I had a lot of fun tonight, watching an episode of "Highway Patrol" that was shot in Chatsworth in 1957. I bought the series on dvd mainly for that reason, because the West Valley was used for so many locations. I think Ono pointed that out to me a few years ago, but what's so cool about it is that you get to see towns like Chatsworth as they looked in the mid-50s. On the episode I watched, you could see buildings that are still there, albeit with different tenants after 65 years. There were also dirt roads! Owensmouth Avenue, long since paved, was a dirt road in 1957, even though it had tract houses. How cool is that, to have dirt roads in your town? The West Valley was full of them in the 1950s. We even had a couple of them in Northridge as late as the early 90s! Fullerfarm Street was one. Yeah, the Valley was once rural and you can see it on "Highway Patrol", which besides having great nostalgic value is also a doggone good cop show. One other thing they showed was an old church, on Devonshire Street which was also a dirt road at the time. It was made of white clapboard and looked like a church you'd see in the 1800s. I suspected it might be the Pioneer Church that was relocated to Oakwood Cemetery in the 1960s, and a Google search confirmed it. That was doubly awesome, because I'd just parked next to Oakwood when I went to Santa Susana this afternoon. The cemetery and the trailhead are next door to one another, so every time I go to Santa Su, I hike right past the old church, and tonight I got to see it in it's former location. "Highway Patrol" rules!
I think I am really a small town person at heart. :)
I've also started a new book : "Dark Matter, Missing Planets & New Comets" by Tom Van Flandern, who was an astronomer at the U.S Naval Observatory. He had a number of interesting theories, arrived at after years of research, mathematical calculation and comparison with existing schools of thought, which is to say he was no crank pseudoscientist. He rejected the Big Bang in favor of a Steady State Universe, came up with a logical proposal for the origin of gravity and also maintained that it propagates faster than the speed of light. All of the ideas in his book go against the grain of accepted mainstream science, and yet, it has become a minor classic of alternative scientific research, cited by authors like Dr. Joseph Farrell and Richard Hoagland, whose "Face On Mars" Van Flandern agreed was of artificial construction.
You know me; if it's not The Real Deal I don't bother with it. I search for truth, in the wasteland between the extremes of wild-eyed "conspiracy theories" and the so-called "experts" of mainstream science, who - we are discovering - very often don't know what they are talking about. When I choose a book, whether by author or subject matter, I look first for an intelligent presentation, then compelling evidence, and finally a "ring of truth". If it's got all those attributes, it's usually a mindblower. The Van Flandern definitely is. This is actually my second time reading it. The first time, in 2015, I didn't finish because some of the technical details dealing with astronomy were difficult to process, but since then I've forced my way through a lot of physics books and understand the language better, haha. :) Actually, Dr. Van Flandern (who passed away in 2009) is a good writer as far as scientists go. Very often they can be obtuse, as we see with Schwaller (a chemist by trade). One of the best in this regard was another astronomer, Robert Jastrow, who wrote "Red Giants and White Dwarfs", which I read as a kid. That one was written with the layman in mind and Jastrow was able to translate his concepts, though his book was an overview and not as thorough nor as revolutionary as "Dark Matter".
Well let's see now, how about a movie? Last night we returned to The House of Corman to watch 'Premature Burial", his adaptation of the Poe story. This time both brothers are on board, Gene in the producer's chair, and they've been given a budget of $1,250,000 bucks, a huge increase from the $200K Roger had to work with on his first two Poe movies ("Pit & The Pendulum" and "House of Usher"). Some at IMDB still refer to "Premature" as a low-budget film, but as far as I'm aware, a million and a quarter was very substantial for 1962, probably more than a lot of major releases were allotted. At any rate, you can see the results on the screen. The art direction is magnificent, from the color coordination of the interiors to the lighting and foggy "outdoor" graveyard set. The whole thing has the look of a major studio Technicolor production, which shows that ol' Roger could've become an A-list director if given the chance (perhaps he wanted to remain independent).
