Fellow Super Svengoolie SvenPals everywhere will be dancing and jumping for joy for his big classic mammoth double-feature comedy/monster/sci-fi masterpiece showcase and the return of a classic mammoth Sven documentary masterpiece for “Halloween Boo-nanza 2023!”
“Svengoolie” presents his big broadcast twinset of “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein” (1948) and “Invaders from Mars” (1986), plus the return of “Svengoolie: Uncrypted” (2022)
A moment from Charles Barton’s classic mammoth 1948 Universal Studios comedy-monster masterpiece production featuring Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Glenn Strange and Bela Lugosi, “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.”
A brief collage of moments from Tobe Hooper’s cult classic mammoth 1986 Cannon comedy/sci-fi masterpiece adaptation production featuring Hunter Carson, Karen Black, Laraine Newman, Timothy Bottoms and Bud Cort, “Invaders from Mars;” compiled for the now-out-of-print Shout! Factory-Scream Factory (Shout! Studios)/MGM* Blu-Ray edition.
The legendary and iconic Berywn/Chicago-based classic mammoth monster/sci-fi/comedy feature film masterpiece host will present his big coast-to-coast double-feature twinset monster/sci-fi/comedy feature film masterpiece showcase of “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein” (1948) and “Invaders from Mars” (1986). The aforementioned Sven double-feature twinset of “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein” (1948) and “Invaders from Mars” (1986) will begin this Sat., Oct. 14 at 8 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Central on Me-TV!
Fellow Super SvenPals/Super Tooners Sarah Rhodes/Sarahgoolie, Nanette Keir and Brian Bernardoni will return to the Me-TV airlanes with their cameos in the network’s classic mammoth Sven/Rich Koz documentary masterpiece, “Svengoolie: Uncrypted” (2022)!
After the aforementioned Sven double-feature twinset of “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein” (1948, at 8 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Central) and “Invaders from Mars” (1986, at 10:30 p.m. Eastern/9:30 p.m. Central), Me-TV will be airing a latenight/overnight Sat. revival of the network’s classic mammoth documentary masterpiece on Sven/Rich Koz, “Svengoolie: Uncrypted” (2022) featuring fellow Super Svengoolie/Sventoonie SvenPals/Super “Toon In With Me” Tooners Sarah Rhodes/Sarahgoolie, Nanette Keir and Brian Bernardoni at 12:30 a.m Eastern/11:30 p.m. Central! And top off the second installment of the Sven Saturday “Halloween Boo-nanza 2023” festival, Me-TV will also have a latenight/overnight festival of select episodes of Rod Serling’s classic mammoth 1959-64 CBS television supernatural masterpiece series; “The Twilight Zone” at 1:30 a.m. Eastern/12:30 a.m. Central!
Alongside Sven’s upcoming “Halloween Boo-nanza 2023” big broadcast festival of “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein” (1948), “Invaders from Mars” (1986) and “Svengoolie: Uncrypted” (2022) featuring fellow Super SvenPals/Super Tooners Sarah Rhodes/Sarahgoolie, Nanette Keir and Brian Bernardoni; other Sven features and specials that will be showcased throughout the Oct. 2023 “Sven Saturday Halloween Boo-nanza” festival on Me-TV will include:
Oct. 21, 2023: Svengoolie’s big double-feature twinset broadcast featuring his big broadcast premiere of Dan Curtis‘ classic mammoth ABC “Kolchak” supernatural made-for-TV movie masterpiece with Darren McGavin, Simon Oakland and Larry Linville (of TV’s “M*A*S*H” fame), “The Night Stalker” (1972, at 8 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Central), followed by Sven’s big broadcast of the U.S. dubbing of Ishiro Honda‘s classic mammoth Toho Studios pioneering kaiju creature masterpiece production of “Gojira” featuring Raymond Burr of TV’s “Perry Mason” fame, “Godzilla: King of the Monsters!” (1954/56, at 10:30 p.m. Eastern/9:30 p.m. Central)! And wait- there’s more! Me-TV will also have an all-night festival of classic episodes of the classic mammoth 1974-75 Universal Studios/ABC supernatural masterpiece series adaptation that was inspired by the two earlier classic mammoth Dan Curtis/ABC “Kolchak” made-for-TV movie masterpieces, “Kolchak: The Night Stalker” with McGavin and Oakland (at 1:30 a.m. Eastern/12:30 a.m. Central)!
