HOOTENANNY HOOT - The Gateway Trio - "Puttin' On The Style" (1963)

Well,  nothing quite says Thanksgiving  and the movies like some good ole fashioned folk music, so on this eve of tasty turkeys, go ahead and fetch yer banjos and mandolins, and let's get the party jumpin' with a down home "Hootenanny Hoot!"

Lucky for ya'll, this ain't no run of the mill hootenanny, this is a MAMMOTH HOOTENANNY, and then some too! Yessireebob!!

 Well, first off, there's some kind of riot going on led by Peter (The Crawling Hand, Shock Corridor) Breck, just like Kevin McCarthy in................

..........."Invasion Of The Body Snatchers!"

But it's all because everybody is that excited about the big "Mammoth Hootenanny" and one of the unforgettable featured acts, The Gateway Trio! I know it's hard to perceive by today's standards, but in 1963, folk music was a flame burning bright! This movie also featured Judy Henske, The Brothers Four, Sheb Wooley, Joe and Eddie, and George Hamilton IV.

Folk music with a whole "West Side Story" style choreographed dance routine, American Pop Culture was on the prowl for something new and different!

And then there were all the crossover acts from the blues and country scenes, like the infamous man in black, Johnny Cash! Just how does any of this add up?

 Over the years, the Hootenanny phenomena has conquered all elements of our culture, like this bitchin'  Bally Hootenanny pinball machine also from 1963!

Mr. Gasser and The Weirdos' album "Hot Rod Hootenanny" featuring Glen Campbell, Leon Russell and Jimmie Haskell, and also appeared out of the blue in 1963! The whole Hootenanny scene was on fire, and a variety act TV show called "Hootenanny" became extremely popular from April of 1963 until September of 1964 before the whole folk scene started to peter out!

These days if you do a search for the word 'Hoot' you'll discover everything you ever wanted to know about the Korean Pop group 'Girl's Generation or...................

...............Everything you never ever wanted to know about the Australian TV kid's show 'Giggle and Hoot!'

Hootenanny was fading fast by 1965, but years later when they released "Once Upon A Coffee House" on DVD, they tried one more time to cash in on the Hoot fad, and renamed this movie "Hootenanny A Go-Go!" Since '65, wild and crazy people have wracked up all these titles for TV and the movies: Acapulco A Go-Gó, She Devils A Go-Go, Caged Lesbos A Go-Go, Hollywood A Go-Go, Roadrunner A Go-Go, Psycho A Go-Go, Winter A Go-Go, Prison A Go-Go, and of course, Monster A Go-go!

In these later days, the Hootenanny concept has been transformed into a theme for Punk Trash-O-Billy concerts all over the country!

The Hootenanny refuses to die, and will now live on for eternity!

Meanwhile, back in September of 1964, the "Hootenanny" TV show quietly exited the air waves, and was replaced with the new hip teen sounds lead by a musical force coming on strong from the United Kingdom, and a new show called "Shindig!" Whereas the Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines Hootenanny as "a gathering at which folksingers entertain often with the audience joining in," a Shindig is a whole different story, and is defined as a social gathering with dancing, and/or, a usually large or lavish party!!" Now we're talking! Time to loosen those ties, guys!

"Shindig" came on hard and fast, and was one of the best things that aired in the evening on TV for young people! Time for Lawrence Welk to go find something wonderful somewhere else, and make room for music by The Beatles, The Who, The Byrds, Marvin Gaye, Manfred Mann, The Animals, The Zombies, The Yardbirds, The Tempatations, and so much more! The timeless Johnny Cash was one of the very few to make a successful transition from "Hootenanny" to "Shindig!"

Once something gets as big as "Shindig," there's always some novelty acts lurking in the wings! Super-Snooper and Blabber Mouse's "Monster Shindig" album was released in 1966 towards the end of the craze!

Along with Hootenannies, Shindigs are still alive and well today!!

In January of 1965," Shindig" was a little over halfway through it's run when, the all new and in colour "Hullabaloo" came on the scene on NBC while "Shindig" was still going on ABC! Merriam-Webster defines a hullabaloo as "a very noisy and confused situation, or a situation in which many people are upset and angry about something!" Indeed, "The times were a' changin'!"

This "Hullaballo" game wasn't just a game, it was an "Electric Teen Game," and it doesn't seem very angry or upset to me! Maybe it was a different story if you lost!

As far as I know, Johnny Cash never appeared on "Hullabaloo," but just a few years later, he would have his own prime time variety show called "The Johnny Cash Show," featuring the talents of people like Eric Clapton and Carl Perkins! And as you can well see, the term Hullabaloo has persevered all the way into the Simpsons years!

