January 2008 Archives
Always a delight to be driving down the street, and see a cab driver whose entire windshield appears to be “whited out” with frost or street filth or whatever…if that guy could actually SEE through that windshield, he must have powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men…
Windshields notwithstanding, the below-zero temperatures have been horrendous. No wonder there have been horror movies where a frigid temperature has added to the basic “chilling” nature of the films…a good example is one of our Universal offerings, “the Deadly Mantis.” Not only does the over-sized mantis originally thaw from his flash-frozen state near the North Pole, but a majority of the first half of the film involves the isolation at the frosty Air Force base way up North- as well as the mantis attacking Eskimos in mostly stock footage. We also get ample time spent examining the various snow-covered sites where the evidence of the mantis attacks have taken place- whether the snow is portrayed by cornstarch, Styrofoam, or soap flakes- it’s still depicting a sub-zero realm very similar to what the Chicago area has been like recently.
Of course, both versions of “the Thing” convey that same feeling- again, the isolation in a sub-zero environment plays a big part in the story. The original, with future Matt Dillon James Arness as “the Thing”(no, you younger kids- not the Ben Grimm “Thing” of the Fantastic Four- he’s all about rocks, not snow) again gives us that feeling of being hopelessly trapped in the middle of a frozen nowhere. The newer John Carpenter version continues the tradition, although switching the story from the frozen north down to the Antarctic, and the only thing more chilling than the frozen exterior in that one are the shocking special effects- nobody who’s seen it can ever forget that spider-legged head running around! One trivia fact that I love is that, while they were filming, to add realism, they dropped the inside studio temperature to around 40 degrees- while outside, the usual Los Angeles temperature was around 100!
A Sven staple from a couple years ago that also took place in a brisk setting was the old Forrest Tucker flick “the Crawling Eye”- with the science lab at the top of the snow-covered mountain. We get plenty of scenes with people up in the mountains, whether climbing, searching, or holed up in a desolate cabin. I still love the cheesy special effects with small –very obviously made of clay- figure being grabbed by one of the eye creatures!
No matter what- it’s much more entertaining to watch the excitement in those cinemactic cold zones- than to have to commute to and from work in a real one!
Windshields notwithstanding, the below-zero temperatures have been horrendous. No wonder there have been horror movies where a frigid temperature has added to the basic “chilling” nature of the films…a good example is one of our Universal offerings, “the Deadly Mantis.” Not only does the over-sized mantis originally thaw from his flash-frozen state near the North Pole, but a majority of the first half of the film involves the isolation at the frosty Air Force base way up North- as well as the mantis attacking Eskimos in mostly stock footage. We also get ample time spent examining the various snow-covered sites where the evidence of the mantis attacks have taken place- whether the snow is portrayed by cornstarch, Styrofoam, or soap flakes- it’s still depicting a sub-zero realm very similar to what the Chicago area has been like recently.
Of course, both versions of “the Thing” convey that same feeling- again, the isolation in a sub-zero environment plays a big part in the story. The original, with future Matt Dillon James Arness as “the Thing”(no, you younger kids- not the Ben Grimm “Thing” of the Fantastic Four- he’s all about rocks, not snow) again gives us that feeling of being hopelessly trapped in the middle of a frozen nowhere. The newer John Carpenter version continues the tradition, although switching the story from the frozen north down to the Antarctic, and the only thing more chilling than the frozen exterior in that one are the shocking special effects- nobody who’s seen it can ever forget that spider-legged head running around! One trivia fact that I love is that, while they were filming, to add realism, they dropped the inside studio temperature to around 40 degrees- while outside, the usual Los Angeles temperature was around 100!
A Sven staple from a couple years ago that also took place in a brisk setting was the old Forrest Tucker flick “the Crawling Eye”- with the science lab at the top of the snow-covered mountain. We get plenty of scenes with people up in the mountains, whether climbing, searching, or holed up in a desolate cabin. I still love the cheesy special effects with small –very obviously made of clay- figure being grabbed by one of the eye creatures!
No matter what- it’s much more entertaining to watch the excitement in those cinemactic cold zones- than to have to commute to and from work in a real one!
I got a catalog in the mail from one of those discount dvd places, with lost of listings of unusual movies-including some that brought back memories for me.
One that was listed is “the Lost World”- which some of you may remember as a staple of the old “Family Classics” show on channel 9. It starred an aging Claude Rains as Professor Challenger, head of the expedition in this version of the Arthur Conan Doyle tale, leading his crew to a mysterious plateau in the Amazon jungle (possible near the Black Lagoon of our last “Creature” feature?)-which is just brimming with giant spiders, giant dinosaurs (portrayed by magnified lizards), and a dangerous cannibal tribe. Since this movie was an Irwin Allen production, and starred David Hedison, I remember them re-using big chunks of it in a “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea” episode, which also starred Hedison and was helmed by Allen.
The movie also had the decorative Jill St. John in the cast, along with Michael Rennie (“The Day the Earth Stood Still”) and Fernando Lamas. I remember the movie being a lot of fun to watch as a kid- but, would it be worth buying the dvd?
Also included is the low-budget “Alligator’ from 1980- which took the legend of all the tiny pet alligators that were once the rage, and supposedly flushed down toilets when their owners got tired of taking care of them- and turned it into a tale of one of the gators growing to immense size down in the sewers (thanks to toxic waste of course- what, did he have to fight the CHUDs for it?), and causing big-time destruction from under the streets of Manhattan. I always remember them throwing in the report that a sewer worker- named ED NORTON!- was killed by the beast! I’ve always thought this would be a great Sven feature…
They even have the seldom seen “Robinson Crusoe on mars” from 1964- a modernization of the original “Robinson Crusoe” tale, with an astronaut (Paul Mantee) being marooned on the Red Planet- accompanied by a monkey and a silent “native” who becomes his man Friday. This film also stars Adam West, though he doesn’t get a heck of a lot of screen time. I always remember that the odd movement of the attacking alien spaceships was kind of disconcerting- and, only later, found out they were stop-motion left-overs from George Pal’s 1953 version of “War of the Worlds!”
Am I going top order any of these dvds? Well, I’m definitely tempted- but, I’m even more tempted to put our programming guys on the trail of them, to try and secure them for future Sven shows!
One that was listed is “the Lost World”- which some of you may remember as a staple of the old “Family Classics” show on channel 9. It starred an aging Claude Rains as Professor Challenger, head of the expedition in this version of the Arthur Conan Doyle tale, leading his crew to a mysterious plateau in the Amazon jungle (possible near the Black Lagoon of our last “Creature” feature?)-which is just brimming with giant spiders, giant dinosaurs (portrayed by magnified lizards), and a dangerous cannibal tribe. Since this movie was an Irwin Allen production, and starred David Hedison, I remember them re-using big chunks of it in a “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea” episode, which also starred Hedison and was helmed by Allen.
The movie also had the decorative Jill St. John in the cast, along with Michael Rennie (“The Day the Earth Stood Still”) and Fernando Lamas. I remember the movie being a lot of fun to watch as a kid- but, would it be worth buying the dvd?
Also included is the low-budget “Alligator’ from 1980- which took the legend of all the tiny pet alligators that were once the rage, and supposedly flushed down toilets when their owners got tired of taking care of them- and turned it into a tale of one of the gators growing to immense size down in the sewers (thanks to toxic waste of course- what, did he have to fight the CHUDs for it?), and causing big-time destruction from under the streets of Manhattan. I always remember them throwing in the report that a sewer worker- named ED NORTON!- was killed by the beast! I’ve always thought this would be a great Sven feature…
They even have the seldom seen “Robinson Crusoe on mars” from 1964- a modernization of the original “Robinson Crusoe” tale, with an astronaut (Paul Mantee) being marooned on the Red Planet- accompanied by a monkey and a silent “native” who becomes his man Friday. This film also stars Adam West, though he doesn’t get a heck of a lot of screen time. I always remember that the odd movement of the attacking alien spaceships was kind of disconcerting- and, only later, found out they were stop-motion left-overs from George Pal’s 1953 version of “War of the Worlds!”
Am I going top order any of these dvds? Well, I’m definitely tempted- but, I’m even more tempted to put our programming guys on the trail of them, to try and secure them for future Sven shows!
When I was talking about the Rondo awards- named after Rondo Hatton- I got a few e-mails asking, “who is this guy?” (Rondo, not me!) I feel it’s only fair to fill you in on this unique actor!
Rondo was born in Tampa, Florida in 1894, and went into the military after he graduated from high school. He went to France during World War I, and subsequently, during battle, was exposed to poison gas. He was discharged from the service, and went back home to Florida, where he became a reporter.
However, bizarre changes started to occur with his body. Most reports state that his exposure to the poison gas brought on the condition acromegaly (I think I spelled it correctly this time)- a deforming disease that causes bones in the feet, hands and head to grow and thicken, as well as internal tissues.
A film director was shooting a movie in Tampa, noticed his looks, and offered him a role. Rondo still kept his reporter job, but the disease cost him his wife, who divorced him as he began to change physically.
By 1936, Rondo had re-married, and decided to move to Hollywood, having had a taste of the film business.
He played bit parts in various films, including the Charles Laughton version of “the Hunchback of Notre Dame” in 1936- but most of his roles were small, uncredited parts.
He finally got more of the spotlight, when he appeared as “the Creeper” in a Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes entry, “Pearl of Death”- and was then utilized by Universal as a horror star, exploiting him as a “monster without make-up”- not exactly the most kind treatment. Sadly, he continued on for only about another year, after which he suffered a heart attack that took him out of the film business, and led to his passing in 1946.
You may have seen Rondo back when we showed the film “House of Horrors” on Svengoolie (sadly, we no longer have broadcast rights to that film)-where he was a brutish murderer whose life is saved by a demented artist, who then uses him to get revenge on the critics who have thwarted his success. His looks were re-created, via make-up, for the movie “the Rocketeer”-where a fedora-ed, brutish thug was made up to resemble him.
Rondo was, from stories told about him, a sensitive and kind person, who was hurt by the ay he was presented by the studio- but, put up with it, since they kept him working. The Rondo awards are meant as a way to keep his memory alive.
Rondo was born in Tampa, Florida in 1894, and went into the military after he graduated from high school. He went to France during World War I, and subsequently, during battle, was exposed to poison gas. He was discharged from the service, and went back home to Florida, where he became a reporter.
However, bizarre changes started to occur with his body. Most reports state that his exposure to the poison gas brought on the condition acromegaly (I think I spelled it correctly this time)- a deforming disease that causes bones in the feet, hands and head to grow and thicken, as well as internal tissues.
A film director was shooting a movie in Tampa, noticed his looks, and offered him a role. Rondo still kept his reporter job, but the disease cost him his wife, who divorced him as he began to change physically.
By 1936, Rondo had re-married, and decided to move to Hollywood, having had a taste of the film business.
He played bit parts in various films, including the Charles Laughton version of “the Hunchback of Notre Dame” in 1936- but most of his roles were small, uncredited parts.
He finally got more of the spotlight, when he appeared as “the Creeper” in a Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes entry, “Pearl of Death”- and was then utilized by Universal as a horror star, exploiting him as a “monster without make-up”- not exactly the most kind treatment. Sadly, he continued on for only about another year, after which he suffered a heart attack that took him out of the film business, and led to his passing in 1946.
You may have seen Rondo back when we showed the film “House of Horrors” on Svengoolie (sadly, we no longer have broadcast rights to that film)-where he was a brutish murderer whose life is saved by a demented artist, who then uses him to get revenge on the critics who have thwarted his success. His looks were re-created, via make-up, for the movie “the Rocketeer”-where a fedora-ed, brutish thug was made up to resemble him.
Rondo was, from stories told about him, a sensitive and kind person, who was hurt by the ay he was presented by the studio- but, put up with it, since they kept him working. The Rondo awards are meant as a way to keep his memory alive.
I mentioned yesterday that I had been notified that I have been nominated for a Rondo award, and that YOU can vote for me to actually win one! What is a Rondo, you may ask? Well, the complete title is-the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror awards. Rondo Hatton was the actor afflicted with agromegalia, a disease that distorted his facial features and body-the same disease that wrestling’s Andre the Giant suffered from. You may remember him as “the Creeper” in a couple films. The actual physical award is a sculpt of his head. The awards honor the best in horror film, television, etc.
I have been nominated under the category of “horror host” (there’s a surprise)- and, if you wish to vote for me, as well as the other categories, you can go to either: www.classichorrorfilmboard.com/rondos/rondos.html or www.rondos.com Please follow all the directions, or your vote will not count.
If you decide to put in a vote for me, thanks. Even though one source labeled me as “the most decorated horror host, with seven Emmys (so far) and the National Television Academy’s Silver Circle award”- adding a Rondo would be an honor, and a tribute to the support of you loyal Sven fans as well. I think you can vote for about the next month or so- I’m sure the sites will have the full information.
