#1929 Royal Enfield

[redrcs]

The Flying Flea.

1929 Royal Enfield, Wings and Wheels, Maryborough.

On my travels

[silent-era-of-cinema]

William Henry Pratt (23 November 1887 – 2 February 1969), better known by his stage name Boris Karloff was an English actor who was primarily known for his roles in horror films. He portrayed Frankenstein's monster in Frankenstein (1931), Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and Son of Frankenstein (1939). He also appeared as Imhotep in The Mummy (1932).

In non-horror roles, he is best known to modern audiences for narrating and as the voice of the Grinch in the animated television special of Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966). For his contribution to film and television, Karloff was awarded two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Karloff was born William Henry Pratt on 23 November 1887,[2] at 36 Forest Hill Road, Dulwich, Surrey (now London), England. His parents were Edward John Pratt, Jr. and Eliza Sarah Millard. His brother, Sir John Thomas Pratt, was a British diplomat. Edward John Pratt, Jr. was an Anglo-Indian, from a British father and Indian mother, while Karloff's mother also had some Indian ancestry, thus Karloff had a relatively dark complexion that differed from his peers at the time. His mother's maternal aunt was Anna Leonowens, whose tales about life in the royal court of Siam (now Thailand) were the basis of the musical The King and I. Pratt was bow-legged, had a lisp, and stuttered as a young boy.[7] He learned how to manage his stutter, but not his lisp, which was noticeable throughout his career in the film industry.

Pratt spent his childhood years in Enfield, in the County of Middlesex. He was the youngest of nine children, and following his mother's death was brought up by his elder siblings. He received his early education at Enfield Grammar School, and later at the public schools of Uppingham School and Merchant Taylors' School. After this, he attended King's College London where he took studies aimed at a career with the British Government's Consular Service. However, in 1909, he left university without graduating and drifted, departing England for Canada, where he worked as a farm labourer and did various odd itinerant jobs until happening upon acting.

Pratt began appearing in theatrical performances in Canada, and during this period he chose Boris Karloff as his stage name. Some have theorised that he took the stage name from a mad scientist character in the novel The Drums of Jeopardy called "Boris Karlov". However, the novel was not published until 1920, at least eight years after Karloff had been using the name on stage and in silent films, opening the possibility that the Karlov character might have been named after Karloff after the novel's author noticed it in a cast listing and liked the sound of it rather than simply being a coincidence. Warner Oland played "Boris Karlov" in a film version in 1931. Another possible influence was thought to be a character in the Edgar Rice Burroughs fantasy novel H. R. H. The Rider which features a "Prince Boris of Karlova", but as the novel was not published until 1915, the influence may be backward, that Burroughs saw Karloff in a play and adapted the name for the character. Karloff always claimed he chose the first name "Boris" because it sounded foreign and exotic, and that "Karloff" was a family name (from Karlov—in Cyrillic, Карлов—a name found in several Slavic countries, including Russia, Ukraine and Bulgaria).

Karloff's daughter, Sara, publicly denied any knowledge of Slavic forebears, "Karloff" or otherwise. One reason for the name change was to prevent embarrassment to his family. Whether or not his brothers (all dignified members of the British Foreign Service) actually considered young William the "black sheep of the family" for having become an actor, Karloff apparently worried they felt that way. He did not reunite with his family until he returned to Britain to make The Ghoul (1933), extremely worried that his siblings would disapprove of his new, macabre claim to world fame. Instead, his brothers jostled for position around him and happily posed for publicity photographs. After the photo was taken, Karloff's brothers immediately started asking about getting a copy of their own. The story of the photo became one of Karloff's favorites.

Karloff joined the Jeanne Russell Company in 1911 and performed in towns like Kamloops (British Columbia) and Prince Albert (Saskatchewan). After the devastating tornado in Regina on 30 June 1912, Karloff and other performers helped with clean-up efforts. He later took a job as a railway baggage handler and joined the Harry St. Clair Co. that performed in Minot, North Dakota, for a year in an opera house above a hardware store.

Whilst he was trying to establish his acting career, Karloff had to perform years of manual labour in Canada and the U.S. in order to make ends meet. He was left with back problems from which he suffered for the rest of his life. Because of his health, he did not enlist in World War I.

During this period, Karloff worked in various theatrical stock companies across the U.S. to hone his acting skills. Some acting companies mentioned were the Harry St. Clair Players and the Billie Bennett Touring Company. By early 1918 he was working with the Maud Amber Players in Vallejo, California, but because of the Spanish Flu outbreak in the San Francisco area and the fear of infection, the troupe was disbanded. He was able to find work with the Haggerty Repertory for a while (according to the 1973 obituary of Joseph Paul Haggerty, he and Boris Karloff remained lifelong friends). According to Karloff, in his first film he appeared as an extra in a crowd scene for a Frank Borzage picture at Universal for which he received $5; the title of this film has never been traced.

Once Karloff arrived in Hollywood, he made dozens of silent films, but this work was sporadic, and he often had to take up manual labour such as digging ditches or delivering construction plaster to earn a living.

His first on screen role was in a film serial, The Lightning Raider (1919) with Pearl White. He was in another serial, The Masked Rider (1919), the first of his appearances to survive.

