Check these out ! In the 70's and early 80's there was a great Saturday night horror program called CHILLER THEATER on WPIX from New York. Check out these sites as they have the original beginning and the later claymation begining of this weekly broadcast. There is also a list of every movie that aired and the date and time it played. Chiller theater lasted for 9 years. It didn't have a horror host like some channels, but they had two great introductions to the featured horror film that was to play.
Earlier Introduction:
http://21ca.com/chiller/ (http://21ca.com/chiller/)
The Later Claymation Introduction:
http://www.dvddrive-in.com/Chiller/chiller.htm (http://www.dvddrive-in.com/Chiller/chiller.htm) (Scroll to bottom of site page to view claymation.)
They would play these intro clips/scenes and then start the movie. Did anyone see this show in the 70's?
Post Edited (11-30-04 09:54)
Thanks for those links, Scott. That really brings back some memories...My father and I used to watch that every Saturday that it was on when I was six years old.
>The Later Claymation Introduction:
>
>http://www.dvddrive-in.com/Chiller/chiller.htm (Scroll to bottom of site page to >view claymation.)
Thanks for the links! I've been wanting to find a copy of the claymation opening for a while now. It's the only one I ever saw.
You right about the memories odinn and JohnL. That was a special time for those who had the chance. So many great films. Where are you guys from? I use to watch it on our 13 channel cable system in Elmira, N.Y. during the mid-70's. Now I live in Southern New Jersey near Atlantic City.
I think the claymation internet image may have been provided by one of our occasional visitors to this messageboard named Kreiger (spelling?). If I see him on the board again I'll ask if he is the one who put that on the internet.
Scott,
I now live in North Eastern PA but grew up in Northern NJ (Mahwah) and we used to be able to get all our channels with just a set of rabbit-ear antennas. Good, simple times.
Post Edited (12-01-04 07:26)
Yep, thats for sure. You would barely ever see me in the house all day and we rarely locked our doors. The country and the world has become a prison of sorts. We possess to much and we think we have to much to lose.
Check out the other links on that Claymation page oddin7 they also cover WOR television amd a few other programs.
I also use to watch every Mets and Yankees game to come on TV when I wasn't running around. Remember the old intros to those baseball games. "Meet the Mets" song or Kiner's Corner. How about Wonderama with Bob McAlister.
>Where are you guys from?
I'm from Connecticut. I used to watch WPIX on our antenna. Sometime in the 1980s my family got cable and I've watched there ever since. Tonight I'll be watching Smallville on it while taping Lost.
>they also cover WOR television
I think WOR's Million Dollar Movie was where I saw Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things.
It's strange, at the time, I always thought of the MDM movie as being fairly boring since they hardly ever used to show anything I wanted to watch. I recall the intro to MDM signalling that there was nothing good on, but now I look back fondly on those evenings in front of the TV.
I also recall WABC having theme weeks, where they would show similar themed movies each day at 4:30PM. A week of giant monster movies, a week of space movies, a week of horror movies...
We never picked up WABC in Elmira, N.Y. , but that must have been a great channel.
THE MILLION DOLLOR MOVIE was always on during a slow Sunday afternoon if I recall correctly. They showed all types of films. The intro to that would show New York City at night from an arial viewpoint while some song like Gone With the Wind theme would play announcing THE MILLION DOLLAR MOVIE. Usually I would watch the WWII films that would often come on that program.
Remember BOWLING FOR DOLLARS (loved that show), JOE FRANKLIN SHOW (didn't really watch that one), Horse Racing, and PRO WRESTLING.
WPIX would also show ABBOTT AND COSTELLO every Sunday morning.
Post Edited (12-01-04 17:57)
>We never picked up WABC in Elmira, N.Y. , but that must have been a great
>channel.
You could always count on Godzilla/Gamera movies showing up every 2-3 months.
>THE MILLION DOLLOR MOVIE was always on during a slow Sunday afternoon
>if I recall correctly.
I seem to remember it being more towards the evening, like 5-6pm.
>The intro to that would show New York City at night from an arial viewpoint while
>some song like Gone With the Wind theme would play announcing THE
>MILLION DOLLAR MOVIE.
I seem to recall that it also showed (I'm completely blanking on what they're called) one of those elevated cable cars with all the lights on, slowly moving up or down.
Yep, that was the intro and yes probably closer to 5pm.