Actors Gloria Castillo, Lyn Osborn, and Steve Terrell appear in scene from the 1957 American International Pictures film “Invasion of the Saucer Men.”
Free screening features LP native Lyn Osborn
LINCOLN PARK — The Lincoln Park Historical Museum will host a rare screening of the 1957 sci-fi flick “Invasion of the Saucer Men” at 6 p.m. Oct. 30 at the Memorial Park Band Shell building, 3240 Ferris Ave. Admission is free.
Lincoln Park native Lyn Osborn appears alongside actors Frank Gorshin, Steve Terrell and Gloria Castillo in the black and white film directed by Edward L. Cahn for American International Pictures. Osborn portrays Artie Burns and serves as the film’s narrator.
The screening will be preceded by a “Best Alien Costume Contest.” Entrants will be judged and awarded prizes in three categories: “most creative,” “best overall” and “the best costume recreating-1950s-movie-aliens.” All those in attendance can vote for their favorites in each category.
Just prior to the film, a short video bio of Osborn’s career will be shared. Refreshments will be available on site for a donation as well.
The movie was released in 1957 as a double feature with another classic AIP film, “I Was a Teenage Werewolf,” starring a young Michael Landon.
Actors Frank Gorshin and Lyn Osborn appear in a scene from the 1957 American International Pictures film “Invasion of the Saucer Men.”
“Invasion of the Saucer Men” concerns a town named Hicksburg, where a spaceship lands in the nearby woods. Drunk opportunist Joe Gruen — played by Gorshin — ventures out to find it. Meanwhile a teenage couple — Johnny (Terrell) and Joan (Castillo) are driving down lovers lane when they run over one of the eponymous bulbous-headed aliens from the spaceship. The two go off to tell the police, and while they’re gone, Joe comes across the alien corpse.
The aliens kill via injecting people with alcohol with their retractable fingernails, and Joe suffers the same fate. They substitute his corpse for the run-over alien’s. The police come with Johnny and Joan back to the site and find Joe, thereby assuming that the two were drunk and ran him over, hallucinating that he was an alien. Without the police help, the town’s teens are forced to take on the aliens themselves.
The low-budget film features the costume, makeup designs of legendary Paul Blaisdell. Blaisdell’s other notable monster designs included the films “The Beast With a Million Eyes,” “The Day the World Ended,” “It Conquered the Word” and “The Spider.”
Actor Lyn Osborn, originally from Lincoln Park, is seen here in the poster for the American International Pictures 1957 film release “Invasion of the Saucer Men,” which shows at the Lincoln Park Bandshell building at 6 p.m. Oct. 30.
While growing up in Lincoln Park, Osborn was popularly known by his nickname “Buddy.” After graduating in 1943 from Lincoln Park High School, where he was recognized for his musical and comedic talents, Osborn served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.
Following his wartime service, he moved to the West Coast and studied acting at the Pasadena Playhouse with hopes for a career in theater and film.
Osborn was best known for creating the role of Cadet Happy on the sci-fi television series and radio serial “Space Patrol,” which aired from 1950 to 1955. His film career was tragically cut short by his death at age 32 following surgery for a brain tumor. Of the handful of films that he made, “Saucer Men” is the most recognized today.
More information can be obtained from the Lincoln Park Historical Society & Museum at 313-386-3137, at http://www.lphistorical.org, on the museum’s Facebook Page, or by emailing [email protected].