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!


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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!

Thursday 1 January 2015

THE PETER CUSHING BOOK AND MAGAZINE INTERVIEW PART ONE : FULLY ILLUSTRAITED


The following interview was published in 'Book and Magazine Collector' magazine issue number 31, in October 1986. It makes reference to a production that Cushing was about to make called 'The Abott's Cry' for Tyburn films. This production sadly never came to fruition. The interview is presented her in two parts. The original published feature had very few images, I have added several throughout the piece to illustrate some of the detail within the text. Part two of will follow this weekend.... 

Peter Cushing needs no introduction as one of Britain's most popular and best loved actors. This summer marks his Golden Jubilee in the profession. Since appearing in many classic BBC-TV play and serials (including 'Pride and Prejudice' and the unforgettable '1984) in the early fifties, he has starred in over eighty films, but is probably best known for his role as Sherlock Holmes. His long awaited autobiography was published by Weidenfeld in March.


He is now making a new Sherlock Holmes film, 'The Abbot's Cry', to be shown on tv next year. All his life he has loved reading and collecting, and here he recalls some of his favourite books and magazines.


Q: What were your earliest literary interests?

A: They probably started with the 'comic strip' adventures of 'Rob the Rover' in a weekly children's magazine called 'Puck', which cost twopence, I think. From these I graduated to the works of that prodigious writer of schoolboy fiction, Charles Hamilton, who wrote under several pseudonyms: Owen Conquest for the 'Rockwood' stories about Jimmy Silver and Co', Frank Richards for 'Grayfriars' - 'Harry Wharton and Co' plus 'The Fat Owl of the Remove, Billy Bunter', and Martin Clifford for 'St. Jim's' with Tom Merry and Co', the latter being my favourite amongst these immortals.


I read these until I was about 23, when a friend decided I should take up more adult stuff, and started my love of reading in further fields with J. B. Priestley's 'The Good Companions'. Before this, I was absorbed bt Robert Ballantyne's 'The Coral Island', and stories about Robin Hood and his Merry Men, Dick Turpin the highwayman, and Just William by Richard Compton - I would read these stories aloud to my mother whislt she was knitting - and of course, all the delightful works of Beatrix Potter. Pirates also features largely in my appetite for adventure, and I loved Robert Louis Stevenson's 'Treasure Island' and Daniel Defoe's 'Robinson Crusoe'. I also read avidly the adventures of Pip, Squeak and Wilfred in the Daily Mirror Newspaper.


Q: When did you start collecting?

A: When I was a child. I still have many of those books in my collection - and have added to them over the years. (recently, thanks largely to a certain Richard Dalby, Esquire!) But I never collected anything with the idea in mind that one day they could be valuable: I wanted them for their intrinsic value, and so they remain, whether they cost a penny or a pound. They have become like old friends, never to be disturbed.

Q: Do you have a special feeling towards the early authors and illustrators of children's books?

A: Oh, yes indeed! I've always loved illustrations - still do. There are too many to mention; but, at random, Kate Greenaway springs to mind; Beatrix Potter, Ceil Aldin and H. M Brock. Drawings mean as much to me as the written word, and I find the combination irresistible. Also, the ingenuity and incredible 'engineering' with paper and card used in the reproductions of antique 'pop-up' books is to me sheer magic and enchantment. Likewise those which operate like a fan, one beautiful little 'vignette' replacing another as you pull the arrowed tab. Such skill giving such great pleasure.


Q: Is your undoubted love of England reflected in your book collecting?

A: Yes indeed. The books put out - especially the first editions - by A. and C. Black (Colour Books) are tremendous favourites of mine. They speak, in words and pictures, of a time and of places I knew between the two Great Wars, before much of the rural beauty was lost forever. Nostalgia is very potent - and those beautifully published volumes are a constant joy. Batsford produced some exquisite books full of coloured photographs of the countryside of Great Britain, and many reside on my shelves. More recently, the collected and bound 'Country Talk' books of the late J.H.B. Peel are close to my heart. Like wise the 'In Search of...' series by H.V.Morton, and his other works.


Q: Which are your favourite artists and book illustrators who specialised in portraying the beauties of the British landscape?

A: Yet again, they are legion, and especially those who specialised in any particular subject - for example, Archibald Thornburn's exquisite bird studies; the 'Victorianess' of Sutton Palmer and A.R. Quinton; the quite superb genius of Edward Seago inoil or watercolour; Ceicil Aldin and his dogs; Lionel Edwards and his horse scenes; Arthur Wardle's animal studies; Doris Zinkeisen's beautiful costume designs; the illustrations of Rex Whistler - to me, the Rupert Brooke of drawing - with their gentle humour and exquisite line; ad infinitum!


Q: I believe you knew Edward Seago quite well?

A: Yes, I had admired his work for many - many years before I corresponded with him. Eventually, in the early 1950's, we met him. My beloved wife and I were on holiday in Cromer, and on the spur of the moment, I rang and asked if we could visit him as we were so near to where he lived in Norfolk. His very early work I christened his 'chocolate box' period, but I could see beneath this genius which was one day to emerge.


When I got to know him well, I told him this, and he agreed entirely, having used the same expression himself regarding those early stages. We spent many holidays with him in his delightful Dutch House at Ludham. We painted together, and he very generously said of my efforts that he admired the freedom of handling water colours which many more experienced artists might envy. Praise indeed! He left a heritage which is yet to be given the recognition it deserves in the world of the greatest painters of all time. I am not alone in that opinion.


Q: Have your screen roles of Baron Frankenstein and Professor Van Helsing inspired you to collect gothic or horror literature, especially the classics?


A: No. I loved making the films, and I'm glad that they have given such lasting pleasure to so many generations - and perhaps some yet to come! - but the subject matter does not appeal to me personally in any way.

Q: Then how about Sherlock Holmes, with whom you have been so much associated in recent years? Do you collect the first editions, magazines and Holmesian memorabilia?


A: Oh, they are very much my cup of tea. I read those marvelous 'Sherlock Holmes' stories for the first time in my teens. I haven't exactly made a special collection of the famous sleuth, but I do have a lot of books - including the original 'Strand' magazines (bound) in which the stories first appeared, with  the inimitable illustrator Sidney Paget's atmospheric drawings - and innumerable publications written by the experts and aficionados about Holmes and Dr Watson. Apart from the great enjoyment these give, they were also most useful for getting the details correct whenever I've played Sherlock Holmes.

Donkey's years ago, I picked up, in an old bookshop, a first edition of 'The Hound of the Baskervilles'  (1902), for a few bob - in very good condition, except for slight staining at the top of the back cover!

Part Two To Follow  THIS weekend!


A HAPPY NEW YEAR FOR 2015 TO ALL OUR FRIENDS AND FOLLOWERS! 
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