Bela Lugosi's dead

[fmofmpls]

Forgive me if this thread reads too morbid, but I find these files and photos fascinating. I'll let the pictures do the talking.

RIP dear prince.

[Tom Smith Monsternut]

I don't see Boris's signature in that book . He was supposted to be there wasn't he ?

Tom

[typhooforme]

A thread like no other. 

I'm not familiar with Boris being there--I could be better-read-up on my Bela history-- Any details anyone can add?  I know the big Gary Don Rhodes book must have every scrap of info.....

[Illoman]

This was one of those famous urban myths: Karloff supposedly looked down at Bela in his casket and said something to the effect of "Come now, Bela. You aren't really dead" or some such nonsense. Truth was Boris wasn't at the funeral. There was a really poor bio of Bela that came out a while back, and it perpetuated this myth.

The only star name I found on that guest book was Tor Johnson's.

Mike

[fmofmpls]

There was a wonderful, and very much fabricated story at the time about Boris showing up at Bela's funeral, approaching the casket and saying something to the effect of "come now Bela .. get up out of there old friend .. you have guests". This story has been told over and over, and while it makes for a very touching story, it is 100% false. The truth is that Boris was overseas at the time of Bela's funeral and was therefore never able to attend Bela's funeral.

[fmofmpls]

LOL! Figures someone would beat me to the story! Sorry Mike! Didn't mean to step on your answer!

[Illoman]

LOL! Figures someone would beat me to the story! Sorry Mike! Didn't mean to step on your answer!

No prob, Terry! May the truth always win out!

Mike

[egorschamber]

The only star name I found on that guest book was Tor Johnson's.

Among the other names on those Friend's Register pages I spotted Edward D. Wood Jr., players in his films like
Kathy Wood, Norma McCarty, Conrad Brooks and Paul Marco, producer George Weiss, director Steve Sekely (DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS), and assistant director Scotty Beal (DRACULA, MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE, THE RAVEN). There are unquestionably notable others I didn't recognize.

[The Phantom Creep]

Very cool. Tor Johnson's name in the book with "Lobo" next to it, that pallbearer card is really neat and the lipstick print and that somebody wrote Dracula on his marker. Normally some of that is in poor taste but both of those seem really appropriate. Thanks for these.

[mike c]

Ed Wood was one of Bela's pallbearers, was he not? At any rate, great pics, thanks for posting them. I have a few pics of my visit(s) to Holy Cross and Bela's grave (the first time I went to visit Bela's gravesite was immediately after a full afternoon touring the original Ackermansion, one of the greatest days of my life!); if I find them I'll post them.

Long Live Lugosi!

Mike C.

[fmofmpls]

[fmofmpls]

Where Prince Sirki came knocking at on that fatal day.

[Grape]

A flurry of questions, if I may:

Is it known who took those pic's of Bela in his final coffin? Was it known at the time that they were taken? I mean did Bela's family know of them and consent to them being taken? Was their existence public knowledge at the time? Surely the weren't published at the time, right? When were they first published?   

Also, more than once I've heard of photo's being taken of the deceased at funerals. I've always thought this to be a very weird practice, and I'm wondering how common it is. Anybody else ever hear of this being done (besides the pic's of Lugosi, I mean).

And another thing: Is there anybody here who finds the posting of the above pic's inappropriate or sick or offensive? I ask because the first time I saw one of them (in Richard Bojarski's "The Complete Films of Bela Lugosi") I felt something like that. But I guess I've gotten  jaded -- or matured -- or something -- now.

[The Phantom Creep]

I've always found the open casket thing weird only because usually the deceased has on so much makeup, and due to the way the face sags once there is no life left inside, that they look nothing like they looked in life and I wouldn't want to remember them that way. But no, I'm not offended by it.

[fmofmpls]

And another thing: Is there anybody here who finds the posting of the above pic's inappropriate or sick or offensive? I ask because the first time I saw one of them (in Richard Bojarski's "The Complete Films of Bela Lugosi") I felt something like that. But I guess I've gotten  jaded -- or matured -- or something -- now.

Interesting that you ask this question Grape, because I too felt violated in some strange way when I first saw these pics. It was as if I were looking at something that I had no right to look at. And in many ways I still feel the same way. I'm not sure who took these photos of Bela, but I'm certain that the family would have never approved. How, when, or why they were released is anyone's guess. There's another infamous photo of a deceased Bela being rolled out of his apartment on a stretcher by the LA cororner dept. This one is even sadder because in the background you can see the glorious and very famous Geza Kende oil painting of a suave Bela Lugosi in his prime. The contrast of the painting with a forgotten, and now deceased frail old man is sobering to say the least. I have to look for that pic.