Tricks & Treats 09: Happy Halloween!!!!!

It's officially Halloween 2009! Here is the complete (and I mean complete - the "TV scenes are added") and still the greatest Horror flick of all time, John Carpenter's Halloween! Enjoy! And Happy Halloween!

Tricks & Treats 09: Halloween Corn

Those of you who have been fans of the blog for many a year know that I am a member of the band, Creamed Corn. For internet junkies in the know, we had a huge hit with a Christmas album we put out about 11 years ago. Last year saw the remaster of that album being released to an overwhelming response! While the Christmas stuff has become the most famous of our albums, we also released a Halloween album the same year we released the Christmas album. It was our first release and we went hog wild with it! First of all, we called it "Satan Loves You". Next, we spent many a night in our studio recording all different sound effects and "sound scapes" that feature everything from chains being dropped into a bucket to all of us chewing gum directly into a microphone. We took a huge mix of material from songs written specifically for the album to songs that had been in our live act from the start. One of the tracks, "Drunken Stupor", goes down in history for being the reason we were asked to never play a club in Madison, CT again! The recording on the album is from that night! Anyway, here it is for you now. Direct from 1998, Creamed Corn and "Satan Loves You". Enjoy!

Creamed Corn-Satan Loves You

Tricks & Treats 09: Snooping At The Shindig

Back in the 60s, Hanna Barberra released a series of records for children featuring their roster of cartoon characters in all new adventures and telling stories. I have always loved these records and now that I have a child of my own, they are in regular rotation during feeding time. The other day, I happened to put one on that I had long forgotten about featuring the characters Super Snooper and Blabber Mouth. These characters were part of the lesser known crew of HB animation and were featured during segments of Quick Draw McGraw. They are a pair of cat and mouse detectives both voiced by the incomprable, Daws Butler. Snooper is more or less the one in command whenever the pair takes on a case while Blabber Mouse follows whatever orders Snooper gives him. For this album, Super Snooper and Blabbermouth investigate a party is going on at a house occupied by The Gruesome Family (yes, the ones from The Flintstones). Also in attendance are Dracula, Frankenstein, the Mummy and the Wolf Man. It's a great story and fits perfectly in with our Halloween countdown! Here is "Monster Shindig With Super Snooper and Blabber Mouse". Enjoy!

Monster Shindig With Super Snooper and Blabber Mouse

Tricks & Treats 09: My Halloween Special!

In the past, I have made a Halloween mix every year just like loads of other sharity blogs out there. I was torn this year about if I should do yet another one or make a special Halloween podcast. I decided to split the difference. I put together a Halloween mix and then added sound effects in the background so that it all comes out as one big giant podcast-like track. I didn't want to call it an official pod cast nor did I think it qualified as a typical Halloween mix. So, I decided to call it "Dartman's Halloween Special 2009"! Let me know what you think. This is a great item to have blasting out of your stereo at any Halloween party or even as you welcome the kiddies on all Hallows Eve! Enjoy!

Dartman's Halloween Special 2009

Tricks & Treats 09: Fred Allen Rents A Room From The Master of Horror

Here's an episode of The Fred Allen Show from November 18, 1945. Allen's guest star that night was the one and only Boris Karloff. It was just a few weeks shy from being a Halloween episode but it still maintains the comedic spookiness that makes it a Halloween themed episode in our books! My favorite parts of this show are the barrage of jokes whenever Karloff answers the phone or doorbell. Enjoy!

The Fred Allen Show - 11/18/45

Tricks & Treats 09: Drew's Great Uncle Lionel Gives Us A Treat

In case you have no clue about the history of the great Barrymore family, Drew Barrymore is not the first member of her family to become a household name. She comes from a long line of theater and film royalty. Her great-grandparents Maurice Barrymore and Georgie Drew Barrymore, Maurice Costello and Mae Costello (née Altschuk) and her grandparents John Barrymore and Dolores Costello were all actors. John Barrymore was arguably the most acclaimed actor of his generation. She is the grandniece of Ethel Barrymore and Helene Costello, the great-great-granddaughter of John Drew and actress Louisa Lane Drew, and the great grandniece of silent film actor/writer/director Sidney Drew. She is also the god-daughter of director Steven Spielberg and Sophia Loren. For today's post, we're going to focus on her Great Uncle Lionel Barrymore. Back in 1945, Lionel produced a stage show at the Hollywood Bowl to coincide with the holiday of Halloween. He wrote the story as well as the music and titled it, "Hallowe'en: A Musical Fantasy". The story deals with a little girl named Myrtle who has a dream involving a big bear in the woods who steals little children. Two years later, MGM records released the "theater piece" as a children's book and record set which contained 3 78 RPM records and a story book (this was a popular concept at the time and it would eventually evolve into the book and record sets of the 60s, 70s and 80s.) It's a bit on the bizarre side but is worth a listen. I present it for you now. Here is Lionel Barrymore's "Hallowe'en: A Musical Fantasy". Enjoy!

