Animal House of Frankenstein

The monster is far from a smarty
His movies depart from the arty
The hazy-brained goof
Is raising the roof
Though laconic, he's charged-up to party.

Happy Halloween! Don't go away: our Frankenstein Fest isn't over. It continues throughout November, chronicling the downward slide into House of Dracula and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, both featuring the familiar, if diminishing, Monster, now played by Glenn Strange in platform boots.

Carried To The Mob

Horrid monsters, of course, don't belong
In salons, on back porches, they're wrong
Their sole proper position
Is one stop from perdition
Egging on one more torch-bearing throng.

The Monster (Glenn Strange) carries off Dr.Niemann (Boris Karloff) at the end of House of Frankenstein (Erle C. Kenton, 1944).

Hugging Percentage

To the doctor a net should encase,
From the Monster, a sweaty embrace
First a delicate dip,
Then the felons both skip,
With the mob they've upset giving chase.

The Monster (Glenn Strange) and Dr. Niemann (Boris Karloff ) do a little dirty dancing in the climax to House of Frankenstein (1944).

Strange Doze

Catatonic from what he's been through,
The poor monster has nothing to do
When he opens his eyes
The big dope up and dies:
His role squandered, he's smothered in goo.

Dr. Neimann attempts to revive The Monster (Glenn Strange), who sleeps through most of House of Frankenstein (Erle C. Kenton, 1944); watching is Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.). Title by strange docent David Cairns.

The Old Nightmare Ain't What He Used to Be

This great of film horror, once fabled
Of late has been sorely disabled
Though created to lumber
He seems fated for slumber
His state is so poor he's been tabled.

The comatose Monster (Glenn Strange) reclines through most of House of Frankenstein (Erle C. Kenton, 1944).

Back to the Wallflower

Daniel tries, but he lacks any guts
And the size of his back is just nuts
He insists he's sincere
But the misses steer clear
The poor guy's a spectacular putz.

Ilonka the gypsy (Elena Verdugo) and Daniel the hunchback (J. Carrol Naish) in House of Frankenstein (Erle C. Kenton, 1944).

Discomforts of Gnome

He can't sleep 'cause his hunch is a blight
The thing heaps in a bunch in plain sight
When reclined in his bed
It's behind his poor head...
He counts sheep on his stomach all night.

As Daniel in House of Frankenstein (1944), J Carrol Naish has to work around a rather significant hunch. 

Lash By Night

Held fast, he is beaten and bossed
But the bastard mistreats at a cost
Monster soon gets a grip
On the goon with the whip...
From the castle the meat-head is tossed.


J.Carrol Naish is Daniel, the sadistic lovesick hunchback, and Glenn Strange is the Monster he mistreats, in House of Frankenstein (1944). Title by long-lashed David Cairns.

Lab Prat

From cold storage this sleeper's reheated
As once more, the grim reaper is cheated
But the monster can't speak
He looks wan, worn and weak
When, for sport, by a creep, he's mistreated.

The Monster (Glenn Strange) spends most of House of Frankenstein (Erle C. Kenton, 1944) reclining in the lab.

Spinal Sap

Though Doc Niemann had said he would fix him
Being evil, instead only tricks him
But Dan's flame meets her maker
And he blames the old faker
And, grieving, Dan's ready to nix him.

The monster (Glenn Strange) watches as Daniel attacks Dr. Niemann: House of Frankenstein (Erle C. Kenton, 1944).

Whip Replacement

He's all twisted in body and soul
Just like Fritz, he's an odd little troll
When his patience goes snap
Daniel (Naish) grabs a strap
Cause he's pissed at his shoddy life role.

David Cairns

Like Fritz (Dwight Frye), the hunchback assistant that preceded him in Frankenstein (1931), Daniel (J. Carrol Naish) takes out his frustrations on the Monster (Glenn Strange) in House of Frankenstein (1944).

Shadows and Flog

His romantic inaction long pent,
Now in random attacks he will vent
For a chickie he pines
But she's picky 'bout spines
And poor Daniel's hunched back's far too bent.


Daniel takes out his frustration on the Monster: J. Carrol Naish and Glenn Strange in House of Frankenstein (Erle C. Kenton, 1944).

The Spine Who Shoved Me

Dan the hunchback is one for the ages
Just for fun he consults wacky gauges
But he stalls pitching woo
So his balls both turn blue
The result is at dunces he rages.


