tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-509497574816685109.post444076285318301505..comments2024-02-10T04:53:42.121-05:00Comments on Tales of the Easily Distracted: Midnight Movies at the TV Oasis: A Bleary-Eyed MemoirDorianTBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01357778472575080022noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-509497574816685109.post-78550560845338764862010-10-28T10:58:42.754-04:002010-10-28T10:58:42.754-04:00But wait, Michael has more to say:
Oh Yes, Dorian...But wait, Michael has more to say:<br /><br />Oh Yes, Dorian! Every Friday night at 10:30 would find me dutifully in place before the portable RCA black-and-white tube, anxiously waiting for the horrific mixture of jet aircraft, grinding motorcycle and electronic warbling . . . accompanied by shifting oscilloscope patterns on the screen, and Joe Alston's voice-over: "Project . . . TERROR! Where the Scientific, and the Terrifying, Emerge!"<br /><br /><br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIapC7SZbLs<br /><br /><br />That's where I got my chops (along with certain others, such as future film director Robert Rodriguez). All the classic Universal horror films! The treats from the Hammer studio, as well as the finest in kaiju from Toho! All of this interspersed with whatever had been cheerfully stuffed into the package and sent to the KENS-TV. I mean, back in those days, the concept of Programming was as totally alien as anything which was depicted in the films. One week I'd be watching Forbidden Planet, or The Time Machine, and then the next week I'd get Samson And The Vampire Women, Giant Of Metropolis or Robot Monster.<br /><br />To the people at KENS it was all one quality. And, back then, it made some sort of absolute twisted sense. It was almost Zen. A unique form of poetry. Of course The Slime People was just as good as When Worlds Collide. You just had to develop a cosmic sort of perspective.<br /><br />(A lesson which, alas, I've never quite been able to impart upon my offspring.)<br /><br />And there were the genuine scares. Films such as The Black Scorpion, Curse Of The Demon, Not Of This Earth and Cult Of The Cobra, which used to upset my mother no end because, according to her, they upset me. Now I have no proof that I actually had screaming nightmares because of these films . . . but she claimed that I did and, in her court of law, that was enough! Any hope of weaning me off of Project Terror, though, was a harder job than separating a crackhead from his pusher. Especially more so when UHF arrived in full force in Austin, and channel 24 began running Shock Theatre and Aftershock on Saturday nights.<br /><br />Oh bliss!<br /><br />(Of course the fact that, as I grew older, I learned to face my fears . . . with the possible exception of Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch . . . might've also been a contributing factor to my Mom eventually throwing in the towel.)<br /><br />(And then there was the time I like to call The Night Someone Was Asleep At The Switch! Or: how else to explain a showing of Godard's Alphaville on Aftershock? Granted, the film was an edited version. But I was scratching my head over it for weeks afterwards.)<br /><br />Unfortunately, though, such days have faded into the past. Late-night television programming has since fallen into the hands of celebrity whores. The salad days of independent television stations and UHF are a dim memory, as is the concept of motion pictures being a major part of network broadcasting (remember when films such as Cleopatra, or Bridge Over The River Kwai, were Big Events stretched out over two evenings?). The concept of Modern Cable Television as a blessed realm of innovation has been exposed as thin fiction, and even those cable networks supposedly devoted to movies seem more interested in expanding the careers of talentless magazine cover floss than in plumbing the depths of creative weirdness.<br /><br />Dorian, trust an old man's word on this. We were much better off when no one was at the wheel.DorianTBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01357778472575080022noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-509497574816685109.post-36382238818716860532010-10-28T10:58:04.249-04:002010-10-28T10:58:04.249-04:00But wait, friends, there's more to Michael Wol...But wait, friends, there's more to Michael Wolff's marvelous post! Read on:<br /><br /><br />Oh Yes, Dorian! Every Friday night at 10:30 would find me dutifully in place before the portable RCA black-and-white tube, anxiously waiting for the horrific mixture of jet aircraft, grinding motorcycle and electronic warbling . . . accompanied by shifting oscilloscope patterns on the screen, and Joe Alston's voice-over: "Project . . . TERROR! Where the Scientific, and the Terrifying, Emerge!"