Speaking of vampires, this: Skeletons treated for vampirism found in Bulgaria. Well, now.
I also watched The Big Night (1960), a teen exploitation/JD flick. Nothing much to report here since it wasn't very good. The baddie was played by Dick Contino, who, when he wasn't contributing a general atmosphere of mild Italianate menace in a low budget film was letting his fingers fly across the keyboard of his Stomach Steinway. He also sang. The Video Vault guy and I agreed that there is no such thing as a good Dick Contino film. By the way, the portly fellow with the cigar at the bar in the "Rock Candy Baby" singing clip is Bruno VeSota. His presence in a film is another sure indication that nobody in it will be accepting any Academy Awards.
It's hard to believe, but Dick Contino played "Lady of Spain" more than forty times on the Ed Sullivan Show. Contino is still alive and still performs, so who has the last laugh? Topo Gigio, a homosexual mouse. I hated that act, especially when he requested a goodnight kiss from "Meester Sullivan." Sickening.
Ed Sullivan's speciality was to give his audience something of everything. Dick Contino was there for the folks who mistook the accordion for a musical instrument, the Beatles, the Mamas and the Papas and other such acts were there for teens, and we kids got...
Another show from the 1960's my parents liked but which left me cold was Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, which was principally known for its usual plot. Every week an older guy, the Walt Disneyesque-looking Marlin Perkins, sent a younger guy, Jim Fowler, into situations where maiming or death by wild animals was a possibility. Why? Because they wanted to move anacondas around or something - I was never sure and didn't care. Week in, week out, it never varied. (There was once a Wild Kingdom comic book where this is described quite well and humorously.)
I also got a kick out of the inevitable tortured ad segues spoken by Perkins: "Just as the grizzly must fend for itself in the wild and ensure the safety of its cubs, so must you. Mutual of Omaha offers life insurance which..." or "Life for the Canadian Bull Moose can be difficult and fraught with danger. So can life for us. Mutual of Omaha has plans that can..." Geez.
My bachelor week rolls on. I did a load of laundry last night, whites. Got them sparkling thanks to a gallon and a half of liquid beach added to the wash. (Just kidding, Cari.) In the bedroom my wife's decorative pillows still sit on the floor where they were tossed a week ago.
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