:17:03
and the ever-popular Girls on Probation.
:17:05
As originally written, in this scene
Claudin brought out not only his concerto
:17:10
but a plaster bust of Christine which he'd
place on the piano and then perform to.
:17:15
The bust appears later in the picture,
having been stolen by Claudin.
:17:19
But the explanation for his having it
was lost when this scene was refilmed.
:17:23
John Jacoby submitted 14 pages of notes
the day before Hallowe'en 1941,
:17:29
following production meetings with
the creatives, including Henry Koster.
:17:33
Jacoby professed admiration
for the silent movie,
:17:36
but he felt that modern audiences
wouldn't buy it any more today.
:17:39
"What they will insist on above all"
he said "is to feel horror."
:17:46
Jacoby found MGM's remake of Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde with Spencer Tracy
:17:51
a useful barometer. He watched it
"three times, in three different theatres,
:17:55
and each time the audience laughed
when Dr Jekyll changed into Mr Hyde".
:17:59
"But they did not laugh
at the old versions of the picture."
:18:03
"Today, audiences do not accept
the unreal or supernatural,
:18:07
so we must create a new formula
for portraying horror."
:18:11
Jacoby's pragmatism failed to justify
the crux of the production's plot -
:18:14
why a girl would place
her faith in a masked killer
:18:17
who whispers promises of artistic glory
from behind her dressing-room wall.
:18:22
Henry Koster reasoned it out
in the story conference
:18:24
and suggested that the two principal
characters were father and daughter.
:18:28
We'll talk about Jacoby and the Koster
production as our narrative unfolds.
:18:34
That's Leo Carrillo as the stuffy
Italian vocal teacher in Paris.
:18:38
He's doubly out of place, as he was
usually in genial roles in B-pictures.
:18:43
Leo had previously appeared for Waggner
as the comic sidekick in Horror Island.
:18:48
Modern Angelinos who seek the quiet
of a rocky beach north of Los Angeles
:18:52
wonder who the heck this Leo Carrillo is
that their state beach is named for.
:18:56
Ageing baby boomers can snigger,
and they wonder
:18:59
why this beach is named for the plump
actor they remember as Pancho,