Do You Remember The Creature From The Black Lagoon?
I grew up in the 60s and early 70s. If you were alive during those times, you are well aware that it was an interesting time to be sure for better and worse.
I'm glad I grew up during those years. We didn't have computers and cell phones, and we survived just fine. I spend many evenings and weekends out of doors enjoying life rather than sitting in front of a computer for hours, or constantly looking down at a phone.
Not that those things are bad, it's just that there are other great things in our world to enjoy. Although, as kids in the 1960s, we did watch more television than our parents would have preferred.
I looked forward to Saturday morning cartoons - Popeye, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Bugs Bunny, Dick Tracy, Underdog, Magilla Gorilla, The Monkees, and The Thunderbirds.
And then, at 1 pm, came the scary time from one of the Syracuse television stations - WSYR, called Monster Movie Matinee. The host was Dr. E. Nick Witty and his assistant, Epal.
According to IMDB, the show aired from 1964 to 1980, and it featured horror-type films. If you watch the program, you know that only the hand of Dr. E. Nick Witty was ever shown.
Many great science fiction and monster movies aired throughout the show's run. One of those movies was the Creature From The Black Lagoon, released in 1954. There were two sequels as well - Revenge of the Creature in 1955 and The Creature Walks Among Us in 1956.
The person in the Creature outfit was actor and stuntman, Ricou Browning. According to the New York Daily News, he passed away last week. His family stated that Ricou was 93. He played the Creature during the underwater scenes in all three movies.
The New York Daily News mentions that actor Ben Chapman played the Creature during the scenes on land. In addition to the Creature movies, Ricou was also a co-creator of the movie Flipper in 1963.
Of all the horror movies that aired on Monster Movie Matinee, the Creature From The Black Lagoon movies frightened me the most.