What an odd way to get famous. Come to Hollywood to pursue a career in acting. Wind up with the worst director on the planet. Star in a handful of the worst films ever made. Take a break from acting for 25 years. End up starring in another 70 movies, all of which have titles as captivating as Fart: The Movie, Test Tube Teens From the Year 2000, Hell Comes To Frogtown III, and Zeppo: Sinners from Beyond the Moon! I could go on. Then amidst all of this, make appearances at celebrity shows selling your autograph. It’s like Conrad Brooks had a plan. Let’s call it “Plan 8”.
Ok, there’s a part I left out. The key to the mystery is in that ‘handful of worst films ever made’. Because it just so happens that they were made by Edward D. Wood Jr., who in addition to be credited as the worst director in the world has been immortalized in Tim Burton’s film Ed Wood (in which Mr. Brooks appeared incidentally). Conrad Brooks starred in five of Ed Wood’s films: Glen or Glenda, Jail Bait, Bride of the Monster, Night of the Ghouls, and the ultra-and-unjustly famous Plan 9 From Outer Space.
Being a bit of an Ed Wood buff myself, I had already had my friend Bob pick me up the signed photo at the top of the posting of Conrad Brooks (pictured on the right with Ted Brooks and Ed Wood himself in the center), when he had appeared at one of the Hollywood Collector Shows back in 1995. But at the Chiller Theatre show in Parsippany, New Jersey, on October 30, 2010, I had a plan of my own. Let’s call it “Plan 9”.
This was the first time that I got to meet Conrad Brooks in person, so naturally I wanted to get a picture with him. I brought along my photo that he had already signed and told him that I had purchased his signed photo in the past but ‘didn’t have my camera with me’. He kept asking me if I wanted him to sign the picture. In fact, he asked me that all through the photo op. But his handler (which may have been a relative), was ok with the photo op – so even if Mr. Brooks himself didn’t know exactly what was going on, my photo was approved (which turned out to be the only freebie of the day). So that is the story of how I gracelessly executed Plan 9 on Conrad Brooks, winding up with a nice photo with a true Hollywood curiosity.
This is the most fantastic story I’ve ever heard. And every word of it’s true, too. That’s the fantastic part of it.
Celebrity encounters from the Fall 2010 Chiller Theatre show will continue…
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