Rondo Awards time!

I am pleased to announce that my second book for BearManor Media has been nominated for this Rondo Award for best book of 2012. Now get out and vote!

Barbara Steele and I after we recorded the audio commentary for the forthcoming Blu Ray edition of Silent Scream in which Barbara steals the films as Victoria the strange daughter of Yvonne De Carlo in what has become the last of the neo Gothic thrillers made after the success of Halloween.  This film was always more of a throw back to the tradition of Hitchcock's Psycho.

The Reluctant Vampire

Jonathan Frid was always a modest man in life, this in itself would not have been unique if it were not for the fact that he was also an leading actor working in the medium of television where drawing attention to yourself is a way of life. Jonathan literally achieved overnight celebrity and with it fame. All This was thrust upon him as he was about to enter middle age a rather unlikely time in life to become a matinee idol.  All of this because he auditioned for a daytime soap opera called Dark Shadows, he could not possibly have imagined at the time that within a year of playing this reluctant vampire Barnabas Collins he would be a household name across America, a bonafide heart throb receiving truckloads of fan mail while gracing the covers of teen magazines that up until that moment had never featured any personalties over the age of 30. Jonathan Frid began his career as an actor in his native Canada, whose repatotire included Shakesphere and the classic's, his manner and delivery of dialogue was old fashioned and theatrical. This is perhaps the key to his success in the role of Barnabas Collins in the first place, his mannerisms suited the character so well that for those 20 minutes each weekday on television he personified this forlorn vampire condemned to darkness by a witch, chained in his coffin by his father who could not bring himself to destory his only son and to top it off carrying a torch for over two centuries for a woman who leaped to her death on Widow's hill rather then become a creature like himself. This over ripe plotline as interpeted by a cast of very theatrical actors like Grayson Hall and Louis Edmonds triggered a loyal cult following that is proving to be just as undead as Barnabas Collins and not bloody likely to go away in my lifetime. It was however Jonathan Frid's performance as the tormented vampire that made the whole thing come together in the hearts and minds of his captive tv audience. Ever single  baby boomer who rushed home from school in the late sixties to catch the latest installment of Dark Shadows remembers Frid with a special nostalgia if for no other reason than this man was never anything else in the minds of his audience but Barnabas Collins. The hiring of an unknown actor was a spark of genius on whomever presented this bit of casting to Dan Curtis, the legend has it that game show host and part time actor Bert Convey was being considered when Jonathan Frid was finally chosen and the rest as they say is history.

This lack of ambition on Frid's part was staggering when you consider just how hot an actor he was by 1970 having just come off a hit TV show with a viewing audience in the millions. He agreed to appear in the theatrical feature based on the show called House of Dark Shadows which in his opinion was a "pretty good horror film that perhaps spends a bit too  much screen time in blood and gore" I remember when Frid went on the Dick Cavett show and said as much while remaining the perfect courtly gentleman during the interview as Cavett showed a clip of Frid wildly cane whipping his handy man Willie Lomis played on both the film and the series by John Karlen. Frid then went on to do one more horror  in 1974 called Seizure which would also mark the screen debut of a young maverick director named Oliver Stone. His only other television appearence would be in 1973 when he accepted the rather thankless role, in the tradition of say Bela Lugosi in Night Monster, playing a mute chauffeur to Shelley Winters devil worshiping Lillith in The Devil's daughter directed by Jeannot Szwac.

My first real face to face encounter with Jonathan Frid would take place in New York city during the summer of 1983 where he very kindly invited me to his rent controlled apt over on East 18th street of which he was understandably proud.  The first thing you notice about him when you meet him is his absolute lack of vanity regarding his talent as an actor or his celebrity as a tv star, he is the first to tell you just how lucky he was to become part of the Dark Shadows legacy. I was very impressed that he kept the cane and ring in display cases in his living room a constant reminder of his famous alter ego Barnabas Collins. When our interview and visit finally came to an end I left with the feeling that I had made a friend because Jonathan was so generous with his time, I mean I was there for hours it seemed not to mention energy regarding my time with him.  I promised to keep in touch and I did, this was so enjoyable for me anyway because I was just like everybody else that grew up watching him stumbling around those cardboard sets with graveyards so cheap the tombstones fell over as Barnabas swooped by in full regalia with his cape billowing in the mist's of ABC's soundstage. He even allowed me to call my mother in Los Angeles while I was there so I could impress her by handing the phone over to "Barnabas" at first she didn't believe me but after all it was my mother and she knew I had a knack for meeting my idols so she came around and kept him on the phone for ten minutes while she went on about the show and how she never missed an episode. This was a great guy make no mistake.

It would a few years later that I would have a chance to really spend time with him again when Jonathan was touring the country playing the insanely determined killer in  that wonderful old Broadway warhorse Arsenic and Old lace. He was playing at a theater on Whilshire blvd  I managed to get a note to him backstage and so we met for drinks after his performance at this stylish art deco bar on the corner by the theater.  I had invited my close friend Martine Beswicke to join us at the moment she was booked for a dinner and asked for a rain check.  Jonathan looked disappointed so I suggested that we all meet up at my apt one day when he was not doing a matinee and come for drinks at my place in Beverly Hills.

This was to be my fondest memory of Jonathan Frid coming to my house that afternoon to be reunited with his co-star from Seizure, the Queen of evil herself Maritne Beswicke.  Now I took precautions to make sure Jonathan arrived first so we could have some time together to catch up a bit before that double martini personality that is known far and wide as Martine Beswicke comes through the door delightfully dominating all that follows in her wake .  He arrived on time and a bit breathless as he took a cab to my place.  I had tried to prepare him for the way my apt was decorated and as he entered he locked in on the Dracula insert over the mantle a 1947 reissue from the Lugosi film and commented "You know I feel such a connection to this man because I truly understand how playing these kind of parts can effect your entire life if you let it" He wanted to know as much as I had time to tell him about Lugosi and the curse of type casting that plagued his life until the end, however the issues that Jonathan felt they had was in reality night and day because Frid had none of the darkness that tormented Lugosi's life with bad career choices coupled with addictions etc.

