View allAll Photos Tagged stutter

the library project is a project creating a subtle dialogue about the issue of giving,lending and taking.as most of my pieces have a lifespan of a stutter in the street (either because of collectors or weather or the street cleaners), i thought i would try to embrace it and play around with the circumstances. before placing the pieces on the surface, i wrote "i let you borrow my heart for a while,let others borrow it as well", and then placed the piece over the writing,covering it.

the pieces in this series are applied with double sided tape (which can be easily removed) with some unpeeled scraps of tape on the cardboard left for the borrower to replace anwhere.i think its great if someone wants to take it home, but it raises the conflict of the fact that its in the street for the art to be shared with the people using it.therfore, whoever dispatches the piece can replace it in it original location, or even better, a new location,making him/her part of the arts existence and making it even more part of the collective reality than it was before.

Stumble and Stutter Foam Party - Nambucca - 29/05/08

French promotion card by Metropole Le Palais du Cinéma. Publicity still for L'ami de la Famille/A Friend of the Family (Jacques Pinoteau, 1957).

 

French comic actor and musician Darry Cowl (1925-2006) appeared in more than 150 films, often as a clown with a chronic stutter. Many of his comedies were not worth his talents, but at the end of his life, he made a glorious come-back and won the César twice.

 

For more postcards, a bio and clips check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

Stumble and Stutter Foam Party - Nambucca - 29/05/08

B*bible yogurt!

 

(B bible? It's the Bible for B-listers? For those who stutter?)

NECK

 

I touched her on the back of her neck

with such tenderness

that her skin kissed my palm

with a singular abandon

 

DANCE

she brushed her hair

stopped

stared

sung into the brush

cried

and started all over again

some kind of imbalance

and talent

part of me

wanted to help

part of me

wanted to dance

 

OUT

 

take me out

through the door

into the street

where the yellow lines

never meet

tell me then of rules

and compliance

and I’ll speak

of loneliness

and self violence

 

Women

 

be a gentleman

open doors for women

treat a woman better than you would a man

don’t cuss around a woman

make women feel special because they are

appreciate don’t salivate

no means no

these are the things my family taught me about women

they were right

if only society were in agreement with me

alas

  

EIGHT

 

legs heavy

Everest stairs

leading to my fate

8 to reach the top

8 to be done with it

a confrontation

that will lead to sadness

8 a vertical eternity

or at least so it seems

  

SCOOP

 

yesterday

you weren’t here

I felt

not hollow

but as if

i was being hollowed out

the cosmic melon scoop

 

KISS

 

remember your lips

swollen

with biology

hormonal ingenuity

your mouth was open

saying something stutter-rush

in anatomical resistance

something love lodged in your esophagus

but despite that

I believe you enjoyed yourself

 

BEDTIME

 

imaginations lover

dive below the covers

hold your breath

let excitement shudder

whisper silent goodbyes

to your land locked mother

as you swim the warm blanket’s currents

of color and wide wonder

 

IQ

 

the world did not stop turning

my IQ simply bottomed out

when I realized

I might have a chance

"love you make me"

to make you love me

  

lunar eyescape

 

ahh to walk

upon her eye

in its hazel foam fog

til i reached its black brine

through its tumble jungle bog

then slowly

loose my mind

after reveling in it all

  

BASTARD

 

she opened 15 mason jars

and cried in each one

for later she thought

preserves

  

ENTER

 

all the open doors are behind me now

what happens next…

metaphorical breaking and entering

what fun

 

POSTS

 

behind the fence

between the slats

a forbidden

but tasty past

 

STARS

 

last night

all the stars were out

even the once human

those souls this earth

with all its riches

could not contain

neither the saint

or the sinner

more frequency

more sound

those who are bent to believe

in all sorts of madness

the possibility of aquatic bees

peering as they will

on mortals

especially those in love

there is a kinship

in that time

for cautious considerates

turn to unihibititsts

exposing

the waves in their lengths

transparent flames all

consuming each other

in a passionate free for all

 

End

 

Winter’s scissors

will sever our cord

cold

devoid of pain

and beyond old

  

Cold

 

I’ve touched your soul

tundra well

cold hole

frostbite

you have an old magic

called apathy

 

