The MovieNauts

So I found myself involved in a YouTube Channel called the MovieNauts (linked below), I discovered I have not blogged about it yet, and thought I should really let people know I am involved in this by now. We discuss some of our favorite cult movies on the channel, which presents new episodes once a month.

Gary Hill invited me to join the monthly broadcast on YouTube over a year ago. I was not sure how this would go at first, or how I would fit in, but I think we've worked our way into a groove at this point. He works with independent filmmakers and has appeared in a few. He also works on a lot of the behind-the-scenes technical aspects of the show. So, on the show he covers a lot of the newest independent films, sometimes from people he knows, and other times movies he admires.

Ron Fuchs created the show. It's his baby, really. He came up with the idea for the show and has a few others similar to it, like ProgNaut, which discusses music. He tends to cover a wide array of cult films, and is especially knowledgeable of slashers of the 1970s to the 1990s on the show.

As Classic Camp, I mainly like to discuss the old cult movies, of course, but we each branch off into each other's territory from time to time. I've covered a lot of my favorite Poverty Row films of the 1930s to the 1950s, Bela Lugosi, Paul Naschy films, and plenty of kaiju films.

Anyway, linked below is the channel, so check it out. Each show runs a little over an hour, so sit tight, and watch, or let it play in the background while you work around the house of something. We're closing in on two years of episodes. We also respond to comments, so feel free to comment or suggest films we should discuss in future episodes.

 (7) The MovieNauts - YouTube

Black Figures in Classic Horror Films

This blog post came from a series of posts I made a few years ago on my Facebook group, Classic Camp's Classic Horror Emporium. Being February is African American history month, I thought it would be a good time to honor some of the pioneers in the history of horror movies. I understand there are not a lot of Black people in Classic horror cinema, but in some ways, that makes honoring those who did appear that much more important.

Duane Jones, the star of Night of the Living Dead, was one of the first Black people to star in a role that did that did not specifically call for a Black actor. In fact, he was a last minute replacement for a white actor who left the role. All the racist subtext with his interactions with the character Harry Cooper was entirely unintentional.

But Duane Jones was more than just an actor. He was also an English professor at New York State University, where he also directed plays at their Maguire Theater on Old Westbury campus. Although he is best remembered for his starring role in the previously mentioned George A. Romero Classic, he appeared in other horror films such as Ganja & Hess, Vampires, To Die For, and Fright House, with none other than Grandpa Munster himself, Al Lewis. Jones suffered an untimely death due to heart failure at the age of 51.

No movie or role is more iconic, in my opinion, than William Marshall in Blacula. Don't let that silly title or obvious blaxsploitation era film fool you, this is actually a really good film by any measuring stick, and mostly because of Marshall's iconic performance. It would redefine jump scares for the next 20 years.

This led him to a sequel, Scream, Bacula, Scream, and several other horror roles throughout his career. His deep, booming voice made him a great choice. One of my favorites was when he played The Grim Reaper in an episode of Benson, when Benson has a near death experience. Fans may also recognize Marshall as The King of Cartoons on Pee Wee's Playhouse.

Next up in famous African Americans in Classic horror films is Mantan Moreland! He was a comedian best known for his bug-eyed reactions to anything scary happening on screen. Yes, I am aware that this is a reaction that is outdated and perhaps even offensive today, but he also would have the best funny lines and his delivery was legitimately funny. His most famous role was the recurring part of playing Charlie Chan's driver, Birmingham Brown, but he also had parts in two zombie comedies, Revenge of the Zombies and King of the Zombies, as well as appearing in A-Hanting We Will Go with Laurel and Hardy, and in the serious horror film, Spider Baby in the 1960s.

It is also interesting to note that his comedy at least cracked barriers if it did not break them. He was almost chosen to replace Shemp in the Three Stooges after Shemp passed away, but they decided to go with Joe Besser instead. While I loved Besser in The Abbott & Costello Show, I think most will agree he never really fit in with the Stooges. Would Moreland have done any better? I have a hard time thinking he could have done any worse, but only our imaginations can answer that for sure.

