A stark, deco caricature of The Monster captures Karloff gaunt and raccoon-eyed in this newspaper ad from 1931.
Yet again, an artist used the test makeup photo, which seems to have really gotten around, as his source material. This is possibly a one-of job, drawn by a local artist specifically for this ad and never used again.
Notice the "friendly" are-you-chicken warning, “If you have a weak heart… do not see it. If you like a real thrill… SEE IT.”
The Capitol Theater in Grand Island, Nebraska, opened in 1927 under the auspices of local business legend S.N.Wolbach, with the financial participation of Universal boss Carl Laemmle. The house was designed for live vaudeville as well as moving pictures, complete with a mighty Wurlitzer organ, by Chicago’s John Eberson, a theater architect famous for his atmospheric, Moorish Revival designs.
The Capitol stood for sixty years until it was razed for — you guessed it — a parking lot.
Image source: Scenes from the Morgue: Retro-Pulp Movie Ads
Theater information: Cinema Treasures.
7 comments:
What a very interesting oddity!! Congratulations for your excellent blog!!
That's just great Pierre (looks like Charles Addams may have seen it...)
Thanks!
-Craig
That's a new one on me, Pierre. Great find!! That image just may find its way onto one of my t-shirts.
I'd love to back in time to attend a first time showing of Frankenstein,just to see what people thought was so terrifying about it! :o))
I am so glad Karloff did not look like this drawing. It's interesting (and new to me, too), but in no way coveys the strange, cadaverous look of the Monster in the film.
Christopher, my late grandmother used to tell the story of going when a young girl, with her Mom and Aunt.
They were SERIOUSLY SCARED!
(I got to relive the moment with them, when one of my first Castle Sound films was the '31 film.)
-Craig
'course I grew up loving the Universal monsters that made a huge comeback in the early 60s and felt comfortable with them while stuff like She Demons and Frankenstein's Daughter terrified me..lol go figure..Old folks would tell me how horrified they were when they went and saw Frankenstein or Dracula back in the day and I'm like ..????I did watch the plain ol' 1931 Frankenstein a few months ago,first time in a several years and tried to put myself back in 1931 seeing it for the first time and did get some new found excitement out of it....Iused to collect all those Castle films too back in the 60s and 70s.. :o)
Post a Comment