10/27/2006
It’s another Friday the 13th- twice- plus one!(yeah, that’s stretching it…) In 5 days, it’ll finally be Halloween- and the fun is beginning tonight for a lot of people- a lot of Halloween events launch tonight, go right thru the weekend, and keep going until the big day. As I mentioned yesterday, I’ll be at the Portage Theater in Chicago tonight, as they kick off a Monster Film Festival.(I’m signing autographs around 7 pm- then at 8 host a costume contest!) Lots of radio station parties this weekend, all the usual neighborhood events, the various haunted houses all over the area- it’s a great time to want to be scared!
A lot of you have said the first stuff that scared you, as far as movies go, were the Universal classics. And- Universal has been scaring people for a long time- and, believe it or not- the roots for Universal come from right here in Chicago! An immigrant named Carl Laemmle bought a movie theater here in 1905- and expanded it to a chain of theaters. Thinking he could make even more money by making the movies that showed in the theaters, he said “Californy is the place I oughta be”- and he loaded up the truck and moved to Beverly- actually, to just north of Hollywood, where he opened Universal City- a new movie studio. Making silent movies, he got into the fright biz with the original “Hunchback of Notre Dame” –and watched its star, Lon Chaney, become a sensation in “Phantom of the Opera.” With Universal known as the home of horror, the studio carved its place in terror film history in stone when, in the 1930s, it made “Frankenstein”, “Dracula”, “Bride of Frankenstein”, “The Invisible Man” and “the Mummy.” The original Universal monsters first cycle ended with “Wolf Man” in 1941-starring Lon Chaney’s son, Lon Jr. From then on, it was mostly sequels to previous outings of the monsters, winding up when Abbott and Costello met so many of them. A new day dawned for the Universal horror film in the 50s when “Creature from the Black lagoon” and sci-fi films renewed the power of Universal to scare the pants off movie-goers. The horror hits have kept on coming, right up to dinosaur horror epics like “Jurassic Park.” We’re really happy to be bringing you the current group of Universal pictures we’ll be scaring you with for the months to come!
Our scary film for our “Countdown to Halloween” today? It’s A Universal classic- ‘the Invisible Man!” This 1933 version of the famous H.G. Welles story had incredible special effects for the time- as it told the story of a scientist who discovers a serum which makes him invisible- but also drives him mad. Claude Raines performance- mainly pulled off through powerful voice-over acting- is still impressive today. (For a sequel of sorts- watch Sven tomorrow!) Actually, just come back here tomorrow, and I’ll spill the invisible beans!Mean-while –you can write to me at svengoolie@wciu.com… # # #
A lot of you have said the first stuff that scared you, as far as movies go, were the Universal classics. And- Universal has been scaring people for a long time- and, believe it or not- the roots for Universal come from right here in Chicago! An immigrant named Carl Laemmle bought a movie theater here in 1905- and expanded it to a chain of theaters. Thinking he could make even more money by making the movies that showed in the theaters, he said “Californy is the place I oughta be”- and he loaded up the truck and moved to Beverly- actually, to just north of Hollywood, where he opened Universal City- a new movie studio. Making silent movies, he got into the fright biz with the original “Hunchback of Notre Dame” –and watched its star, Lon Chaney, become a sensation in “Phantom of the Opera.” With Universal known as the home of horror, the studio carved its place in terror film history in stone when, in the 1930s, it made “Frankenstein”, “Dracula”, “Bride of Frankenstein”, “The Invisible Man” and “the Mummy.” The original Universal monsters first cycle ended with “Wolf Man” in 1941-starring Lon Chaney’s son, Lon Jr. From then on, it was mostly sequels to previous outings of the monsters, winding up when Abbott and Costello met so many of them. A new day dawned for the Universal horror film in the 50s when “Creature from the Black lagoon” and sci-fi films renewed the power of Universal to scare the pants off movie-goers. The horror hits have kept on coming, right up to dinosaur horror epics like “Jurassic Park.” We’re really happy to be bringing you the current group of Universal pictures we’ll be scaring you with for the months to come!
Our scary film for our “Countdown to Halloween” today? It’s A Universal classic- ‘the Invisible Man!” This 1933 version of the famous H.G. Welles story had incredible special effects for the time- as it told the story of a scientist who discovers a serum which makes him invisible- but also drives him mad. Claude Raines performance- mainly pulled off through powerful voice-over acting- is still impressive today. (For a sequel of sorts- watch Sven tomorrow!) Actually, just come back here tomorrow, and I’ll spill the invisible beans!Mean-while –you can write to me at svengoolie@wciu.com… # # #
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