Delighted to visit again with Brisbane’s Frankenstein
impersonator of 1932. Rarely were ballyhoo men ever identified, but this one we
know as Lance Robartson, reputedly the tallest man in Australia, standing six
feet and eleven inches sans monster boots.
In our previous encounter, a photograph of Mr. Robartson was a poor one, as is often the case
with microfilm sources. Here, finally, we get a good look at our Monster. No
elaborate makeup was necessary. Size, costume, a deadpan stare and a matted wig
did the job.
This photo from The Telegraph of June 10, 1932 chronicles Robartson’s arrival at the train station on
Thursday the 9th, greeted by the press and a brave young man. That same
evening, Robartson was the special guest at a dance cabaret soirée, all of it promoting
Universal’s FRANKENSTEIN, opening that weekend at the city’s storied Tivoli
theatre.
For more details about the event, read our original post: The Monster, In Person!
Source: The Brisbane Telegraph archives on Trove.
5 comments:
Prophetically, he looks more like Lee's "Creature" than Karloff's "Monster."
-Craig
As before I agree with the Lee.
But, looking closely as I can, there seems to be a little something there on his neck. Might be a shadow, or just a flaw in the photo, but it could maybe possibly perhaps just be a neck bolt. Admittedly, it's awfully far forward on the neck, but who knows?
These old, old eyes see something there anyway.
Nice one, Pierre.
it's odd that in the public consciousness the Monster was always perceived as
being extremely tall or gigantic; but Karloff wasn't all that tall, even with the platforms.
I think the olden Brisbane Frankenstein was not that tall after all even with his platforms. He was actually standing on top of a curb (or stairs), while the boy shaking his hand was barefooted and about a feet off of the curb. Nevertheless, he was still way taller than the average man around though.
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