![]() He directed the spreading rainbow of rays on to a second prism. ![]() Some thought the prism itself contained the rainbow and the light beam was pushing it out. ![]() To answer those questions we first turn to Isaac Newton who once said, “If I have seen further than others, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” Like everyone else in the 17th century, Newton marvelled at seeing a beam of sunlight enter a polished glass prism and emerge as a rainbow of colours. “Since they and I are about the only ones left from that crazy night of TV innovation,” I said, “I guess it’s a hilarious house of jokes neither of us can verify.” And I can’t even claim the ridiculous three-bucks-a-joke fee.Why is the sky blue?It is a question that, in true Sumner Millerfashion, leads to many more: What is light? What is the sky made of? How do we perceive colour? When TV reporter Jana Semeniuk finished her impromptu interview with me about all this a few years ago, she said that she’d tracked down the Markowitz brothers to verify my story of that brainstorming session by the pool back in 1970. Graff, one of the few other originators of Frightenstein still around, called me this week he said that tubi, the internet platform, had just released Frightenstein on-line for a new generation who’ve never seen it. But none of us freelance creators ever participated in what became the worldwide syndication or mass-market success of 130 episodes of Frightenstein video-taped at CHCH over nine months in 1971. Others rightly credited for writing and research included (the late) Bob Hackett and Harvey Graff. We were too naïve to demand professional writing contracts, ACTRA rates or on-screen credits. Well, I lasted a few days writing gags and routines for the characters Perigoe and I had invented that night Perigoe lasted several weeks and probably made a few hundred dollars. After several hours of riffing ideas and schtick, Perigoe and I asked if we might take part in the production as the show’s writers. Late into the evening at Markowitz’s pool side, Perigoe and I bounced ideas off each other non-stop, while the young woman in the bikini made notes on everything we said like a recording secretary. As we go stumbling through, through, through.” “Gory, gory Transylania! Where wolves and bats will always maim ya. We even came up with the Frightenstein national anthem, conducted by the Count and sung by Igor as he raised the castle flag to the tune of The Battle Hymn of the Republic. “Let’s invent a scary kids’ show,” or words to that effect.Īnd for the next few hours, Perigoe and I spewed ideas about a haunted castle, a cast of zany inept characters, lots of corny jokes all delivered as a series of independent modules, so that a local host in Timmins, Tallahassee or Timbuktu could appear between segments giving the show a local look and flavour. “That’s for Riff.”Ī few minutes later, Markowitz arrived, wearing a terry towel robe and smoking a cigar. “Sit anywhere but in that chair,” she said pointing to a winged-back cane chair. “Oh, you must be the writers,” she said, and she led us to an attached atrium full of potted palms, ceiling fans, and a swimming pool with deck chairs all around. So, on a dark and stormy autumn night in 1970 – I’m not making this up – Perigoe and I drove to Toronto’s west end, knocked on the door of a sprawling home and were met by a young woman in a bikini. We heard that brothers Riff and Mitch Markowitz were looking for writers for a spooky kids’ show. In 1970, my best friend and classmate in Ryerson’s Radio and TV Arts course, Ross Perigoe, and I weren’t about to wait for graduation from the program to write professionally. Radio & TV writing team of Ross Perigoe (r) and myself. If you read the Wikipedia file, producer Rafael (Riff) Markowitz claims that Frightentstein was entirely his idea and that he invited “a room full of creative friends to a spaghetti and champagne dinner party (to) brainstorm the idea.” That’s not the way I remember it. It starred, among others, Vincent Price (as the horror host), Julius Sumner Miller (as the mad professor), the Wolf Man, Billy Van (as Count Frightenstein, the 13th son of Count Dracula) and Fishka Rais (as the Count’s incompetent assistant). If you missed the 1970s and children’s TV from that era, you also missed a quirky kids’ show originally produced at CHCH TV in Hamilton, and then syndicated worldwide years afterward. Want to know more? Roll your camera and I’ll tell you.” “I co-created it with my writing partner Ross Perigoe. “Have you ever heard of the TV show The Hilarious House of Frightenstein?” she asked. She had one more question to ask, but she wanted to be sure it was OK to ask it on camera. But she gestured for me to stay put for a second. The reporter had asked her final question about my appearance at a regional theatre in Alberta that afternoon.
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