Thursday, January 31, 2013

Diane Mahree is with us. She is with us always.

I had a wonderful chat with my friend, Diane Mahree this week.  As any self respecting Manos The Hands of Fate fan knows, Diane played the part of little  Debbie's mother and wife to Michael.  Interesting thing I had never really considered before now...We all know what happened to Michael.  He replaced Torgo as the Valley Lodge caretaker and we know what happened to poor little six year old Debbie.  She had the dubious distinction of becoming one of, if not the youngest bride in film history (This is where I count on fans of film to either confirm or rebuke my last statement).  So what happened to beautiful Margaret?  Perhaps Hal had further plans for her character in another film.  Lest we forget the very end of the film where it says "The End?".  I suppose we'll never really know, but we do know that actress and model Diane Mahree did not die in a fiery car crash as Manos mythology once claimed.  She's actually healthy and doing just fine in Colorado.  She and I had the opportunity to meet again in December 2011 back in El Paso where it all began more than 45 years before.  We were there working on the sequel to Manos.  Manos; Search for Valley Lodge.  Don't ask.  I don't know what's going on with that and can't talk about it anyway.  We spent a week together, had a great time and were amazed at our instant connection to each other.  She is still so very beautiful and has a wonderful voice which sounds nothing like the dubbed voice that emitted from her mouth in the film.  She is also a fabulous story teller and had so many great stories of her life adventures and  incredible experiences as a highly sought after model in New York and then Europe.  While talking this week, I asked if she would re tell some of her Manos related stories for me to share with you and happily, she agreed.  My  next post will be how Diane became involved in the first place.  So stay tuned and thanks so much for reading.

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Debbie's Back in the World.

I'm back after more than two weeks of not posting.  Life's certainly been interesting and challenging lately, beginning with a case of empty nest syndrome when my youngest son left for California.  A few days later, an electrical fire nearly caused my house to burn just as my little dog Shanka and I were waking up in the morning. The very next day my neck and back went out accompanied by a pinched nerve For The Second Time In Six Weeks!  OMG!  The pain was second only to giving birth to both my children...simultaneously.  O.K.  Not that bad, but close.   So...after being trapped in bed for a week (Shanka loved it.  Captive owner), I'm up, gingerly moving around and ready to manifest the plans I developed while horizontal.

The reasons I'm sharing all this, besides explaining why I hadn't posted in two weeks is to say that many of these plans include Manos, The Hands of Fate.  I love Manos.  I love the creativity it inspires.  I love the fans and what a vibrant, varied and engaging community they are.  I love being a part of Pop Culture and exploring a world that is new to me.  I love what all this has done to bring my dad "The Master" and I closer together again.  There seem to be new things coming up every week about Manos.  New fan art.   Youtube videos.  The game.  The Restoration.  People in costume.  Comic Strips (Sally Worth), A mention in "How I met your Mother".  Podcasts... and of course the ones who brought it back from the dead in the first place.  MST3000.  Manos became so popular that Rifftrax did a live Manos show in Nashville on Aug 16th 2011 with all new jokes.  They simulcast it to 500 hundred theaters around the country.   Tonight, they are bringing it back to the theaters once more for a "Best of Rifftrax Live" with "Manos".  To find out more or to order tickets, follow the link Best of Rifftrax Live

On a last note for today.  Check out this great t shirt.  I always loved the artwork from the Richard Brandt article titled "Growing up Manos"  (You can read it on my press page) and thought it would look awesome on a tshirt so I contacted the artist Brad W. Foster to ask permission and guess what?  Check it out!  Available on ebay.  Manos T Shirt

Hope you can make it to the Rifftrax show tonight.  I'll be watching from Salem, Oregon.  Maybe Rifftrax will release it on DVD so everyone can see it.



 


Monday, January 7, 2013

Manos: Hands of Felt. Puppet Theater


I'd like to highlight some of the interesting, awesome and hilarious  projects that Manos: The Hands of Fate has inspired in the past.  Today's featured project is Manos: The Hands of Felt. This show was adapted for puppet theater by Rachel Jackson and Directed by Bob Koerner in Seattle Washington at the Odd Duck Studio in April  2011.  If anyone knows the whereabouts of any of these folks, please tell them to let me know if they ever do this show again.  I would so drive to Seattle to see it.



Manos, The Hands of Felt







Fondle her Elbow




Manos. Big Finish



Thanks for visiting. See you next time!