**This week’s “Silver Screen Reflections” is cancelled**

**To all my fellow wonderful legendary friends/Super SvenPals/Super Tooners/Super readers/suscribers of “Silver Screen Reflections:”** I have decided to cancel this week’s edition of “Silver Screen Reflections.”

In connection to Svengoolie‘s upcoming big broadcast of Dan Curtis‘ classic mammoth ABC made-for-TV thriller movie masterpiece production “Trilogy of Terror” (1975) with  Karen Black , Robert Burton, John Karlen, George Gaynes, Jim Storm, Kathryn Reynolds, Orin Cannon, Gregory Harrison, Tracy Curtis and the vocal stylings of Walker Edmiston this upcoming Sat., April 27 at 8 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Central on Me-TV, please enjoy these classic “Silver Screen Reflections” articles on Sven’s past Me-TV big broadcasts of Curtis’ classic mammoth ABC made-for-TV thriller movie masterpiece production of “Trilogy of Terror” (1975) from Oct. 2022, Sept. 2023 and Oct. 2023.

My weekly “Silver Screen Reflections” Sven classic film blog will continue in its regular format next week.  Again, I thank you all for your patience.  -Peace/Take Care & All the Best, Chris Hamby

“Svengoolie” to present his big broadcast of “Gargoyles” (1972) with Bernie Casey, Jennifer Salt and Cornel Wilde, this Sat. on Me-TV

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.

“Svengoolie” to present his big broadcast of “Gargoyles” (1972) with Bernie Casey, Jennifer Salt and Cornel Wilde

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).

“Svengoolie” presents his big broadcast of “Revenge of the Creature” (1955, in 2-D), 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 Universal Studios “Gill-Man” monster sequel masterpiece.

“Svengoolie” presents his big broadcast of “Revenge of the Creature” (1955, in 2-D)

 A snippet from Jack Arnold’s classic mammoth Universal Studios “Creature”/”Gill-Man” monster sequel masterpiece production of “Revenge of the Creature” (1955, presented in 2-D).

“All-New Thrills! Shock! Suspense!” Original 1955 Universal Studios theatrical poster art for “Revenge of the Creature.”

The legendary and iconic Berwyn/Chicago-based classic mammoth monster/creature feature film masterpiece host will present his big broadcast of “Revenge of the Creature” (1955) in 2-D this Sat., Feb. 3 at 8 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Central on Me-TV. The classic mammoth 1955 Universal “Creature” monster masterpiece was directed by veteran director Jack Arnold.

Revenge of the Creature” (1955) is the sequel to Arnold’s earlier classic mammoth Universal “Gill-Man” 3-D monster masterpiece, “Creature From the Black Lagoon” (1954) with Julie Adams, Ricou Browning, Ben Chapman, Nestor Paiva, Richard Carlson and Richard Denning.

Alongside the two classic mammoth Universal “Creature” monster masterpiece productions, Arnold’s other classic mammoth Universal monster/creature and sci-fi masterpiece productions include “It Came from Outer Space” (1953, with Richard Carlson, Barbara Rush, a pre-“Gilligan’s Island” Russell Johnson, Charles Drake and Kathleen Hughes– Arnold’s classic mammoth 1953 Universal sci-fi masterpiece production marked one of Universal’s first 3-D feature film productions), “Tarantula” (1955) with  John Agar, Mara Corday, Leo G. Carroll, Nestor Paiva, a pre-“Beverly Hillbillies” Raymond Bailey and young Bing Russell,  “The Incredible Shrinking Man” (1957, with Grant Williams, April Kent and Randy Stuart) and “Monster on the Campus” (1958, with Eddie Parker, Joanna Moore, Troy Donahue and Arthur Franz).

One of Arnold’s latter feature film directorial works was his classic mammoth Columbia Pictures comedy masterpiece production of “The Mouse That Roared” (1959) with Peter Sellers, Jean Seberg, William Hartnell (in his pre-BBC “Doctor Who” days, Hartnell went onto greater fame as the “First Doctor” in the aforementioned classic mammoth BBC television sci-fi masterpiece series from 1963-66 and his final appearance in a guest spot in 1973) and David Kossoff.  He directed the classic mammoth Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) comedy short subject masterpiece featuring Dan Rowan and Dick Martin (of their classic mammoth NBC-TV comedy/variety masterpiece series, “Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In” fame), “Rowan & Martin at the Movies” (1968).

After his feature film directorial stint with Universal Studios, Arnold mostly turned his attention to directing numerous television programs for the remainder of his directorial career.  Arnold directed two episodes of the classic mammoth CBS television drama masterpiece series adaptation of Erle Stanley Gardner‘s “Perry Mason” with Raymond Burr, Barbara Hale, William Hopper, Ray Collins and William Talman (the two “Perry Mason” episodes that Arnold directed were 1964’s “The Case of the Scandalous Sculptor” and 1965’s “The Case of the Thermal Thief“). To paraphrase Sven, “Jack Arnold directed two episodes of.. “Perry Mason!” -C.H. Arnold directed 26 episodes of the classic mammoth Gladysya (Phil Silvers)-Sherwood Schwartz-United Artists-CBS comedy masterpiece series, “Gilligan’s Island” with Bob Denver, Alan Hale Jr.,  Jim Backus (of “Mister Magoo” fame to fellow Super Tooners/Super SvenPals of Toony & Bill’s “Toon In With Me”), Natalie Schafer, Tina Louise, Dawn Wells and Russell Johnson (Arnold directed 26 episodes of the series from 1964-66).

The 1955 Universal “Creature” monster sequel was produced by veteran actor-turned-Universal Studios producer and Jack Arnold’s longtime feature film co-collaborator, William Alland.  Alland also co-wrote the screenplay for “Revenge of the Creature” (1955) with veteran screenwriter Martin Berkeley.  Alongside co-writing the screenplay for Arnold’s classic mammoth Universal “Creature”/”Gill-Man” monster masterpiece production with Alland, Berkeley also co-wrote the screenplay for Arnold’s classic mammoth 1955 Universal arachnid creature/sci-fi masterpiece production of “Tarantula” with veteran screenwriter Robert M. Fresco; Fresco also co-wrote the original story treatment for “Tarantula” with Jack Arnold.

One year after “Revenge of the Creature,” the third and final installment of Universal’s “Creature” monster trilogy film series was produced and released in 2-D; titled “The Creature Walks Among Us” (1956, directed by John Sherwood; with Leigh Snowden, Ricou Browning, Don Megowan, Jeff Morrow and Rex Reason).

This will mark Sven’s ninth big broadcast of “Revenge of the Creature” (1955) from coast-to-coast on the airlanes of Me-TV.  He previously showcased Arnold’s classic mammoth Universal “Creature” monster sequel masterpiece back in Jan. 2013, Aug. 2013, July 2014, May 2015,  Oct. 2016, Sept. 2018,  Jan. 2020 and Feb. 2022. *Sidebar: Sven’s 2018 big broadcast of “Revenge of the Creature” (1955) was originally scheduled for a late March 2018  big broadcast for Sven’s showcase, but was withdrawn due to a scheduling conflict at the time between Me-TV and Universal Studios/Universal Television/NBCUniversal Television Distribution (now known as NBCUniversal Syndication Studios).  Sven’s re-broadcast of Alan Landsburg’s cult made-for-TV insect thriller “Ants!” (1977, a.k.a. “It Happened at Lakewood Manor”) aired in place of “Revenge of the Creature” on March 24, 2018.

Who was in Jack Arnold’s Universal sequel production of “Revenge of the Creature” (1955)?

The players who appeared in Jack Arnold’s classic mammoth Universal “Creature” sequel masterpiece production of “Revenge of the Creature” (1955) were Ricou Browning (in uncredited dual roles as the Creature for underwater/Marineland tank-based scenes and a laboratory technician),  Lori Nelson (as Helen Dobson),  Tom Hennesy (in uncredited dual roles as the Creature for land-based scenes and a Marineland diver),  Ginger Stanley (in an uncredited role for the underwater stunt sequences for Lori Nelson’s characterization of Helen Dobson), Nestor Paiva (as Lucas), John Agar (as Prof. Clete Ferguson), young Clint Eastwood (in an uncredited role as Jennings), John Bromfield (as Joe Hayes),  Grandon Rhodes (as Jackson Foster),  Dave Willock (as Lou Gibson), Charles Cane (as a police captain) and Robert B. Williams (as George Johnson).

Safe, Healthy and Happy Holidays/Season’s Greetings 2023 from the writer-author of “Silver Screen Reflections”

“Hooray for ‘Sventa Claus’!” Safe, Peaceful, Healthy & Happy Holidays/Season’s Greetings to all my fellow wonderful Super Svengoolie & Sventoonie SvenPals, Super ‘Toon In With Me” Tooners, Super “Mystery Science Theater 3000” MSTies, Super classic film/TV aficionados & Super readers of “Silver Screen Reflections” everywhere from the author/writer of “Silver Screen Reflections!” 

In order of the calendar of Dec. 2023 Holidays: Safe, Healthy and Happy Holidays, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Winter Solstice, Happy Festivus, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy early New Year’s & Season’s Greetings to all fellow Super SvenPals/fellow Super Tooners everywhere who celebrate/observe the winter Holidays!

Fellow wonderful Super SvenPals/Super Tooners/Super MSTies/Super readers of “Silver Screen Reflections” everywhere!  Whether you watched your favorite classic/cult classic mammoth Holiday feature film, cartoon and/or TV masterpieces earlier in the day, various Holiday festivities everywhere, enjoying the Chicago/Berwyn Holiday festivities- along with fellow wonderful Chicago/Berwyn/Volo Super SvenPals/Super Tooners & fellow wonderful coast-to-coast Super SvenPals/Super Tooners visiting & enjoying Chicago, Berwyn, Volo and/or anywhere within the Chicago area- we fellow wonderful Super SvenPals/Super Tooners/Super MSTies/Super classic film/cartoon/TV aficionados/Super readers of “Silver Screen Reflections” everywhere hope you all had wonderful, fantastic, safe and healthy Holiday(s)!   Looking forward to more Svengoolie, Sventoonie and “Toon In With Me” big broadcast adventures with all my fellow Super SvenPals/Super Tooners everywhere in the New Year of 2023 and beyond! -C.H.

^From the classic “Toon In With Me” 2021 primetime holiday special! -C.H.^

Nothing puts us in the Christmas spirit more than an original song by The Caroling Party featuring yours truly 😍🎄🎶 pic.twitter.com/zB2Qdh1mXR

— Toon In With Me (@tooninwithmetv) December 22, 2023

Update/Fellow wonderful Super SvenPals/Super Tooners! I will be sharing a Sven Holiday moment surprise with all of you on the Live-Tweeting airlanes on the evening of Dec. 26!  The Sven Holiday moment/surprise will also be featured as a cameo mention in the upcoming “Silver Screen Reflections” article on Svengoolie’s upcoming big broadcast of “The Undead” (1957) in the Late-Late Wed., Dec. 27-early Thurs., Dec. 28 airlanes! -C.H.

Svengoolie presents his twinset of “The Night Strangler” (1973) & “Trilogy of Terror” (1975), this Sat. on Me-TV

Fellow Super Svengoolie SvenPals everywhere will be dancing and jumping for joy for his big classic mammoth double-feature masterpiece festival of a big premiere of a classic mammoth 1973 made-for-TV supernatural movie masterpiece sequel & the return of another classic mammoth 1975 made-for-TV horror anthology movie masterpiece for “Halloween Boo-nanza 2023!”

“Svengoolie” presents his twinset of “The Night Strangler” (1973) & “Trilogy of Terror” (1975)

A snippet from Dan Curtis‘ classic mammoth 1973 ABC (American Broadcasting Company) “Kolchak/Movie of the Week” supernatural made-for-TV movie sequel masterpiece, “The Night Strangler” with Darren McGavin.

Compilation trailer for Dan Curtis‘ classic mammoth ABC (American Broadcasting Company) made-for-TV movie horror/thriller masterpiece, “Trilogy of Terror” (1975) with Karen Black.  Sidebar: This snippet was originally prepared/licensed by ABC for the latter MPI Home Video VHS release (MPI had most home entertainment rights to select ABC-produced programs and ABC News programs/specials/compilations at the time).  Due in part to the earlier success of the MPI VHS release of Curtis’ classic mammoth 1975 ABC made-for-TV horror anthology masterpiece, MPI licensed the DVD home entertainment distribution rights to “Trilogy of Terror” from ABC/Disney in 2006 for a brief amount of time under MPI’s Dark Sky Films imprint.  Viewer discretion is advised.

The legendary and iconic Berwyn/Chicago-based classic mammoth supernatural/horror feature film masterpiece host will present his big coast-to-coast made-for-TV supernatural/horror feature film masterpiece double-feature twinset showcase of “The Night Strangler” (1973) and “Trilogy of Terror” (1975). The aforementioned Sven double-feature twinset of “The Night Strangler” (1973) and “Trilogy of Terror” (1975) will begin this Sat., Oct. 28 at 8 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Central on Me-TV!

Sven’s upcoming Sat., Oct. 28 2023 “Halloween Boo-nanza” twinset showcase of “The Night Strangler” (1973, at 8 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Central) and “Trilogy of Terror” (1975, at 10:30 p.m. Eastern/9:30 p.m. Central) will be the finale in Sven’s month-long “Halloween Boo-nanza” twinset feature film showcases.

At 12:30 a.m. Eastern/11:30 p.m. Central, another bonus episode of Rod Serling’s classic mammoth CBS-TV supernatural masterpiece series, “The Twilight Zone” will also be showcased- along with anoher festival of bonus episodes of another classic mammoth supernatural masterpiece TV series that’s connected to one of the feature films that Sven will be showcase for this week’s twinset festival- additional details will be revealed momentarily in this week’s edition of “Silver Screen Reflections.” -C.H.

VHS Cover art for the 2000 Anchor Bay (under license from ABC/Disney) VHS edition of Dan Curtis’ classic mammoth ABC “Kolchak” made-for-TV movie sequel pilot masterpiece with Darren McGavin, “The Night Strangler” (1973).

Early 1980s MPI Home Video/ABC Video Enterprises VHS cover art for Dan Curtis’ ABC production of “Trilogy of Terror” (1975) with Karen Black & the Zuni figurine.

Both “The Night Strangler” and “Trilogy of Terror” (1975) were directed and produced by veteran TV 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 reunited with MGM to produce a newer, short-lived primetime “Dark Shadows” series for rival network NBC in 1991 with Ben Cross in the role of Barnabas Collins in the latter/brief “Dark Shadows” series revival.

Alongside his “Dark Shadows” productions, the two ABC “Kolchak” made-for-TV movies and the 1975 ABC made-for-TV movie production of “Trilogy of Terror,”  Curtis’ other productions include his 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 1971’s “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 Night Strangler” (1973) was a sequel to the earlier classic mammoth ABC made-for-TV movie masterpiece production of “The Night Strangler” (1972), which was produced by Curtis and was directed for the ABC television network by veteran director John Llewellyn Moxey and featured Darren McGavin, Carol Lynley, Claude Akins, Larry Linville (of TV’s “M*A*S*H” fame), Simon Oakland and Barry Atwater.

1990s VHS cover art for the Columbia House-MCA/Universal (Universal Pictures Home Entertainment) VHS series collection of “Kolchak: The Night Stalker” (1974-75), part of Columbia House’s mail-order VHS cassette club.

The two classic mammoth ABC “Kolchak” made-for-TV movie masterpiece pilots served as the inspiration for the classic mammoth brief Universal Studios supernatural TV series masterpiece that also aired on the ABC television network,  “Kolchak: The Night Stalker” (1974-75) with McGavin and Oakland reprising their roles from the two earlier ABC “Kolchak” made-for-TV movie production pilots. For Svengoolie’s “Halloween Boo-nanza 2023,” Me-TV will be presenting an all-night festival of extra classic episodes of “Kolchak: The Night Stalker” this latenight Sat., Oct. 28 at 1:00 a.m. Eastern/Midnight Central on most Me-TV stations!

The screenplay for Curtis’ classic mammoth 1973 ABC “Kolchak” made-for-TV movie sequel pilot masterpiece production of “The Night Strangler” and the stories for Curtis’ classic mammoth 1975 ABC made-for-TV movie production of “Trilogy of Terror” was written by veteran screenwriter Richard Matheson. For “Trilogy of Terror” (1975), Matheson’s original story idea for the “Julie” segment were adapted into a teleplay by veteran screenwriter William F. Nolan.

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).   Matheson previously wrote the screenplay for Curtis and Moxey’s earlier classic mammoth 1972 ABC “Kolchak” made-for-TV move masterpiece with veteran writer-producer Max Hodge.  The two aforementioned ABC “Kolchak” features were adapted from an original idea by veteran author Jeffrey Grant Rice.

Curtis’ “Kolchak” made-for-TV movie sequel, “The Night Strangler” (1973) originally aired on the ABC television network on Jan. 16, 1973 as part of the network’s “Tuesday Movie of the Week” series of feature-length productions produced and/or financed by ABC along with made-for-TV productions produced for the network by major studios/production firms, according to IMDB. Fun Fact: 15 years  after the original 1973 ABC TV network airing of “The Night Strangler,” yours truly/the writer-author of “Silver Screen Reflections” was born (Jan. 16, 1988)!  “The Night Strangler” qualifies as an early “Birthday” film in connection to my Jan. 16, 1988 Birthday! -C.H.

Curtis’ “Trilogy of Terror” (1975) originally aired on the ABC television network on March 4, 1975 as an original “Movie of the Week” production of the network, according to additional details from IMDB.

According to additional details from IMDB, Curtis’ classic mammoth 1972 and 1975 made-for-TV  masterpiece productions were co-produced under the ABC television network’s in-house production subsidiary, “ABC Circle Films” (which later became “ABC Productions,” which is now known as “ABC Studios“/”ABC Signature“).  ABC later merged with radio & TV broadcast group Capital Cities Communications in 1985 to form Capital Cities/ABC, Inc.  Nearly a decade later, Capital Cities/ABC was acquired by the Walt Disney Company in 1996, the ABC Circle Films/ABC Productions/ABC Video Enterprises holdings would be immediately put into the hands of Disney’s in-house TV syndication unit (then-known as Buena Vista Television during the 1996 ABC/Disney merger).

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,” 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.

“The Place To Be.. Tuesday!” Original Jan. 16, 1973 newspaper advertisement for the ABC television network’s evening lineup on that date, including “The Night Strangler” for Cedar Rapids, Iowa ABC affiliate KCRG-TV; “The Place to Be” was the slogan that ABC used for promoting their 1973-74 TV network season of shows and movies.

