Over the past few days, I watched two fun old movies, both for the first time. As it happened, they were both black-and-white, kind of sci-fi spooky movies, that were made in the late 50s, with a mainly teenage cast. At least, the actors were supposed to be teenagers. The first was The Blob, which was the Svengoolie showing last Saturday. The second was Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow.
I'm guessing that many of you have seen The Blob. I hadn't before the other night. Strangely enough I thought I'd seen it, because I'd seen so many clips of the movie over the years. I was certainly aware of the thing that looked like a growing glob of jelly/jello and how it slinked around.
This movie was surprisingly good! I thought the actors were pretty believable. The Blob stars Steve McQueen, who looked like an older teenager because he was 28 at the time of filming! His little "teenage" girlfriend in the movie (Aneta Corsaut) was 25. An interesting piece of trivia about her is that she went on to be Andy's girlfriend/wife Helen Crump on The Andy Griffith show.
Speaking of the Andy Griffith connection... Svengoolie put together a funny little song comparing The Blob to The Andy Griffith Show:
I'll try and not give much away about The Blob, because maybe some of you haven't seen it and would like to. So without spelling out the plot, I'll say that this movie has something to say about people coming together to solve a problem. Those who kept calm and kept an open mind about different solutions to solving the blob problem, did well. The frantic, paranoid, and close-minded characters had more challenges. It's interesting how even the most crusty characters could manage to work with the more likable main characters, when there was a common enemy. I think that's pretty realistic!
Now, onto the Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow. I'm as certain that most of you haven't seen this as I am that you have seen The Blob! I actually looked this movie up on YouTube after seeing the poster art on Pinterest:
I thought the poster was so cute that I had to see the movie! I'm really glad I did, because it was a lot of fun. This is one of those Rockabilly teen movies with hot cars and (according to a few mens' comments on YouTube) some hot chicks. Well, one girl in particular:
Some of you might agree that she could almost be a young Vampira, with a different look of course. I say that because she's tall and thin with high cheekbones and a certain confidence. This actress is Sanita Pelkey. She was hilarious and had some of the best lines in the movie. But my favorite character was Aunt Anastasia Abernathy:
Basically, the movie revolves around a group of kids who like to work on cars. A girl named Lois stands out as being incredibly cool and independent. She's the rare female who's working on cars like the boys, and also likes to race them. I'm guessing Lois would have been pretty rare in 1959.
Lois has an understanding mother and an insanely uptight (to the point of being funny) father. She also has an Aunt Anastasia, who she's riding in a car with above. Basically, Lois' father would like her to stop racing cars, dating boys, and probably age in reverse! He decides she shouldn't drive at all while Aunt Anastasia visits.
This leads to all kinds of hilarity as Lois has a party and then sleepover at her family's home, since she can't go out. At that point, Lois' father would probably have loved it if she'd driven away!
If you're wondering where the supernatural element comes in here, there isn't much of one. Aunt Anastasia has a haunted house, which she allows the kids to use as a meeting place/party central. A few haunted high jinx occur. Mostly, this movie is just cool teenagers with more old slang than you can shake a stick at. I mostly understood what they were saying. You'll get the idea. It's fun and cheesy. And like a lot of movies from this time, there's some music involved. I think this could actually have been a musical if a few more songs had been added.
So, if you'd like to just relax your brain and have a fun time, give Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow a watch! And if you haven't gotten around to seeing The Blob yet, definitely watch that too.
I couldn't find the entire Blob movie online, but I have the next best thing! Or maybe an even better thing? I happen to love this song. Be warned, though... This song will not leave your head for some time.
Click Here to allow that Blob earworm into your mind!
(I'm inserting those "Click Here" links because I know those who get my blog in email form can't see the videos.)
Can you believe Burt Bacharach was involved in writing this song?
If you listen to it while watching this gif, you can almost imagine the blob dancing along to the music! I'm doing that right now, actually. 😁 He's managing to keep the beat.
P.S. ~ I've been meaning to pass along a hilarious man's YouTube channel to you guys. The hilarious man is named Heywood Banks. He sings catchy songs and he's a real mood-lifter. I looked Heywood up online because I saw his photo in the paper. I thought the expression he was making in that photo was so funny that he was bound to be entertaining. I didn't even realize that he wrote songs until I looked him up! A link to his YouTube channel:
In response to my review of The Devil and Daniel Webster, I received a great movie recommendation from Mantan Calaveras. His suggestion was The Night of the Hunter, another Depression era story about good and evil. After watching the movie, I can see why he recommended it to me! I had a similar feeling after watching this as I did after watching The Devil and Daniel Webster. I thought of it as a classic and wondered why I hadn't heard of it before now.
