HAPPY BIRTHDAY,BELA LUGOSI!

[RCMerchant]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY,BELA!  Today Bela Lugosi is 135 years old!

Even as a Monster Kid in 1970-when i discovered Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine-my favorite actor was Bela Lugosi. I cut the full page photos out of the mag and they were taped all over my wall. Sure-I had all sortsa monsters taped on my wall-but Lugosi took up the most space. Now-47 years later-he is still my favorite actor.

Celebrate accordingly-but remember-no wine!



This amazing photo shows Lugosi posing at the Disney Studios for the Demon in the 'Night on Bald Mountain' segment of FANTASIA (1940)



Lugosi-the 13TH CHAIR (1929) -his first film with director Tod Browning. He would work with him on DRACULA (1931) of course-and MARK OF THE VAMPIRE (1935)





DRACULA (1931)



On stage in 1927

[Rev. Powell]

I'm gonna watch THE CORPSE VANISHES tonight.

[RCMerchant]

I'm gonna watch THE CORPSE VANISHES tonight.

That's a good one! Of the 9 Monogram pictures Bela did-this is my favorite. It's got little Angelo Rossitto-always a plus!-Frank Moran as the moronic Angel, and old hatchet face Minerva Urecal helping him steal women so he can inject spinal fluid into his beautiful 80 (!!!) year old b***h wifey so she can keep her tits from dragging.
http://youtu.be/1QEhiiK6ItU

[Alex]

Happy birthday to one of the greats. :)

[bob]

happy birthday Bela 

[RCMerchant]

If there is a day this song should be played-this is it!

http://youtu.be/KFPI9b9N6CQ

I am celebrating with a bottle of cheap whiskey and cigarettes. Oh-and I smoked a bowl too. 

[RCMerchant]

Here's a great  Bela photo tribute I found on youtube to the music of Swan Lake


http://youtu.be/3En7F18wbnI

[RCMerchant]

This is cool-it's Bela's color home movies from the 1940's. There's Bela and his wife Lillian and Bela Jr. and freinds. Mostly Junior,of course. I mean-thats what home movies were for-to take movies of your kids. But his cat is in their too. Theirs a real cool part where a lot of Hungarian women are getting a bit drunk!

http://youtu.be/N1Y6NXDT1Y4

[RCMerchant]

Ya know-I think there's a reason why I like Bela Lugosi so much.

My Dad married Mary Jo Bonarski in 1969. We lived (and I still live) in rural Michigan. Her mother and father were Pollacks. They had polka parties-. ARGHH!
BUT-my best friend Nick Siskaninitz was Russian.
Well-his Dad spoke Russian  cuz his dad came from Russia. And all the food and drink was the best. Glumpkis (stuffed cabbage),blood sausage,Kielbasa,pirogies (kinda like saurkraut and hamburger dumplings) home made ruhbarb pie.
And wine-lotsa homemade wine. Nickolia made cherry wine. Very sour. Had to be. That stuff was red moonshine!
Anyway-I knew Hungarians and Germans and Norwegians-(I'm Norwegian-my family is originally from Otsego).
And I can identify with his way of thinking. As far as staying away from the Hollywood scene. And he blew all his money the minute he got it. Yeah-well-that's like they did it when I was a kid.
That's what I do. (Not that I have any money-I'm broke.-But when I did-!)
Live for today-tomorrow will take care of itself. And I still think that way.

OH! And the reason I like Bela when I was a kid-? Because he was the Elvis of the Monsters! He got the ladies-he had the slick hair-he had the cool up turned collar! 

[Allhallowsday]

BELA LUGOSI belongs in the list of the greatest film actors.  Even if they gave him sh!t to recite, he was completely committed and always convincing.   BELA LUGOSI was a FORCE OF NATURE! 

[RCMerchant]

BELA LUGOSI belongs in the list of the greatest film actors.  Even if they gave him sh!t to recite, he was completely committed and always convincing.   BELA LUGOSI was a FORCE OF NATURE! 

You got it,my friend.Lugosi is like James Dean and Marilyn Monroe-he has trancended plain old fandom-and has turned into an icon. I just wish he could have lived long enough to see his films revered on Shock Theater and in the pages of Famous Monsters. He died alone.I hope I wont die alone.
When Bela got out of the hospital to get "cured" of his drug addiction-he drank like a fish.


http://youtu.be/EM88vyxN82k

Unlike Karloff-Lugosi is human. He is like me.

[RCMerchant]

I get so p**sed when folks think of Lugosi as a drug addict and a one shot special. Lugosi was an artist and a human-just like me and you.

"Dracula-never ends"
Dracula ruled his life.

http://youtu.be/RS2CnlhJRHY

[RCMerchant]

I know this is mostly staged-but it's pretty cool-I love it.

http://youtu.be/MXNAHOnwwZY

[RCMerchant]

Lugosi isn't just the guy who played Dracula for me. He's human. He is an inspiration for me to live-in all face of hardship-to die- to be really dead-that must be glorious.

[316zombie]

this is a great thread, rc, thank you for posting it!
    what i would wish bela could have seen is martin landau literally BEING him in the ed wood movie, and be there with martin when martin won the oscar for that performance....that would have been perfection .....