Karloff could also be seen in His Majesty, the American (1919) with Douglas Fairbanks, The Prince and Betty (1919), The Deadlier Sex (1920), and The Courage of Marge O'Doone (1920). He played an Indian in The Last of the Mohicans (1920) and he would often be cast as an Arab or Indian in his early films.

Karloff's first major role came in a film serial, The Hope Diamond Mystery (1920). He was Indian in Without Benefit of Clergy (1921) and an Arab in Cheated Hearts (1921) and villainous in The Cave Girl (1921). He was a maharajah in The Man from Downing Street (1922), a Nabob in The Infidel (1922) and had roles in The Altar Stairs (1922), Omar the Tentmaker (1922) (as an Imam), The Woman Conquers (1922), The Gentleman from America (1923), The Prisoner (1923) and the serial Riders of the Plains (1923).

Karloff did a Western, The Hellion (1923), and a drama, Dynamite Dan (1924). He could be seen in Parisian Nights (1925), Forbidden Cargo (1925), The Prairie Wife (1925) and the serial Perils of the Wild (1925).

Karloff went back to bit part status in Never the Twain Shall Meet (1925) directed by Maurice Tourneur but he had a good support role in Lady Robinhood (1925).

Karloff went on to be in The Greater Glory (1926), Her Honor, the Governor (1926), The Bells (1926) (as a mesmerist), The Nickel-Hopper (1926), The Golden Web (1926), The Eagle of the Sea (1926), Flames (1926), Old Ironsides (1926), Flaming Fury (1926), Valencia (1926), The Man in the Saddle (1926), Tarzan and the Golden Lion (1927) (as an African), Let It Rain (1927), The Meddlin' Stranger (1927), The Princess from Hoboken (1927), The Phantom Buster (1927), and Soft Cushions (1927).

Karloff had roles in Two Arabian Knights (1927), The Love Mart (1927), The Vanishing Rider (1928) (a serial), Burning the Wind (1928), Vultures of the Sea (1928), and The Little Wild Girl (1928).

He was in The Devil's Chaplain (1929), The Fatal Warning (1929) for Richard Thorpe, The Phantom of the North (1929), Two Sisters (1929), Anne Against the World (1929), Behind That Curtain (1929), and The King of the Kongo (1929), a serial directed by Thorpe.

Karloff had an uncredited bit part in The Unholy Night (1930) directed by Lionel Barrymore, and bigger parts in The Bad One (1930),The Sea Bat (1930) (directed by Barrymore), and The Utah Kid (1930) directed by Thorpe.

A film which brought Karloff recognition was The Criminal Code (1931), a prison drama directed by Howard Hawks in which he reprised a dramatic part he had played on stage. In the same period, Karloff had a small role as a mob boss in Hawks' gangster film Scarface, but the film was not released until 1932 because of difficult censorship issues.

He did another serial for Thorpe, King of the Wild (1931), then had support parts in Cracked Nuts (1931), Young Donovan's Kid (1931), Smart Money (1931), The Public Defender (1931), I Like Your Nerve (1931), and Graft (1931).

Another significant role in the autumn of 1931 saw Karloff play a key supporting part as an unethical newspaper reporter in Five Star Final, a film about tabloid journalism which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.

He could also be seen in The Yellow Ticket (1931) The Mad Genius (1931), The Guilty Generation (1931) and Tonight or Never (1931).

Karloff acted in eighty movies before being found by James Whale and cast in Frankenstein (1931). Karloff's role as Frankenstein's monster was physically demanding – it necessitated a bulky costume with four-inch platform boots – but the costume and extensive makeup produced a lasting image. The costume was a job in itself for Karloff with the shoes weighing 11 pounds (5.0 kg) each.[13] Universal Studios quickly copyrighted the makeup design for the Frankenstein monster that Jack P. Pierce had created.

It took a while for Karloff's stardom to be established with the public – he had small roles in Behind the Mask (1932), Business and Pleasure (1932) and The Miracle Man (1932).

As receipts for Frankenstein and Scarface flooded in, Universal gave Karloff third billing in Night World (1932), with Lew Ayres, Mae Clarke and George Raft.

Karloff was reunited with Whale at Universal for The Old Dark House (1932), a horror movie based on the novel Benighted by J.B. Priestley, in which he finally enjoyed top billing above Melvyn Douglas, Charles Laughton, Raymond Massey and Gloria Stuart. He was loaned to MGM to play the titular role in The Mask of Fu Manchu (also 1932), for which he gained top billing.

Back at Universal, he was cast as Imhotep who is revived in The Mummy (1932). It was as successful at the box-office as the other two films and Karloff was now established as a star of horror films.

Karloff returned to England to star in The Ghoul (1933), then made a non-horror film for John Ford, The Lost Patrol (1934), where his performance was highly acclaimed.

Karloff was third billed in the Twentieth Century Pictures historical film The House of Rothschild (1934) with George Arliss, which was highly popular.

Horror, however, had now become Karloff's primary genre, and he gave a string of lauded performances in Universal's horror films, including several with Bela Lugosi, his main rival as heir to Lon Chaney's status as the leading horror film star. While the long-standing, creative partnership between Karloff and Lugosi never led to a close friendship, it produced some of the actors' most revered and enduring productions, beginning with The Black Cat (1934) and continuing with Gift of Gab (1934), in which both had cameos. Karloff reprised the role of Frankenstein's monster in Bride of Frankenstein (1935) for James Whale. Then he and Lugosi were reunited for The Raven (1935).

