DRACULA is the "weirdest story in the world" (1931)

"Dracula Is Called Most Weird Story"
Bran Stoker's Famous Mystery Story Comes To Screen At Huron Tomorrow
 The Evening Huronite, April 13, 1931


"The weirdest story in the world" has been dramatized on the talking screen.  The story in question is Bram Stoker's immortal and nerve-tingling novel of a deathless vampire, entitled "Dracula." So if you plan to go to the Huron theatre during the week of Sunday, Monday or Tuesday prepare yourself for a truly different and exciting evening's entertainment.

Of course, if you've read "Dracula" there is no need to tell you more. All the king's horses and all the king's men won't be able to keep you from seeing the picture. And if you've never heard of "Dracula" you owe it to yourself to see this uncanny dramatization of Bram Stoker's justly famous novel. For "Dracula" is a mystery story unlike any other you have ever seen. And meeting "Dracula" for the first time is an experience in theatre-going you will long remember.

Without telling you too much, suffice to say that "Dracula" is a story of a vampire man, dead more than five hundred years, who comes to life between the hours of sunset and sunrise, stalking the earth to search out young and beautiful victims. Sometimes he comes to life in the form of a wolf, other times as a soft, choking, mysterious mist, wreaking his strange vengeance on all those who cross his path". This combat of deathless forces, as you may well imagine, makes for gripping, fantastic, awe inspiring drama that arouses and maintains intense interest from beginning to end.

The role of the vampire. Count Dracula, is played with remarkable skill by Bela Lugosi, noted actor of the legitimate stage, who originally created this role in the highly successful stage version of Stoker's "Dracula." Sinister, evil and terrifying to look upon, Lugosi's Dracula is a high mark in unusual and fantastic characterization. David Manners portrays the role of the young boy who desperately attempts to save his finance from the influence of Dracula; and Dwight Frye is convincing as the lawyer who fails under the spell of the deathless vampire.

Others in the cast include Helen Chandler, in a fine role, Edward Van Sloan, a member of the stage cast, Frances Dade, Joan Standing and Herbert Bunston. "Dracula" was directed by Tow Browning, remembered for many of Lon Chaney's
successes.

PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE

Yeah, PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE. I know, I know … it’s a wretched piece of film by anyone’s standards, and this is supposed to be a website dedicated to “classic” horror and science fiction movies. I’m not here to sway you into believing it’s a better movie than it is, and I’ve got no authoritative insight into the movie’s troubled history, either.

This is a confession.

Despite my better instincts, I love PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE. There are few films I’ve seen more than Edward D. Wood’s magnum opus, even though logic demands the hours I’ve wasted with this movie were probably better spent doing anything else. My love for PLAN 9 is my least malignant character flaw, so there’s been no sense of urgency to be rid of it. If we were talking about a methamphetamine addiction, there would be physical and social pressures on me to change my ways. A meth habit might even be preferable, because junkies are sometimes forced into social interaction with people of similar interests. For better or worse, a drug habit is a very real, very physical experience, while my love for PLAN 9 usually leaves me naval gazing in a darkened room.

But that’s not to discount the transcendental nature of watching a terrible movie. And by "terrible movie," I don’t mean the slick, expensive commercial products made by guys like Michael Bay. Those kinds of films get put through so many corporate filters that it’s impossible for them to hit theaters without some semblance of competent storytelling, and it's hard to think of them as "film" as much as feature-length commercials for tie-in products. They might suck, but the competence and craftsmanship on display are undeniably impressive.

The same can’t be said for an Ed Wood film. As much as I love the Tim Burton’s film about "the world’s worst filmmaker,” it’s almost entirely a work of fiction. Wood might have wanted to make movies, but he wasn’t some wide-eyed ANDY HARDY character innocently pursuing his dream. Wood was a hustler that naturally gravitated to a level of filmmaking that tolerated his misguided sense of aesthetics. His distributors didn’t care about the quality of his films as long as they came in on budget and were edited to a manageable running time. They were B-movie filler and existed only to fool ticket buyers into thinking they were getting more for their money.

Because he was left more-or-less unattended, Wood’s movies feel like Id run wild (at least, as wild as budgets and prudish standards of the times would allow.) Wood’s movies are the product of a juvenile imagination, but this imagination charges his stories with the kind of energy that makes up for the nonsense he tried to pass off as “scripts.” Say what you want about Wood’s movies, but they’re not boring.