I think that fact that I had organized my apt in such a manner that it did resemble a museum and this did seem to establish the right spirit in Jonathan that afternoon, which sparked a renewed respect in his mind for the horror genre  and this helped create the right mood for our afternoon together.  We decided after the grand tour of my abode to sit on my patio that faced Oakhurst Dr so we could watch Martine when she did drive up in her beloved little black VW she nicknamed "Pearl"  When I mentioned this fact to him he laughed that wonderful laugh of his and said "Nothing that girl comes up with can surprise me David you forget we all lived together in that drafty old house during our film together"   Within minites Martine did arrive and as she was getting out of her car Jonathan said loudly "Well there  goes the afternoon David and any chance of a conversation about anything but Beswicke"  He was already treating her like a long lost crazy sister which for me was a sign we were all going to have a ball.  Martine is the kind of woman that lights up a room and her joy for living is simply contagious.  Jonathan was in rare form as he recounted days of frustration on the set of Seizure mainly because the crew and the director Oliver Stone were all very young and prone to party a bit too much to suit the taste of an established pro like Frid and this project was a work in progress or a love=in depending on what day you worked.  Martine recalled having to keep the cameraman sober by making love to him on occassion to which Jonathan laughed and said "better you than me that's all I can say and then laughing very hard.  I wish I had somehow taped the whole afternoon but then that would not have been fair to these two amazing people who discussed their time together with candor and honesty and this must remain between friends.

I did make an effort to keep in touch with Jonathan as time seemed to slip away and after a fashion I was told Jonathan gave up his beloved New York apt to return to Canada as I believe his mother had died leaving her estate in his hands. The Frid family was already very established there and he wanted to go home after so many years on the road, theater was always his first love and he delighted in touring with his one man shows giving readings of his favorite plays and short stories.

My Dark Shadow memories will always be very dear to me because I was more than a fan of the show I was also part of the Dark Shadows family. When the news finally reached me that Jonathan Frid had died it was not surprising because of his age yet he was such an icon not only in the world of daytime television but as an admired horror icon as well. Jonathan had achived in his lifetime the kind of celebrity usually reserved for a Christopher Lee or a Bela Lugosi.  Jonathan had been a working actor for nearly 20 yrs when the role of Barnabas Collins turned him into a legend and that he will always remain. I was thrilled that he lived to see his legacy secure with  boxed sets of all 1200 episodes of Dark Shadows in circulation and a sell out on top of that at nearly $700 a piece. He flew to England a year before he died to film a cameo in the new Tim Burton film of Dark Shadows was he nearly lived to see in theaters. Frid is in rare company since very few actors live to see their legacy secure.


I know he would have been rather embarrassed by all this media attention by fans and critics alike regarding his passing but I am here to tell you he deserved every tribute bestowed upon him. Because it is in fact an outpouring of love for this remarkable humble man who entertained a generation of baby boomers and seems to be well on his way to repeat this process for the 21st century as well. I loved this man to bits and while I shall miss him Jonathan Frid will not not die as long as the visual arts exists in its many forms, his legacy is secure and remains as immortal as the character he played to perfection on both screens.   farewell Barnabas Collins I just know you will be back!.

Roses From My Garden

As we begin the month of February I am sadly reminded that it was during this month in 1987 that we lost one of the most enchanting of film historians Carlos Clarens. Carlos was always a welcomed figure in the lives of so many of us, during those early days of collecting memorabilia and screening films on both coasts.   I first came to know Carlos well through another historian/archivist John Kobal.    John lived and worked out of his Drayton Court flat in London as well as a smaller New York apt in the Village.  Both these men would establish archives that would remain cornerstones in the field to this day.

One afternoon I received a call from John who had just arrived in LA and had already checked into the Chateau Marmont. He wanted me to collect some negatives from Clarence Bull and bring them over to him right away and before he hung up he also said to be prepared for a surprise.  Well the surprise was of course Carlos whom John would refer to from time to time as "Lupe" or Carlito depending on his mood.  It seems Carlos and I had met once before during one of my infamous pub crawls through the village and managed to spent that particular evening talking about what else films and memorabilia an unlikely choice considering what my original purpose was in going out to the clubs during my very misspent youth.

John had known what an impact The Illustrated History of the Horror film was on my life as I had told him in great detail when we first got to know one another. I was still in high school when our library received a copy of Carlos's book.  The first time I opened those pages and saw for the first time stills from such hard to locate classic's as The Student of Prague or The Magician I was mesmerized and so then and there in that high school library I made a pact to see every single film in that book and meet as many of the survivors of these films as possible.  We don't always get what we wish for yet for me every single part of my dreams that afternoon came to pass and I would not only meet many of the men and women mentioned in his book but would defy the odds of making friends not only with the illustrious author of my favorite film book but a number of other landmark historians  like William K Everson , Peter deRome and Paul Morrisey.

Carlos was without a doubt one of the most amusing of all of the men I would meet during this period.  Carlos possessed a wicked sense of fun and that coupled with a photographic memory for details made him a treasure trove of film history.  One of his favorite films was The Great Waltz from the 30's, in it Lionel Atwill the infamous mad doctor of the horror movies plays a cad who lusts after the leading lady as usual only this time he used a deck of cards to make a point. Carlos would devise a game around this film and made us all play it over and over during car rides around both London and New York.

The very first time Carlos visited to my apt in Westwood back in 1977, My archive was modest to say the least with just one file cabinet and he chose to make me feel ten feet tall by sitting on the floor looking at one set of movie stills after another and then spotting my file on Tod Browning's Freaks he exclaimed "oh my god you have this in your collection! this is a very hard to find title little Daveed as he used to refer to me "these are roses from your garden never trade or let these out of your sight"   I have never forgotten that afternoon or the way he made me feel about cinema. Carlos was unique among historians because he was a force of nature and not the stereotypical  bookworm or pale introvert that never sets foot in the daylight. Carlos was a blinding rainbow figure whose humor and sense of fun made him a joy to be around.  Carlos spoke five languages, was a production assistant for Jacques Demy and Robert Bresson.  He did the english subtitles for Zeffrelli's La Traviata.

