In a very odd coincidence, while looking for something else I stumbled onto a marvelous interview with Jerry Garcia about “The Movie that Changed My Life.” What’s odd about this is that the film — Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (a 1948 classic starring Bela Lugosi as Dracula and Lon Chaney, Jr. as the Wolf Man) — is one of my favorites. When I saw it as a child I was terrified and just in the past month I re-watched twice. I had no idea that it was so influential on Jerry Garcia, though. He was only six years old, his father had died the year before, and the film not only so terrified him that he had to hide his eyes, but it also just captivated him, and became a lifelong influence.
In the fascinating interview, he explains why, in great detail.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKUtyUmS4IE&feature=related
I completely understand his view of mastering the macabre being an ally of persecuted children. (Being young and impressionable is a two edged sword.)
In what I’m sure is no coincidence, I’m a lifelong horror fan as well as a longtime Deadhead.
MORE: Many thanks to Glenn Reynolds for the link, and a warm welcome to all.
Comments welcome.
Still, a lingering question… Wasn’t Frankenstein making a stab at transhumanism?
Comments
9 responses to “But for “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein,” there’d have probably been no Grateful Dead.”
I haven’t seen the A&C movie but boy do I remember how terrifying horror movies and fiction were as a kid. The last instance that I can recall of getting a serious case of the creeps was in seventh grade, reading “The Amityville Horror” alone in the house (btw, I took the story at face value – as “a true account” – it even said so on the cover). Doubleplus ungood. But also really cool. I’m guessing that puberty somehow moves this stuff into the background. Well that and an accumulation of life experience suggesting that things that go bump in the night aren’t way up on the list of things that you really NEED to be afraid of.
These days I still enjoy horror movies and the various creepy story threads on reddit and so forth but it’s, more than anything, an exercise in nostalgia. The difference between the way I saw this stuff as a kid and as an adult fascinates me. Just out of curiosity, Eric, do you recall the point at which you stopped getting actually terrified by the macabre?
It’s currently streaming on Netflix, in HD no less:
http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Abbott_Costello_Meet_Frankenstein/60001797
Great critique of monsters and Abbott and Costello
Frankenstein has been influential. Earl Bakken, the creator of the first wearable pacemaker, was fascinated by the Karloff Frankenstein — fascinated by the idea of bringing the dead (or very ill) back to life. That’s one of the reasons he got into medical technology. He told me so himself. Might be interesting to see who *else* got inspired.
I remember being deliciously terrifed by Vincent Price films. “The Pit and the Pendulum” and “The Fall of the House of Usher” were two particular favorites. I bought these two films on DVD a few years ago — and I confess that I am still too afraid to watch them yet. I am 61, still creeped out by movies I saw at around age 10. dblblue’s comment gives me courage.
I also found, after long searching a few years ago, a DVD of “Caltiki the Immortal Monster.” (The monster is just like the one in Steve McQueen’s The Blob.) Enjoyed actually finding it, enjoyed watching it — but The Blob is still the best!
OMG! I used to enjoy GD’s music. I saw them several times. I never had a clue that Jerry Garcia was so abysmally inane.
Another one bites the dust.
Oh well,
Charlie (should have suspected)
I never knew that Jerry Garcia said “you know what I mean” so often.
Charlie: I never had a clue Jerry Garcia was so absymally inane.
rtw: I never knew that Gerry Garcia said “you know what I mean” so often.
I would suspect the decades of drug use had something to do with both of those…
No, Frankenstein was simply being a cut-up.
Cheers