THE COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN: DAY 21

Born October 20, 1882...

Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó lies at rest in Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.  And he has done so for over fifty years.  And yet it is as if the man is still alive.  His face, his voice, his manerisms are all remembered well to this day.  This was the man who made vampires charming and dark and powerful and commanding.

And even sexy.

This was Bela Lugosi.

Lugosi played Dracula unlike any before him and he was perfect for the role.  He was from the area, had the accent, but more than that--he emersed himself in the character.  His Dracula was like a bullfighter in that his movements were powerful, his command of the stage was complete.  He became the Prince of Darkness and he demanded not only the attention of his audience, but their respect and their awe.

And yet, because of his embodiment of the character, because of his absolute mastery of the imagination of the collective audience when it came to what and who Count Dracula was, his career was doomed to be limited or to quote the man himself, “I am definitely typed, doomed to be an exponent of evil.”  And, later, “Now I am the boogie man.”

And for his time he was one charming boogie man.

Will always be one sexy scary vampire.

And speaking of Draculas...

Sir Christopher Lee was given the British Institute Fellowship

from fellow actor and friend Johnny Depp at the ceremony.

At age 91 and with over 250 screen credits, what took them so long!

Here's a link to an article about the news:

Christopher Lee awarded Fellowship

And now here's a little appropriate music for the occasion...

STAY TUNED TO TCM at 6:15pm for...

EYE OF THE DEVIL

And finally, some more random Halloweenery...

(As always, Click to BEBIGIFY)

MONSTER-MONTH: COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN (Day 3)

For our third focus on Frankenstein's Monster, we must take a closer look

at the most benevolent of the Frankenstein Monsters, Fred Gwynne's

HERMAN MUNSTER!

(Click to Frankensize)

The comedicaly gifted Fred Gwynne was an actor, author and artist, but he left his mark as Herman, head of the Munsters family.  His version of the Monster was, in a word, goofy.  And it was that goofiness, that childlike awkwardness that would endear him to his audience.  If he weren’t so harmlessly goofy, his temper tantrums and larger than life expressions may’ve come off as scary to the intended audience.  He was, after all, a huge presence with all of the padding and heavy boots strapped to his six foot five inch frame topped off with green make-up and neck bolts, the seven foot tall Herman Munster could’ve been a true terror.

Of all the post-Karloff Monsters, Fred Gwynne’s comes the closest to the classic Universal look--in fact, it is so similar that a few adjustments to the make-up (darkening under the eyes, furrowing of the thick brow and an expressionless stare) and one could easily see Gwynne as a serious Frankenstein Monster.  I mean look at this expression here and tell me that it doesn’t project “sinister”:

(Click for Frankensize)

Anyway, as I was saying, THE MUNSTERS’ Herman was safe in attempting to pull off the universally known look of the UNIVERSAL PICTURES’ Frankenstein Monster because they were also owned by that very same picture company.  No threat to the copyright and so they had a free pass.

FIVE FRANKENSTEIN FUN FACTS:

1. Gwynne’s Monster had one brown eye and one chartreuse.
2. Herman Munster was a fan of Huckleberry Hound and Pat Boon albums.
3. Herman Munster was built in Germany by a Dr. Frankenstein, but was adopted at an early age and raised in Shroudshire, England by a family named Munster.
4. The idea of a family of funny monsters was first submitted to Universal Studios in the late 1940s by animator Bob Clampett, who wanted to make a cartoon series.  The project wasn’t developed until the early ‘60s, when ROCKY & BULLWINKLE writers Burns and Hayward submitted a similar treatment.  Norm Liebman and Ed Haas wrote the pilot script, “Love Thy Monster” when it was still undecided if the show would be live-action or animated.
5. Herman Munster is a U.S. Army veteran of Wrold War II.

Citations...

http://www.munsters.com

http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0028728/quotes

(Click to Frankensize)

This is an interesting final note--the test pilot for THE MUNSTERS that was never used.  Interestingly, it was shot full color (the show itself doesn’t even use color, but for the test pilot they go with color?).  Nonetheless, it is an unfinished, unpolished dress-rehersal where the interaction between the characters, their make-up and the tone of the show is  sampled.

It comes off as darker, by far, than the final product.  Perhaps more in the vein of THE ADDAMS FAMILY than they wanted.  Yvonne De Carlo’s Lily Munster does not appear, instead Herman is married to a Vampira look-alike named Phoebe played by Joan Marshall.  Eddie in this piece is played viciously by Happy Derman--surely his take was a little too scary for what the show was to become.

Neat stuff, check it out...

Gwynne retained fond recollections of Herman, saying in later life, "... I might as well tell you the truth. I love old Herman Munster. Much as I try not to, I can't stop liking that fellow."

