Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Night Gallery at Creature Features

Welcome, Ladies and Gentlemen, to the Night Gallery! A place where the chill in the air has less to do with temperature, and more to do with the infernal pieces of art on display...
"Lone Survivor"
"She'll Be Company
For You"
Burbank's own Creature Features has done something truly wonderful in gathering a spine-tingling selection of the original paintings from Rod Serling's Night Gallery, a show which is open to the public until March 31.


Painted by Jaroslav “Jerry” Gebr and Tom Wright, the paintings were a staple of the show, allowing Serling, with his trademark voice and diction, to introduce each tale of supernatural horror to his viewers. (You can get more history on Night Gallery here.)


Tom Wright, himself, was in attendance, a thin, stylish man with a quick wit and a ready smile for the fans who cornered him to sign their prints. He's gone on to become a director, mostly in television, since he did his time in the Night Gallery, with Castle and Supernatural among his credits.
"Pamela's Voice"
"Spectre in Tap
Shoes"
I remember that as a kid they fascinated me, so being in the same room with them was truly an awe-inspiring event. I could have stood most of the night, studying the brush strokes and drinking them in, but the show was a smashing success, and with that came the droves of fans. To be polite, I couldn't just stand there and block everything!


Those paintings were amazing, in large part because Tom Wright (who painted the lion's share of them) made a decision to paint each of them in completely different styles, so they'd appear to the viewer to be by different artists, as they would be if they were hung in a gallery setting. This one decision gave Night Gallery a layer of reality and believability it may not have had, otherwise.


It made me nostalgic for the days when studios seemed to be willing to go that extra mile, to pay a little extra money for that special touch to give the viewer a more intense experience with a story.
Untitled for an unproduced episode
I hope that if you're in the Burbank, California area in the next week or so, you take the time to go see this once-in-a-lifetime display of paintings!
"The Cemetery"