JK in "The Night Holds Terror" Pt. III

 

Back cover of Italian pressbook

Gene and his captors arrive at the Courtier home. Gene's wife, Doris, is frightened and anxious about the safety of their two children, Deborah and Steven, as their home is invaded by armed strangers.

Original still with the film's working title on the snipe. Caption reads: "GANGLAND TACTICS - John Cassavetes, David Cross and Vince Edwards hold Jack Kelly (center, seated) captive in Columbia's Terror in the Night,
produced and directed by Andrew Stone."

The Courtiers must remain silent about their situation or risk being hurt or worse by the trio. They turn away neighbors who show up unexpectedly. And, when Gene's father telephones, they cut the call short, not wanting to set off the kidnappers.

 

Original linen-backed still with Terror In the Night on the snipe

 

Another linen-backed Terror In the Night still 

 

Gosset, a ladies' man nicknamed "Dame Boy", gets drunk and makes Doris dance with him. Gene angrily throws a punch at him. Gosset punches back, only adding to the tension in the home.

 

 

After Batsford commandeers the master bedroom, Gene and Doris are forced to occupy a smaller room near the children.

 

 

Gosset, who is keeping watch as Batsford sleeps, nods off himself. When Logan momentarily steps away, Gene seizes his chance. He raises a pair of scissors over Gosset, planning to kill him and take his gun:

 

 

 

But, Logan returns before Gene can stab the slumbering hoodlum:

 

 

And, when Gosset awakes, he scuffles with Gene:

 

This still is from a newspaper archive. A clipping on the back dated 8/25/1955 is captioned: "With utter abandon, Courtier leaps at Gosset. There is some wild commotion for a few moments but Gene is battling against hopeless odds. One unarmed man against three gunmen is done for."

 

Please stay tuned for Part IV!

JK in "The Night Holds Terror" Pt. II

The ordeal of the Courtier family began when a hitchhiker was given a ride. Gene Courtier knew it was risky to pick up hitchhikers, but he figured everyone did it--what was the harm just this once? However, he didn't realize his passenger (Victor Gosset, played by Vince Edwards) would carjack him and have criminal cohorts lying in wait.

Gosset demands Gene's wallet and becomes angry when he finds only $10 inside. He forces Gene to pull off into the desert, where Gosset's fellow robbers Robert Batsford (John Cassavetes) and Luther Logan (David Cross) join them. Batsford upbraids Gosset for snatching a Mercury instead of a Lincoln.

Batsford wants to kill Gene but Logan doesn't, since they'll net only $10. Batsford doesn't care. He orders Gene to remove his jacket and shoes and lie face down on the sand.  

 

An original vintage linen-backed still. The snipe on the back reads: "ON THE SPOT - David Cross, John Cassevetas [sic] and Vince Edwards threaten to kill Jack Kelly in Columbia's Terror In the Night [working title]"

He fires a couple of shots near Gene's head to show him they mean business:

Then, Batsford realizes they might not have to kill Gene after all, if they can have his convertible. Gene anxiously agrees to sign the pink slip over to them so they can re-sell the car and keep the money. 

Gosset and Logan drive Gene to where he bought the car to see what they can get for it.

 

 While waiting for the car to be appraised, Gene spies an open side door inside the dealership and plots his escape. But, then he fears that other innocent people in the showroom may be harmed if he suddenly bolts from his trigger-happy captors.

 

 

Gosset and Logan are offered $2000 for the vehicle (the salesman in the center is played by Barney Phillips). However, the dealership has only $500 on hand and can't give them the rest of the money until the next day.

 

 

 

Batsford decides they will wait overnight...at Gene's house.

Please stay tuned for Part III!

"A Chiller Diller" - JK in "The Night Holds Terror"

Hello Everyone!

Over the past few months, nearly a dozen stills plus other ephemera from Jack Kelly's feature film The Night Holds Terror have joined the Kellection. So, let's have a look at this 1955 thriller.