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)! And wait- there’s more! An all-night festival of additional classic episodes of the classic mammoth Universal Studios/ABC supernatural masterpiece series with McGavin and Oakland, “Kolchak: The Night Stalker” (at 1:30 a.m. Eastern/12:30 a.m. Central)!
1988 MCA Home Video (Universal Pictures Home Entertainment) cover art for Charles Barton’s classic mammoth Universal monster-comedy masterpiece, “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein” (1948), featuring elements from the original 1948 Universal theatrical poster art.
“Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein” (1948) was directed by veteran Abbott and Costello feature film director Charles T. Barton. Barton’s other classic mammoth Abbott and Costello comedy masterpiece feature film productions include directing the duo’s other classic mammoth Universal comedy masterpiece productions of “The Time of their Lives” (1946), “Buck Privates Come Home” (1947; which was the sequel to Arthur Lubin’s earlier classic mammoth 1941 Universal wartime comedy masterpiece with Abbott and Costello and The Andrews Sisters, “Buck Privates”) and “The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap” (1947, featuring Marjorie Main of Universal’s classic mammoth “Ma and Pa Kettle” feature film comedy masterpiece productions). Later in his feature film and television directorial career, Barton later directed one episode of the classic mammoth Universal Studios “Munsters” monster comedy masterpiece series with Fred Gwynne, Yvonne De Carlo, Al Lewis, Pat Priest and Butch Patrick, “The Munsters;” “Love Locked Out;” which aired on CBS television in 1965. Earlier in his feature film directing career and alongside directing most of his productions at Universal, Barton also directed the Columbia Pictures “Five Little Peppers” feature film adaptation series, from 1939-40 and the classic mammoth Columbia Pictures musical comedy masterpiece with bandleader Ted Lewis, Nan Wynn, Michael Duane, Larry Parks and of interest of fellow Super Tooners/Super SvenPals of Toony & Bill’s “Toon In With Me”- veteran cartoon voice-over artist Billy Bletcher, “Is Everybody Happy?” (1943).
“Junior.. Junior!” Original 1948 Universal Studios tinted lobby card/publicity photo for “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein” with Glenn Strange, Lou Costello and Lenore Aubert.
The classic mammoth 1948 Universal monster-comedy masterpiece was produced by veteran Universal producer Robert Arthur. Alongside “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein” (1948); Arthur’s other classic mammoth Universal productions that he produced include Barton’s other classic mammoth Universal spook comedy-mystery masterpiece production with Bud Abbott, Lou Costello and horror film legend Boris Karloff, “Abbott and Costello Meet The Killer, Boris Karloff” (1949); Arthur Lubin‘s classic mammoth Universal comedy masterpiece and first feature film in the studio’s “Francis The Talking Mule” classic mammoth comedy masterpiece franchise series, “Francis” (1950) with Donald O’Connor, Patricia Medina, a pre-“Perry Mason” Ray Collins, Zasu Pitts, young Tony Curtis, the vocal stylings of Chill Wills and Molly the Mule; Blake Edwards‘ classic mammoth Universal comedy masterpiece with Cary Grant, Tony Curtis, Joan O’Brien, Dina Merrill, young Gavin MacLeod (later of TV’s “The Mary Tyler Moore” show fame and TV’s “The Love Boat” fame), young Marion Ross (later of TV’s “Happy Days” fame), “Operation Petticoat” (1959), Delbert Mann‘s classic mammoth Universal comedy masterpiece with Doris Day, Rock Hudson, a pre-“Odd Couple” Tony Randall, Edie Adams, a pre-“Brady Bunch” Ann B. Davis, Joe Flynn (of “McHale’s Navy” fame) and Jack Oakie; “Lover, Come Back” (1961) and Harry Keller‘s classic mammoth Universal comedy-fantasy masterpiece adaptation of Thomas Anstey Guthrie‘s novel with a pre-“I Dream of Jeannie” Barbara Eden, Tony Randall, Burl Ives and Philip Ober; “The Brass Bottle” (1964). The screenplay for “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein” (1948) was written by veteran Abbott and Costello gag writer John Grant, along with Robert Lees and Frederic I. Rinaldo.
