On Area Movie Screens – Nov. 4, 1953

November's starting to wind down, so I'll close out the week with a peek at what was showing on Lorain area movie screens back in 1953. The page above is from the Lorain Journal of November 4, 1953.

I watch a lot of GRIT TV, the channel that shows almost exclusively Westerns, so the ad that leaps out at me is the one for Devil's Canyon (1953), showing at the Ohio Theater. It stars Virginia Mayo and Dale Robertson, a favorite of mine since I watch Tales of Wells Fargo on GRIT every day. Also appearing in the movie is screen bad guy/thug Stephen McNally. 

It's not surprising that the ad should leap out, since the movie was showing in 3-D on the Ohio's "New Curved Wide Screen."

The movie starts out as a conventional Western, but Dale Robertson's good-guy character gets sent up the river on some trumped-up charges and the film becomes a prison flick. Grizzled Arthur Hunnicutt is there for some comedy relief. 

This posed promotional photo for the movie is pretty hilarious. Dale Robertson looks like he just took a cold shower (which might be appropriate since lovely Virginia Mayo is the only female on the grounds of the all-male prison). Virginia Mayo is actually the moll, but comes around to the good guy's side by the end of the movie, which features a massive prison break attempt, thwarted by Dale Robertson's character wielding a Gatling gun.

Anyway, it's a pretty good movie that shows up on GRIT quite regularly.

Next on my hit parade is Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, showing at the Avon Lake Theater. Here's the trailer and poster for the movie.

I remember watching this on Saturday afternoon on one of the Cleveland UHF channels. While it wasn't as good as the movie in which the comedy duo met Frankenstein and the Wolfman, it was pretty scary as well as funny. 

I still remember the ending decades later. Dr. Jekyll has been vanquished, and all the loose ends are tied up – until some of the Scotland Yard constables turn into Mr. Hydes too (after being bitten) and chase Abbott and Costello off for a closing gag.

What about some of the other theaters?

The Tivoli had A Perilous Journey, starring Vera Ralston, David Brian and Scott Brady (no relation); the Tower Drive-in (on then-State Route 57) had Silver City, and The Golden Hawk with Rhonda Fleming and Sterling Hayden; the Palace had Sabre Jet and Shoot First!

Shoot First is interesting because the British spy thriller stars Joel McCrea, star of so many great Westerns, in his only postwar non-Western role.

Hey, you can watch the movie right here and now! So pour yourself another bowl of Golden Crisp and enjoy the day after Thanksgiving!

Dr. Silkini's Asylum of Horrors at the Palace – October 22, 1953

We'll close out the week here on the blog with an ad for Dr. Silkini's Asylum of Horrors stage show, which was appearing at the Palace Theatre back around Halloween 1953. The ad above appeared in the Lorain Journal on October 22, 1953.

For many years, Dr. Silkini's "Asylum of Horrors" made an annual stop in Lorain in October, and consequently has appeared on this blog before. The 1957 edition of the show that came to Lorain had a ad similar to the above. And my blog post about the 1959 Lorain show included a capsule history of the whole phenomenon, with clippings from various newspapers spanning the early 1940s to the 1960s.

Other live (or undead?) horror stage shows visited Lorain over the years as well, including this February 1957 one with Dracula and "the materialization of James Dean."

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It's interesting how every generation has its own horror icons.

When I was a kid, the sight of a stiff-legged, kill-crazy Frankenstein Monster lumbering with arms outstretched was still the very definition of horror, along with the Wolf Man and the Mummy. I guess Universal Studios had done a good job keeping these guys in the public eye (even issuing those Aurora models).

As I recently reminisced with my older brother, we first saw the movie Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein on one of our family camping trips Out West. Whatever city we were camping in was showing it on TV late one night, and we all stayed up late to see it. 

I still remember how scary it was near the end of the movie. Dracula had been planning to transplant Costello's brain into the Frankenstein Monster, and both of them were strapped to hospital beds in the laboratory, in preparation for the operation.

The scene where Abbott is rescuing his partner by frantically untying him from the gurney, with the Monster at the same time angrily bursting through his straps only a few feet away, still gives me goosebumps.

Here's the trailer for this classic movie. If you've never seen it, you're missing a great movie – probably Abbott and Costello's best.

Frontier Week & On Area Movie Screens – July 1963

Sixty years ago this month, the city of Amherst was enjoying the second year of its annual Frontier Week celebration. Above is the page from the July 29, 1963 Journal with the story.

As it notes, "An estimated crowd of 5,000 persons turned out Saturday for the first day's festivities of Frontier Week which featured a 1 1/2 hour parade.

