FIRST MAN INTO SPACE / Amalgamated Productions - 1959

Welcome to Monster Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. We do not disappoint with tonite's posting, as, it definitely gots a monster in it, a hideous, one-of-a-kind monster! This is an updated version of a previous post.

Great teaser poster! ~ Before... Handsome! After... Horrible!

The storyline is, flying in the experimental rocket plane Y-13, Navy test pilot Lieutenant Dan Prescott disobeys orders and becomes the first man to fly outside the ionosphere, and so, becomes... The FIRST MAN INTO SPACE! During his second flight, he over-accelerates and heads out into space. Unable to turn the Y-13 back, he ejects the nose cone but is caught in a storm of meteor dust. The pilot compartment lands with no trace of Dan... First cattle, then people are found with their throats cut by something that seems to have a craving for blood!!.. BOO-WAH!

The music is by Buxton Orr, who only had 9 composing credits, but, check out 6 of the titles... THE HAUNTED STRANGLER, FIEND WITHOUT A FACE, CORRIDORS OF BLOOD, FIRST MAN INTO SPACE, DOCTOR BLOOD'S COFFIN and THE SNAKE WOMAN! Not too shabby.

Lettuce now bring in our official Monster Monday button pusher and fuzzy lil' pal, yes, its... Ralphie The Tarantula! Ralphie just informed me that he's ready to do his thang, and, that is, to start our eariffic soundclip for your listening enjoyment. So, push the big red 'GO' button, now, Ralphie!! Here's... FIRST MAN INTO SPACE!

Lieutenant Dan Prescott disobeys ground orders and pushes the Y-13 dangerously into the ionosphere, and becomes...

...The biggest lush on Earth!!

Here they are in some military stock footage, testing the Y-13 for it's next flight. The rocket plane shown here is actually a Bell X-2.

Marshall Thompson plays Dan's brother, Commander 'Chuck' Prescott, he gives the flight orders from the ground command center. He starred in two all-time classic sci-fi films, FIEND WITHOUT A FACE and IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE. And, we'll be featuring CULT OF THE COBRA in the upcoming months! Bill Edwards plays Dan, you can see Bill for just a second as a ship's radio operator in THE GIANT BEHEMOTH.

So, Dan goes out to far in the Y-13 and encounters a meteor dust storm in space, then, has to abort the mission...

Chuck is mystified and intrigued by the cratered metallic coating on the plane's surface. The nose section is brought back to the lab for study and analysis.

Carl Jaffe plays Dr. Paul von Essen, who's job it is to try and figure out what in the Hell it all means! Carl was also in THE ATOMIC MAN, SATELLITE IN THE SKY and THE ELECTRONIC MONSTER.

Meanwhile, Dan's on the loose and has recently aquired a taste for human blood!

Here's the part in the soundclip where lover boy gets his throat slit by the meteor man!

Then, Dan deep sixes two cops after they stop him for wreckless driving. He tromps off in search of the laboratory.

Dan finally locates the medical facility and breaks in.

He's a real hit with the chicks!

> I'm including this still, because, here's someone you probably never notice. He's working in the lab late that night, when, Dan comes in throwing blows! You see the guy flip a couple of switches, and, that's that! So, here's to this dude, whoever he is!!

God!!.. His farts are really stinky!!.. Oh Man, I think I'm gonna pass out!

No, I'm serious, get me outta here, and like... HURRY!!

...I, I, I... I could'a been a contender!

THE MUNSTERS - Jack Marshall - "If A Martian Answers, Hang Up!" (1965)

One of THE greatest TV shows ever produced, "The Munsters" ran for 72 episodes from 1964 to 1966!! Tonight's episode was Season 1, Episode 18, and was titled "If A Martian Answers, Hang Up" and I think was the closest they ever got to any real science fiction!

The theme and other incidental music for "The Munsters" was created by Mr. Jack Marshall, a gifted composer and excellent guitarist! It all makes sense, since "The Munsters" theme is driven by a guitar riff! in 1959, Jack Marshall composed the music for the Dungeon Classic, "The Giant Gila Monster!" Jack worked with jazz greats Jack Sheldon, Howard Roberts, and Shelly Manne, among others, and wrote the arrangement for Peggy Lee's überclassic version of "Fever," using only percussion, bass and finger snaps!! What a talent!!

Every guy needs a hobby, and Herman Munster is no exception, so he got himself a two-way ham radio operator's license! He tries singing "My Mother's Eyes" over the airwaves to see if he can attract some attention!

Butch Patrick as the iconic Eddie doesn't have much of a role in this episode, except to introduce the friends he's become bored with! Butch put together the band called "Eddie and the Monsters" in 1983 and released the cult classic "What Ever Happened to Eddie?" with some success, but it's been a topsy-turvy world for him for quite some time!

After Eddie bugs out on them, Ronnie Dapo as Roger, and Pat Rosson as Walt, pick up a signal on their walkie talkies from Herman! Unlike Butch, both Ronnie and Pat were at the tail ends of their acting careers, and would call it quits by the following year!

Herman thinks he has made contact with Martians, and attempts to arrange another talk session as the boys have to scamper off to dinner!!

Herman is so excited he's made contact with Martians, he can't sleep, so Lily tries to console him!

Either Margaret, or Peggy Yvonne Middleton, depending on who you talk to, Miss Venice Beach 1938, changed her name to Yvonne De Carlo and haphazardly ended up as the iconic Lily Munster! It's said that Yvonne had six hobbies, spending time with her family, golfing, dancing, drinking wine, listening to music, and singing! Now that's my kind of woman!

She also does a very good job of ringing Herman's bells, if you get my drift!

Al Lewis as Grandpa has a digital divining rod that he offers up to try and find the Martian spaceship! I love the fact that the divining rod has a setting for finding "girls!"

That darned old Grandpa, he set the divining rod on water instead of flying objects, so Herman just finds himself a faceful of sewer water instead!

While out looking for the Martians, Herman and Grandpa stumble onto the kids, who just happen to now be in costume, and have a cool inflatable flying saucer, so now both Herman and Grandpa are 100% totally convinced that Martians have indeed landed on earth!

Herman takes a picture so they can report it to the authorities! Can you believe how difficult it was back then just to take a simple picture??

Grandpa tries to alert the military to the imposing danger, but imagine this, Herbert "Brewster's Millions" Rudley, as Captain Halbert, doesn't believe poor Grandpa, and thinks he's some kind of a kook!!

Dort "Wonderful Town" Clark as Mr. Andrews, knows how to take care of preverts on the phone! With a name like Dort, you've got to be tough! "I'm going to break your arm off, and shove it down your throat!"

As always, after the smoke clears, and everybody settles down, life is back to normal, and Herman is just trying to find some music by Lawrence Welk when he gets a message from a real Martian! Once bitten, twice shy Herman is not about to fall for it a second time! Along with Eddie, Pat Priest as Marilyn Munster has only a small role in this episode!

"My, those earth people are getting rude!" If the Martian looks familiar, it's because he's the same as the Helosian from season one, episode 7 of "The Outer Limits's" called "O.B.I.T." that you see in the piture below, and if you don't believe me, you can watch it for free (with commercials), on "Hulu".....

...by clicking right about HERE!

I'll leave you with this great poster where it looks like Fred's waving you a fond farewell, from the 1966 Munsters full length movie called "Munster, Go Home!"