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creepycrawley	New York Metro Monster	Lead	[-]
Mar 2 04 3:23 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Hello out there in monsterland, I'm a child of the sixties. No, not long hair and hippie music. My older brothers were into that. I grew up in the shadow of New York watching monster on my b&w tv on such great shows as Chiller Theater on WPIX and Creature Features on WNEW. This is a just a call to any other fan who might have grown up in that area at that time and has some great stories to pass on. If anyone feels like picking up this thread I'll gladly respond. I built all the aurora kits, bought all the Famous Monsters mags, hell, I still have all of my Monster Times issues. So drop a line if you feel like talkiing. Thanks Count for a great website.
SFfilmfan	West Coast Metro Monster Lover	#1	[-]
Mar 2 04 3:57 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	While I preferred CASTLE OF FRANKENSTEIN to FM, and only have some of the old Monster Times newsprint issues (though all of my CFQs), I grew up on the West Coast watching Shock Theatre, Creature Features, and Fright Night (local horror host was Seymour, the most evil man ever to crawl on the face of the Earth). Never got into the Aurora monster kits, though goodness knows I did see plenty of them around.
creepycrawley	re: West Coast Metro Monster Lover.	#2	[-]
Mar 2 04 4:09 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Funny thing about Famous Monsters. When you're a kid you thought it was the greatest magazine on the planet. Then you grew up a little and realized what a hack Forry turned out to be. Hell, I remember the time he pronounced John Agar's death in his magazine-AND THE GUY WAS STILL ALIVE. I eventually gravitated towards COF, too. A much more informed magazine as far as I was concerned. As for our monster shows, Creature Feature had a host, but I can't for the life of me remember who it was. IS that terrible or what?
SFfilmfan	WCMML	#3	[-]
Mar 2 04 7:35 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I've seen a lot of horror hosts that I don't particularly remember, so don't feel bad. I didn't grow up with Zacherly, but I have enjoyed some of his work. I have a copy somewhere of "Morgus the Magnificent," and I have an especially fond memory of actually meeting Larry "Seymour" Vincent before his death of cancer and being pleased that he was a genuinely nice fellow who appreciated his fans. The thing for me was visiting Forry Ackerman's Ackermansion and getting a copy of a magazine called PHOTON which just blew my mind how good it was. Here was a magazine which did actual research and took horror films seriously. I was very much saddened when Mark Frank gave it up, but it did lead me to discover Gore Creatures which became Midnight Marquee, Little Shoppe of Horrors in its initial incarnation, and other great horror fanzines. The West Coast version of CREATURE FEATURES had an amusing logo, but no host. The nice thing was it ran twice a weekend, once on Saturday and once again on Sunday, so if you liked the Saturday feature, you could see it again the following day around the same time.
Laughing Gravy	Re: Stay Sick	#4	[-]
Mar 2 04 8:38 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Well, I'm from Northeast Ohio, and we all grew up as the Sons of Ghoulardi. He was so popular that by the 1970s, we had horror and cult movies all weekend. Typical lineup: Friday evenings: the Cool Ghoul on a channel from Canton. Friday late-night: Big Chuck and Houlihan (Ghoulardi's successors) Saturday afternoon: 3 big hours of entertainment with Superhost (ch. 43), including serial chapters, Leon Errol and Three Stooges shorts, and a double-feature horror show. Saturday evening: "Creature Features" (ch. 43) Saturday late-night: Our choice of another Creature Feature (ch. 43) or The Ghoul (ch. 61). The hosts of the Creature Features were Sir Graves Ghastly and Count Alucard, who were the same guy in different get-ups. I met him once; he was very short. Of course, Sunday was for Bowery Boys and other series pictures. Now THOSE were the days.
SFfilmfan	Staying Sick	#5	[-]
Mar 3 04 1:45 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	So, like, did you ever get out of the house and do stuff?
creepycrawley	re: Staying Sick	#6	[-]
Mar 3 04 2:10 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I don't see how he had time for anything else. On nice days my old man told me to get out of the house and blow the stink off. Which meant go out for some fresh air.
