Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards | My First Trip Abroad nominated for Best Blog 2013

Voting for the Twelfth Annual Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards is now open and I’m excited to announce that my blog My First Trip Abroad based on Vincent Price's 1928 travel journal, has been nominated in category 19 for Best Blog of 2013.

If you would like to support me, then please send an email to David Colton, at taraco@aol.com with Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards in the subject line, and include your name and your vote: The Vincent Price Journal for Best Blog of 2013, by Sunday night at midnight, May 5, 2014.

If you’d like to also see the other worthy nominees and vote in any of the other categories, then do please visit the website: http://rondoaward.com/rondoaward.com/blog/?p=32

And if you haven't already visit the blog, then I do hope you find this trip back in time a real treat, just click here.

Theatre of Blood | On Location in… Putney

If you have seen Theatre of Blood as many times as I, then you'll know that March 15 was the day that Vincent Price's vengeful Edward Lionheart began his campaign of terror, bumping off all those nasty critics who lambasted his performances of the work of the immortal bard. Being a huge fan of the cult 1973 black comedy, and it being a lovely spring day, I decided to visit a couple of the London locations that appear in the film. So, heading west, I started my tour by visiting Putney SW15 to seek out the location of Lionheart's hideout, the Burbage Theatre, which, in reality, was the Putney Hippodrome.

Built in 1906 as a vaudeville music hall, the Hippodrome on Felsham Road was converted into a cinema in the 1930s and closed around 1958. Director Douglas Hickox first used the site for his 1972 film Sitting Target, starring Oliver Reed and Ian McShane. For Theatre of Blood, Hickox bought 500 seats for paltry £250 and built a new proscenium. It was here that Lionheart would put on his grisly versions of Shakespeare's tragedies and restage the 1970 Critics Circle Award before torching the venue for his final performance as Lear.

The Hippodrome was demolished in 1975 and today houses a council estate and one of London's new cycle stations.

This picture of Price's Edward Lionheart as Shylock was taken across the road from the Hippodrome, on the corner of Felsham Road and Walkers Place. This was also where Edwinda can be seen luring Hector Snipe to the theatre. Luxury flats now occupy the site.

The first critic to meet their doom was Michael Hodern's George Maxwell who is called to an old warehouse on the Ides of March where he meets Edward and Edwina (disguised as policemen) and is subsquently hacked to pieces just as Julius Caesar was cut down in Shakespeare's play. 

The warehouse is long gone, replaced by another ugly council estate, but was situated at the back of the Hippodrome on Weimar Street. Look carefully and you can see the old iron gates behind Maxwell's car are still in use today.

In this scene, Inspector Boot (Milo O’Shea) briefs his men outside the house of Meredith Merridew, who is served up his last meal, poodle pie, as part of a fake TV show, This Is Your Dish. The house is situated on the corner of Lacy Road and Charlwood Road, just a stone's throw from Felsham Road. 

In this comic scene, the police give chase when they think they see Lionheart driving past in a taxi. Below, is what Charlwood Road looks like today.

Now that I have ticked off the Putney locations, and have already done Kensal Green Cemetary, I can't wait for another lovely spring day to track down some more of the film's original locations. If you have been to any and want to share your thoughts and photos, then please do get in contact.

sources:

http://www.reelstreets.com/

http://www.britmovie.co.uk/forums/film-locations/87183-theatre-blood-locations-5.html

A Treasury of Great Recipes - 50th Anniversary | Antoine's of New Orleans

Victoria Price's culinary road trip has taken her to Antoine's, the oldest French-Creole fine dining restaurant in New Orleans, which her father visited 50 years ago and where, in 1894, Vincent's parents dined on their honeymoon.

Here's a shot of Victoria standing outside the same wine cellar that her father surveyed when he was researching his and wife Mary's A Treasury of Great Recipes cookbook, which will be reprinted in 2015.

Read more about Victoria's culinary road trip by clicking here.

And if you want to know more about Antoine's, check out their website (click here).

A Treasury of Great Recipes - 50th Anniversary | Victoria Price takes a culinary road trip in memory of her parent's legendary cookbook

Next year marks the release of the 50th anniversary edition of Mary and Vincent Price's cookbook A Treasury of Great Recipes - now regarded as 'one of the most important culinary events of the 20th century' (Saveur Magazine).

To mark the occasion the Price's daughter, Victoria, has set up a new website, Cooking With Vincent, to honour her parent's love of food, as well as a road trip blog where she chronicles her journey back in time, revisiting many of the restaurants in the original book. 

''To me, A Treasury of Great Recipes is the embodiment of my parents' life philosophy. They were collectors of experience--of seeing art, meeting people, trying new foods, learning about new cultures, exploring design--and then incorporating the things they loved into the way they lived. The cookbook came about because they loved what they saw so much out in the world that they brought it home to share with their friends: Recipes given to them by a chef at a restaurant they loved, a set of plates brought home to remind them of a foreign country, stories of their incredible adventures, and of course the art. But mostly what they brought home was a repository of joy from which everyone who knew them could partake. Travel always re-whetted their immense appetite for life. And I am so grateful to have the opportunity this month to do the same for my own--and hopefully yours. If I hope to do anything by releasing the 50th anniversary edition of their cookbook, it is to remind us all--myself included--to make time for joy. I hope you will follow me on my adventures on the road this month, and write in to share some of your own that have been inspired by my parents and their wonderful cookbook.' Victoria Price.