Lionel Barrymore-Hallowe'en: A Musical Fantasy

Tricks & Treats 09: Super 8 Theater Presents: Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Tricks & Treats 09: Vic Mizzy RIP

In case you didn't hear, Vic Mizzy, the genius composer who brought us The Theme From the Addams Family has passed away. He died on Monday. In his honor, I am reposting last year's "Addams Family Megapost" plus I am posting the 1977 Addams Family Renuion Show in it's entirety. Enjoy!


I love the Addams Family. I own the complete series on DVD and can watch it over and over again and still find it entertaining. Back in college, my girlfriend at the time gave me a giant book of the original Chas Addams comics that the show was based on and I found a whole new appreciation for the Addams Family. I've seen the films from the 90s and I liked them, but don't really put them in the same category as the original series. To me, that is the quintessential Addams Family and it will never be beat.
Did you know that in 1977, they tried to regroup the Addams Family and put it back on the air in a whole new show? It's true! On Halloween, 1977, a television special named "Halloween With The New Addams Family" premiered as a test to see if it would be as well recieved as the original series running in syndication.The original cast was brought together once again to reprise their roles. The only exception was Blossom Rock (Grandma-ma) who didn't appear due to an illness. The feature was such an abysmal failure that the new series was cancelled before it even started.
And speaking of Ted Cassidy, did you know that he released a single as Lurch simply titled, "The Lurch"? The producers thought that they would add to the show's success by putting out a record that would start a new dance craze. The problem was that the song didn't tell you how to do the dance. There was never any reference to the dance in the show and the song went unnoticed. Some more interesting tidbits about Ted Cassidy; he played two roles on The Addams Family. Of course, we all know him as Lurch, but he also played "Thing". He also was the voice-over in the opening to "The Incredible Hulk". It would prove to be one of the last things he did before his untimely death in 1979.
When The New Scooby Doo Movies came out in the seventies, The Addams Family were featured in not one, but two episodes, complete with the actual voices of John Astin, Carolyn Jones, Ted Cassidy and Jackie Coogan. The success of these appearances prompted Hanna-Barbera to put out an Addams Family cartoon a year later. However, Astin and Jones would not return. The cartoon appearances are significant in Addams culture because the family was drawn to the specifications of the original cartoons by Charles Addams, rather than how they appeared on their television series.
The Addams Family continues to pop up all over and even as you read this, there is a musical being put together for the Broadway stage.
Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth have accepted the offered rolls of Gomez and Mortica Addams in the upcoming musical of the Addams Family that's set for 2009/2010. Here's one musician who hopes that he may end up playing drums for that production. Let's all keep our fingers crossed! In the meantime, here's a batch of Addams goodness for you: The original 1965 soundtrack to the television series by Vic Mizzy; The Ted Cassidy single, "The Lurch", complete with it's flipside, "Wesley" and the original picture sleeve; The bootleg soundtrack from the 1977 Halloween special and the entire first episode in which the Addams' appeared in The New Scooby Doo Movies! Enjoy!

The Addams Family TV Soundtrack

Ted Cassidy-The Lurch

Halloween With The New Addams Family OST






BONUS:
As promised, here is the complete 1977 reunion show, "Halloween with The New Addams Family". Enjoy!

Tricks & Treats 09: The Original Funny Girl Celebrates Halloween

In 1946, Halloween fell on October 31 just like it does today. But that didn't stop JELLO from producing a Halloween themed episode of Baby Snooks the next night. Here's Fanny Brice celebrating Halloween as it was originally broadcast on November 1, 1946. It is just as much fun today as it was then. Enjoy!