The Night of the Hunter is a beautifully shot, eerie movie. If you are into that black and white, shadowy Hitchcock style of filming, you are sure to appreciate this. Even scenes that should feel morbid feel like a work of art. I learned on the DVD commentary that they were going for a German Expressionist look at some points and I can see that. There were moments that were heavy on the shadows and surreal, like a dream sequence. There are slight exaggerations in the visuals and heavy symbolism.
Although I'm anxious to go through the entire plot and give all my opinions, I'm going to attempt to not spoil too much of the movie. You're sure to be on pins and needles while watching parts of this and I'd hate to ruin that by giving away any spoilers. So I'll give you a brief outline and tell you a little about the characters.
The movie opens with a beautiful country scene. Children are playing hide and seek in a field. The scene is shot from above, so you get an idea of how spacious and remote the area is. A little boy goes to hide in an open cellar. He looks in the door and sees a woman's legs laying on the ground. With this brief subtle moment, we see a killer has come through the area. We soon get an idea of who this killer is with the help of his monologues to "God". This killer poses as a preacher named Harry Powell. Harry reveals to the viewer that God always provides for him by bringing him in contact with women who have money - women that he kills.
This serial killer presumably travels through the countryside, kills vulnerable women, and moves on to con the next town. Robert Mitchum plays the psychopathic fake preacher with total snake oil salesman charm. He's perfect. At some moments he reminded me of those over the top TV evangelists in the 80s. Harry has tattoos across his knuckles. One hand spells "LOVE" and the other "HATE". He will sometimes try to explain/preach to people in a cheeseball way about the meaning of these words. Unfortunately, we see a lot more action from the hate hand than the love hand.
Meanwhile, while Harry is trolling for his next victim, a man (Peter Graves) hurries home and finds his young son in the yard. The man has just stolen $10,000 from a bank and killed two people in the process. He frantically hides the money, telling his son the location. He makes his son promise not to tell anyone where the money is, not even the boy's mother. This ends up making a lot of sense, as the boy's mom is a bit simpleminded.
Peter Graves and Billy Chapin. This little boy did an amazing job in his role.
Soon after the boy promises to keep the money hidden and take of his little sister, his father is arrested on the lawn. He is taken to prison, where he waits to be hanged. While in prison, who should he end up bunking with, but Harry the psycho "preacher" who has been jailed for car theft. Harry tries to get the location of the money from his new bunk mate, but it's not going to happen. After Harry is released he decides he will get his hands on the $10,000 in the way he knows best - by charming the thief's widow.
The widow is Willa, played by Shelley Winters. Willa is sweet but easily coerced. She's also in the traumatized and vulnerable position of having just lost her husband to an execution and in care of two small children. She is a perfect target for a man like Harry. Sadly, a lot of women would be. He is attractive and charming. I remember reading a true crime book with a story about a modern man who married multiple women and kept killing them for the giant life insurance policies he'd take out on them. (The story was in A Rose For Her Grave by Ann Rule, for anyone who is interested.) He'd always target newly divorced or widowed women with kids. This could work for a number of reasons. Add in that The Night of the Hunter takes place during The Depression, and you have an even higher level of desperation for these women. This desperation might give them reason to overlook a few things about a handsome man who comes to town.
Poor Willa. She's in a constant state of worn out worry through this entire movie.
Willa marries Harry on what feels like the day after she met him! Immediately, she sees his dark side. This guy doesn't even pretend to be nice for a few days. As soon as he gets what he wants from people, Harry is done with them. It's hard to watch Willa's married scenes with him. It's like watching the process of abuse and brainwashing. The more cruel Harry is to her, the more Willa tries to please him. She is in firm denial of his many faults and only blames herself for his problems. She's even in denial when her son tells her that Harry is pressing him for information on where the $10,000 is hidden.
Eventually, even poor oppressed Willa can't deny that Harry is only in this marriage for the $10,000. She overhears him threatening her little girl in hopes of getting the money. This is where I'm going to stop giving too many details. You can probably guess where things are going for Willa.
