Sgt. Bilko Annual [1960]

[1954] Annual. Original price 7/6.
96 pages. Full colour contents.
World Distributors (Manchester) Ltd.

Based on the US television series starring Phil Silvers.

Cover by UNKNOWN (uncredited); photograph of Phil Silvers by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

Contents:

 2 UNTITLED endpaper; illustrated by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

 4 Indicia

 5 Sgt. Bilko Annual title page; illustrated by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

 6 Contents illustrated by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

 7 Lord Bilko Grabs a Castle text story by UNKNOWN (uncredited); illustrated by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

17 Gold Rush w: Cal Howard (uncredited); a: Bob Oksner (uncredited).

r: Sergeant Bilko (National Comics Publications Inc.) #15 (Sep 1959 - Oct 1959).

41 Bilko and the Tender Tonsil text story by UNKNOWN (uncredited); illustrated by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

47 Bronco Bilko text story by UNKNOWN (uncredited); illustrated by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

55 Sgt. "Ooh Ooh" Ritzik's Lucky Day w: Cal Howard (uncredited); a: Bob Oksner (uncredited).

r: Sergeant Bilko (National Comics Publications Inc.) #16 (Nov 1959 - Dec 1959).

79 Bilko Bangs the Drum text story by UNKNOWN (uncredited); illustrated by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

89 Bilko's Space Academy text story by UNKNOWN (uncredited); illustrated by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

94 UNTITLED endpaper; illustrated by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

Capturing the sense of the series' madcap antics with a wonderful cover image, the first Sgt. Bilko annual starts off on the right footing - which is a great relief, given that The Phil Silvers Show is still up there as one of my favourite shows. Although the cartoony illustration accompanying Phil Silvers' photograph isn't quite up to the same standard as other tie-in annuals, it is, at least, representative of what is inside. What, you are probably wondering, is inside? Well...

Lord Bilko Grabs a Castle may sound as if it features a suspiciously similar ancestor of Bilko taking the spotlight, though in fact we are treated to a reprise of the Roger Tichborne case. Doberman sees a newspaper report about the hunt for the long-missing heir of Frothingham Castle, which Bilko immediately identifies as a perfect money-making opportunity. Learning that the missing heir has a distinctive birth-mark under his left shoulder-blade, Bilko sets out to take the place of the heir.

Paying a visit to the City Editor's desk at Freemont News, Bilko gives hints of his past while discussing the story. Having laid the groundwork, he then approaches Mr. J.M. Bloodline, an eminent expert in tracing genealogical ancestries, to let slip, "accidentally," that he is Lord Frothingham. Swearing Bloodline to secrecy, Bilko requests duplicates of family papers to be delivered, before leaving, secure in the knowledge that Bloodline won't be able to keep from speaking on the matter to the editor.

The next morning sees another story appear in the Freemont News regarding the heir, with his location rumoured to be at Camp Freemont. When English lawyers appear at the camp, to talk with the Colonel, Bilko decides to help events move along. Dropping the papers in front of the men, he is asked to remove his shirt for the colonel - and is soon declared to be Hubert, Lord of Frothingham and Duke of Essex.

As hokey as this take on the much-documented historical fraud is, there is much to enjoy. That everybody accepts without question Bilko's lineage is but one of the inexplicable-but-surprisingly-accurate quirks which made Arthur Orton's story so compelling, and Bilko's mischievous behaviour throughout is perfectly in character. What is less easy to accept is how well Bilko's plan seems to be going - there simply isn't enough obstacles for him to manoeuvre around, The slippier aspects of Bilko's personality aren't exploited to their fullest, nor his ability to think on his feet, which is a great joy to see on the screen.

A newspaper account of gold being discovered in the area a hundred years earlier, by a man named Sutter, catches Bilko's eye. A new arrival at the camp, who happens to be a geologist, tells Bilko that there is plenty of gold to be found running through nearby hills, which - luckily - coincides with a war game taking place, giving Bilko the perfect opportunity to get off the base for a while. Requisitioning enough supplies to go on a gold dig, including pickaxes, shovels, dynamite, and fuses, Bilko prepares to strike gold as soon as he can.

Things, predictable, go awry as soon as Bilko gets dollar signs in his eyes, but Gold Rush isn't quite up to the standards I had expected. Its very loose style of illustration is more in line with the Jerry Lewis comics, and doesn't capture the energy or intelligence that the show displayed, and a few of the plot twists are a little far-fetched to be satisfying.

