“House of Svengoolie” – Silver Screen Reflections (2024)

Fellow SuperSvengoolieSvenPals everywhere will be dancing and jumping for joy for his“Svengoolie’s Halloween BOO-nanza 2024” coast-to-coast classic mammoth big broadcast showcase with a Sven big broadcast premiere of a newly-restored version of a cult classic mammoth sci-fi masterpiece and the Sven Squad/”House of Sven” big broadcast premiere of a modern classic mammoth fantasy masterpiece.

“Svengoolie” presents his big broadcast premiere of the original “Invaders from Mars” (1953), plus the “Sven Squad”/”House of Svengoolie” big broadcast premiere of “The Dark Crystal” (1986)

Restored for the official 2022 restoration via Ignite Films, original theatrical release trailer for William Cameron Menzies‘ original classic mammoth sci-fi masterpiece production of “Invaders from Mars” (1953) with Jimmy Hunt and Helena Carter; originally released through Twentieth Century Fox (Twentieth Century Studios).

Original theatrical release trailer for Jim Henson and Frank Oz‘s classic mammoth fantasy feature masterpiece production of “The Dark Crystal” (1982), originally released through the ITC Entertainment (Britain’s ATV)-backed Associated Film Distribution, via Universal Studios/MCA.

The legendary and iconic Berwyn/Chicago-based classic mammoth thriller/fantasy feature film masterpiece host will present his fourth/finale evening of the weekly “Sven’s Halloween BOO-nanza 2024” Sven Saturday showcase of features and surprises throughout the month of October- this week’s Sven “Halloween BOO-nanza” 2024 showcase finale will showcase Sven’s big broadcast premiere of the restored version of the original classic mammoth sci-fi masterpiece, “Invaders from Mars” (1953) and the Sven Squad (Bill “Nostalgiaferatoo” Leff of Sven & “Toon In With Me” fame, “Gwengoolie”/portrayed by Sarah Palmer and “Imp”/portrayed by Scott Gryder)-hosted big broadcast of “House of Svengoolie” featuring the big broadcast premiere of the classic mammoth fantasy masterpiece “The Dark Crystal” (1982); the “Sven Halloweeen BOO-nanza 2024” Saturday twinset finale for this week will begin on the Me-TV airlanes this Sat., Oct. 26 at 8 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Central.

And right after Sven’s big “Halloween Boo-nanza 2024” twinset showcase #4 of Sven’s big broadcast premiere of the original “Invaders from Mars” (1953) and the “House of Svengoolie”/Sven Squad-hosted premiere of “The Dark Crystal” (1982), a “Late-Night BOO-nanza” festival of additional select episodes of the classic mammoth 1974-75 Universal Studios “Kolchak” supernatural TV masterpiece serieswith Darren McGavin and Simon Oakland, that was inspired by the two earlier classic mammoth Dan Curtis/ABC “Kolchak” made-for-TV movie masterpieces, “Kolchak: The Night Stalker” (from 1 a.m.-6 a.m. ET/Midnight-5 a.m. CT)!

For the Sven double-feature twinset of Sven’s big broadcast premiere of “Invaders from Mars” (1953) and the “House of Svengoolie” (Sven Squad-hosted) premiere of “The Dark Crystal” (1982):

The original classic mammoth 1953 sci-fi masterpiece production of “Invaders from Mars” was directed by veteran feature film art designer/director William Cameron Menzies. He had a long career as an art director for numerous feature films, including John S. Robertson‘s classic mammoth Paramount Pictures silent thriller masterpiece adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson‘s “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” (1920) with John Barrymore, Brandon Hurst, Martha Mansfield andNita Naldi; Raoul Walsh‘s classic mammoth United Artists silent fantasy masterpiece production of “The Thief of Bagdad” (1924) with Douglas Fairbanks (Fairbanks also served as a co-writer of the screenplay adaptation and co-producer of the production), Julanne Johnston, Anna May Wong, Charles Belcher, Noble Johnson, Sôjin Kamiyama, Snitz Edwards and Brandon Hurst; Norman Z. McLeod‘s cult classic mammoth Paramount Pictures Live-Action fantasy masterpiece adaptation of Lewis Carroll‘s “Alice in Wonderland” (1933) with Charlotte Henry and a cast of Paramount’s major contracted feature players at the time, including W.C. Fields, Gary Cooper, young Cary Grant, Sterling Holloway, Edward Everett Horton, Jack Oakie, May Robson, Richard Arlen, Raymond Hatton, Polly Moran, Mae Marsh, Ned Sparks and Charlie Ruggles; Alfred Hitchcock‘s classic mammoth mystery-thriller masterpiece adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier‘s novel for veteran producer David O. Selznick, “Rebecca” (1940) with Joan Fontaine, Laurence Olivier, George Sanders, Judith Anderson, Nigel Bruce (of the Twentieth Century Fox & Universal classic mammoth feature film mystery masterpiece adaptations of Arthur Conan Doyle‘s “Sherlock Holmes” fame with Basil Rathbone), Reginald Denny, C. Aubrey Smith, Gladys Cooper, Leo G. Carroll and Forrester Harvey and Frank Capra‘s classic mammoth holiday masterpiece production of “It’s A Wonderful Life” (1946) with James Stewart,Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore,Ward Bond,Henry Travers (produced by Capra’s production company, Liberty Films; originally released theatrically by RKO Radio Pictures).

