumsy to convey meaning. Furthermore, Rydra realises that her uncanny abilities to guess what others are thinking from involuntary muscle movements are becoming more accurate and that she has also developed the ability to determine weak spots in anything from restraint webbing to attack patterns. Learning Babel-17 is literally changing the way Rydra perceives the universe.

A Multicultural Future

The next few chapters are given over to Rydra Wong recruiting her spaceship crew in various dodgy bars. These chapters are not only a lot of fun, they also serve to enrich the world Delany has built. We learn that cosmetic surgery is commonplace in this universe to the point that some people barely look human anymore and that walking around naked or nearly naked is not only perfectly acceptable, but socially expected. We also learn that there are so-called triples – marriages of three people – that are required for certain jobs aboard spaceships and that there are other jobs aboard spaceships that can only be done by what are essentially ghosts.

The reader also learns that Babel-17 is set in a multilingual and multiracial world. This is not your typical science fiction future where everybody speaks English – instead, there are myriad languages in this universe, snippets of some of which make their way into the novel. Our heroine Rydra Wong is an Asian woman, one of her three navigators, as well as Dr. Marcus T'mwarba, a psychologist who took in young Rydra after she was orphaned by the invasion, are black. None of this should sound unusual – after all, we live in a multilingual, multiracial and multi-ethnic world, so why should the future consist solely of white Americans? However, in practice science fiction all too often still offers up white monolingual all-American futures. Samuel R. Delany, however, is a black man and chose to show a more diverse future.

Samuel R. Delany
Samuel R. Delany is not just one of our most talented writers, he's also a very handsome man.

Treason Close to Home

Rydra's mission runs into problems almost immediately and her ship Rimbaud (named after French poet Arthur Rimbaud) suffers sabotage before it has even left Earth orbit. There is a traitor on board, but who?

Once the Rimbaud reaches her destination, the Alliance War Yards at Bellatrix, more trouble awaits. Delany goes into full James Bond mode here. First, he has Baron Ver Dorco, director of the War Yards, show off the secret superweapons developed there to Rydra, only for the Baron and several members of his staff to be murdered during a dinner party, when one of those superweapons, a shapeshifting android assassin, goes awry. The saboteur has struck again.

Rydra and her crew are not targeted by the saboteur, even though Rydra later notes that the murderous android had every chance to kill her. However, once Rydra and her crew return to the Rimbaud, they are struck by sabotage again, causing the ship to launch prematurely. Rydra muses that someone on board must speak Babel-17 and that this someone must be the saboteur. If you're thinking at this point that there is only one person aboard the Rimbaud who speaks Babel-17, you're on the right track.

Left adrift with their generators burned out, Rydra and crew of the Rimbaud are rescued by the pirate vessel Jebel Tarik. Though for a pirate ship, the Jebel Tarik has a surprisingly literate captain who is eager to discuss literature with Rydra. However, Rydra quickly impresses Captain Tarik in other ways as well, when she uses her Babel-17 derived abilities to aid the pirates during a raid and to save Tarik from an assassination attempt.

Rydra also bonds with Tarik's lieutenant Butcher, an amnesiac ex-con who was tortured by the Invaders and who cannot understand the concepts of "I" and "you". Rydra tries to teach him those concepts in a stunning dialogue where "I" and "you" are reversed throughout.

Rydra's next destination is the Alliance Administrative Headquarters. But before they can get there, they are attacked by the Invaders. Rydra, her crew and Butcher escape after a thrilling hand to hand battle in deep space. If you're thinking by now that Rydra Wong is remarkably unlucky, you're on the right track.

However, Rydra is not just remarkably unlucky, she is also very smart and so she eventually puts the pieces together in a nigh psychedelic and erotically charged scene where Rydra and Butcher merge both their bodies and minds. The saboteur and the traitor aboard the Rimbaud are revealed. So are Butcher's missing memories.

Reprogramming Human Brains

As the title implies, the solution to the mystery is Babel-17. For while Babel-17 is a language, it functions like a programming language, only that it programs not computers but human brains. Exposure to Babel-17 can turn people into unwitting traitors and replace their entire personality.

However, those who fell victim to Babel-17 can be deprogrammed. Furthermore, Rydra Wong has realised that what makes Babel-17 is so destructive is the lack of personal pronouns and the concepts of self and others. However, changing the language to include those concepts will also correct its flaws and stop the sabotage and the war. And so Rydra, Butcher and the rest of Rydra's loyal crew take off in a stolen Alliance battleship to put everything right and end the war. If only wars in the real world, such as the ongoing conflict in Vietnam, could be ended so easily.

Soft Science and Hard Linguistics

Space opera is often less scientifically rigorous than other types of science fiction. Babel-17, however, is based in real science. Though that science is not physics, chemistry or astronomy, but linguistics.

Campus Uni Vechta 1966
The newly built campus of the Pedagogic College Vechta, where I taught linguistics.

I'm a translator and linguist by training and even taught English linguistics at the Pedagogic College in Vechta, a town in Northwest Germany (which also suffered a Starfighter crash, by the way). So I'm familiar with the linguistic theories behind Babel-17.

The concept that underlies Babel-17, both the novel and the fictional language, is the theory of linguistic relativity, which postulates that the structure and vocabulary of a language determines the speaker's thoughts, worldview and perception.

Edward Sapir
Edward Sapir
Benjamin Lee Whorf
Benjamin Lee Whorf

The theory of linguistic relativity goes back to Enlightenment era thinkers such as Johann Gottfried Herder and Wilhelm von Humboldt. Nowadays, it is mostly associated with the American linguists Edward Sapir and particularly Benjamin Lee Whorf (who also coined the term linguistic relativity) to the point that the theory is sometimes referred to as the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, even if Sapir and Whorf, though influenced by each other, did not actually develop the theory together. Working independently of Sapir and Whorf, West German linguist Leo Weisgerber has developed the similar theory of "inhaltsbezogene Grammatik" (content-related grammar), which is still influential in both West and East Germany.

Leo Weissgerber
Leo Weissgerber

Weisgerber's work is little known in the English-speaking world, but I am certain that Samuel R. Delany is familiar with both Sapir's and Whorf's work. The concept of allophones – variations of a spoken sound that belong to the same phoneme – which Rydra explains to General Forester early in the novel, was taken straight from Whorf's work.

The theory of linguistic relativity is popular among science fiction writers. Jack Vance also used it as the background for his 1957 novel The Languages of Pao. The idea that language determines thought and perception is certainly seductive and I can understand why science fiction writers keep using it. There is only one problem. The theory of linguistic relativity is not only controversial, but also very likely wrong.

Satellite Science Fiction

The Languages of Pao

Particularly Whorf comes in for a lot of criticism these days, some of which, e.g. the fact that too many of his hypotheses are based on anecdotal evidence, is justified, some of which, e.g. the sniffy disdain for the fact that Whorf was a chemical engineer by training and never actually completed a linguistics degree, is not.

Neither I nor most other linguists would go so far to declare that there is no link at all between the structure, grammar and vocabulary of a language and the perception and worldview of its speakers. After all, everybody who speaks more than one language has experienced that one language uses words and grammar to express concepts that the other does not even have. However, the link between language and worldview is not nearly as strong as Benjamin Lee Whorf and Leo Weisgerber claim.

Nor does the fact that a language does not have a word for a certain concept or perception mean that its speakers don't experience that perception. For example, English does not have an equivalent to the German word "Feierabend" (the time after work, literally "celebration evening"). Nonetheless English speakers are familiar with the joyful feeling of leaving the office or factory to head home, even if they don't have a word to describe it.

Meanwhile, the central concept of Babel-17, namely that learning and understanding a language can influence a person's thoughts and actions to the point that they lose their memories and identity and turn traitor, is – pardon me for being so blunt – nonsense and likely born out of Cold War fears about Manchurian Candidate style brainwashing and Communist sleeper agents. It does, however, make for a great story. Besides, science fiction thrives on extrapolating far-fetched and often impossible ideas from solid scientific theories. If we accept faster-than-light travel, then we can certainly accept Babel-17.

Babel-17 is many things: an action-packed space opera in the tradition of Planet Stories and Thrilling Wonder Stories, a James Bond style spy adventure in space, a meditation about language and how it influences our thoughts and identities and a primer on linguistic theories. Above all, however, it is a great science fiction novel, the best I've read this year so far.

Five stars.

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Movies, Science Fiction/Fantasy

[April 10, 1966] A Fairy Tale from the East: King Thrushbeard

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by Cora Buhlert

Marching for Peace

The long Easter holiday weekend has just passed. For most West Germans, Easter is a time for church services, family dinners, bunnies and chocolate eggs.

However, in the past six years, Easter has also become a time for peace protests. These so-called Easter marches have been inspired by the British Aldermaston marches and always take place during the Easter weekend throughout West Germany.

Easter March in Delmenhorst, 1966
The Easter march in Delmenhorst, a town of 60000 people in my region.

Initially, Easter marches only happened in big cities. But now, fuelled by fears about the war in Vietnam and nuclear armament, even places like Delmenhorst, a town of 60000 people in my region, have Easter marches of their own. Meanwhile, the big marches such as Frankfurt's attract celebrities such as US folk singer Joan Baez, West German actor, singer and comedian Wolfgang Neuss and US peace activist Ira Sandperl.

Easter march 1966 in Frankfurt/Main
Celebrity protesters at the 1966 Easter march in Frankfurt include US peace activist Ira Sandperl, singer Joan Baez and German actor, singer and comedian Wolfgang Neuss

Springtime in Leipzig

However, marches are not the only way to promote world peace and global understanding. Meeting people from the Eastern bloc also helps and so I ventured across the Iron Curtain last month to attend the 1966 spring fair in Leipzig, East Germany. Based on a tradition going back to the middle ages, the Leipzig spring and autumn fairs have become a showcase for East European industry since the war. The Leipzig fairs are also a time when East and West move a little closer together and the Iron Curtain becomes a bit more porous. Particularly, the associated Leipzig book fair offers a chance for booklovers from East and West to meet.

Leipzig spring fair 1966 Wartburg
The brand-new Wartburg 312 is the pride of the East German car industry. But don't think you can just walk into a showroom to buy one. The waiting list is several years long.
Leipzig spring fair 1966
East German construction equipment on display at the Leipzig spring fair
Soviet space probes on display at the Leipzig spring fair
My favourite part of the 1966 Leipzig spring fair was this display of Soviet spacecraft.
East German chocolate bunnies
This young lady presents tasty chocolate Easter treats at the Leipzig spring fair. Finding them in stores is much more difficult.

Because I have family in the nearby town of Schkeuditz, I eschewed the pricy and spy-ridden hotels catering to western visitors and instead spent the night on my Aunt Metel's couch. During the day, I admired the products of East European industrial ingenuity, including a fascinating display of Soviet space probes, and in the evening, I enjoyed the cultural life of Leipzig. Among other things, I went to the cinema to watch the latest East European movies. And this is how I came to see König Drosselbart (King Thrushbeard), a delightful fairy tale that was the highest grossing East German movie of 1965.

Capitol cinema Leipzig
The Capitol cinema in Leipzig with its striking neon sign.

Fairy Tales from the East

Eastern Europe in general and East Germany and Czechoslovakia in particular produce a lot of fairy tale movies. These films rarely reach the English speaking world, but they do make their way onto West German movie and TV screens, because they offer well-made and – at least on the surface – apolitical entertainment for viewers of all ages.

Poster King Thrushbeard

In 1950, the state-owned East German film studio DEFA kicked off its series of fairy tale movies with Das kalte Herz (The Cold Heart), based on a fairy tale by Wilhelm Hauff. The movie was a huge success and so the DEFA started adapting more fairy tales, borrowing stories from the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen, but also from Russian folklore. King Thrushbeard, based on the eponymous fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, is already the seventeenth fairy tale movie the DEFA has made since 1950.

