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Special Exhibits, Film Festival, to Honor The 100th Birthday of Vincent Price
By Maggie Scott
He went by the nickname of the “Merchant of Menace.” He was a gourmet chef and author of cookbooks. He received an art history degree from Yale. His likeness appeared on such Milton Bradley games as “Hangman.” He attended the private school, Country Day (now MICDS). He was one of this country’s most versatile and beloved performers, and he was born right here in St. Louis, one hundred years ago on May 27, 1911.
His name at birth was Vincent Leonard Price, Jr., and he began his career on the Broadway stage with Helen Hayes. Hollywood easily found him on-going work from his first screen role in 1938’s “Service de Luxe;” followed by “Laura,” “The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex,” “Keys of the Kingdom,” “House of 7 Gables,” “Dragonwyck,” and “Leave Her to Heaven.”
He later achieved worldwide fame with his series of horror films like “The Raven,” “The House on Haunted Hill,” “The Fly,” “The Bat” and “The Pit and the Pendulum.” In addition to film work, Price appeared in early television dramatic anthologies like “Playhouse 90” and “Alcoa Hour,” did narration and voice-over work, hosted Masterpiece Mystery in the 80’s and guest-starred in such TV series as “Batman,” “Get Smart,” “The Mod Squad,” “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.,” and “Columbo.”
In honor of the distinguished career of our very own home-town star, Cinema St. Louis presents Vincentennial: The Vincent Price 100th Birthday Celebration from May 19 to May 28. In conjunction with this celebration will be several special events: a film festival; two exhibits; a stage production of one of Price’s films, “The Abominable Dr. Phibes;” a Lifetime Achievement Award presentation event in honor of filmmaker Roger Corman, with whom Price did several Edgar Allen Poe films; and a discussion with Price’s daughter, Victoria, at the Missouri History Museum.
Vincentennial: at Local Sites May 19-28
The presenting sponsor for Vincentennial is Mary Institute and Saint Louis Country Day School (MICDS) and its chief underwriter is philanthropist, Mary Strauss. A great memorabilia exhibit is currently on display at the Sheldon Art Galleries on Washington Avenue by the Fox until August 6; complete with photos, posters, costumes, family heirlooms, and oddities like the Milton Bradley children’s craft, “Shrunken Head Apple Sculpture.”
At Star Clipper Comics in the Loop is an exhibit of paintings and illustrations of Price, featuring the work of Joel Robinson, the cover artist of eight issues of Bluewater Comics’ Vincent Price Presents series. Robinson created the logo for the Vincentennial Celebration poster. Other St. Louis-based artists present their take on Price at Star Clipper’s gallery. The Price film festival begins this Thursday at the History Museum with the 8:30 screening of “The Fly.”
The festival continues with many of Price’s famous horror films at the Hi-Pointe Theatre. Corman will appear at the evening screenings on May 21 and May 22) and the History Museum and at Washington University screenings of such films as “Champagne for Caesar,” “The Baron of Arizona” and “The Whales of August.” The series concludes at the Muny in Forest Park on May 28, with the screenings of “Edward Scissorhands” and the stop-motion short, “Vincent.”
For complete information of the Celebration’s events, go to the website, www.vincentennial.com. As Price once said, “What’s important about an actor is his acting, not his life.” Celebrate the man, the acting and the life at Vincentennial: The Vincent Price 100th Birthday Celebration!
St. Louis-born actor Vincent Price in one of his
early films Laura in 1944
