Karloff, the Monster

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 286, 30 August 1935, Page 18

Karloff, the Monster

J'HE life of a ecreen monster is far from being an easy one. Take the case of Boris Karloff, who sky-rocketed to film fame in the startling role of the monster in “Frankenstein.” First Of all, it took him eight hours a day to rig himself up in his monster make-up for his second portrayal, of the role in “The Bride of Frankenstein.” The script called for him to be seven and a half feet tali, and since he is only a six-footer most of the time was spent in .applying a false skull, many pounds of plaster, steel braces and other accessories tomdd height. He had to get up at 4.30 a.m. in order to be in front of the cameras by noon. On the set he could only drag himself from place to place because each enormous shoe that he wore weighed 221 b. His face and arms were covered with a thick coating of grey-green grease paint which closed the pores, thus adding terrific heat to the already none-too-cool atmosphere from the big arc lights. Beneath this paint his'face was stretched taut with (spirit gum that made it difficult to pronounce his words. Beside these make-up difficulties, Karloff suffered a dislocated bone in his hip and tore three ligaments in his left side during the filming of a tight scene, and therefore had to wear tight bandages beneath the already over-burdening costume. And although he wore 621 b. of padding, he lost'2slb. of his own weight in the five weeks that the pietpre was in production. Let that be a lesson to those of you who think the liip of a movie star is one continual round of gaiety. ■