Haughty Princesses and Handsome Strangers

The movie follows the plot of the fairy tale very closely and opens with Princess Roswitha (Karin Ugowski) on a coach ride with her governess Beatrix (Evamaria Heyse). Roswitha urges the coachman to go faster and faster, until the inevitable happens. The coach strikes a pothole and loses a wheel.

King Thrushbeard 1965
Princess Roswitha (Karin Ugowski) confronts coachman Sebastian (Nico Turoff) after her carriage suffers a mishap in the woods.

Lucky for Roswitha and her entourage, a dashing horseman (Manfred Krug) just happens to pass by and immediately offers his help. The horseman is quite taken by the princess. Roswitha, in turn, doesn't quite know what to make of this handsome and helpful stranger, so she reacts with what we quickly realise is her default response to any situation, haughtiness and snark.

King Thrushbeard
Princess Roswitha pretends not to be interested in the handsome stranger (Manfred Krug).

Roswitha is not just haughty and snarky, she's also a spoiled brat and would be difficult to like if the movie didn't show us her softer side, when she uses her own handkerchief to bind the coachman's bleeding hand. This glimpse at Roswitha's kinder side is not lost on the handsome stranger either, who shamelessly flirts with Roswitha and even gives her a bouquet of little blue wildflowers. This bouquet will reappear throughout the film, indicating that in spite of her behaviour, Roswitha is attracted to the handsome stranger.

However, Roswitha doesn't have time to act on her attraction to handsome strangers she meets in the woods, for she has to return to the castle of her father, King Dandelion (Martin Flörchinger) who is throwing a feast in her honour and has invited several aristocratic and eligible bachelors, hoping Roswitha will choose one of them. Roswitha, however, doesn't want to marry, least of all one of the men her father has chosen for her.

King Thrushbeard 1965
Roswitha and her long suffering father King Dandelion (Martin Flörchinger)

The Hateful Eight

We first meet Roswitha's suitors at the castle, impatiently awaiting the arrival of the Princess. And immediately, the viewer sympathises with Roswitha and her reluctance to marry any of these men, because the suitors are a terrible bunch.

There is King Heinz-Eduard, the favourite of Roswitha's father, who's rich, fat and eats way too much. Roswitha compares him to a wine barrel. King Wenzel of Weinreich is ugly, has crooked teeth and likes alcohol a little too much. Knight Balduin von Backenstreich is rotund, clumsy (he has his proposal written down on a cue card he carries in his sleeve and still messes it up) and so short that Roswitha wonders how he can even carry his sword. Lord Zacharias von Zackenschwert is bald, scarred and really, really loves battles and telling war stories. He presents Roswitha with the medals he's won. Duke Adolar von Antenpfiff has a terrible dress sense and is also old enough to be Roswitha's grandfather. Count Eitelfritz von Supp is incredibly vain, thinks wearing a red shag carpet is the height of fashion. He also appears to find Roswitha's other suitors far more interesting than the princess herself, but since this is a movie for children, Count Eitelfritz's romantic preferences remain allusions. Prince Kasimir, finally, seems tolerable at first glance, except that he never had an original thought in his life and always says what he thinks the other person wants to hear.

King Thrushbeard 1965 The terrible suitors
Would you want to marry any of these men? Roswitha's suitors are not exactly promising.

In short, they're all terrible and Roswitha is not shy about letting her suitors know exactly what she thinks of them. In general, it is notable that while Roswitha may be haughty and a pain in the backside at times, she's also a far cry from the wilting and bland princesses found in western fairy tale movies such as Disney's. Roswitha is sassy and knows exactly what she wants, whether in a husband or in a gown. There is a scene early on where she refuses to wear the (very ugly) gown and blonde wig her father has chosen for her and instead opts for a simpler gown and her natural red hair. 22-year-old East German actress Karin Ugowski, a regular in the DEFA fairy tale movies, imbues Roswitha with a lot of charm without losing her prickliness.

King Thrushbeard 1966
The entire annual East German curtain production was used up to make this gown and then Roswitha doesn't even want to wear it, much to the dismay of her governess Beatrix (Evamaria Heyse)

In addition to the terrible eight, a surprise suitor puts in an appearance and he's none other than the handsome stranger Roswitha met in the woods. But though Roswitha was quite taken by the handsome stranger before, she now rejects him as well. This time around, Roswitha objects to the handsome stranger's beard, which she insists looks like the beak of a thrush, hence the nickname King Thrushbeard.

Manfred Krug King Thrushbeard
I'm not a fan of the beard Manfred Krug is sporting here either, but Roswitha should know that beards can be shaved off.

A King in Disguise

However, Roswitha has overplayed her hand. Her father is furious that she rejected all the suitors again and was extremely rude about it as well. So the king swears that he will marry off Roswitha to the first beggar who appears at the castle gates. Lo and behold, promptly a wandering minstrel playing a hurdy-gurdy appears outside the castle. Meanwhile, King Thrushbeard has mysteriously vanished.

King Dandelion wavers about marrying off his only daughter to a wandering minstrel, but the insulted suitors hold him to his word and so Roswitha is married to the minstrel and cast out of the castle.

The true identity of the minstrel will not come as a surprise to anybody but Roswitha, even if the DEFA make-up department did its best to disguise Manfred Krug with a fake beard and to cover up the distinctive scar on Krug's forehead, legacy of his pre-acting career as a steelworker, with a hairpiece. Yes, the wandering minstrel is none other than King Thrushbeard in disguise, out to teach the princess a lesson and win her after all.

King Thrushbeard 1965
Roswitha and her minstrel husband at the castle gates.

Eastern Jazz

28-year-old Manfred Krug is a rising star in East Germany and King Thrushbeard certainly demonstrates why. Whether king or minstrel, he always displays his cocky working class charm and has great chemistry with his co-star Karin Ugowski. King Thrushbeard (we later learn that his real name is Hans) takes no crap from Roswitha and gives as good as he gets. But contrary to his fairy tale counterpart, he's not a jerk, but instead treats Roswitha with kindness and patience.

Manfred Krug is not just an actor, but also a talented singer and songwriter, skills that he gets ample chance to show off in King Thrushbeard. Both East and West Germans love schlager, sappy pop songs of love lost and won, so schlager make up most of Manfred Krug's musical output. However, his true love is jazz, which he calls "the best gift our American brothers ever gave us".

Manfred Krug plays jazz
Manfred Krug and his band Die Jazz Optimisten play jazz in East Germany.

So how good a singer is Manfred Krug? A very good one, it turns out. Check out his amazing version of "House of the Rising Sun", which I for one prefer to The Animals'. Krug also wrote the German lyrics, which touch on taboo subjects such as race relations in the US South.

Jazz und Lyrik
Jazz und Lyrik, one of Manfred Krug's records

Crafting Lessons in the Woods

The songs that Krug sings in King Thrushbeard are far more traditional, though pleasant. However, the people of the town, through which Roswitha and her new husband pass, only have a few pennies to spare for a wandering minstrel. The minstrel spends those few pennies on an apple for Roswitha. In the real world, he tells her, things cost money and they have none.

King Thrushbeard 1965
Roswitha and her new husband take a stroll across the market
Manfred Kurg and Karin Ugowski in King Thrushbeard
The minstrel performed such a lovely song to buy this apple and now Roswitha doesn't even want it.

The minstrel takes Roswitha to a shack in the woods, where Roswitha turns out to be absolutely hopeless at housework. Nor does she have any marketable skills, which does not bode well for the couple's financial future.

Now the movie turns into "Crafting with Manfred Krug", as King Thrushbeard tries to teach Roswitha basket weaving, spinning and finally pottery (we never learn just how a king came by such practical skills). Roswitha turns out to be bad at all three crafts, but she reveals herself to be a talented painter, so she paints the pots and jugs that her husband makes. Meanwhile, Roswitha is thrilled that her painting skills are actually appreciated, because back at the castle, no one ever did.

Manfred Krug and Karin Ugowski in King Thrushbeard
Crafting with Manfred Krug: Lesson 2: Spinning

Next, King Thrushbeard sends Roswitha to market to sell the pots and jugs they made. Her success is middling, because Roswitha just isn't the stereotypically noisy market wife. On the second day, she sets up her stall a bit apart from the others, only to have a drunk soldier ride straight into it, shattering all her pottery. Humiliated and deeply ashamed, Roswitha runs off into the woods, believing she cannot come home to her husband, after she lost their entire stock.

King Thrushbeard
Roswitha is selling handpainted pottery at the market.
King Thrushbeard
Disaster is about to strike, for in a few seconds this horseman will destroy Roswitha's wares.

Happily Ever After with Meatballs and Parsley

At a well in the woods, Roswitha asks her reflection for advice and gets it in the form of a kitchen boy from the nearby castle who is gathering mushrooms for the royal table. The boy tells Roswitha of an open position in the castle as a kitchen maid, so Roswitha goes with him. She is quickly hired, especially since it turns out that she is very good at making the king's favourite dish, meatballs with parsley sauce, which – quelle surprise – also just happens to be her husband's favourite dish.

Meanwhile, King Thrushbeard is looking for his missing wife and learns what happened from the other market vendors. Realising that he overdid the whole charade, he goes in search of Roswitha, enlisting the aid of his most trusted courtiers and servants. The cook recognises the king's description as the new kitchen maid.

King Thrushbeard 1965
Roswitha has made meatballs with parsley sauce for the king.

So King Thrushbeard throws a big wedding feast and has Roswitha make meatballs with parsley sauce (a specialty from Saxony) as the main course. He also insists that she personally serves the meal. When Roswitha realises who the king is she drops the tureen with the meatballs (this movie certainly is hard on tableware) and runs off once again. King Thrushbeard catches up with her, apologises and the two are married for real. And they lived happily ever after.

King Thrushbeard wedding
Roswitha and King Thrushbeard celebrate their wedding with a dance.

King Thrushbeard is an delightful film. It sticks close enough to the original plot that everybody recognises it at once, but also updates the 150-year-old story to remove some of the more unpleasant aspects of the original, where King Thrushbeard is very much a jerk. The cast is excellent, particularly the two leads, but also the supporting actors playing the various suitors.

One thing about the film that surprised me were the rather basic sets. The movie was shot entirely in the DEFA studios in Potsdam Babelsberg and it shows. Even the woods through which Roswitha and King Thrushbeard pass repeatedly are obviously a studio set. The castle, the town and the minstrel's shack consist of random set pieces and bits of furniture against a plain grey studio background. The result is a highly stylized look, partly reminiscent of silent movies and partly of the fairy tale stage plays that are a staple of German theatres in the run-up to Christmas. I have seen DEFA movies with location footage and elaborate sets, so this is a deliberate artistic choice, not an economic necessity. Allegedly, the reason for the stylized sets is the theory that realistic sets would only confuse young viewers and distract from the plot.

A Socialist Fairy Tale?

So how political is King Thrushbeard, considering it is a movie from beyond the iron curtain? On the surface, it's not very political at all, considering it is an adaptation of a 150-year-old fairy tale cum morality play, featuring kings and princesses. However, at second glance, Socialist politics do become apparent, though they are more subtle than the blunt messaging e.g. in the East German science fiction film The Silent Star.

For starters, the movie very much stresses the value and importance of work. It is his ability to work with his hands that sets King Thrushbeard apart from the useless suitors and Roswitha's redemption involves getting a good honest proletarian job, first as a ceramic painter, then as a pottery vendor and finally as a kitchen maid.

Furthermore, the second song the minstrel sings explicitly states that both excessive wealth and poverty are bad for society and that equality is the best state. It's the Socialist message in a nutshell.

King Thrushbeard 1965
King Heinz-Eduard, one of Roswitha's terrible suitors, is a caricature of a fat and rich capitalist.
King Thrushbeard
Lord Zacharias von Zackenschwert is a stereotypical war mongering Prussian officer.

The terrible suitors can also be seen as an indictment of various vices. We have a drunkard, a war monger, a glutton, a man who ostentatiously shows off his wealth, a pompous fellow with a monocle, a yes-man who parrots what others wants to hear, a stammering idiot and a man who cares about his own appearance above all else. These, the movie tells us very clearly, are the sort of people the real existing Socialist republic of East Germany does not need. Though it is notable that the vices of the bad suitors also line up with the seven deadly sins of Christianity.