More to the point, his movies are terrible in a way that’s impossible to replicate. Any filmmaker is capable of making a great movie. The people who directed POINT BREAK, NATURAL BORN KILLERS and EVERY WHICH WAY BUT LOOSE have all made legitimately great movies at some point in their careers, and have even won Academy awards for their work. Making movies is hard, but talent will occasionally prevail.

But nobody can fake the kind of anti-genius of Ed Wood, though.  It’s a natural gift that is probably inversely aggravated by how much talent and money you throw at it. Give Ed Wood $100 million budget and you’ll STILL get something that feels like PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE. The on-set chemistry that produces gloriously bad movies simply can’t be faked. When filmmakers have tried (DEATH PROOF, THE LOST SKELETON OF CADABRA, etc.) they have a phony, saccharine flavor to them.

All of this would be harmless fun if not for PLAN 9's disgraceful pedigree. I think most of us would laugh comfortably at the film if not for the presence of BELA LUGOSI.  Wood's decision to exploit Lugosi's corpse one final time is a cautionary tale of Hollywood's unforgiving nature. Lugosi began his film career with DRACULA, a movie so popular that it's still being discussed today. That career ended, though, with a 79-minute bit of celluloid filler with all the artistic merit of bubble wrap.

Even though Wood's films were made for no other reason than to pad out a double bill, there’s still something innocent about them. Bubbling under the surface of Wood’s movies is a very distinct imagination that tries to pair horror and science fiction in a way reminiscent of James Whale, but the ideas are half baked (to be generous.) The actors seem like they give a shit, and the whole product feels more like an actual movie to me than something like TRANSFORMERS 2 or Burton's DARK SHADOWS.

That’s why I frequently return to PLAN 9. For better or worse, it’s a genuine movie experience.

Vintage Swedish horror movie posters

Vintage posters from Sweden for THE WOLF MAN, THE MUMMY, THE BLACK CAT and THE INVISIBLE RAY. VIA.

Moonlight Maxims

Moonlight Maxims

Tumblr of the Day

Bela Lugosi, from the stage production of DRACULA.

"Weird" DRACULA opens in Oskaloosa, 1931

 

Weird Scenes in "Dracula" Vampire Drama
The Pella Chrionicle, May 28, 1931

Fastnacht—the night of evil; swirling fog, and wolves howling in the mountain passes; a solitary traveler waiting at the crossroads; the clatter of approaching hoofs, and a coachman with feverish eyes glowing above his great muffler.

The traveler enters the coach, which continues on its headlong flight; but as soon as it is again under way, the driver disappears, and his place is taken by a giant bat which flaps over the heads of the galloping horses. Silence settles over the misty land.scape. The mysterious coach is swallowed up by the dense fog, and makes its way to the crumbling castle of the terrible Count Dracula, vampire!

This is one of the opening scenes of "Dracula," Universal's strange motion picture drama which was adapted from the stage success of the same name, and which comes to the Rivola theatre, Oskaloosa, Friday and Saturday, May 29, 30.

The cast is headed by Bela Lugosi, who created the title role of "Dracula" on the stage, and other players appearing in prominent roles are Helen Chandler, David Manners, Edward Van Sloan, Frances Dade, Dwight Frye and Herbert Bunston. Tod Browning directed.

Bad reviews can't stop WHITE ZOMBIE (1932)

"White Zombie Is Given Pan By 
Gotham Critics, But Public Wanted It"

The Big Spring Texas Daily Herald, Sept. 23, 1932

Within the past decade a play blossomed forth on Broadway and was mercifully "panned" by Gotham's leading dramatics critics. Notwithstanding critical derogation, the play ran on and on — for four years. The public knew what it wanted, and wanted "Abie's Irish Rose."

Within the past month a picture opened at the Rivoli on Broadway and was panned as "Abie's Irish Rose" had been panned. But the public flocked, regardless. And kept on flocking until New York in particular and the county in general realized that the screen had a new sensation. That sensation is "White Zombie." Clan analysis reveals that there is nothing strange about the public clamor for "White Zombie." It is the first picture in ages with a theme never before used for the screen, and its plot is motivated by superstition and  manifestations of the supernatural.

"White Zombie" is coming to this city to be exhibited at Ritz Theatre. Said to be more spooky and fantastic than "Dracula" and "Frankenstein," it promises the ultimate in thrills. Bela Lugosi (the "Dracula" of screen and stage) plays the leading role.

