THE NIGHT AMERICA TREMBLED (1957) – This is a reasonably enjoyable television movie sponsored by Westinghouse. The Night America Trembled presents what may be the very first dramatic production of the supposed panic caused by the 1938 Mercury Theater radio production of War of the Worlds. I’m always fascinated with accounts of this possibly overblown event, but the actual event – not so much.
Yes, it all comes down to my love of mythology and the manner in which occurrences get embellished until even the wildest embellishments become accepted into a culture’s shared experience and shared assumptions. But I’m an incredibly boring guy.
Newsman Edward R Murrow hosts the dramatization and as usual looks like he’d love to climb out of the screen and kick the asses of news pussies like Chris Matthews and Chris Hayes. The most entertaining aspect of this production is catching the future stars in supporting roles. Ed Asner, Warren Beatty AND Warren Oates, plus James Coburn, Vincent Gardenia, John Astin and more. Continue reading
NCAA DIVISION THREE – 1. UNIVERSITY OF MARY HARDIN-BAYLOR CRUSADERS ### 2. NORTH CENTRAL COLLEGE CARDINALS (defending champions) ### 3. UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN AT WHITEWATER WARHAWKS ### 4. SAINT JOHN’S UNIVERSITY JOHNNIES ### 
5. UNIVERSITY OF MOUNT UNION PURPLE RAIDERS ### 6. LINFIELD COLLEGE WILDCATS ### 7. CORTLAND STATE RED DRAGONS ### 8. WHEATON (IL) COLLEGE THUNDER ### 
GENERALS CONQUER DIVISION TWO – NCAA Division Three’s WASHINGTON & LEE UNIVERSITY GENERALS took it on the road to face NCAA Division Two’s EMORY & HENRY COLLEGE WASPS. (This is like when an FCS team upsets an FBS team) A 7-7 1st Quarter tie became a 21-14 edge for the Wasps at Halftime. The 3rd Quarter ended with the Generals up 24-21 before winning the game 30-28. 
TUSSLE IN THE TOP FOUR – Up in NCAA Division Two the number 2 team in the nation – the VALDOSTA STATE BLAZERS – welcomed the 4th ranked UNIVERSITY OF WEST GEORGIA WOLVES. The Blazers held a 27-13 lead by the Half. The Wolves pulled to within 33-27 in the 3rd Quarter, with their rally falling just short in the 4th as Valdosta State held on for a 36-34 victory. 
EASY AS ONE, TWO, THREE – Over in the NAIA the (1) LINDSEY WILSON COLLEGE BLUE RAIDERS won 41-30 at the (22) BETHEL (TN) WILDCATS ### The (2) NORTHWESTERN (IA) COLLEGE RED RAIDERS obliterated the visiting (20) DORDT UNIVERSITY DEFENDERS 63-28 ### And the (3) MORNINGSIDE COLLEGE MUSTANGS utterly annihilated the UNIVERSITY OF JAMESTOWN JIMMIES 70-7. 
THE GHOST PIRATES (1909) – HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Balladeer’s Blog wraps up another Halloween Month with a look at this novella written by William Hope Hodgson. Just a few years ago my review of Hodgson’s 1908 
That sole member of the original crew, Williams, tells Jessop and other new crew members about the ship being haunted and worse, but Jessop, like the other replacement hires, dismisses such claims. Williams seems a bit unnerved and maybe even unhinged by whatever happened on the original journey to San Francisco. He is bitterly obsessed with completing the round trip and collecting his pay despite horrific incidents that he is obviously hiding. 
SPIDER-MAN Vol 1 #136 (September 1974) 
NOTE: Not only would that have been a Kung Fu flick from the still-flowing initial wave of Bruce Lee-inspired Martial Arts Mania here in the U.S. but it would also have been when Forty-Second Street theaters showed everything from grindhouse movies on up. 
THE CRIMSON STAIN MYSTERY (1916) – This was a 16 chapter silent serial that contained multiple horrific elements. The fact that it is so little remembered these days makes it perfect for this list, given Balladeer’s Blog’s overall theme. A mad scientist calling himself the Crimson Stain experiments on human guinea pigs in an attempt to create an intellectually superior race. His experiments all fail, producing hideous, mutated monsters. The Crimson Stain organizes his misbegotten menagerie into a villainous organization and wages a campaign of terror on the world at large. A heroic detective leads the opposition against them and tries to learn the identity of the Crimson Stain. Chapters in this serial boasted wonderfully campy titles like The Brand of Satan, The Devil’s Symphony, Despoiling Brutes and The Human Tiger. 
GRAVEYARD SHIFT Volume 1 (2019)
Another undertaking (as it were) is Project Wormwood, which involves Regen Chambers to restore life to newly slain soldiers in order to form an unbeatable army, and Mind Wipe technology to reprogram the revived dead to know nothing but their new existence as servitors of whatever nation buys them (but really as servitors of Van Helsing himself). 
Here at Balladeer’s Blog I love sharing my enthusiasms. My blog posts where I provide contemporary slants to Ancient Greek Comedies to make them more accessible have been big hits over the years, so I’ve been trying it with operas, too. Previously I wrote about how Philip Wylie’s science fiction novel Gladiator could be done as an opera. Then I looked at how an opera version of the 1966 Spaghetti Western Django could be done and then an opera based on the novel Venus in Furs. 
THE BLACK REAPER (1899) – By Bernard Capes. Balladeer’s Blog’s month-long celebration of Halloween continues with this neglected horror tale. The story takes place in 1665 in a secluded British farming town called Anathoth. 
The citizens of Anathoth are described in the narrative as the kind of religious people who merely pay lip service to their beliefs but don’t live by them. They even treated their previous Vicar like a joke. 
SHENANDOAH CONQUERS DIVISION TWO – NCAA Division Three’s SHENANDOAH UNIVERSITY HORNETS borrowed a page from assorted NAIA teams by toppling a higher division team. The Hornets welcomed NCAA Division Two’s EMORY & HENRY COLLEGE WASPS and in the ensuing defensive epic pulled out a 9-7 victory. 
KNOCKING OFF NUMBER THREE – In NCAA Division Two the COLORADO MESA UNIVERSITY MAVERICKS welcomed the number 3 team in the nation – the COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES OREDIGGERS. After a 7-7 1st Quarter tie the Orediggers were up 21-16 at Halftime. From there the Mavericks shut them out and won the game 26-21. 
DOWN GOES NUMBER FIVE – Over in the NAIA the number 11 MARIAN UNIVERSITY KNIGHTS faced the visiting 5th ranked CONCORDIA (MI) UNIVERSITY CARDINALS. A 13-7 Knights lead at the Half became 19-7 to end the 3rd Quarter and ultimately a 25-7 victory for Marian U. 
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