Granny Creech’s Radio Spot Crypt

Greetings, Lovers of Radio Spots and all things collectible.

I hope this week’s installment finds you doing well.

This year has gotten off to a bittersweet start for me. My very distant cousin, Estil Yancey, passed away early last week, and, since I was the only surviving relative, I was called on to help put his final things in order. He was 104 years old and I didn’t know him that well, having only seen him a few times in my life.  He lived over in Possum Hollow so it was quite a ways away.

I grabbed Uncle Oscar and we made the three-hour journey over to the funeral home to make final arrangements. We met with his lawyer and the funeral director, a gaunt-looking fellow named Phineas Grimm. He looked so nice, so natural. He showed us Cousin Estil’s insurance policy and I couldn’t believe all the extra charges the funeral home had tacked on. These places really make a killing! I had to come up with an extra $100 to cover the overages. Uncle Oscar and I made plans to pick up Cousin Estil’s body in two days for interment in Witchwood Cemetery. We planned to have a simple memorial service before he was laid to rest. Uncle Oscar said he would handle everything. It was a serious undertaking.

The lawyer told me that I was the sole heir of Cousin Estil’s estate and that everything in and including his house was mine. He told me that Estil had been in poor health for most of last year, but he was still bright and alert. For some time he had volunteered in the geriatric ward at the local hospital because “he wanted to help the old people.” I told him I had no use for the house and he said he would take care of getting it listed on the market.

Before we left to go to the house, Uncle Oscar and I got to see Cousin Estil. Poor old critter. He was skin and bones. The lawyer told us that neighbors had helped bring him food and that nurses had checked on him everyday at the end. It was a grave situation. One day he fell and broke his hip, was taken to the hospital, and died of pneumonia a few days later.

Cousin Estil’s house was a modest little cottage with few things. After we saw what was there I decided to give his possessions to Goodwill. However, we did find a large footlocker in his bedroom which contained a treasure trove of valuable memorabilia. For much of his life Cousin Estil had worked in radio, serving as a DJ, a program manager, and in management. We found stacks of old 78 rpm records from artists like Kay Kyser, Glenn Miller, Perry Como, Dean Martin and others, as well as 45s and LPs from the rock-and-roll era. We also found old transcription disks of vintage commercials, lots of scripts and copy, and, believe it or not, a few radio spot records.

Uncle Oscar and I loaded up his things, dropped off most at the Goodwill and headed home. I spent a few hours that night going through the footlocker, reliving the past and playing some of my favorite Kay Kyser songs.

The radio spots were priceless and you’ll hear them over the next few weeks. Since I remember Cousin Estil being a fitness buff and in the prime of life back when I knew him, I decided to choose a sword-and-sandal double feature to honor him in this week’s installment.

So, from early Spring, 1964, listen as Paul Frees tells us about the American International combo Goliath and the Sins of Babylon, with Mark Forest, and Samson and the Slave Queen, with Alan Steel. Thank you, Cousin Estil, for having the foresight to save this and the others for me to share on my site all these years later. Rest In Peace, and may “the hits just keep on comin.”

Happy New Year!

Land sakes! Here we are in January already. It just seems like yesterday when we were opening presents around the Christmas tree and enjoying fun with family and friends.

I was thinking back to 2024 and all the things that had happened to us, good and bad. Good memories were made, and things happened to make us wonder what life is all about. The older I get, the faster time goes…suddenly it’s a new year and the past slowly fades and memories dim.

I was over at the Witchwood Cemetery the other day talking with Uncle Oscar about the new arrivals to the cemetery we had received over the last year, and we both agreed time is moving way too fast. We agreed how memories are important and that we should cherish and hold on to the good ones.

Uncle Oscar said he appreciated my radio spot articles and the memories they brought back to him. I told him I appreciated Ol’ Zombos for giving me the chance to preserve them for posterity. They bring back memories for me, too, I said. I got to thinking which spots I should highlight this time around and the choice became obvious. Suddenly I was back in September, 1960, and was going to see The Time Machine.

Ah, yes: George Pal’s wonderful movie– poignant, sentimental, adventurous and hopeful. It makes one appreciate old friends, wonderful times, and times that can’t be recaptured. Or can they? With a time machine anything is possible.

In fact, you have all the time in the world.

…

The Time Machine (1960) Radio SpotsRead More »

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
and The Alligator People
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Greetings, lovers of all things Halloween!

Have you all recovered? Mercy, it has been a week to remember! Everyone here in Squirrel Hollow is still talking about how much fun Halloween was this year and how successful our Monster Bash was.

