80th Anniversary BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN series The Birthday Bride

All this month — and onwards as we’ll be spilling into November — we have been celebrating the 80th Anniversary of an extraordinary film. Today, we note and celebrate another, related Anniversary: Elsa Lanchester was born October 28, 1902.

The image here was found in the movie fan magazine Picture Play, published out of New York by Street & Smith, for June 25, 1935. I’ve never seen this one before — please tell me if you have. The Bride appears in quiet profile, reflective, looking down, the trademark Nefertiti hair gone vertical. A caption read, “Elsa Lanchester’s amazing make-up for ‘The Bride of Frankenstein’ won even the enthusiastic approval of Boris Karloff, who knows the possibilities of grease paint as few stars do.”  

Elsa Lanchester was 33 when she bookended the BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN in two different roles, that of Mary Shelley in the film’s opening and, of course, the unforgettable Bride of its climax.

She thrills and charms us to this very day.

80th Anniversary BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN series A Frankenstein "Laff"

Here’s a rarity, a panel cartoon take on BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, from the pages of the industry trade paper Motion Picture Herald of 29 June 1935. 

House cartoonist Milt Rosenfeld shows a couple of Legion of Decency types investigating the new Frankenstein film to see if it’s “another sex picture”. The ladies are then seen to exit in a hurry, having had a shock of another kind.

The Motion Picture Herald first appeared in 1915 out of Chicago as the Exhibitors Herald and evolved under various titles over the silent era through mergers and acquisitions, eventually consolidating under the highly influential publisher/editor-in-chief Martin Quigley in 1930. Published on Fridays, the exhibitor’s publication would run until 1972. Many celebrated writers, film historians and industry pundits would grace the Herald’s pages through the years. The legendary New York Times film critic Vincent Canby got his start there in the 1950’s.  

Milt Rosenfeld produced his innocuous cartoons, never editorializing, under the “Showmen’s Lobby Laffs” banner. Here, from May 1940, is another genre-related cartoon, this one about the “Invisable” Man sequel that starred an unseen Vincent Price. The caption says, “Usher: He wants half his admission back… Says he couldn’t see half the picture”.

 

Source: Motion Picture Herald is digitized online at Archive.org and the Media History Digital Library.  

80th Anniversary BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN series The Ballyhooed Bride

Standing 30 (?) feet tall, eyes fitted with flashing lights, The Monster straddles a busy sidewalk on St Clare Street in Toledo. “Legs formed arch plenty tall enough not to hinder pedestrian traffic…” reported the Motion Picture Herald of August 31, 1935. 

A second photo, different angle, shows the giant figure positioned half a block down from The Tivoli, next door at The Palace. The placement suggests either common ownership or a very friendly arrangement between the two theaters.

With the phenomenal box office of FRANKENSTEIN (1931) in recent memory, and a terrific subject to promote — The Monster Talks!... Who Will Be The Monster’s Mate? — BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN was ripe for hype and flashy ballyhoo. In San Francisco, the Ritz lobby had a mummy-wrapped dummy on a gurney and a mad-lab electric coil shooting foot-long sparks over the box office. Outside, a giant cut-out Frankenstein Monster head glared down at passers-by from atop the marquee. In the days running up to release, THE BRIDE’s trailer was accompanied by an elaborate stunt described in the Universal Weekly showman’s magazine of July 27…

“All house and stage lights out; rattle and drag chains about back stage; girls in wings give several blood-curdling screams; loads of scrap iron dropped from flies onto steel boiler plates back stage; set off charge of flashlight powder and at the same time plug in green spot on 24-Sheet cut-out head of monster on stage. Hold while smoke from flash rises through green light on head then go into trailer leaving green face visible. Also worked as a swell gag before picture itself.”

Likewise, the State Theatre of Harrisonburg, Virginia. Their trailer presentation kicked off with flashing house lights, live screams and clashing cymbals. Then all the lights went out and a giant Monster head with glowing red eyes was pulled across the stage in a deep blue spot. House manager Sam Roth ran a newspaper want ad reading, “BRIDE WANTED — to act as mate for man-made monster. Apply Frankenstein, State Theatre.” The theatre front was papered with a stunning assortment of gorgeous posters and the parked ambulance gag was revived, with banners shouting “Emergency Ambulance — for those who can’t take it while seeing the BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN.” According to Universal Weekly, Roth’s State campaign “aroused beaucoup excitement in town.”

More great gags, stunts and showmanship coming up as we count down to Halloween and celebrate the BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN 80th Anniversary!  

Sources: Cinema Treasures. Motion Picture Herald and Universal Weekly via Lantern/Media History Digital Library.

80th Anniversary BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN series "The Weirdest Honeymoon Ever Conceived!"

No sign of Elsa on this ad… This Bride is Valerie Hobson’s Elizabeth!

When BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN came to Australia in mid-1935, exhibitors turned on the ballyhoo. Theaters were festooned with posters, cutouts and eerie lights. Stand-ins for The Monster and his Bride patrolled lobbies and neighborhood streets, and went shopping for a trousseau. 

This early ad for Sydney's Hoyt's Plaza ran in The Truth on Sunday, July 14, setting the stage for the film’s much anticipated arrival on Friday the 19th. “Public interest in “The Bride of Frankenstein” is already unprecedented. AVOID DISAPPOINTMENT BY BOOKING NOW!”

The effective art is a composite of promotional stills. Note how Hobson’s Elizabeth is lifted from a photo with Karloff’s Monster…

The dress is retouched as a bridal gown and a bridal veil is painted in. The forlorn Frankenstein head looming over Elizabeth was also used as decoration, painted giant-size and wrapping around the box-office over at the palatial 1,650-seat Plaza.

