THE ROMANCE OF A MUMMY

The UK-based FORTEAN TIMES continues to be a reliable, regularly-published periodical on Fortean and other strange phenomena. Now that the late-lamented ATLANTIS RISING has slipped beneath the waves, we only have FT and David Hatcher Childress' WORLD EXPLORER remaining on magazine racks to satisfy our paranormal and alt-history appetite. FT also frequently covers topics near and dear to our hearts, as the paranormal and horror films are cousins.

In the December issue of FT appears an article that coincides with the opening of a new Egyptian exhibit at the Saatchi Gallery in London. The article explores the fascination that we have had for the "mysterious" land of Egypt since the opening of King Tutankhamen's tomb by Sir Howard Carter in November 1922. Just 10 years later saw the premier of Universal's THE MUMMY, which firmly place the subject into the realm of fantasy and myth, thanks in large part to Jack Pierce's immaculate makeup recreation. Vengeful mummies have persisted in the cinema ever since.

Mummies were fodder for literature as well. One story concerning the topic was a novel by the Frenchman, Théophile Gautier entitled, "Romance of a Mummy". Gautier (30 August 1811 – 23 October 1872) is perhaps best known for his novel of a cross-dressing swords-woman based on a real-life person, MADEMOISELLE DE MAUPIN (1835). His adventure/romance novel of the mummy was first translated into English and published after his death in 1882. Prior to this, he wrote a short story entitled, "The Mummy's Foot", which was translated by Lafcadio Hearn in 1840.

The article shown here traces our interest in the mysterious and magical world of Ancient Egypt and its perpetual hold on our imagination.

Buy FORTEAN TIMES HERE.

3D CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON TO SCREEN IN LOS ANGELES

Scott Essman, the Prince of Promotion, is reporting that the last of the great Universal monster movies, THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON (1954), will be screening in its original 3D version this Sunday at the New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles, California. Playing with it Universal's THE MUMMY. A super double-feature! Tickets are available HERE.

Those of you who can't see it in L.A. and are going to MONSTERPALOOZA in Burbank the following weekend will have a chance to see it Saturday night, March 29, at 8:30 PM. Info is HERE.

HOWARD CARTER AND THE MUMMY'S CURSE

Jack Pierce adds the finishing touches to his re-creation of a 3,000 year-old mummy, played by Boris Karloff in Universal Pictures' THE MUMMY (1932).

Ninety-one years ago, on 16 February 1923, archaeologist Howard Carter entered a sealed tomb in Thebes and discovered what was not only the most amazing find in Egyptology, but in the entire field of archaeology as well.

Carter had unearthed the resting place of non other than fabled boy-King Tutankhamen. The sarcophagus wherein lay the King was fashioned from solid gold! A huge treasure trove was found inside the burial chamber that included more gold, jewelry and other precious metals. It was the find of the century,

But it seemed there was a price to pay for the defilement of the ancient laws that guarded the dead in their rock-hewn burial crypts called pyramids. Not long after the discovery of Tutankhamen and the subsequent removal of his mummified body and the possessions meant for his afterlife, mysterious deaths seemed to surround some of the people that had entered unbidden, into the tomb. History has since proven that these deaths were more coincidence than curse, but nevertheless the thought remained that somehow bad luck had befallen Howard Carter and his crew. It was this so-called curse that fueled the headlines of papers across the world for a time. Still, it was not enough for the continued plunder of Egypt's noble and glorious past that continues to this day.

Ten years later, Hollywood picked up on the "mummy's curse" and capitalized on it, producing a film that expounded on an amplified "what if" idea that there was something truly otherworldly and supernatural surrounding the ancient tombs. Universal Pictures brought to life Im-ho-tep, the living mummy, who lusted after his long-lost love and whose soul resided in the body of a modern day woman. Thus was born the legacy of a series of films starring some of horror's classic stars, including Boris Karloff and Lon Chaney, Jr.

Making these men into 3,000-year old mummies was the work of Jack P. Pierce, then head of the Universal Pictures makeup department. He employed cotton and collodion, as well as yards of gauze and fuller's earth to create amazing recreations of the Egyptian walking dead.

Universal enjoyed the popularity and box office receipts from the franchise, but without the discovery by an intrepid archaeologist named Howard Carter years earlier, there would be no Ardath Bey and no Kharis. Another example of art imitating life . . . or is it death?

