Santa Claus Brunch!

Today is the first of two weekends that the Suburban World Theater will run Santa Claus Brunch. It started out as a collection of Christmas cartoons, but I took out any religious ones and then realized that Santa was in most of the ones left, including a live action version of "The Night Before Christmas" from 1947. Ho, ho, ho! Santa transcends any specific religion. He's pagan, I think, and I love that. Also scary to some young kids. Love it. Ho, ho, ho! Or the bottom line -- Santa is omnipresent this time of year, a fun part of Christmas and may attract brunchers. Click on the poster to enlarge so you can read the cartoon titles.

A minor, um, glitch at the Suburban World is that they use a 5-slot, revolving tray DVD player. By coincidence it looks like the first DVD player I ever had, still have, that plays OK but is pretty old now. Anyway, there is no simple way to keep track of which DVD disc is in which slot. So while they start with the new Cartoon Show each week, once it repeats and ends the machine switches right on to the next disc that is some previous show. If the customers don't complain about seeing last week's show, I guess they weren't there, and if they do complain I assume someone will push a button on the DVD player and get back on track!

I had been giving the Suburban World a different poster to use at their website each week that listed specific cartoons on each disc. The idea was of course to run the cartoons that are advertised. That way a patron could check the website and be assured he would see an all-new show. However, the theater is not necessarily running the advertised cartoons at any given time, for the reason just explained. Because of this situation I created this generic poster they can use all the time to promote Cartoon Brunch.

I gave the Parkway a copy of Santa Claus cartoons to run on their screen silent during an upcoming party, I believe a high school reunion party. The cartoons will be wall paper! The theater has permanent theater seating except for an area of movable couches down front, so I guess that is where the party will center. I assume the lights will be on but don't really get how it might work. If it doesn't work so well, they can always turn off the films! Because the theater owner also owns the attached Mexican restaurant PEPITOS, patrons are permitted to bring wine and beer into the theater after 7 at night or during closed private parties. I wonder how they worked that zoning use out?

About three weeks ago the Parkway's Matinee series was interrupted by a special film festival that came up suddenly, which is why the dates were pushed back a week for the last four shows. Two, yes two, kid birthday parties showed up to see the movies. As compensation that must have generated some good will, they gave them all a free Mexican buffet brunch that was already set up for the restaurant!

The Parkway's second Matinee series starts Jan. 2-3. The film line-up is almost set and will be discussed next week. Here is the poster for the first show. Note that I had to change the top title from Saturday Matinee to Parkway Matinee because they expanded to Saturday and Sunday shows.


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National Gorilla Suit Day

I have started preparing for the big end-of-the-month holiday. End of January, that is. January 31 is National Gorilla Suit Day, which fortunately falls on a Saturday this year. Any skeptics that there is such an animal may look to Wikipedia to find: "The holiday was concocted by MAD cartoonist Don Martin in a 1964 paperback Don Martin Bounces Back!. The most notable story in the tome revolves around a hapless fellow named Fester Bestertester, who dares to mock the concept of National Gorilla Suit Day and is thus repeatedly pummeled by gorillas. The holiday was recently promoted on comic book writer Mark Evanier's news from me blog until Don Martin's widow request that all references to the holiday be removed in late 2007.

"Gorilla suit performance involves pantomime, wearing a heavy costume, broad physical comedy skills, and a partial suspension of disbelief, while still playing on the very artifice involved. In this respect, gorilla suits are not far removed from puppetry. Jim Henson utilized typical gorilla suits, and never a full-bodied gorilla Muppet, in several productions. The person inside the gorilla suit is often uncredited."

Now that I've got your interest, please go watch my gorilla suit video. This video was made possible by the recent acquisition of a good quality White Gorilla trailer and the 1937 Three Mesquiteers western Come On, Cowboys. Ray "Crash" Corrigan is one of the Mesquiteer stars and gets to use his famous gorilla suit in the film in a most unusual way. Crash is pictured above and on the right here.

