[4] Founded in 1947 in Lawrence by Arthur H. Wolf and Russell A. Mosser, Centron would come to the forefront of the industrial and educational film companies in the United States.

Films created by Harvey include Shake Hands With Danger, which won a 1980 Golden Eagle award from the Council on International Nontheatrical Events.

Harvey also worked with many well-known professional actors and entertainers in Centron films, such as Walter Pidgeon, Rowan and Martin, Dennis Day, Louis Nye, George Gobel, Billy Barty, Anita Bryant, Eddie Albert, Ed Ames, Jesse White, and Ricardo Montalbán.

An article written by Harvey was published in the March 1956 issue of American Cinematographer magazine, concerning innovative special effects techniques that had been developed by the Centron crew during the production of an industrial film.

The resultant home was hailed regionally as an exceptional display of modern suburban architecture and attracted thousands of spectators when opened for public inspection upon its completion.

In 1981, Arthur Wolf and Russell Mosser had sold Centron to the Coronet division of Esquire, Inc., though production operations continued in Lawrence until decade's end.

Harvey had witnessed the recent success of Elmer Rhoden Jr. and fellow industrial filmmaker Robert Altman in producing low-budget feature films in nearby Kansas City, and began to secure backing from local investors in order to mount a similar project in Lawrence.

While returning to Kansas after shooting a Centron film in California, Harvey developed the idea for Carnival of Souls after driving past the abandoned Saltair Pavilion in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Hiring an unknown New York actress, Lee Strasberg-trained Hilligoss, and otherwise employing mostly local talent, Harvey shot Carnival of Souls in three weeks, on location in Lawrence and Salt Lake City, using a script penned by Centron associate John Clifford.

The film has a large cult following, built up primarily via late-night television screenings, and has been released on DVD by the Criterion Collection (complete with a host of special features, including an hour of excerpts from Harvey's Centron productions).

Harvey also wrote an un-produced feature screenplay of his own, entitled Windwagon, which was a historical dramatization of the Kansas territorial period and "sailing wagon" innovations of the late nineteenth century.

The peak of this revival of interest was a nationally publicized cast and crew reunion in Lawrence in 1989, followed by the movie's first legal release on home video, which sparked a number of high-profile reviews and articles.