Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast - GGACP Classic: Bob Burns

Episode Date: May 16, 2024

GGACP celebrates the birthday of actor, film historian, memorabilia collector and “Monster Kid” Bob Burns by revisiting this wide-ranging interview from 2017. In this episode, Bob regales Gilbert and Frank with stories about meeting Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Vincent Price, George Pal and William Castle, among others. Also, Bob mentors Rick Baker, tours with Eddie Munster, brings Lon Chaney Jr. to tears and visits the set of “Plan 9 from Outer Space.” PLUS: “Shock Theater”! Ray “Crash” Corrigan! “Invasion of the Saucer Men”! Tor Johnson goes to the movies! And Bob confirms the “legend” of Forrest Tucker!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

TV comics, movie stars, hit singles and some toys Trivia and dirty jokes, an evening with the boys Once is never good enough for something so fantastic So here's another Gilbert and Franks. Here's another Gilbert and Franks. Colossal classic. Hi, this is Gilbert Gottfried, and this is Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast with my co-host, Frank Santopadre, and we're once again recording at Nutmeg with our engineer, Frank Ferdarosa. Our guest this week is an active producer, archivist, historian, makeup and special effects technician, and a collector and caretaker of some of the most iconic movie props, costumes, and paraphernalia of the last century. A collection that includes the wolf's cane handle from the original Wolfman,

an original replica of the creature suit from The Creature of the Black Lagoon, and pieces from The Mummy's Curse, the only existing work of legendary makeup artist Jack Pierce. As a performer, he's been in films such as Invasion of the Saucerman, Raft of the Sun Demon, and Ratfink Abubu, and TV shows like My Three Sons, The Lucy Show, and of course, opposite our pal Larry Storch in the original Ghostbusters. In the memorable role of Tracy the Gorilla, as a makeup and effect artist, he's worked on projects such as Not of This Earth, It, The Terror from Beyond Space, Harry and the Hendersons, and three Lord of the Rings pictures, among others.

Yeah. Over his eight-decade journey through the world of fantasy films, he's met and befriended and worked with everyone from Boris Karloff to Elsa Lanchester to George Pal to Ray Harryhausen to former podcast guests Roger Corman, Joe Dante, and Leonard Moulton. Please welcome to the show the ultimate horror and science fiction movie fan and a man who was once put in a bear hug by my favorite actor Lon Chaney Jr., Bob Burns. Howdy, sir. You know what? I got to meet this guy.

Who the heck is that now before we get on to any questions what were you saying about me before we got on the air not that he's i just said yeah well all right cover your ears now so you oh you got your phones on that's okay well anyway i uh i i've never been nervous doing these things i've done a quite a few and stuff. But I'm nervous today because you're an icon to me, and I don't even know how to really talk to you. That's the thing because I've known all about you since I was a little baby. That is a backhanded compliment if ever I heard one. And I just – I'm kind of dumbfounded here just thinking thinking that I'm actually talking to you, you know. Oh, well, thank you.

That's so sweet. And now I want to start off with the story of when you went to the Magic Castle in Los Angeles. And there was a big event there. And tell us the people. Well, it was going to be a thing for, I think it was Look Magazine or something. It never actually happened. But, I mean, the people were there, you know. But it was Boris Karloff, Loncini Jr., who was my favorite, as yours, and also Lanchester.

And it was really something. We were sitting around a table waiting for this photographer to show up, who ended up never showing up, you know, which was great for me because I got to sit there and talk to these guys. And they were wonderful. They were all just wonderful, wonderful guys. And I was here again. Just like with you, I was almost afraid of these guys because they were such icons of mine. I didn't really know. But they got me in a conversation real easy.

I had no problem at all. And Lon Chaney Jr. did one of the finest things that's ever happened to me in my whole life. We were talking about films he had done, like Lenny and The Wolfman, all this stuff. And I said, well, you know, there's one that I saw that's one of my very favorites, and that's called The Golden Junkman. I think it was on the Bell Telephone Hour or something. He plays an Irish immigrant, and he's got two sons. Yeah, great. on the Bell Telephone Hour or something. He plays an Irish immigrant, and he's got two sons.

Yeah, great. Oh, it's wonderful. He did a wonderful accent. I mean, he's a good actor. I mean, he was a really good actor. And I just said, that's actually one of my favorites. And he looked at me really deeply for a minute, and I thought, maybe I said something wrong.

And I saw a tear go down his face. And he goes, do you remember that? And I said, well, yes, I do. That's one of my favorite things. He got up, came over, and this man built like a mountain, gave me the biggest bear hug I think I've ever had in my life. He said, this is my family's favorite, too, and my favorite. And he went back over and sat, and he just almost cried like a baby for a few minutes. I didn't know what to do. I thought, Jesus, the moon up, we're going to get, I don't know what's going to happen to him. It was the most wonderful thing that ever happened to do. I thought, geez, is the moon up? I don't know what's going to happen to him. It was the most wonderful thing that ever happened to me.

I mean, here, an idol, a guy that I loved, I got a hug from this guy. And it was just what I, you know, so I've been that way ever since now. Yeah, I remember, I saw the golden junk man. And it was funny in that I wouldn't be surprised if the guys who wrote the Rodney Dangerfield film Back to School saw that. Because it had to do with he's like a junk man who his kids are embarrassed about. They go to college on his money, of course. And then he wants to prove something to them. And he was terrific in that oh god he was he was marvelous in that film and and that of all of his films i think that's one of the best things

he ever did i mean because that was just him he had no moon to worry about or anything like that and he was it was wonderful and evidently i touched his heart with that and i'm so glad i did that was the most wonderful thing that's happened to me. And now the whole point of this event was to get pictures of Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney Jr., and the bride of Frankenstein herself, Elsa Lanchester. And the fucking photographer never showed up. Didn't show. Never showed up. I had my gorilla suit, too.

I was supposed to wear the gorilla suit with these guys, which is a picture thing. I would have loved to have had it, you know. But the guy never showed up. And so finally at the end of the day, we said, well, we'll see you all later. And that was about it, you know. But they were wonderful to talk to. Boris was kind of quiet. He wasn't feeling too good that day.

But he was still okay. But also chatted like, oh, she just chatted all over the place. She was so cool. And so did Lon. They were both, they were wonderful people. I got to really know them that day. And did you watch Lon and Boris talk to each other? Not too much. Like I said, Boris was kind of quiet. He didn't say a whole lot to almost anybody. He was just, he wasn't asleep, but I mean, he looked like he wasn't well. That's all there was to it. He came in say a whole lot to almost anybody. He was just – he wasn't asleep, but, I mean, he looked like he wasn't well. That's all there was to it. He came in in a wheelchair, so I don't know what that meant exactly.

But they were all just as nice as anybody could be to me. I mean, here, a kid – well, I wasn't a kid then. I was a grown-up then. Well, I've been a grown-up since – oh, my God, I'm older than dirt now. Anyway, that's kind of what happened to me. But I just – this was just such a marvelous time and i'm glad the guy didn't show up i'm sorry i didn't get pictures with him but uh just to have him there and talk to him and they find out what decent human beings they are you know it was just

pretty amazing to me a pinch me moment for a kid from oklahoma you better believe it to be standing there with frankenstein and the wolfman and the Bride of Frankenstein. Couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe it. I mean, it was like, you know, I've said so many times, even in one of the books, I said, I'm at the right place at the right time somehow. I don't know how it's been that way for me, but it's been that way for years and years. Like Glenn Strange became like my adopted dad. I mean, he was, he, I went everywhere with that guy and just go all over. Now we should tell the audience, Glenn Strange was the last of the great Frankenstein monsters. House of Frankenstein, House of Dracula, and of course, Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein. Which is one of the greatest films of all time, I think, you know, too. But, but no,

Glenn was just a great guy. Yeah, and he ended up, of course, being Sam the Bartender in Gunsmoke for the rest of his life, which was pretty cool. I used to go over once a week on my vacation and spend it over there with him, and we'd all talk about stuff, and just, you know, and I knew most of these other guys. I got to know Festus pretty well, the whole thing, you know. And one thing that was really neat, Jim didn't come down too much of the time. But most of the time, he'd come on set and meet everybody. But he came on one day, and we're sitting outside of the saloon.

Jim Arnett. The Long Branch. And we had chairs out there. And there were three of us that were sitting there, Jim and Glenn and myself. And all of a sudden, Jim looked at Glenn. He says, you know what? I just thought of something. He says, where are these two old monsters sitting here?

And Glenn says, huh? He goes, yeah. glenn he says you know what i just thought of something he says we're just two old monsters sitting here and glenn says huh he goes yeah he said a monster a doctor tried to save me from outer space and a doctor created you and glenn says i never thought of that yeah james arnez doesn't need to be a thing right yeah but sitting there watching and seeing these guys and hearing this for a fan guy like me, you don't get any better than that. I mean, yeah, that was so cool. And I think you talked about it that when Glenn Strange was getting – when his health was really going and he was getting weak, they let him stay on as the bartender. And sometimes would prop him up behind the bar. Yep.

Well, Jim Arnett, I can't say too many good things about that guy. He kept the show going when he kind of wanted to stop for a while, but everybody else wanted to keep it going. Well, when Glenn got, he had cancer and got real sick, they built like a, I guess, like a baby chair or whatever you call it that's pretty high up and have him sit down in it and all he would do is be washing glasses. He couldn't do lines anymore, but he always was in the background, so he'd get his medical insurance and everything. That was Jim. And then when he passed away, Jim and I were

both honorary pallbearers, and I was okay until I saw Glenn, and that did it for me, and I almost fell apart, and Jim was right by me, and he stayed with me the whole rest of the time. He was so great. He said, look, as long as we keep him in our minds he's alive he always is and think about it and he walked with me to the grave place and everything I mean I could never repay that guy for what he did for me I mean that was he's a wonderful wonderful man that's funny because you know when you see him on on the tv show he looks like this cold, mean, angry guy. Jim Arnett? Yeah.

Brother of Peter Graves. Oh, yes. Yes. That's right. Yes. That's right. No, that was just his thing. I mean, he would do things to mess up takes just so they could have good outtakes.

That's how funny he really was. And I'd love to be able to know whatever happened to those now. And you told a story, too, that had to do with Glenn Strange in that when Lon Chaney Jr. died, and I'm sure he burnt a lot of bridges in his life. He did. You know, he was a mean drunk by everything I heard. Very much so, yeah. Very much so, yeah. And so when the news was looking for people to talk about him, nobody wanted to.

