Macabre was not only Castle's first independent movie, but also the first that he would employ the kind of gimmick he would be become so well known for. Audience members were given an insurance policy certificate, backed by Lloyd's Of London, that ensured them against frightened to death for $1000. What followed were two b-movie horrors a year, each with its own unique promotional gimmick twist.

By the late 60s, Castle decided he wanted to direct a movie of artistic worth, managing to acquire the film rights to the Ira Levin novel Rosemary's Baby, before it was even published. This he felt was his chance, and he struck a deal with Paramount Pictures. However Paramount insisted that the new darling of European cinema, who had recently moved to the United States, Roman Polanski directed the movie. Castle agreed, and took on the role of producer. The movie was a huge success, but unfortunately Castle was unable to capitalise on the success, as he suffered kidney failure soon after the movie's release. 

The moment was lost for the king of promotion, and Castle went back to directing and producing b-movie horror and sci-fi. His last role as director being the 1974 movie Shanks, which was the first major movie role for famed French mime artist Marcel Marceau. The last movie that Castle produced before his death in 1977, was Bug in 1975. Even as producer, it was a last return to form for the king of the gimmick, when he advertised that he'd taken out a million dollar life insurance policy on the movie's star "bug", Hercules the cockroach. On May 31st 1977, William Castle succumbed to a heart attack and died, leaving a legacy of irreverent b-movies and a reputation for being one of the greatest movie promoters in b-movie history.

I first came across Tatsumi's work in the late 80s, with the publication of an anthology of some of his early work, Good-Bye And Other Stories (1988). The stories of the foibles of ordinary citizens living in the big cities of postwar Japan fascinated and enthralled me. Cramped living, the hustle and bustle of daily life on the streets, and how one person trapped in this "new" Japan can so easily get lost. How beneath the surface of saving-face and correct customs of behaviour, there was a quite corruption of the traditional way of life. How men who had been through the war in particular felt emasculated, out of place in an ever changing cityscape, lonely, emotionally detached and desperate for love and affection. It was these insightful works of Tatsumi that started my life-long interest in Japan, and in particular the hectic streets of growing Asian metropolises like Tokyo. The heart-wrenching stories life's daily grind were it turned out wonderfully rendered snippets of reality, as I would later discover for myself when I was fortunate enough to spend many years living South Korea and had the opportunity to visit Japan. 

His music was difficult to say the least, poorly recorded it assaulted the ears with no subject off limits and all taboos covered in horrific lyrical detail. Designed to shock, Allin said he wanted to make rock music "dangerous" again. The no-limits on-stage GG Allin first came to prominence in the mid-80s, when a limited released cassette tape of  Hated in the Nation  came out in 1987, which featured previously unreleased , live and rare recordings of Allin and his work with a number of punk bands.

Also by this time Allin was a heavy drinker, addicted to heroin and would consume pretty much any drug he could lay his hands on. He was constantly being arrested for his violence and regular on-stage nudity, as well as for the outrageous and often illegal stage antics. In 1989 Allin landed in prison for assault on a woman, that Allin claimed was a willing participant along with himself in a series of depraved sexual acts. He was jailed until 1991, during which time he wrote a manifesto and got ready to explode back onto the scene. Allin skipped parole after getting out, so that he could go on tour.to go on another tour. Footage of that tour was filmed for the 1994 documentary about Allin, Hated: GG Allin and the Murder Junkies. The movie showed Allin in full performance mode, naked, shitting on-stage, assaulting the audience. At one point he throws a beer bottle into the crowd, hitting a woman in the face and breaking her nose.

His last performance was on Friday June 27th, 1993 at a small club in Manhattan. The gig was only two songs in when there was a power-cut, which enraged Allin. He went mad, smashing up the club and causing near riotous chaos. He left the club naked and walked down the street followed by a gang of fans from the gig. After a while he headed for an apartment of a friend, to keep partying. During the party Allin took a large quantity of heroin and accidentally overdosed. Sometime in the early hours of the Saturday died, aged 36 years old.

Weird Retro Fact:  Allin was obsessed with serial killers. He had written to and also visited infamous "Killer Clown" John Wayne Gacy in prison a number of times. Gacy painted Allin's portrait, which was used as the album cover to the soundtrack of the film Hated: GG Allin And The Murder Junkies.

In 1970 he struck on the idea of building a hot-air balloon, with a the message "God Is Love" stitched into it in big letters. He spent ten years sewing together the balloon from scraps of material on a donated second-hand sewing machine. Eventually the balloon became unmanageable, and with failed attempts to inflate it, it started to come apart at the seams. In 1984 he found himself near the town of Niland, and at Slab City. With the help of others he continued to try and get his balloon off the ground, realising one day that his dream was in tatters at his feet. He and and the balloon were deflated.

That's when he decided to start on what would eventually become Salvation Mountain. As the mountain grew, so did Knight's fame as an outsider artist. As the garishly painted artwork of concrete, adobe, straw and found materials grew on the side of once barren hillside. In 1999 Jarvis Cocker, leader singer with teh Brit-Pop band Pulp made a series of outsider art documentaries, in which he interviewed Knight. The Folk Art Society of America declared it a "a folk art site worthy of preservation and protection" in 2000. In an address to the United States Congress on May 15th, 2002, California Senator Barbara Boxer described it as "a unique and visionary sculpture... a national treasure... profoundly strange and beautifully accessible, and worthy of the international acclaim it receives" In 2007 Knight and his mountain had a small role in the movie independent movie Into the Wild, cementing Knight and his mountain in the cultural landscape of America.

