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Live from the Monster Bash...

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Scaremail		#41	[-]
Jun 27 12 5:27 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Scaremail wrote: Scaremail wrote: Here's a quick Scary Post.... My son and I just got back from the BASH at 1 AM Sunday. I'm trying to catchup on mail and email and orders... MONSTER BASH is of course, the Only Real Monster Convention! And was a lot of Scary Fun! It was actually a very Scary time for my son and I. We arrived on Thursday around 3 PM. My son's latest short film was to premiere in the Scary Primetime at 8 PM on Saturday.... The Sam Scare Cartoon (Scare-toon) was finished on Wednesday evening before we left on Thursday AM and was in the computer. The raw footage for NUK-A-SAURUS was also in the external hard drive and ready for editing... The Scare-Toon would led into the feature presentation.... Continued tomorrow... The BASH was totally set up differently this year. The photos seen above are in the room that formally housed CREEPY CLASSICS and the Movie Room near the lobby. CREEPY CLASSICS was located in the old Guest Room down the hall. The main Dealer Room farther down the corridor was cut in half with a half-sized Dealer Room in the front and a much better Movie Room in the back. Now back to the stressful and scary three days trying to get the Scary Short by Dylan James Druktenis done... On Thursday evening we had our annual Pizza Hut dinner across the street and later Dylan worked on his editing with my suggestion of turning a vacant building into an "A&P" which ended up taking an hour for probably 4 seconds or so of screen time. The editing was moving along slowly. Friday morning was spent setting up for the 3 pm opening and a portion of a table was left open for Dylan to continue editing NUK-A-SAURUS. Friday is the long day with the Dealer Room opening at 3 and closing at 9. The Ray Harryhausen documentary was shown on Friday around 6 with almost everyone attending and at least my Dealer Room being not very busy. I did peek and saw a standing room audience and caught 10 seconds or so of the doc. Continued tomorrow... It was nice seeing Max and Jane several times during the weekend... Now to Part 3... Mark Mawston made a 21 hour trip to MONSTER BASH for the premiere and while I did not get to see it everyone I asked the next day seemed to like it. Mark has been a long time friend and contributor to SCARY MONSTERS for almost 20 years. On Saturday I was thinking I have to find Ron and see if he knows where Mark is and a few minutes later Mark showed up at my table and I was finally able to meet him in person for a few minutes until I got busy with customers. I did get to talk to him later on Saturday evening after the midnight giveways and after he accepted the Forry Award for Ray Harryhausen. From what I understand the documentary will have a theatrical release in England and will be available on DVD and Blu-Ray in 2013. *Watch for Mark's annual Halloween in England* article in SCARY MONSTERS 84! Now back to Friday night and the saga of NUK*-A-SAURUS.... After having dinner it was back to the room for further editing which was quickly stopped by a 6 hour rendering time for one scene in the movie that included green screen, after effects, animation and photoshop touchup for probably 10 seconds of screen time. (Scary Fans* thinking that CGI is easy and the easy way out are mistaken and the process is just as time consuming as stop motion or other special effects and makeup we all love. I also thought it was easy but it wasn't...) Time was running out and Dylan was stopped for the evening. We always planned to watch the stop-motion featurette by Ryan Lengyel entitled THE BEAST FROM TWENTY ZILLION YEARS AGO that was scheduled for midnight. BEAST ran around 45 minutes later and we both enjoyed it before it was time to get six hours or less of scary sleep while the NUKE scene was still rendering. I woke up sometime later to find that the scary scene had been rendered. The Scary BASH Diary Continues tomorrow...
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David Schecter		#42	[-]
Jun 27 12 5:35 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Yes, I picked up on the fact that nobody was looking at me... I'm used to being totally ignored, so no need to apologize. In fact, I try to ignore myself most of the time. Julie has the best sense of humor of anyone I know. She is very quick and can usually top anything anyone else says. So there was no way she was not going to laugh at the Lori Nelson joke, which I will admit was perfectly delivered, with your timing being superb. As for the "kissing the hand" photo, I always ask permission before I attempt to kiss her hand, and she always slaps my face firmly before I ever get to do it... I was disappointed I didn't get to do my "Beyond the Black Lagoon" video presentation I premiered at Monsterpalooza so people would see what a brilliant actress she actually is, as opposed to mainly being known as the gal from CREATURE, where she was pretty much reduced to screaming and fainting and being lusted after by various men and amphibians, but alas I decided to attend the show too late and all the presentation spots were taken by then. Maybe we'll be able to re-do it at some future show...
