Vincentennial Post #37 - Cousin's Subs spokesman

In the 1980 Vincent Price certainly did plenty of ad work. This had to have been a mixed blessing for Vincent. While certainly a far cry from the classic roles of old, it was good money and an easy shoot, certainly a blessing for an aging actor. Here are a couple of ads for a sandwich shop in Milwaukee, WI called Cousin's Subs that hired Vincent as their spokesman.

Vincentennial Post #36 - Sun Country Wine Cooler Ad

Vincent Price in and ad for Sun Country Wine coolers. This is from 1985.

Vincentennial Post #35- Rare Vincent Price photo by Roddy McDowell

      Still deeply interested in art even at the end of his life, Vinnie continued to attend museum exhibitions...This photograph shows Vinnie leaning on a walker--he was suffering from Parkinson's at this point in his life--at a showing of his friend Helmut Newton's photographs in a West Hollywood gallery in 1992, a year before Price's death... The photo was taken by his longtime friend, actor Roddy McDowall.

from the Robert Taylor collection

Vincentennial Post #34 - Horror Hall of Fame: A Monster Salute

In 1974 Vincent Price hosted the Horror Hall of Fame: A Monster Salute TV special. He was the host paying tribute to the stars of horror film - Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney Jr., Lon Chaney Sr., Peter Lorre, etc...

Vincent has a hunchback assistant on this show played by Billy Van, which is awesome because Vincent and Billy worked together on the Canadian horror host TV show The Hilarious House of Frightenstein, in which Billy was the star and Vincent appeared in a series of short bits. In this one Vincent is the star and Billy Van is a supporting player.

This is a monsterkid's dream, and features a number of fantastic guests such as John Astin, Frank Gorshin, and John Carradine! There are interviews, short sketches, video clips and more. Wonderfully charming and hokey - and Vinnie being a total ham. Awesome. Here's the whole special below...

Vincentennial Post #33 - Victoria Regina

Vinnie's first success was on the American stage when he co-starred with Helen Hayes in the play VICTORIA REGINA (1935) as Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria. This is Vinnie's personal copy of the program.From the collection of Robert Taylor.

Vincent Price Photos from the Play Victoria Regina (1935).

POST #666 - Satan in Comics!

This is blog #666 for me - woo-hoo! So in celebration of that oh so scary number, I thought I'd post a collection of photos of Satan in comics through the years - Satan, Scratch, Beelzebub, Lucifur, Belial, Abaddon, the horned one, Hillary... Hang onto your pitchfork folks, it's about to get hot in here!

AND look here - there's even a book of devil imagery in comics!

The Comics Go to Hell: A Visual History of the Devil in Comics by Fredrick Stromberg

 And last but not least - the true devil in comics...

Vincentennial Post #32 - Vincent Price Life Mask

This is a lifemask of Vincent Price made out of plaster, painted to look more lifelike. Part of the Robert Taylor collection.

Vincentennial Post #31- Dell Comics Price Film Adaptations

BLACK MAGIC CASTS ITS GHOSTLY SPELL...

Dell Comics published several comic book adaptations of Vincent Price films in the late 60s. These come from the Robert Taylor collection.I love that cover for Tomb of Ligea! I found an even larger version on the web and placed it at the bottom of this post - click to enlarge and check out all the detail.By the way, it sold for S155.00 dollars at auction, so if you have any of these hold onto them!!

Vincentennial Post #30 - An Evening of Edgar Allen Poe

One of my very favorite Vincent Price performances is the wonderful AN EVENING OF EDGAR ALLEN POE. This is a Vincent Price one man show with Vincent performing and reciting various Poe short stories - The Tell Tale Heart, The Cask of Amontillado, The Sphinx, and The Pit and the Pendulum. If you have never seen it you're missing out - Vincent really gets a chance to show off those acting chops here, and of course the Poe material is fantastic.

Director Kenneth Johnson gives his personal remembrances of Vincent and behind the scenes stories of filming this special on his website here.  It is a very nice tribute to Vincent. Check it out, and also pick up the dvd with this special on it, you won't be disappointed!!