This year’s awards are dedicated to Maila Nurmi, the great Vampira, who passed away recently. How appropriate that the original horror show hostess is being honored by this year’s voting!
You can also vote in the many other categories, including best horror magazine, where our friends from “Scary Monsters” are among the nominees-and there are also write-in votes in the categories- so, for best book, you could write in “Chicago TV Horror Movie Shows: from Shock Theatre to Svengoolie” to honor the fine work of Ted Okuda and Mark Yurkiw.
And, certainly, with this kind of Internet voting- there is always the chance that some horror host from West Kneecap, Idaho, with plenty of time on his hands, could possibly find a way to stuff the ballot box to win the award…and, each local favorite in the various areas, with their loyal fans, will no doubt reap many votes-but, regardless, I’m grateful that someone was thoughtful enough to nominate me- and grateful if you decide to actually put in a vote for me. Maybe we’ll post the info here on the wciu website for the next month to remind folks that they can vote…and tomorrow, I’ll be here to remind you of what we have in store on the Saturday night show!
I have been nominated under the category of “horror host” (there’s a surprise)- and, if you wish to vote for me, as well as the other categories, you can go to either: www.classichorrorfilmboard.com/rondos/rondos.html or www.rondos.com Please follow all the directions, or your vote will not count.
If you decide to put in a vote for me, thanks. Even though one source labeled me as “the most decorated horror host, with seven Emmys (so far) and the National Television Academy’s Silver Circle award”- adding a Rondo would be an honor, and a tribute to the support of you loyal Sven fans as well. I think you can vote for about the next month or so- I’m sure the sites will have the full information.
This year’s awards are dedicated to Maila Nurmi, the great Vampira, who passed away recently. How appropriate that the original horror show hostess is being honored by this year’s voting!
You can also vote in the many other categories, including best horror magazine, where our friends from “Scary Monsters” are among the nominees-and there are also write-in votes in the categories- so, for best book, you could write in “Chicago TV Horror Movie Shows: from Shock Theatre to Svengoolie” to honor the fine work of Ted Okuda and Mark Yurkiw.
And, certainly, with this kind of Internet voting- there is always the chance that some horror host from West Kneecap, Idaho, with plenty of time on his hands, could possibly find a way to stuff the ballot box to win the award…and, each local favorite in the various areas, with their loyal fans, will no doubt reap many votes-but, regardless, I’m grateful that someone was thoughtful enough to nominate me- and grateful if you decide to actually put in a vote for me. Maybe we’ll post the info here on the wciu website for the next month to remind folks that they can vote…and tomorrow, I’ll be here to remind you of what we have in store on the Saturday night show!
Okay, first of all, sorry about this being one blog for two days- I’ve had a bunch of loose ends to handle, and they got the best of me. I’ll try to regain my momentum (which used to be some sort of tablet for back pain, if I remember correctly) and get myself back on schedule here…
Once again, let me drop the hint that big things will be coming to this website-and they will be appearing very soon! For those who have been clamoring for a Sven website with plenty of information-can you say “expanded Sven content?” It will all be available here at wciu.com – so, check back on a regular basis, and be prepared for some big time fun!
Speaking of big fun, our pals at Horrorbles will be bringing you an Ed Wood double feature at the Portage Theater-4050 N. Milwaukee- Friday night- “Bride of the Monster” and “Plan 9 from Outer Space!” Plus, a special appearance by Ed Wood stock player Conrad Brooks! Check for more details at horrorbles.com …
And, once again, I have been smart to rely on you Sven fans for answers to questions that I myself cannot come up with…you may remember that I posed to you the question of what the title was of a Peter Graves movie, in which he takes a bunch of students on a field trip into some deep cave-meanwhile, some huge catastrophe happens above ground, and everyone exposed to the sun is turned into a pile of powder! Pat and Kelly had been searching for this film for a long time- and thought it was from the 50s- but NOOOO! A multitude of Sven fans wrote to me, and said it was a made for TV movie, from 1974, entitles “Where Have All the People Gone?” Said to be very much like a “Twilight Zone” episode, it is indeed the story of some bizarre solar flares that wipe out most of the population of humans (leaving them as piles of ash inside their clothing,) and render animals insane! It’s up to Mr. Graves and the other few survivors (including Kathleen Quinlan, who, coincidentally, was in “Twilight Zone: the Movie”) to try to rebuild the devastated human race. Our thanks to the many blog readers who helped us solve this mystery!
Plus, you once again have corrected a mistake I’ve made (not ALL of them- that would be a full-time job!)- when talking about the movie “Beast of Hollow Mountain”- I mentioned that it starred Guy Madison, was Disney’s “Zorro”- a pretty dumb mistake- he was TV’s “Wild Bill Hickock”- of course, Guy Williams was Zorro (and, yes, also Will Robinson’s dad on “Lost in Space!”) More of my thanks to all of you who wrote in to correct me!
I just received word that Svengoolie has been nominated for a “Rondo” award- and that YOU can vote for me! I’ll get more information, and post it here in the next few days!
Once again, let me drop the hint that big things will be coming to this website-and they will be appearing very soon! For those who have been clamoring for a Sven website with plenty of information-can you say “expanded Sven content?” It will all be available here at wciu.com – so, check back on a regular basis, and be prepared for some big time fun!
Speaking of big fun, our pals at Horrorbles will be bringing you an Ed Wood double feature at the Portage Theater-4050 N. Milwaukee- Friday night- “Bride of the Monster” and “Plan 9 from Outer Space!” Plus, a special appearance by Ed Wood stock player Conrad Brooks! Check for more details at horrorbles.com …
And, once again, I have been smart to rely on you Sven fans for answers to questions that I myself cannot come up with…you may remember that I posed to you the question of what the title was of a Peter Graves movie, in which he takes a bunch of students on a field trip into some deep cave-meanwhile, some huge catastrophe happens above ground, and everyone exposed to the sun is turned into a pile of powder! Pat and Kelly had been searching for this film for a long time- and thought it was from the 50s- but NOOOO! A multitude of Sven fans wrote to me, and said it was a made for TV movie, from 1974, entitles “Where Have All the People Gone?” Said to be very much like a “Twilight Zone” episode, it is indeed the story of some bizarre solar flares that wipe out most of the population of humans (leaving them as piles of ash inside their clothing,) and render animals insane! It’s up to Mr. Graves and the other few survivors (including Kathleen Quinlan, who, coincidentally, was in “Twilight Zone: the Movie”) to try to rebuild the devastated human race. Our thanks to the many blog readers who helped us solve this mystery!
Plus, you once again have corrected a mistake I’ve made (not ALL of them- that would be a full-time job!)- when talking about the movie “Beast of Hollow Mountain”- I mentioned that it starred Guy Madison, was Disney’s “Zorro”- a pretty dumb mistake- he was TV’s “Wild Bill Hickock”- of course, Guy Williams was Zorro (and, yes, also Will Robinson’s dad on “Lost in Space!”) More of my thanks to all of you who wrote in to correct me!
I just received word that Svengoolie has been nominated for a “Rondo” award- and that YOU can vote for me! I’ll get more information, and post it here in the next few days!
Time again for some random thoughts bubbling under the Svengoolie stovepipe:
-Occasionally, viewers will send in jokes that they think would be perfect for us to use with the “hand at the door” at the conclusion of our program. I appreciate this, and we will sometimes use one here and there- but, what always surprises me is the number of jokes that we could NEVER use on air- whether it’s due to ethnic slurs, blatant sexual content, or incredibly bad taste. Sometimes I think the correspondents are only kidding when they say they think we can use them on air; but, other times, I can tell that they aren’t joking. That’s kind of scary, and not in a good, Sven show kind of way…
-Maybe this is old news by now, but over at channel 9, reporter and sometimes fill-in anchor Juan Carlos Fanjul will be packing up all three of his names and heading down to a new anchoring job in Florida. This reminds me of the time around one Halloween that I had suggested to one of my friends on the WGN Morning Show that they ought to do a bit with Juan Carlos as “Juan Carlos Sven-gool!” They loved the idea, and we tried to coordinate a time when they could bring him over, have me put him into Sven make-up, and record him in my coffin- but the timing wouldn’t work out with our schedules. So, instead, they just did a quick bit using a graphic with the Sven make-up drawn on Juan Carlos, and it wasn’t as fun as it could have been. Either way, we wish him well- and, am I the only one who thinks he kind of looks like Jiminy Cricket?
-I received a letter from the Berwyn (yes, Berwyn) Centennial Committee- letting me know that our favorite town is celebrating its centennial this year! There will be a full month of celebration in June, including a big parade. Will Svengoolie be a part of it? We’ll have to see…
-Do you think YOU have problems? Hah! Yours truly has been experimenting with various black cream make-ups to enhance the eye circles, moustache, and cheek shadows of my Svengoolie countenance. I found one that goes on pretty easily and quickly, doesn’t seem to sweat off under the hot studio lights, and works great around the eyes- but- if I use it for the moustache- the way it dries- it starts to crack when I talk and move my upper lip! We can send a man to the moon, but we can’t make a black make-up that is flexible enough for a babbling goolie! (I know the answer most people would give me- “then just shut up!”)
-Occasionally, viewers will send in jokes that they think would be perfect for us to use with the “hand at the door” at the conclusion of our program. I appreciate this, and we will sometimes use one here and there- but, what always surprises me is the number of jokes that we could NEVER use on air- whether it’s due to ethnic slurs, blatant sexual content, or incredibly bad taste. Sometimes I think the correspondents are only kidding when they say they think we can use them on air; but, other times, I can tell that they aren’t joking. That’s kind of scary, and not in a good, Sven show kind of way…
-Maybe this is old news by now, but over at channel 9, reporter and sometimes fill-in anchor Juan Carlos Fanjul will be packing up all three of his names and heading down to a new anchoring job in Florida. This reminds me of the time around one Halloween that I had suggested to one of my friends on the WGN Morning Show that they ought to do a bit with Juan Carlos as “Juan Carlos Sven-gool!” They loved the idea, and we tried to coordinate a time when they could bring him over, have me put him into Sven make-up, and record him in my coffin- but the timing wouldn’t work out with our schedules. So, instead, they just did a quick bit using a graphic with the Sven make-up drawn on Juan Carlos, and it wasn’t as fun as it could have been. Either way, we wish him well- and, am I the only one who thinks he kind of looks like Jiminy Cricket?
-I received a letter from the Berwyn (yes, Berwyn) Centennial Committee- letting me know that our favorite town is celebrating its centennial this year! There will be a full month of celebration in June, including a big parade. Will Svengoolie be a part of it? We’ll have to see…
-Do you think YOU have problems? Hah! Yours truly has been experimenting with various black cream make-ups to enhance the eye circles, moustache, and cheek shadows of my Svengoolie countenance. I found one that goes on pretty easily and quickly, doesn’t seem to sweat off under the hot studio lights, and works great around the eyes- but- if I use it for the moustache- the way it dries- it starts to crack when I talk and move my upper lip! We can send a man to the moon, but we can’t make a black make-up that is flexible enough for a babbling goolie! (I know the answer most people would give me- “then just shut up!”)
I have neglected to mention an incident that occurred on this week’s Svengoolie show- and that is- the walking-off the show of Qwerty, the tarantula web master in our mail segments. The eight-legged, multi-voiced varmint, feeling he was under-appreciated and not liked by the Sven audience, did as Jack Paar (leaving the Tonight Show) and Regis Philbin (leaving the Joey Bishop show) did- and walked off the program- actually, kind of “rappelled” off, rising out of camera range on his piece of fishing line- I mean, his silk web strand. Unlike Ed the bat, he was NOT fire by our station vice-president and general manager- Qwerty opted to exit on his own terms.
The feeling here is that he just never caught on- unlike the famed mail dinosaur, or the “Wacky Dactyl from WOOO in Berwyn,” the public did not seem to enjoy his presence- and Seemed even less to favor his strange habit of having as many different voices as he had legs (maybe even more, by my count)- though some fans seemed to enjoy his “Peter Lorre” voice, or, in smaller numbers, his “Ralph Kramden” voice.
His “Hulk Hogan” voice would seem to have been before its time, what with the Hulkster now calling the action on “American Gladiators.” (That remind me of an old joke- the teacher asks anyone in the class to use the word “gladiator” in a sentence. Little Timmy says, “A crocodile ate my sister, and I’m gladiator.” Now THAT’S comedy…)
I used to enjoy having my musical sidekick Doug Graves do the mails segments with me, but his busy schedule of various gigs pretty much makes that impossible these days. I’ll never forget when we were doing a mail segment back in our original WCIU studio (the same one where “Soul Train” began) back in the Chicago Board of Trade building-and we were suddenly surrounded by smoke, as a small spotlight located just below us caught fire! Also entertaining were a few segments Doug did with the old ventriloquist doll Durwood, in which the dummy managed to crack Doug up!