Knight died in February 2014, aged 82, in a convalescent hospital where he had been a resident for more than two years. Local volunteers maintain the mountain, in an attempt to save it from the ravages of the harsh conditions of Colorado Desert where is resides as a monument to one man's dream.

Weird Retro Fact: Salvation Mountain is mentioned in the article Salton Sea & Slab City: Life, Death & Hope In The Badlands.

The chance to develop and produce H.R. Pufnstuf came after the brothers created the costumes for The Banana Splits Adventure Hour, which we featured in a Captain's Blog post. From that moment on, the brothers produced more and more strange and surreal TV shows for kids. And have unbeknownst to many viewers of the time gone down in US TV history as the creators of some of the truly weirdest TV to ever fill prime-time kids TV slots. When asked about the seemingly overt drug-fuelled madness of their shows Marty Krofft said, "No drugs involved. You can't do drugs when you're making shows. Maybe after, but not during. We're bizarre, that's all."

The brothers were born in Canada, but moved by the father eventually to New York. Their love of puppetry lead them to tour and perform during the 1940s and into the 50s. Sid worked in both Europe and America, in vaudeville and circuses such as Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, while Marty was practicing his art in New York. It was their knowledge and skills as puppeteers that eventually would lead them into television and on the road to what has become cult status among those who witnessed their creative craziness poured onto screens in vibrant mind-bending colours.

In the early 70s the made shows like, The Buggaloos (1970). The Krofft’s twisted take on The Monkees. Involving a British band, insect costumes, flying surfboards, and their nemesis Benita Bizarre. As with H.R. Pufnstuf the show only ran for one season, as did their next venture Lidsville (1971). The list goes on with Sigmund and the Sea Monsters (1973), and many others over the years. Apart from costume and puppet based fantasy shows, the pair did venture into live action and superhero based shows like Land Of The Lost (1974) and Electra Woman and Dyna Girl (1974). They also produced shows for popular bands of the time, with the Donny & Marie show in 1976 also known as The Osmond Family Show and The Krofft Superstar Hour (renamed the Bay City Rollers Show after only 8 episodes in 1978). Phew...!!! 

I could go on, but some of the Krofft shows deserve posts all of their own. Over the coming weeks look out for Captain's Blog posts on the theme of Kid TV featuring the works of the bizarre brothers.

In 1953 Wood got a break, when the producer of low-budget exploitation flicks George Weiss had him write and direct the now infamous Glen Or Glenda (originally entitled I Changed My Sex!). The movie was very loosely based on the life of Christine Jorgensen, one of the first transgender women in America to become famous for having had a sex change. Despite the movie becoming an amusing cult oddity, Wood attempted to make a serious (if quirky) docudrama. Starring Wood himself, under the name Daniel Davis, it was in part a semi-autobiographical telling of Wood's struggles for acceptance as a cross-dressing heterosexual man. The film was shot in 4 days, and featured Lugosi for no particular reason as The Scientist. Weiss was unhappy with the movie, and later added extra erotic scenes, to appeal to the exploitation and grindhouse audience.

Wood went on the make a film a year Jail Bait (1954), Bride Of The Monster (originally entitled Bride Of The Atom) (1955) and in 1956 the cult classic Plan 9 From Outer Space (originally entitled Grave Robbers from Outer Space). Plan 9, featured not only Lugosi, but Tor Johnson the Swedish wrestler who has first appeared in Bride Of The Monster, and TV horror host Vampira. All narrated by the flamboyant radio and TV personality famous for his wildly inaccurate predictions, The Amazing Criswell. Criswell and Johnson would go on to appear in Wood's 1958 movie Night Of The Ghouls. A movie considered lost to cinema history, until it was rediscovered in 1984.

In the 1960s Wood's movie career spiralled downwards, as he started to make at first nudies and sexploitation movies, and eventually hardcore porn in the early 70s. Of the films he was involved in during this period there are two stand-out for different reasons. Orgy Of The Dead (1965) is classed as a nudie cutie, but that simply description doesn't do this movie justice. What is little more than an excuse for 10 striptease set pieces, there is a loose story weaved in there, but it is Criswell's  opening speech that nails it. A recreation of his speech from the released Night Of The Ghoul, it has become well known and oft sampled piece of audio. At the other end of the scale is Necromania (1971), credited as being one of the earliest examples of the hardcore porn genre that became popular in the 70s. Necromania was believed to one of Wood's lost movies, until an edited version turned up in a yard sale in 1992. Later in 2001 an unedited version was found.

After many years of alcohol abuse and bouts of depression, in December 1978 after he and his wife had been evicted from their Hollywood apartment, they moved in with a friend. A few days later on December the 10th Wood was found dead of a heart attack, he was 54 years old.

Weird Retro Fact: Recently more of Wood's lost movies have appeared. In September 2014, two 'lost movies' were shown, the 1972 The Undergraduate and 1970's Take It Out In Trade. Adding to the Wood canon. Also in 2014 The Young Marrieds, a porn film Wood made in 1971 was released, which was rediscovered in 2004.