CapnDunsel		#43	[-]
Jun 27 12 8:52 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	you'll always have an audience for your video presentations here, David. 'Course, maybe that will send you screaming into the night instead of feeling appreciated.
David Schecter		#44	[-]
Jun 27 12 9:34 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I don't want to be appreciated -- I want Julie to be appreciated more for just that one movie she made back in 1954. I think she's one of the better actresses of her generation, but few people seem to be aware of that. They remember her in the swimsuit, but they often fail to realize what an amazing talent she was, due in large part to her technique of underplaying, which she learned from teacher Florence Enright back in the late 1940s.
CapnDunsel		#45	[-]
Jun 28 12 9:29 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I was prompting you to make your video available here since not everyone can (or wants to) go to these conventions.
The Drunken Severed Head		#46	[-]
Jun 28 12 11:44 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I sometimes watch MeTV and THIS, and Julie pops up in a lot of films and tv episodes, and you can really gain an appreciation of her talent at these channels. RTV is a good source for old television series viewing as well.
David Schecter		#47	[-]
Jun 28 12 2:25 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Julie and I agreed that it would be done as a live event at certain venues, as opposed to being a commercial product or even a tangible product that can be given away. And for the time being, at least, that's the only way it can be viewed. If that changes for any reason, I will be sure to let you know. But I appreciate your wanting to see it. I'm pleased to say that after many people have seen it, their reactions have been that they had no idea she was such a great actress. The best way to get a sense of how good she is is to watch some of her work from 1953 onward, at which point she had reached her comfort level and was as good as anyone in the business. CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON was a very different style of acting for her, where the heightened realism was more along the lines of the type of acting you'd see in a film noir or something. It was not her normal style of acting, which was much more realistic -- more like "life" than acting. She didn't call attention to her acting. It was done mostly with her eyes and subtle head movements, as well as her amazing vocal control. While she could certainly tear up the scenery or be larger than life, as in ALL I DESIRE and THE LAWLESS BREED, she was one of those actors and actresses that made it look so natural you often didn't notice they were "acting." She also had superb comedic timing and delivery, with her subtlety again adding to the impact of the humor. Again, she credits this to Florence Enright, who was known on the New York stage for her comedic roles, but I also credit it to the fact that Julie is simply the funniest lady I've ever known. I have been a humor writer for over 30 years and she can usually match me joke for joke and often get the final gag in.
CapnDunsel		#48	[-]
Jun 28 12 2:52 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	are there any particular TV appearances where she's especially good (ie recommendations)? For genre fans, I see she was in Kolchak, Night Gallery, Hitchcock Presents, Perry Mason, and a Playhouse 90 with Dennis Weaver (which I have; she basically played a housewife). But she's been in alot more than those shows.
