KING OF THE ZOMBIES!

Released by Monogram Pictures on May 14, 1941, KING OF THE ZOMBIES was a horror/comedy directed by Jean Yarbrough who had completed DEVIL BAT the year before.

The film was originally intended to star Bela Lugosi, but he was busy elsewhere. Peter Lorre was then considered, but the producers couldn't sign him, likely because of the salary Lorre demanded. They finally cast Henry Victor who'd been in pictures since 1914.

A tepid monster movie, but the addition of Mantan Moreland made plenty of room for his usual style of comic relief. Not generally considered PC these days, but an entertaining old flick if you can get past that.

Following is the pressbook for the film.

King of the Zombies Trailer

THERE'S A GHOST IN THE LADY'S BOUDOIR!

 

Here are a few excerpts from a decidedly "quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore", a joke book about ghosts hanging around a lady's bedroom and other places. The digest-sized, 52-page book was published in 1945 by Consolidated Book Publishers and contains light-hearted stories and cartoons with a faintly sexy ghostly theme. The text story shown below is by humorist Robert Benchley, Peter "Jaws" Benchley's grandfather. The book appears to be of the vintage collectible kind and sells for upwards of $100 online. And check out that original cover price -- a spooky 13-cents!

MEET FRANKENSTEIN JR.

It may be hard to fathom, but before Young Frankenstein there was a Frankenstein Jr. The helpful robot created by boy scientist Buzz Conroy was a crime-fighting super-hero in the Hanna-Barbera cartoon show, FRANKENSTEIN JR. AND THE IMPOSSIBLES. It ran for 18 episodes in one season in 1966-1967.

The show spawned one issue of a comic book from Gold Key with a cover date of January 1967. The cover and Frankenstein Jr. stories were drawn by Phil De Lara and The Impossibles strip was illustrated by Pete Alvarado.