Comedian/impressionist George Kirby had a beautiful voice - you'd have to in order to be able to imitate Ella Fitzgerald's singing voice perfectly. In 1965 he recorded a straight soul tune for Chicago's Chess Records. Here it is - and please ignore the dumb visuals the YouTuber has accompanying the fine tune.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Friday, October 31, 2008
The House on Haunted Hill starring Vincent Price (1959)
Probably the best movie available in the public domain for Halloween viewing.
Studio One: The Night America Trembled (1957)
Edward R. Murrow revisits the bedlam that ensued the evening The Mercury Theater's War of the Worlds aired. See if you can spot the youthful but familiar faces of Ed Asner, Warren Beatty, Warren Oates and John Astin.
The Mercury Theatre: Dracula starring Orson Welles (1938)
Radio stations around the world tonight will be re-running the perennial classic War of the Worlds, but we prefer to break with the tradition and play an episode of the same program that is probably even more appropriate for Halloween.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
The Jack Benny Show: Halloween Episode (1948)
Listen to Jack Benny go trick or treating on the Lucky Strikes program here.
The Hideous Sun Demon (1959)
Another excellent sci-fi drive-in flick to get you in the mood for All Hallows' Eve.
The Adventures of Archie Andrews: Hallloween Episode (1948)
Yes, it's time for your "weekly visit to Riverdale." This is the Halloween episode of the fifteen minute radio program based on Archie Comics starring the young Bob Hastings as Archie. This episode originally aired sixty years ago today.
Listen to Archie, Jughead, Betty and Veronica celebrate Halloween.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
The Fred Allen Show with guest Boris Karloff (October 18th, 1945)
Listen to this hilarious Halloween edition of The Fred Allen Show here.
The Raven starring Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff (1935)
This is one of the best of the classic Universal horrors as far as I am concerned and you can download this whole movie. The option should appear by waving your cursor over the video after you have pressed play. If not you can go here.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
The Woody Woodpecker Halloween Special featuring Daws Butler (1964)
For more great Halloween related animation visit Classic Television Showbiz's sister site, The Saturday Morning Blog.
The Cyclops starring Lon Chaney Jr and Gloria Talbott (1957)
Just in time for Halloween here is one of schlockmeister Bert I. Gordon's lesser viewed films. I wrote extensively about the master of shitty films (and his radio comedian namesake) over here.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Carnival of Souls (1962)
Classic Television Showbiz will be celebrating Halloween in a serious way for the next four days and nights with lots of campy horror films, late late show movie hosts, spooky novelty records, Halloween themed episodes of old sitcoms, variety shows featuring Boris Karloff and Old Time Radio shows featuring either a Halloween theme or a ghoulish guest star. Stay tuned, the site will be packed full of goodies and treats.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Bull! - Tim Conway and Ernie Anderson LP (1966)
I attempted to upload this album last year but encountered audio problems with the mixer. Here it is in corrected, stereophonic glory. Ernie Anderson's voice is instantly recognizable as the voice of ABC and he is beloved by many for his stint as horror movie host Ghoulardi - a character who will be making a couple appearances in this spot in time for Halloween. Tim Conway's voice is instantly recognizable as Tim Conway.
Listen to the whole album - Bull!