Universal Monsters - Part 3

Continuing with our Halloween-inspired "Universal Monsters"/"A Christmas Carol" thing, we sneak back to 1936 for "Dracula's Daughter."

The star of that film is Otto Kruger, whom we heard as Scrooge in that U.S. Navy "Joy to the World" AFRTS radio show from the mid-1950s!

Mr. Kruger's role in "Dracula's Daughter" is a bit unusual for him, as he's the hero/romantic lead and even has the two female leads fighting over him!

As I mentioned before, he was really good at playing suave villains hiding under an air of respectability. This kind of leads to being a good type for "mad scientist" roles in horror movies, but he only played that type of role a couple of times, including Universal's 1945 " The Jungle Captive."

This is more how I think of him, as he seems to be a respected scientist on the surface, but is secretly carrying out crazy experiments! He lends a much-needed sense of professionalism to this flick!

I think the only other time he got to play such a role was much later in 1958's "The Colossus of New York." Check out the awesome trailer on the IMDB:

"The Colossus of New York" (1958)

Fun!

You may recall that the host of that AFRTS show was Robert Paige, former Universal contractee. He had perhaps his best role ever in 1943's "Son of Dracula" and he makes the most of it:

Since no one's asking, I'll throw in my two cents on the unusual casting of Lon Chaney, Jr. as Dracula: I agree that he's not really right for the part, but I'm a fan and think it's cool that he got to play all of the classic monsters in one movie or another!

"Joy to the World" - AFRTS (195?) - Part 3

Before we leave the US Navy's "Joy to the World" program as recorded by the AFRTS, we need a few thoughts about the star, Otto Kruger, and the host, Robert Paige.

I'm very familiar with Otto Kruger (1885-1974) from his appearances in many movies from the golden age of Hollywood.

He had an urbane manner that I thought was best suited for him to play villains hiding under a veneer of respectability. We know he's evil, the hero knows he's evil, but nobody else believes it!

My favorite such role of his was in "Saboteur" (1942), my vote for most-underrated Alfred Hitchcock movie:

Another good role like that was in "Tarzan's Desert Mystery" (1943) - a good flick:

And "Murder, My Sweet" (1944):

Just a few from a fine resumé!

As for Robert Paige, I'm also familiar with his work, mainly from the time that he was under contract to Universal Pictures in the 1940s.

As a contract player player at Universal, he was bound to pop up in an Abbott & Costello movie and a horror movie.

He did appear with A & C in "Pardon My Sarong" (1942):

And with Lon Chaney, Jr. in "Son of Dracula" (1943):

These were among his many movies for Universal. I think he's very good although the roles don't usually give him much to work with, "Son of Dracula" being a notable exception.

He's very pleasant as a light leading man, but Hollywood was full of those guys in the 1940s.

It must have been interesting for him to meet up with that certain comedy team once again in "Abbott & Costello Go to Mars" (1953):

This movie (which is very underrated!) was maybe just a short time before the AFRTS show in question?

Bob Paige's role here as host for the US Navy program reminds me of Bill Lundigan on "Shower of Stars" in that you have someone whom the audience knows from having seen them in movies, even if they weren't big stars. Not the worst gig in the world!

I like both Otto Kruger and Robert Paige as performers and was glad to hear them pop up on this intriguing artifact from the AFRTS!

"Joy to the World" - AFRTS (195?) - Part 2

If you got the chance to listen to the 1950s-era AFRTS recording of the US Navy's "Joy to the World" featuring Otto Kruger as Ebenezer Scrooge in an adaptation of "A Christmas Carol," you may be thinking it's déjà vu all over again.

This experience is a bit different from the AFRS show with Basil Rathbone which incorporated the 78 rpm recording of "A Christmas Carol" into the show, but there was something very familiar... 

It didn't take me long to realize that Otto Kruger was speaking the same words that Ronald Colman had spoken on his recording of "A Christmas Carol" from 1941!

As it goes along, yes, definitely it's the same script. Hey, why not? 

But I do wonder how many service personnel had heard Mr. Colman's recording over the years and were wise to this!

As for this recording itself, it doesn't sport the high production values of the Colman version and does not have anywhere near the cast.

I have no reason at all to doubt host Robert Paige when he says the supporting cast are members of the Navy from Pensacola and their families. They do seem amateurish, but I'm sure they had fun and the show is pleasant.

Ronald Colman's album had a supporting cast of top radio actors, so it's not a fair comparison, but there you go.

As for Otto Kruger, he does a good job and has a good voice, but if you compare him to Ronald Colman, well, no one can beat Ronald Colman in the voice department!

One thing I will say is that Otto Kruger's voice sounds like it was recorded separately from the supporting cast. The quality is different. I'm guessing he recorded his lines and the Pensacola folks recorded their lines and someone mixed them together.

That's just one mystery about this recording.

The main one is that I can't determine when it's from. Neither the AFRTS announcer nor Robert Paige mention the year.

The biggest clue is that it was presented by the AFRTS rather then the AFRS. The extra T for television was officially added in April of 1954, so this program is no earlier than the Christmas season of 1954. I wouldn't imagine it's a lot later than that, but who knows? Otto Kruger was around until 1974 (and Robert Paige until 1987), so there's not much of a clue there.

And why is the show called "Joy to the World" and not "A Christmas Carol?" 

I can't find any references to this show anywhere, yet here it is! It's all a mystery!

Paging Nick Carter!

"Joy to the World" - AFRTS (195?) - Part 1

We jump ahead an indeterminate number of years and find that the AFRS (Armed Forces Radio Service) is now the AFRTS (Armed Forces Radio and Television Service)!

But, they were still spreading holiday spirit, as with this recording of the US Navy's "Joy to the World" show, which features an adaptation of "A Christmas Carol" starring Otto Kruger as Ebenezer Scrooge.

Give it a listen:

Next: "Now, wait a minute, isn't that...?"