The Cosby Show: Cliff's Mistake (1987)

Originally aired October 15, 1987. Cliff's neighbor Jeffrey gets angry when Cliff can't find the drill that he borrowed. The Huxtable kids prepare for Halloween by building a haunted house in the basement. (Synopsis from TV.com)

The Late Show: New Halloween Costumes

David Letterman gives out some tasteless treats to kids wearing unlikely costumes.

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ALF: Some Enchanted Evening (1987)

Originally aired October 26, 1987. ALF becomes the star attraction at the Tanners' Halloween party. (Synopsis from IMDB.com)

The Facts of Life: Seven Little Indians (1987)

Originally aired January 3, 1987. This episode gives us a cross between a horror movie and The Twilight Zone, where a Rod Serling lookalike narrates as the girls are killed off one-by-one and Tootie is left to face the killer.

DTV Monster Hits (1987)

Originally shown October 30, 1987 on NBC. It features a great collection of pop songs for Halloween:

"Thriller" by Michael Jackson
"Ghostbusters" by Ray Parker, Jr.
"Bad Moon Rising" by Creedence Clearwater Revival
"The Monster Mash" by Bobby Pickett
"Somebody's Watching Me" by Rockwell
"Evil Woman" by Electric Light Orchestra
"Superstition" by Stevie Wonder
"You Better Run" by Pat Benatar
"That Old Black Magic" by Spike Jones
"Dreamtime" by Daryl Hall
"Sweet Dreams" by the Eurythmics

Joe Piscopo's Halloween Party (1987)

I didn't watch this when it aired (I was watching The Search for Houdini that night), but I saw this on YouTube and thought it was amusing. The finale of the show features Joe playing drums to a Bach organ fugue. Pretty scary! I have not watched this whole video, so young viewers should be cautioned that it may contain adult content.

The Haunted Coffin (1987)

Despite the fact that the plans fell through to film a Mummy movie with my friend, Jim, I eventually did produce one with the help of my sixth grade class. I worked on a script at school with a couple of buddies, writing it as a play. Somehow, we made a cardboard coffin and had a few props. I played the Mummy, with my sweat pants and gauze costume. My reading teacher allowed us to perform the play in class, and she videotaped it. I really wish I had asked for a copy of that video.

THE HAUNTED COFFIN
cast
The Mummy Ra-Antef Archaeologist # 1 Archaeologist # 2 Slave Owner Slaves Victims Egyptian Ghosts Background People Music Director(Sound Effects) Announcer
(Before play begins, play "mummy"music.)

Scene One: Slaves are sitting around a pool, looking into it.

SLAVE OWNER (enter at left): Get to work!
The background people spread out and eventually go backstage. The slaves start pulling the coffin out of the pool. They pull it out and sit it upright. The two archaeologists enter and inspect the coffin and try to get it open. They leave the stage at left and come back on at left with a crowbar in their hands.
ARCH 1: You and you, get over here! Help us open the sarcophagus.

Two of the slaves take the crowbar and start to pry the coffin open. The door swings open, and the air fills with the vile stench of rotting flesh.
ARCH 2: UHHH! Get the Lysol!
ARCH 1: Did YOU bring it?

ARCH 2: I thought you were going to bring it!

ARCH 1: Let's go!
The two archaeologists close the coffin slightly. Then they leave. All of the slaves and other people gather around the rotting coffin. One of the slaves opens the coffin and takes out a scroll. He wipes the dust off and reads it.
SLAVE: 'All souls empty of life
Wrapped in cloth and hid in a tomb,
Come to life when I command
To walk the lands at every moon.'
The mummy slowly opens his eyes. The other people run backstage. The slave pays no attention because he is trying to figure out the eerie rhyme of the scroll. The mummy unfolds his hands from his chest and goes up and strangles the slave.
(Close curtain. Eerie organ music, fade out.)