I hate yellow flowers

 

the hall was lined with empty frames

60’s wall paper

the orange and greens screams

white frames

square forty by forty

ornate

orange blossom motive with teeth

spaced evenly

and one empty door frame

to an empty room

sun creeping in

 

STAIRS

 

she looked down the stairs

rooms

voices

mingling forming

curiosity

so real it was like a friends whisper

get a little closer

it was the after time

after they put her to bed

she shouldn’t be up

the after world

was pulling her down

one step after another

  

RAYS

 

she saw the last rays of the sun

swim under sand

to hunt and hide

till morning

  

AGE

 

I can feel your hand wither

the bones beneath

veins bas relief

so stretched

though too

I can feel your soul

resounding bell

giant

endless well

your a planet trapped inside a

crumbling shell

grandmother

 

FIVE

 

Excerpt from a meeting with my inner child

found him tied to a tree

binds cutting

five

had to be five

injured and scared

released him, held him

everything will most certainly not be alright

but I’m here

I’m not going anywhere

  

No one has ever made me so mad as myself

in light of that self acknowledgment

I’ve never wanted to hurt myself

no matter how stupid I got

Its just that I love me

you don’t go around hurting the ones you love

that’s what an asshole does

 

APPLES

 

at first I believed

myself to be the apple of your eye

but that was clearly impossible

for in the light

your pupils are slits

black daggers both

  

RIDE

You can trade lives

people float in and out

plastic Jesus on your dashboard

just tradition

not religion

and your cute

we’re talking

we’re not falling though

just two strangers

riding with Jesus

he’s wearing flowly blue

  

GREY DARK

 

The grating removed

peer down

into grey dark

a foggy dark

that turns men into beasts

climb down

be mad with us

the unsavory

but always sweet

  

HAPPY EASTER

crawled inside

the blood hall

died inside its walls

came walking out the other side

with both the great

and the small

 

BROKEN

 

I never did like the lullaby

when the bough breaks

I cried when they sang it,

so here is a short poem

to celebrate my dislike

 

BROKEN

 

the dawn broke

the bough broke

I’m broken

 

BIRDS

I climbed the spinal staircase

to feed the birds of your mind

flutter flutter

feathers

chirp

noisy beggars

 

JUPITER

A ball of magical gas

with rings and pretty things

in orbit about your stormy skin

  

PRIDE DUTY HONESTY

 

three tarnished copper eggs

sickly green shells

they use to be beautiful

pale cream

conjoined bells

but no one spread their feathers

none to shelter from the weather

birds inside

died

flightless

discarded in the heather

 

The Girl

 

Who was that girl

strapped to your arm

with thorny ropes?

Translucent skin

the nights own hair

and a tousled stare

I saw you whisper magic

mumble in shapes and symbols

the old rhythms

you led her

it might have been

a walk

but I saw in part

the divine dance

from that other time

you paraded her

while she smiled a mask

the beauty of that pretense

blinded the rest

I saw her tragedy

is that mother?

I wondered

in her earthly guise…

dear brother

 

BYE

 

in the middle

of that disconnect

discontent

when all your tears had be spent

I just wretched

wiped my mouth

screamed aloud

buried my love six feet down

walked out

not another sound

 

COLD

 

I just stare

the dreamsicle melts

melts orange

my hand covered completely in soft tangerine hues

encased a prehistoric mosquito in amber

cold sunlight drips from my hand

all five of my minds speak in stereo

the little blonde girl is beautiful

 

FERTILITY GOD

 

The black fled

but left behind

its inky scrawl

the paper carved

with a dark chisel

beneath natures green halls

the absence of day

the shunning of light

may your godhood shrivel

in manhood’s rite

a curse

cut in ancient shorthand

from a bitter woman barren

2 days before her last breath

  

BREATHE

 

inhale

exhale

something so commonplace

except when you do it

then its Tsiolkovsky’s concert for the cello

stare

listen

feel

think

I’m too young for this

  

MAGIC

 

glistening

glitter shine

the crunchy marshmallow

the naturally sweet lime

we so want

Mr bubble to be real

to come floating up out of the tub

to speak to us

in his rub a dub

we want magic

 

