Shivers (1975): Canadian Grown Horror

( This blog post is part of the "O Canada" Blogathon hosted by Speakeasy and Silver Screenings)

Today David Cronenberg remains one of the most famous directors to emerge from Canada. He also remains one of the most controversial directors to emerge from Canada. In the late Seventies and early Eighties he was a pioneer, if not one of the inventors of body horror--a subgenre of horror in which horror is derived from the graphic alteration, degeneration, or destruction of the human body. And while David Cronenberg would eventually drift away from body horror, he would return to its themes from time to time, even late in his career.

As body horror can be extremely disturbing, especially in the hands of David Cronenberg, it should come as no surprise that some of his films would meet with controversy. This was true of such early films as Rabid (1977) and The Brood (1977). It was particularly true of his 1996 adaptation of J. G. Ballard's novel Crash, which met with such controversy that in the United Kingdom there were calls for its ban. The Westminster City Council of Westminster, London even went so far as to ban the film. As controversial as Crash was, it was perhaps not nearly as controversial as David Cronenberg's first commercially successful film. Shivers was originally titled The Parasite Murders in Canada and retitled They Came From Within in the United States. By any title it was a cause célèbre in Canada upon its initial release.

Shivers centred around the residents of Starliner Towers, an ultramodern, high-rise apartment situated outside Montreal. Unfortunately for the tenants of the high-rise, Dr. Emil Hobbes (played by Fred Doederlein) has been developing a form of sexually transmitted parasites that turn people into uncontrollable (and often violent) sex maniacs. As might be expected, the parasites are ultimately spread through the high-rise, resulting in a miniature, sexual apocalypse.

At the time that David Cronenberg directed Shivers, he was hardly new to filmmaking. As a student he directed two short films, "Transfer" (1966) and "From the Drain" (1967). He then directed two short, experimental, science fiction features that received little distribution beyond art houses in Canada: Stereo (1969)  and Crimes of the Future (1970). For the next few years he shot several short television documentaries for the CBC, as well as episodes of Canadian TV shows Programme X and Peep Show. It was during this period that David Cronenberg came up with the concept for Shivers. Unfortunately finding somewhere to pitch Shivers proved difficult, particularly given its concept. In the end he found a distributor in the form of Cinépix.

Founded in 1962 by John Dunning and Andre Link, at the time Cinépix produced primarily soft-core porn films. Despite this Cinépix liked David Cronenberg's treatment for what would become Shivers (the original title of the script was Orgy of the Blood Parasites). They submitted it to the Canadian Film Development Corporation (CFDC) in order to receive government funding. It took the CFDC three years to approve Orgy of the Blood Parasites for funding. It was then in September 1974 that it finally went into production. 

Shivers was shot on Nun's Island (an island located in the Saint Lawrence River in Montreal) with a shooting schedule of only fifteen days. It was made for only $185,000. The film's title would be changed before its release. Both Cinépix and David Cronenberg felt that Orgy of the Blood Parasites sounded too much like a Fifties movie. It was retitled The Parasite Murders for English speaking Canada and Frissons (literally "Chills" or, well, "Shivers") for Quebec.

The Parasite Murders was first shown at the film market of the Cannes Festival in May 1975.  There it drew several buyers for the European market. At the same time it also came to the attention of European critics. In August 1975 it was shown at the Edinburgh Film Festival. Unfortunately its reception there was chilly at best. In particular critic Robin Wood attacked the film in a review of the festival that appeared in Film Comment. Of The Parasite Murders he said, "Its derivation is from Invasion of the Body Snatchers via Night of the Living Dead, but the source of its intensity is quite distinct: all the horror is based on extreme sexual disgust." Robin Wood would remain one of David Cronenberg's fiercest detractors, attacking Shivers and Mr. Cronenberg's early films as "reactionary" in both The American Nightmare from 1979 and "Cronenberg: A Dissenting View" in the anthology The Shape of Rage: The Films of David Cronenberg.