Ray's career in Hollywood began as a physical fitness instructor and physical culture trainer to the stars. In the early 1930s he did stunts and bit-parts. Many of his early roles were in ape costumes - for example, as a Gorilla in Tarzan and His Mate (1934) and an "Orangopoid" in the original Flash Gordon serial. In 1936 he got his break with roles in two Republic serials, The Vigilantes Are Coming and Undersea Kingdom (in the main starring role). On the basis of this, Republic signed him to a Term Player Contract, running from 25 May 1936 to 24 May 1938. He was cast as one the trio in the Three Mesquiteers series of films and starred in 24 in all. He left Republic in 1938 in a dispute over pay.

At Monogram Pictures, he began a new series of films - The Range Busters (a cheap copy of the Three Mesquiteers) - with a character of his own name. Ray starred in 20 of the 24 films in this series between 1940 and 1943. Following this, his on screen work largely returned to appearing in ape costumes - for example, the title roles in Nabonga (1944), White Pongo (1945) and as a prehistoric sloth in Unknown Island (1948). The original gorilla "mask" seen in films like The Ape (1940) was replaced with a subtler design with a more mobile jaw. In 1948 he sold his gorilla suits and provided training to Steve Calvert a Ciro's bartender. Calvert stepped in Corrigan's pawprints beginning with a Jungle Jim film. Despite reports to the contrary, Calvert and Corrigan never appeared together in ape costume. Since both Corrigan and Calvert eschewed screen credit as gorillas, credits are often confused. Any appearance of the "Corrigan suit" after 1948 is Calvert.

In 1950 Corrigan had a television show called Crash Corrigan's Ranch and was planning a television series with his old associate Max Terhune called Buckskin Rangers. Corrigan's last film was playing the title role of It! The Terror from Beyond Space.

I am planning two local events for Gorilla Suit Day(s) -- January 30-31: A Gorilla Brunch at the Suburban World Theatre that gives away Free Bananas and a showing of White Gorilla at the Parkway Theater. "Wear a Gorilla Suit and Get in Free!" If they can't get some media coverage for this...!

Here is an early poster for the Parkway. The good news is that the Parkway is starting a second Matinee series on Jan. 2 around the serial Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe and at the same time expanding the shows to Sundays at noon!



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Horizons Bright!

While little specific has happened this past week to trumpet about, much progress is on the horizon. Attendance at Cartoon Brunch is ballooning out as good word of mouth gets around. Here is the poster for week #4, Dec. 5 and 6. The Suburban World cuts the cartoons short on Sundays when a Vikings football game starts at noon, but fortunately the Vikings have done so well this season that they are being rescheduled for prime time. Today the game was moved to 3:15 to be the main late afternoon game that the whole country sees, and next week the Vikings play Arizona on Sunday evening. Who cares? Well, it's my team and I'm happy, and it means more Sunday brunchers can see more cartoons. Watch for details about Santa Claus brunch soon.

On the Saturday Matinee series at the Parkway Theater... they want to continue! One of the owners writes: "People love them and so do we! I got a call today from an older gentleman and he had to tell me how much he enjoy's the Saturday noon show's. It was a great compliment and I think if we keep playing these for a longer period of time the greater it will be. Thank you so much for sharing such a wonderful series with us, it has been awesome!!!!" We are meeting Friday to discuss plans, what to show, how to increase attendance and so on. Here is a generic Matinee poster I will give them. It may hint at a few of the features and the serial I will suggest. Go for the most popular shows is my motto and Flash Gordon tops the serial charts.

The Parkway Matinees Parkway Matinees have four more weeks to run. I regret not putting in "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians" or an all-cartoon Christmas program. I have not been attending most of them and so cannot report on attendance. I will try to catch some of "Gulliver's Travels" next weekend. Seems like it should do well.

Another development this week is creation of posters for some Christmas shows. Here is one. Whether anyone has time to notice and book them....

Click twice on any poster to enlarge.

My word search experiment for Cartoon Brunch has not yet worked. If you google Cartoon Brunch, my other blog site with that name does not yet appear. As discussed last week, this blog shows up because of the Nov. 7 post titled Cartoon Brunch.


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Google Search... & Find!