Let me tell you all about it. It first started with the annual Trick or Treat time in town. All the houses were decorated so lovingly with jack o’lanterns, ghosts, spiders, skeletons and assorted creepy scenes eerily lit to add to the scary mood. At my house I had my usual CD playing various screams, moans and haunted house sound effects to entice the little monsters to my door…if they so dared, and they came in droves.

Once there, I welcomed them with the sad news that Uncle Edgar had died earlier in the week, but that we had his brain preserved and floating in a large jar of formaldehyde. They could touch it if they wanted, and many did. Others said, “No!” (Hee hee). After that my trusted assistant, Creepy, offered them some rubber bugs and worms, and edible treats. Lastly, I offered the female monsters a mouse that I had caught in the basement earlier in the day. Again, many accepted the creepy, wriggling little critters while others shrieked and ran away. It was all fun and exciting.

At midnight, everyone gathered at the Witchwood Cemetery for the Monster Bash. What a time! All the residents turned out for the party, and it was a blast. We had food of all kinds…eyeballs (grapes), veins and arteries (spaghetti), fresh cadaver meat (hamburgers) and finger sandwiches (!), as well as all the Witch’s Brew you wanted. Great Granddaughter Grizelda brought her old cassette player and the 1962 “Monster Mash” album supplied the dance music.

After a while, we had the best costume awards, and then Uncle Oscar, caretaker for the cemetery, entertained everyone with stories of the origin of the cemetery and of its first residents. He concluded with a few short ghost stories and then… it was time for the finale…the best scream contest.

We had thirteen contestants and the winner was Sophronia Hauntshade who let loose with a blood-curdling, mournful wail that seemed to last forever. It was loud enough to wake the dead…if they hadn’t already been awake and partying with us, and it echoed through the countryside. (It was later reported in the newspaper that residents of the Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs heard it wafting through the Ozarks ‘way over there and wondered who had been murdered).

After everyone’s ears had stopped ringing, she was awarded the Scream Award Urn for her efforts.

Morning was approaching and everyone bid each other goodbye, the residents of Witchwood returned to their assigned places and we all went home, tired but exhilarated from the day’s events. It was a night to be remembered and talked about for weeks to come.

And, dear children, that is how my Halloween went. It was a night of fun, spooky imaginings, candy, treats, and make believe. I hope yours was equally memorable.

Next week…radio spots for a monstrous double-feature from 1959!

Winners of the various costume contests at the Monster Bash. Photos taken by Big Abner Creech with his vintage Kodak camera.

Wow! I didn’t know last week’s article would have such a reaction!

The gang and I went to Witchwood Cemetery to plan our layout for the upcoming Monster Bash on Halloween and I was besieged by countless apparitions, spooks, cadavers and assorted goblins all wanting to tell me what their favorite Harryhausen film is. They also wanted to share their favorite scenes and why they liked them and how great the effects were. The responses were as varied as the ghouls themselves. We all set around on various tombstones sharing recollections and stories about these films. They truly have had an impact on monsterkids past and present.

After a few hours of sharing, the gals and I did eventually get to plan for The Bash as most of the ghoulish beings had made their way back to their assigned places of repose. I was exhausted from all the talking and moderating the discussions. They liked my radio spots and were excited to see what this week’s entry would bring.

Sadly, I just have two remaining titles to feature, and the movies are some of Ray’s best: The Valley of Gwangi and The Golden Voyage of Sinbad.

What can I say about The Valley of Gwangi? The visual effects are near perfect, especially the roping scene between the cowboys and Gwangi. I am still amazed by that sequence and can appreciate the time that went into filming it. Matching the miniature model ropes to the live action plate ropes is something to see! I just wonder how many trips Ray made from the camera’s viewfinder to the model stage and back to ensure the perfect lineup? He had more patience than I ever did! I’m also sure that sequence brought back bittersweet memories of working with his mentor Willis O’Brien on a similar set-up for Mighty Joe Young. Obie would have been proud of the Gwangi one.

In addition, the battle between Gwangi and the elephant surely caused him to harken back to his days working on 20 Million Miles to Earth. This time, though, the sequence is more brutal, as it is plain Gwangi is out for blood and not merely defending himself as the Ymir was. Also the initial appearance of Gwangi is well done and comes as a surprise. Imagine chasing a little critter only to run into a full-grown Allosaurus. Whoops! Better turn around quick!

I watched Sinbad the other day just to refresh my memory of it and was surprised how really good it is. The locations and set pieces were some of his best. It has a grittier look about it compared to 1958’s The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad. Characterizations are good and John Phillip Law does an admirable job as Sinbad. And don’t forget Caroline Munro: She was one of the highlights of the film for most male monsterkids.