"The evening's attractions were two free-fall parachute jumps held at Memorial Field.

The festivities planned for that day included a Western sports act with knives and cracking whips by the Oklahoma Kids, as well as a rock-and-roll street dance.

As I noted back on this post (which highlighted the inaugural celebration), the last Frontier Week was celebrated in 1966. It's too bad, because it looked like a fun concept. 

Elsewhere on that same Journal page: an ad for the Al G. Kelly and Miller Bros. Circus (whose appearance was spotlighted on this blog post); the Radio Program listings for W-WIZ 1380 KC (the same radio frequency for today's WDLW Kool Kat station); a small ad for A&W Root Beer on W. Erie in Lorain; and the usual movie ads.

The movie listings seem to be in the summer doldrums, with such ho-hum fare as Walt Disney's Moon Pilot. But at least there was the classic musical Bye Bye Birdie. (Did you know that the name of the Conrad Birdie character in that movie was based on music legend Conway Twitty, who at that time was a rock and roll artist?)

Here's the trailer. It's funny seeing Ann-Margaret so young and cute.

I had forgotten that the wonderful and very hummable tune, "Put on a Happy Face," came from that movie. Hey, I like Janet Leigh as a brunette!

It's so nice that the great Dick Van Dyke is still alive and doing well at 97 years old. Ann-Margaret is still around as well, so there are two good reasons to put on a happy face.

One interesting thing about the movie Bye Bye Birdie is that apparently there was a Hanna-Barbara connection somewhere in the making of it; I think it's because Columbia Pictures sponsored their cartoon studio in its early days. Anyway, in the scene where young Ann-Margaret is in her bedroom making her bed, you can see plastic figures of Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble in the background! There's also a stuffed Cindy Bear (Yogi Bear's girlfriend).

We had those same Fred and Barney figures when I was a kid! (Remember, we were big Flintstones fans.) They were about a foot tall and hollow. I remember looking in the hole in the back of them and studying the inside of each of them. It was like looking inside a hollow tree.

We had Betty Rubble too, because I remember that she was leaning on a tree stump or something. But I'm not sure if I noticed at the age of 3 or 4 just how off-model they all were!

Speaking of Betty Rubble, she was probably the reason I've always favored brunettes.

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There's also a neat little triple feature at the Lorain Drive-in. All three movies have a 'bride' theme: Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954), Brides of Dracula and The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock (1959). That last movie is an odd one, a solo effort by comedian Lou Costello without his longtime partner Bud Abbott. Sadly, Costello passed away shortly after finishing the movie.

What was playing at the Palace on Feb. 3, 1957?

Why, it was none other than Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in Dance With Me, Henry (1956), the very last feature film they made together as a team before they broke up. It opened at the Palace in Lorain on February 3, 1957 – fifty seven years ago today – as part of a double feature with Emergency Hospital (1956).

Dance With Me, Henry was a fairly sentimental affair. Costello plays the owner of a small kiddie amusement park, and Abbott plays his partner. The duo gets mixed up with some gangsters due to Abbott's gambling debts, and this jeopardizes Costello's custody of two orphan children. Of course, the movie has a happy ending, and it's a pleasant swan song for the popular team.

The title of the film – "Dance With Me, Henry" – was originally a rhythm and blues hit that later was a pop hit, spending three weeks at the top of the Most Played In Juke Boxes chart in 1955. The tune had nothing to do with the film, except for the fact that Costello's character was named Lou Henry.

I'm not sure why the movie ad unflatteringly shows Costello as a human balloon, as there are no corresponding comic hijinks in the film.

Here's a movie poster that gives you a better look at what's going on.

Here's another movie poster, this time without the "Costello as a balloon" theme.

As long as I'm at it, here's the movie poster for Emergency Hospital, the other half of the double feature which, like Dance With Me, Henry, was released by United Artists.

I hate to say it, but I was never a big Abbott & Costello fan – Laurel & Hardy were more my speed. (However, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) is a favorite of mine.)

I was actually exposed to the Abbott & Costello TV cartoons (made by Hanna-Barbera) before I ever saw one of their films. It was strange finding out that Bud Abbott voiced his own animated character!

As for their actual movies, I always thought that the characters that Bud Abbott played were needlessly mean and cruel to the hapless Costello. Abbott did get his comeuppance once in a while though, and he does in a few scenes in Dance With Me, Henry.

How good a movie was Dance With Me, Henry? Well, you can watch it right now, since someone kindly uploaded a good copy of it to YouTube. Hey, Abbott!