The cultural source of so many monster toys

[The Drunken Severed Head]

The king of monsters, Universal's Frankenstein, was born on Dec. 4, 1931.

Unleashed on the world 76 years ago!

A day that gave Mary Shelley's novel new life, and a day that marked a turning point in pop-culture history.

Max



You can read a nice commemoration of this anniversary at the website Frankensteinia.

www.frankensteinia.blogspot.com

[ProfGriffin]

Greetings

YES!  The undying MONSTER...the KING!  Truly a unique and frightening spectre when first released on the screen via Universal...the creation of fathers James Whale (sketch) Jack Pierce and Boris Karloff.
And a Monster like the world has NEVER seen!

Yes, indeed...The Frankenstein Monster is NOT a zombie.  He's NOT a soulless automoton and most certainly NOT a mere re-animated dead body. 

Let's listen to Henry Frankenstein as he explains it best,
"That Body is NOT dead...it has never lived...I MADE it with my own hands from the bodies I took from the graves, the gallows...anywhere!"

So you see...the Monster is truly an unearthly being...he's MADE from parts of US and given life by exposure to Cosmic Rays!  Yup...the lightning carried a life giving property associated with a spectrum ray...but as revealed in Son of Frankenstein, Henry's machinery actually attracted COSMIC RAYS!

This is no mere walking dead, this is the supremely powerful, COSMIC RAY EMPOWERED Frankenstein Monster!! These are the same cosmic rays that empowered the Silver Surfer to be the herald of Galactus!  (If you like Marvel Comics!  LOL)

Universal's Frankenstein Monster has survived fire, explosions, boiling sulphur, freezing and more...his ability to heal and regenerate and his invulnerability is closely associated with that dark night in a abandoned watchtower as Henry raised a patchwork man to the heavens in a mad quest to create life.  He did.  He created UNDYING life.

And of course, the Monster and the film makes an impact on our culture for all time. Phrases like, "you've created a monster!" or "I've created a Frankenstein" have entered our common language.  The 'look' of the monster has become synonymous with horror, the macabre and Halloween.
The monster who's hand rises so slowly from the slab will be emblazoned on posters, T-shirts, comic books, immortalized in model kits, toys, figures, and statues.  His face will grace book covers, magazines and happy meal boxes.

Truly we should celebrate the birth of the most famous monster of all time!  Henry Frankenstein screams at the top of his lungs (before collapsing into his mania and delirium), "It's moving...look...it's moving...it's alive...it's alive, it's alive...IT'S ALIVE!!!!  In the name of God, now I know what it feels like to BE God!"

Truly a creation that has outlived it's creators...

[fmofmpls]

The king of monsters, Universal's Frankenstein, was born on Dec. 4, 1931.

Unleashed on the world 76 years ago!

A day that gave Mary Shelley's novel new life, and a day that marked a turning point in pop-culture history.

Thank you Max for reminding us of this important anniversary. And thank you Griffin for commemorating said anniversary with your poetic prose! Brilliant as always!

[1975]

The thing I automatically think of when I hear "Monster" is Karloff as Frankenstein.