And then you helped out. Well, Glenn was down with cancer then. He was in bed most of the time. And I went over to see him, and somehow we got talking about it because Lon had just passed away. And I said, we're trying to find somebody at CBS. I worked at CBS and trying to find somebody who can talk about him. He says, nobody's going to talk for Lon. I said, no, they're just not. Nobody's interested. And he says, I'll talk for him. And his wife said, Glenn, you can't go anywhere. I mean, he says, I'll talk for him. I'll do it. So I called the gal down at the news thing and they didn't know he was that sick. They

thought the cover was he had a bad case of the flu. So he had to sit down somewhere inside where he couldn't, you know, he couldn't be outside standing in the sun. So he did. He got out of bed, and he went down there, and he said some of the nicest things I've heard anybody say about anybody. I mean, he and Lon always got along. They never had a battle of any kind, and it was just, I mean, the sweetest thing I ever heard. I mean, this guy, he's trying to breathe and everything, and he's just telling these wonderful things about Lon. And I started to get kind of choked up now to think about it.

It was really wonderful. And then when they found out later that Glenn had the cancer, Ruth Ashton, who was the gal that did it, she said, God, I wish you'd have told us. It would have been so easy on you. He said he wanted to come down. That was it. He was his friend. And he wanted to come down and say something good about him.

A man of character. You bet. And then he died like two weeks later or something. Yep. Yep. Pretty close. I mean, he was really close to going, you know, but he didn't seem like it when he was on the screen. I mean, he looked like he was, you know,

just really good. And he just it was wonderful. I mean, because Glenn was probably the most honest, nice man I've ever known in my life. I mean, nobody disliked Glenn. Everybody loved the guy. And he was just one of these fellows that, you know, wow, I'm so glad at least I have those memories anyway, you know. How tall was he? 6'6". And they called him Pee Wee. Same size as my neck. They called him Pee Wee, yeah.

When he first started in the 30s, he was one of the biggest guys around then in the 30s, you know. And they called him Pee Wee. And that figured, you know. He had a long career, too. I mean, people think of him as Frankenstein and they think of him as from Gunsmoke. But, I mean, he's in Flash Gordon serials. Oh, he's in so many things. And many, many Westerns.

Yeah, he made over almost 500 movies altogether. Wow. That's a lot of movies. That's a run. A lot of them were Westerns. Most of them were Westerns and stuff, you know. But he was just, oh, he was the greatest guy. He said they'd be shooting two of them at one time.

One time he'd wear a black hat, and the next time he wears a brown hat, you know, in the other picture or whatever. And Roy Barcroft was a nice friend of mine, too. He used to be one of the bad guys at Republic all the time. And he and Glenn were real good friends, and they were making some Western together. And there was a thing how they used to, in a posse chase or something, to get the guys really to go. Whoever got to the end first got a bottle of Jim Beam. So they would ride like hell to get there.

They'd all go like crazy. Okay, just when the show was starting to get good, we're going to throw a monkey wrench into the works with this commercial word. Gil and Frank went out to pee. Now they're back so they can be on their amazing colossal podcast. Kids, time to get back to Gilbert and Frank's amazing colossal podcast. So let's go.

You were instrumental in hooking up, bringing Karloff and Gun Strange together. Yep. Boris was doing a thing over at CBS, same lot, on Wild Wild West. And Glenn, of course, was doing Gunsmoke. Well, this friend of mine who was writing the article said, you know Glenn, don't you? I said, yeah. He says, okay. He says, do you think we could hook them up?

They haven't seen each other in, God, how many years, you know? And so they did. And they did this great little article on them. And I got this great picture of both of them, which is so neat. They hadn't seen each other in years and years and years. And it was like old friends meeting again, which was so great, you know. And I just loved it. But I just happened to be at the right place at the right time again.

That's my whole thing. That's my whole thing. And is it true that when Glenn Strange took over the part of the monster, that Boris Karloff would stay late? Oh, you found that in the notes, huh? Yes. Yeah, good job. Good stuff. Yeah, he helped him.

Wait, when did he learn to read? About an hour and a half ago. Oh, okay. Well, that's good. That that's good he went from being intimidated by you to insulting you in the span of about 11 minutes let's see i'm not nervous anymore i'm getting better you're getting the hang of this bob so he would train him to walk like the monster and right and and he had a bad back at that point kar Karloff did, too. And he didn't want to do the monster anymore. But he would stay with him and tutor him at night,

showing him how to make the moves and all that stuff. And the way Glenn got the part was Jack Pierce, which was really something. The guy that created the monster, of course, which was cool. Jack Pierce created the Frankenstein monster, the Wolfman, the mummy. All of the great ones. He's come up on this show. Yeah, every great ones that were ever done at Universal jacked in him, and that was it. Well, Glenn said he kept looking at him.

He did a pirate picture and had some scars on him or something. Glenn said he kept looking at him every once in a while, and he got a little worried about the guy after a while. So anyway, he came in one night, and he says, if you'll stick around, it's worth $25 for me. And I might get you a part in a movie. And Glenn says, God, $25? You bet I'll stay. You know, he stayed around. First thing Jack did, he's put butcher paper all over the mirrors so Glenn couldn't see anything at all.

And he said he did a lot of work with something around my head. I don't know what it was, but I couldn't see it. I didn't know. He said he worked for about an hour. And then he called, I think it was Paul Malvern, one of the guys who was producing the Frankenstein thing. He says, come on over. I've got something to show you. He comes over, and he walks in, and he looks. He says, here's your new Frankenstein monster. Now, Glenn didn't know. He's going, what? And then he pulled the paper down, and Glenn looked and says, my God, I look just like

Boris Karloff. It it was so great but that's how he got the film because jack liked his craggy face in the very first place he thought it was neat and he liked his height because he was so big and he just said this is the guy i think could do this could take this over and that's how he got the role wow and he gave you some uh some treasured uh possessions didn't he he sure i had two Two things I have from the Frankenstein thing, actually. From Abbott and Kostelmik Frankenstein, I have one of his headpieces. How about that, Bill? That he gave me.

Yeah. Oh, wow. Rubber headpiece. He's jealous, Bob. Yes. I know. Well, he's got to come out. You've got to come out this area and see this stuff before I forget what it is.

When you're in L.A., you have to do the tour of Bob's house. Yeah. You should because, you know. to do the tour of Bob's house. Yeah, you should because, you know. I heard when Boris Karloff did the monster, those boots were really heavy that he wore. And they were willing to give him lighter ones,

but he wanted to stick with the heavy ones. That's what he wanted. He wanted to create the character with them. Yeah, what they were, they were guys, boots that laid asphalt. So they wouldn't get through the asphalt, wouldn't get through them, and they'd stomp the asphalt down. That's why they were so heavy. They had to be, you know that yeah what they were they were guys boots that laid asphalt so they wouldn't get through the asphalt wouldn't get through them and they'd stomp the asphalt down that's why they were so heavy it had to be you know but yeah he wanted you know here again he was trying to create a character and then he did because that walk was really that's how the walk of the monster came

about so that was uh it was asphalt workers boots that you are the famous Frankenstein boots. Right. Yeah. Now, the ones Glenn – oh, Glenn also gave me a pair of his boots from Madeline Tressel and Nate Frankenstein. And that's the ones he used to use when he went on tour right after the film opened up. He wore those on tour. And now they were light because it had a pair of his shoes inside of there. So Glenn wouldn't slip out of them.

And they were made mainly out of cork, so they weren't very heavy at all. They were pretty light, you know. But he had them sitting in his garage one day. I saw him sitting up there. I said, what's that? And he goes, well, it's my boots from having a costume at Frankenstein. Oh, God. And we went in the house, and he says, he brings his paper sack out of his closet.

Maybe that's the way to keep rubber stuff. He was in a paper sack. I opened it up. There's the headpiece right in there. One that wasn't used, but it's there. I still have it stuff. It was in a paper sack. I opened it up. There's the headpiece right in there. One that wasn't used, but it's there. I still have it today. It's lasted all these years. How cool is that, Gil?

All right, prepare to be jealous again, Gilbert. Oh, geez. Did you see, you got to see Bela Lugosi and Glenn Strange live on stage. One of the greatest things here again. I was at the right place at the right time. It was the Orkin Theater down in L.A. And I heard that they were going to be there for this thing. They were showing Abbott and Custody and Frankincense.

So I went there, and of course that thing is after the movie. They were only on about maybe 20, 30 minutes, but it was really neat. Bela first came out in his Dracula outfit, and he looked at the back of the audience thing, way in the back of the theater, and he says, come, come. Glenn started walking down the hallway to him, going to the thing, and it was kind of a slant down. He's got to be kind of careful.

And Jack Keevan, who did the makeup on him from Epic Testimony of Franklin, he made this wonderful mask of Glenn that looked just like him. I mean, you couldn't tell when he had it on, so he wouldn't have to really put the makeup on, you know. So he had that, and then he walked all the way down, goes up to the stage, meets Bella, and they kind of do a little something or another. I can't remember what it is. And, oh, I know what they're going to do. They were going to cut some person's head off from the audience. It was a plant. They got this gal up there and everything, and Glenn puts her down and throws the slab down that's going to hold her neck, and then they chop it off.

And they thought in the audience, of course, it's a head of cabbage inside the thing. But it was pretty cool. They were only on for maybe 20, 30 minutes. But it was great to see both of these guys. Here they were, I mean, the original monsters walking around on the stage. It was really cool. So you got in person to see Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney Jr., Baila Lugosi, and Glenn Strange.

That's it. Yeah. Yeah. And Jack Pierce. He knew Jack Pierce, too. Oh, that's right. Yeah, I knew Jack, yeah. And it was – well, Jack, the reason I got to know Pierce and Pierce,

like me so much, he was kind of a curmudgeon. He was kind of hard to get along with. But he loved Glenn. He absolutely loved him. And when I said Glenn was like my second dad, everything went away. He said, oh, my God. Okay, fine. I'll talk to you. That's why he gave me one of the only piece of Jack Pierce's work, because Rick Baker's checked in on this and everything, of the Mummy's Curse mask that Chaney wore in the end of Mummy's Curse. And I still have it, and it's still in pretty – it's in better condition than I am. I'll tell you that.

But it's great. And so I've just been so lucky. And you bring up his name, the great makeup artist, Rick Baker, who did Eddie Murphy and all the other clumps. Oh, sure. And the Nutty Professor. American Werewolf in London. Yeah, the list goes on. Oh, sure. And the Nutty Professor. American Werewolf in London. Yeah, the list goes on.

Brilliant makeup artist. And you knew him when he was a little sniveling kid. Yeah, I met him when he was 13 years old. I used to work over at Don Poe Studios, which was a mask maker in the day. Oh, yeah. And I'd work over there and help him at night doing stuff. Don Singer was the nicest guy in the planet. I don't think I ever paid for one of his masks.

