Before the Thunderbirds were GO… before David Hasselhoff got behind the wheel of KITT… there was Supercar, the first of the Supermarionation series produced by Gerry Anderson!
Supercar was a bit of a misnomer because the vehicle had no wheels and spent more time flying like a plane or diving underwater like a submarine than it ever did cruising down the highways like a car.
The main character on the show was Supercar’s pilot, Mike Mercury, but the car itself was supposedly the creation of Professor Popkiss and Dr. Beaker who helped guide the vehicle from their headquarters in Nevada. Actually, the car was a way that Anderson could avoid having to have his puppets walk – which never looked very convincing.
In the first episode, Supercar rescues a young boy named Jimmy Gibson. Jimmy has a pet monkey named Mitch (because why not?). They are then invited to live at Supercar headquarters and take part in the adventures. A young boy living alone in the dessert with 3 grown men apparently raised few eyebrows at Child & Family Services back in the day.
The show’s main villain was Masterspy. (You would think his parents might have given him a different name.)
Although the TV series was made in Britain for ITV, the setting for the show was America. That’s because Anderson and his moneyman, Lew Grade, wanted to get the show aired in the more lucrative American market.
They succeeded. The show was syndicated across the United States and led to a line of Supercar merchandise.
The show ran for 39 episodes, produced in 1961 and 1962. Anderson met and married one of the show’s voice artists, Sylvia Thamm, who provided the voice for Jimmy and all of the series’ female characters.
Because the series was filmed in black & white, it was syndicated less and less as color took over and the Andersons moved on to Fireball XL-5, Thunderbirds and eventually, the live-action Space:1999.
The series including its wonderfully cheesy theme song is available on the home video market.
Here's a money-saving tip for your furry frends.
Vetrinairans mark up the drugs they sell by as much as 100%. Experts recommend that you first try to locate these same pet prescriptions through other sources - online or through human drug stores like CVS or Walgreen's.
You can also visit humansociety.org. Type "afford" into the serach functionthere and discover more tips that can save you money on all kinds of pet supplies.
Here's something you may not know: Exercising doesn't really help you lose weight! Experts say you burn pretty much the same number of calories a day whether you're competing in a marathon or sinking into your couch binge watching Stranger Things on Netflix.
Now, exercise has a number of positive benefits, so we're not telling you to skip the gym. Lack of exercise can lead to chronic inflammation, which leads to most of the diseases linked to aging.
So, keep up that daily exercise routine. But to lose weight, you're a still going to have to eat less.
We’ve been hearing this song since it first entered the pop charts in the fall of 1962, but how much do you know about its creation?
Bobby Pickett was an aspiring actor in L.A. who sang with a band called the Cordials at night while attending auditions during the day. One night as the group was performing a cover version of “Little Darling,” Pickett began a short monolog using an impersonation of Boris Karloff’s voice. The crowd loved it.
Pickett then sat down with fellow band member Lenny Capizzi and quickly worked up some monster-themed lyrics as a parody of Dee Dee Sharp’s “Mashed Potato Time.” While the major labels were not interested in their song, writer/producer Gary Paxton was. Paxton was no stranger to novelty records, having written, sung & produced “Alley Oop” just two years earlier.
Paxton called in session musicians like Leon Russell and Johnny MacRae and quickly got “Monster Mash” recorded and released on his own Garpax label. Bobby became Bobby “Boris” Pickett and the session men were christened “the Crypt-Kicker 5.”
The little record from an independent label was an immediate smash (just as Bobby had boasted in the lyrics), reaching #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 during Halloween week of 1962!
Like the Frankenstein monster himself, the record refused to die, getting fresh airplay every year thereafter. It proved so popular that it actually re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 in 1970 and again in 1973 when it went all the way to # 10. The song was actually banned by the BBC in 1962 for being “too morbid.” Pickett had the last laugh when the 1973 re-issue also reached the Top 10 in the UK.
Pickett released several follow-ups to “Monster Mash” (some of which you’ll hear every Halloween here at Boomtown America), but never matched the success of his first release.
He went on a brief career as an L.A. disc jockey and also played bit parts in several low budget movies.
The song is still available on multiple compilations. Just remember, as Bobby said, “When you get to the store, tell them Boris sent you!”