# 1948 Abbot and Costello Dracula



## MadCap Romanian (Oct 29, 2005)

Hi guys! 

Thought I'd break away from baby Rozina and take some pictures of a Luminators model kit I recently finished. 

I was thinking of trying to sell him on Ebay or on my web site, but I'm unsure of what price to sell him for. Perhaps you could help me out? 
I would like $130 for him, but maybe that's too much as he isn't a true Aurora kit, but a Monogram re-pop. However, I'm hoping that my building tallent makes up for this.

I also built the kit so that the bats, tree branches and Dracula himself are removeable for packaging and shipping. I might glue the bats to the branches though.

Anyway, this Monogram Luminator's Dracula kit is painted to represent the clothing Bela Lugosi wore in "Abbot and Costelo Meet Frankenstein" by Universal Studios in 1948.










In this movie, Bela wore a special yellow lined cape. This colour was only used in this movie, lost to the more traditional red colour used in earilier and later films as well as in publicity photos and posters.

The neckercheif used to tie on Bela's Medallion has been debated as being Red or Blue for years as production notes never truely state the colour. I thought that the blue worked out the best for this clothing scheme.










This movie was monumental in the fact that it combined all the most famous monsters in the Universal studios line-up as well as the comedic tallents of Abbot and Costello. 

It also marked the return of Bela Lugosi to Universal Studios as Dracula. After Lugosi appeared in the 1931 film "Dracula", the vampire was played by John Carodine and Lon Chaney JR. through the late 1930's and earily 1940's.

As for Lugosi, in these years he played various "Vampire" and "Mad Scientist" characters for different studios, but his true genious and great acting tallent were never used to their full force as they were on the stage in the 1920's. 

At one point on the stage, Bela played the role of Jesus Christ and various surviving publicity photos of him in this guise look very much like the Jesus portraits of Rembrant and other classical artists.










Note the colour of the bats and spiders in this photo. I decided to paint them this way to give some variety and break away from the traditional black paint jobs that are common place in monster model building.

These "animal" colours are accurate to their species.


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## MadCap Romanian (Oct 29, 2005)

Note the ring on Dracula's finger. This ring was never used in the 1931 film, but appeared later in the Dracula's played by Carrodine and Chaney. 

The reason is that the Lugosi Medallion was "lost" after the 1931 film. It wasn't really lost. Lugosi owned it and took it home with him after the 1931 film. However, since it was off the Universal Studio's lot, the writers had to use something to replace the missing item.

It was at this point that the ring was created and used as a plot device to help Dracula hypnotise his victums by having them look into the ring. 

In contrast, the 1931 film had Bela using his own power to hypnotise people by using his eyes and hands.

In 1948 when Universal asked Lugosi to return, he had both the ammulet and the ring.

Fans like to call this ring "The Uncle Forray Ring".










Although the movie was a comedy, the brilliance in it was that the Monsters played their original roles and Abbot and Costello revolved the comedy around them. In other words, the writers of the movie kept the scariness of the monsters and didn't belittle them by making them tell the jokes or act in a "Cartoon" manner. The monsters were as scary as they were in any previous Universal horror film.










Some popular bloopers from this film include the cave scene where Lou Costello is calling Bud Abbot "Abbot" instead of "Chick", his name in the movie and in the Laboratory scene where Glenn Strange, as The Frankenstein's Monster" loses a neck bolt as he comes off the table. It stays attached to the jumper cables!


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## MadCap Romanian (Oct 29, 2005)

A Cepia Tone picture with a spotlight effect.

Note how the yellow cape gives away all hints of it's colour. It could be red afterall!


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## bigdaddydaveh (Jul 20, 2007)

Bella as Jesus. Now that would be an interesting kit conversion or scratch build!


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## otto (Jan 1, 1970)

Well , I sold a pretty nice one on Ebay awhile back, I started the bidding at $10.00. It sold for $11.04, I was hoping for 35-40. It even had a real 10K solid gold ring. I never say my kits are Pro built, but I'm thinking maybe I should. The buyer was Uber happy though! The pics didnt really do it justice.http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESOX:IT&item=170255965668


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## otto (Jan 1, 1970)

I also sold a pretty well done PL Spiderman. It only brought $23.89. I should have started the bidding a little higher I suppose the same person bought Spidy, and Drac, she loved them both if you look at the my feedback ratings. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESOX:IT&item=170255967773


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## beck (Oct 22, 2003)

excellent job Trevor . i recently picked up the movie "Scared To Death " Bela's only color movie and he wears what i think is the Dracula cape which has an yellowish/salmon orange lining . 
do you know if it's the same one ? pretty cool to see it in color and one can see where in BW it would look bright red . 
i've also heard the original cape from Dracula had a more grey/silver lining but not sure as to where i actually got this info . 
again nice job ! 
hb


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## Mitchellmania (Feb 14, 2002)

Thanks for the Info and great pics!!!


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## MadCap Romanian (Oct 29, 2005)

Hi Beck!

The Salmon Orange cape was yet another in the Bela Cape saga! 

Here's a great link for the movie clothing.

http://vampir.headlesshearseman.com/paint.html


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## beck (Oct 22, 2003)

nice !! thanks for the link Trevor . had to add that one my fave list .:thumbsup:
hb


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## MadCap Romanian (Oct 29, 2005)

Yeah! It's invaluable for painting figures. In fact, I look at it before I even put a brush to the model!


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## Dave Hussey (Nov 20, 1998)

Great stuff!!!!

Huzz


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## deadmanincfan (Mar 11, 2008)

Nice job, Trevor! Like the yellow lining on his cape! :thumbsup:


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## MadCap Romanian (Oct 29, 2005)

ThanX. I used Testor's Zinc Chromate with a yellow pearl powder in a Tamiya clear coat.


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## otto (Jan 1, 1970)

Ohh, I forgot to suggest, if you sell them on ebay, you might want to start the bidding at a price close to what you want to get out of them, but I've tried that a few times and got no bids at all, on some really nice built ups. Your milage may vary.


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## Mitchellmania (Feb 14, 2002)

beck said:


> excellent job Trevor . i recently picked up the movie "Scared To Death " Bela's only color movie and he wears what i think is the Dracula cape which has an yellowish/salmon orange lining .
> do you know if it's the same one ? pretty cool to see it in color and one can see where in BW it would look bright red .
> i've also heard the original cape from Dracula had a more grey/silver lining but not sure as to where i actually got this info .
> again nice job !
> hb


I posted pictures of the cape that Bela wore in A&C meet Fank, it came from an article about the man who purchased the cape and was in fact verified to have been worn in that film. Bela hated the material (satin) and the color. It may have been used in a later film also. Here is the guy who now owns the cape:
http://www.preservehollywood.org/DungeonWebNew/About DVD.html


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## MadCap Romanian (Oct 29, 2005)

Do you have any info on the yellow cape? I'd hate to continue quoting the wrong movie.

I might keep this one, afterall, and place him in a new store window display my Dad built for me. It's a narrow cabinet that sits right in the front window (using the glass as a showcase glass) and has 12 shelves on it. It will display the many models I have in the store as well as games and costumes. Sort of like a "Table of Contents" for window shoppers.

Looks like I'll have to build (Yet Another) Dracula model. You know, I'm 2 colours away from all the colours listed on the Count Fritz web site. I just need the Silver/Grey and the Salmon Pink one. I might also contact Posthumous and get some more of the replacement Bela heads and sell the kits with the new heads on them.

I might also change my web site, www.freewebs.com/monsterhobbies into a web site displaying my built-up kits for sale. Maybe I'll have more sucess that way? Use the site as an "Artist" thing.


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