The spots for The Valley of Gwangi are effective, although they don’t tell the whole story.  My only gripe with them is Gwangi’s roar: Did Rodan fill in for him? The spots for The Golden Voyage of Sinbad are somewhat different from what we are used to. It was the ‘70s after all.

So, I present them here as the end of my two-week tribute to Ray Harryhausen, the man who had an effect on many monsterkids through the years. He was a pioneer and an inspiration to us all. He will live on through his movies, and his movies will still make us wonder, ”How did he do that?”

The Golden Voyage of Sinbad Radio Spots (including those done by Stan Lee)

 

Valley of Gwangi Radio Spots

Do you have any movie radio spots you would like to share? Contact Gary at [email protected].

Ahhhh, Fall is in the air!

Temperatures are falling, the air is crisp and pumpkins are everywhere! And, we all know what that means: Halloween is just around the corner!

I had several of my ghoul-friends over for some witch’s brew and a planning party the other night. We are planning on having our annual  Monster Bash at the Witchwood Cemetery at midnight on Halloween, and we were discussing the activities. We have it at midnight so we all can be home earlier in the evening to hand out goodies to all the little monsters that come around our homes here in our community. We have such fun tormenting the little creatures who come our way. I don’t know who has more fun…us or them! Anyway, we were all sitting around on my front porch when the conversation turned to movies. …

Salute to Ray Harryhausen
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Uncle Thaddeus strikes again!

I was working in the crypt the other day when I heard a banging from the old iron door knocker . Opening the door I found Uncle Thaddeus standing there, a sly grin on his old withered face. He held a plastic bag in his hand.

Granny,” he said, “I have found something I know you will like. I was over at the old Squirrel Hollow Antique Mall to see what was new, and I found this.”

He handed me the bag and I opened it. A big smile crossed my face.

“You found it!,” I exclaimed. “I’ve been searching high and low and hither and thither for this.”

“I know,” said Uncle Thaddeus. “It’s a shame it has come a few weeks too late.”

“I’ll make it work,” I said. “Better late than never.”

He left with a couple jars of brew in payment, and I examined the treasure carefully. …

The Giant Gila Monster (1959)
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“The Creature is back! He needs a doctor! A plastic surgeon. He’s been touched to the quick…slowly. It’s a sad tale, the creature who walks among us sings. He is the last of the strolling troubadours…the very end. Listen as he sings, ‘Who is the fairest one of all?’”

Most monsterkids will recognize that little intro from the album Themes From Horror Movies by Dick Jacobs and his Orchestra. The intro, written by Mort Goode and narrated by Bob McFadden, sets the scene for the theme “Stalking the Creature” from Universal’s 1956 entry The Creature Walks Among Us (1956). I was listening to this worn-out album this past week, reliving in my old mind the scenes these themes accompanied. What visuals they conjure up!

I had an idea: I went over to the Witchwood Cemetery to visit my old friend, The Radio Reaper. I found him in his tomb, doing some much-needed housekeeping.

“Reaper,” I said, “I’m looking for some old spots to a certain movie. Do you have The Creature Walks Among Us?”

A gleam lit up his old sunken eyes and a smile came across his withered lips.

“I believe I do. Let’s see.” he said.

He grabbed his old reliquary and blew off the dust. He opened it, thumbed through some things, and pulled out a red, 12” record.

“Here you go,” he said and handed it to me.

“Wow!” I exclaimed. “Only four spots?”

“Yep,” he replied. “I guess they figured the public knew who the Creature was and what they could expect.”

I thanked him and went on my way.

The movie is the third installment of the Creature franchise, the first two being Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954) and Revenge of the Creature (1955). This time around scientists, led by Jeff Morrow and Rex Reason, attempt to capture the Gill-man again, this time in the Florida Everglades, in an effort to study him up close. After they examine a sample of his blood, Morrow goes off the deep end and decides to try and develop a new species through blood and genetic manipulation. While hunting the creature, they soon become the hunted, and the creature jumps into their small boat, gets shot by two spears containing the anesthetic rotonone, and accidently douses himself with gasoline. Gregg Palmer’s character throws a gasoline lamp at him which ignites him. Falling into the water, they soon rescue him, his body now covered in third-degree burns and having trouble breathing. They take him back to their science yacht where they discover that his scales and gills have been burned away but that he possesses human-type skin underneath and a rudimentary set of lungs. His eyes mutate into human-like eyes and his body shape changes, due to his inflated lungs (and to match the drawing we see of him early in the movie showing a much bulkier creature than we have previously known). The creature is provided clothing to cover his sensitive skin and is eventually locked in an electrified enclosure where he observes man’s inhumanity to man – and woman. Out of fear he escapes, and the last we see of him he is staring remorsefully at the ocean before slowly making his way to it.