For Columbia, Karloff made The Black Room (1935) then he returned to Universal for The Invisible Ray (1936) with Lugosi, more a science fiction film. Karloff was then cast in a Warner Bros. horror film, The Walking Dead (1936).

Because the Motion Picture Production Code (known as the Hays Code) began to be seriously enforced in 1934, horror films suffered a decline in the second half of the 1930s. Karloff worked in other genres, making two films in Britain, Juggernaut (1936) and The Man Who Changed His Mind (1936).

He returned to Hollywood to play a supporting role in Charlie Chan at the Opera (1936) then did a science fiction film, Night Key (1937).

At Warners, he did two films with John Farrow, playing a Chinese warlord in West of Shanghai (1937) and a murder suspect in The Invisible Menace (1938).

Karloff went to Monogram to play the title role of a Chinese detective in Mr. Wong, Detective (1938), which led to a series. Karloff's portrayal of the character is an example of Hollywood's use of yellowface and its portrayal of East Asians in the earlier half of the 20th century. He had another heroic role in Devil's Island (1939).

Universal found reissuing Dracula and Frankenstein led to success at the box-office and began to produce horror films again starting with Son of Frankenstein (1939). Karloff reprised his role, with Lugosi co starring as Ygor and Basil Rathbone as Frankenstein.

After The Mystery of Mr. Wong (1939) and Mr. Wong in Chinatown (1939) he signed a three-picture deal with Columbia, starting with The Man They Could Not Hang (1939). Karloff returned to Universal to make Tower of London (1939) with Rathbone, playing the murderous henchman of King Richard III.

Karloff made a fourth Mr Wong film at Monogram The Fatal Hour (1940). At Warners he was in British Intelligence (1940), then he went to Universal to do Black Friday (1940) with Lugosi.

Karloff's second and third films for Columbia were The Man with Nine Lives (1940) and Before I Hang (1940). In between he did a fifth and final Mr Wong film, Doomed to Die (1940).

Karloff appeared at a celebrity baseball game as Frankenstein's monster in 1940, hitting a gag home run and making catcher Buster Keaton fall into an acrobatic dead faint as the monster stomped into home plate.

Karloff finished a six picture commitment with Monogram with The Ape (1940). He and Lugosi appeared in a comedy at RKO, You'll Find Out (1941), then he went to Columbia for The Devil Commands (1941) and The Boogie Man Will Get You (1941).

An enthusiastic performer, he returned to the Broadway stage in the original production of Arsenic and Old Lace in 1941, in which he played a homicidal gangster enraged to be frequently mistaken for Karloff. Frank Capra cast Raymond Massey in the 1944 film, which was shot in 1941, while Karloff was still appearing in the role on Broadway. The play's producers allowed the film to be made conditionally: it was not to be released until the production closed. (Karloff reprised his role on television in the anthology series The Best of Broadway (1955), and with Tony Randall and Tom Bosley in a 1962 production on the Hallmark Hall of Fame. He also starred in a radio adaptation produced by Screen Guild Theatre in 1946.)

In 1944, he underwent a spinal operation to relieve a chronic arthritic condition.

Karloff returned to film roles in The Climax (1944), an unsuccessful attempt to repeat the success of Phantom of the Opera (1943). More liked was House of Frankenstein (1944), where Karloff played the villainous Dr. Niemann and the monster was played by Glenn Strange.

Karloff made three films for producer Val Lewton at RKO: The Body Snatcher (1945), his last teaming with Lugosi, Isle of the Dead (1945) and Bedlam (1946).

In a 1946 interview with Louis Berg of the Los Angeles Times, Karloff discussed his arrangement with RKO, working with Lewton and his reasons for leaving Universal. Karloff left Universal because he thought the Frankenstein franchise had run its course; the entries in the series after Son of Frankenstein were B-pictures. Berg wrote that the last installment in which Karloff appeared—House of Frankenstein—was what he called a " 'monster clambake,' with everything thrown in—Frankenstein, Dracula, a hunchback and a 'man-beast' that howled in the night. It was too much. Karloff thought it was ridiculous and said so." Berg explained that the actor had "great love and respect for" Lewton, who was "the man who rescued him from the living dead and restored, so to speak, his soul."

Horror films experienced a decline in popularity after the war, and Karloff found himself working in other genres.

For the Danny Kaye comedy, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947), Karloff appeared in a brief but starring role as Dr. Hugo Hollingshead, a psychiatrist. Director Norman Z. McLeod shot a sequence with Karloff in the Frankenstein monster make-up, but it was deleted from the finished film.

Karloff appeared in a film noir, Lured (1947), and as an Indian in Unconquered (1947). He had support roles in Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome (1947), Tap Roots (1948), and Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff.

During this period, Karloff was a frequent guest on radio programmes, whether it was starring in Arch Oboler's Chicago-based Lights Out productions (including the episode "Cat Wife") or spoofing his horror image with Fred Allen or Jack Benny. In 1949, he was the host and star of Starring Boris Karloff, a radio and television anthology series for the ABC broadcasting network.

