The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #480 and Like A Hood Ornament #59: Reading "The Rocketeer" Movie Novelization Chapter 2

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast

In honor of Rocketeer Day (unofficially a thing ... in the 1991 film, the date October 15th, 1938 is shown), I'm reading the second chapter of the Peter David penned movie novelization of the 1991 Rocketeer film. This chapter basically picks up in the spot where the film begins, where on a fall morning at Chaplin Airfield, Cliff, Peevy, and the other fliers and mechanics who work there gather to witness and partake the Gee-Bee's first flight. It's cool seeing little details, like how Cliff played a prank on the owner of the Bigelow air circus by taking out the screws of his chair so it collapsed when the rotund businessman sat in it - all to get back at him for unfair treatment of Malcolm, who Cliff would later save again later in the film. (Of note, the Gee-Bee Z reproduction that was used in the film is now - as of 2003 - on display in the Santa Monica Museum of Flight.)

Of note, I had previously hosted all my podcast episodes on the Internet Archive, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving various bits of pop culture that otherwise would disappear into the ether. They recently got hacked and are working on getting back online, but if you believe in free access to information, in the meantime, please help support them - https://archive.org/