The Late Night Files: Snicker Theater

Snicker Theater was a syndicated program that aired in 1987 on WNBC (Channel 4) in New York City, as well as other markets. In a formula that anticipated Mystery Science Theater 3000 by a couple of years (albeit with much more low-rent production values), hosts Barry Kilbrick and Pat Mulligan (playing, respectively, Barry and Pat) would poke fun at cheesy movies, hence the title Snicker Theater. 

Saul Fischer by way of E-gor's Chamber of TV Horror Hosts, continues: 

No horror make-up, just a low-rent living room/basement set with an AWFULLY cheap-looking sofa, upon which "Barry" & "Pat" sat and watched cheesy videos, pausing every few minutes before and after the commercial breaks to make fun of the flicks... and make fun of each other, too. These two guys hosted as well as co-produced and co-wrote the show, and, as I recall, most of it was amusing. The character of "Barry" ran a bowling alley while poor "Pat" worked "down at the toxic dump" (shades of The Simpsons). 

In a typical episode, they got up and literally hopped off the set to eat at (the offscreen) Bernie's All-You-Can-Eat Frog Leg Emporium, as the movie continued playing. They returned several minutes later, gastrointestinally-challenged, and saw their mistake -- but wisely decided not to bother rewinding the video to see what they had missed (but the audience had endured). 

In the same episode, they had pizza delivered by a well-endowed blonde (another cast member), and ended up dancing with her around the set. It ended with them trying to leave the set for a much-needed "case" of cold beers, then Barry's too-short microphone cord that was trailing behind him got hopelessly caught in the closing door, as Pat cracks up with the offscreen crew, all of this visible under the closing credits. Lydia Finzi played the girl who delivered the pizza (Domino's!). The films they showed were low budgeters like Superargo vs. Diabolicus, Trinity and Sartana, etc. It was filmed in Hollywood, CA.

++++

Later, the show's producer, Dan Brenner, took over hosting duties for the rest of its brief run. (And because this show was produced in the same studio as The People's Court, Brenner apparently used the same dressing room as Judge Wapner!)

Once again, in my hobby of perusing old TV listings, I have the reaction of: "The things I know now that I wish I knew then." Talk about missed opportunities. Snicker Theater was also picked up locally. CFPL (former CBC affiliate Channel 10 from London, Ontario) aired it on Sunday nights at midnight, from September, 1988 to August, 1989. The roster consisted of low-budget Italian genre films that remain hard to find today, even for Euro-genre enthusiasts like yours truly.  And yet, at the time I was completely oblivious to the program. Why? Because this nerd would instead be spending late night Sunday nights watching or taping French and silent films on CBLFT! 

Here is a listing of the films seen on Snicker Theater, as shown on CFPL, Sunday nights at midnight, in 1988-89 (as listed in Starweek):

09-18-88  title not listed

09-25-88 Who Killed the Prosecutor and Why? (1972) Lou Castel

10-02-88 The Trojan War (1962) Steve Reeves, John Drew Barrymore

10-09-88 title not listed

10-16-88 Night of Hate (1973) Anita Ekberg, Tomas Milian

10-23-88 Mafia Vs. Ninja (1984) Alexander Lou, Silvio Azzolini

10-30-88 The Red Sheik (1973) Channing Pollock

11-06-88 Robin Hood, Arrow, Beans and Karate (1976) Alan Steel

11-13-88 title not listed

11-20-88 Jesse and Lester, Two Brothers (1975) Richard Harrison

11-27-88 No Graves on Boot Hill (1969) K. Wood, P. White, C. Hill

12-04-88 Shoot Joe and Shoot Again (1972) Richard Harrison

12-11-88 Io Semiramide (1962) Yvonne Furneaux, John Ericson

12-18-88 How To Win a Billion and Get Away With It (1966) Ray Danton, Edmond Purdom

