I've already gone into Don's dislike of the title "Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films" after my insisting on removing the word "Films" after each genre. In 1974 he tried to change it by replacing the "Films" and dumping the "Fantasy" category altogether. A bad idea and he finally relented, but at a meeting he awarded me a membership scroll with the bogus title on it just to make a point . Los Angeles blurb on Count Dracula Society .
HALLOWEEN IN HELL
All Hallow's Eve approached and it was back to the residence of Bob and Kathy Burns for another spectacular Halloween show. Each year had to best the one before, and what property was hottest at the moment? The Exorcist! Hell, we were already ahead of the game with Rick Baker who worked on the movie and would be re-creating the Linda Blair make-up! Rick not only had the make-up in the bag, but costumes and even a wife to play the part! Both Elaine Baker and Kathy Burns would be sharing the taxing role for the next few nights.
If the costume he wore looks familiar, the body came from the Schlockenthropus in Schlock and the hands from the killer baby in It's Alive. All of it turns up a few years later in the cantina scene in Star Wars.
But it takes Mike Minor, Tom Scherman and Al Jermanis to design and build a practical, efficient set to pull it off. Cast and crew photo . L.A. Times photo . You can watch the entire show HERE.
Bob OKs Set Construction
Elaine Baker
Rick Baker & Robert Alvarez
Kathy Gives Charlie a Taste of Her Powers
Kathy Summons the Demon!
SCRAPS FROM '74
Apparently, another year was coming to a close. I finally got to see the Stones in Concert. All the cons had been conned, but there were still a few stones left un-turned.
OTHER CONVENTIONS
I had been doing so-so filler art for zines a couple years that faneds were publishing with greater frequency. Some friends in the UK were doing a Star Trek Convention in Leicester and put one of the cartoons on their program cover. The convention was organized by the Star Trek Action Group (S.T.A.G.) with guests James Doohan and George Takei. It was reported by the BBC as the first ever Star Trek Convention in the UK. Little did I know I'd be attending the same convention a year later.
Comic-Con was going into their fourth year and already making headways into other media than the printed page. I created a program and ticket for the premiere screening of "Last Days of Man on Earth" that was screened during the convention. Hmmmm, wonder if anybody still has their ticket?
AND FINALLY. . .
Tom Scherman was not only a great guy but a terrific model builder. His main love was Disney's "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" of which he constructed many models of the nautilus submarine of various sizes. Obsessive is the word to use about Tom; his incredibly detailed models were a marvel to behold. So completely obsessed, he had modified his entire apartment into what appeared to be a room aboard the Nautilus itself (for a close-up, click the pic>). Last time I visited his apartment, he had just completed another outstanding model. This was a 6 foot long cutaway of the Nautilus, of course, detailed beyond imagination. There were handles on sinks, toilets, dials, even objects on Captain Nemo's desk. We packed the sub for shipping to Disney Florida where I would like to think it's still on display.
For more information on Tom, click ME. 1975 - SHOW BIZ AT LAST
One thing about the Count Dracula Society being the only game in town, was meeting any and everyone who had an interest in the genre. A monthly outing where both the bookish and media fans enjoyed each other's company.
One such member was Lorelei King on whom I was completely smitten. We dated for maybe a year, but clearly were on borrowed time. She was a lot more madcap than I would ever be; had this odd dream about becoming a bartender in Paris and was packed with enough moxie to actually split on a whim and do just that.
Somewhere along the way, we lost touch and that was that; till 1999 anyway while watching Notting Hill and who do I see playing opposite Julia Roberts but Lorelei. Odd, she had always forbid me to take her picture, yet she had wound up as a leading radio, TV and motion picture personality in the UK!
On things smitten, one might include Don Reed's ability to wax enthusiastically on the merits of Robert Redford. And thus, went about assembling photos and material to actually publish a book on the films of Redford. Realizing he had neither the talent nor ambition to actually write the thing, assembled a number of friends to actually do the work - yes, including Lorelei King.
I did the first four chapters and a staff of 2 dozen others contributed the rest of the material, did the editing and proofing whereupon Don put his name. The only reason I still have my copy is Lorelei's autograph reading "To Alan, who is handsomer than Robert Redford and smarter than Dr. Reed. Lorelei".
The book was dedicated to Gayna Shireen Reed who for several years Don referred to as his "girlfriend". Gayna, I think, was basically a well meaning, likable if somewhat delusional gal, who like millions of others (including myself) came to Hollywood in search of that intangible commodity known as "Fame". Or, if not fame, then a smattering of fuzzy bits and a good time.
You can't say she didn't try though; from singing, to girly pictures to softcore porn yet both the "Fame" and the fuzzy bits remained elusive. Her film career was thankfully brief, culminating in the cinematic triumph Wham Bam, Thank You Mr. Spaceman. She even made the cover of Newsweek> Oh yeh, she hated the use of "Reed" in her name, as it was coincidentally the name of her ex-husband but Don insisted.
