Milton the Monster, Hal Seeger's horror spoof, turns 50 this year. To celebrate, albeit appropriately on Halloween, we present the first Milton short.
Milton and his fellow monsters, Heebie & Jeebie, are introduced to "Zelda the Zombie" as potential suitors for marriage to end a feud.
Like, did you really think Zelda'd go for a monster with an open skull? Dobie Gillis, he ain't. Bob McFadden did all the voices, including the Peter Lorre mimic for Heebie.
Rating: B.
Saturday, October 31, 2015
Looney TV: Hyde & Hare (1955)
Happy Halloween, everyone.
We'll start the final day of Spooktober with a Bugs Bunny classic, "Hyde & Hare", in which the "wascally wabbit" (Mel Blanc) meets a modern day Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, as only Friz Freleng could imagine it.
Unfortunately, the complete short is not available on YouTube, just some excerpts, like this one, in which Bugs takes to the piano, and, with a little Liberace mimic, tries out Chopin's "Minute Waltz".
Note that Bugs is also cribbing from Ralph Kramden (Jackie Gleason), referring to Hyde as a mental case. Well, it only proves he's up on pop culture.
Rating: A.
We'll start the final day of Spooktober with a Bugs Bunny classic, "Hyde & Hare", in which the "wascally wabbit" (Mel Blanc) meets a modern day Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, as only Friz Freleng could imagine it.
Unfortunately, the complete short is not available on YouTube, just some excerpts, like this one, in which Bugs takes to the piano, and, with a little Liberace mimic, tries out Chopin's "Minute Waltz".
Note that Bugs is also cribbing from Ralph Kramden (Jackie Gleason), referring to Hyde as a mental case. Well, it only proves he's up on pop culture.
Rating: A.
Friday, October 30, 2015
Spooktober: Creature Features (1969)
The following also appears over at The Land of Whatever:
========================
With Halloween tomorrow, we're wrapping up our look at New York City's troika of horror movie showcases.
Creature Features, which aired on WNEW (now WNYW), launched in 1969, and lasted 4 years before its initial run ended due to ratings woes and competition from WPIX's Chiller Theatre. Cable television, with the introduction of WNEW, WPIX, & WOR to upstate homes, came right at the end of the run. However, WNEW would bring the series back occasionally, but there was just no faith in keeping the product on the air.
I've often associated the classic Universal Monster movies with airings on WOR, but they debuted on WNEW before the rights shifted to their rival in the mid-70's. Of course, the exception to the rule with the Universal Monsters was the crossovers with Abbott & Costello, with WPIX holding the rights to those films.
Lou Steele, who was heard nightly intoning, "It's 10:00. Do you know where your children are?", before The 10 O'Clock News, was also the host of Creature Features as The Creep. Never got to see him, though.
Tapthatt2012 offers up this intro:
No rating.
========================
With Halloween tomorrow, we're wrapping up our look at New York City's troika of horror movie showcases.
Creature Features, which aired on WNEW (now WNYW), launched in 1969, and lasted 4 years before its initial run ended due to ratings woes and competition from WPIX's Chiller Theatre. Cable television, with the introduction of WNEW, WPIX, & WOR to upstate homes, came right at the end of the run. However, WNEW would bring the series back occasionally, but there was just no faith in keeping the product on the air.
I've often associated the classic Universal Monster movies with airings on WOR, but they debuted on WNEW before the rights shifted to their rival in the mid-70's. Of course, the exception to the rule with the Universal Monsters was the crossovers with Abbott & Costello, with WPIX holding the rights to those films.
Lou Steele, who was heard nightly intoning, "It's 10:00. Do you know where your children are?", before The 10 O'Clock News, was also the host of Creature Features as The Creep. Never got to see him, though.
Tapthatt2012 offers up this intro:
No rating.
Thursday, October 29, 2015
On DVD: The Adventures of Batman w/Robin, the Boy Wonder (1968)
With the notable exception of Superboy (due to legal issues that have been resolved), all of Filmation's DC Comics cartoons of the 60's are now on DVD.
Batman was the last series from that period, and, as has been well documented, due to the live-action series, the Caped Crusader couldn't be used by Filmation as long as the Fox-produced ABC series was on the air. Once it ended in the spring of 1968, all bets were off, if you will.
The series continues the campy spirit of the previous series, with Ted Knight doing his best to approximate the voice of live-action producer William Dozier as narrator. Knight also voiced most, but not all, of the villains, a daunting challenge for any actor. The notable exception, of course, being the Joker. Astute scholars have chalked that up to Larry Storch (ex-F-Troop), who began a lengthy association with the studio. Sadly, Filmation chose not to bring Storch back for the New Adventures series (1977-81), opting instead to have Len Weinrib do the yeoman's work that Knight did here.