HEART

 

beneath and under her beauty

elegant wrappings

her heart was hollow

bird bones

fragile

built to fly

 

SENSE

 

hypersensitive

on the edge

skin thin

soul stretched it’s a drum head

don’t speak at me

mouth leak about me

20 thousand rubber-bands

snap

talk to me

 

FIRST KISS

 

kissed her by the rock

where the river fell and rolled

wrote something romantic

left it on the road

went back without her

went back to see

but there was nothing left

only phantoms

transparent memories

  

KITCHEN

 

cabinet doors open

tomatoes cut but still together

wine bottle not quite empty

vinegar and oil out of place

scissor and knife side by side

tea towel reflecting in stainless

plastic bags covering, hanging from the fridge

 

The thing about Julie

that really made me wonder

is how the lies in her eyes

looked just as beautiful as the

the truth in Michelle’s

 

MOMENT

 

exposed

laced with lust

I shy away

devour you

at the same moment

in time

my soul paper starts tearing

lengthwise

 

SKIN

 

once I slipped on your skin

and saw the world through your yellows and blues

its so much brighter than mine

it hurt my eyes

a note to the social butterfly

from the recluse in your life

 

the auditorium is filled

mounted speakers

with their dark woven faces

echo the podiums call

then I see

her ear, her hair

and I am so far away from her

separated by

mountain peaks of broken glass

that rise like pre-edenic giants

from the lonely neurons

that control my feelings of loss

 

NIGHT SKY

 

if I swore by the night

that pervasive darkness

and the shadows therein

if I promised their diamond studded sky

and the velvet that they lie upon

do you think I could kiss Jolene

 

SMALL STUFFED ANIMAL

 

Found it there

crushed on the pillow

flat

stretched

unformed

a small squeaky voice

terrorizes your mind

”help me please”

 

Lonely

 

a big red balloon

filled with he-li-um

so others can smile

you deflate me

  

MOM

 

pretty lady

in your pink and green

matching hand bag

perched there before me

I noticed

that one of those laugh lines

around your eyes

is definitely mine

  

HURT

 

If I could just weep while I sleep….

do you mind crying on my face tonight?

I can’t do both

  

GENTLE

 

my eyes are beds to the world

dark walnut frame

white duvet

black satin pillow case

where the tired might find rest

 

LUIGI'S HORSES

 

listen

the boxes of soul light turn

carousel speed

wooden steeds

painted on the inside

seem to gallop in place

it’s life

it’s going nowhere

and desperately wants

to be real

  

CEREMONY OF TRAVEL

vincentpettavel:

Up.

Pack.

Eat.

Leave.

Glorious routine in glorious unfamiliarity,

experiencing the culture shock,

or shock at the

lack of culture,

immersed in a world so

alien,

yet connected to reality by the

web of media.

Speaking of

‘Home’

and meaning only a bed.

Not thinking about those who once mattered,

feeling remorse when their face crops up

in sudden thoughts.

simply great

 

TILE DREAM

 

tiles on the ceiling

tiles within tiles

reddish pink patterns

rectangles forming thick lines

but from the bed

with the stove at the end

they appeared blue

so you got up

to look anew

  

SUMMER

 

givethekidabreak:

She flew kites in the summer

Wearing her favorite

Mustard colored shoes

Carefree slipping from her hair

Down to her shoulders

Wriggling their way to her fingers

That held on to strings she was sure

Would never leave her grasp.

this is really good esp how carefree becomes control

y

SHEETS

body

one million sheets of white paper wet

dizzy yet

tired

pressing on my eyes

I see light lines

luminosity in an otherwise

……………………………..darkened space

 

MY LOVE

 

there is something jet black in my soul

my love

Jacob ladder strand

wish it was mine

a bit of my sin soil

piece of my dark

i could make it

right with my Maker

set it alight with His spark

but it’s a foreign body my love

foreign rails and rungs

from you

  

US

 

what is between us is more than air

it’s dust and love

pain and despair

but what is in us is richer still

it’s the cold calculating hardness

of winter’s sudden chill

it is duty

which keeps us bound

keeps the between alive

and us invariably sound

 

