Monday, July 12, 2010

SCREEN FACTS ALBUM NO. 2: FRANKENSTEIN



SCREEN FACTS, THE MAGAZINE OF HOLLYWOOD'S PAST, was a bi-monthly magazine that first appeared on the stands in 1963, selling for a hefty 75 cents. It was edited and published by film historian Alan G. Barbour (d. 12 FEBRUARY 2002). Chris Steinbrunner was credited as the magazine's Business Manager. The editorial address was listed as being in Kew Gardens, New York.

The contents for issue one were: "The Silent Serial" by William K. Everson, "The Saga of Frankenstein" by Edward Connor, "Roy Barcroft", by Alan G. Barbour, "Miklos Rozsa" by Clifford McCarty, and "The Serials of Republic" by Earl Michael. The back cover announced within its pages "an exclusive picture of the original Frankenstein monster of Edison's 1910 production!" SCREEN FACTS ceased publishing in 1969 with issue 20.

Sometime, probably in the mid-60s, SCREEN FACTS published a companion magazine entitled SCREEN FACTS ALBUM. It featured the serials of Flash Gordon. The second (and last) edition featured the 1931 Universal Pictures motion picture, FRANKENSTEIN. The album was 12 pages, including covers, and contained stills with no interior descriptive text other than a copyright notice for the film. There was no indicia. The back cover was a full-page order blank for the next album which was to be Universal's DRACULA. So far as can be determined, it was never published.

SCREEN FACTS ALBUM could be considered scarce, if not rare, as little has been seen of it for sale throught the "usual" channels in recent years. Taken in the context of the time in which it was published, it was quite a find in and of itself, for some of the photographs depicted within its dozen brief pages were considered rare for most readers and fans of the day, even to those familiar with most of the images that had already been regularly circulating through the various monster movie magazines. In conclusion, SCREEN FACTS ALBUM NO. 2 FRANKENSTEN, despite its noticeable lack of text and editorial content, remains a rather unique entry in the over 50-year history of monster film magazines. Included here are the covers and six of the interior pages.





















1 comment:

  1. Thanks for the scans! I need to get a set of these, one day.

    BTW, there was a #3. Check the Fanzines section in the 2000 guide.

    ReplyDelete

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