"In order to get the fullest measure of thrills in 'White Zombie,'" says Manager J. Y. Robb, "one should attend a midnight performance of the picture; and in order to accommodate those who want their thrills at their thrillingest, we will hold a midnight show Saturday, starting at 11:30 o'clock. Regular performances will be held Sunday and Monday."

Mr. Robb states further that persons not in tip-top physical condition should refrain from attending exhibitions of this weird picture

"Unnatural occurrences" plague DRACULA crew (1929)

"Famous stage play DRACULA to be at Nile Theater Monday night"
The Bakersfield Californian, July 15, 1929

There is a superstition prevalent that actors who have played in "DRACULA," the horror thriller coming to the Nile theater Monday, have been very successfully professionally, but unlucky In private affairs.

In the New York company which is seen here, many unnatural occurrences are reported to have happened prior to the New York opening. In New Haven. Conn., the stage manager, a man noted for his coolness under fire, became a temporary victim of asphasila. The leading woman lost her voice for no accountable reason. In Asbury Park, N. J., the photographer who was to take publicity scenes, fell into the orchestra pit. The focusing screen of his camera was smashed without apparently being touched by human hands. Light signals from the stage manager to the electrician went "dead" for no seeming reason.

As yet, nothing of this nature has happened to the company since it came to California.

Bela Lugosi Vs DRACULA'S DAUGHTER (1936)

Bela Lugosi visits Gloria Holden on the set of Dracula's Daughter, 1936.

HOLLYWOOD,
by PAUL HARRISON
The Chester Times, Feb. 24, 1936

HOLLY WOOD, Feb. 24—Dracula is dead, and chief celebrant at the obsequies is Bela Lugosi.

Dracula is dead, and Lugosi. who created the monster, hopes that all memories of Dracula will die, too. Dracula made Lugosi famous and then, in true Frankenstein fashion, ruined him. The actor hopes now that he can go on being just an actor, and not a horror-master. With the movies' genius for reincarnation, nobody was sure that Dracula had drawn his last evil breath until Universal began filming "Dracula's Daughter."

Lugosi isn't even in it. The picture will show a Draculanean dummy on its bier, deader than a doornail. So Lugosi looks ahead, as he did in the days when he was a leading man in the Hungarian National Theatre, playing Ibsen, Shakespeare, and such. At 48, his days as a romantic star are over, but at least he can do a, variety of roles — most of them sympathetic ones.

He wants to justify the fan mail that Dracula used to receive. A sample: "We women can see in your eyes that you are really a good man. You should play 'sympathetic parts, too."

Own Life a Trial
There has been horror though his own life. When the war interrupted his acting he was wounded, gassed, shell-shocked, and invalided home a captain. Later hs became identified with the wrong side of one of the several revolutions which followed the collapse of the Central Powers, and fled for his life.

He appeared in German movies and sailed for America on a ship that tried its best to sink all the way across the Atlantic. He knew scarcely a word of English when he landed in New York and started out to rebuild his career.

His heavy accent might have been an insurmountable handicap if a producer hadn't seen him in a Hungarian play and recommended him for the role of "Dracula." It played three years, grossed $1,900,000, and later was made on the screen.

But the play typed Lugosi as a heeby-jeeby man. His part in the English "Mystery of the Marie Celeste" was his first return to straight drama. Recently came his part as the "good" actor opposing Boris Karloff in "The Invisible Ray," and two more sympathetic roles with follow. So Logosi seems to have shaken off Dracula's ghost.

Well Guarded
He lives in a big house surrounded by a wall and five menacing dogs to see them and the master's private arsenal, you'd think he still feared reprisal by his Hungarian political enemies of 1919. He doesn't, though. Lugosi is an American citizen, and really a very friendly fellow. He'll show you his stocks of imported wine, and the nauseous sulphur water that he drinks, and his treasured books and oil paintings. His fourth wife, a pretty girl of Hungarian descent who formerly was his secretary. She washes his shirts.

Keeps In Condition
The actor's remarkable physical condition wasn't attained without a good deal of self-discipline. He rises early, at 5 or 6 a. m., drinks fruit juice and sulphur water, calls his dogs and hikes 10 or 15 miles m the hills. Returning, he has bit more fruit juice, or maybe some raw vegetable juice. No solid food until night; then he has raw vegetables and a pound of meat, rare.