Baby Snooks Halloween Show

Tricks & Treats 09: Rock and Roll's Halloween King

Alice Cooper is the king of shock and awe in the world of rock and roll. "Welcome To My Nightmare" still stands the test of time and the live show that accompanied it gave inspiration to the later generations of shock rock including GWAR and Marilyn Manson. As I posted here before, one of my all time favorite Alice Cooper records is a concept album called "From The Inside". You can learn more about that album here. When Alice took to the road to support that record in 1979, he had a concert recorded live for both a radio show (the ever popular King Biscuit Flower Hour) and a video release. Today I share with you the radio show that aired back in the day. In addition to Alice Cooper playing his hits and more, it features an introduction and narration from one of the kings of horror, Mr. Vincent Price. Here is "The Strange Case of Alice Cooper" from The King Biscuit Flower Hour. Enjoy!

The Strange Case of Alice Cooper

BONUS:
Here's the entire 1979 video release of that concert via you-tube! Enjoy!

Tricks & Treats 09: Halloween Safety

Tricks & Treats 09: And Now A Few Ghost Stories . . .

My father earned a living during his teen years as an usher in a movie theater. Back then it was pretty common to have ushers that showed you to your seat and also passed out promotional items to the customers. He loved to tell the story of the time he had to come in early when the theater was showing the film, "The Tingler". The reason for his coming in early was to help wire the seats with a device similar to a joy buzzer. At a crucial moment in the film, the screen would go black and the announcer would shout, "The Tingler is loose in the theater" at which point the seat buzzers would be activated. If you think about it, gimmicks like that were the precursor to today's "4-D" films that are shown in various theme parks around the world. The king of these gimmicks was a man named William Castle. Some of his other gags included certificates for a $1,000 life insurance policy from Lloyd's of London given to each customer in case he/she should die of fright during the film, "Macabre"; an inflatable glow in the dark skeleton attached to a wire floating over the audience during the final moments of some showings of "The House on Haunted Hill"; the passing out of a "Magic" (gold colored plastic) coin during the film "Zotz", which, of course, did absolutely nothing. The list goes on and on. In 1972, Peter Pan Records released an album of Ghost Stories entitled, "Ghost Story_ Thrilling, Chilling Sounds of Fright & the Supernatural". This LP was something of a tie-in to the NBC anthology show that Castle produced from '72-'73. The show was called "Ghost Story" but aside from the tracks on Side One being dubbed "The Horrors of Mansfield House" there's no real connection. There's certainly Castle-esque hype slathered all over the cover though; "This record should not be listened to by the very young or tender-hearted", it shouts. "This recording is definitely not recommended for children under eight years of age". It seems that the record was yet another gag aimed at the public to attain their interest in the mighty William Castle's work. Here it is for you now. Enjoy!

Ghost Story_ Thrilling, Chilling Sounds of Fright & the Supernatural

Tricks & Treats 09: Super 8 Theater Presents: The Doom of Dracula

Tricks & Treats 09: Classic Television Episode of The Month: Bewitched

A classic Halloween episode from the second season of this classic show! Enjoy!

Tricks & Treats 09: "Hair Raising Hair"

Tricks & Treats 09: Voices From Beyond

"Night falls. The forest holds its breath. Everything is still. The blood red moon stares through the trees. Suddenly, the wind blows! The trees... shiver. A bat quivers in the night... and flies away."
Thus begins what I consider to be the best of the"spooky sounds" record. Yes, we all have a favorite. Some claim "The Thrilling Chilling Sounds of The Haunted House" while others claim "Sounds To Make You Shiver" as their favorite. There are tons of these records out there. In fact, McDonalds even got in on the game in the mid 90s when they released a "spooky sounds" cassette with their Halloween happy meal. For my money, the all time grand poobah of these records is "Ghostly Sounds" released on Peter Pan Records in 1975. With its narrator ever present to guide us through Halloween territory, Ghostly Sounds begins with marvelous effects of wailing, cackling witches, and their bizarre spell-casting. Howling wolves and keening cats are heard. All the while, the eerie noise of wind purrs in the background. Many of the album's effects, all untitled, were done on a synthesizer, and those awful canned music machines were seldom used to better effect. The piece de resistance of Ghostly Sounds, though, and possibly of the entire spooky sounds genre, is its "goblins" segment. "From out of their hiding places," the narrator announces, "Goblins step... and laugh... and dance." The deranged, bobbing, giggling, merry/creepy effects used to represent the goblins and their little jig has yet to be transcended on any spooky sounds LP. Put this on as the kiddies are coming up to your door and blast it really loud out the windows so that they can properly enjoy the feel that it gives! Here is "Ghostly Sounds". Enjoy!

