sign in sign up
<<
Home , Anton Grot, Dolores Costello, John Barrymore, John Drew Barrymore, Marian Marsh, The Great Profile

Warners’ Edward G. Robinson, will now go : A RETROSPECT to . No reason is given for the switch, but surely Warners, delighted by By Greg Mank Svengali, wants a follow-up similar in style and scope. For 1931 moviegoers, beholding At Last! Barrymore on the screen is akin to 2010 audi- The Great John BARRYMORE ences watching a rock star—a crazy, unbridled At His Zenith! talent, shooting off sparks of what –Warner Bros. Publicity for later hailed as the man’s “divine madness.” The Mad Genius, 1931 Barrymore himself had discussed film- ing for Warner Bros., but The Genius Monday, March 9, 1931. impressed the studio as the perfect vehicle Bella Vista is an estate, almost fairy- to follow Svengali—fresh enough to avoid tale in its extravagance, nestled on a seeming a carbon copy, and melodramatic mountain in Beverly Hills. In the pre-dawn enough to allow the star to explode in his darkness, the virtual castle, with a tower, frenetic fashion. pools, and aviary, glistens under a waning While Svengali traced back to George Du full moon. The entranceway gate bears a Maurier’s venerable 1894 novel Trilby, many coat of arms, personally designed by Bella stage productions, and at least three film Vista’s master and revealing his repellent versions, The Genius has no such pedigree. as Trilby and John Barrymore as the title character in Svengali self-image: a serpent wearing a crown. (1931). Warner Bros.’ high hopes for this film’s popularity inspired production It’s based on a Broadway-bound play by As the master arises, he probably doesn’t of The Mad Genius. (Courtesy of Ronald V. Borst/Hollywood Movie Posters) Martin Brown entitled The Idol, which had wash—he rarely does. More likely he climbs starred William Farnum in the summer of his tower and looks at the view of the moonlit Of course, it could never live up to the Svengali. The buzz around Hollywood insists 1929 and had ignobly died out of town. The Pacific. Maybe, as is his custom, he visits his delirious hype—yet in many ways, The Mad that John Barrymore is delivering his mas- basic difference from Svengali is its modern aviary of over 2,000 birds and greets Ma- Genius is a truly fascinating film. Released terpiece screen performance. The company 1931 setting—and a sex change. Rather than loney, his king vulture from South Africa. late in 1931, the legendary year of Lugosi’s has fervently burst into applause at some Svengali hypnotizing a young milkmaid into He often feeds breakfast to Maloney in the Dracula, Karloff’s Frankenstein, Fredric of his scenes. His “Trilby,” Marian Marsh, becoming a great diva, Tsarakov—a genius garden—dangling worms from his mouth March’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Barry- is delivering a breakout star portrayal—at with a clubfoot—transforms a young male for Maloney to fly down, snare, and enjoy. more’s own Svengali, this uber-melodrama least according to the Warner publicists. And waif, Fedor, into the ballet star he himself Only one problem: The liquor frequently on is rich in blessings. It boasts a picturesque Dracula, Universal’s vampire shocker star- might have been, if not for his deformity. the master’s breath, even in the morning, leading lady in Marian Marsh (fresh from ring Bela Lugosi, has just opened three days Warner Bros. blueprinted The Genius as intoxicates Maloney. One of the strangest Svengali) and stylish direction by Michael previously at Broadway’s Roxy Theatre and almost a Svengali alumnae reunion: spectacles in Hollywood, as described by the Curtiz (prior to his work on Doctor X and is a giant hit—surely good news for Svengali. Marian Marsh, 17-year-old discovery master’s servants, is the sight of a drunken Mystery of the Wax Museum). Also in evi- of February 15 an- who was playing Trilby in Svengali, was cast vulture flying crookedly over Bella Vista. dence are splendid Expressionistic sets (by nounces that The Genius, originally slated for as Nana, the ballet dancer who runs afoul of He might behold his many treasures, such , also of Svengali), dashes as the black copper armor he wore as Richard of racy pre-Code humor, a dope ad- III, or his dinosaur egg. He might say good diction subplot, and a spectacularly morning to the angelically blonde Dolores, his wild and wicked finale that offered former leading lady and third wife, whom he the star a magnificently over-the-top affectionately calls “Jiggie- Wink.” Although a death scene. There’s even a bonus stained glass window at Bella Vista presents curio: , only months the couple almost as archangels, she’s a tor- ebrated “Great Profile,” which he favors as Svengali, is happy to be playing yet an- away from Frankenstein, stalking ment to him, as most of the ladies in his life in his films. When he looks full-face into a other epic villain as he arrives at Warner Bros. through the rainy night opening in have been, all the way back to the stepmother camera, the effect is startling, mainly due to Studio, 5858 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. a