NEW YEAR'S ROCKIN' EVE '79

 We're finishing off this year with a Dick Clark New Year's celebration for the year 1979. In 1978 the health of popular rock music was on a downward spiral. There were still good bands and musicians, but you had to search them out because for the most part they weren't getting played on the radio much, and I'm talking about musicians like Little Feat, XTC, Squeeze, Elvis Costello, Television, The Cars, Magazine, Talking Heads, and The Tubes, to name just a few, but when it came down to the final New Year's Eve show on ABC, we were subjected to some of the worst music ever. Disco had taken over big time, and it was enough to make you gag! This is the kind of music that made me start listening to jazz on a full-time basis!

Dick Clark was the grandmaster of the show, as he had done before, and would continue to do for many years!

Here is the rockin' lineup for this show:

 The Village People!

 Tanya Tucker!!

Barry Manilow!!!

Rick James!!!! 

and Chuck Mangione!!!!!

And Dick had the nerve to call it a "New Year's Rockin' Eve!" Besides Rick James, nothing in that group of names even suggests something "Rockin!"

 The hosts weren't too rockin' either! Lauren Tewes of 199 episodes of "Love Boat" fame, and "CHiPs" star in 138 episodes, Erik Estrada!!

  And the whole thing was boldly sponsored by Dr. Pepper!! 

 The guy in the striped shirt and short shorts is too much!

 Dr. Pepper shelled out the big bucks for big names like Jimmy Walker..........

 .............And Fred Flinstone!!

 Well, this has sure been a big year in the death of celebrities department, but if you think about it, it really makes sense considering how we have become a society bombarded with entertainment  not just in the movies or on TV, but in music and sports too!

Here's a quick comparison of just a few of the biggest celebrities who passed away in 1978 and 2016. I think you'll get my point!

in 1978 we lost: 

Bob Crane (Hogan's Heroes) age 49

Keith Moon (The Who) age 32

Bandleader Louis Prima age 67

Ventriloquist Edgar Bergen age 75

Western character actor Chill Wills age 75

André Morell (Quatermass) age 69

Leo Genn (Psycho-Circus, Die Screaming Marianne) age 72

Singer Bob Luman age 41

Edward D. Wood Jr, (Plan 9 From Outer Space) age 54

Robert Coogan (Sooky) age 53

Western actor Tim McCoy age 86

Painter Norman Rockwell age 84
One of the greatest comic artists of all time Basil Wolverton age 69

 The countdown to Midnight, but it wasn't even live, what's up with that?

Now while that was quite a substantial list of talent, there's just no comparison to some of the names we lost in 2016! In 2016, we lost people who were at one time or another in their life # 01 at what they did! (Because of the rise in the popularity of music over the years, there are a lot more musicians on this list!

Musicians David Bowie age 69

Merle Haggard age 79

Glen Frey (The Eagles) age 67

Paul Kantner (Jefferson Airplane) age 74

Maurice White (Earth, Wind and Fire) age 74

Prince age 57

Vanity age 57

Bernie Worell (Funkadelic) age72

Leon Russell age 74

Beatles record producer George Martin age 90

The Greatest Muhammad Ali age 74

All time great golfer Arnold Palmer age 87

Astronaut John Glenn age 95

and from movies and TV:

Patty Duke age 69

Gary Shandling age 66 

Gene Wilder age 83

 The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Robert Vaughn age 83

The Queen Of Outer Space Zsa Zsa Gabor age 99

Noel Neill (Lois Lane) age 95

and last but not least, 

Carrie Fisher age 60

 and her Mom

Debbie Reynolds age 84!

Out of all the 80 gazillion people in the world, there are names on that list whose talents will NEVER be duplicated, and we lost them all in one year, but don't worry, next year will probably be even worse because we all gotta go sometime!

Happy 2017!!!!

CLASSIC MONSTER MOVIE TRAILER TITLE CARDS

I have a movie trailer compilation called ALL MONSTERS ATTACK! and I noticed that the title artwork was extra weird, so, I decided to end the year at The Dungeon with this post of very cool eye candy! So, sit back and enjoy the show...

I'll start with some Japanese titles. With trailers, the title can be placed over scenes different than the actual movie title card and the lettering is extra eye catching. This RODAN trailer card shows the big bird flying by, great colors...

Here are two different trailer cards from MOTHRA. The big moth was also known as THE THING!

This YOG title card has to be one of the finest pieces of title art I can remember. I love this spaced out movie, but, the DVD will cost you at least $45! You can get a DVD-R for about $15... So you know!

Love the ATRAGON title with its moving colors through the center. Let's face it, the Japanese had some of the coolest artwork from the fifties through the seventies!

Now we have the British flick, GORGO. I'm pretty sure Eegah!! and I saw the trailer, we definiterly saw the movie at the theater and had a copy of Famous Monsters #11 GORGO cover with the great artwork by Basil Gogos!

I love this REPTILICUS title card here, that red lettering just kicks royal ass, nice!

