Paul Lynde Halloween Special
Paul Lynde Halloween Special
Tһе Paul Lynde Halloween Special aired οחƖу once (οח October 29, 1976) аחԁ featured a “Wһο′s Wһο″ οf mid-’70s TV аחԁ film stars; Paul held everything together аѕ tһе ringmaster οf a circus tһаt featured Margaret Hamilton (һеr οחƖу prime time TV appearance wearing tһе full outfit frοm Tһе Wizard οf Oz), Witchie Poo frοm H.R. Pufnstuf, Donnie аחԁ Marie (wһο һаԁ Paul аѕ a regular οח tһеіr series), Tim Conway, Billy Barty аחԁ іח tһеіr first prime time TV appearance, KISS. Tһеу perform three songs bυt tһе οח-stage conversation wіtһ KISS, Paul аחԁ Margaret Hamilton іѕ priceless.
Special Features:
Extensive photo scrapbook containing images frοm Tһе Hollywood Squares, аt home, family shots, young Paul. Tһіѕ includes large quantities οf photos provided bу һіѕ family аחԁ heirs
Three stage interactive trivia game based οח qυеѕtіοחѕ аѕkеԁ οח Tһе Hollywood Squares wіtһ a bonus feature wһеח consumer аחѕwеrѕ аƖƖ 30- 60 qυеѕtіοחѕ correctly
Extensive quotes frοm Paul Lynde аbουt family, entertainment, food аחԁ mental health Liner notes bу producer аחԁ writer, Bob Booker
Rating: 
(out οf 44 reviews)
List Price: $ 14.95
Price: $ 5.38
Mommy, Wһу Don’t Wе Celebrate Halloween? (Mommy Wһу?)
Children аѕk tһе toughest qυеѕtіοחѕ! Aѕ a parent, уου want tο give tһеm tһе best аחѕwеrѕ. Tһіѕ аmаᴢіחɡ children’s book wіƖƖ һеƖр dedicated parents аחѕwеr tough qυеѕtіοחѕ simply, biblically, аחԁ lovingly. Christ- centered аחԁ sensitively written, tһіѕ book wіƖƖ һеƖр satisfy tһе curiosity οf even tһе mοѕt inquisitive children.
Rating: 
(out οf 18 reviews)
List Price: $ 5.99
Price: $ 1.78
Review by Robert I. Hedges for Paul Lynde Halloween Special
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This Halloween special aired once on television, on October 29, 1976. It is perhaps the most quintessential 1970′s camp classic available on DVD. Starring Paul Lynde, with a bevy of guest stars such as Tim Conway, Billy Barty, Florence Henderson, Donny and Marie Osmond, KISS, and best of all, Margaret Hamilton and Billie Hayes, this show is only 50 minutes long, but what it lacks in length it makes up for in cheese.
It is essentially a sketch comedy show with the faintest of connective sinew: Paul Lynde and his housekeeper, Margaret Hamilton, visit Hamilton’s sister, Billie Hayes at her castle. Obviously this is an excuse for Hamilton to reprise her role as the most famous witch in history, the Wicked Witch of the West from “The Wizard of Oz,” while Hayes dons her Witchiepoo outfit from “H. R. Pufnstuf.” Along the way there are lots of lame jokes, skits, and music.
To capitalize on the then huge song “Convoy” and television show “Movin’ On” there is a musical nightmare where Lynde (in a sequin jumpsuit with enormous lapels) and Conway play truckers dueling for the love of Pinky Tuscadero (Roz Kelly). Although that has nothing to do with Halloween and everything to do with the strangely popular CB radio boom, the setting quickly shifts for most of the balance of the show to Hayes’ house. I especially enjoyed the interactions of Hayes and Hamilton in the castle where they introduce KISS (their first major television appearance) as chamber musicians who “make such very soothing, quiet dinner music.”
There are other diversions, such as when Lynde becomes a sheik who kidnaps Florence Henderson (who he falls for after seeing her milk a cobra). He tries everything to win her heart, even sharing a decanter of hyena wine with her. In the end, she is won over by a gift of a cockatoo “once owned by Baretta,” leading to the most unerotic kiss in screen history. She also gets a chance to sing “That Old Black Magic” with a disco arrangement. The entire disco scene, in fact, is surreal: the hair and costumes will haunt me for a long time, and everyone in the cast (except KISS, which looks on, mortified) dances to an excremental tutorial taught by Pinky Tuscadero titled “Disco Baby”.
The show is very cheesy, as only a 1970′s star-studded spectacular could be. If you want a good laugh (but not at the jokes) or a humorous reminiscence of those colorfully tacky days, this is absolutely not to be missed.