Willa's children end up on the run from Harry, hence the title "Night of the Hunter". During their journey, you will see many beautiful images of nature. Rabbits and frogs take on a magic quality. It's like a child's dream, or at least a break from reality. The children run across many other children who are starving and roaming the countryside alone. I'm going to assume this was someone's accurate view of The Depression. I knew times were bleak, and many kids ended up in orphanages or other people's care, but I didn't know this many were wandering alone in the wilderness.
The two children have the infinite luck of being found by a farm woman, played by Lillian Gish. This woman acts the way any of us could hope to act in a tough situation. She has a quiet strength about her. I can't imagine anyone else in the role. She is described in the DVD commentary as a guardian angel, and I think that's about right. A caring but tough angel.
One of the things I loved most about her character is the way she sees through the fakery of the "preacher". When he feeds her the same phoney lines and con man routine that we've seen work on other people, she just casts him a look like "Don't give me that B.S." I loved it.
The movie ends up being a pretty clear-cut good vs. evil story. Some people have described it as a dark fairytale. I was left haunted by some of the scenes. They were just that convincing! I think many of you would enjoy watching this movie. It is dark, but it's also beautiful to watch, and surprisingly funny at times.
Last night, I caught a few episodes of the old TV show Thiller. The shows were part of Sunday Night Noir on MeTV. If you get MeTV in your area, you can catch marathons of your favorite old crime and mystery shows each Sunday night. Thriller ran from 1960-1962 and was hosted by Boris Karloff. He really sets the scary-story-on-a-dark-and-stormy-night mood with his introductions to the stories.
My favorite of last night's episodes was titled "Well of Doom" and for good reason. A good reason I won't be sharing, because I don't want to give anything away. The basic skeleton of the plot is that a young man is kidnapped on the night before his wedding by a man claiming to be the devil and a giant named Styx.
The kidnapped man is played by Ronald Howard who you may or may not know from the 1950s Sherlock Holmes TV series. I loved him on that show and he was pretty good in this! Another Sherlock connection is the show's devilish villain played by Henry Daniell.
I knew I recognized him. He was Professor Moriarty in the Sherlock movie, The Woman in Green, that time with Basil Rathbone playing Sherlock.
Here is the entire Well of Doom episode, which aired in 1961. I think many of you will like it. It's a little dark, and a real nail-biter near the end! Those of you who read my blog in email form can click here to watch the video. Videos don't seem to appear in the email form of my blog.
What did you think of that episode? I'd be curious to hear what you predicted was going on with our villain as you watched this. Did you think he was the devil, a ghost, or something else? I'd like to discuss the plot a bit in the comments, but I'm not going to write any more about it now. Otherwise I might spoil a few plot twists!
P.S. ~ I've ordered some supplies for one of the book projects I mentioned in my last blog post. I have a pretty clear idea of where it's going and can't wait to share the final result! As usually happens with me, I'm going in a different direction from the initial inspiration.
Does anyone remember making mix tapes for friends back in the day? I guess that doesn't happen so much anymore, but I'd love to revive the trend, at least during October. I have a mix of my favorite Halloween songs on my computer and sometimes I make CDs of it for friends. If any of you happen to have made Halloween mixes, or are up for making one, I think it would be fun to have a Halloween mix CD exchange!
All you have to do is send an email to me at contactartgirl@gmail.com with your home address and I'll send you back an email with my home address. Then we can send one another a mix CD full of our personal Halloween favorites! I'm going to surprise you with my mix, but here are some clues. There's a little bit of classic rock, a little bit of lounge, and a little bit of classical music on there.
So, what do you say? Are you up for kicking it old school with a CD exchange? Hey, I'll take a literal mix tape, if you want to kick it really old school! I think it's fun and personal, just like when we used to trade handwritten notes.
Speaking of music, I'm going to leave you with a few songs I recently discovered on YouTube. These are old and strange, but I think you'll get a kick out of them. If you're reading this in email form, you'll have to go to my actual blog to watch the videos. For whatever reason, videos don't come through in email form.
Here we go, let's get started with Cab Calloway's "The Nightmare" (1931) A cute slideshow of retro Halloween photos accompanies the song:
This next one was totally new to me, yet I found many covers of it. Here's what I think is the best version: "Punky Punkin'" by Rosemary Clooney (1950). I know it's a little goofy, but you'll find it stuck in your head for hours. It's sort of like the "Frosty the Snowman" of Halloween! There's a quaint, homey feeling to the video too.