He appeared as the villainous Captain Hook in Peter Pan in a 1950 stage musical adaptation which also featured Jean Arthur.

Karloff returned to horror films with The Strange Door (1951) and The Black Castle (1952).

He was nominated for a Tony Award for his work opposite Julie Harris in The Lark, by the French playwright Jean Anouilh, about Joan of Arc, which was reprised on Hallmark Hall of Fame.

During the 1950s, he appeared on British television in the series Colonel March of Scotland Yard, in which he portrayed John Dickson Carr's fictional detective Colonel March, who was known for solving apparently impossible crimes. Christopher Lee appeared alongside Karloff in the episode "At Night, All Cats are Grey" broadcast in 1955.[17] A little later, Karloff co-starred with Lee in the film Corridors of Blood (1958).

Karloff appeared in Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1952) and visited Italy for The Island Monster (1954) and India for Sabaka (1954).

Karloff, along with H. V. Kaltenborn, was a regular panelist on the NBC game show, Who Said That? which aired between 1948 and 1955. Later, as a guest on NBC's The Gisele MacKenzie Show, Karloff sang "Those Were the Good Old Days" from Damn Yankees while Gisele MacKenzie performed the solo, "Give Me the Simple Life". On The Red Skelton Show, Karloff guest starred along with actor Vincent Price in a parody of Frankenstein, with Red Skelton as "Klem Kadiddle Monster". He served as host and frequent star of the anthology series The Veil (1958) which was never broadcast due to financial problems at the producing studio; the complete series was rediscovered in the 1990s.

Karloff made some horror films in the late 1950s: Voodoo Island (1957), The Haunted Strangler (1958), Frankenstein 1970 (1958) (as the Baron), and Corridors of Blood (1958). In the "mad scientist" role in Frankenstein 1970 as Baron Victor von Frankenstein II, the grandson of the original creator. In the finale, it is revealed that the crippled Baron has given his own face to the monster. Karloff donned the monster make-up for the last time in 1962 for a Halloween episode of the TV series Route 66, which also featured Peter Lorre and Lon Chaney, Jr.

During this period, he hosted and acted in a number of television series, including Thriller and Out of This World.

Karloff appeared in Black Sabbath (1963) directed by Mario Bava. He made The Raven (1963) for Roger Corman and American International Pictures (AIP). Corman used Karloff in The Terror (1963) playing a baron who murdered his wife. He made a cameo in AIP's Bikini Beach (1964) and had a bigger role in that studio's The Comedy of Terrors (1964), directed by Jacques Tourneur and Die, Monster, Die! (1965). British actress Suzan Farmer, who played his daughter in the film, later recalled Karloff was aloof during production "and wasn’t the charming personality people perceived him to be".

In 1966, Karloff also appeared with Robert Vaughn and Stefanie Powers in the spy series The Girl from U.N.C.L.E., in the episode "The Mother Muffin Affair," Karloff performed in drag as the titular character.

That same year, he also played an Indian Maharajah on the installment of the adventure series The Wild Wild West titled "The Night of the Golden Cobra".

In 1967, he played an eccentric Spanish professor who believes himself to be Don Quixote in a whimsical episode of I Spy titled "Mainly on the Plains".

Karloff's last film for AIP was The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini (1967).

In the mid-1960s, he enjoyed a late-career surge in the United States when he narrated the made-for-television animated film of Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and also provided the voice of the Grinch, although the song "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" was sung by the American voice actor Thurl Ravenscroft. The film was first broadcast on CBS-TV in 1966. Karloff later received a Grammy Award for "Best Recording For Children" after the recording was commercially released. Because Ravenscroft (who never met Karloff in the course of their work on the show) was uncredited for his contribution to How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, his performance of the song was often mistakenly attributed to Karloff.

He appeared in Mad Monster Party? (1967) and starred in the second feature film of the British director Michael Reeves,The Sorcerers (1966).

Karloff starred in Targets (1968), a film directed by Peter Bogdanovich, featuring two separate stories that converge into one. In one, a disturbed young man kills his family, then embarks on a killing spree. In the other, a famous horror-film actor contemplates then confirms his retirement, agreeing to one last appearance at a drive-in cinema. Karloff starred as the retired horror film actor, Byron Orlok, a thinly disguised version of himself; Orlok was facing an end of life crisis, which he resolved through a confrontation with the gunman at the drive-in cinema.

Around the same time, he played occult expert Professor Marsh in a British production titled The Crimson Cult (Curse of the Crimson Altar, also 1968), which was the last Karloff film to be released during his lifetime.

He ended his career by appearing in four low-budget Mexican horror films: Isle of the Snake People, The Incredible Invasion, Fear Chamber and House of Evil. This was a package deal with Mexican producer Luis Enrique Vergara. Karloff's scenes were directed by Jack Hill and shot back-to-back in Los Angeles in the spring of 1968. The films were then completed in Mexico. All four were released posthumously, with the last, The Incredible Invasion, not released until 1971, two years after Karloff's death. Cauldron of Blood, shot in Spain in 1967 and co-starring Viveca Lindfors, was also released after Karloff's death.

While shooting his final films, Karloff suffered from emphysema. Only half of one lung was still functioning and he required oxygen between takes.

