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Date Posted: 17:10:55 11/09/07 Fri
Author: Officer Torch
Subject: Nice Work on Horror/Drama Addition

Rick..your addition here makes for an interesting light bridge connecting Universal's Flash Gordon/Buck Rogers and the horror/drama, monsters who may be saying to us..."I bid you welcome." Seriously though, nice job.

This is not a quiz..I've some questions and comments perhaps to get things moving. A potpourri. Please correct me if I'm wrong or inappropriate. Any ideas on trivia below?

In the 30s, seems a type of haircut (or headpiece), was utilized often to convey a sinister look. We see a headcap of sorts worn by Ming in FGs'38 serial, we see it kinda on Boris Karloff in The Black Cat, and often on the ever sinister looking John Davidson. The style is V shaped near the forehead. Seems actors playing devilish, evil roles, often utilized this style. Just style? or because of kind of role played?

Next..Recent Halloween chit chat re some oldies brought up questions. Those Tanna leaves were they? They were in the second Mummy movie or later one, not the first, right?? Next, anybody notice religious symbolism/overtones in certain Flash Gordon serials? (Not Tao.)There is much in Frankenstein, especially in cemetery.
In the Wolf Man with Lon Chaney Jr., was the full moon involved there, or was it in another Werewolf movie??

Finally, for now, a comment...while we're still around, any connections out there, or interest in some letter or email writing campaign to get some of this music (FG/BR/Horror-Drama) we love on a CD set? Maybe a recomposing might be necessary. Dunno about profits, but goodwill would have a ripple effect..perhaps Universal! (pun intended)

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Replies:

[> Re: Nice Work on Horror/Drama Addition -- Rick, 10:20:45 11/10/07 Sat [1]

I'd say the hairstyles worn in 30's and 40's were appropriate for that era. Karloff wore a new-wave hairstyle in The Black Cat. It appeared to have a cinematic effect with actors who played heavies for certain. The full moon is what drove Larry Talbot into becoming the Wolf Man after he was bitten by the wolf earlier in the 1941 film.

Middleton's "hat" in Mars and Universe was the result of the spirit gum making him dizzy and sick to his stomach when the filmed the first serial in 1935. They used the gum to attach the latex over his short hair in the first serial. For the sequels, he cut his hair a little shorter, so they could affix the hat with the gum lined inside it to a balding cap over his hair.

I've noticed religious overtones in the space serials ( sans Tao ) but they are vauge. This has been reported by fans of "Star Wars" films, too. There are religious overtone in the stories, but we don't know what it really is. Lucas implied no religion in his films. Seems like an old and ancient type of thing that goes way back and cannot be determined.

Commissioning re-recordings of the music composed for Universal's horror films would be difficult today. There are only a few authors who have the piano conductor sheets, manuscript, cue sheets, and sketches. And not all of them survived into our era. The studio trashed many of them and they're lost forever. They didn't realize the important of them at the time. One example is in The Black Cat's climax. The sketch for Tasso was lost, but I know it just by hearing it.

John Morgan found surviving piano conductor sheets for The Ghost of Frankenstein, House of Frankenstein, Sherlock Homes and the Voice of Terror. He also obtained a partial collection for The Wolf Man, The Invisible Man Returns, Son of Frankenstein, Black Friday and Son of Dracula.

These became available on music CD in the mid-1990's and are still available currently. I don't know how many more he may have found, since he's indicated he wants to commission more recordings on some of these films in the future.

Richard Bush had the idea of doing the rescore for Bride of Frankenstein in 1993. It didn't sound exactly as Waxman's original and Monster Enters #2 was omitted. It's on the Silva CD label. The organ that Waxman envisioned for the 1935 music score was substituted by synth on the Silva recording. Non-professional musicians were used and this was another problem. This resulted in the music not having the same "feel" in Franz Waxman's score for Bride.



Rick


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[> Re: Nice Work on Horror/Drama Addition -- Tim, 23:54:02 11/11/07 Sun [1]

Karloff's hairstyle in The Black Cat certainly helped give him an appropriately sinister appearance.

Ernest Thesiger also wore a memorable hairstyle for his role as Dr. Pretorius in Bride of Frankenstein. It seemed like quite a head of hair for a man by 1935 standards.

Tim


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