Fellow Svengoolie SvenPals everywhere will be celebrating New Year’s Eve with his big broadcast of a classic mammoth American-International Pictures arachnid sci-fi/creature masterpiece.
Original 1958 American-International theatrical release trailer Bert I. Gordon’s classic mammoth American-International Pictures sci-fi/creature masterpiece production of “Earth vs. the Spider” (a.k.a. “The Spider”)*.
The legendary Berwyn/Chicago-based classic mammoth sci-fi/creature feature film masterpiece host will present his big Holiday/Christmas Day broadcast of “Earth vs. the Spider” (1958, a.k.a. “The Spider”), this Sat./New Year’s Eve, Dec. 31 at 8 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Central on Me-TV.
The 1958 cult classic mammoth American-International arachnid sci-fi creature masterpiece was directed by veteran fantasy/special effects/visual effects feature film director Bert I. Gordon. Gordon was known for his cult classic mammoth “giant” creature feature masterpiece productions throughout the majority of his motion picture career. Some of Gordon’s best-known mammoth classic sci-fi/creature feature film masterpieces include “The Cyclops” (1957) with Duncan ‘Dean’ Parkin , Lon Chaney Jr., Gloria Talbott and Tom Drake; “Beginning of the End” (1957) with Peter Graves, Peggie Castle and Morris Ankrum; “The Amazing Colossal Man” (1957)* with Glenn Langan and Cathy Downs; “War of the Colossal Beast” (1958)*, “Attack of the Puppet People” (1958)* with John Agar,, “Tormented” (1960) for Allied Artists with Richard Carlson, “The Magic Sword” (1962) with Basil Rathbone, Anne Helm and Gary Lockwood for United Artists, “Village of the Giants” (1965) for Joseph E. Levine’s Embassy Pictures with Ron “Ronny” Howard, Freddy “Boom Boom” Cannon, Joy Harmon, Beau Bridges, Tisha Sterling, Johnny Crawford and Tommy Kirk; “The Food of the Gods” (1976)* with Ida Lupino and “Empire of the Ants” (1977)* with Joan Collins.
The screenplay adaptation of Gordon’s original story treatment for his classic mammoth American-International arachnid creature masterpiece production of “Earth vs. the Spider” (1958, a.k.a. “The Spider”) was written by veteran screenwriters László Görög and George Worthing Yates. Görög previously wrote the screenplay for Virgil W. Vogel’s classic mammoth Universal Studios sci-fi creature masterpiece production with John Agar, Cynthia Patrick, a pre-“Leave It to Beaver” Hugh Beaumont, Nestor Paiva and a pre-“Batman” Alan Napier; “The Mole People” (1956). Yates previously wrote the original story treatment for Gordon Douglas’ classic Warner Bros. sci-fi creature masterpiece production of “Them!” (1954) with James Whitmore, Joan Weldon, Edmund Gwenn, a pre-“Gunsmoke” James Arness and a pre-“Davy Crockett”/”Daniel Boone” Fess Parker. Yates also wrote screenplays for the classic Ray Harryhausen– Robert Gordon–Columbia Pictures “Dynamation” stop-motion sci-fi creature masterpiece with Kenneth Tobey, Faith Domergue and Donald Curtis; “It Came From Beneath the Sea” (1955) and the classic Harryhausen- Fred F. Sears-Columbia sci-fi masterpiece production with Hugh Marlowe, Joan Taylor and Curtis; “Earth vs. the Flying Saucers” (1956).
*Throughout the majority of his feature film/directorial career, Gordon released his classic mammoth “giant” creature/sci-fi masterpiece productions through Samuel Z. Arkoff and James H. Nicholson’s independent distribution/releasing firm, American-International Pictures; both Arkoff and Nicholson established American-International as the American Releasing Corporation in 1954, according to the Samuel Z. Arkoff papers collection housed at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California. Arkoff later sold American-International to television and feature film production-syndication company Filmways in 1979, which was later acquired by Orion Pictures in 1982. Orion, along with the majority of the American-International (AIP)/Filmways holdings** was then sold to the present incarnation of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) in 1997. Following MGM’s re-introduction of the “Orion Pictures” moniker, the modern incarnation of MGM recently revived the “American-International Pictures” (AIP) moniker for certain theatrical releases/feature film productions.
Bert I. Gordon’s classic mammoth 1958 American-International Pictures arachnid/sci-fi/creature masterpiece production was originally filmed under the title of “The Spider.” According to a Dec. 1991 BBC Television interview with Samuel Z. Arkoff for the British network’s “Talking Pictures” movie review show, the AIP co-founder noted that in the company’s early years, American-International operated differently than their major competitors when it came to pre-production plans. Arkoff mentioned that the company came up with the titles of the proposed production (example: “The Spider”) before the creation of the original story/screenplay treatment, along with the choice of cast members, production crew members and the director. Arkoff later mentioned that American-International co-founder James H. Nicholson was responsible for most of the creation of titles/production ideas for the film distribution firm, according to Eamon Harrington and John Watkin’s retrospective documentary on Arkoff and Nicholson’s distribution firm; “It Conquered Hollywood! The Story of American International Pictures” (2001).
Arkoff and Nicholson decided to make a last-minute change to the title of “The Spider,” under the title of “Earth vs. the Spider.” Both Arkoff and Nicholson then decided to change the title back to “The Spider,” mostly for publicity/marketing/advertising/theatrical trailer/promotional materials to compete with Kurt Neumann’s classic mammoth Twentieth Century Fox (Twentieth Century Studios) sci-fi creature-fantasy masterpiece, “The Fly” (1958). with David “Al” Hedison (later of Irwin Allen’s 1964-68 Twentieth Century Fox/Twentieth Century Studios TV adaptation of “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea” fame), Patricia Owens and Vincent Price.
This will mark Svengoolie’s third big coast-to-coast broadcast of Bert I. Gordon’s classic mammoth American-International arachnid sci-fi/creature feature masterpiece production of “Earth vs. the Spider” (1958, a.k.a. “The Spider”) on Me-TV. He previously showcased Gordon’s classic 1958 mammoth arachnid creature/sci-fi masterpiece production as a big broadcast premiere back in Jan. 2021 and as a regular big Holiday broadcast on Christmas Day of 2021.
Who was in “Earth vs. the Spider” (1958, a.k.a. “The Spider”)?
The players who appeared in Bert I. Gordon’s American-International production of “Earth vs. the Spider” (1958, a.k.a. “The Spider”) were Ed Kemmer (as Prof. Art Kingman), June Kenney (as Carol Flynn), Sally Fraser (as Mrs. Helen Kingman), Eugene “Gene” Persson (as Mike Simpson), Gene Roth (as Sheriff Cagle), Hal Torey (as Mr. Simpson), June Jocelyn (as Mrs. Jack Flynn), Mickey Finn (as Sam Haskel), Troy Patterson (as Joe), Skip Young (as Sam, the bass player), Howard Wright (as Jake), Bill Giorgio (as Dep. Sheriff Pete Sanders), Hank Patterson (as Hugo, the janitor), Jack Kosslyn (as Mr. Fraser) and Bob Garnet (as the pest control man).