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4A ®jje 1) eralb <©a?£tt£ Tuesday, October 12,2021
Opinions
Ruffin's Renderings: Televised frights
As we approach the
Halloween season, 1 find
myself reflecting on my
earliest exposure to clas
sic horror films.
My initiation into
scary movies came via
the Dialing for Dollars
television program in the
1960s. As best 1 can re
call, it aired on weekday
afternoons just before
the local news. A televi
sion personality named
Freddie Miller—who
later became well-known
as a host of Georgia
Championship Wrestling
and its successor World
Championship Wrestling,
which I also faithfully
watched—hosted the
program. (Wikipedia says
that Linda Faye Carson
and Don Barber were the
first Atlanta hosts. 1 have
no reason to doubt it, but
1 don’t remember them
doing so.) During breaks
in the day’s movie, Miller
would call people on the
telephone and give them
the opportunity to win
some money—thus the
program’s name.
1 wasn’t interested in
the dollars that Mr. Miller
dialed for, but the movies
fascinated me. Dialing for
Dollars, introduced me
to such films as Taran
tula!, Them!, The Blob,
The Thing (From Another
Planet), the Hammer
Films-produced Dracula
(and its sequels), and
many other horror and
science-fiction classics.
Most of them were pretty
cheesy, but their cheesi
ness was (and is) part of
their charm.
Some of you will re
member a late-night host
of horror movies who
went by the name Dead
Earnest. The program
aired in the early 1970s
on Friday nights on
Atlanta’s WTCG Chan
nel 17 (before
it entered its
glory days as
the Superstation
WTBS). A similar
program, this
one hosted by
a ghoul named
Sammy Terry
(get it?), ran on a
station in India
napolis for thirty
years beginning
in the 1960s.
And then there was
(and is) Svengoolie, who
began hosting horror
movies on a Chicago sta
tion in 1970. The original
Svengoolie was later
replaced by someone
known as Son of Sven
goolie. The “Son of” part
of the name was eventu
ally dropped, and the
second Svengoolie has
hosted classic horror
films under that name in
Chicago since 1995.
1 don’t live in Chicago,
but fortunately
Me-TV carries
the Svengoo
lie program
at 8:00 p.m.
on Saturday
nights. We
build our
Saturday night
schedule
around it. In
fact, the only
things that
we allow to
preempt Svengoolie are
a Mercer Bears football
game (Go Bears!), a
Georgia Bulldogs foot
ball game (Go Dawgs!),
or an Atlanta Braves
post-season game (Go
Braves!). By prioritizing
Svengoolie in our televi
sion-watching schedule,
we have recently seen
such cinematic cheese
as Blood of Dracula (in
which the title character
doesn’t appear), Abbott
and Costello Meet Dr. Je-
kyll and Mr. Hyde, House
on Haunted Hill, and
Gargoyles (the hands-
down greatest made-for-
TV horror movie ever
produced).
Those who are wise
enough to watch Sven
goolie are also blessed
with corny songs, ter
rible jokes and puns, and
thrown rubber chickens.
Every once in a while,
Svengoolie shows a legiti
mate classic. A few weeks
ago he aired Dracula,
starring Bela Lugosi. And
just last Saturday, he fea
tured Frankenstein with
Boris Karloff.
Speaking of Franken
stein, I’d like to offer
a public service, just
in case you ever come
across our grandson Sul
livan and the subject of
Frankenstein comes up
(and why would it not?).
If it does, do not, under
any circumstances,
refer to the monster as
“Frankenstein.” If you do,
Sullivan will correct you
(as he should) by inform
ing you that the proper
nomenclature is “Fran
kenstein’s monster.” He
is right (of course). The
scientist’s name is Fran
kenstein. The monster is
Frankenstein’s monster.
You might ask why a
four-year-old boy knows
and cares about such
things.
He knows and cares
about such things, my
friends, because facts
matter.
It is a principle to
which 1 hope he holds for
the rest of his life.
1 wish more of us held
to it.
Mike Ruffin is a Barnesville native
who lives and works in Macon. His
new book, Praying with Matthew,
is available at helwys.com and at
Amazon.
Ruffin’s
Renderings
Kudzu & Clay: Boogies
Every year
when the air
starts getting
a little crisper
and the leaves
start falling 1
get an unmis
takable feeling
of excitement
knowing that
Halloween is
just around the
corner. Hal
loween was
a big deal in
my house as a
kid. There was nobody
who liked scaring the
literal excrement out of
children more than my
father did. Certainly, he
had no problem scaring
his own kids whenever
he could, jumping out of
closets with masks on
or locking us in them.
Halloween was different.
It was better. He got to
scare everyone’s kids on
that day.
In the days leading to
Halloween, most people
go out and carve a pump
kin with their family
and roast the seeds and
laugh. We were forced
to sit in a sweatshop as
sembly line in our living
room constructing one
of the main props for our
Halloween display. “Boo
gies.” Boogies is short for
boogeymen and prepa
rations for these props
lasted all year. In its basic
form, a boogie is nothing
more than a scarecrow
without the pole to hold
it up.
Every newspaper,
piece of junk mail, bill,
church bulletin, or
cardboard box that came
into our house was saved
for either a firestarter
or boogie filler. Every
milk jug was saved to
create a boogie head.
