Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Spook Shows a.k.a. Ghost Shows

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Topic: Spook Shows a.k.a. Ghost Shows

Geoffrey Weiss
Film Handler

Posts: 68
From: Lexington, KY, USA
Registered: May 2001

posted 02-08-2002 02:30 PM

I bought a DVD the other day called "Monsters Crash the Pajama Party," which features that film as well as a bunch of other material promoting the "spook show." I'd never heard of such a thing, but apparently from the 20s to the early 60s people toured and did combination live/midnight shows at theatres. Characters included "Dr. Evil" (Hey! Somebody for Austin Powers to sue!), "Dr. Silkini", "Ray-Mond" and "Kara Kum." They would dress up in monster costumes, turn out all the lights, and try to scare everybody. Some people would put on magic shows. They might dangle glowing "skeletons" over the audience. It sounds like tremendous, cheesy fun!

This stuff fascinates me. Anybody ever been to or heard of these shows?

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Gordon Bachlund
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 696
From: Monrovia, CA, USA
Registered: Aug 1999

posted 02-08-2002 05:56 PM

Indeed such shows were common among neighborhood theatres, and, much like "dish nites," "Hallowe'en spook-a-thons," "keno nights" and "grocery nites," were attempts to garner more business and enhance patron good will.

I recall, in the early 50s to mid 60s, manning a booth spotlight with a special gel, following a pair of luminous gloves, adorned with painted skeletal fingers and worn by a performer otherwise clad in black, as his hands performed a spooky dance in front of the title curtain on Hallowe'en. And I often operated a number wheel machine in the slide holder of an effects projector on keno nites.

These ploys, along with kiddie matinees (try operating a changeover booth while running ten 7-minute cartoons in succession - it can be done but it kept you on your toes!) and the Saturday matinee serials with cliff-hanger endings, were the stuff that neighborhood theatre showmanship was made of.

Sometimes, when I bristle at performance gaffes at the impersonal local 12-plex staffed by uncaring teens, I long for a return of licensed union projectionists and the house owners and managers who actually cared.

"Those were the days....."

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Ken Layton
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1452
From: Olympia, Wash. USA
Registered: Sep 1999

posted 02-08-2002 09:59 PM

There's an excellent book on this subject called, "Ghostmasters: A Look Back At America's Midnight Spook Shows" by Mark Walker ISBN 1-56790-146-8

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Christopher Duvall
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 500
From: Denver, CO
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 02-09-2002 07:56 AM

Another thing you may want to look up...
The man, William Castle. During the late 50's and early 60's, he employed gimicks to bring people in. He also directed the original "13 Ghosts" and "The House On Haunted Hill" using gimicks. My personal favorite of his is "The Tingler" with Vincent Price. When the creature in the movie gets loose in a movie theatre, the projectionist would be cued to buzz random seats that were wired in the auditorium to get people to jump. The entrance door had an actress acting as a nurse selling insurance for a million dollars because the movie "is that scary". If I am right, the buzzing was called Percepto. Great stuff.

The movie "Matinee" poked a little fun towards Castle.

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