The 4:30 Movie

By Joe Cascio

Picture the scene…an unhappy housewife tempted by the excitement of having an affair with a successful doctor right under her husband’s nose. Throw in a variety of marital problems, unwanted pregnancies out of wedlock and rich tycoons conducting shady business dealings in their struggle for power and you have the general plotlines (and tedium) of ABC’s soap opera, “The Edge of Night.” However, anyone living in the New York City/Long Island area during the heyday of the 70s (i.e. BEFORE home video for you youngsters who cannot imagine a time without VHS and DVD) will remember with great affection waiting for the seemingly NEVER ending soap to conclude at 4:30 p.m. At 4:30, Channel 7 suddenly came alive with an animated cameraman circling around and as the lens of the camera turned to the audience, a sea of yellow number 7’s blared directly into the camera. All this was topped off with a fast, catchy, and epic sounding theme. For those of that generation, you are probably humming a few bars of that tune right about now…yes folks, it was New York’s ONE and ONLY…THE 4:30 MOVIE!!!!!

THE 4:30 MOVIE was a staple of Channel 7’s (New York’s local ABC affiliate) afternoon lineup. For us kids growing up in the 70s and early 80s, THE 4:30 MOVIE provided several genre “theme” weeks which lured us away from the millionth rerun of “Woody Woodpecker” and “The Flintstones” on Channel 5. Believe me, when THE 4:30 MOVIE ran such sci-fi/horror weeks as the Japanese “Monster Week,” “Vincent Price/Edgar Allan Poe Week,” “Planet of the Apes Week” and “Ray Harryhausen Week,” there were NO other channels in my house from 4:30 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. Even though Channel 7 did not have its own weekly horror/sci-fi theater as several other New York City stations did (i.e. WPIX’s “Chiller Theater” and WOR’s “Fright Night”), they did provide enough genre oriented flicks on THE 4:30 MOVIE to truly indoctrinate my young mind full throttle into the world of science fiction and horror movies.

THE 4:30 MOVIE began on Channel 7 on Monday, January 8, 1968. The first film shown was Columbia Pictures’ STRANGERS WHEN WE MEET with Kirk Douglas and Kim Novak. The rest of the week consisted of such 20th Century-Fox classics as THE COMMENCHEROS with John Wayne and AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER with Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr. In 1968 and 1969, THE 4:30 MOVIE was broadcast from 4:30 p.m. until 6:30 p.m. The hour and a half format began in early 1970. From early 1969 through April 2, 1971, the cult classic, “Dark Shadows,” was broadcast on Channel 7 at 4:00 p.m. followed by THE 4:30 MOVIE. Now THAT was a REAL soap opera (but we’ll save that for another article).

The EARLIEST genre theme week seems to have been in the last week of July 1969. This week featured JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH (Monday), MOTHRA (Tuesday), MYSTERIOUS ISLAND (Wednesday), THE GIANT OF METROPOLIS (Thursday), and THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (Friday). The movie was still in its two-hour format so the films (with the probable exception of JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH) would not have been edited for time. As the format eventually switched to 90 minutes, the films would undergo a massive editing job. One particular title, which stands out in my memory, is FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD. This 1965 Toho/AIP release was a virtual staple of the “monster weeks,” but looking back on it now, it was really edited down to fit into a 90-minute time slot. For example, one Channel 7 broadcast of this film in May 1978 actually edited out the ENTIRE bombing of Hiroshima and the shipping of Frankenstein’s heart from Germany to Japan. It began with the opening AIP credits and Akira Ifukube’s eerie theme and then jumped into the introduction of Nick Adams’ Dr. Bowen character. In the uncut print, he appears about seven or eight minutes into the film. However, by editing this part out of the film, the origins of the monster and the introduction to its heart steadily beating are obscured. Further cuts included Baragon’s attack on the village (with that fake looking horse) and the attempt to get Frankenstein out of an abandoned tunnel. All in all, about 15 to 18 minutes were cut to fit it into a 90-minute time slot.