The theme song for "The Bat" which starred Vincent Price and Agnes Moorhead in 1959. This video has more retro Halloween goodness playing as a slideshow:
This one I loved! It's a catchy song with a definite late 1960s/early 70s vibe. "Green Slime":
Another very 1950s goofball song ~ "The Rockin' Ghost" by Archie Bleyer:
This video is filled with fun old comic book images. "Ghost Walk" ~ The Rocking Ghosts (1965)
This one was so fun and unique! A Halloween Doo-Wop song by The Kac Ties ~ "Mr. Were Wolf" (The Kac Ties, get it?)
Here's a cartoon classic set to a sultry "Graveyard Rock" ~ by Tarantula Ghoul and Her Gravediggers:
Last but not least, a surprising disco song titled "Soul Dracula" (Hot Blood) from 1977! You cannot help but laughing during parts of this, or maybe dancing...
So, do you have any new favorite Halloween songs after listening to these? Maybe you remember some of these songs from your past. None of these will be on my mix CD, and I'd probably have trouble even finding a CD to burn them from! They're kind of obscure songs, but they brought a smile to my face.
I hope to be trading CDs with at least a few of you!
Get ready to read about one of the most controversial games in the world: The Ouija Board. I realize that there are a wide range of opinions about these boards, and I look forward to hearing what yours is. Many people won't even touch a Ouija Board, for fear of invoking evil spirits. Yet, most of us take as big of a risk when we participate in online discussions. We blog, tweet, and otherwise reach out into the unknown with no idea of what is on the other side of our screens. Like people sitting around a Ouija Board, we expect to have a positive reaction - until we don't.
Since there are good and bad people in the world, it makes sense that there would be good and bad spirits. I assume that an earthbound spirit would remain more or less like they were in life. So it seems just as possible to run into a positive spirit as a negative one when playing with a Ouija Board. Playing with one of these boards is comparable to typing an opinion on an online message board and waiting to see what kind of answer you receive. You might hear from someone who agrees with you, someone you writes meaningless things you don't understand, or an angry person who says vile things to you. Negative responses from a Ouija Board or another internet user can be surprising and at times scary. This is because in both cases, you cannot see who you are communicating with. This adds a bit of mystery and excitement, but also a potential risk.
Awhile back, I was talking Ouija Boards with my blog buddy, Holly (who you may know as Hiyoko). Both of us own antique Ouija Boards. Mine was made during the 1950s, while hers predates the 1950s. The boards are quite different in style, since Hiyoko's board is Canadian and mine is American. Let me show you the differences. Here's mine:
This is the standard version most Americans are used to seeing. I took a photo of my 1950s board, but my 1990s board looks just like it. The planchette on the older one has a metal needle while the new one is all plastic. Here's Holly's Board:
Both of our boards were designed by William Fuld. Mine predates the ones released by Parker Brothers. Hers was made by The Canada Games Company.
After seeing a Canadian Ouija Board, I wanted to see a European one. According to my British sources, Ouija Boards were for the most part not sold in England. There is evidently only one shop in England where a person could get a board. That shop is The Sorcerer's Apprentice in Leeds. The board they offer actually comes with a dial you can spin.
This is the best photo I could find of that board. My blog friend Sandy, who you probably know from http://vainglorysinner.blogspot.com/ gave me some possible information as to why there aren't many Ouija Boards in England. She pointed me to various acts that have been passed. Basically, these laws have prohibited psychics from making a profit from any readings not advertised as "entertainment". Prior to that there was a "Witchcraft Act" banning witchcraft. If you would like to learn about the history of these laws, click Here and Here.
I have to share a favorite Ouija Board I ran into online. It was designed by the Halloween artist, Lew Lehrman. He mostly paints haunted house portraits from the photos people send him of their homes. Anyway, he designed the beautiful Ouija Board below. You can see it in more detail: Here
Here's another beautiful board!
This picture was sent to me by my blog friend Holly. (This is a different Holly from the one mentioned above.) You probably know this Holly from her blog: http://hollyshorrorland.blogspot.com/
Anyway, while Holly and I chatted about this blog post, she mentioned that he friend, Vanessa actually constructed her own Ouija Board. Vanessa did a really great job on this Emily the Strange themed board!
