Them There Size

When nuclear fallout is falling
the giant mutations come crawling
It's us or it's them
Don't haw and don't hem,
'cause only the end comes from stalling



They march in an endless advance
across the vast desert expanse
From bombs in a test,
out somewhere Southwest,
comes army of oversize ants



Them! (Gordon Douglas, 1954) were gigantic ants resulting from bomb tests. It was planned as a 3-D color film, but was shot in flat black-and-white-- except for the opening titles, which look very cool in color. Watch clips on Youtube, here. Image source: dvd beaver.

Hairdo or Die

A fashion that seems to have spread
is wearing a streak on the head
This hep two-tone 'do
suits Pepé Le Pew
as well as two guys that were dead



Boris Karloff in The Walking Dead (Michael Curtiz, 1936) and Humphrey Bogart in The Return of Doctor X (Vincent Sherman, 1939). Both play characters that mad science brings back from the dead, apparently to share a hair stylist.

Tread of the Dead

From outlines on pavement in chalk
the dead will get up for a walk
They're taking a stroll
with vengeance their goal
Their murderers, stiffly, they stalk



Scientist Boris Karloff is murdered, revived, and seeks revenge as The Walking Dead (1936), long before the current zombie comic book and television series of (almost) the same name. Also pictured: Edmund Gwenn and Marguerite Churchill. Image source: The Boris Karloff Collection.

Sci-Fi Thighs

On planet where dresses are short
Anne Francis is man's fav'rite sport
When astronauts land
Anne's more than they planned
and soon they begin to cavort


As the lovely Altaira Morbius in Forbidden Planet (Fred M. Wilcox, 1956), actress Anne Francis looked straight out of a painted Planet Stories pulp cover, or an EC science fiction comics story drawn by Wally Wood. Also pictured is the not-unattractive Leslie Nielsen. Image source: Fantastic Flashbacks.

A Mole is to Dig

On seeing Anne Francis in heels
a gentleman properly kneels
And then will extol
the blonde with the mole
while making his marriage appeals



Farewell, Anne Francis. Top: With Robby the Robot in a publicity shot for Forbidden Planet. Here's an earlier post on Ms. Francis as TV private eye Honey West.

R.I.P. Anne Francis

We bid a good-bye to Anne Francis,

a glamour gal worthy of glances

I dug her in space

or at Black Rock place

but mostly her Honey West stances

Teed Off-ering

At driving der Bingle was good
Reached greens that no pro ever could
His swing only fair,
he'd get the ball there,
by using his over-sized wood

Parting Shot and a Beer

He reached for the eggs in the jar
and fell from his stool at the bar
A trifle confused
he lay there and mused
"I didn' have too fall to far."

Disrupting his nap on the floor
the bartender showed him the door
"Let go of my sleeve...
was goin' to leave...
I don' like the beds here no more."

With that, he bid all "Au revoir!"
but found that he couldn't get far
Tried drive and reverse,
then spouted a curse
The coppers had booted his car



Hope you all got home safe last night. It's 1/1/11--This one's for you! Ray Milland, Doris Dowling and Howard Da Sylva in Billy Wilder's Lost Weekend. Happy new year!

Ring Out the Old, Bring in the Booze

Let's toast to a holiday merry
and drink of the grain and the berry
And then, in a fog,
the hair of the dog
Tomorrow, a stiff Bloody Mary!



A happy and safe new year's eve from all of us at Limerwrecks! Top: Robert Montgomery and Thomas Gomez Ride the Pink Horse, not elephant. Above: Jack Palance and Shelley Winters share a glass in The Big Knife.

The Wax of Life

Spoiler warning!



When nabbed by a wax covered freak
the lovely Fay Wray gives a shriek
She's stripped in his lab
and strapped to a slab
where all of her fans get a peek



Lionel Atwill and Fay Wray visit The Mystery of the Wax Museum (Michael Curtiz, 1933), where her flesh is a lovely rosy pink in two-strip Technicolor.

A Fright at the Museum

The figures in wax hold a pose
like bodies that suddenly froze
On New Year's you'll see 'em
inside the museum
They're statues with tags on their toes



It's a New Year's Eve full of murder, mirth and mayhem in The Mystery of the Wax Museum (Michael Curtiz, 1933). Love that two-strip Technicolor!

Just the Wax, Ma'am

Each figure is not what it seems
The sculptor has gone to extremes
His horrible acts
are covered in wax
Which causes some fabulous screams



Fay Wray and Glenda Farrell scream in the new year in Mystery of the Wax Museum (Michael Curtiz, 1933), and in glorious two-strip Technicolor yet. There didn't seem to any reason to set it over New Year's--except perhaps to give Farrell's wisecracking reporter a constant hangover.

I'm Screaming at a White Christmas

White Christmas, the best-selling single
made registers ring for der Bingle
But memoir of Gary
made daddy seem scary
A brutal and a creepy Kris Kringle



In his memoir Going My Own Way, Bing Crosby's eldest son Gary detailed years of emotional and physical abuse by his father. May all your Christmases be white instead of black-and-blue.