Episode: “Lizard’s
Leg and Owlet’s Wing”, in which itinerant Corvette-enthusiasts Martin Milner
and George Maharis run into Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre, and Lon Chaney, Jr.,
who are not-so-secretly hashing out the specifics of a monster movie project
together at a Chicago hotel. Milner and Maharis’s Tod and Buzz assist the triumvirate
of horror legends in making their cases for the most effective ways to scare
modern audiences. This involves Karloff donning his Frankenstein Monster makeup
for the first time in over thirty years and Chaney dressing up as his own Wolf
Man and Mummy, as well as his dad’s Quasimodo. Lorre wears a top hat and cape
for some reason. I guess Dr. Gogol’s shades and mechanical hands weren’t iconic
enough for CBS. There are also some fascinating discussions of workplace sexism
among women attending a secretaries convention at the hotel, but they’re neutralized
by dumb gags suggesting women really just want to get married and are a ditzy
lot who believe in werewolves. Don’t expect too much progressivism from a show
inspired by On the Road.
