Night of Evil (1962): the Fort Wayne-made feature

Filmed summer 1960 · premiered 27 January 1962, Embassy Theatre

A hometown production: Richard Galbreath was a Fort Wayne maker of industrial films — local memory also ties his shop, Galbreath Pictures, to the Eckrich commercials that were a staple of regional television — when he directed the first feature film his company ever attempted, and he made it at home. Night of Evil was shot in Fort Wayne in the summer of 1960 (the Allen County Genealogical Society's account extends the shooting into the fall) and was based, the trade press reported, on the life story of Dixie Ann Dikes, a beauty queen who landed in jail for attempted robbery. Lisa Gaye — sister of Debra Paget and a busy television actress — played Dixie, a sixteen-year-old whose life runs from foster home to beauty contest to strip joints to an attempted armed robbery; William Campbell and Lynette Bernay co-starred, and the syndicated columnist Earl Wilson introduced the picture on camera, assuring the audience that what they were about to see was true. The film ran 88 minutes and went out through Astor Pictures.

The premiere was a civic occasion. Boxoffice, the exhibitors' trade magazine, headlined its report "Ft. Wayne-Made Film Given Gala Premiere": the picture was world-premiered at the Embassy Theatre on Saturday and Sunday, January 27–28, 1962, with all proceeds going to local charities under the sponsorship of the Central Lions Club. No earlier feature film made in Fort Wayne appears in the record this chapter could reach; Night of Evil is where Fort Wayne's own feature production begins. The Journal Gazette's History Journal returned to the premiere in 2019, and the film survives in cult circulation, usually filed under the exploitation melodramas of its era.

Sources:

1. Boxoffice, 5 February 1962 — "Ft. Wayne-Made Film Given Gala Premiere": first feature by Galbreath Pictures, made in Fort Wayne during the summer of 1960, based on the life story of Dixie Ann Dikes, premiered at the Embassy Theatre January 27–28 with proceeds to local charities under Central Lions Club sponsorship.
2. Allen County Genealogical Society of Indiana (ACGSI), "Videos for Allen County, Indiana" — filming in the summer and fall of 1960 by Richard Galbreath of Galbreath Productions; premiere 27 January 1962; the Eckrich-commercial recollection of Fort Wayne viewer Patrick Drudge.
3. Corey McMaken, "Jan. 27, 1962: 'Night of Evil' premieres," The Journal Gazette, History Journal, 10 October 2019 (linked from ACGSI).
4. VideoHound entry carried by Encyclopedia.com — 88 minutes; Lisa Gaye, William Campbell; director Richard Galbreath; narrator Earl Wilson.