A youthful Philip Morris levitates his wife Amy.
Editor’s Note: Morris Costume is well known among NCA members as a long-time supporter of the organization and a valued supplier to other costume shops. In this Q&A with Sean Morris, grandson of founder Philip Morris, we learn a little about the history of the company. In Part 2 of the Q&A, readers will learn how Sean is honoring his grandfather’s legacy and launching a new business to continue the family tradition. (Click here to read Part 2.)
Sean, how did your grandfather get started in show business?
Well, he grew up in Michigan, and he would hitchhike 45 miles every day to the town of Colon, Michigan where the famous magician Harry Blackstone Sr. lived. So my grandfather learned magic from him. And the story is that at age 15, he apparently lit a cherry bomb and threw it in a kid's tuba during a school orchestra. His mother ended up kicking him out of the house, so he started traveling the world doing magic. And actually my grandmother joined him, I think when she was about 16 or 17.
What kind of magic shows did he do?
He started doing what were called ghost shows, and they traveled the country. Most cities back then had several theaters, and he said they would generally start the show at one theater, and then play horror films afterwards, and then they would run across town and do the show at the other theater. And it was just wild. They said almost every show, there were people standing outside that even couldn't get in.
What was a ghost show?
Essentially they would turn all the lights off in the theater and do things that they just couldn't get away with in today's day and age. They would even cut out the exit lights to where it was pitch black, and then they would kind of play off of people's superstition. They would do a lot of magic and incorporate some basic magic illusions.
For example, they would tell people that there were going to be spiders let loose in the audience, they would throw rice out from the balcony that would land on people, so it would feel like they were getting hit. Or they would have buzzers under the seats. They had something they called a ghost paddle that would have a skull face on one side with glow in the dark paint on it. And then the other side would just be black. So they would flip it really fast and it would be in front of your face and then not in front of your face. They would do illusions that they would cut people apart. And some of it was on the gory side. Some of it was not so gory, but it was just a really interesting time.
My grandfather said that they were clearing $30,000 to $60,000 a week. And that was back in the fifties! So that's a lot of money.
What came next?
He went from that into being a ringmaster on several different circuses, including the Hannaford World Circus. And one of the biggest was the Ronald McDonald Circus, which was mostly in Nashville, but traveled the country as well, and several others.
And then in the late ‘50s he got on TV as Dr. Evil, which is what brought him to Charlotte. He moved here and hosted late night horror television. He also hosted Captain Phil's Island of Adventures, which ran on the weekends, and he would simulcast with one of the Bozo the Clowns and did a kids' television show at that time.
How did he get into the costume business?
Well my grandparents just had a lot of costumes from the circus and the ghost shows, and people in town just kept coming over and asking if they could rent the costumes for Halloween and things of that nature. And finally they decided that they needed to open a costume store. It started out of their basement. We officially say the store was founded in 1965, but it might have been a little earlier. From there we grew and grew. At one point we had 11 buildings on Monroe Road in Charlotte.
What were a few highlights of the Morris Costume success?
I guess a really big turning point was in ’89 and ’90, when we bought the licensing rights to Batman Returns and another Batman movie. Together with Distortions Unlimited, we made all the Batman costumes. And it was one of those things it all of a sudden hit. We weren't ready for it, and it just got wild. And we did reorder after reorder. We couldn't keep them in stock. It was just a really, really interesting time. I found all the original drawings back and forth between us and the movie studio.
At one point we brought to market the first commercial airbrush system, and for a time we had airbrushing in every major amusement park across the country. In fact, when I was young, I went and stayed at Universal Studios for a couple months with my grandfather and trained everybody there how to do it. We had a group that went on a three-year worldwide tour with the band Kiss and painted patrons’ faces at all their concerts. We had stuff at Knox Berry Farms, Six Flags, you name it. We showed 'em all how to do it, and then they all kind of went out on their own and did it, which is what we expected.
When did Morris Costumes start distributing to other companies?
We started doing web fulfillment for other companies in ‘90s, when the dot.com boom hit. From there it grew. Sometime in the 2000s we finally bought our distribution facility, which at the time was 250,000 square feet. And about a year and a half later, we started the expansion and expanded it a half a million square feet.
When did you start Halloween Express?
Well, Halloween Express was actually started by someone else. I don't remember the exact date, but I think we bought it in about 2015 or 2016.
And you sold the distribution business to Oriental Trading about two years ago, but you kept your retail store and Halloween Express, right?
Correct. Now we just own Halloween Express our year-round shop that's on Monroe Road in Charlotte.
Next Edition: Sean is exploring his grandfather’s massive archive, preserving the history, and launching a business – stay tuned for details! In the meantime, click here to see the YouTube page about Dr. Evil that Sean has created.