David Schecter		#49	[-]
Jun 28 12 3:38 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Most of the roles you mentioned have her in fairly supporting roles where you wish she had more to do. Been a while since I saw the Mason shows, so I'll have to revisit them. There's a great Marcus Welby episode "Don't Ignore the Miracles," about a 40-something woman who gets pregnant for the first time and wants an abortion. It's one of those larger-than-life roles, but she's brilliant in it. If you can find a copy of the 77 Sunset Strip episode "The Fifth Stair," she's superb in that as well. She plays a devious woman in the Bonanza "The Courtship," and she's excellent in The Rifleman episode "Nora." I know these aren't genre roles, but I don't think her genre roles are the best. Not because she's not giving good performances, but simply because the roles weren't large enough. The Night Gallery episode "The Miracle at Camafeo" co-stars her then-husband Ray Danton playing a typically-unlikable character, but it does show Julie's underplaying to good effect. Not that she has any overly emotional scenes, but you can get a good sense of her control and envision how other actresses would probably be more "out there" than she is. But her approach offers a good counterpoint to Danton's style. Some of her best roles haven't been released on DVD (lots of TV episodes, THE LOOTERS, THE PRIVATE WAR OF MAJOR BENSON, FOUR GIRLS IN TOWN), but hopefully someday they will. My biggest regret regarding her career is that I only got to see her act on stage once, that being a rather poorly-adapted version of SIX CHARACTERS IN SEARCH OF AN AUTHOR that is available on DVD, where she has a mostly thankless role. But Julie is more proud of her stage work than anything else she's done, and unfortunately there is no surviving footage of any of it. But she won the Best Actress Award by Drama-Logue for her performance in Eugene O'Neill's "Long Day's Journey Into Night," and you don't get that award if all you can do is be the Gill Man's desire. Unfortunately, along with Piper Laurie and Barbara Rush, Julie got typecast as a supporting actress when she left Universal, and had to fight against that. Piper rose above that by virtue of some great roles and awards and nominations, but Julie and Barbara seldom got to star in and carry their own movies, something they were easily capable of doing. If you want to see a wonderful Barbara Rush performance, get MOON OF THE WOLF (cheap on DVD). It's a mostly forgettable werewolf movie with a good opening half, then it disintegrates into a typical chase/action picture. But the first half is one of my favorite Rush performances, as a quirky, loquacious woman. Along with Julie, my favorite "classic" actresses are Barbara, Ida Lupino, and Gene Tierney. I can watch any of them in anything and there's always something interesting to watch, and not merely from the "beauty" standpoint.
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Scaremail		#50	[-]
Jun 28 12 4:42 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Scaremail wrote: Scaremail wrote: Scaremail wrote: Here's a quick Scary Post.... My son and I just got back from the BASH at 1 AM Sunday. I'm trying to catchup on mail and email and orders... MONSTER BASH is of course, the Only Real Monster Convention! And was a lot of Scary Fun! It was actually a very Scary time for my son and I. We arrived on Thursday around 3 PM. My son's latest short film was to premiere in the Scary Primetime at 8 PM on Saturday.... The Sam Scare Cartoon (Scare-toon) was finished on Wednesday evening before we left on Thursday AM and was in the computer. The raw footage for NUK-A-SAURUS was also in the external hard drive and ready for editing... The Scare-Toon would led into the feature presentation.... Continued tomorrow... The BASH was totally set up differently this year. The photos seen above are in the room that formally housed CREEPY CLASSICS and the Movie Room near the lobby. CREEPY CLASSICS was located in the old Guest Room down the hall. The main Dealer Room farther down the corridor was cut in half with a half-sized Dealer Room in the front and a much better Movie Room in the back. Now back to the stressful and scary three days trying to get the Scary Short by Dylan James Druktenis done... On Thursday evening we had our annual Pizza Hut dinner across the street and later Dylan worked on his editing with my suggestion of turning a vacant building into an "A&P" which ended up taking an hour for probably 4 seconds or so of screen time. The editing was moving along slowly. Friday morning was spent setting up for the 3 pm opening and a portion of a table was left open for Dylan to continue editing NUK-A-SAURUS. Friday is the long day with the Dealer Room opening at 3 and closing at 9. The Ray Harryhausen documentary was shown on Friday around 6 with almost everyone attending and at least my Dealer Room being not very busy. I did peek and saw a standing room audience and caught 10 seconds or so of the doc. Continued tomorrow... It was nice seeing Max and Jane several times during the weekend... Now to Part 3... Mark Mawston made a 21 hour trip to MONSTER BASH for the premiere and while I did not get to see it everyone I asked the next day seemed to like it. Mark has been a long time friend and contributor to SCARY MONSTERS for almost 20 years. On Saturday I was thinking I have to find Ron and see if he knows where Mark is and a few minutes later Mark showed up at my table and I was finally able to meet him in person for a few minutes until I