THE PAUL LYNDE HALLOWEEN SPECIAL (1976)

 

Let's get this month long Countdown to Halloween off to a good start, with some really scary stuff on this candy corny Saturday Night Special!

Wait a minute, what holiday is this anyway? There's so many any more!

"The Paul Lynde Halloween Special" aired 46 years ago, smells like moldy cheese and is just as tasty!

There's one thing about Paul Lynde! He was one of a kind!

Paul's housekeeper is played by none other than Margaret Hamilton, who everybody in the world will recognize as the The Wicked Witch of the West from "The Wizard Of Oz."

Paul has all the scariest people of 1976 on his show like Donny and Marie Osmond."

Witchiepoo was played by Billie Hayes who made a career out of playing characters and doing voice overs for characters like Weenie the Genie, Granny Whammy, Mother Mae-Eye, and Granny Applecheeks!

 

Everybody's favorite little guy Billy Barty joins the cast as a guy named Gallows!

Even the scariest person in the world Betty White attends the ceremonies as Miss Halloween.

Even Paul can't believe it!

Another interesting but less than scary moment involves a trucker skit with Tim Conway!

Roz (Pinky Tuscadero) Kelly adds a little spice to the proceedings. 

 

Witchiepoo is so evil, she thinks "The Exorcist" is funny!

The musical entertainment is presented by KISS. I had no idea that Paul Stanley could levitate!

Super scary Florence Henderson shows up as herself!

Now that we've got this party started, drop in and see what some of the other "Countdown To Halloween" folks have going on! You might even scare yourself!!

THE WILD WILD WEST - "The Night Of The Flying Pie Plate" (1966)

 

It's not just Wednesday, and it's not just Wild Wednesday, it's Wild Wild Wednesday down in The Dungeon!

 

Tonight's feature is the second episode of the incredible TV show "The Wild Wild West," and the name of this episode is "The Night Of The Flying Pie Plate."

If this group of cowboys looks totally astounded by what they see, it's because they've just come across a flying saucer, or in cowboy lingo, a flying pie plate!

Speaking of flying pie plates, check out this Offbeat version!

My first question of course is how do a bunch of cowboys even know what a flying saucer is? They have no TV, radio or internet! Hell, they don't even have books or running hot water and there are not even cars yet!

So that takes away a lot of credibility of the story right from the start!

This green-skinned blonde Goddess exits the spacecraft to a group of freaked out cowpokes! 

Leslie (Missile To The Moon) Parrish was also Glacia Glaze on the "Batman" TV show.

Gol'durn it! What the heck??

What do you think? We don't even know what a flying saucer is, and now one has landed right here! How is that even possible?

Two more sisters pop out to the amazement of the gathered throng!

The two sisters are Arlene Charles who was also one of Dr. Goldfoot's robots, and Cindy Taylor who was one of the gnome-maidens in "The Gnome-Mobile," so they are experienced at these kinds of roles.

The girls outfits are covered in precious stones that they are willing to trade for the 400 pounds of gold they need to power their ship back to Venus.

The guy in the middle is Hellfire Simon, the local religious fanatic that thinks everything is evil, especially this space ship!

Artemus Gordon inspects the jewels for authenticity!

Wait a minute! Who is this peering out of a hole in the side of the saucer? That doesn't look like the eye of one of the girls.

The townsfolk put all their gold together in expectation of trading it for jewels worth ten times the money, but even though it was the result of years of work, they are still 300 pounds short!

 

Ironically, the reason Jim West is in town is to watch over a gold shipment that needs to sit in the local assay office vault for a couple of days. And No, they can't borrow it!

The plan all along was for the space girls to steal the gold!

The jig's up. It's fake, The flying saucer is made out of wood and was dropped by a hot air balloon, and the girls are all just a bunch of pretty petty thieves!

The ole hidden knife in the boot trick is put to good use!

Most of the bad guys go ka-blooey, and the girls might have to do some prison time, but it won't be for long I'm sure.

The story ends with what appears to be a real UFO in the midnight sky!

Fantastic, Incredulous, and you can watch it all for free on YouTube!

THE TWILIGHT ZONE / "Mr. Dingle, The Strong" - 1961

Here's a crazy little episode about a timid vacuum cleaner salesman who's given the strength of 300 men by two aliens using him in an experiment. it stars Burgess Meredith, James Westerfield, Eddie Ryder, Douglas Spencer, Michael Fox and Don Rickles.

The story mainly takes place at a local bar, where, Bettor (Don) is constantly arguing over sports with his more than willing sparring partner. I'm mean, it's just stupid crap like.. What if someone had hit a home run, instead of striking out!! And sometimes, another person that hangs out there, vacuum cleaner salesman Mr. Dingle, gets forced into choosing sides between the two.

Bettor is always over the top and Dingle usually takes sides with the other guy!

So, Bettor has punched Dingle in the stomach, when, weird aliens show up and take interest in the incident...

After O'Toole, the owner and bartender, chases off Bettor, he gives Dingle some sage advice... Just stop talking, nod your head or something!

As Dingle tries to gather himself, the aliens hit him with a strength ray, making him 300 times as strong as a normal human...

On his way out of the bar, he pulls the door off its hinges like it was nothing!

Dingle shows off at the park and it gets on the front page of the newspaper. It's Samson, not Hercules that Dingle seems to be! I don't get it.

Everybody's trying to come up with schemes to make money off of Dingle's uncanny strength. At the moment, he's listening to a pitch being made by a boxing promoter, saying that he'll make him the world boxing champ!!

Then a TV crew comes in and clears the area for an interview with Dingle about his strength...

He starts with easily punching a hole in the wall.

And pulling a bar stool out of the floor.

Then he sees Bettor and gives him the evil eye! Bettor tells him... Haven't you ever heard the saying, let bygones be bygones?

Dingle twirls him around like a feather! These are stuntmen doing this gag, and you can easily tell that they don't look like the actors

The aliens turn off Dingle's strength ray and his power is no more. He tries and tries, but just hurts his hand and gives up.

Now, he gets ready for a nose twister from Bettor.

Offended, the TV announcer apologizes to their audience, and the crew storms off in disgust!

The aliens are Martians, on Earth to experiment with physical strength. These other two guys are from Venus, on Earth looking for subjects to experiment on with mental powers. They ask the Martians if there are any good subjects around to use in their experiment. They point to Dingle!

So, Dingle it is... They give him 500 time the intellect of a normal human!

The gang's watching a baseball game on TV when they ask Dingle what he thought would happen on the next play. He says 'home run' and sure enough, home run! He starts spouting out mathematic formulas and theories to the bemusement of his pals...