Marineland Carnival With The Munsters TV Show Cast & More Lost Treasures
review by Bobby Blakey
The Munsters of Mockingbird Lane thrilled audiences of all ages with the weekly spooky comedy series when it originally aired in the 1960s and then through decades of reruns and more recently a new feature film from director Rob Zombie on Netflix. Now, for the first time, long-lost television appearances of the cast—Fred Gwynne (Herman), Yvonne De Carlo (Lily), Al Lewis (Grandpa), Pat Priest (Marilyn) and Butch Patrick (Eddie) are available to be enjoyed again in this historical and hysterical collection.
Marineland Carnival With The Munsters & More Lost Treasures includes the hour-long Marineland Carnival 1965 special starring the Munsters, a 1966 full-color Munsters-themed “episode” with Fred Gwynne as Herman on The Danny Kaye Show, additional rare skits and vintage talk show interviews with The Munsters TV stars, an all-new featurette (Munster Memories) with Butch Patrick, hit music from the New Christy Minstrels, guest appearances by Edie Adams, Joey Bishop and more delights.
This is one of those strange, bizarre, but awesome collections that takes you back to how different things were for television all those years ago. It was common place for actors to often appear as their characters in other shows for promotions especially if they were as unique as The Munsters. The primary show here is the Marineland Carnival special that showcased
animal acts featuring dolphins, seals and others as well as comedy divers and a musical act. It screamed of something you would see at Sea World, but with excerpts of The Munsters themselves turning it into kind of their own episode of the show.
Its both entertaining and just bizarre making you wonder what the cast themselves felt shooting it much like other strange gems like The Star Wars Holiday Special. I love this kind of stuff because it not only entertains, but takes you back to the fun an unexpected nature of what TV used to offer outside of usual programing. There are some great interviews here as well that gives some insight to the actors experience working on the show that are great fun to see.
The rest of the DVD offers up so many great other show appearances with mostly Fred Gwynne as Homer with my personal favorite being with Red Buttons where at one point they both break character laughing. For someone who seemingly hated being known as Herman he was a genius in the role and seemed to be loving every minute of i8t, but who really knows.
Whether you just love classic comedy & TV or are a hardcore Munsters fan, this is a must have unique release that everyone needs in their collection. Grab your copy of the Marineland Carnival With The Munsters & More Lost Treasures available now on DVD from MPI Media Group.