So- who might do the mail with me in the future? Should I just go it alone, and have my questions answered by our many sound effects? I know that Tombstone doesn’t seem to be available to do the mail segments, or we’d have used him a long time ago. Someone her brought up the possibility of having the new Sven look-alike ventriloquist dummy created by Alex Ross- my “brother” Fraido- join me, but it might be hard for me to hold the mail- and him- at the same time.
Any suggestions? Send them to svengoolie @ wciu.com
The feeling here is that he just never caught on- unlike the famed mail dinosaur, or the “Wacky Dactyl from WOOO in Berwyn,” the public did not seem to enjoy his presence- and Seemed even less to favor his strange habit of having as many different voices as he had legs (maybe even more, by my count)- though some fans seemed to enjoy his “Peter Lorre” voice, or, in smaller numbers, his “Ralph Kramden” voice.
His “Hulk Hogan” voice would seem to have been before its time, what with the Hulkster now calling the action on “American Gladiators.” (That remind me of an old joke- the teacher asks anyone in the class to use the word “gladiator” in a sentence. Little Timmy says, “A crocodile ate my sister, and I’m gladiator.” Now THAT’S comedy…)
I used to enjoy having my musical sidekick Doug Graves do the mails segments with me, but his busy schedule of various gigs pretty much makes that impossible these days. I’ll never forget when we were doing a mail segment back in our original WCIU studio (the same one where “Soul Train” began) back in the Chicago Board of Trade building-and we were suddenly surrounded by smoke, as a small spotlight located just below us caught fire! Also entertaining were a few segments Doug did with the old ventriloquist doll Durwood, in which the dummy managed to crack Doug up!
So- who might do the mail with me in the future? Should I just go it alone, and have my questions answered by our many sound effects? I know that Tombstone doesn’t seem to be available to do the mail segments, or we’d have used him a long time ago. Someone her brought up the possibility of having the new Sven look-alike ventriloquist dummy created by Alex Ross- my “brother” Fraido- join me, but it might be hard for me to hold the mail- and him- at the same time.
Any suggestions? Send them to svengoolie @ wciu.com
I’m sure that fans of “Wolf Man” were happy to see the flick last night. I always enjoyed the Wolf Man, although I did find Larry Talbot’s whining (“I WANT to die!”) a tad tiresome by the time it got to “House of Frankenstein.” I’m a fan, nonetheless-right here at my computer is a mouse pad (or, would you call it a WOLF pad?) with a picture of the 32-cent stamp that featured the Wolf Man, back when they made those Universal Horror commemorative stamps. In case you don’t remember, it’s a great color representation of Lon Chaney Jr., “paws” resting on a ledge with the Wolf Man peering over, nicely bottom-lit, with the savage underbite visible, and his eyes staring a hole in the viewer! (Of course, I do have other mouse pads that reflect my interests- a Homer Simpson pad, one with the 3 Stooges, a Big Boy mouse pad I got in Michigan, and even a Bulls basketball-shaped pad! Now, if I just had enough computers to accommodate them all…)
There certainly have been a lot of different werewolf make-ups- starting off with the one from “Werewolf of London”( I think the one that was used for Larry Talbot’s wolf face was actually based on an unused design from that film!) A lot of people remember that Hammer film “Curse of the Werewolf” with Oliver Reed as a sort of white-furred wolf man. We had a few variations on our program with “the Boy Who Cried Werewolf” and “Werewolf of Washington”-not to mention the Southwestern shape-shifting werewolves- male and female- we had in “Werewolf.” There were certainly more sophisticated transformations with stuff like “ An American Werewolf in London” and it’s semi-sequel, “An American Werewolf in Paris.” You can add the various types from “the Howling” series, including the (ahem) impressive Sybill Danning scenes from the second one (“Howling 2:Your Sister is a Werewolf!”) I guess we can’t really count the computer generated Wolf Man of “Van Helsing” since no make-up was involved but I suppose I can count the look of Lupe the Wolf Man in the old Three Stooges short, with the Wolf Man loose in the hotel where the Stooges are bellboys!(Before somebody asks, it’s called “Idle Roomers.”)
We had the werewolves and combo vampire/werewolf of the “Underworld “ series, and the list could go on and on. We could even branch out to include Eddie Munster, too, I guess…and, yes, I’m restraining myself from even mentioning Wolf Man Jack in “American Graffiti” (no, I guess I’m not…)
Also, a shout out to one of my favorite Wolf men- Bruce Wolf- who always will land on his feet. All the best, Bruce!
There certainly have been a lot of different werewolf make-ups- starting off with the one from “Werewolf of London”( I think the one that was used for Larry Talbot’s wolf face was actually based on an unused design from that film!) A lot of people remember that Hammer film “Curse of the Werewolf” with Oliver Reed as a sort of white-furred wolf man. We had a few variations on our program with “the Boy Who Cried Werewolf” and “Werewolf of Washington”-not to mention the Southwestern shape-shifting werewolves- male and female- we had in “Werewolf.” There were certainly more sophisticated transformations with stuff like “ An American Werewolf in London” and it’s semi-sequel, “An American Werewolf in Paris.” You can add the various types from “the Howling” series, including the (ahem) impressive Sybill Danning scenes from the second one (“Howling 2:Your Sister is a Werewolf!”) I guess we can’t really count the computer generated Wolf Man of “Van Helsing” since no make-up was involved but I suppose I can count the look of Lupe the Wolf Man in the old Three Stooges short, with the Wolf Man loose in the hotel where the Stooges are bellboys!(Before somebody asks, it’s called “Idle Roomers.”)
We had the werewolves and combo vampire/werewolf of the “Underworld “ series, and the list could go on and on. We could even branch out to include Eddie Munster, too, I guess…and, yes, I’m restraining myself from even mentioning Wolf Man Jack in “American Graffiti” (no, I guess I’m not…)
Also, a shout out to one of my favorite Wolf men- Bruce Wolf- who always will land on his feet. All the best, Bruce!
Another all-time Universal classic airs tonight at 9 on Svengoolie- the hairy horror story of “the Wolf Man!”
It’s the role Lon Chaney Jr. certainly made his own, because, as you’ll recall, while various actors would portray the Mummy, the Frankenstein Monster, and Dracula- only Lon Jr. would ever portray the character of the tortured Larry Talbot, who was only trying to save a poor woman from what he thought was a wolf or dog attack-and was bitten by the creature- who turned out to be –a werewolf! You get the full origin story here- along with Bela Lugosi as the cursed gypsy Bela (creative writing and/or casting?)-the great Claude Rains, not as the Invisible Man, but as Larry’s father- and the unforgettable Maria Ouspenskya as Maleva, the gypsy woman, who reveals the truth about the pentagram and the curse of the werewolf to Larry.
I’ve pointed this out before- and you may want to actually keep an eye out for it- it’s almost surprising, after all the later werewolf movies we’ve seen, to realize how few facial transformation shots there are in this first film. Another question, and reason to watch carefully- although Larry transforms in the full moon- do you ever SEE a shot of the full moon in this film? Plus, for fans of blown continuity- watch for when Larry is in his undershirt, and begins to change- and then, as the Wolf Man, suddenly has his shirt back on! Was Wolfie embarrassed by his overly-hairy body?!
One of the stories that I found entertaining about this film is that Lon Jr. did not really like his lovely co-star, Evelyn Ankers. He would constantly torment her, not only on this production, but even in some social encounters.
Another interesting fact- originally, Lon Jr. was NOT cast as the Wolf Man! Dick Foran, who played the young hero in “the Mummy’s Hand” (that’ll turn up again in the future on our show), was the original choice for Larry Talbot! He was supposedly replaced just one week before filming began. How different would Universal horror history be if he had actually played the role- and where would that have left Lon Jr.?
I’d be remiss if I didn’t bring up the old folk poem we all learned from this and other Wolf Man features- “Even a man who is pure at heart, and says his prayers by night- may become a wolf- when the wolf bane blooms- and the autumn moon is bright!” While many people swear that this is an authentic superstitious saying of the old country- it was just made up by the film’s writer Curt Siodmak!
Uh… the moon is completely full yet tonight, right? Then it will definitely be safe to watch “the Wolf Man” (don’t forget the usual 1 am replay on Me-TV!)
It’s the role Lon Chaney Jr. certainly made his own, because, as you’ll recall, while various actors would portray the Mummy, the Frankenstein Monster, and Dracula- only Lon Jr. would ever portray the character of the tortured Larry Talbot, who was only trying to save a poor woman from what he thought was a wolf or dog attack-and was bitten by the creature- who turned out to be –a werewolf! You get the full origin story here- along with Bela Lugosi as the cursed gypsy Bela (creative writing and/or casting?)-the great Claude Rains, not as the Invisible Man, but as Larry’s father- and the unforgettable Maria Ouspenskya as Maleva, the gypsy woman, who reveals the truth about the pentagram and the curse of the werewolf to Larry.
I’ve pointed this out before- and you may want to actually keep an eye out for it- it’s almost surprising, after all the later werewolf movies we’ve seen, to realize how few facial transformation shots there are in this first film. Another question, and reason to watch carefully- although Larry transforms in the full moon- do you ever SEE a shot of the full moon in this film? Plus, for fans of blown continuity- watch for when Larry is in his undershirt, and begins to change- and then, as the Wolf Man, suddenly has his shirt back on! Was Wolfie embarrassed by his overly-hairy body?!
One of the stories that I found entertaining about this film is that Lon Jr. did not really like his lovely co-star, Evelyn Ankers. He would constantly torment her, not only on this production, but even in some social encounters.
Another interesting fact- originally, Lon Jr. was NOT cast as the Wolf Man! Dick Foran, who played the young hero in “the Mummy’s Hand” (that’ll turn up again in the future on our show), was the original choice for Larry Talbot! He was supposedly replaced just one week before filming began. How different would Universal horror history be if he had actually played the role- and where would that have left Lon Jr.?
I’d be remiss if I didn’t bring up the old folk poem we all learned from this and other Wolf Man features- “Even a man who is pure at heart, and says his prayers by night- may become a wolf- when the wolf bane blooms- and the autumn moon is bright!” While many people swear that this is an authentic superstitious saying of the old country- it was just made up by the film’s writer Curt Siodmak!
Uh… the moon is completely full yet tonight, right? Then it will definitely be safe to watch “the Wolf Man” (don’t forget the usual 1 am replay on Me-TV!)
One more day until another Sven show airs! I still get messages from people who miss the overnight Me-TV 3 am “classic Sven” shows that ran for a while during the summer. To answer the oft-asked question- right now, I have no idea if or when that might return. I’m very surprised and flattered by the number of people who would either watch live or on tape!
I’ve also heard from people who enjoyed what I wrote about some of the early Sven shows here on WCIU that they had missed- movies we had the first couple years that we were on, which we lost the broadcast rights to years ago! So, I thought I’d talk about a few more for those who hadn’t had the chance to see them.
Our very first movie here was 1984’s “C.H.U.D.”- a camp classic that you occasionally even hear Homer Simpson mention! C.H.U.D., of course, stood for “Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dweller”- they were nasty mutant creatures that came from the sewers after-what a surprise!-toxic waste had been dumped. Back then, we would do one whole segment of the movie in very heavy “Svensurround”- adding sound effects and visuals, replacing lines of dialogue, etc. I recall a couple people, who were unfamiliar with my history being outraged that I was “ripping off Mystery Science Theater!”
Another very early Sven movie at WCIU is one that I know I’ve mentioned here- the 1985 Larry Cohen cult classic “the Stuff!” That was a very weird one- some guys find an odd white substance oozing out of a meteor crater, so, naturally- they TASTE it! It’s delicious and they market it as a dessert- which, with its alien origins, soon turns the hungry hungry half-wits who load up on it into mindless zombies- controlled by, perhaps, the sentient “stuff!” The fake commercials for the product are perfect, and one of our scenes that viewers loved had Sven, having eaten some of it, concluding his song with a special-effects stream of “stuff” flowing like a fountain out of his mouth!
We also had 1959’s “Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake”- involving a curse that has people losing their heads (literally) at the hands of a South American Indian with his lips sewn shut, like the shrunken heads he’d create! With that title, it was only natural to have Tombstone and his little nephews do a parody of Aretha Franklin’s “Think” entitled “Shrink!” We’ve shown that song a few times, since people just love those Tombstone nephews.
For more early titles, you can check out the lists in the book we’ve mentioned here-“Chicago TV Horror Movie Shows: from Shock Theatre to Svengoolie”- or- just wait until I write about more of them here in the blog!
I’ve also heard from people who enjoyed what I wrote about some of the early Sven shows here on WCIU that they had missed- movies we had the first couple years that we were on, which we lost the broadcast rights to years ago! So, I thought I’d talk about a few more for those who hadn’t had the chance to see them.