The planchette is adorable too! I just love Emily the Strange. If any of you have designed your own board, send a picture of it to me and I'll add it to this post!
As long as we're talking Ouija Boards, I have to share my favorite episode of I Love Lucy! This episode is titled "The Seance" and it aired in the first season of the show, back in 1951. If you've seen this episode, you know where I got the title for this post. :) You can watch it here in its entirety:
If you don't have 30 minutes to spare, here's a five minute video showing the highlight of the episode. All you really need to know going into this is that Lucy has planned a seance.
If anyone could tell me who plays the Mr. Merriweather character, I would appreciate it! I know I've heard his voice on some old radio programs and other TV shows.
This is probably not going to come as a surprise to you, but I've had some experiences with the Ouija Board. Mostly I was just goofing around with friends and receiving nonsensical messages. Sometimes the planchette would just hover around aimlessly. There was an incident where a candle somehow caught the tablecloth under the Ouija board on fire. Other than that, things were pretty uneventful.
I do have a scary personal story involving a Ouija Board, but the scary part doesn't involve me actually using it. When I was in high school, a friend and I double dated. The four of us would often hang out at her house. My friend's boyfriend had an "interesting" brother who had spent some time in prison. I'd heard a lot of stories about him. The main stories involved an underground Wiccan group he supposedly belonged to. Both my friend's boyfriend and mine swore they'd seen this guy break a window just by staring at it for a long time.
One day I was informed that his brother was being released from prison and would be hanging out with us on his first day out. I'll never forget the surly look that was on his face when I met him. He had long, wavy hair and was wearing a shirt with "I'll sleep when I'm dead" printed on it. He didn't say "hello" back when we met, and he continued his silence through the entire night! I seriously did not hear one word from this guy.
Well, the four of us hung out and watched a movie at my friend's house for a few hours, while the grumpy brother sulked by himself in the corner of the room. After a while, we got bored and decided to play with the Ouija Board I'd brought over. We had messed around with the board many times before, so this was nothing new. The only difference this time was that we could not get the planchette to move. Not one bit. We tried for an hour or so! All the time we patiently waited for the Ouija Board to get in gear, I had the weirdest feeling. It's hard to explain the feeling I had, but it was a little like the uneasiness you feel when you're being watched but you're unable to see who is watching you.
The next day at school, I ran into my friend. She told me that she'd talked to her boyfriend on the phone and he told her that his brother put some kind of cast over the board so we would be unable to use it! Evidently, he thought Ouija Boards were evil.
Perhaps he would have been more comfortable with the Angel Board, which is similar to the Ouija only without those pesky demons. Or so it is advertised. I'm not sure if a beautiful, angelic board would protect you from anything negative, but intention does count for something. If you're curious about that board, here it is:
I realize that it's a little difficult to see what's going on here. This is more or less a Ouija Board printed on a light blue background with an angel in the center. I find it interesting that many people online call the original Ouija Board evil, but say this is one is alright. I would be curious to try this board right after using the original Ouija Board to see if the results were any different. Some people believe that we are all moving the planchette ourselves, as our subconscious spells out the messages. If this is the case, our subconscious might believe the Angel board is safe and therefore spell out something nice?
I'm honestly not sure what I believe about Ouija Boards. In my experience they are fun and entertaining, but we've all heard the horror stories others have had with them. Sometimes I know my friends were moving the planchette to freak me out, other times it felt like it was lightly gliding along by itself. Sometimes it would just hover near "goodbye". I'm going to keep an open mind, like I do with a lot of "occult" topics. I think we shouldn't fear what we don't understand, although I know that's a natural reaction sometimes. Maybe a little bit of wariness balanced with curiosity is healthy.
Oh, and you know I had to add something spooky to this blog post! The message in this video is eerie, even if you think the guy is moving the planchette, himself.
So...What I'd like to know is:
I'm sure that many of you have personal Ouija Board stories and I would love to hear them!
Well, I'm exaggerating a little bit, but I saw an ant crawl across the bathroom floor today that was going on an inch long! What's further disturbing is that it was wandering around confused like it just hatched.
Meaning...
1. There are probably more of these inside the house.
2. There is probably a huge mother ant somewhere.
This reminded me of the nutty old 1950's Sci Fi movie "Them!" If you aren't familiar with this movie, here's the trailer:
