Too Many Tributes...

I was saddened earlier this year to read of the death of Hank Locklin at the age of 91. That name might not sound familiar to most of you, but for a few who share my taste in music, chances are it will ring a bell. Locklin, a member of the Grand Ole Opry for nearly fifty years, sang one of my favorite country songs of all time, Please Help Me, I’m Falling. The song, released in 1960, was a huge hit for Locklin years before I was born; yet even today, it remains one of my favorites.

My taste in music, it does appear, is much the same as my taste in many other areas… fixed firmly in the past. While seldom am I given to introspection, it has occurred to me previously that I’m in truth a creature of another time, another era. I often feel as though I was born fifty or sixty years too late, or that I had been mysteriously transported into a future not entirely my own.

Lately it seems as though I’m even more out of place. In recent years, I’ve had the occasion to write many tributes to those who have passed on. Beginning with a triple tribute to Dennis Weaver, Don Knotts, and Darren McGavin three years ago this past March, I’ve composed eulogies to Richard Valley, Ben Chapman, Forry Ackerman, and most recently Robert Quarry. And to speak frankly, I’m tired of eulogizing people that are responsible, to a greater or lesser degree, for my love of Horror.

Now before too many of you break out your thesaurus in order to find as many synonyms as possible for “ungrateful SOB”, (churlish has always been my personal favorite…) let me qualify my statement by saying that it’s not the writing of these tributes that I object to, it’s the necessity. Many of the stars and icons of my youth are now reaching the age where the need for such celebrations of one’s life and accomplishments are always a possibility. Many are already gone; sadly, more than remain with us. The writing of such tributes is easy; dealing with the loss of yet another fragment of childhood is the difficult part. It’s easy to forget that, for those of us now in our forties, childhood was a long time ago. The people that we idolized as children were twenty and thirty years older than we were then, and still are, if they’re still with us at all.

The only thing from the world of entertainment that had a greater impact than the monsters on me as a child was Star Trek. I was a Trekker from the beginning, and have never lost my love of and fascination with the world created by Gene Roddenberry when he set out to make a series that would be, in his words, “‘Wagon Train’ to the stars…” The people who created that series, who brought it into our homes and transformed it from a TV show to pop culture phenomenon, are now in their sixties and seventies; several have passed away in recent years, including Roddenberry, the “Great Bird of the Galaxy” himself. The most recent of the Trek family to leave us was Majel Barrett Roddenberry, widow of Gene and the familiar voice behind the Enterprise’s computer, as well as Nurse Christine Chapel in the original series.

These deaths, especially of James Doohan and DeForrest Kelly, who played Scotty and McCoy respectively, struck me more deeply than most. This is a part of my childhood I’m not yet ready to surrender, and all due respect to Simon Pegg, there is only one Scotty.

Lately, I’ve had to write far too many tributes, for far too many childhood heroes, and I want it to stop. I don’t want to have to eulogize any more ‘elders’ of Horror, or bid farewell to more cherished moments of my youth. I want to honor those we still have with us, and show them our appreciation now, before it becomes a eulogy. We genre fans should cherish the elders of our “tribe”, and use the time we have left with them to absorb the lessons and memories they have to share with us. People such as Kevin McCarthy, Ricou Browning, Julie Adams, John Zacherle, Bob Burns, and Conrad Brooks are a physical connection to a time most of us know only from grainy images in black & white, a time when cinematic giants still walked the earth. Those times, and those icons, are long gone now. It would be a shame for us to fail to appreciate our last links to them until it was too late.

And, in a broader sense, it is a shame anytime we fail to realize that those who possess the wisdom of age seek only to pass it along to a younger generation, and when we fail to take advantage of that wisdom.

Bob Quarry: The Grooviest Vampire of All

In the eighty-seven years since Max Shreck won fame as the first great movie vampire in F. W. Murnau’s NOSFERATU, hundreds of actors and actresses have slipped a set of fangs into their mouths, adopted a bad Romanian accent, and followed in his footsteps. Most, such as Tom Cruise or David Bowie, have been forgettable. Some were simply odd, such as Eddie Murphy or David Niven. A few were superb, becoming for their time the ideal representation of the undead bloodsucker… Christopher Lee and Gary Oldman are two who fit that description. And one—Bela Lugosi—earned immortality as the ultimate vampire, Count Dracula.