Our very first movie here was 1984’s “C.H.U.D.”- a camp classic that you occasionally even hear Homer Simpson mention! C.H.U.D., of course, stood for “Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dweller”- they were nasty mutant creatures that came from the sewers after-what a surprise!-toxic waste had been dumped. Back then, we would do one whole segment of the movie in very heavy “Svensurround”- adding sound effects and visuals, replacing lines of dialogue, etc. I recall a couple people, who were unfamiliar with my history being outraged that I was “ripping off Mystery Science Theater!”
Another very early Sven movie at WCIU is one that I know I’ve mentioned here- the 1985 Larry Cohen cult classic “the Stuff!” That was a very weird one- some guys find an odd white substance oozing out of a meteor crater, so, naturally- they TASTE it! It’s delicious and they market it as a dessert- which, with its alien origins, soon turns the hungry hungry half-wits who load up on it into mindless zombies- controlled by, perhaps, the sentient “stuff!” The fake commercials for the product are perfect, and one of our scenes that viewers loved had Sven, having eaten some of it, concluding his song with a special-effects stream of “stuff” flowing like a fountain out of his mouth!
We also had 1959’s “Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake”- involving a curse that has people losing their heads (literally) at the hands of a South American Indian with his lips sewn shut, like the shrunken heads he’d create! With that title, it was only natural to have Tombstone and his little nephews do a parody of Aretha Franklin’s “Think” entitled “Shrink!” We’ve shown that song a few times, since people just love those Tombstone nephews.
For more early titles, you can check out the lists in the book we’ve mentioned here-“Chicago TV Horror Movie Shows: from Shock Theatre to Svengoolie”- or- just wait until I write about more of them here in the blog!
Have you ever watched a really dumb horror flick and said to yourself (or, anyone nearby who would listen) “hey, I could write a better movie than that”? Well, seems to me that we could take just about any subject and turn it into a cheesy horror flick- unless someone else has already beat us to it!
You want an example? Okay- let’s take the recent non-smoking law that went into effect in Chicago. We open on a grumbling old school reporter who walks into his favorite watering hole after a tough day at the office. He sits down at a bar stool, loosens his cheap tie (which doesn’t match his cheap sports jacket) and is about to light up a cigarette when Shirley, the wise-cracking bartender, reaches out and grabs his lighter away from him. “Sorry, pal” she says “no more smoking in here!” “Since when?” he bellows. “Since January 1st, when the law went into effect!” she smiles as she hands back the lighter. “Go fight City Hall!” “Indeed I will!” he says, storming out. Okay, to make a long story short- he does check out City Hall. With the help of one of his inside sources, he finds out that the Mayor wasn’t the one pushing the ordinance to ban smoking- it was an alderman who has only been around recently. He soon learns that the alderman is an alien, whose fellow aliens are infiltrating the Chicago area- and are intent on taking over the city- except that they find the fumes from cigarettes even more toxic than humans do! The reporter winds up at a rally chock full of the aliens (who are disguised to look like “normal” Chicagoans- uh- is there such a thing?) and brings along a cadre of smokers- who head leads in a lethal “smoke-in” to wipe out the invaders! “Light up and live!” he cries, as the aliens are overcome, and revert to their hideous alien countenances- all being broadcast live over local TV! Chicago is saved, and, in the final scene, the mayor pardons the fines of the reporter and his pals- but just this once!
See? It’s simple- yet it turns the subject into a horror film! I could have used the tax on bottled water (people stop buying water in the city, and go back to drinking tap water- which the aliens have added a mind control drug to) or even the Oprah Show (Oprah is actually an alien, broadcasting mind-controlling commands to the loyal slave who watch her show every day and…wait- that’s a little too close to reality…) see how simple it is? By the way, all plots here-in are copyrighted property of Svengoolie, and cannot be borrowed, adapted or stolen without paying me big money.
You want an example? Okay- let’s take the recent non-smoking law that went into effect in Chicago. We open on a grumbling old school reporter who walks into his favorite watering hole after a tough day at the office. He sits down at a bar stool, loosens his cheap tie (which doesn’t match his cheap sports jacket) and is about to light up a cigarette when Shirley, the wise-cracking bartender, reaches out and grabs his lighter away from him. “Sorry, pal” she says “no more smoking in here!” “Since when?” he bellows. “Since January 1st, when the law went into effect!” she smiles as she hands back the lighter. “Go fight City Hall!” “Indeed I will!” he says, storming out. Okay, to make a long story short- he does check out City Hall. With the help of one of his inside sources, he finds out that the Mayor wasn’t the one pushing the ordinance to ban smoking- it was an alderman who has only been around recently. He soon learns that the alderman is an alien, whose fellow aliens are infiltrating the Chicago area- and are intent on taking over the city- except that they find the fumes from cigarettes even more toxic than humans do! The reporter winds up at a rally chock full of the aliens (who are disguised to look like “normal” Chicagoans- uh- is there such a thing?) and brings along a cadre of smokers- who head leads in a lethal “smoke-in” to wipe out the invaders! “Light up and live!” he cries, as the aliens are overcome, and revert to their hideous alien countenances- all being broadcast live over local TV! Chicago is saved, and, in the final scene, the mayor pardons the fines of the reporter and his pals- but just this once!
See? It’s simple- yet it turns the subject into a horror film! I could have used the tax on bottled water (people stop buying water in the city, and go back to drinking tap water- which the aliens have added a mind control drug to) or even the Oprah Show (Oprah is actually an alien, broadcasting mind-controlling commands to the loyal slave who watch her show every day and…wait- that’s a little too close to reality…) see how simple it is? By the way, all plots here-in are copyrighted property of Svengoolie, and cannot be borrowed, adapted or stolen without paying me big money.
Recently, I wrote about some of the films that I’d love to show on our program…and it occurred to me that, when I first appeared here at WCIU in 1995, we had some movies that we only had rights to for a very short time- that many of our current, newer fans never got to see! So, I thought I’d write about some of “the U’s” Sven movies that you might never have seen!
I always recall 1956 film “the Beast of Hollow Mountain”- which always reminded me of the later 1969 “Valley of the Gwangi”-since it was set in the Southwest, and the monster was a dinosaur. We had Guy Madison- who would be Disney’s famed “Zorro”-as a rancher who discovers that whatever’s eating his cattle is – a stop-motion dinosaur! The problem with this film was- you really didn’t see the monster until just about the end of the film (not an uncommon occurrence in some low-budget monster flicks.) We even did a song parody of “Mexican hat dance” about how we still hadn’t seen the beast, featuring a great trumpet solo by Doug Graves!
Another early offering we had was 1957’s “the Vampire!” Yes, we were expecting a cape-clad traditional vampire, but NOOO- instead we got a kindly doctor who suffers from migraines- and is working on a formula that will regress man to his primitive form. One day, he is accidentally given some pills to ease his headache- but they’re actually part of the experiment containing the miracle ingredient of- blood from a vampire bat!
This causes him to become a fierce, hirsute blood-craving savage- obviously not a tuxedo-wearing bloodsucker, as the title would suggest. One of the funny things we pointed out was, in one of his “transition” scenes, as he was becoming the “vampire”-he looked exactly like the late Morton Downey Jr. (who had a show on our station at the time!)
A similar sort of film we also had was 1953’s “the Neanderthal Man”- in which the Superman TV show’s “Inspector Henderson”-Robert Shayne- is yet another serum-developer, whose serum changes him into a cave man- with what appears to be one of those Johnson Smith Company cave man Halloween masks! The odd thing is- they actually did various stages of make-up in the “transformation” shots-leading up to the cheesy mask. Also created from the serum- a “saber-toothed tiger”- whose long tusk-like teeth are not exactly convincing!
I have to admit- I’ve gotten messages from some of you guys who actually would prefer this type of film to the Universal classics- and wish that we’d get back to them!
I always recall 1956 film “the Beast of Hollow Mountain”- which always reminded me of the later 1969 “Valley of the Gwangi”-since it was set in the Southwest, and the monster was a dinosaur. We had Guy Madison- who would be Disney’s famed “Zorro”-as a rancher who discovers that whatever’s eating his cattle is – a stop-motion dinosaur! The problem with this film was- you really didn’t see the monster until just about the end of the film (not an uncommon occurrence in some low-budget monster flicks.) We even did a song parody of “Mexican hat dance” about how we still hadn’t seen the beast, featuring a great trumpet solo by Doug Graves!
Another early offering we had was 1957’s “the Vampire!” Yes, we were expecting a cape-clad traditional vampire, but NOOO- instead we got a kindly doctor who suffers from migraines- and is working on a formula that will regress man to his primitive form. One day, he is accidentally given some pills to ease his headache- but they’re actually part of the experiment containing the miracle ingredient of- blood from a vampire bat!
This causes him to become a fierce, hirsute blood-craving savage- obviously not a tuxedo-wearing bloodsucker, as the title would suggest. One of the funny things we pointed out was, in one of his “transition” scenes, as he was becoming the “vampire”-he looked exactly like the late Morton Downey Jr. (who had a show on our station at the time!)
A similar sort of film we also had was 1953’s “the Neanderthal Man”- in which the Superman TV show’s “Inspector Henderson”-Robert Shayne- is yet another serum-developer, whose serum changes him into a cave man- with what appears to be one of those Johnson Smith Company cave man Halloween masks! The odd thing is- they actually did various stages of make-up in the “transformation” shots-leading up to the cheesy mask. Also created from the serum- a “saber-toothed tiger”- whose long tusk-like teeth are not exactly convincing!
I have to admit- I’ve gotten messages from some of you guys who actually would prefer this type of film to the Universal classics- and wish that we’d get back to them!
As promised- more feedback from you loyal Svengoolie viewers!
Let’s continue…
You know how I will try to find the name of a hazily-recalled movie for you- well, here’s one I’ve had NO luck with whatsoever! Pat and Kelly have been after me for a while to find the title of this film: they believe it’s from the late 50s, and stars peter Graves, as a professor who takes his class on a field trip to a cave. While they were down in the cave, some sort of global catastrophe occurs, and everyone outside that had been exposed to the sun has turned into a small pile of powder! I’ve cross-indexed these facts in the Sven-computer, and keep coming up blank. SO- if you have an idea, let me know…
I just got some snail mail here- for those of you who didn’t believe me when I previously wrote that people can’t spell “Svengoolie” right, even though it appears on screen multiple times in each show- this envelope is addressed to “Svan Goullie.”
In a similar vein, an e-mailer sent me the question “is this show ‘alive?’” I’m assuming the question is whether the show is being broadcast live. The answer- it’s on tape, but- it’s alive! Alive! (See? I’ve even overdosed on the Frankenstein flicks!)
Here’s a couple nice messages: first, from Dan, who wrote that he used to watch me every Saturday with his dad, who was always telling him his “when I was a kid” stories, about how movies like these were just 5 cents, a gallon of Pepsi was just 3 cents, and twenty pounds of popcorn were 2 cents” ...you think he was exaggerating on some of that? Anyway, Dan says, he’s grown up, gotten married, had kids, and gotten so caught up he forgot about the important questions of life- like how tall the Frankenstein Monster is, what the old gypsy’s name was in “the Wolf Man” (find out next weekend, Dan!) and does Dracula talk funny in real life?! He’s happy to know that we’re still on and that he can find the answers to these questions on the show. Second, Cathy sent me a charming tale of how she used to watch the show when she lived in Chicago, and turned her husband, an underground cartoonist, on to it. Many years later, now residing in Wisconsin, they were hearing the song a friend did for a Milwaukee station that include the lyrics “Svengoolie on Saturday night” and were pleased to discover that they could watch again-on WMLW. He also was not allowed to watch the 3 Stooges as a child, and is catching up with them now! She said that she hopes I’m happy to still be leading America’s youth astray- even if he IS over 50! You bet I’m happy, Cathy!
And, I’m always happy to hear what YOU have on your mind- again, it’s svengoolie@wciu.com
Let’s continue…
You know how I will try to find the name of a hazily-recalled movie for you- well, here’s one I’ve had NO luck with whatsoever! Pat and Kelly have been after me for a while to find the title of this film: they believe it’s from the late 50s, and stars peter Graves, as a professor who takes his class on a field trip to a cave. While they were down in the cave, some sort of global catastrophe occurs, and everyone outside that had been exposed to the sun has turned into a small pile of powder! I’ve cross-indexed these facts in the Sven-computer, and keep coming up blank. SO- if you have an idea, let me know…
I just got some snail mail here- for those of you who didn’t believe me when I previously wrote that people can’t spell “Svengoolie” right, even though it appears on screen multiple times in each show- this envelope is addressed to “Svan Goullie.”
In a similar vein, an e-mailer sent me the question “is this show ‘alive?’” I’m assuming the question is whether the show is being broadcast live. The answer- it’s on tape, but- it’s alive! Alive! (See? I’ve even overdosed on the Frankenstein flicks!)
