The Monster Movie Art of Feg Murray

Starting in 1933 and on through 1951, Feg Murray’s syndicated cartoon feature Seein’ Stars celebrated Hollywood movies, with significant coverage given to horror films, a genre generally avoided by the film fan magazines of the times. Murray’s exceptional renderings and beautiful color work included portraits of famous movie monsters and movie monster stars. When Murray took Seein’ Stars to radio, he brought together Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi to sing a duet! Feg Murray was, I submit, a Monster Kid pioneer!

Originally posted in November of 2014, here is an appreciation of Feg Murray’s Monster Movie Art. There’s tons of artwork to discover, and all the thumbnails can be clicked to view large.

This serialized article could not have been possible without the help of monster movie expert George Chastain who contributed information, insights and most of the fabulous art collected here.

If you’ve never seen Feg Murray’s work, you’re in for a real treat. Enjoy! 

The Art of Frankenstein : Feg Murray (Part 10)

It's hard, today, to fully appreciate just how popular Feg Murray’s Seein’ Stars cartoon feature really was. In the Thirties and Forties, a golden age for newspapers as America’s primary source of information, a generous offering of comic strips and illustrated features provided entertainment. Murray’s celebrity-centric panel was neither first nor the only one of its kind, but an 18-year run attests to its enduring popularity. Seein’ Stars ran daily from 1933 to 1941, then as a weekly until 1951.

Along the way, Murray would bring Seein’ Stars to radio. We’ve seen Murray putting in a cameo in a Hollywood picture, and Seein’ Stars was name-checked among other important national sources — including Life magazine, Popular Science, New York Times and New York Daily News — in a trailer for DESTINATION MOON (1950).

Over the past month, we’ve looked at some of Feg Murray’s genre illustrations, mostly his Frankenstein images. Wrapping up the series, we have yet another Karloff Frankenstein, and a superb rendering of Raymond Massey channeling Karloff’s Monster in ARSENIC AND OLD LACE (1944). Be sure to click the thumbnails below and see the whole feature as it originally appeared. Note that Massey shares space with the curious Sea Monster from Republic’s HAUNTED HARBOR (1944).


Non-Frankenstein monster movie illustrations included Fredric March’s Oscar-winning Mr. Hyde, beautifully drawn and colored, appearing in the Murray panel (thumbnail below) with his John Barrymore and Spencer Tracy counterparts. Under the bandages is a young Vincent Price, from THE INVISIBLE MAN RETURNS (1940), portending a career to come as a horror film icon. Buster Crabbe aims a super-sized raygun in FLASH GORDON’S TRIP TO MARS (1938), a feature film version of a Universal serial.

Over a month’s worth of posts, we’ve still only scratched the surface. Evidence of Feg Murray’s love for horror, fantasy and science fiction keeps popping up on the ‘net. Check the thumbnails below for a (low quality) glimpse of THE CRIMSON GHOST (1946) and Acquanetta as CAPTIVE WILD WOMAN (1943). Murray would also cover KING KONG (1933), WEREWOLF OF LONDON (1935), as well as Charles Gemora and fellow gorilla-suited performers.

The low quality strips posted here are from eBay. The high quality scans we’ve seen all month are from the collection of the ever-generous George Chastain, without whom this Feg Murray series would have been simply impossible. Thanks very much, George!

More of Feg Murray’s art:

The Feg Murray Papers at the Online Archive of California.

A 1930 painted calendar, some black and white Seein’ Stars panels and a Christmas card by Murray on Michael Sporn Animation.

A great collection of Seein’ Stars panels on The Fabulous Fifties here and here.

Feg Murray on Booksteve’s Library.

Art and information on Feg Murray at Comics Kingdom.

Terrific super-sized Feg Murray panels from the collection of comic strip artist Terry Beatty.

The Art of Frankenstein : Feg Murray (Part 9)

Cartoonist Feg Murray captured all of the Universal Frankenstein Monsters over the run of his Seein’ Stars newspaper feature. After Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney Jr. and Bela Lugosi, the part fell to character actor Glenn Strange whose craggy Mount Rushmore face and six-foot-five frame made him a Monster to reckon with. In short but memorable appearances in HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1944) and HOUSE OF DRACULA (1945), the underused Monster would roll off the slab for a quick, last reel walkabout before meeting his inevitable doom. Murray notes how the apparently destroyed Monster would always “show up for the next horror film”.

