The Space Gallery

(Click upon a star to see the picture.)

STAND BY FOR MARS!

As the Solar Guard rocket cruiser Polaris approaches the red planet Mars, it narrowly avoids an uncharted space dust cloud! One of the hazards of space navigation in 2350 AD. Original art by George W. Proctor.

SPACE PATROL CAST!

In this oil painting by Valentine, now owned by Beth Flood, we see, from top to bottom, Major Robbie Robertson (Ken Mayer), Tonga (Nina Bara), Commander Buzz Corry (Ed Kemmer, the only cast member surviving today), Carol Karlyle (Virginia Hewitt) and Cadet Happy (Lyn Osborn). Close inspection of the original painting indicates Robbie, Hap and Buzz wear the red-orange and dark green version of the Space Patrol uniform.

[Once owned by Nina Bara, now in the possession of Chuck Lassen, is the photo on which this painting is based.]

APPROACHING DANGER!

Frankie Thomas as Tom Corbett adopts a standard pose of his character as he senses trouble brewing on the surface of a desolate asteroid. This is the only authentic color photo we have been able to turn up showing the Space Cadet uniform, and was probably taken in late 1950 (the moon/asteroid set appears in TV shows of about this vintage, at the beginning of the "Deadly Force Beam" storyline).

STAND BY FOR BROADCAST!

Ed Kemmer, Lyn Osborn and Virginia Hewitt pose in the parking lot of the TV studio in this rare color shapshot kindly provided by Beth Flood. The uniform colors seem to match Valentine's painting, and correspond to the broadcast season of the Ralston Rocket. Color balance restored by Tom Powers.

CIVILIANS BOARDING, CAPTAIN!

An ultra-rare color photo of the Ralston Rocket on its nationwide tour. Posing in their Carol Karlyle outfits are Beth Flood's three oldest daughters. The girls are (left to right) Nancy (8), Kay (5), and Billie Jean (3-1/2). Photo courtesy Beth Flood, color balance corrected by Tom Powers.

HAS HAPPY GONE GOOFY?

In this rare cast photo from the very first season of SPACE PATROL, Cadet Happy seems to be menacing Carol and Tonga with a 1950-model Smoke Ring Pistol, while writer Norman Jolly (as Agent X), Glenn Dixon (apparently a Space Patrol officer named Gruel), Robbie and Buzz look on in horror. Only Prince Baccarratti (Bela Kovacs) is missing and that's his signature at the bottom. What a weird idea, to have the actors sign not their real names, but the names of their characters! Courtesy of and from the collection of Beth Flood.

"AWWWW, GO GET YOUR OWN BOX, SPACE HEROES!"

In the period 1951-2, the major TV advertising budget for Kellogg's CORN FLAKES and Kellogg's PEP went into TOM CORBETT, SPACE CADET. In 1951, the back of the CORN FLAKES box advertised the "Space Cadet Squadron" kit, 25 cents for a newspaper, shoulder patch, ID card, badge and certificate, while PEP offered Space Cadet "Rocket Rings" inside every box. In 1952, the front of the PEP box was redesigned to feature comic-strip-style 4-color action in space with Tom and the cadets, and the back of the box featured four different 7-inch tall images. These were of Roger Manning (shown here, by courtesy of and from the collection of Jan Merlin), Tom Corbett, Astro and Doctor Joan Dale. Why Captain Steve Strong was omitted is an interesting question in itself. Male kids were supposed to identify with Tom, Roger or Astro, while female kids were supposed to identify with Joan Dale. Captain Strong, as the authority/parent figure of the program, was presumably not thought to be someone kids would identify with!

By 1953, SPACE CADET was no longer sponsored by Kelloggs, but Kelloggs was hardly through with TV. The company brought out pancreas-blasting new cereals aimed specifically at kids: SUGAR FROSTED FLAKES, SUGAR SMACKS, and SUGAR POPS. SUGAR POPS was uniquely associated at first with TV's WILD BILL HICKOK, while all the Kellogg's kids cereals, including even CORN FLAKES, boldly featured TV's SUPERMAN, or... unkindest cut of all... TV detective Joe Friday, as played by Jack Webb!

GALAXY II

Captain Video's giant space ship, Galaxy II, was to my 12-year-old self the neatest-looking of all the early 1950s ships. It owed perhaps a little to Wallace Wood's designs for the great EC comics, WEIRD FANTASY and WEIRD SCIENCE, but got totally away from the V-2 and Flash Gordon prototypes that otherwise dominated early TV spacecraft designs. In flight, it had visible flaming exhausts from its three clustered engines; these appeared to be tiny gas flames... apparently the model was fitted for natural gas! Captain Video and the Ranger sat under a huge airplane-style cockpit canopy during flight; the canopy seen on the model here does not match the full-scale set. For another view of Galaxy II, click here. For a view of the Galaxy II's space jeep, click here.

THE TRUE COLORS

As requested by many viewers of Roaring Rockets, and as made possible by the camera of Greg Jackson, Jr., here's Frankie Thomas in full Tom Corbett dress at the SPERDVAC convention in November, 1998. From left to right we see Greg Jackson, Jr., legendary announcer Dick Tufeld (of SPACE PATROL and LOST IN SPACE fame) and Frankie.

OH, TO HAVE BEEN THERE!