You can explore the Cooking With Vincent website by clicking here, and follow Victoria's amazing culinary road trip blog by clicking here, which kicks off off in Texas.

1958's The Fly gets a Limited Edition Steelbook Blu-ray release on 3 March

It was only last September that we saw The Fly (1958) get a Blu-ray release in the UK (read all about here). Now, coming on 3 March 2014, is a Limited Edition Steelbook from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. No word yet on the extras, but I will post them here as soon as I get word. Until then, here's the cover art.

Vincent Price guest stars in Columbo: Lovely But Lethal tonight on ITV in HD.

UK fans of Vincent Price can catch the iconic actor in the 1973 Columbo mystery, Lovely But Lethal, tonight at 3.00am on ITV (Sky, Virgin, Freesat 103, Virgin HD 113, Freesat HD 119).

Columbo: Lovely But Lethal

Season 3, Episode – 1

Written by Jackson Gillis (from a story by Myrna Bercovici)

Directed by Jeannot Szwarc

Originally aired September 23, 1973

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Peter Falk as LT. Columbo

Vera Miles as Viveca Scott

Martin Sheen as Karl Lessing

Vincent Price as David Lang

Sian Barbara Allenas Shirley Blaine

Fred Draper as Dr. Murcheson

Gino Conforti as Ferdy

Colby Chester as Jerry

Bruce Kirby as Lab Attendant

John Finnegan as Sergeant

Dick Stahl as Burton

Marc Hannibal as Fingerprint Man

Cosmetics queen Viveca Scott (Vera Miles) has developed a seemingly magic wrinkle remover, but the formula has been stolen by her former lover,chemist Karl Lessing (MartinSheen), who refuses to sell it back to her at any price. Taunted by Lessing, Scott bludgeons him in a fit of rage but also before he can sell it to her ruthless competitor, David Lang (Vincent Price). When Lang's secretary (Sian Barbara Allen) becomes a potential blackmailer Scott kills her as well…

• sourced from The Columbo Phile by Mark Dawidziak

Arrow Video has reserved a seat for you in The Theatre of Blood on Blu-ray

Now this I'm excited about. Arrow Video will be releasing Theatre of Blood on Blu-ray and as a Limited Edition Blu-ray SteelBook on 28 April, complete with a high definition transfer and a stack of special extras. No news yet on what they might me. But as soon as I hear, I'll post it up here. Cross fingers Michael J Lewis' excellent soundtrack is included as an extra. And wouldn't it be a coup to have Dame Diana Rigg interviewed about her time on the film?

Arrow Video announce the UK Blu-ray release of Pit & the Pendulum and the Complete Dr Phibes

Arrow Video have announced the dates for the UK Blu-ray releases of The Pit & the Pendulum and the two Dr Phibes films.

The Pit and the Pendulum will be released on 12 May (just in time for Price's birthday on the 27th) and will include a high definition digital transfer, newly created exclusive content (which is yet to be finalised), reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Gilles Vranckx, collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film, archive content and more. Now, will you go for the standalone Blu-ray or the SteelBook?

The Complete Dr Phibes will be released as a two-disc box-set on 9 June, again with HD digital transfers of both films, bonus content, deluxe edition collector’s box featuring original artwork and a 100-Page collector’s booklet. Not sure what the special features will be, but wouldn't it be cool if it contained the two soundtracks and pdfs of William Goldstein's tie-in novels?

 

More signatures needed to honour Vincent Price with a US postage stamp

Until 6 March, the closing date to gather 100,000 signatures to honor VincentPrice with a United States postage stamp, the Vincent Price Facebook group is sharing a photo and a reason day why Vinnie deserves that honour.


Reason No 7 was because he used lots of stamps over the course of his lifetime to send out postcards to fans (like myself). Here's the one that he sent to me in 1987, just after he had just completed filming The Whales of August with Bette Davis and Lillian Gish.

Now, don't forget to keep sharing and urging your friends to sign this petition.

PLEASE CLICK HERE

Sign this petition to get iconic American horror star Vincent Price on a US postage stamp

 

 

A petition has been set up in the States to have American actor Vincent Price follow in the footsteps of classic horror stars Lon Chaney Sr, Lon Chaney Jr, Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff and appear on a US postage.

 

Not only did Vinnie make 105 movies and appear on countless TV and radio shows, but he spent a lifetime contributing to the visual arts in America by serving on the Indian Arts & Crafts Board of the Department of the Interior, the White House Art Committee, the American Archives for the Arts, and countless museum boards.

100,000 signatures are needed, so please head over to the White House website now and sign the petition before 6 March, then share with your fellow VP fans. Click here now: http://ow.ly/tj6FU