RIP Carla Laemmle

RIP Carla Laemmle, who's passed away at the age of 104. The niece of Universal Studios founder Carl Laemmle, Carla lived a very unique life. While living on the Universal Studios lot, she was able to have a first hand look at many of the films being made there and ended up playing one of the ballerinas in the classic The Phantom of the Opera with Lon Chaney, and she also spoke the first line in a sound horror film when she appeared in Dracula. I met her last year and heard her speak before a screening of Dracula at the 2012 TCM Film Fest. She was a sweet lady and always had a smile on her face.

Trivia Tuesday: Happy Birthday Lon Chaney!

Born in 1883 to deaf/mute parents

Only made one talking picture before his death, a remake of The Unholy Three, a silent film he made in 1925

Signed a legal affidavit declaring that all of the voices he performed in the talking version of The Unholy Three were his voice.

Was the favorite to play Count Dracula in Universal's Dracula, but became terminally ill from lung cancer and died of a throat hemorrhage before production ever began.

His ability to transform himself physically and with makeup earned him the nickname "The Man of a Thousand Faces"

His grave in the Great Mausoleum at Forest lawn Cemetery (Glendale) remains unmarked to this day.

Because his performance in Tell It To The Marines was so convincing, he became the first actor to be granted honorary membership in the Marine Corps. Upon his death, it was arranged for a military chaplain and honor guard to be present at his funeral.

Famous for his various makeup creations, Tell It To the Marines was Chaney's only film in which he wore no makeup at all.

He could only wear the harness he wore to keep his legs behind his back in The Penalty for ten minutes at a time because it was so painful. 

The makeup Chaney created for his role in The Phantom of the Opera was so horrific, it was kept out of any publicity leading up to the premiere for added shock value when it was revealed during the film.

31 Days of Horror: The Phantom of the Opera (1925)

The original Lon Chaney classic from 1925.

31 Days of Horror: The Mummy (1932)

The original Karloff classic! Jack Pierce's makeup is extraordinary!

31 Days of Horror: The Invisible Man (1933)

From The Invisible Man

31 Days of Horror: The Black Cat (1934)

The Black Cat is next on my list for Halloween viewing. This film marks the first time that Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi were paired on screen and it also has the distinction of being the highest grossing film of 1934; a pretty big achievement when you consider that it only has a 65 minute run time! In those 65 minutes though, Edgar G. Ulmer packs in devil worship, torture, human sacrifice, murder, and a host of other items that would have caused the film to be banned if it had been released just a few months later when the production code went into effect. Besides a fantastic storyline, The Black Cat also has stunning visuals with a futuristic art deco set and lighting and camera angles that are reminiscent of German expressionist film. A unique and thrilling horror, The Black Cat should not be missed!

31 Days of Horror: The Wolf Man (1941)

Released in 1941, The Wolf Man came to be known as the film that revived Universal horror. The Wolf Man is one of the few monster films where the source material isn't based on literature; it was also instrumental in contributing to the mythology and legend of the werewolf. The idea that a werewolf could be killed by silver, that a person would become a werewolf through a bite and change during a full moon all came from this film. Perhaps the most significant item to have come from this film is the oft repeated poem "even a man who is pure in heart may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright." Some people truly believe this to be gypsy folklore, but it was actually writer Kurt Siodmak who created it, along with the other werewolf "folklore". While this may not have been the first werewolf film, Werewolf of London has that honor, it is the most significant in contributing to the mythology for all werewolf films to follow.