Scene Two: The next evening
ANNOUNCER: The next evening...
(Open curtain.)
One of the archaeologists comes to the temple. He finds the scroll. He becomes interested in the Scroll of Life. He starts reading it to himself. The mummy, once again, opens his eyes. The other archaeologist comes just in time to see the mummy strangling the other archaeologist. He pushes the mummy aside. The mummy slowly limps off the stage, unharmed. After the archaeologist helps the other one up, they both find the Scroll of Death. After they find a warning on the wall behind the pool, they both exit the stage also.
(Close curtain. Dramatic theme.)

Scene Three:
(Open curtain.)
The mummy sees a boat. He turns toward the camera and growls. He gets on the boat. Other Egyptian ghosts join him on the deck.
(Close curtain.)
ANNOUNCER: Meanwhile, back at the temple...
(Open curtain.)
The two archaeologists decide to read the Scroll of Death to kill the mummy. Just as they start to read the scroll, the Egyptian ghosts come and stop them. The ghosts disappear with the Scroll of Death. Then the mummy comes to the temple and kills the people who have betrayed his god. After that he goes for the archaeologists. Right before he gets them, an ancient Greek warrior steps out. Thunder crashes through the temple. The mummy and the warrior start to fight. One of the archaeologists tears up the Scroll of Life. (Dramatic theme.) The warrior staggers off stage and the mummy returns to his coffin and the door shuts.
(Close curtain.)

Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1987)

This is a script I wrote on 3 October 1987.

ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET: DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE!

CAST

ABBOTT: MARTIN
COSTELLO: PAUL
DR. JEKYLL: FIDEL
MR. HYDE: GLEN

Dr. Jekyll is in his laboratory. His good friends are Abbott and Costello. He calls them and asks them if they want to see his new experiment. They decide to come over. Dr. Jekyll drinks the potion before Abbott and Costello get there. Dr. Jekyll falls to the floor. When he gets up, he is Mr. Hyde! Abbott and Costello come in. They see Mr. Hyde.

COSTELLO: Gosh, Doc, you ought to see a doctor!

MR. HYDE: This is my experiment. What do you think of this great discovery?

COSTELLO: If that is a great discovery, I'd hate to see what a not-so-great discovery looks like!

ABBOTT: Well, come along Costello. The doctor has work to do.

MR. HYDE: Wait, you can't leave! You cannot escape Mr. Hyde!

ABBOTT: Mr. Hyde? You mean you're not Dr. Jekyll?

MR. HYDE: No!

Abbott and Costello run out of the house.

THE END

The Mummy Is Brought Back To Life (1987)

THE MUMMY IS BROUGHT BACK TO LIFE

CAST
THE MUMMY AN-TARR...PAUL
THE WOMAN/PRINCESS RA-ANTEF...PAMELA
THE ARCHAEOLOGIST KASON-ANTEE...JIM

SCENE ONE: The archaeologist looks at a coffin that he had found. With it came a scroll. The archaeologist wipes the sweat from his brow and decides to get some sleep before he reads the scroll.

SCENE TWO: That night, the archaeologist wakes up. He opens the scroll and reads it. (Show scroll.) The archaeologist shrugs his shoulders. He lights his pipe and goes to bed. (He leaves his matches on the couch.) The coffin shakes. The mummy breaks his way through the coffin. He finds the scroll. He wants to bring his beloved princess to life. So he burns the scroll as a sacrifice. He runs out of the room. The archaeologist comes back in and remembers that he had forgotten his matches. He sees what had happened to the coffin, and he runs out of the room in search of the mummy. As he goes around the corner, he comes face-to-face with the mummy. The mummy chokes him and continues the search for his princess. He finds a cottage. In it he finds a woman that he thinks is the princess. When she sees him, she faints. He catches her and carries her off.

THE END

This is a story I wrote sometime near October 1987, knowing that my friend, Jim, would be coming over to my house. Of course, I had to recruit my sister to play the female part. I intended to make this into a movie by having my dad videotape us. The above story was likely a synopsis I wrote out to show my dad what the movie was about, assuring him that we had a plan and weren't just going to waste videotape.