Joe Karlosi	Re: re: Staying Sick	#7	[-]
Jul 10 04 3:29 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I'm 42 now and I grew up in Queens, New York. I vividly recall CREATURE FEATURES and CHILLER on channel 11. They're great memories of a time that will never come again, I'm afraid - but you never know.
Richard Harland Smith Esq	Re: re: Staying Sick	#8	[-]
Dec 5 04 6:06 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I'm 43 and grew up in Nort'east Connecticut. Late at night, if you spun the rotor (remember those?) all the way west, you could get New York stations, which is how I used to see Joe Franklin and FRIGHT NIGHT. There was something almost mediumistic about the process... you were never guaranteed good reception and the reception you did get was at best okay to poor, but what you'd receive was often worth the effort and eyestrain. Rarely good stuff (I saw that on Channel 4, from Needham, MA... CLASSIC HORROR and SIMON'S SANCTORUM) but always worthwhile. My grandparents lived in the Parkchester section of the Bronx, so occasionally I could see these shows clearly-- I specifically remember seeing CHILDREN SHOULDN'T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS for the first time parked on my grandparent's Oriental, inches from the Philco.
Chesterbelloc	Re: re: Staying Sick	#9	[-]
Dec 5 04 6:26 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I grew up in Philly in the seventies. Besides the wonderful local programming-Dr. Shock on Saturdays(with the Universal and AIP horror packages), classic Warners and MGM movies every Sunday on Channel 48(along with Bud and Lou and Blondie and Dagwood), I used to take the little 10" b&w television upstairs during the summer to pick up WOR Channel 9 from New York. Sometimes I would really have to move the tv around the room to get a decent picture, but it was worth it. I remember a week long Frankenstein festival on the Late Show(the first five Uni's were shown), a Werewolf festival that included not only the Wolfman and Werewolf of London but also THE UNDYING MONSTER(impossible to see in Philly), and late late saturday night showings of MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE, THE BLACK CAT and some crazy little flick called DECOY FOR TERROR that scared the hell out of me. And of course Thanksgiving showings of KING KONG, SON OF KONG and MIGHTY JOE YOUNG. Home Video and DVD is great, but there was something special about going through the ritual to see those films when if you missed it when it was broadcast you wouldn't be able to see the film until someone decided to broadcast it again.
borisandbelarule	Re: re: Staying Sick	#10	[-]
Dec 6 04 2:10 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Chester, that is so true about the urgency of making yourself watch movies before the days of VCRs. I've got an incredible collection of movies that I've acquired over the past 25 years, and there may seriously be about 300 movies that are on tape that I haven't watched. Believe me, I wouldn't erase VCRs from the face of the Earth if I could. Great contraption. But it's funny how so many people I know miss out on stuff because they taped it, and then taped over it because they forgot to label it, or simply never watched it because they could "check it out some other time."
Chesterbelloc	Re: re: Staying Sick	#11	[-]
Dec 6 04 6:53 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Well, when I was a kid going through all of that rigmarole to get to see the classics, my dream was to have a collection of all of the movies I loved and watch them whenever I wanted to. The closest you could get to that in the pre-video days were those eight minute Castle Digests, and they barely satisfied me. So I am ecstatic over the video and DVD revolution. I'm just also nostalgic for the old days!
creepycrawley	re: Staying Sick	#12	[-]
Dec 9 04 2:33 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	You want to hear something really desperate. How many of you audio taped your favorite movies? Before the miracle of the VCR the only other way to capture the suspense of your favorite movie was to record it with your tape recorder. Hey, it was better than nothing and it seemed to help until video came along. I recently unearthed an old audio tape of Gorgo. It was well worn, the sound weak, but it still seemed to have a little magic in it as I listened to the sounds of a movie I taped over 20 years ago. Now I can pop in the DVD and watch it whenever and however many times I want. Ah, such privileged times we live in.
