TODAY MARKS THE BIRTHDAY of a very special B'day girl, #JoannaLumley! She appeared as Peter Cushing's grand-daughter, in quick bit of recasting for #Hammerfilms in 'The Satanic Rites of #Dracula'
(1973) and also appeared with Cushing in 'The Eagle's Nest' the first
of the new series 'The New Avengers in 1976. The first episode
established the new team, Gareth Hunt as Mike Gambit, Joanna Lumley as #Purdey
and Patrick Macnee as John Steed. These two projects are just the very
tip of a HUGE career . . glamorous, intelligent, entertaining . . .
where would you like to start?? #HappyBirthday Joanna! Have a wonderful day! 😃 #HammerHorror" #JoannaLumleyBirthday! #Dracula#PeterCushing
ABOVE: An
interesting and rare peep at both Peter Cushing and Joanna Lumley on
set, during the making of 'The Satanic Rites of Dracula' !
OVER AT THE FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE today, I have also posted and shared this rare photograph of Joanna Lumley together with, not one BUT two very tall men...
Christopher Lee who she starred with in Hammer films, 'The Satanic Rites
of Dracula' ... but who is the other guy??? He was once a very well known face on UK television. Think you know? Why not zip over to the page and make your suggestion now, it's got some young heads scratching 😉 #JoannaLumley#Birthday#ChristopherLee#HammerHorrors!
ABOVE AND BELOW: OH JOANNA ....! #PeterCushing appeared in the first of 'The New Avengers' series, 'The Eagle's Nest' (1976)
QUITE EARLY ON in my tv and film watching habits, I learnt that the actor, Freddie Jones, was always worth watching. Even if it was a new tv drama, a film or even a radio play at my grans, whatever I was up to, while passing through the room, THAT voice would immediately capture my ear. You couldn't walk away. My Mum and Gran were huge fans too, 'It's Freddie JUNUCE!' she would say. My mother was brought up in the South Wales valleys and had a habit of mis-pronouncing certain words, names, as a somewhat strange 'Hilda Baker' wrapped and tongue twisting, weird mangled type malapropisms...'Jun....uce!' 'Yes!' I would smile and agree .'With a surname like that, he's obviously Welsh!', she would gleam with pride. He wasn't, but I wouldn't dream of breaking the spell for her.
WE HAD ALL SEEN JONES, in an ITV play version of 'Sweeney Todd' back in 1970. We were terrified. But something I noticed, far more than the tension or the murders..was his delivery. His words, his prosody! Next time I saw him was in Cushing's 'Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed' . . again there it was. The pauses, the rhythm. It was tense and it and he pulled you in with each pause. What is he going to say next? I don't think Freddie Jones actually was capable of being dull. Listen and watch his performance as Prof
Professor Julian Keeley, with Peter Cushing in Christopher Lee's last Hammer Dracula film, 'The Satanic Rites of Dracula'. It's a master-class in 'How to terrify an audience, with no props, masks or make-up and yet a full tool kit of quivers, nuances and dialogue super charged with, suggestion!
Find yourself, five films or tv shows.. and you'll see, when he speaks, everyone is listening. I watched 'Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed' in a midnight double bill cinema, packed to the gills, with drunks, dribbling into free fall and slopping into back row seats just after closing time. Del Boy's with dates and 'men with dirty-macs'. Nearly all were diving into candy's, crisps, cans, scraping and trawling the bottoms of slimy twin ice cream tubs while sucking to collapse, their cardboard cartons of Kiora. It was annoying and noisy...except when Freddie was on the screen. Then, it went quiet and everyone tuned in.
WE COULD POUR over the many, many gold star roles and others that do more than just twinkle, when the rest of the cast and film, were not even sparkles, in Jones' beady-eye 😉 ! I wish I had seen Jones in Ronald Harwood’s affectionate near-portrait of Sir Donald Wolfit in 'The Dresser' (1980), an old ham called “Sir” who faces disaster in the mirror while preparing to play King Lear. It was a huge success. You can see how he filled that role, that theatre. It is said, 'After his 1980 run, no following actor, in The Dresser – Albert Finney in the 1983 film, Anthony Hopkins on television in 2015, nor Ken Stott in the West End in 2016 – matched the rumbling thunder of Jones in Manchester and subsequently at the Queen’s in London!' Sadly, I didn't see it and we have to make do with snippets and a radio version on YouTube. Better than nothing. He was certainly better than most gave him credit for. But there's gems to find, for sure! Quality, if not quantity. And for that we say thank you, with bended knee, and surprised sadness, on realising it is a mere two months, since Freddie bowed and left us, for the last time. Happy Birthday, Freddie Jones. He once said, ' “My life springs from my wife, my family, my work and my whisky.” . . Well, in remembering, we'll celebrate and certainly toast to that
THE VERY SAD NEWS of the passing of actor FREDDIE JONES reached us last night, has been marked with many comments and shared messages of condolences at the PCASUK Facebook Fan Page, yesterday and today. Freddie was 91 and had an impressive film, television and theatre career that stretched over a very busy sixty years. Most #Hammerfilm and #PeterCushing fans will know him for two Hammer classics, first Hammers Frankenstein Must be Destroyed and 'The Satanic Rites Of Dracula'.
