Disturbing TOYS FOR TOTS ad...

Yes, I know that Love Is... was a popular and adorable comic strip back in the 1970s and I know that TOYS FOR TOTS is an important charity... but really did the two concepts need to meet?

What were they thinking? Naked children in a local Los Angeles TV GUIDE ad promoting a toy collection for Christmas? Somehow I don't think this would fly today...

THE NANNY

Continuing my string of re-posts from 2009...

On the heels of MARY POPPINS, the legendary Bette Davis stars in this tame, but twisted tale out of England's Hammer House of Horror based on a novel by Evelyn Piper (who also wrote the harrowing BUNNY LAKE IS MISSING).

THE NANNY (1965, directed by Seth Holt) is a spooky little chiller that casts Miss Davis as dutiful, dowdy and subdued domestic in a proper household with a deadly secret. Joey (the captivating William Dix), a precocious 10-year-old has just been released from an psychiatric institution and we are told he has developed "a strange aversion to middle-aged females."

From the start Nanny and Joey engage in a wonderfully wicked cat and mouse game. Everything Nanny does to make his return home comfortable is rejected by the bratty, troubled youngster and we feel the pain in Bette Davis' eyes.

The boy's neurotic mother Virginia (the great Wendy Craig, who later starred in the classic Britcom BUTTERFLIES) is on the verge of a nervous breakdown for the past two years, after the drowning death of her adorable toddler daughter Susie (seen in flashbacks).

To top things off, visiting Aunt Penelope (the wonderful Jill Bennett) has a heart condition, so Nanny tries not to ruffle any feathers despite Joey's increasingly hostile antics.

You see, Joey is convinced that Nanny wants to murder him, and suspects that she is responsible for drowning his sister, the reason for him being sent away in the first place. Everyone believes that Joey was culprit.

So Joey goes on a hunger strike, refusing to eat any of the food that Nanny prepares for him. He even refuses to bathe unless Virginia makes Nanny promise to stay away from the bathroom. Boys.

With Joey's dad (the serviceable James Villiers) often away on business, he befriends a sassy upstairs neighbor Bobbie (the charming Pamela Franklin), a mod teen-ager who becomes both confidante and accomplice in pranks he plays on Nanny - like drowning a baby doll in the bat tub.

The suspense builds steadily as we learn the back story of Susie's death and we wonder who's version is more accurate–prankster Joey's or dedicated Nanny's. When Virginia is suddenly stricken with food poisoning and hospitalized, delicate flower Aunt Pen comes to stay in the house for the evening and slowly grows suspicious of Nanny's actions.

Flashbacks recount what actually happened the night Susie died and reveal a shocking secret from Nanny's past leading up to the startling climax where all is revealed. Slight spolier - a visit to an abortion doctor plays into the reveal!

I loved this film. The creepy atmosphere, the wonderful acting and Davis' remarkably restraint performance make it a sheer pleasure to watch. Though it was slow paced, I didn't want it to end. The world that director Holt created was such a fun place to visit.

The scenes with Nanny and Joey are so well acted, you wonder if Davis and the youngster got along at all on set. I give this one a big 10 outta 10.

My Letter From The Easter Bunny

From 2009: It's finally Easter season, and time for the holiday that tries so damned hard to be another Christmas - but I personally just can't get past all the ugly pastel decorations. While going through a box of old cards and letters recently I came across this curious artifact from my sordid  past...an actual letter from the Easter Bunny - addressed to me from a P.O. Box in Wilkes-Barre, PA.Apparently, this rabbit (aka my good friend) lives in Bunny Land and can take time out from his duties–preparing for this long trip–to write to ME. He knows I've been good? He also dispenses free medical advice as you can see for yourself below.

Well, I never did get baskets of candy after I figured out it was all a lie - but somehow this letter has magically stayed with me throughout the years as a reminder of that childhood innocence and gullibility that we all lose somewhere along the way to adulthood. Happy Easter season, kids – enjoy the Peeps and the hollow rabbits. It's gonna be over before you know it.

The Wonder Book of Christmas

One of the last times I was back home, I packed a bunch of my childhood books into my suitcase including a few Christmas titles - THE WONDER BOOK OF CHRISTMAS was one of my favorites.

I just though I'd share this adorable opening spread with my readers. This is my WONDER BOOK...signed "Douglas". How cute is that?

