meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
The Paracast — The Gold Standard of Paranormal Radio

May 25, 2025 — Film Historian Gary D. Rhodes

The Paracast — The Gold Standard of Paranormal Radio

The Paracast Company

Science, News, Society & Culture

3.4683 Ratings

🗓️ 24 May 2025

⏱️ 112 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Gene and cohost Tim Swartz feature Gary D. Rhodes. He is a renowned film historian and author with a passion for uncovering the forgotten stories of horror cinema. He’s a world expert on Bela Lugosi and Dracula, and will reveal the secrets of the tragic life story of this world-famous horror film legend. He will also talk about his book, "Weirdumentary: Ancient Aliens, Fallacious Prophecies, and Mysterious Monsters From 1970s Documentaries." The book unlocks the secrets of the strangest cinematic phenomenon of the 1970s. It's the ultimate guide to the bizarre, the unexplained, and the wildly entertaining films and television programs that blurred the line between fact and fantasy. "Weirdumentary" examines dozens of movies and TV series, sold to the unsuspecting public as documentaries, beginning with "Chariots of the Gods" (1970) and ending with "The Man Who Saw Tomorrow" (1981). Leonard Nimoy’s "In Search Of" makes an appearance, and so does Orson Wells in his late-career role of sinister yet skeptical narrator. Although listeners to The Paracast know about their factual basis, many of these shows and movies featured spurious experts, questionable evidence, and low-budget dramatization. Acclaimed comic book artist, writer, and historian Stephen R. Bissette, best known for his groundbreaking work on DC Comics' "Swamp Thing" alongside Alan Moore, provides the foreword.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-paracast-the-gold-standard-of-paranormal-radio--6203433/support.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

The weather. Tomorrow, expect a... Biting cold front. Mmm, how naughty. I wonder what I'll be wearing or taking off. The night will be wild and untamed. Expect heavy, lashing rain that'll soak you to the skin. By Monday, temperatures will rise, slowly but surely, reaching their peak in the afternoon.

0:23.0

Not in the mood for miserable weather?

0:25.8

Fly cheaply to Turkey with Sun Express.

0:28.6

Sun Express, non-stop sunshine. The United States You're in the Paracast, the gold standard of paranormal radio.

0:58.1

And now, here's Gene Steinberg.

1:02.9

This is going to be a great one, folks.

1:05.4

And before we get into Gary Rhodes Project, weird you mentor mentor, I guess that's what it is.

1:13.3

Gary Rhodes will tell us about some other things

1:16.0

that I've been anxious to ask him about,

1:18.5

and that is Dracula.

1:21.0

And of course, the one and only, the Mela Lagos.

1:24.6

Now, before we get started here,

1:26.8

I had brief email contacts with Sarah Karloff,

1:30.4

and she and Legosi's son were fighting Universal to get a piece of the action for merchandising

1:38.1

because the characters they played, Dracula and the Frankenstein monster became cultural icons and Universal made

1:47.2

huge, huge amounts of money. Do you recall that? Oh, absolutely. I am very fortunate. I got to know

1:55.0

Bayla Legosi Jr. Bayla G. Legosi, his formal name, I got to know him in about 1985 when I was still kind of a nipper,

2:04.7

maybe about 12 years old, and they're in touch with the Legosi family even in the past weeks.

2:11.0

So I've known him for decades now.

2:14.2

And Bela was the real, I think, thrust, the guiding light, the guiding force amongst attorneys,

2:24.5

entertainment attorneys, trademark attorneys in terms of trademarking celebrity names,

2:30.7

their likenesses, protecting their image in ways that studios, by 1960 and after,

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Paracast Company, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Paracast Company and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.