THE HOWDY DOODY SHOW / Cartoon Strip - 1950

Here's a show we kids all watched after friends and relatives started getting televisions in the early fifties. In this episode, Buffalo Bob and Howdy have a lot to talk about...

Before we get going though, it's time to sing the 'Howdy Doody' song. C'mon kids, sing along!..

Then the kids sing four rounds of Howdy's theme song. In case you didn't know, these are the lyrics to the song ~ It's Howdy Doody time, it's Howdy Doody time, it's Howdy Doody time, it's Howdy Doody time... Pretty easy to remember the words.

Then Clarabelle (why a girl's name?) joins in and carries out a big box of Halo Shampoo just in time for a commercial. Clarabelle is played by Bob Keeshan until 1952, who of course became Captain Kangaroo in 1955. I used to spend some Friday nights at a friend's house and would get up and watch Captain Kangaroo in color on a new color set, what a treat that was!

Anyway, they play a cartoon featuring Goldilocks and the Three Bears!

The bears don't believe it's really Goldilocks, her hair looks like crap! So, the only way to solve this problem is to wash her hair with Halo shampoo! They're really mean to her!

OMG, look! It's really Goldilocks!! What a twisted way to shame kids into using Halo shampoo!! Yeah, Mama Bear looks all nice and sweet, but, she's a little B!

In the meantime, Clarabelle has got herself into a peck o' trouble!

You see, she drew on this painting by one of the two men that are going to produce a Howdy Doody cartoon strip for the newspaper. Now, the artists refuse to draw the crazy clown in the strip, and Clarabelle is mighty sore about it...

So, it's time to get out the old seltzer bottle and spray Buffalo Bob in the old mush yet again!

Now, Buffalo Bob tells everyone that Howdy Doody will now be aired in twelve new cities across the US. Boy, TV in its infancy.

Hey kids, time for another lengthy commercial where you'll have to sing another jingle, this time for 3 Musketeers candy bars. If you had that wrapper in good condition, probably worth about $500 today, maybe more!

Finally, the artists show the kids how the characters will look in the strip. They both draw the face at the same time, to save time!

Clarabelle gets a big surprise when the artists say they will include her in the strip, but, they pay her back by adding a goatee!

Then Buffalo Bob runs a silent movie (as always) while he tells the kids what's going on. This one's pretty funny, it's about a crazy magician and the little girl that gets involved in the act.

Wait, there's time for one last commercial... Okay you kids, old Buffalo Bob is gonna show you how to break a 3 Musketeers bar into thirds!

So, like, join us for more tomorrow kids, here at The Dungeon!!..

SON OF FLUBBER - "Flub Away The Flab" (1963)

Tonight's Weird Wednesday feature is the classic Disney flick from 1963, "Son Of Flubber."

It had been a long time since I first saw "Son Of Flubber," so there were a few things that surprised me, but overall, it's hard not to feel this was one of Disney's weaker 60's offerings.

Fred MacMurray had a good run at Disney starting with "The Shaggy Dog," then "The Absent Minded Professor, and then "Son Of Flubber," before his giant  non-Disney TV hit "My Three Sons," which was on for twelve years and 380 episodes.

After the secrets of Flubber were revealed in "The Absent Minded Professor," everybody wants to get their hands on it. The military is too busy to pay the Professor at the moment and is seen here going into action, because they have got some important stuff to do.

All the corporate suits want to market Flubber and are willing to give the Professor one million dollars just to start.

The Professor's wife Betsy just couldn't be any happier. Betsy is played by Nancy Olson, and she was also in "The Absent Minded Professor."

Betsy's going to be real sad and disappointed when the Professor doesn't accept the check because he's selling his secrets to the Military, but they just haven't got around to paying him yet.

It's a pretty big poke at capitalistic greed, and also a totally dysfunctional government!

My favorite part of "Son Of Flubber," is when the suits show the Professor all the different ways they have figured out how to market Flubber!

There's "Flubbermint Gum!"

There's the new "Flubbercycle" so you can "Flub away the Flab!"

This every day middle class family is all beat up from all the accidents they have had in their home!

But once they had "Fluberoleum" installed in their home, it's as safe as could be, the way it's supposed to be!

Here's the same happy family after installing "Flubberoleum."