As hostile as some of the reviews that emerged from the Edinburgh Film Festival might have been, they were nothing compared to the reception that The Parasite Murders would receive in David Cronenberg's native Canada. One month before its official release in Canada, a special preview was held for The Parasite Murders. The end result was one of the biggest controversies in the history of Canadian film. In an article with the sensational title "You Should Know How Bad This Film Is. After All, You Paid For It" in the September 1975 issue of the popular Canadian general interest magazine Saturday Night, Canadian journalist Robert Fulford, writing as "Marshall Delaney", attacked The Parasite Murders as "..the most repulsive movie I've ever seen." He further questioned how the CFDC could have financed such a film, writing, "If using public money to produce films like The Parasite Murders is the only way that English Canada can have a film industry, then perhaps English Canada should not have a film industry."

Robert Fulford would not be the only person to attack The Parasite Murders. Martin Knelman, film critic for Saturday Night, characterised the film as a cheap exploitation movie in the newspaper the Globe and Mail . In the Montreal Gazette film critic Dane Lanken also attacked the film. Extremely negative reviews of The Parasite Murders appeared in the film magazines Séquences and Motion.  The Parasite Murders was even denied a screening at the Canadian Film Awards.

While The Parasite Murders produced a negative, nearly visceral reaction in many Canadian film critics and journalists, the film did have its defenders. Film critic Natalie Edwards gave The Parasite Murders a positive review in Cinema Canada, beginning her rather humorous review with, "Well, I really have bad taste. I liked it." Cinema Canada also ran an article on David Cronenberg and The Parasite Murders by Stephen Chelsey. David Cronenberg's friend John Hofsess took up for the film in Maclean's.

Ultimately the furore over The Parasite Murders would prove so great that it would reach the House of Commons where there was a debate on whether the CFDC should have financed the film. Cinépix did not take the controversy lying down, and even went so far as to send a pamphlet entitled "Is There a Place for Horror Films in Canada's Film Industry" to every single member of Parliament.

The controversy over Shivers would have an immediate impact on David Cronenberg's career. After the publication of Robert Fulford's article in Saturday Night, David Cronenberg's landlord kicked him out of his apartment, citing a "morality clause" in his lease. For many years afterwards David Cronenberg found difficulty in finding financing for his films. In Canada his films would consistently open to negative reviews until the release of Videodrome in 1983.

Despite the controversy (or perhaps even because of it), The Parasite Murders performed very well at the box office in Canada. In fact, it was particularly successful in Ontario and Quebec (where, as mentioned earlier, it bore the title Frissons). Having only been made for $185,000, within a year it had made $5 million. This made it the most profitable Canadian feature film up to that time.

The Parasite Murders also performed well around the world. While nowhere else did the film produce the kind of controversy that it did in Canada, it was not always well received. Film critics in the United Kingdom were divided with regards to the movie, with some critics regarding it as "degrading" and others regarding it as "witty". The Parasite Murders was somewhat better received in Europe, where its reviews were more positive. Indeed, it won the award for best direction at the Festival Internacional de Cinema Fantàstic de Catalunya in Stiges, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain in October 1975.

Given its success in the French speaking parts of Canada, by June 1976 The Parasite Murders had been given a new title more in line with the French title Frissons: Shivers. When Shivers debuted in the United States it would bear yet another title--its distributor in the U.S., Trans American Films, retitled it They Came From Within. While in the United States the film would not cause the furore that it did in Canada, it would encounter some difficulties. In order to avoid receiving an "X" rating from the MPAA ratings board, twelve scenes had to be cut. Worse yet, it was often shown as part of a double bill with outright B-movies. As a result its reviews in the United States were often quite negative. A notable exception was Roger Ebert, film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, who said of the film, "It scares and shocks us because it's so cleverly made."

