The Costumed Youth of The Dartman Part 1

When I was a kid, Halloween costume shopping consisted of going to the local Caldor store and walking through the Halloween section until you found the aisle with all of the costume boxes. Back then, costumes were made by three different companies: Ben Cooper, Collegeville and Halco. These costume boxes consisted of a vinyl smock that you would tie around your body and a plastic mask that had a rubberband to wrap around your face. When you walked, the vinyl smock would make sounds so loud you could hear them a mile away, and your face would sweat from the mask that you couldn't help but stick your tongue through the breathing hole at your mouth. Plus, with the mask on, all sounds you heard sounded like you were in a tin can and your voice seemed to be amplified to you but to no one else. The themes of the outfits were usually TV and movie characters but there were also generic ones like a witch or a ghost or somehting else. If you got to the store too late in the season you would have to settle for what was left that hadn't been picked over (more on that topic later). The first costume that I can remember owning was Casper.

As you can see from the picture, the smock would feature a scene invloving the characters rather than an actual look-a-like outfit. As I was too young to actually remember wearing this particular outfit, I do remember owning the mask and wearing it for a few years after the initial halloween purchase. More to come on these great costumes of the past!

Halloween With The Nelsons!

Continuing with our countdown to Halloween, here is an episode of The Ozzie And Harriet Radio show. The show is entitled, "Haunted House" and you can guess what the plot line is. Anyway, here it is for you now as an mp3 file! Enjoy!

Ozzie and Harriet-Haunted House

October Is Upon Us!

Today is October 1 and that means we have 30 days until Halloween!! To do the just service of counting down the days until the spooktakular event, I will post nothing but spooky, fun Halloween-esque like posts all month long. Of course there will be my Funtastic Halloween Mix for this year but that will come soon enough. Today I thought we would start out with some monsters! The Sesame Street Monsters to be exact! This album haunted me for years. Not because I was scared by it or anything (it is a Sesame Street record!) but because I couldn't have it. When I was a kid in grade school, every so often they would have a book fair in the library. They would have all sorts of cool things besides books. I remember they had magazines and records as well. Every year, the Sesame Street Monsters record would be there to buy and every year I would want it. However, I was under strict rules from my father that I could only buy books at the book fair and not records (even as a child I couldn't keep away from records!) As the years went by I forgot all about this album. And then I saw it in a thrift store one day and the memories came rushing back. Suprisingly, it was in excellent condition. So naturally I bought it and of course had to share it with you! Let's start the scary month of October off with "Sesame Street Monsters"! Enjoy!

Sesame Street Monsters

Singles Collection: Celebrity Edition - Episode 9

Last night was a big night for all of us on the Avenue Q tour. In the audience were none other than Christpher Guest and Eugene Levy! After the show they came backstage and said Hi and we got the above picture taken with them. I got to talk to them a little and told them how much of an honor it was to meet Nigel Tufnel and one half of the Schmenge Brothers! Eugne Levy was tickled by the comment and thanked me and then they left and we all sat around and quoted their films for hours. Anyway, it brings me to todays post. Back in the mid 80s, SNL was not doing so well. But there were a few bright moments. One of them featured Christpher Guest and Billy Crystal as two nightwatchmen who would go on and on about how things hurt them and then they would always say "I hate when that happens." This skit became so big that they even recorded it with backing music for Crystal's album, "Marvelous". Here is the single version for you now. Enjoy!

Billy Crystal & Christopher Guest-I Hate When That Happens

Super 8 Theater Presents: Abbot and Costello

Here's a great silent 8mm castle films reel of Abbot and Costello in "Have Badge Will Chase". Though not from my collection it is still pretty cool! Enjoy!

Steve Austin Gets Active!

I'm in LA right now and everywhere I look I see an advertisement for the new Bionic Woman. I've already seen the first episode and I really didn't think it was that great. But that's just my opinion. I'm hoping that with all of the hype for the new series that the official US DVD release of the original Six Million Dollar Man finally sees the light of day. In the meantime, you can listen to the first Power Records version of the show here! That's what I am offering you today. This album has been in my collection since I got it as a kid when it was first released back in the 70s! I can quote almost every line from the album and the cover alone is worth its weight in gold! Here it is for you now! Enjoy!

The Six Million Dollar Man(Power Records)

Time For Timer!

Return of TV Themes!!!

Sorry about the lack of posts this past week. My computer was having issues and where I am currently staying (I'm on the road with the National Tour of Avenue Q) I can't get a decent signal. Thus my on-line time last week was entirely at the mac store where I was limited to what I could do. Anyway, I return to the land of blogging with not one but two posts in the same veign as my last two!
First up is a cool record I found at a thrift store around the corner from my house. There is no artist or group name on it. In fact, I'm not really sure what the title of the album is. I guess you could call it "New Original TV Themes". Either way it focus' on three shows: "The Green Hornet", Tarzan" and "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." It features the themes to all three shows and each show gets two original songs complete with sound effects and cheese! All in all, a keeper! Enjoy!

Original TV Themes

Part two of my posting today is yet another TV Theme Song Album. This time around it's the fabulous Harmonicats doing their rendition of "The Avengers" theme. This album rocks! (and the cover's pretty hot too!)
In addition to the "Avengers Theme", the harmonicats take on "Peter Gunn" as well as movie themes such as "Born Free", "Georgy Girl" and "The Pink Panther". This one is sure to please! Enjoy and I promise to keep up on the posts as I am able! Thanks.

Jerry Murad's Harmonicats-Great Themes From TV and Motion Pictures