Monday, September 5, 2011

Marvel Superheroes Sparkle Paints


I had these! I got them at Twin Fair in Covington, Kentucky wile shopping with my mother one Sunday afternoon in '66! I particularly remember the Daredevil one!

Kreskin's ESP

I had this one. The Amazing Kreskin was (and is) a magician...of a sort. He eschewed the very concepts of trances and hypnotism even as he practiced what seemed a very entertaining version of same. He hosted several TV series including a very popular syndicated one in the seventies. This was a sort of rip-off of a OUIJA Board without the negative publicity.

Sunday, September 4, 2011


Pop culture wasn't ALL good in 1966. There was some that, in fact, was so BAD...that it turned out good. MANOS: THE HANDS OF FATE was an ineptly made regional horror film of the type often found being marketed direct-to-DVD today. It had no known actors and even the local guy who played the "monster" character committed suicide before the film's premiere!

That said, it was rediscovered as a cult classic on a now-famous episode of MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 in 1993! For much more info, check out the movie's Wikipedia page!

Saturday, September 3, 2011

The Rolling Stones- Have You Seen Your Mother Baby (Standing in the Shadows)?



One of the first promotional films (i.e.: videos) of the British Invasion, this was the first such for The Rolling Stones and came out in '66. It's also one of my favorite of their songs during this period (although I much prefer the album edit to what we hear here).

On Broadway # 3


ALFIE was an adult comedy play about an inveterate womanizer. The lead was played onstage by actor Terrence Stamp, himself known for his relationships with famous women of the day.

Stamp passed on taking the role to film and his then-roommate Michael Caine got his big break because of it.

Stamp is perhaps best known today for his later roles as the iconic General Zod in the first two Christopher Reeve Superman movies and his the transexual Bernadette in THE ADVENTURES OF PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT.

Friday, September 2, 2011

Way... Way Out

Slightly more adult-oriented than normal, the 1966 Jerry Lewis film
WAY...WAY OUT is nonetheless a silly comedy in which Jerry and Commie Stevens are the first American astronauts of different sexes to go to the moon. Personally, I've always found this funnier than most of the actor's sixties films and it led to me calling Jerry my favorite movie star for much of that period.

B movie veteran Gordon Douglas directs and Jerry practically plays it straight, leaving much of the funniest humor to others including Dick Shawn and Robert Morley. Of particular note are Dennis Weaver and Howie Morris as two astronauts who have been up in space a little too long.

Underneath all of the sci-fi silliness is sex as the Russians and the Americans both experiment with the concepts that it would entail on the moon and ultimately end up in a race to have the first space baby.

A catch theme sung by Jerry's son, pop star Gary Lewis, is a real earworm. The top-notch cast is rounded out with veterans such as Brian Keith, Anita Ekberg, Sig Rumann, Milton Frome, Alex D'Arcy and Fritz Feld as well as studio contract players Linda Harrison (later Nova in the Apes films) and James Brolin (later married to Barbra Streisand and father of Josh Brolin after a long and successful acting career).