We're told that Frankie had a great time, first at a Halloween party and then at the SPERDVAC convention, in his Space Cadet uniform. This photo gives proof, and gives us another look at the uniform itself. The unusual color scheme, pale greenish-blue-grey with a magenta yoke (now faded more to brownish), seems to have been chosen for the good contrast it presented on 1950s black and white TV. When first approached about wearing the uniform again, Frankie felt it had perhaps faded too much, and looked too incomplete with boots and belt missing, but he changed his mind, and rightly so, we think. [From left to right, Dick, Frank and Greg. Fluorescent color shift removed by Tom Powers]

Although Rod Brown of the Rocket Rangers (Cliff Robertson) and Tom Corbett, Space Cadet (Frankie Thomas) were arch-rivals of the air-waves, in hot and heavy competition for the same Saturday morning time slot, Cliff and Frank themselves have always been on good terms, and here's a recent photo to prove it. Followers of male fashion may also want to study the suits, shirts and ties on display here! [Thanks to Greg Jackson, Jr., for his camerawork, and Cadet Ed Pippin for scanning.]

From Chuck Lassen, here's an example of a great way to display and protect your rare and precious Space-Hero-related toys. It's a wall box that contains a pair of Space Patrol Space-O-Phones, a Space Patrol Cosmic Smoke Gun, and two Space Patrol figures from the Marx "Tom Corbett Space Academy" playset.

This is not a misprint! The Marx Space Academy and Space Patrol playsets each contained a mixture of Space Cadet and Space Patrol figures, easily identified since they were fairly precisely molded as to costumes and even facial features. Chuck has preserved his original Space Academy set over all these years, and from that set, at left, is none other than Major Robbie Robertson. While he sports a Solar Guard helmet, he wears a Space Patrol spacesuit, which has multiple flex-rings around the neck and lacks the belts and chest harness with shoulder straps accurately shown on the Solar Guard suits.

On the right is Carol Karlyle, sometime scientist and full-time daughter of the Secretary General of the United Planets. She wears her usual vest with lightning bolt insignia, and a somewhat incongruous Space Patrol cap.

THE REAL TERRA V!

Given to Beth Flood by her brother "Bud" Osborn when SPACE PATROL went off the air, this is a "hero" (large) model of Terra V, Buzz Corry's flagship. Beth lent it to modelmaking expert Jack McKirgan to be repaired and refinished, and here he is with it, just before sending it back to Beth. If you have videotapes of some of the later programs in the Mr. Proteus sequence, or "Prisoners of the Giant Comet" and "Demon Planet," you'll see this actual model used.

He reports,"This was one of the studio models that was used in the 1954-55 season and it still has the holes for hanging from a rig for filming. Beth wanted them left in the model, but made less conspicuous. Otherwise, it is as original with cleaned-up lines, no chipped paint, and all wrinkles and pores filled and sanded smooth. The markings are exactly as original, except for the fin flash which I cleaned up to make more symmetrical than the hand-painted original."

COMMANDER CORRY IN 1999!

It's July 1999 and that's none other than Commander Buzz Corry, aka Ed Kemmer, at home with one of his feline sidekicks. Despite the years that have run past all of us since Ed last played the role of Buzz Corry in 1955, we'd recognize him anywhere, even out of uniform as he is here. Ed got to visit in person with many old Space Patrollers at Monster Rally 99 on the weekend of August 6-8, 1999, and we are happy to report (alas, second-hand) that the tremendous affection and respect all the Space Patrollers still feel for Ed is perfectly reciprocated by Ed's unfailing and unselfish kindness toward, and genuine interest in, those who had previously seen him only on the small screen. [Thanks to Jean-Noel Bassior for this portrait.]

SPACE HONEYS OF 1950

While Carol and Tonga weren't permitted to dress quite like this during their SPACE PATROL appearances, this photo from the collection of Chuck Lassen suggests that they sometimes gave the cast and crew a thrill before broadcast! That's Nina Bara's handwriting at the right, with Nina and Virginia Hewitt providing the pulchritude.

EARTHWORM DUTY

Cadets T. J. Thistle (Jack Grimes) and Tom Corbett (Frankie Thomas) draw unenviable earthworm duty, greeting tykes and moms at a department store, aparently Macy's to judge from one sack. By this time, the show's last season, the belt-buckle communicators, black plastic boxes with white dials, had all been broken. [They tended to drop off the metal clip on the front of the belt at inopportune times, and smash to bits.] They were replaced by small leather boxes with small knobs on the front, as shown in this snapshot. In many stills from the last season, cast members who had small roles had nothing attached to their belt clips at all-- presumably only a few of the leather boxes were made.

SPACEMAN MEETS COWBOY!

From the Frankie Thomas Album: Here's a picture of a very young Frankie on his horse Jack, with his grandfather. He comments, "You can see why I had no trouble riding in the serial TIM TYLER'S LUCK. This is one of the very few pictures of my grandfather, who was a cowboy in his early youth."

IT WENT THATAWAY!

From the Frankie Thomas Album: Here's a photo of Frankie at about the age we all were when we watched him on TV as TOM CORBETT, SPACE CADET. Frankie comments: "This shows Tim Tyler pointing out the direction in which Spider Webb disappeared with the stolen Jungle Cruiser." We are fascinated with Frankie's holster, which was apparently either made for a Buntline Special or for a machete!

SENIOR CADET DRESS BLUES?

Since Chuck Lassen first became a Space Cadet back in 1950, and it is now more than 50 years later, he's obviously to be considered very senior in rank. Here he is on 10/31/01, in full dress uniform, and armed with the non-regulation Buck Rogers U235 Atomic Pistol, otherwise mainly seen in the hands of bad guys, at least on CAPTAIN VIDEO. By the way, Chuck has also managed to infiltrate the staff of a local department store, whose associates evidently consist entirely of lovely young ladies. If you want to check out Chuck and his co-workers as they all appeared on 10/31/2001, click here.