#Sam Jaffe as WizardvWhateley

[hplovecraftmuseum]

Movie poster for the 1970 flick, THE DUNWICH HORROR. Calling this film a 'camp classic' might be extremely generous. However, this was the first movie production from a major studio of a Lovecraft tale. Particularly it was the first that actually gave him credit for the origional story inspiration. It's probably not surprising that this movie came out at the height of the Psycedelic era in America. Sandra Dee, a minor 'Blonde Bombshell' actress of the era starred as the hapless victim of the sexually charged demon/creature/ cosmic entitiy (Yog-Sothoth in Lovecraft's origional story) Dean Stockwell -who was always a bit quirky as an actor anyway - plays Wilbur Whateley. His Wilbur is quite a bit better looking and a little less repulsive than Lovecraft's origional concept. Probably the highlight of the whole mess was veteran thespian, Sam Jaffe. Jaffe takes the part of old "Wizard Whateley". Jaffe is perhaps better known as the professor in the origional, DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. Unquestionably the many near psychedellic-type "trips" various characters experienced in Lovecraft's stories contributed to his sudden greater fame during the 1970s. In fact almost exactly following the death of August Derleth on July 4, 1971, a whole underground explosion of interest in Lovecraft's works and life began. Lovecraft inspired stories appeared in SKULL COMICS, on Rod Sterling's THE NIGHT GALLERY, and inspired several underground publications including, WHISPERS, NYCTALOPS and the landmark 'H. P. L.' THE FIRST WORLD FANTASY AWARDS convention was held in Providence, RI in the mid 70s too and was essentially dedicated to the life and works of H. P. Lovecraft. How and why this sudden interest occurred is something that is not easily explained and even now is open to debate. It might be important to note that even though some of the characters in Lovecraft's stories used drugs or had fantastical experiences prompted by the use of them, Lovecraft plainly stated in his letters that he had never used mind altering substances of any kind. He also insisted that his lips had never touched alcohol. (Exhibit 396)