The Paintings

The three canvases produced for the pilot film were painted by Jaroslav “Jerry” Gebr. The paintings for the series were painted by Tom Wright, who rarely paints anymore and currently works as a TV director (The X-Files, Millennium, The Wire, NCIS). Wright began painting in oils on canvas in the first season, then switched primarily to acrylics on masonite board for the rest of the series paintings. When Night Gallery was prepared for syndication, episodes of another series, The Sixth Sense, were included in the syndication package. New introductions with Rod Serling were filmed, and the paintings for the 25 additional episodes were painted by the artist for the Gallery pilot, Jaroslav Gebr. None of these 25 extra paintings are included here.

Most of the original paintings for Night Gallery were either altered for use in other productions or sold by Universal Studios years ago. For the most part they remain in private hands, although occasionally one shows up at an auction house. There are some forgeries floating around, the exact number unknown. In December 2002, two forgeries were offered in an online auction from Sotheby’s through eBay. Before the auction started, one of the fakes was pulled, a bad copy of “The Late Mr. Peddington”—which had, accurately enough, its original title scrawled on the back of the painting, “The Flat Male,” meaning that the forger had access to the original during the forging process. Still, an obvious fake of “The Flip-Side of Satan” was auctioned off at that time. Care must be taken by potential buyers if a Night Gallery painting is spotted at auction. If there is a question of authenticity, seek out an expert’s help.

Universal Studios released a series of twelve art-print posters of some of the Gallery paintings in 1972. They are long out of print, although they occasionally show up at a collector’s store or in an eBay auction. None of the reproductions included paintings from the pilot film or the first season of the series. Second season titles included “House—with Ghost,” “You Can’t Get Help like That Anymore,” “The Dear Departed,” “The Devil Is Not Mocked,” “The Tune in Dan’s Café,” and “Phantom of What Opera?” Third season titles included “You Can Come Up Now, Mrs. Millikan,” “Fright Night,” “Spectre in Tap-Shoes,” “She’ll Be Company for You,” and “Rare Objects” (this last was altered from the version shown in the series episode). The last of the twelve art prints, titled “The Return of the Sorcerer,” was not the painting used for that episode in the series. It is definitely by Tom Wright, but it may have been painted for an unproduced segment of the show.