When New York TV Went Weird

Monsters For Adults Only, Please

I believe more fans sprung off the old horror movies on TV than ever came when they were new. Viewership was many times greater now that we could see monsters for free rather than on paying basis. Another thing was films being comparable, or better, than new chillers coming out in the 50's and 60's. King Kong was still cutting edge from FX standpoint forty years after it opened, and no gothic had surpassed the original Frankenstein, even after Hammer Films threw paint on the story. When was it ever so cool to like twenty/thirty year old films? (Our Gang maybe ... but look what's become of them) Kids could even respect their parents for growing up in an era when this stuff came out. I remember an episode of Leave It To Beaver when Ward bonded with his boys for seeing Dracula "four times" during youth, and having a subscription to Weird Tales magazine. It seemed that monsters were an enthusiasm that dad and offspring could share, right from mid-fifties when oldies oozed onto late nights. The Universals wouldn't land until fall 1957, but appetite was keen and channels satisfied it with whatever of the genre could be got. From a broadcasting start, that meant cheapies from Monogram, PRC, or others of independent origin. A lot of Bela Lugosi got into viewer consciousness this way. Preview of waves to come was 1956 release of RKO's library to syndication. They had the Val Lewton thrillers plus a few odd/ends that could be called horror, or at least "weird," so on came WOR's "Weird Theatre" to New York airwaves, making do with what monsters could be had before Universal-Screen Gems let loose the "Shock" package a following year.

We could say on one hand that folks at-home had it made, what with The Body Snatcher plus Isle Of The Dead on primetime, and gratis, but here was rub: Both pics ran four times in succession over a four hour period, a "devilish pleasure" tempered by necessity of cuts, and deep ones, in order to begin and end within 60 minutes. The Body Snatcher was a 77 minute show, while Isle Of The Dead ran 71 minutes. With commercials, as many as WOR could sell and keep their broadcast license, these classics might have been shorn by a fourth, if not more. Still, it was names and freshness of product that beckoned, and what did home sitters care whether all of original content was there? Lifelong fans of Lewton would make discovery on these nights, some celebrating him in books and documentary tribute to come. Television meanwhile became sole avenue for monster sighting, at least monsters of early vintage. The Universal drop was welcome, but in most instance, only one station in a viewing market had them, unless there was package split, like we had in Winston-Salem/Greensboro/High Point, where three channels serviced that area's broadcast reach. Two of those used the "Shock" titles, and fans were quick in coming to know which had which of favorites.

They Could Have Rolled Up and Sent The Original Declaration of Independence and
Not Pleased Me Half So Much As With This Private Peek To Programming

Any Universal horror on TV was precious ore. Whenever one came on, you watched, lest that be last chance. Channel 12 in Winston-Salem had the best of the group, most of Frankensteins, Draculas, Mummies, plus The Black Cat and The Raven. They even played them on Saturday afternoons, often without commercial interruption, such presumed dead time that no sponsor could be interested. I wrote them often for titles and to make programming suggestions. Replies like the March 1966 above put me by way of classified info that trumped even TV Guide for advance notice. High Point's Channel 8 counter-programmed with the "Son Of Shock" package, less titles and the best ones absent, but they did have Bride Of Frankenstein, per ad at left, which made keeping up with the station's "Shock Theatre" on Saturday night an imperative. Following local stations and their horror usage was applied science. We never thought there was enough. Looking back, I recognize bounty of this stuff, which along with what the Liberty had on Saturdays, made each weekend a surfeit of riches. I'd see five or six chiller/sci-fi's on flush days and nights between school out on Friday and return on Monday. A then-equivalent to binge viewing, but frugal beside marathons TCM routinely offers. Given access to latter in the mid-60's, I'd have gone mad by sheer rapture of it.

Thanks to Scott MacQueen for supplying me with all of ads above.