Todd,
Thank you so much for all of the wonderful information and personal context. This is much more than I hoped for. Great story! Best wishes, Phil Ayling From: MoPo List [mailto:mopo-l@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU] On Behalf Of Todd Sent: Tuesday, August 9, 2022 11:11 PM To: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU Subject: Re: [MOPO] Has Your Frankenstein Monster Gone Missing? Yes. I first saw this figure as part of the Forrest J. Ackerman auction at Gurnsey's Auction House in New York in December of 1987 named, THE WORLD OF FORREST J. ACKERMAN AT AUCTION. This was also where I met the New York TV Horror Host Zacherle for the first time who was at the viewing who was out of costume, casually walking around looking at the material, when a friend pointed out, that's John Zacherle!! Zacherle was around 70 at the time and he didn't look a day over 50. I couldn't believe how much younger he looked than his 70 years. https://www.ebay.com/itm/192355310180 The figure was not owned by Forry but was consigned by someone else and from what I remember was kind of a last-minute addition to the sale, although I believe it still made it into the catalog. It was so intriguing; I swore it looked exactly like Karloff's complete costume from The Bride of Frankenstein. The next day I brought a binder of Bride of Frankenstein stills to compare and after studying it for a while, including all the stitching, EVERYTHING matched up exactly. This was Boris Karloff's costume from The Bride of Frankenstein!! Not only that. The figure itself was supposedly used at the end of the film as a double for Karloff when the castle was blown up. The head itself was restored but this was the same one supposedly shown in publicity shots with James Whale and John J. Mescall, cinematographer for the film, where the head was on a stand. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005796/mediaviewer/rm1739050496?context=default <https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005796/mediaviewer/rm1739050496?context=defaul t&ref_=nm_phs_md_1> &ref_=nm_phs_md_1 On the initial viewing at the auction house, the figure was lying flat in a large wooden crate and the costume was in excellent condition. Security was very poor and I was horrified to find out after several days that people were ripping pieces off the costume as a souvenir; buttons off the jacket and pieces of leather off the boots!! I alerted Arlan Ettinger(owner of Guernsey's) about this but it was already too late when he now had someone standing guard. I was very interested as was my friend, the late Kevin Burns and we were thinking of going in on it together. We talked to Arlan Ettinger, the owner and auctioneer at Gurnsey's and found out that the minimum amount the consignor would accept was $10,000.00, which was a lot of money at the time. Kevin and I couldn't decide on an agreement on how to co-own it and when it was time to come up for sale, the press was there with live camera's and Ettinger was going to make it "sell", one way or the other. Well, it didn't sell but he made like it did and it was a lot more than the $10k minimum bid. Vey shortly after the auction, I was doing one of the poster/memorabilia shows in California and somehow by coincidence, I was talking to someone who was the consignor of the Frankenstein figure!! His name was Ken Kramer, a film collector who passed away in 2016. Ken told me that he responded to an ad in The Recycler about a garage sale in LA where he acquired the figure. He mentioned how he had the head restored. He wasn't at the auction in New York and didn't hear anything about what had happened to the figure, except that it didn't sell. I gave him the bad news that when he gets it back, it's not going to be in the same condition it was when he sent it to Guernsey's and he was basically speechless. Now sometime after this(not sure how much time) the figure ended up at a Christie's London Sale. I was at Christies East(on East 67th Street in NYC, I believe 219 E. 67th Street) and happened to see the catalog. It was a beautiful catalog, which I had to have with a closeup headshot of the monster. From what I remember at the time, it ended up selling for somewhere in the high 20's, something like $27,000, which was quite a bit more than the $10k, Kevin and I could have had it for. Well, that's my story as best as I could remember and yes, I did see this in person. Todd _____ From: MoPo List <mopo-l@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU <mailto:mopo-l@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU> > on behalf of Phillip Ayling <mro...@earthlink.net <mailto:mro...@earthlink.net> > Sent: Wednesday, August 10, 2022 12:19 AM To: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU <mailto:MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU> <MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU <mailto:MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU> > Subject: [MOPO] Has Your Frankenstein Monster Gone Missing? Has anyone seen this in person? https://planetnewspost.com/world/va-row-californian-museum-insists-seven-foo t-frankenstein-dummy-was-sold-without-their-consent/amp/ _____ To unsubscribe from the MoPo-L list, click the following link: https://listserv.american.edu/scripts/wa-american.exe?SUBED1=MoPo-L <https://listserv.american.edu/scripts/wa-american.exe?SUBED1=MoPo-L&A=1> &A=1 _____ To unsubscribe from the MoPo-L list, click the following link: https://listserv.american.edu/scripts/wa-american.exe?SUBED1=MoPo-L <https://listserv.american.edu/scripts/wa-american.exe?SUBED1=MoPo-L&A=1> &A=1 Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: lists...@listserv.american.edu In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
