KARLOFF IN 'NIGHT WORLD'

Released on May 5, 1932, the Universal Pictures crime-drama NIGHT WORLD starred Boris Karloff as "Happy" MacDonald, the owner of a Prohibition-era nightclub. Also starring in the film were Lew Ayers, Mae Clarke, George Raft and Hedda Hopper before she became better known as a Hollywood gossip columnist.

This photo of Karloff appeared in the May 1932 issue of THE NEW MOVIE MAGAZINE in their "Gallery of Famous Film Folk". Mentioned in the caption is Karloff playing the role of the upcoming THE INVISIBLE MAN. That, of course, would go to Claude Rains and wouldn't be released until a year later. Instead, Karloff's next feature would cast him as Morgan in James Whale's THE OLD DARK HOUSE. The photograph is by Roman Freulich.

BORIS KARLOFF AS MR. WONG

I am positive that certain groups operating today would have the Boris Karloff Mr. Wong series banned from the eyes of humankind. But, during the time of vintage Hollywood (and even later) many "oriental" characters were played by white actors. Warner Oland (Swedish-American) as Charlie Chan immediately comes to mind. Paul Muni (an Austro-Humgarian Jew) and Luise Rainer (a German Jew) in THE GOOD EARTH are two others. Asian actors such as Keye Luke, were generally relegated to subordinate roles.

Mr. Wong was the creation of Hugh Wiley, who wrote his adventures as short stories for COLLIER'S. Many of them were collected in the book, MURDER BY THE DOZEN in 1951. Along the way, Karloff was contracted by Monogram Pictures to star in a series about the Chinese-American sleuth. In the sixth film, Keye Luke was handed the lead roll and it would be the first time in an American sound film that an Asian would play an Asian Detective. Luke signed on for four more Mr. Wong movies, but after Karloff had left, the bloom was off the rose, and Luke's contract was cancelled signalling the end of the Wong series.

Following are two pages from FILM BULLETIN (March 25, 1939) depicting Karloff in THE MYSTERY OF MR. WONG, the second in his five films as the detective.

In 1939, MR. WONG, DETECTIVE and THE MYSTERY OF MR. WONG  were adapted in six parts (one issue was a preview of the second story) in the Dell comic book, POPULAR COMICS. The series ran in issues #40 through #46. It was written by an unknown scripter, but the artist is credited as Jim Gary.

POPULAR COMICS #40

POPULAR COMICS #41

POPULAR COMICS #42

POPULAR COMICS #43

POPULAR COMICS #44

POPULAR COMICS #45

POPULAR COMICS #46

THE MANY FACES OF KARLOFF

Boris Karloff is, of course, best known for his role as the Frankenstein monster, as well as his other characters played in many other horror films. It was "The Monster" that he said he owed his fame to, but he had a long career before that, playing parts in numerous films. His post-Frankenstein career was also filled with other non-monster roles, allowing his versatile acting ability to shine through.

In this trio of production stills from THE LOST PATROL (RKO, 1934), we see Karloff's vivid portrayal of Sanders, the doctor who suffers from religious delusions.