Ed Wood Wednesdays, week 298: The strange tale of the robotic Tor Johnson

Ben Skora brought Tor Johnson back to simulated life.

Skora: An American original.

The future hasn't happened yet, and I'm beginning to doubt it ever will. I am writing this article in the year 2026 AD. I repeat, TWENTY TWENTY SIX! By now, American life should resemble The Jetsons (1962-1963) or at least Back to the Future Part II (1989). But it very much does not. Instead of flying cars and sassy robot maids, we have data centers and AI slop. What a disappointment. I think we've lost the ability to be excited about technology or awed by progress, thanks in part to the Musks and Zuckerbergs of the world. The futurists didn't account for greedy, soulless tech bros.

So you can imagine my surprise and delight at discovering Ben Skora (1937-2018), a hypnotherapist, record producer, and amateur inventor from Palos Hills, Illinois who became a celebrity in the late 1970s and remained one for decades. Ben's impractical yet intriguing homemade gizmos—servile robots and other wonderfully unnecessary household items—generated a great deal of publicity, both in print and on screen. There is so much material about this guy, easily enough to fill a book.

Over a period of years, Ben turned his suburban home, originally a prefabricated house purchased from the Sears catalog, into a push-button wonderland he jokingly called the "Far Out House." And he did all of this without an engineering degree or professional electronics experience! Ben's strange hobby was well-documented in newspaper articles, magazine articles, and segments on TV shows like NBC's Real People (1979-1984) and Ripley's Believe It or Not (1982-1986). He's also featured in Chris Smith's documentary Home Movie (2001).

In retrospect, it's easy to see why Skora was such a hit with reporters and the public. He was an affable, unpretentious guy who was driven by an irresistible desire to create. He tinkered because his personality would not allow him to do otherwise. He wasn't trying to market or mass produce his machines. His hobby actually cost him money. Above all, Ben embodied the individuality and ingenuity of America itself. He was the friendliest possible face of technology, a real-life Gadgeteer Genius who lived in a real-life Gadgeteer's House. 

Though the press occasionally reduced him to a "wacky inventor" stereotype—and he leaned into that image himself—Ben Skora was a complicated, multifaceted man. He served in World War II and experienced two failed marriages, plus the death of his only son. At least one of his marriages failed because of Ben's time-consuming hobby. Sadly, the automated house that was his life's work was torn down in 2014. Four years later, Ben succumbed to Alzheimer's at age 81. There is no way for me to convey this man's life in one article. I simply want to alert you to his existence.

A classic Tor mask.

Skora's most celebrated creation is the reason I have gathered you here today: an automaton he dubbed Arok. The robot's name is the inventor's own, merely backwards and minus the S. (This is the kind of wordplay Ed Wood loved and used in his own work.) Built in the mid-1970s and modified many times over the decades, Arok was capable of moving in any direction and carrying out various preprogrammed tasks, like fetching drinks or taking out the garbage. It looked like the big, lumbering, metallic robots people were used to seeing in movies, TV shows, and comic books. Arok could have been, for example, a first cousin to Torg from Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964) or Pimpbot 5000 from Late Night with Conan O'Brien (1993-2009).

What sets Arok apart from those other robots is that Ben Skora chose to give him an animated human "face" in the form of a latex Halloween mask. Since rubber perishes, Arok's face changed several times over the years. In its final form, the robot wore a mask modeled after the face of its own proud inventor. However, in much of the documentary footage of Ben Skora that I have seen, Arok wore one of the iconic Tor Johnson masks that were manufactured by Don Post Studios. These best-selling masks went into production in the mid-1960s and remained best-sellers until at least the 1980s. Don Post Studios itself shut down in 2012, but lookalike Tor masks are still available from several online vendors.

I was totally unaware of Ben Skora until very recently when I saw a clip of the inventor on social media. The clip came from an episode of the long-running reality show You Asked for It, which originally ran from 1950 to 1959 but was revived in 1972, 1981, and 2000. (The Skora segment seems to be from the 1981 version.) This strange, somewhat forgotten TV series keeps reappearing in my research about various pop culture topics. Bela Lugosi famously guest starred on the show in 1953, and Happy Days parodied You Asked for It as You Wanted to See It during its "Fearless Fonzarelli" two-parter from 1975.

The You Asked for It segment about Ben Skora features many of what I'd call the inventor's "greatest hits." We see his revolving living room, his toilet disguised as a fuzzy plant holder, and his easy chair that zips around on remote-controlled wheels. But the star of the show is obviously Arok. As the narrator enthuses about what a technical marvel Arok is, we witness the robot noisily and clumsily performing various household tasks, like walking the dog and collecting the mail. And all the while, he's wearing the face of Swedish wrestler Tor Johnson. Watching this, it is impossible not to think of Tor's role as Inspector Daniel Clay in Ed Wood's Plan 9 from Outer Space (1957). In that film, Tor's character is killed by Vampira, only to be brought back to "simulated life" so that he can be the slave of the snooty alien Eros (Dudley Manlove).

From what I've read, Ben Skora's mental deterioration was prolonged and painful, both for him and his family. Luckily, even though the "Far Out House" could not be saved, at least Skora's most famous creation has been preserved. In 2015, Ben's cousin Tom donated Arok to Moraine Valley Community College in Palos Hills. In case you want to visit it, you'll find the robot in the lobby of Building T. It is kept in a glass case, perhaps to protect it from the elements or perhaps to keep it from escaping should it ever spring back to life one terrible night.

P.S. If you desire more of this material, I have assembled a playlist of Ben Skora videos here.