Treated as a B-movie in the United States, Shivers (or They Came From Within, if you prefer) did not receive particularly good distribution. Not surprisingly, in the United States it did not do the phenomenal business it had in Quebec. They Came From Within performed well in Chicago and New York City, but did not do as well outside of metropolitan areas.

In many respects it is easy to understand the controversy that Shivers evoked upon its release in Canada, particularly given its subject matter. The Parasite Murders (as it was titled then) was released only a little under seven years after Night of the Living Dead (1968), which became a similar cause célèbre in the United States. Of course, while the controversy over Night of the Living Dead centred on its content and the fact that young children could actually see the movie (the MPAA ratings system would not go into effect until a month after its release), the controversy over The Parasite Murders centred not only on its content, but the fact that it had been funded by the CFDC as well.

While Shivers remains disturbing even today, it seems possible that much of the controversy stemmed from the fact that in many ways Shivers was at odds with Canadian cinema as it was in 1975. Unlike many films made in Canada, there is no doubt that Shivers is a Canadian film. It is set in Canada. It was filmed in Canada. It was directed by a Canadian.  At the time, however, it must have seemed to some of its critics to be a very un-Canadian film. In 1975 Canada may have been best known for its documentaries of the sort produced by the National Film Board. In fact, the documentary genre known as Direct Cinema largely originated in Canada--to be specific in Quebec. With regards to narrative cinema, at the time Canada was producing a homegrown variety of the French Nouvelle Vague or the British kitchen sink cinema, films such as Goin' Down the Road (1970) and Mon Oncle Antoine (1971).  Shivers was most decidedly not kitchen sink realism or realism of any sort. It was a horror movie--a very sophisticated horror movie--but a horror movie nonetheless. And unlike the United States or the United Kingdom, horror was not part of the Canadian film tradition at the time.

Regardless of what was at the root of the controversy over Shivers, even today it is a very disturbing film. What many might find surprising for a film that stirred up such controversy is that very little is actually shown in Shivers. The viewer gets a few glimpses of the slug-like parasites, which can be transmitted sexually or through mouth to mouth, and can even travel though air ducts. The viewer glimpses some gore, but no more than in many prime time American police procedurals today. Even given the film's subject matter (normal humans turned into sex crazed zombies), there is very little sex to be seen. Rather than relying on gore that could produce at best a brief shock, with Shivers David Cronenberg relied more upon the power of suggestion to create a genuine sense of horror. In the end Shivers is then much more effective than many more graphic horror films.

Shivers may be all the more disturbing in that it isn't so much about sexual desires gone out of control as it is about attacking the upper middle class.  In the Sixties and the Seventies in both Canada and the United States there was very much a trend towards upscale, self-sufficient apartment complexes similar to Starliner Towers in the movie. Regardless of what tenants of such apartment complexes in the Seventies might have been like, in Shivers the residents of Starliner Towers are not very nice people even before they become infested with parasites. Starliner Towers is a regular Peyton Place, complete with secrets, deceit, adultery, and hypocrisy. In addition to being a horror movie, Shivers is then very much a black comedy that spoofs the upper middle class. Indeed, much of what might have upset its many critics is that Shivers can be interpreted as treating the infestation of the residents by the parasites as an act of liberation.

Ultimately the controversy over the CFDC having financed Shivers would have no lasting repercussions for the Canadian Film Development Corporation. In fact, the CFDC would continue to provide funding for David Cronenberg films, including Rabid (1977), The Brood (1979), and Scanners (1981). The CFDC would be renamed Telefilm Canada in the Eighties and continued to finance David Cronenberg movies, including the controversial Crash. The CFDC would go onto finance horror movies made by people other than David Cronenberg as well: Rituals (1977), Death Ship (1980), My Bloody Valentine (1981), Visiting Hours (1982), and yet others. If Robert Fulford had hoped that his article attacking Shivers in Saturday Night would stop the CFDC from financing horror movies, then he failed miserably.

