Monsterpalooza Kudos and Photos

Herein, are a few more photos from this year's Monsterpalooza.  But, before I get to them, a word about the souvenir program (as posted earlier today at the Classic Horror Film Board):

It must be mentioned that this year's official souvenir program has to be the best program book for a monster convention/show I've ever seen!  It is more of a magazine, rather than a program book, and is 34 pages thick (not counting the covers).  The staff really did an outstanding job and kudos to the following are in order:

• Editor: Jessie Lilley

• Design: Joe Sena

• Cover Werewolf: Tim Martin

• Cover Photo: Steve Jennings

• Printed By: Choice Lithographics

• Published By: CFQ Publishing

Now, the pictures:

Above, The Monster and his mate.

Above, Sasquatch managed to make the show.

Above, a collection of creepies.

Above, Jerry Weiler and yours truly.

Above, the mill from "Frankenstein."

Above, Rick Baker.

Rondo Awards Voting Starts Tonight!

The 10th Annual Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards voting starts tonight at 11:00 PM EST.

The ballot, I've heard, will be a "monstrous" one. As far as I know, I'm not nominated for anything this year. So, if I am on the ballot, it will be a complete surprise to me.

To vote go here at 11:00 PM tonight!

Rondo Awards Voting Begins Sunday Night!

The announcement has been made that the 10th Annual Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards ballot will be unveiled and voting begins this coming Sunday night.

What is the Rondo Awards?

The Rondo awards, named after Rondo Hatton, an obscure B-movie villain of the 1940s, celebrate the best in classic horror research, creativity and film preservation.

To see the ballot and to vote, go here Sunday night!

Joyce Compton - "Scared To Death"

While perusing the Classic Horror Film Board forum this morning, I came across a thread on the movie Scared To Death starring Bela Lugosi and George Zucco.

This jogged a memory of the 1980s when I met actress Joyce Compton (January 27, 1907 – October 13, 1997), who was in the movie's cast. I posted this on the thread:

Back in the 1980s, I was a member of the Laurel & Hardy group "Sons of the Desert." The L.A. group, "Way Out West" tent, held a banquet at the Sportsman's Lodge in Studio City. In attendance were such luminaries as Hal Roach, Sr., Hank Worden and others.





I found myself fortunate to be seated next to Joyce Compton, who was a co-star of Scared To Death. When we were seated, I looked at her name tag and said, "Joyce Compton! I remember you in Scared To Death!" She was so thrilled (or "tickled to death") that I remembered her in the movie.

We had a nice chat about Bela. Good times!

Scared To Death was a melodrama produced in 1947 and was the only color movie with Lugosi in a leading role.

According to Wikipedia:

Scared to Death (1947) is a horror film directed by Christy Cabanne and starring Bela Lugosi. It was filmed in Cinecolor, is one of only three color pictures Lugosi made, and the only one he starred in. The film is notable for its narration by a dead woman — she describes the events leading up to her death.

The dead woman gives her narration from a coroner's slab.

USA Today Article On Criterion's "Godzilla" Blu-ray

USA Today is carrying an article on the upcoming Criterion Blu-ray edition of the original 1954 Godzilla and the 1956 Americanized Godzilla, King of The Monsters!

The article also includes interview comments by kaiju historians David Kalat and August Ragone.

The article starts with:

From terms like "Bridezilla" to films like Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster, the thought of Japan's most famous monster usually evokes a chuckle, not a roar.

But the roots of the Tokyo-stomping beast are dark and terrible. Long before its 27 sequels and endless spinoffs, the original 1954 film, called Gojira in Japan, was a fearful atomic fable from expert filmmakers, a metaphor for the bombing of Hiroshima that ended World War II just nine years earlier.

On Tuesday, the highbrow Criterion Collection, which usually traffics in the world of Hitchcock, Truffaut and Japan's Akira Kurosawa, will add digitally restored editions of Toho Studios' Gojira and the watered-down American version from 1956, Godzilla: King of the Monsters with Raymond Burr, to its prestigious DVD and Blu-ray catalog.

The article is by David Colton, the head honcho of the Classic Horror Film Board.

To read the full USA Today online article, go here.