King Thrushbeard Russian poster
The Russian poster for "King Thrushbeard"

But don't let my comments about the political content of the movie scare you off. King Thrushbeard is an enjoyable fairy tale for young and old.

Four stars




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Fashion, music, politics, sports

[March 8, 1966] Revolutionary Art for Revolutionary Times: Friedrich Schiller's The Robbers and the Battle over West German Theatre

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by Cora Buhlert

Spring Awakening:

March started out cool and rainy here in North West Germany, but spring is in the air and so is change.

Yesterday Man by Chris Andrews

Beat music has rapidly conquered not only the hearts of the young, but also the West German charts. However, there is still life in the schlager genre, beloved by the older generation. And so the beat song "Yesterday Man" by British singer Chris Andrews has been replaced at the top of the West German single charts with the treacly "Ganz in Weiß" (All in White) by the young Schlager singer Roy Black. Ironically, Roy Black, whose real name is Günther Höllerich, started out as a rock singer and named himself after Roy Orbison, but switched over to the schlager side, when he found no success in his chosen genre.

Ganz in Weiss by Roy Black

Robbers; Pop Art and Controversy:

Meanwhile, my hometown of Bremen has become embroiled in a massive controversy that began in the most unlikely of places, namely behind the white neoclassical façade of the more than fifty-year-old Bremen theatre. For on March 6, 1966, at 2 AM in the night, a new production of Friedrich Schiller's 1781 play Die Räuber (The Robbers) premiered, directed by Peter Zadek.

Bremen Theatre am Goetheplatz
The Bremen Theatre am Goetheplatz, an unlikely setting for a theatre scandal.

So what on Earth makes a new production of an almost two-hundred-years old play, a classic of German literature that generations of students suffered through in school, so controversial and shocking? Well, you see, this is not your usual production of The Robbers, with actors dressed in faux 18th century garb and painted backdrops of the deep dark woods, through which the titular robber gang and their leader, the aristocratic outlaw Karl Moor, swagger on their quest for vengeance, freedom and paternal love.

Instead, the stage was drenched in neon light. The painted backdrop, courtesy of head set designer Wilfried Mink, depicted not deep dark woods and gothic castles, but a colourful pop art scene of a woman sniper that was clearly inspired by Roy Lichtenstein's comic strip paintings. It's a striking image and one that brought a smile to my face. However, the more conservative theatregoers were so shocked by so much pop that they booed as soon as the curtains went up.

Stage design for The Robbers
Wilfried Mink's striking Roy Lichtenstein inspired stage design for "The Robbers"

Romantic Outlaws in the Deep Dark Woods:

In front of this pop art backdrop, the familiar tragedy we all remember from our school days played out. The aristocratic Count von Moor has two sons, the handsome Karl, his oldest son and heir, and the ugly and deformed younger son Franz. The Count prefers Karl, who is a wastrel and womanizer, and rejects the dutiful Franz. The fact that both Karl and Franz are in love with the virginal Amalia doesn't help matters either.

One thing I liked about the Bremen production of The Robbers is that the talented actors playing Karl, Franz and Amalia are all young and about the same age as the characters they play. This is a far cry from fifty-year-old veteran actors portraying the youthful follies of characters in their twenties.

Karl Moor
The aristocratic outlaw Karl Moor, the way he was portrayed in 1859.

In most productions of The Robbers, the actors wear 18th century garb, which Karl complements with the slouch hat of the romantic highwayman. In Bremen, however, Karl (portrayed by Vadim Glowna whose mother-in-law Ada Tschechowa was one of the victims of the Lufthansa flight 005 crash in January) dresses in a Superman inspired costume, which looks striking, though it doesn't provide much camouflage in the deep dark woods of Bohemia. Franz is dressed up like a monkey with a tail, a hunchback and huge fake ears, probably because Franz is supposed to be ugly and the talented 25-year-old Swiss actor Bruno Ganz, who portrays him on stage, is rather handsome. Amalia (Edith Clever), meanwhile, emphasises her virginal purity by wandering about in a white nightgown. Again, you would not think that this is particularly shocking, but the furious boos and walk-outs from parts of the audience suggest otherwise.

After his wild student days, Karl wants to change his wicked ways and writes a letter to his father, begging for forgiveness. However, his jealous brother Franz replaces the letter with a forgery, which portrays Karl as a rapist and murderer, whereupon the Count disinherits Karl and banishes him from the castle. This turn of events shocks Karl so much that he and his student friends promptly decide to form a robber gang to strike back at society and the parents who wronged them. And because these intellectual robbers are devoted to democracy, Karl is elected captain of the gang.

The romantic outlaw, often a nobleman who was wronged and has fallen on hard times, is a stock figure in German literature and legend from the 18th century well into the 20th. As with many legends, there is a kernel of truth to the tale of the romantic robber, for the highways and woodlands of Germany were indeed infested with gangs of bandits well into the 19th century, though those bandits were usually neither noble nor aristocratic nor idealistic university students but just plain criminals.

The Robbers is more realistic than most tales of romantic bandits. And so the idealistic Karl quickly realises that life as a robber is not all it's cracked up to be, when his comrades develop a taste for killing and his gang burns down an entire town, while rescuing one of their own from the gallows. The Bremen production stages the gang's reign of terror by pouring buckets of fake blood onto the stage, enough to shock Karl into returning home and part of the remaining audience to walk out in disgust. You'd think people would have noticed that The Robbers is a very bloody play (Karl's gang kills 82 people when they burn down the town) before seeing the blood actually flow on stage.

A Bourgeois Tragedy:

Back at the castle, Karl's villainous brother Franz has forged yet more letters, informing his father and Amalia that Karl has died. Bruno Ganz spends the first two acts of the play running across the stage in his monkey outfit, calling, "The mail has come."

Furthermore, Franz plots to murder his father to become count. When this fails, he simply locks his father in the dungeon and takes over the castle. Franz also tries to seduce Amalia, but Amalia would rather join a convent than marry Franz.

Bruno Ganz and Edith Clever in The Robbers
Franz Moor (Bruno Ganz) harrasses Amalia (Edith Clever) in the Bremen production of The Robbers.

The disguised Karl blunders into this sorry state of things. He finds his father in the dungeon and Amalia still mourning his death and decides to wreak vengeance on his treacherous brother. But once again, things don't go Karl's way. Terrified of the robbers, Franz commits suicide. When Karl unmasks in front of his father, the old Count promptly dies of shock (thankfully, none of the audience members followed suit). The unruly robbers burn down the castle.

Only the faithful Amalia wants to stay with Karl, but Karl tells her that the life of a robber is no place for a woman. But he can't leave the gang, because he swore a holy oath. Now Amalia wants to die and begs Karl to kill her, which he reluctantly does. In the end, the devastated Karl surrenders to the authorities, first making sure that a poor man with thirteen kids gets the considerable prize on his head. Schiller doesn't tell us what happened to Karl afterwards, but anybody with a bit of knowledge of history can guess. Captured bandits were almost all executed, hanged or beheaded if they were lucky and broken on the wheel if they were not.

Bremen The Robbers
The devastated Karl Moor (Vadim Glowna) breaks down on stage in the Bremen production of The Robbers

The Robbers is one of Schiller's best plays. However, I hated the ending when I first read it in school, particularly the fate of Amalia. Why couldn't women become romantic outlaws, too, and why couldn't Karl and Amalia live happily ever after in the deep dark woods? As an adult, I still don't like the ending very much, though it is more realistic than Karl and Amalia playing Robin Hood in the Bohemian woods. Because let's face it, Karl's robbers are murderous bandits who have killed countless people. Though Amalia could still have moved on, especially since Karl is very much an idiot for all his noble swagger. You don't join a criminal gang and start killing people just because your parents have wronged you.

Karl's brother Franz may be the villain, but he is still sympathetic, also due to Bruno Ganz's great performance. For while Karl lost his father's love, Franz never had it in the first place. He was rejected and mistreated all his life for his physical defects that he had no control over. His deeds are inexcusable – but then so are Karl's – but I can understand his motivation. Meanwhile, the true villain of the play is the old Count with his favouritism and abominable parenting skills.

Generational Conflict Played out on Stage:

At its heart, The Robbers is a play about the conflict between an older generation that is set in its ways and a young idealistic generation crying out for freedom and change. This conflict was playing out when Schiller first wrote the play only a few years before the French Revolution and it is once again playing out all over West Germany, where a generation born during the war and immediate postwar years is rebelling against their Nazi parents. Today's young rebels may protest against the war in Vietnam and they may join a commune or a motorcycle gang rather than a robber band, but the conflict at the heart of The Robbers is still as current as it ever was.

This generational divide is also mirrored in the reactions to Peter Zadek's production of The Robbers. Older theatregoers, who often have a subscription to see every production of the season, were infuriated by the unexpected visuals on stage to the point that they walked out en masse or wrote letters of protest to the local newspaper. In fact, theatre manager Kurt Hübner explicitly warned the more conservative viewers that this particular production of The Robbers would not be what they expect. And indeed, the premiere took place after midnight specifically to keep the conservative subscription viewers away. Meanwhile, younger people, many of whom rarely bother to go to the theatre at all because the productions are so stuffy and boring, were thrilled at this colourful and fresh adaptation of a classic play that everybody remembers from school.

Kurt Hübner
Kurt Hübner, manager of the Bremen theatre, and some of his stars on the balcony of the theatre,

A Sixty-Year War:

The controversy about the Bremen production of The Robbers is also part of a larger battle about how faithful to the text and the perceived intentions of the author a theatre production should be. This battle has been raging in theatres across Germany for sixty years now, beginning when Viennese actor and director Max Reinhardt ignored stage directions in favour of dreamlike three-dimensional sets on a revolving stage – shocking back in 1905. A few years later in 1919, director Leopold Jessner caused a veritable scandal when his production of Friedrich Schiller's play Wilhelm Tell was performed not in front of the expected painted alpine backdrop, but on a multi-level staircase type stage.

Jessner staircase set
Actors standing on a staircase instead of in front of a painted alpine backdrop in Leopold Jessner's production of "Wilhelm Tell". Truly scandalous back in 1919.

The Nazis drove out innovative directors like Reinhardt and Jessner, both of whom happened to be Jewish, and German theatres reverted to staid and stuffy naturalism. This style persisted after the war, promoted by conservative directors like Gustaf Gründgens (a not particularly flattering literary portrait of whom was the subject of a controversy last year).

But change was in the air and it came from the unexpected direction of the Green Hill of Bayreuth, home to the famous Richard Wagner festival. Here, director Wieland Wagner, grandson of Richard, threw out the horned helmets and naturalistic painted backdrops in favour of abstract set designs and sophisticated lighting effects.

Parsival Wieland Wagner
The Knights of the Round Table in Wieland Wagner's 1954 production of his grandfather's opera "Parsival" in Bayreuth
Tristan and Isold Bayreuth
Wieland Wagner's 1962 production of his grandfather's opera "Tristan and Isold" in Bayreuth.

Modern opera productions may also be found elsewhere. Only last month, Boris Blacher's new opera Zwischenfälle bei einer Notlandung (Occurrences during an Emergency Landing) premiered in Hamburg. The barren stage was decorated only with an upright metal grid and electronic control consoles. The music was electronic and included tape recordings of plane engines and ocean waves. The plot was pure science fiction. A plane crashes on an island inhabited only by a stereotypical mad scientist and his robots. The scientist takes the surviving passengers prisoner, the passengers and robots team up to destroy the scientist's computers, in the end everything turns out to have been a plot to steal the scientist's research. The critics were politely puzzled and not sure what to make of it all.

Zwischenfälle bei der Notlandung Boris Blacher
The premier of Boris Blacher's new science fiction opera "Zwischenfälle bei der Notlandung" (Occurrences at an Emergency Landing) in Hamburg, featuring robots and mad scientists.

Meanwhile, the Bremen theatre mostly stuck to traditional productions. This changed when manager Kurt Hübner took over in 1962 and brought in young actors and directors with fresh ideas in addition to more traditional fare. The Robbers is not even the first modern production in Bremen. Only last year, a production of Frank Wedekind's 1891 play Frühlings Erwachen (Spring Awakening) premiered, also starring Vadim Glowna and Bruno Ganz. The stage was barren except for a giant photo of British actress Rita Tushingham who loomed above the stage as a symbol for the repressed sexual longing which leads to suicide, rape, teenage pregnancy and prison in the play. Oddly enough, the same critics who now complain about The Robbers generally liked that production of Spring Awakening.

Spring Awakening Bruno Ganz
Dreaming of Rita Tushingham: Bruno Ganz and a sevred head in "Spring Awakening" by Frank Wedekind at the Bremen theatre.
Spring Awakening Bremen
Troubled youngsters in conflict with parent figures. Bruno Ganz, Vadim Glowna and theatre manager Kurt Hübner (and an oversized Rota Tushingham) in the Bremen production of "Spring Awakening".

Authorial intentions:

The debate about how faithful a theatre production should be to the text and the author's intention tends to forget that in many cases, we have no idea what the author's intentions were. Bar a séance, neither Friedrich Schiller nor Frank Wedekind can tell us how they would prefer to see The Robbers or Spring Awakening performed.

Furthermore, stage performances are always a product of their time. In William Shakespeare's time, all parts were played by male actors. Yet no one accuses a contemporary production of being unfaithful to Shakespeare's intentions, just because Juliet is played by a woman. Nor do we expect baroque operas to be performed by castrated male singers, even though that's how it was done in the 17th century.

Friedrich Schiller
Friedrich Schiller, looking very revolutionary and very handsome.

By the standards of the late 18th century, Friedrich Schiller was a revolutionary writer and The Robbers was widely viewed as a call for freedom and an indictment of tyranny to the point that post-revolutionary France granted him an honorary citizenship. When The Robbers premiered in 1781, it was greeted with enthusiastic applause by an overwhelmingly youthful audience, an audience much like those who stayed to the end of the Bremen production and applauded the actors and director.

Which production of The Robbers would Friedrich Schiller prefer: one where actors traipse about in old-fashioned clothes and declaim their dialogues in front of painted backdrops, while an elderly and conservative audience gradually falls asleep in the auditorium, or the Bremen production with its brightly coloured sets, youthful actors and equally youthful audience?

I think the answer is clear.

The Journey is once again up for a Best Fanzine Hugo nomination — and its founder is up for several other awards as well! If you've got a Worldcon membership, or if you just want to see what Gideon's done that's Hugo-worthy, please read his Hugo Eligibility article! Thank you for your continued support.




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Fashion, music, politics, sports

[February 2, 1966] Death in the Fields: The Lufthansa Flight 005 Crash

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by Cora Buhlert

News accounts of plane crashes have become an almost monthly litany.  But it is not often that one finds themselves a first-hand witness to disaster.  Journeyer Cora Buhlert had that unfortunate opportunity last week…

Fields on Fire:

Bremen airport postcard
A postcard of Bremen Airport

On January 28, 1966, I was driving back from downtown Bremen to my home in the village of Seckenhausen just outside Bremen. It was a typical winter evening in North West Germany, rainy, stormy and cold with a low cloud cover and little visibility.

I was driving along the Kladdinger Straße, a meandering country road that connects the Bremen neighbourhood of Grolland to the village of Stuhr, and had the car radio on, because I was waiting for the seven PM news, which were about to start. The area in question is deserted at the best of times. It's mostly fields and meadows stretching along the shores of the river Ochtum as well as the tiny village of Kuhlen, really just a few farmhouses and a roadside inn. A bit further, beyond the river, lies the runway of Bremen airport. However on that night, this lonely stretch of road was surprisingly busy. People were standing outside the farmhouses of Kuhlen and the roadside inn in the pouring rain, all staring at something in the distance.

Puzzled, I drove onwards and quickly saw just what the people of Kuhlen were all staring at. Because just beyond the road, there loomed a wall of flame. An entire field was on fire and the flames had also engulfed an old barn by the roadside. However, it was winter, the field was barren and it was raining, so how could there possibly be such a huge fire?

Stuhr volunteer fire brigade
The Stihr volunteer fire brigade with its two engines.

I did not stop to investigate – it was a very big fire – but stepped down on the accelerator to get to the village of Stuhr and call the fire brigade from a public phonebox there. However, before I could make it to the village, I saw the engines of the Stuhr volunteer fire brigade coming towards me, sirens wailing. Those weren't the only fire engines I passed that night nor the only sirens I heard. It was as if every fire brigade in the entire county had been alerted. As happens so often, the sirens and fire engines also attracted spectators and so I saw several cars and people on bicycles heading towards the fire that I had been so eager to leave behind. Whatever had happened in that lonely field just off Kladdinger Straße, it must have been bad.

It was not until I got home and listened to the eight o'clock news that I learned what had happened. For it turned out that a Lufthansa plane en route from Frankfurt to Hamburg had crashed while attempting to land at Bremen airport just before seven PM, only minutes before I drove past the crash site.

Crash site map
A sketch of the crash site that appeared in the local newspaper.

Roaring engines and rattling windows:

Worried, I immediately called my aunt and uncle to check if they were okay. Because my aunt and uncle live in a house so close to the airport that they could wave at the plane passengers from their kitchen window, if they wanted to. To my relief, they were fine, but then they live on the other side of the airport from crash site. They also reported that their dinner at shortly before seven PM had been interrupted by the roar of a plane engine that was louder than usual, so loud in fact that the windows and doors and even the cups and saucers on the kitchen table rattled. Then the noise suddenly stopped for a heartbeat or two, before it was followed by a loud boom. And come to think of it, I had heard the same hollow boom a few minutes before I drove past the burning field.

Lufthansa 005 crash site
Chaos at the crash site.
Lufthansa 005 crash site
More chaos and fire at the crash site

By the following morning, I learned the sad truth. The crash of Lufthansa flight 005 from Frankfurt to Hamburg via Bremen had cost the lives of everybody on board, forty-two passengers and four crewmembers. Nine passengers were Italian, one was Dutch, one was American, the rest were West Germans. It is the fourth crash of a Lufthansa plane since the reestablishment of the airline in 1954 and the worst to date.

A Sequence of Unfortunate Events:

Lufthansa Convair CV-440 Metropolitan
The Lufthansa Convair CV-440 Metropolitan that crashed in Bremen photographed at Düsseldorf airport last year.

Now, four days on, we have at least a few clues regarding what caused the tragedy in the field just off the Kladdinger Straße. The eight-ear-old Convair CV-440 Metropolitan had entered its final approach to Bremen airport and everything seemed normal, in spite of the low visibility and heavy tail-wind. The cockpit windows may have been iced over as well. The fact that Bremen airport does not yet have a radar system and is not scheduled to be equipped with one until 1970 may have played a role as well.

Lufthansa 005 crash site aerial view
This aerial view of the Lufthansa flight 005 crash site shows the scale of the destruction.

However, once the plane emerged from the low cloud cover, Captain Heinz Saalfeld must have realised that he had overshot the runway, probably due to a defective instrument. He began a go-around manoeuvre only ten metres above the runway and tried to pull up the plane again, though he did not inform the traffic control tower of his intentions. The last time that the tower attempted to contact flight 005 was at 6:50 PM. One minute later, the aircraft crashed. Most likely, Captain Saalfeld and co-pilot Klaus Schadhoff pulled up the plane too quickly, so that the aircraft stalled and crashed into the field just off the runway.

Upon start in Frankfurt, the Convair 440 had been fully fuelled with 3200 litres of kerosine, much more than would have been necessary for the flight to Bremen or Hamburg. The reason for this was that because of the bad weather in North Germany, the pilots wanted to have enough fuel on board to reach an alternate airport in case landing in Bremen or Hamburg would not be possible. Upon impact, the remaining approximately 2500 litres of kerosine on board ignited, causing the massive fire I saw a few minutes later.

Lufthansa 005 crash site
Sifting through the wreckage of the Lufthansa flight 005 crash.

Scenes of Horror:

The airport fire brigade as well as several fire brigades from Bremen and the surrounding villages needed forty minutes to extinguish the flames. Once they did, they found themselves faced with scenes of pure horror.

My neighbour Heini Meier is a member of the Seckenhausen volunteer fire brigade, which was called in to help with the fire fighting and rescue efforts. Only to find that there was no chance of rescuing anybody, because everybody on board had died during impact.

Lufthansa flight 005 crash site
Sifting through the wreckage of the Lufthansa flight 005 crash.

Some of the first people on site, such as a group of teenagers celebrating a birthday in one of the nearby farmhouses and a man walking his dog along the river Ochtum reported that when they reached the crash site, they saw dead passengers still buckled into their seats.

However, by the time Heini Meier made it to the crash site with his fire engine – after being forced to chase spectators out of the way – there were no recognisable bodies left. He did wonder about gleaming spots on the ground in the stark glow of the searchlights. Only when the sun rose the next morning did he realise that he had been walking on charred bodies and that the gleaming he'd noticed in the dark was caused by the jewellery, watches and belt buckles of the dead reflecting the searchlights.

Sifting through the wreckage of the Lufthansa flight 005 crash
Sifting through the wreckage of the Lufthansa flight 005 crash.

By daylight, the sight was so horrible that even hardened veteran fire fighters who had lived through World War II were shocked. But the grim work was particularly hard on the young fire fighters and the teenaged volunteers of the West German federal disaster relief organisation THW who had been tasked with recovering the bodies. Even the ladies of the Delmenhorst Red Cross station who had been sent to Bremen to provide the helpers with coffee and sandwiches were not spared the horrible sights, because they had to pass through the makeshift morgue to deliver food to the helpers.

Body recovery Lufthansa flight 005
A grim task: Young volunteers of the West German federal disaster relief organisation THW recover the bodies of the victims of flight 005.
THW helpers relaxing
Three young THW volunteers are taking a well-deserved break from the grim work of body recovery.
Red Cross helpers
The ladies of the Delmenhorst Red Cross station kept the helpers supplied with coffee and sandwiches.

Because of the intense fire, the dead were burned almost beyond recognition and molten nylon from clothing and upholstering was fused to the bodies. Not all of the bodies were still in one piece either. Identifying all of the passengers and crew based on dental records and personal effects will still take weeks, if not longer.

The Victims of Flight 005

But even though many of the bodies have not yet been identified, we know who the people on board of flight 005 were. So here are the stories of some of them:

Pilot Heinz Saalfeld was 48 years old, an experienced veteran who had been a fighter pilot in World War II and had been flying for Lufthansa since 1957.

Co-pilot Klaus Schadhoff was 27 years old and only got his license last year. He trained at the Lufthansa flight school here in Bremen and was hoping to meet his fiancée during the stopover.

27-year-old Lufthansa stewardess Heide Bitterhof was not supposed to be on flight 005 at all. She only switched shifts at the last minute with a colleague who was suffering from a bad toothache.

Another Lufthansa stewardess, 23-year-old Maria Wolf was on leave and wanted to visit her family in the village of Brinkum, only three kilometres from where she died in the field off the Kladdinger Straße.

Ada Tschechowa
Ada Tschechowa in the 1930s.

49-year-old actress Ada Tschechowa was a film and theatre legend. Her mother was the German-Russian silent film star Olga Tschechowa, her great-uncle was none other than the great Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. Ada's daughter Vera has also joined the family business. She has been acting since her teens and even dated Elvis Presley for a while, much to the chagrin of her mother. Ada Tschechowa had largely retired from acting and worked as an agent. She only boarded flight 005 at the very last minute on a VIP ticket, because she wanted to visit her friend, actor Norbert Kappen who was shooting the TV-show Hafenpolizei (Harbour Police) in Bremen.