In the end the controversy over Shivers would prove to have an enormous impact on David Cronenberg's career. While he would have some difficulty finding financing for his next few films, the controversy turned him into a household name in Canada for a time. Shivers proved to be the first commercially successful feature film for a director who is still making films forty years later. What is more, while many Canadian directors would eventually depart for Hollywood, David Cronenberg continued to make movies in Canada. In fact, his 2014 film Maps to the Stars marked the first time he ever filmed in the United States!

Upon its release in Canada Shivers was a source of controversy and a film that received extremely negative reviews. Upon its release in the United States Shivers was treated as little more than a B-movie and also received some extremely negative reviews. Despite those negative reviews over the years it has become a cult film. It has also become a much more respected film, particularly among fans of horror films.  It currently has a rating of 84% on the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes and a user rating of 6.6 on IMDB (which is fairly high for the site). Ultimately it was the film that started David Cronenberg's career. In its own small way it changed the history of Canadian film forever.

50 Years Since Buster Keaton's Death

I am not old enough to have known a world with Buster Keaton. Oh, I was alive when he died, but at two years and ten months of age I probably did not even know who he was. I would discover him when I got older and he became one of my favourite actors of all time. Charlie Chaplin might be more famous, but it is Buster Keaton who has always been my favourite silent comic actor and director.

Sadly, it was fifty years ago today that the great Buster Keaton died. He had been diagnosed with lung cancer that January, but was neither told that he had cancer nor that he was terminally ill. Mr. Keaton thought that he had a severe case of bronchitis. He spent his last few days in hospital. According to his widow he was up and about, and even played cards with friends the day before he died.

Buster Keaton was not forgotten following his death. If anything his reputation has only grown. In 1987 there was a television documentary, Buster Keaton: A Hard Act to Follow. In 1992 a fan club was founded, the  International Buster Keaton Society. In 1994 a caricature of Mr. Keaton by Al Hirschfeld, as well as other silent stars, graced a United States postage stamp. All eleven of his feature films have been released on DVD and Blu-Ray, and they are readily available on streaming media.

For my fellow fans of Buster Keaton, here is the post I wrote in honour of his 120th birthday. Below is a collection of his best stunts I found on YouTube.

Signe Toly Anderson Passes On

Signe Toly Anderson, the original female lead vocalist for Jefferson Airplane, died on January 28 2015. She had suffered bouts of cancer on an off since the Seventies. By a strange coincidence, she died the same day as fellow Jefferson Aiplane member Paul Kantner.

Signe Toly was born on September 15 1941 in Seattle, Washington. She grew up in Portland, Oregon, where she established herself as a respected folk and jazz singer. She moved to San Francisco and, following a performance there, was asked by Marty Balin to join Jefferson Airplane in 1965. She married Jerry Anderson of The Merry Pranksters, author Ken Kesney's group of individuals who promoted the use of psychedelic drugs.

Signe Toly Anderson sang on Jefferson Airplane's debut album, Jefferson Airplane Takes Off. It was three months after the album's release and the birth of her child that Mrs. Anderson decided to leave Jefferson Airplane, her reasoning being that she could not take her baby with her on tour. Her last shows with Jefferson Airplane took place on October 15 1966 at The Filmore in San Francisco. The shows would surface on bootlegs for years before being legitimately released by Sony as  as Jefferson Airplane: Live at The Fillmore Auditorium 10/15/66 Signe's Farewell in 2010.

After leaving Jefferson Airplane Signe Toly Anderson went home to Oregon. There she sang with the band Carl Smith and the Natural Gas Company for nine years. She experienced her first bout with cancer in the mid-Seventies. She made guest appearances with both the KBC Band and Jefferson Starship. Since the Nineties she had experienced a number of difficulties with her health.

