Scream, Pretty Peggy: The Art

I was hoping to have time for a proper review of Scream, Pretty Peggy, which originally aired on November 24th, 1973 as an ABC Movie of the Week. I recently re-watched it and loved it just as much as when I first saw it as a kid. I wrote a woefully negative review of it for another site and have come to regret every word (I was going through that weird sarcastic phase that strikes many who think they have to make fun of what they love... but I grew up and grew out of that crap!). I still want to give this film its proper due, and will, but for now let's celebrate Halloween with a classic of the genre.

Jeffrey Elliot's (Ted Bessell) gruesome and haunting sculptures were created by Don Chandler, and set the tone for this small but undeniably eerie telefilm. But it's not just his look inside a madman's mind that makes Peggy such a visual treat. Most of the whackadoodle artwork that fills Jeffery's house is crazy in the most wonderful of ways. I tried to get the best stills for your Halloween pleasure! Enjoy and have a great day filled with candy and small screen scares!

TV Spot Tuesday: The French Atlantic Affair (1979)

Ah, it feels so good to get back to this segment!

I have not seen the French Atlantic Affair, which originally aired on ABC on November 15th, 16th and 18th in 1979. Based on the novel by Ernest Lehman, which was published in 1977, the story revolves around crazy Father Donleavy (Telly Savalas) who runs the Church of the Cosmic Path (best named "church" ever? I think so). The Cosmic Path cult infiltrates a Love Boat like cruiser, and it's up to Harold Columbine (Chad Everett) and other awesome TV-movie-friendly faces to save the day! That sounds like three nights of awesomeness, yes?

Here are a couple of newspaper promo stills:

The rest of the cast includes such wonderful actors as James Coco, Carolyn Jones, Richard Jordan, Donald Pleasance and much, much more! Warner Archives recently released the mini-series on DVD! Oh. Yes.

I want to thank Matt aka Billy Witch Doctor, for the scans from TV Guide, which I posted below. This artwork was done by Bob Peak, who did a lot of great work for the magazine. Bob posted some of his covers on his website, so stop by and tell 'em Amanda By Night sent ya! And thanks again Matt for the awesome scans. 

Aaaaannnnnddddd, after all of that, here is the original TV promo. It also features some clips from 240-Robert, which I'm sad to say I was completely unfamiliar with until about two weeks ago. Where was I in 1979? Not where I should have been, I'll tell you that much!

Update 5/12/14: Ugh. The promo has been removed, but Warner Archives posted this fun Preview Clip: 

TV Movies and Art: After the Day After

Although we’ve moved on to different conflicts, it’s hard to believe we live in a world where there is no Cold War. Not just that, but there are people who have never experienced first hand that kind of looming fear such as we had during that period. The 80s seemed to be in Russia vs. America overdrive in many ways, and has been well documented in the arts. I mean c’mon, 99 Luftballoons?!? We also had several films that presented a dark, dystopian future because many of us wondered what we’d like to be if we grew up! But perhaps nothing truly captured that sense of utter destruction the way the made for TV movie The Day After did. It was 1983, and I remember the complete terror I felt just knowing it was coming on TV! It was that scary because it didn’t make us face our fears through the implication of nuclear war, it made us face our fear by showing us the actual devastation of nuclear war. Obviously, this film impacted so many of us and art filmmaker Nathan Meltz taps into his experience of watching the film when it first aired in 1983. He made a short called After the Day After, which is a scene for scene retelling of the nuclear attack told through animation. He calls it “Dada-collage-meets-stop-animation.” It’s pretty funky and sort of moves nuclear destruction into a Terminator like parallel universe. Mixing footage from the film with industrial robots conveys a never-ending cycle of destruction that begins with humans and carries on into other realms. Of course, I’m not an art student, and you should check out Nathan’s film here and decide for yourself. You can also read an interview with him here.

I'd also love to hear what you think of Nathan's film, so please feel free to comment.  



Watch the nuclear attack scene from The Day After:






While The Day After certainly resonates with so many of us, I think it would be interesting to explore these recesses of memories in other art works. Can we not envision a Bad Ronald sculpture or a stained glass Zuni Fetish Doll? Damn, I wish I were more artistic!

And finally, you can read an absolutely fantastic article about The Day After by clicking the link!