ROLF ARMSTRONG'S SCARIEST PIN-UP

American Rolf Armstrong (April 21, 1889 – February 22, 1960) was the uncle of actor Robert Armstrong who played Carl Denham in KING KONG (RKO 1933). Armstrong is one of the best known pinup artists from the Golden Age of glamour illustration and is sometimes called "The Father of Pinup Art". His work could be seen on many of the movie fan magazines of the day.

Armstrong worked in oils and pastels. In 1935, he either had permission for or was asked by execs at Universal Studios to visit the set of BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN and work up some sketches of Boris Karloff in Jack Pierce's makeup. Often mistakenly identified as a painting, the series was completed with the pastel shown here. Besides being seen for a few seconds in one of Karloff's home movies, this work is the only known color depiction of the monster from the film.

Armstrong was hoping to gain some financial traction with the picture, but nothing ever materialized. Upon Armstrong's death, it was, along with much of his art, willed to Jewel Flowers, one of his favorite models.

Rolf Armstrong photograph in Screenland December 1929.

In the February 1930 issue of SCREENLAND, Armstrong commented on the power and influence of color. His discussion included the symbolic interpretations of numerous colors and how they correspondent to the different actresses of the day.

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!