<br /><br /><br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIapC7SZbLs<br /><br /><br />That's where I got my chops (along with certain others, such as future film director Robert Rodriguez). All the classic Universal horror films! The treats from the Hammer studio, as well as the finest in kaiju from Toho! All of this interspersed with whatever had been cheerfully stuffed into the package and sent to the KENS-TV. I mean, back in those days, the concept of Programming was as totally alien as anything which was depicted in the films. One week I'd be watching Forbidden Planet, or The Time Machine, and then the next week I'd get Samson And The Vampire Women, Giant Of Metropolis or Robot Monster.<br /><br />To the people at KENS it was all one quality. And, back then, it made some sort of absolute twisted sense. It was almost Zen. A unique form of poetry. Of course The Slime People was just as good as When Worlds Collide. You just had to develop a cosmic sort of perspective.<br /><br />(A lesson which, alas, I've never quite been able to impart upon my offspring.)<br /><br />And there were the genuine scares. Films such as The Black Scorpion, Curse Of The Demon, Not Of This Earth and Cult Of The Cobra, which used to upset my mother no end because, according to her, they upset me. Now I have no proof that I actually had screaming nightmares because of these films . . . but she claimed that I did and, in her court of law, that was enough! Any hope of weaning me off of Project Terror, though, was a harder job than separating a crackhead from his pusher. Especially more so when UHF arrived in full force in Austin, and channel 24 began running Shock Theatre and Aftershock on Saturday nights.<br /><br />Oh bliss!<br /><br />(Of course the fact that, as I grew older, I learned to face my fears . . . with the possible exception of Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch . . . might've also been a contributing factor to my Mom eventually throwing in the towel.)<br /><br />(And then there was the time I like to call The Night Someone Was Asleep At The Switch! Or: how else to explain a showing of Godard's Alphaville on Aftershock? Granted, the film was an edited version. But I was scratching my head over it for weeks afterwards.)<br /><br />Unfortunately, though, such days have faded into the past. Late-night television programming has since fallen into the hands of celebrity whores. The salad days of independent television stations and UHF are a dim memory, as is the concept of motion pictures being a major part of network broadcasting (remember when films such as Cleopatra, or Bridge Over The River Kwai, were Big Events stretched out over two evenings?). The concept of Modern Cable Television as a blessed realm of innovation has been exposed as thin fiction, and even those cable networks supposedly devoted to movies seem more interested in expanding the careers of talentless magazine cover floss than in plumbing the depths of creative weirdness.<br /><br />Dorian, trust an old man's word on this. We were much better off when no one was at the wheel.DorianTBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01357778472575080022noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-509497574816685109.post-61957800006836424872010-10-28T10:56:32.818-04:002010-10-28T10:56:32.818-04:00Our own Michael Wolff, witty author, raconteur, an...Our own Michael Wolff, witty author, raconteur, and walking encyclopedia of vintage TV knowledge, had this to say:<br /><br /><br />Oh my goodness, Dorian!<br /><br />Such memories . . . such memories. And you're truly dating yourself well beyond your rosy-cheeked years if you're effortlessly dredging up details of those glorious days (or, perhaps more correctly, those glorious nights) before the current age of Cable Television came along and homogenized everything, and true creativity and vision danced away with the stars.<br /><br />From the onset it must be understood that I grew up in Austin, Texas. Being the capitol city of a great state, the burghers who ran the place naturally tried to make certain that the Local Media was as squeaky clean and presentable as possible. Back then, of course, a good deal of late night broadcasting was turned over to old motion pictures and so, faced with such a circumstance, the local media was behooved to run only the most vanilla of films. Gosharootie . . . none of this highly suspect film noir or foreign cinema or anything of that nature. Oh, Heaven Forbid! Break out the sequined Westerns, Bowery Boys comedies and PTA-approved depictions of Life In America.<br /><br />(Given this background, my undying affection for June Allyson must be viewed with considerably more understanding.)