FEATURE PRODUCTION THE #1572 “ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN” FILE Part I he inspired idea of melding two of Universal’s most famous franchises had been kicking around the Tstudio for a few years, but it was producer Robert Arthur who got the chance to bring it to life. He gave the concept to a few screenwriters, including Oscar Brodney, Bertram Milhauser, and the team of Robert Lees and Fred Rinaldo. “The minute the studio told Fred and I the basic idea,” Lees recalled in Abbott and Costello in Hollywood, “we said ‘This is the greatest idea for a comedy that ever was!’ But that’s all they gave us. We came up with the rest.” Lees and Rinaldo, who had written Hold That Ghost (1941), came back with a promising treatment. Titled “Ab- bott and Costello Meet Frankenstein,” their first crack at the story was delivered April 21, 1947. It has most of the elements that will be in the final film: the boys are inept baggage handlers who deliver crates to MacDougal’s House of Horrors; the “exhibits” get up and walk away; Larry Talbot, on Dracula’s trail, persuades the boys to help him; there’s a Abbott and Costello Quarterly—7 FEATURE ” “THE BRAIN OF FRANKENSTEIN PRODUCTION # 1572 OCTOBER 1947 START DATE: FEBRUARY 5, 1948 CAST: BUD ABBOTT ........... CHICK LOU COSTELLO ......... WILBUR LON CHANEY ........... TALBOT IAN KEITH ............ DRACULA BELA LUGOSI .......... DRACULA PATRICIA MORISON ..... SANDRA LENORE AUBERT ........ SANDRA GLENN STRANGE ........ THE MONSTER DOROTHY HART ......... JOAN ELLA RAINES .......... JOAN as the linchpin, and JANE RANDOLPH ........ JOAN appropriately re-titled CHARLES BRADSTREET ... STEVENS “The Brain of Fran- kenstein.” (Along the way, there was a version that also included the Mummy and Count masquerade ball where Chick Alucard, the son of Dracula!) wears a wolf mask and McDougal Shooting was scheduled to is attacked; the Wolf Man and start in October 1947, after Bud Dracula plunge to their deaths in a and Lou finished their indepen- fight; the Monster has a fiery end dent filmThe Noose Hangs High. on a pier; and the Invisible Man But that summer Lou suffered shows up for the tag. a fall and hurt his leg. He was Surprisingly, however, the ordered to stay off his feet for plot did not revolve around using several weeks. Noose was post- Costello’s brain, only the revitaliza- poned from August to November, Lou rarely if ever read the scripts tion of the Monster. Dr. Stevens pushing back the start of “Brain” to of their films, Costello must have has a larger role because there is February 1948. reacted to the notion of shar- no Sandra character. Stevens is Charles T. Barton (1902-1981) ing screen time with not one but willing to help Dr. Lejos, but has directed both films.Noose wrapped three monsters, and that there was no idea that Lejos is Dracula. The on December 10, and Barton spent no room for any of their classic Joan Raymond character—called a couple of weeks supervising routines. Jean Butler here—is a local camp post-production. On December 30, “Bud and Lou had quite a chip counselor swept up in the action. Universal assigned him to “Brain” on their shoulders about doing The setting was a resort town like and gave him five weeks to prep it,” Barton told Greg Mank in his Lake George in upstate New York. the film. terrific book,It’s Alive. “They’d In June, after more story For a brief time, it looked as if fight me like hell. But I stood my conferences, Lees and Rinaldo de- Lou Costello wouldn’t do the film. ground with them, and so did livered a treatment much closer to He hated the script, according Bob Arthur.” the final film, with Wilbur’s brain to Robert Arthur. Since Bud and Meanwhile, other roles were 8—Abbott and Costello Quarterly FEATURE Opposite page: Ian Keith as Dracula, with Lou; John Carradine as Dracula in House of Dracula. Left: Patricia Morison as Sandra; Below: Lenore Aubert (with Michael Duane) in The Return of the Whistler, the role she had just before Meet Franken- stein. easily cast. Lon Chaney signed on Meets the Wolf Man (1943). to play the Wolf Man for the fifth Addicted to morphine and in time. He created the role, which poor health, he took every poverty no other actor played, in 1941 row horror film offered to him; it when Universal sought to link the was the only work he could get. Chaney name with a new series Some sources claim that Uni- of horror films. Born Creighton versal executives were so out of Chaney, Lon always regretted trad- touch with Lugosi’s career that ing