The next Black History Month Classic horror figure is Ernest Morrison (sometimes known as "Sunshine" Ernest Morrison), who is probably best remembered for his part as Scruno in many of the East Side Kids comedies. This includes two horror comedies, Spooks Run Wild and Ghosts on the Loose, both featuring Bela Lugosi. The group most prominently featured Leo Gorcey and Hunts Hall and changed names several times during their very long run. Although Morrison only appeared in the East Side Kids version of the gang, they also went by the names Dead End Kids, Little Tough Guys, and the Bowery Boys. However, Morrison also appeared without the gang in a serious horror movie, The Ape Man, also featuring Bela Lugosi.

Morrison began his career as a child actor in the early silent version of the Our Gang comedies. He also appeared in a number of other silent comedies alongside such early comedy giants as Harold Lloyd and Snub Pollard. His child roles go all the way back to 1916 when he was only 4 years old, so it could certainly be argued he did break racial barriers.

The next African American history month honoree in Classic horror cinema is none other than the legendary Pam Grier. Although Grier is best known for roles in Blaxsploitation action flicks such as Coffy and Foxy Brown, she also had prominent roles in the previously mentioned Scream, Blacula, Scream, as well as the Ray Bradbury adaptation Something Wicked This Way Comes, as well as The Twilight People, an episode of Monsters, and a personal favorite, Mars Attacks.

One thing to admire about her roles is that she's no scream queen, but a real badass! As Grier once said and is printed in my copy of the book Fast and Furious: The Story of American International Pictures, "I took the parts no other Hollywood actress would because they didn't want to be demeaned or mess up their nails. If I held out for those sweet, pretty, demure roles I'd still be waiting."

Some may resent AIP's jump into the Blaxsploitation market, but when AIP was confronted by the Coalition Against Blaxsploitation, vice president Richard Zimbert noted the money his company threw at Black businesses. "We've got Black publicists. We've got Black people all around the country. We advertise in Black media. Blacula had an all Black cast, a Black director."

The next Black History Month honoree in Classic horror film is the first African American to ever win any Oscar, Hattie McDaniel. Forgive me if this one is a little bit of a stretch, but if finding Black people in Classic films is difficult, and finding Black people in Classic horror films is even harder, finding Black women in Classic horror films is nearly impossible. But McDaniel was a phenomenal entertainer in American history, who was rarely able to display her full potential. Although she was usually relegated to the typical roles available to Black actors during her era, which were most often maids, butlers, and other servants, she was often able to provide a little extra depth to those characters that few of her contemporaries were capable of. Her abilities to achieve this are best exemplified in the film that won her the Academy Award for best supporting role in Gone With the Wind, and it would be about 25 years before another African American would win another Oscar (Sidney Poitier for best actor in Lillies in the Field in 1964 if you're wondering). McDaniel also appeared in a number of all Black cast musicals where she could really display her talents for not only acting, but also singing and dancing.

So what was her contribution to Classic horror cinema? She appeared alongside Bela Lugosi (who's name keeps coming up in this series) in Murder by Television (which is technically more of a mystery / thriller) in 1935. The photo above is a screenshot of Hattie McDaniel in that film where she plays a cook.

The next Black History Month honoree is an unsung hero of the legendary 1933 King Kong, Noble Johnson! He earned billing for his role as the witch doctor in that Classic film, and he even returned to appear in the sequel, Son of Kong, but his Classic horror movie appearances don't stop there. He also returned to Skull Island (well actually, he returned to the Skull Island movie sets, complete with the giant log) for another personal favorite, The Most Dangerous Game as well as its remake A Game of Death, and he had notable appearances alongside Boris Karloff in The Mummy and Murders in the Rue Morgue with Bela Lugosi. Finally he also appeared in the comedy / horrors The Ghost Breakers with Bob Hope, and Mummy's Boys with the comedy team Wheeler & Woolsey.

But Noble Johnson's career goes further than just playing natives. He was a pioneer of what today are termed "race films," movies specifically for Black audiences with all Black casts played at Black theaters in Black neighborhoods from the 1920s to the 1950s.

