I LIKE MOUNTAIN MUSIC - Friz Freleng (1933)

"I Like Mountain Music" was a 1933 cartoon that flowed from the pen of the Maestro Friz Freleng, this time using his God-given name Isadore Freleng. Besides Friz, there was only one other animator named Larry Martin. That's right, two guys!
 I read on IMDB that Friz Freleng was only 5'4" tall and was prone to vocal outbursts, and because of it, he was the basis for the cartoon character Yosemite Sam!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, how come two people could accomplish something like this when today, even with computers, it takes 200 people to do a simple cartoon?

Welcome to another Weird Wednesday in The Dungeon!

I always loved these types of cartoons, where some place closes for the night, and the whole joint comes to life. This time it's the magazine rack in a drug store!

Look at some of the titles of the magazines! You've got "Hooey," and "Physical Culture," "Blah," "Ballyhoo," "Whiz Bang,"and "Prison Prattle" just for starters!

The first magazine to have it's characters come to life is "Western" and a cowboy blasts a hole in the cover to get out!

He's soon joined by his buddies and together they do a rousing version of "I Like Mountain Music," which was written by Frank Marsales.

The other magazine characters dance and applaud the song! Everybody's having a swell time!

There were always caricatures of famous people of the time in cartoons like this. This is Will Rogers who just put a 'No Sale" tag on a copy of "American Business" magazine.

It might have been 87 years ago, but the sentiment is sure the same as today!

I love the fact that there is a cute puppy on the cover of "The Literary Digest" magazine!

This title "Bigger and Better Babies" cracks me up!

This gal comes off the cover of "Dance" magazine, and..............

............Puts in an Olympic grade performance skating on this vanity mirror in a snow storm of talcum powder!

The goober looking yodeler on the cover of "Travel" magazine has got the hots for the woman on the cover of  "College Rumor" magazine.

And why shouldn't he since it appears that she's wearing a completely see-through dress!

Pretty racy for a cartoon!

But if it was all fun and games, it wouldn't be interesting enough, so a criminal element is introduced from the pages of  "Crime Stories!"

This shady character is joined by his two henchmen!

Pretty ingenious!  Fill up a seltzer bottle full of lighter fluid, light it and use it as a torch!

What these guys think they're going to do with all that money, I have no idea!

Another famous caricature, Edward G. Robinson, walks out of "Movie" magazine!

"Radio" magazine does the calling all cops routine, and out they come from the "Police Gazette!"

The crook thinks he's going to be able to hide out in an issue of "Screen Play," which turns out to be a very bad idea!

He takes off running as soon as he realizes the mistake he's made!

The wide-open mouth effect was usually reserved for comedian Joe E. Brown who was known for having his mouth agape, but in this case it works for giant ape Ping Pong too!

BEFORE I HANG / BEWARE! WHEN KARLOFF STOPS THE CLOCK YOUR HOUR HAS COME! - 1940

Back on fifties TV, there were movies like this being played on weekend late night creature feature shows. They were mixed in with the monster movies like FRANKENSTEIN, DRACULA and THE WOLF MAN, so, I thought ones like this were boring compared to ones with actual monsters. But, this one is pretty damn good. The story goes like this... A kindly physician on death row for a mercy killing is allowed to experiment on a serum using a criminals' blood, but secretly tests it on himself! He gets a pardon, but finds out he's become a Jekyll-Hyde killer.

It stars Boris (VOODOO ISLAND) Karloff, Evelyn (AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS) Keyes, Bruce (THE COSMIC MAN) Bennett, Edward (DRACULA / FRANKENSTEIN) Van Sloan, Ben (MAN MADE MONSTER) Taggart, Pedro (THE BEAST WITH FIVE FINGERS) de Cordoba and Wright (MISTER SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON) Kramer.

Following a botched mercy killing, Dr. John Garth is sentenced to be hanged for his part in the experiment, even after explaining that he was trying to help the victim...

The warden now thinks that the doctor's experiments may have a benefit for mankind, and allows him to work in the lab there. He gets an assistant and they get to work on the puzzle.

In the meantime, Dr. Garth has access to prisoner blood, so uses some on himself. It has side effects and the doctor is sent to the medical ward. After some time there, everyone notices that the doc now has the body of a very fit 40 year old!

But, other side effects are now in play. He has the blood of a killer in his veins and that starts bringing out his dark side!

The doctor kills his assistant and a guard, then passes out and cannot remember anything about the incident. The warden thinks the murders were done by an inmate, so...

