Granny Creech’s Radio Spot Crypt

The monsters are coming!

No, it’s not Halloween already, although if you hung around my house long enough you would think so, with all the creepy and scary-looking relatives of mine who just drop in whenever the spirits move them. But, the monsters ARE coming, or, more correctly, the GIANT monsters are coming.

This week’s offering begins a five-part series of spots featuring giant monsters on the attack. With one exception they all feature actors in costumes representing all sorts of creatures. I’ve always been a fan of these movies because of the awesome split-screen effects combining the monster with crowds running for their lives, and for the intricate models said monster usually destroys. How they made the miniature buildings crumble as realistically as they did has always amazed me.

This week I feature spots from Godzilla, King of the Monsters, a 1956 reworking of  Toho Studio’s Gojira, released in 1954. The American version features new scenes with Raymond Burr expertly inserted into the Japanese version and dubbed into English.  Both versions are interesting to watch.
Aside from the movies themselves, the one thing I always appreciated about these movies was the poster art: colorful scenes of destruction with the giant beast front and center.

…

Godzilla Movie Radio Spots!Read More »

Hello, lovers of old movie radio spots…

The Witchwood Cemetery had a rummage sale the other day to raise money to purchase additional land (people are just dying to get in there!). Anyways, I was just browsing the tables when I came across an old Dell movie comic for a film I hadn’t thought of in a long time. It was December, 1959, when 20th Century Fox offered something different to movie goers. Up until then, science fiction movies had been concentrating on things “out there” in the vastness of space: where we could go, or who – or what – could come to visit or invade us. So, it was a nice change to turn our vision inward as Fox released Jules Verne’s 1864 epic thriller, Journey to the Center of the Earth.

As I remember it was quite a cinematic adventure, with great special effects, grand sets and vistas, and what many call the most realistic use of  fin-backed lizards representing dinosaurs to be pictured on the screen. The music, by famed composer Bernard Herrmann, was awesome, too. Featuring a great cast, including James Mason, Arlene Dahl, teen heartthrob Pat Boone (minus his white bucks), Diane Baker, Peter Ronson, Thayer David (who can forget him in Dark Shadows?),  and Gertrude the duck,  moviegoers were believably transported to an underground world where sights hitherto unseen by man were presented. It was pure escapist adventure.

I went digging through my musty boxes and found the old record that was sent to theaters to promote the movie on the radio. The ten spots included here are excellent and capture the excitement of the film.

Are you ready…to don your spelunking gear and begin your Journey to the Center of the Earth?

…

Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959)
Movie Radio SpotsRead More »

“Two-and-a-half years in the making!” No, that is not how long it took me to come up with the recipe for my witch’s brew: it was a selling point for one of Universal International’s best-loved movies, This Island Earth. Completed in 1955, it was a science-fiction fan’s dream. It had everything: spaceships, strange-looking aliens, lots of scientific talk, an interplanetary communications device, a war-torn planet, “demolition rays”, spectacular special effects, and…a mu-TANT!  I bat-mailed my nephew, Crazy Gary (he works in the dead letter office over at the local post office), and asked if he had any thoughts on the movie. This is what I received back: …

This Island Earth Radio SpotsRead More »

Cough, Cough, ah-choo! Oh…Hello. Sniff, sniff…
You’ll have to excuse me. Old Granny has been doing some cleaning here in the Crypt and it’s a little dusty. I’ve been looking for some old radio spots and I think I’ve found them.
Yesindeedy! Over there beside cousin Jasper’s tomb and behind some old shelves, I found a stack of old Famous Monsters of Filmland and World Famous Creatures magazines, and under them I found some radio spots for the 1954 movie “Them!,” the first big bug movie. These go ‘way back. I remember hearing about this movie when I was a wee little thing: It was one of my dad’s favorite movies.  I really didn’t know what it was about…the title doesn’t give it away…and it wasn’t until I was older that I finally got to see it and understood what “them” was….or who “them” were…or who they were…or…

Anyway, here are the spots to Them!, a movie about GI-ANTS! Ahem, cough, sniff…

Them! Radio Spots: 15 seconds a, 15 seconds b, and 55 seconds to ant-tagonize your ears!

Do you have any radio spots you would like to share? Contact Granny (Gary Fox) at [email protected]. 

Greetings, kiddies. I was just sitting here in my old rickety rocking chair, basking in the light of the full moon coming through my bedroom window, when I heard a knock on my front door.
Opening the door I found my neighbor, Harry Talbot, standing there, panting frantically.

“Granny,” he said, “Do you have a razor I can borrow? I need to shave my face before I go out tonight.”

“Why’d gillette it grow out so much? I asked.

He said he’d been busy, but tonight he was off to have a howling good time on the town.  I snickered to myself. Most of the ladies I knew thought him to be just another old wolf, so I doubted he’d have much success with any of them.

“Just a minute,” I said.

I rummaged through some of Uncle Edgar’s old things and came up with an old straight razor. I gave it to Harry. He thanked me and bounded away to enjoy whatever adventures he could find.
I returned to the comfort of my old rocker and thought about this week’s radio spots. Hmmm. Well, last time I did spots about vampires and the undead, so this time I should feature spots about werewolves. Great idea! …

Howl With Some Werewolf Movie Radio SpotsRead More »

Well, it’s 2024 and we’re off to a flying start, as Dracula would say.

