No fancy ribbon cutting here. Frankenstein smashes a barricade to inaugurate a new access ramp to the Hollywood Freeway off Lankershim Boulevard. Universal sits right at the intersection. The photo is dated March 25, 1970.
An unidentified actor in a Don Post mask does the honors, surrounded by members of the North Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and the Los Angeles Country Board of Supervisors. The lady is Elena Verdugo, then appearing in the hit series Marcus Welby, M.D.
Ms Verdugo had a direct Frankenstein connection, having played the ill-starred Ilonka, the Esmeralda-like Gypsy Girl caught in a monster love triangle with unrequited hunchback J. Carrol Naish and the infelicitously lycanthropic Lon Chaney, Jr. in House of Frankenstein (1944).
Thanks for the wonderful find to Greg of Cinema Styles, The Invisible Edge, and Unexplained Cinema.
3 comments:
Hah! How cool is that?!?
I knew it would go to good use here, thanks for using it Pierre.
I wonder if they chose Elena Verdugo to be there because of her being related to the Verdugo family that owned the land Universal sits on and the the Verdugo Mountain's.. Hills ..are named after..back in the days of mexican california?
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