Review by Brian Reaves for Paul Lynde Halloween Special
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I remember watching this as a kid, but never being able to remember what it was. Watching it again brought back memories. Guest stars like Tim Conway, Florence Henderson, and of course, KISS make this a memorable show. It’s definitely a slice of the 70′s with Disco music and the variety show feel (skits, song-and-dance routines, occasional painfully unfunny jokes), and it’s great. The only down side is the fact that it’s not the best quality. It looks like an old VHS movie, but that can’t be helped because it was thought lost forever and only ONE complete copy has ever been found. I wish they could have remastered it, but I’d rather have it this way than not at all.
The extras here include a “Match the Quote” game (get 30 of them right and there’s a little surprise for you), Paul’s Photo Album, and a few other notes. No deleted scenes or extra stuff like that, but again, at least we’re getting the special out there.
Definitely worth the money!
Review by Bob Lind for Paul Lynde Halloween Special
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If you are fan of 70′s kitchsy camp, be sure to get a copy of “The Paul Lynde Halloween Special”, released earlier this month on DVD. Originally (and only, never repeated) broadcast on October 29, 1976, the show was believed to have been lost for almost 31 years, until one of the writers recently uncovered a tape, from which the DVD has been produced (As the DVD packaging cautions, the quality and picture aren’t perfect, but it was actually a lot better than I was expecting with that warning up front.)
The cast is like a wet dream of gay camp! Besides Paul (in full-out “bitchy” mode), there’s Margaret Hamilton (Wicked Witch of the West from “Wizard of Oz”), Billie Hayes (as Witchiepoo from “HR Pufnstuf”), Betty White, Billy Barty, Tim Conway, and would you believe Florence Henderson … singing a DISCO verion of “That Old Black Magic”??? Musical guests are KISS, on their first network appearance. The entire cast joins in a disco salute as the finale (which is in itself worth the price to see KISS briefly singing DISCO!)
A friend ordered 30 copies for all his gay friends as Christmas presents! DVD extras include some lots of photos, exerpts from interviews with Paul Lynde, a multiple choice test on some of his “Hollywood Squares” responses, and an interview with that show’s host, Peter Marshall, with remembrances of the late Mr. Lynde.
Review by Hammock Rider for Paul Lynde Halloween Special
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Let me start out saying that I am a fan of both Paul Lynde and Halloween. A Special that features both seemed like mixing your chocolate with my peanut butter. I was really looking forward to it. Unfortunately, I found the whole mess pretty mediocre.
This is the premise: Margaret Hamilton playing herself as Paul Lynde’s housekeeper (?) asks Paul to give her a ride to her sister’s house, her sister being Witchiepoo from H.R. Puffnstuff. When they get there it turns out Paul was brought with an ulterior motive in mind. It turns out the winner of the witches Miss Halloween contest was promised a date with Paul Newman as her prize by Hamilton and Witchiepoo. Since they can’t deliver Paul Newman they deliver Paul Lynde, because he is the only famous Paul who is available. Miss Halloween takes a rain check and Lynde is left feeling dejected. The witch sisters decide to cheer him up by giving him 3 wishes. The fulfillment of those wishes forms the body of the Special.
They should have had a lot of fun with this. Paul’s first wish is to be a trucker, and not just any trucker but The Rhinestone Trucker, a bedazzled fella who goes by the handle Ruby Red. He later wishes to be a red-hot desert sheik ala Rudolph Valentino. Finally he wishes to take the witch sisters to a disco. There were lots of opportunities for some great humor here yet the writers and cast seldom take advantage of them. I especially like the idea of Paul Lynde playing a famous performer who lives a pretty normal lifestyle. The show’s almost written like an episode of the old Jack Benny or Burns& Allen shows, where they were also famous performers who lived normal lives in quiet little neighborhoods like normal folk. This show was like that, almost too much like that. It was just too dry and flat. Lynde didn’t seem to have his heart in it and nobody made the most of the many chances for solid humor that were available. It was funny watching Paul romance the smoking hot Roz Kelly, who should have had her own special, but it was also a little cringe inducing. There was no sly wink or nod, which would have made it funny. Maybe back then he wasn’t able to do that, but I was kind of hoping he would have been able to do something to let us know he thought it was all a pretty funny joke too.
It had all the ingredients for some great genuine camp but for some reason for me the whole did not live up to the sum of the parts. It was Ok but that’s about it. It pains me to say this, but this Special was a little more Trick than Treat
Review by G. Mitchell for Paul Lynde Halloween Special
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I saw this when it first came out in ’76 when I was 9 yrs old and was absolutely hypnotized by the delirious display of 70s camp flickering on the TV screen. Paul Lynde. Pinky Tuscadero. KISS. Florence Henderson. Billy Barty. Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch, Billie Hayes as Witchie-Poo. Tim Conway. DISCO. Bad jokes. Flat comedy sketches. CB Radios. UTTER GENIUS. I’ve been waiting for this to be released on DVD for years. Every home should have one.
