KILLER DILLER - "Kickeroonie" (1948)

 I've got a real killer Saturday Night Special for you this week!

It's an "All-American" film from 1948!

 "Killer Diller" is actually the most exciting film I'm seen lately, and right up there with "Hellzapoppin" in the sheer entertainment category!

 "Killer Diller" is an amazing musical variety show wrapped around a small unnecessary story line to try and make it cohesive! I'm not going to explain the short story line, but instead I'll just tell you that it was written by Hal Seeger, who went on to produce and direct hundreds of cartoons starring characters like Milton the Monster, Batfink, etc.

It's all happening at The Lincoln Theater in Los Angeles. The Lincoln was built in 1926, and was sometimes referred to as the "West Coast Apollo" because it featured popular African-American acts, many of whom also played at The Apollo in Harlem.

 Andy Kirk and his Orchestra are the house band on this fine night!

The first performance is by Andy's Orchestra and is called "Gator Serenade." It features saxophone solos by two killer players, Hank Abrams playing tenor sax on the left, and Shirley Green playing alto sax on the right.

"Gator Serenade" seriously rocks, and Hank Abrams delivers an awesome solo, so much, that he just doesn't want to quit!

When it's Shirley Greene's time to solo, Hank gets so excited that he tries three or four times to get involved again and Andy Kirk has to run him off each time. It's really quite funny!

I just love this shot of the Andy Kirk horn section!

Next up, Beverlee White serves up a couple of  tastee dishes, "It Ain't Nobody's Business What I Do," and "I Don't Want To Get Married."

Then it's "Two tons of Melody and Mirth" with Patterson and Jackson with "If I Didn't Care,"  "I Believe," and "Ain't Misbvehavin.'" Don't be fooled by these guys girth, because they've got some moves!

 A very young Moms Mabley was known as Jackie Mabley back then.

The phenomenal James and Steve Clark, performing as the tap dancing Clark Brothers are nothing but fun to watch. This was their first recorded performance, and they went to to be on all kinds of TV shows, like The Ed Sullivan's.

Most people only know Nat King Cole as being a soulful crooner, but he was a very talented jazz pianist. The other two members of the King Cole Trio are guitarist Oscar Moore and bassist Wesley Prince. It's cool that Nat sits side saddle when he plays. The Trio performs three songs, "Breezy and the Bass," "Now He Tells Me," and  "Ooh, Kickeroonie." There's another funny sequence in this set when Nat and Wesley and playing notes together like crazy, and Nat stops, but Wesley just keeps on going.

This is a high energy show, and it doesn't stop here. The Congaroos do a couple of numbers where I'm not sure how nobody gets hurt. These folks are crazy, slinging each other around to a point that I can't even describe! This is a truly Mind boggling performance, it wore me out just watching so bad that I had to take a nap afterwards!

And as the man says himself, you can't have a show like this without some beautiful dancing girls, and they are lovely, no doubt

The Lincoln sat 2,100 people, and I'll tell you what, this crowd sure got their money's worth!

Today, the Lincoln Theater is the home of Iglesia de Jesucristo Ministerios Juda, a Spanish-speaking church.

Here's a Killer Diller early X-Mas present for you, Enjoy!

THE THREE STOOGES / 'The Hot Scots' - 1948

Here's another wild and crazy adventure from the boys, this one has Shemp in it and it goes like this... The Stooges apply for the 'Yard Men' job at Scotland Yard, thinking they'll become detectives, but the job actually calls for gardeners! When they learn that detectives are needed to guard a Scottish castle where valuables have been disappearing, they masquerade as Scotsmen to get the job. After a spook filled night in the castle, the boys expose the servants as being the real crooks. This one also stars the beautiful Christine McIntyre as Lorna Doone!

So, the guys show up at Scotland Yard about the ad in the paper for some 'Yard Men' wanted. But when the Inspector calls them 'gentlemen'...

Moe says, like.. Aha! We fooled you! We are NOT gentlemen, and start pulling off their disguises to show what good detectives they'd make!

Unfortunately, the job calls for gardeners. Shemp and Larry are complaining to each other about the crappy job, so, Moe conks them both on the head with his trash picker tool. He tells them that if they do a good job here, maybe they'll eventually get an assignment...