menacing, unbilled bit. who seduced him when he was ten. Rumors his eyes—like the eyes one sees in paintings There he will begin work this morning on Most of all, The Mad Genius is a of Dolores’s promiscuity so agonize him that of the saints, and in photographs of serial what will be his final film there. baroque, John Barrymore feast day— he’s actually placed bars on the windows. killers. At 49, he’s still a very striking man, The release title film: The Mad Genius. Hollywood’s most Byronic actor on the Long after his death, Dolores will live on an and currently “on the wagon,” more or less. loose, complete with a clubfoot. avocado ranch, oblivious to the fact that her ex- A chronic alcoholic since age 14, he’s never Once…ONLY ONCE In The Life Why was it produced? What husband’s prized ancient religious icons—that fully abstinent, and there are the Prohibition of Every Star Comes a Picture So happened behind the scenes of its she’d snared when they divorced—were now mornings and nights when, with no liquor Great—It Remains his Outstanding bizarre, abbreviated shooting? And forsaken in her flooded cellar. available, he drinks Dolores’s perfume. Screen Triumph…. No Matter How why did the 1931 public, in love with He might or might not visit his baby His driver takes him into Hollywood, Many Great Successes Precede or monsters, ultimately reject it? daughter “Dede”; he’d desperately wanted for which he has coined many irreverent Follow. For twenty years John BAR- a son and has jocularly described his child nicknames—including “Hollywoodus-in- RYMORE has been waiting for the He’ll thrill you as a madman. Bramwell Fletcher (well remembered by horror fans as the archaeologist to the press as looking “a little like Lon Latrina” and “The Flatulent Cave of the story that would give full expression Sear your soul as a genius! who goes mad in The Mummy) as Little Billee, with Marian Marsh’s Trilby Chaney.” He dresses habitually in his bat- Winds.” The actor who’d played Hamlet as to his genius…to make his supreme —Warner Bros. publicity and John Barrymore’s Svengali. Fletcher would marry Barrymore’s daughter Diana in 1942. (Courtesy of Ronald V. Borst/Hollywood Movie Posters) tered Homburg hat, rakishly cocked over (in his own words) “a ranting, pious pervert” contribution to posterity. It has come one eye, and a long, dirty sashed overcoat; and had reveled on screen as Dr. Jekyll and at last with The MAD GENIUS. February 15, 1931. Warner Bros. studio makeup men will tend to his cel- Mr. Hyde, , and, most recently, —Warner Bros. publicity, 1931 has a week of shooting left to complete

36 MONSTERS FROM THE VAULT #28 WINTER 2011 37 and abetted (as is Marian for his directorial virtuosity and mangling Marsh) by a dance double. of the English language. Then there’s Adolph Bolm, “The next time I send a no good son of famed Russian ballet direc- a bitch to do something, I go myself!” once tor, who had danced in the ranted Curtiz. 1922 experimental filmDanse Svengali wraps at Warners on Febru- Macabre. Bolm will stage “The ary 21, 1931. Only 16 days later, The Genius Spirit of the Factory” in tune begins shooting. to Mossolov’s “In a Soviet Iron Foundry” as the musi- He Creates the Frankenstein cal highlight of the film. But That Destroys Him! the major new face—and a —Warner Bros. publicity rather glowering one it is— is the director. Rather than Svengali’s chubby, practical The company call on March 9 is for joke-playing Archie Mayo, 8:30 a.m. The set is the Marionette Tent, the man in charge is Warners’ on Stage 7 at the original Warner Studio formidable Hungarian wolf- on Sunset Boulevard. hound —fated On time are Charles Butterworth (as to win an Oscar® for Casa- Karimsky, Tsarakov’s comic hanger-on), E. blanca and become a legend Percival Wetzel’s puppet troupe, and Barry-

Warner Bros. believed Marian Marsh would become a major star via Svengali and The Mad Genius. (Courtesy of Photofest)

Tsarakov as she falls in love with Fedor. She’s Marian Marsh, who bore a strong resemblance to blonde, lovely, and—as everyone remarks— Barrymore’s wife, , had very happy greatly resembles Dolores Costello Barrymore. memories of acting with Barrymore—and always “Mad Jack” Barrymore indicates his “virgin” puppets to Charles Luis Alberni, who played Gecko in Sven- denied the racy rumors about their relationship. Butterworth—indicative of the pre-Code humor of The Mad Genius. (Courtesy of Photofest) gali, wins the showy role of Serge Bankieff, a (Courtesy of Ronald V. Borst/Hollywood Movie Posters) dope-addicted ballet master. , who, as Honori in Svengali, drowned herself in her love for Barrymore’s maestro, plays Sonya Preskoya, a jealous ex-mistress of Tsarakov. The vampy actress’s role is brief, but it allows her to snuggle with the star and, for a brief moment, more. The star sports a wispy mustache and National back lot, under the mountains of John Gloske, author of the book Tough appear in a black negligee. the clubfoot boot Warners has prepared for Burbank. There the special effects crew whips Kid—The Life and Films of