ATTACK OF THE MONSTERS and YONGARY–MONSTER FROM THE DEEP were also heavily cut for time. In ATTACK OF THE GIANT MONSTERS, there were TWO edited versions and Channel 7 would alternate with each showing. One version cut the entire flashback scene (with scenes from Gamera’s three previous films) while the other version left that scene intact but cut the introduction of the two spacewomen to the two young boys. When the commercial was over, the boys seemed to already know the girls. YONGARY–MONSTER FROM THE DEEP had the entire scene of the astronaut investigating the origins of the mysterious earthquakes cut. The film jumped cut from the little boy playing with the toy robots directly to the scene where the government officials are about to warn the public about the impending earthquake. All in all, about 15 minutes were cut. Irwin Allen’s THE LOST WORLD was also heavily edited and one time (in 1981), the ENTIRE scene in which the alligator battles the iguana was cut.

NOT all films were heavily edited. Some of the longer ones were shown over a period of two or three days (the exception being films like BEN-HUR which Channel 7 showed over a period of a FULL week). These multi-part films would run on the first day and about two minutes before the close of part one, the station would put an “END OF PART I” legend over the screen. The next day, the opening credits would roll while a station announcer would tell the viewer what important plot points occurred the day before. Then the film would jump to about 15 minutes BEFORE the spot where it closed the day before and that would fill up the rest of the time slot. Many big-budgeted titles (MOSTLY from the vaults of 20th Century-Fox) like THE ROBE, PEYTON PLACE, RETURN TO PEYTON PLACE, THE EGYPTIAN and NORTH TO ALASKA would be shown each year on THE 4:30 MOVIE in this two-part manner. The only genre films to be shown this way were JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH, FANTASTIC VOYAGE, BATMAN (the original 1966 film), the Bette Davis classic, HUSH…HUSH, SWEET CHARLOTTE, MAROONED, George Pal’s THE POWER and the original PLANET OF THE APES.

And speaking of PLANET OF THE APES… The annual 4:30 movie showings of “Planet of the Apes Week” were highly anticipated and reportedly did VERY well ratings-wise when they were broadcast each year from May 1977 through September 1981. However, it was impossible to show all five films in one week because of the two-part presentation of the first film. There would only be room to show BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES, ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET OF THE APES and CONQUEST OF THE PLANET OF THE APES. Each of these sequels were presented in highly edited form (for time, but also for some screen violence). When Channel 7 acquired the television rights to BATTLE FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES in 1978, it usually was shown as part of a “Sci-Fi Week” which would usually consist of THE OMEGA MAN, SOYLENT GREEN, and the TV movies, EARTH II and GENESIS II.

The late, great Vincent Price also did quite well on THE 4:30 MOVIE. Since Channel 7 owned almost all the post 1960 American International Pictures library, his Edgar Allan POE films always got their own annual week. My first introduction to Mr. Price and these AIP/POE films came during the week of March 4th through March 7th, 1976. This week, viewers were treated to: MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH (which was pre-empted that Monday at the last minute because of a sporting event), THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM (Tuesday), THE OBLONG BOX (Wednesday), TOMB OF LIGEIA (Thursday), and THE CONQUEROR WORM (Friday). At about the same time in 1977, I got to see MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH when it played on another “Edgar Allan POE Week.” The rest of the week consisted of THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM (Monday), THE OBLONG BOX (Tuesday), TOMB OF LIGEIA (Thursday). MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH was the Friday feature. If you’re wondering why Wednesday did not feature a film, it was because the ABC AFTERSCHOOL SPECIAL. One Wednesday each month, the children oriented special would be shown and THE 4:30 MOVIE would be pre-empted.

Ray Harryhausen’s classic fantasy films for Columbia Pictures also got a terrific run on THE 4:30 MOVIE. Usually, his films would play during the Christmas holiday season and during the summer when young people were off from school and could enjoy them. One example would be the week of December 25th through December 29th, 1978. During this run, we had a variety of fantasy/comedy films like JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS (Monday/Christmas Day), SNOW WHITE AND THE THREE STOOGES (Tuesday), STOP LOOK AND LAUGH (Wednesday), THE SEVENTH VOYAGE OF SINBAD (Thursday) and THE MOUSE THAT ROARED (Friday). In July 1979, more Harryhausen films were part of a variety of children oriented films for a week: JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS (Monday). THE INCREDIBLE MR. LIMPET (with Don Knotts-Tuesday), THE GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD (Wednesday), THE MAN CALLED FLINTSTONE (Thursday), and THE THREE WORLDS OF GULLIVER (Friday). Mr. Harryhausen’s MYSTERIOUS ISLAND got an excellent run throughout the history of THE 4:30 MOVIE as well. Usually, it was broadcast annually as a “Lost World Week” with part one and two of JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH, Irwin Allen’s THE LOST WORLD and DINOSAURUS! One memory I have was for a week in January 1975 in which we were treated to…WAR-GODS OF THE DEEP (Monday), MYSTERIOUS ISLAND (Tuesday), THE LOST WORLD (Wednesday) and JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH (part one-Thursday and part two-Friday).

