POST #1313 - THE TWONKY / Arch Oboler Productions - 1953

Welcome to Friday Night with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. Tonite's offering was shot in 1951 and released in 1953, it played on TV quite a bit when I was a kid.

Since this is our 1313th post, it has to be some kind of weird cosmic joke/coincidence that THE TWONKY holds this esteemed position in numbering! But, that's the way it goes!..

The story's about a nerdy college professor who discovers that his new TV set is animatated, apparently possessed by something from the future, and, intent on regulating his daily life! The original story is credited to Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore, published under their joint pseudonym, "Lewis Padgett." Sidney Pink was a producer.

The music is by Jack Meakin. Jack only had 3 composing credits, this, MAGOO'S LODGE BROTHER cartoon and the TV series TELL IT TO GROUCHO. His claim to fame came when some of his stock music was used in the original NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD!

Letz bring in our little Friday Night helper and button pusher, the one and only, Rufus The Gnat!.. Herro Rufus! Rufus is here to start our show, so, push the big red 'GO' button right there in front of the small green 'STOP' button, now, Rufus! Here's our soundclip for... THE TWONKY!

You'll notice that a few stills have the 1995 Svengoolie Chicago TV call sign.

Hans Conried plays college professor, Cary West, his wife is leaving for awhile, he says 'bye' to her in the taxi. Hans was also in THE 5000 FINGERS OF DR. T and THE MONSTER THAT CHALLENGED THE WORLD. Us boomers remember his great cartoon voice on ROCKY AND HIS FRIENDS and THE BULLWINKLE SHOW!

She's ordered a new TV set for him to watch while she's away. He knows something's going on when it emits a beam that lights his cigarette for him!

Ed Max plays Ed, the TV repairman. The familiar looking guy was last seen in THE INCREDIBLE MELTING MAN. He's there to collect a bill, but, the professor tells him he's totally out of cash.

In the meantime, the Twonky neatly lays out some money for Ed to gather up!

Cary is so boggled that he calls his friend, Coach Trout, to come over and help him evaluate the uncanny situation.

Unfortunately, the Coach is as dense as atomic fog!

Man, that's just sick!..

I like this shot because it shows an old book cover, that's all.

Here, the Twonky has sex with the vacuum cleaner!.. Doesn't the vacuum kinda look like one of those monsters in ISLAND OF TERROR?

There are so many current politically incorrect elements to this scene in Coach Trout's bedroom that were perfectly normal in the fifties.

Ed comes to take the Twonky away but gets attacked by the antenna!

Then, the Twonky gets rude with a telephone operator!

So, she calls the cops, which does no good.

When Cary's wife figures out that's something's wrong at home, she darts away!

In the meantime, Cary goes out and does what everbloody in the fifties did when a Twonky moved in, get plastered! It's the only way out...

I have to admit, I started paying attention when the lady bill collector shows up! She's played by Gloria Blondell, sister of Joan. Gloria was the voice of Daisy Duck in the late forties.

Anyway, when she gets naked in the bathroom, well, it made me flip a little!

Then this, good stuff for 1953! There's an early fifties Disney cartoon about the modern American family, where, you get to watch the buxom nude teenage daughter's silhouette on the shower curtain while she showers, it's pretty unbelievable by today's standards!

Cary gets a ride with this old biddy who'd rather yak than pay attention to her driving.

Driving on the wrong side of the road will usually result in some kind of ridiculous unnecessary mishap! Actually, some scenes of her driving against traffic are a little unnerving!

The last scene takes place in the hospital after the crash, with Cary in traction. And yes, it's Three Stooges time!!.. woob!

SVENGOOLIE SINGS "Hey, Hey, He's The Twonky"

Hello everbloody, here's a special Dungeon Turkey Day Treat, Svengoolie sings "Hey, Hey, He's The Twonky" from the show he aired THE TWONKY on, which Tabonga will feature on tomorrow's Friday Night post! So, here's our Terrific Turkey Treat to you... SVENGOOLIE SINGS!

SALT AND PEPPER - Sammy Davis Jr. - "I Like The Way You Dance" (1968)

I think it's about time to lighten up this joint a little bit, and spice things up with some "Salt and Pepper!"

Ratpack member, the amazing Sammy Davis Jr. is Soho nightclub owner Charles Salt!! As is the nature of the beast, we often show stills of people smoking cigarettes, which was a natural social phenomena back in the 50's and 60's! Me and Tabonga both smoked a goodly portion of our lives, and are probably lucky to still be breathing! Sammy Davis Jr. had a four pack a day habit, and died of throat cancer at the age of 64! So, it's like Wow, he smoked that much and still lived that long, or Jeez, if he hadn't smoked, he would have lived to be 106! Best advice, just don't start!

Fellow Ratpack member Peter Lawford is co-owner Christopher Pepper! Peter Lawford will always be embedded in my memory bank as Nick Charles, "The Thin Man," a TV series that ran from 1957 to 1959 and also featured the awesome Phyllis Kirk as his wife Nora Charles, and of course, Asta the Dog!!The more astute of you will have figured out that indeed, the black man is the white spice, and the white man is the black spice, unless you try and squeeze Cayenne into the equation!

As displayed in last weekend's feature, making out in public in Britain was the swingin' thing to do in the 1960's, because everybody knows that "England swings like a pendulum do" - Roger Miller

There's a dead body in the guy's club, a female secret agent, and somebody has taken away her number and name!

Sammy Davis Jr. is an enigma! He had a notorious reputation back in the day, because he was boldly and publicly married to May Britt, a white woman! Besides the world famous Heavyweight boxer Jack Johnson, that just wasn't being done that much, and sure wasn't appreciated by an intolerant and naive public, and yet he was still quite popular!! Sammy had that weird look because his left eye was glass, due to a car crash in 1955, and he wore an eyepatch for awhile, but was eventually convinced that he didn't need it by Humphrey Bogart!

"Salt and Pepper" shows a cool rockin' side of Sammy, much more akin to The Isley Brothers than to the Gawdawful hit song Sammy had in 1972, "The Candy Man," that makes me shiver just to think about!

Sammy Davis Jr. was the son of a vaudeville star who was actually named Sammy Davis Sr. Sammy was a multi-talented, multi-instrumentalist who was kind of like Howard the Duck, he lived in a world he didn't create, but he made the best of it, and he wasn't billed "The Greatest Living Entertainer In The World" for nothing!!

This is a shot from the other side of the street, a gentlemen's club, where the clientele is so stuffy, they can die reading the paper, and nobody notices or really even cares!

Eyepatch and Scar, obviously the bad guys!!

THE worst green screen backgrounds I have ever witnessed in my life! Totally unbelievable in scope and substance!

Upgrade the cool quotient, the wild toad's car is amphibious to boot, unless it gets riddled with bullet holes, and leaves our heroes stranded!

Just have a good time, and don't expect anything serious!

Oh Crap! Sammy just shot and killed Peter's naked girlfriend, because she was just getting ready to kill him!

Doesn't it all look too perfectly comfortable? TV's on, tie loosened, shoes kicked off, and the latest edition of your favourite daily rag is in hand! Life in 1968 was good!

Really? My how security has changed in a few short years! This film was shot in the colour of 1960's gullible!

I guess when your daily life consists of hangin' out with Frankie, Dino, and Joey, it takes something a little extra to put some bang into your life!

Well, at least nobody got hurt in the end, kinda........so if you want a mild diversion from your normal daily routine, you might want to check it out streaming on Netflix! Prefect for the holidays, if you know what I mean!!