The towering presence, the distinct voice, and a maniacal laugh like no other…Vincent Price was the consumate master of terror and one of a small cadre of actors best known for the mark they made on the horror genre (Peter Lorre, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Boris Karloff, Basil Rathbone and Bela Lugosi being the others). I don’t remember exactly when I saw my first Vincent Price movie as a child but I do remember that the experience changed my attitude about my middle name…Vincent…from one of dislike to one of pride. In rediscovering the films of Vincent Price as an adult, thanks in large part to the excellent MGM Midnight Movies collection, I have become a huge fan.

Today marks the 12th anniversary of the death of Vincent Price. Price was born in St. Louis, Missouri in May of 1911 and died October 25th, 1993 of lung cancer. In honor of this anniversary I’d like to discuss a few of my favorite Vincent Price films, but first a little history. Despite his macabre legacy, Vincent Price did not begin his career as an actor.

Vincent Price actually began his creative pursuits in the art world. He obtained degrees in Art History and English at Yale University, taught school for a year, and then went to London to receive a Master of Fine Arts. While in London Price got a taste for the theatre and began performing small roles on stage. This eventually led Price to Broadway as the leading man in the production of Victoria Regina opposite Helen Hayes. Vincent Price’s knowledge of and love of art never left him. In 1951 he founded the Vincent Price Gallery at East Los Angeles College and in later years during the filming of various horror films overseas he was able to procure pieces throughout Europe.

In the late 1950’s Vincent Price began what became a steady stream of now classic horror films. His place as a master of the genre was firmly established by his 1960 role as Roderick Usher in Roger Corman’s interpretation of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher.

This was Corman’s first Poe film. It was shot in 15 days with a budget of $200,000- a much longer shooting schedule and more costly film than Corman was used to. Despite the tendency for many horror films of the day playing to limited audiences this film ended up being one of the top 5 box office hits of 1960. It is by far my favorite Vincent Price movie and the sense of dread and suspense hold up as well today as they did when the film was made. It led to other Corman/Price collaborations one of the best of which is their second film, The Pit and The Pendulum.

This great double feature disk set contains two fantastic Price flicks. The first, Comedy of Terrors, is a black comedy featuring four Masters of the Macabre: Price, Peter Lorre, Boris Karloff and Basil Rathbone. Vincent Price plays Waldo Trumbull. Together with his assistant (Peter Lorre) they have run Price’s father-in-law’s (Karloff) funeral home business into the ground. When their landlord (Rathbone) begins to hound them for payment the two set out to increase the need for their services the entrepreneurial way…by resorting to murder. The film showcases the marvelous comedic talent of all four actors. The Raven is based loosely on the tale by Edgar Allan Poe and stars Price, Lorre, and Karloff as wizards mixed up in a duel for magical supremacy. Both comical and suspenseful The Raven also stars a very young Jack Nicholson in one of his earliest film roles. Both films are great fun.

House on Haunted Hill is a William Castle directed film that employed many gimmicks that soon became common place in haunted house thrillers: blood dripping from the ceilings, severed heads, sudden skeletal appearances, eerie organ music. In this film Price is married to a greedy gold-digger who decides she wants a Halloween party for her friends. Price invites 5 guests, gives them each hand guns as party favors, and offers $10,000 to whoever will spend the night in his ‘haunted’ house. The movie is very tame by today’s standards but is enjoyable for not only the performance of Price but also the nostalgic look back at horror in a simpler age. One of the great things that theatres used to do in the past was employ gimmicks to scare audience goers. In the case of House on Haunted Hill the gimmick was Emergo…simply a skeleton on a guide wire that would emerge over viewers heads, appearing as if it came from the scream. While admittedly hokey sounding I imagine it would be quite a shock if you weren’t expecting it. (Another similar Castle gimmick was employed during the original theatrical run of Price’s film The Tingler, this time through the use of Percepto. Random seats were rigged with small motors that would come on during various scenes of the film giving the audience the perception that The Tingler was attacking them. I wish they did silly stuff like that today.)

Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine, produced in 1965, is one of the more fun films in Vincent Price’s carreer. A spoof on Price’s earlier horror films, spy thrillers, and the beach blanket movies this film also stars Frankie Avalon, Dwayne Hickman (Dobie Gillis) and the beautiful Susan Hart…along with a bevy of “sultry, bikini-clad sex sirens”. Dr. Goldfoot (Price) builds an army of female robots, dressed in bikini’s of course, who are programmed to seduce the world’s wealthiest men into signing over their fortunes. After quick marriages said men are then to meet an untimely demise, leaving their fortunes to their beautiful wives…thus securing them for Dr. Goldfoot’s nefarious purposes. This is a very funny movie not the least because of dialogue that had to be considered very racy for 1965. Though tame by today’s standards the sexual innuendos are quite funny. Watching this film you can see where the ideas for a great deal of the first Austin Powers film came from. There are great cameos in this film as well from stars of the day including a very funny one of Annette Funicello. Great fun, I highly recommend it.

