Who’s on First? Who’s a Ghost? “Time of Their Lives” Tonight!

It's a new Sven show tonight on MeTV- with Revolutionary War ghosts plaguing new tenants of a reconstructed manor. When one of the ghosts is Lou Costello, and one of the new residents is Bud Abbott- you know they'll have the "Time of Their Lives"!

In 1780, an honest  and good-hearted colonial tinker- Horatio- has a letter of recommendation from none other than General George Washington- which he hopes will convince wealthy Tom Danbury (to whom  his girlfriend Nora is indentured) to make her a free woman- and marry him!  Unfortunately, a sneaky butler, Cuthbert, would like to take Horatio's place in Nora's heart- and schemes to keep him from delivering the letter- not knowing that Nora has already taken it.

Things become more complicated when Nora overhears Danbury plotting to join Benedict Arnold and  strike against the colonial army- but she is captured by Tom and his British sympathizers ! However, Tom's fiancee Melody has also been eavesdropping- and, broken-heartedly decides to ride to tell the army what he's planning, while unbeknownst to her,Tom hides Horatio's letter in a clock. She accidentally stumbles on Horatio, and enlists him to ride with her. This does not end well- as they are mistaken for traitors and shot, with their bodies dumped into the estate's well! Angry patriots carry away the estate's furniture and burn the place to the ground.

Years pass- and , in the 1940s, the Danbury estate has been rebuilt- and restocked with the original furnishings!Horatio and Melody, now ghosts condemned to stay on the estate unless they are proved innocent of being traitors, see the new tenants arriving- young Sheldon Gage, his fiancee, her wise-cracking aunt, and Sheldon's psychiatrist (note: it would appear the reason for his having a psychiatrist has edited out of the film - you can see a jump cut when they first arrive and talk about the psychiatrist coming!) As luck would  have it- the shrink is a look-alike descendant of Horatio's old nemesis Cuthbert! Horatio and Melody decide to use their ghostly powers to haunt the new occupants of the rebuilt manor- and scare all those in the house- except for the housekeeper Emily, who has a bit of the shining and knows that the spirits are about!

Seeing the old furniture back- Horatio and Melody search for the hidden letter that will free them- and Emily's  psychic power, put to use in a seance, may be the key to finding just where that all-important  letter  might be!

This  1946 ghost story features Lou (as Horatio) and Bud ( as Cuthbert and his descendant)  as separate entities, not as a team- Lou is teamed up  with the lovely  Marjorie Reynolds as the two ghosts. We'll talk about the stories of WHY the boys were  not a team in this film (and the expert who disputes them), as well as giving background on the other players, including Gale Sondergaard and Binnie Barnes. Since this movie is a little longer than our average films shown,  we'll limit the Sven time so we don't have to cut much from the movie.

"Time of Their Lives" appears tonight on MeTV at 10 pm eastern/pacific, 9 central, or check your local listings for time in your area. Be aware that some stations will shift our show to later due to sporting events, and many of them shift the start time so they can show you our entire program- instead of only part of it. In Chicago, WCIU viewers can see "Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man" at 11 am!

If you're in the Chicago area,and reading this early enough- you can still plan to come see me today at the C2E2 convention at McCormick Place- I'm signing from 11:30 to 1:30 pm, but PLEASE- get in line early. Every year, we have to stop the line about an hour in- or sooner- so that we don't have people in line who we won't get to meet.

Thanks for your votes in the "Me Madness" bracket contest- and, thanks to those who are voting for me in the national Rondo Awards for this year! Again, I'm nominated as favorite horror show host- so make sure you vote for whichever  host is your favorite in that category. The ballot is at www.rondoaward.com  make sure you follow all the instructions, or your vote will not count! Please note: you can vote just in that category, or in as many-or few- as you like!

Please join me tonight for "Time of Their Lives"- hopefully, you'll have the time of yours!