I mean he gave me all of them. And so I just – I love these guys and I love this stuff so much. And so one day I autographed – I made my gorilla suit and had a picture of him there in the Mad Mummy. I don't know, some kind of crazy thing. And so Rick, I guess his father brought him over to post one day, and he saw this picture. He said, oh, boy. He goes, Dad, I'd like to meet Bob Burns. I'd like to meet who he is.

Of course, when he met me, he was totally disappointed, of course. I mean, that goes without saying. But he thought in reading stuff, he thought he's a good guy, whatever. But anyway, so he had his dad call me. He was too embarrassed and said, my boy would like to meet you. And I said, fine, great. He came up and he had some little things he had made up, little rubber pieces, stuff he had been doing. And they were great looking stuff for a 13-year-old kid.

So I showed him how to do a cut on my arm. And it was kind of cool because that's what they just have to do in the army. They have to do fake makeups for army films and stuff like that, you know. And it was great. It certainly wasn't real. I had to look up a book of real ones, and I heaved for three or four days. I mean, so it wasn't that. I could do the fake stuff.

It's fine. And so anyway, he came back. I guess it was the next week, I think. And he had done one himself, this 13-year-old kid that was 10 times better than the one I did. I mean, already. And I thought, oh my God, there's no stopping this guy, man. He's going to keep going. And then years later, when he was about 19 or something like that, I took him over to the makeup place, the makeup union, and tried

to see if we could get him in as a apprentice thing. And the guy headed the union is so typical like they were, because he used to be a clothes shop. If you weren't a relative, you didn't get in, you know. And so he looked at Rick's stuff, and he said, you know, pretty good-looking stuff, kid. It's not bad. Come back to us in about five, six years. And I got mad. I got really mad and almost got kicked out of the place because I started spurting off stuff. And Rick said, no, no, that's fine.

That's okay, kid. Now, what Rick did, he just got even because he finally got doing stuff in makeup for films that weren't Union. And the Union guys were going, oh, man, we've got to get this guy in the union. They finally begged him to join the union. He didn't have to take the tests or anything. And now, of course, he's about the best makeup guy in the whole world. He just retired finally, unless he finds something he really wants to do again. And we've been friends ever since then.

And I can't believe, like, he's in his 60s now. So what does that make me? About 110, I'm sure. And you did a bunch of those stage shows. Oh, the spook shows. Yeah, where they'd be showing a monster movie, and then there'd be this extra live show. Yeah, yeah.

Those are kind of fun. They were kind of dangerous, too, but they were fun. I did my gorilla in a lot of those. They were kind of dangerous, too, but they were fun. I did my gorilla in a lot of those. They'd be showing something, and then they'd blank out the screen or something, have a blackout for a couple of minutes. And I would come down in the gorilla suit. By the time lights went back on, I'm right down where the people are, and they're scattering all over the place because I'm all over the place, squirting, snorting, all that kind of stuff. And that was fun, but it was kind of dangerous because people would try to kill you sometimes. So that wasn't so much fun.

Didn't you get attacked when you were dressed as a mummy? Oh, yeah. Yeah. I guess they wanted some tanner leaves. I don't know what it was. What, a bunch of kids just jumped on you in the dark? No, these were adult guys, man. Adults? Like gangs and stuff. Well, there's this one theater I did one at.

This guy, it was a bad place in town. So he was smart. He hired the worst guys to take care of me. You know, he said, well, if they take care of you, they won't kill him. We're going to pay him. So here I come out in the mummy thing. And the idea was I get about two deals up in the audience. And then a blackout comes.

And they get me out of there. And I'm gone. You know, well, what happened that day was a thunderstorm it hit hit when the light switch they didn't come back on knock the tricloser out i'm walking i walk another two or three aisles i'm going oh i don't like this and i hear somebody go let's get the mummy and i thought oh geez wow well the first thing i did was i loaded up my mummy suit, of course, with all kinds of bad things. And all of a sudden, I feel these hands on me. And I'm thinking, that's it.

Goodbye. Kathy saw something going on. She thought I was dead. That was it. And this one of the guys says, man, we're paid to take care of you. Don't worry about it. And they took me off to the back. It was a riot in the theater by the time they got the lights back on.

Theater seats were torn out. Those things are bolted down. Were torn out. They went out bolted down, were torn out. They went out to the concession stand, broke all the candy things, and got, oh, it was a mess. By the time I got out of the mummy suit and got back around the block, there were four or five cop cars, and they were in there just beating heads with these things.

I never saw anything like it. Unbelievable. And I heard that, I read in one of your books that there was you were a gorilla for one of the live shows. And some kid had either a can or a bottle of a liquid. Yes. Okay. Yes. That was a deal we did.

I did with Eddie Munster, Butchie, you know, in I think it was Arizona somewhere. It was a shopping mall opened up, and they wanted to see how we were going to work together. I was going to be his new pet in the show. Oh, you were going to be on the Munsters for a while. And he was on the podcast too. We had him here. Yeah. Yeah, and he's such a good kid.

Good guy, Butch. Great guys. So anyway, we went there, and it worked just fine. I mean, we were up on a pedestal thing and all that stuff and did our thing. And I'm on a chain and he's taking care of me. I just wanted to see how we worked together. We worked just perfect together. It was great. All of a sudden, I see some cops way in the back and there's some big, something's going on. I have no idea what it is. So we get through, we go off and this guy walks up, one of the people that owned them all, he says, do you want to press charges? And I said, for what? He said, this kid, we go off, and this guy walks up, one of the people that owned the mall. He says, do you want to press charges? And I said, for what?

He said, this kid. This kid was like 12 years old. He wasn't a little kid. He said, he's got a bottle full of lye, and he's trying to squirt it in your eyes, trying to get close enough to squirt it in your eyes. And he said, what would you have done? I said, well, go blind probably is the first thing I'd do, and then I'd have all kinds of dirty language coming out for sure.

And I said, well, I don't want to press charges because I didn't see them do it. But they did. They pressed charges against him anyway. So it's dangerous doing that. One time I was at Magic Mountain. Crazy. Wow. With my gorillas.

I did the gorilla out at Magic Mountain for a while. It was the thing. We would go around in a little cart, you know, and entertain the people in line. And we did one night show, which I didn't really want to do. Well, we had guards around. They found this one guy with almost an eight-inch shiv. He was going to poke right in the back of my kidneys in the back. Wow.

And they got him before he did it. So playing a gorilla is not – well, any kind of monster is not real fun. But wasn't – didn't Glenn Strange punch a kid out? Oh, the kid ran out and kicked him in the leg. That's a crazy story. I didn't see that show, but that was wonderful. Yeah, the kid ran out and kicked him in the leg. That's a crazy story. I didn't see that show, but that was wonderful. Yeah, it was back east somewhere. And Glenn had a bad knee from a big wreck he was in in a stagecoach years ago in a movie. So it was kind of a bum knee, you know. And he was walking down the aisle like he did before. And this kid there,

and he kicked him in that knee. He's some bad kid, you know, some rat. He kicked him, and Glenn said it hurt so much that he just threw his hand out. I mean, he had a big ham hock hand, I'll tell you. And he hit this kid right in the face. And after the show ended, they went and they found the guy laying over in the chair, his jaw broken, just hanging there. Broke his jaw. Wow.

Just with a reflex. And the other kids said he had it coming we told him not to do that he did it he had it coming he said the man was totally okay in doing that you know but yeah he's he's punched a few people like that so when you're in a monster thing people try to kill you you could have been blind or dead now from those shows you did yeah possibly yeah it's just uh my wife said i'm too ornery to die your wife kathy who's sitting right there where we we should tell our listeners we're looking at bob on a screen he's all out now you know but one time i did an opening of a hollywood

wax museum thing they had and i was there and i and I was in the foyer with this little dwarf guy that was in a Bobby suit from England, you know, a little cop thing. And he's walking around, and I was one of the few gorillas, by the way, that could ride a skateboard. So I was on the skateboard riding around in there. And all of a sudden, Kathy saw this guy. I couldn't see him because he was behind me. A guy came up, he was drunk, and he tried to light my suit on fire.

Now, if he had let that, if it got on fire, it would burn like kindling. I mean really fast. She saw it, and she kicked it out of his hands. It landed in the street, and it was like a Laurel and Hardy thing. All of a sudden, this big truck came and just mashed it to smithereens. There wasn't anything left of it. The guy's going, hey, man, my lighter. You know?

So, you know, you got to watch that stuff, but she always watched me. And you can honestly say you starred in Ghostbusters. Yes, I did. Yes, I did. I guess so. But when you did it, it wasn't quite the money that the later Ghostbusters. No, I'm afraid not. No, I – oh, Tucker used to get mad at me about that too because Forrest Tucker was the other guy in there.

And he just would say – and he said, how much are you getting for this? I said, I'm getting scale. He says, what are you getting for the gorilla suit? And I said, nothing. He goes, oh, my God. He said, if we go for another season, I'm going to negotiate for you. And it's funny. He became like the father figure on the show for me.

He really did. That's nice. He took care of me. Like, I was supposed to get breaks and get the head off, but we were late in getting started, and I didn't want to do that. So I did pass out once, just too hot. He came over, first guy over to me, got the head off, and he says, aren't you supposed to get breaks? I said, well, I should, but we're behind. I don't want to hold anything up.

He said, look, if you die, we don't have a show. Let's fill in some blanks for our listeners. Go ahead, Bob. Finish the story. Well, anyway, he said, okay, I'm going to have new rules. Here's what you're going to do. When Bob gets hot, he's going to tell you, give me a signal. When he does, we're going to stop that scene

or whatever it is, and you put water on him, give him a fan, whatever he needs. I'm going to my trailer and have a little drink. And a pretty big drink, as a matter of fact. And he came back out. He drank quite a bit and I never saw that guy drunk, never in my life, in that show.

He was the most amazing guy. Well, he was like Flynn and all the rest of those old guys, you know? They had a tolerance. He knew how to handle liquor. Those old guys, those old showbiz guys, they could bottle, they could down a few bottles of scotch and then go right on camera. Exactly. Even his F Troop character, Sergeant O'Rourke, was a drinker.

They worked it into the storyline. Oh, they had to. But I never saw him drunk. The first time I saw him, when we did a couple of shows, he was sitting in a chair and one eye was kind of half closed and I thought, oh, he's through for the day, man. That's the end of that.

Then they said, okay, on set. Now, I never saw a guy like turn the switch. He went on there. He never blew a line, ever, you know. And he had a photographic memory, by the way, too. So he didn't even bring the script in during the day. Wow. He was amazing, you know.

But he became the father figure to me. And now is the point in the show where my co-host Frank is going to roll his eyes and go, oh, no. Are you going to sing? No. Oh, God. You'll wish. Oh, you're not going to ask him that question, are you? Yes. Forrest Tucker.

