Creature from the Black Lagoon

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The one emblematic movie monster
of the 1950s emerged - in 3-D, no less -

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from Universal Pictures, the studio which
had already led the field for two decades.

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Sci-fi expert Bill Warren calls it "one of
the most famous monsters ever created".

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Sci-fi authority Bob Burns says it's
among the best monsters ever designed,

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and despite its Johnny-come-lately
status, it fits in with Frankenstein,

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the wolf man, the mummy and all the rest
of the great movie monsters of old.

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The characters in the movie
call him the gill-man.

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The people who made the movie
affectionately called him "the beastie".

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We call him "the Creature
from the Black Lagoon".

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Out of the Devonian Period, when life
crawled out of the sea, it came.

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From fishlike thing to mammal, from
mammal to a manlike horror of the sea.

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With the heart of a human, filled with
hate, and a manlike instinct to love.

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My name is Tom Weaver. Together
we'll go back to that black lagoon

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and look behind the scenes at
one of the best monster movies

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from the second half of the 20th century.

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In the beginning,
there was William Alland.

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Alland had the idea for Creature from the
Black Lagoon and produced the picture.

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Alland was born in Delmar, Delaware,

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and he began his career
as an actor with a Baltimore troupe.

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He moved to New York City,

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arriving there with a few belongings, $25,
and the ambition to work on Broadway.

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He took acting courses, and he acted
at the Henry Street Settlement House,

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which is where he met Orson Welles.

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This was in the '30s.
Welles was on the verge of forming

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his famous
Mercury Players acting company.

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Alland worked with the Mercury Players
on stage and on the radio.

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He was in the cast of the notorious 1938
War of the Worlds CBS radio broadcast,

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which was so realistic
it caused a panic among listeners,

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and Welles and Alland nearly went to jail.
They continued to associate for years.

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Alland acted in some of Welles' movies,
including Citizen Kane.