Spooks Run Wild -- how the newspapers saw it in 1941

 At Plan9Crunch we've been interested in searching out old newspaper clippings for some of the cult films we love to discuss. The Bela Lugosi Monogram films are a subject of study. We'll be clipping from all the films periodically and we are starting with "Spooks Run Wild." The above clipping is a movie review of the film (favorable) from the Oct. 6, 1941 Los Angeles Times.

Below is an ad for "Spooks Run Wild" as being part of a midnight spook show. It's the film paired with the Asylum of Horrors show, with an in-person Frankenstein monster. It's from the Harvey, Illinois Tribune, of Nov. 27, 1941. Wouldn't it have been cool to see that spook show. 

Below is a previously published review we did of "Spooks Run Wild" by co-blogger Steve D. Stones.

A bus transporting the East Side Kids to a summer camp for the needy arrives in a small town known as Hillside. A radio announcer heard on the bus radio warns of a killer monster on the loose in the town. The bus driver stops to check the tires of the bus. A local magician named Nardo, played by Bela Lugosi, is seen in the Hillside cemetery with his midget side kick, played by Angelo Rossitto. Rossitto also played Lugosi's assistant in The Corpse Vanishes (1942), also a Monogram release.

The East Side Kids find their way to the Hillside cemetery. A local grave digger warns them to leave, shooting Peewee, played by David Gorcey, in the back. The group leaves the cemetery to look for medical aide for Peewee. They soon come across the Billings House, a rundown mansion thought to be haunted, according to Hillside locals.

Nardo The Magician greets the East Side Kids at the entrance of the house and allows them to stay the night, but mentions that the house has no telephone to contact a doctor for Peewee. Scruno, played by Sammy Morrison, and Peewee are assigned to a room together. Peewee awakes in a sleep walker state after sleeping for hours, and roams the halls of the Billings House. Scruno is trapped in the room, but is later rescued by the rest of the group as he refers to Peewee as a Zombie.

It's interesting to note that Lugosi dresses in a cape and wears a suit in this film similar to his 1931 Dracula character. This gives the film great appeal to me. Lugosi's appearance greatly adds to this film, but he does not take himself nearly as seriously in this role as he does playing the evil Nazi henchman in the follow up film of Ghosts On The Loose. Lugosi and Rossitto make for a great pairing, as they did in The Corpse Vanishes (1942).

Above is a newspaper blurb in the Oct. 18, 1941 Bakersfield Californian of "Spooks Run Wild" that includes a photo of East Sides Kids star Leo Gorcey, who was in the film. It was set to play at the Kern theater with "Top Sergeant Mulligan," that included Nat Pendleton, who would later star with Bela in "Scared to Death."

Below that blurb, in the Oct. 21 Californian, is an ad for the above-mentioned double feature, I love noting the start time for the features was 8:30 p.m., the address was 2024 Chester and the phone number was 7-7084.

But look, above. As late as April 3, 1942, Bela and "Spooks Run Wild" was still headlining -- at The Strand theater -- as this blurb from the Sheboygan, Wisc., Press noted. The co-feature to "Spooks Run Wild" was a film called "Mail Train," with Gordon Harker and Phyllis Calvert. 

But the next newspaper ad above is even more interesting. It's from May 7, 1952, in the Axtell, Kan., Standard. It advertises "Spooks Run Wild" as paired with the earlier, bigger-budgeted Lugosi film, "The Invisible Ray," from 1936, that also starred Boris Karloff. It was at the Seneca Theater on Saturday beginning at 11:30 p.m. I that would have been so much fun. It's great to know that 10-plus years later these films were circulating. It's a pity Bela didn't receive a cent from the re-issues.

Just a couple of more newspaper memories. Above is from the Moberly, Mo., Monitor Index edition of July 28, 1942, and it shows a double-Bela night-time horror show with "Spooks Run Wild" and "Black Dragons." Included at the 4th Street theater was the latest newsreel. Finally, below, again from the Bakersfield Californian, May 22, 1942 edition, is a tiny review blurb (probably cribbed from a press packet), for "Spooks Run Wild," which was playing at The Rialto. The co-feature was "The Feminine Touch," that included Rosalind Russell and Don Ameche in the cast. Besides the films, there were cartoons and Chapter 10 of "The Adventures of Captain Marvel" serial.

