Transcript
Houdini, Ghosts, and Hidden Stars (Hour 1)
Nite Lite with Pete Schwaba and Greg Bach · Mon Oct 27, 2025
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Welcome to Night Light, ladies and gentlemen.
Oh man, I hope you are ready.
Because it is Monday night in the state of Wisconsin and I am ready to go.
I'm very excited.
I got a great show for you guys tonight.
We are kicking things off.
Another gorgeous fall day here in the state of Wisconsin.
Absolutely beautiful today.
Sunny.
A little bit of a nice breeze coming in off the lake.
Maybe if we're lucky, Conrad will give us one of his forecasts at some point tonight.
cold.
You think you could rally that?
It's cold.
Okay.
So just think about it, you know.
No, it's cold.
I'm done.
But a gorgeous, gorgeous day and a great weekend.
Hopefully you guys are ready to talk some entertainment and movies and TV and music and comedy, maybe a little sports.
I know Packer fans are probably revved up.
That was a, I mean, your guy, Jordan Love, Jlove, JLo, if you will.
No.
Did something, neither one of those other two dudes did last night.
That was a pretty impressive
plays like not plays.
I obviously care.
He just looks like whatever was placing football.
He's very calm.
It's unbelievable awesome So yeah, that was big and I you know, I'm sure Packer and not not that you're torn but Aaron Rodgers had a good run here kind of a weird dude
say I don't mind seeing them lose probably because of years of inflicted pain as a Bears fan, but the guy is like
You know he wanted that really bad.
He said the right things after the game But oh my god, you could tell he wanted to win that
Well, you know, it was it was funny He said after the game that he'd use a silent count because the go-pack go chance were actually really loud in Pittsburgh Seriously, yeah, what do you attribute that to?
The Packers fans they travel well especially against Aaron Rodgers there They were like oh we're going to this game,
you know, I yeah, that's a good point, but like I feel like
in Tennessee maybe, but like Pittsburgh, like their fans are right up there with anybody's.
All the fans are great.
I'm just saying like Pittsburgh, that surprises me that they would sell their tickets to,
Tyson Bajan Tyson Bajan Okay, probably not ready for that.
But
was Tyler Huntley Came out and look like an all-pro.
He
So that was fun Yeah, very very strange very weird like how do you come down?
How do you put two great drives together?
You come up with three points each time which is not good, but the drives look beautiful
And then you fall apart.
Is that just pregame planning?
Like you've got the first couple of drives planned out and the plays picked, and then you suck after that?
They look like the same old Bears.
They don't look like this offensive mastermind is coaching them.
It's the same plays.
that I do think, and I don't know, does LaFleur get enough credit?
He's a brilliant play caller.
It's like, he is, there's some plays that you'd like, you're like, do we need a screen on third and 12?
I don't know.
Do we need to go, you know, but people just like totally change up.
We have this great game that we did yesterday.
Matt LaFleur is great.
And then the next game was like, we still win, but it's like three points.
You're like, fire Matt LaFleur.
I'm like, what?
Excuse me?
No, he, I don't think his name gets mentioned.
You hear Sean McVeigh, the guy in San Francisco, you hear Ben Johnson because it would be in Detroit.
You don't hear Matt LaFleur when you hear the offensive geniuses.
But I think he is right up there with every time I watch them play, I'm like, that was a great play.
You know,
He just has a varied playbook, and I think that's helped.
And all of your play callers, from Holmgren to McCarthy, and now with Fleur, you've had good luck with quarterbacks.
You've also had great luck with coaches.
So that to me is really the miracle of a 30-year run where you got a quarterback paired up with a great coach.
Because I think you can have a great coach and a not-so-good coach, and the quarterback could look pretty pedestrian.
So,
So, yeah, anyway.
Well, great show tonight, folks.
You're here on a good night.
Hopefully if you have the Monday Blues, let me do my best to get rid of them.
And if you're in a great mood, hopefully we will keep that going for you.
We've got three guests tonight.
