"Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein"

The most beloved horror/comedy movie ever has to be Universal's 1948 classic, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. As tomorrow is Halloween, this post is most appropriate for the occasion.

Here, the comics meet with the studios classic monsters. It was the last appearance of the monsters (their swan song). 

The monsters were: Bela Lugosi as Dracula, Lon Chaney Jr. as the Wolf Man and Glenn Strange as Frankenstein's Monster. There is also as "cameo" (although you couldn't see him) by the Invisible Man voiced by Vincent Price. Each played their roles straight.

My mom told me that when the movie was released, she and a girlfriend saw it in Inglewood, California in a theater. I am guessing that it was either the Academy Theater or it could have been the Fifth Avenue Theater. Both were located in the city. My mom would have been fifteen years old at the time. 

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein was a regular Halloween movie on KNXT's (later KCBS) on the 4:00 Early Show movie in Los Angeles. This used to get kids definitely in the mood to go out trick or treating later. 

Here's the late David J. Skal hosting a featurette of making of the movie:

A bit of trivia: Bobby Barber and Frank Ferguson both appeared in the Adventures of Superman and were in this movie.

David J. Skal, R.I.P.

Above, David J. Skal.

Nothing like waking up to shocking news.

Horror film historian David J. Skal was killed on New Years Day in an automobile accident in Glendale. He was 71.

It was a head-on collision caused by an alleged drunk driver. ABC 7 News has a surveillance video of the accident.

Although we were Facebook friends, I mainly knew him through his featurettes in Universal Pictures' horror movies DVDs. 

It was this post from Don Glut of a few hours ago that gave me the news:

By now most of you who knew David J. Skal -- a scholar, historian and a friend -- was killed tragically in an auto collision. I directed David once in a cameo scene in a short film THE VAMPIRE HUNTERS CLUB. But I'll always remember a magical moment I had with him. We were in a recording studio up at Universal. At the time he was working on a restoration of FRANKENSTEIN and knew that I had an audio tape made from the original sound discs that included Colin Clive's later-censored line, "In the name of God, now I know what it feels like to be God."  He wanted to restore that line into the film, a place that had been a jump cut since it was removed decades ago by the censors.  The tape, which I had since the late 1960s, had to be played from the beginning;  we couldn't skip ahead to that line. David and I were sitting on a couch. I watched him as the tape played from the beginning ... and the growing look of anticipation on his face as the soundtrack progressed ... and the final look of near-ecstasy as he finally heard, for the first time in his life, those legendary lines. I'll never forget that moment!  Ironically, the accident occurred on January 1st -- the anniversary of the first publication of Mary Shelley's classic novel FRANKENSTEIN. To see and hear the scene as restored by David, click ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqF28KiD-Hc

This is a big loss to the horror movie fan family. 

UPDATE (2/14.24):

David Skal’s partner, Robert Postawko, who was in the car with Mr. Skal when Mr. Skal was killed in a traffic accident, died on Feb. 6 from the injuries he had sustained. He had been expected to survive despite the seriousness of his injuries.

"Hollywood Gothic - The Tangled Web of Dracula From Novel To Stage To Screen"

Bela Lugosi achieved celluloid immortality when he signed with Universal Pictures to play the title character in the 1931 Tod Browning-directed Dracula.  Financially, he was screwed.

Lugosi portrayed the vampire king on Broadway to amazing success (amazing, as he was not all that fluent in English at the time, but he mastered the language well enough to no longer need to learn his English dialog phonetically), but he was signed to a contract for a paltry $500 per week for a seven-week shooting schedule.   One wonders what he would have received had he not been the star of the movie!

In contrast, David Manners, for his nothing role as Jonathan Harker in the same movie, was given a $2,000 per week salary (Universal also had to pay Jack Warner his loan-out fee for the use of Manners).  Part of this was Lugosi's own fault.  His campaign for the role was interpreted as "desperation" by the Laemmles (Carl Sr. and Jr.) and they took advantage.  Manners later became disenchanted with Hollywood and claimed to have never seen "his most famous film."

These and other factoids are in abundance in David J. Skal's "Hollywood Gothic - The Tangled Web of Dracula From Novel To Stage To Screen."  The edition I have is the 2004 first revision, which was a Christmas present, thanks to my Lugosi-loving daughter Amber.

Above, Bram Stoker.

Skal is a noted horror film historian who has written several books on the horror movie genre and has appeared in numerous Universal classic monster movie DVD featurettes.  (When I told Skal that I received the book as a Christmas present, his reply was, "Hope you enjoy--happy holidays!")

As the name implies, "Hollywood Gothic - The Tangled Web of Dracula From Novel To Stage To Screen" takes a detailed look at the various incarnations of Dracula from the original 1897 Bram Stoker novel to its theatrical productions; the battles of widow Florence Stoker over the unauthorized German film Nosferatu; the tragedy of Bela Lugosi; and the various movie versions over the decades.

Above, Bela Lugosi in the 1931 "Dracula."

Plus, it delves into the court battles between Bela George Lugosi (an attorney) and Universal over merchandising rights involving Bela Lugosi’s image as Dracula after Lugosi discovered an Aurora plastic model kit bearing his father’s image as Dracula. 

 

Happily, Skal's writing style makes each phase and topic interesting and entertaining.

 

The book also has numerous photographs, most from Skal's own personal collection.

Skal refers to the 20th century as "The Dracula Century" as the character has been in the public eye (in one form or another) throughout all the century's decades.

 

"Hollywood Gothic - The Tangled Web of Dracula From Novel To Stage To Screen" is a great read and Skal's extensive research pays off in spades.

The book was published by Faber and Faber, Inc.  ISBN 0-571-21158-5.  $18.00 U.S.  370 pages.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all!

Since it is customary to have a snowy scene when discussing Christmas, I am opening this post with a snow photo (above) taken in 2007 up at the Mt. Aso Volcano National Park in Kyushu, Japan ropeway station area.

Today's going to be a kick-back day of doing vitually little or nothing.

My daughter gave me a copy of David J. Skal's Hollywood Gothic: The Tangled Web of Dracula from Novel to Stage and Screen.

I will probably have my nose in the book today while enjoying some Blue Moon Belgian White Ale.