A 1960s Halloween Tradition

Above, a publicity still of Abbott and Costello with the monsters.

Since tomorrow is Halloween, I thought I would recount a tradition that took place every year on Halloween in Los Angeles in the 1960s.

Back before the local news gobbled up air time, the CBS affiliate in L.A., KNXT Channel 2 (now KCBS), had late afternoon movies starting at 4:00 called The Early Show.

Above, the Monster with Bud and Lou in another publicity still.

Each Halloween, The Early Show broadcast the 1948 comedy-horror classic, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. This movie marked the final appearance of Universal's classic monsters: Frankenstein's monster (Glenn Strange), Dracula (Bela Lugosi) and the Wolf Man (Lon Chaney Jr.). It also featured a "cameo" of the Invisible Man (Vincent Price). Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein was the perfect way to have Halloween dinner before going out trick or treating for kids.

This annual Halloween tradition went on for many years in the 1960s until the expanded local news broadcasts eliminated The Early Show. It was fun while it lasted.

Above, a display of Bud and Lou with the Monster
 at a Monsterpalooza show. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Interestingly, while the movie was first released on June 15, 1948, a sneak preview of the movie was held in (nearby to me) Inglewood, California at the Academy Theater on May 18, 1948.

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein was the final movie Bela Lugosi appeared in for a major movie studio.

Above, the Academy Theater in Inglewood in the 1940s. 

My mother told me that she and a friend saw it at a theater during its release.