Ada Tschechowa and Elvis Presley
Ada Tschechowa pours Elvis Presley a glass of milk when he briefly dated her daughter Vera in 1958.
Ada Tschechowa and Elvia Presley
If you're going to date Ada Tschechowa's daughter, you'd better wear a tie, as Elvia Presley found out.

Dr. Hans Schröter, Bernhard Huber and Helmut Stiller were three managers of the AEG household goods and engine factory in Oldenburg. They were on their way back from a business trip.

Kurt Rosiefsky was a Bremen cotton merchant. He, too, was on his way back from a business trip.

41-year-old Friedrich-Karl von Zitzewitz was a member of an aristocratic family that can trace its lineage back to the 12th century. His father was involved in the resistance against the Third Reich and was arrested in connection with the failed assassination attempt on Hitler on July 20, 1944.

Dr. Karl Suchsland was a specialist in the field of material and production science who wrote a seminal paper about wood glue bonding. He was on his way home to Hamburg.

Italian victims of flight 005
The nine Italian victims of Lufthansa flight 005: swimmers Bruno Bianchi, Dino Rora, Sergio De Gregorio, Luciana Massenzi, Carmen Longo, Amedeo Chimisso and Daniela Samuele, coach Paolo Costoli and reporter Nico Sapio.

Also on board of flight 005 were seven members of the Italian national swim team as well as their coach Paolo Costoli and the Italian TV reporter Nico Sapio. The young Olympic hopefuls Bruno Bianchi, Dino Rora, Sergio De Gregorio, Luciana Massenzi, Carmen Longo, Amedeo Chimisso and Daniela Samuele were between 17 and 23 years old. The Italian swimming team was not supposed to be aboard flight 005 either. However, their flight from Milan to Frankfurt was delayed due to bad weather, so the team had to take a later flight.

The young Italian swimmers were supposed to compete in the 10th International Swim Festival at the Zentralbad in Bremen. The swimming competition did start two days later with a minute of silence for the dead and flowers placed upon the starting blocks. But the mood at the normally cheerful event was muted by the mourning for the Italian team and the other passengers of flight 005.

Zentralbad Bremen
The Bremen Zentralbad indoor pool, where the Italian swim team was supposed to take part in the 10th International Swim Fest.

Rumours, Suspicions and Speculations:

As always, when something terrible and unexplained happens, speculations were soon running high and the rumour mill was spinning in overdrive.

Did Captain Saalfeld suffer a heart attack during the failed go-around manoeuvre and is this why he did not reply to the hails of the tower?

What about the mysterious pliers that were found at the body of co-pilot Klaus Schadhoff? Was Schadhoff trying to carry out some last second repairs during a risky flight manoeuvre? And where did he get the pliers, since Lufthansa has confirmed that they were not part of the onboard tool kit?

Another persistent rumour is that the pliers belonged to one of the passengers and that this passenger stormed the cockpit and attacked the pilots during the final approach. After all, the body of co-pilot Klaus Schadhoff was found several metres away from Captain Saalfeld, entangled with the body of a still unidentified male passenger. Was Schadhoff engaged in a desperate struggle in those final few seconds of flight 005? Is this why neither Saalfeld nor Schadhoff responded to the hails of the tower?

My neighbour Heini Meier believes that even though the above makes for an exciting story for the tabloids, it's very likely wrong, because the impact was so strong that bodies, aircraft fragments, luggage and personal effects were all jumbled together at the crash site. The mysterious pliers might have been hurled out of someone's luggage and the passenger whose body was found entangled with that of the co-pilot may not have been wearing his seatbelt and was therefore thrown out of his seat upon impact.

Lufthansa flight 005 crash site
While helpers are still sifting through the wreckage of the Lufthansa flight 005 crash, another Lufthansa plane flies overhead.

Technology to the Rescue?

Part of the reason why it's so difficult to determine what exactly happened during those fatal final minutes aboard flight 005 is that the Convair 440 was neither equipped with a flight data recorder nor with a cockpit voice recorder, even though the technology has been in existence for more than ten years now and cockpit voice recorders are already mandatory in Australia and the US.

Would a flight data and cockpit voice recorder have prevented the crash of flight 005? No, but they would have helped accident investigators to determine what exactly the cause of the crash was and how to keep it from happening again.

Another question is if the crash could have been prevented, if Bremen airport had already been equipped with a radar system. And in fact, I find it shocking that Bremen airport still doesn't have a radar system and won't get one until 1970, even though we are prone to bad weather and low visibility conditions. Because even if a radar system could not have prevented the crash itself, it could have kept Captain Saalfeld from overshooting the runway, which was the reason for the fatal crash in the first place.

The crash might also have been averted, if the runway at Bremen airport had been longer, so that Captain Saalfeld could have landed on the first attempt. And indeed, there are plans to extend the runway and expand the airport in response to the growth in air traffic. With jet planes becoming increasingly common and supersonic air travel imminent, expanding the airport and extending the runway seems like the path forward.

However, there are problems. Bremen airport was opened in 1920 and in the forty-six years since then, the city has steadily encroached upon the airport. So the only way to expand is towards the south west, where the river Ochtum is in the way. There are proposals to move the river Ochtum and the Kladdinger Straße, but those plans will take years, if not decades to become reality.

In spite of tragedies like the flight 005 crash, air travel is still the safest form of travel. However, technology can help to make air travel even safer and maybe even prevent such tragedies in the future.

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Book, Movies, Science Fiction/Fantasy

[January 22, 1966] Monks, Demi-Gods and Cat People: The Sword of Lankor by Howard L. Cory

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by Cora Buhlert

German Beats:

Sony and Cher on Beat-Club
Sony and Cher are performing on Beat-Club.

Beat music is invading the West German single charts and getting steadily more popular, particularly among the young. In September, I reported about the launch of Beat-Club, a brand-new music TV program made right here in my hometown of Bremen. Since then, Beat-Club has become a must-watch among young West Germans and is also beginning to attract international stars. For example, the December edition featured both the British band Gerry and the Pacemakers and the US duo Sonny and Cher.

Cover: Marmor, Stein und Eisen bricht

Outside the teen and twen demographic, however, Schlager, that uniquely German genre of pop music with sentimental lyrics and catchy melodies, is still king. And now, a nineteen-year-old singer named Drafi Deutscher has managed to combine beat style music and Schlager type lyrics with his number one hit "Marmor, Stein und Eisen bricht" (Marble, stone and iron breaks, but our love will not). Does the combination work? Judge for yourself.

Whip-Mad Monks:

Meanwhile, West German cinemas are dominated by the latest instalment in the Edgar Wallace series of spooky thrillers. Der unheimliche Mönch (The Sinister Monk) came out late in 1965, but I only got around to seeing it after new year.

Poster: The Sinister Monk

In many ways, The Sinister Monk is a very typical Edgar Wallace thriller. The wealthy Lord Darkwood dies and leaves his entire estate to his granddaughter Gwendolin (Karin Dor), whose father is in prison for a crime he did not commit. This infuriates the remaining relatives so much that they try to murder Gwendolin for her inheritance.

The Sinister Monk
The Sinister Monk menaces Dieter Eppler.

A large part of the movie is set in an exclusive girls' boarding school run by Gwendolin's aunt Lady Patricia (Ilse Steppat). However, Lady Patricia has problems of her own, for some of her students have gone missing and a sinister hooded monk wielding a bullwhip is stalking the grounds. Soon, cast members are dropping like flies, strangled to death by the monk's bullwhip. However, for reasons best known to himself, the monk seems determined to protect Gwendolin from assassination attempts by her villainous relatives.

The Sinister Monk
The Sinister Monk harrasses a school girl.

The Sinister Monk is a delightfully spooky gothic romp and the whip-wielding monk is certainly one of the more colourful Edgar Wallace villains. However, the true shock comes once the monk is unmasked in the finale. For the face under the hood is none other than that of Eddi Arent, a regular of the Edgar Wallace movies who normally specialises in playing comic relief characters and was about the least likely suspect.

The Sinister Monk
Gwendolin (Karin Dor) meets Bedel Smith (Eddi Arent). But beware, because he's not as harmless as he looks.

This proves that even after twenty-four movies, the Edgar Wallace series still has a surprise or two up its sleeve.

Planet of Apostrophes:

Surprises may also be found in the spinner rack of my local import bookstore. And so I picked up what the backcover promised was a science fiction adventure in the tradition of Edgar Rice Burroughs.

The Sword of Lankor by Howard L. Cory

The Sword of Lankor by Howard L. Cory plunges us right in medias res with our hero, the mercenary Thuron of Ulmekoor embroiled in a tavern brawl in the city of Taveeshe on the planet of Lankor. Thuron is certainly the perfect protagonist, because – so the author assures us – "adventure followed him around like a friendly puppy". He's also tall, strong and a skilled swordsman.

During the tavern brawl, Thuron saves the life of Gaar, a member of a race of furry cat people called Kend. As a result, Gaar is now Thuron's servant for a year and a day, as the customs of his people demand. But Gaar brings other skills to the partnership as well, for he is an oracle, conjurer and pickpocket. Gaar is also the brains of the duo, while Thuron is the brawn.

If you are reminded at this point of Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and Gray Mouser stories, you are not alone. And indeed the Burroughs comparison on the backcover is misleading, for there are many authors that The Sword of Lankor is more reminiscent of than Burroughs.

When Thuron and Gaar are ambushed, Gaar declares in a spur of inspiration that his companion is the son of the battle god Wabbis Ka'arbu, as has been prophesied by a hovering golden sphere that suddenly appeared in the temple of the battle god a few days before. But while Gaar had only intended to get both of them out of a tight spot, Thuron likes the idea of being the son of a god and decides to take part in the battle games that will determined the true son of Wabbis Ka’arbu.

Son of the Battle God:

Even though Thuron starts out as an underdog, he nonetheless wins the contest and – with the aid of a convenient solar eclipse – is pronounced the true son of the battle god. But that's not the end of Thuron's troubles, for he now has to deal with the conflict between King Xandnur and the treacherous high priest Yang T'or as well as with Princess Yllara who has been given to him as a not entirely unwelcome gift. The mysterious golden sphere also sends Thuron on a quest to meet the battle god in his invisible palace atop the mountain Thona.

Unfortunately, Thuron remembers nothing of the meeting with his godly father and wakes up on the mountain with a headache, a magical ring on his finger, a refurbished sword that can even cut through stone and his "father's" voice in his ear. He also has a dream that sends him on a sacred quest the Isle of Crystals in the Forbidden Sea to procure a shipload of red crystals, a quest that is of course fraught with many dangers.

If you're beginning to suspect at this point that what happened to Thuron was not divine intervention at all, but that something quite different is going on in Lankor, you're not alone. And indeed, the mysterious dialogues about Thuron's quest between an unnamed captain and an equally unnamed navigator that are interspersed between the chapters strengthen those suspicions.

Gaar, who is after all the brains of the team, is also beginning to have his suspicions, especially after the supposed battle god turns out to be unaware of things he should know, such as that Thuron's ship has been hijacked by pirates in the employ of Yang T'or, complete with its cargo of crystals as well as Thuron's beloved Yllara. Furthermore, why does the battle god only speak to Thuron three times a day, always at the same time? And what does a battle god need those red crystals for anyway? So Gaar and Thuron decide to test the supposed battle god and persuade him to do their bidding, if he wants those crystals.

To cut to the chase, the hovering golden sphere that appeared in the temple of the battle god is not a divine omen at all, but a probe sent to explore the planet Lankor. The invisible palace atop the mountain Thona is not a godly dwelling, but a cloaked spaceship. And Thuron is not the son of the battle god either, but just a convenient pawn used by the merchant crew of said spaceship to procure the priceless red crystals. As for why the spaceship crew can't just mine the crystals themselves, Lankor is a high gravity world, where the crew would be instantly crushed, if they were to land. So they use the godhood ruse to recruit the strongest man on Lankor to retrieve the crystals for them.

