10/14/2006

We’ve got more Karloff tonight- as he again plays third fiddle to Bud and Lou in “Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer Boris Karloff” (could that title BE any longer)?! This is one of those creepy murder mysteries, in a hotel on a dark and stormy night, where dead bodies keep turning up! Chubby Lou is the main suspect- but there is no shortage of suspicious guests, including Boris as a strange swami. As I’ll mention, this movie has an alarmingly high body count for an Abbott and Costello comedy! Plenty of Sven shtick included, it’s more Universal fun, tonight at 9 pm. A lot of you wanted me to continue the saga of the original Svengoolie (Jerry G. Bishop)- so let’s pick up where we left off: Jerry/Sven had his new coffin, was doing video taped shows, and public appearances- one of my favorites was a 4th of July Soldier Field extravaganza, with circus acts and more before fireworks, with the huge crowd cheering for Sven- I know Jerry was almost over-whelmed by that- and his act (which I was a part of) ended with a giant chicken chasing him around the field! And, speaking of Field- that’s where the story starts to turn nasty- Field Communications, which owned ch. 32, was sold to Kaiser Broadcasting- which took over the station, and after promising Jerry a new season of Svengoolie, pulled the plug on the show! They replaced him with Cleveland’s “Ghoul” who didn’t even last a year, because Sven fans were used to the Svengoolie brand of entertainment. So- the Svengoolie story came to an abrupt halt in 1973…for a while… On to our “Countdown to Halloween” movie pick- in honor of Jerry, let’s call it “Svengali”- the 1931 classic featuring John Barrymore as musician and hypnotist Svengali who uses his evil power to control a young singer’s career and life. Based on a famous novel, that’s also where we get the term for a person who seems to control another’s life. Jerry G, actually had his original make-up based on the look of Barrymore in this film, though it became more simplified as time went on! And I go on and on and on, don’t I? All right, I’ll shut up- see you tonight at 9 on “the U”- and back here tomorrow. Write to me at svengoolie@wciu.com. As your Svengali, I command you. A Svengoolie Svengali? Enough already…