LADY OF THE RUE MORGUE

 

Monster fans might not know that one of the most iconic stars of Hollywood was once under contract with Universal -- Bette Davis. After seeing her perform in a Broadway play, east coast talent scout David Werner signed her to a $300-a-day six month contract in 1930. When she arrived with her Mother to Union Station the customary welcoming by a studio representative was absent and they had to find their way to their hotel on their own. It turned out that an assistant was there, but when he got back to the studio, he told his boss that no one got off the train that looked like an actress!

Davis was in line to be the lead actress in the comedy STRICLY DISHONORABLE, but Junior Laemmle was not satisfied with her looks and even Jack Pierce couldn't make her up to Junior's satisfaction.

The role ended up being given to the young Sydney Fox. Rumors were flying at the time that the diminutive 4' 11" beauty was in a romantic affair with Junior, which may have explained the switch.

Fox would appear again in 1932 as the love interest in MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE. It is believed that Davis lost out to Fox in several movies (including MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE) and for all intents and purposes Universal gave up on her. While she was on loan to Radio Pictures and Columbia, the studio let her contract expire.

Over the years, Davis would be redeemed as she reached major stardom at Warner Brothers and RKO and became one of the greatest icons in Hollywood history. She ultimately received ten Academy Award nominations as Best Actress during her career, including a record-setting five nominations in five consecutive years and winning twice.

As for Sidney Fox, things didn't work out with Junior, who was a bit of a playboy and never married. Fox married writer Charles Beahan in 1932. Fox died on November 15, 1942 at the age of 34 from an overdose of sleeping pills. The official cause of death was ruled accidental, but rumors persist that she committed suicide.

The following image from SCREEN BOOK (September 1932) shows a photo of Fox that she personally inscribed for Boris Karloff after watching his performance in FRANKENSTEIN. The photo is by one of the Freulich brothers, either Jack or Roman.

Motion Picture Herald, Jan 30 1932 full-page ad.

This photo from SCREEN BOOK (April 1932) shows Sidney Fox being terrorized by the killer ape in MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE. The ape is played by Joe Bonomo.

LUGOSI AD IN 'PICTURE PLAY' MAGAZINE

"Uncle" Carl Laemmle had a penchant for speaking directly to theater-goers through Universal Pictures' printed advertising. When a movie title was preceded by the phrase, "Carl Laemmle Presents", he wasn't kidding.

In this case, he was puffing Robert Florey's MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE, starring Bela Lugosi and Sidney Fox in the March 1932 issue of PICTURE PLAY. After being dragged, kicking and screaming into producing horror films by his son, "Junior" Laemmle, it was obvious he saw the profit potential in them -- especially after the box office successes of DRACULA and FRANKENSTEIN -- when he stated in this ad, "The majority of the people love grim and mysterious pictures". Notice the term, "horror film", that is used commonly today is absent from the description.

MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE is widely acknowledged as Laemmle's consolation prize to Robert Florey after he was pulled from the director's chair of FRANKENSTEIN. Lugosi, whose actor's pride would not allow him to be made up into a shambling, green-faced laboratory experiment was thrown a bone as Florey's lead. Despite Lugosi's sometimes overly-acted, melodramatic moments, RUE MORGUE still is a potent, pre-code brew of obsession, blood-lust, heretical science and sexual perversion.

LUGOSI ON THE SET OF MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE

Another pre-code perversity was Universal's very loose adaptation of Poe's "Murders in the Rue Morgue". Bela Lugosi and director Robert Florey had both been ushered (no pun intended) from the production of Frankenstein and Murders in the Rue Morgue was their consolation prize. Even with the advantage of hindsight, it is hard to imagine that a Florey-directed Frankenstein would have eclipsed Jame Whale's, Arthur Edeson's, and Jack Pierce's creation of monsterdom's most iconic imagery.

Presented here is a two-page spread of an on-the-set photo from the filming of Murders in the Rue Morgue (Universal, 1932) from the February 1932 issue of Photoplay. Also seen in the shot is the Rue Morgue's murderous ape. Although Charlie Gemora designed and created the ape makeup, it appears in the photo to be more likely stuntman Joe Bonomo, who doubled for Gemora. Nearly a decade earlier, Bonomo had also doubled for Lon Chaney in The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Included here are full-page ads from the February and March issues.