"I saw what I saw when I saw it..."

What do Bud Abbott, Groucho Marx, Rex Reed, and Mahatma Ghandi all have in common? It could be a joke, given today's topic but it isn't. All four of these great men were born on October 2, and in a belated celebration of Bud Abbott in particular, I am going to talk about a few of the wonderful horror and mystery parodies that Bud and his partner, Lou Costello did. Before Scary Movie and all of the other modern parody films, Bud and Lou were using a mix of satire, parody, comedy, slapstick, straight man/funny man, and over all hijinks to create tons of classic movies, all of which remain hilarious to this day.

Perhaps the first purveyors of horror parody, Bud and Lou came out with such gems as Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Abbot and Costello Meet the Mummy, Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man, Africa Screams, Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Who Done It?, and Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, a list of films longer than that of some modern Hollywood A-listers, yet only a portion of the Abbott and Costello films. Bud and Lou took their routine into the backdrops of these frightening horror films, using many of the actual cast members from the real movies themselves.

In Meet Frankenstein, they meet Lon Chaney, Jr. as the Wolf Man, Bela Lugosi as Dracula, and Glenn Strange as Frankenstein's monster. In Meet the Killer, they team up with a frightening Boris Karloff and do so again when he plays the other lead role in Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The films Meet the Mummy and Meet the Invisible Man do not use actual actors from the film, though some original footage is used in Meet The Invisible Man. These two films are strictly parodies of the originals. Africa Screams could easily be a King Kong parody, but instead has Bud and Lou mining for diamonds and encounter lions, headhunters, and giant apes. Who Done It? is a radio mystery near scary movie where Bud and Lou have to solve the murder committed at the station they hope to work at in a climatic, almost Hitchcock style ending filled with drama and suspense.

To me personally, Bud and Lou are the end-all, be-all of comedic teams. I love all of their films, but since it is Fright Fest and all, I can only focus on these select horror films. Somehow, they manage to make these films frightening and at the same time, laugh your pants of funny, which is a difficult thing for any film to do. Comedy and horror are genres that never really seem to exist, except when something is so horrible its funny or so funny its horrifying. These films I mentioned manage to cross genre lines and at the same time, be excellent examples of film. I could probably do an entire blog on the comedy of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, but I will limit myself to this one post for the time being.

Those of you who want to know more about Bud and Lou or are big fans yourself can check out the excellent web page their families created here, which totes itself as helping "Abbot and Costello Meet the Internet". The movie Africa Screams is public domain and can be watched here. The other films you will have to track down yourself. And just because, here is the entire "Who's On First Routine", since I cannot mention Bud and Lou without thinking of the routine of theirs that everyone recognizes.

Unrequited Love Comes Back from the Dead

There have been several incarnations of films about Mummies and Egyptian lore, but the first one that started it all was The Mummy in 1932, staring the legendary Boris Karloff. The script was written by John L. Balderston who contributed to the scripts of Dracula and Frankenstein, and was directed by Karl Freund, the Dracula cinematographer. One of the Monster Movie elite, Karloff was Bela Lugosi's main rival for the title of Horror King after the death of Lon Chaney, Sr. The movie is also in the pantheon of great horror films that overall add to our pop culture imagery of certain horror stereotypes. I found a version the film online that you can watch here, for those of you that are interested.

The premise of the movie is that Ancient Egyptian priest Imhotep (Karloff) is accidentally revived by an archaeological expedition, lead by Sir Joseph Whemple (Arthur Byron) that uncovers his mummy. Imhotep escapes from the archaeologists and goes through Cairo, looking for the reincarnation of his long-lost lover, the Princess Ankh-hes-en-amon (Zita Johann). Imhotep was mummified alive after trying to resurrect the dead princess and when he finds her, he intends to mummify her, make her his bride, and the two of them will live forever in a sort of Corpse Bride bliss. Ten years after Whemple originally set the mummy loose on an unsuspecting Egypt, he returns with son Frank in tow (David Manners) and use the help of Ardath Bay (Karloff) to help them locate the mummy's whereabouts. Bay abducts the beautiful Helen Grosvenor (Zita Johann) and it is up to Frank and Dr. Muller (Edward Van Sloan) to uncover the mystery of the mummy and save the day.

Karloff's Mummy isn't you're average last minute Halloween costume where you wrap yourself up in a bunch of toilet paper. His mummy is actually pretty convincing as a the revived soul of an ancient Egyptian priest. Again, make up magician Jack Pierce helped Karloff create his creature's iconic costume. Cotton, collodion, and spirit gum were attached to Karloff's face and clay into his hair. The linen bandages that create the long-staying image of the Mummy were previously treated with acid and burned in an oven before being wrapped around Karloff. The make up took eight hours to apply and only two to take off. The removal of the gum was painful to Karloff and he was quoted as saying putting on and taking off the Mummy costume was "the most trying ordeal I ever endured".

The success of the first Mummy movie spawned a good dozen or so sequels and spin-offs, most b movies such as The Mummy's Hand, The Mummy's Tomb, The Mummy's Ghost, and The Mummy's Curse. Comedic duo Abbott and Costello also poked fun of The Mummy and these b-sequels in the spectacular comedy Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy. Recent versions of The Mummy have been made in the past ten years or so, little of the original scripts and characters surviving. These new Mummy movies are more action/thriller films than actual horror films, as the original The Mummy was intended to be.