Bela Lugosi On The Stage
This page is under construction
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This page encompasses not only Bela’s roles in plays, but also vaudeville, spook shows, and personal appearances. Where available, credits, posters, programmes, photographs, press items and reviews are included.
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1903
Kurucz Feja David, Budapest, February 10
A program for the National Actors Company of Transylvania production of Kurucz Feja David (Stubbon King David) featuring Bela in the role of Carafia Antonio, fogeneralis.
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1927 – 1928
Dracula
September 19 – 21
Sam Shubert’s Theatre, New Haven, Connecticut
September 22 – 24
Parson’s Theatre, Hartford, Connecticut
September 26 – 27
Lyceum Theatre, New London, Connecticut
September 28 – 29
Stamford Theatre, Stamford, Connecticut
October 5 , 1927 – May 19, 1928
Fulton Theatre, Broadway, New York
A programme for the performance on February 1st, 1928
1928
Dracula
June 24 – August 18
Biltmore Theatre, Los Angeles
August 20 – September 8
The Columbia Theatre, San Francisco
September 9 – 15
12th Street Theatre, Oakland, California
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1929
Dracula
May 19 – June 9
Music Box Theatre, Los Angeles
June 13 – 15
Lobero Theatre, Santa Barbara, California
July 22 – August 10
The Columbia Theatre, San Francisco
San Francisco Examiner, July 22, 1929
‘DRACULA’ AT THE COLUMBIA
Another Victiim!
Hazel Whitmore
Vampire Play To Provide Thrills, Gasps
Return Engagement Brings Popular Stars Back For S.F. Engagement
Thrills, shudders and gasps of surprise will be in order beginning this evening when “Dracula” opens at the Columbia on a return engagement.
Virtually the same company is seen in the production as was here last year, with Bela Lugosi, the Hungarian actor, and Hazel Whitmore again in the leading roles.
“Dracula” is taken from the world-famous novel by Bram Stoker and it has made a tremendous success as a play and as contribution to contemporary literature. It is being produced on the Pacific Coast by O.D. Woodward.
The story revives the vampire legend. The superstition that certain people who have lived evil lives become earthbound at death and have power to roam the earth at night preying upon humans from whom they suck their lifeblood, has become the theme of several of the latest tales of fiction.
Lugosi plays the part of the Count Dracula, dead five hundred years, who comes to England to victimize an aristocratic British family. Miss Whitmore is cast in the role of the pretty young daughter in the family who is selected by the villainous count for his evil practices.
August 11 – 24
Fulton Theatre, Oakland, California
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1930
Dracula
July 13 -
Fulton Theatre, Oakland, California
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1932
Murdered Alive
According to the play’s publicity material, Bela was commissioned to sculpt a bust of himself for use in Murdered Alive.
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Carthay Circle Theater, Los Angeles, April 2
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The Arcadia Tribune, March 25, 1932
CATHAY CIRCLE
April 2 will see the production of “Murdered Alive,” which is billed as a thriller. Bela Lugosi of “Dracula” fame will head the cast, among other players being Betty Ross Clarke, Rodney McLennan, Pat Flannagan and Eily Malyon.
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The Arcadia Tribune, April 8, 1932
CATHAY CIRCLE
Those who enjoy blood curdling dramas are flocking to the Carthay Circle to see “Murdered Alive,” in which Bela Lugosi plays the leading role. Lugosi is known locally as the man who played the role of Dracula so successfully, and he is providing plenty of thrills and chills at the Cathay Circle.
Betty Ross Clarke and Rodney McLennan are in the supporting cast of what is said to be the season’s outstanding Broadway thriller.
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Unknown newspaper
Bela Lugosi did a laugh-clown-laugh stunt at the Carthay Circle theater the other night. He tripped back stage, fell and broke three ribs, but went on with his performance of “Murdered Alive.” He probably felt just that way.
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April 22 – 28
Orpheum Theater, San Francisco
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April 30 – May 5
Orpheum Theater, Los Angeles
Dracula
May 29 – June 5
El Capitan Theatre, Portland, Oregon
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1933
Dracula
Dates and locations unknown
Berkeley Daily Gazette, December 23, 1932
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1938
Personal appearances at the Regina-Wilshire Theatre thru August
Daily Variety, August 20, 1938
Courtesy of http://belathenomadyears.blogspot.com/
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1940
Stardust Cavalcade
April 4 – 11
Stanley Theatre, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
The Pittsburgh Press, April 5, 1940
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The Pittsburgh Press, April 6, 1940
Broadway-wise Ed Sullivan knows that audiences want real entertainment in their stage shows, whether the performers be Hollywood “names” or Major Bowes amateurs; hence, it is not surprising that the well-known columnist rounded up some film folks who could do something besides photograph well for his traveling troupe.
The Sullivan company is at the Stanley this week to bring back the in-person shows and every member of the group takes an active part in providing a good program. Ed presides as master-of-ceremonies in professional fashion and has lots of fun with a film showing “Famous Firsts.” This bunch of clips from the “good old days” of the movies is packed with laughs, though many of the scenes originally were intended to be highly dramatic.
“Peg-Leg” Bates, the gay colored dancer, steals the show. Bates isn’t new to vaudeville patrons but his grand dancing is always a treat. Bates proves that even the loss of a leg can’t block the path to success for a fellow who is made of the right stuff. Added to his fancy stepping is some funny chatter and you’ll forget all about his handicap in your desire to applaud his talent.
Douglas McPhail and Betty Jaynes, well-known young singing stars of the movie lots help out with some good songs. The handsome Doug and the attractive Betty are Mr. and Mrs. in real life. Betty kept the tradition of show business yesterday when she insisted on taking part in the show despite a sprained ankle which was taped tightly and pained her much.
Arthur Treacher, than whom there is no finer “gentleman’s gentleman” in the films, gets a major part of the comedy lines. The gags are good and Arthur knows how to handle them. Bela Lugosi keeps his famous horror characterizations in a comedy vein and wins his share of the laughs.
Majorie Weaver, another of the starlets, has a magnetic personality which projects out over the footlights and Shepherd Sullivan has supplied her with material which she handles capably. Miss Weaver should do all right as a comedienne on the screen. Helen Parrish, another lovely ingenue, takes part in the frolic while Vivian Fry looks after dancing duties in expert fashion.
With four gals as pretty as these who actually can do something, Doug McPhail to sing, Bela Lugosi to burlesque his hair-raising screen roles and Arthur Treacher to juggle gags in sure-fire fashion, Columnist Sullivan can’t miss. His show ranks “tops” among those presented by the various Hollywood scribbler-turned-vaudebillians who have stopped in town.
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Arthur Treacher, Bela and Ed Sullivan
(My thanks to Gregg Pasterick for correctly identifying this photograph.)
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1943
Dracula
April 30
Klein Auditorium, Bridgeport, Connecticut
The Billboard, May 1, 1943
BRIDGEPORT, Conn., April 24. – Klein Memorial will have Bela Lugosi in Dracula April 30. Claudia, which played here several weeks ago, is rebooked for May 21-22
May 1
Bushnell Auditorium
May 3 – 5
Plymouth Theatre, Boston
The Billboard, May 29, 1943
J.J. Leventhal’s production of The Play’s the Thing, starring Lionel Atwill, supported by a good cast, opened at Plymouth Tuesday (18) to warm notices. (Seats, 1,398. Scale: Evenings and Saturday matinee, 55 cents – $1.65; Wednesday and Thursday Matinee, 55 cents – $1.10.) But the cards were stacked and the gross was tepid at $2,800. Final week of Dracula, with Bela Lugosi, ended May 15 with $7,400, a very good showing at the same house. (Scale: Evenings, 55 cents – $2.20; Saturday matinee, 55 cents – $1.10.)
May 19 – 29
Locust Theatre, Philadelphia
May 31 – June 5
Erlanger Thatre, Buffalo
June 7 – 13
Hanna Theatre, Cleveland
June 14 – 19
Nixon Theatre, Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 14, 1943
On his way East from Hollywood is Bela Lugosi to play once more the diabolical “Dracula” on the stage. He originated the role of the one-man Blood Bank on Broadway some 16 years ago. This time the production will be under the auspices of Harry H. Oshrin and J.J. Leventhal, for whom Mr. Lugosi will tour for a while before reviving the old melodrama in New York.
