#GIMMETHEGIFWEDNESDAY! THREE FOR THE POT : THE LEES AT HOME : DRACULA HOME AND AWAY

#GIMMETHEGIFWEDNESDAY: THREE REQUESTED GIFS for this week's little collection of 'silent but deadly' gallery. SPENCER WILKINS wrote in to ask if there was any footage of the LEE family, that included his daughter, Christina as a child. We have some footage of Christopher and his wife, Gitta along with Christina, that we were able to make this offering for you? I love the look on Christina's face, just before she plants that big kiss on his cheek.

CHRISTOPHER LEE gets a double dip this week, as this requested #GIF for GALE DAVIS from #DRACULAAD1972, shows the power of the COUNT, didn't just work on females, he could work the Vampire Spin on males too! Christopher Neame as Johnny Alucard has turned the corner of no return, and is from this point on, under the spell and devoted!.....!

AND DRAC IS BACK too in this third GIF, for Daryl Waters. Lee had bowed out of further Dracula appearances for Hammer films, come this final entry in the series, The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires. But Cushing was again returning to the role of Van Helsing, playing probably his most active portrayal, in this all action Kung Fu and Fangs chop about! John Forbes Robertson, fills the shoes, the cloak, but sadly not the role. 

I DO love this shot though. The make up of the Count, was made very much in the style of how the Asian audience would have traditionally seen the Count. What most people think of as a bad day in the make up chair for Robertson, was indeed no mistake. Personally, I think it works. I don't think Lee would have ever agreed to play Dracula, with such stylized make up, but the film was produced in Hong Kong, by the Shaw Brother studios and they were footing the bill! What do you think?

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#TOOCOOLTUESDAY : YES INDEED!

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#TOOCOOLTUESDAY: PETER CUSHING NEW YORK 1975

#TOOCOOLTUESDAY: November 1975 Peter Cushing the Famous Monsters Convention, along with Ingrid Pitt and #Hammerfilms producer Michael Carreras. It was one of only a handful of conventions and festivals that Peter attended during his career. The web is littered with attendees stories of that long weekend from Friday to the Sunday of the 9th of November. It was very chilly outside the Hotel Commodore, but inside, the love and affection for the guests, made it a hot date, for every Monster Fan, who could attend!

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#MONSTERMONDAY: DARTH VADER

#MONSTERMONDAY: He's been called the ultimate baddie, the bad guy's, bad guy! The most evil force in the Star wars universe! He is probably all those things... plus for us, he is another character from the dark-side of the Peter Cushing filmography... Cushing having appeared with him in #STARWARS as the other black-hat, Grand Moff Tarkin. Together they made quite the team, making knees tremble, planets explode and giving audiences down the years, much to boo at... even if he did receive redemption at the end...and that is why today we celebrate, and bestow our #monstermonday crown, to #DARTHVADER, a FORCE to be reckoned with indeed!

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CUSHING AND PLEASENCE ON MOTHER'S DAY!

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#GETTHECUSHIONITSCUSHING! As the strap lines says, Purrfect extracts for our Sunday theme, not only Peter Cushing bringing you a sting in his TAIL, but also Donald Pleasence's in one of Milton Subotsky's last outings, 'The Uncanny'. Subotsky often repeated some of his more popular threads and ideas from past Amicus films, and the camp OTT Horror film actor, was a motif he give us in 'The House That Dripped Blood'. with Jon Pertwee playing the meaty role of the waspish dandy, Paul Henderson. Here Pleasence plays it to the hilt, not so much the meaty dandy, but as 'Ham on a Shuskabab'! You'll see what we mean.

I HAVE ALWAYS enjoyed this film, and can't quite understand the mauling it received on it's release in 1977.. I think it's the cat's whiskers! 😉 What do you think? Is this a winner with you?

#GETTHECUSHIONITSCUSHION! TODAY here in the UK we are celebrating #MONTHERSDAY .... and we couldn't let that slip by without posting a pic of PC's Mother, Nellie Maria Cushing (1892-1961) To ALL Mothers, Mums, Ma's and Mummy's.... Happy Mothers Day! 

CHRISTOPHER LEE TALKS PETER CUSHING BUGS BUNNY AND SYLVESTER THE CAT!

#HAMMERSATURDAY: WE ARE by passing the Hammer films stills and clips today, to catch up with several requests we have received over the last couple weeks to repost this clip of Christopher Lee talking about his personal and working relationship with Peter Cushing. Much to pick up on here, that maybe new to followers. Hope you enjoy. This is for, among many others : Clark Singer, Mandy Price, Dean Pook, Tracey O'neil, Robert Cook, Stephen Langley, Levi Warwick, John Hooper and Janet Coombes.

#HAMMERSATURDAY: AN EXTRA! Here is Christopher Lee actually performing those much loved Warner Brothers cartoon character voices, that both he and Peter loved so much!

