“Svengoolie” presents his big broadcast of “Trilogy of Terror” (1975), this Sat. on Me-TV

Fellow Svengoolie Super SvenPals everywhere will be dancing and jumping for joy for his upcoming big broadcast of a classic mammoth made-for-TV movie horror anthology masterpiece that was produced by the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) television network.

“Svengoolie” presents his big broadcast of “Trilogy of Terror” (1975)

A fan-made trailer for Dan Curtis‘ classic mammoth ABC made-for-TV movie horror/thriller anthology masterpiece, “Trilogy of Terror” (1975) with Karen Black.

Custom art designed by Jacob Phillips for the Kino Lorber Blu-Ray & DVD release of Dan Curtis’ classic mammoth ABC made-for-TV horror anthology masterpiece, “Trilogy of Terror” (1975).

The legendary Berwyn/Chicago-based classic mammoth horror film masterpiece host will present his big broadcast of “Trilogy of Terror” (1975) this Sat., Sept. 30 at 8 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Central on Me-TV.

The classic mammoth 1975 ABC made-for-TV horror feature masterpiece production was directed by veteran television and feature film director-producer Dan Curtis.

Curtis was best-known for producing and directing his own classic mammoth ABC television network gothic horror series masterpiece production, “Dark Shadows” (1966-71) with Jonathan Frid (in the lead role of vampire Barnabas Collins) and Grayson Hall (in the lead role of Dr. Julia Hoffman, also of 1972’s “Gargoyles” fame).  Curtis also directed two classic mammoth Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) gothic horror feature film masterpiece adaptations of his ABC-TV “Dark Shadows” series;  “House of Dark Shadows” (1970) with Frid and “Night of Dark Shadows” (1971, produced around the same time that ABC cancelled “Dark Shadows”).  20 years after the final ABC broadcast of “Dark Shadows,” Curtis would re-team with MGM to produce a newer, short-lived primetime “Dark Shadows” series for rival network NBC in 1991 with Ben Cross in the Barnabas Collins role.

Alongside his “Dark Shadows” productions and “Trilogy of Terror,” most of Curtis’ classic mammoth masterpiece TV productions aired on the ABC television network for the majority of his career.  He also produced the classic mammoth ABC made-for-TV movie masterpiece production of John Llewellyn Moxey‘s “The Night Stalker” (1972) with Darren McGavin, Simon Oakland, Carol Lynley, Claude Akins and Larry Linville (of TV’s “M*A*S*H” fame). Curtis also directed the classic mammoth ABC “Kolchak” made-for-TV movie masterpiece sequel, “The Night Strangler” (1973) with McGavin, Oakland, Margaret Hamilton of 1939’s “The Wizard of Oz” fame, John Carradine, Al Lewis of “The Munsters” fame and Wally Cox.  The two classic mammoth ABC made-for-TV “Kolchak” movie masterpieces inspired the latter classic mammoth Universal Studios/ABC TV supernatural masterpiece series “Kolchak: The Night Stalker” (1974-75) with McGavin and Oakland.  For the aforementioned 1975-75 Universal “Kolchak” series, Dan Curtis served as a supervising producer.  Speaking of “Kolchak,” the two aforementioned classic mammoth Dan Curtis/ABC “Kolchak” made-for-TV movie masterpieces with Darren McGavin and Simon Oakland will air on future editions of Svengoolie’s Sat. evening Me-TV big broadcasts as part of his twinset features for “Svengoolie’s Halloween Boo-nanza” 2023 festival! -C.H.

Curtis also directed the classic mammoth critically-acclaimed Emmy award-winning Paramount Pictures/ABC made-for-TV wartime drama masterpiece miniseries adaptation of Herman Wouk‘s “The Winds of War” (1983) with Robert Mitchum, Ali MacGraw, Ralph Bellamy, John Houseman, Topol of “Fiddler on the Roof” fame,  Polly Bergen and Peter Graves and a follow-up classic mammoth critically-acclaimed Emmy award-winning made-for-TV wartime drama masterpiece sequel miniseries adaptation that was produced entirely by ABC, Herman Wouk’s “War and Remembrance” (1988-89) with Mitchum, Bellamy, Topol, Bergen, Sami Frey, Robert Hardy, Jane Seymour and William Schallert.