In 1965, "Hullabaloo" hit the height of redundancy when the English group named The Hullabaloos hit the charts with their bleach-blonde Buddy Holly soundin ' release, "The Hullaballoos On Hullabaloo!" I actually have this album! These four poor unfortunate dudes held the honor of the ugliest UK band until A Flock Of Seagulls came along! Hoot, Hoot!!!

 “There's a lot of things blamed on me that never happened. But then, there's a lot of things that I did that I never got caught at.”
― Johnny Cash

OUTER LIMITS / A Feasibility Study - Daystar Productions - 1964

It's time for a classic episode from this wonderful science fiction series, here at The Dungeon!.. The story's about a group of people from Earth taken to a distant planet to become slaves and was directed by the great Byron Haskin who also manned the helm in THE WAR OF THE WORLDS, CONQUEST OF SPACE, FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON, CAPTAIN SINBAD, ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS and THE POWER. The story was written by Joseph Stefano.

Eegah!! sent over a sound clip from this episode for our earjoyment, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button located there by our creepy fog bank, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula!.. Here's a taste of... A FEASIBILITY STUDY!

A mysterious spacecraft from the planet Luminos appears and emits a giant ray on a section of a neighborhood on an Earth city...

Seconds later a six block chunk of the area has been torn from the ground and disappeared!

The next day the people in the neighborhood are perplexed by the heavy fog, just trying to get to work is a daunting task if not a complete impossibility since they are now on Luminos.

Then, our neighbor is met by this group of unworldly beings! What the Hell's going on?!

Another neighbor is taken to the Luminoids' rocky lair where he's briefed on their plan to enslave the people of Earth! Their Queen is sealed in a glass tube to protect her from the infection that has already plagued the rest of the Luminoids.

The leader of the Luminoids tells our friend that him and the others must avoid the infection in order for their evil plan to work...

The wife of the man isn't feeling herself and she soon contracts the infection.

An infected neighbor has come to the church where the uninfected people are holed up, seeking help and comfort from them. The infected wife also shows up...

In a move of ultimate compassion and sacrifice, the group of neighbors decide to let the man and woman into the church, which will cause them to all be infected. But, the Luminoids will now not be able to fulfill their ruthless plan!

Back on Earth, the people are lucky that this is the worst they will suffer from the Luminoids!

We're back on Wednesday when we'll bring you more of why you're here!!

KOROLEVSTVO KRIVYKH ZERKAL - "Kingdom Of Crooked Mirrors" Part Deux (1963)

 Greg Goodsell back again – here is the second installment to the classic Russian fairy tale film, KINGDOM OF CROOKED MIRRORS. Check an earlier post to bring you up to speed if you’re unaware on this one – you don’t check back every day to see what we’ve cooked up for you? For shame!

Our twins must make it past these fearsome giants in a clever forced perspective shot.

Yet another delightful matte painting! Pay attention to the spider at the right, it's a recurring motif --

Here is the helpful chambermaid. Perhaps tiring of her subservient status, and sick of her servitude to King Torrap (parrot spelled backwards), she aids our two plucky heroines! Viva la revolution!

Oh my! Some Soviet-style sentiment just snuck by the censors!

Here's the plan! She disguises the gals as pages to sneak into the king's antechamber!

There's that spider again! Yaaaaah!

Decadent capitalists bend the ear of our nefarious king!

Here we go! Mr. Doat (that's Toad backwards) enters the scene -- he's as flamboyant as any villain on the old Batman TV show of the 1960s!

AH! It's the lovely and lethal Queen Elitper (that's Reptile spelled backwards) giving us her patented Bette Davis eyes!

Doat and Elitper have a convo and you know it can't be any good! Watch out, kids!

In the meantime, Dneirf is kept hostage at this Spider themed prison! Looks like the most boring ride in Disneyland, if you ask me!

This shot makes me cringe. My longstanding fear of heights, I suppose.

Yippee! Yet another matte painting!

Here we are at Doat's digs, and just by the look of things, it's leading up to one hell of a wild ride!

The bad guys shouldn't be quick to have a toast -- our two little girl heroines are out to foil them at the last minute!

It's the twins to the rescue!

Will Doat and Elitper beat the girls in time for evil to triumph? This is a kiddie film, whaddya expect?

THERE! Evil has failed! Phew!

Which key to unlock Dneirf with? They're both identical in this crazy mirrored universe!

Here we go! The girls rescue our hero and sing a song about universal friendship and brotherhood. "What country are you girls from?' he asks them. “Why, the best country in the whole wide world," one of them says.

Not so fast, there buddy! The kids have won out and we're on our way to a happy ending!

And there you have it! KINGDOM OF CROOKED MIRRORS is a delightful fantasy that should be seen on one of myriad DVD versions with English subtitles.

CURSES! Foiled again -- and with that, your humble narrator Greg Goodsell must bid adieu.

Bye bye now!