A REAL MAN OF MYSTERY in “FRANKENSTEIN”

Dominion, Volume 25, Issue 69, 15 December 1931, Page 32 (Supplement)

A REAL MAN OF MYSTERY in “FRANKENSTEIN”

When Boris Karloff signed with Universal to play the role of “the monster” in “Frankenstein” he assumed a truly mysterious role, for his unusual make-up and his every studio action are shrouded in secrecy. Karloff’s make-up is said to eclipse the grotesque originality of Lon Chaney’s “Hunchback of Notre Dame” or phantom in “The Phantom of the “Opera.” Being “a monster” and, according to the scenario “invented” by Frankenstein, a mad scientist who employed dead bodies and electrical energy in his creation, Karloff is said to be accomplishing amazing results in his uncanny make-up. Carl Laemmle, jun., Universal production executive, has issued definite instructions that at no time during the filming of “Frankenstein” may any visitor be admitted to the set. He also has instructed Karloff not to appear on the studio streets or off the set in make-up unless his head and arms are completely covered.

Karloff, according to his arrangement with Mr. Laemmle, jun., will be made up on the set by Jack Pierce, and his meals will also be served to him in a specially-built stage dressing room. With the daily call for the “Frankenstein” cast set for 8.30 each morning, Karloff and Pierce begin the tedious task of preparing “the monster’s” makeup promptly at six o’clock. The unusual make-up is such that it must be partially removed several times during the day, and at no time is Karloff able to work before the camera more than twenty minutes. Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, John Boles, Dwight Frye, Edward Van Sloan and Frederick Kerr complete the cast of “Frankenstein.”

“A Lily in the mud.” This is the description that is being applied to Anita Louise in her role in "Heaven on Earth.” A frail blonde beauty, almost ethereal in her loveliness, the youthful Anita is seen throughout the picture as a “white trash” child of the South, living among the shiftless “shanty-boaters” of the Mississippi river, and clad in a tattered dress rudely fashioned from gunny sacking.