(Click to Frankensize)

As you may or may not know I do enjoy the heck out of the old horror films that Turner Classic Movies provides we humble viewers with every October, so I will be including (when I can remember it) listings of the night’s treats and boy are there a few grand ones on tonight:

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

8pm

THE MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM (1933)

9:30pm

DOCTOR X (1932)

11:00pm

MARK OF THE VAMPIRE (1935)

12:15am

HOUSE OF DRACULA (1945)

1:30am

ZOMBIES OF MORA TAU (1957)

2:45am

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968)

4:30am

I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE (1943)

And one more thing...?

MONSTER-MONTH - COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN: DAY 1

(Click to Enlarge any of these Images)

Every year about this time, exactly this time in fact, I continue with my participation in the COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN!

It’s an informal ring of blogs that have banded together to celebrate the awe and wonder of Hallow’s Eve, that great tribute to the dark side of life--that wonderful way to look at that time of year which is equal parts life and death.

Beginnings and endings.

Which, in a roundabout way, could be a tribute to... story.

This year I’ll be doing a few different things in my personal countdown.

And I’ve come to realize as I’ve been preparing for it, that my plans aren’t very unique.  The folks who participate in this Countdown have been doing fine work

and sometimes we tend to think alike.

(Click to Enlarge)

From me this year, there will be a daily dose of Frankenstein, gobs of golden age horror comic covers, a touch of Mars Attacks, a piece of pulp, some Scooby Doo,

a little Looney Tunes a handful of seasonal art by myself

and a horde of Halloween goodies!

I thought a countdown of Frankenstein Monsters would be a powerful and interesting subject for each night (and it has been), but I had no idea it had already been tackled by more than a few.

Nevertheless, I plan to continue with that idea throughout the month.

Pointing out versions and adaptations of the FRANKENSTEIN story in various mediums and putting my own spin on each one.

I came to realize in attempting this that there are TONS of variations on Mary Shelley’s tragedy.  It left me with plenty of room to choose from,

in fact it made my choosing the hardest part of the plan.

(Click to Enlarge)

So, let’s get started with the first of our monsters of Frankenstein--BORIS KARLOFF in the make-up of Jack P. Pierce for Universal Studios!

His monster is the definitive one.

The one that has far outshined even the original creation of Shelley.

When nearly anyone thinks of Frankenstein (the name of the Doctor who created the Monster, not the actual creation),

they think of Karloff’s Universal Monster.

It’s appearance is so distinctive, so unique as to demand a second look.

He stands six and a half feet tall with green scarred up skin, a flat top head,

sunken eyes, bolted neck, and tight fitting jacket.

He appears the part of a desicated corpse-come-to-life.

And yet, far too well dressed for a monster shindig.

(Click to Enlarge)

Universal Studios was quick to copyright the look of their Monster.  And it has proven one of the smartest things they could’ve done, for there have been countless copies (more than a few of which will appear later this month in this very blog).

There is a superb feature on how Universal has held sway over the look of Frankenstein’s Monster for all these years here:

http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2011/10/24/how-universal-re-copyrighted-frankensteins-monster/

(Click to Enlarge)

The look of Boris in the makeup caused those making the film to be concerned that the seven year old actress playing Maria, the girl who is thrown in the lake by the creature, would be too afraid of Karloff when it came time for her scene.

So as the cast assembled to travel to the location, they were to introduce her to Karloff tentatively.  Marilyn Harris, the young actress, is said to have ran from her car directly up to Karloff’s Monster and took his hand.

She then asked to drive to the location with him.  Karloff responded,

“Would you, darling?”, in his usual voice.

Monster and victim rode to the shoot together.

(Click to Frankenstein Image)

In all American prints, the scene where the Monster throws the girl into the water was cut before he even reaches her due to censors concerns for the girl’s violent end.  Strangely, this left it up to the viewer’s imagination to fill in the blank for what could have happend to the little girl (and one could imagine many more terrible things than what actually occurred in that scene).

Thankfully the footage was restored on DVD.

(Click to Frankenstein-ify)

Five Frankenstein Fun Facts:

1. Karloff’s boots each weighed 13 pounds.
2. At the climax of the film, the Monster carries Dr. Frankenstein up the mountainside and through the mill.  At James Whale’s insistence Boris actually carried Colin Clive, which took several days to shoot.  He badly injured his back and had back problems for the rest of his life.
3. Bela Lugosi was originally tapped for the role of Dr. Frankenstein and the Monster after that.  He rejected the role as not being one worthy of his ability.  Lugosi had also insisted on creating his own makeup for the Monster, but his design was rejected (Lugosi’s look for the Monster is said to have resembled The Golem).
4. John Carradine also turned down the role of Frankenstein’s creation.
5. Bette Davis was considered for the role of Elizabeth.

(Click to Frankensteinify)

Several sites are to be cited for assistance in this article:

http://members.aon.at/frankenstein/frankenstein-universal.htm

IMDB Frankenstein

Boris Karloff on Wikipedia

Frankenstein Films

FRANKENSTEINIA

KARLOFF

And now for the finale for tonight's installment of MONSTER-MONTH...

the disembodied head of a Farrah Fawcett doll:

BOO!