We wanted to start right out with the juice on this one, and take us straight into Part 2 of this disturbing segment from 20/20 back over 20 years ago. “The Exorcism” was the very first time the controversial rites of exorcism had ever been documented and aired on network television causing quite the stir.
20 years later the footage is as raw and disturbing as ever. Definitely beats the crap out of the Horror they try to feed you today. This kind of evil only exists in the twisted realms of our own reality.
Forget what you’ve seen – real life is always better {scarier}.
Question is: What do you believe?
Could the young 16 year old girl seriously be possessed by evil souls living deep in her body, or is this a battle of her rebellious teenage subconscious? This timeless battle between science and religion is carefully crafted by ABC correspondent Tom Jarriell with vintage appearances by the show’s anchors Hugh Downs, and the always stylin’ Barbara Walters.
Thanks to videoholics90s for the fantastically freaky clip! We’ll need to get our head back on straight after that, is for sure! Link from Youtube for the rest. Hope you enjoy!
Imagine our delight when we spent some time searching one of our Style Idols, Buster Keaton‘s movies, and stumbled upon a great clip from a 1961 edition of Allen Funt’s CBS-TV show “Candid Camera.” with the Silent Film Slap-Stick legend himself!
Looking as good as the ‘forgotten’ screen idol ever has, even in camouflaged casual, the man rocks some grandpa glasses and a cool convertible trench! No matter how grand a joker the guy is, his chic gentlemanly nature always shines through any farce.
We love the shock and horror race across the faces of the teenage victims as Keaton pulls gag after gag at the counter of a dinner. These kids were clueless to the fact that a Hollywood Royal was not only sitting next to them, but was pulling a Betty White proportioned fast-one over their heads.
They always say: “God is in the Details” and every time there is the opportunity to watch AMC‘s pinnacle of television drama, “Mad Men” we are boldly reminded of this fact! So here goes our “Close Up” of some of the ties, rings, and things the men are wearing this season.
Five episodes into the long awaited fifth season (almost a year and a half!) and Matthew Weiner and his talented team have already lifted the bar, and continue to raise it as the seconds count down on each new episode.
Full of all the racism, sexism, cigarette smoking, adultery, feminism, and homophobia that characterizes the era, Mad Men has made success from context and exploited it against our own. It’s fun to see the evolution of the characters, changing or not changing with the ticking of the clock.
The men of Sterling Cooper Draper Price (Say that three times fast) haven’t much changed, but the evolution is there in their wardrobe. We are beginning to see the times liberating the characters and their style. There is a casualness, a cool that stemmed in America from the Beat movement, and an undeniable pull from the European art flicks of Fellini and the French New Wave.
Speaking of French New Wave, we have the bright return of talented Canadian actress Jessica Paré as Megan, Don’s new 20-something wife. Pare is such a talent; so charismatic, and just strikingly gorgeous. She had her screen debut in Denys Arcand’s “Stardom” where she played a normal Canadian girl who becomes a high fashion supermodel. [FASHION LOVERS WATCH TRAILER]
On the other end of the scale, Betty is still around residing in her “haunted mansion” (a grim corner property definitely rivaling the Gothic grandeur of the house in American Horror Story ) with her politician husband, and three children. With a house that big, it’s no surprise Betty is feeling engulfed by this new marriage.
Everyone is worried about her, mostly because she’s fat. Compared to the dainty used to be model Grace Kelly look-a-like, this Betty is shocking. It’s really fun to see her like this, though. Count on an Emmy Award for those prosthetics! Absolutely Freaky! My guess is she’ll stay this way for a while.
One of the other delights is definitely Sally Draper. She’s no little girl anymore. She’s in that fantastic age where your mind is opening to different facets of the life that surrounds you. Growing up is hard, and I’m guessing this isn’t going to come naturally to her. Especially between homes, the dynamic between her parents is definitely straining, and she’s managed to pick up some angst and attitude from them on the way.
As movie theaters switch from film to digital projection, home flat-screens take up a wall, Blu-Ray discs exhume masterpiece-painting volumes of color and intricate detail from popular releases, and the unholy moviegoing experience cries out for human-pest control, cinema has lost its sanctuary allure and aesthetic edge over television, which as a medium has the evolutionary advantage. Movies will never die, not as long as a director like Terrence Malick can make every green blade of grass sway like the first dance of creation, but TV is where the action is, the addictions forged, the dream machine operating on all cylinders. As I write this, the Academy Awards are a few days away, with The Artist the odds-on best-picture winner. Does anyone think The Artist is better than Mad Men?
