The Midnight Spook Show & Ghost and Monster Show
Spooks on the Loose: a Brief History of the Horror Inspired Events
Jan 13, 2009
Because they were generally booked to begin at midnight after the day's theatrical film run, theater owners stood to lose little by allowing live spook shows to be presented. In fact, they were able to make a lot of money from these programs for long periods at a time.
Early Spook Shows
One of the first men to promote and run such a show was Jack Baker, a brilliant entertainer and promo genius from Toledo, Ohio. Also known as "Dr. Silkini", Baker was responsible for many successful live theater displays and is often referred to as "King of the Spook Shows" by his peers and ghost show aficianados.
After World War II, and as the popularity of the Universal Monsters began to rise in the '40s, Baker added monsters to his stage shows, helping to usher in the general format of the spook show for the next couple of decades. They would begin with a magician performing tricks, usually culminating with audience participation. Hypnotism, seances, and the like were also commonplace. Some of the spectacles featured monsters in a skit with a mad scientist, such as the Frankenstein Monster being revived amidst loud noises and flash pots simulating thunder and lightning.
According to quintessential spook show operator and aficianado Jim Ridenour, Baker's monster shows got so popular that Universal heard of Baker's use of the Frankenstein Monster in his act and threatened with a lawsuit. Baker was able to get permission from Universal to allow him to use the Monster legally.
Height of Popularity
Midnight Spook shows were most popular from the 1930s through the late 1960s, and some shows sprinkled throughout the 1970s. Essential to the success of the spook shows was advertising, always with much ballyhoo and gimmick affiliated methods. Theaters would run preview trailers of the next shows for a couple of weeks ahead of time. The trailers would generally consist of scary music and horror related artwork.
With creepy imagery playing, a voice might "dare" people to attend, encouraging them to bring a group of friends, or "spook party", to make sure they all make it through the evening safely. Radio ads were also abundant, using many of the same techniques. Appearances by famous monsters were promised, everything from Dracula and The Mummy to the Hunchback and King Kong. On occasion, Bela Lugosi himself would appear at some shows. Glenn Strange also made appearances, playing, of course, monsters.
Lobby cards were a staple of the spookers, and these sometimes colorful and gorgeously rendered pieces are still sought after by many horror collectors. Window cards advertising "Zombie Jamboree", "Dr. Dracula's Living Nightmare", "Ray-Mond's Voodoo Show", and any number of other spook shows were common in the theaters hosting the shows.
Modern Relevance
Paranormal author Troy Taylor has been reviving the spook show to some extent for several years, putting old ghost show trailers with films and the occasional seance at the Avon and Lincoln theaters in Illinois. It's more of a film oriented tribute to spook shows, rather than a duplication, but in Troy's words, "Occasionally, I can convince a friend or two to run up and down the aisles in monster costumes at key parts during the pre-show."
Spook shows belonged to a different era, a time when magicians, ghosts, monsters, and zombies literally stalked the local theater, looking for nothing more than to scare the yell out of you.
Source
- Ghostmasters by Mark Walker
- Spooks A-Poppin' by Jim Ridenour
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