With Halloween falling on a Saturday this year, my mind switches back to past Halloweens and all the things that go with them. Part of my normal Saturday routine growing up was to be in front of the TV at 1 o’clock to watch Monster Movie Matinee, a show out of Syracuse that ran for a couple of decades and showed classic ( and not so classic, as the years went by) horror and sci-fi movies.
It was a great kitschy broadcast. It would start with the camera panning in over an obvious model of an haunted-type mansion on a hill as eerie monster movie music played. It was hosted by Dr. E. Nick Witty (I think this is supposed to be funny but it eludes me) and his assistant, the wretched Epal. 
You never saw anything of Dr. Witty but his long emotive fingers. His voice was kind of a bad Bela Lugosi copy that played perfectly for this type of show. Epal, played by the station’s longtime weatherman who also played other characters (his character, Salty Sam, introduced me to Popeye cartoons) on a number of other shows, was covered in rough-edged scars and wore an eyepatch. He seemed to constantly erode as the years passed.
They had storylines that they used as they introduced the films, little vignettes that ran from week to week. Goofy stuff but fun. They let the movies they showed be the real stars and I saw most of the greats through them. All the Frankenstein, Dracula and Wolfman movies were in regular rotation in the early years mixed in with a plethora of lower quality, monstery B-movies, which kind of took over in the later years.
I remember one wet and dark Halloween Saturday back then spending the afternoon watching one of my favorites with Dr. Witty and Epal. It was The Creature From the Black Lagoon. It was a movie that was shown at least a few times a year so it became part of the kid memory bank. It was the story of a group of geological researchers sent to explore a fossilized skeletal claw-like hand found up the Amazon where they encounter the Creature, a rubber-clad Gill-Man who makes repeated attacks on the research vessel, finally abducting the babe girlfriend of the main scientist.
Originally in 3-D in the theaters, was a pretty stylish 50’s monster movie. Pretty good quality, actually. The Creature was a great costume, very sleek and somewhat believable- at least to the kid sitting on the couch with the Fig Newtons. It had nice underwater photography of the Creature gliding after his prey and also had great sound and music that really enhanced the story. It wasn’t the scariest but it kept you involved with the story. I always felt more of a connection with the Creature than I did with the crew of researchers and actually felt myself kind of rooting for him at times. Much like King Kong, he seemed sadly alone.
That wet and dark Saturday many years ago seems to come to life now whenever I think of the Creature or Halloween, for that matter. I remember the light. The smell of that living room. Funny how certain things, even the smallest trivialities, imprint on the memory when coupled with something important, as Halloween was to a kid.
Today I’m thinking of that day and that lonely Gill-Man and Dr. Witty…
Redtree Times 
Hey GC. I found your site through AlphaInventions and I was duly impressed with your work. I admire your style. Keep up the great work.
Thanks for the kind words and thanks for stopping in. Hope you’ll continue.
GC,
Wow, that’s a memory that I had completely forgotten about. As a kid those fingernails must have been pretty spooky-they still are.
Hope Arod has his head right tonight.
bh
They’ve been pitching A-Rod very tough. He’s had some good at-bats but the pitching has just been better. If he comes out tonight and hits the ball hard up the middle, even if it’s an out, I think he’ll be okay.
Go, Andy. Go, Yanks…
Sorry I’m late.
I had two monster movie hosts from my childhood. When we lived in northern New Jersey, I became hooked by the great Zacherly. His comedy was surreal enough to delight a 9-year-old. I loved his show.
http://www.zacherley.com/
Later, when I was in HS in mid-PA, Saturday night frights was hosted by a guy, Bill Cardille, aka Chilly Billy, also a mainstay of the station, WIIC out of Pittsburgh.
He was awful. I often wondered how his children held their heads up in school. His jokes were lame, he was lame, his whole schtick was as entertaining as a trip to the dentist.
I bring him up only because Chilly Billy lives on in the original Night of the Living Dead where he has a cameo as a TV reporter.
And my wife says the only movie that really scared her growing up was Creature. She lived in Florida.
I had never heard of Zacherley before but from reading his bio, it must have been a great show when you were a kid. I’m glad we had guys like that, although I often wish they were more like Count Floyd. Joe Flaherty’s great SCTV character.
Thanks, David.
I grew up near Elmira, NY watching MMM every Saturday afternoon. I never knew until recently that we only got to see Dr. Witty’s hand because he was terribly disfigured in a car wreck. His name E. Nick Witty is a play on the word “Iniquity” which is a Biblical word for sin. Thanks for the memory boost.