Thuron does indeed the deliver the crystals to the supposed battle god (though he in turn gets the golden sphere's aid in reconquering the city of Taveeshe), slay the treacherous Yang T'or and rescue his beloved Yllara from Yang T'or's dungeons. In the end, Thuron remains in Taveeshe to rebuild the cult of the battle god without greedy priests or human sacrifices. Meanwhile, Gaar, who after all was the one who figured out the truth about the golden sphere, elects to travel with the spaceship crew to have further adventures among the stars.

A Fun Romp

The Sword of Lankor is an action-packed and thoroughly enjoyable science fiction and fantasy hybrid. The novel is chock full of great action scenes, whether it's the initial arena contest, a battle against giant crystalline spiders, a ship to ship fight with a pirate crew or the climactic duel inside the temple of the battle god.

Even though The Sword of Lankor is set on an alien planet and is a science fiction tale masquerading as fantasy or vice versa, the novel is closer to Robert E. Howard's Conan the Cimmerian and Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser than to Burroughs' Barsoom. We still don't have a good term for the type of action and adventure fantasy that Robert E. Howard, C.L. Moore and Clark Ashton Smith pioneered in the pages of Weird Tales more than thirty years ago. Michael Moorcock suggested "epic fantasy", Lin Carter prefers "heroic fantasy", while Fritz Leiber proposes "sword and sorcery". Personally, I prefer the latter term.

We have even less of a term to describe the kind of vaguely science fictional interplanetary adventure that Edgar Rice Burroughs pioneered more than fifty years ago and that Leigh Brackett and C.L. Moore perfected in the 1930s and 1940s, until science put a stop to fantastic adventures on Mars and Venus. "Planetary romance" seems to be the most common term. Fritz Leiber suggests "sword and superscience", while Donald Wollheim used "sword and wonder" on the backcover of the recent anthology Swordsmen in the Sky.

Swordsmen in the Sky, edited by Donald A. Wollheim

But whatever you want to call them, it's obvious that both subgenres are having a moment. Ace and Ballantine are eagerly reprinting Edgar Rice Burroughs stories that have been out of print for decades. Burroughs pastiches such as the recent Mars trilogy by Edward P. Bradbury a.k.a. Michael Moorcock are also popping up.

On the sword and sorcery side, Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and Gray Mouser and John Jakes' Brak the Barbarian are regularly gracing the pages of Fantastic. Michael Moorcock's Elric stories are a frequent feature in Science Fantasy and The Wizard of Lemuria by Lin Carter also came out last year. So did the Thurvok and Kurval series, my own humble contributions to the subgenre. Even Robert E. Howard's Conan the Cimmerian is set to be reprinted soon, thirty years after Howard's untimely death.

The Sword of Lankor is part of that revival and manages to combine good old-fashioned science fantasy adventure in the tradition of Leiber, Howard and Burroughs with a modern sensibility. For while the golden age was full of faux gods and science masquerading as religion, I doubt that the motives of the spaceship crew would have been quite so mercenary in the 1940s. Isaac Asimov's Foundation at least wanted to stave off the dark ages. The spaceship crew in The Sword of Lankor just wants to make a profit.

Sin Ship by Larry Maddock
When he's not writing science fiction, Jack Owen Jardine a.k.a. Larry Maddock a.k.a. one half of Howard L. Cory pens this kind of fare.

So who is Howard L. Cory, author of The Sword of Lankor? It turns out that Howard L. Cory is a joint pen name used by Jack Owen Jardine and his wife Julie Ann Jardine. Jack Owen Jardine is a radio disc jockey who published a couple of science fiction short stories under the pen name Larry Maddock as well as several erotic novels. His wife Julie Ann is an actress and dancer who performs under the stage name Corrie Howard. Until now, I was not familiar with either of them, but based on The Sword of Lankor, I wouldn't mind reading more stories by Jack Owen and Julie Ann Jardine.

The fact that one of the authors of The Sword of Lankor is a woman also explains why The Sword of Lankor offers more and better realised female characters than many other stories of that type. True, Yllara is a space princess stereotype and also mostly absent for the last third of the novel, when she is held prisoner by Yang T'or. However, on their quest to rescue Yllara, Thuron and Gaar also form an alliance with the Amazon queen Sh'gundelah and her impressive battle maidens.

The Sword of Lankor is not the sort of book that will win Hugos or other accolades, but it's a highly entertaining romp that had me smiling throughout. If you like Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and Gray Mouser, Robert E. Howard's Conan the Cimmerian or John Jakes' Brak the Barbarian, give The Sword of Lankor a try.

Four stars.




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Comics

[November 18, 1965] Humour, Heroes and History: The Comics of France, Belgium and the Netherlands

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by Cora Buhlert

Winter is coming

Winter 1965
Winter has come to Germany
Winter 1965
A truck frees a tram stuck in the snow in Berlin.

Germany is experiencing an uncommonly early winter and the entire country is currently buried under a blanket of snow. Time to settle down by the fireplace and listen to records such as Neue Songs der Welt by Israeli folk duo Esther and Abi Ofarim, which currently sits at the top of the West German long-play charts.

Neue Songs der Welt

Winter is also the ideal time to read. Which brings me back to my last article, wherein I introduced you to the comics of East and West Germany. In this article now, I pay a visit to the comics of France, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

The Ninth Art

Place De Brouckère
Place De Brouckère in Brussels, Belgium

The comics heart of Europe undoubtedly beats in France and Belgium. For here, comics are considered not disposable entertainment for kids, but a genuine art form. Belgian comics artist Maurice De Bevere, better known as Morris, referred to comics as "the ninth art".

Maurice de Bevere a.k.a. Morris
Maurice de Bevere a.k.a. Morris, creator of Lucky Luke

US comic books only focus on a single character or group. The French-Belgian industry is different, since it focusses on anthology magazines, which contain several different serialised comic strips. The most popular comics are later collected in books known as albums.

Three comic magazines dominate the French-Belgian-Dutch market. The Belgian magazines Spirou (Robbedoes in Flemish) and Tintin (Kuifje in Flemish) and the French magazine Pilote. All three have their own distinct style and voice.

Belgium is a multilingual country. The northern part speaks Flemish (a variation of Dutch), the southern part speaks French and a small area near the German border speaks German. As a result, Belgian comic magazines routinely appear in both French and Flemish. And since Flemish and Dutch are so similar, the Netherlands regularly get the Flemish versions of Belgian magazines. Therefore, France, Belgium and the Netherlands largely read the same comics.

Antwerpen 1960s
De Meir, main shopping street of Antwerp, Belgium
Leysstraat Antwerpen
The Leysstraat in Antwerp, Belgium

Several Franco-Belgian comics have been translated into German. However, since I live only one and a half hours from the Dutch border and about three hours from the Belgian, I frequently pick up comics that haven't yet been translated there.

Humour, dynamic art and big noses: Spirou

Spirou Magazine

Of the three Franco-Belgian comic magazines, Spirou is the oldest, dating back to 1938. Though Spirou also publishes comics with more realistic art, it specialises in zany humour and a dynamic, cartoony art style that has been dubbed the "Marcinelle school", named after the Belgian town of Marcinelle, where the magazine has its headquarters.

The title character has a tangled history. Created by French cartoonist Robert Velter a.k.a. Rob-Vel, Spirou originally was an elevator operator at a luxury hotel. After Rob-Vel joined the Belgian army and was wounded in World War II, the series went through several hands, until the young Belgian cartoonist André Franquin took over in 1947 and made the strip his own. The character Spirou acquired a pet squirrel named Spip and a best friend in the reporter Fantasio. Spirou eventually changed careers and became a reporter as well, though he continues to wear his red bellhop uniform. Together, Spirou and Fantasio travel the world and have many adventures. They also adopted a strange jungle creature known as the Marsupilami.

Spirou et Fantasio
Spirou and Fantasio meet the Marsupilami

In 1957, a young man named Gaston Lagaffe (literally Gaston the blunder) wandered into the office of the newspaper for which Spirou and Fantasio work. Even though Gaston is terminally lazy and fails at pretty much everything, he was hired as an office boy. Gaston initially appeared as a supporting character in Spirou and Fantasio, but eventually got his own gag strip and became one of the most popular characters in the magazine, though he mostly does nothing at all.

Gaston

However, the most popular comic published in Spirou is undoubtedly Lucky Luke. A cowboy in the Old West who is known as the man who shoots faster than his shadow, Lucky Luke doesn't shoot to kill, but only to disarm his foes. His constant companions are Jolly Jumper, the smartest horse in the world, and Rantanplan (a parody of heroic film dog Rin Tin Tin), the stupidest dog in the universe. In his adventures, Lucky Luke meets many real life historical figures. His sworn enemies are the Dalton Brothers, bandits and cousins of the historical Dalton Gang. No matter how many times Lucky Luke sends the Daltons to prison, they escape again and again. Created by the above mentioned Maurice de Bevere a.k.a. Morris in 1946, Lucky Luke is very much a parody of American westerns. Spirou also publishes the serious western comic Jerry Spring, written and drawn by Spirou editor-in-chief Joseph Gillain a.k.a. Jijé, but the humorous western adventures of Lucky Luke are a lot more popular.

Lucky Luke
Rantanplan tries to sniff out the Daltons, while Lucky Luke and Jolly Jumper look on
Lucky Luke
Lucky Luke spanks Billy the Kid

Another hugely popular series that originated in the pages of Spirou are Les Schtroumpfs a.k.a De Smurfen in Flemish a.k.a. Die Schlümpfe in German. These small blue gnomes were created by Belgian cartoonist Pierre Gulliford a.k.a. Peyo and initially appeared as supporting characters in Peyo's comic Johan et Pirlouit about the adventures of the medieval squire Johan and his diminutive friend Pirlouit (Pirrewiet in Flemish) in 1958. The little blue gnomes, who live in a village of mushroom shaped houses in the forest and tangle with the evil wizard Gargamel and his cat Azrael, quickly became popular and got their own comic in 1959. Just this year, the German toy company Schleich began producing collectible Smurf figurines.

Johan et Pirlouit
Johan and Pirlouit before they met the Smurfs.

The Smurfs

Smurf toys
A collection of toy Smurfs

Other popular comics to appear in Spirou include the realistic aviation strip Buck Danny by Jean-Michel Charlier and Victor Hubinon, the detective strip Gil Jourdan by Maurice Tillieux and Boule et Bill, the story of a young boy and his dog by Jean Roba and Maurice Rosy.

Buck Danny
Aviation hero Buck Danny
Gil Jourdan
A gothic adventure for detective hero Gil Jourdan

Clear lines and great adventures: Tintin

Tintin, the other big Belgian comics magazine, was founded in 1946, though its flagship series has a much longer history. For the intrepid young reporter Tintin and his dog Milou first appeared in the newspaper Le Petit Vingtième in 1929. Created by Belgian artist Georges Remi a.k.a. Hergé and drawn in the so-called ligne claire (clear line) style, Tintin and Milou travelled the world in search of adventure and acquired a sizeable supporting cast, including Captain Haddock, a hard-drinking and swearing sailor, Professor Tournesol, an absentminded genius, Dupont and Dupond, a pair of identical looking and not very competent police detectives, and opera singer Bianca Castafiore, who has taken a shine to Captain Haddock.

Tintin Temple of the Sun
Tintin visits the Temple of the Sun.

World War II paper shortages eventually put an end to Tintin's newspaper career, but in 1946 the intrepid young reporter returned for new adventures in glorious colour in the pages of the newly founded Tintin magazines. Though his adventures are mostly set in the real world, Tintin does venture into fantasy and science fiction on occasion, including a remarkably realistically rendered trip to the moon in 1950.

Tintin on the moon
Tintin on the Moon

Suske en Wiske (Bob et Bobette in French), another popular strip in Tintin magazine, also predates the founding of the magazine. Created by Flemish cartoonist Willy Vandersteen and drawn in the ligne claire style, the two mischievous children Suske and Wiske and their Aunt Sidonie first appeared in a daily comic strip in the Belgian newspaper De Standaard in 1945 and moved to Tintin magazine in 1948. Suske and Wiske quickly acquired a supporting cast consisting of the brilliant inventor Professor Barabas, the strongman Jerome and Lambik, part-time detective, part-time plumber and full-time comic relief. Initially, the adventures of Suske and Wiske were largely realistic, but fantasy and science fiction elements soon appeared. And because the inventions of Professor Barabas include a time machine, Suske, Wiske and their friends also frequently go on adventures throughout history.

