The Olive Oyl Branch

My oh my, you're both rough and so strong
But this violent stuff is just wrong
All the noise is a fright
So you boys mustn't fight
Why oh why can't you toughs get along?



Popeye and Bluto come-a-courting Olive Oyl in Pleased to Meet Cha! (Dave Fleischer; 1935). The louts at LimerWrecks wish you a happy and peaceful New Year. We all want peace on Earth--though not necessarily in cartoons!

Au Bon Brain

One man crazy, and three very sane
They may praise him, but me they disdain
They're society's cream
I'm some guy makes you scream
I'm amazed they'd trust me with the brain.

David Cairns

When Victor questions his sanity, Henry says 'One man “crazy”, three very sane spectators.' Of course he leaves out Fritz, our narrator. Dwight Frye (Fritz), Edward Van Sloan, John Boles (Victor), Mae Clarke, Colin Clive (Henry), and Boris Karloff, in  Frankenstein (James Whale; 1931).

Waterprowl

Work is done, but a cool, soothing dip Is no fun if you're losing your grip Something black's on the prowl Which attacks with a growl Never run by the pool--you might slip! Alice Moore (Jane Randolph) seeks refuge in the pool in Cat People (Jacques Tourneur; 1942). Title by watery-eyed Donald Benson.

Cat People on Sunday

Do these people who mew often stray
Beneath steeple to pew where they pray
To old Gods and their laws?
Or just nod, clean their paws?
Do they weep when we neuter and spay?

Simone Simon, the star of Cat People, returns as Irena in The Curse of the Cat People (Gunther von Fritsch, Robert Wise; 1944), haunting Ann Carter.

Carry On Curse

Is she Amy's imagined new friend?
Did this dame meet a tragical end?
Enigmatic? The most!
Once a cat, now a ghost
It's misnamed but quite magic, well-penned.

David Cairns

The mysterious Irena (Simone Simon) appears to young Amy Reed (Ann Carter) in The Curse of the Cat People (Gunther von Fritsch, Robert Wise; 1944), a most wonderful sequel-in-name-only.

All She Haunts for Christmas...

It's Christmas, the advent of life
Not listlessness, madness, and strife 
As snow gently falls
A ghostly dame calls                                 

Insisting she's Daddy's first wife.               



In The Curse of the Cat People (Gunther von Fritsch, Robert Wise; 1944), young Amy Reed (Ann Carter) befriends Irena (Simone Simon), her father's deceased first wife. Title by our not-so-secret Santa, Donald Benson. Merry Christmas from the elves at LimerWrecks!

The Curse of Christmas Past

You're adrift in an X-mas perverse 
Shape-shifter? Still sexy, post-hearse!
Not cats in your stocking
Or splatter most shocking
Your gift is this excellent Curse.

Kent Smith, Jane Randolph, and Ann Carter celebrate Christmas in The Curse of the Cat People (Gunther von Fritsch, Robert Wise; 1944), produced by Val Lewton.

Fritz Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Like the biblical saviour, but stranger
Robbed from gibbets by knaves at great danger
'Twas a nightmare nativity
Into Dwight Frye's captivity
My crib was the grave, not a manger.

David Cairns

The Monster (Boris Karloff) narrates his birth, with Dwight Frye as Fritz, and Colin Clive as Henry Frankenstein (James Whale; 1931).

Scary Rotter and the Deathly Gallows

It swings like a leaf from a tree
A thing--just some beef I'll cut free
It hangs there, suspended
It's strangled, life ended
What stings is that thief could be me.

Does Fritz (Dwight Frye) identify with the hanged criminal in Frankenstein (James Whale; 1931)? Does he see his own future at the hands of the Monster? With Colin Clive. Nothing like a hanging to put one in a festive holiday mood. Title by merry Christmas fairy Donald Benson.

Rad Skelton

Like an acne-scarred skull, his fizzog
Graces hackneyed and dull films, a slog
But Knaggs kills it when shootin'
Them thrillers by Lewton
He attacks without lull, we're agog.

David Cairns

Skelton Knaggs as Finn, the mute sailor in The Ghost Ship (Mark Robson; 1943), produced by Val Lewton, master of mood and menace.

Handle With Character

Called "ugly" by wretched film wags
His mug's a collection of crags
But fans of great faces
Think his pan is just aces
A hug for this deck hand, Skel Knaggs!

Skelton Knaggs is "Finn the Mute" in The Ghost Ship (Mark Robson; 1943).

Chain of Ghouls

 

The anchor-chain's stowed in a cell
There's a Clank! you let go a great yell
But with hatch tightly battened
You're dispatched, slightly flattened
Either prank or pre-Code level Hell.

David Cairns



The Ghost Ship (Mark Robson; 1943) Is this why Lawrence Tierney is so angry in his later roles?

Ghost in the Marine

This ship tells the tale of a "ghost"
Iron grip of a male that's the most
The ill Captain Stone
To killing is prone
One slip up, and sailor, you're toast.

Richard Dix stars as Captain Stone in The Ghost Ship (Mark Robson; 1943). Skelton Knaggs fondles the knife.