Frankie Darro, J. Grubb Alexander, who had scripted him. Director Curtiz and set designer Grot up a storm, and Curtiz films moody shots of befriended the late-in-life Darro when the Svengali, does similar duty for The Genius, splendidly create a forlorn atmosphere as the the wagons mournfully riding through the destitute, near-forgotten actor, over 40 years collaborating with Harvey Thew. It will be two carnival puppeteers perform in an empty rain—finally calling it quits at 1:30 a.m. after The Mad Genius, lived in a decaying one of Alexander’s last credits; he dies Janu- tent on a rainy night, the music wheezing on The opening sequence continues apartment in Hollywood: ary 11, 1932, at the age of only 44. a gramophone, the pitiful troupe somewhere shooting the next two days, Curtiz again Barney McGill, who would receive a in the wilds of Russia. soaking extras and horses as he returns to Frankie told me that, for those Best Cinematography Academy Award® “Careful!” says Barrymore as he and the rainy village back lot set on Thursday leaps, the crew hooked him into a nomination for his splendidly fluid work on Butterworth pull the strings of the dancing night, shooting until 11:30. During these harness with wires, and raised and Svengali, is assigned to the new film. “female” marionettes. “They are virgins!” days, two players join The Genius, each so lowered him on a boom—and he Anton Grot, who will win a Best Art The pre-Code badinage is quickly in anonymous at the time in the eyes of Warner loved that! He was only 13 at the Direction Academy Award® nomination evidence. A moment later, Butterworth Bros. that the daily shooting reports don’t time of The Mad Genius, but knew it for his Caligari-esque Paris of Svengali, now mentions he took some pills for a malady, provide their names—simply listing both as was special to be in a film with John works on The Genius, creating new evocative but they haven’t helped. “extras.” One is 13-year-old Frankie Darro, Barrymore. By the way, Barrymore sets, including a wonderfully grotesque giant “Perhaps you didn’t put them in the who plays the young Fedor and later stars signed a beautiful 11 x 14” portrait head of “the Idol,” centerpiece for the ballet right place,” says Barrymore. “Use your in such films as The Mayor of Hell and Wild for Frankie. Although he’d sold finale. Grot will work with Curtiz onDoctor X imagination!” Boys of the Road. He sneaks into the tent, much of his memorabilia, Frankie and Mystery of the Wax Museum; he’ll also win Curtiz, of course, is a notorious taskmas- impoverished and barefoot, fascinated to had saved some signed photos—John a special Oscar® in 1941 for creating Warners’ ter. The company takes a one-hour lunch at see the puppets dancing. Pursued by his Barrymore among them. There they “water ripple and wave illusion machine.” 12:50, then works until 8:10 p.m. The next father, Fedor runs, leaps, and bounds so im- were, in a box in his really run-down There are several major new additions. day, Barrymore and Butterworth work all day pressively (“like a mountain goat!” marvels Hollywood apartment. At one point One is Donald Cook, memorable as James with the marionettes on Stage 7; come eve- Tsarakov) that the puppeteer hides him and he told me to take them, but I figured Cagney’s brother in Warners’ The Public ning, Curtiz takes five horses and eight extras kidnaps him—intent on transforming the he might sell them, as he sure could Enemy (1931), cast here as the grown Fedor to the Russian village set on Warners’ First prodigy into a great dancer. have used the money, so I turned them

38 MONSTERS FROM THE VAULT #28 WINTER 2011 39 John Barrymore as Tsarakov and Donald Cook down. After Frankie died—on Christ- Dancing puppets, a fab- as Fedor. (Courtesy of Photofest) 8:30 and all the principals Tsarakov: Do you want to be a ballet mas of 1976—the box disappeared! ricated night storm, and a report again to Vitagraph, dancer? future Frankenstein Monster along with the dozens of Olga: Yes! Incidentally, Frankie Darro was less stalking about with a basso dancers and extras. The Tsarakov: Do you want to be a great sure-footed 25 years later while playing Russian accent and a whip … lights on the cavernous the- ballet dancer? Robby the Robot in MGM’s Forbidden it’s coming together nicely. Yet ater set are merciless and, Olga: Yes! Planet. After a multi-martini lunch, Frankie dominating all, of course, is late that afternoon, the heat Tsarakov (lecherously): Come to my took a nosedive, nearly falling flat on his Barrymore. Come Thursday, sets off the sprinkler sys- office—three o’clock! face in the expensive Robby suit—and March 12, on a wagon set on tem—soaking the company. MGM fired him. First National’s Stage 8, Barney Will this Act of God accident He Pours His Genius Into An- As for the menacing Russian father, the McGill’s camera looks right cancel shooting and give other Man’s Veins—But His Creation “extra” whipping little Frankie is …Boris into those saint/serial killer everyone Saturday night Becomes An Avenging God! Karloff, five months away from winning the eyes