Organist revives film with Halloween thrills

From a suspense film to a costume contest, Dennis James plans on giving Bloomington an early Halloween.

“There is no better way to celebrate Halloween than with Dennis James,” IU Auditorium Director Doug Booher said. “It is one of IU’s most fun traditions.”

He said James will be playing the organ to Alfred Hitchcock’s 1929 thriller film “Blackmail.” The film is an adaptation of Charles Bennett’s play of the same name.

"Dennis James Hosts Halloween" will be 8 p.m. today at the IU Auditorium. Tickets are $7 to $15 for students and $13 to $18 for the general public.

The film plot centers around a woman named Alice White who flirts with an artist in front of her police officer boyfriend Frank Webber, which then leads to fatality.

The film contains many of the same motifs common in most of Hitchcock’s movies: a director cameo, a chase near a famous landmark, a murder, a policeman, a blond bombshell and suspense.

Critics deemed “Blackmail” as the first all-talkie film, though it was also released as a silent film. James has created an organ score for the silent film, which will be showing as he performs his original music.

“His music provides such a great backdrop,” Booher said. “The performance will be a great time to be with friends and family celebrating Halloween.”

James was an IU music student in the 1960s and has since gone on to play theater pipe organs around the world.

“I saw him when I was an undergraduate student at IU,” said professor Janette Fishell, chairwoman of the Jacobs School of Music organ department. “It was the first time I had ever seen anyone accompany a silent film.”

She said James really impressed her.

“When you see him perform he becomes one with the instruments, it becomes a part of him,” Fishell said. “He really accesses the color of the instrument.”

Local radio station B97 will be sponsoring a costume contest prior to the event in the categories of “Best Overall Costume,” “Scariest Costume” and “Most Creative Costume,” and the station would like to see homemade costumes.

“As people begin to trickle in, we will try to shuffle everyone who wants to participate in an area and pick the top two or three and bring them on stage for the audience to decide the winner,” said Libby Hiple, B97’s broadcast marketing specialist. “We are looking for creativity.”

There will also be a wide range of prizes for the winners.

“We have an electric scooter and coupons from Blockbuster Video, food gift certificates from Applebee’s and T.G.I. Friday’s and even Indianapolis Zoo passes,” Hiple said. “We have something for everyone.”