THROWBACKTHURSDAY: TO VINTAGE HAMMER FRANKENSTEIN AND MUMMY ON SET

#ThrowbackThursday: A rare peep onto the set of Hammer films, 'Frankenstein Created Woman' at Bray studios, with Peter Cushing and Peter Madden all set for the camera to roll. Those you who know the film, will also know this scene is one of Cushing's Hammer Frankenstein vocal repore highlights, where his dialogue in the dock, shows how the Baron could, if needed, reduce authority figures into a bumbling half-wits. We would see it again,to jaw drop and marvelous effect in Cushimg and Hammer's next Frankenstein film, 'Must Be Destroyed', where his sharp tongue would 'slap the pomp and stupid' out of a party of toffs and top hatters 😉 Peter Madden would also appear, sadly briefly, in the last Hammer Cushing Frankenstein film, 'Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell' in 1974.

#THROWBACKTHURSDAY: January 11th 1971. An on set, off camera rare photograph of Peter Cushing as Professor Julian Fuchs and Valerie Leon as daughter Margaret Fuchs , during Peter Cushing's one day of shooting on the Hammer films, 'Blood From The Mummy's Tomb'. Sadly, it was a set and role to which Cushing would never return, Helen Cushing, Peter's wife was taken ill on this day and died shortly after, on January 14th 1971. Actor Andrew Keir would step into the role, just three days later. Cushing would return to work and Hammer films two months later, with the role of Gustav Weil in 'TWINS OF EVIL'.

FULL FEATURE AND STILLS GALLERY FROM 'TWINS OF EVIL' : The Collinson PUT THE BITE into HAMMER : CLICK HERE!

A GENTLEMAN TO A TEA!

#TOOCOOLTUESDAY: MANY THANKS TO ROBIN MCDONALD who has provided two great items for our #TOOCOOLTUESDAY posts.... This artwork was produced as a in joke among the crew of Amicus films 'From Beyond The Grave' with Peter Cushing..the artwork was pinned to the clapper-board during some of the shooting! Robin McDonald, was a clapper operator on many of Peter's films.

AGAIN, MANY THANKS to Robin McDonald who sent us his much treasured cards from Peter Cushing, to share with you. Peter DID so very much love his cuppa tea!!!

IN ROBIN'S WORDS, 'When I worked with Peter towards the end of his life, he hardly ate anything existing mainly on cheese and biscuits, he told me that he talked to his dead wife every day, and told her that he would be with her soon. . . . .It made me very sad and brought tears to my eyes. He was such a lovely man and I miss him. Whilst working on a film with Peter, I think Tales from the Grave, I passed his dressing room and he called out to ask me if the tea trolley had been round, and I told him that he had missed it. I went and made him a cup of tea and took it to his dressing room and he was so grateful, he asked me to sit down with him, whilst he drank it. He opened his heart to me and told me how much he missed Helen.The next day, I received a hand written note from him which I treasure to this day...'

Peter Cushing as the Shop Proprietor in 

'FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE'

ALWAYS SOMETHING CUSHING AND COOL ON A #TOOCOOLTUESDAY

JOIN US TOMORROW FOR #GIMMETHEGIFWEDNESDAY! 

ANIMAL FAT, KENSINGTON GORE, KARLOFF, LEE AND A CLAPPERBOARD

#ONSETSATURDAY : MEANWHILE..... YIKES!... on a film set at Bray studios in 1968, Les Bowie Hammer films effects wizard is busy with his team, shooting THIS gory scene scene, not that hard to recognise it really. A mixture of Kensington Gore, liquid soap, animal fat and cornflour slowly slides down a rock...nasty!

LEXI CONROY commented at our FACEBOOK FAN PAGE : I am proud to say that after taking a London hop on hop off bus tour I finally get the joke that Kensington Gore is a real place ;). Incidentally, does the formula for producing KG still survive anywhere?

WE REPLIED: *Name Drop Alert!!* I'll have to look it up...but from my understanding, Hammer make up artist, Roy Ashton told me it happened, just at the time colour film was first being used in the UK. A make up artist, working on location...in 'KENSINGTON'; with a film crew, shooting on colour film discovered, that the usual bottle of 'whatever they used 'in black and white' films wouldn't register true on colour film, so legged it to a local chemist in KENSINGTON, who mixed up a compound that would do the trick OR I presume...that same make up chap, to his horror found he had misplaced or forgot to pack his bottle of blood while on location in KENSINGTON and went to a local chemist...so as the cosmetic blood having been made by a chemist in Kensington, the formula was christened after the town it was made in..etc... 

I have no idea, if the formula still exists, Lexi.  I would guess most buy it in, prepared...though from experience I know some of the movie blood DOES leave a purple-pinky stain on clothing and skin, there are some types you can purchase that does wash out, but more expensive...but that recipe from long ago, I think has long gone with that chemist maybe???

Once when Roy was showing me the contents of one of three make up cases he took to work ( '..one is for beautifying, the other for the other jobs' Roy's words!) ...He giggled when he showed me a tube of German made make up blood called, I think... 'Flix-Blut'. I have no idea why he found this funny?? I still don't...am I missing something?

LEXI HELPFULLY REPLIED: Well, knowing German to a reasonable degree, I can tell you that "Blut" is "blood"...as for "Flix," perhaps that is a corruption of "flicks," i.e., movies, making it "Movie Blood?" The joke escapes me as well...

  

#ONSETSATURDAY TOD MORTEN has written in to ask, 'Did Peter Cushing ever work with Boris Karloff?' Hello Todd and Welcome... no, it's a great shame that Peter never got the opportunity to work with Boris Karloff, Christopher Lee, yes...Peter sadly no. Here is a photograph of Lee and Karloff on set during the making of The Curse of the Crimson Altar', one of two films that Lee made with Karloff, the other being Corridors of Blood in 1958. Interestingly, Curse of the Crimson Altar was directed by Vernon Sewell who in the same year, 1968, also directed Peter Cushing in the 'Blood Beast Terror'.

#ONSETSATURDAY I think the one thing. above all else that I always noticed with Christopher Lee's performance as Dracula was ...his grace. Considering, HE considered himself, clumsy with props, having two left feet ...( Alice Lopes!! ) and very, very tall.. he was most impressive in his long black cloak...gliding through the sets at Bray, Elstree and Pinewood. The only other actors I think that had the same poise and elegance when playing Dracula were Jeremy Brett and Frank Langella... you agree??

AND FINALLY, Peter Cushing as General von Spielsdorf and Douglas Wilmer, wait for it . . . as Baron Joachim von Hartog, great name that...on the set of 'THE VAMPIRE LOVERS' at Elstree  film studios, during it's production run from 19th January 1970 until 4th March 1970.

MORE IMAGES, CHART AND STUFF EVERY DAY AT OUR FACEBOOK FAN PAGE UPDATED EVERY DAY!