As faithful readers know, over the last couple of years I’ve been working my way through collecting autographs and photo ops with the actors/stuntmen who portrayed mass murderer Jason Voorhees in the Friday the 13th franchise. I had been nearing completion when I struck paydirt in the Fall of 2013 when I (nearly) completed my collection of Jason at two different events one week apart. Of course as an devotee of the series knows, The Final Chapter doesn’t always mean the FINAL chapter. But for right now, one might say I’m pretty darn complete.
The first two of these so-called ‘final’ Jasons were met at the HorrorHound event in Indianapolis on September 8, 2013. First up is chronologically the first – and some might say the very first – of the Jasons. Since the appearance of Ari Lehman as the boy Jason in the first Friday the 13th might best be categorized as a dream sequence, there really was no Jason in the first film.
But without question, there was a Jason in the second entry, Friday the 13th Part II, and those not educated on the series might now that this one was filmed before Jason ever put on his iconic Redwings hockey mask. Who you give credit to as being Jason might depend on your personal point of view…and this is the one area where my collection is still lacking.
Warrington Gillette received credit as Jason in this film, and in fact no one disputes that it is him who appears at the end of the film when the unmasked Jason jumps through the window. However, the story has now been told that this was one of the first scenes filmed…and the scene in which they found out that Mr. Gillette was no stunt man. Enter Steve Dash aka Steve Daskewisz (I don’t blame him for using Dash). He came in at that point and completed the film as Jason, virtually appearing in all other scenes as the killer.
So who is the real first Jason? Like I said, it depends on your perspective, but if you want Steve Dash’s perspective, it’s him. In fact his photos says it, and even his inscription says it. There doesn’t seem to be any hard feelings between Dash and Lehman over the claim (see photo below), but Warrington Gillette has all but been drummed out of attending the collectors shows, as he was put in his place many times in print about his involvement in the film.
Personally, I’d still like to meet him (I have a neat photo of him and director I need signed), and that’s really the last ‘official’ Jason I need. It’s too bad that there isn’t room for everyone who ever put a bag or mask on their head and pretended to be one of the most vicious serial killers of all time.
Despite being on the anti-Warrington warpath, Steve Dash was a nice guy and gladly posed with both Carolyn and me and then later stopped for another pose while Carolyn and I were visiting with Ari Lehman. And I couldn’t argue with the reasonable $20 for the autographed photo.
Also attending the HorrorHound as part of the Freddy vs. Jason reunion was Ken Kirzinger. Now here’s another interesting Friday fact… Kirzinger is the only actor to ever portray Jason…and also be attacked by Jason. He appears without the mask in Friday the 13th VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan as a cook in a diner who is thrown across the room by Jason into a mirror. He also appeared in two scenes in that film behind the mask, standing in for Kane Hodder as Jason.
Kane Hodder had appeared in four Friday films as Jason, but Ronnie Yu, the director of Freddy vs. Jason, wanted to go with a taller version of Jason and Kirzinger was two and half inches taller. He was hired much to the chagrin of Hodder, whose days as Jason were now officially over.
Ken Kirzinger, who was making a pretty rare appearance, was a very friendly guy, and willingly posed for a free photo with both Carolyn and me (performing both the standard mean and nice poses) after I purchased the nice photo seen at the top of the posting from Freddy vs. Jason.
A week later Carolyn and I found ourselves in Lexington, Kentucky at the Scarefest event on September 15. There were more Jasons (Ted White and Kane Hodder to be specific, both of whom posed for free with Carolyn) here, but the only one that I really needed.
Tom Morga is also unique in that he is the only actor to portray both Jason Voorhees and Halloween killer Michael Myers…and he’s not generally credit for either, at least not onscreen.
In Friday the 13th: A New Beginning, the character of Jason is (supposedly) dead. The killer in this film is an imposter named Roy played by Dick Wieand. However there is a dream sequence at the beginning in which Jason rises from the dead, and it has always been known that Tom Morga played Jason in that scene. What was not commonly known was that Tom Morga also played the killer (ie. Jason aka Roy) in most scenes in which the character was behind the hockey mask. So yes, he was Jason…but really…not really.
George P. Wilbur was credited onscreen as Michael Myers in Halloween IV: The Return of Michael Myers, with Tom Morga only credited as a stunt man, but according to Morga himself he appeared in at least five scenes as Michael. And let’s not even get into his portrayal of Leatherface…
In any case, Tom Morga was definitely a nice guy to add to the collection, and a friendly one at that. Like the others, his autographed photos were $20 and he posed for free photos – mean and nice – with both Carolyn and me.
Will this be the final chapter? Only time will tell, but like the real fake Jason, you just can’t keep a good bad guy down…
Celebrity encounters from the 2013 Indianapolis Horrorhound will continue…
Celebrity encounters from the 2013 Lexington Scarefest will continue…
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