In this photo we see curious crowds gathering to see Universal’s seminal horror picture “Frankenstein” which was in it’s “3RD HORRIFYING WEEK” at the Orpheum Theatre, downtown Los Angeles, January 1932. I love how the banner proclaims: “10000 Thrills Frozen Into An Epic Of Terror.” I bet the studio publicity department had a great time with this one. And maybe they were right. This movie preceded all the horror-movie tropes and clichés that we now laugh at. And in fact, invented most of them. So the people in this shot had never seen anything quite like it before.
Get a load of that gorgeous masonry above the poster to the right:
A quick correction that this photo is from the 3rd week of January 1932. The premier showing at the Orpheum was 9 am Jan 1, 1932. I just ran across the ad in the Los Angeles times.
In this photo we see curious crowds gathering to see Universal’s seminal horror picture “Frankenstein” which was in it’s “3RD HORRIFYING WEEK” at the Orpheum Theatre, downtown Los Angeles, January 1932. I love how the banner proclaims: “10000 Thrills Frozen Into An Epic Of Terror.” I bet the studio publicity department had a great time with this one. And maybe they were right. This movie preceded all the horror-movie tropes and clichés that we now laugh at. And in fact, invented most of them. So the people in this shot had never seen anything quite like it before.
I wonder how many dared to shake hands with Frankenstein.
https://i.imgur.com/JTGk6cS.png
Ha! Not many, I’m betting!
A quick correction that this photo is from the 3rd week of January 1932. The premier showing at the Orpheum was 9 am Jan 1, 1932. I just ran across the ad in the Los Angeles times.
Thanks for that info, David. I’ve corrected the blog post to reflect your more accurate information. Much appreciated!