THE GAS HOUSE KIDS IN HOLLYWOOD - Albert Glasser - Carl Switzer (1947)

So just how many freakin' ghost story - haunted house - crime movies did they make in the 30's, 40's and 50's anyhow? Beats the living Hell out of me, but one thing I do know is that tonight's Dungeon feature is one of them!!

I don't know about today, but it used to be that everybody knew who the "Little Rascals," or "Our Gang," or "The Eastside Kids," or "The Bowery Boys" were, so I can only suppose that nobody knows who the much lesser known "Gas House Kids" were!

The "Gas House Kids" are four young men from New York headed to Hollywood to see their hero on the television, Lance Carter! In the front seat is Benny (Butch in the Bowery Boys) Bartlett as Orvie, and Rudy (Gas House Kids Go West) Wissler as Scat! In The Back is Tommy (Butch in Our Gang) Bond as Chimp, and Carl (Alfalfa) Switzer as Alfalfa! Two Butch's from two different gangs, how weird is that?

Yep, same Alfalfa from "The Little Rascals!" Carl was about 20 when this film was made, and No, he kept two of his trademark characteristics, the name Alfalfa, and the fact that he still can't sing! Dungeon stalwart Albert (Monster From Green Hell, Beginning Of The End, The Cyclops, The Amazing Colossal Man, Earth Vs The Spider) Glasser, what a gasser, was the composer of most of the music in this film, but here's just a little of Alfalfa's singing instead!

Warning: Make sure and there are no dogs in the room and that all the crystal is tucked away safely before listening to this clip!

Nice Woody, but instead of a surfboard, it's got a coffin in the back!

The boys give the kindly old man and his box a ride to his Hollywood home after the Woody busts an axle! The old man turns out to be a Professor Gately Crawford, a very complex person!

How fortunate for the boys that the Professor has a beautiful daughter with a bunch of beautiful friends! The Professor's daughter Hazel is the drop dead gorgeous Jan (The Frozen Ghost) Bryant!

The Professor also has the dead body of his dear old friend that he is using to find some kind of time portal! Pretty cool mad lab!

The kids and the girls are getting along famously, and having a grand time out by the pool!

Even in a comedy, the concept of a dead body in a swimming pool is pretty gross!

The boys go to the movie studio and bust in to see if they can enlist the help of their hero Lance Carter to solve this murder mystery!

Michael (Missile To The Moon) Whalen is Lance Carter! He welcomes the boys into his dressing room, and accepts their invitation to help them with this case! Lance is a two-faced liar! He is one of the guys responsible for all the weird happenings at the Professor's home!

The police are spending 100% of their time investigating these murders!

Back in the days of "Our Gang," Butch and Alfalfa weren't such tight buddies!

This gag was also used in a "Three Stooges" episode, except instead of a skeleton it was a ghost!

The candle is moving by itself, in the dark, they couldn't see that they had put it on top of a tortoise!

Movies just wouldn't be the same without guys like Milton Parsons as Professor Crawford! Here's just a handful of his 164 credits, HOLD THAT GHOST, CRY OF THE WEREWOLF, DICK TRACY VS. CUEBALL, DICK TRACY MEETS GRUESOME, & THE MONSTER THAT CHALLENGED THE WORLD! Milton was also in three "Twilight Zone" episodes, "The New Exhibit," "I Dream Of Genie," and "Once Upon A Time!"

It's difficult for kids to grow up and remain cute and innocent, so sure, The Gas House Kids are an awkward bunch, but considering that Carl Switzer got shot and killed over a $50.00 dispute, I think it all makes sense! I found "The Gas House Kids In Hollywood" streaming on Amazon Prime, and you probably can too, if you want to!

NIGHT OF THE CREEPS / TriStar Pictures, Delphi V Productions - 1986

Welcome to The Dungeon!.. Here's a wild and weird movie from writer/director Fred Dekker, it's all about alien brain parasites that turn their hosts into killer zombies. Filmed in the San Fernando Valley, specifically at my old stomping ground, Northridge. I even experienced the uncanny Northridge quake in 1994... YOW!

Here's a nice little sound clip from this creepy crawly sci-fi flick, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button located there by our Dungeon Creep, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula!.. Here's... NIGHT OF THE CREEPS!

So, here's the canister full of brain parasites ejected from an alien ship as it heads to Earth.

Okay, it's the year 1959 and "Teen Beat," my favorite song from that year (I was age 11) is playing on the radio, as heard in the sound clip!

This couple at Lover's Lane watches as the fiery canister of brain worms crashes to Earth.

Flash to the present... Our teen heroes just walk into the mad lab at Cal State Northridge (?) and find this guy in suspended animation just hanging around.

The policeman who found this scene in 1959 has a present day flashback in dying color. I swear, if I was a long haired zombie I'd look like this handsome guy here!

Here's yer gratuitous topless shot, female stars in 1986 were required to show their wares!

The people at the lab are so focused on work that they don't even notice this parasite laden dude get up and walk out the door, naked and noticed by none!

Alright!!.. PLAN 9 is playing on the local channel, get the kids!

The parasite is out of the bag and the cops bring out the big guns!..

Problem is, shoot a zombie in the head and out pop a brain full of parasites. To me, the effects guys didn't take enough time to make the dummy look more realistic.

Jason Lively is the hero, seen here torching parasites dressed in formal attire with a carnation.

Why take a chance, burn the whole freakin' place down! USA!.. USA!

But, quess what?.. This pooch is spitting out parasites to start the fun all over!