Dodge this one, Bob. I know exactly what you're talking. He's kind of a legend in the way that Milton Berle was a legend. Bigger than Milton Berle. What? Bigger than Milton Berle. I'll put it that way. They had a contest.

He won by two inches. He won. So you're saying Forrest... The only time Milton Berle has beaten anything, I think. Forrest Tucker's appendage was bigger than Milton Berle's? It was pretty big, yeah. It was probably the size of a large salami, I guess is the best way to put it. I heard on the country club he belonged to, Forrest Tucker, as a joke,

he got on his knees and he hit. Do you know the story? No, but I think I'm going to. Okay. That Forrest Tucker got on his knees on the golf course and whipped it out. Keep it clean. Yeah, he whipped it out and he hit the ball. He putted.

That's right. I've heard he did it. I mean, and he hit the ball. He putted. That's right. I've heard that he did it. I mean, I never heard from him. I heard from other people he did it. He's a gimme putt. Yeah. But he'd show it to anybody to ask. I mean, he didn't care, man, woman, or child, or whatever it was, baboon or anything.

That's what I always heard about Burl also. But I mean, I guess if you were blessed in that way, why wouldn't you? I guess so, yeah. I would never show mine to anybody. Well, the problem with mine is it goes inward. So it doesn't do me any good anyway. I wouldn't even think of doing

something like that, you know. You're a sport, Bob. Yeah. My wife hasn't seen mine. She needs a jeweler's loop. Well, my wife didn't know I had one when we got married. She was pretty disappointed for a while, you know, until I sort of unrolled it a little bit. It came out to its two and a half inches.

That was good. You got your far-strucker question. Well, I heard the gorillas have small penises, too, so I was okay with it. I just want to go back and fill in a couple of blanks. The Ghostbusters, for our listeners that don't remember, was Bob was Tracy the gorilla opposite Forrest Tucker, who we now know a lot about, a lot more than when we started this. And, of course, our friend Larry Storch, who did this show. Right.

And we love Larry. And it was your gorilla suit. You built a gorilla, which is taking the story back a little bit. You turned to your wife one day, and you said what out of the blue? I said, well, I always loved gorillas when I was a kid. Gorilla movies and jungle movies. One day I just said to her, boy, I'd like to build a gorilla suit. What?

I thought that might have been the end of it. I wasn't sure for sure. You know, you've got this small unit and you want to build a gorilla suit? But anyway, I did. And she said, I can build a suit. But what I did is I went over to Don Poe Studios, who built these great masks. He built my first head, which I called Kogar. It was really a mean thing.

Then when I went a more benevolent thing and a 20 year old Rick Baker made the Tracy head for me, whoever came to Tracy head. Wow. That's one of the first gorillas he ever did. And, uh, so that, that's why it worked. And everybody thought it's so funny how you can pull this stuff off sometimes that it was, it was strictly, uh, like it had mechanics in it and all that kind of stuff and move the brows. It didn't. The way mine did was like Charlie Gamora, the great ape man years ago that I learned from, did his. It just – just the mouth opens and closes. That's all. And your eye expressions do the rest of it.

So that's what I did. I just would, you know, move my head around and the body English took care of the rest of it. And people thought they saw the brows move and everything else. It didn't really, you know. move and everything else he didn't really you know and rick baker is another guy uh who's an expert as far as ape uh suits go yeah right king kong yep the best that he he built the best suits ever built i mean as far like in gorillas in the mist there were real gorillas in there and then there's two fake gorillas in there and i went had Kathy and I go and see the premiere of it. We looked at it.

He said, now tell me, which gorillas were mine and which gorillas were the real ones? I got them both wrong. Wow. His gorillas, I thought, were real, and the other real gorillas, I thought, were a suit. He's a genius in his way, Rick Baker. Oh, he's a total genius.

The guy can do anything. I mean, he can literally do anything. And he said if he ever finds a movie, he kind of doubts it now that he ever wants to really do, he'll rent a place and do anything. I mean, he can literally do anything. And he said if he ever finds a movie, he kind of doubts it now that he ever wants to really do, he'll rent a place and do it. But he's perfectly happy the way he is. He gets to see his girls now. It's great.

When you were a little kid, you found out, I think the movie was, was it Prehistoric Planet or Prehistoric? It had to do with those guys in dinosaur suits. Unknown Island. Yes.

Unknown Island. That's it. I forgot that one. Yeah. Yeah. So, and they were guys in dinosaur outfits. Right. Now, for a kid that's 13 years old or something, to see guys in a dinosaur suit, you can imagine.

All kids love dinosaurs. Sure. And I almost fainted when I saw these guys, even though they were crude as could be. They were guys that were nine feet tall in dinosaur suits. And this was being shot out in the desert. Palmdale. Yeah. And so they were wearing these heavy dinosaur suits.

Oh, God, yeah. Oh, Jesus. And it was like 200 degrees. Yeah. Well, luckily, I knew Ellis Berman, who was the great makeup artist guy. He's the guy that made all the headpieces for Glenn. He made the Wolfman nose. He made the cane head from the Wolfman, which I have.

And Frankenstein meets the Wolfman. He did Bela Lugosi's Frankenstein head, Ellis Berman. Yes, he did. And he's great. And he was a terrific guy for doing this stuff, you know. And so I just, I love this stuff so much. That was just it, you know. That's when I really got into it.

But when I saw these films and I thought, okay, and I got to know Ellis good. And he said, well, we're going out to the desert pretty soon to shoot this stuff. You want to come out with us? I said, well, we're going out to the desert pretty soon to shoot this stuff. You want to come out with us? I said, yeah. So I skipped school and everything else and lied to my folks and said I died that day or something. I can't remember.

They didn't pay too much attention to me as long as I didn't get in trouble. So anyway, I went out with them, and I was out there the whole day, and it was about 120. And these guys are just stunt guys in these things. They'd never worn suits before, and they were canvas with rubber they were heavy and the way they worked their little hands they just pull little little wires down and the hand would move and they had for making the mouth move they would pull it and grab it and they would you know grab the thing and they had a thing and they pull it down and the mouth would just open and close now sometimes you even see it in the film it didn't go back the way it's supposed to it It would go over here or go over here and like that.

But they just did anyway. It was great. But to see these guys, though, like four guys walking around in the desert, like these dinosaurs, what other kid in the world ever got to see that? You know, it was just wonderful. And that movie is one of those movies like, you know, very tacky, very low budget. The dinosaurs make the early Godzilla ones look like state-of-the-art special effects. It's true.

They do, yeah. But Unknown Island's a fun movie. Oh, it's very fun. And Crash Corrigan, Ray Crash Corrigan, who did Gor suits back in the 30s and 40s. He's a cowboy guy. Sure. He's a cowboy star. Well, he played the sloth in the thing. He was the big sloth.

Oh, yes. That fought him and all that stuff, you know. So he was as hot as anybody else, too, you know. But it was really hot. And one thing I couldn't understand is once in a while I do close-ups of these things, and they throw this dirt up in front of them. And I thought, what are they trying to do, cool them off? Or I didn't know what it was until I saw the film.

And when they showed the long shots with the bomb things going off around them, that's when they cut to the close-ups. You saw the stuff floating around them. So it looked like that was still the smoke and stuff coming out. And you saw a few of them faint in their dinosaur. Well, one guy, it was just, I mean, there's other guys that fainted too. But they had the typical stage fall. They kind of, boom, you know. This guy just went out and went, boom, he was down.

That was all there was to it. So the guys that were directing it and doing it, they had Barton McClain shoot like a grenade rifle at him. And so then they cut into it. And the guy really falls. And he says, I got him at time, something like that. Barton McClain. The guy really falls and he says, I got him at time, something like that. So you wouldn't waste a shot of you passing out from heat stroke. Oh, man, I mean, that was great stuff on Zoom, you know, because the others never looked that good, you know.

I've been to Palmdale. It's insanely hot. Yes. Yeah. I couldn't imagine walking around in a costume. And wasn't, I think they were like, had guys holding them at one point when they. Yeah, they couldn't sit down with these tails. They couldn't do it.

It took a half an hour to try to get them out of there. So they were so hot. What they did, this is very strange. I've got a picture of this. It's very odd. One of the prompt guys would lean over and the dinosaur would lean on him and it looked like some sort of weird mating ritual it looked very strange when you saw it

and it was pretty wild, that's what they would do that's how they got a rest, that's the only way they could so it looked like a guy having sex with a dinosaur a dinosaur having sex with a guy yeah he was the guy that received it a dinosaur having sex with a guy. Yeah. That's what it was. Yeah.

He was the guy that received it, you see. He'd be the more dominant one, the dinosaur, obviously. Yes, I think so, yeah. Dinosaur on top. I don't know what the child looked like. I'd like to have seen it. But it was pretty funny. It was really neat.

Well, that's the way they did movies in those days, you know. Well, and speaking of movie sets, you getting to go visit movie sets as a kid, another one, and it's a story in both your books, is you got to go to the set of Destination Moon and meet the legendary George Pal. And that changed your life. Tell us what happened. Well, I went to school with a kid that his dad was a grip on the film. And I'd always been a science fiction guy, the moon and stuff like that.

And he said, hey, I'm going over after school with my dad. He's working on this picture about going to the moon. I had no idea what it was. I'd never heard of it. I said, okay. So I went over with him. And sure enough, you know, I walked in that stage and had it refrigerated because these guys in these spacesuits were really hot. And I walked in there and I got this chill from being excited and also from being cold.

And this whole moonscape was just, I never saw anything like it in my whole life. I mean, it was like, oh, my God, this is something, you know. And I met George Powell, and we were friends until the day he died in 1980-something. You know, he was just the nicest man ever. I mean, I've never met a guy like him. And name some of the movies George Powell made, some of the great films. Oh, he did Destination Moon, When Worlds Collide, War of the Worlds, The Time Machine, which is one of my favorites, of course. And a couple of, I forget what he did.

Oh, he did Houdini, as a matter of fact. He did a lot of films that weren't really, you know, that popular, but they were wonderful films. Well, Gilbert loves The Seven Faces of Dr. Lau. Yes. That is, okay, that's my wife's favorite right there. That's her favorite film. Ah, she's giving me okay. Kathy's giving us the thumbs up there.

She gave us two okays. That's a tour de force, that Tony Randall performance. I think Tony should have got the Academy Award for that. I don't know who did, but he sure should have. Because, man, he played all of those characters. It's a magical film. And, George Powell, it's so funny because at one point, they're having a parade, and one of the creatures in the parade

is one of the Morlocks from Time Machine. Yeah. Well, it's a little change. It's supposed to be like an abominable snowman. But look, I mean, the makeup was always the same, you know. That was one of your sons. Oh, wow. As a matter of fact.

