Our pre-Halloween feature rounds out our Mummy marathon of the last few weeks, with Kharis the living mummy returning. This time he’s portrayed by Lon Chaney Jr., and once again, he’s in search of his lost love Ananka- and, once again, he stumbles (or shambles) upon a young woman who may be the reincarnation of his Princess- with the latest priest of the cult on hand to guide him in the quest for revenge! It's the chiller that falls between “The Mummy’s Tomb” and “The Mummy’s Curse”- 1944’s "The Mummy's Ghost"!
High priest George Zucco ( no, surprisingly NOT dead, as one might expect after he was shot in “The Mummy’s Hand”- wait- he was shot in the hand? I thought- no, I can’t go through with this Abbott and Costello-like routine) sends his latest emissary the priest Yousef Bey ( played by John Carradine) to the US to retrieve the living Mummy Kharis –as well as the body of the Princess Ananka- currently on display in a museum. We again get the recipe for use of the tana leaves to motivate the Mummy ( couldn’t they have come up with a quick and easy instant tana tea by now?)
Meanwhile, at a college in Massachusetts, a professor lectures the classroom on the story of Kharis (updating students and audience members who haven’t paid attention to the previous movies) . Among those students paying half-attention we have Tom Hervey and his gorgeous girlfriend Amina, who is of Egyptian descent- you don’t suppose that might make her a target for… no, of COURSE not. Then again, Amina has odd distant moments and seems dazed when the subject of anything Egyptian comes up. Just don’t play that Bangles tune when she’s around ( you know- “Walk Like an…)
Their professor takes his work home with him, where he has decoded some ancient hieroglyphics that actually reveal the properties of the tana leaves. He decides to follow the formula- what harm can it do, if Kharis is no longer around? Bad decision, because Kharis IS still around- and the tana tea draws him to the prof, with tragic results! Along the way, the mummy has a chance encounter with Amina, who is wandering in a trance-like state, resulting in her falling unconscious - and triggering some physical changes in her as well.
Yousef Bey arrives in the area, and brews up the tana leaves to gain control of the Mummy. With Kharis under his control, they set out to re-claim the mummy of Ananka- which brings about additions to the local body count, and the realization that Ananka's spirit has been reincarnated in…someone ( any guesses?)- which begins their quest to find out who that might be. The local police, realizing that the Mummy once again is on the loose in their town, attempt to find a way to locate and capture him- while Yousef Bey discovers that Amina may be Ananka reborn- and, not being above temptation, isn't above noticing that she's one fabulous babe. Soon, her boyfriend Tom finds himself battling to save Amina from both Kharis and Yousef Bey- in hopes of sparing her from a horrible fate!
There’s a lot of interesting behind the scenes info about our Mummy du jour, Lon Chaney Jr., which we’ll pass along, as well as talking about cast members like John Carradine and pin-up girl Ramsay Ames. We’ll talk to two “Lisa”s we ran into at this year’s Flashback Weekend- we’ll question where Jerry Springer got the idea for his current “Judge Jerry” show- and more. Plus- we'll be following up the film with a special feature Sven viewers have been asking to see again- our "Svensurround" version of an episode of "Commando Cody"!
"The Mummy's Ghost" will haunt MeTV tonight at 8 pm eastern/pacific, 7central, and , if you're unsure of the run time in your area, please consult your local listings and/or visit www.metv.com for both time and channel. MeTV invites you to join the many fans who live -Tweet during the show on Twitter- just make sure to use the hashtag #svengoolie . Chicago area viewers can refresh their memories of a previous Kharis tale ,”The Mummy’s Hand”, at 11 am on the U ( at its new channel - each week, we still hear from viewers who think the Saturday morning local run of the show is gone- because they didn’t know about the U moving to the channel location previously held by the UToo).
Two big appearances today- our seasonal visit to the amazing Volo Auto Museum in Volo Illinois this afternoon- and then , tonight- I’ll be honored at Chicago’s Museum of Broadcast Communications at a museum fund-raiser event- “40 Years as Svengoolie”! My old coffin and set pieces will again be put on display, we’ll show clips from the program (including a Svensurrounded short subject), I’ll discuss my 40 years, and- for the first time- Kerwyn will appear for a live “Kerwyn’s Corner”! You’ll find information for both events here on our site under “appearances”.
And-it’s finally going to be here- on this Wednesday the 30th- the first chapter of “Svengoolie Meets the DC Universe” will appear in all the major DC titles and proceed for 4 weeks, in the books that come out every Wednesday. Wait until you see the menace that confronts Sven- and who’s behind it!
Also on Wednesday the 30th- on WGN radio ( 720 AM), I’ll be appearing with Roe Conn and Anna Davlantes just after 6 pm central time to play their crazy headline game “News or Ruse?” It’s always a fun contest- and often hard to tell what’s a real story and what isn’t! Then, we continue our Halloween tradition by again appearing on WGN with our friends Bill and Wendy just after 10:30 am central on Halloween- rumor has it they’ll have something special in their trick-or-treat bag for me!
Get that tana leaf tea brewing tonight- when Kharis appears once again on MeTV!