He recorded the title role of Shakespeare's Cymbeline for the Shakespeare Recording Society (Caedmon Audio). The recording was originally released in 1962. A download of his performance is available from audible.com. He also recorded the narration for Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf with the Vienna State Opera Orchestra under Mario Rossi.

Records he made for the children's market included Three Little Pigs and Other Fairy Stories, Tales of the Frightened (volume 1 and 2), Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories and, with Cyril Ritchard and Celeste Holm, Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes, and Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark.

Karloff was credited for editing several horror anthologies, commencing with Tales of Terror (Cleveland and NY: World Publishing Co, 1943) (compiled with the help of Edmond Speare). This wartime-published anthology went through at least five printings to September 1945. It has been reprinted recently (Orange NJ: Idea Men, 2007). Karloff's name was also attached to And the Darkness Falls (Cleveland and NY: World Publishing Co, 1946); and The Boris Karloff Horror Anthology (London: Souvenir Press, 1965; simultaneous publication in Canada - Toronto: The Ryerson Press; US pbk reprint NY: Avon Books, 1965 retitled as Boris Karloff's Favourite Horror Stories; UK pbk reprints London: Corgi, 1969 and London: Everest, 1975, both under the original title), though it is less clear whether Karloff himself actually edited these.

Tales of the Frightened (Belmont Books, 1963), though based on the recordings by Karloff of the same title, and featuring his image on the book cover, contained stories written by Michael Avallone; the second volume, More Tales of the Frightened, contained stories authored by Robert Lory. Both Avallone and Lory worked closely with Canadian editor and book packager Lyle Kenyon Engel, who also ghost-edited a horror story anthology for horror film star Basil Rathbone.

Beginning in 1940, Karloff dressed as Father Christmas every Christmas to hand out presents to physically disabled children in a Baltimore hospital.

He never legally changed his name to "Boris Karloff." He signed official documents "William H. Pratt, a.k.a. Boris Karloff."

He was a charter member of the Screen Actors Guild, and he was especially outspoken due to the long hours he spent in makeup while playing Frankenstein's Monster.

He married six times and had one child, daughter Sara Karloff, by fifth wife Dorothy Stine. His final marriage was in 1946 right after his fifth divorce. At the time of his daughter's birth, he was filming Son of Frankenstein and reportedly rushed from the film set to the hospital while still in full makeup.

He was an early member of the Hollywood Cricket Club.

Upon returning to England in 1959, his address was 43 Cadogan Square, London. In 1966, he bought 25 Campden House (in 29 Sheffield Terrace), Kensington W8, and 'Roundabout Cottage' in the Hampshire village of Bramshott. A longtime heavy smoker, he had emphysema which left him with only half of one lung still functioning. He contracted bronchitis in 1968 and was hospitalised at University College Hospital. He died of pneumonia at the King Edward VII Hospital, Midhurst, in Sussex, on 2 February 1969, at the age of 81.

His body was cremated following a requested modest service at Guildford Crematorium, Godalming, Surrey, where he is commemorated by a plaque in the Garden of Remembrance. A memorial service was held at St Paul's, Covent Garden (the Actors' Church), London, where there is also a plaque.

During the run of Thriller, Karloff lent his name and likeness to a comic book for Gold Key Comics based upon the series. After Thriller was cancelled, the comic was retitled Boris Karloff's Tales of Mystery. An illustrated likeness of Karloff continued to introduce each issue of this publication for more than a decade after his death; the comic lasted until the early 1980s. In 2009, Dark Horse Comics began publishing reprints of Boris Karloff's Tales of Mystery in a hard-bound edition.

For his contribution to film and television, Boris Karloff was awarded two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 1737 Vine Street for motion pictures, and 6664 Hollywood Boulevard for television.[36] Karloff was featured by the U.S. Postal Service as Frankenstein's Monster and the Mummy in its series "Classic Monster Movie Stamps" issued in September 1997. In 1998, an English Heritage blue plaque was unveiled in his hometown in London. The British film magazine Empire in 2016 ranked Karloff's portrayal as Frankenstein's monster the sixth-greatest horror movie character of all time.

On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Boris Karloff among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.

[wetsteve3]

1929 Royal Enfield Two Port OHV

[swipestream]

20th Century Small Arms: The Interwar Period

The interwar period of 1919 to 1939 in the realm of small arms has two distinct periods. The first half 1919-1929 was a time awash in WW 1 surplus. The Polish-Soviet War, the Freikorps action in the Baltic States were all fought with WW 1 weaponry.

The British and French Empires were enlarged by territory in Africa and worse the Middle East. The British hoped to maintain control of the empire on the cheap using the Royal Air Force to cow the natives.

The one country in the 1920s that seemed to be innovating was Czechoslovakia. The Czech produced high quality Mauser rifles in the 1920s, most for the South American market. The ZB 26 light machinegun used 20 or 30 round detachable magazines, weighed 21.5 lbs, and an effective range of 1000 meters. It was deployed in 1928 and saw action in Manchuria, the Italian-Ethiopian War, and the Spanish Civil War. It provided the basis for the British Bren gun.

ZB-26

The Germans were not far behind. The MG-34 was designed by Heinrich Vollmer, tested in 1929, and introduced in 1934. It weighed 26.7 lbs and had a cyclic rate of fire of 800-900 rounds per minute.

