We’ve been doing some renovations at the library, which means that everything is in a different place than it used to be.  In fact, as of this writing, I've just recently relocated back to my office.  I had spent a couple of weeks hanging out in a different office, seated in a corner that was designed for one staff member but was temporarily housing three.  Fortunately for all involved, the two others I was sitting with were friends of mine, so it wasn't quite so bad.  In fact, I rather enjoyed their company.

We decided to follow suit and work on some renovations in the Vault.  You know…ordinary stuff, patching up crumbling bits of wall, scrubbing blood out of the grout, installing new carpeting in the gift shop.  But, of course, there are always going to be problems.  We recently had a population of Mole People tunnel up into one of the lower dungeons, which meant that we had to find a place to accommodate them.  And it also meant that we had to close off that dungeon and some of the floors above it, since their digging had made the ground unstable.  Beaumont has been running around with a clipboard, inspecting all areas of the Vault (a monumental task in and of itself!) to make sure that everything is functional. 

The hardest part has been relocating our fiends as we move through the Vault.  The Frankenstein Monster has been moved into my office, which was not that big to begin with.  You can only imagine how much space his charging station takes up!    This means that my assistant Beaumont and I are sharing a desk, which has been less than pleasant, as we’re constantly bumping elbows and drinking from each other’s coffee cups by mistake.  (This is especially gross considering how much creamer he uses!)

In situations like this, it's important to take a step back and remember that there is much to be thankful for, even in less than ideal circumstances.  And I certainly am grateful.  I work with some awesome people, both here at the library and in the Vault, and of course, I have you wonderful fiends to enjoy movies with every month.  I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and I can't wait to see you at our next meeting!

At our last meeting, we watched The Mole People (1956).  For those of you who missed the meeting, let me tell you a little about the film.  In this chiller, a group of archaeologists discover the remains of a lost Sumerian civilization.  The people there live underground, unaware of the world above, and highly sensitive to the light.  Will our heroes be able to return to the surface with news of their incredible discovery?  Or will they remain forever in the darkness under the earth’s crust?  You’ll have to check out this film yourself to find out!

I wanted to start this off by apologizing for a little joke that I had made.  Before the film started, I had warned everyone that this film started with a scene that was horribly intense.  And…it was not.  In fact, the opening to The Mole People is a really strange one, in that it’s really…well, slow, I guess would be the best word for it.  A professor in a spacious office talks for about five minutes straight about the concept of a hollow earth.  And while I personally find it really interesting, it’s also a weird start to a film and a bit of a slog.  So, since most of you hadn't seen the film before, I decided to have a little fun with it, haha.  I regret nothing.

We had 15 fiends tune in for the program and I was happy to hear that many of you had a very nice Halloween.  Even though the meeting was about a week afterwards, the holiday felt like it was months before.  How strange!  I hope you all had a fun time, perhaps a chance to dress up, and that you ate a lot of candy (I certainly did!)

Special thanks to Dawn this month for bringing us Oreos!  I’m embarrassed to admit that I ate a lot of them, but I regret nothing.  Oreos are delicious (and Halloween Oreos with orange cream are even better!)

We had ten familiar faces in this month's film!  Starting from the top, we have John Agar, who played the lead archeologist, Dr. Bentley.  John also appeared in Revenge of the Creature (September 2017) as Dr. Ferguson.  His fellow archeologist was Nestor Paiva, who was Captain Lucas in The Creature from the Black Lagoon (January 2017) and Revenge of the Creature. 

[John Agar and Nestor Paiva, images courtesy of IMDB.com]

Our villainous high priest, Elinu, was Alan Napier.  While he's best remembered as Alfred the butler in the 1960s Batman series, Alan has also been seen in our films as the art critic F. Holmes Harmon in House of Horrors (July 2017), Count Grassin in The Strange Door (February 2018), and Dr. Scott in The Uninvited (August 2015).  Rodd Redwing was the explorer, Nazar.  Rodd is another Creature from the Black Lagoon alumni, appearing in the role of Luis.  And credited as "First Officer" is Robin Hughes.  This is the Sumerian guard who gets the light shined in his face pretty early on in the film.  Robin had a big role in one of my favorite titles, The Thing that Couldn't Die, playing the disembodied head of the devil-worshiping Gideon Drew.

