Pictured: top)Boris Karloff and friend,
(middle)Bela Lugosi with his four legged companions.
, and (below) Lon Chaney Jr and Moose consult each other on the script for "The Wolf Man" from Universal Pictures in 1941.
I have always been a rabid fan of the old Universal Monster Movies: Dracula, Frankenstein, the Wolf Man and the rest of the bunch. But without actors to play the parts, these movies would have never obtained their following and become the classic images we still celebrate today. That's why Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, and Lon Chaney Jr are still major stars to horror movie fans world wide. Bela Lugosi is said to have ALWAYS had dogs--and was quite taken with larger breeds, great Danes in particular.
Boris Karloff owned a home in the Hollywood hills, which was inhabited by not only dogs, but farm animals as well. He even had a 400 pound pet pig named Elsie.
Lon Chaney Jr was a giant of a man, with a giant heart as well. HeI admire him especially, as he was a lover of strays. In the early 40's, there was a huge wolf/German shepherd looking dog who was wondering the lot at Universal Studios. Lon rescued the dog, named him Moose, and they became a well known pair at the studio. Moose even became a slight horror star himself---he is the "wolf" that attacks Mr. Chaney's "Larry Talbot" and gives him the bite that makes him The Wolf Man in the 1941 movie. Moose also played bit parts in the Mummy movies that Mr. Chaney starred in later.
Though many folks shiver at the sight of these three cinema greats, when you get down to it, they were wonderful men with sweet spirits, and that special place in their hearts that allowed canines to find an oasis where the horrors of abandonment, starvation, and homelessness would not touch their lives.
It just goes to show you, that no book can be judged by it's cover.
Happy Halloween Everybody!!!!!!!!!!
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