The sole reason I have a photo archive today is because of men like Carlos and of course John Kobal. Carlos took his thousands of movie stills out of mothballs and created Photofest with his partner Howard Mandelbaum which is still in place today and essentail to film history as is The Kobal collection.  The DelValle Archives is a pale shadow in the glaring light of these monuments to cinema research.

On February 10th 1987 Carlos Clarens suffered a fatal heart attack during an asthma attack and died at the youthful age of 56.  It was just three years before that I had diiner with him and he gave me a copy of his second book Crime Movies in which he wrote this inscription  ":For David Del Valle Valley Boy Per Excellence  Valiant and never down (in the valley) Valparaiso is waiting for us  with affection Carlos.....

Valparaiso is indeed on my horizon Carlos......until we meet again....

The Case of the Counterfeit Brother

It seems almost impossible now to think of Erle Stanley Gardner's wildly popular Perry Mason without instantly conjuring up an image of Raymond Burr, who created television history by playing the iconic lawyer though out the golden age of television until nearly the beginning of the 21st Century.Even though Raymond Burr would try his hand at another enforcer of the law, this time with a bullet lodged in his spine, the wheelchair bound Ironside also popular with reunion shows created after its long run,yet it will always be Perry Mason for which Raymond Burr will always be remembered. The legend follows that when Burr went up for the role in the mid 1950's Gardner personally selected Raymond Burr and fought for him with the network the result is now television history.

In order to play Perry Mason for so many years in literally hundreds of episodes from the mid fifties until 1993 Burr literally worked long hours sometimes living on the lot because of the grueling schedule in which he had to learn mountains of dialogue for each episode final courtroom confrontation in which Hamilton Burger the district attorney played to perfection by William Talman almost always losing his case to the uncanny tactics of Perry Mason along with his trusted go to man private eye Paul Drake and his girl friday Della Street played with grace and style throughout Burr's television life as Mason by Barbara Hale.

Raymond Burr wasn't always so level headed in his screen performances as he was playing the fearless beacon of legal justice, since his screen persona prior to Perry Mason was that of a hard working character actor usually playing the heavy in film noirs like The Blue Gardenia or His Kind of Woman these roles all would  lead to Hitchcock casting him as the wife killer in the  highly regarded Rear Window which nearly typed him forever as a villain. My first exposure to Raymond Burr was naturally on television when my saturday night creature features ran a little gem called Bride of the Gorilla with a very miscast Lon Chaney Jr playing a sheriff in the congo trying to solve a rather uncanny case of jealousy and shapeshifting all for the love of a married woman. This could have been a bore as most of the fifties contained dozens of potboilers with supernatural themes and no imagination. However Bride of the Gorilla has one thing going for it and it is Raymond Burr who surprising plays the tormented man who transforms into the gorilla of the title most of which is off camera. I would have enjoyed seeing him more like Aquanetta in Universal's Captive Wild Woman guise with ape feet and hands with a Jack Pierce make-up creating a werewolf of London like visage.

Burr invests his part with real pathos and skill and simply elevates the proceedings in the process.  During the making of this film I was told Lon Chaney Jr was a bit on the wagon during filming hours and tried to entertain the cast and crew by preparing one of his favorite dishes a super spicy chili from his own secret recipe. As Burr recalled it "the entire sound stage reeked of the brew and Chaney was the master chief of the moment, not to be outdone Raymond Burr known by his close friends as a gourmet cook in his own right decided to challenge Chaney to a cook off which gave the cast of Bride of the gorilla a dueling pots of wickedly hot chili. The legend has it that privately Burr was said to remark about Chaney "who does she think she is anyway, Betty Crocker?" Even as early as the 1950's both actors had rumors floating around them about their sexuality little is known about Chaney Jr except his grandson Ron Chaney explained that Lon had a rough time growing up with a famous father, his teenage years were especially difficult as he went though puberty. Burr, on the other hand, was gay and chose to remain closeted for the sake of his career throughout his life. He even went so far as to make up out of thin air a story about two ex-wives and mythical son who supposedly died in a plane crash. Raymond Burr stood by this lie even though he lived openly with another man for decades making actor Robert Benevides his life partner, who would ultimately inherited Burrs entire legacy after having to fight his relatives in court for the right to have the estate the court ruled in his favor.

One afternoon a few years ago tough guy Lawrence Tierney was staying with me for awhile and we started watching of his movies on television Larry always talked during these things when he wasn't on camera. The film we were watching was called San Quentin the prison epic was done right after the second world war and Larry was in an expansive mood to begin with making it easy to go into the past, something he did not always want to do.  At one point Raymond Burr came on the screen to which Larry looked at me and said "Oh God there's that Raymond Burr, what a prima donna that guys was in life" Well now I was intrigued so I asked what he was like to work with Larry gave me one of those knowing glances like he was about to spill the beans and said "Burr was a good actor always there and knew his business well enough, but there was one night after we had been shooting San Quentin for about a week or so where I found myself at a nightclub on the strip and it was packed to the rafters so I was damn lucky to have gotten a table so I was waiting for this girl to show up when in walks Raymond Burr alone and he quickly discovers there is no table for him and he is getting a bit flustered so I decided since we were working on this picture together I would be a nice guy and ask him to sit with us so I go over and invite him to join me which he does. Not five minutes after he sits down he begins to sigh and moan about just how bored he is and how this place is in need of some excitement or he might just go to sleep, I listen to all this and I am thinking, Jesus, so I go over and make nice with this prick and now I have to sit here and take this bullshit attitude I mean is he bored with me as well...anyway the waiter arrived bringing me a large Caesar salad with loads of ranch dressing the way I like it so at this point our Mr Burr was examining his fingernails when he looked over at me and asked "Oh that looks good Larry, do you mind if I sample it? Well I had just about had my fill of this man and his boredom in my company so before he could say another word I stood up and toss my salad right in Raymond Burr's ample lap. He reacted by jumping up knocking his chair over going, "What is the matter with you Tierney, are you insane?"  I just looked at him and said, "Hey Burr, you were so fucking bored with the club and my company I thought I would give you the excitement you wanted. With that he stormed away from me and fled the scene. We never spoke again after that evening although I would see him now and then especially when I was under contract to RKO. Raymond Burr was a prick and that's all there is to it. Maybe all the success he has had might have changes him but I will bet you he is still a prick."

