(Chapter 4) Dr. Fungi and the Midnight Monster Movie Matinee

Ken Billingsly had been around the block when it came to Hollywood. A child actor in the seventies, he managed to avoid the Hollywood cliche of washed up by fifteen. When he knew he could no longer play the bratty next-door neighbor or the wise-cracking best friend of the principal character, he took on roles in independent movies, did voice over work for commercials, found some success as a notorious comic book  villian in video game adaptations of the graphic novels and syndicated animated series. Billingsly knew hwo to survive in an indsutry known for flash-fizzling.

When his father became ill and was too much for Billingsly siblings to care for, he moved back to Detroit for what he thought would only be a temporary stay. 

During lunch one day with some other Detroit area actor friends of his, he learned that local affiliate of the Peak Broadcasting Network, the old Channel 39, was looking for something to snag the 18-35 market on late night Saturdays. Ken contacted the general manager and gave her the elevato pitch: Bumbling, sarcastic mad scientist introduces and lampoons schlocky horror movies. Constance Duryea had no idea what he meant but she was willing to give it a try based on his resume.

On Halloween Eve, 1982, Ken Billingsly walked through the door of Castle Carnage for the first time. A late night cultural phenomenon was born.

Ken Billingsly as Dr. Fungi

(Photos courtesty of the PBN affiliate Channel 39, Detroit)

Mr. Kellington puppet and Pumpkin Jackelson

Sid the Squid

By the time Alvi Trout went to work for Billingsly, the show had been on for six years. He did about forty  episodes a year, taping two to three a week that could be aired if he went out of town. Over 200 episodes had been aired when ALvi Trout stepped into the shoes of Assistant Writer and Second Unit Director.

(Chapter 3) And the Golden Reel Goes to...

WOXU Golden Reel Award

(Image courtesy of WOXU)

Five years after that night, in the fall of 1988, Detroit radio station WOXU 660 AM 'The Ox', co-sponsored a local movie-making contest with a former independent UHF channel that got swallowed up by a major Hollywood studio in the early days of channel jacking as cable TV stretched across the country.  Channel 39 joined the Peak Broadcast Company, PBC. 

Primetime programming got a boost with shows geared toward the 16-29 demographic. DENVER HEIGHTS (playing figuratively, metaphorically, and literally) followed the trials and tribulations of a group of friends from various socioeconomic backgrounds. TAKE FLIGHT, again using a play on words to follow the trials and tribulations of a group of flight attendants. MUNCHAUSEN, an early reality show, followed people afflicted with the syndrome as a group of doctors tried to treat the condition.

Both the radio station and the TV channel featured shows hosted by a former Hollywood actor named Ken Billingsly.  For Channel 39, now known as the PBC Network, Billingsly did a two-hour stint as Dr. Fungi (Fun-Guy) performing schtick and offering movie trivia of classic if not campy horror movies during his show, Monster Matinee with Dr. Fungi, the plural form for fungus. He opened every show with a word of caution.

"Warning! It's frightening how bad this movie can be!" This didn't stop local viewers from missing Billingsly's bad impersonations or corny jokes or sight-gags. Known for his self-effacing behavior for showing 'moldy-oldies', Billingsly developed a bit of a cult following for showing films like Aunt Ruth is Having One of Her Spells, The Door at the End of the Alley, or Night of the Gnats. 

Billingsly eventually sold his Dr. Fungi creation to the PBC where an ever-changing number of Dr. Fungi continue to host a Saturday night feature twice a month. When one host retires or moves on, he or she lays down behind the trunk of a tree that long ago fell on top of the original Dr. Fungi, who had a different name then but none of the doctors can ever remember what the original name was. The ground emits a yellowish-orange glow. Time-lapse photography shows various mushrooms growing until the camera cuts away to the studio where a laboratory door opens in walks the new Dr. Fungi.

A favorite of fans and Dr. Fungi

(Image courtesy of Channel 39-WOXU)

On the radio, Billingsly hosted a talk show where he interviewed current and former celebrities, some of whom appeared or worked on the movies he showed as Dr. Fungi. It was while discussing the most recent movie to be shot in Detroit with its two stars that the idea for the film festival arose. 

Desktop Cinema was catching on with the advent of home video equipment. The Ox was curious to see what local talent had to offer. Ken Billingsly would MC the event at the historic Main Theater in Royal Oak.

Michigan was no stranger to Oscar-caliber talent having been home to George C. Scott and Julie Harris. Otto Preminger had filmed ANATOMY OF A MURDER in the Upper Peninsula. COLLISION COURSE, a buddy cop movie featuring Jay Leno and Pat Morita had wrapped filming in Detroit. The Hollywood vibe hummed in southeastern Michigan. 

Channel 39 and the Ox offered awards in three media categories: VHS, Super Eight, and 16mm. Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Actress were up for grabs in each. Alvi Trout stuck to the one he knew best. Super Eight. He also stuck to an idea he had been fostering since that night the motorcycle crashed to the road. 

What if the unfortunate driver found a way to return? Would he come back to the moment before the accident happened or would he return five years later? Would he disrupt the lives of those who lost him? 

