Scary Monsters #84

Here's the cover for the upcoming Scary Monsters Magazine #84, a HUGE 160 page mag hitting news stands soon! Features two White Zombie articles by yours ghouly...!

Murder Legendre

Here's a promotional shot of Lugosi as Murder Legendre from White Zombie, featuring makeup by Jack Pierce. Lugosi refused to let Pierce work on his makeup in Dracula, and clashed with him on the makeup for the Frankenstein Monster in the infamous test shoot for FRANKENSTEIN - but fate kept throwing the two together. In 1932 they worked together first on MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE, then WHITE ZOMBIE, and would go on to work together on a total of 11 pictures!

Click photo to ENLARGE

List of films they worked together on:

Dracula 1931
Murders in the Rue Morgue 1932
White Zombie 1931
The Black Cat 1934
The Raven 1935
The Invisible Ray 1936
Son of Frankenstein 1939
Black Friday 1940
The Wolf Man 1941
The Ghost of Frankenstein 1942
Frankenstein 1943

Bela Lugosi's White Zombie Coat and vest

This coat and vest, worn by Bela Lugosi in the 1932 film White Zombie, sold at auction in June, 2010 for $100,000. They were found in a studio vault where they had been forgotten about for 80 years! They appear to be in pristine condition - Makes you wonder what other gems lay undiscovered, just waiting to be found...

An Underappreciated Jack Pierce Classic - White Zombie

Makeup guru Jack Pierce is best known for his Universal Studios creations Frankenstein, Dracula and the Wolfman. These have become icons of horror cinema. But Pierce did other work besides the big three, and my buddy Scott Essman takes a look at one of my favorites, Murder Legendre from WHITE ZOMBIE:

     Though it was not a Universal monster, "Murder" Legendre as played by Bela Lugosi was an early and somewhat overlooked Jack Pierce makeup in United Artists' WHITE ZOMBIE.  It was released the year after FRANKENSTEIN and the same year as OLD DARK HOUSE and THE MUMMY, all of which were Universal Pierce films featuring more noted monsters.  Both Lugosi and original FRANKENSTEIN director Robert Florey were reassigned to MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE when test films for FRANKENSTEIN displeased Carl Laemmle Jr., head of production at Universal, in 1931.  Though Lugosi would return to Universal to make films such as THE BLACK CAT (1934), THE RAVEN (1935) and THE INVISIBLE RAY (1936), he made WHITE ZOMBIE at UA.  Pierce had never actually signed a contract with Universal even though he was makeup department head from 1928-1947.  He had previously left the studio in 1927 to work at Fox to create an ape-man character for THE MONKEY TALKS.  But after WHITE ZOMBIE, Pierce never again worked outside Universal until he was dismissed in 1947 after the merger with International Pictures.  WHITE ZOMBIE was a low budget film even by 1932 standards, having been made for a rumored $50,000, filmed in two weeks in March of 1932 and released that August.  Of course, neither the film or character received the publicity or notoriety of the Universal horror classics of the early 1930s.  But the image of Lugosi in Pierce's makeup should be considered relevant to cinema enthusiasts.

Bela's best role

Doesn't get any better than this, does it?

Bela as Murder Legendre from White Zombie...