Dave
For Monster Movie Matinee fans
Monster Mansion Memories is a documentary in production now by Wind Up Films. It tells the history of the local show that aired on WSYR Tv in Syracuse New York. The show ran for 15 years from 1964 until 1980 and was loved by many throughout central New York. Wind Up Films has done interviews with Alan Milair who played Dr. E. Nick Witty, Joe Turrisi a crew member that was there for the run of the show. Chuck Waltz, a local collector that purchased the remaining set pieces including the casket and has them on display. Shooting is on going and should wrap up in May. A tentaive deal is in place to air the doc on WSTM channel 3 sometime in October. A DVD release is also expected around that time.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Monster-Mansion-Memories#!/media/set/fbx/?set=pa.215359228476262
That is great news Joe! The American Scary DVD was disappointing to me in that it barely discussed MMM. Can’t wait. Thanks for keeping the memory of MMM alive!
Dave
@ Dave American Scary was dissappointing to me as well for other reasons. I did think they gave ample attention to the horror host of Central New York i.e. Baron Daemon and Monster Move Matinee but they didn’t have any of the old footage. What Wind Up Films is doing is quite extraordinary. They have managed to retrieve footage of MMM that hasn’t been seen since 1963!!!
I hope they have a High quality video of the MMM Opening all the way through. I love that sound track. I wish I knew the name of the song they used. I think it was you who had sent me an mp3 file of the opening track, but it didn’t go all the way through into the Mansion, and into the Laboratory. It’s that last violin piece of the opening theme that to me was the most eerie sounding.
As a matter of fact, they do have the original opening and yes, I was the one who sent an MP3. The original is posted at the facebook address along with some footage that hasn’t been seen in decades:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Monster-Mansion-Memories#!/media/set/fbx/?set=pa.215359228476262
I made an attempt to recreate the opening from memory. I was even able to get the same ho scale railroad model haunted house circa 1950s, I posted my efforts on the Syracuse Horror Host website:
http://artofjosephcapuana.homestead.com/Re-Construction-of-the-Opening-of-Monster-Movie-Matinee.html
When I recently saw the original footage I was a bit disapointed because I had forgotten so many details. The hill was steeper, there was a stone wall and a bridge. I didn’t recall any of it and therefore didn’t include them in my recreation.
Now, to your question of the original theme for Monster Movie Matinee . . . the haunted organ, chello sound came from a piece of canned music from a vendor called Vallentio. The music was available in the 60’s it was called “Bassballs” The other part of the theme came from one of the segments from the movie “This Island Earth.”
Joe,
I found that opening vidoe on Facebook that you link to above, but it won’t open for me.
I like your recreation video,but there again it doesn’t go all the way through the opening them to the violin piece that is so eerie. Thanks for the links.
I finally noticed the YouTube link, and I got it to open there. That is the Opening I remember. So eerie sounding. Sometimes the opening was almost scarier than the movies…lol.
For anyone who wants the direct link to the opening video here it is:
Thanks again Joe. Can’t wait for the Documentary.
Dave
Gosh, its late at night, i cant sleep so i’ve got the laptop surfing and for some reason MMM came into my head. I’m so glad I found this. It all comes back. I was 10 living in Big Flats NY. It was mid winter, we were having the worst blizzard ever and the whole family, even the pets, had ended up in front of the tv. I remember it was something like “Beast from Haunted Cave” or similar. Some skiers got trapped by a giant spider like thing but all i remember is how we all ripped and laughed at the movie’s poor production values. It was great being all together snug and warm watching this movie about the monster catching people in the snowy mountains. To this day my brother addresses me as Epal in a falsetto voice whenever we try to do something serious. what a hoot, Thanks!
Glad I could revive some good memories. I know MMM lives on pretty strongly in my memory, especially as we near Halloween.
If you are interested, a documentary on Monster Movie Matinee is available through PayPal for $16.00. Send money to: windupfilmsny@gmail.com or Send checks to: Monster Mansion, PO Box 12, Chittenago, NY 13037. Make checks payable to: Andy Wolf.
Wayne thresher. I grew up in horseheads in the sixties. MMM introduced me to all of the Universal Monsters.
Yes, that’s where I met all of the great and not so great monsters of film in the 60’s, as well. There was another short-lived monster movie show in the Elmira-Horseheads area in the early 1970’s. It was on WENY and featured a character called the Undertaker who was radio DJ Paul Lee. It didn’t have quite the production value of MMM and the movies were all pretty low grade but it could be fun.