Table Of Content

< AMEBASEMENT SUBLET.” Hone = MAGAZINE GUSTOPHERG oumeH Paul BIRCH Sty GARLAND - oe Jones roduced ard Directed by ROGER CORMAN STS PICTU THE BASEMENT SUBLET “HORROR MAGAZINE March 2021, Issue #13 CONTENTS Front cover - Horror Host Gustopher Glitch page 02. Not OF This Earth Movie Poster froma film with effects by Paul Blaisdell page 04- Kansas Horror Hosts - Illustration by Matt Orsman [page 05 - An Interview with Eric Branson, also known as Horror Host Gustopher Glitch of KAKE-TVs Friday Nightmares page 12- Kansas Made Films - Research Update by Ben Urish page 13- My Palh to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, with Behind the Scenes photos page 19- Nightflight: The Classic Television Program from the 1980s E page 22 Heite C. Caston: Kanses film-maker Spotlight Jpage 23 - Matt Orsman: Art Director page 26 Paul Blaisdell: Roger Corman’s Special Effects Wizard {page 32- Tom Leahy Jr.- Walterscheid Productions, Host & Rodney commercial stills page 33 - Don Post Studios: Classic Latex Masks i page 37~Seopltone: Film Jukeboxes, History page 41-Fan Fiction, Nightmare episode script by Ben Urish age 43 - Nightwatch & Jim (OI Flick) Erickson: Viewer Movie Selection list Inside back cover - Horror Host Gustopher Glitch poster Staff: Editor/ArtworkiLayouts Joel Sarde'son Contributing Writers Frc Branton, Rea lich, & lef lian Content Editors Ben Uris & Jee! Sanderson o.Editor - Dave Toplika ‘Special Thanks - Eric Branson, Zrickson, Ban Ur sh, Jelf Kiar, & Dave Teplkar SKANSASIHORRORHOSIS BASEMENT SUBLET OF HORROR LIVING ROOM JUNKYARD & THE RABBIT AN INTERVIEW WITH ERIC BRANSON, ALSO KNOWN AS THEHOST OF KAKETVs FRIDAY aes { Bi me wif Basement Sublet of Horror magazine has been interested in the history of the horror hosts of Kansas singe its fest magazine issue, One of the hosts that we haven't eavoxed yet is a nearly forgotten horror host whu appeared on Wichita television ia the early 1980s. After the departure of ‘Tom Leahy Jr., from his successful late-night horror movie program Nightmare, KAKE-TY put out an open casting call for a new horror host. Around 85 people attended these auditions, mostly all in eostume, they were all hoping to be the next horear host appearing on Wichita television us the hast of a new horrar hast program to be ealled Friday Nightmares. After the producers of tke original show swent through die process uf auditioning tie haree ofhests, a winnce was selected the experienced Wichita actor Erie Branson, who named his character Gustopher Glitch TH RSOH magazine isene #6, we created a list of all nf the horror hasts in Kansas that we were aware of at thet time, We found that Erie was on soeial raedia and currently lived in Chicago. Erie was kind enough to accept our request for an interview and to answer questions via email ‘The Interaet has become the evrrent pop culture memory tor our culture if there isn't any Information ‘on a subject posted online, it will probably never be discovered or rediseavered., We hope to remedy this fine Tnkernet memory yap of the existence nf Guustapher Glitch with this interes with Frie Branson, previously knowa as the host of Wichita's Friday Nightmares. ERSF=. = BSOH: Tell our readers about your background, [ understand you have ¢ history in local Wiehita theater? graduated from Newton High School in 1980, where Twas ily involved in she theater program therein bota the technical and performance aspects of the theater or as most high schools like to eal it "drauna,”"The program was run by Adrienne Calabres, and it was very ambitious, including Children’s Theater, to live tousing and even a stint ta ditmer theater during the Christmas seasor for some of our studerts. There were maray opportunities to exec! orf. BF | Fric Brinson, 193; Twas fortunate that shey had a voeational-technieal program there where FTearned how to weld and used lathes and milling machines. They were a dime a dazen because we were getting them donated frow: the nearby Boeing factory every time they rotated their old machines out and replaced them with nev: ones. ‘Consequen-ly, Flearned a great deal about welding and carpentry ané. sand casting and working with tools as ear as the 7th grade. ‘his worked ia my favor as x year before I graduated in 1979, they needed help at Wichita State Univer- sity or their surame" stock program as they had lost a couple of their eraployees in the construction depart ‘ment, This allowed me to get an early introduction into the Wichita Theater scene, which in he ené, because Iwas ‘coming out of nowhere afte graduated the following year in 2980. Lreeeived some scholarships from Wichita State and proceeded into my freshman year there, BSOH: What previous productions sd you appeared in, had you dene any :elevision wor’ before? Dele een SUI EB: The library in Newton, Kansas, where [grew up, had a television network in their basement that ‘was mostly used for ‘lm local sports ev ts and the occasional stucent project. But. they had top-qual- ity equipment with eta recarders and good studio eameras along vith some exeellent handheld earera work, I eamed about video editing there and camerawork, but | had not as yet done any performance in front of the camera. AREA oreadlonst ation tm Wet On the thentrieal side, T wus performing in pretty ‘much every show I audition for in high-scheol, ‘mostly in supporting roles end occasionally in a lead role. Some of your readers might find it inter sting that when one high school performed Dracula, I played Van Helsing, and my brothe= played Dracula, So actually, 1 got to kil him once night two times on the weekend on stage, which hhorvitied my mother. Of equal interest might he the fact that he designed the show, and I built it, At Wiehita State Univessity, I got the rell outeast ing that any freshmen can expect. [did do some good work with the community theater, inclucing playing Mack the Knife. It was Wichita Associa tion for Repertory Arts that gave me my hig break as far as being a performer when I got involved ‘with Shakespeare in the park, wheze [got many reasonable supporting voles. Still, never any leads ‘because 1 always looked older than Twas. No ingenue roles for this boy. Pilate in Jesus Christ ‘Supersta: was a delight, and the cast of that show ‘ano still fast friends, We all did great work with ‘no money, and there were mary midnight requisitions filled, BSOH: Did you hear about the KAKE-LV horrer host audition eall from the Wichita paper, the Eagle, or somewhere else? EB: | Heard it Through the Grapevine. EB: Ne more than aryane else. To be honest, Twas just an actor locking for a jab, and at that tine, | think L was doing melodrama at Cowtovin for $20 a parformance, and all you can eat chicken and mashed potatoes sa Thad 20 bucks a day ane ane meal. 1 didn’t know itat the time, but they were willing to give me $200 an episode, whiea in Kansas at the time was pretty damn good. Granted, it was only one episode a week but still two hundred. bueks a week was damn good money at lesst | thought so. BSOIL: Were you a fan of horvor films at the time when the program was ia produetion. If so, what were the films that inspired you? EB: ['ve always been a fan of old horror and sci-fi films. Espe~ cially the lack and Whites.'The work they did with the limited equipment that they had was amazing. Movias like The Thing, Pit and the Pendulum, or The Abominable Dr. Phibes. BSOH: Wearing makeup while shooting television can be uncomfortable, cid you plan far this ar was the makeup used modified for broadcast? An open coffin] ‘An emply| VINCENT PRICE JOSEPH COTTEN. _DrPhibes— HUGH GRIFFITH .TERRY-THOMAS Et T couot WoT SUrAG. Foe Cann 7 EB: 1 was used to theatrical makeup by then, and my producer, Alen VanPetten, would always tell me if my makeup was. litle too dark, and | just touch itup right away because I kad my makeup with me at all times, Besides, my makeup was siraple, with a litte bit of slack tooth in between my font teeth, some glasses with no glass in them, little gel in che hair, and Iwas ready to go. My chaxacter was buil: more around a personality than makeup. | found this out later to my chagrin when small childrer, would identify me walking around Wichita, sometimes not in the best condition to represent KAKE-TV. They sere my real clients, and every one o: ‘them was staying up way too late to watch my l AKT TY Broadcast studios, newsiogMscy ——- BSOH: Did you use different costumes throughout the run of the show, 0: did you always stick with the same outfit? ER: We wont with the same costume occasionally with so-ne flourishes, but not many. My character was