By Greg Mank leading lady in The Wolf Man and The Ghost of Frankenstein, “The Greatest Selling Title thinks the Master Character in a Century of Shock Showmanship!” Creator is a drunken lout; he –Advance publicity, has victimized her with crude Universal’s Exhibitors practical jokes and calls her Manual, for Frankenstein “Evelyn Shankers”—a shanker Meets the Wolf Man (1943). being a syphilis sore. Perhaps the most conflict- Thursday night, March 26, 1942: A cere- ed, or should be, is Lugosi. The mony takes place at the Hollywood Pantages actor spent a decade eclipsed Theatre, where the attraction is Universal’s by Boris Karloff—or KARL- The Ghost of Frankenstein. OFF, as Universal top-billed Four of stars of the film are onstage, “in him—who is currently starring person.” The audience applauds as Lionel in Broadway’s super hit Arsenic Atwill, Evelyn Ankers, and Bela Lugosi and Old Lace, leaving the Holly- present Lon Chaney, Jr., son of the long-dead wood horror arena wide open “Man of a Thousand Faces,” a plaque, award- for Lugosi. Now, the 36-year ing him his own sobriquet. old Chaney comes a-lumber- It reads, “The Screen’s New Master ing along, complaining about Character Creator.” his makeups, drinking on the Chaney had portrayed The Wolf Man, set, smashing his dressing following as the Monster in The Ghost of room to pieces, yet enjoying In The Ghost of Frankenstein, the brain of Bela Frankenstein, and now Universal affords him a PR bonanza far surpassing Lugosi’s evil old Ygor... (Courtesy of Photofest) this fulsome honor. The actors also perform anything Lugosi received this “stunt,” as Variety labels it, this night at and deserved in the wake of the RKO Hillstreet Theatre, where The Ghost Dracula. And so, sentenced by Universal to five years’ probation for perjury regarding of Frankenstein plays as well. featured status in both The Wolf Man and The his “Yuletide orgies,” painfully aware this Atwill, a celebrated stage star of the Ghost of Frankenstein, Lugosi must endure might be his final film. Roaring ’20s, had enjoyed his ballyhoo as this night’s consecration of a new, supreme Chaney Sr.’s “Successor” when he starred Universal Horror Star. • Sexy Ilona Massey, in her blonde Bavarian in Warner Bros.’ Mystery of the Wax Mu- The stage is set for a Frankenstein movie braids and revealing 1942 negligee, enjoying seum (1933); vain and assured, he likely sees to come—perhaps the most infamously trou- Universal top-billing despite MGM’s having Chaney Jr. as merely a burly bully boy, hardly bled production in Universal’s horror history. blackballed her after an in-house scandal. in his polished league. Ms. Ankers, Chaney’s The offscreen sagas of • Wizened Maria Ouspenskaya, suffering Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, an on-set accident that tosses her out of a and its wild-and-wicked shoot carriage and out of the film. at Universal City during the Halloween season of 1942, are • Pallid Dwight Frye, looking ill as a benign real-life Hollywood Melodrama: villager—or does he seem so because we realize he had only a year left to live? • Boisterous Lon Chaney in his most angst-ridden Wolf • The mysterious specters of uncredited Man portrayal, reprieved at the stuntmen, leaving historians debating as eleventh hour from Universal’s to who doubled the Wolf Man and Monster original razzle-dazzle brain- in what Universal heralded as “the beast storm of starring him as both battle of the century!” Werewolf and Monster. Need proof of the film’s power to • Humbled Bela Lugosi as Fran- compel? Take a (very) long look at the kenstein’s Monster, notoriously Classic Horror Film Board, managed by playing the role he had proudly David Colton and Kerry Gammill, and its scorned in 1931 (“I will not play “Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man: Dissec- a scarecrow..!”), collapsing on tion Version” thread. As of April 8, 2013, the set, mercifully unaware of there were 8,306 posts. the mutilation awaiting his por- Fascination, passion, obsession—it is a trayal in the editing room. mania worthy of Colin Clive’s Frankenstein himself. All the while, the film’s production ...went into the skull of Lon Chaney’s • Scandalized Lionel Atwill papers remain almost mystically elusive, stolid Monster. (Courtesy of Photofest) as the Mayor, gallantly acting leaving historians to often eccentric, far-flung with bravado after receiving research. Revisionist theories abound. Writ- 4 MONSTERS FROM THE VAULT #32 SUMMER 2013 5 will direct Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, Miss Marlowe tells the Examiner: completes Universal’s Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon, starring Basil Rathbone, Nigel I received a telephone Bruce, and Lionel Atwill (as Moriarty). Neill call at 8:44 p.m. on July 3 wraps