AND NOW A WORD FROM OUR SPONSORS (1950's)

Whether you like it or not, young or old, we are all influenced by the people spending billions of dollars to get us to buy their products. The TV ads from the 1950's were more entertaining than today's, but boy were a lot of them diabolical. On the other hand, without these sponsors, we'd never have got a chance to see all those great shows, so this Weird Wednesday's offering is a salute to all those companies who, right or wrong, paid the bills.

When Aspirin or Bufferin didn't do the trick, you always had Anacin to turn to for those really big headaches brought on by the threat of nuclear war.

Camay Soap's main selling feature was that it was pink, but not just pink, "Loving Pink!"

"There's never been anything so lingeringly lovely in a beauty soap."

 

"Only Cheer has the blue magic whitener."

And it's a damn good thing, because look how much laundry she had to do!

"Chlorinol was a trade name for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) that were once used as dielectric fluids and coolants in transformers and other electrical equipment."

 No wonder it worked so good! 

 

This is a prime example of why you need to stock the shelves in stores correctly, otherwise the packaging would look half ass.

"On top of Spaghetti, all covered with sauce."

I had no idea that Chef Boy-Ar-Dee was a real person! I just thought he was a picture on a label.

Now this is amazing!! You could save a whole twenty-eight cents!

For those of you are aren't good with math, here it is spelled out in black and white!

More soap because people were proud of their hygiene in the 50's.

So when all that cleaning got to you, and that fifteen cents a serving spaghetti has your stomach in a knot, and Anacin didn't do the trick, it was time to break out the Bromo Seltzer!

 

And then there were those nasty little things known as cigarettes!

How did we survive?

Salem cigarettes had special perforations in the paper that made them have "Just the right amount of fresh air that blends with each puff to give you a softer, fresher, more flavorable smoke than ever."

She's enjoying herself so much, it almost makes me want to start smoking again!

Too bad we have no "Aromarama" feature so I could show you how bad her ashtray breath stinks right now!

This guy needed a drag off his Winston cigarette so bad, he couldn't even wait to get out of the water!

 

 

Winston was never my favorite brand of cigarette, and just maybe it's because they were specially processed! That's all they had to tell you back then, no facts, no truth, just meaningless words, "Specially Processed!"

 

But then maybe it was because I didn't have a cool boat to cruise around and smoke them on! Too bad that back then, they didn't have to tell you all the side effects for 30 seconds like they do in all the absurd modern commercials for prescription medicines that some guy fifty years into the future will probably be writing about how equally bad they were!

ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN / "No Holds Barred" - 1952

Here's a Superman episode going back to the wrasslin' scene in the early fifties. It has some great co-stars like Richard Reeves, Dick Elliott, Herb Vigran and Henry Kulky.

So, big brute wrassler Bad Luck Brannigan has hospitalized seven victims with some paralyzing moves, and...

Perry White is furious that Brannigan continues to use what should be considered illegal holds. He has hired a young wrassler, Wayne Winchester, to watch a match with the gang to see if they could find a clue to the mysterious moves. Bad Luck gets another win, sending the guy to the hospital, and they don't spot anything unusual.

Bad Luck has a secret weapon from India, Swami Ramm, who is being forced to show him and his crew of  brutes the dirty tricks to win with.

But Swami thinks his tricks are being used for the wrong reason, so the boss Mortimer Murray tells the boys to go lock him in his room.

Clark and Perry watch on TV as Wayne and Lois went to the match. Clark clearly sees the move Bad Luck is using, and after the guy falls down from the pinch, BL covers him for the win.

Wayne immediately goes into the ring and challenges Bad Luck to a match!

In the meantime, Superman pays Swami a visit to find out what the new move will be for the match with Wayne. Swami explains his situation with Murray and is cooperative.

Clark shows Wayne the move, and it smarts! So, Clark decides to help Wayne build up his neck muscles before the match

So, Swami shows the guys the move, it's gonna be sweet...

Murray and the gang are at ringside for the event, let the dirty tricks begin!

Bad Luck tries to put the pinch on Wayne but our hero just smiles at him. Then Wayne proceeds to kick BL's butt for the win!

Murray has the guys work Swami over to find out who he told about the move. But, guess who just happens to pop in?

Superman beats them all from pillar to post. But take a good look at our man of steel.... I don't think that's George Reeves.

Swami says he can cure the victims of their ailments and we gots a happy ending stocking stuffer for everyone!

SEVEN KEYS TO BALDPATE - "The Mansion Of Fear" (1947)

 

This week's Saturday Night Special is a story that some people think was interesting enough to make into a movie multiple times, and then even more.

 

"Seven Keys To Baldplate" was the very first novel written by Earl Derr Biggers, and was made into a film seven times, and two other times with a different title, but same basic story line. Earl Derr Biggers also created the character Charlie Chan, and seemed to have a fondness for the word key. Some of his other writings were titled "The House Without A Key," and "Keeper Of The Keys."

The star of this 1947 version is Phillip (The Leech Woman) Terry as mystery writer Kenneth Magee. It's a cold night and he's on a train headed to Baldpate, a resort in the middle of nowhere. Baldpate is supposed to be vacant for the winter, but the owner, a Mr. Bentley, has given him a key, because they have a bet that he can't write a story in one night without being scared off.

There's a lot of this!

At first I thought it was going to be like "The Shining."

Magee arrives at the train station. Makes me cold just looking at it.

The station master is reading one of Magee's books, but doesn't like it that much because he thinks there should be more "shooting," and not so much "thinking' and talking."

The station master gives Magee instructions on how to get to Baldpate. The station master was played by Erville (The Feathered Serpent) Alderson. Erville had a whopping 214 credits to his name.

When Magee arrives at Baldpate, he finds out that it is not as vacant as he was told. He's greeted by the not so friendly Eduardo (Monster From Green Hell) Ciannelli as Cargan, who says he is the caretaker.

Gee Whiz, and I thought I had the only key!

The original title of the story Magee is writing was "A Key To Baldpate," but he decides in a hurry to change the name to "Three Keys To Baldpate," as more and more characters keep showing up.

This krazy olde galoot lives down the road, and crawls through the window in Magee's room. He wants to steal Magee's fancy typewiter so he can write a book about why he hates women. He's known as Pete The Hermit, and was played by Jimmy (Dick Tracy's Dilemma) Conlin.

This is Jacqueline (Movie Pests) White as Mr. Bentley's secretary Mary Jordan. She was sent to Baldpate to help setup Magee for a scare, and keep him occupied so he won't have time to write. She calls her boss to tell him that all is going well, but that she didn't know there were going to be other people there. Mr. Bentley tells her he didn't hire anybody else, and suddenly they both know something isn't right. Jacqueline White just turned 99 about two weeks ago on November 23.

Unfortunately for Mary Jordan, Magee overheard her call, so no matter what she says now, he's not going to believe her whether it's true or not. Behind them is Arthur (Daughter of Dr. Jekyll) Shields as another character with a key, a Professor Bolton.

I probably should have shown you more of the characters who show up with keys, but I just like this shot of Cargan and Mary Jordan's face to face.

Magee's getting a big kick out of all the character's performances, and is feeling pretty smug thinking it's all fake, and not knowing that everything happening around him is real, and that he's in great danger!

 

Here's all you need to get to the bottom of this mystery!!

 

1917 Version of  "Seven Keys To Baldpate" 

 

1929 Version of "Seven Keys To Baldpate" 

1935 Version of "Seven Keys To Baldpate" 

1947 Version of "Seven Keys To Baldpate"