In 1952, a private collector discovered a 1910 version of Frankenstein that Edison Studios produced and thought to be lost, because when people saw the 12-minute movie, it was considered sacrilegious and appalling to people.
It's interesting that Universal would consider remaking the short film into a full scale movie from the novel and then release it right before Christmas in 1931... a religious holiday.

I love the story where Ricou had to get out of the water to go pee and he surfaced where a mother and daughter were relaxing! Very funny!

Did you know that rocker Dave Edmunds had a song titled "The Creature From The Black Lagoon"? It wasn't my favorite. My favorite all time horror movie theme song was "The Blob"...
"It creeps, and leaps, and slides across the floor..."

Funko, the toy company that makes zillions of collectible figures even has a "Creature From The Black Lagoon" toy figure that goes for a little over $50.00

Also, since Halloween is coming very soon - now would be a good time to go Creature costume shopping!

I laughed so hard at this!

If you have kids in Middle or Senior high school, you'll shake your head and say: ... yep, it's true.

The most interesting fact is that they used Fay Wray's voice from "King Kong" instead of Maureen O'hara's. Back in 1939 the cost to make this movie was 1.8 million dollars! In 1996, The Walk Disney version cost 100 million dollars to make and grossed 3.25 million. Still a champ!!!

I have noticed that over the last few years how Halloween has become such a prominent celebrated day in America. It's funny... yes, we all went out trick-or-treating dressed as our favorite cowboys or ghost, but now in the month of August I walk into my local 99cent store, Home Depot or Target store and they already have Halloween costumes out and the walls are decorated with TONS gruesome materials.
The costumes and paraphernalia today is that of trauma and mass horror as compared to the simple costumes we use to make at home.
The man problem is society. Television and movie glorify sex and violence to the hilt. Yes, we had our share of evil movies, but we also grew up on The Munsters and The Addams family. We rarely saw a close-up on an evil act. The shots were more focused on the faces and reactions of the actors... and that was enough to scare us to death.

Today it's horror to the MAX. To read the stories that Zeon told are horrific indeed... but to many today , people will just read this and go on without a thought to how bad these cases really were. The rate it's going, I expect to see the stores even starting to sell Halloween as early as July next year

Very very interesting article! I, like many other folks my generation, grew up on all these 'monster' movies and their comedy tie-ins. Every kid pretended to be Frankenstein, Dracula or the Wolfman at some point... with their friends, around their brothers or sisters, on the playground at school or dressed at Halloween.

It's funny that Eddie mentioned Bela Lugosi appeared later in the movie "Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla" (1952). That film starred two actors (Duke Mitchell and Sammy Petrillo) who looked and sounded a lot like Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. At the time they were capitalizing on the fame of Martin and Lewis (Jerry was reported as wanting to sue them). The strange connection is that Martin and Lewis were friends with Abbott and Costello. It was Lou Costello who paid for Dean Martin's nose job when they were starting off in the business. Funny how paths cross.

I really enjoy stories about things I remember from the past but had no idea about thei makings. Thanks Eddie!

A great article! I have been through California City a number of times and often wondered about the nature of people. Why is it that zillions of people want to crowd into an area like Los Angeles where the traffic is horrendous and the dwellers have such short tempers because of all the stress?

The I think of Las Vegas... the drive between Los Angeles and Las Vegas is interesting. It takes a little over an hour to leave the hustle-and-bustle of the LA area to be driving on a road in the middle of the empty desert. The in the middle of nowhere are a couple of towns (Baker, Barstow) before nothing again. Then smack in the middle of the vacancy appears Las Vegas!

It's kinda the thoughts I have when I've been through California City. It's also kinda the thoughts I have when I'm the first patron into a movie theater to find my seat and then the other people come in and sit right next to me instead of sitting any other place in the empty theater.

Great article for thought!