Lugosi is a cover-to-cover reader of a dozen leading national magazines. He's one of the few Hollywoodsmen who take citizenship seriously; conscientiously register and votes in every election.  Methodical too; his days are charted to the minute. Not like Hollywood, his parties consist mostly of music,
a little rare wine, and conversation.

Lugosi hasn't a single close friend in the movie business. He's voluble about his love for America but doesn't care much about Hollywood. Recently, on the occasion of their fourth wedding anniversary, he took his wife to the Trocadero. It was their first turn at night clubbing.

Monster Serial: DRACULA (1931)

Welcome to the first installment of MONSTER SERIAL. During the next few months I'm going to attack some of Universal's best known franchises, starting today with a look at the original DRACULA.

DRACULA, 1931
Starring: Bela Lugosi, Helen Chandler, David Manners, Dwight Frye, Edward Van Sloan, Herbert Bunston, Frances Dade, Joan Standing, Charles K. Gerrard
Directed by Tod Browning

WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT, ALFIE? An adaptation of the 1924  stage play by written by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston, DRACULA is a second generation adaptation that takes many liberties with the 1897 novel by Bram Stoker. In the film, a solicitor named Renfield falls under the thrall of a mysterious Count Dracula while visiting his home in Transylvania to discuss leasing an English abbey.The legal consultation soon turns violent as the Count and his wives attack Renfield in the night. When next we see the doomed solicitor, he's the only warm body on a ship of corpses that's sailed into an English harbor. Driven mad his experiences, Renfield is arrested and institutionalized in a London asylum. Dracula soon turns his violent attentions to the daughter of the asylum's administrator, but meets his match in Prof. Abraham Van Helsing, an unorthodox scientist with a fascination for the occult.

WHAT'S IT REALLY ABOUT? Sex. I mean, have you seen DRACULA? That photo at the top of this post pretty much summarizes the film. There are few scenes in the movie that aren't overtly about sex, particularly oral sex, starting from the moment poor Renfield sucks at a wound on his own finger. Dracula puts his mouth on half the movie's cast and doesn't appear to have a sexual preference.

Contrary to popular belief, though, it takes more than sex to hold people's attention, especially during the many decades since DRACULA was first released. If it was just some creaky old film about outdated sexual mores, who would care? But there's something else going on in the film that continues to speak to audiences, even if we have to listen a little harder these days to hear the message. DRACULA is more than just a movie about sexual confusion. It's a movie about fear of the future.

The many subtexts of DRACULA are well established. So much of what people take away from the story depends on when and where they first experience it. It's been called a story about repressive homo- and heterosexuality, xenophobia, a Biblical parable, class warfare and just about anything else you want to read into it. Complicating matters are the great many unanswered questions, the most pressing being "Why did Dracula travel to England?" The 1931 movie makes no effort to answer this question (or any of the other riddles of the novel), deciding instead to hang its entire narrative on a conflict in belief systems.

DRACULA is a movie about the fear of change, a warning for us not to abandon superstition without first putting it to the rigours of the scientific method. It's a concept that gives the film an unusual perspective, to say the least. Dracula's nemesis in the film, Abraham Van Helsing, has the unpleasant task of informing the cast that adherence to logic and reason have left them open to attack from a mythical being. This is Van Helsing's traditional role in just about every variation of the Dracula story: the learned academic who has more faith in superstition than science. In one scene, Van Helsing paraphrases Charles Baudelaire while advising that the vampire's greatest weapon is convincing the world he doesn't exist. You won't find many scientists, then or now, with the balls to say something like that out loud.

While the character of Dracula challenges the beliefs of the movie's characters, the movie stands as a (not entirely well-reasoned) defense of faith. The story demands the cast and audience believe in something that can't be scientifically proven, and invents a monster as "evidence" of the importance of faith. DRACULA is a fun film, but has a prominent anti-intellectual bias. But that's true for most horror films, which tend to devolve a game of  "Kill the Freak" during the final reels.

WHY ARE WE STILL TALKING ABOUT THIS MOVIE? Bela Lugosi and Dwight Frye, mostly. Lugosi's screen presence, especially in DRACULA, can't be overstated. He's amazing in the film, and brings a theatricality to the role that immediately puts him at odds with the younger, mostly American cast. I can't really call what he does in DRACULA "acting" because his performance is raw charisma, but I can't think of another actor of his time who could have pulled off this role. If you think it's easy, watch the Spanish language version of DRACULA released in the same year. It manages to do just about everything better than the Tod Browning film except in the casting of its leading man.