Upset at being abused by Daniel the hunchback (J Carrol Naish), the Monster (Glenn Strange) is consoled by Dr.Neimann (Boris Karloff): House of Frankenstein (1944). Title by shovel-ready David Cairns.

Hunch Break

Daniel's back a bears hump that's worst-case
On the rack the poor chump should rent space
With the looks of a troll
His black book's a black hole
And, alack, he can't get to first base.

Daniel the hunchback (J. Carrol Naish) tends to the gypsy girl Ilonka (Elena Verdugo) in House of Frankenstein (Erle C. Kenton, 1944).

Niemann Barber of Freak Street

Most mad doctors start raving and ranting
All who mock them in graves get a planting
In a lab that's well-stocked
On a slab they'll concoct
Something shocking, unshaven and panting.

Boris Karloff is mad, vengeance-driven Dr. Gustav Niemann, in House of Frankenstein (Erle C. Kenton, 1944). Title by David Cairns, who has Freak Street cred.

There Was a Crooked Dan

His distortion is bodily and facial
The back portion is oddly palatial
Who'll sport humps on his shoulders,
Giant lumps big as boulders?
That contortionist, J. Carroll Naish'll!

David Cairns

Character actor J Carrol Naish (who cares if he pronounced it "Nash") plays Daniel the hunchback in House of Frankenstein (1944). Here's more on Naish, “the man of a thousand races”, at Movie Morlocks.

Sympathy For the Devil Doctor

From his pad in the Frankenstein hood,
He does bad, but to serve greater good    
All this aberrant braining
In his lab needs explaining:
He's no madman, he's misunderstood.

In House of Frankenstein (1944), Daniel (J. Carrol Naish) and Dr. Niemann (Boris Karloff) discuss the fate of Ilonka (Elena Verdugo). Title by devilish David Cairns.

Mastermindless

Niemann's ranting, he's plainly demented
A transplanting of brains he's invented
Franken-giants have cringed
At this science unhinged
An "advance" that leaves craniums dented.

Mad Doctor Gustav Niemann (Boris Karloff ) drives the narrative in House of Frankenstein (Erle C. Kenton, 1944), ably assisted by the hunchback Daniel (J Carrol Naish). Title mastered by David Cairns.

An Affair to Dismember

This cuddlesome, mutable kitten
With this dud of a brute is quite smitten
Fairly torrid affair,
Tearing horrid were-hair...
When she suddenly shoots him she's bitten.


Ilonka the gypsy girl (Elena Verdugo) loves Larry Talbot the Wolf Man (Lon Chaney Jr) in House of Frankenstein (Erle C. Kenton, 1944). Title by lifetime member David Cairns.

Hunchback in Anger

With a horror-themed show he performed
While to gorgeous Ilonka he warmed
But poor Daniel's no Larry,
(Whom she fancies to marry)
He's a bore, and what's more, he's deformed.

Daniel the hunchback (J, Carrol Naish) is spurned by Ilonka the gypsy (Elena Verdugo) in House of Frankenstein (Erle C. Kenton, 1944). David Cairns backed the title.

Romany Holiday

Fate has lent him a moment of calm
He's tormented, this Roma's the balm
But their idyll is fleeting,
And her hide gets a beating,
When a pentagram shows on his palm.


Lon Chaney Jr is Larry Talbot, the Wolf Man, and Elena Verdugo is Ilonka, the gypsy girl who loves him, in House of Frankenstein (Erle C. Kenton, 1944). Title by a-romatic David Cairns.

The Undying Mister

He gets shot, submerged, shot, yet Lon's fit
Hot to trot, needs no dirge or obit
Seems the furred man's unkillable
Or in words of one syllable
He is not bound by plot sense one whit.

David Cairns with Surly Hack

Lon Chaney Jr is the Wolf Man, revived yet again in House of Frankenstein (Erle C. Kenton, 1944). 

Glum and Glummer

This werewolf's upset on the prowl
He bears a perpetual scowl
Once bitten, twice shy,
He's a bitter wolf-guy
"Life's unfair!" is his petulant howl.


Lon Chaney Jr is the morose Larry Talbot, aka the Wolf Man in House of Frankenstein (Erle C. Kenton, 1944).

