For instance, I have yet to see an episode of one of those "comedy variety" shows that were so popular in those days that I actually find entertaining (not counting the Muppet Show, of course, which was really more of a satire of the genre). But one thing I'll say for The Paul Lynde Halloween Special is that it's nowhere near as excruciating as, say, the Star Wars Holiday Special from a couple of years later. Few things are.
No one ever gave comedian Paul Lynde a series of his own - the guy was funny, but he was also frankly a bit weird. Giving him a comedy variety Halloween special rather than an actual series probably seemed like a good idea in 1976.
Speaking of that, though, it features an interesting guest star: Maragaret Hamilton reprises her role as the Wicked Witch of the West, the role she'd made famous nearly forty years before. Besides her, there's a veritable who's who of 1970s b-listers.
| The show is best known today for being the national TV debut of KISS, a fairly odd choice for a goofy show, since, while it's hard for those of us born AFTER Kiss Meets The Phantom of the Park to imagine, there was a time when people genuinely thought that KISS was scary. Putting them into a show like this was downright subversive. |
Halloween specials were still sort of a novelty in 1976 - only a couple of others had been made, and the tropes of the genre (the old lady in the spooky house turning out to be nice, someone who hates halloween coming to love it) were not yet in place. And yet, this one almost instinctively knew where the genre was heading: it ended with a disco party, which would go on to become "Ending B" in Halloween specials over the next few years, when the genre really came into its golden age. In fact, you might say that this was the Halloween special that started it all....
Here're some clips:
1. Paul sings a Halloween version of "Kids" (only in segments on youtube right now, for some reason)
2. KISS interview segment (which is pretty embarrassing) and "King of the Night Time World" (which rocks)
3. The Disco Ending! Note Kiss looking down, disapprovingly. Who knew they'd go on to write "I Was Made for Loving You?"
2 comments:
I will certainly get this Paul Lynde Halloween special form Amazon.
As a matter of fact, Lynde *was* given a show of his own. Two of them, in fact.
The first, "The Paul Lynde Show", starred him as a husband and father who can't abide his son-in-law. Think "All in the Family" without the racism or topical humor.
When that tanked, Lynde was given a role in the second season of the medical-themed sitcom "Temperatures Rising". He replaced the fired James Whitmore, who just died yesterday.
So there.
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