And I'm pretty excited to have every one of them here.
Dustin Mack will be here.
Dustin is the executive director of the Appleton History Museum at the Castle.
That just sounds like a cool museum.
it's a great facility.
Have you ever seen that facility?
Our pal Frank Anderson, who's a regular on the show, had an office there for a long time.
I think it's an old monastery, but we'll ask Dustin about that.
He will be here.
We're going to talk about a really cool Houdini exhibit.
We're ramping up towards Halloween here.
Houdini has a mystery about him.
We'll talk with Dustin about their really cool and interactive.
Houdini exhibit that starts I want to say on Wednesday I think but we'll talk to Dustin about that and then keeping the creep going This guy's not a creep, but he's promoting the creepy and just in time for Halloween.
It's a oh Tell me how I didn't look up the you gotta help me out here, Emil
You sent me the pronunciation.
yes, you could have just said Pete just like it sounds
It's a much more cool and exotic name than mine.
That's all I know.
Emil will be here at 705.
He's the creative director of the ghost boat tours in Wisconsin Dells.
And this sounds so cool.
They have a video on their website and I was watching it today.
They go into this area called Coldwater Canyon.
They have these limestone canyons lit and they have like these standing dead people.
It looks so creepy.
Like I assumed you stayed in the boat like people get off the boat.
It's it's really cool So if you're in the Wisconsin delz area, this might be something you want to check out this week leading up to the the big day of Halloween Emile Bertilot will be here at 705 and then
We've got someone to rock the studio tonight, and it's going to be fun, Con.
720, musician, singer, songwriter.
Strategic joins me here at 720.
We'll talk to Strategic.
He is a Northeast Wisconsin-based musician.
So that'll be fun.
That's three guests for the price of, well, none.
This is free.
People don't really
pay
to
this show.
So that'll be fun.
We've got a great question tonight.
And you know what, Con?
I think it's time we get to our nightlight question of the night.
Let's talk about the question.
Okay, question.
Question.
Question.
Domanda.
Question.
Who is an actor or actress you think should be more well known?
There's a lot of them out there, like people that just have these great movies.
And what made me think of this question was the actor, Kerry Ellways, who was in The Princess Bride.
He played the prince.
opposite Robin Wright-Penn at the time.
And he was the guy that kept saying, as you wish.
And he was great.
He was great in that role.
Handsome guy, gets comedy.
And I always thought, man, he just had a good career, but I always thought he would be like an A-list star.
So it got me thinking, who is an actor or actress you think should be more well known?
855-752-4842, 855-75 Civic, where you can drop us a comment on the app.
or a stream comment if you're watching the radio at YouTube, Facebook, or X Twitter.
Let us know.
Give us a like or a follow if you're so inclined while you're there on any of our social media platforms.
And let us know who you think should be a more famous, well-known, however you want to say it, actor or actress.
There's a lot of them out there.
And I'm going to say William Peterson.
He's a guy who I, and I said Kerry always, he kind of inspired the question, but William Peterson.
And you guys probably know him from the CSI series.
He was like the lead forensic guy.
But, and he was good.
But in the movie To Live and Die in LA and Manhunter, he is spectacular.
He's intense.
He's like this.
He's just so charismatic.
And not over the top, just a really solid actor.
Grew up in the Chicago area, became a Chicago theater actor, co-founded the Remains Theater Company.
And he's great.
So I say William Peterson, question inspired by Kerry Always.
Who do you say, Conn?
I know that actor,
He has some great, great roles.
Okay.
He was the main person in the Maze Runner series.
I don't know if you've ever seen that.
I feel like they're movies, right?
Yeah, I feel like I saw the first one.
Yeah, but they're based off books.
But the Maze Runner series is fantastic.
But he was also in Love and Monsters, which is a fantastic film.
He just actually... I think he should be... He does a really good job, and I feel like he should be in some bigger roles, if I should say.
And he has a new one with... What's her name?
No, it's directed by Sam Raimi and it's called Sam send help and it looks fantastic.
