The ANNOTATED "Science Fiction/Double Feature"

<body stylesrc="SFDF_full.htm" bgcolor="#3030C0" text="#FFFFFF" link="#FF2020" vlink="#008000">  <p align="center"><font size="5">The ANNOTATED "</font> <font size="5" face="Monotype Corsiva">Science Fiction/Double Feature</font> <font size="5">"<br> </font></p> <hr> <p>Lyric by Richard O'Brien, Copyright © 1974, Druidcrest Music <br> </p> <table border="0" width="100%"> <tr> <td>Notes by <a href="mailto:JamesCurran@CIS.CompuServe.COM">James M. Curran,</a> Copyright © 1995 </td> <td>Some links by <a href="mailto:bakslash@ix.netcom.com">Arthur Levesque</a> </td> </tr> </table> <p><img src="../images/note.gif" alt="note " width="15" height="15"> Icons jump to commentary within this document. <u>Underlined Words</u> jump to pages elsewhere on the Web. </p> <hr> <p align="center"><a name="back01"><font size="5"><i></i></font></a><font size="5"><i> </i></font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Rennie,%20Michael"><font size="5"><i>Michael Rennie</i></font></a><font size="5"><i> was ill </i></font></p> <p align="center"><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/title-exact?Day%20the%20Earth%20Stood%20Still"><font size="5"><i>The Day the Earth Stood Still</i></font></a><font size="5"><i> </i></font></p> <p align="center"><font size="5"><i>But he told us </i></font><a href="http://www.aft.org/wws/ww11036.htm"><font size="5"><i>where we stand. </i></font></a><a href="#note1"><font size="5"><i><img src="../images/note.gif" alt="note" width="15" height="15" href="#note1"></i></font></a><font size="5"><i> <br> </i></font></p> <p align="center"><font size="5"><i>And </i></font><a href="http://grove.ufl.edu/~rico/gordon.html"><font size="5"><i>Flash Gordon</i></font></a><font size="5"><i> was there </i></font></p> <p align="center"><a href="http://www.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Companies/Apparel/Lingerie/"><font size="5"><i>in silver underwear.</i></font></a><font size="5"><i> </i></font><a href="#note2"><font size="5"><i><img src="../images/note.gif" alt="note" width="15" height="15" href="#note1"></i></font></a><font size="5"><i> <br> </i></font></p> <p align="center"><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Rains,%20Claude"><font size="5"><i>Claude Rains</i></font></a><font size="5"><i> was </i></font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/title-exact?Invisible%20Man,%20The%20(1933)"><font size="5"><i>The Invisible Man</i></font></a><font size="5"><i>. </i></font><a href="#note3"><font size="5"><i><img src="../images/note.gif" alt="note" width="15" height="15" href="#note1"></i></font></a><font size="5"><i> <br> </i></font></p> <p align="center"><a name="back02"><font size="5"><i></i></font></a><font size="5"><i>Then something went </i></font><a href="http://www.vnet.net/cause/rush.html"><font size="5"><i>wrong...</i></font></a><font size="5"><i> </i></font></p> <p align="center"><font size="5"><i>For </i></font><a href="http://www.idis.com/shill/fwray.htm"><font size="5"><i>Fay Wray</i></font></a><font size="5"><i> and </i></font><a href="http://www.ssi.sony.com/SSI/Film/KingKong/kong.html"><font size="5"><i>King Kong</i></font></a><font size="5"><i> - </i></font><a href="#note4"><font size="5"><i><img src="../images/note.gif" alt="note" width="15" height="15" href="#note1"></i></font></a><font size="5"><i> </i></font></p> <p align="center"><font size="5"><i>They got caught in a </i></font><a href="http://www.spe.sony.com/Pictures/SonyClassics/celluloid/"><font size="5"><i>celluloid jam.</i></font></a><font size="5"><i> </i></font></p> <p align="center"><font size="5"><i>Then at a </i></font><a href="http://www.pace.edu/athletics/sportscal.html"><font size="5"><i>deadly pace </i></font></a><a href="#note5"><font size="5"><i><img src="../images/note.gif" alt="note" width="15" height="15" href="#note1"></i></font></a><font size="5"><i> </i></font></p> <p align="center"><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/title-exact?title=It+Came+From+Outer+Space"><font size="5"><i>It Came from Outer Space</i></font></a><font size="5"><i>. </i></font><a href="#note6"><font size="5"><i><img src="../images/note.gif" alt="note" width="15" height="15" href="#note1"></i></font></a><font size="5"><i> </i></font></p> <p align="center"><a