I long for the days when the holidays were filled with Wonder. Maybe next life? In the mean time, I'll just enjoy them for what they are...

Christmas is like magic

It sure is with this magical View-Master ad. (click on image to enlarge) I wonder if kids today would be excited to get a View-Master for Christmas? Probably not, and how very sad that is.

A jolly holiday with NANNY & THE PROFESSOR

Here's a special Easter re-post of one of my favorites. I hope you do enjoy this the second time around.

Bcak when ABC needed a replacement for THE FLYING NUN, they turned to AJ Carothers, a writer for MY THREE SONS and Disney (THE HAPPIEST MILLIONAIRE, EMIL AND THE DETECTIVES). Carothers took one part MARY POPPINS, one part BEWITCHED plus a little pinch of FAMILY AFFAIR and gave us NANNY AND THE PROFESSOR. This short-lived (54 episodes) sitcom starred British actress Juliet Mills as Phoebe Figalilly, better known as Nanny. This Disney-influenced mini-classic is best remembered for it's groovy theme song composed by Steve Zuckerman & Fred Calvert, and performed by The Addrisi Brothers.

"Soft and sweet, wise and wonderful


Oooh, our mystical, magical Nanny


Since the day that Nanny came to stay with us


Fantastic things keep happening


Is there really magic in the things she does?


Or is love the only magic thing that Nanny brings?


You know our Nanny showed us


You can make the impossible happen


Nanny told us
Have a little bit of faith and lots of love


Phoebe Figalilly is a silly name


And so many silly things keep happening


What is this magic thing about Nanny


Is it love....or is it magic?"



In the pilot, Miss Figalilly arrived from the UK and is hired as housekeeper and governess for the Everett family.

Professor Harold Everett (Richard Long) is a widower with three children in need of guidance: Hal (David Doremus), Butch (Trent Lehman), and Prudence (Kim Richards).

Nanny almost instantly won over the family's hearts with her magical powers. She could talk to the animals, had ESP, had climate control capabilities as a harp is gently plucked over the soundtrack.The show was adapted into a series of three paperback novels by William Johnston, published in 1970: Nanny and the Professor, What Hath Nanny Wrought? and The Bloop Box .
A NANNY AND THE PROFESSOR comic bookwas published by Dell Comics in the early 70s.

After leaving primetime, the concept returned to ABC on Saturday mornings via the ABC SATURDAY SUPERSTAR MOVIE.

Cougarish Juliet Mills later married TV hunk Maxwell Cauldfield (Miles Colby on THE COLBYS) and then appeared on the campy NBC soap PASSIONS as 300-year-old witch.

Richard Long died in 1974 at the age of 47. David Doremus no longer acts, but lives Los Angeles. Sadly, Trent Lehman committed suicide in 1982 at the age of 20. Kim Richards appeared in a string of NBC series and in several Disney movies including a cameo the recent WITCH MOUNTAIN remake. Rumor has it she later appeared on some reality show, but that has yet to be confirmed. I'm hoping for a NANNY AND THE PROFESSOR dvd release some day soon.

Kidsploitation: To Market, To Market

Shipped home a bunch of my favorite books from my childhood. This one was about two chickens who went grocery shopping. I used to read this over and over. Is it any wonder why I'm vegan today?

45 Years of A Charlie Brown Christmas

There's been so much written about this award-winning classic already (both online and in the "real" world), that there's not much of anything I can say that hasn't already been said.

I could go on about the characters, the sad little tree, the commercialism of Christmas or the wonderful Vince Guaraldi soundtrack. But I won't.

I could also comment on the religious aspect of the show - since it's one of the rare instances of Christian propaganda that seems to be accepted and tolerated by even the most ardent believers in separation of church and entertainment. But I won't go there either, even though I just did. ;)

I could trace it's broadcast history and talk about how it's been edited (or some say "censored") over the years, but you can get all that on Wikipedia. I just wanna share some great old TV Guide ads and thank the late great Charles Schulz, Bill Melendez and the aforementioned Mr. Guaraldi for creating a simple, wonderful half-hour of animation that has defined how people think about Christmas for the past 45 years. In the words of Lucy Van Pelt, "Charlie Brown is a blockhead, but he did get a nice tree".