as Barrymore chillingly off? No such luck. Curtiz —Warner Bros. publicity Monster role in Frankenstein. delivers a Tsarakov soliloquy, dries off, rallies his forces, “I break every bone in your body, you truly propelling The Genius works until 6:55 p.m., gives Shooting proceeds. Curtiz is determined dev—il!” growls Karloff in his Russian accent. into darkness and tragedy: the company an hour off to be as flamboyantly temperamental as Bar- In January, Karloff had triumphed in for dinner, then continues rymore. At one point, even Marian Marsh Columbia’s The Criminal Code, reprising Have you ever heard shooting—until 11:40 p.m. decides to take the director to task. his West Coast stage role as the murderous of the Golem, made of mud The clash is quickly “You’re very temperamental!” said Marian. Galloway; still, he clearly wasn’t about to let and given a human soul? clear: a star practically deca- “Well,” replied Curtiz, “I should have any job slip away. In late 1935, when Karloff Or Frankenstein, the mon- Marian Marsh performed some dent in his extravagances, been an actor!” came back to Warners in glory to star in The ster created by man? Or of her own dancing in The Mad and a director sometime Nevertheless, Marian respected Curtiz’s Genius, although a dance dou- Walking Dead, his director was Michael Cur- the Homunculus, the pale ble did the majority of it. (Cour- sadistic in his work ethic. “marvelous flair… He made things go.” tiz—who then told Karloff why he’d hired being, the product of sci- tesy of Photofest) The company wraps Many vignettes, as played by the star and the Englishman for The Genius: ence? These are all dreams, up its work on the Vita- staged by the director, are wonderfully strik- brought to life by mortals. I will create BARRYMORE— clubfoot shoe with his walking stick. In his graph theater set Monday night, March ing. The episode where Barrymore threatens “The reason I called you in,” my own being. That boy—that boy will a tradition to the show world! black mood and profane squawks, he rather 16, finishing at 9:20 p.m. Barrymore, for to burn Alberni’s dope, the fire glowing on Karloff recalled Curtiz saying, “was be my counterpart! He shall be what I evokes his king vulture Maloney. all his loathing of his clubfoot shoe and Barrymore’s face, masterfully presents the because I thought you actually were should have been. I will mold him—I A career studded with unforget- Why the star’s high dudgeon? There are Curtiz, is giving a solid and colorful per- star as a handsome, aglow-in-the-dark Luci- Russian. Your name is Karloff—it cer- will pour into him my genius, my soul. table achievements! But all his superb several reasons. For one thing, he’s damned formance—related to Svengali perhaps, but fer. The humor works too. One of the best bits tainly sounds Russian. When you came In him, all my dreams, all my ambi- successes have been but stepping uncomfortable—the clubfoot shoe hurts like still very much his own dramatis persona. comes when Barrymore, about to welcome a in, you seemed so anxious to get the tions, will be fulfilled. I will make him stones…prologues to the greatest, most hell. Marian Marsh remembered: A running gag has developed: The script female to his parlor, takes an atomizer from job that I decided to let you have it!” the greatest dancer of all time! amazing characterization the stage or is now complete—as Barrymore greets his desk and luxuriantly perfumes his mouth. screen has ever known! “He walked around on that club- various wide-eyed ballerinas, such as Olga, And the big payoff scene, where Cook The formidable Michael Curtiz, perched on the ladder, directs The —Warner Bros. publicity foot and he used to get mad at it once in played by Mae Madison: climactically tries to walk out on Tsarakov, is Mad Genius. (Courtesy of Ronald V. Borst/Hollywood Movie Posters) a while, because it hurt his back; it was awful to walk with it.” Carmel Myers, silent screen vamp and alumna of Svengali, gets cozy with Barrymore in The Mad March 13, 1931—a Friday the 13th. Genius. (Courtesy of Photofest) The Genius, now set 15 years after its Then there’s Curtiz. Before rainy night opening, has moved into a giant shooting began, Barrymore was theater set at the , the third already aware of his director’s studio lot owned by Warner Bros. and located notoriety. Curtiz had directed at 4151 Prospect Street in East Hollywood. Noah’s Ark (1928), starring Dolo- Beautifully blonde Marian Marsh starts work res Costello Barrymore—“Jiggie today, resplendent in a ballerina costume, Wink” herself. Cameraman Hal white tights and black shoes that charmingly Mohr had quit the picture because show off her shapely legs. Somber-looking he felt the studio’s plan to film the Donald Cook begins work as Fedor, vampy flood was doomed to kill extras. Carmel Myers flashes her eyes as Sonya, and Legend claims that three drowned, Luis Alberni, with the look of an enraged one had to have a leg amputated poodle left in the rain all night, relishes his and about a dozen more suffered first day as Serge, the drug-addicted ballet serious, bone-breaking