Madhouse of Mystery

A popular venue for the ol' Gorilla and Girl act were the spook shows that roamed America beginning in the 1930's. Dr. Neff's Madhouse of Mystery appears to be one of the more enduring acts that thrilled audiences with magic and a variety of ghoulish gags. Neff was based out of Indiana and performed there well into the 1950's. The outlandish gorilla and girl photo was recently listed on Ebay and I offer my thanks to George Chastain for the heads up on the pic.

ROAMS THE AUDIENCE IN THE DARK!

Ladies accompanied by one of those squeeky voiced, pimply punks can expect things to go very badly once the house lights dim.

$500 REWARD FOR ESCAPED GORILLA!

Repost from PCL LINKDUMP with addition of Window Card



The Spook Shows that pervaded the local movie houses of the 50's and 60's must have been a real rush for the impressionable youth who cozied up with their steadies as ghouls, gorillas and ghosts terrorized them as second rate B pictures flickered on the screen. I have been hunting about for any Real Live Gorilla appearances and have been duly impressed by the promises made by the Mad Ray-Mond - forget the 500lb Gorilla that "becomes aroused at the sight of beautiful girls" - Buzz saws cut off heads!!? Oh brother!

Here's a quick history on the Spook Show phenomenon and some handsome window cards also available as T-Shirts.

(The ad above was chopped and stitched for easy blog viewing)

SPOOK SHOW AT THE OASIS

ORIGINALLY POSTED 3-28-2010

I love the notion of the spook show - the prospect of a live gorilla (man) rampaging through the crowds as KONG tosses sailor's into the crevasse on Kong Island makes me giddy. I imagine the reality of the experience is something less than the hype but if you were twelve, I'm betting it was pretty damn fun. Below is a great piece on a local Halloween Drive-In spook show in 60's Iowa - the print photo of the menacing ape is pretty muddy but the list of hijinks in the text is awe inspiring. 50,000 crickets dropped from a helicopter! A legion of gorillas and ghouls terrorizing the popcorn munching populace!
Forget AVATAR and 3-D chum, take me back baby!

Thrills, scares and fun will be part of the Halloween program when a giant Spook-tacular takes place at the Oasis Drive-In Theatre, Higgins and Elmhurst Roads, Saturday night.
Weighted ghosts and 50,000 imitation crickets will be thrown from a helicopter over the cars, as a ground barrage frightens off the invaders. Twenty actors dressed as full grown gorillas, apes, skeletons and ghosts will pop all over the place trying to scare the audience and then make up for it by giving each patron a free mask. Each child will also receive a free mask and a real pumpkin
BEFORE THE show starts at 5:30, there will be a costume parade for the kiddies between 5.30 and 6:30, followed by a costume contest at 6:45 with dozens of free prizes.
"Witchcraft," a  story of ghouls returning after 300 years to leap blood havoc, starring Lon Chaney, and "The Horror of It All," a man-monster horror film starring Pat Boone, are the screen fare. The driver of every 13th car will be admitted free, and so will the driver of every car with a 13 in the license. All occupants in every car with a black cat will be admitted free.

KOKO VS KIRK

ORIGINALLY POSTED 10-26-2008



I love Shatner. Unequivocally.
He can read pancake ingredients and I am there.
I found his recollection of an encounter with Koko, the gorilla who signs, a moving remembrance. Particularly the final moments of his tale.
Give a listen.
Scotty beam me up.

THE "KING KONG" GORILLA THAT TERRORIZED A TOWN

ORIGINALLY POSTED 9-29-2008

Fresh out of the mailbag, straight from the Gorilla Men Den, I present this salacious tale of an escaped 500 pound Circus ape rampaging about the countryside pursued by bloodthirsty rednecks. Don't worry there's a moral in there somewhere.
I have been enjoying Taschen's MEN'S ADVENTURE MAGAZINES - the result being my brain has steeped in blood, sweat and breasts for the past week. It's a delight to have this issue of FOR MEN ONLY arrive on my doorstep to further illustrate how bizarre and unabashedly male these publications were.
Enjoy!

GORILLA! PRACTICAL JOKER INVADES TOWN

ORIGINALLY POSTED 9-20-2008

The Martian scare on the radio which Orson Welles gave a gullible listening audience some years ago is still the topic of conversation around the country. However, it fades into insignificance beside the thrills and scares given the citizenry of peaceful Thorton, Indiana, not long ago when rumours of a gorilla on the loose began to circulate throughout the quiet countryside. Some reputably sober citizens reported seeing a beast and even provided minute descriptions. Swimming holes and fishing spots suddenly began to loose customers and the local schools reported a startling decline in truancy and deaths of Grandmas. Then, without warning, as the temperature soared to the 90's, a massive, heavy-coated gorilla plodded down the almost deserted main street of the town. Merchants rushed out with shotguns, farmers left their plows, barber shop customers stopped handicapping, and some of the less hardy souls fainted. What might have happened to the gorilla is anyones guess. He was saved when he pulled off his head, revealed himself as reporter Lloyd Walton, fotog for the Indianapolis Times. His paper just wanted to know how a small town would react to a gorilla in it's midst.

I bought a 1949 issue of PICTURE SHOW magazine thinking that the article titled GORILLA! would feature the usual sort of Beauty and Beast fare that would be typical of most vintage cheesecake rags. I was certainly surprised to find no half dressed maiden menaced by an ape, but rather a goofy stunt engineered to produce a few silly photos. Although the gorilla suit is not even remotely realistic, if Lloyd did indeed go traipsing through the bushes of small town America, he is damn fortunate he did not get his ass full of buckshot.
Reading the piece I could not help but think of Karloff and Corrigan in 1940's THE APE, a Poverty Row study of one mad doctor's desire to heal humanity by murderously rampaging about town in a gorilla suit harvesting spinal fluid needed for his research. The clip below features Frankenstein vs Ape - once victorious, Boris skins the creature to create the aforementioned suit.