From Pee-Wee to Peanuts

A year ago I had a few good friends over to watch some Christmas specials. We ended up watching SEVEN in a row. That's right SEVEN!!! We started with PEE-WEE'S PLAYHOUSE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL - the 1988 CBS special with the best guest line-up ever: Frankie Avalon, Charo, Cher, The Del Rubio Triplets, Annette Funicello, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Whoopi Goldberg, Magic Johnson, Grace Jones, kd lang, Little Richard, Joan Rivers, Dinah Shore and Oprah!
This hour-long program is possibly one of the best hours of television ever. And gayest.
Next up in our line-up was A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS (see below), followed by (in no specific order) HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS, THE NANNY CHRISTMAS SPECIAL, YEAR WITHOUT A SANTA CLAUS , RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER and THE SNOWMAN (see yesterday's blog entry). I'll have more detailed entries about most of these shows in a few days, in the meantime, here's my Peanuts entry from last year: There's been so much written about this award-winning classic already (both online and in the "real" world), that there's not much of anything I can say that hasn't already been said. I could go on about the characters, the sad little tree, the commercialism of Christmas or the wonderful Vince Guaraldi soundtrack. But I won't.

I could also comment on the religious aspect of the show - since it's one of the rare instances of Christian propaganda that seems to be accepted and tolerated by even the most ardent believers in separation of church and entertainment. But I won't go there either, even though I just did. ;)

I could trace it's broadcast history and talk about how it's been edited (or some say "censored") over the years, but you can get all that on Wikipedia. I just wanna share some great old TV Guide ads and thank the late great Charles Schulz, Bill Melendez and the aforementioned Mr. Guaraldi for creating a simple, wonderful half-hour of animation that has defined how people think about Christmas for the past 43 years. In the words of Lucy Van Pelt, "Charlie Brown is a blockhead, but he did get a nice tree".

BLOODY BIRTHDAY

For Earth Day (and my birthday week), here's something recycled from last year. Renjoy!

For my friend Tony's birthday, we got together with him and a bunch of his painfully cute friends to eat pasta and watch BLOODY BIRTHDAY, a little-known 1981 horror film directed by Ed Hunt. (The director of such gems as UFOs ARE REAL, STARSHIP INVASION and one episode of NBC's GREATEST HEROES OF THE BIBLE).    The story begins in 1970, as three babies are born during a total eclipse. Apparently when the sun and moon team up to block Saturn - any infants that a born instantly become "demon seeds" - without a conscience. Good to know.Fast forward to 1980 and the three babies have now blossomed into the brattiest kids in town. As preparations begin for their big 10th birthday party, strange things begin to happen in the town of Meadowdale or Fernwood or whatever. Think VILAGE OF THE DAMNED on a smaller scale.

First a teen-age couple are brutally killed while having poorly-lit sex in a cemetery plot, setting off a string of ghastly random and Rube Goldberg-esque deaths. Then we meet our unsavory trio : Curtis, a young Stephen Colbert lookalike; Debbie, a dead ringer for a child beauty pageant loser; and some quiet, bowl-cut blond kid who takes orders from the other two. These three madcap mini-MacGyvers manage to turn any found object (jump ropes, skateboards, shovels, baseball bats, etc.) into a murder weapon and soon the deaths begin to add up. Debbie is quite the young entrepreneur, as she charges the neighborhood boys a quarter to watch her sister Beverly (Julie Brown - who goes full T & A) dress and undress through a peep hole. Debbie's dad is the local sheriff, but not for long - as he becomes victim number two. Two constant targets of the trio's shenanigans are camel-toe sporting amateur astrologist (and sometimes school teacher) Joyce and her misunderstood little brother Timmy. The whippersnappers try to run Joyce over in a junkyard with a remote-controlled car (thanks to the bespectacled young inventor Curtis), and then try to make her seem crazy and paranoid when four-eyed Curtis makes her believe that he poisoned the birthday cake frosting with ant killer. It looks just like the Skinny & Sweet!

Daughter of acting legend Lee - Susan Strasberg of MANITOU fame- makes a brief appearance as a schoolteacher - who looks just like Andrea Thomas from ISIS, but sadly, she never gets the chance to transform into the Egyptian goddess before she's shot to death by Curtis- with the gun he stole from Debbie's dead dad. He's very clever, cause he wears glasses.There's a few other deaths, including Julie Brown's encounter with the wrong end of a bow & arrow - and another teen sex scene in bad lighting.