12-25-88 Seven Golden Women Against 2-07 (1967) Mickey Hargitay, Luciana Paoli

01-01-89 28 Minutes for 3 Million Dollars (1967) Richard Harrison, Claudio Biava

01-08-89 Crime Story (1968) Stan Cooper, Helga Line

01-15-89 Who Killed the Prosecutor and Why? (1972) Lou Castel

01-22-89 The Trojan War (1962) Steve Reeves, John Drew Barrymore

01-29-89 Eyes Behind The Stars (1978) Martin Balsam, Nathalie Delon

02-05-89 Night of Hate (1973) Anita Ekberg, Tomas Milian

02-12-89 Mafia Vs. Ninja (1984) Alexander Lou, Silvio Azzolini

02-19-89 The Red Sheik (1973) Channing Pollock

02-26-89 Robin Hood, Arrow, Beans and Karate (1976) Alan Steel

03-05-89 For a Book of Dollars (1973) Lincoln Tate

03-12-89 Caesar the Conqueror (1960) Cameron Mitchell, Rik Battaglia

03-19-89 Gun Shy Piluk (1968) Edmond Purdom

03-26-89 Hot Diamonds in Cold Blood (1968) Richard Harrison

04-02-89 Electra One (1968) George Martin, Vivi Bach

04-09-89 Trinity and Sartana (1972) Robert Widmark

04-16-89 Beautiful But Dangerous (1955) Gina Lollobrigida, Vittorio Gassman

04-23-89 Superargo Vs. Diabolicus (1968) Ken Wood, Gerard Tichy

04-30-89 No Graves on Boot Hill (1969) Ken Wood, Craig Hill

05-07-89 Eyes Behind The Stars (1978) Martin Balsam, Nathalie Delon

05-14-89 The Red Sheik (1973) Channing Pollock

05-21-89 The Trojan War (1962) Steve Reeves, John Drew Barrymore

05-28-89 Mafia Vs. Ninja (1984) Alexander Lou, Silvio Azzolini

06-04-89 Jesse and Lester, Two Brothers (1975) Richard Harrison

06-11-89 No Graves on Boot Hill (1969) Ken Wood, Craig Hill

06-18-89 Shoot Joe and Shoot Again (1972) Richard Harrison

06-25-89 How To Win a Billion and Get Away With It (1966) Ray Danton, Edmond Purdom

07-02-89 28 Minutes for 3 Million Dollars (1967) Richard Harrison, Claudio Biava

07-09-89 Crime Story (1968) Stan Cooper, Helga Line

07-16-89 Who Killed the Prosecutor and Why? (1972) Lou Castel

07-23-89 The Trojan War (1962) Steve Reeves, John Drew Barrymore

07-30-89 Seven Golden Women Against 2-07 (1967) Mickey Hargitay, Luciana Paoli

08-06-89 The Red Sheik (1973) Channing Pollock

08-13-89 Robin Hood, Arrow, Beans and Karate (1976) Alan Steel

08-20-89 Hot Diamonds in Cold Blood (1968) Richard Harrison

08-27-89 Electra One (1968) George Martin, Vivi Bach

Fantastic Pulps Show and Sale... this Saturday!

I can barely stand the suspense. Always great fun and amazing finds to be had at the Fantastic Pulps Show & Sale, which occurs one Saturday every year in the basement of the Lillian H. Smith Branch of the Toronto Public Library. The 20th (!) annual show for 2016 happens this Saturday!

A definite highlight in my year-round tradition of spelunking for nostalgic treasures of yore, this sale always gives me a big Cheshire Cat grin.

Check it out!

Click here to learn more.

List-O-Mania

I've always been an avid list maker. A list of films I've watched, and a list of films I want to watch (itself running 30-plus pages) are the most durable ones I've created (and still in progress). When I go book shopping, I often carry around a little black book containing numerous checklists, often of authors' works, so I don't accidentally buy something twice (as I am wont to do with my elusive memory).

What inspired me to write this post though, were the lists I used to keep, about a year after I graduated from college. Every month, I would make a new list of films to see or books to read, over the following 30 days. The titles would easily fill one-and-a-half sides of a three-ringed 8 & 1/2 by 11" piece of lined paper. Because I wasn't working in my chosen field, and was suffering from cabin fever, these particular lists were a ploy to inspire me out of a creative slump.

However, as life and work got in the way, it was unsurprising to find that when those four weeks elapsed, many of the film or book titles didn't have little check marks beside them. I didn't consider that as an indication of failure. It mattered more that these lists inspired me to organize my thoughts, and to continue learning about the things I was passionate about.

Flash forward to the present day. Those 30-day lists made during those turbulent times have frequently appeared in my mind. Why? Perhaps because all these years later, I am in a similar rut, and my subconscious has dredged up these images as a reminder of how to re-establish some order.

In a recent private journal entry, I made a little list summarizing all of the projects (websites, blogs, articles, etc.) that I've started and thereby abandoned over the past three years. I won't bore you with the details here, but suffice it to say, the items in this list are all over the place... just like my brain. The reason for this lack of cohesion may stem from my lack of publishing anything for over three years. Whatever the pros and cons of doing a magazine, it at least brought some order to my life outside of the nine-to-five grind.

But of all the projects I've started and stopped over the past few years, you know what one I've missed the most? This one right here. Time to do something about that.

Okay, now to start this list. This month is nearly over, so let's make it a "to-do" list from April 24 to May 31, just to add some leeway while I get back into the groove. Here we go...

(click of pen)