Here is another view of the interior of the Suburban World Theater. The arched ceiling has hundreds of twinkle lights to simulate the night sky (many burned out!) and a cloud machine. More important, the food and friendly service was great at the Cartoon Brunch today and crowds are growing with more children. The owner is committed to making a go of it and is finding new promotion opps on the web such as this one which features a map of the location. Don liked my ideas for upcoming shows, including a special Santa Claus Brunch to run two weekends. The Suburban World
website is using my poster of the week and a link to the Youtube video I made.

This past week I was thinking about how Café Roxy showed up in Google and Yahoo searches about a week after I started the website. Who would actually google those two words besides me -- don't know! You can go google it yourself and Café Roxy has several links right at the top of each search engine result. Hooray for me! Big deal....

I was also thinking how "Cartoon Brunch" has an even better chance of catching on across the country. A brunch is a fun, special weekend activity and cartoons are still fun. Put the two together in someone's head and the new concept is a home run, or at least worth looking into and maybe trying. I briefly thought I needed a new website called Cartoon Brunch just to catch anyone googling the idea. Of course they won't think to google unless they first hear about it somewhere like discussed on the radio, TV or read it in some high profile blog. Then later they might google to find the website.

Then I noticed a week ago that some links from a Café Roxy search referred to this blog you are reading now. I'm not sure how that works but I won't turn it down! Therefore, I reasoned, all I needed was a blog called Cartoon Brunch to catch any googlers. Done! You can go read my rushed together first Cartoon Brunch Blog! It may be the first and last entry, because I don't need a separate blog. After finishing and posting I noticed that a google search on Cartoon Brunch turns up my Café Roxy blog post of last week! Of, well. If anyone does read Cartoon Brunch Blog there are links to Café Roxy website.

Here is an excerpt from Cartoon Brunch Blog, in hopes that I may have stated the concept concisely:

"So what is Cartoon Brunch anyhoo? If you have an eating emporium, create a special brunch menu for Saturday and Sunday. If you have a coffee house, then coffee drinks and donuts may be enough. It may take some effort to put in a large screen TV connected to a DVD player. If you are a Sports Bar, all done! Now all you need is a free poster that you can take right off my cartoon poster page. Drag any poster to your computer desk top, click and it will be ready to print full size. You can add your show date info in the empty area at the bottom. Display the poster a week in advance, talk up the Cartoon Brunch with all your regular customers, send out press releases, put the news on your own website, etc. Saturday rolls around and you start the cartoons at a set time. People come and go, order food, enjoy films and depart after they have seen enough. Each show runs one hour and repeats twice on a single DVD. You can re-start a show in seconds (every two hours) and let it run until the last customer departs."

FYI, my googling found a restaurant or bar actively doing cartoon brunches and free evening movies: EatBar in Arlington, VA. You can go check out their menu and film programs. The Saturday brunch showcases short cartoons from Disney, Warners, Lantz, etc., while Sunday brunch at 11 am features big family movies like Shrek, Dumbo and Charlotte's Web. This is more ambitious than my project to encourage coffee houses to show vintage public domain films. EatBar must be doing well to accommodate royalties for public showings, although that may be more affordable than I suspect and certainly something I should look into.


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With Matinee Memories!

Ideas have evolved since my visit to the Suburban World's Cartoon Brunch last Saturday. The 6 or 7 color Warner Bros. cartoons that were running when I walked in were not a satisfactory show because they were all too similar. Cartoons were made to be shown one at a time in theaters, and never meant to be watched one after another. At the very least, mix up the characters, studios, etc., for variety. The cook or waitress can't change discs every other cartoon. The owner, Don Driggs, agreed and wanted more vintage cartoons. This was a huge relief that he did not want current TV cartoons! He seemed pleased when he began the sample show I had brought that started with the silent era cartoon "Felix in Astronomeous." Black and white cartoons alternated with color; characters like Popeye, Betty Boop and Superman alternated with non-character cartoons like "Song of the Birds."

I walked in with a further idea to expand Cartoon Brunch into Matinee Brunch over the next few months. I included on my cartoon disc an 8-minute promo for Matinee Brunch that was similar to my "Matinee Jr. for Libraries" clip on Youtube, with the Flash Gordon serial chapter ending, W.C. Fields, Laurel and Hardy, Balloon Land, Popeye, 3 Stooges, etc. clips. In fact, the promo was identical except for shots of the Suburban World and "Coming Soon" blurbs.

