FREAKS INVADE FILMLAND!

Tod Browning's FREAKS and the very special actors that played in it were the subject of numerous articles in the movie fan magazines of the day. In this article from SCREEN BOOK (April 1932) the subject is treated with a great amount of respect for these people who made the film what it was.

Reporter June Woodard speaks with the armless Frances O'Conner, Harry Earles (the little person who was good friends with Lon Chaney). the Siamese twins the Hilton Sisters, legless Johnny Eck and more.

BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN PROP MANNEQUIN

On display in the Imagine Gallery at Young Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England, is a carved wooden mannequin of Boris Karloff as the Frankenstein monster in BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN.

The prop was first obtained in the U.S. and changed hands until it showed up in its current location. This is how the V&A Museum describes it history:

In 1988 the British Film Institute (BFI) purchased at auction the Boris Karloff Bride of Frankenstein costume and mannequin for their extensive costume collection, which included a wealth of historic and significant film costumes worn by major performers and designed by some of the 20th century’s most important film costume designers from the silent film era to the mid-1990s in Britain, Europe, America and Japan. The Boris Karloff costume and mannequin joined their collection on display at the Museum of the Moving Image (MOMI) on the South Bank in London, as part of their Golden Age of Hollywood section, until its closure in 1999. The BFI costume collection was subsequently transferred to the V&A in 2014, with the Boris Karloff costume and mannequin being formally accessioned by the V&A in 2015.

In 2018 the V&A was made aware that the Los Angeles County Museum of History, Science and Art had acquired from Universal Studios and accessioned this same costume and mannequin in 1935, identifiable by a registration number (A.3859-45) engraved on the mannequin. It was sent out on loan in 1949, after which the museum lost touch with the object, and in 1967 it was presumed “destroyed”. The BFI purchased the object at Christie’s South Kensington’s ‘Film and Entertainment’ auction on 16 December 1988 (lot. 301). The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHMLA) and the V&A are in communication around the safe-keeping and conservation of this object.

Universal's costume designer, Vera West, is credited for the costume and Jack Pierce for the "makeup". Jack sculpted a head for the monster in FRANKENSTEIN, but I have yet to see anywhere who sculpted this one.

THE ADDAMS FAMILY IN TV GUIDE

In this article from TV GUIDE, October 30-November 5, 1965, John Astin relates his story of moving to Hollywood with his family and landing the role of Gomez in THE ADDAMS FAMILY TV series on the ABC network. He also provides biographical information, which together make an entertaining read.

Also in this issue, the cartoonist himself, Charles Addams weighs in with his thoughts about how the characters play on the show. It sounds like he approved.

R.I.P. ELKE SOMMER

Sometimes described as the "Teutonic temptress, on October 28, we lost another popular actress from the 1960s. The lovely German-born Elke Sommer passed away at the age of 86 just a few months after her husband of 32 years, hotelier Wolf Walther.

While better known for films such as THE PRIZE (1963), A SHOT IN THE DARK (1964), DEADLIER THAN THE MALE (1967), and THE WRECKING CREW (1968), she also played in a few horror films: BARON BLOOD (1972), LISA AND THE DEVIL (1973), and THE HOUSE OF EXORCISM (1975)

ELKE SOMMER GALLERY

A TRIBUTE TO FORREST J ACKERMAN (PART 2)

Title art by Bill Nelson.