2023 was a fantastic year…lots of new friends (some dead, some alive), lots of new radio spots, and the start of Granny Creech’s Radio Spot Crypt. Many thanks go out to Zombos Closet for making this old woman very happy, and for making her dream come true. I’m having a blast, and 2024 already promises to be even greater as many new things are on the horizon for both Zombos and Granny’s Crypt, so stay tuned!

I was just looking over my collection of spots and realized I still have a few “singles” left…individual spots for movies rather than the complete marketing package of three or more per title. So, I thought I’d include them here, linked together under the ‘vampire’ category. The first is Horror of Dracula followed by a combo spot for Horror of Dracula and The Thing That Couldn’t Die. Third is a spot for 1960’s Brides of Dracula, and, lastly, a spot for Curse of the Undead. I hope you enjoy them. It was a real pain in the neck to round them up, but there was a lot at stake, so I feel it was worth it. You can count on me to deliver the best, make no bats about it! (Hee Hee) Until next time….

Horror of Dracula and The Thing That Couldn’t Die!

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

Hello, Children…Granny Creech here…

The other day I was stirring up a pot of brew when I received a phone call from my grandson, Big Abner, and he asked, “Granny, you have more radio spots than there are bodies in Witchwood Cemetery. Which one is your favorite?”

Hmmmm….interesting question. I have been collecting spots for longer than I can remember and his question caused a lot of internal retrospection. I love them all, some more than others – kind of like my relatives (heh heh). Which is my favorite and why? And what makes a great radio spot anyway?  Well, it’s kind of like my brew: a lot of good things need to go into the pot to make a satisfying result.
For starters, a good radio spot has to have a quality announcer(s).  He has to embrace the overall mood of the movie, whether it be excitement, fear, or humor. If he can elicit the proper emotion through his voice and colorful words, I can usually get excited to see the movie.

Second, a spot should tell the story of the movie somewhat, and include music and/or sound effects.

Lastly, it should appeal to the mind’s eye as well as to the ears. You should be able to visualize what you are hearing. You should be able to “see it on the radio.”

I thought and thought and eventually came up with two or three titles that would rank as my favorites. I finally came up with a winner. My favorite radio spots of all time (so far) are for the 1963 US release of…..King Kong vs Godzilla! …

King Kong vs Godzilla Radio SpotsRead More »

The Land Unknown T-Rex

Before he died, my Uncle Edgar used to say, “Life has a funny way of working things out.” He was a smart man. When he died, we saved his brain. It’s floating in a big jar of formaldehyde. I keep it in the dining room where he can be a part of the goings-on. We usually sit it out on a table on Halloween night so all the neighborhood monsters can come up and touch it if they like. Uncle Edgar likes being a part of the festivities.

Anyway, I was just sitting here in my old creaky rocking chair, watching the fire, and pondering which radio spots I should upload next when I suddenly received a batmail from sister Elviney, asking if I had seen the latest posting on Zombos Closet. I looked and, well, Old Zombos, clever fellow that he is, decided to highlight The Land Unknown’s excellent pressbook on his website. He must have known what all I was thinking, and I immediately knew what my weekly selection would be: The Land Unknown! Uncle Edgar was right.

The Land Unknown was a favorite movie of mine when I was a kid. I loved the dinosaurs and, even though they weren’t the best looking, they still fired my imagination. The use of miniatures, matte paintings and the combining of live-action into the miniature sets were pretty spectacular for 1957. The poster art was pretty good, too.

The 7” radio spot record I have only contains three spots, so I suspect it’s for the 1964 re-release. I’ve featured them all here.

So, enjoy these radio spots from one of Universal’s 1950’s thrillers! Uncle Edgar and I will be listening, too.

The Land Unknown (15)

The Land Unknown (30)

The Land Unknown (60)

Good old Granny lifted up her nephew, turned him upside down, and shook real hard to loosen up some more radio spots from The Pit and the Pendulum from his pockets. Here are a few 60, and one 90, minute spots for your time to be well spent. Bet you won’t be able to watch the movie ever again without hearing these ominous jingles playing in your head. Again and again. Like that blade that keeps on coming. Swoosh…swoosh…swoosh…

Pit and the Pendulum (60)b

Pit and the Pendulum (60)c

Pit and the Pendulum (60)d

Pit and the Pendulum (60)e

Pit and the Pendulum (60)f

Pit and the Pendulum (60)g

Pit and the Pendulum (90)

Flash…from Granny Creech…

I just received batmail from Uncle Oscar (he’s a caretaker at the Witchwood Cemetery in Arkansas), saying he just dug up two lobby spots from Psycho! He sent them to me, and I believe they are from the original release in 1960.

They are pretty entertaining. That Alfred Hitchcock is such a character! Anyway, I thought I’d include them here. They could have been used in 1960 as well as for the re-release in 1969 and would have entertained the patrons waiting to be seated for the next showing of the movie. Enjoy! Yours truly, Granny C. (P.S. Just blow the graveyard dirt off and give them a spin.)

Listen to Psycho Lobby Spot (30)

Listen to Psycho Lobby Spot (60)