The promo clips went over very well because they were short, fun, added variety and addressed the "short attention span" syndrome. They worked so well that I had second thoughts whether this audience would sit through an entire 2-reel comedy. Would they watch all of W.C. Fields' The Dentist? Would they have more fun seeing the golfing segment one week and the tall woman having her tooth pulled a second week? Wouldn't they have more fun watching 3 minutes of a serial chapter ending than the entire serial chapter? Thus evolved:

Cartoon Brunch with Matinee Memories!

The name will remain Cartoon Brunch because it is simple and catchy. Most people enjoy weekend brunches. Most kids enjoy cartoons. Most families like new family activities and thus will try Cartoon Brunch at least once. Each one-hour show will include around 7 cartoons plus two "Matinee Memories" like coming attraction trailers to horror films, serial chapter endings, comedy gags, western stunts and whatever I think will entertain from the vast library of public domain films.

A promo for the new Suburban World Cartoon Brunch is now available for viewing! It includes some nice interior shots of the theater plus a mini-brunch show with both cartoon snippets and "Matinee Memory" clips of a chapter ending for Flash Gordon and the ever-popular Giant Claw Trailer. My thanks to the Woody Woodpecker public domain cartoon "Pantry Panic" for the image of Woody eating!

Cartoon Brunch may be the perfect program to build return audiences. Not everyone loves a diet of 100% cartoons week after week, but the live action trailers and short clips should spice up the menu and maintain interest over an hour as diners/viewers come and go throughout the show. That's the theory. I can test it myself by observing at the Suburban World starting next Saturday. (No brunch this week due to a special event.)



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Cartoon Brunch!

The Minneapolis Suburban World Theater, that I wrote about on Oct. 11, suddenly revived their Cartoon Brunch. The interior had been remodeled several years ago into dinner theater type seating with small tables in alcoves, and they have a kitchen as well as a full bar. Between 9am and 2pm every Saturday and Sunday the theater shows free cartoons on a giant movie screen while serving brunch. The new video projector gives a superb image.

The cartoon brunches began over two years ago. They were programmed and presented by my long-time friend David Mruz, who lives a block from the theater, and David got many of the cartoon DVDs from me. We even added serial chapters from "Undersea Kingdom" in an early attempt at what Café Roxy is programming now. The brunches became quite successful when some parent group mentioned in a newsletter that it was a great weekend activity where the kids could run up and down the aisles. It seems unlikely someone actually wrote that, but it's what David told me. The success was up to 400 diners/viewers each weekend, who all ordered food.

The brunches screeched to a halt when the kitchen staff was not increased to handle the demand. When you wait 40 minutes for an omelette you are not likely to return! The audience also died when summer came. There were problems with the films as well. Which disc was shown when? Most audiences don't want to watch an hour of Popeye, etc., at one sitting. Some had racial jokes. Many were copyrighted and should not have been shown in public. The cook ran the films. While I had attended one cartoon brunch, I live a half hour away and did not pay much attention to what David was trying to do each weekend.

So the brunches are suddenly back! I went to the one today and talked to the owner, Don Driggs, about programming future shows. As I walked in, color Warner Bros. cartoons were playing from one of the Looney Tunes discs. They kept playing one after another, some good and some bad, but all color Warners. Don wanted more vintage cartoons, so he ran the sample show I brought that contained the cartoons listed on the first poster (shown on left).

I can provide a different poster each week for him to post on the Suburban World Website, and also to print out for his front door. I list the specific cartoons in each show so that repeat customers can be assured they won't see cartoons they saw at the brunch last month or even last week. This should make it easier for the projectionist! All cartoons are in the public domain and so are legal to show. All are top quality. None are duds. None have racial jokes. I alternate color with black and white cartoons. Each show has a few rare or lesser-seen cartoons like "The Haunted Ship," "Song of the Birds" and "Humpty Dumpty" on this program.