(Thanks always to my friend David Grudt who helped track down these newspaper clippings)

Bela Lugosi and the East Side Kids; the films

Reviews by Steve D.Stones

Spooks Run Wild and Ghosts On The Loose are two Monogram/Banner Pictures that Hungarian actor Bela “Dracula” Lugosi starred in with the East Side Kids/early Bowery Boys. Of the two films, I have a special preference for Spooks Run Wild, directed by Phil Rosen. Both films make for a fun double feature. Lugosi fans won't want to miss this double feature.

Spooks Run Wild:

A bus transporting the East Side Kids to a summer camp for the needy arrives in a small town known as Hillside. A radio announcer heard on the bus radio warns of a killer monster on the loose in the town. The bus driver stops to check the tires of the bus. A local magician named Nardo, played by Bela Lugosi, is seen in the Hillside cemetery with his midget side kick, played by Angelo Rossitto. Rossitto also played Lugosi's assistant in The Corpse Vanishes (1942), also a Monogram release.

The East Side Kids find their way to the Hillside cemetery. A local grave digger warns them to leave, shooting Peewee, played by David Gorcey, in the back. The group leaves the cemetery to look for medical aide for Peewee. They soon come across the Billings House, a rundown mansion thought to be haunted, according to Hillside locals.

Nardo The Magician greets the East Side Kids at the entrance of the house and allows them to stay the night, but mentions that the house has no telephone to contact a doctor for Peewee. Scruno, played by Sammy Morrison, and Peewee are assigned to a room together. Peewee awakes in a sleep walker state after sleeping for hours, and roams the halls of the Billings House. Scruno is trapped in the room, but is later rescued by the rest of the group as he refers to Peewee as a Zombie.

It's interesting to note that Lugosi dresses in a cape and wears a suit in this film similar to his 1931 Dracula character. This gives the film great appeal to me. Lugosi's appearance greatly adds to this film, but he does not take himself nearly as seriously in this role as he does playing the evil Nazi henchman in the follow up film of Ghosts On The Loose. Lugosi and Rossitto make for a great pairing, as they did in The Corpse Vanishes (1942).

Ghosts On The Loose:

Directed by William “one shot” Beaudine, the title of this film is a bit misleading because there are no ghosts in the entire film. The title is likely an attempt to connect Spooks Run Wild to this film.

Betty, played by Ava Gardner, is marrying Jack Gibson, played by Rick Vallin. Gibson is purchasing a house on 322 Elm Street next to a haunted house as a honeymoon gift to Betty. Emil, played by Bela Lugosi, gets one of his spy henchmen named Tony to approach Gibson and convince him to sell the house. Tony offers Gibson a larger purchase price to discourage him from moving into the home. Gibson takes a small down payment and decides to take his bride on a honeymoon trip instead.

After providing choir services during the Gibson wedding, the East Side Kids break into Gibson's new home to clean and tidy up the home as a surprise to the newly married couple. They notice the home is in need of furniture, so they go to the haunted house next door and remove all the furniture to place it in Gibson's house.

Emil arrives at the house with Tony and his other henchmen. The group attempts to scare the East Side Kids out of the home. Emil and others in his group appear inside portrait paintings hanging on the walls of the home. As Scruno, an East Side Kid, is dusting a picture frame on the wall with Emil standing inside the frame, Emil sneezes, which frightens Scruno. Fans of this film have debated for years as to whether or not Lugosi says the S-word as he sneezes in this scene. It certainly sounds as if he does. I contend that he does say the S-word.

The East Side Kids later find a printing press in the basement of the house and pamphlets entitled “What The New Order Means To You.” Emil and his gang are discovered to be Nazi spies who moonlight in the basement printing Nazi propaganda literature. It turns out that Gibson has actually purchased the haunted house used as a hideout for the Nazi sympathizers, and not the house that the East Side Kids had cleaned.

Ghosts On The Loose appears to have many comical gags, perhaps even more than Spooks Run Wild, but this does not necessarily make it a better film. The cemetery sequences and the interior shots of the haunted house in Spooks Run Wild make for a much more creepy and atmospheric film, mixing both comedy and great atmosphere. As mentioned above, Lugosi's appearance in a cape and suit similar to his Dracula character also adds greatly to the atmosphere of Spooks Run Wild. Enjoy these two features as part of your Halloween entertainment this Halloween. Happy viewing.