Yeah. So, yeah, he did it. One of the things in the book, in both books that's touching, Bob, is your relationship with both Glenn Strange and George. You say if you ever wanted to be like anybody, if you ever wanted to emulate anybody, it was the two of them. Oh, absolutely. They were two of probably the best people I've ever known in my life. I mean, just being just really honest to God, great, great folks. I mean, George, everybody loved George.

I don't know one person that ever had a bad thing to say about him. And like Glenn's funeral, for crying out loud, there must have been a thousand people showed up. And these were all cowboys in wheelchairs and walkers and almost everything. You know, they were amazing people. Boy, I wish we had more people like them now, you know. Gil, it's the only one I know that's even close. Yes. He just puts you

in rarefied company, Gil. And I heard one time the Motion Picture Academy visited, because you have an insane collection of movie memorabilia. Over a thousand items.

Yeah. Horror, sci-fi. And they came over there and you have like King Kong and everything. Yeah. He's got the original armature. And what did they want? They wanted a camera kit from Charlie Chaplin. That's all they cared about. It was used in, he used that when he was shooting the,

oh, something in the snow up. I can't remember, Gold Rush? The Gold Rush. I can't remember what it was. That's the only thing they were interested in, period. So they looked down on horror and science fiction. They did. Obviously did, yeah.

And they just thought that was the best. I mean, when I saw the Time Machine or Kong, I thought, oh, man, they're going to want that for sure, you know. No. I said, it doesn't look like King Kong anymore. I said, well, you don't either, you know. So I don't know. It was not fun at all. I kind of, well, I didn't really kick them out, but I said, guys, I got to go shine some shoes, so I got to go. And you are one of those people, you know,

you have like memorabilia from classic horror and sci-fi and from the, you know, decidedly less than classic. And to you, they're all even. Oh, yeah, they are. I mean, it's all made by artisans, by guys that, you know, people have to see these things in person, I think. I mean, because to really appreciate them and what they were, you know, they're just they can't just be thrown away. And, of course, the movies used to throw them away until, of course, eBay came along. That took care of that, you know, right away.

But I just think this stuff has to be seen. That's all there is to it, you know. So Kathy and I try to make it when we can. Of course, now my health's gone to hell, so I'm a little different now. You can see a bandage on me here. Well, that bandage, I took a bad fall the other day and almost clobbered my arm to pieces.

I'm an old guy, so I fall down a lot, you know. And not from drinking anymore. I quit that. And not from heat while he's wearing a dinosaur costume. No, no, not that either. Yeah. I mean, I'd climb in my gorilla suit still if I could. That's for darn sure.

But no, I'm just getting old, and you just start to fall apart after that. So don't ever get 82, whatever you do. If it's 81, stop it. So if people come to the house, though, Bob, the legendary is Bob's Basement. People, you still give tours of the stuff? I mean, there's some videos on YouTube of you and Kathy. I do occasionally when I can. Yeah.

Kathy usually gives the tours now. I mean, she knows the stuff as good as I do now. And she hasn't tripped yet like I have. She's doing all right. But, yeah, we can whenever I feel good enough, we can open it up. Yeah, I do. I like to open it up to anybody I can. I can't take groups of people through, you know, but I do take people through if I can, yeah.

And what is your opinion on CGI? Well, I think CGI has a real place. I mean, they're a great fixer for things, getting rid of wires, getting rid of stuff, and they're really good at doing things. But I like the way that Peter Jackson and Guillermo uses this stuff. They try to use the big full-size stuff that they can and full-size monsters. And they use CGI where they have to, to kind of bridge the gap between those. And that's what they do. And they're still doing them.

Some people, the producer people, I should say, say, oh, CGI is the only way to go now. They don't realize it's twice as expensive as a monster suit, but they don't realize that. They think it looks better. But the problem I have with a lot of CGI stuff, and this is not putting anybody down, it's just the guys that do the CGI, a lot of them aren't actors, and you've got to be an actor to portray this stuff.

And if you're not an actor, you're just pushing a mouse around or something. It doesn't have any real feeling to it, to me. Some do. I mean, Kong now did. Peter's Kong. My God, that was wonderful. And this new Kong that's just out is wonderful, too. It's, I mean, really well done, but they're never going to replace actors. They say someday we'll be able to have Humphrey Bogart walking around again. I don't think so. It's going to look pretty bad if you do. It's a good tool. I think it's a really good tool, but it's not the fix-all. Also, for a collector like yourself, there's nothing do. It's a good tool. I think it's a really good tool, but it's not the fix-all.

Also, for a collector like yourself, there's nothing tactile. There's nothing to take away from the experience. Nope. You don't get the model or the armature or the spaceship. Yeah. Well, one friend of mine told me a while back, he says, from now on, when we give you a prop, if we do, it's going to be on a CD-ROM. That's it. And that makes me feel bad.

Sometimes I think CGI looks too slick. Yep. Or it takes you out. It looks cold. Yes. It takes you out of the story. It does. It really does.

Yeah, it doesn't look right. Yeah. Like, I feel like with the stuff, well, like the Rick Baker stuff with appliances or back to the Lon Chaney Wolfman pictures. Oh, my God, yes. You know you could touch it. Yep. That's it.

Which is what Forrest Tucker said, too, I think. A nice segue. Forrest said, touch it any time you want. Yeah, that's all right. Just leave some money in this bowl. Oh, that's hilarious and bob you lend some of the props to the studios uh sometimes i mean you'll take something and you'll give it back when they're making a sequel they'll need a certain item yeah well like on the alien series

i've loaned the queen back to them twice now so they could redo another queen or use that queen it's you know stuff like that now they're doing it. The latest Ridley Scott is just out right now. I understand it's 90% CGI with the aliens and stuff now. And I'm sure it looks quite good too. I haven't seen it yet, but it looks good. Well, I like to have the thing sitting in front of me. Well, you can touch it. And people can touch it.

Like with Kong, I love to have – I just take Kong. He's pretty heavy and hand it to somebody and say, here, get pictures with it. They go, oh, I can't touch that. No, no, no. I said, no, no, please. The armature you made. Yes. If you can touch stuff, I let people do that because I think it's really important to do that.

You've got to go there, Gil. When you're in L.A. doing gigs, you've got to go to Bob's basement. He'll let you hold the King Kong. And it had rabbit fur on it, huh? The original Kong armature. Yes. And it had rabbit fur on it, huh? The original, the Kong armature. Yes, originally had rabbit fur. And then, in fact, the Kong I have is also the son of Kong. Because they took that armature, stripped the rabbit fur off of it, and put white, gray rabbit fur on it.

And so it's been used for both Kongs, actually, which is pretty cool. But he still looks like Kong, even though he's stripped. He still looks great. And you got to see Willis O'Brien at work. Wow. How about that, Gil? That was a fun time. Oh, my gosh.

He was doing the Black Scorpion, as a matter of fact. And a friend of mine knew him and knew Pete Peterson, who was the guy that worked with him toward the end. And we got to go over to his – it's a garage thing he was shooting in. And he was shooting this scene where the scorpion's coming down the train track and the train hits it, or he hits the train, I guess, or something. So he was doing this whole thing with the scorpions. And he was such the scene where the scorpion is coming down the train track and the train hits it or he hits the train, I guess, or something. So he was doing this whole thing with the scorpions. And he was such a nice man.

I mean, I know I was probably really making him pissed off, you know, because I kept, well, how do you do this? And why did, you know, and he said, I'll tell you why. You know, but he was great at it. He was so nice, so nice to me. And he had, I guess it might have been Peteete's wife i don't know pink we was there make like tuna sandwiches for us for a while we had tuna sandwiches out there and stuff and he i found him just a great guy to talk to i don't think anybody talked to him that much about stuff you know he didn't know he i guess he didn't know he had too many fans i think or something

like i was that was a great thing well i always hated i i mean i loved as a kid i knew how they do did it with the stop motion with the anim on animatronics yeah but i always hated when i'd watch a dinosaur picture and it would be like lizards oh you mean they really used – Yeah. Yeah. I felt like so cheated. Used real iguanas and stuff. Yeah, I hated that too. Well, you know, that's sad because when they did the remake of The Lost World years ago and they hired Willis to be there. But that's just because Irwin Allen wanted to have his name. He didn't do anything at all.

And they used these lizards and glued the rubber scales on them and stuff. And, you know, I think he just walked away. Willis didn't. I can't handle this. I can't do it. I heard when they called him, he was kind of excited, like he'd get a chance to recreate, like, you know, King Kong and the Lost World. Well, that's what he was told, that you'll have armatures,

and there'll be these lizards climbing around. And then somehow during the way he got done, that's too expensive to do that. We didn't have the time to do it and all that stuff. But he – well, you know, he walked out on Son of Kong too. He was doing Son of Kong and they started making him do these silly things like he falls down and he crosses his eyes and all that stuff. And Wellesley said, no, no, no. You're not – it's Son of Kong. You're not going to make him be stupid and funny. It's and all this stuff. And Wellesley said, no, no, no. It's Son of Kong. You're not going to make him be stupid and funny.

It's not going to happen. So he walked out of the film, and I think it was Buzz Gibson had to finish all the animation on it because he just wouldn't do it. He was a purist with this stuff. My God, he created it. Why not? As long as we're talking Kong, Bob, did you audition for the 70s Kong remake in a Bigfoot costume?

You had to ask about that. It's in the book. Oh, I'm sorry about that, too. That's one thing she didn't cut out she should have. Well, yeah, what it was, this friend of mine, Chris Mueller, who was a great sculptor and did a lot of great stuff over at Universal, and he did Jaws, he did all this kind of stuff. He got me in on this thing because they said, well, we want to audition somebody to maybe play Kong. And I took my puppet over I had then and said, here's how you got to do it.

And they said, ah, too much money. Can't do that. No, no, can't do it. So, okay. So I went over and I took my gorilla suit over, which is good enough. But they said, no, no, we have one you can wear. We've got the Bigfoot suit from Andre the Giant. Now, he's about 18 feet taller than me.

And I said, well, okay. I put the suit on, and the legs went out about five feet beyond my legs. And the arms, we finally had to fold them all up. I looked like I had Popeye girl arms, what it looked like. And so they had to make a new sculpt for me, though. So they used Joe Don Baker's head. Now, Joe Don Baker's head's about twice the size of mine. I said, why don't you take a cast of mine? Don't have time. Don't have time. We'll do this. So here comes this big gorilla thing, the mouth's down to here. And they glue it on me, and it doesn't want to hold because it's just too much of it. This makeup guy comes and says,

I got something. He's got this big tube, looks like a giant tube of toothpaste. He said, this will hold an elephant to a wall. This will work. And he put that on me. And, man, it worked all right. It held on. We tore it off in pieces. And my face looked like hamburger for a couple of weeks after that.

