came to town, we were first Rally Convention, Price was the only one of in line to see it and couldn’t the biggies I have ever seen in person. wait for what horrible deaths Unfortunately, he was in frail health, awaited his enemies this time. and the fans never got to speak to him or That was the magic of Price, get autographs. However, director Joe Dante THE PRICE IS RIGHT! he could lure you in, and once interviewed him onstage about his career, and he did he had you for life. the captive audience absorbed everything he Years later, after leav- had to say. As I was, I’m sure they were all ing the horror genre behind pinching themselves to see if it was real. That for girls and the Air Force, I evening with Vincent Price is one of the fond- found myself attracted again est memories I have, and dear Vincent will to all things horror-related. always hold a very special place in my heart. It was then that I started at- 2011 marked the 100th anniversary of tending horror conventions. Vincent Price’s birth, or as it’s been affection- The second show I went to ately referred to, the Vincentennial. A huge was the Fangoria Weekend celebration was given in May in his birth- of Horrors Convention in place of St. Louis; unfortunately, I couldn’t Los Angeles in May 1990. attend. So I decided to honor him within the One of the main attractions pages of Monsters from the Vault. of that convention was that As I did to celebrate the 75th anniversary A Vincent Price was going to be of my favorite film, The Bride of Frankenstein a special guest. He was there in issue #28, I asked some of our regular promoting what would be contributors (and a couple of people who Vincentennial his final screen performance, worked with him) to offer their thoughts Edward Scissorhands. I never on Vincent Price and the films he made, or dreamed I would meet one to share a story about Vincent. As you’ve of the actors I had idolized already seen, I featured that abominable Dr. Celebration for so many years, and other Anton Phibes on the cover of this issue, but than Christopher Lee, whom then what other role of his would fit on the I had the good fortune to cover of a monster magazine? After all, he meet in 1999 at the Monster really never played a monster on film, just a I’m not sure when I person who usually did saw my first Vincent Price monstrous things! So sit film, or which film it was, back and enjoy our Vin- but I knew from my first centennial celebration. glimpse of him on the –Jim Clatterbaugh screen that he was some- thing special. He could About 10 years ago, mesmerize you and scare I was writing my first you at the same time, a rare feat indeed. Only a few genre actors had this ability. Of course, Lugosi had it, as did Karloff, Cushing, and Lee. But of those actors, Price stood above them all when it came to that special quality. Over the years, I’ve seen tons of his films and television appearances, but one film is forever etched in my memory when I think of Vincent Price—The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971). I remember going to see it at my local theater with some of the kids from my neighborhood when I was 10 years old. We were all transfixed and horri- fied by what we saw; yet none of us could turn away. It was the topic of conversation among us for weeks afterward, and it was a while before any of us wanted to answer the telephone again! Even that summer when school was out, grasshoppers, which were usually a source of entertainment to a 10-year-old, were off-limits due to their Vincent Price center stage at the 1990 Fangoria Weekend of Horrors similarity to the locusts in the film. in Los Angeles. The show provided many fans a rare opportunity to The following summer when the sequel see the screen legend in person. (Photo by Jim Clatterbaugh)

4 MONSTERS FROM THE VAULT #30 SPRING 2012 5