Vincent Price starred in most of Corman's Poe films, but this time he's got the legendary Ray Milland playing "Guy Carrell", a painter who's terrified of being buried alive. In fact, his fear has become an obsession that's taken over his life. In his mind, he has good reason to be afraid of what would seem an unlikely fate : his own father was buried alive because he suffered from catalepsy, a paralytic disease that mimics death. Guy believes he has genetically inherited it and will eventually have a cataleptic fit, after which his relatives will think him dead, and..........bury him alive!
It's gotten to the point that Guy has had a specially outfitted crypt built for himself, in which every kind of escape mechanism imaginable has been installed. There are lock-release levers and pull-cords, a bell to signal outsiders, there are crowbars and chisels, a tool set in the coffin and an exit through the ceiling. Should all of this fail, there is one final method of liberation : a chalice filled with poison, set on a nearby table. He's left no stone unturned, as you can see.
His new wife (Hazel Court) assures him none of this is necessary. "You're in perfect health and have a long life ahead of you! But even if you're right, I'll take care of you my darling. I would be aware of the disease, you see? And I would prevent anyone from burying you unless we were certain you were dead".
"But that just it, dear. You wouldn't know. There's no way to tell! That's what happened with my father".
Guy's doctor (Richard Ney) tells him that catalepsy is not an inherited trait, and his sister (Heather Angel) insists their father didn't have it in any case. "He was really and truly dead". But none of this persuades him. "I was there, at the funeral! I saw it in his eyes, he was still alive, but no one would listen"!
Guy begins to have nightmares where he finds himself enclosed in a casket, down in a freshly dug grave. Shovelfulls of dirt hit the lid as his terror reaches the breaking point. He screams and.......awakens. A subplot is introduced in which it appears someone may be out to drive Guy insane. A cat is found stuck inside the wall of his living room, discovered by it's frightened meowing. But how did it get there? No one seems to know. Then a key goes missing to Guy's private sepulcher. Has it been stolen? No one will admit.
Guy finally decides there's only one way to prove his father was buried alive, to open his coffin and observe the look on his face. Yikes, I know! (but that's Poe for ya) His sister is dead set against this blasphemy but Guy is well past the point of arguing. He and the entire cast head down to the basement for the exhumation, and here I must comment : When will they ever learn? Doesn't anybody listen? If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times : you just Don't Go In The Basement, for any reason!
And especially not to exhume someone, I mean c'mon, Mr. Poe. Geez.
This gruesome expedition will lead to the climax of the movie, and while I'll not reveal what happens, let's just say that everyone gets what is coming to him or her, including Guy himself. It's a fairly simple story, with not a lot to it except for Guy's ever-increasing fear and his relatives' attempts to dispel it. According to Wiki it was published as a short story, so maybe it would have worked better at a running length of 60-65 minutes, where the suspense could have been tightened. At 87 minutes it feels too drawn out, with nothing further to develop, and for that reason the tension suffers. It's still a very good film, extremely macabre, but I can only give it Two Solid Thumbs Up as opposed to the Two Big or even Two Huge Ones it might've earned had the excess been trimmed away and the pace ratcheted up a notch. You're still gonna want to see it, however, especially if you like the other Corman/Poe movies from the early sixties. This one is the best looking of them all, shot in widescreen, and the look by itself makes up for the slightly lagging story. Recommended. ////
Well, Elizabeth, since I've been writing you've had your kitchen requisitioned (by yourself, haha) and now you've gotten it back. It looks like you did some photography in the meantime, but I saw another metal stand in the picture, maybe for a microphone, so perhaps you were doing some recording also? Making a music video perchance? I know I'll find out soon enough, and I'm looking forward to it as always! I'm glad you gave yourself back the use of the kitchen as well, that way you don't have to miss dinner. I don't believe in the myth of the Starving Artist, lol (and now I'm getting hungry myself).
I have to say that you look very nice in tonight's picture. Red is a good color for you, as we know from the famous Dress Series. :):)
Now I will go for my walk. See you in a little while at the Usual Time.
Tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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