Welcome to the first day of the complete month of October and our version of the daily countdown homage to All Saints Day! Hit the Vinnie link on the right, and get a full list of all the other vampires, monsters and ghouls participating! There's no reason to be bored this time of the year!
"Rosin on the bow, and here we go....!" Let's get this Horror Shindig fired up with the rockin' "Munsters" episode that first aired on March 18, 1965 titled "Far Out Munsters"!!!!
The basic premise is the Munster family has rented out their house to a rock band for a week, and they in turn went to a Hotel, but it's all too bright and clean, so they decide to return home!
When the family returns home, it's like "Splish, Splash," and there's a huge party going on! They are greeted at the door by two party-goers, a bearded Zalman King and Sue Winton as The Girl!
The band that rented The Munster house was one of L.A.'s best rock bands of the 60's, and Eddie Munster's new favourite group, those garage rockers, The Standells! It's said that The Standells' name was derived from standing around booking agents offices looking for work!!
The Standells members in this incarnation were vocalist/keyboardist Larry Tamblyn, guitarist Tony Valentino, drummer Dick Dodd, and bassist Gary Lane! For some unknown reason, after having great hits like "Dirty Water," and "Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White," the band chose to do a tune called "Do The Ringo," and a Horrible Beatles' cover of "I Want To Hold Your Hand" on the show! Trying to cash in on that British Invasion I spose!
Tabonga likes to tell the story of how in the 90's, his band was playing at Valentino's Dirty Water cafe and their music was so unappreciated by the owner, that they were asked to leave and never come back!
At first the Munster family is put off by the whole affair, but then they start getting into it!
You just have to love the way hipsters were portrayed on TV back in the 60's! Rock and roll was coming on strong, but hipster ties were still with the 50's beat era! Too bad Maynard couldn't make the scene!
Kelton Garwood as "The Hermit" does some inspiring free form poetry! Kelton was in an episode of "The Twilight Zone" titled "Five Characters in Search of an Exit" as "The Tramp." Tired of being typecast as a bum, Kelton learned to ride a horse, and ended up on a lot of western TV series like "Gunsmoke" and "Rawhide" as colourful characters with handles like Percy Crump and Blackpowder Charley!
Now it's Herman's turn to do some hilarious free verse!
All the crazy cats and kittens think Herman is the most furthest out! What a group! The blonde with the one-sided sunglasses is simply the best!
"Life is real, life is earnest, if you're cold, turn up the furnace!"
"Man, that cat is deep!"
As the party winds down, the multi-talented and glamorous Yvonne DeCarlo as Lily, sings a song and plays the harp. This episode was the only time Yvonne performed any music during the whole series!
Herman is so touched by Lily's performance that he is brought to tears!
Eddie ends up getting an autographed photo of the band, and Herman can now get a good night's sleep "knowing that the future of America is the hands of boys like these!"
As a special bonus, here are a couple of pictures you're not going to see anywhere else, loaned to us by one of our pals, writer guy Douglas McEwan, and taken during the taping of the 1966 Munsters TV Special "Marineland Carnival." The kid in the lower photo with Lily is Doug's boyhood buddy Richard! When he sent me these photos, Douglas lamented that there were originally three photos, but the one of Fred Gwynne and him, with Fred in FULL make-up, but NOT the costume, wearing a robe and with his right hand on Doug's shoulder, with a cigarette blazing away in it, has been lost to the ever shifting sands of time forever along with the whole special, but you can still see a commercial for it right HERE!
Scooba-doo and scooba-di,
ReplyDeleteThat chickn's not too young to fry!
Like, crazy, pops!
October's the ginchiest here at Monster Movie Music!
Love theMunsters. Too bad they were not in color.
ReplyDeleteThere was a Munsters Christmas on sale at DeepDiscount.com This DVD
is not the original cast but it was less than 10 years ago.
another of my favorite episodes for lots of reasons, in spite of my disappointment at The Standells' set list. "Try It" would have been perfect and unlikely. i din't know hat was Zalman, weird...
ReplyDeleteThe Munsters.. how I love thee.. let me count the ways.. ;)
ReplyDeletejeez, typo city!
ReplyDeleteWooow, thanks for remembering memories long forgotten, especially Yvonne. Such a pity most people remember her face only as Lily Munster and forget about her stunning roles like Sephora. She was beautiful and elegant lady, great actress.
ReplyDeleteNice article! For all Vancouverians I would just add that she was born there and belongs to the greatest movie artists of Vancouver.
According to Larry Tamblyn, they were told what to play. This was a year before Dirty Water which was out in 1966. They hadn't had a hit yet.
ReplyDeleteGood Info! Thanx!
ReplyDelete