Friday Funnies Presents GET UP!

Hi Kids. Hope all is swell.

Merry Freakin' X-mas

To anyone that might actually be reading this Blog. I hope that 2008 is less stressful in the romance department. Do yourselves a BIG favor, stay off of any, I repeat, ANY website that even hints they will find you that Magical "one".

If it were not for my hobbies and friends and food and drink and my continuing love of things past, what ever would I do? So from all of me to all of you, Happy (PLEASE FILL IN THE BLANK WITH WHATEVER GREETING MAKES YOU FEEL WARM AND CUDDLY) to all.

A Truly Tasteless Friday Funny!

If you are easily offended. or Annoyingly P.C. BEWARE!

You won't find any truth in advertising here! This is a Grade Z production from Spain. No, it does NOT have either Boris Karloff or Lon Chaney Jr. anywhere in the film! Why someone at Universal did not sue the producers of this Little Gem, is beyond me. Maybe Universal did not have any lawyers who cared about such things in 1972.

If stealing a couple of Horror Icons images for their poster was not bad enough, get a load of the Hype from the Pressbook: Yesterday they were COLD & DEAD - TODAY - they're HOT & BOTHERED!

Jeez!

The Further Adventures of Friday Funnies!

If you like/love Buster Keaton, do yourself a favor and buy the Buster Keaton 65th Anniversary DVD Collection. It features all 10 of Busters sound shorts that he made for Columbia Pictures. There are quite a few jems in the bunch. The transfers are exquisite. I bought mine for $17.00. Not bad for almost 3 hours of comedy fun! The package also has a small repro of an actual Keaton script. Support classic film releases. Buy this, and maybe Columbia will release the Charley Chase series!

Those Wonderful Days of Exploitation!

In response to the huge popularity of CONFIDENTIAL magazine, Crown International pictures released this little Gem. If you get a chance to see it, do so. Lots of fun.

That is the 11X14 Lobby Title Card.

50 Years on this 3rd Rock From The Sun!

Hi Kids. It will Happen at precisely 2:20 am on Sunday Morning. I will turn......50. My Mad Moments of Youth are but a Memory.
So I have No choice but to Make, NEW AND IMPROVED, Mad Moments of Youth! At least as Youthful Mad Moments as my aged Memory and Body will allow me. Every time I even consider jumping on the "Gee, I'm Old" Pity Pot,I remember a dear friend who even at 90, looked upon each day with renewed vim and vigor. My very much missed pal/pop, Bob Shayne.
I feel exactly the same about The Ever Sweet Noel Neill (Of course she is ever sweet. She has a secret Chocolate Stash!). Who continues to be an inspiration with her wonderful sense of humor, elegant style and most of all huggable genuineness (Is that a word?). Anywho, to my fellow friends of the Geritol Set, Onward and Upward .

Another Friday Funnie!

It really does look like the small kitty was trying to Hypnotize the large Cat into not hurting him!

Obviously, It did not work. Happy Weekend All!

Munchkins Wish Upon a Hollywood Star!

Sometimes in the midst of giving a Star on the Walk of Fame to a Tom Cruise or another worthy (?!) recipient, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce get it right!

Who better to get their Star then members of a cast that were in one of the most ageless films of all time. Who within eyeshot of this Blog have not seen at least a small part of THE WIZARD OF OZ? Congrats Munchkins and especially Jerry Maren who was one of the Molemen in one of my Fav Films, SUPERMAN AND THE MOLEMEN.

Munchkins from 'The Wizard of Oz' celebrate receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, site of the film's 1939 premiere, in Los Angeles Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2007. The Munchkins from left: Mickey Carroll, the Town Crier; Jerry Maren, part of the Lollipop Guild; stepping on the star, Ruth Duccini, a Munchkin villager; Margaret Pelligrini, the 'sleepyhead' Munchkin and Meinhardt Raabe, the coroner.

The First Installment of FRIDAY FUNNIES!

If only the Car ads here in the states were as Humorous. Have a great weekend all!

GODZILLA: Still KING OF THE MONSTERS!

It seems like yesterday. A small kid seated in front of his families 25 inch T.V. in Arcadia Ca. While my Sister/Babysitter was off on another boyhunt, I waited for Channel 9 to unvail a cool sounding flick. That film of course was GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS. WOW! was I in for a surprise! a Giant, Fire Breatheing, Take No Prisoners, Town Terrorizing Lizard! I eventually saw every GZ movie either in a Drive In or in a Movie House.
40 plus years have passed and I still get a kick out of that City Stompper. When I saw GODZILLA 2000 with my adult friends, I became a kid again. My nephew Michael was along for his Uncles "Trip Down Memory Lane" and really enjoyed himself. I looked at his eyes as he experienced the joys of mass destruction by GZ for the first time. I admit to becoming a kid again just thinking of that Lizard.

Happy Halloween All

The very under-rated GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN (1942). Here Bela Lugosi (As Igor) points to the cranium of Lon Chaney Jr. as the Frankenstein Monster. It seems that Bela wants his Brain put into the Monsters head! Why? watch this fun film and find out.