“There’s no place on Earth to hide.” Original 1986 Cannon Group theatrical poster art for Tobe Hooper’s cult classic mammoth sci-fi masterpiece adaptation of “Invaders from Mars.”
The adaptation of “Invaders from Mars” (1986) was directed by veteran feature film director Tobe Hooper. Some of Hooper’s best known classic mammoth /modern classic mammoth feature film masterpieces throughout his directorial career include his classic mammoth Bryanston horror-thriller masterpiece production with Gunnar Hansen, Marilyn Burns, Allen Danziger, Paul A. Partain, William Vail and the vocal stylings of young John Larroquette, “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (1974); his classic mammoth supernatural thriller masterpiece for Steven Spielberg and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) with Heather O’Rourke, JoBeth Williams, Craig T. Nelson, Richard Lawson, Dominique Dunne and Dirk Blocker (son of the late Dan Blocker of TV’s “Bonanza” fame), “Poltergeist” (1982), his classic mammoth 1985 Cannon Group sci-fi/horror masterpiece with Steve Railsback, Mathilda May, Sir Patrick Stewart (of the 1984 adaptation of “Dune” and “Star Trek: The Next Generation” fame) and Peter Firth, “Lifeforce” and the second “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” installment for the Cannon Group, “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2” (1986) with Dennis Hopper, Caroline Williams and Bill Moseley.
Hooper’s cult classic mammoth Cannon sci-fi masterpiece adaptation of “Invaders From Mars” (1986) was adapted from William Cameron Menzies’ earlier cult classic mammoth sci-fi masterpiece production of the same name, “Invaders From Mars” (1953); which was also produced by Edward L. Alperson Jr.
The original 1953 Menzies-Alperson version was originally released by Twentieth Century Fox (Twentieth Century Studios), according to IMDB. Recently, a complete 4K restoration of the 1953 version of “Invaders From Mars’ was implemented by classic film distribution firm Ignite Films of the Netherlands , the UCLA Film and Television Archive, the George Eastman Museum and the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia for a 4K Ultra HD Blu-Ray release; the complete restoration was finally showcased at the 2022 Turner Classic Movies Film Festival in Hollywood; California; according to the official Ignite Films site and Steve Pond’s April 2022 article for The Wrap.
Before directing numerous classic mammoth thriller/horror/sci-fi feature film productions and TV episodes in his directorial career, Hooper previously directed a classic mammoth TV documentary film masterpiece on the legendary folk music trio; Peter, Paul and Mary (Peter Yarrow, Noel Paul Stookey and Mary Travers); titled “Peter, Paul and Mary: The Song is Love” (1971). Of interest to fellow Super Tooners/Super SvenPals of Toony & Bill Leff/Bill the Cartoon Curator’s “Toon In With Me” on Me-TV, Hooper’s classic mammoth 1971 made-for-TV documentary masterpiece on Peter, Paul and Mary was produced three years after the legendary folk trio was involved with a classic mammoth Warner Bros.-Seven Arts cartoon masterpiece that was adapted from one of their classic mammoth song recording masterpieces for Warner Bros. Records and was co-written by Noel Paul Stookey and directed by Alex Lovy, “Norman Normal” (1968, the legendary & iconic folk music trio’s recording of “Norman Normal” was previously issued two years earlier on Peter Paul and Mary’s classic mammoth 1966 Warner Bros. Records album masterpiece, “Album;” according to Discogs).
Media Home Entertainment publicity photo for the VHS release of Tobe Hooper’s Cannon adaptation of “Invaders from Mars” (1986).
