Granny Creech’s Radio Spot Crypt

Eekmail just in from Granny!

I was sitting at my little writing table the other night working away on Part Five of my series of giant monsters radio spots when I heard a knock on my door. Answering it, I saw my uncle Thaddeus standing there, a gleam in his sunken eyes set deep into his gaunt face.

“I have something for you,” he said with a sly grin . He held up a small sack, held tightly between his bony fingers.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Open it,” he said.

I quickly opened the sack and found two 7” vinyl records containing radio spots for Godzilla vs The Thing (1964) and King Kong Escapes (1967). I shrieked. “Where did you find these?”

“I found them in an antique shop over in Spooky Hollow,” he said. “I knew you would want them.”

I thanked him over and over again. I offered to pay him, but he declined.

“But, I will take a bottle of your brew,” he said.

Done! And with that, he left. I was thrilled, but I had work to do. My five-part series had now turned into a six-part series and there was a new Part Five to write. Godzilla vs The Thing! Ahh, what was “The Thing”? The one-sheet poster had a giant question mark with Godzilla, and the half-sheet depicted a tentacled beast which was censored in its entirety, being too horrible to see. What was it? The scary, horrible monster turned out to be….Mothra! What? Cute little (big) Mothra? Hmmm. Okay, it was a reworking of Toho’s Mothra vs Godzilla, but the gang at American International Pictures decided to take a different approach in their marketing campaign and played up the “what is it?” angle. But no matter: It was a fun movie with the usual good effects.

King Kong Escapes was equally fun with Haruo Nakajima portraying King Kong and Hiroshi Sekita playing Mechani-Kong and Gorosaurus. There are many similarities to the original King Kong (1933), and the effects and battles are especially good. The new King Kong suit was an improvement over the one used in King Kong vs Godzilla.

The radio spots for these two movies are excellent, with both playing up the spectacle of the conflicts. Exciting narrations with lots of sound effects add to the appeal of these spots. So sit back, get comfortable, and listen as the giant monsters attack! Let’s start with Godzilla vs. The Thing Radio Spots!

And here are the King Kong Escapes Radio Spots

Don’t touch that dial, this just in from Granny…

Greetings, my children…

Here’s a question for you: What’s better than one or two giant monsters in one movie? The answer? Eleven!!

Yesireebob, Toho really outdid itself when it released its all-out monster spectacle Destroy All Monsters in 1968. Developed as a kind of finale to the whole Godzilla series due to declining box office receipts, the producers thought, “Why not?” and decided to go out with a bang, and developed a story that would feature most of their famous giant monsters.

What a collection! The monsters featured include Godzilla, Anguirus, Rodan, Manda, Kumonga, Varan, Baragon, King Ghidorah, Minilla, Mothra, and Gorosaurus. The final battle of the good-guy monsters against King Ghidorah set at the base of Mount Fuji tasked the costumed performers and the wire-specialists to the hilt. It was spectacular and every monsterkid’s dream.

Aside from the giant monsters, the movie featured spaceships, flying saucers, female aliens, mind control, a moon base, and great miniature and special effects work. You all know my appreciation for Toho’s great miniature department, and the scene of Gorosaurus rising up from underneath the Arc de Triomphe in Paris is one of the best anywhere! The way the miniature breaks apart and topples amazes me every time I see it!
American International Pictures released only four radio spots for the American release and they are really good, although they only highlight four monsters, not the eleven fans get to eventually see. Each of the four destroys a city before teaming up against Tokyo and the radio spots reflect the excitement.

So, while you are listening, visualize the chaos and destruction, and let your battle-cry be, “DESTROY ALL MONSTERS!”

Destroy All Monsters 30 and 60 seconds radio spots!

Do you have any radio spots you would like to share? Contact Granny (Gary Fox) at [email protected].

REPTILICUS! “Like nothing you’ve ever seen before!”

Nope, that is not a comment about my kitchen after a round of cooking up some witch’s brew. But many people do say that very thing about the Danish movie Reptilicus: “I’ve never seen anything like that before!”

Reptilicus has always received a bad rap from monster movie fans ever since its release in 1962. From over acting to unnecessary comedic relief, to a phony-looking monster to poor special effects, the movie doesn’t fare too well on the popularity scale. And yet, it still has a certain charm about it, and most monsterkids are inclined to cut it some slack.

I called my grandson, Big Abner, and asked him if he knew about Reptilicus. He said he did, and I asked him what he thought was the best part of the movie.

“Ann Smyrner,” he said.

Hmmm. Boys will be boys, I guess.

