Friday 30 January 2015

SIR JAMES CARRERAS REMEMBERED TODAY


Remembering : Sir James Carreras, born today in 1909. Son of Enrique Carreras, the co-founder of Hammer Films and the Blue Hall theatre chain... and father of Hammer film producer and director, Michael Carreras. It was JC who hit on the formula of '..design a poster for a potential film, for the backers to actually see!' A simple but very effect method.

It is said that he, '..judged the success of his films not by critical plaudits, but strictly on the basis of box office returns.' Maybe so, but for a long time his approached worked, making very large profits for the backers, giving Hammer films the Queens Award to Industry Award back in 1968 and a loyal fan base that remains to this day. He is remembered each year by Variety: The Children's Charity, with The Sir James Carreras Award. '...This Award honors the name of Sir James Carreras MBE, who served Variety International with great distinction as one of its past International Presidents. It is presented annually to a physician who has demonstrated exceptional dedication and skill in the field of pediatrics'.

Tuesday 27 January 2015

REMEMBERING MICHAEL RIPPER


I've seen the likes tonight that mortal eyes shouldn't look at!'... say that line of dialogue and any Hammer film fan worth his or her salt, quick as a flash will reply, 'Michael Ripper, as the poacher in 'The Mummy!'.. And it is Michael Ripper who we remember today on the day his birth, 27th January 1913. Ripper appeared in many productions for Hammer, seven with Peter Cushing, nine with Christopher Lee. Inn keepers, coachmen, police officers, Ripper an accomplished stage and film actor it could be argued is as much part of the Hammer family as Cushing, Lee, Fisher and Francis. Christopher Lee once announced to a packed convention in Baltimore, with Ripper standing at his side.. 'This man IS Hammer!' And for many of us, he always will be....


Sunday 25 January 2015

WIN 'AT THE EARTH'S CORE' BLU RAY COMPETITION!


Please Note: You can also enter this competition at our Peter Cushing Appreciation Society Facebook Fan Page


DR WHO ACTOR BARRIE INGHAM DIES


Very sad to hear of the passing of actor Barrie Ingham this morning. Ingham played Alydon in the Peter Cushing 'Dr Who and the Daleks' feature film back in 1965. As well as playing Robin Hood for Hammer films in 'A Challenge for Robin Hood' in 1967, he was quite a well known and regular face on tv during the 60's and 70's. Often turning up in not just UK tv dramas like The Avengers and The Sweeny, US productions too, like Hart to Hart, Air Wolf, the A-Team and providing voice over work for Disney.

Wednesday 21 January 2015

TELLY SAVALAS REMEMBERED TODAY


Who Loves Ya Baby?...Today we remember the birthday of the late Telly Savalas. A much loved and larger than life man, on and off the screen. His Peter Cushing connection is his rip roaring performance as the Cossack, Captain Kazan in the 'run-away-train-with-a-monster-and-zombies-onboard' epic, 'Horror Express'. It's a film that never stops going up gears through out it's tense 90 mins. When Savalas appears, almost an hour in, it really is full steam ahead! Along with Cushing and Lee, he makes the film a whole lot of fun. Most of us remember him as the lolly sucking cop in the excellent tv show, 'Kojak' and his quick to catch on catch phrase, 'Who Loves Ya Baby?'


You'll find our REVIEW and Gallery of 'HORROR EXPRESS' right HERE 

Friday 16 January 2015

WISHING CAROLINE MUNRO A HAPPY BIRTHDAY TODAY : 16TH JANUARY!


Please join us in wishing actress CAROLINE MUNRO a VERY Happy Birthday today! A wonderful actress and an absolute sweety! Her Peter Cushing connection is of course her appearance in Hammer films Dracula AD 1972' in which Peter Cushing played Van Helsing and her co starring role in Amicus films At The Earth's Core with Peter Cushing and Doug McClure. I know of no one who works harder on the convention circuit to make meeting her a special event! Many Happy Returns and Have Smashing Day, Caroline!


