SKI PARTY - "Snow-Snow A Go-Go" (1965)

Winter just ended a couple of weeks ago, and maybe depending on what you read, this Covid crap is winding down, so it must be time for a Saturday Night Special "Ski Party."

"Ski Party" was made in 1965, and was basically the last of the beach party movies, except they changed the location!

Frankie Avalon is still in there, and this time he's joined by Dwayne (Dobie Gillis) Hickman. They are college students and have just been given a lecture on "Fun Without Sex," which is pretty much the theme of this whole film, sexy, but clean!

Surprise, surprise, an uncredited Annette shows up as the instructor of the class!

This is one of the coolest shots I have ever seen of a drive-in move theatre.

 

The guys thought they had a hot date with Yvonne (Batgirl) Craig and Deborah (Gidget) Walley, but the girls are in the backseat together yucking it up instead of making out with the guys, and that was not the plan!

After the movies, they go to the local hot spot to park, and Frankie has to ask his friend to pull his car up, so they can get in, and when the gal he's kissing, turns around, it's the teacher Annette looking more sultry than she ever has been. They were obviously trying to have some fun with this film.

They're off to the slopes which in reality was Sun Valley, Idaho. On the bus trip the gang is joined by Lesley Gore who mimes her 1965 hit "Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows" that peaked at #13 on the Billboard charts in 1965. 

 

Bringing the beach to twenty below!

Frankie and Dwayne channel their inner Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, and pose as British birds to try and find out why the chicks don't dig them.

They go to a slumber party as the girls, but get locked in with all the other girls, at which point Frankie asks what age this film is aimed at, and Dwayne replies "Fifteen," so they decide they need to split the scene posthaste!

Robert Q. Lewis provides the dreadful and totally unnecessary attempt at comedy relief!

This polar bear is another running gag that goes absolutely nowhere!

Honestly, for me, the best part is when James Brown and the Famous Flames show up at the lodge as the ski patrol! It's not the greatest quality in the world but you can watch it right

 HERE!

The only thing is, this is a strange mix of "I Got You." It just doesn't sound right if you''re familiar with the song!

And then James dances backwards right out the door and disappears just as fast as he showed up!

In the final big chase scene there's even an uncredited appearance by Dungeon Super Hero Dick (Bucket Of Blood) Miller as a cab driver!

Just like a lot of other things, "Cruise Party" never happened!

PARAMOUNT Presents POPULAR SCIENCE - 1939

Today we go behind the scenes of the making of the Popeye cartoon "Aladdin And His Wonderful Lamp" at the Fleischer Studios in Miami.

Here are the guys working on the storyboards for their upcoming Popeye cartoon. I swear, there are like 500 drawings pinned up on the wall.

They took their work pretty seriously back in the day, every detail  is worked out by these guys, it would have been great working there, fun.

Animators then do all the drawings of the main character poses...

Then those drawings go to the "inbetweeners" whose job it is to draw the in between poses of the character. That's where they flip through the drawings to make sure there's a smooth transition of frames before...

The drawings are sent over to the inkers who outline the characters in black on the cells.

Then it's off to the paint department where the colors are mixed for the cells.

They paint on the reverse side of the cell...

And when it's turned over.. Viola!!

From there, the background artists uses a cell to help with their layout so that everything matches up before the multiple overlaid cells are filmed.

Max Fleischer supervises the scenes with their special 3-D background sequences.

The background is moved slightly and a different cell is photographed in front of the background, pure magic when you see the finished cartoon.

Once it's filmed, it goes to the editing room for final approval.

After it's all done...

We get to watch a great Popeye cartoon!!

MONSTROUS MOVIE MUSIC - "Go There and Buy Stuff" (2021)

Here's a different kind of Weird Wednesday for anybody who is truly a fan of 1950's and 60's monster movie music like we are. I just recently found out about this place call "Monstrous Movie Music," and it really is a fascinating site to visit. What you'll find there are soundtracks and compilation CD's from some of the most interesting films ever made.

Everything here is done up in unsurpassed museum quality, from the artwork to the remastered music by brilliant composers like Ferde Grofé, Nicholas Carras, and Gerald Fried etc, and if not remastered, the music has been re-created to the highest standards!