Alvi Trout had very little time. The movies were due by October 13. It would take about a week to have the film developed. He'd need about a week to edit in film from the night of the accident. Unlike video, editing Super 8 film causes jumps in playback. There would be audio gaps where the splicing tape covered the magnetic strips that held the audio. He didn't have a script on paper but he had one in his head. He turned to the people he knew could handle his improvised dialogue.

They were all onboard. 

Of course that meant shooting around their work and school schedules. Bobby Marshall worked alongside Alvi at a shestore in a nearby mall. Becky Conroy worked there too but at a jeans store. Chuck Phillips was working at a gas station. And Sarah Willette, who Alvi wanted as the lost rider's girlfriend in mourning, was currently student teaching at an elementary school during the day and waiting tables at night. It would have to all be done in a single day but considering his feature was three minutes and thirty seconds before the editing, they could do it.

Alvi Trout filming and directing RIDE BACK

They found a Sunday where they all had the same three-hour block of time available. Sarah convinced her manager to let them film a scene at Skiddadles, her place of employment. She told him they would be quick. They needed a booth and a couple of glasses of apple cider. It didn't hurt that she was dating the guy.

Sarah Willette headshot for RIDE BACK promotional package

Bobby Marshall and Chuck Phillips created one of the more memorable moments of the movie. Phillips plays a guy who is floundering after failing out of college. Lost and on a trajectory for destruction, he is surprised to find Grant Walker (Bobby Marshall) sitting at the bar of their old haunt, The Dead End Inn. 

Chuck Phillips and Bobby Marshall improvise the bar scene in Ride Back

(RIDE BACK promotional package)

'You still have a path,' Grant Walker (Bobby Marshall) tells him. 

'A path to nowhere.'

'It's a lonely path. When you come to that proverbial fork in the road, go to the left.'

'Why?'

'Because you don't know what lies to the right.'

Later in the short feature, the four friends reunite one last time to say their goodbyes. Grant Walker has gotten the chance to tell his friends what he couldn't the night of the accident. He gets back on his bike and rides off without looking back at the three friends standing around his grave.

Chuck Phillips and Becky Conroy

(RIDE BACK promotional package)

Bobby Marshall and Sarah Willette

(RIDE BACK promotional package)

Grant Walker (Bobby Marshall) riding into destiny

(RIDE BACK promotional package)

RIDE BACK did not win the Best Picture for a Super Eight Film award at the WOXU film fest. Sarah Willette did get a nomination for Best Actress. 

At a reception afterward, Alvi Trout met Ken Billingsly. The aging actor told Trout he had a guy eye for framing a scene. If Trout ever thought about going to California to make movies, Billingsly still had some contacts out there. 

"Don't be upset about the trophy, kid," Billingsly said. "I've got a shelf full of them and I still never got Arnold-money. Stick to the story."  

Ken Billingsly

(Photo courtesy of the Billingsly family)

Billingsly offered Alvi Trout a job on his TV show. Assistant Writer and Second Unit Director, which meant Alvi Trout would be filming or taping portions of the show that didn't feature Billingsly. External scenes involving the puppets or extras in costumes. Avli Trout took the job. A year later he was nominated for a local Emmy. Once more, the award went to someone else. 

The trophy didn't matter. The experience did. Alvi Trout was hooked. He asked Billingsly about his Hollywood contacts. Billingsly wasn't surprised. 

"I was surprised the kid lasted a year in local markets," Billingsly said. 

Alvi Trout and Bobby Marshall quit their jobs and drove across the country to stake their claims in Hollywood.

RIDE BACK one-sheet

(RIDE BACK promotional package)

(Chapter 2) In an Instant

The credits rolled around ten-forty-five.  It was summer, after all, and it didn't start getting dark until almost eight-thirty. Previews of coming attractions rolled while there was still sunlight. 

Movies in the 80s were blissfully shorter.  It didn't have anything to do with attention spans.  THE TERMINATOR clocked in at 107 minutes. FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH- 90 minutes. The original Indiana Jones- 115 minutes. BEVERLY HILLS COP 105 minutes. CAMP GROUND II- 93 minutes. Perfect for a drive-in.

One-Sheet for Camp Ground II

(Image courtesy of Griswold Studios Archives)

Alvi Trout and his friends chilled. They watched the cars start their migration out of the Galaxy. While they waited, the other four pumped Alvi for information about plot and character development and something Alvi was keen on spotting: continuity. Those moments when something is in the background in one take but missing in another then returns in a third take. Alvi told them he had noticed a glass of water sitting on the ranger's office countertop. First, it had lipstick prints on it, then it was clean, then the prints were back. 

Chuck Phillips asked him how he noticed that and Alvi told him he watched the background of the movie as much as he watched the movie. Alvi explained when he started making movies he'd personally make sure there weren't errors as blatant as those.

The cars thinned. The friends packed up their picnic gear and headed down the hill.  They had just gotten under the overpass when they heard the roaring of a motorcycle followed by the bellowing of a truck horn. Breaks squealed, horns blared. There was a horrific sound of metal striking metal. Vehicles heading east on Galaxy Drive stopped abruptly. 

