Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein: 10 Things You Don't Need to Know

now a lot of people believe that horror and comedy are two sides of the same coin and for decades comedy horror mashups like Shaun of the Dead Beetlejuice and Little Shop of Horrors have kept movie audiences laughing and screaming at the same time while it didn't create the comedy horror genre Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein was one of the first movies to blend the genres successfully resulting in the movie that scored big on the laughs but also stayed true to the horror so join me as we pry open the lid of one of my favorite Halloween movies 1948 classic Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein about five years before work even began on Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein but Abbott and Lou Costello were kicking around the idea of a story involving their characters and some classic monsters not for a movie but as a Broadway show realizing the defects in the makeup may be tough to do on stage the way they wanted they put the project on hold that was until Universal Studios came to the duo asking what project was next for them Universal had been the home to the classic movie monsters including Dracula the Wolfman and Frankenstein's monster so merging happen and Costello with their monsters seemed like the perfect fit from that idea a script titled the brain of Frankenstein was created and everyone was ready to go everyone that is except Lou Costello he hated the script and reportedly told the studio execs that his five-year-old daughter could have written something better the studio asked Estella to trust them and when they paid him in advance of $50,000 on a salary and agreed to hire his friend Charles Barton as the director he agreed to make the movie part of the reason having Charles Barton as the director was such a win for Costello was that he knew that Barton felt that having fun on set would result in the cast having fun on the screen keeping everyone loose and laughing was so important that they actually hired comedian Bobby barber to hang out on the set just to tell jokes and perform gags for the cast and crew thanks to the influence of barber everything from dressing-room pranks to pie fights were a regular part of the production he would even interrupt shots on the set just to keep everyone laughing and as a thank you to him barber was even given role in the movie that's him playing a locker room attendant at the masquerade party have you seen chick young or Rover's Gray seen him I don't even know them while most of the cast and crew appreciated the fun they were having offset Bela Lugosi didn't appreciate when the jokes made their way on to the actual set he was fine with the jokes and even with the pie fights but when barber followed Lugosi down the stairs in one shot a frustrated Lugosi walked off the set [Music] happening Costello had honed some of the best gags to perfection during their years spent on the road during live shows many of those gags and even full routines often made it into their movies so it shouldn't be much of a surprise to learn that even gags they've done in earlier movies made their way into Abbott and Costello V Frankenstein one example is the moving candle at Costello sees when Dracula is opening his coughing a similar gag was used and hold that Ghost seven years earlier another example is the scene during a masquerade party where Costello picks on the Wolfman thinking it's Abbott in his costume they used this gag three years earlier in the naughty 90s when Costello thought he was wrestling with Abbott and a bear costume when he was actually wrestling a real bear heavy Dacascos comedy often centered on great one-liners the physical comedy especially Costello's reactions to something happening in the scene where just as big a part of their appeal and making a shot a little more realistic often meant a funnier payoff for the joke a great example of this is the scene where Frankenstein's monster punches through a door the plan was for Costello to be back a little more so the punch would go in front of his face but Costello intentionally missed his mark meaning the punch would hit him squarely on the side of his head Richter Charles Barton like Casals reaction so much he decided to keep it in the film [Music] now macaws Avenue Costello Meet Frankenstein was budgeted by Universal as it be moving they needed to trim costs wherever they could Jack Pierce have been in the head of universe's makeup department for years but his techniques on the original monster films often meant hours and hours of time for the actors transitioned into their characters realizing that they couldn't afford these delays the team turned to Jack Pierce his assistant but Westmore and makeup artist Jack Kevin to develop a faster way to get the actors into their makeup the two artists created foam rubber pieces that could be glued onto the actors cutting the time from three or four hours down to just one hour while the pieces were faster to apply and more comfortable for the actors to wear there was a downside blend strain she played Frankenstein's monster had the top of his head completely sealed in the foam rubber skull of the monster this piece had no ventilation so all the actors sweat would just collect in the piece and by the end of the day you could hear the click to sweat sloshing around inside the cap and when he finally took it off the sweat would just pour down his face Bela Lugosi of course played the part of Dracula 17 years earlier in the original 1931 film and while it's the character he is most known for playing Abena Costello Meet Frankenstein was only the second and would ultimately be the last time he ever played the part of Dracula now Lugosi did play a vampire type of character in other movies including him plan 9 from outer space but in each of these performances he's playing a vampire other than Dracula all right so a quick recap on the actors and the monsters they play Bela Lugosi was Dracula Lon Chaney was the Wolfman Glenn strange was Frankenstein's monster and Lon Chaney was also Frankenstein's monster that's right Lon Chaney played the Wolfman during most of the movie but in one scene he also played Frankenstein's monster that's because one day on the set Glenn strange stepped on a camera cable and broke his ankle lon chaney wasn't scheduled to work that day so he put on the costume and the makeup and filled in for strange Cheney only filled in for one scene though so if you want to see him as the monster you'll have to look closely in the scene where the monster throws dr. Mornay through a window in the lab that's actually launched a knee under all that makeup for classic movie fans Boris Karloff has been the perfect actor the play Frankenstein's monster ever since his first appearance in the role in the original 1931 film after performing the role two more times in Bride of Frankenstein and son of Frankenstein Karloff retired from the role despite not being in the movie Karloff did agree to do some publicity for the film appearing in photos of him standing in line to get tickets to see the movie and looking at the poster for the movie in according to several reports Karloff agreed to do the publicity as long as they didn't ask him to actually see the film ultimately though Karloff was not opposed to the Abbott and Costello versions of the monster movies since he appeared in two movies with Havana Costello in the five years following the release of avid and Costello Meet Frankenstein he appeared in a beanie costello meet the killer Boris Karloff in 1950 and Avenue Castella meet dr. Jekyll and mr. Hyde in 1953 my next fact is a quick one just a little recognition for animator Walter Lantz famous for creating Woody Woodpecker Lance was called in to create the animation of Dracula turning into a bat and back from a bat into Dracula again and the final facts I want to share were a series of goofs that were left in the movie the most well-known of these is the scene where Costello is sitting on the monsters left the scene took several takes to get right with Costello trying out different gags each time they started shooting blend strange as the monster had a hard time keeping a straight face through the shot was civil takes ruined by him laughing out loud in the final version that made it into the movie you can still see the monster crack a little bit of a smile as he gets up to try and grab customer the monster wasn't the only one having issues on the set Dracula had an issue as well at hearing to some of the traditional folklore about his character specifically vampires aren't supposed to be able to be seen in mirrors but when Dracula bites dr. Mornay we can clearly see him in the mirror behind them and there you have it my list of some great useless trivia about Aven and Costello Meet Frankenstein and as always if you have a favorite piece of trivia about this movie that I didn't include please let me know in the comments below and don't forget that I post some new video about another classic movie every Monday morning so please be sure to subscribe if you'd like to get an alert when the new video goes live and finally thank you again for watching Tamilian movies and I hope to see you again here soon [Music]

Channel: A Million Movies

Views: 73,676

Rating: 4.9246955 out of 5

Keywords: movies, Lou Costello, Bud Abbott, Boris Karloff, Edgar Wright, Comedy, Horror, Frankenstein, Wolf Man, Lon Chaney, Bela Lugosi, Dracula, Halloween, Trivia

Id: zUVTKFea-JA

Length: 9min 55sec (595 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 29 2018