“Horror of Dracula”: At the 1958 New York Premiere

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Christopher Lee, Hammer Films, Horror of Dracula, New York, Peter Cushing, premiere, vampire

After the success of “Curse of Frankenstein” (1957), the film which essentially resurrected the entire horror genre, Hammer Films turned its attention to the next big bad movie monster.

Count Dracula.

Once again beckoning to the talents of the gruesome twosome of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, when “Horror of Dracula” hit the big screen at the New York premiere on May 8, 1958, Van Helsing and Dracula themselves were in attendance.

Recalls Lee:

“Bonanza”: The Classic Western With a Heart of Gold

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Bonanza, Dan Blocker, David Canaday, Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, Pernell Roberts, premiere, television, The Lone Ranger, Westerns

Today, you’re not likely to see many Westerns on television. But from the 1940s through the early ’70s, the Stetson-sportin’, gun-slingin’, drawl-talkin’ gentlemen of old is exactly what audiences wanted to see.

When “The Lone Ranger” premiered in 1949, starring Clayton Moore (Lone Ranger) and Jay Silverheels (Tonto), it helped to kick off a small-screen wild west revolution. It paved the way for many long-running western series like “Gunsmoke” (1955-1975), “Wagon Train” (1957-1965), “The Rifleman” (1958-1963), “Rawhide” (1959-1966) and “The Virginian” (1962-1971). But for me, the best thing to come out of this western revolution was a little classic called “Bonanza”.

A Worthy “Enterprise”

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Gene Roddenberry, James T. Kirk, Leonard Nimoy, Original Series, premiere, Rod Serling, Spock, Star Trek, William Shatner

Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.

Well, it’s September already. And you know what that means. It’s TV premiere season! I must admit that I get more excited about marking past television premieres than I do about current shows starting up again. Yeah, there are some cool shows to watch now in 2015, but let’s be honest. Even the best that today’s writers have to offer usually pales in comparison to the TV programs from decades ago.

One of my favourite premieres to mark was on Sunday the 13th — “Scooby Doo, Where Are You?” (1969). And coming up in the next two weeks, we of course have “The Addams Family” (1964) and “The Munsters” (1964). Hey, I like Supernatural, Once Upon a Time, Sleepy Hollow, and Gotham, but give me the former three over these ANY day of the week.

Speaking of television show premieres, last week, a good friend shared a super cool newspaper clipping with me.