Signe Toly Anderson was a remarkable vocalist. She was gifted with a rich contralto voice, one that blended well with Marty Balin and Paul Kantner's voices in harmony. She also played a significant role in the early days of Jefferson Airplane. Guitarist Jorma Kaukonen said of her, "Signe was one of the strongest people I have ever met. She was our den mother in the early days of the Airplane…a voice of reason on more occasions than one…an important member of our dysfunctional little family."

Paul Kantner R.I.P.

Paul Kantner, rhythm guitarist, songwriter, and the leader of Jefferson Airplane and later Jefferson Starship, died on January 28 2016 at the age of 74. The cause was multiple organ failure and septic shock following a heart attack he had a few days beforehand.

Paul Kantner was born on March 17 1941 in San Francisco, California. His mother died when he was only eight years old. He was initially educated by the Christian Brothers and then later a Jesuit school in Santa Clara, California. It was while he was attending Santa Clara University and later San Jose State College that he taught himself both guitar and banjo. He left school to begin performing on the San Francisco folk music circuit. It was when he was performing at The Drinking Gourd in San Francisco in 1965 that he met Marty Balin. Together they formed the band Jefferson Airplane. Its original line up consisted of lead vocalist Signe Toly Anderson, guitarist Jorma Kaukonen, drummer Jerry Peloquin, and bassist Bob Harvey.

As Jefferson Airplane made their name in the San Francisco area, there would be some changes. The group drifted away from their original folk rock sound to a more electric sound. Jerry Peloquin left the band to be replaced by Skip Spence and then Spencer Dryden. Bob Harvey was replaced by Jack Casady. Jefferson Airplane's first album, Jefferson Airplane Takes Off, was released on August 15 1966. The album only went to no. 128 on the Billboard albums chart. None of the singles hit the Billboard Hot 100.

Signe Toly Anderson left Jefferson Airplane following the birth of her first child and three months after the release of Jefferson Airplane Takes Off.  She was replaced by Grace Slick, whose earlier band, The Great Society, had often supported Jefferson Airplane. In fact, Jefferson Airplane's first two major hits were inherited from The Great Society. "Somebody to Love" had originally been recorded by The Great Society, but had little impact outside the Bay Area. Recorded by Jefferson Airplane, it went to no. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. "White Rabbit" had been performed by The Great Society, but had never been recorded. Jefferson Airplane's version went to no. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100. The band's second album, Surrealistic Pillow, went to no. 3 on the Billboard album chart.

Jefferson Airplane never saw another single with the success of "Somebody to Love" or "White Rabbit", although the band's albums continued to do well. From the late Sixties into the early Seventies, Jefferson Airplane's albums always made the top twenty of the Billboard album chart, with Crown of Creation reaching no. 6.

While still part of Jefferson Airplane, Paul Kantner did other work as well. In 1969 he played with fellow Airplane members Jorma Kaukonen and bassist Jack Casady's blues band Hot Tuna. In 1970 Paul Kantner and Grace Slick recorded the concept album Blows Against the Empire under the name "Paul Kantner and the Jefferson Starship". The album did very well, reaching no. 20 on the Billboard album chart. Paul Kantner and Grace Slick released two more albums together in the early Seventies: Sunfighter in 1971 and Baron von Tollbooth and the Chrome Nun  in 1973.

Jefferson Airplane was the only band to play at all three of the major music festivals of the late Sixties:  the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, as well as Woodstock and Altamont in 1969.  Unfortunately by the late Sixties tension had developed within the band. Spencer Dryden was voted out of the band in 1970. He was replaced by  Joey Covington. Marty Balin left the band in 1971 following the death of his friend Janis Joplin. While it was never formally announced, Jefferson Airplane more or less ceased to exist in late 1972 after  two shows at Winterland in San Francisco on September 21 and September 22.

