The Monster : Peter Boyle

A rare color photograph of Peter Boyle in makeup on the set of Young Frankenstein, the black and white horror comedy released 37 years ago this week, on December 15, 1974. The film was a pitch perfect parody of the classic Universal Frankenstein films, with an emphasis on Son of Frankenstein (1939).

Hailing from Pennsylvania, Boyle studied acting in New York, eventually landing with the Second City improv troupe in Chicago. His Hollywood breakthrough came with his harrowing portrayal of a violent bigot, in Joe (1970). Other early parts included memorable performances in The Candidate (1972) and The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973), confirming Boyle as one of the best character actors of his era. He worked extensively in television, garnering ten Emmy nominations, beginning with his unflinching portrayal of Senator Joe McCarthy in Tail-Gunner Joe (1977) and culminating with an Emmy win for his role in the X-Files’ Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose (1996). The episode also won for Outstanding Writing and was crowned by TV Guide as the tenth greatest episode in television history. Boyle was also a sitcom star as the cantankerous Frank in Everybody Loves Raymond.

Young Frankenstein (1974) was conceived by Gene Wilder and written by Wilder and director Mel Brooks at the peak of their talents. Besides Wilder and Boyle, the wonderful cast includes Marty Feldman, Terri Garr, Madeline Kahn, and Kenneth Mars. Boyle played the zipper-necked Monster as a big baby, his most memorable scenes including a traumatic encounter with Gene Hackman cameoing as The Blind Hermit and a deranged musical number singing “Puttin’ on the Ritz”. The film’s authentic look was driven by cinematographer Gerald Hirschfeld’s meticulous recreation of 30’s style lighting and camera movements, along with the use of Kenneth Strickfaden’s laboratory props first used in the 1931 Frankenstein.

Peter Boyle passed away in December 2006. The following year, Young Frankenstein was turned into an expensive and boisterous Broadway musical, with The Monster’s part given to Shuler Hensley. It has since gone on the road with a new cast.

There are some more shots from Young Frankenstein up on our companion blog, Frankenstein Forever.

The Art of Frankenstein : Massimo Carnevale

A delightful caricature of Marty Feldman’s walleyed Igor, slapstick servant to Young Frankenstein, by Italian illustrator Massimo Carnevale.

Carnevale has worked as a comic book artist, notably on the horror-themed Dylan Dog title, but he is best known as a prolific cover artist, both in his home country and in America where he produced dazzling, clue-laden covers for Vertigo’s Y, The Last Man and Dark Horse’s Terminator 2029.

The Igor illustration comes from Carnevale’s wonderful movie-themed digital sketch blog.

Massimo Carnevale is featured on the magnificent Lines and Colors blog, with several links to illustration galleries.

Young Frankenstein 35th Anniversary

Young Frankenstein celebrates its 35th anniversary today. The film was first released in North America on December 15, 1974.

Much like that other Frankenstein comedy, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948), which became a literal template for monster movie comedies, Young Frankenstein was such an inspired spoof — and a worldwide box-office hit — that it triggered a slew of decidedly minor copies including at least one soft-core version, Frankenstein All’Italiana (1975), and an outright scene-for-scene clone, the notorious “Turkish Young Frankenstein”, Sevimli Frankestayn (1975).

Assembled in a color shot from the set of the black and white film: Director Mel Brooks, Peter Boyle in blue/green makeup, Marty ‘Eye-Gor’ Feldman, Gene Wilder (who wrote the film), and Terry ‘Inga” Garr.

Brooks adapted Young Frankenstein as a Broadway musical in 2007. The go-for-broke production played 14 tumultuous months, shutting down on January 4, 2009, its expensive trappings at odds with a collapsing economy. After some retooling, the show is now touring with its highly acclaimed original leads, Roger Bart as Dr. Fronkensteen, and Shuler Hensley as the tap-dancing Monster.

Young Frankenstein Musical website.

Related:
Posts about the Young Frankenstein Musical

The Posters of Frankenstein : Young Frankenstein

The celebrated Polish School of movie posters is a curious case of creativity flourishing under Communist rule. In a system allergic to commercialism, artists had to come up with novel ways for advertising films. Experimentation with graphics, typography and illustration techniques yielded unique and often startlingly original solutions for communicating the content and meaning of films.

Jerzy Flisak, who passed away last year, was a prolific poster and book illustrator. Created in 1979, his poster for Young Frankenstein (1974) may be the most original illustrated interpretation ever made for that film. Flisak chose the hooded, wall-eyed Igor as the focus of his poster, with half of his face cut away to reveal the grinning skull beneath, suggesting the macabre nature of the film’s humor. A semi-robotic hand evokes the Frankenstein concept. It’s an unusual poster, atypical but enormously satisfying.

In 1989, the era of highly symbolic illustrated posters came to a sudden end when film distribution was privatized. Today, cinemas in Poland carry the same bland, star-centric, mass-produced movie advertising materials used all over the world.

Galleries of Jerzy Flisak’s fabulous film posters, on Cinema Poster and Polish Poster.