Pre-code Horror Goodie

Just for the fun of it here's an old pre-code horror comic just dripping with fun! They don't make em' like this anymore, unfortunately! From 1953... curse you Frederick Wertham!

Vincentennial Post #29 - The Baron of Arizona

One of my very favorite of Vincent Price's non-horror roles. Vincent definitely still plays the villain, however, and is wonderfully ruthless in it.

The Baron of Arizona was made in 1950, written and directed by Samuel Fuller. It's based on a real-life historical figure, James Reavis, who almost swindled the United States out of the territory of Arizona, providing forged land documents indicating his wife was heir to this territory. Vincent really flexes his villain muscles in this one - he is one corrupt, conniving and devious character. If you haven't seen this one, you should definitely track it down. It's available on dvd and Turner Classic Movies shows it from time to time as well. Definitely worth watching.

There is a video clip from the film on the TM website below:
http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/index.jsp?cid=247263

Vincentennial Post #28 - Vincent's Baby Book

From collector Robert Taylor is this page from Vincent Price's 1911 baby book. This is the first page giving the news of Vincent's birth, in his father's handwriting.

from the collection of Robert Taylor

Vincentennial Post #27 - Hudson's Bay

During his career, Vinnie played a wide variety of historic roles in a wide variety of costuming.  

 

Here he is as the foppish King Charles II in HUDSON'S BAY from 1941.  It wasn't the role he had tried out for, but it was, he said, though a small role, still, a good one--and it kept him busy.  Price liked staying busy at all times.

 

 (collection of Robert Taylor)

 

 

Vincentennial Post #26 - Vincent Price and... Jack Pierce?

I was looking through some photos of Universal Studios makeup guru Jack Pierce at work the other day and got to wondering if he and Vincent Price might have worked together at some point. Certainly it was possible they would have crossed paths and perhaps they worked on a film together at some point early in Vinnie's career.


I consulted my buddy Scott Essman for the answer. Scott is an expert on the life of Jack Pierce and in fact wrote a book about Jack entitled JACK PIERCE THE MAN BEHIND THE MONSTERS. and also put together and on stage live tribute to Pierce. The man knows his stuff! So a quick query to Scott led to an equally quick response. Yes, indeed, Vincent Price worked with Jack Pierce on his first film, Service de Lux, the one and only time the two worked together.



And better yet, Scott even had a photo to of the two together that ran original in his book. This was taken in Jack's makeup bungalow in 1938! So there you have it - Pierce and Price did indeed work together on Service de Lux. Thanks Scott for all your assistance, and I urge all of you to pick up a copy of Scott's book on Amazon.com. It is an invaluable resource and a terrific read.

Vincentennial Post #25 - The Tonight Show

A quarter of the way through the Vincentennial 100 posts in honor of Vincent Price's 100th birthday, and this time around I have a Vincent appearance on the Tonight Show from 1973. Great stuff. This was just as Theater of Blood was about to come out. They talk about Vincent's horror roles, Boris Karloff, fine art and more.

Vincentennial Post #24 - Eighteen

This contribution to Dr. Gangrene's Vincentennial 100 posts countdown comes from Sara Waugh, cousin of collector Robert Taylor. As he puts it - "It's a family thing!"

This is Vincent Price's 18th birthday photo AND his graduation photo. His father wrote on the back, noting the date and the occasion.

(collection of Sara Waugh)



Vincentennial Post #23 - More Dead Than Alive

Something a little different from Vincent Price, this 1969 western called More Dead Than Alive. In it Vinnie plays a traveling sideshow owner named Dan Ruffalo who convinces a freshly released prisoner and former murder to join his sideshow as a sharpshooting attraction.

Vincentennial Post #22 - Tilex Commercial

After long hours down in the pit that pendulum must be an awful mess. Vincent Price shows off his secret cleaning ingredient in this commercial from 1990 - as spokesman for TILEX.

Vincentennial Post #21 - Vincent Price, chef

Vincent Price was definitely a man who had a taste for the finer things in life, and the finer tasting things as well. Vincent was a well documented gourmet chef, and together with second wife Mary Grant published two cookbooks, Come Into the Kitchen (1969) and A Treasury of Great Recipes (1965). Here are the two books below, with alternate covers for the Come into the Kitchen book.