Don Megowan gives a heartfelt, emotional portrayal of the creature, mostly through eye movement and body language. We feel sorry for him as he tries to adjust to a new land environment and to learn the good and evil ways of his captors. The movie uses a lot of underwater footage from the two previous movies and some new underwater scenes with Ricou Browning, this time in the old suit and in the new suit.

Here now are the four spots as Creature fans heard them in 1956. So, dive in…and enjoy.

Hello, My Children,

Your old Granny is back after attending to my ailing mother. She is better and is now able to function on her own, bless her heart.

Many thanks go out to my nephew, Crazy Gary, for keeping The Crypt functioning in my absence. I hear he did a pretty good job, and the spots he highlighted were well received. He’s a good nephew, even though he is crazy at times. I will forgive him for snooping on my computer because last week’s installment was pretty good. I had never heard many of those spots and they were pretty good! He did good….and yes, after much screaming, pleading, begging and stomping around, I promised him he could do more columns in the near future.

I had a lot of free time while Mother napped and recovered, so I was able to catch up on my reading and movie watching. The Late, Late, Late, Early Show on Channel 13 featured some oldies I hadn’t seen for awhile and one in particular stood out. When I got back to my humble abode I searched through The Crypt and, again, thanks to The Radio Reaper, I found the spots to that movie. So, this week I’m featuring the original radio spots to Universal’s The Incredible Shrinking Man.

Based on Richard Matheson’s story idea/novel The Shrinking Man, it is considered one of Universal’s best, and is a special effects bonanza and a treat to watch. Clifford Stein and crew used every trick in the book for this one including forced perspective shots, high and low camera angles, rear projection process shots, split screens, sets with oversized props, and traveling mattes. Rotoscope artist Millie Winebrenner had her hands full combining split screen and forced perspective shots and having Grant Williams walk from one into the other, and having the shrinking man fight and eventually walk behind the dead spider. I’m sure fans back then wondered, “How did they do that?” many times. The special effects team put in an admirable effort with much pre-planning involved to make sure eye line-ups matched and that when the traveling mattes of Scott stepped up to a higher plane they matched the live action plate.

Even though I love spiders…I have two tarantulas, Charlotte and Arachne, I must say I was more on the edge of my seat during the cat scene. It was very well done, and Butch the cat (performed by Orangey) put in a great performance. His trainer put him through his actions and Grant Williams’ reactions were filmed later to match.

This is the one movie that didn’t have a happy ending as such. At the end, The Incredible Shrinking Man resigns himself to his fate and realizes that, in the great scheme of things, to God, there is no zero and that he still matters.
The great Orson Welles narrates the radio spots. They are good, although different than what we are used to hearing. Give a listen and, if you can, catch this movie. It is a feast for the eyes.

Here are the various radio spots for The Incredible Shrinking Man.

Crazy Gary here with part two of our Sword and Sandal extravaganza…(see part one).

Summer, 1959, was a turning point for a lot of monsterkids. A movie opened which fired our imaginations and introduced us to a new type of movie. I’m talking about the movie Hercules which got a lot of us interested in weight training and classical literature, especially Greek mythology.

Starring an unknown –at least to us–actor named Steve Reeves, the movie was complete with heroes, beautiful scantily-clad women, fighting, adventures at sea, ape men, a dinosaur that roared like Godzilla, and many feats of strength. The music was awe-inspiring. And Steve Reeves…wow, was he built. Every guy wanted to look like him. Turns out he was a former Mr. America, Mr. World, and Mr. Universe.

I was only nine when I first saw it, and by the time it had finished its run in the second-run theaters, I had seen it twelve times. I even received the Hercules soundtrack record for Christmas that year.

In the summer of 1960, Hercules Unchained was released and I saw it many times, too. By then, Steve Reeves was a worldwide star and both movies were box office hits. Articles on Steve Reeves and his training methods regularly appeared in the muscle magazines of the time.

Reeves went on to star in several more “Sword and Sandal” type films and his last one, A Long Ride From Hell, was a western. By the end of his career, the term “sword and sandal” referred to any movie set in antiquity, primarily Rome or Greece. Within that genre there were two types of movies: one where the hero possessed great strength and went about righting wrongs. He could be Hercules, Samson, Ursus, Maciste, Goliath (see last week’s article about the two “Goliath” movies), or one of the Sons of Hercules. The other type was where the hero was a regular guy, often a great warrior or Roman soldier, but possessing no exceptional strength. Two of Reeves’ movies stand out in the latter category: Duel of the Titans, with Gordon Scott, and The Slave. …

More Peplum Movie Radio SpotsRead More »