Okay, Delano Brian.
I got news for you, buddy.
He's like 151 on the on the IMDB pro star meter.
send help.
Yeah, he plays Bradley Preston.
That's a I believe is a Sam Raimi film like yeah, Sam Raimi.
When is this open?
good Halloween movie.
Yeah, he's he's arrived, but I agree He's not a household name like I had to look
a lot of stuff coming out and sometimes the star meter on IMDB Pro kind of Predicts that in a way like he might not be the biggest star right now, but your guy might be on his way there
He's got a cool name too.
Yeah, Dylan O'Brien.
That's the name Jerry Seinfeld wanted when they, when he and George stole the limo and they found out that he was like, Dylan O'Brien was like a white supremacist who was supposed to give a speech at Madison Square Garden and the two thugs in the limo with them think they're them, but they're not.
Obviously, they're Jerry and George.
So, all right, so let us know what your response is.
Who should be a more well-known actor or actress in your opinion?
Lots of fun stuff.
I saw this great list.
You know, let's get to the list after the break.
I will say, here's what bugs me.
Commercials in general are driving me crazy.
But did you see the Jonas Brothers concert the other night?
It was interrupted by the World Series.
But this is like the Bill Burjoka, they take a moment to stand up to cancer.
It was like a 15 minute break in the middle of the game.
I didn't know they did that.
Was that a first?
you like a co-host of Make the Call?
Don't you have to stay up on all this stuff?
But they did this.
The Jonas Brothers played a song.
Everybody's standing up.
They got a candle.
We're going to do a break.
I'm going to come back.
I'm going to complain about a paper towel commercial, folks.
You won't want to miss that.
And then I'm going to tell you who some Saturday Night Live hosts who have been banned from the show.
It's insane.
This is Pete Schwabba and Nightlight on the Civic Media radio
network.
You're listening to Civic Media.
Stay up to date on the latest news and information for your local community and Wisconsin by signing up for our free email newsletter.
Visit civicmedia.us slash email to get started.
Just getting in the mood here for Halloween tonight here at Nightlight on a Monday.
Great to have you with me.
I'm Pete Schwabba and The question of the night is who do you think should who should be a bigger star actress or actor or more famous or More respected however you want to approach it
Someone you feel is a little underrepresented and I said William Peterson of manhunter and to live in Diane LA he eventually went on to find bigger fame and paychecks with CSI the CSI series but a great actor Conrad said Dylan O'Brien who is apparently on his way to and kind of a hot shot right now in Hollywood But let us know who you think at 855-752-4842 or you can drop us a comment on the app or on the stream if you're watching the radio
on YouTube, Facebook, or X. And also, folks, if you haven't yet, think about subscribing to Civic Media today.
Civic Media recently launched a new, brand new, that is daily email newsletter on Substack.
It will connect you to all of the terrific content we have here at Civic Media across the network.
You can find out about your favorite hosts and shows and all that kind of stuff and get updates in your inbox every weekday.
connect you to news stories, podcast fees, live streams.
We've got it all.
Check out the civic media today newsletter and become a subscriber.
It's good stuff.
Tom, are you a subscriber?
I am.
Really?
I get them daily.
Yeah.
Do you really?
I got to do that too.
I've been meaning to do that.
Now I just read my own announcement and I'll still need to remind her
later when the show
is over.
I just go to the website anyway, but I need to subscribe to that.
Absolutely.
Okay, so we got the question and I don't know let's read some some text I have to tell you first.
Okay, this this world series game.
Here's my problem.
It seems like They're selling more ad space For all sporting events it really takes the fun out of you know an NFL game is an hour the broadcast is three and a half hours it's it's too much and I notice this during the world series how stupid commercials are
This one in particular was for a paper towel Let me ask you something come when you go to the store to buy paper towels.
Do you have a brand you prefer?
I just pick whatever's the cheapest exactly Paper towels on these commercials for paper towel companies.
