Incoming from Granny Creech…
Hmmm Hmmm…one scoop of this, one dash of that…one pinch of this…one smidgen of that…one shake of this….
Oh, hello. Your Old Granny is just making up a new batch of brew. A lot of ingredients go into my brew in order for it to taste just right…with that little extra kick at the end (hee hee). It’s sort of like this week’s special radio spot offering…a little of this, a little of that.
This week I offer a three-part series featuring a hodgepodge of radio spots from Toho’s monster collection reflecting a marketing trend that studios began adopting in later years.
I’ve been collecting radio spots for some time now, including the original vinyl records that the various-length radio spots were distributed on. At some point, studios began releasing records with only two spots, one for 30 seconds and one for 60 seconds, with fewer and fewer movies getting multiple, various-length spots.
First up is Frankenstein vs Baragon, a neat little 1965 production featuring a character they dub Frankenstein because it is thought the young boy who appears at the beginning of the movie is believed to have been grown from the heart of the Frankenstein monster, captured by the Nazis during World War II and sent to Japan. He seems immune to radiation and starts growing when fed protein. He is blamed for a lot of atrocities until the real culprit, Baragon, is revealed. A spectacular fight ensues between the two, and features some great special effects.
Several endings were filmed for this movie. The Japanese and American releases feature the ending with Frankenstein and Baragon being swallowed up by the earth, and the international version concludes with a giant octopus dragging Frankenstein to his death underwater. The movie was released in America by American International Pictures in 1966 as Frankenstein Conquers the World.
Here are the two radio spots plus a bonus double bill spot for when the movie was paired with Tarzan and the Valley of Gold. The spots are really good and the announcer brings excitement to the offerings. (Coming Up! War of the Gargantuas, with its companion feature, Monster Zero!)
Keep watching and listening!
And here’s the double bill radio spot.
Do you have any radio spots you would like to share? Contact Granny (Gary Fox) at [email protected].