It was in 1974 that Paul Kantner, Grace Slick, and David Freiberg (formerly of Quicksilver Messenger Service) formed Jefferson Starship, the band's name taken from the ad hoc group of musicians on Paul Kantner and Grace Slick's album Blows Against the Empire. While Marty Balin contributed the song "Caroline" to the band's first album, Dragon Fly, he would not formally join the band until early 1975. Jefferson Starship proved very successful in the Seventies. Their debut album went to no. 11 on the Billboard album chart. Their second album, Red Octopus, went to no. 1. Their third album Earth and their fourth album  Freedom at Point Zero went to no. 5 and 11 respectively. The band also saw some success with their singles, with "Miracles" going to no. 3 and other singles reaching the top ten.

The band would see some changes over time. Grace Slick was forced to resign from the band in 1978, while Marty Balin left in 1978. Grace Slick returned to the band in 1981. While all of this was taking place Jefferson Starship began to move away from the progressive rock and psychedelia of earlier albums towards a more commercial sound. At the same time their albums did not perform as well. Modern Times and Winds of Change only peaked at no. 26, while Nuclear Furniture only peaked at no. 28.

Paul Kantner eventually came to the conclusion that the band had become too commercial and left Jefferson Starship in 1984. At the same time he took legal action to prevent the band from continuing to use the names "Jefferson Starship" or "Jefferson Airplane".  Paul Kantner won the suit and as a result the band had to continue under the name "Starship".

In 1983 Mr. Kantner released his last solo album Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra. Paul Kantner then formed the KBC Band with Marty Balin and Jack Casady. The KBC Band released only one eponymous album in 1986. From 1987 to 1988 he played with Hot Tuna.

In 1989 Jefferson Airplane reunited for a tour and a new, self-titled album. While the tour did well, the album was only a moderate success. It was in 1992 that Paul Kantner formed Jefferson Starship--the Next Generation, known informally as "Jefferson Starship". Both Jack Casady and  Marty Balin would be members of the new band. This new version of Jefferson Starship would release two albums:  Windows of Heaven in 1998 and Jefferson's Tree of Liberty in 2008.

As the leader of both Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship, Paul Kantner had an enormous impact on rock music. He wrote a number of songs for both bands, some of which number among their best known: "The Ballad of You and Me and Pooneil", "Crown of Creation", "Volunteers", and "Ride the Tiger". He played a large role in Jefferson Airplane's move to psychedelia in the late Sixties and later he was responsible for the progressive sound of Jefferson Starship.  Indeed, it is probably no coincidence that Starship sounded considerably different from Jefferson Starship, let alone Jefferson Airplane. Indeed, following Paul Kantner's death Mickey Hart of The Grateful Dead said of him,, "He was kind of the backbone of that band. It was always about Grace and Jack and Jorma, I don’t think he got the credit he deserved."

The 60th Anniversary of Elvis Presley's National Television Debut

It was sixty years ago tonight, on January 28 1956, that Elvis Presley made his debut on national broadcast network television. It was on the variety show Stage Show hosted by big band leaders Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey. It aired on CBS at 8:00 Eastern/7:00 Central on Saturday night. Elvis Presley was introduced by disc jockey Bill Randle of Cleveland, Ohio. He performed three songs: "Shake, Rattle and Roll", "Flip, Flop and Fly" and "I Got a Woman".

This was not Elvis Presley's last appearance on Stage Show. He appeared five more times: on February 4 1956, February 11 1956, February 18 1956, March 17 1956, and March 24 1956. On the February 11, March 17, and March 24 editions of Stage Show he performed his hit "Heartbreak Hotel". The song had been released only the day before Elvis's historic first appearance on Stage Show, on January 27 1956.

Without further ado, here is Elvis Presley's first appearance on national broadcast network television.



19560128 - Elvis Presley - Dorsey Brothers... by ladcrp

The Late Great Abe Vigoda

Abe Vigoda, best known for playing Detective Phil Fish on the classic TV sitcom Barney Miller and who also appeared in the movie The Godfather as gangster Salvatore Tessio, died on January 26 2016 at the age of 94.