Ghostly Sounds

Tricks & Treats 09: A Rockin' Hallow's Eve

Post-World War II America saw the horror and sci-fi genres reach their apex. The age of Cold War hysteria and nuclear paranoia inspired tales of invading aliens, gigantic mutations and technological terror. Raised on B-movies and comic books—a world inhabited by Martians and vampires—teenagers soon became the main market for a multitude of novelty rock'n'roll records released to exploit the trend. The selections included Round Robin's Bo Diddleyesque "I'm The Wolfman" and The Swanks' electrifying "Ghost Train". Todays sharity brings you the best of these Blood Curdling Rock and Roll classics. Not to mention Bert Convy's "Monster Hop" (yes, that Bert Convy!) Here is "Blood Curdling Rock N' Roll". Enjoy!

Blood Curdling Rock N' Roll

Tricks & Treats 09: Star Wars Halloween Fun (repost)

These masks are originally from Random House Publishing's 1983 book, The Star Wars Book of Masks. Choose a mask, print them out, and party hard on Halloween! (click on the image to get the full size pic)

Tricks & Treats 09: Goofy Teaches Us All About Halloween

Here's a super cool educational short from Disney in which Goofy and others teach us the origin of Halloween. Very cool! Here's Disney's Haunted Halloween! Enjoy!

Tricks & Treats 09: Judy Garland Dishes It Out at The Drive In (repost)

Today's post is an episode of the great radio show, "Suspense" and it stars the great Judy Garland. This is actually the first side of a Judy bootleg that I bought in St Louis that features interviews on the flip side. The radio show was originally broadcast on November 21, 1946. It's a really good episode but as it comes from a Judy Garlnad bootleg record, any trace of the station IDs and even the name "Suspense" is gone. Interesting. Here it is for your listening entertainment. Enjoy!

Judy Garland in The Drive In (OTR)

Tricks & Treats 09: A Halloween Story

If you don't know who Jean Shepherd is, you should probably look up "A Christmas Story" on Wikipedia and find out. Yes, the Christmas classic that gets run for 24 hours every year on TBS. In case you didn't know, he wrote it! Actually, he wrote the book that it is based on. Don't go looking for it at your book store because it won't be there. What will be there is a book called "In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash." The book is a collection of stories Jean wrote based on his real life childhood growing up in Hammond, Indiana. Long before he was an author, however, he was a disc jockey. But it wasn't the platters that he spun that garnered him his reputation. It was his stories. Jean was like a modern day Mark Twain, telling humorous antecdotes about his childhood filled with BB Guns, bullies, the Bumpass family and his foul mouthed, furnace fighting father. Playboy offered him a sweet check in exchange for his stories being published in the popular magazine. After a while, there were enough stories to merit the publication of a full novel and "In God We Trust . . ." was born. This was followed by "Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories: and Other Disasters", "The Ferrari in the Bedroom" and "A Fistful of Fig Newtons". Today we feature one of Jean's shows from his broadcasting days at New York's WOR in 1976, just one year before he would leave radio to work in other media forms. It's a spooky tale that's perfect for the Halloween season. Here's Jean Shepherd with "Gruesome-O-Mania"! Enjoy!

Jean Shepherd - Gruesome-O-Mania

Tricks & Treats 09: "A Witch's Tangled Hair"

Tricks & Treats 09: "Grave Robbers From Outer Space" (repost)

If you have never heard of Ed Wood, then you need to! He was the king of bad movies! In the 1950s, Wood made a run of independently produced, extremely low-budget horror, science fiction and cowboy films, now celebrated for their technical errors, unsophisticated special effects, idiosyncratic dialogue, eccentric casts and outlandish plot elements, although his flair for showmanship gave his productions at least a modicum of commercial success. Wood's one big claim was that he was able to use Bela Lugosi in his films! At the time, Lugosi was considered a has been by the film industry and on top of that, he was a junkie. But to Ed Wood, he was a big star. However, soon after their partnership began, Lugosi passed away. That didn't stop Wood from salvaging a saleable feature from Lugosi's last moments on film. The result is what is considered to be the worst movie ever made! Originally titled "Grave Robbers From Outer Space", the title was eventually changed to "Plan 9 From Outer Space". The plot of the film is focused on a race of extraterrestrial beings who are seeking to stop humans from creating a doomsday weapon that would destroy the universe. In the course of doing so, the aliens implement "Plan 9", a scheme to resurrect earth's dead as zombies to get the planet's attention, causing chaos.
Today I offer you what I call my Plan 9 super-post! You get two for the price of one! You get the film's soundtrack album as well as an album that features the entire film in audio form! It's my Halloween gift to you! Enjoy!