Here’s a couple nice messages: first, from Dan, who wrote that he used to watch me every Saturday with his dad, who was always telling him his “when I was a kid” stories, about how movies like these were just 5 cents, a gallon of Pepsi was just 3 cents, and twenty pounds of popcorn were 2 cents” ...you think he was exaggerating on some of that? Anyway, Dan says, he’s grown up, gotten married, had kids, and gotten so caught up he forgot about the important questions of life- like how tall the Frankenstein Monster is, what the old gypsy’s name was in “the Wolf Man” (find out next weekend, Dan!) and does Dracula talk funny in real life?! He’s happy to know that we’re still on and that he can find the answers to these questions on the show. Second, Cathy sent me a charming tale of how she used to watch the show when she lived in Chicago, and turned her husband, an underground cartoonist, on to it. Many years later, now residing in Wisconsin, they were hearing the song a friend did for a Milwaukee station that include the lyrics “Svengoolie on Saturday night” and were pleased to discover that they could watch again-on WMLW. He also was not allowed to watch the 3 Stooges as a child, and is catching up with them now! She said that she hopes I’m happy to still be leading America’s youth astray- even if he IS over 50! You bet I’m happy, Cathy!
And, I’m always happy to hear what YOU have on your mind- again, it’s svengoolie@wciu.com
I haven’t done a blog featuring your messages to me in a while so- let’s unleash the thoughts you’ve been having (at least, the ones I can print here!)
The new book about “Chicago TV Horror Movie Shows: from Shock Theatre to Svengoolie” has definitely opened a floodgate of memories for fans! I’ve gotten a lot of e-mails and messages
From people who’ve read it, and shared their remembrances of my old shows, those of my “dad” the original Sven, and some of the other horror movie programs that aired in the Windy City. There has been some confusion about the title “Creature Features”- there was more than one show with that name. It actually was a kind of generic name for weekly horror movies
on stations all around the country. It was most prominently used, of course, on the late night WGN show that ran the Universal flicks, “Creature Features,” which also utilized that eerie Henry Mancini “Experiment in Terror” soundtrack tune as its theme. In the 70s and early 80s, WFLD had a Saturday show, on at various times, called the “Creature Feature” (most likely named by a TV executive who hadn’t been in Chicago very long, and had no knowledge of the WGN show, or he would have thought twice about naming it that! That’s what I love about today’s imported executives- they usually have no information about the past history in the market they’re moving into, and often have the attitude that “the old history doesn’t matter- I’M creating the NEW history!”) In fact, when they first plugged me, as Son of Svengoolie, into their horror movie- the show was called “Creature Feature!” Anyway, if that doesn’t clear up the whole “Creature Features” name story, pick up that book-it’s a lot of fun, and, as I’ve mentioned before, fills in a lot of the “FAQ” that people usually aim at me!(Not that I mind answering your questions!)
Like this one, from Emily- she asks “Have you ever had to drop a movie from your show because it was so awful?” Ahem- if you’ve been watching fro a long time, you KNOW that never stopped us! Actually, when we’ve gotten some movies from distributors, especially of the ultra-cheap variety, and they’ve been of very bad viewing quality, or so INCREDIBLY boring that we could never have enough production time to add enough stuff to improve them- yes, we have dropped ‘em- but, well before we even started production on them. An example of a really awful one was the “Midnight Movie Massacre”- which we edited the living heck out of, added sound effects, and tried our best to keep it from stinking out loud! A close second was the Full Moon epic “Horrorvision”-complete with a soundtrack song that included obscenities!
More feedback in tomorrow’s blog! Meanwhile, write me at svengoolie@wciu.com…
The new book about “Chicago TV Horror Movie Shows: from Shock Theatre to Svengoolie” has definitely opened a floodgate of memories for fans! I’ve gotten a lot of e-mails and messages
From people who’ve read it, and shared their remembrances of my old shows, those of my “dad” the original Sven, and some of the other horror movie programs that aired in the Windy City. There has been some confusion about the title “Creature Features”- there was more than one show with that name. It actually was a kind of generic name for weekly horror movies
on stations all around the country. It was most prominently used, of course, on the late night WGN show that ran the Universal flicks, “Creature Features,” which also utilized that eerie Henry Mancini “Experiment in Terror” soundtrack tune as its theme. In the 70s and early 80s, WFLD had a Saturday show, on at various times, called the “Creature Feature” (most likely named by a TV executive who hadn’t been in Chicago very long, and had no knowledge of the WGN show, or he would have thought twice about naming it that! That’s what I love about today’s imported executives- they usually have no information about the past history in the market they’re moving into, and often have the attitude that “the old history doesn’t matter- I’M creating the NEW history!”) In fact, when they first plugged me, as Son of Svengoolie, into their horror movie- the show was called “Creature Feature!” Anyway, if that doesn’t clear up the whole “Creature Features” name story, pick up that book-it’s a lot of fun, and, as I’ve mentioned before, fills in a lot of the “FAQ” that people usually aim at me!(Not that I mind answering your questions!)
Like this one, from Emily- she asks “Have you ever had to drop a movie from your show because it was so awful?” Ahem- if you’ve been watching fro a long time, you KNOW that never stopped us! Actually, when we’ve gotten some movies from distributors, especially of the ultra-cheap variety, and they’ve been of very bad viewing quality, or so INCREDIBLY boring that we could never have enough production time to add enough stuff to improve them- yes, we have dropped ‘em- but, well before we even started production on them. An example of a really awful one was the “Midnight Movie Massacre”- which we edited the living heck out of, added sound effects, and tried our best to keep it from stinking out loud! A close second was the Full Moon epic “Horrorvision”-complete with a soundtrack song that included obscenities!
More feedback in tomorrow’s blog! Meanwhile, write me at svengoolie@wciu.com…
In a discussion with one of my friends, revolving around last night’s “Son of Dracula”, we were talking about how my original name –“Son of Svengoolie” –was kind of an homage to both the original Sven, my mentor, and those old movies, with the offspring of a monster (or a creator, as was the case in “Son of Frankenstein.”) He was bemoaning the fact that there were never more “Son of…” characters, touching on the “Son of the Blob” (which is actually better known as “Beware the Blob.”) Wouldn’t a “Son of the Mummy” be intriguing? He could be a sort of King Tut “boy king” who is revived by the ancient cult, and creates havoc at a high school (hmm…that makes me think –would you consider the “I Was a Teenage Werewolf, Frankenstein, etc”…type films sort of the same thing?)There certainly could have been a “Son of the Creature from the Black Lagoon” (try fitting THAT on a marquee!) since there was a plan, at one time, to introduce a female Creature in that series of films. The Son of the Creature could possibly emerge from the Everglades, spawned in the Florida location of the last two Creature films! In a brilliant example of cross-promotion, he could make his way to Orlando, and end up at the Universal Studios theme park, where visitors would, at first, think he was just part of the entertainment- until he mangled some stooge in a Hulk costume, starting a riotous rampage through the various parts of the park- climaxing at the “Jaws” ride (if it’s working- I’ll never forget being at the park when it opened, trying to tape stuff for the “Koz Zone” show, and being frustrated by the non-working ride, and the surly and uncooperative employees who didn’t understand we were TRYING to make them and their park look good! I could have used an assist from a “Son of the Creature” at that point.)
What about our modern day monsters? Wouldn’t you love to see a “Son of Jason” wearing a little league hockey mask, trying to fit in with the other kids at a summer camp? Or, how about a “Son of Michael Meyers”- instead of a white-painted William Shatner mask, he could wear a white-painted Capt. Picard mask (no, that would make him look like an albino member of the Blue Man Group…)…and didn’t we actually have a “Son of Freddy Krueger” in one movie? He could start out with a safety scissors-type glove, with rounded edges, then gradually move up to sharp-pointed ones (as long as he didn’t run with them.) Will we see a “Son of Saw” (unlikely) or a “Son of Pinhead”? Have the sons set in film history? Or, will it take just one new one to start a whole new generation of awful offspring?! (And, again, let me state- the “Svengoolie” family line is destined to end with me, by mutual agreement of Jerry G. Bishop and myself!)
What about our modern day monsters? Wouldn’t you love to see a “Son of Jason” wearing a little league hockey mask, trying to fit in with the other kids at a summer camp? Or, how about a “Son of Michael Meyers”- instead of a white-painted William Shatner mask, he could wear a white-painted Capt. Picard mask (no, that would make him look like an albino member of the Blue Man Group…)…and didn’t we actually have a “Son of Freddy Krueger” in one movie? He could start out with a safety scissors-type glove, with rounded edges, then gradually move up to sharp-pointed ones (as long as he didn’t run with them.) Will we see a “Son of Saw” (unlikely) or a “Son of Pinhead”? Have the sons set in film history? Or, will it take just one new one to start a whole new generation of awful offspring?! (And, again, let me state- the “Svengoolie” family line is destined to end with me, by mutual agreement of Jerry G. Bishop and myself!)
A quick note to mention the passing of Maila Nurmi- “the famed “Vampira”- one of the ORIGINAL horror movie hosts of the 50s. You’ve seen her as the wasp-waisted zombie in “Plan 9 from Outer Space.” She sued Elvira many years ago, feeling that she had ripped off her character. I’m proud to say I have a signed 8 X 10 of Maila- she will be remembered by the horror community!
Last week, we had “Son of Frankenstein”- so, this week, let’s switch families to the OTHER big name monster- and roll out “Son of Dracula” tonight at 9 (1 am on Me-TV!)We’re down in Louisiana (where the alligators grow so mean)- and the daughter of wealthy old Col. Caldwell is awaiting the arrival of a new “friend” she met while overseas-one Count Alucard (this was the first time that the “Alucard” gimmick was used in these films.)When the train arrives, and he’s nowhere to be seen- but several large boxes of his are unloaded- one nosy fellow begins to read the “Alucard” name on the crest backwards, just for fun- but is interrupted before he finishes and a complete idea has the chance to form in his little tiny brain. Later, at a party at the Caldwell mansion, the Count sneaks in to do away with the Colonel, and soon, there’s murder, betrayal, the usual bat transformations, and more-not to mention the bloodsucker taking a bride!
We get Lon Chaney Jr. as the Count this time out- most likely, the burliest Dracula in all Universal flicks. He also sports a little moustache, maybe longing for the days of his hairier role as the Wolf Man. This film also includes the transformation of the vampire from human form into a sort of mist, not to mention the sight of Dracula “surfing” across the surface of the bayou on his coffin (which is the basis for this week’s Sven song!)
You may also want to watch for the major mistake that happens early on- just as in “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein,” we get the supposedly impossible view of a vampire’s image reflected in a mirror! We always wonder how the film’s crew could ever manage not to catch such an obvious violation of the very legendary lore that they themselves have been stating for so many years in so many films!
Some find Big Lon Jr. somewhat miscast as the Count, but I think he actually does okay- he’s very sedate most of the time, and there’s very little of his whining “Larry Talbot” persona in this role. Again, this is one of the films that helped Lon Jr. achieve the status of having played all the major Universal monsters- the Mummy, the Frankenstein Monster, Dracula- and, of course, the role he owned, the Wolf Man-who’s also coming up here on the Sven show.
And-get used to the wet bayou atmosphere- because, in upcoming weeks- things get wetter with the arrival of the next classic monster!
Last week, we had “Son of Frankenstein”- so, this week, let’s switch families to the OTHER big name monster- and roll out “Son of Dracula” tonight at 9 (1 am on Me-TV!)We’re down in Louisiana (where the alligators grow so mean)- and the daughter of wealthy old Col. Caldwell is awaiting the arrival of a new “friend” she met while overseas-one Count Alucard (this was the first time that the “Alucard” gimmick was used in these films.)When the train arrives, and he’s nowhere to be seen- but several large boxes of his are unloaded- one nosy fellow begins to read the “Alucard” name on the crest backwards, just for fun- but is interrupted before he finishes and a complete idea has the chance to form in his little tiny brain. Later, at a party at the Caldwell mansion, the Count sneaks in to do away with the Colonel, and soon, there’s murder, betrayal, the usual bat transformations, and more-not to mention the bloodsucker taking a bride!
We get Lon Chaney Jr. as the Count this time out- most likely, the burliest Dracula in all Universal flicks. He also sports a little moustache, maybe longing for the days of his hairier role as the Wolf Man. This film also includes the transformation of the vampire from human form into a sort of mist, not to mention the sight of Dracula “surfing” across the surface of the bayou on his coffin (which is the basis for this week’s Sven song!)
You may also want to watch for the major mistake that happens early on- just as in “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein,” we get the supposedly impossible view of a vampire’s image reflected in a mirror! We always wonder how the film’s crew could ever manage not to catch such an obvious violation of the very legendary lore that they themselves have been stating for so many years in so many films!
