Science Fiction Theater – Spider, Inc, with Audrey Totter - S 1 E 8 -1955

Science Fiction Theater – Spider, Inc, with Audrey Totter - S 1 E 8 -1955

Notes by Bill Russo

The highlight of this episode, in color, is seeing Film Noir Queen Audrey Totter, just a few years after her iconic performances in The Postman Always Rings Twice, The Unsuspected, Tension, The High Wall and many more.

Gene Barry plays a researcher who believes that he can use a 50 million year old chunk of amber with a spider encapsulated in it, to develop a synthetic oil. Audrey has some news for him that might (but probably not) take his mind off spiders.

Barry was featured in 1953's The War of the Worlds and later had a star turn on TV in “Bat Masterson” and “Burke's Law”.

If you enjoy this episode hit the 'Like' button and be sure to also tap on the subscribe button to get notified of all our shows.

Far ahead of its time, SFT never really was able to grab a large audience for a few reasons, all of which were beyond the control of the producers. The series could not find a home on network TV, so it was sold to stations on a syndicated basis. It was generally shown on Saturday nights, which was a very good TV night back in the 50s. But it was hard to draw viewers because Saturday night belonged to Gunsmoke (ran for 20 years), The Lawrence Welk Show (still running after about 70 years!), Perry Mason, and Richard Boone’s series Have Gun Will Travel.

SFT disappeared after the 78^th and final episode, but thanks to YouTube and other venues, it is slowly gaining cult status and recognition.

Before the Twilight Zone, One Step Beyond, and the Outer Limits, there was Science Fiction Theater, which ran from 1955 to 1957. Hosted by Truman Bradley, a radio/TV announcer and 1940s film actor, each episode of Science Fiction Theater introduced stories based on scientific or pseudo-scientific Principles.

The tales usually related to the life or work of scientists, engineers, inventors, and explorers. The program concentrated on such concepts as space flight, robots, telepathy, flying saucers, time travel, and the intervention of extraterrestrials in human affairs. Broadcasting a total of 78 25–26 minute episodes, I t was also known as Beyond The Limits for repeat syndication during the 1960s, and alternatively as Science Fiction Theater.

The producers were an early adopter of ‘color’ TV. All of the season one episodes were produced in color, which was an expensive extra in the early days of TV. In season two, they apparently decided the extra expense was not warranted, so all of the second season episodes are in black and white.

Broadcasting a total of 78 episodes, I t was also known as Beyond The Limits for repeat syndication during the 1960s, and alternatively as Science Fiction Theater.

The Lawless Years - Four the Hard Way -S1 E 13 - 1959

The Lawless Years - Four the Hard Way - Season One E 13 - 1959

The game is at 22 West 43^rd in Murray Hill in the heart of Manhattan – it's a fine old building with a rooftop deck that perfect for throwing guys off of. The spacious structure has a little news-stand on the ground floor run by Benny. If you're in on the action, Benny will point you to a telephone booth in the corner. If you go into the booth and push on the back wall, it will open up to a huge room with the Big Apple's finest illegal gaming action. You can get in – but sometimes getting' out 'ain't' so easy.

'Four the Hard Way' – besides being the title of this episode – is the toughest way to roll a four in 'Craps'. It means you have to throw a pair of twos, in order to make the four. If you toss a one and a three, it's no good! You gots to get 'Four the Hard Way' – a pair of deuces!

Another good episode of the little known series from the Roaring 20s (the ones from the 1900s, not the 2020s) come to life again in “The Lawless Years”. Gravel voiced James Gregory (Detective Frank Luger in the 1975 to 82 Barney Miller series) stars as the real life NYPD cop Barney Ruditsky. Ruditsky was a celebrity cop involved in dozens of high-profile cases and was credited with breaking up ‘Murder Incorporated’.

After he left the force, Ruditsky went to Hollywood and worked on many projects including The Lawless Years, to which he was a technical advisor.

This series never really got off the ground and lasted for just 48 episodes – it predated “The Untouchables” by six months.

The lawless years ran on NBC TV from 1959 to 1961.

13 Demon Street - Condemned In The Crystal - Lon Chaney Jr.

Condemned in the Cyrstal 

Introduction by Bill Russo: It is always best to take your doctor's advice - unless you are a character in a tense, moody, and atmospheric episode of Curt Siodmak's series, 13 Demon Street. Lon Chaney Jr., the host of the show, introduces us to a doomed man named John Radian who has been suffering from bad dreams. His physician advises him to live the dream – confront it! Radian decides the doctor is correct. He chooses to go to the place of his dream. It is an ancient building and it is where he has been “Condemned in the Crystal.” The crystal is the 'Crystal Ball' variety. The owner and interpreter of the swirling clouds in the crystal is an appropriately dressed, mysterious lady who knows the future! Things don't look good for poor John - can he escape with his life?

 

 

Night of the Living Dead notes by Bill Russo.

While George Romero often gets the credit for Night of the Living Dead - and he is the co-author the script, the story idea was originally developed by John Russo.

Briefly here's how the entire zombie-living dead genre came to be. After serving a two year hitch in the U.S. Army, John Russo re-joined a few of his old college buddies in a group that wanted to develop a film. George Romeo was a member of the team.

(click the link to watch for free https://youtu.be/rxPTdGdJpyE)

John Russo worked up a concept involving a young man stumbling upon a gaggle of ghouls feeding off human corpses. George Romero was excited about the possibilities of the idea. He went home and in a few days came back to John Russo with a 40 page skeleton of a script. Together they crafted those 40 pages into a finished product that became the iconic genre building “Night of the Living Dead”.

After the immense success of the movie they went their separate ways with Romero having rights to some of the movies in the new genre, while John Russo had rights to others, including the 'Living Dead' series.

John is about 80 as of 3-3-2021 and is still working like someone 40 years younger. He's got two or three projects going right now, including a new movie. You can visit with John at his website which is TheJohnRusso.com

Though we both have the same last name, I am not related to John Russo, though I believe that if I could trace back 8 or 10 generations, I'd probably find some common ancestors. At any rate, I'd like to be related to him. He's a pretty amazing guy, as you will see if you check out his website.