In this article from FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND #92 (Nov. 1974), Jack Pierce is acknowledged as the genius behind the makeup. Although Pierce always deferred his work to the ability of the actors under the makeup, they still would have been far less convincing in the hands of lesser talent.

In this photo, Jack is seen giving Lon Chaney Jr. the "brush off". Jack was meticulous in his work and the application of complicated makeups like these took hours.

FORREST J ACKERMAN'S MUMMY RING

A while back I posted information about the Factory Entertainment prop ring reproduction worn by Boris Karloff in Universal's THE MUMMY (1932).

The late Forrest J Ackerman did not own the original Mummy ring, but among the artifacts given loving custodial care by him was a ring that he found in an antique shop and wore on occasion, along with his original Dracula ring. Amazingly similar to the ring used on-screen by Karloff, it was among Ackerman's cherished possessions and he displayed it alongside the bit of mummy wrapping seen here yesterday that was created in Jack Pierce's makeup shop on the Universal lot.

This piece was included in the 2009 auction that saw many choice items from Ackerman's collection sold off to the highest bidder just a few scant months after his death.

The image below is from the auction catalog.

JACK PIERCE'S MUMMY IS A WRAP

Most likely the only remaining piece of Jack Pierce's original mummy wrapping was at one time owned by -- who else? -- Forrest J Ackerman. Among his belongings that were tragically separated from the rest of his incredible collection during an auction in 2009, this small swatch of fabric had been at one time wrapped around Boris Karloff for his role in Universal's THE MUMMY (1932).

It remains confounding to me that after hearing dozens of adulations over the past few years from important Hollywood directors and stars who claimed that Forry shaped their lives, that none of them thought to part with a percentage of their wealth or to organize a consortium that would have kept Ackerman's one-of-a-kind collection intact.

The perceptive Monsterologist will notice the error in one of the pictures below.

ON THE SET OF 'THE MUMMY', 1932

This interesting monster movie arti-film-fact appears in all likelihood to be a promotional shot, photographed by "Bragg" for the December 1932 issue of PHOTOPLAY magazine. The scene is a set from Universal's THE MUMMY and it depicts various elements that are never seen on screen.

The 2-page spread is titled, The Great Pyramids Move to Hollywood and an Egyptian Mummy Comes to Life!, and shows a number of the characters who are found all together only in this shot and not in the film itself. David Manners is seated in the cab along with Zita Johann, who is dressed in her vestal garb seen at the end of the film. Noble Johnson, who plays the Nubian of Mueller's (Edward van Sloan) "Ancient Blood", peers through the window of the cab. Just outside is Boris Karloff in his Ardath Bey makeup, holding up an object -- the car keys perhaps? The caption reads that Karloff was only in this makeup for three minutes onscreen, so it refers to the opening sequence, when we see him as Im-ho-tep, not as Ardath Bey. Over his shoulder appears to be the unidentified actor who plays the security guard in the Cairo Museum and who is done in by Ardath Bey near the beginning of the film. The seated rotund personage is Karl Freund, the director of THE MUMMY.

Detail of the 2-page PHOTOPLAY spread of THE MUMMY set.

 The caption explains that a Universal employee was sent to Egypt in order to photograph various scenery so that backgrounds in the film could be as realistic as possible. The scene shown in this photograph is set up to use rear projection during the sequence when Manners and van Sloan are in the taxi together at approximately 44m.

The caption goes on to say: "Karloff achieves the one of the greatest feats of screen make-up yet known." John P. Fulton received screen credit for his less-than-spectacular special effect of lap dissolving the Ardath Bey/Im-ho-tep character at the end of the film. Ironically, the "greatest feat of screen make-up" was really achieved by the uncredited Jack P. Pierce, who had previously gone uncredited for his Frankenstein monster makeup the previous year. Other notable creative luminaries were uncredited as well: Vera West for costumes and Willy Pogany for art direction.

THE MUMMY was released in the U.S. on December 22, 1932. It is unknown exactly when the December edition of PHOTOPLAY hit the newsstands, but it was probably a few weeks before, and the picture spread was used to promote the film.

MUMMY PROP REPLICA RING

Coming sometime by the end of the year (Amazon claims one available now) from Factory Entertainment is the Universal Monsters Mummy Prop Replica Ring. The is a faithful reproduction of the ring that we see on Ardath Bey (Im-ho-tep) in the original 1932 version.