You don't have to show someone cleaning up the spill Just tell us it works and how much it is I would respect them more I see this hand a hand model using the the paper towel to clean water off a table
No one is at home going, wow, what a towel.
Yeah, honey, add this to the list.
In fact, pause the game.
I'm going to hit the grocery store.
I mean, all paper towels clean messes.
And I just wonder, like, nobody has a preference.
Like, I know you got your favorite pizza or beer or soda, but a paper towel.
I've never been hanging out with a bunch of dudes.
And one of them says, no, no, no.
No, dude, I will only buy bounty.
It's the quicker picker upper.
I could be way off, but I cannot stand ads anymore
general.
stuff.
Yeah.
Late night infomercials are so great.
some of that.
We'll play that tomorrow.
That's insanity.
That's paper towel sciencing gone amuck.
I love it.
Um, let's read some of our texts before we get to our first guest, uh, who is Dustin Mack from the, uh, Appleton History Museum at the castle.
We're going to talk Houdini in just a few minutes.
Ghost boat tours at 705 with Emil Bertelot.
He's the executive director of Wisconsin Dell's ghost boat tour.
Boy, that's a mouthful.
Ghost boat tours.
Yeah.
And then strategic in studio at 720 performing live.
That'll be really cool.
I love in studio live entertainment We go to the social media responses to our question tonight, which is what actor or actress do you think should be more famous?
Amanda Nimmer went crazy with this Alex Saxon You know who that is You know, I looked these up before and I already forgot
Yeah Penn Badgley and Luke cook we could probably figure this out if we know
Amanda's pattern for TV watching.
That's a cool name.
That's why I never made it as a famous actor.
Pete Schwabba.
It's just, it's not...
Penn Badgley?
Yeah.
Oh, I didn't know Amanda was a you fan.
Tim Baker says Bob.
Well
Exactly.
He does deserve a lot more respect.
Our pal Ezekiel Drew's filmmaker, Milwaukee based filmmaker says Dan Davies.
These guys, I will say these guys promote each other.
All these like, all these East Coast Wisconsin filmmakers.
You got Dan Davies, Craig Kinnit, JB Thompson, guy behind the guy Ezekiel.
They support each other.
It's a it's a nice tight network Dan Davies responds saying I am wildly famous in West Africa primarily in Nigeria and Ghana and parts of Europe But but America in America only nine bartenders and my garbage man aka sanitation engineer know who the hell I am I mean, I
who you
Maybe you move maybe go over there Dan can't even go to the bathroom and sound in Africa and you know, that's where your fan base is
I think dad's got quite a few fans here, too.
But Ezekiel says, Dan Davies, you could always be a more famous clarifying.
So there you go.
So let us know, folks, who your favorite or who you think should be more famous when it comes to actors or actresses.
Tom from New Berlin in the 414 says Conrad, oh, this is in to what we were talking about earlier.
He says Conrad, remember the last quarterback to beat the Steelers was Bart Starr.
Is that true?
He beat them last night, too.
Tom also says at Pittsburgh.
Tom says, Jonathan Taylor, yes.
Yeah.
says, now Jordy.
Jordy Nelson.
Edward in the 414 says, Robert Davy, pockmarked face FBI agent Johnson in Die Hard.
Yeah, he was great.
Kind of like a great character.
Keep those texts coming folks.
We're coming right back to talk about Houdini.
It's Pete Schwabba in Nightlight.
Happy Monday everybody on the Civic Media Radio Network.
This is Nightlight.
I'm Pete Schwabba.
Our question of the night is, who is an actress or actor that you think should be more well-known?
Either respected, famous, however you want to couch it.
Let us know at 855-752-484-2855-75 Civic.
Edward in the 414 told us Robert Davy.
That's a great one.
Brett in Brown Deer says Aubrey Plaza.
She plays a great psycho chick.
Check out the movie, Honey Don't.
Great lesbian action, too.
Maybe that should be a question one night, kind of just, what's a movie with great lesbian action?
If Brett wrote the questions, I think that's what it'd be.
