THE NIGHT AMERICA TREMBLED / Studio One - CBS - 1957

Welp, here's our last Halloween Countdown of 2014... Whew!! I saved this one for the last day, it's an episode from STUDIO ONE that is a recreation of the broadcast by the Mercury Theatre of THE WAR OF THE WORLDS and the panic that followed because some listeners thought it was an actual invasion from Mars! Oh yeah, Happy Halloween Everbloody!!

Eegah!! sent over a little sound clip from this program for our approval, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button over by our air raid siren, NOW, Rufus The Gnat!.. Here's a taste of... THE NIGHT AMERICA TREMBLED!

Our story begins with an introduction by Edward R. Murrow and his cigarette, as heard in the sound clip, he also narrates throughout the hour program.

The Mercury Theatre warms up before they go live, as also heard in the sound clip.

At the bar, it's all in your face politics and talk about the rise of Hitler in Europe.

Here's a shot from the newsroom with John Astin in his very first acting role!! Man, we love John as Gomez Addams, they could have never cast a better actor than him for that part, and, he's still working today!!

And, in this scene, there are Warren Oates and Warren Beatty (on the right) playing cards before the radio program starts. This is Oates third acting credit and Beatty's second credit!

If you didn't hear the intro to the show where they announce that it' a reenactment of H. G. Well's story of a Marian invasion, a listener may get the bejesus scared out of them!

Blogger The Gremlin has screwed up my photos once again, when will the insanity end?!!

Here are some of the actors in the middle of the show, that's Ed Asner there on the left.

Back at the newsroom, the editor keeps getting calls from panicked citizens!

This babysitter, played by Susan Hallaran, is really getting creeped out with the parents gone out to dinner!

And, this scared couple riding in their car just after they decide to get married!

The babysitter can't take it anymore, she calls the parents and begs them to come home!

Some of my favorite parts involves these policemen trying to deal with the non-stop calls from freaked out citizens!

By the time the play is ending, the producer's worried about all the potential law suits!

The parents get home just as the program ends, it was just a play, the babysitter feels a lot better now! And, there's James Coburn as the dad in his very first acting role!

This poor guy tells the police that he was so panicked that he drove hundreds of miles away and is now stranded without any money!

Tune in tomorrow when things will be back to normal!.. Normal?!

TRICK OR TREAT - Paul Smith - "Donald Duck" (1952)

With two more days to go until Halloween, this Donald Duck cartoon title says it all!

TRICK or TREAT!! 

My two favourite Donald Duck jokes are that Darn Old Duck, and the Mad comic where Donald is running away, and the guy throws something at him and says, "Hey Donald, duck!" but he doesn't because he just thinks they're calling out his name, and proceeds to get banged in the head!

Seems like all these cartoons have this same type of opening scene, and why not, it works perfectly every time!

This funny little character was known as Hazel the Witch, and Hazel's voice was done by another queen of cartoon voices, June Foray, the voice of Rocket J. Squirrel and Natasha Fatale, and the list goes on and on and on after that!!!

This whole story starts off innocent enough, with Huey, Dewey, and Louie off to do some trick or treatin' on Halloween! The composer of the "Trick or Treat" song was Paul Smith, longtime Disney workhorse responsible for the music on tons of shorts, and some full feature Disney classics like "Pinocchio," "Cinderella," and "The Shaggy Dog!"

First stop is Uncle Donald's house, who is patiently waiting for the happy kids with his big bowl of candy!

I had forgot what a mean-spirited duck Donald really was!

He gives his own nephews lit fireworks instead of candy!

Nice guy!!

If that wasn't bad enough, he then douses them with a big bucket of water!

Well, Hazel the Witch was watching the whole scene, and tells the boys she thinks she can help them out!!

Donald ends up dumping more water on Hazel than he did on the boys!

Hazel's mad, Donald has crossed over the line and now is going to have to pay for it! With the boys help, she conjures up a big batch of magic potion and fills a spray gun with it!

Cool potion! Spray on a Jack-O-Lantern, and ...........

