James Dean – "Live" – I mean, "Dead" – at the Palace!

Here's another one of those Lorain Palace Theater ads promoting the pairing of a live stage show with some scary movies to create a memorable evening of entertainment for teenagers in the late 1950s.

This ad appeared in the Lorain Journal on Feb. 8, 1957 – fifty-six years ago this month.

It's kind of similar to the Dr. Silkini show that I wrote about in October last year, but this one has an unusual twist: instead of the Frankenstein monster being revived "in person," this show advertised "the materialization of James Dean." The iconic American film actor had died about a year and a half earlier in an automobile accident.

A few other websites and blogs (here and here) mention similar scary shows with the James Dean gimmick. Apparently, the materialization consisted of an illuminated photograph of the actor's face during a blackout!

Note that perennial Lorain favorites The Bowery Boys were also on the bill, featured in the film Ghost Chasers. (Hey! That was playing at the Palace back here too!)