The original “Invaders from Mars” (1953) was produced by veteran producer Edward L. Alperson. According to IMDB, Alperson established his own brief independent production-releasing firm, Grand National Pictures in 1936. Alperson’s company was known for producing many “B” western feature masterpieces, including the feature films of singing cowboy Tex Ritter (the real-life father of actor John Ritter). He was also friends with actor James Cagney– after one of Cagney’s many conflicts with Warner Bros. studio co-founder and head Jack L. Warner, the veteran actor decided to take Alperson’s financial contract offer by appearing in productions for Grand National, including “Great Guy” (1936) and “Something to Sing About” (1937, co-produced by Cagney and his real-life brother, William Cagney). Due to extravagant production costs for a studio that primarily produced “B”-budget features, Alperson’s Grand National immediately went into financial difficulties and went kaput in 1939 (James Cagney returned to Warner Bros. in 1938).

Alperson re-entered the film industry as an independent producer in the early 1950s. Alongside the original “Invaders from Mars” (1953), one of Alperson’s other major productions that he was involved with until his death in 1969 was his co-production of Billy Wilder‘s classic mammoth Mirisch-United Artists comedy masterpiece “Irma la Douce” (1963) with Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Lou Jacobi, Herschel Bernardi (of TV’s “Peter Gunn” fame), Joan Shawlee, Grace Lee Whitney, Howard McNear (of TV’s “The Andy Griffith Show” fame) and young Bill Bixby (of TV’s “My Favorite Martian” and later of TV’s “The Incredible Hulk” fame).

Menzies and Alperson’s original edition of “Invaders from Mars” (1953) was co-produced by Edward L. Alperson’s real-life son, veteran composer and producer Edward L. Alperson Jr.

“Invaders from Mars” (1953) was produced by the senior Alperson under the moniker of “National Pictures Corporation” and was originally released through Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (today’s Twentieth Century Studios), according to the American Film Institute. Alongside the original theatrical release of “Invaders from Mars,” 1953 turned out to be a major year for Twentieth Century Fox- as the studio also introduced the widescreen process known as “CinemaScope” that same year.

The classic mammoth fantasy masterpiece production of “The Dark Crystal” (1982) was co-directed, co-written and co-produced by legendary and iconic veteran performer-puppeteer-director-writer-producer Jim Henson.

Henson developed the inspiration for many of his famous “Muppet” puppet characters while he was a student at the University of Maryland with his future wife Jane, according to an official University of Maryland retrospective on Hensonandthe official Jim Henson Company website. His early Muppet creations caught the attention of NBC’s owned-and-operated TV station in Washington, D.C.(andsister station to NBC O&O WMAQ-TV Channel 5 in Chicago, Illinois),WRC-TV Channel 4– Henson’s Muppet prototypes premiered as part of a brief show on the station, titled “Sam & Friends” from 1955-61; which featured the debut of one of Henson’s many famous Muppets, “Kermit the Frog.”

Alongside many appearances of Henson’s own Muppet characters/creations on various TV variety shows, industrial films produced by Henson’s company and in TV commercials at the time, this inspiredJoan Ganz Cooney of the Children’s Television Workshop (today’s Sesame Workshop)to utilize Henson’s Muppets and Muppet character creations in the creation of the long-running classic mammoth critically-acclaimed groundbreakingPBSchildren’s masterpiece series, “Sesame Street” in 1969 (PBS was known at the time as National Educational Television/NET- which became the Public Broadcasting Service/PBS in 1970). Henson’s Muppet creations were also featured in a segment on the first season of the long running classic mammoth NBC sketch comedy-variety masterpiece series, “Saturday Night Live” (then-known as “NBC’s Saturday Night”) from 1975-76, titled “The Land of Gorch” featuring “The Mighty Favog.”

Henson wanted to have his own TV program for his Muppet characters in the form of a variety series, yet the three major television networks (NBC, CBS, ABC) passed on his idea.According to the official website for the Jim Henson Company, veteran British television network head and TV/feature film producer-distributor-syndicatorLord Lew Grade of Britain’s Associated Television (ATV) was interested in Henson’s idea.

Under ATV in Britain and syndicated around the world via the network’s global syndication counterpart, Independent Television Corporation (ITC)- the Henson/ATV (ITC) partnership produced the classic mammoth critically-acclaimed Muppets variety-comedy-music masterpiece series, “The Muppet Show” (1976-81), which also featured many guest stars alongside Henson’s famous Muppet characters of Kermit, Miss Piggy, Gonzo the Great, Fozzie Bear, Dr. Teeth, the Swedish Chef, Animal, Scooter, Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker.

