BORIS KARLOFF'S LAST PHOTOGRAPH

Hollywood fan magazines of the 1930s favored scandal over substance, just as they do today. If they could tantalize, titillate or trash, they had done their job. Like journalistic stage magicians, smoke and mirrors and misdirection were also tools that writers and gossip columnists would use to raise the eyebrow or the ire of the reader.

In this page from PHOTOPLAY (February 1933), the caption accompanying the full-page photo of a pensive Boris Karloff boldly states that this is the last picture that fans were likely to see of him. The catch was that his "bosses" at Universal had made an announcement that any photos henceforth would only be of Karloff in his various monster guises. While it was definitely designed as one more publicity stunt, film historians of today can look back and ponder just how powerful was Karloff's fame, and just how typecast he was, at the time.

The moody, chiaroscuro image of Karloff was shot by Jack Freulich, FRANKENSTEIN's still photographer.

Sinister, those eyes ...

MAE CLARKE: PRETTY AS A PICTURE

Born Violet Mary Klotz, Mae Clarke starred in James Whale's WATERLOO BRIDGE, but she is most famous for her role as Elizabeth in Whale's FRANKENSTEIN, and for having a grapefruit smashed into her mug by James Cagney in THE PUBLIC ENEMY, all released in 1931.

This flattering portrait of Miss Clarke appeared in PICTURE PLAY, May 1932. The caption reads that her next film will be NIGHT CLUB, which was released as NIGHT WORLD. In it, she starred again with Boris Karloff. The photo is by Jack Freulich, the stills photographer for FRANKENSTEIN.

LET'S FACE IT: KARLOFF IS THE MUMMY

A similar photo of Karloff by Jack Freulich unencumbered by the inset and poor reproduction.

Tower's NEW MOVIE magazine was just one of the horde of Hollywood "gossip" magazines that flooded newsstands in the 1920's and 1930's. The titles thinned out over the years, but were still easily found into the 1970's, until they evolved into "entertainment" magazines such as PEOPLE and ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY.

The January 1933 issue of NEW MOVIE included a one-page promo of Karloff in Universal's THE MUMMY, which had just seen release the previous month. The photos are attributed to "Freulich", most likely Jack Freulich, one of the gifted still photographers that Universal employed over the years.