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The Daily Times, Beaver and Rochester, June 11, 1943
“Dracula,” the Vampire play ranked a s one of the most successful mystery plays in the annals of the stage, comes to the Nixon Theatre for one week beginning Monday evening, June 14, at popular prices, matinees Wednesdfay and Saturday.
Direct from Hollywood to play Count Dracula, the arch-fiend whose unearthly desire provide the thrills of the drama, will be the eminent star of stage and screen Bela Lugosi, who originated the part in New York.
Dramatized by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston the play is based on Bram Stoker’s novel of the same name, which has been read by two generations of booklovers. Though it is more than two decades since the book was published, the book has run through numerous editions and still ranks as a big seller.
In this drama of the uncanny and supernatural, Lucy Seward, daughter of the physician in charge of a sanitorium near London, is mysteriously anaemic. Dr. Van Helsing, specialist in obscure diseases suspects a vampire which according to legend is an ugly soul that grave-bound by day, roams the earth at night, and suspects it sustains its earthly life by sucking the blood of the approaching victims. It is with the search for the vampire and the subsequent spine-chilling developments that the play is principally concerned.
In the streamline version of “Dracula” Mr. Lugosi has a fine supporting cast among whom are Frank Jaquet, Charles Franes, Mary Heath, Guy Spaull, Eduard Franz and Len Mence. The play has been staged by IO.D. Woodward.
Bela Lugosi, the star of “Dracula” when World War 1 was over became an official in connection with the Hungarian Goverment’s administration of the Theatre, and when the White Army overthrew the Hungarian Republic created in the revolution that followed the war, he was forced to flee the country as a political refugee. He escaped to Vienna and then, reaching Berlin, worked in pictures in 1919 and 1920 for the Luna Company. From Berlin he went to Italy and worked his way to the United States as an assistant engineer on a freiht boat. Lugosi finally landed in New York, reported to the proper authorities and was allowed to remain in the country. He applied for citizenship papers, which he finally received in 1930.
Not knowing a word of English when he first came to the United States, he joined a Hungarian repertoire company that played towns with large Hungarian populations. They would start in New York with a new play and after touring it they would return for a new production and start all over again.
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The Pittsburgh Press, June 13, 1943
A DANGEROUS GENTLEMAN is Bela Lugosi in the title role of “Dracula” this week on the Nixon stage. He’s a “human vampire” who becomes the terror by night in the melodrama.
By KASPAR MONAHAN
For a soothing Sabbath day essay I’m choosing the subject of the vampire, quite pertinebt in view of the fact that the menacing looking gent atop this column is with us this week in a revival of “Dracula.” This essay is intended to be quite scientific – so if you’re of a frivolous turn of mind, then turn to the comic pages, or, perhaps, the Village Smithy – who nearly always is in jocose mood, come war, high water, or even rationed beer. (Well – maybe that’s an exageration as to the last item.)
No doubt – I’m getting into the scientific groove now – you’ve seen a number of the so-called horror movies, those shivery concoctions dealing with various manifestations of supernatural evil. Gents turning into wolves, folks very much dead but traipsing about with staring eyes and making young Hollywood lovlies howl in holy terror, or, as in “Dracula,” those blood-sucking human vampires.
Possibly, you’ve just dismissed these movies as mere fancies conceived in the feverish brain pans of slightly demented studio scribblers. If so, you’re paying these plagiaristic wights an undeserved compliment. Few have that much imagination.
All these yarns are simply variations on age-old superstitions, derived from legends handed down from generation to generation, and rooted in antiquity.
The Werewolf
Take the were-wolf, for instance. Our ancestors believed there were such critters. In England and on the Continent in medieval times many poor, half-witted wretches were charged with the crime of turning into wolves on occasion and biting their mother-in-law or devouring their landlords of wintery nights when the moon was ful. If this is not so – then the Encyclopedia Britanica, without which I could never write a scientific treatise of this sort, is a catalogue of pipe dreams.
As to the Zombie, which today is a very expensive and, I might say, an exceedingly atrocious drink, that baby prowls the West Indies, according to the more naive denizens of those islands. You bury him, but he won’t stay put. Undertakers down there must have a trying time of it, and nobody knows how many of them have suffered nervous breakdowns, T’ch!
At this time, however, our breathless interest (no kidding, have you read this far?) is held by the human vampire, in my opinion the most subtle and most fascinating of our weird menagerie of fanciful demons. Whereas, the werewolf is rather uncouth and makes a very devil of a howling nuisance of himself, and the Zombie is an unmannerly roughneck with rudely staring eyes, our vampire wafts gracefully about in the shadows and moves to the attack with the utmost of stealth and with nary a sound. Unlike the Zombie who or which will stalk you down and bat your brains out or crack your neck (he or it has no ring style whatever), the vampire operates with rare delicay.
Dainty Process
He doesn’t kill in precipitant and vulgar fashion. He merely slips some of the victim’s blood while said victim is sleeping at night. Then he’ll stroll back to his grave and slumber through the day, to repeat the dainty process the following night and the next night until one day Uncle Steve will remark, “My, how awful pale Yvette is looking lately – the gal ain’t got no more blood nor a Navy bean.”
Uncle Steve, of course is a fathead, not having read a scientific paper, like this. He should know that a vampire, one of the undead, is slowly slaying Yvette – and what’s more that Yvette will turn into a vampire herself if something isn’t done – and quick. And vitamins will help her hardly at all.
‘Demon’ Lugosi
Well, the foregoing, if you’re still with me, may give you some idea of what you’ll be witnessing if you attend the Nixon this week. Mr. Bela Lugosi, who has given multitudes of movie fans the heebie-jeebies, is the vampire of the title role. He was a sensation about 15 years ago when I saw him in “Dracula” in Los Angeles – being the major competition in that daffy metropolis for Peter the Hermit, a barefooted tangle-haired old coot wandering the balmy streets, and Aimee Semple McPherson in her long white robe herding the faithful to heavenly bliss. Later he made a movie “Dracula.”
The human vampire has its origin in the folk-tales or bull sessions of peasants centuries ago in the region inhabited by Slavic tribes – the Ukraine, parts of Russia, Poland and Serbia. Some of the Czechs and Hungarians of Slavonic strain also were press agents for the vampires. And, possibly, the folks of Hungary – Mr. Lugosi’s birthplace incidentally (and significantly) – did more publicity for the vampire than any other people. Along about 1730 and for five years thereafter wild-eyed yarns about vampires poured out of Hungary and spread all over Europe – until everybody was suspicious of any neighbor with rosy cheeks or a slight red nose.
Things in time quieted down until the late twenties when “Dracula” came to the footlights. For 65 weeks he scared London and frightened the timid in New York for nearly a year. Berlin in 1929 – not having Hitler for a bogieman, then – was his host for eight months.
Now the old boy is back for another fling at it. All this week he’ll be done in every night and in plain sight of the cash customers. One of the characters will drive a stake through his heart – hooray! Class in demonology now over – so back to you V. Garden, you sluggard.
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Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 14, 1943
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Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 15, 1943
By Harold V. Cohen
There are revivals, it seems, and revivals. Last week “The Bat” came back to the Nixon and there was the heavy smell of ancient limburger all over the place. This week it’s “Dracula” and the corn’s just as old but a lot greener. For age hasn’t laid such a withered hand on this ancient tale of the one-man Blood Bank and B pictures haven’t completely staled its honorable hokum.
Of course, there’s that unholy horror from Hollywood, Mr. Bela Lugosi, to put the eeee into creeeep, and there’s a young lady in Miss Mary Heath so seductive and lovely you don’t wonder that the King of the Vampires has been content to rest in his tomb for such a vision to come along. Miss Heath, by the way, looks like a debutante edition of Miss Madeleine Carroll, which means that she is very pretty indeed. Mr. Lugosi, on the other hand, doesn’t look anything like Miss Madeleine Carroll, debutante edition or otherwise, and he is not very pretty indeed. However, Mr. Lugosi’s duties in “Dracula” are strictly of the scarehelloutaya variety and in that, it seems needless to remind you, he plays second fiddle to no man, especially bogey.