got busy with customers. I did get to talk to him later on Saturday evening after the midnight giveways and after he accepted the Forry Award for Ray Harryhausen. From what I understand the documentary will have a theatrical release in England and will be available on DVD and Blu-Ray in 2013. *Watch for Mark's annual Halloween in England* article in SCARY MONSTERS 84! Now back to Friday night and the saga of NUK*-A-SAURUS.... After having dinner it was back to the room for further editing which was quickly stopped by a 6 hour rendering time for one scene in the movie that included green screen, after effects, animation and photoshop touchup for probably 10 seconds of screen time. (Scary Fans* thinking that CGI is easy and the easy way out are mistaken and the process is just as time consuming as stop motion or other special effects and makeup we all love. I also thought it was easy but it wasn't...) Time was running out and Dylan was stopped for the evening. We always planned to watch the stop-motion featurette by Ryan Lengyel entitled THE BEAST FROM TWENTY ZILLION YEARS AGO that was scheduled for midnight. BEAST ran around 45 minutes later and we both enjoyed it before it was time to get six hours or less of scary sleep while the NUKE scene was still rendering. I woke up sometime later to find that the scary scene had been rendered. The Scary BASH Diary Continues tomorrow... Part 4... One more comment on Friday night...We were able to catch Arch Hall Jr. playing a couple of songs with the Bash Boys Band and it was well, rocking! An additional scary scene was shot for NUKE also on Friday but whether it would appear was touch and go. Saturday morning arrived and time was running out. Dylan continued to work on NUKA and continued to work adding special effects, music and sounds and also stop for rendering of the scenes making all the original planned special effects impossible to get done in time and he wasn't even sure if he would be able to add Friday's footage to the film. Finally around 4 or so it looked like things were a go with rendering to begin on a wide-screen 1080 Dolby sound version of NUK-A-SAURUS with Friday's footage. The rendering took forever and finally it was done but the DVD burning program couldn't be found because it usually appears on another large monitor that hooks up to the laptop and is used in conjunction with editing projects. Finally after some searching the program was able to be retrieved but it was frozen and wouldn't work. There was some talk about maybe being able to play the film from the laptop but we didn't have the special Apple cord or know if it was a possibility. After turning off the laptop, the external hard drive wouldn't turn on so "all was lost" for the moment and the premiere probably wouldn't happen. The Scary stress was in full SCARES. After turning on the computer on an off a couple of times and walking away from it everything came back in place. A lesser version in 480 was started and rendering began but was slow and suddenly stuck on 71% for a long time with 15 minutes left until the Dealer Room closed and the laptop had to be unplugged and moved with the possiblity of everything being lost again. While I covered my tables up Dylan, carefully unplugged the computer and placed the external hard on top of the laptop and slowly and carefully carried the computer to our hotel room. Luckily, it continued to slowly render and the DVD was finally burned at 6:43. The Sam Scare cartoon suffered from the lower quality compression but the movie didn't look too bad because it had been made in wide screen. SAM SCARE in PREHISTORIC PITSTOP and NUK-A-SAURUS premiered around 10 minutes to 9 because things were running a little late in the movie/events room. Both Scary shorts can now be found on the Scary Monsters Magazine Facebook page and youtube in a better quality and I would post them here but don't have the time to learn how. They should also be appearing soon on the Creepy Classics website. If someone wants to post them here...go ahead... We weren't sure if we would be able to see Brian Nichols latest scary home movie EVEL KNIEVEL ON SKULL ISLAND but since things were running late and the disc was finally burned we were able to watch and enjoy Brian's latest scary effort and eat a quick dinner. NUKE premiered to some good responses even though it is a very "rough cut" and we were able to catch the Q&A with Arch Hall Jr. and Richard Kiel after Dylan's showing. I wasn't sure if Dylan would be able to appear for the annual FREE GIVEAWAYS because he fell asleep for a while in our hotel room after the Q&A but after checking on the time table with Ron and going back to the room Dylan woke up in time to watch the Forry Awards and participate. Since the hour was late we weren't able to catch the LIVE THEATRE and MR. LOBO and went to bed after the giveaways. Sunday morning arrived way too early and I was able to quickly run to the guest room and give Richard Kiel and Arch Hall Jr. copies of the new issue with Dr. Gangrene's piece on EEGAH. Usually I don't really get to see many of the guests because I am trapped behind my tables and this year was no exception. It was a bittersweet moment when we began to pack up knowing this was perhaps the last time in Butler for at least two years as we head to Mars next year! I'm looking forward to Debbie Painter's (seen above in a photo) annual article on THE MONSTER BASH CONVENTION that will appear in SCARY 84 to find out all the things I missed at this year's event. CONTINUED in SCARY MONSTERS MAGAZINE #84....