RACE DAY

 

eyes squint

sneaker soles stick

on the hot black top

back drop: a cooler full of sun

race day

water ice

ice water hydrate

win

photo finish

finished

sweat slick

I am the sea

Hot Lanta

 

TWENTY TWENTY

 

after our separation

I was left with a lace sleeve

you a star just to the right of the moon

back then

when we gave them

we understood forever

twenty twenty

and blind

 

SADNESS

amid the slippery spaces

of our touch and tell

hair bound in fingers

and strewn clothes as well

there is an inexplicable sadness

a melancholy only heard in our sighs

  

OTHER

 

I drew close

painting in an art musuem

an etheral piece

delicate shades of blue

I found my self in

inner contemplation

whether she was a human at all

she was far too interesting

in appearance and poise

for something as crude

as mortaility

I drew closer still

  

DOLLAR

 

burn little light

burn for a dollar

I don’t want to wake

to see the groping hand

feel the holler collar

I don’t want to shake

in the night queens parlor

  

JOURNEY

 

camper van

silent sadness

hung like a broken disco ball from the roof

touching everyone with it’s unsparkle unshine

she ‘s gone

I whispered

move on

and tugged the gloom even tighter about me

  

MIRROR

my eyes on fire

everything smells like mirror glass

I’ll not let you

crawl through my skin again

I can’t handle

the dry numbness

nether again

  

AWOKEN

 

ting

glass rain drops

fall

in a coffee drip rhythm

score

all the while

my mind is too big

for my eyes

  

LINES

 

cracks feel like lines gone wrong

jagged little liars

full of spite and scorn

cracks in my skin on the your floor

they read red

they scream mending

but they only widen more

 

HEART

 

the gate to the left of purple

lies a stainless steel locket

that was once made of flesh

much like my heart

reach down below the pain to find it

 

Stumble and Stutter Foam Party - Nambucca - 29/05/08

Stumble and Stutter Foam Party - Nambucca - 29/05/08

Stumble and Stutter Foam Party - Nambucca - 29/05/08

Stumble and Stutter Foam Party - Nambucca - 29/05/08

After a stutter at the start of the climb up to Slochd Summit Black 5 No.44871 puts in a forgiving performance as it nears the top with The Great Britain VI.

My music was stuttering every minute and it took me all Saturday to track down the problem. Apparently built-in wireless on a Mac Pro running 64-bit Vista and playing music don't mix.

...for these who die as cattle?

Only the monstrous anger of the guns.

Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle

Can patter out their hasty orisons.

No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells;

Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs, –

The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;

And bugles calling for them from sad shires.

What candles may be held to speed them all?

Not in the hands of boys but in their eyes

Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes.

The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall;

Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,

And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.

(Wilfred Owen, Anthem for Doomed Youth)

Técnicas modernas de neuroimagem estão revelando as bases neurais da gagueira e abrindo as portas para que a neurociência finalmente comece a entendê-la: bit.ly/bases-neurais

Stumble and Stutter Foam Party - Nambucca - 29/05/08

@#%%$ o this fn stutter!

Stumble and Stutter Foam Party - Nambucca - 29/05/08

From stuttering to therapy for stroke survivors, the WSU Speech and Language Clinics provide speech-language services for community members of all ages.

 

Learn more: www.clas.wayne.edu/CSD/Wayne-State-Speech-and-Language-Ce...

Stumble and Stutter Foam Party - Nambucca - 29/05/08

Stumble and Stutter Foam Party - Nambucca - 29/03/08

From stuttering to therapy for stroke survivors, the WSU Speech and Language Clinics provide speech-language services for community members of all ages.

 

Learn more: www.clas.wayne.edu/CSD/Wayne-State-Speech-and-Language-Ce...

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JULY 11: <> attend the 2022 Freeing Voices, Changing Lives Gala at Guastavino's on July 11, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for American Institute for Stuttering)

Late nights. Fast food menus keep us connected.

