Stepping out of the Cupboard with Butch Patrick
What is shaking Freaky Darlings? Time for interview number two in our series from this past Fatality Fest in West Palm Beach. This next interview was done by our very own lovely-vampire-diva/ love of my life/ mother of my child/ Psychotik Girl den mother…Seras Psychotik! This was Seras first celebrity interview ever. She get’s nervous about choking up, but trust me, I think she did awesome! Butch was a great guy with tons of great stories. Probably could have sat there for a whole day listening to him, unfortunately, we could not. So hats on darlings! Cozy yourself up because now we are…
Stepping out of the Cupboard with Butch Patrick
That was an awesome back drop…I wanted it.
Seras Psychotik: So I have the pleasure of sitting here today with Butch Patrick. Most of you will know him as the lovable Eddie Munster from The Munsters. You obviously began acting at an early age.
Butch Patrick: You mean I didn’t just do The Munsters? Ha ha
SP: Ha nope, not just The Munsters. How did you get started in the industry?
BP: Actually, my little sister was the target of an agent. They wanted to take some photos of her and I went along for the ride because I didn’t have a babysitter. I was 7 years old at the time and she was 2 1/2. They took some photos of her and took some photos of me. The agent in question was Mary Grady. She was Don Grady’s mother, who was Robbie on ‘My Three Sons’. She was looking to open an exclusive child agency. She was working with an adult agency at the time. anyway, She needed kids. No experience necessary. Which I qualified for that. My first three interviews I went on, I got General Hospital the first year it was on. I got a nice movie with Eddie Albert, Jane Wyatt, Soupy Sales and Brenda Lee. Then I also got a Kellogg commercial that won an award for best commercial of the year. I got all of that right out of the gate and the rest just kind of snow balled from there.
SP: So we all want to know, how did you land the role of Eddie Munster?
BP: Well it came to me about 3 or 4 years into my career. I was living back east with my grandma, I used to go back and spend some time in the midwest with her. They apparently had this series on the books to compete with The Addams Family. The people at Universal wanted something to compete with it. They looked at several hundred kids in Hollywood, and it was basically down to a couple of kids. They decided at the last-minute they were going to tweak it a bit. So they called Yvonne DeCarlo and myself in for a final screen test. They changed the cast and the rest is pretty much history.
The ORIGINAL Team Edward…
SP: Was it difficult being the only child regular on the show?
BP: No actually it wasn’t that bad. They used to call me a 39-year-old midget because I acted like an adult. Filming was just during the day so I would be at home and with friends in the evening. And the weekends were my own. I used to just go exploring and made friends with all the guys. You know the grips and special effect guys, the make-up people. A studio is a wonderful place for a kid to go exploring, if you know what you’re doing. With my make-up on, everyone knew I was supposed to be there so it wasn’t like anyone was going to say you can’t come on the set. It was a fun time. Like a kid in the candy store. We were only in make-up like three times a week so it wasn’t too terrible.
SP: I read that Fred Gwynne and Yvonne DeCarlo were your acting mentors. What sort of advice did they share with you?
BP: Well Fred was mostly my acting mentor. He told me to never trust the suits that it was us against them. Never take it too seriously, save your money, things like that. But the acting techniques we developed together. Well he had them and helped me develop them. Which worked wonderfully for the father and son scenes. Al Lewis spent a lot of time with me outside. Anything that involved throwing a ball or letting a kid be a kid as so to speak. Yvonne was kind of a substitute mom for me because my mom lived on the east coast. So this was my substitute family. Sometimes she would bring her kids on set to play and keep me company. So she did the mom thing which was really appreciated.
SP: What has been your favorite experience working in the industry in general?
BP: Probably meeting the people. Meeting all the stars and meeting them on a casual level. Not as an actor but just as people. Having lunch with them, chatting behind the scenes. You know how everybody sees them on TV and they are like “oh my god!” and you know them on a first name basis.
SP: So you run a promotions company. Can you tell us a little about that?
