June 28- Man Oh Mantis! Sven Gets Bugged Big-Time Tonight!

Okay- one more brief plug- I’m at Flashback Weekend in Rosemont TODAY-starting at 2 pm-(get details, as always, at

www.flashbackweekend.com) It’s always a great time, and a highlight of every year for me. You can see a few scenes from last year’s Flashback Weekend during tonight’s show, in fact- speaking of which…

Tonight at 9 on “the U” (1 am on “Me-TV”) it’s another 1950s Universal classic- as a large prehistoric preying insect that’s been frozen in the Arctic ice for years is suddenly freed- and even a huge No-Pest strip won’t stop- “the Deadly Mantis!”

This 1957 insect invasion has lots of stock footage in it- footage of the frozen north, of military bases being built, of fighter planes hitting the air- all woven into the story of the titanic mantis reviving, and heading south to warmer climates like it was used to back in the prehistoric times. We get the dashing Craig Stevens as our military hero- you might know him from “Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mister Hyde”-but most likely more from the “Peter Gunn” TV series.

Our lead scientist hero is another familiar face to classic TV viewers- William Hopper, who was Raymond Burr’s co-worker Paul Drake on “Perry Mason!” These two team up to fight the mantis that makes its way from the frozen north towards the U.S., snacking on Eskimos, pilots, and even bus travelers.

While the film “Tarantula” used a lot of magnified shots of a real tarantula, the mantis is usually an artificial construction in this flick- watch for the one REAL mantis scene as it climbs the Washington Monument!

We’ve got the usual Sven fun mixed in as well, including a favorite song parody- of Amy Winehouse’s “Rehab!” Plus, as I said, some highlights from LAST year’s flashback- hopefully, we’ll have shots from THIS year in a future show!

Okay, and here’s a little warning and/or hint- if you like the movie “straight”- that is, as presented in the theater- watch it or tape it this week- BECAUSE- in a couple weeks, Universal had it scheduled to run again (I know-so soon?)- SO- for the people who have been BEGGING us for a “Svensurround” fix- well, let’s just say, you’ll be getting your wish. ‘Nuff said, as Stan Lee used to say…

All right! Hope to see you at Flashback Weekend today- and/or- hope you see ME tonight with the “Deadly Mantis!”

By the way- come back here tomorrow for a special announcement about what we’ve got in store fro you, once our Universal movie contract expires!    #    #   #