It’s a right good cast Mr. Harry Oshrin has assembled, by the way, for this “Dracula” although what the doggone package of a graveyard and gruesome would be like without Mr. Lugosi is another thing. Somehow he injects just the right touch of boo, which isn’t surprising since he’s been creeping up and down spines for a considerable number of years and then Miss Heath gives some substance to his werewolf. As a matter of fact, this Miss Heath would not only bring out the werewolves in packs but also any and all other kinds of wolves, up to and including the 1943 version.
Anyway between Mr. Lugosi, who is awfully horrible, and Miss Heath, who is awfully eye-easy, and with the help of several other able actors who are neither as horrible as Mr. Lugosi nor as fetching as Miss Heath, the current “Dracula” isn’t bad at all. Fifteen or sixteen years ago, people used to faint dead away in the aisles when Count Dracula came floating into the room on a broomstick and a puff of smoke, but there should be no fainting dead away today, unless it’s from laughter, although it’s still not quite that funny.
No, there remains yet a few honest moments of the grim and the macabre in “Dracula,” and when Mr. Lugosi, bathed in a green light that makes him look like a long, slimy, crooked hand in the direction of a prospective candidate for his evil eterna, why Mr. Bram Stoker’s old bat-boy actually becomes a modest shudder all over again, or at least a reasonable fascimile thereof. And in this day of Frankenstein, the Wolf Man, the Invisible Man, the Gorilla Man, and the Dog-Faced What-Is-It, even a reasonable fascimile thereof isn’t to be snored or sneezed at.
The other people in the company fill the standard horror types altogether satisfactorily. Mr. Eduard Franz is excellent as the half-wit Draculean the Count starts off on flies and spiders before graduating him to the big leagues; Mr. Frank Jaquet turns in a first-rate performance as the learned professor who knows all the antodotes, and Miss Joy Nicholson, Mr. Guy Spaull, Mr. Chester Francis and Mr. Len Mence all play their well-ordered positions well and respectably although Mr. Francis might look just a little more worried.
With any kind of a daughter in such grave danger of becomming a bloody nuisance down through the ages, a father would be upset, but when that daughter happens to be Miss Heath, her old man ought to be positively epiletic.
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The Pittsburgh Press, June 15, 1943
By KASPAR MONAHAN
They had the devil’s own time - almost literally – getting the best of the “king of the vampires” last evening at the Nixon, for “Dracula” in the pkay of that title is a tough customer. Wise, too, for he has been prowling the earth for some five centuries – and a gent who has lived that long is bound to learn a trick or two beyond the ken of ordinary mortals.
However, in the final scene of the concluding act, persistence and justice finally emerged victorious. In the gloom and humidity several of the brave characters found the crafty old blood-quaffer and pounded a stake through his heart as the ghastly green light illuminated his livid countenance.
That’s the only way you can you can dispose of a human vampire – and, obviously, the only way to bring down the curtain on a play concerned with vampires. You can’t shoot ‘em or poison ‘em or have the law on ‘em. They’re beyond the law, beyond comprehension and, speaking personally, beyond common sense.
Nexrt week the house goes dark, so the cleaning crew may swab up the gore and Sam Nixon may comb the bats out of his leonine mane and get things lined up for the new season.
Headed by Bela Lugosi, an experienced practitioner of the black arts these many years in the movies, it’s an uncommonly good crew of actors engaged in the outlandish clap-trap that is “Dracula.” There is, for instance, the very lovely Miss Mary Heath, who is the victim of the nocturnal marauder – the “undead” monster who drains her of her blood by night and snoozes all day in his secret tomb. There is her father, played by Charles Francis, in good fashion, and Frank Jaquet as the Dutch scientist who in the end is the Nemesis of the grisly fellow. And Eduard Franz is good, too, as a demented fellow, the “slave” of this Dracula.
To the accompaniment of backsatge noises – the howling of dogs, the maniacal laughter of our crazy man, whistling of bats (I suppose bats whistle) Dracula goes about his hellish business. He has come from his old stamping ground of “Transylvania” to England by airplane, bearing with him six caskets, each filled with the soil of his native heath.
Why? Because it is revealed a vampire must “sleep” by day in the earth in which he was originally buried. Well, you can see that finding all six coffins is quite a job. And you have to find them in the daytime for from sunset to sunrise there’s nothing you can do with a vampire – particularly one like Dracula, who has been feasting on human blood for 500 years.
In the meantime, our Dutch scientist staves off the fellow by dint of calling on heaven, brandishing holy objects, rubbing window sills and doors with “wolfbane,” until at last (praise be!), the preposterous hokus-pokus ends with its supreme strain on the credulity – driving of the stake through Dracula’s black heart.
All this to save the lovely Mary Heath from a fate immeasureably worse than death – and not only her, but future generations of Britishers; for if Dracula lives, God save the king and everybody else.
However, “Dracula” is better than the revival of “The Bat,” last week’s entry. “Dracula,” I think, is funnier – and when those back-stage wolves get going, louder.
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June 21 – 26
National Theater, Washington, D.C.
The Billboard, June 12, 1943
Duffy-Pitts ‘Bat’ Shelved in D.C., Nat’l on Fence
WASHINGTON, June 5. – Henry Duffy’s production of The Bat, featuring Zasu Pitts, which was scheduled to come into the National Theater here for the week of June 14 has been canceled out. Reason given was that show has been abandoned by Miss Pitts and producer.
This leaves house dark for the week, which is just as well, perhaps, since any engagement that week would be against the Ringling circus, always strong here. National’s summer schedule resumes following week with Bela Lugosi in Dracula. This old suspense thriller will play a week at scale of 50 cents to $1.50.
So far, National is still playing hide-and-seek with local drama desks over whether it will keep open thru warm months. Chances are now that it will shutter, especially if schedule becomes spotty and too many dark weeks arise.
May 9
Camp Farmingham, Massachusetts
May 23
Fort Mede, Maryland
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Arsenic and Old Lace
Bela as Jonathan Brewster in the 1943 National Company production
Tivoli Theatre, San Francisco
The Billboard, July 31, 1943
“Arsenic” Reopens Tivoli
SAN FRANCISCO, July 24 – Blumenthal Theatre s, operators of the Tivoli, are re-opening the house as a popular-priced legit spot, presenting a series of plays with New York casts. Opens July 29 with Arsenic and Old Lace, starring Bela Lugosi and Alison Skipworth.
Set to follow are C. Aubrey Smith in Old English, and Maxwell Anderson’s The Eve of St. Mark. House has been showing flickers, but is being made over for stage productions
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Berkeley Daily Gazette, July 31, 1943
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Berkely Daily Gazette, August 5, 1943
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Berkely Daily Gazette, August 5, 1943
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The Billboard, August 7, 1943
BURLESQUE NOTES
…MOE COSTELLO closed his theater and hotel business in Norfolk, Va., having sold his Cleveland Hotel interests there to Eddie Madden, and left for the Coast July 26. Has leased the Music Box, Hollywood, and Tivoli, San Francisco. Both house to play legit as part of the newly formed Pacific Coast Circuit, Inc., of which he and Raymond Payton, cousin of the late Corse Payton, are execs. Music Box to open August 5 with Arsenic and Old Lace, featuring Bela Lugosi, with Old English to follow.
The Billboard, August 28 1943
S.F. “Arsenic” Neat $17,000
SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 21. – With a $1.50 top, Arsenic and Old Lace, featuring Bela Lugosi, grossed a neat $17,000 at the Tivoli two weeks ended 18th. Springtime for Henry, with Everett Horton is set to follow, opening the 26th.
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1944
Arsenic and Old Lace
Municipal Auditorium, New Orleans, February 7-8
Bela’s reaction to seeing Boris Karloff’s face on this poster must have been interesting
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City Auditorium, Augusta, February 16-21
The Billboard, February, 19, 1944
Augusta Bizmen Want Shows
AUGUSTA, Ga., Feb. 12. – Local businessmen have formed a new enterprise. Auditorium Attractions, to present roadshows, name bands and concert artists at City Auditorium. Arsenic and Old Lace, with Bela Lugosi, comes in February 16, to be followed by Junior Miss, Tobacco Road and Abie’s Irish Rose. Arsenic will be the first roadshow to stop here in three years. Eddie T. Lewis, well-known showman, is head of the new company.