Love at Furred Sight

Wolf and man, and unbearable mope,
With lyncanthropy Larry can't cope
But the gals all adore him
They corral and implore him
This one's planning to marry the dope.

Lon Chaney Jr is Larry Talbot, the Wolf Man, and Elena Verdugo is the gypsy girl who wants to change him, in House of Frankenstein (Erle C. Kenton, 1944). Title by unsightly David Cairns.

Fruit Loop-Garou

Lonely Larry's a manic-depressive
Doesn't care for this manor oppressive
With its glut of odd guests
He does what he does best:
Growing hair, he turns panic-aggressive.

Lon Chaney Jr is Larry Talbot, the Wolf Man, with Elena Verdugo as Ilonka the gypsy, in House of Frankenstein (Erle C. Kenton, 1944). "Loop-garou" is French for werewolf. Title by fruitful David Cairns.

The Spinal Solution

He's a lackey whose stance doesn't rate
The sore back of poor Dan isn't straight
With a normal new body
Fine of form, and not shoddy
He'd at last have a chance on a date.

To get Daniel (J. Carrol Naish) to help exact his revenge, Dr. Neimann (Boris Karloff) promises the hunchback a healthy new body: House of Frankenstein (Erle C. Kenton, 1944).

You Thaw the Howl of the Moon

In a freezer, cooped up and preserved,
Snoring Zs, this half-lupine's observed
Though unnaturally formed
With a match he is warmed
By a sleaze who's stooped-over and curved.

Surly Hack and David Cairns

Larry Talbot, the Wolf Man (Lon Chaney Jr), thawed from an ice block by the hunchback Daniel (J. Carrol Naish) in House of Frankenstein (Erle C. Kenton, 1944). Title by David Cairns, who likes a howler.

A Change is as Good as a Rest

In the basement two terrors are warming
Soon the place with such scarers is swarming
There's a lumbering lunk
Plus long-slumbering hunk
With a face that grows hairy, transforming.


The frozen Wolf Man (Lon Chaney Jr) is thawed in House of Frankenstein (1944). Title by quick-change artist David Cairns.

Warming Trendsetter

Though their plan for a warming's not global
Doc and Dan aren't normal or noble
They will thaw out remains,
Slowly saw out the brains,
And then transplants perform, frontal lobe-al.

J Carrol Naish and Boris Karloff are Daniel and Niemann, hunchback and mad doctor: House of Frankenstein (Erle C. Kenton, 1944).

Ice Folly

These ice cubes are not meant for drinks
We advise that you dump them in sinks
When this shocking morass
Melts in cocktails you'll pass
No surprise, what's inside of them stinks.

The frozen werewolf thaws in House of Frankenstein (Erle C. Kenton, 1944). The Wolf Man was played by Lon Chaney Jr.

The Big Chiller

First the castle with water was filled
Then the wrassling monsters were chilled
But the freaks were preserved
And in sequels they served
Because cash-cows can never be killed.



Frankenstein's Castle flooded at the end of Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943), submerging the the Monster and the Wolf Man. At the start of that film's sequel, House of Frankenstein (1944), the creatures are discovered frozen in ice beneath the ruined castle. Western actor Glenn Strange plays the Monster in the latter film, though the monster shown here is, no doubt, a dummy.

Freezer Burn Unit

First the mope with lycanthropy thaws
Then the dope with the cognitive flaws
And this popsicle pair
Squeeze the drops from their hair
In the hope they're still box office draws.

Daniel the hunchback (J. Carrol Naish) builds a fire to thaw the frozen Wolf Man (Lon Chaney Jr) and Monster (Glenn Strange) in House of Frankenstein (Erle C. Kenton, 1944).

Chaney Thaw Massacre

He's a werewolf they thawed out from ice
But the square they call Lawrence is nice
When restored from his coma
He's adored by a Roma
Though his hair is still crawling with lice.

Lon Chaney Jr is heart-throb Lawrence Talbot, the Wolf Man, in House of Frankenstein (1944). David Cairns thawed up the title.



To those of you who may be joining us for the Countdown to Halloween, welcome! We're currently in the midst of our chronological chronicling of every mad, monstrous and minor moment in the Universal Frankenstein series. Feel free to to stumble about in our archives, arms outstretched.

To our regular readers, the Countdown to Halloween is a month-long internet celebration of all things that go boo in the night. Please visit the Countdown's home page to find links to the many, many participating blogs and sites.