My only encounter with Raymond Burr would take place in Studio city not far from Universal at a local eatery known as the Little China off of Cahuenga that had a good reputation for Chinese food.  I arrived a bit late for lunch so I headed for the bar and ordered a drink and then soon discovered that Raymond Burr was seated with three other men at a table having after dinner drinks. Now I always admired Burr and grew up as we all did with Perry Mason so I decided not to let this opportunity go by without meeting the great man himself. My Zombie was served and it proved to be just that and soon my show biz mind was forming a plan of just what I would ask Mr Burr once I positioned myself in front of his table. There had been a rumor for years that Laird Cregar the portly actor who made such an impression in John Brahm's The Lodger and his very last film Hanover Square was a brother to Raymond Burr. Now the two actors favored each other being huge men with weight issues and intense blue eyes. It therefore seemed like there might be a chance they were related, after all Dana Andrews had a brother also an actor named Steve Forrest, as well as James Arness and his brother Peter Graves. All these actors worked successfully in television using different names as to not confuse an somewhat fickle public. I decided after my second round of Zombie's that it was time to go over and ask my question thinking to myself He will never see this question coming and whatever he tells me it won't be a stock Perry Mason line that is for sure. Raymond Burr is not a star for nothing and walking over to that table and standing before the man himself was not unlike what dozens of another actors experienced working the courtroom scenes with him at the studio. He is always dramatic in his demeanor a very powerful presence trust me you would never ignore this man whatever the circumstance.  I waited for a break and then I stood by the table and introduced myself as a correspondent for Films and Filming magazine in the UK and would he mind if I asked a question that had been on my mind to ask him if we should ever meet in person. Raymond Burr spoke in that deep knowing voice I knew so well from countless hours in front of a TV set during my childhood. "Ask your question young man". With that I asked if the late Larid Cregar was related to him perhaps his brother ? Burr listened for a good minute while the other guys sat there speechless as I am sure none of them had ever heard of Laird Cregar. Finally Raymond Burr looked right at me and said "Now I want you to listen to me because there is no truth in that rumor what so ever. Mr. Cregar was a fine actor who passed away far too young as I recall but no we are not related". As I look back on it now I will always wonder if he thought I brought up Cregar since it was known that he was gay as well and perhaps I was using that to get him mad or try and pout him who knows this was certainly not my intention and had Burr known me at all he would have realized what Larry Tierney used to say about me and my obsession with the movies "You know if you don't say Boris Karloff every five minutes David won't talk to you." I stood there facing the intense Raymond Burr for about another second before thanking him for answering my question fearful I had offended him as I knew I must have done thinking the thing though later. Burr however was ok with it and smiled at me saying "There aren't too many people that would know who you are talking about and I must say no one has ever asked me that question before. I wonder if Laird had lived long enough he might have had a series or two himself down the road in his career. As I walked away I breathed a sigh of relief as it crossed my mind I could have encountered the Raymond Burr from A Place in the Sun, the film in which he first played a lawyer and a tense one at that...who could forget his moment in the courtroom when he picks up a rowing oar and smashes it onto the rowboat on display in the courtroom was an classic moment for Raymond Burr as an actor, at least I finally managed to ruffle his feathers but not enough for him to brain me with some blunt object. all in all it was a good day.

Premier of Uwe Bolll's "Bailout: The Rise of Greed"

Take My Breath Away or the Iceman Cometh

It is quite easy now to understand where Tarantino got his theory regarding the homoerotic subtext of Top Gun especially with all the speculation over the last few years regarding the sexuality of it's star Tom Cruise. My personal experience with Top Gun goes back to the very end of 1985 when Paramount had wrapped principal photography on the film and was in the process of putting together what became the work print for the film that would eventually be released by Paramount in 1986 to fantastic boxoffice around the world.  This was also the beginning of Tom Cruise as a bonafide mega star after his success with Risky Business prior to this film.  

During this time I was seeing a lot of film director Curtis Harrington whose own career had many false jump starts with stylish films like Games and Whats the matter with Helen bringing him critical attention but with poor results at the boxoffice he just could not get a foothold into the mainstream of movie making as a Hollywood player, a role, I always felt he more than deserved.  He eventually became a director of television movies and episodic sitcoms like Dynasty and then finally returning to the avant garde towards the end of his life allowing him a chance to come full circle with his most personal film as well as an homage to Edgar Allan Poe....his own version of Usher.

At the time Paramount was toying with the idea of using Curtis for a project based on one of his scripts and because of this he was invited to see a rough cut of their latest blockbuster Top Gun which was very funny because this was just the type of film Curtis detested since it represented the zenith of the Reagan white house as well as being hopelessly mainstream in ways that always drove Curtis around the bend.  At first he did not want to even bother but when  I heard about it there was no way I was going to pass up a chance to see this film for myself.  I had heard lots of rumors that this was indeed a career defining moment  for Cruise, who was by then a heartthrob with both sexes and yet this was the 80's so you have to remember that everything and everyone was still very closeted in terms of subtexts gay or otherwise if you recall the MTV videos of the period especially Olivia Newton John's Physical..

