Midnight ghost shows (also known as spook shows, midnight spook shows, voodoo shows, or monster shows) were traveling stage shows that originated in the United States during the Great Depression.[1] The shows were influenced by the stage magic traditions that preceded them, and typically incorporated illusions; simulated séances; interactivity between a host—often called a "ghostmaster"[2][3]—or performers and the audience; a "blackout" sequence in which the theater would go completely dark; and horror film screenings before or after the show.[4]
Ghost shows experienced a resurgence in popularity in the 1950s due to the output of horror and science fiction films aimed at the young adult market.[5] They declined steadily due to the rise of television,[4] along with the public's changing taste in entertainment,[6] but continued as late as the 1970s.[4] The ghostmasters who presented the shows have been described as precursors to TV horror hosts,[4] and the elements of audience participation and film screenings in the shows themselves have been characterized as prototypical to midnight movies like The Rocky Horror Picture Show.[6][7]
Overview
Author Mark Walker coined the term "ghostmaster" to refer to the hosts of ghost shows.[2][3] The format of a ghost show usually entailed an introduction by a ghostmaster, usually presenting themselves as a medium; this was followed by a series of conjuring and mentalist illusions performed in low light, often with participation from the audience.[4] The shows also commonly incorporated staged hypnotism acts in which pre-chosen subjects would appear to be controlled by a hypnotist, as well as illusions in which the ghostmaster or another performer would appear to dismember a young woman.[8] The finale of a ghost show would usually be a "blackout" sequence, wherein the theater would go entirely dark, and actors performing as ghosts or monsters would often terrorize members of the audience.[4]
By the end of the 1930s, it became customary for the blackout to be followed by the screening of a horror film.[4] Former ghostmaster and ghost show historian Jim Ridenour described his preferred structure for ghost shows as such:[8]
The ideal spook show starts with a horror movie. This lets the hoodlums get tired and worn out. After the first movie ends, you immediately start the stage show. The stage show ends with a blackout where the theater is completely dark, and spooks, ghosts, bats, skeletons – luminescent paintings on fishing poles – "fly over" the heads of the audience. Once the lights come on, you immediately hit the screen with a second horror flick.
History
In 1929, stage magician Elwin-Charles Peck (who performed as "El-Wyn") created one of the first ghost shows, El-Wyn's Midnite Spook Party.[9] The course of the show saw Peck telling the audience that he was a medium in contact with the spirit world, and integrated eerie sounds and objects appearing to move mysteriously.[9] Towards the end of the show, the theater would be plunged into darkness, as simulated spirits of the dead appeared and vanished both onstage and over the audience.[9]
El-Wyn's Midnite Spook Party spawned a number of imitators.[4] In the late 1930s or early 1940s, Toledo, Ohio-based Jack Baker, his wife, and his brother-by-adoption Wyman Baker created Dr. Silkini's Asylum of Horrors, with Jack Baker performing under the alias "Dr. Silkini".[4][9]Asylum of Horrors quickly evolved to incorporate both horror and comedy in its presentation, satirizing the spiritualist scene and intermixing illusions and audience participation with jokes, gimmicks, and skits.[4][9] The shows would also feature two or three blackout sequences instead of one.[9] As the show's popularity grew, Universal Pictures sued Baker for using Frankenstein's monster in his performances, but eventually came to a contractual agreement with the studio that allowed him to maintain the character as part of the act.[9][11]Asylum of Horrors was performed in the U.S., as well as Canada, Mexico, and Europe.[4]
The popularity of ghost shows rapidly declined with the advent of television and the changing tastes of audiences, but continued into the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.[4][6] In later years, ghost shows placed a greater emphasis on sex appeal and violence, featuring scantily clad female assistants and a focus on illusions involving dismemberment and torture.[4]
Legacy
Midnight ghost shows have been described as forerunners to gimmick-based film promotion (as practiced by such figures as William Castle),[4][6] as well as TV horror hosts of the 1950s and beyond,[4] the latter of whom were typically "comic, ghoulish figures that were very similar to the emcees of the midnight ghost shows."[6] In fact, stage magician and ghostmaster Philip Morris (who performed under the alias "Dr. Evil"), eventually transitioned to become a TV horror host, presenting Dr. Evil's Horror Theatre, broadcast on the U.S.'s East Coast from 1960 to 1968.[4][6]
Craig, Rob (2013). It Came from 1957: A Critical Guide to the Year's Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. McFarland & Company. ISBN978-0786477777.
Walker, Mark (1994). Ghostmasters (2nd revised ed.). Cool Hand Communications, Inc. ISBN978-1567901467.