If you’ve been around on my blog for a minute, you’ve probably seen my cosplay/horror history series, A Century of Glamour Ghouls. That October, I threw together ten cosplays accompanied by tutorials and short histories of horror filmmaking over the 20th century.
Forthe 1950s entry, I covered Vampira in Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959) and the intersection of sci-fi and horror. Alas, my hair was short back then and I own(ed) no wigs, so I paired my Vampira look with a generic 1950s hairstyle. Now that my hair is Too Long, and the season of the witch is upon us, it seemed like the right time to revive the horrifying horror hostess.
Our Kickstarter project is live! If you love bad sci-fi like Plan 9 from Outer Space or Manos The Hands O fFate, this is for you! http://kck.st/1oTC6D1
Friends, it’s time once again to drop a coin in theTHE WONDER EMPORIUM JUKEBOX, and dance the night away to another toe-tappin’ melody of years past.
Today, the song is “Home on the Strange”- a “Monster Marsh”-type novelty song from Paul Marco.
Marco’s claim to fame was appearing in three films by Ed Wood - Bride of the Monster, Plan 9 from Outer Space, and Night of the Ghouls. In all three, he played Kelton the Cop, the bumbling, Barney Fife-esque comedy relief. While famed psychic and Wood crony Criswell predicted that Marco would “go far” in the film industry, this never came to pass, and Marco made his living working in the prop department at Paramount. That’s where Marco met Joe Dante (Gremlins), a Wood fan who encouraged him in the ‘80s to hit the convention circuit and cash in on his minor cult fame.
Unfortunately, Marco decided to quit his job and devote his attention full-time to reviving the Kelton franchise. In interviews, he spoke of grand plans for new Kelton movies, cartoons, and game shows, and as President and Founding Member of the Paul Marco Fan Club (!), spent a fortune on “I Love Kelton the Cop” merch - balloons, t-shirts, bumper stickers, etc. You can see Paul hawking his merch in Jonathan Ross’ BBC documentary about Wood.
“Home on the Strange” was released as a 45rpm in the '90s, around the time of Tim Burton’s Ed Wood biopic. “Someone Walked Over My Grave,” an ancient Criswell novelty single, was the B side. I’m proud to say that I own it.
Paul Marco died in 2006, but his wonderful official website is still active. It includes behind-the-scenes Ed Wood tidbits, press clippings, and photos of Paul posing with celebrity friends. This one, with Martin Landau, is my favourite photo in the world:
