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.
 