Of all the genre weeks that THE 4:30 MOVIE broadcast, NONE were as highly anticipated each year as the Japanese “Monster Week” flicks. These films would guarantee that my homework would be done by 4:30 and that my entire collection of Aurora monster models (Frankenstein, Dracula, Wolfman, The Phantom of the Opera, King Kong, The Mummy and Godzilla) would be scattered on the living room floor along with Matchbox cars and little H.O. scale buildings (which would serve quite well as “little” Tokyo). Scenes of mass destruction on the television set would be mimicked by me right in my own living room with my model Frankenstein battling my model Godzilla (who was an ideal substitute for Baragon) when FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD was broadcast.

“Monster Week” goes as far back as June 1971 in which a whole spectacular week devoted to…GODZILLA VS. THE THING (Monday), REPTILICUS (Tuesday), WAR OF THE MONSTERS (Wednesday), THE X FROM OUTER SPACE (Thursday) and MONSTER FROM A PREHISTORIC PLANET (Friday). WOW!!!! What a show, but this was only the beginning!!!! Starting in January, 1974, Channel 7 would broadcast a “Monster Week” at least once a year right through July, 1981. Some of these weeks consisted of…

January 7th through January 11th, 1974
RETURN OF THE GIANT MONSTERS (Monday)
GODZILLA VS. THE THING (Tuesday)
MONSTER FROM A PREHISTORIC PLANET (Wednesday)
FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD (Thursday)
WAR OF THE MONSTERS (Friday)

March 3rd through March 7th, 1975
FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD (Monday)
RETURN OF THE GIANT MONSTERS (Tuesday)
WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE (Wednesday)
VOYAGE TO A PREHISTORIC PLANET (Thursday)
CONQUEST OF SPACE (Friday)

November 3rd through November 7th, 1975
ATTACK OF THE MONSTERS (Monday)
VOYAGE INTO SPACE (Tuesday)
YONGARY–MONSTER FROM THE DEEP (Wednesday)
DESTROY ALL PLANETS (Thursday)
DAGORA, THE SPACE MONSTER (Friday)

November 15th through November 19th, 1976
YONGARY–MONSTER FROM THE DEEP (Monday)
MONSTER FROM A PREHISTORIC PLANET (Tuesday)
THE X FROM OUTER SPACE (Wednesday)
DAGORA, THE SPACE MONSTER (Thursday)
ATTACK OF THE MONSTERS (Friday)

July 20th through July 24th, 1977
FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD (Monday)
DESTROY ALL PLANETS (Tuesday)
VOYAGE INTO SPACE (Wednesday)
DINOSAURUS! (Thursday)
THE BLOB (Friday)

November 14th through November 18th, 1977
ATTACK OF THE MONSTERS (Monday)
DAGORA, THE SPACE MONSTER (Tuesday)
NO FILM ON WEDNESDAY (ABC AFTERSCHOOL SPECIAL)
YONGARY–MONSTER FROM THE DEEP (Thursday)
MONSTER FROM A PREHISTORIC PLANET (Friday)

May 1st through May 5th, 1978
TERROR OF MECHAGODZILLA (Monday)
YONGARY–MONSTER FROM THE DEEP (Tuesday)
NO FILM ON WEDNESDAY (ABC AFTERSCHOOL SPECIAL)
ATTACK OF THE MONSTERS (Thursday)
DAGORA, THE SPACE MONSTER (Friday)

February 26th through March 2, 1979
THE GREEN SLIME (Monday)
THE CREEPING FLESH (Tuesday)
THE BLOB (Wednesday)
VOYAGE INTO SPACE (Thursday)
DESTROY ALL PLANETS (Friday)