href="#note5a"><font size="5"><i>And this is how the message ran:</i></font></a><font size="5"><i> <br> </i></font></p> <p align="center"><font size="2">(chorus) </font></p> <p align="center"><a name="back03"><font size="5"><i></i></font></a><font size="5"><i> Science Fiction - Double Feature </i></font></p> <p align="center"><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/title-exact?title=Doctor+X"><font size="5"><i>Doctor X </i></font></a><font size="5"><i>will build a creature. </i></font><a href="#note7"><font size="5"><i><img src="../images/note.gif" alt="note" width="15" height="15" href="#note1"></i></font></a><font size="5"><i> </i></font></p> <p align="center"><font size="5"><i>See </i></font><a href="http://wwww.hotwired.com/twain/95/42/reviews/android.html"><font size="5"><i>androids </i></font></a><font size="5"><i>fighting Brad and Janet. </i></font><a href="#note8"><font size="5"><i><img src="../images/note.gif" alt="note" width="15" height="15" href="#note1"></i></font></a><font size="5"><i> </i></font></p> <p align="center"><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Francis,%20Ann"><font size="5"><i>Anne Francis</i></font></a><font size="5"><i> stars in </i></font><a href="http://www.tizeta.it/home/duo/fbhome.htm"><font size="5"><i>Forbidden Planet</i></font></a><font size="5"><i>. </i></font><a href="#note9"><font size="5"><i><img src="../images/note.gif" alt="note" width="15" height="15" href="#note1"></i></font></a><font size="5"><i> </i></font><br> <br> </p> <p align="center"><a name="back04"><font size="5"><i>ah-ha ha-ho</i></font></a><font size="5"><i> </i></font></p> <p align="center"><font size="5"><i>At the late-night double-feature picture show . <br> </i></font></p> <p align="center"><font size="5"><i>I know </i></font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/person-exact?Carroll,%20Leo%20G"><font size="5"><i>Leo G. Carroll</i></font></a><font size="5"><i> </i></font></p> <p align="center"><font size="5"><i>Was over a </i></font><a href="http://www.cooperage.com/"><font size="5"><i>barrel</i></font></a><font size="5"><i> </i></font></p> <p align="center"><font size="5"><i>When </i></font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/title-exact?title=Tarantula"><font size="5"><i>Tarantula</i></font></a><font size="5"><i> took to the hills. </i></font><a href="#note10"><font size="5"><i><img src="../images/note.gif" alt="note" width="15" height="15"></i></font></a><font size="5"><i> </i></font><br> </p> <p align="center"><font size="5"><i>And I </i></font><a href="http://www.hh.nl/"><font size="5"><i>really got hot</i></font></a><font size="5"><i> </i></font></p> <p align="center"><font size="5"><i>When I saw </i></font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/person-exact?Scott,%20Janette"><font size="5"><i>Janette Scott</i></font></a><font size="5"><i> </i></font></p> <p align="center"><font size="5"><i>Fight a </i></font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/title-exact?title=Day+of+the+Triffids,+The"><font size="5"><i>Triffid</i></font></a><font size="5"><i> that that spits </i></font><a href="http://chppm-www.apgea.army.mil/ento/PLANT.HTM"><font size="5"><i>poison </i></font></a><font size="5"><i>and kills. </i></font><a href="#note11"><font size="5"><i><img src="../images/note.gif" alt="note" width="15" height="15"></i></font></a><font size="5"><i> </i></font><br> <br> </p> <p align="center"><a name="back05"></a> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Andrews,%20Dana"><font size="5"><i>Dana Andrews</i></font></a><font size="5"><i> said </i></font><a href="http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~mjw/recipes/dessert/apple-prune-cobbler.html"><font size="5"><i>Prunes</i></font></a><font size="5"><i> </i></font></p> <p align="center"><font size="5"><i>Gave him the </i></font><a href="http://pages.icacomp.com/~runesmith/runes/runes.html"><font size="5"><i>runes</i></font></a><font size="5"><i> </i></font></p> <p align="center"><a href="http://people.unt.edu/~rwk0001/serve1.html"><font size="5"><i>And passing them used lots of skills.