Materializing To Twist and Frankenstein Accompany For 1963
Greenbriar seeking "Starlet" Bobbi Dukes! I tried IMDB, Google, Net search beyond. Came up snake eyes. I thought at least she might have danced as background to a beach pic for Jim and Sam, but no trace (at least she'd do the Twist for this engagement). I'm beginning to doubt Bobbi was really a "starlet," but since when did that matter to attendees at a Pittsburgh spook show circa 1963? I guessed '63 for this ad and show because of "Ethreal" materialization of Liz Taylor as Cleopatra being sold hardest (re ethreal: should misspelling or use of non-existent words be forgiven in movie ads?). You had to be there to know how hot Liz was when Cleopatra came out. My neighbor's sixth grade was bused to Winston-Salem for a school day matinee, but mothers kept several of class home because Cleopatra was a "dirty" movie. One boy hid a souvenir program under his mattress. Liz wasn't nude in Cleopatra, but nearly so at times. Of course, kids who'd seen it told others who hadn't that she was (a same neighborhood problem we had with Natalie Wood and Gypsy). "Frankenstein In Person" was expected, as was Monsters Torturing Beautiful Girls. "One Dead Body" as a door prize causes me to wonder --- why not two? Screen fare was what theatre/drive-ins could get for cheap. The Screaming Skull and The Headless Ghost would be on TV within months of their play-off here. Note borrowed art from Blood Of Dracula and some or another AIP chiller besides ones that were showing. Jim Nicholson took dim view of such pilfer and in fact, threatened to sue showmen appropriating imagery from one shocker to promote another. There was, after all, truth in advertising at stake.
Lol What a trip! THE HEADLESS GHOST, what a waste of celluloid. THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN`T DIE or THE THING THAT COULDN`T DIE would have been better. They are all second feature fodder but some more viewable than others.
Dan Mercer remembers a spook show in Levittown, NJ:
I went to one "spook show" growing up in Levittown, New Jersey during the 1960s. It was at the Fox Theater and the advertisements promised two horror pictures, gorillas torturing beautiful girls, a free prize," AND a free pass, if I survived the show. The place was packed by the time I got in, but the movie portion was somewhat of a let down. There was only one, not two, and that was "Francis in the Haunted House." The gorilla was no better. Apparently someone or something was chasing someone else down the aisle of the theater, but they hadn't turned the house lights on, so I couldn't tell. When the lights did come on, a few minutes later, the show was over. I had survived, but that was almost a given. A "Francis" picture? I wouldn't have turned the Magnavox on for that. I also didn't come away with a prize or free pass. Thus, in such ways did I leave the sunshine days of childhood for the chillier climes I would know as an adult.
I went to two Spook Shows. The first one was a double feature of THE TEENAGE PSYCHO MEETS BLOODY MARY & THE EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN. Someone in a mask & sheet came out to the right of the screen & walked around on the stage for about 30 seconds. Whoop-de-doo. The other one was TALES OF TERROR on a Sunday afternoon(!). A green-tinted clip of Lugosi as Dracula was shown & then someone came out to the right of the screen in a green Lugosi Dracula mask & sheet, & disappeared within seconds. Pretty lame.
Greenbriar seeking "Starlet" Bobbi Dukes! I tried IMDB, Google, Net search beyond. Came up snake eyes. I thought at least she might have danced as background to a beach pic for Jim and Sam, but no trace (at least she'd do the Twist for this engagement). I'm beginning to doubt Bobbi was really a "starlet," but since when did that matter to attendees at a Pittsburgh spook show circa 1963? I guessed '63 for this ad and show because of "Ethreal" materialization of Liz Taylor as Cleopatra being sold hardest (re ethreal: should misspelling or use of non-existent words be forgiven in movie ads?). You had to be there to know how hot Liz was when Cleopatra came out. My neighbor's sixth grade was bused to 
4 Comments:
Lol What a trip!
THE HEADLESS GHOST, what a waste of celluloid. THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN`T DIE or THE THING THAT COULDN`T DIE would have been better. They are all second feature fodder but some more viewable than others.
Dan Mercer remembers a spook show in Levittown, NJ:
I went to one "spook show" growing up in Levittown, New Jersey during the 1960s. It was at the Fox Theater and the advertisements promised two horror pictures, gorillas torturing beautiful girls, a free prize," AND a free pass, if I survived the show. The place was packed by the time I got in, but the movie portion was somewhat of a let down. There was only one, not two, and that was "Francis in the Haunted House." The gorilla was no better. Apparently someone or something was chasing someone else down the aisle of the theater, but they hadn't turned the house lights on, so I couldn't tell. When the lights did come on, a few minutes later, the show was over. I had survived, but that was almost a given. A "Francis" picture? I wouldn't have turned the Magnavox on for that. I also didn't come away with a prize or free pass. Thus, in such ways did I leave the sunshine days of childhood for the chillier climes I would know as an adult.
I went to two Spook Shows. The first one was a double feature of THE TEENAGE PSYCHO MEETS BLOODY MARY & THE EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN. Someone in a mask & sheet came out to the right of the screen & walked around on the stage for about 30 seconds. Whoop-de-doo. The other one was TALES OF TERROR on a Sunday afternoon(!). A green-tinted clip of Lugosi as Dracula was shown & then someone came out to the right of the screen in a green Lugosi Dracula mask & sheet, & disappeared within seconds. Pretty lame.
Wasn't it Ben Hecht who said the Hollywood definition of "starlet" was "any woman under the age of 25 not actively employed as a prostitute"?
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