I guess everyone knows the answer to that… And if this season is any proof, Wolcott is definitely onto something! Mad Men indeed transports you, and the best part is it doesn’t ask you to go any farther than your living room to take a trip through time.
Mad Men is truly such a treat. It is really the perfect dichotomy of performance, writing, and production. After an episode, or entire day, there are definitely a million things you can take away. For a true vintage nut, this latest season of Mad Men is off to a great new start, and it’s hard to get enough!
[End Credits Song from Ep 4. “Mystery Date” – “He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss)” by Gerry Goffin & Carole King]
“Vampira is a kind of entity (and you can call her a woman though she is androgynous) that survives in this world. I, Maila Nurmi, am not.”
-Maila Nurmi
This one is sure to petrify! If there is one woman who recognized the importance of standing out from the crowd, it’s Maila Nurmi [December 11, 1922 – January 10, 2008], or as most people would recognize her, the legendary Vampira.
Leaving Finland at the age of two, Maila would move with her family to the United States of America. After high school, she quickly gathered up her possessions and moved to Los Angeles in pursuit of the dream!
The blonde knock-out with razor-sharp cheek bones would soon be working with the likes of art legends Man Ray, Alberto Vargas, and Bernard of Hollywood. Then in 1951 upon attending the Bal Caribe Masquerade as Charles Addams’ cartoon character from The New Yorker, Morticia Addams, Maila would catch the attention of a local television executive searching for a new star.
On April 30, 1954 on KABC-TV at 11pm Dig Me Later, Vampira aired followed by The Vampira Show the very next night. From that night on, the legend of Vampira was in full swing inching its way up the time slots, and creating from scratch an entire sub genre of Horror-Hosts on television!
Unfortunately the series was cancelled in 1955, but Maila would retain her rights to the character she created. Maila would continue her fascinating career taking bit parts in several films as Vampira including “Sex Kittens Go To College”, “The Beat Generation”, and Ed Wood’s iconic “Plan 9 From Outer Space”. She also shared a fascinating and close friendship with rebel icon James Dean.
Vampira is a rare character for its time. With her dark wit, and forbidden sex appeal, Maila became a one-woman crusade against the stereotypical portraits of women on television, and Vampira would more than help break the mould.
A combination of the Dark Queen from Snow White, Theda Bara, and Gloria Swanson’s menacing Norma Desmond from Sunset Boulevard, it was unlike anything the world had ever seen!!
However by the 1960s Maila Nurmi would no longer find herself the glamorous dark diva, and was instead filling her time installing laminate flooring and making custom hand-made jewelry for extra cash. I guess that’s just how it goes in Hollywood: the city of broken dreams.
Come 1981, Nurmi was called to KHJ-TV for a revival of the character she had created nearly 30 years prior. The station would go on to cast young actress Cassandra Petersen, who would create the spirited Elvira we all know and love. Nurmi would bring the case to court claiming Elvira infringed on Vampira’s “distinctive dark dress, horror movie props, and…special personality.”
Sadly Maila Nurmi passed in 2008 leaving behind her legacy for art, style, and above-all originality. In this fantastic interview with Time Magazine she explains the creation of her iconic alter-ego and how creating this facade would help battle her personal demons.
One thing’s for sure today: there will only be one Maila Nurmi. Perhaps it was just the times, but no horror-host does it with the same sense of danger, charisma, and worldly sophistication. This of course was all an act according to Maila, but you don’t get fired for upstaging Mae West for just standing there!
We’ve inserted a gallery of our most wickedly wonderful images we could find of our diety of the dark to enjoy! So please do!
This girl had something special: it was up to her to find it! So let this be a lesson to us all! Dreams come and go, but only you remain in the end. So always remember to stay true. You’ll only have yourself to thank in the end.
We’re feeling like a Vampira cocktail ourselves about now. So until next time!
From the creator of The The Twilight Zone, Rod Serling, came a tv series exploring stories of horror and the macabre. We pay homage to the nearly forgotten series that was Night Gallery.
Serling served as both on-air host of Night Gallery and was a major contributor of scripts during the series 3 season run. But like most series that are ahead of their time, the series attracted criticism. Called out for its use of comedic blackout sketches between the longer story segments in some episodes, and for its splintered, multiple-story format, which contributed to its uneven tone.
By the final season, Serling, stung by criticism and ignored by the show’s executives, all but disowned the series.
Well, it sure was sweet while it lasted… For those who love the series, the final and third season will be released on DVD this year, April 10th.
Just another Music Minute for all you fine folks reading out there! This one is a classic, and a definite fave that is guaranteed to light up anyone’s day!
