Pop Culture from an Alternate Dimension

        The Munsters  was a hugely popular monster-comedy tv series in the sixties and re-runs. It had many remakes through the years, including a movie made by Rob Zombie, where he (of course) cast his wife, Sheri Moon Zombie) in the role that Yvonne De Carlo played in the television series. However, De Carlo was not originally cast as Herman's wife, Lily, in fact the matriarch wasn't originally named Lily.        The pilot that was originally filmed was quite different, indeed. Joan Marshall played Phoebe Munster and looked a lot like Morticia Addams, son Eddie was much more of a snarling wolf boy and was played by Happy Derman before being replaced by Butch Patrick. Fred Gwynne was Herman Munster from the start as well as Al Lewis as Grandpa. Beverley Owens from the series was also in the original pilot but was replaced part way through the first season. The recognizable theme music by Jack Marshall was not used originally used, the house ...

      Before January was through, I wanted to add one more pairing of the World's Finest. Sadly, we could have never had a meeting of the television versions. George Reeves played the title character in The Adventures of Superman from 1952 to 1958. Adam West was Batman on the television series from 1966 to 1968. As fun as it would have to see these two paragons of virtue join each other, Reeves died seven years before the West series started.       Apparently, I'm not the only person to think about this. Look at Alex Ross' interpretation of the meeting.   

    This is one I have thought about for a while and when I heard about Teri Garr's passing, I figured I would continue in earnest. Star Trek's second season ended with a "backdoor pilot" for a possible series that could have been America's answer to Doctor Who. While travelling back to 1968, the crew of the Enterprise meet an enigmatic character named Gary Seven. The episode is mostly about him and is actually an origin story for a possible series. The episode even ends with Spock saying that "Mr. Seven and Miss Lincoln (Garr's character) have some interesting experiences in store." It was not, however, picked up as a series so I imagined a DVD cover if the series was made and added some ideas of what stories be used. I also figure Gold Key would do a comic of it so I created an imaginary 1960s comic cover as well. Here is fan made opening credits for the series that doesn't exist, to give you an idea: Assignment Earth Opening (Improved)

  I planned on having this be my post on the 12th but my MS Paint and Microsoft Word skills took a while to make the characters. This is based on the runners-up for the roles of Batman and Robin for the sixties television series: Lyle Waggoner and Peter Deyell. I also found that Gig Young was considered for the Joker, Suzanne Pleshette for Catwoman and Mickey Rooney for the Penguin. I knew then I had to use it for this blog. Here are the screen tests for the leads:  Batman screen tests

  To continue with the 1960s I present another movie from 1969. Unlike the last one that was written, produced and directed by Anthony Newley to showcase himself, this one was written, produced and directed by Carl Reiner to showcase his friend Dick Van Dyke. The Comic  is about a silent film comedian narrating his life and talking about his bad breaks, the flashbacks however show that he was the problem. The "modern day" parts are drama, but it has clips of the character's old movies where you can see Van Dyke doing classic slapstick. Michelle Lee played Billy's wife and Mickey Rooney played a fellow silent comedian. Here is a clip that shows some of "Billy Bright's" work:  Dick van Dyke - The Comic (1969) - video Dailymotion

  I've done fictional bands of '80s before and now I have thirteen fictional '60s bands. Harry Shearer, Michael McKean and Christopher appear again as Spinal Tap (before they went heavy metal) and those three are also here as The Folksmen. Eric Idle's Beatles parody, The Rutles, had to be included. Eric Idle also makes an appearance with Peter Noone as London's Bridges from an episode of "Laverne and Shirley". From the tv series "Gilligan's Island" I used their Beatles parody, The Mosquitoes. I have Frankie Avalon as Potato Bug from Bikini Beach . I chose a different Wonders song instead of the title track of That Thing You Do . From other movies about fictional musicians I used Grace Of My Heart , Eddie and the Cruisers , Walk Hard, the Dewey Cox Story and  Inside Llewyn Davis.  Peter Cook makes an appearance as Drimble Wedge singing (?) "Bedazzled" from the movie of the same name. The Singing Sixties - YouTube

I have a feeling very few people know about this movie. I only knew about it because my mother owned the soundtrack on LP. Two years after Anthony Newley was in the family musical Doctor Dolittle  he produced, directed and co-wrote this musical that was rated X when it was released in 1969. The full title is Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?  which is a very sixties title. In 1964 there was Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb as well as The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies . In 1967 there was  The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade . If you have seen the Monkees movie Head,  directed by Bob Rafaelson, you know the kind of surreal movies made in the late sixties. This is very surreal but it seems like Newley was basing it on personal experiences....