According to an original 1973 ABC television network ad that was featured in the Jan. 16, 1973 edition of the Cedar Rapids Gazette for Cedar Rapids, Iowa ABC affiliate KCRG-TV, the network programmed Curtis’ classic mammoth ABC “Kolchak” made-for-TV movie masterpiece sequel production of “The Night Strangler” (1973) for their “Tuesday Movie of the Week” showcase in-between an episode of “Temperatures Rising” (with Cleavon Little of 1974’s “Blazing Saddles” fame and James Whitmore) and an episode of “Marcus Welby, M.D.” (with Robert Young and James Brolin).

Rare 1973 ABC promotional slide for “The Night Strangler” with Darren McGavin, sourced off of an off-air recording via ABC-owned KABC-TV Los Angeles from the Obsolete Video Services collection.

During the original Jan. 16, 1973 prime-time big broadcast airing/premiere of the “ABC Tuesday Movie of the Week Kolchak” sequel of ”The Night Strangler,” the alphabet network’s classic mammoth 1973 made-for-TV supernatural masterpiece production was shown opposite an episode of “Hawaii Five-O” (with Jack Lord) and the made-for-TV movie “The Voyage of the Yes” (with Desi Arnaz Jr. and Mike Evans) on CBS; the final episode of “Bonanza” (with Lorne Greene and Michael Landon and newcomer Mitch Vogel) and the pilot episode of “Hernandez/Hernandez: Houston P.D.” (with Henry Darrow, Ronny Cox, Dana Elcar of TV’s “Baa, Baa Black Sheep”/”Black Sheep Squadron” and “MacGyver” fame and Desmond Dhooge) on NBC; according to the Jan. 16, 1973 edition of the Hanover Evening Sun.

Re-purposed ABC promotional ad for “Trilogy of Terror” (1975) for a 1981 re-airing on ABC affiliate WPLG-TV/Miami. Not sure if this was part of an ABC overnight re-run or a syndicated package of films that ABC licensed to a syndicator at the time.  By 1981, ABC News’ “Nightline with Ted Koppel” would have aired in the 11:30 p.m. ET/10:30 p.m. CT weeknight timeslot on ABC stations- the WPLG re-broadcast of “Trilogy of Terror” was possibly from a weekend latenight movie airing on WPLG.

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.

For the original Jan. 16, 1973 ABC television network airing of “The Night Strangler” (1973) and the original March 4, 1975 ABC television network airing of “Trilogy of Terror” (1975): Curtis’ classic mammoth 1972 and 1975 ABC made-for-TV movie masterpieces aired on ABC-owned WLS-TV in Berwyn/Chicago, Illinois and on a regional scale for the home region/home office of “Silver Screen Reflections;” the original 1973 and 1975 ABC “Tuesday Movie of the Week” productions 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.

For Sven/”The Night Strangler” (1973): In Sven/Rich’s home area of Berwyn/Chicago, Illinois; he previously showcased Curtis’ classic mammoth 1973 ABC “Kolchak” made-for-TV movie sequel pilot masterpiece of “The Night Strangler” as a Berwyn/Chicago big broadcast premiere on his hometown TV station, WCIU-TV 26 back in Nov. 1996; according to IMDB.

For Sven/”Trilogy of Terror” (1975): This will mark Sven’s third 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 wonderful Super SvenPals/Super Tooners Sarah Rhodes/Sarahgoolie, Nanette Keir and Brian Bernardoni, which was recently re-shown on Me-TV’s “Svengoolie Halloween Boo-nanza 2023” Latenight festival back on Oct. 14, 2022! -C.H.  Sven also re-broadcast “Trilogy of Terror” (1975) as a regular big broadcast on Me-TV back in Sept. 2023.

“The Night Strangler” (1973):

Who was in Dan Curtis’ classic mammoth ABC “Kolchak” made-for-TV masterpiece sequel pilot of “The Night Strangler” (1973)?

Darren McGavin (as Carl Kolchak) in “The Night Strangler” (1973).

The players who appeared in Curtis’ classic mammoth 1973 ABC “Kolchak” supernatural made-for-TV sequel pilot masterpiece of “The Night Strangler” were  Darren McGavin (as Carl Kolchak, McGavin previously appeared in the title role of Mike Hammer in the classic mammoth 1958-59 MCA-Revue-Universal crime drama masterpiece adaptation of Mickey Spillane’s “Mike Hammer;” alongside his roles of Mike Hammer and Carl Kolchak, one of McGavin’s most famous screen appearances was in the role of Old Man Parker in Bob Clark and Jean Shepherd’s classic mammoth 1983 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/MGM holiday-comedy masterpiece with Peter Billingsley and Melinda Dillon, “A Christmas Story”), Jo Ann Pflug (as Louise Harper, Pflug previously appeared in the role of Lt. Dish in Robert Altman’s classic mammoth 1970 Twentieth Century Fox/Twentieth Century Studios wartime drama-medical comedy feature film masterpiece adaptation of “M*A*S*H” and later appeared in the classic mammoth Glen Larson/Twentieth Century Fox/Twentieth Century Studios action-adventure-comedy masterpiece series with Lee Majors from 1981-82, “The Fall Guy“), Wally Cox (as Titus Berry, Cox previously appeared in the title role of Robinson J. Peepers in the comedy series “Mister Peepers” with Tony Randall from 1952-55, of interest to fellow Super Tooners/Super SvenPals of Toony & Bill’s “Toon In With Me,” Cox lent his vocal stylings of the voice of the title cartoon character of Underdog in the classic mammoth 1964-73 TV cartoon masterpiece series, “Underdog“), Margaret Hamilton (as Prof. Crabwell, Hamilton previously appeared in her famous role of Miss Gulch/the Wicked Witch of the West in Victor Fleming’s classic mammoth 1939 MGM Technicolor feature film adaptation masterpiece of “The Wizard of Oz,” she previously appeared in  A. Edward Sutherland‘s classic mammoth 1940 Universal Studios “Invisible” comedy masterpiece with Virginia Bruce, “The Invisible Woman;” around the same time that she was in “The Night Strangler,” Hamilton also appeared in television ads in the role of “Cora” for Maxwell House Coffee ), Al Lewis (as Tramp, Lewis rose to greater fame for his role of Grampa Munster in the classic mammoth 1964-66 Universal Studios-CBS “Munster” monster comedy masterpiece series, “The Munsters” and in the classic mammoth 1966 Universal “Munster” monster-comedy feature-length masterpiece production of “Munster, Go Home!“), Richard Anderson (as Dr. Richard Malcolm, Anderson previously appeared in the role of Chief Quinn in Fred M. Wilcox’s classic mammoth 1956 MGM sci-fi masterpiece production of “Forbidden Planet” and appeared in 26 episodes of the classic mammoth CBS television drama masterpiece adaptation of  Erle Stanley Gardner‘s “Perry Mason” with Barbara Hale, William Hopper, Ray Collins and William Talman from 1964-66; To paraphrase Sven, “Richard Anderson was on.. ‘Perry Mason’!” -C.H.) veteran horror actor John Carradine, Kate Murtagh (as Janie Watkins, Murtaugh later appeared in Elliot Silverstein‘s classic mammoth 1977 Universal action-thriller masterpiece production of “The Car,” Murtagh later appeared in the role of a waitress for the album cover photo art for the legendary rock group Supertramp‘s classic mammoth 1979 rock album masterpiece released on the legendary Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss‘ A&M Records, “Breakfast In America“), Simon Oakland (as Tony Vincenzo, Oakland previously appeared in the role of Dr. Fred Richman in Alfred Hitchcock‘s classic mammoth 1960 Paramount Pictures suspense-thriller masterpiece production with Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins, “Psycho” and in Peter Yates’ classic mammoth 1968 Warner Bros.-Seven Arts action/crime drama masterpiece production with Steve McQueen and Robert Vaughn, “Bullitt;” Oakland later appeared in the classic mammoth 1976-78 Universal/NBC wartime drama masterpiece production of ”Baa, Baa Black Sheep”/”Black Sheep Squadron“), Nina Wayne (as Charisma Beauty), Virginia Peters (as Wilma Krakenheimer), Ivor Francis (as Dr. Webb), Diane Shalet (as Joyce Gabriel), Anne Randall (as Police officer Shiela), Francoise Birnheim (as the Restaurant Woman) and Regina Parton (as Merissa, Parton received screen credit under the pseudonym of Ethel Parker).

“Trilogy of Terror” (1975):

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

“Karen Black is Sensational in ‘Trilogy of Terror’!” Original 1975 ABC Television Network newspaper advertising proof for the original “Tuesday Movie of the Week” airing of Dan Curtis’ “Trilogy of Terror” with Karen Black.

