Joe Karston

Last updated
Joe Karston
Born
Joe Karston
NationalityAmerican
Other names
  • Joe Carston
  • Joe Karsten
Occupations
Years active1940s–1970s

Joe Karston (also spelled Joe Carston [1] or Joe Karsten [2] ) was an American stage illusionist, booking agent, and promoter who specialized in midnight ghost shows. [3] Among the ghost show campaigns developed and produced by Karston were Dr. Macabre's Frightmare of Movie Monsters, Dr. Satan's Shrieks in the Night, and Dr. Jekyl [ sic ] and His Weird Show. [3] [4]

Contents

A competitor of fellow magician and ghost show host (or "ghostmaster") Jack Baker, Karston promoted and managed a roster of stage magicians that included John "Johnny" Cates, Wayne Harris, Kirk Kirkham, Harry Wise, and John Daniel. [3]

Karston was an associate of David L. Hewitt, who had performed in Karston's Dr. Jekyl and His Weird Show. [5] Karston screened the Hewitt-directed short film Monsters Crash the Pajama Party (1965) as part of a ghost show campaign; the short features an interval in which costumed actors would appear to exit the film and venture out into the audience, where they would abduct a planted "victim" from the audience and appear to bring them back into the film. [1] Karston also served as a producer on the Hewitt-directed feature The Wizard of Mars . [6]

In the late 1960s, Karston re-released films by director Ray Dennis Steckler, including the 1964 films The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies (released by Karston as The Teenage Psycho Meets Bloody Mary) and The Thrill Killers (as The Maniacs are Loose), as well as 1965's The Lemon Grove Kids. [7] Under Karston's management, all three films were screened with involvement from costumed actors that interacted with the viewing audience. [7]

Career

In the late 1940s, Karston operated Joe Karston's Show Palace (alternately spelled Show Place [8] [9] ), a tourist attraction at Bunker Hill Naval Air Base in Indiana. [10] The attraction showcased vaudeville and music performances, and boasted an indoor heated swimming pool equipped with diving boards. [10] [11] The 50-meter, 735,000-gallon pool opened to the public on November 9, 1947. [11]

By the 1950s, Karston had transitioned to developing and operating midnight ghost shows, a form of traveling stage show that incorporated stage magic and supposedly supernatural elements. Karston had a roster of magicians under his management whom he would promote as hosts (or "ghostmasters") of these ghost shows. This stable of ghostmasters included John "Johnny" Cates, [3] Wayne Harris, [3] Kirk Kirkham, [3] Harry Wise, [3] [12] and John Daniel. [3] Karston and his magicians sometimes attended shows by competing ghostmaster Jack Baker, who performed under the stage name Dr. Silkini, to study Baker's routines. [3]

Among the ghost show campaigns promoted by Karston were Dr. Satan's Shrieks in the Night, which was hosted by Cates under the Dr. Satan moniker, and Dr. Jekyl [ sic ] and His Weird Show, which was performed by Karston or Wise. [3] [4] [12] Karston-produced ghost shows would eventually begin incorporating appearances by actors dressed as movie monsters, often using rubber masks created by Don Post. [13] Such monsters included the Fly, Teenage Frankenstein, Rodan, and the Colossal Beast. [14]

In 1965, Karston promoted and screened the short film Monsters Crash the Pajama Party as part of a ghost show campaign; the film was directed by David L. Hewitt, who had previously been a performer in Dr. Jekyl and His Weird Show. [5] The short features an interval in which costumed actors would appear to exit the film and roam out into the audience, where they would proceed to kidnap a planted "victim" from the audience and appear to bring them back into the film. [1] Karston also produced the Hewitt-directed feature film The Wizard of Mars . [6] Around 1966, Karston re-released films by director Ray Dennis Steckler, including the 1964 films The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies (released by Karston as The Teenage Psycho Meets Bloody Mary) and The Thrill Killers (as The Maniacs are Loose), as well as 1965's The Lemon Grove Kids. [7] Karston had all three films screened with involvement from costumed actors: The Incredibly Strange Creatures saw live actors dressed as zombies roam the audience; The Thrill Killers featured a live actor dressed as a character from the film; and The Lemon Grove Kids featured a live actor dressed as a mummy. [7]

Karston later retired and moved to Redondo Beach, California. [15]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Ray 1991, p. 89–90.
  2. ↑ Craig, Rob (2013). It Came from 1957: A Critical Guide to the Year's Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. McFarland & Company. pp. 43, 243. ISBN   978-0786477777.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Walker 1994, p. 151.
  4. 1 2 "Master Spook". Portland Press Herald . Portland, Maine. January 27, 1956. p. 18. Joe Karston who brings the 'Dr. Jekyl Weird Show' to the State Theater for a single stage performance tomorrow night, gives the audience the 'eye' in this manner as he works his blood-curdling stunts.
  5. 1 2 Ray 1991, p. 89.
  6. 1 2 Ray 1991, p. 90.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Tucker, Ed (2005). "Velveeta Las Vegas! The Ray Dennis Steckler Interview by Ed Tucker". Crazed Fanboy. Archived from the original on October 30, 2023. Retrieved October 30, 2023.
  8. ↑ Sacks, Bill (December 13, 1947). "Magic" (PDF). Billboard . Vol. 59, no. 50. p. 47.
  9. ↑ Bunker Hill School of Aeronautics, Inc. Hearings Before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Expenditures in the Executive Departments, House of Representatives Eight-Second Congress, First Session. 1951. p. 469.
  10. 1 2 "Joe Karston's Bunker Hill Air Base Show Palace and $500,000 Indoor Heated Swimming Pool". The Kokomo Tribune . Kokomo, Indiana. January 29, 1948. p. 16.
  11. 1 2 "Bunker Hill Pool Will Open Sunday". The Kokomo Tribune . Kokomo, Indiana. November 3, 1947. p. 8.
  12. 1 2 Robison, Jim (February 22, 2004). "Cereal Killer Stages His Career" . The Orlando Sentinel . Orlando, Florida. p. K10. Retrieved October 30, 2023. Wise took his television fame onto the theater circuit for a new ghost show, Dr. Jekyl and His Weird Show, in 1964. The Joe Karsten Agency of California booked Wise's horror show across the country and into Canada.
  13. ↑ Walker 1994, p. 152–153.
  14. ↑ Walker 1994, p. 153.
  15. ↑ Walker 1994, p. 155.

Bibliography

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