Writer Eric Drysdale (The Colbert Report) edited down footage from the promotional film for Sears’ Vincent Price Collection of Fine Art, followed by clips from a Price-hosted instructional VHS tape that came with the Nishika 3D Camera. (At the end of the segment, an audience member won said camera!)

Playwright Bob Satuloff screened scenes from two essential films that bookend Price’s career as a horror star: House of Wax and Theater of Blood. Actor Arthur Anderson provided a video-interview where he reflected on working with Price in Orson Welles’ Mercury Theater, and he showed photos from VP’s wedding. Nathaniel Wharton (fromThe Jim Henson Legacy) shared rare musical footage of Vincent Price on The Muppet Show (featuring a song that wasn’t released on the season one DVD.) And Media Historian Heather Hendershot (dressed as one of VP’s tragic dead movie wives) read a thought-provoking essay about VP’s on-screen persona being compared to a hysterical woman. (read the essay here – scroll down, it’s a post-script following her piece about Don Knotts being a reluctant sex object.)

In the middle of the show, audience members got to share their personal memories about Vincent Price: we heard tale of VP’s verdict on an early Michael Jackson trial; we learned the real reason one professor never finished his academic art history book with Vincent Price; and we heard a first-hand account of a teenage boy writing a fan letter to Vincent Price (promising him a role in a horror movie) – which was met with a heart-warming hand-written reply from the 82-year-old actor.

The video-variety show also included some of Price’s finest audio recordings: First we heard Price reading the poetry of Percy Shelley. And later, one lucky audience member got to perform a scene from Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Ernest”, thanks to the audio-magic of the record CO-STAR WITH VINCENT PRICE (Price released a high-concept album where he delivered half the dialogue in dramatic scenes, the consumer would read the script and play the other parts. Kind of a non-ironic version of Albert Brooks’ Comedy Minus One.) The night’s audience was a who’s who of geek super-stars, we had a writers from The Daily Show, DreadCentral.com, DC editors, AMCtv and indie filmmakers.

Plus the good folks at Trailers From Hell let us screen Josh Olson’s commentary track for Witchfinder General. Our friends at Blue Water Comics gave everyone in the audience not one but TWO issues of “Vincent Price Presents…” And all audience members received a complimentary pencil mustache, courtesy of super-producer M. Sweeney Lawless. Meg also crafted a first-class paper-program that featured Vincent Price haikus, Price’s recipe for Pump Room Chicken Hash, and a collection of quotes with VP talking about everything from Dracula to expressing love.
Super-producer Jay Stern edited together thematically arranged footage, like “Vincent Price Murders his Wives”, “Vincent Price Drug Freak-Outs”, “Vincent Price Mourns His Wives” and “Vincent Price Out of Context.” And if that’s not enough, we included Vincent Price tributes (a Bugs Bunny cartoon and a short subject film by Tim Burton.)

Sorry you missed it? That could be YOU munching on a humorously-decorated cupcake while watching Price play Dracula’s cousin in an episode of F-Troop.

Come to our next event – KEVIN GEEKS OUT ABOUT DUMMY DEATHS, Friday November 20 @ 8pm

KEVN GEEKS OUT – BONUS MATERIAL:

Download the Vincent Price Jukebox

VP’s Shrunken Head kit

Another look at the Nishika instructional video.

More Trailers from Hell:
Adam Rifkin on The Abominable Dr. Phibes
Mick Garris talks House of Wax
Joe Dante loves Confessions of an Opium Eater
Mick Garris shares House on Haunted Hill

please note: all show photos by Matthew Glasson Photography.

For more about Kevin Geeks Out, visit our official page at the 92Y Tibeca website.