Fifty years ago today, Hungary's most invaluable export to American culture (here undergoing treatment for an addiction to Morphine that only Nelson Algren could have put into words), surrendered the last measure of his health; passing away after decades of steady dissolution and the rigors of his own rather weighty theatricality. If he was fated to be Hollywood's answer to DeSica's Umberto Domenico Ferrari, then he at least refused to go quietly, thereby instilling a ray of hope into those similarly dispossessed. For that, and much else, we here at If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger . . . wish to remember Bela Lugosi as fondly as America's film industry wanted to forget him.
8 comments:
"The Black Cat"
Say no more.
Beautiful, Tom. An incredible series. Thanks!
Thank you, Dennis! Your words are high praise indeed! Muchas gracias.
The subtitle to Lugosi's story would be: The Curse of Dracula.
heard about lugosi's tragedy in burton's ed wood film - been a fan ever since, of both!
great blog
(your blog title brought me here - been a mingus fan, too!)
lucky cheers
HERE HERE OLD BEAN! Ach! I love me some Bela. Thanks for the posting(s).
Tom - got here quite by accident. Actually, looking for a Bella image for a blog tribute to my father. It is his Yahrzeit, and I was dressing up the Plan 9 blog (he actually sold it to the American market - funny story). Anyway, you have a fascinating collection. I will be visiting often. Best, Ethan
Actually, the photo is from about 1943. Lugosi was donating blood for a war drive. This photo, I believe, is a frame blow-up from the newsreel, wither that or it was taken nearly simultaneously. When he was hospitalized, he looked far thinner and gaunter, even worse than the photo from Bride of the Monster with the cigar, above.
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