<br /><br />The closest the young Michael Wolff would ever come to seeing anything the least bit horrific would be whenever the local stations (of which there were two, plus the PBS outlet, which was then known as NET in those days) would run a film listed as "melodrama". Remember when "melodrama" was a legitimate genre description? Back then such an appellation might indicate a film like The Strange Case Of Dr. Rx, The Return Of Dr. X or, if I was very, very, very lucky, a rogue showing of The Curse Of The Cat People or The Maze.<br /><br />The situation enjoyed something of a quantum skew in the late-60s. That's when my parents picked up what was then a rudimentary sort of cable television package. Technically what it meant was that we were now able to watch the programming coming out of San Antonio.<br /><br />Realistically it meant the opening of a whole new world for me. The Captain Gus Show, with the old Fleischer Studio Popeye cartoons, as well as episodes of Space Ghost! Episodes of Supercar, the old British Invisible Man series . . . <br /><br />. . . and Project Terror!DorianTBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01357778472575080022noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-509497574816685109.post-15764204736043661762010-10-23T13:38:49.165-04:002010-10-23T13:38:49.165-04:00Emm, you're most welcome, and yes, please feel...Emm, you're most welcome, and yes, please feel free to call me Dorian. Heck, many people go really wild and call me Dori! :-) Sounds like your movie-watching habits are a lot like mine; further proof you're a young lady of superb taste and breeding! Thanks for your nice words about "Tales of the Easily Distracted." I'm glad you're enjoying it, and if you like, I'd be happy to include a link to your blog on my site so others can enjoy your wit and wisdom. Judging from your "Audrey Obsession" handle, would I be correct in assuming that Audrey Hepburn is mentioned regularly on your blog site? :-)DorianTBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01357778472575080022noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-509497574816685109.post-70580790962671094322010-10-23T13:09:02.011-04:002010-10-23T13:09:02.011-04:00Thanks for sharing your escapades as a wee-hours f...Thanks for sharing your escapades as a wee-hours furtive film film fanatic, Steve! You know, when I began looking for links to CHILLER THEATER and other movie show openers, commercials, and movie trailers to use in this blog post, I was pleased to see that they were all easy to find on YouTube! The Internet can be a boon to pop culture knowledge! :-) Good luck with your move, Steve, and feel free to drop by here again soon!DorianTBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01357778472575080022noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-509497574816685109.post-15993398674610815032010-10-22T17:32:51.465-04:002010-10-22T17:32:51.465-04:00Why, thank you, Dorian! (You don't mind if I c...Why, thank you, Dorian! (You don't mind if I call you Dorian right off, do you?)<br /><br />In my early days of old movie lovin' I frequently would watch 3-5 films in a weekend, with a few vintage TV shows thrown in for good measure. The movie binge normally began around 7 o'clock and didn't let up until 3:00 or sometimes even 4:00 the next morning. Now, at 17, I feel much older and wiser. I'm rarely up past 1:00. ;D<br /><br />I really do enjoy reading your blog...it's so much more sane than my own! I'm not much of a writer, and it definitely shows.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-509497574816685109.post-87830570189168869462010-10-22T16:27:01.634-04:002010-10-22T16:27:01.634-04:00I believe I was fourteen when my parents got me a ...I believe I was fourteen when my parents got me a 15" B&W TV (second-hand, natch') for my bedroom. Before that I was only allowed to set up with them in the livingroom and only until 11:30pm or so on a Friday or Saturday night. As you can imagine, there wasn't much horror film watching.<br /><br />Once I got my own set, all bets were off. Saturday night was CHILLER theatre (with the six-fingered hand rising from the swamp), where I was introduced to lots of amazing horror/suspense films. One of the other local stations generally ran gangster/crime films on Friday night, and i loved them almost as much.Steve Chaputhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05125192472002278757noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-509497574816685109.post-41699421667179245002010-10-22T11:37:02.087-04:002010-10-22T11:37:02.087-04:00Please welcome our newest "...Easily Distract...Please welcome our newest "...Easily Distracted" Followers: Andrew Duvall, a.k.a. 1001MovieMan, and Emm, a.k.a. AudreyObsession (the Audrey in question being Hepburn -- Emm, you have excellent taste!). Thanks for joining our cinematic sewing circle! :-)DorianTBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01357778472575080022noreply@blogger.com