We're in the final week of Halloween season! Time to step on the gas!
Today I feature an episode of the forgotten TV series Tales of Tomorrow, which aired on ABC in the early 1950s, and consisted mostly of live depictions of classic thriller or science fiction stories. On January 18, 1952, the series featured a short adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, starring Lon Chaney Jr, as the titular monster. Chaney was no stranger to portraying classic monsters, of course, having been Universal's Wolf Man as well as Frarnkenstein's monster in Ghost of Frankenstein and Dracula in Son of Dracula. In this adaptation, the series stays a bit closer to the source material rather than Universal's version for legal reasons.
An interesting thing to note about this production: as it was being produced live on TV, Chaney erroneously thought this was only a dress rehearsal and not the live broadcast, so instead of smashing the sets as he was supposed to do as the monster, he simply picks the set pieces up--and puts them back down, thinking they're still needed for the future. It's only until later in the production that he starts smashing as a good monster should--and presumably after he's been told this is on live TV.
Enjoy below or on YouTube. Thanks!
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