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Ford’s Theatre, Baltimore, Maryland, February 27 – March 3
The Billboard, March 11, 1944
BALTIMORE, March 4. – Return engagement of Arsenic and Old Lace at Ford’s Theater, second of season, grossed a fine $14,000, which compares with the $17,000 grossed the season’s opening in September.
Bela Lugosi headed the cast. Last September Boris Karloff held the stellar role.
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The Playhouse, Willington, Delaware, March 9-11
The publicity department still haven’t got the poster right
Bela’s face finally replaces Boris Karloff’s on the poster
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Mosque Theatre, Newark, April 24-29
The Westfield Leader, April 13, 1944
“Arsenic and Old Lace” Coming to Mosque Theatre
Starring the famous Bela Lugosi in person, “Arsenic and Old Lace,” the hair raising comedy hailed by New York’s critics as a play no one would ever forget, is due at the Mosque Theatre, Newark, April 24, for one week’s engagement, with matinees Wednesday and Saturday.
Written by Joseph Kesselring, “Arsenic and Old Lace” is the first production by the Messrs. Howard Lindsley and Russel Crouse, two gentlemen not altogether unknown to the theatre, for it was this team who wrote “Life With Father,” and numerous others.
Bela Lugosi will bring the cast that has shared honors in the play’s success for the past three seasons. Jean Adair, Jack Whiting, Ruth McDevitt, Donald Macdonald and Malcolm Beggs are featured.
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1945
Bela Lugosi Company
The Billboard, April 28, 1945
Lugosi, Bela, Co. (Garrick) Fargo, N.D., 23 – 26; (Garrick) Duluth, Minn., 28 – May 4.
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The Billboard, May 5, 1945
Lugosi, Bela, Co. (Garrick) Duluth, Minn., 1 – 4; (Globe) Minneapolis 6 – 19.
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The Billboard, May 12, 1945
Lugosi, Bela, Co. (Globe) Minneapolis 6 – 19.
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The Billboard, August 4, 1945
Bela Lugosi To Make P.A.’s
NEW YORK, July 30. – Bela Lugosi, who makes with the eyes in the blood-chilling B flickers, is being submitted for theater dates. He’s currently working on a new routine with Don Marlowe who will appear with him. Understood he’s penciled in at Loew’s State.
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1946
Capsule version of Dracula
Loew’s Melba Theatre, Brooklyn
* * *
1947
Three Indelicate Ladies
Elaine Stritch and Bela
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Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, September 24, 1946
Addenda
Hunt Stromberg, Jr., co-producer of two current hits, “The Red Mill” and “The Front Page,” has just bought a new script, “Three Indelicate Ladies,” by Hugh Evans.
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The Billboard, April 12, 1947
Burlesque
By UNO
…Joey Faye, comic, has shelved his nitery unit and is rehearsing with Bela Lugosi and the Three Indelicate Ladies…
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Schubert Theater, New Haven, April 10 – 12
The Billboard, April 19, 1947
OUT-OF-TOWN OPENINGS
THREE INDELICATE LADIES
SHUBERT THEATER, NEW HAVEN, CONN.
A mystery-comedy by Hugh Evens. Directed by Jessie Royce Landis. Setting and lighting, Stewart Chaney. Gowns, Robert Lanza. Production associate, Thomas Elwell, Company Manager, Ralph Kravette. Press Representative, Dick Weaver. General Stage Manager, Phil Johnson. Presented by Hunt Stromberg Jr. and Thomas Spengler (in association with Irving Cooper).
Kelly…………………………..Jayn Portner
Roberts………………………Elaine Stritch
Mr. Max…………………………….Joey Paye
Morgan………………………….Ann Thomas
Alfred Brook……………..Alexander Clark
Sam Phelps……………………Ray Walston
Joe The Heart…………………Jack Arnold
Francis X. O’Rourke…………Bela Lugosi
Mrs. Henrietta Brook….Francis Brandt
Bernice Desos…………..Katherine Squire
Gus………………………….Charles Mendick
Police Sergeant…………..Robert Schuler
Paul Austin……………….Stratton Walling
There is no doubt that Hugh Evans has written a very funny play in Three Indelicate Ladies, but the show that unveiled in New Haven needs a lot of sprucing before it is ready for a Stem audience. Its plot is good and there are many hilarious scenes, but the pacing is so far off that the first-nighters found themselves stifling yawns between the guffaws. While Ladies employs several of the tricks used in Arsenic and Old Lace, the two shows are by no means comparable. After a lot of hard work by both the author and the director, this new one may yet blossom into a first-rater.
Bela Lugosi, who is starred, is almost criminally miscast. Playing a rough, tough gangster named Francis X. O’Rouke, Lugosi is unable to bring any semblance of credibility to the part. It is extremely hard for the audience to accept an Hungarian accent and the O’Rouke tag (although the author tries to explain it off by having Lugosi born in Finland – making him “Mick-y Finn”). The cigar chewing, rough-and-tumble guy is not up Bela’s alley, so the audience never once was able to give the character the response that a William Bendix would have received.
Gal Steals Show
Ann Thomas, playing one of her typical Dumb Doras, walked off with the show without too much trouble. While most of the other principals tended to play the roles too broadly and fall out of character, she maintained a steady pace and was able to get every laugh out of her lines. Jayne Fortner and Elaine Stitch, cast as the other two indelicate ladies, showed their ability to play farce, but were betrayed by a decided tendency to overplay in the big scenes.
Frances Brandt, in a short bit as one of the victims, did an exceptionally good job as an eccentric old lady, while Katherine Squire, as her niece, played the rather difficult role right to the hilt. Joey Faye, as a highly impressionable furniture dealer, was grand with his short bit, and by use of the mugging technique he has developed got a lot more out of the lines than the author wrote in. Alexander Clark, Ray Walston, Jack Arnold, Charles Mendick, Robert Schuler and Stratton Walling all handled their bit parts to perfection.
Direction Weak
Jessie Royce Landis has not done a particularly distinguished job of directing. The pacing was noticeably bad and too many characters spoke lines either too far upstage or away for the audience, so that whole sequences were lost. Miss Landis, a top-drawer thesp herself, has a lot more to learn in her new endeavor. Stewart Chaney’s single setting and his lighting of the show were in his usual Grade A manner.
In sum, Three Indelicate Ladies can be developed into a first-rate farce with a rewrite of Act 1, a general revamping of the show’s pacing, a tightening of the entire production and a much different third act curtain, along with some necessary recasting.
Sidney Golly.
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Wilbur Theater, Boston, April 14 – 19
The Billboard, May 3, 1947
Burlesque
By UNO
JOEY FAYE, assisted by Bela Lugosi and others of the cast of Three Indelicate Ladies in Boston last week, invaded the stage of the Casino during the Friday midnighter and gave an impromptu interpretation of Fluegel Street bit. It was a burly debut for all except Faye….
* * *
Dracula
July 14 – 19
John Drew Theatre, East Hampton, New York
July 21 – 26
Summer Theatre, Boston
July 28 – August 2
Summer Theatre, Cambridge, Massachusetts
September 2 – 7
Norwich Summer Theatre, Norwich, Connecticut
* * *
Arsenic and Old Lace
June 30 – July 5
Bucks County Playhouse, New Hope, Pennsylvania
…..
August 5 – 10
Spa Summer Theater, Saratoga Springs, New York
Presented by John Huntington
Staged by Ford Rainey
Bela Lugosi…………..Johnathan Brewster
Lucia Seger…………..Abby Brewster
Clyde Waddell………Rev. Dr. Harper and Lieutenant Rooney
Ted Allegretti………Teddy Brewster
John Lupton………..Officer Klein
Judith Elder…………Martha Brewster
Ruth Homond……….Elaine Harper
Ford Rainey……………Mortimer Brewster
John W. Brothers……Mr. Gibbs and Mr. Witherspoon
Bruce Adams…………..Dr. Einstein
Richard Boone…………Officer O’Hara
…..
Schenectady Gazette, July 28, 1947
Stage…Screen…Radio…
Because of strong preference for comedies, indicated by patrons of the Spa Summer theater, Producer John Huntington has requested Bela Lugosi to appear in “Arsenic and Old Lace” instead of in “Dracula” at the Spa theater during the week of Aug. 5 through 10.