</i></font></a><font size="5"><i> </i></font><a href="#note12"><font size="5"><i><img src="../images/note.gif" alt="note" width="15" height="15"></i></font></a><font size="5"><i> </i></font><br> </p> <p align="center"><font size="5"><i>And </i></font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/title-exact?title=When+Worlds+Collide"><font size="5"><i>When Worlds Collide</i></font></a><font size="5"><i> </i></font></p> <p align="center"><font size="5"><i>Said </i></font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/person-exact?Pal,%20George"><font size="5"><i>George Pal</i></font></a><font size="5"><i> to his </i></font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/Movies/couples.html"><font size="5"><i>bride</i></font></a><font size="5"><i> </i></font></p> <p align="center"><font size="5"><i>I'm gonna give you some </i></font><a href="http://espsun.space.swri.edu/~atkinson/jam.html"><font size="5"><i>terrible thrills!</i></font></a><font size="5"><i> </i></font><a href="#note13"><font size="5"><i><img src="../images/note.gif" alt="note" width="15" height="15"></i></font></a><font size="5"><i><br> </i></font></p> <p align="center"><a name="back06"><font size="5"><i>Like a --</i></font></a><font size="5"><i> </i></font></p> <p align="center"><i>(repeat chorus) </i></p> <p align="center"><font size="5"><i>Science Fiction - Double Feature (etc..) <br> </i></font></p> <p align="center"><font size="5"><i>(I wanna go - o -o) </i></font></p> <p align="center"><font size="5"><i>To the late-night double-feature picture show. </i></font></p> <p align="center"><font size="5"><i>(By R.K.O) </i></font><a href="#note14"><font size="5"><i><img src="../images/note.gif" alt="note" width="15" height="15"></i></font></a><font size="5"><i> </i></font><br> <br> </p> <p align="center"><a name="back07"><font size="5"><i>Oh - o - o</i></font></a><font size="5"><i> </i></font></p> <p align="center"><font size="5"><i>To the late-night double-feature picture show. </i></font></p> <p align="center"><font size="5"><i>(In the </i></font><a href="http://www.webcom.com/~backrow/"><font size="5"><i>back row)</i></font></a><font size="5"><i> </i></font><a href="#note15"><font size="5"><i><img src="../images/note.gif" alt="note" width="15" height="15"></i></font></a><font size="5"><i> </i></font><br> </p> <p align="center"><font size="5"><i>Oh - o - o </i></font></p> <p align="center"><font size="5"><i>To the late-night double-feature picture show. </i></font></p> <p align="center"><font size="2"><i>(the end) </i></font></p> <p align="center"><a href="#note16"><font size="2"><i><img src="../images/note.gif" alt="note" width="15" height="15"></i></font></a><font size="2"><i> </i></font></p> <hr> <p> </p> <hr> <p><a name="note1"></a><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/title-exact?Day%20the%20Earth%20Stood%20Still,%20The"><font size="4"><i>The Day the Earth Stood Still</i></font></a><font size="4"> (1951, 92m,20th Cent. Fox), starring </font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Rennie,%20Michael"><font size="4">Michael Rennie</font></a><font size="4"> as "Klaatu", with </font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Neal,%20Patricia"><font size="4">Patricia Neal.</font></a><font size="4"> An alien comes to Earth, shows us his power about shutting down all of our power for a day, and then said for us to shape up, or his large robot Gort will destroy the world. We promise to fly right, and he leaves. (I guess we fooled him). Gave us the classic phrase "Klaatu Barado Nicto" which means basically, "Klaatu says 'Don't destroy the planet'" Also, Klaatu wasn't ill that day, but actually stuck in an elevator. Directed by </font><a href="http://www.webcom.com/~sjfilm/96/catalog/wise.html"><font size="4">Robert Wise,</font></a><font size="4"> who would later direct </font><a href="http://www.voyagerco.com/CC/sfh/westside.html"><font size="4"><i>West Side Story</i>,</font></a><font size="4"> </font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/title-exact?Sound%20of%20Music,%20The"><font size="4"><i>The Sound of Music</i></font></a><font size="4"> and </font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/title-exact?Star%20Trek:%20The%20Motion%20Picture"><font size="4"><i>Star Trek: The Motion Picture</i>,</font></a><font size="4"> and then become president of the </font><a href="http://www.oscars.org/ampas/"><font size="4">Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences </font></a><font size="4">(the Oscar people). The movie was inspired by a short story called <i>"Farewell to the Master"</i> by Harry Bates (1940) which has little in common with the movie, other than having a flying saucer piloted by aliens named Klaatu & Gort land in Washington DC, but is just as a thought provoking story as the film is. </font><a href="#back01"><font size="4"><img src="../images/back.gif" alt="back" WIDTH="15" HEIGHT="15"></font></a><font size="4"> </font><a name="note2"><font size="4"></font></a><font size="4"> </font></p> <hr> <p><font size="4">Several movie serials starring </font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Crabbe,%20Buster"><font size="4">Buster Crabbe </font></a><font size="4">in the late 1930s, some of which were reedited into features, notably: <i>The Deadly Ray From Mars</i>(1938, 99m) and <i>Purple Death from Outer Space</i> (1940, 87m) </font><a href="#back01"><font size="4"><img src="../images/back.gif" alt="back" WIDTH="15" HEIGHT="15"></font></a><font size="4"> </font></p> <hr> <p><a name="note3"><font size="4"><i>The Invisible Man</i> (1933, 71m, Universal), starring </font></a><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Rains,%20Claude"><font size="4">Claude Rains</font></a><font size="4"> & </font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Stuart,%20Gloria"><font size="4">Gloria Stuart. </font></a><font size="4">Directed by </font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Whale,%20James"><font size="4">James Whale</font></a><font size="4"> (who also directed </font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/title-exact?+Frankenstein%20(1931)"><font size="4"><i>Frankenstein</i></font></a><font size="4"> ) Based on the </font><a href="http://www.literature.org/Works/H-G-Wells/invisible-man/chapter-01.html"><font size="4">novel by H.G. Wells </font></a><font size="4">(first published in 1897, the same year as </font><a href="http://www.literature.org/Works/Bram-Stoker/dracula/chapter-01.html"><font size="4">Bram Stoker published <i>Dracula</i>.</font></a><font size="4">) </font><a href="#back02"><font size="4"><img src="../images/back.gif" alt="back" WIDTH="15" HEIGHT="15"></font></a><font size="4"> </font></p> <hr> <p><a name="note4"><font size="4"><i>King Kong</i> (1933, 103m, RKO) Starring </font></a><a href="http://www.idis.com/shill/fwray.htm"><font size="4">Fay Wray, </font></a><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Cabot,%20Bruce"><font size="4">Bruce Cabot </font></a><font size="4">and </font><a href="http://www.skyride.com/welcome/welcome.html"><font size="4">the Empire State Building. </font></a><font size="4">Produced & Directed by </font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Cooper,%20Merian%20C."><font size="4">Merian C. Cooper,</font></a><font size="4"> and </font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Schoedsack,%20Ernest%20B."><font size="4">Ernest B. Schoedsack. </font></a><font size="4">(It was, of course, remade in 1976, with a model named </font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Lange,%20Jessica"><font size="4">Jessica Lange </font></a><font size="4">debuting in the Fay Wray role. Two Oscars and six nominations later, its nice to reflect on that....)<br> </font></p> <p><font size="4">Two years later, Cooper and Schoedsack would try again with another big-budget epic: </font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/title-exact?+Last%20Days%20of%20Pompeii,%20The%20(1935)"><font size="4"><i>The Last Days of Pompeii</i> </font></a><font size="4">(1935, 95m, RKO). This film would have absolutely no significance here except that it too was remade, </font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/title-exact?+Last%20Days%20of%20Pompeii,%20The%20(1960)"><font size="4">(1960, 105m, Italy),</font></a><font size="4"> this time featuring that big time American Body-builder-turned-actor star of Italian "Cloak-and-sandal" action-fantasy flicks: </font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Reeves,%20Steve"><font size="4"><b>Steve Reeves </b></font></a><font size="4">(He had already starred in </font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/title-exact?+Hercules%20(1959)"><font size="4"><i>Hercules</i>,</font></a><font size="4"> </font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/title-exact?