The Professor turns it all down, because he's going to do the right thing and sell it to the military so it can benefit all of society, and the next thing you know, the Tax Man shows up at his front door to tell him about all the taxes he needs to pay, even though he hasn't gotten any money yet, for yet another poke at greedy government bureacracy!

The dimwitted Professor tries to make rain next, and is totally clueless that it is having a major effect on the rest of the community!

Everywhere throughout the town glass of every shape and form is breaking, from plate glass windows to people's glasses!

All the booze bottles also break at a local dive, now that's heartbreaking, but I thought this was a kid or family movie.

Another thing you didn't normally see in Disney movies was The Professor's wife leaves him only to find him later cutting a rug at this Halloween party!

"Son Of  Flubber" has quite a supporting cast that includes Ed Wynn, the voice of The Mad Hatter in Disney's version of "Alice In Wonderland." Ed was also in two of "The Twilight Zone" episodes, "One For The Angels," and "Nine Years Without Slumbering!"

Seriously funny guy Paul Lynde is the sportscaster. Paul is probably best known for being on 898 episodes of the TV game show Hollywood Squares."

Besides the hosts, only Cliff Arquette and Wally Cox were on more episodes than Paul!
Other notable cast members are Tommy Kirk, Keenan Wynn, William Demarest, Joanna Moore, and Norman Grabowski!

The rest is history!

SHRIEK OF THE MUTILATED / It Walks. It Stalks. It Tears The Shriek Out Of Your Throat. - 1974

In today's fright/laugh fest, a group of college students led by their professor, go to Boot Island in New York and search for the Yeti. And wouldn't you know it, the students start to die off off, one by one. The ending's a dilly! Poster's decent.

Most of the actors only have this as their acting credit, a few of the girls had like three credits. Seems like a buncha bored, kinds actors in NY decided to make this 'what in the Hell's wrong with us' movie! The Yeti suit is hilarious, when it runs you can see the sewn on foot pads!!

Finally at their destination, the kids are having the times of their lives at the local club there, at Boot Lake. I mean, just looks at fun they're having as the jukebox plays some tunes.

Then, this drunken, belligerent jerk face, Spencer, shows up, he starts talking real loud about how he and his professor were the only survivors of a Yeti attack a year earlier, or whatever. He acts like a doofus as he tells his tale of horror, an especially bad acting job for the books... I just want him to die! And, I want to slap (hard!) each and every one of those people, including the girls, who are entertaining his moronic ramblings...

Hey, I get my wish!!.. So, Spencer and his wife leave the club and go home. He keeps drinking and ends up killing his wife with a knife, almost. Spencer jumps in the tub to relax. But, his wife, not quite dead yet, drags a toaster from the kitchen, plugs it in and pushes it into the damn water! Yay!..! High five!!

Okay, now it's time to go to the home of their teacher's friend, Dr. Werner, to start looking for the Yeti that has been spotted in the area.

The men and the kids come up with a battle plan based on a map drawn by a fifth grader.

This student, what's his name, decides to hunt for deer because of the crap food being served at Dr. Werner's place. And, he becomes victim number one...

Dr. Prell is next, he tells his tale of woe after being attacked by the creature. Then he guzzles down half a bottle of whiskey.

Guess who!.. This little dead girl gets tied to a tree to attract the Yeti for capture!

Hmmm, I wonder if there's something behind this shower curtain... Or not.

Karen is freaking out, she opens a cabinet door to find Dr. Werner's cook, Laughing Crow, apparently dead there. He suddenly gets out of his hiding place and pursues her through the house with a big butcher knife!

Then, the fakey looking Yeti shows up and gets Karen in its clutches. The mask comes off and it's none other than Dr. Werner in drag. The whole thing has been a charade by Werner and Prell all along. It's just a cover for their real activity...

The last survivor, Keith, has escaped and located a cop who goes back to Werner's house with him. There's a gathering of a number of people attending a special breakfast where Karen's being served as the main course. And, the cop is in on it too, they're all a bunch of cannibals!!

Keith tries to escape but the guests attack him with their forks! After the forking, he's taken to the table where he gets a slice of Karen.

Dude, white meat or dark meat?!.. What's really stupid is that they didn't even cook her, WTF!! There you go, whatta lame ride. Join us again on Wednesday for yet another installment of weirdness, here at The Dungeon!!..