 

........Next thing you know, Donald would have crapped in his drawers if he had any on!!

The potion changes inanimate objects into scary ghosts!!

Then for the big crescendo, Witch Hazel sprays the potion on Donald's feet and they turn blue!

Donald wouldn't give up the key to his pantry, so Hazel is now in complete control of his every move!

Hazel commands the blue feet to back Donald's bare posterior right into the fire!

Hazel commands the feet to run out the front door for about a mile, then turn around and head back full steam as a human battering ram!

It works, and afterwards, the kids are able to help themselves to anything they want! Moral of the story, don't be a stingy tightwad on Halloween!! That's it for me! Tabonga! will be back on Allhallows Eve to wrap up this 2014 Countdown, hope you had as much fun as I did!

THE RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD / Hemdale Film - 1985

It's time for more zombies on our Halloween Countdown, here at The Dungeon!.. I love this movie, it's a wild mix of horror and comedy with non stop action, great acting, awesome zombies, a nude Linnea Quigley and music by The Cramps, Poison Ivy Rorschach and Lux Interior!! What the Hell more could you possibly want?!

Here's Frank and Freddy at work at the Uneeda medical supply warehouse in Louisville, Kentucky. Frank is played perfectly by James Karen who we fondly remember from FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE SPACE MONSTER, he's currently working and has an amazing 197 acting credits!

Freddy, new on the job, looks through the thick catalogue of items they stock and sell.

Of course, the Army has some of its Plum Island zombies stored there and Frank accidently causes one of the canisters to release its gas into the store room!.. Now freakin' what?!!

Eegah!! sent over a sound clip from this out-of-control flick for our earjoyment, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button located there by our gas filled zombie pod, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula!.. Here's a taste of... THE RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD!

The damage has been done and Frank has to figure out what to do now...

In the meantime, a group of punkers have decided to party at the old cemetery near the Uneeda warehouse. Scream Queen Linnea Quigley plays Trash, she's got the urge to strip down and dance for the rest of the gang!.. Hubba, Hubba, Bubba!!

Frank calls his boss, Burt, and tells him about the mess they're in, and, that there's a live corpse trying to get out of the locked room it's in! Burt is played by Clu Gulager who was cast in a lot of westerns.

After chopping the corpse into a number of pieces, Burt goes to see the doctor Ernie (get it?) about what to do with the pieces! In one of the really funniest parts, Burt sneaks in and startles Ernie, who responds by quickly pulling out his revolver and nearly shoots Burt! You know, what is he so freakin' nervous about?! Burt is played by Don Calfa who has just finished production on SHARKSKIN, where he plays the character, Snot!

Ernie tells Burt that they need to incinerate the moving pieces to make sure they're destroyed! But, how could they know that the smoke from the corpse would mix with the clouds above?!

It starts raining cats and dogs, soaking the punkers and bringing all the fun to an abrupt end! And, the corpses in the graves start popping out of the chemical soaked ground!

Back at the ranch, Freddy's girlfriend Tina has gone to the warehouse looking for him. Instead, she finds this really gruesome zombie coming after her for her pretty little brain!

Burt and Ernie then have to deal with this talkative female zombie that got cut in half!

Trash is now a zombie and walks the streets in her birthday suit. Here, she greets a disbelieving hippie dude by feasting on his drug addled brain!

Frank and Freddy aren't doing well at all from the infection setting in. Freddy dies and turns into a zombie while being held by Tina, so, he gets acid thrown on his face. It's wild to watch him trying to find his way around without his sight! Then, Frank crawls into the incinerator and is broiled before he can turn into a living dead!

This is a classic shot of the creepy zombie causing the mayhem in the warehouse!

So, Burt calls the 800 number on the canisters to inform the Army of the dire emergency. The Army Colonel reads the report and quickly makes the call for action!

The solution is to use the Army's atomic cannon to eradicate the plague they created!

Tune in Wednesday when we near the end of our Halloween Countdown Freak Out!!