Universal Horrors: The Studio’s Classic Films, 1931-1946 [Book Review]

Universal Horrors: The Studio’s Classic Films, 1931-1946
By Tom Weaver, Michael Brunas, John Brunas
1990, McFarland & Co.

I thought about saving this entry for the 2013 edition of Halloween Scream (even though I took a break in 2012…) but I figured I better talk about this book while it’s fresh on my mind. I can always link back to it later in October.

For the record, I’ll be discussing the 1990 first edition. A second printing was given to the book in 2007 and it apparently features extra artwork and movie posters not shown in the first edition. Either edition you have features some cool movie poster artwork, publicity photos and still shots from the films though.

Second Edition (2007)

At 600 pages plus, this book is not light reading but a great reference tool covering Universal Studios’ contributions during the golden age of horror. Despite the explosion of the internet and websites like Wikipedia and Internet Movie Database I still found this book full of useful information that I hadn’t read anywhere else. All of Universal’s horror movies  from this time frame (and even some that could only very loosely fit under the horror umbrella) are represented and talked about at various lengths. Some of the information covered is fairly standard but in-depth: cast/characters, crew, running time, release date, etc.

Of course, all of the major Universal Monsters are covered: Dracula, Frankenstein, Wolf Man, Invisible Man, the Phantom of the Opera, the Mummy, etc. Then we have other offerings like the Ghoul, the Werewolf of London, the She-Wolf of London, Inner Sanctum Mysteries, the Ape Woman, the Man Made Monster, The Old Dark House, Rondo Hatton as the Creeper, the Sherlock Holmes series starring Basil Rathbone and the Edgar Allan Poe films that starred Bela Lugosi and/or Boris Karloff (Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Black Cat & The Raven). Some of these things are not like the others, I’ll leave it to the reader to decide…

Quotes from the actors and crew regarding the production process and their experiences on the set are also offered up. The authors interject their own personal opinion from time to time. This only bothered me on a few occasions when I thought the authors were being too catty or biased for their own good but overall I actually enjoyed their personal quips and thought more than a few were pretty funny. I’ve read some reader reviews where complaints are made about the authors going off topic. While the authors do tend to wander at times, the topics still deal with old Hollywood so I didn’t see it as much of a problem so I was still interested in what they had to say.

My only real issue with this book is that they didn’t bother to include the movies that starred the Creature from the Black Lagoon (I’ve never been a fan of calling him “Gill-Man”) or the Abbott & Costello monster mashes even though these movies are referenced at one time or another throughout the book. But, I guess if they opened up the book to those movies they’d have to include all of the ’50s sci-fi/monster movies and everything would get way out of hand and they were already stretching the limits of what you could call “horror” with this book.

Then again, Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein was released in 1948. I’ve always considered that movie to signify the “end” of Universal’s great horror run. I think ’48, instead of ’46, would’ve been a good cut-off point for the book.

Universal Horrors: The Studio’s Classic Films, 1931-1946 is essential reading for fans of the Universal Monsters and fans of the golden age of horror in general. It’s a well put together collection that is sure to please the Famous Monsters demographic of horror fans. Just don’t expect to get it cheap. It’s going for around $50 new or used on Amazon. Luckily, you can get it on Kindle for around $19.

Buy the book at Amazon.com!

Don’t Shoot, It’s Only Me by Bob Hope

Don’t Shoot, It’s Only Me
By Bob Hope with Melville Shavelson
(1990, Putnam Books)

I’ve read a couple of Bob Hope books (about him and by him) over the years and had this one on my Amazon wishlist for awhile (it’s only a PENNY for a used copy) but then I came across it at the local library and decided to check it out.

I wasn’t sure what I was getting into. I know Hope wrote TONS of books over the years so I had no clue what the material was going to be but I guess the title should’ve been my first clue because this book details Hope’s tours around the world (with his ever-changing cast of “Hope Gypsies”) entertaining for U.S. troops from World War II up through Desert Storm.

The book is full of the typical funny one-liners that Hope is known for and many of the jokes while performing for the troops are repeated. There are a few stories in regards to his career but the book mostly sticks to talking about the wartime tours: living conditions, morale, the close-calls and the laughs. There’s a lot of talk about U.S. presidents too as Hope had met them all from FDR up to George Bush Sr.

