Tales of Tomorrow - The Crystal Egg - by H G Wells

From 1951, comes The Crystal Egg by H G Wells, known for some of the greatest Sci Fi classics including the Invisible Man and War of the Worlds. In this episode of T O T, starring Thomas Mitchell, a crystal egg reveals a live tableaux of the planet Mars. A 19th Century scientist is obsessed with investigating the crystal, but the antique shop owner who came across the seemingly worthless glass hopes to sell it to a tall, insistent stranger, for whom no price is too dear.

Of Christmas - Bitter and Sweet, written by Bill Russo

Film Noir - "Detour" with Ann Savage - an Eddie Muller and Roger Ebert F...

Classic Film Noir from the 'Alley' but for Free!  You don't have to pay to watch "Detour' on the Bill Russo YouTube Channel

One Step Beyond - The Avengers - S 3 E 28

In the 1940s at the height of Hitler’s evil reign, while the planet is ensnarled in the Second World War, a Nazi general invites local citizens -- whom he intends to send to death camps -- to an elegant mansion for a celebration to mimic one from the late 1700s. However, the ghosts of the original celebrants return to stop his plan.

Jean Shepherd - WOR Radio - The Beatles Exposed

As only he can, Shep files a report on the two week's he spent, touring with the Beatles in England.   A very 'inside' look at the Beatles at the height of their popularity. 

One Step Beyond - The Sacred Mushroom - S 3 E 18

In this episode John Newland leads an expedition into Mexico to learn the truth about the Sacred Mushroom.  Newland and company sit at a table with the people who kept the secrets of the mushroom hidden from the world for centuries.  The host/director of the series eats the 'shrooms' and what happens next, is definitely a step beyond!

One Step Beyond - The Dead Part of the House - S 1 E 9

After moving into a new house with her dad and 

an aunt, a young girl meets three other young 

girls in an upstairs nursery.  Though they are 

ghosts, she becomes great friends with them. 

Her family assumes that the new friends she tells

them about are her three new dolls. 

 

This is Episode 9 from Season One.

One Step Beyond is an anthology series about the weird and unexplainable.  It is sometimes compared to the Twilight Zone, which showed its first episode nine months after the debut of One Step Beyond.

While the Twilight Zone was purely fictional, One Step Beyond claimed that its programs focused on actual people and events.  Host John Newland, who also directed every episode, said that the stories were based on ‘human record’ – but he never explained exactly what that meant.

The series was broadcast for three seasons by  the ABC Television Network from January 1959 to July 1961 and later spent several years in syndicated showings.

One Step Beyond - Epilogue - S 1 E 6

Nine months before 'Twilight Zone' John Newland introduced the weird world that lies just "One Step Beyond".  The chief difference between the two programs is that while T Z dealt with strictly fictional themes, O S B claimed that its tales were derived from 'The Human Record'. 

The 4th Bat in The Bat Collection - NBC -The Bat with Helen Hayes

The Bat Collection on the Bill Russo YouTube Channel

 consists of 4 films. Subscribe to get easy access to all 

the films. 

This episode features perhaps the best of the four most 

prominent of the Bat films - a 1960 TV version of the Bat. All

the films are derived from the 1909 book by Mary Roberts 

Rinehart, which was adapted into one of the most successful 

Broadway plays in history - and later into 3 landmark Bat 

films. 

One of them, the second in the series, inspired the creation of

the superhero 'Batman'

The 60 minute tv movie may well be the best of all the Bat films, due in large part to the presence of Miss Helen Hayes, the first lady of the American Theater, and Miss Margaret Hamilton who scared millions of American kids when she played the part of the Wicked Witch of the West in the Wizard of Oz.

The chemistry between the two great actresses is evident from the very first scene in which Miss Hamilton playing a maid to Helen Hayes' character, complains to her boss that she is afraid the Bat will come into the house and attack them.

"The Bat wouldn't come within a thousand miles of you," deadpans Helen Hayes, "You'd scare him to death!"

You can watch all four classic "Bat" movies on the Bill Russo YouTube channel, including the 1959 offering starring Agnes Moorhead and Vincent Price.  

Hit the subscribe button to get easy access to the movies.  

The World's Fair - A Color Classic Cartoon

by Bill Russo

Once upon a time, the World's Fair was just about the biggest deal in the world - not so much anymore.  There hasn't been one since Italy's Expo in 2015. 

Dubai, in United Arab Emirates, was scheduled to be the site of the 2020 version of the World's Fair, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic it was been postponed. 

Buenos Aires, Argentina, had been scheduled to host a smaller version of a World's Fair, called a Specialised Expo, in 2023. But the city announced its withdrawal and apparently the event is definitely off the schedule.

Ah, but in 1939 there was a humungous World's Fair and it was one of the biggest and most famous cities in the world - New York City.  That fair was a classic - so much so that my Mom and Dad, Bob and Ginee Russo were still talking about it in the 1990s!

Albbert Einstein gave speeches about cosmic rays. There were hundreds of spectacular exhibitions. General Electric, RCA, and Westinghouse were pushing something called television!  It was a little box ranging from five inches all the way up to 12 inches.  There were fuzzy black and white images on the screen that were purported to be live representations of programs being broadcast from radio studios!  Many people thought the televisions were trick boxes playing movies, so David Sarnoff made one set with a transparent case so that the people could see inside and see that there was no minature projector playing the images. 

Most people thought that television could never compete against radio.  TV spent the next 80 years proving that theory to be correct!  Ouch.  Sorry for the jab against TV - but I agree with radio comic Fred Allen of Boston who said, they call TV a medium, because it is never well done!  

Okay, okay....on with the show....here's a Color Classic Cartoon about the 1939 New York World's Fair.