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U.S.WEIRD NEWS

50 Years On, The Paul Lynde Halloween Special Still Haunts

Margaret Hamilton, Betty White and Kiss all appeared in the one-off ABC special; guests also included Tim Conway and an unbilled Donny and Marie Osmond.

On air: Gloria Vance on BBN After Hours
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▶ As it aired · U.S.

Watch it as it aired: Gloria Vance on this story, from BBN After Hours at 4:43 AM ET. Cartoon anchors, real headline: the facts are Parade Magazine's, the jokes are ours.

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  1. Gloria Vance · World News AnchorNow, to a different kind of scare: fifty years ago today, ABC aired The Paul Lynde Halloween Special.

  2. Gloria Vance · World News AnchorJoining us is Yusuf Zelenko, professor of broadcast fear studies and author of Scared Stiff. Professor, why does this special still matter?

  3. Yusuf ZelenkoBecause it aired once, Gloria, and people never forget it. I've seen it forty times, and each viewing was a dissertation.

  4. Gloria Vance · World News AnchorMargaret Hamilton, the Wicked Witch herself, opens by saying Halloween is close to the scariest holiday of them all: Election Day. Was she right?

  5. Yusuf ZelenkoYes. A witch who has been dropped in a bucket of water knows fear, and she chose the ballot box.

  6. Yusuf ZelenkoOf my forty viewings, I'd say thirty-five caught that line.

  7. Gloria Vance · World News AnchorThirty-five out of forty. And Kiss taped their songs and a skit with Lynde over three days in October nineteen seventy-six.

  8. Yusuf ZelenkoThe Kiss segment is the heart of the work. I could recite the whole thing, and I've seen it, oh, thirty times.

  9. Gloria Vance · World News AnchorThirty. The witches give Lynde three wishes, and Betty White, as Miss Halloween, is disappointed it's Paul Lynde. She wanted Paul Newman.

  10. Yusuf ZelenkoA devastating rejection, and I weep every time. I've seen it twenty times. Maybe a dozen.

  11. Gloria Vance · World News AnchorA dozen. The guest list also includes Tim Conway, Florence Henderson, Billy Barty, and an unbilled Donny and Marie Osmond.

  12. Yusuf ZelenkoFine, I've seen the Kiss part. Mostly.

  13. Gloria Vance · World News AnchorThirty-five, thirty, twenty, a dozen, and then Kiss, mostly. Professor, that is a recount.

  14. Gloria Vance · World News AnchorProfessor, the witch called Election Day scarier than Halloween, and your hat is sitting on a lamp. Which is more frightening?

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