In a strange case of synchronicity, Noble Johnson was childhood friends with horror legend Lon Chaney (Sr.), and they even rekindled their friendship in Hollywood, even though they never made a film together. Johnson lived a very long life. Although he stopped making movies in 1950, he lived well into his 90s and died in 1978.

Speaking of King Kong, the next Black History Month honoree is notably from the 1976 King Kong remake, Julius Harris. Although I like to remember him for his portrayal of Boan in Kong, the only survivor of the famous giant log scene, I chose a photo of him as Tee Hee a bond villain from the Live and Let Die, because he's probably more recognizable from that film. Yet, his horror credits go beyond these two roles. He had a major role in Shrunken Heads alongside Meg Foster, and had smaller roles in Grave Secrets: The Legacy of Hilltop Drive, and Darkman. He also appeared in episodes of the genre television shows Friday the 13th, the Series, The Incredible Hulk, Amazing Stories, and Eerie, Indiana. Additionally, he appeared in several mystery television shows including the Hardy Boys / Nancy Drew Mysteries, Murder, She Wrote, Hart to Hart, Kojak, Jake and the Fat Man, and Dragnet (1990).

According to the IMDb, he began his acting career on a dare. He was working as a bouncer in a New York night club where many actors used to go, and he was challenged to try out for a part in Nothing But a Man, and he got it! He then appeared in quite a few Blaxsploitation films, including Super Fly, Shaft's Big Score, The Godfather of Harlem, and Hell Up in Harlem. He continued taking parts well into the 1990s and passed away in 2004.

Another Black History Month honoree is most famous in Classic horror cinema for his role of Hallorann in The Shining, Scatman Crothers! The Scatman had a unique look and voice that made him instantly recognizable in anything he appeared in. A few other genre films he appeared in include the hagsploitation flick Lady in a Cage starring Olivia de Havilland , Twilight Zone: The Movie, Deadly Eyes, and if I can count it as horror One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (well, it's at least horror adjacent, anyway). He also had early genre television appearances in Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Climax! as well as Kolchak the Night Stalker, Bewitched, and voice work in The New Scooby Doo Movies and Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo. He actually did a lot of voice work in animation and he is often remembered as the voice of Hong Kong Phooey. But he is probably most famous for his part as Meadowlark Lemon in the Harlem Globetrotters.

Scatman's real name was Benjamin Sherman Crothers, and he was born in Terre Haute, Indiana. He was also a songwriter, singer, and musician, making him a full entertainer. And here's a bit of trivia; he was born the year Halley's Comet came to Earth (1910) and died the year it returned (1986), a recognition he shares with Mark Twain, but with different appearances of Halley's Comet.

Another Black History Month honoree in Classic horror cinema is a little more modern - Tony Todd. Best known as the title character in the Candyman film series, Todd also had a real breakout when he played Ben in the Night of the Living Dead 1990 remake, but his notable horror credits don't even end there! He also appeared in Vampire in Vegas, Hatchet, Dead of Night, and a 2006 version of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde where he plays the title role. And just how far have we advanced in racial relations when when a Black actor can play that title role?

But wait, there's more! Todd also had appearances in numerous horror television shows, including a late 80s television series of Werewolf, X-Files, Master's of Horror, and he even did voice work for What's New Scooby Doo where he voiced a gargoyle. Then there's the work he did in science fiction and fantasy series, such as several variations of the Star Trek television series, Hercules, and Xena, Warrior Princess, and we finally have someone who can rival some of the Classic genre actors.

Additionally, he did a lot of work on the stage as well, including playing Othello, and that can be great training. Just one more notable horror credit would be in 2016 when he played in an audio drama version of Dracula, again as the title character. Todd has since passed away, but he was taking parts in horror movies and other genres up to the very end.

For the last few Black History Month honorees in Classic horror cinema, I thought I would honor at least a few people behind the camera, starting with a true pioneer in Black cinema, Oscar Micheaux. Long before the Blaxsploitation craze of the 1970s introduced the world to characters like Shaft, Super Fly, and Foxy Brown, and actors like Fred "The Hammer" Williamson, Jim Brown, and Jim Kelly, there was writer, producer, and director Oscar Micheaux, making films for primarily Black audiences who attended Black theaters in Black neighborhoods as far back as the 1920s and 30s. These were pretty far off Hollywood films with pitifully low budgets, but they often took on Black issues of the day like the KKK and being falsely accused of murdering white women.

