Spotted on the Zombos’ Closet blog, this remarkable photo showing patrons crowding the lobby and
trailing out to the street, waiting to see Frankenstein (1931) on its first run. The anticipation is
palpable. Soon as the usher drops the velvet rope, you know there’s going to be
a scramble for the best seats in the house.
Oh, to have seen Frankenstein back then. Today, the film’s themes and design have been sampled to
the point of becoming clichés, and The Monster is a universal icon. We can only
imagine how perfectly thrilling it must have been when the film was new.
Zombos’ Closet, operated by John Cozzoli, is a superlative blog
devoted to the celebration of horror in popular culture. It touches everything
from Halloween and B-Movies to discussions on horror fiction and serious
studies of the genre. It is also a wonderful resource for images. Case in
point, check out this recent posting of the complete, original 1942 pressbook
for The Ghost of Frankenstein.
With thanks to John Cozzoli.
2 comments:
Thank you, Pierre. Your kind words, coming from such a superlative (and award winning) blogger and authority on The Monster just made my day.
You pointed out the most thrilling part here, the waiting to see something completely new, novel, and thrilling. What a fantastic experience to have had. I envy these people.
It's possible, though not a certainty, that the graverobber display in the photo isn't a printed poster, but a unique one-of-a-kind creation (probably a tempura painting, possibly with elements added in collage) of an artist employed by the theater to produce such decorations for the lobby, front entrance, and marquee. Many of the big city movie palaces had such craftsmen on the staff; I have a 1930s Studio hardcover by "Duke" Wellington showing dozens of examples of his work for such theaters. Sadly, since artwork like that was seldom taken very seriously back then, it's likely that very little of it has survived, thrown away or stored carelessly or cannibalized for other displays.
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