The screenplay of Curtis’ classic mammoth 1975 ABC made-for-TV horror/thriller masterpiece production was written by veteran screenwriter William F. Nolan and was based off of several original story ideas by veteran screenwriter Richard Matheson.  Nolan previously co-authored George Clayton Johnson‘s classic mammoth futuristic sci-fi thriller novel masterpiece that was later adapated by Michael Anderson for the classic mammoth Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) futuristic sci-fi/thriller masterpiece production with Michael York, Jenny Agutter, Roscoe Lee Browne, Farrah Fawcett (Farrah Fawcett-Majors), Peter Ustinov and Richard Jordan; “Logan’s Run” (1976).  Matheson previously wrote the screenplay for Jack Arnold’s classic mammoth Universal Studios sci-fi/fantasy/visual effects masterpiece, “The Incredible Shrinking Man” (1957) with Grant Williams, Randy Stuart, April Kent, Paul Langton, Raymond Bailey (of TV’s “The Beverly Hillbillies” fame) and William Schallert and also wrote 16 episodes of Rod Serling‘s classic mammoth critically-acclaimed CBS television supernatural sci-fi/thriller/fantasy masterpiece series, “The Twilight Zone” (Matheson wrote for Serling’s series from 1959-64).

“Trilogy of Terror” (1975) originally aired on the ABC television network on March 4, 1975 as part of the network’s “Tuesday Movie of the Week”/”Movie of the Week” series of feature-length productions produced and/or financed by ABC, according to IMDB and an original 1975 ABC print advertisement for the network presentation of “Trilogy of Terror.”   The alphabet network began their “Movie of the Week” series in 1969

The animated/scanimation-filmed “ABC Movie of the Week” opening/closing graphics and bumpers contained a signature piece of music that was composed by legendary composer Burt Bacharach, which was an instrumental version of one of his original songs, “Nikki.”  An orchestral album cut version of Bacharach’s “Nikki” composition was released on the composer’s self-titled album via the legendary Herb Alpert & Jerry Moss‘ recorded music firm, A&M Records in 1971; according to Discogs.

Alongside feature-length productions that were produced by the network’s in-house production unit, ABC also contracted with veteran producer Aaron Spelling‘s production company, veteran producer and documentarian David L. Wolper‘s production outfit (Wolper would later sell his production company to Warner Bros. in 1976), Universal Studios/MCA and Columbia Pictures/Screen Gems (Columbia’s TV unit was later rebadged as Columbia Pictures Television in 1974) to produce made-for-TV movies for the network’s “Movie of the Week” showcases, according to Michael McKenna’s retrospective book on ABC’s slate of made-for-TV movies, “The ABC Movie of the Week: Big Movies for the Small Screen” and the Film Score Monthly forum.  Speaking of the “ABC Movie of the Week,” one of the other classic mammoth made-for-TV features that was previously shown on Svengoolie’s Me-TV showcases was young Steven Spielberg‘s classic mammoth Universal-ABC made-for-TV action thriller masterpiece production of “Duel” (1971) with Dennis Weaver; which marked one of the earliest classic mammoth major masterpiece productions for the young veteran director.

According to additional details from IMDB, Curtis’ classic mammoth made-for-TV thriller/horror masterpiece production was co-produced under the ABC television network’s in-house production unit, “ABC Circle Films” (which later became “ABC Productions,” which is now known as “ABC Studios“/”ABC Signature“).

For the original March 4, 1975 ABC television network airing of “Trilogy of Terror:” Curtis’ classic mammoth ABC made-for-TV 1975 horror/thriller masterpiece aired on ABC-owned WLS-TV in Berwyn/Chicago, Illinois and on a regional scale for the home region of “Silver Screen Reflections;” the original 1975 ABC showing of Curtis’ “Trilogy of Terror” aired on WMAL-TV 7 (which became WJLA-7 in 1977) ; WJLA/7 previously carried Me-TV in the Washington, D.C./Frederick, Maryland area from 2013-17) in the Washington, D.C./Frederick, Maryland area; ,WTPA-TV 27 (which became WHTM-27 in 1980) in the Gettysburg/Hanover/York/Harrisburg, Pennsylvania area and WJZ-TV Channel 13 (which later became affiliated with CBS after the 1995 Baltimore TV affiliation switch, CBS-owned since the 1996 Westinghouse/Group W-CBS merger) in the Baltimore, Maryland area. -C.H.