There are healthy doses of Joker, Riddler, Penguin, and Catwoman, plus a generous helping of Mr. Freeze. The Scarecrow, long since rebooted as more of a malevolent menace than presented here, made only one appearance, as did the Mad Hatter. Knight's rendering of the Hatter suggested a cross between WC Fields and Jim Backus' Mr. Magoo. As a plus, the episodes are uncut, unlike the heavily edited versions that have aired on cable in recent years. Take for example, "The Jigsaw Jeopardy". You're not going to find the uncut version on YouTube. A key scene where Barbara Gordon (Jane Webb) prepares to change to Batgirl shows her pulling a second costume out of her secret closet, as she would go undercover as a Robin doppleganger in an attempt to fool the Riddler. Subsequent repeats on cable in the 90's edited that part out for time purposes.
Olan Soule (Dragnet) was cast as Batman/Bruce Wayne, beginning a very long association with the Caped Crusader that continued when he and Casey Kasem (Robin/Dick Grayson/various characters) reunited at Hanna-Barbera a few years later. For some reason, the producers decided to give Catwoman (Webb) a green bodysuit with white boots & mask, as opposed to the all-black ensemble worn by Julie Newmar, Lee Meriweather, and Eartha Kitt. Just as curiously, Commissioner James Gordon (Knight) was drawn as clean shaven with brown hair, not the look he had in the comics back then. Neil Hamilton, who played Gordon in the live-action series, had the right hair color, but was also clean shaven.
The theme music composed by John Marion really swings. Scope out the open/close video:
One must assume plenty of throat drops were at the ready for all the work Knight & Kasem did on the show.
Rating: A.
Batman was the last series from that period, and, as has been well documented, due to the live-action series, the Caped Crusader couldn't be used by Filmation as long as the Fox-produced ABC series was on the air. Once it ended in the spring of 1968, all bets were off, if you will.
The series continues the campy spirit of the previous series, with Ted Knight doing his best to approximate the voice of live-action producer William Dozier as narrator. Knight also voiced most, but not all, of the villains, a daunting challenge for any actor. The notable exception, of course, being the Joker. Astute scholars have chalked that up to Larry Storch (ex-F-Troop), who began a lengthy association with the studio. Sadly, Filmation chose not to bring Storch back for the New Adventures series (1977-81), opting instead to have Len Weinrib do the yeoman's work that Knight did here.
There are healthy doses of Joker, Riddler, Penguin, and Catwoman, plus a generous helping of Mr. Freeze. The Scarecrow, long since rebooted as more of a malevolent menace than presented here, made only one appearance, as did the Mad Hatter. Knight's rendering of the Hatter suggested a cross between WC Fields and Jim Backus' Mr. Magoo. As a plus, the episodes are uncut, unlike the heavily edited versions that have aired on cable in recent years. Take for example, "The Jigsaw Jeopardy". You're not going to find the uncut version on YouTube. A key scene where Barbara Gordon (Jane Webb) prepares to change to Batgirl shows her pulling a second costume out of her secret closet, as she would go undercover as a Robin doppleganger in an attempt to fool the Riddler. Subsequent repeats on cable in the 90's edited that part out for time purposes.
Olan Soule (Dragnet) was cast as Batman/Bruce Wayne, beginning a very long association with the Caped Crusader that continued when he and Casey Kasem (Robin/Dick Grayson/various characters) reunited at Hanna-Barbera a few years later. For some reason, the producers decided to give Catwoman (Webb) a green bodysuit with white boots & mask, as opposed to the all-black ensemble worn by Julie Newmar, Lee Meriweather, and Eartha Kitt. Just as curiously, Commissioner James Gordon (Knight) was drawn as clean shaven with brown hair, not the look he had in the comics back then. Neil Hamilton, who played Gordon in the live-action series, had the right hair color, but was also clean shaven.
The theme music composed by John Marion really swings. Scope out the open/close video:
One must assume plenty of throat drops were at the ready for all the work Knight & Kasem did on the show.
Rating: A.
Saturday Morning's Greatest Hits: Monster Swim (1964)
Well, we promised you a follow-up to Bobby "Boris" Pickett's immortal "Monster Mash", and here it is. From the same episode of American Bandstand from exactly 51 years ago, come Saturday, here's "Monster Swim".