Suske en Wiske
Suske and Wiske attempt to rescue Wiske's beloved ragdoll from being burned at the stake.
Suske and Wiske
Suske and Wiske and Lambik in space
Suske en Wiske
Lambik goes James Bond, while Aunt Sidonie dances with a chimp.

Suske and Wiske are hugely popular in Flanders and the Netherlands. The enterprising Willy Vandersteen also created several comic series for other publishers such as De Rode Ridder (The Red Knight), a medieval adventure series which first appeared in 1959 and Bessy, the adventures of a heroic dog in the Old West, which first appeared in 1952.

De Rode Ridder
The Red Knight visits Atlantis
Blake and Mortimer
Blake and Mortimer visit Atlantis

Blake and Mortimer by Belgian artist and writer Edgar P. Jacobs debuted in Tintin magazine in 1946. Professor Philip Mortimer, a brilliant Scottish physicist, and his best friend and protector Captain Francis Blake, a Welsh MI5 officer, have many adventures and tangle with their sworn enemy Colonel Olrik. Both Blake and Mortimer were modelled after friends of Edgar P. Jacobs, while the villain Olrik is a self-portrait of the artist. Though nominally a spy series, Blake and Mortimer's adventures often takes them into the realm of science fiction. Among other things, Blake and Mortimer have visited Atlantis, travelled through time and thwarted an attempt to destroy the Earth via guided meteorites. The series is a true delight for science fiction fans.

Blake and Mortimer
Blake and Mortimer tackle the Yellow Mark.
Blake and Mortimer
Blake and Mortimer have dinosaur trouble

Another strip which has appeared in Tintin since the beginning is Corentin by Belgian artist Paul Cuvelier. The titular character is a Breton orphan who runs away to sea and is shipwrecked. A mix of Tarzan and Robinson Crusoe, Corentin has adventures all over the world with a group of human and animal friends and occasionally ventures into the realms of fantasy as well. Cuvelier started out as a fine artist and Corentin is one of the most beautifully drawn Belgian comics.

Corentin

Alix, the adventures of a young Gaul slave adopted into Roman nobility around the time of Julius Caesar, was created by Jacques Martin and debuted in Tintin in 1948. Other comics to appear in Tintin magazine are Michael Vaillant, the adventures of a formula one driver created in 1957 by Jean Graton, and Ric Hochet, yet another heroic reporter created by cartoonist Gilbert Gascard a.k.a. Tibet and mystery writer André-Paul Duchâteau in 1955.

Alix
Alix the Intrepid
Alix La Griffe Noire
Alix fights the Black Claw
Michel Vaillant
Michel Vaillant on the racecourse of fear
Ric Hochet
Reporter Ric Hochet on the run.

Adventures for an older audience: Pilote

Pilote
The Pirate Barbe-Rouge on the cover of Pilote

Spirou and Tintin are aimed at children (which explains why there are so few female characters, because Belgian youth protection laws forbid even the slightest hint of sex), though many adults read and enjoy them, too. Meanwhile, the French upstart Pilote was aimed at an older audience from its start in 1959 on.

Pilote's most popular strip is undoubtedly Astérix, which premiered in the first issue of the magazine, written by Lucky Luke co-writer René Goscinny and illustrated by Albert Uderzo. The titular character is a Gaul warrior living in a small Breton village, which is resisting Roman occupation during the time of Julius Caesar. Loosely based on historical Gaul chieftain and French national hero Vercingetorix, Astérix is short but shrewd. His best friend Obelix is big, strong and not very smart. Obelix carries around menhir, which he likes to hurl at Romans, and has a dog named Idefix. Astérix and Obelix always remind me of Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and Gray Mouser, though I have no idea if Goscinny and Uderzo are familiar with that series. Together, Astérix, Obelix and the rest of their village run rings around the Roman would-be occupiers, also thanks to a superstrength potion developed by the village druid Panoramix. But Astérix and Obelix are not content to remain in Gaul. Instead, they have adventures all around the Roman empire. They just visited Egypt and met Cleopatra, who looks remarkably like Elizabeth Taylor in the recent movie.

Astérix
Astérix the Gaul and his friend Obelix

Whereas the above mentioned Alix treats the subject of the Roman occupation of Gaul seriously and shows its hero as torn between his Gaul and Roman identity, Astérix uses the same historical material for comedy and satire. The series is full of puns and allusions to contemporary French politics. It's also hilarious – at least in the original French. For the German translation, publisher Rolf Kauka renamed the heroes Siggi and Babarras and replaced the allusions to contemporary French politics with allusions to contemporary West German politics. Unfortunately, the Kauka translations are not at all funny and also managed to slip in antisemitic stereotypes, which did not appear in the original. René Goscinny was not at all amused and withdrew the translation license from Kauka, which led to a lawsuit that is still ongoing. I sincerely hope that Astérix will eventually get the German translation it deserves.

Asterix and Obelix and Cleopatra
Astérix and Obelix meet Cleopatra

The other breakout comic to debut in Pilote is the western comic Blueberry, created by the Belgian writer Jean-Michel Charlier and the young French artist Jean Giraud, who occasionally also goes by Moebius. The comic initially appeared as Fort Navajo in 1963, but the unlikely named US Cavalry Lieutenant Mike Steve Blueberry became so popular that he took over the comic. Unlike the clean-cut heroes of other western comics, Blueberry is rough and unshaven, more reminiscent of Clint Eastwood in the recent Italian western Per un pugno di dollari than of John Wayne. Blueberry cares deeply about justice and abhors racism, whether it's aimed at Blacks or Native Americans. The comic would be good either way, but it's Jean Giraud's brilliant art which turns it into something truly special.

Fort Navajo
Fort Navajo, the first adventure of Lieutenant Blueberry

Other comics to appear in Pilote include the pirate adventure Barbe-Rouge by Jean-Michel Charlier and Victor Huginon, which debuted in 1959, the aviation series Tanguy et Laverdure by Jean-Michael Charlier and Albert Uderzo, which also debuted in 1959, and the gag strip Achille Talon, created by Michel Regnier a.k.a. Greg in 1963.

Barbe Rouge

Tanguy et Laverdure

Achille Talon

Going Dutch

The Dutch mostly read the Flemish editions of Franco-Belgian comics. However, they also have some titles of their own. One feature that's unique to Dutch comics is that they have no speech bubbles, only captions.

Eric de Noorman
The typical Dutch comic format, here seen in a page of Eric de Noorman.

One of the most popular Dutch comics is Eric de Noorman (Eric the Norseman) about the adventures of a Viking warrior and his family. Created in 1946 by Hans G. Kresse, Eric de Noorman first appeared in the newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws. The strip was picked up by other newspapers and also published in the oblong piccolo format from 1948 on.

Eric de Noorman
Hans G. Kresse's artwork for Eric de Noorman

Another popular Dutch comic strip is Paulus de boskabouter (Paulus the Woodgnome). Created by Jan van Oort a.k.a. Jean Dulieu in 1946, the adventures of Paulus and his animal friends first appeared in the newspaper Het Vrije Volk and also spawned a series of popular radio dramas.

Paulus the Woodgnome
The adventures of Paulus the Woodgnome

Kapitein Rob is a fascinating mix of sea adventure and science fiction, because De Vrijheid (Freedom), the sailing ship helmed by the titular captain, can also travel through time as well as space. The strip was created by writer Evert Werkman and artist Pieter Kuhn and debuted in 1945 in the newspaper Het Parool.

Kapitein Rob
A science fictional adventure for Kapitein Rob

However, the most highly regarded comic in the Netherlands is a funny animal comic named Tom Poes (Tom Cat). The adventures of the anthropomorphic cat Tom Poes and his best friend, the aristocratic bear Olivier B. Bommel, first appeared in the newspaper De Telegraaf in 1941. Tom Poes started out as a children's comic, but quickly became popular among adults due to the satirical allusions and idiosyncratic language use of its creator Marten Toonder. Like Erika Fuchs, the brilliant German translator of the Donald Duck comics, many of the expressions and neologisms Marten Toonder introduced in Tom Poes have become part of the Dutch language.

Tom Poes

Tom Poes Weekblad
Tom Poes Weekly

The erotic space adventures of Barbarella

Delightful as the French-Belgian-Dutch comics are, female characters are sadly rare in those strips and female main characters are even rarer. However, there is one exception and it's even a science fiction comic.

Created by Jean-Claude Forest, Barbarella first appeared in the French periodical V Magazine in 1962. The protagonist is a young female space explorer who happens to be a dead ringer for French movie star Brigitte Bardot. Barbarella travels from planet to planet, meets various aliens with whom she engages in rather intimate first contact. Barbarella also loses her clothes a lot.

Barbarella
Barbarella on the cover of her scandalous first album.
Barbarella
Barbarella with her clothes on for once.

As long as the strip appeared only in V Magazine, which is similar to Playboy in the US, no one minded. But when the album was released last year, it caused a minor scandal and was banned as pornographic, which only served to make Barbarella even more popular.

Jean-Claude Forest
Jean-Claude Forest also illustrates covers for French science fiction magazines.

Hard as it may be to imagine, this article only offers a brief glimpse into the wide and wonderful world of Franco-Belgian-Dutch comics. Many of these comics are not yet accessible to English speaking readers, but I hope that will change eventually.

Place de Brouckère by night
Place de Brouckère in Brussels by night.




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Movies

[October 29, 1965] Oater, West German style (The movie, Winnetou Part 3)

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Cora 'faxed this piece from West Germany along with yesterday's comics article. It was such a delightful snapshot into the state of Westerns in Europe that we're giving it an off-schedule publication. Enjoy!


by Cora Buhlert

Not a dry eye in the house:

Winnetou Part 3

West German cinemas are currently dominated by the heroic Apache chief Winnetou and his white blood brother Old Shatterhand from the adventure novels of Karl May.

Karl May (1842 to 1912) was a small time criminal turned writer of pulpy adventure stories and continues to be one of Germany's most popular authors more than fifty years after his death. Generations of German youths have devoured the glorious adventures of May's heroes in the Middle East, Mexico and the Old West, adventures the author assures us are autobiographical, even though May never left Germany. The most popular are the novels and stories May wrote about the adventures of Old Shatterhand, a Saxonian engineer and thinly veiled May stand-in, and his friend and blood brother Winnetou. When I was twelve, I was going to marry Old Shatterhand and my best friend Dagmar was going to marry Winnetou.

In 1962, Horst Wendlandt, producer of the popular Edgar Wallace films, began adapting May's novel for the big screen. Two weeks ago, the long-awaited Winnetou Part 3 hit West German cinemas, starring Hollywood star Lex Barker as Old Shatterhand and French actor Pierre Brice as Winnetou. In spite of the numbering, this is already the seventh movie about the adventures of the heroic Apache chief – the number three only refers to the fact that this movie is the adaptation of the third volume of May's Winnetou trilogy.

Now everybody who has read the novels (and is there anybody in Germany who hasn't?) already knows that Winnetou heroically gives his life to save his friend and blood brother Old Shatterhand at the end of the story. Nonetheless, there was not a dry eye in the theatre when Winnetou tragically expires in the arms of his best friend to the soaring theme music by Martin Böttcher.

Winnetou and Old Shatterhand
Friendship beyond death: Winnetou (Pierre Brice) and Old Shatterhand (Lex Barker)

Producer Horst Wendlandt and actor Rik Battaglia, who played the man who shot Winnetou, reportedly received threats. However, fans need not fear, for the Winnetou movies are still a cash cow for Wendlandt and so the heroic Apache chief will be back in German theatres in only two months in the prequel Old Surehand, Part 1.

Will you be buying a ticket?