BP: I have been in promotions for years. I have been a promotable item my whole life. I was a prop so to speak when we would use the Munsters coach. When we were at the auction, here we are Eddie and the monsters and the Munsters coach being used. I do media consulting and I do promotional. sometimes I work for myself, sometimes for other people like publicists.
SP: Any chance we could see a return of Eddie and the Monsters or is that over for good?
BP: yeah that ship has sailed. There is a funny story with that actually. We just wanted to do rock videos. In 1983 with the onslaught of MTV, we made a video in New York. We were the first unsigned act ever to be aired on MTV. I did write the lyrics but I faked singing and faked playing the bass. So I was like a double whammy Munster vanilly.
SP: Anything you would like to say to your fans?
BP: Keep an eye out. I’m going to be working on a morning show. A 60’s turning 60, sort of baby boomer thing. A syndicated Saturday night show and I’m also going to do a morning show Tuesday to Thursday to allow my weekends to be free to travel around the country side and visit fans. Go to Munsters.com. I try to keep all my travels listed there. I’ll be doing some international stuff next year with the 50th anniversary of the show. So hopefully the next year will be more active than most.
I greatly enjoyed having the privilege to do this interview. Butch Patrick truly appreciates his fans and is a complete joy to chat with. I hope to have the opportunity again.
Until next time lovelies,
Seras
P.S Stay tuned for more interviews from Fatality Fest and new stuff from HHN23 to boot…Later Darlings ~Malice
The Psychotik Family with the Legend himself…
Review of Fatality Fest 2013…What a Weekend!
Unless some of you have been living under a rock or just not paying any attention, you know that I paid a visit to Fatality Fest 2013 last weekend. It’s taken me a bit to write this because I wanted to fully take everything in and really give a good approach to present it to you all. We had such fun! Hands down one of the best times I have had at a horror convention. The people rocked, the guests rocked, the area was cool as shit…Can’t say enough good things at this point. But how do I convey this? I just feel writing a short review will not do the weekend any justice at all….not only that but that seems to be what everyone else has done as well (Post included) Nope, I hold myself to a much higher standard than just that. I feel I not only owe you, the reader more, but I owe the rest of the fine people who took the time to put together a top-notch show that as well. So let’s take this day by day shall we? Yes, I think we shall…
Day 1: June 7, 2013
Day one the weather was a bit dreary. A Tropical Storm decided to rear its ugly head and it almost looked as if the weekend was going to be a wash. I was very pleased as I arrived at the event to see the lovely girls from ADA Management looking back at me from down the hallway. Rain or shine…the show must go on. I love that attitude. The venue was a very large hotel. When I say Large I mean the hotel shot straight up rather than take up more space girth wise. Very swank looking, and was pleased to find the whole thing was delightfully air-conditioned. We found ourselves in a lovely room on the 9th floor Elite level, thanks to partner Derek Shembarger from Infinite Focus Photography (He really saved the day that weekend and made the whole trip possible.)After settling in..it was time for…the Zombie Walk!
Right as we started heading to the Zombie Walk…rain. The Zombie Walk was to be held at the Mellow Mushroom at City Place. Sadly that did get washed out. Apparently no one wanted to Zombie in the rain (Not that I blame them, but come on people commitment!) We decided to sit down to eat anyway. I wasn’t too fond of the food. I found it to be a bit overpriced and just not worth my money. I’ll save that for later though…It really was a shame to see it not happen. The team member that was there apologized. I didn’t see it as a big deal. Taking the weather into consideration, day one was still technically in the tail end of a storm. Back to the convention center it was…except for more rain…and we were on foot…sigh…
Back at the convention area, Seras decided to freshen up, and dry off, while Derek and myself scoped it all out. I checked to see what vendors were here and what was going on. When Seras had joined up, we hit the celebrity room for some autographs. Picked up Butch Patrick, Oliver Robbins, and Jazzy charmed Raven to death and scored a free autograph. I had managed to take a peek at the dealer’s room. Jazzy didn’t like something in there and I don’t know what it was, but she wouldn’t go in. She got a little fussy, so I tagged Seras in and we retreated for some Father Daughter time. She spread the good word with a lot of the guests. She was deeply impressed with everyone she talked to as they were all very approachable. She even got her very first celebrity interview ever with Butch Patrick (Eddie Munster). She was nervous, but she did great.