But it didn't work at all. I mean, it was just terrible. And so poor Juror Sergeant had to do the direction on it. And he just kind of went, oh, boy, I don't know about this. And they got one of the other guys out of – he was retirement to shoot the stuff and a special effect guy. And he said, why did they come out to do this crap? But anyway, so here they are and they got a little hut built up and all that. So I'm supposed to walk in there and do that.

And they have a little Barbie doll down by a fake beach saying I'm supposed to come down and lift the doll up and all that stuff. I can't even hardly see it through this face. And the hands are so big. Whatever it is. Oh, it's upside down. Well, anyway, then they had a plane, an old biplane, a guy had it on a stick. And the first thing I did was grab it and wreck it. He didn't have it up high enough.

And he said, well, put care of that. Well, he won't have the plane. Don't worry about it. So we did that. Now, here's the thing that is the weirdest thing of all. One of the art directors said, you know what? If we make everything smaller, it'll be smaller. The scale will be smaller.

It won't cost us much money. Let's use a dwarf as a gorilla in it. Okay. So what do they do? Oh, my God. They take this little guy who was a great little really a nice fella they put him in the big food big what am i big foot son of big foot which is still three times bigger for him used the same head as i had which mean that came down to his stomach

you know and they said okay now here's here's the. They said, we're going to shoot the same footage with him. So they had him watching. He said, now you're going to come through the back of this thing and, you know, come on the beach, pick up the girl. He said, well, here's what we want you to do. Now, we can't see you behind the building. It's too small. So wiggle the trees and bushes

when he comes. No, you're coming out. He did. Here comes the little guy out. He's stumbling all over the place. He's got the hands that look like, I don't know what they look like. He can't even pick the doll up. It's impossible for him to do it. And he's just walking around. And it was just, oh, man, I'm just standing there with the camera guy.

And the camera guy said, oh, God, I should have stayed home on the beach. But anyway, I don't know how that ever worked. I never got to see any of the footage. They burned it all. Oh, man man i wish we could see it it's a long journey to end up with rick baker that's true they wind up ending up with your old friend in the gorilla suit that's it well that's the one that ended up that carlo made or what's his name ramboli dino de laurentis you know did it yeah he did all that stuff but it was but it was. We will return to Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast after this. And you worked with another guest of ours, Roger Corman. Oh, yeah.

Yeah. Roger was a great guy. He still is a great guy, as a matter of fact. He's going to outlive us all. He's in his 90s. He's got to be 90. Yeah. And he's still just as smart as he

ever was. He still has the same money he had originally. He knew how to spend that stuff. Or not to spend it, I guess. He was infamous for that. He was a great guy. Well, I worked with Paul Blaisdell, my friend Paul Blaisdell, who did the

She-Creature, Conquer the World, Saucerman, that kind of stuff. And that's where I first met Roger, Conquer the World, Saucerman, that kind of stuff. Another genius. That's where I first met Roger on Conquer the World, I think, something like that. But he was a great guy. I mean, he was really cool. He liked Paul's work a whole lot, and that was kind of the only quarrel they ever had is they were supposed to stay in a cave the whole film. And it looked great in the cave, but then he wanted to come out at the end.

And it looked like a big uh i don't know upside down turnip or something i don't know what it was everybody laughed in the theater so when paul we all saw it we got up and left he couldn't he couldn't see it anymore because he knew they were going to get laughs you know later on it became kind of a cult picture though and it's pretty good and it's an original design for a monster i'll say that for it but uh you know uh he liked roger liked paul and Paul and Paul liked Roger a lot. I mean, they both got along all right except for that one time, you know. But they did a lot of stuff like that.

And then AIP ended up screwing him over, of course, like they always do. You know, work for nothing right now and when we get big, you'll be with us, you know. Oh, yeah. I said, boop, see ya. That's what they did. He was a great talent, Paul, who winds up eventually turning his back on the business. Completely. Yeah. He finally – because he did everything on a hands talent, Paul, who winds up eventually turning his back on the business. Completely. Yeah.

He finally – because he did everything on a handshake. You know, he thought everybody was honest, everybody was good. Well, they weren't. They turned out not that way. And so it finally just got to him where he couldn't take it anymore. You know, they finally – I got asked for some more money for a little bit of stuff. No, no, we pay you the same money. That's what we do.

Yeah. That's ridiculous. A great talent. I urge our listeners to look up Paul Blaisdell's work and his career. Very imaginative guy. Did you meet the other AIP characters? Did you meet Nicholson and Arcoff? Yes.

James Nicholson? What were those guys like? Arcoff was sort of the ape. Yeah, he was kind of like that. He was the head guy. Right. He was the money man. Jack Nicholson was the sweetest guy I ever met in my whole life.

This guy was so good. He's the one that came up with the titles yeah well james jack nicholson yeah that's him yeah and he was a wonderful man in fact he gave me i went down to film row which is down in vermont uh a 35 millimeter print of saucer men just gave it to me wow take this sign it it's yours i have no projector to show it on but i have a film anyway but he was he was a nice nice human being that guy now who was the special effects guy who uh from the old movies who built the shark for jaws oh well that was uh my friend chris mueller built the thing he's the guy that sculpted it yeah he did a lot of stuff and then there was i can't think of the guy that made it work. I just can't think of his name.

Oh, I know his name and I can't think of it either. Yeah, you know, but he was the guy that actually figured out how to make it work. Not Carlo Rambaldi. Oh, God, no. He didn't know how to tie his shoes. I set him up. I'm sorry, but that's just the way it is. There was one guy, he was famous for like-

Our listeners are screaming the name out. Yeah, like Journey to the Center of the Earth or one of those type movies. Trying to think. We'll figure it out. Yeah. Could it be Abbott? I think that's his last name, possibly. Or first name, I can't remember.

He was a guy who was with Fox for years and a really good effects guy, too. He was really good. You're going to look, why don't you know that now? We should have. We can't afford a researcher, Bob. Ah, yes. And our fans are going to be

tweeting us really angrily. I think Abbott sounds right. Oh, it could be. Not Norman Abbott who directed you in Ghostbusters. No, no, no. He directed us. Yeah, different guy. No, I can't think of his first name now.

It wasn't Bud Abbott either. As long as we're talking about legends that you met, tell us about the legendary Ed Wood. Oh, Ed. Now, there's a good guy. I mean, well, I say that and a lot of people get all over me about it. But I get on my soap dish with him. You know, everybody thought he was a crook and got the money.

Well, he did in a way. But in his early days before he started drinking and stuff, you know, every dime he got went into his movies. I mean, literally went into his movies, you know. And he thought he was doing good stuff. And like I always said about him, I said, the one thing or two things Ed doesn't have, he's got the drive, he's got the wish for it. It's just taste and talent he doesn't have. It's in your book. It's a great line. He had everything it takes to be a great filmmaker.

Except those two things. He did, you he still tried, and he got them done. Well, I feel he gave Bela probably another three or four years of his life for sure. I think Bela would have died a long time ago if he hadn't kind of resurrected him and helped him and stuff. It was kind of a love relationship there. It was kind of father and son type of thing. But Ed, I always thought Ed was – he was not a bad guy. He was not a blowhard guy he just wasn't you know he liked to cross dress but that's just what he liked to do there was no big thing about it well so does gilbert yeah yeah well i heard about that yeah were you

you were on the set of plan nine from outer space which wasn't which wasn't called that at the time how about that no i forget what it was was. Was it something? I think grave robbers. Yeah. Yes. Something of the ghouls? Grave robbers from outer space. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it had something to do with ghouls, too.

Yeah. Well, I was down there one day, and that's when one of the tombstones fell over. And he did say, don't worry about it. Nobody will notice it. He was there. This is movie history. The man was on the set of Plan 9. Yeah, and poor Thor Johnson had these contacts, and he couldn't see squat.

He was falling into everything in the world. But everybody loved him, though. I mean, I don't know who didn't. Well, I know a few people that didn't like Ed Wood. They thought he was a whatever. Now, I was called down when they were going to make Ed Wood, and Tim Burton was going to direct it, and they knew I knew Ed, so they wanted to know if I could say something. I went down, and I swear to God, when I walked in, what's his name, Johnny Depp was doing a scene, and I thought I saw Ed Wood's ghost.

Wow. That's how close he was. I mean, I really thought I saw his ghost. And so I told Tim, I said, I can't tell you anything about this guy. I mean, he's got it down, you know, and all this stuff. And he even came over and talked to me for a while. And I just said, man, you've got it. You've got a nail. There's nothing I can tell you, you know.

But when people say he was a bad guy and all that kind of stuff, maybe later on when he started drinking, it probably did go right into his drink, I'm sure. I mean, the last time I ever saw the man was about six months before he died. He came by CBS where I worked. And the guard called me down and says, you want to kind of see this guy? He said, I think he's drunk, but come on down and see him. So I went down and he was, you know, and he looked all scabby. It just didn't look very good at all. And so I took him in the coffee room everywhere and I got him some coffee and we talked. And he said, well, Bob, I'm going to do another film and I really need help. I need some money. Well, I had $50 on me that day and I just gave it to him.

I did. I just said, okay. And I knew it was going to go into a bottle. I knew it did. But I had that much respect for the guy because he was really basically a good guy. He was not – he's not a crook. He was not a – well, they say all kinds of bad things about him. I don't believe it.

He never treated me that way ever. And so I get on my soapbox He never treated me that way, ever. And so I get on my soapbox sometimes about that, when people get on me. There was one book thing, a guy was doing the worst pictures in the world, and he wanted me to say bad things about it, and I said, no, I won't say that. They're not.

Because they weren't the worst movies in the world. Boy, there's been a lot more. Like, there's the creeping... Oh, the creeping terror. Yeah, which is the carpet that wraps around. That's worse. That's a bad more. Like there's the creeping Oh, the creeping terror. Yeah. Which is the carpet that gets around. That's worse. That's a bad movie. Now I think Plan 9 looks pretty good next to that.

It's a nice story that you gave him your last 50 bucks. I think because you shared his love for films. You wanted to see him succeed. Yep. Absolutely. Not only because you liked him personally. Yeah. I was just hoping he'd be able to do something with it, but he didn't. I thought he was probably too far gone by then anyway, but he was a decent fella. I mean, that's all there was to it.

I guess maybe I like the guys that have it rough sometimes, you know? I mean, because being a no-talent myself, I just got by by getting by, and I don't even know how. I don't know. Maybe it's because I broke their windows and stuff. I did something like that. Did you sit next to Tor Johnson at the screening? Yes, we did, and that was so funny.