The screenplay for Hooper’s adaptation of “Invaders from Mars” (1986) was written by veteran screenwriters Don Jakoby and Dan O’Bannon along with David Lipman and David Womark; based off the original 1953 screenplay by Richard Blake. Don Jakoby previously wrote the screenplay for Hooper’s production of “Lifeforce” (1985) and O’Bannon previously co-wrote the screenplay with Ronald Shusett for Ridley Scott’s classic mammoth Twentieth Century Fox (Twentieth Century Studios) sci-fi masterpiece production with Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, Yaphet Kotto, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, Ian Holm, Bolaji Badejo and Eddie Powell; “Alien” (1979).
Hooper’s classic mammoth sci-fi thriller masterpiece adaptation of “Invaders of Mars” (1986) was produced and released by The Cannon Group, Inc. (a.k.a. Cannon Films), an independent releasing organization that was established by producers Dennis Friedland and Christopher C. Dewey. Friedland and Dewey later sold Cannon to veteran feature film producers-film financiers Menahem Golan and his cousin, Yoram Globus in 1979; according to IMDB. During Golan and Globus’ ownership of the Cannon Group; the company specialized in producing, financing and releasing numerous cult action feature film productions. Golan and Globus’ Cannon also owned various movie theaters throughout Europe and the United States (Golan and Globus acquired the Kansas City, Missouri based Commonwealth Theatres group in 1986), according to Geraldine Fabrikant’s 1986 New York Times article on the rise of Golan and Globus’ Cannon firm at the time. The ownership of their own theaters would eventually cause numerous financial problems for Golan and Globus’ Cannon.
Cannon was later acquired by notorious financier Giancarlo Parretti around 1987-88. Parretti renamed the Cannon Group as Pathé Communications in 1989 after his brief involvement with France’s pioneering film studio, Pathé. The majority of the Cannon Films/Cannon Group library holdings later became part of the modern incarnation of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) after Parretti’s brief ownership of MGM; according to IMDB, Al Degulach’s 1988 Los Angeles Times article and Peter Bart’s 2013 Variety article on Parretti’s financial shenanigans and brief ownership of MGM. Sidebar: Though MGM owns the theatrical re-issue licensing and home entertainment licensing rights to the majority of the Cannon Group library, Paramount Global/Paramount Pictures (Viacom/the former ViacomCBS) currently owns the North American television syndication and premium pay-television/cable distribution-syndication rights to the majority of the Cannon Group feature film library, including “Invaders from Mars” (1986); which was part of a long-term TV syndication-distribution pact between Golan, Globus/Cannon and Viacom back in 1986, according to additional details from Fabrikant’s New York Times article and a 1986 Broadcasting (Broadcasting & Cable) article. -C.H.
Golan and Globus co-produced Hooper’s cult classic mammoth Cannon sci-fi masterpiece adaptation of “Invaders From Mars” (1986) with veteran producer-distributor Edward L. Alperson Jr., veteran sci-fi/horror film collector-producer-distributor Wade Williams and veteran creative producer David Rodgers.
For “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein” (1948), this will mark Sven’s 12th big broadcast of the classic mammoth 1948 Abbott and Costello Universal mammoth monster-comedy masterpiece production of “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein” on Me-TV. He had previously showcased “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein” (1948) on Me-TV from coast-to-coast back in Oct. 2011* as a big coast-to-coast Me-TV premiere and as regular Me-TV broadcasts back in Nov. 2013, Oct. 2014, April 2015, Oct. 2016, Nov. 2017, Oct. 2018, May 2019 (showcased during Sven’s “Monstrous May” 2019 festival of classic Universal “Frankenstein” mammoth monster masterpiece features) Nov. 2020, Sept. 2021 (part of Sven’s “Franken-Fest” festival of classic mammoth Universal “Frankenstein” monster feature film masterpieces) and Nov. 2022.
For “Invaders from Mars” (1986), this will mark Sven’s second big broadcast of Hooper’s cult classic mammoth 1986 Cannon sci-fi/comedy farce masterpiece adaptation of “Invaders from Mars” on the airlanes of Me-TV. He previously showcased “Invaders from Mars” (1986) as a big broadcast premiere back in April 2022.
Silver Screen Reflections 