Halloween 2023, Part 2--Break-ins, Jeane Dixon, and fakes--oh my!

Break-ins!  Get it?  (Frankie says, Hi!)  "Break-ins," as many of us know, are a genre invented by Bill Buchanan and Dickie Goodman with The Flying Saucer (1956). Of course, counting any given example as the "first" can be perilous, in the event someone manages to scare up any earlier instances.

After all, once magnetic tape became the chief audio medium for recording studios and radio stations, it was inevitable that folks would insert "sampled" sound effects into their records.  As Spike Jones did on his 1953 Dragnet, and Carl Weismann, pre-B&G, with his Singing Dogs.  But the use of snippets from current hits and oldies to accompany a silly storyline?  Maybe Bill and Dickie were the pre-cursers.  I mean, precursors.

"Break-ins, Jeane Dixon, and Fakes," I call the zip.  And is the "and" redundant, since we're talking a psychic famous for predicting an event she didn't predict?  Well, Jeane was--let's say--not a total truth teller, but she was providing a service for superstitious folks like my maternal grandmother, who cherished the $15 lucky leprechaun pendant and handwritten Jeane Dixon letter she ordered from Fate.  And I wouldn't be surprised if the note was in Jeane's own hand.  Compared to the big-time fraudsters in the ESP, telekinesis, and "past life" rackets, Jeane did no harm, in my opinion.  Nor did her 1966 single A Gift of Prophecy.  In fact, it's a camp classic.

But... neither did she actually predict JFK's assassination.  It's even stretching things to suggest that she made a lucky guess in that direction.  What happened was, back in 1956, Jeane predicted a Dem would win the 1960 election and would die during either his first or second term (if he was to have a second term--she didn't know).  As in, from natural causes or from assassination.  Between 1956 and the 1960 election, Jeane changed gears and decided the winner would surely be... Richard Nixon.  She held to that prognostication until, I guess, Nixon didn't win.  But, given that Jeane had made a none too specific guess in 1956, only to take it back, well... I'm not convinced that some people have a "gift of prophecy."  Including her.  And, not to be too critical, but what kind of "gift" did it prove to be in this case?  Was the 1963 tragedy averted?  Ummmm... no.

I'm no fun at Halloween, I guess.

In other noose--er, news--Elementary, My Dear Watson! is a don't-hear-ever-day novelty by William Indelli, whom I once devoted a post to--and ought to, again.  In a 2020 comment, I described Indelli: "(Bill) was a member of the Tommy Dorsey Orch. and had some songs recorded on legit Chicago labels, and then ended up in the song poem circuit."  A talented guy, if not the luckiest.  With a gift more useful than, say, Jeane Dixon's.

As for the budget Halloween sound-alikes, it seemed like epically good luck to locate John Logan's Promenade EP Dinner With Drac fake in my not-in-order 45 rpm boxes.  But not such good luck to discover the fatal needle gouge which ruins the final few grooves.  So, I ended up swapping the last several seconds of the Peter Pan LP (Monster Mash) reissue of the track, taking care to reduce PP's fake stereo to something like monaural, plus painstakingly match the two EQs.  Which I did so well, I doubt anyone will notice.  Well, unless I tell them.

Other seasonal fakes: Little Blue Man, Witch Doctor (both SPC) and Purple People Eater (Gilmar and maybe Broadway?).  I guess they could be classified as "Budget Boos!"

And the Buchanan and Goodman, Dickie Goodman, and Buchanan and Ancel "break-ins"?  Masterpieces of the art of so-stupid-it's-funny humor.  I mean that as praise--I love these things.  And, lest you think that just anyone can put out a halfway decent "break-in," I have a number of dreadful Buchanan and Goodman imitations which prove there was an art to that weird genre.

Time to enter "Halloween 2013, Part 2."  Nary a thing to dread.  And I can (possibly) assure you that your visit will be unlived.  I mean, short-lived...  (And thanks to Ernie for the year correction.  I'd originally traveled back a decade...)

DOWNLOAD: Halloween 2023, Part 2: Break-ins, Jeane Dixon, and Fakes, Oh My!

SLAYLIST

A Gift of Prophecy, Pts. I and II--Jeane Dixon, Arr, and Cond. by Joe Sherman, 1966

Ben Crazy--Dickie Goodman and Dr. I.M. Ill, 1962

The Mystery (In Slow Motion)--Buchanan and Goodman, 1957

Batman and His Grandmother--Dickie Goodman, 1966

The Creature (From a Science Fiction Movie)--(Bill) Buchanan and (Bob) Ancell, 1957

Buchanan and Ancel Meet the Creature (From a Science Fiction Movie), 1957

Frankenstein of '59/Frankenstein Returns--Buchanan and Goodman, 1959

Elementary, My Dear Watson!--William Indelli and His Orch., 1960

Purple People Eater--Stevens Mark (Thanks, musicman!) (Gilmar GH-92, 33 and 1/3 EP)

Witch Doctor--John Logan (Promenade, 1958)

Little Blue Man--Melody Jane (Promenade, 1958)

Dinner With Drac--John Logan (Promenade, 1958)

Transfusion--"Scat Man" Crothers With Lew Raymond Trio (Tops, 1956)

Lee