There are so many other great Price films: The Bat, The Fly, House of Wax, Tales of Terror, Haunted Palace, The Last Man on Earth, The Abominable Dr. Phibes…the list goes on and on.
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Tim Burton’s first film is an homage to the great Vincent Price. As unlikely as it may seem Burton’s first job was working for Walt Disney. It will come as no surprise that he had difficulty fitting in and could not adjust to the Disney style of drawing. Burton was on the verge of leaving Disney when he was given the opportunity to make a six minute short film based on a children’s story he had written. The story was about a little boy, Vincent, who immersed himself in Edgar Allan Poe and wanted desperately to become Vincent Price. The story was given to Price in the hopes that he would narrate and he heartily agreed, saying afterwards that it “was the most gratifying thing that ever happened. It was immortality–better than a star on Hollywood Boulevard”. Once Price was onboard the film was greenlighted. Vincent was shot with the combination of 2-D animation and the 3-D stop motion animation that would later make Burton famous with the film The Nightmare Before Christmas. I have not been able to find a downloadable version of the film but it is available as an extra on the Nightmare Before Christmas DVD. It is wonderful and well worth watching. You can read more about it here, including the poem/story that Price narrates over the animation. (The torrent link is still active on that site. You have to go to www.bittorrent.com to download the software and then download the Vincent Torrent file. It takes awhile but once done you can view in as an .avi in Real Player)
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Vincent Price was a terrific actor whose legacy goes far beyond his fantastic horror films. His art gallery and donations of art collections to various other galleries live on as memories of his artistic talent. And somewhere in the archives are episodes of a regular cooking show that Price hosted later in life…something I didn’t even know about until I started researching this post. I enjoy all the great masters of classic horror but have always held Price to be the best. Vincent, today you are remembered.

Halloween tradition is not complete without an annual viewing of the 1966 Melendez/Schultz classic It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Linus Van Pelt’s yearly vigil to his sincere pumpkin patch in hopes of a visit from the Great Pumpkin has been a part of my Halloween consciousness as far back as I can remember. In those days yearly specials like this had to be planned for in advance because they were shown one time on television and one time only…if you missed it you were out of luck until next year! My parents were very generous in that they always allowed us to watch these annual shows despite the fact that they most likely wanted to be watching something else. There are many Peanuts animated specials but this one and the Christmas one are by far the best. Every year I enjoy watching Charlie Brown get rock after rock as he trick or treats with the gang. It is said that when the special first aired kids felt so sorry for Charlie Brown that they actually sent in candy for him. Snoopy battles the Red Baron, Linus waxes eloquent about his pumpkin theology, and poor Sally learns a hard lesson about sacrifice for the sake of love. It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown can be viewed the old-fashioned way, on television, tomorrow night at 7 p.m. central time on your local ABC station.
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Roald Dahl, author of such great children’s classics as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, and Matida is also a well-known writer of adult short stories of mystery and suspense. This collection of tales are actually stories from other authors that were hand-picked by Dahl. In 1958 Dahl teamed up with a Hollywood producer to work on an idea of doing a weekly television series based on classic short ghost stories. To that end Dahl read 749 stories from the British Museum Library. Dahl had very high standards in regards to the literary quality of these tales and out of those stories he only found 24 that he believes are good ghost stories. The series did not work out (there is an interesting story in the introduction explaining what happened) and years later Roald Dahl gathered together 14 of these stories in book form. This book is one of the best examples of old-timey ghost stories that I have ever read. These are stories written to thrill and chill at a time when it would have been unheard of to write tales filled with blood and gore. These tales are all about atmosphere and suspense and the dread of things that go bump in the night written by classic authors such as Rosemary Timperley, E.F. Benson, A.M. Burrage, J. Sheridan le Fanu, Edith Wharton and others. These stories are all easy, quick reads that would appeal to anyone. Great for cold, dark nights.
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It had been years since I had seen Tim Burton’s interpretation of Washington Irving’s classic tale The Legend of Sleepy Hollow so, courtesy of Netflix, I sat down and watched it this weekend. I had forgotten how thoroughly enjoyable this film is. Burton sat out to make a movie that was part Grimm’s fairy tale and part classic horror reminiscent of films he had seen as a child. As I sat watching this I realized that this is the movie that Brothers Grimm could have been had either Burton directed it or had Gilliam had the freedom that Burton enjoys to make the film he wanted to make. Sleepy Hollow is a much more well rounded film than Brothers Grimm. In it Burton balances the elements of horror, fairy tale, adventure, romance, and humor in such a way that it is truly a complete film…one element does not outweigh the other. In watching the film and the ‘making of’ featurette I was struck by how many tongue-in-cheek elements there are in the film that are indeed comical but do not make the film feel cheesy or campy.

