OSWALD THE LUCKY RABBIT In "Wax Works" - 1934

At one point, Walt Disney lost the rights to Oswald The Rabbit, so, came up with Mickey Mouse to compete against Universal Studios!

Here's a fun Halloween Countdown cartoon fer you'se aul... In this story, Oswald owns a wax museum! I guess he IS lucky! On a dark and stormy night someone rings the doorbell and dashes away. Oswald finds a basket on the step, and when he discovers a baby under the covers, he doesn't have much choice and brings the basket inside.

Oswald ain't too happy about the whole arrangement...

The little rabbit has lots of wax characters from history.

And operas, although, Groucho shows up in this scene to steal Juliet from Romeo!

There's even a fan dancer that gets the attention of The Thinker and the little stinker!

And wouldn't you know it, there's a horror chamber to liven things up!

The Hunchback snags the baby and introduces him to the other monsters in the chamber.

Here's good old Dracula to make you quiver!

The Frankenstein Monster eyeballs the little kid.

And the Mummy, Mr. Hyde, Bluebeard... They're all here!

Oh yeah, it's easy to miss the Invisible Man!

As the baby hides from the monsters, a candle ignites a blow torch and melts Mr. Hyde. That gives the little guy an idea and he chases the frightened figures around until the Invisible Man grabs the torch away from him.

Oswald, who was sleeping, hears the commotion and runs to the baby's side, but the little guy's been encased in wax. Then Oswald finds out, HE'S NEXT!

The oldest trick in the book, Oswald was just having a bad dream, although, he does get some hot wax in the mush from a candle the kid's holding! We're back on Wednesday to continue the Halloween insanity, here at The Dungeon!!..

5 MILLION YEARS TO THE ALIEN BAY OF BLOOD IN SPACE

For this Countdown To Halloween Saturday Night Special, I have made you a scary "Ear Movie Sound Scape" with the help of my good friend, the Sonicmeister Chris Phinney!

Chris laid down the base 'harshient' track, and I added sound clips from all these movies you see here. It's only about three minutes long, so Enjoy!

 HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! 

The neat thing is we never used these posters when we wrote about these movies the first time. If you want to be confused, it's all right because most of these films had multiple names. This poster from "5 Million Years To Earth" aka "Quatermass And The Pit," is one of the coolest posters I've seen lately. This guy is attacking this woman, but it really looks like they're dancing!

 

"The 7 Brothers Meet Dracula" was also known as "The Legend Of The 7 Golden Vampires."

Don Dohler's "The Alien Factor."

"Alphaville"

Boy, what kid wouldn't want to have this "Atragon" model?

"Attack Of The Mushroom People"

"Bad Taste"

 

"Battle In Outer Space"

 

And last but not least, Mario Bava's "A Bay Of Blood"

 

If you'd like to hear more from Chris, go check out the Bandcamp page for his Harsh Reality label!

MERRIE MELODIES / "Transylvania 6-5000" - 1963

Bugs is burrowing underground, looking for that illusive Albuquerque, and ends up in Transylvania for another whacky adventure. Directed by Chuck Jones and Maurice Noble.

As Bugs digs away, he runs head first into a mangled old tree. He looks up and notices that he's now in Pittsburghe, Transylvania. Guess he missed his mark by a lot!

He starts wandering up a hill where there's an old castle that looks like a good place to stay the night...

He pulls the noose and the coffin-shaped door creakily opens up for him. Notice the skull hanging there, it's a wind chime!

Once inside, Bugs is greeted by Count Bloodcount, who seems to be an interesting kind of guy. And, he invites our little buddy to spend the night there...

Bugs walks past this weird piano with sharp teeth and claws, with a portrait of 'Mother' hanging on the wall.

The Count shows Bugs to his room, it's confirmed, there's something devilish going on!

As Bugs walks down the hall to his room, he sees these pictures hanging there.

In his room, Bugs can't sleep so he grabs a book to read. He chooses one on magic words and phrases, sounds informative...

As Bugs starts reading, the Count comes a-creepin'. He reads the first magic word, 'abracadabra,' and the vampire changes into a funny looking little bat! Bugs shoos it away.

The Count flies out the window just as Bugs reads the second magic phrase, 'hocus-pocus,' he changes back to human form, and falls to the ground on his face!

Throughout the story is this 2-headed buzzard, Agatha and Emily, what end up amorously chasing a 2-headed male buzzard.

Bugs is obsessed with the two words and just walks around repeating them. At one point, the Count is turned into that pesky bat again and gets sprayed with pesticide!

In a cycle of not learning a lesson, the Count gets caught in a loop of, when he's ready to drop a huge stone on Bugs, he hears the word, 'abracadabra,' and turns into the bat only to get crushed, then hears the words 'hocus-pocus' only to return as a dazed and beat up vampire.

Anyway, Bugs wants to go home and calls an airline to purchase a ticket. As he's talking on the phone, he says, 'abracapocus' and his ears change into bat wings!! He cancels the ticket.

 

He flies off into the moonlight like a good little bunny... So, I'll be back Monday with another treat for you, until then, you'll have to deal with Eegah!! tomorrow, here at The Dungeon!!..

SCHOOLHOUSE ROCK - "Them Not-So-Dry Bones" (1979)

 

We've got some fun stuff lined up for this years "Countdown To Halloween," so let's not just sit around talking about it. This Weird Wednesday edition was an episode of the famed cartoon learning series from 1979 called "Schoolhouse Rock."

This song which is intended to teach about the skeletal system is sung here by super cool jazz trumpeter Jack Sheldon. Jack was so good he played with solid jazz players like Sonny Stitt, Herbie Mann, and Stan Kenton, and he also was on a Monkees LP, and a couple of albums of Tom Waits.

Jack was also an actor and a bandleader. Sadly, he passed away just last year at the age of 88.

 

The original version of "Dem Bones" was written by African-American composer James Weldon Johnson, and was first recorded by the Famous Myers Jubilee Singers in 1928. The lyrics are taken from the Bible, Ezekial 37:1-14, where the Prophet Ezekial visits the Valley of Dry Bones and prophesies that the dead will one day rise again at the command of the Lord.

Here's a very cool version by The Delta Rhythm Boys! 

 

 "Bones are heard of, but seldom scene, 'cept each year 'round Halloween."

"But I've got a shockaroo...................

..........Right now there's a skeleton locked up inside of you!"

"Minus bones, you're just a blob."

"Your heart and lungs are tucked in there behind your ribs, your bones have been protecting them since we were little kids"

"Shinbone connected to the knee bone!"

"So please remember, you got to do it while you're young!"

 

"Feed your bones some good old calcium!"

 

 

See for yourself!