Was the movie so bad? Well, the story itself was ok, it was just how it was presented that got it into trouble. The most criticism goes to the design of the marionette/puppet used to portray Reptilicus. Although the head was pretty good, the way it moved and flopped around was rather pitiful. The small wings and useless feet were also subjects of derision. No wonder the scene of Reptilicus flying was cut from the Danish version for the American release. Also, the added use of acid saliva that Reptilicus spewed at various times was not convincing.

Apart from a few process shots, some double exposures, and one obvious paste-up of a farmer being swallowed alive by Reptilicus, no grand visual effects were used. The Reptilicus model was always combined with realistic miniatures. The live-action scenes of the military firing on Reptilicus were well done, however.

If one can suspend disbelief just long enough to sit through the movie, it does prove to be somewhat entertaining. The visuals aren’t all that bad if one can overlook the shortcomings.

The radio spots are pretty good, using the same general pattern Konga used the year before. Paul Frees does an excellent job of selling the highpoints of the movie, although I still snicker when he says, “See …and you still won’t believe what you saw.” Hype or sarcasm? You be the judge. So, sit back, remember Ann Smyrner, and listen to Reptilicus!

Here are the 20, 30, and 60 seconds radio spots to terrorize you!

Do you have any radio spots you would like to share? Contact Granny (Gary Fox) at [email protected]. You can also read the comic book!

KONGA! Yep, I go ape every time I think of this movie!

It hadn’t been since 1933 when King Kong came out that the screen had exploded with such mighty fury and spectacle or so the posters exclaimed. The boys at American International Pictures went all out in hyping this movie, creating awesome poster art and an over-the-top marketing campaign. Speaking of posters, the 40×60 inches (ZC Note: also known as the bus stop or subway poster) is spectacular. In fact, seeing that particular poster in the snack bar lobby of the Parkway Drive-in was what caused my nephew, Crazy Gary, to start collecting movie posters.

Although not nearly as good and awe inspiring as King Kong or Mighty Joe Young,  Konga does  have its moments.  The split-screen visual effects are good, the miniatures are excellent, the music exciting, and the performances adequate. Michael Gough (pronounced “Goff”), as Dr. Charles Decker, is his usual maniacal driven self.

The movie is interesting, although rather slow-paced to begin with. It isn’t until Konga is injected with a super dose of  growth serum and bursts out of Decker’s house that the movie really takes off. His walk through the streets of London with Decker in hand is really impressive.  I especially like actor Paul Stockman’s eye movements as the giant Konga.

The radio spots, released on a 7-inch, 45 rpm record, are interesting and full of excitement, although they paint a more stupendous picture than the movie actually delivers. But, no matter: The last fifteen minutes provide enough “fury and spectacle” to make for an enjoyable experience. So, enough monkeying around: Listen to Konga!

Konga 20, 30, and 60 second spots from Granny C.

See the pressbook!
Do you have any radio spots you would like to share? Contact Granny (Gary Fox) at [email protected].

The monsters are coming!

No, it’s not Halloween already, although if you hung around my house long enough you would think so, with all the creepy and scary-looking relatives of mine who just drop in whenever the spirits move them. But, the monsters ARE coming, or, more correctly, the GIANT monsters are coming.

This week’s offering begins a five-part series of spots featuring giant monsters on the attack. With one exception they all feature actors in costumes representing all sorts of creatures. I’ve always been a fan of these movies because of the awesome split-screen effects combining the monster with crowds running for their lives, and for the intricate models said monster usually destroys. How they made the miniature buildings crumble as realistically as they did has always amazed me.

This week I feature spots from Godzilla, King of the Monsters, a 1956 reworking of  Toho Studio’s Gojira, released in 1954. The American version features new scenes with Raymond Burr expertly inserted into the Japanese version and dubbed into English.  Both versions are interesting to watch.
Aside from the movies themselves, the one thing I always appreciated about these movies was the poster art: colorful scenes of destruction with the giant beast front and center.

…

Godzilla Movie Radio Spots!Read More »

Hello, lovers of old movie radio spots…

The Witchwood Cemetery had a rummage sale the other day to raise money to purchase additional land (people are just dying to get in there!). Anyways, I was just browsing the tables when I came across an old Dell movie comic for a film I hadn’t thought of in a long time. It was December, 1959, when 20th Century Fox offered something different to movie goers. Up until then, science fiction movies had been concentrating on things “out there” in the vastness of space: where we could go, or who – or what – could come to visit or invade us. So, it was a nice change to turn our vision inward as Fox released Jules Verne’s 1864 epic thriller, Journey to the Center of the Earth.