We dated on and off; I did some photo work for her, resumés and such but we lost touch after I left Hollywood. I was crushed hearing she died horribly of a brain tumor.
Here for you, dear reader is a from "Wham Bam, Thank You Mr. Spaceman", showing both Gayna and Science Fiction (and porn for that matter, at its worst).
NOTE: This clip may be construed as porn by many, Sci-Fi by some and trash by all. Not to be viewed by anyone sensitive to either. If you have any heart at all, you will be embarrassed on every conceivable level.
The item you see Gayna holding above was the Academy's award statuette of the Metropolis Robot created by Jim Rumph who was also creating the statuettes for the Count Dracula Society.
Jim was struck by an auto and killed in 1993.
The Academy also put me in touch with an unusual fellow named Joseph R. Mass who ran a graphics business out of his apartment and was handling advertising for a fly-by-night film company called "Cougar Releasing". The gist was repackaging foreign films for American distribution, usually at drive-ins in the south where what was on the screen was of no particular importance. A lot of films came our way from any number of countries; films so obscure they still haven't appeared on IMDB. We would design advertising campaigns, posters, photo sets and ship this stuff out of state. Advertising in Hollywood was so expensive, it was just easier and cheaper to make money on films out of state.
But who knew if the bosses were actually making money? They were continually creating businesses, going into default and pushing money from one place to another.
They guys were so cheap, they wouldn't pay for typesetting. Instead I did entire advertising campaigns with rub-on type. The entire movie credits for "The Legend of Sea Wolf" starring Chuck Connors and Barbara Bach was done with rub-on letters. Poster art by Joe Musso. The disappointing part was after we had done all the work and played the movie somewhere, they would sell the property to someone else who would recreate their own material.
Did I mention these guys were cheap? They had an office station wagon I used to pick up film prints from the train station. There was nothing wrong with the car itself, but they refused to buy new tires and I always carried from 2 to 3 spares wherever I went as sure as shootin' a tire would blow out on the way and another on the way back!
I had to do the entire credits of a movie (Legend of Sea Wolf)using rub-down letters and used a box of colored pencils and some rub-on letters for a one-sheet for Baker's Hawk.>
One of the interesting characters who frequented the office was Hubie Kerns, an old Hollywood stunt man who had seen better days. He had been Adam West's double on the Batman TV series but now was just another delusional guy like the rest of us hoping something positive would happen.
One heart-pounding episode had Hubie and I going to pick up 2 large 35mm Simplex projectors in his vintage pickup truck. We got to the location, parking downward on a steep hill. It took three of us to get the projector into the truck and while Hubie finished up the business end in the house, I waited in the truck when suddenly, the gear popped and the car began rolling forward. I grabbed the wheel, steering out of the path of the car in front and went careening down the hill. By the time I'd climbed into the drivers side I was at the bottom of the hill. Hubie had left the keys in the car, so I started the thing and brought it back to the top of the hill. Hubie's only comment was "Praise the Lord!".
Thankfully, we had a cutie running the front office; Sherry Hardin was such a doll. Yes, another delusional moviestar wannabe, but a total sweetheart; perfect fodder for the Hollywood casting couch. She too had tested the unseemly waters of exploitation films: Hollywood High only notable as an early Hy Pike film who I would be meeting years down the road and Ten Violent Women from the Ted Mikels' crap factory. I would also be meeting Ted a few decades hence.
In the meantime, we had some fun. One of her miserable jobs was endlessly transcribing movie soundtracks that foreign countries would use for dubbing or subtitles. Whenever we couldn't understand the dialogue, we'd invent our own:
"Stick a saber up your ass, put on a paper hat and walk off the end of the pier backwards, you bastard!"
"Oui mon Capitain"!
We'd spend much of the day in hysterics.
In the end, the bosses were not only cheap, but crooks. Creating and collapsing businesses, pushing money from here to there and at last, owing millions. One morning I arrived at the office to find Sherry standing quizzical outside the locked doors and opening the place to find it completely empty! Not a desk, chair nor paperclip remained. Not only had they skipped with our paychecks, but all the taxes taken from our checks had gone into their pockets, but that's another story.
Gullible Hubie was a dupe believing these guys would include him in any film productions and snubbed us wee folk who thought he could have at least tried to get our paychecks. We had the last laugh, as the bosses suddenly left the state and Hubie eating crow.
He worked on a half dozen flicks over the next 20 years, then croaked in 1999. His son, Hubie, Jr. dropped the "Jr." continuing his own stunt career far superior to anything his father could have imagined (including a goodly number of genre films!).
Comic-Con was going into their fourth year and already making headways into other media than the printed page. I created a program and ticket for the premiere screening of "