Stumble and Stutter Foam Party - Nambucca - 29/05/08

Yes, that thorny (cactusy, even) subject of legacy, you have brought that up before relative to misunderstanding with ‘him indoors’, and a certain kinship it might share with dreaded ‘beliefs’. The uncertainty of the structures that support them do seem to have become very stuttering. Maybe that becomes more obvious, even, in those suburbs you describe as, perhaps, supplying the best of two possible worlds, that space where the over-wrought tilled field meets the motorway to London. I guess that the reason why I couldn’t manage to accommodate that crossover point is that I have never driven, and never will. Pottering on my balcony I recognize the attractions of the verdant garden, that noble piece of land, that artfully under-cultivated border that might provide a waxed landing strip for passing flora and fauna, or the occasional Monsanto blow-in. I saw a shelf full of ‘Round-Up’ in our local garden centre a few days ago, and I was, verily, shocked. I have seen the documentaries and have looked at the lawsuits, generated by that singularly monstrous idea; an idea that has allowed the patenting of a (manipulated) living organism, that legacy, that sin. To find it on the shelves in this, supposed, bastion of Socialism, and proud generator of the first ‘Stock Exchange’, speaks volumes about bleed-through and trickle down. Trickle down the wind, indeed. If one errant corn, or maize, kernel crosses border from one farm to the next, and that virus gets mixed in with next season’s seed, then there is the danger that all the seed, thus contaminated, might fall subject to having to be defended by a cadre of, blindingly expensive, lawyers, as to ownership. It’s a thorny subject, this idea of patented life, this other legacy which might be achieving pre-dominance. There has to be a Pfaster way to undo ourselves, an exploitable, Teflon coated, escape route. I am with you there. One cannot help but feel the draught, loitering at this here exit.

 

It is a horrible ‘Legacy’ to be leaving. I wonder what ‘youth’ will make of that one, when they have sorted out their pronouns, and the conundrum as to which statues should fall, and, probably more tellingly, which should take their place. Iconoclasm would seem to be evincing its cyclical nature, yet again.

 

So that idea of “sorting out one’s (own) mess” becomes somewhat pressing, especially relative to other viruses. We might have been, collectively, pushed up against this anyway. We can ignore it; pretend it’s not happening and apply for a vaccine passport so we can enjoy contagion spreading on the sunny beaches of Portugal, or whichever sandy destination might temporarily turn green. But then the other man’s sand is always greener, even when it’s starting to develop an orange, Martian-like, hue. We can, alternatively, lock-down permanently, and turn into the Abelard and Heloise of the Anchorage Community. I find myself returning to that 'Hold'. I like the idea of us being, re-born, Virgin Snipers.

 

No, thankfully, legacy is not controllable. To try to do so would be a denial of what is to come. Death, thankfully, takes it out of your control, and it has to be put down in the knowledge that it can, or can not, be disposed of, according to the whims of time and fashion. It can as easily go in the (post-partum) skip, or to the pecuniary, hallowed, halls of Sotheby’s, or simply flip-flop between the dump and the gallery. I am not at all sure which would be better. That jury is currently out, and also none of my concern.

 

Perhaps they are the same, that skip, or dumpster, and that hallowed hall, eventually.

 

stutter / element choir

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JUNE 12: <> attends the American Institute For Stuttering 17th Annual Gala Hosted By Emily Blunt on June 12, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Craig Barritt/Getty Images for American Institute For Stuttering )

Stumble and Stutter Foam Party - Nambucca - 29/05/08

 

Use Me/Leave Me www.flickr.com/photos/spazzkid/sets/72157626056942301/

 

A recurring set. I see an unusual amount of abandoned grocery carts living in Alhambra. So much so that there's actually a service that picks up the stray carts and delivers them back to their respective locations. This is my own study in geometry and an exploration in the feelings of being used, abandoned, and isolated through the carts as a metaphor.

Stumble and Stutter Foam Party - Nambucca - 29/03/08

Time lapse from the Stratosphere Restaurant in Las Vegas. Took over 5000 shots over 1 hour and 30 minutes to make the time lapse Removed pictures I didn't want (like the pillars). The occasional size change during playback is from Movie Maker. Dunno why. Have a HD version but it keeps stuttering on Flickr.

Stumble and Stutter Foam Party - Nambucca - 29/05/08

and it's humbling

this pain you feel inside

and it's stuttering

these words that I must try

 

This photo took me to Texas State VASE, and got a Gold Seal Award.