Abe Vigoda was born on February 24 1921 in Brooklyn, New York. His parents (Samuel Vigoda, who was a tailor, and the former Lena Moses) were Jewish immigrants from Russia. Abe had two brothers, Hy and Bill. Bill Vigoda would become famous in his own right as a comic book artist who worked for Archie Comics for literally decades.

Abe Vigoda began acting while in his teens, working with the American Theatre Wing. He turned professional in 1947 and appeared frequently on stage for the next two decades. In 1949 he made his television debut in an episode of the classic anthology series Suspense. In 1949 he also appeared in an episode of Studio One. In 1951 he appeared in an episode of All-Star Revue.

The Sixties saw Abe Vigoda very busy on stage. He appeared in the off Broadway productions Shadow of Heroes, The Cherry Orchard, A Darker Flower, and The Cat and the Canary. He made his Broadway debut in 1967 in The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade. He went on to appear in the productions The Man in the Glass Booth and Inquest. On television he appeared in three episodes of the Gothic horror soap opera Dark Shadows. He made his film debut in Trois chambres à Manhattan in 1965.

The Seventies saw Abe Vigoda become a household name. It was in 1972 that he appeared as Tessio in The Godfather. He reprised the part in The Godfather: Part II (1974). During the decade he also appeared in the films The Don Is Dead (1973), Newman's Law (1974),  and The Cheap Detective (1978). It was in 1974 that he first appeared in his best known role, that of Phil Fish on Barney Miller Fish proved to be one of the most popular characters on the show, if not the most popular. The character was eventually spun off into his own short lived series, Fish. On television in the Seventies Abe Vigoda also appeared on the shows Mannix; Love, American Style; The Rookies; Toma; Hawaii Five-O; Kojak; Cannon; The Bionic Woman; Vega$; The Rockford Files; The Love Boat; and Fantasy Island. He appeared on Broadway in Tough to Get Help in 1972.

In the Eighties Mr. Vigoda had recurring roles on the soap operas As the World Turns and Santa Bararba. He appeared on the shows Harper Valley P.T.A., Mike Hammer, Tales from the Darkside, Superboy, B. L. Stryker, Monsters, and MacGyver. He appeared in the films Cannonball Run II (1984), The Stuff (1985), Vasectomy: A Delicate Matter (1986), Plain Clothes (1987), Look Who's Talking (1989), Prancer (1989), Keaton's Cop (1990), and Joe Versus the Volcano (1990). He appeared on Broadway as Jonathan Brewster in a revival of Arsenic and Old Lace.

In the Nineties Mr. Vigoda appeared in the films Fist of Honour (1993), Me and the Kid (1993), Home of Angels (1994), The Misery Brothers (1995), Jury Duty (1995), Underworld (1996), Love Is All There Is (1996), Me and the Gods (1997), Good Burger (1997), A Brooklyn State of Mind (1998), Just the Ticket (1999), and Chump Change (2000). He provided the voice of  Salvatore Valestra in the animated feature Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993).  He guest starred on the shows Murder, She Wrote; Diagnosis Murder; Law & Order; Weird Science; Wings; Touched by an Angel; Promised Land; Mad About You; and Norm.

From the Naughts into the Teens he guest starred on the show Deadline and was a guest voice on High School USA!. He appeared in the films Crime Spree (2003), Frankie the Squirrel (2007), and Sweet Destiny (2014).

Curiously for a very prolific actor who was almost never absent from TV or movie screens from 1972 to 2001, Abe Vigoda was frequently plagued by reports of his death. It all began in 1982 when People magazine made the mistake of referring to him as "the late Abe Vigoda". While People corrected the error, the mistake persisted both among various media outlets and in the minds of ordinary people. In 1987 a reporter for WWOR in Secaucus, New Jersey made the same mistake. She corrected it the very next day. Abe Vigoda took the death rumours all in stride, even having a bit of fun with them once in a while. In a famous skit from The Late Show with David Letterman, David Letterman tried to summon the ghost of Abe Vigoda, only to have the very much living Abe Vigoda show up and tell him, "I’m not dead yet, you pinhead." On Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Conan O'Brien consistently used Abe Vigoda in skits just to discredit the rumours of his death.

