Attending the birthday celebration weeks later at the Hollywood Heritage Museum made me wish that I had taken more advantage of The Academy’s Castle series; I learned quite a bit about several of The Academy's selections in the small impromptu screening room at the Museum, which was full of enthusiastic Castle admirers and joined by Castle’s daughter, Terry; Spine Tingler!’s director, Jeffrey Schwarz (who brought a terrifying toy Tingler with him); actress Jacqueline Scott, who starred in Macabre; and Joe Jordan, the author of Showmanship: The Cinema of William Castle, all of whom shared their Castle stories with the audience.

 

In preparation for the evening, I found myself in the reference section of the Los Angeles Public Library downtown, where a librarian graciously helped me find a copy of Castle’s 1976 autobiography Step Right Up!...I’m Gonna Scare the Pants off America (which apparently was not on the shelf but rather in a super-secret section). With little time before the screening, I skimmed the chapter in which Castle discussed the making of Macabre, though his lively writing style definitely tempted me to revisit the book in its entirety…when I find the time. 

In case anyone was wondering, yes, you can own your very own Tingler. (Picture by Kim Luperi)

The release of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960) shook Castle a bit. Taking a cue from the Master of Suspense (who was actually a friend of Castle's), the "poor man's Hitchcock" directed 1961's Homicidal, a more violent "homage" to Psycho. Castle kept up the tricks for films like Mr. Sardonicus (1961), which apparently had two different endings - one where the main character dies and one where he lives - his fate is decided by the audience in a mass vote during a pause in the movie. Though Castle's horror films were never really embraced or received well by critics, his showmanship and genius gimmicks made many of the films financially successful, which gained him some respect in the industry. 

 

However, he was still after that magical A-movie which would catapult his career. Castle took a step closer to that dream (or would it be a nightmare?) with 1964's Strait-Jacket, written by Robert Bloch (Psycho) and starring the infamous Joan Crawford, who had completed What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? two years before. I'm not sure it was exactly the experience Castle was looking for (for one, Crawford had to be handled with kid gloves) but Castle ended up giving in to her semi-outrageous demands, like ensuring her that the set would be freezing cold and editing the end scene to her liking. If Strait-Jacket didn't put Castle over the 'A' edge, the next property he found certainly would, though once again, it didn't work out quite as planned...

 

Castle read Rosemary's Baby before it was published, knew it would be a hit, and bought the rights before anyone else could. Though Castle thought it was a smart move, Bob Evans, Head of Production at Paramount (where Castle's production company had a deal) was mad that Castle didn't consult him first and ended up offering Castle a large sum to buy the rights; in exchange, Evans said he would try his "best" to bring Castle on as director. Well, that vague promise didn't turn out, as we all know the directing rights were handed over to Roman Polanski. Though he was once again upset at being passed over after he brought the material to the studio, Castle cooled down after he met Polanski; he felt Polanski had enough skill to pull the film off, and Castle settled back into a producing role, which was difficult enough considering he had his hands full trying to keep Polanski on schedule. The film was a massive hit, and while he wasn't the director, Castle's name still appeared boldly on the production credits; finally, he could count himself among the A-listers, and he gained much respect within the industry for his part in producing such an influential movie. 

The recognition and esteem didn't arrive without a hitch, though. Right after the making of Rosemary's Baby, Castle fell quite ill. Furthermore, Krzysztof Komeda, the film's composer, passed away suddenly one year later of a brain clot (eerily the same way one of the film's characters dies), and of course, Sharon Tate, Roman Polanski's wife, was murdered a year later as well.

 

Castle wasn't the same after his illness and turned his focus away from directing towards producing. His last film, which he also directed, was 1974's Shanks starring Marcel Marceau. The movie was intended to be more poetic than all of his other films, which...weren't really lyrical at all. However, the film did not perform well at the box office, and Castle again fell ill during production. He passed away just three years later, in 1977, at the age of 63.  

 

Thanks to people like John Waters and revival screenings of his work, Castle's films have experienced surges of popularity over the past few decades. Though his movies were originally aimed at a younger crowd because that's the age group they could scare back in the 50s and 60s - kids aged 8-14 - the flicks and their gimmicks have brought audiences of all ages back to the theaters in droves!

Hollywood Heritage Museum President Bryan Cooper brings up the special guests. (Picture by Warner Archive)

Q&A

In between the screenings, Hollywood Heritage President Bryan Cooper brought Jeffrey Schwarz, Terry Castle, and Jacqueline Scott onstage for a short Q&A.

 

Schwarz commented on how the documentary came about: years ago, he had read John Water’s essay on Castle called “Whatever Happened to Showmanship?” in Film Comment and saw The Tingler at the Film Forum in NYC around the same time. The Tingler was screened with the buzzed seats, prompting the audience – a bunch of hipsters, according to Schwarz – to go crazy!  Schwarz knew there was something special about Castle for his films to elicit a reaction like that - and from adults, no less - decades later, and so he went to work on the documentary.

 

Castle’s daughter, Terry, who was prominently featured in the film, was asked about growing up around her father and his films. Well, for one, she was never aware of her family’s financial situation (her parents taking out several mortgages on their house, etc), as was revealed in the doc; their family life was relatively normal, she recalled, though instead of saying Grace around the dinner table, her father would rehearse his Oscar acceptance speech!

 

In regards to her father’s movies, Terry said that she frequently went to the theater with her dad and watched the audience along with him. Like Hitchcock, Castle knew how to brand himself: he made sure he was present in previews for his movies, and he was out in the theaters shaking hands with patrons; he clearly relished the promotion of his films as much as he enjoyed making them! 

 

Terry also regularly visited the sets of most of his later pictures (she was too young at the time Macabre was made), which gave her, in the case of Strait-Jacket, a “healthy appreciation for Joan Crawford…she scared me to death!” On the subject of Strait-Jacket, Terry shared one of her favorite ancedotes with the audience. She explained that her father would frequently screen films for students, and after showing this particular movie to a group at USC, a student asked about the significance of the smoke used under a train in one scene. After launching into a whole philosophical-sounding answer, Castle soon broke and admitted the real reason for the smoke: they didn’t have money for the bottom of the train!