11/13/2007

I think my cold is finally subsiding. I know, many of you are saying “what cold?” Well, I’ve been suffering through one of those colds that seems to be ‘going around…’ I was fighting it off with that “Airborne” stuff as I was finishing up the busy Halloween season, but it eventually came out, hit like a ton of bricks, and has hung in with me miserably. I had it when I was in for the infamous jury duty (which made the hour or so waiting for the judge to arrive in the ice-cold courtroom even MORE pleasant.) I’ve used enough Kleenex to fell a small forest and, now that it’s subsiding, the stuff I’ve been taking to fight it is giving me an upset stomach. Here’s a fun task for you- be watching upcoming Sven shows, and see if you can tell which ones we recorded while I was infected by the cold virus!

I’m happy to hear from so many of you who are really into our “Franken-Fall” shows- the old Universal Frankenstein flicks certainly still have a major appeal to the viewing audience!

I know “Bride of Frankenstein” is a big favorite, and a loyal viewer- “Torgaman”- mentioned a really interesting thing that we didn’t have time to mention at the end of the show. If you look carefully at the end of the movie, when the Monster pulls the lever (or “the lee-ver” as Colin Clive intones) to blow the place up- even though we saw Henry leave with the lovely Elizabeth- in the wide shot that follows- we see him cowering against a far wall! The reason being- in the original script, Henry WAS blown up with the rest of them! Supposedly, the original shooting script had his bride, Elizabeth, murdered for the heart that was inserted into the “Bride”- which is why she seems so attracted to Henry, and not the Monster…and there was the final explosion to end everyone’s lives. However, the studio demanded a happier ending-just as they had re-written the story so that Henry did NOT die when hurled from the windmill by the Monster in the first movie- and shot the scenes of Elizabeth escaping, coming to the lab, and fleeing with Henry after the Monster tells him to go, because they should live- and “we belong dead!” However, it would have cost too much to re-shoot the destruction of the lab- so, if you do some still-framing- you’ll see Henry still in the laboratory when the end comes! It is barely noticeable, since the cuts are so quick, and your attention is drawn to the explosions. Our thanks to Torgaman for the reminder about that bit of trivia!