Aubrey Plaza is good, but I think she's kind of around where she should be, fame-wise.
She's great in white lotus.
Is she in Parks and Rec?
Yes, she
she's very good.
That's a great answer, Brett.
with or without the lesbian stuff.
Thank you, sir.
We'll get to more of your texts in just a little while.
But right now, it is my pleasure to welcome the executive director of Appleton's History Museum at the Castle to talk a little Houdini, Mr. Dustin Mack.
Hi, Dustin.
Hey, Pete.
Thanks for having me.
Oh, it's our pleasure.
Great to have you here.
And it sounds like this is so great.
I was looking at the museum.
and all the stuff you guys have coming up.
Before we get into Houdini, can you tell us a little bit about the space, the facility that is the castle?
Yeah, so right now I'm sitting in a building that's over 100 years old.
the castle, as we call it.
So it was built as a Masonic temple.
So it was a fraternal organization, men only.
And it was meant as, you know, like a place space for them, essentially, it was a place for them to have their meetings, do civic events.
There's a giant dance floor here, so they could hold dances.
And then kind of the higher up you go on the building, the more off limits it was to people who weren't masons.
And, you know, that's where they would have kind of their ceremonies and that sort of thing.
Very cool.
It's a really cool space.
I had a friend Frank Anderson had had an office there And there are recording artists there right throughout the castle.
Is that that might do I have the right place?
No, we've done a lot of musical events here in the past I've I'm not real musical myself, but I've been told that
Kind of our Ogilvy Hall is our main hall where the mason's had their ceremonies has great acoustics And so we've done lots and lots of different musical things here, but no recording that I know of
okay Let me ask you this can you think of an actor or actress that you think should be more famous Dustin or do you have a favorite performer?
gosh.
If you weren't expecting that question.
No, I wasn't expecting that.
You know what?
The topic of the day is Houdini.
So the more people who are interested in Houdini, I'd say him as an actor, although most of his movies were not good.
He was your trying.
Yeah.
Very well done.
All right.
You have this great exhibit about Houdini called AKA Houdini.
And you kind of just did, but give us a little background on the man and his connection to Appleton before we get into the exhibit, if you would.
Sure.
So he's a legendary escape artist, a magician.
And the reason he's connected to Appleton and to this castle is oftentimes Houdini would claim that he was born in Appleton.
And that wasn't actually true.
He was born in Budapest, Hungary.
But he immigrated here with his family and lived in Appleton for four years as a child.
And so he had some like really core memories here and was really comfortable.
His family lived a very middle class lifestyle.
And then eventually they moved away.
They went to Milwaukee, New York City, and basically lived in poverty after that.
And the theory is that living in poverty is really what drove Houdini to his greatness, that he didn't want to live like that anymore.
He wanted to be a star and make money and provide for his family.
But he always remembered his time in Appleton, like really, really fondly.
And so had a connection here.
He came back and performed at least one time that we know of and would visit friends and that sort of thing.
And so we have a large Harry Houdini collection, kind of his handcuffs, lock picks, a straight jacket, all kinds of photographs and ephemera, that sort of thing here at the museum.
And, you know, one of our most famous exhibits is called Aka Houdini that
goes through his life and his legacy.
It's so great.
And it's fascinating to me that he only spent the first four years of his life.
I mean, I can barely remember, you know, the first four years of my life, but he still had this affinity for Appleton.
That's pretty incredible.
Yeah.
So he, he lived here from age four till eight is when they, when they left.
And so, yeah, I mean, it's, it's really odd because, you know, I don't have a lot of memories that
that stick out from being that age either.
And yet here it is, you know, it's this draw for him that kind of he kept coming back throughout his life as this kind of ideal like place where he was comfortable, he was safe.
It was a happy time for the family.
And he always was kind of seeking to get back to that.
It's so interesting to me.
Do you have any idea what made him
I mean, he's called a magician, but mostly he's known for his escape artist ability, right?