When she came back up for the night and I took storm, I found the same thing to be true. Celebrity guests were very approachable. Ended up with an epic picture of Christopher Judge in my hat! I pretty well finished up by enjoying the dealer’s room and setting up interviews for the next day. I didn’t see a whole lot of traffic, but again…Tropical Storm Andrea was still pulling away. Overall a very fun relaxing first day.
Editor Note: The Event schedule wasn’t printed at the time. To be honest, everybody that was there was able to ask event staff and they knew when and where to go. Good save! Most conventions Staff doesn’t know their ass from a whole in the ground…
Day 2: June 8, 2013
Day two was a bit more busy. Had a full list things to do. Interviews, Dealers Room, VIP later…Derek did movie screenings and Q & A’s. Seras checked out in detail some more of the vendors and the Ernie Hudson Q & A. Good news was, we had an event schedule! One of the main things we were looking to cover was the Costume contest. The Costume contest was small, but then again not many people looked to be in the full festive mood of costuming. Of the four you had a woman dressed as a comic book character I didn’t recognize off-hand (I’m terrible forgot to ask), Two Jasons, and Jazmin as Bat Girl. Jonathan Tiersten was the judge. He announced that because he was heterosexual the woman won for the Adults. Since Jazmin was the only child, she won for the kids (SHE WOULD HAVE WON ANYWAY!!!). The crowd egged him on to choose which was best between the Jasons. The one with the undermask won. I was surprised the Ghostbusters that were there didn’t join in…but hey…what can you do.
Editor Note: The Costume contest was announced by a drag queen going from room to room. Babette Bombshell, The Plus-Size Goddess of Gore…national treasure!
The Costume Contest!
Moving on, according to Derek, the movie showings were very nice. Hopefully he will have some reviews coming up soon for those. Q & A’s were very down to Earth…kind of like bull shitting with the stars…but I like that. We were able to see the vendor room and really appreciate it. I liked that it wasn’t the same nonsense. You had lot’s of home-made things. Lot’s of crafts and food. It was very different and refreshing. I get sick of the same old shit. Nothing more annoying than walking into a dealer room and seeing t-shirt, t-shirt, figure, t-shirt, figure, figure, t-shirt, bootleg DVD, bootleg DVD…etc. etc. ad nauseam! We will have more on the dealer’s room as the days pass. Still compiling info. Stay tuned!
Danny Hicks and Dee Wallace at the VIP Party. Photo by Derek Shembarger of Infinite Focus Photography.
I would love to spend more time on the celeb’s and interviews but I have gotten so many of them…I don’t want to wear you thin. Instead I will move on to the VIP party. I was late, we caught a later dinner at Grease on Klamatis (review coming soon!) I only caught the tail end. Everyone was having fun though. Derek made it there in time, he said it was awesome sauce. Personally I thought the addition of karaoke would have been nice. I’m never going to forget seeing Dee Wallace cut a rug. Elliot’s Mom can dance! I wasn’t able to attend the after after party…ah…being a parent (Next time though…next time!) Derek was able to attend that though. He said it was off the chain at Off the Hookah. Nothing like getting a buzz with Leatherface (Andrew Bryniarski). Saturday was a success!
Left to Right: Paul Barbosa, Sarah Joyal, DJ Tre, Andrea Albin, and Marko Adams. Picture By Derek Shembarger of Infinite Focus Phtography.
Day 3: June 9, 2013
The saddest day of any convention is the last. It wasn’t really too busy that day. Then again most Sundays aren’t happy. It signifies the end of a great weekend. We didn’t really get into a whole lot that day. I can say this, the celebrities were mingling with everyone. The Q & A’s were choice. Was very funny when I was interviewing Joe Bob Briggs and we ended up hosting our very own Q & A…unofficially! You see we were trying to sit down somewhere where we could hear better. Mr. Briggs chose the Main Event Room. Don’t blame him, it was in between shows. Well people started to show up for Dee Wallace’s Q & A…and we just kept going. That was until Dee showed up and we had to leave…lol…Another great moment in my life!