more of the Jew'sh Peter Lurre lypy character as [liked to describe bien al tral irae. Tdonr't Uiink E would describe him thet way now all things considered, but that was what | buill the cheraeter around, BSOME: Do you have any stories about what it was like to work at KAKE-TV at that time? {EB It was ‘eustrating. We coulda’t get any tua tire because thal was pretty saul ‘reserved for the news. T would have killed to get in front of their green sereen in the wain studio and project mysolf in front of the movies we ‘were showing, as tae horror host Elvira did later on ia her show, but Teouldn't yet uny studio Lime at all. Everything we did was in emote loeations. Consequently, we just did location shots tat fit within the theme of the movie that ‘we were daing at the time. Tere are some location examples (next page) « King Kang = Sedgwick County Zan + Cat People = Sedgwiek County Zoo + Creature from the Black Lagoo: creek with 10 Ibs. of dry ice. « Frankenstein ~ Backstage at the Orpheum ‘Theater in front ofthe antique lighting patch board, + Bee, ‘Sunset at the BSOH: The episodes that we saw were shot on locations around Wichita, do you have any stories about these Incation shoots? EB: think the best ore was when we were doing Cat People (the black and white version), and we shot it at the zao in front of the lion cage... ‘The lion’s names were Tink and Squirt. Tink ‘was the female, and I think it was short for Tinke-bell, and Squirt was the male. You didn’t take us long to figure out why Squirt ‘was named Squirt. [had my back to the eage, but the minute the cameras started rolling, ‘Squirt mounted ‘tink, and they proceeded to } procreute bebind me as 1 was tying, to shoot te scone, | coulda'L figure out why Alan kept moving and changing the camera angle. Still, kept playing along with i, and then later, when T saw the actual video, [was kind of| ‘amazed at how well he responded and overcame the challenges, Sle was top notch, BSOH: Did you Lave any interactions with the other broadcasters at the station? LEB: Not at all. A nodding acquaintance as | was going in once a week to review the movie and figure out where the commercial breaks ware so thet I could write my material. As you well know, all we were doing was filming short eutaways that would keep people watching long enough to see the commercials and wait for the movie to come back on, | do remember that every time | walked into the lobby and saw my picture on the wall along with the other "personalities" I used ta always say'ta myself, “I'm not a ‘personality’ dammit! I'm an zetor, im!” didn’t enjoy ital! that much, but watching a movie on a video editing machine was really cool. Even 0 the low-tech stuff at that poin: was so amazing, ‘BSOM: Jn the oviginal Wichita Eagle article abot the harvar host open auditions ey mentioned that suiie of the uther bests ‘who auditioned mght be broght in as guests, did this ever oocus? “EB: Noteven once. There was no time. I wish, there was, and no contoet information was ever handed aver to me, BSOMI: Was there a budget for the horror films that were shawn on the Friday ‘Nightmare program. Or, wore the films just ‘stock fm packages thet the station had already purchased? EB: It was all material out of KAKE-TVs film storage. BSOH: Were you asked Wo do personal appearances? Often local television celebri- ties were asked to attend events or commercial promotions, EB: Never. Thankfully. always felt like Twas, lhe unorlunate, but necessary, Black Shop ofthe KAKE-TV family of personalities”, and T was good! with that maniker: BSOH: What was your favorite movie of yours that was shown on Feiday Nightmares while you weve the host? EB: Howard Hawks’ version of The Thing, BSOH: How long did ‘The Friday Nightmare run on KAKE-TV? EB: From 1982 to 1983, which sounds like it was two years but not really, it was only one season, [ think. ‘Our show timeslot was preempted by the syndicated program called Thicke of the Night curing the following year, which would have been okay ifthe show had been even some stall level of good but ‘Thicke of the Night sucked. A can't recall if'Thicke of the Night lasted more than a season itself, | hope it didn't, ‘That's not out of spite, but I really think that program sucked. like to apologize to all the children in Kansas for all cf