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<blockquote data-quote="Snarky Oracle!" data-source="post: 444313" data-attributes="member: 57984">The B&amp;W from the &#039;40s, silvery and lush, is different from that of the early-&#039;60s (which is somehow starker). Two slightly dissimilar moods are created by both. And the two eras reflect something distinct (especially as it pertains to macabre cinema). Bookends, maybe? I dunno.PSYCHO has been described as &quot;a ghost story without a ghost,&quot; and that&#039;s exactly what the early-&#039;60s and its material seems to evoke. Whether it&#039;s a B&amp;W social drama, a horror picture, a mystery film, any episode of ANDY GRIFFITH (from the first five years) with Andy casually driving his Ford police car around Mayberry, or news footage from the period --- it feels as if ghosts are hovering just outside of camera range. As if the veil between this side and the &quot;other&quot; side is somehow thinner.And it always has. It&#039;s always felt that way.So what is it?? Of course, we can&#039;t know the definitive answer to that. (Some folks don&#039;t notice or care). But the &#039;40s and early-&#039;60s seem joined umbilically in some way.. The &#039;40s had Hitler, WW2 and the advent of The Bomb; the early-&#039;60s had the Cuban Missile Crisis, the first Kennedy murder, and the overall sense that everything was on the edge of obliteration.Both zeitgeists suggested we were looking into the face of eternity. But the &#039;40s stuff felt gargantuan and less personal; the early-&#039;60s stuff felt more intimate somehow, a child&#039;s-eye perspective. Both portended global apocalypse.And all that stuck to celluloid, regardless of the subject matter or the plot. Like PSYCHO, a sacred pre-apocalyptic, supernatural atmosphere hovers over the early-&#039;60s stuff, even when the storyline is concrete and earthbound, or even when it&#039;s silly. (In contrast to the post-apocalyptic vibe that came with the last-half of the decade, the previous protections -- whatever those protections were -- having been lifted). So, what does any of this have to do with GHOST &amp; MISTER CHICKEN?&nbsp; Well, it&#039;s almost impossible to describe this sort of thing and not get exhaustingly wordsy. But people get it -- many film-fans identifying the 1960s as their favorite decade for horror. (Whenever they say &quot;the &#039;80s&quot; is their favorite horror era, I smirk and feel superior. Then sad. Then angry. Then vengeful in ways I don&#039;t understand and am disinclined to analyze. Then I drink something. Then I fall asleep with that weird song from DRAGONWYCK wafting through my consciousness...)As all of The End of The World stuff goes, the early-&#039;60s is The End of The Worldiest.&nbsp;&nbsp; <img src="https://static.life.com/wp-content/uploads/migrated/2013/10/131030-jfk-1962-oval-office-rfk-36-1024x742.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></blockquote>

[QUOTE="Snarky Oracle!, post: 444313, member: 57984"] The B&W from the '40s, silvery and lush, is different from that of the early-'60s (which is somehow starker). Two slightly dissimilar moods are created by both. And the two eras reflect something distinct (especially as it pertains to macabre cinema). Bookends, maybe? I dunno. PSYCHO has been described as "a ghost story without a ghost," and that's exactly what the early-'60s and its material seems to evoke. Whether it's a B&W social drama, a horror picture, a mystery film, any episode of ANDY GRIFFITH (from the first five years) with Andy casually driving his Ford police car around Mayberry, or news footage from the period --- it feels as if ghosts are hovering just outside of camera range. As if the veil between this side and the "other" side is somehow thinner. And it always has. It's [I]always [/I]felt that way. So what is it?? Of course, we can't know the definitive answer to that. (Some folks don't notice or care). But the '40s and early-'60s seem joined umbilically in some way.. The '40s had Hitler, WW2 and the advent of The Bomb; the early-'60s had the Cuban Missile Crisis, the first Kennedy murder, and the overall sense that everything was on the edge of obliteration. Both zeitgeists suggested we were looking into the face of eternity. But the '40s stuff felt gargantuan and less personal; the early-'60s stuff felt more intimate somehow, a child's-eye perspective. Both portended global apocalypse. And all that stuck to celluloid, regardless of the subject matter or the plot. Like PSYCHO, a sacred pre-apocalyptic, supernatural atmosphere hovers over the early-'60s stuff, even when the storyline is concrete and earthbound, or even when it's silly. (In contrast to the post-apocalyptic vibe that came with the last-half of the decade, the previous protections -- whatever those protections were -- having been lifted). So, what does any of this have to do with GHOST & MISTER CHICKEN? Well, it's almost impossible to describe this sort of thing and not get exhaustingly wordsy. But people get it -- many film-fans identifying the 1960s as their favorite decade for horror. (Whenever they say "the '80s" is their favorite horror era, I smirk and feel superior. Then sad. Then angry. Then vengeful in ways I don't understand and am disinclined to analyze. Then I drink something. Then I fall asleep with that weird song from DRAGONWYCK wafting through my consciousness...) As all of The End of The World stuff goes, the early-'60s is The End of The Worldiest. [IMG]https://static.life.com/wp-content/uploads/migrated/2013/10/131030-jfk-1962-oval-office-rfk-36-1024x742.jpg[/IMG] [/QUOTE]

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Who played JR Ewing?