On October 29,1976, The Paul Lynde Halloween Special aired on ABC. I had always enjoyed seeing Paul Lynde on Hollywood Squares, but any of the variety shows and sitcoms that he starred in were less interesting. A show like this would usually not be on my radar to watch but this one was different. Earlier that year, I had become a fan of the band KISS. Ads for this special made a big deal about KISS appearing on this show. Their single, Beth was released in August and had risen to number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100. Getting to see KISS was my reason for watching this show.
While KISS performed 3 songs and were interviewed by Lynde during this 90-minute special, it wasn’t enough to satisfy this fan. All the performances were lip-synched as was typical for variety shows at that time. During a disco performance at the end of the show, KISS watches in disgust from a balcony above the dance floor. This special came and went without much fanfare, a typical holiday special with all the trappings of variety shows of that time. I would not revisit the special until after 2007 when a DVD of the show was released. But my first revisit would be through clips and the entire show on YouTube.
My family started watching this show and we became obsessed with it. In addition to KISS, Pit also features Margaret Hamilton as his housekeeper. Early in the show, she turns into her witch character from The Wizard of Oz. Her sister is Witchiepoo from the H.R. Pufnstuf show. The other odd guest on the show was Roz “Pinky Tuscadero” Kelly (this is how she is listed in the opening credits. Pinky Tuscadero is a female demolition derby driver character that she portrayed on 3 episodes of the Happy Days series. All her characters in this special have a tough persona like her character on Happy Days. During the end of the show, she is singing a reworked version of Johnnie Taylor’s Disco Lady, here it’s Disco Baby. Telling Lynde that she will show him how to dance, she say’s “follow me, ever-y-where”. This is the scene where KISS watches them in disdain.
The show also features appearances by Tim Conway, Billy Barty and Florence Henderson. Henderson sings a disco version of That Old Black Magic. There is also a brief appearance by Donnie and Marie Osmond. At this time, Lynde was a semi-regular guest on their variety show.
My family enjoyed the goofy jokes and ridiculous skits. During the Disco Baby song, Lynde looks into the camera and shouts “I like that funky stuff!” While this is a line from the Johnnie Taylor version, it seems out of place here in a loveable way. During KISS’s performance of King of the Nighttime World, we get to see Gene Simmons do some double handed alternating fist pumping during parts of the song with no bass line. Doing this fist pumping has become a Wheeler family tradition, especially when we are watching the show. There are odd points in the KISS performances where the picture rotates. We also get to see Ace Frehley’s amps “blow-up” although it looks more like they fall apart with explosion sound effects. Gene Simmons also breathes fire. All of this happening with the recordings directly from the album Destroyer and a canned recording of an audience cheering.
Many of the jokes and lines from this special that have become part of the Wheeler family vocabulary. We watch the special multiple times every October, usually starting on October 1. We’ve also been known to watch it other times throughout the year. I did buy a copy of the DVD but the quality of the video is the same as you find on the copies posted on YouTube. Either way, it is well worth watching.