Abe Vigoda will probably always be bet remembered as Phil Fish from Barney Miller and Fish. The elderly, grumpy, laconic detective was perhaps the most popular character on Barney Miller and quite possibly one of the most popular characters of all time. Much of this is perhaps because Mr. Vigoda played the role perfectly. Even though he was only 53 when he first played Fish, Abe Vigoda was entirely convincing as a character who was apparently much older.

Of course, while Abe Vigoda may always be most famous as Fish, he played a number of different roles in his career. He was an extremely versatile actor. Including the cunning yet earnest Tessio from The Godfather he played a number of mobsters in the Seventies. Despite some of his rather gritty roles in Seventies movies and films, Abe Vigoda was also very adept at comedy. He played an elderly fast food worker in Good Burger and grandfatherly figures in yet other comedies (such as Look Who's Talking and North). On stage he played murderous brother Thomas Brewster in Arsenic and Old Lace. Abe Vigoda was a wonderful actor who played every part he was ever given very well.

The 90th Anniversary of John Logie Baird's 1st Public Television Demonstration

It was 90 years ago today, on January 26 1926,that the first public demonstration of live television took place. It was held at the laboratory of Scottish scientist John Logie Baird at 22 Frith Street in Soho, London. Mr. Baird had developed the first mechanical television, a device through which video could be generated by means of a rotating mechanism. The demonstration was held before members of the Royal Institution and a reporter from The Times.

John Logie Baird's demonstration was simple. It was a transmission of the face of Mr. Baird's business partner Oliver Hutchinson. At the time Oliver Hutchinson was in an entirely different room. The picture was small, only 3.5 by 2 inches. The image was also often blurry and faint. That having been said, the demonstration proved that John Logie Baird had achieved something that had never been done before--the transmission of image and sound at a distance. Television was born.

John Logie Baird continued to work on his mechanical television after this initial demonstration. In 1927 he transmitted an image through the telephone line from London to Glasgow, some 438 miles. After founding the Baird Television Development Company Ltd he made the first television transmission across the Atlantic, from London to  Hartsdale, New York. That same year he made the first colour television transmission.

Mr. Baird was responsible for the BBC's first television programme ever. In fact, from 1929 to 1937 the BBC relied upon John Logie Baird's 30 line system. In 1929 he introduced the first mass produced television set. With  Bernard Natan he founded France's first television company,  Télévision-Baird-Natan, in 1929. In 1939 he made the first live broadcast of the Epsom Derby.

Unfortunately John Logie Baird's mechanical television would soon become obsolete. The Thirties saw the development of electronic television. Mr. Baird's mechanical system had more limited range than electronic television, and tended to be less practical as well. After a trial run in 1936 the BBC then decided to go with Marconi-EMI's electronic system over John Logie Baird's mechanical one in 1937.

Despite this John Logie Baird did not leave the field of television. In 1939 he demonstrated colour television utilising a spinning disc similar to the system later developed by American broadcaster CBS. In 1944 he gave the first ever demonstration of a fully electronic colour television system.

Sadly John Logie Baird died relatively young, before he could make any more advances in the field of television. He died on  June 14th 1946 after suffering a stroke. Mr. Baird was only 57 years old.

While the mechanical television that John Logie Baird demonstrated ninety years ago today would eventually fall out of favour, that demonstration was still a pivotal moment in the history of television. It proved that the transmission of images and sounds was possible. As a result it paved the way for the electronic, analogue television that would dominate the medium in the 20th Century, as well as our digital systems today.