Cleveland's Hometown Zombie Writer

A Palace That Still Stands: Cleveland's 2800-Seat Allen Theatre

Where I Walked With A Zombie (1943) Broke Big

We think of the Val Lewton RKO series as B horrors, but what of occasions where one of them became something special? Such was case when Cleveland got I Walked With A Zombie in April 1943. It played as a single for two weeks at the RKO Allen, "one of the grandest places in the city to see a motion picture," according to consensus of locals. A big help was Cleveland's link with Zombie's writer credit. Inez Wallace, who penned the original story (borrowing heavily off Jane Eyre), also covered Hollywood happenings for the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, the town's leading sheet. Her name on a movie, even down-market I Walked With A Zombie, drew the curious in sufficient number to make a hit of what would otherwise bring up rear on a grind's double feature. I Walked With A Zombie was Val Lewton's second chiller for RKO, done cheap enough to bring a profit, a happy circumstance not to last as his output increased in cost and dropped in revenue. This ad, beyond its Inez Wallace connection, points up RKO focus for selling: A "Beautiful Blonde" who joins the walking dead, this the emphasis of all posters and art, and likeliest reason for what success the picture had.