But one actor managed to capture the culture and feel of the time in which he worked better than anyone else. That actor is Robert Quarry, and the movie was 1970’s COUNT YORGA—VAMPIRE. Written and directed by Bob Kelljan, YORGA… was a vampire movie for the Mod generation, and the eponymous Count was the perfect representation of that breed of monster for the Swinging ‘70’s.

There would be other efforts to modernize the vampire mythos, to bring the ultimate gothic genre into the era of the Beatles and Bell-Bottoms; most would fail miserably. Hammer Films, two years after YORGA…, would drag Christopher Lee’s Dracula into the 20th Century in DRACULA A.D. 1972. To say that it was a lackluster outing for Lee’s iconic Count would be extremely kind; the movie was a dog. Everything that had made Hammer’s productions unique and noteworthy was gone, and left little more than an average AIP B-Picture’s worth of entertainment. Not even the return of Peter Cushing to his greatest role, that of Van Helsing, could rescue this floater.

And in 1974, David Niven, in one of his most unusual roles, played an elderly Count Dracula looking for virgin’s blood to rejuvenate his dead wife. So where does he go to find it? Where else… London’s swinging hippie counter-culture, that’s where! Though OLD DRACULA is moronic, Niven is an acceptable Count, and no one takes themselves too seriously. The result is pleasant enough, an entertaining diversion if not a particularly memorable film.

But when it comes to vampires for the Sgt. Pepper crowd, Quarry’s Count Yorga stands head and shoulders above the rest. Quarry imbued his Count with youthful vitality and charisma, and created a thoroughly modern vampire, without the dust and cobwebs of centuries past clogging the scene. Hippies and Flower-Children could relate to Yorga in a way they couldn’t with other movie bloodsuckers of the period. He could dress like them, and talk like them. He was in many ways one of them, though much closer to their parents in age.

Born November 3rd, 1925, Bob had worked regularly in Hollywood since 1951, though he made his film debut in Hitchcock’s 1943 classic SHADOW OF A DOUBT. (Unfortunately, all of Bob’s scenes wound up being cut…) He was a steady character actor in television throughout the 1950’s, and earned his first motion-picture screen credit in the 1956 film-noir classic A KISS BEFORE DYING, as Dwight Powell. For most of the ‘50’s and ‘60’s Bob divided his time between Film, TV, and Theater, appearing in many notable productions. But it was 1970’s COUNT YORGA, VAMPIRE that catapulted Bob to Horror stardom.

He would follow that performance a year later with a sequel, THE RETURN OF COUNT YORGA, opposite Mariette Hartley. It did well, though not quite as entertaining as the first, and Bob Quarry had officially begun his ‘Genre’ period.

He would star in four more horror films by the end of 1974: DR. PHIBES RISES AGAIN; DEATHMASTER; SUGAR HILL; and MADHOUSE. Each was an excellent example of ‘70’s Horror; entertaining, exploitive, campy… all the things that Horror fans treasure about that era in film. The sequel to THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES is even crazier and campier than the first, and his role as Vincent Price’s nemesis, Darius Biederbock, is one of his best. Likewise, his performance as Morgan, the gangster who incurs the wrath of the Voo-Doo priestess Sugar Hill in the movie of the same name, is very good. The role of Oliver Quayle, in MADHOUSE, was a minor one though Quarry did well with it. However, it was as Khorda, the leader of a hippie vampire cult, that he cemented his status as the “Grooviest Vampire Ever.”

Bob slowed down considerably in the early ‘80’s due to injuries suffered in a serious auto accident, but he was back before the cameras again by the end of the decade. His output might not have been as prolific, but he worked steadily through the end of the ‘90’s. It was recently announced that he would be appearing in Mark Redfield’s A TELL-TALE HEART, along with Ingrid Pitt, Debbie Rochon and Kevin Shinnick. Unfortunately, that film was not to be. Bob Quarry passed away after a long illness on Friday, February 20th, 2009. Robert Quarry was blessed with many people who cared for him, from close friends to fans he’s never met. Tim Sullivan, the director of 2001 MANIACS, along with actor Kevin Shinnick, Forry Ackerman’s personal assistant Joe Moe, and others, reached out to help an old Vampire in his time of need.

Far too many of the great Horror icons of our youth have left us already; we need to take care of the ones who are left, and keep them with us as long as possible. Christopher Lee, Kevin McCarthy, Bob Burns… these are the people who inspired my love of Horror, and continue to feed it today. And Robert Quarry certainly belonged in that group. He may no longer be with us, but he’s still responsible for some of the Unimonster’s favorite Monster moments. And he’s still the Grooviest Vampire in Horror Films.