I can't say enough good things about Dwight Frye, either. His work in Dracula is a legitimate performance, presenting Renfield (no first name is ever given) as both a foppish sophisticate and an unhinged maniac. Renfield is hugely sympathetic in the film. He's not only the movie's heart, but which the story's ironic voice of reason, too. In one scene he interrupts a conersation about vampires by asking "Isn't this a strange conversation for men who aren't crazy?" It's a simultaneously witty and tragic moment. If Frye were a young man today, I've no doubt his professional calender would be a busy one.

Edward Van Sloan is also impressive as Van Helsing. There's an unspoken respect between Van Helsing and Dracula in this film, which makes their conflict especially interesting. The best scenes in the movie involve these two actors, which brings us to ...

IS IT TIME TO STOP TALKING ABOUT THIS MOVIE? Outside of Lugosi, Frye and Van Sloan, the cast is terrible. Helen Chandler's life was fucked up enough without heaping posthumous scorn upon her, but she's got crazy eyes and comes across in the film like a condescending bitch. David Manners does what he can with the role of Jonathan Harker, a role that's defeated better actors*, but he mostly just stands around and adds perspective to the photography. There were a few other actors in the movie, but you'll have forgotten about them before the movie's over.

Speaking of the movie's end, I'm not sure what was taking place behind the scenes of DRACULA, but there must have been some kind of trouble. DRACULA doesn't end as much as it just ... stops. We get a two-second music cue to tell us the ending is a happy one and THE END. Had I seen this movie in the theater in 1931, I would have been sure the projectionist had dropped a reel somewhere.

I love Tod Browning. I don't think you get movies like FREAKS, DRACULA and WHITE ZOMBIE on your résumé unless you know what you're doing. But DRACULA is a jumble of unfocused ideas, ranging from the weird (the vampire beetle with his tiny beetle coffin) to the offensive (the asylum orderly who's constantly badgering Renfield and calling him "flyeater" and "crazy.")

Some of the movie's problems come from adapting the stage play, which has been popular among casual audiences despite being less-than-loved by fans of the original novel. The play makes numerous concessions to consolidate the story for the stage, concessions that were unnecessary for a movie. DRACULA has an epic feel at the start, but becomes stagebound during its second half. Not even the stellar camerawork of Karl Freund could make the climax of DRACULA look anything other than stagey.

Ultimately, the elements trimmed from the story to make it fit onto a Broadway stage undermine many of the movie's messages about faith and the misguided devotion to reason. Dracula, a creature of superstition, tried to adapt to metropolitan life and failed spectacularly. It's not faith or righteousness that triumphs, but Dracula's own inability to fit in that brings him to his doom. I don't know how long he survived in Transylvania (a century? more?) but he lasted only a few weeks in London before someone caught wise and stuck a piece of timber through his heart. If it hadn't been Van Helsing, it would have been someone else. The guy was running around the woods the woods at night in a tuxedo ... how did he expect that WOULDN'T draw attention? (This failure to adapt is directly addressed in the novel. Dracula escapes England and flees to the relative safety of his castle in Transylvania.)

VERDICT: This is certified classic, and I have no intention of disputing it's standing. I love every weird, malformed frame of film that makes up DRACULA, even if I can't endorse its every failing. If you haven't seen it, watch it. If you've already seen it, watch it again. And make sure you tell me what you think about the movie in the comments below.

Up Next: DRACULA'S DAUGHTER (1936)

*Yeah, I just did that.

BELA LUGOSI'S "wild wooing tactics" (1924)

"Wild Wooing Tactics of a Temperamental Adonis"

Bogus Whiskers, Fake Phone Calls, Groans, Tears and Mad Love on a Busstop — Thus Does Pretty Ilona Describe Her Heartsick Husband's Attentions to Herself

The Hamilton Evening Journal, Dec. 27, 1924

Ever since crude but caressing cavemen socked their sweethearts with clubs and bounced boulders off their heads to prove that love is real, man has been trying to find some, utterly novel sort of wooing. Leave it to handsome Bela Lugosi to solve tho puzzle- with high honors!

Born in romantic Buda-Pesth, like moat Continentals, dark, dashing and debonair, young Lugosi, says his wife, has invented more heart-tactics, than highballs have created headaches. Among his affectionate strategies—Mrs. Lugosi, known on the stage as the beautiful Ilona von Montagh, firmly asserts— are the following:

• One dog-kidnaping, to an obbligate of wifely tears;
• One overworked telephone, through which filtered sobs and pleas for a reconciliation (and the funny part of this was that not Bela, but mysterious deputies of his, always called up);
• Innumerable personal appearances of alleged "newspaper reporters," who didn't know a "stick" from an agate-rule — also deputies;
• One bogus set of whiskers, which startlingly enabled Hubby to masquerade as his own spokesman;
• Two dainty ankles and ditto wrists, firmly tied on top of a Fifth avenue bus;
• Two ribs, belonging to the loveliest English actress making her home in "the States," cracked either by Bela's excessive talent as a footlight lover, or by his private and pulsing emotions.

Miss Estella Winwood, the British star and victim of the crushing biceps, says that the first-mentioned theory is "just a bally lot of tosh, you know," with her best Mayfair accent. What Bela thinks is nobody's business. At least, he refuses to be Interviewed on the subject. Meanwhile, the sad side of the story is that, besides Miss Winwood's ribs, something else has been  fractured. That is a heart, and it belongs to the magnetic Ilona. So deep proved the dent which Bela inflicted on the core of her affections that she demanded a divorce. Even now as she sits before the hearth in her dainty home on Riversidc Drive, New York.City, the only objects she can I see in the flames arc phony  moustaches and maddening manacles, reflected from memory. But she cheers up when she thinks that very soon she will get her final decree—maybe.

How different all this is from the beginning of Ilona's and Beta's romance! Theirs was a spontaneous, fiery  match, in which love of their mutual nrt and for each other vied, Tho details of their meeting, interest and infatuation were enough to furnish half a dozen novels, Frauicin von Montagh, born into one of the most aristocratic families in Buda-Pesth, had yearnedsince childhood for a stage career. Her relatives, tins' to form the world over, antagonized the idea.

But Ilona persisted, at the expense of kin's cold shoulder. She drudged around for a while in "hits" and then suddenly flashed into stardom in a spectacular flight over night. The vehicle which carried the dark-eyed beauty into heavens of applause, flowers and adulation was the "Florodora" of Central Europe, "The Girl from the Black Forest." This show ran and ran, no rival ever getting within shooting distance of its record.

Fraulein von Montagh played it in Buda-Pesth, Dresden, Hanover. Vienna and Berlin, where her personal hit was such that she captured the town. Even the provinces resounded with her name, her charm and her good looks. But the longest engagement must end some time, so what more natural than that she should seek fresh laurels in that moat up-and-coming of countries, America? To New York she sailed, and then bad luck began to decorate her with all sorts of jinx-insignia.

She, of course, made her bid for native favor in a revival of  "The Girl from the Black Forest." But where Germanic audiences had been cooing, rapturous and manifold, those in the United States proved coy, chilly and scanty.

But there was one sliver of silver lining her dark cloud of despair. In the company playing "opposite" her was a dark and dashing leading man. Bela (for it was none other) cast one blazing eye upon tho Hungarian Venus, and fell for her with a thud which made the very chandeliers shake.

"Will you? Won't you?" was his flaming plea. Ilona could and would. Rapid fire engagement. Church. Marriage. Honeymoon. A prospect of bliss which seemed too good to be true. It was. Bela wanted her to retire, she declares. They stuck it out together, however, for two months. And then Bela agreed, with a tear or two, that he would live elsewhere if his darling would only come home.

With Ilona reinstated and Bela a selfwilled outcast, the real drama began. It started zippily enough. Mrs. Bela had a pet dog, to which she was as deeply devoted as to her art. One awful day Fieurette disappeared. Where had it gone? Its grieving owner taxed her husband with kidnapping the terrified animal.

No sooner had Ilona recovered from Fieurette's vanishing than she began to act as an unwilling shock-absorber for other strange attentions. Weird voices informed her over the 'phone at unearthly hours that she had better hurry up and mend her absent husband's heart as soon as possible or else ---!

Ilona was even more perturbed when the New York press began to develop a strange interest in her private life. Not once but half a dozen times reporters pled for interviews, and she politely admitted them. But they threw off all pretense of being news-gatherers, and candidly told her that they were emissaries from her desolate mate.

