Fellow Svengoolie SvenPals everywhere will be dancing and jumping for joy for his big broadcast of a classic mammoth award-winning made-for-TV creature masterpiece.
Fan-made compilation trailer for Bill Norton’s “Gargoyles” (1972) with Bernie Casey. Jennifer Salt and Cornel Wilde.
“They’re Coming For You!” Cover art for the out-of-print DVD edition of “Gargoyles” (1972), featuring Bernie Casey.
The legendary and iconic Berwyn/Chicago-based classic mammoth sci-fi/creature film masterpiece host will present his big broadcast of “Gargoyles” (1972), this Sat., March 30 at 8 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Central on Me-TV.
The classic mammoth 1972 made-for-TV sci-fi/supernatural/creature feature masterpiece production of “Gargoyles” was directed by veteran director Bill Norton, who received screen credit under the name of “B.W.L. Norton.” After directing his own short feature film at the UCLA School of Film, Theatre and Television, titled “Coming Soon” (1966) and one year before production began on “Gargoyles,” Norton directed his own classic mammoth Columbia Pictures drama masterpiece production, “Cisco Pike” (1971) with Kris Kristofferson, Gene Hackman, Gene Hackman, Karen Black, Harry Dean Stanton, Roscoe Lee Browne, a pre-“WKRP In Cincinatti” Howard Hesseman, Allan Arbus and Wavy Gravy. Norton worked primarily for television throughout the majority of his directorial career after working on his classic mammoth made-for-TV masterpiece production of “Gargoyles” (1972). Other productions that Norton worked on throughout his directorial career alongside “Gargoyles” (1972) include several episodes of “Tour of Duty” (from 1987-89), “SeaQuest: DSV” (two episodes in 1993) with Roy Scheider and the brief Sci-Fi Channel (pre- “SyFy”) cable miniseries adaptation production of H.G. Wells’ “The Invisible Man” (Norton directed three episodes in 2001).
The script for Norton’s classic mammoth made-for-TV masterpiece production of “Gargoyles” (1972) was written by the husband-and-wife screenwriting duo of Stephen Karpf and Elinor Karpf. The Karpfs also worked on the script of Gordon Hessler’s Universal Studios–ABC television made-for-TV thriller production with George Kennedy, Joanna Pettet, Lee Montgomery and Bing Russell, “A Cry in the Wilderness” (1974), one episode of the brief Paramount Pictures TV adaptation of “Love Story” (1973’s “The Youngest Lovers,” adapted from the classic mammoth 1970 Paramount feature film masterpiece production of the same name). Later in their career, the Karpfs created a television soap opera production for the CBS television network with Constance Towers, Debrah Farentino and Rory Calhoun; “Capitol” (1982-87).
Norton’s classic 1972 creature telefilm masterpiece was produced by veteran television producers Robert W. “Bob” Christiansen, Roger Gimbel and Rick Rosenberg.
Bill Norton’s classic mammoth sci-fi/supernatural creature feature masterpiece production of “Gargoyles” (1972) premiered on the CBS television network as part of the “New CBS Tuesday Night Movies” on Nov. 21, 1972; according to IMDB and a segment from Broadcasting (Broadcasting and Cable) Magazine. For the original CBS premiere of “Gargoyles,” Norton’s classic mammoth 1972 made-for-TV supernatural creature masterpiece production aired after an episode of “Hawaii Five-O,” according to the Nov. 21, 1971 edition of the Hanover Evening Sun Newspaper of Hanover, Pennsylvania.
For the original CBS television network premiere of “Gargoyles” (1972): Norton’s classic mammoth made-for-TV supernatural creature masterpiece production aired on CBS-owned WBBM-TV Channel 2 in Berwyn/Chicago, Illinois. and on a regional scale around the home region/home office of “Silver Screen Reflections;” according to the Nov. 21, 1972 edition of the Hanover Evening Sun from Hanover, Pennsylvania; the classic mammoth 1972 Bill Norton made-for-TV supernatural creature masterpiece production was showcased on WTOP-TV Channel 9 (which later became WDVM in 1978 and became W*USA 9 in 1986) in the Washington, D.C./Frederick, Maryland/Northern Virginia region and on the “Keystone Network” trio of CBS-affiliated TV stations for the Hanover/Gettysburg/York/Harrisburg, Pennsylvania viewing area at the time- the now-former WLYH-TV 15 (which was affiliated with CBS until 1995), WHP-TV 21 (which became the primary CBS affiliate for the Hanover/Gettysburg/York/Harrisburg, Pennsylvania area after 1995) and WSBA-TV 43 (once linked to Pennsylvania’s Pfaltzgraff pottery business– which lost its CBS network affiliation after the station was sold in 1983 and became WPMT-43).
