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]}

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]

References

Bibliography

• Ray, Fred Olen (1991). The New Poverty Row: Independent Filmmakers As Distributors. McFarland & Company. ISBN  978-0899506289.
• Walker, Mark (1994). Ghostmasters (2nd revised ed.). Cool Hand Communications, Inc. ISBN  978-1567901467.

External links

• Joe Karston at IMDb