MORE ON FREDDIE JONES and 'Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed' HERE!
IN 'DESTROYED' Freddie gave us a Baron's creation that was full of pathos and sadness. Who can forget his duel with Cushing in the final moments, where Professor Richer cranks up the tension by trapping Cushing's Baron in a blazing house!? Jones's portrayal of Frankenstein's indulgence, is probably is most complex of all Hammer films 'Frankenstein Monsters', who manages to spin the title of 'Monster' neatly into the lap of Cushing's Baron. There are few actors who could so convincingly share the interplay between Cushing Hammer characters and themselves. The tension and dread was pushed even a little further in the scenes which Freddie Jones and Cushing shared in #hammerfilms 'The Satanic Rites of Dracula'. Freddie's Professor Julian Keeley wobbles and sways from fear, to dread, lust and disgust in a shared A two-hander scene with Cushing, that is probably the highlight of the film.
MORE ON FREDDIE JONES and 'The Satanic Rites of Dracula' in our PCASUK GALLERY and REVIEW : HERE!
FREDDIE JONES also frequently worked with David Lynch with roles in 'The
Elephant Man' (1980), 'Dune' (1984) and 'Wild at Heart' (1990 ) His role as
Inspector Baynes in Granada television's 'The Return of Sherlock Holmes'
in 1988, with Jeremy Brett as Holmes is a gem. Freddie Jones always
brought much to every role. You never knew quite what was going to be on
the table, but it was always entertaining, convincing and very real.
NEWS: Are you a COLLECTOR? Have any original stills from Hammer or
Cushing films? Maybe a cinema poster or two? IF you have a mint copy of
Hammer films DRACULA AD 1972 UK quad poster . . you might be sitting on
a little mint! According to the press release on the London Odeon BFI
IMAX FILM and MEMORABILIA AUCTION taking place on JUNE 28th this year,
one of their lots is this very poster and they are expecting the hammer
(!!) to go down on at least, EIGHT THOUSAND POUNDS for
the lucky bidder who wins it. PCAS also actually owns an original item
of this poster too. It was purchased from cinema poster and stills
trader Greg Edwards back in 1980. I actually bought the poster for the
collection as part of a double purchase deal... a quad of THE BRIDES of
DRACULA cost £40...but the DRACULA AD one cost.... £18!!!!
FOR MANY YEARS the AD 1972 memorabilia
had very little value, along with the Satanic Rites of Dracula, but
times have changed. A quad featuring bot AD and the 1970 film TROG has
been sold many times for anywhere from £100 to £300 UK pounds..but it's
RARE you get to see the poster from then film's original release.
SO...do YOU own any Cushing / Lee / Hammer posters and have you ever
purchased an expensive Cushing memorabilia item??
IF YOU LIKE what you see here at our website, you'll love our daily themed posts at our PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE.
Just click that blue LINK and click LIKE when you get there, and help
us reach all lovers of Peter Cushing's work AND Help Keep The Memory Alive!
#PETERCUSHING#COLLECTORS
Wednesday! OK This week I am sharing a rare black and white CONTACT
SHEET from Hammer films 1973, The Satanic Rites of Dracula. As usual, this is our FREE weekly full hi res upload, as seen on our our PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE available for you today, for you to download. These NINETEEN exposures from the Hammer films
on set stills cameraman, feature shots taken during the shooting of two
scenes from the film, the Vampire's in the Cellar scene, with Joanna
Lumley and Valerie Van Ost and Van Helsing visiting Professor Julian Keeley played by Peter Cushing and Freddie Jones.
HI RES CONTACT SHEET ABOVE: RIGHT CLICK AND COPY!
WHAT IS A CONTACT SHEET? A contact sheet is a positive print of all the negative images from one film, made by a contact printing process so that all the images are the same size as the negative. A contact sheet is a useful way of seeing which are the best images on a film so you can decide which ones to make enlargements from. During the production the unit photographer was responsible for capturing
thousands of still shots while the movie cameras were running. Some of the
photos would offer a different angle to the motion picture camera. In other
cases, the photographer would stand next to a movie camera operator. And some
of the shots would be behind the scenes with actors and directors. After the final production still shots were taken each day, the roles
of film negatives were placed on contact sheets (created by laying the negatives
on a piece of printing paper and exposing them to light to create a set of
mini prints the same as the film frames) (IMAGE) The contact sheets were then
forwarded to the publicity department. The Publicity Department could then
view the full roll of 36 images at one time with a “ring” or magnifying
glass. Publicity Department –The Publicity
Department was, among other things, responsible for generating early publicity
about a film, including providing information to magazines and publications.
