21 Pentagrams

Larry's future is there in his hand:
All the chewing and hair he can stand
Toil and sweat can't erase it
So he better just face it--
He's tattooed with a werewolf palm-brand.

Lawrence Talbot shaves the hair on his palms in HOUSE OF THE WOLF MAN. Image: Lon Chaney Jr is The Wolf Man (1941).

Omenclature

Poor Larry now bears quite a mark,
Unaware he'll grow hair after dark
But he'll know all too soon
When, by glow of full moon,  
On a werewolfing tear he'll embark.

Lawrence Talbot has his palm read in HOUSE OF THE WOLF MAN. Image: Lon Chaney Jr, hand model, in The Wolf Man (1941).

Uneasy Street

This burly sad sack likes complaining
About fur on his back he's been gaining
He'll groan and he'll gripe
He's a known droning type
As the surly old Hack keeps explaining.

Surly Hack with David Cairns

Maleva and Larry Talbot hit the road in HOUSE OF THE WOLF MAN. Image: Maria Ouspenskaya and Lon Chaney Jr. in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943).

You Say Visaria, I Say Vasaria

A werewolf has entered the area
First terror and then there's hysteria
Going weak in the knees
Fellows shriek, flee or freeze
Grow a pair, feeble men of Visaria.

Where exactly is the lab of Dr. Frankenstein in HOUSE OF THE WOLF MAN?  Clear up the confusion over the villages of Vasaria and Visaria, HERE at Monster Kids Forum. Image: On the road in House of Frankenstein (1944).

The Way We Werewolf

Things ain't going as well as they might
Since you're growing that pelt in the night
We don't see you till morn
When you're bleary, forlorn

With blood flowing, pell-mell from your bite.

David Cairns

 

Lawrence Talbot had a rough night in HOUSE OF THE WOLF MAN. Image: Bud and Lou meet Lon Chaney Jr. in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (Charles Barton; 1948).

Bed Fretter

This unfortunate stirs in his bed
He is tortured by worry and dread
What could cause all his pangs?
Sporting claws, gore-tipped fangs?

It's the horrible fur on his head!

 

Larry Talbot spends a sleepless night in HOUSE OF THE WOLF MAN. Image: Lon Chaney Jr. in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (Roy William Neill; 1943).

Nocturnal Admission

Bemoaning my punishing plight,
I'm lonely when sun's shining bright
But when moons fully wax,
Changing tunes, I relax
For I only have fun late at night.

Larry Talbot sweats it out in HOUSE OF THE WOL MAN. Image: Lon Chaney Jr. in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943).

Insomniactor

 

With a terrible blight he's been cursed
By this very old mite he is nursed
In dismay and not well,
Each new day is pure hell
But for werewolves the night is the worst.

Larry Talbot only leaves HOUSE OF THE WOLF MAN at night. Image: Lon Chaney Jr. and Maria Ouspenskaya in The Wolf Man (1941). Title enacted by David Cairns.

Outsomniac

He's polite and he's kind, not malicious

But at night you will find he turns vicious

Not asleep 'tween the sheets

Out he'll creep, seeking eats

He might bite your behind--he's capricious!

 

Larry Talbot has a bad night in HOUSE OF THE WOLF MAN. Image: Lon Chaney Jr. in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (Roy William Neill; 1943). Title and edit by sleepless David Cairns.

Mellow Were-Fellow

He feels strange, his predicament's eerie
And each change leaves him sickened and weary
He's so morbid and tomb-y,
And so boringly gloomy,
We arranged for this pic of him cheery.

HOUSE OF THE WOLFMAN is on the road to Vasaria, with Maleva the gypsy and Larry Talbot. Hey--it's my birthday, and I wanted to see him smiling. Image: Maria Ouspenskaya and Lon Chaney Jr. in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (Roy William Neill; 1943).

House of the Wolf Manners

Feral Larry is very unhappy
Turning werewolf 's unbearably crappy
Raising hell late at night,
He is seldom polite:
Growing hairy, he's terribly snappy.

Werewolf Larry Talbot can't keep his paws to himself in our limerick production of HOUSE OF THE WOLF MAN. Image: Lon Chaney Jr. and Evelyn Ankers In The Wolf Man (1941).

R.I.P. Martha Hyer

Like wow! Martha starts passion's fire 
And how! She fills hearts with desire
But alas and alack,
This fine lass won't be back
Say ciao! No more parts for Ms. Hyer.

Surly Hack



Champagne Or Seize Her

At best you could call me a liar
To suggest I recall Martha Hyer       
Barely heard of her name
Though I'm stirred just the same--
Undressed she's a ball--screw attire!