And for those of you who've ever wondered what the late announcer Charlie O'Donnell looked like, well, he shows up at the start of this clip, as he was on his first tour of duty as Bandstand's announcer, more or less Dick Clark's sidekick. O'Donnell would later do some of his best work in game shows, including a brief reunion with Clark on one of the Pyramid incarnations.
And for those of you who've ever wondered what the late announcer Charlie O'Donnell looked like, well, he shows up at the start of this clip, as he was on his first tour of duty as Bandstand's announcer, more or less Dick Clark's sidekick. O'Donnell would later do some of his best work in game shows, including a brief reunion with Clark on one of the Pyramid incarnations.
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
On The Air: Be Cool, Scooby-Doo (2015)
18 months after it'd been first announced by Cartoon Network, Be Cool, Scooby-Doo hit the airwaves 3 weeks ago. That's the good news. Unfortunately, I also have to give you the bad news.
It's being done by the same team of idiots, led by Michael Jelenic, responsible for that other atrocity, Teen Titans Go!. That would explain some of the poor character designs. Also, because CN would still air replays during the week if it was a weekly series like every other Scooby series, Be Cool is airing 5 nights a week minimum. I'm not even sure if they have enough material ready for that sort of thing, and remember, CN screwed the pooch on the last series, Mystery Incorporated, by burning off the 2nd season episodes in daily format a couple of years ago. Did the same thing with The Tom & Jerry Show last year. Do they really know what their audience wants? Or is Rob Sorcher from the Vince McMahon School of Audience Manipulation?
Also, it seems they decided to throw away the classic designs, other than wardrobe. Well, then again, Daphne (Grey Griffin) apparently dresses like she's in junior high, swapping her pink hose for pink socks. Those nylon-encased legs were a big selling point to a lot of young boys back in the day. Now, she's slightly off-center, as if she's being dumbed down after the way Fred had the same thing done to him the last 13 years.
Following is a sample excerpt:
Scooby on bass? We know Shaggy can rock out. We saw that on Mystery Incorporated. What grade are they supposed to be in now?
I tried to watch an episode On Demand. 5 minutes in, I turned it off, and I thought, I can write better than these clowns. Unfortunately, I may be too qualified to work for them.
Rating: D.
It's being done by the same team of idiots, led by Michael Jelenic, responsible for that other atrocity, Teen Titans Go!. That would explain some of the poor character designs. Also, because CN would still air replays during the week if it was a weekly series like every other Scooby series, Be Cool is airing 5 nights a week minimum. I'm not even sure if they have enough material ready for that sort of thing, and remember, CN screwed the pooch on the last series, Mystery Incorporated, by burning off the 2nd season episodes in daily format a couple of years ago. Did the same thing with The Tom & Jerry Show last year. Do they really know what their audience wants? Or is Rob Sorcher from the Vince McMahon School of Audience Manipulation?
Also, it seems they decided to throw away the classic designs, other than wardrobe. Well, then again, Daphne (Grey Griffin) apparently dresses like she's in junior high, swapping her pink hose for pink socks. Those nylon-encased legs were a big selling point to a lot of young boys back in the day. Now, she's slightly off-center, as if she's being dumbed down after the way Fred had the same thing done to him the last 13 years.
Following is a sample excerpt:
Scooby on bass? We know Shaggy can rock out. We saw that on Mystery Incorporated. What grade are they supposed to be in now?
I tried to watch an episode On Demand. 5 minutes in, I turned it off, and I thought, I can write better than these clowns. Unfortunately, I may be too qualified to work for them.
Rating: D.
Saturday Morning's Greatest Hits: My Girlfriend's A Witch (1969)
Here's a real corker, courtesy of The Cattanooga Cats.
"My Girlfriend is a Witch" is a cover of a 1-off from a year earlier by The October Country. The track was written & produced originally by Michael Lloyd, who would be the singing voice for Country of the Cattanooga Cats.
"Witch", as a result, sounds much different than the rest of the Cats' tracks.
Fast fact: Lloyd was also the vocalist on the theme to the Kroffts' Lost Saucer six years later. He co-wrote the track with Tommy Oliver (later of Name That Tune & Face The Music).
"My Girlfriend is a Witch" is a cover of a 1-off from a year earlier by The October Country. The track was written & produced originally by Michael Lloyd, who would be the singing voice for Country of the Cattanooga Cats.
"Witch", as a result, sounds much different than the rest of the Cats' tracks.
Fast fact: Lloyd was also the vocalist on the theme to the Kroffts' Lost Saucer six years later. He co-wrote the track with Tommy Oliver (later of Name That Tune & Face The Music).
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