Monster of the Day #1058

It’s harder to find Bela candids. He was a very serious man, and not given overmuch to fooling around. In this as in many things, Karloff was his opposite.

I am AWFUL at recognizing faces. But damn if Bela Jr. as a baby doesn’t look exactly like Bela Jr. as an adult. (And also quite a bit like Lloyd Nolan.)

Baby Bela seems far more weirded out by Karloff’s monster than the five year-old Donnie Donagan was. Of course, I’m sure he died but days later from second hand smoke exposure.

Here’s the older Bela Jr. with Dad and Glenn Strange, presumably on the set of A&C Meet Frankenstein. Bela appeared to be in a pretty cheerful mood, maybe because he was acting in a real movie again. And, of course, the Monster was being played by Strange, not Karloff. Or by Bela, for that matter. Bela was 66 here, and only five years younger when he played the Monster. I can’t imagine it was a happy experience for anyone.

Here Bela cavorts with Moe and Shemp Howard as they give brother Curly the business.

This one seems pretty seasonal.

  • Flangepart

    Nice.
    Is Bela Jr. in a navy uniform? Looks like he was doing a movie gig.

  • Wow, that’s a great makeup job on Moe and Shemp Howard. They look just like Lon Chaney Jr and John Carradine.

  • Gamera977

    TOR!!!

  • bgbear_rnh

    maybe they are exchanging tips on getting into peoples houses in the middle of the night w/o waking anyone up ;)

  • bgbear_rnh

    Glenn Strange was a background regular on Gunsmoke for many years as Sam the bartender. I wonder what kinds of stories and laughs him and James Arness exchanged about playing monsters and who doesn’t want see Frankenstein vs. The Thing from Another Planet?

    Strange was also Petro in “The Mad Monster” one of my MST3K favorites.

    Also a zillion westerns.

  • Craig Richards

    Ah……..Bela!!

  • The Rev.

    Santa and Dracula playing cards needs to be on my Christmas cards. That is wonderful.
    Not quite as wonderful as that one of Karloff in the make-up with the teacup and his pinky up from Monday, but that’s not seasonal, is it?

  • sandra

    Second picture from the bottom is Bela with John Carradine and Lon Chaney Jr and what looks like Tor Johnson.

  • bgbear_rnh

    Thank you Drax ;)

  • Rock Baker

    What a wonderful slate of pix!

  • Oh my God! How have I lived this long and not known that picture of Bela, Tor, John Carradine and Lon Chaney Jr. existed?

  • Acethepug

    Thanks, really enjoying this candid series.

  • Eric Hinkle

    Thanks for identifying them. I thought they looked like Chaney and Carradine, but couldn’t place them. I wonder what movie that was?

  • Eric Hinkle

    And I love the one with Santa Claus telling Bela that he’s on the naughty list. Hey, that’s what it looks like to me!

  • Eric Hinkle

    Something I almost forgot — with that last picture, am I alone in wishing that someone could have made ‘Dracula Versus Santa Claus’?

  • bgbear_rnh

    Is Pia Zadora available?

  • Ken_Begg

    I assume The Black Sleep.

  • Eric Hinkle

    Thank you.

  • Rodford Smith

    I thought that was Tor, but wasn’t sure. He’s lost a lot of weight in that photo.