There are so many TV shows that fit the bill regarding Eddie's article about "Jumping The Shark". Remember "The Partridge Family"? Top rated show - sold millions of records - toys and novelties galore... Well, after three top rated seasons, David Cassidy was threatening to leave the series because his super-star status was taking a solo turn. The producers decided to bring in a new cast member, Ricky Segall, to play 5-year-old Ricky Stevens. The show went from being in 19th place in their third season to 78th place in the fourth and last.

Even today... You can see the "shark" either coming or going on shows like "Criminal Minds" where the most popular cast members are now leaving the show and being replaced by others who may or may-not make it thru one whole season.

Then there is the opposite... A show such as "Last Man Standing" which constantly receives good ratings suddenly gets cancelled for no announced reason (except maybe a political one). ABC decided to drown the show before the shark appeared.

Of course, there is also another scenario: Take a show like "Timeless" which never really seemed to get into the water at all. Rumor is that NBC will reverse it's decision to give "Timeless" a second chance to ski this coming year because of so many beach-goers bombarding NBC with calls and letters. (Remember "Star Trek"?)

Very interesting story. I didn't know much about Charlie Chaplin at all. I actually heard more about Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton than Chaplin. Probably because as a kid growing up I always remember the scene hanging from the clock tower or remembering Buster Keaton's face from some of the later films (like the Beach Party movies from the sixties).
Very interesting story about Chaplin indeed!

Yes... but "Weird Science" is my favorite. Who wasn't in love with Kelly LeBrock (The Woman in Red!)????

Wow! VERY INTERESTING STORY!!!

Back in the 70's, an area of Los Angeles called "Westwood" was the "in" place to be if you were a young adult. The Village of shops, theaters and restaurants was built around the area of UCLA. I remember hanging out there a lot. On the edge of the Village, behind a smaller movie theater sits a graveyard - "The Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery". Most people who spent time hanging around in the village didn't even realize that the grounds were there a block from "Wilshire Blvd."

A LOT of celebrities are buried or interned there including Marilyn Monroe. Marilyn is in a crypt three rows up from ground level. Others interned in the same place are : Don Knotts, Natalie Wood, Richard Conte, Roy Orbison, Jim Backus, Dorothy Stratten (Playmate), Carl Wilson (Beach Boys), Lloyd Nolan, Lew Ayres, Darryl F Zanuck, Harry Warren, Buddy Rich, Ava Gabor, Truman Capote, Heather O'Rourke, Christopher George, Oscar Levant, Brian Keith, Peggy Lee, Billy Wilder, Rodney Dangerfield, Jack Lemmon, George C. Scott, Les Brown, John Cassavetes, Cornel Wilde, Minnie Ripperton, Eve Arden and Dean Martin , among many more.

If I arrived early and had some extra time, I would often visit the small serene park and just walk around (no... I'm not creepy!). Some of the headstones and tributes are very interesting to say the least. A main reason so many stars are here is because of it's proximity to the Beverly Hills area.

One thing I had always noticed was that there were ALWAYS FLOWERS left on Marilyn's crypt... not necessarily put there by Joe DiMaggio... but fans would bring flowers every day. They would even leave notes taped or placed on her marker. The same goes for Dean Martin's crypt after he passed on.

Westwood Village is not the same as it was back in the 70's,80's and 90's... but it's still there (just more commercialized and not as quaint)... but if you are ever in the Los Angeles area, it is a very nice and interesting place to stop, visit and pay your respects to Marilyn and all those who has entertained us for years.

Thanks for your interesting story Eddie!

I had met Ernest Borgnine many times over the years, and Eddie's article is right... he was the nicest person you'd ever want to meet. He always asked about you and he would really listen with intent, responding back with definite answers, not just an "uh... huh".

I didn't know that he was married to Ethel Merman once. It's no surprise that the marriage only lasted days... my memories of Merman were that she was not a very pleasant upbeat person.

I actually saw this movie as a double bill at a drive-in in Pennsylvania. Just being at an actual "drive-in" was more thrilling than the movie. It was funny (and sort of sad) to see people start up their cars, turn their lights on and pull out of the lot during the middle of the movie .