up the 68-minute movie in 16 days— telling me that I “know too packed with atmospherics and 5 days ahead much” and that I would be of schedule. Also in Neill’s resume: The Black healthier if I get out of town. Room (Columbia, 1935), in which he superbly I got one call at 3 o’clock directed Karloff’s good and evil medieval in the morning previous twins. His speed, stylistics, and experience to that. I have lost sleep, directing a star in a dual role is definitely a weight and my boyfriend plus for the upcoming Frankenstein film. over it and my mother is Kinky Pinky: Wednesday, July 1: near a nervous breakdown... LIONEL ATWILL INDICTED ON PERJURY, I am NOT leaving headlines the Los Angeles Examiner. The per- town. I AM getting my tele- jury is in regard to the Yuletide orgies Atwill phone number unlisted and I (whose nickname is Pinky) allegedly hosted intend to respond if called as at his Pacific Palisades house at Yuletide a witness and tell the truth. 1940, during which he reportedly showed These threats won’t stop me. the pornographic films The Plumber and the I am from Texas and Texans The strain and worry show in this picture of Girl and The Daisy Chain. Atwill claims he is don’t scare easily. Lionel Atwill, taken during his real-life court- the victim of a “sinister extortion syndicate” room melodrama. (Courtesy of Greg Mank) vowing to defame him if he fails to pay Also on July 6: Despite the lurid money. Universal, which employs Atwill newspaper reports, Universal stars Atwill in Bela Lugosi. It is Lugosi’s third 1942 film for regularly, watches the headlines. Night Monster, which starts shooting on this the bottom-of-the-barrel studio. Monday, July 6: Katherine Marlowe, date. Both Atwill and Lugosi, despite top Hungarian Vamp: Wednesday, August an actress allegedly present at an Atwill billing, appear as red herrings. Atwill admits 19: Ilona Massey, whose reputation in Holly- “orgy,” throws gasoline on the fire, claim- that but for Universal’s “courage and mag- wood is notorious, separates from her spouse ing she has received threatening phone nanimity,” he would be “a dead egg now.” of seventeen months, actor Alan Curtis. She calls, one from an individual whose voice Poverty Row: Wednesday, August 5: had previously been mistress to Sam Katz, a she recognized (but does not identify). Monogram starts Bowery at Midnight, starring producer at MGM, the studio that had hailed “What good is a brain without eyes...!” Chaney’s Monster attacks Lionel her as “a singing Garbo.” Scandal erupted, Atwill’s mad Dr. Bohmer, whose brain surgery has caused the creature’s blindness, in The Ghost of Frankenstein. The script for Frankenstein and MGM fired her and blackballed her as Meets the Wolf Man carried on with a blind and talking Monster—with she began an affair with Curtis and married Chaney set to play both Monster and werewolf. (Courtesy of Photofest) him. She will claim that Curtis liked to drink and argue, and her secretary will testify that er/researcher Scott Gallinghouse is currently “Monster” and “Igor” [sic]. Siodmak, after remembered with relish, cools down on hot Ilona emerged from these clashes “looking at work on a full-length book on the film. reading the script for The Ghost of Franken- nights by typing in only her bra. very haggard and ten years older.” This article commemorates the 70th an- stein and/or seeing a prerelease screening, “Double Header”: Wednesday, May 6, Dracula Staked: Thursday, August 20: niversary of the release of Frankenstein Meets clearly has some confusion about whether 1942: “Double Horror,” headlines Variety: Variety reports: the Wolf Man and provides a variety of new the revived creature is now Ygor, as it is his discoveries, expanded theories, and a tribute brain, or the Monster, as it is his body. ...Universal is playing a dou- Bela Lugosi trains for Chicago to the most retrospectively popular Universal Seventy years later, horror fans will refer ble-header in spinal chills. Studio Sunday, opening Sept. 4 in Dracula horror classic of them all. to this Ygor/Monster hybrid as “Ygorstein.” is tossing its Wolf Man and The at the Cohan Grand Opera House. Fighting Hungarians: Sunday, March 29: Ghost of Frankenstein into one While doing the four-week Chicago Part I: The Blueprint The United Hungarian-American Defense horrendous grapple. Lon Chaney, run in the stage piece, Lugosi will “I, Ygor, Will Live Forever!”: Thursday, Federation holds its first Red Cross benefit Jr. ... is slated to clinch with him- also make personals in film houses January 15, 1942: Universal completes The at Los Angeles’ Polytechnic High School. self in a duplex monstrosity titled there playing Monogram features Ghost of Frankenstein. The climax: Mad Dr. Among the Hungarian émigré sponsors and Wolf Man Meets Frankenstein.