I've had this image in my files for years and use it off and on for my "Headline News!" sidebar. I don't think I ever knew where the gag originated, but I suspect it was the WEEKLY WORLD NEWS.
However, it wasn't until I was recently researching an article on WEREWOLF OF LONDON for CASTLE OF FRANKENSTEIN (due to be published this year) that it dawned on me where the photo actually came from: it's been batted about the Internet for a long time as purporting to be Jack Pierce's first test makeup on a subject (presumably Henry Hull) for WEREWOLF OF LONDON.
The whole infamous drama between Pierce and Hull regarding this earliest of werewolf makeups has yielded only one photo which has been verified as a result of the same image being used in the popular syndicated "Seein' Stars" comic strip by cartoonist Feg Murray.
It doesn't take much to see that one is a month of full moons different from the other. I haven't been able to dig up enough information on the WWN image to conclusively verify if its authentic. If anybody has anything to add, I'd love to hear it.
And, hey -- don't laugh; when it comes to monster minutiae, leave no Mariphasa lupina lumina petal unturned, I say!
With those ears, it looks a little like the make-up Steven Ritch wore in The Werewolf (1956).
ReplyDeleteAnd similar to Matt Willis' werewolf in Return of the Vampire (1943).
ReplyDeleteConsidering what a hit that was for Columbia, it's surprising Lugosi wasn't brought back for a sequel, rather than allowed to shuffle off down Poverty Row.
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