To quote the site directly..............."Our re-recordings were conducted by Masatoshi Mitsumoto leading the Radio Symphony Orchestras of Cracow and Slovakia in vibrantly-authentic performances that have been faithfully restored by music expert Kathleen Mayne.  Our original soundtrack releases are made from the best surviving music elements -- often from the composers’ own private tapes -- remastered to bring out all the excitement of the music.  Our striking covers were painted by renowned horror artist Robert Aragon and legendary science fiction illustrator Vincent DiFate"

 

I dig the cover of this "The Brain From Planet Arous" CD by Robert Aragon the most, and it even looks cooler when you're holding it in your hands! 

 

 Although monster movies are the main focus, you'll also find forgotten soundtrack music from some Western films, and one I particularly like that's full of teen angst pictured here called "Juvenile Jive."

If you have any doubts, go check out some of the audio samples, and take my word that the packaging is of the same high quality standards as the music!!

This is fun and completely unique stuff! Go on, indulge yourself!

WEIRD WOMAN / Weaving Her Dread Spell Of Voodoo - 1944

In this Inner Sanctum story based on the novel CONJURE WIFE, a professor meets and marries an exotic native woman. Unknown to him is the fact that she was raised by superstitious natives who believe her to have supernatural powers.

Here's something I just learned, and fills in a blank about what year we started watching the great Universal movies playing on TV. Well, in 1957, Universal released 52 of their titles and called it their Shock Package. Then in 1958, they released 20 more titles and named it, Son Of Shock!! Boy is that poster misleading!!

It stars Lon Chaney as Norman Reed , Anne Gwynne as his wife Paula, Evelyn Ankers as Ilona Carr, Ralph Morgan and Elisabeth Russell.

The story starts with Professor Norman Reed at his home after returning from the South Seas with his new wife, Paula. They brought many items from the island to decorate their home, and now he's pondering how these items of superstition play a role in native life. Then he has a flashback of when he met his wife to be...

On vacation, Reed walks in on natives dancing to drum beats, he watches.

After the dancing ends, he walks right on in on the gathering and the male natives are ready to pounce on him until a mysterious woman enters the scene.

Reed makes the mistake of trying to touch the woman and he pays the price, big time. After that, the rest is history.

At Norman's party for his return, his old flame is there to belittle his new wife Paula. Later when she has Norman alone, Ilona  tells him that she wants him, so he should dump Paula. Norman basically tells her to go to Hell... 

Unfortunately, Norman and Ilona work in the same building at the university, so, it's easy to spread rumors about the staff. Like here, this student's girlfriend has a crush on Reed and got the job as his secretary over Ilona. She tells him that the professor has a thing for her...

Then she comes up with a tale about a manuscript that could get her friend Evelyn's husband (professor Sawtelle at the university) in trouble and Norman knows all about it and is going to expose him!

Sawtelle dies and Ilona starts spreading the rumor that Paula and her voodoo were behind the... MURDER!

Then, Norman follows Paula into a cemetery only to find her stash of voodoo paraphernalia, which he ends up trampling on in anger.

Back at their home, Norman demands that she get rid of all the items and burn them in the fireplace, including her sacred amulet...

After Ilona has spread even more lies, Norman and the jealous boy at school have another confrontation, this time the kid brings a gun!

Yes, in the scuffle, the moron shoots himself, Norman's blamed, but he's released from jail (on bond) because the boy lived.

Everything is going crazy until Norman tells Evelyn (who still blames Paula for her husband's death) that all the mayhem being created points in one direction... ILONA!! Evelyn sees the light and agrees to help in exposing the Royal Bitch!!

Evelyn invites Ilona over to show her something, on the floor... She has made up a story about a dream she had, and a tall figure told her that the liar would die in (I think) 13 days at one minute after midnight. Ilona sees her own face on the voodoo doll on the rug. Wild!!

Evelyn keeps repeating, and the liar will die in 13 days! Evelyn really despises the evil Bitch at this point, very satisfying.

Ilona sees this when there are exactly seven days left til doomsday.

On the last night, Ilona shows up at Evelyn's place and demands to have the doll, and in doing so, exposes herself as the person responsible for the insanity... With Norman, Paula, the head of the university and the dead boy's girlfriend, Margaret, listening in the shadows.

Ilona jumps out the window and gets onto a trellis to get away, but, her weight causes some boards to break and she falls through, hanging herself  with some vines, at exactly at one minute after midnight, just like in the made up dream! This was a good one!