« Dreams surround our desires with ugliness and dread. » — Mason Cooley
As everyone knows, the early fifties were a more innocent and wholesome era, when the average bobbysoxer would swoon away the nights with fantasies of dishy teen idol Rondo Hatton. I mean, just look at her blissful expression!
This is Weird Thrillers no. 1 (Sept. 1951, Ziff-Davis). Disappointingly, given the cover’s promise, the issue comprises mostly science-fiction and crime stories.
Surprisingly, the cover scene does, for once, occur within!
The opening pages from our cover tale, The Monster and the Model, pencilled by future Rip Kirby artist John Prentice. The entire issue is available for your perusal, legally and gratis, right here!
“So, who is this Rondo guy?”, you may ask. Before Mr. Hatton became a household name, got an award named after him and was the subject of his own book-length biography (Beauty Within the Brute), cartoonist Drew Friedman, ahead of the curve as usual, was endeavouring to preserve from oblivion the unfortunate man’s memory… in his own sardonic way.
One more for the road?
Originally published in Raw no. 8 (Sept. 1986, Raw Books). You may have heard of some other folks tragically afflicted with acromegaly.
I was always happy to know (since first reading it as a young lad in one of my books on horror movies) that, even though his first wife reportedly left him because of his acromegaly, Rondo was thereafter happily married to a loving and faithful woman. By all accounts, she was extremely beautiful, but, having previously been married to a handsome dolt, she didn’t place much stock in looks and was instead attracted to Hatton’s lovely soul.
That *is* really heartwarming. Rondo sure made some fine lemonade from the lemons life dealt him. Thank you very much for sharing that bit of not-so-trivial trivia, Matt!
Who's Out There? 
I was always happy to know (since first reading it as a young lad in one of my books on horror movies) that, even though his first wife reportedly left him because of his acromegaly, Rondo was thereafter happily married to a loving and faithful woman. By all accounts, she was extremely beautiful, but, having previously been married to a handsome dolt, she didn’t place much stock in looks and was instead attracted to Hatton’s lovely soul.
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That *is* really heartwarming. Rondo sure made some fine lemonade from the lemons life dealt him. Thank you very much for sharing that bit of not-so-trivial trivia, Matt!
LikeLiked by 1 person