Ferramentas modernas de neuroimagem estão abrindo as portas para a compreensão das bases neurais da gagueira. Saiba mais no artigo especial da revista Cerebrum: bit.ly/bases-neurais

American postcard by American Postcard, no. 36. Boris Karloff in Bride of Frankenstein (James Whale, 1935).

 

British actor Boris Karloff (1887-1969) is one of the true icons of the Horror cinema. He portrayed Frankenstein's monster in Frankenstein (1931), Bride of Frankenstein (1935), and Son of Frankenstein (1939), which resulted in his immense popularity. In the following decades, he worked in countless Horror films, but also in other genres, both in Europe and Hollywood.

 

Boris Karloff was born William Henry Pratt in 1887 in London, England. Pratt himself stated that he was born in Dulwich, which is nearby in London. His parents were Edward John Pratt, Jr. and his third wife Eliza Sarah Millard. ‘Billy’ never knew his father. Edward Pratt had worked for the Indian Salt Revenue Service and had virtually abandoned his family in far-off England. Edward died when his son was still an infant and so Billy was raised by his mother. He was the youngest of nine children, and following his mother's death was brought up by his elder brothers and sisters. As a child, Billy performed each Christmas in plays staged by St. Mary Magdalene's Church. His first role was that of The Demon King in the pantomime Cinderella. Billy was bow-legged, had a lisp, and stuttered. He conquered his stutter, but not his lisp, which was noticeable throughout his career in the film industry. After his education at private schools, he attended King's College London where he took studies aimed at a career with the British Government's Consular Service. However, in 1909, the 22-year-old left university without graduating and sailed from Liverpool to Canada, where he worked as a farm labourer and did various odd itinerant jobs. In Canada, he began appearing in theatrical performances and chose the stage name Boris Karloff. Later, he claimed he chose ‘Boris’ because it sounded foreign and exotic, and that ‘Karloff’ was a family name. However, his daughter Sara Karloff publicly denied any knowledge of Slavic forebears, Karloff or otherwise. One reason for the name change was to prevent embarrassment to his family. He did not reunite with his family until he returned to Britain to make The Ghoul (T. Hayes Hunter, 1933), opposite Cedric Hardwicke. Karloff was distraught that his family would disapprove of his new, macabre claim to world fame. Instead, his brothers jostled for position around him and happily posed for publicity photographs. In 1911, Karloff joined the Jeanne Russell Company and later joined the Harry St. Clair Co. that performed in Minot, North Dakota, for a year in an opera house above a hardware store. Whilst he was trying to establish his acting career, Karloff had to perform years of difficult manual labour in Canada and the U.S. to make ends meet. He was left with back problems from which he suffered for the rest of his life. In 1917, he arrived in Hollywood, where he went on to make dozens of silent films. Some of his first roles were in film serials, such as The Masked Rider (Aubrey M. Kennedy, 1919), in Chapter 2 of which he can be glimpsed onscreen for the first time, and The Hope Diamond Mystery (Stuart Paton, 1920). In these early roles, he was often cast as an exotic Arabian or Indian villain. Other silent films were The Deadlier Sex (Robert Thornby, 1920) with Blanche Sweet, Omar the Tentmaker (James Young, 1922), Dynamite Dan (Bruce Mitchell, 1924) and Tarzan and the Golden Lion (J.P. McGowan, 1927) in which James Pierce played Tarzan. In 1926 Karloff found a provocative role in The Bells (James Young, 1926), in which he played a sinister hypnotist opposite Lionel Barrymore. He worked with Barrymore again in his first sound film, the thriller The Unholy Night (Lionel Barrymore, 1929).