Shortly after this Ilona embarked for the theatre — alone. At the corner a strange man sprang out at her, uttering incoherent words and making peculiar gesticulations. The gist of his mumbled discourse was that Madame should, must would lake back Bela Lugosi. Scared out of her senses, Ilona (who had not then seen Molnar's "The Guardsman") ,was about to yell for tho police, when, to her astonishment, the stranger accomplished the equivalent of a quick nocturnal shave by feverishly snatching off his facial decorations.  
Bela—for it was he, she avers—renewed his demand. But Ilona departed in a huff and a Taxi.

The end was not yet. A week later, while riding atop a bus, Ilona became awara that her ankles were chilly. Putting her hand down to find out why (the weather was clement) she was staggered to discover that they had been cunningly shackled. At that moment a set of grasping fingers threw another cord about her wrists and tied it, she says. One doesn't scream on buses, so Ilona sat quiet while theo owner of the fingers seated himself beside her and began the same old story Would she come back to him? Would she have mercy? But she wouldn't. This time she was too much for her friendly enemy. With a wriggle of rage, she managed to do a Houdini and disappeared in the dark.

And Miss Winwood? Well, that was another story. It all occurred while she was starring in "The Red Poppy." Bela was the man in the play who was supposed to grab the fair Estelle and playfull  throttle her. Such a realist was the temperamental Adonis that one night he verged on roughness and pop! went two of Miss Winwood's ribs

But no hard feelings. "It was the sort of thing that might happen to anyone," explains Miss Winwood.

Miss Winwood went on tour in "Spring Cleaning." Mrs. Lugosi went on tour with "Little Miss Bliebeard." As for Bela Lugosi, HE went on tour in "The Werewolf." He was cast as the butler, who jumped out at every girl he liked the looks of, and they DO say he gives a performance which would make Edwin Booth writhe in his grave with jealousy.

Lugosi vows to never again play DRACULA (1931)

Spooks Will Invade Strand Theatre 
Wednesday 10:30 p.m.
The Kingsport Times, June 12, 1931.

One of the most famous of all actors on stage or screen would like to forget the character that made him famous! Audiences on Broadway were thrilled for more than two years by his artistry; millions of picture fans throughout the country are being fascinated by the startling impersonation he gives on the screen. But the character haunts him, and he never wants to play it again.

The actor is Bela Lugosi, and the character is Count Dracula in the most startling of all plays or pictures — "Dracula." Bram Stoker, the famous English novelist, wrote it first as a novel — this terrifying narration of an "undead" being who rises from his grave at night and through his horrible influence brings death and suffering to his victims.

For more than a thousand nights, Lugosi played it in the theatre. Then when the Universal Studios decided to produce the great story as a picture, Lugosi was the natural choice for the role he had made so famous on
the stage. At first, it was difficult to prevail upon him to appear on the screen. He had lived with the horrible vampire character so long on the stage that he wanted to forget, and how could he forget if  he played it again on the screen?

But he finally consented, and  for weeks at the Universal City studios while the picture was in production, he lived again the startling', fantastic role of Count Dracula. Those who have seen both play and picture assert that his impersonation for the films is even greater than his stage work.

But, now that the picture is finished and shortly to be shown at the Strand Theatre, Lugosi says he will nver play the role again.And Lugosi's determination is in itself a great tribute to his ability as an actor. If he had  been able to act the part mechanically —had not thrown himself heart and soul into the role—it would not have the terrors that it now has. But a great artist does not play mechanically, and Lugosi is a great artist.  Thus, each night in the theatre and for many days at the picture studios, his nervous system has been  subjected to a terrible strain.


"Dracula" brought him fame and fortune, but Lugosi, wants more than anything else, to escape from Count Dracula. It is well, however, that he die not reach this decision before the marking of the picture—well for the millions of fans who will be fascinated by his great work on the screen.

When "Dracula" is shown at the Strand Theatre, local theatre-goers will see one of the most remarkable casts ever assembled. Besides Lugosi, two other, players of the original stage cast appear — Edward Van Sloan and Herbert Bunston. In addition, there are many other favorites, including David Manners, Helen Chandler, Dwight Frye, Francis Dade, Charles Gerrard and Joan Standing.Tod Browning, creator of weird and unusual films, directed the picture.

In addition to .the feature, "Dracula," there will be a stage show in the form of Ali-Din. Ali-Din will present a spook party featuring spirit slate writing, talking skulls and handkerchiefs taring into snakes.

The admission will be the same to everyone. No half fare tickets will be sold as the program is not recommended for children under twelve. The box office opens at 10:15 — program starts at 10:45.