THE MONSTER , THE GIRL, AND PHILLIP VAN ZANDT by Dave Goode

 




When I created the Phantom Gorilla with Vance Capley a major inspiration for the character was the 1941 Paramount B-Movie THE MONSTER AND THE GIRL. Produced by Jack Mass and directed by Stuart Heisler THE MONSTER AND THE GIRL was a 65 minute time killer that I liked as a kid. But as an adult...well it seems like it's a lot longer than 65 minutes. It drags in a lot of spots.

The screenplay by Stuart Anthony plays like a grind house exploitation flick. When Susan Webber played by Ellen Drew is tricked into a life of prostitution her brother played by Phillip Terry comes to the big city to rescue her. The small town church organist is instead framed for murder, tried, and executed. This is where the flick gets interesting. Dr. Perry played by the never to be forgotten George Zucco transplants the young man's brain in the body of a gorilla (ape- suit actor Charles Gemora). From there he wrecks vengeance on the men who ruined his sister and caused his death. If this wasn't a superhero origin story I don't know what is.

Any movie automatically becomes better with the inclusion of an ape-suit. You can also say the same about any movie that features actor Phillip Van Zandt. Before I knew his name I knew his face. Van Zandt appeared in over 200 movies including CITIZEN KANE (1941). But I first knew him for his roles on THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN. And in 3 Stooges shorts. It was Vance Capley who decided to make the mad scientist in the Phantom Gorilla origin story look like Van Zandt after we discussed the 3 Stooges short SPOOKS (1953).

Produced and directed by Jules White the screenplay for this short that ran just under 16 minutes , was by Felix Adler. The story has Moe, Larry, and Shemp as private detectives hired to rescue the kidnapped Mary Bopper (Norma Randall) from mad scientist Dr. Jeckyl (Phillip Van Zandt) and his assistant Mr. Hyde (Tom Kennedy). Another plus for this one was ape-suit actor Steve Calvert as Dr. Jekyll's pet gorilla. A mad scientist, a damsel in distress and a gorilla. My kind of movie. Now if only the Stooges were playing masked wrestlers.

CHRIS CASTEEL IN HIS GORILLA SUIT...THANK CHRIS!

Thank you again, Chris

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JOE BESSER SCIENCE FICTION DOUBLE FEATURE by Dave Goode

If you were to take a poll of 3 Stooges fans on who their least favorite member of the comedy team was odds were most would name Joe Besser. In my case it would be Joe DeRita. Though I wasn't a big fan of Besser as a "Stooge" I did like him as Stinky on the Abbott & Costello television show. And there were two Three Stooges' shorts that Besser appeared in that I did like. SPACE SHIP SAPPY and OUTER SPACE JITTERS both from 1957. Besser doesn't really bring anything special to the table. But in retrospect I don't think either one of these parodies of sci-fi pulp would work as well with anyone else playing the third Stooge. 

SPACE SHIP SAPPY was produced and directed by Jules White and written by his brother Jack White. The story has Moe , Larry and Joe assisting Prof. A.K. Rimple and his daughter played by Benny Rubin and Doreen Woodbury on a mission into space. Landing on the planet Sunev (Venus spelled backwards) and the Stooges meet up with three Amazons played by Lorraine Crawford, Harriette Tarler and Marilyn Harold.

  

The women turn out to be cannibalistic vampires. But just before they're going to suck the blood from our heroes a giant lizard appears, the women run off and the Stooges beat a hasty retreat back to Prof. Rimple's space ship and escape back to Earth.The Stooges had been relating this story to a gathering of the " Liars Club " who present them an award for being the greatest liars in the world.

The second movie OUTER SPACE JITTERS  (also directed and written by the White brothers)  finds the Stooges working as assistants to Prof.Jones played by Emil Sitka and arriving on the planet Sunev. Why waste a good gag. Or a lame one for that matter. Sunev's leader played by Gene Roth is planning on invading Earth with an army of prehistoric zombies.

We only get to see one of these monsters. And it's played played by Dan Blocker of BONANZA fame. Hey. If Marshall Matt Dillion can play a giant carrot from outer space than Hoss Cartwright can play a prehistoric zombie.There is more flirting with sexy aliens played by Diana Darrin , Harriette Tarler and Arline Hunter. The great Phillip Van Zandt is along for the ride as a Sunev military leader the High Mucky Muck. The Stooges free Prof. Jones defeat the zombie and save the Earth.

As a kid I found both of these shorts entertaining and enjoyable. Later I would realize that they were comedic takes on the type of stories that you would find in the pages of science fiction pulp magazines.