CASTLE OF FRANKENSTEIN NO. 5 (PART 1)

CASTLE OF FRANKENSTEIN
Vol. 2 No. 1 (Whole #5)
1964
Gothic Castle Publishing Company
Managing Editor & Publisher: Calvin Thomas Beck (as Charles F. Kane)
Associate Editor: Nicholas Morgan
Graphics and Art Editor: Bhob Stewart
Assistant Editor: John Benson
European Editor: Michael Parry
Cover: Larry Ivie
Pages: 68

Larry Ivie contributed the last of his work to CoF with the cover painting for issue #5, depicting a scene from Edgar Rice Burroughs' "The Monster Men". This would be the last time original art would be used on the cover of Cof until issue #15, when we see a painting by Frank Brunner. From #5, the following 10 issues would use photo covers (including some of the most disappointing seen on the front of a "monster magazine").

The staff changed once again, adding Nicholas Morgan, a new Associate Editor, Bhob Stewart with a new title, Graphics and Art Editor, John Benson as the new Associate Editor and Michael Parry as the European Editor. Calvin T. Beck still hid behind the name "Charles F. Kane" as Managing Editor and Publisher.

This issue is pivotal in that it clearly establishes itself as a magazine apart from other monster magazines on the stands at the time. Though far from high-brow, the contents reflect an almost international sophistication with articles on directors Jean Cocteau and Arthur Lubin, and the (originally German) actor, Peter Lorre. The writing was staffed professionally with film historians William K. Everson, Richard Bojarski, Richard A. Lupoff , as well as Associate Editor Nicholas Morgan. And also, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that this issue marked the first appearance of Richard "Bojar the Bojarski's" Baron Von Bungle cartoon strip, the main character who looks like a cross between a caricature of the Burgomaster in Universal's FRANKENSTEIN and The Professor in the Felix the Cat cartoons!