As I remember it was quite a cinematic adventure, with great special effects, grand sets and vistas, and what many call the most realistic use of  fin-backed lizards representing dinosaurs to be pictured on the screen. The music, by famed composer Bernard Herrmann, was awesome, too. Featuring a great cast, including James Mason, Arlene Dahl, teen heartthrob Pat Boone (minus his white bucks), Diane Baker, Peter Ronson, Thayer David (who can forget him in Dark Shadows?),  and Gertrude the duck,  moviegoers were believably transported to an underground world where sights hitherto unseen by man were presented. It was pure escapist adventure.

I went digging through my musty boxes and found the old record that was sent to theaters to promote the movie on the radio. The ten spots included here are excellent and capture the excitement of the film.

Are you ready…to don your spelunking gear and begin your Journey to the Center of the Earth?

…

Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959)
Movie Radio SpotsRead More »

“Two-and-a-half years in the making!” No, that is not how long it took me to come up with the recipe for my witch’s brew: it was a selling point for one of Universal International’s best-loved movies, This Island Earth. Completed in 1955, it was a science-fiction fan’s dream. It had everything: spaceships, strange-looking aliens, lots of scientific talk, an interplanetary communications device, a war-torn planet, “demolition rays”, spectacular special effects, and…a mu-TANT!  I bat-mailed my nephew, Crazy Gary (he works in the dead letter office over at the local post office), and asked if he had any thoughts on the movie. This is what I received back: …

This Island Earth Radio SpotsRead More »

Cough, Cough, ah-choo! Oh…Hello. Sniff, sniff…
You’ll have to excuse me. Old Granny has been doing some cleaning here in the Crypt and it’s a little dusty. I’ve been looking for some old radio spots and I think I’ve found them.
Yesindeedy! Over there beside cousin Jasper’s tomb and behind some old shelves, I found a stack of old Famous Monsters of Filmland and World Famous Creatures magazines, and under them I found some radio spots for the 1954 movie “Them!,” the first big bug movie. These go ‘way back. I remember hearing about this movie when I was a wee little thing: It was one of my dad’s favorite movies.  I really didn’t know what it was about…the title doesn’t give it away…and it wasn’t until I was older that I finally got to see it and understood what “them” was….or who “them” were…or who they were…or…

Anyway, here are the spots to Them!, a movie about GI-ANTS! Ahem, cough, sniff…

Them! Radio Spots: 15 seconds a, 15 seconds b, and 55 seconds to ant-tagonize your ears!

Do you have any radio spots you would like to share? Contact Granny (Gary Fox) at [email protected]. 

Greetings, kiddies. I was just sitting here in my old rickety rocking chair, basking in the light of the full moon coming through my bedroom window, when I heard a knock on my front door.
Opening the door I found my neighbor, Harry Talbot, standing there, panting frantically.

“Granny,” he said, “Do you have a razor I can borrow? I need to shave my face before I go out tonight.”

“Why’d gillette it grow out so much? I asked.

He said he’d been busy, but tonight he was off to have a howling good time on the town.  I snickered to myself. Most of the ladies I knew thought him to be just another old wolf, so I doubted he’d have much success with any of them.

“Just a minute,” I said.

I rummaged through some of Uncle Edgar’s old things and came up with an old straight razor. I gave it to Harry. He thanked me and bounded away to enjoy whatever adventures he could find.
I returned to the comfort of my old rocker and thought about this week’s radio spots. Hmmm. Well, last time I did spots about vampires and the undead, so this time I should feature spots about werewolves. Great idea! …

Howl With Some Werewolf Movie Radio SpotsRead More »

Well, it’s 2024 and we’re off to a flying start, as Dracula would say.

2023 was a fantastic year…lots of new friends (some dead, some alive), lots of new radio spots, and the start of Granny Creech’s Radio Spot Crypt. Many thanks go out to Zombos Closet for making this old woman very happy, and for making her dream come true. I’m having a blast, and 2024 already promises to be even greater as many new things are on the horizon for both Zombos and Granny’s Crypt, so stay tuned!

I was just looking over my collection of spots and realized I still have a few “singles” left…individual spots for movies rather than the complete marketing package of three or more per title. So, I thought I’d include them here, linked together under the ‘vampire’ category. The first is Horror of Dracula followed by a combo spot for Horror of Dracula and The Thing That Couldn’t Die. Third is a spot for 1960’s Brides of Dracula, and, lastly, a spot for Curse of the Undead. I hope you enjoy them. It was a real pain in the neck to round them up, but there was a lot at stake, so I feel it was worth it. You can count on me to deliver the best, make no bats about it! (Hee Hee) Until next time….

Horror of Dracula and The Thing That Couldn’t Die!

Do you have any radio spots you would like to share? Contact Granny at [email protected].