“Svengoolie” to premiere “Ants!” (1977, a.k.a. “It Happened at Lakewood Manor”), this Sat. on Me-TV

Fellow Svengoolie SvenPals everywhere will be excited about a premiere of a cult made-for-TV thriller with a cast of iconic personalities from film and television.

“Svengoolie” presents: “Ants!” (1977, a.k.a. “It Happened at Lakewood Manor”)

Late 1980’s compilation trailer for the VHS release of “Ants!”/”It Happened at Lakewood Manor” (1977).

1977 TV Guide/newspaper ad for ABC’s “Friday Night Movie” presentation of “It Happened at Lakewood Manor” (a.k.a. “Ants!”).

The legendary Berywn/Chicago-based horror film host will be premiering the 1977 made-for-television horror feature, “Ants!” (a.k.a. “It Happened at Lakewood Manor”), this Sat., Feb. 3 at 8 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Central on Me-TV.

“Ants!” originally aired as a made-for-TV motion picture on the ABC television network (under the title of “It Happened at Lakewood Manor” in Dec. 1977, according to IMDB).

“Ants”/”It Happened at Lakewood Manor” was directed by Robert Scheerer.  Scheerer later worked on 11 episodes of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” (1989-93), one episode of “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” (“Shadowplay” in 1994) and two episodes of “Star Trek: Voyager” (“State of Flux” in 1995 and “Rise” in 1997).

The screenplay was written by Guerdon Trueblood, who wrote several episodes of Jack Webb’s “Adam-12” series from 1969-70.

The 1977 thriller was produced by veteran television series producer Alan Landsburg, whose production company also produced “In Search of Ancient Mysteries” (1973, narrated by Rod Serling),  “In Search Of…” (1977-82, hosted by Leonard Nimoy) and “That’s Incredible!” (1981-84).

Who was in “Ants!”/”It Happened at Lakewood Manor” (1977)?

Robert Foxworth and Lynda Day George in “Ants!” (1977, a.k.a. “It Happened at Lakewood Manor”).

The players who appeared in Scheerer’s telefilm were Myrna Loy (as Ethel), Robert Foxworth (as Mike Carr), Lynda Day George (as Valerie Adams), Suzanne Somers (as Gloria), Bernie Casey (as Vince),  Gerald Gordon (as Tony Fleming), Karen Lamm (as Linda Howard), Barry Van Dyke (as Richard Cyril), Brian Dennehy (as a fire chief), Anita Gillette (as Peggy Kenter), Steve Franken (as White), Bruce French (as Tom), Barbara Brownell (as Marjorie), Stacy Keach Sr. (as Doc) and René Enríquez (as Luis).