The film has all the trappings of a typical Burton film, dark and whimsical. The flashback scenes showing Ichabod Crane’s mother (played by Burton’s love interest at the time Lisa Marie) were beautifully rendered and added moments of lush color in an otherwise dark and eerie film. The ensemble cast in this film is excellent and I especially enjoy Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci. Burton seems to be able to pull the most unusual and amazing performances from Depp. This film is a great homage to those classic Vincent Price/Christopher Lee horror films without making fun of them. The ‘making of’ featurette mentioned earlier was terrific. I was amazed to learn that they made the entire forest on a sound stage. It is the best example of a creepy, forbidden wood that I’ve seen in any film. I particularly like Burton’s design for the Tree of the Dead which plays a pivotal role in the film.

While I was watching the film I found myself thinking that the Headless Horseman’s fighting moves looked awfully familiar. In watching the behind the scenes features it turns out that they chose to use a stunt man with a blue screen mask on so that they could maintain the body proportions while filming. The stunt man they chose was Ray Parks, who went on years later to become famous for his portrayal of Darth Maul in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Much of his Darth Maul fighting style can be seen in his interpretation of the Headless Horseman. Sleepy Hollow is more Burton goodness that makes for great autumn viewing.

Have a wonderful Monday everyone…one more week to All Hallow’s Eve!!!

That was the scene in the bottom of the 7th inning when, down 2-1, Houston Astro Lance Berkman launched a 3-run-homer off Chris Carpenter to put the ‘Stros up 4-2. It was the top of the 9th inning. Minute Maid Park was rocking. With former President George Bush and his wife Barbara looking on from just behind home plate David Eckstein stepped up to the plate with 2 outs. Soon he had 2 strikes against him and the Astros were one strike away from going to their first World Series in franchise history.

But Eckstein got a base hit. He then stole second. Then Brad Lidge, phenom pitcher, walked Jim Edmonds. With 2 men on and 2 outs Albert Pujols stepped to the plate. Pujols is admittedly one of the best hitters in baseball but he had been ineffective all series long. He had stranded runners on base in this very game. He swung and missed the first pitch but the second pitch that Lidge lobbed over the plate had home-run written all over it and Pujols rocketed the ball way above the upper deck of the stadium. It was incredible! I literally cried out “no way!” which brought my wife scrambling out of the next room to see what had occurred.

As much as I love October playoff baseball I have to admit that 90% of the games thus far have been somewhat disappointing affairs. This game made up for that and more…it was the kind of thing you only see in movies. And so the Cardinals kept themselves alive to return to St. Louis to play game 6. They are still down 3-2 and are one loss away from the end of the season. Even if they lose I appreciate the performance given tonight! That game truly was October baseball at its best.
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Have you been checking out the full moon the last few nights? Here in KC it has been incredible. Two nights ago there were thin patches of cottonball-like clouds rolling past the moon giving a nice eerie effect. Last night the sky was clear and the moon was amazingly bright. I took a back road home from my part time job and observed lots of low fog over the fields. With the full moon overhead it made for a perfect October atmosphere. I expected to see werewolves running across the fields in search of hapless victims.

If you’ve looked in the eastern sky just as it gets dark this month or if you have been looking at the ever-growing moon these past few days you may have noticed how close and how bright Mars is. It looks like a very large, bright star that is following the moon very closely across the night sky. When the moon isn’t so full you can notice a slightly redish tint with the naked eye. I looked at it with the telescope the other day and though it doesn’t magnify it much it does show it as a perfectly round disk, like the full moon but much smaller. This is the closest Mars has come to earth in 50,000 years and will be at its closest on October 29th. Check it out in your night sky, its pretty cool. With a bigger telescope you just might be able to see the Martians getting ready to attack.

I have always been fascinated by the promotional art and the concept of Alfred Hitchcock’s movie The Birds but had never seen it. This was rectified Saturday evening as we gave it a viewing for our spooky family night.