Because the average diner only stays an hour, I only include about an hour of cartoons and then repeat them to make up a two-hour DVD that the projectionist only needs to re-start twice at most.

Apparently we have a deal for me to supply future shows. Because it is a bohemian, trendy area, young people are always willing to try something new. The popular Uptown Bar, next door to the theater, closed last week to be torn down and something or other rebuilt in the spot. The Uptown served breakfast, so the Suburban World is ripe for success. Don's main challenge is to get free publicity in the form of a newspaper article or TV spot. We'll see what he comes up with.




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Post Halloween Apocalypse!

Or watch classic horror year round!

I missed posting on Halloween, so here's a belated one. These notes were made for The Bijou Blog, and please check it out, but then cut because of space down to just the House on Haunted Hill review. Other contributors to the Bijou Blog Halloween post are Bob Campbell and Victoria Balloon, who meshed it into a single voice.

Johnny Legend
Behind the fearful beard lurks an American Rockabilly musician, actor, wrestling manager and film producer and archivist. Johnny released dozens of obscure cartoons, exploitation films, low-budget horror flicks and his popular Sleazemania series through Rhino Home Video. His rare and restored videos are currently ballyhooed at Legend House and Raunchy Tonk Video. Here are three Legend(ary) releases of Johnny's to chill your Halloween.

“House on Haunted Hill”
This high quality, 50th Anniversary Edition is presented in widescreen by Johnny Legend, a video pioneer who released low-budget horror and exploitation films in the early days of Rhino Home Video. William Castle’s 1959 thriller still shocks and mystifies with ghoulish plot twists. Vincent Price invites five random guests to stay overnight in a haunted house and get $10,000 for surviving. Not all of them make it. The bonus extras are true delights starting with two trailers for House, one trumpeting the “Emergo” process (skeleton flies over audience during climax), and trailers for Vincent Price and William Castle shockers -- The Fly, Tingler, Macabre, 13 Ghosts, Mr. Sardonicus, Zotz, Straight-Jacket and more. Mr. Castle appears in many trailers to explain his latest gimmicks. Johnny himself discusses the “House” today and actress Carol Ohmart. The disc closes with Vincent Price on the Jack Benny and Red Skelton Shows and as persecuted missionary John Hayes on “TV Reader’s Digest” from 1955.

Sweeney Todd and Crimes at the Dark House
Johnny Legend loves Tod Slaughter and you will too. Never shy about appearing in his own videos, Johnny relates how he discovered Tod in the late 1960s in Los Angeles’ Cozy Theater. This bonus is followed by British horror trailers, Slaughter poster art and a rare audio of Mr. Tod as Sweeney Todd.

Tod Slaughter, affectionately known as Europe’s Horror Man, is the ultimate old-fashioned melodrama villain. He laughs maniacally as he gleefully chokes his victims... in every single film! The fiend is simply mad. Tod’s over-the-top, tongue-in-cheek villainy is not to be believed until one sees it, which has made him a cult hero among Cinephiles. In most films Slaughter is a man of wealth or position who lusts after the heroine, often gets her by lies and murder, but is foiled in the end. This is the plot of Crimes at the Dark House (1940), based on the novel “The Woman in White.” Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1936) is Slaughter’s career zenith that years later spawned the stage musical and Johnny Depp film. The maniac barber kills for money, but the detail about turning his victims into meat pies is barely hinted at. Tod as Sweeney coos: “What a lovely throat she has for the razor. How I’d love to polish her off! The razor’s nice and sharp.”

Halloween in Hell
Johnny roams Hollywood Boulevard on Halloween interviewing denizens between horror trailers, then on to talks with horror directors Tim Sullivan and Ray Dennis Steckler and cult legend Arch (Eegah!) Hall Jr. If more Johnny is not enough, how about two more Tod Slaughter films! In Murder in the Red Barn (1935), Tod not only seduces the heroine but murders and buries her, laughing all the while. The Face at the Window is the most traditional horror film of the four with a monster and mad scientist scene. Is wealthy Tod the sinister Wolf Man whose hideous face appears at windows when murder strikes? All four Tod Slaughter films are highly recommended for their exceptional quality and refreshing dementia!

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