Every ripped up piece of
clothing became boogie
clothes. Every pair of
pantyhose that got a run,
boogie skin. About three
weeks before Halloween
we would spend every
night crumpling paper
and stuffing old shirts
and pants to the point of
getting blisters. My dad
supervised from a sewing
table where he was dili
gently constructing these
parts into lifeless bodies.
There would be a pile
for torsos. A pile for legs.
Hands. Feet. Heads. Dad
would sew them together
and then take a milk jug
and pull some pantyhose
over it and sew that into
the shirt. He would sew
stuffed rubber gloves
on the sleeves and sew
shoes onto the bottom of
the pants. He was kind of
like Rumplestiltskin but
instead of a room full of
gold, at the end of those
nights we had a
pile of corpses.
The next part
of the process
1 always looked
forward to. In
the cover of
night, we would
drag all the
lifeless souls
into our front
yard and stra
tegically place
them to look
like some sort
of massacre
happened. There were
always extra torsos and
legs so we would scatter
them around at random.
Then we would mix up a
batch of raspberry jello
in a big bowl and splat
ter the congealed ‘blood’
all over the place. While
all this was going on,
my dad would be tying
nooses with twine and
start hanging the best
boogies from their legs
or neck in the large oak
tree in front of our house.
There was always a dop-
pelganger for each of us
dangling in the breeze. 1
remember being quite
proud of the reaction
we would get when the
school bus pulled up the
next morning.
The problem with boo
gies was that while the
general public got to see
them every year around
Halloween, they always
found a way of scaring
my brothers and me at
sporadic times through
out the off-season. Most
kids are scared of their
closet or under their
bed at night, but every
now and again 1 would
check ours out and a real
boogeyman would be
there. 1 still cannot be in
a bathroom that has the
shower curtain all the
way closed without fear
that a newspaper-filled,
flannel-shirt-clad monster
is behind it.
As an adult, 1 have to
say we are usually a little
lacking with our Hallow
een decorations. 1 have
a pile of junk mail and
some old clothes and
briefly considered con
tinuing the tradition and
making a few boogies of
my own. Unfortunately,
1 am a bad Boy Scout
and can not remember
how to tie a noose or any
other knot to save my
life. Just as well though,
1 don’t think boogies
would go over that well
these days anyway.
Chris Walter is a writer, artist,
and Barnesville native. He has just
published his first book, “Southern
Glitter”. You can find more informa
tion about his art and writings at
kudzuandclay.com.
KUDZU &
CLAY
Chris Walter
Pictured (l-r) are Rock Springs pastor Benny Tate, Tim Gordon and Bruce Reagan.
Bluebird donates school bus to
Rock Springs Christian Academy
Rock Springs Chris
tian Academy recently
announced that Bluebird
Bus of Georgia donated
a 2018 school bus to the
school.
“God continues
to show himself
faithful. Praise the
Lord. Thank you, Blue
bird, for being so gener
ous to our school,” said
Head of School Bruce
Reagan.
RSCA will use the bus
to benefit each student
at Rock Springs Christian
Academy.
“This bus will be put
to great use and allow
students more oppor
tunity when it comes to
transportation options,”
said RSCA communica
tions director Marlee
Albrecht. “RSCA would
like to thank Bluebird
for being so generous
in this donation to their
school.”
CALENDAR ITEM;
Email news@barnes-
ville.com or call 770.358.
NEWS to submit news.
• The John Birch
Society will hold its
second meeting on
Wednesday, October 20
at the Barnesville Lamar
County Library meeting
room. The program will
be a video of a radio and
television program by
Ben Armstrong produced
by the New American
Communications.
• The Scarecrows
make their return to the
University of Georgia
Griffin Campus Educa
tion and Research Gar
den on Ellis Road during
the month of October.
Email griffindirector@
uga.edu or call the cam
pus at 770-228-7263 for
display times.
• The Martin-Moore
American Legion Post
25, is now meeting again
at the newly remodeled
Women’s Club House
on Stafford Avenue, the
fourth Thursday of each
month at 5:00 p.m. for
the winter months. Re
turn to 6:00 p.m. in April
2022. All veterans are
invited.
• Rent and Utility As
sistance Services: Avail
able to local residents
through the Salvation
Army in Griffin. Info:
770.412.6561.
October 10-16
10 years ago
Three finalists were
named in the search
for a new president of
Gordon College follow
ing the resignation of
Dr. Larry Weill. Shelley
Nickel was serving as
interim president. The
finalists were Dr. Max
Burns, Dr. Delmas Crisp,
Jr. and Dr. Donna Henry.
25 years ago
Jailers Randy Newton
and Diana Cunningham
were injured when Matt
Huey attempted to
escape from the Lamar
County jail. City officer
Earl Collins rode to the
rescue and captured
Huey at gunpoint.
50 years ago
Judge Harvey J.
Kennedy, Sr. died at his
home on Zebulon Street
in Barnesville Oct. 5
after a lengthy illness.
He was 72. Kennedy
had served as supe
rior court judge and
was a former mayor of
Barnesville and a for
mer state legislator.
100 years ago
The potato curing
plant, which has been
erected by Messrs. R. E.
Lee Hawkins and J. B.
P. Milner, and who have
not spared expense
in making it a first
class building in every
particular, is ready for
storing sweet potatoes
and already quite a
quantity of potatoes
have been carried there
to be cured.
barnesville.com
770.358.NEWS
P.0. Box 220
Publishers
Staff
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