DVD Review: Universal Monster Legacy Collection—CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON

Title: Universal Monster Legacy Collection—CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON

Year of Release—Films: 1954, 1955, 1956

Year of Release—DVD: 2005

DVD Label: Universal Studios Home Entertainment





[Ed. Note: As I was working on this piece, news came that Ben Chapman, the gentle giant who gave life to the Gill-Man when he was out of the water in the first film, had succumbed to illness in a Honolulu hospital. He was 79.

Those who were fortunate enough to have met Ben often remark at how much he loved the fans, and how much he enjoyed interacting with them at the various conventions where he was a regular, and very popular, guest. Sadly, I never had that opportunity, and now it’s gone forever.

But his work, the work Monster-fans have loved for generations, lives on. And even those of us who weren’t lucky enough to have met the man can still visit with him, as often as we like.]

THE MOVIES

One of the greatest monsters Universal ever created, the Gill-Man, starred in three features for the studio in the Mid-‘50’s: CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, arguably the greatest American Horror film of that decade; REVENGE OF THE CREATURE, set, and filmed, in my home town, it’s always been a personal favorite, and; THE CREATURE WALKS AMONG US, the weakest of the trilogy.


When their first three Legacy Collections (DRACULA; FRANKENSTEIN; and THE WOLF-MAN…) became such huge hits among fans, Universal quickly decided to release three more sets, featuring their remaining top-tier franchises. Soon, fans were lining up to grab the MUMMY, THE INVISIBLE MAN, and, of course, the CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON Legacy Collections.

The three CREATURE films are some of Universal’s finest, especially from the 1950’s. The first is perhaps the greatest American Horror—Sci-Fi film of the decade.

1.) CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON: The first, and definitely the best, of the Trilogy finds a party of scientists journeying up the Amazon in search of fossilized remains of a legendary fish-man. With Richard Carlson, Richard Denning, and Julie Adams in the lead, and with Nestor Pavia doing an inspired job as Lucas, the captain of the riverboat Rita, the group discovers a good deal more than expected, as a living, breathing Gill-Man attacks these intruders into his domain. Jack Arnold’s sure direction keeps a less than ideal script moving, but it’s the superbly executed design of the Gill-Man, played on land by Ben Chapman and underwater by Ricou Browning, that transformed this film into the classic it is today.

2.) REVENGE OF THE CREATURE: My personal favorite of the series, due to it’s being filmed in and around my hometown of Jacksonville Florida, this entry finds the Creature captured and transported to the Ocean Harbor Aquarium in Florida. Once there, scientists John Agar and Lori Nelson study him, but he eventually escapes causing panic up and down the coast. Once again directed by Arnold, this lacks the iconic quality of the original, but works very well as a B-grade “Popcorn pic”, perfect for viewing with the kids on a Saturday evening.

3.) THE CREATURE WALKS AMONG US: By far the weakest of the three films in the set, the final outing for the Gill-Man is the only one lacking Arnold’s deft touch, and it definitely shows. John Sherwood, who would direct the excellent THE MONOLITH MONSTERS for Universal a year later, clearly had no grasp on how to handle the Creature franchise. A party of scientists set out to capture the Gill-Man, now living in the Florida Everglades, and in the process manage to set him ablaze. Though injured severely, they are able to save his life by transforming him into an air-breather, thereby removing the Creature forever from his natural environment.

These Legacy collections were phenomenal, gathering together all the best of Universal Horror… and the CREATURE set was one of the best. With all three films featured, as well as new commentary tracks and special features, there’s something for every Gill-Man fan here.



THE DISCS

Though there were many reports of poor quality in the first three Legacy’s, Universal had most of the kinks worked out by the time they released the subsequent three volumes. At any rate, none of my sets evinced the problems encountered by others.

The sets themselves are objects of beauty, splendidly rendered packages for the treasures contained within. Using the Digipak® cases Universal Studios Home Entertainment favors for its special projects, these are about as close as you can get to bound library editions of DVD’s.
The two discs themselves are well-designed, with a common menu style and a simple, well-thought-out functionality. Every movie is subtitled; always a plus to the Unimonster, and the video and audio quality is far better than my beat-up old VHS’s.



