Soon it will be Halloween. I like this Holiday.
It is the one time of year where people can get as silly as they want with themselves. They can transform into any person, place, or thing, of their imaginations. Plus, there is lots of candy. Candy makes people happy in the moment. AND, it becomes okay to deface pumpkins. And now the new rage, defaced pineapples. Or maybe I should call them “faced.”
Of course, every year, there are ALWAYS the go-to costumes. Dracula might be at the very top of the list.
But. There is only one true Dracula. Well. Other than the REAL Dracula who will suck all the blood out of your body — through your neck — and kill you. Unless of course, you happen to be wearing garlic, in some capacity. OR you are in possession of a wooden stake that you can somehow drive through his heart. But I am off-track.
There is only one made-up Dracula. And that is Bela Lugosi [Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó]. Today is his birthday. He was born on October 20, 1882. In Austria. I always thought he looked more Italian than Austrian. Maybe his parents were on Holiday, eating Goulash, and Apple Strudel, when he was born. Anyway. Bela.
Of course, he was the tremendously scary actor who portrayed Count Dracula in the original 1931 film. I can remember watching this movie when I was runt-like. I would cover my head with a pillow, or better yet, one of my Mom’s afghans. And then I would peer through the little knit holes at the screen.
Lugosi had a bunch of roles in various other horror films. All throughout the 1930s, he held one of the top thrones in the popular scary-picture-genre. But. His career declined. For a lot of different reasons. Universal Studios changed management. England put a ban on Horror Films, so production slowed down. And then there was his Rival. Boris Karloff. Karloff was getting a bunch of the primo roles. Lugosi started to get B-movie regular-parts, which really weren’t his gig.
From there, he did bits of stage acting. But, he became pretty poor. He also became addicted to drugs and had to seek treatment. During the late part of that, Ed Wood started helping him out. (Wood had been a fan of Lugosi’s early work.)
Here’s another thing about him. He was married four times during his prime. And some of those marriages would only last a month or two. Maybe it was because he slept all day in that dang coffin.
In his last year, he married a woman half his age. He was 72. She, Hope Lininger, was 36. He died less than a year later of a heart attack.
I’m just saying. Okay?
He was a talented actor, though. And he certainly had a life filled with ups and downs. But Bela Lugosi played a pivotal role in forming the legend of Count Dracula. He made it an iconic role. And at Halloween time, it is hard to forget.
So this Halloween, deface a pumpkin, pull up a bowl of candy, and watch that good old movie. Dracula. Bela Lugosi style.
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“There is a reason why all things are as they are.”
― Bram Stoker, Dracula
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“We learn from failure, not from success!”
― Bram Stoker, Dracula
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“How good and thoughtful he is; the world seems full of good men–even if there are monsters in it.”
― Bram Stoker, Dracula
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