"Revival of Pepper's Ghost at Christmas by Professor Pepper," 19th Century Poster

Thanks to the legendary Vanessa Toulmin of The National Fairground Archive for turning me onto this terrific poster in her talk last Monday as part of the Congress for Curious Peoples. Image sourced from The Archive website.

"Phantom Creep Theatre: Lon Chaney Shall Not Die," Tonight at The Coney Island Museum

At the Coney Island Museum in Brooklyn, the Phantom Creep Theater pays tribute to classic horror with its version of the spook show, a macabre entertainment popular in the early 20th century that weds Grand Guignol tradition with modern sideshow showmanship. Hosted by M.C.’s in the vein of late-night television horror hosts like Ghoulardi and Dr. Creep, the shows feature B movies, live music, old-hat magic and a total blackout in which a monster or phantom tears through the theater.
--"No Rest for the Wicked, Undead or Ghoulish," New York Times. July 12, 2012

Tonight, at the Coney Island Museum, I hope to see you for "Phantom Creep Theatre: Lon Chaney Shall Not Die!",  an ode to the 1950s spook show organized in part by friend and Midnight Archive creator Ronni Thomas. The night's series of performances, screenings and hijinx will be dedicated to the memory and work of Lon Chaney Sr., patron saint of classic horror, and will feature a live theatrical recreation of the lost 1929 film "Thunder,"which included "insidious carnies, murderous dwarves, [and] ravenous gorillas on the loose" and reputedly killed "the man of a 1,000 faces." In fine spook show tradition, there will also be an attempt to make contact with the ghost of Mr. Chaney, a chance to meet the "Hypno Corpse," varied film screenings, live music, and many thrills and screams, all for only 10 dollars.

Full details follow; hope very much to see you there!

PHANTOM CREEP THEATRE: Lon Chaney Shall Not Die!
Location: The Coney Island Museum
Date: TONIGHT Saturday, July 21
Time: Doors 8:00, Event 8:30 PM
Admission: $10
Free Popcorn!

Set your faces to stun for THE UNHOLY THREE (1930), screened from a 16mm film print! This film includes insidious carnies, murderous dwarves, ravenous gorillas on the loose, Lon Chaney, Sr.'s only speaking role, and much, much more!

Experience a one time live theatrical recreation of the (lost) film that killed Lon Chaney, Sr.... THUNDER! No one has seen this gut wrenching, edge of your seat, golden era rail road drama, in over 80 years!! You can't see it anywhere, but the Phantom Creep Theatre stage!

These presentations and more are part of an entire evening celebrating the man of a 1,000 faces, the man who ceased to exist between pictures, the broken hearted clown who was born on April Fool's Day - Lon Chaney, Sr.!

Will you bear witness to COUNT MOLOCH and EK, as they attempt to make contact with the ghost of Lon Chaney, Sr., live on the Coney Island Museum stage?!?!

Entities known, and unknown, may leave the stage and roam the room in the dark. Will you be ripped from your seat, or frozen with fear to it?

"That's all there is to life: A little laugh, a little tear." - Lon Chaney, Sr.

Plus, the HYPNO CORPSE will shock and amaze you!

LIVE performances, FILM (not digital!) projections, LIVE music! ...ONLY ten bones?! YES! 

The team that ran the original Silver Scream Spook Show at Coney Island, reunite for the first time ever on the stage that started it all! NYC's 8mm Movie Matinee, along with Atlanta GA's Silver Scream Spook Show, and the internet's own Midnight Archive web series, are throwing a gala summer-long series!

A spook show collaboration of colossal proportions in Coney Island! Ghosts materialize before your eyes! Monsters summoned from beyond! Strange creatures reach out at you through the darkness!

Including, but not limited to:

Golden era monster movies presented from 16mm film prints!

Live morbid magicians conjuring spirits that may run out into the audience to shake and shock you to your very core!

Each month is a DIFFERENT theme with NEW films, NEW gags, and NEW live hijinks! Collect ALL the memories and experiences!

You can find out more, and get tickets, by clicking here; tickets can also be purchased at the door. You can read the entire New York Times article about the event by clicking here.

"Play Dead," Todd Robbins and Teller, The Players Theatre, New York

The other night, I took my boyfriend out for a night of good, scary, compelling fun at Todd Robbins' and Teller's (of Penn and Teller) new production "Play Dead," on view now at The Players Theatre in New York City.

The production is difficult to describe in normal theater terms; it is kind of like a haunted house meets a 1950s ghost show meets a piss take on a Victorian séance meets a high-end Vegas magic show all staged on a David Lynch film set. The main presence in the production is side-show performer Todd Robbins; he has a wonderfully compelling presence, equal parts passionate story teller, confidence man, and emphatic and empathetic debunker of spiritualist trickery. The piece is a kind of fun yet thoughtful meditation on the mysteries of death, the history of historical monsters in their various forms, and the ways--compellingly demonstrated in the show--that death and loss still make us easy prey for "spiritualist" hucksters.

I don't want to say too much more, as so much of the fun of the production come from the element of surprise, but I will say this: I was seriously amazed; I was amused; and we are still talking about it. I very much recommend checking it out.

"Play Dead" is being staged at The Players Theatre, 115 MacDougal Street, New York. You can find out more--and get tickets--by clicking here.

Full disclosure: I received free tickets from the Play Dead Production Company in exchange for reviewing this show. Lucky for me I really really enjoyed it! And so did my impartial boyfriend.

Image: From the Studio 360 website.

Phantasmagoria at the Louvre (!!!): Paris, January-March 2011

Parisian museums are getting more and more historically innovative with their programming. First, the amazing looking "Science and Curiosities: exhibition at Versailles (as discussed in this recent post). And now this just in: The Cinémathèque Française will be co-producing a phantasmagoria projection & spectacle in partnership with--and to be performed at--The Louvre!

Phantasmagoria, invented in the wake of--and said to be a response to--The French Revolution, are essentially ghost shows in which images of skeletons, demons, and ghosts (see top image) are projected via a modified magic lantern and, through a series of ingenious special effects, seem to move about, approach and retreat from, the viewer. These forms of spectacle were very popular around the time of the French Revolution and were also performed throughout the 19th Century; with the advent of film, they metamorphosed into the horror movie, a popular form to this day.

The phantasmagoria projection & spectacle at the Louvre will consist of a series of phantasmagoria projections and spectacles between the dates of January 13th until March 28th of 2011; The highlight will be a grand phantasmagoria projection on March 6 where guest Phantasmagores Laure Parchomenko & Laurent Mannoni promise to conjure-up a variety of spirits which haunted the aftermath of the Revolution at 14:30 & 18:00.

More information about this event can be found (in French) here.

Via the Early Visual Media website and mailing list.

“The Widow’s Mite,” Stereograph, Photographer Unknown, circa 1876

“The Widow’s Mite”
Stereograph, Photographer unknown, circa 1876
[From the Library of Congress]

From Turn of the Century blog, who sourced it from Liquidnight.