Dennis James adds live actors to his 50th annual Halloween silent screen event
Live actors will perform this year in the Dennis James Hosts Halloween show. How does that work, with James, as always, playing the organ to a silent movie? After more than 50 years of film-organ-ing he's adding a live 1940s radio show to the evening.
"Fascinatingly gruesome" describes the film "The Unknown," James said.
Two events for the price of one — three, if you count the costume contest — will include James' underscoring of "The Unknown," a horror mystery film in the delectably horrifying manner of "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" (No split arteries, just plenty of shocks and goose-bumping anticipation) and a radio show. "The Unknown" (1927) features then-starlet Joan Crawford, along with star Lon Chaney. James adds this film to his list of 12 horror movies.
'The Unknown'
Tod Browning directed "The Unknown," which many have voted the best of his work with Chaney. According to silent film.org, Chaney, who plays a man without arms, can pretty much stash the make-up in order to become the character. Chaney uses his facial muscles to explain a scene, and his technique transferred to Crawford here.
'Suspense: Fugue in C Minor'
The evening's radio play is "Suspense: Fugue in C Minor," and the audience will feel as though they are seeing the real thing from 1940.
Grant Goodman voices Vincent Price/Theodore Evans, and Leah Mueller voices Ida Lupino/Amanda Peabody. The other actors are Joey Cerone, Orlando Shassberger and Addie Gorden.
What else to do for Halloween 2022Ghost stories, trick or treating, more in Bloomington, Monroe County
"We're doing it like it was done in the 1940s," James said. Live actors will play the parts of the radio actors, as they stand onstage in costume and perform their eerie parts. The movie follows, and James will play the organ for both projects.
"When they made silent movies they would also broadcast the radio version, and the same actors would perform for the radio," James said.
The silent-movie craze
James, who plays these gigs roughly 10 times per year throughout the U.S. (along with other shows such as his Ides of March routine) said it was the movie "Phantom of the Opera" that triggered the silent-movie craze.
"I've paid for all the cars and motorcycles I've ever owned with these shows. Thank you very much, Lon Chaney and 'Phantom of the Opera.'"
James' organ teacher was "Melody Mac," (for Maclain), who died in 1967. Mac, James said, was the No. 1 theater organist in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, area then.
Not one to waste praise, James said Mac had "ripped me to shreds. Mac died one week later, and I thought I had killed him."
Mac's widow set James straight, telling him how much her husband had respected him.
Where to pick a pumpkinPick your own pumpkin at Bloomington's Fowler Pumpkin Patch
Not in this year's program, but a silent-film favorite is "Broken Blossoms" (1919) directed by D. W. Griffith, regarded as the first mavin of feature film directors. American actress, screenwriter and director, with a seven-and-a-half-decade career, Lillian Gish helps tell a story set in London's desperate urban streets. Opium addiction and interracial romance spell disaster.
James knew Gish well. She invited him to tour with her and he spent six years as her organist. "I even brought (Gish) to Indiana University back in the 1990s, late '80s. Lillian would come out and talk about making the movie and would take questions from the audience."
The first time James did a performance with a silent movie, in fact, was at the IU Auditorium, when he was a student. "Lillian flew out from New York City to attend," he said.
He said Gish would hold up tinted sheets of a plastic-like substance to change the colors of the black and white film. "It was a very early form of tinting."
Come in costume for a contest before the show. It's sponsored by B97 radio, and you could win a prize.
See Dennis James Hosts Halloween at IU Auditorium
WHAT: Dennis James Hosts Halloween, with organist Dennis James' double feature: family-friendly Halloween silent movie and live radio show acted by IU Department of Theatre students.
WHERE: Indiana University Auditorium, 1211 E. Seventh St.
WHEN: 7 p.m. Oct. 28
TICKETS: Start at $15 general audience and $8 students; iuauditorium.com/ or call 812-855-1103.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Dennis James Hosts Halloween at IU Auditorium in 2022