In June 1955, an item in Hedda Hopper's newspaper column announced, "Hollywood budgets its productions in the millions, but now and then an enterprising young producer comes along with a shoestring show that proves to be a sleeper. The town's talking this week about The Night Holds Terror, which Andrew Stone wrote, directed and produced with Jack Kelly, John Cassavetes, Hildy Parks, Vince Edwards and David Cross [starring]. Stone used a true story which broke within the shadow of the Valley studios--the tale of a civilian electronics employee at Edwards Air Force Base who was kidnapped by three men near Lancaster [CA] as he was driving home from a shopping expedition in Hollywood--and turned out a chiller diller that will rock the audience back on its heels."

Independent filmmakers Andrew Stone and his wife Virginia made The Night Holds Terror (originally titled Terror in the Night) for just $71,000. According to an article in the Oakland [CA] Tribune, the film's plot was actually inspired by two factual incidents, the 1954 kidnapping of realtor Leonard Moskovitz in
San Francisco and a 1953 Southern California abduction/home invasion case involving the Gene Courtier family.

A 1955 story about the Courtiers in the Long Beach Independent revealed that they were paid $500 for the use of their names in The Night Holds Terror. JK played Gene Courtier and stage/TV actress Hildy Parks (making her feature film debut) played his wife, Doris.

The real-life Mr. and Mrs. Courtier--whose photo (shown below) appears in the film's intro--made radio and TV appearances to plug the movie during a promotional tour. 



The Gene Courtier family

The Independent article also explained that the first part of the film, detailing the abduction of Gene Courtier by a trio of punks in the desert, closely follows the actual events. However, the last part of the film, where the kidnappers demand a six-figure ransom from Courtier's father, actually mirrors the Moscovitz case. Gene Courtier's father, Virgil, told the Independent, "We never had that kind of money".

(A clever reference is made to the Moscovitz case during the film.)

Newspaper ads for the film played up the chilling "This could happen to you!" aspect of the Courtier case. "HORROR IN YOUR HOME", shouted an ad in the LB Independent. "You have to watch what they're doing to your wife...because there's a cold gun against your skull! But now you know you've got to do something...no matter what happens to you...or anyone else!"

A different ad screamed, "THEY'RE GOING TO KILL ME! I'm begging for my life...begging these vicious killers with their empty eyes and hate-loaded guns...men I never saw until now!"

The Stones also emphasized realism in The Night Holds Terror by filming it in authentic Southern California locations rather than using artificial sets. The homes, cars, businesses and even phone booths seen in the film are the real deal.

Please stay tuned for much more about The Night Holds Terror in TDS!

Violet Friday :)

Hello!

Some time ago, I bought an old photo album page containing a Jack Kelly pic and an autograph...with a bit of a mystery thrown in.

The pic isn't a mystery; it was clipped from an early 1950's movie magazine to accompany the autograph. The signature--well, it's definitely JK's. But, the inscription above the signature is a puzzler:

It reads, "First trip to San Francisco--Thank you Violet".

Naturally, I asked the dealer from whom I bought the page if they could shed any light on who "Violet" was or when JK gave this autograph to her.

Unfortunately, all the dealer could tell me was that he'd purchased a large collection of vintage celebrity autographs which were mostly inscribed to a woman named Violet. He knew nothing about her or how/when she obtained the autographs.

I'd love to find out more about this intriguing glimpse into JK's past. Who the heck was Violet? Was it JK's first trip to SF--or hers? Was he thanking her or was she thanking him? Such kwestions can drive a Kellector kwazy. If anyone out there knows anything about the mysterious autograph hound with a flowery name, please let me know! :)

Vintage violet image courtesy of The Graphics Fairy

Happy Thanksgiving! :)

 

I'm thankful for all of you, my fellow Jack Kelly fans.