injuries. master. Michael Curtiz is in his glory—this (John Wayne, laboring in those weekend he has Adolph Bolm, 44 dancers, days as an extra, reportedly sur- and a full orchestra at his disposal, as well as vived unscathed.) As for Dolores… the services of a man Warner Bros. proclaims she, having suffered on Noah’s Ark as “The World’s Greatest Living Actor.” under Curtiz’s martinet direction, “Mad Jack” sits in a theater box between had come down with pneumonia. scenes, dressed in black top hat and magnifi- Too, there are the hours Curtiz cent flowing, fur-collared coat, now sporting demands. Friday night, the direc- a mustache and Van Dyke beard. He smokes a tor works the company until 8:40 cigarette as he curses, violently smacking his p.m. The Saturday morning call is

40 MONSTERS FROM THE VAULT #28 WINTER 2011 41 who attacks him, the men hysterical as the audience in the film! falling off the set, the bal- Curtiz manages to film this episode in let master madly hack- a whirlwind three days and nights: ing the maestro to death, Monday, March 30: Barrymore, Marsh, shown in shadows. Come Butterworth, Alberni…only Cook is off. There the ballet’s climax, a scrim are 36 dancers. Curtiz shoots until 10:35 pm. curtain rises to reveal the Tuesday, March 31: Marsh, Cook, and Idol—and Barrymore’s Alberni gather at Vitagraph with 37 danc- Mad Genius—covered in ers—Barrymore has the day off. Shooting blood and hanging from starts at 10:00 a.m., and finishes at 10:30 p.m. the monster’s face. He Wednesday, April 1: The call is at 9:00 falls and tumbles (and a.m., complete with Barrymore, Marsh, the tumbles, and tumbles) principals, 37 dancers, and 106 extras. Cur- down the set stairs, all tiz revels this April Fool’s Day and night, the way to the foot of shooting 14 scenes and 20 wild shots, finally the stage. A bit actress wrapping at 2:40 a.m. named Alice Doll—famed The film ends with the lovers reunit- for her scream—sounds ing. Onstage, a sheet covers Tsarakov’s the first shriek, and corpse as two policemen take the report. soon the whole crowd is The only mourners are Butterworth’s screaming, the exit music Karimsky and—so it seems—the Idol, its blaring, the ballerinas monstrous glowing eyes staring down at escaping the stage, the the cadaver. Curtiz frames the final shot so audience fleeing the the- that all we see of Tsarakov’s covered corpse Death Scene-in-Excelsis! Barrymore’s bloody ater. Curtiz delights in is the protruding clubfoot. Tsarakov, axed to death and hanging between the glowing eyes of The Idol, in The Mad Genius. the quick shots of aghast Michael Curtiz has completed The Ge- (Courtesy of Photofest) female faces staring mor- nius in only 21 days, a remarkable nine days bidly at the corpse, other ahead of schedule. Part of this is possible gear and wrap up The Mad Genius as quickly women falling in the aisles, the director because of scrapping the shooting of a bal- A wonderful full-stage shot of The Idol—centerpiece as possible, no matter how late the hours…and delivering all the delirious mayhem of the let, but even with that excision, the pace and of the climax of The Mad Genius—as created by set no matter how his star curses and rants. wild, riotous climax. Indeed, when The Mad results are astounding. designer Anton Grot. (Courtesy of Photofest) Genius opened at Warners’ Western Theatre The exhausted company leaves Vi- Climaxing Triumph Of in Hollywood, the Hollywood Citizen News tagraph under a nearly full moon, and unforgettable. Barrymore stops him, places his For these men Barrymore, as sug- age understudy for his wife in the hothouse His Stage and Screen Career! review reported that the movie house au- Mad Jack Barrymore drives home to Bella hands on his neck, and magnificently builds: gested, stands eternally willing to go to climate of Warner Bros. —Warner Bros. publicity dience, almost violently bewitched by the Vista, Jiggie-Wink, Dede, his dinosaur bat. He has known them long enough to And all the while, star and director baroque melodramatics, became nearly as egg…and Maloney. Now listen to me. For 15 years trust their judgment and their actions clash. The hot-headed Curtiz, who hated Monday, March 30. The the- I’ve devoted my entire life to you. I’ve and he shows his favoritism for them even breaking for lunch, surely had no ater set on Stage 2, Vitagraph Stu- poured my soul, my brain into you. I’ve in many ways. Important studio offi- sympathy for a man who wanted to get dios. Michael Curtiz is hell-bent sacrificed everything in the world— cials Barrymore is not above snubbing home to feed worms to his pet vulture. In on finishingThe Genius as soon as everything, do you hear?