+Hercules%20Unchained"><font size="4"><i>Hercules Unchained,</i></font></a><font size="4"> and </font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/title-exact?+Goliath%20and%20the%20Barbarians"><font size="4"><i>Goliath and the Barbarians</i></font></a><font size="4"> in just 1959 & 1960). (Just so you know these thing are circular, <i>Goliath...</i> also starred Bruce Cabot). Although </font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Reeves,%20Steve"><font size="4">Reeves </font></a><font size="4">would only make those two, the Italian "Hercules" movie series would continue for at least 26 years and 11 movies; some starring other body-builders-turned-actors </font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Ferrigno,%20Lou"><font size="4">Lou Ferrigno</font></a><font size="4"> and </font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Schwarzenegger,%20Arnold"><font size="4">Arnold Schwarzenegger.</font></a><font size="4"> (Yes, I know that this is an incredible contrived segue from <i>King Kong</i> to </font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Reeves,%20Steve"><font size="4">Steve Reeves</font></a><font size="4">, but Steve is just about the only film reference mention in RHPS that I don't mention somewhere here, and I'll be damned if I going to leave him out) </font><a href="#back02"><font size="4"><img src="../images/back.gif" alt="back" WIDTH="15" HEIGHT="15"></font></a><font size="4"> </font></p> <hr> <p><a name="note5"><font size="4">It sounds like O'Brien is referring to a movie called </font></a><font size="4"><i>At a Deadly Pace</i> here, except I can't find any indication such a movie exists. Any help here would be appreciated. </font><a href="#back02"><font size="4"><img src="../images/back.gif" alt="back" WIDTH="15" HEIGHT="15"></font></a><font size="4"> </font></p> <hr> <p><a name="note5a"><font size="4"></font></a></p> <p><a href="#back02"><font size="4"><img src="../images/back.gif" alt="back" WIDTH="15" HEIGHT="15"></font></a><font size="4"> <marquee behavior="alternate" scrollamount="25"> If you don't get the joke, </marquee> <marquee behavior="alternate" direction="right" scrollamount="30"> you're not using Microsoft Internet Explorer. </marquee> </font></p> <hr> <p><a name="note6"><font size="4"><i>It Came From Outer Space</i> (1953, 81m, Universal) Based on a </font></a><a href="http://www.on-ramp.com/johnston/bradbury.htm"><font size="4">Ray Bradbury </font></a><font size="4">short story, starring </font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Carlson,%20Richard"><font size="4">Richard Carlson</font></a><font size="4"> & </font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Rush,%20Barbara"><font size="4">Barbara Rush.</font></a><font size="4"> An alien ship crashes in the desert, and its passengers assume the identities of some of the locals to attempt to repair their ship unnoticed. Directed by </font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Arnold,%20Jack"><font size="4">Jack Arnold. </font></a><font size="4">In 3-D. </font><a href="#back02"><font size="4"><img src="../images/back.gif" alt="back" WIDTH="15" HEIGHT="15"></font></a><font size="4"> </font></p> <hr> <p><a name="note7"><font size="4"></font></a><font size="4"> </font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/title-exact?title=Doctor+X"><font size="4"><i>Doctor X</i> </font></a><font size="4">(1932, 80m, Warner Bros.) Starring </font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Atwill,%20Lionel"><font size="4">Lionel Atwill, </font></a><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Foster,%20Preston"><font size="4">Preston Foster,</font></a><font size="4"> and </font><a href="http://www.idis.com/shill/fwray.htm"><font size="4">Fay Wray </font></a><font size="4">(and you thought her only movie was <i>King Kong</i>, right? Actually, she made 76 -- and all but 10 between the years 1923-1942). </font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Atwill,%20Lionel"><font size="4">Atwill </font></a><font size="4">is Doctor Xavier, and the creature turns out to become "The Full Moon Strangler." Fay's there just to scream a lot. Directed by </font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Curtiz,%20Michael"><font size="4">Michael Curtiz,</font></a><font size="4"> who would later go on to direct <i>Captain Blood, The Charge of the Little Brigade, We're No Angels, Angels with Dirty Faces, Life With Father </i>and a whole bunch of other significant films, including </font><a href="http://www.primenet.com/~probst/"><font size="4"><i>Casablanca,</i></font></a><font size="4"> which won him the Oscar for Best Director---but not before Curtiz, Atwill and Wray teamed up again for </font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/title-exact?