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Schenectady Gazette, August 6, 1947
Spa Theater Comedy Ably Presented
Bela Lugosi Supported By Competent Cast In Current Offering of ‘Arsenic and Old Lace’
By SHIRLEY ARMSTRONG
“Arsenic and Old Lace,” Joseph Kesselring’s celebrated comedy, opened at the Spa theater last night with Bela Lugosi, that bogey man of stage and screen, in the major role.
Because theater audiences have evidenced a preference for comedy, the vehicle was submitted by producer John Huntington for the previously scheduled “Dracula.” Lugosi, who formerly played the role of the sadistic Johnathan Brewster on Broadway after Boris Karloff left the cast, combines his gift for the sinister with a sufficient knack for humor.
However, the play could not have achieved its smooth precision performance were it not for the combined efforts of a thoroughly competent cast in support of the star.
Bruce Adams, outstanding in this year’s resident company at the Spa, is excellent in the character portrayal of Dr. Einstein – he practically out-Lorried Peter Lorre.
Judith Elder turns in a fine depiction of Martha Brewster, while Ruth Homond, another resident dependable, is excellent as Elaine Harper.
Ted Allegretti brings down the house with his riotous interpretation of Teddy Brewster. The cast includes Lucia Seger as Abby Brewster, Ford Rainey in the challenging part of Mortimer Brewster, and Clyde Waddell as Rev. Dr. Harper.
Most of you are probably acquainted with the wholly delightful plot of “Arsenic and Old Lace,” which, for the first time, takes murder as a theme and builds about it three acts of sheer comedy.
The play will run through Sunday with performances at 8:45 p.m. There will be matinees Saturday and Sunday at 2:15 p.m.
Note: On Wednesday August 6, Bela appeared on Backstage at the Spa to promote the play. See Bela Lugosi On TV for more details.
…..
August 18-23
Kenley Deer Lake Theatre, Pennsylvania
Reading Eagle, August 17, 1947
* * *
The Billboard, November 15, 1947
Foy-Cohan Package Set by Tom Elwell
NEW YORK, Nov. 8. – A new package featuring Eddie Foy Jr., and George M. Cohan Jr., has been set by Tom Elwell, former general manager for Hunt Stromberg Jr., who now is operating his own package agency. Show also features a 15-piece orchestra, female vocalist and chorus, with scripts penned by Marc Lawrence.
Another new Elwell package stars Bela Lugosi, film horror expert and Comedienne Ann Thomas, in a comedy mystery show. Nelson Sykes is the writer.
* * *
The Tell-Tale Heart
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Opening night: November 19
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Vista Theatre, Negaunee, MI, December 8
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Hollywood Theatre, December 23
* * *
1948
Dracula
July 8 – 13
Phipps Auditorium, Denver
July 19 – 24
Green Hills Theatre, Reading, Pennsylvania
August 2 – 7
Norwich Summer Theatre, Norwich, Connecticut
The New London Day, July 30, 1948
The New London Day, July 31, 1948
The New London Day, August 2, 1948
The New London Day, August 3, 1948
The New London Day, August 4, 1948
The New London DayDay, August 6, 1948
The New London Day, August 7, 1948
* * *
The Bela Lugosi Company
Olympia, Miami, September 1 – 5/6, 1948
The Miami Daily News, September 1, 1948
The Miami Daily News, September 2, 1948
The Miami News, September 7, 1948
* * *
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein promotional tour
A Nightmare of Horror, Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles
* * *
1949
Arsenic and Old Lace
Famous Artists Country Playhouse At Fayetteville, New York, July 11-16
The Post-Standard, July 10, 1949
Lugosi Heads Fayetteville Cast For ‘Arsenic and Old Lace’
With the closing of “Accent on, Youth” the Famous Artists Country Playhouse opens tomorrow with Bela Lugosi in “Arsenic and Old Lace”
Lugosi arrived at the Fayetteville high school last Monday and since then has been preparing for this week’s performance. He was born in Hungary, not far from Transylvania, the eerie setting of “Dracula,” the play and film that made him famous. One of his most recent pictures was “Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man,” where he portrayed the monster. This is not the first time Lugosi has appeared .in the role of Jonathan Brewster. In 1943 he won critics acclaim for his portrayal of that role in the San Francisco production of “Arsenic and Old Lace.”
Supporting Lugosi in “Arsenic and Old Lace” will be such well known names as Florenz Ames, Catherine Cosgriff, Florence Beresford, Helen Marcy and many others. The two slightly insane aunts will be portrayed by Catherine Cosgriff, member of the cast of “Kiss and Tell” for five years, and Florence Beresford, leady lady of “The Chocolate Soldier” as Aunt Martha.
Florenz Ames has the role of Dr. Einstein and Helen Marcy, who caught audience attention in the Playhouse’s opening play, will appear as Elaine Harper.
John Larson, managing director of the company, will play Mortimer Brewster, while Tom Reynolds, a member of the road company cast of “State of the Union”, will enact the role of Teddy Brewster, third slightly insane member of the Brewster family.
Lakeside Theatre, Landing, New Jersey, July 26-31
* * *
The Bela Lugosi Company vaudeville tour
Fox Theater, St. Louis, December 1
The Billboard, December 17, 1949
VAUDEVILLE REVIEWS
Fox Theater St. Louis (Thursday, December 1)
Capacity, 5050. Prices, 60-75 cents. Number of shows, two weekdays, four on week ends. House booker, Doc Howe. Frank Panus’s house band backs show.
The current bill at this 5,000-seater moves at a neat clip. The curtain-raiser, the Four Strongs, rope spinners, showed plenty of dexterity and manipulation.
On in the No.2 spot was Hal Menkin and Madlyn. Menkin is a smooth tap hoofer who picks’em down cleverly. He did some tricky stair routines. Madlyn, a shapely blonde, around chiefly for decorative purposes, was okay for sight stuff.
Minda Lang offered a whistling routine and got a nice hand from the payers. The girl is attractive and sells to good results.
Edward Brothers (3) did some plain and fancy acro work and presented some amazing feats of tumbling and hand balancing. One of the boys had polio when a child and the theater brought in groups of polio victims as guests of Edwards. The promotion was intelligently handled.
Appletons Score
Fastest act on the bill weas the Three Appletons, adagio act, consisting of Charles Appleton, his wife, Mitzie, and blond Virginia Tribbet. The hecticly paced act had the crowd on edge of seats and closed to a terrific mitt.
The hefty gal, Aunt Jemima, did songs in Sophie Tucker style, and garnered plenty chuckles with her dancing bits.
Undoubtedly one of the biggest laugh-getters on the show was Steve Evans. His take-off on a Polish drunk was excellent.
Closer was Bela Lugosi. He did a scene from Dracula with his wife playing the part of maid. It got a nice hand from the horror fans.
Pic, Brimstone. Abie L. Morris.
* * *
1950
Nightclub Appearance
February 12 – 18
Copa, Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 10, 1950
Oddments
If anybody has a few stuffed vultures lying around the house, Lenny Litman would like to borrow them to lend atmosphere to his Copa Club for the engagement there of Bela Lugosi, the vampire man of the movies.
…Mr. Litman is also in need of a “machine that makes spiderwebs” for the occasion….
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Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 10, 1950
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Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 13, 1950
By GENE JANNUZI
Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Dracula flapped into town yesterday and skittered up and down Pittsburgh streets – but he didn’t scare anyone at all.
Bela Lugosi, the Batman, here for a week’s horror-klatsch at the Copa, couldn’t even scare meltin’ Mindy Carson, syrup-voiced sweetie who’ll be offering “Candy and Cake” to the customers right across Liberty Avenue at the Carousel.
Well-protected by an entourage of six men, Miss Carson allowed Mr. Lugosi to call on her in her suite at Hotel William Penn.
He clawed up his hand, lowered his eyebrows and glowered. Miss Carson laughed, then burst briefly into somng as proof that Mr. Lugosi can’t do away so easily with the competition from across the street.
Good Try, Anyway
Anyway it eas a good try by the veteran vampire, and he was just as pleased as anyone that Miss Carson, first magnitude young singing star, escaped undimmed.
