Thursday, October 30, 2008

Brigantine Castle commercials

Brigantine, New Jersey is a seaside town along the southern coast of the state and is one of many towns visited by Philadelphians during the summer months. During the late 70s and early 80s, one of Brigantine's biggest attractions was Brigantine Castle, a haunted castle with the usual ghosts, vampires, and other things that go bump in the night. It closed in the mid 80s and later was destroyed by a fire.

Here are two TV commercials that aired for the castle continuously in the summer months. They scared the pants off me when I was a kid!




Oh, two off-topic things I should mention. One, today is the one year anniversary of this blog! I plan to have a more formal post about this after the Halloween stuff is over, so stay tuned!

Also...

THE PHILLIES ARE THE 2008 WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



This city hasn't had a major sports championship in 25 years! Thank you Phillies for an awesome season!

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Spider-Man, "The Witching Hour"

I've decided that, since Halloween is on a Friday night and people will likely celebrate it throughout the weekend anyway, I may still post one or two Halloween items this weekend after the 31st. Rejoice!

Today I offer a segment of the classic 1960s cartoon series Spider-Man entitled "The Witching Hour." Spidey battles his archnemesis the Green Goblin, who is trying to obtain the powers of mystical spirits to aid him in his crimes. Peter Parker's cantankerous boss J. Jonah Jameson becomes an unwitting pawn in the Goblin's scheme. Enjoy!


Monday, October 27, 2008

Tales From The Darkside, "A Case of The Stubborns"

Well, so much for my post-every-day-until-Halloween pledge. Sorry I've gotten lax the last few days, but matters personal and business have taken away blogging time. I still have a couple of Halloween goodies to share until the big day this Friday, so let's get right to it!

Today I offer an episode of Tales From The Darkside, a horror anthology TV series syndicated in the 1980s. Each week this series presented a horror tale with a different cast of characters. One of the executive producers was George Romero, creator of the flesh-eating zombie subgenre of horror.

In this episode, "A Case of the Stubborns," a woman and her son deal with the death of their father/grandfather. Only thing is, the stubborn old coot refuses to believe he's dead and continues to walk around as if nothing is wrong! The mother and son takes measures to prove to the old man that he's deader than a doornail--and boy do they give it to him!

Enjoy!


Ep 109- A Case Of The Stubborns
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Friday, October 24, 2008

Saturday Matinee: Batman, 1949 serial, part 15

This is it! The final chapter of Batman and Robin from 1949!



S'more scary trailers!









OK, maybe not so scary.



I hope you enjoyed the first go-round for the Saturday Matinee. Please leave feedback, good or bad, in the comments section or phillyradiogeek@gmail.com. I'm likely going to give it a week off next week, followed by a truncated version throughout November, as December will be reserved exclusively for holiday programming. If feedback is positive, it will make a full return in the new year. Thanks!

Thursday, October 23, 2008

The Mighty Heroes, "The Monsterizer"

Today's Halloween installment is an episode of The Mighty Heroes. The Monsterizer is using his machine called, er, The Monsterizer, to turn the town's leading citizens into monsters doing his bidding. Time to call the Mighty Heroes!

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

The Halloween That Almost Wasn't

Up next is The Halloween That Almost Wasn't, starring Judd Hirsch (Taxi) as Count Dracula. The other famous Halloween monsters have become complacent and no longer have their scary edge, leading people to care less about Halloween. Dracula tries to convince his fellow monsters to put the scare back into the holiday. Mariette Hartley costars as a witch. This originally aired as a special on ABC in 1979, with airings in syndication and The Disney Channel in subsequent years. It was retitled The Night Dracula Saved The World when released on VHS, and is currentlly out of print, never being officially released on DVD. You can find some copies of the VHS tape on eBay and other Internet sites from time to time. Enjoy!



Sunday, October 19, 2008

Pac-Man, "Trick or Chomp"

With the big day less than two weeks away, I'm going to kick things into high gear, hopefully posting almost every day straight until Halloween.

Today I offer a Halloween episode of the early 80s Saturday morning cartoon series Pac-Man, based, of course, on the hugely successful video game. I first mentioned the existence of this series back in September and teased that you would see it again soon. Well, here it is! Enjoy.





UPDATE AS OF 10/21/08: I didn't realize until after posting this that the Pop Culture Holiday Blog has also posted a spooky themed episode of Pac-Man, titled "Pacula." I'll definitely check it out, and so should you, right here:

http://thepchb.blogspot.com/2008/10/pac-man-in-pacula.html

Friday, October 17, 2008

Saturday Matinee: Batman, 1949 serial, Part 14

It's almost done! Here's the penultimate chapter of Batman and Robin!



And in keeping with the spooky season, here are more terrifying (?) films playing in the theater of your mind:







Wednesday, October 15, 2008

The Worst Witch

Today's feature is the movie The Worst Witch, based on a series of children's books written and illustrated by Jill Murphy. Young Mildred Hubble is the titular worst witch at a school for witches, and her misuse of powers gets her into interesting situations. Think of a lighter Harry Potter series starring a female character and you get the gist of the book series and movie.

Here in 8 parts is The Worst Witch. Enjoy!