in on his father’s name and had they thought he was dead. At difficulty living up to it. In 1951 he the very least, they thought Bela told a columnist, “The worst thing was too old to play Dracula; he that can happen to any actor is to was 65 in 1947. be the son of a great actor.” John Carradine inherited Glenn Strange, now Universal’s the role in two earlier monster official Frankenstein monster, was reunions, House of Frankenstein tapped to play the role for the third (1944) and House of Dracula part (opposite page, in our concep- time, tying Boris Karloff’s record. (1945), and may have been con- tion of him in the role with Lou). Karloff coached Glenn when they sidered again. But he was now on Keith was 48 in 1947—about both appeared in House of Fran- stage in New York. Chaney had Lugosi’s age when he made the kenstein (1944). played the Son of Dracula (1943), original film. Other roles, however—includ- but he had enough to do in this Fortunately, Bela got the part. ing Dracula—were up for grabs. film as the Wolf Man. (At one His casting was announced on Bela Lugosi brought Dracula point Universal wanted him to January 12, but he wasn’t signed from stage to screen in 1931, and play both monsters in Frankenstein until January 26. For only the it typecast him. “The only work Meets the Wolf Man, but wisely second time in his career, Lugosi I could get was monstering,” he reconsidered the logistics.) played Dracula on screen. lamented to a United Press cor- What was the studio to do? The first choice for Sandra respondent in 1955. His last film What it did in 1931 with the origi- was Patricia Morison (above, with at Universal had been Frankenstein nal film: pencil in Ian Keith for the the boys, in our conception of her Abbott and Costello Quarterly—9 FEATURE Raines (1920- 1988) became one of film noir’s most idolized actresses. That year she also ap- peared in Preston Sturges’ Hail The Conquering Hero and Tall in The Saddle with John Wayne. At Uni- versal, Ella fre- quently worked for Siodmak and often appeared in screenplays by Bertram in the role). Once promoted as a Two actresses were considered Milhauser. One of her few light rival to Dorothy Lamour, Morison for the role of insurance investiga- comedies, White Tie and Tails (b. 1915) reportedly possessed tor Joan Raymond: Dorothy Hart (1946), is notable for its director: the longest hair in Hollywood (39 and Ella Raines. Both were former Charles Barton. But after she mar- inches). But she was misused in models. ried Robin Olds, a triple ace fighter films, cast as villainesses in Univer- Hart (above, left) was first pilot, in 1947, Raines became sal’s final Sherlock Holmes entry, signed by Columbia where she an Air Force wife, and her career Dressed to Kill (1946), as well as in made one film,Gunfighters (1947). slowed down. Olds later became Song of the Thin Man (1947) and Universal picked her up and sea- commander of the Air Force Acad- Tarzan and the Huntress (1947). soned her in small roles in The Ex- emy in Colorado. By the mid-’50s, She apeared with Chaney in Call- ile (1947), The Naked City (1948), Ella was doing network television ing Dr. Death (1943). In 1948 Larceny (1948), and The Countess pilots. She had a short-live series, Morison abandoned Hollywood of Monte Cristo (1948). She was Janet Dean, R.N (1953-54). Ac- and went on to Broadway stardom later considered for a role in Abbott cording to the New York Times, when Cole Porter hand-picked her and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Ella turned down the Joan Ray- for the role of Lilli Vanessi, the im- Karloff. Hart (1922-2004) became mond role because “she felt that perious stage diva, in his musical the tenth actress to portray Jane she couldn’t stand the competition Kiss Me, Kate. The show opened when she appeared opposite Lex with Dracula, the Wolf Man and on December 30, 1948 and ran for Barker as Tarzan in Tarzan’s Savage Frankenstein’s monster...” 1,077 performances. Fury (1952). That year she left the The Joan Raymond role went to Austrian-born Lenore Aubert film business, moved to New York, an actress with a similar sounding (1918-1993), who had shown and did occasional guest spots on name: Jane Randolph. Jane had a fine ability to play a femme TV dramas and game shows. She appeared in the horror/noir classic fatale opposite a comedian (Bob worked on behalf of the world’s Val Lewton’s Cat People (1942), Hope) in They Got Me Covered children through the United Na- and its fine sequel,Curse of the (1943), was cast.