Obviously, the bulk of the book details World War II, which is when Hope was most active entertaining the troops. Bob & his gang not only toured military bases putting on a stage show for the troops but during WWII his radio show was broadcast from U.S. bases as well. Vietnam also gets a good chunk of space since the war went on for so long and Hope went over every time around Christmas to help spread some cheer where there was none to be found and no one was really in the mood for it anyway. Words are devoted to the Cold War as well.

This is a good read for Bob Hope fans and people who have an interest in World War II. I’m sure Melville Shavelson had his share of input (like in regards to jokes about some the then-current events) but it really reads as if Bob Hope was speaking.

Buy ‘Don’t Shoot, It’s Only Me’ at Amazon.com

Read this book — Universal Studios Monsters: A Legacy of Horror

Released last month was a fantastic hardcover 252 page retrospective on the Universal Studios Monsters. Honest, I had no idea this book existed when I wrote my own Universal Monsters history piece! I happened to come across this book while at Barnes & Noble the other week and it was a must-have for me. The price isn’t too bad (I’ve paid worse for similar hardcover coffee table books) and any look back at Universal’s golden age of horror is appreciated by me.

The book is well put together (besides the few typos I’ve seen) spotlighting movies, actors and behind-the-scenes info.  Tons of great photos fill the book as well: movie posters, off camera shenanigans, scenes from the movies, shots of the Universal lot and publicity stills. The paper stock is nice and thick as well. I don’t know why I just mentioned that, but I really like it and it is so thick sometimes I thought maybe the pages had stuck together.

If you’re a big fan of the Universal Monsters, you need this book and there’s no month like October to read it!

Buy it at Amazon.com

Choose Your Own Adventure… Greatest series of books ever?

With over 250 million Choose Your Own Adventure sold from 1978-1998, this series was an absolute phenomenon.

If you’re not familiar with the books, quite simply, you choose your own adventure by dictating the plot and pace of each book. After a page or so, there’d be a few options for what you (playing the lead character) could do next.

Example:

If you wish to grab the vine and swing across the shark, alligator and piranha-infested lava pit, turn to page 11.

If you decide to look for another way around the pit, turn to page 8.

It was all really fun. You didn’t know what was going to happen next. Sometimes the best & safest choice turned out to be the worst and the very next page would say…

“You decide to find another way around the pit, but as you turn back onto the path from which you came, a boulder rolls down the mountain crushing you. The end.”

Of course, none of this really mattered, as I usually read through every option in the book to get the full experience. Oops, did I just die? No, I didn’t mean to turn to page 5, I meant to turn to page 12… Yeah, that’s the ticket!

Some of the books were goofy, some were actually downright creepy (usually the earlier books), but they were always fun. My elementary school, middle school and church library always kept them on hand, so I was constantly checking them out. One big plus (for me, anyway) was that the books were fairly small and never too text-heavy. Perfect for a kid who doesn’t like to read all that much!

I think the golden age for the books ranges from the debut in 1978 up until the late-80s. Everything after that just seemed to talk down to us young readers. There were also a number of Choose Your Own… spinoff series (First Adventure, Super Adventure, Nightmare, Star Wars and Disney). I haven’t read the whole line, but I believe I’ve read most of the 70s & 80s output under the regular Choose Your Own Adventure title.

I always judged the books by their covers though and I usually picked up the horror and scifi stories. Sorry, but tales like You Are A Shark, Search for the Mountain Gorillas and Spy for George Washington just don’t appeal to me. I needed stories like Space Vampire, Outlaws of Sherwood Forest, The Deadly Shadow, War With the Evil Power Master (gotta love that title), Vampire Express, Escape and The House of Danger!

There were a number of copy-cat book series (Find Your Fate, What Would You Do?). I think the most notable was Which Way Books, which ran from 1982-1986, but none of them captured the charm of Choose Your Own Adventure.

The series’ original publisher was Bantam Books, but publisher Chooseco has been reissuing the books since 2005. So head over to your local bookstore and relive your youth! But remember… make good choices.

If you’re interested in learning more about Choose Your Own Adventure, or the gamebook genre in general, head on over to Demian’s Gamebook Web Page for cover art, reviews and more.