+Mystery%20of%20the%20Wax%20Museum,%20The"><font size="4"><i>The Mystery of the Wax Museum, </i></font></a><font size="4">(1933, 77m)<i> </i>which would later be remade with </font><a href="http://hug.leba.net/~ghlong/"><font size="4">Vincent Price</font></a><font size="4"> (and </font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Bronson,%20Charles"><font size="4">Charles Bronson</font></a><font size="4"> ) as the 3-D classic </font><a href="http://www.missouri.edu/~c667778/newmovs.htm#hou1"><font size="4"><i>House of Wax</i>.</font></a><font size="4"> </font><a href="#back03"><font size="4"><img src="../images/back.gif" alt="back" WIDTH="15" HEIGHT="15"></font></a><font size="4"> </font></p> <hr> <p><a name="note8"><font size="4">This line is another puzzle. "Brad and Janet" would seem to refer to the protagonists of Rocky, except there are no androids in the movie to fight with. Perhaps O'Brien is referring to some other movie, which he like so much that he stole the heroes' names for his own play? But if so, what movie? There are no androids in </font></a><font size="4"><i>Doctor X</i>, and while there is at least a robot in <i>Forbidden Planet,</i> no one named "Brad" or "Janet". My best guess: As this stanza parallels the reprise that concluded the movie, O'Brien needed a line with the phrase "Brad and Janet" to balance the line "Darkness has conquered Brad & Janet." So, he figured he included a "Coming Attractions": "See Aliens Fighting Brad & Janet" But, then, as he tries to score it, he realizes that the meter doesn't work, so he makes a quick change, confident that no one will notice, "`cuz it's not like anyone's going to be studying this 20 years from now..." </font><a href="#back03"><font size="4"><img src="../images/back.gif" alt="back" WIDTH="15" HEIGHT="15"></font></a><font size="4"> </font></p> <hr> <p><a name="note9"><font size="4"></font></a><font size="4"> </font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Forbidden%20Planet"><font size="4"><i>Forbidden Planet</i></font></a><font size="4"> (1956, 98m, MGM) Starring Anne Francis, </font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Pidgeon,%20Walter"><font size="4">Walter Pidgeon</font></a><font size="4">, </font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Neilsen,%20Leslie"><font size="4">Leslie </font></a><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Neilsen,%20Leslie"><font size="4">Nielsen</font></a><font size="4">, </font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Holliman,%20Earl"><font size="4">Earl Holliman</font></a><font size="4">, and in his debut, </font><a href="http://www.edgechaos.com/MECA/ROBOTS/ROBBY/Robby.html"><font size="4">Robbie the Robot</font></a><font size="4"> . Space explorers land on a planet, meet a scientist and his daughter, and battle with "The Creature from the Id" -- the greatest cartoon monster of all time (the rest of the movie was live-action). Based, believe it or not, on William Shakespeare's play </font><a href="http://www.en.utexas.edu/~benjamin/316kfall/316ktexts/tempest.html"><font size="4"><i>The Tempest</i>. </font></a><a href="#back11"><font size="4"><img src="../images/back.gif" alt="back" WIDTH="15" HEIGHT="15"></font></a><font size="4"> </font></p> <hr> <p><a name="note10"><font size="4"></font></a><font size="4"> </font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/title-exact?title=Tarantula"><font size="4"><i>Tarantula</i></font></a><font size="4"> (1955, 80m, Universal) starring John Agar, </font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/person-exact?Carroll,%20Leo%20G."