Do you have any idea what drove him, like you mentioned the poverty, but where his fascination with escaping handcuffs or being dropped underwater in a vest, how that happened?
So there's some local lure here.
in Appleton that there was a swimming hole just kind of off of College Avenue which is you know Main Street here in town in the Fox River that they were swimming one day and that he nearly drowned
in
that and was kind of you know at the last minute pulled out and and lived whether or not that's true I don't know and there's nothing that can kind of prove it but the theory is that when that happened he kind of then had this draw
to getting close to death and being able to escape the hands of death.
And especially a lot of his escapes as he got older and more famous did involve water and the concept of drowning.
And so, I mean, I think it's one of those things that we can't rule out completely that maybe it was a brush with death as a child that got him going.
That's terrifying.
The water stuff.
Um, you have this great exhibit about Houdini and you talk about his, uh, or you showcase or give information on his Halloween birth and you have a detailed replica of the casket in which he was laid to rest.
That's pretty morbid, but great for Halloween week, I would think.
It's a little bit, it's a little bit creepy.
It's right at the front of the exhibit.
And so people always like the first question is like, Oh my God, is Houdini buried in there?
And he is not.
So Houdini died on Halloween day in 1926 and it was from appendicitis.
And the casket that he was buried in was actually a prop that he used as
part of his escape.
So they already had it on hand and decided to go with that.
So the one that we have on display here at the museum is an exact replica of what he was buried in and it's even made by the same manufacturer and everything.
That is nuts.
So the Halloween birth, is that a sort of code or you guys turned it or whoever it was that came up with that?
That's really his, he died on Halloween.
Yeah.
So he died on Halloween.
So.
The exhibit kind of takes you like through his birth all the way to his death and the exhibit really starts kind of at the end of his life with with his death and then that's really what we're left with now is this legacy right of who he was in his life and you know it's been next year will be a hundred years of his death and you know he's still the most famous magician out there and he's got that name recognition.
Absolutely.
My guest is Dustin Mack.
He is the executive director of Appleton's History Museum at the Castle, a really cool place if you haven't been there.
I have not, but I was just reading about it today and I cannot wait to visit.
Tell us about the interactive experience regarding the exhibit for kids, Dustin.
This, this is awesome.
So there's all kinds of tricks that they can experience as they go through and kind of learn along with Houdini.
So one of the things that got Houdini interested in magic was when circus, circuses were coming to town.
This is before TV.
This is before radio is really popularized in the late 1800s.
And so when the circus came to town, that was like
the big deal, right?
These were the showstoppers.
And so he saw the circus acts here in Appleton and was really drawn.
to be in a performer.
And so one of the first performances he put on was here in Appleton for the neighborhood kids.
And so we have different tricks that people can try.
The kids can try, you know, balancing acts like you would see at a circus.
The strong man interactive, they can give that a shot.
And then as Houdini evolved in his career, became a vaudeville star,
got into jailhouse escapes, handcuffs, doing his famous metamorphosis trick where the, you know, the assistant's locked in the box and then they switch spots.
And so, you know, people can go through and they can try some of these experiments for themselves, see how good they can do as compared to Houdini.
And it's just really fun for the whole family.
What is that metamorphosis?
Can you elaborate on that a little bit?
I saw that.
I was going to ask you about it anyway.
Yeah, so this is some of the magicians still do today.
And so the concept is that there's a box on stage and the magician will lock the assistant into this box.
They close the curtain and then the curtain opens again and the assistant now is standing on stage and the magician is locked inside.
And so you can go through this.
this trick here at the History Museum.
If you want to know kind of the mechanics behind the escape, you can learn that here.
And if you don't want to do that, then you can skip that part too.
Who would not want to know?
I would totally want to know that.
That sounds fantastic.
It is by far the most popular thing in this museum.
I mean, adults love it.
Kids will spend all kinds of time trying to do this trick and replicate it.
Houdini and his wife, Bess,
mastered it essentially and they could do it in three seconds.
So the, from the point of one curtain closing to opening was three seconds and nobody ever comes close to
that.