Micheaux started out as a writer in South Dakota, writing novels and selling them to his white neighbors door to door. Eventually, he decided to make films of some of these stories and things bloomed from there. He made a total of around 40 movies, but sadly, many of these are lost to the sands of time. 

At least a few of them can be categorized as horror films! One whose description particularly caught my eye was A Son of Satan, where a man is challenged to stay the night in a haunted house. Although lost, The Conjure Woman is also bound to have supernatural elements. A few other titles that are eye catching to a Classic horror film fan include The Devil's Disciple, Black Magic, and Phantom of Kenwood.

Although his films are termed "race films" today, any study in film history (including horror film history) should include some notation about Oscar Micheaux.

My last Black History Month honoree in Classic horror cinema I am honoring the director of Blacula, William Crain. Throughout this series I talked a bit about blaxsploitation films of the 1970s and race films of the 1920s and 30s, but it should be noted that although these films gave work to Black actors and were pioneers in creating movies specifically for Black audiences, more often that not, the people behind the cameras, directors, producers, etc., in both cases, were white. People like Oscar Micheaux and William Crain were actually anomalies even in these genres.

Crain only has 10 directing credits to his name on the IMDb, but two of them are horror movies, the aforementioned Blacula, and The Watts Monster, which is also known as Dr. Black and Mr. Hyde. A few other non-horror directing credits under his name include episodes of several famous television shows, including The Duke of Hazzard, Mod Squad, Starsky and Hutch, and Designing Women. Another notable credit is that he was assistant director of the film Brother John starring Sidney Poitier.

There was an excellent interview with William Crain on the Without Your Head podcast, which can be found here.

I hope you enjoyed my look at Black contributors to Classic horror films, and if there is anyone you feel I may have overlooked, please feel free to note them in the comments.

King Kong vs. Godzilla (1963)

 

I thought it might be good to occasionally use this blog to discuss some of my favorite topics, such as Classic movies and Classic rock music as well as the usual writing and publishing. These topics bring the blog back to some of the origins of the name Classic Camp. So today, I thought I would blog about one of my all time favorite movies, King Kong vs. Godzilla (1963) and the first time I had the opportunity to see this movie. Some sources might place that film at 1962 because that was the year of the original Japanese release, but because I have not seen the Japanese version (but I would love to) and this is mainly about the American version of the film, I place it in its American release date of 1963.

This film always had an aura about it for me. I mean, how could it not? The two biggest and baddest monsters of all time duking it out on screen. I had seen photos of the movie in several books about horror movies, which were my first introduction to the genre. I wanted to see so badly, but it seemed to only come on cable, and my family did not have cable yet. I asked friends and relatives to record it on their VCRs for me when it came on cable, but it never seemed to work out. We didn't have our own VCR yet, so I would have to see at their place.

Finally, in the spring of 1984, when I was 11 years old, my family got cable. I used to the check the TV schedule every week to see when some of my favorite movies that I had never seen were going to come on, like the 1933 King Kong or the one for this blog. At last I saw it there on the schedule, in black and white. King Kong vs. Godzilla was coming on WGN channel 9 in Chicago, but at 4 o'clock in the morning on a Saturday night. I contemplated if I should even attempt to see it, but decided I just had to. I would not tell my parents I was going to do this.

I slept on the couch that night, which was not unusual for me then since I used to stay up late watching all the great television, such as Night Flight on USA network, which introduced me to many Poverty Row Horror movies. I set an alarm next to the couch and set it for a few minutes before 4 am so I could wake up and see the movie. I stayed up until around 2 or 3 am, as I usually did, watching late night movies. But when my head hit the pillow, I could not sleep a wink. I was too excited to see the greatest movie battle of all time. So I just laid there for over an hour until my alarm went off. I stopped the alarm instantly so my parents would not wake up and tell me to get back to sleep, or worse yet, make me go to bed in my own room.

