The autumn always makes me think of one thing, Dr Syn.
Why, you ask? Because it was Dr Syn who came up with the ingenious idea of dressing up as the horrifying Scarecrow. In a way, he’s kind of like an early alternate Batman. The actor Patrick McGoohan (of the cult series The Prisoner) played the character in the Wonderful World of Disney TV series… sadly doomed to remain out of our hands in any video format not purchased by a pirate. An educated parson by day, terrifying and swashbuckling pirate ruling over his parishioners from behind a glowing visage of horror by night.
You can see why Disney has continued its efforts in expunging this film from memory.
However, that won’t stop the dutiful lads and lasses busily uploading material to youtube!
The character enjoyed a brief appearance in Alan Moore’s League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, but is more or less an obscure remnant of half-remembered childhood nostalgia. But he remains an essential part of my ever hazier memory of whacked-out children’s TV.