Some find Big Lon Jr. somewhat miscast as the Count, but I think he actually does okay- he’s very sedate most of the time, and there’s very little of his whining “Larry Talbot” persona in this role. Again, this is one of the films that helped Lon Jr. achieve the status of having played all the major Universal monsters- the Mummy, the Frankenstein Monster, Dracula- and, of course, the role he owned, the Wolf Man-who’s also coming up here on the Sven show.
And-get used to the wet bayou atmosphere- because, in upcoming weeks- things get wetter with the arrival of the next classic monster!
As I might have mentioned previously, there are big things coming here at the wciu.com website- and some Sven additions we think you’ll like. Just keep checking back here in the near future!
My official Svengoolie tuxedo jacket is at the dry cleaner’s right now-this has to be done occasionally to get rid of wrinkles, make-up and the dirt from various rubber chicken attacks. I often wonder what the people at the cleaner’s place think-with this odd tuxedo coming in for cleaning every so often. I’m sure they get other tuxes in- from musicians, perhaps, or waiters. The make-up on the lapels might be a source of discussion for them, I’d guess…
I know I’ve probably told this story before- but my original “Son of Svengoolie” tuxedo was something I bought when I was just out of high school. One of the local tuxedo rental shops would occasionally sell of used and out of style tuxes, and, with this one going for about ten bucks, I thought it might come in handy some day- which it did, almost seven or eight years later! I had bought it strictly for costume purposes- some of my friends and I (including my musical director, Doug Graves, who has been my pal since high school) would sometimes shoot wacky little Super 8 movies, and having wardrobe for such enterprises was always welcome. (I later picked up some stunning additional ten buck tuxes-including a single –breasted number, plus a few in white, powder blue, and even yellow- although these never got as much use as the black coat would!)
I wore that same coat for my entire term as Son of Sven…and when I came to WCIU, as I’ve said before, I had (ahem) gained a slight amount of weight- which necessitated the addition of a third row of buttons, turning the double-breasted coat into a TRIPLE- breasted jacket! Eventually, with even the sleeves and shoulders straining (most certainly due to my building up my upper body, not due to weight gain- are you buying this?), and the lining wearing out, I was fortunate to get the current model from a friend at Black Tie Formalwear.
And- just to set the record straight- I actually have a couple regular, still in style tuxedos for actual, real-life formal occasions, like the local Emmy awards ceremonies, charity events, etc. I have NEVER worn my Sven jacket as a general-purpose tuxedo! Nor was it the tuxedo I was married in. What goof started THAT rumor?!
My official Svengoolie tuxedo jacket is at the dry cleaner’s right now-this has to be done occasionally to get rid of wrinkles, make-up and the dirt from various rubber chicken attacks. I often wonder what the people at the cleaner’s place think-with this odd tuxedo coming in for cleaning every so often. I’m sure they get other tuxes in- from musicians, perhaps, or waiters. The make-up on the lapels might be a source of discussion for them, I’d guess…
I know I’ve probably told this story before- but my original “Son of Svengoolie” tuxedo was something I bought when I was just out of high school. One of the local tuxedo rental shops would occasionally sell of used and out of style tuxes, and, with this one going for about ten bucks, I thought it might come in handy some day- which it did, almost seven or eight years later! I had bought it strictly for costume purposes- some of my friends and I (including my musical director, Doug Graves, who has been my pal since high school) would sometimes shoot wacky little Super 8 movies, and having wardrobe for such enterprises was always welcome. (I later picked up some stunning additional ten buck tuxes-including a single –breasted number, plus a few in white, powder blue, and even yellow- although these never got as much use as the black coat would!)
I wore that same coat for my entire term as Son of Sven…and when I came to WCIU, as I’ve said before, I had (ahem) gained a slight amount of weight- which necessitated the addition of a third row of buttons, turning the double-breasted coat into a TRIPLE- breasted jacket! Eventually, with even the sleeves and shoulders straining (most certainly due to my building up my upper body, not due to weight gain- are you buying this?), and the lining wearing out, I was fortunate to get the current model from a friend at Black Tie Formalwear.
And- just to set the record straight- I actually have a couple regular, still in style tuxedos for actual, real-life formal occasions, like the local Emmy awards ceremonies, charity events, etc. I have NEVER worn my Sven jacket as a general-purpose tuxedo! Nor was it the tuxedo I was married in. What goof started THAT rumor?!
With the presidential primaries all over the news, I’ve been reminded of some of the presidential shtick I’ve done in the past. Quite honestly, I’ve pretty much been a bi-partisan goof- making fun of presidents and presidential wannabes of both parties (and some independent candidates as well!)
We did various stuff back in the Son of Svengoolie days, including visits from Richard Nixon, who was first part of my act while working with Jerry G. Bishop both during his Svengoolie run and when we did morning radio on WMAQ, where “Nixon” was a regular caller on the show! On Son of Sven, he first showed up to take over as host, I think- and did his own song- a parody of Paul Simon’s (the singer, not the beloved Illinois politician) “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” called “50 Ways to Blow Your Cover”, recounting his downfall in the Watergate scandal. I always remember doing that taping, since I was wearing a fake Nixon nose- and I had a killer cold at the time. With the prosthetic nose on, I couldn’t blow my nose, and I was absolutely miserable- which my have helped my characterization!
“Nixon” made a comeback in a fake commercial for a musical on the show- around the time that “Evita” was being promoted, a different musical was running in Chicago- an old George M. Cohan show called “Little Johnny Jones” which, I believe, David Cassidy was starring in. So, we had Nixon come in doing a show called “Little Sonny Sony”- again spoofing the controversy over tapes he allegedly erased…and including a parody of one of the songs that also was appearing in the then-current “Evita” TV commercials!
We also did some Jimmy Carter stuff- I remember some debate that one candidate wasn’t going to attend, and they had decided to represent him with an empty chair- so, we did a bit where there was a debate promoted by the League of Women Boaters (not “Voters”) where various candidates would not be showing up, and more and more empty chairs were slid onto the set!
I also did some Ronald Reagan stuff, including portraying his new press secretary Bonzo (his chimpanzee co-star in the old movie “Bedtime for Bonzo”), and selling a collectible Bonzo commemorative coin, similar to an actual Reagan coin that was then for sale.
I’m sure current fans recall our “Werewolf Dubya” bit that we ran during the “Werewolf of Washington.” Who do you think will be next to show up on one of our programs?(And- will they be easy to imitate? Will somebody –ahem- have to put on a dress?)
We did various stuff back in the Son of Svengoolie days, including visits from Richard Nixon, who was first part of my act while working with Jerry G. Bishop both during his Svengoolie run and when we did morning radio on WMAQ, where “Nixon” was a regular caller on the show! On Son of Sven, he first showed up to take over as host, I think- and did his own song- a parody of Paul Simon’s (the singer, not the beloved Illinois politician) “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” called “50 Ways to Blow Your Cover”, recounting his downfall in the Watergate scandal. I always remember doing that taping, since I was wearing a fake Nixon nose- and I had a killer cold at the time. With the prosthetic nose on, I couldn’t blow my nose, and I was absolutely miserable- which my have helped my characterization!
“Nixon” made a comeback in a fake commercial for a musical on the show- around the time that “Evita” was being promoted, a different musical was running in Chicago- an old George M. Cohan show called “Little Johnny Jones” which, I believe, David Cassidy was starring in. So, we had Nixon come in doing a show called “Little Sonny Sony”- again spoofing the controversy over tapes he allegedly erased…and including a parody of one of the songs that also was appearing in the then-current “Evita” TV commercials!
We also did some Jimmy Carter stuff- I remember some debate that one candidate wasn’t going to attend, and they had decided to represent him with an empty chair- so, we did a bit where there was a debate promoted by the League of Women Boaters (not “Voters”) where various candidates would not be showing up, and more and more empty chairs were slid onto the set!
I also did some Ronald Reagan stuff, including portraying his new press secretary Bonzo (his chimpanzee co-star in the old movie “Bedtime for Bonzo”), and selling a collectible Bonzo commemorative coin, similar to an actual Reagan coin that was then for sale.
I’m sure current fans recall our “Werewolf Dubya” bit that we ran during the “Werewolf of Washington.” Who do you think will be next to show up on one of our programs?(And- will they be easy to imitate? Will somebody –ahem- have to put on a dress?)
It’s cold out again- what a surprise for January…let me just warm up by dredging up some random thoughts today…
So- Dr. Phil thought better of doing a Brittney Spears show.
Translation: he was getting enough negative feedback and beginning to realize it would look like he was just trying to score ratings (almost as much of a surprise as cold weather in January.) Of course, the sheep-like followers of the Philster would have just wallowed in it lovingly…and, let me apologize for misspelling “Federline” in yesterday’s blog…I’m going to spelling counseling, and Dr. Phil seems to think I’ll be okay…
Speaking of cancelled plans, looks like the Golden Globes Awards show is toast, due to the writer’s strike. Are the Globes taken seriously? I know, for a long time, they weren’t; I recall that my show was pre-empted back in the 80s at WFLD by a SYNDICATED presentation of the Golden Globes Awards (it was so trivial back then, it wasn’t on an actual network, and had to go to local independent stations in many cases.) I had made a joke that we were being pre-empted by it, and cracked that with “golden globes” maybe it was an awards show for bowling. The awards were so unknown then that people took my joke seriously, and complained “why are you being pre-empted for some stupid bowling show?!” back then, the now-grown-up star of “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians”-Pia Zadora- won some truly unearned major award, and the consensus seemed to be that her wealthy husband must’ve paid someone off for her to receive it. I’m guessing that the awards have a little more credibility now- but, either way- no big show biz special of it this year…
Okay, maybe it’s just me, but in some commercials for one of our beloved local carpet companies- there’s a carpet guy who’s showing people samples. I keep thinking that the guy has a strong resemblance to the eccentric media darling police officer Drew Peterson, whose current wife is “missing” and whose previous wife died of an “accident.” That accident didn’t have anything to do with deep shag, lush, plush pile, or thick foam padding, did it? Anyway, if you catch one of those commercials, you tell me if you agree with the resemblance…
Please! Enough with the complaints about Frankenstein movies! Really! We’re putting them back on the shelf for now, and you’ll see other monsters! Never would I have expected that people would get burnt out on Frankenstein- once again, we are simply following the schedule given to us by Universal.
They love having themed weeks as much as Merv Griffin used to love doing themed shows…
So- Dr. Phil thought better of doing a Brittney Spears show.
Translation: he was getting enough negative feedback and beginning to realize it would look like he was just trying to score ratings (almost as much of a surprise as cold weather in January.) Of course, the sheep-like followers of the Philster would have just wallowed in it lovingly…and, let me apologize for misspelling “Federline” in yesterday’s blog…I’m going to spelling counseling, and Dr. Phil seems to think I’ll be okay…
Speaking of cancelled plans, looks like the Golden Globes Awards show is toast, due to the writer’s strike. Are the Globes taken seriously? I know, for a long time, they weren’t; I recall that my show was pre-empted back in the 80s at WFLD by a SYNDICATED presentation of the Golden Globes Awards (it was so trivial back then, it wasn’t on an actual network, and had to go to local independent stations in many cases.) I had made a joke that we were being pre-empted by it, and cracked that with “golden globes” maybe it was an awards show for bowling. The awards were so unknown then that people took my joke seriously, and complained “why are you being pre-empted for some stupid bowling show?!” back then, the now-grown-up star of “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians”-Pia Zadora- won some truly unearned major award, and the consensus seemed to be that her wealthy husband must’ve paid someone off for her to receive it. I’m guessing that the awards have a little more credibility now- but, either way- no big show biz special of it this year…
Okay, maybe it’s just me, but in some commercials for one of our beloved local carpet companies- there’s a carpet guy who’s showing people samples. I keep thinking that the guy has a strong resemblance to the eccentric media darling police officer Drew Peterson, whose current wife is “missing” and whose previous wife died of an “accident.” That accident didn’t have anything to do with deep shag, lush, plush pile, or thick foam padding, did it? Anyway, if you catch one of those commercials, you tell me if you agree with the resemblance…
Please! Enough with the complaints about Frankenstein movies! Really! We’re putting them back on the shelf for now, and you’ll see other monsters! Never would I have expected that people would get burnt out on Frankenstein- once again, we are simply following the schedule given to us by Universal.
They love having themed weeks as much as Merv Griffin used to love doing themed shows…
I had to laugh at all the “news” about Dr. Phil making a “house call “ (rehab room call) on Brittney, leading to –what a coincidence!-an episode of his show about it. I think this could lead to a whole new venue for the Pop Tart- she could make her way to “Judge Mathis” to contest the whole child custody deal, appeal the verdict in the People’s Court, then stand up to her parents with Judge Maria Lopez. She could then segue to face off against the Federleins in a “Family Feud.” Since there have been rumors of her driving around aimlessly, perhaps she could enter “the Amazing Race,” teaming up with, say, Lindsay Lohan. She could jump to a cable channel for “What NOT to Wear” (which in her case, is usually underwear.) Then, feeling contrite, she could be hollered at by Steve Wilkos, then get stranded somewhere on a celebrity edition of “Survivor.” This would then translate into an episode of “Lost” and we’d mysteriously never see her again. We hope.
