CANDIDS II

[Lomm]

Wow if I didn't have kids I'd love a tiny place like John Garfield is sitting in there. Minimal upkeep for the win!

[Western Guy]

Joe, from what I understand, Bela's resentment toward Rathbone was twofold. Bela was somewhat bitter, his pride hurt, back when he did SON OF FRANKENSTEIN because initially his part as Ygor was to be much smaller and his salary was a pittance in comparison to what Basil and Boris were receiving: A mere $500 for a single week's work. Of course, thanks to director Rowland V. Lee, Bela's role was enlarged and he remained on the picture for a much longer period. Secondly, Basil Rathbone was a very gregarious man and had a way of taking over the sets of the movies on which he worked and, adding to the fact that he and Karloff were good friends, Bela felt somewhat humbled and left out of the fun. By the time they made THE BLACK SLEEP, Lugosi's career had slipped so far and his role as a mute servant so humiliating that he was heard to grumble about how he used to be "the big cheese" and now here was Rathbone taking over the role that he felt should have been his.

[moira finnie]

Stone, do you think that Bela, in addition to his sensitive actor's pride, may have struggled on movie sets due to his reportedly limited command of English? Or was he more linguistically at home with English than one has been led to believe?

I would have thought that the "veddy" British atmosphere of conviviality and jesting generated by Basil Rathbone and Boris Karloff might have been a bit intimidating for him, even though I doubt if either actor would have deliberately done anything to exclude him.

[Western Guy]

I think you hit the nail on the head on both counts, Moira. Bela really never socialized with the Hollywood film community, preferring to surround himself with his fellow Hungarians, with whom he felt more comfortable. His wife Lillian was to say that Bela could speak perfectly good English but I believe he still likely had problems with the language to the extent that he could never really be relaxed around many of his co-players. Add to that was that he was a self-confessed "lone wolf." He was known to be particularly aloof on the set of DRACULA. And the story goes that he felt so much like a third banana on the set of THE BLACK CAT (because of the chumminess that developed between the two intellectuals Karloff and Edgar G. Ulmer) that he began concocting weird stories about being a hangman back in Hungary. I imagine such exaggeration hardly endeared him to the cast and crew.

And yes, the comraderie between the two British blokes Basil and Boris must have left Bela feeling somewhat out of place. On the other hand, both Karloff and Lugosi became first time fathers at around this time and that did form at least a temporary bond between the two actors.

[mongoII]

Thanks, Stone. One thing for sure, Lugosi's portrayal of Ygor was outstanding, to say the least.

Lomm, that is indeed a cozy little house.

[mongoII]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

JOYCE RANDOLPH is 90 today


JULIE PARRISH (1940 - 2003)

[mongoII]

A brunette Joan Blondell makes a grand entrance. Dig that overcoat.

[mongoII]

Makeup artist Jack Pierce works on José Ferrer’s hairpiece, observed by "Joan of Arc" herself, Ingrid Bergman

[mongoII]

Elizabeth Montgomery with her proud pop

[mongoII]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

ANETTE FUNICELLO (1942 -2013)


JOAN FONTAINE (1917 - 2013)


CONSTANCE BENNETT (1904 - 1965)


CURLY HOWARD (1903 - 1952)

[Rita Hayworth]

Here is a picture of Annette in Pajama Party a 1964 Film





I brought this photo in Vancouver two months ago.

[mongoII]

Thanks for the addition, Erik. She certainly was a cutie.

[mongoII]

Gloria Grahame keeps Glenn Ford company on the set of "Human Desire"

[mongoII]

Birthday gal Joan Fontaine and Brian Aherne on their wedding day in 1939

[mongoII]

Moe Howard and birthday boy Curly Howard surround their father Solomon