LOW BUDGET HORROR MOVIE AUTOGRAPHS 1930s-1970s

I grew up in the 1960s and early 1970s as a Monster Kid addicted to old horror and sci-fi movies.   Monster Movie Matinee and Chiller Theater aired tons of great old movies from the 1930s to the early 1960s.  Younger viewers roll their eyes at the cheesy special effects and lack of blood and gore.  Like most of my work on here, it is done for my own enjoyment, and the couple of friends who are often kind enough to read it.  I intend to discuss only low-budget films, not those considered horror classics.  So, no great Universal monsters or Hammer movies.  It will be limited to those more obscure independent films and a few made-for-TV movies.  These movies are usually low-budget (sometimes no-budget), and they did not have a staff of makeup and special effects geniuses.  The king of this type of movie is the notorious Ed Wood.  A big step-up from Wood were American International Pictures better known as AIP.   Richard Gordon and his brother Alex Gordon were also producers of low budget fare.  Many movies that fit into this category are in the so bad they are good field.  
Living in a simpler time, I was often terrified by the black-and-white monsters.   The very first movie I ever remember seeing was The Monster of Piedras Blancas (1959).  Not surprisingly, my opinion of the movie differs from that of the "professional" movie critics.  Movie critics are one of the best rackets for those who have no talent for anything but criticism.  I admit I may be seeing the movie through five-year-old eyes, but I still love it.  One of the favorite actors I have met was Don Sullivan, the young star of The Monster of Piedras Blancas and later The Giant Gila Monster.  Today, I can spot a computer-generated special effect a mile away, and to me, they often ruin a movie for me.   I am one of those who hate to be told how a special effect is done. I do not want to know how the tornado was made in the Wizard of Oz (although, regrettably, I have seen the documentary).   Movies are a suspension of disbelief, allowing you to be a child again and experience and enjoy them.  I also respect almost anyone who makes movies for the love of making them.  I find it hard to be critical of a low-budget movie for not having realistic effects or top-notch actors.  Bert I. Gordon was a master at making fun low-budget movies.
Examples of the type of movie I mean are Attack of the Giant Leeches, The Alligator People, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, Attack of the Puppet People and scores of others.   I would like to steer clear of the Universal Horror monster movies even though some of them were low budget.
Richard Gordon (1925-2012) his brother Alex helped found AIP. Richard Gordon was the producer of movies such as Fiend Without a Face (1958), The Electronic Monster (1958), The Haunted Strangler (1958), Corridors of Blood (1958), First Man Into Space (1959),The Playgirls and the Vampire (1960), Devil Doll (1964), Curse of the Voodoo (1965), The Projected Man (1966), Island of Terror (1966), Tower of Evil (1972), Horror Hospital (1973), The Cat and the Canary (1978) and Inseminoid (1981).  He also produced the documentary Buster Keaton: The Great Stone Face (1968) narrated by Henry Morgan.

Below is the wonderful gentleman, Richard Gordon. I've met him many times, and sadly, few others have paid him much attention.  He was so kind the first time I met him I picked this photograph and tried to hand him $20 (the going rate of others at the conference), he refused to take it. He said he was just glad to meet me and happy someone enjoyed his work.  Every time I met him, he was the same he provided a photograph and refused to take money for it.  
 

Tags: Horror, movies

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Permalink Reply by Scott Paul on July 15, 2025 at 11:01am

Yes, to me that color ink goes great on photographs and cards. It is clear and bright making the autographs really stand out.   

Permalink Reply by Scott Paul on July 15, 2025 at 11:39am

Those are great Eric.  Marshall had a small role in the Burt Reynolds movie Skullduggery (1970).  The "Blacula" movies were great AIP movies!  I saw the movie in the theater when it first came out as a teenager, and it was very effective on the big screen.  

Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on July 15, 2025 at 12:31pm

I envy you that big screen! I can imagine his voice in such a setting.

Some other observations from my correspondence:

I realized that script is one of very few vampire films where the vampire leaves it up to the "reborn wife" to choose, as in Blacula. In Stokers book there is no choice. Coppola's film - different.This choice is seen in other works/films but not quite the same way (Interview with the Vampire, Let the Right One In etc). Only when there is no choice in the last minutes does Prince Mamuwalde induct Tina/Luva. I also noted that the "reborn wife" character is addressed as both Luva and Tina, even at the very end by Mamuwalde. I think he was showing that he respected both who she was and who she is now. These are subtle and rather beautiful features of that film.The vampire hunter, also very accomplished, IIRC, He was a Cicely Tyson's son in The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, and several others.

Permalink Reply by Scott Paul on July 15, 2025 at 10:31am

JOHN AGAR (1921-2002) was handsome and affable. He married Shirley Temple, and the two starred in the John Wayne classic Fort Apache (1948). He later appeared in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949). He would continue to appear in John Wayne movies, but his starring roles shifted to low-budget horror films. He starred in the Universal film Revenge of the Creature (1955), followed by Tarantula again with his Mole People co-star Pavia. Other horror movies were Daughter of Dr.Jeykyll (1957), The Brain from Planet Arous (1957), Attack of the Puppet People (1958), Invisible Invaders (1959), Destination Space (1959), Journey to the Seventh Planet (1962), Hand of Death (1962), Women of the Prehistoric Planet (1966), Night Fright (1967), Zontar: The Thing From Space (1967), Curse of the Swamp Creature (1968) and a few others.

In his later years John Agar did conventions often with his The Attack of the Puppet People co-star Kenny Miller.  I became acquainted with Mr. Miller at his many Monster Bash Conference appearances.  Mr. Miller told me that he and John Agar signed photographs for each other to sell if they were not at the same place He had a small number of these signed by John Agar in his later years.  Mr. Miller was giving the money made from those sales to help with Mr. Agar's grandchildren's college funds.  I bought this and Mr. Miller inscribed it to me.

Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on July 15, 2025 at 10:38am

I love this film as well. It is very rare I collect more the one example. The only other, apart from the Marshall index card, is a second Ed Norton from 1953.I really like this one you've shown.

Permalink Reply by Scott Paul on July 16, 2025 at 7:41am

ERIC BROTHERSON (1911-1989) best known for Blacula as the real estate agent.  He was a prolific character actor who appeared in movies such as What's Up Doc (1972) and the George Segal film The Black Bird (1975). Brotherson had roles in the Walt Disney movies Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971) and The Strongest Man Alive (1975) with Kurt Russell.  On television he was on Get Smart, That Girl and The Red Skelton Hour.  

Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on July 16, 2025 at 7:43am

Oh yes, in the beginning of the film! Your encyclopedic knowledge never ceases to amaze me!

Permalink Reply by Scott Paul on July 16, 2025 at 7:54am

He is the one that says "I can assure you gentlemen it is quite safe now.  The reports of the Count were grossly exaggerated."  Of course, we all know what happens then.  He often used a somewhat affected British accent although he was a Chicago native.  In Blacula it was presumably a Romanian accent.  He had longer screen time in Blacula than in some of his movies.  The signed photograph is of a slightly younger Brotherson than his Blacula appearance.  

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