THE SPECIAL FEATURES

The key Special Feature in the set is the documentary BACK TO THE BLACK LAGOON, hosted by film historian David J. Skal. This enjoyably entertaining look at the creation of Universal’s last Horror icon features interviews with such notable experts on the Gill-Man as Bob Burns, Monster collector extraordinaire and owner of the last Creature head taken from the original mold of Ben Chapman; and David J. Schow, author. Also interviewed are the three surviving (at that time…) major cast members: Julie Adams, Ben Chapman, and Ricou Browning. Lori Nelson, who played Helen Dobson in the sequel, REVENGE OF THE CREATURE, is also interviewed during a segment examining that film.

Each film also has an interesting and informative commentary track; of which, REVENGE’s is the best. It features Lori Nelson, Bob Burns, and Horror movie expert Tom Weaver, and is full of Nelson’s behind-the-scenes memories and insights that keep this from being just another dry lecture, as so many commentaries of older films are. For instance, the Gill-Man wasn’t the only one who had amorous intentions toward Helen; the director, Jack Arnold, also tried to arrange a private rendezvous, which Nelson was able to avoid with some adroit maneuvering.

Add in the standard poster and stills gallery, and the theatrical trailers, and you have a collection that will satisfy the most dedicated “Gillie.”



IN CONCLUSION

I’ve always loved the Creature; how could I not? No other Monster in the history of Horror, with the possible exception of Kong, is so innocent yet so put upon. In the space of three films, his habitat is invaded twice; he is shot, stabbed, harpooned, poisoned, dynamited, netted, burned, captured, carried halfway across the world, transformed through surgery, and has his heart broken… repeatedly! It sounds like a week’s worth of “General Hospital”, for God’s sake! He needs either the Humane Society, or a good personal injury lawyer.

Though the Legacy set are out of print, they’re still available through a variety of sources, and at reasonable prices. Everyone who considers themselves fans of classic Horror Films really must have, not only the Creature Legacy set, but all the Legacy’s. Or quit calling yourself a fan of classic Horror.

GOOD-BYE TO A GILL-MAN

Ben Chapman died this past Thursday, at the age of 79. That name might not mean much to the average horror fan, but to those with a passion for the classic Monster movies of fifty, sixty, and seventy years past, those for whom the phrase “It’s a UNIVERSAL Picture…” still holds much significance, it means that another icon of youth is gone. The Gill-Man is dead.

To be accurate, I should say that a Gill-Man has died. Chapman is one of four actors who played the role officially, the others being Tom Hennesy, Don Megowan, and, of course, Ricou Browning. Hennesy and Megowan played the Creature while on land, in the two sequels to CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON. Browning played the Gill-Man during his underwater scenes in all three films. And Chapman was the first, the actor who portrayed the Creature during out of the water scenes in the first film in this legendary series. Browning was the one who swam along with Julie Adams as she shimmered her way into the Creature’s heart, as well as those of thousands of adolescent boys; but it was Chapman who was lucky enough to carry her off in his arms.

Don Megowan has been dead for many years now, Tom Hennesy seems to have dropped out of sight, and Chapman has been in poor health since falling ill at last year’s Monster Bash, where he was a regular guest. Still this comes as something of a shock to those who are fans of these actors; this realization that, as fresh as the images of their on-screen exploits may seem to us, they are still images that were captured more than half a century ago. The Gill-Man’s grace and power, Kay’s youth and beauty… all just memories preserved on celluloid.

The first generation of horror icons, Chaney, Lugosi, Karloff, and their contemporaries, are long gone… most before we were old enough to be aware of the fact. The second generation too has passed… Chaney (quite literally a second-generation icon…), Rathbone, Price. Now, the third generation is fading away, and in many ways, this hits much harder.

It as though we were leafing through old picture albums full of family snapshots. The first generation is our distant ancestors, the ones who came over from the old country, or settled the West. We know the names and can sort of recognize the faces, but they remain almost mythic heroes to us, passed down from elder to youth and on again, in an unbreaking chain.

The second generation is similar to our grandparents, mostly inhabitants of our memories, but good, warm memories. Memories of simpler days and simpler joys, of nights spent curled up in front of a television set with a cabinet three times bigger than the screen, watching a middle-aged man in monster make-up do a bad Bela imitation as he introduced the evening’s movie.

But this third generation, they are the aunts and uncles, the parents of our MonsterKid selves. We grew up with them always there, always around. They’re the foundation our love of Horror was built upon, as familiar to us as our own, real families, in many ways.

