Bat Stuff # 65

Thongor of Lemuria

Lin Carter's Thongor, here as illustrated by Gray Morrow in '66, has been said to be a combination of Robert E. Howard's Conan and Edgar Rice Burroughs' Mars novels. Marvel used the character for a less successful follow-up to the latter's comics success a few years after this. 

Truman Capote's Black and White Ball

THE big ticket for the "In Crowd" back in '66 was author Truman Capote's ultimately controversial bash known as the Black and White Ball. Here's just a partial list of the 500 or so attendees.

 Edward Albee, Mr and Mrs Richard Avedon, James Baldwin, Miss Tallulah Bankhead, Cecil Beaton, Mr and Mrs Harry Belafonte, Marisa Berenson, Candice Bergen, Mr and Mrs Irving Berlin, Mr and Mrs Leonard Bernstein, Mr and Mrs Benjamin Bradlee, Mr and Mrs William Buckley, Mr and Mrs Richard Burton, Noël Coward, Mr and Mrs Walter Cronkite, Mr and Mrs Sammy Davis Jr, Oscar de la Renta, Marlene Dietrich, Douglas Fairbanks Jr, Mr and Mrs Henry Fonda, Joan Fontaine, Mr and Mrs Henry Ford 2nd, Mr and Mrs John Kenneth Galbraith, Greta Garbo, Mr and Mrs Samuel Goldwyn, Ambassador and Mrs W Averell Harriman, Mr and Mrs William Randolph Hearst Jr, Mr and Mrs Henry J Heinz 2nd, Miss Lillian Hellman, Christopher Isherwood, Senator and Mrs Jacob K Javits, Lynda Bird Johnson, Senator and Mrs Edward M Kennedy, Mrs John F Kennedy, Mrs Joseph P Kennedy, Senator and Mrs Robert F Kennedy, Alfred Knopf,  Harper Lee, Vivien Leigh, Mr and Mrs Jack Lemmon, Mr and Mrs Alan Jay Lerner, Shirley MacLaine, Mr and Mrs Norman Mailer, Mr and Mrs Joseph Mankiewicz, Mr and Mrs Walter Matthau, Mr and Mrs Robert McNamara, Mr and Mrs James Michener, Mr and Mrs Arthur Miller, Mr and Mrs Vincent Minnelli, Mike Nichols, Mr and Mrs Gregory Peck, George Plimpton, Prince and Princess Stanislas Radziwill, Mr and Mrs Jason Robards Jr, Governor and Mrs Nelson A Rockefeller, Philip Roth, Baron and Baroness Guy de Rothschild, Theodore Rousseau, Mr and Mrs Arthur Schlesinger Jr, Mrs David O Selznick, Mr and Mrs Irwin Shaw, Mr and Mrs Frank Sinatra, Steve Sondheim, Sam Spiegel, Mr and Mrs John Steinbeck, Gloria Steinem, Mr and Mrs William Styron, Andy Warhol, Mr and Mrs Robert Penn Warren, Mr and Mrs Billy Wilder, Tennessee Williams, Darryl Zanuck 

The Gold Guitar

Has anyone ever written a book about the country music genre films of the 1960s? They were mostly released in the South. This one--from '66, of course--co-starred a woman I would later get to meet and work with, Skeeter Davis, as well as George Ellis, an Atlanta actor beloved for his role of local TV horror host "Bestoink Dooley." 

In these kinds of films, there may or may not be a rudimentary plot but the ultimate point is to get in as many country and western tunes as possible in music video style.