According to the March 4, 1975 issue of The Gettysburg Times, ABC programmed Dan Curtis’ “Trilogy of Terror” (1975) for the “Tuesday Movie of the Week” showcase in-between an episode of “Happy Days” (titled “Fonzie Joins the Band”) and an episode of “Marcus Welby, M.D.” (titled “Dark Corridors”).  During the original March 4, 1975 prime-time big broadcast airing of the “ABC Tuesday Movie of the Week”/”Trilogy of Terror,” the alphabet network & Dan Curtis’ classic mammoth 1975 made-for-TV horror-thriller masterpiece production was shown opposite an episode of “M*A*S*H” (titled “Payday”) and the First Annual “People’s Choice Awards” over on CBS and the Columbia Pictures made-for-TV movie production of “The Last Survivors” (1975) over on NBC.

During the original March 4, 1975 ABC big broadcast network TV premiere of Curtis’ “Trilogy of Terror,” it was reported that several ABC-affiliated stations from coast-to-coast did not clear Curtis’ classic mammoth 1975 made-for-TV horror anthology movie masterpiece production for prime-time.

According to a March 17, 1975 issue of Broadcasting (Broadcasting and Cable), several ABC affiliates were concerned and felt that ABC’s airing of “Trilogy of Terror” (1975) would scare off viewers in prime-time; yet ABC placed a viewer discretion disclaimer in the original network promos/commercials for Curtis’ 1975 production; according to a latter commercial for a syndicated airing of “Trilogy of Terror” that was unearthed on YouTube.

Several ABC affiliates decided to delay Curtis’ “Trilogy of Terror” (1975) by airing it in the Latenight timeslot in place of ABC’s then-Latenight programming lineup, “Wide World of Entertainment” in New Orleans, Louisiana (WVUE, which was affiliated with ABC until 1995); Miami, Florida (WPLG– though WPLG would later air a syndicated airing of “Trilogy of Terror” In 1981); Milwaukee, Wisconsin (WITI, which was affiliated with ABC until 1977) and Fresno, California (KJEO/KGPE, which was affiliated with ABC until 1985– when the network moved to KFSN as a result of the Capital Cities/ABC merger).

The only ABC-affiliated station that declined to show the original 1975 network airing of Curtis’ “Trilogy of Terror” (1975) in any timeslot was Duluth, Minnesota’s ABC affiliate (and future Me-TV affiliate) WDIO-TV.

This will mark Sven’s second big broadcast of Curtis’ classic mammoth 1975 ABC made-for-TV movie masterpiece production on the airlanes of Me-TV.  He previously showcased “Trilogy of Terror” (1975) as a big broadcast premiere back in Sept. 2022 for the start of the 2022 “Svengoolie’s Halloween Boo-nanza” festival along with the original Sept. 2022 premiere of the classic mammoth Me-TV documentary masterpiece on Svengoolie/Rich Koz, “Svengoolie: Uncrypted” (2022) featuring fellow Super SvenPals/Super Tooners Sarah Rhodes/Sarahgoolie, Nanette Keir and Brian Bernardoni!*  And speaking of “Sven:Uncrypted,” the classic mammoth 2022 Me-TV/Sven documentary masterpiece with fellow Super SvenPals/Super Tooners Sarah/Sarahgoolie, Nanette & Brian will be coming back to the airlanes in the upcoming Me-TV 2023 “Sven’s Halloween Boo-nanza” showcase this upcoming latenight Sat. evening, Oct. 14 at 11:30 p.m. Central/early Sun. morning, Oct. 15 at 12:30 a.m. Eastern after Sven’s twinset double-feature showcase! -C.H.

Who was in Dan Curtis’ classic mammoth ABC made-for-TV masterpiece production of “Trilogy of Terror” (1975)

The players who appeared in Dan Curtis’ classic mammoth ABC made-for-TV horror/thriller masterpiece production of “Trilogy of Terror” (1975) were Karen Black  (in the dual roles of Julie, Millicent, Therese and Amelia); Robert Burton (as Chad Foster), John Karlen (as Thomas Ammen), George Gaynes (as Dr. Chester Ramsey), Jim Storm (as Eddie Nells), Kathryn Reynolds (as Anne Richards), Orin Cannon (as a motel clerk), Gregory Harrison (as Arthur Moore), Tracy Curtis (as Tracy) and the vocal stylings of Walker Edmiston (for those who have not seen “Trilogy of Terror,” the writer/author of “Silver Screen Reflections” will not reveal what character Edmiston voiced in Curtis’ classic mammoth 1975 made-for-TV horror-thriller masterpiece). -C.H.