This is like a Drew Friedman cartoon come to life. Wow. We were sitting there. We saw Edward. It was down at a real sleazy theater in L.A. It was not the Pantages that they used in the movie, of course. And we sat with him and his wife and his son, I guess it was. And they were all the same size.

That was kind of weird. They were real big. I mean, you know. Big Swedes. And once in a while, you'd see him on the screen, and he would go, oh, that's okay. Yeah, that looked good. You'd hear him make these little comments and stuff, you know. Very nice fellow.

Extremely nice guy, you know. And it was raining. That's true. That really was, you know. Kathy it was raining. That's true. That really was, you know, Kathy had never seen anything like this stuff. I haven't really indoctrinated her yet to that type of the world, you know, so she didn't know exactly what to say, you know, and some guys got up there in the stage. Oh, and the guy was a chiropractor who I was that played Bela after he died. Oh, yeah. Was it Tom Mason? Yes. He got up and said, oh, I'm so honored that I got to do Bela.

He's so wonderful, and I really love doing it. And they finally had to cut him off. He was going to go forever. He just wanted to talk about everything, I guess. I don't know. It was neat. It was really. Did you talk to Lugosi at all?

Yes. Not there. Not at the film. I talked to him when he got out of rehab. He kicked the dope habit thing. And we used to have a show at KNXT, CBS, that was giving trophies

to guys that went through hardships and made it. Well, he made it so they had it. So I went down. I knew the makeup guy. And so when he was coming in for makeup, I went in and sat in with him for a while. And he was so thrilled that he was off of this stuff. I mean, that he did well and stuff, you know. And he was a very nice man. I mean, he was very articulate.

His mind seemed to be settled again. He was pretty good. And he just kept saying, I'm so glad I kicked it. I'm so glad I kicked it, you know. And I said, well, you got thousands and millions of fans out there that are glad for you, too, you know. And he was very nice, really a swell, very nice fellow. This is a man who met Dracula, Frankenstein. And the wolf man.

And the bride of Frankenstein. Yeah. Well, I told my wife earlier, this is probably the last broadcast I'll ever do, because I'll go home tonight and probably have a coronary. No, no, no. Don't say that. But at least I'll die of something I really love doing, though. I mean, that's the whole thing.

I mean, the only other thing I'd rather be in as well is wearing the gorilla suit right now. I'd like it better. How did you settle on the name Kogar for your gorilla? It was a guttural sound. I just kept going, and I thought, Kovar. Now, that sounds like a mean name.

I mean, like an animal, something would do it, I guess. And then, of course, Tracy was for the Ghostbusters. He had to be a likable ape or whatever. And then when Rick made that head for me, boy, he captured this great thing I wanted in the ape thing. Kovar couldn't have done it.

That face wouldn't have done it. And you, one time on Ghostbusters, you were dressed as the gorilla and you were going down a hill in a car. Oh, yes. With Larry. With Storch. Yeah.

Well, it's still in the opening of the show. You see us coming down in the hill. It was a fire break and so Norman said, can you guys go up there to that fire break? And I said, I don't know if this old car can make it, man. I mean, it was really an old, it was 1930-something Whippet, I think. Whippet was the name of the car.

Thank you, Kathy. See, she's good for me. Kathy is sitting right there with Bob filling in the blanks. Well, she gave me a whole thing on the way over here. She talked about everything she could think of, except that one time where I got the pictures in the post office, but that was different anyway. We won't talk about that.

It had something to do with a mule. I don't know. But anyway, so we got up there, and I'm looking up. Boy, that's pretty far down, you know. Now, Tuck wasn't with us that day. He was off somewhere, but we were going after the ghost assignment, which he didn't go with us anyway. So we went down, and we start going down a hill and he said, no, and he also

normally said, when you get down here, can you do like a, a, a, a fish thing? I mean, you know, flail the car around by the camera. So it looks like it's going this way. And I said, I'm not a stunt guy. I said, well, can I just wear gloves? The rubber hands are hard to work and the feet are hard to work. Can I wear, and he said, no, you got to wear the whole thing. I might want you getting out. I said, okay, but I could barely even hold onto the wheel with these hands, you know? So anyway, I went up there and he said, he wants me to fishtail out of this, Larry. And I said, so I want to tell you something. If I yell jump, jump, because I mean, I'll make, if I go over the hill, over the cliff, right where they are, I'll make it probably in the gorilla suit.

I don't know if you would or not because he had a plastic hip just put in. He said, okay, I'll try my best. So anyway, we get up there, and I hear he's got a Megalodon. Okay, action, come on down. I'm coming down and just hitting the stuff in there, the trees and bushes and stuff. The car is just going everywhere. And so I start trying to brake, and the brake goes right to the floor. There is no brake in that car.

Wow. It's gaining more speed, and I'm telling Larry, get ready, Larry. I have no brakes. I tried to pull the emergency brake, nothing. I said, oh, boy. So I'm coming down, and Larry's yelling at him. I'm like, get out of the way. Get out of the way.

So we come on down, and I did do sort of a fishtail. I mean, just to save my life is what we were doing. Went on down the street, and they had the street, Mulholland, blocked off with a couple of cops. And I couldn't get the thing stopped. It was kind of going downhill. And I said, what am I going to do? And the cops are down there waving at us, and he's going, get out of the way, get out of the way. And they finally see us, and they suddenly tear off on their sickles. I go right through them.

I keep going. I finally had to put it in a ditch to make it stop. So I finally got it stopped. And we got back down there and so Norm looked at me and says, can you do it one more time? Wow. I'm trying to picture Larry Storch in a zoot suit.

Bob Burns in a gorilla suit driving a car with no brakes. Yeah. Don't you love show business, Bob? I do. Yeah. I never thought I'd be doing that part, you know, but it was fun. But then when Tucker came in the next day, he was mad.

I mean, and so he came over to Norm and had a little talk with him. Like, if you ever try to send these guys out this car again without me checking it first. And I said, well, I don't think I'm going out in the car again. I'll do the dry stuff on the stage, you know, and that stuff. But I don't think – we never had to go. We shot all those things out there. Now, that was shot in a place called Piru, Lake Piru or something. And they have a place there.

It's an alcoholic rehab. And there's a lot of guys walking around going into the saloons down there. They would see this ape walking around. I think they were getting the DTs or something. Yeah, they went in the saloon pretty fast at that time. So when we drove up, I had to drive this thing. We're driving all up and everything. Sometimes they'd just come walking into the scene.

Hey, man, what are you doing? Yeah, this kind of thing. Cut, cut, cut, that kind of thing. But it got to be funny after a while. It was kind of fun. By the way, guest stars on the Ghostbusters, the only Ghostbusters Gilbert cares about, by the way, include our friend Bernie Coppell, who's done this show,

Jim Backus, Hunts Hall, you'll love this, Gil, Billy Barty, the great Howard Morris, and burying the lead, Joey Ross. Wow! You know, Howie Morris was going to supposedly direct our show originally.

Right. But he got some commercials he had to do and stuff, so he didn't. So Norm came in, you know. But all those guys were great, man. They were such terrific guys. I never worked with anybody, never met those kind of guys before, you know. Now, Hunts, we did two shows with him. He was just so damn funny. He was so great.

And we got to improvise a lot, Hunts and I did. We did just all kinds of stuff ourselves, you know. And that's a great thing, shooting it on tape, you could get away with anything you wanted. I mean, Mark, the writer of the show, he said, do anything you feel. If you like, you can do funnier stuff than what's written, do it. And we did that quite a few times. And it was really, really cool. Did Tucker break into the Music Man spontaneously? Yes, he did. On set? We were setting up stuff. Yeah, he did it back in Chicago for a while. Yeah.

And he was a hoofer, a real hoofer, too. Sure. I didn't even know that, you know. He comes down and he starts doing the, what's that big tune? Oh, Trouble in River City? River City, yeah. He did this whole thing, man, and he had us all, we were just glowing at him. We couldn't even move.

It was so great. He did the whole number, the whole thing. And they got a big round of applause for him and all that stuff. And he says, boy, I miss doing that stuff. I really miss doing it. He worked at the Jerry Lane Theater back in Chicago. I sure he loved to work. And he was good, man.

We did one thing where we had to dance. Now, Larry didn't dance. The gorilla never dances. I mean, never. You got that, dance. The gorilla never dances. I mean, never. You got that, Bill? The gorilla never dances. Yeah. So they said, well, you got to dance.

You got to be able to talk. You got to do this two-step thing, whatever it is, you know. And Larry was as bad as I was. So they brought a tutor in for us. And the tutor finally walked up and says, I can't teach these guys anything. I mean, they're not going to learn. And Tuck said, oh, they will. I'll whip them into place, you know.

Anyway, we did it, and it came off well. I was surprised, really. But we didn't know what we were doing. Now, did Forrest Tucker and Larry Storch, were they friends in real life? Oh, yes. I believe so, yeah. Even before F Troop, I mean, so, yeah. Even before F Troop. I mean, they were friends.

And then F Troop, they really became solid and that was it. That's why they loved to do this show because they were working together again. That's what they wanted to do.

And I was the new kid on the block and I was scared of these guys. Oh, yeah, I was scared of these guys. I was because I was, you know, they're an icon.

Just like you. I'm still a little scared of you right now. I'm getting better but I'm a right now. I'm getting better, but I'm a little scared. I'm scared you're going to come out with that whammy, you know, and it's going to come and knock me right off the microphone. But anyway, so the first day we were shooting, I held back. I did a thing. And then I looked at Tuck and I thought he was giving me kind of a bad look. It was just, I didn't know him then at all. So I didn't know what to do.

So the next thing, Norm comes and says, Bob, what are you doing? You're doing stick and stuff. And all of a sudden, you're kind of stopping behind me. You've got to do this. And I said, OK. So I said, but I got to talk to these guys because I was really worried. I went over there sitting in their chairs. And I said, guys, can I just talk to you for a minute? And I said, I got a problem. Now, Tuck, who I didn't know yet, didn't know he sent you, goes, what the hell could possibly be your problem? This is the first show. You know? And I said, well, I think I'm upstaging you guys, and I don't mean to do that.

A new kid on the block or an animal, they can't. I don't mean to do that. That's not what I'm trying to do. So if you find me doing that, let me know. You know, Tuck says, is that your problem? And I said, yeah. You know, and he goes, well, all right. Look, I'm too old for ego crap.

I'm way too old for that. And he said, Larry's too out of it. He doesn't even know what's going on around him. I believe Larry's too stupid was the line. Yeah, and Larry went, yep, yep, that's right, yep. He said, if you can stand behind me and go, bloop, and get a laugh.