The odd formatting of the original comics is replicated in the annual, with a gap on the final page being filled with two pocket cartoons courtesy of Henry Boltinoff. That they are coloured in the same flat style as the main strip makes it appear, initially, that they are connected to the full-length strip. Far better use of the space would have been a B&W illustration rendered in a single colour, to contrast against the rest of the page, and to act as a break into the next story.

Minor formatting gripes, yes, but it speaks to a lack of precision and style.

Hypnotism is an easy target, and it isn't employed to the most of its potential in Bilko and the Tender Tonsil, especially as the story has an overall sedate tone. Lively artwork attempts to make something of the text, but it isn't near the quality of the previous prose tale. Bronco Bilko is an improvement, while adding to the character with western elements - Bilko, it appears, considers himself to look a ringer for Matt Dillon¹, or Wyatt Earp², or Jim Hardie³. Corporal Barbella once caught him gazing into a mirror, announcing he could be Flint McCullough⁴ just as easily as Robert Horton.

When Al Chesham, director of Three-Star Western, announces that he is shooting location sequences in the area, Bilko gets the notion to be a western star, arranging for his men to appear as extras, dressed as United States Fifth Cavalry soldiers.

This story distances the annual from its western stablemates, explicitly regarding those series as fictional. While it doesn't do much with the notion, it is amusing to see the western fad being given appropriately twisted play here. It would have been much funnier had there been a real western series involved, and the narrative they are filming referenced with a straight take elsewhere - linking annuals in such a way seemingly hadn't occurred to the authors of any of World's stories, but it might have encouraged readers to purchase more annuals in the hunt for interconnected elements.

I would have loved a sequence with Bilko coming face-to-face with Amanda Blake.

...and being put soundly in his place.

C'mon, she's stared down some of the most intimidating-looking actors of the era, so she could easily have him quaking in his regulation-issue boots. Her put-downs are amongst the most sumptuous deliveries in television history.

Rupert Ritzik wins a contest for his cooking skills, landing him with five hundred dollars in prize money. Bilko, never one to pass up an opportunity, decides to get his hands on the money, and his machinations soon have dire consequences. Another middling strip, which doesn't seem to be as madcap or funny as its set-up dictates such a story to be, and although there are several amusing incidents along the way (including a ridiculous disguise), it lacks bite.

Doubles are prime comedy fodder, and a private eye from LA named Slim Harlon - who happens to be a dead ringer for Bilko - creates many opportunities for Bilko Bangs the Big Drum to really embrace the themes of the television series. The story stumbles, rather than leaps, across its plot points, and has a few entirely obvious moments which detract from what ought to be up there with the finest moments of comedy.

With westerns already covered, the other big genre of the time, SF, is given an opportunity to shine within the constraints of Camp Freemont. Bilko's Space Academy, closing out the annual, delivers a nice - and unusual - proposition for the character, and even features a pie-dish spacecraft on the first page of the story. Doberman constructs a machine which consists of a tangle of aerial masts, with a microphone grafted on:

"Are you there? Repeat, are you there? Come in - come in!"
   Bilko couldn't make head or tail of this until Doberman explained that he was talking to outer space.
   "Outer space?" Bilko boggled on the words. "Tell me you know somebody out there?"
   "Not yet, sarge, but I'm trying to make their acquaintance. You think flying saucers are real, don't you, sarge?"

When Sergeant Hogan shows Bilko a picture of the Space Academy uniform, the Army's new billion-dollar agency, Bilko attempts to get himself transferred. Although not played out by the surest of hands, the story is a fine conclusion to the annual, looking to the future as it takes Bilko down yet another road to failure. A moment of hope within the story could have allowed for the possibility of alien life to remain a tantalising prospect, rather than a scam perpetuated to allow Bilko his wishes, but one can't have everything...

I ought not to be so surprised at the skill and talent on display, but there are aspects of the annual which really shine. The Phil Silvers Show doesn't provide obvious opportunities for an annual to really shine, yet there are stories here which capture aspects of the series with precision - not always, but with a good enough ratio to consider it a resounding success.

^{1. James Arness' character in Gunsmoke, which ran from 1955 to 1975.}

^{2. The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp ran from 1955 to 1961, with Hugh O'Brian starring as the titular lawman.}

^{3. Dale Robertson's character in Tales of Wells Fago, which ran from 1957 to 1962.}

^{4. On Wagon Train, which ran from 1957 to 1962 on NBC, before moving to ABC until 1965. Horton did not make the transition to the ABC run.}

Sgt. Bilko Annual

[1961]