He tried again, making a claw at the elevator girl in the William Penn, but she only said, “You don’t scare me, I’ve seen too many of your pictures.”
He got some attention in the lobby and walking the streets, but not because he scared anyone. People just noticed the familiar face of the handsome man. He’s over six feet tall and straight, and yesterday he wore a tan belted polo coat and cap to match.
She’ll Have No Zombies
Miss Carson said it wouldn’t make any difference at all in her singing to have Mr. Lugosi set up shop across the street from her.
All she knows id the two places are going to be decked out differently this week. There’ll be no cobwebs or coffins on stage at the Carousel, the way Lennie Litman has those props, peopled with assorted zombies set up in the Copa.
Mr. Lugosi has been making a good thing out of scaring people for some 23 years – a year longer than Miss Carson has been kicking around this planet.
He has been in this country, having originated from Hungary, for 30 years, but at first was a hot romantic lead in various plays.
He’s All-Time Dracula
When “Dracula” hit Broadway, Mr. Lugosi was it, and he has been it ever since, doing the same role again and again in the movies, sometimes playing hide and seek with Frankenstein’s monster, and a couple of other monsters named Abbott and Costello.
This will be his first night-club hitch and he intends to do more of it, blending humor and horror.
“I get a kick out of it,” he says, “because people are not really scared.”
His eyes are a mild, pale blue, and wouldn’t scare anyone, not even a child. As a matter of fact, says Mr. Lugosi, “you can’t fool children – children and dogs.”
He doesn’t drink and smokes only cigars. Miss Carson, not knowing which end of a cigar is edible, can offer him “Candy and Cake,” if he wants to go from the Copa to the Carousel to get it.
…..
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 14, 1950
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The Billboard, March 11, 1950
IN SHORT
Pittsburgh: Bela Lugosi broke in his new night club act at the Copa. He used comedienne Tiny Sinclair in his act and after his Dracula the two worked to good results in a nine-minute comedy stint.
…..
* * *
Dracula
March 20 – 25
The Theatre, St. Petersburg, Florida
The Evening Independent, March 16, 1950
Horror Man Here For Play
Lugosi Assails Crime Comics, Radio Dramas
By C. WINN UPCHURCH
Independent Staff Writer
Bela Lugosi makes his living as the horror man of the movies but as a father he is against crime comics, crime radio dramas and movies that deal with blood – red knives and smoking guns.
The Hollywood actor arrived in St. Petersburg Wednesday after driving here from New York with his wife – manager. The two are stopping at the Tides hotel and next week Lugosi will star in the title role of “Dracula” to be presented by the St. Petersburg Players at the South Side junior high school auditorium.
Lugosi has portrayed the role of ”Dracula” some 1,000 times but there was a time when he played romantic leads. That was in his native Hungary. He came to the United States in 1920 as a “political refugee fleeing from the Reds”.
Off stage and in his natural dress Lugosi does not appear to be the horror man that he is on screen or stage, a modestly dressed man, wearing white sport shoes and sporting a bow tie, he is more the typr of a retired businessman.
He has a 12-year-old son attending military school in California and Lugosi made it emphatic that his son is not allowed to read crime comics, listen to crime radio programs or see “horror” movies. “It is no good for youngsters,” the man who has become famous as the scare-the-daylights-out-of-you actor explains.
Lugosi uses non make-up for his Dracula role.
“I just mug the part,” he laughs.
Mr. and Mrs. Lugosi reside in Greenwich Village, New York.
He is not under contract to any of the movie studios but prefers to free lance.
“That way I can select my own roles,” he says in his slight European drawl.
He is currently making a personal appearance tour and from here will return to New York where he appears on radio and television shows, one of his recent shows being the popular “Suspense” program and another a televbision appearance with Milton Berle.
Lugosi doesn’t think of his screen portrayals as horror types.
“I just make funny faces,” he puts it.
…..
The Evening Independent, March 18, 1950
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St. Petersburg Times, March 18, 1950
…..
St. Petersburg Times, March 19, 1950
Bela Lugosi and Dracula, both of whom will be seen with the St. Petersburg Players for a week beginning tomorrow night at 8:30 o’clock, are inseperable and virtually synonymous.
Never has an actor been more identified with a role and never has a role so influenced and dominated an actor’s private fortunes.
How the man and role are melded into each other will be more than apparent at The Theatre, Tenth Street South and Seventeenth Avenue, where the thrilling vampire play, “Dracula,” is to be shown nightly this week with matinee on Saturday at 2:30 o’clock.
For some 20 years Lugosi played all manner of character and romantic leads, including Shakespeare and Ibsen. Then in 1929, he created that strange half-human, half-bloodsucking vampire bat character of Bram Stoker’s famous novel. Ever since then “Dracula” has pursued him as relentlessly as he pursued his women victims in the play.
At first the actor was grateful to “Dracula”. The character lifted him from relative obscurity and made him a figure of importance on the New York stage. Within two years it elevated him to stardom in the screen.
But all that Lugosi had done before that date was forgotten. As though caught in the inexorable tentacles of an octopus, he became typed as a “horror” specialist, a master in that medium, but fit for nothing else.
Where once he had been the master of his own professional destinies, he became “Dracula’s” puppet. The shadowy figure of “Dracula”, more than any casting office, dictated the kind of parts he could play. To an actor accustomed to a wide variety of roles, it was an unsatisfactory situation.
As “Dracula,” typifing “horror” pictures, fared, so Lugosi fared. The character made him a screen star, gave him a fine home and wealth. A few years of that and such films were banned by England. Hollywood quit making them. Lugosi, off the screen for two years, went broke, lost practically everything.
Then a small, independent exhibitor, experimenting to revive dwindling box office receipts, booked “Dracula” and “Frankenstein.” Crowds stood in line until 2a.m. to see them.
Taking its cue from this, Universal put on a revival of the pictures throughout the country. When the response was equally startling, the studio cast Lugosi and Boris Karloff in “The Son of Frankenstein”. Lugosi was back in pictures; “Dracula” had made him a star again.
“Dracula,” which will thrill theatregoers for a week, beginning tomorrow, is the St. Petersburg Players’ last attraction of the season.
…..
St. Petersburg Times, March 20, 1950
‘Dracula’ Stars Lugosi Tonight
The St. Petersburg Players will wind up their season this week with a spine-chilling roar. “Dracula,” starring the internationally famous Bela Lugosi , starts tonight for a week’s run at The Theatre, Tenth Street South and Seventeenth Avenue. It is the season’s last play.
The story of the creature, half-human, half-vampire who stalks women victims, has thrilled and chilled theatregoers simce it was first produced in 1929. Since its beginning, Lugosi has been as inseparably identified with “Dracula” as Crosby is with crooning. Curtain at 8:30.
…..
St. Petersburg Times, March 21, 1950
…..
The Evening Independent, March 21, 1950
That old but ever new stage play and movie,”Dracula” was given by the man who created the role, Bela Lugosi, at the South Side Junior High School, last night. He had good support from the St. Petersburg players and this was necessary to make the play the success that it was at the first performance here. “Dracula” will be given each evening this week, through Saturday with matinees Wednesday and Saturday.
Lugosi faced an almost full house, last night. Half the audience were youngsters 10 to 16 years of age and they received the thriller with wild enthusiasm and did not overlook a line. They were silent when the curtain was up, thoroughly absorbed in the drama that was presented and the star of stage and screen could not have asked for a better or more attentive audience.
Lugosi is a finished and polished actor. He plays the “vampire” role with suavity and smoothness and has a lot of personal magnatism that gets over the footlights. He has played the role 1,000 times, on the stage, and the film has been shown at least once a year in almost every city in this country ever since it was first made in 1931. It always draws, no matter how often it has been shown.
“Dracula” was made from a book written some 60 years ago. Years later it was converted into a stage play and was given first in London where it ran for three years to capacity houses. Then it was presented in New York and Lugosi, who had been trained as an actor in Hungary, was given the role of “Count Dracula.” The play deals with a human vampire who sucks the blood of his victims. It is a real melodrama that has interest for adults as well as children when it is played well, as it was last night.
Lugosi is, of course, the star and is the central figure of the play. But he needs good support and got it from a good cast. The mysterious background was well built up in ther first act before Lugosi appears and the scene was well set for his appearance. The best tribute that could be paid the performance was the tense silence that prevailed through the whole play.
