Psychotronic Movie of the Week: Who Killed Teddy Bear? (1965)

Who Killed Teddy Bear
1965
Magna, United States

Produced by Everett Rosenthal, Directed by Joseph Cates

Charles Beesley writes in The Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film:

Really grimy obscene phone call chiller with a New York discotheque background, Busboy Sal Mineo, guardian to a brain-damaged sister, writhes in bed while club hostess/deejay Juliet Prowse worries on the other end of the line. Jan Murray of th vice squad tries to investigate and acts so creepy that Juliet thinks he's the maniac. With Frank Campanella, Margot Bennett, and Elaine Stritch as Juliet's lesbian boss, who tries to help in her own way. Title song and discotheque hits written by Al Kasha and Bob Gaudio (of the Four Seasons). 

Shangri-Las, 1966

The Shangri-Las in Valdosta, Georgia, 1966.

Via the Valdosta State University's Flickr page.

My Ferrari GTO

Revells  -  My Ferrari GTO (2:13)

All right, a Pontiac and a Ferrari are two different things, I know that.  Just go with it, because both the song and the ad are pretty damn great. I admit to being a little queasy about the tiger skin, but maybe it's the skin of a very old tiger that died peacefully of natural causes.  Or maybe not.

Psychotronic Movie of the Week: Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster (1965)

Your preview of the coming attraction: 

1965 - Allied Artists - D: Robert Gaffney - S: Marilyn Hanold, James Karen, Lou Cutell 

In The Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film, Michael Weldon's review of Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster said it all in the first two sentences: "Don't miss. It's the worst." The plot is about a Martian princess and her flamboyant dwarf assistant coming to Earth in search of women to help repopulate their planet. They both have hilariously un-subtle homoerotic undertones. There's an android astronaut named Frank (the "Frankenstein" of the title), who ends up fighting the Martians' giant monster they keep chained up in their spaceship (played by an uncredited Bruce Glover). There's also some groovy soundtrack music, including "That's the Way It's Got to Be" by the Poets. And that's pretty much it. All in all, a mindless but fun flick that cruises along and delivers plenty of laughs. This was Gaffney's only credit as a director, but he later showed up as the DP on Superfly T.N.T. in 1973. Enjoy!

And now, our feature presentation,.... 

Don't Rock the Jukebox

From Billboard, Nov. 20, 1965

Texmania Sweeps Miami

Joe Tex sure knew how to work a crowd into an over-heated frenzy, as indicated by this 1965 Jet article. And apparently the fever didn't exactly die in '65!

More Songs We Taught Porter Wagoner

During our "Country Music Week" festivities the other week, there was some discussion of the relative merits of "The First Mrs. Jones" as performed by Porter Wagoner versus Bill Anderson's own version (SPOILER ALERT: they're both awesome!). This week, I'd like to initiate a similar discussion about another song from The Cold Hard Facts of Life, arguably Porter's greatest  (I'd certainly argue for it!).

Here's Porter's familiar version:

And here's a version by its composer, Mr.Willie Hugh Nelson.

   As much as I love Porter's version, I've got to lean toward Willie's rendition:  cooler and detached, yet with the quiet menace lurking right under the surface. This is a record that my wife doesn't care for, particularly if I'm singing along (she's also not fond of Jack Kittel's version of "Psycho", for some reason). Women! Who can figure 'em?

"Cassius" Love Vs. "Sonny" Bono

Anyone who's spent much time being bombarded by my musical choices knows that two things I really love are Sonny Bono's solo records, as collected on the Rhino Handmade version of Inner Views (I'd avoid the Collector's Choice edition, which is only that album without his other singles), and Beach Boys' Party! So imagine my joy to hear Sonny's peanut butter in the Beach Boys' chocolate! Two great tastes that taste great together!






(Incidentally, you should go here, where the Sonny label is swiped from, to see one of the coolest autograph-collecting strategies I've ever seen)

The Disk-Go-Case

Read all about it!

Fun Fact: The creator of these beautiful-yet-totally-impractical-for-record-nerds devices was none other than Bill Buchanan... as in "Buchanan and Goodman!"

The Flying Saucer (Parts 1 And 2).mp3

Teenage Crime

CAMPUS LIFE Nov. 1965
Originally uploaded by Devlin Thompson

This is actually a Christian youth magazine, but it still looks good.