Unexpectedly, Strange would get a chance to show his Monster chops front and center in the final film of the original series, the wildly funny and surprisingly influential ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN (1948). Both illustrations here are contemporary to the Abbott and Costello comedy.


The full face-on image announcing the film is a direct precursor, and a worthy companion piece to the famous James Bama painting of the Sixties that used the same photo reference. 

Click the thumbnails below to see the full cartoon panels. I have included a third Glenn Strange image, found on eBay, although the quality is poor.

Next up: We wrap up the Feg Murray series!

With thanks to George Chastain!

Related:
The Monster: Glenn Strange

The Art of Frankenstein : Feg Murray (Part 8)

Cartoonist Feg Murray kept track and featured all the actors who played the Frankenstein Monster as they came aboard. We’ve seen Karloff, Chaney Jr. and Bela Lugosi pictured, and here’s a teaser, published on 2 July 1944, announcing Boris’ return to the Frankenstein franchise, with a caveat: The role of The Monster went to “someone else”. That would be Glenn Strange, of course — Coming up in our next post!

THE DEVIL’S BROOD was a working title for the first “Monster Rally”, released as HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1944), a gathering spot for The Monster, Dracula, The Wolf Man, a Hunchback and a Mad Scientist. Karloff was the Mad Doc, though not “Dr. Frankenstein” as stated by Murray. Karloff played Gustav Neiman, a lunatic asylum escapee and Frankenstein wannabe.

We are celebrating Boris Karloff this weekend, on the occasion of a birth date — November 23 — he shares with his daughter Sara. We send fond best wishes to Sara Karloff who generously keeps her father’s memory alive for his countless fans. 

Happy Birthday, Boris and Sara!        

With thanks to George Chastain.

The Art of Frankenstein : Feg Murray (Part 7)

Boris Karloff made a number of appearances, in and out of Frankenstein Monster makeup, in cartoonist Feg Murray’s celebrated Seein’ Stars strip. This late entry, on 16 April 1944, for 1939’s SON OF FRANKENSTEIN, was nothing more than an excuse for a fun anecdote — that is also pure hype, no doubt.

On 25 May 1947, Karloff put in a non-horror appearance decked in feathers and longhair wig as Guyasuta of the Senecas from Cecil B. DeMille’s UNCONQUERED. Boris also shared space in November 1940 with Bela Lugosi and Peter Lorre as the triple-threat menaces in the horror-comedy-musical YOU’LL FIND OUT, a Kay Kyser vehicle.

Click the thumbnails below to see the complete features.  

Color features from the collection of George Chastain. Black and White feature from The Fabulous Fifties.

The Art of Frankenstein : Feg Murray (Part 6)

On February 7, 1943 — a full month before FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN hit screens across America — cartoonist Feg Murray introduced his readers to the first Movie Monster Meet-Up with a splendid rendering of Bela Lugosi’s Frankenstein Monster and Junior Chaney’s Wolf Man locked in combat.

I’ve isolated the art (at the top) to better focus on Murray’s wonderful drawing and the outstanding coloring job. Click the thumbnail to see the whole strip and note, also, the always excellent layout, here with Bela and Lon’s pose echoed by dancer Dona Drake’s position.

Lon Chaney Jr.’s signature part as Larry Talbot, cursed with lycanthropy, was first featured by Murray in February 1942, and again in 1948, when Chaney was shooting ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN. In all cases, the Wolf Man was beautifully rendered. See the thumbnails, below.

Chaney’s turn as Kharis, the slo-mo mummy, lugging Virginia Christine in THE MUMMY’S CURSE appeared in a December 1944 Sunday page. Note, yet again, the layout, perfectly bookended by Van Johnson and Betty Grable, with Fred Astaire as the central figure whose leaping pose is echoed by the flying child, and his wide, legs-apart stance mirrored by Chaney’s Mummy.

With thanks to George Chastain.

Meet Feg Murray (Part 5)

Cartoonist, Olympic athlete, radio host, our featured artist enjoyed a charmed life and an eclectic career. I also nominate Feg Murray as a Monster Kid.

