Early 1960s vogue for spooky stuff

[Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus]

@kunilou

Batman wasn’t spooky and was never meant to be. It was camp. The only genre it hearkened back to was the old movie serials where the hero got caught in an explosion, runaway train, quicksand pit or something else at the end of every episode.

This prompts me to add that I do realize that Batman wasn’t supposed to be spooky or even serious. I was just thinking of the fact that it was anything at all to do with bats, and that the story of the origin of Batman was that he decided to assume a form that would frighten the crooks. Of course there was none of this in the TV show, but the old comics had a bit more of a noirish affect.

[Skywatcher]

@Spectre of Pithecanthropus

I recall a boardgame that a cousin had around 1966 that was called “Why” and was full of spooky imagery.

That reminds me of a boardgame we had, it was called “Green Ghost”. Boardgame geek says it’s from 1965.

[Otto]

@Scott Plaid

No one seems to remember the 1940-or-so era gay rights protestors.

OK, I’ll bite.

What 1940-or-so gay rights protesters (I’m not aware of any; generally the start of the homophile movement is pegged to the mid-50s) and how do they relate to the 1960s monster craze?

[FriarTed]

@Lute Skywatcher

That reminds me of a boardgame we had, it was called “Green Ghost”. Boardgame geek says it’s from 1965.

I had that! May still have it! I was trying to recall what it was called when I read the OP.

I also had a game with a big glow-in-the-dark Eye-ball in the center of a plastic circle in which one would place little Tarot cards- I think it was called Cabala, I never quite got the point of the game tho.

Since Famous Monsters mag has been brought up several times, let us recognize James Warren, the publisher of that and also- CREEPY, EERIE, VAMPIRELLA and near his company’s demise the scifi-horror 1984, briefly retitled 1994.

[LonesomePolecat]

@Otto

OK, I’ll bite.

What 1940-or-so gay rights protesters (I’m not aware of any; generally the start of the homophile movement is pegged to the mid-50s) and how do they relate to the 1960s monster craze?

Mid-50’s? I always though the modern gay rights movement was supposed to have been sparked by the Stonewall riots in the late '60’s. Care to enlighten me?

[Walloon]

From The Reader’s Companion to American History (1991):

In November 1950 in Los Angeles, a small group of men led by Harry Hay and Chuck Rowland met to form what would become the Mattachine Society. Mostly male in membership, it was joined in 1955 by a lesbian organization in San Francisco, the Daughters of Bilitis, founded by Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon. In the 1950s these organizations remained small, but they established chapters in several cities and published magazines that were a beacon of hope to the readers.

In the 1960s, influenced by the model of a militant black civil rights movement, the “homophile movement,” as the participants dubbed it, became more visible. Activists, such as Franklin Kameny and Barbara Gittings, picketed government agencies in Washington to protest discriminatory employment policies. In San Francisco, Martin, Lyon, and others targeted police harassment. By 1969, perhaps fifty homophile organizations existed in the United States, with memberships of a few thousand.

[Scott_Plaid]

@LonesomePolecat

Mid-50’s? I always though the modern gay rights movement was supposed to have been sparked by the Stonewall riots in the late '60’s. Care to enlighten me?

Crumbs. I should have said 50s, not 40s. My point however was that just as how most gay rights histories start with stonewall, a history of spooky stuff in pop culture should mention something earlier, like Spook Shows.

[AncientHumanoid]

You should learn to preview.

[jimmmy]

@Spectre of Pithecanthropus

Was there a general fad for spooky imagery and themes beginning around 1964? <snip> Was there something that spawned all these things or did they just happen coincidentally around the same time?

The Outer Limits premiered in 1963 and although the* Twilight Zone * had premiered in 1959, it won its Emmys in '61, '62 and Golden Globe in 1962. I think these fit into your time frame and deserve to be pointed out as part of this discussiont.

[ouryL]

The impetus for this might have been the re-release of the Universal Monsters on TV.

[Squink]

@CalMeacham

We’re not saying that there weren’t any monster shows or interest in this stuff before 1960, but there certainly was an increase in it after that point

Ed Roth’s “Rat Fink” , and monster/dragster art fusion helped bring that along:

By 1963, teenagers across America were buying Rat Fink model kits and mass-produced Rat Fink T-shirts.