JOIN US BY CLICKING : HERE

Tuesday 13 January 2015

SHOCK WAVES ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK AVAILABLE FOR PRE ORDER NOW!


SHOCK WAVES SOUNDTRACK: Due for release this month. Available now for pre order. Howlin' Wolf Records proudly presents the world premiere of Richard Einhorn's score to the Ken Wiederhorn Nazi zombie cult classic, SHOCK WAVES.


Richard Einhorn creates a groundbreaking score with haunting timbres and chilling electronics to accentuates the on-screen horror of begoggled, menacing Nazi zombies. Einhorn's evocative score undoubtedly has been one of the key elements in the success of SHOCK WAVES, with its sparse yet beguilling textures, capturing perfectly the menace and despair of the undead. One of the early electronic scores, Shock Waves represents innovative scoring at its leanest and meanest! Commercially available for the first time, the score has been remastered from the composer's personal 7.5 ips master tapes in mono.

 

SHOCK WAVES is packaged in a jewel case with full color inserts, featuring a 12-page booklet with art direction by Luis M. Rojas and informative liner notes by Benjamin Chee. More details AND ORDER HERE! 


 Full REVIEW and GALLERY of Blue Underground's REMASTERED BLU RAY RELEASE : HERE

Monday 12 January 2015

'BOOKS DRAW ME TO THEM LIKE STEEL TO A MAGNET!' : PETER CUSHING AND HIS LOVE OF BOOKS PART TWO


The following interview was first published in 'Book and Magazine Collector' magazine issue 31, in October 1986. The interview is presented here in two parts, this being part two. The original published feature had very few images, I have added several new images through out the feature to provide some further visual detail to the original text.- Marcus Brooks



Q: Which are, or were, your favourite old second-hand bookshops?

Peter Cushing: Any and all that I can find of this vanishing breed! Books draw me to them like steel to a magnet!

Q: What was your most unusual buy?

Peter Cushing: I once purchased five second-hand books in an Oxfam bookshop; and when  I got home, found six in my bag! Awaiting for me was a letter from my dear friend, Peter Gray asking me if I'd keep my eyes open for a copy of a book he'd been after for many years - a biography of Cardinal Newman by Maisie Ward. Upon inspecting my purchases, lo and behold, the 'odd-man-out' was that very volume! Quite an extraordinary coincidence, I think you'll agree: having paid well over the odds for my original choice of five - for such a worth-while charity - I felt this windfall was meant by some higher authority, and had no compunction in sending it off to the amazed and delighted Mr Gray, feeling the book had found its rightful home and owner. The assistant must have inadvertently picked it up from amongst the clutter on the counter, and put it in with my selection.



Q: How do you feel old books compare to modern publications, in quality, feel and beauty?

Peter Cushing: I don't really like comparisons, because what is liked today for any special quality it may possess will be sought after in the computerized years to come. There are many splendid and beautifully produced books today; but ideally speaking, I do prefer those pre 1914 - 1918 War products, lovely leather or calf bound volumes, or cloth covered with attractive decorations imprinted on the boards - and the print used for the narrative. Indeed, they had and still have a 'feel' about them - but I'm not sure when or where, or even if, nostalgia takes over here again as far as I'm concerned. There certainly seemed to be less printers' errors in those far-off days!


Q: How would you describe your main collection, and which novelists do you most like to read and collect?

Peter Cushing: The majority of my books are concerned with knowledge, which I am always seeking - encyclopedias of all descriptions abound about the house: books on nature, British social history, the theatre, period costume, toys, posters, old bound catalogs issued by Gamages, the Army and Navy Stores, etc, cigarette card collecting, paintings and artists, books of quotations, autobiographies, reference books and so on.