As I remember the circumstances that evening Curtis and I arrived on the Paramount lot only to be directed by carefully placed staff members to a screening room  where perhaps 20 or so people related to Tony Scott or the project had gathered to see the film and absolutely no press. My connection with Films and Filming magazine was kept secret as I would have not been allowed if any of the staff had found out I was a member of the Foreign Press.  The film we watched still did not have Kelly McGillis in it, so the result was absolutely stunning in just how gay this film appeared as one scene after another kept paring Ice and Maverick nose to nose, while shirtless and wet from stream rooms and volley ball courts, awash with lustful desire, this was the kind of male bonding you could only find in a Tom of Finland drawning as a rule, and  those were the kind of offkilter script choices keeping Curtis and I giggling to the point of laughter, because we could not let on in a screening room of this size, just how much fun we were having at Paramount's expense..  I can still hear that unmistakable voice of Curtis whispering rather loudly to me throughout the screening...'David this is un-fucking believable" I mean what are they thinking..you know Nancy Reagan is going to get off big time on this one and so more to the point will Ronnie.  There was a scene in the classroom where Val Kilmer actually tells a teammate that all this fighter pilot talk was giving him a hard on....it was just relentless in hammering home this homoerotic longing among this attractive male cast  all at the top of their game in the looks dept. What was equally amazing, now that I think about it, was the simple fact that we were the only two out of the 20 invited guests that were noticing this unmistakable sidebar to the saga of Maverick and Goose, in point of fact without the addition of the love interest for Cruise of the flight instructor( which I might add would have made more sense if it had been played by a man) after all in 1985 how many women were teaching that particular craft in a Naval academy in the first place. However I am sure that the powers that were in place that year at Paramount knew exactly what was going on in this film and oddly enough the same kind of homoerotic quality came out years later in Scott's other film White Squall. The film was brought back from what I was told later and then love interest was created in a more dynamic way so that by the final fade out Maverick realized he needed her as much as she came to need him or this couple finally did get that loving feeling. The scene in the bar with all these alpha males crooning 80's pop tunes was beyond camp even for 1986.

The film was time coded in places and some music was still to be added...it was clear that Tom Cruise had that special star quality and it remains to this day if you caught his tour de force in this years Rock of Ages this is a talented guy make no mistake.  However the jury is still out on whether or not Cruise will become the Rock Hudson of the 21st Century or weather the storm that has been his career during the last five years and remain what he has always been a major international superstar.

Now every time I chance upon a clip from Top Gun or hear any of the soundtrack my mind always returns to that evening so long ago now where I sat in a small screening room at Paramount with my pal Curtis laughing our asses off at the sight of Tom Cruise shirtless or smoothly packed into those tight white Calvin Klines of his while shaking his bubble butt and flirting endlessly for all those men out there in the dark. I am told that the only way to truly enjoy this film  in all its glory is to see it in a crowded venue with an audience because the effect is certainly not what Tony Scott would have expected I mean even the death of Maverick's best friend the beloved Goose is sidetracked by the thunder buns of our Tom being objectified in the very next shot .... and.yes.. Tom that night so long ago over at Paramount you really did take my breath away..... 

Del Valley of the Dolls

My third collection of film essays from BearManor Media....The previous volumes include Lost Horizons Beneath the Hollywood Sign and Six Reels Under....this will mark the publication of a trilogy of books culled from my recollections of Hollywood  during the last three decades as a journalist covering the film scene from both sides of the camera.

Wonderful night at the New Beverly theater for the 25th anniversary screening of' From a Whisper to a Scream'  In attendance were one of the stars of the film Clu Gulager along with C Courtney Joyner who co-wrote the screenplay and Producer Darin L Scott.  I served as unit publicist on the film.   

Vampira, Orson, and the Whole Damn Thing!

When I first heard the news that Maila Nurmi (above) had passed away, I immediately realized that part of Hollywood history had passed with her. Maila, was, of course, the legendary “Vampira”, whose television show in the early days of the medium, 1953 to be exact, was a publicity juggernaut that catapulted her onto the national stage. Maila was profiled in LIFE magazine, as well as appearances on countless talk shows and a gig with Mr. Showmanship himself, Liberace, in Las Vegas. Her resemblance to Charles Addams’ “Morticia” was intentional since her persona began at a costume ball where she stunned onlookers with her seventeen inch waist while confining her sexy form in a torn black dress adding to the macabre elements by wearing bloody scratches across her pushed-up cleavage.

Maila first appeared to me when I was very new to Los Angeles and working in a Beverly Hills antique shop on Canon Drive known simply as Tiberios. This was a very high-end Art Deco venue located next door to The Bistro, a resturant /bar which was always filled with the rich and famous. Maila came into the shop wearing a strange combination of early goth dressed in purples and blacks with spider rings and a cobweb necklace. I still did not make to the connection to her alter ego since she was just another wacko to me of which we got many during the course of a week in the store. She was selling silk ties at the time and Paul Tiberio bought a couple from her which surprised me since he really was not into buying things like that for the store. He then asked her if she made the jewelery she was wearing as he wanted to showcase some of her pieces in that section of his display case that dominated the center of the store. After she had left, Paul told me who she was and I was stunned since she looked nothing like the fabled Vampira, not to mention, she was missing some front teeth. He knew what a horror film buff I was but I was somehow glad he didn't tell me who she was at the time because I might have let some aspect of my dissappointment in her current appearence show through, but perhaps he should have told me since here was a woman who had known not only Bela Lugosi but was a walking reminder of the Hollywood of the 1950s which even then (1977) was already lost in the sands of time.

I would not see Maila/Vampira again until a few years later around 1983 when I began work on a PBS documentary entitled "The Horror of It All." The producer Gene Feldman was looking for interview material and we already had director Curtis Harrington and actor Dana Andrews talking about "Curse of the Demon." Actress Martine Beswicke discussed her days at Hammer and horror legend John Carradine remembered his days at Universal playing Dracula. Gene asked me to try and locate Maila to see if she would do an on-camera interview about Lugosi and the infamous Ed Wood film "Plan Nine from Outer Space." I explained to Gene that the last time I saw the woman behind the shroud, she was less exotic looking than he might have hoped for. In any case, Gene asked me to try and find her, so to that end I went to my friend Eric Cadin who ran a memorabilia shop on Hollywood Boulevard and knew her since he sold her memorabilia at that time consisting of signed photos and paintings done by Maila herself for her devoted fans. I soon discovered that she never kept a phone and would not answer her front door unless you had made pior arrangments with her well in advance. Maila had been the victim of several weird pranks including having dead animals placed on her doorstep, so in a way I understood where she was coming from. Eric also told me she worked as a hostess at a Finnish resturant called the Heliotrope House off Melrose Avenue. One of Gene's assisants and I booked a table there and went down to finally meet the elusive Vampira and offer her a chance to be on national television one more time. She did not come in the night we were there and all my attempts afterwards were met with indifference, as she did not wish to be interviewed and was not ready for her close-up, not yet anyway.