Overall, a pretty creepy and somewhat fun example of early 80s low-budget horror. It definitely helps to watch it with a gaggle of attractive young men. On my old scale of 10 "Huhs" - I'd give BLOODY BIRTHDAY a solid 8, just for have the moxie to show 10 year olds killing people with reckless abandon. The child acting is pretty believable, making me wonder about the trio of ten-year olds sitting at the table next to me at the Whole Foods cafe while I write this.

A Dougsploitation News Special Report: Whatever Happened to THE CHRISTMAS KIDS???

Another rerun from last Christmas? Damn, I must have had a lot more free time in 2008. Enjoy...Back in the 70s, TV talk show host (and future mega-producer and casino mogul) Merv Griffin hosted a few holiday-themed syndicated variety specials. One particular show that I remember fondly was 1973's MERV GRIFFIN & THE CHRISTMAS KIDS. This hour-long treat featured a bunch of popular child stars of the day like Rodney Allen Rippy, Ricky Segall and Kim Richards performing songs and hanging out with Uncle Merv and Santa.This special aired just a few times over the years, but now is one of those lost TV treasures that will probably never resurface. But maybe there's a chance of a Reunion Special featuring those tykes as adults? Now that would be an unusual and possibly unsettling social experiment. I wonder if they are all still around...So, whatever happened to THE CHRISTMAS KIDS? Well, Jack in the Box pitchman Rodney Allen Rippy has his own website and long-distance phone service. He's available for speaking engagements and is working on a reality show pilot - so he might be interested in a reunion...Ricky Segall, of THE PARTRIDGE FAMILY fame, grew up to become Reverend Richard Segall, a minister at several churches in Texas. He also had a career in gospel music, but has recently returned to LA and showbiz! Hmm...he might be game.Kim Richards was a child mega-star, appearing in everything from NANNY & THE PROFESSOR to HELLO, LARRY. In between, she made a string of ABC Afterschool Specials, TV-movies and Disney films-including the awesome WITCH MOUNTAIN films. She returned to the big screen recently in BLACK SNAKE MOAN and had a role is Disney's RACE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN remake. Oh, and she's the aunt of somebody named Paris Hilton. So, it sounds like she's gettable. Photo by Kirstin Alm.Eric Scott of THE WALTONS became a courier after the series ended, eventually worked his way up to become VP of the company. Eric still acts and makes occasional appearances at fan events. He's so in.

Mary Elizabeth McDonough, also of THE WALTONS is currently a recurring cast member of THE NEW ADVENTURES OF OLD CHRISTINE - so she's totally available!

Kejo Thomas was a child actor who appeared on one episode of POLICE WOMAN in 1976 and then resurfaced 30 years later as part of SWEATING IN THE SPIRIT - American's #1 Christian Aerobics Video! I swear I'm not making this up! I wonder which dancer is Kejo? Sounds like he's probably available.Piano prodigy Leland Greenwald is now apparently known as Dr. Leland Greenwald, MD - who still enjoys playing the piano. So he might be interested, if he's not busy performing surgery or golfing.Guitarist Randy Gray - if this is him - still rocks out in Texas. His last TV credit was a 1981 episode of LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE. Sounds like he may want to take the gig.And finally, The Robert Mitchell Boys Choir (also known as the St. Brendan's Church Choir or Bob Mitchell's Singing Boys) was founded in 1934, they were cast in over 100 films from the 1930s through the 1980s (the last being in 1981). Bob Mitchell, began his career as a moviehouse organist in 1924 at the age of 12, returned to work in the 1990s as part-time organist at The Silent Movie Theater in Los Angeles. For a 2004 interview with 92-year old Bob Mitchell go here. Not sure if the choir boys are still around, though.Well, there you have it - an update on all THE CHRISTMAS KIDS - all grown up to be executives, preachers, aerobics dancers, doctors and rock stars! So there's a ray of hope that they can reunite for the reunion special that exists only in my head. As for Merv, he's no longer with us.

Oh - and as a EXTRA special treat here's my friend Jerry Sharell performing "New York, New York" on THE MERV GRIFFIN show in 1982.