Film News: Barnavelt Channels Led Zeppelin

 Lewis (Owen Vaccaro), Uncle Jonathan (Jack Black), Mrs. Zimmermann (Cate Blanchett), and neighbor (director Eli Roth) go through the motions of Led Zeppelin's “Immigrant Song”.  Enjoy.

Daddy’s School Of Ragnaroth from the set of “The House With A Clock In It’s Walls”

A post shared by Jack Black (@jackblack) on Nov 9, 2017 at 10:21am PST

Spooky Stories Haunt the Shelves of Winona Public Library

Ben McLeod wrote to us last decade to tell how Bellairsia finally helped him connect the dots between Hoosac and Winona:

I cannot describe to you the frisson of reading a book about a mysterious library and a treasure hidden within while sitting in the very library being described. As I read more of the Anthony Monday books certain particulars made it very, very clear that Hoosac was in fact Winona. When I tried to point out to parents and librarians that these books were about our town, I was met with disinterested disbelief. Adults simply assumed that I was projecting myself onto the characters of the books.

McLeod discovered through the site that Bellairs had taught at the now-defunct College of Saint Teresa in the early 1960s, prompting him to finally find his white whale.  Or his Winterborn.  Or Weatherend.  Whatever.   Now he's back (McLeod, that is), this time with an article in the Winona Post just in time for Halloween that further explains the connection and celebrates the four-book Anthony Monday series:

Haverhill’s Horror Movie Heritage

WHAV radio notes some of the people associated with Haverhill that have contributed to horror movies over the years just in time for Halloween. In addition to John Bellairs - noting his Johnny Dixon series (set in "a thinly-veiled 1950s Haverhill") and the impending movie adaptation of The House with a Clock in its Walls - Dave Goudsward passes along the following biographies:

A Prime Example of the Halloween Spirit

As the midnight hour gets closer to hand, James Basile writes this weekend in the Oklahoman about one of his favorite spooky and creepy reads:

Happy Birthday, #BradStrickland!

"Coming from the South, I grew up in a family of storytellers. My aunts, uncles, and grandparents told tales of enchantment and terror involving vanishing hitchhikers, spirits of the dead wandering graveyards in the form of flickering flames, buried Confederate gold, indelible bloodstains at the site of murders … topics to make a child’s flesh creep. However, I always wanted more and never failed to listen.

"The reading audience is very special and it’s always pleasant to discover these stores’ appeal to others. I hope the young people who read my work will enjoy it half as much as I enjoy writing it, and its good to hope that perhaps some of them will go on to become tellers of tales, masters of terror, workers of wonder."

Thanks for listening, Brad, and thanks for writing. Happy Birthday from your friends and fans at Bellairsia.

Quote from Something About the Author vol. 83. © 1996.

RecordedBooks: Lewis Barnavelt and Voices I Desire Aloud

While you're waiting to see The House with a Clock in its Walls, you can also listen to House - and soon, other titles from the Lewis Barnavelt series via RecordedBooks. RecordedBooks originally released House in the mid-1990s (along with four other titles) and now it is being re-released (with some great Gorey-esque artwork, too).

You'll be able to listen to the further adventures of Lewis and Rose Rita in the months ahead.  Listen up and mark your calendars.  (Or tell Siri to do it for you.)

Film News: A Journey, Sir, To Newnan

If this was the autumn season you finally decided you were going to visit Newnan, Georgia, then we have a few tips as far as getting around.  More so, the Newnan Times Herald reports on downtown traffic delays and detours that can be expected because of the filming of The House with a Clock in its Walls (and/or other projects).

