Ana Gasteyer’s Celebrity Ghost Story Is No Laughing Matter [Guide to the Unknown] - Bloody Disgusting
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Ana Gasteyer’s Celebrity Ghost Story Is No Laughing Matter [Guide to the Unknown]

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They say comedians can shift to dramatic acting relatively easily because making something funny is harder than making it sad, so if you’re in comedy, you’ve clearly got the chops. For Ana Gasteyer, add “making it creepy” to the resume because her stint on Celebrity Ghost Stories is one of its best, partly due to her somber delivery. It’s as unnerving as when Grandma yells at you and when the funky church medley lady from Saturday Night Live gets serious, you pay attention.

And why are we paying attention to a cable TV show from 2011? Kristen and Will of Bloody FM’s Guide to the Unknown discovered that all of Celebrity Ghost Stories is available on YouTube now, leading them to make episodes covering these stories a recurring fave. Are ghosts real? Eh…ya know. Does talking about ghosts rule? We’re swimming in affirmative proof.

Gasteyer’s ghostly encounter took place when she was playing the witch Elphaba in Wicked in the James M. Nederlander Theater in Chicago (then called the Oriental Theater), which she explains is one of the most beautiful theaters in the country with gorgeous ornately carved wood that even featured little monkeys – a perfect Oz-like setting.

During one performance, she was at the climax of the first act, in which she got lifted on wires all the way up to the rafters. While up there, she noticed little groups of people in the wings, which she thought seemed like families standing together. It was unusual, but she didn’t have time to dwell on it.

When she was safely back on the ground she didn’t see those people anymore, but whatever, no time – she needed to get to her dressing room for a bit of rest and makeup touch-up during intermission. Gasteyer explained that to get there, the theater had a labyrinthine set of corridors to go through, turning corners along your way, and at one point, she heard a kid’s voice. She turned and saw a woman with two children in period costume ahead of her and thought, oh, another actor…they seemed comfortable rather than lost in the strange hallways, though with an air of sadness.

After a nod of hello, they turned a corner to continue on their way, and as Gasteyer followed behind, she was shocked to find they were gone. She should have been able to see them down the long hallway, but no one was there.

When she made it to her dressing room, she remarked to her makeup artist that boy, there have been a lot more people backstage lately. And you know what’s coming…the makeup artist said, “Oh! Those are probably people from the fire.”

Gasteyer explained that on December 30, 1903, the Iroquois Theater burned down in the worst theater fire in US history. The theater capacity was 1,600, and about 400 more people were packed into the aisles. Something sparked, and the stagehands dropped the fire curtain, creating a backdraft that made the fire much worse. 600 people died, 200 of them children. The Oriental Theater was built directly over the site of that theater. And ever since, she says, there have been ghost sightings like the ones that Gasteyer experienced, presumably of the families that died in the fire, taking in a show or forever roaming the halls.

Kristen and Will also tell the spooky stories of, in typical Celebrity Ghost Stories grab bag fashion, Wayne Newton, Ace Frehley, and Enrico Colantoni.

To hear what happen to this band of merry, freaked out entertainers, check out this week’s episode and subscribe to Guide to the Unknown on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts to get a new episode every Friday.

Podcasts

Ableism, Representation, and Perverse Sexuality in ‘Wait Until Dark’ [Horror Queers Podcast]

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After concluding April with discussions of Ciarán Foy’s Eli (listen) and David Cronenberg’s eXistenZ (listen), we kicked off May with a revisit of Stephen Sommers’ delightful 1999 film, The Mummy (listen).

Now we’re headed into the past with Terence Young‘s adaptation of Frederick Knott‘s “disabled woman in danger” play, Wait Until Dark (1967).

In the film, recently blind Susy (Audrey Hepburn) is menaced by a trio of strange men, including sexually perverse ring leader Roat (Alan Arkin), “nice guy” Talman (Richard Crenna) and portly Carlino (Jack Weston). The men are looking for a doll full of heroin, which is located somewhere in her apartment, but she doesn’t know where!

Can Susy figure out the scam with the help of upstairs neighbor girl Gloria (Julie Herrod) or will she wind up hanging in the closet like Roat’s poor accomplice Lisa (Samantha Jones)?

Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get a new episode every Wednesday. You can subscribe on iTunes/Apple PodcastsStitcherSpotifyiHeartRadioSoundCloudTuneInAmazon MusicGoogle Podcasts, and RSS.


Episode 281: Wait Until Dark (1967) feat. Ariel Baska

Smash all the lights and strike a match because we’re talking about disability horror, Audrey Hepburn and Wait Until Dark (1967).

Joining us for the conversation is disability documentary filmmaker Ariel Baska, who has a love/hate relationship with the film and its contribution to “cripping up.”

Plus: that famous jump scare, accusations of misogyny and ableism, the gross history of “Ugly Laws,” and the return of Trace’s recurring joke about Charade.


Cross out Wait Until Dark!

Coming up on Wednesday: We’re going into genre-adjacent territory with a look at Gregg Araki’s horrifying adaptation of Scott Heim’s novel,  Mysterious Skin.

P.S. Subscribe to our Patreon for over 308 hours of Patreon content including this month’s new episodes on Hannibal Season 1 Episode 5, a double feature of Sting and InfestedTarot and The Strangers: Chapter One. And our audio commentary for the month will be on Sam Raimi’s Drag Me to Hell, just in time for its 15th anniversary!

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