That's so cool.
Uh, have you ever had a kid that couldn't get out of a straight jacket and had to go home that way?
I threatened most field trips when they come here this way.
Yeah.
So there's a straight jacket that they can try on and escape from.
It is Velcro in the back.
So in case of.
emergency, we can pull the tab back there.
There's also a jail cell that they can go into and try to escape from.
So there's a hidden key.
in there that they can try to find.
So a lot of times to do these sorts of escapes, Houdini would have an assistant either place a key in there or make a mold and slip it to him somehow so that he was able to kind of unlock himself to make the escape.
And so people get that experience for themselves.
That's so great.
Last Houdini thing for you, Dustin.
You have a walking tour and you've got one scheduled for this Wednesday from 6 to 7.30.
What's that like and what can people see on the walking tour?
So if they want to join the tour, they can buy a ticket ahead of time on our website.
You come, you do a walk downtown College Avenue, and we make kind of stops that were important to Houdini during his life here in Appleton, talk about his life and his legacy here.
Part of what we talk about is the Houdini séance that takes place on Halloween night.
every year so spiritualism was really big in the early 1900s when Houdini was alive and for a minute he kind of got into it and wanted to believe it his mother had passed away and he wanted to reconnect with her and what he discovered was that it wasn't true that you know he felt like he was being misled so then he went on this campaign to kind of unearth mediums and
and prove that they were wrong, they were lying to people.
And so him and his wife made a pact that if anybody could escape death, right, it would be the great Harry Houdini.
So on the day of his death, for 10 years on that date afterwards, his wife held a seance and was looking for a special clue that only him and her knew.
And she never saw it, right?
She never got the clue that they had agreed to and gave up the seance.
But other people have since picked it up and routinely do a seance for Houdini on Halloween night.
That's so great.
Dustin, we gotta do a really short break then we'll come back and wrap things up.
I got just a couple more questions for you.
We're coming right back.
It's Nightlight with Pete Schwabba on the Civic Media Radio
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Welcome back.
I'm Pete Schwabba.
This is Nightlight.
Our question of the night is, name an actor or actress you think should be more famous, Kelly Peterson, Janis Suitz.
I think I'm saying that right.
Kelly's been on the show before and I can't even remember how.
pronounce her last name.
She says, Eleanor Donahue, but she is my grandma.
Okay.
That's a good one, Kelly.
Thank you.
We have just a couple more minutes left here with our guest from the Appleton History Museum at the Castle, Mr. Dustin Mack.
He's the executive director there.
Dustin, I didn't want to let you go without telling us.
You've got a couple more big exhibits that just sound so great.
And so Halloween, you have the Appleton Asylum.
Um, and you I saw another thing I this may have passed.
I don't know if it's a yearly thing or not spiritualists and hauntings
Yeah, so those are both a series of walking tours that we do every time kind of in the fall
So we do one right now that is Museum After Dark called Morbid Medicine and so people come to the museum, we've got all the lights out, we've got some candles lit around and then we go through the building and kind of make different stops along the way and showcase artifacts on kind of
how medicine used to be presented and how it used to be conducted.
So like we have dental equipment from the 1930s, which, you know, we'll give some people pause.
There's a story about the out of gaming county insane asylum at the time and kind of what life was like there for the patients and the people that worked there.
And we have some things on display that represent that.
And then there's a great story about a local doctor who would go farmhouse to farmhouse and sometimes he was conducting surgeries with whatever tools they had available.
Dental stuff, even with state-of-the-art equipment, is kind of terrifying.
I mean, I can't even imagine what it was like back then.
Great stuff, Dustin.
Thank you so much for your time.
Check out everybody, the Appleton History Museum at the Castle.
Great stuff, especially leading up to Halloween.
Check out the Houdini exhibit, and let's talk again.
You got such a great thing going there.
Let's have you back soon, Dustin.
Yeah, hey, happy to.
All right, have a great Halloween, and thanks so much for your time tonight.