—for your or openly insulting if a disagreement a sense, the tension is prophetic of Curtiz’s humanly (or inhumanly) possible. career. I’ve lied—I’ve cheated—I’ve arises. He enjoys a fight of that kind. battles with (a Barrymore crony The climax he’s to shoot is as crushed—I’ve even crushed myself, so But to those who are in no position to and idolater) over the course of their eleven gothic a finale as any melodrama that you should appear greater than I. I answer back he manifests a consider- films together. Curtiz was provoked by (and of Hollywood’s Golden Age. As thought I’d given you strength enough ation, a friendly understanding that sometime sadistically responsive to) Flynn’s a lavish, rather sinister ballet to rise above everything. You haven’t makes him the most popular star in “wicked, wicked ways.” performs in a theater, before a risen, you’ve fallen. You’re not strong, the business with his particular crew. Hostility keeps rising. Barrymore grotesque centerpiece of a giant you’re weak. But all of me is in you still, and Curtiz both bristle. During the three Idol head with illuminated eyes— all that strength I poured into that weak Still, there is a very dark side to the weeks of shooting to date, Barrymore has a morbid masterpiece created by soul, so you can’t fail me now. If you shooting of The Genius, and some rather sinis- had only one day off. The story goes that Anton Grot—Tsarakov discovers fail me now, I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you! ter gossip spreads through the First National Barrymore and a lady friend passed a that Serge has overdosed, gone lot. This is Marian Marsh’s second film with dance marathon about this time, and the rabidly mad, and—amok back- Helping production roll smoothly is a Barrymore, and her startling resemblance to lady expressed sympathy for the dancers stage—has decided to destroy the coterie of Barrymore crew members who have Dolores leads many to prattle, as they had on their feet for those many hours. giant head with an axe. worked on multiple Barrymore films, includ- during Svengali, that Mad Jack and 17-year- “Ah,” said Barrymore. “I see you’ve “Look at it!” rants Alberni to ing Gordon Hollingshead (assistant director), old Marian are lovers. So ripe were the never worked for Michael Curtiz.” Barrymore. “It is cardboard! It is Herbert “Limey” Plews (property man), rumors that felt compelled to The director, anxious to wash his hands plaster! It is dead! It should be alive! “Smoke” Kring (wardrobe expert), Johnny deny them in his 1944 biography Good Night, of Barrymore and the whole damned movie, It should be squirming with blood Wallace (makeup artist), John Ellis (portrait Sweet Prince. Marian Marsh refuted them too. makes a decision. He decides not to film the big oozing from its veins! It should be The ballet company and The Idol behold Barrymore photographer), Fred Applegate (script clerk) Still, the rather sordid slander goes on ballet showpiece, “The Spirit of the Factory,” a human being! You—you are the as the dead Tsarakov. (Courtesy of Photofest) and Dave Forrest (sound engineer). The that Barrymore, madly jealous of Dolores, despite the weeks of rehearsal devoted to it by Idol—if you have any blood!” pressbook for The Mad Genius notes: has sexually recruited a dead ringer, under- Adolph Bolm. And he vows to slip into high Tsarakov confronts Serge,

42 MONSTERS FROM THE VAULT #28 WINTER 2011 43 the problem(s), Warner Bros. now had a basic for the failure of The Mad Genius. Possibly her wig from Svengali. Svengali facsimile on its hands as it planned to the dark, perverse mockery in Barrymore’s Adolph Bolm, whose release what they now had titled The Mad Ge- persona and acting was both the film’s bless- work found only a few nius, which had tallied a final cost of $441,000. ing and curse. On Thursday, November 19, fleeting moments in The Meanwhile, come the summer of 1931, 1931—a week and two days after Lionel Bar- Mad Genius, presented the and Barrymore cruised his yacht, Infanta, to rymore won the Best Actor Academy Award® complete ballet at the Hol- Alaska, where he picked up a new curio for for MGM’s A Free Soul—The Mad Genius had lywood Bowl in August Bella Vista: a towering totem pole, suppos- its Hollywood premiere at Warner Bros.’ 1932. Bolm died in 1951. edly bearing the cadavers of several Alas- Western Theatre; the next day, Frankenstein Michael Curtiz re- kan Indians. It loomed over his estate for opened in several key cities. The world fell ceived five Academy years. Brother Lionel, genuinely believing into a strange love affair with Colin Clive’s Award® nominations, the totem pole to be cursed, would blame blasphemer and, especially, Boris Karloff’s winning, as noted, for it in later years for his younger brother’s Monster, and as Frankenstein became a sen- Casablanca (1943) and spectacular downfall. sation, The Mad Genius crashed and burned. carving himself a place Friday, October 23, 1931: The Mad Ge- Worldwide rental: $400,000 (compared with in Hollywood history nius premiered at Broadway’s Hollywood Frankenstein’s $1,400,000). Loss: $241,000. as Warner Bros.’ top- Theatre. Richard Watts, Jr., of the New York Incidentally, Edward G. Robinson, dog director. He died in Herald Tribune, delivered the review Warners who’d lost The Genius to Barrymore, had 1962. The sadistic leg- desperately hoped for: received Five Star Final as a consolation ends abound. prize—and that film became Warner Bros.’ As for John Barry- John , only son of the Mr. Barrymore, having had his fun top hit of 1931. Meanwhile, John Barrymore more…he enjoyed tri- Great Profile, shows his own profile. with peglegs, hypnotic eyes, grotesque had left Warners, where his last two films had umphs at MGM in Grand (Courtesy of Photofest) skulls and all the other impediments of lost the studio nearly a half-million dollars, Hotel, Rasputin and the perverse physical fortune, offers us the and signed a contract with MGM. Empress, and Dinner at drama of the clubfoot in his new film… As for the prime movers of The Mad Eight, at RKO in A Bill called, with considerable accuracy, The Genius… of Divorcement, and at Mad Genius… Certainly it is a real Warners soon dumped Marian Marsh. Columbia in Twentieth Barrymore show, which, naturally, is After coping for a time on Poverty Row, she Century. Then came the more concerned with providing a field enjoyed something of a comeback at Colum- fall. The self-destructive pet devil dominated, Thank God I’m drunk. day for an actor than in exploring the bia, as Karloff’s leading lady in The Black Room cackled, and roared, and the end mercifully I’ll never remember it! potentialities of drama. Thanks to the and ’s in Crime and Punishment, came May 29, 1942. –, star, however, it is a grand show…. both in 1935. Still, her career never fully took And finally, as for Barrymore’s despised after exhuming and looking ...As drama, it is pretty trashy off, and she soon retired from the screen. She clubfoot shoe…it made a comeback, of sorts, at his father’s corpse, 1980 stuff… About it, however, there clings died in 2006; among her relics of Hollywood in Warners’ Green Light (1937) —worn by Sir an inescapable air of perverse fasci- fame found at her home in Palm Desert was Cedric Hardwicke. Strangely and very sadly, yet another nation, maniac melodrama, sadistic macabre role awaited John Bar- excitement and, above all, the field rymore that in ways exceeded day of the picturesque actor who must his Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, strut and fret all over the screen before Svengali, and The Mad Genius… John Barrymore’s greatest screen performance: Svengali. (Courtesy of Photofest) he can be really happy. In addition, the role of exhumed cadaver. the film is handsomely and lavishly In his will, Barrymore had All humanity hails it as immortal! Barrymore’s hypnotic powers are in- staged. The result is, I think, good, if requested, “I desire that my body —Warner Bros. publicity teresting until getting a look at Miss quite decadent entertainment… shall be cremated and placed in for The Mad Genius Marsh under an unbecoming wig. the family vault at , After which a lot of people will figure Watts signed off, praising “the mad Pennsylvania.” But Lionel, act- May 1, 1931: Svengali opened on Broad- it’s a waste of expert concentration… melodramatics of the leading actor, who is, ing as a will executor and with way. As Warners hoped, it was a triumph for after all, the greatest of the Barrymores.” his Catholic sensibilities, had Barrymore (“…surpasses anything he has Appalled by the romantic but unhappy Mordaunt Hall of the New York Times vetoed cremation and opted done for the screen,” wrote the New York Times’ finale (“both principal characters die at the also praised the star’s “sterling acting and for burial. In 1954, Lionel died Mordaunt Hall). Yet despite Barrymore’s pow- finish”),Variety predicted box office potency Michael Curtiz’s gifted and imaginative and was buried in the crypt erhouse portrayal, a star campaign for Marian as only “fair.” It was an overstatement. To direction,” but noted that Barrymore’s “mas- above John at Calvary’s Main Marsh, gothic flavor, racy content (including the shock of the brothers Warner, Sven- terful conception of Tsarakov so outshines mausoleum in east L.A. a brief from-the-derriere nude shot of Marian gali, which had cost $499,000 to produce, the efforts of the other players,” especially Enter John Drew Barry- Marsh’s double, in a body stocking) and the had a worldwide rental of only $498,000. targeting Marian Marsh—“she is out of her more (1932-2004)—the son that pave-the-way success of Universal’s Dracula, (Compare this with Dracula, which by the element…particularly when she is called Barrymore had always wanted Svengali had its detractors. Variety, the “show summer of 1932 had a worldwide rental of upon to appear in scenes with Mr. Barrymore. but had never really known. business bible,” carped: $1,200,000.) Come final tabulations—with The contrast of the amateur and the artist is Wild-eyed, bearded, looking Barrymore receiving $150,000 and 10% of most pronounced.” Another New York critic every bit the Hollywood war- In performance John Barrymore the gross—Svengali lost $225,000. put it more curtly: “Marian Marsh…plays the lock, John Drew Barrymore, takes care of everything. So much so Why the bomb? Was Barrymore’s feminine lead. I wish she hadn’t.” When Marian Marsh died in 2006, 75 years af- aka “Johnny” Barrymore (and that they won’t go away remembering flamboyance losing its appeal? Was Marian Still, it would be unfair to blame Marsh, ter Svengali, her Trilby wig was still among her whom we’ll refer to as John II), possessions. (Courtesy of Photofest) much of anybody or anything else… Marsh truly a disappointment? Whatever or even Barrymore’s Alaskan totem pole, had long ago seen his own ca-