The next time I would see Mailia Nurmi would be very diffrent because something began to change for her. She had a renaissance not unlike that of Betty Page, the former pin up queen who found new fans and new career late in life. Vampira was now a legend thanks to the resurrection of her character in the mid-1980s by Elvira, Mistress of the Dark (left), played by the sexy Cassandra Peterson. Unfornutately Maila felt cheated by KHJ Channel 9 in L.A. and went on a ballyhoo of her own, informing the media that Elivra was a fraud and there was only one Vampira and they were going to pay for not acknowledging her rights as the creator of the original character. Maila would never really get over this experince for the rest of her life.

Maila was now a bonafide cult icon and transformed herself into an attractive reboot of her former self. She now had her front teeth back and with it, a wicked smile that she flashed with ease at the cameras whenever they were aimed on her, which was often these days. She was also making decent money with her memorabila and could live a little bit better from what I was told were hard times in the past.

We would have our best meeting at a "glamour convention" that was partly connected to both Playboy magazine and some Japanese promoters. I was working as the manager for Martine Beswicke, who had two diffrent fanbases since she was a Hammer horror queen, having done such films as "Dr. Jeckyll and Sister Hyde", as well as "One Million Years BC" (which launched Requel Welch onto the world stage). Martine was also a "Bond Girl" having the distinction of appearing in two James Bond films, "From Russia with Love" and "Thunderball."  The Glamourcon was a perfect venue to sell cheescake poses as well as Hammer glamour.  Martine and I found ourselves seated directly across from Maila's table at the show. After we had set up our tables and placed the collection of photos in their best possible light, we then went over and reintroduced myself to the legenadry lady known as Vampira. She seemed to remember our two brief encounters or so she said, however it was Martine that held her gaze as we chatted away about the show and how tacky it was becoming as dozens of Japanese men kept going in and out of a tented area and soon we realized they were being treated to a lap dance/strip show, which in time, would be shut down but at that moment both ladies felt terribly out of place. Malia asked me if that was indeed the Martine Beswicke from England who made those "deliciously sexy horror films." When I confirmed it was the same lady, Maila said to me, "take me over to her I have to tell her something."  It was only a matter of moments later that two women would be connected for life since Maila told Martine that she fought like a tiger to get the station to try and locate this amazing actress named Martine Beswicke because only she could ever play Vampira as she envisoned the role to be played since Maila was now too old to repeat her perfomance of 1953. She, at least, wanted to control the way the show should look.

We were at the glamour con for another two days and during that time I really got to know Maila and she opened up about so many fascinating things about her life. She talked endlessly about James Dean (left) and I don't believe for one minute that they had a sexual relationship and she never said one way or the other. I just got the feeling they were two eccentric people who were drawn to one another since Hollywood was rather straight-laced at the time and Jimmy and Maila were very exotic and so not mundane or ordinary, so natually they would bond.  





Now on another note, Maila sat down with me one morning after we removed the sheets from our tables and told me in hushed tones about her "affair" with the great Orson Welles (right) and the love child she bore him. I sat there surrounded by oversized bras and pin-up photos listening to this revelation with both shock and awe. Was it true? Is there a middle-aged man walking the planet with the DNA of Orson Welles and Vampira? Well, anything is possible. Maila said they met in New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles and they both had worked for the tacky film producer Albert Zugsmith in 1958-60 when she did the silly "Sex Kittens Go To College" and Welles directed the mythic "Touch of Evil." The timelines matched and I so wanted to believe this story she was telling so who is to say.

The legend of Vampira is more than secure with her sinister image dominating the internet 24/7 whenever anyone references James Dean, Orson Welles or Halloween, the image of Vampira looms large of those dark horizons. The ghost of poor Ed Wood (left), the worlds worst director, has long been a beacon to fans of all things Vampira, even though she worked for only "a couple of days and for 200 bucks" on what has now become known as the worst film ever made, a title it may or may not deserve. She created such an iconic presence simply walking through a cardboard graveyard or merely standing beside a hulking Tor Johnson. Vampira was transformed at that moment into a fetish object of epic proportions.

I see her on sound bites and you tube clips looking very much in her dotage like Vampira would look at the same age and she seemed to be a peace with who she was and that in itself is an accomplishment. I think back to that eccentric lady dressed in vintage blacks and purples I first saw way back in 1977, remembering the scene with a warm nostalgia, decidedly bittersweet, then jarred to the present with Maila (right)smiling sardonicly through yet another interview of what it was like being directed by Ed Wood and at that moment I fully understand why Tim Burton placed Orson Welles in the same room with Wood in his bio pic of the late auteur. The connection was always there in the knowledage that somewhere in the world walks a man whose providence includes the greatest film director as a father and the the most sensational dark goddess of television and he dosen't even know it.  

Medusa's Child....The Lost Bride of Dracula!

When the director of Apocalypse Now announces Bram Stoker’s much-filmed novel as his next production the anticipation level is off the charts as speculation rises as to just how Francis Ford Coppola will treat a vampire movie.  It is well known that actress Winona Ryder gave Coppola the novel to read, begging him to consider filming it and this was exactly how the whole project came about. Winona secured herself the female lead while the rest of the casting went to the then young Hollywood with the one exception of Anthony Hopkins as Van Helsing.

"Hey Dracula, dude....what's up?"