  The submachine gun started taking on new life in 1930. The Finn’s produced the KP/-31 submachine gun in 1931. It had the standard wooden stock but had a detachable round drum holding 71 rounds. This submachine gun also had a range of 300 meters, longer than any other submachine gun. The Soviets would copy elements of the Suomi and the German MP-28 to produce the PPD-34 starting in 1934.

Suomi KP/-31

The submachine gun would be used in small quantities in the Chaco War fought between Bolivia and Paraguay 1932-1935. Small numbers of German MP-28s were used in the Spanish Civil War. The Spaniards even produced a copy of the MP-28 and their own (Labora Fontbernat M1-938) indigenous design. Submachine guns appear to have sparked interested but not deployed in enough numbers to effect victory or defeat on the battle field in the 1930s. The French and even the Hungarians designed submachine guns during the 1930s as war clouds formed.

PPD 34

The Germans would make a leap with the submachine gun with the MP-38. It did away with the wooden rifle stock. It was the first submachinegun with a folding stock. It was all steel and plastic. This was a revolutionary gun.

MP 38

The big area of disinterest was the semi-automatic rifle. The Czechs produced the ZH-29 rifle which has the honor of the first self-loading rifle to be used in service. It fired the 7.92 Mauser round. A Chinese warlord bought 150, the Ethiopians, and Thais all bought a few. The problem was cost per rifle. The Poles developed their own self-loading rifle, the Kbsp wz. 1938 M. Supposedly, only 150 rifles had been produced and never distributed when Germany invaded Poland in September 1939.

ZH-29

The Soviets produced the AVS 36

AVS 36

(Simonov) in 1936. The rifle was too complex and lacked strength. It fired the 7.62 x 54R cartridge. It would be replaced a few years.

  The one success story for a self-loading rifle was in the United States. The U.S. Army had begun trials in the late 1920s for a replacement for the venerable Springfield ’03. Thompson, Pederson, Colt, Browning, Garand among others competed. The Pedersen T1 rifle using a 276 cartridge almost won. The Garand design won out in the end. Originally designed for the 7 x 51 mm cartridge, John Garand also worked on model that would take the .30-’06 cartridge.  Gen. Douglas MacArthur was Army Chief of Staff approved the rifle in late 1935. The first rifles were delivered in 1937. There were some kinks to work out but about half of the U.S. Army had the M-1 Garand rifle by 1941.

M-1 Garand

The biggest problem with self-loading rifle development was the insistence on using over powerful cartridges. A shorter, intermediate cartridge would have been ideal, but militarys were wedded to their 1890s ammunition.

The 1930s saw a final flowering of the bolt action rifle. They were on the way to being obsolete with the self-loading rifle on the horizon, but some beautiful and ugly rifles came out at this time. The Soviets would produce a Mosin-Nagant carbine in the late 1930s.

The Hungarians produced the Mannlicher Model 35. It was very much in the trend of producing shorter versions of pre-existing rifles.

Hungarian M 35

The Italians and Japanese both used a 6.5 mm cartridge that lost power and penetration. The Italians opted to convert to a 7.35 mm cartridge. Unfortunately, Il Duce had spent lots of money on the war with Ethiopia and intervening in the Spanish Civil War. While some rifles of the new caliber were produced, those were given to rear-echelon troops. As John Gooch put it in Mussolini and His Generals:

‘Fascism was a command economy in which only commands were plentiful.”

That Japanese found the plains of Manchuria and Inner Mongolia were not conducive to their 6.5 mm cartridge. They attempted a conversion to the 7.7 mm but like the Italians was incomplete. Fighting wars is not conducive to changing cartridges.

The most bizarre bolt action rifle was the French MAS 36. It was a clunky looking rifle that fired a 7.5 x 54 mm cartridge. It did weigh a little less at 8.33 lbs. Apparently it was reliable and accurate. John Weeks has this to say about the MAS 36 in World War II Small Arms:

“It was one of the ugliest rifles ever to be made, and one of the least satisfactory to use, for the designer was more interested in the factory foreman than in the firer.”

MAS 36

  As it was, the MAS 36 was used in small numbers in 1940. Most French infantrymen still carried the now ancient Lebel.

The British would go to war with the same Lee-Enfield as used in the First World War. The Wehrmacht would use the Mauser carbine. The infantryman was far down the list on priorities.

20th Century Small Arms: The Interwar Period published first on https://medium.com/@ReloadedPCGames

[tozinhofernandes-blog]

INDIAN MOTORCYCLE

The story It all began at the beginning of the last century, when young Swedish immigrant Carl Oscar Hedstrom, an engineer and builder of competition bikes, worked out a DeDion-Buton model and carburetor designed by him at the behest of businessman George M. Hendee, of the city of Springfield, state of Massachusetts, that since 1897 already produced bicycles. Together, in 1901, they founded the Hendee Manufacturing Company, erected a factory in the city of Springfield and began producing from 1902 small one-cylinder bikes - little more than bicycles - named INDIAN. In its race debut, later this year, INDIAN won the disputed endurance race from Boston to New York. The combination of his talents - Henderson for business and Hedstrom for mechanics - was fruitful from the start: in 1903 they came on INDIAN motorcycles with two V-cylinders, two- and three-speed gearbox and swingarm rear suspension. The first motorcycles marketed were Royal Blue (blue) or had black paint as an option, but in 1904 the company launched a dark red named Vermillion, which became better known as "Indian Red". Shortly after, in 1906, the company produced the first motorcycle equipped with V-Twin engine. The INDIAN bikes were chosen to form the first police battalion of New York in 1907. That same year, with the change to a bigger factory and a magnification in the labor force, INDIAN began to produce its own motors, thus ending its contract with the company Aurora, which was previously responsible for manufacturing the engines.