44 MONSTERS FROM THE VAULT #28 WINTER 2011 45 reer explode in a cloud of alcoholism, spousal “Out of the way!” shouted a very outside.) John Drew looked at the corpse, abuse, and drug busts. drunk John II. then left the crematory pale and crying. Well…John Blyth Barrymore, son of John It had always been a Barrymore custom Although John III hadn’t seen the cadaver, II and actress , posted an amaz- to give a red apple on an opening night per- Bruce Pedy had, and John III remembered ing “true story” on the Barrymore family Web formance. This was, after all, as John III noted, Pedy’s nightmarish description: site titled “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.” “an opening,” and John II had brought apples, John III wrote that he and his father began which he now handed to the gravediggers. Apparently all the bouncing around enjoying “a greatly improved standard of Then he personally grabbed the coffin, placed we had subjected it to had sort of busted living” as they “pirated” Barrymore treasures his feet against the wall of the tomb and yanked. the jaw apart from what was left of the from Dolores’s estate after her death in 1979. The coffin surrendered. The gang hefted it onto head. They were convinced it was John Eventually, John II decided to grant his fa- a hand truck and wheeled it out to a waiting Barrymore by the very high quality dental ther’s wish and bury him in Philadelphia. brown Ford van. “The body fluids were leak- work, and because although most of the “Jake,” said John II flesh had decomposed, to John III, “we’ve got to an incredibly long nose get my daddy up.” cartilage remained… The caper began. John II got John III and It seemed that even his lawyer, Bruce Pedy, in so horrific a state, to join the crusade. John Barrymore was still The exhumation the Great Profile. demanded dispensa- John III picked up tion from the Catholic the cremated remains Church (which by then the next day. John II sold allowed cremation) and more Barrymorebilia and from the Health Depart- headed to Philadelphia ment, and signatures with the book-shaped from all living heirs. urn, eventually finding The lawyer handled his way to Mt. Vernon the church document, Cemetery. There, as histo- and John III admitted rian Scott Wilson learned to forging the family sig- from a cemetery official, natures in lieu of deal- John Drew Barrymore ing “with my insane manically dug his father’s Barrymore relatives.” grave himself, at his own So John Drew Bar- insistence and by hand. rymore, John Blyth Bar- Mt. Vernon Cem- rymore, Bruce Pedy, etery itself has decayed and (as John III wrote) so dangerously that au- “a one-eyed Carpath- thorities have padlocked ian pirate named John the gate. Philadelphia Desko” all came to call historian David Schaaf at Calvary Cemetery, describes Mt. Vernon as where Dolores was now “the most hellish cem- buried outside in Sec- etery I’ve ever seen, over- tion D, with her parents. grown, unsafe… The fear At the mausoleum, John is that homeless people II and company waited have broken into the A striking composite shot shows John Barrymore as The Mad while Calvary’s grave- Genius incarnate, complete with clubfoot. Also present: Marian tombs and live there.” diggers had their lunch. Marsh and director Michael Curtiz. (Courtesy of Photofest) John Barrymore’s ashes They all ascended to now rest in this decaying the Main Mausoleum’s second floor, opened ing out all the way,” wrote John III. cemetery, haunted by bums and addicts, his the crypt, and removed the marble plaque John II and his mourners made a fans unlikely to gain admittance to pay tribute. upon which Lionel had personally carved beeline to Odd Fellows Cemetery, locale of “Alas Poor Yorick,” reads the inscription “Good Night, Sweet Prince.” (The marble the closest crematory, and selected a book- on John Barrymore’s small marker. plaque with its quote still remains at Cal- shaped urn. Before the immolation, John vary.) The smell from the opened grave II decided he wanted to take a look at the Greg Mank is the author of Bela Lugosi was overpowering. The stinking solid father of whom he had so little memory. The and Boris Karloff: The Expanded Story of a bronze casket, despite its glass lining, had Odd Fellows pleaded with him not to do Haunting Collaboration, which won the 2009 presumably cracked and the corpse was still so, but John II gave them apples, remained Rondo Award for Book of the Year. He’s at work decomposing after 38 years. The leakage had insistent, and they finally obliged. (John on a new book on vintage horror, tentatively sealed the casket to the marble slab and the III passed up the viewing—“the smell had titled The Very Witching Time of Night, for gravediggers couldn’t budge it. been more than enough for me.” He went McFarland & Company.

46 MONSTERS FROM THE VAULT #28 WINTER 2011 47