Film News: Thy School-Days Frightful, Desperate, Wild, and Furious

Backstage.com reports that the upcoming House adaptation needs background actors for school scenes:

Film News: 'House' Release Date & Full Cast Revealed

MovieWeb reports September 21 ,2018, as the release date of the forthcoming The House with a Clock in its Walls adaptation:

Film News: Owen Vaccaro to Star in ‘House'

Variety reports that the forthcoming adaptation of The House With a Clock in Its Walls may have just found its Lewis:

Film News: MacLachlan To Enter 'House'

Deadline Hollywood reports Kyle MacLachlan will join the cast of The House With A Clock in its Walls:

Film News: A Little 'House' Music (with Nathan Barr)

MoviePilot.com talks with musician Nathan Barr - mostly about 'Flatliners' - but his working with director Eli Roth (and a recently-purchased theater organ):

Film News: This Old 'House' ... And Candy Store

The Newnan Times-Herald reports two locations in Newnan, Georgia, are in the the pre-production phase, preparing to film soon for the upcoming film, The House with a Clock in its Walls:

Film News: Casting and Crew News...in Georgia

If you're Atlanta (perhaps looking for the fabled magician), enjoy this bit of news from Backstage.com:

Film News: Cate Blanchett in Talks to Enter 'House'

Work on the film adaptation of The House with a Clock in its Walls continues. Variety reports Cate Blanchett is in early talks to co-star with Jack Black in Amblin Entertainment and Mythology Entertainment’s adaptation of the 1973 John Bellairs book illustrated by Edward Gorey.

Marshall Counts Down to a Movie

Andy Fitzpatrick of the Battle Creek Enquirer discusses how John Bellairs's home town is preparing for the big-screen adaptation of The House with a Clock in its Walls:

Film News: Casting 'The House...'

Work on the film adaptation of The House with a Clock in its Walls continues. Backstage.com reports McCarthy/Abellera Casting is looking for actors for the feature film by Eric Kripke based on the book series by John Bellairs. The call expires August 25, with shooting to begin October 9.

Gettin' #FidgetSpinner Wit It

As you're celebrating the feast day of Saint Barhadbesciabas today (get ahead of others and look him up), you might find yourself a little irritable, a bit restless. And you might find yourself twitching in mass. And you might find yourself jittery during the Eucharist. And you may ask yourself, well, how did you get this fidgety?

Houses, Clocks, and...eh...Walls

For your reading pleasure today, three uniquely-different stories, tied together thanks to John Bellairs. Or something like that.

The "House" with Jack Black, Eli Roth

It was announced back in 2011 that The House with a Clock in it Walls might still see the light of day as a feature film.  More news came this morning:

Interview: RoadVirusBus

We said recently in a more contemporary retelling of The Treasure of Alpheus Winterborn, Anthony Monday would become a page in a mobile library. Or perhaps the navigator of such a contraption. Or would Mr. Beemis be the navigator, with Anthony more of an engineer? Anyway, this thought popped into mind because news had popped into our inbox that book fans Em and Sade (with Em a professed fan of John Bellairs, too) had done just that. Started a mobile library, that is.  It's called the Road Virus and specializes in fringe literature such as horror, sci-fi, fantasy, poetry, and more.  Em (a former librarian) and Sade (an author) were on the road at the time with Jolene Lenore (that's the bookmobile).  We finally caught up to the road-weary readers and they were very kind to provide some answers to our questions.

Something About #MailPouchBarns

Lewis Barnavelt spotted Mail Pouch brand tobacco signs on the sides of barns along the road between New Zebedee and Cristobal (The Specter from the Magician's Museum; 90). Between 1890 and 1992, the West Virginia Mail Pouch Chewing Tobacco Company paid farmers to allow advertisements to be painted on their barns within view of roadways; usually hand-painted in black or red with yellow or white capital lettering that read “Chew Mail Pouch Tobacco Treat Yourself to the Best.” At the height of the program in the early 1960s, there were about 20,000 Mail Pouch barns spread across 22 states.

Something About #EdmundSpenser

When Professor Childermass and Fergie attend the big strikeout contest in Duston Heights, they’re there for some fun (too bad "back, back, back” hadn’t been coined yet) but also to try and discern whether that strange pitching robot of Evaristus Sloane’s was present, too.

Reading over the list of pitchers, the professor sees names such Charles Hebden, Al McGee, Jack Humphrey, Spencer Talus ...