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THE WHISTLER
THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939)
Frankenstein!
 
It's such an iconic name in cinematic history that Boris Karloff became synomymous with the Frankenstein Monster . . . all you had to say was "Frankenstein" and everybody knew who you meant!
And it wasn't Dr. Frankenstein!
 
Maven has come across some interesting links - and old ones she's enjoyed! - that she'll be putting here all in one place . . . not to mention a few other pages here for shortcuts for your reading pleasure!

The Son of Frankenstein (1939) with
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Boris Karloff as the Monster and Donnie Duagan as Peter von Frankenstein

NOTICE:
 
Maven was doing some checking and checked www.imdb.com for Donnie Dunagan, who played Basil Rathbone's son, Peter, in The Son of Frankenstein (1939).
 
It has a note about what he's doing now:
Where Are They Now

(March 2011) San Angelo, TX USA: Retired Maj, USMC, but Dunagan has kept up a hectic schedule by doing interviews on the ABC morning show "The View," in addition to the British Broadcasting Corp. in London, Disney Studios, NBC-TV in Chicago and CBS-TV in Houston, among others due to the recent Blu-Ray release of Bambi.  (http://www.imdb.com).

Good  going, guy!


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    What about Frankenstein's Mother, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley?!
 
    Maven came across a biography through a link she got from Crystal, a student up north.  Thanks, Crystal!
 
    Here is a article about Shelley from one of Maven's former blogs:

I AM WOMAN,

HEAR ME SCARE!

 

That could have been Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's personal motto since she was the little lady who wrote Frankenstein on a challenge by Lord Byron.

 

She was all of 19 when she and her husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley, were among a group visiting Byron at his home in Switzerland when he decided they needed something stronger than "pretty little love stories."

 

The book is fascinating reading on its own, not only for its literary merits but because you won't recognize it after you've seen the Hollywood version with Boris Karloff.

 

You can still find it at the local bookstore and download it (and more) at www.literature.org/shelley-mary/frankenstein.

            [Philip J. Riley recounts Boris Karloff's make-up travails in Frankenstein:  The Original Shooting Script (MagicImage Filmbooks, New York, 1989), page 34 - 35:]

 

From the beginning, Karloff's approach to his "dear old Monster" was one of love and compassion.  It was an outstanding insight - considering that rarely has an actor suffered so hideously in bringing life to a character.

 

"It took from four to six hours a day to make me up," said Karloff.  "I felt like an Egyptian mummy as Jack [P. Pierce] ladled the layers of makeup on me."

 

                To fill out the Monster costume I had to wear a double-quilted suit beneath it.  We shot in mid-summer.  After an hour's work I'd be sopping wet.  I'd have to change into a spare undersuit often still damp from the previous round.  So I felt, most of the time, as if I were wearing a clammy shroud.  No doubt it added to the realism!

 

As the September heat soared, Karloff's makeup proved a torture.  The mortician's wax eyelids he believed so necessary would melt and crumble on the sweltering set, falling into his eyes and causing terrible pain.  Pierce stood by the actor's side constantly, emergency makeup box in tow, ready to fix a bolt if it loosened or ajust the wig if it slipped or share a joke when humor was a necessity.

               

                Yet Karloff never complained.  Mae Clarke recalls:

 

Observing Boris in makeup, taking director instructions:  Towering over the tall Mr. [James] Whale, listening meekly as an obedient child, both so softly spoken I couldn't hear a word - then he'd nod his head and Whale would give him an affectionate push at his enormous, hanging arms and call out, "Ready for Camera."  Boris was unvelievably patient and, as the world now sees, he gave an incredible performance.  He made that Monster understandable and painfully pitiable.

 

Certainly nobody could fill the Frankestein

Monster's makeup like Boris Karloff.

 

To be honest, of course, Miss Maven wouldn't want to . . . 

except at Halloween and then only around the people

who need to be scared out of their . . . .

 

Where is Miss Maven's Halloween candy . . . ?

 

It was right here . . . Aunt Battie, have

you been in my candy again?!

 

Reprinted from October 10, 2005

 

* * * * *

 

You might want to visit Sara Karloff's website dedicated to

her father at www.karloff.com.  It's the only official website

for Karloff and has lots of goodies for you to check out.

Was This the First
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Face Transplant?!

     Then there is the first version of Shelley's work as a movie . . . by Thomas Edison no less. . . .  Here is an article about Edison and the first Horror movie ever at http://www.filmbuffonline.com/Features/EdisonsFrankenstein1.htm
 
     For more about the movie:
 
 
     Several internet sites offer the movie on the internet.  The quality of the films refect a movie made a hundred years ago at the dawn of motion picture making:
 
 

     Maven came across a clip from This Is Your Life (November 20, 1957) about Boris Karloff . . . with a MUCH older Jack Pierce to pay tribute to Karloffe.  He had brought along one of the bolts that Piece had placed on Karloff's neck as the Frankenstein Monster:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMVWZA6hv8g
 
     And a color clip of Karloff as the Monster running amuck . . . and in color!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaTSAfJ6Smo

Maven came across this site doing research and thought it might fit in here:  It's a computer-generated portrait of Lon Chaney, Jr., as the Frankenstein monster at http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/attachment.php?attachmentid=37119

# 1 Story of 2007:  THE LOST KARLOFF FRANKENSTEIN!
 
This is a short clip that goes with the story above . . . Boris Karloff as Frankenstein going onto the baseball field!:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJTs5JuXD8A
 
Frankenstein (1931) Trailer:
 
Frankenstein:  The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley - The Original Story Published in 1818:
 
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