Not Just the Animals Are Dangerous-“Murders in the Zoo” Tonight!

We have a rarely seen - but once seen, never forgotten- chiller tonight on MeTV- as the sinister Lionel Atwill excels not only at bringing 'em back alive-but bringing his enemies to death- in the 1933 horror "Murders in the Zoo"!

Atwill is Eric Gorman- a professional  procurer of wild animals , on a mission to the Asian jungle to provide a menagerie to bolster a failing  American zoo. His sultry wife's affairs with various  associates infuriates the jealous Eric- who takes shocking steps to  punish her would-be suitors. Even as they cruise home on a ship loaded with his latest animal finds,the wife Evelyn flirts with yet another man, Roger- and this is all not lost on Eric. Meanwhile, the zoo has hired a former newspaper reporter, often full of bravado and , unfortunately, a few times, too full of alcohol- as a publicity agent to drum up excitement about the new additions to the zoo.

When Evelyn's excitement  and attachment to Roger is becoming too serious- Eric begins to plot revenge- coinciding with the zoo planning a gala fund-raising dinner to be held right in one of the animal houses!  The dinner turns into a disaster, the zoo is in danger of closing- and Eric continues his cruel and inhuman plotting to eliminate anyone who has crossed or betrayed him!

This Paramount film, which went to Universal in the '50s as part of a deal to create a package of films  for TV, was made before the Motion Picture Code was strictly enforced- which means there are a few things in this movie that are truly grisly and upsetting. We'll talk about this in the program, as well as the cast- featuring such name actors as Randolph Scott and Charlie Ruggles, as well as Kathleen Burke- who was famous for another role that had definite connections to animals (no spoilers, people!) It's a shorter film, so we have plenty of Sven fun coming up tonight- including a parody of a commercial that runs on our local station and all over the country- Tombstone making a guest appearance- a new song- an "interview" with a familiar-looking animal hunter- and- some highlights from our latest visit to the C2E2 comics and entertainment convention, that includes some fabulous costumes, along with us touching base with wrestling icons like the fabulous Mick Foley!

"Murders in the Zoo" will be unleashed tonight on MeTV at 10 pm eastern/pacific, 9 central, or check local listings or at www.metv.com for time and channel in your area. In Chicago, WCIU viewers can tune in at 11 am to  relive the excitement of "King Kong VS Godzilla".

Don't forget that, currently, in some markets, our show starts an hour later than usual due to newscasts, sports, etc. - we try to get the stations to start the show later so you don't get it "joined in progress". If that should happen, please let us know!

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Join us tonight for animals and animosity- menageries and murder- in an all-new Svengoolie show!