Classic movie site with rare images, original ads, and behind-the-scenes photos, with informative and insightful commentary. We like to have fun with movies!
Archive and Links
grbrpix@aol.com
Search Index Here




Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Spooky Stuff In Pittsburgh

Materializing To Twist and Frankenstein Accompany For 1963

Greenbriar seeking "Starlet" Bobbi Dukes! I tried IMDB, Google, Net search beyond. Came up snake eyes. I thought at least she might have danced as background to a beach pic for Jim and Sam, but no trace (at least she'd do the Twist for this engagement). I'm beginning to doubt Bobbi was really a "starlet," but since when did that matter to attendees at a Pittsburgh spook show circa 1963? I guessed '63 for this ad and show because of "Ethreal" materialization of Liz Taylor as Cleopatra being sold hardest (re ethreal: should misspelling or use of non-existent words be forgiven in movie ads?). You had to be there to know how hot Liz was when Cleopatra came out. My neighbor's sixth grade was bused to Winston-Salem for a school day matinee, but mothers kept several of class home because Cleopatra was a "dirty" movie. One boy hid a souvenir program under his mattress. Liz wasn't nude in Cleopatra, but nearly so at times. Of course, kids who'd seen it told others who hadn't that she was (a same neighborhood problem we had with Natalie Wood and Gypsy). "Frankenstein In Person" was expected, as was Monsters Torturing Beautiful Girls. "One Dead Body" as a door prize causes me to wonder --- why not two? Screen fare was what theatre/drive-ins could get for cheap. The Screaming Skull and The Headless Ghost would be on TV within months of their play-off here. Note borrowed art from Blood Of Dracula and some or another AIP chiller besides ones that were showing. Jim Nicholson took dim view of such pilfer and in fact, threatened to sue showmen appropriating imagery from one shocker to promote another. There was, after all, truth in advertising at stake.

4 Comments:

Blogger Randy Jepsen said...

Lol What a trip!
THE HEADLESS GHOST, what a waste of celluloid. THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN`T DIE or THE THING THAT COULDN`T DIE would have been better. They are all second feature fodder but some more viewable than others.

11:52 AM  
Blogger John McElwee said...

Dan Mercer remembers a spook show in Levittown, NJ:

I went to one "spook show" growing up in Levittown, New Jersey during the 1960s. It was at the Fox Theater and the advertisements promised two horror pictures, gorillas torturing beautiful girls, a free prize," AND a free pass, if I survived the show. The place was packed by the time I got in, but the movie portion was somewhat of a let down. There was only one, not two, and that was "Francis in the Haunted House." The gorilla was no better. Apparently someone or something was chasing someone else down the aisle of the theater, but they hadn't turned the house lights on, so I couldn't tell. When the lights did come on, a few minutes later, the show was over. I had survived, but that was almost a given. A "Francis" picture? I wouldn't have turned the Magnavox on for that. I also didn't come away with a prize or free pass. Thus, in such ways did I leave the sunshine days of childhood for the chillier climes I would know as an adult.

3:18 PM  
Blogger Randy Jepsen said...

I went to two Spook Shows. The first one was a double feature of THE TEENAGE PSYCHO MEETS BLOODY MARY & THE EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN. Someone in a mask & sheet came out to the right of the screen & walked around on the stage for about 30 seconds. Whoop-de-doo. The other one was TALES OF TERROR on a Sunday afternoon(!). A green-tinted clip of Lugosi as Dracula was shown & then someone came out to the right of the screen in a green Lugosi Dracula mask & sheet, & disappeared within seconds. Pretty lame.

4:29 PM  
Blogger Robert Fiore said...

Wasn't it Ben Hecht who said the Hollywood definition of "starlet" was "any woman under the age of 25 not actively employed as a prostitute"?

10:27 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home

grbrpix@aol.com
  • December 2005
  • January 2006
  • February 2006
  • March 2006
  • April 2006
  • May 2006
  • June 2006
  • July 2006
  • August 2006
  • September 2006
  • October 2006
  • November 2006
  • December 2006
  • January 2007
  • February 2007
  • March 2007
  • April 2007
  • May 2007
  • June 2007
  • July 2007
  • August 2007
  • September 2007
  • October 2007
  • November 2007
  • December 2007
  • January 2008
  • February 2008
  • March 2008
  • April 2008
  • May 2008
  • June 2008
  • July 2008
  • August 2008
  • September 2008
  • October 2008
  • November 2008
  • December 2008
  • January 2009
  • February 2009
  • March 2009
  • April 2009
  • May 2009
  • June 2009
  • July 2009
  • August 2009
  • September 2009
  • October 2009
  • November 2009
  • December 2009
  • January 2010
  • February 2010
  • March 2010
  • April 2010
  • May 2010
  • June 2010
  • July 2010
  • August 2010
  • September 2010
  • October 2010
  • November 2010
  • December 2010
  • January 2011
  • February 2011
  • March 2011
  • April 2011
  • May 2011
  • June 2011
  • July 2011
  • August 2011
  • September 2011
  • October 2011
  • November 2011
  • December 2011
  • January 2012
  • February 2012
  • March 2012
  • April 2012
  • May 2012
  • June 2012
  • July 2012
  • August 2012
  • September 2012
  • October 2012
  • November 2012
  • December 2012
  • January 2013
  • February 2013
  • March 2013
  • April 2013
  • May 2013
  • June 2013
  • July 2013
  • August 2013
  • September 2013
  • October 2013
  • November 2013
  • December 2013
  • January 2014
  • February 2014
  • March 2014
  • April 2014
  • May 2014
  • June 2014
  • July 2014
  • August 2014
  • September 2014
  • October 2014
  • November 2014
  • December 2014
  • January 2015
  • February 2015
  • March 2015
  • April 2015
  • May 2015
  • June 2015
  • July 2015
  • August 2015
  • September 2015
  • October 2015
  • November 2015
  • December 2015
  • January 2016
  • February 2016
  • March 2016
  • April 2016
  • May 2016
  • June 2016
  • July 2016
  • August 2016
  • September 2016
  • October 2016
  • November 2016
  • December 2016
  • January 2017
  • February 2017
  • March 2017
  • April 2017
  • May 2017
  • June 2017
  • July 2017
  • August 2017
  • September 2017
  • October 2017
  • November 2017
  • December 2017
  • January 2018
  • February 2018
  • March 2018
  • April 2018
  • May 2018
  • June 2018
  • July 2018
  • August 2018
  • September 2018
  • October 2018
  • November 2018
  • December 2018
  • January 2019
  • February 2019
  • March 2019
  • April 2019
  • May 2019
  • June 2019
  • July 2019
  • August 2019
  • September 2019
  • October 2019
  • November 2019
  • December 2019
  • January 2020
  • February 2020
  • March 2020
  • April 2020
  • May 2020
  • June 2020
  • July 2020
  • August 2020
  • September 2020
  • October 2020
  • November 2020
  • December 2020
  • January 2021
  • February 2021
  • March 2021
  • April 2021
  • May 2021
  • June 2021
  • July 2021
  • August 2021
  • September 2021
  • October 2021
  • November 2021
  • December 2021
  • January 2022
  • February 2022
  • March 2022
  • April 2022
  • May 2022
  • June 2022
  • July 2022
  • August 2022
  • September 2022
  • October 2022
  • November 2022
  • December 2022
  • January 2023
  • February 2023
  • March 2023
  • April 2023
  • May 2023
  • June 2023
  • July 2023
  • August 2023
  • September 2023
  • October 2023
  • November 2023
  • December 2023
  • January 2024
  • February 2024
  • March 2024