By Cindy & Michael McCarty
The Pre-Code Era – movies made between 1929-1933 before the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code. There was still censorship, but not to the degree after the Code. Before the code, there was freedom for filmmakers during that time in terms of violence and sexuality and adult content.
In this edition, we are going to give dating tips for the Pre-Code monsters.
DRACULA 1931
HE – (Dracula – Bela Lugosi) is a Count from Transylvania who decided to move to England to look for a new home and new blood. I guess he might be into real estate since he had a castle and buys a rundown place. Maybe he wanted to flip it for some cash. Maybe he just wanted to be a slum lord. Who really knows?
SHE (Lucy, was a good looking single, who was looking for blue blood date but ended with a bloodsucker boyfriend instead).
Since his place was a rat-trap, he knew he couldn’t seduce Lucy there. The vampire goes to the next best place, her bedroom at night.
Their affair was “draining” – literally, drained her of all blood.
He had to find someone new to seduce, sets his sights for Lucy’s married friend Mina (Helen Chandler). Same arrangement, bedroom rendezvous.
This time around, Mina’s husband, Jonathan Harker (David Manners) gets suspicious and ask help from his college professor, Dr. Van Helsing (played by Edward Van Sloan). The good doctor puts an end to the affair, by driving a stake into Dracula’s heart.
Dating tip for monster: Don’t date a married person.
FRANKENSTEIN 1931
HE (Frankenstein’s Monster – is a “self-made man.” Well, sort of, with the help of Dr. Frankenstein, Colin Clive and the bodies of other corpses).
In his single days, he get’s arrested and incarcerated, throws a little in the lake and ticks off the villagers and they burn down a mill.
BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN …. (technically not a Pre-Code movie, so sue me)
Frankenstein’s monster needs a date … even a mate …. but internet dating and Facebook wasn’t invented yet. Dr. Frankenstein goes to create the woman of his monster’s dreamr.
SHE (the bride, Elsa Lanchester) appears during the near the film — fashionable late (LOL). She’s just not that into the monster, probably because he doesn’t have a job and has a criminal record.
She breaks the monster heart. It is possibly, the doctor could the make him a new one.
And to make matters worse, she likes the doctor better … women always go for the doctors … LOL. The Bride of Frankenstein starts to bobble like a swan and even screams like a banshee after meeting her future husband.
(The Bride of Frankenstein, artwork by Bruce Walters)
The monster, heartbroken says, “We belong dead….” And the house comes tumbling down — another heartache and destruction for the monster….
Dating tip for monster:
They didn’t even go on a date or a honeymoon. Maybe if they ended up bed together, things might have worked out for these crazy monsters. I keep on thinking how Peter Boyle and Madeline Kahn hit it off in Young Frankenstein.
KING KONG 1933
HE (Kong) is the Eight Wonder of the World, the bachelor from Skull Island.
SHE (Fay Wray) is a starving actress who wants to be discovered. Oh sigh.
Kong takes Fay on a date on Skull Island and tries to impress her by wrestling other dinosaurs, but that really isn’t her scene.
The date goes further south, when Kong takes her back to his cave and tries to undress her. Can anyone say “date rape.”
But that isn’t that isn’t the worse of it, he gets shipped off to New York City.
In the Big Apple, they hook up again and he tries to impress her again by tearing up the town, literally. Try to gain more dating point, he takes her to the top of the Empire State building, but a squadron on bi-planes shoot him down (Fay Wray had shot him down long before that).
Dating tip for monster:
The ending they say, “It was beauty that killed the beast.”
Nope, it was bad date that killed the beast’s chances.
If you like this article, check out these books, also by Michael McCarty
FRANKENSTEIN’S MISTRESS: TALES OF LOVE & MONSTERS by
Michael McCarty
Ebook:
Trade Paperback:
“It’s Alive … and in love!!!”
“Michael McCarty is given full rein, and off he goes on a bizarre trip of the imagination, all stops out, no limits, hell-for-leather,” – William Nolan author of Logan’s Run
This collection of horror and science fiction stories includes a sequel to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein – with Victor Frankenstein, the monster, and a blind fortune teller named Rose Blackthorn. In other tales… even the apocalypse won’t stop Leonard Cartwright from searching for his wife in the ruins; after getting struck by lightning that left him in a coma for twenty years, Jackson Heyward awakens with the ability to talk to the dead; will the discovery of the power of invisibility help save Dr. Nick’s failing relationship with his soulmate, or will it aid in its destruction? And many more twisted tales.
Sometimes love is a monster …
And there is no escape from Frankenstein’s Mistress: Tales of Love & Monsters
.
DRACULA TRANSFORMED:
co-written by Michael McCarty
Vampire tales & Dracula stories:
Throughout history, people have been fascinated by the seductive allure of vampires. We read about them in books, watch stories about them on television and in movies — but do we know all there is to know about them? Of course not. These creatures of the shadows have kept their most shocking secrets hidden . . . until now.
Including “Dracula Transformed,” “Lucy Transformed,” “Dracula, Inc.,” “Incident In The Black Limousine” and more
Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1479422991/
US Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01K815A3C/
UK Kindle: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01K815A3C/
In the novella Dracula Transformed, Dracula is brought back from beyond the grave in a manner that gives him startling new powers. Using these powers, he begins a bloody campaign of vengeance. In Lucy Transformed, you will learn of the relationship between
Dracula and his daughter Zaleska, as well as his growing fondness for Lucy Westenra — a fondness that will seal Lucy’s doom. Even more vampiric.
BITERS
Tales of Zombies & Vampires
by Michael McCarty
They thrive in the shadows, hungry for blood, hungry for human flesh. BITERS, from 5-time Bram Stoker Finalist Michael McCarty, is a thrilling collection of 4 zombie stories and 4 vampire tales by a veteran author of over fifty books and numerous stories and works of nonfiction since the 1980s. Within these pages you will find excitingly original and macabre tales of biters of all sorts to make you shiver and even question your own sanity, featuring incredible special guest co-authors! Dare, if you will to enter the world of….BITERS! On Amazon:
monstermikeyaauthor 