Ugghhh…
Hello, Children. You’ll have to pardon me. Your old Granny is feeling the after-effects of an over–indulgence of candy, pies, desserts of all kinds, eggnog and food, food, and more food that I have had since the holidays started back in late October. All this yummy stuff was too good to pass up! I’m sure there are a lot of you out there suffering from Holiday Hangover. But, it was all worth it! It’ll just take a few more days to recover.
I just love the holiday season. Cool weather means Halloween, then Thanksgiving and Christmas. And then the anticipation of a new year and all the good things to come. There is just something magical about this time of year and I look forward to it with eager anticipation. It’s just a time for family, friends, sharing, and good times.
And speaking of good times, this past Halloween’s Monster Bash was a hit. We all are still talking about it. An added treat for me was when “Me and My Mummy” from the album Monster Mash was playing and The Radio Reaper approached me and asked if I could follow him back to his crypt. I did, and it was then he handed me a dusty old record of radio spots he had found buried at the bottom of his reliquary. I looked at it and commented that I had forgotten about these two features from the ‘50s that were released together as a double bill. I thanked him for the record and we hurried back to the party. I was anxious to hear the spots and present them to you. So, enjoy the spots for Return of the Fly and The Alligator People.
Return of the Fly was, of course, the follow-up to the successful 1958 film The Fly. In this movie, Phillipe Delambre, the now-grown son of Andre Delambre from the first movie, sets out to continue and perfect his father’s experiments. When his assistant turns out to be an industrial spy who wants to steal his secrets, a fight ensues, and Phillipe is knocked unconscious and placed in the transporter device along with a fly, and when he is re-materialized, appears as the human mutation with the head, arm and leg of the fly. This time his fly head is huge, something the movie doesn’t explain.
Phillipe tracks down the bad guy and his cohort and kills them both. The police detective in charge of the case catches the human fly and it and Phillipe are remixed, returning both to their normal selves.
This movie takes on a less somber tone than the original, playing instead on the horror elements of cross mutations. But it does feature a happy ending. Vincent Price is the only returning actor and he reprises his role as Uncle Francois.
The co-feature, The Alligator People, is mentioned almost as an afterthought in the spots. The film stars Beverly Garland, Bruce Bennett, Lon Chaney and Richard Crane, is told in flashbacks, and concerns experiments with reptile hormones to regenerate limbs of injured people. Of course things don’t go as planned, and Crane, the victim of a plane crash seeking a cure for his mangled body, ultimately changes into a half man, half alligator.
The double bill was released in 1959. These radio spots are a treat to listen to, as they take a different approach to promoting the two movies. See what you think…but don’t let them bug you too much.
Return of the Fly and The Alligator People Radio Spots with Bonus! Enjoy two radio spots from the original…The Fly! Help me!!!
