Hi gang:
A few weeks back I picked up a reprint of William Castle's autobiography, STEP RIGHT UP: I'M GONNA SCARE THE PANTS OFF AMERICA! I'm most of the way through it now (I'm up to preproduction on ROSEMARY'S BABY), and I was wondering: given that Castle made a career out of showmanship, is this book entirely true? It's certainly entertaining and interesting, but when I read that Castle was, at age 16 or so, an assistant director in a stage production of "Dracula" with Lugosi, I can't help but wonder if his recollections have been embellished a bit (especially since, in this "Dracula" case for example, I don't recall having ever heard that story from any other source before). Can anyone comment on how much of Castle's story is accurate and how much might be called ballyhoo?
A few weeks back I picked up a reprint of William Castle's autobiography, STEP RIGHT UP: I'M GONNA SCARE THE PANTS OFF AMERICA! I'm most of the way through it now (I'm up to preproduction on ROSEMARY'S BABY), and I was wondering: given that Castle made a career out of showmanship, is this book entirely true? It's certainly entertaining and interesting, but when I read that Castle was, at age 16 or so, an assistant director in a stage production of "Dracula" with Lugosi, I can't help but wonder if his recollections have been embellished a bit (especially since, in this "Dracula" case for example, I don't recall having ever heard that story from any other source before). Can anyone comment on how much of Castle's story is accurate and how much might be called ballyhoo?