So I got up and turned on the television, but kept the volume down low, again so I would not wake up the parents. Because it was so low, I had to sit about two feet from the screen. And I stayed up for the whole thing. My heart was pounding so hard, I never even felt sleepy. I don't think it's much of an exaggeration to say I lived for that moment.

At 6 am the movie ended. The sun was starting to glow over Lake Erie, the first time I stayed up until the sun started to show. I went to bed, but even then I still found it hard to sleep. I figured I would sleep until noon or later since I stayed up so late, but I wound up waking up around 10 or 11 am to the sight of my mom sitting in the living room reading the Sunday morning paper. I told my mother I stayed up to watch the movie, and she actually said that was fine, like she knew I would be doing this at some point after we got cable.

After that, I caught that movie every chance I could, and found it often came on WOR Channel 9 in New York, which has since gone defunct. When we finally got a VCR around 1989, one of the first VHS tapes I purchased was, of course, King Kong vs. Godzilla, and I used to watch it about once a week for the first few months after I got it. Then I slowed down to about once a month. I'm surprised the tape did not grow worn out. In fact, the DVD version of that film I own today is still a transfer of that old VHS copy I purchased so long ago. And I still watch that film about once a year to this day. I would say it is the movie I've watched more times than any other in my entire life.

I assume most monster kids have similar stories about a movie they were forbidden to watch, either because of the content or the time it came on. But don't those make the best memories? Don't they make those movies the most special? There is something about the forbiddeness of horror movies and horror stories that make them that much more special. Feel free to share any of your own similar stories and memories in the comments.

My First Horror Writers Association Virginia Chapter Event

There are perks to membership. I have lately been blogging about some of those perks here. And recently, I have another story about just great this type of membership is.

Recently, I was able to participate in my first event with the Horror Writers Association Virginia Chapter, which was Unhappy Hour at the Edgar Allan Poe Museum in Richmond. It was a lot of fun. I was able to finally meet some fellow HWA members face-to-face who live in the area (or at least in the same state).

I also participated in my first public reading. It was a fellow member's piece, but it was lesson worth learning; from now on I will bring at least one piece to read just in case the opportunity arises. But at least I was able to provide a little publicity for a fellow member.

I was able to slip away for a quick tour of the museum, which I hadn't seen in about 15 years or more.

Oh yes, did I mention there were free drinks for HWA members?

We had a booth to sign up new potential members. Members with books to sell were able to do so.

I handed out a few business cards to maintain publicity for my current non-fiction project, Frankspoitation.

Oh yes, and drinks, I did mention the free drinks didn't I?

Anyway, here are some photos from the event.

Throwing Shit Against the Wall

I am from a blue-collar town in Pennsylvania, Erie to be exact. For whatever reason, everything up there relates back to various excrements and the crotch. We don't say a business went belly up, we say it went "tits-up." If an idea didn't work out, we say it "shit the bed." It's just part of the colorful way we talk.

So when we're trying all sorts of things to be successful, sometimes we'll say we're just "throwing shit against the wall to see what sticks." For some time now, I've been doing just that, and FINALLY, I have a few things that have stuck. Mind you, most of these things I was working on all summer in the hopes of drumming up some business during my slow time of the year as adjunct faculty. But then when things began to come in, it really began to pour.

First off, I spent part of my summer shopping my resume and a few clippings around to a few of the newspapers in the area to try and drum up business, keep busy, and bring in a few extra dollars. Well, they finally got back to me as soon as classes started again. I'll still work in a few articles into my busy schedule. I feel it is important for a writing teacher to continue writing for an audience anyway. And getting paid for it is always better than not.

Then the poem I sold at the beginning of summer is finally published in Teach. Write. Here it is. I seem to have a regular place to publish some of my more literary works since this is the second time they published my work. I have a personal essay I worked on over the summer that still needs some work, but when I do send it out, I will likely send it to them first. I like the publication a lot, and I think the piece is a good fit for them anyway. Their homepage is here.