A riderless motorcycle crashed to the pavement from the overpass.  

Alvi flipped the power switch on his Super Eight camera. There was just enough light from the streetlights to film the spinning front wheel of the bike. 

The motorcycle 

(Image taken from Alan True archival footage)

This brush with death would haunt Alvi Trout for most of his career. Only moments before he and his friends had been standing in that general vicinity. If it had happened any sooner, one or more of them could have been injured or worse, killed. The image of the spinning wheel would go on to become the logo for True Cinema Studios. 

True Cinema Studios logo

In his memoir, Alan True would write, "There was just something metaphorical about it. Motorcycle. Cycle. Spinning. I felt it was the perfect symbol to build a studio around."

He wasn't wrong.

(Chapter 1) The Boy with the Camera

On a summer night in 1983, a group of college-bound teens left their manufactured homes at the Galaxy Drive Trailer Park. They carried a cooler, some blankets, and a bag of various snacks under a freeway overpass.  One of the boys carried a Super Eight movie camera with a microphone extending over the lens.  He walked backward in front of the others aiming the camera either at them from the front or letting them pass to follow and film at a distance. Occasionally he pointed at one of them to indicate he was in-tight on one of their faces and they should say something. He didn't care what. He told them to be real. Try to talk about real things in their lives.

On their right, traffic along eastbound Galaxy Drive backed up for almost a mile as those with cars and money waited to enter the Galaxy Drive-In. This single-screen, outdoor theatre venue faced Interstate 94 almost thirty miles north of Detroit.

Pictured: (L to R)

Bobby Marshall, Alvi Trout, Sara Willette, Becky Conroy

Not pictured: Chuck Phillips

(Image courtesy of the True Cinema Archives)

The three boys and two girls going on foot passed the Galaxy Drive strip mall, four stores anchored by a convenience store (known in their neck of the woods as a party store), a coin-operated laundromat, a card and trinket shop, and a pawn shop. Not even a hundred feet east was the Galaxt Motor Inn, a two-floor, ten-unit efficiency motel. East of both of these structures was the Galaxy Club, a place for amateur dancers and the men who paid to watch them. 

The boy with the camera asked them to improvise a scene where they commented on the businesses. The scene progressed with one of the girls asking one of the boys if his mother was still dancing there. They improvised for about forty-five seconds until the boy with the camera stopped filming. He only had three minutes-thirty seconds of film in a Super 8 cartridge. The moments had to be over and done with quickly. 

Alvi Trout: Guerilla Filmmaker 

(Image courtesy of Brandt Books)

East of the overpass was a tool and die stamping plant called Macomb Tool and Die on the south side of Galaxy Drive, which bent to the right, left, and right again to connect with Joy Avenue. Three miles east on Joy was the Edwards Michigan Air National Guard Base. Locals called it Fort Macomber.  F16s and cargo planes were the norm.

Sitting by itself on the north side of Galaxy Drive was the Galaxy Drive-In. Here was an impenetrable of its own. Just outside the gate were two twenty-foot, wood walls painted black and white. Only the upper half was painted black. Bud Colby, the owner of the Galaxy Drive-In, painted the lower portion white to prevent cars from driving into it. The upper half had a mural of the cosmos painted in fluorescent colors that glowed under black lighting effects.  The two-story black and white wall continued in a horseshoe to the back of the towering screen where a a ten-foot high chain-link fence kept movie crashers out and children in.

This was the world the five friends knew. Alvi Trout was the storyteller.

80's poster for the Galaxy Drive-In

(Image courtesy of Ada Innes)

On that August night, when their lives would suddenly change, they spread their blankets on the east side of the overpass to watch the world premiere of a schlock horror movie, CAMP GROUND II: THE RANGER RETURNS.

The original CAMP GROUND told the story of a ubiquitous group of friends that heads off to find the long-closed campground to spend a night of braggadocio, partying, and sex while flipping their fingers at the legend of the park ranger who went on a killing spree and slaughtered a group of deer hunters and ground them in with the venison sausage he prepared, hence the title CAMP GROUND. 

The latest installment would bring back the deranged killer last seen going over a cliff in a burning gas hauler. The Ranger, seeking revenge, hunted the survivors of CAMP GROUND. When first seen in CG II, the Ranger is wrapped in gauze until he finds a beekeeper's hat with a net on the brim. This would become the Ranger's iconic look. To refresh: Deranged ranger, makes sausage out of deer and the men who hunt them, and wears a beekeeper's hat.

The five friends from the trailer park stretched out on their blankets to watch the second installment of the franchise, which would be stretched to five installments before the slasher film exhausted itself in CAMP GROUND V: SON OF A RANGER. The final film would play a significant role in the career of one of those young adults.

They would have no audio. Speaker boxes hung like archaic hearing aids on car windows within the wooden balls.  The friends would provide any necessary dialogue themselves under the direction Alvi Trout, who would go on to become B-Movie mogul and founder of True Cinema Studios,  Alan True.