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REMEMBERING PATRICK TROUGHTON

TODAY we remember Patrick Troughton born on this day in 1920. Best remembered for his portrayal of the second incarnation of Doctor Who (1966-69)

ONE OF HIS best known roles being in The Omen (1976). He also made several appearances in Hammer films most notably as Count Dracula's servant Klove in Scars Of Dracula (1970) with Christopher Lee. He co-starred with Peter Cushing in four films Hamlet (1948), The Black Knight (1952), The Gorgon (1964) and Frankenstein And The Monster Hell (1974)

TROUGHTON is also connected to a mysterious casting event, that centres around Cushing's and Hammer films, first Frankenstein films, The Curse of Frankenstein. We did an extensive feature on it, which you can catch up below!

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#FRANKENSTEINFRIDAY: ON SET WITH CUSHING CARLSON AND COMPANY VIDEO

#FRANKENSTEINFRIDAY: Short behind the scenes television feature about Hammer Films 'Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed' (1969) Directed by Terence Fisher featuring production scenes at Elstree film studios, England. Short interviews featuring Peter Cushing, Hammer Films CEO Sir James Carreras. Feature was made as part of the television programme, 'Made In Britain'.

JUDGING BY THE TIME-CODE, some of this is unedited and is B ROLE footage. Even rarer! Despite it's unpredictable sound drops and vision wobbles, for many I am sure there is much to see here for the first time. Cushing, Carlson and Fisher rehearsing, a version of George Prava's make up not see on screen, Bert Batt prepping one of the many great scenes from the film. I make no apologies for the sound or picture quality...it is what it is...and we are somewhat lucky that this unique peep into the world of Hammer and Cushing on set, still survives.

#FRANKENSTEINFRIDAY: This black and white 10x8 publicity still above is really quite rare. It came to light just last year, when it was probably, for whatever reason, released from the cobwebs and darkness of the Warner Brothers Archives. It's rare that any new material appears from Peter's early films..unless a press agency or the release of a film on dvd or blu ray, requests some new visuals.

THIS PHOTOGRAPH IS probably my personal favourite of all the promo material from Revenge of Frankenstein, studio photographer John Jay must have had his muse on his shoulder that day, because press pics are usually just shots popped off during shooting or posed publicity...this one, maybe because of it's composition and that 'look' on the condemned Baron's face, makes it quite unique... what do you think?

#FRANKENSTEINFRIDAY: Here is a great on set photograph from #FRANKENSTEIN CREATED WOMAN , Peter Cushing and actor Peter Madden as the Chief of Police. Madden appeared with Cushing in several other productions, ' Dr terror's House of Horrors' in 1965,  the BBC 'The Boscombe Valley Mystery' part of the Sherlock Holmes series with Cushing in 1968, and another Hammer Frankenstein film, 'Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell' in 1974. Here playing the Chief of Police, he locks horns with Cushing's Franeknstein, and this court room scene, is one of the highlights of the film, with some typical stinging Baron dialogue.  

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#THROWBACKTHURSDAY: CUSHING'S MODEL THEATRES AND HISTORICAL SCENES

#THROWBACKTHURSDAY: WE ARE turning back the clock to the 1950's and 60's, when it seemed that Peter Cushing was not only appearing on either one or both TV stations in the UK, every other night, but also a time, when not working, he was very busy at home. Cushing had been a prolific model maker, in the sense that, he not only made the figures, historical and theatrical, he also made the theater's, the sets, the buildings, all in miniature. The materials were wood, paint, plaster, clay and paper-mach. Sadly, when his wife Helen, died in 1971, Cushing decided that the time of creative pastimes and hobbies, had little interest to him. Much of his huge collection of model theaters, soldiers, paintings and a vast array of collectable books, stamps, postcards and collectables, were the past. There they sat, in his loft studio at what had been his home and Helen's since the late 1950's. 

After Cushing's passing in 1994, a levy of Death Tax was to be paid and much of what made his private collection and creations from his hobbies, were put up for auction. Thousands of lots, containing furniture, clothes and the entire Cushing collection, were put under the hammer...Everything must go. And it did.

Above the MODEL THEATRES depicting scenes from productions and history are as follows. 

A: An Egyptian Palace scene set suitable for Cleopatra or The Mummy. The scene is fully lit, signed by Peter Cushing 1969.  A magnificent vignette of Antony & Cleopatra reclining on a tiger skin draped couch with their entourage.

B: The Wheel and Poop Deck of a 18th /19th Century British [man of war] ship, fully lit. Figures in British naval dress of the 18th /19th Century individually modeled and painted by Peter Cushing.

C:  Set for Journey`s End by R.C. Sherriff, a British dugout, March 1918 before St Quentin, the trench section is fully lit, signed by Peter Cushing in 1967.Cast of actors in WWI British uniform individually modeled and painted 54mm foot figures comprising: 7 officers and men. This scene would have been of special interest to Peter. Journey's End was the production he had wanted to appear in, since he had been a young actor... but never did. 

The rows of INDIVIDUAL FIGURES, created and painted by Peter Cushing are TOP:  Medieval period royalty - foot figures of: Mathilda of Flanders, King John, William 1, Henry II & Richard 1. MIDDLE: A collection of historical figures comprising: Ancient to Medieval period foot figures of 2 x Vikings, Hengist, Canute, & Alfred the Great. BOTTOM: Signing the Magna Carta - foot figures of: King John, Clergy, Knights & Barons. 