Third, and most importantly, I just won the Horror Writers Association Rocky Wood Memorial Scholarship for Non-Fiction Writing for a non-fiction book idea I have on the history of Frankenstein in film. This is actually a really big deal. They split the award between myself and another writer, Joseph Maddrey, who seems like a real heavyweight, having published eight books and written and produced over 50 hours of documentary television. It's a tremendous honor just to be named in the same breath with someone with these kinds of accomplishments.

I'm sure I'll post much more about this scholarship and the project in the coming weeks and months. In the meantime, since winning this scholarship, I've received two more rejection letters in my email, but somehow, they don't seem so bad now.

I am a Monster Kid, and What That Means

I grew up a monster kid. I'm not exactly sure what that even means, but it's a label being used a lot these days. There is even a quick guide to help determine if you, too are a monster kid on this blog.

To the best of my knowledge it simply means I loved monsters when I was a little kid growing up. According to many articles, I'm in good company. There is an entire magazine dedicated to monster kids. According to one source, the term was not coined until 1995 by someone on the internet. Forrest J. Ackerman can certainly count himself as one of the original monster kids. In modern times, Guillermo del Toro can certainly count himself as a monster kid. Certainly, Author Ray Bradbury, and Moviemaker Ray Harryhausen are counted as other famous monster kids.

To my understanding, a monster kid is simply anyone who grew up watching and loving monster movies. One of my earliest memories of my love for monster movies was when the 1976 version of King Kong was first released on television in a two night event, and my grandfather encouraged me to sit with him and watch it when he was babysitting me. I was immediately hooked on King Kong.

It's sometimes funny how one small event in your childhood can have such a large role in developing who you become later in life. It makes one wonder if, for instance, I would have grown an interest in monster movies anyway, or if this event was the cause of it all.

Anyway, after that, I was in the library with my mother one day when I found the Ian Thorne Monsters series of books on Kong, Godzilla, Frankenstein, Dracula, and all the rest of the great monsters. I read them all several times. Every time I went to the library, either public or at school, I would check out one of these books, or another one similar on monster movies, how to make them, the actors who played in them, or anything else on the topic. Then one day in the third grade, I found the novelization of King Kong by Delos Lovelace, and it became the first real book I read.

Like most monster kids, I then found a hosted horror movie show in my area. It was The Late Great Horror Show on WJET-TV channel 24 in Erie, Pa. Here I finally found some of the most famous horror monsters such as The Mummy's Curse, Frankenstein, and what became my favorite, Godzilla!

A few years later, we got cable. This opened up a whole new world of television to my developing young mind. Included in that world was certainly the world of monsters, particularly those on WWOR channel 9 in New York on Thanksgiving Day and the Friday afterward. But I could still never catch the 1933 version of King Kong, nor could I catch another favorite of mine, King Kong vs. Godzilla. Then one night, King Kong vs. Godzilla was scheduled to come on the other cable channel 9, WGN in Chicago. I snuck up, and watched it in the middle of the night. Finally, a brand new cable channel came out called American Movie Classics, and they aired the original Kong and Son of Kong.

At the beginning of each week, I used to (and still do quite often, actually) check the television schedule to see what monster movies were coming on that week. Then my whole week was scheduled around the movies that would air. This was just before my family got a VCR. When we did, Godzilla, King of the Monsters on another hosted horror movie show, Super Scary Saturday on WTBS, hosted by Grandpa Munster, was one of the first thing I recorded, and King Kong on AMC (back when American Movie Classics actually showed classic American movies) was soon after.

Fast forward a few more years, and I was in my early twenties. I had rediscovered a lot of those famous monster movies, such as Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, Dracula, The Wolf Man, and all the other Universal horror monster movies.

But by this time I was looking for something a little bit more. I wanted to discover the original stories that these movies came from. One day I borrowed The Time Machine by H.G. Wells and read it in one day. This made me thirsty for the other original horror and sci-fi monster stories. I got a copy of Dracula by Bram Stoker, and this became my all time favorite novel, and shortly after Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. At this point I was hooked for life. There's no turning back now.

As an adult, I now have become a collector of action figures, which are pictured throughout this article. I'm sure there are many other Monster Kids out there. I hope this lends a little light on what that means.