Rakshasa		#51	[-]
Jun 28 12 7:51 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	David Schecter who? Links To All The Classic Monster Stills I've Posted: http://monsterkidclassichorrorforum.yuku.com/topic/30758
TomWeaver999		#52	[-]
Jun 29 12 7:13 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	>> David Schecter who? << Oh, you've seen David around. Can't sing. Can't act. Balding. Can dance a little.
The Drunken Severed Head		#53	[-]
Jun 29 12 11:19 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	David "The Rock" Schecter. A familiar sight at conventions. Finds musicians and thrusts his recorder at them so they'll be on his next "CD."
David Schecter		#54	[-]
Jun 29 12 4:32 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	My last memory of Monster Bash was waiting in the lobby for Julie and her daughter-in-law to take them for a relaxing drive out in the country (the beautiful Moraine State Park). While sitting in the lobby I got to spend about a half-hour with David "The Rock" Nelson and learn all about him and his achievements. When Julie and her daughter-in-law arrived with their bags, they also got to spend some time with David "The Rock" Nelson. It was a very memorable end to our trip, soaking in all of David's enthusiasm for filmmaking. By the way, Butler, Pennsylvania is situated very near Aliquippa, Pennsylvania. Aliquippa is the birthplace of Henry Mancini, whose music was such a big part of the three Creature movies.
Randy	New Member - Hello to The Drunken Severed Head and everyone else on the Classic Horror Film Board	#55	[-]
Jul 1 12 7:51 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Hello Drunken Severed Head; Please forgive me If I've posted this to you twice. My name is Randy and my wife and I met you and your kind wife at the Monster Bash 2012 in Butler PA this last weekend at the Sports Bar in the Days Inn. I told you I am a long time fan and daily reader (over 2 years) of the Classic Horror Film Board. At that time you invited me to join the Classic Horror Film Board. So here I am! If you remember, I replied to you that I had joined another message board before and had a bad experience with a member who sniped me. I was personally criticized for my motives, my intelligence, and my lack of genre knowledge by one user of that board (The user and board I do not wish to name here out of respect for any members of this board who may be on that board). I said to myself "I don't need this kind of criticism in my virtual life, I get enough of it in my personal life!" So I left that message board and have not posted anything on-line until now. You assured me that the people who post on the Classic Horror Film Board will be different. After reading the posts by the people running the board on what will be allowed, I believe you. Drunken Severed Head, on your friendly invitation, I will once again, timidly, put my big toe into the "message board" waters and hope I enjoy the swim. Now, a bit about my first-time experience at the Monster Bash 2012; It was the best experience of my life! When I walked into the Creepy Classics Room I thought I had died and go to heaven! I bought so many DVD's that I am enjoying now at home. Also at the Bash, I happened to meet in the hallways, Tom Weaver, an author I respect, as I have read several of his books, articles and heard his commentaries on DVDs. I addressed him as Mr. Weaver out of respect for his great writing. He is a wonderful down-to-earth fellow who insisted I call him "Tom" so I will do that here. Thank you Tom, and if you wish, I hope to talk with you soon on this board as well as everybody else. My favorite places to read on the Classic Horror Film Board are the DVD and Streaming area and the Japanese Giants area. I hope this message will go out to everyone at the Classic Horror Film Board. I greet you all with enthusiasm and warmth, and I look forward to many pleasant conversations on-line with you all about the classic horror films we all love. Thank you Drunken Severed Head for inviting me. I hope you and your wife are well and have recovered from all the fun we had at Monster Bash 2012.
The Drunken Severed Head		#56	[-]
Jul 1 12 10:52 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Hi Randy! It was nice to meet you and your wife at the Bash. Welcome to the CHFB!
TomWeaver999		#57	[-]
Jul 6 12 8:57 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	<< I addressed him as Mr. Weaver out of respect for his great writing. He insisted I call him "Tom" so I will do that here. << Not so fast, bucko. HERE you call me Mr. Weaver! Welcome to the CHFB!
Randy	Thank You for welcoming me!	#58	[-]
Jul 8 12 9:50 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Thank You for welcoming me to the CHFB Drunken Severed Head and "Mr. Weaver"! I feel like I'm in the clubhouse now, know the secret handshake and password, and feel like one of the gang!
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