The 1938 Dracula & Frankenstein Double-Bill

On Thursday, August 5, 1938, the Regina Theatre at Wilshire and La Cienega in Los Angeles, trying to stave off bankruptcy, began what was intended as a four-day run of a tripple-bill feature of Dracula, Frankenstein and Son of King Kong. The bill unexpectedly captured the public’s imagination, becoming an overnight sensation. It was soon playing 21 hours a day to packed houses while police controlled the crowds queuing around the block. At the same time, an unemployed Bela Lugosi, who, apart from one week’s work in the Republic serial S.O.S Coastguard, had not been offered film work for two years, was suffering dire financial problems. At the start of the year, he had been forced to apply to the Motion Picture Relief Fund for help with medical costs when his son, Bela George Lugosi, Jr., was born on January 5th, 1938. As the crowds grew outside the Regina, he was forced to move into a rented house when the mortgage company foreclosed on his beloved mansion at 2227 Outpost Drive. Emil Umann, manager of the Regina, quickly hired the unemployed actor to make nightly public appearances at the cinema.

Daily Variety, August 20, 1938

Courtesy of http://belathenomadyears.blogspot.com/

Universal, which had rented the films to Umann at a flat rate, found itself missing out on the massive profits that the cinema was making. Quickly striking 500 new prints of Dracula and Frankenstein, the studio set a publicity campaign in motion and rented the newly struck prints to cinemas across the country, which all duplicated the success of the Regina, under terms more beneficial to the studio. As the campaign gained momentum, Universal, who had taken credit for Emil Umann’s inspired idea, pulled their prints from the Regina after four weeks, leaving him out in the cold as the profits continued to roll in. Bela Lugosi headed off on a West Coast tour of personal appearances at cinemas to promote Frankenstein and Dracula. On October 17th, Universal rushed Son of Frankenstein into production, heralding the beginning of the second cycle of Hollywood horror films and the end of Bela’s financial woes. Of his unexpected return to the spotlight, he told the press, “I owe it all to that little man at the Regina Theatre. I was dead, and he brought me back to life.”

On a much smaller scale, the double-bill of Frankenstein and Dracula did excellent business again when re-released in 1951. Unlike in 1938, however, it did not revive Bela Lugosi’s failing career.

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Daily Variety, October 15, 1938

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Universal 1938 pressbook ad

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Wisconsin State Journal Madison, October 19, 1938

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The Lewiston Daily Sun, October 29, 1938

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RKO Newsette theatrer handbill, November, 1938

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Capitol Theater, Madison, Wisconsin, October 23, 1938

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The Rialto cinema, New York

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Meriden Record, November 2, 1938

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Meriden Record, November 3, 1938

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Meriden Record, November 4, 1938

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The Meriden Daily Journal, November 4, 1938

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The Montreal Gazette, November 19, 1938

TWIN BILL OF HORRORS

A full programme of horror is promised those who visit the revival of “Frankenstein” and “Dracula” at the Princess this week. Each picture will be remembered as creating a favorably frightening impression in its day, and the combination should supply a sufficient number of thrills.

Of the two, “Frankenstein” remains the most effective. “Dracula” proves to be very funny in moments when it should hold us breathless. The difference seems to lie in the manner of acting.

In “Dracula” it was considered enough that Bela Lugosi stand in well-cut dinner clothes (that is, well-cut for a man who must live in a coffin all the time that tailors’ establishments are open) and deliver piercing glances at the camera. The rest of the acting seems to be as dated as the clothes ladies wear, more so in fact. Helen Chandler makes a fluttering victim, with David Manners a stalwart hero.

“Frankenstein” is quite another thing. Here the characterizations given by Boris Karloff and the late Colin Clive, as the scientist and his monster, bring conviction to the strange tale of re-creation. Karloff deserves the fame which the performance brought him. Here is no mass of make-up but a genuine attempt to project the reactions of a monstrous and unhuman creature. The moments when he sees the sunlight for the first time are still impressive ones.

The general production bears up the good work of its leading players, resembling in some respects some of the old German films. Its one annoying feature is the theatrical aspect of the mountain scenes.

The whole evening should present as much of interest to those who have seen the films before as to those who come to see them for the first time. “Frankenstein should pave the way in public interest to the new film, “The Son of Frankenstein,” now in the making which will have both Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi in its cast.

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