Here's a very cool faux EC comic cover with a nice zombie portrait!.. Tune in again on Wednesday when we continue down the track aboard The Dungeon Express!

WHO KILLED TEDDY BEAR - Kasha & Gaudio - "Born To Be Bad" (1965)

If you're not at least 40 or 50, you probably don't even know who these people are, but for anybody over 50, or any of you purists of Pop culture, tonight's Dungeon Saturday Night Special should be a real treat!

Made in 1965, "Who Killed Teddy Bear" is a very interesting movie, sleazy, arty, and packed with talent; the kind of a film that I don't even feel like explaining that much, and I probably won't!

The film opens with some hazy closeups of a guy who appears by all rights to have some real sexual problems!

The real problem is that he's not keeping them to himself! He's found himself a girl he's very fond of where he works, but he's a little shy, so when he calls her, he doesn't identify himself! He's a creep, and these homoerotic opening scenes set the scene quite nicely!

The triangle of talent in this film starts with the beautiful singer, dancer and actress,
 Juliet Prowse!
Here's some trivia from IMDB about Juliet Prowse you just can't ignore: In 1981 she was singing "Fever" at the Las Vegas Hilton when a fire broke out, and 8 people died!  In 1987, she was mauled by the same tiger twice on two separate TV circus shows, that required many stitches etc. She was also the first guest on "The Muppet Show!"

Juliet is Norah Dain! She spins platters in a local disco club, and what a place it is! I didn't hear any of that "Johnny Rivers Live At The Whiskey A Go Go" LP, but there is a whole lot of rockin' music in this movie that was written by two time Oscar winning composer Al Kasha, and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member, and one of the Four Seasons, the amazing Bob Gaudio!

Here's just a little over a minute of the musical talent I'm talking about!
"Born To Be Bad!"

Whoop, whoop! Let's give a big hand to cinematographer Joseph C. Brun for some excellent dance floor shots!! This whole club scene goes on for quite a while, and is a pretty damn interesting mix of peoples!

Some still unidentified sleazeball is calling Norah, and spying on her from another building not too far away! She has informed the authorities about the predator, and they are doing the best they can with their limited resources!

What a shot! We don't promote smoking! It's a horrible habit, but it was pretty cool back in 1965! It was just natural to have a cough back then!

The second corner of this triangle of talent is venerable game show host Jan Murray! Jan hosted one of THE best TV games shows of all time, "Treasure Hunt" from 1956 to 1959!" Jan was originally a comedian, and performed on the Ed Sullivan Show 10 times! From 1966 to 1980, Jan was a staple on "The Hollywood Squares!" It's all that, that makes it so unsettling to watch him in a seriously dramatic role like this! It's like the perfect amount of salt on your cupcake!

Jan is Lieutenant Dave Madden! He specializes in criminal deviant behaviour! His wife was raped and murdered by an unknown assailant! This is a shot of some of Lt. Madden's research library!

They have tapped her phone, and Lt. Madden has appointed himself as Norah's personal protector! He's not supposed to drink on the job, but he's willing to make an exception in her case!

Lt. Madden is so weird and obsessive , you really start to wonder if he's the one with the dual identity! He accidentally walks in on Norah as she's changing! He's starting to freak her out a little, because she's not sure who she can trust!

 

The third corner of this triangle of talent is Sal (THE GENE KRUPA STORY, REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE, GIANT, ROCK, PRETTY BABY, DINO) Mineo! Sal released a few singles, and a couple made it into the top 40! Sal Mineo was stabbed to death on February 12, 1976 by a punk who robbed him in West Hollywood! The murderer was sentenced to life in prison, but was paroled in 1990! (Great justice system!) Sal is Lawrence Sherman, the creep on the phone, and that is his mentally challenged sister Edie by his side as played by Margot Bennett. Margot might have only three credits to her name, but she has some kind of magnetism that attracted the likes of Malcolm(A CLOCKWORK ORANGE) McDowell and Keir(2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY) Dullea as mates! That was Edies's face and teddy bear peering out of the holes on the title card! She fell down the stairs at a young age and suffered some brain damage, and now it's up to Lawrence to watch after her!

The meeting of these two groups at the zoo made for a supremely awkward moment! 

Edie's at the age where her hormones are raging! She might not be able to think straight, but she knows she wants to dress up nice and wear makeup, and Lawrence doesn't like it one bit!

Throw in an obligatory swimming pool scene and you can really show off your star's attributes!

One night we watch Lawrence as he prowls the streets, dives, adult book stores, and adult theaters of 1965 New York City!

Lawrence commits a horrifying act after he gets all charged up! He mistakes his and Norah's Boss Meriam for Norah, and he strangles her to death!  The magnificent Elaine Stritch has the role of Miriam! Elaine passed away less than a year ago! She was still actively working up to that time!

 

Norah and Lawrence are starting to get along pretty good as long as he keeps his real personality in check. There's no romance, they're just having fun together and Norah trusts Lawrence more than she trusts Lt. Madden at this point, which turns out to be a very poor choice! It gives the two a chance to show off some of their dancing talents!

Finally, he can't take it any more, and Lawrence gets carried away, and almost rapes Norah!

Lt. Madden finally puts things together and rushes over to Norah's flat in what seems just the nick of time, and bitchslaps Lawrence around like a little girl! When he goes over to comfort Norah, Lawrence darts out the door and out onto the streets!

Run Larry, Run!!

Lucky you, I searched forever before I ever found a copy of this movie in a dark alleyway in Chelsea, but just now, I did a quick search and found a pretty nice copy streaming on Youtube!  Your life is good!!