Dennis James gives sound to silence at IU Auditorium

In a decidedly atypical evening for the IU Auditorium, vampires, pirates, ninjas and princesses gathered to hear one of IU’s most celebrated alumni perform a spectacularly spooky arrangement.

Dennis James, the acclaimed organist and silent film revivalist, made his annual Halloween visit to Bloomington on Wednesday to a small but wildly enthusiastic (and eccentrically costumed) crowd.

James, introduced by executive director Doug Booher as “one of our most enthusiastic alumni,” performed an original accompaniment to the 1926 silent film “The Bat.”

Ever the showman, James burst onto the stage in a bat cape, swooping around onstage until he arrived at his organ and burst into a haunted melody.

What James said “started as a school joke” has become a Hoosier tradition.

Even 41 years after his first performance in 1969, James continues to bring in fans — even those who have been with him since the beginning.

“Oh man!” he exclaimed as a few hands shot up from audience members who attended his first performance. He surveyed the room.

“They keep dying off every year,” he said, prompting laughter from the audience.

James, a current research fellow at the University of South Carolina, is regarded by many as one of the key revivalists of silent film live accompaniment.

A frequently sought after organist, James has performed for live accompaniments across the country, including the famous El Capitan Theater in Hollywood, as well as performances with the Chicago Symphony.

His selection this year, “The Bat,” follows a mysterious caped  murderer as he stalks a group of townspeople searching for stolen money.

The adaptation of one of Broadway’s earliest hit shows, “The Bat,” is perhaps most famous for its inspiration of the cultural icon Batman, providing the first glimpse (and earliest incarnation) of the Bat symbol.

Sophomore Hays Formella had never seen James perform before Wednesday.

A self-professed film scholar, Formella said he was impressed by the different approach to watching a film.

“I thought that the organ performance provided a lot of depth to the film,” he said. “It’s strange to see silent films. I consider myself a really big cinema fan, and I’ve never seen a silent film performed live before. Plus, the fact that the movie was the inspiration for Batman was really cool, since in the past few years Batman has become huge in our culture again. It’s interesting to see where inspiration like that comes from.”