Things got elaborate for this card for VALLEY OF GWANGI, I love the rocky mountain landscapes in this movie, filmed in Spain!

Okay, now we have some nice black and white trailer title cards to check out, here is my personal favorite card, from Corman's IT CONQUERED THE WORLD!

The lettering for THE SHE-CREATURE here is insane! See what I mean, these title cards are truly wild and weird, designed to get a nice crowd at the showing of the movie!

Check out this CALTIKI card. Man, Eegah!! and I loved this crazy film, it kept you on the edge of your seat, especially if you were two 12 year old monster nuts!

Nice shadowed lettering on this ATTACK OF THE CRAB MONSTERS card. Even though this movie is a little hokey, I love it to pieces!

Wow!!.. This lettering for ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES is simply the best! Eegah!! and I saw this one and got to hang out a bit with the director, Bernie Kowalski.

It still freaks me out a little when I remember that I was only 8 years old when I saw TARANTULA! Nice spidery lettering, what else!

More great stuff here with MONSTER FROM GREEN HELL... Boy, this is a strange movie!

Here is another card with insane lettering from THE SPIDER! The S looks like a freakin' snake!

We'll end with Dungeon Gal Pal, Allison Hayes, in her best known role in ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN... Okay, Eegah!! is back tomorrow with our last post of the year... Don't miss it.

TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED Season 03, Episode 09 - "The Party" (1980)

Tonight I've got a post-Christmas 1980 episode of "Tales Of The Unexpected" for you! It's not much of a Christmas story, so I don't feel bad that your present is late!

Roald Dahl was all but done with the show at this point, and is no longer the narrator!

It's simply called "The Party!"
The brilliant actor Robert Morley could probably have easily done this solo as a one man stage act, and it might have actually been more entertaining!

Western civilization was at it's zenith in 1980!

You're never going to go wrong with girls and gambling. It has absolutely nothing to do with the show except that it's unexpected!

Here's the deal: Robert Morley has worked for the same toy company for 40 years, and every year he's in charge of the Christmas party, but this year, he's getting usurped by the youth in the company who are throwing a disco dance party the night before his party, and stealing all his thunder!

He goes to talk to the boss about it, but by looking at this picture, it won't take much to see how far he's going to get with that! The boss is a little self-consumed!

Robert goes to check out the location of the other party and figures out that it's a banquet, not a disco! There's going to be a company merger, and he's not going to be invited to come along, so he gets a little bitter, and sloppy.....

.....And sort of accidentally starts the whole place on fire!

Robert gets a big stick in the eye when he finds out that he was wrong, and that it was a surprise Anniversary party for him that he ruined!

What a Mamón! What a Maroon!! What a Morley!!!

XTRO / Amalgamated Film Enterprises - 1982

We gots a weird one today, actually, one I saw when it came out. I didn't really dig it. The story goes like this... Tony, a small boy, is out playing in the yard with his father, Sam, when, a bright light appears in the sky and Sam is abducted by aliens. Three years pass, and, Sam returns to Earth and seeks out Tony and his wife, Rachael, but, Rachel has since been living with a photographer and the reunion is nothing less than awkward. And, Sam is not the same person he was when he disappeared and he's affecting Tony in frightening ways!

I was collecting Famous Monster magazines again (I eventually had a complete set!) but sold them all on eBay starting in 1998. They helped me fund THE CREEP in 1999 when we started production...

Three years after Sam's abduction, a UFO crashes into the countryside and a weird creature digs its way out of the dirt and starts creeping around! What in the Hell!

A couple are driving at night and run over the thing as it's crossing the road. You can see how they fit the person in the monster suit, such a strange idea!

Well, anyway, the driver goes to check the condition of the thing and... C'mon!.. we all know what's going to happen to the stupid idiot! He deserves it.

Later, XTRO attacks this poor lady and I guess, has sex with her! The good old eighties!

Anyway, she balloons out to a record size (Wowsers!!) and gives birth to...

Freakin' Sam, he's back! He grabs a fast shower to get the funk off and then heads off to find wifey and sonny boy...

After locating his loved ones, Sam quickly bonds with Tony. Snakes are now a big fascination with the two for some reason, twists and turns at every corner.

Are you ready for a tasty snake salad surprise?!... Not me!!

Then, this evil little clown shows up with his spinning, mayhem light. He causes a lot of problems including creating this life sized Army action figure with fully working rifle.

The close ups are gross, but, that's a woman whose only job is to lay rubbery alien eggs! There is also an evil egg retriever and the story goes into 'way too many turns' overdrive!

Now it's time to steal a scene from CLOSE ENCOUNTERS, you know, why the Hell not?!...

Sam takes Tony's hand as the boy decides to go away with pops. It really ain't that bad onest you's get used to it!

Mom's left back on Earth to tend to the eggs, but, she gets the works instead! We have three more posts for 2016, so, check back as we close out the year!!..