Vincent Price's unlikely Canadian connection

How celebrated screen villain Vincent Price wound up doing Hilarious House of Frightenstein in Hamilton isn't really a mystery. 

By the end of the 60s, Vincent Price found his phone ringing less frequently with big screen offers. The calls for the veteran actor to play the lead villain – even for no-budget drive-in chillers – had all but dried up for the St. Louis-born thespian with his 60th birthday looming. 

It probably had less to do with age than his frequent television appearances. At the time doing series television was still considered taboo by many in the film business – an open admission that you were past your sell-by date in Hollywood. It didn't appear to be any concern to Vincent. He was grateful for the work and seemed to delight in applying his skills to unexpected situations for whatever comic or dramatic role came his way. 

For all his macabre on-screen menace, Price had a highly evolved sense of humour and never took himself too seriously. Whether it was spoofing his charming psychopath persona for laughs on the comedy/variety shows of Jack Benny, Danny Kaye, Jimmy Stewart,  Red Skelton and Lucille Ball or popping up in guest spots on F-Troop, Daniel Boone, Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea, The Man From Uncle, Mod Squad, Love American Style and famously as the clever "Egghead" matching wits with the caped crusader on Batman. He was down for whatever. 

So when Hamilton, Ontario's CHCH-TV came looking for someone to recite a few lines of creepy poetry and help set the proper tone for a kooky kids show called The Hilarious House of Frighenstein, Vincent Price knew he was right man for the job. He'd made a career out of finding the perfect balance between horror and humour. And being a lifelong Edgar Alan Poe devotee, the opportunity to bring to life the mystery and menace inherent in Poe's timeless verse like "The Raven" for a youthful audience in Canada was too perfect for Price to pass up. 

Of course, he nailed the shows intro and outro sequences as well as the segment links with a mischievous grin as only Price could. According to those present, Price was the consummate team player, ready and willing to do whatever was required for the shot. He shared some stories and fellow actors and had some laughs with CHCH-TV's impressive crew and happily posed for photos with anyone who wanted a memento. 

As the shoot was wrapping, there came news of an imminent snow storm. In a flash, Price vanished leaving everyone to think he'd raced to the airport to get catch the first flight home. Instead, our man returned an hour later carrying a two-four from the nearby Brewer's Retail and proceeded to hand out stubbies to get the party started in proper Canuck fashion. 

What many people didn't know at the time was that Price had a long history with Canadians, particularly those from Southern Ontario. As a child, the St. Louis, Missouri-born aspiring thespian had spent his summers in the Windsor-Essex town of Amerhurstburg, Ontario where his maternal grandmother owned a two-story house on the banks of the Detroit River. And part of the reason for taking the job in Hamilton was that it provided a rare chance to return the site of his beloved VinMar Lodge, the place of some of his most-cherished childhood memories. 

Perhaps Vincent's daughter Victoria Price will be able to shed some light on what VinMar Lodge and Amhurstburg, Ontario meant to her father and family at tonight's screening of the documentary Vincent Price: What Keeps Us Alive at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema. She'll be in attendance for the post-screening Q&A. Find out more about the film on The Perlich Post right here. 

Watch a short documentary about Hilarious House of Frightenstein followed by a discussion of the Price family's time in Amerhurstburg below.