Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for September 27, 2020

Insider information?

Svenghouly!!

Wish the special guest was Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. : )

And, yet another “special guest appearance”

Sven sorta has a Alice Cooper / Ron Jeremy like “vibe look” going on…..

Good morning™, Svengoolie fans!

Svengoolie (real name Rich Koz) is a fixture in Chicago (which kind of seems to be the model for Tracy’s city). Last week was his 41st anniversary on the Chicago airwaves and he is now seen all over the U.S. on MeTV. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svengoolie This is his second appearance in the strip, the first being in April 2017.

I think that Mike Curtis (writer of Dick Tracy) has a special affinity for Mr. Koz because Mike once hosted a similar show on another TV station.

It seems that the girls are not the only ones who have information for Tracy’s investigation.

I know some of you won’t be happy that we get another guest star, but Mike’s keeping the story moving. And it makes sense that Svengoolie would have some information related to the case. Besides, as Neil pointed out, Sven’s just had his 41st anniversary on TV, and this is a nice shout out to him.

Kinda looks like Abner in the corner…….

This is a big surprise!

BER-WIN????

BERWYN???!!

It could be worse, Kerwyn (Sven’s rubber chicken) could have called with the information instead. Though I’d still prefer to see Rikki Mortis on the other end of the phone.

Cool images today for sure . I wish that I knew more about this .

OK so we’re now officially in Halloween mode. So far it’s holding my interest. Is it just me or is there a whole different feel to the art with lots of thick bold black strokes?

I am completely divorced from TV culture, but I knew he looked familiar. I’ve seen his picture.

Reading about the show, it sounds very much like a local show that used to air in Omaha, Nebraska called “Dr. SanGuinary’s Creature Feature.” The makeup even looks something like Dr. SanGuinary’s.

Digging deeper and deeper!!!

Sung to the tune of the theme from “Dragnet”

Dumb-de-dumb dumb. Dumb-de-dumb dumb dumb.

I grew in the Detroit area. Our local Saturday afternoon B monster movie host was Sir Graves Ghastly.

It is kind of a silly cross-over …but … I watched most of Son of Dracula on MeTV and Svengoolie last night so thumbs up!

Oh good, now we REALLY go off the rails with this story….Annie, Brenda, Svengoolie…hell if Al Lewis was still alive I’d bet GRANDPA MUNSTER would show up too

SVEN: Hey kiddies. It’s your favorite theme of the month – CRANK CALLING!

LACKY: I got Dick Tracy on the line for you, Sven.

SVEN: Hello. Is this famous Tracyville detective, Dick Tracy.

DT: Why, yes it is. Do you have a tip for me?

SVEN: No, just a question. Is “Dick” your name or a description of your personality? Are your friends able to say your name without embarrassment? When you have a UTI, how do you tell the doctor where it hurts? Are you offended when someone tells his buddies to “stop dickin’ around!”? How about when some mom calls her kid a little “dickens”? Why don’t you ever wear a dickie? Is your favorite musician Dicky Betts? Whew…I’m outta material and breath! Most people hang up way before now!

DT: So…you don’t have a tip for me?

SVEN: CLICK! It’s a first, dear viewers! I had to hang up on the mark! Ai yi yi…

Technically up-to-date Tracy uses a brick sized 90s style cell phone with the antenna on the side.

Hope thy feature Dethany’s wedding on Halloween!

We had “Uncle Ted’s Ghoul School” jokes written by none other than Bill O’Reilly in his less than known days!

Wow. A blast from the past. This Chicago boy remembers the original in the early 70’s. What a hoot.

I’ve never really cared for Svengoolie. IMHO, he thinks he’s a lot funnier than he actually is. I prefer The Ghoul and Elvira.

Does anyone else remember John Zacherle?

Didn’t think it could get more random than Annie but here we are. Not that I’m complaining.

I will be so disappointed if this story ends without Tracy throwing a rubber chicken at Svengoolie!

I knew Svengoolie was going to show up!

On a more serious note, R.I.P. Rev. Birmingham, who made the ultimate sacrifice for his community. May you dwell in the House of the Lord forever.

To the poster who asked about Bill Cardille of Pittsburgh, PA “Chiller Theatre” fame…

He died sometime in the ’90s…

Here’s a little extra trivia… His father was “Captain Jim” on the same station WIIC… Now WPXI…

I only found out about Svenghoolie when I got cable and found MeTv back in 2010.

Svengoolie (now played for many years by Rich Koz, successor to Jerry G. Bishop) has long been a Chicago/Tracyville favorite, in recent years gone national on the Me-TV network. It stands to reason that Sven, with his deep show biz knowledge and connections, as well as professional interest in horror movies of all kinds (but especially the old “classics”), might know or have heard something about this “vampire” business and maybe even some insider dope on Professor Stokes. I think he will pass along a good tip to Tracy that, combined with Honeymoon’s, will enable the veteran detective to make quick progress toward solving the “Vampire Murder[s]”….

I had not previously known about Svengoolie (did some quick catching-up). He seems similar, in spirit at least, to SCTV’s Count Floyd.

And we here still miss “Sammy Terry”! R.I.P. (and goodbye George!)