><font size="4">Leo G. Carroll </font></a><font size="4">and debuting in a bit role, </font><a href="http://fremont.scs.unr.edu/~douglas/clint/"><font size="4">Clint Eastwood</font></a><font size="4"> (40 years and three Oscars later, it's nice to reflect on that). </font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/person-exact?Carroll,%20Leo%20G."><font size="4">Carroll </font></a><font size="4">is a scientist who creates a growth formula, which creates a tarantula the size of a house. Directed by Jack Arnold </font><a href="#note6"><font size="4"><img src="../images/note.gif" alt="note" width="15" height="15"> (see above).</font></a><font size="4"> </font><a href="#back04"><font size="4"><img src="../images/back.gif" alt="back" WIDTH="15" HEIGHT="15"></font></a><font size="4"> </font></p> <hr> <p><a name="note11"><font size="4"></font></a><font size="4"> </font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/title-exact?title=Day+of+the+Triffids,+The"><font size="4"><i>The Day of the Triffids</i></font></a><font size="4">(1963, 95m, Allied Artists), starring Howard Keel, and </font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/person-exact?Scott,%20Janette"><font size="4">Janette Scott</font></a><font size="4">. Meteors turn plants into giant walking Man-eaters (which, by the way, is the same basic plot as </font><a href="http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/tower/Songs/Little_Shop_Horrors/little-shop-horrors.whole"><font size="4"><i>Little Shop of Horrors,</i></font></a><font size="4"> which was, nevertheless, a very different movie). Remade for British TV in the early 80's. There is, by the way, no such thing as a "Triffid," which is the name these plants went by. However, </font><a href="http://www.csdl.tamu.edu/FLORA/fa07/fa07027.jpg"><font size="4">"trifid"</font></a><font size="4"> (with one <i>F</i>) means "divided into three parts", and is often used as part of the scientific name of plants which have a three-part leaf. </font><a href="#back05"><font size="4"><img src="../images/back.gif" alt="back" WIDTH="15" HEIGHT="15"></font></a><font size="4"> </font></p> <hr> <p><a name="note12"><font size="4"></font></a><font size="4">This one was a bit tough. The best I could come up with was </font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/title-exact?title=Curse%20of%20the%20Demon,%20The"><font size="4"><i>The Curse of the Demon</i> </font></a><font size="4">(1958, 83m, Columbia) which starred Dana Andrews as a "Stuffy cynical psychologist who doesn't believe that a series of deaths of been caused by an ancient curse". One of his co-stars was 70, so she may have qualified as a "prune". Based of Montguae R. James book <i>Casting the Runes</i> </font><a href="#back05"><font size="4"><img src="../images/back.gif" alt="back" WIDTH="15" HEIGHT="15"></font></a><font size="4"> </font></p> <hr> <p><a name="note13"><font size="4"><i>When World Collide</i> (1951, 81m, Paramount) Starring </font></a><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/person-exact?Derr,%20Richard"><font size="4">Richard Derr </font></a><font size="4">and </font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/person-exact?Rush.%20Barbara"><font size="4">Barbara Rush</font></a><font size="4">. </font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/person-exact?Pal,%20George"><font size="4">George Pal </font></a><font size="4">produced and did the special effects (but didn't directed -- He'd start doing that a few years later). Two planets are flinging their way through outer space -- one is going to hit and destroy Earth, while the other is close enough to being Earth-like that people build a space ship to reach it to save themselves from dying on the Earth. The film ends just as that ship lands on the second planet. Of course, as this planet continue to fling through space, it'll move either closer to or further from the sun, killing everyone on it -- Everyone that is, that survived the meteors showers which occurred as this planet passes through the debris left by Earth & the other planet colliding and being destroyed -- but you're no supposed to think about that.... </font></p> <p><font size="4">I'm not sure about the "to his bride" line, since as far as I can tell, Pal wasn't married to anyone noteworthy - All I could find about her was that her name was Zsoka Grandjean. It might possibly be a reference to </font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/title-exact?Bride%20of%20Frankenstein"><font size="4"><i>Bride of Frankenstein</i></font></a><font size="4"> (which any horror movie fan knows is the best "Frankenstein" film, and inspired Magenta's hair-do in the final scene) although Pal didn't have anything to do with that movie. I guess it was the only thing O'Brien could think of that rhymed with "Collide". </font><a href="#back06"><font size="4"><img src="../images/back.gif" alt="back" WIDTH="15" HEIGHT="15"></font></a><font size="4"> </font></p> <hr> <p><a name="note14"><font size="4">When sound was first added to films, the Radio Corporation of America (which these days goes by merely RCA), decided that sound their bag, and were determined to be the leading producers of talkies, or at least, they wanted to make sure that when you thought of Movies -- you thought of Radio. To that end, the trademarked the term "Radio Picture," which is what they called their movies. But, they needed to make sure that theaters would show all their "Radio Pictures" Their solution -- buys lots of movie theaters and force 'em to. The "Keith-Albee-Orphreum" chain of movie and vaudeville house was willing to merge, and thus was born in October of 1928, the "Radio - Keith - Orphreum Corporation" -- or "R.K.O" for short. (The exact fate of Albee has been lost to the ages) RKO then proceeded to spend most of the 1930's in bankruptcy. It did find time to make a few movies then, including some high-quality horror flicks, including <i>King Kong</i>, <i>Son of Kong</i>, <i>The Cat People</i>, and <i>I Walked With a Zombie. </i>Despite making many good films over the years, financial troubled always loomed. RKO's studios were sold to Desilu (Lucille Ball's company) in 1953, and it stopped making movies altogether in 1957. It survived as a corporation, living off it's holdings, until the 1980's when it was swallowed up by other companies. Among the other movies made by RKO were Orson Wells's <i>Citizen Kane, </i>Disney's <i>Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs</i> (before Walt left to start his own studio), Hitckcock's <i>Notorious</i>, and vaudeville-stripper-turned-</font></a><font size="4"> </font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/M/person-exact?St.%20Cyr,%20Lili"><font size="4">Lili St. Cyr</font></a><font size="4">'s finest hour: <i>Son of Sinbad </i>(1955). </font><a href="#back07"><font size="4"><img src="../images/back.gif" alt="back" WIDTH="15" HEIGHT="15"></font></a><font size="4"> </font></p> <hr> <p><a name="note15"><font size="4"></font></a><font size="4">This line is, I think, Richard O'Brien's one big mistake in the song, since as everyone knows, the <u>back </u>row was for making out, but if you actually want to <i>see</i> the movie, you had to be in the <u>front</u> row. Or perhaps he was just giving us a clue as to what was to come..... </font><a href="#back07"><font size="4"><img src="../images/back.gif" alt="back" WIDTH="15" HEIGHT="15"></font></a><font size="4"> </font></p> <hr> <p><a name="note16"><font size="4">It's interesting to note that, while we have several movies from the 50's, two from the 30's and one from the 60's, there nothing here from the 40's. Apparently it was a bad decade for Science Fiction/Horror flicks. <br> </font></a></p> <p><font size="4">Note, also, that most of the movie cited are rather short, generally running only about 80 minutes. This is because, true to the title, most of these films were intended to run as part of a Double Feature, and the theater owners wanted to get two of them in, along with a cartoon & a newsreel, in under 3 hours.<br> </font></p> <p><font size="4">The information provided here was gathered from "Microsoft's Cinemania" CDROM, Baseline's "Motion Picture Guide" and "Encyclopedia of Film", and a youth misspent watching a lot of late-night TV. </font></p> <p><font size="4">Many link access </font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/Movies/welcome.html"><font size="4">The Internet Movie Database</font></a><font size="4"> at </font><a href="http://www.imdb.com/Movies/welcome.html"><font size="4">http://www.imdb.com/Movies</font></a><font size="4"> </font></p> <p><font size="4">However many links go elsewhere, so be sure to poke around a bit. </font></p> <hr>  </body>