A minute later, their first assignment falls right into their hands after the note is blown out of the Inspector's open window by a gust of wind! Excited, Shemp grabs the trash bag and all the contents pour out after Larry had snipped a big hole in it while pruning...

The Stooges make it to the castle, they've heard the place is haunted. Angus, the butler, has snuck up behind them and he scares the crap out of them when they turn around.

They then meet MacPherson, the guy in charge of watching the place for The Earl of Glenheather while he's away, and the sweet little Scottish cookie, Ms. Lorna Doone.

Angus shows the boys to their room. He tell them a gruesome ghost story about the castle, and as he's leaving he tells them, Good Night! And he adds.. Pleasant dreams!.. Freakin hilarious.

Moe and Shemp leave to go downstairs to guard the place. Shemp just has a creepy feeling, Moe sez there ain't no such things as ghosts, so, SHADDUP!

The spooky character goes into the boys' bedroom where Larry's sleeping. He pulls a cord and the bed slides through to another room. The spook then starts removing valuables from the room, putting them in a big leather bag...

Downstairs, Moe and Shemp are lazily watching the place. They interact with a for real 3-D painting of an Arab dude!

Shemp wants to lie down in the bed and thinks it's Larry there, and gets into a heated battle over possession of the covers.

Moe always gets the worst of it, he almost gets a dagger in the head and then gets conked real good by Larry and Shemp who think it's the bad guy!

I swear, Larry can be the biggest putz, he tries to conk the bad guy with a mace but takes out both Shemp and Moe instead!!

Well, whada'ya know, it's MacPherson and Angus who're behind the thefts.

During the confusion, Lorna grabs the bag of valuables and tries to duck out. The Earl with the police show up and catch Lorna red handed, take her away fellas...

In appreciation, the Earl will prove there are no ghosts in the castle. He opens a cabinet door to find a skeleton playing the bagpipes. That's it! There are ghosts in the castle!.. Run boys run!! Hey, tune in tomorrow because Eegah!! will have something special for you and me! Here, at The Dungeon!!..

BEASTS - Season One, Episode Six - "The Dummy" (1976)

 If you're lookin' for a good piece of Wednesday Weirdness, you've come to the right place!

 

 Our feature for tonight was a short lived 1976 British TV show called "Beasts," that only had six episodes.

The sixth and final episode was called "The Dummy."

Why do they call this big gnarly looking monster thing a Dummy? I have no idea. I think "Ya Big Dummy" would have been a better title!

"The Dummy" is not a real monster, it's a very popular movie monster kind of popular like Godzilla that has had several sequels like "Revenge Of The Dummy"etc. I still am not quite sure what the Hell it's supposed to be, maybe a cross between a large bird and a garbage heap!

Speaking of birds, you can't have a beast without any beauties!

Bernard (Captain Moonlight) Horsfall is the man in the Dummy suit, Clyde Boyd!

Clyde's probably spent too many hours inside that costume, because he's breaking down! Also the whole Dummy series is coming to a close, so he's really starting to lose it!

Clyde walks off the set and delivers a tirade of madness!

Simon (The Terrornauts, Doomwatch) Oates is the arrogant ass Peter Wagner who is stealing Clyde's wife, and he's been asked to be in the movie and Clyde doesn't like it at all. For me Simon has got a kind of smug Shat thing going on in a British kind of way!

They debate whether to put somebody else in the suit, but it's custom made for Clyde, and you know he brings so much emotion and talent to the role of the big Dummy!

Clyde says he'll go back and finish the scene!

When Clyde gets back on the set, he loses his shit big time and goes totally bezerk!

He kills one guy and then just starts destroying everything!

Patricia (Blood Beast From Outer Space) Haines is Clyde's wife Sheila. This would be Patricia's last role as she sadly died of lung cancer at the age of 45.

Shiela picked a really bad time to show up at the studio!

Clyde doesn't even need the suit any more. He's a full blown maniac madman on his own now!

Well, nobody really deserves to get strangled, but if  somebody did deserve it, then it would probably be Peter Wagner!
The whole "Beasts" series including "The Dummy" was written by the Nigel Kneale, the same man responsible for writing all the Quatermass TV shows and movies, so you know it's worth checking out, and that's pretty easy to do since I found this copy on YouTube!