William Castle Seated In Director's Chair
Your old Granny Creech has been thinking a lot lately about William Castle, Mr. Showmanship himself.
I loved all his movies and gimmicks, and his desire to give his audiences more bang for their buck. I’ve included some of his spots here for your listening enjoyment. Just imagine hearing these on your AM radio! I couldn’t wait to see the movie!
First up are three spots for his movie Macabre, the film which featured great poster and advertising art. When you entered the theater you were given a $1000 insurance policy on which you could list your beneficiaries should you die of fright while watching Macabre.
See the nurse in the lobby? She was there with smelling salts if you needed them. And after seeing that horror doll in the casket, I felt like I needed them! That face gave me nightmares forever!
Next is a lobby spot for 13 Ghosts, filmed in Illusion-O! “See the ghosts in ectoplasmic color!” When entering the theater you were given a special Ghost Viewer, a handheld cardboard thingy which contained a red strip of cellophane at the top and a blue strip at the bottom. If you looked through the red strip, you could see the ghosts on the screen! If you looked through the blue strip, the ghosts disappeared. Pretty neat, huh? A lobby spot was a record sent to the theaters for play over the speakers in a lobby to entertain moviegoers while they waited to be seated, or played in advance of the film’s opening day to build up anticipation.
Next is a radio spot for Mr. Sardonicus, “a man of evil with a face that could stop a heart!” No kidding! What a face! Horrible. He was so evil, you were given a small ‘thumbs up/thumbs down’ glow in the dark card with which you could vote in the “Punishment Poll” held during the running of the film to decide his fate. An ‘Activator Booth’ was set up in the lobby for you to charge up your card so it could be seen in the darkened theater. What was the ‘Activator Booth’? A cardboard standee with printed poster art and verbiage on it that directed you to insert your card into a slot. Behind the slot was a simple light bulb…When charged, the hand on the card glowed with an eerie lavender color, if my old memory still serves me correctly after 62 years. This radio spot was recorded live, off the air, from radio station WAKY in October, 1961. Hal Smith, WAKY DJ, did the voiceover.
Enjoy…if you dare…
Macabre's Scary Doll
13 Ghosts Ghost Viewer
Mr. Sardonicus Punishment Poll Card