Fires in Good Ol San Diego............

Yes, it is happening again. Four short years ago, it seemed like the entire state of california was ablaze. Now for those who just cannot get enough soot on their car, in their house and best of all in their eyes...IT'S BACKKKKKKKKKKKKKK. I sit here with all of the windows shut and my miraculous Oreck Air Cleaner cranking away. I have no interest in the Oreck company other then to post that I'm a happy owner. Me and Bela are smoke smelling free!
The fires got me to thinking. If I really knew that the end of my home was upon me, what music would I like playing as the last ember finally burned out? And kiddies, this is it! http://www.hostropolis.com/april/mp3/lsd.mp3

Bela and Me

Few things in the World warms the cockles of a film collector's heart then finding what he/she considers a Holy Grail of 16mm Film Collectables. I found and won a mint, 16mm print of a t.v. show called YOU ASKED FOR IT. This one happens to have a segment with my second favorite horror icon, Bela Lugosi! Nearing the Sunset of his life, Bela made this rare t.v. appearence. He looks great and even performs a magic act. The same one he performed in a Las Vegas act. He talks about projects that were not to be. This show has never been avaialble in it's entirety. Here it is in all of it's Kinescope Beauty. Even has the delightful Skippy Peanut Butter commercials intact! When you view something like this, It's like looking thru a time machine. I will restore and put this out on DVD somewhere down the road.

Memories of a Giant Claw or If I had known what the Monster Looked like......

I had the great honor of becoming a friend of, and convention guest planner for Robert Shayne. If that name does not ring a bell, He was one of the finest actor's to come off of the Broadway Stage. Most people today remember him as Superman's Contact on the Metropolis Police Department Inspector William J. Henderson in the now Immortal ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN t.v. series starring George "There is only one" Reeves. Bob was fortunate enough to start his movie career at Warner Bros. in 1946. After several successful movie roles with that studio, he decided to seek greener cinematic

Pasteur's. As he told me back in 1988 "Sometimes actors do not make the best decisions for themselves". Ha landed at P.R.C. in a little gem (!?) called FACE OF MARBLE. Bob told me that at end of a screening

of this opus in a second run movie house, he was in the lobby when a very sweet little woman walked up to him and stated: "Mr. Shayne, I have seen all of your movies. After seeing this one, you should be ashamed of yourself"!

He said that that was the low point in his career. Until.......1957. Bob signed on with Columbia Pictures to make something called THE GIANT CLAW. "I knew it was another Science Fiction film and had a Giant Bird of some kind". The Columbia artists proudly showed me sketches of a truly impressive Bird Monster, kind of Dinosaur Looking". At the screening of G.C. at a Westwood Theatre, Bob gathered with co-stars Mara (yum yum) Corday and Jeff Morrow. The audience was in great anticipation of the first look at the bird creature. "I had never heard such laughter!" Bob related. "The entire place was howling"! "I remember Jeff Morrow saying "I'm out of here, will you join me in a stiff drink Bob?". Mara and I joined him. "If I had known what the "Creature" was going to look like, I would have played my role much less seriously!".

I miss Bob "Pop" Shayne and think of his wonderful company and his terrific laugh. You dear reader, have the chance to buy this great flick on DVD along with 3 other greats in the SAM KATZMAN collection. I give this DVD set 5 Claws, I mean stars. Amazon.com has the beast, I mean best deal on it.

Lindsay Lohan is out of rehab!!!!!

And if you care and think that this is in any way newsworthy, GET A LIFE!....she sure is cute thou.

Answering the question: What is a Rock & Roller to Eat at Breakfast?

Hey Groovy Guys & Gals! Here is a screen capture from a commercial that was performed LIVE during the show "Stump the Stars" from 1956. Recognize the jump suited hip shaker? It is Arte Johnson. 12 years before he premiered as the Dirty Old Man, the "Very Interesting" German and many other characters on Rowan and Martin's LAUGH IN. An example of why collecting and preserving 16mm film is so enjoyable.

Imagine!

You are 10 years old. You see an ad in the paper. You bug your parents to drive you to the Airport to meet......SUPERMAN! The fact that I was not even a glimmer in my Parents eyes when these pics were taken, makes me wish that I could have changed places in the pecking order of my family tree! Not to sound too dissapointed thou. I did befriend and arrange Convention Apperances for Robert (Inspector Henderson) Shayne. And are truly blessed to have joined the list of "Close friends of Noel (Lois Lane) Neill!>>>see photographic evidence above!<<<

Because, If you haven't seen it before, It's New!

I was prompted by my friend Ken (Artist Supreme) Mitchroney to create a blog. My purpose in doing so, is to vent (I love venting) but mostly share my love of Old Movies and T.V. series. I admit that I'm a DvD addict. I collect anything entertainment-wise from my childhood, because what passes for entertainment today makes me long for the past. So drop by, read short DvD reviews, see classic posters and stills acquired from many sources, and enjoy a time that will all too soon disappear from the landscape of our minds.