Take A Look at Disney

10/10/16

Month of The Mansion: Meet & Greet: Ghost Host (With Les)




Moviefan12: Ah, I see that you've returned once more foolish mortals.  As we continue our journey through Gracey Manor, we shall be making contact with perhaps the most iconic ghost of the Mansion as we greet the Ghost Host.  The one that serves as the narrator for our happy haunt through Gracey Manor. He is the one that always welcomes you foolish mortals. And once again here to join me is Les.


LES: Yes, that magnificent host with the most awesome voice and an even better evil laugh. Seriously, he really gives Vincent Price a run for his money during the tour.


Moviefan12:  Now per the visitations of the other haunted spirits, we shall look at Voice Actors, Personality, Scare In The Mansion, Scares Outside The Mansion, & What He Brings To The Mansion.  We mustn't keep our Ghost Host waiting.  He is dying to meet us.



Voice Actors

Moviefan12: Now, my fellow seekers of the abnormal, we have three actors to look at.   First, we have the man that almost voiced our Ghost Host on the ride but still voiced him the Haunted Mansion records that were released before the ride ever came out,  Pete Renaday and you can hear him here as the Ghost Host.




But of course, dear readers, the most well-known Ghost Host is Paul Frees, the voice of Professor Ludwig Von Drake

















And to this day, this is what the visitors that dare enter Gracey Manor remember as Frees was eerily inducing as the Ghost Host. And you here you can hear him as he record his lines for the Ghost Host. Quite a treat for the ears. 




At the sound of disappointing other Ghost Hosts, Frees is the best.  And to this day,I still hear his voice unless but he is not the only Host to voice the Ghost as Corey Burton is now the voice and he perhaps has a unique take on the voice of Ghost Host.  



In an interview with Corey Burton, he stated, "the Ghost Host, to me, is the voice of the structure itself. It comes from the walls."
















He even had the distinct honor of recording the Ghost Host's most famous  line for the 2003 movie.


Welcome, foolish mortals





LES: Yeah, no question in my mind that Paul Frees is the best. His voice is just wonderfully velvety and mirthful; kind of like a combination of Orson Welles and Peter Lorre. He sounds creepy and a bit insane like his spirit has been haunting for so long he has no humanity left in him. He’s just bubbling with delight as he spins his directions and veiled threats and innuendos. He’s magnificent!


Personality


Moviefan12:  The Ghost Host has one of the most eerie performances in the entirety of the ride.  He is eerie and quite demented.  He takes glee in having the guest enter the mansion He always lets us know that there is room for One More and he always seems like he is hoping that he'll find that 1,000th ghost to fill Gracey Manor. Perhaps more than any other spectre in the Mansion, he seems the most unhinged and that may be attributed to the fact that he committed suicide by hanging himself and as Les said he has been spending so many years in the Mansion that all traces of humanity are gone. 













LES: He really does add to the creepiness of the experience as he comments or gives directions to each feature of the Mansion. Is something unpleasant here?…well the Ghost Host will go out of his way to gleefully point it out to you, and it is the signature feature of the Haunted Mansion.



Scares In The Mansion


Moviefan12:  The Ghost Host serving as the narrator is the spook that the guests spend the most time with.  as he first greets in The Stretching Room with his most infamous lines.  



Welcome, foolish mortals, to the Haunted Mansion. I am your host, your... ghost host. Kindly step all the way in please and make room for everyone. There's no turning back now.
Our tour begins here in this gallery where you see paintings of some of our guests as they appeared in their corruptible, mortal state.
Your cadaverous pallor betrays an aura of foreboding, almost as though you sense a disquieting metamorphosis. Is this haunted room actually stretching? Or is it your imagination, hmm? And consider this dismaying observation: This chamber has no windows and no doors, which offers you this chilling challenge: to find a way out!
Of course, there's always my way. (Crashing thunder, scream)

Easily, setting the tone for what is in store and just by the way that he greets us, you know that he is a little sinister.  (Why they gave one of his most famous lines to Wallace Shawn in the movie still befuddles this spirit).  He is with you throughout most of the ride and as we have witnessed, we see how he died.  But once, we come to Madame Leota's seance, he leaves and tells us that the Happy Haunts are readying for a party and he is expected there. The Doom Buggies are left on their own and he doesn't reappear until the Graveyard Jamboree.

















However, according to Imagineer, Jason Surrell,  The Invisible Pianist seen during the Music Room portion of the ride in the Magic Kingdom and Tokyo Disneyland is none other than the Ghost Host himself.

















LES: Really? I wasn’t aware of that….that’s really cool.



Scares Outside The Mansion


Moviefan12: Now, something that must be made clear is that the Ghost Host is not Master Gracey, even though many  adaptations have given the Master some of his attributes. In the movie,  most of the Ghost Host's personality is given to Ramsley. With his hanging going to Master Gracey. 



 









However,  the Ghost Host does have a cameo in the film portrayed by special effects makeup effects creator, Rick Baker. Who designed the Ghost Host's makeup for the movie.



















He also appears as the narrator in Tales From The Haunted Mansion as the Mansion's librarian and his name is given as Amicus  Arcane. 























What He Brings To The Mansion


Moviefan12: The Ghost Host is perhaps the most eerie character within the Mansion and he brings the most unsettling frights to Gracey Manor as he takes a delights in scaring the foolish mortals that dare enter Gracey Manor. He brings a sense of dread and fear with a hinge of fun and frights. 





LES: Yeah, I think splitting his attributes between Master Gracey and Ramsley was a big mistake in the film….but then again…there’s a MULTITUDE of mistakes they made making that film…but we can go into that later. I would definitely concur that the Ghost Host is the ”Spirit” of the eeriness that abounds in the Mansion(pun intended).

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