A New Topps Article




	The haunting magic month of October has passed us once again and we have several spooky bits to share with you. One of the best known and most widely traveled spook shows in the country was Jack Baker's "Dr. Silkini's Asylum of Horrors." At one time he had seven units on the road, each hosted by a well known magician or actor. In a recent conversation, he recalled a time in the 1940's when the Asylum was playing several dates in New York City. One night after a performance Blackstone, and a scout from the Shubert Theater Enterprise came backstage and wanted Jack to do a legitimate Broadway play with his Frankenstein's monster character. Baker was doing so well financially with his spook revue he turned down the offer. Last October he had a chance to appear with a legitimate play. . .for one night . . .and he came out of semi-retirement to do it. David Richmond who, with Jack Hall, authored the Off-Broadway hit "The Passion of Dracula," contacted Jack and asked him to appear one night after the regular performance at the Cherry Lane Theater. Jack did and as Dr. Silkini he wowed them with the old spook stuff! David Richmond had played the part of Dracula for several seasons with the Silkini Asylum of Horrors, and now stars in this N.Y. production. A London edition of "Passion of Dracula" opened Aug. 23 at the Queen's Theatre with George Chakaris in the title role. There are currently two Dracula plays in N.Y., one on Broadway and the other Off-Broadway. Both productions have received rave reviews from the critics and are in their second season. Baker recalls an unusual incident which happened in N.Y. back in the 1950's. He needed someone to play the monster so he was more than pleased to hire a young man who wandered backstage one night looking for a job. Two weeks later the show was playing the Century Theater in Baltimore when an F.B.I, agent came backstage and asked all sorts of questions about the newly hired monster. The agent requested Baker to keep quiet about the investigation. Three weeks later the F.B.I, returned and arrested the man who was later charged with espionage.
		On The. Stage. In Person THE ASYLUM OF HORRORS WITH THE FRANKENSTEIN MONSTER Baker remembers the war years as being the most difficult to play. The main reason was the gas shortage and he had to cut down on personnel as he had only one car he could use. He and his wife, Margie, would pack the back of the car with props and play small towns. Just before show time he would go out in front of the theater and walk up and down the ticket line until he spotted a tall young man. He'd approach the guy and ask to talk to him privately for a few minutes. He would offer him a job on the spot for the one date. So the guy who came to see the Frankenstein monster ended up being the star of the show for the night. There are hundreds of unusual incidents that Jack could tell and at 64 years of age he is still eager to return to the road with one last tour of his Asylum of Horrors. Here's hoping he does. Real blood flowed Halloween night at Westgate Mall, Spartanburg, South Carolina, complete with Dracula making sure each victim held nothing back. Actually, victims were donors to the Red Cross blood bank, recipients of the usual orange juice post-bleeding and of the less usual opportunity to shake hands with and be photographed beside Dracula.

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