But I do also have a large number of novels and here I must admit that I do prefer those of the older generation. Since the lapse in censorship, there is too much that offends my senses today - in books and in films and on television. Not enough is left to the imagination of the beholder, and too much emphasis is put on the wrong sense of values, which i think is great pity, and bad for the morals - and morale - of the younger generation. No doubt I'm 'square' and had better get down from my 'soap-box', and answer your questions as to who are my favourite authors: A.J. Cronin, Howard Spring, Elizabeth Russell, E.M. Delafield, R.F. Delderfield, Nevil Shute, Daphne Du Maurier, Compton Mackenzie and Somerset Maughan.


Q: If you were stranded on a desert island, what seven books would you like to have with you?

Peter Cushing: My dear fellow, this is almost impossible to answer coherently! To start with, I would be the most miserable of men away from England and home, so that I doubt I could even read - or want to! And the books I'd have with me would match the ever-changing, and prevailing, mood I might be in at the time! The same with a choice of records - those Desert Island Discs! I can only hope that the crate to hold my choice will be big enough to convert into a canoe, so that I can row back to Blighty immediately! But I must do my best, and choose - after much heart-searching - the seven (magnificent!) you've allowed me.


I take it The Bible and Shakespeare are over and above that number, as they were with the late Roy Plomley? So that'll make it nine in all. And - here I go making conditions - written on a piece of paper to use as a bookmark, two of Rupert Brooke's poems, Rupert Brooke's 'The Soldier' and 'The Old Vicarage, Granchester'. I must have these: the Complete Works of Sir John Benjeman; Edward Seago's Catalogue Raisonne (not published yet, so you'll have to bide yout time before casting me away!) R.C. Sherriff's play 'Journey's End' (not the novel, so I can I have one more?) 'The Sheperd' by Frederick Forsyth' - this is only a novella, so can this and the previous one be classified as one book?? 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' and 'Through the Looking-Glass' (in one volume) by Lewis Carroll; Elizabeth Russell's 'The Enchanted April'; and 'My Farm Book' by Charles Browne - my mother gave me this for Christmas 1925, when it was first published, and I've adored it ever since.


I also must have, as supplements: 'A Georgian Love Story' by Ernest Raymond; 'President Indicative' by Noel Coward (my beloved wife and I read this to each other - a chapter each!) ; 'The Birds of the British Isles and their Eggs' by T.A. Coward, illustrated by Archibald Thorburn. And I refuse to go anywhere with bound copies of the complete set of 'The Theatre World' and 'Play Pictorial' - to include the covers and all the advertisements!


And when nobody's looking, please slip in a copy of the 'Oxford Book of Quotations'. As I should wish to bring all the books back with me, please insure that the crate is large enough to take them...plus me!


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BRIAN CLEMENS DIES 1913 - 2015


We are very sad indeed to hear that Brian Clemens passed away this weekend. Clemens was a very prolific and talented film and television producer and screenwriter. Responsible for the tv cult series 'The Avengers' and 'The New Avengers'. Both Hammer films, 'Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde' and 'Captain Kronos'. He also wrote one of the Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense' episodes in 1984, 'Mark of the Devil'.


Our Peter Cushing connection is of course the two 'Avengers' episodes that PC appeared in, only one of them did Clemens write, 'The Eagle's Nest' in 1978. This was the first episode of the Avengers revival series, 'The New Avengers'. Clemens had a style that was very much his own, mysterious, quirky and most of all quite original and fun! Brian Clemens OBE 1931 - 2015.


 
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Wednesday 7 January 2015

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GEOFFREY BAYLDON


Please join us in wishing the amazing Geoffrey Bayldon, a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY today! At 91 years young, this mans film and tv credits go way back to Hammer films first Dracula with Peter Cushing, some of Amicus films finest like 'Asylum', 'Tales from the Crypt', 'The House that Dripped Blood', Hammer's 'Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed', 'The Risk' / 'Suspect with Cushing in 1969, his tv series 'Catweazle'. He appeared with Jon Pertwee in 'Worzel Gummidge as The Crowman from 1979 until 1981, the BBC's Dr Who in 79 and 'The Avengers tv series in the 60's. One of the kindest actors and a gentlemen to boot. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GEOFFREY BAYLDON!
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