Review by Miriam Van Scott for Mommy, Why Don’t We Celebrate Halloween? (Mommy Why?)
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I applaud the author’s attempt to foster Christian values in a secular and often anti-religious society. However, equating trick or treating with Devil worship is uniformed and grossly misguided.It’s true that Halloween has its origins in pagan religions, however these were NATURE worshipers, NOT Satan worshipers! Ignorant of the truth, these Druids and Celts tried to manage in a hostile and unknowable world. When Christianity came to Ireland, it was embraced and celebrated. Residual practice of some Halloween customs continued as a cultural, NOT religious observence, in much the same way not all people who celebrate St. Partick’s Day are Roman Catholic.More disturbing, Winwood reveals a rather ugly prejudice by describing the Pope’s moving of All Saints Day to November 1 in the 7th century to supplant Halloween as “playing Let’s Make a Deal with the devil”. A “Christian” book for children is hardly the place to vent such anti-catholic hate mongering, and it smacks of the “My Jesus is better than your Jesus” mindset. (She also seems to forget that December 25 was likewise once the pagan holiday Saturnalia, “Christianized” to replace the earlier feast by papal writ. So is celebrating Christmas on that date equally Satanic?) Last, she misses the message that Christ HAS conquered death and Satan, eradicating fear of the unknown. What was once a dark pagan feast is now a time for candy, costumes, and visiting neighbors — what a wonderful example of “good conquering evil” and “light overcoming darkness”! Teaching kids to cower in the darkness, smugly telling themselves that they are faithful “friends of Jesus” while their peers go trick or treating to “honor the devil” is sorely inaccurate and unfair. (That sentiment actually attributes MORE power to Satan, as if we are in his grasp and are left without hope.) After all, Jesus himself did not run from “evil doers”; he mixed with them, broke bread and participated in cultural festivals alongside “the wicked”. A better message to kids is that Halloween is a reminder that unlike the Druids and other pagans, Christians no longer have to fear spooks and spirits, or worry over our ultimate fate, for death has lost its sting. What we celebrate is NOT the power of Satan, but the reality of Salvation through the sacrifice of Christ! Now THAT’S a message I want to give my kids!
Review by for Mommy, Why Don’t We Celebrate Halloween? (Mommy Why?)
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I think that Halloween is an issue that Christians either find absolutely abhorent or no big deal. For those of us who choose *not* to celebrate October 31st, this is a great book to have. It explained to my children why we don’t do all that stuff, without going into really scary detail.I don’t see the prejudice described by the previous reviewer. Instead, I saw history described accurately. Yes, both Christmas and Halloween [and Easter, too] were changed from pagan observances to Christian celebrations to appease the people. However, while Christmas and Easter have remained Christian celebrations, I don’t see that as happening with Halloween.Therefore, for us, this book is a useful tool. Others, who have decided to ignore the bad and celebrate the good, may find the book “Halloween, You For Real?” more to their liking.
Review by Paula Taylor for Mommy, Why Don’t We Celebrate Halloween? (Mommy Why?)
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Around fall time every year, the stores fill with every conceivable Halloween item. That’s why I’m so glad to have this book to explain to my son why we don’t celebrate this holiday.The book is clear and conceice as to the origins of Halloween and the biblical reasons why Christians shouldn’t participate. It is written in an easy to understand format and I think the author did a wonderful job.It’s hard enough as Christians to take a stand for Jesus in today’s world, especially when holidays such as Halloween come up. This book helps both parents and kids give and answer to those who question our actions. Great job!
Review by shawna for Mommy, Why Don’t We Celebrate Halloween? (Mommy Why?)
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We don’t celebrate Halloween, but I find it really hard for my 5 and 7yr old to understand. We know lots of christians that do celebrate it, which can make our decision ever harder. It is hard for them to always be “missing out”! This book helped them to understand how Halloween began. It was very educational for me! We want to teach all things to the Glory of God and as a mom I fall short in so many ways. I am glad to find a book that helps them to understand why we choose to different and that it isn’t something they are “MISSING” out on!
Review by Belle for Mommy, Why Don’t We Celebrate Halloween? (Mommy Why?)
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This book is wrong and very sad. It puts down the rest of the children that do celebrate it, (perhaps friends of the the child it’s being read to) and it makes one feel segragration comeing on, which is so wrong. If I were to read it to my children they would still ask why, and be more confused…. Also the author is way off on the history of Halloween, and the Celts, this book is just sadly missinformed and badly written.