“Svengoolie” to present his big broadcast of “Return of the Vampire” (1943) w/Bela Lugosi, this Sat. on Me-TV

***To fellow Super SvenPals/Super Tooners who missed my emergency Sven Saturday cable/internet outage alert tweet in connection to Sven/”Mr. Sardonicus” (1961): Complete details are explained in this week’s “Silver Screen Reflections,” alongside recent Twitter technical problems. -C.H.***

Fellow Svengoolie Super SvenPals everywhere will be dancing and jumping for joy for his big broadcast of a classic mammoth Columbia Pictures vampire monster masterpiece.

“Svengoolie” to present his big broadcast of “The Return of the Vampire” (1943) with Bela Lugosi

A snippet from Lew Landers’ classic mammoth Columbia Pictures vampire monster masterpiece of “The Return of the Vampire” (1943), featuring Bela Lugosi and Nina Foch.

“The Vampire Strikes at Night!” Original 1943 Columbia Pictures theatrical poster art element for Bela Lugosi in “Return of the Vampire,”

The legendary Berwyn/Chicago-based classic mammoth monster masterpiece feature film host will present his big expanded broadcast of “Return of the Vampire” (1943) this Sat., Sept. 23 at 8 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Central on Me-TV.

The 1943 classic mammoth Columbia vampire monster masterpiece production of “Return of the Vampire” was directed by veteran feature film and television director Lew Landers.

Eight years before he directed “The Return of the Vampire,” Landers directed the classic Universal Studios screen thriller masterpiece adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven” (1935) with Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff.  Landers was credited under the pseudonym of Louis Friedlander for the aforementioned Universal screen adaptation of Poe’s story.

Landers also directed the classic mammoth Columbia Super-Cinecolor fantasy feature production of “The Magic Carpet” (1951) with Lucille Ball around the same year that she appeared in her classic mammoth groundbreaking Desilu/CBS TV sitcom masterpiece series with real-life husband Desi Arnaz, “I Love Lucy” (1951-57; based off of the earlier CBS Radio series “My Favorite Husband”), a pre-“Perry Mason” Raymond Burr and John Agar.  He also directed several episodes of two successful television productions for Columbia’s Screen Gems television unit, including “The Adventures of Rin-Tin-Tin” (1956-59) and “Circus Boy” (1957), the latter series featured a pre-“Monkees” Micky Dolenz in the title role, Dolenz received screen credit under the pseudonym of Micky Braddock in “Circus Boy” with Noah Berry Jr.

“Return of the Vampire” was produced by veteran producer-director-writer Sam White.  The same year that “Return of the Vampire” was put into production, the veteran producer-director-writer also worked with Landers on his classic mammoth Columbia “Boston Blackie” mystery-detective adaptation feature film series masterpiece that same year, “After Midnight with Boston Blackie” (1943) with Chester Morris, Ann Savage and George E. Stone.  White also directed and co-produced his own classic mammoth Paramount Pictures musical-comedy masterpiece with veteran studio producers William H. Pine and William C. Thomas, “People Are Funny” (1946) with Jack Haley (of 1939’s “The Wizard of Oz” fame), Helen Walker, legendary crooner Rudy Vallee, legendary bandleader Ozzie Nelson, Frances Langford, radio/TV host Art Linkletter and of interest to fellow Super Tooners/Super SvenPals of Toony & Bill’s “Toon In With Me;” veteran cartoon voice-over artist Billy Bletcher.

Later in his career, Sam White served as an associate producer for the classic mammoth CBS television courtroom drama masterpiece series adaptation of Erle Stanley Gardner’s “Perry Mason” with Raymond Burr, Barbara Hale, William Hopper, Ray Collins and William Talman (White worked on 68 episodes of the series from 1957-59).  To paraphrase Sven, “Sam White worked on.. ‘Perry Mason’!” -C.H. 