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; Bob Rafelson‘s classic mammoth 1970 Columbia Pictures Golden Globe award-winning drama masterpiece with Jack Nicholson, Ralph Waite, Sally Struthers of TV’s “All in the Family” fame, Fannie Flagg and Toni Basil; “Five Easy Pieces,” in the role of Myrtle Wilson in Jack Clayton‘s classic mammoth 1974 Paramount Pictures Academy Award-winning feature film adaptation masterpiece of F. Scott Fitzgerald‘s “The Great Gatsby” with Robert Redford, Mia Farrow, Mia Farrow, Sam Waterston, Lois Chiles, Howard Da Silva and Edward Herrmann and in the role of the role of Connie White in Robert Altman‘s classic mammoth 1975 Paramount Pictures Academy Award-winning music-drama-comedy masterpiece with Keith Carradine, Shelley Duvall, Ned Beatty, Geraldine Chaplin, Ronee Blakley, young Jeff Goldblum, Scott Glenn of 1972’s “Gargoyles” fame and Henry Gibson of Rowan and Martin’s “Laugh-In” fame, “Nashville;” she also appeared with her real-life son, Hunter Carson in Tobe Hooper‘s cult classic mammoth 1986 Cannon sci-fi masterpiece re-make of “Invaders from Mars“); Robert Burton (as Chad Foster), John Karlen (as Thomas Ammen, Karlen previously appeared in the dual roles of Willie Loomis, Carl Collins, Desmond Collins and Kendrick Young in Dan Curtis’ classic mammoth ABC television gothic vampire-horror masterpiece series, “Dark Shadows” from 1967-71; he also went onto greater fame for his role of Harvey Lacey in the classic mammoth 1982-88 Filmways/Orion/CBS television detective drama masterpiece series with Tyne Daly and Sharon Gless, “Cagney & Lacey” , Karlen later reprised his role of Harvey Lacey in several “Cagney & Lacey” made-for-TV movies with Daly and Gless from 1994–96 and also appeared in the role of Jake Morrisson in the classic mammoth 1991 Viacom/NBC “Perry Mason” made-for-TV movie masterpiece with Raymond Burr and Barbara Hale, “Perry Mason: The Case of the Glass Coffin;” To paraphrase Sven, “John Karlen was on.. ‘Perry Mason’!”), George Gaynes (as Dr. Chester Ramsey, he previously appeared in the role of Dr. Marderosian in Nathan Hertz Juran‘s classic mammoth 1973 Universal Studios werewolf monster masterpiece production with Kerwin Matthews, Elaine Devry, Scott Sealey, Robert J. Wilke, Susan Foster, Jack Lucas, Bob Homel, Loretta Temple, Harold Goodwin, Eric Gordon and Paul Baxley; “The Boy Who Cried Werewolf” and later appeared in the role of John Van Horn in Sydney Pollack‘s classic mammoth 1982 Columbia Pictures comedy masterpiece with Dustin Hoffman, Jessica Lange, Bill Murray, Teri Garr, Dabney Coleman, Charles Durning, Geena Davis and a cameo by Pollack, “Tootsie” and in the role of Henry Warnimont in “Punky Brewster” from 1984-88, which originally aired on NBC and later became a first-run syndicated series for local TV stations), 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’s twinset of “The Night Stalker” (1972) & “Gojira/Godzilla, King of the Monsters!” (1954/56), this Sat. on Me-TV

Fellow Super Svengoolie SvenPals everywhere will be dancing and jumping for joy for his big classic mammoth double-feature masterpiece festival of a big premiere of a classic mammoth 1972 made-for-TV supernatural movie masterpiece & one of the classic mammoth definitive Japanese kaiju creature feature film masterpieces for “Halloween Boo-nanza 2023!”

Svengoolie’s twinset of “The Night Stalker” (1972) & “Gojira/Godzilla, King of the Monsters!” (1954/56)

Original 1972 ABC (American Broadcasting Company) “Tuesday Movie of the Week: World Premiere” opening bumper/preview for Dan Curtis and John Llewellyn Moxey’s classic mammoth ABC supernatural made-for-TV movie masterpiece featuring Darren McGavin in the role of Carl Kolchak with Claude Akins and Simon Oakland, “The Night Stalker;” featuring narration in the original 1972 ABC “The Night Stalker” promo by veteran ABC network & promotional voice-over artist Ernie Anderson (Anderson was also a veteran TV monster/sci-fi/horror feature film host in Cleveland, Ohio in the 1960s on WJW-TV under the name of “Ghoulardi”).

Original 1956 theatrical trailer for the U.S. theatrical edition/theatrical dub of Ishiro Honda‘s classic mammoth Toho Studios kaiju creature masterpiece of “Gojira” (“Godzilla,” 1954) featuring Haruo Nakajima and Raymond “Perry Mason” Burr, “Godzilla, King of the Monsters!“

The legendary and iconic Berywn/Chicago-based classic mammoth sci-fi/supernatural/creature feature film masterpiece host will present his big coast-to-coast double-feature twinset supernatural/kaiju creature feature film masterpiece showcase of “The Night Stalker” (1972) and “Gojira/Godzilla, King of the Monsters!” (1954/56). The aforementioned Sven double-feature twinset of “The Night Stalker” (1972) and “Gojira/Godzilla, King of the Monsters!” (1954/56) will begin this Sat., Oct. 21 at 8 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Central on Me-TV!

At 12:30 a.m. Eastern/11:30 p.m. Central, a bonus episode of Rod Serling’s classic mammoth CBS-TV supernatural masterpiece series, “The Twilight Zone” will also be showcased- along with a festival of another classic mammoth supernatural masterpiece TV series that’s connected to one of the feature films that Sven will be showing in this week’s twinset- additional details will be revealed later in this edition of “Silver Screen Reflections.” -C.H.

Alongside Sven’s upcoming “Halloween Boo-nanza 2023” big broadcast festival of “The Night Stalker” (1972) and “Gojira/Godzilla, King of the Monsters!” (1954/56), the bonus “Twilight Zone” episode and the surprise series festival in connection to one of Sven’s twinset features for this week, other Sven features and specials that will be showcased throughout the Oct. 2023 “Sven Saturday Halloween Boo-nanza” festival showcase on Me-TV will include:

Oct. 28, 2023: Svengoolie’s big double-feature finale twinset broadcast featuring his big broadcast premiere of Dan Curtis’ classic mammoth ABC “Kolchak” supernatural made-for-TV movie sequel masterpiece with Darren McGavin and Simon Oakland, “The Night Strangler” (1973, at 8 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Central) and Sven’s big broadcast of Curtis’ classic mammoth ABC made-for-TV horror anthology movie masterpiece with Karen Black, “Trilogy of Terror“* (1975, at 10: 30 p.m. Eastern/9:30 p.m. Central)!  Again, additional episodes of that aforementioned surprise series that will be mentioned later in this week’s “Silver Screen Reflections” will be showcased immediately after the Sven twinset! -C.H.

1990s ABC Video Enterprises/Twentieth Century Fox (Twentieth Century Studios) VHS cover art for the ABC made-for-TV movie production of “The Night Stalker” (1972) with Darren McGavin.

“The Night Stalker” (1972) was produced by veteran TV 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 role of Barnabas Collins in the latter/brief “Dark Shadows” series revival.

Alongside his “Dark Shadows” productions and the two ABC “Kolchak” made-for-TV movies, one of Curtis’ other productions included his classic mammoth ABC made-for-TV movie horror/thriller anthology masterpiece production of “Trilogy of Terror” (1975) with  Karen Black , Robert Burton, John Karlen, George Gaynes, Jim Storm, Kathryn Reynolds, Orin Cannon, Gregory Harrison, Tracy Curtis  and the vocal stylings of Walker Edmiston.  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 classic mammoth 1972 Curtis-ABC “Kolchak” made-for-TV movie masterpiece was directed by veteran TV and made-for-TV movie director-producer John Llewellyn Moxey.  Moxey previously directed seven episodes of the classic mammoth British action-drama TV series adaptation of Leslie Charteris’ novelizations for Lord Lew Grade’s Associated Television (ATV)/ITC, “The Saint” with a pre-James Bond Roger Moore (Moxey directed episodes of “The Saint” from 1963-67).  Moxey later focused on directing productions in the United States.  Alongside “The Night Stalker” (1972), Moxey directed one episode of the classic mammoth William Castle/Columbia Pictures-Screen Gems/ABC supernatural/thriller masterpiece series, “Circle of Fear” (Moxley directed the 1972 episode of “Circle of Fear” titled “The New House” with Sebastian Cabot of TV’s “Family Affair” fame, David Birney, Barbara Parkins, Sam Jaffe and a cameo appearance by Castle).

He also directed one episode of the brief CBS/Twentieth Century Fox (Twentieth Century Studios) “Perry Mason” revival with Monte Markham, “The New Perry Mason” (Moxley the 1973 episode “The Case of the Ominous Oath”).  To paraphrase Sven, John Lewellen Moxey worked on ‘Almost Perry Mason!’ -C.H.  Near the conclusion of his directorial career, Moxey directed 18 episodes of the classic mammoth long-running Universal Studios-CBS detective/mystery masterpiece series with Angela Lansbury, “Murder She Wrote” (Moxey directed his episodes of the series from 1984-91).

The screenplay for the classic mammoth Curtis-Moxey-ABC “Kolchak” made-for-TV movie masterpiece production of “The Night Stalker” (1972) was written by veteran screenwriter Richard Matheson.  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).  Veteran writer-producer Max Hodge co-wrote the screenplay with Matheson in an uncredited position in the 1972 ABC “Kolchak” made-for-TV feature production. Matheson and Hodges’ teleplay was adapted from an original idea of an unpublished novel by Jeffrey Grant Rice.

“The Night Stalker” (1972) originally aired on the ABC television network on Jan. 11, 1972 as part of the network’s “Tuesday Movie of the Week”/”Movie of the Week: World Premiere” series of feature-length productions produced and/or financed by ABC along with made-for-TV productions produced for the network by the major studios/production firms, according to IMDB.