“THE MONSTER DEMANDS A MATE! But what heart, what soul, what flesh so brave would dare be his bride…?”

In an era of adrenalized ad copy, BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN inspired writer to new heights of lyricism and hype. The small print copy down the side of this ad reads as follows:

SYDNEY IS THRILLING WITH EXCITEMENT!

First it was a murmur! Now it’s roar — an incessant clamour for information about this strange bride. The public pulse is quickening to the vision thrill of her romance with the monster. What will the bride look like? What manner of woman could be mated with the strangest and most terrifying figure in the whole literature of the screen?

And When You Actually See Her!!

You’ll marvel… You’ll wonder… is she human, monster or devil? But you’ll be entirely enthralled at the weirdest honeymoon ever conceived!

SUCH A WOMAN AS THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN HAS NEVER BEFORE EXISTED IN THE FURTHEST REACHES OF HUMAN IMAGINING. A NEW KIND OF WOMAN… GLAMOROUS… TERRIFYING… EERIE!

Related:
The Australian Frankenstein.

80th Anniversary BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN series The Art of Frankenstein : Nicolas Delort

The Bride of Frankenstein strikes an enigmatic pose, head turned away, her moonlit shroud billowing around her.

Paris-based artist Nicolas Delort’s superb scratchboard rendition places the The Bride front and center in a sweeping gothic scene replete with ominous skies, a distant castle and a dark lake.

The image is currently offered as part of a seven print set featuring all the Classic Universal Monsters. Expect a quick sellout.

The set, in a number of variant styles, goes on sale October 13 from Dark Hall Mansions.

Artist Delort’s website is packed with fabulous, must-see art.    

80th Anniversary BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN series The Bride's Rhymed Review

By the time BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN came around in 1935, not quite four years after the original FRANKENSTEIN, The Monster was already a pop culture icon, recognized worldwide, referenced and often spoofed in musical shorts or animated cartoons. Reflecting this new, comfortable attitude towards the very Monster that had once awed or disturbed critics, many reviews of the new film, almost universally positive, were lighthearted and peppered with jokes. The Monster was a Romeo, the Bride wore an “asparagus-tip hairdo” and a sequel would invariably be “Frankenstein’s Baby”.

One of the most unusual and whimsical reviews appeared 19 July 1935 in The Newcastle Sun of New South Wales, Australia. It was one of a series of “Rhymed Reviews” penned by writer and critic Robin Slessor, whose knack for amusing verse was no doubt triggered by his older brother, Kenneth Slessor (1901-1971), hailed as one of Australia’s greatest poets.

Here, to facilitate reading, is a transcript of this unique, fun, touching, and very special Rhymed Review.

Bride of Frankenstein, by Robin Slessor

A year or two ago, in mortal fear I fear, we gripped the seat

And trembled at the mere approach of Karloff’s heavy feet

The monster made us shudder, as around the countryside

He blundered, wreaking havoc ‘mid the people far and wide.

Though striking far more terror than the worst of all banditti

He tinged our human horror with a modicum of pity,

The sequel to this horror film of man-created life

Shows Frankenstein, assisting in the moulding of a wife —

A mate for his monstrosity — a partner to command,

Who wakes in him a feeling that he cannot understand. 

The film is far more thrilling than the former one, and yet

Despite the man’s repulsiveness, one cannot quite forget

The pathos of the story of this manufactured twosome, —

The tragic side is curiously mingled with the gruesome.

80th Anniversary BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN series The Art of Frankenstein : William Basso

All this month, we’ll be celebrating THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN on its 80^th Anniversary year. Lots of information, great images and fun finds coming up in the days and weeks leading to — and perhaps beyond — Halloween! 

Let’s kick it off in style with a spectacular painting by the brilliant William Basso…  

William Basso’s collage painting of The Bride, like its subject, is a patchwork of elements, slotted and stitched together to unsettling effect.

In the Nineties, Basso worked as an artist with Stan Winston’s special effects studio, contributing to such titles as EDWARD SCISSORHANDS (1990), TERMINATOR 2 (1991) and INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE (1994). Since 2000, Basso has largely concentrated on his own projects, mixed media and sculpture, informed by his abiding passion for splendidly creepy Halloween themes and classic horror.  

Basso’s website is packed with terrific art, a blog and prints to buy, including the Bride painting, Mate for a Monster, and a superb companion piece, Man-Made, seen here below.

William Basso’s website.

An interview with Basso on Strange Kids Club.

The Great Frankenstein/Wolf Man Presidential Debate

With federal elections coming up this month in Canada and the US presidential contest a year away, North Americans are being bombarded with attack ads and portentous messages, political posturing and the inevitable debates. As citizens, we will be called to decide who will lead us but — let us admit — there is no challenge as monumentally important as the horror-battle between the two most terrifying creatures of all times, the Titans of Terror: Frankenstein and the Wolf Man!!! (Hyperbole shamelessly lifted from a 1942 ad for FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLFMAN).

Here’s Dan Roebuck as Lon Chaney as Larry Talbot as The Wolf Man going up against Perry Shields as Bela Lugosi as Ygor’s brain in Frankenstein’s Monster, which altogether makes more sense than anything in the current, real-life political discourse.

Roebuck and Shields are professional actors and unreserved Monster Kids, and they give their all in what proves both a Valentine to the Universal Monsters, and a genuine Halloween treat.

Enjoy!