In 1910, the company introduced several breakthroughs in its models, including a front bumper and an automatic oil valve. The brand did not take long to achieve success in competitions, winning almost all modalities on two wheels in the United States. And the success spread abroad: in 1912, won the first three places in the famous Tourist Trophy (TT) of the Isle of Man in England. In 1913, he developed the rear suspension with spring beam called Cradle Spring Frame. Despite the record sales year with 32,000 motorcycles marketed, Oscar Hedstrom retired. In the year 1914 the Hendee Special model was launched in the market equipped with the first electric match on a motorcycle. However, there was no alternator and the batteries were not recharged, so the model was in production for only a year. The model also featured another innovation, electric lights. Before World War I the company was already considered the largest manufacturer of motorcycles in the world.

Always in the vanguard, in 1916, the company presented the segment with several innovations, among them, the legendary V2 Powerplus 1000 cc engine (whose side valves resulted in a cleaner and quieter operation, producing more force than its predecessors, thus generating a top speed of 95 km / h) and a competition model with four valves per cylinder two years later. However, with the departure of the company's founders as early as 1916, due to disagreements with other directors, the company would face difficult times, including financially. In 1917, with the entry of the United States in World War I INDIAN MOTORCYCLE devoted much of its production to meet military demand. As a result, utilities had limited inventories and retail sales dropped significantly. The company provided the American military with approximately 50,000 motorcycles, most of them based on the Powerplus model. This model was durable, reliable and with powerful engine, serving well the need of the troops.

Despite the difficulties of the period, continued to leave the production lines of Springfield motorcycles that would become icons of the American market. Launched in October 1919, INDIAN SCOUT was a creation of the Charles B. Franklin pilot and was equipped with the Powerplus engine with displacements ranging from 600 to 1200 cc. The midsize model was reliable and fast, seducing many beginners of the segment at the time. The first INDIAN CHIEF came on the market in 1922, equipped with a 1,000 cc engine, later expanded to 1,200 cc in the INDIAN BIG CHIEF model of 1923. At the time this model became the industry's best seller and took the INDIAN MOTORCYCLE brand to the rest of the world along with the rest of the line that also included Scout, Chief and Standard motorcycles. In 1927 the company acquired Ace Motor Corporation, to have production capacity of the inline four cylinder engine with 1,260 cubic centimeters. INDIAN FOUR, which used this engine, was marketed between 1927 and 1942. It was only in 1928 that the company adopted the name of the Indian Motorcycle Manufacturing Company.

Although with a very reduced production for nearly two decades, INDIAN resisted the stock market crash in 1929 and, in 1934, launched SCOUT SPORT, which trended with the extended mudguards and the INDIAN MOTORCYCLE Warbonnet logo on the fuel tank. The brand even provided motorcycles to the Armed Forces of various countries during World War II: the SCOUT 500 (somewhat slow but reliable), 750 (actually a SCOUT SPORT with less power) and CHIEF 1,200. There was even the model 841, with transmission shaft, pedal-operated gearbox and hand clutch, the opposite of the usual on the brand's bikes. But Harley-Davidson, already booming in the market, achieved contracts of greater volume and profit per unit, putting its competitor in serious financial difficulties.  

After World War II INDIAN MOTORCYCLE was eventually sold. The new owner, Ralph Rogers, then decided to launch lower-displacement models: the Arrow, a 250 cc and a cylinder, and the Warrior, 440 cc and two vertical cylinders. However, models that could save the mark of the crisis, such as an INDIAN FOUR of 880 cc and the idea of ​​a civilian version of the 841, were canceled. Despite the enormous growth of the American market after World War II, the CHIEF model was considered old-fashioned by the new administration and went out of production in 1948. The new line of motorcycles used technology from the English Brockhouse, with motors with valves in the head, box selector on the pedal and clutch on the handle. But the quality of production was beyond expectations. In 1950 the manufacturing and sales areas of INDIAN MOTORCYCLE were separated and sold to the British group Associated Motorcycles Ltd. (AMC), which owned brands such as Norton and Royal Enfield. As a result, CHIEF's production was resumed, with the BLACKHAWK CHIEF model being the most famous of the brand. The "old" CHIEF thus won a hydraulic telescopic fork and a 1,300 cc engine, but remained with the already outdated three-speed gearbox. In 1953, CHIEF and its V2 gave rise to a 700-liter Royal Enfield version, sidewalk with larger tires, wide handlebars and the brand logo on the fuel tank. Although it was an efficient and reliable motorcycle, fans of the American brand were waiting for the release of a new model legitimate, which did not happen. It was the end. The Indian Motorcycle Manufacturing Company filed for bankruptcy later this year, ceased operations and discontinued production of all models.

