Richard, Your assessment is exactly right. In the most technical sense Karloff's billing and role is not clearly articulated until the end of the film, even though his name is on the posters for the film. His role was being kept secret. In fact during the time frame of the film's release, there had been publicity that Bela Lugosi was doing the film. Even though he wound up not doing the movie, Universal did nothing to beat down those rumors, because unlike Karloff, Lugosi had Box-Office cache at that point.
Anyway, the Opening Credits of the 1931edit of Frankenstein, first reference Universal, Carl Laemmle and Jr., then goes to another card crediting Mary Shelly, Associate Producers, Screenwriters and Sound Recordists etc., Then there is a Solo Card saying "Directed by James Whale". After that, is the next card in the Opening Credits titled "The Players". That card list 9 roles, but only 8 performers. It starts with billing as you mentioned, though the format is: Henry Frankenstein .......Colin Clive Elizabeth ..................... Mae Clark Victor Moritz ................ John Boles The Monster...................? Karloff is not given screen credit until the end of the film when a card appears with the words "A Good Cast is Worth Repeating. This time the End Credit card lists the same 9 roles but also includes Karloff billed 4th as The Monster. ----- Original Message ----- From: Richard Halegua Comic Art To: [email protected] Sent: Monday, April 18, 2011 6:56 PM Subject: Re: [MOPO] Any of you experts seen this Frankenstein ad anywhere before? because Frankenstein is the film that made him a star.. until then he was only a supporting actor and that is his role in this film. Colin Clive is the male lead Mae Clarke is the female lead John Boles is the top supporting actor Karloff's credit comes in after John Boles At 06:24 PM 4/18/2011, Bruce Hershenson wrote: Why did he only get fourth billing? On Mon, Apr 18, 2011 at 8:14 PM, Richard Halegua Comic Art <[email protected]> wrote: Karloff is fourth billed on this title, which is the same place he has on that ad At 06:07 PM 4/18/2011, Bruce Hershenson wrote: Notice the weird image of the monster and Karloff's weirdly low billing. I wonder if they had even signed him at that point, or if they even had a script. Bruce On Mon, Apr 18, 2011 at 8:39 AM, Ron Moore <[email protected] > wrote: No, that's extremely different from anything I've ever seen or dealt with on the title.. --- On Mon, 4/18/11, Bruce Hershenson < [email protected]> wrote: From: Bruce Hershenson < [email protected]> Subject: [MOPO] Any of you experts seen this Frankenstein ad anywhere before? To: [email protected] Date: Monday, April 18, 2011, 8:09 AM http://www.emovieposter.com/images/announcements/pb_spirit_of_notre_dame_front_and_interior.jpg This is an interior page from the pressbook for Spirit of Notre Dame. It includes an advance ad for "Frankenstein" (billing it as "The biggest picture of the year"), with art I have not seen anywhere else (and which likely has not been seen for decades)! Any of you experts seen this Frankenstein ad anywhere before? -- Bruce Hershenson and the other 25 members of the eMoviePoster.com team P.O. Box 874 West Plains, MO 65775 Phone: 417-256-9616 (hours: Mon-Fri 9 to 5 except from 12 to 1 when we take lunch) our site our auctions Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. -- Bruce Hershenson and the other 25 members of the eMoviePoster.com team P.O. Box 874 West Plains, MO 65775 Phone: 417-256-9616 (hours: Mon-Fri 9 to 5 except from 12 to 1 when we take lunch) our site our auctions Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. -- Bruce Hershenson and the other 25 members of the eMoviePoster.com team P.O. Box 874 West Plains, MO 65775 Phone: 417-256-9616 (hours: Mon-Fri 9 to 5 except from 12 to 1 when we take lunch) our site our auctions Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