As admittedly circumstantial evidence, I submit the frequent, lovingly illustrated monster movie references in his Seein’ Stars newspaper feature of the Thirties and Forties, especially considering how little coverage the movie magazines and the celebrity gossips ever gave the classic era horror stars and their films, unless for cracking wise and looking down at them.

As another piece of evidence, it is worth noting that Murray’s very first Seein’ Stars cartoon spread in 1933 featured Boris’ Monster sharing equal space with Greta Garbo!
When Murray parlayed his newspaper fame into a radio host gig, he presided over the extraordinary on-air appearance of Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi performing a now legendary duet, signing, “We’re Horrible, Horrible Men”! Listen to the clip here. And as another small hint, we note that the inventory listing of the Feg Murray Papers, archived at Stanford University in California, includes a photograph of Feg posing with makeup man Jack Pierce. That’s one still I’d love to see!

Digging up info on Murray, trying to find pictures of the artist and more samples of his work, I came upon film footage of Feg. This is from THAT'S RIGHT, YOU'RE WRONG, a 1939 RKO musical that introduced radio bandleader Kay Kyser to the movies. As a novelty — and a guarantee of lots of free publicity — the film features cameos by all the big-name movie reporters and Hollywood gossip columnists of the time. These included Sheila Graham, Jimmy Starr, Harrison Carroll, Erskine Johnson and, sharing the screen with the formidable Hedda Hopper, our friend Feg!

Here’s the brief clip where Adolphe Menjou is introducing starlet “Sandra Sand” to celebrities at a poolside party. Sand is played by a very young Lucille Ball… Enjoy!

Art source: Comics Kingdom.

More full-color Sunday strips coming up!

The Art of Frankenstein : Feg Murray (Part 4)

It’s “Not Karloff This Time!” as Lon Chaney, Jr. takes over The Monster’s part in THE GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN, in general release when Feg Murray illustrated this full four-color Sunday feature, published April 19, 1942.

Chaney Jr. would rate several appearances in Murray’s Seein’ Stars, usually documenting his appearances as The Wolf Man, but an earlier feature, dated November 1941, showed Lon Jr. in costume as the electrically charged MAN MADE MONSTER — a Frankensteinian concept — along with his legendary father in makeup as THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (1923). “Like Father — Like Son”!

Click the thumbnails to fully appreciate the dynamic layout — and the corny but fun “facts” — of these pieces.

From the collection of George Chastain.

The Art of Frankenstein : Feg Murray (Part 3)

Continuing our series on newspaper cartoonist Feg Murray, here’s an updated repost featuring a fabulous piece of original art!   

Here’s a stunning portrait of The Monster and his Bride by celebrity cartoonist and broadcaster Feg Murray, created for his Seein’ Stars feature syndicated to newspapers in 1936. This, the original art, was found in makeup man Jack Pierce’s personal scrapbook and sold through Heritage Auctions for $2,151 in 2007.

The perfect likenesses suggest that Murray’s art was traced from photos, likely projected onto an art board, a common technique and a necessary expedient for someone drawing realistic portraits on a tight schedule.

Murray used a “screentone” type of art board saturated with small dots that would be made visible by applying a solvent. When photographed and reduced to publishing size, the dots would function as stippling, creating gray tones. Before the advent of computer graphics, pre-textured paper, which came in a variety of dot or crosshatch patterns, was widely used by artists in newspapers and comic books.

Murray’s elegant brushwork and judicious use of screentone shading combine to make a truly outstanding piece. Note, also, Murray's signature and his strip's little teddy bear-like mascot.


Coming up: Feg Murray's Sunday features in full color!

The Art of Frankenstein : Feg Murray (Part 2)

The formula for Feg Murray’s Seein’ Stars was typical of newspaper cartoon features: Large drawings accompanied by a short caption, usually some trivial or curious factoid. Here, in two examples from 1938 recycled as comic book filler, Feg Murray captures Karloff’s Monster in excellent likenesses, with copy addressing the endlessly repeated tidbit about “Frankenstein” being the creator’s name, not The Monster’s, and some rather creative math adding up Karloff’s time in the makeup chair.

It was not uncommon for newspaper strips and features to be re-used in comic books. In fact, comic books began as collections of newspaper strips, soon to be augmented with and eventually replaced by original material. Beginning in 1937, Murray’s Seein’ Stars was recycled along with other King Features syndicated material in Ace Comics and Magic Comics, published by the David McKay Publications out of Philadelphia.