The Birds tells the story of Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedron) who is a wealthy socialite and practical joker. While in a pet store she meets Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor) shopping for lovebirds for his sister’s birthday. Brenner eventually admits to having some involvement in a court case regarding one of Ms. Daniels’ practical jokes. On a whim she decides to drive from San Francisco to the small coastal town of Bodega Bay to bring Mitch these lovebirds. Soon after arrival she is attacked by a seagull, the first of many inexplicable bird attacks on the unsuspecting townspeople.

If you have ever seen a Hitchcock film than you know he is a master of the medium in so many ways. Despite the fact that The Birds was released in 1963, the film does not have a dated look to it. The color palette, lighting, costuming etc. looks so good that it could easily be mistaken for a movie filmed today made specifically to pay homage to that nostalgic time period. The bird attack special effects are incredible, especially considering when they were done. The Collector’s Edition DVD has a long ‘making-of’ piece that includes recently filmed interviews with the main actors/actresses and others involved with the film. It shows in detail how they filmed the bird sequences, where live birds were used, etc. and it is fascinating.

Tippi Hedren was a model whom Hitchcock had seen in a commercial and he picked her specifically to play the role of Melanie Daniels. She was absolutely stunning and did a marvelous job. It was fun to see a ‘classic’ film with an actress that I had never watched before.

(click both actress pics to see an additional image)

Suzanne Pleshette played the role of Annie Hayworth, a school teacher who still held a torch for Mitch Brenner. Her smoldering looks and rich, deep voice was a far cry from her comedic acting on The Bob Newhart Show. The film also stars the veteran actress Jessica Tandy as Mitch Brenner’s mother and Veronica Cartwright as his sister.

The Birds is loosely based on a short story by Daphne du Maurier (Rebecca) and real life accounts of bird attacks that Hitchcock had read about. The sense of foreboding in The Birds builds slowly and deliberately, creating the right amount of tension to keep you in suspense as to what is going to happen. It is very well done and I highly recommend it.
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Prior to the Chiefs game yesterday we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and take a walk. While out walking I suddenly saw something in the air that just didn’t seem right. It was a B-2 Stealth Bomber, flying low over our neighborhood.

It was quite an amazing sight to say the least. Mary mentioned that it looked like something out of a Batman film. I guessed correctly that it was out for a pre-game fly over at Arrowhead Stadium.
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Target stores have a wonderful, artistic Halloween theme this year. Here are a few examples of the look of their displays:

I purchased a few more Halloween decorations there this weekend including a candy dish that looks like Itsy Bitsy. The legs are metal and bend down like spider legs, suspending Itsy’s body for you to put candy, etc in. They have some great, kid-friendly stuff there so check it out.
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Lastly I’d like to publicly thank my wife, Mary, for a delicious Sunday dinner of turkey legs, stuffing and green bean casserole! It was terrific and I get to take leftovers for lunch today…yay!!!

Happy Monday!

I’m so thankful it is Friday!

(cover image of Oct. 2005 Living magazine)

If you are in the mood to decorate for the season and are out of ideas or if you just need a little inspirational kick in the pants look no further than beloved ex-con Martha Stewart. Her Martha Stewart Living magazine and her website are both filled with wonderful Halloween ideas. I discovered these last year and loved them and rushed right out to by the October 2005 issue as soon as it hit the shelves. There is a special Halloween section on her site that is full of family-friendly, relatively easy tips, tricks and decorating ideas. There are downloadable templates for carving pumpkins, spooky candy and drink labels, and a host of other ideas to get your home in shape for the season. I especially enjoy the different ideas regarding pumpkin carving. Here is an example of a haunted village:

I also want to try doing something like this with pumpkins/gourds this year:

It involves gouging a pattern in them without completely breaking through the skin. I’m sure it is not as easy as it looks but I love the effect.
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As you might remember from this post awhile back, Lisa Snellings-Clark is an artist I respect and whose work is very inspiring. For a little short story to get you into the creepy spirit I point you to Part 1 and Part 2 of Lisa Snellings-Clark’s story Little Death. It won’t take you long to read but is worth the effort.
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Last night I babysat for James and Jules’ four daughters so they could celebrate their anniversary (check it out, funny pictures…or scary, depending on your affection for the late 80’s, early 90’s!). Jules made her delicious homemade chicken noodle soup and apple crisp. It was wonderful. Their youngest, 2, repeatedly informed me that there were “bugs” in her soup. Every little grain of seasoning was apparantley a bug. Despite efforts to convince her otherwise she continued to matter-of-factly inform me that there were bugs in her soup. Consequently she dined mostly on crackers. I share this only because it was funny and seems fitting for the season.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!