In the following years INDIAN MOTORCYCLE went through many hands, for example, in 1962, when Joseph Berliner bought all rights, but never used the brand name; or even in 1970, when Alan Newman acquired the company and started selling small motorcycles that owned the INDIAN brand. Most of these bikes were produced in Taiwan with 50cc and 175cc engines. Some enthusiasts were prosecuted in the United States and Canada for the use of a trademark that did not belong to them. Even the Aborigines of the Umpqua tribe in the US state of Oregon claimed rights over the name. After many discussions on the copyright of the brand, in 1998, when it appeared to be definitely abandoned, INDIAN re-emerged in the market by merging nine companies that invested $ 30 million to form the Indian Motorcycle Company of America (IMCA), which inaugurated a production facility in Gilroy, California. IMCA produced the Chief, Scout and Spirit models (in practice, a less powerful version of the Chief and without the exaggerated fenders typical of the brand), equipped with engines purchased from S & S Cycle. But due to the low demand for brand models, INDIAN MOTORCYCLE closed its doors again in 2003.

In 2008, a further attempt to reactivate the brand: London-based privately-owned Stellican Ltd. bought the assets of INDIAN MOTORCYCLE and established a motorcycle manufacturing facility in Kings Mountain, North. Few INDIAN CHIEF units were produced with 1720 cc engines. New failure. Finally, on April 19, 2011, Polaris Industries, a manufacturer of quadricycles, UTVs (a quadricycle with a passenger compartment) and snowmobiles (snowmobiles), acquired all rights over the INDIAN MOTORCYCLE brand, in order to preserve the inheritance and the historical importance for the two-wheel segment, but focusing on the future, with the development of modern products and cutting-edge technology. As a result, the brand gained fresh breath and investment, with production being transferred to Spirit Lake, Iowa, where the group manufactures Victory-branded bikes. In March 2013, during the Daytona Bike Week, the new Thunder Stroke 111 V-Twin engine was unveiled. "Honoring Our Past. Piloting Our Future "was the theme of the event. The engine was revealed on a stage during the party on the main street of Daytona Beach, and when it left, the crowd was thrilled. Finally the INDIAN MOTORCYCLE engine snorted again. This return made it possible for motorcycle lovers to finally realize the dream of having a flagship INDIAN MOTORCYCLE model.

[loveminimag]

MINI France launches the Oakwood MINI Countryman Edition

MINI France continues to draw inspiration from the unmistakable personality of London's neighborhoods and has created the Oakwood MINI Countryman Edition, a stylish and highly competitive special edition reserved for the French market. The Oakwood Edition offers the possibility to ride in a MINI Countryman with high-end equipment and specific decoration for a rent starting from 380 € / month *, without contribution and maintenance included. Oakwood is a district of North London located in the borough of Enfield. It was once covered with forests and used as a royal hunting ground. Today, Oakwood is first and foremost known for its public park, which opened in 1929 as an escape to the heart of the city. This park is home to an avenue of oaks traditionally planted by the successive mayors of the Enfield borough.

The Oakwood MINI Countryman Edition is inspired by this neighborhood combining urban touches and wide open spaces. Two elements of decoration dress the profile:     An "Oakwood" inscription on the upper level of the C-pillars.     A reminder of the GPS coordinates of the Oakwood neighborhood on the bottom of the rear side doors, a nod to the adventurer positioning of the model. Inside, a specific badge reminiscent of these decorative elements is positioned at the level of the decorative insert on the passenger side.

Available with the 102 hp, 136 hp, 192 hp Cooper S gasoline engines, as well as the 116 hp Diesel One D, the 150 hp Cooper D, and the 190 hp Cooper SD, the Oakwood Edition offers a very complete series:     Comfort access     Sliding rear bench     Piano Black Roof Rails     Anthracite roof sky     Automatic air conditioning     Electric tailgate control     Advanced connectivity and induction charging     Light alloy wheels 18 "design" Pin Spoke "     Lighting kit     Storage kit     Connected Navigation Pack (Apple Car Play, RTTI and remote vehicle control included)     Front fog lights with LED     Full LED floodlights with black background     Front and rear parking sensors     Electrically folding exterior mirrors     Sport front seats with "Cord" fabric / leather upholstery     Automatic maneuvering system     Velvet floor mats     Panoramic glass sunroof In addition to the significant customer benefit provided by the numerous equipment, the Oakwood MINI Countryman Edition is particularly advantageous since it is displayed at very competitive levels, with no input and with maintenance included.

The rates and rents for the Oakwood MINI Countryman Edition are shown below: Oakwood MINI One Countryman 102 hp 33.400 € 380 € / month * Oakwood MINI One D Countryman Edition 116 hp 36.400 € 430 € / month * MINI Cooper Oakwood Countryman Edition 136 hp 35.400 € 430 € / month * Oakman MINI Cooper D Countryman Edition 150 hp 38.400 € 470 € / month * Oakwood MINI Cooper S Countryman 192 hp 39.000 € 600 € / month * Oakman MINI Cooper SD Countryman Edition 190 hp 42.900 € 640 € / month * * LLD 36 months / 30,000 km without contribution with maintenance contract MSI 3 years included

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