The warden pardons the doctor and sends him home to his daughter. She's glad to see him, but, he seems distant and a little rough around the edges.

Then at a gathering of his friends, he tells them about the experiment and that he can reverse their aging, but, they want no part of it. The doctor gets pissed and the men leave after a verbal confrontation...

The doctor cannot help himself and goes to one friend's home and urges him to let him inject him with the serum. His friend finally agrees to the injection, but something goes wrong...

You can read all about it in the newspaper the next day!

Then, the doctor goes to another friend's house and tells him that he has murdered a number of people and wants to confess to him for the crimes... Well, it doesn't take long before his dark side takes over, and...

You can see that his friend George Wharton has also been murdered!

Back at home, the doc's daughter confronts him about the murders and he pulls a scarf out of a pocket and tightens it up...

The daughter faints from fright and the doctor clears his head, he leaves his home to wander around on a foggy night.

He goes back to the prison and demands to see the warden. The guard lets him in but the doctor pulls out his scarf and comes at the guard. Well, he's shot and when the warden gets there, the doctor tells him that he cane back because he wanted to be hanged for the murders, but a bullet will do... Join us again on Wednesday for more cool stuff, here at The Dungeon!!..

SCREAMING MIMI - "The Ballet Of Desire" (1958)

Tonight's Saturday Night Special is an odd movie from 1958 titled "Screaming Mimi."

You can hardly make it out, but the object behind the title is a small sculpture you could hold in your hand called the "Screaming Mimi."

Miss Sweden 1950, Anita Ekberg is Virginia Wilson, aka Yolanda Lange, and she's taking an outdoor shower after swimming in the Pacific Ocean!

She hears her dog whimpering and........

.......The next thing she sees is some madman coming her way!

The man had escaped from the Highland Sanitarium, and viciously attacks her with a knife. Her step brother shoots the fool right in the nick of time, but Virginia is damaged goods after the event, and ends up in the same hospital that the guy escaped from!

Her VERY caring healthcare provider is Doctor Greenwood, who is played by Harry Townes! Out of Harry's amazing 185 mostly television credits are two episodes of "The Twilight Zone," "The Four Of Us Are Dying," and "Shadow Play."

Time passes and Virginia seems to be doing a lot better when her and Dr. Greenwood disappear, and she starts working as an exotic dancer. I think they are supposed to have moved to L.A. but I'm pretty sure this is North Beach in San Francisco!

Her name is now just Yolanda, and the place she's working in is called "El Madhouse" and is run by Joann 'Gypsy' Masters, who is played by real life striptease artist turned actress, Gypsy Rose Lee.

Vibes player Red Norvo and his trio are the house band!

In 1938 Red Norvo had two number one hit songs, "Please Be Kind," and "Says My Heart."

At "El Madhouse" the bartender sings, and ..........

.......The waiters dance!

And Yolanda does her thing. She's not a stripper, just a dancer!

It's really kind of hard to believe this actually was passed off as entertainment back in 1958!

Yolanda is out walking around with her Great Dane called Devil when she is attacked and stabbed in the stomach!

Some time earlier, another girl named Lola Lake had been stabbed to death, and the funny little "Screaming Mimi" statue was found at the crime scene!

Phillip Carey plays Sweeney, an investigative reporter who has an interest in Yolanda on more than one level. Seeing the photo of Lola Lake makes him try and track down the "Screaming Mimi," because when he visited Yolanda's dressing room, she also had one of the little sculptures!

In 1959-1960, Phillip Carey played the lead in 26 episodes of the TV show "Phillip Marlowe," and from 1965 to 1967 he was Capt. Edward A. Parmalee in 56 episodes of "Laredo."

Pretty risque for 1958, Linda Cherney is Gypsy's best friend Ketti. I don't remember her ever speaking, but they cut to her a multitude of times, just to show you that Gypsy wasn't interested in men!

Linda only had one other role besides this one where she played an uncredited car hop!

After taking a few days off, Whoa! Big News! Yolanda Returns!! Yippee!!

But her act didn't change any!

They all missed her so much they had a party and made her a "Welcome Back" cake!

In the end, Virginia/Yolanda gets a free ride back to the nut house, where she never should have got out of to begin with!

The book was written by Fredric Brown in 1949, and was also made into another movie in 1970 that was Dario Argento's Directorial debut,  "L'uccello Dalle Piume Di Cristallo" or "The Bird With The Crystal Plumage!"