Before our feature presentation, ACME would like to start the evening with 1933 Betty Boop Halloween short, Betty Boop's Halloween Party, directed by Dave Fleischer for Fleischer Studios.
Although Betty Boop shorts are not frequently aired any longer, today there are 250 companies manufacturing Betty Boop licensed products in the United States and nearly as many abroad.
ACME would like to wish everyone a Spooky Halloween with a special Drive-In double-feature tonight. The programming department has put together a double feature revolving around Universal Horror films - a very fun matchup indeed. Tonight we have the 1933 film The Invisible Man, directed by James Whale and starring Claude Rains and the 1941 film, The Wolf Man, directed by George Waggnerand starring Lon Chaney Jr. (and featuring Claude Rains).
When screenwriter R.C. Sherriff came to Hollywood to write this film, he asked the staff at Universal Pictures for a copy of the H.G. Wells novel he was supposed to be adapting. They didn't have one, all they had were 14 "treatments" done by previous writers on the project, including one set in Czarist Russia and another set on Mars. Sherriff eventually found a copy of the novel in a secondhand bookstore, read it, thought it would make an excellent picture as it stood, and wrote a script that, unlike Universal's Dracula and Frankenstein, was a closer adaptation of the book. This was fortunate, because Wells had negotiated script approval when he sold the rights.
So we would like you to relax (quick, find the most comfortable seat on the sofa,) get a snack (perhaps, some popcorn, or the kids trick or treat candy) and a beverage and join The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour in watching the first film in today's double feature, The Invisible Man.
Claude Rains' daughter Jessica Rains was born in 1938, 5 years after this movie was released. The first time she ever saw her father in a movie was in 1950, when he took her to a showing of The Invisible Man in a small Pennsylvania theater. While the film was playing, Rains was telling his daughter all about how it was made. The other theater patrons stopped watching the movie and instead listened to Rains' anecdotes.
I'm guess we could all use a break, right about now. As you run into the kitchen and get a beverage refill or run into the bathroom and replenish the eco-system, we here at The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour want to watch the 1954 Bugs Bunny/ Witch Hazel Merrie Melodies cartoon, Bewitched Bunny,, directed by Chuck Jones.
Witch Hazel's cookbook has such recipes as: Waif Waffles, Moppet Muffins, Urchin Pie, Kiddie Kippers, Children Chops, Smorgas Boy.
Our second feature tonight is the 1941 film, The Wolf Man, directed by George Waggner and starring Lon Chaney Jr., Claude Rains, Warren William, Ralph Bellamy, Patric Knowles, Bela Lugosi, Evelyn Ankers, and Maria Ouspenskay .
This film popularized a number of myths about werewolves, such as the only way to kill a werewolf is with a silver bullet as well as werewolves and their victims being marked with pentagrams. Some of the mythology is taken from the earlier film Werewolf of London, such as a werewolf bite turning another person into a werewolf, and others are original concepts created by writer Curt Siodmak
So please join us here at The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour and sit back, get comfortable and enjoy watching our second feature this evening, The Wolf Man.
This film marks the first of five appearances by Lon Chaney Jr. as the Wolf Man for Universal Studios. Out of Universal's classic canon of monsters, Chaney is the only actor to portray the same character in each of the studio's classic films and sequels.
Be careful out there though - you know what, - why not stay inside.
Demand Euphoria!
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