Bruce Blaine gave, last night, the best performance he has given this season. He played the role of the insane man who was under the domination of “Dracula.” It was a difficult part to play and Blaine did it very well. Elizabeth Hargen, as “Lucy”, gave a fine and sensitive performance, being especially effective in the scene where she attempts to drink the blood of her sweetheart. David Hooks, Leigh Gutteridge and Fred Scollay made the first act tensely interesting as they unfolded the plot against “Lucy.” Frank Edgar as the attendant did well. Constance Kelly handled a small role convincingly.
“Dracula” is well worth seeing. A.R.D.
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St. Petersburg Times, March 22, 1950
By NORMAN BUNIN
For ten weeks now, two acting groups have been providing St. Petersburg with stage productions in the tradition of the old stock companies. But not until Monday night has the city had an audience in that same tradition.
Several hundred children who comprised most of the audience for the St. Petersburg Players’ initial presentation of “Dracula” with Bela Lugosi, gasped, screamed and applauded in a heartfelt manner their inhibited elders have long abandoned.
THE EERIE TALE of Count Dracula, the blood-sucking vampire, transported these eager young theatre-goers above and beyond the humdrum world of carping teachers and unfinished homework as few movie thrillers or other items of their weekly adventure fare could.
The adults on hand may have pretendded that it was sophistication rather than meek restraint which prevented them from joining so fully in the spirit of the evening, but the kids weren’t bothered by labels. It is true that, conditioned by too many radio comics, they laughed in places the playwrite never intended them to, but the modern cynicism vanished when Lugosi unleashed his store of scare tactics.
What has been said was not intended to keep adults away from “Dracula.” If they can throw one, they’ll enjoy it. Certainly there is purgative value in an evening of concentrated, fast-moving horror for one who suffers from the more insidious, creeping fears of an atomic age. The play is hokum, but hokum on a grand scale.
AND LUGOSI is no mere bogey-man. He is, indeed, a fine and accomplished actor, whose playing is well worth seeing, for it is one of the few remaining examples in this country of the old European tradition – over-emphasized, drawn in sweeping melodramatic strokes, but always moving.
The visiting star has also staged the play – with lots of action, hidden doors, weird lights – all the ingredients to chill his spectators.
The local company gives him ample support.
This week’s run of “Dracula” (through Saturday) is the last effort of the season by the St. Petersburg Players at South Side Junior High School. Let’s hope we see them again next year.
July 4 – 8
Saint Michael’s Playhouse, Winooski Park, Vermont.
* * *
The Devil Also Dreams
The Billboard, June 3, 1950
Blaney, Jaeger Skeds “Devil Dreams” First for Silos
The recently formed producing team of H. Clay Blaney and C. Peter Jaegar sked rehearsals for Fritz Rotter’s mystery comedy, “The Devil Also Dreams,” to start July 1. Reginald Denham will direct an all-star cast, which will include Francis L.Sullivan. In lieu of the usual road break-in, a few stops at top silo theaters are being booked to get under way in late July. Lester Al Smith has been signed by the firm as general manager.
The Billboard, July 15, 1950
BRIEF AND IMPORTANT
“Devil Also Dreams” Starts Rehearsals With Claire Luce
“The Devil Also Dreams,” a comedy melo sponsored by H. Clay Blaney and Peter Jaeger, gets into rehearsal Monday (10). A seven-week break-in tour of top silo stands is scheduled with a Stem opening in late September. Cast includes Claire Luce, Francis L. Sullivan, Bela Lugosi, Richard Waring and Oswald Marshall.
Somerset Summer Theater, Somerset, Massachusetts, July 24-29
…..
Famous Artists Country Playhouse, East Rochester, July 31 – August 5
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The County Playhouse, Fayette, New York, August 7-12
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The Royal Alexandria Theatre, Toronto, Canada, August 14-19
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His Majesty’s Theatre, Montreal, Canada, August 22-26
The Montreal Gazette, August 5, 1950
BEWARE, MISS LUCE: Bela Lugosi, the old Dracula man, casts a glittering eye on attractive Claire Luce. Both are starred with Francis L. Sullivan, the celebrated British actor, in The Devil Also Dreams, the comedy-melodrama coming to the stage at His Majesty’s Theatre on Tuesday, Aug 22, as the first visiting play of the 1950-1951 season.
‘Devil Also Dreams’ Here Prior to New York Run
Playing a pre-Broadway engagement of five days, starting Tuesday, Aug. 22, The Devil Also Dreams, will serve to inaugurate the legitimate theatre’s 1950-51 season in Montreal.
Presented by H. Clay Blaney and C. Peter Jaeger, this new comedy-melodrama offers a four-star group of some of the stage and screen’s most outstanding personalities. Heading the cast is Claire Luce. Miss Luce was a sensation in London and New York in such successes as The Gay divorcee and Of Mice and Men.
Co-starring with Miss Luce is Francis L. Sullivan, celebrated British star of stage and screen, Bela Lugosi, the Dracula horror man, and handsome Richard Waring, Ethel Barrymore’s co-star in The Corn is Green.
The Devil Also Dreams is directed by Reginald Denham, perhaps the best mystery play director in the theatre today. He has to his credit, either as author or director, Ladies in Retirement, Wall Flower, Portrait in Black, The Two Mrs. Carrolls and nearly a score of others.
The Devil Also Dreams was written by Elissa Rohn and Fritz Rotter. Mr. Rotter’s best previous play, Letters to Lucerne was voted one of the ten best plays in 1941.
The Devil Also Dreams is a mystery comedy which takes place in the mauve London of the 1890′s. The plot revolves around an aging playwrite (Francis Sullivan) who has finally come to realize that his fast failing writing can no longer hold the dubious affection of the girl (Miss Luce) whom he has brought up from obscurity to London’s most toasted leading lady.
In a desperate effort to prevent the beautiful but designing lady from leaving him he resorts to attempted plagiarism of the literary talents of a brilliant but unknown young playwrite (Mr. Waring). Eventually murder becomes necessary for concealment.
Aided and abetted by a half-maniac butler (Mr. Lugosi), the homicide attempts and their results provide the thrills and laughs of the play.
Before appearing here, The Devil Also Dreams has had three weeks of rehearsal in New York and three weeks of tune-up performance in Providence, Syacuse and Rochester. After playing Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa, the new comedy melodrama goes directly to the Booth Theatre in New York City.
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The Montreal Gazette, August 5, 1950
‘The Devil Also Dreams’ Opening Locally August 22
The four-star comedy melodrama, The Devil Also Dreams, which is booked to be the first attraction of His Majesty’s Theatre for the season 1950-1951, will play a five-day engagement at the theatre beginning Tuesday evening, August 22, with matinees on Wednesday and Saturday.
The Devil Also Dreams tells a tale of theatrical life in London of the 1890s, and will be played by four well known stars of stage and screen. Claire Luce, who plays the only feminine role, has had a colorful career on two continents. She danced with Fred Astaire in The Gay Divorce, gave a memorable portrayal of Becky Sharp in Vanity Fair, and was the first American leading woman to star at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford-on-Avon.
Co-starring with Miss Luce is Francis L. Sullivan, celebrated British character actor. He is best remembered by American and Canadian audiences for his Mr. Jaggers in the screen version of Dickens’ Great Expectations and has leading roles in two current films, Night And The City and Winslow Boy.
Bela Lugosi, before becoming the Dracula bogeyman of American pictures, achieved European success in Ibsen and Shakespearean roles, and will be remembered for his portrayal of Johnathan Drew in Arsenic and Old Lace.
Richard Waring has appeared in many plays, co-starring with Ethel Barrymore for three years in The Corn is Green and recently appearing opposite Eva Le Galliene in a revival of the same play on Broadway.
Oswald Marshall is a veteran British actor who has been seen in this country in Victoria Regina, The Barrets of Wimpole Street and I Remember Mama.
The action of The Devil Also Dreams revolves about the efforts of a famous aging playwright (Sullivan) to hold the affections of his mercenary young actress mistress (Luce) when a young writer brings a promising manuscript to him for criticism. The playwright plans to steal the play, and – with the aid of his half mad butler (Lugosi) – murder the young author.