         Perhaps it begins here with the casting that the film began to lose its momentum as to what could have been a classic horror film in the visual tradition of George Melies with the dark symbolism of Nosferatu. Keanu Reeves and Gary Oldman simply remain unfocused as Harker and Dracula respectively. The script remains the final blow to the project's opportunity for screen greatness as it misses the mark completely trying to create an epic love story where none existed in Stoker's novel.  Dracula is a tale of lust and retribution from beyond the grave and James Hart's screenplay drags in the tiresome old warhorse Vlad the Impaler as motivation in searching for the reincarnation of his bride much like the Karloff Mummy of 1932. However what remains is a visual masterpiece of set design and camera work and especially the superb costume design of Eiko Ishioka.

The most impressive sequence in Coppola's Dracula for me was the introduction of Dracula's brides and the intensely erotic draining of Keanu Reeves by three brides played by the stunning Michala Bercu and Monica Bellucci who were meant to look like princesses donated to Dracula by the lords of conquered lands and lastly, Florina Kendrick as the third and most dangerous bride since she is infested with snakes in her hair like a gorgon.  It is with Florina Kendrick that my experience with this film really began. Florina at the time of the film’s release was living with her husband in Long Beach while awaiting the results of months of preparation and work making Coppola's Dracula a reality.  Florina was a native of Cluj-Napoca, Romania and was hired as a consultant on Romanian culture and dialects. She taught Gary Oldman the Romanian he speaks in the film.

Florina and I met through publisher Fred Clark's magazine Imagi-Movies, an offshoot of Cinefantastique. In 1994, two years after Dracula was released Imagi-Movies decided to do a vampire issue and Florina made the cover wearing a unique make-up that was dropped before it could be filmed in which the brides appear in a chameleon-like camouflage using body paint that would render them invisible until they walked out of the curtains in the scene where they seduce Jonathan. Sadly, Francis discarded this after a well-known designer asserted it was not sexy enough. The sequence was to have been less than a minute on film and when it was abandoned it was decided the brides would have really long hair, all of them wore hair extensions, while remaining naked under their chiffon gowns.

Apocalypse Dracula?

Florina had only made one other movie after Dracula and that was a thriller called With Criminal Intent, (1995) so much of her focus when we met was on making enough of an impression in Dracula to begin making the rounds for more film work. The one thing that made it a challenge for her was the fact that her husband was very well off and so if she chose to she did not need to work at all.  At the time very little was being leaked as to what Dracula was really like. There were only a teaser trailer and some bizarre looking stills making the rounds and these were all we had to go by as far as what to expect from Mr. Coppola.

Florina and I.

I remember trying to find a screening during the weeks before the film would open nationally when Florina phoned me one afternoon asking me if I would care to be her escort for a special screening of Dracula in Westwood. I laughed when she told me this considering all the calls I had been making trying to get a screening and now I was going to watch this film with one of Dracula's brides.  The night of the screening we arrived in Westwood where we were met by Columbia studio publicity and were told where they would like her to stand for photos and to also make herself available for interviews after the screening.  One Columbia staffer took me aside at one point asking if I were Florina'a husband, and when I explained that I was not and we were just friends I could see this was not what the Columbia people wanted or needed to hear so we just parted very quickly and I returned to where Florina was waiting. Florina looked every inch the Romanian princess that night and now we were seated in the downstairs gallery waiting for the lights to go down and finally see this much anticipated version of Bram Stoker's classic tale.

Florina had been telling me all evening of just how much work she had put into this film including hours of working out on trampolines while also being suspended in mid air by giant cranes to help create the illusion of flying.  The bride sequence was very well thought out with many special effects. Florina even had real snakes placed in her hair at one time!

The only way to die.....via beautiful vampires. Count me in!

By the time her moment came in the film she was holding my hand as she was so nervous, and then her nerves turned to anger as she began to realize that the majority of her work in the film had been cut down to practically nothing. Gone was all the references to Medusa and the snakes, her flying and falling through space.  We sat there until the credits ran off the screen and then waited until the theater was empty before getting up to leave. Florina simply could not believe that Francis would cut so much of a sequence that took weeks to put together at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars.  I cannot remember her exact words but this was a great disappointment to her of that I could tell and now looking back two decades later I can see the fallout of this prevented her from pursuing a film career.  I can imagine her husband was relived however since she was home and not planning any more film related trips.           

Two vampire queens!

I would see her again for Halloween as she came over to my place in Beverly Hills and we went to an Imagi-movies party on Melrose. The very last time we would see each other would be several weeks later as I was roped into doing a charity affair in West Hollywood at the famed House of Blues on Sunset where the annual Garlic Festival was having a vampire themed party. I was co-hosting the event under the name of David Del Vlad and as a special guest I talked Florina into coming up from Long Beach for the occasion. As she made her way up to the bandstand to be introduced she looked so amazing that night with just the right amount of glamour and style. Florina took the mike and addressed the crowd in Romanian and afterwards she looked in my direction and said before everyone, “I came out this evening because it was my pleasure to do so, but as a rule I don't really do these kind of things anymore. But I did this evening as a favor to David Del Valle or should I say Vlad for him there is very little I would not do since he is my good friend.

Go Ask Angelyne....When She's 50 Feet Tall

If I were to ever write a sequel to my first book “Lost Horizons Beneath The Hollywood Sign”, there is one personality that would top my list of self styled celebrities who never quite realized their dreams. That would have to be the walking cartoon known as “Angelyne”.  Her legend began as a billboard that could be seen above Sunset Boulevard and then at various other strategically placed locations around Hollywood. She was of course a clone of the late Jayne Mansfield who also sought the star maker machinery with a vengeance, the only difference being Jayne was a bona fide movie star and made enough films to secure her place beneath and above the Hollywood sign. 

Angelyne was a full-scale Barbie doll come to life, not unlike Anita Ekberg's epic star turn for Fellini in his delightful short film The Last Tempataion of Dr. Antonio. In that film Anita comes to life at night to torment a bigoted sexually repressed doctor. She towers over the landscape of his apartment complex posed in such a way to offer any man the ultimate seduction. When she finally descends from her billboard he is powerless to ignore her and finally loses all control.