Have a blessed and safe Thanksgiving. :)

 

Vintage Thanksgiving postcard courtesy of The Graphics Fairy

"My First Bull Fight" :)

¡Hola!

You may remember this fantastic photo of Jack Kelly which I posted in 2012. Well, I found "My First Bull Fight", the 1955 episode of TV Reader's Digest in which JK starred as Sidney Franklin, the Brooklyn-born bullfighter. And, I made some screencaps for you to enjoy!

Sidney Franklin is painting bullfighting posters in Mexico. But, his heart really isn't in his work, maybe because he's never seen a real bullfight:

After observing a bullfight and then imbibing a bit too much tequila, Sidney rashly declares that instead of just painting a bull, he will actually fight one. He takes a crash course in bullfighting from a famous torero and then tests his skills at a local ranch:

Sidney decides he's proven himself. He doesn't intend to participate in an actual corrida and kill a bull (and possibly get killed himself). But, news of the "American Torero" has spread and his "manager" demands that he follow through.

 

Finally, it's time for the debut of the reluctant matador. Sidney discovers that facing an angry toro in the actual bullring is a lot different than just practicing at the ranch:

 

 

The amateur torero gathers his courage and stares down his opponent:

 



Then, he takes his sword and prepares for the moment of truth:



 

Sidney bravely watches as the bull charges toward him...

 

 

...And then draws his weapon:

 

 

Moments later, Sidney is stunned to realize that he's vanquished his first bull!

 

"My First Bull Fight" is a wonderful showcase for JK's acting talent. He goes from being an uninspired artist to a tipsy braggart and finally to a courageous matador--all in one half-hour episode! And, he's always in motion so it was hard to get decent screen caps. JK is especially kinetic in the scene where Sidney is drinking tequila. He's also hilarious in this scene--the person who said JK delivered comic lines "like a load of coal" obviously never saw him in "My First Bull Fight". 

Special mention must also go to young George Huerta, who amusingly plays "Manuel", Sidney's pint-sized sidekick.

Needless to say, JK is muy guapo (very handsome) as Sidney Franklin. But, those intense bullfighting scenes? El toro appears in stock footage while JK convincingly makes his matador moves on a set. Probably the closest he came to a real bull was if steak was on the menu in the studio commissary. ;)

UPDATE! Here's the entire episode from YouTube:

What's coming up next in TDS? Please stay tuned and find out! :)



A Veterans Day Salute 2017 :)

Hello Everyone,

In honor of Veterans Day, here's a vintage photo of Jack Kelly (as "Kerrigan") from the 1955 Audie Murphy bio-pic To Hell And Back:

The snipe on the reverse of the original linen-backed still reads: "A BATTLE-MAD SQUAD LEADER AND HIS MEN. Audie Murphy appears in To Hell And Back, Universal-International's great war drama starring Audie Murphy in the Technicolor CinemaScope filmization of Murphys own best-selling biography, chronicling the emotion-packed story of the heroic Texas youth who became the most-decorated soldier of World War II. Rear, 1 to r, Richard Castle, Charles Drake, Murphy. Front, l to r, Brett Halsey, Jack Kelly, Gregg Palmer and Paul Picerni."

Plus, here's an amazing video for U.S. Savings Bonds which opens with scenes from To Hell And Back (keep an eye peeled for JK):

TRIVIA: John McIntire, who appears in the bonds segment of the video with Murphy, also co-starred with JK in the feature film Sally and Saint Anne and in the 1963 Wagon Train episode "The Fenton Canaby Story". Actress Barbara Rush co-starred in Magnificent Obsession (1954) in which JK made an uncredited appearance and later acted alongside him in the 1972 Ironside episode "Cold Hard Cash". Barney Phillips, who is uncredited in the bonds video, acted with JK in the 1955 thriller The Night Holds Terror and in the 1956 film Julie starring Doris Day and Louis Jourdan.

"Thank you" to all veterans for your service to our country. :)