The Lovely Lady of the “Black Lagoon”!

Let's recap a fabulous weekend- last night, at the Zombie Annihilation haunted house at Hawthorne Race Course was a perfect ending to a typical full Sven Halloween season weekend (not to mention, a great appetizer to the new season of "Walking Dead"!) Thanks to all the visitors who braved the "last stand" of the zombie apocalypse and came by to say hello! Saturday was equally fun- we had a tremendous turn-out for the Tom and Eddie's event- including plenty of people who suited up in their Halloween best to enter the costume contest! With all the tempting Sven chicken sandWITCHes and burger choices as an added distraction,it was tough to choose just a few winners- but we finally did- including the cutest little girl ever as a marshmallow roasting on a fire (take my word for it- it was awesome!)- as well as a duo of deadly damsels we dubbed my "ex-wives"- plus, Red Riding Hood and her Wolf Man(obediently following her on a leash)-and- a Mummy, complete with his own mobile sarcophagus! The guests were all so nice, the staff was terrific, and the rain didn't deter anybody from coming and having a great time! After we wound up our time in Lombard,we made a side trip to Berwyn (yes, Berwyn!!!) for a special visit- the lovely Julia Adams, star of "Creature from the Black Lagoon" was doing a signing at our favorite horror memorabilia store, Horrorbles, and, although we've been in contact before, and she was kind enough to record a shout-out for us to use on air, we had never met in person! So, we asked John, the store owner, if we could just slip in, unannounced, and say hello- and he kindly agreed! I made it clear that we didn't want to take anything away from this event being about Julia- but John said she and her son Mitch Danton were both very excited that I'd be coming by.We got to the store, and the many fans in line were very kind to allow me a couple minutes to meet this charming lady who has had an amazing career- which you can read about in her mesmerizing book,"The Lucky Southern Star: Reflections from the Black Lagoon", which she was signing (it is also now available as an audio book- read by Julia and Mitch).I thanked her for her kindness to us, and was so pleased to know that she watches the show on Me-TV- and , again, is very happy that we continue to make "the Creature" available on our show! We also received a pretty cool book- the first US publication of a 1954 United Kingdom novelization of "Creature from the Black Lagoon" by "Vargo Statten" (John Russell Fearn).Given the blessing of Universal Studios, it also contains a gallery of incredible photos, both posed and taken during production, from the film- and an introduction about the impact the Gill Man has had on film and popular culture, as well as the story of the man who wrote the novelization.It's like having the complete movie- in print! Of course, in honor of dear Julia Adams,whose white bathing suit-wearing Kay remains one of the memorable elements of "Black Lagoon"- let's christen the Gill Man himself as today's "Halloween Horror of the Day"! The Creature- the missing link between amphibians and man-went from being a legend whispered about by the Amazon river locals to a full-fledged real monster, battled by the original film's crew, and thought to be dead- appearing again, and eventually being captured and brought to the States to cause havoc- then, thought dead again, until he resurfaced, was burned in battle, and , through surgery, turned into an air-breathing reluctant land-dweller! Probably Universal's only 1950s monster to hold his own in comparison to the classic monsters, the Gill Man remains a favorite of horror fans- and we like to think that, at the end of that third film,he returned to the water, with his system recovered enough to allow him to breathe in the water again-so he could live on and return someday. For now, he returns in the honored position of "Halloween Horror of the Day"!