I had an entirely different post in mind for today when I opened up my collection of studio portraits, production stills and behind-the-scenes photographs this morning.  Many years ago, before I had children and a mortgage, I lived a carefree bachelor life in New York City, where I could count on attending 3 to 4 horror-themed conventions annually.  Once I’d paid the exorbitant entrance fee, I further threw fistfuls of money at dealers (aka devils in XXL black tee shirts) whose only purpose in life was to collect things I coveted with my immortal soul… bootleg video tapes of long-unseen fright flicks (before most of these wormed their way onto DVD) and soundtracks, magazines from overseas, vintage paperbacks and board games, monster coffee mugs, monster keychains, monster dolls action figures… and of course movie posters, lobby cards and 8 x 10 glossies.  Now I’m not a huge paper chaser – for the foreseeable future I’m not going to be one of those guys who lays down thousands of dollars for an original WEREWOLF OF LONDON one sheet but I did in my day pick up the occasional (affordable) glossy or cinema insert.  Take this one on the left, of Bela Lugosi at his makeup table.  Mind you, it might not be his actual makeup table – this is a studio PR shot, manufactured to give moviegoers the illusion that they are getting a glimpse behind the magic curtain.  But who cares if it’s real or not… it’s a picture of Bela fricking Lugosi not playing anybody (or anything), just being his own bad self, all chill in his robe, making the scene with a little Max Factor eyebrow pencil.  What’s not to love?

And here on the right you’ll see a happy reunion of Boris “The Uncanny” Karloff and Universal makeup maestro Jack P. Pierce, the man who made the monster who made Karloff’s career.  This posed shot is another behind-the-curtain moment from the production of THE BLACK CAT (1934).  Directed by Edgar Ulmer, this stylishly creepy chamber piece was part of Universal’s cash-in on their success with DRACULA (1931) and FRANKENSTEIN (1931) and went the extra mile of casting the stars of those films together for the first time.  Bela Lugosi had the good guy role here and the attendant star billing but Karloff (listed only as Karloff) had the better role, a war criminal who has built his home on the bones of the comrades he left to die in World War I and is presently sleeping with the daughter of the former friend (Lugosi) whose wife he also kyped during the hurlyburly of combat.  Plus he’s a Satanist.  What a bastard!  And he looks wicked cool, with a buzz cut that is not only high and tight but Devil-may-care as all hell-out.  There really wasn’t all that much for Jack Pierce to do here but he seems to be having a fun time doing it.  Pierce and Karloff stayed friendly throughout their long lives; when Karloff was honored on the TV show THIS IS YOUR LIFE in November 1957 (nearly a quarter century after this picture was taken), Pierce was among the celebrants.  Every time I watch this episode I get a little verklemt: when Boris calls Pierce “the best make-up man in the world,” my eyes fill with tears.  That’s just the kind of freak I am.

Here’s a cozy shot of James Whale and Ernest Thesiger on the set of THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935).  Back in the 30s, there was a veritable “British colony” of English actors and directors who’d quit the West End and regional theatre in the United Kingdom to try their collective luck in Hollywood.  These émigré artists endeavored to make themselves at home beneath the tall palms and abundant sunshine of Southern California by preserving a cliquish continuity of character, playing cricket and observing tea time even in the middle of a busy shooting day.  I just love this picture to pieces, with Jimmy Whale and Ernie T (which I’m sure nobody ever called him) having a cuppa and a bicky among the ancient bones.  BRIDE is such a celebration of morbid tendencies (I should know) and this picture perfectly sums up the life that is always in evidence even among the death-obsessed. Boris Karloff isn’t pictured…

… but you know he had his tea.  This shot is, obviously, of a later vintage, is probably from the set of SON OF FRANKENSTEIN (1939), which Karloff made when he was about 50 years old. I dig the fact that you can’t really tell whether Boris wants to have his picture taken or not.  Maybe this wasn’t posed.  Maybe Karloff was off by himself having his breakfast tea and a bit of toast and some shutterbug hireling snuck up on him and made with the click-click.  I have another shot of Karloff on the set of THE MUMMY, in his full-body Im-Ho-Tep linens, and his wife holding a tea cup to his lips.

Here’s a great one.  There was a whole subset of publicity photos generated by the major studios which showed celebrities doing odd jobs around their homes.  I have one of Boris Karloff on a tall ladder tasting an orange he has just picked from one of his own trees but this one’s way better: Peter Lorre watering his garden.  Now maybe Lorre did water his garden with great frequency and loved doing it – I don’t know.  Maybe it was a much-needed respite from the spooking and the creeping and the staring, staring, staring – anything’s possible.  Maybe he thrilled to taking five from being, as he was once called “The Lord High Minister of All That Is Sinister” – I’d buy that for a dollar.  All I know is that pictured here, holding a garden hose with his slacks hitched up to his floating ribs, he looks bloody malevolent… in that patented passive-aggressive Peter Lorre fashion.  (Here’s another shot, not from my collection, taken at the same time – and Lorre doesn’t look any gentler with a shovel than he does a hose.)  Maybe all this says more about me than it does Peter Lorre, who by report loved to hike, read, play with his dogs and garden but… it just seems as though he has done something terrible here… or at least dastardly… and that watering the garden is part of covering up the crime, or at least aggravating the hell out of his victim.  Well, the possibilities are endless, really… which is why this particular behind-the-curtain pose is especially precious to me.  I’m glad I had occasion to flip through these photographs today and especially happy to be sharing them with you during this glorious Halloween season.