November 19th through November 22nd, 1979
TERROR OF MECHAGODZILLA (Monday)
MONSTER FROM A PREHISTORIC PLANET (Tuesday)
YONGARY–MONSTER FROM THE DEEP (Wednesday)
VOYAGE INTO SPACE (Thursday)
NO FILM ON FRIDAY–COLLEGE FOOTBALL GAMES

July 28th through August 1st, 1980
MOTHRA (Monday)
DAGORA, THE SPACE MONSTER (Tuesday)
TERROR OF MECHAGODZILLA (Wednesday)
DINOSAURUS! (Thursday)
ATTACK OF THE MONSTERS (Friday)

July 6th through July 10th, 1981
ATTACK OF THE MONSTERS (Monday)
YONGARY–MONSTER FROM THE DEEP (Tuesday)
MONSTER FROM A PREHISTORIC PLANET (Wednesday)
TERROR OF MECHAGODZILLA (Thursday)
MOTHRA (Friday)

Looking back at these weeks, I think it is plain to see why anyone who loves the genre could not wait to rush home from school and be transported into a world of fantasy and imagination.

By the late 70s and early 80s, Channel 7 began losing the rights to many of the genre films which were staples on THE 4:30 MOVIE. Films like THE FLY and RETURN OF THE FLY were picked up by WOR-TV (Channel 9) and GODZILLA VS. THE THING and WAR OF THE MONSTERS were picked up by WPIX-TV (Channel 11). In fact, BOTH of these films played on WPIX’s CHILLER THEATER. The Vincent Price/Edgar Allan POE films were picked up by WNEW-TV (Channel 5–now the FOX Network) in 1985 as were the “Planet of the Apes” films picked up by the same station in the same year. However, Channel 7 did acquire many later AIP films in the late 70s and early 80s, and several of these did appear on THE 4:30 MOVIE in its last years. Take a look at these weeks…

October 1979
EMPIRE OF THE ANTS (Monday)
FROGS (Tuesday)
FOOD OF THE GODS (Thursday)
THE DEADLY BEES (Friday)

October 6th through October 10th, 1981
THE PEOPLE THAT TIME FORGOT (Monday)
NO FILM ON TUESDAY (MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL PLAYOFFS)
THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT
NO FILM ON THURSDAY (MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL PLAYOFFS)
AT THE EARTH’S CORE (Friday)

On Thursday, November 26th, 1981 (Thanksgiving Day), an era in local New York television programming came to an end. In honor of the holiday, Channel 7 showed MGM’s big budget epic, THE PLYMOUTH ADVENTURE with Spencer Tracy, Gene Tierney and Dawn (THE VAMPIRE LOVERS) Addams. It was also to be the last broadcast of THE 4:30 MOVIE because on Friday, November 27th, ABC broadcast holiday college football games. Beginning on Monday, November 30th, 1981, “Eyewitness News,” which had always started at 6:00 p.m., expanded in order to begin at 5:00 p.m. “The People’s Court” now occupied THE 4:30 MOVIE’s old time slot. The cancellation of THE 4:30 MOVIE was perhaps inevitable. The world was now moving rapidly into the CNN news age as well as the VCR era. By 1983, nearly every home had an affordable VCR as part of the furnishings. Television stations now began to see less and less profit and lower ratings in showing films. Too many people could now tape a film and watch it wherever and whenever they wanted and they would not have to wait for a television station to show their favorite film. By the mid to late 80s, infomercials, “trash television” talk shows, and a plethora of all news networks were the norm while older films began popping up on pay cable networks (i.e. American Movie Classics). Yes, it was the end of an era, but the fact that so many genre fans fondly remember such shows as CHILLER THEATER, CREATURE FEATURES, FRIGHT NIGHT and THE 4:30 MOVIE as getting them hooked on monsters, is a testament to the quality shows they were. Also, the mark they left on pop culture is unmistakable and it will be up to the genre fans of that era to keep the memories of these shows alive!!!! Thanks for the memories, WABC-TV Channel 7!!!!

Looking back at these weeks, I think it is plain to see why anyone who loves the genre could not wait to rush home from school and be transported into a world of fantasy and imagination.

October 1979
EMPIRE OF THE ANTS (Monday)
FROGS (Tuesday)
FOOD OF THE GODS (Thursday)
THE DEADLY BEES (Friday)