Friday the 13th Midnite Jinx Show(s) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - March 13, 1953

March 13th fell on a Friday in 1953 and, once again, the Fox West Coast Theaters held a bunch of Friday the 13th-themed Midnite Jinx Shows throughout the East Bay. Just as they done the previous month, when February 13th had also fallen on a Friday. What did they show?

Kind of hard to say, this time. When I checked the listings for the California, the Fox, the Grand, and the Senator theaters, the only information given was: "Chills! Thrills! Gifts and Surprises on Stage and Screen." Okay.

A small blurb for the event did say that, "Learned masters of ceremonies (or jinx hosts) will inform patrons of such facts as those pertaining to Woodrow Wilson who was born the 13th, married on the 13th and has 13 letters to his name; that stars such as Kay Francis, Judith Evelyn, Sidney Blackmer and many more were born on the 13th and that drama critics will not be in the audience."

Oakland Tribune - March 13, 1953

A second ad, on the same page, states that the Friday the 13th Midnite Jinx Show at the Grand Lake will be showing a double-bill of The Walking Dead, starring Bela Lugosi, and Terror House (1942), starring James Mason. 

Although I suspect that the Bela Lugosi feature is retitled film, I could not (at time of writing) find any information about it. So it goes.

Oakland Tribune - March 13, 1953

A third and final ad, again on the same page, hypes a double-bill of the melodramas Tower of London (1939) and The Man Who Reclaimed His Head (1934). Russ Byrd returns as Master of Ceremonies, with Tiny James once again at the organ keyboard.