Click the thumbnails to see the whole feature.

The Art of Frankenstein : Feg Murray (Part 1)

Here’s a repost, tweaked and updated, of my original introduction to cartoonist Feg Murray, whose work I’ll be showcasing here over the next ten days or so. Lots of beautiful illustration art coming up, and we’ll meet Feg in person later this week! 

Helping kick off the series are Boris And Bela, no less, singing together! Read on…


These yellowed clippings are not just from any old scrapbook. This is a page from makeup master Jack Pierce’s personal scrapbook, circa 1939.

The short article pasted at left documents the first haircut, courtesy Pierce, given one-year old Baby Sandy, Universal’s answer to Shirley Temple. “Sandy”, born Alexandra Lee Henville, generated tons of press and merchandising, but she only made eight films and was out of showbiz by the time she turned five.

The large drawing of Boris Karloff in Son of Frankenstein was clipped from Feg Murray’s Seein’ Stars newspaper feature. 

Frederic “Feg” Murray (1894-1973) was a popular cartoonist and radio personality of the Thirties and Forties. As a young man, he had served in the First World War, then shined as an Olympic athlete, winning a bronze medal in the 110-meter hurdle race at Antwerp, Belgium.

As an illustrator, Murray did a stint as a sports cartoonist with The Los Angeles Times before launching his long-running Seein’ Stars cartoon series, syndicated nationwide by King Features. Modeled on the Believe It or Not format of a large portrait done in pen and ink (in color on Sundays), surrounded by smaller filler pieces, Seein’ Stars was pure movie star trivia: 

Fay Wray spends her spare time making sketches in charcoal and weaving Tapestries. She also collects rare perfumes… Ralph Bellamy was once driven by a dead man!! His car swerved erratically into a field and finally ended up against a tree, several minutes after the driver had died of heart failure!... Jean Harlow has a 15-minute workout on a rowing machine before her dip in the pool every morning.

Studio publicity departments routinely fed stories to newspapers and Murray’s weekly feature was an ideal outlet for PR. Case in point, the Son of Frankenstein piece ran on January 1st, just as Universal was rolling out the ballyhoo for a January 13 release. Interestingly, Murray displayed a soft spot for monster movies, with frequent coverage of Universal’s output and that of other studios as well including appearances by various Jekylls and Hydes, gorilla-suit actors and Republic’s Crimson Ghost.

Feg Murray parlayed his success as a famous “stargazer” into a radio career as the host of an interview and variety show called Seein’ Stars in Hollywood, also known as Baker’s Broadcast. In a celebrated episode, on March 13, 1938, Murray’s guests were Ozzie and Harriet Nelson, Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi.

Karloff performed a dramatic reading of Rudyard Kipling’s “The Supplication of the Black Aberdeen” and then joined Lugosi in a memorable if awkward duet, the two horror icons warbling, “We’re Horrible, Horrible Men”. Karloff’s lines went, “Though the movies would make me a terrible brute, when my makeup is off I am really quite cute.”

Boris, Bela and the Nelsons posed for a gag shot, and here's a YouTube sound clip of that momentous occasion…

Breaking News! Halloween Celebrations Extended!

Er… Have you noticed, my Countdown to Halloween celebrations have yet to kick off?

Apologies. Professional obligations have taken up all my time this month, and I even managed to get in some serious Frankenstein-related research that I’ll be sharing with you in due time, so it’s all good. Nevertheless, I had a series of very special posts meant for Countdown October that I’ll be running now, beginning on Halloween day. Put it this way: I’m not late… Think of it as getting a headstart on my Countdown to Halloween for 2015!

Starting now — just a taste, above. Be sure to click the full feature to see it bigger — and through the next two weeks, I’ll bombard you all with a series of posts dedicated to the great Feg Murray, newspaper cartoonist and radio personality of the 30s and 40s whose Seein' Stars feature carried loads of monster art, mostly Universal films and frequent Frankenstein art. Feg Murray was, I believe, the #1 master of monster movie art before Basil Gogos came along.

Don’t forget to check the Countdown to Halloween site and have fun clicking through all the blogs that have made this Halloween another spectacular event. And be here tomorrow and over the days to come for the Feg Murray Art series, brought to you with the indispensable complicity of movie monster historian extraordinaire, George Chastain.

Happy Halloween!