After Dark May 1978 (Part 3)

Yes, this is the never-ending issue. I told you before that this issue was packed full of great photos and articles. On average, a good issue of After Dark will run two posts. If it's not a particularly fascinating issue, it may only run one. If it is a great issue, it could take as many as three posts. Well, this is a great issue and to top it off...it's like a double-sized issue. So we're talking four to six posts to complete this issue. I hope to have it covered by Labor Day. I'll try my best anyway.
Now for some reason, Bill Feret wrote an essay on his love of jungle girl movies. Granted, I always liked Jane, Sheena and the animated Jana of the Jungle, but this article just seemed out of place in this issue. I guess it doesn't really matter, so I'll just post a couple of the ones that were pictured that I want to comment on.
Of course, the queen of the jungle movies for me was Maureen O'Sullivan as Jane to Johnny Weissmuller's Tarzan. I used to love the "Tarzan yell" (yodel) they gave to her.

Dana Gillespie in The People That Time Forgot. I posted this one because Dana will feature on a cover of After Dark I'll post in the future. She's on the cover with a really cute guy and he's nak...oh wait, I don't want to spoil the surprise.

I never knew Claudette Colbert ever played a jungle girl, but here she is in Four Frightened People.

The only reason I'm posting the next photo is because I could never pass up an opportunity to post a picture of Buster Crabbe. That's him with the beautiful Julie London and a silly looking ape. The film was Nabonga.

Back to the present (or for this issue May 1978), Joseph Bottoms (a former Monday's Man) was starring in The Holocaust on TV while about to start work on The Cloud Dancers,

Roger Minami was dancing with Liza Minnelli in The Act at the Majestic Theatre,

and Sissy Spacek got noticed for her roles in Carrie and 3 Women and was about to star in an unnamed opus with Art Garfunkel. What was it going to be? I can't find any mention of the two of them starring together in anything.

A definite future Monday's Man is Andrew Stevens. He was about to begin work on The Bastard TV movie.

The lovely Monique Van Vooren was fresh off a West Coast engagement at Studio One and was going to be in concert that month at Town Hall.

Tim Cassidy made a name for himself in Broadway's A Chorus Line. He took that fame and created a nightclub act with music and impressions.

Fabrice Emaer opened a new discotheque in Paris called The Palace. Who performed on opening night? Grace Jones and her pubic hair.

I saw the film The Consequence, in which Jurgen Prochnow is a convict who begins a homosexual affair with the son of the prison warden. I was impressed with the film's handling of the subject matter. Of course, I would have preferred a happier ending, but with a title like that, you have to expect it to end a little tragic. Ernst Hannawald played the young man.

Before closing out this post, I want to leave you with a photo by Victor Arimondi. It's called the "After Dark Look".

After Dark July 1980

Welcome to the worst issue of After Dark. Some of the early issues from the late 60's weren't great and some of the issues from the early 80's weren't great, but this one by far is the lamest issue ever.

Editor-in-Chief William Como had left by this point. The January 1980 issue was Como's last issue as Editor and the very next issue, he was listed as Founding Editor. By March of 1980, you can't even find his name. February 1980 was when Charles Kriebel came on as Editor-in-Chief and the quality of the issues started dwindling. This "Circus" issue was the nadir of his reign. A few months later another editor was in place and Kriebel was gone. After Dark by that point had changed it's logo to something more mainstream looking and the visual feasts we had come to expect from After Dark was lessened. It eventually bounced back, but by that time I guess it was too late. After Dark ended January 1983 and the era had ended.

Like I said, this issue was bad, not because of some of the content, but because of the stupid layouts they set up. Gone were the wonderful photos. Most of the issue just had drawings.

The highpoint of the issue for me, of course, was the article on Can't Stop the Music. Sadly, the photos were horribly displayed. You saw the first example in my Monday's Man tribute to Randy Jones.

But feast your eyes on this:

What is up with the drawings around the photos? These were the only photos from the movie inside this issue.

Next was an article on Jim Dale and his portrayal of P.T. Barnum in the stage musical Barnum.


Following that were articles on Barnum and his circus. Did they use photos of gorgeous ladies astride horses? Daring young men on flying trapezes? Gorgeous lion tamers? Any photo worthy of what we came to expect from a magazine like After Dark?

NO! You get Tom Thumb with a horse. A fat ugly clown. Four photos in all and not one worth posting.

Staying with the circus theme, they had an article about Jodie Foster who was starred in the film Carny.

An article on the film Fame didn't feature color photos of the dancers from the movie. At least they featured stars Barry Miller, Irene Cara, Antonia Franceschi and Gene Anthony Ray.

Then there were some articles called "Sex Onscreen: Explicit, Yes: Erotic, Rarely", "Hot Stuff Between the Covers", Update: Sex on the Tube". These were articles about the sex in movies, books, and television respectively. Any photos of some of the stars of the films? Any pictures of the steamy covers of the books? Any images of TV stars from the shows they mention? NO!

Articles on artist Erte, actress Glenda Jackson, and the normal reviews sections. The only ad worth featuring was the one for Warm Leatherette, the new Grace Jones album.

Finally, the last picture was a photo of Alfred Hitchcock to salute the man and his work.

Done. That's it. Well, the only place to go from here is up. Like I said, there are other issues that weren't great, but none can live up to the heyday of the late 70's issues. Why was the issue that featured one of my favorite any time movies (Can't Stop the Music) featured in my least favorite issue? Well, at least I feel I featured it better!