Norm Knott with Surly Hack

R.I.P. actress Martha Hyer (August 10, 1924 – May 31, 2014). Hyer is best remembered as the love interest of Frank Sinatra in Vincente Minnelli's Some Came Running (1958), for which she received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Lycan Trope

 

Screaming chicks flee his ardor too warm
Seems his trick's to discard human form
This puts hair on his chest
Till it tears through his vest
He's a slick St Bernard in your dorm.

David Cairns

Things get hairy in HOUSE OF THE WOLF MAN. Image: Lon Chaney Jr. in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (Charles Barton; 1948).

Hungry Like The Wolf Man

A wolf or a guy?  Let's not quibble
He looks like a violent tribble
You might end on his plate
(It depends if he ate)
If not full, on your thigh he might nibble.

Larry Talbot transforms in HOUSE OF THE WOLF MAN. Image: Lon Chaney Jr. gets hairy in The Wolf Man (1941).

Gore-mandising

With lycanthropy, night's an ordeal
In a panic, you might grab a meal
It's no salad you'll eat
Each raw calorie's meat
You're half man, but your bite's not genteel.

Larry Talbot has hunger pains in HOUSE OF THE WOLF MAN. Image: Maria Ouspenskaya and Lon Chaney Jr. in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943). Title by the Ygor-y David Cairns.

Ready-to-Wear Wolf

On fashion this bore missed the boat
Styles clashing, his wardrobe's not haute
But at night he grows flair
And the height of wolf-wear
With this dashing and sporty fur coat.



Larry Talbot is walking the runway in HOUSE OF THE WOLF MAN. Images: Lon Chaney Jr. models the latest in yak fur in The Wolf Man (1941). Title by at-the-ready David Cairns.

Broken Back Pay

 

Though she's listing, she's making the rent

By assisting this flaky old gent

She won't ever resign

Till he severs her spine

And twists till she's aching, un-bent.

Surly Hack and David Cairns

 

Hunchback Nina (Jane "Poni" Adams) works for the increasingly unstable Doctor Edelmann  (Onslow Stevens) in House Of Dracula (1945). Adams died on May 21st.  Our previous rhymes on Adams as Nina can be found here. Keep clicking on "Next Posts" for more.

Pentagramma

His advisor is twisted and crinkly
She's wizened and blistered and wrinkly
She's kind and humane
With a fine, shrewd old brain
She's wise but she's no Christie Brinkley.

Gypsy Maleva counsels Larry Talbot in the HOUSE OF THE WOLF MAN. Image: Images: Maria Ouspenskaya and Lon Chaney Jr.in The Wolf Man (George Waggner; 1941).

R.I.P. Jane "Poni" Adams

With giants these pictures were teeming
And scientists wickedly scheming
Plus babes who resist them,
Or ably assist them
(The lion's share picked for their screaming.)



R.I.P. Jane "Poni" Adams (real name Betty Jane Bierce), August 7, 1918 – May 21, 2014. Adams is seen here as the hunchback Nina in House Of Dracula (1945); with Onslow Stevens.

Misfortune Teller

 

She ain't svelte, won't sell lipstick like Ava
She's that elderly pipsqueak, Maleva
Though, as mentioned, she's old,

Your attention she'll hold:
She's a spellbinding gypsy li'l shavah.
 

It's an eerie night in HOUSE OF THE WOLF MAN. Maria Ouspenskaya played the gypsy fortuneteller Maleva in The Wolf Man (1941) and Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (Roy William Neill; 1943).

Pair Warning

A big drip, he's both gloomy and whiny
An old gypsy, she's prune-faced and tiny
They're a curious pair
She's mature, he grows hair,

And he flips when the moon's full and shiny.

David Cairns

It's the May-December odd couple of HOUSE OF THE WOLF MAN. Image: Maleva (Maria Ouspenskaya) counsels troubled Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.) in The Wolf Man (George Waggner; 1941).

Lone Wolf and Snub

To despair werewolf Larry is prone
Cannot bear just how feral he's grown
Those around him desert him
Others hound him and hurt him
So he pairs with this scary old crone.



Only the gypsy Maleva understands Larry Talbot's predicament in HOUSE OF THE WOLF MAN. Images: Maria Ouspenskaya and Lon Chaney Jr in The Wolf Man (George Waggner; 1941).

I Was a Teenage Hair Wolf

 

Larry's dubious, careworn with doubt:

Like a tuber, he's starting to sprout

Is his hide getting bristly?
Does this fried steak taste gristly?

As in puberty, hair's coming out.

 David Cairns

 Larry Talbot's feet need a shave in HOUSE OF THE WOLF MAN. Image: Lon Chaney Jr.in The Wolf Man (George Waggner; 1941).