February 13, 2010

The Covers of Frankenstein : Universal Weekly, March 1935


The Monster’s unrequited valentine, his Bride Not To Be, graces her first magazine cover, the March 2, 1935 issue of Universal Weekly. The exhibitor’s magazine promoted the film over several weeks, building up to its April 22 release.

Inside this particular issue is a unique black and white ad, a two-page spread featuring a fabulous, full-length painting of the bulky Monster, big boots and all, against a ghostly glamour portrait of The Bride.

There’s not a lot of information available on artist Fred Kulz. He can be traced back to the early 1900’s, as a book and music sheet illustrator. By the Thirties, he was a house artist at Universal. It is Kulz who, in 1931, painted the first Universal Frankenstein ad, the famous pre-production “striding giant” poster that prematurely touted Bela Lugosi as the film’s star.

Kulz left Universal and dropped out of sight after the Laemmle family lost control of the studio in April 1936. A terse notice in the November 10, 1936 trade magazine Boxoffice reported, “Dick Rogers has been added to the staff of Universal’s art department, replacing Fred Kulz.


Related:
Early Promotional Art, 1931


5 comments:

rob! said...

Absolutely love that poster--I'll have to do some research on the work of Mr. Kulz.

I love how almost robot-looking the Monster is/

Rick said...

More great stuff. Odd, isn't it, that the illustration seems to indicate the stiff-armed, stiff-legged posture that folks always assume when 'playing' the Monster. Yet that was never Karloff's approach. Some people have assumed that the notion didn't appear till after Lugosi's turn in the role, but that sure looks like the Monster of bad imitators to me. What inspired that, I wonder?

The Vicar of VHS said...

Wonderful stuff. As usual. :)

Christopher said...

ARYANSTEIN!....
Those are great pics!

Drax said...

When did you change/update your header? "The Bride in Shadow, the Bride wakes!" It looks awesome, I love it.