Universal Monsters

THE NEW WORLD OF GODS AND MONSTERS
The classic horror franchise of Universal Studios
You open the large wooden door to an old castle. As you take your first few footsteps inside, a large bat flies overhead and you duck to avoid contact. Howling dogs can be heard outside the windows as you look around the large entryway littered with cobwebs and dust. You take a few more steps and your eyes catch the shape of a man standing in the center of a large staircase. He is very well dressed, attired in a formal suit and cape. You are held captive by his piercing eyes as he walks toward you down the stairs. He passes through a large cobweb that crosses the staircase, leaving it undisturbed. He smiles at you and says, in a heavy Transylvanian accent, "I am Dracula."
For many moviegoers in 1931, this is the way the golden age of the horror film began. Before Dracula appeared on screens across the United States, most horror films were silent features. The earliest cycle of horror movies can be traced back to Germany. Films like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, The Golem and Nosferatu played a major role in influencing the films of Universal Studios. German expressionism combined with American film technique and technology led to many frightening American films. Many of them starred Lon Chaney, the legendary star who became known for doing his own makeup special effects. His two most celebrated films are movies made at Universal Studios - The Hunchback of Notre Dame released in 1923 and The Phantom of the Opera in 1925. Although Chaney worked for other movie studios, many feel his greatest success came from the Universal films.
Universal Studios was founded in 1915 by Carl Laemmle, a man who disliked horror films. After the success of Hunchback and Phantom, Universal released another silent horror film called the Cat and the Canary in 1927. When this film became a success as well, Universal executives were convinced that horror films were big business. In 1929, Laemmle gave the studio to his son Carl Jr. as a 21st birthday present. It would be Carl Laemmle Jr., a big fan of classic horror tales, who would lead Universal Studios into its horror glory years. Laemmle Jr. immediately went the opposite direction of his father and started working on a production of the horror tale Dracula. A Broadway production of Dracula appeared in 1927 with a representative from Universal in the audience on opening night. It was an overwhelming sensation.
The star of the show was a Hungarian born actor named Bela Lugosi. His thick accent and trouble with the English language were exactly what the part needed. The script bore little resemblance to the novel by Stoker but it was Lugosi's performance that captivated the audience. Despite Lugosi's rave performances, the studio was not interested in casting him for the film. Universal began to bring Bram Stoker's novel to the screen with the idea that Lon Chaney could make the transition to talking films as the vampire Count. Just before the film went into production, Chaney died from cancer. Several names were considered for the title role after Chaney's death but it was Lugosi, the man who had played Dracula on Broadway for three years, who got the job in an effort to save time and money. Director Tod Browning's final cut is little more than a filmed version of the Broadway play but that did not stop it from becoming a box office smash when it premiered on Valentine's Day in 1931.
Universal knew it had captured lightning in a bottle with the adaptation of Stoker's novel and was set to follow it up with another classic horror tale - "Frankenstein", written by Mary Shelley. Universal offered Lugosi another prime role - the part of the creature pieced together from several cadavers. Universal's head makeup man Jack Pierce showed Lugosi what the makeup would look like for the role. Afraid that audiences would not accept such a handsome actor under the makeup and in a role with very little dialogue, Lugosi turned the part down.
James Whale, who had just been named director for the project, one day saw a man on the Universal lot who had an amazing face and asked him if he would mind testing for the part. Boris Karloff had worked for several years in silent films and played bit parts in many "talkies", but the role of the monster would catapult him into superstardom. The film was a runaway sensation, surpassing the success of Dracula. Carl Laemmle Sr. didn't care for the genre but with the undisputed successes of Dracula and Frankenstein, Carl Jr. was given free reign to head the horror department. In 1931, with huge successes like Dracula and Frankenstein to their credit, Universal did what it couldn't do up to this point during the Great Depression - turn a profit. By the time another Karloff masterpiece, The Mummy, was released in 1932, Universal was already crowned the kings of Hollywood horror.
Other studios quickly tried to catch up. Paramount released Island Of Lost Souls and a version of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, which won the Best Actor Oscar for Fredric March's performance. United Artists gave us White Zombie and Warner Brothers released The Mystery Of The Wax Museum. Horror was now big box office and everyone wanted a piece of the action but it was Universal who steadily cranked out movie after movie for the next few years. The Invisible Man, Murders In The Rue Morgue, Werewolf Of London, The Raven and the Bride of Frankenstein all added to the growing legacy of Universal horror. But there would be lean times ahead. Universal continued pushing the limits of the horror genre and it caused some groups to become upset. The final straw was when the film The Raven, starring Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff, caused outrage in Europe, causing many European theater owners to boycott Universal films. The loss of this major market caused financial trouble at Universal and the Laemmle's were forced to sell the studio to the Standard Capital Company. The new owners did not hide their distaste for horror films and proceeded to phase them out. For the next few years, Universal became home to Abbott & Costello comedies, Deanna Durbin musicals and perhaps the most underrated of all Hollywood stars, Francis, The Talking Mule. But deep inside, the public missed horror and they wanted it back.
In 1938, the Regina Theater, located near the intersection of Wilshire and La Cienega Boulevards in Los Angeles, CA, decided to show a triple bill featuring Dracula, Frankenstein and Son Of Kong. The result was nearly a year of sold out shows as crowds stretched around the block waiting to see their favorite horror films. The heads of Universal, realizing that they were missing out on a cash cow, took notice and re-released Dracula and Frankenstein in theaters and gave the go ahead to a new installment in the Frankenstein series.
The second wave of Universal horror started with The Son of Frankenstein in 1939, and during the next six years, Universal would development a franchise. The Mummy series was revived in 1940 but instead of Karloff playing the immortal Imhotep, the story was streamlined to accommodate a series of movies with a new mummy named Kharis. In December 1941, a fourth monster was added to the franchise with the release of The Wolf Man starring Lon Chaney Jr., the son of the great silent film star. Lon Chaney Jr. would go on to be the only actor to play all 4 major monsters in Universal films: Dracula in Son Of Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster in Ghost Of Frankenstein, Kharis the Mummy in The Mummy's Tomb, The Mummy's Ghost and The Mummy's Curse and he would be the only actor to play The Wolf Man in the classic Universal films. He hated playing the Mummy but The Wolf Man was the role he lovingly referred to as his baby.