As I recall, Jim came over and I expected us to have enough time to make the movie. I put on white socks, white sweat pants and a white T-shirt (so that I wouldn't have to use as much bandaging), and then I had Jim help wrap gauze around my head, neck and arms. It was nearing time to bring it all before the camera, but, apparently, we had reached the time limit for Jim's visit. My dad said it was time for him to go home. As Jim left, I stood there: seemingly expressionless behind a veil of gauze; however, tears welled up in my eyes as my dream of making a Mummy movie was shattered. At least, until "The Haunted Coffin."

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1987)

As the notebook paper title card suggests, there were times when my anticipation of Halloween led me to more ambitious projects than simply carving up a pumpkin. In 1982, my dad purchased a video camera for the family. Now, mind you, this wasn't a camcorder. This was a full-size video camera that had a separate, external recording deck. Basically, it was a camera connected to a VCR. By 1987, we were a pretty video-literate family, and there were many projects I had rolling around in my head. This particular video idea probably came about as a result of reading Thomas Aylesworth's Monsters from the Movies. In one of his chapters, he tells about the various filmed versions of Robert Louis Stevenson's story Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Inspired by reading about John Barrymore's famous performance, I decided to film my own version.

This was a pretty bare-bones production. I used some test tubes from a chemistry set I had received a Christmas or two prior. The transformation into Hyde was accomplished with some makeup from a kit I'd bought (the kit is visible on the couch as the camera pans to the floor). The special effect, where the camera is stopped and then restarted after the change is made, did not come out as well as I had planned (I supposed my dad jarred the tripod slightly between shots). And my sister appears briefly as Dr. Jekyll's girlfriend.

The highlight of the video is probably my choice of music (which I dubbed myself): the first movement of Beethoven's 5th for the Dr. Jekyll scene, and some organ music (from a Halloween sound effects tape) for Mr. Hyde's scene.

I made this video on 27 September 1987.

[Update 10/25/2023: The makeup kit mentioned above was called the Create-A-Face Complete Makeup Kit, manufactured by Imagineering Inc. in 1985. And thanks to an anonymous commenter from 2012, I learned that my long-lost sound effects tape was titled "Horror Sounds of the Night" and manufactured in 1986.]

Eye on LA: Halloween 3D (1987)

I only remember watching two 3D Halloween specials on TV in the mid-1980s. One was an airing of the 1961 3D film The Mask. Red and blue glasses made specifically for that TV showing were made available at participating stores. Not all of the black and white film was shot in 3D, but viewers were directed to put on their 3D glasses whenever the character in the film put on the mask.

A trailer from The Mask:

Eye on LA's "Halloween 3D" special is the other 3D special I remember watching. Chuck Henry hosted and John Astin guest hosted this cheesy Halloween special from 1987. I believe the glasses were made available at 7-Eleven markets. The whole program was shot in 3D. Although the effects as viewed through the red and blue glasses were not outstanding, it was still a fun show to watch. It featured three vignettes: "Batface," "Do Unto Others," and "Crispy Critter." It also features a segment with André De Toth, director of the 1953 film House of Wax.

By the way, in 1987 Eye on LA also aired the "Hawaiian Swimsuit Spectacular in 3D"! You can find it on YouTube, if you're interested.

The Search for Houdini (1987)

This TV special aired when I was 11 years old. Around this time I was very interested in magicians and performing magic. The previous year I remember visiting the Magic Shop at Disneyland and buying the "Siberian Chain" (one of the many packaged Adams magic tricks they sold). My friends and I pretended we were great escape artists and took turns chaining each other's hands up.

The Search for Houdini was very appealing to me because it involved magicians and another one of my interests: Halloween. The special featured many magicians paying tribute to Houdini, including the Amazing Randi, Dean Gunnarson, Steve Shaw, Harry Blackstone, Jr., and The Pendragons. Host William Shatner kept the show lively and provided a lot of humor. Even though the televised séance near the end of the show was pretty anti-climactic, the program remains one of the most unique Halloween specials that I ever remember seeing. It was filmed live in Los Angeles at the Orpheum Theater.