We watched Pee-wee’s Playhouse when it first came out in 1986. My wife and I were fans of Pee-wee Herman and were interested in seeing how they would do a children’s show. One of the show’s characters was someone they called The King of Cartoons. The King of Cartoons dressed like you would expect a king to dress with a crown and regal, ornate clothes. During the early seasons he would bring a projector which he would shine into the camera as he said, “Let the cartoons begin!” Later the projector was replaced with a remote control. The projector wasn’t the only thing that was replaced. After the first season, the original King of Cartoons, Gilbert Lewis, was replaced by William Marshall. Marshall looked familiar. It was after a couple of seasons that I found out that he played the title character in the blaxploitation horror film, Blackula.
Blackula is one of my favorite movies. It has all of the best features of 1970’s cinema made for black audiences. It is also a typical low budget 1970’s horror film. Combining these two things in one movie make it magic.
One of the things that makes this film stand out for me is getting to see the band, The Hues Corporation perform. They are the group that had a hit with the song Rock the Boat. They don’t sing it here, but you will enjoy the songs they perform.
The other thing that stands out for me is the introduction of a pimp character named Skillet. Skillet meets Blacula at a night club and is impressed. As Blacula is leaving the club, Skillet comments to the rest of the group sitting at the table,
Say, man, that is one strange dude. I gotta check this cat out again. Did you see the rags he had on? That’s a bad cape. I’d like to beat him out of that cape.
