Monday, May 5, 2008

THE BLACK ZOO - Paul Dunlap - "King Come On" (1963)

As far as cool jazz scores for monster movies goes, Paul Dunlap is definitely one of the names at the very top of the list with mandatory titles like "Angry Red Planet", "I Was A Teenage Werewolf," "Blood Of Dracula," "How To Make A Monster," "Frankenstein 1970" and so much more, including this great film "The Black Zoo"!!! Now, while "The Black Zoo" is often thought of as the last corner of the Michael Gough horror trilogy that also includes "Konga" and "The Horrors Of The Black Museum," there is one difference, and that is those other two Herman Cohen masterpieces, while both being very swingin', had soundtracks composed by Gerard Schurmann, yet another truly super talented individual!! 
 
First we're introduced to Mr. Jeffrey Stengle, played by Jerome Cowan, who passed away back in 1972, but whose legacy will live on forever through his work. He had been in the movies since 1936 and had gone on to be in a ton of TV shows of every ilk and flavor. Cowboys, cop shows, and comedies, Jerome did them all! 
 
Here we get a big dose of Michael playing the organ. Just about the time that you think he's going to break into "In A Gadda Da Vida" is when it cuts to........ 
 
This scene where Mike's wife Edna, played by the charming Jeanne Cooper, who was born in the big town of Taft, Calif. in 1928, lights a smoke, and starts listening to the radio when she gets the real news! If you don't have a life, you may have seen Jeanne in one of her continuing performances as Katherine Chancellor in the TV soap opera "The Young And The Restless", that she has been doing from 1978 right up to the present day. 30 years and almost 300 shows!! Now this woman is a real actress!!! 
 
"Carl, Did you take the truck and one of the animals and drive Mr. Conrad into Hollywood last night?" This is a difficult movie to find these days. The only place I had any luck rounding up a copy was ioffer.com. Good Luck!!

2 comments:

Tim Mayer said...

I don't think this one ever showed up on late night TV. I have seen a poster for it, but that's about all.

Greg Goodsell said...

With his strong association with sadistic characters, it's hard to believe Michael Gough as the nice butler Alfred in the later "Batman" movies!

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