En Garde

You may be looking for Engarde, the Legend Lives, a Zorro zine.

Zine
Title:	En Garde
Publisher:
Editor(s):	Richard Schultz & Gary Crowdus
Date(s):	1968-1970
Fandom:	The Avengers (TV) & multimedia, one edition is The Prisoner
External Links:
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

En Garde (first issue was called "The Rigger Digger") is a collection of articles, photos, book reviews, commentary, letters of comment, and fan art.

The zine also contains science fiction book reviews, some Star Trek: TOS fanart, commentary on the general science fiction community (specifically in Michigan, USA), and later issues include content from The Prisoner.

From the second issue: "A magazine of personal opinions and natter.. .particularly about Diana Rigg, Patrick MacNee, and The Avengers."

From the fourth issue: "The Magazine concerned with quite a number of things, but primarily With that most watchable of telly shows, "The Avengers”, and its most elegant personalities, Patrick MacNee and Diana Rigg."

A Bit of Tit-For-Tat

From the January/February issue of Chatter Boxes, a Star Trek: TOS Leonard Nimoy newsletter:

Richard Schultz, editor of EN GARDE, a fanzine devoted to THE AVENGERS, writes that he is beginning a campaign to get ABC to give THE AVENGERS a tine change and all AVENGERS fans are urged to write to Richard to request a copy of his project letter of information and petition. His readers helped us last year in our "Save Star Trek" campaign and it would be nice to be able to return the favor! Please send a long stamped, self-addressed envelope when writing to him.

Issue 1

The first issue is titled "The Rigger Digger." Issues after that are called "En Garde."

It was published in October 1967 and contains 32 pages.

It is online here.

• Tacking, editorial by Richard Schultz (4)
• News and Notes (10)
• Here Thare Bee Thygers (25)

• 

  front cover of issue #1, Richard Schultz

• 

  from issue #1

• 

  from issue #1

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 1

You have no idea how pleased I was to read your magazine. I remember signing for it at the New York Science Fiction Convention, but I never really dreamed of getting it. It genuinely pleased to read about one of my favorite television shows written by one who shared the same basic views about television and entertainment in general. It was, however, far from perfect.

Although I may be mistaken, I don't know how old you are, but I do sort of guess that you are somehow related to fandom (in fact, I think you mentioned a few fanzines in one of your commentaries). I have made the acquaintance of some of the publications concerned and have not been rather impressed.

What it boils down to is this: Your writing could definitely stand improvement. Unless you want to stay clear of a non-fandom audience, I would appreciate it if you would refrain from that vast compost heap of "in" terminology, which is so much a psrt of s—f fandom magazines. And the title? Really. You talk about "pimply juveniles, sticky and gooey with over-praising and gross distortion of the truth” and yet you defeat your own purpose by naming your magazine the way you have.

Now, a somewhat personal gripe. You’re too specialized. I know how great the show is and all that, but I don’t see how you can poss­ibly hope to come out more than twice a year. Look, writing about THE AVENGERS is great, but whenever I read the magazine I’ll always say to myself that it’s a shame you couldn’t expand to cover British television series in general. Then you could incorporate material about such worthwhile items as "SECRET AGENT", ’’THE SAINT”, ’’GIDEON C.I.D. ”, and the like.

Apart from the above points or arguments or whatever else you’d like to call then, the magazine is great. However, due to the fact that I am so "fanatically” involved with the show ”SECRET AGENT” as you are with "THE AVENGERS", I would like to know if you or anybody else you know of, possess any information or photographs concerning that show, I would greatly appreciate it if you could let me know exactly what you have.

Oh, one more thing. I’d really enjoy it if, in the future issues (that is, if and when future issues develop) you could list the titles of every AVENGERS episode that has been on TV in the U.S. as well as the cast and characters and a plot outline. It would be a great service to AVENGERS fans everywhere. Best of luck.

[Richard Schultz]: Anything as intensely personal as a novel, a magazine, or a product that one has just produced is much too close to be viewed dispassionately...and well...by the producer. Time, and the words of interested parties provide a fresh look that is both necessary and instructive. I decided that the slang was a bit overdone, went ahead and changed the magazine title as well.

However, the non—specialization of EN GARDE was first page of my editorial in #1. As EN GARDE is a magazine of personal opinion, natterings and other things, I shall feel free to include any and all non-AVENGERS-Rigg-MacNee items that I personally would like to see in its pages.

Ah, the feeling of power is heady sometimes.

I find myself wearing the bowler and carry an umbrella (convent­ional style...Associated British Productions says the sword kind is illegal and theirs is a mock-up for the series. Subsequent search has revealed sword-canes but no umbrellas) and button-hole everyone I meet into watching the series. I used to bring my portable TV to work on Friday evenings last Spring. Some of the staff did not appreciate it when they found, out. There's more to the story, but I won’t go into that.

Relished RIGGER DIGGER uno enormously. Barbara and I have enjoyed the “Avengers” AVENGERS almost as long as we have loathed the Man & Girl From UNCLE, Star Trek and Time Tunnel crapola so widely and enthusiastically heralded in the darker corners of fandom as a kind of Second Coming of the Entertainment Messiah (his First Coming lying in the advent of Marvel Comics) — especially in the special pleading put forth in the case of Star Trek: look, ye in the gullible fandom, such as Sturgeon and Ellison in search of great pelf are pouring their time and talent into this abortive rathole, let ye then therefore goggle your eyes ate their work as crucified on the flicker box and thicken the letter sacks of the network lest this horror be scuttled with the other unlucrative horrors...

I had hoped for better, but the zine came off anyway. Minus a few unneeded cusswords and the ultra—fannish title, it could be a great zine.

Remember that right now we are in the borderlands of the home video tape recorder territory. Another year or two will see color units bn the market and a fair number of blank and white units in the homes of fans and seni—fans. If THE AVENGERS should run for a final 13 weeks during the coming winter, it’s quite probable that these episodes would be as lost to us as all the previous ones are. If some more time elapses, someone is al­ most certain to have the enthusiasm and equipment to tape them, in black-and-white at least, and I assume that eventually some sort of duplication of hone video tape recordings will become possible. Similarly, I’d like to see some time elapse before the series goes into syndication, but this is not quite as critical a matter, for independent stations seem to run a defunct series intermittently for at least two or three years after it has last been on the net­ work bands.

[...]

You overlooked one possibility in your review of how television attempts ho suit only the mass audience. Don’t forget the kids. The sponsors don’t, and the kids are the principal reason why it’s so seldom that something out of the ordinary appears in prime time. Most homes still have only one television, set in good operating con­ dition. Therefore, the networks and the sponsors are desperately trying to fill the evening hours with offerings that will appeal to both adults and kids, on the theory that something with only adult appeal will get tuned out to satisfy the youngsters. THE AVENGERS, whatever its other merits, didn’t have much of the obvious slapstick and gimmickry that the kids enjoy. Just possibly, things will change, now that so many people are buying color sets and gfiring the kids the old black-and-white sets, and now that you can buy the kids their, own cheap new set for less than $100 if you live fairly close to a transmitter so that the cheap set will give good results. If those sponsors ever get. the notion that the kids are off in their own room watching the most juvenile of the offerings, we might see some adult-oriented-offerings that are calculated to sacrifice some ratings points in compensation for more active buying response from the smaller audience.

Bravo! A rallying point for us Unwashed AVENGERS fans. Hot damn!

I would not ’’water down” the style of writing in the mag (i.e., your own style and fandom jargon) evan though you may be- selling some copies an newsstands and, thus, reaching people who may not be part of fandom. A great deal of the charm of fanzines is being able to speak in our own language.

Liked the editorial very much; For I think comment s on the general nature of the TV medium (broadcasting procedures, the minds behind it all, etc.) is always quite interesting. It is always’ a good thing to get below the surface of these things. Also like News And Notes — this will probably always be a big part of each issue. However, let’s hope you shan’t have to resort to the Dept. of Reprints too often in the future. Ideally, you should be able to solicit original articles and perhaps run reprints of longer articles from other mags. But any interesting clippings might just as well be briefly mentioned in News And Notes rather than reprinted in entirety.

Issue 2

cover of issue #2

En Garde 2 was published in January 1968 and contains 52 pages.

The art is by Richard Schultz and Walt.

The front cover shows a black and white Diana Rigg and Patrick MacNee in a classic pose from THE AVENGERS; back cover is a black and white photo of Diana Rigg. Contents include an article discussing Patrick McGoohan's opinion of the James Bond character.

It is online here.

From the editorial:

This is the very late second issue of the Diana Rigg-THE AVENGERS­ and Patrick MacNee fanzine. It also boosts whatever else this part­icular editor wants it to. Including whatever additional facets of the entertainment medium I appreciate.

As you might have noticed, the title has been changed. Upon sober reflection (and under the prodding of some well—intentioned letter writers), I have decided to alter the title. The previous title, THE RIGGER DIGGER was somewhat overly in­-group!sh and a mite juvenile. Not only the title, but much of the in­terior dialogue was unfortunately inane. Part of the cause for the strange dialogue last issue was because of my speaking patterns. I tend to intermix sheerest slang with erudite verbalizations. This being the unfortunate manner of my speech, I unfortunately carried it over into the writing. I hope to perform much better this time.

• Tacking, editorial by Richard Schultz (4)
• The Save The Avengers Fan Campaign (This is detailed instructions on how fans can wage a letter campaign to save The Avengers. In a later issue, Schultz admits that it was pretty much copied word-for-word from Bjo Trimble's Save Star Trek instructions. He apologizes, gives her credit, and says if he didn't, she'd "have his scalp.") (19)
• EnGarde, article by Robert Musel (22)
• James Bond Is No Hero to Him, article by Robert Musel (retyped from the January 21, 1967 TV Guide issue: "BRITAIN'S DIANA RIGG IS AGAIN AFTER THE AMERICAN VIEWER) (26)
• News and Notes, compiled by Richard Schultz (retyped from the May 14, 1966 TV Guide issue) (29)
• zine reviews (39)
  • Plak-Tow, see that page
  • Spockanalia, see that page
  • Dr. McCoy's Sick Bay, see that page
• Here Thare Bee Thygers, letters of comment (includes one from Devra Langsam, one of the WAHF was from Bjo Trimble, see image below) (41)

• 

  from issue #2

• 

  from issue #2

• 

  from issue #2

• 

  from issue #2

Issue 3

cover of issue #3

En Garde 3 was published in 1968 and contains 54 pages. The art is by Richard Schultz and Walt.

It is online here.

• Tacking, editorial by Richard Schultz (4)
• Profile on Diana Rigg, by Warner Brothers (7)
• Profile on Patrick MacNee by Warner Brothers (11)
• The Avengers, a review by Gary Crowdus (15)
• Two Seasons and a Half, a listing (22)
• To Honor Honor, compiled by Richard Schultz (33)
  • Violence Can Be Fun!, article by Robert Musel (retyped from May 9, 1964 TV Guide)
  • To Honor Honor, article by Anthony Carthaw (retyped from the March 1, 1964 New York Times Sunday Magazine)
  • Honor Blackman in Her Sexy 30's, article by Doris Klien (retyped from the September 26, 1965 Detroit Free Press)
  • Honor's Judo Defense of Honor, article by Michael Smith (retyped from May 20, 1966 Life Magazine)
  • A Lady in Show Business: Honor Blackman, article by Shirley Eder (retyped from April 7, 1965 Detroit Free Press Sunday Magazine)
• You Have Just Been Murdered, a review by Rob Firebaugh (48)
• News and Notes, compiled by Richard Schultz (50)

• 

  from issue #3

• 

  from issue #3

• 

  from issue #3

• 

  from issue #3

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 3

I’m glad you are trying to branch out a little into the other British shows.

[...]

Your covers were nothing less than superbl Naturally. Whilst Mrs. Peel is doomed to the Horrible Fate or replacement, we can always hope that Linda Thorson will live up to the fine standards Diana Rigg has established. And that Miss Rigg will go on to bigger and better things in the future. P.S. I personally found nothing wrong with RIGGER DIGGER as a title (EN GARDE could be about most anything from fencing to politics) but I must admit I first thought it was about old time sailing ships when I heard the title mentioned.

I was.delighted with the third EN GARDE, If it won’t break up an eternal friendship between us, I hope you’ll consider the comments in the May issue of HORIZONS as the equivalent of a LoC on the FAPA- distributed EN GARDE, It seems like a small recompense for such a large issue. But if I start writing individual LoCs on FAPA publications without some reason of extreme urgency, I’ll start falling back on my genzine LoC obs even faster than the present alarming rate. Preliminaries away, I’m ready to say that this latest EN GARDE is of un­ common interest because of the critical time at which it arrived. Knowing that there was an epoch when Diana Rigg was an interloper, an intruder in a role that someone else had made her very own, might help me to take more philosophically the fact that Fiana Rigg is now superseded by a third heroine, I didn’t see much of the newcomer in those final moments of tonight’s episode, but I liked the way she moved through the new version of the nw version of the closing routine over which the credits were superimposed,

In a way, the most interesting and valuable thing to me in this issue is the item that probably Impressed a lot of readers as dry stuff to be glanced at hastily and instantly forgotten: the week-by-week listings of the titles, casts, and synopses of the.episodes on American television. It helped me enormously to figure out how much I’d missed and when I started to watch as much of each episede as work permitted, and. most important of all, it convinced me that I’d retained a great deal in m y memory, I’ve always been skeptical of all forms of audio-visual education, on the theory that the mind doesn’t retain mind-pis and spokdn words nearly as well as it recalls what is read. But maybe I need to revise my. theories j because I find that just these scant plot outlines and in some cases the names 'of the characters are enoggh to make me remember very clearly a lot about some of these episodes, I couldn’t have remembered without these clues, I’m sure. Maybe some day you'll be able to retrieve this sort of full data on the episodes shown only.in ENGLAND, There’s always the faint chance that they’ll be syndicated over here some day, and if not, our remote .descendants might be able to pick them up in whatever future century the trans­ missions complete their journey around the circular spacetime continum and get hack to earth again, I also await with a lot of interest the comments by Gary Crowdus on the colour episodes. My interest in film-making is strong enough for his technical discussion of the photographic techniques to mean something to me, and he seems to have done a better -job than most of the professional reviewers whom you quote in this issue at the difficult art of writing independently of the press release facts, Don’t forget to send a copy of this issue to Honor Blackman, wherever she may be. If I’m right in my assumption that her career is in danger of fading, it might bd at least psychologically helpful at this time of change in her acting life, arid if she’s making a career comeback, she still might appreciate the

ego-boo,

Bjo Trimble responding to Richard Schultz' editorial in the previous issue]:

Gee, mini-skirts, dresses and culottes (the jump suits) are so passe around here they are almost dull. Almost, I said; John nearly ran our VW into a bank window watching a leggy Eurasian in a brilliant yellow minidress walk across a street. Then there’s the red-head in our crowd, who has a purple miniskirt...or a long blouse, I’m not sure which.

Nobody, my dear, ever had the childhood one reads about in books. Nobody in this world ever had the childhood advertisers on TV would have you believe in. And if I had my childhood to live over again,..I might do it. I dunno. It was rough, with $ stepfathers at various times ( some of them with interesting' ideas...either to kill me or other things...), and yet, in between ducking and running, I had something of a childhood after all. I had a neighbor’s fat Palomino horse to ride through tall, wet morning grass, I held and nursed sick cats and puppies and babies 100 chicks when the incubator (as usual) went out, and fell out of barns and out of treehouses, and off horses, and nearly killed my sister in a game, and had stitches taken in me, and got sick eating wild onions every spring, tore my clothes, got pine gum in my hair, got into clod fights, and learned how to grow flowers in my very own Secret Garden, I also worked my back­ side off, creosoting chicken houses, delousing hens, cleaning out stables, fighting off brush fires and doing all the family cooking and ironing.

I was finally caught, shod, and half-tamed long enough to be introduced to the mysteries of lipstick and hair-does (which never worked on me) and to learn to keep my legginess out of the way of coffee tables, other people’s feet, and small animals. The freckles never went away, nor did I ever achieve any grace, but I guess I did have a childhood, and I think that almost everyone else did, too, and if it wasn’t one they wanted: TS again; that’s the way the ol’ cookie crumbles...

Marriage is the same way; it hardly ever turns out to be "happily ever after" or even what you’d planned on. But, as John says, whatever else it is or isn’t; with me he’s never been bored! So perhaps it’s only your way of looking at the same thing.I might be looking at; we see entirely different things be­ cause we are looking for different things.

Could be what you demand out of life, too, I don’t, demand from life: I hope for, and work my ears off, and if I g&t half ef what I’d dreamed of, I figure that I’m playing the odds and for once they’ve come out in my favor, I demand a lot from people, though, which is my problem, because I see so much in them, and can realize what they don’t (or don’t want to) in that I can see the capabilities they don’t ( or won’t ) use! They feel this demand, and react a­gainst it. All but John, which I guess is why I carried him.

Perhaps that’s why I don’t need a religion. I know who I am. I’m not just that funny, fat, freckled gal ever there: I’m the only Bjo in the world. And I know it. It doesn’t often comfort me, because we are a herd animal, and we rather wish for company of our kind...and I don’t have any. But I don’t need anyone to tell me who I am, either, so maybe I’m just as well off, huh?

There is time for everything worth anything. I'm saddened to think that you can’t see that. My grandmother used to say, "If the angels call the end of the world right now, I’m sure the Good Lord would rather I be caught enjoying one of his miracles’( a sunset, flower, small child, etc. ) than be stuffed away in my stinkin' kitchen washing dishes! Perhaps I’m of that opinion, too. Until you’ve dropped everything to pick up and hold a small warm body against you, and had a small hand pat you on the back, you don’t realize or really know how fast time is moving! You work at a job for the privilege of buying the time you need for other things? that is the way it works in our world. How you spend that time is up to you...but don’t complain, in this world of complaints and misery, about no time, until you’ve visited a children’s ward in a hospital and used your talents to draw car­toons for them (just as a for-instance). Then write to me about nobody having time.

My grandmother (who was a wise old hill­ country ”herb doctor") used to say another thing, and she’d never read Candide: "Accept the best in this best of all possible worlds... mainly because it’s the only choice in worlds we’ve got!....and you’ll always have nothing but the best." Think about that for a moment, and ask yourself how often, for your own convenience at the moment or from sheer laziness, you have settled for something less than the best?

Never say ’die’, say ’damn!

[Richard Schultz]: I feel a mite more human these days, thank you, Bjo.

Issue 4

cover of issue #4

En Garde 4 was published in May 1968 and contains 60 pages.

The back cover is a publicity still from the show, with a quote by Gene Marine from "Ramparts Magazine": "It’s interesting to note that the best of the spy shows — despite all kinds of outright sexual gags and a lot of camp jokes — is the British series, “The Avengers”, in which the hero invariably has a genuine respect for his companion and in which the heroine, hippy and unbe­lievable as she is, is a grown-up and real woman all the same.”

The art is by George Foster, Derek Carter, Richard Schultz, Mike Weber, Walt, Art Thomson (ATom), P. Cooper, and Kathy Bushman.

It is online here.

• Tracking, editorial by Richard Schultz (3)
• The Pretenders Last Case, or, The Civil Service Has Its Moments, a satire by Dave Studer (retyped from January 19, 1968, "The Supplement," Carleton University) (16)
• The Avengers in Vinyl, a review of the LP record, by Hank Davis (20)
• Mit Schirm, Charme und Malone, two articles translated by Stephen H. Lewis from the the German zine Bravo (22)
• News and Notes, compiled by Richard Schultz (30)
• Here Thare Bee Thygers, letters of comment, one by Bjo Trimble (47)

• 

  from issue #4, Derek Carter

• 

  from issue #4, Richard Schultz

• 

  from issue #4, Kathy Bushman

• 

  from issue #4, P. Cooper

• 

  from issue #4, Derek Carter

• 

  from issue #4, Derek Carter

Issue 5

cover of issue #5

En Garde 5 was published in 1968 contains 84 pages.

It is online here.

This issue includes two small sketches by Gene Klein (later Gene Simmons of Kiss) (he also did art and submitted letters of comment for several issues of "Fantasy News," published in 1968-69).

The art is by George Foster, Kathy Bushman, Derek Carter, Ray Isenberg, Mike Symes, Richard Rubenfeld, and Gene Klein.

• Tacking, editorial by Richard Schultz (3)
• Tassels and Other Objects, from ENCOUNTER, by David Sylvester (8)
• Films on TV, from FILMS IN REVIEW, by Jack Edmund Nolan (14)
• Comedy of Errors by Richard Schultz (18)
• Will Success Spoil Mrs. Emma Peel? by Gary Crowdus (24)
• Dead Man's Treasure, an edited rendition of the Michael Winder TV script, transcribed from tape by Dennis O. Kawicki (28)
• Addendum and Corrections To Two Seasons And A Half by Currie, Crowdus, and Schulz (39)
• News and Notes, complied by Richard Schultz (49)
• Reflections on a World Without Emma Peel by Michael Dobson (65)
• Here Thare Bee Thygers, letter column (67)

• 

  from issue #5, Kathy Bushman

• 

  from issue #5, Richard Rubinfeld

• 

  from issue #5, Kathy Bushman

• 

  from issue #5, some telepics

• 

  from issue #5, Mike Symes

• 

  from issue #5, Gene Klein (detail from a page)

• 

  from issue #5, Kathy Bushman

• 

  from issue #5, Kathy Bushman

Issue 5.5

cover of issue #5.5, Diane Deanchuk

En Garde 5.5 was published in January 1969 and contains 12 pages.

It includes a full-page drawing by Jim Steranko. Other interior art is by Jack Gaughan, George Foster, Bernie Zuber, and others.

Issue 6

front cover of issue #6

En Garde 6 was published in 1969 and contains 108 pages. It contains art by Kathy Bushman, Rene Inkold, Steve Moore, Jay Kay Kinney, Harry Wasserman, Bernie Zuber, Ray Isenberg, Seth Dogrammajian, Bill Malcolm, George Foster, Sal Trapani, Mike Symes, Pat Hein, Staranko, Pat Barnwell, and Jack Gaughn.

This issue is online here.

A 1968 ad for it contains some different info: "#6 has a novel in it titled The Long, Long Distance Telephone Call" by Hank Davis (three pro sales to date, all science fiction. Why do you want a copy? Mrs. Peel meets Mr. Spock.... The Novel itself will have covers of 80-grade cover stock. It will be over 150 pages long.

• Tacking, editorial by Richard Schultz (4)
• Shooting Photos from the Teevee Screen]] by Bodhan Synak (20)
• What a Way to Take a Trip! by John Mansfield (22)
• Faith-Ful Additions by Faith Lincoln (29)
• Forget-Me-Knot, tapescript by Dennis O. Kawicki (screenshots, detailed written synopsis) (49)
• Patrick McGoohan ("I Am Not a Number. I Am a Free Man."), a study by Drew Simels (76)
• Relationship by Hank Davis (79)
• News and Notes, compiled by Richard Schultz (83)
• Here Thare Bee Thygers, Letter Column (102)
• More Tacking, Editorial Second Thoughts (109)

• 

  from issue #6 Kathy Bushman

• 

  from issue #6, Kathy Bushman

• 

  from issue #6, Kathy Bushman

• 

  from issue #6, Jack Gaughn, article about creating telepics

• 

  from issue #6, Staranko

• 

  from issue #6

Issue 7

front cover of issue #7

En Garde 7 was published in 1970 and contains 70 pages.

It is a Prisoner issue.

The cover features Emma Peal from "The Avengers" and there is a Avengers drawing inside the front cover.

Every episode of The Prisoner is given a thorough synopsis. The final episode is presented in script form.

There are several pages of black and white photos and fan art, drawings of the various icons of the series.

• 

  from issue #7

• 

  from issue #7?

• 

  from issue #7, includes some marginalia

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  from issue #7