Though we have always had the work of earlier generations to enjoy and admire, this third generation is the one we grew up with, the one we felt was ours. John Agar, Richard Denning, Richard Carlson, Peter Cushing, Malia Nurmi… Ben Chapman. So many gone already. So few remaining. So little time left to appreciate them while they’re with us; instead of, like this column, after they’ve gone.

Of Monsters, and Memories, and Goodbyes

There are many things I love about this hobby of mine. The genre movies that I have in my collection, nearly 1,700 at last count. The books and magazines. The figures and toys.

However, what I treasure most about this life-long love of Horror and Sci-Fi are the memories and friendships that it has brought to me. Having the FRANKENSTEIN 75th Anniversary Edition DVD in my collection is nice; it’s an absolutely beautiful DVD. However, the joy I derive from watching it can’t possibly compare to the memory of the first time I saw FRANKENSTEIN… grainy, scratchy, cut to pieces, on a 12-inch black & white TV. Halloween is still my favorite holiday, and now, as an adult, I can go as wild as I want with it, with the only restrictions on my celebrations being monetary, but it will never be as good as it was when I was ten.

The feelings for, and memories of, the people I’ve come in contact with since I began to write seriously about the Horror, Sci-Fi, and Fantasy genres are the real treasures of my collection. That’s true whether in the yahoo groups I inhabit, such as the Universal Monster Army, the Creatures Features group, or my own Attack of the B-Movie Monster group; or at conventions like Wonderfest and Horrorfind; or even through the writing itself. Three of the best friends I’ve ever had in my life came about through the horror groups, and I’ve had the opportunity to meet individuals whose work I’ve admired for decades. Thirty or so years ago I watched Forrest Tucker, Larry Storch, and Bob Burns every week in the Saturday morning live-action program Ghost Busters… five months ago I was standing not ten feet from Mr. Burns, one of my heroes of the genre, at Wonderfest.

The most amazing thing to me is the way the network spreads throughout the genre. Much like the “six degrees of Bacon” game, everyone can be connected to everyone else. In just one degree of separation (or maybe two… I was never good at the game), I can be connected to an Oscar-winning actress, a ‘50’s Sci-Fi icon, and a legend of the genre. The web of my personal network is not deep, but it is exceedingly broad. Unfortunately, that does have painful consequences at times.

Now is one of those times. Richard Valley, Editor and Publisher of Scarlet Street Magazine, has passed away at the age of 58.

Scarlet Street, for those unfamiliar with this magazine, is one of the few devoted to the classic Horror and Suspense films of the ‘30’s, ‘40’s, and ‘50’s; certainly it is the best. Started in 1991, with a focus on the Granada Television Sherlock Holmes series starring Jeremy Brett, it has evolved over time to encompass a much broader spectrum of classic genre films. It now includes such films as the Universal Horrors, ‘50’s Sci-Fi B-pictures, and Italian Sword-and-Sandal epics. Well-written and slickly produced, with a distinctive visual style, Scarlet Street is required reading for Holmes fans, particularly those who feel that Brett was the consummate Holmes. Moreover, it should be on the “must-read” list for anyone who considers themselves classic Horror Film fans. And for sixteen years, Valley was the driving force behind it.

He began the magazine in his spare time, working with friends and fellow-fans, Xeroxing the first issue in black & white. And he has guided it ever since, transforming it into the quality publication it is now.

I didn’t know Richard Valley personally, but one of my best friends included him in her circle of friends. I share her pain and sense of loss, in my sympathy and concern for her. Her anger at the disease which has claimed him, as it has claimed so many others in both our lives, is understandably heartfelt and sincere. Cancer has taken many of those I love, including my own father. We have discussed this between ourselves before, as a favored cousin of mine lay dying of the disease. I wish that I had the words to ease her pain now, as she sought to do for me when the situation was reversed. As we both have sought to do for others countless times before.

Unfortunately, those words don’t exist; at least, not in my limited vocabulary. There is nothing I know to say that can ease the sense of loss and hurt that afflicts her now, or help those whom I don’t know who loved this man. The only thing I can do is reassure her of one concern that she voiced to me prior to his death. She was angered by the fact that his intellect, his passion and knowledge, would soon be lost.

But it won’t… not really. We have it in his writings, his articles and essays, his true legacy. We still have it, in the pages of the magazine he created.

We still have it, because we still have Scarlet Street.