 

A key film which brought Boris Karloff recognition was The Criminal Code (Howard Hawks, 1931), a prison drama in which he reprised a dramatic part he had played on stage. With his characteristic short-cropped hair and menacing features, Karloff was a frightening sight to behold. Opposite Edward G. Robinson, Karloff played a key supporting part as an unethical newspaper reporter in Five Star Final (Mervyn LeRoy, 1931), a film about tabloid journalism which was nominated for the Oscar for Best Picture. Karloff's role as Frankenstein's monster in Frankenstein (James Whale, 1931), based on the classic Mary Shelley book, propelled him to stardom. Wikipedia: “The bulky costume with four-inch platform boots made it an arduous role but the costume and extensive makeup produced the classic image. The costume was a job for Karloff with the shoes weighing 11 pounds (5 kg) each.” The aura of mystery surrounding Karloff was highlighted in the opening credits, as he was listed as simply "?." The film was a commercial and critical success for Universal, and Karloff was instantly established as a hot property in Hollywood. Universal Studios was quick to acquire ownership of the copyright to the makeup format for the Frankenstein monster that Jack P. Pierce had designed. A year later, Karloff played another iconic character, Imhotep in The Mummy (Karl Freund, 1932). The Old Dark House (James Whale, 1932) with Charles Laughton, and the starring role in MGM’s The Mask of Fu Manchu (Charles Brabin, 1932) quickly followed. Steve Vertlieb at The Thunder Child: “Wonderfully kinky, the film co-starred young Myrna Loy as the intoxicating, yet sadistic Fah Lo See, Fu Manchu's sexually perverse daughter. Filmed before Hollywood's infamous production code, the film joyously escaped the later scrutiny of The Hayes Office, and remains a fascinating example of pre-code extravagance.” These films all confirmed Karloff's new-found stardom. Horror had become his primary genre, and he gave a string of lauded performances in 1930s Universal Horror films. Karloff reprised the role of Frankenstein's monster in two other films, the sensational Bride of Frankenstein (James Whale, 1935) and the less thrilling Son of Frankenstein (Rowland V. Lee, 1939), the latter also featuring Bela Lugosi. Steve Vertlieb about Bride of Frankenstein: “Whale delivered perhaps the greatest horror film of the decade and easily the most critically acclaimed rendition of Mary Shelley's novel ever released. The Bride of Frankenstein remains a work of sheer genius, a brilliantly conceived and realized take on loneliness, vanity, and madness. The cast of British character actors is simply superb.” While the long, creative partnership between Karloff and Lugosi never led to a close friendship, it produced some of the actors' most revered and enduring productions, beginning with The Black Cat (Edgar G. Ullmer, 1934). Follow-ups included The Raven (Lew Landers, 1935), the rarely seen, imaginative science fiction melodrama The Invisible Ray (Lambert Hillyer, 1936), and The Body Snatcher (Robert Wise, 1945). Karloff played a wide variety of roles in other genres besides Horror. He was memorably gunned down in a bowling alley in Howard Hawks' classic Scarface (1932) starring Paul Muni. He played a religious First World War soldier in John Ford’s epic The Lost Patrol (1934) opposite Victor McLaglen. Between 1938 and 1940, Karloff starred in five films for Monogram Pictures, including Mr. Wong, Detective (William Nigh, 1938). During this period, he also starred with Basil Rathbone in Tower of London (Rowland V. Lee, 1939) as the murderous henchman of King Richard III, and with Margaret Lindsay in British Intelligence (Terry O. Morse, 1940). In 1944, he underwent a spinal operation to relieve his chronic arthritic condition.

 