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Comics

[October 28, 1965] Knights, Adventurers and Anthropomorphic Animals: Comics in East and West Germany

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by Cora Buhlert

Clever Little Foxes: Fix and Foxi

Here at the Journey, we occasionally visit the wonderful world of comic books, mostly from the US but also from the UK. However, comics have long been a global phenomenon and so I'm presenting you the comics of East and West Germany.

Superheroes may rule in the US, but in West Germany, you will have a hard time finding American superhero comics, unless you have befriended an American GI who can hook you up with the latest US comics.

Erika Fuchs
Erika Fuchs, the brilliant Germany translator of the Donald Duck comics

Instead, the most popular US comics in West Germany are none than the Disney comics featuring Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse and friends. A large part of the reason why the Disney comics are so popular in West Germany is the brilliant work of translator Erika Fuchs, who introduced inventive wordplay and allusions to classic literature into the comics and thus gained a large adult fanbase. The various linguistic "donaldisms" created by Erika Fuchs have even entered the regular German language by now.

Till Eulenspiegel No. 2

Fix und Foxi

Inspired by the success of the Disney comics, in 1953 West German artist Rolf Kauka created his own comic magazine called Till Eulenspiegel, named after a popular trickster character from German legend. However, a pair of clever foxes named Fix and Foxi quickly became the most popular characters and in 1955, the magazine was retitled as Fix und Foxi. The two foxes quickly adopted a whole menagerie of animal friends such as the wolf Lupo and his cousin Lupinchen, the mole Pauli and the sister Paulinchen, the raven Knox, the hare Hops, the hedgehog Stops and the mouse Mausi. Other characters to appear in the magazine are "Tom and Klein Biberherz" (Little Beaverheart), a cowboy character and his indigenous friend, and "Mischa im Weltraum" (Mischa in Outer Space), a humorous science fiction comic. Those who have read the Archie comics will find that Mischa looks very familiar.

Fix and Foxi
Fix and Foxi and friends
Fix and Foxi Mischa
"Mischa in Space" on the cover of Fix and Foxi. Mischa looks very reminiscent of US character Archie.

Mecki: The Amazing Adventures of a Little Hedgehog

Fix and Foxi are not the only anthropomorphic animals in West German comics. There is also Mecki the hedgehog, whose tangled history predates the two foxes. Mecki first appeared in 1938 – still nameless and not in comic format at all, but in an animated puppet film adaptation of the Grimm fairy tale "The Race between Hare and Hedgehog". The film spawned a series of picture postcards featuring the clever little hedgehog.

Mecki debuts on the cover of Hör Zu! No. 43 in October 1949

In 1949, one of those picture postcards landed on the desk of Eduard Rhein, Renaissance man (in now 65 years, Rhein has been a Zeppelin engineer, inventor, technical writer, violinist and novelist) and editor-in-chief of the radio listings magazine Hör Zu! (Listen!). Rhein was looking for a mascot for the magazine, a character who would offers snarky commentary on the program listings. He promptly adopted the hedgehog and named him Mecki. The character debuted on the cover of issue 43 of Hör Zu!, still as a puppet character in a pre-war picture postcard. When Rhein ran out of picture postcards to reprint, he recruited cartoonist Reinhold Escher to draw new adventures of the brave little hedgehog.

Mecki wedding
Mecki and Micki get married with all their friends in attendance
Mecki strip
A Mecki comic page from 1951

From 1951 on, one page Mecki strips appeared in Hör Zu!, initially as standalone stories and later as serialised adventures. Mecki also quickly acquired friends and family, including his wife Micki and the two children Mucki and Macki, the penguin Charly, the Schrat, a permanently sleepy gnome, the seven Syrian hamsters, the seaman Captain Petersen, the cat Murr and the duck Watsch. Together, these characters travelled the world, ventured into various fantasylands and even conquered the Moon and Mars as early as 1953.

Mecki auf dem Mond
Mecki and friends visit the moon in glorious colour
Mecki auf dem Mond
Mecki and friends visit a lunar inn

Beginning in 1952, Mecki's adventures also appeared in full colour picture books. The first book, Mecki im Schlaraffenland (Mecki in Cockaigne) was written by Eduard Rhein and illustrated by Reinhold Escher, but from book two on, Wilhelm Petersen illustrated the Mecki books and later also shared artist duties with Reinhold Escher on the comic strip. Reinhold Escher's style is more cartoony, while Petersen's is more naturalistic, but both of them are highly talented artists. As a result the Mecki strips and particularly the picture books look gorgeous.

Mecki and his extended family eventually returned to the medium that birthed him for a series of eighteen short puppet movies. The toy manufacturer Steiff also produces dolls of Mecki and his family. I got the complete set of Mecki, Micki, Macki and Mucki as a birthday gift some time ago and treasure them.

Mecki Family
The Mecki family toys as produced by Steiff

In spite of Mecki's popularity, his future is uncertain, for his creator Eduard Rhein left Hör Zu! last year – not voluntarily, it is rumoured. And Rhein's replacement shows little interest in Mecki. The comic strips continue to appear in Hör Zu!, but the annual picture book has been cancelled. Nonetheless, I hope that the friendly little hedgehog and his friends will continue to delight readers for a long time to come.

In the News: Nick Knatterton and Bild Lilli

Daily comic strips can be found in many West German newspapers. However, most of these are reprints of American comic strips such as The Phantom, Blondie or The Heart of Juliet Jones. Homegrown German comic strips are rare.

One exception is the square-jawed private detective Nick Knatterton, whose adventures appeared between 1950 and 1959 in the magazine Quick.

Nick Knatterton
Box art for the Nick Knatterton boardgame

Nick Knatterton's real name is Nikolaus Kuno Baron von Knatter. His mother Baroness von Knatter was an eager reader of murder mysteries. Inspired by her, Nick Knatterton decided to become a private detective and changed his name, so as not to embarrass his aristocratic family. Knatterton was a confirmed bachelor for many years, until he met and eventually married the heiress Linda Knips.

Nick Knatterton comic

Nick Knatterton was created by Manfred Schmidt, a cartoonist who hails from my hometown of Bremen. Shortly after World War II, Schmidt came across a Superman comic. Inspired by this new to him medium, he created Nick Knatterton. Other inspirations for the character were Sherlock Holmes as portrayed by Hans Albers in the 1937 movie Der Mann der Sherlock Holmes war (The Man Who Was Sherlock Holmes) as well as the American dime novel hero Nat Pinkerton, whose adventures a young Manfred Schmidt had devoured in the 1920s.

Der Mann der Sherlock Holmes War
Hans Albers as not Holmes and Heinz Rühmann as not Watson in "The Man Who Was Sherlock Holmes" (1937). Note the resemblance to Nick Knatterton.

What makes the Knatterton comics so amusing are not just Schmidt's crisp drawings, but also the political satire that Schmidt, who considers himself a Communist, inserts into the strip.

Whereas Nick Knatterton is very political, Bild Lilli, another homegrown West German comic strip character, is not overly political at all. Created by cartoonist Reinhard Beuthien for the tabloid Bild, the attractive Lilli is a ditzy young woman who works as a secretary, but dreams of catching a wealthy husband. The mildly risqué Lilli strip was popular enough to spawn a Lilli fashion doll and a line of matching outfits. But sexist humour fell out of favour and so the strip was cancelled in 1961.

Bild Lilli

This could have been the end of Lilli, but instead she continued her career under a different name. For in 1958, an American tourist named Ruth Handler purchased a Bild Lilli doll and was so impressed by the idea of a fashion doll that she created her own version. Named Barbie after Mrs. Handler's daughter, this doll became a huge worldwide hit.

Bild Lilli and Barbie
Separated at birth: Bild Lilli on the left and Barbie on the right

Heroes to Carry in Your Pocket: Sigurd, Falk, Tibor, Jörg and Nick

One of West Germany's foremost comic publishers is the Walter Lehning Verlag, which started publishing comics in 1953, beginning with reprints of Italian series such as the jungle hero Akim and the western hero El Bravo. Those had been originally published in the so-called piccolo format, small and wide booklets in horizontal format that look like individual newspaper strips stapled together, so the German editions used the same format.

Sigurd
Sigurd the noble knight

The advantage of the piccolo format was that at twenty pfennig apiece, the comics were cheaper than those published in regular magazine format. As a result, the reprints of Italian action comics were so popular that Lehning commissioned Swiss German artist and writer Hansrudi Wäscher to create several new series in the same format.

Sigurd
Sigurd fights monsters

Wäscher's first creation for Lehning was Sigurd, a medieval knight who had more than three hundred adventures between 1953 and 1960. Sigurd was a big success and was quickly followed by Falk, another knightly hero, Tibor, a jungle hero in the mould of Tarzan who was created as a replacement for the Italian Akim character, Jörg, a young nobleman who experiences adventures during the thirty-years-war, and Nick, der Weltraumfahrer (Nick the Spaceman), a science fiction comic.

Falk
Falk, yet another noble knight
Tibor
Tibor, son of the jungle
Nick
The science fictional adventures of Nick the Spaceman
Jörg
Jörg experiences the horrors of the Thirty-Years War

However, the prolific Hansrudi Wäscher also worked for other comic publishers. He created Nizar, yet another jungle hero, for the publisher Kölling Verlag as well as Titanus, a science fiction comic, for the Gerstmayer Verlag. The Titanus comics had a special gimmick, because they came with 3D goggles.

Titanus
Terry Starr, the blond and square-jawed hero of Titanus.

Adventures Behind the Iron Curtain: Mosaik

Western comic books also found their way across the iron curtain, to the delight of East German youths and the despair of the Communist authorities. And so in 1955, the East German publisher Verlag Neues Leben created their own comics magazine called Mosaik. Initially, the magazine appeared quarterly and switched to a monthly schedule in 1957. Due to the vagaries of Socialist paper production, Mosaik issues are not easy to find on the newsstands of East Germany and always sell out quickly, unless you know someone who will reserve a copy for you.

Mosaik No. 28
The Digedags travel into space

The stars of Mosaik are three cobolds named Dig, Dag and Digedag. The Digedags, as they are collectively known, have amazing adventures in time and space. So far, they have fought pirates, founded a circus, travelled to ancient Rome and into outer space and meet various important historical figures. Their latest adventure has taken them to the Middle Ages, where they picked up a new travelling companion in the clumsy knight Ritter Runkel.

Mosaik 1965
The Digedags fight pirates.

So how Socialist are the Digedags? The answer is, "It's complicated." During their epic space adventure, the Digedags were dragged into a conflict between the Republican Union, a Socialist utopia, and their sworn enemies, the Großneonian Reich, an expansionist capitalist hell state ruled by people dressed in what looks like SS uniforms. But while the space saga wore its Socialist heart on its sleeve, the following inventor cycle was the opposite. For the inspirational inventors from history the Digedags encountered include not just East German hero Otto von Guericke, 17th century scientist and mayor of Magdeburg, but also capitalists such as James Watt and even Werner von Siemens, aristocrat and capitalist, whom the Digedags meet as a young lieutenant in the Prussian army.

Commander of the Großneonian space station
The uniform worn by the villainous commander of the Großneonian space station does look strangely familiar.

However, the main objective of Mosaik is apolitical fun, which is also why the magazine is so much more popular than other publications from the same company such as Die Trommel (The Drum), the official magazine of the Ernst Thälmann Young Pioneers, which includes such thrilling comic strips as "The Girl from the Soviet War Monument" or "The Red Climbers".

The Girl from the Soviet War Monument
"Das Mädchen vom Ehrenmal" (The Girl from the Soviet War Monument), an inspirational comic strip from "Die Trommel" (The Drum), the official magazine of the Ernst Thälmann Young Pioneers.

The Digedags were the creation of cartoonist Hannes Hegen, but in true Socialist fashion the comic is created by a collective of writers and artists. The current head writer is Lothar Dräger. The main artist is Lona Rietschel, one of the few women to work in German comics.

And that's it for the comics of East and West Germany. Next month, I will introduce you to the comics of Belgium, France and the Netherlands.




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