Ernie Hudson. Picture By Derek Shembarger of Infinite Focus Photography
The rest of the day was spent in the Celebrity room finishing up interviews and shooting the shit with the lovely Jessica Cameron. Words can’t describe it…really they can’t. I was so sad to leave, but you know…I left with positive advice from Raven and Jessica Cameron. It has served me well. Met some awesome people from this place called The Movie Studio. Hopefully I’ll be able to review their new film staring Corey Feldman, Exposure. I also met some awesome awesome dude from a group called Muscle Wolf Productions. You guys keep an eye out for them, because we are so covering them!!
In Conclusion…
Not a bad show at all. It had some problems…but what first show doesn’t have issues. Every first year has them, just try to iron them out for the next show. I loved it and will be going back…but where does it find it self on the Top Hat Scale? To be honest…5 out 5 Top Hats Why? A lot of stuff that was bad was either because of a Tropical Storm or First Year Problems. If this was a show in its 3rd or 4th year…then yeah..we could knock it. We all had fun, we all loved it, we are all going back, and others are too. It reminded me of old times…good times.
For those that may be interested, yesterday the next Florida Fatality fest was announced for October 11-13th in Ft. Lauderdale. I’ll tell you more as I find it out. Just look out people…because here Fatality Fest comes! I have more interviews coming soon. Please be patient…
Until Next Time, My Freaky Darlings,
Malice Psychotik
Fatality Fest 2013 News!!!
Sup Freaky Darlings!? You all better get used to hearing about Fatality Fest, because this show sounds like it’s going to be epic as all get out! I have a press announcement for film makers, a press announcement for bands, guest announcements…..and a surprise!!! First a message brought to us by Mrs. Andrea Albin about the Film Fest:
FATALITY FEAR FEST NOW ACCEPTING ENTRIES
Fatality Fear Fest is now accepting entries into our first annual competition as a part of Fatality Fest horror convention, June 7th-9th, 2013 in West Palm Beach, FL!
Competitors with short films, less than 20 minutes in length, are invited to submit their project online. All official rules and submission requirements can be found on the official website:
http://www.fatalityfest.com/film-festival.html
Entries are accepted through April 20th. Five finalists will be chosen by Scott Spiegel to have their films showcased on Sunday, June 9th at the convention. The winner will be chosen by the attending audience.
For more information contact:
Andrea Albin
850-483-0572
andrea@adamanagementgroup.com
And now about the Battle of the Bands (Again from Andrea Albin):
Fatality Fest is proud to present our very own BATTLE OF THE BANDS contest on Saturday night at 11pm- that’s AFTER our VIP Party! Bands will be invited to register beginning MARCH 15TH! And you guessed it… we’re bringing in a special celebrity judge to MC the entire thing! Local and national bands- we want you!
As far as guest announcements go, we now have Camille Keaton (I spit on your Grave 1978), Butch Patrick (Eddie in “The Munsters”), and Ernie—wait for it—Hudson (Ghostbusters, The Crow). I’m super excited! They should have more announcements later this week. I can’t wait to see who’s next. With a power house like ADA Management behind it, the sky is the limit I suppose. Either way…all you bands and film makers out there reading this in internet land—GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER!!! Send in those short films! Get ready for a war of guitars and metal (I’m looking at you Finding Every Altar Ruined!!!)
That’s all for now, I need some sleep! Be sure to stay tuned for more. Maybe we will have some by the next News Asylum report.
Until Next Time, My Freaky Darlings,
Malice Psychotik
Editor’s Note: I ALMOST FORGOT!! I PROMISED A SURPRISE!! WELL HERE IT IS!!!
A picture of Juliet from Lollipop Chainsaw dressed as Saeko…just for the hell of it!
Encyclopedia Psychotika 