Because of the mammoth success of “The Muppet Show” across the globe, this led Grade’s ITC and Henson to co-produce two classic mammoth Muppet feature-length theatrical feature film masterpieces, “The Muppet Movie” (1979) and “The Great Muppet Caper” (1981).

Some of Henson’s other classic mammoth feature film masterpieces include his classic mammoth Muppet/Tri-Star feature-length comedy masterpiece production of “The Muppets Take Manhattan” (1984), which was co-directed by veteran Muppet puppeteer & actor-writer-director Frank Oz and Henson’s classic mammoth Tri-Star fantasy masterpiece with David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly; “Labyrinth” (1984), the latter was co-produced between Henson and George Lucas‘ Lucasfilm Ltd.

Some of Henson’s other classic mammoth masterpiece series include “Fraggle Rock” (1983-87, which originally premiered on Time-Life’s premium pay-cable network service,Home Box Office/HBO) and the classic mammoth Henson/Marvel Productions children’s animated TV masterpiece series, “Muppet Babies” (1984-91, which originally premiered on theCBS television network). For “The Dark Crystal,” Henson co-wrote the original story; his story was adapted into a screenplay by veteran screenwriter David Odell.

Veteran Muppet performer and writer-director-actor Frank Oz co-directed “The Dark Crystal” with Henson. Alongside his long association with Henson and the Muppets (Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Sam the Eagle, Animal, etc.) and “Sesame Street” (Bert, Cookie Monster, Grover, etc.) Oz also lent his talents in the field of acting- including his appearance as the Joliet Corrections Officer in John Landis‘ classic mammoth Universal Studios music-comedy masterpiece, “The Blues Brothers” (1980) with John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Cab Calloway, Kathleen Freeman, James Brown, Carrie Fisher, Aretha Franklin, Steve Cropper, Donald “Duck” Dunn, Ray Charles, John Lee Hooker, Steven Spielberg, Steve Lawrence, Charles Napier, Matt “Guitar” Murphy, Paul Reubens, Twiggy, Steven Williams, Henry Gibson, Sheilah Wells, Jeff Morris and Joe Walsh and in Landis’ classic mammoth Paramount Pictures comedy masterpiece, “Trading Places” (1983) with Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ralph Bellamy, Don Ameche, Denholm Elliott, Bo Diddley, Al Franken, Tom Davis, Paul Gleason and Alfred Drake. Oz was also the original operator/vocal stylings of Yoda for George Lucas’ classic mammoth “Star Wars” sci-fi masterpieces in the original trilogy series, “The Empire Strikes Back” (1980, Episode V; directed by Irvin Kershner) and “Return of the Jedi” (1983, Episode VI; directed by Richard Marquand, the original Lucasfilm “Star Wars” trilogy was originally released through Twentieth Century Fox/Twentieth Century Studios).

“The Dark Crystal” (1982) was co-produced by Henson and veteran feature film & TV producer Gary Kurtz, who was a longtime collaborator with George Lucas’ Lucasfilm for Lucas’ classic mammoth masterpiece production of “American Graffiti” (1973, released by Universal Studios) and the original classic mammoth “Star Wars” trilogy feature film masterpiece series.

The Henson-Oz-Kurtz production of “The Dark Crystal” was also co-produced by veteran television & feature film producer-syndicator Lord Lew Grade (then known as Sir Lew Grade)’s global production-distribution firm, ITC Entertainment; which was part of Grade’s British independent commercial television network, ATV. Alongside Grade’s involvement with Henson including “The Muppet Show,” the first two Muppet theatrical feature film masterpieces and “The Dark Crystal,” Grade’s ATV/ITC was also known for producing numerous classic mammoth TV masterpiece series- including the famous adaptation of Leslie Charteris‘ “The Saint” with a pre-“James Bond”Roger Moore (1962-69), “The Prisoner” (1967-68) with Patrick McGoohan, the Gerry and Sylvia Anderson “Supermarionation” series (“Supercar,” “Fireball XL5,” “Thunderbirds” and “Joe 90“), the Andersons’ Live-Action sci-fi series “UFO” (1970-71) and “Space: 1999” (1975-77) “Space: 1999” featured Martin Landau and Barbara Bain, “The Julie Andrews Hour” (1972-73, aired on ABC in the United States) numerous made-for-TV movie productions and feature film productions that were co-produced with major studios in the United States (though ATV/ITC and its successor, Britain’s ITV Group would retain distribution rights to most of the company’s feature film productions).Fun Fact: Speaking of Lew Grade’s ATV/ITC and Jim Henson’s Muppets, according to John Skow’s Dec. 1978 Time article on Henson, it was noted that the Muppet character of Bunsen Honeydew was loosely modeled after Lew Grade. -C.H.

The classic mammoth Henson-Oz fantasy masterpiece production of “The Dark Crystal” (1982) was released through an ATV/ITC-backed subsidiary, Associated Film Distribution- via Universal Studios/MCA in the United States, according to additional details from IMDB. ATV/ITC’s Associated Film Distribution also handled the theatrical release of the first two classic mammoth Jim Henson Muppet theatrical movie masterpieces.

Continue Reading