He said, you're here to make people laugh. He said, we're going to be second bananas to you anyway. We know that already, and we're fine with it. But he said, do anything you want to do. And boy, from then, I never had a problem that's nice generous performers oh i just thought i just thought of the uh the make of the effects wizard's name i think it's lb abbott that's it just popped into my head man he's pretty good gilbert you know that yeah he keeps me around grudgingly okay i got a big finish for you gil oh yes now i don't know if you found this in

your research uh speaking of legendary showmen uh bob also got to spend some time with someone who's come up on this show william castle wow yeah that was a great experience and what did you do with william castle because gill's gonna gill's gonna jump out of his chair now yeah well uh i was in the army at that time down in San Antonio, Texas, and they were bringing in the Tingler. And so I was doing the local shock theater down there because I couldn't stand the army. It was driving me crazy. So Kathy and I went down and got a job doing stuff, different monsters for him and things. And so they were bringing the Tingler in. So he came in and I did a thing

with him. I can't even remember what it was now. And I said, boy, I'd like to come down and watch you guys when you hook up these chairs and stuff you're going to be doing out here. And he goes, okay, come on down. So I went down and I helped him. What they were were like plain de-icer things. They were little offset

cams that would shake the wings and knock the snow off of them. That's what they actually were because it would shake the seat. No electricity. God, somebody died. So they did that, and it was great. I loved it. So we got to wire up some of the seats and stuff.

Then after we got done, he said, I want to get pictured because I made up as the wolf man. I had her as Miss Shock, the thing with an eye hanging down here somewhere. That's how she looked when I first met her. So it worked out pretty good that way. And so then he said, I want to get pictures of all you guys. So we went to his hotel. So they shot a bunch of pictures of me and both of us all giving him. Oh, and I'd made up a key to the city out of skeleton bones, real skeleton bones,

because that's one of my jobs in the Army was repairing the skeletons that these guys would always take and put in the guy's beds and scare them to death, you know. Wow. So I found some bones, and I made a big hip bone for the main thing. Well, I made this thing up, and I wanted Kathy to present it to him. So he loved it. In fact, his daughter still has it today. She kept it. I got to talk to her a while back. She still has it. That's kind of neat. Yeah, we want to talk to his daughter. Oh, she's sweet. Get her on the show. She is so sweet.

So here you go, Gil. This man actually wired seats for the Tingler. Yes, I did. That, of course, is a famous part of the movie where Vincent Price goes, scream, scream for your lives. The Tingler is loose in the theater. Pretty good, huh, Bob? That's a great impression, man.

That's really good. I like you even more now. I didn't know you did voices for Conan. Oh, he does a few. I thought his was hard enough to do, but, jeez, that's amazing, man. Oh, thank you. I'm proud of that. But anyway, yeah, geez, that's amazing, man. Oh, thank you. I'm proud of that. But anyway, yeah, I did, and it was a lot of fun.

It was really a lot of fun. And then what he did is he took us back to this hotel, and we ate, so whatever we wanted to do, you know. And then I asked him if he could send me a couple of pictures. He sent me a whole packet of the pictures when he got back. I actually sent them to him in the Army. He was the sweetest man. Boy, was he a great guy and a great showman. Oh, we're fans. We're fans fans we've talked about him on this show did you get a chance to meet vincent

price yes i did i got to meet him over tv city one day i went over he was doing a i forget some comedy show with somebody over there because i i worked at knxt but i also would go over to tv city if i wanted to so i went over there and saw him, met him. And he was here again, another completely sweet man. I mean, the guy was just, you felt like you knew him for years when you first talked to him, he would treat you like he's known you forever. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's, it's quite a journey, Bob, you know, and this, I'm going to plug your books in a second here, but you're, you're a man after our own hearts, right? Gil? Oh, my God, yes. A man who just gave his life to the movies, just loves. He just loves. And you're one of those people, like, if people in the audience don't know who you are,

it's like we just want to tell them if you're a true horror and sci-fi fan, everybody knows Bob Burns. Absolutely. I'm sorry about that. We tried to get you on the show for months, Bob. It was a real chase. I know. I went to the hospital a couple times. I did all kinds of things.

I know. We appreciate that. And you're a trooper, and here you are finally. Yes, and I'm thrilled to death. I can't tell you how thrilled I am. You're a kid that grew up in Oakland. You're an Okie from Muskogee. I certainly am. Yes, I am. Yes, and I'm

proud of it, too. And I urge our listeners to get the books. I'm going to talk about them. It came from Bob's Basement, which is terrific, exploring the science fiction and monster movie archive of Bob Burns, which is filled with wonderful pictures of your collection and other stuff. And this book, which I'm going to give to Gilbert because I read it and I absolutely loved it, Bob Burns' Monster Kid Memories, firsthand encounters with makers of

the classic monster movies. And it's kind of a memoir. That's what it is. It's my favorite book. It's one that actually was my love letter to all these guys I knew, all these people, you know, that I don't think got a chance to get known that well. I mean, they knew we were known that well, but I mean, know the inside of how they worked and how they were. I'm just so thrilled about this, guys. I can't even tell you how thrilled. Well, we're thrilled. I mean, we do this show because of our love for this stuff and and and our and our shared love for for for these people

and these talents and uh two of the other things too that emerged from the books is uh you know your relationship with your grandfather who got you into this in the first place by buying you those superman figures back in the day he was the guy yep we went down there's these figures down there at an auto light place or something it's just in oklahoma yet and i saw him and i saw each one of those two of them had different S's on their chest. One was evidently one done later. And I couldn't figure which one, so he bought them both. That's the kind of guy he was.

And you sent away for the box tops and the cereal, and you're one of those kids that used to get the decoder ring and the badge and all of that stuff. That was hard because the cereal I didn't like, so I'd put it in the trash. My mom thought I liked it. I'd say,, so I'd put it in the trash. But my mom thought I liked it. I'd say, well, I finished this box up pretty fast.

Worked out all right. But no, I've always been a – well, I love radio for one thing. And I just love the idea of these premiums. I never got one I didn't like. A lot of guys got them in these little boxes. Ah, it's a piece of crap. None of them are a piece of crap to me. They're all treasures to everyone.

I love them. Because, see, I live – I don't know where I live love them. Because, see, I don't know where I live. Am I in the past? I don't know where I am. I just, I don't, you know, I don't know. You're one of us. Is that what it is? Your collection of all the monster and sci-fi, it's like some people look upon that as like really kitsch camp kind of stuff.

Oh, I get a lot of that, yeah. Yeah, but you actually have a love for each and every one of those things. Oh, absolutely. It all means something to me. I've had some people come in, very few. Somebody brings somebody and says, if you got rid of all this crap, you'd have a really big room. And I said, yeah, I would, wouldn't I?

Didn't you add an extension to the house? Yes. Oh, yeah, we had to. To fit it Didn't you add an extension to the house? Yes. Oh, yeah. We had to. To fit it all? Yeah. Do you ever out this way? We'll come out.

Do you ever get out? Well, I used to live out there, but I didn't know you then, unfortunately. But we'll come out. We'll make a pilgrimage. Please do, because I'd love to show you the place before I can't remember what there is in there. We've been invited to Tippi Hedren's cat preserve, and now we've been invited to Bob Burns' basement. I'm not going to Tippi Hedren's Cat Preserve, and now we've been invited to Bob Byrne's basement. I'm not going to Tippi Hedren's Cat Preserve. Well, this stuff won't bite you either.

That's the difference, man. And the other thing that emerges from the books and from your story is your relationship with Kathy. And I was saying before we turned the mics on, you are a lucky man to have met somebody who shares your passions. The luckiest. And was your aid to camp for all of this and all of these years. And you guys put on these wonderful, lavish Halloween presentations for years in your house. And what did you have, 4,000 people at the house in one year? Yeah, quite a few people come to these things.

Yeah, they did. Oh, by the way, I just wanted to let you know that I'm sending you a copy of the Halloween shows. Oh! I finally got them. Wonderful. Yeah, I was going to ask him know that I'm sending you a copy of the Halloween shows. Oh, wonderful. Yeah, I was going to ask him that, and he said he finally put them on DVD. Wow. How many years did you do them, Bob? From 1962 on, I guess, pretty much. Amazing.

We missed a couple of years, but most of the time. But see, I had some of the greatest friends in the world. They're special effects people, makeup people, God only knows what they are, you know, writers, everything. And they all helped with these things, and they made it what it was. I used to just say they used my yard. I just used my yard for stuff. Oh, no, they're elaborate. Oh, very much so. It's much more than I ever thought it would be. We never counted on that stuff. But you get those kind of talent, boy, it's really something, you know. But I think they're wonderful. I mean, Kathy and I have had a pretty great life together doing crazy things.

Now, she's not nuts like I am. She likes to go off and shoot beautiful pictures and animals and almost get eaten up by animals. She loves that kind of stuff. But I see the pictures, so I don't have to go. Well, we have to thank Kathy for facilitating all this all these years. Believe me, she has. If it hadn't been for her, I'd have been in jail, probably. I think that's true of both of us.

Or I would have been probably in a cave somewhere. And it's like one of these guys they find much later in life is a dead man laying in this cave. And they try to figure out what it was. But no, she's been my salvation. She's the one that's kept me around here. It's a great love story, too. I mean, not only the story of a kid from Oklahoma who doesn't know, who grows up obsessed with these things and these toys and these movies, and he doesn't know how he's going to meet any of these people.

You move to Burbank, and suddenly all of your life changes. All these people come into your life. And then, of course, you meet the right woman to go on that journey with. So it's really a lovely story. So we thank you, Bob. And get the books, Monster Kid Memories, and it came from Bob's basement. And I'm going to give them to Gil. And I'm Gilbert Gottfried.

This has been Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast with my co-host frank santo padre and we've been talking to bob burns who is a master horror and sci-fi collector he's an actor he's a makeup man yes and he's a he's a historian yes he's a gorilla suit builder. And more importantly. And he's a showman. And more important than anything else, he almost saw Forrest Tucker's penis. So you have regrets in your life. That's one, yes. You've had wonderful things happen and something tragic like that.

I'll take that to my grave. Okay. Bob, this was great. Thank you. Thank you, Bob Burns. Thank you, guys. We're the Ghostbusters. I'm Spencer.

He's Tracy. I'm Kong. We're the Ghostbusters. We're clever, courageous, and strong. Your sleep has been haunted with whispers and rattlings. Your blood has been curdled. We know what to do. Your skin has the creepies, I wonder what's happening.

You're safe in our hands, we will take care of you. We're the Ghostbusters, spirits and demons beware. Ghostbusters, wherever you're hiding out there. We know what you're up to, we're ready for anything. We're bold and we're fearless And never afraid We're always prepared We're right there with everything

With us on the job Trouble soon fade The Ghostbusters do it again