In addition, they were responsible for providing the Advertising Department
with information necessary to create the film’s promotional materials.
The publicity department would review the contact sheets and select images
for specific purposes, such as creating a key set, keeping track and providing
exclusive images to magazines and publications, and sending the advertising
department information necessary to begin preparation of promotional materials.
Key Set Creation - After a review
by the publicity department, the better images were picked to become part
of a key set. The selected images are numbered by placing an assigned number
by the studio for that particular film, called the production number, and
then a dash and the assigned individual still number. THIS is called the
Production Code number.
ABOVE: Our Collectors Wednesday post from TWO weeks ago, posted here and at our PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE.. It was a pretty cool concept, but was ultimately ruined by Facebbok quashing the post...thanks facebook!
The selected stills were then printed and placed into the key set
binder. The rejects are skipped over and left unnumbered. The negatives
and contact sheets were then filed. These may be pulled at a later date
when someone wants something different. By the end of the shooting, this 'key set' would normally be hundreds
of the better still shots to be used in a variety of ways by the publicity
department. The stills used in this 'key set' would have numbers put on
the still to help the publicity department identify and keep up with the
different stills. They were kept in large bound books that could be used
at any time for reference.
Exclusive Use –
Major magazines and publications would quite often want exclusive photos
to do an article on the upcoming film. This was a tremendous way for the
film to get FREE publicity. To accommodate them, the publicity department
would put a hold on numerous stills and send over a group for the editor
to choose from. Once the exclusives were picked, the tags would be removed
from those images not selected so they could be used for other purposes
I BELIEVE, Tom Edwards was the stills photographer on Satanic
Rites. He had a very good eye for a great shot, and worked on other
Cushing Hammer films like, 'Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell'. As
I have mentioned before, each cell, photograph here would make a great
pic for your collection, printed off would look great in a frame, the
high res would also make a great poster too. The majority of the shots
on this contact sheet, have rarely been officially published, as often
just one or two from this studio contact sheet would have been chosen
for press packs and promotion. I hope you like what I have shared so
far? Have fun 🙂 Marcus
REMEMBER! IF YOU LIKE what you see here at our website, you'll love our daily themed posts at our PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE.
Just click that blue LINK and click LIKE when you get there, and help
us . . Keep The Memory Alive!. The
Peter Cushing Appreciation Society website, facebook fan page and
youtube channel are managed, edited and written by Marcus Brooks, PCAS
coordinator since 1979. PCAS is based in the UK and USA
TODAY MARKS THE BIRTHDAY of a very special B'day girl, Joanna Lumley!
She appeared as Peter Cushing's granddaughter, in quick bit of recasting
for Hammer in The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973) and also appeared
with Cushing in The Eagle's Nest the first of the new series 'The New
Avengers in 1976. The first episode established the new team, Gareth Hunt as Mike Gambit, Joanna Lumley as Purdey and Patrick Macnee as John
Steed.
LUMLEY'S SECTION OF 'THE NEW AVENGERS' TITLE SEQUENCE!
Peter Cushing, Derek Farr, Joanna Lumley and Gareth Hunt in 'The Eagle's Nest' episode one of 'The New Avengers' 1976
ABOVE: An
interesting and rare peep at both Peter Cushing and Joanna Lumley on
set, during the making of 'The Satanic Rites of Dracula' !
IF YOU LIKE what you see here at our website, you'll love our daily themed posts at our PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE.
Just click that blue LINK and click LIKE when you get there, and help
us reach our 30K following total for Peter Cushing BIRTHDAY on MAY 26th
2017 AND Help Keep The Memory Alive!
#TOOCOOLTUESDAY: I would have liked to have shown you what must be, one of the rarest posters featuring Hammer's DRACULA as played by Christopher Lee. However, our website provider is very strict on what is considered, naughty, far too naughty and what is down right, 'ooh er missus!. So, here is as much as we can reveal. Those of you who are familiar with the bit of detective work I did about three years ago on, the Daily Mirror Christopher Lee Photo-Session and the 'Linda Hayden' pic, will know the session that this colour pic came from! This photograph also turned up in a 'top shelf' magazine in a feature called, 'Cult of the Restless Dead'. You can read about the photo-session and see pics from the contact prints,by clicking HERE
