#retroactive arrgh

[peterlorrefanpage]

“That bland smile of his is ten times as nasty as the frowns from lesser villains . . .”

Italian artist Paolo Garretto drew the above caricature of Peter Lorre to announce his upcoming role in Secret Agent (1936). Source

While Secret Agent was in release in London, the artist Gitano created a portrait of Peter as "The General." Besides paint, he used skeins of black silk, a scarf, a gold earring, a boutonniere, and a tie-pin. Mmm, a tactile Lorre! Source

Speaking of imagery and such, Peter was allegedly gratified by impersonations, whether vocal or artistic. However, he had signed away his screen image as early as 1941:

"Warner Bros. held a patent on Lorre’s physical likeness, caricaturing the actor in animated cartoons that depicted a baby-faced villain with bulging eyes and nasal whine."

May 24, 1941, Warner Bros. released “Hollywood Steps Out,” which featured a gallery of stars. Eying a naked woman clothed only by a bubble, Peter Lorre says, “I haven’t seen such a beautiful bubble since I was a child.”

April 11, 1942: In Dr. Seuss’s “Horton Hatches the Egg,” a Peter Lorre Fish "spots the elephant atop a bird’s nest, pulls out a pistol, and shoots itself in the head, a scene later deleted by several television networks for its violent content."

Other animated appearances include:

“Hair Raising Hare” (June 8, 1946) with Bugs Bunny

“The Birth of a Notion” (April 12, 1947) with Daffy Duck

“Racketeer Rabbit”(September 14, 1946) with Bugs Bunny

Lorre's screen image also appeared in a 13-week episode of a Batman & Robin newspaper strip, entitled "The Two-Bit Dictator of Twin Mills," (October 30, 1944 - January 26, 1945).

Source

It's bugged me since I've known about it that Peter didn't even get any $$ for these images while he was alive - money he sorely could have used. But Warner Bros sure did.

[peterlorrefanpage]

I am going to point to Jack Benny as an example of superb talent and a genuinely nice and kind individual! He said himself that no one would ever read his autobiography because he didn't have any horrible things happen to him (and he wasn't horrible to anyone himself, either). He was so magnanimous an artist, unafraid to let others have the laugh instead of him. Nothing delighted him so much as his friends doing a great act. If you had Jack in your audience, he'd be the loudest, most appreciative respondent. And he even loved it when you had a laugh at his expense (a la George Burns) at parties. He'd fall down on the floor laughing.

I've got at least one post in queue of Jack & Peter Lorre together. I'm so glad they had such opportunities.

As for Lang - grr. He went even further than kicking and dragging. He wanted Lorre the moment he saw him, but put it to him like this: "I will do my first sound picture. I don’t know yet what it will be and I don’t know when it will be. I am aware that you will receive many offers from pictures. But if you don’t accept any other offers, this picture will be written for you. You will be the star of it."

Peter was skeptical about Lang's words and movies in general, plus he was a success on stage. But he was also awestruck, so he just told Lang sure, he'll wait - neglecting to mention he'd already been in Die verschwundene Frau, but hey, that was a silent picture anyway, right? - but oh, he waited quite awhile:

"'I sometimes cursed him secretly,' Lorre looked back twenty years later, 'as I must have waited fourteen months and couldn’t accept any film offers.' He had even turned down an overture from director Richard Oswald, who promised a three-day guarantee to reprise his role as Moritz Stiefel in a film production of Spring’s Awakening." Source

*cue retroactive arrgh*

Peter Lorre and director Fritz Lang on set of M (1931)

[peterlorrefanpage]

That was indeed me! I love that recording.

I found this passage: "Warner Bros. even held a patent on Lorre’s 'physical likeness,' caricaturing the actor in animated cartoons that depicted a baby-faced villain with bulging eyes and nasal whine. He had presumably signed away his screen image as early as 1941 when, on May 24, during preproduction on The Maltese Falcon, Warner Bros. released 'Hollywood Steps Out,' which featured a gallery of stars, including Peter Lorre. Eying a naked woman clothed only by a bubble, he diffidently whines, 'I haven’t seen such a beautiful bubble since I was a child.' In Dr. Seuss’s “Horton Hatches the Egg” (April 11, 1942), an incredulous 'Peter Lorre Fish' spots the elephant atop a bird’s nest, pulls out a pistol, and shoots itself in the head, a scene later deleted by several television networks for its violent content. Other animated appearances included 'Hair Raising Hare' (June 8, 1946) with Bugs Bunny, 'The Birth of a Notion' (April 12, 1947) with Daffy Duck, and 'Racketeer Rabbit' (September 14, 1946), in which he again shared the screen with Bugs Bunny—and an ersatz Edward G. Robinson." -The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre

I so wish Lorre had had better advisement, or a window into the future, or something that would have made him retain his rights to his own likeness. He may have been able to live far more comfortably in his latter years and chosen only projects he wanted to work on. /retroactive Arrgh!

In keeping with my recent theme of drawing old pop culture Lorre cameos, here's Dr Lorre from 'Hair Raising Hare' getting chewing gum out of Gossamer's hair

[ID: the Looney Tunes monster Gossamer, who's basically a huge red hairball with converse sneakers and tiny, glaring eyes, is sitting patiently while their creator, Dr Lorre, is brushing their hair and cutting off locks while standing on a ladder. On the floor lie hair clippings and the remains of a clockwork rabbit used to bait Bugs Bunny. Dr Lorre's looking annoyed and saying 'who the hell even gave you chewing gum?']