The Paul Lynde Halloween Special

The Paul Lynde Halloween Special is a Halloween-themed television special starring Paul Lynde broadcast October 29, 1976 on ABC. It featured guest stars Margaret Hamilton in a reprisal of her role as the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz. Also guest starring are Billie Hayes as Witchiepoo from H.R. Pufnstuf, Tim Conway, Roz Kelly, Florence Henderson, rock band Kiss, Billy Barty as Gallows the Butler, Betty White and, in an unbilled surprise appearance, Donny and Marie Osmond. The special aired only once.

The Paul Lynde Halloween Special
DVD Cover
Written byBruce Vilanch
Ronny Graham
Ron Pearlman
Biff Manard
Howard Albrecht &
Sol Weinstein
Directed bySidney Smith
StarringPaul Lynde
Margaret Hamilton
Billie Hayes
Billy Barty
Tim Conway
Roz "Pinky Tuscadero" Kelly
Florence Henderson
Betty White
Kiss
Donny Osmond
Marie Osmond
Country of originUnited States
Production
Executive producer(s)Raymond Katz
Sandy Gallin
Producer(s)Bob Booker
George Forster
Joe Byrne
Running time51 minutes
Production company(s)Hoysyl Productions
Release
Original networkABC

Overview

In succession, Paul (as himself) begins singing to celebrate Christmas, Easter and Valentine's Day but is interrupted each time when his housekeeper Margaret (Margaret Hamilton) tells him it is none of these and prods him into admitting it is a holiday he dreads, Halloween. In keeping with a promise to Margaret to enjoy the holiday, he sings a special version of his signature song "Kids" in which he actually claims to like them until a group of kids in devil costumes (among them Donny and Marie Osmond) torment him.

Margaret offers to take Paul away from the kids and drives him to Gloomsbury Manor, where her sister (Billie Hayes) resides. When they arrive, Paul realizes that both are witches, Wilhelmina Witchiepoo and the Wicked Witch of the West. Believing that they have been unjustly given a bad reputation, they commission Paul to serve as a public relations expert to improve their image. To seal the deal, they offer him three wishes.

In his first wish, Paul wishes to be a trucker and is reinvented as "Big Red," a crass, red-haired, CB-slang-talking, rhinestone-studded trucker engaged to waitress "Kinky Pinky" Tuscadero (Roz Kelly). He soon finds that Pinky has two-timed him and has also promised another trucker (Tim Conway) her hand in marriage; the two, along with Pinky's boss (Billy Barty), soon enter a battle to prove their worth to her, which Paul wins with his large wad of money from a movie advance.

He returns to the manor, and after KISS performs "Detroit Rock City" and Paul and the witches sit through a boring game of Monopoly, Paul offhandedly wishes he were in the Sahara Desert and is transformed into a "chic sheik" lusting after snow queen Lady Cecily Westinghouse (Florence Henderson). After a difficult seduction, just as he wins her over, his nemesis Seymour of the foreign legion (Conway) reveals the lady was bait for a trap and takes the sheik away. He trades a cockatoo for his freedom and comes back to her, as "it can get pretty lonely in the desert."

Pleased with his two wishes, he offers his third wish to the witches, who wish to go to a disco. With Paul as host and Henderson as guest performer ("That Old Black Magic"), the manor turns into a swinging discotheque. Kiss returns and performs two more songs, "Beth" (Peter Criss solo at the piano) and "King of the Night Time World." The show's finale has the entire cast assembling as Paul and Pinky sing "Disco Baby."

Cast

Background

Paul Lynde had signed a major contract with ABC. Two sitcoms framed as star vehicles for Lynde, The Paul Lynde Show and Temperatures Rising, had failed. To fulfill the contract and appease Lynde's desire to be a leading actor, he was given his own variety special; ABC President Fred Silverman concluded that "there was something witchy about" Lynde and decided to make him the centerpiece of a Halloween special about witches. Head writer Bruce Vilanch recalled in 2016 that he felt Lynde's style of humor was too grating to carry a lead role and hired a large ensemble cast (many of which were people Lynde had never heard of) to spread out the humor.[1]

The Krofft connection

Although The Paul Lynde Halloween Special was not produced by '70s kiddie/variety show icons Sid and Marty Krofft, their Witchiepoo character appeared and many of the cast members also appeared in Krofft productions: Billie Hayes (H.R. Pufnstuf, Pufnstuf, Lidsville), Margaret Hamilton (Sigmund and the Sea Monsters), Billy Barty (The Bugaloos, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, Dr. Shrinker), Florence Henderson (The Brady Bunch Hour) and Donny and Marie Osmond (The Donny and Marie Show). During the closing credits an announcer provides a voice over that notes "Witchiepoo is from The World of Sid and Marty Krofft." In addition to the appearances of Krofft actors, a small number of crew members that worked on this special also previously worked on Krofft shows as well - for example, the special was edited by William Breshears, who also served as editor on a number of different Krofft shows.

Home media

The show has been bootlegged over the years in KISS fan circles. On October 31, 2006 some of the show's footage was released on Kiss' KISSOLOGY The Ultimate Kiss Collection Vol.1 1974-1977. The DVD shows a clip of Paul Lynde meeting Kiss and the band's performance of "King of the Night Time World."

The program was released on Region 1 DVD in the US on October 2, 2007, with bonus features. This followed a two-year process by producer/head writer Bob Booker to clear the rights after finding the original footage of the show which had long been thought lost.[2]

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References
  1. Bruce Vilanch on "The Paul Lynde Halloween Special". Archive of American Television Interviews via YouTube (August 2, 2016). Retrieved February 26, 2020.
  2. filmthreat.com
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