taraco	Re: re: Staying Sick	#13	[-]
Dec 9 04 2:47 PM Burgomaster Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	We discussed this many years ago, creepy one, and yes, many of us did exactly that, taping movie audio off of TVs with small microphones and reel-to-reel or cassette recorders. In my case, I had the entire KING KONG and BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, and the last 10 minutes of GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN ("I can't see. Bohmer!"). I would try to snip the commercials, but sometimes there'd still be a snippet of Million Dollar Movie's theme song or a local ad. They are long gone, but those movies -- obviously -- are part of my permanent inner soundtrack. david "What good is a body without eyes to see?"
creepycrawley	re:re: Staying sick	#14	[-]
Dec 9 04 2:59 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Must have missed that thread, David. Wasn't belittling the fact that we all did that. It's just amazing the trouble we'd go through to capture those moments. I taped a lot of old movies that way. Besides the Gorgo tape all of mine are gone now. And like you say, they live now only in my memories. Charlie
Pop Ghoul	Re: re:re: Staying sick	#15	[-]
Dec 9 04 4:40 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	*Quote:* How many of you audio taped your favorite movies? Back in the day (before VCRs) I was not only a monster movie fan but I was also a big Jack Nicholson fan. I was extremely desperate to see THE TERROR with Nicholson and Karloff (yea, I know). Of course it never seemed to show up on any local stations. Finally I got a chance to see it when I was in my teens. Not only did I stay up and watch it but I recorded it on an 8-track tape. Of course the movie was a terrible let down but I was so fascinated by the overwrought and wordy scenes given Nicholson at the beginning that I would listen to my 8-track while driving around in the car until I had completely memorized all of his dialog at the beginning. This was not a big hit at partys however. :( MWD
Joe Karlosi	Re: re:re: Staying sick	#16	[-]
Dec 9 04 6:03 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Oh, yes - I audiotaped many movies! Everyone in the house had to be very quiet and I drove everyone nuts! It's amazing to think how satisfied we were with audiotapes when we didn't know anything else - and here we are today, quibbling about some "lesser" quality DVD prints!
Chesterbelloc	Re: re:re: Staying sick	#17	[-]
Dec 9 04 7:40 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I had audiotapes of all of the Universal Frankensteins, most of the Honeymooners Classic 39 and at least half of the Batman tv episodes. One tape I used to love to listen to was the '43 PHANTOM OF THE OPERA because I loved the music. Like Joe, I used to tell everyone in the room to be very quiet, but of course it never worked out that way! There's a pretty good argument between my sister and myself on my FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLFMAN audio.
GaryP11111	Re: re: Staying Sick	#18	[-]
Dec 9 04 9:31 PM Burgomaster Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	>>I would try to snip the commercials, but sometimes there'd still be a snippet of Million Dollar Movie's theme song or a local ad.<< What's weird is all the trouble we went through using the pause button to zap commercials, frustrating ourselves when we forgot to hit the pause button at the right time. Now when I come across a really old videotape I made, it is often the commercials that have the big pop culture nostalgic appeal for me. GARY L. PRANGE "Sic gorgiamus allos subjectos nunc."
taraco	Re: re: Staying Sick	#19	[-]
Dec 9 04 9:53 PM Burgomaster Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	>> Must have missed that thread, David. Actually, it was years ago on the old AOL CHFB board. I remember when I first heard that other people taped movie sound, too, I thought, "I knew I wasn't crazy!" Your post was another happy reminder! david
Pop Ghoul	Re: re: Staying Sick	#20	[-]
Dec 9 04 9:56 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	*Quote:* it is often the commercials that have the big pop culture nostalgic appeal for me So true. A couple of years ago we came across some old Spuds Mackenzie item at a garage sale and got to talking about the commercials with some friends of ours. We were shocked to realize that none of our kids remembered them. A few weeks later I was going through some video tapes that had not been labeled and found where I had taped that Werewolf TV series and there scattered among the pilot episode was pretty much every Spuds Mackenzie commercial made. So of course we then forced our kids to sit through them. MWD

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