The screenplay for the 1943 Columbia vampire-monster masterpiece production was written by veteran screenwriter Griffin Jay with additional dialogue by Randall Faye.

Jay previously wrote the screenplay for two classic mammoth Universal Studios “Mummy” monster sequel masterpieces that featured Lon Chaney Jr. in the role of the Mummy Kharis, Harold Young‘s “The Mummy’s Tomb” (1942) with Elyse Knox, Dick Foran, Turhan Bey, Wallace Ford and George Zucco and Reginald Le Borg‘s “The Mummy’s Ghost” (1944) with Ramsay Ames, Barton MacLane, John Carradine, Zucco and Frank Reicher.

 Jay and Faye’s screenplay for “Return of the Vampire” (1943/44) was based off of an original idea by Kurt Neumann.  Neumann previously wrote the screenplay treatment in an uncredited position for Garrett Fort‘s screenplay for Lambert Hillyer’s classic mammoth Universal Studios “Dracula” vampire-monster sequel masterpiece production of “Dracula’s Daughter” (1936) with Gloria Holden, Otto Kruger, Marguerite Churchill, Edward Van Sloan, Hedda Hopper, Irving Pichel and E.E. Clive.   Neumann later directed the classic mammoth Twentieth Century Fox (Twentieth Century Studios) sci-fi creature-fantasy masterpiece, “The Fly” (1958). with David “Al” Hedison (later of TV’s “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea” fame), Patricia Owens and the legendary Vincent Price.

Veteran Columbia Pictures/Screen Gems make-up artist Clay Campbell worked in an uncredited position on the monster make-up effects for Bela Lugosi’s characterization of Armand “Dr. Hugo Bruckner” Tesla and Matt Willis’ werewolf monster characterization of Andreas Obry, according to IMDB.

“Hey, ‘Moe’!” Duke York as Lupe the Wolf creature and Jerry “Curly: Howard in the classic mammoth Columbia “Three Stooges” short subject comedy masterpiece, “Idle Roomers” (1944), with veteran Columbia make-up artist Clay Campbell’s “Werewolf” make-up design.

Campbell also worked on other “werewolf” monster/creature make-up effects in other Columbia  productions, including  Duke York’s portrayal  of Lupe the Wolf creature in the classic mammoth Columbia comedy short subject with “The Three Stooges,” “Idle Roomers” (1944) with Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly Howard and the Fred F. Sears–Sam Katzman classic mammoth Columbia werewolf monster masterpiece production of “The Werewolf” (1956) with Steven Ritch in the title role of Duncan “Werewolf” Marsh.

Before working at Columbia, one of Campbell’s earliest well-known feature film make-up effect designs was for the wax figurines featured in Michael Curtiz’s classic mammoth Warner Bros. pioneering two-strip Technicolor horror-mystery masterpiece production of “Mystery of the Wax Museum” (1933) with Fay Wray (of 1933’s “King Kong” fame), Lionel  Atwill, Glenda Farrell (later of Warners’ “Torchy Blane” fame), Frank McHugh, Monica Bannister, Allen Vincent, Gavin Gordon, Edwin Maxwell and Holmes Herbert.

This will mark Sven’s third big broadcast of “The Return of the Vampire” (1943) on the airlanes of Me-TV.  He previously showcased Landers’ classic 1943 Columbia monster-vampire masterpiece as a big broadcast premiere back in Oct. 2018 and as a regular big broadcast back in Dec. 2020.

Who was in Lew Landers’ classic Columbia monster-vampire masterpiece production of “The Return of the Vampire” (1943)?

The players who appeared in Lew Landers’ classic mammoth Columbia monster-vampire masterpiece production of “The Return of the Vampire” (1943) were Bela Lugosi (as Armand Tesla, a.k.a. Dr. Hugo Bruckner), Nina Foch (as Nicki Saunders), Matt Willis (as Andreas Obry), Frieda Inescort (as Lady Jane Ainsley),  Roland Varno (as John Ainsley), Ottola Nesmith (as Governess Elsa Walter), Gilbert Emery (as Dr. Walter Saunders), William Austin (as Detective Gannett), Leslie Denison (as Detective Lynch) and Miles Mander (as Sir Frederick Fleet).