Charlton Heston Books

Now, if Stan Lynde would just collect and publish the rest of the Rick O'Shay archive, those of us nostalgic for the town of Conniption and its residents could complete our collections. Meanwhile, this will have to do. It's a collection of 10 complete stories from the daily comic strip (1959-1977) plus an autobiography of Stan Lynde and an introduction by Charlton Heston.

The stories center around the anachronistic town of Conniption, located somewhere in the Old West. Conniption seems, like Brigadoon, to be adrift in time -- often interacting with the modern world to humorous effect, while retaining its basic rural western character. Its residents are a quirky lot who change and grow over time as Lynde's skills as artist and story teller mature over the years.

If you're old enough to remember the strip in your daily paper, this compilation is the closest you can come to getting it back. If you're a fan of the Old West, or even just like "Tumbleweeds," but haven't yet encountered Stan Lynde's work, you're in for a treat.

"Cartoon" is in some ways not good enough to describe Stan Lynde's work, just as "Cartoon" can seem to denigrate such American literary greats as "Pogo", "Doonesbury" and "Krazy Kat".

In this collection, we see several years of the week-day editions...but none of the Sunday, which is a shame, as the Sunday edition is where Mr. Lynde cut absolutely loose as an artist. His colors and details were/are as brilliant and memorable as any cartoonist I've ever seen, including such as the great Barry Windsor Smith and the various artists along the way for the "Prince Valiant" strip.

Mr. Lynde hit a chord at the right time in American History to tell us about the "good ol' days", and how they weren't necessarily so much better than today, but that we all get back what we put into life.

He continualy did this with humor and light-heartedness, while not shrinking from showing us real-life relationships and how life goes on. Note his gradual telling of Sheriff Rick O'Shay's courting with school marm Gaye Abandon, and their "adopted" (or more like rescued) boy-child, Quoit.

For me, the gunfighter (with the proverbial heart of gold) was Hipshot Percussion. He was shown as being a loner...but one who needed people. He also lived with another "rescue animal", one Belle Star, a tabby cat. Sometimes pregnant, sometimes not, always loyal to Hip and his ways. They were indeed kindred creatures.

One highlight of every year was when Hipshot and Rick, and later with Quoit, would go into the Mountains to hunt elk.

The other highlight was on Christmas Day, when Hip would ride up into the Mountains, by himself, to "have a word with The Boss". The God, of course.

Mr. Lynde would use his finest inks and drawing styles for this big-format strip, painting nature in all of its glory. Even for someone like myself who usually finds public showings of "religion" to be tacky, his love and feeling for the Great Outdoors and God, and the way that he'd show it in such a low-key way, is absolutely majestic.

It's been over 30 years since the last Rick O'Shay hit the stands, due to contractual problems between Lynde and his publisher, but I can still see the sunrises and sunsets the way he painted them. Which is just the way that you can see them yourself, on particularly clear mornings and evenings.
(Please note: the above does NOT tell anyone how I feel about any religion...just that I think it best kept to ones self...)

Mr. Lynde has carried his arts over to later strips and novels, such as Latigo and others, and the little bit I've seen of them is every bit as worthwhile as the "Rick O'Shay" series. Well worth checking out. Do yourself a favor and do that.
His webpage is,
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Michael Munn's biography is the best book I have read which gave an excellent insight into Charlton Heston--the real man. This books tells about Charlton's meager beginnings as a shy-loner living in the Michigan's woods, who later turned into the epic-hero-actor in classic films such as THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, BEN HUR, EL CID & THE PLANET OF THE APES. This book helped me to understand the kind of person Mr. Heston REALLY is. Information about his family life, his relationship with his wife-Lydia who he has been married to over 50 years. Michael Munn has direct quotes from interviews he held with Charlton, his wife Lydia, Fraser & Holly (his children) throughout the book, which allows the reader to know exactly how the actor & family felt at the time about certain events in Charlton's life. This is a 'Must-Read' for any Heston fan. MonaK

Thanks to Mr. Heston. These cassettes are excellent! Selections from the Bible are read with majesty and reverence as well as warmth and freshness. I recommend them to everyone. The commentary is helpful and the choice of passages flow excellently in such brief thematic presentations (approximately 30 minutes each side). The programs are as follows: Cassette One: Side one covers the creation, fall, Noah and Abraham. Side two covers Moses and the Exodus from Egypt to Canaan. Cassette Two: Side one contains the stories Ruth, Mary & Elisabeth, and Deborah. Side two contains selections from the Old Testament Prophets. There is a hint that more of these cassettes are to come. I hope so. If they come, I'll get them.

If you love the "Old Hollywood", you'll love this!!! Great stories and pictures

This book is available with author signiture from the NRA Store website for thirty dollars.

For all of Charlton Heston fans--this is one of the greatest books ever written concerning Mr. Heston's films!

Jeff Rovin has done an outstanding job with this book. Not only does it go in detail about Mr. Heston's films it is loaded with photos.

This is a MUST read for any Heston-fan. Buy it NOW!
MonaK

This treasure of a book is a collection of essays (and a few poems) on friendship. The stories show how varied friendships can be, and how essential they are for human life. There are, among others, stories of life-long friendship, regret over lost friendship, and friends who only meet once in life. This book does not have to be read in one sitting, and would make a lovely gift for a friend. It is indeed bread for the journey.

A very good summary of Jean-Paul Sartre's exitentialist views and how they changed over his lifetime. A good primer on existentialism. This introduces the concept that the choices made by individuals in the present define the meaning of past and future events in that individual's life.

Major Dundee by Harry Julian is very good reading. I love the cover. Very nostalgic.

I get these books on CD for my commute time, this one was a winner. Charlton Heston give it a very good reading.