All right, that's Dustin Mack.
Check out the Houdini stuff.
Dude, what do you know about it?
Is Houdini something like your younger guy, Conrad?
You know who Houdini was?
Oh, yeah.
Okay.
Definitely,
for sure.
Coming up at 7.05, Emil Bertelot from Wisconsin Dells, ghost boat tours.
He will be here.
That's a creepy thing, man.
I was watching the video on their website and it's...
It just looks really fascinating and then it's 720 strategic.
We'll be here in studio singing some tunes.
Our question of the night, as I mentioned, name an actress or who is an actress you think or actor you should, you think should be more famous or well-known in the 414 Edward who said, I'll replay this and then gave us a movie suggestion because there was great lesbian action.
Also said Robert Davi was also in the Goonies that he was Edward.
No, that was Brett that said that about Aubrey Plaza, I think, Conn.
Yes.
You've got to be my fact checker.
I don't want to get a texture.
I don't need to get sued on this
It was Brett.
Okay.
Edward did say, though, that Robert Davie was also in the Goonies.
Yes, he was.
He was scary, too.
He and Joe Penaliano and then that actress, I can never remember her name, but she was also in Throw Mama from the Train.
And could play really a really good scary person Tyler from Wisconsin Rapid says Anna Taylor joy from the witch Mad Max Furiosa and split also Bruce Campbell.
Yeah, Bruce Campbell is a total cult hero and I love Anna Taylor joy, and I'm totally with you there Tyler.
She's outstanding From the 920 Steve.
He's in Florida though.
He's Conrad's dad says an actor director that should be more well known throughout the world It's Pete Schwabba from Marinette, Wisconsin
Look at your dad.
What a swell guy.
I
Let's get Steve on here.
What can you talk about?
Let's have Conrad's dad on.
I think that'd be fun.
And not just because he said that about my movie, but you know, just build him up a little bit.
Just have him talk
great the movie is
Steve, I'll let you even write the questions.
Your own questions.
Thank you, Steve.
Much appreciated.
If you're in the Madison area, December 4th, we're having a screening at the Atwood Music Hall of the Godfather of Green Bay.
For a good cause, more details will follow on that next week.
But just in case your dad happens to be in the Madison area, Tom, for New Berlin in the 414 says, last time the Packers beat the Steelers was with Bart Starr in Pittsburgh now in 2025.
The love.
Oh, you
said
in
that makes sense.
Thank you, Tom.
Jim from Appleton says, my favorite ShamWow bit was when Len Nelson and Rick McNeil tested it over the new sound board at WAPL radio station.
The ShamWow
Whether it's true or not, that's a fantastic text.
Thank you, Jim.
Rachel from Milwaukee and she's in the 608 says, Michael Urie is fantastic.
He plays Brian and Apple TVs in shrinking and played Mark in ugly Betty.
I do remember him in ugly Betty back in the day.
Rachel says he's just getting credit now with shrinking popularity and totally deserves it.
He always plays the best friend and supporting actor we all need and supporting character we all need.
Well done, Rachel.
Thank you.
actor.
I know who he is.
Jim, again, Jim from Appleton says Tony Shalub does not get the respect he deserves.
I don't know if he's as famous as he should be.
I think Tony Shalub, though.
And I'm not trying to argue with Jim.
He's a really respected actor.
I think people love Tony Shalub inside the business and out.
But I agree, he could definitely be he could definitely be more famous.
I'm trying to get him on the show.
I've reached out to his people.
be chihuahua.
Yeah, what does he think I am a couch potato?
Tom from New Berlin in the 414 says plus a street thing what you think your Houdini That's great though Great stuff.
How are we doing on time?
Come my screen just went dead again.
Well, we got we got 20 seconds 20 seconds
That's insanity.
All right, we're coming back after the news for Act 2.
It's going to be fun, folks.
We're going to talk ghost boat tours in the Wisconsin Dells.
It's Pete Schwab at Nightlight and the Civic Media Radio Network.
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