The ring comes in one size (Men's 13) and will be limited to 500 copies worldwide. A cast mummy's hand display (from Boris Karloff's own hand) accompanies the piece. The price is $249.95.

Here is the ad copy from the Factory Entertainment website:

Universal Monsters
The Mummy Ring Limited Edition Prop Replica

Unsing rare behind-the-scenes photos and many hours of artifact research, Factory Entertainment  has recreated one of the most beloved classic Universal Monster props to date: Imhotep's Scarab Ring as worn by Boris Karloff in 1932's The Mummy. 

Each ring comes as a US Men's size 13, and is 18K gold plated with an antique finish and genuine onyx stone. A solid polystone mummy display hand - Molded off of Karloff's actual hand casting - accompanies every ring.  A numbered limited edition of 500 pieces, each Scarab ring is presented in a full color collector box and includes a prop story booklet, a numbered certificate of authenticity and mummy hand display.

 

 

Let's hope they issue a less expensive version later, such as they did for the Dracula prop ring. Two hundred and fifty bucks buys a lot of Starbucks venti's.

SINISTER SIMULACRA: ZITA JOHANN AND THE SUN QUEEN

References used by artists vary far and wide, but to use two separate images from a 1932 horror film for the jacket of a book that was published in 1946 is, I think, unusual.

The Sun Queen, a  British science fiction/fantasy novel written by H. Kaner and presumably self-published (it was printed by Kaner Publishing), dealt with a kind of thought travel to the sun. It garnered only tepid reviews and was even negatively described by an online bookseller, which is not exactly a good way to peddle a book if you ask me.

The jacket was painted by H.W. Perl. There is scant biographical information regarding the presumed "Mr." Perl, but there are several more examples of his work depicted on the web. In particular, a site called Look and Learn Picture Gallery has a number of Perl's book cover works, including covers for supernatural-themed books.

The cover of The Sun Queen shows obvious references to Zita Johann as Ankh-es-en-amon and Boris Karloff as Im-Ho-Tep as they played in Universal's THE MUMMY. The poses are from publicity photographs at the time of the film's release.

It appears than Perl may have had a "Zita Johann" reference file. Among the waterarked images from Look and Learn is a book cover of the novel, Frightened Virgin (!). The pose on the cover painting of this book looks quite similar to that of the poster image from THE SIN OF NORMA MORAN, another film that starred Zita Johann.

Mere coincidence . . . or . . . sinister simulacra?

THE GHOST OF THE MUMMY'S CURSE

A life-long wish, now relegated to a bucket list item, has been a trip to Egypt to see the pyramids. With the latest in a long string of political unrest, violence and bloodshed among one of the world's oldest peoples, it now appears to be more unlikely as ever.

My desire, of course, was originally sparked by watching mummy movies as a Monster Kid. Coupled with the historical aspect that I absorbed from school and the National Geographic, I was wrapped up in all things mummy.

Now, new interest has arisen as a result of some optical shenanigans recorded on camera of an ancient Egyptian statue that has been seen spinning around on its own in a Manchester museum in England (see story below).

The August issue of FORTEAN TIMES, that wild and whacky magazine that covers the gamut of strange phenomena includes an article on the history of mummy's curses, beginning with the seemingly ill-fated opening of King Tut's tomb by Howard Carter and Co. While many of the deaths attributed to the curse can be explained away, the collective romanticism of a public who wants to believe in such things perpetuates the legends. Still, the topic is interesting enough to read and ponder the seeming six degrees separating myth from reality

THE MUMMY FILMBOOK

It took almost 20 years and over 140 issues, but FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND finally published a filmbook of one of the most notable Universal horror films ever, THE MUMMY.

Printed in two parts in issue #'s 143 and 144 (May-June 1978) they more than made up for it with a massive, nearly 30-page extravaganza! There is no credit given for authorship of this article, but, in light of the pun at the end of Part Two, it may very well have been Forrest J Ackerman himself who penned the filmbook.

Included is a postscript article entitled, "A Close Encounter With King Tut", by "Dr. Walter J. Daugherty, F.R.A.S.", the same "Walt Daugherty" credited as Special Photographer in countless issues of FM.