Plan Nine From Outer Space OST

Plan Nine From Outer Space Story Album

Artwork

Tricks & Treats 09: Super 8 Theater Presents: DRACULA

Here is the Castle Films 8 millimeter digest version of the original Dracula starring the one and only Bela Lugosi! Enjoy!

Tricks & Treats 09: A Strange and Fascinating Journey

The Rocky Horror Picture Show has quite the history. We all know the story of how it bombed and then became a midnight hit at theaters all over the world. But do you know the story of the soundtrack? When the film was originally released, the film itself boasted a mono soundtrack. The accompanying album was released in stereo and contained different mixes and vocals from the film version. This is not that uncommon a practice in the world of film soundtracks. There are many albums that feature different takes than the ones used in the film. However, when the film finally saw a release on the home video market in 1990, Fox commisioned a stereo version of the film soundtrack. This was done by Chace Productions who created the "new mix" by using the soundtrack album and the original mono audio from the film. This frustrated many fans and also created some weird "out-of-synch" moments in the musical numbers. When the film came to DVD in 2000, Chace Productions was given the original 24-track music master and the original mono audio mix to create a 5.1 surround sound mix. At the same time, were also able to put the original mono track back into the film to give viewers a choice of which version they would like to "hear". Personally, I like pretty much every mix that I can get my hands on as I love this film and the music that goes with it. But there are definite variations in the mixes. For example: in the mono mix of "Science Fiction / Double Feature", Richard O'Brian's voice is predominant over the music and the saxophone plays throughout the song as opposed to the stereo mix where it comes in at the end. In "Over at the Frankenstein Place" the backing chorus are completely different takes in the different versions. In the mono version of "The Time Warp", you can hear Magenta hiss and moan throughout the song. See if you can notice these and other differences when you take a listen to The Mono Rocky Horror Picture Show Soundtrack! Here it is for you now. Enjoy!

The Rocky Horror Picture Show OST MONO

Tricks & Treats 09: Ron Howard Visits The Haunted Mansion

It's October 1st and that means the countdown to Halloween has begun!!!! We start this year's "Tricks and Treats" with a great record from the Disney vaults. One of the greatest rides ever in the Disneyworld/Disneyland spectrum is The Haunted Mansion. No matter how many new and improved rides come along, the Mansion is still the king and I could ride it a hundred times in a row if I could. Back in the day, Disney used to release records that coincided with their various rides and the Haunted Mansion was no exception. In fact, the Mansion boasts three records to its name: one is "The Story and Song from the Haunted Mansion," an LP featuring a pre-Happy-Days Ronny Howard; then there is a shorter children's record titled "Walt Disney Presents the Haunted Mansion," one of Disney's many "See, Hear, Read" records narrated by Robie Lester, a popular narrator for many of Disney's childrens albums. The third Haunted Mansion story album is the B-side of "Trick or Treat," a Disneyland Record starring Donald Duck, his nephews, and Witch Hazel, with the original "Story and Song" recording edited down to fit completely on the B-side of this 12" LP. Today we are giving you the original "Story and Song from the Haunted Mansion" complete with the vocal talents of Ron Howard. Recorded in 1969 (a year after he stopped playing Andy Griffith's son Opie), "The Story and Song from the Haunted Mansion" featured the young "Ronny" Howard as "Mike," a young teen out on a date with "Karen". The story is narrated by the one-and-only Thurl Ravenscroft, who is one of Disney's best-known vocal talents (and is also known for being the original voice of Tony the Tiger, and the singer of "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch," from Chuck Jones' classic cartoon How the Grinch Stole Christmas). The ride's main scenes are faithfully represented, often with the original sound effects, making this an album worth buying a turntable for. If you don't have the original album (or a turntable for that matter), fear not faithful readers! We here at The World of Wonder offer it to you in digital form as our first "Treat" of 2009! Enjoy!

The Story and Song from The Haunted Mansion

BONUS: Here's s cool link to a super cool web site called "Doombuggies". It gives you everything you would ever want to know about the Haunted Mansion and then some! Stop on by and tell them Dartman sent you!