Sunday, October 12, 2008

Local TV Horror Movie Hosts

One regular facet of local TV back in the day was the horror movie host. He or she usually dressed as a classic ghoul and introduced bad horror movies that aired late at night, cracking corny jokes all the while. They're very hard to find these days, but years ago they were everywhere. Here is a quick survey of same.

The first horror movie host as Los Angeles' Vampira. She set the standard for the phenomenon. The actress who portrayed her, Maila Nurmi, passed away earlier this year. See her here.



In my beloved hometown of Philadelphia, the earliest horror host was Roland, aka John Zacherle, who wore an undertaker's coat and gray ghoulish makeup. He would go on to greater fame in New York City under his own name of Zacherley (with a Y added), but Philly had him first.

Here Zacherle makes a 1970s appearance with another Philly broadcasting star, Mike Douglas.



Zacherle would host Chiller Theater in New York on WPIX Channel 11 for a brief time before bouncing around other NYC stations. Chiller Theater continued on after his departure from Channel 11 with this early opening montage.



This in turn was replaced years later with a very creepy color opening that I won't try to describe. I'm surprised this aired on broadcast TV back then. Chiller indeed!

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Back in Philadelphia, a new host inspired by Zacherle was born, Dr. Shock. His particular spin on the format was his magic tricks that he would perform between film segments. Sadly, he passed away at the young age of 42.




In the Sacramento area in the late 60s and early 70s, Creature Features was hosted by Bob Wilkins, who didn't wear the garish costumes of other horror hosts, but still retained the wry wit often employed by same.



Back in Philly (I can't help it, I'm a homer), KYW Channel 3 featured Saturday Night Dead (right after Saturday Night Live, get it?), hosted by Stella, the vampy "Maneater from Manayunk," a posh section of the city.



Finally, the most famous of these hosts is Elvira, "Mistress of the Dark." Here, Elvira's real life counterpart, Cassandra Peterson, discusses how her macabre career got started.



There are so many more of these hosts that I simply can't list here. If you care to mention a favorite of yours, please leave a comment. Thanks!

Friday, October 10, 2008

Saturday Matinee: Batman, 1949 serial, part 13

Halloween notwithstanding, here is part 13 of Batman and Robin!



And in the spirit of the holiday, here are some terrifying trailers playing in the theater of your mind!





Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Bugs Bunny Halloween Double Feature

Next up in my Halloween hit parade is a pair of Bugs Bunny cartoons both from the early 50s, I believe. First up, Bugs versus Witch Hazel in "Broom-stick Bunny."



Next, Bugs is in double trouble when he meets Dr. Jeckyl and his fiendish alter ego in "Hyde and Hare."



Thanks!

Monday, October 6, 2008

Halloween TV commercials

Hello again. I'm kicking off the Halloween programming (not counting yesterday's intro) with some Halloween-related TV commercials of the past. Let's get right to it.

Hallmark wants you to get in the Halloween spirit:



I loves me some Pillsbury Halloween cookies (I had some Tollhouse Halloween cookies just earlier this evening-yummy!):



Need a one-stop shop for all your Halloween needs? Go to your local Woolworth or Woolco!



More tasty Halloween treats, courtesy of Dunkin' Donuts!



This commercial shows that even Frankenstein is henpecked at home. I hear ya, brother!



Frank showing his stuff for Doritos once again:



It's been a long time since I've featured a McDonald's commercial--too long!



So many of these commercials involve food. Here is one of my favorite of these commericals, for Carvel ice cream cakes. Seeing one of these commercials was as tasty a treat as eating the cakes themselves!


Here is the last one for today, and it's not really Halloween-related, but it is frightening until the last few seconds. This commercial aired only one night during the 2004 Summer Olympics. It features a typical horror movie-style scene of a young woman running for her life from a crazed, masked killer. The twist, however, is that the woman runs to safety, with her killer reluctantly giving up--thanks to her Nike running shoes. Nike came under fire from women's groups who claimed the commercial was misogynistic and in poor taste. Whether that's true or not, it definitely is a very unusual way to sell sneakers. Take a look!



Who knew there were so many Halloween commercials? If you know of any more, let me know and I'll post them here. Thanks!

Sunday, October 5, 2008

This is Halloween!

Hello boys and ghouls (HA! I'm so funny). Welcome to the beginning of Halloween here at Me and You and a Blog Named BOOOOO! I've been waiting a long time to kick off all of the great stuff I've been saving, and I'm going to keep it coming the rest of the month through. I'll still feature the Saturday Matinee with Batman, but everything else in October will be of a Halloween flavor. Stay tuned, and log in as a Follower of the blog (check out the feature on the right).

Without further ado, I hereby officially begin Halloween at Me and You!



Friday, October 3, 2008

Saturday Matinee: Batman, 1949 serial, part 12

Part 12 of Batman awaits!

But first, apparently drive-in theaters were not too keen on daylight savings time. Movie times were too late thanks to the sun.





Time for yet another stop at our refreshment...planet?



I notice things are starting to get a bit---spooky around here. There's a certain chill in the air, and with the sky getting darker earlier, it's looking kinda eerie. It must mean one thing--see you this Sunday for the launch of Halloween at Me and You and a Blog Named "BOO!"