A FRIEND OF KARLOFF

In IT'S ALIVE! THE CLASSIC CINEMA SAGA OF FRANKENSTEIN (A.S. Barnes $ Co,/Tantivity Press, 1981), Gregory William Manks mentions that several of Boris Karloff's closest friends were frequent visitors to his "little farm" located at 2320 Bowmont Drive in L.A.'s Coldwater Canyon. Karloff bought the property that had been previously owned by Katherine Hepburn, claiming (of course!) that the place was haunted. All this was possible as a result of the overwhelming success of FRANKENSTEIN and his subsequent contract with Universal. The film studio didn't always remunerate the actors that were responsible to fill their coffers (ex. the often snubbed Bela Lugosi), but Karloff was one they didn't want to lose.

One of Karloff's good friends was Robert Armstrong. Armstrong was also enjoying fame for his breakout role as adventurer and filmmaker, Carl Denham in RKO's KING KONG. The property, complete with gardens, farm animals, a swimming pool and barbecue, and, haunted or not, was sure to have been a welcome surcease from the rigors of Hollywood.

Above is a photo of Armstrong from the Spanish film fan magazine CINE-MUNDIAL (September 1932) and below is a dramatic shot in the April 1932 issue of MODERN SCREEN. Both shots were taken when Armstrong was poised to bring back to civilization Kong, The Eighth Wonder of the World!

YOUNG CREIGHTON CHANEY

As close as a beefcake shot could get of an actor in the 1930's, a young, 25-year-old Creighton Chaney is seen above in the pages of the November 1932 issue of the Spanish-language film magazine, CINE-MUNDIAL.

Chaney was starring in only his second credited role in the RKO-distributed, 12-part serial, THE LAST FRONTIER. He played newspaper man Tom Kirby, whose alter ego is the frontier crime-fighting The Black Ghost, made popular in radio dramas of the day. Joe Bonomo also played in the film; he was a stunt double for Chaney's more famous father, Lon, in the 1923 HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME.

HORROR HOTTIES IN CINE-MUNDIAL

Published between 1916 and 1948, CINE-MUNDIAL was the Spanish-language version of MOVING PICTURE WORLD magazine. They were not exactly alike in their content. While heavily influenced by Hollywood, CINE-MUNDIAL focused on film topics that were of special interest to Spanish-speaking readers.

Each issue was always brimming with photos of films and their stars, including the current film beauties. A number of the glamour girls had a role in a horror/thriller or two from the day. Carole Lombard starred in SUPERNATURAL, Gloria Stuart was in THE OLD DARK HOUSE, Frances Dee would later be cast in Val Lewton's I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE, Lupita Tovar played the Mina Harker counterpart in the Spanish-language version of DRACULA, and Fay Wray, of course, starred in KING KONG. All are worthy of mention in the MONSTER MAGAZINE WORLD Horror Hottie Hall of Fame!

Carole Lombard (Aug. 1931)

Carole Lombard (Apr. 1931)

Lupita Tovar (May 1931)

Lupita Tovar (Feb. 1932)

Gloria Stuart (Aug. 1932)

Carole Lombard (Jul. 1932)

Lupita Tovar (Jun. 1931)

Frances Dee (Mar. 1931)