A Touch of Class...Conflict

Kimble gets an assortment of jobs
Toils and sweats with the working class slobs
Though he never quite fits
with the everyday stiffs
They're still better than boring old snobs


Actor David Janssen was gainfully employed as The Fugitive, and there's a payday every week on Fugitive Fridays.

Wham, Bam, Thank You Khayam

Son of Sinbad's a trifle grotesque
with its harem girls straight from burlesque
Vincent Price supplies ham
as Omar Khayam
But his co-stars are more statuesque.

David Cairns



Vincent Price is tentmaker Omar Khayyám, still working on his Rubáiyát, in Son of Sinbad (Ted Tetzlaff, 1955). With Mari Blanchard, stripper Lili St. Cyr and a bevy of beauties all under contract to producer Howard Hughes. Image source: Demonoid.me;

Drop Deadly

Though ornate chandeliers fall and crash,
we're staying right here--for the cash
For ten thousand smackers
we'll fend off attackers,
and maybe an acid-bath splash


Carol Ohmart takes a dip in William Castle's House on Haunted Hill.

Slingshot Obit

With an ominous, spine-chilling wail
The skeleton slides on his rail
But the schoolkids take aim
at his skeletal frame,
and with popcorn his heinie assail

David Cairns

With his patented gimmick "Emergo", producer-director William Castle slid an inflatable skeleton out over audiences watching House on Haunted Hill (1959). Teenagers found it a ready target. Image source: Garbo Laughs

Party Quavers

For a party I see you've all dressed
Your favors are each in a chest
We thought you'd have fun
with a coffin and gun,
when minus a bullet-proof vest



Howard Hoffman, Leona Anderson and Vincent Price in House on Haunted Hill (William Castle, 1959). Thanks to party planner David "Casket" Cairns for the title. Image source: Garbo Laughs.

Fourth WALL-EEEEEEEE!

"They're coming for me and for you!"
There's nothing but screaming to do
In the house on the hill
the skeletons thrill
when Castle's "Emergo" goes "Boo!"


Nothing but screaming--or perhaps pelting the skeleton with snacks. Elisha Cook Jr. delivers the tag-line directly to the audience in House on Haunted Hill (William Castle, 1959). Image source: Garbo Laughs

The Haunting of Chill House

With my wife, whom I clearly detest,
I've invited you here as my guest
The doors lock until dawn,
but you'll not want to yawn,
for you might face a fear-induced rest

Not a nap, noses thund'rously snoring
To be trapped in this dump isn't boring!
What with ghosts of the dead
and an old severed head,
and that acid bath under the flooring


Vincent Price and his guests Leona Anderson, Carolyn Craig and Carol Ohmart spend a night in the House on Haunted Hill (William Castle, 1959). Image source: Garbo Laughs

SVENgeance is mine

When Svengoolie goes away

fans suspect there's foul play

But there's nothing wrong at all
just a lot of Lucy Ball
So don't be dour, it's okay
Sven is back next Saturday

Not exactly a limerick, I know. Me-TV is preempting horror host Svengoolie tonight for a marathon centennial tribute to comedienne Lucille Ball. Earlier in the year they did a month of "Half-Price" Tuesdays for Vincent Price's centennial, so we can't complain.

Sex Kimble?

Each week into town Kimble's blowing
His streak as a romeo growing
No chick can resist
a fugitive tryst
They love him both coming and going



David Janssen, sex symbol? Angie Dickinson has the hots for him as Richard Kimble, The Fugitive. Love hits the road on Fugitive Fridays. Image source: Richard Kimball, The Fugitive. Title by the sexy and symbolic David Cairns.

Rotting Hill

You're welcome to stay overnight
At twelve the old place is locked tight
Bill Castle concocts
A passel of shocks
His skeleton's great for a fright.



Julie Mitchum, Alan Marshal, Vincent Price, Richard Long, Carolyn Craig, Elisha Cook Jr. and Carol Ohmart in House on Haunted Hill (1959). Producer-director William Castle was fond of theatrical gimmicks, and House on Haunted Hill featured one he called "Emergo". Seeming to emerge from the screen, an inflatable glow-in-the-dark skeleton suspended on a wire was yanked out over the heads of the theater audience. Image source: Garbo Laughs

The Thing's Speech

Expounding the wryly ironic
he sounded so slyly sardonic
A vocal Rolls Royce,
Vincent spoke in a voice
well-rounded and dryly demonic

Vincent Price in a promo still for The Bat (1959). Image source: Doctor Macro's High Quality Movie Scans. Doctor Macro is tops. And speaking of tops, a tip of the cap to old pal and Vincent Price fan Backthrow for the title. Our Vincent Price centennial tribute continues.

The Fly and the Mighty

The thing in the web is appalling
One peek and our skin started crawling
A science-bred freak
that's trying to speak
One heave puts an end to its bawling



Herbert Marshal, Vincent Price and Charles Herbert finalize The Fly (Kurt Neumann, 1958). Image source: Monster Island News; Gregory's Shock Theater; Wrong Side of the art.

Fly-By-Fright

I'm a fly with a Sci PHD
Partly guy, but too tiny to see
I should be a celeb
not a meal in a web
So why won't you try to help meeeee!



The Fly (Kurt Neumann, 1959).