This Day in Pop Culture for February 12

1931: ‘Dracula’ Premieres in New York

America’s passion for vampires began on this day in 1931 as Universal Picture’s Dracula premiered. The first in a long string of “classic” monster movies, Dracula was directed by Tod Browning and starred Bela Lugosi, who had been playing the role in the play version of the Bram Stoker story. Lugosi wasn’t Browning’s first choice for the character. Nor was he the second, third or…you get the idea.

Newspapers reported that some people fainted in shock at the horror on screen, which pleased Universal as it helped to assure them that the film would be a big hit. The role was a blessing and a curse for Lugosi, who became forever tied to the character. His last role was for Plan 9 from Outer Space in 1959. It was directed by Ed Wood and is considered one of the worst movies ever made. (Image: Wikimedia Commons)

1975: He Had You Babe

When CBS debuted the summer replacement variety show The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour in 1971, it was an instant hit. But in 1974, the couple divorced and made plans to host their own separate shows. Sonny moved out of his CBS home and took all of the staff and intellectual property with him. Cher stayed on CBS with a new show simply named Cher.

The Sonny Comedy Revue debuted on ABC in September 1974. Both shows would have gone head-to-head fighting for ratings, but ABC canceled Sonny’s show before Cher’s began on this day in 1975.

Cher’s show continued on with special guests and comedy sketches, but she also took time to interview her guests. Cher’s show proved to be more popular, but the couple set aside their differences and came together once again to star in The Sonny & Cher Show in 1976.

1940: The Superman Nobody Could See

In 1938, Superman first appeared in Action Comics #1. In 1939, Superman became a newspaper comic strip. And on this day in 1940, The Adventures of Superman aired on radio for the first time. Sponsored by Kellogg’s Pep, the 15-minute-long serial ran 3-5 times per week.

Bud Collyer played “The Man of Steel”, but nobody knew who the voice of Superman really was (as it was a secret) until 1946 when Superman was used to promote racial and religious tolerance. The actor did an interview with Time magazine to talk about it and the cat was out of the bag. Reruns were unheard of, so special stories where Superman was incapacitated were used. In some cases, the stories would be taken over by Batman and Robin. The series ended in 1951 after 2088 original episodes had aired.

1977: The Weird ‘Happy Days’ Spin-off You Never Of

Nancy Walker (center) and the cast of *Blansky’s Beauties. (TVDB)*

Years after Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley debuted, Garry Marshall tried out a new series that loosely tied in with them. Blansky’s Beauties began as a backdoor pilot with Nancy Walker playing Howard Cunningham’s cousin from Las Vegas, Nancy Blansky. Beauties began airing the following week.

Nancy was sort of a mother to a bunch of young showgirls who performed at the Oasis Hotel. Now it gets weird….despite the fact that Happy Days was set during the 1950’s, Beauties was set in the present day of 1977.

The show also starred Eddie Mekka as Joey DeLuca, a choreographer. Joey was the cousin of Carmine Ragusa from Laverne and Shirley. The thing is, that role was also played by Mekka, so he played two roles at the same time. In another odd twist, The Fonz’s old love interest from 20 years earlier, Pinky Tuscadero (Roz Kelly) appeared in the first episode. Then, Pat Morita reprised his role as Arnold, the drive-in owner from Happy Days who also hadn’t aged. Marshall would show up from time to time as Nancy’s employer, Mr. Smith.

1977: Batman Competes with Himself

Bat-Mite, Batman and Robin from *The New Adventures of Batman (TVDB)*

Superheroes were incredibly popular on Saturday morning TV during the 1960s and 1970s. Batman and Robin were so popular, the characters appeared on numerous shows.

First, there was the live action Batman series which ran on ABC from 1966-1968. The show starred Adam West and Burt Ward as the Caped Crusader and Robin. Filmation produced the first animated Batman show which featured the voices of Olan Soule and Casey Kasem. The Batman/Superman Hour aired on CBS in 1968 and was repackaged in 1969 as the 30-minute show, Batman with Robin the Boy Wonder.

Then in 1972, Soule and Kasem voiced the characters again for two appearances in Hanna-Barbera’s The New Scooby-Doo Movies as well as for 1973’s, Super Friends which both aired on ABC. Then it happened.

In 1977, Super Friends went up against The New Adventures of Batman. The new show was a continuation of Filmation’s original show only this time, the show featured the voices of Adam West and Burt Ward, the original actors from the live action show.

The New Adventures of Batman ran on CBS from 1977-1980 and then moved to NBC for an additional year. It also starred the irritating imp, Bat-Mite and Batgirl. Super Friends continued to air on ABC through 1985.