CALLING ALL MODEL MAKERS AND FIGURE COLLECTORS : THE PROFESSOR!

NEWS: AS YOU WILL SEE from the short promo posted above, work is well under way in the creation of #THEPROFESSOR model kit. The character is based on the amazing monthly 'must get' comic art book that's hitting the newsstands and comic shops in Italy, THE PROFESSOR! Working on the figure is ace sculptor, ROBERTO DE MEO with colour work and painting of the model carefully created by the talented and skillful eye of DAVIDE DECINA.

WE WERE VERY PLEASED to have prize copies of the last issue of THE PROFESSOR in a PCAS Competition a few weeks ago. NOW the very likeness of Peter Cushing is being captured and enhanced in what will soon be a 1/6 cm scale model kit in resin. 

THE MODEL KIT WILL be a LIMITED EDITION, only a small number available for purchase. But, for those of you who would like to scoop one up, for your very own, we will give any news, as soon as we hear of it's availability.

MEANWHILE... issue FOUR 'SIRENA' of #THEPROFESSOR hits the stands from MAY 1st 2017. We have an exclusive peep at the cover below. MORE images and details about the model kit, in our expanded feature at the website now... Many thanks as always to Andrea Corbetta and Davide Decina!

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#GIMMETHEGIFWEDNESDAY: EYEBALLS VANISHING VAMPS BODY SNATCHERS AND TARKIN!

#Gimmethegifwednesday:(when you send in YOUR requests for clips and GIFS of your favorite Cushing shots or scenes!) FOR TOM PARRY: EYES RIGHT! This is a wonderful shot from Hammer films, The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958) with Peter Cushing returning as the Baron, assisted by Francis Mathews.These eyeballs were created by Les Bowie. Even though Hammer did not have a true resident effects department, Les Bowie was the man who would turn his hand, like make up artist Roy Ashton, to make the most incredible from the most basic every day, 'house-hold' items.

'Dracula ashes from talcum powder, fullers earth and sawdust!', or how about... 'Dracula's last breath supplied by a bicycle inner tube from a Tyre, deflated and inflated by blowing down a rubber tube from a tropical fish tank, hidden under Dracula's costume!' It certainly opens your EYES to what could be achievable, with some imagination and a box of bits and bobs. Bowie went on to establish his own very successful special effects department Bowie Films, which worked in tv and all manner of big blockbuster films through the 1960's and 70s.....

#GIMMETHEGIFWEDNESDAY:Like or not, which ever side you are on regarding the #TARKIN #CGI debate... there are a LOT of supporters, and here at PCAS we still get requests for info about almost everyday..This GIF has been requested by 'Tarkins Puppy' ..whoever that maybe?? . But, here it is, as requested... is a interesting shot of Cushing's CGI creation to ponder over...maybe?

#GIMMETHEGIFWEDNESDAY: Peter Cushing here as Van Helsing, giving the check of the vitals of one poor Bob, boyfriend of Caroline Munro's Laura, in 'just add four decades of watching, and eventually, you WILL like it' #DRACULAAD1972 . The character of BOB, is one of many that appears in a Hammer film, and vanishes or falls foul of a fate, that somehow falls through a plot hole. Bob is discovered in the graveyard of the desecrated St Bartok's church. He's a dead as a dodo, but how he got that way, isn't explained in the plot. But we donned our deerstalker, and not only found how Bob-bobbed-out, but also photographic evidence, how! See our panel below. Royston Harris, THIS is for you!

#GIMMETHEGIFWEDNESDAY: If you compile a list of what you would personally consider to be  five titles from the Peter Cushing filmography, chances are, if you have had the opportunity to see it, FLESH AND THE FIENDS (Mania USA) would be somewhere in that list. It IS a classic. With it's mini budget, produced in a time of many bigger and more expensively promoted movies doing the rounds, this film got passed over by the cinema going public, and slipped quietly away, until television threw it a afterlife-life line, it made regular appearances on late night and afternoon tv slots, and found the audiences that should have seen it back in the day. 

Startlingly dramatic, dark and emotive. The direction of the underappreciated John Gilling, brings out the best in Peter Cushing as Dr Knox, and a quite superb supporting cast of Donald Pleasence and George Rose as Burke and Hare, body-snatchers, Billy Whitelaw and Renne Houston. Even Melvyn Hayes, just three years after appearing in Curse of Frankenstein, manages to play a poor unfortunate, without resorting to scenery-chewing or cliches. Not seen it? It's still out there to purchase, very reasonably. We did try to share it with you at our YT channel, but Youtube threatened to tear our archive down, if we so much as uploaded a flicker of it. We do try. Go see now. THIS GIF was for NICOLAS JACOBS! Fast huh?

That's it for this week. REMEMBER if you would like to request a great Cushing GIF, choose a scene, shot  or moment that doesn't contain dialogue. GIF's by their nature are muted non audio short clips , that play in rotation.

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