According to additional details from IMDB, Curtis and Moxey’s classic mammoth 1972 made-for-TV supernatural feature masterpiece production was co-produced under the ABC television network’s in-house production subsidiary, “ABC Circle Films” (which later became “ABC Productions,” which is now known as “ABC Studios“/”ABC Signature“).

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,” 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 and Curtis’ classic mammoth ABC made-for-TV horror-anthology masterpiece production of “Trilogy of Terror” (1975).

According to the Jan. 11, 1972 edition of The Frederick Post (News-Post), ABC programmed Curtis and  Moxey’s made-for-TV movie production of “The Night Stalker” for their “Tuesday Movie of the Week” showcase between an episode of “The Mod Squad” and an episode of “Marcus Welby, M.D.”  During the original Jan. 11, 1972 prime-time big broadcast airing/premiere of the “ABC Tuesday Movie of the Week”/”The Night Stalker,” the alphabet network’s classic mammoth 1972 made-for-TV supernatrual masterpiece production was shown opposite episodes of “Hawaii Five-O” (with Jack Lord) and “Cannon” (with William Conrad) on CBS and a news report along with an episode of “Nichols” (with James Garner) on NBC.

“Incredible Titan of Terror!” 1956 Embassy/TransWorld poster for the U.S. theatrical release of Toho Studios’ “Gojira/Godzilla,” “Godzilla, King of the Monsters!”

“Gojira/Godzilla, King of the Monsters!” (1954/56) was directed by veteran director Ishirô Honda, who was credited under the name of “I. Honda” in the North American theatrical poster artwork for the 1956 theatrical release of the 1954 production.

Alongside “Gojira/Godzilla, King of the Monsters!” (1954/56), Honda’s other best-known classic mammoth kaiju creature masterpiece productions for Toho Studios include “Rodan“ (1956), “Mothra” (1961, released through Columbia Pictures in the United States), “King Kong vs. Godzilla” (1963, released through Universal Studios in the United States). “Mothra vs. Godzilla” (1964, released theatrically in the United States by Samuel Z. Arkoff and James H. Nicholson’s American-International Pictures under the title of “Godzilla vs. the Thing”), “Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster” (1964), “Frankenstein vs. Baragon” (1965), “The War of the Gargantuas” (1966), “Destroy All Monsters” (1968), “All Monsters Attack” (1969, released theatrically in the United States under the title of “Godzilla’s Revenge”) and “Terror of Mechagodzilla” (1975).   Several of his non-kaiju classic mammoth sci-fi masterpiece productions for Toho Studios included “The H-Man” (1958) and “Battle in Outer Space” (1959, both of Honda’s Toho productions of “The H-Man and “Battle in Outer Space” were released theatrically in the United States by Columbia Pictures, Sony/Columbia still owns the theatrical re-release, television syndication and home entertainment distribution rights to Honda’s classic mammoth Toho Studios masterpiece productions of “The H-Man,” “Battle in Outer Space” and “Mothra” in the United States).

The sequences for the North American dubbing of Honda’s classic mammoth Toho Studios kaiju creature masterpiece production were filmed by veteran editor-turned-director Terry O. Morse.    Alongside handling the 1956 North American sequences & dubbing for “Godzilla, King of the Monsters!” (1954/56), he also directed the Allied Artists crime drama production of “Young Dillinger” (1959) with Nick Adams, Robert Conrad, John Ashley, Mary Ann Mobley and young Victor Buono.   Earlier in his film career, he served as an editor for William A. Seiter‘s classic mammoth Warner Bros.-First National “Vitaphone” sound-on-disc comedy-drama masterpiece with Colleen Moore, “Why Be Good?” (1929, one of the final silent features for Warners with a complete Vitaphone sound-on-disc synchronized source orchestral music score with sound effects; it was considered a “lost” film until a complete print was found in Italy and restored/re-synchronized with the original Vitaphone soundtrack discs by Warners around 2012-14, the Vitaphone soundtrack discs were restored with the supervision of sound preservation expert Seth Winner). -C.H.

Later in his career, Morse also edited the classic mammoth Norman Taurog–Hal B. Wallis–Paramount Pictures musical masterpiece production of “Blue Hawaii” (1961) with the legendary Elvis Presley, Joan Blackman and Angela Lansbury and Byron Haskin‘s classic mammoth Paramount sci-fi masterpiece production of “Robinson Crusoe on Mars” (1964) with Paul Mantee, Victor Ludlin and a pre-“Batman” Adam West.

The 1956 North American theatrical version/theatrical dub of “Godzilla, King of the Monsters!” was lifted from Honda’s classic mammoth Toho Studios kaiju creature masterpiece production of “Gojira” (1954, a.k.a. “Godzilla“); filmed & released in Japan two years before the North American theatrical release.

The screenplay for the classic mammoth Toho Studios kaiju creature masterpiece production was written by Honda, along with veteran screenwriter Takeo Murata.  Honda and Murata’s screenplay was adapted from the novel, “The Giant Monster from 20, 000 Leagues Under the Sea;” which was written by veteran Toho Studios special effects supervisor Eiji Tsuburaya; along with writers Tomoyuki Tanaka and author Shigeru Kayama.   For the U.S. theatrical release of “Godzilla, King of the Monsters!” (1954/56), the screenplay for the U.S. footage elements and dubbed elements were written by Morse, along with veteran TV producer-writer Al C. Ward.

Original 1972 Newspaper advertising proof/ABC publicity photo of Darren McGavin and Barry Atwater in “The Night Stalker.”

For the original Jan. 11, 1972 ABC television network airing of “The Night Stalker” (1972): Curtis’ classic mammoth ABC made-for-TV 1972 supernatural masterpiece aired on ABC-owned WLS-TV in Berwyn/Chicago, Illinois and on a regional scale for the home region/home office of “Silver Screen Reflections;” the original 1972 ABC showing of Curtis and Moxey’s “The Night Stalker” 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.

“Book it now!” “It’s the ‘show’ with the showmanship send-off!” 1956 promotional leaflet for the U.S. theatrical dub of “Gojira/Godzilla, King of the Monsters!”

For “Gojira/Godzilla, King of the Monsters!” (1954/56): This will mark Svengoolie’s fourth big broadcast of the classic mammoth Honda-Morse-Toho Studios kaiju creature masterpiece production/edition of “Gojira/Godzilla, King of the Monsters!” (1954/56) on Me-TV.  He previously showcased “Gojira/Godzilla, King of the Monsters!” (1954/56) as a coast-to-coast big broadcast premiere back in Feb. 2017 as part of a Sven month-long salute to the classic mammoth Toho Studios “Gojira”/”Godzilla” kaiju creature feature film masterpieces and as regular Me-TV big broadcasts back in Jan. 2018 and Jan. 2023.

“The Night Stalker” (1972):

Who was in the classic mammoth ABC made-for-TV movie masterpiece production of “The Night Stalker” (1972)?

The players who appeared in the classic mammoth ABC made-for-TV movie msaterpiece production of “The Night Stalker” (1972) were Darren McGavin (as Carl Kolchak, McGavin previously appeared in the title role of Mike Hammer in the classic mammoth 1958-59 MCA-Revue-Universal syndicated crime drama masterpiece adaptation of Mickey Spillane’s “Mike Hammer;” alongside his roles of Mike Hammer and Carl Kolchak, one of McGavin’s most famous screen appearances was in the role of Old Man Parker in Bob Clark and Jean Shepherd’s classic mammoth 1983 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/MGM holiday-comedy masterpiece with Peter Billingsley and Melinda Dillon, “A Christmas Story”), Carol Lynley (as Gail Foster, Lynley later appeared in Irwin Allen’s classic mammoth 1974 Twentieth Century Fox/Twentieth Century Studios action-adventure masterpiece production of “The Poseidon Adventure”), Claude Akins (as Sherriff Butcher, Akins later appeared in the role of Sonny Pruitt in the 1974-76 NBC drama with Frank Converse, “Movin’ On” and later appeared in the role of Sheriff Lobo in several episodes of the 1978-81 Universal Studios-NBC comedy/adventure production of “B.J. and the Bear;” which led to Akins reprising his role of Lobo in the short-lived 1979-81 Universal/NBC spin-off series, “The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo”), Larry Linville (as Makurji, one of Linville’s best-known appearances was in the role of Maj. Frank Burns in the classic mammoth critically acclaimed Twentieth Century Fox/Twentieth Century Studios-CBS comedy/drama masterpiece adaptation of “M*A*S*H,” Linville appeared in the series from 1972-77), Simon Oakland (as Tony Vincenzo, Oakland previously appeared in the role of Dr. Fred Richman in Alfred Hitchcock‘s classic mammoth 1960 Paramount Pictures suspense-thriller masterpiece production with Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins, “Psycho” and in Peter Yates’ classic mammoth 1968 Warner Bros.-Seven Arts action/crime drama masterpiece production with Steve McQueen and Robert Vaughn, “Bullitt;” Oakland later appeared in the classic mammoth Universal/NBC wartime drama masterpiece production of “Black Sheep Squadron”/”Baa Baa Black Sheep”), Ralph Meeker (as Bernie Jenks), Charles McGraw (as Chief Masterson), Kent Smith (as D.A. Paine), Elisha Cook Jr. (as Mickey Crawford), Stanley Adams (as Fred Hurley), Jordan Rhodes (as Dr. O’Brien) and Barry Atwater (as Janos Skorzeny).

“Gojira/Godzilla, King of the Monsters!” (1954/56):

Who was in the U.S. theatrical edition of Ishiro Honda’s “Gojira/Godzilla, King of the Monsters!” (1954/56)?