Boris Karloff revisited the Frankenstein mythos in several later films, taking the starring role of the villainous Dr. Niemann in House of Frankenstein (Erle C. Kenton, 1944), in which the monster was played by Glenn Strange. He reprised the role of the ‘mad scientist’ in Frankenstein 1970 (Howard W. Koch, 1958) as Baron Victor von Frankenstein II, the grandson of the original creator. The finale reveals that the crippled Baron has given his face (i.e., Karloff's) to the monster. From 1945 to 1946, Boris Karloff appeared in three films for RKO produced by Val Lewton: Isle of the Dead (Mark Robson, 1945), The Body Snatcher (Robert Wise, 1945), and Bedlam (Mark Robson, 1946). Karloff had left Universal because he thought the Frankenstein franchise had run its course. Karloff was a frequent guest on radio programs. In 1949, he was the host and star of the radio and television anthology series Starring Boris Karloff. In 1950, he had his own weekly children's radio show in New York. He played children's music, told stories and riddles, and attracted many adult listeners as well. An enthusiastic performer, he returned to the Broadway stage in the original production of Arsenic and Old Lace (1941), in which he played a homicidal gangster enraged to be frequently mistaken for Karloff. In 1962, he reprised the role on television with Tony Randall and Tom Bosley. He also appeared as Captain Hook in the play Peter Pan with Jean Arthur. In 1955, he returned to the Broadway stage to portray the sympathetic Bishop Cauchon in Jean Anouilh's The Lark. Karloff regarded the production as the highlight of his long career. Julie Harris was his co-star as Joan of Arc in the celebrated play, recreated for live television in 1957 with Karloff, Harris and much of the original New York company intact. For his role, Karloff was nominated for a Tony Award. Karloff donned the monster make-up for the last time for a Halloween episode of the TV series Route 66 (1962), which also featured Peter Lorre and Lon Chaney, Jr. In the 1960s, Karloff appeared in several films for American International Pictures, including The Comedy of Terrors (Jacques Tourneur, 1963) with Vincent Price and Peter Lorre, The Raven (Roger Corman, 1963), The Terror (Roger Corman, 1963) with Jack Nicholson, and Die, Monster, Die! (Daniel Haller, 1965). Another project for American International release was the frightening Italian horror classic, I tre volti della paura/Black Sabbath (Mario Bava, 1963), in which Karloff played a vampire with bone-chilling intensity. He also starred in British cult director Michael Reeves's second feature film, The Sorcerers (1966). He gained new popularity among the young generation when he narrated the animated TV film Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Chuck Jones, Ben Washam. 1966), and provided the voice of the Grinch. Karloff later received a Grammy Award for Best Recording For Children after the story was released as a record. Then he starred as a retired horror film actor in Targets (Peter Bogdanovich, 1968), Steve Vertlieb: “Targets was a profoundly disturbing study of a young sniper holding a small Midwestern community, deep in the bible belt, terrifyingly at bay. The celebrated subplot concerned the philosophical dilemma of creating fanciful horrors on the screen, while the graphic, troubling reality was eclipsing the superficiality so tiredly repeated by Hollywood. Karloff co-starred, essentially as himself, an aged horror star named Byron Orlok, who wants simply to retire from the imagined horrors of a faded genre, only to come shockingly to grips with the depravity and genuine terror found on America's streets. Bogdanovich's first film as a director won praise from critics and audiences throughout the world community, and won its elder star the best, most respectful notices of his later career.”. In 1968, he played occult expert Professor Marsh in the British production Curse of the Crimson Altar (Vernon Sewell, 1968), which was the last Karloff film to be released during his lifetime. He ended his career by appearing in four low-budget Mexican horror films, which were released posthumously. While shooting his final films, Karloff suffered from emphysema. Only half of one lung was still functioning and he required oxygen between takes. he contracted bronchitis in 1968 and was hospitalized. In early 1969, he died of pneumonia at the King Edward VII Hospital, Midhurst, in Sussex, at the age of 81. Boris Karloff married five times and had one child, daughter Sara Karloff, by his fourth wife.

 

Sources: Steve Vertlieb (The Thunder Child), Wikipedia, and IMDb.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

Another character from TUFF Puppy. Keswick in mid-stutter. Pencil on animation bond.

The only time I ever notice neon signs are when they're completely broken, stuttering or only partly lit.

 

So much for marketing.

 

"Freedom" is rather a funny old name for a furniture store, don't you think?

 

I've never been entirely sure how most furniture equates with freedom. I mean, buying the more expensive items (at the non cashed up financial levels I operate at) often means placing oneself in debt.

 

Then there's the whole deal of adding more 'things' (and heavy ones at that) to your life, and with the bulk of furniture that frequently means you've purchased them to store a whole bunch of other 'things' in them. All of which you have to lug around every time you move.

 

I'm looking at YOU, umpteen bookcases!

 

Though at least with books, the content has the potential to set you free, or at least your imagination.

 

Still, in general, I'd say there's more chance of staying free by simply keeping your wallet in your pocket as you stroll on by, as opposed to ducking inside to purchase a wardrobe (do they still even make those?), 11 place dining setting, or an overstuffed how-the-hell-do-you-get-it-through-the-doors-anyway loungeroom chair.

 

I reckon.

      

Washpool National Park, New South Wales.

 

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