It's the REAL Madness of March- Vincent Price as "The Mad Magician"- Tonight!

You won’t believe what we have up our sleeve tonight on MeTV- when the great Vincent Price combines his talents for magic and make-up with mimicry and murder- as the curtain goes up on “The Mad Magician”!

In this 1954 magical mystery movie, an earnest creator of illusions, one Gallico the Great, is prepared to finally step on stage himself, to present a new and wondrous trick- “The Lady and the Buzzsaw”!  Gallico wants to enhance his performance by donning make-up and imitating a rival magician headliner, Renaldi- and he’s pulling it off splendidly- until someone orders the curtain down as he’s about to do the buzzsaw illusion! It turns out it’s the doing of his boss at the company where he creates the tricks, one Ross Ormond, who’s accompanied by the REAL Renaldi! Ormond states that, by his contract, anything he creates- even on his own time- belongs to Ormond! This is not the first nasty thing the boss has done to Gallico- it turns out that he also wooed away his wife, who is attracted to money like a moth to a flame!

It’s all heading down hill, with  another booking Gallico had being withdrawn- a sneaky coincidence-  and more goading from Ormond drives Gallico to his limit- and beyond. He has Ormond act as assistant in a cutting-edge trick which brings the curtain down on the evil man’s life! Now- how can he make the evidence disappear?

Things get complicated  by the appearance of Gallico’s young assistant from his act, Karen- who just so happens to be dating a police lieutenant . Gallico uses his incredible talents of mimicry and disguise to take on the identity of another, while continuing to invent amazing new stage illusions. The crafty rival Renaldi continues to snoop, ready to claim any new trick for himself- while endeavoring to find out the truth about the whereabouts of Gallico’s boss-  oh, and did we mention- Gallico’s ex-wife re-appears!

This movie was the follow-up to Vincent’s success in “House of Wax”- we’ll tell you a few things these two films have in common- and, though this one is in black and white, Vincent is certainly continuing in being able to create colorful characters! We’ll introduce you to the cast members, and give you a full roster of Sven fun- including a visit from Tombstone,who has a magic trick of his own, as well as one from a noted make-up effects artist who tells how Vincent’s make-ups were created! You’ll also get a new song, and see Sven receive an honor from the state of New Jersey!

“The Mad Magician” mysteriously appears on MeTV tonight  at 8 pm eastern/pacific, 7 central, or check your local listings, or at www.metv.com for time and channel . The “live-Tweeting” continues every Saturday night during the show on Twitter, with the Sven show trending high nationally- MeTv invites you to join in, using the  hashtag  #svengoolie  .

Meanwhile, one of the most debated -about and controversial films we’ve ever shown-“ 5000 Fingers of Dr T ”- gets an encore at 11 am  today on WCIU, the U.

Please remember to vote in the national Rondo awards- you’ll find rules and ballot at www.rondoaward.com  - I am again honored to be nominated in category 21- “favorite horror host”- but vote for your true favorites in as many or as few categories as you wish- and follow the rules, or your vote will not count! Also, we are rapidly approaching some Sven appearances next month- so check that “appearances” tab on our website for additional info coming soon!

Tonight- join us for some tragic magic with Vincent Price, who makes people disappear- and then reappear- but NOT in the way you’d want a magician to do so!