Cephalopodcast

Blogfish was kind enough to tag me with the Hallomeme. Before it’s too late, I wanted to plunge deeper into one of his suggestions for an aquatic-themed scary movie.

The Creature from the Black Lagoon

The quintessential aquatic monster movie for me is The Creature from the Black Lagoon. It was scary because I grew up on a lake. Scary because that lake was in Florida, where the movie was filmed. Scary because my older sisters liked to wrap themselves in bog moss and tickle my legs, like the Gill Man did to Kay Lawrence. And it was scary because of Dick Bennick.

Dick Bennick was better know locally as Dr. Paul Bearer. At the time of his death in 1995, he was America’s longest running horror movie host. With him it was easy enough to segue from a morning filled with cartoons to a afternoon of Creature Feature on Channel 44, WTOG. I rarely knew ahead of time what horrible old movie would be showing. But I always hoped it would either be Gamera or the Black Lagoon.

Synopsis: Cuter than Cthulhu

Creature from the Black Lagoon was a black-and-white film released on March 5, 1954. It was filmed and originally released in 3-D and is considered a classic of the 1950s.

A geology expedition in the Amazon uncovers fossilized evidence of a link between land and sea animals in the form of a skeletal hand with webbed fingers. Another expedition is sent back to the Amazon to look for the remainder of the skeleton. However, when they return they discover that the entire research team has been mysteriously killed, perhaps by a jaguar. Excavations turn up nothing. But it’s suggested that perhaps thousands of years ago part of the embankment with the skeleton washed downriver. The tributary empties into the eponymous “Black Lagoon,” where unbeknownst, the amphibious “gill man” is watching, taking a special interest in the beautiful Kay Lawrence. The brave male scientist dive to collect fossils. But when Kay goes swimming, she is stalked by the creature. It gets caught in the ship’s draglines, and while trying to escape, leaves behind a claw, revealing its existence.

Further encounters with the creature claim the lives of some of the crew members, before the gill man is captured and locked in a cage aboard the steamer. When it escapes, Kay hits the gill man with a lantern. As they ship leaves for civilization, the way is blocked by fallen logs, courtesy of the escaped gill man. More tragedy as the monster abducts Kay and takes her to his cavern lair. The survivors chase and rescue her. The creature is riddled with bullets and stabbed in the heart, before sinking myseriously into the depths of the Black Lagoon.

Modern Monsters

If you read the lost interview with Dr Paul Bearer, you get a sense of what a racket it was to schedule television programming back in those days. A similar sentiment comes through in this interview with Ben Chapman, the actor who portrayed the original gill man on land (Ricou Browning did the UW scenes).

We complain about the odious content restrictions of the RIAA and MPAA nowadays. But the crazy thing is, for the moment, I no longer have to wait through a month of Saturdays for it to show. I can watch it right now, for free, via Google video.

And maybe next year I will remember to order the feet, hands and head for a Gill Man costume.

• Lost interview with “Creature Feature” host Dr Paul Bearer, aka Dick Bennick
• Interview with The Gillman, Ben Chapman
• More Ben Chapman at the Reel Gill Man
• Google Video: The Creature From The Black Lagoon (1954)
• IMDb: The Creature From The Black Lagoon
• Wikipedia: The Creature From The Black Lagoon
• Bonus: Gill Man skull

Celebrate Cephalopod Awareness Day, October 8, 2007

AKA: World Octopus Day, Squid Appreciation Day

We begin our celebration of the First International Cephalopod Awareness Day with a look back. I found this little carbuncle on the Internet Archive, and it proves you can mix the great taste of peanuts butter and octopus. It’s a 1950s show called You Asked For It, and it features a moment in the life of Ben Frick, octopus trapper, Washingtonian and “delightful fella.” Skip the knife thrower and fast forward to minute 07:00 to see all the action.

EDIT: Sorry folks. Internet Archive embedded player isn’t playing nice with Wordpress. Click the image above to open the movie in a new window.

Apparently, octopus wrestling used to be pretty popular in the States around this time, as evidenced by this 1949 article in Modern Mechanix: Octopus Wrestling Is My Hobby. And this one from a 1965 edition of Time, Adventure & the American Individualist:

Merely to minnow about underwater is no longer enough, and such sports as octopus wrestling are coming increasingly into vogue, particularly in the Pacific Northwest, where the critters grow up to 90 Ibs. and can be exceedingly tough customers. Although there are several accepted techniques for octopus wrestling, the really sporty way requires that the human diver go without artificial breathing apparatus.

It would seem that the Japanese continue this tradition, albeit with less lively opponents and the disadvantage of being on land.

• Read more about International Cephalopod Awareness Day, including posts by other bloggers
• “You Asked For It” (ca late 1950s)
• Previously: Vintage Ocean and Science Fair Footage

[via Megaconference]
Sure, nations of the world have their flags to fly. But what if you want to consider yourself a citizen of planet Earth? There is a flag for that too.

Created on May 17, 1970 by James W. (Jim) Cadle of St. Joseph, Illinois

Jim designed the Flag of Earth, then hand crafted sewn flags of various sizes, and sold them on his website. Many of the radio observatories around the world, particularly those involved in SETI (the Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence) fly a Flag of Earth as a reminder of the purpose of the searches.

Officially, The Flag of Earth, while on Earth, has had no display protocol. On November 1, 2003, the Flag of Earth became part of the public domain.

• Flag of the Earth
• Free FotE image download
• Order the FotE in various sizes, from $20-$50 US
• SETI and the FotE
• Fictional Flags of the Earth from SF and television