Castle Of Frankenstein #2: The Many Faces Of Christopher Lee

From the second issue of the great monster mag, "Castle of Frankenstein," published in 1962, comes this photo-heavy feature on "The Many Faces Of Christopher Lee." I consider myself very lucky to have this issue!

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I'll be posting more from this issue is the near future!

Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed 1969 article

From issue #14 of Castle of Frankenstein, (see the cover here, from a previous post on another blog) published in 1969, comes this short preview of the next Hammer sequel "Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed."

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In the publicity still above, we see a good example of the sneaky "Cushing Grope," a maneuver he often makes with his bosomy co-stars. Watch for it every time he "assists" a female costar... he subtly moves his thumb into direct contact with the starlet's breast! Peter, you sly old dog you. I wonder how many of them noticed it? If you look for it in his films, you will see it as a signature move.

Below, another page from the same issue, on a previous entry in the Frankenstein series of films.

Young Frankenstein article from 1975

This time we look into Issue #25 of the awesome Castle of Frankenstein magazine, published in June of 1975. I bought this when I was 16 from a tobacco/magazine store, when I lived in Ft. Lauderdale. I can still smell the fragrant pipe tobacco scent of these kinds of stores, and associate it with my magazine treasures that I found there, like this one.

The beautiful wrap-around cover from "The Time Machine" was a sight to behold, and made my fingers almost tremble with excitement as I snatched it from the stand. That movie has always been one of my favorites, and seeing it featured on the cover was too exciting to me. I'll feature the article on the movie soon in a future post over on my other blog "Fantastic Flashbacks;" this time, we're looking at the "Young Frankenstein" article. A classic comedy that honors the movie is it spoofing so well that it really fits in as a sequel to them!

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Great art but innocent Weena is painted just a bit on the slutty side.

1969 article: "My Life As A Monster" by Boris Karloff

From the collection cabinets come Issue #14 of the legendary "Castle of Frankenstein" magazine, published in 1969, which contained this article "My Life As A Monster," which is more special since it is written by Karloff himself. Enjoy the unique article and rare photos!

(In case the Star Trek cover interests you, I have posted that feature article on another blog, "My Star Trek Scrapbook.")

Below, from the same issue is a reprint of an article on Karloff from a 1940 movie magazine.

Frankenstein: 1973

Back in August of 2008 I scanned and posted a story from a 1974 edition of Skywald Publishing's "Scream" magazine titled "2073: The Death of the Monster" under the post title of "The Death of Frankenstein." In it I wondered about the abrupt start of the story with no explanation of how the Monster suddenly came to be there in 2073. Well, as I was looking through this issue of Nightmare, published in June of 1973 for something to scan for this blog, I came across this earlier chapter in the story that explained how the Monster came to be there.

Strange that the story here continues what was in another magazine a year earlier. I inadvertantly am posting them in reverse order, and even this one is in the middle of the series, as there is at least another one before it. But, each one is interesting, so here you go. Maybe someday we'll have them all here!

First, the awesomely incredible cover to the issue, put out in June of 1973. Truly nightmarish!

And now, we jump directly into the story, just as it was published in the magazine....

Next, proceed to the earlier post to read the final chapter, if you haven't already, titled "2073: The Death of The Monster."

1975 FM Article: Frankenstein And The Monster From Hell

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From issue #113 of the fondly-remember Famous Monsters, dated January 1975. I was 16 at the time and lived in Ft. Lauderdale FL, one of my favorite places as I grew up.

Although it was not known at the time, the new movie "Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell" was to be the last Hammer Frankenstein film. Hammer was making it's final movies, and it truly was the end of an era. With this entry into the series, we finally got another good monster, something lacking in most of the sequels to the original "Curse of Frankenstein," which had put Hammer on the horror map back in 1958. It's enjoyable to go back and read articles on movies that were written when they were fresh and new, so here you go! Try to regress in your mind as you read this to the age and innocence you were at when it was written in 1975... if you're old enough to remember back that far!

Frankenstein: The True Story 1973 article

(Click on article to read.)

Clipped from the Ft. Lauderdale, FL News on Nov. 30, 1973.

I had posted a smaller clipping on this before, here.

Few realised that the Monster's disposition was due to the hemorrhoids that came with the pre-used body he had been given.

Den Beauvais Monster Art

Today's Monster Memory is brought to life by the extremely talented and prolific Den Beauvais. This faithful adaptation of the Universal classic "Frankenstein" is breathtakingly painted, and each page is worth framing. Visit his site, at http://www.denbeauvais.com/ to see what all he's done and is working on. If you're not a fan already, after visiting his site you will be.

Below are two pages that I scanned in and posted in a large format so you can appreciate the work and talent that went into this.

Below are pages of the artwork found on his site. Just looking at these make me happy for some reason.

To view all the pages of artwork of the ENTIRE comic, without the dialog balloons (and really, who needs 'em?) go here and feast your eyes!

After seeing the work he did on the Frankenstein adaptation, he was contracted to do the model kit box covers for the new Dark Horse versions of the old Aurora models so beloved by Monster Kids everywhere. Beautiful work.

The "Bathroom Buddies" below show his humorous side!

Drac actually coined the term "bloodbath" but few realised he meant it so literally. It was a pleasure also enjoyed by Countess Bathory, a.k.a. "Blood Bathory."

One sniff told him that there was a lycan meeting in the old clearing next Tuesday at 12:30... and that everyone should invite a human friend for after-meeting snacks.

All those brains and no fiber really clog up the old plumbing!

Werewolf? There... wolf!

For a 3D animation the guys will enjoy watching for hours on end, click here. Heck, some girls reading this might enjoy it!

Well, it's good to see someone with such a love for the genre being able to make a good living at it, and making us fellow fans happy as well. Den, we raise our voices in a howl of salute!

All artwork featured in this post is copyright Den Beauvais.