"What is he talking about?" you ask. Dr. Frankentstein and The Monster. Oh, by the way, The Monster didn't have a name. His name wasn't "Frankenstein", that was the name of the doctor that created him. A little tidbit to add to the Useless Trivia section of your brain.
The first time I saw the movie "Frankenstein" was in 1951 at the Roosevelt Theater in Downingtown, Pennsylvania. I paid 20 cents to see this movie, that literally left me so traumatized with fear that I was afraid to leave the movie theater after the movie was over. I was petrified. I couldn't move from my seat.
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| Roosevelt Movie Theater - Downingtown, Pennsylvania |
The lights may have went on in the movie theater but it was dark outside and I had a long walk home . . . . in the dark. I was paralyzed with fear, afraid that The Monster would be hiding behind a building and grab me when I walked home.
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| Interior - Roosevelt movie theater - "Negroes" sat in the balcony - I always wanted to sit in the balcony but wasn't allowed because I was white - this was the Fifties |
For many years thereafter, I was always afraid to walk dark and lonely roads at night. For a couple of years I worked at the Farmers' Market in Downingtown, getting off at 11 PM on a Friday and Saturday night and I had a several mile walk home, through the countryside. I was sure Frankenstein's monster was lurking somewhere in the darks shadows of the cornfields, just waiting to pounce on me and tear me to pieces. To tell you the truth, I still have a little bit of that fear.
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| "Grrrwl! I'm waiting for you Ron!" |
But I also experienced something else for the first time watching that first Frankenstein movie. I was sort of attracted to Dr. Frankenstein, the actor Colin Clive. "Sort of?" Oh okay, I was majorly attracted to him.
There was just "something" about him. Of course his physical appearance, small of frame. I've always been attracted to slightly built guys - 145 lbs, 5'9" range. Smaller guys? Not so much and definitely not big guys. And of course his physical features, masculine yet vulnerable.
Then I experienced another new emotion at violent, climatic end of the movie,where Dr. Frankenstein confronts the Monster that he was created in the old windmill. Is there a person on this planet who hasn't seen that scene? What a perfect metaphor for us, we who have created a monster and now that monster turns on us. Not only was I scared to death by that scene of confrontation but I notice a new and strange and "interesting" feeling when the Monster got hold of Dr. Frankenstein and flung him off the windmill, only to have Dr. Frankenstein's body momentarily caught on the windmill before falling to the ground below.
Yes folks, I wanted to rescue Dr. Frankenstein and comfort him and explore this strange new feeling I was experiencing for the first time. It wasn't until many years later that I recognized this feeling. Not for me the blonde surfer boys or the macho action stars of the movies.
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| Troy Donahue - may be good-looking but does absolutely nothing for me - sorry blondie |
Admit it, we all have our weird and offbeat fantasies. This was/is mine. As for The Monster, has there ever been a better makeup job to scare the bejesus out of you? To this day folks, I remember the first time I saw the undead look in The Monster's face. This definitely DOES NOT turn me on. But I do know what turns me on and that autumn day sixty-three years ago was the first time I had THAT feeling. And folks, it's been good ever since. And oh yes, The Monster still scares the bejesus out of me.
