ACCENT ON LUGOSI

Much has been discussed about Lugosi's heavy Hungarian accent and how he dealt with it after coming to America to pursue an acting career. Most agree that it worked to his advantage for his stage and screen roles as the mysterious and exotic Count Dracula. Unfortunately, on other occasions it was challenging to land parts because of it.

In the February 1932 issue of SCREENLAND, there was a feature article citing numerous actors and actresses that struggled and overcame their native language speaking barriers and the accents that came along with them. Lugosi was among those discussed. Interestingly, the picture chosen for him was his famous 47" x  61" painting by fellow-Hungarian Géza Kende.

OH, MAE! OH, HELEN!

What are the chances of two of Universal horror's leading ladies appearing in the same issue of a Hollywood fan magazine? Pretty good in 1932 it seems, when it came to Mae "Frankenstein" Clarke and Helen "Dracula" Chandler. Both were enjoying rising fame and popularity at the time and these two feature articles from SCREENLAND magazine (February 1932) tell about their personal lives and work in the best that Hollywood fan mag jargon could describe.

EXTRA! SCREENLAND also regularly printed a page with information on how fans could write to their favorite stars.

THE TRAGEDY AND TRIUMPH OF FLORENCE MARLY

Monster fans may recognize beautiful Czech actress Florence Marly's name from her role in Curtis Harrington's QUEEN OF BLOOD (1966). Marly's acting career was cut short when, upon completing a film project in Chile, she was mysteriously not allowed back in the United States. This situation lasted for four years until it was found that she had been wrongfully identified as someone else. Read more about her and her incredible story in this issue of HOLLYWOOD STUDIO MAGAZINE (September 1972).

EXTRA! Two features on Florence Marly from the movie fan magazine SCREENLAND from September 1950 and March 1961.

VINCENT PRICE: MASTER OF MOODS

There is little question that, out of all the horror actors, Vincent Price is the on-screen Suave of Sinister. Before he was widely-known to horror fans, Price was already recognized as cultured and intelligent.

This article from SCREENLAND (November, 1946) profiles the great actor well before his roles with Castle and Corman.

REMEMBERING LON CHANEY

Lon Chaney was Hollywood's first major horror star, but he didn't come by it easily. Years of dedication and hard work payed off and he became world-famous after his roles in THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (1923) and THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1925). Known by his fans and the media as "The Man of a Thousand Faces", a legendary story cemented his fame as a great actor and make-up artist: in the 1920's, director Marshall Neiland warned a studio workman who was about ready to crush a spider under his boot with the phrase, "Don't step on it: it may be Lon Chaney".

Many of the makeups that Chaney devised for his roles were painful, but frighteningly realistic. Speaking about his character in THE PENALTY (1920), he said, "Every moment before the camera was one of excruciating agony, yet I must not let it show in my face. I had to be the character I was portraying, and disregard the pain. I could only wear the harness 10 minutes at a time, as the pain soon became intolerable, but after a brief rest I'd put it on again and go on with the scene. I've never gotten over the strain that I was put to in this picture. In fact, every grotesque character I've played on the screen has taken its toll of me, physically."

Orson Welles said that "Chaney was a great deal more than a make-up artist. He was an actor of great power." Ray Bradbury commented that "Chaney acted out our psyches: he somehow got into the shadows inside our bodies. He was able to nail down some of our secret fears and put them on the screen."

This collection of articles from various film magazines of the day pay tribute to "The Man of a Thousand Faces".

From MOTION PICTURE, August 24, 1924:

From MOTION PICTURE CLASSIC, March 1929:

From TALKING SCREEN, March 1930:

From SCREENLAND, November 1930:

From THE MODERN SCREEN, Vol. 1 No.1, November 1930:

HELEN CHANDLER LOVED THE RAIN AND THURSDAYS

Actress Helen Chandler (February 1, 1906 – April 30, 1965) had everything going for her in the 1920's. She was popular on Broadway (at the age of 19!) and was cast in her first movie in 1927. She is of course best known in her role as Mina Harker in Unversal's DRACULA and her film career seemed to be unabated.

In the late 1930's, Chandler began her long journey down the road of alcoholism, which continued for the rest of her life. In 1950, she was horribly disfigured in a fire set by her own hand -- she had fallen asleep with a cigarette in her hand. Fifteen long years later she died under the surgeon's knife in an operation for a stomach ulcer.

This article from the July 1931 issue of SCREENLAND magazine shows Chandler's during brighter days. It tells of her fondness for rain because good things seemed to always happen to her on rainy days. She was born on a rainy day, she met her first husband, Cyril Hume on a rainy day, and they were married on a rainy day (but divorced not long after this article was published). A brief mention of her "inferiority complex" may have been an indication of an underlying cause of her later alcoholism. Also, as a warning to the socially-sensitive; there is a quote where she uses a racially derogatory term that was used in the day.

In her most famous role, with Bela Lugosi and Dwight Frye.

A nineteen-year-old Helen Chandler.

Chandler in the stage play, First Flight (1925).

Chandler in the 1920's.

A 1930 TRIBUTE TO LON CHANEY

The November 1930 issue of SCREENLAND magazine carried a tribute to the passing of Lon Chaney just a few months earlier. It is quite evident by the narrative that Chaney had become a living legend during his long screen career. It must have been devastating for the film industry and the theater-going public. He was truly one-of-a-kind.

BEFORE THEY WERE SCREAM QUEENS: FAY WRAY

Many of us that watched RKO's KING KONG (1933) as Monster Kids -- and maybe even a few of us as adults -- assumed that 26-year old Fay Wray, the dame with the scream that could shatter glass, arrived fully formed and ready to play Ann Darrow. Not so! Miss Wray had already had a bit of a modeling career and a bunch of movies under her belt before she met up with the Great Ape. As a matter of fact, the four movies she appeared in before KONG were all horror/thrillers (DOCTOR X, THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME, THE VAMPIRE BAT, and MYSTERY IN THE WAX MUSEUM).

This article from the November 1929 of SCREENLAND is subtitled "A Sweet Little Girl Grows Up" and tells the story of Miss Wray from a "shy, sweet and serious" girl to "an emancipated ingenue, gay and gallant, the season's sensation in talking pictures." They had no idea. . .

ROLF ARMSTRONG'S SCARIEST PIN-UP

American Rolf Armstrong (April 21, 1889 – February 22, 1960) was the uncle of actor Robert Armstrong who played Carl Denham in KING KONG (RKO 1933). Armstrong is one of the best known pinup artists from the Golden Age of glamour illustration and is sometimes called "The Father of Pinup Art". His work could be seen on many of the movie fan magazines of the day.

Armstrong worked in oils and pastels. In 1935, he either had permission for or was asked by execs at Universal Studios to visit the set of BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN and work up some sketches of Boris Karloff in Jack Pierce's makeup. Often mistakenly identified as a painting, the series was completed with the pastel shown here. Besides being seen for a few seconds in one of Karloff's home movies, this work is the only known color depiction of the monster from the film.

Armstrong was hoping to gain some financial traction with the picture, but nothing ever materialized. Upon Armstrong's death, it was, along with much of his art, willed to Jewel Flowers, one of his favorite models.

Rolf Armstrong photograph in Screenland December 1929.

In the February 1930 issue of SCREENLAND, Armstrong commented on the power and influence of color. His discussion included the symbolic interpretations of numerous colors and how they correspondent to the different actresses of the day.