Look Upon My Comics And Despair!!

Today's lesson?

Fame is fleeting.

Who?

WHO???
William Gargan, "star of stage, screen, radio and television," got his own comic book, to portray his character Martin Kane, Private Eye.

And today? Nobody alive has heard of either.

"Star" might have been pushing it, but Gargan certainly had a respectable career as an actor. In a sad irony, though, the Martin Kane show was sponsored by U.S. Tobacco, and as was often the style at the time, the show had "integrated" commercials, with the characters often stopping to talk about the joys of tobacco, and smoke a few cigarettes. Gargan's acting career ended in 1958 when he developed throat cancer and had his larynx removed. He went on, though, to become one of the first major spokesman for the American Cancer Society.

The Martin Kane, Private Eye show had both radio and TV versions, and someone must have considered it culturally significant because they made jokes about it on The Bullwinkle Show and in multiple issues of Mad magazine. After NBC cancelled it, Universal thought enough of it to revive it as a syndicated series.

And today, only 2 issues of Martin Kane, Private Eye exist to remind us. Sic Transit Gloria Mundi.

[Fun fact--the only two issues were numbered #4 and #2--in that order. When we pick on Marvel and DC for their numbering games, well, they've got nothing on the old-timers.]