Okay- I’ll admit it- even though we’re about a week into the new year, I’m still writing “2007” in dates. What else is happening in the brand spanking new 2008? I’ve already received the form for my state income tax, and am surprised I haven’t gotten the federal one yet! I know they’re just drooling waiting to grab my money…speaking of which, I used to buy six-packs of bottled water right neat the station- until they decided to add a 5 cent tax to each plastic bottle. Guess I’ll just buy my supply in the suburbs. Sorry, Mr. Mayor…
I know the warmer weather is leaving us, but I really liked it, for what it’s worth. How many times has something like that happened in January? (No, Tom Skilling, PLEASE don’t bother sending me the answer on that one…) Someone reminded me of a Christmas Eve several years back when it was around 70 degrees out. I think these occasional spurts of warmth actually work as a mood enhancer- making winter a lot more tolerable. On one of the local news shows, I heard a sound bite of a woman talking about how she really doesn’t mind winter, and that she used to think she would like to live in Hawaii, where the weather is always warm- but, now, she doesn’t think so- she’d miss the seasons. Uh- that’s why people travel, lady- you could make a trip back to Chicago when there’s snow and cold weather, the same way people travel from here during winter to bask in sun and warmth. I wouldn’t mind seeing if I could get along without the cold and snow…maybe we could even create a Svengoolie hula…anybody like a little pineapple on their rubber chicken?
Okay- I’ll admit it- even though we’re about a week into the new year, I’m still writing “2007” in dates. What else is happening in the brand spanking new 2008? I’ve already received the form for my state income tax, and am surprised I haven’t gotten the federal one yet! I know they’re just drooling waiting to grab my money…speaking of which, I used to buy six-packs of bottled water right neat the station- until they decided to add a 5 cent tax to each plastic bottle. Guess I’ll just buy my supply in the suburbs. Sorry, Mr. Mayor…
I know the warmer weather is leaving us, but I really liked it, for what it’s worth. How many times has something like that happened in January? (No, Tom Skilling, PLEASE don’t bother sending me the answer on that one…) Someone reminded me of a Christmas Eve several years back when it was around 70 degrees out. I think these occasional spurts of warmth actually work as a mood enhancer- making winter a lot more tolerable. On one of the local news shows, I heard a sound bite of a woman talking about how she really doesn’t mind winter, and that she used to think she would like to live in Hawaii, where the weather is always warm- but, now, she doesn’t think so- she’d miss the seasons. Uh- that’s why people travel, lady- you could make a trip back to Chicago when there’s snow and cold weather, the same way people travel from here during winter to bask in sun and warmth. I wouldn’t mind seeing if I could get along without the cold and snow…maybe we could even create a Svengoolie hula…anybody like a little pineapple on their rubber chicken?
While enjoying the Universal flicks on Sven, we haven’t done one of our “Possible Sven Movies I’ve Never Seen Yet!” I check out various books about horror movies, and often find flicks that seem like perfect Sven targets. Here are a few that I’ve found lately…
Ever seen “Bugged!”? Me neither, but it seems like a good time- we meet the employees of “Dead and Buried Pest Removal”- who are refilling their insecticide tanks, and accidentally fill up with a formula that genetically enhances the pests and makes them super-intelligent and grow to huge sizes! When the boys go to exterminate the bugs at a woman’s house- well, you can guess what happens. This movie comes from the good people of Troma, but it supposedly is less violent and vulgar than some of their offerings.
Since the book I found that in was an alphabetical listing, right near it I found “The Burning”-which has an amazing cast-including Holly Hunter, Fisher Stevens, and …Jason Alexander! What is George Costanza doing in a typical teen slasher flick? Well, for one thing, sporting a LOT more hair…
This is pretty much a typical genre film- there’s a caretaker at a summer camp who is the victim of a nasty prank that goes wrong, burning him severely. Years later, he is released from an institution, and heads back to camp to gain revenge on the campers who fried him. His weapon of choice appears to be over-sized hedge clippers. This movie was the first production of the founders of the Miramax group, Bob and Harvey Weinstein, so it was definitely the start of something big…now, if George Costanza could convince Kramer to join him at camp, then have the evil caretaker use his clippers on his hair…
Speaking of hair, this leads us to “the Club” (and I only say that because it reminds me of the “Hair Club for Men”-hair has nothing to do with this movie!)More teens in this one- and they discover a nasty fact about one of the prom chaperones- he’s a serial killer! The prom is being held in an ancient castle (must’ve saved money on hokey decorations)-then, suddenly, at the stroke of midnight- time stops- and most of the class disappears, leaving a handful of the students still there, along with the serial killer, amidst ghosts and demons. The title supposedly refers to the students having to join a “club”- whose members either have killed or committed suicide! How do they revoke your membership- bring you back to life?!
Will any of these ever make it into the ranks of the Sven library? Who knows? After all, no one ever expected us to run “City Slickers”…
Ever seen “Bugged!”? Me neither, but it seems like a good time- we meet the employees of “Dead and Buried Pest Removal”- who are refilling their insecticide tanks, and accidentally fill up with a formula that genetically enhances the pests and makes them super-intelligent and grow to huge sizes! When the boys go to exterminate the bugs at a woman’s house- well, you can guess what happens. This movie comes from the good people of Troma, but it supposedly is less violent and vulgar than some of their offerings.
Since the book I found that in was an alphabetical listing, right near it I found “The Burning”-which has an amazing cast-including Holly Hunter, Fisher Stevens, and …Jason Alexander! What is George Costanza doing in a typical teen slasher flick? Well, for one thing, sporting a LOT more hair…
This is pretty much a typical genre film- there’s a caretaker at a summer camp who is the victim of a nasty prank that goes wrong, burning him severely. Years later, he is released from an institution, and heads back to camp to gain revenge on the campers who fried him. His weapon of choice appears to be over-sized hedge clippers. This movie was the first production of the founders of the Miramax group, Bob and Harvey Weinstein, so it was definitely the start of something big…now, if George Costanza could convince Kramer to join him at camp, then have the evil caretaker use his clippers on his hair…
Speaking of hair, this leads us to “the Club” (and I only say that because it reminds me of the “Hair Club for Men”-hair has nothing to do with this movie!)More teens in this one- and they discover a nasty fact about one of the prom chaperones- he’s a serial killer! The prom is being held in an ancient castle (must’ve saved money on hokey decorations)-then, suddenly, at the stroke of midnight- time stops- and most of the class disappears, leaving a handful of the students still there, along with the serial killer, amidst ghosts and demons. The title supposedly refers to the students having to join a “club”- whose members either have killed or committed suicide! How do they revoke your membership- bring you back to life?!
Will any of these ever make it into the ranks of the Sven library? Who knows? After all, no one ever expected us to run “City Slickers”…
There went the string of “Frankenstein” flicks last night, as “Son of Frankenstein” played out. I enjoy that movie, although some say that there’s far too little of the Monster in it, especially since it would be the last time that Boris Karloff played the undying creation. Again, you have to love Bela Lugosi as Ygor- what a great character! I always remember that one of the film editors at WFLD, back when I was showing the films there, had an intense dislike of the little son character in the film- he absolutely detested the poor little guy. It is amazing to learn that he-Donnie Dunagan- would later be the vice of Bambi in the Walt Disney animated feature!
Rumor has it that, after doing the voice of the little buck, he said he could never shoot an animal again. He became a career Marine, so he did some shooting- but, I guess, never at animals. He was the youngest drill instructor in the history of the Marine Corps, but always hid his past as the voice of Bambi so he wouldn’t be unmercifully teased, or nicknamed “Bambi” by his fellow Marines.(Would it have been better if he had done the voice of the skunk-Flower?!)He went on to do intelligence work, and was still in the service during the Viet Nam War.
Someone who shows up briefly in the film, which I didn’t know when we first did the show, was Ward Bond, playing one of the gendarmes. He was better known for his TV work in “Wagon Train.” You also saw Dwight Frye (“Fritz”-“Renfield”-and several other characters in the Universal classics) very briefly- he supposedly had a longer role in the Technicolor version of this film that was scrapped mid-way through shooting. I guess somewhere in the re-shooting in black and white, he was either unavailable, or some scene designed to highlight the color process that he was in might have been dropped.
Personally, I’m still confused by the name of the town where Frankenstein did all his misdeeds- in the film last night, it was actually CALLED “Frankenstein” (not a smart play for a group of villagers who want to be disowned from the man and his work)-yet, in the first two films- it was called “Goldstadt!” Yet, in the films afterwards, it was either “Vasaria” or “Visaria.” I’d say they kept changing the name to try to ditch the reputation- but the fact that, right in the middle, it’s blatantly called “Frankenstein” kind of blows that theory out of the water…our pal Ygor had a slightly different name problem. Though he appears to be shot dead at the end of this film, he returned in “Ghost of Frankenstein”- but, his name was changed- he became “Igor” rather than “Ygor.” Maybe one of the shots sheared off the top of the “y”…
Rumor has it that, after doing the voice of the little buck, he said he could never shoot an animal again. He became a career Marine, so he did some shooting- but, I guess, never at animals. He was the youngest drill instructor in the history of the Marine Corps, but always hid his past as the voice of Bambi so he wouldn’t be unmercifully teased, or nicknamed “Bambi” by his fellow Marines.(Would it have been better if he had done the voice of the skunk-Flower?!)He went on to do intelligence work, and was still in the service during the Viet Nam War.
Someone who shows up briefly in the film, which I didn’t know when we first did the show, was Ward Bond, playing one of the gendarmes. He was better known for his TV work in “Wagon Train.” You also saw Dwight Frye (“Fritz”-“Renfield”-and several other characters in the Universal classics) very briefly- he supposedly had a longer role in the Technicolor version of this film that was scrapped mid-way through shooting. I guess somewhere in the re-shooting in black and white, he was either unavailable, or some scene designed to highlight the color process that he was in might have been dropped.
Personally, I’m still confused by the name of the town where Frankenstein did all his misdeeds- in the film last night, it was actually CALLED “Frankenstein” (not a smart play for a group of villagers who want to be disowned from the man and his work)-yet, in the first two films- it was called “Goldstadt!” Yet, in the films afterwards, it was either “Vasaria” or “Visaria.” I’d say they kept changing the name to try to ditch the reputation- but the fact that, right in the middle, it’s blatantly called “Frankenstein” kind of blows that theory out of the water…our pal Ygor had a slightly different name problem. Though he appears to be shot dead at the end of this film, he returned in “Ghost of Frankenstein”- but, his name was changed- he became “Igor” rather than “Ygor.” Maybe one of the shots sheared off the top of the “y”…
I mentioned yesterday that there was one more Frankenstein movie to be run tonight, before we go on to other monsters- and we wind it up with a great one. “Son of Frankenstein” is the final flick in which the Monster is played by the great Boris Karloff- plus, we see Bela Lugosi as one of the great characters of the classic Universal horror flicks-the evil man who “could not die”- Ygor! (One viewer took me to task recently for saying Ygor was a hunchback-he said that Ygor merely had a broken neck.)Ygor was a role Bela enjoyed playing, and is a great example of what a fine character actor he was- there are times when he is so clever, downright funny, and yet, undeniably evil!
We also get the distinguished Basil Rathbone as Wolf, the son of the original Dr. Frankenstein. The story revolves around him bringing his bride and young son back to his father’s namesake village- where he receives a cold welcome from the local townsfolk, who have seen their village nearly destroyed by the various “experiments” of Wolf’s father. When he and his family take up residence in the family castle- they find much more than they’ve bargained for- with Ygor lurking about, and-The biggest surprise of all- the original Frankenstein Monster still on the premises! Wolf’s quest to redeem his father’s good name- plus the “intrusion” of the one-armed police inspector- make this movie an important part of the Frankenstein film legacy.
As I mentioned last time we ran this flick- it’s a LONG movie. The amount of time of the original film is more than we normally have for both the film AND our Sven bits in a normal program-so, we’ve minimized the length of our Sven bits so that we didn’t have to cut as much from the movie’s run time.
Also, please be aware that I personally go through the movie, and supervise where the edits are taken- sometimes, they are literally just a few seconds- so that the story stays intact, and there are no jarring omissions of important scenes. This ends up being more work for us, but we think that fans of these films deserve a careful and respectful editing job during the rare times we need to take time out of the film itself. This doesn’t happen much on the local broadcast level- in fact, you’ll find network movies that have not been edited with the care that our staff here often takes.
So- enjoy “Son of Frankenstein” tonight- and consider the weekly run of Frankenstein content at an end for now. Coming up next - bloodsuckers, Black Lagoons, and bandages (I think you know what that means!)
