Ha...a great memory.
And it is true that The Flintstones began its rather classic run about two months after Psycho dominated the 1960 summer. They were both "of that year, of that time."
I've always rather felt that American media "followed the Boomers" for the first few decades. When we were kids, we got primetime cartoon shows in the 60's(Flintstones, Jetsons, Johnny Quest, Top Cat, Bugs Bunny at Night); when we were teens, we got Classic Rock and pop singers and rock concerts in the 70s; I'm not sure what we got in the 80's, but by the 90s, guys at least were finally earning enough to dig on golf, cigars and -- well, er, "dancer clubs." I'm not sure what 90's ladies got, but I'm sure it was good.
And then we got old except hey -- we still run the country. Older people than some of us run it, even.
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Anyway, Hitchcock was hot just as the Flintstones came aboard, and indeed his character was showcased as a TV star(or perhaps a MOVIE star) rather than as a film director...cast in the Ray Burr part, delicious(and back on key with our "spouse killing" discussions.)
It remains personally funny to me that, even as "Alfred Hitchcock" was this rather amusing TV figure -- with a macabre bent -- my childhood knowledge of Psycho(word of mouth) was that it was The Most Terrifying Movie Ever Made, horrific, sick, too scary to watch without one's eyes closed, you might go to Hell if you watched it -- just the ultimate in horror.
And yet here was Alfred Hitchcock as its author. Same guy as the funny TV host.
He was Alvin Brickrock on The Flintstones, and he was Alfred Hatchplot in Mad Magazine(another private preserve of 60's kids). He was, in short, a very big deal.
And this was BEFORE his movies started getting the respect they deserved.
Funny: on The Flintstones, Alvin Brickrock was never paired with another Hollywood spoof figure: Cary Granite. A missed opportunity!
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ecarle (14979)
3 years ago
PS. I would like to add here that Hitchcock as a "macabre TV host" was part of a small universe of 50s/60s cusp "horror hosts." Hitch was more of a mystery-suspense man, of course, but Psycho, The Birds, and more than a few of his TV shows(principally An Unlocked Window, but also The Monkey's Paw and some others) earned him his horror stripes.
Perhaps a bit more famous(if less successful) because it was ALL he did, was Rod Serling as the staccato-voiced host of The Twilight Zone, which followed Hitch onto the air(by about 4 years) but rather merged Hitch and Rod as "the top two TV hosts on network."
Except: Boris Karloff got some mileage (for Universal TV) hosting "Boris Karloff's Thriller," which not only allowed Boris to intro the shows with that distinctive voice of his, but to say "sure as my name is Boris Karloff, this is a thriller"(except his real name was Henry Pratt. Ha.) Thriller also had a really creepy opening theme with "spiderweb" animation that I dug.
Betcha don't remember this one: Roald Dahl, he of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and "Man from the South" Hitchcock fame, actually got to host a CBS series in the 60-61 season(roughly Psycho time) called "Way Out." I have had a lifetime horrific memory of watching one of those shows WAY too young...and I found it on YouTube. Its to discuss another time but...Dahl made for quite the droll host(with his face "multiplied" via a "live TV" camera effect.) Witty. I found one where Dahl remarked on all the men "wearing crewcuts these days." Why? Dahl asked his audience. "To project virility." Rather a sexual remark for 1961 network.
The Outer Limits -- "a Joseph Stefano production" -- had no host, but the narrator's opening monologue was famous ("There is nothing wrong with your TV...we will control the horizontal...we will control the vertical") and he narrated beginnings and endings of the anthology stories, too.
CONT
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ecarle (14979)
3 years ago
And those were just the NETWORK guys. Around this same time, the US had a handful of "horror hosts" handling the chores in various cities and states. I've read of Ghourlari (father of one of those Anderson directors, yes?) and Zacherley.
"Ed Wood" the movie gave us a hip version of LA's Vampira (played by then-girlfriend of Tim Burton, Lisa Marie) and gave her an end credits card that read: "Vampira eventually sued Elvira for stealing her act." Of course, Elvira was more of an 80's creation, it ain't the same as that 50s/60s black-and-white cusp.)
William Castle was in a class almost by himself. He did movies, not TV, but he clearly wanted to "do a Hitchcock" by introducing his movies as Hitchcock introduced his TV show AND some of his trailers(notably, Psycho.) Exactly how was copying who? Moreover, just as Hitchcock had his famous caricature drawing(done by himself); Castle had a "logo" made of himself -- smoking a cigar in a director's chair -- that was put in many of his movie posters. But not for long.
Interesting: LA TV in the early 60's had competing "movie series" that showed old horror and SciFi films: Chiller(not Thriller) on KTTV-11 and "Strange Tales of Science Fiction" on KHJ-TV. YouTube has the very scary theme music for "Strange Tales" -- an instrumental of an old chestnut called "Out of this World" that will chill you(as it chilled me) with its opening notes, every Saturday. And KTLA 5 ran "Shock Theater" which brought the Universal monsters to early 60's TV and led to all those Aurora glue-them-yourself models a few years later. I've read that "Shock Theater" had a host in some city, but not in LA.
In short...quite a fun time with all those hosts and shows and attempts to scare us that only occasionally did -- but also with humor and a "fun factor."
And don't forget The Monster Mash. 1962.
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