Another film comes to mind when thinking of Angelyne and her self promotion is the late Judy Holiday's star turn in the fifties comedy It Should Happen to You where she plays a working girl who decides to rent a billboard to lander herself a husband with the usual comic results including landing the man of her dreams Jack Lemmon.

I always wondered if Angelyne ever saw that film since her life seemed to be a collection of B-movies at best. The most famous example of a larger than life woman came to us courtesy of the 50's science fiction classic howler Attack of the 50 foot Woman starring cult queen Allison Hayes as the 50 foot woman who wants nothing more out of life than to keep her wayward husband at home and away from the mantrap that is Yvette Vickers.

It is with Attack of the 50 foot Woman that my story really begins, because it was on one of those countess drives I used to make on Sunset near the Chateau Marmont that the idea first came to me: Angelyne was destined to play the 50 foot woman if Hollywood ever decided to do a remake.

The more I thought about it the more I realized this was not only inspired casting but it was doable because this lady was as of 1989 already a Los Angeles institution, with an cameo appearance in Earth Girls are Easy and a couple of self produced music videos showcasing Angelyne’s best assets; her giant cosmetic boobs which bounced more often than any beach ball ever did over at AIP during the Frankie and Annette craze of the 60's.

Since I had been an agent as well as a personal manager I set about to met this iconic woman in the flesh.  On most of her billboards there was always a contact number, which then lead you to a voice mail and perhaps if the goddess of all things pink felt you were worthy then you might actually get your call returned.  I left a message telling the divine one that I wanted to meet with her or her representation to discuss a film project. Now my original idea was to raise enough money to make a trailer showing Angelyne as the 50-foot woman towering over Sunset Boulevard and then going on a rampage through Hollywood tearing down Capitol records and other landmarks in her wake.  

Around 1989 I was seeing quite a bit of Yvette Vickers who seemed to always be working on a project, in hopes of returning her to the place she once held in the film business, a perpetually potential starlet. Yvette was quick to learn that her fan base was almost entirely based on her appearances in two grade B horror sci-fi flicks, the aforementioned Attack of the 50 Foot Woman and The Giant Leeches, sometimes referred to as Attack of the Giant Leeches, which was sold as a companion piece.  Yvette had a treatment for 50 Foot Woman that gave her former character of  “Honey” a bit more screen time.  I called Yvette and explained my idea and she thought it was a fantastic way to get the film off the ground because Angelyne had already created a buzz in Hollywood and she seemed tailor made for such an over the top debut…at least that is what I assumed.

I finally received a call from Angelyne herself explaining that she was mulling over several projects and film offers but she would love to hear my idea. So we decided during that first call that she should come by my Beverly Hills apartment to discuss the project and to arrange a meeting with one of the stars of the original film.  I am a little vague on details at this point as over two decades have passed since that evening when the project hung in the balance. As I remember it Angelyne arrived in her flawless pink Corvette, parking on the Oakhurst side of Beverly Boulevard looking every inch the billboard queen come to life, I was already in silver screen heaven watching her walk, if you can even call it that, since every movement was calculated because she instinctively knew I was watching her arrival. This performance of hers caused me to fantasize the opening night premiere of the our new Attack of the 50 foot woman as our star Angelyne turned the red carpet pink just for her now impending super stardom on this, her special night.

Angelyne in person for me was like being Bob Hoskins in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? This woman was simply not real and yet there she was in my living room cooing phrases like, "Oh I like this, it is soooo Hollywood" or, “You’re too handsome to be a producer David. Most producers I've met look like hungry old bears."  My apartment was always rather under lit and I liked it that way for parties, and if anyone wanted to have more light they could always go in the kitchen. At some point I suggested we sit in there to go over the treatment and as she came closer to the dining room area she noticed just how bright it was and started backing away as if she realized this was not a good showcase for her image.  I now began to realize that Angelyne was most definitely a fantasy but not just for the spectator, she was her own Norma Desmond forever trapped in a time warp that could never age her perfection or youth.  The bulk of her time in my apartment was spent in my bedroom.  Before you jump to any conclusions the bedroom was where I kept the television and VHS player. Angelyne had brought with her a "showreel" which consisted of two music videos both displaying her giant boobs in repose and then bouncing to the disco beat. These were self produced affairs at best and I knew that if she had any business sense beyond having billboards of herself around town then this was time to go to the next level.

Yvette did not respond well to Angelyne that evening since she made the error of assuming Yvette had actually played the 50 foot woman and open discovering otherwise lost interest in even trying to stay focused on Yvette so the two divas stayed away from each other.  I also realized that Angelyne was perhaps only made for billboards and the recognition that they afforded her.  My concept however clever and well timed was not meant to be and perhaps this was another Lost Horizon for me and I didn’t even count it in the mix. A few years later Daryl Hannah would assume the role of the infamous 50 foot woman and another younger actress would play "Honey" the role Yvette Vickers played back in 1958. The end result was lackluster to say the least so perhaps in time another reboot will make its way into either cable or multiplexes of the future.

As I was preparing this piece I discovered online that Angelyne had not aged too well and was by now a rather ghostly and forgotten presence both in Hollywood as well as on the internet, her Malibu home was sold in 2010 for a modest $560,000 and her whereabouts are unknown except she does appear in her still flawless Corvette only now she pulls her bumper up to the gay bars of West Hollywood to open her truck to hawk some postcards, baseball caps and other memorabilia for the Angelyne collectors she hopes will turn up among her still loyal gay following.

Angelyne has always reminded me of something out of a Fellini film and never more so than now. I can see her as the sad and fallen showgirl of 8 1/2 begging Guido for just one more chance to shine in his eyes. Her feathers may be tattered and torn, her make-up is too heavily applied, and her eye liners runs down her cheeks like black tears yet she is still a star still desirable to men.  Perhaps fate has taken pity on Angelyne and the madness that always lurked in the shadows has finally come forth to envelope her.