Thursday, August 31, 2017

No. 30 / 1998


I received an E-mail from an Avi Gutierrez one weekend during the Summer about this "Scarlet Street" magazine blog which was very encouraging to me.  It read in part:

Hey John,  Just wanted to say I like your "Scarlet" blog.  Very entertaining.  I spend my time looking at your site too much, hence the emoji, and also I'm liking the extra pictures.  So John, I hope you post more issues, oh and I love the way you scan them (I know it is corny to say) but gotta admit it feels like you're reading the issues for the first time.  Gracias.  --Avi Gutierrez.

It was very gratifying to me to read this because Avi described exactly what I had hoped to accomplish!  

Enjoy the last days of the season and we'll be back soon to kick off the month of SHOCK-tober!

























































*Clive Barker






*Clive Barker with Stephen King (above)






*Clive Barker






*Clive Barker






*Clive Barker







*Bill Condon (above) with Brendan Fraser (below)






*Bill Condon (above) with Ian McKellen Brendan Fraser (below)






*Bill Condon on the set of "Breaking Dawn" (above) and Ian McKellen sits with Jack Betts, who played Boris Karloff in "Gods and Monsters" (below)






*Bill Condon (above) and a flyer for the movie "Gods and Monsters" (below) from late 1998 when I went to see the film at the Main Art Theatre in Royal Oak, MI.  The experience just blew me away; a real wonderfully overwhelming enjoyment over how well the material was handled.  It's something I'll never forget.

Roughly seven years later, in 2005, that incredible feeling would be duplicated, but for real this time, when I had the privilege of spending the evening with director Curtis Harrington, who knew James Whale.  I was available to accompany Mr. Harrington to a private screening of a film made by a friend of Curtis's and then a we had a nice dinner afterwards.  Mr. Harrington then took me on a tour of some of his favorite spots in Los Angeles and we kept in touch until his passing in 2007.







*Curtis Harrington, as seen in his own home movie, "Fall of the House of Usher" [1942] below.






*Curtis Harrington





*Curtis Harrington







*Ernest Thesiger (above) from the film "The Man In The White Suit" [1951]






*Ernest Thesiger with Fay Compton (above) in "The Circle" and Colin Clive (below) in "Bride of Frankenstein".






*Ernest Thesiger in a closer look at these two stills from "The Ghoul" [1933] with Boris Karloff




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*Ernest Thesiger doing some embroidery (above) and in his workshop (below.







*Ernest Thesiger with Una O'Connor (above) in "Bride of Frankenstein" [1935]






*Ernest Thesiger in the play (below) "In Good King Charles's Golden Days" (ca. 1939)







*"Bride of Frankenstein" [1935] with Boris Karloff






*"Bride of Frankenstein" [1935] with O.P. Heggie & Boris Karloff (above)







*"Bride of Frankenstein" [1935] with Boris Karloff










*"Bride of Frankenstein" [1935] with Ernest Thesiger






*"Bride of Frankenstein" [1935] with Boris Karloff & O.P. Heggie






*"Bride of Frankenstein" [1935] with Ernest Thesiger






*"Bride of Frankenstein" [1935] with Valerie Hobson & Colin Clive






*"Bride of Frankenstein" [1935] with Elsa Lanchester










*"Bride of Frankenstein" [1935] with Boris Karloff & E. E. Clive










*"Bride of Frankenstein" [1935] with Dwight Frye (above) and Elsa Lanchester, Gavin Gordon, Douglas Walton & Una O'Connor (below)










*"Bride of Frankenstein" [1935] with Boris Karloff & Valerie Hobson (below)






*"Bride of Frankenstein" [1935] with Ernest Thesiger (above)






*"Bride of Frankenstein" [1935] with Dwight Frye & Valerie Hobson (above) and Boris Karloff (below)




















*James Whale with Boris Karloff (below)






*James Whale (below) on the set of "Journey's End'' [1930] 






*James Whale (photo via FB friend Sally Stark)

I have a Facebook page devoted to James Whale, which can be found at this link:  







*Bill Condon (above) with Brendon Fraser (below)







*Curtis Harrington, coming full circle with his re-telling of "Usher" [2002] (above), and with the man who so inspired him, Edgar Allan Poe (below).






*Curtis Harrington

I was, quite frankly, at a loss for coming up with interesting photos of Curtis, until I came across this wonderful documentary of him on YouTube, which you can see at this link:  

It's a really terrific look into the creative Mr. Curtis Harrington, put together by Tyler Hubby and Jeffrey Schwarz and viewable on Mr. Schwarz's YouTube Channel.  Highly recommended!  I hope my screen grabs from this documentary inspire you to watch it!






*Clive Barker










* Supplemental images are noted with an (*) asterisk.  My intention is to only enhance the reading experience and not take away from the original publication.