…..
The Montreal Gazette, August 19, 1950
Stage and Screen Stars Due Here in Melodrama
A new play The Devil Also Dreams will herald the opening of the legitimate theatre’s 1950-51 season in Montreal. This comedy melodrama, written by Fritz Rotters and Elissa Rohn and directed by Reginald Denham, starts a five-day engagement Tuesday with usual Wednesday and Saturday matinees.
Playing a short pre-Broadway tour The Devil Also Dreams boasts stage and screen stars such as the lovely Claire Luce, rotund British star, Francis L. Sullivan, the Dracula horror man, Bela Lugosi, and the handsome ex-Ethel Barrymore leading man, Richard Waring.
This comedy melodrama, located in London, has as its central character an aging playwright named Quill. Many stage successes have given him an opulence that extends from his purse to his girth, also a young mistress of unusual beauty and talent. Quill has molded her into London’s favorite leading woman for his many brilliantly written stage successes. However, with age and avoirdupois comes senility and the once great brain can no longer fashion the words and scenes on which her talent and beauty depend for development. The girl realizing all this, is leaving Quill.
To hold his lady the playwrite resorts to plagiarizing the fine but undeveloped writing talents of a young author who has, with awe and reverence, submitted his first play to the master for criticism. Successful larceny in this instance involves the complete elimination of the up and coming young man. To aid and abet this homicide, Quill utilizes the services of his half mad butler, an old Shakespearean actor.
The evening selected for the demise of the young writer arrives, as does an unexpected visit by the old family doctor. This unforeseen development unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on the side receiving your cheers, upsets the vehicle bearing the fruit that causes Adam’s downfall. Things begin to happen in a fast, furious and funny manner. The situation becomes one that only a devil could dream.
Theatregoers will be privileged to view all these carrying ons prior to Broadway where the play will be introduced in mid-September by its sponsors H. Clay Blaney and C. Peter Jaeger.
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The Montreal Gazette, August 22, 1950
His Majesty’s Theatre Presents New Comedy Melodrama Tonight
The 1950-51 theatrical season will open tonight at His Majesty’s when the management will present as its first road attraction, the four-star comedy melodrama, The Devil Also Dreams, written by Fritz Rotters and Elissa John, and produced by H. Clay Blaney and C. Peter Jaeger. The engagement will be for five evenings and two matinees Wednesday and Sunday.
The Devil Also Dreams, a tale of theatrical life in London of the 1890s, will be played by four well known stars of stage and screen. Claire Luce, who plays the feminine role, Francis L. Sullivan, who was last seen in the motion picture, Night And The City , star in the play.
Bela Lugosi, known the world over for his performances as Dracula and Frankenstein, will be seen in an important co-starring role. He will also be remembered for his portrayal of Jonathan in Arsenic and Old Lace.
Richard Waring, who was co-starring with Ethel Barrymore in The Corn is Green, will also be seen in an important co-starring role.
The action of The Devil Also Dreams revolves about the efforts of a famous aging playwright (Sullivan) to hold the affections of his mercenary young actress mistress (Luce). When a young writer (Waring) brings a promising manuscript to him for criticism, the playwright plans to steal the play, and – with the aid of his half-mad butler (Lugosi) – murder the young author.
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The Montreal Gazette, August 23, 1950
Sullivan Stars At His Majesty’s
British star here in ‘Devil Also Dreams’
By THOMAS ARCHER
Let us say immediately about The Devil Also Dreams, the first stage production at His Majesty’s opening the season last night that it is here before trying its luck in New York, and that it will take with it there a very exceptional cast. Fritz Rosser and Elissa Bohn, who wrote the play, will have never been better served than they are by the five actors who interpret the authors’ situations and lines.
The play itself has a novel twist and some excellent lines and situations. It is not one that is likely to make its mark in dramatic literature or even to make the top dramatic grade on this continent.
What we have is the story of an eminent dramatist, and the beautiful star for whom he has written continuous hits, faced with a young playwright with new ideas.
The older man sees the opportunity to use the youngster. The star is torn between the two men. Who can supply her with the best medium to exploit her glittering, glamorous personality. Out of this Mr. Rotter and Miss Bohn have attempted to build a convincing three act play.
There was a certain feeling all the way through that dialogue and situation were improvised. Often the situations were brilliantly taken. Sometimes we felt a labored effort to make it all go. The dramatic logic was not invariably convincing.
But last night that mattered less than might have been expected. It is very well to dogmatize that the play’s the thing but when you have a rare cast which transcends the play itself and builds it up by sheer virtuosity into a first-class theatre experience, then play analysis is slightly out of place. We have little enough acting of this kind out of the films in Montreal in these days. Let us not complain but enjoy what is given us.
There is Francis L. Sullivan as the elderly playwrite in peril of losing both his working star and his reputation to a junior genius. The role is written for Mr. Sullivan and he reveals himself as an extraordinarily gifted man of the theatre. We have seen Mr. Sullivan in films and have admired him immensely. But to appreciate his colorful personality, his superb command of English, his sense of the theatre and what it entails in voice, gesture and rhythm, he must be seen in person. That is why every lover of the theatre should take in The Devil Also Dreams.
He is ably supported. Clare Luce is a perfect team-mate as the temperamental actress who is the key to the dramatic situation. Miss Luce, like Mr. Sullivan, has a technique which it is both a lesson and a joy to watch. She also has what might be called authority, as added attraction, a rare thing in the theatre.
Richard Waring is most winning as the romantic young playwrite: and also an accomplished actor. Bela Lugosi, who is known to most people as a horror man of films, is quite delightfully out of his conventional character. Mr. Lugosi is Mr. Sullivan’s ex-actor butler, who formerly played Hamlet and, while a model in his present vocation, can never forget that he once intoned “To Be Or Not To Be” before an audience. This in itself will make the play worth seeing for many.
And then we have the veteran Oswald Marshall who comes in during the final poison party as the attentive, old fashioned English doctor. This adds to the old theatre stuff that never fails.
The costumes and setting are well designed but hardly make us think about England in the late Nineties where and when the action is supposed to take place. But this is a minor matter.
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Members of the cast of The Devil Also Dreams have fun after a performance.
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Bela Lugosi’s Big Horror and Magic Stage Show
RKO Capitol Theatre, Trenton, New Jersey, December 26
The Billboard, December 23, 1950
Film Cirk Gets 1-Night Live Unit
NEW YORK, Dec. 16. – A package headed by Bela Lugosi will start a series of one and two nighters, in and around New York, beginning December 26 and running to December 31.
The unit, produced and booked by Dave Dietz, will include a magician, six girls, four boys and a gorilla. Included will be a Lugosi flicker to run about 60 minutes. The stage show will run less than an hour. There’ll be no music; recordings will be used.
Package is being sold at a base rate of 50-50, tho every house will be dickered with differently. Dates so far set include RKO, Paramount and Skouras houses, starting at the RKO Capitol, Trenton, N.J. All shows will be scaled at $1 flat.
After the one and two nighters are finished, unit will probably do a week at the Baltimore Hippodrome.
The Billboard, January 6, 1951
Lugosi Spook Show Opens to Standees
TRENTON, N.J., Dec. 30. – The Bela Lugosi package preemed at the RKO Capitol here Tuesday night (26) and drew over 2,000 for a midnight showing despite a heavy snow fall. Capacity of the house is 1,875.
The Billboard, February 17, 1951
Hocus-Pocus of Magic and Magi
By BILL SACHS
…Bela Lugosi Horror Show has been playing the New York area…
State Theater, Hartford, Conneticut
The Billboard, March 17, 1951
Hocus-Pocus of Magic and Magi
By BILL SACHS
Prof. J. Stonehurst (Jean L. Casey) writes from his Milldale, Conn., headquarters: “Caught Bela Lugosi’s horror show at the State Theater, Hartford, Conn., and found it an excellent presentation by a master showman.
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1951
Dracula
British Tour, April 20 – October 13, 1951
For exhaustive details of the British tour, please visit our 1951 British Dracula Tour – Newspaper Articles And Memorabilia page.
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1954
The Bela Lugosi Revue
The Silver Slipper Saloon, February 19 – March 27, 1954
