My own personal version of"Six (or is it Seven?) Degrees of Kevin Bacon".
Jeff Moore just emailed me this photograph (found on myconfinedspace.com). He thought I would enjoy it - and he was right! Civil War soldiers (Union, of course) with the pterodactyl that they shot...who would have thought!
It puts me to mind of the classic movie (from 1969, staring James Franciscus), "Valley of the Gwangi". One of my favorite movies as a kid (along with the original "Planet of the Apes" - 1968 - and the original "Time Machine" - 1960).
Check out this clip on YouTube... www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXRkwR9zDRc
Cowboys find a lost valley of dinosaurs in the desert! It looks like this bunch of Yankees came across that same valley.
The late James Franciscus also starred in the first sequel to (the original) "Planet of the Apes", 1970s "Beneath the Planet of the Apes"... and the great television series about a newly blinded New Orleans investigator, "Longstreet" (just one season - in 1971 - back when seasons lasted some 24 episodes and lasted almost from Labor Day till Memorial Day).
Astronauts find a lost planet of apes!
The equally late James Gregory starred as the ape "Ursus" with Franciscus in "Beneath the Planet of the Apes". James Gregory had appeared in the pilot for the late Rod Serling's great "Twilight Zone" series (in 1959), "Where is Everybody?" as an Air Force general.
Rod Serling was raised in my hometown of Binghamton, in Upstate New York (graduating in 1943 from Central High - where my cousin Linda would one day graduate and where he would speak at her graduation). Rod Serling died (1975) at the same hospital, Strong Memorial in Rochester, where my Grandmother Payne and my mom had once been a patient.
The Greater Binghamton Area is known as the birthplace of IBM as well as the Link flight simulator. Binghamton was mentioned in several "Twilight Zone" episodes.
Franciscus played a German lieutenant in an episode of the "Twilight Zone" ("Judgment Night", 1959)... an episode oft-times compared with the aforementioned, "Where is Everybody?"
Not without coincidence, Serling also was a co-writer of the original "Planet of the Apes".
With much coincidence, James Gregory also starred in Serling's 1961 episode of the "Twilight Zone", "The Passerby". It is my all-time favorite "Twilight Zone"! Gregory here plays a Confederate sergeant at the end of the Civil War. In it, a woman waits on her porch, for her husband to return home after the war. Along the road before her home is a long line of soldiers marching by. Gregory stops and speaks with the woman. And it slowly becomes evident to her that he, along with all the soldiers, are dead... as is she... and that she should join them on their final journey.
I remember seeing that as a young kid and falling in love with the Civil War. It was just a cool on-going scene with all the unformed and bedraggled soldiers on the march...
3 comments:
Mike - you carry all that stuff around in your brain? whew! Love the Rod Serling connection. Wow! Having Rod Serling speak at your high school graduation. That voice! Must have been awesome!
Jeff
Yeah, Mike -
I really liked "The Passersby" episode of Twilight Zone also. But, my absolute favorite is "Back There," where the guy goes back to April 14, 1865 and realizes the significance of that date in American history. He makes the attempt to change what will happen but, alas, cannot. It stars Russell Johnson, who would, a few short years later, become the Professor on Gilligan's Island.
Ken, thanks... I don't think I've seen that episode. I will have to look for it. What a great series. And the best part is, it has aged well. The Outer Limits was good too... But I like Rod Serling's stuff... Night Gallery as well.
Jeff, no, I don't carry much around in my brain at all. I use one of those "U-Store-It" places. It's convenient and since I don't need it much... The think was, I didn't go to my cousin's graduation for some reason. Don't ask me why. But I bet it was great. I don't recall anything said at my high school or college graduation. But I bet Rod Serling delivered a wonderful commencement. That voice alone...
I wonder, did he say at some point,"You're traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That's the signpost up ahead - your next stop, the Twilight Zone!"? I should give her a call and ask!
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