The players who appeared in the U.S. dub of the classic mammoth Ishiro Honda-Terry Morse-Toho Studios kaiju creature masterpiece edition of “Godzilla, King of the Monsters!” (1954/56) were veteran stunt performer Haruo Nakajima (in an uncredited role in the trademark Toho Studios “Gojira/Godzilla” kaiju creature suit, akajima appeared in the role of a bandit in Akira Kurosawa’s classic mammoth critically-acclaimed 1954 Toho Studios samurai-drama masterpiece with Toshirô Mifune, “Seven Samurai.” After his appearance in “Gojira””Godzilla”/”Godzilla, King of the Monsters!,” Nakajima made numerous appearances in the Toho Studios trademark Gojira/Godzilla kaiju creature suit role in 11 more of the studio’s classic mammoth “Godzilla”/”Gojira” kaiju creature masterpiece feature film productions from 1954-72.  Nakajima also played the famous kaiju creature suit roles of other iconic kaiju creature characters for Toho Studios’ lineup of classic mammoth kaiju creature feature film masterpieces during the majority of his acting career, including Radon”/“Rodan,” “Mothra” and the Magma creature in Honda’s classic mammoth 1962 Toho Studios sci-fi/creature masterpiece production of “Gorath” ), Ryosaku Takasugi (in an uncredited role in additional stunt sequences in the trademark “Gojira/Godzilla” kaiju creature suit), Raymond Burr (as Steve Martin*, Burr was chosen for the role of Steve Martin* for Terry Morse’s scenes due to his earlier appearance for his role of Lars Thorwald in Alfred Hitchcock‘s classic mammoth 1954 Paramount Pictures suspense-mystery masterpiece production of “Rear Window,” One year after his 1956 appearance in the North American dub of “Godzila, King of the Monsters!,” Burr went onto greater fame for his role of attorney Perry Mason in the long-running classic mammoth CBS television drama masterpiece adaptation of  Erle Stanley Gardner‘s “Perry Mason” (1957-66) with Barbara Hale, William Hopper, Ray Collins and William Talman.   To paraphrase Sven, “Raymond Burr was on.. ‘Perry Mason’!” -C.H.  Shortly after “Perry Mason” concluded on CBS, Burr also went onto greater fame for his role of detective Robert T. Ironside in the long-running classic mammoth 1967-75 Universal Studios-MCA–NBC television detective masterpiece series with Don Mitchell, Don Galloway, Barbara Anderson and Gene Lyons; “Ironside,” Burr later reprised his role of Perry Mason in a series of classic mammoth Viacom/NBC “Perry Mason” made-for-TV masterpiece movies with Barbara Hale; “Perry Mason” made-for-TV movie series were produced from 1985 until Burr’s death in 1993; Burr’s final 1993 “Perry Mason” made-for-TV movie aired on NBC in 1994. -C.H.), Takashi Shimura (as Dr. Yamane, Takashi Shimura previously appeared with Hauro Nakajima and Toshiro Mifune in Akira Kurosawa’s classic mammoth Toho Studios samurai drama masterpiece production of “The Seven Samurai” (1954).  Shortly after appearing in “Gojira”/”Godzilla”/”Godzilla, King of the Monsters” (1954/56), Kenji Sahara became one of Toho Studios’ major actors shortly after his appearance in the role of Shigeru in Honda’s classic mammoth Toho Studios kaiju creature masterpiece production of “Rodan” (1956) and appeared in numerous latter Toho Studios classic mammoth “Gojira”/”Godzilla” kaiju creature masterpiece productions and additional classic mammoth kaiju creature masterpiece productions for the studio.), Momoko Kochi (as Emiko Yamane), Frank Iwanaga (as security officer Tomo Iwanaga), Akira Takarada (as Ogata), Akihiko Hirata (as Dr. Serizawa), Sachio Sakai (as Hagiwara), Fuyuki Murakami (as Dr. Tabada), Ren Yamamoto (as Seiji), Toyoaki Suzuki (as Shinkichi), Tadashi Okabe (as an assistant to Dr. Tabada), Toranosuke Ogawa (as the company president), Kenji Sahara (in an uncredited role as a passenger on a boat), James Hong (in an uncredited role for the vocal dubbing for Akira Takarada and Akihiko Hirata’s characters for the U.S. theatrical release of “Godzilla, King of the Monsters!,” James Hong rose to greater fame for his role of David Lo Pan in John Carpenter’s classic mammoth 1986 Twentieth Century Fox/Twentieth Century Studios action-adventure-comedy feature film masterpiece with Kurt Russell, Kim Cattrall, Dennis Dun, Victor Wong, Donald Li and Kate Burton; “Big Trouble in Little China” (1986) and his role of Bruce in the 1992 second-season episode of the NBC comedy series with Jerry Seinfeld, “Seinfeld”/“The Restaurant”) Sammee Tong (in an uncredited role for the vocal dubbing for Takashi Shimura’s character in the U.S. theatrical release), Paul Frees (in an uncredited role for the vocal dubbing of unidentified character for the U.S. theatrical release) and Mikel Conrad (in an uncredited role as George Lawrence).

“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” presents his big broadcast of “War of the Colossal Beast” (1958), this Sat. on Me-TV

Fellow Svengoolie SvenPals everywhere will be jumping for joy for his upcoming big broadcast of a classic mammoth American-International sci-fi sequel masterpiece.

“Svengoolie” presents his big broadcast of “War of the Colossal Beast” (1958)

Truncated theatrical trailer for Samuel Z. Arkoff and James H. Nicholson’s American-International Pictures for the 1958 theatrical release of Bert I. Gordon’s “War of the Colossal Beast” with Duncan “Dean” Parkin.

“The Towering Terror from Hell!” Original 1958 American-International theatrical poster art element for Bert I. Gordon’s “War of the Colossal Beast.”

The legendary and iconic Berwyn/Chicago classic sci-fi/creature feature film host will present his big broadcast of “War of the Colossal Beast” (1958), this Sat.; Aug. 26 at 8 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Central on Me-TV.

The classic mammoth 1958 American-International sci-fi sequel masterpiece production was directed by veteran director Bert I. Gordon.  Some of Gordon’s best-known cult classic sci-fi/visual effects feature film masterpiece productions include  “The Cyclops” (1957) for Allied Artists with Lon Chaney Jr., “Beginning of the End” (1957)* with Peter Graves, Peggie Castle and Morris Ankrum; “Earth vs. the Spider” (1958, a.k.a. “The Spider”)* with Ed Kemmer, June Kenney and Hank Patterson; “Tormented” (1960) for Allied Artists with Richard Carlson, Susan Gordon, Lugene Sanders and the vocal stylings of Paul Frees; “Village of the Giants” (1965) for Joseph E. Levine’s Embassy Pictures with Ron “Ronny” Howard, legendary singer Freddy “Boom Boom” Cannon (who wrote/performed the mammoth 2016 Sven song masterpiece with Sven, “the Svengoolie Stomp”), Joy Harmon, Beau Bridges, Tisha Sterling, Johnny Crawford, The Beau Brummels, Tommy Kirk, Toni Basil, Rance Howard, Tim Rooney  and  Orangey the Cat; “The Food of the Gods” (1976)* with  Ida Lupino, Marjoe Gortner, Ralph Meeker and Pamela Franklin and “Empire of the Ants” (1977)* with Joan Collins, Robert Lansing, John David Carson, Albert Salmi, Jacqueline Scott and Robert Pine.

*For the majority of his motion picture directorial career, Gordon released his classic mammoth “giant” sci-fi/creature masterpiece productions, including “War of the Colossal Beast” (1958) through Samuel Z. Arkoff and James H. Nicholson’s  American-International Pictures . Arkoff and Nicholson established American-International Pictures in 1954, according to the Samuel Z. Arkoff papers collection housed at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California.   American-International was acquired by Filmways in 1979, which was later acquired by Orion Pictures in 1982.  Orion (along with the majority of the American-International/Filmways holdings)** was then sold to the present incarnation of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) in 1997.  Following MGM’s recent revival of the “Orion Pictures” moniker, the studio recently revived the “American-International Pictures” moniker.

Gordon also co-produced the classic mammoth 1958 American-International sci-fi/creature sequel masterpiece with Arkoff and Nicholson, the two founders of American-International Pictures served as executive producers of the film under the “Carmel Productions” moniker.  Gordon also wrote the original story treatment for “War of the Colossal Beast” (1958). Veteran screenwriter George Worthing Yates wrote the screenplay adaptation of Gordon’s original story treatment of “War of the Colossal Beast.”

This will mark Sven’s second big broadcast of Gordon’s classic mammoth American-International sci-fi masterpiece sequel production of “War of the Colossal Beast” (1958) on the airlanes of Me-TV.  Sven previously showcased “War of the Colossal Beast” (1958) as a big broadcast premiere back in Sept. 2021.

Who was in Bert I. Gordon’s classic mammoth American-International sci-fi/creature masterpiece production of “War of the Colossal Beast” (1958)?

