Product Details

• Actors: Billy Barty, Margaret Hamilton, Billie Hayes, Florence Henderson, KISS
• Format: Color, Full Screen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: S'more Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: October 2, 2007
• Run Time: 60 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (60 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000TEUSMC
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #66,231 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "The Paul Lynde Halloween Special" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

The Paul Lynde Halloween Special aired only once (on October 29, 1976) and featured a "Who's Who" of mid-'70s TV and film stars; Paul held everything together as the ringmaster of a circus that featured Margaret Hamilton (her only prime time TV appearance wearing the full outfit from The Wizard of Oz), Witchie Poo from H.R. Pufnstuf, Donnie and Marie (who had Paul as a regular on their series), Tim Conway, Billy Barty and in their first prime time TV appearance, KISS. They perform three songs but the on-stage conversation with KISS, Paul and Margaret Hamilton is priceless.

Special Features:

Extensive photo scrapbook containing images from The Hollywood Squares, at home, family shots, young Paul. This includes large quantities of photos provided by his family and heirs

Three stage interactive trivia game based on questions asked on The Hollywood Squares with a bonus feature when consumer answers all 30- 60 questions correctly

Extensive quotes from Paul Lynde about family, entertainment, food and mental health Liner notes by producer and writer, Bob Booker

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 51 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars "How About A Little Chamber Music?" November 13, 2007

By Robert I. Hedges HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase

This Halloween special aired once on television, on October 29, 1976. It is perhaps the most quintessential 1970's camp classic available on DVD. Starring Paul Lynde, with a bevy of guest stars such as Tim Conway, Billy Barty, Florence Henderson, Donny and Marie Osmond, KISS, and best of all, Margaret Hamilton and Billie Hayes, this show is only 50 minutes long, but what it lacks in length it makes up for in cheese.

It is essentially a sketch comedy show with the faintest of connective sinew: Paul Lynde and his housekeeper, Margaret Hamilton, visit Hamilton's sister, Billie Hayes at her castle. Obviously this is an excuse for Hamilton to reprise her role as the most famous witch in history, the Wicked Witch of the West from "The Wizard of Oz," while Hayes dons her Witchiepoo outfit from "H. R. Pufnstuf." Along the way there are lots of lame jokes, skits, and music.

To capitalize on the then huge song "Convoy" and television show "Movin' On" there is a musical nightmare where Lynde (in a sequin jumpsuit with enormous lapels) and Conway play truckers dueling for the love of Pinky Tuscadero (Roz Kelly). Although that has nothing to do with Halloween and everything to do with the strangely popular CB radio boom, the setting quickly shifts for most of the balance of the show to Hayes' house. I especially enjoyed the interactions of Hayes and Hamilton in the castle where they introduce KISS (their first major television appearance) as chamber musicians who "make such very soothing, quiet dinner music."

There are other diversions, such as when Lynde becomes a sheik who kidnaps Florence Henderson (who he falls for after seeing her milk a cobra). He tries everything to win her heart, even sharing a decanter of hyena wine with her. In the end, she is won over by a gift of a cockatoo "once owned by Baretta," leading to the most unerotic kiss in screen history. She also gets a chance to sing "That Old Black Magic" with a disco arrangement. The entire disco scene, in fact, is surreal: the hair and costumes will haunt me for a long time, and everyone in the cast (except KISS, which looks on, mortified) dances to an excremental tutorial taught by Pinky Tuscadero titled "Disco Baby".

The show is very cheesy, as only a 1970's star-studded spectacular could be. If you want a good laugh (but not at the jokes) or a humorous reminiscence of those colorfully tacky days, this is absolutely not to be missed.

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A great special finally on DVD October 12, 2007

By Brian Reaves TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase

I remember watching this as a kid, but never being able to remember what it was. Watching it again brought back memories. Guest stars like Tim Conway, Florence Henderson, and of course, KISS make this a memorable show. It's definitely a slice of the 70's with Disco music and the variety show feel (skits, song-and-dance routines, occasional painfully unfunny jokes), and it's great. The only down side is the fact that it's not the best quality. It looks like an old VHS movie, but that can't be helped because it was thought lost forever and only ONE complete copy has ever been found. I wish they could have remastered it, but I'd rather have it this way than not at all.

The extras here include a "Match the Quote" game (get 30 of them right and there's a little surprise for you), Paul's Photo Album, and a few other notes. No deleted scenes or extra stuff like that, but again, at least we're getting the special out there.

Definitely worth the money!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Forget the Halloween candy, pass the cheese! August 21, 2009

By S Fullmer

Format:DVD

The Paul Lynde Halloween Special is a surreal, kitschy hunk of 70's cheese, long thought to be lost for over three decades. Variety show in structure while underpinned with the thinnest of plot lines, it's a virtual text book of trash culture circa 1976: Billy Barty, Tim Conway, Betty White, Florence Henderson (singing "That Old Black Magic" in a dreadful disco number), Roz Kelly (Pinky Tuscadero of "Happy Days), the rock band Kiss, Billie Hayes (as Withchiepoo from "H.R. Pufinstuf"), Margaret Hamilton (gamely reprising her Wicked Witch of the West character), discotheques, line dancing, CB radios, truckers, desert sheiks, neon lights, candy colored sets, canned laughter, rhinestone-studded outfits and probably some shag carpet and olive-colored appliances. All this and Donny and Marie Osmond, too.

Holding it all together (and that's not easy) is the bitter charm of Paul Lynde. His spiky comebacks seem more acerbic on "Hollywood Squares" (blame the writers), but his sarcastic delivery is still dead on and he more or less carries the show. Lynde even gets an opening musical number in the winking "Kids", which sends up bratty children, sentimentality and Halloween altogether. His cackling rapport with pal Margaret Hamilton (one of the few personalities who could stand toe-to-toe with him), is where he truly feels at home and based on his checkered past, suggests a kinship with the Wicked Witch of the West. The cover art more than asserts this notion.

As stated on the package, this may possibly be the Holy Grail for Kiss Kollectors, documenting in entirety their first prime-time appearance on national television. The band hams it's way through three numbers, "Detroit Rock City", "Beth" and "King Of The Nighttime World" and their presence brings much-needed electricity to the proceedings, especially lead singer Paul Stanley, who manages to leap around like Baryshnikov in six-inch platform shoes. The lip syncing, staged destruction and edited songs may turn off hardcore fans, so acquiring this DVD for a rare, albeit contrived, Kiss performance might be for completists only, though I've never met a Kiss fan who wasn't one.

As for the quality of the video, the distributors acknowledge its flaws: The transfer is not up to average DVD standards, but it's not unwatchable either, considering it's probably been stashed in a musty closet next to Dorothy's shoes somewhere in West Hollywood. The extras are generous for such an endeavor: A fun interactive trivia game, a nice photo scrapbook supplied from family and friends and witty quotes. But the real highlight is an interview with "Hollywood Squares" host Peter Marshall, in a candid but G-rated reminiscing on Lynde's life and times.

If you have the right frame of mind, a healthy appreciation of camp and are looking for some trashy fun, you'll enjoy this newly rediscovered piece of 70's memorabilia. For everyone else, well, it just might haunt you.