[Alan Napier, Rodd Redwing, and Robin Hughes, images courtesy of IMDB.com]

Our next three fiends were all uncredited Mole People.  First up is Bob Herron, who was previously seen in The Monolith Monsters (March 2022) as a stuntman.  Bob Hoy was in Revenge of the Creature, both as Charlie and as a stuntman.  And finally, Eddie Parker was a stuntman in several of our films, but highlights include doubling for Karloff's Mr. Hyde in Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (September 2024) and playing the role of the mummy, Klaris, in Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (September 2022).

[Bob Herron, Bob Hoy, and Eddie Parker, images courtesy of IMDB.com]

Every year in the Vault, we put together a big Thanksgiving celebration in the Vault's largest ballrooms.  And every year, I regale the readers of Notes from the Vault with stories of those meals.  This year, it's going to be a little different, however.  Instead of our usual assemblies around the table, sharing what we're most thankful for, I found our circumstances to be a little different.  You see, every year, for all those who get to sit around and eat until our buttons burst, there are others who are either assigned or volunteered to work in the Vault's kitchens and prepare the meal for the rest.  And this year, my zombie assistant Beaumont and I realized it was our turn.

Our kitchen organizer this year was Mrs. Lovett, who quickly got to work passing out aprons and assigning everyone working stations.  Just after midnight, we were all called in to roll silverware while the Frankenstein Monster and Butcher Benton set up the tables and chairs.  After that we set the tables and returned to the kitchen to start cooking.  Since no one seemed to trust my culinary skills, I was assigned to putting brown-and-serve rolls onto the big metal baking sheets and placing them in the oven.  And when it was time to serve, I was assigned to the team that was plating the meals.  We worked this sort of like an assembly, with groups of three tackling each stage of the process.  Count Dracula, Dr. Mark Steele, and Beaumont were in charge of plating turkey and stuffing; Felix Gillie, Herman Gleib, Dr. Gustav Niemann were tasked with mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and green bean casserole; and the Phantom of the Opera, Winnie Slade, and I were on hand for cranberry sauce, dinner rolls, and slices of pumpkin pie.  These were then passed along to the next station where Gort would balance several plates on his huge arms and Saul and Morgan would distribute them to the assembled guests.

I'll be honest, I've not worked this side of the event before.  Partly because as the leader of the Vault, I feel it's my job to be social, but partly, too, because I don't enjoy cooking, especially not on a grand scale.  But, adding a scoop of homemade cranberry sauce and a roll onto a plate was about as easy as it gets, so it wasn't all bad.  It was an interesting experience in more ways than one.  For starters, I got to see a bit of how the sausage was made (not literally--we had turkey, not sausage), but it was fun to learn some basic cooking techniques.  Because it got blamed hot in there, we'd sometimes have to open the back door to let in some of the cooler air.  Imagine my surprise when it was my turn to cool things down and I found four or five wolf-men and the Creature from the Black Lagoon crowded around the exit, giving me their best attempt at "puppy dog eyes".  No, we did not feed them anything extra.  They had to wait for their plates like everyone else.

When all was said and done, all the plates were distributed, and everyone settling down to their repast, then our group got the chance to settle down as well.  We didn't have enough chairs in the kitchen, so we sat on the floor.  We were all so tired that we barely spoke, but all in all, I was grateful for a job well done.  And the comments that filed in afterwards were very gratifying: Hey, someone burned all the brown-and-serve rolls!

*Who's who?  Beaumont (White Zombie); Mrs. Lovett (Demon Barber of Fleet Street); Butcher Benton (Indestructible Man); Dr. Mark Steele (Calling Dr. Death); Felix Gillie (Comedy of Terrors); Herman Gleib (Vampire Bat); Dr. Gustav Niemann (House of Frankenstein); Winnie Slade (The Boogie Man Will Get You)

Thank you for joining us for another piece of classic horror!  I look forward to seeing you all next time.  In our next film, a young woman's fiancé breaks off their engagement after receiving a mysterious inheritance.  When she goes to investigate, she finds him strangely changed.  What could possibly account for these strange circumstances?  You'll have to join us to find out!