11/13/2006

Oooh, it’s Monday the 13th! Unlucky day! (Not due to the 13th…just because it’s another Monday-booo!) How many horror movies can you think of with “thirteen” in them? (Can you think of thirteen ?)Let’s see- off the top of my top hat, I can think of “Friday the 13th” and all it’s sequels…that Michael Crichton movie “the Thirteenth Warrior” (with the Viking warriors battling the supernatural)-and “Thirteen Ghosts” (both the William Castle original, where you had to look thru a special viewer to “see” the ghosts- or, a different part if you were too scared- and ,the newer version , with Tony Shaloub from “Monk” and Shannon Elizabeth.) Another “thirteen” that most tv fans recognize is 1313 Mockingbird Lane. Do you recall who lives there? You guessed it (says Casey Kasem)-the Munsters! It’s kind of funny to think that the Munster house is now on Wysteria Lane in “Desperate Housewives!” (It’s always been a part of that neighborhood set block at the California Universal Studios- you can still see it on the tours!) The Universal tour is really a lot of fun- I haven’t been out there in years- the last time I was on the tour, the tram was kidnapped by “Cylon Warriors” from the ORIGINAL “Battlestar Galactica !” They also had a great “Dracula’s Castle” show with various monsters- including one guy recruited from the audience who would end up turning into- the Incredible Hulk!(I’m not making this up!) The original “Psycho” house is still there, too, I think- although you can see a re-creation at the Orlando Universal theme park. When the Orlando park opened, I was doing “Koz Zone” and we went there to shoot a week’s worth of shows. Some of the attractions- like “Jaws” and “King Kong”- weren’t quite working at the time, but it was still fun. A lot of big stars were there- and, as we were preparing to shoot one scene, a golf cart was approaching, in which there was a woman with light blonde hair. “Wonder who that is?” one of our crew asked. In my best Jon Lovitz ‘liar” character voice, I used one of his SNL lines- “Why, that’s my wife- Morgan Fairchild!” just then, the cart passed, and – it WAS Morgan Fairchild, glaring at me, having obviously heard what I had just said! Come back tomorrow for more blog- and write to me at svengoolie@wciu.com my secretary- uh, wife- Morgan Fairchild will read me all the messages! “Yeah! That’s the ticket!”