The players who appeared in Bert I. Gordon’s classic mammoth production of “War of the Colossal Beast” (1958) for Samuel Z. Arkoff & James H. Nicholson’s American-International Pictures were Duncan “Dean” Parkin (as Col. Glenn Manning), Sally Fraser (as Joyce Manning), Rico Alaniz (as Sgt. Luis Murillo), Roger Pace (as Maj. Mark Baird), Russ Bender (as Dr. Carmichael), Stan Chambers (as a TV reporter/announcer), Bob Garnet (as a Pentagon correspondent), Jack Kosslyn (as a TV reporter), George Becwar (as John Swanson), Robert Hernandez (as Miguel), June Jocelyn (as Mrs. Edwards), Charles Stewart (as Capt. Harris), George Navarro (as a Doctor), John McNamara (as a neurologist), Loretta Nicholson (as Joan), Raymond Winston (as Arthur Lang), June Burt (as Laurie Edwards), Howard Wright (as the Medical Research Officer), Mary Hennessy (as an Air Traffic Controller), George Alexander (as an Army officer), Bill Giorgio (as a bus driver),Hal Torey (as the Health & Welfare Dept. head), George Milan (as Gen. Nelson), Warren Frost (as a switchboard operator), Robert Tetrick (as himself), Rodd Dana (as himself) and archival footage of Glenn Langan (who previously played the role of Col. Glenn Manning in Bert I. Gordon’s earlier classic mammoth 1957 American-International sci-fi masterpiece production of “The Amazing Colossal Man”).

“Svengoolie” presents his big coast-to-coast premiere/”Ghoulies” (1984), this Sat. on Me-TV

Fellow Svengoolie SvenPals will be dancing & jumping for joy for his upcoming big broadcast premiere of a cult classic mammoth creature/sci-fi farce masterpiece.

“Svengoolie” presents his big coast-to-coast premiere of “Ghoulies” (1984)

Original 1984 Empire Pictures* theatrical trailer for Luca Bercovici‘s “Ghoulies” (1984).

“They’ll Get You in the End!” Original 1984/85 Empire Pictures* theatrical poster art for “Ghoulies.”

The legendary and iconic Berwyn/Chicago-based classic mammoth sci-fi/creature feature film masterpiece host will present his big coast-to-coast broadcast premiere of “Ghoulies” (1984) this Sat., July 8 at 8 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Central on Me-TV.

The cult classic mammoth 1984 sci-fi/creature feature film farce masterpiece was directed by actor-turned-director-turned-producer Luca Bercovici.  Bercovici previously appeared in Corey Allen and Quinn Martin‘s classic mammoth QM Productions-Taft/CBS made-for-TV movie detective/crime drama masterpiece continuation of the earlier classic mammoth 1971-76 Quinn Martin/CBS detective-crime drama masterpiece series, “Cannon;” “The Return of Frank Cannon” (1980) with William Conrad reprising his role of Frank Cannon.  One year later, Bercovici appeared in the role of Dukes in Harvey S. Laidman and Jerry London‘s made-for-TV movie pilot episode of the classic mammoth Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)/NBC drama masterpiece series, “Chicago Story” (1981) with young Dennis Franz (later of TV’s “NYPD Blue” fame) and Vincent Baggetta.  Bercovici later appeared in a 1986 episode of Steven Spielberg‘s classic mammoth Amblin/Universal Studios/NBC fantasy anthology masterpiece series, “Amazing Stories” (in the 1986 episode, “No Day at the Beach“).

The production of the cult classic mammoth sci-fi/creature farce masterpiece feature production of “Ghoulies” (1984) marked Bercovici’s feature film directorial debut.  Six years after the production of “Ghoulies,” Luca Bercovici directed the cult classic mammoth rock musical-vampire-comedy farce masterpiece production for Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus‘ Cannon Films/The Cannon Group, “Rockula” (1990) with Dean Cameron, Toni Basil, legendary pioneering rock musician Bo Diddley (who recorded for Chicago’s legendary Chess Records and their “Checker” Records subsidiary in the 1950s), legendary electronic musician Thomas Dolby (of “She Blinded Me With Science” fame) and Tawny Fere’ Ellis.  Bercovici also appeared in his own production of “Rockula.”

Bercovici also co-wrote the screenplay for his own production of “Ghoulies” with veteran screenwriter-turned-producer-turned-director Jefery Levy.  “Ghoulies” also marked the screenwriting debut of Levy after co-writing the original script concept/screenplay with Bercovici.  Levy later directed an episode of the modern classic mammoth Universal Studios/USA Network mystery-detective-comedy masterpiece series with Tony Shalhoub, Traylor Howard, Ted Levine, Jason Gray-Stanford and Stanley Kamel, “Monk” (Levy directed the 2006 episode “Mr. Monk Goes to the Dentist“).   Levy also served as the co-producer of “Ghoulies.”

Bercovici’s production of “Ghoulies” (1984) was co-produced/co-released through Empire Pictures/Empire International*, one of the many startup releasing firms throughout the 1980s that were known for co-producing and releasing feature films with brief theatrical runs that were mostly aimed for the direct-to-video/VHS/Betamax/Laserdisc home entertainment formats at the time, according to IMDB.  Empire Pictures* was established by veteran filmmaker, producer and home entertainment distributor Charles Band in 1983; according to the official website of Charles Band.

Band previously founded Media Home Entertainment (originally founded as Meda Home Entertainment), one of the pioneering home entertainment licensing/distribution companies that released titles on the Betamax and VHS videocassette physical media formats, according to additional details from Band’s website and a 1979 Billboard article on the early rise of Betamax & VHS-based home entertainment formats.

Band’s Media Home Entertainment was primarily known as the company for acquiring the early home entertainment licensing rights to John Carpenter’s classic mammoth Compass International horror-thriller masterpiece production of “Halloween” (1978) with Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasence, Nancy Kyes and P.J. Soles; of interest to fellow Super Tooners/Super SvenPals of Toony & Bill’s “Toon In With Me;” the early home entertainment rights to Bill Melendez and Lee Mendelson‘s classic mammoth animated TV special masterpieces of Charles Schultz‘s “Peanuts” (under the “Hi-Tops Video” moniker) and early home entertainment rights to select classic mammoth rock concert and/or music video masterpieces via the “Music Media” imprint.

Media also acquired veteran record producer Snuff Garrett‘s “Nostalgia Merchant” imprint, which represented the early home entertainment rights to the classic mammoth feature film masterpiece libraries of RKO Radio Pictures/RKO General-General Tire-GenCorp, National Telefilm Associates/Republic Pictures and the Hal Roach library at the time.  This was before RKO General/RKO Pictures (pre-Turner/pre-Warner Bros.) and NTA/Republic (pre-Spelling/pre-Viacom/Paramount) set up their own home entertainment subsidiaries; the representatives of the Hal Roach library have licensed the rights to the Hal Roach backlog to various home entertainment companies throughout the years. -C.H.

Alongside Jefrey Levy, both Charles Band and Debra Dion served as executive producers of Luca Bercovici’s cult classic mammoth sci-fi/creature farce masterpiece production of “Ghoulies” (1984), according to IMDB.

In Sven/Rich Koz’s home area of Berwyn/Chicago, he previously aired “Ghoulies” (1984) as a Berwyn/Chicago big broadcast premiere on his hometown television station in Berwyn/Chicago, WCIU-TV 26/”The U;” according to additional details from IMDB.

Who was in “Ghoulies” (1984)?

The players who appeared in Luca Bercovici’s cult classic mammoth sci-fi/creature farce masterpiece production of “Ghoulies” (1984) were Peter Liapis (as Jonathan Graves), legendary rock musician Michael Des Barres (as Malcolm Graves), Lisa Pelikan (as Rebecca), Jack Nance (as Wolfgang), young Mariska Hargitay (as Donna), Peter Risch (as Grizzel), Tamara De Treaux (as Greedigut), Scott Thomson (as Mike), Ralph Seymour (as Mark), Keith Joe Dick (as Dick), David Dayan (as Eddie), Victoria Catlin (as Anastasia), Charene Cathleen (as Robin), Bobbie Bresee (as a Temptress), Jamie Bronow (as young Jonathan Graves) and the vocal stylings of Brian Connolly, Annie Stocking and Craig Talmy (for the vocalizations of the “Ghoulie” creatures).

“Svengoolie” presents his big broadcast of “The Killer Shrews” (1959), this Sat. on Me-TV

Fellow Svengoolie SvenPals everywhere will be dancing and jumping for joy upcoming big broadcast of a cult classic mammoth sci-fi creature masterpiece production.

“Svengoolie” presents his big broadcast of “The Killer Shrews” (1959)

“All that was left after.. ‘The Killer Shrews’!” Original 1959 Gordon McLendon tinted publicity photo/lobby card for “The Killer Shrews” with James Best, Ingrid Goude, Gordon McLendon and Baruch Lumet.

The legendary & iconic Berwyn/Chicago-based classic mammoth sci-fi/creature feature film masterpiece host will present his big broadcast of “The Killer Shrews” (1959), this Sat., May 27 at 8 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Central on Me-TV.

“The Killer Shrews” (1959) was directed by veteran visual effects/matte artist-turned second-unit director Ray Kellogg.