The original CBS network airing of “Gargoyles” (1972) was pre-empted in Baltimore, Maryland by then-CBS affiliate WMAR-TV 2. Since it was near the then-ninth anniversary of the tragic Nov. 22, 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy, a syndicated movie airing of the filmed memorial tribute to President Kennedy, “John F. Kennedy: Years of Lightning, Day of Drums” (1964/65, released theatrically by Joseph E. Levine’s Embassy Pictures, syndicated to television in the early 1970s by Embassy’s then-successor, Avco-Embassy) aired in its place. CBS later switched affiliations with Hearst-owned (and future Me-TV affiliate) WBAL-TV 11 in 1981 (WBAL returned to NBC in 1995)– CBS later moved to Westinghouse/Group W-owned WJZ-TV 13 in Jan. 1995– shortly before Westinghouse/Group W (which also bought Chicago’s WXRT-FM 93.1/93XRT that same year) merged with CBS.
Sidebar: Since the original Nov. 1972 CBS airing of “Gargoyles” (1972) competed with a re-airing of another major network made-for-TV feature film that same evening, that will be mentioned in a section of this blog in this week’s “Silver Screen Reflections.” -C.H.
1973 production logo for General Electric’s TV production subsidiary at the time, Tomorrow Entertainment with the familiar GE “monogram” script logo byline. This was introduced about a year after their production of “Gargoyles” (1972).
“Gargoyles” (1972) was produced by Tomorrow Entertainment, the film & TV production arm of industrial giant General Electric at the time; according to IMDB and Broadcasting (Broadcasting and Cable) Magazine; the production firm was set up by GE in 1970 for the three major television networks’ original “movie of the week” series of big broadcasts, along with broadcasts that were entirely sponsored by GE and for television syndication purposes that were either self-syndicated programs and/or syndicated by other studios/distribution firms for local stations. GE’s “Tomorrow Entertainment” subsidiary was spearheaded by former ABC television network executive Thomas W. Moore.
GE’s Tomorrow Entertainment unit was also involved in Rankin/Bass Productions (a.k.a. Videocraft International); the legendary animation studio that was founded by Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass; both the junior Rankin and Bass were known for their classic mammoth “Animagic” stop-motion animation holiday masterpiece specials on television for many years.
13 years after the original network television premiere of “Gargoyles” (1972), GE later acquired rival network National Broadcasting Company (NBC) as part of their acquisition of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) in 1985 and would later acquire Universal Studios from France’s Vivendi Group in 2004 to form NBCUniversal in 2004; GE later sold off their NBCUniversal broadcast and entertainment properties to cable conglomerate Comcast in 2013, according to the Washington Post and Encyclopaedia Britannica.
GE’s Tomorrow Entertainment and GE’s Rankin/Bass library was later acquired by veteran producer Lorne Michaels (of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” fame) and his Broadway Video Enterprises firm. Michaels’ Broadway Video firm later sold the Tomorrow Entertainment-Rankin/Bass holdings to Golden Books (the former Western Publishing Company) in 1996, the Tomorrow-Rankin/Bass holdings were then sold to Classic Media after Golden Books’ financial problems in 2001. Dreamworks Animation acquired Classic Media in 2012 to form Dreamworks Classics, Dreamworks Animation/Dreamworks Classics was later acquired by Comcast’s NBCUniversal unit in 2016; according to the Associated Press, CNN, the Hollywood Reporter and Variety. Universal Studios/Universal Television/NBCUniversal Syndication Studios handles the Dreamworks Animation/Dreamworks Classics/Tomorrow Entertainment holdings under the “Dreamworks Classics” and/or “Classic Media” monikers.
Sidebar: In an ironic twist, “Gargoyles” (1972) eventually wound up with a major studio (Universal) that was once owned by the former industrial conglomerate (GE) that produced the aforementioned made-for-TV feature film production. -C.H.
This will mark Sven’s sixth big broadcast of Bill Norton’s classic mammoth made-for-TV supernatural creature movie masterpiece production of “Gargoyles” (1972) on the airlanes of Me-TV. Sven previously showcased the classic mammoth 1972 made-for-TV creature/supernatural movie masterpiece production as a Sven big broadcast premiere on the airlanes of Me-TV back in May 2017 and as regular Sven/Me-TV big broadcasts back in Nov. 2018, May 2020, April 2022 and Sept. 2022.
Who was in Norton’s classic mammoth made-for-TV sci-fi/supernatural/creature masterpiece production of “Gargoyles” (1972)?
The players who appeared in Bill Norton’s made-for-TV movie production of “Gargoyles” (1972) were Bernie Casey (as the lead Gargoyle), Jennifer Salt (as Diana Boley), Cornel Wilde (as Dr. Mercer Boley), Scott Glenn (as James Reeger), Grayson Hall (as Mrs. Parks), Woody Chambliss (as Uncle Willie), John Gruber (as Jesse), Mickey Alzola, Rock Walker and Greg Walker (the three aforementioned actors played other Gargoyle creatures in the 1972 made-for-TV feature), Timothy “Tim” Burns (as Morris Ray), Vic Perrin (in an uncredited role as the voice of the lead Gargoyle, dubbing in Bernie Casey’s dialogue) and Jim Connell (as Buddy).
Silver Screen Reflections 