We also get the distinguished Basil Rathbone as Wolf, the son of the original Dr. Frankenstein. The story revolves around him bringing his bride and young son back to his father’s namesake village- where he receives a cold welcome from the local townsfolk, who have seen their village nearly destroyed by the various “experiments” of Wolf’s father. When he and his family take up residence in the family castle- they find much more than they’ve bargained for- with Ygor lurking about, and-The biggest surprise of all- the original Frankenstein Monster still on the premises! Wolf’s quest to redeem his father’s good name- plus the “intrusion” of the one-armed police inspector- make this movie an important part of the Frankenstein film legacy.
As I mentioned last time we ran this flick- it’s a LONG movie. The amount of time of the original film is more than we normally have for both the film AND our Sven bits in a normal program-so, we’ve minimized the length of our Sven bits so that we didn’t have to cut as much from the movie’s run time.
Also, please be aware that I personally go through the movie, and supervise where the edits are taken- sometimes, they are literally just a few seconds- so that the story stays intact, and there are no jarring omissions of important scenes. This ends up being more work for us, but we think that fans of these films deserve a careful and respectful editing job during the rare times we need to take time out of the film itself. This doesn’t happen much on the local broadcast level- in fact, you’ll find network movies that have not been edited with the care that our staff here often takes.
So- enjoy “Son of Frankenstein” tonight- and consider the weekly run of Frankenstein content at an end for now. Coming up next - bloodsuckers, Black Lagoons, and bandages (I think you know what that means!)
For those of you who have written to me saying “enough with the ‘Frankenstein’ already!”- let me assure you that you only have one more Frankenstein flick, tomorrow night, and then we switch to other monsters. I’m always reminded that you can’t please everybody, since we’ve been running the classic Universal flicks, and still get various complaints. Some viewers want to see the old schlock stuff that we would have to “Svensurround” the heck out of to make entertaining…others complain that the “monster du jour” isn’t their favorite, and why aren’t we showing the one they like?! My favorites are the ones who say “you never show (fill in the blank)”- when we DID show it a few months (sometimes even a few weeks) before they had sent the message.
Let me state once again- we have a finite number of Universal movies, which we are contracted to run on a certain schedule.
In addition, we are working on getting other cool movies for the future- which, to me, indicates that management plans on me BEING here in the future, which is reassuring! With all that in mind, I hope that you keep us a part of your regular viewing schedule.
A few viewers who have been reading the “Chicago TV Horror Movie Shows: from Shock Theatre to Svengoolie” book have asked what happened to the website mentioned in the book -Svengoolieweb.com. Unfortunately, after the book had already gone to the printer, the gentleman who was running the fan-based site had to close it down, due to other demands on his time.(The “Svengoolieweb” Yahoo group is still alive and kicking, fortunately…) BUT- good news! There are rumors abounding that- right here on this very WCIU website- you will soon find a whole new Sven web world! Keep checking back here for further details!
I was just going through some of my snail mail (yes, we still get snail mail- quite a bit of it, really) and saw yet another unique spelling of my name- “Swangoole!” If I ever have the time, I think I’ll go through some of the old mail and see how many variations I can find- one of the most common is “Sevengoolie.” Maybe we can compete with the numerous misspellings of Rich Koz’s last name (come on, people! It’s THREE LETTERS!)Even more confusing to me is –every week, you see both names SPELLED on your TV screen! Maybe the reception some places is so bad that they can’t be clearly read- will all that change when we switch to all digital broadcast transmission?
Let me state once again- we have a finite number of Universal movies, which we are contracted to run on a certain schedule.
In addition, we are working on getting other cool movies for the future- which, to me, indicates that management plans on me BEING here in the future, which is reassuring! With all that in mind, I hope that you keep us a part of your regular viewing schedule.
A few viewers who have been reading the “Chicago TV Horror Movie Shows: from Shock Theatre to Svengoolie” book have asked what happened to the website mentioned in the book -Svengoolieweb.com. Unfortunately, after the book had already gone to the printer, the gentleman who was running the fan-based site had to close it down, due to other demands on his time.(The “Svengoolieweb” Yahoo group is still alive and kicking, fortunately…) BUT- good news! There are rumors abounding that- right here on this very WCIU website- you will soon find a whole new Sven web world! Keep checking back here for further details!
I was just going through some of my snail mail (yes, we still get snail mail- quite a bit of it, really) and saw yet another unique spelling of my name- “Swangoole!” If I ever have the time, I think I’ll go through some of the old mail and see how many variations I can find- one of the most common is “Sevengoolie.” Maybe we can compete with the numerous misspellings of Rich Koz’s last name (come on, people! It’s THREE LETTERS!)Even more confusing to me is –every week, you see both names SPELLED on your TV screen! Maybe the reception some places is so bad that they can’t be clearly read- will all that change when we switch to all digital broadcast transmission?
This cold weather has me sitting inside coming up with more schemes to further the Svengoolie cause this year- mainly, ways to cash in on the Sven name- and I think I’ve come up with a real winner this time. It’s about time that Sven throws his top hat into the fast food ring, and shows that lame clown and that plastic-headed king how it’s done!
The name of the place has a few possibilities- “Goolie’s Grub”- “Goolie To Go”- “Svengoolie’s Caloric Crypt”- “It Came from the Kitchen”- “Svengoodies”- I’m sure we can come up with any number of catchy names…the main item on the menu would be the chicken sandwich, of course- no doubt a chicken breast, grilled, and rubbed with spices, so it would be the “RUBBER Chicken sandwich!” The menu tag for that item would be “THROW on the works!” for a sandwich with everything. We could also served a “tossed chicken” salad, prepared by former show interns who learned the art of throwing chickens for the program. Additional menu items could include “Tombstone’s Pizza”- no, wait, I see a lawsuit coming there- maybe “Tombstone’s Bony Ribs!” For Doug, we could have “Keyboard Fish Filet Fingers”- and the special Rich Koz sandwich- all ham, and mostly tasteless. Naturally, we’d have to have a hamburger on the menu- so, how about the “Berwyn Burger” which would come on a big spindle like the famous sculpture loaded with cars that is still an endangered species? Of course, all your side dishes would also be impaled on the spike…
Perhaps we can have a kid’s meal- the Sven “Kiddie Koffin,” which comes with their meal inside, and a free toy- probably some prop from our set that broke, or a small action-less figure of someone from the cast or crew. We could have a lovable group of characters to shill to the kids, as well- the Chicken Plucker, a criminal type who loves to swipe our chicken sandwiches; Mayor McSneeze, who’s the reason we put a sneeze guard over our salad bar; a group of wacky little characters in diving helmets called the Deep Fried Divers, who would jump into the fryers and emerge with French fries, onion rings, and fried mushrooms in honor of Berwyn. We can also include the “ station management’s heart” frozen shakes- with the menu tag line- “you won’t find anything colder!”
After that last one, maybe I ought to wind this up, before I end up WORKING at a fast food place. Regardless, the Sven themed fast food restaurant idea may just be the breakthrough business of the new year! ( We can even have a drive through where you get your food from “the Hand at the Door!” )
The name of the place has a few possibilities- “Goolie’s Grub”- “Goolie To Go”- “Svengoolie’s Caloric Crypt”- “It Came from the Kitchen”- “Svengoodies”- I’m sure we can come up with any number of catchy names…the main item on the menu would be the chicken sandwich, of course- no doubt a chicken breast, grilled, and rubbed with spices, so it would be the “RUBBER Chicken sandwich!” The menu tag for that item would be “THROW on the works!” for a sandwich with everything. We could also served a “tossed chicken” salad, prepared by former show interns who learned the art of throwing chickens for the program. Additional menu items could include “Tombstone’s Pizza”- no, wait, I see a lawsuit coming there- maybe “Tombstone’s Bony Ribs!” For Doug, we could have “Keyboard Fish Filet Fingers”- and the special Rich Koz sandwich- all ham, and mostly tasteless. Naturally, we’d have to have a hamburger on the menu- so, how about the “Berwyn Burger” which would come on a big spindle like the famous sculpture loaded with cars that is still an endangered species? Of course, all your side dishes would also be impaled on the spike…
Perhaps we can have a kid’s meal- the Sven “Kiddie Koffin,” which comes with their meal inside, and a free toy- probably some prop from our set that broke, or a small action-less figure of someone from the cast or crew. We could have a lovable group of characters to shill to the kids, as well- the Chicken Plucker, a criminal type who loves to swipe our chicken sandwiches; Mayor McSneeze, who’s the reason we put a sneeze guard over our salad bar; a group of wacky little characters in diving helmets called the Deep Fried Divers, who would jump into the fryers and emerge with French fries, onion rings, and fried mushrooms in honor of Berwyn. We can also include the “ station management’s heart” frozen shakes- with the menu tag line- “you won’t find anything colder!”
After that last one, maybe I ought to wind this up, before I end up WORKING at a fast food place. Regardless, the Sven themed fast food restaurant idea may just be the breakthrough business of the new year! ( We can even have a drive through where you get your food from “the Hand at the Door!” )
Meet the new year- same as the old year? Does it seem that way to you so far? Do we all just continue to carry last year’s baggage with us into this brand spanking new twelve months, and not learn anything from the past?
I know some people make resolutions, and plan on big changes for themselves that never happen. They stay mired in the same stuff they’ve been immersed in. Is that because we’re all creatures of habit- and making changes upsets the natural flow we’re used to?
I’ve never been one for resolutions, so I don’t know how hard it is to keep them- but, I do know how hard it is to make changes in one’s self and life that go against the way it’s been.
Like a vampire trying NOT to go for the plasma, or a Larry Talbot determined NOT to let his wolfism turn him into a nasty fuzzball- change is difficult (unless it’s changing when the full moon hits you, which seems like a quick ’n’ easy deal for the afore-mentioned Mr. Talbot.) Are YOU making any resolutions, which will change yourself or your life? Let me know- svengoolie@wciu.com … then, keep me up on how you’re doing keeping the resolutions…
Time to empty out the useless things you’ve filled your head with in the last year, and replace them with NEW useless stuff.
I figured I’d help you out with that today. Here are just a few things I’ve learned recently…
Bela Lugosi was a ski patrol soldier on the Russian front in World War I. Hopefully, he never put his skis into that “X” position that looks like a cross…a goldfish has a memory span of about three seconds (see, if I knew there were a lot of goldfish reading this blog, I could just write that sentence over and over again…they’d never catch on!) The microwave oven was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube, and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket (same thing would happen to me if I walked past Jessica Alba, but that wouldn’t …oh, never mind…) “Dreamt” is the only word in the English language that ends in “mt” (listen to Mr. TV Stupid Guy here- I was about to say “oh, yeah? What about ‘pre-empt?’” Duh…) did you know Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable? Or that, in England, the speaker of the house is not allowed to speak?! Or that Winston Churchill was born in a place’s ladies room during a dance? (Somebody should have sat that one out…)Finally- did you know that I couldn’t really think of much to write for the blog today, so this is what I did?
I know some people make resolutions, and plan on big changes for themselves that never happen. They stay mired in the same stuff they’ve been immersed in. Is that because we’re all creatures of habit- and making changes upsets the natural flow we’re used to?
I’ve never been one for resolutions, so I don’t know how hard it is to keep them- but, I do know how hard it is to make changes in one’s self and life that go against the way it’s been.
Like a vampire trying NOT to go for the plasma, or a Larry Talbot determined NOT to let his wolfism turn him into a nasty fuzzball- change is difficult (unless it’s changing when the full moon hits you, which seems like a quick ’n’ easy deal for the afore-mentioned Mr. Talbot.) Are YOU making any resolutions, which will change yourself or your life? Let me know- svengoolie@wciu.com … then, keep me up on how you’re doing keeping the resolutions…
Time to empty out the useless things you’ve filled your head with in the last year, and replace them with NEW useless stuff.
I figured I’d help you out with that today. Here are just a few things I’ve learned recently…
Bela Lugosi was a ski patrol soldier on the Russian front in World War I. Hopefully, he never put his skis into that “X” position that looks like a cross…a goldfish has a memory span of about three seconds (see, if I knew there were a lot of goldfish reading this blog, I could just write that sentence over and over again…they’d never catch on!) The microwave oven was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube, and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket (same thing would happen to me if I walked past Jessica Alba, but that wouldn’t …oh, never mind…) “Dreamt” is the only word in the English language that ends in “mt” (listen to Mr. TV Stupid Guy here- I was about to say “oh, yeah? What about ‘pre-empt?’” Duh…) did you know Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable? Or that, in England, the speaker of the house is not allowed to speak?! Or that Winston Churchill was born in a place’s ladies room during a dance? (Somebody should have sat that one out…)Finally- did you know that I couldn’t really think of much to write for the blog today, so this is what I did?