Throughout his film & TV career, Kellogg worked on numerous classic mammoth feature film & TV masterpiece productions for major studio Twentieth Century Fox (Twentieth Century Studios).  He worked as part of the visual effects team for Robert Wise’s classic mammoth critically-acclaimed sci-fi masterpiece production of “The Day the Earth Stood Still” (1951) with Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Locke Martin, Hugh Marlowe, Sam Jaffe, young Billy Gray (later of TV’s “Father Knows Best” fame) and  Frances Bavier (later of TV’s “The Andy Griffith Show” fame).  Kellogg also worked on special photographic effects for Richard Brooks’ classic mammoth film noir-drama masterpiece with Humphrey Bogart, Kim Hunter, Ethel Barrymore and Jim Backus, “Deadline U.S.A.” (1952), for Jean Negulesco’s classic mammoth CinemaScope widescreen romantic comedy masterpiece with Marilyn Monroe, Betty Grable, Lauren Bacall and Rory Calhoun, “How To Marry a Millionaire” (1953), Billy Wilder‘s classic mammoth romantic comedy masterpiece production of “The Seven-Year Itch” (1955) with Monroe, Tom Ewell, Evelyn Keyes and Carolyn Jones (of 1953’s “House of Wax” fame and TV’s “The Addams Family” fame), Robert D. Webb‘s classic mammoth drama masterpiece production of “Love Me Tender” (1956) with the legendary Elvis Presley (which helped introduce his classic mammoth 1956 RCA-Victor song recording masterpiece of the same name), Debra Paget and Richard Egan and Frank Tashlin‘s classic mammoth rock musical-comedy masterpiece production of “The Girl Can’t Help It” (1956) with the legendary Little Richard, Jayne Mansfield, the legendary Fats Domino, the legendary Julie London (who was married to Jack Webb of “Dragnet” fame), the legendary singing group The Platters, the legendary Eddie Cochran, legendary composer Ray Anthony, Ewell, the legendary Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps and Edmond O’Brien.

He also worked as a second unit director for Joseph L. Mankiewicz‘s classic mammoth spectacle masterpiece production of the dramatization of the reign of Egypt’s Queen Cleopatra IV,  “Cleopatra” (1963) with Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Rex Harrison, Martin Landau (later of TV’s “Mission: Impossible: and “Space: 1999” fame) Roddy McDowall, Hume Cronyn, Carroll O’Connor (later of TV’s “All in the Family” fame and TV’s “In the Heat of the Night” fame) and Michael Gwynn (of Hammer Horror fame, 1960’s “Village of the Damned” fame and the 1975 BBC TV pilot episode of John Cleese’s “Fawlty Towers” fame)- the production of “Cleopatra” took several years to film due in part to multiple production conflicts and a lengthy production schedule- the production nearly sank Twentieth Century Fox (Twentieth Century Studios) into bankruptcy until studio mogul Darryl F. Zanuck regained control of Twentieth Century Fox that same year (originally a merged company of Zanuck’s Twentieth Century Pictures and the financially-plagued Fox Film Corporation back in 1935) and for  Leslie H. Martinson’s classic mammoth feature film live-action adventure masterpiece adaptation production of the DC Comics superhero series based off the classic mammoth Twentieth Century Fox (Twentieth Century Studios)/ABC TV live-action masterpiece adaptation of “Batman” (1966) with Adam West, Burt Ward, Alan Napier, Lee Meriwether, Burgess Meredith, Cesar Romero, Frank Gorshin, Neil Hamilton and Stafford Repp.

The screenplay for Kellogg’s production of “The Killer Shrews” (1959) was written by veteran film and TV screenwriter Jay Simms.  Simms also co-wrote the screenplay with John Morton for Ray Milland’s classic mammoth sci-fi/thriller/horror masterpiece production for Samuel Z. Arkoff and James H. Nicholson’s American-International Pictures, titled “Panic In Year Zero” (1962) with Milland, Jean Hagen and singer Frankie Avalon (in one of his pre-“Beach Party” feature films during his film career at Arkoff and Nicholson’s American-International).

“After receiving latest Chicago ‘Pulse’ Ratings Report!” Original 1963 advertising leaflet for Gordon McLendon’s group of radio stations, this is one for WYNR/Chicago, known today as WGRB.

Kellogg and Curtis’ cult classic mammoth 1959 sci-fi/horror/thriller masterpiece production of “The Killer Shrews” was also produced by veteran Texas-based radio broadcaster/radio station owner Gordon McLendon, through the monikers of his “McLendon-Radio Pictures” and “Hollywood Pictures Corporation”* monikers, according to IMDB and a 1980 Broadcasting (Broadcasting and Cable) retrospective article on the life and career of Gordon McLendon.   He founded his group of radio stations under the “Liberty Broadcasting System” moniker, or LBS**- which later turned into the McLendon group of stations and described play-by-play re-tellings of certain football and baseball games under the on-air alias persona of “The Old Scotchman;” according to the Soceity for American Baseball Research retrospective on McLendon.

He was noted as one of the many pioneers of the top-40 music format on most of his radio stations with the addition/introduction of station jingles by local Dallas-based singing groups and several pioneering jingle production companies. He also specialized in pioneering all-news and easy-listening music formats on his line of radio stations.  He even dubbed one of his music formats in March 1960 on one of his radio stations as the “McLendon Sound of the Sixties,” according to Broadcasting (Broadcasting & Cable).

A visual aircheck glimpse of KLIF Radio in Dallas during the final year of Gordon McLendon‘s ownership of the station in 1971, featuring disc jockey Mike Selden; filmed by Public TV station KERA (via the KERA archives from the G. William Jones Film & Video archive housed at Southern Methodist University).  Note Selden’s RCA 77-DX microphone setup, the Gates/Harris radio broadcast mixing console, cart machines and the close-up of the 45 r.p.m. single on the turntable in the snippet- it should be noted that the wrong record footage is featured when the source recording of the legendary John Lennon & the legendary Plastic Ono Band‘s classic mammoth 1971 Apple Records masterpiece recording of “Imagine” is featured in the aircheck- the incorrect record that was shown was the legendary Neil Diamond‘s classic mammoth 1966/70 Bang Records masterpiece recording of “Solitary Man.” Surprised that the footage of the Apple Records label/single of Lennon’s “Imagine”  wasn’t filmed in the KLIF Radio broadcast studio booth when “Imagine” was playing on the airlanes. -C.H.

Some of the radio stations that McLendon owned throughout the years included Dallas’ KLIF, Chicago’s WYNR/WNUS, today’s WGRB;, Los Angeles’ KOST and Louisville’s WAKY.  It was also noted alongside his pioneering radio station formats on the stations that he owned throughout his years in broadcasting, McLendon was also responsible for his radio stations’ pioneering promotional tie-ins and contest giveaways, including “money balloons” and $50,000 “treasure hunt” giveaways to local listeners within his stations’ target market.  McLendon also owned numerous movie theaters and drive-in theaters in his entertainment career; according to Cornell R. Miller’s Sept. 2019 retrospective article on McLendon’s foray into motion pictures for Dallas (D) Magazine, titled “The Time a Radio Legend Brought a Taste of Hollywood to Town.”

It was also noted that Kellogg’s “The Killer Shrews” was filmed on location at McLendon’s Cielo Ranch in Lake Dallas, Texas; according to additional details from IMDB, additional details from Cornell R. Miller’s Sept. 2019 article for D (Dallas) Magazine, “The Time a Radio Legend brought a Taste of Hollywood to Town” and Ronald Garay’s 1992 retrospective book on McLendon’s life and career, “Gordon McLendon: The Maverick of Radio,” The broadcast veteran mogul invited the entire cast and the entire production crew to come to his ranch for his interest into motion picture productions and managed to keep everyone in his productions happy throughout the entire filming schedule of his own productions. McLendon’s original intention for filming his own feature film productions at his Lake Dallas, Texas Ranch complex was done as a cost-saving method instead of allocating funds to film at another ranch within the immediate Dallas/Ft. Worth region and/or traveling to one of the major studio “movie ranch” locations/studio lots within Los Angeles/Burbank/Hollywood, California.

The trio of Kellogg, Curtis and McLendon produced another production together on the McLendon Cielo Ranch, titled “My Dog, Buddy” (1959).  Their latter production was released theatrically for coast-to-coast distribution through major Hollywood studio Columbia Pictures, according to Clive Hirschorn’s retrospective book on the history of and the most memorable films of Columbia Pictures; “The Columbia Story;”   It was also noted that McLendon was also one of the largest shareholders of Columbia Pictures at one point, according to additional details from the 1980 Broadcasting (Broadcasting and Cable) article on McLendon.

This will mark Sven’s second big coast-to-coast broadcast of the cult classic mammoth Kellogg-McLendon sci-fi creature masterpiece production of “The Killer Shrews” (1959) on Me-TV.  He previously showcased “The Killer Shrews” (1959) as a Me-TV coast-to-coast big broadcast premiere back in August 2022.

In Sven’s home area of Berwyn/Chicago, Svengoolie previously showcased the cult classic mammoth 1959 Kellogg-Curtis-McLendon sci-fi/creature masterpiece production of “The Killer Shrews” on his hometown TV station, Berwyn/Chicago’s WCIU-TV 26 back in 1996, according to IMDB and fellow Super SvenPal WolfmanSlick’s YouTube channel.

Who was in the Kellogg-Curtis-McLendon production of “The Killer Shrews” (1959)?

The players who appeared in the cult classic mammoth Kellogg-Curtis-McLendon sci-fi/creature masterpiece production of “The Killer Shrews” (1959) were James Best (as Thorne Sherman),  Ken Curtis (as Jerry Farrell), Ingrid Goude (as Ann Craigis),  Judge Henry Dupree (as “Rook” Griswold), a cameo by Gordon McLendon (as Dr. Radford Baines), Baruch Lumet (as Dr. Marlowe Craigis) and Alfredo de Soto (credited under the name of Alfred deSoto, as Mario).